Weekly Release Roundup: Monday 21st April 2025 – Friday 25th April 2025
From metalcore to hardcore, to power metal, horror rock, death metal, noise rock, and folk metal, to abrasive sludge and jarring industrial, it’s a big week for releases and we’ve got a list for you to check out. All these releases are out now!
Employed To Serve – Fallen Star (Spinefarm Records)
Sounding more comfortable in their own skin than ever, Employed to Serve return with their biggest, sharpest, and most accessible record to date. Which might sound absurd when you hear the opening track, Treachery, an absolute manic and mutilating heavy beast. However, rest assured, being fast and heavy is just one part of Employed to Serve and the make up of this album. Employed to Serve have big ideas here, having grown as a band over the years, and having developed the skills to make them work.
Read the full review here.
Higher Walls – No End (Self Released)
Hardcore, but not quite as you know it, Higher Walls are unique band within the scene, and challenge so many norms that you dare not pay attention to them.
Read the full review here.
Machine Head – UNATØNED (Nuclear Blast)
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Machine Head are back, and with this brand-new album, the legendary head bangers have embraced parts of their past to deliver something vitriolic, intense, melodically charged, and accessibly relevant. Machine Head continue to push forward, even when looking back, and UNATØNED will certainly get fans talking. It just not might be always in the most positive of ways.
Read the full review here.
The Storyteller – The Final Stand (The Circle Music)
Creative, varied power metal full of infectious hooks, dynamism and adrenaline raising magic. The Storyteller clearly still have a great deal to offer and you can see, in 3/4s of The Final Stand why they have been and are so well regarded.
Read the full review here.
Wednesday 13 – Mid Death Crisis (Napalm Records)
There’s nothing game-changing here, especially by the Duke of Spook’s standards, but that shouldn’t detract from the overall enjoyability of the record. It’s Wednesday 13 doing what Wednesday 13 does best, clearly enjoying himself, and producing anthemic horror-infused hits with his undead tongue jammed in his undead cheek.
Read the full review here.
Eyes – Spinner (Prosthetic Records)
A uniquely challenging record, one that focuses, musically, on metallised hardcore with evolved noise rock aspects. Often abrasive, always intense, and coming with interesting inspirations, Spinner leaves a mark.
Read the full review here.
Cancer – Inverted World (Peaceville)
Death metal never dies, and though the year is now 2025, Cancer return with a consummate display of ugly and heavy noise proving that time is but a number and age only sharpens the metal senses.
Read the full review here.
Encelado – Pillars of Creation (Regenerate Records)
A hefty slice of lurid noise that fits the death metal mold, albeit, with an even rougher style of heaviness courtesy of vocal growls that are quite often indiscernible. Still, they certainly add a whole new dimension to this music, which is raw to the point of disgust.
Read the full review here.
Eluveitie – Ànv (Nuclear Blast)
A sprawling epic that shimmers and shines with creativity, Ànv is a very big album, and not just because it has twelve detailed tracks on offer (fifteen if we’re counting the bonus tracks). No, it’s a very big album because Eluveitie have found the defining feature of their sound, and it comes from a strong balance of folk and melodic metal. Their showcase of Celtic mythology and spirituality is still such an important component of their sound, but they’re so much stronger at making sure each track has anthemic metal qualities too. Even if that might displease those who want to hear more folk in their folk metal.
Read the full review here.
Elan – Elan Vs Elan (APF Records)
It’s time for some sludgy noise rock, Elan style, whatever the f**k that means. All I know is that it results in an eight-track album that comes with heft, filthy sounding heft. Gleefully heavy, and remarkably harsh, there’s a real sense that Elan are out to please no-one but themselves.
Read the full review here.
The Atrocity Circus – Malpractice (Cursed Monk Records / Eggy Tapes)
The soundtrack to a feverish nightmare, Malpractice is not for everyone, that much is for sure. However, for those who do enjoy some of the most horror-infused, abrasive industrial sounds going, it’s an experience like no other.
Read the full review here.
Caliban – Back from Hell (Century Media Records)
Consistently strong, Caliban always impress in one way or another, but when they’re this locked in, it’s particularly special. Which is the summation of this album. A modern slice of brilliant metalcore from a band that defines the genre.
Read the full review here.
