True to black metal’s fiercely individual spirit, upon moving to Norway at the end of the 2000s, Roman V. started Bizarrekult as a lone wolf. Much like Roman’s previous two retreats into the studio, his upcoming third album emerged from a deeply personal crisis. Only on Alt Som Finnes, he’s not alone in confronting all there.
While long enshrined amongst the hallowed halls of metal, after nearly three and a half decades, Cryptopsy are as insatiable as ever. After cracking year-end lists at Decibel, Metal Injection and BangerTV with their latest Billboard-shaking album, An Insatiable Violence, the most vile band in death metal were just crowned headliners of the longest-running heavy metal tour in North America. Now, as they continue to bang heads on their current European tour, the Canadian legends are proud to add another honor to their Hall of Fame career.
Heilung are known around the world for transcending the boundaries of sound and history. Since forming in 2015, the Nordic collective have made their unmistakable presence felt everywhere from the Billboard charts to Glastonbury, The Game Awards and major Hollywood films. Their performance rituals draw crowds into an intimate, mystical space that threads together earth, fire and incense with throat singing, primordial rhythms, subtle electronic textures, a mesmerizing light show and instruments made from human bone.
Fresh off slitting through a largely sold-out European headline tour, Cryptopsy remain insatiable as ever. The most vile band in death metal are nominated for Best Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year at this year’s JUNO Awards, a category that they won just two years ago. Now, as they prepare to headline the longest-running heavy metal tour in North America, the Canadian legends are proud to add another accomplishment to their Hall of Fame career.
After taking the world by storm last year with their new album ÜL, Mawiza are beating the drum for indigenous metal even louder in 2026. The modern day Mapuche warriors paid a visit to Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier’s Silver Chord Studio and performed to a packed house in Santiago before taking the stage alongside Mr. Bungle and Avenged Sevenfold.
Ever since they emerged from Greece’s underground catacombs, Unverkalt have been drawn to the edge. On their upcoming third album, the post-metal luminaries finally plunge into the darkness that’s always waited for them below. While wrestling with the weight of our accursed history, Héréditaire now stands as the band’s heaviest and most heartfelt offering.
Since 2018, NITE have proudly carried the torch for Bay Area metal. But the San Francisco natives are catching fire behind their white-hot new album. Cult of the Serpent Sun was named one of the best albums of 2025 by Decibel, New Noise, Invisible Oranges and other major publications, as well as Nate Garrett from Spirit Adrift. Now, as they prepare to ignite Inferno Festival, the blackened heavy metal band are celebrating the one-year anniversary of their latest critically-acclaimed LP with Bandcamp.
Green Carnation have never been afraid of a challenge. Just last year, the Norwegian captains of progressive metal finally set sail on an epic three-part voyage that had eluded them for more than thirty years. The Shores of Melancholia washed onto year-end lists at PROG, Loudwire, Angry Metal Guy and other major publications. Now, after reaching crushing new highs during its opening chapter, the band are descending into deeper, darker and more personal depths with Part II of A Dark Poem.
In keeping with black metal’s fiercely individual spirit, Bizarrekult began its journey in Norway as a lone wolf. Much like the previous two retreats into the studio from lone mastermind Roman V., his upcoming third album emerged slowly and painstakingly from a deeply personal crisis. But the post-black metal luminary continues to expand his tortured vision by not breaking so much as bending with the genre’s storied traditions. On Alt Som Finnes, he confronts all there is with devastating clarity.
Since the ‘90s, Septicflesh have elevated death metal to a fine art. Alongside their Athenian brothers-in-arms Rotting Christ and Nightfall, real-life flesh and blood Spiros and Christos Antoniou rose from the Greek underground alongside virtuoso shredder Sotiris Vayenas. After the trio re-communed with drummer Fotis Benardo at the Season of Mist table during the 2000s, the maestros set to work on composing their greatest masterpiece.
After nearly three and a half decades of brutal technical supremacy, Cryptopsy are still insatiable. The most vile band in death metal finished off last year by cracking year-end lists at Decibel, Metal Injection, BangerTV, No Clean Singing and other outlets with their latest Billboard-shaking album An Insatiable Violence. Now, as they continue to bang heads on their current European tour, the Canadian legends are proud to announce another new milestone in their Hall of Fame career.
Another new year brings resolutions for the future. But thankfully, Weedeater are happy to keep on grinding. After gassing up the ol’ dusty trail with Melvins, Napalm Death and Baroness last year, Cape Fear’s legendary cultivators of weed metal are lighting up 2026 with a fresh batch of tour dates.
Alkaloid know no bounds. Since joining forces in 2013, the supergroup has rearranged the very composition of progressive death metal. But upon returning to the stage last summer, Morean, Hannes Grossman, Linus Klausenitzer, Justin Hombach and Max Blok proved once and for all why they are metal’s maddest scientists. Their new live album, Bach Out of Bounds, is a genre-defying experiment that only true maestros can perform.
