Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor (2015)

   Officially the 2003 released "The Golden Age of Grotesque" was Marilyn Manson's last commercially successful album and the band have been at their peak of success being played as frequently as never before (though it was pretty much a forgettable album). Over a decade long silence came after that basically wasn't silent, since 3 albums came out meanwhile, only they've been completely inostensible. And unexpectedly Marilyn Manson have returned with "The Pale Emperor", a record, that brought back exactly that kind of music what used to make people liking their music so much. However, a few things have been changed meanwhile in general.
   Even though the music was able to bring back what so many have been waiting for, and the album also included the same spirit, that insulted every good hypochristian American back then, Mr. Manson didn't become a common scapegoat like how he used to be back then (which also meant no free commercial). The world has changed meanwhile. Rough social criticism didn't reach people's unjustified oversensitivity in the mid '10s like 15 years ago, such as Mr. Manson's androgynous appearance. First the emo subculture, later the rainbow cult turned the whole thing as a trend, therefore the shock rock factor didn't work like before, and this definitely had effect on the sales. However "The Pale Emperor" was able to reach the quality that was long lost after "Holy Wood" by including plenty of catchy songs that are both reflecting some actual and plenty of good old features. The band's darker, more ominous tone with raw social criticism wasn't new, but long time missing, and its return proved to be the best step that the band have made in the past 15 years. It worked well even being combined with the softer and more chilling tone, that have been completely usual during the forgettable period. This way the music became catchy, easy to go into and a bit more diverse too, though diversity in Mr. Manson's music was never a sensible factor during exact albums. Probably the endeavours of creating unified sound have been responsible for the homogeneity of each Marilyn Manson album. For most old fans "The Pale Emperor" finally wasn't disappointing and could have been nostalgic too, cause it recalled the feeling why they've become Marilyn Manson fans back then.

Relentless - Night Terrors (2015)

    As it was previously mentioned, Relentless was formed as a strongly doom influenced heavy metal band. Their music had such old school touch that was long lost from the main metal scene, and their second album, "Night Terrors" gave a slightly different perspective for the same ancient, and therefore very familiar concept.
   Even though the doom metal influence still could be sensed, it was restricted to the lyrical concept and vocal style, while from the music it was nearly gone. Only for one song ("Ancient Realm") it have returned similarly like on the debut, bust still without doom metal riffs. Basically intense heavy metal themes are dominant during the whole album, slow tempo isn't usual anymore, but still the ominous, vintage doom feeling is there, thanks to Miss Carlee Jackson's impressive vocal performance. Even if vocals alone are basically not used to be enough to determine the style of the music, they're definitely enough to give another tone for it. "Night Terrors" also have excellent themes, that doesn't make ordinary heavy metal to seem retired like most who are tryings to bring back the style (not if there would be many bands trying), but it's quite refreshing to hear something vintage and great the same time in nowadays metal scene. "Night Terrors" might be pretty enjoyable for both the fans of  '80s heavy and doom metal. 

Holocaustum - In the Fields They Bled (2015)

   By their returning album, Holocaustum continued the musically diverse path of their debut with some great improvements. 
   The role of the atmospheric sound decreased, and cleaner, heavier sound took its place. This turned out to be an advantageous step, cause therefore the catchy, melodic themes gained more focus. The album's musical wealthiness is pretty impressive, it's way more diverse than an ordinary death metal album, but at the other hand the themes are enough unified and the song structures having enough evident continuity, to not switch on progressive field. If not basically heavy/power metal with growling vocal style would cover the term melodic death metal, Holocaustum's music could serve as a more accurate definition. It's melodic and didn't lose the death metal musical features, unlike most bands sorted to the melodic death subgenre. The guitar themes also having even more blackened touch than before, which are responsible for the remaining atmospheric impression. Combined with the intense drumming style, many of their compositions could fit into black metal too. This also made the band kinda exceptional, since similar theme selection isn't usual at American bands in general, and they definitely did it better than most Americans who claimed to play black metal. In total "In the Fields They Bleed" is an excellent, quite diverse and enjoyable album, could be a potential favorite for the fans of death, black/death and melodic death metal.

Seraphic Disgust - Altarcunt (2015)

   Seraphic Disgust's short, kinda EP length, and stunning debut includes more surprises and diversity that used to be expected from a black/death band. 
   The album's imagery strongly reminds to how war metal covers used to look like, but the band's music is way more diverse than how war metal used to be. "Altarcunt" starts with a pretty heavy and intense song that's definitely sounds like black/death metal at its best. But as the album goes on the measure of old school death themes are slowly increasing, and the songs becoming more '90s old school death oriented. And meanwhile slower themes showing up too, leaving behind some strong death/doom impression. If this step by step switch wasn't intentional and it's just the consequence of the band member's various influences, it could be taken as the raw, experimenting approach of a young band trying to find their own style. If it was intentional, the combination of black, death and doom metal instantly reminding to Goatlord, not to mention the mixed influenced music of  '90s South American extreme metal bands. The assistance of two different vocal styles (deep growling and black metal styled cawing) also showing orientation for black/death or to death metal the same time. Whatever could be the case, by "Altarcunt" Seraphic Disgust left open various possibilities how to continue their musical journey, and all possible options (black/death, death/doom, or even the combination of both) could sound quite promising. 

Gruesome - Savage Land (2015)

   Similar to Skeletal Remains, Gruesome also formed as band self-dedicated not only to recall the feeling of the early '90s death metal the most accurately, but also to imitate Death's "Spiritual Healing" era the most accurately as possible. 
   The production, the sound, and the themes are all great as they are, and the music probably wouldn't be so annoying for those who never listened to Death, but if individuality and genuineness does have any importance for the listener, the charisma of "Savage Land" would probably vanish in the moment when "Spiritual Healing" would get introduced. How does it make sense to basically recreate a classic album by the same themes only to put them together in different order and into different songs? Probably an ordinary tribute album with cover songs would make it better. Even if it's clear for everyone that they intended to tribute to the legacy of Death in their own way, or that it's just a fun made thing, where the only sign of creativity comes in the form of riffs and themes taken from other Death albums. This is something that nowadays AI could do as well, and probably in 2015 it wasn't the case, but still, it was basically a useless effort to create something valueless. But the most entertaining paradox was the positive welcome by many music critics, who used to pull down most extreme bands by marking them as nothing new, cause their stimulus-threshold could be crossed mostly by hipster music. But when they hear something that could serve as the most accurate definition of a rip-off, the antithesis of vision or imagination, they actually digging it. Or maybe was it the importance of the concept again? If it's announced and stated at the very beginning, that the concept is copying a classic band, it makes the performance more enjoyable for some than whole genre or style based influences could be?
   However, Gruesome's music is mainly recommended for hipster metal journalists/music critics and their followers, for everyone else: just keep listening to Death instead. 

Nervous Impulse - Time to Panic (2015)

   True to their name, Nervous Impulse have placed quite high standards by their debut if it's about intensity and musickness. Therefore probably it wasn't easy to exceed the first album, but by looking at the details, "Time to Panic" could be marked as a successful attempt.
   The suddenly switching song structures are as insane as ever, and by this step diversity and a constantly frustrated tone is given. But still, some improvement could be sensed in both the themes and the song structures. It's still not the easiest music to go into, but everything comes somehow better organized than before. There are still plenty of unexpected switches that are keeping up the listener's attention and increasing the enjoyability the same time, but this time it's a bit more than pure chaos somehow. And this is proved to be an advantageous improvement. The sound is also heavier than previously, and probably this is responsible for the impression, that this time the band might have focused more on brutal death influenced features. But in truth it's just the side effect of the sound preference, that highlighted heaviness a bit more than on "Enough for Dementia". In total, "Time to Panic" is another excellent death/grind masterpiece, strongly recommended for the fans of the genre. 

Deamonolith - The Monolith Cult of Death (2024)

   By the complexity of Deamonolith's full-lenght debut, it's evident that the band members having a longer past in the metal scene, since the album just doesn't sound like the debut of newbies. 
   Their music in general could fit next to the '00s progressive brutal death bands, except they laid way more importance on unified sound and song compositions. Therefore the experimenting ambitions are limited, and progressive and other mixed influences are easily distinguishable from brutal death hammerings (usually they come by slow downs). Probably the sound went through the most widest spectrum of experiments. While the brutal death parts having a more modern, but the same time noisy, rumbling impression, the softer parts are varying from classic progressive metal themes supporting sterile sound to late '90s third wave black metal atmosphere. The clear separation of death metal and progressive parts turning the contrast between the two directions quite evident, and basically making the music easier to go into than in case of  '00s progressive brutal death bands. The whole thing also might have a more old school oriented, "respect the classics of the genre" perspective, and somehow it seems like as a necessary step to keep the most identifying style features clear. By their intensity and complex themes, bands like Dying Fetus, Vital Remains, Kataklysm and Vader could be named as their possible influences. "The Monolith Cult of Death" might become a potential favorite for the fans of the modern sound of death metal.