(Previously) Upcoming Metal Releases: 5/8/2022-5/21/2022
Here are some must-listen metal releases for the weeks of May 8th, 2022 to May 21st, 2022. 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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(Previously) Upcoming Releases
Blut aus Nord — Disharmonium – Undreamable Abysses | Debemur Morti | Atmospheric + Experimental Black Metal | France
From Brandon Nurick’s review:
Atmosphere has always been one of Blut aus Nord’s foundational elements. They’ve made music that elicits imagery of both heavenly vistas or infernal sweeps, but here its importance is greater than ever; Disharmonium–Undreamable Abysses forgoes many of the band’s typical metal trappings, and is, in essence, a product of pure atmosphere. Despite the vibrant hues of pink, blue, and purple that dress its cover, it is, sonically, a very gray album and maintains a tone that is consistently monochromatic. Keeping in the theme of nautical dread, throughout its seven tracks it feels like trying to navigate volatile waters during an overcast day at sea, vision obfuscated by thick layers of fog.
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Misery Index — Complete Control | Century Media Records | Death Metal + Grindcore | United States (Baltimore, MD)
Through twenty years and seven albums, Misery Index’s control over their rage-fueled mix of death metal and grind has remained absolute. On Complete Control, their polished death metal chops shine especially bright as they excoriate the totalitarian leanings of the modern world.
–Ted Nubel
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Primitive Man — Insurmountable | Closed Casket Activities | Sludge + Doom + Noise | United States (Denver, CO)
The utmost in heaviness–best listened to when destroying something.
–Ted Nubel
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Septicflesh — Modern Primitive | Nuclear Blast | Atmospheric + Symphonic Death Metal | Greece
Septicflesh are 30 years into their career but still sound as invigorated as ever. Modern Primitive plies the line between orchestral elegance and downtuned death metal viscerality like only this Greek outfit could. They’ve transcended symphonic death metal to become drama incarnate and I want front row seats.
–Brandon Nurick
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Moon Tooth — Phototroph | Pure Noise Records | Progressive Metal | United States (Long Island, NY)
Intricate and emotional, Moon Tooth’s progressive metal flows between technical wizardry and pure passion with staggering ease.
–Ted Nubel
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Predatory Light — Death and the Twilight Hours | 20 Buck Spin | Black Metal | United States
Predatory Light’s latest album is a spectrally-charged flight through a haunted realm: dazzling lead work and a shit-ton of reverb transfer listeners into the world of the supernatural.
–Ted Nubel
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Come to Grief — When the World Dies | Translation Loss | Sludge + Doom Metal | United States
Taking its name from the 1994 Grief album, Come to Grief features ex-Grief members Chuck Conlon and Terry Savastano. If you’re familiar with Grief, you can expect a similar–but not identical–offering here, with huge sludgy riffs couching nasty vocals that deliver utterly antisocial themes.
–Ted Nubel
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Sadistic Ritual — The Enigma, Boundless | Prosthetic Records | Blackened Thrash + Death Metal | United States (Atlanta, GA)
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Murmur”:
Thrash metal doesn’t usually sound as murky as Sadistic Ritual’s delightfully swampy approach to the genre, but then again, it usually isn’t nearly as mind-altering. […] Often even straying into blackened thrash territory, their sophomore album The Enigma, Boundless uses locked-down thrash grooves as a hypnotic lure to pull listeners deeper into a violent, frantic brew.
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Evergrey — A Heartless Portrait: The Orphean Testament | Napalm Records | Progressive + Power Metal | Sweden
From Kelley Simms’s interview:
Blessed with one of the most distinctive vocals in metal today, vocalist/guitarist/founder Tom Englund doesn’t stray too far from the band’s comfort level while also expanding upon their creativity. Based on a progressive heaviness with emotional lyrics, Everygrey paints a vivid musical landscape with precise production on A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament). By never having to prove anything to anyone at this point in their career, Evergrey still impresses its fans after 27 years of existence.
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Cauchemar — Rosa Mystica | Temple of Mystery | Heavy + Doom Metal | Canada
From Brandon Corsair’s full album premiere:
Like the great Pagan Altar that so clearly influence their music, Cauchemar’s mid-paced assault focuses not on smashing listeners into the ground but on bewitching them; the music is sensitive and magickal in a way that more aggressive bands never manage, but unlike Pagan Altar–or indeed most doom metal–Cauchemar are not afraid to speed up, and a large amount of classic heavy metal underpinnings make for a dynamic recording with far more impact than it might have had at a single gloomy tempo.
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Mutilatred — Determined to Rot | Redefining Darkness Records | Brutal Death Metal | United States (Baltimore, MD)
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Everyone’s Doing Shitty”:
While ‘brutal death metal’ is a full-fledged genre that comes with conventions and willing adherents, Mutilatred’s unrelenting density truly is brutal, fulfilling every sense of the adjective while breaching into other subgenres’ territories. During the two minutes that comprise “Everyone’s Doing Shitty,” things are perhaps slightly less shitty—the bludgeoning riffs within don’t leave a whole lot of room for introspection.
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Katharos — Of Lineages Long Forgotten | Willowtip Records | Black Metal | Sweden
From Ted Nubel’s track premiere of “Those Hornclad”:
Katharos’s […] second full-length album Of Lineages Long Forgotten finds a vital ‘sweet spot’ for symphonic black metal. While not too heavy-handed so as to bury their ferocity, the band’s symphonic side drapes their black metal in regal finery that gracefully elevates the proceedings. Put all that aside and the Swedish band’s devastating riff-crafting and punishing, tight song structures are easily worth listening to anyway, but the full package is a whirlwind that can’t be resisted.
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Gonemage — Master of Disgust | Independent | Chiptune + Black Metal + War Metal | United States (Dallas, TX)
From Colin Dempsey’s full EP premiere:
Master of Disgust…’s largest success is how it presents Wario in a menacing light. The EP focuses on his most terrifying traits to amplify them. The whimsicality found in his Super Smash Brothers representation and WarioWare’s irreverence are both absent. Brents brings Wario’s filth, his disgusting mannerisms, his greed, and his overindulgence into a realm that mutates them to a revolting degree. It’s only possible because of Gonemage’s death metal lens. The EP’s weight depicts Wario in his original incarnation–as a figure driven only by the most repulsive of desires.
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Ante-Inferno — Antediluvian Dreamscapes | Vendetta Records | Black Metal | United Kingdom
From Colin Williams’s track premiere of “Beyond the Immemorial Veil”:
A classic serving of black metal on first glance, the album is an intricate piece of work that hangs together using a strong foundation of rhythm, pillars of bass, flying-buttress riffs, and imperious vocals that manage, by turns, grace and solidity in ways both old heads and black-metal newcomers ought to appreciate. Perhaps most surprisingly, the band managed some of what appear to be extremely precise tracks through an improvisatory composition process.
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