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

2 years ago

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

Kælan Mikla – Undir Köldum Norðurljósum (post-punk, coldwave)

I can’t remember the last Icelandic album that left me feeling disappointed. While we’ve spilled a great deal of ink covering the island’s black metal scene, the overall output from the land of fire and ice is exceptional. From the artwork to the lead singles, Undir Köldum Norðurljósum (“Under the Cold Northern Lights”) is no exception. Kælan Mikla (“The Great Cold”) flits between a constellation of subgenres from The Cure’s broader multiverse, touching on elements of post-punk, goth, and some adjacent “-waves” (cold-, dark-, minimal-, and so on). Top it all with some enchanting vocals and gorgeous Icelandic lyrics, and you have an alluring, frostbitten record that’s perfect preparation for the approaching winter months.

See Also: Pokey LaFarge – In the Blossom of Their Shade (ragtime, New Orleans R&B); Classic rock ’n’ roll songwriting with a fresh, modern attitude. I mean, his last album had a piano bar romp called “Fuck Me Up,” so I’m expecting and equally entertaining listen this time around.

Scott

Best of the Rest

Aeon – God Ends Here (death metal)

The Agonist – Days Before The World Wept (progressive metal, symphonic tech thrash)

Bound In Fear – Penance (brutal deathcore, slam)

Cartridge 1987 – Passage (synthwave, retrowave)

Cenotaph – Precognition to Eradicate (brutal death metal)

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Sticky (alt-rock, indie rock)

Codices – Vivid (post-rock, math rock)

Craneium – Unknown Heights (desert rock, doom)

Crystal Coffin – The Starway Eternal (psychedelic black metal, melodic black metal)

Deviant Process – Nurture (prog tech death)

Devoid – Lonely Eye Movement (prog power metal)

Disembodied Tyrant – Eclipser Pt 1 (slamming prog deathcore)

Dødsdrift – Ødnis (post-black metal, melodic black metal)

Filth – The Ignorance (deathcore, beatdown)

Fire-Toolz – Eternal Home (electro-industrial, experimental)

Force of Darkness – Twilight of Dark Illumination (black metal, blackened thrash)

Gypsum – Gypsum (indie rock, math pop)

Hate – Rugia (blackened death metal)

Hippotraktor – Meridian (post-metal, prog metal)

Ice Nine Kills – The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood (melodic metalcore)

Illudium – Ash of the Womb (post-rock, doomgaze)

Illyrian – Aegis (melodeath)

Interesting Times Gang – Beats, No Rhymes, No Life (trip-hop, instrumental hip-hop)

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Georgia Blue (alt-country, Americana)

Knocked Loose – A Tear In The Fabric of Life EP (metalcore, deathcore)

Pokey LaFarge – In the Blossom of Their Shade (ragtime, New Orleans R&B)

Lizarel – New Human Standard (screamo, chaotic hardcore)

Lutharo – Hiraeth (melodeath, power metal)

Melvins – Five Legged Dog (acoustic sludge)

Misanthur – Ephemeris (black metal, atmospheric black metal)

Tom Morello – The Atlas Underground Fire (funk rock, electronic rock)

Namesake – Redeeming Features (dream punk, noise rock)

Noltem – Illusions In The Wake (atmospheric black metal, melodic black metal)

Reaping Asmodeia – Darkened Infinity (prog death metal, deathcore)

Rothadás – Kopár hant​.​.​. az alvilág felé (death-doom)

Xenia Rubinos – Una Rosa (art pop, neo-soul)

Salt Creek – Out Of The Sky (alt-rock, emo)

Scrimshire – Nothing Feels Like Everything (nu-jazz)

Julia Shapiro – Zorked (dream pop, slowcore)

Sol Sistere – Sol Sistere (atmospheric black metal)

sungazer – Perihelion (nu-jazz, neo-psychedelia)

Hayden Thorpe – Moondust for My Diamond (art pop, synthpop)

Tiny Scissors – Demonstration_02 (math rock, prog metal)

Twelve Foot Ninja – Vengeance (alt-metal, djent)

Vanishing Twin – Ookii Gekkou (Shibuya-kei, space age pop)

Vildhjarta – Måsstaden Under Vatten (djent, prog metal)

A.A. Williams – Arco (chamber folk)

Zetar – Devouring Darkness (blackened death metal)

Scott Murphy

Published 2 years ago