Upcoming Metal Releases: 4/30/2023-5/6/2023
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for April 30th through May 6th. 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: editors@invisibleoranges.com. Do not send us promo material via social media.
Things We Missed
Danava -- Nothing But Nothing | Tee Pee Records | Stoner Rock + Metal | United States (Portland, OR)
From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Let the Good Times Kill":
Nothing but Nothing [...] toes a glorious line between primitive heavy metal and drug-fueled prog rock, all saturated in an indulgent amount of fuzz and vintage production.
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Upcoming Releases
Burning Witches -- The Dark Tower | Napalm Records | Heavy + Power Metal | Switzerland
Sadly, this has nothing to do with Stephen King's series, but it's another solid volume of heavy/power from the Swiss group. It's nice to see a major-label band in this vein that's really dialed into the horror aesthetic.
--Ted Nubel
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Enforcer -- Nostalgia | Nuclear Blast | Heavy Metal | Sweden
The Swedish traditionalists that pretend time stopped in 1981 recommit themselves to heavy metal with their sixth album, wisely dialing back the arena rock Journey-isms of their underwhelming previous effort, 2019’s Zenith. The result is their best collection of songs since 2013’s Death by Fire, featuring some of frontman Olof Wikstrand’s most impassioned vocals to date. “Blood and iron, steel on steel / The blasting sound of heavy metal breaks,” Wikstrand banshee-shrieks, “Feel the pressure, feel the heat / Do or die, give it all that it takes.” You won’t find irony within Nostalgia. Instead, this is just a whole lotta goddamn fun.
--Steve Lampiris
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Blood Ceremony -- The Old Ways Remain | Rise Above Records | Psychedelic Doom Metal + Rock | Canada (Toronto, ON)
This psych tinge masterpiece makes it worth the wait. The band hasn't released an album since 2016, and The Old Ways Remain really does not disappoint. It's groovy and loud, the perfect, still-evil-sounding soundtrack to spring.
--Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Drain -- Living Proof | Epitaph Records | Crossover + Thrash + Hardcore | United States (Santa Cruz, CA)
The band's sophomore album, this record packs a lot of punches. It's heavy as hell and really catchy, and still just weird enough to make them stand out from the rest, but fun and brutal enough to make this a record you'll want to spin over and over. Their well-established West Coast sound is even more apparent here. The band are definitely sticking with their staple themes, and they're perfecting them as they go.
--Addison Herron-Wheeler
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Savage Grace -- Sign of the Cross | Massacre Records | Power + Speed Metal | United States
Savage Grace's first full-length since 1986 includes original member Chris Logue and - a vital component for a Savage Grace album - absolutely terrible album art. Other than, I dunno - the available singles aren't really impressive, but definitely scratch that power/speed metal itch.
--Ted Nubel
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Tygers of Pan Tang -- Bloodlines | Target Group | Heavy Metal | United Kingdom
One could reasonably expect modern Tygers of Pan Tang to be, y'know, not good, what with only having one original member left and a somewhat rigorous release schedule, but no - Rob Weir's riffing serves as a backing force for some legitimately good heavy metal. I mean, a legacy band releasing an album under 45 minutes these days is already a huge plus, and the band finds a great balance between digestible hooks and muscular heavy metal.
--Ted Nubel
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Spinebreaker -- Cavern of Inoculated Cognition | Creator-Destructor | Death Metal + Hardcore | United States (San Jose, CA)
While bandmembers Elliot and Cole were otherwise engaged with Gulch (R.I.P.) for a few years there, Spinebreaker is back with a new EP. Big words, dumb riffs, heavy-hitting drums: it's delightfully mind-eradicating.
--Ted Nubel
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Nightmarer -- Deformity Adrift | Total Dissonance Worship | Technical Death Metal | United States
Nightmarer operates at the very edges of death metal, dealing in massive, fear-triggering dirges that can seem impossibly dense. Deformity Adrift is the sound of night terrors given corporeal form and terrible purpose.
--Ted Nubel
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Abyssal + Ellorsith -- Sepulchorporeal / Amore | Dark Descent Records | Death + Doom + Black Metal | International (United Kingdom + Canada)
Oh cool, it's like a super hero team-up to make me feel uncomfortable. In late 2022, the non-Euclidean miasma known as Abyssal did a split with Tchornobog, which channeled some terrible energy. In 2023 this black / death / doom / ??? act seeks out more partners in cosmic crime, this time with Canadian act Ellorsith. The split comes on 12 inch vinyl and will sure to be a center point of conversation when you scare off all of your guests at a party.
--Jonathan Carbon
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Dead Chasm -- Sublimis Ignotum Omni | F.D.A. Records | Death Metal | Italy
Dead Chasm seems to be the confluence of a bunch of evil spirits being released from Italian crypts. Sublimis Ignotum Omni is the debut full length from this trio and by the first song promises to grind bones into dust with riffs and what I assume are malignant spells.
--Jonathan Carbon
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Oculi Melancholiarum -- Euphorbia | Fiadh Prod | Depressive Black Metal | Mexico
Nox Victoria has released upwards of 50 albums in three years before legally being old enough to purchase alcohol in the United States. Oculi Melancholiarum is the moniker she sounds the most comfortable performing under as she spins depressive black metal into a synth-heavy, pseudo-shoegaze manifestation. Euphorbia treads in deep gothy waters to become Nox Victoria's most accessible album.
--Colin Dempsey
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Bury Them and Keep Quiet + Feminizer -- Split | Fiadh Prod | Black Metal | United States
Feminizer's self-titled debut last year reinterpreted depressive suicidal black metal to reflect gender dysphoria, morphing Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" into a nightmarish plea for escapism. She accomplishes the same goal by covering Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf," one of her counterpoints to Bury Them and Keep Quiet's corrosive black metal on this new split. Bury Them and Keep Quiet balance this with traditional, punchy, and tuneful offerings that sound like they're erupting from a boiler room.
No stream yet - this goes on sale on Friday via Fiadh Prod and Vita Detestabilis Records.
--Colin Dempsey
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Nadir -- Extinction Rituals | Independent | Black Metal | Norway
From https://www.invisibleoranges.com/nadir-tenebrae/'s track premiere of "Tenebrae":
Blackened hardcore' can mean a lot of things, some of them very uninteresting, but Nadir starts from a point of clear fascination on both sides of the equation, and that passion translates audibly into a riff-heavy record that doesn't treat any of its influences as mere texture.
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Undead -- Putrefactio | Redefining Darkness Records | Death Metal | International (Spain + United Kingdom)
From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Demon of a Thousand Lies":
The Spanish band's second full-length album Putrefactio calls back to the proto-extreme-metal era, practicing a similarly formula-less approach which gleefully sprints from the disgusting depths of death metal to corpse-desecrating grooves bordering on thrash metal. Disrupting convention like so much putrid earth, they also tuck mid-paced grooves into the mix to break up their usual fast-paced fare. Death metal is the constant here, but it's wielded with zealous curiosity in service of the band's blood-spattered subject matter.
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Concilium -- Sky Bvrial | Sentient Ruin | Black Metal | Portugal
Minor quibble - I can't figure out Concilium's approach to typography. So, the album title gets a 'v' replacing the 'u', but the song titles don't? And we have "Destroyer of Worlds" but also "Ov Flesh and Bone," representing a disparity in 'v' for 'f' substitutions? Madness!
Well, maybe that's the goal. Concilium weaves an apocalyptically dense and confusing vision of black metal on Sky Bvrial that's apt to stoke the fires of insanity.
--Ted Nubel
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Deathvoid -- Diurnal Cloak | Xenoglossy Records | Raw Black Metal + Noise | Switzerland
Howling noise blankets minimalist black metal, and yet - somehow - this feels vaguely uplifting? Sunlight and optimism filter through the crackling, generally indecipherable sounds of Diurnal Cloak.
--Ted Nubel
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Haunt -- Golden Arm | Iron Grip Records | Heavy Metal | United States (Fresno, CA)
New year, new Haunt record - a rule unbroken since 2018. Golden Arm continues the band's evolution from the wood-paneled basement, early-heavy-metal sound of their early records to a bigger, beefier, arena-metal-inspired attack that builds in more synthesizers, vocal harmonies, and hooks.
--Ted Nubel
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Hexenschorf -- Certain Rapture | Fiadh Prod | Black Metal | United States
Defiant and punky, Certain Rapture stays fairly true to a classic, raw black metal sound while using it for lyrical purposes that are certainly not so typical.
--Ted Nubel
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Velaraas -- Pantheon | Independent | Progressive Death Metal | United States (Portland, OR)
I'm really digging the leads on this one-especially when the keyboards come into play. While at times rather dense and intricate, Pantheon sidesteps the trap of being just that, shifting gears often between full-on technical shenanigans and thoughtful, melodic death metal. A combination of deep growls and near-howled clean vocals add to the interplay between chaos and contemplation.
--Ted Nubel
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