A pretty packed week of heavy new albums for us to check out this time around. Let’s dive right in!

The Losts: Venom Within

This is an awesome slab of melodic heavy metal! The third album from the French quartet blends together plenty of old-school and modern styles, from heavy to power to black metal to thrash to even an almost early 2000s metalcore edge at times. Each style feels like it’s own time to shine at times throughout too, and all combines together to form a pretty unique sound to The Losts. Tracks like ‘Black out Days’, ‘Magical Idea’ and ‘Exponential Law’ are all personal highlights. However, there isn’t a bad song on here, and despite the aforementioned style-changes, it still flows pretty damn well! I’m definitely going to have to go back and check out their previous work, as they very much have a new fan in me! A solid 8/10 from us!

Funeral Vomit: Upheaval of Necomancy

Another third album, this time from the heavy, old-school death metallers, and does pretty much exactly what is advertised. It’s a Cannibal Corpse-like half an hour of brutal riffing, great drumming and questionably mixed and performed screams. In fact the mix throughout is rather questionable, being more of a wall of sound that sometimes makes it hard to distinguish each part. Musically and arrangement-wise it’s very well put together, but it’s sadly not one I’d revisit readily. It’s a shame too, as I liked the intro stuff they did for the album and tracks. I’d probably get into it a lot more in a live setting! ‘Hematophagia’ was probably my personal favourite track, but I sadly can’t give the release as a whole much more than 4/10. Sorry, the mix and style really aren’t my sort of thing!

Scheitan: Wine for a Tormented Soul

The second release in two years from the reunited gothic metal soloist is an absolutely great release within that genre! Whether it’s legends like Him or Type O to even more modern stuff like newer Creeper, it channels plenty of great vibes. From the opening two tracks to ‘Carry Me Home’, there’s plenty to love, too. The whole album goes by in a flash, and is truly a must if you are into this style of music! It’s honestly so great to hear Pierre back making music again, especially when it’s this good! I had a great time listening to this, and can’t give it any less than a solid 7.5/10. Good stuff!

Amulet: Don’t Say the Anguish Took her Life

The debut album from the modern deathcore collective actually goes pretty damn hard! From the awesome screams to the brutal instrumentation, it’s all performed and written incredibly. While it’s not everyone style, this feels a bit more of a throwback to earlier times in the genre; think more Whitechapel than Slaughter to Prevail. And yeah, it’s fucking awesome! From ‘Her Suffocating Words’ to the title track to ‘Dying in my Dreams’, there is plenty to love, and truly not a bad song on here. Heck, at only 22 minutes it’s in and out in a flash, very much all-killer, no-filler. I’m excited to see where the band go from here, as they definitely have a bright future, but this is an absolutely excellent start to their album-releasing careers. 8.5/10, a must for fans of the genre!

Diamonds to Dust: Echoes of Grace and Strife

More deathcore, but a bit more on the prog side this time. And damn, this goes hard and heavy for Christian music! I was pretty hooked from opener ‘Child of the King’, and the album barely let me go throughout. And, though the track is packed full of guest features, I enjoy the tracks of just them just as much! ‘Bond Servant’ and ‘Dissonant Truth’ are just as good as the opener or ‘The White Rabbit’s Nightmare’. From the awesome technical riffing to the brutal screams and breakdowns to the solid drums, it’s all done so well. I know some will dismiss it immediately due to the religious beliefs of the members, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice as this is an honestly incredible metal release, period. Even at pushing an hour in length and 14 tracks, it all slaps and is so easy to listen to in one go. They have a big new fan in me, and this will be an album I’ll be listening to for months to come. 9/10