This week's new heavy metal releases include a lot of death metal, a lot of epic stuff, and more!
Coffin Rot – Dreams Of The Disturbed
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Portland, Oregon
Label: Maggot Stomp
Getting this week started with the sophomore release from these PNW gore guys. With a name like "Coffin Rot" you can already imagine what this will sound like, and this doesn't disappoint in expectations nor in execution. This is basically a perfect modern death metal record that covers a lot of the sub-genre's available ground.
Defiled – Horror Beyond Horror
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Tokyo, Japan
Label: Season Of Mist
Buy now on Bandcamp
I know that some weeks I lean into prog or atypical metal stuff a little too much. However, this is not the case this week. Here's some more splendid death metal. This time you're getting brief tracks, and a lot of them. This is a hell of a time to be a fan of this band as this is their third album in four years.
Glacial Tomb – Lightless Expanse
Genre: Sludge/death metal
Origin: Denver, Colorado
Label: Prosthetic
Buy now on Bandcamp
On their second album Glacial Tomb have returned after a six year gap (Ben dropping a record and three EPs with Khemmis might be to blame for that) with so much fury. This hits hard like a sludge record, quick like a death metal record, and with the darkness of black metal. Tons of shredding too.
Kublai Khan TX – Exhibition Of Prowess
Genre: Metalcore/hardcore
Origin: Sherman, Texas
Label: Rise
Buy now on Amazon
Here's another one that hits HARD. This is breakdown after breakdown on low-ass guitars. Pissed like hardcore and produced like deathcore. I know these guys are already on the rise, but this'll likely speed up that ascent.
Nightwish – Yesterwynde
Genre: Symphonic/operatic metal
Origin: Kitee, Finland
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon
Here's one with some bombast. Nightwish's first album in four years may require a bit of an adjustment. This is the first in almost twenty years without bassist/vocalist Marko Hietala. Overall, this is another epic record that will make you want to take up Uilleann pipes or something cool. Some versions also include orchestral versions, so if you don't want those pesky vocals and guitars, they've got you covered.
Unto Others – Never, Neverland
Genre: Post-punk/gothic rock
Origin: Portland, Oregon
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Bandcamp
Never, Neverland is another record of almost impossible to label tracks from the Unto Others folks. This has moments of punk, goth rock, spooky metal, guitar shredding and more. There's even a cover of the Ramones classic "Pet Sematary" which they nail.
Charlotte Wessels – The Obsession
Genre: Hard rock/symphonic metal
Origin: Zwolle, Netherlands
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Bandcamp
Concluding this week with the wildly underrated Charlotte Wessels. The former Delain singer's solo output is a diverse well and The Obsession expands her sound further. There are some grand metal moments that you'd expect, but this record includes some djent, melodic death metal, and folk. This album also has a couple mighty cameos from Simone Simons (Epica) and Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy).
Also dropping this week…
- Attack Attack! – Disaster (Oxide Records) – Metalcore
- Black Mold – In The Dirt Of Oblivion (Helldprod Records) – Black metal/punk
- Blighted Eye – Agony's Bespoke (Beyond The Top Records) – Progressive death metal
- BornBroken – Am I Invisible (Self-Released) – Groove metal/thrash
- Brant Bjork Trio – Once Upon A Time In The Desert (Duna) – Stoner rock
- Crimson Veil – Hex (Reigning Phoenix) – Cinematic rock
- Die So Fluid – Skin Hunger (Self-released) – Gothic rock
- Dreamless Veil – Every Limb Of The Flood (Relapse) – Black/death metal
- Dungeon Crawl – Maze Controller (Carbonized Records) – Thrash
- Eclipse – Megalomanium II (Frontiers) – Hard rock
- Eradicator – The Paradox (Metalville) – Thrash
- Giant Walker – Silhouettes (Church Road) – Alternative/nu metal
- Groza – Nadir (AOP Records) – Black metal
- Heartwind – Heartwind III (Pride & Joy Music) – Hard rock
- Homerik – The Circle of Dead Children (Metal Mastermind) – Cinematic/operatic metal
- Hostile Array – Underneath (Self-released) – Metalcore
- Interloper – A Forgotten Loss (Self-released) – Progressive metal
- Kanonenfieber – Die Urkatastrophe (Century Media) – Melodic death/black metal
- Kingdom Of Giants – Bleeding Star EP (SharpTone) – Metalcore
- Krilloan – Return Of The Heralds (Scarlet Records) – Power/heavy metal
- The Last Gang – Obscene Daydreams (Fat Wreck Chords) – Punk
- Mork – Syv (Peaceville) – Black metal
- Seether – The Surface Seems So Far (Fantasy) – Post-grunge
- Skid Row – Live In London (earMusic) – Glam rock
- Sweet – Full Circle (Metalville) – Rock
- Theigns & Thralls – The Keep And The Spire (Rockshots Records) – Folk metal
- Thorium – The Bastard (Emanzipation Productions) – Death metal
- trueandtrue – Hollowed Out, Pt. 1 (Self-released) – Post-hardcore
- Typhonian – The Gate Of The Veiled Beyond (Transcending Obscurity Records) – Death metal
- Untervoid – Parasite (Pagan Records) – Black metal
- Vended – Vended (Vended) – Vended
- Vision Divine – Blood And Angels' Tears (Scarlet) – Power/progressive metal
- Void Of Vision – What I'll Leave Behind (UNFD) – Metalcore
- Wings Denied – Just The Basics (Self-released) – Grunge/progressive rock
