Upcoming Metal Releases 11/6/2016 - 11/12/2016

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Here are the new metal releases for the week of November 6, 2016 – November 12, 2016. 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.

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ANTICIPATED RELEASES

Deathspell Omega – The Synarchy of Molten Bones | Norma Evangelium Diaboli | Technical/Avant-Garde Black Metal | France/Finland
Deathspell Omega is back. Thank god. Everyone has offered their fifteen-paragraph opinions, so I’ll keep my trap shut so you don’t have to read yet another one. I hated Drought, but this is good. I needed this.

Selvans/Downfall of Nur – Selvans / Downfall of Nur | Avantgarde Music | Atmospheric Black Metal | Italy/Argentina

From my premiere of the split.

“I feel like I’ve touched on this before, but good, and I mean good, split pairings are few and far between nowadays. Having proven their worth in the oversaturated world of Internet-age atmospheric black metal, Avantgarde Records powerhouses Selvans and Downfall of Nur team up in a concept album which is both collaborative and a split release. Centering around the Sun and Moon’s ceremony of opposites, this duo’s scathing, beautiful takes on black metal both complement and supplement each other.”

Saor – Guardians | Northern Silence Productions | Atmospheric Folk/Black Metal | Scotland
I think I get Saor, which is something I felt would have happened years ago. Multi-instrumentalist Andy Marshall has always had an ear for big, epic textures, but Guardians is Saor at its stateliest. The near infinite layers of guitars, violin, keyboards, and folk instruments on previous efforts created gorgeous atmospheres, but it was just a large wall of melodic mud. There’s big market for atmospheric black metal mud, but the best bands offer guidance with big melodies – something to move the music forward. Now it all makes sense.

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OF NOTE

Chhinnamasta – Vajra-Sarpa | Tour de Garde/Iron Bonehead Productions | Black Metal | India
You don’t hear about black metal from India too often, but Chhinnamasta has made me dive headfirst into the “country specific” search on Metal-Archives. Vajra-Sarpa is murky, ugly Filosofem-era Burzum worship of the highest order: hypnotic, fuzzy, and enveloping.

Clouds – Departe | Independent/Digital | Atmospheric Doom Metal | England/Finland/Netherlands/Faroe Islands/Belgium
It’s been a great year for doom metal if you take it melodramatic, syrupy and overwrought. With a lineup like this, how could Clouds be anything but quality?

Rudra – Enemy of Duality | Transcending Obscurity Records | Folk/Black/Death Metal | Singapore
Part of me avoided Rudra for years because I half expected something corny and caricature-esque. As it turns out, Rudra’s mixture of blackened death metal and exotic melody is catchier than it is “corny.” I have to make up for lost time.

Moonknight/Rhuith – To Love is to Destroy | Tour de Garde | Atmospheric Black Metal/Experimental Black Metal | United States/Italy
Moonknight has more than proven his quality in the world of atmospheric black metal these past four years, and his half of this excellent split is by far his most multi-faceted work to date, but the real star of this split is the surprise return of Italian psychotic pop/black metal hermit Rhuith. I was wondering where he had gone to.

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Papa M – Highway Songs | Drag City | Slowcore/Singer/Songwriter/Classic Rock | United States
David Pajo is easily one of the most creative musicians of the past forty years. Forty years? Yes, forty years even seems slight when you were the mastermind behind Slint’s Spiderland. However, this new Papa M album is a far cry from Live from a Shark Tank‘s misery – it looks like Mr. Pajo learned a few tricks from classic rock.

A Tribe Called Quest – Title TBA | Independent | Hip-Hop | United States
I know nothing about this album other than a) it is happening, b) it is the final instance of the classic lineup (RIP Phife Dawg) and c) there will be no more A Tribe Called Quest after this. We hadn’t heard from them in a long time, 18 years to be exact, so hopefully this will be a fitting epitaph.

Fause Knicht – Demo I | Tour de Garde | Dungeon Synth | United States
There’s a lot of “castle metal” out there, but Fause Knicht just sounds like a castle, or at least recollections of the hours we all spent playing Castlevania.

Lunar Womb – The Sleeping Green | Tour de Garde | Dungeon Synth | Finland
Moonsorrow’s Henri “TrollHorn” Sorvali surprised the “blogosphere” when he uploaded this gem from 1995 to Bandcamp. The “dungeon synth” style has certainly picked up some sped lately, so it’s interesting to hear elements of the style from its impetus, especially from such a creative mind. A bit of incentive: the tape edition pressed by Tour de Garde has a special, physical-only bonus track.

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Enslaved – The Sleeping Gods – Thorn | ByNorse | Progressive Viking/Black Metal | Norway
This is worth it just for Thorn, which is definitely the last great gasp from the once mighty Enslaved. All killer, no “prog” filler.

Gloam – Hex of Nine Heads | Gilead Media | Atmospheric Black/Doom Metal | United States
I actually premiered this one last year, but now those who dislike tapes can get it on vinyl through Gilead Media.

Order of Darkness – Order of Darkness | Tour de Garde | Black Metal | Unknown (probably Netherlands or Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Order of Darkness’s self-titled demo was initially released on the prolific, obscure The Throat label earlier this year, and, as expected from releases on this tape label, is harsh, subtle, filthy black metal.

Graveland – Carpathian Wolves | Dread Records | Black Metal | Poland
Thousand Swords gets all the glory for Graveland’s black metal era, leaving Carpathian Wolves to wallow in its shadow. Take the time to dig a little further with this latest addition to Dread Records’s Graveland cassette series.

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Freedom Call – Master of Light | Steamhammer | Power Metal | Germany
It’s too cold out to wear battle armor, but you could always try.

Lethal Siege – Demo I | Tour de Garde | Black Metal/Punk | United States
The world still misses Bone Awl, but there are certainly quality bands like Lethal Siege who carry the torch.

Gwyllgi – Demo I: Fields of Sorrow and Demo II: Skies of Ruin | Tour de Garde | Black Metal | Unknown
Coffin Shade – Demo I | Tour de Garde | Depressive Black Metal | United States/Poland
Gwyllgi’s bandcamp page utilizes the “cold black metal” tag, and it is very, very fitting.

Démonos – From Sacred to Profane | Tour de Garde | Black Metal | India
Big, raunchy, feral rage from the Far East.

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