Every month Ghost Cult polls our awesome staff of writers worldwide to see what they are listening to at the moment. Sometimes it’s the latest underground album, and sometimes it’s an old favorite. Sometimes the music isn’t even metal, and that’s okay too. You can always find the Top Five list in our digital magazine, up front near the table of contents. This month mysteriously initialed scribe Richie H-R shares with us what he is listening to right now.

Stargazer – A Great Work Of Ages

Something I managed to miss completely when it first came out, but have recently discovered due to Profound Lore’s Bandcamp page. A genuinely distinctive, adventurous mix of Progressive Black, Death and traditional Heavy Metal which references a number of classic bands while always managing to sound like itself. A real undiscovered gem.

Castle – Under Siege

A band I’d never heard of before picking the album up for review this month, but it’s hardly left my headphones since then. A powerful, emotionally resonant blend of Doom and Classic Heavy Metal (with maybe a touch of that “Occult Rock” thing that’s been getting stale recently, but with none of the negative associations), Castle pull of that difficult trick of sounding “mature” and serious without losing any of the things that make them so Metal. Genuine understated class.

The Monolith Deathcult – Tetragrammaton

If Psalm 69 era Ministry were a Death Metal band obsessed in equal parts with genocide, religious extremism and Transformers, they’d probably sound a fair bit like this. And be incredible. Like Castle, TMD also pull off a very rare trick – this time balancing genuine Metal power with an actual sense of humour and self-awareness without seeming “ironic” or flippant. Also guest vocals from Optimus Prime, which would make even a bad album worth hearing.

The Atlas Moth – The Old Believer

Unlike some of my other choices, this is an album I’ve come to already loving the band, and has required a bit of work to “get”. Not quite as instantly diverse or dramatic as their previous albums, The Old Believer (Profound Lore) shows a rounded, more integrated approach to composition which is less showy but leaves greater room for expansive, emotive song-writing. A slow builder, but one which I anticipate being worth the wait.

Morbus Chron – Sweven

Despite all the praise heaped on it, I didn’t really get on that well with Morbus Chron’s debut – it’s hard to see the appeal of straight-up Autopsy worship when the originals are still around and doing it better than anyone. Sweven, however, has won me over by imaging what Autopsy could have sounded like if they’d have taken a completely different route after Mental Funeral, ditching the distortion, dirtiness and violence they focused on with Acts for a more progressive, melodic, even psychedelic approach to horror. Vivid, powerful and genuinely distinctive, one of the real highlights of the year.

RICHIE H-R