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
Cave In – Heavy Pendulum (progressive hardcore, alt rock)
Cave In are back, baby! And this time they brought the (big) riffs with them. The added influence of Converge’s Nate Newton on bass and Kurt Ballou behind the production desk is immediately apparent from the crunching riffs of ferocious openers “New Reality” and “Blood Spitter” and although the assault eventually lets up as the album gives way to the band’s classic space rock sound, there’s an underlying aggression that sets Heavy Pendulum apart from the band’s already eclectic catalogue, while providing the worthy follow-up to 2011’s masterful White Silence that 2019’s Final Transmission was tragically prevented from being.
See Also: Malevolence – Malicious Intent (metallic hardcore, sludge); Speaking of crunchy riffs, the British bruisers in Malevolence have finally got a hold on the Crowbar-core sound they’ve been refining for over a decade now, to utterly devastating and infectious result.
–Josh Bulleid
Matmos – Regards/Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer (progressive electronic, glitch)
Matmos are probably the most consistently inconsistent groups out there right now. Their discography is defined by an obsession with pushing boundaries, from sampling medical procedures to combining Americana, Medieval folk music, and electronica to building an album entirely from washing machine sounds. Their latest album is no exception, as the duo culled the catalog of Polish composer Bogusław Schaeffer to create compositions that land somewhere between performances and remixes.
See Also: Cave In – Heavy Pendulum (space rock, post-hardcore); While Final Transmission was a great release, it will always be defined as a poignant send-off for the late Caleb Scofield rather than a true studio album. Considering that White Silence (2011) made me fall in love with Cave In, I’m excited to hear what they’ll have to offer with their first full-length in over a decade.
–Scott