New & Noteworthy, Metal Insider’s weekly column has returned! We highlight some of the newest rock and metal releases coming out each week. This week, we’re catching up with all of January 2022 releases, which features new music from Cloakroom, Battle Beast, Fit For An Autopsy, Infected Rain,and more! For previous releases you can read one of the final New & Noteworthy releases from 2021. Metal by Numbers will soon return! In the meantime, check out some of Metal Insider’s favorite albums from last year. Be sure to follow us on Spotify to get this month’s New & Noteworthy Playlist, updated every Friday with the newest metal releases.
January 28, 2022:
Celeste, Assassine(s) (Nuclear Blast)
Music Video(s): “Des Torrents De Coups,” “Elle Se Répète Froidement,” “Le Cœur Noir Charbon,” “De Tes Yeux Bleus Perlés”
Producer: Chris Edrich (Gojira, Tesseract, The Ocean, Leprous)
Cloakroom, Dissolution Wave (Relapse Records)
Celebrating band’s tenth anniversary with new album, Northwest Indiana, rock
Music Video(s): “A Force At Play,” “Doubts,” “Fear of Being Fixed”
Depleted Uranium, Origins (Self)
Toronto, atomic grind
Earthless, Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons (Nuclear Blast)
California, psych rock
Evergrey, Live: Before The Aftermath (AFM)
Live album from lockdown 2020 livestream, Sweden, progressive/power metal
Music Video(s): “King of Errors” “Weightless”
Freaks And Clowns, We Set The World On Fire (Metalville)
Third album, Sweden, hardrock/power metal
Music Video(s): “We Set The World On Fire,” “One Last Ticket”
Hazemaze, Blinded By The Wicked (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Sweden, doom rock
Jethro Tull, The Zealot Gene (InsideOut)
Twenty-second album, Britain, rock
Music Video(s): “The Zealot Gene,” “Shoshana Sleeping”
Kraemer, All The Way (Frontiers)
New musical collaboration that sees Finnish vocalist Erik Kraemer (Simulacrum), hard rock
Music Video(s): “All The Way,” “Tonight”
Lana Lane, Neptune Blue (Frontiers)
Singer’s first new album in ten years, California, melodic rock
Music Video(s): “Remember Me,” “Under the Big Sky,” “Far From Home”
The Last Ten Seconds Of Life, The Last Ten Seconds Of Life (Unique Leader)
Sixth album, Pennsylvania, deathcore
Music Video(s): “The Sabbath,” “Invictus Unto Fire”
Praying Mantis, Katharsis (Frontiers)
Twelfth Studio Album, UK, heavy metal
Music Video(s): “Cry for the Nations,” “Closer to Heaven”
Steve Vai, Inviolate (Favored Nations/Mascot)
Tenth studio album, American guitarist
Music Video(s): “Little Pretty,” “Teeth of the Hydra”
Toxpack, Zwanzig.Tausend.Volt (Napalm Records)
Berlin, streetcore
Music Video(s): “ZWANZIG.TAUSEND VOLT,” “Ozean voll Scheiße,” “Bastarde für alle Zeit,” “Totgeglaubt, doch neugeboren”
January 21, 2022:
Abyssus, Death Revival (Transcending Obscurity)
Sophomore full-length album, Greece, death metal
Music Video(s): “Uncertain Future”
Ashes Of Ares, Emperors And Fools (Rock Of Angels)
Third album, Newburgh, NY, progressive power metal
Music Video(s): “By My Blade,” “Gone”
Battle Beast, Circus Of Doom (Nuclear Blast)
Sixth full-length album, Finland, heavy metal
Music Video(s): “Master of Illusion,” “Eye of the Storm,” “Where Angels Fear to Fly,” “Wings of Light”
Producers: Produced and mixed by keyboardist Janne Björkroth.
Billy Talent, Crisis Of Faith (Spinefarm)
Canada, rock
Music Video(s): “End of Me,” “Judged”
Producers: Produced entirely by the band’s guitarist and main songwriter, Juno-nominated producer Ian D’Sa, in the band’s Toronto studio. It was mixed by the legendary Chris Lord-Alge.
Comeback Kid, Heavy Steps (Nuclear Blast)
Seventh album, Canada, hardcore
Music Video(s): “Heavy Steps,” “No Easy Way Out,” “Face The Fire”
Producers: John Paul Peters (Cancer Bats, Propagandhi)
Edge Of Forever, Seminole (Frontiers)
Fifth album, Italy, heavy metal
Music Video(s): “Seminole, Pt. 1-4,” “Shift the Paradigm,” “Get Up On Your Feet Again”
Giant, Shifting Time (Frontiers)
Fifth album, Nashville, hard rock
Music Video(s): “Let Our Love Win,” “Never Die Young,” “The Price of Love”
Kandia, Quaternary (Frontiers)
Frontiers label debut, Portugal, alternative metal
Music Video(s): “Fight or Flight,” “Deathwish,” “Turn of the Tide,” “The Flood”
Kissin’ Dynamite, Not The End Of The Road (Napalm)
Seventh studio album, Germany, rock
Music Video(s): “Not the End of the Road,” “Coming Home,” “Yoko Ono,” “Good Life”
Producers: Produced, recorded and mixed by vocalist Hannes Braun (Südland Music) himself.
Lalu, Paint The Sky (Frontiers)
Third studio album, France, progressive metal
Music Video(s): “Paint the Sky,” “The Chosen Ones”
Vrsty, Welcome Home (Spinefarm)
Spinefarm debut, NYC, R&B infused post-hardcore
Music Video(s): “Sick,” ”Soul,” ”Closer”
January 14, 2022:
Aethereus, Leiden (The Artisan Era)
Sophomore album, Tacoma, WA, technical death
Music Video(s): “Leiden,” “Son of a Nameless Father,” “Behold, The World Eater”
Big Scenic Nowhere, The Long Morrow (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Sophomore album, Pacific Coast, desert rock
Eliminator, Ancient Light (Dissonance)
Sophomore album, UK, heavy metal
Enterprise Earth, The Chosen (MNRK Heavy)
Fourth album, Spokane, Washington, progressive deathcore
Music Video(s): ”Reanimate // Disintegrate,” “Where Dreams Are Broken,” ”You Couldn’t Save Me,” “Legends Never Die”
Ereb Altor, Vargtimman (Hammerheart)
Ninth full-length album, Sweden, Viking/black metal
Music Video(s): “I Have The Sky,” ”Vargtimman”
Fit For An Autopsy, Oh What The Future Holds (Nuclear Blast)
Sixth studio album, New Jersey, deathcore
Music Video(s): “Far From Heaven,” ”Two Towers,” “In Shadows,” “Pandora”
Producers: Written and produced by guitarist Will Putney at his Graphic Nature Audio studio.
Upcoming Dates: On tour Now w/Enterprise Earth, Ingested, Signs of the Swarm, and Great American Ghost
Magnum, The Monster Roars (SPV/Steamhammer)
Twenty-second studio album, English, rock
Music Video(s): “No Steppin’ Stones,” “I Won’t Let You Down”
Pridelands, Light Bends (SharpTone)
Debut album, Australia, metalcore
Music Video(s): “The Lake of Twisted Limbs,” “The Walls,” “Heavy Tongue,””Antipathy”
Shadow Of Intent, Elegy (Blood Blast)
Fourth album, Connecticut/Rhode Island, symphonic deathcore
Music Video(s): “Of Fury,” “From Ruin We Rise”
Upcoming Dates: Supporting Cannibal Corpse next month.
Skillet, Dominion (Atlantic)
Eleventh studio album, Memphis, TN, rock
Music Video(s): “Surviving The Game,” “Standing In The Storm,” “Refuge”
Upcoming Dates: On Tour
Wiegedood, There’s Always Blood At The End Of The Road (Century Media)
Fourth album, Belgium, black metal
Music Video(s): “Carousel,” “Now Will Always Be,” ”Nuages,” “FN Scar 16”
Upcoming Dates: European Tour
January 7, 2022:
Infected Rain, Ecdysis (Napalm Records)
Fifth full-length, Moldova, progressive modern metal
Music Video(s): “Longing,” “The Realm of Chaos,” “Fighter,” “Postmortem Pt. 1”
Upcoming Dates: Just announced – Headlining North American Tour
Other: Album Review, Interview with Lena Scissorhands
Nocturnal Graves, An Outlaws Stand (Season Of Mist)
Fourth full-length, Australia, blackened death
Music Video(s): “Command For Conflict”
Wilderun, Epigone (Century Media)
Fourth full-length, Boston, MA, progressive metal
Music Video(s): “Exhaler,” “Identifier,” “Passenger,” “Distraction I”