A lot of things cross my mind when looking at and exploring a list of upcoming metal releases. Most of which no one will ever care about but the one paramount thing is: how many of said albums will make an impression and how many of those will have the kind of staying power that in a year’s time, or longer, will still be in rotation or have me singing/growling/screaming at the top of my lungs in a traffic jam or in the shower like a boss? To be sure, the only way to find out is to explore all possibilities which is why I love doing these. What will be our collective next gem? Read on…

Japan’s Abigail, who have a ridiculous amount of work out there, return with the Far East Black Metal Onslaught EP and it rides high on this list due to its thrashing mad black metal attack that I find to be grin inducing. US old school heavy metallers Haunt offer up their debut of NWOBHM inspired goodness on Burst Into Flame and Lurk find a way to pack doom, black, death and sludge metal into one atmospherically haunting release on Fringe – a mouthful but, a tasty one.

All that and much more below so don’t miss a link. 

—

Abigail – Far East Black Metal Onslaught (Hellprod Records) – black / thrash

—

Haunt – Burst Into Flame (Shadow Kingdom) – heavy metal [full review]

—

Lurk – Fringe (Transcending Obscurity Records) – atmospheric sludge / doom

—

Also on tap:

Aethereus – Absentia (The Artisan Era) – progressive death metal

Anchorhold – From a Father’s Son (The Fear and the Void Recordings) – atmospheric black metal [premiere]

Divine Ecstasy – Strange Passions (Iron Bonehead) – black metal

Droid – Terrestrial Mutations, Vinyl Release (Shadow Kingdom) – tech thrash

Effluvia – Laboratory Casualties, EP (Filthcake Records) – grindcore

Essenz – Manes Impetus (Amor Fati Productions) – black / death / doom

Fishslaughter – Fishslaughter II (Fishslaughter Records) – death / groove / black

Gloam / Obscure Evil – Split 10″, EP (Blood Harvest) – doom / death

Нуки – Исключения (Sliptrick) – alt-metal

Ill Omen – The Grande Usurper (Iron Bonehead) – black metal

Imperial Domain – The Deluge (Inverse Records) – melodic death metal

Mr. Plow – Maintain Radio Silence (Ripple Music) – stoner rock [feature]

Nachash – Phantasmal Triunity (Shadow Kingdom) – black / death

Night Demon – Live Darkness (Shadow Kingdom / Century Media) – heavy metal

Pando – Hiraeth (Aesthetic Death) – experimental

Penny Rimbaud – Oh, Magick Kingdom, Reissue (Cold Spring) – experimental

Pyreficativm – संसार का पथ (Living Temple Records) – avant-garde

Radiant Knife – Science Fiction (Independent) – prog metal

Return to the Void – Memory Shift: The Day After (Pitch Black Records) – heavy prog metal

Sinaya – Maze of Madness (Brutal Records) – death metal

Tongue Eating Louse – Voidwalker (Sludgelord Records) – black / sludge

Transient with Bastard Noise – Sources of Human Satisfaction (Six Weeks Records) – -grindcore

Van Canto – Trust In Rust (Napalm Records) – heavy metal

Various Artists – It Came From the Abyss, Vol. 1 (Dark Operative) – various

Witchfyre – Grimorium Verum (Fighter Records) – heavy metal

Zero Down – Larger Than Death (Minotauro Records) – heavy metal

– Josh