Hellbound Metal: “Lychgate is a harrowing experience not for the faint of heart guaranteed to shrivel your soul into a black mass with its dense sonics and disorienting vocal ministrations.”

Hellbound Metal: These guys may not be reinventing the wheel, but as practitioners of the world’s oldest profession, I can dig their modern take on classic rock… ¡Chinga tu madre!

Listeners will find themselves enraptured by the textures and emotional weight, held in place by the sheer gravitas of the music; delighted by the beautiful contradiction of light and darkness.

If this is any indication of what is to come, I think that their return couldn’t have come at a better time. I can’t wait to hear the rest of what Convulse circa 2013 is capable of.

This is an album I will be proud to add to my collection, and it’s one of the few metal albums that’s evoked so many emotions in me.

Inamorata is an emotionally taxing journey leaving you breathlessly heartbroken and physically exhausted yet hungry for more. If you’re a fan of aggressive, heartfelt and challenging metal, to let Inamorata pass you by would be simply opprobrious.

This September Gilead Media and Mirror Universe will co-release a split LP featuring two of USBM’s best, Barghest from Baton Rouge, LA and Minneapolis, MN’s, False. Both bands are coming off successful 2011s, which saw Barghest release their debut self-titled full-length and an untitled EP from False. While these two bands are undoubtedly black metal, their styles – at least on this release – are complimentary enough to make this split seem natural, yet distinguishing enough that there would be no confusing the two.

Talk about a surprise, the debut full length by Georgia’s Royal Thunder has got to be the sleeper hit of the summer, and one of the most unexpected, surprising albums so far this year.