Worm corpses wither; heat rising from tarmac blurs the world; I am a whiny baby fledgling that cannot stand the summer. This week, we’ve got guts, MORE guts, and The Tim Lambesis Story (probably? I listened for about .0356 seconds before both my external auditory meatuses exploded into claret mist). In such shallow waters ov bowl, we must sift to find succor; be a friend, be a dumpling…let us know what we missed in the comments!

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Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here (Road to Masochist Records) [Sludge / Post-Metal]

With their latest album, Ba’al quickly eschews the most common post-metal pitfall: long stretches of languid songwriting almost entirely in service of a climax somewhere far away. (There are more intuitive ways to edge.) In the first seconds of “Floral Cairn,” bright, poppy chords clash with tones more common to sludge; this push-pull dynamic between levity and gravity locks listeners in orbit, unsettled but curious to hear each track’s trajectory. From string arrangements to blastbeats, the album’s clear production ensures both shrill and sonorous moments have an impact. It’s this balance that allows the spoken word in “Floral Cairn”—reminiscent of Alaisdair Dunn’s work in Ashenspire—and the crush of melodic doom in “Well of Sorrows” to land with equal weight. The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here is beckoning, always beckoning, but let’s all stick around until Friday (and beyond) to see what comes next. -Roldy

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Abuser – Holy Wars (Independent) [War Metal] [WARNING: LOUD!]

Alfa Pentatonik – Gamma II (Independent) [Industrial Metal]

Angel Graveyard – Eerie Prayers (Independent) [Black]

Ashes of Ares – New Messiahs (ROAR! / Rock of Angels Records) [Prog/Power]

Beyond Forgiveness – Cold as Winter’s Ice (Sliptrick Records) [Symphonic Metal]

Blood Justice/Sardonyx – Roxx Gems – Volume Five (Roxx Records) [Prog/Power / Heavy Metal]

Calico Jack – Jack Speak Shanties (Rockshots Records) [Folk Metal]

Clairvoyance – Chasm of Immurement (Carbonized Records) [Death/Doom]

Darghl – Solve (Independent) [Black]

Dephosphorus – Planetoktonos (Selfmadegod Records) [Blackened Death / Grindcore]

Entrails – Grip of Ancient Evil (Hammerheart Records) [Death]

Eternal Darkness – S/T (Pulverised Records) [Death/Doom]

Eternal Drak – The Warrior Order (Firstwave Studio) [Blackthrash]

Filth – Time to Rot (Me Saco Un Ojo Records) [Death]

Glamsdring – Glamsdring (Independent) [Black]

Gruiiiik – Ça parle de ta mère ! (Independent) [Grindcore]

Gølgaborg – Die Stille des Lebens (Masters of Kaos Productions) [Raw/Lo-Fi Black / DSBM]

Hypomanic Daydream – The Yearning (Fiadh Productions) [Avant-garde Death / Electronic]

Invictra – The Trenches (Independent) [Crossover Thrash / Groove Metal]

Margarita Witch Cult – Strung Out in Hell (Heavy Psych Sounds Records) [Stoner Doom]

Motorjesus – Streets of Fire (Reaper Entertainment) [Heavy Metal / Hard Rock]

Mouth of Madness – Event Horizon (Darkness Shall Rise Productions) [Blackened Death]

Nefarious – Addicted to Power (Independent) [Thrash / Heavy Metal]

Oskoreien – Hollow Fangs (Independent) [Meloblack / Post-Black]

Primal Age – Until the Last Breath (Diorama Records) [Metalcore]

Re-Buried – Flesh Mourning (Translation Loss Records) [Death]

Recorruptor – Sorrow Will Drown Us All (Time to Kill Records) [Melodeath / Deathcore]

Reign of Glory – Slingshot (Roxx Records) [Heavy Metal]

Sabke Morde – Sangvareh (Independent) [Prog Metal]

Scardust – Souls (Frontiers Records) [Prog Metal]

Sorceröt – Rotten Magick (Naturmacht Productions) [Blackened Heavy Metal]

Stomach – Low Demon (Independent) [Sludge / Drone / Doom]

Torben Enevoldsen – Seven (Metallic Blue Records) [Heavy Metal / Shred]

Void of Nothingness – Odontochelys (Independent) [Experimental Black / Industrial]

Warchief – Toil & Trouble (Argonauta Records) [Post-Metal / Stoner Rock]