So, we’re back again. How was the week? Busy here and at one point I actually got to see the sun for once — made me happy. What’s got you excited this week? Nothing? Well, this week’s list of new metal is longer than the line waiting on summer vacation and hopefully this will lift the spirits. Leading us off this week is grindcore phenoms WAKE with their latest bunch of brutal, Misery Rites. Next up is Dead Empires who added a singer and managed to make their best hardcore / heavy as balls album yet with Designed to Disappear. Rolling on is Insect Ark with their stunning and unique horror soundtrackish / doom metal on Marrow Hymns and closing out the top spots is Huntsmen with American Scrap, an album that really surprised me with how it combines King Dude’s type of dark americana with razor sharp doom metal — trust me, this thing just works. There you have it, the intro is done but we are FAR from finished so keep reading, keep clicking and keep discovering.
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WAKE – Misery Rites (Translation Loss) – grind [feature review]
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Dead Empires – Designed to Disappear (Silent Pendulum Records) – rock / metal [full review, feature]
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Insect Ark – Marrow Hymns (Profound Lore) – atmospheric doom [full review]
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Huntsmen – American Scrap (Prosthetic Records) – americana metal
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Also on tap:
Absent – Towards the Void (World War Now Records) – sludge / doom
Affasia – Adrift in Remorse (Transcending Records) – atmospheric metal
Apostle of Solitude – From Gold to Ash (Cruz Del Sur Music) – doom metal [feature review]
Arkheth – 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew (Transcending Obscurity Records) – experimental black metal [feature review]
ÁRSTÍÐIR – Hvel (Season of Mist) – folk rock
Avon – Dave’s Dungeon (Heavy Psych Sounds) – desert rock
Avslut – Deceptis (Osmose Productions) – black metal
[B.Abuse] – Memories of Better Days Are Gone (WOOAAARGH) – post-crust
Battle Dagorath – Dark Dragons of the Cosmos / Frozen Light of Eternal Darkness, Box Set (Fólkvangr Records) – atmospheric black metal
Battlesoul – Sunward and Starward (CDN Records) – celtic metal
Beorn’s Hall – Estuary (Fólkvangr Records / Naturmacht Productions) – pagan black metal
Bhleg – Solarmegin (Nordvis Produktion) – folk metal
Blackwülf – Sinister Sides (Ripple Music) – heavy metal
Bleach Birth – Hatching Inside the Womb (Independent) – hardcore punk
Candle – The Keeper’s Curse (Fighter Records) – epic heavy metal
Climate of Fear – Holy Terror (Demons Run Amok) – hardcore
Cruthu – The Angle of Eternity (The Church Within Records) – doom
Deathwhite – For a Black Tomorrow (Season of Mist ) – melancholic doom
Demonomancy – Poisoned Atonement (Invictus Productions) – black / death
Destroyer 666 – Call of the Wild, EP (Season of Mist) – black / thrash
Drive By Wire – Spellbound (Argonauta Records) – stoner rock
Eye of Solitude / March Funebre – Split (Hypnotic Dirge Records) – doom
Fight the Fight – S/T (Blacklight Media / Metal Blade) – rock
Frost Koffin – Danger and Deliverance (Independent) – thrash / speed
Funerary Bell – Undead Revelations (Saturnal Records) – black metal
Ghoul Cult – S/T (Duplicate Records) – death / thrash
Gridfailure – Irritum (Independent) – experimental
Hammr – Unholy Destruction (Hells Headbangers) – speed metal
Hyborian – Vol. 1 (Season of Mist) – modern metal
Into the Storm / Smooth Sailing – Split (Independent) – heavy noise
Kaoteon – Damnatio Memoriae (Independent) – extreme metal
Keiji Haino & Sumac – American Dollar Bill – Keep Facing Sideways, You’re Too Hideous To Look At Face On (Thrill Jockey) – experimental noise
March Funebre – Into the Arms of Darkness, Reissue (Hypnotic Dirge Records) – doom
Maudlin – Sassuma Arnaa (Consouling Sounds) – post metal
Maze of Feelings – S/T (Bad Moon Man Music) – melodic death / doom
Necropanther – Eyes of Blue Light (Independent) – heavy metal
Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram (Century Media Records) – satanic death metal
Necrosexual – Grim 1 (Independent) – heavy metal [feature]
Old Mother Hell – S/T (Cruz Del Sur Music) – heavy metal
Omega Sun – Opium for the Masses, Vinyl Issue (On Parole) – fuzz / doom
Ov Shadows – The Darkness Between Stars (Black Market Metal Label) – black metal
Poem – Unique (Independent) – prog metal
Power from Hell – Blood ‘n’ Spikes (Dying Victims Productions) – black metal
Red Lama – Motions (All Good Clean Records) – psych / prog
Ritual King – Earthrise, EP (When Planets Collide Records) – sludge
Sacred Leather – Ultimate Force (Cruz Del Sur Music) – heavy metal
Scumpulse – Rotten (Gore House Productions) – grind
Shakma – House of Possession (Duplicate Records) – thrash
Spiny Normen – S/T (RidingEasy Records) – 70’s hard rock / psych prog
Stunted – Fault (Drwg Music) – garage rock
Tempting Fate – I’d Rather Burn, EP (Seek and Strike) – metal / rock
Tengger Cavalry – Cian Bi (Napalm Records) – folk metal
The Divided Line – Paramnesia, EP (Independent) – hard rock [feature]
The Lead – Again (Roxx Records) – punk
Thy Antichrist – Wrath of the Beast (Napalm Records) – black metal
Treedeon – Under the Manchineel (Exile On Mainstream) – sludge / noise
Triverse Massacre – Hades (Sliptrick Records) – death metal
Twilight’s Embrace – Penance, EP (Independent) – melodic doom
Vojd – The Outer Ocean (High Roller Records) – hard rock
We Have the Moon – Till the Morning Comes (Rockshots Records) – party metal
White Hills / Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of The Leading Hand – Desire (Ván Records) – progressive black metal
– Josh
