The Weekly Injection: New Releases From MEGADETH, POPPY & More Out This Week 1/23

This week's new heavy metal releases include Bach metal, the swansong from our favorite Redhead, a djent return, and more! To the metals…

Alkaloid – Bach Out Of Bounds

Genre: Progressive death metal/classical
Origin: Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany
Label: Season Of Mist

Buy now on Bandcamp

A lot of metal has some classical influences sewn in. I can hear it in a typical Alkaloid song, so this record of Bach interpretations and Bach-inspired songs isn't that surprising. What is sort of surprising is that the live album included some new songs not recorded anywhere else. Not how one would typically premiere new music these days, but are Alkaloid a typical band? Nah.

Melissa Bonny – Cherry Red Apocalypse

Genre: Hard rock/heavy metal
Origin: Montreux, Vaud, Switzerland
Label: Rebellion Republic

Buy now from Melissa

Ad Infinitum's vocalist is setting out on her own here. A few songs are pure pop while some still have a foot in her band's symphonic metal/rock vibe. This is a pretty successful exploration of more of Bonny's artistry.

Megadeth – Megadeth

Genre: Thrash
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Tradecraft

Buy now from Megadeth

We all know what we have here. This is album number seventeen from Dave and the boys, and it's being called their last – though I expect at least one live record from this multi-year end of the line tour. Their farewell record keeps the recent sound of since Endgame or so. The highlight, of course, is Dave's version of "Ride The Lightning."

New Miserable Experience – Gild The Lily

Genre: Synth rock
Origin: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Label: Pelagic

Buy now on Bandcamp

New Miserable Experience is what happens when a bunch of metal dudes team up and make a Depeche Mode album. The folks from Rivers of Nihil, Revocation and Rosetta and more pull it off too. It probably won't make you want to mosh, but it's hard to be mad at.

Pelican – Ascending

Genre: Post-metal/doom
Origin: Chicago, Illinois
Label: Run For Cover

Buy now Bandcamp

Less than a year after last year's Flickering Resonance, Pelican have returned with this expanded single of sorts.There's the titular new/leftover song, two songs were stand alone songs a couple years ago, one a version of “Cascading Crescent” now with vocals from Geoff from Thursday. A pretty cool one for the completists.

Poppy – Empty Hands

Genre: Metalcore/pop metal
Origin: Boston, Massachusetts
Label: Sumerian

Buy now from Sumerian

I really liked Negative Spaces from 2024, and what I've heard of this record sounds like more of what worked there. Heavy grooves, hella catchy choruses, fun production. I'm here for it.

Textures – Genotype

Genre: Progressive metalcore/djent
Origin: Tilburg, North Brabant, Netherlands
Label: Kscope

Buy now on Bandcamp

Wrapping this week with some high tech sounding prog on the return of Textures. If you were a fan of Phenotype, then you'll dig this counterpart as that whole crew is back for more soaring djenty goodness. There is also a cameo from Charlotte Wessels (ex-Delain) on the track below. This felt like an unexpected combo, but she kills it as always.

Also dropping this week…

• Asaru – V.O.I.D. (Schwarzdorn Production) – Black metal
• Backengrillen – Backengrillen (Svart Records) – Experimental
• Barbarian – Reek Of God (Dying Victims) – Speed/black metal
• Cadavrul – Necrotic Savagery (Loud Rage Music/Axa Valaha Productions) – Death metal
• Casket – In The Long Run We Are All Dead (Neckbreaker) – Death metal
• Colossal Rains – Feral Sorrow (Memory Music) – Post-punk/hardcore
• Coranatus – Dreadful Waters (Massacre) – Gothic metal
• The Crawling – Live In Belfast MMXXIV (Grindscene Records) – Death metal/doom
• Crystal Lake – The Weight Of Sound (Century Media) – Metalcore
• Dagger Threat – Bleed///Reboot (Blood Blast Distribution) – Hardcore/nu metal
• The Damned – Not Like Everybody Else (earMusic) – Rock/punk
• Death Dealer – Reign Of Steel (Massacre) – Power metal
• Deathraiser – Forged In Hatred (Xtreem Music) – Thrash
• Destiny’s End – Breathe Deep The Road (Live & Unreleased) (Nameless Grave Records) – Heavy/power metal
• Draag – Miracle Drug (Smoking Room) – Post-punk/shoegaze
• Elwood Stray – Descending (Out Of Line) – Metalcore/post-hardcore
• Furi Helium – No Altar Stands Eternal (Beatclap Music) – Thrash
• Fyres – Like Waves (LDP Records) – Alternative metal
• Gavial – Thanks, I Hate It (Exile On Mainstream) – Psychedelic/art rock
• Helix – Scrap Metal (Perris) – hard rock/heavy metal
• Karloff – Revered By Death (Dying Victims) – Black metal/punk
• Kyle Gass Band – Live In Palmdale (Aspecialthing) – Comedic rock
• Meteora – Dissonance (H-Music) – Symphonic metal
• New Mexican Doom Cult – Zaggurat (Majestic Mountain) – Stoner/doom
• Ritual Arcana – Ritual Arcana (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Psychedelic rock/metal
• Rotting Christ – Aealo (Re-Recorded) (Season Of Mist) – Black metal
• Sacri Suoni – Time to Harvest (Electric Valley Records) – Doom/sludge
• Sad Whisperings – The Hermit (Vidar Records) – Death metal/doom
• Shadowmass – Wastelands (Floga Records) – Speed metal/thrash
• Sky Valley Mistress – Luna Mausoleum (New Heavy Sounds) – Hard rock
• Spiral Fracture – Grace In Decay (Wormholedeath) – Progressive rock/metal
• Stalwart – Tempvs Edax Rervm (Wormholedeath Records) – Death metal/thrash
• Vanishment – And Now We Die (M-Theory) – Heavy metal/thrash