Metal charts

Review: Serving as the follow up to 2022's critically acclaimed and super cheesy by design stadium-goth opus Impera, Swedish rock occultists Ghost make their grand return with sixth full-length Skeleta. The vision of Tobias Forge, renowned for his charismatic vocal cadence and immense range, but more so for his undertaking of different characters and monikers for each album cycle, the Papa Emeritus IV delving into empirical fallacies on their previous outing has been usurped by Papa V Perpetua, who promises to deliver his band of Nameless Ghouls' "most unflinchingly introspective work to date" while showcasing "distinct individual emotional vistas", touching on "demonic possessions" and the allure of succumbing to "dark forces". In other words, expect mammoth riffs, epic refrains, large doses of overt theatricality verging on camp, and on-the-nose song titles such as 'Satanized'.

Review: Originally released in 1995 and celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Symbolic would serve as the sixth (and originally intended final) full-length from Floridian death metal pioneers Death. Following on from 1993's Individual Thought Patterns, the work has become highly regarded and often perceived as the band's most intricate and culminative display of their tech-death wizardry, largely due to its use of acoustic and clean guitar tones, dissonance, arpeggios, and "Egyptian" style melodies, while mastermind Chuck Schuldiner would reimagine his guttural bellows in a more gritted teeth shout akin to hardcore punk. With lyrics touching upon topics including political corruption, surveillance and class consciousness, the cerebral messaging married to such intricate, progressive, nigh on unsurpassable musicianship would simultaneously feel like a far cry from the gore-obsessed brutality of old, yet the natural route the legendary act would ultimately take their heady vision.

Review: Goat returns with their latest self-titled album, the third in as many years, to ecstatic fans of the band. This ever-enigmatic collective continues to push boundaries, delivering a record that blends rhythmically intense rituals with an unmistakable energy that both invigorates dancefloors and stimulates the mind. The album kicks off with 'One More Death' and 'Goatbrain,' two tracks that capture Goat's hedonistic spirit through sharp funk grooves and guitars drenched in fuzz and wah. These tracks set the tone for an album that never shies away from exploration. The closing track, 'Ouroborus,' inspired by the ancient symbol of cyclical rebirth, showcases the band's love for hip hop, combining infectious chants with relentless breakbeats reminiscent of Lalo Schifrin's work. This finale brings the journey full circle, echoing the idea of endless renewal. Goat's new album continues to affirm their dedication to transcendence and transformation, offering listeners a potent escape into a world where the only constant is change.

Review: Yet another addition to Rhino Records’ Start Your Ear Off Right series hears a reissue of prog metal band Dream Theater’s fifth studio album and first ever concept album. A sequel to the thrillingly titled Metropolis-Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper, this record builds an intensive recollective sonic theatre out of the mosaic themes of memory and depersonalisation. Themed around the subject of a young man undergoing past life regression therapy, the record is a compelling, initially psychotic howl into the night, and yet it proves an ultimately integrative, recursive experience, adding themes of murderousness and prophetic fate.

Review: Following the tragic passing of frontman Chester Bennington in 2017, many presumed the natural end of nu-metal turned alt rock giants Linkin Park. Rattling their fanbase with news of a resurgence with Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong, as well as new drummer Colin Brittain (replacing Rob Bourdain who opted not to join the reunion), From Zero nods to the band's original moniker of Xero while also ushering in this new era for the group, whereas sonically, the band do their best to simultaneously pay credence to their heavier origins whilst naturally progressing towards their newfound vision. Their first full-length since 2017's pop-oriented One More Light may come as a shock to many devout to the Bennington era, but the earnestness in composition sees a retrospective embracing of nu-metal motifs yet modified and extrapolated to embolden this entirely new compositional framework. Attempting to compare to prior releases is naturally par for the course yet won't do much to alter this new musical trajectory, as From Zero swells with the breath of an entirely fresh project that owes humble countenance to the Linkin Park of yesteryear. At 11 tracks clocking on at just over a half-hour, the mission statement is one of succinct brevity and urgency, but whether it truly fills the Bennington shaped void is down to each unique set of ears.

Review: Marking their first album in five years and follow up to 2019's criminally overlooked In Cauda Venenum, Swedish progressive death metal legends Opeth return with their fourteenth full-length The Last Will & Testament. Marking the return of vocalist/guitarist/primary songwriter Mikael Akerfeldt's signature death growls; the first project to feature the inhumane bellows since 2008's Watershed, the work is the band's first concept album since 1999's Still Life, with the narrative based around a wealthy, mysterious patriarch in the post-World War I era whose death leads his family to congregate at his estate to learn horrific secrets as his last will and testament is unveiled. Whilst retracing some of their gloomier, more macabre sonics, musically the compositions continue to embrace the 70's psychedelia of Heritage and Sorceress yet with a notable rediscovery of their harrowing, frosted death metal origins. Pressed on limited marbled 'rough seas' vinyl 2xLP..

Review: This underground post-rock classic is now available on double vinyl for the first time since 1993, with a fresh transfer by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road from the original masters. The God Machine, formed in 1990, released two albums that helped shape the post-rock and post-metal scenes. Despite glowing reviews and live shows supporting the likes of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and My Bloody Valentine, they never gained wide recognition, often falling between indie and rock circles. Championing the band, BBC Radio 1's John Peel invited them for sessions in 1992 and 1993, cementing their place in underground music history.

Review: Returning just one year on from 2023's Zig (with what many initially presumed to be titled Zag), Moriah Pereira, better known as Poppy, delivers her sixth full-length LP Negative Spaces. Fresh off of appearances on both the new Bad Omens and Knocked Loose albums, with the latter marking her most unhinged vocal performance to date, this latest work seeks to strike a balance between her established digi-metal-pop formula and more outsider experimentations in both regards to heavier delivery and more complex electronica. Produced by former Bring Me The Horizon producer/keyboardist/programming wizard Jordan Fish, the not-so-strange bedfellows compliment each other majorly with Fish's ear for the sonic coalescence of metallic and industrial soundscapes within glistening pop structures providing an ample playground for Poppy to stretch her vocal cadences and multi-faceted character dynamics to enthralling new heights. This limited indie exclusive pressing arrives on a trifold pink & white split-coloured vinyl.

Review: It's difficult to describe to those too young to have been there and to those too old to give a toss, just how rife the anticipation was for the sophomore full-length from nu-metal giants Linkin Park following on from the global success of their multi-platinum selling debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000. Following what felt like an eternal three years, both shortened and lengthened by the bloated remix album Reanimation, 2003's Meteora was nothing short of lightning striking in the same place twice. Debuting at number 1 on the Billboard 200, certified 8xPlatinium and currently ranked as the 8th highest selling album of the 21st century, to call the band's second album a success seems like a very muted understatement when anthems such as 'Somewhere I Belong', 'Faint', and, 'Numb' are still some of the highest charting and most world-renowned metal singles to ever blare out across the airwaves. While musically drifting further away from their nu-metal beginnings with each subsequent project, both Meteora and its predecessor belong to a subset of genre-defining classics that appear to become more embraced and less maligned with age, as the nu-metal subgenre becomes less of a dirty word. It also goes without saying that the incomparable vocal presence of late frontman Chester Bennington as well as his vulnerable and cathartic lyricism take on a far more bleak and oppressive shade with the folly of hindsight.

Review: Originally released in 2011 as follow up to 2008's stellar career height Watershed, the tenth full-length from Swedish progressive death metal legends Opeth marked a notable turn, which the members had been desiring to take for some time. Heritage would be their first album since 2003's melancholic Damnation to completely eschew vocalist/guitarist/primary songwriter Mikael Akerfeldt's signature death growls, yet this decision wasn't so much in service of this one particular project as had been so in the past. Rather, this was the sign that the Scandinavian death metal elements of their core sound were ready to be laid to rest in favour of an embrace of the 70s prog rock the members grew up idolising. Drawing on the likes of Genesis, Yes and Rush, whilst allowing Akerfeldt's smooth cadence to lead the pieces, this is vintage, jazzy, complex yet undeniably groovy retro progressive rock of the classic era, complete with fuzzed out guitar lines, bizarre time signatures and an abundance of Hammond organ. Somewhat maligned by some of the fanbase while others lauded the brave and natural change in direction, this style would become the standard Opeth sonic aesthetic up until 2024's latest album The Last Will & Testament, which saw a return to their heavier death metal origins.

Review: Originally released in 1984, Powerslave would serve as the fifth full-length from homegrown metal giants Iron Maiden and is often considered to be the project that finally catapulted the band to mega stardom. Filling out larger arenas than ever before, the World Slavery Tour undertaken in support has gone on to become well known as the band's longest and most arduous jaunt across the globe. Boasting some of their most iconic hits such as '2 Minutes to Midnight' and 'Aces High', as well as the fan (and band) favourite musical re-telling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner', the project is also notable for being the first Iron Maiden album at that time to consist of the exact same line up as its predecessor (1983's Piece Of Mind) while this stable would stay in place for both 1986's Somewhere In Time and 1988's Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.

Review: At the turn of the 21st century, Slipknot opted to take the newfound fame and success rewarded by their self-titled debut, and run it into the ground in, what has to be, one of the most intriguing examples of chaos and inner band turmoil lending to an integral work.

Named after their home state, 'Iowa', still remains an utterly frightening project, driven by addiction, depression, and encompassing negativity. Refusing to pursue a more accessible route regardless of the ensuing momentum around them, the collective would lash out with an extremely severe batch of material that remains challenging even by today's standards.

While the now iconic leads singles, 'My Plague' and 'Left Behind' remain embedded in the metal spectrum, deeper cuts such as the caustic 'People = Shit', nihilism rally of 'The Heretic Anthem' or the decrepit defeatism of 'Skin Ticket' offer the bleakest look into the band's psyche at their most temperamental of conditions.

The fact that frontman Corey Taylor has confessed that the 14-minute closing title-track was recorded while highly inebriated and cutting himself with a broken liquor bottle, should be all the background one could need when approaching this complex, unforgiving beast of an album.

Reissued after far too long an absence, this beautiful new rendering finally allows for a timeless endeavour to be rediscovered in all of its violent glory; rarely bridging the vast dichotomy between mainstream and extreme metal.

Review: Judas Priest's groundbreaking debut, originally released in 1974, has been meticulously remixed and remastered for its 50th anniversary. This edition of 'Rocka Rolla' delivers the raw energy and heavy metal thunder the band always intended. As Rob Halford himself proclaims, this album "lit the eternal metal flame," and five decades on, it still burns bright. Featuring classics like 'One For The Road', 'Winter', and the epic 'Caviar And Meths', this reissue captures the band's early sound in all its glory. Experience the genesis of heavy metal with this essential piece of music history.

Review: Denver, Colorado based progressive death metal auteurs Blood Incantation have become renowned for their overarching science fiction themes and cosmic reimagining of genre motifs, with 2019's sophomore triumph Hidden History Of The Human Race garnering immense acclaim and exposure. Unexpectedly, their 2022 follow up would rip a page right from the book of Tangerine Dream with Timewave Zero being made up entirely of ambient synth-laden pieces designed to serve as a soundtrack to passing through the stars. With this unpredictable penchant and clear lack of genre boundaries illuminated, anticipation was rife to see if the band would have the balls and brains to marry both opposing sonic guises and that's precisely what Absolute Elsewhere delivers. Named after the mid-70s prog collective (who once featured King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford), and even featuring Tangerine Dream's Thorsten Quaesching, the album is made up of two tracks, both broken into three segments each, that weave hallucinogenic death metal with synthwave prog, Krautrock, and euphoric alien ambience to conjure a uniquely transcendental listening experience. This ain't your granddaddy's prog rock, nor is it your daddy's death metal, but in a sense, it's kind of both.

Review: The second studio album from metal behemoths Motorhead saw the trio - in their classic line up form of Lemmy (bass, vocals), Fast Eddie Clarke on guitar and Philthy Phil Taylor on drums - truly hit their stride. In probabality, this LP, originally released in 1979, produced the biggest crop of classics of any in their career, with 'No Class', 'Capricorn', 'Stay Clean' and 'Metropolis' all joining the title track in the ranks of songs that would remain staples of their live sets for literally deacdes to come. The year is significant, as Overkill marks the band harnessing the anarchic overtones of punk to their metal power, with plenty of lyrical attitude added to the sharp riffing, 747-like basslines and double kick drum onslaught. This reissue restores the original tracklisting without the frills and extras of the 2005 remaster, but when it's all as shitkicking as this, why mess?!

Review: Seven years after Bullet For My Valentine first formed under the name Jeff Killed John, they finally dropped a debut album. Gone were the Nirvana and Metallica covers that had defined the band's first incarnation, and in was a more melodic and poppier take on thrash and heavy metal. Going on to sell in excess of 1.6million copies between its initial release in 2005 and 2018, it remains BFMV's most commercially successful outing, earning them gold certification by the US RIAA and UK BPI, and platinum in the eyes of Germany's BVMI. If all this is news to you, perhaps we should start with some references. One for fans of Funeral For A Friend, Alexisonfire and more glossy emo-hued metal groups, it doesn't take long to realise why praise was heaped on The Poison, and the musicians, for their powerhouse riffs and unapologetically loud aesthetic.

Review: Originally released in 1996, October Rust would serve as the fourth full-length from gothic metal legends Type O Negative, as well as the highly anticipated follow up to their 1993 career-height Bloody Kisses. Known for its markedly less gloomy doom metal approach when compared to prior and subsequent projects, the album has grown a devout cult following due to the extensive number of unabashed ballads and compositionally accessible goth rock bangers (reliably shrouded in their own sonic malaise). Boasting the hit single 'My Girlfriend's Girlfriend' as well as their much-adored cover of Neil Young's 'Cinnamon Girl', many could consider October Rust to be the most accessible entry point to those intimidated by the prowess, hair or jawline of the incomparable visionary Peter Steele. Now almost 30 years young, this long overdue reissue comes spread across a limited green & black marbled vinyl 2xLP pressing.

Review: The somewhat surprising return and attempt at redemption from the industrial metal shock-rocker Marilyn Manson has been a bold pill to swallow, with the once iconic provocateur seeking to avoid the many allegations and numerous controversies he has garnered over the last decade. Attending rehab and becoming fully sober over the past few years has seen dramatic weight loss, a notably more lowkey public demeanour and a newly signed record deal with Nuclear Blast (having been dropped by Loma Vista not long after 2020's We Are Chaos) turn a few heads, simultaneously cautious and curious as to the authenticity of this humble arc. With lawsuits recently thrown out, the court of public opinion appears to be the only form of due process that shall occur, leaving it to individual listeners to make up their mind as to the merit of the artist as a person. As to the art itself, One Assassination Under God: Chapter 1 is the 12th album to adorn the name Marilyn Manson, and it's his best since 2000's Holy Wood. Tapping Chelsea Wolfe collaborator/producer Tyler Bates to oversee the entire project has helped to create a generational bridge between how out of sync Manson himself had become with his own artistic strengths and audience desire, and Bates' insider knowledge as a younger fan first, collaborator second. Together they rediscover the core industrialist menace, gothic romanticism and hedonistic nihilism that kept listeners hooked after the initial shock of aesthetic would cease, but for the first time in decades, it feels earnest and earned rather than forced. Boasting Antichrist Superstar style buzzsaw synths and chug-heavy breakdowns on cuts such as 'Nod If You Understand', while the self-deprecating admission of using drugs to hide behind monstrous flaws on the gloomy balladry of 'As Sick As The Secrets Within' harks back to the most fragile moments of Mechanical Albums. Be it a cynical cashgrab or attempt to regain fan adoration, or the genuine musings of a tortured artist finally learning to face his own demons head on, there's simply no denying that this is Manson at his most potent, intimate and focused, begging the question of how different of a career trajectory and latter day output might we have had if the man had learned to look inward long before hitting the bottom.

Review: Boom! The year of 1979 saw not one but two classic Motorhead albums being dropped like atomic bombs on an unsuspecting but appreciative public. After the Overkill LP really put the 'Head on the metal map earlier in the year, Bomber consolidated their position as, to quote Spinal Tap's slightly tongue in cheek compliment, one of Britain's loudest bands. In fact, their show at Port Vale in 1981 would appear in the Guinness Book of Records as the loudest ever. Of course, there is much more to them than sheer volume and firepower though. Frontman and bassist Lemmy had cut his teeth as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and tracks like 'Lawman' follow a similar lineage of blending heavy, psychedelic blues with a genuinely groovy funkiness. When they're on top form the trio of Lemmy, guitarist Fast Eddie and Phil Taylor are a finely trained crack squad, pulling some deft musical moves and unexpected about turns, too. Virtuosity neatly disguised as utter barbarianism - just how we like it. The Bomb!

Review: The God Machine were one of the hottest bands of the 90s. They were signed to Fiction records (home to The Cure) and released two astounding albums of dark and industrial-sounding alternative rock. This is the second and final album from the San Diego/London band, whose history has been blighted by grief. Shortly after completing this album, their bassist Jimmy Fernandez suddenly died from a brain hemorrhage, brining an abrupt, unexpected and tragic end to the band. However, their legacy lives on thanks to the power of the music they've left behind. Highlights from this staggering album include 'Tremolo Song', which has a punishing, dark, swaggering, Stone Temple Pilots-esque feel. And the pulsating, tense cut, 'The Love Song' and the stirring 'The Devil Song', with its post-rock finale, are gripping reminders of the band's superior quality.

Review: Captured during their World Wide Blitz Tour at The Palladium in New York City on 22nd July 1981, this double live LP from British heavy metal royalty Judas Priest showcases the band at the height of their prowess, touring in support of their seventh album Point Of Entry. Following the Platinum selling success of British Steel which saw the members refine their speed metal gallop into mainstream crossover appeal with glossy production and hook-laden anthems such as 'Breaking The Law' and 'Living After Midnight', this set also features first-time road tests of later bangers including 'Solar Angels' and 'Heading Out To The Highway', while the epic rendition of closer 'Tyrant' offers up a far heavier and fester counterpoint to that of its studio version.

Review: Somewhere between Scotland, Leeds and the Welsh border, sometime in or around the year 2022, arose Tristwch Y Fenywod, the craven coven of Gwretsien Ferch Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The Courtneys). Building on years of esteem accrued through their separate solo projects, Tristwch Y Fenywod still marks a stylistic curveball from any of their original works, not taking on a fusion of each, but rather presenting an entirely new triadic, spellbound sound. Tristwch Y Fenywod is an entirely Welsh-language affair, pairing sonic connotations of witch house and 'outsider' folk with otherwise subtle electronic elements and Celtic motifs, inviting instinctive comparisons to ravencore peers Kelora, electro-somnambulists oOOoO, or reverb-doused studio ident This Mortal Coil; but always eluding a facile reduction to any combo of these influences. Their name and eponymous title translating to 'The Sadness Of Women', these eight tracks land us somewhere in a no-go forest between two middle-of-nowhere roads, making for the best gloom-fest of the year.

Review: 1977 was a pivotal year for Motorhead, seeing as it saw the release of their debut, self-titled album and also the hiring of Fast Eddie Clarke, forging what is invariably seen as the classic line up of this seminal band. The year may be closely associated with the height of punk rock, but the ultra heavy metal stylings of Lemmy and co always crossed the divide and appealled to punk and metal fans alike. The 11 tracks here straddle the tracks written for that debut LP ('Iron Horse/Born To Lose', 'Vibrator' and 'White Line Fever') and older material such as 'Motorhead', originally penned by Lemmy's previous employers Hawkwind, their cover of Eddie Holland's Motown classic 'Leaving Here' and 'On Parole', first recorded with Clarke's predecessor Larry Wallis in 1976 then shelved. The sound of one of the finest bands ever just beginning to hit their stride.

Review: Fans will endlessly debate the creative high watermark of Motorhead's lengthy career, but there's no doubt that this album, their fourth, was the commercial peak of the trio. Originally released in 1980, with a wonderfuly spaghetti western cover shot doubtless shot in Camber Sands or somewhere similar, it reached number four in the UKalbum chart, at a time when physical sales were pretty close to an all time high. The album's title track is of course their ultimate calling card, from its iconic riff to its lyrical celebration of gambling one of the ultimate metaphors for a - or even the - rock and roll lifestyle. But its greay production job by Vic Maile means the band sound brighter and sharper here than ever before, the sessions doubtless seriously waking up the sleepy Herfordshire town of Rickmansworth where it was recorded. There's also a slew of memorable songs, naturally enough, from 'Love Me Like A Reptile' - who says romance is dead - to '(We Are) The Road Crew', the impossibly speedy two minute thrashout 'Bite The Bullet' and 'The Chase Is Better Than The Catch'. Gambling's for fools, as the song says, but this one is an odds on dead cert.

Review: Returning with his first full-length since 2020's David Bowie-indebted We Are Chaos, while more notably marking the industrial metal goth icon's return to the spotlight following a series of troubling allegations that seemingly appear to now hang in limbo, One Assassination Under God: Chapter 1 shall serve as the 12th full-length studio endeavour from Marilyn Manson. Co-produced with frequent Chelsea Wolfe collaborator and film scorer Tyler Bates, the material boasts some of the most synth-laden, new wave winking and direct metallic rock bangers the mercurial yet questionable figure has dropped in almost two decades, making for a sonic victory lap of sorts as Manson attempts to rebuild his brand and aesthetic.

Review: Alter Bridge's debut album made a bold statement when it first arrived in 2004, showcasing a dynamic shift from the members' previous project. With a heavier, more aggressive sound, the band set themselves apart through thick basslines, intricate melodies and fiery guitar work. Myles Kennedy's commanding voice elevates the album, blending seamlessly with the instrumental intensity. 'Metalingus', remains a defining moment, pairing pounding drums with razor-sharp riffs that build to an explosive energy. Its enduring appeal is evident in its inclusion across various media, cementing its place as a fan favorite. Tracks like 'Open Your Eyes' and 'Broken Wings' balance the album's raw power with heartfelt emotion, offering a glimpse of the band's versatility. This deluxe reissue breathes new life into the album, adding five live recordings that capture the electrifying energy of the band's performances. The live versions of 'One Day Remains' and 'Burn It Down' amplify the album's intensity on the last side of this release. These additions highlight Alter Bridge's ability to bring their studio craftsmanship to the stage, delivering performances that resonate deeply with fans.