Believe it or not, 2026 is half in the bag. Unreal. And, believe it or not, all new release weeks can’t be ripped and dipped…much like this one. The opening highlights are just that, though. Sure, any one of you will likely find much to enjoy but for me beyond the sweet thrash of Ripper, “out-there” post metal from Viscera///, and barbaric death metal of Divulsive there just isn’t much to pry me away from last week’s new single from QOTSA. Be that as it may, peruse the list and do your own research. You never know what treasures are hiding in plain sight.

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Ripper – Towards Rebirth (Dark Descent) – death / thrash

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Viscera/// – 4. Assets for Psychedelic Warfare (Time To Kill) – post-metal

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Divulsive – Spawned In Viscera (Comatose Music) – brutal death

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Also on tap:

Arckanum – Motestandarin (Darkness Shall Rise) – black metal

Baphomet’s Blood – Metal Damnation (Dying Victims Productions) – speed

Caelestia – Revelations In Black (Eclipse) – metal

Castiel – All Returns to Hollow and Silence (Seek and Strike) – deathcore

Changing Places In The Fire – S/T (Wild Thing) – post-metal

Chien Noir – Feeding The Void’s Luster (Ripple Music) – post-metal / doom

Coven Japan – Promised Land (No Remorse Records) – heavy metal

Dazgak! – Stimpy (Floodlit Recordings) – post-hardcore

Ddent – Feeding the Void’s Luster (Chien Noir) – post metal

Eternal Mourn – Winds of Sorrow, EP (Terror From Hell) – death / doom

Faustian – Parable Of The Sewer (Apocalyptic Witchcraft) – black metal

Gudewife – Atoms, Don’t Die (Ripcord Records) – math rock

Heckel & Jeckel – Corbacs In Black (Bitume Prods) – rock

Horns of Abomination – S/T, Demo (Sentient Ruin) – extreme metal

IX of Blades – Way of The Midnight Wave (Self) – progressive metal

Jordsjø – Pestkrønikene (Dying Victims Productions) – psych rock

Litosth – Dreaming (Personal) – metal

Lockstep – I Know What I Saw (Profound Lore) – heavy doom rock

Mountainscape – Traversing Realms (Road To Masochist) – post metal

North Sea Echoes – How To Cast A Shadow (Metal Blade) – prog metal

POX – :BKW:, EP (Self) – black metal

Profane Burial – Desolate Echoes of Turmoil (These Hands Melt) – symphonic black metal

Reekmind – Glints From The Crematorium (Night Terrors) – death / doom

REZN – Cycles In The Infinite Dream (Sargent House) – psych doom

Sallow Moth – Hydrophilous Brood (Willowtip) – progressive death metal

Saturnian Current – Illuminatio Doctrinae Mysterii (Sinistari Records) – black metal

Stay Dead! – Beneath The Weight of Worlds (Ripple Music) – sludge / doom

Sunswarm – Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn (Self) – post-metal

Svindel – Drömfeber (Ripple Music) – psych

Svjetlost – The Forever Silent (Shadow of Sorrow) – doom

The Hu – Hun (Better Noise Music) – Mongolian modern rock

The Larches – Nihilistic Majesties (Self) – alt sludge

Torpor – Dungeon Descent (Dying Victims Productions) – heavy metal

Tyraels Ascension – Grave Seeker (Rottweiler) – metal

Various Artists – A Tribute To Darkthrone (Antichrist Magazine) – black metal

V.B.O. – Vice Business Only (Reigning Phoenix Music) – synthwave

Weeping Angel – In Too Deep (Self) – progressive metalcore

Witching Hour – Where Pale Winds Take Them High… (Dying Victims Productions) – metal

Yeti On Horseback – Traditional Addictions (Self) – doom

— Josh