There is so much heavy, extreme, and beautiful metal music being created from every region of the world; it can be overwhelming. Fortunately, Metal Has No Borders has curated a handful of must-listens released this past month, from Africa and India to New Zealand and Japan, as everything in between.
Enjoy our hand-picked favorite albums, singles, and videos for July 2024 below. Share which bands we missed in the comment section…
Album of the Month (Bronze Tier)
Sable Hills
Odyssey
Released via Arising Empire
Japan
While the modern wave of metalcore is flourishing with highly polished production, the craving for that raw early 2000’s signature sound nonetheless remains. Sable Hills brings aggression, nostalgia, and circle pit incantation as compelling as bands in the scene across the past two decades. Despite a handful of catchy clean vocal lines, Odyssey is a limit-pushing, Davidian stronghold of metalcore satisfaction.
Odyssey by Sable Hills is awarded Best Album of the Month (Bronze Tier) for July 2024
Favorite Songs: “Odyssey,” “Battle Cry” feat. Crossfaith, “Tokyo“
FFO: Killswitch Engage, The Devil Wears Prada, After the Burial
Album of the Month (Silver Tier)
Thousand Limbs
The Aurochs
Self-Released
New Zealand
Truly a post-metal masterpiece, the Auckland quartet’s debut album presents doom-instrumentals in theme of the Ten Ox-herding Pictures, a spiritual art story created by the Zen master of the Sung Dynasty – Kakuan Shien. While meditative, The Aurochs is also cold, dynamic, murky, and uplifting, sometimes even birthing a strange Opeth–Earth–Isis hybrid. Furthermore, the shorter (near segue) pieces on the record feel of synesthesia, with “Chapter” alike warm rain or “Only His Shadow” evoking insomniac bliss. This album is definitely perfect for that sativa high peak.
The Aurochs by Thousand Limbs is awarded Best Album of the Month (Silver Tier) for July 2024
Favorite Songs: “A Blessed Life to Suffer,” “Fall of Body and Mind,” “The Aurochs – Aligned“
FFO: The Ocean, North, Ahab
Album of the Month (Gold Tier)
Arka’n Asrafokor
Dzikkuh
Released via Reigning Phoenix Music
Togo
Much like how Sepultura’s Roots provided the world with a greater understanding and appreciation of how South American culture and musicalities can mesh with Western heavy music, Arka’n Asrafokor is, alternatively, the perfect conduit for African metal. The percussion and vocalizations that we often associate with “world music,” finds home amongst thrash, rap, and folk metal on Dzikkuh, amplifying a diverse style that has never quite been executed before. Continuing the hearty heaviness of their previous Zã Keli, frontmen Enrico and Rock Ahavi demand recognition on an international scale. Their approach is monumental, non-whitewashed, easily the finest heavy release to come out of Africa, and exactly the new flavor that metal genre needed.
Dzikkuh by Arka’n Asrafokor is awarded Best Album of the Month (Gold Tier) for July 2024
Favorite Songs: “The Truth,” “Final Tournament,” “Walk With Us“
FFO: Alien Weaponry, Lamb of God, Soufly
Album of the Month (Honorable Mentions)
Raat Enchantment
India
Hailing from New Delhi, vocalist / multi-instrumentalist S.R. conjures a Deafheaven-like post-black metal journey on the project’s fourth full-length, mastered by Neil Schneider (Blackbraid).
Listen to ‘Enchantment‘
Mithras Crowned Hymns of the Hierophant
South Africa
First, there was… Divine Plague. Next, Insidious Reign emerged. Now, the project waves the blackened death metal flag as Mithras Crowned for a powerful debut EP.
Listen to “Ritual Madness“
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Single / Video of the Month
Ec{c}entric Pendulum
“Encaged Visions of the Unobstructed”
India
The Bangalore extreme weirdos have returned, prepping their progressive death follow-up Perspectiva Invertalis for later this year. Set to be self-released on September 8th, the record holds members from Moral Collapse, Obscura, Benighted, Inner Sanctrum, etc. To salve your hunger for the full album, the project has unveiled the compelling single, “Encaged Visions of the Unobstructed.” Piecing together the best aspects of The Faceless, late Death, and Ulcerate into a beautiful, dense slab of avant-garde intensity, the four minutes of addictive venom is served.
“Encaged Visions of the Unobstructed” by Ec{c}entric Pendulum is awarded Best Single / Video of the Month for July 2024
Single / Video of the Month (Honorable Mentions)
Never Prey “Disintegration”
Wringing out the grimy side of deathcore, the Sofia lurkers ooze Sanguisugabogg-filthy riffs for their militaristic new video; listen here
The Emergent “Inception: Chapter 1”
Ukraine
Clocking in at less than two minutes, The Emergent are able to shine with Loathe dynamics in the first chapter of their upcoming EP; listen here