Greetings, fellow metalheads! 

It feels as if just few days ago I was trying to curb the sluttiness of my ears and reduce the amount of amazing albums released in 2023 to a mere 23, and suddenly I'm already adding tracks to our February playlists on Spotify. January has gone by so fast I didn't even prepare my thoughts on December 2023 releases, but I hope you'll have a peek into our playlists and see what gems were hiding there.

And since Nate already struck a rebellious tone by including Cruciamentum's album on December list (the album can be found on our November playlist on Spotify if you want to check it out), we're descending even further into chaos as true followers of the left hand path, and I'll mention the few albums from MetalBite's Top 10 from December 2023 on my January 2024 summary. And it's not even just 10, because there are also some honorable mentions, so generally numbers do not mean anything anymore. Some of the releases are not on Spotify, so obviously make sure to visit Bandcamp profiles, too, and while you're there you might get some merch directly from the bands. So, the creations from Debember 2023 MetalBite folks recommend and can be found on our playlist came from: Dwelling Below, Winterhorde, Devil's Reef, Cryptworm, Revulsed, Nornir, Demoncy, Vargrav, Varathron, Phobocosm and Geistaz'ika. I would also mention the latest Helfró, which I liked so much it made it to my list of favourite albums of all time. And let's not forget that Therion released an album in the same month.

Now, since you decided to join me in the war on maths and restrictions, let's get on with the full releases from January 2024. Two releases certainly drew my attention due to putting some fun into metal by their band names, track names and album cover art - Cancer Christ and At the Plates, both certainly put a smile on my face. There are some heavyweights here as well - Ribspreader (turning 21 this year!), Saxon, Master, we also got female fronted Madder Mortem and Lucifer, new material from Inquisition, Exocrine (I'm definitely excited to check this one out as their previous release is one of my all-time favourites) and Blood Red Throne, to mention a few. The playlist with full albums has even more sounds to offer, click below:

The list of EPs released in January include Panzerchrist, who are spoiling us with the new material (after 10 years' wait we got a new album in 2023 and there's a follow-up EP in 2024 already). The other bands who decided neither to go big nor go home are Krvna, Slope, Lifesick, Karnak Seti, Extinction A.D., Alluvial, DIR EN GREY, The Crypt, Smerdead, Ancient Settlers, Voltumna, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter and Winter Ov Thanatoz. Good for filling half of your daily shift (or even a full shift if it includes phone calls to support because random shit is not working and meetings which could have been an e-mail), the list can be found under the link below:

The singles list could cover two full uninterrupted shifts, maybe even journey there and back if it's not far. We got new tracks from Vitriol (full album already out), The Absence, Drown in Sulphur (quite a few sounds from their full album caught my attention), Dödsrit (album already reviewed on our website), The Last Ten Seconds of Life, Enslaved, Exhorder, Charlotte Wessels (with Allisa White-Gluz as a guest), Aborted (with guest performance from Alex Erian), Borknagar, Vltimas, Necrophobic, Ov Sulfur (featuring Lukas Nicolai), Monkey3, Korpiklaani, Invent Animate, Ingested, Ihsahn, Organectomy, Judas Priest, Hideous Divinity, Doro (cover version of "The Four Horsemen"), Khold, Vredehammer, Skeletal Remains, Walg, Distant's collaboration with Within Destruction, Orecus (with omnipresent Björn "Speed" Strid as a guest), Bruce Dickinson, Baest, Job for a Cowboy and many, many more. The playlist with an old-school radio vibe can be found below:

The splits list is quite short, we have Graveir part of their split with Thrall, Aberration/Diabolic Oath, Grim Fate/Mouflon, Ivctvs/Suspirium and Podridão/Convulsive. Head on to the list by clicking the link:

If you work alone from home or from a cubicle where you don't have contact with other people but for some weird reason you are an extrovert and miss crowds, we've got you covered with the live performances from Crystayler, Mean Machine, Hexis, Satanika, Nunslaughter, Samael, Vitam et Mortem, Marduk, Artillery, Temic, Whitechapel and Batushka. The link can be found below:

Reworks of some older material also came out in January and they included Warforged, Athemon, Misanthrope, Reencarnacion, Anciients, Beyond the Black, Blutgott, Retched, Alice Cooper, Marduk, Antropofagus and Analepsy. The playlist with the different take on the originals can be found below:

I've come across only one compilation album in January and it came from Integrity with their "All Death is Mine: Total Domination":

Enjoy all the sounds I've managed to find for you and as usual share them with as many people as possible, follow our profile to keep up with the latest releases and remember to support your favourites. And join my community of people with slutty ears. It's not my fault, I've got big head and my ears are always spread wide. And don't forget to mosh responsibly \m/

Your fellow metalhead,

Maciek