Too Soon for Love: Emperor Rhombus’ Best of 2016…So Far

As a music fan, I always value the weird, entrenched moments the best. When I discover an album or attend a show that should be by-the-numbers and then goes on to re-inspire my love of metal, it makes me happier than an album I expect to like and then do. This year’s crop of favorite titles has been like that, a collection of mostly unexpected triumphs that touched me by the surprise I felt at loving them as well as the musical talent they showcased (my only truly mainstream entry being one so dismissed by the journalists around me that it’s gained a sort of obscurity in my mind). Make no mistake, 2016 is still young and I expect this list to change accordingly, adding some big names and losing some of the underground outliers included here. But in the meantime, here are the delightful surprises that have been winning me over thus far this year.

Avatar – Feathers & Flesh (eOne)
Beastwars – The Death of All Things (Destroy Records)
Cadaveric Fumes – Dimensions Obscure EP (Blood Harvest)
Conan – Revengeance (Napalm Records)
Church of Misery – And Then There Were None… (Rise Above Records)
Destroyer 666 – Wildfire (Season of Mist)
Gutter Instinct – Age of the Fanatics (Prosthetic)
Gruesome – Dimensions of Horror EP (Relapse Records)
Mortichnia – Heir to Scoria and Ash (Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings)
Primitive Weapons – The Future of Death (Party Smasher Inc.)
Putrisect/Scorched – Final State of Existence Split (Edged Circle Productions)
Rob Zombie – The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser (Universal Music)
Rotten Sound – Abuse to Suffer (Season of Mist)
Sulphur – Omens of Doom (Dark Essence Records)
Tombs – All Empires Fall EP (Relapse Records)
Uada – Devoid of Light (Eisenwald Tonschmiede)
Urgehal – Aeons in Sodom (Season of Mist)
Widower – The Unholy Oath EP (Independent)