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Release Day Roundup – 8/12/22 & 8/19/22

Much like the fated phoenix from the ashes, Release Day Roundup is back from the dead and back to the rhythm of bringing you the best new releases. As you

2 years ago

Much like the fated phoenix from the ashes, Release Day Roundup is back from the dead and back to the rhythm of bringing you the best new releases. As you may have noticed, the post is also under new management while Scott takes a much-needed sabbatical in the name of propagating the species. We thank him for his service and hope he can pop in every now and then to recommend you some cool jazz or something. Otherwise, things should keep on rolling in much the same fashion as you’ve become accustom to (and expressed a lot of appreciation for in our absence, thank you!), albeit with more hair metal asides.

To kick off this new era, and make up for our technical-difficulty-induced tardiness, we’re bringing you a bumper post this week, covering all the best releases from the last two weeks, which have been absolutely stacked with some of the years’ best and biggest heavy releases.

Top Picks

Carrion Vael – Abhorrent Obsessions (brutal tech death, melodeathcore)

Comparisons between Carrion Vale and The Black Dahlia Murder are pretty unavoidable. Beyond vocalist Travis Lawson’s striking similarities to the late Trevor Strnad, the band tread a very similar line between technical melodeath and deathcore that owes and obvious debt to the Michigan mainstays. There are moments here that bring to mind more extreme acts, like Archspire and Cattle Decapitation as well – especially on outstanding opener “Wings of Deliverance” – along with a hearty dose of symphonics. Dare I say Abhorrent Obsessions is even better (and far more versatile) than the last few BDM records, and comparing it to one of modern metal’s most respected extreme metal outfits can hardly be that damning now can it?

Soilwork – Övergivenheten (melodic prog metal)

With Övergivenheten, Soilwork have completed the transition from melodeath mainstays to purveyors of modern, melodic progressive metal begun on 2019’s Verkligheten and hunted at pretty much throughout their entire career. The album’s not quite on par with their melodic death metal classics and could certainly use some trimming (I advise skipping over seven-minute snooze-fest “Nous Sommes la Guerre” on first listen). Nevertheless, Soilwork sound far more confident and accomplished here than they have for a few releases now, and they’re certainly a lot more adept at altering their sound and growing old gracefully than the Gothenberg gang seem to be. There really is no one else like them.

See Also: Those new Aronious and Arch Enemy albums also slap.

-Josh

Best of the Rest

Abest – Molten Husk (post-metal, atmospheric sludge)

Acid Blade – Power Dive (heavy metal)

Alpha Wolf / Holding Absence – The Lost & The Longing (deathcore, alt rock)

Arch Enemy – Deceivers (melodeath)

Aronious – Irkalla (tech death)

Ascent of Autumn – Awakened (deathcore)

A-Z – A-Z (progressive metal, that’s just the Asia logo right?)

BlackLab – In a Bizarre Dream (doom metal, heavy psych)

Blood Rage – Welcome To Crimson Pines (brutal death metal, osdm)

Boris – Heavy Rocks (2022) (psychedelic drone, garage rock)

Conan – Evidence of Immorality (doom metal, sludge metal)

Dawnwalker – House of Sand (progressive post-metal)

Fugitive – Maniac (groove thrash, crossover)

The Halo Effect – Days of the Lost (melodeath)

Heilung – Drif (experimental folk)

Hell Fire – Reckoning (heavy metal, power metal)

I Prevail – True Power (melodic metaclore)

Leviathan – Mishief of Malcontent (prog metal, not that Leviathan)

Life’s Question – World Full Of… (hardcore punk, metalcore)

Locrian – New Catastrophism (ambient drone)

Mammoth Volume – The Cursed Who Perform The Larvagod Rites (stoner doom)

Megan thee Stallion  – Traumazine (southern hip hop, real hot girl shit)

Morbid Evils – Supernaturals (death-doom, sludge metal)

Norma Jean – Deathrattle Sing For Me (progressive metalcore, post mathcore)

Opium Lord / Under – Split (sludge doom)

Orthodox – Learning To Dissolve (metalcore)

Pale Ache – Mourning As A Metaphor (metalcore, blackened hardcore)

Primitive – With the Rats and Snakes (thrash)

Rejoice! The Light Has Came – Untitled (avant-garde black metal, disso-death)

Revaira – Journey (prog metalcore)

Royal Coda – To Only A Few At First (post-hardcore, swancore)

Russian Circles – Gnosis (post-metal)

Six By Six – Six By Six (prog rock)

Slaves of Dissonance – Toxoplasmosis (technical death thrash)

Soilwork – Övergivenheten (melodeath, prog metal)

Spirit Adrift – 20 Centuries Gone (heavy metal, trad metal)

Spite – Dedication To Flesh (deathcore)

Splintered Throne – The Greater Good Of Man (heavy metal, trad metal)

Sun Eater – Vermin (brutal tech death)

Sunstorm – Brothers in Arms (heavy metal)

Thick – Happy Now (garage punk, power pop)

Unprocessed – Gold (melodic tech metal, pop prog)

Zabbeth – Zabbeth (black thrash)

Zdrajcy – Duch Walki (black metal)

Zemeth – 1st EP (neoclassical melodeath, power metal)

Joshua Bulleid

Published 2 years ago