Dance Gavin Dance

Acceptance Speech (2013)
Torrent 

Dance Gavin Dance has been through a multitude of line up changes and now they are back with a new clean vocalist (but don't worry Jon Mess is still on board, and still crazy). This album sticks true to the DGD genre, fun and heavy riffs, pulsating drums, catchy vocals and the insanity that is Jon Mess. The new vocalist certainly takes the cake for having the highest voice out of their past line ups, but I have learned to actually really enjoy it. Dance Gavin Dance just has such great lyrical flow you almost have to sing along if you know the words. My favorite song has got to be "Carve", especially the breakdown with the lyrics:

"That's my trope, and my sleight of hand
I'm about to predict the future
Any credit given will be swept under the rug
Or reduced to the fine print
I'm only silent when you're asking questions
The simple answer is "no I wasn't present""

But honestly every single song on this album is worth listening to and has its moment of "wow."

The Safety Fire

Mouth of Swords (2013)
Torrent 

I must admit that I was a little skeptical about this release after hearing Yellowism and Red Hatchet, but this album quickly became one of my favorites of the year.  My original skepticism came from the lack of heavy vocals that were replaced with a high pitched voice with a little to much post production. I have heard rumors that the lead singer was loosing his screaming voice and therefore had to tone it down but who knows. Either way, upon hearing the whole album I fell in love. The title track "Mouth of Swords" is simply epic, rolling into the aggressive "Glass Crush." The album makes great use of melody, especially on tracks such as "Wise Hands" and "I am Time, the Destroyer." The album ends on such a perfect note too with the song "Old Souls." Oh, and how can I forget "Beware the Leopard?" This album has such a perfect flow on it between songs that Grind the Ocean just didn't have, not to say I don't love that album as well.

Cloudkicker

Subsume (2013)
Bandcamp 

 

Noxious Foxes

Epochalypso (2013)
Bandcamp 

Absolute insanity, I want to get inside the musicians heads and see just what the fuck they had on their minds when they wrote this album. Here is a link to a great review on the five songs on the release: FreshSpread

Town Portal

Chronopoly (2012)
Bandcamp 

Math metal from the earliest stages of the Earth. Beauty amongst molten rock, shifting plates, and violent storms. This Copenhagen instrumental band chose to title their album Chronopoly. I would have to agree that it does quite dominate all of the chron. Heavy, melodic, progressive, math metal, GET IT.

Dionaea

Still (2011)
Bandcamp 


Today I learned that Post Grind exists, where the hell have I been? This is sick check it out. The first song is nearly fifteen minutes long but is jammed packed with just about every genre you can think of. This band gets spacey, eerie, melodic, chaotic, groovy, beaty, and best of all thrashy. 

Oh No! It's Birds

Tall Tales the Conscience Tells

A Stabbing In Shallow Water

Shapes

The Pasture, The Oil (2009)
Bandcamp 

If you like The Fall of Troy, check em out.

Haut&Court

La Vie (2012)
Bandcamp 

First release by a three piece French metal group, check out their Bandcamp page to listen to and download their album for free, or make a donation. Show them some love!

Cold Night For Alligators

Singular Patterns (2012)
Bandcamp 

Cold Night For Alligators is a brutal djent style band that will often surprise you with unexpected experimentation. There's even a part with heavy guitar riffs backed by ambient dub experimentation. These guys deserve some love, so check them out and spread this album to your friends!

Cotillion

The Debutantes pt. 1 (2012)
Bandcamp 

New York based post-hardcore for polite society, math rock table manners.

Converge

All We Love We Leave Behind (2012)
Zippyshare 

The newest release from Converge is out, and it does not disappoint! I'm hooked on first listen and I know it'll only continue to grow on me. Excellent production, check it out!

Save Us From the Archon

How Terrible, the Undergrowth's Jaws That Tangle (2012)
Mediafire

Saw a blog post describe this band as similar to Chon so I had to check them out. After listening through it once I can see this is an album I am going to have to come back to again. This is the band's debut album and they killed it! Glad to see this scene is growing, get this album!

Periphery

Periphery II: This Time It's Personal (2012)
Zippyshare 

This band's got talent, no matter how you look at it. Each song is filled with so much variation, from  danceable train rides to bone crushing heaviness. I think Spencer's vocals have found their place in the band, many times reaching epic levels. The lyrical content is filled with powerful and motivational messages; that's what's going to stick to me.

Cyclamen

Senjyu (2010)
Mediafire 

Japanese djent??? Well okay, I have yet to give it a listen as I just downloaded like four hundred albums in the last hour but I swear I'll get back to this and write at least a little something.

Periphery

 












Periphery (Instrumental) (2010)
Mediafire 

Periphery (2010)

Mediafire

Icarus EP (2011)
Mediafire 


With the recent announcement of one of my favorite band's new album releases, I gathered links for their entire discography here. I would suggest getting all three of these, I love the original self-titled with vocals but I do love jamming to the instrumental version as well. Be dazzled by distortion, be bombarded by bass beats, and jitter bug to jent! Periphery! Love that shit!

New Album News

The Safety Fire

Grind the Ocean (2012)
Mediafire

Heavy progressive metal from the UK. I saw this band live a couple months ago and they killed it, they really got the crowd moving and the lead singer was filled with energy and passion. I'd recommend checking this out if you are a fan of progressive metal or math metal.

I Speak In Calculus

The Past (2011)
Bandcamp 

Insane thrashy math metal from Michigan.

Former Thieves

The Language That We Speak (2011)
Mediafire

The Great and the Alleged Great EP (2010)
Mediafire


Bledfest 2012

Volumes

Via (2011)
Mediafire