Instrumental

Hear L.A. trio Mayan Bull — featuring members of Trappist, Despise You and Kevarra — take an instrumental departure.

If endless riffs and shredding are what you crave above all else, you can scratch that monstrous, gnawing, inner itch with Andrew Lee’s Heavy Metal Shrapnel, out via Nameless Grave Records on December 10.

This is how they play dungeon synth down in Goblin City! Stream Toadlickers outlandish debut in its entirety right now.

INTRCPTR, the instrumental duo of 5ive guitarist Ben Carr and Pelican drummer Larry Herweg, offers a parting kiss with a new video.

UK-based atmospheric sludgewielders Telepathy set the tone of their forthcoming record, Burn Embrace, with this evocative video for “Pariah.”

The Night Watch provide a treasure trove of instrumental music.

Dysrhythmia take you to progressive metal nirvana with new album Terminal Threshold.

Listen to a reworked song from reformed instrumental trio Gore.

Hear a new song from post-metal masters INTRCPTR, featuring members of 5ive and Pelican.

Stream a new song from instrumental technical metal wizards Bangladeafy right now.

Solomon Arye Rosenschein’s first outing as STAHV succeeds where most of its ilk fail. Unlike most instrumental one-member doom bands, his first self-titled album hold my interest from beginning to end.

Watch a silly new video from Valence.

Genre-defying trio Brandon Seabrook’s Needle Driver‘s first album, Needle Driver is streaming now.

Stream a new track from Knife the Glitter featuring members of The Dillinger Escape Plan and John Frum!

Double Ferrari unleash instrumental madness with a new song. Listen now!

Stream a new track from Pelican/5ive offshoot, INTRCPTR. 

Ray Suhy (Cannabis Corpse, Six Feet Under, ex-East of the Wall) has returned with a new solo EP. Decibel talked to the guitarist about expectations and writing an instrumental record.

Stream the entirety of instrumental hardcore/post-metal crew NY in 64‘s sophomore LP, The Gentle Indifference of the Night. 

No words are used (and none are needed) to tell a story on “…The Idyllic Realm.” 

Invoking the Abstract plays instrumental technical death metal. This is a video of Invoking the Abstract playing instrumental technical death metal. 

MONO‘s video for “Requiem for Hell” is an emotional and visually beautiful companion to the song. Also included: Exclusive Q&A with MONO’s Takaakira “Taka” Goto.

MoRkObOt unleash wordless doom weirdness in this new video for “Ogrog.”

“I Have Seen Hell And It’s White” is an instrumental rollercoaster, capturing excited and calm, collected energy throughout the song. 

MONO have spent the past almost-two decades crafting vibrant soundscapes and instrumental rock albums. The upcoming Requiem for Hell, MONO’s ninth studio album, treads similar territory.  In a video for the title track, the Japanese instrumentalists tell, visually and audibly, an exhilarating yet terrifying story. The entirely black and white video features a man running…

Swedish experimental instrumentalists pg.lost have put out yet another captivating album. Stream it in full before its official release date. 

The Veil of Control
Dust never sleeps
dB rating: 8/10

End your week with some Irish/Native American/psychedelic/Krautrock folk metal. Come on, if Friday isn’t for flutes, what day is?

As a general rule, we would suggest you not listen to instrumental “post” metal.  It certainly has its occasional charms and does an admirable job drawing the aurally cautious into the integrity-crushing arms of extreme metal.  Beyond the realm of intellectual curiosity and compositional hedonism, however, this gravity well of musical talent too often grows…

Because every day another band records another song.  Because 83% of those songs are unlistenable and you can’t be bothered to sift through the dreck.  Because metal is about not giving a shit and waking your own personal storm.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless, and even indie labels (whatever that means these days)…