Upcoming Metal Releases

New Metal Releases: 10/23/2022-11/05/2022


Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the weeks of October 23rd, 2022 to November 5th, 2022. 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.


New Releases

DarkthroneAstral Fortress | Peaceville Records | Heavy + Black + Speed + Doom Metal | Norway

Did you have a new Darkthrone record on your 2022 bingo card? Nah, I didn’t either but I’m not mad about it. Or mad at the artwork of Astral Fortress, which is peak modern Darkthrone or a lyric video which is basically a video of someone’s perspective of a nice hike through a forest shot on a mobile phone. You’ve gotta love it. New Darkthrone sounds like old classic metal that is occasionally still found on your local pub’s jukebox and it’s all the more glorious for leaving behind the 90s black metal sound and embracing trad-leaning rock while keeping the essence of the band intact.

The aforementioned video accompanies the first song to be heard from the album, “Caravan of Broken Ghosts,” and it’s a fuzzy, groovy, ode to the old. The drum sound is insane and the vocals killer. I’d go on a lovely walk with those guys any day.

–Cheryl Carter

WormBluenothing | 20 Buck Spin | Death + Black + Doom Metal | United States (Florida)

From Luke Jackson’s review:

You can feel the glee with which the band unleashes this unexpected torrent of symphonic black metal, a complete stylistic curveball, enabled by the additional guitar presence which here allows the leads to head into triumphant, Hellenic territory. For the armies of fans recently or newly invested in Worm, this is where things get interesting, get fun: a mini album, pitched as the stylistic culmination of the band’s most creatively and commercially successful era, that begins with a tonal shift in their recognizable style, and ends in a different genre entirely? If the intention of the band and 20 Buck Spin was at least in part to keep Worm on everyone’s lips before the next full statement from this growing family of artists emerges, then a cliffhanger like this is a hell of a way to do it.

Dead CrossII | Ipecac Recordings | Experimental Thrash + Hardcore | United States (California)

Known initially as a supergroup because of their star-studded lineup of Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, Justin Pearson, and Michael Crain, the band are back and far surpassing their initial, name-drop claim to fame. The new album brings the power and fury of old and new hardcore stylings together to create something heavy, brutal, and fun as hell. Despite the fact that Crain was battling cancer throughout making the record, and that it taps into more serious political themes, it manages to capture that vibe without sacrificing catchiness.

–Addison Herron-Wheeler

Houkago Grind TimeHoukago Grind Time 2: The Second Raid | Outrageous Weeb Power Productions | Goregrind | United States (San Jose, CA)

From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “People Die When They Are Killed”:

Although Houkago Grind Time is an obviously tongue-in-cheek project in some ways (see: song titles, album art, aesthetic, etc., etc.) it is absolutely no joke when it comes to the music. The fact is, Houkago Grind Time is not only legitimate goregrind, it’s masterful. Reveling in the pure chaos of frenetic blast beats, split-second changeups, and vicious riffs built for neck-snapping mosh action, the band’s new album Houkago Grind Time 2: The Second Raid follows up a slew of splits with an emphatic new chapter of maniacal grind. Produced by Lee and mastered by Colin Marston, the album is razor-sharp where it counts and blissfully murky around the edges, a riff-and-drum focused machine that sends listeners careening like pinballs through the many angles and bounces lying in wait.

Bad ManorThe Haunting | Avantgarde Music + Ordo Vampyr Orientis + Labyrinth Tower | Black Metal | United States

Members of the equally mysterious Bat Magic and more offer up another spooky black metal offering to accent Halloween season (it’s not over, dammit, I’m not mentally ready for Thanksgiving or whatever): this heavily conceptual release tells the story of, y’know, a haunting, through bizarre vocals and evocative, gleefully campy black metal firmly rooted in horror. That story comes documented in a physical booklet, too, but you’ll get a PDF copy should you go the digital route.

–Ted Nubel

Jesters of DestinyDistorting Everything | Ektro Records | Psychedelic Hard Rock + Heavy Metal | United States (Los Angeles, CA)

Well, first of all, if you haven’t heard Jesters of Destiny’s debut album Fun at the Funeral, go do that. Vital!

Jesters of Destiny’s appeal has never been consistency, shall we say–this is a band rooted in hard rock, general disrespect, and being extremely weird. Distorting Everything continues that trend, if sounding a little more world-weary than Fun at the Funeral did–35 years will do that to do you–but ultimately it’s a fun, weird record worth trying out as long as your interests range beyond strictly metal.

–Ted Nubel

Book of SandSeven Candles for an Empty Altar | Fiadh Prod | Experimental Black Metal | United States (Minneapolis, MN)

From Alexandre Mougel’s discography guide, part 2:

With or without context, Seven Candles for an Empty Altar will undoubtedly surprise you, and blow you away. There’s mind-twisting jazz, humongous black metal riffs, genuinely unsettling screeches and howls, monumental contrasts, and generally weird stuff. But if by any chance you familiarized yourself with some of the earlier works, this album will make a lot of sense to you. It might even feel comforting.

MorbificSquirm Beyond the Mortal Realm | Memento Mori | Death Metal | Finland

Finnish death metal miscreants Morbific have emerged from the murk once more. In what may be a controversial move for some, the low-end gut-punch of their debut has been traded for a grotesque, swampy snarl. Fear not, though, for Squirm Beyond the Mortal Realm is still a sickeningly satisfying celebration of death and decay. Imagine the sound of feral ghouls jamming in a sewer, every instrument dripping with grime and every note an entire ecosystem of putrefying bacteria. Oh, and they all have chainsaws–the wettest chainsaws.

–Alex Chan

Crimson SteelNight Creatures | Independent | Heavy Metal + Hard Rock | United States

Fans of prog-tinged heavy metal (and maybe glam-tinged, too), take note: energetic vocals and quintessentially 1980s-heavy-metal riffs plus wild keyboard solos make this an unusually distinct retro release even in the massive glut of 1980s worship we’ve got going on.

–Ted Nubel

PsychonautViolate Consensus Reality | Pelagic Records | Post-Metal | Belgium

Exploring the consciousness has never riffed so hard. While they take the simple mantle of “post-metal,” Psychonaut employs an unusually catchy and melody/riff-focused style that hits a lot harder than the introspective album aesthetic might imply.

–Ted Nubel

ThemFear City | Steamhammer | Heavy Metal | International

While I’ve long had a soft spot for Them due to them being, well, blatantly King Diamond inspired, I have to admit that their prior work wasn’t for everyone, generally combining well-done heavy/power metal with over-the-top stories with perhaps too much camp and running a little long. That being said, I’m really enjoying Fear City and I think it shows off their best work yet.

While the falsettos and horror stories Them took from their time as a King Diamond tribute band are still present, musically Fear City hews closer to power/thrash, with bombastic choruses, tight riffing, and melodic leads taking the stage musically. On the story side, things are as weird as ever but a little easier to follow, and the plot of the band’s recurring characters being transported to an 1980s hellscape city is actually pretty great, solidly tied into the music and interludes.

–Ted Nubel

VoidthroneMetaphysical Degradation | Total Dissonance Worship | Black + Death Metal | United States (Seattle, WA)

If you’re looking to upload your consciousness straight into the abyss, Voidthrone will be there to hold your hair back. Metaphysical Degradation plunges listeners through the event horizon and into a maelstrom of swirling, dissonant guitars, coldly calculated barrages of percussion, and vocals that oscillate between demonic roars and tortured shrieks. The album’s lofty sci-fi blasphemy is hammered home by lyrics that read like a cyberspace hacker experiencing ego death, but not before punching into the matrix one last time.

–Alex Chan

BonesVomit | Disorder Recordings | Death Metal + Crust | United States (Chicago, IL)

From Neill Jameson’s track premiere of “Death Sentence”:

From beginning to end, “Vomit” reeks of stale urine and Jack Daniels, attacking with more of a traditional filth-laden old metal approach that is very obviously done out of love for not only the genre but the life itself. You can hear shades of Autopsy to Tank to (early) Obituary to Iron Angel and even the boozier side of 70’s ZZ Top throughout all 9 tracks. This is a record that oozes sincerity from every grimy pore that really doesn’t fit in well with the polished sheen of what constitutes “old school death metal” these days, which makes it all the more appealing to me. This is the kind of shit that you’d see Fenriz making a video about; someone should probably pass him a copy.

MorbikonOv Mournful Twilight | Tankcrimes | Black + Thrash Metal | International (United States + Finland)

Phil “Land Phil” Hall of Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse fame had done just about everything there is to do under the metal moniker—except for make black metal. Now he can check that off his list as well with new project Morbikon. As a true fan of the subgenre, Land Phill manages to take the fury and riff worship of his other projects and channel it perfectly into something to ring into the cooler season.

–Addison Herron-Wheeler

MulciberMisery of One | Redefining Darkness Records | Death Metal | United States (Cleveland, OH)

From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Caught in Fire”:

Misery of One taps into some of the more recent and extreme facets of death metal but steers clear of siloing itself into the conventions of any given subgenre: sure, there’s guttural vocals and bone-crunching breakdowns, but there’s also some swampy 1990s ichor stinking up the production. Neither nostalgia or trend-chasing guide this: Mulciber employ whatever it takes to make their point. The point, of course, is to get that pit moving […]

SfeerverziekerDeath is the Desired Ending | Independent | Sludge + Doom Metal | Netherlands

From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:

There’s a surprisingly bellicose quality to the downtrodden subject matter, as if project mastermind Sven is biting back, in a way, against the darkness, and doing so with the ultimate weapon: riffs. After the heavily atmospheric doom that starts off the record in “Fall of Men” transforms into agile sludge riffs partway through, listeners start to get a hint of what lies in store: death may be the desired ending, but Sfeerverzieker is going to make things interesting on the way there.

Throwing BricksThe Burden | Tartarus Records | Sludge + Post-Metal + Hardcore | Netherlands

If you’re looking for something beautifully heavy this week then look no further than Dutch sludge/post-metal/harcore band Throwing Bricks. Evidently they are not easy to categorize (sorry) but it’s easy to fall in love with their sound on their sophomore album, The Burden. Which, despite the negative connotations surrounding the title, is a curiously uplifting work that pushes the weight of the world to the edges and allows the band to break through and free of the chains of loss.

The album is full of moments of beauty melded with pain and the songs are wrought with emotional aspects throughout. Throwing Bricks are expanding their palette with spoken word section and guitars that glimmer with bittersweet hope and as such, The Burden is on par with the greats of the genre (think Amenra) and sets the band firmly on the path to join them.

–Cheryl Carter

Devil’s WitchesIn All Her Forms | Majestic Mountain Records | Stoner Rock + Doom Metal | United Kingdom (Glasgow, Scotland)

There’s an occult atmosphere here — of course — but what might be surprising is how laid-back this record can be. Most of the time, you’ve got what Devil’s Witches kind of excels at, which is druggy, fuzzy rock not too intent on aggression when it can just be subtly menacing. There’s charming surprises, too: “Blood of the Witch” might have come off any 1970s psych rock record, with subtle organ backing up a clean guitar ballad, except that it’s about, you know, using the blood of a witch for various purposes.

–Ted Nubel

RuinWhere Death is Spread Out Across the Sky | Frozen Screams Imprint | Death Metal | United States

The word I want to describe this EP with is “insidious.” Ruin’s sinister death metal creeps and crawls up on you, snaking inside the brain and casting tendrils of fear as it goes. By the time you’re a few songs in, their disgusting, doomy incursion has entirely invaded your consciousness. Unsettling, in a good way, but usually so.

–Ted Nubel

VHSDeep Gashes and Long Lashes | Horror Pain Gore Death Productions | Death + Thrash + Grindcore | Canada (Thunder Bay, Ontario)

Synths, meet disgusting death-grind. Death-grind, meet… you get the point. I don’t think I’ve heard any other records that merges these sounds so brazenly, and the result is trippy as hell. Play this on Halloween next year and keep those trick or treaters away.

–Ted Nubel

We Killed The LionBoogie Shoe Blues | Independent | Doom + Stoner Rock | United States (Chicago, IL)

Packing soulful groove and a hell of a live show, We Killed the Lion is a band that, for all intents and purposes, plays rock’n’roll, but they just so happen to be heavy and slow enough to count as stoner rock as well. The band’s impeccable sense of style has always put them ahead of the pack, making even their most psychedelic weirdness a damn sexy affair.

With the first single out back in April, Boogie Shoe Blues took a while to get here-thanks COVID-but it’s a choice pick for some laid-back riffs and phenomenal rhythm action.

–Ted Nubel

Menace RuineNekyia | Union Finale | Avant-garde Drone + Black Metal | Canada (Quebec)

Post-industrial-by-way-of-metal duo Menace Ruine had been sorely missed for the past eight years. Their return is welcomed and should be celebrated.

–Jon Rosenthal

Atomic WitchCrypt of Sleepless Malice | Redefining Darkness Records | Thrash + Death Metal | United States (Cleveland, OH)

From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “70,000 Skulls”:

little bit of strangeness never hurts when it comes to thrash, and thrash-death champions Atomic Witch hone their palpable eccentricity into a force of evil on their upcoming debut album Crypt of Sleepless Malice. Musically, they blend thrash and death metal into a nasty, bloodlusting ceremony, but their lyrical content (and penchant for excellent choruses) mutates their obscene rituals into B-movie horror flicks, replete with over-the-top imagery and utterly deranged narration.

FroglordArmy of Frogs | Swamp Records | Doom + Sludge Metal | United Kingdom

Froglord’s reign continues, issuing edicts of fuzzy sludge-doom to his loyal followers. There’s a significant amount of bouncy groove to be found in these swampy lands, as well as a marked trend towards bursting out of sludge and doom lands entirely. Also, the story is somehow even more bonkers this time around?

–Ted Nubel

SarcatorAlkahest | Black Lion Records | Blackened Thrash Metal | Sweden

Sarcator’s second full-length album Alkahest delivers a potent alchemical combination of melodic black metal and mid-paced thrash. The band has slowed down a bit since their debut, but the end result is a more ambitious and wide-ranging record that still delivers riffs for days. Even the longer tracks, like the nearly 8 minute “Dreameater,” earn their length by having worthwhile musical stories to tell. The track’s unsettling 7/8 grooves perfectly bookend the epic instrumental bridge and its dueling guitar solos, which in turfn offer a tantalizing glimpse of sunlight amidst the gloom.

–Alex Chan

UamhRàithean | Fiadh Prod | Post-Black Metal | United States (Montana)

From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:

Melody and driving songwriting carry Uamh’s vision of atmospheric black metal on Ràithean. Gales of powerful riffing bear curious, lively tendrils that find their way home to the heart despite the storms, and careful usage of drums, such as their absence in the midsection of “Sruth Beinne,” makes every return to full volume monumental. Sole member Urisk Uaine weaves this core sound together with mystical ambient sections–and a burbling stream at one point–to create narratives with their own changes and conclusions. Much like the dawning of a new season, listening to Ràithean feels like experiencing something greater than humanity, but still somehow intensely personal: both painful and uplifting.

EsoctrilihumYi​ä​hle​ï​f’​ä​m | Independent | Black Metal | France

Does Asthâghul, the enigmatic multi-instrumentalist behind Esoctrilihum, ever rest? Just over a month after the release of Saopth’s (his eighth album in five years), the French madman is back again with a new single that drips with gothic atmosphere. Yi​ä​hle​ï​f’​ä​m is just as enigmatic as Esoctrilihum’s previous material but also pensive and moody in ways that I wasn’t expecting. At times, the track sounds like a symphonic black metal power ballad, or perhaps a requiem for one’s sanity. Either way, I am always excited to experience Asthâghul’s unique sonic landscapes–I just hope that he’s getting enough sleep.

–Alex Chan