Adam Brennan

Northern Irish thrashers Gama Bomb rustle up more killer riffs on Speed Between The Lines

Brummie hellblazers Anaal Nathrakh conjure anthems for doomed youth on A New Kind Of Horror

Another meeting of minds from Metal Allegiance with Volume II: Power Drunk Majesty

Artful Australians Circles attempt to bend tech metal into a new shape with The Last One

Returning metalcore bruisers The Agony Scene skip an evolutionary step with Tormentor

Prog metal posterboys Between The Buried And Me kick convention into the long grass on Automata II

Indonesia’s metal kings Burgerkill set out to build their empire with Adamantine

Blasphemy Awakes is a rare outing from Danish death metal merchants Thorium

Gothenburg’s prodigal pioneers At The Gates stay on a full charge

Emotionally devastating, progressive doom from the Lone Star State

Big-sounding, Fredrik Nordström-infused melodeath from a tiny country

Boston hardcore crew return with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it third album

Groove-laden modern thrash get prepped by the pits

Zakk Wylde keeps his reinstated mentor in mind

Progressive voyagers bring the riches – and the stitches

Atlanta’s rejuvenated riff lords run rampant in the Welsh valleys

UK death metallers combine polish with potency

Phil Anselmo’s black metal venture leaves a trail of desolation

Antaeus frontman makes a fierce declaration of independence

Australia’s reunited ruffians overcome their confines

West coast metallic hardcore bruisers in need of more moves

British metal masters reach a new high ground of heavy

Norway’s eclectic metalcore bruisers hit too many shades