Upcoming Metal Releases: 10/11/20 -- 10/17/20
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of October 11th to October 17th, 2020. 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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Mr Bison — Seaward | Ripple Music | Heavy Psych | Italy
Seaward is all about excitable chill, that state of pure relaxation but total stimulation, where emotions bleed their truest and your worlds melts around you like hot butter. This trio fronts their heavy psych with tons of rock atmospherics and a badass vocal performance that, all told, form an invigorating and dank listen. And the album closer rips especially hard.
— Andrew Rothmund
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Leviathan — Förmörkelse | Nebular Carcoma | Depressive Black Metal | Sweden
From Jon Rosenthal’s premiere of Förmörkelse and interview with project mastermind Roger Markstrom:
Titled Förmörkelse, the newest, second Leviathan album picks up where Far Beyond the Light left off, but takes on a much more sinister, almost skeletal character. As the day of spirits draws near, Markstrom’s pummeling, crestfallen black metal is a reminder of days past and a “scene” long since buried.
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Wayfarer — A Romance With Violence | Profound Lore Records | Wild West Extreme Metal | United States (Colorado)
For a long time I’ve pondered how great it would be to hear more metal try to incorporate the sounds and atmospheres of the wild west. There’s certainly been some who have approached it, like drone doom masters Earth upon their reformation in the mid 2000s, along with the not explicitly metal, but still at times heavy, Wovenhand. Wayfarer looks to lay a strong claim to this approach with their latest album A Romance With Violence, a distinct combination of black metal and some doom metal with the atmosphere most modern listeners will recognize from spaghetti western movies and Red Dead Redemption games.
The band does a fine job of incorporating the old west vibe while still raging hard, as seen on opener proper “The Crimson Rider (Gallows Frontier, Act I)” accompanied by equally poetic lyrics that conjure the grit and mythic scope of the wild west. Every major song on the album, besides the two transitory pieces, performs a good balancing act between sonic assault and grand ambience but things really are taken up a notch on album finale “Vaudeville” where most genre conventions disappear in smoke amidst the band creating a truly cinematic experience.
— Joe Aprill
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Goratory — Sour Grapes | Everlasting Spew | Brutal Technical Death Metal | United States (Massachusetts)
You may have already heard — if you were so lucky — the highlight single “I Shit Your Pants,” which sets out the premise for this album: tongue-in-cheek, shit-in-pants, grinding, blasting death metal with no shortage of self-awareness. The expected guttural vox and maniacal instrumentation here wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining without the packaging.
— Ted Nubel
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Moonlow — Who Are You? | Trepanation Recordings | Experimental + Noise | United Kingdom
Obtuse, challenging, and extremely heady experimental tunes from a former member of A Forest of Stars. Stay tuned for a full premiere soon prior to Friday’s release.
–Andrew Rothmund
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Spirit Adrift — Enlightened in Eternity | Century Media Records | Doom + Heavy Metal | United States (Texas + Arizona)
The doom metal tag that Spirit Adrift is still often tagged with applies less and less with each release. Though doom’s still in the mix, much of Enlightened in Eternity is straight-up heavy metal, old-school-minded and packed with straightforward hard rock drive, retro sensibilities, and cool riffs. If the first two albums weren’t for you, this may well be worth another shot.
— Ted Nubel
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Lord Almighty — Wither | Independent | Black Metal + Sludge | United States (Massachusetts)
From Ted Nubel’s premiere of “Adrift”:
Lord Almighty showcases how progressive combinations of extreme metal can bring the raw, heavy facets of their ingredients to the forefront. The heavy dose of sludge here on “Adrift,” as well as the black-‘n’-roll that briefly makes an appearance, are not tacked on to check boxes, nor do they draw the song out. Everything is in its ideal, natural place here, measured out exactingly.
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Sons of Otis — Isolation | Totem Cat Records | Doom + Psych | Canada
If riffs are what you seek, look no further. If rumbling catchecisms, repeated until their innate mantras become part of your being, can set your heart alight, then this is the album for you. Atop mountainous fuzz and ritualistic grooves sits echoing vocals — a surefire recipe for hypnotic control, and perfected here into an absolutely titanic slab of doomy groove.
— Ted Nubel
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The Damned — The Rockfield Files EP | Search and Destroy Records + Spinefarm | Punk Rock | United Kingdom
Rockfield Studios is an isolated recording studio in the pastoral setting of rural east Wales, which since the 1970s has developed a world famous reputation for putting together some absolute classics of rock history, perhaps none more famous than the site of Queen’s recordings for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which included for a stretch in the 1980s some high watermark material from British punk rock pioneers The Damned. Well near 40 years later, the London punk legends returned to the idyllic country setting, with long absent compatriot Paul Gray back on bass quite prominently, to lay down the simply titled The Rockfield Files EP.
Any fan of their ten-year studio absence breaking album Evil Spirits will still feel right at home as the band continue their punk legacy seasoned by their innate willingness for playfulness and experimentation that had them dancing alongside post-punk, goth rock, and new wave over the years. Songs like “Keep ‘em Alive” touches on concern for species extinction, especially with dwindling bee populations, while “Manipulator” could be seen as a polemic against either wall street corruption or perhaps a more personal jab back at someone who did the band wrong. Capping off the musical and lyrical variation abound is “Black is the Night” where the band lay into the sexy rock and roll vampire’s kiss that some would say they invented decades back.
— Joe Aprill
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Infera Bruo — Rites of the Nameless | Prosthetic Records | Black Metal | United States (Massachusetts)
Menacing, challenging black metal that runs at 100% from the instant you hit play. There’s a doomed aura that lurks within this album: something clawing out at your very soul.
— Ted Nubel
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