Upcoming Metal Releases: 3/21/2021 - 3/27/2021
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of March 21th, 2021 to March 27th, 2021. 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.
Upcoming Releases
Genghis Tron — Dream Weapon | Relapse Records | Progressive Metal + Experimental | United States
Genghis Tron is back with their first new album in 13 years and they’re all grown up! Seriously though, if you’re expecting the band to return with their previous cyber-grind fury, then maybe go put on Board Up the House. If you’re looking for an at-times psychedelic journey through keyboard-heavy passages, fantastic vocal deliveries from new singer Tony Wolski, and machine-like drums from the band’s first-ever real drummer Nick Yacyshyn (of Baptists fame), then you’re going to love Dream Weapon. And you should love Dream Weapon, because there’s just so much to love about it.
–Greg Kennelty
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Yawning Sons — Sky Island | Ripple Music | Stoner Rock + Psychedelic Rock | International
Psychedelic luxury meets clever rock songwriting in this supergroup that features Yawning Man members collaborating with Sons of Alpha Centauri: both of them bring their own massive legacies to the table and fuse them into something new and engaging. This is the band’s second album and the first in ten years; despite the vast quantities of desert rock that have come out in that time period, this one immediately stands out as a top contender.
Check back tomorrow for our full premiere of this one!
–Ted Nubel
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Sanguisugabogg — Tortured Whole | Century Media | Death Metal | United States (Columbus, OH)
Having gained an insane amount of hype based off of their 2019 demo, the ‘Bogg is back with a full-length on Century Media Records, featuring their perplexing blend of grisly death metal and weirdly fucked-up song topics and imagery. Like, this is not a genre where “weird” and “fucked-up” are uncommon occurrences, but it’s perhaps not always so wholeheartedly embraced and visualized… and merchandized.
Does it live up to the hype? Hard to say—certainly a fun listen, and I can’t unsee this music video, but the hype has grown into its own entity that thrives on something beyond the music. At the very least, I suppose we all have to (briefly) stop making the “more shirt designs than songs” jokes.
–Ted Nubel
[Warning – rather NSFW]
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1782 — From the Graveyard | Heavy Psych Sounds | Doom Metal | Italy
You’re not going to find all that much doom that can do the EWiz-riff-worship thing like these guys, but I do feel like this release plays it safe. If you want to hear a lot of sweet doom riffs and buried vocals, this is a massive slab of that, but I have to admit I was hoping for a little more risk-taking given that their 2019 release was extremely well-received and there’s no question they can pull this stuff off.
–Ted Nubel
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Putrescine — The Fading Flame | Tridroid Records | Death Metal | United States (San Diego)
Putrescine describe themselves as “return to form death metal,” but that label misses so much about what makes their debut full-length The Fading Flame so uniquely compelling. Over the course of several EPs and singles, the band have increasingly seeded their music with the sharp dissonance and general unpredictability of progressive esoterics Krallice, Imperial Triumphant, or Portal, but at no point do they lose track of what they’re here to create.
On The Fading Flame, Putrescine stitch these otherworldly explorations side-by-side with — and often directly over — plenty of brain-bashingly stupid yet techincally intricate riffs for a debut full-length that challenges while remaining approachable. The members of Putrescine understand the power of contrast in emphasizing the effect of everything they do, and it’s this mastery of the back-and-forth between beefcake riffs and cosmic insanity that keeps The Fading Flame grounded also makes it so thrilling to revisit. This record is death metal through and through, enhanced by everything else the band are pouring into their cauldron.
–Ivan Belcic
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Celestial Sanctuary — Soul Diminished | Redefining Darkness Records | Death Metal | United Kingdom
From Greg Kennelty’s track premiere of “Rid the Gormless”:
“Rid The Gormless” feels like the bastard child of both Tomb Mold and Gatecreeper, and with grandparents Bolt Thrower out of the picture, it has developed a filthy personality all its own. Not quite reverbed-out “caveman death metal,” but certainly not unsophisticated in its writing, “Rid The Gormless” is a beast unto itself who simply runs its victims down and bludgeons them until they resemble more of a paste. So, exactly what you’d want in your death metal.
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Blindfolded and Led to the Woods — Nightmare Withdrawal | Independent | Technical/Avant-Garde Death Metal | New Zealand
Wild and senses-overloading technical death metal that weaves in some deathcore-feeling breakdown bits into the whirling madness. Not in a bad way, mind you, more in the “I don’t understand what meter this is in, but I want to kick down a door” fashion.
–Ted Nubel
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Johan G. Winther — The Rupturing Sowle | Pelagic Records | Folk + Experimental | Sweden
From our video premiere of “As Above, So Below”:
[The Rupturing Sowle] blends rich instrumental folk textures with ambient sounds, foggy synthesizers, and haunting melodies into a moody record well-suited for a spring evening’s listening.
Winther binds these forces together into an atmospheric storm that finds strength in variety: acoustic guitar and bare-bones drums form the core of much of the songs, but they never wear out their welcome, often being replaced by cello melodies or overshadowed with gusts of synthesizers. There’s always a new, hard-to-pin-down sound surfacing as these tracks progress, reinforcing the core motifs through goosebump-raising subtlety.
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Pando — Rites | Aesthetic Death | Noise + Black Metal + Experimental | United States
If “normal” black/noise stuff is too accessible for you, try this: the black metal here is a vague presence that screams and seethes through the veil of discordant noise that Pando creates. From song to song the balance varies greatly, so this one single is only a piece of the incomprehensible puzzle… fortunately, we’re premiering the full album later this week, so stay tuned for a deep dive into complete obliteration.
–Ted Nubel
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Begotten — EP | Independent | Doom Metal | United States (New York)
Originally signed to Man’s Ruin (RIP) around the turn of the century, Begotten has returned after an arduous fifteen years since their original demise. We did get a single or two in the last few years, but here’s something bigger to sink into: a classic “two songs, twenty minutes” EP that clearly marks Begotten as a doom band not looking to venture into triple-digit tempos. And, yeah, it’s heavy and slow as shit, in a way that feels authentic and vintage.
–Ted Nubel
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Paladine — Entering the Abyss | No Remorse Records | Power/Heavy Metal | Greece
Dragonlance was my introduction to fantasy novels, along with stuff like Forgotten Realms and Redwall at about the same time period—many fond memories of scouring library shelves for books I hadn’t read from those series, before my overwhelming need for continuity and reading order developed. So, the fact that this is a concept album based off the Dragonlance is a strong mark in its favor, but beyond that, it’s also extremely inventive power metal (with a grounding in heavy metal, too). Having creative vocals and orchestral elements hasn’t kept the band away from writing interesting riffs and leads to go along with them, resulting in a strong total package.
–Ted Nubel
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Witchseeker — Scene of the Wild | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy + Speed Metal | Singapore
Hectic heavy/speed metal from Singapore: from blindingly fast d-beats to more ballad-oriented stuff, there’s an interesting juxtaposition of dramatic heavy metal sensibilities with the filthy guitar tones and production. It feels like I should be listening to this in a dive bar, shoes stuck to the floor via days-old beer stains.
–Ted Nubel
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Memoriam — To the End | Reaper Entertainment | Death Metal | United Kingdom
Featuring Karl Willetts of Bolt Thrower, Memoriam executes a fairly similar style of death metal as that band — but, I mean, it’s not Bolt Thrower, so set expectations accordingly.
–Ted Nubel
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Rotten Funeral — Rotten Funeral | Transilvanian Tapes | Black Metal | United States
Being able to hear bass in black metal this clearly is kind of unusual, especially when the main influences here are things like Carpathian Forest and there’s not a hint of Hellenic black metal to be found, but that aspect plus the darkwave-inspired synth elements round out a deeply immersive demo tape dripping with evil atmosphere.
–Ted Nubel
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Graveolence — Anthropomancy | Transilvanian Tapes | Death Metal | Canada
Lobotomizing death metal that combines the nasty, technical Carcass evisceration side of the genre with bludgeoning, Entombed-like chainsawery. I’m really enjoying the warm production on this that puts the riffs front-and-center.
–Ted Nubel
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