Iskald means “ice cold” in Norwegian. So it is appropriate that today’s Black Metal Friday artists chose the word as their moniker. Iskald, the band, perfectly capture the forlorn desolation of the frozen North. Over the course of ten years and four full-length albums, this quartet has been winning over legions of black metal fans with their alternately haunting and brutal take on the genre.

This week’s featured Black Metal Friday track comes from Iskald’s second album, 2008’s Revelations of Reckoning Day. I give you “Dommedag.”

Killswitch Engage never disappoint. The Massachusetts metalcore pioneers are set to release their seventh album next Spring and they have gifted us with a sneak peek in the form of the album’s first single, the ripping “Strength of Mind.” Fans of the band may recognize the song, as they have been playing it on recent tour dates, but now we are getting to hear the final album version. The official video for the song has just been released and it is sure to please any hardcore KsE fan.

Check out the official video for “Strength of Mind” here below.

Mutoid Man is a heavy metal supergroup that formed in 2012. Cave In mastermind Steven Brodsky and Converge drummer Ben Koller joined forces to work on the material that would become their 2013 debut EP Helium Head. The recording was met with a very high degree of acclaim from fans and critics alike. Bassist Nick Cageao joined the band in 2014 and the trio began work on their debut full-length album.

Released earlier this year, Bleeder is a swirling amalgam of punk, hardcore, metal, and math rock. Watch for it on my (and almost everyone else’s) “Best of 2015” list.

This week’s Massive Metal Monday tune is the title and closing track of that album. Without further ado, I give you “Bleeder.”

Bloodbath is a long-running supergroup consisting of a “who’s who” of Swedish death metal musicians. The band has, at various points, consisted of members of Opeth, Katatonia, Edge of Sanity, and Paradise Lost. They have issued four full-length albums, two EPs, and two DVDs since their inception in 1998.

Original singer Mikael Ã…kerfeldt left the band to concentrate on his duties as the leader of Opeth and was replaced by Paradise Lost singer Nick Holmes for last year’s spectacular album Grand Morbid Funeral.

This week’s Massive Metal Monday track takes us back to Akerfeldt’s final album with the band. From 2008’s The Fathomless Mastery, this is “Hades Rising.”

It’s getting colder. The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, and everyone is so full of Christmas cheer, it makes you want to burn down a church. Worse than that, you have to spend precious beer money on… gifts. Well, whether you have metal buddies who are seriously expecting something this season, or whether you want to give Aunt Mabel something so heinously inappropriate that she will regift it right back to you, you might want to take a look at this list.

Here’s the 2015 Metalhead’s Holiday Gift Guide…