The new year begins with quite a slate of hard rock and metal new release that certainly should turn the heads of metal fans and long hairs. It's good to see February stocked with new albums.

Metal Blade Records -- a label clearly committed to the genre beyond utilizing the word "metal" in its name -- has four releases on Feb. 1 alone, and all of them are worth a look. Full Blown Chaos will mosh their way into your blackened heart with their label debut, while Between the Buried and Me singer Tommy Giles offers up his solo effort that same week. It's a change of pace, but certainly worthy if you are a fan of Giles' neo-prog-death work in BTBAM. Lazarus A.D. thrash their way onto the shelves, too. It's a busy week for Metal Blade, that's for sure.

Additionally, Most Precious Blood resurface with 'Do Not Resuscitate' after a lengthy absence; the title makes Noisecreep wonder if that is some sort of hint. They partner up with Bullet Tooth, which makes sense, since the label is run by former Trustkill head honcho Josh Grabelle and TK was MPB's home for quite a while.

Deicide bring the blasphemy the day after Valentine's Day on 'To Hell With God,' which will certainly send Christians into a tizzy and a tailspin while delighting their death metal legion that worship at Glenn Benton's Satanic altar.

Feb. 22 is another metallic release day, as DevilDriver also roar back into the metal world's psyche with their fifth album, 'Beast,' which boasts both bark and bite. Also, prog masters Evergrey also mount a return with a new album in 2011, with 'The Glorious Collision.'

February 1, 2011

Abysmal Dawn -- 'Leveling the Plane of Existence' (Relapse)

Full Blown Chaos -- 'Full Blown Chaos' (Metal Blade)

Lazarus A.D. -- 'Black Rivers Flow' (Metal Blade)

Most Precious Blood -- 'Do Not Resuscitate' (Bullet Tooth)

Noisear -- 'Subvert the Dominant Paradigm' (Relapse)

Six Feet Under -- 'Wake The Night: Live in Germany' DVD (Metal Blade)

Thomas Giles -- 'Pulse' (Metal Blade)

February 8, 2011

Battlelore -- 'Doombound' (Napalm)

Belphegor -- 'Blood Magick Necromance' (Nuclear Blast)

Crowbar -- 'Sever the Wicked Hand' (eOne)

Hour of 13 -- 'The Ritualist' (Earache)

Macabre -- 'Grim Scary Tales' (Willowtip)

Onslaught -- 'Sounds of Violence' (AFM)

February 15, 2011

Darkest Era -- 'The Last Caress of Light' (Metal Blade)

Death -- 'The Sound of Perseverance Re-Release' (Relapse)

Deicide -- 'To Hell With God' (Century Media)

Impiety -- 'Worshippers of the Seventh Tyranny' (Agonia)

Neuraxis -- 'Asylon' (Prosthetic)

Primordial -- 'Storm Before Calm' (Metal Blade)

Rabbits -- 'Lower Forms' (Relapse)

Sirenia -- 'The Enigma of Life' (Nuclear Blast)

February 22, 2011

Ava Inferi -- 'Onyx' (Season of Mist)

The Browning -- 'Time Will Tell' (Earache)

Cauldron -- 'Burning Fortune' (Earache)

The Defaced -- 'Anomaly' (Scarlet)

Darkest Hour -- 'The Human Romance' (eOne)

DevilDriver -- 'Beast' (Roadrunner)

Earth -- 'Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light' (Southern Lord)

Evergrey -- 'The Glorious Collision' (SPV)

Sirenia -- 'The Enigma of Life' (Nuclear Blast)

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