Upcoming Metal Releases: 8/11/19 — 8/17/19
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Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of August 11th to August 17th, 2019. Release 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.
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Surprise Releases + Things We Missed
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The Howling Wind -- Shadow Tentacles | Experimental | United Staets (New Jersey)
The Howling Wind is a solo project from Unearthly Trance guitarist/vocalist Ryan Lipynsky and features him exploring as many experimental corners of his musical psyche as possible. With short-format songs that dazzle in the radiant negative light of Lipynsky's dark visions, Shadow Tentacles creeps up your spine and gives you the chills before sinking the knife in. While black metal serves as a backbone to these compositions, it's the ethos of pure experimentation (ambient noises, abstract atmospheres, etc.) which drives this release forward.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Misertus -- Daydream | Blackgaze | United Kingdom
Here's some independently released blackgaze from the United Kingdom which serves well as a buffer against the swell of, well, not-good blackgaze from around the world. Where Misertus diverges from the pack is in their tone and mood: less overtly "depressingly uplifting" and more just plain-ol' depressing. This isn't to say that Daydream isn't fully blackgaze -- it most definitely is. It just feels far less artificially hopeful, that odd contrast with the intensity of the music that often sinks less adept bands of this subgenre.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Freedom of Fear -- Nocturnal Gates | EVP Recordings | Death Metal | Australia
The thick, symphonic, balladic death metal from Freedom of Fear on their debut full-length Nocturnal Gates gives a generic initial impression but ends up surprising endlessly with a trove of technical and songwriting delights. The band's infusion of some metalcore which harks back to that subgenre's heyday is a nice touch, too. That said, Nocturnal Gates is a thoroughly modern album, not beholden to any specific old-school vibes. The band knows when to dial technical intensity in and out, touching on prog sometimes too, for maximum effect.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Upcoming Releases
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Killswitch Engage -- Atonement | Metal Blade | Metalcore | United States (Massachusetts)
One of metalcore’s most undeniably foundational bands, Massachusetts-based legends Killswitch Engage have persevered unswervingly since taking part in the genre’s original movement 20 years ago, releasing record after record of their unique and infectiously groovy brand of metal. Their upcoming eighth album Atonement maintains the impressively consistent strength and timelessness of their material, transitioning from melodic choruses into brutally chugged breakdowns with ease and fluidity. The third album released by the outfit after the return of original vocalist Jesse Leach, Atonement sees Killswitch growing even tighter from a compositional standpoint, with many longtime fans lauding the record as their best work since the early 2000s.
-- Thomas Hinds
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Concrete Winds -- Primitive Force | Sepulchral Voice | Death Metal | Finland
Imagine a gale-force thrust of wind, only instead of air, it's fucking concrete. Alas, Concrete Winds offer that vision in audio form with Primitive Force, an album so hell-bent on slaying your eardrums that it gives few shits about any possible collateral damage. With that exceedingly satisfying feeling of just being able to keep it together, barely musically (meaning the band always sounds like they're at the precipice of exploding), Concrete Winds offers up gnarly death metal that actually deserves the word "gnarly." Gnarly.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Cerebral Rot -- Idious Descent Into Decay | 20 Buck Spin | Death Metal | United States (Washington)
The latest and arguably most extreme of this decade’s collective death metal odyssey into unfathomable Lovecraftian putridity, Cerebral Rot’s debut full-length Odious Descent Into Decay represents the culmination of death metal’s journey away from the futuristic and mathematical. The band is extremely physical and grimy a la early Tampa gore-centric OSDM but with tasteful production allowing for a more digestible sound than was available in that era. With disgustingly organic instrumental textures and cavernous guttural vocals, Cerebral Rot have returned to death metal’s most primordial mission of disemboweling the listener before stomping our brains out of our ears.
-- Thomas Hinds
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Funeral Oration -- Eliphas Love | Avantgarde | Black Metal | Italiy
To go 23 years between albums is one hell of a break, but the wait was worth (for anyone who was an older teenager when Sursum Luna released in 1996, congrats on now being over the hill or close to it). This Itialian black metal outfit had more death-oriented beginnings, but now comes fully realized as a sinister, monstrous, cataclysmic unit with Eliphas Love. Screams from the bowels of hell conjoin with ascending, ear-piercing riffs for one hell of a nightmarish ride. Sick stuff, especially as the band's tempo increases to insane levels without losing cohesion or coherence.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Here Lies Man -- No Ground To Walk Upon | Hell Kill Destroy Records | Psychedelic Rock | United States (California)
The third record from Los Angeles-based stoner/afrobeat/psych rock outfit Here Lies Man, No Ground To Walk Upon takes the outfit’s sound to an even groovier space filled with decaying synthesizers, reverberating vocals, and arid psychotropic soundscapes. Though not an instrumental group, Here Lies Man choose to let their vamp-centric riffs do the lyrical work, as steadily unfolding jams shift in wide tessellations with improvisational licks of guitar and organ soaring over the fray. Often delving into warbling passages of ambience, this album presents just enough stylistic expansion upon the band's sound without abandoning the specific blend of styles that makes them so musically delectable.
-- Thomas Hinds
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Anticosm -- The Call of the Void | Technical Death Metal + Thrash | United States (New Jersey)
Woah, did not expect this. The progressive tech-death of Anticosm thrashes and grinds hard, really hard, but without becoming too saturated or way too noodly like many other over-the-top bands of this ilk. Clearly, The Call of the Void features some ripping instrumentation, but the way it's arranged and produced is noteworthy in that it doesn't boast itself or end up sizzling out like a lot of the try-hard albums which land in the techy metal realms. Double props for the sick album artwork, too. This is the band's third full-length in a decade (with some splits and singles thrown in there too), and it's definitely their best.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Detherous -- Hacked to Death | Redefining Darkness Records | Death Metal + Thrash | Canada
From Brian O'Neill's premiere of "Hacked to Death":
"Hacked to Death” makes thrash metal dirty again. Detherous belies their tender years with a ripping vortex of bludgeoning speed. Although it’s evident that the band was weaned on the cornerstones of the 1980s underground – Slayer’s dramatic apocalyptic time-changes and early Sepultura’s punk-like intensity are evident – they dig deeper and it shows. You can hear the intensity of Demolition Hammer and the grandeur of Asphyx with the hint of creeping death in MacDonald’s sooty grunt.
-- Brian O’ Neill
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Equilibrium -- Renegades | Nuclear Blast | Metal | Germany
The music video for "A Lost Generation" features some interesting visual concepts, but I'm having a harder time discovering anything distinct with Renegades. Equilibrium may have lost their prior folky trappings -- whether this is for better or worse is up to the listener, of course. The opening riff here does have some serious beat, but after a few minutes, the song dries up pretty hashly.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Devourment -- Obscene Majesty | Relapse | Fuck-You-Up Metal (otherwise known as Slam) | United States (Texas)
Dallas natives Devourment were one of the first outfits to pioneer the “brutal death” or “slam” movement within death metal, shifting the genre into a space less sonically reminiscent of a chainsaw and more akin to a trash compactor. After a tumultuous history including three separate lineup change incidents, Devourment have now returned after six years of silence with their sixth studio album Obscene Majesty, a fittingly titled return to form for the group jam-packed with unprecedented brutality. Their first record to feature drummer Brad Fincher and vocalist Ruben Rosas together since 1999’s Molesting the Decapitated, Obscene Majesty both hearkens back to Devourment’s original era while presenting several completely new ideas to the group’s sound.
-- Thomas Hinds
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Bound in Fear -- The Hand of Violence | Unique Leader | Slamcore | United Kingdom
Slams like a salami sandwich.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Pijn + Conjurer -- Curse These Metal Hands | Holy Roar Records | Post-Metal + Black Metal | United Kingdom
The mighty Pijn and the also-mighty Conjurer have joined forces to construct an extremely solid blackened post-metal split. Expect a ton of groove, but embedded deep within the thick atmospherics that each of these bands is capable of producing. All this post-ness doesn't mean Curse These Metal Hands is without its moments of brutal simplicity and downright sinisterness. Unpacking this split means both getting your body moving and also letting yourself absorb the waves of intensity these bands routinely put out.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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Shock Narcotic -- I Have Seen the Future and It Doesn't Work | Housecore Records | Grindcore + Hardcore | United States (Michigan)
I Have Seen the Future and It Doesn't Work says enough by title alone. And if you're in the mood for grindcore but desire more than the standard vocal performance, Shock Narcotic is definitely for you. As far as genre-splitting goes, this band definitely nails that hard-to-nail 50/50 balance between both. But with songs like "Pray for Paralysis," you get the best of both worlds without the annoyances of overdoing it in any one particular form or style.
-- Andrew Rothmund
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From The Grave (Re-Releases)
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Malignant Eternal -- Tårnet | Soulseller Records | Black Metal | Norway
A misunderstood, keyboard-drenched, monumentally catchy black metal effort from the mid 1990s now reborn thanks to Soulseller Records. Originally brought to light on Shagrath's Hot Records imprint, Tårnet has been a grail to those who seek it.
-- Jon Rosenthal
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