New Releases From FU MANCHU, JULIE CHRISTMAS, & More Out Today 6/14

This week’s new heavy metal releases include some stoner riffs, some spooky riffs, some whatever the hell CKY are riffs, and more! To the metals…

96 Bitter Beings – Return To Hellview

Genre: Alternative metal
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Nuclear Blast

Stream on your service of choice

Deron Miller (former CKY frontman) is back with his band that sounds a lot like his former band, and this time they’re taking swings at some CKY gems. This record includes nine tracks that have been re-recorded with some cleaner production and more modern flair. Tracks include “Flesh Into Gear,” “Suddenly Tragic,” “Sink into the Underground” and more. Jeff has a full review here.

Julie Christmas – Ridiculous And Full Of Blood

Genre: Experimental/post-metal
Origin: Brooklyn, New York
Label: Red Crk

Buy now on Bandcamp

One of heavy music’s most unique voices has finally returned with another album of heavy, lawless metal. The former-Made Out of Babies frontwoman is teaming up with her Cult of Luna‘s Johannes Persson, KEN Mode‘s Andrew Schneider, and more for a record that should appeal to a fan of any era of her work. I hope this is the start of a new (and perhaps more prolific) chapter.

Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose

Genre: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Origin: Epic doom
Label: Dark Descent

Buy now on Bandcamp

Y’all want some spooky riffs? Look no further that The Stygian Rose. Once again, Crypt Sermon are offering a diverse version of the “doom” subgenre as this ain’t all slow. Hit’s like hammer as heavy as all of Candlemass though.

Fu Manchu – The Return Of Tomorrow

Genre: Stoner rock
Origin: Orange County, California
Label: At The Dojo

Buy now from Fu Manchu

If you love the riffs of Crypt Sermon but want something more playful, then you know Fu Manchu is where it’s at. This is a fun record with so much smoky swagger. They’re not reinventing the fuzzy wheel they rode in on here, but why would you want them to?

Squid Pisser – Dreams Of Puke

Genre: Avant-garde metal
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: SKiN GRAFT Records

Buy now on Bandcamp

Look at that cover and strap the hell in. The weirdly prolific -and prolifically weird (does that work?) – Squid Pisser have returned with another nightmare ride. The songs are brief, abrasive, and unpredictable.

Ulcerate – Cutting The Throat Of God

Genre: Technical death/avant-garde metal
Origin: Auckland, New Zealand
Label: Debemur Morti

Buy now on Bandcamp

While not as shocking as the masked madfolk in the entry above, this record is its own darker descent into some of the maddest death metal there is. The strange melding of melodic moments and dissonance is pretty consistent throughout, but the song structures are everywhere. Another solid entry in an already solid catalog.

Also dropping this week…

• Amnify – Lost, Not Hiding (Wormholedeath) – Cinematic metal
• Apes – Pentinence (Secret Swarm Records) – Black metal/grindcore
• Black Country Communion – V (Self-released) – Hard rock
• Cadaverous Condition – Never Arrive, Never Return (The Circle Music) – Death metal/folk
• Camerata Mediolanense – Atalanta Fugiens (Auerbach Tonträger) – Dark wave
• Dendera – Mask Of Lies (Rockshots Records) – Melodic modern metal
• Downfall Of Mankind – Purgatory (Seek And Strike) – Symphonic death metal
• Drought – Drought EP (Iodine) – Post-hardcore/screamo
• The Early November – The Early November (Pure Noise) – Pop punk
• Eivør – ENN (Season Of Mist) – Dark synthpop
• Embryonic Autopsy – Origins Of The Deformed (Massacre) – Death metal
• Fellwarden – Legend: Forged in Defiance (Eisenwald) – Atmospheric black metal
• Flagman – Tastes Incredible (Grubis Records) – Alternative metal
• Fórn – The Departure of Consciousness (Persistent Vision Records) – Funeral sludge
• Golgotha – Spreading The Wings Of Hope (Ardua Music) – Melodic death metal/doom
• Human Zoo – Echoes Beyond (Fastball-Music) – Heavy metal/hard rock
• Impact Approved – Way Of The Warrior (Wormholedeath Records) – Melodic death metal
• Lucifer’s Hammer – Be and Exist (Dying Victims Productions) – Heavy metal
• Malignancy – …Discontinued (Willowtip Records) – Technical death metal
• Mono – Oath (Pelagic Records) – Post-metal
• Mythologik – Blood In The Sky (Bonespill Recordings) – Melodic death metal/thrash
• Onlap – Waves (AFM Records) – Hard rock
• Paradise In Flames – Blindness (Xaninho Discos/Demoncratic Records) – Black metal
• Axel Rudi Pell – Risen Symbol (Steamhammer/SPV) – Rock
• Perchta – D’Muata (Prophecy Productions) – Folk/black metal
• Plague To Pyres – Erase Your Light – Lost Sessions (Omyac Records) – Black metal
• Questing Beast – Birth (Self-released) – Progressive metal
• The Red Scare – Smoky Mountain High (Solid Brass Records) – Hardcore
• Rezn – Burden (Sargent House) – Psychedelic doom/sludge
• RivetSkull – Absence Of Time (Self-released) – Heavy metal
• Shotgun Mistress – Kings Of The Revolution (Self-released) – Rock
• Sibiir – Undergang (Fysisk Format Records) – Hardcore
• Stand Still – Steps Ascending (DAZE) – Melodic hardcore