Upcoming Metal Releases: 7/20/2014 – 7/26/2014
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Metal bands don’t typically last. You know that going in. If you have a 10 year plan, you’re probably starting 10 years too late. However, some bands do last and it’s wondrous when it happens. Case in point, when Overkill released Feel the Fire in 1985, it raged. Nearly 30 years later, their 17th album, White Devil Armory, is licked by the same flames. Overkill have been a model example of how to mount a comeback, surviving thrash’s groove doldrums to find their sound again this decade.
The rest of this week’s bands are probably hoping for a similar killer career and they’re starting off well; though nearly everyone is ‘starting off’ compared to Overkill. The five album deep Martyrdöd are now finding the sweet spot of their sound, simultaneously broadening their scope while scooping away the fat. Elsewhere, Fórn‘s debut is a weighty slab that many will remember come year’s end. And Of Note has enough prospects to fill out an entire farm system. Boneyard belches, Fallujah are furious, and Gauntlet make their frets glow red hot. Sure, these groups don’t have Overkill’s trunk rings, but the same drive to endure is there. That’s what makes metal great.
NOTES: The previously listed trad romp that’s the Dagger and the longform (80-plus minutes) blargher Schammash will be hitting our shores this week. Click the links for details.
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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New metal releases for the week of 7/20/2014 – 7/26/2014. 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 Tuesday unless otherwise noted. Blurbs and designations are based on available promotional material and perceived buzz.
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Fórn – The Departure of Consciousness | Vendetta Records | Doom, sludge
Deafening and dirty doom with a blackened bite. Stream a track here.
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Martyrdöd – Elddop | Southern Lord Records | D-beat, crust
These Swedish punks turn up the epic while keeping songs tight.
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Monarch – Sabbracadaver | Profound Lore Records | Doom, drone
French slomo doom. Related to Year of No Light, Rainbow of Death, and Electric Funeral.
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Mutilation Rites – Harbinger | Prosthetic Records | Black metal
NYC evilness with an interest in stacking riffs. Stream a track here.
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Overkill – White Devil Armory | Nuclear Blast | Thrash
Album number 17 for these thrashers fronted by the unique Bobby Blitz.
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Rage Nucléaire – Black Storm of Violence | Season of Mist | Black metal
Lord Worm (ex-Cryptopsy) and company spit their second album of utter hate. Stream the full record here.
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Of Note:
Bastard Feast – Osculum Infame | Season of Mist | Sludge, crust, black metal
Vicious blasts built atop a core skeleton.
Boneyard – Fear of a Zombie Planet | Horror Pain Gore Death Productions | Death metal
Burpy death n’ roll from one of the brains behind Gruesome Stuff Relish.
Bowl Ethereal – Bowl Ethereal | Southern Lord Records | Metalcore
Instrumental, mathy chuggery. Imagine if Loincloth worked solely with core juds.
Corrupt Moral Altar – Mechanical Tides | Season of Mist | Grind
Buzzy grind with a punk/rocking bounce. Jeff Walker and Mitch Harris drop in for guest spots.
Empyrium – The Turn of the Tides | Prophecy Productions | Neofolk
A hushed dive into the depths of sorrow.
Exxxekutioner – Fear The Priest | Ulthar Records | Blackened thrash
An appropriately rough fix of speed that’s charred black.
Fallujah – The Flesh Prevails | Unique Leader Records | Deathcore
Expands the deathcore palette with technical excellence and a Vehemence-esque approach to death metal melodies.
Gauntlet – Birthplace of Emperor | Spiritual Beast | Power metal
An absolutely over-the-top shred fest from Japan.
Horse Latitudes / Ommadon / Coltsblood – Horse Latitudes / Coltsblood / Ommadon | Self-released | Doom, drone
A limited-press collection of cult doomers. Horse Latitudes contributes a Hellhammer cover. Coltsblood do an Amebix tune and add an original. Ommadon occupy an entire 24-minute side.
King of Asgard – Karg | Metal Blade Records | Viking metal
A burly Swedish basher with its nose buried in a book of Norse mythology.
Mamaleek – He Never Said A Mumblin’ Word | The Flenser | Black metal
Mysterious brothers from San Francisco experiment with blackened forms.
Nidsang – Into the Womb of Dissolving Flames | Pulverised Records | Black metal
Swedish black metal with a pleasingly old school approach and big production.
Norilsk – Japetus | Self-released | Doom, sludge
A Canadian duo that adds a touch of rock to their dirges.
Okkultokrati – Night Jerks | Fysisk Format | Punk, sludge
An amalgamation of punk-based genres blanketed in blackness. Related to Årabrot.
Omnihility – Deathscapes of the Subconscious | Unique Leader Records | Death metal
Unrelenting technical brutality from this quartet that counts Isamu Sato (ex-YOB, H.C. Minds) within the ranks.
The Wolves of Avalon – Boudicca’s Last Stand | Godreah Records | Pagan metal
Members of the Meads of Asphodel cut their second album of folky tales. Includes an Enslaved cover.
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Things We Missed:
• Black Metal
CemeteriuM – As Death Consumes the Earth (MEX, DSBM)
Goetic Equivalent – Goetic Equivalent (GRC, black metal)
• Core/Punk
Oak – Oak (SWE, hardcore, metalcore)
• Death Metal
Morbidity – Revealed from Ashes (BGD, death metal, old school death metal)
Reign Of Perdition – Fractured Reflections (GBR, progressive death metal)
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