Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
New Releases 4/21-4/27
Darkthrone — It Beckons Us All…… | Peaceville Records | Black Metal + Heavy Metal | Norway
There’s not much to go on for Darkthrone’s 21st studio album aside from “Black Dawn Affiliation,” which implied a shift away from their recent doom metal projects in favor of classic heavy metal. The thing is, at this point in their careers, the duo seem to follow their noses, meaning there isn’t a ton of evidence one can pull from to decipher where It Beckons Us All…… will go.
–Colin Dempsey
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Inter Arma — New Heaven | Relapse Records | Sludge Metal + Post-Metal + Death Metal | United States (Richmond, Virginia)
From Luke Jackson’s interview:
Putting on an Inter Arma album has always felt like stepping into an extreme music Big Top Circus; above your head a spiraling blackened odyssey balances on the high wire, in the globe of death a prog metal mystery revs its engine, and sitting in the sawdust some vintage blues fretwork crawls to life.
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Amiensus — Reclamation: Part 1 | M-Theory Audio | Progressive Metal + Black Metal | United States
Amiensus plants one foot in progressive metal and hover the other foot above black metal. There are some vestiges of the latter on tracks like “Reverie,” but it’s a tad too clean and professional to feel like more than an influence. Incidentally, this works well for Reclamation: Part 1 by giving it some claws amidst its prettier passages and fantastical structures.
–Colin Dempsey
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Glassing — From the Other Side of the Mirror | Pelagic Records | Doom Metal + Post-Hardcore + Black Metal + Post-Metal | United States (Austin, Texas)
From Colin Dempsey’s premiere:
[Glassing’s] dynamic has never been as accessible as it is on From the Other Side of the Mirror, a more commanding effort than their previous record, 2021’s Twin Dream, with the first three tracks aiming to punch your teeth out. “Circle Down,” the album’s third single, dials down the muscle to writhe in the gaps between post-hardcore, screamo, and black metal, at least at the onset. Halfway through, Glassing can’t help but shovel more of their overpowering riffs into your mouth.
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Pulverised — Master’s Personae | Pulverised Records | Death Metal | Indonesia
You should handle Master’s Personae with gloves because it is scorching. Everything about the Indonesian death metal group’s fourth album is seemingly burning, perhaps because it’s so rough around the edges that it’s generating friction. Nothing on it is operating at less than 100% capacity, and given the end results, nothing should.
–Colin Dempsey
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Fluisteraars — Manifestaties van de Ontworteling | Eisenwald | Black Metal | Netherlands
This Dutch duo’s bracing experiments in black metal now extend to dropping the sub-genre altogether, with Bob Mollema and the splendidly-named Mink Koops pledging themselves here to an immersive arthouse ritual conjured in cahoots with analogue synth ace Simon Claessen. From a viscous sludge of bulging drones surface a surreal flotsam of ceremonial gong chimes, electro-charged bird chorus and wonky arpeggios issued from a hollowbody guitar, absurdly churning in dark ambient abstraction like some Lautréamont-sponsored sound-bath, a bizarro phantasmagoria swimming in freakish sharks.
–Spencer Grady
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Freeways — Dark Sky Sanctuary | Dying Victims Productions | Hard Rock | Canada
If you’re looking for ’70s worship, Freeways’ second record is for you. Like its predecessor (2020’s True Bearings), Dark Sky is throwback ay eff, all the way down to the humid production and boogie-woogie groove. It’s a lotta fun, too: tightly arranged proto-metal filled with catchy melodies and tasteful leadwork. The cover’s all you really need to evaluate—you can practically smell the cigarettes and stale beer. Indeed, Freeways just wanna have a good time, and they’re inviting you along. How perfectly Canadian.
–Steve Lampiris
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ACxDC — G.O.A.T. | Prosthetic Records | Grindcore | United States (Los Angeles, California)
In which the L.A.-based powerviolence/grindcore quartet unleashes another collection of feral rage bashed out with stunning urgency: 17 songs in 23 minutes. Themes from 2014’s self-titled debut—systemic racism in policing, misogyny, troll culture, self-righteousness among the far-left—return here because the problems weren’t fixed in the interim. Hence the seeming nihilism of the record (“I see that nothing’s changed / What could I have ever done / To change the end result?”). In reality, ACxDC are simply expressing the exasperation that these problems still exist. Listening to G.O.A.T. probably won’t solve any of them, but its anger is pretty fucking cathartic.
–Steve Lampiris
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Full of Hell — Coagulated Bliss | Closed Casket Activities | Grindcore + Noise + Death Metal | United States (Ocean City, Maryland)
The latest Full of Hell record has far more going for it than I can fit in a simple blurb, but it’s definitely their strongest record yet. From overlapping noise and experimental moments to heavy, catchy riffs, this is not an album to miss.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Deicide — Banished By Sin | Reigning Phoenix Music | Death Metal | United States (Tampa, Florida)
There has been a lot of hype around this record already, not all of it good. Many are annoyed by the AI art on the cover, but if you actually stop to listen to the music, this is a heavy record and a great summation of their career so far. Make sure not to skip this one if you’re a death metal fan.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Morgul Blade — Heavy Metal Wraiths | No Remorse Records | Heavy + Black Metal | United States (Philadelphia, PA)
What sets Morgul Blade apart is their indifference to genre allegiance — although they’ve dialed up the black metal elements on their latest album, Heavy Metal Wraiths is really just about meshing fantasy and metal together without compromise or pretense.
–Ted Nubel
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Black Tusk — The Way Forward | Season of Mist | Sludge Metal | United States (Savannah, GA)
If you like your sludge terminally infested with punk, Black Tusk is still the go-to outlet. Beyond their raging discontent, you’ll also find complex songwriting and some unusual sonic construction — personally, I love the huge yet boxy drums and the weird little synth bits in there.
–Ted Nubel
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Tombstoner — Rot Stink Rip | Redefining Darkness Records | Death Metal | United States (New York City)
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Rot Stink Rip”:
The band’s sonic density — two guitars, two vocals, everything punchy as all hell — thrives in this rancid landscape of far-flung, gore-drenched scenarios and aggravated nihilism. It almost feels like a mathematical constraint: their cranked-up approach to death metal demands similarly exhilarating subject matter. That isn’t to say that this ventures into comedy or pure absurdity — the New York crew offer a hard-to-imitate mix of blood-spattered satire and dead-serious violence.
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]]>Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
New Releases 4/14-4/20
Haust — Negative Music | Fysisk Format | Black Metal + Punk | Norway
What an accurate name for Haust’s return album. Negative Music is devoid of any good feelings, instead creeping along the floorboards like a rodent and spewing filthy punk rock for those who only examine reality through worst-case scenarios.
–Colin Dempsey
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Lord Spikeheart — The Adept | Haekalu Records | Industrial + Electronic + Grind | Uganda
One-half of the highly-rated Kenyan electro-grindcore duo Duma launches his Haekalu imprint with this apocalyptic debut solo full-length, a hypnagogic chaos swarm gushing noise, nightmares and post-dancehall dread. Accompanying the always-foreboding ministrations of Lord Spikeheart (Martin Kanja) on this African-futurist hellscape is an impressive coterie of equally radical outriders, among them militant rapper Backxwash and Senyawa chief shaman Rully Shabara, their fiendish invocations feeding the fear throughout The Adept’s frenetic bricolage of mangled cyber-terror synths, corrosive screams and armour-piercing beats.
–Spencer Grady
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Hekseblad — Kaer Mohren | Hypnotic Dirge Records | Black Metal | United States
I dove into The Witcher book series over the past few months and, before long, began searching for the metal that’d best suit their tone. Luckily, Hekseblad have delivered just that with their debut album. They draw from melodic and symphonic black metal to match the sweeping yet emotionally fragile work. Kaer Mohren is epic yet grim without overstepping its boundaries in either direction.
–Colin Dempsey
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Antichrist Siege Machine — Vengeance of Eternal Fire | Profound Lore Records | Black Metal + Death Metal | United States (Richmond, Virginia)
On their third full-length, Antichrist Siege Machine engage in a single-minded pursuit of fury and flames. There’s no sense of taste or subtlety, only war metal. That being said, the duo weaponizes pacing by increasing the tempo over the course of tracks like “Sisera.” The song is less than two-minutes long, but the structure becomes an instrument of destruction in its own right.
–Colin Dempsey
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Nuclear Tomb — Terror Labyrinthian | Everlasting Spew Records | Thrash Metal + Death Metal + Progressive Metal + Noise Rock | United States (Baltimore, Maryland)
An assortment of genres suggests there’s plenty going on that doesn’t mesh on paper, but it certainly does through a speaker. The main motor is death metal of the old-school variety but with a library card that spends all its free time jotting down notes.
–Colin Dempsey
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Engulfed — Unearthly Litanies of Despair | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Turkiye (Kadıköy)
The relentless, down-tuned riffs Engulfed drops are a sound for sore ears that have been spending too much time in the spring sun. This is the sort of death metal that makes you want to stay inside and brood with the cookie monster vocals and cartoonishly demonic vibe. Is it a tad overindulgent? Sure, but playing it cool would remove most of the fun.
–Colin Dempsey
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Melvins — Tarantula Heart | Ipecac Recordings | Sludge Metal | United States (Washington)
Always the most prolific band on the planet, Melvins are still at it, and this time, they decided to make sounds first and then turn them into songs. In short, this record was constructed the way an EDM producer writes music. There are moments when it works, and moments when it doesn’t, but overall, it’s a lot of fun to listen to, so give it a spin.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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My Dying Bride — A Mortal Binding | Nuclear Blast | Gothic Metal + Doom Metal | United Kingdom
This album proves that the band still have something to say, and with their refreshed lineup, you can tell they have a renewed energy on this one. Melancholic and melodic all the way through, this is a My Dying Bride album for the ages.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Ixion — Extinction | Finisterian Dead End | Atmospheric Doom Metal | France
From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:
On Extinction, the melancholic chords and dismal growls of death/doom metal are not a constant, but instead a gut-punching eventuality that lurks within sweeping instrumental textures. The combination draws up an especially potent atmosphere where quiet, musing exploration often meets stark, uncomfortable truth in dramatic form. Alongside excellent pacing, Extinction outstrips much of its peers by daring to apply unusual, drastic vocal harmonies in combination with emphatic riffs.
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Bongripper — Empty | The Great Barrier Records | Doom Metal | United States (Chicago, IL)
Slow, loud, incredibly long, and the song titles run together into a gloomy phrase — yes, Bongripper is back, and just in time for 4/20 (obviously). It’s been six years since their last full-length, but Empty spews forth like it’s barely been a day, picking up where the band left off in delivering some of the mightiest riffs ever put to tape.
–Ted Nubel
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Dvne — Voidkind | Metal Blade Records | Progressive Sludge + Post-Metal | United Kingdom
Highly agile, Dvne switches between melodic fragility and metallic killing edge with stunning grace on this new album. The Dune-inspired progressive sludge group strikes out at the bleeding edge of the genre, but with a surprising amount of retro charm balancing out their progressive technicality.
–Ted Nubel
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High on Fire — Cometh the Storm | MNRK Heavy | Stoner + Sludge + Doom Metal | United States (Oakland, CA)
It’s the High on Fire you know and love — ripping heavy metal that feels like someone ran it through seventy-five fattener pedals. While not exploring all that new sonic territory, Cometh the Storm has done its homework in terms of figuring out how to beat your ass.
–Ted Nubel
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Red Mesa — Partial Distortions | Desert Records | Stoner Rock + Doom Metal | United States (New Mexico)
Don’t let the title fool you – I would label this as ‘full distortions,’ personally. More seriously, Red Mesa keeps things hazy and sun-bleached on their new record, weaving melodic threads that run between glacial, plodding riffs and hefty stomps. They’re not a band afraid to get a bit weird while keeping it heavy.
–Ted Nubel
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]]>Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
New Releases 4/7-4/13
Whores. — War | The Ghost is Clear Records | Sludge Metal | United States (Atlanta, Georgia)
The latest Whores. album boasts production by Ryan Boesch, who’s worked alongside Melvins and Helmet. He imbues War with a dry and crunchy feel that illuminates Whores.’s strengths and paints them as an uglier band than their songwriting entails.
–Colin Dempsey
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Mòr — Hear the Hour Nearing! | Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions | Atmospheric Black Metal | France (Rouen)
One of Mòr’s guitarists, B., has been playing live with Trespasser as of late, and you can hear the similarities between the acts on Hear the Hour Nearing!. Mòr draw from a similar explosive black metal well as Trespasser but place greater emphasis on their wall of sound.
–Colin Dempsey
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Karst — Eclipsed Beneath the Umbral Divide | Independent | Death Metal | United States (Los Angeles, California)
Dedicated to “victims to depression, anxiety, addiction, accidental overdose, and all those who have ever had thoughts of suicide,” Eclipsed Beneath the Umbral Divide is pissed-off death metal with a purpose. It reacts to mental illness in a manner that most sufferers wish they could, not just attempting to capture how depression warps the mind but airing the frustration of wrestling with it on a daily basis and the desire to beat the hell out of it.
–Colin Dempsey
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Unborn Generation — …and Lest We All Forget | Inverse Records | Grindcore | Finland (Jyväskylä)
Crusty, Finnish grindcore lays on Unborn Generation’s seventh full-length, …and Lest We All Forget, a greyed-out experience that communicates through genre trademarks. It’s not the fastest grindcore out there, which works to Unborn Generation’s strengths as they have more time to sink their teeth in.
–Colin Dempsey
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Tårfödd — Mörker | Independent | Atmospheric Black Metal | Sweden
What strikes most immediately when listening to Tårfödd is their earnestness. Their atmospheric black metal is not a veil nor a metaphor for emotion but a genuine artifact, a drop of blood from their heart as much as it is a collection of tracks. There’s nothing obscuring them on their debut Mörker. It’s hard to pin down sincerity in a subgenre that heralds overblown emotion, but the pained vocals and modest track times condense every emotion into their most salient points.
–Colin Dempsey
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Heavy Temple — Garden of Heathens | Magnetic Eye Records | Doom Metal | United States (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
This new doom masterpiece is heavy, as the name implies, but also psychedelic and introspective. At a time when doom is having a quiet moment compared to some of its sister genres, Heavy Temple still manage to make things catchy enough to hook any listeners.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Necrot — Lifeless Birth | Tankcrimes | Death Metal | United States (Oakland, California)
The Oakland gore-obsessed pessimists return with their third and most engaging record. This time, their pessimism has (fully?) metastasized—e.g., “Human mind in regression,” “The future is shit.” Given all that’s happened since 2020’s Mortal, can ya blame them? Anyhow, Lifeless Birth finds the trio continuing with their less-is-more OSDM, featuring sneakily catchy riffage and satisfying soloing, natch. Indeed, some of these songs threaten to get stuck in your head. Ain’t broke ’n all that.
–Steve Lampiris
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Replicant — Infinite Mortality | Transcending Obscurity | Technical Death Metal | United States (New Brunswick, New Jersey)
The weirdo tech-death outfit from Jersey returns with their most deranged album to date. Their penchant for left-brained riffing creates a handful of the neatest guitar figures I’ve heard this year. The most arresting part of Infinite Mortality, though, is the unhinged vocals, a pure distillation of tortured, feral insanity. Makes ya wonder if they caught an exorcism on tape, and then wrote a record around it.
–Steve Lampiris
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Týr — Battle Ballads | Metal Blade Records | Viking Metal + Folk Metal | Faroe Islands
Viking metal is not everyone’s cup of tea and we know it, but if you are going to do it, there are a couple of ways to skin that cat. Týr manage to keep things somewhat contemporary and ripping instead of just relying on tired tropes. Even if you don’t normally go for this kind of thing, anyone who loves straightforward, classic metal should give this at least one spin.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Tarot — Glimpse of the Dawn | Cruz del Sur Music | Hard Rock | Australia
These Aussie hard-rockers crank up the time machine again on this belated follow-up to 2016 debut full-length Reflections, hightailing it back to a halcyon 70s stadium-land, a suede-fringed idyll where lighters remain perpetually held aloft in tandem to the sound of flamboyant Hammond-boosted riffage and gloriously indulgent 12-string acoustic guitar intros. With swirling, psychedelic melodies freighting fantastically-themed odes, Glimpse of the Dawn pops like prime Deep Purple or Uriah Heep. It’s all as if punk never happened.
–Spencer Grady
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Sarcasm — Morninghoul | Hammerheart Records | Blackened Death Metal | Sweden (Uppsala)
For all intents and purposes, Sarcasm play death metal. You can hear it in the knotty riffs and the pinched harmonics. Where the blackened bits enter is what elevates their death metal. The vocals are rasps that are too shrill to be death growls but too unpolished to be hollow, while the bridges are black metal constructs that clear the air for Sarcasm to return to their base. It’s all packaged with an old-school aesthetic that removes all the clutter and just delivers the damn music, which is a wise choice if you’re going to proclaim, like Sarcasm has, that your music is for “sophisticated Death Metal freaks!”
–Colin Dempsey
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Castle Rat — Into the Realm | King Volume Records | Doom + Heavy Metal | United States (New York City)
From Tom Campagna’s track premiere of “Fresh Fur”:
If you are a big fan of heavy, riffing doom with a penchant for costumed debauchery, you will find yourself right at home here.
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Friends of Hell — God Damned You to Hell | Rise Above Records | Doom Metal | International
From Tom Campagna’s track premiere of “Bringer of Evil”:
Out are vocalist Albert Witchfinder and guitarist Jondix, leaving drummer Tas Danazoglou and bassist Taneli Jarva to find new members. Luckily, replacing them are metal lifers Nifelheim frontman Hellbutcher, Mirror guitarist Sprits Moutafis, and Brazilian guitarist Beelzeebubth. […] These dudes know how to doom better than most.
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Mother of All — Global Parasitic Leviathan | Independent | Melodic Death Metal | Denmark
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Pillars”:
Mixing melodic death metal with progressive death and thrash metal, the Danish group takes sardonic aim at corporate greed and systemic oppression through a mix of metaphors and satirical venom. It feels like more of a focused concept than their debut offering Age of the Solipsist, but the musical foundations laid there have proved to be stable ground. Melodic hooks offer respite from snarling, incensed vocals while the band’s exceptionally tight rhythm section keeps everything together with ear-catching groove.
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Vulture — Sentinels | Metal Blade Records | Speed + Thrash Metal | Germany
The more deranged the speed/thrash is, the better, and Vulture is pushing 11 on the dial here. Luxurious tones across the board — everything from the bass to the drums just feels fun — and frantic songwriting with an ear for catchy choruses make Sentinels something to get hooked on.
–Ted Nubel
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]]>Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
New Releases 3/31-4/6
Trocar — Extremities | Selfmadegod Records | Grindcore | United States
These cybergrind freaks, boasting two-thirds of Mortician-worshipping sickos Fluids, live up to their moniker with sharp and surgical focus, slicing and dicing their stomach-churning meat rations like an old Upton Sinclair muck-rake. Grim industrial beats, depraved sample snippets, guest appearances and gargled, pitch-shifted vocal pile-ups add to the prevailing sense of salaciousness on an express-paced full-length debut revelling in its eclectic strains of swivel-eyed, slaughterhouse lunacy, even brokering some rarely-plumbed hybrids pitched equidistant between Men’s Recovery Project and Agoraphobic Nosebleed.
–Spencer Grady
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Korpiklaani — Rankarumpu | Nuclear Blast | Folk Metal | Finland
Korpiklaani has been my personal Shen Yun in 2024. I went from never thinking about them to seeing them everywhere: in my inbox, on concert flyers, on Spotify playlists, in between the cracks of my hardwood floor; you name it, Korpiklaani were there, haunting me with the promise of a jovial time and beer and camp. I don’t think they need to invade your privacy to get your attention as within a few seconds you’ll know whether or not you dig their latest record Rankarumpu. The point is, sometimes overexposure works, as it seems to have turned me onto Korpiklaani, if ever slightly.
–Colin Dempsey
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Austere — Beneath the Threshold | Prophecy Productions | Depressive Black Metal + Shoegaze | Australia (New South Wales)
Last year, Austere re-awakened from the 13-year slumber with Corrosion of Hearts, an album that began where they left off. It’s a little funny then that they’ve developed much more in a single year than they did in over a decade as their newest album, Beneath the Threshold, is closer to gothic rock or shoegaze than it is depressive black metal. Clean vocals are in vogue, the mood is more digestible than overwhelming, and harmonies and melodies preside over all.
–Colin Dempsey
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Acid Mammoth — Supersonic Megafauna Collision | Heavy Psych Sounds | Doom Metal + Stoner Metal | Greece (Athens)
Song titles on Acid Mammoth’s latest full-length include, “Fuzzorgasm (Keep On Screaming),” “Atomic Shaman,” and “Tusko’s Last Trip,” each of which conveys their distortion and riff fetishism better than words ever could.
–Colin Dempsey
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Diabolic Oath — Oracular Hexations | Sentient Ruin | Black Metal + Death Metal | United States (Portland, Oregon)
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Serpent Coils Suffocating the Mortal Wound”:
Diabolic Oath’s new album is massive — it takes up space both sonically and mentally. Hell, even the song titles are excessive. It’s an exercise in overexposure, saturating the listener with black and death metal dialed up to abhorrent (but in a good way) extremes, and behind that extremity is a ton of solid riffs and fascinating songwriting. There’s something almost ritualistic in how it all comes together, actually — if there were a way to summon old deities and terrible, unknown forces, I imagine it would be through something like this rather than some wimpy candles and Latin chants.
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Ingested — The Tide of Death and Fractured Dreams | Metal Blade Records | Brutal Death Metal + Deathcore | United Kingdom (Manchester)
The latest from Ingested proves that the Manchester, U.K. band still have it and that deathcore is alive and well in this year of our lord 2024. The cover art is sick and the songs absolutely rip, but also take a lot of risks and prove the band aren’t just playing cookie-cutter songs.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Locrian — End Terrain | Profound Lore Records | Noise Rock + Post-Metal | United States (Chicago, Illinois)
Based on the singles preceding End Terrain‘s official release, Locrian may finally be releasing music that can be enjoyed rather than immersed in. There are tangible track structures and clean vocals, both of which contribute to an overall lighter mood. That being said, Locrian retains their experimental inclinations, so tracks often dissolve into their patented noise and drone explorations, albeit in a more digestible format than their previous albums.
–Colin Dempsey
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Witch Vomit — Funeral Santcum | 20 Buck Spin | Death Metal | United States (Portland, Oregon)
We’re used to Witch Vomit ruling over the realms of doomy and blackened death metal, but on this new album, they’re also not afraid to get melodic and take a lot more risks. We can’t wait to hear what’s next for the band.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Attic — Return of the Witchfinder | Ván Records | Heavy Metal | Germany
There’s a reason that Attic’s occult-oriented heavy metal is heavily, heavily linked back to King Diamond, and you’ll hear that on this new album too. I wouldn’t treat them as a substitute, though, as they tie together a lot of classic metal influences into a glitzy, riff-packed celebration of how camp and over-the-top atmosphere will always have a place in heavy metal.
–Ted Nubel
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Furze — Caw Entrance | Devoted Art Propaganda | Psychedelic Black Metal | Norway
From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:
Billed as ‘black psych metal,’ there’s a certain thread of humor throughout the album — from song titles like “Post Mortem Trippin'” to Reaper’s darkly entertaining spoken-word vocals on “You Shall Prevail” — that dovetails with the potent instrumentals to only reinforce a surreal state of being, At times, it can slip the listener into a half-dreaming, subconscious state, only to tear apart that suspension with a bracing, meaty riff.
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Horndal — Head Hammer Man | Prosthetic Records | Sludge Metal + Hardcore | Sweden
Melodic and unpredictable, Horndal’s newest album somehow explores even more niche topics than their previous works, but with the same burning drive to expose their homeland’s rich history and highlight how we’re facing the same challenges today, over a century later.
–Ted Nubel
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]]>Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
New Releases 3/17-3/23
Apparation — Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State | Profound Lore Records | Death Metal | United States (Los Angeles, California)
The atmosphere is dense and the riffs are like chair shots to your back on Apparition’s second LP, Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State. While heaviness is front-and-center, the synths on “Imminent Expanse of Silence and Not (or Not)” imply tragedy lurks below, revealing that there’s more to sink your teeth into here.
–Colin Dempsey
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Dödsrit — Nocturnal Will | Wolves of Hades | Black Metal | Sweden (Borlänge)
Dödsrit’s method of grafting crust punk and black metal onto an epic heavy metal exoskeleton is beautiful. Their tracks are punchy and victorious while retaining enough bite to ensure the victory feels earned. This is to say that the journeys on Nocturnal Will make you feel like an involved character rather than an audience member.
–Colin Dempsey
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Mastiff — Deprecipice | MNRK Heavy | Doom Metal + Sludge Metal + Hardcore Punk | United Kingom (Kingston Upon Hull, England)
Hardcore punk and loss are the driving forces behind Mastiff’s fourth album, Deprecipice. Jim Hodge and James Andrew Lee, the group’s respective vocalist and guitarist, were both grieving familial losses while writing the record, pushing them to embrace a more direct approach. Resultingly, it’s blunt and pessimistic but powered by a primal energy that can only come from hardcore punk.
–Colin Dempsey
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Daevar — Amber Eyes | The Lasting Dose Records | Doom Metal | Germany (Cologne)
Daevar’s doom metal is actually closer to grunge than it is metal, strange as that is to say. Fuzzy riffs and languid tempos are present, but the atmosphere is laidback and, at least on “Amber Eyes,” inviting.
–Colin Dempsey
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Funeral Oration — Antropomorte | Avantgarde Music | Black Metal | Italy
Funeral Oration have only released two albums before Antropomorte, Sursum Luna in 1996 and Eliphas Love in 2019. In a sense, they sound as if they’re still playing in 1996. The vocals, riffs, and texture have seemingly been thawed from frozen states to retain their freshness, but the keyboards steal the show. They overtake tracks like “Plenus Larvarum” by shoving the lead guitars out of the spotlight or injecting gothic overtones. The entire package is gloriously vintage and off-kilter.
–Colin Dempsey
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Brodequin — Harbringer of Woe | Season of Mist | Brutal Death Metal | United States (Knoxville, Tennessee)
The new masterpiece from this heavy, slammy powerhouse has a slightly different vibe than their previous releases. It was released by Season of Mist and has a classy, almost refined quality while still being insanely dense and aggressive. This is one of those rare records that might unite death metal fans who aren’t snobby about deathcore, slam, and adjacent genres and others who need more nuance and intentionality. In other words, this is a gem.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Hamferð — Men Guðs hond er sterk | Metal Blade Records | Doom Metal | Faroe Islands
This album is a concept death/doom record from a very mysterious part of Europe, the Faroe Islands, about a tragic shipwreck and wailing accident. It’s weird, dark, punishing, and oddly kind of cozy with its lore-recounting vibes. The record is best enjoyed as a whole piece and is more focused on telling a story than churning out bangers, but it’s insanely solid.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Altar of Betelgeuze — Echoes | Independent | Doom + Death + Stoner Metal | Finland
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Echoes”:
In the skilled hands of Altar of Betelgeuze, doom metal is but simple putty to be shaped and transformed. Although the Finnish band deserve praise for how they meld multiple doom subgenres into a coherent approach, what stands out the most is how they create dynamics and motion while staying true to their two core tenets: being heavy, and being slow. Without resorting to disjointed tropes or throwing in oddball songs, their new album Echoes is a consistently enjoyable jam that blends inventive, iconic riffs with a passion for slow, overbearing doom metal.
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New Releases 3/24-3/30
Coffin Storm — Arcana Rising | Peaceville Records | Heavy Metal | Norway (Kolbotn)
Coffin Storm is less of a supergroup and more of a reunion between members of Darkthrone, Aura Noir, and Infernö, all of whom came from the small Norwegian town of Kolbotn. It retains the sound and feel of the practice sessions between Apollyon and Bestial Tormentor during COVID, which were marked by admiration for epic doom metal bands and a looser mindset. Fenriz provides vocals, wailing with the candor of a drunken cover band singer, an approach that perfectly matches the music. We have a full interview with Apollyon coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
–Colin Dempsey
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Coffins — Sinister Oah | Relapse Records | Death Metal + Doom Metal | Japan (Tokyo)
The Japanese quartet have clung to a doom-y style of OSDM for the better part of thirty years like a child clings to their favorite stuffed animal. The only real change for their sixth record is that the cavernous production of 2019’s Beyond the Circular Demise seems to have been turned up a bit, probably because it was the only way they were gonna get any heavier.
–Steve Lampiris
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Vorga — Beyond the Palest Star | Transcending Obscurity | Black Metal | Germany (Black Metal)
Sophomore LP from the German melodic black metal quartet finds them leaning into the proggier elements of 2022’s Striving Toward Oblivion—which is to say: ’70s keyboards and more soaring leadwork. Whatever you wanna call what Vorga do (Black-prog? Arena black metal?), it’s pretty great.
–Steve Lampiris
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Septage — Septic Worship (Intolerant Spree of Infesting Forms) | Me Saco un Ojo | Grindcore + Death Metal | Denmark (Copenhagen)
There’s nothing sweet or puffy about these Danishes. Balanced midway on the Carcass-o-meter between cavernous death metal and putrescent gore-grind, this crushing debut album is as grisly and grotesque as an all-you-can-eat at the local charnel house. Pass the barf bag!
–Spencer Grady
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Above Aurora — Myriad Woes | War Anthem Records | Black Metal + Doom Metal | Poland (Poznań)
Above Aurora draw from a similar creative well as their countrymen Behemoth with their dense and beefed-up metal that pays homage to black metal without fully embracing it. Not that that’s a bad thing, but Myriad Woes is best absorbed as a melting pot of death metal, black metal, and doom rather than a beacon for any of them.
–Colin Dempsey
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Cantique Lépreux — Le bannissement | Eisenwald | Black Metal | Canada (Quebec)
Returning six years after their previous LP, Cantique Lépreux continue crafting exciting black metal. Their palette contains traces of the genre’s atmospheric, melodic, and triumphant subdivisions and congeals them with dexterous brushstrokes.
–Colin Dempsey
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Verwoed — The Mother | Argento Records | Black Metal | Netherlands (Utrecht)
As Colin Williams wrote about last year, Utrecht is one of the most forward-thinking cities on the planet when it comes to black metal. It’s not always bizzaro incantations; sometimes, much like Verwoed’s latest album, The Mother, the city produces black metal that’s more in touch with its sensitive side and flaunts it by tapping into doom metal. At least, that’s one part of it, because elsewhere, Verwoed sound as if they’re battling for their sanity, and on “The Madman’s Dance,” they’re not winning.
–Colin Dempsey
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Givre — Le cloître | Eisenwald | Black Metal | Canada (Quebec)
Givre have been improving their production over their last few albums, evolving from Le Pressoir Mystique‘s raw offerings until reaching Le cloître, and they’ve never sounded better. Their concepts have always been intriguing, but the production formerly bottlenecked their musicianship. Fortunately, Le cloître corrects that. The dismal tones take the spotlight, and fittingly so, as the album recounts six tales of saint women suffering through their commitment to the Lord.
–Colin Dempsey
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Child — Shitegeist | Suicide Records | Grindcore | Sweden
From Colin Dempsey’s premiere:
Admittedly, “Shitegeist” is closer to punk rock than it is outright grind, which is to say that you can understand what Child are playing on first listen rather than succumb to the breakneck tempos. Those are reserved for later tracks on Shitegeist. In all honesty, “Shitegeist” is simple, but the pieces at work here–Lindström’s performance, the crunchy texture, and Albin Sköld’s performance behind the drumkit in which he operates at a few clicks faster than the rest of the troupe–shine because of it.
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Kólga — Black Tides | Otitis Media Records | Black Metal + Surf Rock | United States (Dallas, Texas)
There’s a video on YouTube with over 2 million views titled “Black Metal Without Distortion Is Just Surf Rock.” Its arguments are convincing, if not a bit exaggerated. However, one year ago, @mckeithenmccormick9642, either not recognizing his clairvoyance or simply manifesting his will into the universe, commented, “now I want to hear surf rock with distortion and metal vocals….” 35,000 people liked that comment. Kólga must’ve read that comment as they are looking to feed those 35,000 hungry mouths with Black Tides. The album is best summarized by @mckeithenmccormick9642’s YouTube comment. It’s surf rock but with black metal synths, tremolo picking, and screams (when required). As much as it is a gimmick and a thought experiment, it’s also endearing. It could’ve been much more ridiculous, yet thankfully, Kólga reigned themselves in when necessary, resulting in captivating tracks like “Squall of Cthulu.” Avoiding Black Tides makes sense if you believe in secularity between black metal and fun, but it’s worth checking out just to hear Kólga’s thought process in action.
–Colin Dempsey
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]]>Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
Udåd — Udåd | Peaceville Records | Raw Black Metal | Norway (Halden)
Udåd is the latest project from Thomas Eriksen, better known as Mork, a devotee of black metal’s necro roots. Mork’s past two albums, Dypet and Katedralen, kept those roots alive, but it seems they weren’t grim enough for him. On Udåd, Eriksen delivers what many consider quintessential black metal, meaning it’s repetitive, raw, and lo-fi as hell. His desire for painful music separates the project from Mork’s recent ventures into denser atmospheres.
–Colin Dempsey
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Kilter, Andromeda Anarchia, Growlers Choir, and SEVEN)SUNS — La Suspendida | Silent Pendulum Records | Avant-Garde Metal + Jazz | United States
How many of you will listen to this? I don’t know, and I don’t care, but as long as n>0, I’ll be happy. To keep it short, this is a metal-jazz opera about a relationship that continues into the afterlife. Imperial Triumphant’s Kenny Grohowski was one of the lead composers alongside Ed Rosenberg III and Laurent David. An entire armada of metal vocalists, collectively called the Growler’s Choir, is on tap. All of this reveals what you’re already assuming, La Suspendida is out there. Fortunately, it’s not avant-garde to the point that it’s pure theory. There are stakes, climaxes, bass riffs, Grohowski’s fearsome drumming, and moments that incite peril. It also demonstrates how metal doesn’t need to be traditionally “heavy” to be emotionally affecting, albeit in the least conventional way possible. You won’t hear anything like La Suspendida this month or even this year.
–Colin Dempsey
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Defect Designer — Chitin | Transcending Obscurity Records | Death Metal | Norway (Oslo)
One of the weirdest and goofiest bands in death metal offers its third and strangest album to date. Defect Designer have spent their whole career taking seriously not taking anything seriously. Here, the Norway-based duo borrow Fleshgod Apocalypse drummer Eugene Ryabchenko for a wild ride of exploring and expanding their sound using the prog, grind, and post-punk influences that have been creeping in from the periphery since the beginning. Chitin, then, is roughly two-thirds weirdo death metal and one-third anything-goes-experimentalism.
–Steve Lampiris
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Hadit — Metaphysical Engines Approaching The Event Horizon | I, Voidhanger Records | Death Metal + Black Metal | Italy (Varese)
Many death metal and black metal hybrids are punished by over-compressed production, so it’s refreshing that Gabriele Gramaglia produced Metaphysical Engines Approaching The Event Horizon. Gramaglia is a member of Vertebra Atlantis, a group who have sported some of the best mixing in death and black metal over the past few years. Hadit’s second LP reaps similar benefits. Metaphysical Engines Approaching The Event Horizon‘s cavernous, exploratory, and big style sounds good and defined when heard like this.
–Colin Dempsey
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Aardvark — Tough Love | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Australia
This fun debut from the Australian quartet is throwback ay eff. Aardvark do an earnest and gleeful take on trad-metal, pretending with all their hearts that the last four decades of evolution in heavy metal didn’t happen. Featuring tight songwriting with smart arrangements, as well as an extremely performative vocalist (Ed Vaark, no joke) with a bitchin’ pornstache, Tough Love is an excellent choice to blast outta your ’81 Trans Am.
–Steve Lampiris
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Aborted — Vault of Horrors | Nuclear Blast | Death Metal | Belgium (Beveren)
This album is solid as hell musically, like all offerings from Aborted, but also like many of their releases, it’s a bit uninspired. Once again they prove they can play circles around pretty much everyone else when it comes to technique, but the horror tribute concepts present here have already been fleshed out time and again by bands like Mortician, and with more finesse when it comes to the references. Still, if technically and heavy is what you’re looking for, this won’t disappoint.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Armagh — Exclamation Po!nt | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal + Black Metal | Poland (Warsaw)
With its scuzzy production and maniacally zestful amalgams of Manilla Road, NWOBHM and proto-black metal, the third full-length from these Warsaw city reprobates hits like a gas-guzzling, grease-spattered hog ride through the labyrinths of Count Orlok’s Carpathian retreat. The vocals of founding frontman/guitarist Galin Soulreaper recall a reedier Rob Tyner, or less psych-addled Duane Warr, while the buzzsaw rip of Maiden-meets-Hellhammer assaults such as “Aftermath” and “Rapid Str!de”, powered by Al Atom Smasher’s ferocious double-kick drums, freight incantatory Gaelic harmonies entirely worthy of the band’s clandestine Ulidian muse.
–Spencer Grady
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Stress Angel — Punished by Nemesis | Stygian Black Hand | Thrash Metal | United States (Brooklyn, New York)
Thrash metal used to be metal’s most dangerous offspring, but much has happened in the 40 years since then, including many major label breakthroughs. Stress Angel’s Punished by Nemesis returns thrash to its former infamy while also indulging its curious side, which sadly doesn’t receive enough love from today’s thrash metal. It’s as gritty as it is flashy, all without stepping too far into proto-death metal territory.
–Colin Dempsey
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Brat — Social Grace | Prosthetic Records | Grindcore + Death Metal | United States (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Barbiecore and bimbocore at its finest, this is not a release to sleep on if you like fast, heavy grind. Each song is a blast fest just like on their EPs, but there’s a little more time and care put into the production, so the instruments and vocals shine through. Definitely a solid first album from this emerging group of badasses, and we can’t wait to hear more.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Vltimas — Epic | Season of Mist | Black Metal + Death Metal | Portugal + United States + Canada
Blasphemer best described Vltimas, his project that includes Flo Mounier and David Vincent, five years ago when he said, “When you create, it needs to be as free as possible, and I wouldn’t like to pigeonhole anything. I don’t even know what to call this at this stage.” The trio’s second album Epic exists in the murky abyss between death, black, and thrash metal. Songwriting isn’t the main focus, and as such, the album escapes easy classification. However, that’s not a negative aspect because each member is in top form, pooling their energy into performing rather than writing.
–Colin Dempsey
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Shock Withdrawal — The Dismal Advance | Brutal Panda Records | Grind + Crust | United States (Los Angeles, CA)
From Tom Campagna’s track premiere of “No Closure”:
The album, which is just over 20 minutes, flies by at lightning speeds with nary a second to catch your breath—that is until the album closer, appropriately titled “No Closure.” The track here is more evocative of a slow, sludgy crawl […]
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DragonForce — Warp Speed Warriors | Napalm Records | Power Metal | United Kingdom (London)
If you’re into power metal that constantly stays one hair’s breadth away from sheer absurdity, you probably don’t need any further convincing to hit this.
–Ted Nubel
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]]>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.
New Releases 2/25-3/2
Bruce Dickinson — The Mandrake Project | BMG | Heavy Metal + Rock | United Kingdom (England)
Bruce Dickinson’s non-Iron Maiden career has always felt like an alternate universe to me — yeah, it’s not fair to pigeonhole him into just one role with just one band, but I still sometimes do a double-take when I hear Samson or his solo project, where his voice takes on an even bigger slice of the sonic pie. The Mandrake Project is a fun, heavy record where Dickinson’s vocals shine — no big surprise there — although the riffing can be cookie-cutter at times. It’s hard to care about that too much with the lush sci-fi and fantasy theme that runs through the album and so much else going on, though — and I especially liked the lil’ song sequel to “If Eternity Should Fail.”
–Ted Nubel
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Angmodnes — Rot of the Soul | Tragedy Productions | Funeral Doom Metal | Netherlands (Utrecht)
From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:
Anguished power chords and room-filling drums never overpower the diverse vocal approaches or clean instrumentation (including a tagelharpa), and often find themselves further amplified by the latter. Perhaps best embodied by the closing title track’s half-sobbed vocal break, Rot of the Soul is truly sad in a way that’s easier to connect to than a lot of higher-concept approaches to the same thing.
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Etiole Filante — Mare Tranquillitatis | Northern Silence Productions | Atmospheric Black Metal | France
Etiole Filante fly close to the sun with regards to how polished atmospheric black metal can be before it loses its grit. Fortunately, they peak right before diminishing returns kick in. Their production is sparkling without stripping away any weight, resulting in a clean, digestible serving of black metal.
–Colin Dempsey
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Uzlaga — Depthdweller | Intertidal Recordings | Black Metal | United Kingdom (Bristol)
Uzlaga shows how easy it is for black metal to be both immediate and atmospheric. “Light of the Moon,” for example, compresses what would take other groups 10 minutes into three while maintaining the marathon-running appeal of atmospheric black metal. While patience is a virtue, Uzlaga shows that it isn’t a necessity; a sentiment you can chalk up to his readily apparent punk influences.
–Colin Dempsey
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Suldusk — Antithesis | Napalm Records | Dark Folk + Blackgaze | Australia (Melbourne)
Five years ago, Suldusk was the solo project of Emily Highfield, but she’s assembled a full line-up for her second album Antithesis, and the record greatly benefits from it. On it, Suldusk roughly stitch dark folk and blackgaze together, giving rise to jarring yet captivating leaps between genres. The transitions aren’t always smooth, but the additional members provide some much-needed force that accentuates the bluntness. It’s charming in its own imperfect way.
–Colin Dempsey
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Celestial Sword — Nocturnal Divinity | Death Prayer Records | Black Metal | United States
Byronic flourishes abound on this raw black metal masquerade, revealing its grim mysteries under a perverse romantic moon, with phantasmal dungeon-synth passages swathed in grainy cobwebbed ambience and the melancholic yearning of tunes such as “Last Dance of the Night God” jettisoning their unrequited demonic impulses into maelstroms of feral fuzz. Disorientating, psychedelic and eerily satisfying, Nocturnal Divinity plays out like a spooky romp through Mariano Caiano’s confounding Nightmare Castle, with guest vocalist Zofie Siege’s banshee yowl proving a worthy proxy for Barbara Steele’s life-shattering screams.
–Spencer Grady
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Volcandra — The Way of Ancients | Prosthetic Records | Melodic Black Metal + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Louisville, Kentucky)
Proggy, blackened, heavy, ripping, all are adjectives that describe the newest release from Vulcandra. Introspective and atmospheric black metal is great, but sometimes you just want to listen to a ripper, and this is it. This might not be the deepest or most self-reflective release of the year, but it will be one of the most fun.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Suicidal Angels — Profane Prayer | Nuclear Blast | Thrash Metal | Greece (Athens)
The theme of my blurbs this week seems to be thrashy, ripping goodness, and the latest from Suicidal Angels does not disappoint. There are flavors of metalcore, but those show more in the melodic riffs than in the presence of heavy breakdowns. This is one I’ll be spinning over and over.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Clouds Taste Satanic — 79 A.E. | Majestic Mountain Records | Stoner + Doom Metal | United States (New York)
Packing two LP-side-length long-form jams, this new release sees the group indulging in their trademark brand of heaviness: loosely structured rock that runs from floaty prog rock all the way to full-on stoner metal.
–Ted Nubel
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Haunt — Dreamers | Independent | Traditional Heavy Metal | United States (Fresno, CA)
The one-man heavy metal machinery has slowed down a bit since releasing a bunch of albums during the Pandemic, but Haunt’s last few albums have notably taken more risks and dreamed bigger to fill the gaps. Dreamers isn’t lacking in fist-pumping riffs or anthemic choruses, but its bold leads and hair-metal-ish production seem to hone in on a style Haunt has been chasing for the past few years with increasing success.
–Ted Nubel
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New Releases 3/3-3/9
Apogean — Cyberstrictive | The Artisan Era | Technical Death Metal | Canada (Toronto, Ontario)
Apogean’s vast well of influences for their debut album includes Fareinheit 451, 1984, deathcore, black metal, and prog, but glances at them through technical death metal’s windowsill rather than shoehorning each of them in. As a result, Cyberstrictive is dynamic and varied without biting off more than it can chew.
–Colin Dempsey
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Isenordal — Requiem for Eirênê | Prophecy Productions | Doom Metal + Black Metal + Neofolk | United States (Seattle, Washington)
Every track on Isenordal’s latest LP Requiem for Eirênê plays like it could sustain an album by itself. The group eloquently crosses through funeral doom, black metal, and neofolk, with each subgenre possessing a flair that serves the narrative. Despite the long runtimes, the tracks aren’t necessarily epic but panoramic, encompassing a variety of moods that don’t include metal’s typical victorious spirit. Resultingly, Requiem for Eirênê is dramatic, covetous, and forlorn.
–Colin Dempsey
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Doodseskader — Year Two | Independent | Sludge Metal + Noise Rock | Belgium (Ghent)
The second album from Doodseskader, Tim De Gieter from Amenra’s side project, is filled with sludge metal’s gurgling bass lines and sour vocals, but those are its only ties to the subgenre. Year Two toys with electronica and enticing vocal melodies to draw you in. It’s a non-aggressive approach that primes the distortion to strike much harder when it finally arrives.
–Colin Dempsey
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Ecclesia — Ecclesia Militants | Aural Music | Heavy Metal | France
There is a specific vocal quality that activates neurons and lubes up our axons, gearing them for the oncoming serotonin flood. It’s a combination of gruffness and raw power typically found in doom metal acts like King Goat, Khemmis, and, of course, Ecclesia. The group’s vocalist, Arnhwald R., commands their latest album Ecclesia Militants through 10 witch-hunting tales, filled with hooks that clamor for your attention and red-blooded riffs.
–Colin Dempsey
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Exhorder — Defectum Omnium | Nuclear Blast | Thrash Metal | United States (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Exhorder’s well-played fourth album, and second following their (real) reunion, confirms that the streamlined songwriting of 2019’s Mourn the Southern Skies wasn’t a one-off. Most of the explosive insanity from their two unfuckwithable ’90s records has been buffed away, leaving behind a sleek yet gnarly version of themselves. They can still pummel when they want—thanks at least partially to former Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O’Brien and his, ahem, arsenal of riffs—but these days, they seem more comfortable in a lower gear. Your enjoyment of this, then, hinges on how you interpret that.
–Steve Lampiris
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Midnight — Hellish Expectations | Metal Blade Records | Black Metal + Thrash Metal | United States (Cleveland, Ohio)
For Midnight’s sixth album, Althenar (a.k.a. Jamie Walters) has decided to redline this motherfucker. The result is the project’s shortest and most immediate record to date—a rightfully stubborn refusal to downshift at any point. (Indeed, the thesis is offered in the opening song: “Expect no quarter / Expect no mercy / Expect total hell.”) Combine that with excellent production, the beefiest guitar tone Althenar’s ever used, and his most rabid vocals ever, and you’ve got a helluva fun record.
–Steve Lampiris
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Skeletal Remains — Fragments of the Ageless | Century Media Records | Death Metal | United States (Los Angeles, California)
Thrashy death metal masters Skeletal Remains are back with an album that rips just as hard as their previous work, but also carries a lot more substance when it comes to the art and the lyrics. This sci-fi epic is a ton of fun to listen to, and the songs are catchy as hell. Don’t miss this one!
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Slimelord — Chytridomycosis Relinquished | 20 Buck Spin | Death Metal + Doom Metal | United Kingdom (Leeds, England)
With virulent toxic-mulch riffage, crustal-splitting harmonics, and field recordings of a rabidly honking goose, idiosyncratic UK death-doom quintet Slimelord ferment the sickening score to a rural idyll in revolt – the sound of Gaia delousing itself of human infestation – while ominous goo-gushers such as “Splayed Mudscape” and “The Hissing Moor” relocate the eerie vibes of Colin Eggleston’s cult eco-revenge flick, Long Weekend, to the Yorkshire Dales.
–Spencer Grady
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Early Moods — A Sinner’s Past | RidingEasy Records | Doom + Heavy Metal | United States (Los Angeles)
The fascinating thing about Early Moods is that whether you consider them to be pure doom metal (in the classical, Sabbathian sense of the term) or half doom, half heavy metal, they’re still doomier than damn near anything else out there. I’ve been kicking myself for years for missing every chance I had to see these dudes roll through Chicago, and this album is steel-toed reinforcement of that exact same guilt. Wielding face-melting doom riffs chiseled from the bones of fossilized 1970s occult rockers and a much-harder-to-place aptitude for gleeful, devilish metal, each track on A Sinner’s Past goes somewhere pretty different, even if it drags you to hell all the while. To be honest, as a massive fan of vintage doom and proto-metal, this is probably the best doom metal I’ve heard this year. Make sure you hit this — and see them live, dammit!
–Ted Nubel
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Mutilated by Zombies — Scenes from the Afterlife | Redefining Darkness Records | Death Metal | United States (Iowa)
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Headcount Rising”:
Switching tempos, feel, and generally recklessly avoiding complacency at all costs, Scenes from the Afterlife dabbles in rhythmic trickery delightfully frequently, and they do so while also delivering up-front, violent metal with no shortage of groove. It’s a concoction custom-built for death metal fans looking for a serious case of whiplash and too many riffs to reckon with.
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]]>Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar — Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen)
Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.
–Colin Dempsey
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Morta Skuld — Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Morta Skuld’s latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that’s aged three decades. It’s gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We’ll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.
–Colin Dempsey
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The Body and Dis Fig — Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany
At this point, it’s not necessary to be familiar with The Body’s collaborators. They’ve proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body’s love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body’s Lee Buford said, “A human can’t be as heavy as a machine,” Chen added, “You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide.” If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they’re doing their job.
–Colin Dempsey
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Darkest Hour — Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.)
Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn’t be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Stiriah — Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin)
Stiriah’s appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that’s rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it’s idiotic to complain about that. There’s no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.
–Colin Dempsey
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Karkosa — Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana)
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on “Poison of God” (Early Track Stream)”:
As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa’s new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There’s no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs–but the Indiana group’s core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band’s dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It’s interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn’t work here.
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Job for a Cowboy — Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona)
Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Iron Curtain — Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia)
The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.
–Steve Lampiris
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Toxikull — Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon)
Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.
–Steve Lampiris
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Vircolac — Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin)
The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin quartet is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.
–Spencer Grady
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Traveler — Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada
It’s been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal’s revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there’s a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.
–Ted Nubel
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Gonemage — Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX)
Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything truly ‘new’, anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.
–Ted Nubel
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New Releases 2/11-2/17
Pestilength — Solar Clorex | Debemur Morti Productions | Death Metal | Spain (Basque Country)
That this misery-compiling Basque duo went toe to toe with the mighty Reverence to Paroxysm on a 2020 split and emerged relatively unscathed should tell you plenty about the mettle of their gruesomely pugnacious fare. Ignore the album title that reads like a brand of zesty-fresh detergent and yield to the mind-flaying “corrosive death metal” swinging lower than a boss-eyed pugilist.
–Spencer Grady
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Witchorious — Witchorious | Argonauta Records | Doom Metal | France (Paris)
Although Witchorious centered their songs around riffs for their debut album, they’re not what oozes character. Rather than the riffs carrying the show, they received the least amount of thought compared to the explosive drumming, lo-fi horror movie vibe, and the haunted vocals that oscillate between nasally and grumbling. That’s saying something, considering the riffs are quite good.
–Colin Dempsey
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Praise the Plague — Suffocating In The Current Of Time | Lifeforce Records | Atmospheric Black Metal + Sludge Metal | Germany (Berlin)
Praise the Plague either sound like a gruff black metal band or a shrill sludge metal band, depending on which part of a track you’re hearing at a given time. The transitions between these two phases feel natural, likely because it doesn’t seem as if they’re trying to force them together into a turgid, bloated mess with corpse paint and a construction vest. They let each style exist by itself with the appeal laying in how they balance both over a track’s runtime.
–Colin Dempsey
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Cercenatory — GoreSphere | Comatose Music | Brutal Death Metal | United States (North Carolina)
Feel free to judge this record by its cover. Unless you’re expecting rainbows and major chords, your assumption is at least close to what’s offered. Cercenatory’s slam-y brutal death metal is absurdly over the top in every way, and proudly so. (To wit: part of the liner notes read, “NO FUCKING VOCAL EFFECTS!!”) Naturally, the lyrics are as gleefully obscene as any in extreme music—e.g., “Cumming on the surface of the brain / Wet odor of rotten souls, brain fluids.” There are no surprises here, and that’s a good thing.
–Steve Lampiris
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Eternal Storm — A Giant Bound to Fall | Transcending Obscurity Records | Melodic Death Metal + Progressive Death Metal | Spain (Madrid)
On their superb second album, the Madrid-based progressive melo-death outfit fulfills the promise of 2019’s excellent Come the Tide: namely, they’re filling the void left by Opeth’s disappearance into prog-rock. Here, Eternal Storm sharpen and expand their songwriting, meaning it’s more melodic—at times, pretty—and there’s more room for satisfying lead-work and mantra-esque singing. A Giant Bound to Fall, then, is confirmation of greatness.
–Steve Lampiris
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Ponte del Diavolo — Fire Blades From the Tomb | Season of Mist | Doom Metal + Black Metal | Italy (Turin)
The latest from this doom unit is a solidly Euro-doom sounding record featuring dual bass attack and lilting, beautiful vocals. The care and attention to detail on this album is real, and we can’t wait to hear what’s next from them.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Darkspace — Darkspace -II | Season of Mist | Atmospheric Black Metal | Switzerland (Bern)
This is the perfect record to throw on if you need to create and cultivate a meditative atmosphere. That is not at all a dismissal of the album, as it is also captivating and unique. It’s just a lot more easy listening than heavier works in the genre, though it still takes listeners on an epic journey that pushes the limits of trance-like extremity.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Ihsahn — Ihsahn | Candlelight Records | Progressive Metal + Symphonic | Norway
Ihsahn’s latest work is a set of sibling albums that form a narrative whole. One is a progressive metal affair while the other is symphonic. Both were conceived as scores that could complement and contrast one another. Not enough has been teased prior to release to determine how well that pans out, but fortunately the pre-release singles have been captivating and, at times, highly dramatic.
–Colin Dempsey
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Farsot — Life Promised Death | Lupus Lounge | Black Metal | Germany
From Colin Dempsey’s interview:
Life Promised Death is, instead, cloudy and morose. It asks for your attention not through ambiance but by slowly peeling itself back and laying its softer elements bare.
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