Upcoming Metal Releases: 8/1/2021 - 8/7/2021
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of July 25th, 2021 to July 31st, 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
Vassago — Storm of Satan | Nuclear War Now! Productions | Black + Death Metal | Sweden
This is throttling black metal ushered into the netherrealms. What else would you expect from an album with tracks like “Mayhem of Satan,” “War of Satan,” and the cleverly titled “Fire of Satan”? The tightly layered guitars and subtle inclusion of ominous backing vocals reveal the influence Vassago’s home country of Sweden has on them, as the material owes some of its composition to melodeath. But the appeal is how Vassago lunge from Satan’s domain straight to your throat.
–Colin Dempsey
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Diskord — Degenerations | Transcending Obscurity | Technical Death Metal | Norway
Gloriously disjointed technical death metal with no shortage of weirdness (though, I would like more cowbell, I have to say), Degenerations is an exercise in madness and perfect for short attention spans. If listening to a single riff for more than a few seconds feels like an unbearable torment, or you’re just done with 4/4 death metal, then hit this.
–Ted Nubel
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Apathy Noir — At the Edge of the World | Independent | Doom + Death Metal | Sweden
Sorrow through momentum: Apathy Noir doesn’t need excessive slowness to transmit their devastating visions of solitude, nor do they sacrifice groove to deliver the doomy tidings.
–Ted Nubel
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Agrypnie — Metamorphosis | AOP Records | Progressive + Post-Black Metal | Germany
Sitting on the post-metal side of the post-black-metal spectrum, Agrypnie creates a swirling maelstrom of sound from numbing synths and plaintive guitars, and then cuts through it all with biting vocals.
–Ted Nubel
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Ushangvagush — Mntu | Vigor Deconstruct | Black Metal | United States (Boston, MA)
A tempest of atmospheric black metal that ravages like a force of nature. Though a solo project, these compositions feel unusually full of life and animated, like each instrument has its own voice and role to play.
–Ted Nubel
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Alucard — Pitch Black Incursion – Demo MMXXI | Independent | Black Metal | Finland
Sometimes it kind of feels like the synths on this lo-fi black metal demo were recorded in a different plane of existence than the guitars. They seem… generally… in time, but yet it’s like listening to two songs at once. Anyway, the absolutely stellar riffs on this, plus a glamorously raw aesthetic, make it easily worth a listen.
–Ted Nubel
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Borracho — Pound of Flesh | Kozmik Artifactz | Stoner Rock | United States (Washington, D.C.)
Eternal masters of the stoner groove, Borracho cultivates a red-hot strain of stoner rock that just sizzles. Their new record Pound of Flesh is laser-focused on these locked-in grooves and rocking as hard as possible. Other bands have already pushed the genre to its theoretical limits, merged in other genres, and what have you, but Borracho continues to be one of the purest expressions of the form.
–Ted Nubel
Ashen — Godless Oath | Bitter Loss Records | Death Metal | Australia
Mid-paced melodic death metal with strong hooks and driving rhythm: playing to their strengths with impressive consistency, Ashen keeps up the grim momentum for a gripping listen.
–Ted Nubel
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Canid — Saint Serpentine | Independent | Black Metal + Doom | United States
“The Devil’s Lettuce,” as a pejorative, is relatively tame. If Satan did smoke anything, this is what he’d throw on as he lit his spliff. Beyond the doom riffs and misanthropic vocals are hints of a bottomless pit with fissures that yank you deeper below.
–Colin Dempsey
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Krigsgrav — The Sundering | Wise Blood Records | Black + Doom + Death Metal | United States
Krigsgrav take the mighty riffs of melodic death metal and propel them to a higher plane. They almost match power metal’s grandiosity. The Sundering is a more epic interpolation of blackened death metal, as the lead single promises the album will ascend to fantastical destinations.
–Colin Dempsey
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Sacrilegious Crown / Illuminated Manuscripts — Meditations on the Revenant Enigma | Xenoglossy Records | Black Metal + Ambient | Italy + Estonia
Raw, rawer, rawest–the boundaries between black metal and sheer noise are put to the test and perhaps erased entirely on this deeply atmospheric split, which I recommend listening to in complete quiet and solitude for the best experience.
–Ted Nubel
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Vessel of Iniquity — The Doorway | Sentient Ruin | Black + Death Metal + Noise | United Kingdom
Vessel of Iniquity is an overwhelming swath that live up to the “noise” genre, not in their exploration of unharmonious textures but in just how much actual noise they produce. It’s malignant. The only opportunity you get to breathe is when the song ends.
–Colin Dempsey
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Lucifer’s Fall — III – From the Deep | Sun and Moon Records | Doom + Heavy Metal | Australia
While a lot of traditional doom operates in a self-imposed retro ‘vacuum’ where doom is a serious, no-frills affair, Lucifer’s Fall injects a good amount of ‘fun’ into their doom. Clearly traditional in all the ways that matter — vocal delivery, crushing riffs, etc., III – From the Deep also injects some bounciness, keeps things fresh, and simply doesn’t take itself too seriously on its way through a slightly Lovecraftian adventure through rumbling fields of riffs.
–Ted Nubel
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