March Madness means different things to different people. For me it’s a time to get nuts over sick extreme music offerings. Since the flood of heavy music is so strong each month, we here at Crave have decided to give you a barometer for what to check out. Here are ten metal albums you’ll need to buy in March.
Cannibal Corpse – Torture
Century Media
Release Date: March 13th
The old school death metallers are back with their twelfth studio album.Torture is classic Cannibal Corpse. Fast blast beats, rapid-fire guitars and solos that make even the best guitar player weep. The band once again turned to Hate Eternal guitarist Erik Rutan to produce the record as well as returning to the Sonic Ranch Studios in Texas. On April 5th the band will kick off the Torture Tour with Exhumed and Abysmal Dawn.
Melvins – The Bulls And The Bees EP
The Scion A/V
Release Date: March 13th
The Melvins release records at a speed other bands can only dream about. This year the band will drop two discs. The first is The Bulls And The Bees, which will be a standard Melvins record, well, if such a thing exists. The record includes the double drumming of Dale Crover and Coady Willlis as well as Buzzo on guitar and vocals and Jarren Warren on bass. Interestingly this will be a digital download only. Fans can get it at the Scion A/V website on March 13th. The second album, coming in June, is titled Freak Puke.
Unsane – Wreck
Alternative Tentacles
Release Date: March 20th
Celebrating 20 years as an audio sledgehammer, New York feedback monsters Unsane return with their seventh album Wreck (check out my review here). Produced by Andrew Schneider, Wreck features some of the most powerful songwriting the band has done to date as well as a kick ass cover of the Flipper tune “Ha Ha Ha”. Unsane are currently on tour with The Melvins.
Black Breath - Sentenced To Life
Southern Lord Records
Release Date: March 27th
After slapping the world across the bridge of the nose with their debut album Heavy Breathing, Seattle, Washington’s Black Breath return with Sentenced To Life (check out my review here). Taking the core root of black metal and push it through a filter of post-hardcore. The album is produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou.
Borknagar – Urd
Century Media Records
Release Date: March 26th
Not only is Urd the 9th album from Norwegian black metal band Borknagar, it also marks the return of vocalist/bassist ICS Vortex as a permanent member of the band as well as new drummer Baard Kolstad. After their last album Universal, the band decided to return to their roots for Urd, writing songs around “nature and mankind’s place therein”.
Meshuggah – Koloss
Nuclear Blast Record
Release Date: March 27th
Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah return with their seventh album, Koloss. Fans of death metal that has a touch of prog rock will dig this album. The band returned to a collective style of songwriting for this record and promise a 54-minute “Malicious metal treat”. True Meshuggah lovers will want to buy Koloss through Nuclear Blast’s mail order page for the exclusive Magic Cube digi-pak featuring both the record and a DVD.
Locrin & Mamiffer – Bless Them That Curse You
SIGE Records
Release Date: March 6th
A collaborative effort between Locrin and Mamiffer, Bless Them That Curse You is a swirling, layered and incredibly dense album that combines ambient, noise and even extreme music (check out my review here). Producer Greg Norman got together former Isis man Aaron Turner, his wife pianist/artist Faith Coloccia and others to put forth one of the 2012’s first true artistic statements.
Sigh – In Somniphobia
Candlelight Records
Release Date: March 13th
Avant-guard Japanese black metal troupe Sigh return with In Somniphobia, their ninth album and possibly their weirdest one to date. Not only is the record flourished with the typical growl vocals and fast drumming, it also has blues touches as well as dance music and what could be referred to as seventies western film scores. It’s the kind of bizarre hodgepodge that only Sigh can pull off. In Somniphobia pummels and yet comes across as weirdly romantic and melancholy.
Defiler – Pangaea
Stillborn Records
The band Defiler released their deathcore debut in 2011. Now the band’s album Pangaea has been remixed by Zeuss (Hatebreed, Chimaira). The new release will feature updated artwork from Killswitch Engage’s Mike D’Antonio plus the b-side “Wild Wasteland”. Look for it to come out through Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta’s label Stillborn Records.
Soulfly – Enslaved
Roadrunner Records
Release Date: March 13th
After a reunion with his brother Igor for Cavalera Conspiracy, Max Cavalera returns with his post-Sepultura band Soulfly. The record is produced by Zeuss and features the debut of Asesino frontman Tony Campos on bass. Guests on the album include Dez Fafara of DevilDriver and Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation. If you’re a fan of what Max Cavalera does, then Enslaved will be right up your ally.
