Aborted — Vault of Horrors
The Belgian steamroller invites its peers to a gore feast: 79/100 for a death metal as swift as it is well-signposted.
8/10 June 5, 2026
Sanguisugabogg — Homicidal Ecstasy
Ohio's sludgy death metal wallows gleefully in the muck: 79/100 for a record as filthy as it is fun.
8/10 June 5, 2026
Bodysnatcher — Hell Is Here, Hell Is Home
"Heavy as fuck": 78/100 for the Floridian demolition machine, tried-and-true formula included.
8/10 April 14, 2026
Poison The Well — Peace In Place
Seventeen years away, 80/100 on arrival: the year's best-received metalcore comeback.
8/10 March 25, 2026
Lamb Of God — Into Oblivion
Eleven reviews, 81/100: the best Lamb Of God since Wrath, and almost nobody argues otherwise.
8/10 March 15, 2026
Karnivool — In Verses
Thirteen years of waiting, 78/100, press and public aligned: "the bar for progressive metal in 2026" per Metal Hammer.
8/10 February 10, 2026
Alter Bridge — Alter Bridge
Press anoints it (85/100), public checks out (65): the year's widest critics-fans gap.
8/10 January 13, 2026
Green Carnation — A Dark Poem, Part III: The Messiah Complex
Trilogy finale bordering on critical genuflection: 9.8/10 at Sonic Perspectives. Out September 4.
8.5/10 September 1, 2026
Russian Circles — Nine
The season's best-reviewed record: 83/100, zero reservations. Instrumental post-metal at its peak.
8.5/10 September 1, 2026
Deftones — private music
87/100 across nineteen reviews: the alternative-metal masters return to near-unanimous acclaim.
8.5/10 August 30, 2026
Agriculture — The Spiritual Sound
86/100: the Californian "ecstatic black metal" crew turn darkness into light.
8.5/10 August 29, 2026
The Callous Daoboys — I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven
85/100: the wildest mathcore around reaches an unexpected maturity.
8.5/10 August 28, 2026
Fen — Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth
English atmospheric black at its peak: "my favorite Fen album to date" (AMG 4.0), 9/10 from Dead Rhetoric.
8.5/10 August 26, 2026
Blackbraid — Blackbraid III
85/100: Sgah'gahsowáh's atmospheric, Native American black metal keeps fascinating.
8.5/10 August 25, 2026
Der Weg Einer Freiheit — Innern
85/100: the German atmospheric-black-metal outfit reach a rare intensity.
8.5/10 August 25, 2026
URNE — Setting Fire To The Sky
84/100: the Britons confirm a heavy, melodic and ambitious metal.
8.5/10 August 24, 2026
Hellripper — Coronach
84/100: Scottish riff-machine James McBain unleashes his blackened speed metal.
8.5/10 August 23, 2026
Textures — Genotype
85/100: the Dutch progressive-djent pioneers deliver a highly praised return.
8.5/10 August 12, 2026
Fires in the Distance — Circadian Promise
85/100: the Americans' melodic, piano-laced death/doom moves the critics.
8.5/10 August 10, 2026
Blood Incantation — Absolute Elsewhere
87/100 across fourteen reviews: the Americans' cosmic death metal reaches a new dimension.
8.5/10 August 7, 2026
Uniform — American Standard
87/100: the New York duo push their industrial noise toward a suffocating intensity.
8.5/10 August 7, 2026
Thou — Umbilical
85/100 across twelve reviews: the Louisiana sludge crew deliver their most direct, raging record.
8.5/10 August 6, 2026
Nightwish — Yesterwynde
86/100: the Finns push their cinematic symphonic metal to new heights.
8.5/10 August 6, 2026
Opeth — The Last Will and Testament
84/100: the Swedes bring back the growls and deliver an ambitious concept record.
8.5/10 August 6, 2026
Job for a Cowboy — Moon Healer
85/100: the Americans' return confirms their shift into a first-rate progressive-death band.
8.5/10 August 6, 2026
Ihsahn — IHSAHN
85/100: the ex-Emperor mastermind unfurls an orchestral, black-metal album of wild ambition.
8.5/10 August 5, 2026
Vitriol — Suffer & Become
85/100: the Americans' furious tech-death impresses with its controlled violence.
8.5/10 August 5, 2026
Fleshgod Apocalypse — Opera
87/100: the Italians fuse technical death metal and symphonic grandeur with excess.
8.5/10 August 5, 2026
Speed — ONLY ONE MODE
86/100: the Australians inject wild energy and positivity into hardcore.
8.5/10 August 5, 2026
Hamferð — Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk
86/100: Faroese death/doom reaches an overwhelming solemnity.
8.5/10 August 4, 2026
Persefone — Lingua Ignota: Part I
86/100: the Andorran progressive-metal act unfurl a luminous virtuosity.
8.5/10 August 4, 2026
Unto Others — Never, Neverland
86/100: the Americans wed heavy metal and gothic post-punk with rare elegance.
8.5/10 August 4, 2026
Oceans of Slumber — Where Gods Fear To Speak
85/100: the Texans' gothic, progressive metal, carried by Cammie Beverly's masterful voice.
8.5/10 August 4, 2026
Defeated Sanity — Chronicles of Lunacy
84/100: the Germans, masters of technical brutal death, push the genre's limits.
8.5/10 August 3, 2026
Crypt Sermon — The Stygian Rose
85/100: the Americans' epic doom summons the grandeur of metal's origins.
8.5/10 August 3, 2026
Escuela Grind — DDEEAATTHHMMEETTAALL
84/100: the Americans' turbocharged grindcore gives no respite.
8.5/10 August 2, 2026