Best Albums Releasing This Week (07/28/2023)
Personal notes:
If it suits your needs, ability, budget, and use case, consider buying vs. streaming and choosing the Bandcamp link on the album link pages. Artists, especially small ones, need our support.
I try to do a minimum of research on bands, since with any genre, but often metal especially, you have to be wary of nazis/fascism/etc. and just awful people that do bad things, but don't take my recommendations as auto-safe. They've been screened, but do your own research.
In no particular order:
Flight - Echoes of Journeys Past album.link
Hard 70s prog rock out of Norway that you could actually be convinced was from the 70s. However, they do "retro" without it sounding cheesy or gimmicky. It doesn't feel like it's 70s-influenced just to sell on nostalgia- it's original, genuine, and exceedingly fun.
Atonement - Sadistic Invaders album.link
Black/death/thrash from a band that sounds like they've been steeped in that scene for decades- and yet many of the members aren't even 20 years old yet. Incredible. Dying Victims Productions is a great label for them- a label that almost never misses. Overall quality of DVP releases is something other labels should learn from. Top release of the week for me, more than likely.
Organ Dealer - The Weight of Being album.link
Top-notch grindcore with great vocals and sharp, stinging riffs.
The Glorious Dead - Cemetery Paths album.link
Mostly straight-forward death metal with some doom influences here and there. Instantly caught my ear and nearly missed it on my radar but glad I found it.
Thra - Forged in Chaotic Spew album.link
Sludgy, filthy, tasty death metal
Artanor - In Servitude of Darkness album.link
Australian atmospheric black metal.
Eternal Rot - Moribound album.link
Death/doom but with some interesting slam/bdm influence going on vocally. The music stays death/doom but the vocals may catch you offguard if you aren't ready. It's not for everyone- but IMO, as someone that can't get into slam/BDM I don't mind its small influence here. Just makes the death metal even nastier
Porphyrion - Blood Orgies Beneath Disgraced Temples album.link
actual bandcamp link since the album one is a weird source
Death metal with some great leads and reverb-laden vocals. Not "cavernous death metal" level, but flirting with its aesthetic.