Territory’s Edge – The Best New Metal and Hardcore of November 2022, featuring Brand of Sacrifice, The Amity Affliction, Gatherers, + more

August Burns Red teamed up with current Killswitch Engage/Times of Grace frontman Jesse Leach on “Ancestry”, the first single from their tenth album Death Below. In addition to a 20th anniversary tour, the band also announced their third annual Christmas Burns Red music festival in their hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Long-running Norwegian progressive black metal band Enslaved released a new song and announced their sixteenth studio album for March.  Tallah returned with their eccentric form of nu-metal on The Generation of Danger.

Graphic Nature released “Killing Floor”, the fourth single from their upcoming Feburary 2023 debut, titled a mind waiting to die. Swedish metal band Avatar also recently announced an album release for that month.  Fleshwater (an alt-rock project consisting of members of the hardcore/metalcore/what have you band Vein.fm) dropped their debut album this month. Read on to hear about some of the best new releases of the month. As always, the releases explored below range from brand new or underground artists to some of the headliners who continue to represent and carry heavy music forward.

Gatherers – “(mutilator.)”

This project was written between 2019 and 2020 before finally seeing the light of day in November. Reminiscent of early 2000s post-hardcore bands Finch, Thursday, and Glassjaw, Gatherers’ fourth album is a worship and tribute of sorts to that era. With a mix of both singing and screaming, “(mutilator.)” paints a raw, desolate soundscape. There’s also a bit of an early Deftones sound to “tourniquet (for luck)” and the fittingly named single “gift horse”, which features a guest spot from Thursday’s vocalist Geoff Rickly. However, this band is no one-trick pony, as the album offers plenty of dynamics and variety throughout its thirty-five minute runtime.  The sound ranges from subdued, softer songs like “boxcutter” and “twelve omaha solemn certainty” to the intense “as nauseam, I drown” and “massalette”. As their first album under No Sleep Records, “(mutilator.)” represents the point where the band gained greater creative freedom, with guitarist Anthony Gesa stating the group was finally able to “do and hear what we wanted on a record”.

Brand of Sacrifice – “Exodus”

In March 2021, the Canadian deathcore band Brand of Sacrifice released an album Lifeblood, followed by a single featuring Spencer Chamberlain of Underoath later that year. This April, they dropped a re-imagined version We Came as Romans’ “Darkbloom”. The band’s latest song, “Exodus”, continues that trajectory of excellent releases. This track stays true to Brand of Sacrifice’s symphonic deathcore style, with a backing choir and brutal low growls, while interjecting a few elements of metalcore and even black metal this time around. The intense, densely layered sound includes blast beats, tempo changes, a memorable hook, and an equally memorable breakdown that is perhaps their most brutal to date.  Brand of Sacrifice continue to take lyrical inspiration from characters in the anime and manga Berserk, which is also the origin of their name.  This song is written from the perspective of Guts, a mercenary protagonist in the series. On the concept of “Exodus”, lead vocalist Kyle Anderson stated that the track “examines the darkest aspects of what we as humans are capable of, coming from the standpoint of a fearless leader.”

The Amity Affliction – “Show Me Your God”

Following two softer, rock-leaning albums, The Amity Affliction recently pivoted back in a more aggressive direction.  They hinted at it last December with a strong three-track EP Somewhere Beyond the Blue, which stylistically returned to the post-hardcore sound of Chasing Ghosts and Let the Ocean Take Me.   “Show Me Your God” is the first single from the Australian metalcore band’s upcoming first self-produced album.  The band released the track on November 29, and debuted it live a few days after during their Melbourne show at the Good Things Festival.  Incorporating blast beat drumming and subtle symphonic elements, “Show Me Your God” is densely layered, while also including the familiar choir vocals and anthemic chorus.  According to vocalist Joel Birch, the new album is their heaviest to date, stating that it “makes Youngbloods sound like Misery”.  He also clarified that while “Show Me Your God” is an aggressive song for The Amity Affliction, it isn’t the heaviest one on the album.  Lyrically, coping with loss is a major theme, drawing from both his own experience and that of close friends who have experienced the death of a loved one.

Dream Unending – Song of Salvation

Dream Unending is a death-doom metal project consisting of Derrick Vella (guitarist of death metal band Tomb Mold) and Justin DeTore (drummer/vocalist of numerous projects).  The duo’s second album is a five-track release bookended by a lengthy opener and closer (14 and 16 minutes respectively) and three shorter songs in the middle.  These lengthy tracks are heavy in contrast to the atmospheric middle section.  The first track is the heavier of the two, the cavernous death doom metal sound setting the tone.  The vocals are low growls and essentially function as another instrument in the soundscape.  However, there’s a tangible sense of melody and beauty within Song of Salvation.  Synth and dreamlike guitar tones shine rays of light atop the foreboding backdrop – much like the angelic figure shown in the artwork.  On track two “Secret Grief”, the death-doom exterior is stripped away until the halfway point, and we hear melancholic clean vocals and a trumpet solo, and the following two songs are instrumental.  Vella and DeTore have created a very unique, surprisingly uplifting take on what is normally a sonically and lyrically dark style of metal.

Cold Gawd – God Get Me the Fuck Out of Here

Back in early 2020, Loathe’s song “Two-Way Mirror” gained the band some traction thanks to Deftones frontman Chino Moreno after he shared the music video on his personal Twitter feed.  It looks like Cold Gawd has similarly found a fan in the legendary alt-metal vocalist.  So much in fact, that Deftones invited them to the lineup of the band’s genre-spanning Dia De Los Deftones festival.  Much like Loathe, Cold Gawd melds heavy music with shoegaze, but in contrast to that band’s aggressive metalcore style,  Matt Wainwright’s band fully emphasizes the brooding, atmospheric, shoegaze aspect.  His vocals float over the top of fuzzed out, heavy guitar riffs, bringing a distant, melancholy mood to tracks like “Gin” and “You the Well”.  The raw production gives the entire record the feel of a DIY, live performance.  On the softest song “Two Iris Prints” and the excellent closer “Passing Through the Opposite of What It Approaches”, it sounds as if the band is playing in a room nearby.  One track is a spoken word piece, and the aforementioned final song throws some screamed vocals into the mix alongside the ethereal singing.  Cold Gawd is a promising, unique band and has all the makings of becoming a bigger name in the future.  Deftones’ approval should only accelerate that path.

Invent Animate – “Elysium”

“Elysium” marks the second single from Heavener, the upcoming fourth album for Invent Animate (and second with new vocalist Marcus Vik).  While a few highlights on 2019’s Greyview showed hints of what was to come (namely the standout “Shapeshifter”, which features Silent Planet frontman Garrett Russell) the band’s subsequent material has only gotten better.  Last year, their EP The Sun Sleeps, As If It Never Was explored addiction’s aftermath through personal lyrics written by drummer and songwriter Trey Celaya.  Released back in June, the previous single “Shade Astray” refined the band’s emotive progressive metalcore sound.  “Elysium” follows a similar trajectory, incorporating plenty of contrasting, yet cohesive dynamics.  Following a deceptively gentle synth-driven opening, this song portrays and expresses grief through a cathartic release.  The track is co-produced by the band and Landon Tewers of The Plot in You.  Be on the lookout for their new album in 2023.

AVOID – Cult Mentality

Singles

Vended – “Overall” (Nov 2, nu metal)

August Burns Red/Jesse Leach – “Ancestry” (Nov 3, metalcore)

Insomnium – “Lilian” (Nov 4, melodic death metal)

Wolves at the Gate – “Dark Cold Night” (Nov 4, symphonic metal/metalcore)

In Flames – “Foregone Pt 2” (Nov 7, melodic death metal/alternative metal)

Invent Animate – “Elysium” (Nov 8, progressive metalcore)

Brand of Sacrifice – “Exodus” (Nov 9, brutal deathcore)

Thousand Below – “Sabotage” (Nov 9, post-hardcore)

Obituary – “The Wrong Time” (Nov 10, death metal)

All Else Fails – “Devour the Sun” (Nov 15, melodic death metal)

Graphic Nature – “Killing Floor” (Nov 18, nu metal/hardcore)

Enslaved – “Congelia” (Nov 18, black metal/progressive metal)

Currents – “Vengeance” (Nov 25, metalcore/hardcore)

Left to Suffer/Fit for an Autopsy – “Primitive Urge” (Nov 28, deathcore)

Metallica – “Lux Æterna” (Nov 28, heavy metal)

The Amity Affliction – “Show Me Your God” (Nov 29, metalcore)

Bury Tomorrow – “Boltcutter” (Nov 29, metalcore)

Entheos – “In Purgatory” (Nov 30, progressive death metal)

Albums/EPs

Chelsea Grin – Suffer in Hell (Nov 11, deathcore/death metal)

Dream Unending – Song of Salvation (Nov 11, death/doom metal)

He is Legend – Endless Hallway (Nov 11, alternative metal/southern metal)

Lamentations – Passion of Depression (Nov 11, progressive death metal)

LS Dunes – Past Lives (Nov 11, post-hardcore/post-punk)

Candlemass – Sweet Evil Sun (Nov 18, doom metal)

Disturbed – Divisive (Nov 18, alternative metal)

Gatherers – “(mutilator.)” (Nov 18, melodic hardcore)

Gaupa – Myriad (Nov 18, stoner rock/progressive metal)

Humanity’s Last Breath – Void (Dota 2 Music Kit) (Nov 18, soundtrack/thall)

Tallah – The Generation of Danger (Nov 18, nu metal)

Wolves at the Gate – Lowborn (Nov 18, post-hardcore/metalcore)

Circles – The Stories We Are Afraid of Vol. 1 (Nov 25, progressive rock/alternative metal)

Cold Gawd – God Get Me the F*** Out of Here (Nov 25, shoegaze/post-hardcore)

Elder – Innate Passage (Nov 25, psychedelic rock/progressive metal)

Karg – Resignation (Nov 25, post-black metal)

Spiritworld – Deathwestern (Nov 25, death metal)

The Last Ten Seconds of Life – Disquisition on an Execution (Nov 25, deathcore)

Byzantine – Black Sea Codex (Nov 28, groove metal)