Category: news

September is here! Today sees the release of the new records by Chat Pile, Sleep and President, kicking off a real rush for the Autumn release calendar. The next few weeks look pretty stacked for new releases, so we’re here yet again with a round-up for this week’s best new metal songs.

Speaking of which, the results of last week’s vote! There were some big names in the running last week, but as ever that isn’t always enough to sway your vote on what songs excite you most. Amon Amarth galloped into third place with Eight Legs Of Thunder, but were beat by a hair by black metallers I Helvete. Our overall winners for the week however were In This Moment, the industrial/metalcore mash-up of I Want To Believe taking the crown.

As ever we’ve got a diverse selection for your listening pleasure this week, from sludge to black metal, alternative to death metal. Check out the selection of new songs below, and don’t forget to vote for your favourite – the big end of year lists are just around the corner now!

Blue Medusa – Crocodile

Alissa White-Gluz might’ve teased that she could go proggier with Blue Medusa when speaking to Hammer earlier this year, but Crocodile is pure annihilating force. Slaughter Of The Soul-style melodeath, it gallops in at thrashy pace and hits like a speeding cement mixer. For all the ferocity, Alissa doesn’t do away with melody entirely – there are some great cleans in the chorus and little quirky sonic asides that show this project is looking to do something different. Keep your eyes out for their debut next year, we reckon.

Fear Factory – Roboticist

It’s been a funny few years to be a fan of Fear Factory. The departure of Burton C. Bell in 2020 shook the band up immensely, and even with new vocalist Milo Silvestro joining in 2023 and the band heading out on tour, it was hard to imagine what new material would sound like. Turns out, pretty much the same as the old material. Sounding like they’ve got a fire lit under their arses, Roboticist delivers well on FF’s foundational sound with gattle-gun beats and a relentless sense of force. Silverstro sounds more like Robb Flynn than Bell, but the difference is negligible – if you’re a diehard fan of the band, it’s hard to see you not loving this.

Evanescence – Tell Me When You’ve Had Enough

Picking up where 2021’s The Bitter Truth left off, Evanescence’s new album Sanctuary is as fired up as we’ve ever heard the band. Don’t believe us? Check out new single Tell Me When You’ve Had Enough, a slick and hard-hitting track that proves not only did Amy Lee and co. survive nu metal, but they don’t need to look back to create something vital and powerful. Vive le Evanaissance.

Blind Channel – Stars We See

So your singer quit to make Rasmus-y pop rock with, erm, one of the blokes from The Rasmus. What’s a band to do? If you’re Blind Channel, you knuckle down and lean in on your metalcore elements and kick out a few bangers. That’s where the Finnish band are at with Stars We See, at least, an emotional track that brings to mind the arena-sized singalongs of Architects. It might lack the nu metal bounce of their last album, but it suggests the band are starting fresh on new album Painstream (out October 30).

Lacey Sturm – Forever & Ever (feat. Lindsay Stirling)

Lacey Sturm’s been kept busy with Flyleaf in recent years, but clearly not so much that she hasn’t had time to hit the studio and make new songs. Forever & Ever sees Sturm reunite with violinist Lindsay Stirling, the pair having worked together on 2023’s Kenotic Metanoia. With Eastern European-like folk melodies and thumping, hefty guitar lines, it’s a track that has great – and dramatic – sonic range, proving that even with her return to Flyleaf, Sturm isn’t abandoning the work she’s done since.

Saxon – Gods Of Thunder

Saxon have been kicking out heavy metal tunes for over half a century and they’re not about to stop now. Unlike many of their contemporaries who are slowing down on releases, the boys from Barnsley are keeping up the pace with Gods Of Thunder coming on January 22. Lead single – and title track – Gods Of Thunder is very much Saxon as we know and love them, an implacable march with some howling guitars laid atop like sonic ballista.

Boss Keloid – Landslide

Given how much of stoner rock is dedicated to mind-altering substances, the amount of novel invention remains disappointingly low. That is, until you get to Boss Keloid – the UK’s answer to the cosmic sludge of Mastodon. Landslide is a typically dextrous and trippy track, chucking up delightful, stompy riffs in a 9-and-a-bit-minute epic that feels like a full sonic journey in itself. New album Float & Aperture is due October 23.

Hansen – Wait And See

Considering he’s best known for his work with Helloween, you might be surprised at the sound of Kai Hansen’s Wait And See. There’s no power metal nor fantasy themes in sight (though we do detect a little of the iconic Halloween theme in the keys). Instead the track has the slick, almost industrial tone of turn-of-the-millennium metal (though crucially, not nu metal) with a massive riff front and centre and an irresistible beat that’ll make you want to headbang, mosh or just shake your ass. Hansen’s new album Born With A Hammer is out September 18.

Illan Kaapan – The Rising Tide / Keeps Me Alive

Sri Lanka isn’t an obvious hotbed for hardcore, or maybe it is and we’re just idiots for overlooking it. That’s the prevailing thought after hearing Illan Kaapan this week, the Aussie/Sri Lankan band putting out easily one of the most refreshing beatdown tracks we’ve heard in a while in The Rising Tide / Keeps Me Alive. Put it down to the frantic, tribe-like drums that skitter beneath the lumbering riffs, or just that this track swings like its got wrecking balls for arms. New EP Undeniable is out now and if it’s half as ferocious as this, we could be looking at new stars of the scene.

Jasmeno – His Rebirth (ft. Bart Krysiuk)

What the hell can you classify something like Jasmeno’s His Rebirth as? Doom metal, prog, symphonic… there’s little bits of all of the above and more crammed into the song’s five minutes and 39 seconds. It’s wild and unique, droning vocals suddenly meeting cosmic synths, which give way to gorgeous, glorious guitar solos. The Polish band’s new album Assemblage of Cinematic Idioms is out next week (September 11) and we reckon you need to hear it.

Nails – Dollar Bin Generation

Need a palate cleanser after that absolute headfuck? Leave it to Nails, the grindcore brutes dropping a surprise double-single this week and serving up no frills nastiness that’ll put a massive grin on your face. It’s fast, it’s hard, it’s heavy… it’s Nails.

Love Sex Machine – The Herd

Oppressive and menacing like a bad neighbourhood given a nervous system, Love Sex Machine’s The Herd is exactly the kind of song you don’t want to listen to when walking home alone at night. Set somewhere between industrial (albeit Godflesh/Ministry’s end of the spectrum – no dancing here!) and sludge it’s a real brute of a track.

Autumn’s creeping in, which means shorter days and colder temperatures. But, worst of all, it means that festival season is over. This year’s summer was crazier than most, witnessing auspicious headline debuts such as Limp Bizkit at Download and Green Lung at Desertfest. New events emerged, like Ankea in Finland, while others underwent sea changes, as Arctangent in Bristol and Mystic in Poland both bade farewell to their longtime sites. Plus, who didn’t get swept up in the controversy of Slaughter To Prevail topping the bill at Bloodstock?

There’s a lot to reflect on. So, as the leaves turn orange and the clouds grow greyer, we sat down members of the Metal Hammer team and got them to reminisce about the best sets they saw in 2026. From Linkin Park to Blood Incantation, we got quite the range of responses…

Halestorm (Sonic Temple, USA; May 15)

It’s always been obvious that Lzzy Hale has enormous star power. Having watched Halestorm claw their way up from small clubs to headlining arenas, it felt fitting to finally see them in a stadium. Even though they brought more production to their Download set the following month – who doesn’t love a bit of pyro? – the Pennsylvanians were on top form when they played Ohio’s Historic Crew Stadium in May. Tight, powerful and showy without being ostentatious, it was an essential performance which proved that Halestorm are long overdue their chance at the big leagues. Rich Hobson

Sergeant Thunderhoof (Desertfest, UK; May 15)

One of the worst aspects of the human experience is that sometimes you forget how much you love something. When I saw Sergeant Thunderhoof again at Desertfest this year, I remembered it all. They stepped in on quite short notice, after Rubber Snake Charmers dropped out, and what a performance! Their music is effortlessly epic while managing to be crushingly heavy: a veritable smorgasbord of the best doom metal has to offer, and they continue to go from strength to strength. They played for an hour, but I could talk about why I loved their show for way longer than that. Kiarash Golshani

Oranssi Pazuzu (Ankea, Finland; June 6)

Tampere’s psychedeliacs didn’t officially headline this debuting prog metal festival in their hometown, but they may as well have. Taking the second stage early after Katatonia ran 15 minutes short, the quintet played an extended set before a rapt crowd. Their noise/extreme metal/krautrock fusion, dizzying at the best of times, proved even more disorienting through the oppressive volume. Meanwhile, the video backdrop screened footage abstract and vibrant enough for the opening titles of Doctor Who. Even though I’ve never done hallucinogenic drugs, now that I’ve taken this multimedia trip to the outer reaches of music, it feels like I have. Matt Mills

Linkin Park (Download, UK; June 14)

If there were any remaining doubts that Emily Armstrong is the perfect person to lead Linkin Park into a new era of success, they’d have been quashed with this triumphant showing. Armstrong became the first female singer to headline Download festival since its 2003 launch (and to headline Donington Park in general), and the nu metal superstars marked the occasion with a jaw-dropping setlist of hits and deep cuts, transporting everyone back to the 2000s. No drink, drug or medical intervention will ever replicate screaming Numb at the top of your lungs as the sun sets over 80,000 people. Yasmine Summan

Blood Incantation (Beyond The Gates, Norway; July 31)

Blood Incantation had seemingly been touring Absolute Elsewhere for aeons, but the last visitation of their European leg, at Bergen’s Grieghallen concert hall, brought their cosmic travelogues to a new level of spectacular. Yeah, Pompeii was probably fine, but it didn’t have lasers. Here, they criss-crossed the auditorium in their multitudes, as if it were a parade for some intergalactic emperor. They formed wireframe worlds in tribute to the 70s planetariums where Pink Floyd would be the go-to soundtrack. Add to that the immaculate acoustics and a band whose vast, mind-melting reaches instil a singular sense of belonging, and the result was 2,200 souls teleported to a new frontier of awe. Jonathan Selzer

Arch Enemy (Wacken Open Air, Germany; August 1)

Following in the footsteps of one beloved metal singer can be hard work. Following in the footsteps of two of them – three if you count OG vocalist Johan Liiva – is a hell of an ask. But that’s exactly what was demanded of Lauren Hart when she was announced as Arch Enemy’s fourth frontperson earlier this year, replacing Alissa White-Gluz. At by far their biggest show so far with their new recruit, the melodeath brutes were greeted like returning heroes, smashing through a triumphant set in front of tens of thousands. Hart seemed at home while bellowing her way through Ravenous, Nemesis and War Eternal. Recent single To The Last Breath sounded every bit as colossal live as those classics. As a fan of some 25 years, the gig left me excited for their future. Merlin Alderslade

Body Count (Bloodstock Open Air, UK; August 9)

What’s the anatomy of a great festival set? You need the setting: a packed Bloodstock main stage in the blazing sun would do it. How about some star power? Few are more iconic than OG gangsta rapper Ice-T, backed by his Body Count crew. And, obviously, you need the tunes. Imagine the chutzpah to open with Body Count’s In The House, then launching straight into a Raining Blood cover. You also want a memorable one-off event. Ice grabbing two kids out of the crowd and getting them to yell “talk shit, get shot!”, along with all other manner of profanities, along with him will live long in the memory. On all counts, the set of the summer. Stephen Hill

Deftones (All Points East Presents Outbreak, UK; August 23)

In an uncertain, over-stimulated world sporadically punctuated by shocks, violence and lingering trauma, you can see why Deftones’ whisper-to-scream, nightmare-to-dream dynamics make sense to more people than ever. At APE/Outbreak, the excitement displayed by thousands of Gen Z fans obviously seeing the band for the first time added to the sense of occasion, while older loyalists were in agreement that Chino Moreno’s band have never sounded better. Was it as intense as when I saw them play a 90-minute, White Pony-dominated set for an audience of just three in their Sacramento rehearsal space in the summer of 2000? No, admittedly. But more than a quarter of a century later, Deftones have aged magnificently. Unlike me… Paul Brannigan