Greetings fellow metalheads!

One third of the year is behind us which means it's time to do the summary of April! It's that time when we can enjoy some warmer temperatures in the northern hemisphere and start preparations for the upcoming open air festivals or, if you're more of an introvert, start hanging thicker curtains to avoid the sun reflecting off your favourite screen. And thanks to the singles released so far you can even start thinking whether our relationship with 2022 is promising and has a chance to become a good memory or if we just wish we could break up and be done with it already. I am pretty happy with the releases so far and some of the ones on the horizon are already making me excited for the upcoming months.

Now, let me help you make a decision whether 2022 gets "yay" or "nay", starting with, as usual, the releases which need full commitment AKA the albums. The releases which require the band members to acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses and in the end decide that staying in the same room with other people for a bit longer is worth it. The fruit of long-term relationships which need mentioning came from Battle Beast, Caliban, Dawohl, Dead Head, thrash metal legends Destruction, Dreamtale, Evil Invaders, Kaamos Warriors (who release their spawn like rabbits, but in their case it's actually a good thing, I strongly recommend checking this one out), Rammstein, NWOBHM legends Satan, The Spirit, Trick or Treat, Watain and Wömit Angel. All of the above and more can be found here:

Now, the releases from relationships where people involved usually still live in separate houses, maybe go on holidays together, but can stay in the same building for no longer than about 25 minutes AKA EPs. The bands included are Aeon of Awareness, Alukah, Archgoat, Atoll, Burial Remains, Centinex, Chasmdweller, Children of the Void (Nor), deathCAVE, The Gathering, La Nausée, Rope Sect, Slimelord, Tygers of Pan Tang and Unholy Desecration. Give them a listen, because it's less than 4.5h and you might find your next favourite, so why not?:

Now it's time for your first dates and one-night stands AKA singles. I would definitely recommend black metal legends from Austria - Belphegor (excited about the full album), also we need to mention new songs came from Bleed From Within, Crematory, Crypta, The Dark Alamorte, Decapitated (with Tatiana from Jinjer), Dehydrated, Demonical, Distant, Fallujah, Genus Ordinis Dei, Jungle Rot (who moved to Unique Leader Records, yay!), Khold, Kreator, Lamb of God with their cover version of Megadeth's "Wake up, Dead" (feat. Dave Mustaine), Lord Belial, Mantar, Mroh, Nordjevel, Origin, Rotting Christ (with Lars from Solefald), Septicflesh, quite unusual 3-track single from Tribulation, Urkraft, Veil of Maya, Viscera (also 3-track, including Radiohead cover), Vreid's cover version of "Paint It Black" (Rolling Stones) and A Wake in Providence. The full list of "quickies" from April is here:

Our list for "swingers" AKA splits includes just one done by Domkraft and Slomatics - "Ascend/Descend":

Some people like other people watching and sometimes they even record it. The ones who definitely made us aware of it in April are: Dawn of Solace, Dzö-nga, Ignited, In Mourning, Killswitch Engage, Kreator, Monosphere, Solitary, Soulfly and Wardruna.

Some people in relationships like to renew their vows and remind themselves the magic moments from the past. Thanks to the list below we can reminisce about old releases from Autarkh, Dead Infection, Essence of Datum, Kreator, The Pineapple Thief, Seas on the Moon, Tombs, Trouble and Withered Land:

And some just like to make a Powerpoint presentation of their happiest moments, just like Mors Principium Est and Wesenwille did with their tracks and gave us these compilation albums:

Remember to share your favourites with others, support the bands you like the most by buying their merch and mosh responsibly!

\m/
Maciek