Upcoming Metal Releases: 12/12/2021-12/18/2021
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of December 12th, 2021 to December 18th, 2021. 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.
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Upcoming Releases
Eucharist — I Am the Void | Regain Records | Melodic Death + Black Metal | Sweden
Eucharist’s first full length in 24 years isn’t quite like the melodic death metal that defined their early career. It has, I suppose, been over two decades!
This new album is much more black metal-oriented, though it does bring in some of the nice melodic lines that made their classic albums appealing.
–Ted Nubel
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Mega Colossus — Riptime | Rafchild Records | Heavy Metal | United States
Finally, a full-length follow-up to 2016’s MegaGlaive! Mega Colossus, formerly known as Colossus, is what happens when you take nerds making heavy metal and crazy technical chops to its logical conclusion: sheer, slightly insane, brilliance. Beefed-up speed metal riffs, giant choruses, dazzling solos, and hearty vocals pitch in to illustrate a fantastical narrative I can’t even begin to piece together. Each song seems to be full to the brim of fun riffs and new ideas, but the tight runtime keeps it from being overwhelming. Strongly recommended for fans of Slough Feg — and that’s not a ‘for fans of’ I hand out lightly.
–Ted Nubel
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Celestial Sword + Mortum — The Citadel of Scarlet Lament | Independent | Black Metal | International
Celestial Sword’s frosty raw black metal pairs up with Mortum’s intense-up-close take on black metal for this fun split with an absolute banger of a title.
–Ted Nubel
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Trhä + Celestial Sword — Edënohhdlha hálgra tu majtranlh’ha / Ga nëcëcta my idlhi | Independent | Black Metal | United States + ???
Another Celestial Sword split, but this time with the mysterious and enchanting black metal outfit Trhä, which is probably the closest you’ll ever get to hearing black metal from another world—brusque, punky black metal riffs swept up by bizarre pads and eerie synth leads.
–Ted Nubel
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Iron Fate — Crimson Messiah | Massacre Records | Power + Thrash Metal | Germany
Killer vocals and energetic riffs are key to making power-thrash not a total drag, and Iron Fate succeds on both counts here. Beyond that, though, the rhythm section of the band works in some clever accents and fills that help breathe actual life into the gleaming structures at hand.
–Ted Nubel
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Flatus — Thwomp! | Independent | Death Metal | Australia
This doesn’t sound nearly as gross as it looks. If it were goregrind, that’d be a negative, but as it exists in the realm of weirdo death metal, it’s merely an observation. Flatus throw doom and heavy metal riffs into their icky death metal with a surprising amount of success—I didn’t really expect the whirling death metal riffs to mesh so effortlessly with the melodic and groovy bits tossed in, but like the bizarre stew of organs on the album cover, it all kind of works as a whole.
–Ted Nubel
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Amulett — Glassbreaker | Independent | Heavy Metal + Hard Rock | Argentina (Buenos Aires)
Catchy hard rock/heavy metal with big lead lines, lots of reverb, and classic production. There’s obviously a lot of bands that can fit into that description, but Amulett’s debut EP is packed with swagger and confidence that’s weirdly at odds with my inability to find out anything else about the band (it doesn’t help that they’re one letter away from Amulet, who are in a very similar space!). In any case, pass this YouTube link around to your friends and spread the good word.
–Ted Nubel
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Angoixa — Distopia Digital | Independent | Death Metal | Spain
There’ll always be a seat at the table for blithely death metal that taps into classic heavy metal as gleefully as Angoixa.
–Colin Dempsey
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Charnel Altar — Abatement of the Sun | Blood Harvest Records | Death + Black + Doom Metal | Australia
Charnel Altar’s absurdly thick mix of black, death, and doom just about blacks out the sun. Setting a mood of complete and utter despair, every part of the sound seems in a mix to out-murk each other. Oozing guitar tones and roomy drums seem relatively spotless compared to the blown-out vocals that pull the listener down into spiraling darkness.
–Ted Nubel
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Dark Affliction — Dark Affliction | Independent | Black Metal | Greece
I’m not really sure how I feel about the drum and vocal production on this, but the interesting balance of almost over-the-top raw rhythm guitar tone with delicate melodies and leads won me over within the first track.
–Ted Nubel
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Eallic — Rake of the Astral Leviathan | Independent | Death Metal | United States (Utah)
The Utah duo promote themselves as pursuing the almighty riff, and their upcoming debut full-length contains enough riffs to last a lifetime, they’re even better at using their songwriting to portray the astronomical proportions of their Lovecraftian narratives.
–Colin Dempsey
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Empyrrean — Empyrrean | Independent | Atmospheric Black Metal | United States (Austin, TX)
Raw atmospheric-ish black metal with someone shrieking like they’re having their soul sucked out on top. You know—the good stuff.
–Ted Nubel
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Fierce Deity — The Trials | Independent | Heavy + Power Metal | Australia
I’m not actually sure if the release date on this is too accurate, since The Trials was preceded, according to Bandcamp release dates, by The Trials UnMasked, acoustic interpretations of these tracks, but eh, it’s the end of the year and my job is to tell you about good music you haven’t heard yet, not cross-analyze release dates. This is definitely the solo project’s best release yet — the exuberant mix of heavy/power metal hits hard with clean production and sturdy vocals.
–Ted Nubel
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Khnvm — Portals to Oblivion | Neckbreaker Records | Death Metal | Germany + Bangladesh
When I looked at the album art for this record, I thought to myself “I hope this sounds like the album art”—and it does! Prepare to get pulled apart by viciously catchy riffs that hook into your flesh and stay there, with enough technical wizardry to stun its victims while the buzzsaw shredding does its job.
–Ted Nubel
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Memory Garden — 1349 | No Remorse Records | Power Metal | Sweden
Much like how adding miso paste to a chocolate chip recipe adds unexpected flavor complexity, Memory Garden’s utilization of doom metal tones deepens their unabashed power metal. It’s an album for those looking for a more grounded take on the boisterous subgenre.
–Colin Dempsey
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Myrdød — The Mourning Hollow | Independent | Black Metal + Death Metal | United States (Pennsylvania)
Myrdød epitomize the grossest black and death metal components – unfurly production and unrepentant riffing, respectively – into an organism that feeds on chaos. Tracks like “Ritualized Cave Birth” teeter on the verge of being too estranged from structure, but that proximity to formlessness is intoxicating.
–Colin Dempsey
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Obscurial — Funeral, Burial and Rites | Independent | Death Metal | Malaysia
Death metal that I swear has to be some long-long tape from the 1990s—the tight and malicious riffs within feel ancient and deadly.
–Ted Nubel
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P.H.O.B.O.S. — Bleaker Beater | Megaton Mass Products | Industrial Metal + Noise | France
The French trio P.H.O.B.O.S. play music as if they’re rejecting traditional instruments as a whole. Their pieces emphasize an inhumanity that’s rarely conjured through acoustic means. Warped vocals and warbling frequencies masticate an already miasmic atmosphere.
–Colin Dempsey
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Torii — Torii | Independent | Blackened Death Metal + Doom Metal | United States (Arkansas)
Despite a blackened death metal and doom metal concoction suggesting that Torii would be the most crushing single-man band out of Arkansas, his music is tainted with rust and dirt. It’s soot-covered metal that slowly unwinds across its runtimes.
–Colin Dempsey
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Wound — Serpent Crown | Ván Records | Death Metal | Germany
Wound’s death metal strikes a nice balance between modern melodic death metal and classic heavy metal, like on lead single “Silent Indoctrination” where the melo-death verses and choruses are shaken up a bit with some snappy riffs to tie it all together.
–Ted Nubel
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