June 2022 Metal Release Tracker

 

 

I'm currently compiling metal and metal-adjacent music for Territory's Edge, my monthly recap column on New Fury Media.  After the last Friday of the month (June 24), I will select 5-8 albums or songs to discuss in detail.  My favorites of the month are marked with 🐅.

June Release Tracker

 

Singles

Counterparts - "Unwavering Vow" (Jun 1, metalcore)

Ether Coven - "Psalm of Cancer" (Jun 1, sludge)

The Callous Daoboys - "What is Delicious? Who Swarms?" (Jun 2, mathcore)

Amon Amarth - "Get in the Ring" (Jun 3, viking/death metal)

Babirusa - "Mandatory Malevolence" (Jun 3, deathcore)

Demon Hunter - "Freedom is Dead" (Jun 3, metalcore)

Fire From the Gods - "SOS" (Jun 3, rap rock/metalcore)

Floorless - "Healing" (Jun 3, industrial)

I AM - "The Iron Gate" (Jun 3, progressive death metal/deathcore) 🐅

Motionless in White/Mick Gordon - "Scoring the End of the World" (Jun 3, electronic rock/alternative metal)

Satyr - "Attrition" (Jun 3, post-hardcore/progressive)

The Halo Effect - "The Needless End" (Jun 3, melodic death metal)

The Machinist - "Pig" (Jun 3, deathcore)

Parkway Drive - "Glitch" (Jun 7, nu metal)

The Devil Wears Prada - "Salt" (Jun 7, metalcore/alternative metal) 🐅

ATLVS - "Synthetic Heaven" (Jun 8, metalcore)

Common Rule - "Realworld" (Jun 9, metalcore)

Holding Absence/Alpha Wolf - "Aching Longing" (Jun 10, post-hardcore)

Imperial Triumphant/Kenny G - "Merkurius Gilded" (Jun 10, avant-garde)

Lamb of God - "Nevermore" (Jun 10, groove metal) 🐅

Soulfly - "Scouring the Vile" (Jun 10, thrash)

Grieve - "I Love Myself and My Beautiful Life" (Jun 10, nu-metalcore)

In Flames - "State of Slow Decay" (Jun 13, melodic death metal)

Norma Jean - "Call for the Blood" (Jun 16, metalcore)

Enterprise Earth - "Psalm of Agony" (Jun 17, deathcore) 🐅

I Prevail - "Body Bag" (Jun 17, metalcore)

Oceans of Slumber - "The Lighthouse" (Jun 17, gothic rock)

Psycroptic - "Exitus" (Jun 17, technical death metal)

Satyr - "Whelmed" (Jun 17, post-hardcore)

Wake - "Infinite Inward" (Jun 17, progressive death metal) 🐅

Koilos - "Lock, Load, Destroy" (Jun 17, rapcore/hardcore)

The Mars Volta - "Blacklight Shine" (Jun 21, progressive rock)

Machine Head - "Unhallowed" (Jun 21, groove/progressive metal) 🐅

Lorna Shore - "Into the Earth" (Jun 22, deathcore)

Sleeping With Sirens/Spencer Chamberlain - "Crosses" (Jun 22, post-hardcore)

We Came As Romans - "Plagued" (Jun 22, metalcore)

Alpha Wolf - "Hotel Underground" (Jun 23, metalcore)

Fit For a King - "Reaper" (Jun 23, metalcore)

Krisiun - "Sworn Enemies" (Jun 23, death/thrash)

AVOID - "My World" (Jun 24, metalcore/punk)

Becoming the Archetype - "The Lost Colony" (Jun 24, progressive death metal/metalcore)

Hostile Array - “Wounds” (Jun 24, post-hardcore)

Low Life/Ben Hoagland - "Burning Both Ends" (Jun 24, metalcore)

Ozzy/Jeff Beck - “Patient No. 9” (Jun 24, heavy metal)

Nothing More - "Spirits" (Jun 24, alternative metal)

Time, the Valuator - "Black Water" (Jun 24, djent/progressive metalcore) 🐅

House Divided/Dropout Kings - “Stay” (Jun 25, rapcore)

Ocean Sleeper - "Your Love I'll Never Need" (Jun 28, metalcore)

Miss May I - "Earth Shaker" (Jun 29, metalcore)

Cyborg Octopus - "Seizure of Character" (Jun 29, progressive metal)

Veio - “Like Cyanide” (Jun 29, progressive rock/alternative metal)

Invent Animate - "Shade Astray" (Jun 30, metalcore) 🐅

Oceans Ate Alaska - “New Dawn” (Jun 30, metalcore)

The Archaic Epidemic - "Lords of Mercy" (Jun 30, deathcore)

 

 Albums/EPs

Antagonist A.D.- Through Fire All Things Are Renewed (Jun 3, hardcore)

Artificial Brain - Artificial Brain (Jun 3, technical death metal)

Astronoid - Radiant Bloom (Jun 3, progressive metal/shoegaze) 🐅

Bleed From Within - Shrine (Jun 3, metalcore)

Gwar - The New Dark Ages (Jun 3, crossover thrash)

Memphis May Fire - Remade in Misery (Jun 3, rock/metalcore)

Origin - Chaosmos (Jun 3, technical death metal)

Red Handed Denial - I'd Rather Be Asleep (Jun 3, metalcore)

Sable Hills - Duality (Jun 3, metalcore/deathcore)

Terminal Nation/Kruelty split - The Ruination of Imperialism (Jun 3, death metal/hardcore)

Thornhill - Heroine (Jun 3, alternative metal/shoegaze)

Unprocessed - Boy Without a Gun (Jun 3, progressive rock)

Deathwhite - Dark Everlasting (Jun 10, doom metal)

Emberthrone - Godless Wonder (Jun 10, death metal)

Ill Nino - IllMortals (Jun 10, nu metal/Latin metal)

InRetrospect - Current State (Jun 10, progressive metalcore)

Kardashev - Liminal Rite (Jun 10, deathgaze) 🐅

Motionless in White - Scoring the End of the World (Jun 10, electronic rock/nu metalcore)

Outsider - Reflection of You (Jun 10, metalcore)

Respire - Respire - Audiotree Worldwide (Jun 10, blackened hardcore)

Rise Against - Nowhere Generation II (Jun 10, punk)

Shut/Eye - Unnatural Disasters (Jun 10, post-hardcore)

Soreption - Jord (Jun 10, technical death metal)

Still Stayer - Everend (Jun 10, progressive metalcore)

Tomb Mold - Aperture of Body (Jun 10, death metal)

Yatra - Born Into Chaos (Jun 10, death metal/stoner doom)

Desiccation - Cold Dead Earth (Jun 13, black metal/doom/post metal) 🐅

Dir En Grey - Phalaris (Jun 15, nu metal/visual kei)

Exocrine - The Hybrid Suns (Jun 17, technical death metal)

Grey Daze - The Phoenix (Jun 17, grunge/alternative metal) [vocal tracks and original songs from 1994 and 1997]

Inexorum - Equinox Vigil (Jun 17, melodic death metal)

Myteri - Illusion (Jun 17, crust)

Loose Ends WMBD - Manifest Destiny (Jun 17, hardcore)

Vatican - Ultra (Jun 17, metalcore)

White Ward - False Light (Jun 17, black metal)

Spiritbox - Rotoscope (Jun 22, nu-metalcore/alternative metal/industrial) 🐅

Alexisonfire - Otherness (Jun 24, post-hardcore)

Axioma - Sepsis (Jun 24, progressive black metal)

Candy - Heaven is Here (Jun 24, experimental hardcore/noise)

Coheed and Cambria - Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind (Jun 24, progressive rock) 🐅

Earthists - Have a Good Cult (Jun 24, post-hardcore)

Final Light - Final Light (Jun 24, industrial/post metal)

Knoll - Metempiric (Jun 24, deathgrind)

Light Dweller - Lucid Offering (Jun 24, death metal)

0n0 - Unwavering Resonance (Jun 24, industrial/doom) 🐅

Porcupine Tree - Closer/Continuation (Jun 24, progressive rock)

Profiler - Profiler (Jun 24, nu metal)

Projected - Hypoxia (Jun 24, alternative metal)

Sever the Memories - Hollow Shell (Jun 24, deathcore)

Vicious Blade - Siege of Cruelty (Jun 24, thrash/crust)

Volcandra - Border World (Jun 24, progressive death metal)

Territory's Edge - May 2022

I wrote this monthly recap for New Fury Media on June 1 and you can view the original post here.

New metal music from this month offered plenty of surprises and crossing of genres.  Spiritbox, one of heavy music's most hyped new names, dropped a collaborative single with electronic artist Illenium.  Knocked Loose frontman Bryan Garris lent his signature barks on Motionless in White's aggressive song "Slaughterhouse".  Young metal bands like Wake, Inexorum, Conjurer, and Greylotus are names to watch, as they each meld various styles of extreme metal for a sound as intense as it is innovative.

A familiar name under a new alias, Trivium's frontman Matt Heafy released the debut album of his side project Ibaraki.  A collaboration with long-time producer Ihsahn, Rashamon incorporates elements of styles like progressive and black metal while still remaining accessible to Trivium fans.  Notably, the nine-minute epic "Rōnin" features snarling screamed vocals from Gerard Way. (If you've been out of the loop, My Chemical Romance recently dropped their first new song in years - and it's a heavy one).  Cave In also made an unexpected comeback with Heavy Pendulum, a driving, grungy heavy rock record that takes influence from Soundgarden both in sound and length.  Below, I'll delve into some of the songs and albums that caught my attention in May 2022.  Picks include a rising metalcore act you should add to your radar, a pair of albums exploring Indigenous American heritage with extreme metal, and more.

 

Hollow Front - The Price of Dreaming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ULzD2Mbh0

On their first UNFD release, Michigan metalcore band Hollow Front prove they are a name to watch.  The Price of Dreaming has enough hooks, riffs, breakdowns, and variety to appeal to any fan of the genre.  Stylistically, this band pulls influence from 2000s NWOAHM mainstays like Killswitch Engage, as well as current progressive metalcore groups like Erra or Invent Animate.   They don't break new ground or reinvent the genre, they play pure metalcore and they do it very well.  Guitarist Dakota Alvarez splits vocal duties with Tyler Tate, and has more of a presence here in comparison to the band's 2020 full-length Loose Threads.  "Two Worlds Away" and "In the Spotlight" are softer and driven by Alvarez's clean singing, and contrast with the aggressive, relentless tracks like "Heritage" and "Treading Water".   Hollow Front have a knack for massive, soaring choruses, and "Thick as Blood" and the title track are prime examples of the band's effective use of hooks.

 

Nechochwen - Kanawha Black

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOZnYPoL45Y

Initially started by Aaron Carey as a project that combined Appalachian folk music with traditional Native American instrumentation, Nechochwen (a Lenape word meaning "walks alone") has gradually morphed into a black metal band while still retaining those original lyrical themes.  One example is "The Murky Deep", which describes a legend relating to the Horned Serpent, a supernatural monster of Native American lore that dragged prey down underwater.   The album's name Kanawha Black explores the history of the band's home state of West Virginia, with the title referencing the Kanawha River and the black flint found in the region.  In a recent interview with the Rez Metal Podcast, Aaron Carey said that the title is also an allusion to West Virginia's "black cloud" of poverty and economic depression.

Overall, this is a diverse, very accessible black metal album with elements of progressive rock, doom and folk.  Songs like the opening title track and "Visions, Dreams and Signs" fit comfortably under the black metal label, while "A Cure For The Winter Plagues" ventures into doom metal, and "The Murky Deep" is comparable to early Opeth.  However, the main standout is "Generations of War".  A flute melody laid over driving riffs and blastbeats gives this blackened battle song an epic atmosphere.  Overall, Kanawha Black is a solid album with excellent storytelling from a unique group.  You can read an overview of the band's discography here.

 

Tzompantli - Tlazcaltiliztli

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5itJGvb84kQ

Tzompantli (which translates to 'skull rack') is a death doom metal project led by Brian Ortiz from Xibalba.  While Ortiz's primary band is named after the Mayan word for 'underworld', it is Tzompantli that fully centralizes themes of indigenous rituals and history.   In honor of the band's Mesoamerican roots, each track title is written in the indigenous Nahuatl language.  The band also incorporates traditional tribal percussion instruments of huehuetl drums, shells, and shakers into their sound.  As stated in the album notes, "Tlazcaltiliztli is dedicated, and an offering, to the indigenous peoples, nations & tribes of the North, South, East & West of the American continents."

In other aspects, Tzompantli's sepulchral riff-driven sound is similar to that of Xibalba, but with greater dynamics.  Excellent production allows each crushing downtuned riff and bassline to be clearly heard.  The opening two tracks "Yaohuehuetl" ('war drums') and "Tlatzintilli" ('something begun; a creation') progress from tribal drumming, to an ominous guitar line, to ferocious death metal riffage.  The calculated, slow tempo and minor key melodic guitar sections throughout give the album an slight post metal sensibility as well, especially on the closing track "Yaotiacahuanetzli" ( 'warrior blood').  At thirty-three minutes in length, Tlazcaltiliztli is succinct and brutal, never overstaying its welcome.

 

Cane Hill - "A Form of Protest"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JByoypu2YB4

Cane Hill never made it a goal to fit neatly into one category.  This New Orleans-based group has pushed the boundaries and ventured outside their nu metal/metalcore sound before, with their acoustic EP Kill the Sun pulling influences from Alice in Chains' classic Jar of Flies and americana music.  Cane Hill's latest song exemplifies the opposite end of the spectrum as frontman Elijah Witt growls over driving, downtuned riffs, with clean vocals nowhere in sight.   "A Form of Protest" goes for the throat and is easily Cane Hill's heaviest song to date.  It is also their first song out under the Out of Line label, following a series of EPs released independently throughout the last two years.   Elijah Witt has stated that this single is the first of a new "relentless and uncomprising era" for the band.

 

Satyr - "Vector"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY3UztmbPN0

Satyr plays technical post-hardcore that should appeal to fans of artists like Good Tiger, Fall of Troy or Dance Gavin Dance.  Formed in 2016, they are a relatively new band on the scene, and have one full-length and one EP in their catalog.   Locus was a promising 2020 debut from this Atlanta band, and was released independently.  "Vector" is the introductory single from Satyr's follow-up album, and is their first song released under Kill Iconic Records.  Satyr has a lot going on instrumentally and incorporates uncommon time signatures into an accessible form.  Their sound has the feel of a jam session with the guitarists Janald Long and Michael Campbell laying down a driving groove.  The band's second album Totem will be released on July 1, and a second single, "Attrition", drops on June 3.

 

Oceans of Slumber - "Hearts of Stone"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHw3NkP8zUE

Oceans of Slumber, a progressive/gothic metal band from Texas, released two songs from their upcoming album Starlight and Ash, which is set for a July 22 release date.  Both singles, "The Waters Rising", and "Hearts of Stone", emphasize the gothic rock side of the band's sound.  These two are comparable to previous softer songs like "The Colors of Grace" and a gorgeous cover of The Moody Blues' 1967 hit "Nights in White Satin".  Conversely, this unique and versatile band is also known for the chaotic black metal/doom influenced sound of tracks like "The Adorned Fathomless Creation" and progressive metal epics like "Winter" and "Pray for Fire".  It remains to be seen whether each track on Starlight and Ash will follow the same trajectory as the first two singles, or if the heavier side of Oceans of Slumber will be present as well.   In either case, it's hard to go wrong with vocals as commanding as frontwoman Cammie Gilbert's soulful delivery, which remains the band's most central component.