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Upcoming Metal Releases 7/23/2017-7/29/2017

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Don’t mind me, I’m still reeling from the fact that Warning is going to tour the US.

Here are the new metal releases for the week of July 23, 2017 – July 29, 2017. 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.

As a little bit of a challenge, include your own opinion about anything you want to add. Make me want to listen to it!

Please note: this is a review column and is not speculative. Any announced albums without preview material will not be covered. Additionally, any surprise releases which are uploaded or released after this column is published will be excluded.

send Jon your promos at [email protected]. Do not bother him on social media.

ANTICIPATED RELEASES

False – Hunger EP | Gilead Media | Black Metal | United States
My relationship with False has always been complicated and filled with caveats. There were elements of the music which I enjoyed, but sometimes the indulgent nature of “always having big textures all the time” can be difficult, especially with such long songs. Being given the limitations of a 7″ EP has proven fruitful, and this Minnesota black metal band’s own challenge of condensing their long-form songs resulted in two very moving, powerful pieces. Here is hoping the future brings about more short, sharp songs from the False camp.

Tchornobog – Tchornobog | I, Voidhanger Records | Avantgarde Black/Doom Metal | United States
From Andrew Rothmund’s feature on Markov Soroka and Tchornobog:

Imbuing personal demons into music involves capturing, reshaping, and releasing these demons as music itself. This is necessarily a spiritual process, however you may define spirituality, as the supernatural (or extra-natural) realm is the ground on which bridges between our unique inner states are erected. Tchornobog may be a real expression unto itself, but the moment it connects two minds – the artist and the listener – it transcends solid forms. If healing is possible, it’s found here: the act of sharing, not just writing or listening (or consuming). There is no spiritual without the social. Without our collective pain, there is no art. This remains true for almost all music, but is something specially and specifically addressed here.

Temple of Void – Lords of Death | Shadow Kingdom Records | Psychedelic Death/Doom Metal | United States
From Joseph’s premiere of “Graven Desires”:

The outfit’s upcoming album, Lords of Death goes a fair bit to undermine the death-doom tag the band’s been saddled with before. Really, we need an agreed-upon descriptor for growling and chunky riffs played at a comfortable midtempo, still with rolling double bass below it. That’s Temple of Void’s new idiom, and it works for them. Determined, that’s the word. Each riff, each piece of each song feels necessary and distinct[…].

Contrarian – To Perceive is to Suffer | Willowtip Records | Progressive Death Metal | United States/Greece
Smooth, calculated, emotive progressive death metal, featuring the familiar limbs of George Kollias. Check back to hear the whole thing soon.

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Nan Elmoth – Void Serpent | Pacific Threnodies | Black Metal | United States
Yes, their name is a Tolkien reference, but this sounds more like the terrifying aura of the Nazgul than it does the “epic themes” on which most bands of this ilk concentrate. Void Serpent blisters with harrowing, empty, soulless black metal, echoing off empty, crumbling castle walls.
Nexul – Paradigm of Chaos | Hells Headbangers Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States
From my premiere of “Hexecration”

Paradigm of Chaos […] is nonstop hate-fueled mayhem, a full-tilt exercise in songwriting versus texture and atmosphere versus clear-cut structure. Set aside from their bestial brethren, Nexul’s approach is precise and clearly communicated, but not without their own devotion to black/death metal’s own, sloppy presence.

Urn – The Burning | Iron Bonehead Productions | Black/Thrash Metal | Finland
I suppose it’s thrash, but this feels more like Judas Priest hanging out with Absu. It riffs, but in a classic sense.
Prong – Zero Days | Steamhammer/SPV | Groove/Industrial Metal | United States
Tommy Victor’s industrial groove continues to crush, whether I like it or not.

FOR THE ADVENTUROUS

because only listening to metal is dumb

Couch Slut – Contempt | Gilead Media | Noise Rock/Metal | United States
From Todd Manning’s interview with the Kevins Hall and Wunderlich:

[Couch Slut plays] an incendiary mix of Black Flag, black metal and the bleakest of noise rock. The album uses repetition and rawness in equal measure to ooze violence into each song. Couch Slut will make the listener feel unnerving, the frankness of singer Megan Osztrosits’s approach combined with the band’s searing use of dissonance makes it seem like the band are willfully invading your personal space.

Less Art – Strangled Light | Gilead Media | Post-Hardcore | United States
From Andrew Sacher’s premiere of “Wandering Ghost”:

Less Art are most similar to Kowloon Walled City’s ’90s-style post-hardcore/noise rock than to Less Art’s other related bands. “Wandering Ghost” is as good an example of this as any.

Alder & Ash – Clutched in the Maw of the World | Lost Tribe Sound | Ambient Folk/Drone | Canada
Alder & Ash – Psalms for the Sunder | Lost Tribe Sound | Ambient Folk/Drone | Canada
These both sound like the stagnant, wet, sweltering heat of late summer.


FROM THE GRAVE

Mitochrondrion – Antinumerology | Krucyator Productions | Black/Death Metal | Canada
The supreme chaos of Canada’s most intriguing, intricately constructed death metal act made anew on a much more…”accessible” format. Some people don’t like 7″s, like the edition pressed a few years ago on Dark Descent Records, but the music still retains Mitochondrion’s overwhelming, imposing weight.

OTHER RELEASES

Kval – Kval | Hypnotic Dirge Records | Black/Doom Metal | Finland
Dark, dark, dark. Most bands who call themselves “black/doom” simply black black metal riffs slowly, but it comes off as…overcooked. Kval is more up my alley, reminiscent of the No Colours school. You know, when Forgotten Woods reigned supreme and black metal misery shamelessly took influence from rock and post-punk.
LOVIATAR – LOVIATAR | Prosthetic Records | Doom Metal | Canada
The tag says “doom metal,” but I hear more psychedelic rock with a strong aroma of jangling Americana. It’s fine, but a big part of me wants to dust off my Neil Young records in immediate response.
Afterbirth – The Time Traveler’s Dilemma | Unique Leader Records | Brutal Death Metal | United States
It’s classic, brutal NYDM in the ignorant sort of Long Island fashion. If you know, you know. Dust off your favorite tank-cut white undershirt.

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