Yes, I used this same image the last Friday the 13th, but you know what? You're not the boss of me. I make the rules around these parts. Speaking of, the first album after the jump isn't a new release - it was released all the way back in August. But it slaps and it's new to me, so it makes the list. What will it be? What other albums will join it? Only one way to find out!

A Body is A Suggestion is the new album from Minneapolis-based Melpomene. Apparently there are a few bands with this name, but the one I'm writing about calls their music "Twin Cities Emotional Post-Death." The band also states that they're "by, for, and about queer, female, colored, and fringe experience." The collection of tracks on this release are dark and heavy, but with a jazz-based undercurrent that provides a lot of interesting structures to these instrumental jams. Both sinister and upbeat, there's a lot of beautiful tension on this album. After one listen, Melpomene has jumped onto my list of must-see local bands. I can't wait to experience more of what this band has to offer. And to keep things somewhat in the realm of new releases, a second run of this album on cassette just dropped today!

Deafkids are an incredibly noisy, experimental psychedelic band from Brazil. I was fortunate enough to catch this incredibly chaotic band live a few years ago here in Minneapolis, and I would love to see them again, but their live shows have been primarily confined to South America for the last few years. Maybe that will change - this week they dropped a new single from an upcoming album on Neurot Recordings. There is nothing else that sounds like these guys. 

Godflesh may be done as a live act, but Justin Broadrick isn't done making music. A new single from his project JK Flesh dropped this morning from an upcoming split with Monrella. It's a hard-charging techno banger that feels like it would have fit perfectly in the nightclub scene from 90s action classic Blade. Listen now to feel like you could take on an army of vampires single-handedly. 

"The world is trash," opens the new single from punk madmen Miracle Blood. This is a song very much for the moment we're all living in. What else is there to say?

Look, if you read this blog, you're gonna get recommended instrumental post-metal bands. Today's selection is A Flashing on Plain Glass by Boston's Lesotho. I wonder if these guys ever cross paths with Miracle Blood, who also hail from Boston. Lesotho's tight, soaring instrumentals with blackgaze undertones don't have much in common with Miracle Blood's chaotic punk, but still I'd love to see them put together a Boston-based heavy music tour and bring it to Minneapolis. It's all about my convenience, folks. 

I'll admit, when I looked and saw that this album is only two tracks, each exactly 20 minutes and one second long, it was like the Vince McMahon getting his mind blown meme. A few minutes into the first track it was clear that this is one of those albums that will send me down an obsessive rabbit hole to learn everything about the band. Irreversible is a sludge/post metal band out of Atlanta that apparently has been around since 2006, but the new album Vessel is their first release in 10 years. The epic first track recalls the aforementioned Godflesh with its swampy atmospherics, guttural vocals, and industrial crunch. The second track is more of a shoegaze/doom vibe, with vocals closer to some of Cave In's space-ier work than the growls of the first track. Like the epic tracks of Swans' "Big Sound" era, each of these tracks contain distinct movements that shift and mutate as they progress, and the two songs are both completely different and in conversation with one another. 

After my first listen, I was officially an Irreversible fan. Vessel is probably the first album of the year that seems like a lock for my Best of 2026 list. It certainly won't be for everyone, but it is hands down the most unique album I've heard so far this year. Just fantastic stuff.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Stay strong, stay safe.