Death metal juggernaut Cryptopsy return to pummel our collective senses anew with their new album, As Gomorrah Burns. Their first for Nuclear Blast, the Montreal-based quartet—featuring founding member/drummer Flo Mounier, guitarist Christian Donaldson, vocalist Matt McGachy, and bassist Olivier “Oli” Pinard—advance their signature Northern power as they celebrate 30-plus years of extremity. The merciless blasts of “Lascivious Undivine” and “Flayed the Swine” offer Cryptopsy at their most intense and maniacal, while “In Abeyance” and “The Righteous Lost” groove savagely. As Gomorrah Burns underscores the animus of fan-favorite None So Vile (1996) and the meticulous technicality of And Then You’ll Beg (2000) with a strikingly sinister vibe.

Briefly calling themselves Asylum, Canadian thrash metal band Aggression was formed in Quebec in 1985 and recorded their first, four-track demo the following year, eventually being invited to participate on underground metal compilations like Greenworld’s Records’ Speed Metal Hell, Vol. 2 and the New Renaissance label’s Thrash Metal Attack. Less than one year later, Aggression was invited to record a debut album — to be titled Forgotten Skeleton — for independent Facemelt Records, but following disagreements between band and label, the tapes were shelved, only to see the light of day 20 years later. Luckily, amusingly nicknamed bandmembers Éric “Botcher” Langlois (vocals), Denis “Sasquatch” Barthe (guitar), Bernard “Burn” Caudron (guitar), Yves “Dug” Duguay (bass), and Stephan Prudhomme (drums) soon recorded another album, The Full Treatment, which found limited release but some enthusiastic reviews in 1987.