If you’re in the Northeast like us here at Metal Insider, then you know you’re going through the second big cold spell of winter right now. Snow and ice are everywhere, and it’s just generally unpleasant. Hopefully, though, these new releases will give you a bit of warmth. Hell, they might even assuage any residual frustration you might have over the Grammys and their continual mishandling of the Hard Rock/Metal category.
Marduk, Frontschwein (Century Media)
Album number thirteen from the Swedish black metal veterans is their first featuring new drummer Fredrik Widigs, who joined the group in 2013. The band’s sales have slowly been on the rise for the past few albums, which means that Frontschwein might break into the top 200, a feat not yet accomplished in the band’s career.
Adrenaline Mob, Dearly Departed (Century Media)
The supergroup’s new album is actually a covers album, much like 2013’s Covertà. However, in addition to covers, Dearly Departed also features a compilation of unreleased B-sides and alternate versions of some older tracks.
Hate, Crusade: Zero (Napalm)
The ninth album from the Polish group features a more cohesive death metal focus, rather than the blackened-death fusion that previous albums have favored. This will be the band’s first album with new drummer Pawel “Pavulon” Jaroszewicz, who has logged time with Vader, Decapitated, Antigama, and many other bands.
Stick to Your Guns, Disobedient (Sumerian)
I don’t know where these kids found the time to record their fifth album, since they seem to always be on the road. The band is currently in the midst of a US tour, and will follow up immediately with tours of Australia and Europe later in the spring. This album is chock-full of guest stars, hailing from Terror, H20, Motionless in White, and many other bands.
Finsterforst, Mach Dich Frei (Napalm)
Hailing from Germany, this folk metal group is releasing their fourth album and second as part of the Napalm roster. The eight-member lineup features accordion, keyboards, and three guitarists alongside the usual bass guitar and drums. Many of the members of Finsterforst also play in a black metal group called Cryptic Forest, and amazingly, Finsterforst and Cryptic Forest toured together as support for TrollfesT in 2014.
Feed Her to the Sharks, Fortitude (Victory)
The band broke out in a big way with their album Savage Seas in 2013, and it paid off with a deal from Victory the following year. Fortitude is the band’s third album, and will be the first that the Australian metalcore group is not self-releasing.
Exhumed, Gore Metal: A Necrospective 1998-2015 (Relapse)
Exhumed has always had a bit of a rocky career due to their unstable lineup, but they’ve released plenty of classics along the way. This release is a re-recording of one of those classics, the band’s debut album Gore Metal. This version improves vastly on the audio quality of the original release while maintaining the original’s vicious style, and also features new artwork. On top of that, the original album is packaged together with the new version, so you can hear both versions and decide which one you like better.
