Starting this week with some melodic death metal that has a bit of a Gothic vibe to it. They sound sort of like Insomnium or Dark Tranquillity, but this band is significantly more into cloaks. Væ Victis is the band's sophomore release, and second album in as may years. They're wasting no time making spooky metal magic.
Benthos – II
Genre: Progressive metal Origin: Milan, Italy Label: Eclipse Records
I always seem to rub prog fans the wrong way when I liken bands I'm writing about to ones they like. So lets do some more of that now. Benthos are a fairly new quintet that sound like a blend of Leprous, TesseracT, and that final(?) Last Chance To Reason album. It's rhythmic, epic, and just the right amount of shreddy. I'm digging this.
Big | Brave – Vital
Genre: Experimental Origin: Montreal, Québec Label: Southern Lord
I frankly don't know a lot about this band, but this release has me intrigued. What I've heard sounds like sludge for indie fans or vice versa. In some ways, Vital sounds like Chelsea Wolfe, in that there's a tortured voices haunting slow heavy metal, but this is a different beast that embraces drone a lot more.
Bodom After Midnight – Paint The Sky With Blood EP
Genre: Melodic death/power metal Origin: Espoo, Finland Label: Napalm
This is a mere trio of songs that serves as Alexi Laiho's swansong. You're getting two BAM tracks and a Dissection Cover. Children of Bodom fans won't be upset to hear that this sounds a lot like CoB, but unless there's a vault of stuff, this is the last of Laiho you're going to hear. I'd be upset about that.
Bongzilla – Weedsconsin
Genre: Sludge/doom Origin: Madison, Wisconsin Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Technically this dropped on Tuesday, because of course Bongzilla would plot a 4/20 release all about weed. These tracks are hefty and slow riff-fests as you'd expect. And if that wasn't enough for you, Bongzilla have also dropped split with Tons today called Doom Sessions Vol 4. Get that right here.
Capra – In Transmission
Genre: Metal/hardcore Origin: Lafayette, Louisiana Label: Metal Blade
If you're in the mood for something a bit chaotic this week, then Capra is the band for you. In Transmission is a flurry of aggression and passion delivered over eleven tracks. We at Metal Injection have been on the Capra train for a minute now, and it's great to hear them crush it on their debut full-length.
Motörhead – Louder Than Noise…Live In Berlin
Genre: Heavy metal Origin: London, England Label: Silver Lining/Motorhead Music
To wrap this week we're dipping into the Motörhead vault. Throughout their long career Motörhead and Germany had a special relationship. Bastards was briefly only available in Germany according to Lemmy's banter on the live record Everything Louder than Everyone Else (which was recorded in Hamburg Germany) and the band's final show wound up being in Berlin. This is a full show from 2012 that includes all the song's you'd hope for as well as deeper cuts like "Rock It," "You Better Run," and "The One to Sing the Blues."
Also dropping today…
Arogya – Genesis (Out Of Line Music) – Modern/dark metal
Altarage – Succumb (Season Of Mist) – Death/black metal
Black Wail – Born on Fire EP (Rhyme & Reason) – Stoner/garage rock
Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth (Prosthetic) – Blackened doom
Bone Cutter – Bone Cutter (Twelve Gauge Records) – Experimental/hardcore
Cicada the Burrower – Corpseflower (Blue Bedroom Records) – Progressive/black metal
Gilby Clarke – The Gospel Truth (Golden Robot) – Hard rock
Cold Cell – The Great Evil (Les Acteurs de l'Ombre Productions) – Black metal
The Circle – Metamorphosis (Self-released) – Gothic/melodic death metal
Desolate Realm – Desolate Realm (Self-released) – Heavy metal/doom
Extinguish – Extinguish (Creator-Destructor Records) – Death metal/hardcore
From Sorrow To Serenity – Trifecta EP (Long Branch Records) – Progressive metalcore/djent
Frozen Crown – Winterbane (Scarlet Records) – Power metal
Gynoid – The Hunger Artist Show (Self-released) – Noise/hardcore
Hideous Divinity – LV-426 (Century Media) – Technical/brutal death metal
Howling Giant – Alteration EP (Self-released) – Stoner
Idek. – The Trek (Layered Reality Productions) – Progressive metal
Kaleo – Surface Sounds (Elektra) – Blues rock
The Last Martyr – Hindsight (Self-released) – Nu-metal/hard rock
Left To Suffer – On Death (Artist Owned) – Metalcore
Monasteries – Silence (Seek And Strike) – Deathcore
Non Serviam – Le Coeur Bat (Code666) – Black metal/grindcore
Nyctophagia – Terrified of Tomorrow (Self-released) – Death metal/grind