Upcoming Metal Releases: 5/7/2023-5/13/2023
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for May 7th through May 13th. 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.
Things We Missed
Did you catch the surprise Krallice album that dropped last Friday?
Upcoming Releases
Cattle Decapitation — Terrasite | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal + Grindcore | United States (San Diego, CA)
Terrasite is a brutal and uncompromising display of technical deathgrind. The band have been steadily pushing the boundaries of the genre for over 25 years, and this album is no exception. Songs like “The Anthropocene Extinction” and “From the Womb to the Tomb” are classic slices of death metal and standouts on the album. This one is worth checking out.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Esoctrilihum — Astraal Constellations of the Majickal Zodiac | I, Voidhanger Records | Black Metal | France
Let me tell you, folks – I’m not looking forward to correcting people’s spellings of this when we do our year-end lists. I don’t know if it’s necessarily going to top everyone’s best-of charts, but if you’re into Esoctrilihum’s combination of esoteric subject matter and mystical (mystickal?) black metal, a new volume is a welcome chance to indulge.
–Ted Nubel
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Ascended Dead — Evenfall of the Apocalypse | 20 Buck Spin | Death Metal | United States
Murky, muddy, gloriously unhinged death metal. If you’re not sure what’s going on in this insane mix, where reverb ebbs and swells like the tides of madness, embrace the only constant: riffs. Also features the thickest, bucket-of-molasses-sounding tom drums I’ve heard in death metal in a long, long time.
–Ted Nubel
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Usnea — Bathed in Light | Translation Loss Records | Blackened Funeral Doom | United States (Portland, OR)
From Addison Herron-Wheeler’s track premiere of “To The Deathless”:
em>Bathed In Light […] is every bit as heavy as their previous work, but even more deep and reflective than other records. [They] have graced us with an especially esoteric track, “To The Deathless,” which is a perfect sampling of what the album has to offer: the track examines the double-edged sword of technological progress […] through a complex mix of psychedelica and heavy doom.
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Gonemage — Astral Corridors | Independent| Experimental Post-Black Metal + Chiptune | United States (Dallas, TX)
Catchy and sometimes unexpectedly ferocious, Gonemage’s saga reaches new bizarre heights–while the release pace has been pretty fast, this black metal-meets-chiptune space still seems extremely lucrative for mastermind Garry Brents.
–Ted Nubel
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Impetuous Ritual — Iniquitous Barbarik Synthesis | Profound Lore Records | Death Metal | Australia
Swirling, dense, and prone to devolving into chaotic noise, Impetuous Ritual’s newest album is anything but approachable – still, there’s something comforting about sinking into the tortured proceedings and letting the chaos blanket you.
–Ted Nubel
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Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean — Obsession Destruction | Redscroll Records | Sludge + Doom Metal | United States
There’s two things that I think Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean captures better than anyone else out there: one, the sound of pure, furious anguish, and two, doom metal’s sonic violence. The former is probably self-explanatory if you listen to the vocals on this new record, and as to the latter: each lumbering riff stabs like a knife to the heart, and each thudding, crashing drum hit kicks you while you’re down. It’s a sludge-focused form that taps into hardcore chaos while still cultivating doom metal’s mystique. Most of the bands that excelled at this seem to have died out in the early 2000s, to be replaced by occult rock acts of varying caliber, but Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean is dutifully carrying this lineage forward.
–Ted Nubel
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Grip — Solstici | Independent | Stoner + Doom Metal | Spain
What initially seems like fairly standard slow, sludgy doom reveals itself to be something else entirely: a bizarre morass of oddball stoner riffs, haunting vocals, and hazy groove. It’s still got its slow, sludgy backbone, but there’s a lot of unpredictable elements here.
–Ted Nubel
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Burial Clouds — Last Days of a Dying World | Church Road Records | Doom + Post-Metal | United States (Portland, OR)
On Last Days of a Dying World, the band weaves decaying guitar tones into an intimate, inescapable portrait of ruin– occasionally verging on something akin to post-metal-sludge-grunge, the impact of laid-back clean vocals plunging back into filth-ridden gasps is an amazing accompaniment to Burial Clouds’ intricately depressing riffs.
–Ted Nubel
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Exitium — Imperitous March for Abysmal Glory | Time to Kill Records | Black + Death Metal | Italy
Muscular black-death metal meets shadow-clad conspiracies: a tale of an underground secret civilization told through reverb-drenched tremolo riffs and ethereal synthesizers.
–Ted Nubel
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Hex A.D. — Delightful Sharp Edges | Fresh Tea Records | Doom + Progressive Metal | Norway
Doom and progressive metal don’t overlap often, but when they do, it can be pretty great. Hex A.D. crosses slow riffs with beautiful instrumentation and tight groove – if you’re into bands like Lucifer Was, easily worth checking this out.
–Ted Nubel
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They Watch Us From the Moon — Cosmic Chronicles, Act I: The Ascension | New Heavy Sounds | Stoner + Doom Metal | United States
It’s always nice to see stoner rock bands doing something different, and They Watch Us From the Moon have emerged with a debut full-length that definitely qualifies. On this album, the first part of a larger sci-fi opus, twin ‘space angels’ Luna Nemesis and Nova 101001 provide an unusual dual vocal configuration on top of spacy, dramatic stoner rock. It’s a layered, psychedelic trip to the cosmos anchored by potent riff-crafting.
–Ted Nubel
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Pronostic — Chaotic Upheaval | Independent| Mel odic Technical + Progressive Death Metal | Canada (Montreal)
From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:
There’s a lot of optimism in Chaotic Upheaval, but also disillusionment, and that’s not the only duality. Pronostic sets up a variety of contrasts — high versus low vocals, blazing speed versus musing mid pacing, inspirationally melodic versus nihilistically pummeling — and then seemingly explores every possible permutation of them. Hell, they’ve even tapped Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Francesco Ferrini to bring synthesizers and strings into their arsenal.
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Left to Suffer — Feral | Independent | Metalcore | United States (Atlanta, GA)
A brutal and uncompromising display of metalcore power. The album opens with the title track, a blistering assault of guitars, drums, and vocals. Tracks like “Disappoint Me” and “Primitive Urge” feature catchy choruses and soaring melodies that will stick in your head long after the album is over. This record doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but Metalcore fans shouldn’t miss this one.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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