New & Noteworthy is Metal Insider’s weekly column highlighting some of the newest rock and metal releases hitting shelves. The last couple of weeks saw new music from the likes of Waves In Autumn, Bruce Dickinson, Ministry, Kaiser Chiefs, Judas Priest, The End Machine, Ghost Work, Kill The Lights and more. This week brings new releases from DragonForce, The Black Crowes, The Dandy Warhols, Night Verses and Creed’s Scott Stapp, among many more. Don’t forget to check out our weekly playlist below. Enjoy!
March 15, 2024
DragonForce, Warp Speed Warriors (Napalm): Their first album in five years, the power metal band call their ninth studio album their most “ambitious and grandiose record yet,” showcasing “multiple facets of our artistic abilities.”
Scott Stapp, Higher Power (Napalm): The Creed frontman contributes the rawness of his fourth solo studio album to the speed at which he recorded it, telling Billboard, “The album came together as a direct reflection of my life — I was living it during the period of time that I was writing it. And I was capturing the vocal performance right when the song was born, in the heat of feeling that emotion that birthed the song.”
The Black Crowes, Happiness Bastards (Silver Arrow): It has been nearly 15 years since the hard rockers put out their last album. Reunited since 2019, the new record has been billed as the band “biting back” against polished pop music “with the angst of words left unsaid penned on paper and electrified by guitar strings, revealing stripped, bare-boned rock & roll. No gloss, no glitter, just rhythm and blues at it’s very best – gritty, loud, and in your face.”
The Dandy Warhols, Rockmaker (Sunset Blvd. Records): The 90s alt-rockers drop their 12th studio effort full of “psychedelic LSD rock” and “guitar trippy coolness” with appearances from the likes of Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and The Pixies’ Black Francis.
Night Verses, Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night: Part 2 (Equal Vision): The second half of their double album, the progressive rockers show off their “signature blend of complex rhythms and atmospheric soundscapes,” aided by collaborations with Incubus’ Brandon Boyd, Circa Survive’s Anthony Greene, Author & Punisher and Tool’s Justin Chancellor.
Aardvark, Tough Love (Dying Victims)
Aborted, Vault Of Horrors (Nuclear Blast)
Armagh, Exclamation Point (Dying Victims)
Atrophy, Asylum (Massacre)
Brat, Social Grace (Prosthetic)
Iterum Nata, From The Infinite Light (Nordvis)
Kid Kapichi, There Goes The Neighbourhood (Spinefarm)
Leather Lung, Graveside Grin (Magnetic Eye)
Lords Of Black, Mechanics Of Predacity (Frontiers)
Lpiz, Changing The Melody (Frontiers)
Lustmord, Much Unseen Is Also Here (Pelagic)
Lutharo, Chasing Euphoria (Atomic Fire)
Malsten, The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill – Rites of Passage (Svart)
Mike Tramp, Mand Af En Tid (Target)
Necrophobic, In The Twilight Grey (Century Media)
Per Wiberg, The Serpent’s Here (Despotz)
The Progressive Souls Collective, Sonic Rebirth (Metalville)
Udad, Udad (Peaceville)
Vltimas, Epic (Season Of Mist)
Defect Designer, Chitin (Transcending Obscurity Records)
Eternal, Cryptic Lust (Raw Skull Recordz)
Stress Angel, Punished by Nemesis (Dying Victims Productions)
The Moor, Ombra (Inertial Music)
O Zorn!, Vermillion Haze (Seeing Red Records)
Nastergal, The Untold War (WormHoleDeath)
Dionysiaque, Diogonos (I, Voidhanger Records)
Hadit, Metaphysical Engines Approaching the Event Horizon (I, Voidhanger Records)
Corpus Diavolis, Elixiria Ekstasis (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions)
Murgang, End of All (Independent)
Coventhrall, Legacy of Morfuidra (Inverse Records)
Hartlight, As Above, So Below (Independent)
Ironbound, Serpent’s Kiss (Ossuary Records)
Call ov the Void, On Grief and Dying (Independent)
Vulvatorious, Vulvatorious (Bad Morning Records)
Thor, Ride of the Iron Horse (Deadline Music)
Winterborn, Break Another Day (RFL Records)
Savage Oath, Divine Battle (Postmortem Apocalypse)
Anahata, Syncretic Sovereignty (Independent)
Embrace of Souls, Forever Part of Me (Elevate Records)
