Release Round Up - May 28th, 2021
Every Friday there is a tidal wave of new music released unto the world. Whilst we try to cover as much as possible here at The Razor's Edge, it's not always possible to review everything. So each week on a Friday we'll round up some of the best new music available, some we've reviewed, some we haven't, but all worth checking out!
Theres a lot of new heavy music hitting the airwaves this week, everything from black metal, death metal, gothic metal, Stoner rock, doom, thrash metal and even some of your traditional heavy fuckin' metal!
Here's what we think you should check out today!
Serena Cherry releases her first solo record this Friday. The Svalbard guitarist/vocalist returns to her Black Metal routes with new project Noctule and the debut album 'Wretched Abyss', released via Church Road Records.
We bring not one, but two reviews, of this new release.
Robbie stated:
"With an ability to be more than just an aural experience Black metal at times is bleak, dark and uncompromising yet as displayed here it can be warm, enlightening and emotionally gripping. Allow ‘Wretched Abyss’ to be your companion as you venture through the fantasy lands that have informed this album."
Paul thought:
There’s something quite captivating about the whole UK black metal sound, and the variations that exist within it are extensive. With Noctule, Serena has done more than demonstrate how good a musician she is. She’s crafted an album of some quality, and one that is already on order.
Read both our reviews here, and check out our interview with Serena here.
Southern rockers Blackberry Smoke have a new album out this week. Title track from the album 'You Hear Georgia' has been on heavy rotaion on the rock radio stations for weeks now, so we've dived deep into the full album!
"Full of rich warmth, gentle and easy-going songs, and a perfect production, this is another masterful piece of work from a band who continue to excite."
Read our full review here.
Japanese outfit Lovebites hit back with a new E.P. this week. 'Glory, Glory, To The World' is released via JPU Records.
"This is a glorious E.P. and the only thing that I’m regretting is not checking them out four years ago when they first broke on the scene."
Read our full review here.
Amorphis guitarist Esa Holopainen has been busy in lockdown and brings out a self titled solo album Silver Lake by Esa Holopainen this week via Nuclear Blast.
"This album is absolutely gorgeous. The links to Amorphis are clearly there with an atmospheric, melancholic and progressively minded feel."
You can check out our review here.
British metalcore kings Our Hollow, Our Home release a best of an album this week in 'Burn In The Flood', released on Hollow Music.
"What Our Hollow, Our Home have delivered is a solid slab of modern metal, injected with the emotional dissonance pervading through the populace at this time. Burn in the Flood is a collision of intense rage and ire, with the relative calm of introspection."
Read our full review here.
Swiss quartet Burning Witches release album number four, 'The Witch of the North', this week via Nuclear Blast Records.
"‘The Witch of the North’ is an hour of classic metal, which occasionally strays into power metal country."
Read our review here.
For a crushing slab of blackened death metal, look no further than Mental Cruelty's new album 'A Hill To Die Upon', released May 28th on Unique Leader.
"The battery of severe drumming, swirling vortex of insane riffing and the guttural vocal delivery all combines into a maelstrom of carnage and chaos."
Read our full review here.
Swedish power metal behemoths Bloodbound release their ninths studio album, 'Creatures From The Dark Realm', via AFM Records this week.
"Full of mythical lyrics and themes of dragons, darkness and war, the songs here quickly catch you in their gravitational pull."
Read our full review here.
Traditional heavy metal warriors Cirith Ungol are back! Off the back of their critically acclaimed 2020 album they now tease yet more new material in the form of new E.P. 'Half Past Human', out this week on Metal Blade Records.
"The engines roar and the solos soar. Cirith Ungol are very very good at what they do and this is a perfect example. Head-nodding songs that evoke times past performed with passion and love."
Read our review here and listen to our interview with the band here.
For an expansive, sometimes progressive rock album this week, look no further than The Wring who release 'Wring² Project Cipher'.
"Every so often, an album hits your list which blows cobwebs away with its refreshing approach. Combining a classic mix of Opeth, Tool, Rush and Soundgarden with maybe a dash of Rage Against the Machine, Ontario based The Wring’s new record is just such a release."
Read our review here.
Solo project Drift Into Black offers a dose of melodic heavy doom with new album 'Patterns of Light', which gets it's release today.
"Using crashing waves of heavy riffs weaved through melancholic synths, underwater recorded death growls with soaring clean vocals and driving rhythms, Rossi can scope out intricate and atmospheric storylines amidst the darkened melodic doom."
Read our review here.
70's punk rock originals Chelsea have a new album out this week. 'Meanwhile Gardens' is the latest offering from one of the genre's most under-rated bands!
"This is not the pure nostalgia trip Chelsea could easily have made, rather it’s the sound of a band flexing their musical muscles and modernising their song-writing for a new generation."
Read our full review here.
Finnish death mongers Ghastly release their third full length album this week in 'Mercurial Passages', which comes out on 20 Buck Spin.
"Mercurial Passages is an interesting piece of death metal which is raw and uncompromising whilst extremely rich and layered. This is far more thinking man's death metal rather than bludgeoning caveman riffs."
Read our full review here.
And thats just the tip of the iceberg! Other releases today we think you should check out include...
Heavy Metal
Black Flare - Black Flare (Firecum Records)
Blazon Rite - Endless Halls Of Golden Totem (Gates Of Hell Records)
Cellar Stone - One Fine Day (Self-released)
Angstskríg - Skyggespil (Self-released)
Midnight City - Itch You Can't Scratch (Roulette Media Records)
Black Metal
Ascète - Calamites & les Calamités (Antiq)
Balmog - Eve (War Anthem Records)
Khandra - All Occupied By Sole Death (Season of Mist/Underground Activists)
Ouija - Selenophile Impia [EP] (Negra Nit)
Palus Somni - Monarch Of Dark Matter (BlackSeed Productions)
Satyricon - The Shadowthrone [re-issue] (Napalm Records)
Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times [re-issue] (Napalm Records)
Stormruler - Under The Burning Eclipse (Napalm Records)
Death Metal
Eclipser - Pages [EP] (Self-released)
Pantheon - Age of Wolves [Re-issue] (Doc Records)
Adarrak - Ex Oriente Lux (Sathanas Records / Blood Blast Distribution)
Brutality - The Complete Demo Recordings 1987 – 1991 (Vicrecords)
Disrotten - Demo MMXX [EP/Demo] (Nailbite Tapes)
Incardine - Seeds of Doom (Vicrecords)
Riexhumation - The Final Revelation Of Abaddon (Lavadome Productions)
Sadistik Forest - Obscure Old Remains (Transcending Obscurity Records)
Unfathomable Ruination - Decennium Ruinae [EP] (Willowtip Records)
Unidad Trauma - Arte Médica Siniestra [EP] (Concreto Records)
Doom
Alastor - Onwards and Downwards (Riding Easy Records)
High N Heavy - V (Electric Valley Records)
Mosara - Mosara (Transylvanian Recordings)
Orodruin - Epicurean Mass [Re-issue] (Cruz Del Sur Music)
Pale Divine - Cemetery Earth [Re-issue] (Cruz Del Sur Music)
Satyrus - Rites (Argonauta Records)
The Obssessed - Lunar Womb [Re-issue] (High Roller Records)
The Flight of Sleipnir - Eventide (Eisenwald)
Metalcore
Cannula - Confined By The Chains of The Subconscious Mind [EP] (Wretched Records)
Of Mice & Men - Bloom [EP] (Sharptone Records)
Power Metal
Sunrise - Equilibria (Self-released)
Silver Talon - Decadence and Decay (M-Theory Audio)
Prog Rock / Prog Metal
Giuntini Deathline - V (Giuntini Records)
Source - Ethereal Self (Self-released)
Twisted Illusion - Temple of the Artifce (Self-released)
The Spectre Beneath - The New Identity of Sidney Stone (Wormholedeath Records)
And the rest...
Sectlinefor - Kissing Strangers During An Outbreak (Self-released) [Alt Metal]
Layr - Vulgord's Tower Soundtrack (Eleventh Key) [Dungeon Synth]
Alluvial - Sarcoma (Nuclear Blast) [Extreme Metal]
Die Krupps - Songs From The Dark Side Of Heaven (Oblivion / SPV) [Industrial]
Sinoptik - The Calling (OneRPM) [Occult rock/metal]
Pledge - Haunted Visions (Raging Planet Records) [Post-hardcore]
No Possession - Third Time's A Charm (Melodic Passion) [Rock]
Austin Taft - Skeletons (Self-released) [Rock]
Exorcist - Nightmare Theatre (re-issue) (High Roller Records) [Speed Metal]
Engraver - Behind [EP] (Wormholedeath Records) [Thrash Metal]
Lost Division - Cuts And Scars (Inverse Records) [Hard Rock]
