New Metal Out Today: 11/13

Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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It’s Friday the 13th, which means two things: getting murdered by Jason Voorhees, and new music! Tune in every Friday for The Pit’s round-up of new releases, from singalong hard rock to pus-drenched underground death metal. Keep those ears bleeding!

AC/DC, Power Up (Columbia)

For fans of: Previous and future AC/DC albums

Standout track: “Demon Fire”

Hearing a new AC/DC album is like drinking a cheap beer brand you haven’t had since you were 14. Sure, it’s not as nuanced as your current poison of choice, and it’s a reminder of how little you knew back then, but damn if it doesn’t hit the spot and bring back a lot of fun memories. We wish we could tell you that Power Up or PWR/UP or whatever the fuck it’s called reinvents the wheel, but let’s be honest, you’d be bummed out if it did. It’s AC/DC. It’s bluesy but electric. It’s fun to sing along to. Bottoms up.

Boundaries, Your Receding Warmth (Unbeaten Records)

For fans of: Judiciary, Orthodox, I Am

Standout track: “Carve”

To call Boundaries’ music just ‘hardcore’ does it an injustice. There’s a lot of groovier thrash, death metal, and even noise rock available on Your Receding Warmth, which reveal themselves in layers with each subsequent spin. And there will be subsequent spin — this record is enthralling, an album that is both entertaining in its heaviness and fascinating in its genuine, multi-faceted approach. A voice in extreme music that everyone should be listening to right now.

Warfect, Spectre of Devastation (Napalm Records)

For fans of: Warbringer, Municipal Waste, Avenger of Blood

Standout track: “Left to Rot”

The cover of Warfect’s Spectre of Devastation may say, I play symphonic power metal on the main stage of Wacken, but their music says, I have at one time slept in a nail-studded gauntlet. The album is killer Euro-thrash, like latter-day Kreator made by more extreme metal-oriented dudes looking to blow the headliner off of the stage. Fans who’ve never sewn a patch jacket together might need a few listens to be indoctrinated; the rest of us will have kuttes on and beers cracked by the time opener “Pestilence” has ended. 

Nuclear, Murder of Crows (Black Lodge Records)

For fans of: Sepultura, Warbeast, Deceased

Standout track: “Friendly Sociopath”

All we’ve ever heard about Chile is that it’s beautiful — so holy shit, what’s going on with Nuclear that they sound this brutal? The Santiago-based quintet play a fuming brand of death-thrash, their bounding riffs and hurricane percussion mixed with plenty of deep slam chugs and the general destructive vibe of OSDM. The result is an unexpectedly awesome album which will have fans of modern thrash acts excited for something more muscular than your usual throwback record.

Other crushers:

  • Macabre, Carnival of Killers (Nuclear Blast)
  • Of Feather and Bone, Sulfuric Disintegration (Profound Lore)
  • Volur, Death Cult (Prophecy Productions)
  • Soulskinner, Seven Bowls of Wrath (Xtreem Music)
  • Novarupta, Marine Snow (Suicide Records)

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Words by Chris Krovatin