As the Olympics continue, drawing the eyes and ears of everybody who works from home, it can be hard to turn away and find the time for metal. However, heavy music had another blinder of a week over the past seven days, with everybody from symphonic metal titans to post-rock beloveds releasing great new tunes.
But first, the results of last week’s poll! Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil and Jinjer all had excellent shows, as did metalcore underdogs Ligature Marks, whose track Pray And Suffocate earned a respectable silver metal in the public vote. However, victory went to progressive metal mavens Opeth, who re-embraced their death metal roots on comeback single §1. Top work lads!
This week, the competition comes from Nightwish, Tremonti, Sólstafir and more. Listen to their offerings and cast your pick of the very best below. Happy moshing!
Nightwish – The Day Of…
After sticking to their bombastic strengths on prior single Perfume Of The Timeless, Nightwish have experimented with the orchestral end of their sound. The Day Of… offers stacks of choirs and strings, and, with its predecessor, makes for a pretty dynamic teaser for upcoming album Yesterwynde. Pick the new record up on September 20 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Tremonti – Just Too Much
You’d think the Creed comeback would be enough to keep Mark Tremonti busy, but not so! The guitarist, who also shreds in alt-metal stars Alter Bridge, steps back to the mic on Just Too Much, his first new music since 2021’s Marching In Time. The groove metal heavy-hitter preempts new album The End Will Show Us How, out next year.
Sólstafir – Hún Andar
Shockingly, Iceland’s Sólstafir re-embraced their black metal roots on their last single, Hin Helga Kvöl. Hún Andar is a tender counterpoint, truer to the band’s longtime post-rock ways, its emotion sourced from watching loved ones endure mental health hardship and drug abuse. Both this and Hin Helga Kvöl will appear on Sólstafir’s new album, also called Hin Helga Kvöl, in November.
Lordi – Made Of Metal
2006 Eurovision victors Lordi remain their flamboyant selves on Made Of Metal. The pulse-pounding single was released to promote the new Oneplus Nord 4 smartphone, marketed as “the first all-metal unibody phone of the 5G era”. We’re not techy enough to know what that means, but we do know that Made Of Metal won’t appear on Mr Lordi and company’s next album.
Nails – Lacking The Ability To Process Empathy
Powerviolence purveyors Nails make a surprise detour to lounge music on their latest song. Nah, fuck off: they’ve stayed nasty as hell across 124 whole seconds of carnage. Lacking The Ability To Process Empathy will be heard again on Every Bridge Burning, the reactivated squad’s first album in eight years. It’s out on August 30 via Nuclear Blast.
Mushroomhead – We Don’t Care
Three-vocalist nu metal gang Mushroomhead herald the arrival of new album Call The Devil (out today via Napalm) with the single/music video We Don’t Care. Frontwoman Jackie Laponza steers the verses of the mid-paced track with her powerful pipes, while Steve Rauckhorst and Scott “Xtriker” Beck handle the heavier choruses. Listen to it in place on the full album now.
Oceans Ate Alaska – Onsra
The times they are a’changin’ for Oceans Ate Alaska. The tech-metalcore heroes have moved on from longtime home Fearless Records and tapped new singer Joel Haywood, who makes just his second appearance with the band on new song Onsra. Some things never change, however: the song is another slice of emotional and melodic riffery from the Birmingham-based outfit.
All For Metal – Path Of The Brave
Riff-worshipping warrior troupe All For Metal continue the campaign towards their new album, Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon), with Path Of The Brave. The track is an orchestral ballad, while its video comes with a near-overdose of gloriously metal imagery: burly blokes, armour and military face paint galore! More glorious silliness will follow when Gods… drops on August 23.
Nytt Land – Wait And Bleed (Slipknot cover)
Husband-and-wife Scandi folk pair Nytt Land turned their eyes towards distinctly not Scandi folk music when they covered Slipknot’s Wait And Bleed this week. However, Anatoly and Natalya Pakhalenko still sound like their shamanic selves on the song, bringing throaty vocals and traditional instruments to an angsty nu metal composition. The band may well play it when they tour Europe this fall.
Vola – I Don’t Know How We Got Here
Bouncy prog lot Vola have eschewed bouncy prog for I Don’t Know How We Got Here. Rather than hefty riffs, frontman Asger Mygind shows off his tender pipes, underscored by scurrying percussion and EDM-like flair. Following fellow singles Paper Wolf and Break My Lying Tongue, I Don’t Know… continues the build towards the Danes’ next album Friend Of A Phantom, out November 1.
Lizzard – Elevate
Black Sheep, the lead single of Lizzard’s next album Mesh, was a heavy prog metal appetite-whetter. Second single Elevate, however, highlights the softer side of the French trio. It’s a slow burn with dainty guitar strums and alluring vocals, emphasising emotion but losing none of the songwriting tightness the band have long flaunted. Mesh drops on September 27 via Pelagic.
Hidden Mothers – Defanged
Hidden Mothers are anything but Defanged on their new song. If anything, the post-black metal bunch are particularly pissed off, singer/guitarist Luke Scrivens roaring his lungs out over cascading percussion and chug-a-thon riffs. The band say the single is about society’s misdirection of anger towards the vulnerable instead of the powerful, and it’ll appear on debut album Erosion / Avulsion this year.
A Swarm Of The Sun – The Pyre
Doom/post-metal collective A Swarm Of The Sun have done the very doom/post-metal thing of releasing an 18-minute-long single. The Pyre is an enormous snapshot of next album An Empire and spotlights the duo’s dynamism, rising from sparse musicianship to a stacked sandwich of noise and texture. All 71 minutes of An Empire will arrive on September 6 via Pelagic.
