HANGING GARDEN were given birth in 2004, playing heavy, doom-oriented metal music. Over more than a decade, several releases and numerous line-up changes, bands style has evolved to a more melodic, contemporary sound that is rooted in dark atmospheres and open-minded, playful musicality.

'Smoke Inhaler' is the debut album of German stonerdoom/sludge band Nocturnal Weed released in 2019.

Funeral Doom titans ESOTERIC return with the monolithic ‘A Pyrrhic Existence,’ the collective’s first new album in eight years. Their undeniable power and time-warping arrangements are unparalleled even by doom metal standards, taking on an almost psychedelic hue at times here. As each of the six songs in this 2CD set roar to life, including the 27+ minute epic "Descent," the gravity swallows’ listeners up as they are pulled into their depths. ESOTERIC are, quite literally, one of metal’s heaviest bands, and the somber ‘A Pyrrhic Existence’ is further proof of their mastery.

Legendary Doom Metal group Novembers Doom are celebrating their 30th anniversary by releasing a new album called Nephilim Grove on November 1st.

It's almost a blessing that, for legal reasons, this four-piece can't call itself Black Sabbath. It only serves to hammer home the point that with Ronnie James Dio up front and Vinny Appice in back, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler express a very different side of their musical personalities than they ever did with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals and Bill Ward on drums. Where the original lineup was an ultra-heavy blues band, with a rhythm section that never failed to swing (OK, they failed a little bit on "Sweet Leaf"), when Dio came on board in 1980 the group was reinvented as a heavy metal juggernaut. While Iommi's riffs remained crushingly heavy, the rhythms got faster on songs like "Neon Knights," "Turn Up the Night," and "Mob Rules," and the lyrics abandoned the earthly concerns of "Paranoid" and "Hand of Doom" for Dio's abstract symbolism and myth-making.

With a history tracing back to the epicentre of melodic death metal in Sweden, October Tide have come a long way and have generated a spark that is strongly felt in the energy of the scene. "In Splendor Below" is the latest addition to their vibrant discography of guitar-driven, emotive death/doom metal art. It packs some of the most authentic and unique compositions from the capable hands of founding member and long-time Katatonia guitarist, Fredrik Norrman, his brother and guitarist Mattias Norrman (ex-Katatonia), vocalist Alexander Högbom (Demonical), bassist Johan Jönsegård (Letters From The Colony) and drummer Jonas Sköld (Letters From The Colony / Thenighttimeproject). While Fredrik prefers for the music to speak for itself, he finds the new album "a bit more aggressive, a bit more death metal, and with an overall colder feeling than previous records".

Neurosis marks 30 years with Fires Within Fires, their 11th album. It's uncharacteristically economical, clocking in at a mere 40 minutes, their shortest since 1992's Souls at Zero. Engineered by Steve Albini (their sixth collaboration in a row), it takes stock of the places Neurosis has been since leaving behind their post-hardcore roots to pioneer the strange world of "post-metal." Opener "Bending Light" commences with a slow, doomy bassline and a guitar vamp that directly references Pink Floyd's "Nile Song" - specifically the Necros' mid-'80s cover - but uncouples itself to wander more jagged atmospheric terrain with sparse, bluesy guitar lines and darkly hued sonic effects from keyboardist Noah Landis…

Neurosis have toned their bruising metal image down to more of an enjoyable, atmospheric musical journey. Although still containing punishing riffs on occasion, the group is intent on creating slow and melodic pieces of work, especially on the lengthy and melancholic title track. Clocking in at close to 12 minutes, the song opens with a methodical guitar and drum beat before its tempo ebbs and flows in a vein of possible progressive rock-meets-heavy metal à la Anathema. It's sonically scene-setting as lead singer Steve VonTill gives hushed vocals in the middle portion before letting loose near its coda. Another benefit is the throng of tension from start to finish. "Burn" veers from this format as VonTill tends to wail in a nu metal format. "Shelter" contains more a folkish, prog-driven Pink Floyd hue with mixed results…

After releasing four albums in four years, Isole slowed things down. They decided to take a break from the studio and focus on playing live in order to gain some perspective before returning to the song writing process. "Dystopia" contains stories of this deteriorating world weaved in melancholic melodies. For fans of Solstice, Candlemass and early Anathema.