Arsis - United in Regret: Not a whole lot of improvement or advancement from their two previous albums. Then again, they perfected their hard-edged sound early on. Full of lovely semi-melodic tracks such as "Lust Before the Maggots Conquest". - 8/10

Funeral - From These Wounds: Most of Funeral's original lineup is now deceased or despoiling greener pastures. For their latest effort, some female vocalists have been brought in; as a result it sounds a lot more like Evanescence than anything else. Certainly light years away from their early 90s sound. Only a handful of decent material. - 5/10

Watain - Sworn to the Dark: Completely awesome Swedish black metal with actual production values. If you aren't into BM this certainly won't convert you. Tracks like "Satan's Hunger" will melt your face with raw power and necromancy. The few bland ambient tracks are necessary but still weak. -9/10

Wormphlegm - Tomb of the Ancient King: Stunning epic doom. Three tracks averaging 20 minutes or so apiece form a breathtaking whole. The vocals and volume are harsh to the extreme, so non-initiates beware. It sounds like a concert broadcast directly from the bowels of Hell. Naturally I love it. -10/10

Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing: Obnoxious bubblegum pop. More thoughts of suicide listening to "Girlfriend" than my entire doom collection. 1/10