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About this playlist
This new-ish year numbered 2015 has already been loaded with amazing metal-oriented news. For instance, there's the story about how a paganism revival has inspired what will be Iceland's first temple to honor Odin and Thor since Christianity supplanted Scandinavian polytheism in millennium-ago Viking days. Maybe even more astoundingly, there was word that X-rays of papyrus scrolls cooked by the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius have revealed what may well be heavy metal's oldest lyrics ever -- or at least, mysterious runes of some sort. And on top of that, there were these 15 albums!
Though OK, to get technical, a couple actually date back to the ancient, long-forgotten late months of 2014, just in case you missed them: Namely, those by sea-dwelling Sacramento, Calif., art-metal cephalopods Giant Squid and quasi-Teutonic New York rivethead-metal pair Hanzel Und Gretyl. But the rest are more or less fresh off the presses. Marilyn Manson's new one is more palatable than skeptics might guess; standard-bearers of grindcore and metalcore Napalm Death and All That Remains both find ways to feed their hungry and loyal fan bases; djent-crazed Marylanders Periphery have not one but two new albums (as if they weren't confusing enough already); and Florida's Torche have hip young sludge-pop fanatics salivating.
There are some older people, too! Prog-metal maze-builders Blind Guardian, devil-metal progenitors Venom and super classy Thin Lizzy spinoffs Black Star Riders show the kids how it's done -- or at least, how they themselves do it. Still, perhaps the most exciting new outings come from three young American bands hooked on metal sounds of yore: Night Demon from California, Visigoth from Utah, Corsair from Virginia. Then there's eclectic Paris oddballs 6:33, whose nerd-metal debut tries its darnedest to tie your cerebellum in knots. You can sample them all on the accompanying playlist -- and if you're left reeling, don't say you weren't warned!
- Night Demon, Curse of the Damned
- Visigoth, The Revenant King
- Corsair, One Eyed Horse
- Black Star Riders, [The Killer Instinct]
- Hanzel Und Gretyl, Black Forest Metal
- Marilyn Manson, The Pale Emperor
- Giant Squid, Minoans
- Torche, Restarter
- 6:33, Deadly Scenes
- Venom, From the Very Depths
- Periphery, Juggernaut: Alpha
- Periphery, Juggernaut: Omega
- Blind Guardian, Beyond the Red Mirror
- Napalm Death, Apex Predator – Easy Meat
- All That Remains, The Order of Things