May 2026
AYD AYD Four tracks, an hour, one room that sounds like a cave. The self-titled debut from this Slovenian sludge/doom/post-metal band out of Gornja Radgona builds its drama out of long hypnotic ascents and the walls of sound they collapse into. Sludge MetalDoom MetalPost-Metal 
Consecration Exanimis A first look at the fourth Consecration album, due on Nuclear Winter Records, judged from its two advance singles. The Norwich death/doom veterans hand the desk to Greg Chandler and come back sounding like a wall of dirt with the lights off. Death Doom MetalDeath MetalDoom Metal 
Godthrymm Projections The Yorkshire doom band close their Visions Trilogy with a third album that brings Aaron Stainthorpe back to the microphone for one track. The songs carry the weight of a band with My Dying Bride and Anathema in their bloodline, but a loud modern master keeps getting in the way. Doom MetalEpic Doom MetalMelodic Doom Metal 
Downfall of Nur And the Firmament Will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth Sardinian atmospheric black metal solo project's first album in a decade, on Avantgarde Music. Seven tracks, eighty minutes, a profound reflection on the ancestral memory of Sardinia, mastered by Gabriele Gramaglia. Atmospheric Black MetalBlack MetalFolk MetalPost-Black Metal 
Fuzzrider Desert Boogie Athens fuzz-and-dirty-blues trio's new album — nine tracks of raw, mid-forward stoner-blues recorded with a deliberate live feel and no loudness-chasing polish. Stoner RockBlues RockHeavy PsychFuzz Rock 
Hypnosaur Afterlife Polish stoner/rock'n'roll quartet's second album, recorded at Sound of Records with Haldor Grünberg — nine tracks of clean, modern-mixed heavy rock with synth-led bridges and a polished contemporary production. Stoner RockHeavy RockHard Rock 
Inherits the Void The Silent Abscission A preview of the fourth Inherits the Void album, due June 19 on Avantgarde Music. AS's French atmospheric black metal project turns to a concept of erasure and cosmic implosion across eight visions, in its cleanest and most modern-produced form yet. Atmospheric Black MetalMelodic Black MetalBlack Metal 
Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell The Trouble With The Shovell Hastings heavy-rock trio's fifth album — seven years since the last one. Nine tracks of unrepentant '70s-leaning hard-rock- with-fuzz on Rise Above Records, recorded without modern polish and committed to the same grease-rock vocabulary they've worked since 2008. Heavy RockHard RockHeavy PsychStoner Rock 
Endless Floods PASSAGES Bordeaux post-heavy trio's sixth album — four long-form pieces stretching across 38 minutes, with saxophone, French vocals, and the kind of extreme dynamic contrast between intimate acoustic passages and dense fuzz walls that the band have spent six records refining. DoomgazePost-RockPost-MetalDark FolkDrone 
Khybernaut Tales of Ashes and Delusion Berlin stoner-metal quartet's debut LP — six tracks recorded at Castalian Spring studios, rough clean vocals over fuzz-saturated riffs, atmospheric intros giving way to dense walls of sound. Stoner MetalStoner RockHeavy Rock 
Deliverance The Voyager Golden Banquet French avant-garde sludge/black/psych act's new album on Les Acteurs de l'Ombre — eight tracks, forty-three minutes, the band's black-metal/sludge DNA confronted with post-rock, Floydian psychedelia and electronic textures. Sludge MetalBlack MetalAvant-Garde MetalPsychedelic RockProgressive Metal 
Lorn Searing Blood Italian atmospheric/raw black metal solo project's fourth album on I, Voidhanger Records — six tracks, written and performed by Radok in Prali, returning to genre tradition after eight years away from the LP format. Black MetalAtmospheric Black MetalRaw Black MetalExperimental 
Sloth Slothmachine Brno stoner/heavy-psych quartet's debut LP — six tracks of brutal fuzz on Kabinet Records, recorded at Golden Hive Studio, built for lovers of speaker-blowing low-end weight. Stoner RockHeavy PsychDoom MetalFuzz Rock 
Jesus Crustus El Crustadore Berlin crust-punk-into-grindcore duo's new album: fifteen tracks across thirty-two minutes, recorded at Noir Surge Studio, guest vocals from Tina and Harmony Dies, exactly the kind of dirty short-form chaos the genre lives on. Crust PunkGrindcoreSludgeD-Beat 
Sauvageoness A Maze Deep In Swiss solo project's debut LP — fourteen tracks of 'doomed industrial dream pop' mixed and mastered by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Soft Kill) at Atomic Garden. Indie noise, shoegaze, post-punk and the raw weight of black metal, threaded together. Doom MetalShoegazePost-PunkIndustrialDream Pop 
The Space Huns Sunny Road Hungarian instrumental stoner trio's new LP on Minimal Bogart Records, six tracks of improvised jams recorded, mixed and mastered at Rossz Records — and explicitly without any AI-generated content. Stoner RockHeavy PsychInstrumentalBlues Rock 
Buio Dentro Aurora Italian post-metal/noise project, four long-form pieces totalling forty-seven minutes. Recorded between Rome and Perugia, mastered at Hombrelobo Studio, leaning hard into lo-fi atmosphere and drone. Post-MetalNoise RockSludgeDrone 
Goddess Ritual of the Cloven Hoof Reborn from the ashes of Goatess after a founding-member departure, the Swedish doom quartet's first record under the new name lands on Majestic Mountain. Six tracks, thirty-seven minutes, recorded by Joona Hassinen at Studio Underjord. Doom MetalStoner DoomHeavy Psych 
Hex A.D. Surgical Cuts in the Cosmos Norwegian doom-prog veterans' new album, three years after Delightful Sharp Edges. Seven tracks spanning prog rock, classic heavy metal, stoner-rock fuzz and old-school doom, all on Apollon Records. Doom MetalProgressive MetalStoner RockHeavy Metal 
Faded Remembrance The Blessing Of Downfall Hungarian one-man atmospheric doom project, third album on Bitume Prods. Nine tracks of slow doom built around trumpet, trombone and synthesizer — a Pan-Thy-Monium reference made flesh. Doom MetalAtmospheric DoomGothic MetalExperimental 
Impure Wilhelmina Le Sanglot Thirty years into the Geneva quartet's progressive-dark catalogue, their most radical record yet — nine tracks of French- language post-hardcore, mastered by Magnus Lindberg of Cult of Luna. Progressive MetalPost-HardcorePost-Rock 
Sons of Node Consequence of Abundance Utrecht sludge band's second LP. Eight tracks across forty-eight minutes, recorded with Abel Jansma and mastered by Tim de Gieter, with a two-minute instrumental interlude bracketing the album's long-form centrepiece. Sludge MetalStoner MetalDoom Metal 
The Dead At Sea III Birmingham post-rock-into-doom project's third album. Five instrumental tracks rooted in the isolation of North Sentinel Island, mastered by Jack Chuter. Post-RockPost-MetalHeavy PsychDrone 
Abyssian Let Me Die Under the Stars Italian Atlantean dark-doom collective's third album, on Black Widow Records. Six pieces of sumerian creation mythology, fretless bass and gothic baritone, closing on a Roxy Music cover. Gothic MetalDoom MetalAtmospheric Metal 
Manøver Insurrection Münster crust/sludge three-piece's new LP. Nine tracks, forty minutes of antifascist d-beat and dystopian doom, recorded by Role at Tonmeisterei, vinyl on Fucking Kill Records. Crust PunkSludgeD-BeatHardcore 
Red Swamp Peace and Hate Budapest groove-metal four-piece's fourth LP, leaving the stoner phase behind for tighter modern-metal songwriting. Eight tracks, two in Hungarian, sax and trumpet guest appearances. Groove MetalSludge MetalStoner MetalHeavy Metal 
Damask Three Times Ten Debut album from the Polish project Damask, fronted by Weno Winter of Sautrus. Eight tracks that move between acoustic intimacy and doom walls, built on twenty years of accumulated ideas. Progressive RockDoom MetalStoner RockAcoustic 
Dromos Failing Light London funeral-doom quartet's debut LP, recorded in five years of dark London winters. Three pieces, forty-six minutes, mixed by Greg Chandler of Esoteric and mastered by James Plotkin. The cinematic patience the genre rewards, executed by people who know it. Funeral DoomDoom MetalAtmospheric Metal 
Void Sinker Cycle Salerno one-man instrumental project, second release of 2026. Five tracks across fifty-three minutes of low-tuned caveman riffs, drone, and the kind of hypnotic monotony the genre lives on. Doom MetalDroneSludgeInstrumental 
Godes Yrre Feelings Can Burn You A preview of the fifth Godes Yrre album, due June 26 on Bitume Prods. Oliva's one-man Swiss doom project gathers three 2024 EPs into a sixty-minute whole, with a guest soloist on every track. Stoner DoomGothic MetalDoom Metal 
Belzebong The End Is High Their first new full-length in seven years. Four tracks of Kielce stoner-doom, instrumental save for the buried shouts and the smoke samples, recorded at Satanic Audio and released on Heavy Psych Sounds. Stoner DoomDoom MetalOccult RockInstrumental 
Bismut Matsutake Their fourth full-length, named after Anna Tsing's book on the mushroom that grows in capitalist ruins. Recorded live at Galloway Studio, six instrumental-leaning tracks of progressive heavy psych from the Nijmegen trio. Heavy PsychProgressive RockStoner RockSpace Rock 
Black Toaster Astrobird Bern stoner trio's first studio album. Six tracks of high-energy Motörhead-leaning rock'n'roll with stoner weight, self-released and self-produced at Mazzive Sound Productions. Stoner RockHeavy RockHard Rock 
Oreyeon The Grotesque Within Italian heavy-psych quartet's fourth album, inspired by the pessimist horror of Thomas Ligotti. Seven tracks of stoner-doom with prog architecture, mastered by James Plotkin, released on Heavy Psych Sounds. Heavy PsychStoner DoomDoom MetalProgressive Rock 
The Cosmic Dead Beyond The Beyond Tenth studio album from the Glasgow space-rock collective. Four tracks, forty-one minutes, bass and drums and fiddle and synth, all wah-soaked, phasers set to destroy. Space RockPsychedelic RockKrautrockDrone 
Yeast Machine Bad Milk Tübingen fuzz-trio gone full-album for the first time. Ten tracks that hop between grunge weight, stoner-rock fuzz and patient psychedelic stretches, with the kind of widescreen contrast between calm and eruption that Yeast Machine seem to have decided is their argument. Stoner RockGrungePsychedelic RockHeavy Psych 
Turpentine Valley Veuel — Revisited Follow-up to our February pre-release piece. Ten tracks, properly heard, in the lineage of Russian Circles, instrumental-leaning post-metal where the songwriting does the heavy lifting and the production keeps the dynamics intact. Post-MetalPost-Rock 
Azken Auzi Infernua Six tracks, six descents. The French trio behind Azken Auzi call their second album Occult Doom Sludge, and the genre frame doubles as a method statement. Blackened DoomSludge MetalDoom MetalPost-Hardcore 
Cowboys & Aliens Finis Temporum Thirty years in. The Bruges stoner-rock veterans Cowboys & Aliens close their seventh full-length with a re-recorded track from their 2000 debut, and the loop the album closes is the project's own. Stoner RockAlternative RockHeavy Rock 
Desert Colossus Apparatus Their fourth full-length, self-released by the Zaandam quartet. Forty-five minutes of fuzz-stoner where the production decisions are the most distinctive part of the record. Stoner RockStoner DoomHeavy PsychFuzz Rock 
Kal-El Astral Voyager Vol. 2 Vol. 2 of the Mica chronicle. The Stavanger stoner-doom crew return to the space-bounty-hunter saga their first record opened, this time settling into the architecture rather than sketching it. Stoner DoomStoner RockHeavy PsychDoom Metal 
Kaleidobolt Karakuchi Their fifth full-length, produced by Oranssi Pazuzu's Niko Lehdontie. The Helsinki power trio Kaleidobolt strip back to live-in-the-studio takes and let the prog architecture breathe. Progressive RockPsychedelic RockNoise RockProgressive Metal 
Misty Route Ethos Ethos, in Greek, is character. The Athens trio Misty Route turn the word into eight tracks about the modern self under pressure, and the album follows the questions the title raises. Progressive MetalAlternative MetalPsychedelic RockPost-Metal 
Red Sun Atacama Summerchild Franco-Chilean desert punk from a Bordeaux trio. Summerchild is Red Sun Atacama's third LP, and the volcanic identity in the band name keeps surfacing across the eight tracks. Desert RockStoner RockHeavy PsychHardcore Punk 
Unearthly Rites Tortural Symphony of the Flesh Capitalist oppression as a sonic project. The Tampere five-piece make their dystopian critique a forty-minute death-grind- crust manifesto where the production roughness is the politics. Death MetalGrindcoreCrust PunkHardcore Punk 
Low Road Low Road Four tracks. Three different mixes. Wayne Adams recorded Low Road's debut at Bear Bites Horse Studio, and the production decisions across the record vary more than any other element. Post-MetalSludge MetalPost-HardcoreDoom Metal 
Poly-Math Something Deeply Hidden The PR says ethio-jazz, classic prog and math-rock. The audio says industrial-leaning wall-of-sound. Brighton's Poly-Math have made the kind of record where the press release and the master tape disagree. Progressive MetalMath MetalIndustrialPost-Metal 
Slund Last One Twenty-two tracks. The shortest is one second long. The Slovenian solo grinder Igor Mortis turns the album format itself into a punch line. GrindcorePowerviolenceHardcore PunkSludge Metal 
Cesar Sun The Palace Eighty seconds of restraint open the album, then the Belgian trio detonate. The opener tells you everything about how Cesar Sun work: hold, then let go. Stoner RockHardcore PunkPost-Hardcore 
Occult Hand Order Meaningless Monuments Five tracks named for Eastern European places. The mix tells you which ones the trio got right, and the geography starts to feel like a map of recording-day moods. Post-MetalAtmospheric Black MetalBlackgazeDoom Metal 
White Tundra Stories From The Dark Six tracks, six titles that sound like postcards from somewhere too cold. Trondheim's White Tundra spend their second LP figuring out which side of the genre fence they're on. Post-MetalSludge MetalPost-HardcoreDoom Metal 
Drawn Into Descent Onrust Four Dutch words in sequence become a thesis about losing your bearings. Mechelen's Drawn Into Descent return after six years with their third record, recorded by Chiaran Verheyden, and the language pulls more weight than the production lets on. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-Black MetalDoom Metal 
Northern Graves Derelict Heart A blackened doom record about Saskatchewan ghost towns ends with a Richard Marx cover. That decision is the key to the whole album. Blackened DoomAtmospheric Black MetalDoom Metal 
Ultha A Light So Dim Track six is where the album's logic comes into focus. Eight minutes of Ultha at their most exposed, where the Cologne band let clean vocals carry a song built on classic heavy-metal foundations, and the rest of the record reads differently through it. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-Black MetalProgressive Metal April 2026
Atlantic Ridge Atlantic Ridge A debut about places almost no one lives. Six tracks, six remote geographies, six attempts at translating distance into sound. Atlantic Ridge spent five years building this trip and routes the listener through it on the same path the band took. Atmospheric Black MetalFuneral DoomPost-Metal 
Cruel Force Haneda Eighteen years into a career that started as raw black-thrash demos, Cruel Force pivot into Rainbow-meets-Razor speed metal territory and refuse to wink at the listener. Shadow Kingdom Records gives Germany's cult name another LP to be cult about. Speed MetalHeavy MetalThrash Metal 
Tons Stoned Villains Forget the song titles for a minute. The most important credits on Tons' fourth record are Danilo Battocchio at Deepest Sea and James Plotkin on the master. Same room as Ponte del Diavolo, same hand as Moloch, and the result tells you what Heavy Psych Sounds bought. Sludge MetalDoom MetalStoner Doom 
Bekor Qilish Consecrated Abysses of Dread Andrea Bruzzone's third Bekor Qilish record runs ten tracks in thirty minutes, with Mick Barr stopping by for a guitar solo and a vocabulary pulled from Cynic, Atheist and Pestilence rerouted through avant-garde black metal. Avant-Garde Black MetalTechnical Death MetalProgressive Metal 
Corrosive Agent Vastator Mundi Eight years between forming and the debut tells you Corrosive Agent are not in a hurry. Karlsruhe's five-piece deliver nine tracks of self-released death metal with an explicit anti-fascist edge and the patience of a band that waited for the record to be ready. Death MetalBlackened Death MetalGroove Metal 
Fátima Primal A Paris trio that swings between monumental stoner-doom riffs and song titles like "Chilled Monkey Brains". The third album commits to both registers hard enough that you stop asking which one is the joke. Stoner DoomGrungePost-Punk 
Goatsmoker E.R.I.S. Copenhagen's Goatsmoker walk away from their stoner roots on their third album. Five tracks of patient doom with post-metal structure and an artwork by Dylan J. Davies that knows exactly what it is promising. Doom MetalSludge MetalPost-Metal 
Blut Aus Nord Ethereal Horizons Vindsval's sixteenth record is presented as the summation of a thirty year vision. Seven tracks that move through the band's vocabulary without quite reaching the disorientation the catalog was built on. Black MetalAvantgardeProgressive Metal 
Crouch Breaking the Catatonic State Three Ghent players with CVs in Wiegedood and the wider Belgian hardcore network compress late-90s mathcore into a debut that remembers Knut, Botch and Burnt By The Sun without nostalgia. Sludge MetalPost-HardcoreMathcore 
Myar Bleak Mountains Recorded live at Le Grand Mix in Tourcoing, Myar's debut is six tracks of fuzz-drenched stoner doom that burns slowly and collapses with intent. Lille's heaviest export since the last time someone underestimated northern France. Stoner RockDoom MetalHeavy Psych 
Syberia Quan Tot S'Apagui Barcelona's Syberia return with their first fully Catalan record, five long-form post-metal pieces about death and leaving. The companion release of isolated backing sequences makes their live practice transparent. Post-MetalPost-RockInstrumental Post-Metal 
Worm Necropalace Florida's Worm push their self-branded Nekromantic Black Doom past the hour mark, with Arthur Rizk producing and Marty Friedman guesting on a fourteen-minute closer. The ambition is the statement and the problem. Black MetalDoom MetalDeath Metal 
Moloch Bend. Break. Kneel. Crawl. Seven years of silence, then forty-three minutes of sludge that sounds like it was fermenting the entire time. Moloch's third album is suffocating, caustic, and completely uncompromising. Sludge MetalPunk 
Ponte del Diavolo De Venom Natura Two basses, no second guitar, and a Bauhaus cover. Turin's Ponte del Diavolo play blackened post-punk that treats poison as both subject and method, recorded live to tape at Season of Mist. Post-PunkBlack MetalDoom Metal 
Ethereal Darkness Echoes Sixty minutes of melodic death/doom mixed by Dan Swano. Six tracks that move through grief at the pace grief actually moves, unhurried and heavy and impossible to shortcut. Melodic Death MetalDoom MetalAtmospheric Metal 
Doodswens Doodswens Not about wishing for death, but the death of the wish. Doodswens' self-titled fifth album on Svart Records turns DSBM inside out, finding strength where the genre usually finds surrender. Black MetalDSBM 
The Holeum Ensis The Fermi Paradox as doom metal. Alicante's The Holeum compress experimental metal, death doom, and post-metal into seven tracks of cosmic weight on Lifeforce Records. Doom MetalDeath MetalPost-Metal 
Funeral Pile Summoning Shackleton's endurance, Lovecraft's mountains, a cursed mill in the German woods. Funeral Pile's third album is literary blackened death/doom that earns its nine tracks and its ambition. Death MetalDoom MetalBlack Metal 
Sotabosc El Batec dels Maquis Atmospheric black metal in Catalan about anti-fascist guerrillas. Sotabosc's debut on Dunk! Records transforms dark folk into tremolo storms and closes with seventeen minutes of uncompromising resistance. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-Black MetalPost-Rock 
Unmother State Dependent Memory London as open wound. Unmother's second album maps the isolation of a metropolis through post-black metal and post-punk, moving between Greek spoken word, urban dread, and moments of devastating clarity. Post-Black MetalPost-PunkExperimental 
Desert Storm Buried Under the Weight of Reason Oxford's Desert Storm deliver nine tracks of stoner-sludge that know the difference between heavy and slow. Tight, varied, and built on riffs that move rather than lumber. Stoner RockSludge MetalDoom Metal 
Rosa Faenskap Ingenting Forblir Patricidal black metal from Oslo. Three musicians tear through seven tracks of hardcore-laced black metal about watching the world you grew up in rot from the inside out. Black MetalHardcorePost-Rock 
Vertige Chute-Libre Old-school black metal kitsch done right. Marie's second album as Vertige is sixty-eight minutes of high-gain tremolo worship, unfiltered self-doubt, and a banjo interlude that somehow does not ruin anything. Black MetalAtmospheric Black Metal 
Void of Light Asymmetries Three guitarists, five tracks, fifty minutes. Glasgow's Void of Light build post-metal in the Cult of Luna tradition with craft and patience, though the energy does not always match the ambition. Post-MetalSludge Metal 
Splendidula Absentia Written after the death of bassist Peter Chromiak, Splendidula's fourth album moves between English grief and Flemish mourning with Aaron Stainthorpe and Tim Yatras lending weight to an already heavy record. Atmospheric Black MetalDoom MetalDSBM 
Lantlôs Nowhere in Between Forever Markus Skye buries black metal under layers of 90s alt-rock shimmer and hollow plastic nostalgia. Eleven tracks that feel like channel-surfing through a decade that only looks golden in hindsight. Alternative RockShoegazePost-Metal 
Unverkalt Héréditaire Greek roots, Berlin address, Season of Mist backing. Unverkalt's third album is their heaviest -- a wall-of-sound interrogation of inherited guilt that never lets up across nine tracks and fifty minutes. Post-MetalProgressive Black Metal March 2026
Cult of Occult I Have No Name Seventy-one minutes of sludge as psychological descent. Cult of Occult strip away identity one track at a time across six movements of crushing, slow-moving devastation. Lyon's underground at its heaviest. Sludge MetalDoom Metal 
Domhain In Perfect Stillness Four Belfast musicians channel Irish myth and grief into five tracks of atmospheric post-black metal. Cello, choral vocals, and Chris Fielding's immaculate mix make this one of 2026's early highlights. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-Black MetalBlackgaze 
Matador Above, Below and So A Brighton trio that sounds like a six-piece. Above, Below and So is 41 minutes of crushing post-metal and atmospheric doom, dedicated to a friend and built around the heaviest guitar tone we've heard all year. Post-MetalAtmospheric Doom 
Aluk Todolo LUX Eight years of silence, then light. Aluk Todolo return with six tracks of hypnotic occult rock recorded entirely to tape — Morse code track titles, no vocals, no concessions. Occult RockKrautrockExperimental 
Terzij de Horde Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone Terzij de Horde channel Hartmut Rosa's resonance theory into seven tracks of vitalistic black metal and hardcore fury. Their most focused record yet — burning, political, and fully alive. Post-Black MetalHardcoreBlack Metal 
Weedpecker V The name and artwork promise sludge. What comes out of the speakers is an unexpectedly fresh blend of psychedelic rock and expansive post-rock textures. Psychedelic RockStoner RockProgressive Rock 
Witchcraft A Sinner's Child Magnus Pelander strips Witchcraft down on five tracks of proto-doom and folk. Intimate and raw, but the stripped-back approach also exposes a lack of direction. Proto-DoomFolkOccult Rock 
Zahn Purpur Instrumental krautrock and noise rock from Berlin, mixed by Magnus Lindberg. Purpur is 36 minutes of monolithic grooves colliding with synthetic shimmer. Noise RockKrautrockPost-Rock 
Gaerea Loss Gaerea trade density for directness on Loss, their Century Media debut. Clean vocals, catchier structures, and the question of what a post-black metal band becomes when it decides to write songs. Post-Black MetalExtreme Metal 
Harakiri for the Sky Scorched Earth Harakiri for the Sky know exactly what they do well, and Scorched Earth delivers it with conviction. Whether that consistency is enough depends on what you need from them. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-Black MetalPost-Metal 
An Abstract Illusion The Sleeping City On The Sleeping City, An Abstract Illusion push their blend of progressive death metal and 80s synth aesthetics into something genuinely cinematic. Progressive Death MetalPost-Black MetalAtmospheric Metal 
The Mountain King Pike Dreams A compelling concept held back by its execution. Pike Dreams maps two millennia of upheaval onto instrumental doom, but muddy production undercuts the ambition. Doom MetalDroneAmbientPost-Metal 
Bosse-de-Nage Hidden Fires Burn Hottest After eight years of silence, Bosse-de-Nage return with their most expansive and unpredictable record yet. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest rewards patience. Post-Black MetalBlackgazePost-Hardcore 
BRIQUEVILLE IIII Belgian post-metal collective BRIQUEVILLE continue their anonymous, ritualistic journey with IIII, twenty Akten deep into a body of work that treats albums as chapters rather than separate statements. Post-MetalDoomDrone 
Vor die Hunde Weltmarktführer Befiehl – Wir Entfolgen! Kaufland's finest grindcore export turns corporate satire into a weapon on their sharpest, most relentless record yet. GrindcoreDeath MetalPunk 
Der Weg einer Freiheit Innern Der Weg einer Freiheit's sixth album turns inward, and the result is their most focused and devastating record to date. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-MetalProgressive Black Metal 
auszaat Dissolve With Dissolve, auszaat return with a single that feels like a steel room closing in, equal parts industrial dread and human collapse. Black MetalSludge MetalPost-Metal 
Bloodred Colours of Pain Eight tracks and forty-three minutes of tightly wound extremity, Colours of Pain finds the German band at their most personal and most precise, mapping grief and fury onto a record that earns every decibel. Blackened Death MetalMelodic Death MetalExtreme Metal 
Slaughterday Dread Emperor Thirteen years into their run, the Leer duo have not softened a single edge , Dread Emperor is their most focused album yet, ten tracks of Lovecraftian death metal that doubles as a mirror pointed at the present. Death MetalDoom MetalOld School Death Metal February 2026
Misotheist De Pinte Four tracks, forty-three minutes, zero filler, De Pinte is Misotheist at their most ferocious and most patient at once, a record that earns its 21-minute centrepiece with everything that comes before it. Black MetalBlack/Doom Metal 
Nightscape Cosmic Viewer Ten tracks of cosmic stoner doom that sounds like watching a desert horizon at 3 AM, Nightscape build a whole world in 65 minutes and don't waste a second of it. Stoner DoomPsychedelic RockInstrumental Turpentine Valley Veuel From Zulte in Belgium, Turpentine Valley build their world from Dutch and local dialect, ten tracks of post-metal patience that communicate through accumulation rather than declaration. Post-MetalDoomExperimental 
American Sharks Not Dead Yet American Sharks return with a guest list that reads like a letter of recommendation from heavy rock's working class heroes, and the music earns every name on it. Stoner RockPunk MetalFuzz Rock 
GOZD Trees Are Silent Poland's GOZD take you into the oldest, darkest part of the forest and leave you there. Their third album is melancholic, patient, and quietly extraordinary. Post-MetalStoner RockAtmospheric MetalInstrumental 
Wright Valley Trio Leben ist Schmerz Two tracks, two statements, the Wright Valley Trio's Leben ist Schmerz earns its title in full and then some. Doom MetalSludgePost-Black Metal 
ELLEREVE Umbra Eleven tracks of cold, reaching post-metal from South Tyrol, Umbra is dense where it needs to be and open where it counts, anchored by a vocal performance that carries the whole thing. Post-MetalPost-Black MetalDoomgaze January 2026
Mourir Insolence Four tracks of blackened sludge rooted in French soil, Insolence finds Mourir at their most focused, tracing the arc from pride to ruin with the kind of patience that only comes from a band who trust their own weight. Post-MetalSludge MetalBlack Metal 
Course of Fate Behind the Eclipse Eight songs, forty-five minutes, one ten-minute centrepiece, Behind the Eclipse is a confident, unhurried statement from Norway's Course of Fate. Progressive MetalHeavy Metal 
Oh Hiroshima All Things Shining Oh Hiroshima's fifth album is their most personal, a slow-burning meditation on wonder, ageing, and the stubborn hope that the world will always find a way to reclaim its spark. Post-RockPost-Metal December 2025
Cryptic Shift Overspace & Supertime Almost eighty minutes of cinematic death-thrash following a rogue Recaller through asteroid battles and cryogenic freezing chambers, Cryptic Shift make the same album twice and somehow make it feel like progress. Tech DeathThrash MetalProgressive Metal 
Zatokrev ...Bring Mirrors To The Surface Seven years of silence, eight songs of reckoning, ...Bring Mirrors To The Surface finds Zatokrev expanding outward, inviting collaborators into the heaviness rather than keeping it locked behind closed doors. Sludge MetalPost-MetalPsychedelic Metal 
Bell Witch Stygian Bough Volume II Bell Witch return with another collaboration with Aerial Ruin, four tracks, an hour of funeral doom, and absolutely no wasted seconds. Funeral DoomDoom MetalAtmospheric Metal 
Doubtsower Nothing Reduced to Everything Cardiff one-man operation Doubtsower turns in his most fully realised album yet, six tracks that take their time and mean every second of it. Funeral DoomBlackened DoomPost-Metal 
MWWB The Harvest A rebirth in all but name, The Harvest finds MWWB trading their old skin for something stranger, heavier, and more cinematic, a nine-part voyage that rewards total surrender. Psych DoomDoom MetalSpace RockStoner Doom 
Primitive Man Observance Primitive Man's Observance is seven tracks about watching everything fall apart, and it sounds exactly like that. Doom MetalSludge MetalNoise November 2025
Enshine Elevation A Swedish-French collaboration at peak form, Elevation is eight songs of slow-moving light, where grief and beauty arrive in the same breath. Doom MetalDeath MetalMelodic Death Metal 
ZU Ferrum Sidereum An 80-minute double album built from meteoric ore and sheer will, Ferrum Sidereum is ZU at their most sprawling, most untameable, and arguably their best. Avant-Garde MetalJazz MetalExperimental 
Thosar The Bold Idea of Being Satisfied Graz's Thosar are just a drummer and a bassist, and they sound like a full band having the worst, best time of their lives. Sludge MetalDoom Metal 
Crippled Black Phoenix Banefyre A self-declared musical in fourteen acts, Banefyre is Crippled Black Phoenix at their most ambitious, witch trials, class warfare, the 1977 New York blackout, and a recurring question about what it means to be alive at the end of things. Post-RockDark RockProgressive Rock 
Nadja Cut Four tracks of drone-doom that cuts, the Toronto duo's Cut is one of their most focused records in years, with song titles that are doing their own work before the music even starts. Drone DoomShoegaze MetalAmbient Metal 
Sylosis The New Flesh Named after a Cronenberg provocation, The New Flesh is Sylosis doing what they do better than almost anyone, stacking riffs until the whole thing becomes undeniable. Thrash MetalProgressive Metal October 2025
Bizarrekult Alt Som Finnes A desperately personal third album from Bizarrekult, Alt Som Finnes strips away every defense and finds something human underneath the black metal fury. Black MetalPost-Black MetalExperimental Metal 
The Hirsch Effekt Der Brauch Nine tracks, all titled in German, all pointing toward the same question , Der Brauch is The Hirsch Effekt at their most deliberate, threading classical restraint and progressive weight into something that resists every easy label. Prog MetalPost-HardcoreArt Rock 
Oaken From The Bonfire Three tracks, no filler, Budapest's Oaken make the most of the EP format on From The Bonfire, and the result is one of the year's better pieces of atmospheric doom. Post-MetalAtmospheric DoomPost-Hardcore 
Alcest Les Chants de l'Aurore Alcest return from five years of shadow to make their most luminous record in over a decade, seven songs that reach toward the light with the sureness of a band who finally know exactly what they are. BlackgazePost-Black MetalShoegaze 
Slow Crush Thirst Ten songs about need, loss, and the body's refusal to let go, Thirst is Slow Crush at their most focused, building walls of sound around a voice that refuses to be buried. ShoegazePost-MetalDream Pop September 2025
Dvne Voidkind Edinburgh's Dvne arrives leaner and fiercer on their third album, Voidkind trades cosmic sprawl for punishing directness, and the trade is largely worth it. Prog MetalPost-MetalSludge Metal 
Atlantic Timeworn Five tracks and thirty-five minutes of atmospheric post-black metal that earns its landscape metaphors without ever demanding you notice them, Timeworn is the sound of the West of Ireland in a November gale. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-Black Metal 
St. Unholyness Through High Holy Haze A one-woman reckoning from Pfarrkirchen, Through High Holy Haze is Christina Earlymorn channelling religious trauma, Pantera worship, and Hermetic philosophy into eight tracks of raw, uncompromising doom. Doom MetalBlack MetalStoner Metal 
Hemelbestormer The Radiant Veil Belgium's Hemelbestormer name their tracks after Etruscan gods on The Radiant Veil, and the music lives up to every one of those deities. Post-MetalDoom MetalAtmospheric Metal August 2025
Hypno5e Sheol A prequel that arrives after its sequel, Sheol is Hypno5e building an entire mythology in sound, sixty-three minutes that feel like memory, loss, and geology all happening at once. Post-MetalProgressive MetalCinematic Metal 
Sugar Horse The Live Long After Sugar Horse arrive with a debut that refuses to settle, nine tracks of post-punk bile, noise rock sprawl, and pitch-black wit that feels permanently on the verge of falling apart, and is better for it. Noise RockPost-MetalSludgePost-Punk 
Årabrot Rite of Dionysus Nine songs of ritual and reckoning, Rite of Dionysus finds Årabrot more expansive and more personal than ever, trading brute force for something stranger and harder to shake. Noise RockArt RockPost-Punk 
Bohren & der Club of Gore Patchouli Blue Six years between albums, and Bohren return with Patchouli Blue, eleven tracks of slow-motion noir jazz that feel less like music and more like a long, deliberate exhale in the dark. Dark JazzAmbient 
Mizmor Mnemonic Ambient Mosaic Mizmor's ambient record is not a retreat, Mnemonic Ambient Mosaic is as heavy as anything A.L.N. has made, just in a different register. Atmospheric Black MetalDoom MetalAmbient July 2025
Hippotraktor Stasis Seven tracks, one story, and no interest in playing it safe, Stasis is Hippotraktor building the kind of record that takes time to understand and rewards the effort. Post-MetalProgressive MetalPost-Hardcore 
Profane Elegy Herezjarcha Eight songs built from cold air and Appalachian stone, Herezjarcha is Profane Elegy arriving fully formed, imbued with the kind of conviction that makes atmospheric black metal worth taking seriously. Atmospheric Black MetalDoom Metal 
Vandampire Hope Scars Vandampire's debut full-length is a record about displacement and endurance , eight tracks that move from city grime to open sky, anchored by riffs that feel both crushing and quietly necessary. Post-MetalSludge Metal 
Cwfen Sorrows Glasgow's Cwfen (pronounced 'Coven') arrived fully formed on their debut , Sorrows is haunting, heavy, and one of the best doom records of 2025. Doom MetalDoomgazeGothic Doom June 2025
Khirki Κυκεώνας Steeped in Greek mythology and ancient ritual, Κυκεώνας is Khirki's most ambitious record, eight songs that move between hard rock muscle and genuinely strange psychedelic territory without ever losing the thread. Hard RockHeavy PsychFolk Rock 
Ultha All That Has Never Been True Seven tracks, sixty-three minutes, and a Jacob Böhme quote borrowed from Blood Meridian, All That Has Never Been True is Ultha making the case that black metal still has room for something genuinely heavy with ideas. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-Black Metal 
Full of Hell Broken Sword, Rotten Shield Full of Hell have never exactly done concept albums, Broken Sword, Rotten Shield is the closest they've come, and it's their most complete record. Noise MetalGrindcoreExperimental Metal 
SÂVER From Ember and Rust Four years of detours, a split with a folk singer, a collaboration with Belgian post-metal collective Psychonaut, and SÂVER return with From Ember and Rust, an album that sounds like a band who finally knows exactly how heavy they want to be. Post-MetalDoom MetalSludge Metal 
Sumac The Film Sumac have always made records that behave like films, The Film makes the analogy explicit and then dismantles it completely. Post-MetalExperimentalNoise Rock 
Year of No Light Consolamentum Twenty years in, the Bordeaux six-piece deliver their most fully realized record, five colossal instrumentals that move like tectonic plates and land with the weight of a collapsed cathedral. Post-MetalDroneSludge Metal May 2025
The Ruins of Beverast Tempelschlaf Nine years on from Exuvia, Alexander von Meilenwald returns with seven tracks of slow, dense ritual, Tempelschlaf is The Ruins of Beverast at their most patient and most complete. Black MetalDoom Metal 
rýr dislodged Berlin's rýr build crushing post-metal without a single word, dislodged is their third album and easily their most powerful, a wordless story of pressure and release. Post-MetalAtmospheric DoomInstrumental 
Tarlung Axis Mundi Five years of silence, eight tracks of reckoning, Axis Mundi is Tarlung returning heavier and more focused than ever, with the world falling apart as their backdrop. Doom MetalSludge Metal 
HEADS. Push Recorded across two Berlin studios and mixed in Stockholm, Push is HEADS. at their most direct and most damaged, a ten-song record that sounds exactly like the world falling apart around it. Noise RockPost-PunkPost-Metal 
Daevar Sub Rosa Cologne's Daevar make doom that actually swings, Sub Rosa is seven tracks of riff-driven grunge-doom with hooks sharp enough to stick for days. Doom MetalGrungeStoner Doom April 2025
Wiegedood There's Always Blood at the End of the Road Wiegedood's fourth record is a deliberate rupture, faster, uglier, and stranger than anything the Ghent trio has made before, and all the more compelling for it. Post-Black MetalBlack Metal 
Fange Purulences Rouen's Fange make music about infection, corruption, and rot, Purulences is exactly as unpleasant as the title promises, and twice as good. Sludge MetalIndustrialNoise 
Novarupta Astral Sands Novarupta's Astral Sands is a blackened sludge record built around eight guest collaborations, and somehow every one of them makes the album more itself, not less. Blackened SludgePost-MetalExperimental 
Conjurer Unself Conjurer's Nuclear Blast debut is their most focused and most furious record yet, nine tracks about estrangement, identity, and a world that fails its people. Post-MetalSludge Metal 
Karatschai Karatschai Three tracks of hallucinogenic horror from Berlin, Karatschai's debut EP is raw, live-recorded sludge that earns every minute of its 24-minute runtime. Sludge MetalDoom MetalHeavy Psych March 2025
Amenra De Toorn Amenra return with the EP that closes what De Doorn opened, grief and wrath in Flemish Dutch, preparing the ground for Mass VII. Post-MetalDoom MetalHardcore Punk 
Druma Sores of Our Time Hamburg's Druma make blackened atmospheric post-metal that carries genuine political weight, Sores of Our Time is heavy, honest, and urgently of the moment. Post-MetalAtmospheric Black MetalSludge 
Treedeon New World Hoarder Five years in the making, six tracks of slow-burning fury, New World Hoarder is Treedeon at their most deliberate and most devastating. Sludge MetalDoom MetalNoise Rock 
Hangman's Chair Saddiction Paris's Hangman's Chair make doom that sounds like the city at 4 AM, Saddiction is their most refined record, and also their saddest. Doom MetalDark RockPost-Rock 
Howling Giant Crucible & Ruin Howling Giant expand to a four-piece and let the sky get bigger, Crucible & Ruin is their most ambitious, most sustained record yet, built from mythology, mass, and the kind of harmonies that land harder than they have any right to. Stoner RockPsychedelic RockProgressive Rock 
Möuth Global Warning Sweden's Möuth spell it 'Warning', not 'Warming', and the distinction matters. Global Warning is eight tracks of doom that sounds genuinely alarmed. Doom MetalPost-MetalSludge 
Witchcraft Idag Twenty-five years in, Witchcraft deliver their most complete album yet - a record that pulls every thread of their history into a single, unflinching statement. Doom MetalPsychedelic RockHeavy Psych 
Mantar Post-Apocalyptic Depression Hamburg's Mantar have survived the apocalypse and they're furious about it , Post-Apocalyptic Depression is their most unhinged record yet. Black MetalSludge MetalPunk 
Pothamus Abur Belgium's Pothamus blend ritualistic sludge with eastern drone and animist philosophy, and somehow it's one of the year's most genuinely heavy records. Sludge MetalPost-MetalAmbient 
Psychonaut World Maker Psychonaut's most ambitious record yet, ten tracks that treat heaviness and tenderness as the same force, held together by a lyrical vision of cosmic parenthood and light. Post-MetalPsychedelic RockProgressive Metal February 2025
Regarde Les Hommes Tomber Ascension The concluding chapter of a trilogy built on sacred scripture and controlled devastation, Ascension finds Nantes' finest pulling black metal skyward before letting it freefall into something stranger and darker. Atmospheric Black MetalPost-MetalSludge Metal 
Cult of Luna The Long Road North Cult of Luna's ninth album is a journey across northern Sweden in sound - slow, enormous, and quietly devastating, with enough space between the riffs to let the cold air in. Post-MetalSludge MetalAtmospheric Metal 
Earth Ship Soar Six years of silence, eight songs of reckoning, Soar is Earth Ship returning with more weight, more texture, and a better record than they've ever made. Sludge MetalDoom MetalStoner Rock 
The Ocean Holocene The Ocean close out their geological saga with their most surprising record yet, Holocene trades post-metal enormity for synth-driven restraint, and mostly pulls it off. Post-MetalProgressive MetalExperimental 
Ahab The Coral Tombs Eight years in the making, The Coral Tombs finds the Heidelberg four-piece diving deeper than ever, a Jules Verne-inspired descent into slow, crushing beauty that earns every one of its seventy-five minutes. Funeral DoomDoom MetalDeath Doom 
Downfall of Gaia Silhouettes of Disgust Downfall of Gaia return with their sharpest record yet, a concept album about eight strangers in a crumbling city, held together by d-beat ferocity and some of the most atmospheric post-black metal they've ever written. Post-Black MetalCrust PunkSludge Metal 
Snake Mountain Man at Arms NRW's Snake Mountain have been building toward this for a decade, a four-track doom-death record that doesn't waste a second of its 23 minutes. Doom MetalDeath DoomDeath Metal January 2025
LLNN Unmaker Copenhagen's LLNN return with their most ambitious statement yet, ten tracks of crushing, cinematic heaviness that sound less like a metal album and more like the score to a civilization's collapse. Post-MetalSludge MetalHardcore 
Winterschmerz Lichtbegräbnis A burial of light in two movements, Winterschmerz's Lichtbegräbnis is slow, German doom at its most literal and most effective. Doom MetalDeath DoomSludge 
Sunrot / Body Void Sunrot / Body Void Split Two of heavy music's most explicitly political bands on one record, this split delivers exactly what that promise implies. Sludge MetalNoiseDoom Metal November 2024
Oranssi Pazuzu Muuntautuja Oranssi Pazuzu's Muuntautuja is their most psychedelic and most unsettling record yet, black metal as a vehicle for something genuinely alien. Psychedelic Black MetalSpace RockAvant-Garde Metal September 2024
Yanos Elysium Leipzig's Yanos build post-metal that earns its peaks, Elysium is six tracks of carefully constructed weight, and every crescendo lands. Post-MetalSludgePost-Hardcore July 2024
Dopethrone Broke Sabbath Dopethrone call their sound 'slutch', that's accurate. Broke Sabbath is seven tracks of Montréal slum doom with track titles that do exactly what they say. Stoner DoomSludge Metal 
Thou Umbilical Thou's angriest record is also their most melodic, Umbilical is the rare sludge album that gets more devastating the closer you listen. Sludge MetalDoom MetalPost-Metal June 2024
Pallbearer Mind Burns Alive Pallbearer keep getting better at something they were already great at - Mind Burns Alive is six tracks of heavy, melodic doom that sounds like no one else working in the genre. Doom MetalProgressive DoomHeavy Metal 
Bongripper Empty Four tracks. Four words for a title: Nothing, Remains, Forever, Empty. Bongripper mean every one of them. Doom MetalDroneSludge 
Inter Arma New Heaven Inter Arma refuse to be categorized on New Heaven, and the refusal produces one of 2024's most vital heavy records. Post-MetalBlack MetalDoom Metal May 2024
High on Fire Cometh the Storm Six years between records, and Matt Pike comes back with High on Fire's most ferocious album in over a decade. Cometh the Storm doesn't waste a single second. Sludge MetalThrash MetalStoner Metal April 2024
Isenordal Requiem for Eirênê Portland's Isenordal write a requiem for the Greek goddess of peace, and the music sounds appropriately bereft. Atmospheric Black MetalDoom MetalFolk Metal February 2024
Lord Dying Clandestine Transcendence Lord Dying's fourth album reaches for something genuinely transcendent and mostly gets there, psychedelic sludge that earns every one of its big ideas. Sludge MetalProgressive MetalPsychedelic December 2023
Thronehammer Kingslayer Nine tracks of epic doom that earns the adjective, Kingslayer is Thronehammer's most accomplished record, and Kat's vocals are one of the great doom performances of the year. Epic Doom MetalTraditional DoomHeavy Metal August 2023
SARKH Helios EP Four instrumental tracks named after wind, sun, waves, and a Scottish headland , SARKH's Helios EP is geography as sound design, and it works completely. Post-MetalPost-RockInstrumental You've seen the whole archive.
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