The Cosmic Dead - Psych is Dead (2017)

The Cosmic Dead is a Scottish band and a grand purveyor of quality psych rock. Their latest album Psych is Dead is quite different than the previous one Rainbowhead, it's slower, darker and noisier, which can't really be wrong isn't it? (altough I have to say Rainbowhead was a really album as well). Psychis is Dead is three long tracks with long quiet trippy parts alternating with heavy and noisy parts, The Cosmic Dead showing they're also good at being harsh and aggressive if they want to. Good stuff.

The BC page.

Soul Assassins (DJ Muggs) - Dia Del Asesinato (2018)

DJ Muggs is back (never really left actually, but...), not only with a new Cypress Hill album but also with another Soul Assassins album which means an album produced by Muggs with various MCs collaborating. Dia Del Asesinato is twelve tracks of typical DJ Muggs sound, old-school and dark and the MCs are high class, especially you have Kool G Rap on a track and Raekwon and MF Doom on two tracks. No wonder the overall result is really solid and enjoyable. Another excellent album from DJ Muggs.

The Atrocity Exhibit - Exctinction Solution (2018)

The Atrocity Exhibit is a band from UK activz since 2010 with a few releases and here's the new one called Exctinction Solution (released with Wooaaaargh). What they do is old school grind-punk with an obvious Napalm Death influence (which is ansolutely ok, and moreso when the result is so good!). Adequate production (clear enough, grind enough), good drumming, riffing and songwriting makes really good and catchy grind songs and an excellent album that will very probably take place among my best of grind releases for 2018. Fellow grind lovers, I warmly recommend it to you!

The BC page.

La Muerte - La Muerte (2018)

La Muerte is a Belgian band that released five albums from 1983 to 1994 and are now back with a new, self titled, new album. Honestly I  didn't knew about their old albums but I will definitley try to find it since the new one is so awesome. Their music is an excellent kind of le'ts say "heavy garage noise rock", sounding like somewhere between Entombed, The Stooges and Unsane. sounds good eh? well, they do it even better than what you can expect. Super strong and addictive stuff.

their webpage on the Mottow Soundz website.

Skinless- Savagery (2018)

Savagery is the sixth album from skinless, still on Relapse. Their death metal is not one where what matters is the atmosphere, no, they're all about the brutality, the heaviness and the groove and their excellent songwriting skills is at it best for combining both, brutality and groove, to make memorable songs. Savage indeed... and the way I like it. Excellent album.

The BC page.

Oltretomba - L'Ouverture des fosses (2018)

This one's definitely scary enough for the Halloween night. Oltretomba is a funeral doom band from Marseille (France) and on their new album L'Ouverture des fosses (with the really good Caligari records) they excell at crafting horrific and mystical atmospheres, and they're doing it in an unusual way, not exactly avant-garde but different and weird, and in a good way. Really strong and interesting stuff.

The Bandcamp page.

Ancient Lights - Ancient Lights (2018)

Ancient Lights is a doom trio formed by Adam Richardson (11 Paranoias, Ramesses), Ben Carr (5ive, INTRCPTR), and Tim Bertilsson (Switchblade), they released this year, with Ritual Productions, their first, self-titled album. Their doom is of the slow, mostly instrumental, quiet and psychedelic kind, not really heavy (ok, sometimes it is actually! heavy feedback droning guitars), not really groovy, but highly trippy and hypnotic, closer to Bong or Earth than to Blask Sab' or Electic Wizard. It also sound more original than most psychedelic doom album, sometimes sounding a bit like post-rock or shoegaze played with a doom rhythm section. Maybe it's just because their molodies are not just the usual recycling of Sabbath riffs. Anyway it's an excellent album you'll enjoy getting lost into.
Recommended!

The Bandcamp page.