Upcoming Metal Releases

Upcoming Metal Releases: 9/1/19 -- 9/7/19

Upcoming Metal Releases

Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of September 1st to September 7th, 2019. Release 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.

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Upcoming Releases

CognizanceMalignant Dominion | Prosthetic Records | Technical Death Metal | United Kingdom

At long last, Leeds based tech-death outfit Cognizance present their debut full-length Malignant Dominion. Sharing some of the same DNA of iconic OSDM and 1990s tech-death alike, elements of technical virtuosity add an impressive flourish to their lean, progressive, European extreme metal sound. Embodying the archaic structures of old-school death metal, the record also explores the melodic and groovy sides of the style. Malignant Dominion features guest appearances from Job For a Cowboy’s Jonny Davy, Extol’s Ole Børud, and members/ex-members of Aborted and The Faceless, making for a well-rounded and delightfully stacked tour-de-force of beefy, razor-sharp complexity.

— Thomas Hinds

Kayo DotBlasphemy | Prophecy Productions | Electronic + Experimental | United States (New York)

From Jon Rosenthal’s premiere of “Turbine, Hook, and Haul”:

There is a weightlessness to the inimitable Kayo Dot‘s newest album Blasphemy. Yet another notch in the brilliant Toby Driver’s belt, Kayo Dot’s ninth album traverses the worlds of progressive rock in a sea of brilliant, brooding fog. This is grey music, the soundtrack for a grey, gloomy day or a walk through immeasurable stillness.

FoscorEls Sepulcres Blancs | Season of Mist | Black Metal | Spain

Otherworldly black/progressive metal outfit Foscor reemerges with their seventh studio album Els Sepulcres Blancs, the follow-up to 2018’s Les Irreals Versions. Venturing deeper into the strain of dark, melodic prog sound the group have been exploring as of late, this new release sees the Catalan quintet temper that tragic darkness with a triumphant, uplifting sonic edge and heightened dramatic flair. Els Sepulcres Blancs is fantastic piece of aural passion from what has quietly become one of the most compelling progressive metal bands in the world today.

— Thomas Hinds

MizmorCairn | Gilead Media | Black Metal | United States (Oregon)

The mighty Mizmor returns, now in a much more digestible format and style. If we look back to 2016’s Yodh, we now realize that album’s brilliance was slightly obscured by its indecipherability and, well, total claustrophobia. Even though that is the point of this music, digesting Yodh is a monumental task, one that nonetheless pays off in spades. But that doesn’t mean more digestible music from Mizmor is bound to be worse. Oh hell no. Check out Cairn and see why. We’ll have a full review coming later this week via Langdon Hickman.

— Andrew Rothmund

Sleeping AncientThere Is No Truth But Death | Viridian Flame | Black Metal | United States (Texas)

From Thomas HInds’s premiere of “Akeru”:

The humid mire of Texas’s Gulf Coast may not be a locale that immediately comes to mind at the mention of black metal’s frigid countenance, but the sweltering, furnace-like claustrophobia conjured by underground Houston outfit Sleeping Ancient amounts to an aural perspective on the genre that perfectly befits the suffocating heat of their hometown. Standing as sonic outliers in a scene more typically focused on earthy, groove-based styles such as death metal and stoner rock, this four-piece act was originally formed in 2010 as an instrumental post-rock collective paying homage to the cosmic, apocalyptic horrors of H.P. Lovecraft.

DisillusionThe Liberation | Prophecy Productions | Melodic Death Metal | Germany

Well, here it is: Disillusion’s first album in 13 years (though we had a taste with 2016’s single “Alea”). This is long-form melodic death metal perhaps at its absolute finest and most expressive. The Liberation banks on its expansive choruses and ambitious songwriting, both of which keep the album piqued at all times. Oftentimes when bands “come back from the grave,” they bring a bunch of dirt and worms with them. Not with Disillusion, though: The Liberation feels brand-spanking-new. Definitely not one to miss.

— Andrew Rothmund

VitriolTo Bathe From the Throat of Cowardice | Century Media | Technical Death Metal | United States (Oregon)

From Jon Rosenthal’s premiere of the guitar playthrough video for “Crowned in Retaliation”:

Portland death metal trio (now apparently a four-piece, but that is more recent news) Vitriol make music which exudes emotion. Of course, that sentence is a bit of a false lead: this is not romantic music, nor is it sad or filled with longing. No, Vitriol is the music of hate. In a new playthrough video, guitarist Kyle Rasmussen and bassist Adam Roethlisberger put their own vitriol on display so that the world may ask their forgiveness.

Pale Grey LorePale Grey Lore | Small Stone Recordings | Weed Smokin’ Music | United States (Ohio)

Blending elements of garage psych, space rock, post‐punk, and stoner doom, Columbus’s Pale Grey Lore create focused, hook-driven material complete with melodic vocals and molten instrumental grooves bass, proving the time-tested formula of heavy rock-‘n’-roll to be truly timeless. Beginning in 2014 as a collaboration between brothers Michael Miller (guitar, vocals) and Adam Miller (drums), the outfit have since shared the stage with Pelican, Monolord, Lo-Pan, and many others, finally completing their second studio album Eschatology. Taking a heavier, fuzzier, and trippier approach to the sound established on their self-titled debut, Eschatology is a deeply satisfying demonstration of the nostalgic old-school aesthetic Pale Grey Lore have so carefully cultivated.

— Thomas Hinds

Omophagia646965 | Unique Leader | Technical Death Metal | Switzerland

This album’s eponymous first single begins with lyrics that go: “zero, one, zero, one, one, zero…” — my immediate reaction to this is that Omophagia are poking at generic deathcore or djent, much of which involves two-note guitar playing. After that bit, Omophagia begin to rip space and time with their hyper-aggressive form of technical death metal. From diminished ascents to chugging rhythms to massive climaxes, 646965 is basically textbook material for fans of this genre. I’m not blown away, personally, but I won’t hide the fact that this album made my knee bop over nearly its entire runtime.

— Andrew Rothmund

The Ember, The AshConsciousness Torn from the Void | Avantgarde Music | Black Metal | Canada

From Jenna DePasquale’s interview with project mastermind 鬼:

Surely, there needs to be a place to store overwrought feelings in order to arrive at a place of hope, and that’s where The Ember, The Ash comes in. 鬼 has added the new band to his list of rock and metal ventures, and it is arguably the gloomiest yet. While his songwriting still very much mimics the building of a staircase, it is one that aims steadily downward to the pits instead of upwards to the heavens. Together, Unreqvited and The Ember, The Ash are two halves of the same heart.

PinewalkerMigration | Weed Smokin’ Music | United States (Utah)

Erupting from the rocky mountain town of Salt Lake City with their debut album Migration, Pinewalker wields gargantuan post/doom metal riffs like mighty weapons to illustrate and subsequently destroy vast and picturesque sonic landscapes. Following a single narrative thread, this record details the exploits of a mythic beast undergoing change in its rawest form. Spiraling upwards into profoundly psychedelic territory, these seven tracks see Pinewalker issuing a powerfully eclectic first utterance with formidable compositions ranging from doom and sludge to soaring melodic prog, with some passages even digging into the occasional serving of grisly death metal. Fuck yeah.

— Thomas Hinds

NoekkWaltzing in Obscurity | Prophecy Productions | Progressive Rock | Germany

Sink into the folky drama of this prog-rock side project of Empyrium — Waltzing in Obscurity is dreamy and devastating with its raw beauty and gentle songwriting approach. This album doesn’t “play” so much as it “runs” through your mind, digging deep beyond your consciousness to swoop you away to headier places. That said, this album is also grounded heavily in riffs, passages, and complex progressive arrangements. It’s a lot for your mind to be fed, but Noekk does it with such a suave touch.

— Andrew Rothmund

RottenDawnOccult | Saturnal Records | Death Metal + Doom Metal | Finland

Though the album’s more extreme passages are still steeped in the existential headiness of funeral doom, one can easily distinguish the unique old-school death metal features that lie at the core of RottenDawn’s sound throughout the entirety of Occult. While they consistently incorporate an equal representation of both genres into their compositions, the band is also capable of emphasizing certain moods to instigate emotive shifts within individual tracks and across the album as a collective whole. By uniting traditional perspectives on these subgenres into a modern aesthetic amalgamation, RottenDawn have created a timeless, undeniable statement concerning the cryptic darkness hidden at the core of the human condition.

— Thomas Hinds

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