Happy Friday! We're really hitting the busy period of the year now so far as new releases goes, with new albums seemingly being announced by their dozen each week. Naturally, that also means a hell of a lot of new music to sift through - so we're still here to help pick out some of the finest new metal songs each week from across the many (many) subgenres you can explore.
That in mind, here's the results of last week's vote! It was a stacked week with big names and emergent talent aplenty to choose from, but ultimately there could only be one winner. Nu metal veterans Mushroomhead came in third with We Don't Care, but were left in the dust of black metallers Hidden Mothers, whose Defanged proved to be anything but. But the overall champions were this month's Metal Hammer cover stars Nightwish, latest single The Day Of... reaffirming their status as symphonic metal icons.
This week we've got a hefty and healthy spread for you, covering everything from the progressive realms of Leprous and Born Of Osiris to all-out nastiness in the form of Heriot, Escuela Grind and Schammasch. As always, we need you to tell us which bands excite you most, so don't forget to cast your vote below - and have a fantastic weekend!
Heriot - At The Fortress Gate
There's a little over a month to go before Heriot release their debut full-length Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell and the excitement couldn't be higher. One of the UK's hottest new acts, on new single At The Fortress Gate they show how they've become such a formidable force, the track stomping forth on excruciatingly brutal, sludgy grooves, like someone stuck a knife to Crowbar's throat and told them to cover Machine Head. It's vicious stuff, and we love it.
Equilibrium - Gnosis
Who said folk metal had to be jaunty? Germany's Equilibrium have never held much truck with the genre's wackier elements, preferring to use folk as a way to expand their sonic horizons and add an extra cinematic layer to their compositions - something wonderfully shown on latest single Gnosis. The track has a blockbuster quality that perfectly suits their folk-meets-melodeath sound, subtle flutes and strings adding an almost symphonic element that makes the track truly epic.
Brothers Of Metal - Nanna's Fate
Not that there's anything wrong with a bit of whimsy, mind. Granted, Brothers Of Metal aren't flexing their wacky side on new single Nanna's Fate - in fact, quite the opposite as they embrace a more serious and emotive tone for an epic, stirring power ballad. Taken from the band's new album Fimbulvinter - out November 1 - the track shows the epic scale the power metal group have embraced from their earliest days, helping them play bigger and bigger venues in the process.
Fever 333 - No Hostages
Those Rage Against The Machine influences are really showing on Fever 333's new material. After the colossal energy of previous single Higher Power, Jason Aalon Butler and co. are clearly swinging for the fences on new album Darker White - due October 4 - latest single No Hostages carrying a similar sense of arena-sized scale with stomping, funky rhythms providing a launchpad for Butler's impassioned vocals as he calls out police brutality, lines like "you might be at home when they kill you/you might be alone when they kill you" harrowing yet also undeniably anthemic.
Call Me Amour - Bloom (ft. Scott Kennedy)
Fusing pulsing electronica and oh-so-hooky alt metal, UK four-piece Call Me Amour showcase a darker vision for the mixture on latest single Bloom. Unlike so many other metal groups who use electronica to underpin hyperactive heaviness or otherwise tap into rave rock sensibilities, Bloom is a moody, slithering beast propelled by booming bass tones. Bleed From Within vocalist Scott Kennedy might add a sprinkling of snarling heaviness, but in the whole the track comes off more like a collision between Nine Inch Nails' sleek industrial grime and the radio-baiting choruses of Architects.
Escuela Grind - Concept Of God
Rising extreme metal stars, Escuela Grind indulged their love for death metal with this year's EP titled, erm, DDEEAATTHHMMEETTAALL. New single Concept Of God is a further showcase of what they can do in realms of the extreme however, swinging wildly between windmilling death metal blasts, hyperviolent grind and even some sludgy, stomping grooves, stapling the elements together with pure piss and fury. If the rest of upcoming album Dreams On Algorithms is this inventive, we're in for one hell of a ride - either way, we'll find out on October 18.
Leprous - Like A Sunken Ship
Leprous have made a steady shift away from purely metal realms on recent releases, but they've not broken ties completely. That's evident on latest single Like A Sunken Ship, the track's quietly prowling bassline and ethereal vocal melodies giving way to a genuine explosion of heaviness, the video even pumping blasts of pyro to underline that the Norwegians haven't forgotten where they came from. Melodies Of Atonement will be with us in two weeks - August 30 - and clearly the band are on the form of their lives.
Schammasch - They Have Found Their Master
Swiss experimentalists Schammasch are back, with another grandiose vision of brilliant, boundary pushing extreme metal. New single They Have Found Their Master is the first taken from the band's upcoming The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean record, due October 25. A grand slow burner of a track, Master... clocks in at over 10 minutes and uses its lengthy run-time to build a sense of scale and tension, giving way to crushing post-metal like heft with a twist of mysticism. Glorious.
Born Of Osiris - In Desolation
Sounding like they're pogoing on gargantuan power lines, Born Of Osiris' latest single In Desolation captures some of the fist-flying viciousness the band exhibit amdist the technical and lofty airs of progressive metal. There are shades of the hyper-kinetic rhythms of djent amidst the song's stuttering beat, but when the cleans kick in it's apparent the band aren't sacrificing any of their anthemic appeal.
High Parasite - Wasn't Human
Aaron Stainthorpe continues to affirm his status as a doom metal icon with new band High Parasite. Although the mournfulness of his work with My Dying Bride is still a key factor, latest single Wasn't Human shows how his new group are taking a more direct, less elegant approach to goth-tinged doom, resulting in a track that feels fiery and forceful. With the band's debut Forever We Burn due on September 27 and a UK tour with Cradle Of Filth a month later, Stainthorpe is clearly eager to get their music out to the masses.
Funeral - Yesteryear
If you're sad about Aaron Stainthorpe shifting away from the more string-driven realms of funeral doom, despair not [or lots, as the case may be] as we have a handy alternative! Norwegian doom veterans Funeral live up to their name on new single Yesteryear, forging a funereal elegy that dwells in doom's darkest depths, gorgeous yet undeniably bleak. Taken from the band's upcoming eighth album Gospel Of Bones, the track should scratch the itch of anyone seeking pure, desolate despair.
Dead Icarus - The Unconquerable
It's been almost a year since former Atreyu vocalist Alex Varkatzas unveiled his new band Dead Icarus with the single The Vultures Circle, but although things have been largely quiet since then the group clearly haven't been idle. New single The Unconquerable is an absolute powerhouse of extremity, pushing the boundaries of where metalcore can go before it crosses over into deathcore/extreme metal territories. The clean choruses certainly help keep the dials back in metalcore realms, but the utter bedlam unleashed in this song's heaviest moments betray the sense that Alex is thinking massive when it comes to his new project.
Defences - Silence & The Sound
UK alt-metal newcomers Defences are set to release their new album Shadowlight on November 8. If new single Silence & The Sound is anything to go by, it'll be a sumptuous showing of extremes, the band balancing weightless melodies and ascendant choruses with a sense of force and heft that only adds to the invigorating, lightning-bolt-to-the-spine energy they evoke.
Headwreck - Buzzsaw
Headwreck might hail from Brisbane, but there's an air of Sheffield genre-blurrers Bring Me The Horizon to the band's latest single Buzzsaw. Vicious, ultra aggro metalcore is cut with scratching turntables and serene, radio-friendly choruses that betray a sense of arena-sized ambition. Headwreck aren't holding back on their most violent impulses, though; Buzzsaw lives up to its title, a track of cutting, destructive power.
Kublai Khan TX - Supreme Ruler
How much damage can you do in a minute? Kublai Khan TX explore that idea with new single Supreme Ruler, a brutish, nasty little beast that trudges forth on sludgy stomps and doesn't bother with any extras. Taken from new album Exhibition Of Prowess, it's a short sharp taste of the no-fucks-given heft that the band deliver.
