This week’s new heavy metal releases include Georgian prog, a wolf with horrorcore makeup (?), dooooooooooooooooom, and more! To the metals…
Archspire – Bleed The Future
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia
Label: Season Of Mist
Starting this week with sonic pummeling. While still melodic and incredibly technical, the rhythms of this record are at the forefront. Even the vocals on this hit hard. A swell fourth record that with get tech heads moving.
Bad Wolves – Dear Monster
Genre: Hard rock/groove metal
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Better Noise
After a bunch of drama, Bad Wolves are back with a new frontman in Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz (former Acacia Strain guitarist). Dear Monsters sticks to the band's tradition of djent-ish, melodic hard rock with some of the loftiest choruses you'll hear this year. This should be an exciting new chapter for those sticking with the band.
Jerry Cantrell – Brighten
Genre: Hard rock
Origin: Tacoma, Washington
Label: Self-released
Alice In Chains are on a break of some sorts right now so it makes sense for Jerry to step out and remind you just how much of the band's trademark sound he's responsible for. This record sounds like AIC with a little extra classic rock swagger and twang mixed in. He has an all-star crew with him on this thing with Greg Puciato (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan) on backing vocals along with Duff McKagen (Guns N Roses), Gil Sharone (Stolen Babies, DEP, etc), and many others.
Ghost Bath – Self Loather
Genre: Post-black metal
Origin: Minot, North Dakota
Label: Nuclear Blast
Ghost Bath's fourth record is the final in a trilogy of albums and aims to be heavier and darker than the last couple. I'd say mission accomplished. While still atmospheric and melodic to certain degrees, this one does feel angrier. CJ McMahon from Thy Art Is Murder pops in on the track below to help turn up the rage.
Grand Cadaver – Into the Maw of Death
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Gothernburg, Sweden
Label: Majestic Mountain Records
Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity got some pals from Novarupta, ex-Tiamat, Pagandom, and ex-Katatonia then ditched the melody of his main band on Grand Cadaver's debut. Into The Maw Of Death is a love note to old school death metal that infuses just enough doom elements. This comes on the heels of their Madness Comes EP form February, so you're getting a lot of this band this year. Chad does a deep dive on the record here while also providing a definition of the word "maw."
Lucifer – Lucifer IV
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Origin: Berlin, Germany/Stockholm, Sweden
Label: Century Media
Let's keep the darkness going, but turn up the fun. Just a year after Lucifer III, Johanna Sadonis and her crew are already back with more riffy throwback heavy metal on Lucifer IV (who saw that coming?). Another fun record from a fun band named after Satan.
Mastodon – Hushed And Grim
Genre: Progressive metal/sludge
Origin: Atlanta Georgia
Label: Reprise
Oh man. There is a lot of Mastodon on this puppy. This includes Blood Mountain-esque madness on "Pushing The Tides," Crack The Skye space metal on "Teardrinker," and Once More 'Round the Sun experimenting on "Sickle and Peace." And those are just the singles. There is so much more ground covered on the double album's eighty-six minutes too. Jordan's full review is here.
Monolord – Your Time To Shine
Genre: Stoner/doom
Origin: Gothenburg, Sweden
Label: Relapse Records
Need more fuzz? Monolord have you covered. The band's fifth album is five songs (I wondered if they planned that?) of heavy, slow, spaced out doom that may or may not be perfectly paired with some sort of marijuana useage.
Thulcandra – A Dying Wish
Genre: Melodic black/death metal
Origin: Munich, Germany
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Bandcamp
It's been five years since the Perishness Around Us EP and Steffen Kummerer (Obscura) has finally found time to pay homage to frosty black metal once again. This record sounds like being surrounded by the chaos of a snowstorm while you're being chased by a yeti. It also sounds like blast beats, harmonized tremolo picked guitars, and stuff.
Whitechapel – Kin
Genre: Deathcore/progressive metal
Origin: Knoxville, Tennessee
Label: Metal Blade
Wrapping this week wit what might be a divisive album? Kin is largely deathcore bludgeoning, but when they slow things down they sound a lot like The Contortionist. This is easily their most diverse offering yet. Frank has a one-on-on with vocalist Phil Bozeman about the record here.
Also dropping today…
- 156/Silence – Don't Hold Your Breath EP (SharpTone) – Hardcore
- Ad Infinitum – Chapter II – Legacy (Napalm) – Symphonic metal
- American Teeth – We Should Be Having Fun (Fearless) – Rock
- Anti Ritual – Expel The Leeches (Indisciplinarian) – Hardcore
- Attack Attack! – Long Time, No Sea (Oxide Records) – Crabcore
- Bastarður – Satan's Loss Of Son (Season Of Mist) – Crust punk
- Beast In Black – Dark Connection (Nuclear Blast) – Power/heavy metal
- Be'Lakor – Coherence (Napalm) – Progressive death metal
- Sammy Berell – Beyond the Veil (Sound Pollution) – Shred
- Black Veil Brides – The Phantom Tomorrow (Sumerian) – Metalcore/hard rock
- Bloodmouth – Unmanned (Brilliant Emperor Records) – Grindcore/death metal
- Bobby Liebling and Dave Sherman Basement Chronicles – Nite Owl (Svart) – Doom
- Burning The Oppressor – Damnation (Candlelight) – Death/groove metal
- Canyyn – Canyyn (Self-released) – Doom/stoner
- Count Raven – The Sixth Storm (I Hate Records) – Doom
- Cult Of Eibon – Black Flame Dominion (Iron Bonehead Productions) – Black metal
- Death SS – Ten (Lucifer Rising Records) – Heavy metal/doom
- The Design Abstract – Metemtechnosis (Abstrakted Records) – Symphonic/technical death metal
- Doedsvangr – Serpents Ov Old (Debemur Morti Productions) – Black metal
- Exmortus – Legions Of The Undead EP (M-Theory) – Technical death metal
- First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle (Unique Leader Records) – Technical death metal
- Goat Torment – Forked Tongues (Season Of Mist Underground Activists) – Black metal
- Helheim – Woduridar (Dark Essence) – Folk/black metal
- John 5 – Sinner (Big Machine) – Shred
- Jointhugger – Surrounded by Vultures (Majestic Mountain Records) – Stoner/doom
- Kayo Dot – Moss Grew On the Swords And Plowshares Alike (Prophecy) – Avant-garde metal
- Knivad – Insidans Ärrvävnad (Suicide Records) – Hardcore/crust
- Minus The Bear – Farewell (Suicide Squeeze) – Math rock
- Mortal Vision – Mind Manipulation (Redefining Darkness Records) – Thrash
- Nemecic – The Last Magic In Practice (Inverse Records) – Melodic death metal
- Prophetic Scourge – Gnosis – A Sorrower 's Odyssey (Klonosphere Records) – Death metal
- Running Wild – Blood On Blood (SPV/Steamhammer) – Rock
- Sunless – Ylem (Willowtip Records) – Progressive death metal
- Teethgrynder – Hostages (Isolation Records) – Experimental/noise
- War Of Ages – Rhema (Facedown Records) – Metalcore
- Zeolite – Proselytism (EVP Recordings) – Technical death metal
