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Things are really heating up - physically and metaphorically - as we enter the summer. This week we've got new music from Tom Morello, A Perfect Circle and In This Moment, plus plenty of emergent talent from Europe, the US, China and beyond.
As ever, we need you to let us know which song excites you most so don't forget to cast your vote in the poll below - and have an excellent weekend, sun or no!
Boundaries - Only Endless
With festival season already upon us, sometimes all you want is a hard-hitting track with a massive chorus that'll make you want to bang your head till your spine snaps and scream till your voice gives out. Boundaries deliver that in spades on new single Only Endless, taken from their new album Yearning: The Unbeautiful After - due July 17 - it balances the arena-sized anthemia of modern metalcore with the visceral pounding heft of the genre's roots.
Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship - Yomi (feat. Alan Grnja)
Hailing from China and inspired by Japanese anime, Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship are putting the global in global metal. For their latest single Yomi, the band have recruited Alan Grnja of Dutch deathcore rising stars Distant to create something truly apocalyptic, an absolute wall-shaker of a track that exhibits massive production but loses none of the utter brutality. Keep your eyes out for new album 二次元コンプレックス 2D Complex in July.
Employed To Serve - Dead Reckoning
Like being trampled by a herd of furious wildebeast, Employed To Serve's new single Dead Reckoning is an affirmation of their status as one of the UK's most reliably pummelling bands. Tight, claustrophobic and yet surprisingly anthemic - just check out those vocal melodies that come in on the song's latter half - it's a serious flex from the group and has us already eager to see what they'll do next after last year's fantastic Fallen Star.
![Employed To Serve - Dead Reckoning [Official video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uzUCC057yj0/maxresdefault.jpg)
A Perfect Circle - Starless
Between the release of Puscifer's new album Normal Isn't earlier this year and Tool returning to live duty, you might've thought Maynard James Keenan had his plate full enough in 2026. But right before A Perfect Circle kick off their summer European tour, the band have released a new single in the form of Starless. With punchy guitars and shimmying rhythms, the track has echoes of the APC's debut Mer De Noms, whilst still feeling in-keeping with the sonic finesse they'd achieved on 2018's Eat The Elephant. Fingers crossed this is the start of a journey towards a new full-length...
The Ocean - Light Pollution
After effectively putting their last line-up to bed last summer, German post-metallers The Ocean have rebuilt themselves and offer a first glimpse of what this new line-up can do on Light Pollution. The sludge force of their earlier releases is nowhere to be found, but instead we've got meditative prog metal melodies that bring to mind the likes of Leprous or even A Perfect Circle, winding with hypnotic grace. It's the first taste of new album Solaris, which arrives on September 25 and promises to be just as epic as its predecessors.
In This Moment - Sleeping With The Enemy
It's hard to believe that In This Moment have been kicking around for over two decades now, particularly when the band are still finding ways to evolve and grow. Latest single Sleeping With The Enemy mixes their unique brand of theatricality with pulsing industrial metal to create something sleek, dark and utterly captivating.
Moonspell - Cross Your Heart
Moonspell are long overdue their props as one of goth metal's top-tier bands. An inspiration to groups like HIM, the Portuguese group have announced new album Far From God will be out July 3. 13 albums in, they hardly need to tweak the formula now and lead single Cross Your Heart is exactly what you'd expect: seductive, unduluating goth metal with a heart of shimmering darkness.
Naut - Liberation
Sticking to the realms of the dark arts, UK post-punks Naut are getting their goth on with Liberation. Bright, shimmying synths and mechanised beats make the track feel like a real dancefloor-filler, bringing to mind the Host era of Paradise Lost (or similarly titled sideproject from PL members Nick Holmes and Greg Mackintosh), tapping into the dark disco sounds that helped give rise to goth metal in the first place.
The Barbarians Of California - The Gnarlycore Class
Between Knocked Loose and Turnstile, there's a lot to be excited about in hardcore right now, and (relative) newcomers The Barbarians Of California are clearly looking to enter that class. The band's new single The Gnarlycore Class has some of the best, most tightly produced riffs we've heard in ages, while losing none of the bouncy, frantic hardcore punk energy of the band in the process that puts them more in line with the likes of Mr. Bungle or Dillinger Escape Plan than where a lot of modern hardcore has headed. It sounds great, and we can't wait to hear more from upcoming new album Megatons, out August 21.
Tom Morello - Adjourn It (ft. Serj Tankian)
Up there with Angus Young and Slash, you know a song is Tom Morello long before you see his name on the credits. The former Rage Against The Machine axeman is on typically funky, fired up form on new single Adjourn It, teaming up with System Of A Down's Serj Tankian to create a hard-hitting song exploring the politicisation (and demonisation) of refugees and immigration.
Future Palace - Resurge
With a bounding beat and some furious snarls from vocalist Maria Lessing, it feels like Future Palace have a ready-made festival anthem in Resurge. The first single from the alt. metallers upcoming fourth album Resurgence - out July 31 - it captures a infectious energy that's made the German band ones to watch.
Nunslaughter - Peukharist
Even if you hadn't seen the band name, the second you hear the filthy bassline to Peukharist, you know you're on to some truly hateful, misanthropic metal. The Ohian black metallers are at their sludgiest on Peukharist, slow-grinding filth getting us very excited for what else they might cook up on new album Satanic Chaos Legions, due June 26.
