12 metal albums you’re going to need in the second half of 2016
This year has already been a whirlwind of great metal releases but the second half of 2016 looks like it’s going to pack just as much of a punch as the first. Here are a few albums you should be looking forward to throughout the coming months.
16 — Lifespan Of A Moth
July 15 via Relapse
Struggling is nothing new for the members of 16. They’ve seen and done it all: drugs, dysfunction and failed relationships. On their best record since Zoloft Smile in 2003 they show they aren’t just a metal band but, rather, street poets of the highest order. Guitarist Bobby Ferry is in especially fine form here. (JN)
Dark Tranquillity — TBA
TBD via Century Media
Say what you will about Dark Tranquillity, but the band haven’t made a single bad album in their 25-year career. These Swedes have shifted style here and there, but they have always put out ridiculously good melodic death metal. The new stuff sounds like it’ll be a throwback. Head over to the band’s Facebook to see some videos and you’ll get the idea— the new Dark Tranquillity sounds like it’ll be in the vein of Fiction. (GK)
Hammers Of Misfortune — Dead Revolution
July 22 via Metal Blade
The Bay Area band cobbled together by John Cobbett contains some of the finest musicians working in any genre of music. Dead Revolution is ostensibly about the displacement of artists and families by the tech economy. This album is compelling, wonderfully orchestrated from beginning to end and heartbreakingly human. (JN)
Meshuggah —TBA
TBD via Nuclear Blast
Meshuggah only come out with an album every four years or so, presumably because each record is so devastating that everyone needs a little time to recover after having heard it. The band’s 2012 release, Koloss, was a major step up in production for the band, and we’re really hoping the new one stays that course. Koloss was just massive, naturally heavy and pretty much unjust to anyone else looking to release an album that year.
I guess we’ll know when the album is coming when the Earth starts to shake. (GK)
Metallica —TBA
TBD
It’s been a good chunk of a decade since Death Magnetic, but when you are the biggest rock band in the world, you can do whatever you want. We don’t have too many clues about what to expect from the thrash progenitors in 2016, but we do know a record could be coming as early as this fall. At any rate, it’s likely to be better than Load and St. Anger—if it does arrive this year. (JN)
Neurosis — Fires Within Fires
Sept. 23 via Neurot
Neurosis have been endlessly creative and relevant for every stage of their now three-decade career. Although the band dusted off a series of early classics for a recent set of shows celebrating their 30-year anniversary, they will no doubt mine new creative paths as they always do with new music. Every part of their discography is essential, and this will be another welcome chapter in their story. (JN)
Opeth — Sorceress
TBD via Nuclear Blast
Opeth’s career has been jam-packed with twists and turns. From their progressive death metal roots in the 90s and early 2000s, they have navigated through beautifully haunting clean tracks on Damnation, Deep Purple-style death metal on Ghost Reveries, and even straight up progressive rock on their last two records without so much as even appearing to break their quality streak.
So what the hell is Sorceress going to be? Who knows, but we’re pretty sure it’ll rule. (GK)
Pig Destroyer —TBA
TBD via Relapse Records
Pig Destroyer appear to be releasing something new in 2016, what with Adam Jarvis practicing new songs and various errant advertisements floating around hinting at a new record. The band’s new album will be its first in four years and will finally feature a bassist! So who knows what those grindcore geniuses are going to cook up with one extra mind in the mix. We just hope we get to find out in 2016. (GK)
Solution .45 — Nightmares In The Waking State, Pt. 2
Aug. 26 via AFM Records (Pre-order here)
Solution .45 have Christian Älvestam on vocals and this is pretty much the pinnacle of his career. Backed by a band of insanely talented dudes from Stratovarius, Miseration, and Torchbearer, Solution .45 are on their third album in six years and have yet to put out a single bad track.
It’s progressive metal, it’s shred, it’s flat out death metal, it’s ballads with hooks… it’s just everything good you’ve ever loved about metal wrapped up into one. (GK)
SubRosa — For This We Fought The Battle Of Ages
Aug. 26 via Profound Lore
SubRosa have woven elaborate origami out of music in their ten-plus years as a working band. Their last album made most best-of lists and this, a concept album based on the dystopian novel We, is multifaceted and compelling. (JN)
Trap Them — Crown Feral
Fall release (TBD) via Prosthetic Records
Trap Them do rage, agony and frustration better than almost any active band. While they have never been a band for reinvention, they have always been a band that’s about continuing to top the formidable records they’ve already produced. Crown Feral is as unbreakable as graphene, the world’s toughest mineral. (JN)
Witherscape — The Northern Sanctuary
July 22 via Century Media Records (Pre-order here)
Witherscape is the partnership of Dan Swanö, who you might know from Edge of Sanity or Bloodbath, and Ragnar Widerberg, who you might know from Shadowquest. This will be the band’s sophomore effort, and it’s leagues ahead of its debut The Inheritance, which came out in 2013.
Which is also saying something, because The Inheritance is an unreasonably good debut album, but man… The Northern Sanctuary just sounds unreal. (GK)
