2018 was a pretty good year for metal, will 2019 be even better?
2018 was arguably a pretty good year for metal: we saw some kick-ass releases by underground and up-and-coming bands and artists (Ghastly, The Armed, Convulsing, Pig Destroyer, and Sleep just to name a few). Though as good as 2018 ended up, 2019 may turn out that much better due to releases planned by some heavy hitting legends. Here's a guide to help keep you tuned in to some of this year's major metal album releases.
Deftones
Deftones have been releasing killer albums since the mid '90s, and while some bands struggled to keep up with the changing metal landscape that came with the millenium, they've done a pretty great job of establishing a nu-metal sound of their own. In December 2018 the band confirmed a 2019 music release via Instagram.
Killswitch Engage
The upcoming 2019 album from the band will mark the third release since the return of Jesse Leach as frontman in 2012. In late December 2018, Jesse took to instagram to let fans know how much he put into the albums vocals: "All vocals for the new KILLSWITCH ENGAGE album are complete. Blood (actual blood), sweat, tears, more sweat, anxiety, anger, hope, love, frustration, passion and full-on heartbreak are injected into every single word." - how can a metal fan NOT be excited by that? The album is expected to drop early this year.
KORN
In an interview with Consequence of Sound, guitarist Brian "Head" Welch announced “fans are going to be pleasantly surprised” by the band's 13th album set for release in late 2019. And although 2018 was a tough year for frontman Jonathan Davis with the passing of his wife in August 2018 (in October it ws revealed she died from a drug overdose of multiple substances including cocaine and heroin), Davis took to Instagram to say the following: “I want to thank you all for your kind words over the last couple months what I’m going thru has not been easy by any means. You all helped make the pain bearable. In return I promise to give you my all on this amazing new @korn_official record we all can heal together. #recordingvocals”
Megadeath
In 2016, Megadeath made quite the scene with earning their first Grammy for their 'Dystopia' Album and it seems they're on a mission to try and top the album (bassist David Ellefson reportely said “Dystopia is a benchmark" for the new album. 2019 will be a busy year for the band as they also have a tour scheduled with Sir Ozzy Osbourne.
Slipknot
On Halloween 2018, Slipknot shook the metal world with the release of the single "All Out Life". Fans will have to sit tight until the summer months for the release of the album, but can be comforted by the following statement by Corey Taylor: “It’s complicated, it’s dark, it’s heavy, it’s melodic, it’s fierce, it’s angry and it’s real, it’s raw as hell and it’s gonna be talking about a lot of things that people are going to need in their life right now.”
TOOL
Let's see, how can I articulate just how much anticipation is building up for the release? Maybe by saying this album ranks as possibly the number 1 most anticipated heavy music album of the decade. Much of the anticipation is due to time: it's been 13 years since Tool has released an album (i.e. 2006's '10,000 Days'). Fans have been holding out hope for so long, and they can finally let out a sigh of relief. Earlier this month, Maynard James Keenan announced the following on Twitter:
Update- Final vocals tracked MONTHS ago. Then U.S.-UK-Euro run w #APC. If Tool all inst are tracked, long process of Mixing now. Meanwhile write/film/track w @puscifer for #puscifer2020 & troll the band FBs with wine posts. #funnyshit #whileyouwerewhiningiwasworking
— Maynard J Keenan (@mjkeenan) January 4, 2019
Rammstein
Rammstein has earned the reputation of being one of the best live heavy music acts of our time (hence the image above). Though this is definitly an awesome reputation to have for any artist, Richard Kruspe would like to get some recognition for their studio work as well: “For me, one of the reasons to step back into making records with Rammstein was to balance the popularity of the band as a live act with the actual music… I thought, ‘I don’t want to be another KISS,’ where people talk about makeup and stuff like that and no one talks about the music.” - so how can we not be excited? The last record the band dropped was in 2009 which definitely hightens the anticipation and it seems the album may be coming as soon as April. Stay tuned.
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