June 15, 2015 | 2:00pm ET
Photo by Jon Hadusek
You won’t see any household names on this list. The first half of 2015 has been dominated by rookie bands and upstarts, and they’re ushering in a new wave of heavy music. If there is any continuous thread here, it’s the unbridled originality of the artists. They remain true to their own vivid personalities and express a range of emotion through metal, from the vegan doom of Vile Creature to Bell Witch’s romantic horror. There are six months to go and plenty of releases on the horizon, but these are our picks for the year’s best metal albums so far.
–Jon Hadusek
Senior Staff Writer
