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Polish death metal veterans AZARATH will release their eighth studio album, Scorn Eternal, on November 20, 2026, through Agonia Records. It will be the band’s first full-length since Saint Desecration arrived in 2020. The announcement confirms that the group’s current lineup remains intact, with Skullripper handling guitars and vocals, Inferno of BEHEMOTH on drums and […]

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With proceeds benefiting Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

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Exumer are probably viewed as a footnote in the Big Book of Germanic Thrash. After all, they only managed to release 2 albums in the Golden 80s, and only one of them really epitomized the raw, unhinged nature of the Teutonic terrors launched by acts like Sodom, Kreator, and Destruction. Their Possessed by Fire debut is a minor classic and has been an enduring staple at Steel HQ since it dropped in 1986. It features one of the most loony-tune vocal performances ever recorded courtesy of Mem Von Stein.¹ Cuts like the title track, “Xion Darkstar,” and “Reign of Sadness” have been bouncing around in my meat brain for nearly 40 years, and their charm never fades.² Since getting the band back together for a second run starting in 2012, their output has been surprisingly vibrant and spry. 2019s Hostile Defiance was especially nasty, hyperkinetic fun. Now, after a nearly 7-year wait, we get Death Mask Messiah. With a new drummer and bassist in tow, Exumer pick up where they left off and deliver an album’s worth of high-octane, all gas, no brakes accelerated fare with a strong 80s vibe. If it ain’t broke, thrash it!

Wasting only enough time to sample knives grinding against each other, the opening title track comes out looking for blood and treasure. It’s classic German thrash that will remind you a lot of Kreator at times, but the riff phrasing and style often sound like vintage Exodus. And honestly, that’s not a bad pair of influences with which to piece together a balls-to-the-wall basher like this. Von Stein still sounds like a raging maniac strung out on bath salts, and that main riff is nuclear fire. Equally effective is “Blinding Skies,” where I detect a lot of classic Vio-Lence in the confrontational riffscapes. Add some snarling vocals and wild solos, and you get a high-grade adrenaline rush sure to appeal to the speed junkies out there. “Sin Bleeder” is another standout, with a very Kreator-esque energy and style that would have fit on their recent album. Later track “Serpent” would be a close match as well.

Exumer switch up the formula slightly as things roll along to keep things fresh. Some tracks inject a crossover vibe with plenty of gang shouts, and these are good fun. “Eradication” has a punky vibe that recalls Warbringer and Sodom, and “Allocated Savagery” has a strong underlying punk energy too. Track after track delivers the thrashing goods, and there are cool moments embedded in every cut. I’m especially partial to the big, beefbrained power chugs in “Fratracide,” as they really kick you in the unsafe spaces. Exumer even grace us with a cover of Nasty Savage classic “Unchained Angel,” and Von Stein does a fantastic imitation of Nasty Ronnie (unless they unearthed the actual Nasty Ronnie from his gator-infested Floridian trailer park). What helps sell this material is Exumer’s ability to write choruses that actually stick; something many thrash bands tend to forget about. Several choruses from this thing have been bobbing around in my subconscious for a week, and that’s a win for songsmithing. At 43 minutes, Death Mask Messiah arrives, beats your stupid face to pork pulp, and leaves promptly with your wallet and beer supply. With a beefy production and a smooth master by Arthur Rizk, the sound is tight and not overly loudified.

I’ve been a fan of Mem Von Stein’s voKILLS since I was a dumb teen, and I feel the same way about him as a dumb geezer. He doesn’t sound as much like a deranged cartoon anymore, with his delivery fitting neatly between Kreator’s Mille and Vio-Lence’s Sean Killian. He has the perfect voice for thrash, and his snarls, barks, and screams are good, unfriendly, violent fun. Ray Mensch and Marc Bräutigam are a powerhouse guitar tandem, and they bring a gaggle of high-quality riffs to the speedfest. A lot of their leads have that Exodus vibe, but other influences bleed in too, and the solos these chaps rip off are wild and crazy. New kitman Jerome Reil goes bersekk on the drums and bashes his way to Valhalla and back. These cats know how to craft quality thrash, and as any good band should, they set out to pummel you from open to close. Mission accomplished.

Exumer continue to prove themselves the modern equals of the Big Three, and this is the second album in a row that impressed the hell out of me. Death Mask Messiah does nothing new or innovative, nor do I want that from Exumer. It just rips shit up and kicks you in the face with a size 12 steel-toed boot. That’s what thrash is for, so brace for face annihilation. RE-EXUMER!

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Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: exumer.de | facebook.com/exumerofficial | instagram.com/exumerofficial
Releases Worldwide: August 28th, 2026

The post Exumer – Death Mask Messiah Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

The “Lula Divinia” rarity is part of their upcoming “The Y Section” compilation.

The post Shiner Launch New Remastered Version Of “Two Black Eyes”, Plan Deluxe Edition Of “BELIEVEYOUME” appeared first on Theprp.com.

Back in February, Danz CM released MYTHS, an ambient album with vintage synths. Today, the synth wiz is teasing a new project with two new songs called “Bontempi Pop 3” and “A Violent Power.”

The post Danz CM – “Bontempi Pop 3” & “A Violent Power” appeared first on Stereogum.

Dominic Fike opened the Tame Impala show I attended this week, but I missed his set because I got false intel about its start time. Sorry, Dominic Fike! Here’s what I can do to make it up to you: a blog post about your new album announcement.

The post Dominic Fike Announces New Album <em>How To Quit Smoking</em>: Hear “Wallpaper” appeared first on Stereogum.

Photographed: The Damn Truth Gibson Garage, August 27th, 2026 Photographer – Phil Honley ©All photographs are copyright of Phil Honley – Gigsnapz. They may not be altered or used without express permission. Web Links: Official Website Facebook Instagram TikTok X

The post Photographed: The Damn Truth – Gibson Garage, August 27th 2026 appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

Montreal speed metal trio SKUMSTRIKE have released “Mastery of Sin,” the third and final advance track from their forthcoming second album, Flawless Intrigue from Hell. The record arrives on September 25, 2026, through Dying Victims Productions. The song is currently streaming exclusively through No Clean Singing. “Mastery of Sin” wastes little time building momentum. Hammering […]

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Opeth’s albums, ranked worst to best, cover fourteen records and thirty-five years — and no discography in heavy music splits a room faster. Since 1990 Mikael Åkerfeldt has led this band through a transformation so complete it produced two separate fanbases who barely speak to each other: the blood-soaked death metal loyalists and the seventies prog converts.

From the cold blackened forests of Morningrise to the theatrical sprawl of 2024’s The Last Will and Testament, Opeth have remained the most consistently ambitious entity in the genre. Fair warning before you scroll: the album most people call their masterpiece isn’t the one at number one.

Why this band is metal’s greatest identity crisis

Ranking Opeth isn’t an editorial task so much as an emotional gauntlet.

The genius of Åkerfeldt has always been his refusal to stand still. Whether he’s channelling Scott Walker or Morbid Angel, the Opeth DNA — melancholy, intricate acoustic passages, that particular Swedish gloom — is always audible underneath.

The 2026 landscape has only sharpened the argument. The Abbey Road remasters mean we’re hearing these records with fresh ears, and 2024’s return to growls forced everyone to reassess what the middle years actually meant.

The rule applied here: everything is judged on songwriting quality. A great riff is a great riff whether it’s whispered or screamed. The 2011 Heritage schism — when Åkerfeldt hung up the growls and challenged the entire tough-guy aesthetic of the scene — doesn’t get a penalty or a bonus. It gets assessed on what the songs actually do.

That’s why this list will annoy both camps roughly equally.

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14. Pale Communion (2014)

Flashes of brilliance like “Cusp of Eternity,” but this is the album where the band leaned hardest into their 1970s record collections.

It’s dense, over-indulgent prog-rock, and while it’s technically flawless it lacks the emotional gut-punch of everything around it. Tom Dalgety’s production is pristine. That’s part of the problem — the absence of dynamic danger makes it the low point in a discography that normally thrives on tension.

A musician’s album. For the average headbanger it can feel like an academic exercise in Hammond organ worship.

13. Orchid (1995)

The debut. Raw, cold, and arguably their most black metal-leaning release.

“In Mist She Was Standing” shows glimpses of the legends they’d become, but the production is thin and the song lengths feel unfocused next to the surgical precision of later years. You can hear Bathory and Celtic Frost clashing with folk sensibilities.

An essential historical document. Listened to in 2026, it’s a band still hunting for the middle ground between extreme ambition and melodic instinct.

12. Heritage (2011)

The album that started the war.

Heritage was a necessary creative palate cleanser. It’s jazzy, psychedelic and confusing — the hardest Opeth record to get into, and the one that made surviving into the 2020s possible. This was the sound of a band burning the bridge to the death metal world just to see what was on the other side.

“The Devil’s Orchard” is a masterclass in odd time signatures. But the jarring absence of growls, after twenty years, left a lot of people feeling abandoned.

An intellectual triumph and a visceral struggle.

11. Morningrise (1996)

Atmosphere incarnate — the sound of a rainy Swedish autumn.

“To Bid You Farewell” remains one of the most beautiful things in the catalogue, but the twenty-minute “Black Rose Immortal” can feel like a collection of great riffs looking for a coherent home. Dan Swanö’s cavernous production made this the record for the forest-dwelling wing of the fanbase.

A youthful, ambitious Opeth ready to conquer the world but not yet in command of the art of editing.

10. Watershed (2008)

The last growl album of the first era, and a bizarre, heavy, experimental beast.

“The Lotus Eater” is a masterpiece of technical metal, folding funk-inspired breaks into death metal in a way only this band could. But the departures of Peter Lindgren and Martin Lopez left a mark — Fredrik Åkesson and drummer Martin “Axe” Axenrot are phenomenal players, and the vibe still changed.

It’s an album of transitions. They were clearly ready for the clean territory of Heritage, and gave us one last dose of brutality on the way out.

9. Sorceress (2016)

The heaviest of the prog era.

The title track’s main riff is pure sludge and “Chrysalis” brings back an aggression that Pale Communion badly missed. This is the record where Opeth proved they didn’t need death metal vocals to be heavy.

The mix is thick and woody, channelling Deep Purple and Rainbow. A fun, groovy album that finally sounds comfortable in its own skin — guitar heroes without the baggage of the extreme past.

8. My Arms, Your Hearse (1998)

The first great Opeth concept album, and where the band found their groove.

“Demon of the Fall” is a permanent setlist staple for good reason — the definitive blend of folk-inflected acoustics and terrifying death metal peaks. This is where the writing became streamlined; tracks started feeling like songs rather than sequences of parts.

One of the most cohesive listens in the catalogue, and the blueprint for what arrived three years later.

7. Deliverance (2002)

The heavy half of the double-album project, and a masterclass in tension and release.

The title track’s closing polyrhythm is legendary among drummers. It’s a punishing, long-form exercise in brutal progressive death metal, recorded during a chaotic period for the band and all the better for it.

Arguably their most aggressive work. It lacks some of the beauty of its counterpart, but makes up for it in sheer weight.

6. In Cauda Venenum (2019)

A modern masterpiece, recorded in both Swedish and English.

Grandiose, operatic, and featuring some of Åkerfeldt’s finest clean vocal performances. This is the absolute peak of the new-era sound — cinematic orchestration welded to their catchiest, most complex songwriting. “Dignity” and “Heart in Hand” proved Opeth could be massive without being conventional.

Hear it in Swedish if you can. That’s where the innate beauty Åkerfeldt intended actually lives.

5. Still Life (1999)

The album where Opeth became world-class.

A beautiful, tragic anti-religious concept record. “The Moor” and “Face of Melinda” show a band that had finally mastered the transition between crushing brutality and baroque folk. Their first for Peaceville, and the production jump was immense — every instrument finally has room to breathe.

The most romantic album in the discography. A gothic tale of loss that still lands twenty-seven years on.

4. The Last Will & Testament (2024)

The return to heavy, and a genuine shock.

It brought back the growls and welded them to the theatrical maximalism of the prog years — a skittering, somersaulting assault that proves Opeth are still at the apex of their powers. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull and Joey Tempest of Europe both appear, which gives it an event quality, but the real story is the return of those vocals.

A culmination of every era. A thank-you to the faithful that breaks new ground at the same time.

3. Damnation (2003)

The quiet half of the project, and a perfect record.

Distortion ditched entirely in favour of seventies-inspired melancholic prog. Twenty-three years later, “Windowpane” and “In My Time of Need” remain hauntingly relevant. It proved Opeth were masters of atmosphere above all else.

By removing the crutch of the growl, Åkerfeldt forced himself to become one of the best clean vocalists in heavy music. The ultimate rainy-day album — fragile, beautiful, and comprehensible to people who don’t like metal at all.

2. Blackwater Park (2001)

The breakthrough, produced by Steven Wilson, and routinely cited as the greatest progressive death metal album ever made.

From the opening roar of “The Leper Affinity” to the title track’s closing riff, it’s a flawless execution by a band hitting their prime. Wilson’s influence cleaned up the arrangements and made the light and shade far more dramatic.

This is the album that made them stars, and for a great many people it’s the gold standard by which all prog-metal is measured. Essential, iconic, and very nearly perfect.

And it still isn’t number one.

1. Ghost Reveries (2005)

The definitive Opeth statement.

Blackwater Park is the fan favourite. Ghost Reveries is the perfection of the sound. It’s occult, heavy, melodic and experimental all at once, and the addition of Per Wiberg on keyboards brought a Deep Purple Hammond grit the band had never had.

“Ghost of Perdition” is the single song that best defines their entire legacy — a swirling, multi-layered piece of mysticism that hasn’t been topped in the two decades since.

The apex of their songwriting, production and performance. If Blackwater Park is the album that made Opeth matter, this is the one where everything they’d been reaching for since 1990 finally landed at once.

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The full ranking

14. Pale Communion (2014)
13. Orchid (1995)
12. Heritage (2011)
11. Morningrise (1996)
10. Watershed (2008)
9. Sorceress (2016)
8. My Arms, Your Hearse (1998)
7. Deliverance (2002)
6. In Cauda Venenum (2019)
5. Still Life (1999)
4. The Last Will & Testament (2024)
3. Damnation (2003)
2. Blackwater Park (2001)
1. Ghost Reveries (2005)

Opeth albums in release order

Orchid — 1995 Morningrise — 1996 My Arms, Your Hearse — 1998 Still Life — 1999 Blackwater Park — 2001 Deliverance — 2002 Damnation — 2003 Ghost Reveries — 2005 Watershed — 2008 Heritage — 2011 Pale Communion — 2014 Sorceress — 2016 In Cauda Venenum — 2019 The Last Will and Testament — 2024

The two fanbases, and why this list annoys both

Here’s the thing about Opeth arguments: they’re never really about which album is best. They’re about which band you think Opeth is.

The growl camp will look at In Cauda Venenum at six and Sorceress at nine and consider both far too generous. The prog camp will look at Heritage at twelve and argue we’ve penalised the bravest thing Åkerfeldt ever did.

Both are reasonable. Neither is what happened. Heritage sits low because it’s a difficult listen, not because it’s clean; Pale Communion sits lower still for exactly the same reason. Meanwhile Damnation — an album with no distorted guitars at all — is at three, which should settle any suggestion that this list is growl-biased.

The real fight is at the top. Ghost Reveries over Blackwater Park is a minority position and we know it. The case is simple: Blackwater Park is the more important record, Ghost Reveries is the better one.

Take it up with us below.

If you want more of this, the full Loaded Radio rankings archive is here. In Flames is the closest companion piece — another Swedish band whose evolution split its own audience down the middle — and Amon Amarth, Gojira, Lamb of God and Sleep Token are all worth your time.

TL;DR

• Fourteen studio albums across thirty-five years, from 1995’s Orchid to 2024’s The Last Will and Testament.
• Best: Ghost Reveries (2005) — occult, heavy, melodic and experimental at once, with Per Wiberg’s Hammond adding a grit the band never had before.
• Worst: Pale Communion (2014) — technically flawless, emotionally inert, and the one record where the seventies influences swallowed the tension.
• The famous one: Blackwater Park (2001), produced by Steven Wilson and widely called the greatest progressive death metal album ever made. It lands second.
• The bravest one: Heritage (2011), the album where Åkerfeldt dropped the growls and split the fanbase permanently.
• The comeback: The Last Will and Testament (2024) brought the growls back and features Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull and Joey Tempest of Europe.

FAQ

Fourteen albums, two fanbases, and a number one that’s going to start an argument. Is Ghost Reveries really their peak, or does Blackwater Park take it? Settle it in the comments. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.

The post Opeth Albums Ranked: Complete Discography appeared first on Loaded Radio.

“We were on ‘Warped’ when ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ came out.”

The post Underoath Share “It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door” Live Video From 2026 Long Beach ‘Vans Warped Tour’ Set appeared first on Theprp.com.