New & Noteworthy, August 18th 2017: To the Store

New & Noteworthy is a weekly column in which we highlight some of the newest rock and metal releases coming out each week. This week features new music from Eluveitie, Thy Art is Murder, and Steven Wilson. If you would like to check out last week’s New & Noteworthy, you can do so here, and the week’s sales numbers are also available in Metal by Numbers. Wage War, Accept, and Dead Cross broke 50 on the Billboard top 200. It’s dangerous to go alone, take this Spotify playlist.

Studio Releases:

Thy Art Is Murder, Dear Desolation (Nuclear Blast)

Dear Desolation is the fourth studio album from the Australian deathcore band Thy Art is Murder. The album is the first since vocalist C.J McMahon, who stepped out for a minute in 2015, returned back to the band. The group has released two music videos leading up to the release, “Slaves Beyond Death” and “The Son of Misery.” Just like their previous album, Holy War, this too was produced by Will Putney (Miss May I, Body Count, etc). If the artwork style appears familiar, it should. The piece was painted by Eliran Kantor, best known for his work with Testament, Iced Earth, Sodom and more. If you want to see them live, they will be touring the U.S. alongside Decapitated, Fallujah, and Ghost Bath starting this week. Dear Desolation is also available on vinyl.

Eluveitie, Evocation II – Pantheon (Nuclear Blast)

Evocation II – Pantheon is the seventh studio album from the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. As the name suggests, this is a follow-up to their 2009 release, Evocation I. Just like that album, II is also much more folk/acoustic oriented. The band went through a pretty drastic line-up change since their last album, 2014’s Origins. In May of 2016 Merlin Sutter (drums), Anna Murphy (hurdy-gurdy/vocals) and Ivo Henzi (rhythm guitar). They have since been replaced by Alain Ackermann (drums), Jonas Wolf (guitar), Michalina Malisz (hurdy-gurdy), and Fabienne Erni (mandola, celtic harp, clean vocals). They have released two mvsic videos for the album, “Lvgvu” and “Epona. Eluveitie has been making a few festival appearances this summer, but they will playing a few shows in Europe and Japan later this fall. No North American dates.

Steven Wilson, To The Bone (Kscope)

To the Bone is the fifth solo album from the English musician Steven Wilson. The album takes a poppier tone, as Steven channels his love for the progressive pop albums of his youth, focusing more on his songwriting rather than conceptual side of the music. He has released music videos for the tracks “Song of I” and “Permanating,” and a lyric video for “Refuge.” To the Bone was produced by Steven Wilson himself and Paul Stacey (Oasis, Black Crows). He will be touring Europe next year, but there are no current North America shows announced. The album is also available on vinyl.

KMFDM, Hell Yeah (earMUSIC)

Coming just a few short months after the release of their Yeah! EP, German industrial outfit KMFDM releases their newest full-length album Hell Yeah. They released a lyric video for the title track back when the EP was released, but this week they released a music video for he song “Murder My Heart.” They’ll be touring North America this October in support of the album.

Cloakroom, Time Well (Relapse)

Cold Black, Circles (Artery)

Exoskelett, Collected Bones (Hammerheart)

Fatal, Soul Burning Still – A Fatal Retrospective (Hammerheart)

Fetid Zombie / Svierg, Once Still Cosmos (Metalhit.com)

Gravetemple, Impassable Fears (Svart)

Horrific, Your Worst Nightmare (Hell’s Headbangers)
Phylactery, Necromancy Enthroned (Dark Descent)

Reverorum Ib Malacht, Ter Agios Numini (Ajna Offensive)

Sojourner, Empire Of Ashes (Avantgarde)

Vinyl Releases:

Tengger Cavalry, Die On My Ride (M-Theory Audio)

Just released earlier this year, Tengger Cavalry’s Die on my Ride gets a vinyl release.