This week’s new heavy metal releases include folk doom or something, epic dueling vocals, a band's twenty-seventh album, and more! To the metal…
40 Watt Sun – Perfect Light
Genre: Doom-ish alternative rock/folk
Origin: London, England
Label: Svart
Buy now on Bandcamp
Starting this week with one that's hard to describe. Perfect Light has the emotion Katatonia, but a doom version of the band. However, it isn't exactly heavy? The songs are long, sad, and mostly acoustic. This is perfect cold/rainy weather music.
Abyssus – Death Revival
Genre: Death metal/thrash
Origin: Athens, Greece
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Buy now on Bandcamp
Abyssus' first album in seven years, and second overall, is thirty-three minutes of fuck you metal. Their blend of death metal grime and thrash fury is perfectly balanced here. They started off as an Obituary worship band, and a bit of that is still here, but this is a statement that Abyssus is very much their own beast now.
Battle Beast – Circus Of Doom
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Origin: Helsinki, Findland
Label: Nuclear Blast
If you're a fan of the grand and the powerful then this should be on your list this week. Circus Of Doom is another collection of stellar tracks that include both shredding guitars and pop elements. This album continues to prove that vocalist Noora Louhimo is one of the most underrated in her field.
Boris – W
Genre: Psychedelic/drone
Origin: Tokyo, Japan
Label: Sacred Bones
Even the casual listener of Boris knows that there are a lot of different flavors of Boris. They've done stoner, doom, noise, straight ahead thrash, anthemic pop, and now they're shifting to a spin on their drone/ambient/quasi-shoegaze sound with some curveballs thrown in. W is a rather dynamic record that aims to unsettle, and it does while keeping listeners compelled. Good news is that if you don't care for this one they're bound to release something in a few months. They dropped sixteen things last year, so it's safe to assume W is only the first for 2022. Kevin has a full review here.
Comeback Kid – Heavy Steps
Genre: Hardcore
Origin: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Label: Nuclear Blast
Now twenty years into their run, these kids still bring it. Heavy Steps is all the catchy hardcore that will get stuck in your head while you stomp around a pit. It's as fun as it is angry. A cool bonus is that this album also includes a guest spot by Gojira's Joe Duplantier.
Nocturna – Daughters Of The Night
Genre: Gothic/power metal
Origin: Italy
Label: Scarlet
Buy now on Bandcamp
A duel vocal approach is not a new concept in a metal band, and especially not in a Gothic metal outfit like Nocturna. However, where Nocturna shine is that they utilize an operatic AND more modern (for lack of a better word) vocals from Grace Darkling and Rehn Stillnight – Often simultaneously. Pair them with the surprisingly technical musicianship here and you have a standout debut.
SOM – The Shape Of Everything
Genre: Shoegaze/post-metal
Origin: Massachusetts
Label: Pelagic
Concluding this week with a supergroup of sorts. This outfit includes folks from Caspian, Constants, and Junius. Together on The Shape Of Everything the band offer up heaviness that feels like waves crashing over you. This is for fans of Junius, Deftones, and maybe even CKY if they tried to make an Isis record.
Also dropping this week..,
- Age Of Apocalypse – Grim Wisdom (Closed Casket) – Hardcore/post-hardcore
- Ashes Of Ares – Emperors And Fools (Rock Of Angels) – Power metal – Full review
- Asking Alexandria – Never Gonna Learn (Better Noise Music) – Metalcore
- Artamene – Ziggurat (Wormholedeath) – Heavy metal/thrash
- Beriedir – Aqva (Rockshots) – Progressive power metal
- Billy Talent – Crisis Of Faith (Spinefarm) – Alternative/punk
- Bongtower – Oscillator II (Self-released) – Stoner
- Chaos Perversion – Petrified Against the Emanation (Sentient Ruin) – Death/black metal
- Confess – Revenge at All Costs (Rexius Records) – Groove metal
- Dødskvad – Krønike II (Caligari Records) – Death metal
- Druid Lord – Relics Of The Dead (Hells Headbangers) – Death metal/doom
- Edge Of Forever – Seminole (Frontiers) – Heavy metal/hard rock
- Eisflammen – Следуй за мной (Depths of Void) – Atmospheric black metal
- Feral – Spiritual Void (Source Atone Records/Basement Apes Industries) – Crust/hardcore
- The Ferrymen – One More River To Cross (Frontiers) – Power metal
- Fiat Nox – Demanifestation (Hymns of Destruction and Nothingness) (The Crawling Chaos Records) – Black metal
- Giant – Shifting Time (Frontiers) – Hard rock
- Great American Ghost – Torture World EP (MNRK Heavy) – Hardcore
- Hanging Garden – Neither Moth Nor Rust EP (Lifeforce) – Melodic death metal/doom
- Hazemaze – Blinded by the Wicked (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Doom/heavy metal
- Heir Apparent – Graceful Inheritance (Hammerheart Records) – Heavy metal
- Hellfox – The Call (Music For The Masses) – Gothic metal
- Kandia – Quaternary (Frontiers) – Alternative metal
- Kissin' Dynamite – Not The End Of The Road (Napalm) – Heavy metal/glam
- Lalu – Paint The Sky (Frontiers) – Progressive metal – Full stream
- Nepthisis – Spiral Hollow (Self-released) – Alt metal/indistrial
- Noisecult – Seraphic Wizard (Metal Assault Records) – Doom/stoner
- Pensee Nocturnes – Douce Fange (Les Acteurs de l'Ombre Productions) – Avant-garde black metal
- SETYØURSAILS – Nightfall (Napalm) – Metalcore
- Sleepwulf – Sunbeams Curl (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Psychedelic
- Sonata Arctica – Acoustic Adventures – Volume One (Atomic Fire) – Unplugged power metal
- Spitfire – Denial To Fail (No Remorse) – Heavy/power metal
- Sunczar – Bearer of Light (Argonauta Records) – Stoner/doom
- Through The Noise – Tragedies EP (Eclipse) – Metalcore
- Tokyo Blade – Fury (Dissonance) – Heavy metal
- Torchbearer – Solace (Self-released) – Hardcore
- Truculency – The Dome Collector (Coyote Records) – Brutal death metal
- Verikalpa – Tunturihauta (Scarlet) – Folk metal
- Vrsty – Welcome Home (Spinefarm) – Post-hardcore/R&B
