New & Noteworthy is a weekly column in which we highlight some of the newest rock and metal releases coming out each week. This week is a big one, featuring new studio releases by Aryeon and All That Remains, live albums from Fates Warning and Between The Buried And Me, as well as a whole bunch of Immortal vinyl reissues. If you would like to check out last week’s releases you can do so here. You can also check out last week’s sales numbers in Metal by Numbers. Stuff happened, Metallica is probably still doing well. And if you’re not following us on Spotify, you’re doing it wrong.

(Author’s note: I deserve to be smacked for that title.)

Ayreon, The Source (Mascot)

The Source is the ninth studio album from the Dutch progressive rock/metal project Ayreon. Like all of the band’s material, this release is a two disc concept rock opera with different vocalists and instrumentalists joining in to fill parts of the story. This album features vocal performances by *deep breath* James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Russell Allen (Symphony X), Tobias Sammet (Edguy/Avantasia), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot/Seventh Wonder), Simone Simons (Epica), Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me), and Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus). Like all of Arjen Lucassen’s releases, The Source was recorded and produced at The Electric Castle in the Netherlands by Arjen himself.  It is the first album the band has released since moving from InsideOut to the Mascot Label Group. Leading up to the release, the band held guessing games on Facebook where they revealed the guests one at a time. So far they have released three videos for the album, the first being “The Day that the World Breaks Down,” which features all eleven of the main guest vocalists and information about recording of the album. They already released lyric videos for the tracks “Everybody Dies” and “Star of Sirrah.” The Source is also available on vinyl, and in a whole bunch of other bundles all signed by Arjen himself. You won’t be able to see them here in the States, but Ayreon will be playing their first ever live shows this September in Tilburg, NL, and I think that’s pretty cool at least.

Life of Agony, A Place Where There’s No More Pain (Napalm) 

It’s been a very long time since Brooklyn’s Life Of Agony released a record. 12 years, in fact, but a hell of a lot has happened in that time sicne they released Broken Valley. Namely, a hiatus, but even more significantly frontman Keith Caputo came out as transgender, and is now Mina Caputo. This is one of the band’s strongest albums of their career, and you can read more about it in our interview with them, where you can also register to win a pair of tickets for their Starland Ballroom show.

All That Remains, Madness (Razor & Tie)

Massachusetts metal band All That Remains have released their eighth studio album, Madness. The album was produced by Howard Benson (In Flames, Halestorm, Escape the Fate), this being the first time the band has worked with him. It is also the first album to feature bassist Aaron Patrick. Over the last few months the band has released lyric videos for the songs “Louder” and “Halo,” and just this week they released a music video for the title track “Madness.” The band did some experimenting in how they approached this album as opposed to previous ones, with vocalist Phil Labonte having said in an interview that “On this record, there’s five songs on the record that are exactly what you would expect from All That Remains. There’s some songs where we kind of were, like, ‘All right, let’s push this and maybe change what we can do, or what All That Remains is allowed to do.'”and that there are “significant programming and electronic sounds. And that’s something we wanted to have flowing through the entire record. Tomorrow the band kicks off their Spring tour in support of the album, hitting 18 different stops, with a handful of festival appearances sprinkled in. 

Pyramaze, Contingent (Inner Wound)

Contingent is the fifth full length album from Denmark’s power metal Pyramaze. Leading up to the release, the band has released a music video for the track “A World Divided,” and lyric videos for the first two singles, “20 Second Century” and “Kingdom of Solace.” It is the second album to feature vocalist Terje Haroy  and Jacob Hansen on guitar and bass. Like all of the band’s previous releases, it was produced by Hansen (Vplbeat, Anubis Gate, Pretty Maids, etc. 

Mammoth Mammoth, Mount The Mountain (Napalm)

Australia’s “good-time-murder-fuzz” group Mammoth Mammoth have released their fourth studio full length studio album Mount the Mountain. Earlier in the month they released a music video for the track “Sleepwalker,” and before that a lyric video for “Spellbound.” The band kicks off their European tour today in Berlin at Desert Fest, which will extend into late May.

He Is Legend, Few (Spinefarm)

North Carolina quartet He Is Legend’s melodic, yet heavy rock should appeal to fans of bands like ASG and CKY. The band’s Spinefarm debut will hopefully bring them the mainstream success that’s eluded them so far. If you’re interested, check out members of Underoath, Periphery and Atreyu heaping praise on the bnad. 

Mindmaze, Resolve (Inner Wound)

Pennsylvania power metal group Mindmaze has released their third full-length album, Resolve. Leading up the the release, the band released a music video for the track “Sign of Life,” and a lyric video for “One More Moment.” Earlier this week the band embarked on a 23 date North American tour to support the release, starting it off in Baltimore, MD and they are scheduled to go straight into June.

Terror, The Walls Will Fall EP (Pure Noise/Triple-B Records)

The Walls Will Fall is the fourth EP from the California hardcore group Terror. Last month music video for “Kill ‘Em Off.” The five some EP comes in at a whopping 9 minutes, 14 seconds in length, and is the first studio effort from the band since their 2015 album The 25th Hour. In support of the album, Terror is set to be playing 13 shows in the US, starting in Boston on May 10th, before heading off to Europe for another two months.

Live Release

Between The Buried And Me, Coma Ecliptic Live (Blu-ray/DVD/CD) (Metal Blade/Good Fight)

North Carolina’s progressive metal BTBAM are releasing a live Blu-Ray/DVD/CD from their 2016 Coma Ecliptic Tour, where they played their 2015 album Coma Ecliptic in its entirety. The performance was filmed at The Observatory North Park in San Diego, CA on October 4th, 2016. Earlier in the week they released a video for the track “Turn on the Darkness” from the performance. Coma Ecliptic Live was directed by Vince Edwards and edited by Blake Faucette and Justin Reich, and the audio was mixed by Jamie King at Basement Recording in North Carolina.

Fates Warning, Awaken The Guardian Live (Blu-ray/DVD/CD) (Metal Blade)

Last year the legendary American progressive metal band Fates Warning got together as their 1986 lineup to perform Awaken the Guardian, their highly influential album of that year, in its entirety for a select few shows. Thankfully, both of them were filmed for posterity at Keep It True Festival XIX in Germany and ProgPower USA in Atlanta, Georgia. Last month they released a live video of “Fata Morgana.” AtG lineup Fates Warning is: John Arch (vocals), Jim Matheos (guitar), Frank Aresti (guitar), Steve Zimmermann (drums), and Joe DiBiase (bass). I don’t want to brag, but I was there and it was a fantastic show to witness.

Vinyl Releases