On Metal Roundup, we dive deep into the underbelly of underground metal to pick our three favorite new releases of the week, but there were so many killer drops last Friday that we’re doing three today. You’re welcome. 

Knowing that this record emerged from the mind of a single musician really helps drive its message home; even if we all see the writing on the wall, we fail to read it aloud to others in a way that could help guide us all to self-actualization.

A heavily punctuated sound with bouncy guitars and percussive lyrics turn every phrase into a foot-tapper, lending the record movement and energy that solidly divide this album from the stuffier and more self-serious side of progressive rock.

With no familiar riffs and no identifiable key signatures, there is no map for this sonic territory. The listener must join in on the direct experience with the artist, as together we participate in and explore the unfolding of a wholly new sonic landscape.

Pulling such beauty out of such a rigid and unforgiving concept requires a keen artistic eye, making From One to Eight a commendable achievement.

McKenna has always been a little more eclectic with his production than others in this niche, and this project is no exception with funkier beats and a slightly more experimental approach than you may expect.

Those who cling tightly to their preferred “death metal” or “black metal” genre boxes end up glossing over excellent releases like the debut album from Micturator, God in the Machine.

With the cleverly sparse usage of overwhelming, distorted crescendos, we follow the speaker to the brink, peering over the walls of a bottomless pit, staring nothingness in the face.

As the album sharply enters the second half, an indescribable succession of tape loops and other low, unorganized digital noise underpin an even more abstract set of tortured vocalizations, pushing past the limits of pain that typically appear in this already anguished genre.

With our mind’s eye, we envision brilliant cathedrals with rear balconies flanked by towering pipes, erupting in pious fanfare to a congregation stunned into resignation and worship.

Developing this idea through glitchy, noisy electronica, Pyur’s new record Lucid Anarchy releases its sonic energy in fits and spurts, giving us the sensation that something inside the music desperately yearns for freedom.

Folklike percussion and overall song structure give the project a distinct voice and a sense of trajectory, while choral-inspired harmonies layer over attention grabbing guitars and synth drones.

Now that we’re recovered from New Year’s Eve, a new set of dance records are conspiring to get us back on our feet.

The noise falls away when Geraldi escapes the city limits, the countrysides’ twangy pedal steel playing smooth and clear through the airwaves. But the road trip is inherently transient. The signal is lost.

Abstractly tracing the arc of abuse, this record begins with these hauntingly warm tones, sounds that hold you in a loving embrace even as you know that that embrace will imprison and stifle your soul later on.

Incorporating tendencies like swirling repetition and biting jazz chords within country music creates an unusual and unforgettable sound, inviting bands of the future to elaborate upon the ideas demonstrated here.

Seeing outer Chicagoland through the city’s eyes and vice versa, this album pulls us away from rural folk themes into an environment that we are significantly more likely to have firsthand experience living in.

Someone who sings about people 2 by natsu no owari begins with a dark punk sound rife with potential energy and adds in heavy influence from traditional and modern Japanese music, quickly hitting the gas and leaving all source material behind.

SPRINTS further refines their sound in Letter to Self, delivering frustrated and dark garage rock with an edgy 00s flair.

From nu metal throwbacks to experimental black n’ roll, the metal scene got ready for the new year with an impressive array of new releases. Let’s take a look at some of the last records of 2023!