DEAD METAL

If you would like to win the two Black Market releases pictured above, just head over to  the Dead Metal Facebook page  and comment on the post about this giveaway there. It's open to anyone worldwide, but you do need to have 'liked' the Facebook page to qualify. The competition closes at midnight (GMT) this Thursday (19th December). A winner will then be chosen at random, and notified on Facebook.

Both of these American bands have been active since 2014. Each brings two death-doom tracks to the table for this album-length volume. Shrine Of The Serpent's contributions are weighty, crushing affairs with a lot of sludge influence. Black Urn also has some sludge going on, as well as black metal elements and a dose of funeral doom. It's a highly cohesive split, and Black Urn's cover of Junkhead by Alice In Chains is an interesting inclusion. Black Market have handled the CD release, with vinyl and cassette treatments coming from Godz Ov War and Calgari. You can preview it below, and pick up a copy  here .

Black Market have done the honours with the first full-length from this Swedish quartet. Ov Shadows play black metal with doomy sections, and they switch very effectively between the moody and the punishing. Their debut is an intense, atmospheric journey. It's well-written, well-executed and cohesive; and it demands repeated listening. The Darkness Between Stars follows the also-excellent  Monologues  EP, which was self-released on digital formats in 2016 and given the cassette treatment by Funeral Chants in 2017. You can hear the album below, and buy it here .

01  Evoken - Hypnagogia  (Profound Lore) 02  Dysylumn - Occultation  (Egregor) 03  Ov Shadows - The Darkness Between Stars  (Black Market) 04  1914 - The Blind Leading The Blind  (Redefining Darkness/Archaic) 05  Monstrosity - The Passage Of Existence  (Metal Blade) 06  Memoriam - The Silent Vigil  (Nuclear Blast) 07  Assumption - Absconditus  (Everlasting Spew/Sentient Ruin) 08  Ataraxy - Where All Hope Fades  (Dark Descent/Me Saco Un Ojo) 09 Hostil - Infernal Rites  (Not On Label) 10  Void Rot - Consumed By Oblivion  (Everlasting Spew/Sentient Ruin) *edit* Antichrist - Pax Moriendi  and  Deicide - Overtures Of Blasphemy should have made this list

27th MARCH Graceless   - Where Vultures Know Your Name  (Raw Skull Recordz) Graceless have been featured a number of times previously . Here we have the band's second full-length, following 2017's Shadowlands (and last year's split with Grond). If you enjoyed either of those releases you will not be disappointed. For fans of : Vader, Bolt Thrower, Obituary 27th MARCH Angerot   - The Divine Apostate   (Redefining Darkness) This blackened death metal band released their debut album (The Splendid Iniquity) in 2018 (on the also-excellent  Black Market Metal Label ). Pre-order for their sophomore effort goes live 30th January, so the link won't work until then. For fans of : Morbid Angel, Entombed, Behemoth

The Darkening is Belgian band that existed between 1993 and 1999. Following a demo in 1995, they self-released their one-and-only full-length in 1996. Awake is death metal with strong doom and black metal elements, and some tasty synth action. The album has something of a Greek sound, it could certainly be filed next to early Rotting Christ . Original copies are  rare , but a bootleg version has recently hit the market. You can preview this lesser-known gem in full below.