Haven't been much with the words lately, but here are the recent releases that have been frequenting my ears:
Desecresy - The Mortal Horizon
Dense and devastating death-doom with perfectly sinister melodic accents and a glorious martial oeuvre.
The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia
Not alien enough for my tastes on the first few passes, but in-depth listening sessions revealed all the layers of epic death-black mastery my heart desired.
Exhumed - Death Revenge
Shreds gouda and feels like 1993 in all the right ways. So much melodic gore goodness with fantastic flourishes and oodles of pustulous nuance. Probably my favorite album of the year.
Death Toll 80K - Step Down
An exemplary follow-up to their world crushing debut. My favorite incarnation of brutal, crunchy grindcore this side of Insect Warfare.
Howls of Ebb/Khthoniik Cerviiks - With Gangrene Edges/Voiidwarp
A glorious convocation of all that is weird in death metal. An excellent and bizarre follow up to two righteous albums.
Nucleus/Macabra - Fragmented Self
A ton of welcomed new music from Nucleus on here. These death metal apex predators continue to explore the demented realms of Time Ghoul and Demilich, then take a virtuoso voyage into funeral doom. Sofa King good. Macabra follow with a fantastic extension of their arcane death-doom excellence. I hadn’t delved deep into this vehicle for Mark Riddick’s death-dreams, but now I’m hooked.
Note - since both halves of this split weren’t available on Bandcamp I ordered the CD from Macabra’s site, along with their previous full length. In the mail I received a stupendous package of CDs, vinyl, art and fantastic sundry you see pictured above. Cheers for physical manifestations! This awoke some of my dangerous collector/horder spirit. I obey.