This week’s new heavy metal releases include oodles of covers of songs you know by heart, a good time deity gets artsy, me overusing the word "sonic," and more! To the metals…
Aborted – ManiaCult
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Origin: Beveren, Belgium
Label: Century Media
Starting this week with a bludgeoning. Aborted are not fucking around on their eleventh album, though they rarely did before. This is nonstop sonic rage. They even brought in a heavy friend in Humanity's Last Breath's Filip Danielsson for "Drag Me To Hell" if the core band wasn't enough for you. Frank has a full chat with Sven here, while Kevin is less excited about the new album here.
Andrew W.K. – God Is Partying
Genre: Party rock/experimental
Origin: Palo Alto, California
Label: Napalm
Everyone knows Andrew W.K. as THEE party guy, and why wouldn't you? He's had multiple singles about partying and this album literally has him claiming to be the good time deity. This record isn't what I'd suggest to put on as a soundtrack to a rager though. Necrosexual has a full review here, but he really sums it up in the opening lines "God Is Partying is a tale of two Andrews. One is the Andrew W.K. who loves to party hard. The other is Andrew W.K. the artist."
This album's title The Rain Will Cleanse is oddly fitting. This record feels like a water flowing over your with loads of atmosphere, aggressive percussion, and the perfect balance of darkness and beauty. It sounds like a sonic storm. If you dig the new Deafheaven, you'll probably enjoy this.
Inferi – Vile Genesis
Genre: Technical/melodic death metal
Origin: Nashville, Tennessee
Label: The Artisan Era
Now for some epic flurries! Just under a year after last year's stellar EP Of Sunless Realms Inferi are already back with a full record of technical melodic metal, because there was no touring so whatever were they do to? This record continues the winning streak the band has been on since Revenant, so if you dug that, you'll probably dig this as well.
Anette Olzon – Strong
Genre: Symphonic rock
Origin: Katrineholm, Sweden
Label: Frontiers
It's been seven years since Anette released a solo record which makes sense since she has been busy with The Dark Element, Allen/Olzon, and more importantly a day job as a nurse. On her long-awaited sophomore release, she's turning the driving synths, symphonic elements, and energy way up. She also tapped Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear and a million other things) to help out on this record.
Various Artists – The Metallica Blacklist
Genre: Various/Metallica covers
Origin: Various
Label: Blackened
Sure, Metallica are re-releasing The Black Album with all sorts of bells and whistles today which has demos and live stuff. However, The Metallica Blacklist is where the really interesting stuff is happening. This has 53 artists taking on the album's twelve songs in their own ways. You're getting Biffy Clyro contorting "Holier Than Thou" into an old school Biffy monster, Kamisi Washington turning "My Friend Of Misery" into a jazz odyssey, and literally a dozen different takes on "Nothing Else Matters." You're probably not going to find a lot of heavier versions of the songs here, but you still might discover some new artists along the way.
Also dropping today…
Æpoch – Hiraeth (Self-released) – Progressive death metal
April 21st – Courage Is Born From Fear EP (Eclipse) – Metalcore
Between Worlds – Between Worlds (Frontiers) – Melodic metal
Black Mass – Feast at the Forbidden Tree (Redefining Darkness Records) -Black metal/thrash
Coyote Man – Relics (Self-released) – Progressive
Cult Burial – Oblivion (Self-Released) – Black metal/doom
Dawn Fades – Ode (Metal Assault Records) – Post-metal
Four Trips Ahead – Remnants (Dr. Music Records) – Progressive/hard rock
Gamma Ray – 30 Years Live Anniversary (earMusic) – Heavy metal
Giant of the Mountain – Mountain's Blood (Careless Records) – Black/death metal
Gwar – Scumdogs Live (Pit) – Heavy metal/shock rock
Hail Spirit Noir – Mannequins (Agonia Records) – Psychedelic/black metal
Hawkwind – Somnia (Cherry Red) – Psychedelic
Hawthorne Heights – The Rain Just Follows Me (Pure Noise Records) – Alternative
Inglorious – Heroine (Frontiers Music Srl) – Hard rock
Like Machines – Supervillain EP (Self-released) – Hard rock
Lvcifyre – The Broken Seal (Dark Descent Records) – Black/death metal
Maladie – Symptoms III (Apostasy Records) – Avant-garde metal
Mastiff – Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth (eOne Music) – Sludge/hardcore
Mehenet – Ng'ambu (Gilead Media) – Black metal
M.ill.ion – Back on Track (AOR Heaven) – Hard rock
Mutant Blast – Detonation (Wormholedeath) – Death 'n' roll
Nest – Tipping Point (Self-released) – Sludge/doom
Raizer – Resurrection (FiXT Radium) – Electronic rock
