Upcoming Metal Releases: 12/6/2020 - 12/12/2020
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of December 6th to December 12th, 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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Surprise Releases
Sumac — Two Beasts | Sub Pop Records | Atmospheric Sludge Metal | Canada
Stretching the definition of “single” to its breaking point, “Two Beasts” is Sumac’s 19-minute contribution to the Sub Pop Singles Club. Crushing, in the sense that the hugeness of the riffs immediately flattens you, sure, but it’s more like milling: you get crushed, and crushed, and so on and so forth until you are but a collection of pulpy red bits.
–Ted Nubel
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Upcoming Releases
Heretical Sect — Rapturous Flesh Consumed | Gilead Media | Black Metal + Death Metal | United States (Santa Fe)
Here’s a debut release that’ll scorch your socks right off — Heretrial Sect’s oddly melodic yet existentially devastating blackened death-doom Rapturous Flesh Consumed feels consummate as fuck. Relying on a solid mid-paced backbone, the band expands wide into the annals of doom but also the halls of mighty black metal, where atmospherics bulge and undulate. Few releases of this ilk offer this level of quality across their entire sonic palette.
— Andrew Rothmund
Deeds of Flesh — Nucleus | Unique Leader Records | Technical + Brutal Death Metal | United States (California)
Brutals, oodles and oodles of them. Seven years after their previous album, Deeds of Flesh’s Nucleus reveals itself to be one of the most over the top, ridiculous death metal albums of the year. How many notes can these guys hit? Their final album with guitarist Erik Lindmark, who sadly passed away in 2018, Deeds of Flesh’s latest is a testament to Lindmark’s musicianship and songwriting. Though I am curious to hear how they proceed without him, this would be a fitting “final album” for the Deeds crew.
–Jon Rosenthal
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Bròn — Pred dverima noći | Nordvis | Atmospheric Black Metal | Serbia
Bròn is one of my all-time favorite “from the shadows” projects, one that doesn’t get much limelight but deserves so much. It’s been over a year since their last release, but now we have Pred dverima noći — a three-song ambient and black metal assault that reinvigorates my love for Bròn’s magic ability to be epic as fucking fuck without hardly any cheese. Go big, go Bròn.
— Andrew Rothmund
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Demonstealer — And This Too Shall Pass | Demonstealer Records | Death + Black + Thrash Metal | India
Super-tight grooves meet sweet riffy melodies in a furious and yet easy-to-follow EP. Stay tuned for a full premiere plus a killer interview with the project mastermind on metal, cooking, and creativity at large.
–Ted Nubel
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Cardinal Wyrm — Devotionals | Svart Records | Doom Metal | United States (California)
Devotionals is in a class of its own this year: there’s not much else you’re going to hear that sounds like this. It’s traditionally-oriented doom metal, but with a strange sense of melody and an epic posture that combine to create a take on the genre that’s refreshingly alien — melodic, riffy, and even blackened-feeling (in tonality, not tempo) at times.
–Ted Nubel
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Chalice — Trembling Crown | High Roller Records | Melodic Heavy Metal | Finland
Chalice’s energizing metal takes on almost a cinematic flair with the dynamic packaging they give their melody-packed riffing: long solos, proggy jams, and huge choruses all fit into Trembling Crown without a hint of disarray.
–Ted Nubel
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Heads for the Dead — Into the Red | Transcending Obscurity Records | Death Metal | Sweden / Germany / The Netherlands
From Ivan Belcic’s track premiere of “Coffin Scratcher”:
This thread of exhilaration-through-fear defines Heads for the Dead. There’s no outright mirth in Pettersson’s melodies, nor in the band’s lyrics. But tangible across the record is that same type of good-natured assuredness that you and they are in on the gag together. Pettersson’s charisma as a songwriter makes it all that much easier to enmesh yourself with the band in mutual thrills. Like its beloved inspiration, Into the Red is a vibrant celebration of the unique glee produced when we willingly surrender ourselves to terror.
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Satan’s Fall — Final Day | High Roller Records | Heavy + Speed Metal | Finland
Sure, the name’s a Mercyful Fate reference, but the music itself is speed metal incorporating much more than that. The band’s first full-length, coming after a demo and an EP, shows off the full-bore power of their sound: the rock-leaning song structures and lyrics are well-suited for memorization/drunken recitation, but come attached to lethally sharp riffs and double-time drumming.
–Ted Nubel
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