Tangled Talk, 2010

Bastions play some fairly brutal hardcore, somewhat like a more straightforward Dillinger Escape Plan, or a more metallic Gallows. The Welsh quartet’s third EP shows a band high on confidence, their abundant aggression focused into songs that are impressively tight (if still deliberately raw). Originally self-released, this is being re-pressed on Tangled Talk complete with screenprinted artwork.

Self-released, 2009

Some very solid prog-metal/hardcore inspired by the likes of August Burns Red and Between The Buried And Me. There’s a healthy death metal influence, and a suitable amount of technicality and melody. Adaptation also frequently hints at territory more ambitious and innovative, suggesting that this debut is the tip of the iceberg for the Kansas 5-piece.

Epitaph, 2009

Seven albums and twenty years in, Converge remain as ferocious as hell. Axe To Fall is as brutal, frenetic, and thrashy as anything before it, but also shows their enduring thirst for expanding their sound (and the versatile musicianship to pull it off); see the slow dirge of “Worms Will Feed” and the Steve Von Till-fronted, Tom Waits-like “Cruel Bloom”. Here’s to the next decade.

A Wolf At Your Door, 2009

Hugely heavy, dual-vocalled, and relentlessly complex, this UK sextet’s impressive debut is like twenty variously-angled fists all intent on meeting your face. Closest to the sadly defunct Sikth – though they still need to fine-tune the balance between technicality and listenability to reach the heights of that band.

Unreleased track, 2009

One track review? Needs must. This is ‘no prisoners’ stuff, making the essentially inaccessible accessible. Uncompromising and esoteric, Danza now take a bold step towards progressive integration of concepts and listeners anew. Clawing at the future of experimental metal? New album will present as many questions as answers.

Victory, 2009

Eye-watering innovation, instrumental dexterity, and ambition never taint BTBAM’s instinct to create a cohesive album. Treading confidently in territories known and new, their integrity rewards listeners with music both rare and strong. A rock-evolving triumph, accessible to all.

Epitaph, 2009

ETID’s fifth full-length combines the huge and dirty southern-flavoured riffs of its predecessor The Big Dirty with the frenetic technical metalcore of earlier Hot Damn territory. Hot-blooded and relentlessly vicious, it’s a contender for their best material yet.