Upcoming metal releases: March 2011

March 2, 2011

. . .

First, check out the artwork above for Jag Panzer’s Scourge of the Light. (Click to enlarge, artist commentary here.) It’s by Justin Yun. Ain’t it somethin’? Normally I’m not into fantasy artwork, but Yun is amazing with it. His stuff takes me to another place. Check out his work at his blog. His clients are big-time – UFC, Monday Night Football, the US Air Force – so it’s cool that he’d work for a metal band.

Second, if I’ve learned anything from doing this site, it’s that it’s impossible to please everyone. You guys are totally divided into camps: only grind/sludge (hi, Decibel board!); conservative, early-stuff-was-better types; NWN/Hells Headbangers/Incantation clone-loving/prefer Dio Sabbath to Ozzy Sabbath types; no-death-metal-or-metal-with-singing skinny jeans types; only-death-and-black-metal folks; only-black-metal-and-noise folks; and so on. What’s frustrating is that there’s a bit of me in all those camps. But I don’t belong to camps. That’s just my policy.

So here’s another update about upcoming releases that’ll get everyone riled up. “There’s no this”. “There’s no that”. “I don’t look forward to any of these”. I just say, “You’re missing out”. Many talented bands are making good music today. They’re fighting tough circumstances: an oversaturated market, the weight of the canon, the human tendency to resist what’s unknown. Take a chance on one of them; the cost is just the time to download, right? The walls of your camp might expand a little.

— Cosmo Lee

. . .

For the “full” (i.e., compiled to the best of our limited ability) calendar of releases, see here.
Use the Agenda view on the top right, and click on entries to expand and collapse them.

. . .

SHOULD RULE HARD

. . .

No big surprises here – we’ve premiered/streamed music from four of these records (Grayceon, KEN Mode, Maruta, Northless) – except for the fact that there’s little here in the way of “metal”. There’s a lot of -core, and I’m not even into -core. But these are (likely) good records, and I like good records.

Grayceon – All We Destroy (3/1)
KEN Mode – Venerable (3/15)
Mamiffer – Mare Decendrii (3/15)
Maruta – Forward into Regression (3/8)
Meek Is Murder – Algorithms (3/22)
Northless – Clandestine Abuse (3/15)
Pale Chalice – Afflicting the Dichotomy of Trepid Creation (3/8)
Rotten Sound – Cursed (3/15)
Trap Them – Darker Handcraft (3/1)
Wino – Adrift (North American release) (3/8)

. . .

Mamiffer – We Speak in the Dark (clip) by H.H.R.

. . .

MIGHT RULE HARD

. . .

Blood Ceremony are another entry in the “female-fronted occult rock/metal” field that’s somehow become hip. Like most of the stuff I’ve heard, it seems earnest but a little flat. Only Jex Thoth and the first Devil’s Blood EP have given me the magickal vibe I think these bands are going for.

Aerial Ruin – Valleys of the Earth (3/15)
American Heritage – Sedentary (3/1)
Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising (3/29)
Assaulter (Aus) – Boundless (3/15)
Blood Ceremony – Living with the Ancients (3/1)
Bloodiest – Descent (3/29)
Firebird – Double Down (3/1)
Iskald – The Sun I Carried Alone (3/29)
Jag Panzer – The Scourge of the Light (3/8)
Lifelover – Sjukdom (3/15)

. . .

MILD THRASH DISAPPOINTMENTS

. . .

Assassin break a six-year silence (25 years if all they are to you is 1986’s minor classic The Upcoming Terror) with a competent thrash outing. But “competent” is no longer the bar these days; its just the baseline. Destruction have some ripping tunes on Day of Reckoning. They sound like they’re chugging Red Bulls and Viagras in an attempt to stave off aging, but the plastic production kills the vibe. A hungry band needs hungry-sounding production.