This week's new heavy metal releases include OG metal peeps, modern metal standouts, MOTHERFUCKIN' WHITESNAKE, and More!
To the metals…
Arch/Matheos – Winter Ethereal
Genre: Progressive metal
Origin: Hartford, Connecticut
Label: Metal Blade
John Arch and Jim Matheos' on again/off again side band is on again after eight years of being off. The band that's basically Fates Warning with a different singer (the old FW singer actually) unsurprisingly has a lot of the same vibes as Fates Warning. So, if you're a fan of 80's-early 90's Fates Warning, this should be your jam.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBnUR9wmmjQ][/youtube]
Dreadnought – Emergence
Genre: Progressive doom
Origin: Denver/Colorado Springs, Colorado
Label: Profound Lore
One of modern metal's most interesting bands has returned with five lengthy, dense tracks in the form of Emergence. These showcase the band weaving through black metal, doom, folk metal, and progressive rock with flute, saxophone, piano, and mandolin alongside your traditional metal band instrumentation. I think I even heard some of those mini chimes that are used to indicate a dream state in cartoons. This album might have everything.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHm1zQkdhEs][/youtube]
Idle Hands – Mana
Genre: Heavy metal/gothic rock
Origin: Portland, Oregon
Label: Eisenwald
Idle Hands are pretty cool. They're like if Danzig had a concern for the well being of dragons. While they don't sound like a lot Ghost, I can see fans of the bands really enjoying this. Or maybe those looking for a spookier Life of Agony.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjBLkb1LQv8][/youtube]
Inanimate Existence – Clockwork
Genre: Progressive technical death metal
Origin: Bay Area, California
Label: The Artisan Era
If you like your metal presented to you in a flurry of notes and kick drums, then look no further. Inanimate Existence have made a name for themselves in curating technical and melodic death metal with few peers on their level. This, the now trio's fifth album, cements them as a modern metal great.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-0sIWTZ3Jg][/youtube]
Possessed – Revelations Of Oblivion
Genre: Death metal
Origin: San Francisco, California
Label: Nuclear Blast
From the new school death metal to one of the oldest school death metal bands. Possessed have returned with their first full-length in over three decades. It's truly impressive how a band can reunite and pop up on things for twelve years and never get around to new music. Anyway, the Bay Area OGs still got it.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixk00N1W78c][/youtube]
Spirit Adrift – Divided By Darkness
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Origin: Phoenix, Arizona
Label: 20 Buck Spin
This band is one of the few that I can think of that bring classic-style metal no frills riffs, and not feel contrived. It should be noted that they employ some top notch riffs. Nate Garrett's (Gatecreeper) baby has grown from a one man band into a full fledged beast of a metal band, and it's wonderful.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s45Zmvdfo0][/youtube]
Whitesnake – Flesh & Blood
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Middlesbrough, England
Label: Frontiers
Whitesnake??? Hell yeah motherfucker! The band got lumped into the 80's glam scene, but they had, and still have, some of the most underrated dudes in the classic rock scene. David Coverdale is still a rock god.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3oLB5a-8Z4][/youtube]
Also dropping today…
Abnormality – Sociopathic Constructs (Metal Blade) – Brutal death metal
Ancient Torment – Satan's Legacy Come Flesh (Eternal Death) – Black metal
Bewitcher – Under The Witching Cross (Shadow Kingdom Records) – Speed/Black metal
Big|Brave – A Gaze Among Them (Southern Lord) – Drone/Experimental Rock
Borders – Purify (Long Branch) – Djent
Call of the Void – Buried in Light (Translation Loss) – Metallic Punk/Sludge
Defeater – Defeater (Epitaph) – Melodic hardcore
Employed To Serve – Eternal Forward Motion (Spinefarm) – "Nasty hardcore"
Extrema – Headbanging Forever (Rockshots Records / Universal) – Groove metal
Handful of Hate – Adversus (code666) – Black metal
Martyrdod – Hexhammaren (Southern Lord) – Crust
My Epic – Violence (Facedown Records) – Rock
Suhnopfer – Hic Regnant Borbonii Manes (Debemur Morti Productions) – Melodic black metal
Suspiral – Chasm (Sentient Ruin) – Black/Death metal
Tengger Cavalry – Northern Memory (Self-released) – Folk metal
War Curse – Eradication (Svart Records) – Thrash/heavy metal
Warforged – I: Voice (The Artisan Era) – Blackened Death Metal
Danny Worsnop – Shades Of Blue (Sumerian) – Rock
Zig Zags – They'll Never Take Us Alive (RidingEasy Records) – Punk/psychedelic
