HEAVY FRIENDS: Robby's most anticipated metal albums for the rest of 2012

(HEAVY FRIENDS is the segment where Robby blah blah blahs on the latest and greatest in underground or not-so-underground metal. Today, however, he will be talking about his 4 most eagerly anticipated metal albums for the remainder of this year.)

Pig Destroyer - Book Burner - Pig Destroyer is one of the most notorious bands in grindcore, and one of my favorites. We've been waiting since 2007's Phantom Limb for a new one by these guys, and we're finally getting one. I'm not huge on the album artwork, but I'm expecting the music to hopefully be just as killer as Pig Destroyer's back catalog. If you haven't sacrificed yourself to the power of Pig Destroyer's cutthroat grinding power, then do yourself a favor and listen to Terrifyer, my personal favorite from the band, right now. Book Burner comes out on October 23rd on Relapse.

Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind - Converge are simply put one of my favorite bands of all time; they just have a brand of metal and hardcore that I've seen imitated many a time, but I've almost never seen duplicated perfectly. No one can do Converge the way Converge can. Fans have been anticipating this new album for a good while, and while we don't have artwork, and we don't have any music, we know the album is completed and slated for release on September 11th on Epitaph and Deathwish, and it is called All We Love We Leave Behind.

Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence - Between the Buried and Me play a style of progressive metal that I just can't get enough of. I find their music endlessly creative and exciting. This is the follow up to the band's 2011 EP The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues and it continues a concept that I don't have the greatest understanding of, but hopefully I will after hearing the 70+ minute finished product. The Parallax II: Future Sequence comes out on October 9th on Metal Blade, and while we're at it check out my coverage of the first track to drop from the album, "Telos".

Neurosis - Honor Found in Decay - We also have no artwork or music for this one, but this is likely the release I'm most eager to hear. Neurosis is a band whose reputation is so large yet they never seem to disappoint with any of their newer material. The band already has their place in history as being pivotal to the development of underground metal, sludge metal, experimental metal, and *shrugs*post-metal, but these days they make it a point to remain inventive and ambitious. I'm not exactly an expert on their entire body of work, but I'm getting there; Honor Found in Decay comes out on October 30th on Neurot Recordings. Check out the band's enigmatic album teasers below:





(Robby can't think of anything witty to say, so.... follow him on Twitter @ClydeNut for more awkwardness and metal!)