Upcoming Metal Releases: 9/13/20 -- 9/19/20
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of September 13th to September 19th, 2020. 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.
Surprise Releases + Things We Missed
Ectoplasma — White-Eyed Trance | Desert Wasteland Productions | Death Metal | Greece
Reissue, but fuck it. What’s not to love about White-Eyed Trance: nothing. Everything about it is perfect. It is death metal that crawled up from the grave to rip your legs off. It is disgusting. It has badass riffs. It pummels like a motherfucker and does not abate. I cannot stop listening: bedroom, bathroom, office, car, sidewalk. Where I am, this album plays. Why? Because I love death metal. Thoughts concluded.
— Andrew Rothmund
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Meslamtaea — Geketend in de schaduw van het leven | Babylon Doom Cult Records | Black Metal | Netherlands
If you listen to one thing in this entire article, let it be this; if you stare at one album artwork in this entire article longer than two seconds, let it be this.
— Andrew Rothmund
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Raventale — Planetarium II | Ashen Dominion | Black Metal | Ukraine
Here’s the 11th full-length from this solo project — around since 2006, there’s a huge back-catalog to dig through to help put Planetarium II into context. Alone, too, the album stands strong: mighty huge and cinematic ascents toward lead-driven climaxes, it’s basically one big surging emotive “fuck yeah!” throughout. This album works especially well on the road, I might add, as great driving tunes.
— Andrew Rothmund
Upcoming Releases
SUMAC — May You Be Held | Thrill Jockey | Atmospheric Sludge | Canada
There’s something to be said for super-abstract, semi-descontructive, hyper-atmospheric sludge metal. Who does it best? Few, but SUMAC is one. May You Be Held is the band’s fourth full-length in just six years of existence — the band had well-matured before this date, and now this album feels especially postmodern in the scope of their work. Well done, friends, well done.
— Andrew Rothmund
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Intellect Devourer — Demons of the Skull | Caligari Records | Death Metal | Australia
From Jon Rosenthal’s premiere of Demons of the Skull:
The name being a bit of a fake-out (and perhaps featuring the occasional knuckle-dragging riff), Intellect Devourer’s multifaceted approach, ranging from early 1990s minimalism to all-out bass shred, offers a holistic approach to death metal. The project’s debut, Demons of the Skull is a masterful survey of death metal’s many faces and approaches, offered up by the actual masters themselves.
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Fires in the Distance — Echoes from Deep November | Prosthetic Records | Doom Metal | United States (Connecticut)
From Ted Nubel’s premiere of “The Lock and the Key”:
While Europe certainly has a robust stable of melodic death-doom to offer, Fires in the Distance offers an unchained addition to the other side of the pond. As punishing as it may be, there’s still a reverence for the careful structure and elegance that bolsters the genre’s best, making Echoes from Deep November a study in well-applied bombast.
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Dynfari — Myrkurs er þörf | code666 | Black Metal | Iceland
From Ivan Belcic’s premiere of “Ég tortímdi sjálfum mér”:
While tempestuous in its peaks, Myrkurs er þörf never lingers there for long — the scarcity and brevity of these segments combine to lend them even more power than they’d otherwise have. Dynfari measure their doses of aggression, teasing it out, then pulling back to regroup for another salvo. But compared to how their 2017 release The Four Doors of the Mind dwelled predominantly near post-rock terrain, Myrkurs er þörf places Dynfari much closer in touch with the black metal side of their collective personality.
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Raven — Metal City | Steamhammer | Speed + Heavy Metal | United Kingdom
Though their early albums gathered the most acclaim over the years, speed metal progenitors Raven have kept up an impressive pace — this’ll be their fourteenth studio album! Even if they’re no longer setting up the blueprints for fledgling metal subgenres, it’s tight, fast, and at just the right level of over-the-top.
— Ted Nubel
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Vatican Shadow — Persian Pillars of the Gasoline Era | 20 Buck Spin | Ambient + Electronic
Spooky vibes, yes, but not the Halloween kind. This gentle but invigorating ambient release suits 20 Buck Spin’s character well enough (and offers a nice counterpoint, too, to all the heavy metal): it’s dark, industrial, semi-crushing, and still… relaxing? I love the contrast, the dual emotional state it invigorates in me, the odd interplay between pleasure and tension, excitement and anxiety.
— Andrew Rothmund
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Plague Years — Circle of Darkness | eOne | Hardcore + Death Metal | United States (Michigan)
Nonstop, unrelenting crossover death metal that can knock you on your ass even at its slowest moments. The intermixing of tempos and pacing is precisely calibrated for pure pit-destroying, headbanging-ready potential.
— Ted Nubel
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Napalm Death — Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism | Century Media | Crusty Grindy Death Metally Goodness | United Kingdom
Dude, it’s fuckin’ Napalm Death.
— Andrew Rothmund
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The Infernal Sea — Negotium Crucis | Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings | Black Metal | United Kingdom
Get your chainmail ready, because we’re going back to the Middle Ages. Negotium Crucis explores the Knights Templar and the Crusades in hoarse, sadistic black metal that leans into black n’ roll for some spectacularly gruesome mid-tempo segments.
Stay tuned for more on this album later this week.
— Ted Nubel
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Ancst — Summits of Despondency | Napalm Records | Black Metal | Germany
Eh, I’m not really into this band’s sound, to be totally blunt, but this new release definitely feels energetic and well arranged. I can see Summits of Despondency pleasing standing fans of Ancst, but if you weren’t into them before (like me), it probably won’t win you over.
— Andrew Rothmund
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