I 100% agree with your assessment of Subsignal. If you have the wherewithal, you may find their last release - La Muerta - a nice listen. I was pretty disappointed with Beacon; La Muerta was a large improvement, and imo is their most consistent album start to finish.
Ooh, I didn't think I'd bother but I'll add it to my list in that case.
La Muerta was the second album I heard by Subsignal and it's still my favorite.
Update: So yep I agree, another 4 star album for me, really nice stuff!
Anyway, more updates for me which completes what I'm checking out from round 1.
Eternal Storm (Luoto - round 1)Yeah Come the Tide was pretty much what I expected, very high quality melodic death metal much like the songs you sent from it (4 stars). I also quite liked the older EP, From the Ashes, but it wasn't as strong really (3.5 stars).
Lazerhawk (Nekov - round 1)I ended up checking out all four of their albums as I really like their synthwave/electro-pop sound but some songs and albums are more exciting than others. The two albums that work really well for me are Dreamrider and Visitors (4 stars x 2). Skull and Shark also has some great songs (including the ones you sent me), but it's really long and has quite a lot of filler, and then the first album Redline is solid but not as interesting to me (3.5 stars x 2).
Blut Aus Nord (Puppies - round 1)I wanted to give these guys a go as the three songs you sent me were all so different, so I checked out the two albums that the ones I liked most were from. Neither quite works for me. On 777 Sect(s), Epitome II is still awesome, but most of the rest just doesn't really do it for me, it's very dense and heavy and discordant and not quite to my tastes (3 stars). I also tried Hallucinogen which was much better - a lot more atmospheric and melodic and quite interesting, but still not quite what I'm looking for (3.5 stars).
Edge of Reality (romdrums - round 1)I gave In Static a couple of listens, and my general feeling towards it is very similar to the songs you sent from it - it's very entertaining but a bit all over the place. And while for 20 mins that was still enough to warrant an 8/10, a long album of it gets quite wearing - everything is enjoyable but there's never any focal point. I don't mind that approach at times (for example, on Haken's new album I enjoy the Messiah Complex suite in balance with the more coherent song-writing for the rest of the album) but when a whole 70 minute album is like that, I just find it hard to get into (3.5 stars).
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Sacul - round 1)I gave a listen to all three albums you sent songs from. The earlier two, Push the Sky Away and Skeleton Tree, are nice but bar a handful of songs don't quite do it for me, which I thought might be the case (3.5 stars x 2). Ghosteen though is much more my cup of tea. It's a bit overly long and maybe drags a little, but the whole sound and emotion throughout the album is amazing, so the length doesn't stop it being really great still (4 stars).
The Plot in You (Shadow - round 1)The songs you sent were all from Happiness in Self Destruction, so that was my obvious starting point and is a really excellent album somewhere on the cusp of metalcore and post-hardcore (4 stars). It seems to be much less popular, but I also really dig their latest album Dispose as well, the poppier, synthy elements working quite well for me (also 4 stars). I also went back and tried Could You Watch Your Children Burn but unfortunately that felt much less engaging and a bit angsty for my tastes (3 stars).
Atlas Pain (TAC - round 1)Both What the Oak Left and Tales of a Pathfinder are pretty much exactly what I expected based on the songs you sent, really melodic and energetic folk metal that's fairly cheesy but not overly so and just really very enjoyable (4 stars). Their first EP was also ok, but most of it was just slightly less good versions of songs from their first full-length (3.5 stars).
Solution .45 (wolfking - round 1)Damn these guys really do just sound like Scar Symmetry had carried on in a similar style and quality, I dig it a lot. All three albums are top notch (4 stars x 3). Nightmares in the Waking State: Part I is probably marginally the weakest of the three because there's not as much in the way of great melodic hooks, but it's still a solid punchy album and works well alongside Part II.