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Rock and metal certainly weren't gathering dust as we went into 2026. The start of the year brought new albums from veteran favourites Alter Bridge, Puscifer and Megadeth, as well as new releases from emerging artists like Beyond The Black and Paleface Swiss. But what does the rest of the year hold?
We've dove deep into the release schedules to pick up on the news, whispers and rumours of new material from some of metal's finest names, from Dimmu Borgir to Black Label Society, Gojira to Lamb Of God. Here are the 50 metal albums you should be keeping an eye out for in 2026.
1. A.A. Williams - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
A.A. Williams began to stir at the end of last year with the single Just A Shadow, her first new music since 2022’s As The Moon Rests. “I’ve been in the studio exploring some styles and textures I’ve not worked with before, and trying to wrap them up in some of my more familiar musical language,” she tells Hammer. “I’ve been working with new themes and trying new methods, and pouring all of my energy and emotions into the process."
2. Amon Amarth - Title TBC (Release Date: TBC)
Singer Johan Hegg told Hammer that the Swedish marauders will shake things up without losing sight of themselves on album 13. “We always try to balance new, interesting takes on our music with trying to keep the format of the band,” he said. “It’s like what Iron Maiden do: you will always hear that it’s an Iron Maiden song, but they always add some new, interesting things to their albums.” The single We Rule The Waves was a good introduction, integrating some NWOBHM pomp into their signature melodeath.
3. Anthrax - Title TBC (Expected: Spring 2026)
It’s been 10 years since their last studio album, For All Kings, but the longgestating follow-up is finally on its way, having been partly recorded at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in LA. “The album is so riff-centric and brutal and difficult and intense and a lot of fun to play,” says guitarist Scott Ian, while drummer Charlie Benante adds: “There are three songs that don’t sound like anything we’ve done before.”
4. Black Veil Brides - Title TBC (Expected: By Summer 2026)
With stompy new single Certainty in January, Black Veil Brides signalled they were looking to go heavy on their upcoming seventh album. Discussing the single with Loudwire Nights, frontman Andy Biersack described the track as "a statement song". "Tonally, it's a dark song, it's a heavy song... in a pantheon of songs where we have a lot of very operatic sing-along type of stuff, you wouldn't listen to this and say this is maybe one of the more fun-oriented songs. It's much more serious and heavy, but it was extremely fun for us because it's very different structurally to a lot of our material."
5. Black Label Society - Engines Of Demolition (Expected: March 27)
Zakk Wylde has found time between Pantera tours, his Zakk Sabbath tribute act and Ozzy’s big farewell to record a new Black Label Society album. The singles have been dropping since September 2024, with The Gallows, Lord Humungus and Broken And Blind suggesting sludgy, Southern-tinged business as usual, but there's also been a tease of a big ballad in Ozzy's Song. No prizes for guessing who that'll be about - keep the kleenex close.
6. Blind Channel - Title TBC (Expected: Late 2026)
After a whirlwind few years in the spotlight after Eurovision, Finland’s Blind Channel went on hiatus in December 2024. Since then, vocalist Joel Hokka has left the group to make solo pop-rock with ex-Rasmus man Pauli Rantasalmi, but the nu metal revivalists have forged ahead regardless. Manager Antti Eriksson recently shared a clip on Instagram of their “effin GREAT new tracks”, sounding like they’re going heavier for album number six.
7. Bullet For My Valentine - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Bullet For My Valentine may have cut short their plans for the 2025 Poisoned Ascendancy world tour, but they weren’t being idle – they had studio time booked in August, with guitarist Padge telling TotalRock: “It’s gonna be super-heavy. We mess around with some crazy tuning on this one, something we haven’t done before. So it’s gonna be really interesting and fresh for the fans.” Probably best not to hold your breath for the Trivium collab, though.
8. Burn Eternal - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Burn Eternal’s debut has been a long time coming. Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz and former singer Howard Jones had been working on a collaboration for at least two years before they announced the name and said the album was mixed back in December 2024. Scheduling can be tricky but it must be due an airing in 2026, right? Come on, chaps…
9. Cage Fight - Exuvia (Expected: May 1)
London metallers Cage Fight will drop their second album this summer. If fearsome recent singles Pig and IHYG (I Hate Your Guts) are any indication, they’ve ramped up the viciousness even further. “Since the release of our debut album we’ve been through some changes and significantly evolved as a unit,” says guitarist James Monteith. “The result is a much more honed vision of Cage Fight.”
10. Carpenter Brut - Leather Temple (Expected: February 27)
Carpenter Brut is going more electronic, less metal on the final entry in his Leather trilogy. Leather Temple eschews vocals, rebelling against what the Frenchman sees as the boy-band-ification of heavy music, and pulls influence from The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers. The story’s bad guy, Iron Tusk, is also modelled on a certain multi-billionaire… “He’s the richest man in the universe! What happens when a guy can decide everything when he owns everything?” Carpenter said in a Hammer interview earlier this year.
The 50 metal albums you need to hear in 2026: #11 -20
11. Clutch - Title TBC (Expected: Summer 2026)
“These new songs evolve each time we perform them,” said drummer Jean-Paul Gaster of the music they’ve written for the upcoming follow-up to 2022’s Sunrise On Slaughter Beach. Gene ‘Machine’ Freeman is producing again – having done Blast Tyrant (2004), Earth Rocker (2013) and Psychic Warfare (2015) – so we could be looking at another top-tier Clutch release.
12. Corrosion Of Conformity - Good God / Baad Man (Expected: April 3)
COC’s first album since the death of drummer Reed Mullin in 2020 and the departure of bassist Mike Dean in 2024 is shaping up to be a big one – it’s a double album, with a different concept conceived by frontman Pepper Keenan on each side. According to bassist Bobby Landgraf, they’re mixing things up musically. “There’s heavy stuff, there’s some groovy stuff that you might not expect,” he told The Sonic Road Podcast. “There’s Pink Floyd-y stuff in the middle of songs, a narration and talking, some sci-fi.”
13. Dimmu Borgir - Title TBC (Expected: Spring)
The Norwegians have taken their time on album number 10, but it sounds like the wait will be well worth it. For the follow-up to 2018’s Eonian, the band are pulling from their past, with guitarist Silenoz and frontman Shagrath once again writing as a twosome and classic producer Fredrik Nordström back in the fold. The result will be some stripped-back black metal amid the usual symphonic grandeur.
"I think it covers most of our catalogue," Silenoz tells Hammer. "Some stuff is more stripped-down, some epic stuff is still there. We have some modern stuff and some old stuff, as well. I would say it’s a really good mix.”
14. Electric Callboy - Title TBC (Expected: Late 2026)
Three and a half years on from their last album, Tekkno, Electric Callboy are bigger than ever. The German electronicore band have released three new singles in the past year – Elevator Operator, Revery and Tanzneid – the latter of which is also the title of their massive 2025/2026 world tour. We’ll be astonished if they don’t have a new record out by the year’s end.
15. Evanescence - Title TBC (Expected: Before September 2026)
Amy Lee is promising big things from the follow-up to 2021’s The Bitter Truth. “It’s a massive body of work that we’ve been working on for a couple of years now,” the Evanescence singer told Rolling Stone, adding: “I’m feeling some of the same inspiration level and love I felt when I was making Fallen, but we’re different now. We’re better.” Last year’s single Fight Like A Girl, Halsey collab Hand That Feeds and Poppy/Spiritbox collab End Of You suggest it’ll be a blockbuster.
16. Exodus - Goliath (Expected: March 20)
It’s been musical chairs in the Bay Area veterans’ camp, with singer Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza leaving and former frontman Rob Dukes making a return. Has that affected them? Not according to guitarist Gary Holt. “It’s crushing, but it’s all anthems," he says of his band’s 13th album. “And it’s so varied, this record. So many different aspects of Exodus are in there, from the blinding speed to the slowest, heaviest shit we’ve ever done.”
17. Failure - Location Lost (Expected: April 24)
Cited as an influence by everyone from Deftones and Nine Inch Nails to Tool, you'd think Failure single-handedly carried the 90s. The reality is more complicated: they initially split in 1997 long before getting their dues and even after reuniting in the 2010s they've remained staunch outsiders. First single from new album Location Lost, The Air's On Fire has a decided whiff of both Tool and NIN to it, begging the question: how the hell hasn't the world cottoned on to this band yet?
18. Gaerea - Loss (Expected: March 20)
They might’ve started out in the realms of black metal, but Portugal’s masked mavericks Gaerea are heading somewhere new for their latest album. The singles Submerged and Hellbound hint at a more anthemic edge to their extreme metal, incorporating more melodic death metal and even clean choruses.
19. Gojira - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
From that attention-grabbing Olympics appearance to huge arena tours, Gojira have truly stepped up to metal’s top tier since 2021’s Fortitude. The new album needs to cement that position, and who’d bet against them? “We’re going back to big guitar riffs and a more metal, but more modern sound,” promised drummer Mario Duplantier of their upcoming eighth studio album.
20. Green Lung - Title TBC (Expected: Late 2026)
"The veil will lift after the spring equinox and before the summer solstice,” says Green Lung singer Tom Templar enigmatically of the follow-up to 2023’s acclaimed This Heathen Land. That album saw the London folk-doom five-piece kick things up several levels, and they’re aiming even higher with their as-yet-untitled fourth album – by the time you read this, they’ll be on their way to record it at legendary Welsh studio Rockfield with Ghost/Creeper producer Tom Dalgety.
The 50 metal albums you need to hear in 2026: #21 - 30
21. Hatebreed - Title TBC (Expected: Before Summer 2026)
In an interview with The Kevin Powell Podcast, drummer Matt Byrne suggested their upcoming ninth album would be “way thrashier” than 2020’s Weight Of The False Self. “There’s always a tinge of metal to Hatebreed,” he explained. “I think a lot of people try to kind of pigeonhole us as a hardcore band, but I think over the years we’ve just gone way more metal.” Last year’s single, Make The Demons Obey, certainly backs this up
22. The Hu - Title TBC (Expected: Before July)
The Mongolian folk-metal warriors have been trailing their forthcoming third full-length for a while, saying they couldn’t wait for people to hear it as far back as 2024. They’ve remained tight-lipped on details of the follow-up to 2022’s Rumble Of Thunder, but a betting fan might put a couple of quid on it emerging before their support slot at Maiden’s huge Knebworth show in July. The release of power metally new single The Real You definitely feels like a step in the right diretion.
23. Ice Nine Kills - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Metalcore’s bloodthirstiest band will release a new album that features previously released singles A Work Of Art, The Great Unknown and The Laugh Track. But that’s just the tip of the knifeblade: they’re also developing a feature film, The Slashin’ Of The Christ, and writing tracks for two other movies and a videogame. “It’s like what we did on [2021’s] Silver Scream 2: it all sounds like the same band, but no two songs are the same," explains frontman Spencer Charnas.
"We try to see what other bands are doing and then do the opposite. We grew up on punk music and Broadway stuff, so it’s fun to pepper in, ‘What would [So-Cal punk veterans] The Vandals meets Les Misérables meets Cannibal Corpse sound like?’”
![Ice Nine Kills - The Laugh Track (Official Music Video) [Part 1] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2fbVUmH6mY0/maxresdefault.jpg)
24. In Flames - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
The Swedish melodeath pioneers have not confirmed a new album is in the works but frontman Anders Fridén did drop a hint when announcing major European touring and festival plans for 2026. “Maybe there might even be new music then? You never know…” he said, with the casualness of a seasoned veteran who seems unlikely to let that slip without something on the horizon.
25. Kerry King - Title TBC (Expected TBC)
Before his solo debut had even arrived, Kerry King was talking up a follow-up. He revealed at the end of 2024 that he’d already started demoing material for the second album, while in a 2025 interview with KOMP 92.3, he admitted: “We want the machine to roll. We don’t want fiveyear gaps.” With the only Slayer show of 2026 confirmed for October’s Sick New World, he’s certainly got a clear run at it.
26. Kim Dracula - KD2 (Expected: TBC)
Mixing trap, nu metal, jazz and, well, whatever else they could find to hand, Kim Dracula is one of metal’s most wonderfully weird new artists. It doesn’t look like they’re dialling the crazy back for album two – new single In Threes sounds like A Perfect Circle being invaded by Mr. Bungle, and was confirmed as the first taste of the new album in a post on Dracula’s Discord channel.
27. Korn - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis said that the band were already working on a follow-up before 2022’s rather excellent Requiem even dropped. Guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch confirmed in June that it was going on tape but said they were “taking their sweet-ass time with it”. 2026 looks a distinct possibility though, especially with the nu metal resurgence showing absolutely no signs of slowing any time soon.
28. Lamb Of God - Into Oblivion (Expected: March 13)
Just when you think you know what Lamb Of God are going to do, they drop a single like Sepsis. Noisy, sludgy and grinding, it was a decidedly different direction for the groove metallers. They’ve returned to more familiar territory on follow-up single Parasocial Christ, but it’s anyone’s guess where they’re headed on their 12th album.
29. Limp Bizkit - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
With Limp Bizkit moving up from top undercard status in 2024 to Download mainstage headliners in 2026, their resurgence appears complete. It seems like the perfect time for the much-touted seventh studio album. It’s no secret that they’ve been working on it, but it’s unclear whether the tragic death of bassist Sam Rivers in October will have an impact on the process.
30. Loathe - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Way back in autumn 2022, Loathe cancelled a UK tour to focus on completing their fourth full-length, following the instrumental The Things They Believe. In May 2025 we finally got a first-peek at new material with the single Gifted Every Strength, which the band described to Kerrang! as “the most eclectic mixture of our collective four brains”. The band debuted another new song – potentially titled ‘Revenant’ – at Download in June, suggesting the wait might almost be over.
The 50 metal albums you need to hear in 2026: #31 -40
31. Mallavora - What If Better Never Comes? (Expected: March 27)
Mallavora will likely be a new name to most. But the British newcomers' vocalist Jessica Douek made an impression as the voice of "the banshee" in Celebrity Traitors. Early singles for the group's debut album What If Better Never Comes shows they're more than deserving of more time in the spotlight; their ethereal, prog-tinged alt metal sound is fresh and vital, spelling big things for the band later this year.
![Mallavora - Lilith & Esther Feat. Banshee [Official Audio] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SJYzfav5zjs/maxresdefault.jpg)
32. Marmozets - Co.War.Dice (Expected: May 29)
On a time-out since 2019 after singer Becca Bottomley became a mum, Marmozets returned in November last year with the single A Kiss From A Mother. A vibrant mix of alt rock and metalcore, it showed their idiosyncratic sound is still energetic as ever. They've since embarked on a sold out tour of the UK, and announced new album Co.War.Dice will be out May 29.
“There’s a lot of big political topics to tackle right now, but I only talk about what I am fully educated on," explains vocalist Becca Bottomley. "I believe you shouldn’t raise your voice unless you understand what you’re preaching about. A big theme is protecting this beautiful world we call home. I work in a little organic shop raising money for hedgehog conservation, and it’s helped me feel connected to nature and my community. So the record is full of nature-inspired dance grooves.”
33. Mastodon - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Emotional, much? Mastodon’s ninth album comes in the shadow of guitarist/ co-singer Brent Hinds’ departure and subsequent death last year. Speaking before that tragedy, the band hinted to Hammer that it would be a concept album based around supernatural horror, though only time will tell whether that’s still the case. We do know that new guitarist Nick Johnston is involved, with fellow six-stringer Bill Kelliher confirming it to the Sixty Scales And The Truth podcast: “[Nick’s] writing like crazy, I’m writing like crazy… we’re just so full of energy.”
34. Melvins & Napalm Death - Savage Imperial Death March (April 10)
When it comes to influential, underground bands you'd struggle to find a stronger pair than Melvins and Napalm Death. So imagine the delight that will ensue when the pair join forces; debut single Tossing Coins Into The Fountain Of Fuck is a squalling, clattering demonstration of the most abrasive tendencies of both bands.
35. Ministry - Title TBC (Expected: June)
Al Jourgensen has been talking up Ministry’s farewell album for a couple of years now, but he told the LA Times that it would finally arrive in June. So far there’s no word on titles or what it’s actually about, but we do know it’ll feature the return of Paul Barker, Al’s former co-pilot during the high times of the late 80s and 90s. They’ll be hitting the road in the autumn, before bringing down the curtain. “One final ride,” says Al. “Then it’s over.”
36. Mudvayne - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Having reunited in 2021, Mudvayne finally started dropping new material in 2025 in the shape of the singles Hurt People Hurt People and Sticks And Stones. Singer Chad Gray told Heavy Mag that there’s more new material to come. “Only the people that are closest to us have heard anything,” he explained. “It’s really rough; it’s demos. But you can tell it’s special.”
37. Nervosa - Slave Machine (April 3)
2023's Jailbreak marked the first time that Nervosa founder Prika Amaral handled vocal duties on record after the departure of Diva Satánica in 2022. In January, the Brazilian thrashers dropped the title track of their next record, signalling a more confident shift towards thrash/death territories that the band have explored in the past, bringing to mind both the 80s records of their countrymen in Sepultura, but also Teutonic thrashers like Sodom and Kreator.
38. Papa Roach - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
P-Roach teased us with a couple of new singles in 2025: Even If It Kills Me back in January and Braindead five months later. Does this mean a new album in 2026? According to Jacoby Shaddix, it certainly does. He told Claro Música México that they had “10 or 11 songs” for the follow-up to 2022’s Ego Trip. “I don’t like to make records that are so long. I like an album that feels like it’s just quick and to the point.”
![Papa Roach - BRAINDEAD (feat. Toby Morse) [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aSivJu1blDY/maxresdefault.jpg)
39. Parkway Drive - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Parkway Drive have been all about their live show recently, but thoughts have now turned to making the soundtrack for their next no doubt ridiculously humongous production. Frontman Winston McCall said that 2026 is “all going to be about creating new music”. The end of the year might be an ambitious target for a whole new album, but not beyond the realms of possibility.
40. Sevendust - One (May 1)
With the nu metal renaissance in full swing, it might be time for Sevendust to shine. Chuggy new single Is This The Real You? feels like a throwback to the band's sound at the turn of the millennium, without feeling too much like nostalgia bait. Across almost 30 years and 14 studio albums they've crept close to a mainstream breakthrough more than once, so they're well overdue.
The 50 metal albums you need to hear in 2026: #41 - 50
41. Skindred - You Got This (April 18)
Skindred came so close to a No.1 UK album with 2023’s Smile, but were held off by Irish singer-songwriter Cian Ducrot (no, we’ve never heard of him either). Recent single – and title track of their upcoming ninth album – You Got This is a showcase of exactly the kind of thumping ragga-metal they’ve built their formidable reputation on.
“Every song [on the new album] is based on challenges I’ve faced throughout my life – as they say, this movie is based on real events!" Frontman Benji Webbe explains. "There’s a song in there called The Glass about being an adult, getting older and losing friends who have shaped my life. But then there’s another reflecting on being a young kid called Can I Get A, which reflects on how I was raised by my brother. He was only 21, and he gave up his life to raise a fucking 11-year-old kid. But the whole album will hopefully uplift our fans – because there’s so much to be grateful for!”
42. Slipknot* - Look Outside Your Window (April 18)
Alright, so it's technically not a Slipknot album, but the long-awaited, much-discussed record made by Corey Taylor, Jim Root, Shawn Crahan and Sid Wilson during the recording of All Hope Is Gone is arriving in April. Teased as a more experimental, Radiohead-flavoured record, the anticipation is very high. Speaking to Hammer back in 2018, Crahan explained the album arose from musical differences in the 'knot camp. “While too much politics was happening in the studio, I was blowing my fucking brains out with art,” he explained. “It was a positive thing. I had my negativity and positivity, but doing that kept me equal.”
43. Soundgarden - Title TBC (Release Date: TBC)
Legal wranglings between Chris Cornell’s widow and his former bandmates have been ironed out, meaning the grunge icons can finish the songs they’d started before the singer’s death. “There’s very familiar elements in some of this new music,” drummer Matt Cameron said recently. “There was a couple songs that felt like it was kind of a new chapter or it could have been a new chapter. So it’s really exciting to hear that. It’s bittersweet, of course.”
44. Suicidal Tendencies - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Suicidal released their first new song in forever back in April 2025. That was a one-off to coincide with some Metallica support slots, but frontman Mike Muir says a new album is also on the cards – after previously saying they would never make another. He said “the actual Suicidal record” would follow a new Cyco Miko album, with both planned for 2026.
45. Sylosis - The New Flesh (Expected: February 20)
The UK metallers promise that they’re stripping away some of the technicality and returning to their more brutal roots on their seventh album – something that the crunching title track, dropped as a single at the end of last year, doesn’t disprove. “It’s heavy out of the gate,” frontman Josh Middleton recently said. “I love when bands do that, because as a fan you’re just, like, ‘Thank you.’”
46. Trivium - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
After the three-track Struck Dead EP in October, Trivium vocalist Matt Heafy confirmed to Hammer that the band were working on their next studio album with producer Josh Wilbur. “There’s no demos or writing on my laptop – we’re in the room together, playing and writing together,” Matt explained.
47. UnityTX - Somewhere, In Between (March 13)
Texan mob UnityTX delight in mixing hardcore and hip hop to vicious, vital effect. The band announced their new album Somewhere, In Between with the hammer-swinging Enjoy Tha Show, only to chase it with the more sedate, hip hop track Body Roc in Feb. It suggests some serious genre-blurring tendencies when the record arrives in March.
48. Jay Weinberg - Title TBC (Expected: TBC)
Following a stint in Suicidal Tendencies after his shock dismissal from Slipknot, Jay Weinberg revealed last year he'd been working on his own solo material. His debut single Sandstone featured Deafheaven vocalist George Clarke and showed off a much darker, heavier side to his musical output than we've heard thus far. Weinberg revealed he was planning an EP for release in 2026, possibly with an array of guest vocalists.
“I've always wanted to collaborate with mainly vocalists and just create a very low pressure, like, ‘Hey, here's a song...’ instead of... ‘oh, we got to start a side project.’," he told Wall Of Sound.
![Jay Weinberg - Sandstone (feat. George Clarke) [Official Visualizer] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/EzkoAzKkqzs/maxresdefault.jpg)
49. Alissa White-Gluz - Alissa (Expected: TBC)
After nearly 12 years as the vocalist of Arch Enemy, Alissa White-Gluz announced her shock departure in November 2025, dropping debut solo single, The Room Where She Died, and announcing a full album to follow. “This upcoming album is diverse and I love the idea of opening up this new chapter with this song and video, which I wrote the script for,” Alissa wrote.
50. Rob Zombie - The Great Satan (Expected: February 27)
Rob Zombie seems to be turning back the clocks with his eighth solo album. Recent singles Punks And Demons and Heathen Days are among the heaviest Zombie has ever done, seemingly returning his sound to the White Zombie days. ‘Astrocreep 2026’? We definitely wouldn’t say no.
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