Here are all the new releases for May 5th through May 11th. Releases reflect proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see most of these albums on shelves or distros on Fridays.
See something we missed or have any thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging.
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New Releases 5/5-5/11
Dødsferd — Wrath | Hypnotic Dirge Records | Black Metal | Greece (Crete)
Dødsferd are extremely pissed off on their 12th studio album. Not that that’s new, but consistency is always appreciated. Wrath is misanthropic, single-minded black metal that’s hard to make intriguing after a few go-arounds, yet Dødsferd’s main member Wrath still hates people just as much now as he did in 2001. Resultingly, Wrath is that rare breed of myopic yet captivating black metal.
–Colin Dempsey
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Demersal — Demersal | Tomb Tree | Screamo | Denmark
We recently premiered the final track from Demersal’s upcoming self-titled LP, and while it’s great in its own right, it primarily shows their more vulnerable side. In reality, the full Demersal album is a heavy slab of screamo that pulls from Converge and other metallic influences, and Demersal isn’t coy about showing them off.
–Colin Dempsey
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Baxaxaxa — Spells From The Crypt | Dusktone | Black Metal | Germany (Bavaria)
An anthology of batshit-nasty black metal primitivism, collecting together this resurgent Bavarian band’s first two demos (recorded a ridiculous 27 years apart), along with 2020’s “Devoted to Him” single. Despite the considerable timeframe covered, it’s hard to play pin the era here, with the unrelenting lo-fi enmity of Baxaxaxa’s old-school barbarism lending genuine credence to an everlasting bloodsucker hypothesis. For those accursed moments when one ‘ax’ simply won’t do…
–Spencer Grady
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Sarcoughagus — Remnants | Rotted Life Records | Death Metal | United States (Cleveland, Ohio)
Sarcoughagus’ first release as a threesome shows how far they’ve come since their last LP Delusions of the Sick dropped in 2021. Everything has been tightened to fit like a skin graft without an inch of wasted blood. Remnants doesn’t contain the grossest death metal, nor the most technical and sterile. Instead, it’s propulsive and energizing, with drums that pursue you like they want your wallet.
–Colin Dempsey
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Luna Pythonissam — Ecos del miedo | V.C.H. Music | Depressive Black Metal | Mexico
This is the latest EP from the productive VCH, who has been relatively quiet since her last release as Oblivion Castle, Witch’s Lament in the Moonlight, back in September. Luna Pythonissam has always been her more emotional and gothic project, primarily toying with repetition and atmosphere. That continues on Ecos del miedo, which is not an edgy DSBM EP but a measured take on the style.
–Colin Dempsey
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Warlord — Free Spirit Soar | High Roller Records | Traditional Heavy Metal | United States (Los Angeles, CA)
This is the first Warlord album without William Tsamis, who passed in 2021, but it does feature longtime members Mark Zonder and Philip Bynoe. So, while it’s not going to stoke the same flames that their classic material might have, there’s still a lot to love for traditional heavy metal fans. (Plus, this isn’t a re-record, which is always good…)
–Ted Nubel
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Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats — Nell’ Ora Blu | Rise Above Records | Atmospheric + Doom Metal | United Kingdom
From Tom Campagna’s interview:
[Kevin Starrs] carefully curated what classic Italian actors to contact, including some who had never appeared on screen with one another, and one who passed away shortly after he was done being recorded. A lack of knowledge of the Italian language and formal training in music theory notwithstanding, Nell’ Ora Blu comes together as a full-fledged revenge story driven by its time-period-specific film score.
(No public stream yet)
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Svneater — Never Return | Prosthetic Records | Black Metal | Canada
On this new EP, blistering black metal meets anthemic riffing straight out of proto-thrash–not only does this result in something that’s more ‘fun’ than the aesthetics might suggest, but more importantly, it rips unholy.
–Ted Nubel
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