This week's new heavy metal releases include so much heaviness, so much guitar shredding, so much Phil Demmel, and so much more! To the metals…
Cognitive – Abhorrence
Genre: Technical Death Metal/Deathcore
Origin: Jobbstown, New Jersey
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Bandcamp
Staring this week of with the first of several wallops. This Jersey quintet's fifth album is a melodic, technical, and punishing offering. It's also weirdly catchy, which will keep you coming back to get crushed by their unique earworms.
Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Phoenix, Arizona
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Bandcamp
We're keeping the heaviness going with some nasty death metal. Like Cognitive, this has some surprisingly catchy moments. Gatecreeper are putting more Iron Maiden-esque guitar lead twists on their sound this time.
Marty Friedman – Drama
Genre: Shred
Origin: Washington, DC
Label: Frontiers
Buy now on Amazon
This is a sharp turn away from weighty heaviness. Instead, Marty Friedman is taking you on a rather chill approach to shredding. The track below is pretty jazzy, then the other single "Dead of Winter" is a soaring ballad (with vocals from Chris Brooks of Like a Storm). Lots to enjoy here while remaining in awe of one of the best to sling a guitar.
Intervals – memory palace
Genre: Progressive metal/djent
Origin: Toronto, Ontario
Label: Self-released
Buy now on Bandcamp
If you want shredding, but it needs to still be rockin', then here's the latest from Intervals. Aaron Marshall, Jacob Umansky, and Nathan Bulla are one of progs tightest trios, and while Intervals is ultimately the Aaron Marshall show, the other two shine bright as well. Well, the real star – as always – is the mystery of what's under that ballcap on Marshall's head.
Jasta – …And Jasta For All
Genre: Thrash/crossover
Origin: West Haven, Connecticut
Label: Perseverance Media Group
Buy now on Bandcamp
On …And Jasta For All, Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) set out to make a thrash record, and he fucking succeeded. These tracks have the in your face self-empowering stuff Jasta usually brings, but in a way that's more likely to get an old school pit going. He got some thrash pals to help him out too. You've got Chuck Billy (Testament), Scott Ian (Anthrax), Phil Demmel (ex-Vio-Lence), and lots more.
Jinjer – Live In Los Angeles
Genre: Progressive/groove metal
Origin: Donetsk, Ukraine
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Bandcamp
Jinjer are a live force, and while this isn't their first live record, this is easily their best. It does the best to capture seeing them and covers a lot of their fifteen years of music. You're getting tracks like "Pisces," "Copycat," "Perennial," and more in a sixteen song set. See them live if you can, but if you cannot for some reason, put this on loud and run around your home.
Kerry King – From Hell I Rise
Genre: Thrash
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Reigning Phoenix
Buy now on Amazon
I feel like I don't need to say much here. Slayer's Kerry King is back with his first solo outing alongside drummer Paul Bostaph (ex-Slayer), bassist Kyle Sanders (ex-Hellyeah), guitarist Phil Demmel (that Jasta album up there), and vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel). There's plenty of Slayer-ish stuff going on, but it's more varied than one might expect.
The Last Of Lucy – Godform
Genre: Progressive/techncial death metal
Origin: Huntington Beach, California
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
This is a fucking ride. Holy shit. It sounds like if iwrestledabearonce cut the jokes. It's equally jarring and impressive while pummeling you. There are welcomed breaks, but those seem to exist only to build tension as you know then next assault is coming.
Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive
Genre: Doom/folk
Origin: Little Rock, Arkansas
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Bandcamp
Ah yes, a new Pallbearer record. Sad? Yes, quite. Long songs? Yes, all but one are over seven minutes. Doom? Yes, but also sort of folk and there's even some saxophone. It's more than a doom record, but it's very much a doom record. Lauren's full review is here.
Also dropping today…
- Altar Of Gore – Litanies Of The Unceasing Agonies (Nameless Grave Records) – Black/death metal
- Ameonna – Goddess Reign (Self-released) – Deathcore
- Ancient Settlers – Oblivion's Legacy (Scarlet Records) – Melodic death metal/metalcore
- Ape Vermin – Andromedas Colossus (Self-released) – Sludge/doom
- Ayreon – 01011001: Live Beneath the Waves (Music Theories Records) – Progressive metal opera
- Babylon A.D. – Rome Wasn't Built In A Day (Perris) – Hard/glam rock
- Bat – Under The Crooked Claw (Nuclear Blast) – Heavy/speed metal
- Botanist – Paleobotany (Prophecy) – Experimental/post-black metal
- Burnt By Sherpa – Last Or Later (Done By Hand) – Stoner
- Candy Apple – Comatose (Convulse Records) – Hardcore
- Combichrist – CMBCRST (Out Of Line) – Industrial
- Demon – Invincible (Frontiers) – Heavy metal/hard rock
- Duft – Altar Of Instant Gratification (Scarlet Records) – Metalcore/hardcore
- Elvellon – Ascending In Synergy (Napalm) – Symphonic metal
- Extinguish – One Less Enemy (DAZE) – Hardcore
- Extortionist – Devoid Of Love & Light (Unique Leader Records) – Deathcore
- Freedom – Stay Free! (Wild Kingdom) – Rock
- Geezer / Isaak – Split (Heavy Psych Sounds Records) – Blues rock/stoner
- Göden – Vale Of The Fallen (Svart) – Death metal/doom
- Insanity Alert – Moshemian Trashody (Season Of Mist) – Crossover/thrash
- Henry Kane – Circle Of Pain (Selfmadegod Records) – Grindcore/death metal
- Loyal To The Grave – Rectitude (Triple B Records) – Hardcore
- Nocturnus AD – Unicursal (Profound Lore) – Technical death metal
- One Step Closer – All You Embrace (Run For Cover Records) – Melodic hardcore
- Pain – I Am (Nuclear Blast) – Alternative/industrial metal
- Pathology – Unholy Descent (Agonia Records) – Death metal
- Pig – Red Room (Metropolis Records) – Industrial
- Rope Sect – Estrangement (Iron Bonehead Productions) – Death rock/post-punk
- Shark Island – Memento Mori – Live On The Strip (Deko) – Rock
- Slash – Orgy Of The Damned (Gibson) – Blues
- Sock – 3243 (Minus Head Records) – Metalcore/noise rock
- Suck Brick Kid – The End Is What I Want (Smartpunk) – Punk
- Tzompantli – Beating The Drums Of Ancestral Force (20 Buck Spin) – Death metal/doom
- Ufomammut – Hidden (Neurot/Supernatural Cat) – Doom/drone
- (Un)Worthy – This Present Darkness (Rottweiler Records) – Death metal/deathcore
- Vitskär Süden – Vessel (Ripple Music) – Progressive/psychedelic rock
- Zig Zags – Strange Masters (RidingEasy Records) – Heavy metal/punk
- Zombeast – Heart Of Darkness (Massacre) – Punk/thrash
