Female-Fronted Friday: Anaria

June 26, 2026 — Leave a comment

When: 2011

Where: New England

Genre: Rock/Symphonic Metal

FFO: Nightwish, Edge of Paradise, Within Temptation

Having existed in some form or fashion since 2011, Anaria currently consists of vocalist Jessica Mercy, guitarists Sergio Salvucci and Dan Spinney, bassist Matt Frotten, and drummer Johnathan Jena. The band is genre-defying, but the most prevalent elements in their music are symphonic metal, modern rock, and cinematic scoring, with a sprinkling of pop.

Anaria has released five full-length albums – Ancestors (2014), Seasons of the Mind, Vol. 1: Inception (2015), Exile (2020), Holding Cell (2024), and Between Loving and Dying (2026). Their latest single, “From the Dark,” hit streaming platforms back in March. All of their audio, video, and photo production is done in-house, as Sergio and Jessica have built their own production company. Jessica also doubles as a freelance singer/songwriter.

To learn more about Anaria, or to simply keep up with their various goings-on, follow them on all the usual socials/streaming services!

“From the Dark”

“Chasing Shadows”

“Awaken”

“Wings of a Butterfly” (HIM cover)

Albums Released in January/February 2026

March 1, 2026 — Leave a comment

The Delirium Effect – Toxic Culture Shock [1/2]
Redefind – Still Dreamin’ [1/9]
Semper Acerbus – Following Omens [1/9]
Pistols at Dawn – Memento Mori [1/9]
AJ McLean – My Name is Alexander James [1/9]
Alter Bridge – Alter Bridge [1/9]
Asterism – Kick Down the Wall [1/14]
The Funeral Portrait – Live From Suffocate City [1/16]
Jackson Culp – What Happened to the Skull Boy? [1/16]
The Far Worst – Vicious Cycle [1/20]
Blindlove – Broken Heart Syndrome [1/21]
Glis – Winterwerk [1/23]
Fading Into Silence – Woman On My Mind [1/23]
something else together. – this time last year [1/23]
Crown of Nothing – The Weight I Can’t Escape [1/30]
Opandaman – Digital Depression [1/30]
Crownless Prince – Cherry and Velvet [2/1]
Automated Uprising – Corruption [2/3]
Noise Infinite – No Weapon Formed [2/3]
Pretty Crooked – So Sickening [2/6]
Wolverine – Anomalies [2/6]
Siren Section – Separation Team [2/6]
KonKuss – Black Baccara [2/9]
MadLadGibson – The Journey Begins [2/12]
Anaria – Between Loving and Dying [2/13]
Ghosts Are Here – Above [2/18]
Pleasantly Wild – Love Language [2/18]
Rude and Reckless – All In [2/19]
Ethereal Treason – All is Vanity [2/20]
The Veer Union – Reinvention [2/20]
Echoing Peaks – The Ascent [2/20]
Histheory – High Seas Mysteries [2/20]
Silent Script – Another Day in Bedlam [2/20]
Vision of Fire – My Final Hour [2/25]
Hero The Band – Anatomy: Part 2 [2/26]
Deeper Graves – Pull Me Toward the Dark [2/27]
Witchz – Afterlife [2/27]
Announce the Apocalypse – Void [2/27]
Final Gasp – New Day Symptoms [2/27]
Blackwater Drowning – Obscure Sorrows [2/27]

Albums Released From October to December 2025

January 1, 2026 — Leave a comment

Daughters of Mara – I Am Destroyer [10/3]
Bullet to the Heart – Echoes: The Final Chapter [10/3]
Linx – Annihilation [10/10]
Living Dead Girl – Conspiracy [10/10]
Batchelor – Shadow Protocol [10/14]
Heartsick – Break the Curse [10/14]
Julien-K – DRK|MODE [10/17]
Dead Deceased – Chasm of Radiant Despair [10/17]
Starver – The Silent Letter [10/17]
The Thing With Feathers – So Electric [10/24]
Anaria – Piercing the Veil [10/24]
POET The Band – Night Era (Nightcore) [10/24]
Buried Beneath Me – The House of Ash [10/24]
Parhelyon – From Dark to Light [10/24]
Dark Moon Spirit – Sacrificial Moon [10/31]
Wraithlurk – Engraved [10/31]
MethodOne – Novus Initium [10/31]
Armchair Cynics – The Lost Tapes [11/7]
Soulhound – The Divine Purge [11/7]
Citizen Soldier – Family Heirlooms [11/12]
Stellar Circuits – Phantom::Phoenix [11/14]
Suicide Queen – Crowned in Blood [11/14]
The Malt – Weeping Red [11/15]
DENIGH – Sleep With No Sound [11/17]
Falls for the Elderly – Insomnia [11/20]
Never Enough – Aurora [11/21]
Moonscape – Entity, Chapter III: A Sudden Glimpse of Clarity [11/21]
The Pretty Wild – zero.point.genesis [11/21]
Ghosts Are Here – Under [11/21]
RedPrint – Beyond Reality [11/26]
Sleeper Signal – Tales of the Misguided Souls [11/26]
Jungle Dream – We Are Legion [11/28]
Black Dog Moon – Hell and Back [11/28]
Excide – Bastard Hymns [11/28]
Distant Legacy – The Lighthouse’s Fate [11/28]
Devil-M – Titanomachie [11/30]
Michael Botte Band – Demos & Diamonds, Vol. 1 [12/5]
the OWLiNG – You Don’t Bow You Will Learn [12/5]
Immunosuppressed – Lilith [12/5]
Set For Tomorrow – ARCS [12/5]
Crispin Earl – Covers Collection, Vol. 2 [12/5]
Stain the Canvas – Honey Rot [12/12]
Eye of Atlantis – Eye of Atlantis [12/13]
Severed Skies – Oblivion [12/15]
Vagabond – Ode to Isotopia [12/17]
Priest – Live in Hollywood [12/19]
Dark Enchantment – Fragments of Faith [12/20]
Matti Hoffman – Ascend [12/20]
SouthsideFerris – Dying Light [12/23]
The Further I Get – Life [12/25]
Libricide – Kismet [12/26]
Cirkus – Still Remains [12/27]
Damnum – Obsidian Machine [12/30]

EPs Released From July to September 2025

October 1, 2025 — Leave a comment

House of Warwick – Lost in Hypnosis [7/1]
Loosely Sewn – LS-1 [7/1]
SFINX – SFINX [7/8]
Moonfall – Hope at the Edge of Spring [7/11]
Ded En – The Gala [7/18]
Anaria – Chasing Shadows [8/1]
Stain the Canvas – Inevitable [8/1]
Phobias – This Was All For Nothing [8/7]
Miss FD – Euphoria [8/8]
Servants øf Sleep – 2.0/ [8/12]
something else together. – see through [8/16]
Ex Okay – Black EP [8/22]
The Funeral Portrait – Dark Thoughts EP [8/22]
Collide – Freaks Me Out [8/22]
Glass Lungs – Afterglow [8/22]
Vendetta Bloom – Decay Theory [9/3]
Shadow Reborn – The Magnificence of Agony, Pt. 1 [9/5]
SINthetik Messiah + Moose Harris – Pyramid Schemes [9/6]
Hunter and the Cold Hearts Club – Till the Flesh Falls [9/10]
Flür – Your Way [9/19]

EPs Released From April to June 2025

July 1, 2025 — Leave a comment

Hand of the Tribe – Makinas, Vol. 1 [4/4]
Wraithlurk – Suffering [4/4]
Rise to Ruin – The Alchemy EP [4/4]
Once Unnoticed – Forever Again [4/5]
In Passing – In Passing [4/11]
postdrome – Postdrome [4/15]
Jutes – The End [4/23]
Traverse the Abyss – Memento Mori [4/25]
Death Valley High – U DON’T KNOW WHAT UR ASKING [4/25]
Bad Valentines – Memory Tattoos [4/25]
Valtozash – Sundered Synapses [5/2]
The Journals Kept – Strike the Match [5/2]
Anaria – Spark of Life [5/9]
I Was the Crown – Broken Wings [6/1]
StarrShine – As a Kid [6/5]
Kumiko – The Space Between [6/7]
Atomic Fate – Try It… You Might Like It!!! [6/10]
Eayondig – Ivory Eye [6/11]
L.O.U.D. – FM Broadcast [6/13]
Traverse the Abyss – Memento Mori (Instrumental) [6/13]
Lucretia Death – Half Dead [6/20]
Priest – Chaos EP [6/20]
Stain the Canvas – Gattini [6/27]
Have I Weather – Porch Sessions [6/27]
splinter kid – Control Freak [6/27]
The Lucidia Project – The Twilight Affliction [6/30]

EPs Released From January to March 2025

March 31, 2025 — Leave a comment

As stated in the Albums Released From January to March 2025 post, I am handling the announcement of album and EP releases differently this year. I will be sharing a list every 3 months rather than every 6.

Please note that whenever possible, I have linked the artist’s Apple Music profile. I still use Spotify because of its convenience, but I respect that many are struggling with monetary decisions made by the streaming service and will send traffic to your other platforms if I can. (Release dates may vary depending on when the EP was uploaded to Apple.)

Atta Guns – The Heart and the Mind Have Nothing in Common [1/1]
ZombieSuckers – Captain Morgue and His Deadbeats [1/8]
King Saltine – III [1/10]
Monster Truck – Monster Truck Monday, Vol. 2 [1/13]
Storm Kingdom – The Savage Garden [1/13]
GHOSTHVRT – Neon Sin [1/17]
The Reckless – Who Are You? [1/17]
Midnight For Now – In the End [1/23]
Circuit Preacher – Killed Something [1/24]
Still Echoes – Self (Titled) [1/30]
Illusions of Grandeur – The Siren Rises, Pt. 1: The Witch [1/31]
Salaryman – Salaryman [2/1]
Ghost of the Sun – Black Flower [2/3]
Monster Truck – Monster Truck Monday, Vol. 3 [2/3]
Cresthaven – For What It’s Worth [2/8]
Darkriver – 004 [2/14]
Fuzzy Death Machine – Culinary Slut [2/21]
Ruin the Mind – Queen of the Damned (Reloaded) [2/22]
Circuit Preacher – Torture God [2/28]
Tropic Gold – Sick to Death of Everything [3/7]
Take the W – Head in the Sky [3/10]
f1oater. – Amnesia State of Mind [3/14]
Who on Earth – Smoke & Mirrors [3/14]
The Funeral March of the Marionettes – It All Falls Apart [3/14]
No Fly List – No Fly List [3/17]
Atlases – Penumbra: Recast [3/19]
Gillsaw – Fog Watch [3/21]
Sage – Heartwired [3/21]
Moonfall – Stillness of Winter [3/21]
Anaria – Curtain Fall [3/27]
Adelitas Way – Deja Vu EP [3/28]

The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist, Pt. 1 (Updated 1/31/25)

January 31, 2025 — Leave a comment

This is the second, and final, playlist update for January. I have already begun compiling my Top 50 of 2025 – I think this year is going to be difficult to narrow down… (I say that every year, but I already have 6 contenders and it’s not even February. If that happens every month, my life is going to be a challenge come December. Ha ha!)

Here are the tracks that have been added to the playlist since January 14th. You can view the list in its entirety here.

The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 5 (Updated 9/22/24)

September 22, 2024 — Leave a comment

September has flown by. There have been several notable releases – not only singles, but also albums/EPs – and I’m still finding music that dropped near the end of August! Lol. So naturally, I am going to encourage y’all to check out every installment of the 2024 playlist.

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

Here are the songs I’ve added to part 5 since 9/8/24.

The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 1 (Updated 2/25/24)

February 25, 2024 — Leave a comment

View full playlist here

These are the tracks that have been added since 2/11/24.

My Top 50 Songs of 2023

January 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

I tried to trim my list down to 30, the way I did last year, but it was impossible. For one thing, I started compiling singles for 2023 in January – last year, I got a late start. And for another thing, there have been way too many good songs released over the past twelve months!

So here are my top 50 songs of 2023 (in no particular order). And here is a link to the full playlist!

	Metal Odyssey on Top 5 No-Skip Albums
	Dixie Rocker on Top 5 No-Skip Albums
	Metal Odyssey on Top 5 No-Skip Albums
	Dixie Rocker on Top 5 No-Skip Albums
	Metal Odyssey on Top 5 No-Skip Albums