This week's new heavy metal releases include Guitar Hero heroes, lots of guest spots, and more! To the metals…
Aborted – Vault Of Horrors
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Origin: Waregem, Belgium
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Bandcamp
You all know I love listing a guest on a record. Well great news for me on Aborted's twelfth album then! This album has a guest vocalist on every song. You're getting cameos from folks from Shadow Of Intent, Despised Icon, Archspire, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and more! Also, the usual death metal from the Aborted boys.
Brat – Social Grace
Genre: Grindcore/"bimboviolence"
Origin: New Orleans, Louisiana
Label: Prosthetic
Buy now on Bandcamp
Well, let's just keep on grinding then, shall we? Brat's debut record is an efficient, heavy-ass album of fury. The bright colors and dark music are a fun juxtaposition on this one.
DragonForce – Warp Speed Warriors
Genre: Power/speed metal
Origin: London, England
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Bandcamp
Listen, this is a DragonForce record. You're getting non-stop wild guitar-work and wonderfully cheesy vocals/lyrics. They aren't reinventing their wheel, but they have a song about Zelda and a cover of Taylor Swift this time. Very fun.
Necrophobic – In The Twilight Grey
Genre: Blackened death metal
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Bandcamp
If you look at a band photo of Necrophobic, you know exactly what this is going to sound like. This is blackened metal that you can almost hear the squeaks of leather and clangs of spikes in. Some melodic moments here and there, but they're mostly used to build tension before more darkness.
Night Verses – Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night: Part 2
Genre: Progressive/alternative metal
Origin: Fullerton, California
Label: Equal Vision
Buy now from Equal Vision
What an interesting album. I never thought I'd see Brandon Boyd from Incubus on a prog metal album, let alone one that also features Author & Punisher on it. Guests aside, this also a masterful record that is varied and impressive technically throughout.
Whom Gods Destroy – Insanium
Genre: Progressive metal
Origin: International
Label: InsideOut Music
Buy now on Bandcamp
Taking us home with a prog supergroup. It seems like all of these sorts of bands include at least a few of your usual suspects and this one has Derek Sherinian and Bumblefoot (both of another prog supergroup Sons Of Apollo). Those two wind up being the stars with oodles of solos on their respective instruments, but the others provide a solid foundation.
Also dropping this week…
- Aardvark – Tough Love (Dying Victims) – Heavy metal
- Armagh – Exclamation Point (Dying Victims) – Heavy/black metal
- Atrophy – Asylum (Massacre) – Thrash
- Backstabber – Patterns of Domination (Self-released) – Black/melodic death metal
- Bongzilla – Dabbing (LIVE) Rosin In Europe (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Sludge/stoner
- Comeback Kid – Trouble EP (SharpTone) – Hardcore
- Defect Designer – Chitin (Transcending Obscurity Records) – Death metal
- Downswing – Let This Life Devour You (Blood Blast Distribution) – Hardcore
- Hadit – Metaphysical Engines Approaching The Event Horizon (I, Voidhanger Records) – Death/black metal
- Gouge Away – Deep Sage (Deathwish Inc.) – Hardcore
- Iterum Nata – From The Infinite Light (Nordvis) – Psychedelic folk
- Jordsjuk – Råtner på Rot (Indie Recordings) – Black metal
- Kid Kapichi – There Goes The Neighbourhood (Spinefarm) – Alternative rock
- Kilter, Andromeda Anarchia, Growlers Choir and Seven)Suns La Suspendida (Silent Pendulum Records) – Experimental jazz metal opera
- Leather Lung – Graveside Grin (Magnetic Eye) – "Boogie metal"/stoner rock
- Lords Of Black – Mechanics Of Predacity (Frontiers) – Heavy/power metal
- Lipz – Changing The Melody (Frontiers) – Glam rock
- Lustmord – Much Unseen Is Also Here (Pelagic) – Drone/ambient
- Lutharo – Chasing Euphoria (Atomic Fire) – Melodic heavy metal
- Malsten – The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill – Rites of Passage (Svart) – Doom
- Nastergal – The Untold War (Wormholedeath) – Black metal
- Nonexister – Demons (Self-released) – Electronic rock/industrial
- O Zorn! – Vermillion Haze (Hard Drugs/Seeing Red Records) – Doom
- Ohpen Ahrms – Lying Beside You (Self-released) – Progressive metal/doom
- Prisoner – Putrid | Obsolete (Persistent Vision Records) – Extreme/noise metal
- The Progressive Souls Collective – Sonic Rebirth (Metalville) – Progressive rock/metal
- Shock Withdrawal – The Dismal Advance (Brutal Panda) – Grindcore/death metal
- Simulakra – Reincarnation (DAZE) – Blackened hardcore
- Spoken – Reflection (XOVR Records) – Metalcore
- Stress Angel – Punished by Nemesis (Stygian Black Hand) -Thrash
- Sweat – Love Child (Vitriol Records) – Hardcore
- Thor – Rise Of The Iron Horse (Cleopatra Records) – Heavy metal/hard rock
- Throne of Exile – The Endless Sky (Shattered Earth Records LLC) – Progressive metal
- Mike Tramp – Mand Af En Tid (Target) – Glam rock
- Udad – Udad (Peaceville) – Black metal
- Vltimas – Epic (Season Of Mist) – Blackened death metal
- Weston Super Maim – See You Tomorrow Baby (Diamond Butter Music) – Extreme/math metal
