This week's new heavy metal releases include side bands, death metal greatness, and more!
To the metals…
Avatarium – The Fire I Long For 
Genre: Doom
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden
Label: Nuclear Blast
Avatarium are a band I've keep up with for a while now. When they first started out they were doom, and nothing but doom. Over the years they branched out a bit and have grown into a band with more going on. There is still plenty of slow heaviness, but you're getting some slightly upbeat tempos and some hard rock happenings.
Blood Incantation – Hidden History Of The Human Race 
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Denver, Colorado
Label: Dark Descent
I try not to look at the comments too much (because some of y'all are just mean), but I've seen people talking about this album coming for weeks now. I've already seen this album popping up on end of the year lists, and I fully expect this death metal masterpiece to pop up on even more. THIS is how you do a sophomore album.
Child Bite – Blow Off The Omens 
Genre: Punk/metal
Origin: Detroit, Michigan
Label: Housecore
Buy now on Bandcamp
Now for something kinda weird. This is an album that sounds like it's bringing a party to the table, but a party with weird masks that you might not survive. This kind of reminds me of Dead Kennedys (which then, of course, reminds me of B-52s) mixed with Nick Oliveri-fronted Queens of the Stone Age tracks, then mixed with Melvins. This is a fun one.
Sample it on Bandcamp
Hypno5e – A Distant (Dark) Source
Genre: Progressive/cinematic metal
Origin: Montpellier, France
Label: Pelagic Records
Hypno5e are a band I was always sort of aware of but failed to give a real shot, and golly I have been fucking up. This album is great. It has a bit of The Ocean vibe to it, but more like a soundtrack. Then it tells a story about ghosts, so it winds up being an incredibly dense album with a lot of heft to it.
Lindemann – F&M
Genre: Industrial
Origin: Leipzig, Germany
Label: Universal
While his main squeeze Rammstein took a decade between records, Till is already back with more driving German jams. Of course, Peter Tagtgren is once again in tow, since Lindemann is not actually a solo thing. Fans of Till have a lot of new material, now I just fear they'll be entering another long dry spell. We'll see. I guess.
Obsequiae – The Palms Of Sorrowed Kings
Genre: Melodic black metal
Origin: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Label: 20 Buck Spin
I appreciate a band that incorporates an atypical instrument into a heavy sound, so Obsequiae's use of a harp piqued my interest. Once I actually gave this a shot I found even more fun sounds like those from a psaltery, a hammered dulcimer, and my beloved hurdy gurdy. These are all infused into a melodic black metal experience that, like Blood Incantation, will be on a number of end of the year lists.
Sodom – Out of the Frontline Trench
Genre: Thrash
Origin: Gelsenkirchen, German
Label: Steamhammer
It looks like these guys have been on an EP kick lately, since this is their second of the year and third since their last full-length. It features three new songs, a re-recorded version of "Agent Orange," and a live version of "Bombenhagel." The re-recording is pretty neat as it is the current line-up putting a spin on an oldie, but this might just be something for the Sodom completists out there.
Strigoi – Abandon All Faith 
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Halifax, England
Label: Nuclear Blast
After Vallenfyre dissolved, Gregor Mackintosh (also from Paradise Lost) got himself a new pal and got right to work on Strigoi. This is a much more of a blackened affair than his other projects. It's cool to hear him and cohort Chris Casket bringing the blastbeats on this.
Also dropping today…
Blood Eagle – To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed III EP (Nuclear Blast) – Death metal
BRKN LOVE – BRKN LOVE (Spinefarm Records) – Rock
Buildings – Negative Sound (Gilead Media) – Noise Rock
Charm City Devils – 1904 EP (Broken World) – Hard rock
William Patrick Corgan – Cotillions (WPC) – Acoustic
Crystal Viper – Tales Of Fire And Ice (AFM) – Heavy metal
Depressed – Beyond The Putrid Fiction (Black Lion Records) – Death metal
Dizastra – Elder Sun (Self-Release) – Blackened thrash
Dog Fashion Disco – Tres Pendejos (Razor To Wrist) – Acoustic
Eleine – All Shall Burn EP (Black Lodge Records) – Symphonic metal
Her Despair – Exorcisms of Eroticism (self-release) – Alternative rock
Hexekration – Rites Desekration (Manifesto Atavism Records) – Black/death metal
King – Coldest of Cold (EVP Recordings) – Melodic Black/Death Metal
Lord Mantis – Universal Death Church (Profound Lore) – Blackened sludge
Magic Kingdom – MetAlmighty (AFM) – Power metal
Metal De Facto – Imperium Romanum (Rockshots Records) – Heavy metal
Morgan Rider & The Deep Dark River – Leviathan & The Deep Dark Blue (North Soul Records) – Blues rock
Salvation – Year of the Fly (Forge Again Records) – Noise Rock
Signum Regis – The Seal of a New World (Beyond the Storm Productions) – Power metal
Skyblood – Skyblood (Napalm) – Hard rock/doom
Sleep Token – Sundowning (Spinefarm) – Rock
Stormwarrior – Norsemen (Massacre) – Power/Speed Metal
Third Chamber – Harvesting Our Decay EP (Self-Released) – Death metal
Tygers of Pan Tang – Ritual (Mighty Music) – Heavy metal
What We Do In Secret – Repose (Facedown Records) – Hardcore
Y-Incision/Treasonist – Mechanical Perdition (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) – Death metal/grindcore
