Quite the brutal list and 6 highlights mark the return of RotW!

What a wonderful release to get back on track with our Releases of the Week articles: out of nowhere (or rather Croatia to be a bit more precise), Sikasa’s debut album “Matter Earth” should appeal to everyone who likes their progressive metal dark and melancholic, with a fine balance between melody and heaviness. Both songwriting and production can definitely hold a candle or two to the big names of the genre like Opeth, Katatonia, Mastodon or even Moonspell for that slight gothic touch. A beautiful melancholic surprise that deserves to be heard far and wide! Dario

Trudging slightly more sludgy waters are Obiat from London, presenting their fourth album “Indian Ocean”. Spicing up their solid foundation of stoner/doom metal with exquisite psychedelic and prog flourishes, “Indian Ocean” makes for a very cool listen with a few surprises up their sleeves in the form of instrumental guest performances with various flutes, trombones and saxophones. Dario

Holding up the flame of good old traditional melodic prog metal in the vein of Symphony X or Adagio are Atomic Symphony from Switzerland. Their second album “Hybris” got everything an album in this particular sub-genre needs: groovy yet driving metal riffs, big orchestrations and strong melodies delivered with passion and conviction, as displayed masterfully in the 10-minute opener ‘Nightfall’ already. Highly recommended for fans of the genre. Set me free, release me! Dario

Without a doubt the most avant-garde release of this bunch of highlights this week, Kekal hails from Jakarta, Indonesia and they have been at it since 1995 already! I’ve been familiar with the band name for quite a while already, but never managed to really check them out to be honest. That might have been a huge mistake, as their take on rock, metal and electronic music is so different and unique that I can’t wait to dive into their discography as well as absorb their 13th(?) full length offering “Envisaged” a bit more. Dario

Diving into classic (or even cliché?) death metal topics right away with the opening banger ‘Humanity is Cancer’, German band Antilles takes no prisoners with their brutal new EP “Entheos”. Brutality in different tempos, from highspeed to menacingly creeping, some Dimmu Borgir/Behemoth style symphonic epicness in addition to blistering neo-classical guitar solos makes this 28 minute slap in the face stand out from the ‘all br00tal, all technical, forgot the melodies tho’ crowd. Dario

Representing a progressive death metal style that is slightly more modern than that of Antilles, also incorporating djent and core elements, Pennsylvania-based The World Without Us (kind of the logical continuation of the ‘Humanity is Cancer’/’All Terrestrials Must Vanish’ theme on Antilles’ “Entheos” EP) know how to impress on this compact 20 minute 4-track EP “Body Forth”, combining some nasty breakdowns with powerful hook-lines. Good stuff. Dario