It’s Friday, which means it’s time to sort through the week’s avalanche of new heavy music and pull out what actually matters. This week delivered two genuine event singles — Amon Amarth’s first new music in four years and Hatebreed’s first in six — alongside a tenth album announcement from Finland’s melodic death metal royalty, a fresh cut from Beartooth’s reinvention, a Nonpoint collaboration fans have been waiting on since April, and an all-star Soundgarden resurrection with Lzzy Hale on vocals and Matt Cameron behind the kit. Here are the six best new metal songs this week, ranked.
STREAM THE METAL BREAKDOWN DAILY NOW:
Amon Amarth’s return, Ministry’s farewell, Ghost’s new concert film and more — Scott Penfold covered all of this week’s biggest rock and metal headlines on Metal Breakdown Daily, every weekday morning. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and stream the broadcast now.
6. Nonpoint – Red Yeti (feat. Skye Sweetnam)
Nonpoint fans have been waiting on this one since April, when the band road-tested it live in Tampa with Sumo Cyco’s Skye Sweetnam joining Elias Soriano onstage. Now it’s out properly, and it earns the anticipation.
“Red Yeti” is a genuine trade-off track — Soriano and Sweetnam pushing each other across an aggressive arrangement rather than the polite guest-verse handoff most collaborations settle for. The two bands have shared stages for years and you can hear the familiarity. It sits at track eight on The Last Word, the band’s eleventh album, arriving September 18 via their own 361 Degrees Records — their first full-length since 2018’s X.
5. Beartooth – Eyes Closed
Out today, and the fourth single from Pure Ecstasy, arriving August 28 as Beartooth’s sixth album and their first for Fearless Records.
“Eyes Closed” is track two on the record and it’s heavy in both senses. Musically it’s the riff-forward Beartooth that Caleb Shomo has spent a decade perfecting; lyrically it sits in doubt, guilt and the instinct to bury everything rather than say it out loud — which, on an album explicitly about Shomo working toward expressing himself honestly, is the tension the whole record runs on. Shomo said of the track that “It felt incredible to scream it out and let go”, and you can hear precisely that in the back half.
Shomo wrote, recorded and largely produced the album himself, with some collaboration from Jordan Fish.
4. Insomnium – Gleam In The Black
Finland’s masters of melancholy announced their tenth studio album this week, and “Gleam In The Black” is the second single from it.
If you know Insomnium, you know the formula and you know it never gets old: mournful melody laid over genuinely ferocious melodic death metal, all of it soaked in the specific Karelian gloom the band have been bottling since forming in Joensuu. This one leans harder into the aggressive end than the previous single, with the melodic hooks working underneath rather than sitting on top. The official video was directed by Patric Ullaeus.
The album is Netherworlds, out October 16 via Century Media, and it catches the band in a very strong run of form.
3. King Ultramega – Birth Ritual (feat. Lzzy Hale, Matt Cameron, Joe Hottinger)
This is the one with the story.
King Ultramega is the all-star Chris Cornell tribute project spearheaded by Metal Allegiance’s Mark Menghi, and for “Birth Ritual” they pulled off something remarkable: Matt Cameron, the Soundgarden drummer who co-wrote and played on the 1992 original, sat back down behind the kit to re-record it. Lzzy Hale handles the Cornell vocal, her Halestorm bandmate Joe Hottinger plays guitar, and Menghi produces and plays bass.
“Birth Ritual” was always one of the strangest, heaviest things in the Soundgarden catalogue — a Badmotorfinger-era outtake that surfaced on the Singles soundtrack and later on the Telephantasm and Echoes Of Miles compilations. Hale doesn’t imitate Cornell, which is the only correct approach, and Cameron gave the version his blessing, calling it “a nice modern update, but still sounds true to the original”.
It’s the second time a Soundgarden member has appeared on a King Ultramega track, following Kim Thayil’s guitar work on their version of “The Day I Tried To Live.” The single arrived July 21, one day after what would have been Cornell’s birthday.
2. Hatebreed – Kill Count Increase
Six years. That’s how long it’s been since Hatebreed put out a record, and “Kill Count Increase” wastes exactly none of its runtime reintroducing them.
Two and a half minutes, detuned, d-beat-driven, and functionally a wall coming down. Jamey Jasta sounds furious in the way only Jasta manages — clear enough that every word lands, delivered like he’s tearing something out of his chest. It’s the opening track on Fatal Paradox, out November 6 via BLKIIBLK, produced by longtime collaborator Chris “Zeuss” Harris, which is exactly the right call. Jasta described it as “straightforward, in-your-face Hatebreed. Fast. Hard.” He isn’t overselling it.
Worth noting: this is the band’s ninth album and their first since the 2024 departure of bassist and longtime songwriter Chris Beattie. The tracklist also includes “Sacrifice Season” featuring Obituary’s John Tardy, and “Make The Demons Obey” — a track we covered when it first surfaced last summer — finally getting an album home.
Hatebreed are headlining Summer Slaughter right now, with the second leg launching August 20 in Albuquerque.
1. Amon Amarth – Gjallarhorn
Top spot, and it isn’t close.
Four years on from The Great Heathen Army, the Vikings have returned with the opening track from The Allfather Awakens, out October 2 via Metal Blade. Named for the horn that announces Ragnarök in Norse mythology, “Gjallarhorn” does exactly what a first-single-in-four-years needs to do: it moves fast, the central riff lands immediately, and the chorus is built to be shouted back by 40,000 people standing in a field.
What makes it work is how clearly it’s designed for the room. After the recent acoustic detour of “Upphaf,” this is the shield wall reassembling — and it arrives from a band who rebuilt their entire recording process for this album, finishing each song completely before starting the next and swapping modern amps for classic Marshalls to get a rougher edge.
Thirteen albums in and still setting the standard. If it’s reignited the eternal argument for you, our definitive ranking of every Amon Amarth album is where that fight belongs.
Loaded Radio’s Take
Two comeback singles in one week from bands who’ve been away four and six years respectively is a genuinely rare thing, and both delivered. But the track that’ll stay with people longest is probably the King Ultramega one — there’s something quietly moving about Matt Cameron sitting back down to play a song he wrote with Chris Cornell in 1992, more than nine years after losing him.
Heaviest track of the week is Hatebreed. Most replayable is Gjallarhorn. Best surprise is Red Yeti. Fight about it in the comments.
TL;DR
- Amon Amarth’s “Gjallarhorn” is the week’s biggest release, the first single from The Allfather Awakens, out October 2 via Metal Blade
- Hatebreed’s “Kill Count Increase” is their first new music in six years and opens Fatal Paradox, out November 6 via BLKIIBLK
- King Ultramega’s “Birth Ritual” features Matt Cameron, Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger covering Soundgarden as a Chris Cornell tribute
- Insomnium announced their tenth album Netherworlds, out October 16 via Century Media, with second single “Gleam In The Black”
- Beartooth released “Eyes Closed,” the fourth single from Pure Ecstasy, out August 28 via Fearless Records
- Nonpoint’s “Red Yeti” features Sumo Cyco’s Skye Sweetnam and appears on The Last Word, out September 18
FAQ
What are the best new metal songs this week?
The six essential new metal tracks for the week of July 24, 2026 are Amon Amarth’s “Gjallarhorn,” Hatebreed’s “Kill Count Increase,” King Ultramega’s “Birth Ritual,” Insomnium’s “Gleam In The Black,” Beartooth’s “Eyes Closed,” and Nonpoint’s “Red Yeti.”
What is the new Amon Amarth song?
“Gjallarhorn” is the opening track and lead single from Amon Amarth’s thirteenth album, The Allfather Awakens, released October 2, 2026 via Metal Blade Records. It’s their first new music since 2022’s The Great Heathen Army.
Who is singing on King Ultramega’s Birth Ritual?
Lzzy Hale of Halestorm handles lead vocals, with her bandmate Joe Hottinger on guitar, Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron on drums and Mark Menghi of Metal Allegiance on bass and production. King Ultramega is a tribute project honouring Chris Cornell.
When does the new Hatebreed album come out?
Fatal Paradox, Hatebreed’s ninth studio album and first in six years, arrives November 6, 2026 via BLKIIBLK. The lead single is “Kill Count Increase.”
Who is featured on Nonpoint’s Red Yeti?
“Red Yeti” features Skye Sweetnam of Sumo Cyco. The track appears on Nonpoint’s eleventh album, The Last Word, out September 18, 2026 via 361 Degrees Records.
Six tracks, two long-awaited comebacks and a Soundgarden resurrection — not a bad week for heavy music. Which one hit hardest for you? Let us know in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
The post Best New Metal Songs This Week: Amon Amarth And Hatebreed Both Return From Long Absences, And Lzzy Hale Sings Chris Cornell With Matt Cameron On Drums appeared first on Loaded Radio.
