Wipe the blood from your teeth and get in the pit: it’s time for a recap of this week’s best hardcore, metal, and punk rock. This garbage fire known as 2016 is coming to a close, but there are still a few hard and heavy jams trickling out. The nights are cloudy and the days are growing short, so it’s the perfect time to spin some black metal and worship the dark gods (or celebrate Christmas or whatever). We’re slowly rounding up a list of our favorite jams from the year, but in the meantime check out what’s new this week and bang your head a little. The holidays are upon us, so it’s time to rock out with your candy cane out.

Dealer rip. It’s hard to peg a certain genre on these guys, so we’ll just say they rock and they rock hard. Their album Billionaire Boys Club drops in early 2017 and it has already won next year’s award for best album cover. You have to love a hard rock band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously. These guys are clearly having fun and we applaud them for that. What you should take seriously are Dealer’s killer riffs, grungy sound, and caustic vocals. These dudes have an awesome sound that is like the soundtrack to putting out cigarettes on your tender flesh. Dealer are the audio equivalent of a six day bender filled with cotton candy and violence.  Spend some time at the Billionaire Boys Club below with the track “AM Gold,” and you won’t regret it.

We’ve expressed our love for The Great Old Ones in the past and the premiere of “Mare Infinitum” has only further cemented that love in our hearts. The epic and cinematic scope of this band cannot be understated; their music is absolutely huge. Listening to the track below will transport you to a dark world filled with the unimaginable dread. Obviously, The Great Old Ones have a deep, rich love of H.P. Lovecraft that they infuse into their music. “Mare Infinitum” is a journey. It’s a song that tells a story. It’s a song that is heavy and brutal, but carefully crafted with beauty and precision. Look for The Great Old Ones new record EOD… in January and be prepared for the darkness it will bring into your life.

(No Clean Singing)

Listen, with a band named Fistula and an album called The Shape of Doom to Cumm))) you should have a rough idea of what you are getting yourself into. Clearly, these guys are going to be playing some ugly doom metal and obviously they’re injecting some twisted humor into it. This album has songs with titles like “Serial Vapist” and “Sabbath Wants to Do a Split With Me” which, again, should give you a pretty clear idea of what you’re about to hear. The off-brand humor of this band goes down like a smoothie filled with nails and glass because their sound is so raw and crushing.

It’s December and we should have a least one holiday song on here, so give a listen to “Angry Christmas” from Doomsday Student. Okay, admittedly, calling this a “holiday song” is a bit of stretch. It’s a strange and frantic song, almost robotic in tone and structure. It’s monotonous and angry, filled with violent and chaotic guitar work. The vocals are like a rhythmic speech, something between shouting and lecturing. The video’s a treat, too, although it’s very NSFW, so keep that in mind if you’re about to watch this with your kids or something. This ain’t your typical Christmas jam, but if you like your music weird and heavy, you’ll want Santa to stuff your stocking with Doomsday Student’s new album.

After a seven year absence, Advent is returning with a new EP of punishing, mean hardcore. They just shared the song “Weight of the World” and it pretty much sounds exactly what you’d expect from Advent. These guys have not lost a step in their years away. This is pure, unbridled hardcore complete with a killer breakdown and shout-along chorus. Listening to Advent is a mosh pit-inducing experience; a hard-hitting and violent call to action. We love this stuff and are stoked for a new Advent record. Sometimes you just need to spin some hardcore and punch your hand through the wall. Sometimes you just need to get rowdy and stage dive. “Weight of the World” is just what the doctor ordered. 2016 has been largely a crap show, but at least we got some new Advent out of it. Things could be worse, right?

(New Noise Magazine)

Okay, that’s it for us this week. Jump into the comments and let us know what punk, metal, or hardcore tunes you’re spinning. It’s the holidays, people: give the gift of fast, loud, and heavy music.