In Flames has grown into a band that reaches fans through generations being one of the originators of the Swedish melodic death metal sound and cultivating their art into something that really speaks to the masses. While with more recent releases you could hear some fans muttering about how they lost their touch or edge, they’ve only continued to grow bigger and more popular. In some way it seemed like the guys of In Flames wanted to show they still got it to those naysayers by hitting us in the face with some of their heaviest stuff of the past decade or so. When they released the first single with ‘State Of Slow Decay‘, they blew everyone off their socks with the fast, gritty and aggressive track no one expected from them, but everyone hoped for. And every single song that came out since has gotten people to continuously say “they’re back”. While we believe they’ve never really been gone, it’s undeniable that this album in sounds goes back to that melodeath sound a lot of people fell in love with. We’re betting that ‘Foregone‘ will be a massive release for In Flames and you should not miss out on this one!

When it was announced that the popular rock outfit Paramore would be releasing a brand-new album with ‘This Is Why’ in 2023, you immediately saw a whole lot of excitement all over the world. As this will be the first new album in about 6 years for the band after some members were exploring their own separate projects for a while. With Hayley Williams having hinted at possibly a return to the more guitar driven sound, and the released singles definitely not disappointing us one bit with their social commentary and sound that seems like an updated version of what they did in the beginning of the band, we can’t help but be really excited about this album.

Back in 2021, this Belgian superband put together by people from successful bands like Diablo Blvd, Hell City, Furia, Bliksem, Saille, Leng Tch’e,… blew people away with their impressive array of melodic death metal bangers on ‘Dress Code: Blood’. Now, Mordkaul is getting ready to release their second full-length with ‘Feeding The Machine – Part 1’, this time released fully independent. And what they have already unleashed upon the world has been nothing short of impressive. Singles ‘For I Am Machine’ and ‘Crown Of Worms’ are kicking some serious ass and their statement that they are ready to take the world by storm with this album seems highly believable. Just check it out for yourself and make sure you don’t miss out on what we believe will be one of the top melodic death metal releases of 2023!

Avatar has been around for over 2 decades by now and you honestly never truly know what to expect from this group of creatives. Except for high quality music and concepts that bring some kind of story forward. The circus that comes with Avatar has been taking over the world, and you could easily put them among some of the most popular contemporary metal bands around. For album no. 8 it seems they’ve chosen to go with a self-release on their own label Black Waltz Records, taking full control over everything they’re putting out this time. And holy crap, are they delivering again… First single ‘Valley of Disease‘ was an extremely intense and heavy track, following that ‘The Dirt I’m Buried In‘ was a big surprise with its ridiculous catchiness and lastly ‘Violence No Matter What‘ featuring Lzzy Hale from Halestorm on guest vocals, we have no idea what else to expect from the full album, but we bet it’s going to be pretty awesome!

Brand-new doom outfit The Abbey, consisting of prominent members of the Finnish music scene with Jesse Heikkinen (Iterum Nata, ex-Hesvessel), Natalie Koskinen (Shape of Despair), Vesa Ranta (Sentenced, ex-The Man-Eating Tree), Janne Markus (The Man-Eating Tree) and Henri Arvola, is a promising project. With the band’s name being inspired by Aleister Crowley and the lyrical inspiration drawn from esoteric organizations, their beliefs and his own practices, it’s all the more intriguing. Finland has a thing for melancholic music and The Abbey will perfectly fit with that, coming in with a doomy and dark kind of heavy rock that will create a perfect atmosphere for the wintry darkness of its country of origin. Jesse and Natalie‘s vocals are a perfect match and the music is simply gorgeous. Just check out the already released singles ‘Starless‘, ‘Widow’s Will‘ and ‘A Thousand Dead Witches‘:

Finnish masters of melodeath Insomnium are back again with some heavy stuff! After the more gloomy and relatively calm releases ‘Heart like a Grave’ and the EP ‘Argent Moon’, ‘Anno 1696‘ promises to be one of their heavier outputs since long. Similar to the critically acclaimed ‘Winter’s Gate‘, this album is based on a short story written by bassist/vocalist Niilo, which is already promising and exciting on its own. But then looking at the singles they released with ‘Lilian‘, ‘The Witch Hunter‘ and especially ‘White Christ‘ featuring vocals from Rotting Christ‘s Sakis Tolis is teasing us with an Insomnium that has a more blackened sound than ever and goes really heavy again. Knowing their collective talents to turn a cool concept into stellar music that takes you to a whole other world. We can’t wait to digest this album while reading that short story that comes with some of the more elaborate editions for sale. Don’t miss out!

Is it pure rock? No. Is it purely pop? Or hip hop? Also no. Gorillaz is a project that is simply hard to put in a box straight from its birth to this very moment. A new album by this crazy collective of virtual characters is always exciting for anyone who is into music and is open for the musical blend and experimentation that often come with that. ‘Cracker Island‘ promises to be yet again a typical Gorillaz output that brings in a bunch of guests like Stevie Nicks, Adeleye Omotayo, Thundercat, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Bootie Brown and Beck and a series of catchy and quirky songs. Definitely something that will be a great album to give a couple of spins in between all the usual heaviness we listen to!

It’s been about 5 years since the Dutch folk metallers of Heidevolk graced us with a new album. This month we see a return of these metal legends with ‘Wederkeer‘, their 7th full-length in a good 2 decades. This marks the first release after the critically well-received ‘Vuur Van Verzet‘ and the first with new guitarist Mat, drummer Kevin and vocalist Daniël, but what we’ve heard through the singles at this point gives us a lot to look forward to. Their first single ‘Klauwen Vooruit‘ brought the typical Heidevolk melodies, different vocal styles that work great together in their mother tongue and even some moments with almost black metal sounding riffs. Knowing Heidevolk they will impress us with a great collection of heavy songs, catchy melodies and atmosphere builders. The end of the month will be a good one with an album from them!