It was a week of polar opposites: on one hand, butt rock ruled as Disturbed nabbed the #1 spot on the Current Hard Music charts with Five Finger Death Punch and Evanescence firmly entrenched in second and third place. On the other hand Animals as Leaders scored a big debut, a big victory in the name of all that is right in the music world. As I Lay Dying and Rush also sold well. Let’s take a look at those and more after the jump.

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New releases from Animals as Leaders, As I Lay Dying, Beneath Oblivion, Leviathan, Whitechapel and My Dying Bride highlight this week’s packed slate of new releases. Let’s take a look at what’s in store for listeners after the jump.

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I plea for the purging of my bowels right now. In a serious way I think I might be going through withdrawal from a week of non-stop meat and booze. My body needs another round of meat, pronto, but my mind is saying “no! only vegetables this week!” and I’m gonna do my best to stick to it like my balls stick to my leg after a day in the hot Texas sun.

Speaking of bowels, I find the band A Plea for Purging to be quite generic. They use way to many breakdowns, basically the musical equivalent of adding butter to any dish to make it taste better…. but I do like that little shreddy pattern that comprises the intro of the song.

MS reader Peter M. emailed us all the way from Austria to let us know that the band’s new video for “Malevolence” is seriously excellent/hilarious in contrast to the band’s music. Well done, chaps! Also, serious high fives are in order to that one dude with the monstro beard.

-VN