See something we missed or have any thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging.

Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.

10/29/2023-11/4/2023

Green Lung — This Heathen Land | Nuclear Blast | Doom Metal + Stoner Rock | United Kingdom (London, England)

I don’t know if Black Harvest was really what I was looking for from Green Lung, but I can definitely attest that This Heathen Land is it. The band’s combination of fuzzy doom atmosphere and uplifting melodic prowess returns in full force, with vocals boosted a bit in the mix and an incredible focus on the occult tales of their home country.

It’s a very specific take on what could have otherwise been overdone, and there’s nothing more iconically Green Lung than making occult doom metal actually interesting again. This is a landmark record for the band that will probably propel them to even further heights, and I’m ready for more.

–Ted Nubel

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StarGazer — Bound by Spells | Nuclear War Now! Productions | Avant-Garde Black + Death Metal | Australia

This new EP from the Australian pioneers is jam-packed with wonky black/death riffs and unassuming production — feels like a demo tape you’d have hit in 1993 and/or unearthed on YouTube twenty years later.

–Ted Nubel

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Fuming Mouth — Last Day of Sun | Nuclear Blast | Death Metal | United States (Massachusetts)

Death metal hits differently when it comes to folks who have had actually brushes with death—think Chuck Schuldiner’s lyrics in Death—and the new record from Fuming Mouth captures a powerful energy because of such a connection. Vocalist and guitarist Mark Whelan was battling cancer while writing the record, and as such, the music and the lyrics get gross, real, personal, and depraved. A must-listen for all death metal fans.

–Addison Herron-Wheeler

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Ch’ahom — Knots of Abhorence | Sentient Ruin | Black Metal | Germany

Dialling back the crudest excesses of their earlier demos, Ch’ahom make like Erich von Däniken on this bludgeoning full-length debut, which embellishes the band’s habitual fusions of bestial Blasphemy- like war lust and Mesoamerican ritualism with the cavernous cosmic riffage of Timeghoul and Blood Incantation to insinuate an esoteric adjunct to the ancient astronaut mythos.

–Spencer Grady

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Melancholia — Book of Ruination | Brutal Panda Records | Sludge Metal | United States (Bellingham, WA)

Melancholia’s debut album thrives off the emotional proximity between Noah Burns’ drumming and Gage Lindsay’s scorched guitars and vocals. Since there’s no bass, the two must rely on each other to keep tracks together. It sounds laborious in the wretched manner that sludge metal, workmanlike in its roots, excels at.

–Colin Dempsey

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Ild — Kvern | Vendetta Records | Black Metal | Norway (Oslo)

“Skeletal” and “frigid” are common black metal traits Ild possess, and while they don’t employ in mind-bending fashion, they set themselves apart with a grounded approach. Rather than progressing to a specified endpoint, Ild build a ghastly panorama.

–Colin Dempsey

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Mortuary Drape — Black Mirror | Peaceville Records | Black Metal + Heavy Metal | Italy

This classic, ’80’s black metal band is back and better than ever with their latest release, Black Mirror. On this release, they channel melodic interludes, vintage riffing, and modern black metal fury into a solid comeback album.

–Addison Herron-Wheeler

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Carnal Tomb — Embalmed in Decay | Testimony Records | Death Metal | Germany (Berlin)

On their third album, Carnal Tomb present death metal for newcomers. That’s a more impressive accomplishment than it may seem, as it involves honoring the genre’s lineage and roots while honing it into an immediately gratifying experience. Fortunately, Embalmed in Decay is just as entertaining for long-time death metal fans as it is for first-time listeners. Carnal Tomb, with decades of hindsight, have synthesized the style’s traits into a hodge-podge of references and updates that reward those who respect death metal’s history.

–Colin Dempsey

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Xoth — Exogalactic | Dawnbreed Records | Technical Death Metal + Black Metal + Thrash Metal | United States (Seattle, WA)

Exogalactic is a bright, serotonin-filled, and slightly-dangerous record that plays as if Xoth are piecing together their favorite aspects of metal subgenres like they’re building a Lego set. It fortunately never veers too far into its over-the-top concept, but the twin guitar melodies on “Sporecraft Zero,” for example, reveal that Xoth aren’t afraid to flex their musical muscles for entertainment’s sake.

–Colin Dempsey

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Manipulator — Drawing Secret Circles | Independent | Grindcore | United States (New York, NY)

Manipulator’s debut from 2021 was only nine-minutes long, whereas their follow-up Drawing Secret Circles clocks in at a whopping 14-minutes. Jokes aside, their new record displays plenty of growth by toying around with what constitutes a song and investigating the grindcore and death metal intersection.

–Colin Dempsey

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Briqueville — IIII | Pelagic Records | Post-Metal + Rock | Belgium

Briqueville have an interesting aesthetic — perhaps you could call it ‘purposely inefficient brutalism’? Their spaced-out, decoration-free logo (stylized as “B R I Q U E V I L L E”), their new album title eschewing properal Roman numerals for the appealing if incorrect “IIII,” song titles that continuously increment from album to album — it lines up with their industrial-tinged, obfuscated post-rock. Within IIII, gloomy atmosphere weaves tapestries of desolate shade and mystery around impaling riffs, daring listeners to try and grapple with the monstrous, immaterial titans of suffering and struggle that Briqueville have summoned.

–Ted Nubel

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Feminizer — Beneath the Harm | Vita Detestabilis | Depressive Black Metal | United States (Seattle, WA)

Feminizer’s second full-length revisits what made the debut excel: combining passionate, unkempt black metal with some straight-up weirdness. No Cyndi Lauper cover this time (dang), but furious riffing, threads of heartbreaking melody and, at times, an inclination to dig in and jam provide more than enough surprise and awe to go around.

–Ted Nubel

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Cirkeln — The Primitive Covenant | True Cult Records | Melodic Black Metal | Sweden (Stockholm)

From Kaptain Carbon’s track premiere of “Garden of Thorns”:

irkeln has always been interesting to listen to as their take on melodic black with an edge evokes an earlier style of metal championed by artists like Bathory, Vinterland, and even Summoning. “A Garden of Thorns” embraces more of an icy thrash style similar to Immortal for its sound but still retains the same outlook on both music and subject matter. This is less grandiose than previous records, but when contrasted with the same amount of fantasy literature for influence, the result is an even more delightful blend of extreme metal and high dorkery.

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Gozer — The Path Always Leads to the End | Independent | Sludge + Post-Metal | United Kingdom

From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:

On their new EP, the band experiments with more synthesizers and drone/noise textures, granting even more depth to their wide-open sound, but the dark tonality and walls of crushing heaviness that defined their last album An Endless Static are still very much in play. Gozer’s skill at compression and release causes emotional osmosis, pulling buried pain to the surface.

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Ancient Days — Devil’s Night | Independent | Doom Metal | United States (Indianapolis, IN)

Classic doom always hits different when there’s keyboards involved, and Ancient Days delivers on that front. Truly old-school sounding.

–Ted Nubel

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Devil’s Night — II | Molten Magma | Heavy Metal | United States (Baltimore, MD)

The Baltimore band’s second EP is another quick burst of crunchy, vocal-driven heavy metal. There’s an excellent blend of compelling instrumentals and hooks to make its already brief runtime seem worthy of a few more spins.

–Ted Nubel

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Black Knife — Baby Eater Witch | Wise Blood Records | Black Metal + Punk | United States (Lexington, KY)

From Tom Campagna’s full album premiere:

With track titles like “Evil Sex on Halloween” and “Crawling Through Your Guts To See the Light,” you can see where the debauchery is being highlighted, sometimes in song titles and others in their grotesque lyrical content. This is a heavy metal album by way of evil punk rock which really marries some of this season’s musical styles all in one complete package.

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11/5/2023-11/11/2023

Vastum — Inward to Gethsemane | 20 Buck Spin | Death Metal | United States (Oakland, CA)

It is with much anticipation that this record finally drops. Vastum have been out of the game for a while, and no one quite creates the weird, dissonant death metal we crave quite like they do. Records with so much hype often disappoint, but this one does not. We can’t get enough, so if you already love this band, or are a fan of the newer generation of weird death metal, this is a must-listen.

–Addison Herron-Wheeler

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Left Cross — Upon Desecrated Altars | Profound Lore Records | Death Metal | United States (Richmond, VA)

You can smell the riffs on Upon Desecrated Altars. They’re grimy and moldy, dripping with fat, and fried by the heat of blast beats. They’re not nutritionally complete, but you’ll forget about that as soon as they hit your ear. It’s best to let Left Cross cook alone in the kitchen, otherwise you will get burned.

–Colin Dempsey

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Suffocation — Hymns from the Apocrypha | Nuclear Blast | Brutal + Technical Death Metal | United States (Long Island, NY)

Suffocation returns with new vocalist Ricky Myers at the helm — their first without Frank Mullen, ever. To be honest, it… sounds like Suffocation, broadly speaking, but that’s perhaps a blessing and a curse.

–Ted Nubel

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Trhä — av​◊​ë​lajnt​◊​ë​£ hinnem nihre | Independent | Black Metal | ???

Apparently on a quest to test the limits of most websites’ encoding, av​◊​ë​lajnt​◊​ë​£ hinnem nihre blends Trhä’s whimsical sense of melody with their equally mighty capacity for pure ferocity. This is pretty much a musical interpretation of what it’s like to peer beyond the veil of mortality into strange worlds beyond.

–Ted Nubel

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Plague Rider — Intensities | Transcending Obscurity Records | Technical Death Metal | United Kingdom

It’s been a decade since UK’s Plague Rider released their self-titled debut album. The ensuing years have seen them metamorphosise into something truly engaging, with Intensities ramping up the band’s previous levels of experimentation and complexity in a corrosive series of manias chock-full of FX-mangled vox and post-Azagthothian atonal eruptions, rivalling the labyrinthine abstractions of transatlantic peers such as Artificial Brain and Pyrrhon. If old blighty has produced a superior dose of metal extremism in 2023, this scribe has yet to hear it.

–Spencer Grady

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Autarkh — Emergent | Season of Mist | Industrial Metal | Netherlands (Tilburg)

For a band known for remixing their own music and reimagining their own creations, we expect Autarkh to keep digging deeper, and they certainly have on this release. It’s definitely a bit noodly, but if you’re good with progression meets experimentation, this release will likely be for you.

–Addison Herron-Wheeler

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Horsewhip — Consume and Burn | Iodine Recordings | Metalcore | United States (Tampa Bay, FL)

Good metalcore (or metallic hardcore, if you’re picky about genres) is hard to define but obvious when heard. Horsewhip fit that description (else we wouldn’t include them here), but it’s still tricky to pin down why their energy–which is more like a sledgehammer pummeling a nail than a corrosive force–is so intoxicating, or why their interludes, such as the one that concludes “Plague Machine,” are tasteful rather than rote. At the end of the day, there isn’t a science behind it, and if there’s any genre that’s more feeling than fact, it’s metalcore.

–Colin Dempsey

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Pyrolatrus — Inveterate | Gilead Media | Death Metal + Black Metal | United States (Brooklyn, NY)

The copy on Pyrolatrus’ Bandcamp reads, “Extreme Metal from Brooklyn.” It’s the simplest way to accurately describe them because their genre varies between tracks. Pyrolatrus commit to whatever style they’re performing, whether that’s old school death metal on “Divination of the Relic Wind” or epic black metal on “Slave of the State.” There isn’t much transference between the styles so Inveterate plays like a jam session, albeit a focused and precise one. It’s true that Pyrolatrus have yet to establish an identity, but they perform so adeptly that it doesn’t matter.

–Colin Dempsey

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Totenmesse — Fiktionlust | Pagan Records | Black Metal | Poland

The sharp, piercing black metal on offer here is vastly at odds with the whimsical, yet off-putting bizarrity of the cover art, but it does somehow feel right: Fiktionlust‘s impassioned rage and delirious heights convey a similar sense of spellbinding insanity.

–Ted Nubel

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Aglo — Build Fear | Brilliant Emperor Records | Death + Doom Metal | Australia

From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:

To put it briefly, it feels like a filthed-up space western with murderous alien worlds and dingy starships stocked with surly operators. Nasty drum fills hit like hastily-aimed laser barrages replete with collateral damage, and each riff cuts with a snarling edge ready to hew through the staunchest hull.

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Hanging Moss — Autumn Journeys & Reflections | Fiadh Prod | Folk + Ambient | United States (Denver, CO)

Though it’s an LP re-release from Fiadh Productions coming a decade after its original cassette run via Klangwald Produktionen, Autumn Journeys & Reflections is still worth your time. For those unaware, Hanging Moon is one of Paul Riedl’s (Blood Incantation) side projects and it plays exactly how its title implies; a low-stakes afternoon jaunt through fall’s red and orange hues. It’s a reprieve from the foreboding overtones metal-adjacent folk usually carries, instead acting as a vehicle for Riedl’s curiosity into loop tapes.

–Colin Dempsey

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Ufomammut — Crookhead | Supernatural Cat | Stoner + Doom Metal | Italy

Essentially serving as an appetizer for another upcoming full-length, Ufomammut leaves a mark on the tail end of the year with their signature hazy hypnotism, blending groovy stomps and weird samples into a smooth trip.

–Ted Nubel

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Receiver — Whispers of Lore | Gates of Hell Records | Epic Heavy Metal | Cyprus

From Tom Campagna’s full album premiere:

Whispers of Lore features soaring guitars, galloping drums and some powerful vocals courtesy of front woman Nikoletta Kyprianou, giving the whole album the sound of epic warfare. It straddles the line with what might be considered power metal but never fully crosses over to that either.

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Acid Throne — Kingdom’s Death | Trepanation Recordings | Doom Metal + Black Metal + Death Metal | United Kingdom (Norwich)

Doom metal is reliable chewy and savory, though it occasionally lacks the edge of its subgenre brethren. Norwich’s Acid Throne rectify that by adding black metal tremolo-picking and humongous death metal growls to doom’s patented riffs. As a result, Kingdom’s Death scratches an itch that lays deeper than the skin’s surface and requires more force to satisfy.

–Colin Dempsey

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Honorable Mentions:

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Ufomammut – Fenice

(Neurot Recordings, Italy)

I called Fenice “universe-scaled” in my review of it back in May, and in that time the album’s scale seems to have only expanded. Ufomammut have always been masters of using textures and patience to open up the space of their music, like a rupture carving open the space-time continuum. Album highlights like “PSYCHOSTASIA” and “PYRAMID” develop musical motifs and ideas according to their own temporo-spatial logic, journeying nowhere fast but taking in some mind-blowing vistas in the process. Once again, Ufomammut make for a set of expert and endlessly-curious guides on this grand voyage.

Listen here.

END & Cult Leader – Gather & Mourn

(Deathwish Inc., USA)

I’ll be honest – I haven’t heard a ton of split releases this year. Cult Leader / END’s Gather & Mourn, however, grabbed me by the collar and smashed my head repeatedly against the wall. It’s like the two bands are playing a game of who can create the most intense, whiplash-inducing beatdown of a track. On the basis of the results, I’d say END’s two ragers probably just outdo Cult Leader’s pair in terms of pure, dense aggression. “Eden Will Drown” is an absolute face-melter, full of endless great riffs and an intuitive, unpredictable structure, while “The Host Will Soon Decay” is a dark, muscular slab of atmospheric misery. Cult Leader’s tracks are nothing to be sniffed at, but for me it’s END’s two that really make Gather & Mourn a highlight of the year.

Listen here.

KEN Mode – Null

(Artoffact, Canada)

Similar in its savage, misanthropic outlook to my previous inclusion is KEN Mode’s NULL. Over the last decade or so, the Canadian trio have quietly become a cult force to be reckoned with and their latest full-length cements their place as one of the world’s leading purveyors of noise-rock-infused sludge metal. The tone of NULL seems to mirror its artwork – in spite of all the confrontational ugliness, a thin smile often breaks through. There’s a sense of perverse glee at play here, particularly on the more audacious cuts like the sardonic “A Love Letter”. Make no mistake, though, NULL’s angular brutality will rip your face from its flesh, then plaster it atop its own rictus grin.

Listen here

-(16)- – Into Dust

(Relapse Records, USA)

Completing my personal ‘2022 nihilism trilogy’ is 16’s Into Dust. 16 are one of those lifer bands you can’t believe are still going. In previous years the deeply-felt pain of the L.A. band manifested as ferocious, almost skate punk-leaning sludge metal, however Into Dust sees the band take a step further, both conceptually and musically. There’s a sophistication to these twelve tracks – a sense of fully-realized confidence and pathos that the band have been building towards across their previous few, perennially-underrated releases. Beneath the fluid riffs and intuitive structures of Into Dust the band’s true essence can be glimpsed clearer than ever – the pained, melodious howl of the blues.

Listen here

Celeste – Assassine(s)

(Nuclear Blast, France)

I love Assassine(s) because every time I listen to it it feels like it’s the first time I’m hearing it. I’m not wholly sure why – it’s dense, but not oppressively so. I think it’s the fluidity of the band’s approach to genre. At times, it’s as if there’s three or four songs happening simultaneously. Is it post-metal? Black metal? Metalcore? Perhaps this is a lesson in taking genre less seriously – a difficult urge to fight as a music journalist. From the towering “Elle se répète froidement” to the indescribable instrumental “(A)”, Assassine(s) is a remarkable exercise in visceral metallic beauty. There’s little color to be found across these eight tracks, just infinite shades of light and dark.

Listen here

thoughtcrimes – Altered Pasts

(Pure Noise Records, USA)

My all-time favorite metal band is The Dillinger Escape Plan, so the latest from mathcore/post-hardcore act thoughtcrimes, featuring the unmistakable drumwork of former TDEP member Billy Rymer, was always going to be a winner in my eyes. These eleven tracks possess a palpable sense of fluidity and internal logic, a demented inherent rationale that so many other mathcore acts fail to understand, as highlighted by this year’s sluggish and overrated Callous Daoboys album. In spite of some fundamental similarities to TDEP, Altered Pasts moves according to its own unpredictable rhythm, from the carnage of “Keyhole Romance” to the textured “New Infinities” to the micro-epic “The Drowning Man”. Perhaps the most fun I’ve had with a metal album this year.

Listen here. Exclusive vinyl variant here.

Artificial Brain – Artificial Brain

(Profound Lore, USA)

Artificial Brain’s previous full-length Infrared Horizon is one of my favorite death metal albums of recent years. I love that the band are determined to warp the genre into strange new shapes even though the prevailing current trend in death metal is to strip the genre back to its basics. Their self-titled latest continues their Gorguts-esque brand of death metal that layers complex meters atop one another in service of dense, cacophonous head-scramblers. However, Artificial Brain are musical cosmonauts, they don’t want to just create warped modernist art, they want to inject you with a heroic dose of DMT and blast you off into space. Tracks like “Celestial Cyst” and “Last Words Of The Wobbling Sun” glimmer like unknowable stars, providing Artificial Brain with a wholly singular air of intimidating majesty.

Listen here

Fallujah – Empyrean

(Nuclear Blast, USA)

On a similarly majestic note – Empyrean is my biggest surprise of the year. Tech/progressive death metal is something I’ve always admired but struggled to connect with. Empyrean, however, clasped my soul and catapulted it deep into the cosmos. The word ‘transcendent’ gets thrown around a lot in music criticism but Fallujah’s latest genuinely feels it. It operates on a grandiose scale that reaches towards some distant realm that’s as awe-inspiring as it is overpowering. In spite of the dazzling musicianship it never feels indulgent or flashy, just remarkably elegant and fluid. The whole album but particularly “Into The Eventide” (one of my favorite tracks of 2022) floored me with its beauty.

Listen here

Rolo Tomassi – When Myth Becomes Memory

(MNRK Records, UK)

Rolo Tomassi have been a key band in my life. Their 2008 debut Hysterics was fourteen-year old me’s gateway into the weirder and more ambitious corners of metal. Where Myth Becomes Memory reminded me of my deep-set love for these UK underground legends. It’s a relentlessly-intense study in contrasts, flicking from direct and angular to airy and impressionistic. Even at its most unsparing (the head-spinning riffs of “Drip”) it feels as emotionally-resonant as its most delicate moments (the post-rock ballad “Closer”). The moment I knew I’d fully reconnected with Rolo Tomassi was when I saw them live in support of this album. For the first time at a show in many years – I cried. Where Myth Becomes Memory has that power, an inexplicable maximalist force that slams straight into your soul.

Listen here

Chat Pile – God’s Country

(The Flenser, USA)

My favorite release of 2022, in metal or any genre, is Chat Pile’s God’s Country. I was obsessed with their previous two EP’s and their debut full-length lived up to my expectations and then some. Every song offers something different, from expressionist sound collages (“I Don’t Care If I Burn”) to ice-cold post-punk (“Pamela”) to monolithic sludge metal (“grimace_smoking_weed.jpg”) Beyond the visceral grooves and thrilling narratives, the album also revealed the Oklahoma band to be far more moralistic than the darkly-humorous misanthropy of their previous work suggested. The likes of “Why” and “Anywhere” are pained howls from a broken world – “Anywhere” in particular is almost overwhelmingly-intense in its depiction of the sudden horror of gun violence. This sense of jet-black morality makes God’s Country a new favorite of mine, and the most horrifically-engrossing album of 2022.

Listen here

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–Jeff Treppel

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Honorable Mentions:

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Spiritworld – Deathwestern

(Century Media, USA)

They dispense with the Western musical motifs quickly enough, but Las Vegas natives Spiritworld keep the filthy, sun-beaten vibe going the whole way through their second album. This down-and-dirty death thrash doesn’t quite fill the void left by Power Trip’s uncertain status but it definitely satisfies in the same way. All ten bullets in this revolver’ll punch holes in any beliefs that their phenomenal debut was a one-and-done.

Listen here.

Anna von Hausswolff – Live at Montreux Jazz Festival

(Southern Lord, Sweden)

Never quite got into her studio recordings but this experimental musician’s set from the (rebuilt) place burnt down by some stupid with a flare gun takes her chamber music and makes the chamber into a cathedral. The huge sound she and her full band achieve on ominous art-doom tracks like “The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra” and cinematic drone “Ugly and Vengeful” give her songs an entirely new context. It’s not jazz but it achieves the emotional resonance that makes the best work in that genre so engrossing.

Listen here.

Wormrot – Hiss

(Earache, Singapore)

I’m rarely in a grind state of mind but Wormrot will always be the exception. Their fourth (and possibly last, considering two major contributors left after the recording) record takes their ambitions up another notch, working in thrash and groove elements that help balance out the blast beats. The songs are short and not exactly sweet, cramming everything great about extreme metal into sub-two-minute bursts. “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Voiceless Choir” offer the best pit passes. No hisses here, only cheers.

Listen here

Gnome – King

(Polderrecords, Belgium)

A late addition to my year-end list despite coming out half a year ago, I stumbled across the video for “Wenceslas” and couldn’t wipe the smile from my face the entire time. The rest of the record gives me almost as much joy. Sabbath-y, stoner-y doom with a fantasy bent, these deadpan Belgians seem to be having a blast and want to share the explosion with the listener. This swings like a tiny baseball bat to the head of an asshole monarch.

Listen here

Nechochwen – Kanawha Black

(Bindrune Recordings, USA)

I can never remember how to spell the name correctly but Native American-themed black metal duo Nechochwen definitely cast a spell (see what I did there?). They take black metal out of the Scandinavian peninsula and transport it to the Appalachians – and the procedure succeeds. Not only is it exactly the kind of epic black metal that summons the blizzard beasts, the tragic historical subject matter adds an extra layer of frostbite.

Listen here

Rolo Tomassi – Where Myth Becomes Memory

(MNRK Heavy, UK)

I’ll be honest: I mostly ignored Rolo Tomassi because their name reminded me of either candy or an Italian Soundcloud rapper, only one of which I like and not in sound form. Apparently it’s an LA Confidential reference, which makes me a double dumbass, because the band is as incredible as that modern classic neo-noir. Shoegaze-y post-hardcore-inspired prog metal normally makes for a stomach-turning combination. This is the rare band that makes it work. The dichotomy between the ethereal “Closer” and the barricade-breaking “Drip” alone shows their incredible range. It reminds me of Devin Townsend’s restless experimentation – high praise indeed.

Listen here

Clutch – Sunrise on Slaughter Beach

(Weathermaker, USA)

Yup, it’s yet another Clutch album. That means I’ve listened to it more than just about anything else this year. Nobody’s better at stoner swing, infectious grooves, or erudite insanity. In and out in 33 minutes, it avoids the album bloat of their recent releases in lieu of nine tight titanic grooves. It even finds them stretching out some, playing with electronic sounds on “Skeletons on Mars.” Which still leaves plenty of room for fuzz-pedal-to-the-metal rockers like “Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone)” and “We Strive for Excellence.”

Listen here

Sonja – Loud Arriver

(Cruz del Sur, USA)

My thoughts on transphobes are best expressed by the title of Darkthrone’s 12th studio album, but in this one case the (credibly alleged) bigotry of Melissa Moore’s former Absu bandmates led to the finest trad metal release of 2022. Thanks Absu bros, now FOAD. Sonja makes a loud arrival indeed with sharp riffs and sultry Scorpions/Mercyful Fate-derived scorchers like “Nylon Nights” and “Fuck, Then Die.” A standout in a year filled with strong retro rockers.

Listen here

Final Light– “Final Light”

(Red Creek, France/Sweden)

I’ve spilled thousands of words about dark synth progenitor Perturbator in my time as a music writer. Cult of Luna less so, mostly because my brain encounters difficulty dancing about post-metal’s architecture. Final Light shines a beacon on the best of both worlds – the ominously oppressive atmospheres of both genres work shockingly well together. Johannes Persson’s furnace-spawned bellow works as the perfect counterpoint to James Kent’s cold layers of computer churn, creating a 21st century counterpart to Godflesh’s primitive origins.

Listen here

Undeath – “It’s Time… To Rise From The Grave”

(Prosthetic Records, USA)

Prior to this, the number of times I agreed with Decibel’s list-topper was two, it was Carcass each time, and I wrote both those pieces. I don’t even traditionally like death metal that much, but Undeath’s take on sepulchral sounds freshens up a rancid corpse. The best thing about their brand of OSDM as opposed to the classic stuff? Actual production values! The meat may be rotting but it’s still juicy. Sometimes bands impress because they kick open the gates to previously unraided sections of the cemetery; sometimes they impress because they stitch together the perfect flesh-golem from the reeking pile of remains around them. These New York skullcrushers are up there with Gatecreeper for me – and that’s pretty far up. Or down, if I’m continuing the graveyard analogy.

Listen here

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Ufomammut’s music is defined by its universe-scale ambitions. The Italian ‘cosmic doom’ trio traverse infinity atop enormous, groove-leaden riffs that expand and contract, encountering colorful bursts of nebulae in between long stretches of empty, majestic space. Analog synth interjections crackle and oscillate like communications from distant civilizations. Effect-smothered vocals cry out from within the ether – god-like commands beckoning the travelers towards the heart of a distant sun.

This thrilling approach falls somewhere between doom metal and kosmische musik, channeling the former’s pummeling weight and the latter’s wondrous majesty. At their best, Ufomammut are capable of tapping into something truly grand and awe-inspiring. Their 2010 album Eve, a single track split into five movements across 45-minutes, is a stunning example of the band’s abilities, up there with their debut Godlike Snake as transcendent highpoints in the trio’s now two decades-long career.

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Fenice, Ufomammut’s twelfth album, takes things somewhat back to basics. The title, which is Italian for Phoenix, symbolizes this attempt to forge a new beginning. In the album’s press release, bassist and vocalist Urlo explains that “I think we lost our spontaneity, album after album. With Fenice, we were ready to start from zero, we had no past anymore.” It’s undeniably true that Ufomammut’s more recent albums have gradually moved away from the restrained, groove-based meditations of their early work. Their body of work has increasingly featured more complex and lengthy compositions, more stop-offs and detours on the voyage to the center of the cosmos.

Fenice successfully sets Ufomammut back on course. These six tracks comprise the shortest studio album of the band’s career, a 38-minute runtime that paradoxically sees the tracks given more time and space to operate according to the band’s own signature language. Album highlight “Pyramind” ascends from viscous, riff-driven heights to a cool, expansive landscape, one that allows the trio to breathe and take stock of their surroundings. The murky heaviness eventually returns, however the band never seem to be rushing or getting ahead of themselves. Instead, they allow the tracks to guide their hand instead of them unfolding the other way around.

This mode of intuitive simplicity perfectly suits Ufomammut. It’s not like their recent work had wholly abandoned this style, however the band’s signature exploratory jam feel was gradually eroding in favor of more deliberate structures and moods. Fenice brings back this earlier mode, an effortless return defined by its sheer simplicity. For music that’s so profoundly cosmic and enormous in scope, Ufomammut’s music hits its greatest heights when it pares things down and meditates on simple motifs, exploring the space that the three members conjure up so elegantly. On Fenice, this is epitomized by the captivating centerpiece “Psychostasia”. An intensely linear work, “Psychostasia” gradually gains momentum, investigating every inch of space around its central riff, before blasting off into a closing stretch of searing heaviness.

When firing on all cylinders, Ufomammut’s command of structure borders on the impossible, as if their explorations have taken them too near a dying star, warping the laws of music. As “Psychostasia” shows, they can transform an idea or motif into something wholly new without ever revealing the machinations behind the change. The aptly-titled “Metamorphoenix” plays similarly fast and loose with our understandings of song craft, moving from a dense, synthetic opening to something more spacious and organic. The fluidity between these movements is free of any awkward jumps or interruptions, relying instead on the band’s strong grasp of patience and pathos.

Ufomammut’s journey across the universe appears to have taken them full circle, as if the whole cosmos was a sphere and has led them back to where they started. The back-to-basics approach reaps endless rewards, primarily by focusing on what the band does best. For others this would signify a sideways step, but for Ufomammut, whose sound and aesthetic is so singular, it’s a cleansing return to the center of their musical universe. From here on in, hopefully their cosmic explorations can maintain this level of clarity and purpose.

Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of May 1st, 2022 to May 7th, 2022. Releases reflect proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see most of these albums on shelves or distros on Fridays.

See something we missed or have any thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging.

Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.

Upcoming Releases

Ufomammut — Fenice | Neurot Recordings | Psychedelic Sludge + Stoner + Doom Metal | Italy

38 minutes of heavy cosmic bliss. We’ve got a full review of this one coming later today!

–Ted Nubel

…

Cosmic Putrefaction — Crepuscular Dirge for the Blessed Ones | Profound Lore Records | Death Metal | Italy

I’m not positive on what a crepuscular dirge is, exactly, but Cosmic Putrefaction sure seems to be dirging crepuscularly here. Punishing riffs swirl in a sinister vortex, enriched by synths and put together in an insanely detailed fashion.

–Ted Nubel

…

Haunter — Discarnate Ails | Profound Lore Records | Black + Death Metal | United States (San Antonio, TX)

From Colin Dempsey’s track premiere of “Chained at the Helm of Eschaton”:

Discarnate Ails marks a major shift for Haunter towards immediate gratification. They retain the technically-demanding passages and free-form structures from Sacramental Death Qualia, but step out of the shadows and aim straight for the chin. There’s more meat to chew on, a higher riff density, and a heightened focus on tangible reflections rather than obscure sacraments.

…

Malthusian + Suffering Hour — Time’s Withering Shadow | Invictus Productions | Black + Death Metal | Ireland + United States

From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:

Putting Suffering Hour and Malthusian together in a split format just makes sense: both bands play black and death metal, and they both twist these genres into strange and wondrous new shapes that are as striking as they are abnormal. The similarities largely end there, though, which means that their [new] split Time’s Withering Shadow provides two captivating angles on black/death metal to easily digest in a single sitting.

…

Tableau Morte — Visio in Somniis | Cult of Parthenope | Black Metal | United Kingdom (England)

A decadent black metal album with swirling melodies. It never teeters into being over-the-top, which some people may prefer, but there are some performative elements on Visio in Somniis that distinguish it from other mid-tempo black metal releases.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Molten Chains — Orisons of Vengeance | Independent | Heavy Metal | Austria

Molten Chains have a chewy sound. There’s body to their guitars that pushes them to the front of the mix and gives them weight. More impressive is how they toy with their song structures, using them to suit Orisons of Vengeance‘s operatic story. It plays more like a dramatic tragedy than a call to arms despite the abundance of arms-calling riifs.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Rise to the Sky — Every Day, A Funeral | Meuse Music Records | Doom Metal + Death Metal | Chile

Rise to the Sky is as far from sanguine as you can get. The one-man project isn’t punishing so much as it is omnipresent. Every Day, A Funeral blots out the sky, closes the curtains, and speaks only in long, patient waves.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Wachenfeldt — Faustian Reawakening | Threeman Recordings | Death Metal + Black Metal | Sweden

Blackened death – when it’s at its peak – is so burly that it sounds like an anvil is dropping onto your head. Wachenfeldt keep that tradition alive with their mammoth production. They also employ subtle symphonic touches that beef up the rest of the mix by comparison.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Cleaver — No More Must Crawl | Klonosphere | Metalcore | France

Cleaver revive 90s metalcore’s ghost and drape it with a new set of clothes. There are dashes of the hyper-stylized vocals from the mid-aughts and the chaos of earlier mathcore acts. No More Must Crawl would be a celebratory record if it wasn’t so outwardly violent, and that’s a good thing.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Djevelkult — Drep Alle Guder | Soulseller Records | Black Metal | Norway

From Jon Rosenthal’s track premiere of “I Kuldens Vold”:

This is black metal, written in a gothic font with the caps lock on. It’s melodic and majestic, but it’s also fierce and cold, like looking at one of Norway’s many snow-capped mountains.

…

The Damnnation — Way of Perdition | Soulseller Records | Thrash + Death Metal | Brazil

From Brandon Nurick’s track premiere of “Way of Perdition”:

Renata Petralli’s beastly roar is somewhere between Max Cavalera and Angela Gossow–guttural with a Portuguese flair–and it easily tears through the band’s thrashing racket, which recalls old-school Sepultura’s in groove, and Sarcófago in atmosphere.

…

Wo Fat — The Singularity | Ripple Music | Psychedelic Doom Metal + Stoner Rock | United States (Dallas, Texas)

From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “The Snows of Banquo IV”:

Despite long song runtimes and esoteric subject matter, the Dallas rockers have a knack for writing headbang-worthy and energetic riffs that flow effortlessly into each other to transport listeners to fantastic vistas. In fact, I don’t think they’re capable of writing anything clunky—for further evidence, Wo Fat’s upcoming seventh full-length The Singularity is a densely-packed odyssey that illustrates its sci-fi settings with endlessly compelling songwriting and far-out atmosphere.

…

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

White Hills at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

photo by Christopher J. Harrington

UFOMAMMUT at Saint Vitus

…

Sometimes a band rolls through town and you get to see something special. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you know it.

Italian art-doom trio UFOMAMMUT hangs psychedelic-doom clouds of joy. The universe is in their hands. They forge a vacuum that collects your ego, rips from you what you fear most — lets you breathe. Currently cruising the American landscape in a spaceship of art, the group’s righteous vibe is a fresh take here on US soil. They attack their sets with a looseness not often seen in extreme metal. There is something fundamentally European arthouse about them (namely, the ability to command complete attention via abstraction), and this transfers into exciting and propulsive heavy music.

Opening duo White Hills was blue and pink, and wild as always. Fun and serious, with goth rock pulses driving the technical primitiveness they wield; the group hovers in a stratosphere of time travel, dipping into yesteryear’s psych rock and today’s tech. A punk edge defines their momentum and there is dynamic want of power (good power), a power of art and movement. They cut and dare like the band Liars, and stay open with psychedelic innuendo. White Hills believe in colors and darkness. You can’t have one without the other.

…

…

UFOMAMMUT performed in complete darkness, save for the video collage behind them which altered the darkness, scattering colors of Jim Morrison’s brain about. It was perfect. The Italian masters crafted a complete swing: they were able to lock everyone in and not let them go — a feat deft and refined. They played with the freedom that abstract expressionism possesses, the ability to carve and blend, and dream. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts, a complete team focused on one never-ending universe. Though they played, and played, it never sounded long, just perpetually enthralling.

There’s so much in the music of UFOMAMMUT, it’s like a melting pot of feeling. The kettle whistles and blows, then dematerializes, sending its spatial design into the spectrum. The band’s latest record 8 plays like a dream: blurry hope and nether-world sensations tingle up and down your spine. There is a soundtrack notion to the record, with its scene by scene direction, and almost Jean-Luc Godard notion of dismantling the norm. The record feels like a live experience, with its organic fluidity and never-ending drive. And when the band does play in front of you, it all clicks: this is music that is experienced in a visceral way. Though mindful and full of intelligence, there is a primal movement to their music that is very specific. The initial reactions to color and sound, that immense beauty and liquidity, that is what is so prominent. You get sucked into the trance and never want it to end. A trip that keeps expanded and pulsing new energy.

Psych rock is one of the greatest aspects of being alive. When you experience artists who can shape its inner-diamond, you realize its power. UFOMAMMUT is powerful group who fully embrace the possibilities and connections of art and music. Of sound, sight and experience, they are game; and like the masters of old, revel in the overall excitement. When psych rock first appeared in the early 1960s, imagine those life-evolving moments that materialized. Those doors of perception that opened. With UFOMAMMUT there is a similar awakening. This is fun and exciting stuff: these are artists that are intent upon dreaming up the universe!

Where they take you, well, that’s up to you.

…

…

Another round of bands have been announced for Maryland Deathfest, and the festival is saying this is the final list of additions. The newly-added bands are: Satyricon, Darkspace, Incantation, Inquisition, Baptism, Gasp, Misery Index, Morta Skuld, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Blurring, Reeking Cross, Plagues, Stimulant, Blk Ops and Bound by the Grave.

Those bands join such previously-announced names as My Dying Bride, Today Is the Day, Pig Destroyer, Integrity, Helmet, The Ruins of Beverast, Coven, Eyehategod, and Ufomammut,

Tickets for MDF 2018 are still available. Full day-by-day schedule below.

—

Maryland Deathfest — 2018 Schedule
Thursday @ Rams Head Live
-(16)-
Coven
Gateway to Hell
Khemmis
Mantar
Today is the Day
Ufomammut

Thursday @ Soundstage:
Bestial Evil
Broken Hope
Defeated Sanity
Gutted
Incantation
Mortal Decay
Torn the Fuck Apart

Friday @ Rams Head Live:
Abhomine
Baptism
Bloodbath
Blood Incantation
God Dethroned
Misery Index
Morta Skuld
Petrification
Sinister

Friday @ Baltimore Soundstage:
Bound by the Grave
Cognizant
Dead Infection
Durian
Eyehategod
Gonkulator
Integrity
Lord Gore
Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition

Saturday @ Rams Head Live
Chthe’ilist
Dødheimsgard
Inquisition
Master’s Hammer
Pessimist
Phrenelith
Ritual Necromancy
Sadistic Intent
Satyricon
Zemial

Saturday @ Soundstage
Blurring
Blk Ops
Cripple Bastards
Gasp
Helmet
Horrible Earth
Pavel Chekov
Pig Destroyer
Plagues
Reeking Cross
Stimulant

Sunday @ Rams Head Live
Arkhon Infaustus
Darkspace
Dusk
Evoken
Misþyrming
My Dying Bride
Opera IX
The Ruins of Beverast
Suffering Hour

Sunday @ Soundstage
Bandit
Destroyed in Seconds
Enemy Soil
Fluoride
Neolithic
Pulmonary Fibrosis
Pure Hiss
Violation Wound
Viscera Infest
Wormrot

Maryland Deathfest 2018 has added 13 more bands: My Dying Bride, Misþyrming, Dødheimsgard, Viscera Infest, Arkhon Infaustus, Mantar, Mortal Decay, Pavel Chekov, Torn the Fuck Apart, Fluoride, Bandit, Neolithic and Bestial Evil.

They join such previously announced names as Today Is the Day, Pig Destroyer, Integrity, Helmet, The Ruins of Beverast, Coven, Eyehategod, and Ufomammut. Full updated lineup below. Four-day passes are available now.

—

Maryland Deathfest — 2018 Lineup
-(16)-
Abhomine
Arkhon Infaustus
Bestial Evil
Bloodbath
Blood Incantation
Broken Hope
Chthe’ilist
Cognizant
Coven
Cripple Bastards
Defeated Sanity
Destroyed in Seconds
Dead Infection
Dødheimsgard
Durian
Dusk
Enemy Soil
Evoken
Eyehategod
Fluoride
Gateway to Hell
God Dethroned
Gonkulator
Gutted
Helmet
Horrible Earth
Integrity
Khemmis
Lord Gore
Mantar
Master’s Hammer
Misþyrming
Mortal Decay
My Dying Bride
Neolithic
Opera IX
Pavel Chekov
Pessimist
Petrification
Phrenelith
Pig Destroyer
Pure Hiss
Ritual Necromancy
The Ruins of Beverast
Sadistic Intent
Sinister
Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition
Suffering Hour
Today is the Day
Torn the Fuck Apart
Ufomammut
Violation Wound
Viscera Infest
Wormrot
Zemial

More bands have been added to the already-stacked Maryland Deathfest 2018 lineup. New additions include Today Is the Day, Pig Destroyer, Integrity, Helmet, The Ruins of Beverast, Master’s Hammer, Defeated Sanity, Cripple Bastards, Khemmis, and more.

They join previously-announced names like Coven, Eyehategod, and Ufomammut. Full updated lineup below. Four-day passes are available now.

Today Is The Day will be playing Temple of the Morning Star in full at the festival, like they’ve been doing on tour this year.

—

Maryland Deathfest — 2018 Lineup (more TBA)
-(16)-
Abhomine
Bloodbath
Blood Incantation
Broken Hope
Chthe’ilist
Cognizant
Coven
Cripple Bastards
Defeated Sanity
Destroyed in Seconds
Dead Infection
Durian
Dusk
Enemy Soil
Evoken
Eyehategod
Gateway to Hell
God Dethroned
Gonkulator
Gutted
Helmet
Horrible Earth
Integrity
Khemmis
Lord Gore
Master’s Hammer
Opera IX
Pessimist
Petrification
Phrenelith
Pig Destroyer
Pure Hiss
Ritual Necromancy
The Ruins of Beverast
Sadistic Intent
Sinister
Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition
Suffering Hour
Today is the Day
Ufomammut
Violation Wound
Wormrot
Zemial