We have recently written pieces anticipating the release of new records by ACxDC, Kohti Tuhoa, Okkultokrati, and Paradise Lost, all of which happened today. However, being a Friday and all, many more interesting records are coming out. Below, find a brief round-up of five which we found interesting.

6^th Circle – «Pacified / Conjuring» | [Sentient Ruin]

Last year, you might have caught the debut full length of Matt Auxier’s 6^th Circle, entitled «The Third Estate» (it can be streamed and purchased here) and released by Sentient Ruin. Before the release of that rather interesting fusion of contemporary EBM and industrial sounds, there had been two tapes in 2018, namely, «Pacified» (released by Knife Vision) and «Conjuring» (released by Phage Tapes), in which Auxier laid down the foundation of the project’s sound. Now, both of the project’s initial salvos have been remixed by Auxier and are being released in vinyl format by Sentient Ruin.

«Pacified / Conjuring» was released today by Sentient Ruin on digital and vinyl formats and can be ordered here.

Aksumite – «Miserable Mentor» | [Colloquial Sound]

Let’s keep this as concise as the music demands: Aksumite are fucking back with new metalpunk for the first time since «Vinegar Perimeter» in 2018 (about which we wrote stuff here). The new release is titled «Miserable Mentor» was recorded at a distance and can be found at this location in both cassette and digital formats, courtesy of Colloquial Sound.

In The Company Of Serpents – «LUX» | [Independent]

For their fourth album in slightly less than a decade of existence, the Denver, Colorado based outfit In The Company Of Serpents have expanded their core formation of J. P. Damron on drums and Grant Netzorg on guitars and vocals to also include Ben Pitts on bass and guitars. Their new album, «Lux», clocks at almost 45 minutes, features guest violinist Paul Primus on the songs «Daybreak» and «Nightfall», as well as guest vocalists Ethan Lee McCarthy (Many Blessings, Primitive Man, and Vermin Womb) and Ben Hutcherson (Glacial Tomb and Khemmis) on «Scales Of Meat», arguably the heaviest song on the album. «Lux» can be heard below in its entirety. Its themes, illustrated by the trio of analogies “all is sound, all is mind,” and “all is light,” have been explained here in detail by Grant Netzorg to Decibel in an interview which includes a track-by-track analysis from the band’s singer/guitarist.

«Lux» was independently released today and is available in cd, digital, and vinyl formats at this location. It was recorded last summer at the Flatline Audio in Denver, with Dave Otero handling production, mixing, and mastering duties.

Tithe – «Penance» | [Tartarus]

The first of two Tartarus Records records that are coming out today is «Penance», the debut full-length of death/sludge trio Tithe. As the press release puts it, the band’s blend of violent music is “strange and unorthodox but unapologetically so” adding that they “create warped dirges of death metal deviated further by stabs of raw grindcore and undertones of swampy sludge/doom.” The band cites Dystopia, Neurosis, Insect Warfare, Noothgrush, and Pig Destroyer as major influences, which should paint an even clearer picture of what to expect below.

«Penance» was released today by Tartarus on cassette, digital, and vinyl formats, all of which can be ordered here. It was recorded and mixed at the Haywire Recording Studios and mastered at Telegraph Mastering.

Throwing Bricks – «What Will Be Lost» | [Tartarus]

Describing the evolution of this five-piece from 2013 demo until today’s debut release by the Groningen based Tartarus, the label says the band “started out as a vicious hardcore unit, but in recent years has grown to be a lot more than that. Mixing their punk beginnings with slow and crushing sludge riffs and dashes of black metal and screamo, the project has evolved into the heavy yet energetic juggernaut it is today.” The result, which is said to capture an “emotional feeling which comes as close to their live shows as possible,” can be confirmed below to indeed sprawl from punk hardcore into post metal, black, screamo, and sludge territories, in a way that is not too alien to fans of the likes of Amenra or Oathbreaker.

Recorded by Wessel Reijman at the Catacomben Studios, «What Will Be Lost» was released today by Tartarus on cassette and digital formats. It can be ordered here.