As if “new Neurosis” wasn’t enough on its own, they had to go and bring ISIS’ Aaron Turner in too! The usual Neurosis weight is still here in full, but the post-hardcore, industrial, and slight electronic touches make it hit from stranger angles.

Playlist Companion: Post-Metal Essentials

If dark metal with a machine-like pulse is your thing, “Hidden Empire” should be right up your alley.

It’s got all the chuggy heaviness you’d want from a death metal/deathcore record, but there’s so much atmosphere and proggy detail here that it sticks more than a lot of albums in this lane and could easily pull in fans from other corners of metal too.

Playlist Companion: Post-Death Metal & Deathgaze

Bizarrekult do a great job here of balancing atmosphere with bite, with “Håp,” “Aversjon,” and “Tomhet” showing the album’s more expansive side while “Blikket Hennes,” “Avmakt,” and “Drøm” go for the throat with abrasive riffing and a colder Nordic feel.

Playlist Companion: Atmospheric Black Metal

All huge orchestration, blackened atmosphere, and breakdowns piled on top of each other until it almost feels ridiculous.

Playlist Companion: Deathcore & Heavy Metalcore

Solid comeback track from Karmanjakah, pushing further into the atmospheric side of their sound without losing that prog-metal weight underneath.

Playlist Companion: Progressive Metal [w/ heavy atmospherics]

Inferi basically distilling their usual galaxy-brained tech-death chaos into one lean, vicious track with a stupidly catchy melodic payoff.

Playlist Companion: Melodic / Technical Death Metal