New Metal Releases: 5/28/2023-6/3/2023
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for May 28th through June 3rd. 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.
Things We Missed (Because We Didn’t Run This Last Week)
Immortal — War Against All | Nuclear Blast | Black Metal | Norway
Though down now to just Demonaz as far as official members go, Immortal continues a fine tradition of frosty, martial black metal on War Against All.
–Ted Nubel
…
Cloak — Black Flame Eternal | Season of Mist | Gothic + Black Metal | United States (Atlanta, GA)
I’ve been a huge supporter of this band from the beginning, and this record just takes what they already do to the next level. Their brand of blackened death metal has plenty of melody and grit, and unlike a lot of bands that try and balance that blend, they do it perfectly. Don’t sleep on this one.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
Victory over the Sun — Dance You Monster to My Soft Song! | Independent| Avant-garde Black Metal | United States (Portland, OR)
Though I can’t even begin to parse everything going on here from a technical perspective, Victory over the Sun’s new album is easy to dive into. There’s a strong sense of an overarching narrative tying everything together as the band threads a cohesive journey through a huge spectrum of sounds. Expect everything from jazzy prog-rock-style passages and abstract post-rock to maximalist black metal.
–Ted Nubel
…
Mournful Congregation — The Exuviae of Gods – Part II | Osmose Productions | Funeral Doom Metal | Australia
The second EP of the band’s current trilogy opens with a re-recording of a track from of the band’s first demos, and then plunges into new material. The interesting thing is how well these two parts connect; despite a nearly thirty year gap there’s obvious throughlines in the band’s sound.
–Ted Nubel
…
Metal Church — Congregation of Annihilation | Rat Pak Records | Heavy + Power + Thrash Metal | United States
Recruiting new vocalist Mark Lopes (Ross the Boss, Let Us Prey), Metal Church’s new album continues a modern streak of quality metal output — aggressive, riff-heavy stuff.
–Ted Nubel
…
Kostnatění — Úpal | Willowtip Records | Black Metal | United States (Minneapolis, MN)
Delving into unusual melodic modes and adventurous lead guitar patterning, Úpal is another incredibly intriguing offering from the enigmatic Minneapolis group that takes black metal in a new direction while still retaining the genre’s charm and acerbic texture.
–Ted Nubel
…
Upcoming Releases
Bongzilla — Dab City | Heavy Psych Sounds | Sludge + Doom + Stoner Metal | United States (Madison, WI)
From Jon Rosenthal’s track premiere of “C.A.R.T.S.”:
Bongzilla might not bring any new tricks to the table on their new album Dab City, but that doesn’t make their brand of stoner/doom metal (one of the few bands of the style I regularly enjoy) any less good! You know what to expect: big grooves, thick tone, and vocals that sound like exhaling (and coughing) after taking the world’s biggest dab from some ridiculous Grav Labs rig.
…
Necrofier — Burning Shadows in the Southern Night | Season of Mist | Melodic Black Metal | United States (Houston, TX)
Like thunder on a black, humid night, Necrofier’s new album is a beautiful, dark thing: velvet-cloaked, insidious, and utterly unstoppable.
–Ted Nubel
…
Vomitory — All Heads Are Gonna Roll | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | Sweden
Vomitory are still the kings of all-out, fun, catchy, d-beat inspired death metal, and this record is no different. It is very much in line with the current tradition of old-school death metal and leans on those old tropes, shamelessly plugging the fact that this band was one of the originators of that sound instead of one of the new generation. Nothing groundbreaking here, but definitely some solid death metal.
–Addison Herron-Wheeler
…
Wytch Hazel — IV: Sacrament | Bad Omen Records | Hard Rock + Heavy Metal | United Kingdom
I don’t know if Wytch Hazel is the most badass Christian metal outfit out there today, but they’re absolutely a contender for the title regardless. IV: Sacrament keeps pushing the band’s sound forward, sticking in the general retro-hard-rock/heavy-metal vein while not really repeating what they were doing on III: Pentecost either.
–Ted Nubel
…
Moral Collapse — Divine Prosthetics | Independent | Progressive Death Metal | India
Moral Collapse has always flirted with the avant-garde side of progressive death metal, and that trend continues on their sophomore full-length: creepy ambient noises slither under a dissonant, piercingly cynical assault.
–Ted Nubel
…
Saint Karloff — Paleolithic War Crimes | Majestic Mountain Records | Psychedelic + Stoner Metal + Rock | Norway (Oslo)
Fuzzed-out stoner bliss accidentally takes an unsettling acid trip: if you ever wondered what it was like to jam the fuck out while undergoing extreme paranoia, this is that. Saint Karloff’s bassist Ole sadly passed away in 2021, and so the band dedicates the new record to his memory. R.I.P.
–Ted Nubel
…
Tyrann — Besatt | Electric Assault Records | Heavy Metal | Sweden (Stockholm)
If you weren’t eagerly awaiting a followup to 2021’s Djävulens musik, well, I don’t know what to tell you. The Swedish heavy metal group has an anthemic catchiness that stands out against so many of their less-inspired peers. It’s not not cheesy, but that only makes it so much more endearing.
–Ted Nubel
…
Damim — World Turned Hell | Church Road Records | Progressive Black + Death Metal | United Kingdom (London)
From Ted Nubel’s full album premiere:
With a new guitarist having signed on right after their last full-length A Fine Game of Nil and live shows’ ongoing resurgence, the time was certainly right for new material from UK progressive extreme metal specialists Damim. Out this Friday, World Turned Hell gives us two new tracks and two excellent live takes of two tracks off their latest full-length.
…
Autonomie — No Peace, Only Violence | Fysisk Format | Thrash Metal | Norway
Fast, chaotic, train-about-to-go-off-the-tracks thrash metal: the way the genre started and the way it should always be. Autonomie pack in spiraling riffs, gang vocals, and reverb-drenched snarls as they smash their way through this lightning-paced EP. Sure, there’s still slow, chunky sections, but somehow they sound even more unhinged than the fast stuff.
–Ted Nubel
…
