New releases last eight weeks: Metal

Review: Formed in 1995, Belgian death metal icons Aborted have become renowned for their dizzying technicality and seamless fusion of the more brutal and melodic aspects of the genre, all the while harbouring a major predilection towards grindcore. Signing to highly revered metal label Nuclear Blast for their 12th full-length Vault Of Horrors, the project takes an old school approach to lyrical inspiration with each of the cuts based off of specific, classic horror films, from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ('Death Cult') to Halloween ('The Shape of Hate') to Hellraiser ('Hellbound') to later morbid entries such as The Mist ('Malevolent Haze'). That's before even mentioning the ludicrous array of guest vocal features across the album, appearing more like a hip-hop record at first glance with practically every track offering room to the likes of Alex Erian (Despised Icon), Matt McGachy (Cryptopsy), and Jason Evans (Ingested) to name but a small handful.

Review: "Hopium" is internet-speak for naive "hope" in the face of oncoming calamity, where "hope" is imagined as a kind of injectable drug upon which media consumers inevitably get hooked. With this in mind, LA-based political synth-come-punk-metal ish act Ministry (the lifetime project of founder Al Jourgensen) deliver their latest album, HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES, which provides a window into the pysche of the contemporary hope-stricken worrier / warrior of today. From the opening war-cry of 'Goddamn White Trash' to the closing clamour of 'Ricky's Hand', it's clear the ultimate message is that there are two kinds of hope - the passive "hopium" kind, and the active kind that knows what it's doing.

Review: 'Unfurling' their 15th album - a stonking discographic achievement - My Dying Bride's A Mortal Binding is brought to our attention. The Yorkshire-based quintet deliver this incendiary sonic meditation on loss, distress, and abyssal horror with glee, eliding gothic and apocalyptic themes while playing on bleak aspects of the band members' personal lives, sublimated through wicked doom metal. 'Thornwyck Hymn', 'Her Dominion' and 'The Apocalyptist' betray a belief that one can master the end of times - whatever form they may take - and use them to one's own advantage: such is the implied message.

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.