New Metal Releases: 11/24/2024 - 12/7/2024 (2025)

Here are all the new releases for November 24th through December 7th. Releases reflect proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see most of these albums on shelves or distros on Fridays.
See something we missed or have any thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging.

Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [emailprotected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.

New Releases 11/24 – 11/30

Mandroïd of Krypton — Cosmic Sarcophagus | MTAF Records | Progressive Thrash Metal | Switzerland (Geneva)

From Colin Dempsey’s track premiere of “Veterans of the Cosmic War”:

Their upcoming third album Cosmic Sarcophagus pulls from various extreme subgenres and fits them into a progressive thrash metal framework. For instance, there’s the rough-around-the-edges classic metal “Mountains of Fear,” the intergalactic occult affair on “Cosmic Sarcophagus,” and the track we’re premiering today, “Veterans of the Cosmic War,” where death metal makes first contact with Voivodian entities.

…

Bedsore — Dreaming the Strife for Love | 20 Buck Spin | Death Metal + Progressive Rock | Italy (Rome)

If Absolute Elsewhere sparked your hunger for progressive rock and death metal hybrids, Bedsore’s sophomore album is for you. Despite their genre similarities, the two records don’t share many characteristics as Bedsore pull from warm Italian prog influences. Resultingly, Dreaming the Strife for Love is less cosmic aesthetically and more analog in instrumentation Absolute Elsewhere. The Italian group include everything but the kitchen sink here, including organs, mellotrons, fretless bass, horns, and 12-string guitars. Most importantly, it’s strange, which is what progressive rock should be.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Svar — In the Land Called Night | Via Nocturna | Black Metal | Poland (Kraków)

This debut full-length from Kamil Bolesta’s solo black metal project brazenly defiles a mid-90s melodeath heritage more Swedish than a steaming meatball buffet. Bursting with exultant galloping rhythms and infectious guitar leads – check the serpentine dynamism and dazzling axe harmonics of the title track – In the Land Called Night overhauls history’s great deluge, channelling mythic Slavic credos via the majestic lyrical prism of classic In Flames and Dissection, while succulent smatterings of All Shall Fall-era Immortal on the blistering “Venomous Words of Virtue” provide a seasonal frostbitten fillip.

–Spencer Grady

…

Denigrate — To the Goddess Unknown | Inverse Records | Doom Metal | Finland (Helsinki)

Despite existing since 1996, Denigrate have only released three full albums before To the Goddess Unknown. They play as if they’ve been chipping away at their allure in the shadows and not oversaturating it. That allure can be described as red blood flowing through doom metal, meaning the group isn’t afraid to rip some loose guitar solos for the hell of it and brandish hearty clean vocals that are more victorious than what you’d expect from the genre.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Hidden Mothers — Erosion / Avulsion | Church Road Records | Alternative Metal + Post-Hardcore | United Kingdom (Sheffield, England)

Hidden Mothers describe themselves as “ethereal post-hardcore/screamo.” They should give their copywriter a raise because that’s as succinct and accurate of a tagline as possible. The anguished vocals, clean yet wallowing choruses, and pointed guitars from post-hardcore dominate the group’s debut record, though a cloud hovers overhead, presenting on slower tracks like “Still Sickness”. Pretty music with beefy vocals isn’t meant to sound reductive, but it’s a in-vogue sound that Hidden Mothers nail.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Demon Bitch — Master of the Games | Gates of Hell Records | Heavy Metal | United States (Detroit, Michigan)

Demon Bitch’s sophomore record is U.S. power metal at its most unabashed. Logon Saton’s vocals scrape the bottom of the heavens while the music is rugged and unhurried. It’s all rough-around-the-edges, but if it was pretty, then it wouldn’t be so damn fun.

–Colin Dempsey

…

New Releases 12/1 – 12/7

Aara — Eiger | Debemur Morti Productions | Atmospheric Black Metal | Switzerland

As anyone who’s seen Clint Eastwood’s The Eiger Sanction can testify, making decent cultural capital from Switzerland’s “murder wall” is no mean feat. But, with its epic permafrost melodies and sub-zero atmospheres – interspersed with melancholic acoustic segues and suitably wintry Foley sounds – this trio’s native tribute to the infamous mountain represents something of a career peak.

–Spencer Grady

…

Panzerchrist — Maleficium Part 1 | Emanzipation Productions | Death Metal + Black Metal | Denmark

On their second album since their comeback last year, Panzerchrist doubles down on their death metal components. Listen to how the double bass drum commands the record–you don’t get that type of venom anywhere else. Even on scenic pieces like “Curse of Desire,” drummer Ove Lungskov pushes himself into overdrive. His contributions spice up what’s an already intense record.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Svarttjern — Draw Blood | Soulseller Records | Black Metal | Norway (Oslo)

The Rolling Stones cover song on Draw Blood indicates that Svarttjern live in the past. Luckily, with the advent of modern technology, the band’s preserved past of traditional Norwegian black metal remains evergreen. This is simple and straightforward black metal, as if a punk band cosplayed as 1349, albeit without the technicality.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Until Death Overtakes Me — Diagenesis | Aesthetic Death | Funeral Doom Metal | Belgium

Is it a compliment to deem a funeral doom album “not that sad?” It likely wouldn’t be unless another aspect fills that void. Fortunately, Until Death Overtakes Me fills it with inquisitiveness. He ponders through languid pieces without much distortion or volume. In fact, Diagenesis is more of an ambient album percolated with pale riffs and the occasional growl. It’s forlorn, of course, but that’s merely one piece of the pie.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Nocte Obducta — Hammergeddon 666 – Die Katakomben betritt man nicht allein | Supreme Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany

The expansive and post-modern sensibilities Nocte Obducta normally employ are nowhere to be found on their latest EP. Instead, they’re returning to black metal’s roots with riotous and unfussy ragers. There’s nothing pretty or fancy here, as if the group are intentionally returning to a primal state to see how deprived they can be, even 30 years into their career.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Desert Near the End — Tides of Time | Theogonia Records | Thrash Metal + Power Metal | Greece (Athens)

Desert Near the End’s latest album is just raw enough to qualify as thrash metal and definitely fertile enough to be power metal. While trying to occupy middle ground often means not committing enough to either side, the Athens group somehow defy that. Tides of Time is the equivalent to tasting a sweet dessert and a savory snack in the same bite.

–Colin Dempsey

…

Stygian Ruin — A Violent Egress | Independent | Black Metal + Ambient | Norway

Ever since Stygia I: Slumrende i hjertets mørke got the recalcitrants over at Metal Archives to let this band into their pages, Stygian Ruin has continued to dial in a formula that, while checking all the boxes to count as ‘metal’, also carves their own path. Entire symphonies of synth play out on top of the band’s lo-fi black metal epics, here yet again carved out into two titanic suites.

–Ted Nubel

…