piah mater - the wandering daughter
this album is very much a spiritual successor to opeth's 00s output: heavy sections (mostly death, but some other sounds there too) with lyrical, flowing sections interspersed. the execution is excellent, so I love this! it does occasionally veer towards derivative, but never for long enough to be a problem. I'm very interested to hear what they'll do next, I'd like to hear them develop their own sound further
jinjer - wallflowers
this album rules! it has jinjers characteristic sound, blending brutal sections with grooves and soft sections, but it feels like the heavier parts are more melodic (and less purely djenty) than in the past. i've mostly listened to jinjer via youtube videos thus far, so I might be off base on that. regardless, this is a really great listen!
jinjer - cloud factory
I'm going back to catch up with jinjer's older albums. the grooves on this album are great, it already sounds like a very well established sound. tatiana's voice is excellent, as are the band. a thrashier sound than I was expecting, in places, as well as a doomier passage on the title track. this is a good start!
tina guo - dies irae
this is the first classical soloist album I've listened to since probably 00s era ludovico einaudi. I love the cello, so I was already set up to like this album, but it surprised me with some metal instrumentation (though given that I found this album because of serj tankian's feature track, perhaps it shouldn't be such a surprise). overall a really great listen, with some outstanding tracks
the gathering - how to measure a planet
this album weighs in at 1h40 which is Too Long. the title track is a half hour and could,,, not be. beyond that though, this is a continuation of the gathering's evolution and I dig it. still some metal in here, but mostly past that at this point. anneke van giersburgen's voice remains incredible
hole dweller - returns to roost
I loved flies the coop so much that I listened to this the next day. a definite evolution of the sound, but I love this just as much as the first album! most notably the drums are much more prominent, present on almost every track and being played in a traditional rock sort of a style
defacement - defacement
atmospheric death metal, with heavy black metal influence, and some almost doomy sections. It doesn't sound the same as WHARFLURCH, but if you dig that I think you'll dig this. really great!
stortregn - impermanence
melodic blackened death metal, this is extremely my shit. the entire album is great, the musicianship and the songwriting are great, impeccable vibe. good shit!