This week in metal & hardcore, we got new albums from In Flames, Big Laugh, Thin, Planet On A Chain, and more, plus an array of singles, including from Lamb of God & Kreator, Dawn Ray’d, Death Goals, Drain, Scowl, Initiate, Ulthar, Judiciary, Burner, Fury of Five, UnityTX, Wanderer, and more. Read on for all the heaviness we posted this week…
LAMB OF GOD & KREATOR – “STATE OF UNREST” (FOR RILEY GALE)
Lamb of God, Kreator, and Power Trip were supposed to do a Europe tour together in 2020, but then it was cancelled due to COVID, and Power Trip vocalist Riley Gale tragically passed away before the tour could be rescheduled. Now, LOG and Kreator are doing the tour together, and they’ve also collaborated on this new thrashy banger, which will benefit the Dallas Hope Charities in memory of Riley.
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DAWN RAY’D – “THE BATTLE OF SUDDEN FLAME”
UK black metal trio Dawn Ray’d have shared the second single off their upcoming album To Know The Light (due 3/24 via Prosthetic). It starts out in furious black metal territory before moving into violin-fueled post-rock, and it’s a protest song, as the band explains:
The lyrics to this song feel very relevant to what we have seen the police do in 2023, but has there ever been a year when that wouldn’t be the case?
One of the ways working people have been able to tell the stories of their lives is through folk music; documenting labour struggles, the lives of revolutionaries, and all the abuses those in power commit against us. There is no break between the past and the present, this is a true story told in the best way we know how. Folk music isn’t a synonym for ‘accoustic’ or ‘twee’, it is the music of our real lives, we the folk down here struggling.
It isn’t controversial to hate an institution that brutalises women, torments the poor, murders people of colour with impunity, covers for the abusive rich and crushes dissent.
We don’t have to justify our opposition to the police, that is the burden of those who choose to support them.
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DEATH GOALS – “FAUX MACHO”
UK chaotic queercore duo Death Goals have announced their sophomore album (and first for Prosthetic), and you can read about lead single “Faux Macho” here.
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DRAIN – “EVIL FINDS LIGHT”
Santa Cruz thrashy hardcore band Drain have announced their anticipated Epitaph debut, Living Proof. You can read about its new single “Evil Finds Light” here and pre-order our exclusive “opaque poison dart frog green” vinyl variant.
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SCOWL – “OPENING NIGHT”
Scowl have announced a new Will Yip-produced EP, Psychic Dance Routine, and lead single “Opening Night” is an anthemic, melodic alt-rock banger with hardcore undertones, mixing stuff like Nirvana, Hole, and The Breeders with their core influences like Negative Approach and Ceremony. Read more about it here and pick up our exclusive cloudy clear/purple vinyl variant.
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INITIATE – “ALONE AT THE BOTTOM”
California hardcore band Initiate have confirmed a new LP for Triple B Records, and you can read about lead single “Alone At The Bottom” here.
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ULTHAR – “ANTHRONOMICON”
Oakland blackened death metallers Ulthar have shared another taste of their two anticipated new albums, Anthronomicon and Helionomicon. It’s a five-minute excerpt of the former’s 20-minute title track, and it’s intense, ever-changing, and truly awesome stuff.
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JUDICIARY – “PARADIGM PIERCER”
Texas thrashy hardcore band Judiciary have shared a new track off upcoming LP Flesh + Blood, and this one finds them exploring more of a mid-tempo thrash/groove side, and sounding as intense as ever.
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BURNER – “HURT LOCKER”
UK metal/hardcore band Burner have just shared the new single “Hurt Locker,” and you can hear from this song alone why Katie Davies of Pupil Slicer just highlighted them on our list of metal bands to watch in 2023. It’s as beastly as it is tuneful, and Burner really sound like an in-your-face force to be reckoned with.
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FURY OF FIVE – “FEEL THE REIGN”
Asbury Park heavy hardcore heroes Fury of Five have shared a new track off their first EP in 23 years, and you can read about it here.
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UNITYTX – “WORLD OF MALICE”
UnityTX are back with a new rap-metalcore banger, “World of Malice,” which vocalist Jay Webster (aka Shaolin G) says is “a poetic piece of literature about the essence of cause & effect” that was “written from a perspective of a growing yet troubled soul learning how to exist in the current state of society, constantly feeling an exasperating sensation of grief where it often feels like I’m not so much at war with the world as much as myself.”
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WANDERER – “SLOW DEATH OF THE CROWNED HEAD”
Wanderer have shared another track off their upcoming EP Indulgence of the Unreal. The band tells New Noise that the song “is a perfect mash-up of our genre descriptors ‘remedial mathcore’ and ‘brutal hardcore,'” and that’s a good way of putting this heavy, shapeshifting track.
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GRAND CADAVER (DARK TRANQUILLITY, KATATONIA) – “SERRATED JAWS”
In addition to fronting Dark Tranquillity and The Halo Effect, Mikael Stanne also fronts Grand Cadaver (with other current and former members of Dark Tranquillity, Katatonia, Expulsion, and more), and he shows off his nasty, abrasive side on this new single. The band’s sophomore album is set to arrive this year via Majestic Mountain Records; details TBA.
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DAWN OF OUROBOROS – “RISE FROM DISILLUSION”
Oakland black metallers Dawn of Ouroboros have announced their sophomore album, Velvet Incandescence, due April 21 via Prosthetic. The band say “we hope to have developed on our brand of harsh beauty,” and they definitely have on this lead single.
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FORETOKEN – “THE WRAITH THAT WEEPS”
Virginia Beach blackened death metal duo Foretoken have shared a triumphantly heavy new track from their upcoming sophomore album Triumphs, due March 17 via Prosthetic Records.
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ENFORCER – “COMING ALIVE”
Swedish retro-heavy metallers Enforcer will release new album Nostalgia on May 5 via Nuclear Blast, and lead single “Coming Alive” is definitely full of “nostalgia” for the glory days of classic metal.
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DEATHTRIPPA – “TAMAGOTCHI TORTURE”
New Zealand cybergrinders Deathtrippa are releasing Deathtrippa SZN on February 26, and here’s the awesomely batshit new single.
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KNOW//SUFFER – “IRON SHARPENS IRON” & “ABRASIVE”
Know/Suffer have dropped a two-song single via Silent Pendulum Records, and both are gnarly, OG-style metalcore songs.
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COMMON WOUNDS – “PHANTOM LIMB”
Phoenix’s Common Wounds (ex-Run with the Hunted, Landmine Marathon) pull equally from ’90s-style post-hardcore and noise rock, as you can hear on their caustic, towering new single “Phantom Limb.” It’s off their new self-titled EP, due March 10 via Protagonist Music.
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SPOTLIGHTS – “ALGORITHMIC”
Pittsburgh’s sludgy, shoegazy Spotlights have announced a new album, Alchemy For The Dead, and shared lead single “Algorithmic.” Read about it here.
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STREET TOMBS – “DEVOUR” & “RISING TORMENT”
Santa Fe punky death metallers Street Tombs will release their debut LP Reclusive Decay on Carbonized Records next week (2/17), and you can preview it with two tracks now.
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APHOTIC – “COSMIVORE”
Italian death-doomers Aphotic will release their debut LP Abyssgazer on March 24 via Sentient Ruin, and here’s new single “Cosmivore.”
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VIEW FROM THE SOYUZ – IMMACULATE EP
Striking a balance between Y2K-era American metalcore and ’90s Swedish melodic death metal, Japan’s View From The Soyuz sound crisp and brutal on this new five-song EP, out now via DAZE.
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LINKIN PARK – “LOST”
Linkin Park have shared a never-before-heard song from the Meteora sessions. It’ll appear on the album’s upcoming 20th anniversary edition and you can read about it here.
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For even more new songs, browse the ‘New Songs’ archive. For new metal albums, browse ‘Upcoming Metal Releases’ on Invisible Oranges. And browse our ‘Metal’ category for even more heavy music news.
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