2026 is on its last legs. Thankfully. It's been a long old year, but with just two months left to go - and some of that will be eaten by the holiday period - we're starting to cast our eyes ahead to what might come next year. Festivals aplenty have already started announcing (Bloodstock and Wacken got in early, but we've also had Sonic Temple, Welcome To Rockville, 2000 Trees and Mystic dropping their line-ups), meaning the time is right to discover some wicked new music.
That in mind, here are the results of last week's vote. NWOBHM legends Saxon landed third place with their tale of the Gorgon Medusa, while newcomers Wulfgang took a healthy second place with their second single You Mean Nothing To Me. The overall winners for the week though were France's Sunborn, proving that people haven't yet tired of the Sleep Token-induced wave of masked genre-mashers whilst adding their own fine entry to the canon with Silent Attraction.
We've got a mix of established bands and newcomers for you to dive into this week, as we bring new singles from Sabaton, Death Angel, Distant, Charlotte Wessels, Comeback Kid and more. We've also finally got the debut single for Burn Eternal, the new band that reunites Adam D and Howard Jones, plus a few new discoveries for you to stick your teeth into. Let us know which songs excite you most by voting in the poll below, and use the comments to suggest any bands we should be keeping eyes out for. Have a great weekend!
Burn Eternal - Wounds I’ve Made
It feels like an age has passed since Howard Jones and Adam Dutkiewicz announced they were working on new music together. It's wild to think that almost 20 years have passed since Howard's last record in Killswitch, but the magic is clearly still there in Burn Eternal as the pair fall on old habits of making emotionally driven, riffy metalcore which makes great use of Howard's powerful voice. Burn Eternal's self-titled debut is due February 26.
Death Angel - The Never Was
Death Angel have had their eyes firmly locked on the past for most of this year, looking back at 1990's Act III for tour dates across America and Europe. That hasn't stopped them cranking the dials for new music though, and The Never Was maintains the thrash revivalist energies of the group's 2010s output. It doesn't have the funky low-end of their initial comeback albums but if you're in the market for speed and old school thrash, Death Angel are bringing the goods.
Charlotte Wessels - Incubus
Seems we can't go a week without a symphonic metal icon popping up lately, but when the music is this good, we can hardly complain. Charlotte Wessels is really coming into her own with her band The Obsession and new single Incubus has the familiar not-quite power metal melodies alongside some impressively technical guitars, Wessels' voice soaring atop it all to make the whole song feel epic and fantastical. New album Mute Swan Empire is due February 5.
Sabaton - Berserker
Not-quite power metal? Best to break out the big guns then. Sabaton will be back on the road in 2027 for the next leg of the Legends tour, and the Swedish band have just announced an expanded edition of that album for a March 5 release, commemorating the fact by going full Amon Amarth (thematically at least, though that's definitely a tour we'd love to see). If you've followed Sabaton for a while, you know exactly what to expect with Berserker, but if you've not prepare to be swept away in hale, chest-beating anthemia ripped right from the pages of classic heavy metal.
Cult Of Luna - Sadness Will Reign (ft. Joe Duplantier)
Sticking within the Swedish borders, Cult Of Luna have this week released new album In The Shadow Of Your Shadow. The post-metal giants have celebrated with the release of Sadness Will Reign, a thundering song that features guest contributions from Gojira's Joe Duplantier, and some surprisingly jazzy sax backing against their usual crashing-monolith of riffs. You can also catch the band at Damnation Festival this weekend (if you're in the UK, at least), which is always a bonus.
Raised By Owls - My Optician Called Me A Poser Because I Couldn’t Read The Sanguisugabogg Logo
After all that emotional heft, it can't hurt to have something utterly fucking daft. Raised By Owls have become masters of the online skit, and their satirical death metal gets hookier by the day. There will doubtless be purists who get pissed off by the UK band's prodding of the metal world, but its done with such clear love and devotion we reckon you're best just cranking it up and enjoying the fact we're all in on the joke.
Comeback Kid - Shedding Season (ft. Courtney LaPlante)
Another new record loosed into the world this week, Comeback Kid prove reliable as ever on Chosen Hell. New single Shedding Season is a typical pinball of fleshy hardcore violence, stomping and bounding off the walls, the Canadians flexing by getting Spiritbox's Courtney LaPlante on to provide guest vox.
Future Static - State Of Mind
Sometimes a voice just grabs you by the ears and drives your face through a wall. That's where we're at with Future Static's State Of Mind, the track's impressively clattering, rampaging riffs somehow fading into the background against some serious throat-acrobatics from singer Amariah Cook, who really puts her voice through its paces on a track that is both brutal and agonisingly harsh, and sublimely melodic at points. Their new album Ornaments & Memories is out today.
Everdawn - Illusionist
Symphonic power metal has generally been more of a European and Japanese phenomenon than something that's caught on in the States. But alongside a few other North American groups like Unleash The Archers and Seven Spires, Everdawn are helping to shift that perception. New single Illusionist is a powerhouse of sublime guitar work and stirring melodies, spelling exciting things ahead for new studio album Kalli on January 15.
Shevils - The Force Of Water
Hailing from Norway, Shevils generally deal in high-octane hardcore. But there's a tinge of their county's biggest metal export on The Force Of Water, the group exploding into a blackened frenzy that brings to mind the likes of Harakiri For The Sky or Svalbard in its incorporation of melody and black metal bluster. The group's new album Sect Resurrection is coming February 19, and clearly they're pushing their sonic boundaries if these recent singles are anything to go by.
