February 7, 2025
New & Noteworthy is Metal Insider’s weekly column highlighting some of the newest rock and metal releases coming out each week. This first New Music Friday of February sees the highly anticipated return of Dream Theater’s classic line-up, as well as the latest from Fvzz Popvli, Jinjer, Obscura, The Rumjacks and Thundermother among the many outstanding works hitting shelves. Don’t forget to check out our weekly playlist below. Enjoy!
February 7, 2025 Release Highlights:
Dream Theater, Parasomnia (InsideOut):
The progressive metal band’s 16th studio album finds them reuniting their classic line-up, making it their first with original drummer Mike Portnoy in nearly 16 years.
Fvzz Popvli, Melting Pop (Heavy Psych Sounds):
Deciding not to follow the beaten path with their latest album, the band said of the work, “It’s not stoner, it’s not garage, it’s not punk, it’s not psych, it’s not even a traditional album. It’s melting, a blend of FVZZ POPVLI saying “screw the labels” and just going with the flow, all natural, like grown-ups with no preservatives.”
Jinjer, Duél (Napalm):
According to the Napalm Records website, the Ukrainian metal band’s fifth studio effort features “fierce attitude and emotion,” saying “Tatiana Shmayluk’s extraordinary vocal performance combines brutal growls and epic clean vocals, soaring atop chugging riffs, intricate drum patterns, aggressive guitars and Eugene Abdukhanov’s trademark bass wizardry.”
Obscura, A Sonication (Nuclear Blast):
The German death metal band releases the second piece of the album trilogy that started with 2021’s A Valediction.
The Rumjacks, Dead Anthems (Four Four):
The Australian Celtic punks release their sixth studio album, co-produced by frontman Mike Rivkees and The Bouncing Souls’ Pete Steinkopf and mixed by The Interrupters’ Kevin Bivona, features upbeat jaunts made to be played live.
Thundermother, Dirty & Divine (AFM):
The Swedish rockers release their sixth studio effort, the first with new singer Linnea Vikström Egg and drummer Joan Massing. Said founding guitarist Filippa Nässil “It’s still got a ’70s vibe, but the melodies are catchier and the vocals are obviously different. We’re always evolving, never standing still. I think this is the best album we’ve made so far.”
February 7, 2025 Releases:
The Vices, Before It Might Be Gone (Plus 1)
Soar, Amidst the Ruins (Season Of Mist)
Rats on Rafts, Deep Below (Fire)
Guided by Voices, Universe Room (Guided By Voices Inc.)
Heartworms, Glutton For Punishment (Speedy Wunderground)
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment (Jagjaguwar)
Squid, Cowards (Warp)
Drop Nineteens, 1991 (Wharf Cat)
Avalanche Party, Der Traum Uber Alles (Kartel Music Group)
Chris Harms, 1980 (Napalm)
-(16)-, Guides For The Misguided (Relapse)
Days Of Jupiter, The World Was Never Enough (Reigning Phoenix)
Ereb Altor, Hälsingemörker (Hammerheart)
Marko Hietala, Roses From The Deep (Nuclear Blast)
Noctambulist, Noctambulist II: De Droom (These Hands Melt)
Phrenelith, Ashen Womb (Dark Descent)
Saber, Lost In Flames (ROAR)
Unreqvited, A Pathway to the Moon (Prophecy Productions)
Legado de una Tragedia, Lovecraft (Art Gates)
Majestica, Power Train (Nuclear Blast)
Berlial, Nourishing the Disaster to Come (My Kingdom Music)
Sakahiter, Samnite Black Metal (Time to Kill)
Klaw, Gods and Creators (El Puerto)
Throne of Roaches, Chrysalis (Independent)
Rotten Terror, Patterns of Cruel Authority (Independent)
Pathogenic, Crowned in Corpses (Skepsis)
Hamlet, Inmortal (Maldito)
Clapsodra, Of Terror and Soul (Independent)
