Gnosis is the highly anticipated 8th full length from Russian Circles.

Hin helga kvöl (The Holy Suffering) is a profound exploration of raw emotion and stark beauty, deeply inspired by Sólstafir’s cultural heritage and Iceland's breathtaking landscapes.
Sólstafir, meaning "crepuscular rays" in Icelandic, refers to sunlight piercing through dark clouds at dusk, capturing the essence of Hin helga kvöl, a beacon of hope shining through the heaviest of times. Sólstafir confronts inner demons and transcends rock and roll decadence, creating music that resonates with the universal struggle and triumph over hardship.
Recorded at Flóki Studios in the remote Skagafjörður, Iceland, the change of scenery has profoundly influenced the album's atmosphere. Hin helga kvöl features eight tracks blending Sólstafir's signature melancholic sound with elements from their past, merging black metal roots with tuneful, anthemic rock.

Five years after the release of Hearts of No Light, Swiss avant garde experimentalists Schammasch return with the follow up, The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean - set for release via Prosthetic Records on October 25. This upcoming release will be the second in an ongoing series of works by Schammasch that draws from Les Chants de Maldoror - one of the 19th century’s most fascinating literary works which would later become part of the foundation of the surrealist movement. Sonically, the album charts the continued evolution in the sound of Schammasch; dark, gothy undertones rise often to the surface with sultry spoken word taking centre stage at various points. A pulsating, monolithic rhythm flows through the album with their atmospheric take on post-black metal providing a majestic backdrop - replete with a love for detail and the use of unusual elements like accordions, classical orchestration or industrial soundscapes…

Although they're best known as the Ocean, this Berlin, Germany, outfit's original name is perhaps more fitting - the Ocean Collective - as they are a hefty eight members strong. And on the group's 2007 release, Precambrian, the Ocean continue to specialize in a hard-hitting approach that touches upon such similar styles as extreme metal and doom metal. But unlike the majority of groups that fall under either of these two categories, the Ocean are not a one-dimensional band. No siree, as such styles as prog ("Neoarchean") and even Middle Eastern-esque soundscapes ("Siderian") are used to create some much needed shelter - albeit momentary - from all the fury. However, don't be fooled into thinking that Precambrian is all about surprise detours - ditties such as the album-opening "Hadean" and "Paleoachean" are instant headbanging highlights…

What a difference three years and a new vocalist make. German-Swiss band the Ocean has had nearly 40 members since songwriter/guitarist Robin Staps founded the Ocean Collective a decade ago. The addition of vocalist Loïc Rossetti has, according to Staps, influenced the very nature of how the Ocean creates music. Heliocentric is the first of two companion albums to be issued in 2010.
Musically, Heliocentric stands apart from everything the Ocean has ever recorded. The band’s production and compositional approaches are much more spacious than on previous outings. For starters, Rossetti spends most of his time actually singing rather than growling. There are more textures here, but they are employed economically…

As befits their namesake, the Ocean think big. This album is the second half of a two-disc set; the first half, Heliocentric, was released at the beginning of 2010, with this disc finishing out the year. These two discs succeed a two-CD set, Precambrian, released in 2007. Each of these (each Ocean record, really) is a sit-down-with-the-lyric-sheet-and-ponder experience; it's possible to just let the loud guitars and thundering drums wash over you, as you would with, say, High on Fire, but that's so clearly not what the band wants to happen that Anthropocentric ceases to be cathartic, like all the best metal, and starts to feel like homework. That's not to say that the band doesn't rock. "The Grand Inquisitor II: Roots & Locusts" has a headlong fury that's reminiscent of the Mars Volta at times, and the title track is a near-ten-minute stomp, like Isis crossed with the early-'90s hardcore band Judge…

Since issuing Aeolian in 2005, Berlin's continually evolving extreme music collective the Ocean have created conceptual recordings that reflect the evolutionary, violent character of nature itself with a musical signature that combines progressive, sludge, hardcore, and atmospheric post-metal. Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic is the first of two releases - the second is forthcoming in 2020. After 2013's glorious Pelagial, which charted the savage and harmonious life of the sea, Phanerozoic I returns the focus to solid ground; it is the proper sequential sequel to 2007's Precambrian and the missing link between it and 2010's Heliocentric/Anthropocentric.
While Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic continues some of the genre traits and strategies of Pelagial, it's musically more akin to the progressive metal feel of Precambrian…

Since 2007's Precambrian, the Ocean has become increasingly conceptual. Two separate offerings from 2010, Heliocentric and Anthropocentric, had longtime fans in a quandary as to whether the band were visionaries or merely pretentious. Over two years in the making, Pelagial was originally envisaged by guitarist, lyricist, and band mastermind Robin Staps as a single piece of instrumental music that charted the seven levels of the sea - Epipelagic, Mesopelagic, Bathypelagic, Abyssopelagic, Hadopelagic, Demersal, and Benthic - by portraying their depths musically, from the surface where light enters (Epipelagic) to the murky, enclosed-in-darkness ocean floor (Benthic) where bottom feeders live. Staps was also influenced deeply by Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky's masterpiece Stalker, a work that charts the journey of three men through a bleak (presumably post-apocalyptic) landscape to a room where all desires can be fulfilled…

'An Age Among Them' is the debut full length from London's Rinoa. In the short time since their EP release in 2008 the band have created a massive buzz and wowed crowds across the UK with their passionate, attention grabbing live show. In 2009 they released a split EP with label mates Bossk. 'An Age Among Them' is both mellow and extremely heavy. Sublime melody and subtle guitar work give way to soaring expansive sections, crushingly heavy yet epic and extremely emotive. Recorded and produced by Jonny Renshaw of Devil Sold His Soul.

When times are tough, or you’re feeling worn down, you start longing for a life of total peace. A life where there are no fights, arguments or lies; where there is no such thing as disappointment and your actions have no consequences. Some might call it a “fantasy world”. Genre-jumping Belgian trio Brutus call it the “Unison Life” – a phrase that titles their third studio album. Unison Life is about all the stuff that wears you down in the first place. It’s the ugliness, the pain, and the acts of bravery that get you through it all. Beginning with a portrait of contentment and unravelling from there, the album goes into battle and asks what really counts. In their own words: “Is this Unison Life a hoax? Or a quest?”

As the world we live in grows darker and more bewildering with every passing day, the transformative power of music has never been more vital. Formed in the small French town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze at the dawn of the century, underground icons Alcest have always been clear about their desire to transport listeners to somewhere different, somewhere better. Led by founder and multi-instrumentalist Neige, the French artists have been one of the most consistently radical voices in all of heavy music, with a sound that eschews metal's often myopic devotion to casting shadows, in favour of a sublime blend of darkness and blinding bright light.
Recorded by Neige and drummer Winterhalter themselves, Alcest's seventh full length release Les Chants de L'Aurore pulls off the neat trick of sounding both huge and intimate…

The debut full-length from Jambinai, originally released in February 2012, is a challenging and compelling affair that won them the prize for "Best Crossover Album" at the 2013 Korean Music Awards.