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Release Day Roundup: 3/3/23

Rounding up new releases from Enslaved, Haken, Witch Ripper, Entheos, Necropanther, .giffromgod, HamaSaari, Viscera, Ciemra, Full of Hell and Primitive Man and more.

a year ago

Top Picks

Enslaved – Heimdal (progressive black metal)

I wasn't too big on the last Enslaved album. In retrospect, I think it's probably their weakest record, which is really saying something about the quality of their output. Enslaved are maybe the best band to ever blend extreme and progressive metal, and Heimdal is in keeping with their lofty legacy.

Heimdal immediatley feels like a throwback to the more ethereal tones of their superior middle period, while also retaining a lot fo the darker, more earthen atmospher of their recent releases. As always with Enslaved, there's plenty to unpack here, and I'm not sure yet where this album will wind up ranking within their catelogue, but my first few listens have been extremely promising.

Necropanther – Betrayal (blackened death thrash)

After dabbling in doom for a bit, Necropanther are back to doing what they do best: delivering kickass, riff-driven thrash with an extra extreme metal edge for good measure. Their previous full-length outing, The Doomed City was already one of the best thrash albums of 2019, and Betrayal feels like a pretty significant step up in quality. You might want to bring a neck-brace for this one.

Oh, and if you like either of these albums, then you should probably check out that Ciemra album as well. Especially if you like both...

Release Roundup

Against Myself – Tides of Insanity (symphonic metal)

ÆVANGELIST – Simulacra Retrospectræ (epic death metal)

Alkymenia – Meeting Before the Death (death metal)

Altar of I – Human Resources (melodic metalcore, melodeath)

Anarcoterror – Dim Lights (death metal)

Arriver – Azimuth (post-metal, post-doom)

At the Altar of the Horned God – Heart of Silence (folk black metal)

Barren Heir – Died Down (atmospheric sludge metal, post-metal)

Bastard Sword – Bastard Sword Ι (stoner doom)

Bong Coffin – The End Beyond Doubt (stoner death)

Can't Swim – Thanks But No Thanks (post hardcore, alt rock)

Carcariass – Afterworld (melodeath)

Carrion – Morbid Nailgun Necropsy (death metal)

Ciemra – The Tread of Darkness (kinda proggy black metal)

Cromlech – Ascent of Kings (power metal)

Die Like Gentlemen – Hard Truths (weird doom)

Disminded – The Vision (death thrash)

Drowstorm – Jubokko (dissonant black metal)

Earth Groans – Tongue Tied (metalcore, deathcore)

Echushkya – Twilight Murmuration (black metal)

Entheos – Time Will Take Us All (progressive death metal, deathcore)

Fast Evil – The Old Dark Stories (heavy metal, thrash)

Galneryus – Between Dread and Valor (power metal)

.giffromgod – Digital Red (hardcore, metalcore)

Gravekvlt – Gravekvlt (black metal, NWOBHM)

Haken – Fauna (prog metal)

HamaSaari – Ineffable (prog rock, post metal)

Ice War – Bloodsucker (heavy metal, speed metal)

ISON – Stars & Embers (doomgaze, space ambient)

L’Ira del Baccano – Cosmic Evoked Potentials (instrumental doom)

Lost Brethren – Dimensional Rift (tech death)

Maggot Crown – Apparition of Faces (deathgrind)

Majesties – Vast Reaches Unclaimed (melodeath)

Morgenröthe – Hiver Social (post-black metal)

Munt – Pain Ouroboros (brutal deathgrind)

Mycelium Shroud – Mycelium Shroud (shrug emoji)

Nuclear Holocaust – Sailing The Seas Of Nuclear Waste (grindcore)

Nymphrenia/Vanessa Funke – Lonely Suicide (DSBM)

Ocean of Grief – Pale Existence (melodeath, death-doom)

Primitive Man and Full of Hell – Suffocating Hallucination (blackened noise grind)

Riffcoven – O Caminho do Aço (doom metal)

RodtGod – Graveside Service (death sludge)

Rope – Rope (heavy metal)

Sapere Aude – Thoughts of a Dying Vessel (blackened death doom)

71TonMan – Of End Times (doom-sludge)

Skrying Mirror – Omnimalevolence (weird sludge death)

Sloth Hammer – Troops of Doom (doom sludge)

Sortilège – Apocalypso (heavy metal)

Sovver – Sovver (instrumental prog death)

Stahlsarg – Suicide of God (black metal)

Stargazer – Life Will Never Be The Same (heavy metal)

Stoned Jesus – Father Light (stoner rock, stoner metal)

Temptress – See (stoner doom)

Threnodist – Make the Class War the Last War (post-black, blackgaze)

Tragedy – I Am Woman (disco metal)

Transgressive – Extreme Transgression (thrash)

Until Death Overtakes Me – Decay into Irrelevance (funeral doom)

Verminoth – Grotesque Manifestation (brutal death metal)

Viscera – Carcinogenesis (deathcore)

Witch Ripper – The Flight After The Fall (progressive stoner sludge)

YAAROTH – The Man In The Wood (prog rock, prog doom)

Zulu – A New Tomorrow (hardcore with soul interludes)

Joshua Bulleid

Published a year ago