Each month, we always seem to come to the same conclusion when it comes to our Editors’ Picks column: Friday release days open the floodgates and unleash a seemingly endless stream of quality new music. But while some of our Editors and Contributors sit down gleefully each week to dive into this newly stocked treasure trove, others find themselves drawing a blank at the end of the month due to the breakneck pace needed to keep up to date with what’s been released. Which brings us to this Heavy Blog PSA: a weekly roundup of new albums which pares down the week’s releases to only our highest recommendations. Here you’ll find full album/single streams, pre-order links and, most importantly, a collection of albums that could very well earn a spot on your year-end list. Enjoy!
Akrotheism – Law of Seven Deaths (blackened death metal)
Among Vultures – Among Vultures (hardcore, metalcore)
Anthem – Nucleus (heavy metal)
Applaud the Impaler – Ov Apocalypse Incarnate (brutal tech death)
Arrival of Autumn – Harbinger (metalcore)
The Black Moriah – Road Agents of the Blast Furnace (blackened thrash)
Blue House – Gobstopper (dream pop, psych pop)
Brutus – Nest (post-hardcore)
Crafter – Lasting Efforts (hardcore)
East of the Wall – NP Complete (post-metal, progressive sludge)
Elder Ones – From Untruth (avant-garde jazz, vocal jazz)
Ellende – Lebensnehmer (post-black metal)
Ola Englund – Master of the Universe (instrumental metal, melodeath)
FACS – Lifelike (art rock, post-punk)
Fennesz – Agora (ambient, electroacoustic)
Gang of Four – Happy Now (dance-punk, post-punk)
Beth Gibbons & the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra – Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (modern classical)
Shafiq Husayn – The Loop (funk fusion, neo-soul)
Lotus Eater – Social Hazard (nu-deathcore)
Magic Circle – Departed Souls (heavy metal, traditional doom)
Yngwie Malmsteen – Blue Lightning (heavy metal, shred)
Manifestic – Anonymous Souls (thrash)
Moodie Black – MB III V MICHOA (abstract hip-hop, industrial hip-hop)
Moon Tooth – Crux (prog metal, alt-metal)
Nightrage – Wolf to Man (melodeath)
Nocturnal Hollow – A Whisper of a Horrendous Soul (death metal)
Orpheus Omega – Wear Your Sins (melodeath)
Phew / Oren Ambarchi / Jim O’Rourke – Patience Soup (avant-garde, experimental electronic)
Six of Swords – Regime Decay / Polar Vortex (death metal)
Devin Townsend – Empath (prog metal)
Valerinne – Desire (post-rock, post-metal)
White Denim – Side Effects (indie rock, neo-psychedelia)
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