This week's new heavy metal releases include OG doom, some divisive inclusions to my column, and more! You can also check out select new releases here on vinyl via Gimme Metal. Now to the metals…
-(16)- – Into Dust
Genre: Sludge
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Relapse
Buy now from Gimme Metal
Starting this week off with something quite heavy. If you're hoping for slow and huge riffs, then this is the one for you this week. Occasional guitar-monies keep this form being all bad vibes, but this is a dark one.
Astrosaur – Portals
Genre: Post-metal/math rock
Origin: Oslo, Norway
Label: Pelagic Records
Buy now from Bandcamp
Astrosaur are an instrumental band with no rules. I gave them a couple genre descriptors above, but Portals is so much more than that. Sludge, post-metal, progressive, thrash, shoegaze, kinda-sorta trance, and more are all present here.
Candlemass – Sweet Evil Sun
Genre: Doom
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden
Label: Napalm
Buy now from Gimme Metal
Long-time slow boys Candlemass are back with their thirteenth album and second since the return of Johan Längqvist. You're getting non-stop riffs paired with epic vocals. No real surprises here, but it's hard to not bob your head to this one.
Disturbed – Divisive
Genre: Alternative metal
Origin: Chicago, Illinois
Label: Reprise
Buy now from Gimme Metal
This is by no means a brutal record, but when the band decides to go hard they're heavier than Disturbed has been in a bit. The rest is pretty on par for a recent Disturbed released. Ann Wilson from Heart pops in on a song, which is a weird thing to happen, but honestly pretty cool.
Nickelback – Get Rollin'
Genre: Hard rock/post-grunge
Origin: Hanna, Alberta
Label: BMG
Buy now from Gimme Metal
There's a new Nickelback album out this week. It's called Get Rollin' and there's a song called "High Time" on it. There are other songs with some solid jams like this.
The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum (Act 1)
Genre: Alternative/art rock
Origin: Chicago, Illinois
Label: Martha's Music
Stream it and pre-order all three acts here
In 1995 The Smashing Pumpkins unleased the undeniable classic record Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. In 2000 they dropped the sequel album Machina/The Machines of God (which then also had its own sorta sequel album of b-sides). Now they are releasing the sequel to those in Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts and this is act one. Acts two and thee will be released next year. I'm curious to do a deeper dive on the lyrics and musical elements to hear reprises and stuff, but it just seems like such a daunting task.
Tallah – The Generation Of Danger
Genre: Nu/alternative metal
Origin: Pennsylvania
Label: Earache
Buy now from Gimme Metal
Tallah's sophomore record is wild. Musically you're getting something akin to Slipknot with breakdowns. Lyrically this is about a scientist forcing his employers "to take part in the greatest experiment the world of science has ever seen." You'll have to listen to find out what that means exactly.
Wolves At The Gate – Lowborn EP
Genre: Post-hardcore
Origin: Cedarville, Ohio
Label: Solid State
Buy now from the band
Wrapping this week with a little Christmas metal. This EP is five tracks and features none of the Santa Christmas stuff. You're getting an "O Holy Night," a "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" and the likes.
Also dropping today…
- 7MND – Cataclysm (Wall of Sound Records) – Progressive metal
- Amon Acid – Cosmogony (Helter Skelter Productions) – Psychedelic/doom
- Arc Of Life – Don't Look Down (Frontiers) – Prog rock
- Ronnie Atkins – Symphomaniac EP (Frontiers) – Heavy metal
- Aurora Borealis – Prophecy is the Mold in Which History is Poured (Hammerheart Records) – Blackened death metal
- Autograph – Beyond (Frontiers) – Hard rock
- Avandra – Prodigal (Layered Reality) – Progressive metal
- Blood Of The Wolf – IV: The Declaration Of War Eternal (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) – Blackened death metal
- Borders – Bloom Season (Arising Empire) – Metalcore
- Doomsday – Depictions Of Chaos (Creator-Destructor) – Thrash/crossover
- Enemy Eyes – History's Hand (Frontiers) – Heavy metal/hard rock
- Eskhaton – Horracle (Hells Headbangers) – Death metal
- Fields Of Regret – Fields Of Regret (Bassick Records) – Horror/gothic metal
- Foehammer – Monumentum (Silent Pendulum Records) – Doom
- Gaupa – Myriad (Nuclear Blast) – Psychedelic/doom
- Jaded Heart – Heart Attack (Massacre) – Melodic metal
- Kill Ritual – Kill Star Black Mark Dead Hand Pierced Heart (Massacre Records) – Thrash
- Laces Out – Here At The Ashram (Nefarious Industries) – Post-hardcore
- Nytt Land – Ritual: Blood of the West (Napalm Records) – Folk
- Omnifariam – The Summoning (Self-released) – Death metal
- Rising Steel – Beyond The Gates Of Hell (Frontiers) – Heavy metal
- Saint Asonia – Extrovert EP (Spinefarm) – Alternative metal
- Scars Of The Flesh – In Darkness Alone (Bonespill Recordings) – Progressive death metal
- Soen – Atlantis DVD/CD (Silver Lining) – Progressive
- Snøgg – Meltdown (Self-released) – Experimental black metal
- SteppenDoom – SteppenDoom (Magnetic Eye) – Doom
- Threshold – Dividing Lines (Nuclear Blast) – Progressive metal
- U.D.O. – The Legacy (AFM) – Heavy metal
- Visceral – The Tree of Venomous Fruit (Raging Planet Records) – Death metal
- We Are Magonia – Triangle Unicode (NewRetroWave Records) – Synthwave/industrial
