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24 results for “UofMPress”
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Morning run
Over in Cumbria last night and we ran like heck before it got too got. Our audience a lonesome sheep who really was not impressed. To be fair I would not have been as a spectator either.
12k, mainly road with a wee bit of track before it warmed up.
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While At First Unimpressive, Rollei Superpan 200 Is a Bag of Tricks https://petapixel.com/2026/07/31/while-at-first-unimpressive-rollei-superpan-200-is-a-bag-of-tricks/ #bluemooncameraandmachine #blackandwhitefilm #rolleisuperpan200 #bluemooncamera #blackandwhite #agfagevaert #filmfriday #Opinion #Analog #analog #rollei #agfa #film
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Ex-NFL All-Pro unimpressed by Michigan QB Bryce Underwood — who could become backup: ‘Don’t understand’ https://www.rawchili.com/nfl/906034/ #BryceUnderwood #EricWeddle #Football #GaigeWeddle #LosAngelesRams #Michigan #MichiganWolverines #NFL #TheWolverines
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Ex-NFL All-Pro unimpressed by Michigan QB Bryce Underwood — who could become backup: ‘Don’t understand’ https://www.rawchili.com/nfl/906034/ #BryceUnderwood #EricWeddle #Football #GaigeWeddle #LosAngelesRams #Michigan #MichiganWolverines #NFL #TheWolverines
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I'm A Celeb's Angry Ginge unimpressed with camp newcomer fixing them with 'look that could kill'
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Winnipeg cops unveil ‘reconciliation’ cruiser — but critics are unimpressed | Spare News
The Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) proudly showed off the newest tool in its law enforcement arsenal last week:…
#Canada #Winnipeg #anishinaabe #Budget #community #cruiser #drug #Indigenouspeoples #Police #policecar #Policeofficer #policepower(unitedstatesconstitutionallaw) #socialissues #SpareNews #WinnipegPoliceService
https://www.europesays.com/canada/122485/ -
Is it just me or is every demo/overview of the #FlipperZero extremely unimpressive (especially those for a mainstream audience).
I regretfully watched one such video earlier and one of the features highlighted was the ability to copy TV remote signals :blobcatgoogly2: ...I get it was aimed at a non-technical audience but I literally had a watch that could do that when I was a kid and to this day grandparents around the world have universal remotes with this capability...
So I want to put it out there to the #infosec community - where are the cool flipper zero #projects? And I don't mean installing #DOOM or some other quirky play thing. I want to see legit #RF #hacking, or at least using the #GPIO!
#askfedi #askinfosec #rfhacking #pentesttools #hackingtools -
No‑Nonsense Oriole
I was spotted by this rather stern‑looking Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula). He seemed distinctly unimpressed with the bird feed I’d put out. A few minutes after taking the photo, I peeled an orange and set out the slices, which quickly attracted a few other orioles.
Step into a world where even the smallest moments—like the glint in a bird's eye—tell their own story.
https://swede1952-photographs.pixels.com
#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #blackbirds #orioles #baltimoreoriole
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There is a mass of blackthorn in flower in the hedgerow but the blossoms are small and rather unimpressive singly and the twigs are bare.
This wild damson has its leaves and the flowers are much more on the scale of cherry. More refined.
130 years ago there was a fruit farm about 2km away. Possible that this is descended from an escapee.
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Robert MacCulloch, a minister of the Church of Scotland, reads Isaiah 58 and observes that God is unimpressed by worship paired with self-interest. Covetous people, he says, treat gifts to the poor as losses, unlike money spent on business or themselves.
The habit persists among us today: charity is framed as a reckless drain unless tightly controlled and ideologically safe. MacCulloch’s question still irritates—when did alms become a deficit rather than a moral gain?
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We just had a small hail storm roll through.
It was wild watching the clouds roll up and feel the air being drawn in instead of the usual downdraught.
All the horses that we could see were very unimpressed.
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"1999 bodyguards"? Prince had been at Monday night's BPI awards (now known as the BRITs), and brought his entire security entourage up on stage with him.
Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood were the Best British Group) was unimpressed.
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Yes, There’s a Scene After the “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” End Credits
Hats off to writer/director Jane Schoenbrun for contributing to one of the most convoluted entry titles in MCC history! Not that I'm complaining -- tortured syntax is among my numerous writing vices, and I'll take whatever unwitting aiding and abetting I can get in my syntactical torturing. To clarify: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is the full name of Schoenbrun's third film, after We're All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw the TV Glow. I'm a big fan of creative film-titling and increasingly unimpressed by one-word titles that tell you absolutely nothing distinctive about the work, especially if six other unrelated films had that name first. This is also only the second time in our 14-year run that the word "sex" has appeared in an entry title. (The first was, shall we say, not about "sex positivity".) As a self-admitted prude, I've been pretty okay with that particular dearth. But after reading a few reviews of this most unusual film -- one part meta-horror satire of slasher-flick revivals, one part slippery-reality self-discovery vision quest -- I was curious to experience it for myself. I correctly guessed parts of it would be Not My Thing, but Camp Miasma's blood-soaked, mind-bending campground has plenty to unpack. […] -
#pareidolie hier après-midi, au fond de la carrière au pied du radar, bien qu'elle soit entièrement à sec, j'ai vu les dents de la mer… qui laissaient de marbre, ou alors à peine étonnée pour l'une d'entre elles, au moins 2 personnes.
Les voyez-vous aussi sur cette face d'un rocher habituellement immergé ?#pareidolia Yesterday afternoon, at the quarry at the foot of the radar tower—even though it was completely dry—I saw *Jaws*… which left at least two people completely unimpressed, or perhaps just slightly surprised by one of them.
Can you see them too on this side of a rock that’s usually submerged? -
#pareidolie hier après-midi, au fond de la carrière au pied du radar, bien qu'elle soit entièrement à sec, j'ai vu les dents de la mer… qui laissaient de marbre, ou alors à peine étonnée pour l'une d'entre elles, au moins 2 personnes.
Les voyez-vous aussi sur cette face d'un rocher habituellement immergé ?#pareidolia Yesterday afternoon, at the quarry at the foot of the radar tower—even though it was completely dry—I saw *Jaws*… which left at least two people completely unimpressed, or perhaps just slightly surprised by one of them.
Can you see them too on this side of a rock that’s usually submerged? -
America’s most-improved regional rail line
Twenty-five years or so of traveling to the Bay Area for work and for family have not left me in the habit of handing out compliments to rail transit there. Between the limited route maps of Bay Area Rapid Transit and Muni Metro and the horribly expensive construction costs of projects like San Francisco’s 1.7-mile, $1.6 billion Central Subway, public transport around the Bay has too often served first as a lesson to others.
More recently–especially since Google moved its I/O developer conference to Mountain View in 2016–I’ve gotten acquainted with and also unimpressed by Caltrain’s commuter-rail service on the peninsula, run with trains hauled by aging, loud and polluting diesel locomotives. But this week’s I/O trip introduced me to a reinvented rail line that the rest of the U.S. should envy.
Between last May and this May, Caltrain completed a lengthy modernization project to string electric wires over 51 miles of track from San Francisco to San Jose and buy electric-multiple-unit, double-decker trainsets from the Swiss manufacturer Stadler.
So instead of waiting for my ride south from Milbrae to groan its way up to speed on Monday night, this train (packed with Giants fans on their way home from that night’s game) quietly whooshed out of the station. That faster acceleration from every stop helped my entire trip from SFO to Mountain View, starting with BART from the airport, take less time than just last year’s Caltrain ride from Milbrae to Mountain View.
Bunking down in an Airbnb four blocks from that station for the next three nights provided another reminder of how much better electrified trains are: I didn’t hear the roar of diesel engines, leaving just train horns at the nearby grade crossings.
Less obvious but also appreciated: the immense drop in air pollution at and near stations as well as onboard train cars.
My return trip up the peninsula Thursday morning, one of four northbound departures from Mountain View between 8 and 9 a.m., was as great as the ride down. Other passengers seemed to agree about the usefulness of the service, with the train looking as crowded as Monday night’s. Caltrain’s fare date for April showed a more than 50 percent jump in ridership compared to a year ago, outpacing growth at every other transit agency in the region.
(Bonus: the fastest train WiFi I’ve enjoyed to date.)
Outside the U.S., this is not that special–fast, frequent, electric-hauled trains are the default for regional rail service across Europe. But in most of the States, the best you can get outside a subway’s service area is a diesel engine, hopefully built in the last 15 years, hauling passenger cars. This trip to the Bay Area reminded me that we don’t have to accept that level of sluggish, noisy and dirty service as good enough.
We can, however, do better than Caltrain in electrifying regional rail lines, since that organization wound up spending $2.44 billion on this upgrade. Delusional NIMBY lawsuits, Trump adminstration unhelpfulness, and the pandemic aren’t its fault, but Caltrain can’t blame anybody else for an unnecessarily conservative infrastructure design and a botched proprietary train-control effort. And it still needs to raise station platforms to train-door levels to speed boarding and alighting.
A recent report called Momentum, written by veteran NYC transit reporter Nolan Hicks for New York University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management, provides a must-read playbook for other transit organizations about how to avoid design mistakes like Caltrain’s and electrify and accelerate their routes at lower costs.
Commuter-rail managers should read it. And if they find themselves needing to head south of San Francisco on their next trip to the Bay Area, they should take a ride on a line that may make them feel bad about their own service.
#BART #BayArea #Caltrain #catenary #commuterRail #diesel #electricMultipleUnit #electricTrain #electrification #EMU #GoogleIO #Muni #overheadWire #pollution #regionalRail
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#StandingStoneSunday #DevilsTower #Sunrise
#Ancient tools have been found atop the massive basalt mountain, a site revered by and climbed by #NativeAmerican people today.
#MatoTipila 44.591,-104.7152
Also in WY, #BigHorn stone circle. 44.82617,-107.92156
I was unimpressed by the hypothetical #alignments:
http://www.jqjacobs.net/blog/bighorn.html
#Wyoming #camping #archaeology #StoneCircle -
#Lawsuits Have Become the Weapon of Choice Against #Activists
Legal intimidation suits known as “#SLAPPs” are becoming the norm for private #corporations and #governments trying to silence those who speak out on matters of public interest.
by Katie Redford
July 17, 2023“On May 31, #Atlanta #SWAT teams with riot gear and battering rams broke down #MarlonKautz’s door. Police dragged Kautz and two colleagues to jail in their pajamas, charging them with #MoneyLaundering and charity fraud.
“Kautz, Adele MacLean, and Savannah Patterson, are volunteer board members of the #NetworkForStrongCommunities Inc., which was incorporated in 2020. Through it, they are able to raise funds for the #AtlantaSolidarityFund (#ASF). Since 2016, the fund has bailed out people arrested in #Georgia while exercising their First Amendment right to protest and helped them find legal help.
“Recently, the ASF has supported Atlanta activists who have been protesting a new $90 million police training center known as '#CopCity,' arguing that it will rob Atlanta of a #VitalGreenLung and increase inequality in surrounding neighborhoods. The state of Georgia, on the other hand, has charged dozens with 'domestic terrorism' for participating in largely peaceful protests.
“Georgia authorities claim that the money laundering charge is based on evidence of a fund transfer to another organization, but they haven’t shared any other details about their allegations. Magistrate Judge Altman, who presided over the bail hearing, described the state’s evidence as 'unimpressive,' reinforcing the defendants’ claims that the arrests are politically, not legally, motivated.
“Shortly after the arrest, Governor Brian Kemp announced that the state would go after everyone involved, and Attorney General Chris Carr tweeted that the funders of the bail and legal defense fund were next. As an executive director at a climate philanthropy who made charitable donations to the ASF for legal defense, I had to wonder: Was my door going to be battered down next?
“Some of the accused may have trespassed or destroyed property, but to charge protesters with 'domestic terrorism' and a legal defense fund with money laundering is a cynical political act that bears no relation to the misdemeanors alleged. Any American committed to democracy should be interested in making sure these charges lose in both the court of law and the court of public opinion.
“These charges seek to silence and stop opposition to an unpopular development project. They also telegraph a message to others in the state and nationwide: We will not tolerate lawful protest in Georgia. This strategy is known as strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP), which is an intimidation lawsuit, typically used by private corporations against those who speak out on matters of public interest. Various state governments are increasingly deploying this tactic, too.
“SLAPPs don’t usually win in court, but that’s not what they’re intended to do. Instead, they set out to threaten activists and drain the financial resources of social movements. They often unfold as years-long wars of attrition, where corporations and governments with disproportionately large resources grind down the financial, emotional, and legal capacities of activists. The threat of such a suit—typically brought against individuals or groups that confront powerful people or institutions—discourages free speech and association, chilling democracy itself.
“As a lawyer on the front lines of climate justice activism, I witnessed firsthand how a SLAPP was used to weaponize the law against free speech and association. During the mass protests by Indigenous water protectors and environmentalists campaigning against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, SLAPPs were used widely.
“As #StandingRock became a global cause célèbre, the pipeline’s owners brought a $900 million #racketeering case against individuals and #NGOs like #BankTrack and #Greenpeace, alleging a vast global conspiracy to damage the company’s reputation and bottom line through fraud and #defamation.
“A federal court ultimately dismissed the lawsuit. But despite its eventual failure in court, the SLAPP tactic served its intended purpose: intimidation. #KrystalTwoBulls, one of the Standing Rock organizers that my organization represented, said that being sued tangled her up, practically and emotionally, in a legal battle that diverted her attention, taking her away from her work on the climate crisis and #Indigenous #LandRights.
“She began to #censor herself; she withdrew from her community and the movement, fearing that conspiracy allegations might extend to anyone she touched. And that, of course, is the point of these suits: to send out the message to either shut up or suffer the consequences.
“The case against #Kautz in #Atlanta similarly seeks to spark fear in activists and donors against supporting #FirstAmendment rights and legal defense. There is reason to believe that prosecutors may also be preparing #RICO charges against anti–Cop City activists, another dangerous use of the legal system to quell #grassroots movements.
“Since Standing Rock, over 20 states have passed '#CriticalInfrastructure' laws, which dramatically increase civil and criminal penalties related to protests at or near #FossilFuel projects. #DomesticTerrorism laws like that in Georgia have a similar intention: to weaponize the legal system against critics and stifle #DissentingVoices.
“I have no doubt that the majority of the domestic terrorism charges around Cop City will fail. But in the process, a political point will have been made, at the expense of the constitutional right to free speech. People protesting to protect the #environment and #climate will have been publicly accused of being harmful to America’s security, and they will have been forced to defend themselves—likely at exorbitant cost—against a 30-year jail sentence. Other potential activists will surely remember these charges when they consider whether it’s worth it to attend a concert, sit-in, or protest.
"The best strategy for stopping SLAPP suits in their tracks, whether they emanate from the private sector or are used by the state, is to keep speaking out, to support defamed activists, and to make the litigants pay a price. About 30 states have introduced legislation that protects against SLAPPs. And last year, #Jami Raskin introduced the #SLAPPProtectionAct of 2022 to #Congress. It must be reintroduced.
“My organization, #EquationCampaign, created a fund to provide lawyers and legal support for people who face this kind of legal retaliation for their environmental and climate work. I’m astonished at the wide range of people who need our help: from #farmers and ranchers to #journalists and #IndigenousActivists. All of them are on the receiving end of David vs. Goliath legal tactics that have long served powerful interests with near-endless resources.
“Absent federal protections, we all must be vigilant in the face of the egregious proliferation of #antiprotest laws and lawsuits.
“#Democracy and the future of this #planet require people to speak up. The law should serve—not silence—those of us who do."
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/slapp-legal-intimidation-activists/
#ForestDefenders #DefendTheForest #StopCopCity #DirectAction #Fascism #RICO #CriminalizingDissent #WaterProtectors #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SlowMarch #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #NoDAPL #DakotaAccess #StandingWithStandingRock
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Darts and Television. The thread about Borlands of Croall Place
A small but nevertheless significant ripple spread across social media just the other day when it was picked up that the premises of Borlands, a legendary shop on Leith Walk, was for sale. This establishment is well known both for its longevity (“Estd. 1925” above the door) and its no-nonsense signage that boldly proclaimed its unusual pairing of product lines. Darts. Television.
Darts and television go together like fish and chips.
Irvine Welsh and Kevin Williamson, writing on the subject of Borlands, 1993Very little in print media seems ever to have been written about the place, although for a business with no web presence it ironically maintained a somewhat cult following online. There’s more to the Borlands story than just darts and television, so let Threadinburgh take the opportunity to mark the passing of a long-standing pillar of the Leith Walk business community by expanding on it a little bit for you.
Our story begins with Mary Borland (1879-1936), who ran a small newsagent and sweet shop at 47 Albert Street, further down Leith Walk. A widow, the 1921 Census shows she lived in the tenement next door (number 49) with her 17 year-old son Alexander Stanley (apprentice cooper), 14 year-old daughter Beatrice and her 46-year old brother Alexander McPherson, a shipbuilder at Cran & Somerville’s yard in Leith. She had been in business since at least 1920 as evidenced by the Valuation Rolls of that year. In 1925, Alexander took over the next door shop to his mother at number 45 and started out in business for himself as a “cycle agent” i.e., selling bicycles on hire purchase. This shop came with a flat behind, which became his home.
43-49 Albert Street, Google Streetview 2025. From right to left, the red door of the tenement at number 43, the yellow-painted shop unit is combined from two previous smaller shops of 45 (Alexander, bicycles and gramphones) and 47 (Mary’s newsagent and confectioner), and the green door of the tenement at number 49.His business soon expanded into another new hire-purchase market: wireless radios. The BBC had launched a repeater service (2EH) serving Edinburgh in 1924 but home radio sets remained a luxury for the privileged (or technically capable) few for some time. By the turn of the ‘Thirties however mass production and new manufacturers entering a cut-throat market caused the unit price of sets to drop significantly. This brought them within the financial reach of the masses thanks to consumer credit.
A. B. calling. Stop wondering, your wireless set is here, on easy hire purchase terms; Osram 4, Cossor 3, and Red Start 3, etc. don’t delay, call in or write to-day, distance no object; all sets installed free.
Advert for A. Borland, 45 Albert Street, Edinburgh News, 25th October 1930In 1932 you could have a set from Borlands for no deposit and just 3s 6d a week. As the price of sets continued to fall, this payment was down to 3s/week in 1933 and only 2s the following year. You didn’t even need mains electricity, many models worked off a battery which could be taken back to the shop to be recharged.
A vintage Osram 4 “Music Magnet” radio, of the sort sold by Borlands in the 1930s. Image from eBay auction listing.The expansion of Alex’s business was matched by that of his family. He married Agnes Wight in 1930 and two sons would follow; Alexander Stanley (junior) in 1933 and William Wight in 1936. Mary Borland died that year, aged 61, having kept her paper and sweetie shop going next door. Business growth continued and in 1935 the shop familiar to generations at 7 Croall Place on Leith Walk, then trading as McDonald Radio, was purchased. This meant that although it was one of the longest-established businesses on Leith Walk, it wasn’t quite the oldest. Miller’s Linoleum Warehouse has been at number 177 for five more years, the predecessors of Scotmid Co-op have been at 368-370 Leith Walk since way back in 1906 and the Central Bar has been going since 1903.
At Croall Place, Borlands expanded into selling domestic furniture – something else you could get on hire purchase – from this shop. He also owned a number of workshops and garages off the lane behind Albert Place with newspaper adverts recording the occasional motorcyle, car or van for sale. This growing empire is evidence of a successful, self-made businessman. When Leith moved to automatic exchange dialling in July 1936, he was one of a number of prominent local traders who took out adverts in the Evening News to inform the public of this technological update:
Alex. Borland, Leith 36280. Evening News, 25th July 1936The Borlands sons would join the business in the 1950s and the photograph below shows William Wight Borland in the door of 7 Croall Place, probably in the late ‘1950s ‘Fifties or early ‘Sixties. They remained a bicycle dealer in the former decade, adverts in 1951 noting they had over 100 in stock and dealt in the Coventry Eagle, Triumph and New Hudson brands on hire purchase. Although the sign above the door reads “Radio. Cycles“, not “Darts. Television“, the observant listener will notice from the window display that the latter new market had already been entered. Adverts in the ‘News suggest this was around 1954 (the Coronation in 1953 having kick-started the British addiction to television) and in 1961 they told the public that one could rent “a slim television from 9s 6d weekly” from Borlands. Alexander senior would die a few years later in 1966 at the age of 62, his sons taking over the reins.
Borlands for Darts and Televison in 2023 (Google Streeview Image) overlaid with the shop front in the 1950s (image uploaded to Ancestry.com) for Borlands for Radios and Cycles. William Wight Borland, son of Alexander senior, stands in the doorway. Move the slider to compareThe Borland USP of mixing hire-purchase home entertainment with goods for a single sport perhaps began around 1954 when bikes appear to have been supplanted by golf clubs and paraphernalia. Although newspaper adverts seem to dry when the sons took over the business, they return in the early 1980s by which time golf was on the way out and in came snooker and – most importantly – darts. It may seem to younger readers, or those outwith the UK, that this was an unusual combination however both sports were enjoying massive popularity at the time thanks, appropriately, to colour television.
William Wight Borland died at in 1991 aged just 55, by which time he was running 45 Albert Street as a property development and letting agency. His brother Alexander continued to run 7 Croall Place but died just two years later in 1993 aged 60, by which time the definitive signage and product lines of just Darts and Television had been settled on. His wife of thirty years, Maureen, took over the reins at this time. An unexpected degree of fame was brought to the shop that year when Irvine Welsh and Kevin Williamson featured it in their alternative Visitor’s Guide to Edinburgh. Welsh returned to the shop in 1996 with Damon Albarn in tow during a chaotic and well-oiled pub crawl of the city, the Blur frontman buying a bowling bag at Croall Place. The pair had journalist Craig McLean in tow with the idea the day might provide a launch article for a new pop culture magazine, instead they got drunken chaos. The inebriated Albarn had to be taken back to the Malmaison hotel by McLean (who relates he had to undress him and put him to bed) while Welsh disappeared off to Glasgow to watch Hibs only to end up being arrested. An unimpressed Maureen Borland would later tell the Evening News “[he] came in here once with that guy from Blur, Damon Albarn. They came in with cans of lager and I think they’d been to a pub after the football… I’m not a lover of what he writes. This shop’s a family business.”
Damon Albarn (l) and Irvine Welsh (r) accepting a Brit Award at Earl’s Court in 1997. Credit: Fiona Harrison, PA ImagesMaureen continued to run the shop as it long had been until 2021, when she died aged 78, when it was carried on by her second husband – Ray Withey. It was a remarkable survivor, having weathered the storms of both Covid and the debacle that was the Edinburgh Trams project on Leith Walk (the latter bringing more than a handful of long-standing business to their knees). The business had found its unusual product niche and stuck rigidly to it (with the more recent exception of offering key cutting). Trade was conducted on paper and with cash. It never entered the digital age, there was no web address and certainly no social media: just a postal address and telephone number. If you ever found reason to cross its unassuming threshold you would be confronted with a very traditional layout, the proprietor behind a counter surrounded by a vast array of stock neatly presented in display cases and hanging on the walls. Whether it was flights for your darts or co-axial cable by the metre, price tags were neatly written by hand. Polite but firm notices kept you in your place: don’t touch and no more than 10 minutes on the practice board.
The interior of the Darts department of Borlands, stills from a Tik-Tok video posted in January 2025 by KCGaming.Ray Withey passed away in 2025 at the age of 69, and with him the shutters at 7 Croall Place were pulled down for the final time, ending a 100 year family story.
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret -
Stuck in the Filter: February 2026’s Angry Misses By KenstrositySeems like the Filtration system is overburdened once again. Normally, my minions have to scavenge much longer to pick things up this early in the year, but 2026 is proving to be rich in moderately precious metallic ore. That just means I gotta push my team even harder to pull greater loads of filth from the ducts!
As I send them in for yet another round, please enjoy the spoils thus far exploited. BEHOLD!
Kenstrosity’s Tattered Tome
Overtoun // Death Drive Anthropology [February 13th, 2026 – Time to Kill Records]
Chilean progressive death thrash outfit Overtoun is what you get when you mix old school Death and Atheist with the proggier side of Pestilence, then amp the thrash up by a half turn. At a lofty 50 minutes, you’d expect third release Death Drive Anthropology to drag on, but to make that assumption is to criminally underestimate Overtoun’s creativity and versatility. Opening up the throttle in fine form, the one-two punch of “What Unites All (ft. Max Phelps) and “The Final Beat” manages to encompass many of these Chileans’ songwriting and performance skills in a scant 10 minutes. More introspective, nuanced songwriting takes center stage throughout Anthropology’s midsection, balancing smart melodies and minimalist atmosphere with complex guitar layering, proggy structures, and shreddy wizardry (“Dur Khrod,” “Jade, Gold, Obsidian,” “Yurei,” “Weeping”). The three-part “The Waves Suite” suite adds a mystical character to the affair that blends remarkably well with Overtoun’s more overt political messaging and emotional textures, which helps carry the record through its lengthy runtime without causing fatigue. It’s a neat record that’s modestly blemished by a bass presence that begs for more weight and wildness, especially considering the raw talent on hand. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a creative, thoughtful, and sophisticated entry into the death/thrash progosphere, Death Drive Anthropology makes a strong case.
Andy-War-Hall’s Primordial Pick-Up
The Grand Myth // Of Vultures and Dragons [February 26th, 2026 – Suncrusher Recordings]
I have a grossly limited capacity for seriousness. Yeah, I like my death metal progressive, technical, and thoughtful, much the way Brandon Bordman’s The Grand Myth deliver it on their latest record, Of Vultures and Dragons, but sometimes I just want fun, too. Of Vultures and Dragons, an adaptation of Ethan Pettus’ novel series Primitive War1 in which a rescue team searches a Vietnamese jungle for a missing platoon of Green Berets and fights for their lives against dinosaurs, has fun in spades. Utilizing a many-layered guitar attack (“Symbiotic Death”), shifting and propulsive rhythms (“Through the River Styx”), a wide cast of voice actors for brief narrative bits2 and surprisingly bright tones (“Agony”), The Grand Myth’s approach to progressive death metal isn’t revolutionary, but it’s deeply refreshing and engaging regardless. Though an absolute blast, The Grand Myth doesn’t spew embarrassingly stupid levels of campiness with their sci-fi dinosaur theming like Victorius. Rather, Of Vultures and Dragons can be fairly emotionally effective at times thanks to Bordman’s emotive clean/harsh vocals and elaborate soloing (“Pyre,” “Agony”). Nobody asks about your favorite dinosaur anymore,3 so feed your inner kid with The Grand Myth’s Of Vultures and Dragons now!
Saunders’ Sunken Shards
Puscifer// Normal Isn’t [February 6th, 2026 – Alchemy Recordings]
After losing track of recent offerings, I reacquainted myself with the latest LP from Puscifer, leaving me pleasantly surprised in the aftermath. The project featuring Tool/A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan returned for their first hit out since 2020’s Existential Reckoning. Normal Isn’t finds the shape-shifting project embracing its quirky, gothy industrial rock and electronic elements through an angsty filter of guitar-driven arty rock, post-punk, and infectious songcraft. Age should not weary Maynard, as he still sounds angry, cynical, and on point vocally through a mostly engaging, catchy bag of tunes. The dueling vocal melodies with collaborator Carina Round’s ghostly singing work a treat amidst jittery beats, angular riffs and strong electronic overtones. Rhythmically, it is an interesting ride, drummer Gunnar Olsen putting in a top-notch performance, while there is a vaguely progressive edge underlying the hook-centric songwriting. Opener “Thrust” sets the album in motion with sticky hooks, a darkly humorous, unhinged Maynard performance, and a dose of spite. Other key highlights include “Bad Wolf,” “Self Evident,” “A Public Stoning,” and “ImpetuoUs.” Puscifer made a fine return with Normal Isn’t.
Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows // Inexorable Opposites [February 6th, 2026 – Magnetic Eye Records]
You’ve gotta love a sneaky name drop from our trusty commentariat. It has led to many great discoveries over the years. On this occasion, one of our dear commenters enlightened me to Melbourne psych-blues-doomers Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows with fourth LP, Inexorable Opposites. And it didn’t take long absorbing this latest slab of rustic Aussie coolness to be struck by the album’s slow-burning, addictive power, and gritty tones. Boasting an expansive, rugged sound built on layers of distortion and a weighty blend of psych-drenched blues and doom heaviness. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows features old school, outlaw-driven lyrical content from mastermind and vocalist/guitarist Tim Coutts-Smith, meshing fictional tales of woe and adventure of character Jack Harlon, with relatable real-life struggles. Through the fuzz, thick jammy vibes, and Coutts-Smith distorted, menacing Aussie drawl, catchy songcraft shines through the muck and psych haze. From the tense, stoner-infected grit and catchy hooks of opener “Moss,” through to the stormy outback balladry of closer “To Die,” Inexorable Opposites is a hard-hitting, riffy delight, further evidenced through scorched earth, infectious cuts like “Venomous,” “Seer,” and the trippy, drug-addled “Mt. Macedon.”
Grin Reaper’s Reaped Recluse
Cold Communion // Monuments to Ruin [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Melodic death/doom isn’t a genre I dabble in often, but every now and again, one of its bands thwarts my defenses and wraps their tendrils around my precious listening time. Durham, North Carolina’s Cold Communion is one such band, featuring Barre Gambling (Daylight Dies) on guitar and Tim Rowland (Alchemy of Flesh, Silent Vigil) on everything else. If that sounds like an unfair split, take a spin and reassess, because Gambling’s performance defines Cold Communion’s melancholic character as much as Rowland’s emotive growl. Forgoing any long-form doom epics, Monuments to Ruin’s longest song comes in at five-and-a-half minutes, with the entire album clocking just forty-five. It’s a tidy platter, and both in song composition and mood shares ample common ground with Finnish sadbois Insomnium. Besides Monuments’ superior production, songs like “A Stillness Survival” and “When the Light Breaks” wouldn’t feel out of place on Across the Dark or One for Sorrow. And despite the somber trappings one might expect from doom-adjacency, there’s plenty of lively riffing and solos to find across Monuments to Ruin, adding a touch of boom to the gloom. In the end, Cold Communion doesn’t reinvent the genre or break new ground, but Monuments to Ruin offers a comfy chair by the fireside on a freezing cold day, and I’m perfectly content with that.
Mossgiver // Renewer [February 6th, 2026 – Sij MusicArt]
Atmospheric black metal often contrasts the beautiful with the bestial, typically prioritizing moods over hooks. ‘Twas a delight, then, to unearth Mossgiver’s Renewal, which deftly combines the two. Weaving together hypnotic passages flooded with strings, piano, flute, synths, double bass rolls, and the requisite blackened tremolos,4 Mossgiver’s mastermind Tilen Šimon (Ueldes) delivers the band’s best record to date. Above all, Renewer sounds like a celebration of nature in the vein of Autrest and Cân Bardd, evoking a whispering wind whipping at leaves or sunlight dappling a brook shaded by oaks and maples. Beyond the well-crafted soundtrack for a walk through the woods, Mossgiver etches emotion into the nooks and crannies of Renewer’s five tracks. From rousing string orchestrations (“I Bring the Spring with Me”) to soft-and-heavy tradeoffs pitting clean guitar and pan pipes against distorted guitar and blast beats (“Renewer”), Mossgiver shimmers with a lush backdrop of instrumentation rife with playfulness and pensiveness. The trio of primary songs5 revolve around powerful melodies that evolve over each track’s duration, with assorted instruments coming in and out to push refrains along. Renewer’s brisk thirty-four minutes showcase Mossgiver’s sticky compositions and leave me whistling its melodies for days at a time. Now throw on your hiking boots and get lost in the Moss.
Ossomancer // Banebdjed’s Path [February 28th, 2026 – Esoteric Evocations]
Six-and-a-half years removed from Ossomancer’s debut Artes Magickae, lone wolf and mastermind Kamose returns to tread Banebjed’s Path. Bursting with references to mythology and mysticism, Banebjed’s Path rumbles and shakes with arcane thunder. Although the backdrop and track names might recall the frenzied onslaught of Nile, Ossomancer instead conceives a realm recalling Aeternam, Iotunn, and Naglfar. Despite the scant thirty-four-minute runtime, Banebjed’s Path sprawls across diverse landscapes and textures. Opener “The Ogdoad Arrangement and the Osirian Creation” oscillates between In Flames melodies and a slinky crawl that could pass for a 90s Geddy Lee bass line played over synth injections from Rush’s 80s era. Follow-up track “Sobek – Cosmic Vibrations Devoured” features Kreator-bred riffing, while closing duo “A Sea of Sand, a Silver Star” and “Retraction into Kether” synthesize the ethereal atmospheres of Iotunn with the blackened assault of Naglfar. Through it all, Ossomancer sounds fabulous, as Banebjed’s Path flaunts an enviable DR 8 and a bodacious mix that spotlights its burly bass performance. Ossomancer’s sophomore outing is crammed with meloblack goodies, and though it’s not a long trek, the journey down Banebjed’s Path far transcends its distance.
Tyme’s Danish Dalliance
Ædel Fetich // Ædel Fetich [February 20th, 2026 – Deadbanger Productions]
That blinged-out pink dish-glove-clad hand is what first drew me to Denmark outfit Ædel Fetich’s self-titled debut. Then I clicked play and was taken on one of the more compelling “black” metal rides in recent memory. With roots primarily buried in the soil of the traditional second-wave, Ædel Fetich is rife with moments of rifferous tremolodic speed (“Ridderlig Lider,” “Madras”) and absolutely berserk guitar chaos (“Sort Magi”). There’s a Trhä-like sense of experimentation, and the rawness of the production enhances the oft-changing compositions, which, like weather in the Midwest, often shift on a dime without warning. Luckily, Ædel Fetich’s adept songwriting organically smooths these transitions, which could have easily come off stilted and jarring, but makes drawing direct comparisons to the Ædel Fetich sound difficult, as there’s a spectrum of other influences at play. There are tracks packed with punky punch (“Et Liv Fuld af Fejl,” “Ildtang”) or imbued with folky reverence (“Mit Billede af Dig”) and even some 80s pop—fans of the movie Flashdance shouldn’t have a problem finding the poppy easter egg hiding near the end of “Sort Magi.”6 Far and away the star of the show, however, is singer Skvat, whose performance is filled with as much black metal bravado as it is theatrical exuberance, his arsenal of shrieks, growls, hoots, howls, and operatic baritonations a refreshing treat, akin to if Mike Patton woke up one day deciding to record a Danish black metal album. Bottom line is, I really dig Ædel Fetich and think you will too.
Creeping Ivy’s Ashen Afterthought
Belzebong // The End is High [February 20th, 2026 – Heavy Psych Sounds]
In my humble opinion, lyrics are key to making stoner metal more than novelty music. If you’re referencing reefer in your album art, band name, and song titles, at least keep the reeferisms out of the songs themselves,7 or better yet, avoid vocals altogether. Taking this latter advice to heart is instrumental Polish four-piece Belzebong, who have been at it for almost 20 years now. On The End is High, their fourth full-length, Belzebong deal 35 minutes of fuzzed-out riffery described as “a new sermon for the final days.” While not as highbrow (huh huh) as the instrumental stoner metal of Bongripper, Belzebong are similarly ominous on opener (yes) “Bong & Chain,” which caps its ten-minute burn with creepy, haunting synths. From there, the band settle into material more akin to Bongzilla; sound clips adorn the chill grooves of “420 Horsemen,” “Hempnotized,” and “Reefer Mortis,” which closes things out with some solid Electric Wizard worship. If you instinctively (and understandably) recoil from music with marijuana aesthetics but dig the meditative repetition offered by stoner metal, consider sampling The End is High. It’s not exactly the caricature it advertises itself as.
Baguette’s Bygone Bounty
Sundecay // The Blood Lives Again [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Toronto’s Sundecay has been around for a while. These Canadian doomers spawned sometime prior to 2014, quietly releasing EP material every once in a blue moon. The Blood Lives Again is their first full-length release—their first signs of life since 2018 in general—and the time and care they took to develop their sound and songwriting prowess pays off here in spades. The doom and proto-doom inspirations from Black Sabbath to Saint Vitus are obvious (“Here Comes the Wizard”), complemented by other influences from proto-metal, psychedelic, and progressive music (“Silence Spoken”). The hefty, layered guitars have a nice fuzz without fully landing in stoner territory. Ambitious long-form tracks like “Will Dusk Defy Dawn” flow like water while carrying significant emotional heft. Lastly, a moody, reverb-heavy vocal performance crowns the classic doom trance the band is aiming for. At five tracks and some 43 minutes, The Blood Lives Again is a total vibe and flies by before you’ve even noticed. Fans of the ’70s should take notes!
Temple Balls // Temple Balls [February 13th, 2026 – Frontiers Music]
One of the most authentic ways you can honor rock music tradition is via questionable naming conventions. On an unrelated note, Temple Balls is a Finnish hard rock/glam rock band, and they’re fun as hell! They’re not particularly new around the block, either: the group formed in 2009, and self-titled Temple Balls is already their fifth album since debut Traded Dreams in 2017. 2023’s Avalanche felt like a watershed moment, a welcome surprise that brought some new life and energy to a fairly dated genre of Europeisms and Hanoi Rocks rehashes. Temple Balls proves that Avalanche wasn’t a one-off, continuing their extremely authentic throwback approach. The heavy/power-metal-meets-AOR direction of songwriting (“Flashback Dynamite,” “Soul Survivor”) gives it that extra guitar oomph and energy that melodic music like this requires to be anywhere near competitive. With great all-out vocals from Arde Teronen and gigantic hooks to match, it’s just a damn good time front to back. Though it will sadly be the last time we’ll hear Niko Vuorela’s guitar work on record (R.I.P., and fuck cancer), the self-titled is certainly a worthy final milestone for him—and hopefully, another beginning for his comrades.
ClarkKent’s Enchanting Earworm
Hela // A Reign to Conquer [February 27, 2026 – Ardua Music]
Just as it put a pause on many plans and projects, the COVID pandemic slowed down the output of Spain’s Hela. A Reign to Conquer marks their first record since 2019’s Vegvìsir, which was their third release since 2013. This brief hiatus brought new blood in the form of vocalist Raquel Navarro, though, in truth, the only consistency in Hela’s lineup is the other three members—Tano Giménez on bass, Miguel Fernández (The Holeum) on drums, and Julián Velasco (The Holeum) on guitars. They have a deep bond, first forged in 2009 with The Sand Collector before forming Hela just three years later. Though they brand Hela as melodic doom, and the band does have a little in common with Katatonia, I think it’s more accurate to describe them as dreamy progressive rock. Navarro is a major reason for this, with dreamy croons that guide listeners through breezy soundscapes. She bears a passing resemblance to Maud the Moth, though the music Hela plays is decidedly more metal than our Dolphin friend’s favorite nocturnal insect. Guitarist Velasco plays a hypnotizing mix of atmospheric fuzz, crushing doom, and melodic riffs that add some heft and crunch to the ethereal sound. A Reign to Conquer has plenty of layers to probe, rewarding listeners who bear with it for repeat listens. While my initial spins left me wanting, I’ve since become spellbound. Add to that some gorgeous artwork, and this is a nice addition to anyone’s vinyl collection. Hela yeah!
Spicie Forrest’s Vicious Vittles
A Wilhelm Scream8 // Cheap Heat [February 27th, 2026 – Creator-Destructor Records]
A Wilhelm Scream9 returns after a four-year hiatus with their eighth long player, Cheap Heat. Sounding like the best combination of The Story So Far and Rise Against, A Wilhelm Scream delivers an impressive tour de force so late in their career. Vocalist Nuno Pereira10 is the highlight of Cheap Heat, driving the album with urgency and passion (“Somebody’s Gonna Die,” “Fell Off”), but no one here is a slouch. The rhythm section—bassist Brian J. Robinson, rhythm guitarist Trevor Reilly, and drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini—gleefully tosses gas on Pereira’s bonfire (“I Got Tunnel Vision”) and delivers solid grooves (“Poison II”) and searing ragers (“Unsolving the Mystery”) that keep the energy cranked to 11 all through Cheap Heat. Hooks are by far the most common lead duty, and Ben Murray puts on a fucking clinic. Each note that rings out from his axe sounds like it fucking owns the place (“Run,” “Visitor: Unimpressed”). Cheap Heat is a smidge front-loaded with “Midnight Ghost” and “I Got Tunnel Vision” being album highlights, but no song on here is anything short of a barn burner. At a super tight 28 minutes, Cheap Heat hits hard and fast and gets the fuck out of Dodge before you’re even sure what hit you. I didn’t expect a 26-year-old hardcore outfit to knock my teeth out when I queued it up on a whim one morning, but Cheap Heat is proving to be one of my favorite albums of the year.
Lead Injector // Witching Attack [February 20th, 2026 – High Roller Records]
Who doesn’t like the combination of thrash’s unchained aggression and black metal’s cold hate? There’s never been a better pair. Lead Injector hit the ground running on debut LP Witching Attack. From the opening moments of “Siege Upon Heaven” to the closing moments of “Nuclear Antichrist,” Lead Injector is here to do two things: feed high-speed buckshot to God, skeletons, and anything else that gets in their way, and have a Hellripping good time. “Angel Destructor” and “Siege Upon Heaven” barrel pell-mell through searing riffs and blast beats, while groovier tracks like “Evil Executioner” and “Nuclear Antichrist” let black metal’s punk ancestry shine through. Heavy metal influences a la Judas Priest can be found injected into tracks like “Sacrifice This Bitch” and “M.C.C.I.” While nothing about Lead Injector’s sound is particularly new, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. This debut is a unique and retro spin on a tried-and-true formula that bodes well for a young band. Witching Attack is a killer time that Ash Williams would gladly spin while boomsticking Deadites alongside Lord Arthur’s army.
#APerfectCirlce #AReignToConquer #AWilhelmScream #Aeternam #AlchemyOfFlesh #AlchemyRecordings #AmericanMetal #ArduaMusic #Atheist #AtmosphericBlackMetal #AustralianMetal #Autrest #ÆdelFetich #BanabdjedSPath #Belzebong #BlackMetal #BlackSabbath #BluesRock #Bongripper #Bongzilla #CânBardd #CanadianMetal #CheapHeat #ChileanMetal #ColdCommunion #CreatorDestructorRecords #DanishMetal #DaylightDies #DeadbangerProductions #Death #DeathDoom #DeathDriveAnthropology #DeathMetal #Doom #DoomMetal #ElectricWizard #EsotericEvocations #Europe #FinnishMetal #FrontiersMusic #GermanMetal #GlamRock #HanoiRocks #HardRock #Hardcore #HeavyMetal #HeavyPsychSounds #Hela #Hellripper #HighRollerRecords #InFlames #InexorableOpposites #Insomnium #Iotunn #JackHarlonTheDeadCrows #JudasPriest #Katatonia #LeadInjector #MagneticEyeRecords #MaudTheMoth #MelodicDeathMetal #MelodicDoomMetal #MelodicHardcore #MetallicPunk #MonumentsToRuin #Mossgiver #Naglfar #Nile #NormalIsnT #OfVulturesAndDragons #Ossomancer #Overtoun #Pestilence #PolishMetal #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #PsycheledicRock #Puscifier #Renewer #RiseAgainst #Rush #SaintVitus #SelfRelease #SelfReleased #SijMusicArt #SilentVigil #Sleep #SlovenianMetal #SpanishMetal #StonerMetal #SuncrusherRecordings #Sundecay #TechnicalDeathMetal #TempleBalls #TheBloodLivesAgain #TheEndIsHigh #TheGrandMyth #TheHoleum #TheSandCollector #TheStorySoFar #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #Tool #Trhä #Victorius #WitchingAttack -
Stuck in the Filter: February 2026’s Angry Misses By KenstrositySeems like the Filtration system is overburdened once again. Normally, my minions have to scavenge much longer to pick things up this early in the year, but 2026 is proving to be rich in moderately precious metallic ore. That just means I gotta push my team even harder to pull greater loads of filth from the ducts!
As I send them in for yet another round, please enjoy the spoils thus far exploited. BEHOLD!
Kenstrosity’s Tattered Tome
Overtoun // Death Drive Anthropology [February 13th, 2026 – Time to Kill Records]
Chilean progressive death thrash outfit Overtoun is what you get when you mix old school Death and Atheist with the proggier side of Pestilence, then amp the thrash up by a half turn. At a lofty 50 minutes, you’d expect third release Death Drive Anthropology to drag on, but to make that assumption is to criminally underestimate Overtoun’s creativity and versatility. Opening up the throttle in fine form, the one-two punch of “What Unites All (ft. Max Phelps) and “The Final Beat” manages to encompass many of these Chileans’ songwriting and performance skills in a scant 10 minutes. More introspective, nuanced songwriting takes center stage throughout Anthropology’s midsection, balancing smart melodies and minimalist atmosphere with complex guitar layering, proggy structures, and shreddy wizardry (“Dur Khrod,” “Jade, Gold, Obsidian,” “Yurei,” “Weeping”). The three-part “The Waves Suite” suite adds a mystical character to the affair that blends remarkably well with Overtoun’s more overt political messaging and emotional textures, which helps carry the record through its lengthy runtime without causing fatigue. It’s a neat record that’s modestly blemished by a bass presence that begs for more weight and wildness, especially considering the raw talent on hand. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a creative, thoughtful, and sophisticated entry into the death/thrash progosphere, Death Drive Anthropology makes a strong case.
Andy-War-Hall’s Primordial Pick-Up
The Grand Myth // Of Vultures and Dragons [February 26th, 2026 – Suncrusher Recordings]
I have a grossly limited capacity for seriousness. Yeah, I like my death metal progressive, technical, and thoughtful, much the way Brandon Bordman’s The Grand Myth deliver it on their latest record, Of Vultures and Dragons, but sometimes I just want fun, too. Of Vultures and Dragons, an adaptation of Ethan Pettus’ novel series Primitive War1 in which a rescue team searches a Vietnamese jungle for a missing platoon of Green Berets and fights for their lives against dinosaurs, has fun in spades. Utilizing a many-layered guitar attack (“Symbiotic Death”), shifting and propulsive rhythms (“Through the River Styx”), a wide cast of voice actors for brief narrative bits2 and surprisingly bright tones (“Agony”), The Grand Myth’s approach to progressive death metal isn’t revolutionary, but it’s deeply refreshing and engaging regardless. Though an absolute blast, The Grand Myth doesn’t spew embarrassingly stupid levels of campiness with their sci-fi dinosaur theming like Victorius. Rather, Of Vultures and Dragons can be fairly emotionally effective at times thanks to Bordman’s emotive clean/harsh vocals and elaborate soloing (“Pyre,” “Agony”). Nobody asks about your favorite dinosaur anymore,3 so feed your inner kid with The Grand Myth’s Of Vultures and Dragons now!
Saunders’ Sunken Shards
Puscifer// Normal Isn’t [February 6th, 2026 – Alchemy Recordings]
After losing track of recent offerings, I reacquainted myself with the latest LP from Puscifer, leaving me pleasantly surprised in the aftermath. The project featuring Tool/A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan returned for their first hit out since 2020’s Existential Reckoning. Normal Isn’t finds the shape-shifting project embracing its quirky, gothy industrial rock and electronic elements through an angsty filter of guitar-driven arty rock, post-punk, and infectious songcraft. Age should not weary Maynard, as he still sounds angry, cynical, and on point vocally through a mostly engaging, catchy bag of tunes. The dueling vocal melodies with collaborator Carina Round’s ghostly singing work a treat amidst jittery beats, angular riffs and strong electronic overtones. Rhythmically, it is an interesting ride, drummer Gunnar Olsen putting in a top-notch performance, while there is a vaguely progressive edge underlying the hook-centric songwriting. Opener “Thrust” sets the album in motion with sticky hooks, a darkly humorous, unhinged Maynard performance, and a dose of spite. Other key highlights include “Bad Wolf,” “Self Evident,” “A Public Stoning,” and “ImpetuoUs.” Puscifer made a fine return with Normal Isn’t.
Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows // Inexorable Opposites [February 6th, 2026 – Magnetic Eye Records]
You’ve gotta love a sneaky name drop from our trusty commentariat. It has led to many great discoveries over the years. On this occasion, one of our dear commenters enlightened me to Melbourne psych-blues-doomers Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows with fourth LP, Inexorable Opposites. And it didn’t take long absorbing this latest slab of rustic Aussie coolness to be struck by the album’s slow-burning, addictive power, and gritty tones. Boasting an expansive, rugged sound built on layers of distortion and a weighty blend of psych-drenched blues and doom heaviness. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows features old school, outlaw-driven lyrical content from mastermind and vocalist/guitarist Tim Coutts-Smith, meshing fictional tales of woe and adventure of character Jack Harlon, with relatable real-life struggles. Through the fuzz, thick jammy vibes, and Coutts-Smith distorted, menacing Aussie drawl, catchy songcraft shines through the muck and psych haze. From the tense, stoner-infected grit and catchy hooks of opener “Moss,” through to the stormy outback balladry of closer “To Die,” Inexorable Opposites is a hard-hitting, riffy delight, further evidenced through scorched earth, infectious cuts like “Venomous,” “Seer,” and the trippy, drug-addled “Mt. Macedon.”
Grin Reaper’s Reaped Recluse
Cold Communion // Monuments to Ruin [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Melodic death/doom isn’t a genre I dabble in often, but every now and again, one of its bands thwarts my defenses and wraps their tendrils around my precious listening time. Durham, North Carolina’s Cold Communion is one such band, featuring Barre Gambling (Daylight Dies) on guitar and Tim Rowland (Alchemy of Flesh, Silent Vigil) on everything else. If that sounds like an unfair split, take a spin and reassess, because Gambling’s performance defines Cold Communion’s melancholic character as much as Rowland’s emotive growl. Forgoing any long-form doom epics, Monuments to Ruin’s longest song comes in at five-and-a-half minutes, with the entire album clocking just forty-five. It’s a tidy platter, and both in song composition and mood shares ample common ground with Finnish sadbois Insomnium. Besides Monuments’ superior production, songs like “A Stillness Survival” and “When the Light Breaks” wouldn’t feel out of place on Across the Dark or One for Sorrow. And despite the somber trappings one might expect from doom-adjacency, there’s plenty of lively riffing and solos to find across Monuments to Ruin, adding a touch of boom to the gloom. In the end, Cold Communion doesn’t reinvent the genre or break new ground, but Monuments to Ruin offers a comfy chair by the fireside on a freezing cold day, and I’m perfectly content with that.
Mossgiver // Renewer [February 6th, 2026 – Sij MusicArt]
Atmospheric black metal often contrasts the beautiful with the bestial, typically prioritizing moods over hooks. ‘Twas a delight, then, to unearth Mossgiver’s Renewal, which deftly combines the two. Weaving together hypnotic passages flooded with strings, piano, flute, synths, double bass rolls, and the requisite blackened tremolos,4 Mossgiver’s mastermind Tilen Šimon (Ueldes) delivers the band’s best record to date. Above all, Renewer sounds like a celebration of nature in the vein of Autrest and Cân Bardd, evoking a whispering wind whipping at leaves or sunlight dappling a brook shaded by oaks and maples. Beyond the well-crafted soundtrack for a walk through the woods, Mossgiver etches emotion into the nooks and crannies of Renewer’s five tracks. From rousing string orchestrations (“I Bring the Spring with Me”) to soft-and-heavy tradeoffs pitting clean guitar and pan pipes against distorted guitar and blast beats (“Renewer”), Mossgiver shimmers with a lush backdrop of instrumentation rife with playfulness and pensiveness. The trio of primary songs5 revolve around powerful melodies that evolve over each track’s duration, with assorted instruments coming in and out to push refrains along. Renewer’s brisk thirty-four minutes showcase Mossgiver’s sticky compositions and leave me whistling its melodies for days at a time. Now throw on your hiking boots and get lost in the Moss.
Ossomancer // Banebdjed’s Path [February 28th, 2026 – Esoteric Evocations]
Six-and-a-half years removed from Ossomancer’s debut Artes Magickae, lone wolf and mastermind Kamose returns to tread Banebjed’s Path. Bursting with references to mythology and mysticism, Banebjed’s Path rumbles and shakes with arcane thunder. Although the backdrop and track names might recall the frenzied onslaught of Nile, Ossomancer instead conceives a realm recalling Aeternam, Iotunn, and Naglfar. Despite the scant thirty-four-minute runtime, Banebjed’s Path sprawls across diverse landscapes and textures. Opener “The Ogdoad Arrangement and the Osirian Creation” oscillates between In Flames melodies and a slinky crawl that could pass for a 90s Geddy Lee bass line played over synth injections from Rush’s 80s era. Follow-up track “Sobek – Cosmic Vibrations Devoured” features Kreator-bred riffing, while closing duo “A Sea of Sand, a Silver Star” and “Retraction into Kether” synthesize the ethereal atmospheres of Iotunn with the blackened assault of Naglfar. Through it all, Ossomancer sounds fabulous, as Banebjed’s Path flaunts an enviable DR 8 and a bodacious mix that spotlights its burly bass performance. Ossomancer’s sophomore outing is crammed with meloblack goodies, and though it’s not a long trek, the journey down Banebjed’s Path far transcends its distance.
Tyme’s Danish Dalliance
Ædel Fetich // Ædel Fetich [February 20th, 2026 – Deadbanger Productions]
That blinged-out pink dish-glove-clad hand is what first drew me to Denmark outfit Ædel Fetich’s self-titled debut. Then I clicked play and was taken on one of the more compelling “black” metal rides in recent memory. With roots primarily buried in the soil of the traditional second-wave, Ædel Fetich is rife with moments of rifferous tremolodic speed (“Ridderlig Lider,” “Madras”) and absolutely berserk guitar chaos (“Sort Magi”). There’s a Trhä-like sense of experimentation, and the rawness of the production enhances the oft-changing compositions, which, like weather in the Midwest, often shift on a dime without warning. Luckily, Ædel Fetich’s adept songwriting organically smooths these transitions, which could have easily come off stilted and jarring, but makes drawing direct comparisons to the Ædel Fetich sound difficult, as there’s a spectrum of other influences at play. There are tracks packed with punky punch (“Et Liv Fuld af Fejl,” “Ildtang”) or imbued with folky reverence (“Mit Billede af Dig”) and even some 80s pop—fans of the movie Flashdance shouldn’t have a problem finding the poppy easter egg hiding near the end of “Sort Magi.”6 Far and away the star of the show, however, is singer Skvat, whose performance is filled with as much black metal bravado as it is theatrical exuberance, his arsenal of shrieks, growls, hoots, howls, and operatic baritonations a refreshing treat, akin to if Mike Patton woke up one day deciding to record a Danish black metal album. Bottom line is, I really dig Ædel Fetich and think you will too.
Creeping Ivy’s Ashen Afterthought
Belzebong // The End is High [February 20th, 2026 – Heavy Psych Sounds]
In my humble opinion, lyrics are key to making stoner metal more than novelty music. If you’re referencing reefer in your album art, band name, and song titles, at least keep the reeferisms out of the songs themselves,7 or better yet, avoid vocals altogether. Taking this latter advice to heart is instrumental Polish four-piece Belzebong, who have been at it for almost 20 years now. On The End is High, their fourth full-length, Belzebong deal 35 minutes of fuzzed-out riffery described as “a new sermon for the final days.” While not as highbrow (huh huh) as the instrumental stoner metal of Bongripper, Belzebong are similarly ominous on opener (yes) “Bong & Chain,” which caps its ten-minute burn with creepy, haunting synths. From there, the band settle into material more akin to Bongzilla; sound clips adorn the chill grooves of “420 Horsemen,” “Hempnotized,” and “Reefer Mortis,” which closes things out with some solid Electric Wizard worship. If you instinctively (and understandably) recoil from music with marijuana aesthetics but dig the meditative repetition offered by stoner metal, consider sampling The End is High. It’s not exactly the caricature it advertises itself as.
Baguette’s Bygone Bounty
Sundecay // The Blood Lives Again [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Toronto’s Sundecay has been around for a while. These Canadian doomers spawned sometime prior to 2014, quietly releasing EP material every once in a blue moon. The Blood Lives Again is their first full-length release—their first signs of life since 2018 in general—and the time and care they took to develop their sound and songwriting prowess pays off here in spades. The doom and proto-doom inspirations from Black Sabbath to Saint Vitus are obvious (“Here Comes the Wizard”), complemented by other influences from proto-metal, psychedelic, and progressive music (“Silence Spoken”). The hefty, layered guitars have a nice fuzz without fully landing in stoner territory. Ambitious long-form tracks like “Will Dusk Defy Dawn” flow like water while carrying significant emotional heft. Lastly, a moody, reverb-heavy vocal performance crowns the classic doom trance the band is aiming for. At five tracks and some 43 minutes, The Blood Lives Again is a total vibe and flies by before you’ve even noticed. Fans of the ’70s should take notes!
Temple Balls // Temple Balls [February 13th, 2026 – Frontiers Music]
One of the most authentic ways you can honor rock music tradition is via questionable naming conventions. On an unrelated note, Temple Balls is a Finnish hard rock/glam rock band, and they’re fun as hell! They’re not particularly new around the block, either: the group formed in 2009, and self-titled Temple Balls is already their fifth album since debut Traded Dreams in 2017. 2023’s Avalanche felt like a watershed moment, a welcome surprise that brought some new life and energy to a fairly dated genre of Europeisms and Hanoi Rocks rehashes. Temple Balls proves that Avalanche wasn’t a one-off, continuing their extremely authentic throwback approach. The heavy/power-metal-meets-AOR direction of songwriting (“Flashback Dynamite,” “Soul Survivor”) gives it that extra guitar oomph and energy that melodic music like this requires to be anywhere near competitive. With great all-out vocals from Arde Teronen and gigantic hooks to match, it’s just a damn good time front to back. Though it will sadly be the last time we’ll hear Niko Vuorela’s guitar work on record (R.I.P., and fuck cancer), the self-titled is certainly a worthy final milestone for him—and hopefully, another beginning for his comrades.
ClarkKent’s Enchanting Earworm
Hela // A Reign to Conquer [February 27, 2026 – Ardua Music]
Just as it put a pause on many plans and projects, the COVID pandemic slowed down the output of Spain’s Hela. A Reign to Conquer marks their first record since 2019’s Vegvìsir, which was their third release since 2013. This brief hiatus brought new blood in the form of vocalist Raquel Navarro, though, in truth, the only consistency in Hela’s lineup is the other three members—Tano Giménez on bass, Miguel Fernández (The Holeum) on drums, and Julián Velasco (The Holeum) on guitars. They have a deep bond, first forged in 2009 with The Sand Collector before forming Hela just three years later. Though they brand Hela as melodic doom, and the band does have a little in common with Katatonia, I think it’s more accurate to describe them as dreamy progressive rock. Navarro is a major reason for this, with dreamy croons that guide listeners through breezy soundscapes. She bears a passing resemblance to Maud the Moth, though the music Hela plays is decidedly more metal than our Dolphin friend’s favorite nocturnal insect. Guitarist Velasco plays a hypnotizing mix of atmospheric fuzz, crushing doom, and melodic riffs that add some heft and crunch to the ethereal sound. A Reign to Conquer has plenty of layers to probe, rewarding listeners who bear with it for repeat listens. While my initial spins left me wanting, I’ve since become spellbound. Add to that some gorgeous artwork, and this is a nice addition to anyone’s vinyl collection. Hela yeah!
Spicie Forrest’s Vicious Vittles
A Wilhelm Scream8 // Cheap Heat [February 27th, 2026 – Creator-Destructor Records]
A Wilhelm Scream9 returns after a four-year hiatus with their eighth long player, Cheap Heat. Sounding like the best combination of The Story So Far and Rise Against, A Wilhelm Scream delivers an impressive tour de force so late in their career. Vocalist Nuno Pereira10 is the highlight of Cheap Heat, driving the album with urgency and passion (“Somebody’s Gonna Die,” “Fell Off”), but no one here is a slouch. The rhythm section—bassist Brian J. Robinson, rhythm guitarist Trevor Reilly, and drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini—gleefully tosses gas on Pereira’s bonfire (“I Got Tunnel Vision”) and delivers solid grooves (“Poison II”) and searing ragers (“Unsolving the Mystery”) that keep the energy cranked to 11 all through Cheap Heat. Hooks are by far the most common lead duty, and Ben Murray puts on a fucking clinic. Each note that rings out from his axe sounds like it fucking owns the place (“Run,” “Visitor: Unimpressed”). Cheap Heat is a smidge front-loaded with “Midnight Ghost” and “I Got Tunnel Vision” being album highlights, but no song on here is anything short of a barn burner. At a super tight 28 minutes, Cheap Heat hits hard and fast and gets the fuck out of Dodge before you’re even sure what hit you. I didn’t expect a 26-year-old hardcore outfit to knock my teeth out when I queued it up on a whim one morning, but Cheap Heat is proving to be one of my favorite albums of the year.
Lead Injector // Witching Attack [February 20th, 2026 – High Roller Records]
Who doesn’t like the combination of thrash’s unchained aggression and black metal’s cold hate? There’s never been a better pair. Lead Injector hit the ground running on debut LP Witching Attack. From the opening moments of “Siege Upon Heaven” to the closing moments of “Nuclear Antichrist,” Lead Injector is here to do two things: feed high-speed buckshot to God, skeletons, and anything else that gets in their way, and have a Hellripping good time. “Angel Destructor” and “Siege Upon Heaven” barrel pell-mell through searing riffs and blast beats, while groovier tracks like “Evil Executioner” and “Nuclear Antichrist” let black metal’s punk ancestry shine through. Heavy metal influences a la Judas Priest can be found injected into tracks like “Sacrifice This Bitch” and “M.C.C.I.” While nothing about Lead Injector’s sound is particularly new, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. This debut is a unique and retro spin on a tried-and-true formula that bodes well for a young band. Witching Attack is a killer time that Ash Williams would gladly spin while boomsticking Deadites alongside Lord Arthur’s army.
#APerfectCirlce #AReignToConquer #AWilhelmScream #Aeternam #AlchemyOfFlesh #AlchemyRecordings #AmericanMetal #ArduaMusic #Atheist #AtmosphericBlackMetal #AustralianMetal #Autrest #ÆdelFetich #BanabdjedSPath #Belzebong #BlackMetal #BlackSabbath #BluesRock #Bongripper #Bongzilla #CânBardd #CanadianMetal #CheapHeat #ChileanMetal #ColdCommunion #CreatorDestructorRecords #DanishMetal #DaylightDies #DeadbangerProductions #Death #DeathDoom #DeathDriveAnthropology #DeathMetal #Doom #DoomMetal #ElectricWizard #EsotericEvocations #Europe #FinnishMetal #FrontiersMusic #GermanMetal #GlamRock #HanoiRocks #HardRock #Hardcore #HeavyMetal #HeavyPsychSounds #Hela #Hellripper #HighRollerRecords #InFlames #InexorableOpposites #Insomnium #Iotunn #JackHarlonTheDeadCrows #JudasPriest #Katatonia #LeadInjector #MagneticEyeRecords #MaudTheMoth #MelodicDeathMetal #MelodicDoomMetal #MelodicHardcore #MetallicPunk #MonumentsToRuin #Mossgiver #Naglfar #Nile #NormalIsnT #OfVulturesAndDragons #Ossomancer #Overtoun #Pestilence #PolishMetal #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #PsycheledicRock #Puscifier #Renewer #RiseAgainst #Rush #SaintVitus #SelfRelease #SelfReleased #SijMusicArt #SilentVigil #Sleep #SlovenianMetal #SpanishMetal #StonerMetal #SuncrusherRecordings #Sundecay #TechnicalDeathMetal #TempleBalls #TheBloodLivesAgain #TheEndIsHigh #TheGrandMyth #TheHoleum #TheSandCollector #TheStorySoFar #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #Tool #Trhä #Victorius #WitchingAttack -
Stuck in the Filter: February 2026’s Angry Misses By KenstrositySeems like the Filtration system is overburdened once again. Normally, my minions have to scavenge much longer to pick things up this early in the year, but 2026 is proving to be rich in moderately precious metallic ore. That just means I gotta push my team even harder to pull greater loads of filth from the ducts!
As I send them in for yet another round, please enjoy the spoils thus far exploited. BEHOLD!
Kenstrosity’s Tattered Tome
Overtoun // Death Drive Anthropology [February 13th, 2026 – Time to Kill Records]
Chilean progressive death thrash outfit Overtoun is what you get when you mix old school Death and Atheist with the proggier side of Pestilence, then amp the thrash up by a half turn. At a lofty 50 minutes, you’d expect third release Death Drive Anthropology to drag on, but to make that assumption is to criminally underestimate Overtoun’s creativity and versatility. Opening up the throttle in fine form, the one-two punch of “What Unites All (ft. Max Phelps) and “The Final Beat” manages to encompass many of these Chileans’ songwriting and performance skills in a scant 10 minutes. More introspective, nuanced songwriting takes center stage throughout Anthropology’s midsection, balancing smart melodies and minimalist atmosphere with complex guitar layering, proggy structures, and shreddy wizardry (“Dur Khrod,” “Jade, Gold, Obsidian,” “Yurei,” “Weeping”). The three-part “The Waves Suite” suite adds a mystical character to the affair that blends remarkably well with Overtoun’s more overt political messaging and emotional textures, which helps carry the record through its lengthy runtime without causing fatigue. It’s a neat record that’s modestly blemished by a bass presence that begs for more weight and wildness, especially considering the raw talent on hand. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a creative, thoughtful, and sophisticated entry into the death/thrash progosphere, Death Drive Anthropology makes a strong case.
Andy-War-Hall’s Primordial Pick-Up
The Grand Myth // Of Vultures and Dragons [February 26th, 2026 – Suncrusher Recordings]
I have a grossly limited capacity for seriousness. Yeah, I like my death metal progressive, technical, and thoughtful, much the way Brandon Bordman’s The Grand Myth deliver it on their latest record, Of Vultures and Dragons, but sometimes I just want fun, too. Of Vultures and Dragons, an adaptation of Ethan Pettus’ novel series Primitive War1 in which a rescue team searches a Vietnamese jungle for a missing platoon of Green Berets and fights for their lives against dinosaurs, has fun in spades. Utilizing a many-layered guitar attack (“Symbiotic Death”), shifting and propulsive rhythms (“Through the River Styx”), a wide cast of voice actors for brief narrative bits2 and surprisingly bright tones (“Agony”), The Grand Myth’s approach to progressive death metal isn’t revolutionary, but it’s deeply refreshing and engaging regardless. Though an absolute blast, The Grand Myth doesn’t spew embarrassingly stupid levels of campiness with their sci-fi dinosaur theming like Victorius. Rather, Of Vultures and Dragons can be fairly emotionally effective at times thanks to Bordman’s emotive clean/harsh vocals and elaborate soloing (“Pyre,” “Agony”). Nobody asks about your favorite dinosaur anymore,3 so feed your inner kid with The Grand Myth’s Of Vultures and Dragons now!
Saunders’ Sunken Shards
Puscifer// Normal Isn’t [February 6th, 2026 – Alchemy Recordings]
After losing track of recent offerings, I reacquainted myself with the latest LP from Puscifer, leaving me pleasantly surprised in the aftermath. The project featuring Tool/A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan returned for their first hit out since 2020’s Existential Reckoning. Normal Isn’t finds the shape-shifting project embracing its quirky, gothy industrial rock and electronic elements through an angsty filter of guitar-driven arty rock, post-punk, and infectious songcraft. Age should not weary Maynard, as he still sounds angry, cynical, and on point vocally through a mostly engaging, catchy bag of tunes. The dueling vocal melodies with collaborator Carina Round’s ghostly singing work a treat amidst jittery beats, angular riffs and strong electronic overtones. Rhythmically, it is an interesting ride, drummer Gunnar Olsen putting in a top-notch performance, while there is a vaguely progressive edge underlying the hook-centric songwriting. Opener “Thrust” sets the album in motion with sticky hooks, a darkly humorous, unhinged Maynard performance, and a dose of spite. Other key highlights include “Bad Wolf,” “Self Evident,” “A Public Stoning,” and “ImpetuoUs.” Puscifer made a fine return with Normal Isn’t.
Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows // Inexorable Opposites [February 6th, 2026 – Magnetic Eye Records]
You’ve gotta love a sneaky name drop from our trusty commentariat. It has led to many great discoveries over the years. On this occasion, one of our dear commenters enlightened me to Melbourne psych-blues-doomers Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows with fourth LP, Inexorable Opposites. And it didn’t take long absorbing this latest slab of rustic Aussie coolness to be struck by the album’s slow-burning, addictive power, and gritty tones. Boasting an expansive, rugged sound built on layers of distortion and a weighty blend of psych-drenched blues and doom heaviness. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows features old school, outlaw-driven lyrical content from mastermind and vocalist/guitarist Tim Coutts-Smith, meshing fictional tales of woe and adventure of character Jack Harlon, with relatable real-life struggles. Through the fuzz, thick jammy vibes, and Coutts-Smith distorted, menacing Aussie drawl, catchy songcraft shines through the muck and psych haze. From the tense, stoner-infected grit and catchy hooks of opener “Moss,” through to the stormy outback balladry of closer “To Die,” Inexorable Opposites is a hard-hitting, riffy delight, further evidenced through scorched earth, infectious cuts like “Venomous,” “Seer,” and the trippy, drug-addled “Mt. Macedon.”
Grin Reaper’s Reaped Recluse
Cold Communion // Monuments to Ruin [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Melodic death/doom isn’t a genre I dabble in often, but every now and again, one of its bands thwarts my defenses and wraps their tendrils around my precious listening time. Durham, North Carolina’s Cold Communion is one such band, featuring Barre Gambling (Daylight Dies) on guitar and Tim Rowland (Alchemy of Flesh, Silent Vigil) on everything else. If that sounds like an unfair split, take a spin and reassess, because Gambling’s performance defines Cold Communion’s melancholic character as much as Rowland’s emotive growl. Forgoing any long-form doom epics, Monuments to Ruin’s longest song comes in at five-and-a-half minutes, with the entire album clocking just forty-five. It’s a tidy platter, and both in song composition and mood shares ample common ground with Finnish sadbois Insomnium. Besides Monuments’ superior production, songs like “A Stillness Survival” and “When the Light Breaks” wouldn’t feel out of place on Across the Dark or One for Sorrow. And despite the somber trappings one might expect from doom-adjacency, there’s plenty of lively riffing and solos to find across Monuments to Ruin, adding a touch of boom to the gloom. In the end, Cold Communion doesn’t reinvent the genre or break new ground, but Monuments to Ruin offers a comfy chair by the fireside on a freezing cold day, and I’m perfectly content with that.
Mossgiver // Renewer [February 6th, 2026 – Sij MusicArt]
Atmospheric black metal often contrasts the beautiful with the bestial, typically prioritizing moods over hooks. ‘Twas a delight, then, to unearth Mossgiver’s Renewal, which deftly combines the two. Weaving together hypnotic passages flooded with strings, piano, flute, synths, double bass rolls, and the requisite blackened tremolos,4 Mossgiver’s mastermind Tilen Šimon (Ueldes) delivers the band’s best record to date. Above all, Renewer sounds like a celebration of nature in the vein of Autrest and Cân Bardd, evoking a whispering wind whipping at leaves or sunlight dappling a brook shaded by oaks and maples. Beyond the well-crafted soundtrack for a walk through the woods, Mossgiver etches emotion into the nooks and crannies of Renewer’s five tracks. From rousing string orchestrations (“I Bring the Spring with Me”) to soft-and-heavy tradeoffs pitting clean guitar and pan pipes against distorted guitar and blast beats (“Renewer”), Mossgiver shimmers with a lush backdrop of instrumentation rife with playfulness and pensiveness. The trio of primary songs5 revolve around powerful melodies that evolve over each track’s duration, with assorted instruments coming in and out to push refrains along. Renewer’s brisk thirty-four minutes showcase Mossgiver’s sticky compositions and leave me whistling its melodies for days at a time. Now throw on your hiking boots and get lost in the Moss.
Ossomancer // Banebdjed’s Path [February 28th, 2026 – Esoteric Evocations]
Six-and-a-half years removed from Ossomancer’s debut Artes Magickae, lone wolf and mastermind Kamose returns to tread Banebjed’s Path. Bursting with references to mythology and mysticism, Banebjed’s Path rumbles and shakes with arcane thunder. Although the backdrop and track names might recall the frenzied onslaught of Nile, Ossomancer instead conceives a realm recalling Aeternam, Iotunn, and Naglfar. Despite the scant thirty-four-minute runtime, Banebjed’s Path sprawls across diverse landscapes and textures. Opener “The Ogdoad Arrangement and the Osirian Creation” oscillates between In Flames melodies and a slinky crawl that could pass for a 90s Geddy Lee bass line played over synth injections from Rush’s 80s era. Follow-up track “Sobek – Cosmic Vibrations Devoured” features Kreator-bred riffing, while closing duo “A Sea of Sand, a Silver Star” and “Retraction into Kether” synthesize the ethereal atmospheres of Iotunn with the blackened assault of Naglfar. Through it all, Ossomancer sounds fabulous, as Banebjed’s Path flaunts an enviable DR 8 and a bodacious mix that spotlights its burly bass performance. Ossomancer’s sophomore outing is crammed with meloblack goodies, and though it’s not a long trek, the journey down Banebjed’s Path far transcends its distance.
Tyme’s Danish Dalliance
Ædel Fetich // Ædel Fetich [February 20th, 2026 – Deadbanger Productions]
That blinged-out pink dish-glove-clad hand is what first drew me to Denmark outfit Ædel Fetich’s self-titled debut. Then I clicked play and was taken on one of the more compelling “black” metal rides in recent memory. With roots primarily buried in the soil of the traditional second-wave, Ædel Fetich is rife with moments of rifferous tremolodic speed (“Ridderlig Lider,” “Madras”) and absolutely berserk guitar chaos (“Sort Magi”). There’s a Trhä-like sense of experimentation, and the rawness of the production enhances the oft-changing compositions, which, like weather in the Midwest, often shift on a dime without warning. Luckily, Ædel Fetich’s adept songwriting organically smooths these transitions, which could have easily come off stilted and jarring, but makes drawing direct comparisons to the Ædel Fetich sound difficult, as there’s a spectrum of other influences at play. There are tracks packed with punky punch (“Et Liv Fuld af Fejl,” “Ildtang”) or imbued with folky reverence (“Mit Billede af Dig”) and even some 80s pop—fans of the movie Flashdance shouldn’t have a problem finding the poppy easter egg hiding near the end of “Sort Magi.”6 Far and away the star of the show, however, is singer Skvat, whose performance is filled with as much black metal bravado as it is theatrical exuberance, his arsenal of shrieks, growls, hoots, howls, and operatic baritonations a refreshing treat, akin to if Mike Patton woke up one day deciding to record a Danish black metal album. Bottom line is, I really dig Ædel Fetich and think you will too.
Creeping Ivy’s Ashen Afterthought
Belzebong // The End is High [February 20th, 2026 – Heavy Psych Sounds]
In my humble opinion, lyrics are key to making stoner metal more than novelty music. If you’re referencing reefer in your album art, band name, and song titles, at least keep the reeferisms out of the songs themselves,7 or better yet, avoid vocals altogether. Taking this latter advice to heart is instrumental Polish four-piece Belzebong, who have been at it for almost 20 years now. On The End is High, their fourth full-length, Belzebong deal 35 minutes of fuzzed-out riffery described as “a new sermon for the final days.” While not as highbrow (huh huh) as the instrumental stoner metal of Bongripper, Belzebong are similarly ominous on opener (yes) “Bong & Chain,” which caps its ten-minute burn with creepy, haunting synths. From there, the band settle into material more akin to Bongzilla; sound clips adorn the chill grooves of “420 Horsemen,” “Hempnotized,” and “Reefer Mortis,” which closes things out with some solid Electric Wizard worship. If you instinctively (and understandably) recoil from music with marijuana aesthetics but dig the meditative repetition offered by stoner metal, consider sampling The End is High. It’s not exactly the caricature it advertises itself as.
Baguette’s Bygone Bounty
Sundecay // The Blood Lives Again [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Toronto’s Sundecay has been around for a while. These Canadian doomers spawned sometime prior to 2014, quietly releasing EP material every once in a blue moon. The Blood Lives Again is their first full-length release—their first signs of life since 2018 in general—and the time and care they took to develop their sound and songwriting prowess pays off here in spades. The doom and proto-doom inspirations from Black Sabbath to Saint Vitus are obvious (“Here Comes the Wizard”), complemented by other influences from proto-metal, psychedelic, and progressive music (“Silence Spoken”). The hefty, layered guitars have a nice fuzz without fully landing in stoner territory. Ambitious long-form tracks like “Will Dusk Defy Dawn” flow like water while carrying significant emotional heft. Lastly, a moody, reverb-heavy vocal performance crowns the classic doom trance the band is aiming for. At five tracks and some 43 minutes, The Blood Lives Again is a total vibe and flies by before you’ve even noticed. Fans of the ’70s should take notes!
Temple Balls // Temple Balls [February 13th, 2026 – Frontiers Music]
One of the most authentic ways you can honor rock music tradition is via questionable naming conventions. On an unrelated note, Temple Balls is a Finnish hard rock/glam rock band, and they’re fun as hell! They’re not particularly new around the block, either: the group formed in 2009, and self-titled Temple Balls is already their fifth album since debut Traded Dreams in 2017. 2023’s Avalanche felt like a watershed moment, a welcome surprise that brought some new life and energy to a fairly dated genre of Europeisms and Hanoi Rocks rehashes. Temple Balls proves that Avalanche wasn’t a one-off, continuing their extremely authentic throwback approach. The heavy/power-metal-meets-AOR direction of songwriting (“Flashback Dynamite,” “Soul Survivor”) gives it that extra guitar oomph and energy that melodic music like this requires to be anywhere near competitive. With great all-out vocals from Arde Teronen and gigantic hooks to match, it’s just a damn good time front to back. Though it will sadly be the last time we’ll hear Niko Vuorela’s guitar work on record (R.I.P., and fuck cancer), the self-titled is certainly a worthy final milestone for him—and hopefully, another beginning for his comrades.
ClarkKent’s Enchanting Earworm
Hela // A Reign to Conquer [February 27, 2026 – Ardua Music]
Just as it put a pause on many plans and projects, the COVID pandemic slowed down the output of Spain’s Hela. A Reign to Conquer marks their first record since 2019’s Vegvìsir, which was their third release since 2013. This brief hiatus brought new blood in the form of vocalist Raquel Navarro, though, in truth, the only consistency in Hela’s lineup is the other three members—Tano Giménez on bass, Miguel Fernández (The Holeum) on drums, and Julián Velasco (The Holeum) on guitars. They have a deep bond, first forged in 2009 with The Sand Collector before forming Hela just three years later. Though they brand Hela as melodic doom, and the band does have a little in common with Katatonia, I think it’s more accurate to describe them as dreamy progressive rock. Navarro is a major reason for this, with dreamy croons that guide listeners through breezy soundscapes. She bears a passing resemblance to Maud the Moth, though the music Hela plays is decidedly more metal than our Dolphin friend’s favorite nocturnal insect. Guitarist Velasco plays a hypnotizing mix of atmospheric fuzz, crushing doom, and melodic riffs that add some heft and crunch to the ethereal sound. A Reign to Conquer has plenty of layers to probe, rewarding listeners who bear with it for repeat listens. While my initial spins left me wanting, I’ve since become spellbound. Add to that some gorgeous artwork, and this is a nice addition to anyone’s vinyl collection. Hela yeah!
Spicie Forrest’s Vicious Vittles
A Wilhelm Scream8 // Cheap Heat [February 27th, 2026 – Creator-Destructor Records]
A Wilhelm Scream9 returns after a four-year hiatus with their eighth long player, Cheap Heat. Sounding like the best combination of The Story So Far and Rise Against, A Wilhelm Scream delivers an impressive tour de force so late in their career. Vocalist Nuno Pereira10 is the highlight of Cheap Heat, driving the album with urgency and passion (“Somebody’s Gonna Die,” “Fell Off”), but no one here is a slouch. The rhythm section—bassist Brian J. Robinson, rhythm guitarist Trevor Reilly, and drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini—gleefully tosses gas on Pereira’s bonfire (“I Got Tunnel Vision”) and delivers solid grooves (“Poison II”) and searing ragers (“Unsolving the Mystery”) that keep the energy cranked to 11 all through Cheap Heat. Hooks are by far the most common lead duty, and Ben Murray puts on a fucking clinic. Each note that rings out from his axe sounds like it fucking owns the place (“Run,” “Visitor: Unimpressed”). Cheap Heat is a smidge front-loaded with “Midnight Ghost” and “I Got Tunnel Vision” being album highlights, but no song on here is anything short of a barn burner. At a super tight 28 minutes, Cheap Heat hits hard and fast and gets the fuck out of Dodge before you’re even sure what hit you. I didn’t expect a 26-year-old hardcore outfit to knock my teeth out when I queued it up on a whim one morning, but Cheap Heat is proving to be one of my favorite albums of the year.
Lead Injector // Witching Attack [February 20th, 2026 – High Roller Records]
Who doesn’t like the combination of thrash’s unchained aggression and black metal’s cold hate? There’s never been a better pair. Lead Injector hit the ground running on debut LP Witching Attack. From the opening moments of “Siege Upon Heaven” to the closing moments of “Nuclear Antichrist,” Lead Injector is here to do two things: feed high-speed buckshot to God, skeletons, and anything else that gets in their way, and have a Hellripping good time. “Angel Destructor” and “Siege Upon Heaven” barrel pell-mell through searing riffs and blast beats, while groovier tracks like “Evil Executioner” and “Nuclear Antichrist” let black metal’s punk ancestry shine through. Heavy metal influences a la Judas Priest can be found injected into tracks like “Sacrifice This Bitch” and “M.C.C.I.” While nothing about Lead Injector’s sound is particularly new, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. This debut is a unique and retro spin on a tried-and-true formula that bodes well for a young band. Witching Attack is a killer time that Ash Williams would gladly spin while boomsticking Deadites alongside Lord Arthur’s army.
#APerfectCirlce #AReignToConquer #AWilhelmScream #Aeternam #AlchemyOfFlesh #AlchemyRecordings #AmericanMetal #ArduaMusic #Atheist #AtmosphericBlackMetal #AustralianMetal #Autrest #ÆdelFetich #BanabdjedSPath #Belzebong #BlackMetal #BlackSabbath #BluesRock #Bongripper #Bongzilla #CânBardd #CanadianMetal #CheapHeat #ChileanMetal #ColdCommunion #CreatorDestructorRecords #DanishMetal #DaylightDies #DeadbangerProductions #Death #DeathDoom #DeathDriveAnthropology #DeathMetal #Doom #DoomMetal #ElectricWizard #EsotericEvocations #Europe #FinnishMetal #FrontiersMusic #GermanMetal #GlamRock #HanoiRocks #HardRock #Hardcore #HeavyMetal #HeavyPsychSounds #Hela #Hellripper #HighRollerRecords #InFlames #InexorableOpposites #Insomnium #Iotunn #JackHarlonTheDeadCrows #JudasPriest #Katatonia #LeadInjector #MagneticEyeRecords #MaudTheMoth #MelodicDeathMetal #MelodicDoomMetal #MelodicHardcore #MetallicPunk #MonumentsToRuin #Mossgiver #Naglfar #Nile #NormalIsnT #OfVulturesAndDragons #Ossomancer #Overtoun #Pestilence #PolishMetal #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #PsycheledicRock #Puscifier #Renewer #RiseAgainst #Rush #SaintVitus #SelfRelease #SelfReleased #SijMusicArt #SilentVigil #Sleep #SlovenianMetal #SpanishMetal #StonerMetal #SuncrusherRecordings #Sundecay #TechnicalDeathMetal #TempleBalls #TheBloodLivesAgain #TheEndIsHigh #TheGrandMyth #TheHoleum #TheSandCollector #TheStorySoFar #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #Tool #Trhä #Victorius #WitchingAttack -
Stuck in the Filter: February 2026’s Angry Misses By KenstrositySeems like the Filtration system is overburdened once again. Normally, my minions have to scavenge much longer to pick things up this early in the year, but 2026 is proving to be rich in moderately precious metallic ore. That just means I gotta push my team even harder to pull greater loads of filth from the ducts!
As I send them in for yet another round, please enjoy the spoils thus far exploited. BEHOLD!
Kenstrosity’s Tattered Tome
Overtoun // Death Drive Anthropology [February 13th, 2026 – Time to Kill Records]
Chilean progressive death thrash outfit Overtoun is what you get when you mix old school Death and Atheist with the proggier side of Pestilence, then amp the thrash up by a half turn. At a lofty 50 minutes, you’d expect third release Death Drive Anthropology to drag on, but to make that assumption is to criminally underestimate Overtoun’s creativity and versatility. Opening up the throttle in fine form, the one-two punch of “What Unites All (ft. Max Phelps) and “The Final Beat” manages to encompass many of these Chileans’ songwriting and performance skills in a scant 10 minutes. More introspective, nuanced songwriting takes center stage throughout Anthropology’s midsection, balancing smart melodies and minimalist atmosphere with complex guitar layering, proggy structures, and shreddy wizardry (“Dur Khrod,” “Jade, Gold, Obsidian,” “Yurei,” “Weeping”). The three-part “The Waves Suite” suite adds a mystical character to the affair that blends remarkably well with Overtoun’s more overt political messaging and emotional textures, which helps carry the record through its lengthy runtime without causing fatigue. It’s a neat record that’s modestly blemished by a bass presence that begs for more weight and wildness, especially considering the raw talent on hand. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a creative, thoughtful, and sophisticated entry into the death/thrash progosphere, Death Drive Anthropology makes a strong case.
Andy-War-Hall’s Primordial Pick-Up
The Grand Myth // Of Vultures and Dragons [February 26th, 2026 – Suncrusher Recordings]
I have a grossly limited capacity for seriousness. Yeah, I like my death metal progressive, technical, and thoughtful, much the way Brandon Bordman’s The Grand Myth deliver it on their latest record, Of Vultures and Dragons, but sometimes I just want fun, too. Of Vultures and Dragons, an adaptation of Ethan Pettus’ novel series Primitive War1 in which a rescue team searches a Vietnamese jungle for a missing platoon of Green Berets and fights for their lives against dinosaurs, has fun in spades. Utilizing a many-layered guitar attack (“Symbiotic Death”), shifting and propulsive rhythms (“Through the River Styx”), a wide cast of voice actors for brief narrative bits2 and surprisingly bright tones (“Agony”), The Grand Myth’s approach to progressive death metal isn’t revolutionary, but it’s deeply refreshing and engaging regardless. Though an absolute blast, The Grand Myth doesn’t spew embarrassingly stupid levels of campiness with their sci-fi dinosaur theming like Victorius. Rather, Of Vultures and Dragons can be fairly emotionally effective at times thanks to Bordman’s emotive clean/harsh vocals and elaborate soloing (“Pyre,” “Agony”). Nobody asks about your favorite dinosaur anymore,3 so feed your inner kid with The Grand Myth’s Of Vultures and Dragons now!
Saunders’ Sunken Shards
Puscifer// Normal Isn’t [February 6th, 2026 – Alchemy Recordings]
After losing track of recent offerings, I reacquainted myself with the latest LP from Puscifer, leaving me pleasantly surprised in the aftermath. The project featuring Tool/A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan returned for their first hit out since 2020’s Existential Reckoning. Normal Isn’t finds the shape-shifting project embracing its quirky, gothy industrial rock and electronic elements through an angsty filter of guitar-driven arty rock, post-punk, and infectious songcraft. Age should not weary Maynard, as he still sounds angry, cynical, and on point vocally through a mostly engaging, catchy bag of tunes. The dueling vocal melodies with collaborator Carina Round’s ghostly singing work a treat amidst jittery beats, angular riffs and strong electronic overtones. Rhythmically, it is an interesting ride, drummer Gunnar Olsen putting in a top-notch performance, while there is a vaguely progressive edge underlying the hook-centric songwriting. Opener “Thrust” sets the album in motion with sticky hooks, a darkly humorous, unhinged Maynard performance, and a dose of spite. Other key highlights include “Bad Wolf,” “Self Evident,” “A Public Stoning,” and “ImpetuoUs.” Puscifer made a fine return with Normal Isn’t.
Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows // Inexorable Opposites [February 6th, 2026 – Magnetic Eye Records]
You’ve gotta love a sneaky name drop from our trusty commentariat. It has led to many great discoveries over the years. On this occasion, one of our dear commenters enlightened me to Melbourne psych-blues-doomers Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows with fourth LP, Inexorable Opposites. And it didn’t take long absorbing this latest slab of rustic Aussie coolness to be struck by the album’s slow-burning, addictive power, and gritty tones. Boasting an expansive, rugged sound built on layers of distortion and a weighty blend of psych-drenched blues and doom heaviness. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows features old school, outlaw-driven lyrical content from mastermind and vocalist/guitarist Tim Coutts-Smith, meshing fictional tales of woe and adventure of character Jack Harlon, with relatable real-life struggles. Through the fuzz, thick jammy vibes, and Coutts-Smith distorted, menacing Aussie drawl, catchy songcraft shines through the muck and psych haze. From the tense, stoner-infected grit and catchy hooks of opener “Moss,” through to the stormy outback balladry of closer “To Die,” Inexorable Opposites is a hard-hitting, riffy delight, further evidenced through scorched earth, infectious cuts like “Venomous,” “Seer,” and the trippy, drug-addled “Mt. Macedon.”
Grin Reaper’s Reaped Recluse
Cold Communion // Monuments to Ruin [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Melodic death/doom isn’t a genre I dabble in often, but every now and again, one of its bands thwarts my defenses and wraps their tendrils around my precious listening time. Durham, North Carolina’s Cold Communion is one such band, featuring Barre Gambling (Daylight Dies) on guitar and Tim Rowland (Alchemy of Flesh, Silent Vigil) on everything else. If that sounds like an unfair split, take a spin and reassess, because Gambling’s performance defines Cold Communion’s melancholic character as much as Rowland’s emotive growl. Forgoing any long-form doom epics, Monuments to Ruin’s longest song comes in at five-and-a-half minutes, with the entire album clocking just forty-five. It’s a tidy platter, and both in song composition and mood shares ample common ground with Finnish sadbois Insomnium. Besides Monuments’ superior production, songs like “A Stillness Survival” and “When the Light Breaks” wouldn’t feel out of place on Across the Dark or One for Sorrow. And despite the somber trappings one might expect from doom-adjacency, there’s plenty of lively riffing and solos to find across Monuments to Ruin, adding a touch of boom to the gloom. In the end, Cold Communion doesn’t reinvent the genre or break new ground, but Monuments to Ruin offers a comfy chair by the fireside on a freezing cold day, and I’m perfectly content with that.
Mossgiver // Renewer [February 6th, 2026 – Sij MusicArt]
Atmospheric black metal often contrasts the beautiful with the bestial, typically prioritizing moods over hooks. ‘Twas a delight, then, to unearth Mossgiver’s Renewal, which deftly combines the two. Weaving together hypnotic passages flooded with strings, piano, flute, synths, double bass rolls, and the requisite blackened tremolos,4 Mossgiver’s mastermind Tilen Šimon (Ueldes) delivers the band’s best record to date. Above all, Renewer sounds like a celebration of nature in the vein of Autrest and Cân Bardd, evoking a whispering wind whipping at leaves or sunlight dappling a brook shaded by oaks and maples. Beyond the well-crafted soundtrack for a walk through the woods, Mossgiver etches emotion into the nooks and crannies of Renewer’s five tracks. From rousing string orchestrations (“I Bring the Spring with Me”) to soft-and-heavy tradeoffs pitting clean guitar and pan pipes against distorted guitar and blast beats (“Renewer”), Mossgiver shimmers with a lush backdrop of instrumentation rife with playfulness and pensiveness. The trio of primary songs5 revolve around powerful melodies that evolve over each track’s duration, with assorted instruments coming in and out to push refrains along. Renewer’s brisk thirty-four minutes showcase Mossgiver’s sticky compositions and leave me whistling its melodies for days at a time. Now throw on your hiking boots and get lost in the Moss.
Ossomancer // Banebdjed’s Path [February 28th, 2026 – Esoteric Evocations]
Six-and-a-half years removed from Ossomancer’s debut Artes Magickae, lone wolf and mastermind Kamose returns to tread Banebjed’s Path. Bursting with references to mythology and mysticism, Banebjed’s Path rumbles and shakes with arcane thunder. Although the backdrop and track names might recall the frenzied onslaught of Nile, Ossomancer instead conceives a realm recalling Aeternam, Iotunn, and Naglfar. Despite the scant thirty-four-minute runtime, Banebjed’s Path sprawls across diverse landscapes and textures. Opener “The Ogdoad Arrangement and the Osirian Creation” oscillates between In Flames melodies and a slinky crawl that could pass for a 90s Geddy Lee bass line played over synth injections from Rush’s 80s era. Follow-up track “Sobek – Cosmic Vibrations Devoured” features Kreator-bred riffing, while closing duo “A Sea of Sand, a Silver Star” and “Retraction into Kether” synthesize the ethereal atmospheres of Iotunn with the blackened assault of Naglfar. Through it all, Ossomancer sounds fabulous, as Banebjed’s Path flaunts an enviable DR 8 and a bodacious mix that spotlights its burly bass performance. Ossomancer’s sophomore outing is crammed with meloblack goodies, and though it’s not a long trek, the journey down Banebjed’s Path far transcends its distance.
Tyme’s Danish Dalliance
Ædel Fetich // Ædel Fetich [February 20th, 2026 – Deadbanger Productions]
That blinged-out pink dish-glove-clad hand is what first drew me to Denmark outfit Ædel Fetich’s self-titled debut. Then I clicked play and was taken on one of the more compelling “black” metal rides in recent memory. With roots primarily buried in the soil of the traditional second-wave, Ædel Fetich is rife with moments of rifferous tremolodic speed (“Ridderlig Lider,” “Madras”) and absolutely berserk guitar chaos (“Sort Magi”). There’s a Trhä-like sense of experimentation, and the rawness of the production enhances the oft-changing compositions, which, like weather in the Midwest, often shift on a dime without warning. Luckily, Ædel Fetich’s adept songwriting organically smooths these transitions, which could have easily come off stilted and jarring, but makes drawing direct comparisons to the Ædel Fetich sound difficult, as there’s a spectrum of other influences at play. There are tracks packed with punky punch (“Et Liv Fuld af Fejl,” “Ildtang”) or imbued with folky reverence (“Mit Billede af Dig”) and even some 80s pop—fans of the movie Flashdance shouldn’t have a problem finding the poppy easter egg hiding near the end of “Sort Magi.”6 Far and away the star of the show, however, is singer Skvat, whose performance is filled with as much black metal bravado as it is theatrical exuberance, his arsenal of shrieks, growls, hoots, howls, and operatic baritonations a refreshing treat, akin to if Mike Patton woke up one day deciding to record a Danish black metal album. Bottom line is, I really dig Ædel Fetich and think you will too.
Creeping Ivy’s Ashen Afterthought
Belzebong // The End is High [February 20th, 2026 – Heavy Psych Sounds]
In my humble opinion, lyrics are key to making stoner metal more than novelty music. If you’re referencing reefer in your album art, band name, and song titles, at least keep the reeferisms out of the songs themselves,7 or better yet, avoid vocals altogether. Taking this latter advice to heart is instrumental Polish four-piece Belzebong, who have been at it for almost 20 years now. On The End is High, their fourth full-length, Belzebong deal 35 minutes of fuzzed-out riffery described as “a new sermon for the final days.” While not as highbrow (huh huh) as the instrumental stoner metal of Bongripper, Belzebong are similarly ominous on opener (yes) “Bong & Chain,” which caps its ten-minute burn with creepy, haunting synths. From there, the band settle into material more akin to Bongzilla; sound clips adorn the chill grooves of “420 Horsemen,” “Hempnotized,” and “Reefer Mortis,” which closes things out with some solid Electric Wizard worship. If you instinctively (and understandably) recoil from music with marijuana aesthetics but dig the meditative repetition offered by stoner metal, consider sampling The End is High. It’s not exactly the caricature it advertises itself as.
Baguette’s Bygone Bounty
Sundecay // The Blood Lives Again [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Toronto’s Sundecay has been around for a while. These Canadian doomers spawned sometime prior to 2014, quietly releasing EP material every once in a blue moon. The Blood Lives Again is their first full-length release—their first signs of life since 2018 in general—and the time and care they took to develop their sound and songwriting prowess pays off here in spades. The doom and proto-doom inspirations from Black Sabbath to Saint Vitus are obvious (“Here Comes the Wizard”), complemented by other influences from proto-metal, psychedelic, and progressive music (“Silence Spoken”). The hefty, layered guitars have a nice fuzz without fully landing in stoner territory. Ambitious long-form tracks like “Will Dusk Defy Dawn” flow like water while carrying significant emotional heft. Lastly, a moody, reverb-heavy vocal performance crowns the classic doom trance the band is aiming for. At five tracks and some 43 minutes, The Blood Lives Again is a total vibe and flies by before you’ve even noticed. Fans of the ’70s should take notes!
Temple Balls // Temple Balls [February 13th, 2026 – Frontiers Music]
One of the most authentic ways you can honor rock music tradition is via questionable naming conventions. On an unrelated note, Temple Balls is a Finnish hard rock/glam rock band, and they’re fun as hell! They’re not particularly new around the block, either: the group formed in 2009, and self-titled Temple Balls is already their fifth album since debut Traded Dreams in 2017. 2023’s Avalanche felt like a watershed moment, a welcome surprise that brought some new life and energy to a fairly dated genre of Europeisms and Hanoi Rocks rehashes. Temple Balls proves that Avalanche wasn’t a one-off, continuing their extremely authentic throwback approach. The heavy/power-metal-meets-AOR direction of songwriting (“Flashback Dynamite,” “Soul Survivor”) gives it that extra guitar oomph and energy that melodic music like this requires to be anywhere near competitive. With great all-out vocals from Arde Teronen and gigantic hooks to match, it’s just a damn good time front to back. Though it will sadly be the last time we’ll hear Niko Vuorela’s guitar work on record (R.I.P., and fuck cancer), the self-titled is certainly a worthy final milestone for him—and hopefully, another beginning for his comrades.
ClarkKent’s Enchanting Earworm
Hela // A Reign to Conquer [February 27, 2026 – Ardua Music]
Just as it put a pause on many plans and projects, the COVID pandemic slowed down the output of Spain’s Hela. A Reign to Conquer marks their first record since 2019’s Vegvìsir, which was their third release since 2013. This brief hiatus brought new blood in the form of vocalist Raquel Navarro, though, in truth, the only consistency in Hela’s lineup is the other three members—Tano Giménez on bass, Miguel Fernández (The Holeum) on drums, and Julián Velasco (The Holeum) on guitars. They have a deep bond, first forged in 2009 with The Sand Collector before forming Hela just three years later. Though they brand Hela as melodic doom, and the band does have a little in common with Katatonia, I think it’s more accurate to describe them as dreamy progressive rock. Navarro is a major reason for this, with dreamy croons that guide listeners through breezy soundscapes. She bears a passing resemblance to Maud the Moth, though the music Hela plays is decidedly more metal than our Dolphin friend’s favorite nocturnal insect. Guitarist Velasco plays a hypnotizing mix of atmospheric fuzz, crushing doom, and melodic riffs that add some heft and crunch to the ethereal sound. A Reign to Conquer has plenty of layers to probe, rewarding listeners who bear with it for repeat listens. While my initial spins left me wanting, I’ve since become spellbound. Add to that some gorgeous artwork, and this is a nice addition to anyone’s vinyl collection. Hela yeah!
Spicie Forrest’s Vicious Vittles
A Wilhelm Scream8 // Cheap Heat [February 27th, 2026 – Creator-Destructor Records]
A Wilhelm Scream9 returns after a four-year hiatus with their eighth long player, Cheap Heat. Sounding like the best combination of The Story So Far and Rise Against, A Wilhelm Scream delivers an impressive tour de force so late in their career. Vocalist Nuno Pereira10 is the highlight of Cheap Heat, driving the album with urgency and passion (“Somebody’s Gonna Die,” “Fell Off”), but no one here is a slouch. The rhythm section—bassist Brian J. Robinson, rhythm guitarist Trevor Reilly, and drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini—gleefully tosses gas on Pereira’s bonfire (“I Got Tunnel Vision”) and delivers solid grooves (“Poison II”) and searing ragers (“Unsolving the Mystery”) that keep the energy cranked to 11 all through Cheap Heat. Hooks are by far the most common lead duty, and Ben Murray puts on a fucking clinic. Each note that rings out from his axe sounds like it fucking owns the place (“Run,” “Visitor: Unimpressed”). Cheap Heat is a smidge front-loaded with “Midnight Ghost” and “I Got Tunnel Vision” being album highlights, but no song on here is anything short of a barn burner. At a super tight 28 minutes, Cheap Heat hits hard and fast and gets the fuck out of Dodge before you’re even sure what hit you. I didn’t expect a 26-year-old hardcore outfit to knock my teeth out when I queued it up on a whim one morning, but Cheap Heat is proving to be one of my favorite albums of the year.
Lead Injector // Witching Attack [February 20th, 2026 – High Roller Records]
Who doesn’t like the combination of thrash’s unchained aggression and black metal’s cold hate? There’s never been a better pair. Lead Injector hit the ground running on debut LP Witching Attack. From the opening moments of “Siege Upon Heaven” to the closing moments of “Nuclear Antichrist,” Lead Injector is here to do two things: feed high-speed buckshot to God, skeletons, and anything else that gets in their way, and have a Hellripping good time. “Angel Destructor” and “Siege Upon Heaven” barrel pell-mell through searing riffs and blast beats, while groovier tracks like “Evil Executioner” and “Nuclear Antichrist” let black metal’s punk ancestry shine through. Heavy metal influences a la Judas Priest can be found injected into tracks like “Sacrifice This Bitch” and “M.C.C.I.” While nothing about Lead Injector’s sound is particularly new, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. This debut is a unique and retro spin on a tried-and-true formula that bodes well for a young band. Witching Attack is a killer time that Ash Williams would gladly spin while boomsticking Deadites alongside Lord Arthur’s army.
#APerfectCirlce #AReignToConquer #AWilhelmScream #Aeternam #AlchemyOfFlesh #AlchemyRecordings #AmericanMetal #ArduaMusic #Atheist #AtmosphericBlackMetal #AustralianMetal #Autrest #ÆdelFetich #BanabdjedSPath #Belzebong #BlackMetal #BlackSabbath #BluesRock #Bongripper #Bongzilla #CânBardd #CanadianMetal #CheapHeat #ChileanMetal #ColdCommunion #CreatorDestructorRecords #DanishMetal #DaylightDies #DeadbangerProductions #Death #DeathDoom #DeathDriveAnthropology #DeathMetal #Doom #DoomMetal #ElectricWizard #EsotericEvocations #Europe #FinnishMetal #FrontiersMusic #GermanMetal #GlamRock #HanoiRocks #HardRock #Hardcore #HeavyMetal #HeavyPsychSounds #Hela #Hellripper #HighRollerRecords #InFlames #InexorableOpposites #Insomnium #Iotunn #JackHarlonTheDeadCrows #JudasPriest #Katatonia #LeadInjector #MagneticEyeRecords #MaudTheMoth #MelodicDeathMetal #MelodicDoomMetal #MelodicHardcore #MetallicPunk #MonumentsToRuin #Mossgiver #Naglfar #Nile #NormalIsnT #OfVulturesAndDragons #Ossomancer #Overtoun #Pestilence #PolishMetal #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #PsycheledicRock #Puscifier #Renewer #RiseAgainst #Rush #SaintVitus #SelfRelease #SelfReleased #SijMusicArt #SilentVigil #Sleep #SlovenianMetal #SpanishMetal #StonerMetal #SuncrusherRecordings #Sundecay #TechnicalDeathMetal #TempleBalls #TheBloodLivesAgain #TheEndIsHigh #TheGrandMyth #TheHoleum #TheSandCollector #TheStorySoFar #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #Tool #Trhä #Victorius #WitchingAttack -
Stuck in the Filter: February 2026’s Angry Misses By KenstrositySeems like the Filtration system is overburdened once again. Normally, my minions have to scavenge much longer to pick things up this early in the year, but 2026 is proving to be rich in moderately precious metallic ore. That just means I gotta push my team even harder to pull greater loads of filth from the ducts!
As I send them in for yet another round, please enjoy the spoils thus far exploited. BEHOLD!
Kenstrosity’s Tattered Tome
Overtoun // Death Drive Anthropology [February 13th, 2026 – Time to Kill Records]
Chilean progressive death thrash outfit Overtoun is what you get when you mix old school Death and Atheist with the proggier side of Pestilence, then amp the thrash up by a half turn. At a lofty 50 minutes, you’d expect third release Death Drive Anthropology to drag on, but to make that assumption is to criminally underestimate Overtoun’s creativity and versatility. Opening up the throttle in fine form, the one-two punch of “What Unites All (ft. Max Phelps) and “The Final Beat” manages to encompass many of these Chileans’ songwriting and performance skills in a scant 10 minutes. More introspective, nuanced songwriting takes center stage throughout Anthropology’s midsection, balancing smart melodies and minimalist atmosphere with complex guitar layering, proggy structures, and shreddy wizardry (“Dur Khrod,” “Jade, Gold, Obsidian,” “Yurei,” “Weeping”). The three-part “The Waves Suite” suite adds a mystical character to the affair that blends remarkably well with Overtoun’s more overt political messaging and emotional textures, which helps carry the record through its lengthy runtime without causing fatigue. It’s a neat record that’s modestly blemished by a bass presence that begs for more weight and wildness, especially considering the raw talent on hand. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a creative, thoughtful, and sophisticated entry into the death/thrash progosphere, Death Drive Anthropology makes a strong case.
Andy-War-Hall’s Primordial Pick-Up
The Grand Myth // Of Vultures and Dragons [February 26th, 2026 – Suncrusher Recordings]
I have a grossly limited capacity for seriousness. Yeah, I like my death metal progressive, technical, and thoughtful, much the way Brandon Bordman’s The Grand Myth deliver it on their latest record, Of Vultures and Dragons, but sometimes I just want fun, too. Of Vultures and Dragons, an adaptation of Ethan Pettus’ novel series Primitive War1 in which a rescue team searches a Vietnamese jungle for a missing platoon of Green Berets and fights for their lives against dinosaurs, has fun in spades. Utilizing a many-layered guitar attack (“Symbiotic Death”), shifting and propulsive rhythms (“Through the River Styx”), a wide cast of voice actors for brief narrative bits2 and surprisingly bright tones (“Agony”), The Grand Myth’s approach to progressive death metal isn’t revolutionary, but it’s deeply refreshing and engaging regardless. Though an absolute blast, The Grand Myth doesn’t spew embarrassingly stupid levels of campiness with their sci-fi dinosaur theming like Victorius. Rather, Of Vultures and Dragons can be fairly emotionally effective at times thanks to Bordman’s emotive clean/harsh vocals and elaborate soloing (“Pyre,” “Agony”). Nobody asks about your favorite dinosaur anymore,3 so feed your inner kid with The Grand Myth’s Of Vultures and Dragons now!
Saunders’ Sunken Shards
Puscifer// Normal Isn’t [February 6th, 2026 – Alchemy Recordings]
After losing track of recent offerings, I reacquainted myself with the latest LP from Puscifer, leaving me pleasantly surprised in the aftermath. The project featuring Tool/A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan returned for their first hit out since 2020’s Existential Reckoning. Normal Isn’t finds the shape-shifting project embracing its quirky, gothy industrial rock and electronic elements through an angsty filter of guitar-driven arty rock, post-punk, and infectious songcraft. Age should not weary Maynard, as he still sounds angry, cynical, and on point vocally through a mostly engaging, catchy bag of tunes. The dueling vocal melodies with collaborator Carina Round’s ghostly singing work a treat amidst jittery beats, angular riffs and strong electronic overtones. Rhythmically, it is an interesting ride, drummer Gunnar Olsen putting in a top-notch performance, while there is a vaguely progressive edge underlying the hook-centric songwriting. Opener “Thrust” sets the album in motion with sticky hooks, a darkly humorous, unhinged Maynard performance, and a dose of spite. Other key highlights include “Bad Wolf,” “Self Evident,” “A Public Stoning,” and “ImpetuoUs.” Puscifer made a fine return with Normal Isn’t.
Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows // Inexorable Opposites [February 6th, 2026 – Magnetic Eye Records]
You’ve gotta love a sneaky name drop from our trusty commentariat. It has led to many great discoveries over the years. On this occasion, one of our dear commenters enlightened me to Melbourne psych-blues-doomers Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows with fourth LP, Inexorable Opposites. And it didn’t take long absorbing this latest slab of rustic Aussie coolness to be struck by the album’s slow-burning, addictive power, and gritty tones. Boasting an expansive, rugged sound built on layers of distortion and a weighty blend of psych-drenched blues and doom heaviness. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows features old school, outlaw-driven lyrical content from mastermind and vocalist/guitarist Tim Coutts-Smith, meshing fictional tales of woe and adventure of character Jack Harlon, with relatable real-life struggles. Through the fuzz, thick jammy vibes, and Coutts-Smith distorted, menacing Aussie drawl, catchy songcraft shines through the muck and psych haze. From the tense, stoner-infected grit and catchy hooks of opener “Moss,” through to the stormy outback balladry of closer “To Die,” Inexorable Opposites is a hard-hitting, riffy delight, further evidenced through scorched earth, infectious cuts like “Venomous,” “Seer,” and the trippy, drug-addled “Mt. Macedon.”
Grin Reaper’s Reaped Recluse
Cold Communion // Monuments to Ruin [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Melodic death/doom isn’t a genre I dabble in often, but every now and again, one of its bands thwarts my defenses and wraps their tendrils around my precious listening time. Durham, North Carolina’s Cold Communion is one such band, featuring Barre Gambling (Daylight Dies) on guitar and Tim Rowland (Alchemy of Flesh, Silent Vigil) on everything else. If that sounds like an unfair split, take a spin and reassess, because Gambling’s performance defines Cold Communion’s melancholic character as much as Rowland’s emotive growl. Forgoing any long-form doom epics, Monuments to Ruin’s longest song comes in at five-and-a-half minutes, with the entire album clocking just forty-five. It’s a tidy platter, and both in song composition and mood shares ample common ground with Finnish sadbois Insomnium. Besides Monuments’ superior production, songs like “A Stillness Survival” and “When the Light Breaks” wouldn’t feel out of place on Across the Dark or One for Sorrow. And despite the somber trappings one might expect from doom-adjacency, there’s plenty of lively riffing and solos to find across Monuments to Ruin, adding a touch of boom to the gloom. In the end, Cold Communion doesn’t reinvent the genre or break new ground, but Monuments to Ruin offers a comfy chair by the fireside on a freezing cold day, and I’m perfectly content with that.
Mossgiver // Renewer [February 6th, 2026 – Sij MusicArt]
Atmospheric black metal often contrasts the beautiful with the bestial, typically prioritizing moods over hooks. ‘Twas a delight, then, to unearth Mossgiver’s Renewal, which deftly combines the two. Weaving together hypnotic passages flooded with strings, piano, flute, synths, double bass rolls, and the requisite blackened tremolos,4 Mossgiver’s mastermind Tilen Šimon (Ueldes) delivers the band’s best record to date. Above all, Renewer sounds like a celebration of nature in the vein of Autrest and Cân Bardd, evoking a whispering wind whipping at leaves or sunlight dappling a brook shaded by oaks and maples. Beyond the well-crafted soundtrack for a walk through the woods, Mossgiver etches emotion into the nooks and crannies of Renewer’s five tracks. From rousing string orchestrations (“I Bring the Spring with Me”) to soft-and-heavy tradeoffs pitting clean guitar and pan pipes against distorted guitar and blast beats (“Renewer”), Mossgiver shimmers with a lush backdrop of instrumentation rife with playfulness and pensiveness. The trio of primary songs5 revolve around powerful melodies that evolve over each track’s duration, with assorted instruments coming in and out to push refrains along. Renewer’s brisk thirty-four minutes showcase Mossgiver’s sticky compositions and leave me whistling its melodies for days at a time. Now throw on your hiking boots and get lost in the Moss.
Ossomancer // Banebdjed’s Path [February 28th, 2026 – Esoteric Evocations]
Six-and-a-half years removed from Ossomancer’s debut Artes Magickae, lone wolf and mastermind Kamose returns to tread Banebjed’s Path. Bursting with references to mythology and mysticism, Banebjed’s Path rumbles and shakes with arcane thunder. Although the backdrop and track names might recall the frenzied onslaught of Nile, Ossomancer instead conceives a realm recalling Aeternam, Iotunn, and Naglfar. Despite the scant thirty-four-minute runtime, Banebjed’s Path sprawls across diverse landscapes and textures. Opener “The Ogdoad Arrangement and the Osirian Creation” oscillates between In Flames melodies and a slinky crawl that could pass for a 90s Geddy Lee bass line played over synth injections from Rush’s 80s era. Follow-up track “Sobek – Cosmic Vibrations Devoured” features Kreator-bred riffing, while closing duo “A Sea of Sand, a Silver Star” and “Retraction into Kether” synthesize the ethereal atmospheres of Iotunn with the blackened assault of Naglfar. Through it all, Ossomancer sounds fabulous, as Banebjed’s Path flaunts an enviable DR 8 and a bodacious mix that spotlights its burly bass performance. Ossomancer’s sophomore outing is crammed with meloblack goodies, and though it’s not a long trek, the journey down Banebjed’s Path far transcends its distance.
Tyme’s Danish Dalliance
Ædel Fetich // Ædel Fetich [February 20th, 2026 – Deadbanger Productions]
That blinged-out pink dish-glove-clad hand is what first drew me to Denmark outfit Ædel Fetich’s self-titled debut. Then I clicked play and was taken on one of the more compelling “black” metal rides in recent memory. With roots primarily buried in the soil of the traditional second-wave, Ædel Fetich is rife with moments of rifferous tremolodic speed (“Ridderlig Lider,” “Madras”) and absolutely berserk guitar chaos (“Sort Magi”). There’s a Trhä-like sense of experimentation, and the rawness of the production enhances the oft-changing compositions, which, like weather in the Midwest, often shift on a dime without warning. Luckily, Ædel Fetich’s adept songwriting organically smooths these transitions, which could have easily come off stilted and jarring, but makes drawing direct comparisons to the Ædel Fetich sound difficult, as there’s a spectrum of other influences at play. There are tracks packed with punky punch (“Et Liv Fuld af Fejl,” “Ildtang”) or imbued with folky reverence (“Mit Billede af Dig”) and even some 80s pop—fans of the movie Flashdance shouldn’t have a problem finding the poppy easter egg hiding near the end of “Sort Magi.”6 Far and away the star of the show, however, is singer Skvat, whose performance is filled with as much black metal bravado as it is theatrical exuberance, his arsenal of shrieks, growls, hoots, howls, and operatic baritonations a refreshing treat, akin to if Mike Patton woke up one day deciding to record a Danish black metal album. Bottom line is, I really dig Ædel Fetich and think you will too.
Creeping Ivy’s Ashen Afterthought
Belzebong // The End is High [February 20th, 2026 – Heavy Psych Sounds]
In my humble opinion, lyrics are key to making stoner metal more than novelty music. If you’re referencing reefer in your album art, band name, and song titles, at least keep the reeferisms out of the songs themselves,7 or better yet, avoid vocals altogether. Taking this latter advice to heart is instrumental Polish four-piece Belzebong, who have been at it for almost 20 years now. On The End is High, their fourth full-length, Belzebong deal 35 minutes of fuzzed-out riffery described as “a new sermon for the final days.” While not as highbrow (huh huh) as the instrumental stoner metal of Bongripper, Belzebong are similarly ominous on opener (yes) “Bong & Chain,” which caps its ten-minute burn with creepy, haunting synths. From there, the band settle into material more akin to Bongzilla; sound clips adorn the chill grooves of “420 Horsemen,” “Hempnotized,” and “Reefer Mortis,” which closes things out with some solid Electric Wizard worship. If you instinctively (and understandably) recoil from music with marijuana aesthetics but dig the meditative repetition offered by stoner metal, consider sampling The End is High. It’s not exactly the caricature it advertises itself as.
Baguette’s Bygone Bounty
Sundecay // The Blood Lives Again [February 13th, 2026 – Self Released]
Toronto’s Sundecay has been around for a while. These Canadian doomers spawned sometime prior to 2014, quietly releasing EP material every once in a blue moon. The Blood Lives Again is their first full-length release—their first signs of life since 2018 in general—and the time and care they took to develop their sound and songwriting prowess pays off here in spades. The doom and proto-doom inspirations from Black Sabbath to Saint Vitus are obvious (“Here Comes the Wizard”), complemented by other influences from proto-metal, psychedelic, and progressive music (“Silence Spoken”). The hefty, layered guitars have a nice fuzz without fully landing in stoner territory. Ambitious long-form tracks like “Will Dusk Defy Dawn” flow like water while carrying significant emotional heft. Lastly, a moody, reverb-heavy vocal performance crowns the classic doom trance the band is aiming for. At five tracks and some 43 minutes, The Blood Lives Again is a total vibe and flies by before you’ve even noticed. Fans of the ’70s should take notes!
Temple Balls // Temple Balls [February 13th, 2026 – Frontiers Music]
One of the most authentic ways you can honor rock music tradition is via questionable naming conventions. On an unrelated note, Temple Balls is a Finnish hard rock/glam rock band, and they’re fun as hell! They’re not particularly new around the block, either: the group formed in 2009, and self-titled Temple Balls is already their fifth album since debut Traded Dreams in 2017. 2023’s Avalanche felt like a watershed moment, a welcome surprise that brought some new life and energy to a fairly dated genre of Europeisms and Hanoi Rocks rehashes. Temple Balls proves that Avalanche wasn’t a one-off, continuing their extremely authentic throwback approach. The heavy/power-metal-meets-AOR direction of songwriting (“Flashback Dynamite,” “Soul Survivor”) gives it that extra guitar oomph and energy that melodic music like this requires to be anywhere near competitive. With great all-out vocals from Arde Teronen and gigantic hooks to match, it’s just a damn good time front to back. Though it will sadly be the last time we’ll hear Niko Vuorela’s guitar work on record (R.I.P., and fuck cancer), the self-titled is certainly a worthy final milestone for him—and hopefully, another beginning for his comrades.
ClarkKent’s Enchanting Earworm
Hela // A Reign to Conquer [February 27, 2026 – Ardua Music]
Just as it put a pause on many plans and projects, the COVID pandemic slowed down the output of Spain’s Hela. A Reign to Conquer marks their first record since 2019’s Vegvìsir, which was their third release since 2013. This brief hiatus brought new blood in the form of vocalist Raquel Navarro, though, in truth, the only consistency in Hela’s lineup is the other three members—Tano Giménez on bass, Miguel Fernández (The Holeum) on drums, and Julián Velasco (The Holeum) on guitars. They have a deep bond, first forged in 2009 with The Sand Collector before forming Hela just three years later. Though they brand Hela as melodic doom, and the band does have a little in common with Katatonia, I think it’s more accurate to describe them as dreamy progressive rock. Navarro is a major reason for this, with dreamy croons that guide listeners through breezy soundscapes. She bears a passing resemblance to Maud the Moth, though the music Hela plays is decidedly more metal than our Dolphin friend’s favorite nocturnal insect. Guitarist Velasco plays a hypnotizing mix of atmospheric fuzz, crushing doom, and melodic riffs that add some heft and crunch to the ethereal sound. A Reign to Conquer has plenty of layers to probe, rewarding listeners who bear with it for repeat listens. While my initial spins left me wanting, I’ve since become spellbound. Add to that some gorgeous artwork, and this is a nice addition to anyone’s vinyl collection. Hela yeah!
Spicie Forrest’s Vicious Vittles
A Wilhelm Scream8 // Cheap Heat [February 27th, 2026 – Creator-Destructor Records]
A Wilhelm Scream9 returns after a four-year hiatus with their eighth long player, Cheap Heat. Sounding like the best combination of The Story So Far and Rise Against, A Wilhelm Scream delivers an impressive tour de force so late in their career. Vocalist Nuno Pereira10 is the highlight of Cheap Heat, driving the album with urgency and passion (“Somebody’s Gonna Die,” “Fell Off”), but no one here is a slouch. The rhythm section—bassist Brian J. Robinson, rhythm guitarist Trevor Reilly, and drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini—gleefully tosses gas on Pereira’s bonfire (“I Got Tunnel Vision”) and delivers solid grooves (“Poison II”) and searing ragers (“Unsolving the Mystery”) that keep the energy cranked to 11 all through Cheap Heat. Hooks are by far the most common lead duty, and Ben Murray puts on a fucking clinic. Each note that rings out from his axe sounds like it fucking owns the place (“Run,” “Visitor: Unimpressed”). Cheap Heat is a smidge front-loaded with “Midnight Ghost” and “I Got Tunnel Vision” being album highlights, but no song on here is anything short of a barn burner. At a super tight 28 minutes, Cheap Heat hits hard and fast and gets the fuck out of Dodge before you’re even sure what hit you. I didn’t expect a 26-year-old hardcore outfit to knock my teeth out when I queued it up on a whim one morning, but Cheap Heat is proving to be one of my favorite albums of the year.
Lead Injector // Witching Attack [February 20th, 2026 – High Roller Records]
Who doesn’t like the combination of thrash’s unchained aggression and black metal’s cold hate? There’s never been a better pair. Lead Injector hit the ground running on debut LP Witching Attack. From the opening moments of “Siege Upon Heaven” to the closing moments of “Nuclear Antichrist,” Lead Injector is here to do two things: feed high-speed buckshot to God, skeletons, and anything else that gets in their way, and have a Hellripping good time. “Angel Destructor” and “Siege Upon Heaven” barrel pell-mell through searing riffs and blast beats, while groovier tracks like “Evil Executioner” and “Nuclear Antichrist” let black metal’s punk ancestry shine through. Heavy metal influences a la Judas Priest can be found injected into tracks like “Sacrifice This Bitch” and “M.C.C.I.” While nothing about Lead Injector’s sound is particularly new, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. This debut is a unique and retro spin on a tried-and-true formula that bodes well for a young band. Witching Attack is a killer time that Ash Williams would gladly spin while boomsticking Deadites alongside Lord Arthur’s army.
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