This week’s new heavy metal releases include melodic death metal legends, frog metal, sludgy goodness, and more! To the metals…
At The Gates – Nightmare Of Being
Genre: Melodic death metal
Origin: Gothenburg, Sweden
Label: Century Media
Starting this week strong. This is album number seven from the melodic death metal legends and this is no bullshit At The Gates. You're getting all the soaring melodies and ballcaps you'd hope for. Related: isn't it weird that a new At The Gates album is just a thing that happens regularly now? They break up and don't put a record out for almost twenty years, but now this is the third since 2014. What a time to be alive.
Born Of Osiris – Angel Or Alien
Genre: Progressive metalcore
Origin: Palatine, Illinois
Label: Sumerian
These tracks are so damn catchy on BOO's sixth album. They set out to include every aspect of their sound into this album. So they are bringing every aspect of their trademark groovy, beep-boop infused, shreddy metalcore. Other than certain elements former members brought, I think they were pretty successful.
Felled – The Intimate Earth
Genre: Folk/black metal
Origin: Eugene, Oregon
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Here's some bleak beauty for your week. The band formerly known as Moss of Moonlight has rebranded with a pair of new pals and the new moniker Felled. The sound is is a Grayceon meets old Wolves In The Throne Room. I really dig this, but I'm a sucker for just about any heavy band that utilizes a violin.
Froglord – The Mystic Toad
Genre: Doom/stoner
Origin: Bristol, England
Label: The Swamp Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
Hell yes. More frog metal! Back in February I wrote a bit about this project's Save The Frogs EP and it's already back with more smoky riffs, catchiness, and weird songs about amphibians. This album is a concept album about Froglord's battle with Aliens to save the Earth, because of course it is. Really, what more could you want?
Nanowar Of Steel – Italian Folk Metal
Genre: Power metal/hard rock
Origin: Rome, Italy
Label: Napalm
As advertised, this is folk metal by Italians. It is a fun album that is made funny with the help of some Google translations (if you're like me and don't know Italian, that is). This includes fitting appearances from folks from Luca Turilli's Rhapsody, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Frozen Crown. It includes the only metal song I know of about Captain Birdseye/Iglo from the Birds Eye frozen foods brand, so that's fun.
Year Of No Light – Consolamentum
Genre: Sludge/ambient
Origin: Bordeaux, France
Label: Pelagic
If you're on a quest for some ethereal, epic sludge, then look no further than the latest from Year of No Light. When Consolamentum isn't hitting you hard, it's washing you in waves of beautiful sound. This is quite the return after eight years away.
Also dropping today…
- Anthropophagus Depravity – Apocalypto (Comatose) – Brutal death metal
- Bizarrekult – Vi Overlevde (Petrichor) – Black metal
- Blood Of The Phoenix – From What We Used To Know (Self-released) – Metalcore
- Butcher in the Fog – Exonerate Me, Baby (Self-released) Heavy metal/punk
- Concilium – Desecration (Sentient Ruin Laboratories) – Black metal
- Diabolizer – Khalkedonian Death (Everlasting Spew Records) – Death metal
- Die Apokalyptischen Reiter – The Divine Horsemen (Nuclear Blast) – Heavy metal/hard rock
- Drawn and Quartered – Congregation Pestilence (Krucyator Productions) – Death metal
- Dream Tröll – Realm of the Tormentör (Self-released) Heavy/power metal
- Fermentor – Continuance (Metal Assault Records) – Instrumental death metal
- Godhead Machinery – Masquerade Among Gods (Black Lion Records) – Black/death metal
- Kvasir – 4 (Glory or Death Records) – Heavy metal/stoner
- Lord Of The Lost – Judas (Napalm) – Dark metal/hard rock
- Mannveira – Vitahringur (Dark Descent Records) – Black metal
- Mondo Generator – Live At Bronson (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Punk/hard rock
- Mort Froide – Rider from the Abyss (Self-released) Black metal
- Mourn the Light – Suffer, Then We're Gone (Argonauta Records) – Heavy metal/doom
- Noctambulist – The Barren Form (Willowtip) – Death/black metal
- Olórin – Through Shadow and Flame (Rafchild Records) -Doom
- postcards from new zealand – city islands (Mandrone Records) – Post-rock
- Psychosexual – Unholy Hymns For The Children (6ex) – Nu metal/hard rock
- The Quireboys – A Bit Of What You Fancy 30th Anniversary Edition (Off Yer Rocka)
- Ruach Raah – Misanthropic Wolfgang (Signal Rex) – Black metal
- Starspawn of Cthulhu – Tales from the Unknown (Self-released) – Doom
- Stress Angel – Bursting Church (Dying Victims Productions) – Blackened death metal