Here are some awesome EPs and demos for y'all to boogie down to. Except, some of this isn't really boogie material. Nonetheless these all rule and you need them. Extra music in this post to make up for my horrible lack of postage over the past week. Titles are the download links.

Agalloch - Of Stone, Wind and Pillor



EP; Genre: Black Metal, Folk, Post Rock

It's Agalloch, need I say more? Basically imagine taking a cold shower but you're dry. This music makes you shiver and squirm, but leaves you wanting more. Catchy buzzy black metal riffs surround beautiful folk interludes, and shades of post rock can be distinguished among the tracks. Texture is the focus of the EP, the band's affinity for such evident in their use of acoustic guitar over walls of distorted riffs and their complementing of strings with horns and resonating bass vocal drones.

Summer isn't coming; Arise, Arise
- Kneel To The Cross


Mayhem - Deathcrush



EP; Genre: Black Metal

Mayhem isn't the best black metal act around, but their releases are all varied and worth a listen in any case. Deathcrush is a short and sweet burst of intense, raw black metal and is probably the band's second best release after the classic De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Plus it has a song called Chainsaw Gutsfuck. Worth it just for that.

Cruciamentum - Convocation of Crawling Chaos



Demo; Genre: Blackened Death Metal

Cruciamentum means "torture" in latin. Fuck yeah. This is an awesome slab of old school death metal with some black metal aesthetics. The drumming is absolutely mind-blowing and the production is murky and claustrophobic. Three bestial songs. 18 minutes. No bad parts at all.

Immolation - Hope and Horror



EP; Genre: Death Metal

Immolation proved this year that they were still one of the world's greatest death metal bands with the stellar Majesty and Decay, and fans applaud liberally the classic Close to a World Below but there is an oft-forgotten EP from 2007 which is very listenable indeed. Although the record it preceded was, by the band's standards, nothing special, this extended play is unexpectedly good. However it does lack the massive production from Close to a World Below, tending to come off as more tinny sounding.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Irony Is A Dead Scene


EP; Genre: Mathcore

Best Dillinger release ever. Seriously. Vocals kick ass (Mike Patton), instrumentation kicks ass, music doesn't ever bore. Quirky, insane, jazz-influenced mathcore. Fucking yes.