This week's new heavy metal releases include ballads that will make you want to fight, riffs on riffs, death metal fun, and more! To the metals…
Benighted – Ekbom
Genre: Brutal death metal/grindcore
Origin: Saint-Étienne, France
Label: Season Of Mist
Buy now on Bandcamp
Starting this week off really heavy. The tenth record from these Frenchmen is techy, booming, and even a lil' epic. Ekbom is a surprisingly diverse one as well.
Castle Rat – Into The Realm
Genre: Heavy metal/doom
Origin: Brooklyn, New York
Label: King Volume Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
Castle Rat have all the ingredients for a folk metal band. They're rocking capes, fur pelts, and face paint and yet they're bringing some very hip stoner rock to you instead. Honestly, just a rad record from a band I fully expect to crossover with the cool kids.
Eidola – Eviscerate
Genre: Progressive metalcore/post-hardcore
Origin: Salt Lake City, Utah
Label: Rise Records
Buy now on Amazon
Now here's one for us prog dorks. Eidola are an underrated prog force and Eviscerate is another record mixing technical magic and catchy ass melodies. It's closer to your Emerosa and Dance Gavin Dance-type bands, but fans of Coheed & Cambria and the likes should give this a go.
Heavy Temple – Garden Of Heathens
Genre: Stoner/psychedelic metal
Origin: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Label: Magnetic Eye
Buy now on Bandcamp
Riffs. Plain and simple. Garden of Heathens is a record of fuzzed out everything, Orange amps, and fucking riffs. If you need additional convincing that you're in for a good time you should know they fronted by High Priestess Nighthawk. Fuck yeah.
Necrot – Lifeless Birth
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Oakland, California
Label: Tankcrimes
Buy now on Bandcamp
This is a solid, straight-up death metal record. Look at the cover. This sounds exactly like that.
Northlane – Mirror's Edge
Genre: Progressive metalcore/alternative metal
Origin: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Label: Self-released
Buy now on Amazon
On this six track EP Northlane are covering a lot of ground. There are some djent grooves, soaring choruses, and plenty of guests. Those guests include Ian from Karnivool, Winston from Parkway Drive, and even former bassist Brendon Padjasek.
Spit On Your Grave – Arkanum
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Label: Concreto Records
Buy now from Concreto
This one's pretty rad. The third record from Spit On Your Grave is a death metal beating in sonic form, which is rad. Lyrically though, each track inspired by a tarot card. So there's a little aura of spookiness throughout.
Týr – Battle Ballads
Genre: Folk metal
Origin: Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Bandcamp
Taking us home in what might be the most epic way possible. Týr's latest has a name that is a bit of a misdirect. Not exactly ballads in the way you'd probably imagine. These are still very much battle tracks.
Also dropping this week…
- About Us – Take A Piece (Frontiers) – Hard rock
- Attacker – The God Particle (Cruz Del Sur Music) – Heavy/speed metal
- Belmont – Liminal (Pure Noise) – Pop unk
- Blue Oyster Cult – Ghost Stories (Frontiers) – Rock
- Bottenhavet – Ljud i Tysta Rum (Fuzzorama Records) – Stoner
- Jakobs Castle – Enter: The Castle (Epitaph) – Rock/pop
- The Cosmic Dead – Infinite Peaks (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Psychedelic metal
- Elk Witch – Azimuth (Majestic Mountain Records) – Psychedelic/doom
- Exist – Hijacking The Zeitgeist (Prosthetic) – Progressive death metal
- Friends of Hell – God Damned You to Hell (Rise Above Records) – Doom
- Greyhaven – Stereo Grief (Solid State) – Metalcore/alternative metal
- Griefgod – Deterioration (Self-released) – Death metal
- Hypersonic – Kaosmogonia (Rockshots Records) – Symphonic metal
- Imminence – The Black (Self-released) – Metalcore/alternative
- Karst – Eclipsed Beneath the Umbral Divide (Self-released) Death metal
- Kharma – A World Of Our Own (Flatspot Records) – Hardcore
- King Zebra – Between The Shadows (Frontiers) – Hard rock
- Martikor – Acedia (Self-released) – Post-metal/ambient
- Mòr – Hear The Hour Nearing (Les Acteurs de l'Ombre Productions) – Black metal
- Mother of All – Global Parasitic Leviathan (Self-released) – Progressive/melodic death metal
- Nag – Boys Of Europe (Fysisk Format) – Punk/heavy metal
- Nest – Endeavors (Housecore) – Sludge/doom
- Replicant – Infinite Mortality (Transcending Obscurity Records) – Technical/avant-garde death metal
- Riot V – Mean Streets (Atomic Fire) – Heavy/speed metal
- Sarcasm – Morninghoul (Hammerheart Records) – Blackened death metal
- Setyoursails – Bad Blood (Napalm) – Metalcore
- sleepsmakeswaves – But I Have No Names For It (Bird's Robe Records) – Post-rock
- Tårfödd – Mörker (Self-released) – Atmospheric black metal
- Tarot – Glimpse Of The Dawn (Cruz Del Sur) – Heavy metal/hard rock
- Tenebrific – Labyrinth Of Anguish (Self-released) – Blackened death metal
- Throwing Bricks & Ontaard – Oud Zeer (Tartarus Records) – Sludge/post-metal
- Unborn Generation – …and Lest We All Forget (Inverse Records) – Grindcore
- Veriteras – The Dark Horizon (Self-released) – Melodic death metal
- The Vision Bleak – Weird Tales (Prophecy) – Gothic metal/doom
- Vulture – Sentinels (Metal Blade) – Heavy metal
