Andrew Rothmund

The solo project of Alex Haddad has reinvigorated the stale mechanisms of melodic death metal with a heartfelt new album “Shadow Burn” — soak into a new song now.

Our favorite music videos contain nothing but the band, the crowd, and the song — here, we’ve got the epic closing track from French trio Slift’s latest album “Ummon” captured in such a fashion. Super-heavy psych-rock content inside.

Defocus and dematerialize in this abstract reflection on the times of now — IO Editor-in-Chief Andrew Rothmund selects an especially atmospheric album as last month’s favorite.

We unveil a new song from this solo black metal project’s debut full-length “Melancholic Waters Ablaze With the Fires of Loss,” a gut-stab of raw and emotional atmospherics.

We’re streaming the hard-hitting opening song from blackened death metal act Dearth’s upcoming full-length “To Crown all Befoulment” — this one seems especially appropriate.

We’re streaming the new full-length from the California doom/post-metal sextet — “Bloodletting” takes hold and just doesn’t let go.

We’re streaming the entire third full-length “Life Vapor” of black metal act Feral Light before Friday’s release — for a no-frills, hard-hitting exemplar of the style, look no further.

Death Courier, a Greek band with a 30-year history, perfects their thrash-laden death metal style on upcoming album “Necrotic Verses” — we’re streaming a new ripper right now.

In this resurrected column, IO Editor-in-Chief Andrew Rothmund’s gaze will illuminate one album and one album only in light of the world at large — this month, the question is how even to begin?