Having expanded from a solo project to a full band with a handful of festival appearances under their belt, the UK-based Abyssal are only slightly less mysterious than when they started. Their fourth album A Beacon In The Husk elucidates why the band stands out in the increasingly crowded world of dissonant death/black metal - with extended ambient interludes, unpredictable song structures, and I have no problem saying that this is the best and most interesting metal band to emerge in the last decade. [$8 CAD]
Don't be fooled by their name - Toronto's Tomb Mold are more than just another old school death metal band. At odds with its cement mixer production, Planetary Clairvoyance displays a thoughtfullness to its songwriting, packing the songs with multiple time changes and even the occasional acoustic interlude. It may be a stretch to call them "progressive", but Tomb Mold are potentially the next Gorguts in the making. [$7.77]
Currently touring with Tomb Mold, New Mexico's Superstition also present a thoughtful tweaking to the old school formula. The thrashy death of their debut The Anatomy Of Unholy Transformation verges into psych rock terrain, thanks to its heavily reverbed production and the unusual lead work of Ash Borer/Vanum guitarist Kyle Morgan. The gulf between Chuck Schuldiner and Roky Erickson got a little smaller. [$7.77]
With their second full-length, DoC friends Nucleus show that "raw" and "progressive" aren't mutually exclusive. Filled with unorthodox time signatures and discordant riffs, Entity is as raw as you'd want a death metal album to sound, and as inventive as the genre should be. A cosmic opus of Demilich-meets-Voivod strangeness. [$6]
