Curated by Monk
So, here we are at the end of another action-packed rock ‘n’ roll year, which means it is time for our last hurrah as we bid farewell to the 12 months that have been 2024 and prepare to welcome in more of the same in just a few short days time (depending, of course, on when you’re reading this!). And what better way to bow out than with another ‘banging collection of the highest quality tunage to have bothered our deathdecks over the past couple of weeks… so, let’s crank up the volume and dive straight in, shall we?
Assassin ‘Cut Own (Own) Throat’ Massacre Records
The German thrashers have issued a clear and defiant warning to anyone dares to even think about attacking them, getting in their way or even pull the wool over their eyes with this cut from their recent five track EP, which saw then delivering a ‘Skullblast’ when it was released last month:
Axetasy ‘Axetasy (Of Murder)’ (Dying Victims Productions)
We’re staying in Germany, from where these blackened speed metallers unleash the third taster of their upcoming debut album, due next month, and plant their flag very firmly in the hallowed ground marked New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal:
Bridge The Gap ‘In The Throes’ (Double Helix Records/SBÄM Records/Pee Records)
They may not be saints, but this Utah melodic punk trio aren’t afraid to go into battle against their inner demons armed only with the righteous sword of rock ‘nf’n’ roll – oh, and the assistance of genre legends Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore, with whom they’ve once again teamed to produce and mix their upcoming second album, due for release in the Spring:
Dunes ‘One Eyed Dog’ (Ripple Music)
These Geordie stoners will be leading us into the ‘Land Of The Blind’ when they release their new album in just a few weeks’ time, with this being the third taster of what we can expect from both it and the subsequent headline tour:
Grave Digger ‘The Devil’s Serenade’ (ROAR)
The Germans – and a certain record label – seem to have invaded the Club in force this week, as these Teutonic titans prepare not only to celebrate their 45th anniversary in 2025 but also to do so by releasing their 23rd studio album, which no doubt will once again seeing them not fucking with the formula that has helped to keep them such an enduring success:
HumanKind ‘Fed Up’ (ROAR)
We never get fed up hearing exciting new music here at ÜRHQ, and we never get fed up of sharing same, especially when it comes as a surprise standalone single, issued to sate our appetites while this modern metalcore mob gear up to start recording their second album:
Kilmara ‘Chances’ (ROAR)
These Barcelona power metallers will be taking us on a ‘Journey To The Sun’ when they release their new album at the end of January, but in the meantime we’ll take our chance to get into the mood for it with this second taster:
Löanshark ‘The City Goes Fast’ (ROAR)
The Spanish metal invasion continues as this Barcelona power trio turn back the clock to the golden days of the genre, when no fucks were given about niceties and the emphasis was on playing everything louder and heavier than everything else. This is the second taster of their imminent new album, on which they will claim to have ‘No Sins To Confess’ when it is released in mid-February:
Mad Parish ‘Bishop’s Tomb’ (Self-Released)
These Canadian trad metallers take us deeper into the story of their forthcoming concept album – and comic book – with a song which very much draws from how Black Sabbath recorded ‘Paranoid’, in that it was thrown together as a last-minute album filler but could become one of their defining musical moments:
Pressure Points ‘Shapeless’ (Art Gates Records)
Following a pair of thematically linked singles earlier in the Autumn, the Finnish progressive metallers round off the year with this latest taster from their upcoming, as yet untitled third album:
Rauhbein ‘Hände Hoch’ (Reigning Phoenix Music)
These hardcore-edged German folk metallers, fronted by the singer from whom they take their name, have got our ‘Adrenalin’ pumping with their new album, released right in the cusp of Christmas but still providing us with a late present to unwrap:
Saxon ‘Pirates Of The Airwaves’ (Sliver Lining Music)
One group of heavy metal veterans who always have been able to stand toe-to-toe with, and more often head and shoulders above, the more latterday pretenders to their crown have been Yorkshire’s finest export, as they prove yet again with this latest cut, recalling the heady days of pirate radio, from last year’s defiant ‘Hell Fire And Damnation‘, which was their 24th album in their strident 50-year career:
Subway To Sally ‘Herz in der Rinde’ (Napalm Records)
The veteran German folk metalllers show their more melancholic side with this ballad about love, loss memories on the latest single to be lifted from their recently released 15th album:
Temple Of Discord ‘The Reaper’ (Ripple Music)
This Swedish project, built around the creative vision of Wytch guitarist Mattias Marklund, blend elements post-grunge, dark folk and prog with psych rock and metal, and they prepare to roll ‘In The Ashes‘ with the release of their debut album by offering up this first impressive taster:
The Mourning ‘The Mountain’ (Self-Released)
This Floridian progressive metal quintet explore tranquility, spiritual connection and personal transformation in this deeply thoughtful track, apparently written while on a trip to the Appalachian Mountains, which is taken from their ‘Hush‘ album of earlier this year:
Tigerleech ‘When You Cross The Border’ (Octopus Rising/Argonauta Records)
These French hardcore-infused stoner sludgers are preparing to unveil their expanded twin guitar line-up with their third album, ‘Bicephalous’, which is due to be released early next year and from which this is the first sample:
Thy Kingdom Will Burn ‘Obscure Existence’ (Scarlet Records)
These Finnish death metallers will be experiencing ‘Loss And Redemption’ with the release of their third album next month, and whet our appetites for it with this, the second single, which they tell us is “about the frustrations of how we are just a bunch of slaves on this big machinery that grinds us slowly but surely to pieces”:
Warlung ‘White Light Seeker’ (Heavy Psych Sounds)
For our penultimate offering, these Texan occult doomsters are preparing to inject us with ‘The Poison Touch‘ when they release their new album in February, and if this lead cut is anything by which to judge its going to deliver riffage as big as their home state:
Wildness ‘Broken Heart’ (Frontiers Music)
We’re truly heart broken (sic) that is the last song we’ll be playing this year, but what better way to round off another hedonistic 12 months than with a cheesier than a tonne of cheddar slice of classic Swedish glam rock, in this case from a quintet preparing to release their fourth album at the end of next month:
So, there you have it… possibly our heaviest playlist in a long time to round off the old year and tune up (down?) for its passage into the next. We’ll see you on the other side, in just a few short days, but in the meantime, as you raise a glass of your favourite tipple, and hug your loved ones (or a complete stranger in a random back alley bar, whichever takes your fancy), remember: keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges and keep on Über Rockin’ in the free world \m/
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