This Toilet Tuesday (5/7/24)
You shit yourself unexpectedly/O Great Porcelain One/yada yada fuck you it’s Tuesday. You’re not here for me to pontificate; you’re here for new jams, and there’s a fuckload of them this week, so you better get jamming. Lots of big releases on deck for power metal nerds, but you’ll find something you like down there somewhere even if you can’t handle the cloying sweetness of the genre, I’m sure. Get at it and tell us what’s good.
Vhäldemar – Sanctuary of Death (Independent) [Power Metal]
Vhäldemar is one of those power metal bands that I feel should be talked about more in power metal circles; maybe they are, and I’m just sorely out of touch. They’ve got a very skilled instrumental core (the dueling keys and guitar leads are nuts), a vocalist with a uniquely gritty voice among power metal acts, and a really strong ear for melody and composition. “Old King’s Visions” (linked above) has shades of Stratovarius and Symphony X at times, and while “Devil’s Child” is a bit more of a stereotypically “fluffy” power metal tune, it’s still quite strong. Big choruses and big hooks; there’s lots to love here for power metal dorks. 5/10/24 (Spear)
AfterTime – Arcane Horizons (Independent) [Symphonic Power Metal]
Anette Olzon – Rapture (Frontiers Records) [Symphonic Power Metal]
Belushi Speed Ball – Stellkira (Independent) [Crossover Thrash]
Binary Creed – Leash of Noise (10-31 Records) [Progressive Power Metal]
Biodroid – The Carnage Continues (Independent) [Brutal Death Metal]
Blood Stain Child – Cyberia (Independent) [Melodeath/Metalcore/Trance]
Blood Stain Child – Metalia (Independent) [Melodieath/Metalcore/Trance]
Borer – Bag Seeker (Landmine Records) [Sludge/Stoner Metal]
Callus – Gravis Decennium (Trepanation Recordings) [Stoner/Thrash/Groove Metal]
Coldborn – The Unwritten Pages of Death (Final Sacrifice Records) [Black Metal]
Crownshift – Crownshift (Nuclear Blast) [Melodeath/Groove/Power Metal]
Darkness Everywhere – To Conquer Eternal Damnation (Creator-Destructor Records) [Melodeath]
Demersal – Demersal (Ripcord Records) [Post-Black Metal/Hardcore]
Devourer – The Wicked Ones (Independent) [Black Metal]
Dodenkrocht – Coffin World (Auric Records) [Black Metal]
Downcross – White Tower (Independent) [Black Metal]
Dødsferd – Wrath (Hypnotic Dirge Records) [Black Metal]
Exit – The Red Room Session (Art Gates Records) [Thrash/Metalcore]
Flamekeeper – Flamekeeper (Invictus Productions) [Heavy/Power/Black Metal]
Freedom Call – Silver Romance (Steamhammer) [Power Metal]
Grave Ghoul – The House of Dead Flesh (Dismal Fate Records) [Death Metal]
Hagetisse – The Fountain of Fallen Stars (Kapmes Records) [Black Metal]
Illusion of Fate – Portals to Kur (Independent) [Atmospheric/Blackened Death Metal]
Ivanhoe – Healed by the Sun (Massacre Records) [Heavy Metal]
JD Miller – Empyrean (Mighty Music) [Heavy Metal/Hard Rock]
Jours Pâles – Dissolution (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions) [Black Metal]
Last Word – Trial of God (Independent) [Death Thrash]
Lichen – Spear & Stone (Independent) [Black Metal]
Machiavellian God – Beyond the Void (ViciSolum Productions) [Melodeath]
Markgraf – Hohenbaden (Blutrausch Propaganda) [Black/Death/Heavy Metal]
Mir zur Feier – Nachtwächter (Noizgate Records) [Melodeath/Metalcore]
Morghduet – Artillero de odio (Independent) [Black Metal]
Napalm Ted – Succumb into Madness (Independent) [Death Metal/Grindcore/Punk]
Necrophagia – Moribundis Grim (Time to Kill Records) [Death Metal]
Nyktos – Abhorrent Ritual (Independent) [Black/Death Metal]
Primitive Warfare – Extinction Protocol (Godz ov War Productions) [Black/Death Metal]
Putrified – Death Darkness Decay (Godz ov War Productions) [Death Metal]
Red Rot – Borders of Mania (Hammerheart Records) [Experimental Death Metal]
Riot V – Mean Streets (Atomic Fire Records) [Heavy/Speed Metal]
Rossometile – Gehenna (Independent) [Symphonic/Gothic Metal]
Sarcoughagus – Remnants (Rotted Life Records) [Stoner/Death Metal]
Satans Taint – Guardians of Valhalla (Independent) [Death/Groove Metal]
Sebastian Bach – Child Within the Man (Reigning Phoenix Music) [Heavy Metal]
Shroud of Despondency/LanzerRath – Shroud of Despondency/LanzerRath (split- Independent) [Black Metal | Black Metal]
Sidus Atrum – Розірване небо (Torn Sky) (Kvlt und Kaos Productions) [Blackened Death/Doom]
Six Feet Under – Killing for Revenge (Metal Blade Records) [Death/Groove Metal]
Soziedad Alkoholika – Confrontación (Maldito Records) [Crossover Thrash]
Suffersystem – Disintegration of the Individual (Independent) [Death Thrash]
Sunnata – Chasing Shadows (Independent) [Stoner/Sludge]
Svneatr – Never Return (Prosthetic Records) [Black Metal]
Take Offense – T.O.tality (MNRK Heavy) [Crossover/Thrash Metal]
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Nell’ ora blu (Rise Above Records) [Psychedelic Rock]
Unhallowed Deliverance – Of Spectres and Strife (Independent) [Brutal Death Metal/Deathcore]
Unleash the Archers – Phantoma (Napalm Records) [Power Metal]
Unsemblance – Insensate Lucidity (Rotted Life Records) [Death Metal]
Vaticinal Rites – Cascading Memories of Immortality (Everlasting Spew Records) [Death Metal]
Vestindien – Verdande (Dark Essence Records) [Hardcore/Punk (early); Black Metal/Punk (later)]
Warlord – Free Spirit Soar (High Roller Records) [Heavy/Power Metal]
