You might have to have been living on the north pole of Mars not to have heard that Relapse are putting out the debut EP from antipodean doom/death unit Inverloch, such has been the level of hype and bluster surrounding this release. Inverloch is the brainchild of two guitarists from underground legends Disembowelment, whose Transcendence of the Peripheral is a timeless archetype in doom circles, thus presenting the Australians with hurdle after hurdle to trip, stumble and crash in to on their way to matching that peerless record.

In a somewhat disappointing opening, ‘Within Frozen Beauty’ begins by alternating between fairly standard blastbeat-driven death metal and equally uncontroversial slower riffs that only offer hints of Inverloch’s full potential. In contrast, standout track ‘The Menin Road’ lurches and heaves for six disorientating minutes, engulfing and suffocating listeners as if trapped in an enormous concrete spell. ‘Shadows of the Flame’ closes Dusk/Subside with the promising indication of Inverloch’s likely future output: periods of intense death metal invective that is fused effortlessly with putrid doom passages and a melancholy, if brief, post-metal melody in the vein of Isis.

Inverloch is clearly meant to continue what Disembowelment started, but the duo of Paul Mazziota and Matthew Skarajew have been humble enough to take inspiration from those who carried their flame during the prolonged gap between the two projects. The combination of hype and history is a foreboding one to overcome, and it is difficult to assess Inverloch without any of the obvious preconceptions, but they have managed to write a record that, while undoubtedly drawing from their previous template, stands assertively apart from it.

The abdication of the throne in 2001 by Norwegian black metallers Emperor left a gaping hole within the realm of extreme metal. The trio went their separate ways, and after three successful records in five years with Zyklon, guitarist Samoth moved briefly on to Casey Chaos’ underwhelming Scum project before collaborating with fellow Scum member Cosmo to create The Wretched End. Inroads, the sophomore record from The Wretched End, continues on a path first tread eleven years ago with Zyklon’s debut, World ov Worms, anchoring the record in fearsome concoction of death and thrash metal that is as ruthless as ever.

In ‘Tyrant of the Mountain’, Inroads offers a scorching ingress for the uninitiated in just how lethal an injection of black metal to a death/thrash mixture can be, especially one that evokes equally the marks of Dew-Scented and 1349. The tyrannical, anti-human bile of ‘Deathtopian Society’ and ‘Fear Propaganda’ display more effectively than anything else the legacy of Zyklon, but ‘Death by Nature and ‘Blackthorn Winter’ contain expansive melodic sections that pull away from this legacy; the latter concludes with a section of such epic majesty that it would not be out of place on Prometheus... or IX Equilibrium. It is only the relatively forgetful ‘With Ravenous Hunger’ and the tedious ‘The Haunting Ground’ that inspire any thoughts of mediocrity, but the relentless bloodlust of ‘Thrones Renowned of Old’ closes out the record with an apocalyptic raid that sears The Wretched End’s sound in to the synapses of the listener’s brain.

Many have followed with interest the progress of former Emperor partner Ihsahn as he sails towards the outer solar system of metal with his solo work, but Samoth has forged a formidable reputation for himself by staying within the orbits of black and death metal. Inroads is a vastly more self-assured record than Ominous, and while it is impossible for Samoth to ever escape his exception curriculum vitae, The Wretched End can stand proudly on their own feet with yet another excellent record under their experienced belts.

Contributing to a French heavy music scene that has burgeoned in the last decade, Breton occultists Huata offer a full hour of drug-induced, ouija board-directed sludge and doom on their début full-length, Atavist of Mann. ‘Lord of the Flames’ stumbles through the opium den door resembling a doped-out Goatsnake, before melting in to a bean bag at the rear with an extended mid-section that is almost parlour-like in atmosphere, and akin to something from Opeth’s Damnation. It is here that Huata’s fondness for organs is most obvious, as well as on ‘Testi Sum Capri’ and ‘Templars of the Black Sun’, giving this record a melodic depth and a sinister, yet psychedelic, late Sixties vibe. Hope is a hard sell once the acid flashbacks start, and Huata’s menacing lumber offers paranoia and ill-ease at a dosage level not even available from Michael Jackson’s doctor.

The spirit of Electric Wizard is never far away and clearly holds a heavy sway over Huata, but this influence never spills over in to shameless plagiarism, and ‘Thee Imperial Wizard’ is a hugely impressive dedication to the men from Hardy country. Huata have produced a record that is likely as mature, emotional and intelligent as any in their field this year, and Atavist of Mann will likely be on a number of ‘record of the year’ lists when the winter returns.

With minimal effort, it is possible to find a photograph online dated 2006 of Scott Parker, then of Newcastle United, in a rather unique pose. Parker looks disinterested, even irritated, forcing only the faintest of smiles, and is wearing a club tracksuit; presumably the photo was taken before a match. But this is not just another charity presentation or matchday mascot photograph. In his hands he holds something that no other Magpie has held for nearly four decades: a European trophy. The reason for the disinterest is revealed by the inscription on the trophy, which is actually just a plaque: ‘Newcastle United FC - Winner Intertoto Cup 2006.’

At the time, the plaque, compared by many of the Toon Army to a placemat or chopping board, represented the latest incarnation of a widely-ignored tournament that was finally abandoned two years later. Along with the abolition of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1999, European club football became streamlined, for better or for worse, in to two expanded competitions (the Champions League and the UEFA Cup) with a mix of qualifying, group and knockout stages. The aim was to create two premier tournaments that ran neatly together, rather than four competitions vying for attention across the season with varying degrees of relevance and media exposure. The renaming of the UEFA Cup to the Europa League ten years later signalled a large increase in the tournament’s publicity and prize money, and a step change in how heavily UEFA pushed the competition globally.

It is therefore perhaps a sign of the startling lack of perspective amongst England’s biggest clubs, their fans, and the press that, of all the fates available to a football club, exiting the much-vaunted UEFA Champions League mid-season and being cast to the perdition that is the Europa League ranks amongst the most humiliating on offer. Yet mid-December saw exactly this eventuality unfold for two of England’s entrants. An inability to defend home leads in a relatively tame group did for Manchester United, while Manchester City were unlucky to exit the toughest group with a points total that would have guaranteed qualification in any other group, save for that of their city neighbours. The embarrassment and inconvenience of entering Europe’s second-tier competition is not a trend that began with the Manchester clubs, and they are not the only English clubs that treat the competition with the same indifference that long plagued the Intertoto Cup.

At the time of writing, the first matches of the Europa League knockout stages have just been completed. City and United both started life well in their apparently impoverished surroundings, with away victories respectively against such unknowns as Porto, twice European champions and Ajax, twice world and four times European champions. The draw also included Steaua Bucharest and PSV Eindhoven, both former European Cup winners. In comparison to some of the teams who regularly plied their trade in the one European competition that Scott Parker holds a medal in, these are formidable clubs to be competing with.

Given the good company that a club is likely to find itself in should it reach the Europa League knockout stages, why is there such ambivalence towards the competition? As with most aspects of modern football, the crux of the problem is the money on offer. There is a huge financial disparity between the two competitions: the winner of Europa League gets £2.5 million in prize money, whereas a club receives £3.2 million just for reaching the group stages of the Champions League, plus nearly double that for completing all six of their matches. The result is a competition where the total possible winnings do not even reach eight figures, a threshold that Champions League contestants surpass merely by reaching the knockout stages.

In the top six of a league like the Premier League, La Liga or the Bundesliga, the enormous disparities in European competition earnings can dictate a club’s ability to spend in summer, and the possibility of keeping up with competitors. The limited prize money of the Europe League results in clubs being less able to build squads capable of withstanding a fifty game season, should they progress in any competition; Harry Redknapp has regularly implied his annoyance and frustration with the tournament along these lines. Even Bolton under Gary Megson succumbed to his club's priorities, despite the rarity of European football for the Trotters, when he rested the majority of his first-team squad from the away leg of their knockout stage game against Sporting CP in order to field a full-strength side against Wigan in the league, where survival in the Premier League ensures continued access to lucrative TV rights.

All of this led notable medal-hoarder Alan Shearer to despair that, ‘It’s one of those competitions that teams get in to then they try to get out of... You look at the English teams and they all seem to play the reserve teams in it... It’s a million miles away from the Champions League, unfortunately.' Indeed, after reaching the Champions League for the 2010-11 season, Tottenham Hotspur regarded this season's re-entry to the second European tier as a failure, and fielded teams packed with youth or squad players such as Steven Pienaar, Giovani dos Santos and Andros Townsend. Aside from Megson and Redknapp, however, the Europa League has provided teams such as Fulham, Birmingham City and Stoke City with European football for the first time in a generation. Michel Platini, introducing the wholesale changes to the UEFA Cup in September 2008, said that 'I am convinced the new format... will improve this historic competition... it gives more fans, players and clubs the thrill of European club football,' and many Cottagers, Blues and Potters would likely endorse this statement wholeheartedly.

Despite this, the ridiculous scene during the Fulham versus Odense match in December, when Jim Rosenthal and Stan Collymore sang the “Thursday nights, Channel Five” taunt as a sarcastic and self-deprecating advertisement for the channel’s Europa League coverage, did nothing to help improve the English perception of the tournament, while United’s Patrice Evra claimed that demotion to the Europa League was a ‘punishment’ for not performing well in the first half of the season. Is it conceivable that, in years to come, some club captains from demoted Champions League teams might share Scott Parker’s stony reception of the Intertoto plaque upon being presented with the Europa League trophy? Of the numerous problems Evra has faced this season, it is imagined that lifting a trophy in May would not be the most severe of them.

With so many teams dreaming of accessing the Champions League's vase riches, it is perhaps inevitable that the Europa League will continue to face a problem of lack of enthusiasm from some quarters unless changes, financial or otherwise, are made. One incentive might be to follow the lead of CONMEBOL, which allows the winner of their secondary competition, the Copa Sudamericana, to be 'promoted' to the Copa Libertadores at the start of the next season, rather than defending their title. This would allow clubs an extra avenue of entry to the Champions League, instead of focusing solely on attempting to qualify via their domestic league.

Perhaps the most effective change in the tournament might come from outside of the Europa League itself, where the continued stranglehold on the Champions League by the elite Spanish, English, Italian and German clubs could create space for the next best nations to dominate the second tier. Last year's Europa League Round of 16 featured three Dutch, three Portuguese (two of whom, Porto and Braga, contested the final) and three Russian teams, while this year's Round of 32 contains four Dutch, three Belgian and three Portuguese clubs. Of the ten clubs from the top four leagues in the Round of 32, only three of them dropped out of the Champions League before Christmas, and whether these teams can compete with the premier Russian, Portuguese and Dutch clubs could define the landscape of European football. Consistently more chaotic, unpredictable knockout stages where all of these teams compete evenly could inject a refreshing sense of the exotic and unknown in to the tournament, setting it apart from the exciting yet increasingly predictable Champions League. In this scenario, the tournament might become one best-loved by football nerds and anoraks, but it would at least give the tournament a cult, more cerebral following, the In Utero to the Nevermind of the Champions League.

Many of UEFA's plans for the Europa League are long-term, and increased revenue, exposure and club enthusiasm are slowly being realised. But for all the anthems and updated logos, the UEFA Europa League, now in the third season of competition, still suffers from a lack of distinct identity and the ubiquitous omnipresence of the UEFA Champions League. This is hardly a rivalry comparable to that of King Lear's daughters or Cain and Abel, but UEFA need urgently to increase parity between the two competitions if it is to maintain any relevance. Centralised television rights have helped the Europa League increase turnover and stature, just as they did with the Champions League in the mid-1990s, but there is a ceiling on how much broadcasters will pay for a competition that may not feature the very best European clubs until after Christmas, if at all. The Champions League will always be the premier European football tournament, but for the Europa League to truly develop, UEFA needs the incentives and rewards to equate with how seriously the organisation wishes it's member clubs to take it. With historic clubs such as Manchester United, Porto, Athletic Bilbao and Ajax currently participating, what better time than now to market such a storied competition?

Rounding out a trio of re-releases to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their denouement, Noothgrush's Live for Nothing is a compilation of live sessions recorded directly from the mixboards of two college radio stations. While never emulating the commercial success of Eyehategod, the West Coast natives forged an underground legacy for themselves at the cement-thick, ultra-heavy end of sludge, and these two recordings book-end their prolific middle era in the late 1990s, during which they released eight split EPs in three years.

Opening with 'Sith' and ‘Jundland Wastes’, two of the many Star Wars references that bizarrely litter their discography, these Californians immediately lay down a sound that is much closer to Buzzov*en and even Khanate than Eyehategod and Iron Monkey. The blues and hardcore influences that defined many American sludge frontrunners are largely cast aside - only occasionally reaching the surface on ‘Derrell’s Porno Song’ and ‘Friends of Mine’ - in favour of raw, visceral catharsis through the medium of stretched and mangled metallic riffs. There are forgettable moments, particularly ‘Useless’ and ‘Made Uncomfortable by Others’ Pain’, which tread the wrong side of sludge’s wafer-thin intensity/boredom measure, but ‘Gage’, ‘Erode the Person’ and Dianoga’ maintain the overall standard by further magnifying the skull-crushing force of Noothgrush’s very heaviest riffs.

There is time for a sinister, lurching cover of Celtic Frost’s ‘Procreation of the Wicked’ and the badland-wandering atmosphere ‘A People Defeated’, before ‘Stagnance’, and ‘Hatred for the Species’ conclude this record with an almighty heave that threatens to drag Noothgrush’s tombstone down in to the soil beneath it. While Live for Nothing loses some of its power because of the mix quality, it remains an utterly essential release for any sludge enthusiast, and is surely one of the most vital re-issues of 2011.

Entering their twenty-eighth year of hard graft, Dave Mustaine leads his Megadeth charges once more unto the breach to cry God for all thrash metal with Thirteen. Bassist David Ellefson is back amongst the cavalry after a decade-long absence for their ‘imaginatively’-titled thirteenth full-length release, and the result is one of the most impressive Megadeth records since Cryptic Writings.

          Despite having built a career on fostering an ‘us against the world’ mentality, right from the circumstances surrounding the band’s formation, Megadeth have rarely gone against the grain in the last ten years. Instead, Mustaine has focused on refining his songwriting and technique after being stung first by the negative reaction to Risk, and then by a career-threatening arm injury at the turn of the millennium. With Slayer floundering in mediocrity, Metallica taking an age to release records that are panned for their production standards or written off altogether, and Anthrax an unfortunate mix of both, Megadeth have entered an Indian summer by releasing consistently high-quality records with little fuss or controversy.

          Thirteen is Megadeth's third release with Roadrunner, and if the rumours are true, it will likely be their last. The hour-long spin is made up equally of re-released or unrecorded material and several songs written since the release of United Abominations. Following a drawn-out introduction, 'Sudden Death' explodes as a Megadeth classic that will already be familiar to many fans from the Guitar Hero video game series, with 'Public Enemy No. 1' and 'We the People' continuing this superb fettle. In the tradition of 'Sweating Bullets' and 'Victory', this record contains the standard ration of poorly-written lyrics: 'Whose Life (is it Anyways?)' and 'Guns, Drugs and Money' are embarrassing and juvenile at best, while 'Wrecker', an otherwise fantastic song, contains lyrics that are sub-standard to the degree that they were likely completed in the time it took for the shreds of the band's Roadrunner contract to float on to the carpet.

             The last half of the album sees the introduction of much of the aforementioned re-recorded material, with both ‘Millennium of the Blind and ‘New World Order’ written during the Youthanasia era, and ‘Black Swan’ released as a bonus track on some editions of United Abominations in 2007. Nevertheless, this is not a record that feels like a compilation, and tracks that were written up to two decades apart work remarkably well off of each other, particularly the frenzied ‘Never Dead’ and the high-octane ‘Fast Lane’, which resembles Countdown to Extinction’s ‘High Speed Dirt’ both lyrically and musically.

              It is disappointing that more new material was not included, as it is clear that Mustaine has not lost an ounce of talent; that he can include bonus tracks and polished demos on a record and still manage to upstage recent efforts by Metallica and Slayer is a massive statement in itself. There's a relative absence of the astonishing technicality of Peace Sells... or Rust in Peace, and little of the engrossing atmosphere that cloaked Cryptic Writings, but the sound remains unmistakably Megadeth. It is likely that, with a new record deal due, Megadeth’s next release will surpass this one, but Thirteen is a fearsome full stop on their Roadrunner years, and extends their formidable legacy close to a fourth decade.

With any half-decent record, a strong opening track colours your perception of the rest of the album; think of how well 'Angel of Death' sets up Reign in Blood. So when Beyond Creation's The Aura opens with the muddled 'No Request for the Corrupted', it seems that it will be a long fifty minutes. Their technical ability is present in spades, and there are plenty of great ideas, but none of them are given time to settle and develop, and the modus operandi seems to be to disorientate listeners.

The crucial first impression is thus one of a band approaching 'progressive' in the easiest way they can: to throw as many ideas as possible at a wall and see what sticks. But once the Canadians settle down and pace their ideas, the results are astounding. Second track ‘Coexistence’ and the instrumental ‘Chromatic Horizon’ are a vast improvement on the opener, a pair technical death metal tracks packed full of Necrophagist-worshipping riffs that provide a vital second wind for the album. From here on in, the Québécois quartet do not focus so much on trying to appear frantic and instead present ten consistently impressive tracks that flow effortlessly between each part and between each song.

The Aura is a remarkable first full-length release, and while the tech-death metal parts are not anything that hasn’t been seen before, the way that they combine with the slower, more expansive passages, particularly in the title track and final, sprawling epic that is ‘The Deported’, make for a record that succeeds in being an accessible and intelligent metal record. A fretless bass that doesn’t quite work in the rapid-fire death metal parts, alongside an over-edited drum track and a heavy use of the double-kick pedal will initially irritate, but upon the third or fourth release The Aura will be burrowing deep in to your brain. With this record, Beyond Creation have definitely staked a claim as one of the more interesting bands to emerge this year.

Returning five years after the much-lauded Voice of Omens, Arkansas' doom/sludge merchants Rwake present Rest, a record that expands on every aspect and concept of its predecessor with remarkable results. Rwake's movement further away from their sludge core can be traced through each song on Rest, and first-time listeners expecting an Eyehategod/ Iron Monkey-esque emotional meltdown will be sorely disappointed. Instead, opening piece 'It Was Beautiful, But Now it's Sour' offers sludge shot through with black metal, and much of the guitar work on 'An Invisible Thread' resembles a depraved, tortured doppelgänger of Mastodon.

It can safely be said that most bands would wither under the challenge of seamlessly bringing these influences together, but the Arkansawyers' efforts highlight the versatile nature of so many aspects of this act, most notably the dual vocals of CT and Brittany Fugate. The contrast between their styles allows them both to play to their strengths and there is never a moment where, when working together, the combination sounds forced or out-of-place. This is especially true of 'Was Only a Dream', when the interplay between the two creates the most intriguing and creative part of an fascinating and innovative album.

While it is unquestionably heavy, Rest is equally atmospheric, unlike many sludge releases, which can feel suffocating and claustrophobic. The black metal vibe that lurks in places provides for an eerie tone, particularly in the first portion of 'The Culling', a masterpiece that calls upon Neurosis, doom and the post-metal of Isis. This is an ambitious and left-field release for the sludge genre, taking as it does so much influence from black metal, a genre steeped in mystique, as opposed to the raw psychological abuse of traditional sludge. Rest will not be an easy listen for some sludge fans, but even after a dozen listens there will still be subtleties and secrets to uncover. This is a progressive and unique release that takes full advantage of an extraordinary ability to mix to widely disparate influences, and should definitely not be missed.