Release Day Roundup – 10/5/18

Scott Murphy
Release Day Roundup
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!

Circa Survive – The Amulet

Bill Fetty
Reviews
Some bands hang around for a long time, producing similar but slight variations over a many year period, tweaking a tried and true format just a little with each new record. Others strive to create larger shift... Read More...

Premiere: Take an Intergalactic Voyage on Howling Giant’s Black Hole Space Wizard (Part 2)

Bill Fetty
Premieres
Enter: Howling Giant. They have returned with their third release, Black Hole Space Wizard Part 2, and have turned out something quite awesome with their collection of blueprints. The band here are in fine form melding together some of the best elements of bands such as Coheed and Cambria, Elder, and Mastodon. The spacier prog rock of the first band collides with the low end progressive doom of the second before topping off the mix with a hint of the Atlanta stalwarts vocal style that swirls and builds to something quite satisfying. Hear this delightful concoction for yourself in our exclusive streaming premiere below.

What Heavy Blog Is Really Listening To – 6/23/17

Scott Murphy
What We're Really Listening To
For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.

Soul Curator // Winter Albums

Heavy Blog
News
For most New Englanders, winter is pinnacle of all that is horrible and tedious about living in the Northeast—it’s full of dark days, cold weather, abundant strains of the flu, and more shoveling-related back i... Read More...

Undrask – Battle Through Time

Bill Fetty
Reviews
One of the things I love about having the opportunity to review albums is checking out bands that are just gaining a foothold beyond their local scene. Greensboro, NC metalheads, Undrask, are one of those bands I probably wouldn't have learned about if not for having a copy of this album slid over to me by the Heavy Blog editors—but I'm glad it did.