High on Fire Snakes — Snakes for the Divine: Matt Pike and is cohorts never cease to amaze me. Each album gets better and better. Who thought they could top Death is the Communion which had so many strong songs and was also one of the first albums in a long while that brought back the idea of an album – a flow to the track list rather than a loose collection of songs. Somehow they did it. Snakes for the Divine is a better album than its predecessor. There’s a vicious attack to the songs and they’re actually heavier than the tracks on the last record. Yes, heavier. You can’t help but listen in awe of these guys.

Eric Dolphy — Out to Lunch: I’ll give credit for this discovery to Henry Rollins who played the title track from this album on a Jazz Juggernaut episode of his excellent KCRW program. Luckily, I was able to track down an original vinyl version on eBay. This was Dolphy’s first album for Blue Note and sadly his last official release before he died at too young of an age. The compositions are wonderfully complex but yet still musical (it wasn’t experimentation for the sake of innovation). As Dolphy said in his liner notes, “Monk could be musical just walking down the street.” That’s the inspiration here: complex music (much like Monk’s) pushing the song structures into new territory, but still retaining melody and mood. Consider it a nice continuation from Dolphy’s work with Coltrane. The title track has quickly become a favorite as has “Gazzelloni” and “Hat and Beard.”

Charles Mingus — The Great Concert of Charles Mingus: Continuing Eric Dolphy appreciation week, here comes another stellar example of his greatness. Another great vinyl find via eBay and sadly also one of the last recordings by Dolphy. This is considered one of the great jazz concerts (or series of concerts as there are tracks from multiple nights) and the tour that cemented Mingus’ reputation in France. For most of the tracks, the group plays as a quintet since trumpeter Johnny Coles collapsed from a stomach ulcer two nights previous. What’s not to like on this one? The almost thirty-minute version of “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” the fantastic tribute to Charlie Parker known as “Parkeriana” (where Mingus and the group stand the compositions on their head), and Dolphy’s great performance on “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress.”

The Obsessed — The Church Within: This was the album that broke The Obsessed. It was their first on a major label and their last as a band. Regardless, it’s a stellar album and I still think one of the most underrated heavy albums of all time. Some of Wino’s best compositions are on here including “Protect and Serve,” “Streetside,” and the stellar “Neatz Brigade.” As always, the man’s guitar tone was better than the rest of the planet’s and Guy Pinhas and Greg Rogers provide the perfect rhythm section. Hard to find, but worth the effort.