New Metal Releases: 12/2/2023-12/16/2023
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for December 2nd through December 16th. Releases reflect proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see most of these albums on shelves or distros on Fridays.
Quick note: If you were expecting to see releases from this current week, sorry! Releases usually slow down around now, so we’re aggregating from now until Jan 7th into the next edition of UMR, to be released in the new year.
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 12/2-12/9
Void — Jadjow | Brucia Records | Avant-garde Black Metal | United Kingdom (London)
From Jon Rosenthal’s track premiere of “Iniquitous Owl”:
Void’s pedigree should indicate their sound: weird, strange, bizarre, a puzzle put together in an alternate fashion to reveal a new picture. Mastermind Matt Jarman’s adventurous forays into harmony and rhythm are a reminder that black metal, even in its least recognizable form, is still exactly what it is.
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Sublation — On the Advancement of Decay | Independent | Technical Death Metal | United States (Philadelphia, PA)
I’m always here for technical death metal that can balance neoclassical wizardry with actual menace and a meaty rhythm section. Sublation’s new EP pulls off this tightrope act with aplomb and lands at just under 35 minutes–no wasted space or intro tracks here, just riffs. check out “Like a Fire That Consumes All Before It” for a snazzy example of that rhythm section in glorious action.
–Ted Nubel
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Inculter — Morbid Origin | Edged Circle Productions | Blackened Thrash Metal | Norway
I’m enjoying the retro-minded catchiness and melodic edge to Inculter’s blackened thrash — for whatever reason that’s the part of the genre that seems to go first when the “blackened” bit is introduced, but Inculter is clearly operating on their own distinct vision of thrash rather than trying to contort into a specific cookie-cutter archetype.
–Ted Nubel
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Désespéré — Furor Ab Intus, Caeleste Stragem Desuper | Ardawahist Collective | Depressive Black + Doom Metal | Iran (Tehran)
Keeping up a stubbornly consistent morose pace, the Iranian band describes their new album as the culmination of all their work that’s come before — so it’s an Avengers: Endgame situation, but for really depressing doom metal. I dig it: there’s a pleasing consistency to how they deliver each new dose of bleak riffing that makes this great music for both heads-down work or spiraling into despair.
–Ted Nubel
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Dawn of a Dark Age — Transumanza | My Kingdom Music | Atmospheric + Experimental Black Metal | Italy
Apart from being one of the few black metal artists to use woodwinds effectively, Dawn of a Dark Age continues to be heavily unpredictable. Though still centered around narrative-driven, folk-heavy black metal diving into Italian history, this record shifts from the martial operations of Le Forche Caudine 321 a.C – 2021 d.C. into a more mythological, dramatic form. Hearing snappy, progressive riffs suddenly enriched by bass clarinet lines and vocals is a pretty easy sell, I think, so make sure to check this one out in full.
–Ted Nubel
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Wrath of Logarius — Necrotic Assimilation | Season of Mist | Black Metal + Death Metal | United States (California)
This record is pure black metal magic. Heavy, sad, and melodic, this is the perfect album to get you stoked for the cold, brutal season—definitely a pick for all black metal enthusiasts.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Osiah — Kairos | Unique Leader | Deathcore | United Kingdom (Sunderland)
Osiah aptly describe themselves as “savage deathcore from the North of England,” and their new album is heavy as hell. I’m new to this band, so I’m not going to go deeply into how this compares to past releases, but I’m interested in digging in now because this definitely rips. A must-listen for fans who like raw, brutal, and non-cheesy deathcore.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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SLOW — Abîmes I | Aural Music | Funeral Doom | Belgium (Mons)
Few moments of beauty speckle Abîmes I, a gargantuan punisher whose track titles reveal its intentions. “Implode,” “Barren,” “Abyss,” and “Collapse” all communicate that you will feel alone and outsized, gazing into a vastness we cannot understand.
–Colin Dempsey
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Phobocosm — Foreordained | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Canada (Montreal, Quebec)
Death metal can pummel and plunder, but it’s more interesting when it isolates. Phobocosm tap into the same energy as groups like Ulcerate by employing a wall of sound that shuns the world, providing an alternative to death metal’s joyous streaks of blood and bone marrow.
–Colin Dempsey
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Troll — Trolldom | Polypus Records | Black Metal | Norway (Hamar)
From Jon Rosenthal’s full album premiere:
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Nyrst — Völd | Dark Descent Records | Black Metal | Iceland (Reykjavík)
The title of Nyrst’s sophomore album translates to “Force, power or might,” as if they needed it to be even more obvious. Völd knows how to use its muscles. Everything here feels strong, but rather than belabored, Nyrst sound efficient, as if they’ve figured out how to exert maximal output with minimal effort. It’s large, imposing black metal that goes down smoothly.
–Colin Dempsey
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Devil’s Reef — The Droste Observer | The Artisan Era | Death Metal | United States (Frederick, Maryland)
The horrific, sci-fi waters Devil’s Reef inhabit flow downstream from a strait of OSDM and Lovecraft. While their influences aren’t novel, their clean articulation sets them apart. If there was a death metal version of easy listening, where the fun is laid out for you and all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the show, it’d be The Droste Observer.
–Colin Dempsey
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Jarhead Fertilizer — Carceral Warfare | Closed Casket Activities | Grindcore | United States (Ocean City, Maryland)
Doubling down on the cavernous OSDM of their 2021 debut full-length Product of My Environment, Maryland’s preeminent Dystopia fanboys rustle up a bone-crushing fantasy incarceration scenario, flush with powerviolence subcurrents, cloud rap beats and nightmarish culture-vulture samples, a lurid tapestry slathered in the rabid goregrind gargle of Full of Hell’s unsuitably-named Dave Bland.
–Spencer Grady
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New Releases 12/10-12/16
Crust — Dissolution | Avantgarde Music | Black Metal + Sludge Metal | Russia (Veliky Novgorod)
Combine Primitive Man’s take on sludge and doom metal with multiple heaping tablespoons of black metal, and you can start to imagine Crust’s Dissolution. While the music is closer to melodic, mid-90s black metal, the vocals are hearty, and the overall outlook is dour.
–Colin Dempsey
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Ulvhedner — Fjosmetall | Hellstain Productions | Black Metal | Norway (Sauda, Rogaland)
Ulvhedner have had an interesting career path. They formed in 1993, but their debut album didn’t drop until 2009. Fjosmetall is only their third full-length album, though they released a collection of demos and EP throughout the years. While members have come and gone, they seem to be in full force as a six-piece outfit now. This context is important because Fjosmetall sounds like an album by elder statesman. It’s a folky black metal album with a full-bodied production and more than a few nods to the genre’s Norwegian second wave. Even without giving you the band’s history, its patient and pensive tone reveals that it wasn’t created by young, hungry, and angry musicians but practiced artists.
–Colin Dempsey
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Sulfuric Hatred — Sulfuric Hatred | Sentient Ruin | Death Metal + Black Metal | United States (New York + Maryland)
For as much praise as Undeath’s It’s Time...to Rise from the Grave earned last year, some didn’t gel with its laidback approach to death metal. Luckily, Sulfuric Hatred quenches the thirst of those who enjoyed Alex Jones’ performance but wish the music was a tad more foul. He teams up with Liam McMahon from Vile Ritual for a blackened death metal album that’s everything It’s Time...to Rise from the Grave wasn’t; punishing, airless, and hellish.
–Colin Dempsey
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Infernal Execrator — Diabolatry | Pulverised Records | Black Metal | Singapore
Infernal Execrator earn the ammo belts they wear in their press photos with their incendiary black metal. Their third album Diabolatry is scorching and suffocating, with little outside influence or deviations from black metal’s core.
–Colin Dempsey
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Warcoe — A Place for Demons | Helter Skelter Productions | Doom Metal | Italy (Pesaro)
Mid-70s Sabbath revivalism is surprisingly tricky to pull off. Thankfully, Warcoe nails it by veering towards Sabbath’s doom metal and blues incantations rather than slapping some fuzz on their riffs and calling it a day.
–Colin Dempsey
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Children of Bodom — A Chapter Called Children of Bodom – The Final Show in Helsinki Ice Hall 2019 | Spinefarm | Melodic Death Metal | Finland (Espoo)
This much-anticipated album celebrates the long-standing legacy of the now-defunct band with a powerful streaming of their final concert. If you were a fan of the band, you’ll want to check this out for nostalgia’s sake for sure, but since this is an exercise in reflection, those not familiar should definitely start with the band’s traditional releases.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
No public stream for this one.
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Evergrey — From Dark Discoveries to Heartless Portraits | Napalm Records | Progressive Metal + Power Metal | Sweden (Gothenburg)
This anniversary record contains live versions and piano versions of beloved songs, putting a new twist on the concept of a greatest hits release. There really isn’t a dull or repetitive moment, as you’re either getting live releases or cool piano versions that haven’t been heard before. A must-have for any Evergrey fans.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Cryptworm — Oozing Radioactive Vomition | Me Saco un Ojo | Death Metal | United Kingdom (Bristol)
Hold those end-of-year lists! This deliciously disgusting dose of death metal abhorrence finds UK’s Cryptworm flagrantly in thrall to Finnish titans such as Demilich and Adramelech, jacking up the beef, brutality and virulent groove of 2022’s brain-melting Spewing Mephitic Putridity, siphoning the pestilential effluvia emanating from Khaos Diktator Design’s gratuitous cover art, as croaker-in-chief Tibor Hanyi belches like a bullfrog warlord seized by an acute case of swamp rot.
–Spencer Grady
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