Upcoming Metal Releases: 10/15/2023-10/21/2023
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for October 15th through October 21st. 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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Cirith Ungol — Dark Parade | Metal Blade Records | Heavy + Doom Metal | United States
With Cirith Ungol concluding live shows after 2024, it’s unclear if we’ll get another album from the reunited greats, but Dark Parade is a hell of a send-off if that’s how it goes down. The years haven’t dulled the band’s blades one bit; if anything this is sharper than ever. More versatile musically and willing to dig in and play out daring instrumentals, Cirith Ungol remains in top form.
–Ted Nubel
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Afterbirth — In But Not Of | Willowtip Records | Progressive Brutal Death Metal | United States (Long Island, NY)
From Collin Williams’s track premiere of “Hovering Human Head Drones”:
Gross song themes aside, Afterbirth have always sounded tighter and more cerebral than your typical brutal death or goregrind act. In But Not Of, however, takes even more frequent excursions into melody than the band’s previous releases. The building blocks of brutal death metal are here, to be sure: vocalist Will Smith’s bowel-shaking gurgles still channel each song’s intent; guitarist Cody Drasser still layers Byzantine guitar lines atop Keith Harris and David Case’s laser-focused rhythms.
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Dream Unending + Worm — Starpath | 20 Buck Spin | Experimental Death Metal | International + United States
It’s a testament to the insane amount of great music we got in 2023 that this surprise split somehow isn’t even that surprising (although yeah, it came out of nowhere). Dream Unending dial up their jazziness and piercing emotional side across two massive tracks to start it off, and then Worm comes in with something that, as always, sounds fresh while also being very Worm-like–this time around expect throwbacks to classic melodic death and black metal.
–Ted Nubel
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Myrkur — Spine | Relapse Records | Atmospheric Black + Folk Metal | Denmark
Part glittering folk rock and part vocal-driven blackened dirge, Spine probably isn’t going to appeal to purists, but it’s a fascinating alternative interpretation of black/folk metal with exceptional vocals.
–Ted Nubel
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The Amenta — Plague of Locus | Debemur Morti Productions | Death Metal + Industrial Metal | Australia
These Australian mask-wearing oddballs have always been hard to pin, their freakish amalgams of death metal, blackened industrial extremism and dark ambient evading simple categorisation. But Plague of Locus offers some insight into the band’s infernal machinations, throwing down enigmatic covers of such disparate artists as Killing Joke, Diamanda Galas, Alice In Chains and Wolf Eyes, each seriously mangled and mutilated, but wreathed in a fanboy reverence. Added to these revelatory morsels is the band’s own debauched title-track, a churning maelstrom of intoxicating axe twists, lunatic vox and banshee-like theremin wail, an unhinged bricolage swarming with The Amenta’s curious brand of chaos.
–Spencer Grady
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Marthe — Further in Evil | Southern Lord Recordings | Black Metal + Crust Punk | Italy
The debut full-length from the musician finds her abandoning some of her crusty, punky roots in favor of more black and metal and melody, and it truly suits her. If this is the direction we can expect from Marthe now that she’s producing full records, we can’t wait to see what’s next.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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OWDWYR — Receptor | Independent | Technical Death Metal + Grindcore | United States (California)
Hyper-technical death metal flourishes under tight time constraints, a notion that OWDWYR understands well, as even though Receptor is clearly a tech death album, it exists in grindcore’s framework, meaning it’s brief, punchy, and eclectic. There are also four different drummers, each with their own style that spices up an already well-seasoned dish.
–Colin Dempsey
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Cult Burial — Reverie of the Malignant | Independent | Death Metal + Doom Metal | United Kingdom
Imagine if death-doom was pissed off? That’s the premise behind Cult Burial’s second album Reverie of the Malignant. Admittedly, that’s an oversimplification of the appeal, as takeaways like the glutinous basslines on “Parasite” and César Moreira’s commanding vocals speak for themselves, but it cuts to the group’s core. They maintain death-doom’s atmosphere and pacing, just with much more death metal affectations.
–Colin Dempsey
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War Curse — Confession | Independent | Heavy Metal | United States (Ohio)
War Curse prove that old school heavy metal needn’t be over-the-top to thrive. While Confession is more traditional and less thrash-oriented than their earlier works, it shows War Curse pivoting to tight, down-to-earth, and evergreen metal.
–Colin Dempsey
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Vertebra Atlantis — A Dialogue With The Eeriest Sublime | I, Voidhanger Records | Black Metal + Death Metal + Experimental Metal | Italy
Vertebra Atlantis, another project from G.G. of Cosmic Putrefaction fame, quietly released one of 2021’s best extreme metal albums. Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss existed in the messy, experimental realm between black metal and death metal. Their newest album A Dialogue With The Eeriest Sublime technically follows suit, but that’s only if we’re being pedantic. It’s an overall brighter record that flourishes with melodies, synths, and acoustic guitars that its predecessor was too grim to engage with. You know it’s going to be strange since it’s on I, Voidhanger. Luckily, Vertebra Atlantis’ strength remains how palatable they make their oddity.
–Colin Dempsey
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Lady Luna and the Devil — Cold October Nights | Independent | Heavy + Doom Metal | United States (Detroit, MI)
The lack of Roky Erikson covers out there continues to be a grave disgrace, one that Lady Luna and the Devil battle on this mini-EP that also includes a Ramones cover. They put their own spin on the tail-end of “Night of the Vampire” (also note the pronoun swap on the vampire, which ties in nicely with their last record) while keeping the lush, gothic gloom intact.
–Ted Nubel
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Count Witchfinder — Witch Trial | Independent | Doom Metal | United States (Raleigh, NC)
I regret not always being able to throw in all the weird indie metal out there into UMR, but here’s one, at least. Behold: the debut album from a band inspired by Eyehategod and the Bee Gees. It’s definitely a rough production in some spots, but the ‘disco doom’ thing is worth checking out should you not have immediately turned to dust when reading that phrase–as it turns out, stoner-doom’s cyclical riffs mix nicely with drum loops.
–Ted Nubel
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Hounskull — The Faces of Evil | Independent | Heavy + Stoner Metal | Canada
Combining Slough Feg levels of earnest, high-speed weirdness with extremely nasty riffs and funky, unexpectedly syncopated drumming, Hounskull’s third album reflects a clear lack of interest in compromise or conforming to a single norm.
–Ted Nubel
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Entierro — The Gates of Hell | Independent| Heavy + Doom Metal | United States
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “The Gates of Hell”:
The Connecticut band merges Maryland-esque doom’s main appeal, big riffs and ominous tidings, into an irresistible tide of burly heavy metal. While ‘heavy/doom metal’ certainly exists, it almost never sounds as coherent and cohesive as it does here, blending the subgenres as if decades of evolution hadn’t separated them in the first place.
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Blood Lightning — Blood Lightning | Ripple Music | Heavy Metal + Hard Rock | United States (Boston, MA)
I already wrote about this record a bit over here (“executing stomping heavy metal with doomy swagger”), but today I wanted to highlight the “Disturbing the Priest” cover that closes this one out! It’s a good week for sick covers.
–Ted Nubel
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Hippie Death Cult — Helichrysum | Heavy Psych Sounds | Stoner + Doom Metal | Portland, OR
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Red Giant”:
Sure, other bands drop in slowly rolling double-bass and get a little jazzy, but Hippie Death Cult does both of those at the same time here. Some of the gnarliest fuzz-laden licks you’ll hear all year lurk within Helichrysum, and they’re nestled right up against utterly mesmerizing bizarrity.
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