Stygian Crown - Stygian Crown (Cruz Del Sur, 2020)

As far as I am concerned, you can never have enough doom metal, particularly when it is of a high standard. While this in itself is a simple philosophy, Stygian Crown have once again proven it valid with the release of their self-titled debut, an album that does everything right. As a result, it has rapidly ascended to a firm place on my top releases of the year so far and would appear to be one that I will be returning to quite regularly in the future.

River Of Souls - Usurper (Independent, 2020)

Anyone who knows me is well aware how big a fan I am of doom metal so the fact that I somehow managed to miss "The Well Of Urd", the debut album from River of Souls that was released three years ago, is a travesty given that their interpretation of doom metal is clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, something that I really should have been all over*. Thankfully history didn't repeat itself with the purchase and arrival of their second album "Usurper" which has proven to be a very welcome surprise in a year that has already been strong when it comes to doom metal.

Abramelin - Never Enough Snuff (Independent, 2020)

My first encounter with Abramelin was seeing them support Carcass, together with Corpse Molestation, in the early nineties. While they were still Acheron back then this was my first extreme metal show so, needless to say, it made a hefty impression on me and I subsequently saw them live numerous times over the years, including at Metal For The Brain, and along the way they became one of my favourite death metal bands even though they only managed two albums, "Abramelin" (1995) and "Deadspeak" (2000). 

Wartooth - Programmed Dichotomy (Independent, 2020)

Wartooth were a new name to me when I first heard about their debut album "Programmed Dichotomy" however, based on word of mouth (or internet), it seemed like a pretty safe investment when it was released in April. Given my longstanding love of thrash metal it is always great to have an opportunity to discover yet another new band doing it well and Wartooth certainly acquit themselves admirably over the course of the nine tracks on offer.

My Dying Bride - The Ghost Of Orion (Nuclear Blast, 2020)

It is appropriate that the first post here is about the new My Dying Bride album "The Ghost Of Orion" as they remain one of my favourite bands and have never disappointed me, even the derided "34.788%...Complete" has its merits as far as I am concerned. Having divulged this information it is probably fair to say that the chances of me being completely objective are slim at best so take what follows with a grain of proverbial salt.