The Best Metal Albums of 2026
Every 2026 record the editors have reviewed, from the highest score down.
34 reviews
9.0
Sigh
Goh-Ka
Nine stages of decay, wired into one circuit that almost never shorts.
Curtis Vance
Sep 9, 2026
9.0
Fen
Elemental (Part 1: Mourning Earth)
Forty-seven minutes of slow erosion that cut clean down to bedrock
Eirik Solvang
Aug 24, 2026
8.5
Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats
Shapes of Midnight
The murk comes off, the songs stand up, the ending falls short
Ilse Brandt
Sep 20, 2026
8.5
Epitaphe
III
Fifty four minutes cut from one block, the surface left rough
Andrzej Sawicki
Sep 15, 2026
8.5
Archgoat
Nightbringer, Lightbringer
The citadel breached from within, the relics kept, one song in the wrong place.
Andrzej Sawicki
Sep 14, 2026
8.5
Green Carnation
A Dark Poem, Part III: The Messiah Complex
A final cadence worth the year of waiting, if you waited.
Julien Vasseur
Sep 12, 2026
8.5
The Night Eternal
Cold Velvet
Velvet cut close over steel, with a single seam pulling loose.
Declan Rourke
Aug 29, 2026
8.5
Hulder
Verbolgen
The finest hand Hulder has shown, and the ink runs thin late on
Eirik Solvang
Aug 11, 2026
8.5
Madball
Not Your Kingdom
Ten rounds, no clinching, and the old fighter still hits first
Gareth Llewellyn
Jul 30, 2026
8.0
Suffering Quota
Sisyphean Life
Eighteen minutes of shift work, and two melodies clocked off early
Gareth Llewellyn
Sep 20, 2026
8.0
Hansen
Born with a Hammer
Ten years away, and the range is real even where the sequencing is not.
Julien Vasseur
Sep 19, 2026
8.0
Krallice
Scour Order
The guitars take the load again and the frame holds
Eirik Solvang
Sep 18, 2026
8.0
Tygers of Pan Tang
Electrifyed
The old station runs hot again, right up to its rated load
Declan Rourke
Sep 17, 2026
8.0
Godslave
Godslave
Ten thrash songs built to specification, and best where they break it
Declan Rourke
Sep 16, 2026
8.0
Devil Master
Bloody Dreams
Twelve minutes of trailers, then a feature worth the whole ticket
Gareth Llewellyn
Sep 8, 2026
8.0
Flotsam and Jetsam
Rats in the Temple
Rebuilt properly, running hot, and hauling a little more than it needs.
Saint Sylveszter
Sep 7, 2026
8.0
Gorod
The Ember Gone
Slower clockwork, sharper blades, and one long song too many.
Rafael Quintero
Sep 1, 2026
8.0
Exumer
Death Mask Messiah
Poured hot, cut lean, and still cast from the old Teutonic mould
Saint Sylveszter
Aug 31, 2026
8.0
Cancer Bats
Give Me Dirt
Their hardest swing in years, with a soft patch in the middle.
Gareth Llewellyn
Aug 19, 2026
8.0
Taake
En skog av nidstang
Four poles of scorn planted true, and left standing a little too long.
Eirik Solvang
Aug 6, 2026
8.0
Altarage
Cogwheel
Every tooth bites, and the transmission carries one gear more than it needs
Curtis Vance
Aug 3, 2026
7.5
The Eternal
Obscured Horizons
The lamp burns true, and the middle of the record disappears in fog
Ilse Brandt
Sep 21, 2026
7.5
Anthrax
Cursum Perficio
Two songs worth the ten years, and a record that empties out backwards
Saint Sylveszter
Sep 19, 2026
7.5
Echoes of a Dying World
Revelations
A singer worth wading out for, on a wreck still settling into sand
Rafael Quintero
Sep 14, 2026