Upcoming Metal: Week of June 22nd
The Bleak Picture
Shade of Life
Releases June 27th on Ardua Music
Genre: Melodic Death/Doom Metal
With the gothic, doomy opening of “Plagued By Sorrow”, The Bleak Picture’s second album captures that melancholic and hopeless nature right from the opening moments. Tero Ruohonen’s deep, gravelly growls cascade over the listener as Jussi Hänninen’s sweeping arrangements encapsulate that dark and dreary aesthetic. With moments of doomgaze/post black metal (“Absolution”) and the cusp of funeral doom (“Circular Reflection”), the band goes deeper down the spiral throughout the album’s forty-plus minute runtime. If you dig the death/doom sound of acts like Insomnium and Novembers Doom, this will be right up your alley and a good band to check out.
SCORE: 4.5 / 5
King
K
Releases June 27th on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
Genre: Death/Black Metal
“I-I” opens the album with a heavy and blackened death metal aesthetic. With Israel Bathroz delivering a bellowing, booming deep voice that carries above the mix. The band is unrelenting throughout the album’s pacing. “K-II”, “The Black Mass or The Lahar” are just non-stop, hit the ground running pieces of screeching, blast beats and demonic messaging. With some unique instrumentation in some opening tracks, it helps the band add unique sounds that acts like Nile made popular by incorporating culture into the band’s sound. Though with some songs potentially running a little longer than need to be, Colombia’s King has a strong third album here with K.
SCORE: 3.5 / 5
Putridity
Morbid Ataraxia
Releases June 27th on Willowtip Records
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Italy’s Putridity just go for the jugular on the band’s new album Morbid Ataraxia. From “Prenatal Obituary” delivering that deep, gurgly vocal attack of Andrea Piro, to the all over the kit playing of Cédric Malebolgia on “In Disgust They Shine” and “Molten Mirrors of The Subjugated”. The album reminds me of Brodequin Harbinger of Woe album, in that the band does not give the listener any chance to breathe or recover, and just continues going for the throat and not stopping until the pulse stops beating from the neck. At a tight thirty-three minutes, it gives no filler or fluff and delivers a solid, heavy, brutal and messy fourth album that any brutal death metal fan will enjoy.
SCORE: 4.5 / 5
When The Deadbolt Breaks
In The Glow of The Vatican Fire
Releases June 27th on Argonauta Records
Genre: Sludge/Doom Metal
With the ominous and apocalyptic album cover, In The Glow of The Vatican Fire captures that dread and dower nature in the album’s musical pacing and tone. With moments of clean vocals, into sludgy, downtuned heavy guitar strums on “The Scythe Will Come”, it encapsulates that lost and ominous unknown that matches the album’s cover and title. The haunting female vocals on the opening of “Deus Vault”, combined with the growling, barking vocals draws Neurosis comparisons. Though some songs go on a bit longer than they should (“The Chaos of Water” at fourteen minutes is a good example), the album does have its peaks and was a decent record. Worth a listen with a good pair of headphones and some “herbal influence”.
SCORE: 3.5 / 5
