Release Day Roundup – 5/1/20

Editor’s Note: Longtime reader Remi VL is a regular guest contributor to our Release Day Roundup posts! He submitted several of the albums listed below. Join his Facebook group for more recommendations.

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!

Abrams – Modern Ways (sludge, heavy rock)

Aether Realm – Redneck Vikings From Hell (melodic death metal)

American Aquarium – Lamentations (Americana, alt-country)

An Autumn for Crippled Children – All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet (post-black metal)

Becomes Astral – Purgatory (melodic death metal, prog metal)

Black Trillium – The Fatal Shore (death doom)

Boat – Tread Lightly (indie rock, alt-rock)

Cage Of Creation – Into Nowhere II (psychedelic black metal, experimental rock)

Car Seat Headrest – Making a Door Less Open (indietronica, indie rock)

CEMËNTERI – Asma, corte, afonía, pisotón (post-hardcore, noise rock)

Chicano Batman – Invisible People (indie rock, psych rock)

Country Westerns – Country Westerns (heartland rock, indie rock)

Desert Storm – Omens (stoner rock, sludge)

Diet Cig – Do You Wonder About Me? (indie rock, power pop)

Egoera – Fortuna (post-rock)

El Ten Eleven – Tautology I (post-rock)

Farafield – Silkskin (downtempo, modern classical)

Markus Floats – Third Album (electroacoustic, minimal synth)

Foot – The Balance of Nature Shifted (desert rock, stoner rock)

Ghostpoet – I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep (UK hip-hop, art pop)

Girish and the Chronicles – Rock the Highway (hard rock, heavy metal)

GroundCulture – How Well Do You Really Know Yourself? (metalcore)

Head of the Demon – Deadly Black Doom (doom)

Ever Eden – Illumine (metalcore, post-hardcore)

Hail the Flesh – Black Pestilence (blackened thrash)

Havok – V (thrash)

Houses of Heaven – Silent Places (krautrock, post-punk)

I the Intruder – Hunger (tech death, deathgrind)

In Wolves Clothing – It Eats Itself (post-hardcore, screamo)

Ital Tek – Outland (IDM, progressive electronic)

Caleb Landry Jones – The Mother Stone (psych pop, indie rock)

Damien Jurado – What’s New, Tomboy? (folk rock, indie folk)

Keverra – Keverra (blackened sludge, noise rock)

Kiss the Goat – Insalubrious (doom metal, post-metal)

Konradsen – Rodeo No. 5 (indie pop, indie folk)

Knock Over City – It’s Rad, Dude (alt-rock, punk)

Koronal – A Gift of Consciousness (progressive deathcore, math metal)

Lesoir – Mosaic (art rock, prog rock)

Logos – Of Darkness and Despair (melodic black metal)

Man Man – Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In​-​Between (roots rock, indie rock)

ONO – Red Summer (experimental, post-industrial)

rhubiqs – Migratory Paths (post-rock, electronic)

River Cult – Chilling Effect (stoner rock, heavy psych)

The Soft Pink Truth – Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? (plunderphonics, microhouse)

still motions – Mirrors (post-rock)

Tempus – DABA (post-metal, post-rock)

Thrawsunblat – Insula (blackened folk)

Tombstoner – Descent to Madness (old-school death metal)

Umbra Vitae – Shadow of Life (death metal, crust punk)

Under the Pier – Puff Pieces (mathcore, technical deathcore)

Vader – Solitude In Madness (death metal)

Various Artists –  Really Bad Music For Really Bad People (hardcore punk, The Cramps covers)

Viva Belgrado – Bellavista (screamo, post-rock)

Devon Williams – A Tear In the Fabric (indie pop, singer/songwriter)

Witchcraft – Black Metal (heavy psych, stoner rock)

Yojo – The Stepson (dark jazz, post-rock)