The planet is in trouble. Dire trouble. But fear not: Melbourne seven-piece King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard return to save us all, this time armed only with blast beats, an arsenal of well-oiled guitars that are locked and loaded, and a desire to melt faces clean off. Their fifteenth studio album, Infest The Rats' Nest, out Aug 16th, is by far The Gizz's hardest and heaviest album to date. How metal is it? Very Metal. Maybe even more.

Masters of infernal metal since their inception 25 years ago, Swedish blackened thrash metal pioneers Witchery return with their 8th studio album Nightside. Consisting of Jensen (Guit., The Haunted), Rikard Rimfält (Guit., Seance), Angus Norder (Vox, Nekrokraft), Victor Brandt (Bass, Entombed A.D. / Dimmu Borgir) and Chris Barkensjö (Drums, LIK), Witchery have crafted a timeless horror story, set to some of the sharpest and spikiest metal anthems in recent memory. Once more mixed and produced with Daniel Bergstrand (Behemoth, In Flames, etc.) and featuring 11 tracks across 35 minutes, Nightside is heavy metal witchcraft at its best. The witching hour has arrived…

In the pantheon of Teutonic thrash, Protector occupies a somewhat interesting place. On one hand, they’re a truly oft-unsung and overlooked outfit, rarely if ever mentioned alongside the Holy Trinity of that particular scene, or even beside Tankard…

This style seems to sit in a midway between Gothenburg Death Thrash Metal and Modern Thrash. Tuning style is pretty Neo Thrashy with the crunchy guitar tone and the tight snares. Although fast tremolo picking, Dissection like solos and dissonant melodies adds it a Melodic Black taste. This must be their effort of mixing everything they like, and the result is pretty stunning.

Heart Attack have placed themselves in a healthy position within the framework of the metal scene. Their sound fits in with the sound of so many different bands that they would work on almost any bill, whether that is as support on the tour of a bigger band or headlining a smaller show themselves…

Germany's enduring thrash metal machine KREATOR has been back in the saddle writing top notch, timeless thrash with its last couple of releases, 2017's "Gods of Violence" and 2012's "Phantom Antichrist", reflecting both the genre's roots and an updated approach. "Gods of Violence", in particular, is one of the band's best releases in the last 20 years. Now, closing the longest gap between studio albums in its career, KREATOR return with "Hate Über Allies", a more potent expression of what they've been doing the last decade, but one that also highlights the band's inevitable growth and maturity…