Spring is officially here! We're not sure every band on this week's collection of new singles got the memo though, as there's a decidedly wintery chill to the likes of Blackbriar and Pallbearer, but we won't hold that against them when we're just so happy to have so much brilliant new music to dive into.
Speaking of, the results of last week's vote! Massive metalcore ballad The Black carried Imminence to a happy third place, the track narrowly losing out to Marko Hietala & Tarja Turunen team-up Left On Mars for second place. Far and away the winner though were Vended, their latest single The Far Side getting us plenty excited about their upcoming tour.
There are some massive names in the mix for this week's collection, though perhaps not in the way you'd think. Ozzy Osbourne, Corey Taylor and Serj Tankian all pop up as guests, while elsewhere we've got new music from Togolese metallers Arka'n Asrafokor, Visions Of Atlantis and While She Sleeps, among others. As ever, we need your help to crown the very best track, so don't forget to cast your vote below!
Billy Morrison - Crack Cocaine ft. Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy's back! Sort of, anyway. Teaming up with sometime The Cult and Billy Idol guitarist Billy Morrison, Ozzy lends his distinctive pipes to Morrison's latest single Crack Cocaine, taken from the guitarists upcoming solo album The Morrison Project, out April 19. With a lurching beat and the occasional squealing guitar, Crack Cocaine feels like something that could easily have come out of Ozzy's late 80s and early 90s period, a neck-bothering mid-pace banger in the vein of Crazy Babies or Perry Mason.
Blackbriar - Moonflower (ft. Marjana Semkina)
Who can resist a good vampire love story? Certainly not rising symphonic metal stars Blackbriar, whose latest single Moonflowers tells the story of a romance between a female vampire and a mortal girl. Making full use of symphonic metal's most ethereal edges, the track sits somewhere between early Within Temptation and Kate Bush, with a sense of fragile beauty that is underscored by dramatic, powerful guitars and guest vocals from Russian-born singer-songwriting Marjana Semkina.
Flat Black - Nothing To Some (ft. Corey Taylor)
Former Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Jason Hook has been teasing the debut for his new band Flat Black for a while now. But while previous singles have leaned more towards a hard rock sound, new single Nothing To Some is a vicious stomper more in line with his previous group. It doesn't hurt that the band have recruited Corey Taylor in a guest spot to provide one of his most furious vocal takes in years, resulting in a fist-pumping showcase of the heavier side of Hook's new band.
Arka'n Asrofokor - Angry God Of Earth
With their 2019 debut, Togo's Arka'n Asrofokor showed off a unique fusion of styles as they brought together everything from groove and nu metal to traditional rhythms and chants. New single Angry God Of Earth continues to use these elements to sublime effect, melodic chants set against clanking beats and chunky groove metal riffs for a stunning display of Togolese culture through the lens of heavy metal.
While She Sleeps - Leave Me Alone
There's still another week to go until the new While She Sleeps album, but once again it's apparent the band are pushing their sonic and creative boundaries on Self Hell. Latest single Leave Me Alone strikes a balance between the choppy, anthemic metalcore the band have as their foundation and a more nu metal influenced direction that is apparent in Loz Taylor's rapped vocals, which add a bit of Linkin Park to the overall mix. It's a bold move, and one that reaffirms the band's position as one of British metal's leading lights.
Bear McCreary ft. Serj Tankian - Incinerator
The composer behind shows including Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, Bear McCreary is spreading his wings into symphonic metal territories with his upcoming debut album The Singularity, out May 10. Incinerator sees McCreary draft in System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian for a grandiose composition that combines some of the swelling pomp of symphonic metal with SOAD's own frenetic brand of weirdness. The result is a track that feels gloriously massive, making us wish we'd had much more symphonic Serj in our lives for the past 20 almost-SOAD-less years.
P.O.D. - Lies We Tell Ourselves
Forerunners for the nu metal scene and among its stars when the genre went stratospheric, last week P.O.D. made a triumphant return to Wembley Arena with Skindred, their buoyant anthems perfect for massive crowd sing-alongs. You can probably add balladic Lies We Tell Ourselves to that list, the band's latest single from upcoming album Veritas - due May 3 - built on a sense of emotive weight that reaffirms that there was more to nu metal than downtuned guitars and songs about Nookie.
Pallbearer - Where The Light Fades
At the forefront of contemporary doom metal, Pallbearer have always found ways to diversify their brand of miserablism, be it incorporating prog, shades of goth or even classic rock. Where The Light Fades is a continuation of that journey, treading away from the usually monolithic riffs doom trades in for something more intricate and intimate sounding, closer in tone to the likes of 40 Watt Sun. The result is something beautiful for its wan nature, the sonic equivalent of returning home from an epic odyssey only to find that home is no longer what it once was. If the rest of new album Mind Burns Alive sounds like this, we could be looking at a very different version of Pallbearer. Either way, we'll find out May 17.
Perchta - Vom Verlånga
We wouldn't advise watching the video to Perchta's latest single Vom Verlånga at work. Or with children. Or polite company... Explicit in its exploration of feminine sexuality, the video for Vom Verlånga highlights the song's themes of lust and sexuality, while baroque, furious black metal intertwines with an almost folkish sense of whimsy. It's a stunning melding - in every sense of the word - and shows how the Austrian artist is pushing boundaries with her upcoming second album D'Muata, due June 14.
Visions Of Atlantis - Armada
Playing out like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, Visions Of Atlantis' latest single Armada is all about bringing fun and swashbuckling sensibilities to pirate metal. Sailing on the band's brand of grandiose power metal, Armada is an epic in every sense of the word, gloriously OTT and built around a sense of scale that has seen similarly themed bands like Powerwolf and Sabaton claw their way to bigger and bigger venues.
