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This week’s new heavy metal releases include epic metal in various guises, “baroque-influenced” metal, and more! To metals…

Blood of the North – Disharmonium – Unimaginable Chasms

Genre: Avant-garde black/metal
Origin: Mondeville, France
Label:

Starting this week with evil stuff. The fourteenth album of Blood of the North is unsurprisingly haunting and dark. It’s like a disturbing cinematic score with explosive rhythms.

Collapse – heavy pendulum

Genre: Progressive sludge/metalcore
Made in: Methuen, Mass.
Tag: Relapse

If you are a fan of collapse (and why wouldn’t you?), you’ll get plenty here on heavy pendulum. It’s over seventy minutes of spaced out, progressive, muddy weirdness. This is their first with bassist Nate Newton (Converge) and it fits perfectly.

Evergrey- A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament)

Genre: Progressive/power metal
Origin: Gothenburg, Sweden
Tag: Napalm

With so much time off the road in 2020 and 2021, it only makes sense for the already rather prolific Evergrey to spend his time writing loads of epic prog jams. Album number thirteen has Tom Englund and the boys angrier than the last disc. Still a lot of trending epic songs.

James LaBrie – Beautiful Shade Of Gray

Genre: Melodic/progressive metal
Made in: Toronto, Ontario
Label: Inside

When James is away from his fellow Dream Thespians (must be what they’re called, right?), he ends up being a bit more straightforward with his songs. Beautiful Shade of Gray might be his most melodic solo album yet, as it looks like he’s ditched his tough co-vocalist this time around. It really showcases LaBrie’s strengths. Jordan has a full review here.

Malevolence – Malevolence

Genre: Groove metal/hardcore
Origin: Sheffield, England
Label: Nuclear Blast / MLVLTD

Here’s something that will spin a circular pit. Malevolence have a lot to do with this disc. Hardcore fury, metalcore anthem choruses, surprisingly technical lead lines and fat grooves. They are like you stick all that remains for hate race. And what a fun premise for a movie that would be. Max has words on it here.

Mortal Slave – A path to the fire

Genre: Post black metal
Made in: Nashville, Tennessee
Label: Trepanation Recordings

Buy now on Bandcamp

When we fly over the bands we’re talking about this week Mortal slave caught my attention because their press release included the line “Baroque-influenced, post-black metal”. This is the kind of thing that catches my attention. Like most post-black metal records, this one has a pretty consistent tremolo selection, high-speed drumming, and plenty of atmosphere, but there’s that little something special mixed in that gives it a classic whimsy. . It’s a unique record that breaks the mold of their sub-sub(sub?)-genre.

Septic Flesh – modern primitive

Genre: Symphonic Death Metal
Origin: Athens, Greece
Label: Nuclear Blast

Wrapping up this week with some epic shit from our favorite Greek vampires. Their first record in five years scratches an itch that only they can with their big symphonic elements coupled with solid death metal. Jeff has a full review here.

Also falling today…

• Anvil – The impact is imminent (AFM) – Heavy Metal
• Aparthiva Raktadhara – Adyapeeth Maranasamhita (Iron Bonehead Productions) – Black/death metal
• Hypothesis – Hadean Tides (Everlasting Spew Records/Sentient Ruin Laboratories) – Doom/death metal
• Be well – Hello Sunshine (Revelation Records) – Hardcore
• bog body – Cryonic Rift Cult (Profond Lore Records) – Death metal
• Brandy and the Butcher – lucky foot (Himself) – Hard Rock
• Come and mourn – when the world dies (Translation Loss Records) – Mud / misfortune
• Block D – Block D (Undefeated Records) – Hardcore
• Dark Alamorte – Lunar Thepsis (Unique Leader Records) – Black/atmospheric death metal
• Kind – Stoned blues machine (Heavy Psychic Sounds) – Stoner
• Gronibard – Watch Men Suck (Season of Mist) – Goregrind
• Helsot – will and the witch (M-Theory) – Folk/death metal
• LaMacchia – Thunderheads (Aqualamb Records) – Dark Ambiance
• The loyal seas – Strange mornings in the garden (American Laundromat) – Alternative Rock
• Lucer – The new World (Powerful Music) – Hard rock
• Luminous Vault – Animate the void (Profound Lore) – Black metal/industrial
• MNRVA – Hollow (Black Doomba Records) – Doom
• OPH – Night dreams of lies (My Kingdom Music) – avant-garde black metal
• The Order of the Rosary in balance – Nihilistic notes (and the perpetual quest 4 for meaning in nothing (Out Of Line Music) – Industrial / neofolk
• Organ trail – Appetite for dissection (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) – Grindcore/death metal
• predatory light – Death and the Twilight Hours (20 Buck Spin) – Doom/Black Metal
• Rodrigues – Tales of a Changing Life, Part.1 (Self-published) – Progressive
• Rot – Violentopia (Selfmadegod Records) – Grindcore/brutal death metal
• Sadistic – Burned by fire (Agonia) – Technical death metal
• sadistic ritual – The limitless enigma (Prosthetic Records) – Thrash
• Meander – Mother of Light (Black) – People
• Space of variations – Imago (Napalm) – Metalcore
• Spherical Universe Experience – Back home (Uprising) – Progressive/symphonic metal
• Spice up – Long live (Dais Records) – Rock
• street cults – Gentrification V: Whitewashed (The Flenser) – Experimental
• Texas Murder Crew – Wrapped in their blood (Comatose Music) – Brutal death metal
• Your kingdom will burn – Emptiness and Revenge (Scarlet) – Melodic death metal
• Vaamatar – medievalgeist (Iron Bonehead Productions) – Black Metal
• Watashi Wa – people love people (Tooth & Nail) – Rock/pop
• Zinny Zan – Lullabies for the masses (Savage Kingdom) – Hard Rock