This week's new heavy metal releases include prog sad boys, shelter at home circle pits, difficult to Google bands, and more!
To the metals…
Danzig – Danzig Sings Elvis
Genre: Elvis covers
Origin: Lodi, New Jersey
Label: Cleopatra
Glenn loves himself some Elvis apparently. As the title suggests this is Danzig taking on Elvis Presley songs like "Little Boy Blue," "Always On My Mind," "Fever," and eleven more. The production sounds purposely old, so the songs have a similar vibe. I'm not totally sure who this is for other then Glenn, but it's not kinda neat.
Elder – Omens 
Genre: Psychedelic Stoner/Progressive
Origin: Fairhaven, Massachusetts/Berlin, Germany
Label: Armageddon Shop
Omens is five expansive tracks of ethereal proggy rock that will appear to fans of Sleep and Porcupine Tree alike. The band's fifth album has them also dabbling in moments of Pink Floyd-esque synth freak outs. This kind of has everything.
Katatonia – City Burials 
Genre: Progressive metal/doom
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden
Label: Peaceville
Oh man, Katatonia records are always emotionally weighty, but this one is hitting extra hard with the current state of the world. You're still getting some of their mid-tempo rock grooves, but there are also almost dance-able moments that remind me of the last Steven Wilson record, yet sadder somehow. A truly solid record, that I see myself coming back to.
Lovebites – Electric Pentagram 
Genre: Power metal
Origin: Tokyo, Japan
Label: Red River
I wanted to include something fun since, you know gestures around wildly, and I landed on Lovebites. This is a collection of power metal tracks that bring bands like Galneryus, DragonForce, and other epic, speedy bands to mind. Some of these songs are unbelievably catchy. Also, yes this dropped everywhere else in January, but this is the North American release date, and again something fun.
(O) – SkamHan 
Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Origin: Denmark
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Bandcamp
Now back to the not so fun, but still quite good. This album comes after the re-release of their debut EP last year, so if you got on board then this must feel like getting new stuff sooner than you expected. It keeps their unique blend of black metal, sludge, and post-metal going. This is a band I can see becoming huge in some circles despite their difficult to google name.
The Talking Book – Talking Book II 
Genre: Ambient/noise
Origin: San Francisco, California
Label: Koolarrow Records
You want more intense moody shit? You got it! This is the long-awaiting second album from Billy Gould (Faith No More) and Jared Blum's (Gigante Sound) soundscape project. It's sort of a soundtrack to a film that doesn't exist, so fans of the Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross scores will probably dig this. Even without the idea of a film to imagine, it's just a noisy adventure on it's own.
Trivium – What The Dead Men Say 
Genre: Thrash/metalcore
Origin: Orlando, Florida
Label: Roadrunner
What The Dead Men Say sounds like an album for Trivium fans of every era. You're getting Ascendancy's melodic metalcore shredding, the thrash of The Crusade, and the massive metal assaults from In Waves. Hell, sometimes you're getting all this and more in a single song.
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still 
Genre: Technical death metal
Origin: Auckland, New Zealand
Label: Debemur Morti
I imagine a good number of the readers are here for this album and nothing else. I get that. This band is incredible, and this album is quite good. This is atmospheric technical death metal in a way that maybe only Gorguts have done before. I imagine this will be on many end of the year lists.
Warbringer – Weapons Of Tomorrow 
Genre: Thrash
Origin: Ventura, California
Label: Napalm
Sure Warbringer are a band very much about war, and all that, but straight-up thrash gets people pumped. So, like Lovebites earlier, I wanted to include something that wasn't a bummer. This album will launch a thousand shelter at home circle-pits and I love it for that.
Also dropping today…
- Michael Abdow – Heart Signal (Couch Cat Records) – Progressive/shred
- Acherontas – Psychic Death – The Shattering Of Perceptions (Agonia) – Black metal
- Ak’chamel – The Totemist (Akuphone) – Psychedelic folk
- Auroch – Stolen Angelic Tongues (20 Buck Spin) – Black/death metal
- Axel Rudi Pell – Sign Of The Times (SPV/Steamhammer)
- Barishi – Old Smoke (Season of Mist) – Progressive metal
- Bones – Gate Of Night (Blood Harvest Records) – Death metal
- Cirith Ungol – Forever Black (Metal Blade) – Power metal
- Coyote Man – Precognition (Self-released) – Instrumental rock
- Dämmerfarben – Des Herbstes Trauerhymnen MMXX (Northern Silence Productions) – Folk/atmospheric black metal
- Dance Gavin Dance – Afterburner (Rise) – Post-hardcore
- Elephant Tree – Habits (Holy Roar/Deathwish) – Heavy Psych
- Expunged – Expunged (Hells Headbangers) – Death metal
- Golden Light – Sacred Colour Of The Source Of Light (Iron Bonehead Productions) – Black metal
- Hegemony – Enthroned by Persecution (Hells Headbangers) – Death/black metal
- Heilung – Lifa: Heiling Live At Castlefest DVD (Season Of Mist) – Live "amplified history"/Folk
- Helfro – Helfro (Season Of Mist) – Black metal
- I Am Abomination – Passion Of The Heist II (Self-released) – Progressive/post-hardcore
- I Am Destruction – Nascency (Unique Leader) – Deathcore
- Imperial Savagery – Lashing The Feral Swine (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) – Death metal
- Kill The Kong – Dead Spirit (Seek And Strike) – Metalcore
- Light Dweller – Hominal (Self-released) – Black/death metal
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Chunky Shrapnel (Flightless Records) – Psychedelic rock
- Mantric – False Negative (Tooth & Nail/Solid State) – Progressive
- Marmalade Knives – Amnesia (Electric Valley Records) – Psych rock
- Marrowfields – Metamorphoses (Black Lion Records) – Atmospheric doom
- Negative Thought Process – Hell Is… Much Better Than This (Hibernacula Records) – Grindcore/crust
- Old Tower – The Last Eidolon (Profound Lore) – Ambient
- On Site – Cause of Pain (Unbeaten Records) – Hardcore/Thrash
- Ritual Clearing – Ritual Clearing (Eternal Death) – Black metal
- Traveler – Termination Shock (Gates of Hell Records) – Speed metal
- Trick Or Treat – The Legend Of The XII Saints (Scarlet) – Power metal
- Unmerciful – Wrath Encompassed (Willowtip Records) – Brutal death metal
- The Used – Heartwork (Big Noise) – Screamo/alternative
- Victoria K – Essentia (Rockshots Records) – Rock
- Voices Of Ruin – Path To Immortality (M-Theory Audio) – Melodic death metal
- Werewolves – The Dead Are Screaming (Prosthetic) – Black/death metal
- Witchskull – A Driftwood Cross (Rise Above) – Heavy metal/stoner
- The Wizar'd – Subterranean Exile (Cruz Del Sur) – Doom
