Weekends: they tend to be a much-needed catharsis after a long week. Unfortunately, it’s likely you’re reading this while you’re still sitting at your desk, woefully watching the minutes tick past like hours. So why not get a little bit of that frustration out now? Grab your headphones, because things are about to get angry, heavy, energetic, and quite frankly a lot of fun.
Thank Satan It’s Friday is simple. Every Friday, I’ll be rounding the “best of the best” of that particular week’s rock and metal tracks that came out. These are all new songs from artists, ranging from major label signees to incredible artists who’d you probably not unearth otherwise. So if you’re a fan, be sure to pre-order their albums!
As a quick caveat, keep in mind this isn’t every single track that came out during any particular week. That would be insane, and not every new song from every artist is a gem worth sharing here.
Anyway, here’s what you missed this week.
Monolord – “Rust”
Sweden’s Monolord will be putting out Rust on August 29 via Riding Easy Records, and the album seems to be a shift away from the band’s usual trudge through the bass-heavy swamp. Not to say the Monolord’s 2015 album Vaenir wasn’t amazing – it was, and it’ll absolutely blow your speakers out – but Rust sees Monolord moving in a much catchier and slightly speedier direction.
“Rust” doesn’t bury the vocals in tremolo and reverb nearly as much as Vaenir, allowing/forcing guitarist Thomas Jäger to get creative with his hooks. “Rust” also features John Gamino (Mondo Drag) on keyboards and Trevor Church (Beastmaker) contributing a solo toward the end of the track.
If you’re into it, pre-order Rust here!
Doom Side Of The Moon – “Time”
If you hadn’t guessed by the title of the project and the name of the song, this is a doom metal reimagining of Pink Floyd‘s 1973 classic Dark Side Of The Moon.
The project is headed up by The Sword guitarist Kyle Shutt, and thus far it seems to be extremely well done. Shutt clearly knows the album like the back of his hand, and while he sticks close enough to the source material for it to be identifiable, he still ventures deep into the land of Sleep and Black Sabbath riffs, making for one hell of an interesting listen.
Doom Side Of The Moon is out August 4, and you can pre-order it here.
Cannabis Corpse – “In Dank Purity”
You read that right, and I didn’t typo Cannibal Corpse. Weed-themed death metal unit Cannabis Corpse is a legitimate and pretty great death metal band whose lyrics deal with weed, and whose album titles and song titles are parodies of famous death metal albums and songs, though repurposed to be about marijuana.
Cannabis Corpse has a pretty great lineup too, with Iron Reagan & Municipal Waste‘s Land Phil on bass and vocals, Brandon Ellis of Arsis & The Black Dahlia Murder on guitar, Six Feet Under‘s Ray Suhy on guitar, and drummer Josh Hall of… well, Cannabis Corpse on drums.
Left Hand Pass is out September 8, and you can pre-order it here.
Believer – “Return To Zero”
Believer were active from 1986 to 1994, and then again from 2005 to present day. The last time we got a full length album from Believer was 2011’s Transhuman, though that’s changing very slowly.
Believer is releasing five two-song EPs in 2017 that will accumulate to one full length album. 1 of 5 was pretty good, but 2 of 5 is absolutely killer. The lead song “Perfect Day” is a logical followup to what post-reunion Believer has been doing, but “Return To Zero” brings that Extol-esque progressive metal before Extol was even around. Plus, who doesn’t need more electric violin solos in their life?
Check out both EP releases from Believer here, and keep an eye out for 3 of 5 soon!
Bloodclot – “Slow Kill Genocide”
Bloodclot consists of Cro-Mags vocalist John Joseph, ex-Danzig guitarist Todd Youth, and ex-Queens Of The Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri and drummer Joey Castillo, and has just dropped its new album Up In Arms.
For a band fronted by Joseph, it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect – hardcore punk that gets down and dirty. It’s also great to see Oliveri and Castillo doing more heavy stuff post-Queens Of The Stone Age (despite barely having been in the band at the same time).
Pre-order Up In Arms here.
Septicflesh – “3rd Testament (Codex Omega)”
In 2011, Septicflesh released The Great Mass, which probably one of the best orchestral metal albums I’ve ever heard in my life. The bar was pretty high for 2014’s followup Titan, an album that fell pretty flat in terms of expectations and reception.
Now the band has begun the press cycle for its new album Codex Omega and the two singles we’ve gotten thus far have been phenomenally good. “Dante’s Inferno” was released a few weeks back and was great, though “3rd Testament (Codex Omega)” is just a total steamroller. It’s also interesting, considering the focus is mainly on the band rather than the orchestra.
Codex Omega is out on September 1, and you can pre-order that here.
Nine Inch Nails – “Less Than”
Nine Inch Nails will be releasing the second of its three EPs next week, and once again its a bit of a departure from the band’s usual sound. “Less Than” touches on the modern synthwave sound a la Perturbator and Dan Terminus, though with heaps of additional distortion and a typically catchy chorus.
I feel like at this point in Nine Inch Nails‘ career, you’re either on board with Reznor and now Atticus Ross doing whatever they feel like doing for each release, or you’re still stuck on the early material.
Pre-order the vinyl or mystery physical component of Add Violence here.
