Featured Albums

A monthly series about albums I really like.

Featured Albums

My Top 20 Albums of 2023

I haven't written on here in a while, but I still want to do my "Top 20 Albums" list for 2023. Hopefully I'll get back into more regular posts as well. 20. Royal Thunder - Rebuilding the Mountain Country: United States Label: Spinefarm Music

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - May 2023 - Cattle Decapitation

I only started listening to Cattle Decapitation a few years ago, as I'm not usually into death metal very much. The unique vocals are what really draw me in. Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite Genre: Death Metal From: San Diego, California, United States Released By: Metal Blade Records Track

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - April 2023 - Spotlights

One of my favourite bands right now, and possibly their strongest album yet. Spotlights is a band I only discovered in the past year or so but have been getting a lot of my listening time. They have a great balance of the heavy sludgy riffs, soft melodic vocals, and

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Sten's Album of the Month - March 2023 - Full of Hell & Primitive Man

It's no secret that I love collab albums, so when two of my favourite bands make one, of course I'm going to be pumped. This album doesn't disappoint, and is a perfect blend of Full of Hell's grind and noise, and Primitive

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Sten's Album of the Month - February 2023 - BIG|BRAVE

BIG|BRAVE are one of my favourite bands of the last few years, yet are somewhat difficult to describe. One term I've seen used is "ambient metal", and I guess that's probably the best way to describe them that I've seen. If

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - January 2023 - Sightless Pit

Sightless Pit was originally the trio of Dylan Walker (Full of Hell), Lee Buford (The Body), and Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota), and I've been a big fan since they released their first singles back in 2020. Kristin has since left the group, but I was still very excited

Featured Albums

My Top 20 Albums of 2022

This year I've decided to just tell you my 20 favourite albums unsorted, because it can get pretty tedious trying to pick some over others. One thing I will say though, is that Cave In's Heavy Pendulum and Russian Circle's Gnosis are above all

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - November 2022 - Elder

Elder isn't a band I'd ever listened to before, but their new album popped up on my radar and I'm really enjoying it. Elder - Innate Passage Genre: Progressive Rock From: Massachusetts, U.S. Released By: Armageddon Shop Track Listing: 1. Catastasis 2. Endless

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - October 2022 - KEN mode

One of my favourite bands, KEN mode, now a four-piece, have put out their new album and it's one of their best in my opinion. Most of the album is the harsh and aggressive KEN mode that we're used to, but then they went and put

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - August 2022 - Russian Circles

It's probably not a surprise that Russian Circles gets my "album of the month" this month. They've been one of my favourite bands for over a decade now. Not only that, but they're amazing to see live; I love getting to see

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Sten's Album of the Month - July 2022 - Ithaca

I first heard Ithaca in 2019 when they released The Language of Injury, and quickly became a fan. That album even made my top albums list that year. The UK has a ton of great metalcore bands these days. It's a genre that I had mostly stopped listening

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - June 2022 - Alexisonfire

The return of the Canadian post-hardcore icons. Having not really listened to much hardcore/punk until a few years ago, I'm a fairly recent fan of Alexisonfire. This album definitely has a different sound than their previous ones; I always appreciate a band that evolves and does what

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - May 2022 - Cave In

Weirdly, I haven't actually been a Cave In fan for horribly long. I knew who they were of course, being a big fan of Old Man Gloom and various other bands from the Boston area. I'm sure this was partially due to convenience, as (almost) none

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Sten's Album of the Month - April 2022 - Helms Alee

I've been a fan of Helms Alee since I first heard Stillicide when it came out in 2016. I think this new album might be their strongest that I've heard; it feels like they really wanted to explore and experiment with their sound, and it paid

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - March 2022 - Mares of Thrace

I've been a big fan of Mares of Thrace ever since I first heard The Pilgrimage many many years ago. I'm not even sure how I initially found out about them, as this predated me getting recommendations from Spotify by quite a few years. When I

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - February 2022 - Rolo Tomassi

To be honest, Rolo Tomassi isn't a band I would have liked a few years ago. My musical tastes have expanded a lot since then and I've gained a lot more appreciation for both music in the realm of post-hardcore, and clean vocals. Not to say

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Sten's Album of the Month - January 2022 - Foxtails

Foxtails is a band that I hadn't heard of before, but this album showed up on my Release Radar playlist on Spotify and I really enjoyed it. Always like finding new and unique stuff. Foxtails - Fawn Genre: Experimental / Screamo From: United States Track Listing: 1. Ego Death

Featured Albums

My Top Albums of 2021

Mostly sticking with the same format as last year; just listing the albums, but adding some info about country and record label. Click here to listen to a playlist with a selection of songs from this list. Click here to listen to a playlist of full albums from this list.

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - November 2021 - Converge, Chelsea Wolfe, & Stephen Brodsky

It's no secret that I absolutely love collaborative albums, so when three of my favourite artists got together to make an album, I was very excited. This album might not be for all Converge fans, but I love it. It's more on the post-metal/sludge metal

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Sten's Album of the Month - October 2021 - Full of Hell

Full of Hell is (in my opinion) by far the greatest grindcore band of at least the last decade, and one of my all-time favourite bands. Every album they put out is relentless brutal grindcore, while still finding ways to experiment and stay fresh. This album even has them venturing

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - September 2021 - Spiritbox

This might seem significantly more "mainstream" then my album recommendations usually are, but not only was September quite light on new releases, but I was pleasantly surprised with just how much I enjoyed listening to this album. Spiritbox - Eternal Blue Genre: Metalcore From: Vancouver, BC, Canada Track

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - August 2021 - Deafheaven

Deafheaven took a giant leap with this album, and I'm sure it will be very polarizing among their fans. They've mostly abandoned the black metal parts of their signature "blackgaze" sound, and have gone from all screamed vocals to practically all singing. Personally I&

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - July 2021 - King Woman

Kristina Esfandiari has a very unique vocal style, and to be honest it was a bit of an acquired taste for me. The more I listen to King Woman the more I'm into it though. This is their sophomore album and I'd recommend checking it out

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - June 2021 - Bossk

You may have noticed that my post for May was/is absent. This was because there didn't seem to be a whole lot of new music coming out. A few good singles that I liked came out, but not really any albums; so I decided to just skip

Featured Albums

Sten's Album of the Month - April 2021 - The Armed

The most mysterious band in hardcore is back with a new album. This album is a continuation of The Armed exploring and developing their own unique style. The three singles they've released from the album are all venturing pretty far from traditional hardcore/punk, but they still have