This week's new heavy metal releases include sad yet grand metal, the return of a nu metal icon, and more! To the metals…
Abigail Williams – A Void Within Existence
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Origin: Olympia, Washington
Label: Agonia
Buy now on Bandcamp
Starting this week off with some summertime sadness. The band's first album in six years is moody, evil, and occasionally epic. Ken Sorceron is the sole holdover from the last record, but his gang of new friends hold it down nicely. You've got Vance from Vale of Pnath, John from Bear Mace, and guest drums from Mike Heller of Azure Emote.
Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven And Here
Genre: Blackened post-metal/sludge
Origin: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Label: Road To Masochist)
Buy now on Bandcamp
Next up is some more atmospheric heaviness, but this one is lower and slower. Still some blackened influence here, so it pairs nicely with the boys above. Overall, a really cool combo of sounds that don't intermingle much.
Darko – Canvas
Genre: Technical punk/math rock
Origin: Surrey, England
Label: Thousand Island/Lockjaw)
Buy now on Bandcamp
This is the third in a trio of EPs from these Brits. It's a frantic explosion of sounds that's hard to pin down, yet could mesh on a stage with Minus The Bear, BtBaM, or Turnstile. I'm excited to check out the other EPs, and you should be as well.
Firstborne – Lucky
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Richmond, Virginia
Label: M-Theory Audio
Buy now on Bandcamp
If you're in the mood for some soaring rock, look no further this week than the latest from Firstborne. As always, the star is Chris Adler's drumwork, but one can't help but get the guitar licks of Myrone or melodies of vocalist Girish Pradhan stuck in your head. This is one for the shredders.
Daron Malakian and Scars On Broadway – Addicted to the Violence
Genre: Alternative rock/metal
Origin: Los Angeles, California,
Label: Scarred For Life
Buy now from Scars on Broadway
It's been seven years since the unique guitarwork and voice of Daron Malakian have tore through our speakers. What a return. I was surprised by how varied this album is. Malakian's influence is apparently what made those last two System of a Down records so weird, and these songs are right in line with those.
Slaughter to Prevail – Grizzly
Genre: Deathcore/nu metal
Origin: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Label: Sumerian
Buy now on Amazon
Wrapping this week in a very heavy way. This is a sonic assault coupled with a wonderfully pingy snare. There's a song with BabyMetal on here, and that's a lot of fun.
Also dropping this week…
- Ashes Of Ares – New Messiahs (Rock Of Angels) – Power metal
- Blind Equation – A Funeral In Purgatory (Prosthetic) – Nu/alternative metal
- Bruxist – Bruxist (Gutter Prince Cabal) – Hardcore/d-beat
- Bush – I Beat Loneliness (earMusic) – Rock
- Cell – I Will Not Be Found Here After (Unbeaten Records) – Hardcore
- Clairvoyance – Chasm Of Immurement (Carbonized Records) – Death metal
- Dephosphorus – Planetoktonos (Selfmadegod Records) – Death metal/grindcore
- Drought – Souvenir (Iodine Recordings) – Post-hardcore
- Entrails – Grip Of Ancient Evil (Hammerheart Records) – Death metal
- Erode – Devout (DAZE) – Blackened hardcore
- Eternal Darkness – Eternal Darkness (Pulverised Records) – Black metal/thrash
- KillJoy – Dream and Violence (Mottow Soundz) – Post-metal/stoner
- Mamaleek – Cadejos + Those Who Pass Between Fleeting Words (The Flenser) – Experimental black metal
- Margarita Witch Cult – Strung Out In Hell (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Stoner/doom
- Mawiza – ÜL (Season Of Mist) – Groove metal/metalcore
- Nefarious – Addicted To Power (Relentless Metal) – Heavy metal/thrash
- One More Satellite – One More Satellite (Symphonic) – Rock
- Oskoreien – Hollow Fangs (Self-released) – Melodic black metal
- Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth (Cruz Del Sur Music) – Progressive rock
- Ramonda – The Walls Are Crumbling Down (Frontiers) – Melodic rock
- Reburied – Flesh Mourning (Translation Loss Records) – Death metal
- Recorruptor – Sorrow Will Drown Us All (Time To Kill) – Melodic death metal/deathcore
- Scardust – Souls (Frontiers) – Progressive/symphonic metal
- Stomach – Low Demon (Hibernation Release) – Stoner/drone
- Suicide Commando – Final Stage (Out Of Line Music) – Industrial
- Throatcut. – Resilience. (Arising Empire.) – Metalcore.
- ZFM – Anthology (SpoilerHead Records) – Rock
