Peaceville/Stomp

Darkthrone - Circle the Wagons (Peaceville/Stomp)

Norwegian black metal pioneers are back! Or should I say Black/Punk pioneers? Maybe Blue Collar Metal pioneers? The fact is that Darkthrone are once again delivering the finest metal that only a band with more than 20 years of existence could offer!

Circle the Wagons is topping the string of releases which people out there are calling black punk.

Katatonia - Night is the New Day (Peaceville/Stomp)

This is music for gliding through bleak, chilly woods at 3 am. Or staying at home and having a shovel. Either way it's pretty excellent.

As I write this, it’s tipping down with snow outside my window, and looking bleak and frostbitten in a pretty, delicate Dickensian way.

My Dying Bride – For Lies I Sire (Peaceville/Stomp)

The Kings (and Queens) of gloom are back with their tenth album of wrist-cutter lullabies.

I’ll confess now I haven’t listened to My Dying Bride for many years now so I was coming into this without any expectations.