Grave Pleasures - Motherblood
“The second Grave Pleasures album is much, much better than the first and proves beyond doubt that the absence of two fifths of that original Beastmilk line-up was not the reason first album Dreamcrash received such a mixed response. The key to this return to blazing top form is twofold: firstly, these are simply much better songs than anything found on Motherblood’s predecessor; secondly, and most importantly, that glorious, magical rush of dark sexual abandon that made Climax such an addictive thrillride is back in vast, bewildering quantities. That much is obvious a few seconds into tooth-rattling opener Infatuation Overkill. To some degree, Grave Pleasures do still sound like a turbocharged, metal-tinged Joy Division, but thanks in part to Mat McNerney’s tremulous bellow and a razor-sharp refrain, they now sound far more like, erm, a turbocharged Beastmilk.”
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Unsane - Sterilize
“Should you want to hear music that sounds like a terrifying midnight sprint through an alien city as all manner of monsters and maniacs snap at your heels, singer/ guitarist Chris Spencer and his loyal henchmen, bassist Dave Curran and powerhouse drummer Vincent Signorelli, are still very much your men. Sterilize arrives in the nick of time, as the American Dream is lazily torched by fuckwits; never has Unsane’s music felt more apt or more in tune with the Western world’s mounting, disgruntled paranoia and division.”
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Kadavar - Rough Times
“Rough Times, the band’s fourth outing, returns to the band’s dirtier, fuzzed-out and heavier roots, which their previous album, Berlin, had jettisoned in favour of a more cleanly produced, accessible and sunny cheer.”
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- The TeamRock+ Singles Club
- Grave Pleasures line up November UK tour
- Read Classic Rock, Metal Hammer & Prog for free with TeamRock+
- Unsane premiere angry new track Aberration
Kublai Khan - Nomad
“This Texas metalcore quartet formed in 2009 with a strong DIY ethic. They designed their own merchandise, self-released their debut EP, and toured for some time before being signed to Artery and Rise Records. Matthew Honeycutt is a fierce frontman determined to write meaningful lyrics and unafraid to address racism, human rights, depression and beyond.”
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Monolord - Rust
“On the surface, the Swedes’ riff-built wall of fuzz is more obviously indebted to slow swagger of the likes of Saint Vitus, Pentagram or, during the slumbering, string-augmented melancholy of Wormland in particular, the occult strains of Candlemass.”
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Shrapnel - Raised On Decay
“Three years on from the release of their neck-bothering debut, The Virus Conspires, Norwich thrashers Shrapnel’s new LP sees the quintet deftly sidestep that ‘difficult second album syndrome’ by delivering a sequel that delivers on their promise in spades. Comprising 11 tracks – including a cover of Slayer staple The Antichrist – Raised On Decay is a flab-free opus full of frenetic yet focused energy, face-melting guitars and super-fast riffs.”
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The best new metal albums you can buy this week
