13 most anticipated releases of January 2022

With 2019\’s \’Endorphin\’, Infected Rain caught the attention of a lot of people around the world. While their earlier work is definitely more than worth it to check out, on that album they established themselves as extremely talented musicians that are able to bring a very diverse sound and excellent storytelling. Now they\’re finally back with the brand new full-length \’Ecdysis\’ and from what we\’ve gathered from the singles, this will be a proper continuation of the trend they set with \’Endorphin\’. The enigmatic vocalist Lena Scissorhands shows off her talents yet again and seemed to have evolved even further into a vocal force to be reckoned with and with the topnotch songwriting and music from the guys around her, this will easily become a favorite of people who are into Jinjer, Spiritbox and the lot!

Another band that turned a lot of heads and ended up on many albums of the year lists back in 2019, was Wilderun with \’Veil of Imagination\’. So much so that it got them to be signed to Century Media Records and a following re-release of said album on that label in 2020. It\’s not a big surprise then that tons of people are looking forward what kind of epicness they\’ll bring to the table this time with their progressive, symphonic and folky brand of metal. From singles like \’Passenger\’ and \’Distraction I\’, we can guess already that we\’ll get an amazing trip into dreamy soundscapes and masterfully crafted intricate and gorgeous music.

I\’d almost forgotten this was in the works for January as well. Thank god for Instagram during toilet breaks, am I right? Anyway. Californian synthwave/darkwave duo Dance With The Dead are set to drop their sixth studio album, of which they themselves have said it would be their most intense record to date. If you\’re familiar with their work, that\’s saying something since in terms of the genre, they\’re already among the heavier-sounding ones. Think Carpenter Brut, Perturbator or pre-\’Possessor\’ era GosT, but still very much their own thing. I can\’t wait to lose myself in the nostalgic vibes of 1980s grindhouse DWTD so masterfully evoke with each release.

The Swedish viking themed metal outfit Ereb Altor is back with another release! Ever since they came into the world, they\’ve had a steady release of an album every or every other year. In 2021 they already impressed with the EP \’Eldens Boning\’ that featured a couple of absolutely majestic tracks. And going on the singles \’Vargtimman\’ and \’I Have The Sky\’, it seems they\’re very much going down the same path, with the first one having a more grim black metal nature and the second one having some epic singing and harmonies that somehow reminds us of bands like Týr. We\’re already putting our mead in the cold for the release of this album!

In their home country Czech Republic, Dymytry is pretty big. When they noticed that their music had a lot of potential also outside the limits of their country and native language, they made an interesting move. They found and welcomed a second vocalist under the form of Alen „A.L.“ Ljubic and are about to release an English language international version of their album \’Revolt\’, while continuing to work with their original vocalist Protheus in their own country. Their music baptized by themselves as \”psy-core\” is a no-nonsense mix of industrial and crunchy metal and with A.L.\’s voice we\’d almost dare to call them a European Mushroomhead. The aesthetics of the masks they\’re wearing of course help that idea further. We\’ re ready to crank our sound system up to 11 and party like there\’s no tomorrow when this one hits the shelves!

American deathcore outfit Fit For An Autopsy is ready to unleash another brutal masterpiece upon the world! And while there are those typical relentless bangers like for instance \’In Shadows\’, this band proves that they go way beyond the typical pummeling you\’d expect from a deathcore band. On singles like \’Far From Heaven\’, they prove that there\’s a brilliant mind behind the musical creations. Quite frequently we\’ve come across the comment that they sound like a deathcore Gojira and that\’s really not a bad comparison at all! Really looking forward to this album and what the future holds for these guys!

It\’s been seven boring Party Cannonless years since last their debut LP, \’Bong Hit Hospitalisation\’, came out in 2015. And even then Scotland\’s – and frankly, all of brutal death metal\’s – most recognisable band logo was never far out of our minds. 2022 will finally see the band\’s big return with their second full-length record, \’Volumes of Vomit\’. With a title that\’s as unsubtle as anything involving the hilarious Scotsmen, you can expect slams, blast beats, gurgles and silly song titles and lyrics tackling deep subject matter. By \”deep\”, I mean \”deeply disturbing\”, and by \”matter\” I mean one of the fecal persuasion. And if after that description you\’re still not sold, I don\’t know what to tell you except it sounds like a you-problem.

We at GRIMM try to make a habit of promoting our local bands in general but this one gets some extra love. Ghent black metal trio Wiegedood have been steadily rising from the underground over the last couple of years, turning more than a few heads along the way with their epic \’De Doden Hebben Het Goed\’ album trilogy. It\’s not at all a surprise these guys reached such levels of popularity so quickly, what with their backgrounds with the Church of Ra. Thanks to their reputation and previous successes they\’ve made everyone ravenous for new music, and whaddaya know? They\’ve got a new record dropping in a few days. Sure, we all knew \’There\’s Always Blood At The End Of The Road\’ was coming this month, but it doesn\’t mean we can\’t be psyched about it. Especially since the singles they put out so far sound (and look) nothing short of magnificent.

I think this is the most British-looking release I\’ve ever had the pleasure of featuring. The name, the album title, the cover art… It all just screams \”Oi, you cheeky wanker\”. Except Wolfbastard\’s third LP, rather candidly titled \’Hammer The Bastards\’, is not so much a classic d-beat punk record as it is an unforgiving blackened crust assault on the senses. I have to admit I haven\’t heard much from this band, but what I\’ve heard so far I like. Let\’s hope it lives up to my expectations.

Battle Beast is one of those bands that will be leading the Finnish metal scene into the future. They\’ve grown into one of the bigger names there and also internationally they\’ve clearly gathered a lot of souls and conquered many hearts. With \’Circus Of Doom\’ they bring their 6th full-length into the world and it feels like this could be the one we\’ve all been waiting for. While the first single \’Master Of Illusion\’ left us wanting a bit more, with most recent single \’Eye of the Storm\’ they got us truly excited about the album. What an absolute banger of a track with hooky melodies and Noora\’s majestic voice leading the group into an epic heavy/power metal sound. We can\’t wait to discover more of the album and what other treasures it may still hold.

Anyone who has caught the French band Celeste live, comes back with the same ecstatic feelings. The combination of their stage presence with barely any stage lights besides the red headlamps and mix of post-black and sludge is quite the impressive sight to behold. They finally got noticed by one of the biggest metal labels in the world and are releasing their 6th full-length \’Assassine(s)\’ at the end of the month. No matter what, one thing is absolutely sure: this will be a feast for those who like to venture into black metal attitude that packs heaps of emotion and atmosphere and topnotch quality is as good as always ensured from these guys…

Oh how much we\’ve been looking forward to this one! Initially supposed to be released at the end of 2021, due to circumstances they decided to move the official release date to the end of January 2022. When musical genius Tuomas Saukkonen brought Dawn Of Solace back out of retirement back in 2019 with the long awaited sophomore full-length, many people jumped for joy. And with Tuomas taking a bit of a step back, giving Mikko Heikkilä (Kaunis Kuolematon) center stage with his mesmerizingly solemn clean vocals that are a perfect match with the music, \’Waves\’ was an absolute masterpiece and really blew it out of the park. \’Flames Of Perdition\’ continues on this path and will wrap us in that familiar and somehow comforting blanket of melancholy and gloom Dawn Of Solace is known for by now.

Just seeing the album cover of this one already creates a whole lot of anticipation with its old school horror comic book vibe! \’The Hour of the Wolf\’ is the 3rd full-length album for the Finnish metal band Amoth and also marks the return of Pekka Montin on vocals, a man many will know now as the new voice and keyboardist for Ensiferum. Listening to the singles that were released already, this will be a highly entertaining and diverse release with a strong foothold in a classic heavy metal and power metal sound and a proggy attitude. Pekka\’s vocals seem to range from more thrashy sounding ones to the high-pitched power metal vocals he added to Ensiferum\’s sound as well on their last release. We predict that this will be an absolute blast!