New Metal You Should Be Blasting Right Now

Beyond the Mindfield – Memoir

Spread out in parts of Kerala and vocalist Wesley Berger in Minneapolis, modern prog band Beyond The Mindfield have finally released their debut EP Memoir, compiling two previous singles “Dissonance” (featuring Kerala thrash band Chaos’ guitarist Nikhil N.R. ripping out a signature blaze of a solo) in 2017 and “Revival” in 2019, heightened by a solo from Brazilian guitarist Icaro Paiva. The six-member band clearly draw from prog bands like Skyharbor (best evident on “Revival”) but there’s also a lot of heaviness that makes Beyond the Mindfield standout. Berger can growl deep and gruff but also scale emphatic highs as a clean vocalist and the band – Akhil C.S. on guitar and mixing/mastering duties, drummer Anson Lal, guitarist Vishnu Dev, bassist Evan Victor Paul and synth/FX producer Shine Vic – are rock-solid throughout Memoir.

Against Evil – End of the Line

On their third full-length album, Visakhapatnam band Against Evil play up everything that any heavy metal faithful would rock out to. There’s the Judas Priest-like charge of “The Sound of Violence”, the aptly blazing track “Speed Demon” and total nostalgia-indulging riffing on “Out for Blood.” The latter features American bass veteran Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big). There’s no stopping Against Evil, who continue to inject the right amount of modern flourishes to otherwise resolutely, headstrong heavy metal.

Petrichor – “Lysurgery”

Their first release since 2012, Pune metallers Petrichor roar back with an intense new offering like they’d never left. “Lysurgery” combines the snarling, violent chaos of tech-metal but digs into something much more primal, with unsparing intent that only occasionally lets up with jazz inflections and allows an unsettling ambient outro to hang in the air. The band – drummer Ajit Singh, guitarist Akhilesh Rao, bassist Akshay Gite, guitarist Amrit Ramakrishnan and vocalist Archisman Dash – describe it as an “existential analysis on psychedelics, through the metaphor of surgery.”

Kaiten Black – “Nosebleed”

Kolkata metallers Kaiten Black run riot on their most recent single “Nosebleed,” which released in March. The trio – comprising vocalist Anish Mazumder, keyboardist Sayantan Das and guitarist Ronny Sinha – are cut-throat for the most part of the two-and-a-half minute track but also juxtapose extreme speed with anthemic choruses.

Vindictive Grim – “Slain”

Brutal is as brutal does, as Meghalaya/Bengaluru metal band Vindictive Grim demonstrate with their debut single “Slain.” When the band was formed in 2020 with vocalist Miracle Diengdoh and guitarist-composer Punk A Jackson aka Arif, they had covers on their mind at first. Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was par for the course and got them followers, but “Slain” shows a visceral side to the project. In the video as well as the song, there’s a grisly story of vengeance, Diengdoh’s diverse vocals going over Arif’s rattling riffage. The band have more covers planned as well as two more songs in the works to release by the end of the year.