Upcoming Metal Releases 10/1/2017-10/7/2017
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I’m rushing this one, but I’m also turning it in a little early before going on another little trip (hello from September 24th!). Bye.
Here are the new metal releases for the week of October 1, 2017 – October 7, 2017. Release dates are formatted according to proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see the bulk of these records on shelves or distros on Friday unless otherwise noted or if labels and artists get impatient. Blurbs and designations are based on whether or not I have a lot to say about it.
See something we missed? Goofs? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging.
As a little bit of a challenge, include your own opinion about anything you want to add. Make me want to listen to it!
Please note: this is a review column and is not speculative. Any announced albums without preview material will not be covered. Additionally, any surprise releases which are uploaded or released after this column is published will be excluded.
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ANTICIPATED RELEASES
Ewigkeit – Battle Furies 2.017 | Svart Records/DTM | Experimental Black Metal | England
Ewigkeit has never gotten the recognition they (he?) have deserved. James “Mr. Fog” Fogarty, now of seminal avant-metal act In the Woods…, has spent the last twenty years crafting some especially enthralling, keyboard-laden fantasy atmospheres. Of course, in the style of the ’90s, Ewigkeit revels in violence and battle sounds, suddenly rending any fantastic elements in blood and iron. Revisiting his debut, now reaching the two decade mark itself, the re-recorded version of Battle Furies offers a clarification of Fogarty’s initial vision.
Dawn Ray’d – The Unlawful Assembly | Feast of Tentacles/Halo of Flies/Prosthetic Records | Black Metal | England
Anarchy? In my folkish black metal? It’s more likely than you think, and equally as refreshing.
Dreadnought – A Wake in Sacred Waves | Sailor | Progressive Doom Metal | United States
From Andrew’s premiere of “Luminous Scale”:
Even as playfully complex as ever, Dreadnought remains stern-faced and resolute, making A Wake In Sacred Waves one of the more moving heavy releases this year.
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OF NOTE
The Black Dahlia Murder – Nightbringers | Metal Blade Records | Melodic Death Metal | United States
This might come as a shock to some, but I am of the opinion that The Black Dahlia Murder has never put out a bad album. There is this wonderful energy which surrounds and follows these Michiganders, and, while their riffing style might have been more of a static entity since their impetus fifteen or so years ago, there is nothing inherently wrong with it. That is, unless you don’t like having fun. I recently decided having fun is much more fun than not having fun.
Spirit Adrift – Curse of Conception | 20 Buck Spin | Doom Metal | United States
File under: doom bands which are perfectly fine, but Jon also doesn’t fully understand the immense amount of hype behind them. At least Spirit Adrift veers into some Priest-y riffwork (albeit very slow) which sets them apart from the usual Iommi worship.
Primitive Man – Caustic | Relapse Records | Sludge/Drone/Doom Metal | United States
Part of me loves Primitive Man, if just for their suffocatingly dense, thick darkness, but another part desires for some sort of variation. Though much more metal than other drone/doom bands, Primitive Man’s composition style still more closely resembles ambient and drone music than the dynamism of metal. It is intense, but there is no real adventure between the beginning and the end.
Blaze of Perdition – Conscious Darkness | Agonia Records | Black Metal | Poland
Blaze of Perdition shed a lot of weight on this one — no more of the mid-era Behemoth heaviness. This is pure, old school Polish black metal madness. Big, atmospheric, angry. I am truly enamored with this band’s sudden progression.
Lento – Fourth | ConSouling Sounds | Post-Metal | Italy
From Andrew’s premiereof “A penchant for persistency”:
[T]he album isn’t just a cacophony of ideas; rather, all elements share the same heightened emotional state. Fourth coheres on that “psych” level — a single wavelength of intensity undulating unusually and unpredictably. The headspace is mellow, but introspective and dynamic. Texture matters, too, but not at the expense of songwriting. Perhaps that is where Lento differs, molding two sometimes opposing philosophies into one powerful expression.
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FOR THE ADVENTUROUS
because only listening to metal is dumb
Nesseria – Cette érosion de nous-mêmes | Throatruiner Records | Metalcore/Post-Hardcore | France
Yes. I will take a large dose of screamo/post-hardcore in my metalcore, thank you.
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FROM THE GRAVE
Cosmic Void Ritual – The Excreted Remains of the Sabatier System | Blood Harvest | Death Metal | United States
Pretty nice death metal — kind of clumsy, very “spacey,” but the sudden influx of bands of this very niche style begs the question: did everyone listen to Paul Riedl’s two death metal successes and think, “Well, I can do this, too!” Not to their extreme discredit, but forced movements like this certainly paint extreme metal as a Temple Grandin-esque pre-slaughter contentment.
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OTHER RELEASES
Trapped Within Burning Machinery/Bloodmoon – Split | Midnite Collective | Sludge/Doom Metal | United States
I mean, both bands are really heavy, but that’s about all I can say. I’d rather my sludge/doom bands go the ignorantly heavy and scalding way of Grief than this new wave of atmospheric misery.
Haemorrhage – We Are the Gore | Relapse Records | Goregrind | Spain
These longstanding goregrinders have most certainly earned the right to title this album as such. Hope you like your grind slimy and fucking gross.
Fireball Ministry – Remember the Story | Cleopatra | Stoner Metal/Hard Rock | United States
Part of me thinks, “you know, Fireball Ministry sounds like every other stoner metal and/or hard rock band out there,” but the angel on my shoulder reminds me that former Kyuss bass wizard Scott Reeder’s inclusion might just put them on the map again.
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