Upcoming Metal Releases 10/16/2016-10/22/2016

…

I said I’d be more productive this week, but that ended up not working out so well. Between midterms (awful), listening to this new Panphage album nonstop (have you heard this new single yet? Amazing!), and seeing Rites of thy Degringolade and Ara last night, I’m plum tuckered out, y’all.

Here are the new metal releases for the week of October 16, 2016 – October 22, 2016. Release dates are formatted according to proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see the bulk of these records on shelves or distros on Friday unless otherwise noted or if labels and artists get impatient. Blurbs and designations are based on whether or not I have a lot to say about it.

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

…

ANTICIPATED RELEASES

Furia – Guido | Pagan Records | Black Metal | Poland

Polish black metal goes largely unappreciated in the public eye. Educate yourselves – Furia’s balance of triumphant, rocking might with catchy, Slavic folk melodies has always set them apart from the more “epic”-themed nationalism which largely characterizes the Polish black metal scene. This double EP immediately precedes an impending full-length – Księżyc milczy luty is due November 14.

Edit: apparently this was recorded in an abandoned coal mine. Neat.

Mithras – On Strange Loops | Willowtip Records | Experimental Brutal Death Metal | England

From Andrew’s review of the album:

“Like David Lynch or Thomas Pynchon, Mithras is both cognitive and psychedelic, serious business and serious fun. Death blasts play a central role, the fill-heavy drumming style broadens the scope for the guitars and vocals. Fast, terrifying guitars. Fast, terrifying vocals. But cohesive, and purposely heavy. There’s even a breakdown. Fresh perspective necessitates new connections between worn ideas. Revitalization without destroying the original.”

Flame Acausal – Contra Mundum in Aeternum | GoatowaRex/Psychedelic Lotus Order | Black Metal | Sweden

This is traditional, blistering black metal done perfectly right. Initially issued in a scant run of 92 tapes (what a strange number), Contra Mundum in Aeternum (Against the World Forever) echoes the now classic sounds of Bestial Mockery and Katharsis – there is no subtlety, only madness. These four songs carry an inherent power – something which has otherwise slowly fizzled from black metal’s public form (save a few exceptions). “Epic” and “hair-raising” are fine and things I appreciate in other contexts, but Flame Acausal’s fierce debut is a full-on attack with teeth bared and fists raised skyward.

Khemmis – Hunted | 20 Buck Spin | Stoner/Sludge/Doom Metal | United States

I made the mistake of not giving Khemmis a fair chance before their last album was released, so I made sure to rectify that this time around. Absolution was nice, dirty, and chunky, and their fusion of epic, groovy doom metal with unexpected left turns into extreme metal territory was enjoyable, but I find myself completely converted with the pristine atmospheres of Hunted. There is a certain pomp to this new material which wasn’t fully executed or communicated on Absolution which sends Khemmis over the edge, somewhere between a much slower Pagan Altar and Katatonia’s earliest forays into their more gothic sound.

Auroch – Mute Books | Profound Lore Records | Black/Death Metal | Canada

If there is one word which fully represents this “new school of Canadian death metal,” it is savage. Auroch has definitely proven their ferocity since their inception in 2008 (and especially on Taman Shud and Seven Veils), but Mute Books rips and tears with careful precision. This trio, which shares the majority of their lineup with fellow madmen Mitochondrion, follows a similar approach to their related projects, but with less focus on atmosphere. There are too many riffs for atmosphere to even be considered. The result is brutal. Savage, even.

Recitations – The First Of The Listeners | Avantgarde Music/Signal Rex | Experimental Black Metal | Trondheim

If there is a way an artist can make black metal strange in a tasteful way (see: Jute Gyte, Fas, Ite…-era Deathspell Omega, Njiqahdda’s earlier material), I’m sold. Recitations’s meditative, psychedelic take on black metal is a hazy opium den filled with lulling drones and bizarre, Middle Eastern melody.

…

…

OF NOTE

Maugrim – Primordial Venom | Independent/Digital | Depressive Black Metal | United States

From Clayton’s impending premiere:

“To call something harrowing is to say that there’s a certain atmospheric quality or tonality to the music that puts it on the depressive end of the spectrum, but I can probably count on one hand the number of bands (mid-period Shining, a good chunk of Xasthur’s catalogue, almost anything from Bell Witch) who genuinely upset or unsettle me when I listen to them. Add to that list recent North Carolina transplants Maugrim, whose forthcoming EP Primordial Venom is truly harrowing, the aural equivalent of a long night of anxiety-induced insomnia or the empty feeling of the morning after a depression-induced drinking binge.”

Endalok – Englaryk | Signal Rex/Hellthrasher Productions | Black Metal | Iceland

Iceland is more known for the wild, “unorthodox” scene which had so quickly exploded within the past few years…Endalok is not one of those. Endalok follows a more classic school of thought: frigid, melodic, and cold. This is the kind of music I would more readily associate with Iceland than the jagged, messy dissonance which we’ve been served. This EP is a nice taster for the full length to come: Úr draumheimi viðurstyggðar is purportedly due next February on vinyl with the Englaryk EP as a B-side.

Anagnorisis – Peripeteia | Vendetta Records | Black/Death Metal | United States

From Joseph’s premiere of “Peripeteia”:

“Zachary Kerr only screams in Louisville’s Anagnorisis, but on their upcoming album Perpeteia, the band tells his story. Snippets of audio recordings from Kerr’s childhood pepper these songs and hint at an unhappy domestic life. Combined with the band’s sometimes rough and tumble riffs, not to mention prolonged song lengths, these tape snippets evoke Shining’s masterful V: Halmstad album, but the knowledge that these samples don’t come from a film give the story the weight of reality. To wit: “5306 Morningside”, the title of the song the band premiered at Decibel? That’s Kerr’s childhood address.”

Incandescence – Les ténèbres murmurent mon nom | Deathbound Records | Black Metal | Canada

Philippe Boucher’s talents know no end. Though most might recognize his name from death metal juggernauts Chthe’ilist and Beyond Creation, Boucher’s solo outings have been on the more blackened, hypnotic end of the spectrum. Incandescence is on the traditional side – blasting and melodic – and yet Boucher’s technical prowess still finds its way through.

…

FOR THE ADVENTUROUS

Wardruna – Runaljod – Ragnarok | ByNorse | Ambient/Neofolk | Norway

Two things: 1) Wardruna sounds nice and makes for great soundtrack music, 2) Wardruna is not actually “traditional Nordic folk.”

TOMB – Fury Nocturnus | Peaceville Records | Black Metal/Noise/Industrial | United States

TOMB’s transformation over the past decade from “completely mechanized black metal” (listen to Macabre Noize Royale) to the abstract, much more human-driven sound on Fury Nocturnus has been strange and intriguing. Somewhere between “ritual/tribal ambient,” harsh noise, hypnotic industrial, and the occasional bout of unbridled black metal, TOMB is a strong contender for “most interesting album of 2016.”

…

FROM THE GRAVE

Anata – The Infernal Depths Of Hatred | KaosKvlt | Technical Death Metal | Sweden
Listen to Anata. Just…just do it.

N.K.V.D. – Totalitarian Industrial Oppression | Kruvyator Productions | Industrial Black Metal | France
Multi-instrumentalist Loïc.F may be known now for his work under the Autokrator banner, but his origins under the “totalitarian industrial black metal” N.K.V.D. show his roots in crushing, uncompromising music run deep. Compiling the long-sold-out Diktatura and Vlast, Totalitarian Industrial Oppression is fifty-eight minutes of mechanical torture.

…

OTHER RELEASES

Tygers of Pan Tang – Tygers of Pan Tang | Mighty Music | NWOBHM | England

Some people say NWOBHM was a time period, some think it’s a genre. Either way, Tygers of Pan Tang fit into both of those categories.

Dee Snider – We Are The Ones | earMUSIC | Heavy Metal | United States

Dee Snider is still going at it? Criss Angel directed his music video? I am so conflicted right now (he can still sing, though, let me tell you).

…

WHAT WE MISSED

FVNERALS – Wounds | The Native Sound/The Golden Antenna | Shoegaze/Drone/Darkwave | Scotland

I wasn’t expecting this, nor did I even know FVNERALS existed, but they occupy a neat middle ground between Lycia’s early 90s, white-faced goth-isms and The Slaves’s abstract, droning dream pop.

Flooded Church of Asmodeus – Piss Soaked Church of the Wrong: A Total Holocaust of Those Who Turn the Other Cheek | Bestial Burst | Black Metal/Noise | Finland

HARSH. BLACK. NOISE.

…