This week's new heavy metal releases include a Cavalera family album, a shape shift from some shapeshifters, a thrashy good time, and more! To the metals…
Angelus Apatrida – Aftermath
Genre: Thrash
Origin: Albacete, La Mancha, Spain
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Amazon
Starting this week with some thrashy madness. This is a throwback to the lesser known bands of classic thrash, so your getting lots of aggression and an almost hardcore vocal delivery. They're bringing some pretty snazzy guests with them like Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed), Todd La Torre (Queensryche), and more.
The Callous Daoboys – God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys
Genre: Mathcore
Origin: Atlanta, Georgia
Label: MNRK Heavy
Buy now on Bandcamp
The damn near impossible to pin down Callous Daoboys are brining us a trio of new tracks that seemly are constructed to defy expectations. As you can see above, I settled with mathcore as a foundation for the sound here, but they dip their toes into jazz, Deftones-esque nu metal, 90's club music, 00's metalcore, and more. This EP feels like a tease, but it excites me to hear what's next.
Cirith Ungol – Dark Parade
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Ventura, California
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Bandcamp
The band's second record of their reunion has everything you'd want from these old school heavy metal dudes. You're getting soaring vocals, lots of harmonized guitar, and head bang-able rhythms. You know how an older band will drop new albums and the new songs trickle into sets that ultimately serve as beer breaks for the audience? These new tracks are not beer breaks.
Go Ahead And Die – Unhealthy Mechanisms
Genre: Death/groove metal
Origin: Phoenix, Arizona
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon
The Max Cavalera family band is back with another record of groovy heaviness. Max and his son Igor are teaming with drummer Johnny Valles (Goreshack, ex-Skeletal Remains) this time and the trio work well together. The more death metal oriented sound will likely hook some the groove nay-sayers.
Myrkur – Spine
Genre: Folk/black metal
Origin: Copenhagen, Denmark
Label: Relapse
Buy now on Bandcamp
In 2020 Amalie Brunn dropped the heaviness from the Myrkur sound and went full on folk on Folkesange. Spine brings SOME of the heaviness back, but it's definitely more in the experimental and ethereal realm. You're getting some blast beats again, but also some sequencers and borderline dance beats on a song or two. It feels like both a artist progression and a successful compromise with the fanbase.
Within Temptation – Bleed Out
Genre: Symphonic metal
Origin: Waddinxveen, South Holland, Netherlands
Label: Force Music
Buy now on Amazon
Concluding this entry with Within Temptation's first full-length in four years. A lot of these songs may be familiar to fans since they dropped them as stand alone singles as far back as "The Purge" in 2020. They're catchy and epic like you'd hope with some guest spots from Annisokay on a song and popping up producer Daniel Gibson throughout.
Also dropping this week…
- 20 Watt Tombstone – The Chosen Few (Self-released) – Death clues
- Afterbirth – In But Not Of (Willowtip) – Progressive/brutal death metal
- Aldaaron – Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths (Paragon Records) – Folk/black metal
- The Amenta – Plague Of Locusts (Debemur Morti) – Industrial/death metal
- Animamortua – Gods Among Us (Underground Symphony Records) – Progressive/power metal
- Appalooza – The Shining Son (Ripple Music) – Stoner rock
- Archangel – Total Dark Sublime (Scarlet Records) – Punk/thrash
- Atlas – Built To Last (Metalapolis Records) – AOR
- Blink-182 – One More Time… (Columbia) – Pop punk
- Bloodred Hourglass – How's The Heart? (Out Of Line Music) – Melodic death metal/thrash
- Boys Like Girls – Sunday At Foxwoods (Fearless) – Rock/emo
- Carpool Tunnel – Don't Let Them Pass You By (Pure Noise) – Stoner
- Catch Your Breath – Shame On Me (Thriller Records) – Metalcore
- Clowns – Endless (Fat Wreck Chords) – Hardcore
- Cronies – L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST (Reptilian Records) – Grunge
- Cult Burial – Reverie Of The Malignant (Self-released) – Death metal/doom
- Death Pose – Midnight Society (Brutal Panda) – Punk/post-hardcore
- Dirty Sound Magnet – Dreaming In Dystopia (Wild Thing) – Psychedelic/progressive rock
- Display of Decay – Vitriol (Gore House Productions) – Death metal
- Dog Eat Dog – Free Radicals (Self-released) – Hardcore/rap
- Dreamwell – In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You (Prosthetic) – Screamo/post-hardcore
- Elegy Of Madness – XI (Scarlet) – Symphonic metal
- Entierro – The Gates Of Hell (Self-released) – Heavy metal
- Game Over – Hellframes (Scarlet Records) – Thrash
- Helgrindur – Helgrindur (Self-released) – Folk metal
- Hippie Death Cult – Helichrysum (self-released) – Doom/stoner
- Hold My Own – My Way (Daze) – Hardcore
- Hounskull – The Faces Of Evil (Self-released) – Psychedelic metal
- The Iron Roses – The Iron Roses (Iodine) – Hardcore punk
- Johan Kihlberg's Impera – Scandinavium Alive (Metalville) – Hard rock/heavy metal
- Knuckle Puck – Losing What We Love (Pure Noise) – Pop punk/emo
- Lalu – The Fish Who Wanted To Be King (Frontiers) – Progressive rock
- Lynch Mob – Babylon (Frontiers) – Rock
- Marthe – Further In Evil (Southern Lord) – Heavy metal/doom
- Duff McKagan – Lighthouse (The World Is Flat) – Rock
- Owdwyr – Receptor (Self-released) – Grindcore/progressive death metal
- Oxymorrons – Melanin Punk (Mascot Label Group) – Rap rock
- Ozric Tentacles – Lotus Unfolding (KScope) – Progressive rock
- Plaguestorm – Empty Eyes EP (Noble Demon) – Melodic death metal
- Putrid Torso – Trails Of Hypnotized Human Veins (Pathologically Explicit Recordings) – Brutal death metal
- Rival Sons – Lightbringer (Low Country Sounds/Atlantic) – Hard rock
- Slowburn – Fire Starter (Fighter) – Heavy metal
- Solemn Vision – Despite The Rise Of The Sun (Black Lion) – Melodic death metal
- Stomach – Parasite (Hibernation Release) – Doom/hardcore
- Sylvatica – Cadaver Synod (Mighty Music) – Melodic death/folk metal
- Temperance – Hermitage – Daruma's Eyes Pt. 2 (Napalm) – Modern/symphonic metal
- Trounce – The Seven Crowns and Live at Roadburn (Hummus Records) – Black metal/punk
- Unverkalt – A Lump Of Death: A Chaos Of Dead Lovers (Argonauta Records) – Post-metal
- War Curse – Confession (Blacklight) – Heavy metal/thrash
- Wratheon – Becoming Nil (Seek And Strike) – Black metal/thrash
