New releases last eight weeks: Metal

Review: The story goes with this one that a collective of seasoned musicians came together and discovered a rare camaraderie. With no hesitation, they poured their everything out onto tape and the results are now presented here on this one-sided and etched 12" under the title Better Lovers. Out features former Every Time I Die members Jordan Buckley on guitar, Steve Micciche on bass, and Clayton "Goose" Holyoak on drums with frontman Greg Puciato on vocals and Grammy-winning producer Will Putney. The music is dense metal with walls of sound washing over you and full of big guitar riffs, guttural vocals and dark energy.

Review: Since the unveiling of their decrepit debut EP Granular Transformation at the end of 2020, Californian doom-tinged tech-death brutalists Apparition have become a hushed name and recommended extremity amongst the caverns of audible ugliness. Following on from 2021's insidious and unsettling full-length LP Feel, the band return with Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State; a monolithic opus set to eclipse any of the muted hope of their previous material. Dissecting forms of early psychedelic proto-doom, but with the sole intention of re-channelling those fuzzed out sonics into abyssal swathes of complex, heaving dread, this isn't your beer-chugging, whiplash-headbanging gross out death metal (while there's always a place for that). Rather, this is a cosmic realm of Lovecraftian variety, designed to enthral, impress, touch, harrow, and haunt in equal measure. Arriving courtesy of Canadian extreme metal peddlers Profound Lore, no refunds will be offered for those lost to the abyss.

Review: BIG BRAVE's music epitomises what has been called 'massive minimalism,' with layers of textural distortion and feedback accentuating its weight and frayed edges. Their artistry blends traditional folk techniques with a modern deconstruction of guitar music, all of which is evident in the new album A Chaos Of Flowers, which is a follow-up to their fierce 2023 album Nature Morte. Lyrically, the songs delve into vulnerability, isolation, and co-existence in nature and guitarist and vocalist Robin Wattie drew inspiration from poetry by female-presenting artists, exploring alienation's impact on the psyche. This record is a testament to the band's ability to evoke intense emotions through minimalist yet powerful arrangements.

Review: Like Ronseal does exactly what it says on the tin, Procreation Of The Wicked: Rehearsal June '84 is a rare session recorded by Swiss extreme metal pioneers Celtic Frost, the same year they unveiled their debut EP/mini-LP Morbid Tales. Later expanded into what the band would retrospectively regard as their debut full-length, the bulk of material from this session comes directly from this project, with the notable inclusion of studio-version lacking 'Messiah', which has grown to become an underappreciated fan favourite in the decades since, largely due to its rehearsal session-only mystique. Raw, feral, and boasting the proto black metal thrash abrasion that would utterly reroute the metallic landscape for future generations, this early incarnation time capsule is a vital piece of extreme metal history, though its ragged edges require true fandom to appreciate the boundary-pushing genius being captured in real time.

Review: The long-gestating follow up to 1992's initial instalment, Black Aria II would finally arrive in 2006 after years of discussion from Misfits/Samhain horror-punk visionary Glenn Danzig, and further his exploration into the cavernous realms of modern classical dark ambience. Conceptually based around Lillith, the first wife of Adam, the material here is far more minimalist and starker than its gothic predecessor, while utilising a more varied array of instruments on top of the pre-established organ and strings, with more Eastern sonic influences to conjure a mercurial vision independent of the preceding volume. Complete with eerie chimes, chants and esoteric lamentations, the project marks one of Danzig's most intriguing works when compared to, say, his Elvis covers compilations, and offers a transportive, biblical, haunting narrative delivered almost exclusively via instrumental atmospherics and insidious gloom.

Review: The mid-90s were a time of immense change for the death metal scene, strongly linked to the endless progression of the genre's most vital pioneers Death, who in retrospect, appeared to be reshaping, retooling and expanding the genre for their current and future peers in real time. Having already switched out the lyrical gore obsessions of their early material for the socio-political ponderings of 1990's Spiritual Healing, before turning to more opaque, introspective ruminations on their superbly technical, progressive death metal opus Human in 1991, a two-year gap would occur (a lengthy creative respite in terms of their prolificacy) before the arrival of 1993's Individual Thought Patterns. During this time, metal drumming legend Gene Hoglan (Testament, Fear Factory) would enter the mix along with King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque, and this newly refurbished line up would continue to build upon the virtuosic hyper-technical prog-death blueprint of Human, but with a major increase of oppressive, metallic menace, leading many to consider the work to be Death's most mercurial balance of artistic complexity and vicious heaviness.

Review: Following on from 1988's seminal sophomore triumph Leprosy, pioneering death metal forefathers Death entered into the 90s with a work that would shift perception on, not only their own project, but the entire genre as an entity. Released in 1990, Spiritual Healing marked a notable embracing of more melodious compositions, largely due to the presence of lead guitarist James Murphy, with this LP being his only contribution to the band's discography, along with bassist Terry Butler. Coinciding with the simultaneous maximisation of technicality and melody, the album would also shift the lyrical approach of primary songwriter Chuck Schuldiner, who began moving away from gore and viscera-soaked tales and focusing more on the real-world horrors of drug addiction, poverty, serial killers, organised religion and corrupt faith healers, just like the one that adorns the iconic artwork.

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Review: A mere 19 albums, not out. It's almost unfathomable how long Judas Priest have been making noise, with their first steps into heavy metal megastardom taken in the late-1960s, a time when the genre was really just a glint in the eye of hopeful upstarts, including this troupe. More than 50million LP unit sales later, and it's safe to say their legacy is more than written, yet the most defining aspect of their tenure - unstoppable, unflappable - is only really apparent in their continued output. Well, OK, this is the first we've heard from them since 2018's Firepower, but nevertheless, across five decades they've barely taken more than four years off before coming back with new material. In this case it's been six, but there was a 24 month pandemic in and among, meaning you can let them off. So, what does it sound like, this long-awaited 19th long form from the deities of power riffs and juggernaut rhythms? Well, Judas Priest, of course - as if there was ever going to be another answer.

Review: There are few nu-metal bands from the formative late 90s/early 00s scene who achieved the monumental crossover appeal of Linkin Park. From their turntable spinning, frenetic rap-metal beginnings on 2000's global breakout Hybrid Theory, to the refined maturation of their formula on 2003's career-height Meteora, to their Jay-Z collaborative album Collision Course to the shedding of skin and rebranding as a genre-less alternative rock entity on 2007's Minutes To Midnight; as popular and accessible as they were, the band clearly constantly strived for sonic progression. Papercuts collects the highest charting singles from the group over two decades, with the most recent contribution being the previously unreleased 'Friendly Fire' recorded during the sessions for 2017's One More Light, which ultimately serves as the final new piece of recording from the band and vocalist Chester Bennington who would tragically take his own life later that same year. Ignoring the standard sequencing of a greatest hits which often lists the tracks in chronologically released order, here the cuts are compiled to sonically complement each other and reflect the band's ethos rather than a single line commercial pattern. Here is why the anthemic double platinum 'In The End' is juxtaposed with the minimalist rap-rock of MTM banger 'Bleed It Out', or why the previously unreleased fan favourite demo 'QWERTY' lands right between the U2 indebted 'What I've Done' and the original breakout single that started it all 'One Step Closer'.

Review: Hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina, self-described "Adventure Metal" outfit Mega Colossus appear to have little interest in using the metal genre to craft sonic aggression. Utilising melodious leads, powerful vocals and technically impressive flashes of prog brilliance, their fourth full-length Showdown offers up a form of triumphant positivity and anthemic fantasy, harking back to the classic era of illustrious prog and classic rock with subtle nods to the likes of Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Kansas. It might not be 1978 anymore, just don't tell the band that.

Review: Following on from 2019's Years Of Aggression, Greek thrash metal behemoths Suicidal Angels return with their highly anticipated eighth full-length Profane Prayer. Led by the incomparable vision of sole founding member Nick Melissourgos, the band's recent signing to metal label titan Nuclear Blast, serves as a gleaming sign of approval for their half-decade gestating opus. Teaming with frenetic riffage echoing the likes of early day Megadeth and Testament, this is thrash fury of a deft, artisanal touch, yet delivered with all of the kaleidoscopic abandon of musicians skilled enough to transcend their genre confines without losing sight of what made said genre so potent all those decades prior.