We're going right off the deep end of sonic extremes this week. There's black metal meets noir movies, psychedelic freakout prog metal, techno/metalcore mash-ups and just some straight-up meaty death metal and hardcore all in the mix.
But first, the results of last week's vote! The controversy around Dogma hasn't affected their appeal: the Satanic nuns managed a healthy third place, only narrowly losing out to the sleek tones of Reverya. Our big winners overall however were Evanescence, the nu metal survivors triumphing with the announcement of their new album and single Who Will You Follow?
As mentioned up top, we've got a diverse selection for your listening pleasure this week. Don't forget to cast your vote in the poll below - and have an excellent weekend!
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Voivod - Forgotten In Space (Symphonique)
Just when you thought Voivod couldn't be any more batshit insane, the prog metal progenitors go and deploy an orchestra. Working with the Qebec Symphony Orchestra, the Canadians are offering up a vision of pure cosmic lunacy on Forgotten In Space, a track with a kind of dense, maniacal edge that brings to mind Devin Townsend at his wildest, or the unpredictable walls of sound of Imperial Triumphant. Symphonique is due June 5 and promises to be an absolute trip.
Electric Callboy - Hypercharged
It's hard to believe it's been four years since Electric Callboy released Tekkno, not least because it feels like we've had a steady stream of singles from the German technocore maniacs since then. Tanzneid is coming August 7 and new single Hypercharged is a typically electrifying fusion of galumphing metalcore breakdowns and plinky eurodance tones. With shows lined up at Sonic Temple and Download, plus their own festival in Germany in August, it looks like a massive summer ahead for EC.
Venom - Kicked Out Of Hell
Now for some proper old school metal. Venom's sound hasn't changed a great deal over the past four decades, and nor does it need to. Snarling, OG black metal with a thrashy beat and a chorus you can belt out like a profanity issued unto the heavens, it's business as usual for metal's original evil band and new album Into Oblivion is just around the corner with a May 1 release.
Hawxx - Feral Mother
Evoking a similar sense of doom and sonic heft that's popped up everywhere from Black Sabbath to Chelsea Wolfe and Gggolddd and Witch Fever, Hawxx prove genre tags don't need to limit your sonic aspirations on Feral Mother. Crashing tidal waves of sound hit like a truck, vocalist Annouli wailing atop the din with a power that anchors everything and makes this song totally magnetic. The band's new album The World Splits Open is due June 26.
Devildriver - Dig Your Own Grave
After the two volumes of Dealing With Demons, Dez Fafara's groove metal militia are eyeing up a July 10 release date for new album Strike And Kill. Lead single Dig Your Own Grave trades out some of the tight grooves of their earlier material for all out technical extremity, resulting in one of their most electrifying singles in years that has us very excited to see where else they'll go on the new record.
Bloodhunter - Threshold Of Hell (ft. Fernando Ribeiro)
Spanish melodeath veterans Bloodhunter have been kicking around in one form or another for almost 20 years, putting out their debut in 2014. Theshold Of Hell is a great showcase of why you need to check them out; juddering guitars and hellish snarls give way to some sublime guitar work that perfectly paves the way for a guest drop-in from Moonspell's Fernando Ribeiro. Bloodhunter's new album Sons Of The Abandoned is expected June 12.
Fires In The Distance - Of Radiance And Levitation
Set somewhere between doom metal and melodeath, Fires In The Distance have always had a talent for turning melancholic melodies into something transcendent and epic. New single Of Radiance And Levitation comes ahead of new album Circadian Promise on June 12 and captures the band in a typically brooding mood, somehow managing to communicate a sense of excitement and adventure even amidst an overall sense of prevading darkness.
Carnation - Kingdom Of Dreams
Carnation make gruesome, gory death metal. It's simple, but oh-so effective; new single Kingdom Of Dreams has an impressive sense for big hooks even amidst buzzsaw riffing and chugging stutters, lending a sense of enormity without giving over to anything so light as melody (though there is a killer evil choir around the halfway mark). New album Symphony In Flesh is due October 16 and promises to be all kinds of splattery fun.
Terror - Fear The Panic
Almost a quart-erentury in, hardcore mainstays Terror are showing no signs of slowing down. For new single Fear The Panic they've drafted in Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, but otherwise they're keeping things decidedly straightforward in the meat-and-potatoes stakes of muscly, brutish hardcore. There's only a week to go until their new album Still Suffer arrives, so consider this a handy warm-up.
Iatt - Walk Amongst
Black metal with sax isn't as wild a left-turn as it would've been 20 years ago, but that doesn't stop it being an absolute delight amidst Iatt's excellently frosty Walk Amongst. There's an elegance and old school detective movie feel to the sax that pops up, contrasting brilliantly with the band's more abrasive elements (and when it joins the freakout at the end of the song, it's utterly sublime). We're very here for more noir metal going forward, and Iatt's new album Etheric Realms Of The Night is due May 8.
Thrown - Split
If you thought Terror was thuggish, you should hear Thrown's Split. Leaning so hard on metallic hardcore they're practically lay across it, Split is a swaggering tooth-gnasher of a track, the electro bass feeling like you've trod barefoot onto a live wire.
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