That's Not Metal

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 - NecropolitanBrian Fallon - Not Bad for New JerseyThe Meffs - BusinessWrong Man - Here’s That FeelingKilling of a Sacred Deer - Encephalic AngelsHarlott - ExsequiisDreadnought - Wars of Spirit // Wards of LightArchgoat - Nightbringer, LightbringerFluisteraars - Jacht der MysterienEpitaphe - III

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 DeepBeartooth - Pure EcstasyIn This Moment - WitchDinosaur Jr. - There NearKamelot - Dark AsylumFlotsam and Jetsam - Rats in the TempleExumer - Death Mask MessiahNinth Realm - Damnation’s VeilRussian Circles - NineKulk - Choosing to DieRat Cage - Not Asking for MuchStatic Abyss - The Dying HuntGorod - The Ember GoneEpicardiectomy - Dismal Landscapes of Voluptuous Pustular CadaverosisTurn of Phrase - Out in the Water President - Blood of Your EmpireShowing Teeth - A Fate Worse Than LonelinessGradience - AnomalyAirbourne - AirbourneAudrey Horne - Achilles156/Silence - From a DistanceJudiciary - Stalagmite AngelsMovements - Happier NowSleep - HempispheresChat Pile - Who Loves the SunArab Strap - Half-Told TalesSigh - Goh-kaDevil Master - Bloody DreamsGreen Carnation - A Dark Poem, Part III: The Messiah ComplexTales of Perdition - The Theatre of ExistenceBehemoth - I, Scvlptor

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 30:05Chelsea Wolfe 1:07:20Electric Callboy 1:34:27Living Weapon 1:58:41The Night Eternal 2:14:36Zorn 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 - Weezer (The Gold Album)Chelsea Wolfe - The DarkThe Night Eternal - Cold VelvetFen - Elemental Part One: Mourning EarthAzatoth - Carnal Lust of BlasphemyGod’s Hate - Won’t Be DisgracedDark Funeral - A Beast to Praise

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 DeariesDead Tired - Hornets of FallLiving Weapon - Death in the FamilySweeping Promises - You Say I RomanticizeInvocation Ritual - Altered RealityHolissstik - Chapter 1: This Endless Solitude

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 - TanzneidJohn Carpenter - CathedralCancer Bats - Give Me DirtCitizen - Halcyon BluesJamie Lenman - PukeCeremony - Tell Me Your DreamPublic Opinion - The Curse of Public OpinionNegative Frame - Break the IceWealthy Women - ChildrenHulder - VerbolgenDymna Lotva - VyrajHorrifier - Revelations of Gore

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 - JinxNo Pressure - NP StyleThe Hu - HunMadball - Not Your KingdomREZN - Cycles in the Infinite DreamJordsjø - PestkrønikeneSallow Moth - Hydrophilous BroodLinnéa RK Olsson - Perfect WaveFive Finger Death Punch - LegacyDisfiguring the Goddess - BloomNothingness - GodslaughterAltarage - CogwheelLipoma - Infernal Wounds of Ravenous FleshJig-Ai - JigokuTaake - En skog av nidstangLong Goodbye - A Whispered Promise of FailureShearling - Don’t Look at Me the Way a Dog Might Look at Your Leg

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 37:32Muse 1:09:13The Menzingers 1:31:55The Xcerts 1:49:20Fuming Mouth 2:11:10No Cure 2:24:04Arise 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 TribunalLoathe - A Stranger to YouMotionless In White - DecadesBoundaries - Yearning: The unbeautiful afterProtest the Hero - WithinAs It Is - As It IsThe Menzingers - Everything I Ever SawQuicksand - Bring on the PsychicsFuming Mouth - The Ringing BellFed Ash + HIRS - I AM BODY HORRORLeft to Die - Initium MortisPsycroptic - The Pulse of AnnihilationImperium - Exodus UnknownEmptiness - Nowhere SpeaksHaken - In a Fever DreamRed Method - As In Life

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 published July 2025 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

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 | RepentedThe Plot In You - The Plot In YouThe Xcerts - i think i want to go home nowShow Me the Body - Alone TogetherDevilDriver - Strike and KillNo Cure - It Is Going to Get DarkDaydream Plus - Second Last Day of SummerIf These Trees Could Talk - The Hidden HandArise From Worms - A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self DestructionMourir - Nous, le venin

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! SignalThe Pretty Reckless - Dear GodButthole Surfers - After the AstronautThe Dead Pioneers - Wagon BurnerTruck Violence - The Weathervane is My BodyJunius - SoteraPhantom - Not Midnight YetSpeedslut - Cimbrian RitesNunslaughter - Satanic Chaos LegionsAstriferous - Atavistic UnravelingNargaroth - Apocalyptic SteelForsmán - Brenndar Rústir & Fuðrandi FjörurMiracle - The Living Likeness of My Electric DaemonShane Embury - Bridge to ResolutionMortiis - Ghosts of EuropaFief - VIIArcane Roots - A Wave, Across the SeaFiddlehead - Baby I’ll ChangeDeep Purple - Splat!Dominum - Night is CallingMoonspell - Far From GodWitchsorrow - The Devil and All His WorksSoothsayer - The UnbindingMortem - Mørketid

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 26:04Marmozets 48:34Static Dress 1:15:35Turnover 1:30:00Guilt Trip 1:41:39Warning 1:53:38Stormkeep 2:20:01Funebrarum 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 ShameThere Were Wires - VesselChainlacing - MessuageIron Kobra - Eternal DaggerSaidan - Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s WristMork - MonolittEinherjer - LifebloodLiminal Sky - All Tomorrow’s Darkness

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 ExplodesSleeping With Sirens - An Ending In ItselfPussy Riot - CYKAYes - AuroraTarja - Frisson NoirSwiss Army Wife - I Love You, But I Hate It HereKhemmis - KhemmisJoseph Tholl - It Might Be ArtNuclear Tomb - Epoch InhumaneGenghis Tron - Signal FireMONO - SnowdropBIG|BRAVE - In Grief or In HopeFleshcrawl - Epitome of CarnageFires in the Distance - Circadian PromiseDefiled - Altered StateStormkeep - The Nocturnes of IswylmVéhémence - Assiéges pour l’éternitéFyrnask - ÍosirIron Reagan - DemonetizationDevourment - Pious ImpietyStill Remains - Spirit BreakerMystifier / Craven Idol - Demystification of the Fallen Souls

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 MothTurnover - Down on EarthStatic Dress - Injury EpisodeSparta - Cut a Silhouette‘68 - They Are SurvivedHealing Wound - Bodies of Heavenly ViolenceDeafkids - Cicatrizes do FuturoAll Them Witches - House of MirrorsElder - Through ZeroMonolord - NeverendingGodthrymm - ProjectionsFunebrarum - Beckoning the Void of Eternal SilenceTyrann - Tyrann ForeverTrelldom - …by the Word…Hecate Enthroned - The Corpse of a Titan, a Lament Long BuriedConverge - Hum of HurtEvanescence - SanctuaryDeath Cab for Cutie - I Built You a Tower100 Demons - Embrace the Black LightGuilt Trip - Armour of AngelsAugust Burns Red - Season of SurrenderBlood Incantation - All Gates Open (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)A.A. Williams - SolsticeSlift - FantasiaEvergrey - Architects of a New WeaveDwarves - JenkemVoivod - SymphoniqueGurt - Survival of the Shittest

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 15:40Frozen Soul 33:44Haggard Cat 51:10Fire-Toolz 1:05:09Prisonnier du temps 1:15:41A Forest of Stars 1:25:27Panopticon 1:47:30Scimitar 2:02:45

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 - ProngDimmu Borgir - Grand Serpent RisingXCOMM - Time to BurnArmored Saint - Emotion Factory ResetDavid Eugene Edwards - Mercurial SilenceBlindead 23 - DeuteriumWitching Hour - Descending.. Where Time Has Ceased to ExistLore - Psychotic Trance of the Black NightsGridiron - Lights OutBear - Anhedonia

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 DotThe All-American Rejects - SandboxSuper Sometimes - Show the World What’s UnderneathHeld. - GreyVon Groove - Born to RockPro-Pain - Stone Cold AngerAcid Reign - Daze of the WeekJungle Rot - Cruel Face of WarNedgravd - AscensionAkem Manah - ThrenodiesTyrannus - Mournhold

This week we make our way back to Incineration to once again kick off the festival season with a scorching of black and death metal as the likes of Dragged Into Sunlight, Of Feather and Bone, Tomb Mold and Scimitar rip it up across London stages.Releases:Black Veil Brides - VindicateBasement - WIREDKoyo - Barely HereSocial Distortion - Born to KillThe Flatliners - Cold WorldHaggard Cat - The Pain That Orbits LifeGeoff Tate - Operation: Mindcrime IIIFrozen Soul - No Place of WarmthIngested- DenigrationDarkthrone - Pre-Historic MetalPanopticon - Det hjemsøkte hjertetYoth Iria - Gone with the DevilA Forest of Stars - Stack Overflow in Corpse Pile InterfaceDraconian - In Somnolent RuinForced Order - Undying SpiritCrowquill - Erase The FileScarab - Transmutation of FateGadget - Coerced

Creeper's vampire extravaganza Sangui-Tour hits small venues in the UK for a full celebration of blooddrinking and leather.Releases:Foo Fighters - Your Favorite ToyThe Amity Affliction - House of CardsAtreyu - The End is Not the EndFailure - Location LostTerror - Still SufferRoman Candle - UnadulteratedArmed for Apocalypse - The Earth is Breathing Beneath MePlini - An Unnameable DesireEinar Solberg - Vox OccultaAdmiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell - The Trouble With the ShovellDemon Spell - Blessed Be the DarkSix Feet Under - Next to DieScimitar - Scimitarium IICnoc An Tursa - A Cry for the SlainBlood Countess - Imperatrix SanguinisSepultura - The Cloud of UnknowingVomit Forth - In the Name of the FatherAmerican Football - American Football (LP4)Kneecap - FenianSevendust - OneCage Fight - ExuviaVenom - Into OblivionSpell - Wretched HeartBlack Cilice - Votive FireEffluence - Anticholinergic DerangementInfected Death - Invicta

Viral microtonal aliens, surprise drops, and defiant, powerful final bows rule the month with At the Gates, Enter Shikari, Corrosion of Conformity, Spirit Adrift, Angine de Poitrine, Portrayal of Guilt, Poison Ruïn, and Immolation. One last time: Go!At the Gates 18:20Enter Shikari 49:18Corrosion of Conformity 1:18:23Spirit Adrift 1:33:43Angine de Poitrine 1:49:00Portrayal of Guilt 2:14:02Poison Ruïn 2:30:48Immolation 2:51:47

We launch the polaris and get into one of our giddiest ever album clubs on Megadeth's delirious Rust In Peace, the suffocating global anger of Killing Joke 2003, the launchpad for second wave emo in Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary, and Gorguts returning to once again up the game for avant-garde death metal with Colored Sands.This episode was originally published April 2025 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

Bring Me the Horizon make the genuinely absurd announcement of Count Your Blessings 20th anniversary celebrations, Nine Inch Noize owns Coachella, and Evanescence lead the singles in their team-up with the Fish.Releases:Nine Inch Noize - Nine Inch NoizeSkindred - You Got This.gif from god - DissimulationThe Last Ten Seconds of Life - The Dead OnesPrince Daddy & the Hyena - Hotwire Trip SwitchHold My Own - Pay No MindMat McNerney - The Bones of the Dead, or Three Turns CounterclockwiseCrippled Black Phoenix - SceaduhelmLeila Abdul-Rauf - Andros InsidiumOrdh - Blind In Abyssal RealmsReeking Aura - On the Promise of the MoonPissrot - Absolute FormMuerto - Eclipsed RealmsNekrogoblikon - The Boiling SeaGout - Actual Bastard

Tracks from Warning, Holding Absence, Health and more head up the week's music, and we announce our first massive band special for 2026.Releases:Bilmuri - Kinda HardLord of the Lost - Opvs Noir Vol. 3Truckfighters - MasterflowAs Everything Unfolds - DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?Tigercub - Nets to Catch the WaveLove Rarely - Pain TravelsBodysnatcher - Hell is Here, Hell is HomeMetal Church - Dead to RightsSpirit Adrift - Infinite IlluminationThe Melvins with Napalm Death - Savage Imperial Death MarchImmolation - DescentArchspire - Too Fast to DieVomitory - Death ThroesUada - InterwovenBlush Puppy - Here You DreamMelechesh - Sentinels of ShamashCissné - Awake Children Under the MoonJK Flesh / Monrella - Shouting the Odds

A lot of heavy feelings this week sadly, with the losses of Bo Lueders, James Lollar of Gost, and Ross the Boss. Elsewhere the Kreator/Carcass/Exodus/Nails package lights up the UK, Damnation 2026 unveil all their headliners, Converge unveil a second album, and another messed up story comes out of the world of hardcore so... yeah, one of those weeks.Releases:Don Broco - Nightmare TrippingBlack Label Society - Engines of DemolitionMyrath - Wilderness of MirrorsMoodring - death fetishChamber - this is goodbye…A Winter’s Remorse - The Day Our Gods Abandoned UsConcealer - This Room Could Be HeavenDivine Chaos - Hate ReactorZerre - Rotting on a Golden ThroneThe Twilight Sad - It’s the Long GoodbyeTigers Jaw - Lost on YouFree Throw - Moments Before the WindWinterfylleth - The Unyielding SeasonKëkht Aräkh - Morning StarCruel Force - HanedaCryptworm - Infectious Pathological WasteGrowth - Under the UnderEnslaved & Storm Weather Shanty Choir - Enslaved & Storm Weather Shanty ChoirCorrosion of Conformity - Good God / Baad ManSunn O))) - Sunn O)))Poison Ruïn - Hymns From the HillsLantlôs - Nowhere In Between ForeverKnumears - DirectionsMasca - Love LettersLavaLove - Tan LinesNervosa - Slave MachineCommitment - Fear OfJarboe - SightingsAngine de Poitrine - Vol.II

TNM March reviews bag just catches the most brain-breaking, beautiful return as Neurosis emerge with a whole new album, alongside another return from Poison the Well, Lamb of God, Gaerea, Hellripper, Aggressive Perfector, Mallavora, & Sweet Pill.Neurosis 11:30Poison the Well 56:10Lamb of God 1:17:13Gaerea 1:39:08Hellripper 1:59:30Aggressive Perfector 2:15:00Mallavora 2:25:00Sweet Pill 2:31:51

Muse beam back down to us with their new album announcement, along with music from Black Veil Brides, Stormkeep, and Dropkick Murphys/Haywire, there's a live report from deathcore central with Bodysnatcher, Ingested, Psycho-Frame and Big Ass Truck, and we pay tribute to Motörhead's second-longest serving member Phil Campbell.Releases:Poison the Well - Peace In PlaceExodus - GoliathGaerea - LossFilth is Eternal - Impossible WorldGladie - No Need to Be LonelyStainless - Lady of Lust and SteelEgregore - It Echoes in the WildThe Silver - Looking Glass Hymnal BlueGutvoid - Liminal ShrinesMclusky - I Sure Am Getting Sick of this Bowling AlleyAnnul Noir - InexistenceDropkick Murphys / Haywire - New England Forever

A curtain of biblical darkness falls upon Album Club in the unofficial Sabbath album The Devil You Know by Heaven & Hell, 16 Horsepower's dark country classic Sackcloth 'n' Ashes, Cave In's space rock leap Jupiter, and metalcore pioneers Integrity making their most no fucks given record Howling, for the Nightmare Shall Consume.This episode was originally published March 2025 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

New singles from the likes of Gouge Away, Drug Church, and Devin Townsend hit our ears, epic metal heroes Eternal Champion surprise drop a bold and ambitious new EP, and there's hardcore drama cause when is there not?Releases:Lamb of God - Into OblivionAngus McSix - Angus McSix and the All-Seeing Astral EyeSweet Pill - Still There’s a GlowShoreline - Is This the Low Point or the Moment After?UnityTX - Somewhere, In BetweenGong - Bright SpiritMonstrosity - Screams from Beneath the SurfaceNo/Más - No PeaceWolfbastard - Satanic Scum PunksTransilvania - Magic PosthumaWitchcraft - A Sinner’s ChildEternal Champion - Friend of War

Basement, Blackbraid, and Portrayal of Guilt give us a diverse pack of new songs to chew in, questions on what is the greatest musical city and generationally phased out songs, and we respond to the news that industrial giants Godflesh are hanging up their live instruments for good.Releases:Rob Zombie - The Great SatanCarpenter Brut - Leather TempleThe Gloom in the Corner - Royal DiscordanceNothing - A Short History of DecayFinal Gasp - New Day SymptomsMatador - Above, Below and SoHarrowed - The Eternal HungerPossession - The Mother of DarknessNecrofier - Transcend Into OblivionErra - silence outlives the earthLost Society - Hell is a State of MindWhiplash - ThrashquakeSurfbort - Reality StarTemple of Void - The CrawlBosse-de-Nage - Hidden Fires Burn HottestVreid - The Skies Turn BlackBlackbraid - Nocturnal WombBlack Stone Cherry - CelebrateMoon Tooth - BastardNailed Shut MA - A Promise Made, A Promise Kept

This month brings us one of the most daunting, monolithic, and outlandish reviews bags we've ever had, as we tackle Converge, Sylosis, Mayhem, Worm, Pony, Cryptic Shift, Hällas, and Killing Pace. Slap on your spacesuit, we're adventure rocking.Converge 27:36Sylosis 56:02Mayhem 1:12:56Worm 1:30:33Pony 1:43:00Cryptic Shift 1:52:40Hällas 2:12:10Killing Pace 2:30:20

Party time at TNM: the mythical drought comes to an end, alongside new tracks from the Foo Fighters and Don Broco/Nickelback and grand line-up unveilings from Arch Enemy and Nevermore.Releases:Sylosis - The New FleshNew Found Glory - Listen Up!Killing Pace - HCPMExhumed - Red AsphaltCoscradh - Carving the Causeway to the OtherworldThe Magus - DaemonosophiaLead Injector - Witching Attack

Hyperblasts is back to cover what we missed from the Grammys, UK live shows from Home Front to Korpiklaani, Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry's collab single, and the discussion around While She Sleeps' video announcement for their stepping back from touring.Releases:Hällas - PanoramaSoftcult - When a Flower Doesn’t GrowKarnivool - In VesesPuscifer - Normal Isn’tTailgunner - Midnight BlitzTumour - Human SalvageUncultivates - This Will Become Clear Later, Like the French RevolutionMayhem - Liturgy of DeathNight of the Vampire - The Enchanting Winds of the Dreamweaving MasqueradeKanonenfieber - SoldatenschicksalePower Snatch - EP1Afraid to Die - Hell is a Place In My MindPredatory Void - Atoned In MetamorphosisInfinite Misery - Altar of Extracted TeethConverge - Love is Not EnoughTX2 - End of UsAngel Du$t - COLD 2 THE TOUCHMariachi El Bronx - Mariachi El Bronx IVPony - Clearly CursedYakkie - Kill The Cop Inside Your HeadWorm - NecropalaceFossilization - Advent of WoundsGuilt Trip - God Forgives

Looking back at the records January gave us we give an honest assessment of the final album from Megadeth, alongside Kreator, Urne, Møl, Joyce Manor, The Ruins of Beverast, and Backengrillen. Thanks for all the riffs, MegaDave.Megadeth 20:11Kreator 1:06:31Urne 1:22:47Møl 1:38:35Joyce Manor 1:49:44The Ruins of Beverast 2:02:15Backengrillen 2:14:11

TNM talks bands we would have introduced to ourselves at an earlier age, a breadth of new tracks from Def Leppard, Exodus, Immolation and Haggard Cat, and Cryptopsy take to the UK with 200 Stab Wounds for 30 years of None So Vile.Releases:Megadeth - MegadethPoppy - Empty HandsCrystal Lake - The Weight of SoundTextures - GenotypeThe Damned - Not Like Everybody ElseBackengrillen - BackengrillenBarbarian - Reek of GodLigation - After Gods

2025 Album Clubs come from the land where the mullet attacks: Sabaton's Swedish concept album Carolus Rex, Hatebreed's hardcore benchmark Satisfaction is the Death of Desire, Visigoth's dungeon-keeping The Revenant King, and Family Force 5 give us Business Up Front/Party in the Back.This episode was originally published January 2025 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

New album singles from Poison the Well, Lamb of God, and Static Dress keep 2026 starting up, along with a killer first band announcement from Damnation Festival, and announcement of our first Patreon special for 2026.Releases:Kreator - Krushers of the WorldKid Kapichi - Fearless NatureGreywind - Severed Heart CityOv Sulfur - EndlessBlanket - True BlueSerpent Column - Aion of StrifeRifle - RiflePush - Plowing AheadCrush Your Soul - Ice WaterI Promised the World - I Promised the WorldLights Out - Fall on Your SwordGylt - In 1,000 Agonies, I ExistSin Against Sin - Demo 2

TNM usher in the new year with hopes, questions and predictions for 2026, and some familiar faces already poking their heads above the parapets for the year ahead.Releases:Ulver - NeverlandFuath - IIIWoe - Legacies of Human FrailtyPaleface Swiss - The Wilted EPAlter Bridge - Alter BridgeThe Ruins of Beverast - Tempelschlaf

Right before Christmas our last bash for 2025 is TNM Awards looking back over the highs and lows, the stories, the icons, the presidents, and the circuses that made the year in rock music what it was:Most Improved BandSong of the YearWorst Song of the YearHero of the YearVillain of the YearBest New BandBiggest DisappointmentGig of the YearEP of the YearArtwork of the YearMovie of the YearComeback of the YearSurprise of the YearOutstanding AchievementWorst Band of the YearUnsung HeroesStory of the YearBand of the Year

Our second go of albums of the year for 2025 with Sam and Mark celebrating records from hair metal to hardcore, and your results for the TNM listener poll as we see who's bringing it home in a year filled with past winners and big dog contenders.

2025 Album of the Year time begins on That's Not Metal, with our first lists from Perran and Elliot celebrating everything from synth-punk to goth-doom, power-goregrind to jazz-death, post-metal to metalcore, legendary rock icons to grimy dungeon crust bands that this year gave us.

This week we've got reports from My Bloody Valentine's first shows since 2018 as we see one of the loudest bands in the world, reaction to Alissa White-Gluz being out of Arch Enemy, and we tell you how to get involved in our 2025 end of year shows.Releases:The Algorithm - Recursive InfinityThe Pretty Wild - zero.point.genesisDanko Jones - Leo RisingGasket - GasketStryper - The Greatest Gift of AllSpeedclaw - StardustMorbikon - Lost Within the Astral CryptsTerror Corpse - Ash Eclipses FleshFlesher - Gore On GoreDome Runner - World PanopticonSpanish Love Songs - A Brief Intermission in the Flattening of TimeThe Halo Effect - We Are ShadowsExitWounds - An Offering to TragedyMaster’s Hammer - Maldoror Discomale//gaze - Too Late NowExcide - Bastard HymnsEquilibrium - EquinoxBlut Aus Nord - Ethereal HorizonsThe Ominous Circle - Cloven Tongues of FirePhobocosm - GatewayFessus - Subcutaneous Tomb1349 - Winter Mass

2025's final reviews is a crazy bag of disco mania with Creeper's Sanguivore II, Pupil Slicer, Drain, Astronoid, Home Front, Lamp of Murmuur, and Master's Hammer, bid farewell to Svalbard on tour, a new single from Converge, and about half an hour before our record, doing cartwheels at the reunion of Black Breath.Creeper 31:51Pupil Slicer 1:09:19Drain 1:24:17Astronoid 1:35:08Home Front 1:47:29Lamp of Murmuur 1:59:08Master's Hammer 2:18:05

The UK's biggest dedicated extreme music fest at Damnation Festival goes bigger than ever for its 20th anniversary with a bonkers two day line-up featuring Corrosion of Conformity, Napalm Death, Deafheaven, Perturbator, Anaal Nathrakh, Amenra, Warning, Wormrot, Castle Rat, and so many more to crack our skulls.Releases:Of Mice & Men - Another MiracleThe Devil Wears Prada - FlowersRise of the Northstar - CHAPTER 04: RED FALCON SUPER BATTLE! NEO PARIS WAR!!AVVT/PTTN - AVVT/PTTNLamp of Murmuur - The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy1914 - Viribus UnitisBell Witch & Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough Vol. IIRagana & Drowse - Ash SouvenirVoidCeremony - AbditumChairmaker - Leviathan CarcassVower - A Storm Lined With Silver

It's that week in November where every big festival announces their lineup so we assess the bills of Download, Outbreak, 2000 Trees, & Slam Dunk 2026, Turnstile come through Ally Pally, and finally one of the UK's great rock bands Marmozets return with first new music in over 8 years.Releases:Drain - …Is Your FriendPupil Slicer - FleshworkAstronoid - StargodSet It Off - Set It OffAgnostic Front - Echoes In EternityCold Steel - Discipline & PunishThe Devil's Trade - Nincs Szennyezetlen SzépDrowned In Silver - MothersOmnium Gatherum - May the Bridges We Burn Light the WayNovembre - Words of IndigoCentinex - With Guts and GloryGlorious Depravity - Death Never SleepsDysentery - Dejection ChrysalisYellow Eyes - Confusion GateWaldgeflüster - Knochengesänge I & IIQrixkuor - The Womb of the WorldPrimordial - Live In New York CityRecollection - Vivid DreamsAlexisonfire - Copies of Old Masters Vol 1

For Halloween we take the time for some horror movie questions including our pitch for a 2025 Freddy vs Jason, discuss Dogma's fracturing and Megadeth choosing to cover Metallica on their final album, live trips to Common Thread and Igorrr with Imperial Triumphant, and there is a Hagar horror on the loose...Releases:Soulfly - ChamaMammoth - The EndDayseeker - Creature in the Black NightDownswing - And Everything Was DarkAction/Adventure - Ever AfterSpiritual Cramp - RudeThe Acacia Strain - You Are Safe From God HerePsychonaut - World MakerAleksi Kii - VarjokuviaRolo Tomassi - In the Echo of All DreamsColdrain - OptimizeHeavensgate - A Heart is a Heavy BurdenMastiff - For All the Dead DreamsKrallice - No HopeCreeper - Sanguivore II: Mistress of DeathAvatar - Don’t Go in the ForestDespised Icon - Shadow WorkSpite - NEW WORLD KILLERWitch Fever - FEVEREATENGumm - Beneath the WheelChat Pile & Hayden Pedigo - In The Earth AgainPrimitive Man - ObservanceAnna von Hausswolff - IconoclastsBelieve In Nothing - RotBarren Path - GrievingGrave Ghoul - Gruesome and MacabreOne of Nine - Dawn of the Iron ShadowThron - VuriasOutlaw - Opus MortisRunemagick - Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms)Trivium - Struck DeadGoing Off - Kill List II

With autumn chill in the air we plunge into a stacked October reviews bunch of new AFI, Thrice, Miltarie Gun, Conjurer, Perturbator, Sanguisugabogg, Tribal Gaze, & Agriculture.AFI 24:01Thrice 47:28Militarie Gun 59:04Conjurer 1:11:12Perturbator 1:23:08Sanguisugabogg 1:33:37Tribal Gaze 1:44:21Agriculture 1:50:37

Perran and Mark catch up to talk about some of 2025's massive event tours with both Parkway Drive and Blood Incantation blazing trails to put on some of modern metal's most ambitious shows.Releases:All Time Low - Everyone’s Talking!Sabaton - LegendsBattle Beast - SteelboundMilitarie Gun - God Save the GunBiohazard - Divided We Fall84 Tigers - Nothing EndsCoroner - Dissonance TheoryTribal Gaze - Inveighing BrillianceInternal Bleeding - Settle All ScoresEvoken - MendaciumTombs - Feral DarknessAfsky - FælleskabWolvennest - ProcessionCzart - Czarty Polskie:Skull & Dawn: - The HarvestUnto Others - I Believe In Halloween IISpaced - No EscapeSunn O))) - Eternity’s Pillars b/w Raise the Chalice & ReverentialCarach Angren - The Cult of Kariba

We're drowning in news with Oathbreaker and Rush both coming back, Alex Bent stepping out of Trivium, Bleeding Through & Darkest Hour hitting the UK, and a slew of new metal songs from Lamb of God, Ice Nine Kills, and Megadeth revealing their favourite game show.Releases:AFI - Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…Thrice - Horizons/WestOrbit Culture - Death Above Life50 Lions - New RealityAuthor & Punisher - Nocturnal BirdingToday is the Day - Never Give InAgriculture - The Spiritual SoundWode - Uncrossing the KeysHooded Menace - Lachrymose Monuments of ObscurationImpure - The Devil Sees My DreamsEphemeral - Envisaged Human CollapseCathedral - Society’s Pact With SatanSuffering Hour - Impelling RebirthCorpse Pile - In the Beginning…Yellowcard - Better DaysPerturbator - Age of AquariusTestament - Para BellumDead Heat - Process of EliminationGreyhaven - Keep It QuietSoul Blind - Red Sky MourningGod Alone - The Beep TestSanguisugabogg - Hideous AftermathFrayle - Heretics & LullabiesTerjiz de Horde - Our Breath is Not Ours Alone