Welcome back, kids! It’s time for everyone’s favorite weekly segment here at Nine Circles: the post where we show you just how much new stuff you’re gonna get to cram in your earholes over the next seven days to keep up with #MetalInternet! That’s right, our fearless leader Josh is on a well-deserved vacation, so you’ve got moi this week for Initial Descent. And heyyyyyy buddy, do we have some tasty new releases coming your way…

We start with the mighty High on Fire, who return after… wait… six years? Holy hell, time flies. In any case, Matt Pike & Co. will drop their latest full-length, Cometh the Storm, via MNRK Heavy. Next up are Washington legends, Melvins! They’re back with their latest effort, Tarantula Heart, and it’s sure to be every bit as scuzzy, experimental, and… well, Melvins, as you can expect. After that, we’ve got a favorite among the Top Brass of this here blog: The Wraith! Two years after the death of singer Davey Bales, the Los Angeles deathrockers are back with new singer Harley Mace, and a new album, Ghost March, which we’re all quite over the moon about. Finally, Montreal noise merchants BIG|BRAVE are back, too! (Seriously, I picked a terrific week to cover for Josh, didn’t I?) Their latest, A Chaos of Flowers, is out via Thrill Jockey.

But hey, you know how these posts go: the four albums above represent just the very tip of the new release iceberg for the week. Want more? Click on through and check out what else is in store!

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High on Fire – Cometh the Storm (MNRK Heavy) – stoner / sludge

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Melvins – Tarantula Heart (Ipecac Recordings) – grunge / sludge / experimental

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The Wraith – Ghost March (Seeing Red) – goth / deathrock

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BIG|BRAVE – A Chaos of Flowers (Thrill Jockey) – noise / drone / doom

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Other new releases of note:

Antagonyze – Interpretations of the Unknown Wilderness (Chaos Records) – death metal

Ater – Somber (Torque Records) – black metal

Atræ Bilis – Aumicide (20 Buck Spin) – death / tech / brutal

Blaze of Perdition – Upharsin (Metal Blade Records) – black metal

Blazing Eternity – A Certain End Of Everything (Mighty Music) – atmospheric doom

Bloodcrusher – Bloodcrusher (self-released) – brutal death

Cardinal – The Descent (Malevolent Sound) – electronic black metal

Dayseeker – Replica (Spinefarm Records) – acoustic

Dvne – Voidkind (Metal Blade) – post-metal

Dyscordia – The Road To Oblivion (self-released) – melodic metal

Earthflood – Witchburner (Inverse) – sludge / doom

Engulfed – Unearthly Litanies of Despair (Me Saco Un Ojo / Dark Descent) – death metal

Extinct – Incitement of Violence (MDD Records) – thrash

Fractal Gates – One With Dawn (self-released) – sci-fi melo death

Graufar – Scordalus (self-released) – black/death metal

Greybush – A Never Ending Search For Justice (self-released) – deathcore

Guenna – Peak of Jin’Arrah (The Sign Records) – fuzzy heavy rock

Hanging Garden – Citylight Sessions (Agonia) – gothic / doom

Haunted – Stare At Nothing (Ripple Music) – doom

Haust – Negative Music (Fysisk Format Records) – black punk metal

Hekseblad – Kaer Morhen (Hypnotic Dirge) – melodic black metal

Henrik Palm – Nerd Icon (Svart) – heavy metal

Homecoming – Those We Knew (Copper Feast Records) – post-metal

Ivy Gardens – Goon (self-released) – stoner / sludge

Ixion – Extinction (Finisterian Dead End) – atmospheric doom

Kawir – Kydoimos (Soulseller Records) – black metal

Korpituli – Pohjola (Korpituli Productions) – pagan metal

Krvsade – Wolves of the Black Star (self-released) – black / thrash

Laggard – Permanent Daylight (Veyl Records) – industrial / noise

Leach – New Model of Disbelief (Saol Records) – thrash / death

Lie Heavy – Burn to the Moon (Heavy Psych Sounds) – psych / stoner

Lightworker – How The Beautiful Decay (Solid State Records) – metal / hardcore

Loch Vostok – Opus Ferox II – Mark of the Beast (ViciSolum) – prog

Mære – …And The Universe Keeps Silent (Transcending Obscurity) – death metal

Magistraal – Fantoom van de Deemsterburcht (self-released) – black metal

Megafauna – Venator (Syrup Moose Records) – doom

Morke – We Are The River (Fiadh Productions) – atmospheric black metal

My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding (Nuclear Blast) – doom

New Angel – Earthly Wisdoms (Fiadh Productions) – raw black metal

Nocturna – Of Sorcery And Darkness (Scarlet Records) – gothic / symphonic metal

Nogothula – Telluric Sepsis (self-released) – blackened death metal

Nuclear Tomb – Labyrinthian Terror (Everlasting Spew Records) – thrash / death

Oak, Ash & Thorn – Our Grief Is Thus (Lost Future) – melodeath

Opium Death – Genocidal Nemesis (self-released) – extreme metal

Post Death Soundtrack – Veil Lifter (self-released) – doom / grunge

Quantum – Down the Mountainside (Black Lodge Records) – progressive metal

Satanic North – Satanic North (Reaper Entertainment) – black metal

Savage Wizdom – Who’s Laughing Now (self-released) – power metal

Selbst – Despondency Chord Progressions (Debemur Morti) – black metal

Silent Weapon – Demonology (Blindsight Records) – industrial

Slug Gore – They Slime! They Ooze! They Kill! (Time To KIll Records) – deathgrind

Sorcerer – Devotion (Frozen / Delivrance) – metalcore

Sundowner – Lysergic Ritual (self-released) – sludge / doom

Sunface – Cloud Castles (Apollon) – heavy psych / stoner metal

The Cosmic Dead – Infinite Peaks (Heavy Psych Sounds) – space rock

Thief – Bleed, Memory (Prophecy) – dark electro

To End It All – Of Blood and Memory (Roman Numeral) – avantgarde

Tomorrow’s Rain – Ovdan (AOP) – doom / goth

Tree Gardener – Midwinter Memories (Fiadh Productions) – forest synth

Uncanny – Shroomsday (Overhead Productions/Nordic Mission) – instrumental prog

Uragh – Maelstrom (self-released) – progressive / alternative metal

Uttertomb – Nebulas of Self-Desecration (Pulverised Records) – death metal

Valley Lodge – Shadows in Paradise (Tee Pee Records) – hard rock

Verikalpa – Tuomio (Scarlet) – viking / folk metal

Watertank – Liminal Status (Atypeek Music) – post-hardcore

SRD – Vragvmesiton (On Parole Productions) – black metal

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That’ll do us for this week! Keep an eye out for all this brand-new goodness on Friday, and check back next week for more! Until then…

Keep it heavy,
–Dan