Paradise Lost – Beneath Broken Earth
If you’re in a terrible mood today – and Satan knows, you should be – then Paradise Lost’s pioneering blend of crushing heaviness and refined gloom should provide a suitable soundtrack. Simultaneously acknowledging their roots in death metal while maintaining the more sophisticated melancholy of recent albums, new opus The Plague Within is simply the most potent expression of the band’s morose ethos in two decades. Beneath Broken Earth is arguably the slowest song that the band have ever recorded, but its intensity and authoritative power give it a gripping momentum that will drag fans of metal’s dark side along for the bleakest of rides.
Shape of Despair – Monotony Fields
If that hasn’t pushed you over the morbid brink, Shape of Despair’s impossibly epic and grandiose approach to funeral doom metal will surely seal the deal. The title track of the Finns’ first album in 10 years pulls of the neat trick of being both thoroughly despondent and overwhelmingly beautiful, as a shimmering wall of sorrowful riffs and hazy keys inches majestically forward like the incremental grind of tectonic plates beneath the surface of a decimated planet. Which is all rather lovely, isn’t it?
Pitbulls in the Nursery – Insiders
From laughing stock to dependable breeding ground, France’s metal evolution shows no signs of slowing. Pitbulls in the Nursery inhabit similar territory to fellow countrymen Gojira and Hacride, but theirs is a more brutish and extreme take on leftfield metal that eschews curveballs and detours in favour of a more streamlined approach. Largely relentless, Pitbulls’ new album Equanimity marks them out as a band with a dash of mainstream potential, but it will be fans of the scabrous and the skewed that get the message first. Being bludgeoned has rarely been so enjoyable.
Helloween – Lost in America
Thirty years on from the release of their classic debut album Walls of Jericho, Helloween are still a significant and influential force in European metal. Although firmly rooted in the wildly melodic speed metal that they helped to refine and define during the 90s, the Germans’ new album My God-Given Right exudes effervescence and uplifting bluster, with countless instantly memorable anthems that look set to become crowdpleasers when Helloween hit the road for the umpteenth time. Vocalist Andi Deris, something of an unsung hero in the heavy music world, is the true star of Lost in America; his soaring delivery adding charm and edge to his bandmates’ traditional but curiously ageless bluster.
Wearing Scars – Become Numb
With a lineup featuring widely acclaimed vocalist Chris Clancy – best known as frontman with Mutiny Within – and three former members of much-touted UK metallers Sacred Mother Tongue, Wearing Scars could well be British metal’s brightest new hopes. Become Numb is an exhilarating introduction to the band’s polished but punchy take on mainstream metal, with plenty of arena-friendly melody balancing out the ear-mincing precision of guitarist Andy James’ riffs and leads. There are more groundbreaking bands out there, of course, but the power of a big tune should never be underestimated and Wearing Scars’ forthcoming debut, A Thousand Words, is full of them.
