This week's new heavy metal releases include some atypical doom offerings, thrash madness, and more! To the metals…
Chrome Waves – Earth Will Shed Its Skin
Genre: Post-black metal/shoegaze
Origin: Chicago, Illinois
Label: M-Theory
Buy now from Bandcamp
Starting this week's part off with some echo-y, blackened jams. After At least an EP of material every year since 2019, it's great to hear a band both this consistent and this prolific. Fans of Deafheaven, Nothing, and let's say Hum should be all over this.
Cradle Of Filth – Trouble And Their Double Lives
Genre: Extreme metal
Origin: Suffolk, England
Label: Napalm
Buy now from Bandcamp
Dani Filth and his hoard are dropping their first live album in two decades here. This includes a career spanning collection of tracks like "Nymphetamine (Fix)," "Lustmord and Wargasm (The Lick of Carnivorous Winds)" and lots of other songs that don't have parentheticals. This also includes two new songs.
Crown The Empire – Dogma
Genre: Metalcore
Origin: Dallas, Texas
Label: Rise
Buy now from Amazon
Dogma is Crown The Empire's first album in four years and it sees their band at their biggest. Choruses are huge and the walls of sound are massive. This is the first with their shiny new drummer Jeeves Avalos who graduated from touring drummer.
Elvenking – Reader Of The Runes – Rapture
Genre: Power/folk metal
Origin: Sacile, Italy
Label: AFM
Buy now from Amazon
Here we have another band back after four years with a huge sounding record. These Italians are bringing the folk fury though. Weirdly a new drummer as well, and a new guitarist that goes by "HeadMatt." Hell yeah.
Enforced – War Remains
Genre: Crossover/thrash
Origin: Richmond, Virginia
Label: Century Media
Buy now via Bandcamp
There is a lot of great modern thrash out here right now, and Enforced are one of the bands at the top of the heap. No bullshit here. Just frantic rhythms, shredding guitars, and pit inducing aggression. Max's give you the lowdown here.
Fires In The Distance – Air Not Meant For Us
Genre: Melodic death metal/doom
Origin: Newington, Connecticut
Label: Prosthetic
Buy now Bandcamp
Every track on this record is an epic chapter worth every second of their lengthy run-time. So many mood shifts and sections to get lost in. A swell time that perfectly balances doom heft and melodic death metal groove. Jordan has a full review here.
Lunar Chamber – Shambhallic Vibrations
Genre: Technical death metal
Origin: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Buy now Bandcamp
With members sporting monikers like "Timeworn Nexus" and "They, Who May Not Be Perceived," you know you're in for a wild ride. Shambhallic Vibrations certainly delivers on that promise. The five tracks traverse Gorguts-esque dissonant death metal, Cynic mood, and this is all with technicality that's sure to impress.
Spotlights – Alchemy For The Dead
Genre: Doomgaze/experimental
Origin: New York
Label: Ipecac
Buy now on Bandcamp
Wrapping this week with some doomy weirdness. These soon to be Mr. Bungle tour-mates are heavy, spacy, and really interesting. The juxtaposition between them and the current/retro Bungle thrash might be weird, but could be cool too. This record is cool at least.
Also dropping (around) today…
- Allochiria – Commotion (Venerate Industries) – Sludge/post-metal
- Austere – Corrosion Of Hearts (Lupus Lounge) – Black metal
- Cadaveric Crematorium – Zombology (Punishment 18 Records) – Brutal death metal/grindcore
- The Damned – Darkadelic (earMusic) – Punk
- Danava – Nothing But Nothing (Tee Pee) – Heavy metal/rock and roll
- Dead Sea Apes – Rewilding (Feeding Tube Records) – Drone/post-rock
- Defiled – The Highest Level (Season Of Mist) – Death metal
- Disciple – Skeleton Psalms (Tooth & Nail Records) – Alternative metal/hard rock
- Elephant Rifle – Broken Water (Learning Curve Records) – Noise rock/hardcore
- Emissary – Emissary (Dying Victims Productions) – Heavy/power metal
- Erdling – Bestia (Out of Line Music) – Rock
- Existentialist – The Heretic (Seek & Strike) – Blackened death metal
- Exit Catacomb – No Escape from the Catacomb (Self-released) Black/speed metal
- Fardeaux – The Den Has Become an Abyss (Drowning in Chaos Records) – Avant-garde black metal
- Fatuous Rump – I Am At Your Disposal (Brutal Mind / Fat Tub Of Lard) – Brutal death metal
- Giöbia – Acid Disorted (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Psychedelic rock
- Graveworm – Killing Innocence (AFM) – Symphonic black/gothic metal
- Hawkwind – The Future Never Waits (Cherry Red) – Psychedelic rock
- Ibliss – (((Unholy))) (Helter Skelter Productions) – Krautrock/progressive
- Ignea – Dreams Of Lands Unseen (Napalm) – Melodic death/progressive metal
- Sass Jordan – Live In New York Ninety-Four (Deko) – Hard rock
- Lucifuge – Monoliths of Wrath (Dying Victims Productions) – Black metal/thrash
- King Potenaz – Goat Rider (Agronauta Records) – Doom/stoner
- King Yosef – An Underlying Hum (Bleakhouse) – Industrial
- Mars Red Sky/Queen Of The Meadow – Mars Red Sky & Queen Of The Meadow (Mrs Red Sound/Vicious Circle Records) – Psychedelic/hard rock
- Megafauna – Olympico (Dani Neff) – Hard rock
- Mistral – In the Throes of Losing Love (Onism Productions) – Post-black metal/shoegaze
- Mother Of Graves – In Somber Dreams (Wiseblood Records) – Death metal/doom
- Messa – Messa: Live At Roadburn (Svart) – Doom
- Necronomicon – Constant To Death (El Puerto Records) – Thrash
- Ocular Trauma – The Dissection Of Tragedy (Wormholedeath Records) – Black/death metal
- Old Dirty Buzzard – What A Weird Hill To Die On (Rotten Records) – Hard rock/heavy metal
- OSM – Plagued By Doubts (Klonosphere Records/Season Of Mist) – Progressive metal
- Pustilence – Beliefs of Dead Stargazers and Soothsayers (Memento Mori) Death metal
- Redshift – Laws Of Entropy (Pale Wizard Records) – Progressive metal
- Runemagick – Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind (Hammerheart Records) – Death metal/doom
- Sentinel Sirens – Orbithon Wave (Chaos Records) – Crossover/thrash
- Sleepsculptor – Divine Recalibration (Silent Pendulum Records) – Experimental/Mathcore
- Swollen Teeth – Swollen Teeth (Blowed Out) – Hardcore
- Tarchon Fist – The Flame Still Burns (Underground Symphony) – Heavy metal
- Terrnoct – Icon Of Ruin (Self-released) – Death metal/thrash
- Tunic – Wrong Dream (Artoffact Records) – Noise/punk
- Vadiat – Spear Of Creation (Redefining Darkness Records) – Death metal/doom
- Valgrind – Millennium of Night Bliss (Memento Mori) – Death metal
- Vaultwraith – Decomposing Spells (Hell's Headbangers) – Heavy/black metal
- Wallowing – Earth Reaper (Church Road Records) – Sludge/blackened doom