Wipe the blood from your ballot and get in the pit: it’s time for a recap of this week’s best hardcore, metal, and punk rock. We dug through the record crates to find the new tunes we think you need to spin and rage to. Looking for some new death metal to fill your soul with endless dread? Got you covered. Need some grindcore to get your Thanksgiving off on the right foot? Say no more. Strap in, kiddies; it’s time to rock.

Like an angel descending from heaven, Iron Reagan have come just when we need them most. These hardcore thrashers have announced a new album due in early 2017 called Crossover Ministry, and they did so with a glorious infomercial.  This video gives us a hilarious glimpse into the album through awkward hosts and bizarre fan testimonial. We get previews of several songs and they sound exactly like Iron Reagan: old-school thrash at its best, angry and fast. You like early Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax? You will love Iron Reagan. We didn’t know how much we need this album until the moment it appeared in our life. 2017 can’t get here soon enough. We’re done with you, 2016; we’re ready to trash our way into the new year.

Dust Moth’s Scale is one of 2016’s best albums. Melodic, heavy, and complex, the album hit us in the gut and left a mark on our soul. The band just released a video for “Lift,” and it’s a strange odyssey. The entire thing looks like an old home video that has slowly begun to decay over time. It teeters between cool and creepy, mixing live footage of the band with scenes of heavily shadowed nature. Like the song itself, the video has a haunting quality, something seductive and visionary. It floats through images and feels like we’re watching something personal and dark. It’s beautiful in its simplicity We love this band and this album so much. Pick up Scale now if you haven’t already. It’s required listening.

(CLRVYNT)

Apparently, Nails are still a band? Right after their supremely awesome album You Will Never Be One Of Us came out, they abruptly canceled their tour and announced a hiatus. This was mere months ago and it seemed like they were dead and gone. Then, a split with Full of Heal was announced and they started showing up on bills for upcoming shows. So, Nails are back? Or maybe they never left? It’s hard to say, but we’re stoked whatever the case may be. This new split is freaking brutal–as you would expect from two bands like Nails and Full of Hell–and the fact that we’re getting more music from a band we thought was over is just too good to be true. Listen to the spilt below and pummel the brain out of your head. It doesn’t get much heavier than this.

(Decibel)

Walter Schreifels is a busy guy. In addition to reunions and revivals of bands like Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand, he sings in the new supergroup Vanishing Life. This band sounds how we wish all of Schreifels’ post-Quicksand bands sounded. For those of us who found acts like Rival Schools lacking, Vanishing Life hits a sweet spot. They have their roots in hardcore, for sure, but there’s something very modern and alternative about the sound. At moments, it almost sounds like Far at their best, and that’s about as big a compliment as we can pay a band. Look, if Walter Schreifels is involved with a music project, we’ll probably buy it. We’re fans of the man, but it certainly helps when the project sounds this great. Vanishing Life’s debut album is available now and it’s a good one. You can check out a track below and order the whole thing over right here.

(CLRVYNT)

We told you several times how excited we were that Dangers had released a new album. These guys play a brand of rock ‘n’ roll infused hardcore that we just can’t get enough of. Now, they’ve released a video for the song “Kiss With Spit” and it’s prefect intense. Sweaty, angry, and filled with flesh, this video is just straight up uncomfortable. It’s hard to tell if we’re watching a fight, or sex, or maybe both? It’s a just a mass of bodies and brutality. This imagery perfectly matches the rawness of the song, but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch. That said, there’s something about this that we can’t turn away from. It’s ugly and fierce, but it sucks us in.

Lastly, we have Hollow Earth. This metal monsters are like early Neurosis mixed with Cult of Luna with a dash of Converge wrapped in the work of Philip K. Dick. Epically sci-fi, Hollow Earth avoid the normally imagery and instead choose something between space opera and Ridley Scott’s Alien. There’s no doubt these guys rock and they rock hard. Usually music with these sorts of themes is, for lack of a better term, spacey. It’s open,  big and atmospheric.  Hollow Earth does the opposite: they hit you hard and stay in your face. Even their dreamy interludes have a heavy, persistent edge. The atmosphere here is claustrophobic and consuming. This band is crushing and we freaking love it. Give a listen to the track “The Harbinger of Existence” below and check out their album Dead Planet when it drops on December 2nd.

(Echoes and Dust)

That’s it for us this week. Got some heavy tunes you’re into that we need to check out? Name them in comments below.

Images: Relapse Records

Gif: Cartoon Network/Adventure Time 

Benjamin Bailey writes for the Nerdist and can be found on Twitter talking about Godzilla, comic books, and hardcore music.