This week’s new heavy metal releases include fun chaos, bummer chaos, beautiful bummer music, and more! To the metals…
ALSO! Today, Bandcamp is doing their monthly day of giving 100% of what you pay directly to the labels and artists as Covid-19 Pandemic relief. So if you can get stuff from Bandcamp, please do.
Bullet For My Valentine – Bullet For My Valentine
Genre: Metalcore/hard rock
Origin: Bridgend, Wales
Label: Spinefarm/Search & Destroy
On their seventh album, the Bullet For My Valentine are releasing their heaviest record in a minute. We're not talking like brutal death metal heavy, but mid-In Flames kinda heavy. The melodic moments remain huge and the guitar work is solid as always, but there is a rage that hasn't been this present since the early days.
Diablo Swing Orchestra – Swagger & Stroll Down The Rabbit Hole
Genre: Avant-garde metal
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden
Label: Candlelight/Spinefarm
For those that like a little weird in their metal, the latest from Diablo Swing Orchestra should scratch that itch. The band has evolved a lot since their early days, and while the "swing" is still in there, every song on this album feels like a different band in a good way. One song sounds like Die Antwoord, the next a Spanish celebration of death, and so on. It's wild ride. Also, this technically dropped Tuesday for some reason, but whatever.
Gaahl's Wyrd – The Humming Mountain EP
Genre: Black metal/folk
Origin: Bergen, Norway
Label: Season Of Mist
Buy now on Bandcamp
On this EP Gaahl and the gang are taking the listener on a hypnotic, dark journey. While only five tracks, the five tracks include folk metal, black metal, straight up folk, and even some psychedelic moments. It's an excellent follow-up to 2019's GastiR – Ghosts Invited and another great peek into the mind of a diverse artist.
Glassing – Twin Dream
Genre: Post-hardcore/progressive
Origin: Austin, Texas
Label: Brutal Panda
Buy now on Bandcamp
Up next we have another album of chaos. It's far less joyful than Diablo Swing Orchestra, but they cover the same amount of ground. One moment you're getting a Converge-esque hardcore flurry and the next will be a shoegaze moment to breathe. Lots of dissonance and atmosphere here.
Omnium Gatherum – Origin
Genre: Melodic death metal
Origin: Kotka, Finland
Label: Century Media
This one's sort of hard to blurb about. It's no-frills melodic death metal like these guys have been doing the whole time, but it hits just right. They had some lineup shake-ups, but they're still able to sound like Omnium Gatherum. Kevin's full review is here.
Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine Of Hell
Genre: Folk/experimental
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Sargent House
Buy now on Bandcamp
I know there has been some dark stuff already this week, but this is darker. Like her label-mate and collaborator Chelsea Wolfe, Emma isn't "metal," but she very much is a heavy hitter. These are emotive, bummer songs, that are also just so beautiful.
Also dropping today…
- Altareth – Blood (Magnetic Eye) – Stoner/doom
- Autokrator – Persecution (Krucyator Productions) – Black/death metal
- Bent Knee – Frosting (Take This To Heart) – Progressive rock
- Blind Tiger – Blind Tiger (Self-released) – Hardcore/avant-garde
- Bone Tower – We All Will Die One Day (No Funeral Records) – Hardcore/grindcore
- Bornholm – Apotheosis (Napalm) – Black metal
- Churchburn – Genocidal Rite (Translation Loss Records) – Blackened doom/death metal
- Crazy Lixx – Street Lethal (Frontiers Music s.r.l.) – Glam metal
- Deceased – Thrash Times At Ridgemont High (Hells Headbangers) – Death metal/thrash
- Dreameater – Cold (Famined Records) – Metalcore/progressive
- Bryan Eckermann – Plague Bringers (Self-released) – Melodic death/black metal
- Emigrate – The Persistence Of Memory (Emigrate Production) – Hard rock
- Extinction A.D. – Chaos, Collusion, Carnage & Propaganda (Unique Leader Records) – Thrash/crossover
- Fans Of The Dark – Fans Of The Dark (Frontiers) – Melodic rock
- Heads for the Dead – Slash 'n' Roll (Transcending Obscurity Records) – Death metal
- In Aphelion – Luciferian Age (Edged Circle Productions) – Black metal
- Infected Parasite – Infected Parasite (Dedication Records) – Death metal
- Ivar Bjornson & Einar Selvik – Hardanger EP (Norse) – Neofolk/progressive
- Like Moths To Flames – Pure Like Porcelain EP (UNFD) – Metalcore
- Memoria Avenue – Memoria Avenue (Frontiers) – Melodic rock
- Møl – Diorama (Nuclear Blast) – Post-black metal/shoegaze
- Mors Verum – The Living (Self-released) – Death metal
- Mother Iron Horse – Under the Blood Moon (Ripple Music) – Stoner/sludge
- Moonshine Oversight – The Frame (Wormholedeath) – Progressive metal
- Mortiferum – Preserved In Torment (Profound Lore) – Doom/death metal
- Mystras – Empires Vanquished And Dismantled (I, Voidhanger Records) – Black metal
- Nashville Pussy – Eaten Alive (Slinging Pig) – Southern rock/heavy metal
- Nequient – Collective Punishment (Nefarious Industries) – Death metal/crust
- Nordicwinter – Le dernier adieu (Pest Productions) – Atmospheric black metal
- Old Man Wizard – Kill Your Servants Quietly (Self-released) – Progressive hard rock
- Portrayal Of Guilt – Christfucker (Run For Cover Records) – Hardcore
- Rongeur – Glacier Tongue (Fysisk Format) – Sludge/post-metal
- Scarecrow – Raise The Death's Head EP (Relapse) – Thrash
- Sea Sleeper – Nostophobia (Metal Assault) – Death metal/progressive
- SeeYouSpaceCowboy – The Romance Of Affliction (Pure Noise Records) – Hardcore
- Silent Planet – Iridescent (UNFD) – "Death western"
- Thangorodrim – Liberation In Unbound Chaos 666 (Blood Blast Distribution) – Heavy metal
- The Three Tremors – Guardians Of The Void (Steel Cartel) – Power metal
- USQUAM – Reborn (Wormholedeath)- Blackened death metal
- Varius – Concordance (Self-released) – Melodic death metal
- Wilderness Hymnal/Duncan Evans – Until Liars Fear You (Trepanation Recordings) – Atmospheric folk/experimental
