This week's new heavy metal releases include really pissed of genre blending, a prog gem, black metal mastery, and more! To the metals…
The Anchoret – It All Began With Loneliness
Genre: Progressive rock/metal
Origin: Canada
Label: Willowtip
Buy now on Bandcamp
Kicking this week off with some really solid prog. This is an expansive, dynamic album that brings acts like Ihsahn, Opeth, Dream Theater, and Rivers of Nihil to mind. This one snuck up on me and could very well be an AOTY contender already.
Outlanders – Outlanders
Genre: Symphonic/electronic
Origin: Finland/Sweden
Label: earMusic
Buy now on Amazon
Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish) is teaming up here with EDM producer Torsten Stenzel to create a rather interesting record. Musically it's largely electronic beats, synth pads, and keys, but then there are guest spots from guitarists like Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Joe Satriani, Bumblefoot, and more. It winds up being a marriage of sounds that shouldn't work on paper, but is quite successful.
Structural – Decrowned
Genre: Melodic/technical death metal
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden
Label: ViciSolum Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
Structural's second album showcases a band that knows their way around technical finesse while an epic score without being cheesy. The best band to liken their sound to would be probably Allegaeon. Rad rhythms and fretwork throughout.
Tsjuder – Helvegr
Genre: Black metal
Origin: Oslo, Norway
Label: Season Of Mist
Buy now on Bandcamp
Just look at the still for the video below. This record sounds exactly like that, and it rips. It's been eight year since their last frosty full length, and this was worth the wait. Features a guest spot from 1349's Seidemann and drums throughout by Jon Rice from *checks notes* Scorpion Child and formerly of Job For A Cowboy…wait, did I know that?
Vexed – Negative Energy
Genre: Alternative metal/deathcore
Origin: England
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Bandcamp
Up next we have the latest from the genre blending deathcore act Vexed. These folks start with the heavy, heavy foundation then sneak in some nu metal, hip hop, djent, and grim influences. It's a very pissed off record, which feels appropriate in the world we're living in.
Xasthur – Inevitably Dark
Genre: Experimental/black metal
Origin: Alhambra, California
Label: Lupus Lounge
Buy now on Bandcamp
Ending this week with a rather unsettling record. This is a lot of tracks that seem like genre experiments. The Bandcamp description includes genres like "acid folk" and "doom folk," so you know you're in for a ride. What I've heard so far is lo-fi, blackened nightmare fuel though. So, that's fun.
Also dropping today…
- Candlebox – Live At The Neptune (Pavement Entertainment) – Rock/grunge
- Crepitation – Monstrous Eruption Of Impetuous Preposterosity (Vicious Instinct Records) – Brutal death metal
- DeathCollector – Death's Toll (Prosthetic) – Death metal
- Degrees Of Truth – Alchemists (Scarlet) – Symphonic/progressive metal
- Fore – Skin (Blood Blast Distribution) – Punk
- Graf Orlock – End Credits (Vitriol) – Hardcore
- High Priest – Invocation (Magnetic Eye) – Heavy metal
- Jag Panzer – The Hallowed (Atomic Fire) – Heavy/power metal
- Jegong – The Complex Inbetween (Pelagic) – Krautrock/post-rock
- Krigsgrav – Fires in the Fall (Wise Blood Records) – Black metal
- Mental Cruelty – Zwielicht (Century Media) – Blackened deathcore
- Mirakler – How I Became the Devil (Reptilian Records) – Sludge/noise rock
- Miserere – Luminis Ordalie (Sepulchral Productions) – Atmospheric black metal
- Off Road Minivan – May This Keep You Safe From Harm (Tooth & Nail) – Alternative
- Ominøs – The Everlasting Pain (Void Wanderer Productions) – Black metal
- Perracide – Underdog (Emanzipation) – Death metal/thrash
- Persekutor – Snow Business (Blues Funeral Recordings) – Blackened heavy metal
- Phantom Corporation – Fallout (Supreme Chaos Records) – Death metal/crust
- Pylar – Límyte (Cavsas/Cyclic Law) – Drone/doom
- Pyramaze – Bloodlines (AFM) – Power metal
- Sculforge – Intergalactic Battle Tunes (…Stories from Behind The Dark Side Of The Moon To The Milky Way And Beyond) (Self-released) – Speed/power metal
- Seek – Kokyou De Shinu Otoko (Silent Pendulum Records) – Blackened hardcore
- Soul Grinder – Filth Encrusted (Self-released) – Heavy metal/thrash
- Sphaèros – Possession (Tee Pee Records) – Psychedelic rock
- Swans – The Beggar (Mute/Young Gods) – Experimental/noise
- Tomb – The Dark Subconcious (Iron Bonehead Productions) – Death/black metal
- Trophy Eyes – Suicide And Sunshine (Hopeless Records) – Punk
- Vacant Voice – Cathartic Beauty (Self-released) – Metalcore
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