Employed to Serve — Conquering
British rage turns more hymnal without losing its bite: 82/100 for an ambitious metalcore.
8/10 June 5, 2026
Boris — Heavy Rocks (2022)
The insatiable Japanese replay their riff library with glee: 80/100 for a third "Heavy Rocks".
8/10 June 5, 2026
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
Chat Pile — Who Loves The Sun
Rapturous early reviews: "the fury has metastasized". Out September 4.
7.5/10 September 1, 2026
Turnstile — Never Enough: Versions
From Elton John to Dying Fetus, twenty-two wildly uneven reworks: not an album, a flex.
7.5/10 August 30, 2026
Gorod — The Ember Gone
Bordeaux tech-death dares to be vulnerable. The craft is unanimous; the pacing divides.
7.5/10 August 30, 2026
Mayhem — Liturgy of Death
77/100: the Norwegian black-metal legends deliver a solid if debated record.
7.5/10 August 29, 2026
Chelsea Wolfe — The Dark
Her most accessible album, still haunted. Critics and public aligned at 77/100.
7.5/10 August 26, 2026
Frozen Soul — No Place of Warmth
78/100: the Texans' glacial, old-school death metal stays fearsomely effective.
7.5/10 August 24, 2026
Portrayal of Guilt — …Beginning of The End
78/100: the Texan blackened-hardcore crew spit an ever more desperate violence.
7.5/10 August 23, 2026
Epica — Aspiral
78/100: the Dutch symphonic-metal act roll out their usual grand spectacle.
7.5/10 August 15, 2026
Hooded Menace — Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
78/100: Finnish death/doom in all its melancholic heaviness.
7.5/10 August 14, 2026
Cage Fight — Exuvia
78/100: the English thrash/hardcore crossover hits short, fast and hard.
7.5/10 August 10, 2026
Hulder — Verbolgen
Hulder softens her black metal: "finest work to date" for one, missed venom for another. 76/100.
7.5/10 August 10, 2026
The HU — HUN
A strange stream of sound like nobody else: 73/100 for the Mongolian cavalry.
7.5/10 July 27, 2026
Emptiness — Nowhere Speaks
Spectral blackened death and Brussels industrial: "it does not narrate; it confronts". 7.5 average.
7.5/10 July 19, 2026
Moonspell — Far from God
Stripped-back gothic return, Ribeiro revitalized: 73/100, the essence recovered without reaching the peaks.
7.5/10 July 6, 2026
Deep Purple — Splat!
A torrent of energy from great-grandfathers: 76/100, Purple's best reception in ages.
7.5/10 July 5, 2026
Kreator — Hate Über Alles
The German thrash veterans have lost none of their bite: 78/100 for a record cut for the stage.
7.5/10 June 10, 2026
Amon Amarth — The Great Heathen Army
The Swedish Vikings go to war again with the same axe: 78/100 for a record faithful to its legend.
7.5/10 June 9, 2026
Dark Tranquillity — Endtime Signals
The founding fathers of Gothenburg hold their rank despite the departures: 78/100 for a controlled renewal.
7.5/10 June 9, 2026
Ghost — Impera
The Swedish cult fully embraces the stadium and pop: 78/100 for an ambitious, divisive record.
7.5/10 June 9, 2026
Shinedown — EI8HT
Press applauds (74), public sulks (58): Shinedown's most ambitious record is also its most divisive.
7.5/10 May 31, 2026
Dimmu Borgir — Grand Serpent Rising
Eight years away, back at 81/100: the symphonic black throne reclaimed, the scissors forgotten.
7.5/10 May 26, 2026
Terror — Still Suffer
Zero surprises, ferocious execution: 75/100 for veterans proving hardcore is in rude health.
7.5/10 April 26, 2026
Skindred — You Got This
First UK number one of their career and 76/100: the Welsh "punky reggae party" gets almost everyone dancing.
7.5/10 April 22, 2026
Gaerea — Loss
Cathartic black metal goes luminous metalcore: press won over (74), faithful betrayed (60). Debate open.
7.5/10 March 24, 2026
Rob Zombie — The Great Satan
Winning comeback at 74/100: Zombie's industrial B-movie "rocks like an absolute motherfucker". Only Pitchfork pouts.
7.5/10 March 1, 2026
Electric Callboy — Tanzneid
The metalcore party, bottled: press has fun (75/100), purists sigh. Unapologetic.
7/10 August 11, 2026
Viande — Monument aux morts
Frightening texture, an hour too full: Chambéry black/death impresses without yet crushing.
7/10 August 5, 2026