Zygoma‘s The Highest Court is a progressive death metal album with mathcore elements to it that came out on May 17th. It’s got the heavies, it’s got the melodies, it’s got the mathies… It’s pretty good, check it out!

Kel Valhaal‘s New Introductory Lectures on the System of Transcendental Qabala will release on July 15th, but the album was briefly available on Soundcloud so I got to listen to it in its entirety. Coming from Liturgy’s mastermind, it really doesn’t sound too different, except it’s all-electronic. Actually, it’s quite close to The Ark Work if it was programmed on a toaster. Pretty good and interesting, so keep an eye on it.

Here’s something we don’t get to see often: an Iranian doom metal band. Most specifically, The Unknown is an atmospheric/symphonic doom band, and In Search of the Unknown is a four-part song totalling almost forty minutes. Musically, it is very ambient, with lots of spoken word passages. Given the nationality, that also means a thick accent which somewhat detracts you from the experience, unfortunately. I would’ve preferred it being spoken in Persian, the official Iranian language, but I guess the goal was to spread their message to the most people. If you can tolerate the spoken English, it’s a pretty good listen.

Third Ion will release their next album, Biolith, on July 8th, and, as for their precedent effort, 13/8 Bit, it’s a chiptune- and video games-inspired progressive metal album. I feel they really stepped up the vocals on this one, as they felt a bit weak on their previous. The musicianship and songcrafting is still on point, and I can’t wait to listen to it again, more focused.

Supergroup Sumac releases What One Becomes on June 10th. If you liked their previous album, get ready because this one is even better in all the right places. It’s gross but engrossing, and its lengthy songs will leave you marked. I just feel like Blackout was a bit drawn out and could’ve been shortened to be more effective, but that’s my main and only criticism for now.

hereAndNow‘s Flipside Story, despite its nauseating capitalization, is a pretty decent melodic death metal album from Bulgaria, coming out on June 16th. It’s pretty unoriginal and fairly standard for the genre, but it’s well-executed enough to be worth listening to.

On June 18th, Robin Buyer Sextet will release their post-minimalistic contemporary jazz/math rock album, Leave. It’s a very refreshing take on the genre that really retains both the math rock and the jazz vibes. I truly recommend you keep an eye open for them in the future, but they didn’t release any stream or teaser for the public yet they just released a single for it, “Shelter”, which you can stream right now!

And finally, France’s Anwkozik released Objects in Motion on May 24th. It’s another math rock jazz fusion album, but with a completely different take on it. I still have to listen to it fully, but it sounds very, very promising. It sounds like math rock compositions being played by a jazz sextet, with some funk and other experimentation. I recommend you check this one out as well!