I think the latter half of this year is shaping up to be the better half of 2012 in terms of new metal releases. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, sludge/noise supergroup Old Man Gloom (featuring members of Cave In, Converge, and ISIS) reconvened earlier this year to play a string of shows in the NE United States at the beginning of May.  Around that time, they also announced a new album called “NO”.   The band already had a short run of copies available for the shows, but it won’t be widely released until June 26th via Hydrahead Records.  In the meantime, check out this hilarious interview with Old Man Gloom from back in the day.  P.S. I definitely think naming the album “NO” was just to intentionally play a joke: “OMG NO”…tee hee hee!

This next piece of information seems to be under the radars of most of the metal news websites I frequent:  Cult of Luna are (finally!) preparing a new album!  They have not released a new album since 2008’s “Eternal Kingdom”.  According to their website, they are currently in the recording process, so hopefully we can be expecting the new album by late this year or early next year.

Mysterious, Orthodox Satanists Deathspell Omega are releasing a new EP entitled “Drought” that will come out on June 22 via Season of Mist.  You can stream a song here.  I’m not sure how I feel about the new song yet, but like most DsO releases, it will probably grow on me.  Their last album “Paracletus” was my favorite of 2010.

Those southern psychedelic sludge hooligans, Baroness, will be releasing a new double album entitled “Yellow & Green” on July 17th via Relapse Records.  From what lead man John Baizley mentioned in interviews, the album will be more catchy, more straightforward, and less aggressive than previous releases.  You can hear a new song here.

A new album by Egyptian-themed Death Metal masters, Nile, will be released this year as well.  The album is entitled “At The Gate of Sethu” and will be out on June 29th via Nuclear Blast.  You can hear a new track here.

There have been rumors that a new Pig Destroyer album will collectively smash our brains to pieces this year.  If a new album does come out, it will be PxDx’s first since 2007’s “Phantom Limb”.  Here some new songs performed live here.  

Finally, I haven’t heard too much new information about the new Gorguts album, but there aren’t any sources saying a new album WON’T come out this year…so we’ll be optimistic.

So that’s all I got for now!  Considering every band listed here is a favorite of mine, 2012 could be an incredible rest of the year for (my tastes in) metal!

– Judge Dredd