This week's new heavy metal releases include crushing slow metal, a few genre jumpers, a couple old faithfuls and more! To the metals…
ALSO! Today, Bandcamp is doing one of their days of giving 100% of what you pay directly to the labels and artists as Covid-19 Pandemic relief. So if you can get stuff from Bandcamp, please do. Or get some stuff over via Gimme Metal.
Armed For Apocalypse – Ritual Violence
Genre: Sludge/death metal
Origin: Chico, California
Label: Candlelight
Starting things off real heavy this week. The first full-length in almost a decade from these fellas is nasty in the best way. It may just be because they have a song with "phlegm" in the title. Gross. Anyway, this has a fair amount of crunchy mid-tempo grooves, but the money is when things slow down. Get it on vinyl here via Gimme Metal.
Caustic Casanova – Glass Enclosed Nerve Center
Genre: Experimental stoner/hard rock
Origin: Washington, DC
Label: Magnetic Eye
Buy now on Bandcamp
Here is a fun, weird one that's right up my alley. You're getting a dynamic range of genres and vibes that is ultimately anchored in at a riffy center. This is like a blend of Like Mastodon, Baroness, Brutus, Queens of the Stone Age, and The Dead Weather. Get it on CD and vinyl here via Gimme Metal.
Cloud Rat – Threshold
Genre: Grindcore
Origin: Pleasant, Michigan
Label: Artofffact Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
If you want some gritty chaos, but you're on a time crunch then the latest from Cloud Rat is the one for you this week. These songs are explosive, brief, intense, and dense. This is certainly one you'll need multiple listens with to catch everything. Get it on CD and vinyl here via Gimme Metal.
Fucked Up – Oberon
Genre: Art punk/experimental
Origin: Toronto, Ontario
Label: Tankcrimes
Buy now on Bandcamp
Canada's every-genre-under-the-sun-but-let's-just-say-art-punk Fucked Up has returned after last year's stellar Year of the Horse with four tracks of artsy hardcore. These songs are less lengthy than those on Horse, but they are just as adventurous. This band is mighty prolific and a hard one to keep up with, but trying is very rewarding. Get it on vinyl here.
Goatwhore – Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven
Genre: Blackened thrash/death metal
Origin: New Orleans, Louisiana
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Bandcamp
Goatwhore's first record in half a decade is a whirlwind of blackened thrash. Tremolo picking, blast beats, and darkness non-stop. This album sounds like leather and spikes. Jeff has a full review here. Get it on vinyl here.
Lamb Of God – Omens
Genre: Groove metal
Origin: Richmond, Virginia
Label: Epic
Lamb of God's ninth (sort of their eleventh, but whatever) album is everything you'd want from a Randy and the fellas. Mark and Willie do that one really good high chord (you know the one), the riffs are killer, and the grooves get your body hopping. The title-track features some friends from Body Count, Cold Cave, H2O, and Youth Code which is fun. Shaun's review is here. Get it on CD and vinyl here via Gimme Metal.
Liturgy – As the Blood of God Bursts the Veins of Time
Genre: Experimental black metal
Origin: Brooklyn, New York
Label: Thrill Jockey
Buy now on Bandcamp
I Love a surprise release that doesn't drop on a Friday so I have time to write about it. This dropped Wednesday, so the headline should read "10/7-ish". Anyway, the EP features four tracks of black metal tracks with all sorts of fun noises added in. There are glitches that made me think my laptop was crashing, synths, bells, and more. This ought to hold you over until the full album drops next March.
Sky Pig – It Thrives In Darkness
Genre: Doom/sludge
Origin: Sacramento, CA
Label: Forbidden Place Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
After a pair of really solid EPs, Sky Pig are finally making an impact with their first full-length album. This debut is six tracks of lurching heaviness that takes inspiration from Melvins, Yob, and all things low and slow.
Charlotte Wessels – Tales from Six Feet Under, Vol. II
Genre: Gothic metal/pop
Origin: Zwolle, Netherlands
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Bandcamp
Like last year's Tales from Six Feet Under, Vol. I, Vol. II has the former Delain vocalist exploring more genres that you may not expect from her. Fans of her former band will still get some symphonic metal, but there are also some sweeping acoustic tracks, a sorta-blackened synth track, and more. Get it on vinyl here via Gimme Metal.
Also dropping today…
- Aenaon – Mnemosyne (Agonia Records) – Experimental/progressive black metal
- The Antichrist Imperium – Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory (Apocalyptic Witchcraft) – Progressive black/death metal
- Borealis – Illusions (AFM) – Power/progressive metal
- Bush – The Art Of Survival (BMG) – Rock/post-grunge
- Coffin Torture – Blennoid (Sludgelord Records) – Death metal/sludge
- Counterparts – A Eulogy For Those Still Here (Pure Noise Records) – Metalcore/hardcore
- The Cult – Under The Midnight Sun (Black Hill) – Hard rock/post-punk
- De Profundis – The Corruption Of Virtue (Transcending Obscurity Records) – Death metal
- Diabology – Father Of Serpents (Dissonant Hymns Records) – Black metal/thrash
- Ellefson-Soto – Vacation In The Underworld (Rat Pak) – Heavy metal
- Ensanguinate – Eldritch Anatomy (Emanzipation Productions) – Death metal
- Faith In Jane – Axe To Oak (Grimoire Records) – Stoner metal
- Faustian – Faustian (Black Lion Records) – Black/death metal
- Get The Shot – Merciless Destruction (New Damage) – Thrash/death metal
- Gillian Carter – Salvation Through Misery (Skeletal Lightning) – Screamo
- Ginger Wildheart & The Sinners – Ginger Wildheart & The Sinners (Wicked Cool) – Rock
- Gldn – Hemophilia (Self-released) – Industrial/punk
- Jivebomb – Primitive Desires (Flatspot Records) – Hardcore
- Keiji Haino & Sumac – Into This Juvenile Apocalypse Our Golden Blood To Pour Let Us Never (Thrill Jockey Records) – Noise
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava (KGLW) – Psychedelic
- Languish – Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation (Prosthetic) – Blackened death metal/grindcore
- Lost In Kiev – Rupture (Pelagic) – Post-rock
- Major Parkinson – Valesa – Chapter 1: Velvet Prison (Apollon) – Progressive rock
- Memories Of A Lost Soul – Redefining Nothingness (My Kingdom Music) – Progressive death metal
- Midnight Rider – Beyond The Blood Red Horizon (Massacre) – Heavy metal
- NeroArgento – Land of Silence (Rockshots Records) – Grunge/industrial
- Parius – The Signal Heard Throughout Space (Willowtip) – Progressive metal
- postcards from new zealand – liminal space (Self-released) – Black metal/experimental
- Queensryche – Digital Noise Alliance (Century Media) – Progressive/heavy metal
- Ritual Dictates – No Great Loss (Artoffact Records) – Rock
- Saving Vice – Dichotomy (Self-released) – Metalcore
- Statement – Dreams From The Darkest Side (Mighty Music) – Hard rock
- Sudden Deaf – Havoc (Self-released) – Heavy metal/stoner
- Suspyria – The Valley Of Despair (693570 Records) – Alternative metal
- Teramaze – Flight Of The Wounded (Wells) – Progressive
- Terror Cell – Caustic Light (Fisher King Records) – Mathcore
- Various Artists – A Future Of Bad Men: A Melvins Tribute (Black Donut) – Various/Melvins covers
- Upon Your Grave – Gold & Decay (Self-released) – Melodic death metal
- Wednesday 13 – Horrifier (Napalm Records) – Horror punk/heavy metal
