That's Not Metal

There's big surprise releases from Deafheaven and Power Trip, major Nightwish and Judas Priest line-up shifts, a tremendous festival announcement from Fortress, live shows from Joyce Manor, Blaze Bayley, and Khemmis, but no one wants to talk about any of it because the world's up in arms about James Hetfield. Releases: Caspian - Caspian The Number Twelve Looks Like You - Howls from the Holographic...

Nails tear through the UK, Trivium unveil their Eastern darkness-inspired new album, and Aerosmith plot their own Back to the Beginning style party. Releases: Slope - Same Kids. Just Louder. Greta van Fleet - Palace for the People unpeople - we are unpeople Wage War - Landfall Left to Suffer - Unwelcome Guest Twin Temple - Doomed Lovers Graveyard - Fever Meryl Streek - Stories They Don’t Teach You...

We've arrived at our annual Damnation Festival preview Album Club pack as we pull out Cult of Luna's 21st century post-metal benchmark Somewhere Along the Highway, Walls of Jericho's 00s metallic hardcore smackdown The American Dream, the 2010s sludgy powerviolence of Weekend Nachos' Worthless (featuring "Pat Patterson" and "Troe Johman"), and The Berzerker's Aussie gabber death metal Dissimulate.

It's real highs and lows in the news for rock music this week, with incredibly exciting reveals from Disfear and Repugnant, the 2027 line-up announcements from Slam Dunk and ArcTanGent, but also the news of Enter Shikari's incoming hiatus and the mountain-moving loss of Venom's Cronos, the forefather of extreme metal without whom our world is unthinkable. Releases: Amon Amarth - The Allfather Awak...

There are surprising pivots towards our world from the pop sphere this time from Miley Cyrus and Chvrches alongside new singles from Bullet for My Valentine & several others, live trips to see Electric Wizard & more, there's a mindblowing milestone for Judas Priest's Ian Hill, a bizarre multi-pronged bust-up with Frankie Palmeri at the centre, and sadly another passing of a punk and hardco...

September gets us all sludgy as reviews pore over new Mastodon, Green Lung, Anthrax, Chat Pile, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Sleep, Devil Master, & Wrong Man, Evanescence playing the UK's biggest arena, and Tony Iommi being the boss yet again. Mastodon 38:10 Green Lung 1:22:40 Anthrax 1:48:34 Chat Pile 2:07:25 Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats 2:26:18 Sleep 2:42:26 Devil Master 2:52:30 Wrong M...

First and foremost, we try to speak to the awful loss of Every Time I Die legend Andy Williams. From there we tackle new singles from Slipknot and Spiritbox, the hallucinatory hellscape stories related to Muse's Meta troubles and Breaking Benjamin's modder feud tirades, and put our tin foil hats to theorise that SURELY the Gallows teasing can't just be for vinyl reissues... Releases: Green Lung -...

This week we look back on a historic moment of live music for our podcast in our combined Big Goth Weekend with a run of shows from The Cure, Outbreak/All Points East with an epochal headlining set from Deftones, and our AFI watch finally being brought to an end with their first UK headline shows in 16 years. Releases: Mastodon - Marrow Deep Beartooth - Pure Ecstasy In This Moment - Witch Dinosaur...

Rivers Cuomo's QR code woes, some goth-pop flourish and questioning what even is an album lead the way for TNM reviews this time with Weezer's Gold Album, Chelsea Wolfe, Electric Callboy, Living Weapon, The Night Eternal, and Zorn going under the magnifying glass. Weezer 30:05 Chelsea Wolfe 1:07:20 Electric Callboy 1:34:27 Living Weapon 1:58:41 The Night Eternal 2:14:36 Zorn 2:25:33

Chelsea Wolfe's new album release show and Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American set arrive for a lucky few in the UK, there's new music from Haywire, God's Hate, and Down, the sad news of the passing of legendary ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard, extreme legend Justin Broadrick's appearance on the new Phoebe Bridgers album, and the craziest stadium support act announcement of all time. Releases: Weezer - We...

This week we discuss how Bloodstock's 2027 announcement doubles down on a new direction, and pull out some of the lesser discussed gems within the line-up. Releases: Various Artists - A Tribute to Smashing Pumpkins: Sending Hearts to All My Dearies Dead Tired - Hornets of Fall Living Weapon - Death in the Family Sweeping Promises - You Say I Romanticize Invocation Ritual - Altered Reality Holissst...

After a week of exasperating and confusing news we discuss the unconfirmed firing of Sid Wilson by Slipknot and Merauder's absolutely bizarre crashout, as well as big live announcements from Wacken, Megadeth, Mick Gordon, and the potential dungeon synth takeover of hardcore. Releases: Electric Callboy - Tanzneid John Carpenter - Cathedral Cancer Bats - Give Me Dirt Citizen - Halcyon Blues Jamie Le...

This humid summer gets that bit muckier as we check out the UK's growing slam, brutal death metal, and goregrind event at Offal Fest, as well as check in on Avenged Sevenfold's latest piece of craziness, and sadly speak to the passing of all time pillar of hardcore Lou Koller of Sick of It All. Releases: Waterparks - Jinx No Pressure - NP Style The Hu - Hun Madball - Not Your Kingdom REZN - Cycles...

At least one of the most anticipated heavy albums this decade hits our radars this month as Loathe, Muse, The Menzingers, The Xcerts, Fuming Mouth, No Cure, and Arise From Worms are reviewed, along with speculation about the seemingly imminent return of Gallows. Loathe 37:32 Muse 1:09:13 The Menzingers 1:31:55 The Xcerts 1:49:20 Fuming Mouth 2:11:10 No Cure 2:24:04 Arise From Worms 2:33:29

It's the week where br00tal returned (and football season is over), as we make our way to Bring Me the Horizon's Count Your Blessings | Repented shows and into the re-recorded album for the biggest event in 2006 deathcore since... 2006. Releases: Final Resting Place - Third World Tribunal Loathe - A Stranger to You Motionless In White - Decades Boundaries - Yearning: The unbeautiful after Protest...

Sound the charge, into glory ride, as Album Clubs look at the maddening effect Twenty One Pilots' ragga-pop Blurryface had on rock, the most metal band of all Manowar's debut Battle Hymns, Turnover's mastering of emo dreampop on Peripheral Vision, and one of the 21st century's greatest and wickedest rock bands The Devil's Blood with The Time of Time No Evermore. This episode was originally publish...

Both Metallica's No Repeats weekend and My Chemical Romance's 20th anniversary Black Parade musical theatre reimagining hit UK stadiums, plus Damon Albarn beefs with an unlikely underground metal target. Releases: Bring Me the Horizon - Count Your Blessings | Repented The Plot In You - The Plot In You The Xcerts - i think i want to go home now Show Me the Body - Alone Together DevilDriver - Strike...

Two hard and heavy events hit the UK heat this week, as Outbreak Festival brings Hatebreed, Converge, Alexisonfire, Basement, & loads more, and Acid Bath's mad reunion brings the swamp to town their first ever UK appearance. Releases: Muse - The WOW! Signal The Pretty Reckless - Dear God Butthole Surfers - After the Astronaut The Dead Pioneers - Wagon Burner Truck Violence - The Weathervane is...

From twenty year waits to four month breaks, we mop up some of the biggest heavy records of the last few weeks reviewing Converge's second album of 2026, Marmozets, Static Dress, Turnover, Guilt Trip, Warning, Stormkeep, & Funebrarum. Converge 26:04 Marmozets 48:34 Static Dress 1:15:35 Turnover 1:30:00 Guilt Trip 1:41:39 Warning 1:53:38 Stormkeep 2:20:01 Funebrarum 2:38:26

Sam returns from Asia (and through a robo-mic, sorry about that) to talk about Japanese hardcore hijinks at Bloodaxe Festival, Voivod and Midnight speed through the UK together, and we unpack the news no one saw coming that Faith No More are returning in 2027. Releases: Warning - Rituals of Shame There Were Wires - Vessel Chainlacing - Messuage Iron Kobra - Eternal Dagger Saidan - Fangdriller: Sca...

On top of a stream of new music from across the heavy spectrum, we weigh in on the debate following End It's targeting of the man in a banana costume at their show, why the frustration and resentment towards meme behaviour and influencer culture exists at subcultural events, and whether this particular incident went too far. Releases: Sublime - Until the Sun Explodes Sleeping With Sirens - An Endi...

Fortress Festival returns bringing worldwide black metal exclusives to the British seaside, with Gallowbraid, Old Man's Child, Dødheimsgard, Misþyrming, A Forest of Stars & more darkening the skies over the 2026 bill. Releases: Devin Townsend - The Moth Turnover - Down on Earth Static Dress - Injury Episode Sparta - Cut a Silhouette ‘68 - They Are Survived Healing Wound - Bodies of Heavenly Vi...

It's all about vaporwave prog, French oi, and choo choo train black metal as a whip round the underground picks up Basement, Frozen Soul, Haggard Cat, Fire-Toolz, Prisonnier du temps, A Forest of Stars, Panopticon, and Scimitar for the month's most blistering records. Basement 15:40 Frozen Soul 33:44 Haggard Cat 51:10 Fire-Toolz 1:05:09 Prisonnier du temps 1:15:41 A Forest of Stars 1:25:27 Panopti...

Anthrax's first single in ten years leads us to consider the thrash legends' creative relevancy in 2026, and Avenged Sevenfold going fully indepedent by buying back their rights brings reminiscing on ten years of their album The Stage. Releases: Marmozets - CO.WAR.DICE. A - Prong Dimmu Borgir - Grand Serpent Rising XCOMM - Time to Burn Armored Saint - Emotion Factory Reset David Eugene Edwards - M...

Iron Maiden's brand new documentary Burning Ambition hits cinema screens, and there's new singles from Green Lung announcing their new album Necropolitan and from brat superstar Charli XCX making ro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ck music. Releases: Periphery - A Pale White Dot The All-American Rejects - Sandbox Super Sometimes - Show the World What’s Underneath Held. - Grey Von Groove - Born to Rock Pro-Pain - St...