Upcoming Metal Releases: 8/15/2021 - 8/21/2021
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of August 15th, 2021 to August 21st, 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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Things We Missed
Solemn Lament — Solemn Lament | Independent | Doom Metal | United States
Featuring the unmistakable vocals of Phil Swanson (Briton Rites, Seamount, and much more) plus Justin DeTore (Magic Circle, Sumerlands, and a staggering number of other bands), Solemn Lament is slow and fearsome doom metal, hewn from dark shades and forlorn majesty. If you prefer your doom slooow, this is your stop.
–Ted Nubel
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Upcoming Releases
Wolves in the Throne Room — Primordial Arcana | Relapse Records | Atmospheric Black Metal | United States
The Cascadian black metal titans return from their previously Lovecraftian affair with a more serpentine sound. They’ve stepped away from higher tempos into realms of dungeon synth and mid-paced, slithering, black metal. They’re as theatrical as they’ve ever been, but time has slowed the hunters into elder statesmen content to graze the grasslands.
–Colin Dempsey
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Woman is the Earth — Dust of Forever | Init Records | Black Metal | United States
Woman is the Earth climb an increasingly stiff peak. Through hardcore-owing grooves the trio’s black metal arrives with an earthier tone than their atmosperic black metal contemporaries. As their music reaches its baited precipice, they release their pain into the valleys below.
–Colin Dempsey
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Deafheaven — Infinite Granite | Sargent House | Post-Black Metal | United States (San Francisco, CA)
Is it really that surprising that after fighting tooth and nail for the previous part of a decade against purists who wanted to see them burn for desecrating their genre, despite offering some of the most interesting expressions of black metal in recent memory, Deafheaven would end up making what feels like a strong tribute to The Cure?
–Colin Dempsey
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Necronautical — Slain in the Spirit | Candlelight Records | Black Metal | United Kingdom
Powerfully and technically wrought black metal with strong, evocative harmonies created with both guitars and symphonic strings contributing. With the heavy melodic and symphonic emphasis, it might seem odd to find a Slayer cover closing out the album, but it’s “Disciple,” and it just… works.
–Ted Nubel
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Sarcoughagus — Delusions of the Sick | Maggot Stomp | Stoner + Death Metal | United States (Cleveland, OH)
So far, the evidence suggests that all stoner/death bands essentially rely on puns to exist, so nothing solidifies the gnarliness of such a band like a perfectly-tuned pun for a name. That, and the absolutely absurd guitar tones that vomit out of this album, combined with a gross (in a good way, of course) and high-tuned snare, really make for some mucked-up metal. It somewhat feels like HM-2 death metal run through a FZ-2 afterwards, and I’m okay with that.
–Ted Nubel
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Witchcryer — When Their Gods Come for You | Ripple Music | Heavy + Doom Metal | United States (Austin, TX)
Laden with a potent air of mystery, the supernatural appeal of this record is immediately obvious—but the riffs come too, and they don’t relent: “I Rise!” just smokes start to finish, for instance.
–Ted Nubel
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Ramihrdus — The Sorrow of the Evergreens | Anthrazit Records | Black Metal | United States
Epic and lo-fi are two facets that usually contradict each other. Strangely, they aren’t mutually exclusive. Ramihrdus exudes mastery in both regards; the “recorded-through-a-space-heater” production balances the journeyman-like songwriting, which combines raw black metal, dungeon synth window dressing, and acoustic folk with an urgency often lacking in similar projects.
–Colin Dempsey
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Arkenfire — Trials Through Time | Independent | Heavy + Power Metal | Canada (British Columbia)
One of power metal’s virtues as a genre is that its fans are more than okay with being goofy and off-the-wall, unconcerned about gatekeeping away “fun”: look at Helloween’s latest album, for instance. In the same vein, here’s an ambitious, if a little cheesy, heavy/power metal record that rides mighty riffs as it chases glory.
–Ted Nubel
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Tacoma Bridge Narrows Disaster — The World Inside | POST. Recordings | Post-Metal | United Kingdom
Snappy and clever post-metal: at times dreamlike and ambient, there’s no shortage of actual chunky and good riffs within that lend menace to the mystery. The heavier stuff weaves in and out of the punchy rhythmic scaffolding like, well, so much concrete shaking loose from a contorting bridge’s foundations, if we’re to compare it to the inspiration behind the band name.
–Ted Nubel
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