El Goro and SonOfOdin check out a pair of new industrial releases this month with Al Jourgensen's new project, Surgical Meth Machine, and Rob Zombie. The back half of the show goes more metal with the blackened melodic death assault from Hyperion and Black Sabbath's classic 1973 album.

There is also a major announcement that impacts the future of the show.

New Releases:

Surgical Meth Machine : Surgical Meth Machine (2016)

After the untimely death of Mike Scaccia, Al Jourgensen decided to end Ministry. He has since gone solo under a new band name to go with his new focus.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Rob Zombie : The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser (2016)

Growing up on a steady diet of horror films, shock rock, and comic books, Rob Zombie has participated in all three of his main loves. After a successful run with White Zombie, Rob embarked on a solo music career to varying degrees of success.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Local/Indie Band:

Hyperion : Seraphical Euphony (2016)

Hyperion is a blackened melodic death metal band from Sweden. They take a lot of influence from both the Scandinavian black metal and Gothenburg scenes.

Get this album: Bandcamp • Amazon.com •

SonOfOdin is in a blackened folk mood this month with new albums from Finland's Moonsorrow and Austria's Bifröst. The bonus track shifts the ancestry from Scandinavian to Celtic with Spain's Briargh.

Albums:

Moonsorrow : Jumalten Aika (2016)

Moonsorrow is an epic blackened folk metal band from Finland. Originally a straight black metal project, the band has added progressive and folk elements to their sound to engage any listener willing to commit to their extended track lengths.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Bifröst : Mana Ewah (2016)

Originally playing a traditional melodic death metal style, Austria's Bifröst began incorporating folk/pagan elements into their sound, including lyrics from Scando-Germanic mythology and fun drinking numbers.

Get this album: Amazon.com • eBay • iTunes • Spotify

Bonus Song:

Briargh : Sword of Woe  [Bandcamp]

El Goro and SonOfOdin start off Year Five with a mega-sized episode featuring new albums from Amon Amarth, Entombed A.D., and Hammer Fight. El Goro indulges his childlike mindset with Hevisaurus while SonOfOdin confronts his own heterosexuality with Accept's biggest album. The Sons also look back at SoMP Year Four with their highlights from episodes 37–48.

New Releases:

Amon Amarth : Jomsviking (2016)

If you say "Viking Metal" to any metalhead, Sweden's Amon Amarth are among (if not the first) bands they name. Their lyrics center around Scandanavian mythology, and they employ a melodic death metal style that wholeheartedly embraces power.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Entombed A.D. : Dead Dawn (2016)

Entombed pioneered the "death 'n' roll" style. When Alex Hellid left the band in 2013, the band's original name could no longer be used, so the Petrov/Dahlstedt/Elgstrand/Brandt line-up added an "A.D." to the name and continued on.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Hammer Fight : Profound And Profane (2016)

Hailing from New Jersey, Hammer Fight refer to themselves as "a cross between Slayer, Motörhead, and beer." Their music evokes classic hard rock filtered through modern death/thrash metal.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Local/Indie Band:

SonOfOdin closes out SoMP Year 4 with a pair of releases from blackened thrashers Deströyer 666 and the experimental duet Zā Lä Thü, along with a bonus track from the technical deathcore band Within Destruction.

Albums:

Deströyer 666 : Wildfire (2016)

Originally a solo project from K.K. Warslut, Deströyer 666 relocated from Australia eventually to London, England where they continue their high-energy blackened assault.

Get this album: Bandcamp • Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes

Zā Lä Thü : Zā Lä Thü (2015)

An occult-based music project from The Awakened One and Katera, Zā Lä Thü mixes element of occult and goth rock with doom and industrial metal for an experimental and unique sound.

Get this album: CD Baby • Amazon.com • iTunes

Bonus Song:

Within Destruction : Void  [Bandcamp • Amazon.com • iTunes]

El Goro and SonOfOdin check out new releases from the resurrected street metal Swedes in Gehennah and grandiose black metal from Greece's Rotting Christ. They also check out some experimental death metal from a Mexican band called Acrania and head to Germany to induct Teutonic thrashers Kreator into Heavy Metal Valhalla.

New Releases:

Gehennah : Too Loud To Live, Too Drunk To Die (2016)

Originally a Venom cover band, Sweden's Gehennah decided to create their own original material instead. Although active during the early 1990s, Gehennah didn't release any new material between 1997 and 2014. This is their first LP in nearly twenty years.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Rotting Christ : Rituals (2016)

Greece's Rotting Christ originally started in 1987 with a grindcore influence. Since then, they entered a brief gothic metal phase before settling into a more straightforward black metal direction.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Local/Indie Band:

Acrania : Fearless (2015)

Throwing convention to the wind, Mexico's Acrania seamlessly mix death metal with samba and Mexican tribal music to create a sound unlike anything else on the market today.

Get this album: Bandcamp • Amazon.

El Goro and SonOfOdin check out new releases from the blackened progressive metal Norwegians in Borknagar and the pounding doom metal onslaught from England's Conan. They also check out some eclectic instrumenal metal from a French one-man project called BizarrOtural and celebrate Black Metal History month with the blackened thrash stylings of Italy's Bulldozer.

New Releases:

Borknagar : Winter Thrice (2016)

Borknagar is a progressive black metal band formed in Norway in 1995. Their style combines black metal and folk metal with progressive and melodic elements.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Conan : Revengeance (2016)

Referring to their sound as "caveman battle doom", Conan is a three-piece English doom metal band known for their heavily downtuned sound and crushing riffs.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Local/Indie Band:

BizarrOtural : Looking In A Mask (2015)

BizarrOtural is a French one-man instrumental project inspired by paranormal and supernatural events, created in 2015 by Ghost Wolf.

Get this album: Bandcamp     Info: Facebook

Heavy Metal Valhalla:

Bulldozer : IX: Circle of Hell (1987)

Bulldozer is a blackened thrash metal band from Italy. Although they often fly under the radar as influencers of black metal, bands like Darkthrone have named them as major influences in the sound.

SonOfOdin keeps it all closer to home this Quick Shots with some thrash goodness from Cincinnati's War Curse and some Southern groove from Atlanta's MuckRaker.

Albums:

War Curse : Final Days (2015)

War Curse are a five-piece thrash metal act from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Presumably named after the Kreator song, they take a lot of influence from the classic thrash bands.

Get this album: Bandcamp • Amazon.com • iTunes • Spotify

MuckRaker : Karmageddon (2014/2016)

MuckRaker are a three-man, Southern-fried groove metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Mixing political satire with a party mentality, this trio knows how to get their point across.

Get this album: Bandcamp • Amazon.com • iTunes • Spotify

Bonus Song:

Goatsnake : Jimi's Gone  [Amazon.com • iTunes • Spotify]

Under the dual specters of Lemmy's death and the Odinson's computer issues, El Goro and SonOfOdin welcome in 2016 with new music from Japanese guitar virtuoso Rie a.k.a. Suzaku and progressive sludgemasters Baroness. In the indie segment, they talk about Denver's Bloodstrike, and Rammstein's third album enters Metal Valhalla.

New Releases:

Rie a.k.a. Suzaku : Noah's Ark (2015)

Rie a.k.a. Suzaku is a female Japanese solo heavy metal guitarist, influenced by Swedish melodic death metal and German speed metal. Her albums feature guest vocalists who sing over her compositions.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Baroness : Purple (2015)

After a 2012 bus crash splintered the band, both physically and in the lineup, Baroness have refined their progressive sludge tendencies into more complex directions.

Get this album: Amazon.com • CD Universe • iTunes • Spotify

Local/Indie Band:

Bloodstrike : In Death We Rot (2015)

Comprised of experienced musicians from the Denver, Colorado metal scene, Bloodstrike are a female-fronted death metal act heavily inspired by the 1990s death metal scene.

Get this album: Bandcamp     Info: Website • Facebook

Heavy Metal Valhalla:

The Side Stage contains infrequent music-centric podcasts to hold you over between regular episodes.

On December 28, 2015, the world lost a veritable legend in Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, the bassist and frontman for the legendary rock/metal band Motörhead. Join us as we celebrate the life and music of Lemmy.

Track Listing:

* (0:00:00) Lemmy interview

* (0:00:44) Motörhead : Ace of Spades   [Get Song]

* (0:03:40) Introduction by El Goro

* (0:05:35) The Rockin' Vickers : Dandy   [Get Song]

* (0:07:35) Sam Gopal : The Dark Lord   [Get Song]

* (0:10:48) Hawkwind : Silver Machine   [Get Song]

* (0:15:14) More thoughts from El Goro

* (0:15:50) Motörhead : Motorhead   [Get Song]

* (0:18:15) Motörhead : Iron Horse/Born to Lose   [Get Song]

* (0:23:32) Motörhead : Damage Case   [Get Song]

* (0:26:25) Motörhead : Bomber   [Get Song]

* (0:30:02) Headgirl (Motörhead + Girlschool) : Please Don't Touch   [Get Song]

* (0:32:48) Motörhead : (We Are) The Road Crew   [Get Song]

* (0:35:55) Motörhead : The Hammer (Live)   [Get Song]

* (0:38:50) Motörhead : Iron Fist   [

SonOfOdin gets into the holiday spirit with a pair of Christmas-themed metal albums from Corners of Sanctuary and Krampus Parade.

Albums:

Corners Of Sanctuary : Driven Snow - A Merry Metal Xmas III (2015)

Corners Of Sanctuary is a traditional / classic heavy metal band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA with a very 1980s sound. Every year, they release a free album of Christmas-themed music during the month of December.

Get this album: Band Website (thru Dec 2015)     Info: Website • Facebook • YouTube

Krampus Parade : Alpine Nightmares And Holiday Horrors (2015)

Krampus Parade is a primarily one-man "extreme holiday horror metal" project from the mysteriously-named Thomas vom Krampus of Michigan, USA.

Get this album: CD Baby • Amazon.com     Info: Facebook • YouTube

Bonus Song:

Christopher Lee (R.I.P.) : Darkest Carols, Faithful Sing  [Amazon.com • iTunes • Spotify]