This week's new heavy metal releases include a lot of bands that start with D, a very unique sound combination, a music video shot on smartphone in portrait mode, and more! You can also check out select new releases here on vinyl via Gimme Metal. Now to the metals…
Darkthrone – Astral Fortress
Genre: Black metal
Origin: Vinterbro/Trysil Norway
Label: Peaceville
Getting this party started with the perfect jams for your the Halloween weekend. This is assuming your weekend will be spent wandering a forest. The production is raw and a lot of the visuals seem understated, but the music doesn't need anything fancy to present some of the masters still on top of their game. Get it here via Gimme Metal.
Dead Cross – II
Genre: Thrash/hardcore
Origin: Southern California
Label: Ipecac
The frantic supergroup that's half Retox and half Mr. Bungle is back with their second album aptly titled II. The fast parts are breakneck and when things slow down, they get real creepy and weird. So, you know, another solid entry in Mike Patton's heavy catalog. Get it here via Gimme Metal.
Demon Hunter – Exile
Genre: Metalcore/alternative metal
Origin: Seattle, Washington
Label: Weapons MFG
After some delays, this outfit's dozenth album has arrived. It seems to lean further into alternative influences, but will still get your head bobbing. Some solid guests on this like Tom from Evergrey, Richie from Judas Priest, and Max from Soulfly. Frank has a chat with Ryan Clark here talking about those guests and more. Get it here via Gimme Metal.
Dr. Acula – Dr. Acula
Genre: Deathcore
Origin: Long Island, New York
Label: Silent Pendulum Records
Buy now from Bandcamp
It's been a decade since these deathcore weirdos have descended on our eardrums. This is a noisy chaotic one, but it seems more straightforward than the Below Me era of the band. I guess you could say it seems more "mature," even though the song titles are Goosebumps book titles.
Hoaxed – Two Shadows
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Portland, Oregon
Label: Relapse Records
This is a really cool one. This duo has haunting melodies combined with dynamic song writing, sweet riffs, and spooky vibes. You're getting a little Myrkur, a little Ghost, and a lil Americana twang. Get it here via Gimme Metal.
Polyphia – Remember That You Will Die
Genre: Progressive metal/rock
Origin: Plano, Texas
Label: Rise
Buy from Polyphia
Polyphia have returned to make you feel like an absolute failure at guitar once again. This time they brought some pretty rad friends to help. Chino Moreno (Deftones), Steve Vai, Brasstacks, and more all make appearances. A standout on the album is the collaboration with Sophia Black, "ABC." It made me want an entire album from this combo.
Thotcrime – D1G1T4L_DR1FT
Genre: Experimental/grindcore
Origin: Champaign-Urbana, IL/Philadelphia, PA/Nottingham, England
Label: Prosthetic
Concluding this week's Weekly with a brief, but very dense album of wonderful mayhem. This has grindcore rage, Horse The Band-esque Nintendocore beeps and boops, and moments of catchy as hell pop that bring some of Madonna's Confessions of a Dance Floor to mind. I don't know of any other acts that make me think of Madonna AND Horse The Bands, so kudos to these geniuses. Get it here via Gimme Metal.
Also dropping today…
- Abyssic – Brought Forth In Inquity (Osmose Productions) – Symphonic death metal/doom
- Antropofagus – Origin (Agonia Records) – Brutal death metal
- Brant Bjork – Bougainvillea Suite (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Stoner
- Blacklist – Afterworld (Profound Lore Records) – Dark metal/post-punk
- Bones – Vomit (Disorder Recordings) – Death metal/crust
- Buzzherd/Pale Horseman – Split (Self-released) – Sludge
- Chaoist – Annul (Wormholedeath) – Black metal
- Cinderblock – Breathe The Fire (WAR Records) – Hardcore
- The Damned – A Night Of A Thousand Vampires (earMusic) – Punk
- Deadbody – The Requiem (Closed Casket Activities) – Groove metal
- Defleshed – Grind Over Matter (Metal Blade) – Thrash/death metal
- Devenial Verdict – Ash Blind (Transcending Obscurity Records) – Brutal death metal
- Devil's Witches – In All Her Forms (Majestic Mountain) – Heavy metal/psychedelic
- Fire From the Gods – Soul Revolution (Better Noise Music) – Rap metal
- Fit For A King – The Hell We Create (Solid State) – Metalcore
- Forlesen – Black Terrain (I, Voidhanger) – Ambient/doom
- The Gloom In The Corner – Trinity (SharpTone Records) – Metalcore
- Ground Habitual – Self-Abuse (Hibernation Release) – Grindcore
- Hell Theater – S'Accabadora (Wormholedeath) – Heavy metal/thrash
- Hiss From The Moat – The Way Out Of Hell (Distortion Music Group) – Death/black metal
- The Hunna – The Hunna (Believe) – Rock
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Changes (KGLW) – Psychedelic
- Lightlorn – These Nameless Worlds (Self-released) – Black metal
- MindAhead – 6619 – Part 1 (Self-released) – Melodic death/progressive metal
- Morbikon – Ov Mournful Twilight (Tankcrimes) – Black metal/thrash
- The Mothermold – Flesh of My Flesh (Self-released) – Art punk/stoner rock
- Munroe's Thunder – The Black Watch (RFL) – Power metal
- Necromutilator – Oath Of Abhorrence (Osmose Productions) – Black metal/thrash
- Noctem – Credo Certe Ne Cras (MNRK Heavy) – Black/death metal
- Nocturnis – Unsegen (MDD) – Black metal
- Nostromo – Bucephale (Hummus Records) – Extreme metal
- Obsidious – Iconic (Season Of Mist) – Progressive/technical death metal
- October Ends – Phases (UNFD) – Alternative metal
- Palaye Royale – Fever Dream (Sumerian) – Rock/glam
- Powerful Systm – Endless Transformation (Wormholedeath) – Rock
- Psychonaut – Violate Consensus REality (Pelagic) – Post-metal
- Royal Hunt – Dystopia Part 2 (NorthPoint) – Power metal
- Shape Of Water – Amor Fati (Eclipse Records) – Electronic/alternative
- Show Me The Body – Trouble The Water (Loma Vista Recordings) – Industrial/hardcore
- Sickrecy – Salvation Through Tyranny (Selfmadegod Records) – Grindcore
- Silver Phantom – Crimson Cabaret (Uprising! Records) – Hard rock
- Slaughter The Giant – Depravity (Hammerheart Records) – Melodic death/black metal
- Sodom – 40 Years At War – The Greatest Hell Of Sodom (Steamhammer/SPV) – Sodom covering Sodom/thrash
- Solitary Experiments – Transcendent (Out Of Line Music) – Synthwave
- Soraia – Bloom (Wicked Cool) – Hard rock
- Sovereign Eagle – Sovereign Eagle (Filthy Note) – Rock
- Spell – Tragic Magic (Metal Blade Records) – Heavy metal/progressive
- Sxokondo – Altered Ego (Division Records) – Hardcore
- Teeth – 575 EP (Nuclear Blast) – Metalcore
- Them – Fear City (Steamhammer/SPV) – Heavy metal
- Theotoxin – Fragment : Totenruhe (AOP Records) – Black/death metal
- Throwing Bricks – The Burden (Tartarus Records) – Sludge/hardcore
- Triskelyon – Downfall (Moribund Records) – Thrash
- Joe Lynn Turner – Belly Of The Beast (Mascot) – Rock
- Universally Estranged – Dimension Of Deviant Clusters (Blood Harvest Records) – Death metal
- Vévaki – Fórnspeki (Season Of Mist) – Folk
- Who On Earth – Blame (Self-released) – Hard rock
- Worm – Bluenothing EP (20 Buck Spin) – Death metal/coom
