This week's new heavy metal releases include some bands that were THIS close to putting out the perfect Halloween album, a progressive return for jam fans, and more! To the metals…
Beardfish – Songs For Beating Hearts
Genre: Progressive metal
Origin: Sweden
Label: InsideOut
Buy now on Bandcamp
Starting this week off with the return of one of prog's mightiest weirdos. After almost a decade away they're coming back with some twang, a twenty-plus minute song, and a lot of emotional weight. Sure, if you're a Spock's Beard or Pineapple Thief fan you'll probably dig this, but if you are a fan of Phish or Umphrey's McGee you should give this a shot.
Neon Nightmare – Faded Dream
Genre: Doom/gothic metal
Origin: ?
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Buy now on Bandcamp
Are you a fan of heavy, horny, Goth metal? Of course you are. Don't be stupid. Neon Nightmare is JUST this side of a Type O Negative tribute band, and this debut is the perfect soundtrack to today's Halloween hangover.
Slower – Rage And Ruin
Genre: Doom
Origin: International
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Buy now on Bandcamp
It's weird to write about how this band "used to be" any sort of band before this record, since their debut album came out earlier this year, but here we are. Anyway, Slower used to be a doom Slayer cover band and on their second album there are still a couple covers, but the rest of the tracks are original haunting doom tracks. The originals very much sound like they're equal parts of each members' main band which are Year of the Cobra, Monolord, and Fu Manchu.
thirdface – Ministerial Cafeteria
Genre: Hardcore
Origin: Nashville, Tennessee
Label: Exploding In Sound Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
Like a lot of hardcore records Ministerial Cafeteria has short, aggressive tracks with moments to throw hands and headbang. However, the musicianship strays from the norm so much that they're like if a math rock band was really, really pissed off. It's a short time, but it's a good time full of unexpected noises.
Tribulation – Sub Rosa In Aeturnum
Genre: Gothic metal
Origin: Arvika, Sweden
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Bandcamp
Man, like Neon Nightmare this would be a perfect Halloween record, and they just missed it. Oh well. Like The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode every year it's close enough in November, I guess. This is more spooky deathrock with some extreme metal edges from the modern masters of that.
Vola – Friend Of A Phantom
Genre: Progressive metal
Origin: Copenhagen, Denmark
Label: Mascot Records
Buy now on Bandcamp
Wrapping this week with some proggy grooves. Like all Vola records, you're getting djent-ish rhythms, soaring choruses, and some infused electronic elements. This sounds like the middle group between Haken and Leprous. There's a pretty sweet guest spot from Anders from In Flames on the first track too.
Also dropping this week…
- Arctis – Arctis (Napalm) – Modern/pop metal
- Assassin – Skullblast (Massacre) – Thrash
- Barren – The Hanged Man (Skull House Records) – Death metal/doom
- Bombus – Your Blood (Sound Pollution / Black Lodge) – Heavy metal
- Brothers Of Metal – Fimbulvinter (AFM) – Power metal
- Carved Memories – The Moirai (Black Lion Records) – Melodic death metal
- Coma Hole – Hand Of Severance (Self-released) – Psychedelic doom
- Dead Icarus – Zealot (MNRK Heavy) – Metalcore/groove metal
- Deaf Lizard – The Last Odyssey (Electric Valley Records) – Psychedelic/hard rock
- Dragoncorpse – The Fall Of House Abbarath (Shattered Earth Records) – Metalcore/power metal
- Eldingar – Lysistrata (Vinyl Store) – Black metal
- Ephialtes – Melas Oneiros (Black Lion Records) – Melodic/blackened death metal
- Epitaph – Path To Oblivion (My Kingdom Music) – Doom
- Everto Signum – Beastiary (Monumental Rex) – Black metal
- Grave Next Door – Sorry No Candy (Black Doomba Records) – Doom/stoner
- i Häxa – i Häxa (Pelagic) – Folk
- Leaving Time – Angel In The Sand (Sunday Drive Records) – Shoegaze/alternative
- Lifesick – Loved By None, Hated By All (Metal Blade) – Hardcore/death metal
- Mitochondrion – Vitriseptome (Profound Lore) – Black/death metal
- Nachtmahr – Verboten! (Trisol Music Group GmbH) – Industrial
- Nachtmystium – Blight Privilege (Lupus Lounge) – Psychedelic/black metal
- New Skeletal Faces – Until The Night (Peaceville Records) – Deathrock
- Paganizer – Flesh Requiem (Transcending Obscurity) – Death metal
- Planes Mistaken For Stars – Do You Still Love Me? (Deathwish) – Post-hardcore
- Powerflo – Gorilla Warfare (New Damage) – Rap/nu metal
- Qaalm – Grave Impressions Of An Unbroken Arc (Hypaethral Records) – Sludge/doom
- Rorschach Test – Fallen (Unlabeled Artists) – Industrial
- Saltwound – The Temptation Of Pain (SharpTone) – Deathcore
- Vessel – The Somnifer (Majestic Mountain Records) – Stoner metal/rock
- Volume – Joy Of Navigation (A Trip Through The Eternal Unknown) (Golden Robot Recordings/Kozmik Artifactz) – Desert rock
- Worst Ways – Worst Ways (New Age Records) – Hardcore
