Upcoming Metal Releases: 6/20/2021 - 6/26/2021

Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of June 6th, 2021 to June 12th, 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

Darkthrone — Eternal Hails…… | Peaceville Records | Black + Heavy + Doom Metal | Norway

Similar to the scale that Terry Pratchett describes regarding placing exclamation marks in a sentence (“Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind,” among other references across his works), the fact that Darkthrone canonically placed six periods in this album title seems important to note. Six periods—a sure sign of true fuckin’ metal if there ever was one.

Anyway, Darkthrone goes (mostly) retro doom metal on this one and the lead single is badass, so we’re collectively stoked on it over here, punctuation musings aside.

We’ve got an oxblood variant of this in our section of the BrooklynVegan webshop, as well.

–Ted Nubel

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Amenra — De Doorn | Relapse Records | Doom + Post-Metal + Post-Sludge | Belgium

Amenra deviates from the “Mass III/IV/V” naming convention on this album for the first time in their full-length track record, but sonically you can expect much of the band’s hallmarks, only shaped by different forces. They’re also joined by vocalist Caro Tanghe (Oathbreaker) for added vocal complexity.

Make sure you check out our interview with frontman Colin H. van Eeckhout as well.

–Ted Nubel

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Thy Catafalque — Vadak | Season of Mist | Avant-Garde Black Metal | Hungary

While fragments of this album sit cozily in the atmospheric black/post-metal space evoked by its cover art, it’s also a Thy Catafalque release and thus rife with engaging deviations into synth-y rock, black ‘n’ roll, and, uh, things I’m not sure how to describe. The massive roster of guest musicians keeps the tonality of the album fresh from start to finish.

–Ted Nubel

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Crescent — Carving the Fires of Akhet | Listenable Records | Blackened Death Metal | Egypt + Germany

While “death metal about Egypt” is perplexingly a field dominated by the American band Nile, Crescent is sort of the local expert in the field, hailing from Egypt and offering a take on the theme that dives into blackened death metal. That blackened twists works really well with the morbid mythologies the album focuses on.

–Ted Nubel

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Ossuary — Addicted to Human Flesh | Awakening Records | Death Metal | Colombia

Death metal for the dead, and judging by the tonality of these growls, possibly by the dead as well. I dig the splattered cartoon gore aesthetic on display that translates right down into the music.

–Ted Nubel

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Tommy Concrete — Hexenzirkel | Howling Invocations | Heavy + Doom + Thrash + Other | United Kingdom

Heavy metal meets its full chromatic potential on this riff-packed release which combines pretty much every metal subgenre (as long as they have riffs). Sole member Tommy Concrete’s powerful vocals are a highlight, which can pull off howls, growls, falsettos, and everything in between (often all layered together). With only a single song ducking under the 10-minute threshold, don’t expect to fully figure this one out from a preview track alone.

–Ted Nubel

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Death Toll 80k — The Future Is Yours | To Live a Lie Records | Grindcore + Death Metal | Finland

Cutting, incensed grindcore with some death metal riffs for extra rupturing action.

–Ted Nubel

https://music.tolivealie.com/album/the-future-is-yours

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White Ward — Debemur Morti | Debemur Morti | Black Metal + Experimental | Ukraine

Does black metal need more saxophones? The answer, as with every metal genre, is yes, and we’ve got some of that here. This is an unusual two-track release (named after the label it’s being released on) showing off White Ward’s hard-hitting take on post-black metal as well as their experimental side.

–Ted Nubel

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Cerebral Rot — Excretion of Mortality | 20 Buck Spin | Death Metal | United States (Seattle, WA)

I see gross art, I expect gross death metal. This certainly lives up to my expectations: viscera-stained riffs gurgle out of the speakers like raw flesh squished through a sewer drain, barely able to fit around the septic vocals and distant drum thuds.

–Ted Nubel

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Fractal Universe — The Impassable Horizon | Metal Blade Records | Technical + Progressive Death Metal | France

Chaotic tech-death that skillfully wields a prog edge: rather than feeling like a unwelcome diversion into “core” territory, the clean vocals and harmonies in place here are well in line with what to expect from top-tier progressive metal bands. It’s the counterpoint to the technical chunkiness also on display, and the two sides balance out nicely.

–Ted Nubel

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Fiat Nox — The Archive of Nightmares | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany

Like a good horror film, The Archive of Nightmares takes its time. Fiat Nox lets classic black metal riffs play out in as much time as they need and doesn’t move on until the necessary atmosphere has been firmly established.

–Ted Nubel

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https://torvus.bandcamp.com/album/dead-seasons

Torvus — Dead Seasons (Demo) | Independent | Doom + Death + Heavy Metal | United States

Following up (already!) on their excellent full-length from earlier this year, this unusual doom metal offering has death metal and heavy metal influence running through its veins, with powerful melodies and churning riffs side-by-side with groovier doom passages. Not much out today sounds like this, or ever really has.

–Ted Nubel

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