The Best Metal Albums of 2026
Every 2026 record the editors have reviewed, from the highest score down.
34 reviews
7.5
Vulgar Mephitis
From Dust
Extraordinary drumming, eight tight songs, and one experiment arriving far too late
Rafael Quintero
Sep 13, 2026
7.5
Behemoth
I, Scvlptor
The new stone is good; there is simply not enough of it
Andrzej Sawicki
Sep 6, 2026
7.5
Mastodon
Marrow Deep
Four songs of real marrow, and too much bone packed around them
Ilse Brandt
Sep 3, 2026
7.5
Beartooth
Pure Ecstasy
Nearly every reaction holds, and nothing buffers the swing between them
Jonah Pike
Sep 2, 2026
7.5
Xandria
Eclipse
Beautifully engineered clockwork and a superb singer, circling a sky already mapped
Julien Vasseur
Aug 26, 2026
7.5
Marilyn Manson
One Assassination Under God - Chapter 2
Not leftovers but the darker back rooms, with the riffs in storage
Curtis Vance
Aug 17, 2026
7.5
Electric Callboy
TANZNEID
Ten rides worth the queue, most of them ridden before the gates opened
Jonah Pike
Aug 15, 2026
7.0
In This Moment
Witch
Two songs worth the ticket, and a long stretch of stage business
Jonah Pike
Sep 10, 2026
7.0
A Night in Texas
The Darkest Side of Humanity
Clean incisions all the way down, and the same operation ten times
Jonah Pike
Sep 10, 2026
7.0
Kamelot
Dark Asylum
The orchestra wins every argument, and the guitars stopped having them.
Julien Vasseur
Sep 5, 2026