Welcome Back to the Heavy Timeline
August Burns Red are back, and apparently heavier than ever. But the full picture this Friday isn’t just one band — there are two underground tech-death acts on this list that could’ve carried a weaker week, and they deserve more than an honorable mention. Good Friday.
#1 — August Burns Red — Season of Surrender (Fearless Records) | Metalcore
There’s a version of ABR that exists somewhere between Constellations and Leveler — the band at their heaviest, most surgical, most locked-in — and Season of Surrender reaches back toward that era without pretending it’s 2010. The mid-2000s metalcore energy is real here, the guitar work is on point, and Jake Luhrs sounds like he means it. Mike Hranica’s feature on “Legions” is earned, not stunt-cast. They said it’s the heaviest record they’ve written in years. I’m not arguing with them. Welcome back.
#2 — Xenosis — Hermetic Transmutation (Transcending Obscurity Records) | Progressive / Technical Death Metal
Five albums in. Still on an underground label. Still putting out progressive death metal that takes Death, Atheist, and Gorguts as a starting point and actually builds something new from there. Hermetic Transmutation is a technical feast that somehow grooves — the riffs are intricate but they move, and the mix of brutal death and dissonant elements never feels forced. These guys don’t get enough attention. This is why it’s frustrating.
#3 — Evergrey — Architects of a New Weave (Napalm Records) | Progressive Metal
Fifteen albums into a career and Evergrey are still the most reliable band in progressive metal. New guitarist, same dark melodic core. Tom Englund’s voice carries this like it always does.
#4 — Art|est — Evil Embodiment (Independent) | Technical Death Metal
German debut that earned the top slot on Metal Connect’s weekly digest and a spot here. If Archspire and Vale of Pnath share real estate in your rotation, this one belongs too. No hype machine. Just the record.
#5 — Dissentient — Black Galactic (Independent) | Progressive Death Metal
New Zealand progressive death, self-released, drawing Ne Obliviscaris and Augury comparisons. Nine tracks recorded over winter. If those comparisons hold up, it earns the weekend.
Five records. One weekend. Don’t sleep on the bottom two.