Editor’s Note: Do you think we “missed” an album this week? Click here.
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!
Top Picks
LLNN – Unmaker (atmospheric sludge metal, death-doom)
Another heaviest album of the year contender here. We’re talking gravity well opening, cosmic titan fighting, dense space sludge that picks up right where they left off with their 2018 standout Deads. With Unmaker we see them leaning a bit more into a doom-oriented sound, with some slower, dramatic tension building in their songwriting, but it always builds back to their patented planet-crushing heaviness. The equally terrifying vocal delivery combined with their subtle synth usage just pushes their sound even further, augmenting that feeling of the cold, bleak emptiness of space.
See Also: Still – {} (post-metal, blackened hardcore)
–Trent Bos
Japanese Breakfast – Sable (soundtrack, ambient pop)
Michelle Zauner has had an excellent year, with the release of her acclaimed album Jubilee and equally well-received memoir Crying In H Mart. Now we can hear her talents as Japanese Breakfast channeled into the soundtrack for Sable, an open world exploration with exceptional artwork. She maintains the sharp, catchy songwriting that distinguishes her brand of indie chamber pop, while also leaning into more atmospheric timbres that lend themselves to a soundtrack. Jubilee is still my favorite Zauner project to date, but Sable is an undeniably impressive inclusion to her increasingly multimedia repertoire.
See Also: Succumb – XXI (death metal); My favorite Flenser-approved metal band is back with another helping of punky, sinister death metal.
–Scott