Upcoming Metal Releases: 7/11/2021 - 7/17/2021

Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of July 11th, 2021 to July 17th, 2021, 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.

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Upcoming Releases

Resurrection Kings — Skygazer | Frontiers Records | Heavy Metal + Hard Rock | United States

Featuring two ex-Dio members, Craig Goldy and Vinny Appice, Resurrection Kings is a pretty solid offering in that mid-paced, powerful heavy metal vein that both Dio alums excel at. It’s not really bowling me over, let’s say, but Goldy’s riffs are as intriguing as ever.

–Ted Nubel

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Spiral Grave — Legacy of the Anointed | Argonauta Records | Doom Metal | United States

With Al Morris’s untimely passing, his classic Maryland doom band Iron Man was no more, but the fire it left in the scene burns on. Spiral Grave, including three members from the band’s final lineup—vocalist Dee Calhoun, drummer Jason Waldmann, and bassist Louis Strachan, carries on the spirit of the band, though they do it without any sense of imitation or living in the past. After several listens, I’m of the opinion that this is some of the best doom (of the stoner rock and heavy metal-tinged variety) you’re likely to hear this year, so don’t skip it.

–Ted Nubel

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Vomit Ritual — Callous | Pulverised Records | Black + Death Metal | United States

There’s a sinister undertone to Vomit Ritual, as if there’s a bit of spiritual foulplay present. A vocal line will sound more possessed than the previous refrains, or sustained notes will linger like a ghost. These unsettling occurences aren’t always present, but they seed oncoming wickedness into exemplary blackened death metal.

–Colin Dempsey

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Nothing Sacred — No Gods | Rockshots Records | Heavy + Power + Thrash Metal | Australia

The “retro thrash band goes slower” comeback variant is, typically, not what I want to listen to, but for whatever reason, No Gods makes it work. Granted, you’ll still need to be in the mood for mostly mid-paced heavy metal with occasional ventures into power metal and thrash, but this album is no overwrought snoozefest like so many other comebacks: the 40 minute runtime shows off infectious grooves and indulgent leads.

–Ted Nubel

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Wizzerd / Merlin — Turned to Stone Chapter III: Wizzerd vs. Merlin | Ripple Music | Stoner + Doom Metal | United States

WIZARD FIGHT!!!

–Ted Nubel

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Dungeon Serpent — World of Sorrows | Nameless Grave | Melodic Death Metal | Canada (Vancouver, BC)

From Jon Rosenthal’s track premiere of “Decay”:

To call Vancouver-based project Dungeon Serpent “melodic death metal” does it a disservice, so suddenly comparing it to the army of Gothencore riff-lifters which overran the metal scene in the 2000s. No, Dungeon Serpent is death metal which just happens to be melodic, a tumultuous exercise in eerie atmospheres and thick, chunky riffcraft[…]

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Laceration — Demise | Unspeakable Axe Records | Death + Thrash Metal | United States

There’s the old school death metal revival, then there’s death metal that just awoke from a 30 year slumber. Laceration owe as much as to the first wave of Floridian death metal bands as they do thrash metal. The chaotic guitar solo recalls the era when thrash was getting grimy, and death metal was stepping into something viler than Slayer riffs and zombie rituals.

–Colin Dempsey

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Mesa — Collapse | Independent | Sludge + Post-Metal | United States (Chicago, IL)

Surreal, blackened, and atmospheric sludge where rolling double bass and mystical synths coexist with foreboding, buzzing riffs.

–Ted Nubel

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Downcaste — Pre-Apocalypse | Independent | Sludge + Doom + Death Metal | United States (Chicago, IL)

Thick-beyond-belief sludge riffs and rasped vocals reign on Pre-Apocalypse, which to a degree feels like a funky stoner rock album dunked in a vat of corrosive acid and then coated in tar: there’s an undeniable sense of groove and fun behind this that’s enticingly at odds with the dire sonic circumstances.

–Ted Nubel

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Bottomless — Bottomless | Spikerot Records | Doom Metal | Italy

Carefully-cultivated traditional doom that nestles itself within the fathomless shadows of the genre’s masters without a hint of mimicry—well-executed and creative with riffs that stick in your head. There is, as always, a difference between sounding like your influences versus sounding like a blatant copy, and that’s a distinction Bottomless has mastered.

–Ted Nubel

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Toward Atlantis Lights — When the Ashes Devoured the Sun | Melancholic Realm Productions | Funeral Doom + Death Metal | Italy + United Kingdom

Death/doom often combines the former’s desparity with the latter’s pacing into music that sits between both without endorsing either. The 15 minute epic “The Minoan Tragedy” is three songs pieced together where Towards Atlantis Lights dive headfirst into death/doom’s roots. The doom metal drapes with drama and theatricality, their death metal components harken a world below, and the funeral aspects are the connective tissue. Each piece stands out on its own, sounding like a narratively cohesive journey to battle a Minotaur deep underground.

–Colin Dempsey

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Solar Haze — The Solar Age EP | Metal Assault Records | Stoner Metal | United States

Riff-obsessed stoner metal lives or dies by just how good the riffs are, and on this EP, the riffs are positively ascendant. Enjoy a short slice of retro stoner stomps.

–Ted Nubel

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Bummer — Dead Horse | Thrill Jockey Records | Sludge Metal | United States

Snarky and incensed, Bummer takes sludge back to its gritty punk roots, delivering riffs that ooze demented cynicism even before the vocals start in.

–Ted Nubel

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Calliophis — Liquid Darkness | Solitude Productions | Death + Doom Metal | Germany

Longing is the mood on Calliophis’ newest full-length. They embellish the tragedy of pre-release track “Rajōmon” with the same mood that hangs over graveyards; souls wishing to either progress into the afterlife or rejoin the living yet must pine in purgatory. It’s emotionally hefty with enough bruising power to sell the concept.

–Colin Dempsey

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