This week's new heavy metal releases include clown grooves, fuzzed out radness, a large quantity of prog in one record, and more!
You can also check out select new releases here on vinyl via Gimme Metal. Now, to the metals…
The Abbey – Word Of Sin
Genre: Gothic rock/doom
Origin: Finland
Label: Season Of Mist
Buy now on Bandcamp
Getting this week rolling with some slow, haunting tunes. On Word Of Sin The Abbey are blending symphonic bombast and lurching doom into a sound that manages to surprise still. This is a beautiful and multilayered journey into darkness.
Avatar – Dance Devil Dance
Genre: Melodic death/progressive metal
Origin: Gothenburg, Sweden
Label: Thirty Tigers
Buy now on Amazon
Avatar have never been a band to really commit to one thing. While you're still mostly getting groove-driven melodic death metal, Dance Devil Dance does see them dabbling quite a bit once again. "The Dirt I'm Buried In" has a straight up four-on-the-floor disco beat, while "Gotta Wanna Riot" is cowbell-infused rock n roll, and "Train" has a Tom Waits vibe to it. A very interesting listen.
Hellripper – Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags
Genre: Black/speed metal
Origin: Aberdeen, Scotland
Label: Peaceville
Buy now on via Gimme Metal
No bullshit metal right here. Blackened vocals and production with some old school guitar harmonies throughout. James McBain is a hell of a one-man-band. Kevin's review is here.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land Of Sleeper
Genre: Psychedelic/heavy metal
Origin: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
Label: Missing Piece Group Records
Buy now on via Gimme Metal
Fuzz and reverb. Just fuzz and echo on everything. This sounds like mustaches and drugs, and it's cool as hell.
Siege Of Power – This Is Tomorrow
Genre: Death metal/thrash
Origin: United States / Netherlands
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Bandcamp
When these dudes from Autopsy, Asphyx, Beast of Revelation, and Grand Supreme Blood Court get together they lean into a thrashier sound, but there is still some death metal evil there. This winds up either sounding like Exodus or like a very angry Motorhead.
Transatlantic – The Final Flight: Live At L'Olympia
Genre: Progressive rock/metal
Origin: US/UK/Sweden
Label: InsideOut
Buy now on Amazon
Concluding this week with A LOT of live prog. Pete Trewavas (Marillion), Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), Neal Morse (Neal Morse Band), and Mike Portnoy (the gong at the end of Haken's "Crystallised") are giving you twenty-five tracks over three compact discs (or four LPs, BluRay chapters, whatever). These tracks are largely from their latest album The Absolute Universe, but then you're also getting a medley of stuff form The Whirlwind and more.
Also dropping this week…
- Aglo – Into The Maze (Gutter Prince Cabal) – Death metal/crust
- All My Shadows – Eerie Monsters (Frontiers) – Hard rock
- Anoxia – Languish In Suffering (Bitter Loss Records) – Death metal
- Celebrity Sex Scandal – Convergence Of Infinite Sequences (Razor To Wrist) – Alternative metal
- Child – Vitriol (EAT Heavy Records) – Death metal/grindcore
- Creye – III: Weightless (Frontiers) – Hard rock
- Dead Soul Alliance – Spiralling To Lunacy (Cryptorium9) – Death metal
- Dusk – Spectrums (Self-released) – Melodic death metal
- Exhibition – The Last Laugh (Triple B Records) – Hardcore
- First Signal – Face Your Fears (Frontiers) – Melodic rock
- Graphic Nature – A Mind Waiting To Die (Rude Records) – Nu-metal
- Gravehuffer – Depart From So Much Evil (Black Doomba Records) – Doom/death metal
- Half Me – Soma (Arising Empire) – Nu metal/hardcore
- Hail The Void – Memento Mori (Ripple) – Stoner/doom
- Hexer – Abyssal (Crawling Chaos) – Doom/sludge
- Hollentor – Divergency (Self-released) – Hard rock
- Horrible Earth – Weakened By Civilization (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) – Grindcore/hardcore
- Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – Hail To The Underground (Blues Funeral) – Psychedelic/blues
- Kill The Imposter – The Pain Never Dies (Suburban Noize Records) – Deathcore
- Last Legion – Metall, Blod, & Aska (Grind to Death Records) – Black metal/thrash
- Clint Lowery – Ghostwriter (Dark Blanket Records) – Rock
- Man Must Die – The Pain Behind It All (Distortion Music Group) – Technical death metal
- Robin McAuley – Alive (Frontiers) – Rock
- Oceanhoarse – Heads Will Roll (Noble Demon) – Groove metal/hard rock
- Owl – Geomancy (Lummox Records) Stoner rock/metal
- Pelegrin – Ways Of Avicenna (Pelegrin) – Psychedelic/doom
- Scars of Oblivion – Misanthropy (Self-released) – Melodic death metal/deathcore
- See You Next Tuesday – Distractions (Good Fight) – Deathcore/mathcore
- Setanera – Equilibrium (Volcano Records & Promotion) – Gothic metal
- Skinflint – Hate Spell (Into Records) – Heavy metal
- Solence – _hope is a cult_ (Fearless Records) – "Electric rock/metal"
- Street Tombs – Reclusive Decay (Carbonized Records) – Death metal
- Telomyras – Telomyras (Self-released) – heavy metal
- Thod – Asklepios (Wormholedeath) – Blackened doom
- Tithe – Inverse Rapture (Profound Lore) – Grindcore/doom
- Tramalizer – Fumes Of Funeral Pyres (Soulseller) – Death metal
- Ulthar – Anthronomicon (20 Buck Spin) – Black/death metal
- Ulthar – Helionomicon (20 Buck Spin) – Black/death metal
- War Orphan – Unite (Stay Gold Records) – Hardcore
- Winds Of Tragedy – Hating Life (Meuse Music Records/Tragedy Productions) – Melodic black metal/doom
- Worldwide Panic – Worldwide Panic (Self-released) – Modern rock