Formed in 1967, Budgie may just be one of the most underrated and influential bands in the history of heavy metal. The band is widely regarded by music historians and fans alike as being one of the first and most seminal bands in the genre. The original power trio of Burke Shelley (bass and vocals), Tony Bourge (guitar), and Ray Phillips (drums) recorded 3 albums, culminating in the 1973 masterpiece Never Turn Your Back On A Friend.

This week’s Massive Metal Monday selection is a video of the band performing a track from that album, “Breadfan,” for the legendary UK television show The Old Grey Whistle Test from 1973.

Colorado’s Allegaeon is one of the most exciting bands the technical death metal genre today. That’s why fans were given cause for concern when the band announced last year that they had parted ways with founding member, vocalist Ezra Haynes. But recently those concerns have been laid to rest with the release of the first advanced single from their upcoming fourth album Proponent For Sentience. The track is titled “Gray Matter Mechanics” and is our first glimpse of new vocalist Riley McShane. The new frontman seems to be a perfect fit with Allegation’s particular blend of goofiness and scientific nerdy-ness. This is thinking man’s metal that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Now that singer Dez Fafara has wrapped up the reunion record tour with his other band Coal Chamber, his focus is back on Devildriver. The Santa Barbara, CA, band has just released their seventh album, Trust No One, via Napalm Records.

Akani is an international supergroup of sorts. The band’s lineup has, at various times, included members of legendary New York hardcore band Merauder, as well as a plethora of Swedish death metal institutions such as At The Gates, Entombed, and Soilwork.

Their debut full-length album, Through My Darkest Infernal, was released this past Friday, July 15, 2016 and is a blistering slice of metallic hardcore. I strongly recommend checking it out. Here’s a sample to get you started. This is the official video for the track “I Won’t Run.” Enjoy and be sure to pick up a copy of the record if you like what you’re hearing.

Knoxville Tennessee’s Whitechapel has come out of the gates swinging with their sixth studio album Mark of the Blade, which was released on June 24, 2016 via Metal Blade Records. The first single is entitled “Elitest Ones” and it takes on the army of know-it-all keyboard warriors that populate online metal forums. The song is exactly the sort of vitriolic, deathcore rager that Whitechapel have become synonymous with.