This week's new heavy metal releases include the return of groove/thrash legends, spooky jams, lots of angst, and more! To the metals…
ALSO! Today, Bandcamp is doing one of their days of giving 100% of what you pay directly to the labels and artists as Covid-19 Pandemic relief. So if you can get stuff from Bandcamp, please do.
Rick Astley – Are We There Yet?
Genre: Soul/pop
Origin: Newton-le-Willows, United Kingdom
Label: BMG
Buy now on Amazon
Real talk: I was originally going to post the album cover with a link to "Never Gonna Give You Up" and call that joke done, but I decided to check out this album. What've heard from it is pretty great. Rick's voice has aged wonderfully and this one is one for fans of Al Green, Jamie Lidell, and the likes. He did have the audacity to have another song that starts with "Never Gonna" though. Weird move there. Anyway, heavy stuff below. But what if there wasn't?
Capra – Errors
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Origin: Southern Louisiana
Label: Blacklight
Buy now on Bandcamp
(Actually) starting this week with some straight-up aggression. The band's second album is a hardcore fury with few breaks. You're also getting a couple guest spots here from Candance from Walls of Jericho and Dustin from Glassing.
Carnifex – Necromanteum
Genre: Deathcore
Origin: San Diego, California
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon
Carnifex seem to be leaning into the fact that this is dropping with a very spooky album cover here. They are also bringing more blackened elements to the table this time, so it's a quasi-grim affair. If it wasn't for the next album on this list I'd call this the spooky record of the week. This is some very epic and very cool deathcore though.
Dusk – Wheels Of Twilight
Genre: Occult rock
Origin: Vienna, Austria
Label: Argonauta Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
Oh, were you looking for riffs? Dusk have you covered. This is one of those throwback heavy metal records that sounds like it was recorded in a smoke-filled room in the 70's. If you're a Royal Thunder fan, you'll probably enjoy this.
Linus Klausenitzer – Tulpa
Genre: Progressive/melodic death metal
Origin: Germany
Label: AOP
Buy now on Bandcamp
Linus may not be a name that springs to mind, but it's likely a bassist you've heard if you're a fan of melodic/technical death metal. The dude is a past or present member of Obscura, Alkaloid, and lots more. Here he's taking the lead so the low end is high in the mix, but this is stellar prog metal record that features help from Hannes Grossman (see some of same bands Linus was in), Ian Waye (Soreption), Nicolas Alberny (Gorod) and more.
Of Mice & Men – Tether
Genre: Metalcore/groove metal
Origin: Costa Mesa, California
Label: SharpeTone
Buy now on Amazon
Big choruses? Check. Heavy yet melodic verses 'n such? Check. An Of Mice & Men record fans will enjoy? Oh yes.
Prong – State Of Emergency
Genre: Groove metal/thrash
Origin: New York City, New York
Label: Steamhammer/SPV
Buy now on Amazon
After six years Tommy Victor and his gang are back with another groove-filled thrash record. This features the first appearance of their new drummer Griffin McCarthy who crushed the kit. Some one-off spots from Marc Rizzo (Soulfly) and Steve Zing (Danzig) as well. A turn I wasn't expecting was the album's closer which is a pretty solid cover of Rush's "Working Man." Starts off pretty straight-ahead, then takes a Prong-y turn.
Svalbard – The Weight Of The Mask
Genre: Post-hardcore/post-metal
Origin: Bristol, England
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Bandcamp
Going to conclude with some rather ethereal, heaviness. This record sounds like if Brutus blended with Deafheaven, while still taking unexpected turns here and here. Lots of emotion and soaring tremolo guitar work. This one caught me off guard and I'm thankful for it.
Also dropping this week…
- Michael Abdow – Seance In Black (Couch Cat) – Shred/progressive metal
- Another Day Dawns – Finding Peace Through All The Noise (Century Media) – Hard rock
- Apotheus – Ergo Atlas (Black Lion Records) – Progressive metal
- Auriferous Flame – Ardor for Black Mastery (True Cult Records) – Black metal
- Awakening Sun – I Am More (Seek & Strike) – Melodic death/groove metal
- Barbarian Swords – Anti-Dogma Megaforce (Eternal Juggernaut Records) – Black metal/doom
- Born In Blood – Can't Save Us All (Shattered Earth Records) – Groove/nu metal
- Citizen – Calling The Dogs (Run For Cover) – Punk/emo
- Dogstar – Somewhere Between The Power Lines And Palm Trees (Dillon Street) – Alt rock
- Essence Of Datum – Radikal Rats (Self-released) – Melodic/technical death metal
- Fangs Out – The Humour In Hell (Soul2Sell) – Hardcore
- Games We Play – Life's Going Great (Fueled By Ramen) – Pop punk
- Heavy Load – Riders Of The Ancient Storm (No Remorse) – Heavy/power metal
- Heretoir – Nightsphere (Self-released) – Post-rock/black metal
- Impure Wilhelmina – Dead Decades (Season Of Mist) – Gothic rock/metal
- Iron Savior – Firestar (AFM) – Power metal
- King Ov Wyrms – The Womb Ov Borealis (Self-released) – Blackened death metal
- The Keening – Little Bird (Relapse) – Folk/doom
- Left To Rot – Breath Of The Tomb (Southern Death) – Death metal
- Nytt Land – Torem (Napalm) – Folk
- October Tide – The Cancer Pledge (Agonia) – Death metal/doom
- Putrascension – Forever Below (HPGD) – Melodic death/black metal
- Rave The Requiem – Ex-Eden (Out of Line Music) – Electronic metal
- Restless Spirit – Afterimage (Magnetic Eye) – Stoner/doom
- Trevor Rabin – Rio (InsideOut) – Folk/progressive
- Sangre de Muérdago – O Vento que Lambe as miñas Feridas (Throne/Neuropa) – Folk/Avant-garde
- Siamese – Live at Roskilde Festival (Long Branch Records) – Metalcore
- Snailmate – Stress Sandwich (Hairless Records) – "synthpunk grindcore pop nerd rap"
- Stonemiller Inc. – Welcome To The Show (Massacre) – Hard rock
- Taliesin – Disciple (Self-released) – Progressive metal
- Third Storm – The Locust Mantra (Chaos) – Black metal
- Torn The Fuck Apart – Kill.Bury.Repeat (Gore House) – Death metal
- Uranium – Pure Nuclear Death (Sentient Ruin) – Death/black metal
- Varg – Ewige Wacht (Napalm) – Folk metal
- Virta – Horros (Svart) – Experimental
- Xorsist – At The Somber Steps To Serenity (Prosthetic Records) – Death metal
