Upcoming Metal Releases 11/19/2017-11/25/2017

…

American readers: enjoy your day off from work. Retail workers: sorry about Friday. Indigenous people: sorry.

Here are the new metal releases for the week of November 19, 2017 – November 25, 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.

Some surprise releases which slipped through the cracks just after I finished writing this: Ulaan Passerine – The Landscape of Memory, The Elemental Chrysalis – Feathers of Lunation

…

ANTICIPATED RELEASES

Häive – Iätön | Eisenwald Tonschmiede | Atmospheric Black Metal | Finland
Ten years after Mieli Maassa, Varjosielu returns with a much fiercer, heavier album. More on this later.

Apologoethia – Pillars | Invictus Productions | Black/Death/Thrash Metal | United States
I could write about this now, or you could come back in an hour to read more.

Anguis Dei – Ad Portas Serpentium | Svart Records | Symphonic Black Metal | Japan
Psychotic symphonic black metal from Hell (Japan), featuring a cast of scene stalwarts. Again, check back in a few days for more.

…

…

OF NOTE

Meyhnach – Non Omnis Moriar | Osmose Productions | Black Metal | France
Black Legions outcast Willy “Meyhna’ch” Roussel has mired in isolation in the years following Mutiilation’s dissolution ten years ago. Returning with this new, eponymous project, Roussel’s frightening music becomes spider-esque, pitting Black Millennium-style riffs with industrial vastness and ambient seclusion.

Taake – Kong Vinter | Dark Essence Records | Black Metal | Norway
Taake’s evolution into a more progressive version of itself has resulted in a duality, and Hoest has mastered both halves, just… separately. The black metal existence, as atmospheric as ever, perfectly captures the album’s cover image. Blistering, cold, and ethereal. The other 50% is this new, much more avant-garde approach to which Hoest has sort of adapted. These grooves and strange, slithering riffs echo the legendary Carl-Michael “Czral” Eide in bombast and clanging clarity. However, these two elements are extraordinarily separated, suffering from what I so lovingly call “‘Black Rose Immortal’ syndrome.” Much like the fabled Opeth song, Hoest simply hits a big chord, lets it ring out, then moves onward to something unrelated. It’s jarring, and seemingly thrown together. The elements found within Kong Vinter are undeniably good, great, even, but this oil vs water separation of Hoest’s two halves keeps the album from being his newest triumph.

The Howling Void – The Darkness at the Edge of Dawn | Avantgarde Music | Funeral Doom Metal | United States
The Howling Void continues down the more atmospheric route laid forth by his last album, which means more chanting, less physical enormity in favor of spacious vastness.

Almyrkvi – Umbra | Ván Records | Black Metal | Iceland
People will probably check this out due to the location alone, but Almyrkvi’s immensity doesn’t draw from the same occultism and triangle-worship as its scene brethren. With a galaxy-sized chip on its shoulder, Umbra‘s haunting, interstellar black metal draws on wide emptiness and implied melodies to match its scene’s claustrophobia with complete agoraphobia.

…

OTHER RELEASES

Coscradh – Of Death and Delirium | Invictus Productions | Black/Death Metal | Ireland
There seems to be a trend in black/death metal in which artists actually… play what the style entails, which is great.

Degial – Predator Reign | Sepulchral Voice Records | Death Metal | Sweden
Imposing, pissed off metal of death. Definitely for fans of Morbid Angel who will probably hate that band’s impending new album.

Sorxe – Matter & Void | Prosthetic Records | Post-Metal | United States
I mean, it’s post-metal!

Sortilegia – Sulphurous Temple | Ván Records | Black Metal | Canada
Somewhere between the minimalism of the more atmospheric end of early second wave black metal (we all know who I’m talking about) and death metal’s brawn and thickness. I suppose that could be reduced into general second wave worship in general, but it is nice to hear something just a tad denser and heavier this time around.

Norilsk – La passage des glaciers | Hypnotic Dirge Records | Doom/Death/Post-Metal | Canada
Trying to find a proper middle ground between death/doom and post-metal is tricky. How do you fully maintain a balance? Will the melodies which define Norilsk’s tragedy be lost in atmosphere? It seems like these Canadians are still trying to figure their problems out, but this effort is definitely their strongest yet.

…