Sitting with an album sometimes gives you a sense that you personally know the artist, and in no place is that more true than with God Is Luck by Bad History Month.

Discordant harmonies and full-bodied percussion deliver a fascinating sense of unease as pitches bend and the instrumentation becomes more intense, squirming synthesizers and train whistles interrupted by milliseconds of silence to keep you on your toes.

Wild, improvised instrumentals serve as a constant reminder of ensuing chaos, interrupting the speaker’s attempt to relive tranquil, safe moments from their past through their pristine classical vocal performance.

As the newest addition to the Salisman series, concept album Parched tells the story of the long-abandoned House of the Unwavering Circle. The listener is a fly on the wall as Salisman navigates a now desolate world once filled with character, reflecting on the evidence of calamity and failure surrounding him.

The project’s vintage charm is brought to life by Raquel’s velvety alto voice, which commands attention and holds its own above a 16-piece orchestra.

Coming from a place of deep appreciation and a truly mystical reverence for the land, Grift places humanity not above nor below nature, but as an integral part of our environment that must be protected too.

This project’s greatest strength is its discordant rawness coupled with finespun moments of clarity. While these expressions may seem unrelated, they both convey the project’s passionate anxiety toeing into paranoia.

Occasionally, Tumor Girl gets the self-awareness to realize that they’re emotionally in over their head, that in reality it may not be all that deep, but these thoughts of course fall by the wayside as soon as another internal tragedy strikes.

On commercials, we see a workless world awash with love and light, and many of us make the mistake of trying to turn this life we’re being sold into our realities, an attempt which will always end in disappointment.

The Minnesota-based duo use a simple setup with limited instrumentation, and somehow transform nothing more than distorted guitar riffs and straightforward percussion into obliterating walls of sound.

In reality, our nightmares take subconscious cues from the media we consume, supplanting our creative potential with the desire to be the main character of a blockbuster.

Eventually, Ezekiel once again becomes subject of unimaginable terrors as his human eyes bear witness to more knowledge than was ever intended for them, but he continues looking anyway in order to fulfill his prophetic mission.

If you are looking to step away for a second and need a soundtrack for your woodland mental health walk, let Moss Covered Rocks by Potion Seller be your guide.

Universal Unit Crime by Fall Shock offers true catharsis in the form of cold and viscous synthpop. This new wave approach to anger explores isolation, exploitation & the social media rat race, and resentment toward the sense of apathy we must adopt to survive this world.

At first, The Tower might seem like your typical atmospheric black metal album. However, with a uniquely ominous swirl of Jazz Noir, 2nd wave black metal, and dark ambient, Bolt Gun is not afraid to break free from the typical confines of the ABM subgenre.

With a sense of romantic tragedy, the album explores the tumultuous relationship between humans and nature, and the sometimes awe-inspiring, sometimes terrifying, reality of those environmental forces outside of our control. This album subverts the Arthurian legend to tell a modern fable, presenting a new mythology that feels familiar to those of us today who are faced with the fallout of natural disasters and climate change.

Ex Machina by Steve Lehman and Orchestre National de Jazz fuses the massive-sounding lead lines from the big band era with some of the most outlandish solo performances imaginable. Rather than have the band jam out on some smooth chords in the background, the solo support on this record at times feels so crunchy as to fight for attention with the soloists, a battle which the soloists fight hard and win every time.

Originally part of an audiovisual project, Soaring Wayne Phoenix Story the Earth and Sky by Wayne Phoenix retains an intense component of sonic imagery that’s instantly recognizable. As the first few tracks suggest with their trance-like ramblings about the challenges of daily life, Phoenix designed this record to put us in a meditative state that enables a deeper form of communication.

Spashy indie rock–you know, the type with massive, earwormy riffs and airy, harmonized choruses–often tackles dark personal themes through lyrics, but rarely will a band cross the line into introducing musical darkness as well.

It is extremely satisfying when a project so deftly aligns its musical expression and its thesis in the way Freedom Doll does.