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
Cloud Cult – Metamorphosis (indie rock, chamber pop)
Successfully reacquainting with an artist/album you once loved but had since fallen out of rotation is very satisfying. This was the case with me recently and Cloud Cult‘s 2007 album The Meaning of 8, as parts of the new Black Country, New Road album reminded me of it. By some fortune it was great timing as they return this month with their eleventh full-length, Metamorphosis. Cloud Cult play an endearing mix of indie rock/pop with artsy, folksy chamber music influence. Their music has incredible emotional range, capable of ripping your heart out and replacing it with radiant flowers that make you forget all the wrongs in the world in one song.
See Also: Vein.fm – This World Is Going To Ruin You (nu-metalcore, mathcore)
–Trent Bos
Hath – All That Was Promised (progressive death metal)
Happy Hath day everyone! After capturing my heart with their 2019 debut Of Rot and Ruin, New Jersey’s best band that aren’t Bon Jovi are back with an album that firmly plants them at the pinnacle of the modern progressive death metal movement. All That Was Promised is a bit more of a grower than their debut, but its density rewards repeat listening and I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more about it and Hath in the months to come.
See Also: Izthmi – Leaving This World, Leaving it All Behind (atmospheric black metal); Another follow-up to one of the most exciting debuts of the last few years. As its (overlong) title suggests, Leaving this World… is a much darker and more depressive affair than The Arrows of Our Ways (2020), but as with Hath, I imagine it will reward revisiting and it still leaves a striking first impression.
–Josh Bulleid