Colorado's Dreadnought are the most prolific prog metal band you haven't heard yet. Listening to their fourth album Emergence is like navigating a King Crimson-ian maze of doomy riffs, rumbling bass-lines, and the alternating screamed/clean vocals of Kelly Schilling and Lauren Vieira. Add the occasional woodwind for flavour, and you've got the most adventurous metal album released in 2019. [$8 CAD]
Less is more for Montreal's BIG|BRAVE. On A Gaze Among Them, Robin Wattie's vocals crest over and pierce through waves of slow, pulsing chords, allowing them to resonate all the more. Marie Kondo would approve of the band's commitment to minimalism and uncluttered arrangements. [$7.99]
With Novarupta, former Moth Gatherer guitarist Alex Stjernfeldt is joined by an all-star line-up of Swedish screamers. Bolstered by the likes of Grave's Jörgen Sandström and Dark Tranquillity's Mikael Stanne, the atmospheric doom on Disillusioned Fire takes on aspects of the contributors' main bands, and morphs thusly from track to track. Of all the bands affiliated with this project, none casts a longer shadow than Breach, who broke ground for this sort of forward thinking doomcore over 20 years ago - and whose legacy Novarupta continues. [ €7]
Over their prodigious discography, Crowhurst have encompassed doom, drone, noise rock and crusty black metal. Their newest album - simply titled III, as is typical of the band - tempers their more experimental impulses, focusing on the heavier side of their sound: Blasting sections break up shoegazing doom passages, and a handful of guest vocalists intersperse Jay Gambit's forlorn screams. Gloom with a view. [$6.99]
