In his second column in what’s shaping up to be another great year for metal, Kez Whelan rounds up all things good and heavy, from At The Gates’ triumphant swansong to the glorious return of sludge legends Moloch<\/p>\n
Here we are, barely two columns in to 2026, and I\u2019m already overwhelmed. I feel like I say \u201cthis has been a great year for metal\u201d so often it\u2019s in danger of becoming a catchphrase, but I mean, have you seen the release schedule for the next couple of months? It\u2019s ridiculous! I haven\u2019t got over that last Converge album yet, and they\u2019ve already announced another for June \u2013 time will tell if it takes a more atmospheric direction compared to the raw fury of Love Is Not Enough, or whether it\u2019ll be another half hour of wall-to-wall bangers again, but either way, it can only be good news.<\/p>\n
Thankfully the ever locked in heads at tQ have lightened my load by covering a lot of recent heavy hitters elsewhere on the site, like the characteristically crushing new Sunn O))) album<\/a>, or the Melvins and Napalm Death collaboration, which finally gets a wider release this month following its limited vinyl run last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, I\u2019m still in awe of the new Neurosis album \u2013 I won\u2019t waffle about it too much here as I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve either read Dan Franklin\u2019s review<\/a> or just blasted the whole record yourself numerous times by this point, but I feel it bears repeating just how monumental this album is. It\u2019s already cemented itself in the upper echelons of the band\u2019s discography to me, not just feeling like a return to form but (without sounding too dramatic) a reclamation of the band\u2019s legacy, stepping out from the shadow cast over their collective life\u2019s work by Scott Kelly\u2019s reprehensible actions with some of their strongest material yet on both a sonic and emotional level. Aaron Turner is a perfect replacement, adding his own distinctive flair to the band without ever pulling too much focus. It still feels very much like a Neurosis album through and through, and I still can\u2019t believe it exists.<\/p>\n Swedish doom legends Witchcraft are back with a new EP<\/a> too, hot on the heels of last year\u2019s hefty Idag. If that album was the heaviest they\u2019ve sounded in years, then this takes a much folkier direction, easing off on the distortion to deliver a set of laidback, rustic jams that have more in common with early Jethro Tull than the more morose, minimal acoustic material Magnus Pelander toyed with on 2020\u2019s Black Metal. \u2018Sj\u00e4len Reser Sig\u2019 is a lumbering, doomy dirge that would have felt right at home on Idag, but songs like \u2018A Sinner\u2019s Child\u2019 and \u2018Sinner\u2019s Clear Confusion\u2019 are much lighter in tone (if not subject matter), gorgeous, pastoral folk tunes that suit Pelander\u2019s melancholic voice perfectly.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you\u2019re on the hunt for something significantly gnarlier though, don\u2019t miss the debut release from London\u2019s Skumhammer<\/a>. Featuring members of Vacuous, Final Dose and Casing, the trio dish out brutish war metal with a noticeably punky undercurrent and surprisingly sharp song-writing for the genre. It helps that the band aren\u2019t afraid to dip into more mid-paced territory when needed, which keeps the whole thing feeling nice and varied \u2013 the likes of \u2018Besieged Holy Bastion\u2019 and \u2018Grave Rot Vortex\u2019 go like the absolute clappers, all hammer blasts, pick slides and reverb smothered grunts, but chunkier, Celtic Frost indebted grooves seep into the likes of \u2018Death Cenacle\u2019 and the curiously anthemic title track, providing a bit of breathing room whilst still sounding completely pulverising. Solid stuff!<\/p>\n The Ghost of a Future Dead (24-bit HD audio) by At The Gates<\/a><\/p>\n After Tomas Lindberg\u2019s tragic passing in September of last year, it seemed unlikely we\u2019d get another At The Gates album \u2013 and, truthfully, with its more mature, introspective atmosphere and surprisingly proggy soundscapes, 2021\u2019s The Nightmare Of Being already seemed to have the air of a final album upon release, the sound of a pioneering band with nothing left to prove walking gracefully off into the sunset. Thankfully, the band (here comprised of the classic Slaughter Of The Soul lineup once again with both Bj\u00f6rler brothers in tow) had already been hard at work on a follow-up, and it\u2019s even more of a perfect note to bow out on. Eschewing the proggy unpredictability of the last record, The Ghost Of A Future Dead is a much more direct affair \u2013 if The Nightmare Of Being had a sense of world weariness and grizzled maturity to it, this one storms right out of the gate with a ferocious energy you\u2019d expect from a much younger band, apparent as soon as opener and lead single \u2018The Fever Mask\u2019 comes blasting out of the speakers with the same kinetic vigour that made Slaughter Of The Soul such an endearing classic.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Ghost Of A Future Dead doesn\u2019t feel like a nostalgic step backwards, however, as the darker tone that imbued the last album very much persists here \u2013 in fact, Lindberg\u2019s thoughtful lyrics tackling themes of mortality, legacy and existentialism in his own uniquely poetic way feel more harrowing and relevant than ever in the wake of his death. In a similar manner to Bowie\u2019s Blackstar, you can hear a deeply articulate artist grappling with, and finally accepting, the fact that their hourglass is running low here, and it brings a heartbreaking gravitas to the record.<\/p>\n The music matches this not just in terms of intensity, but also with some of the most emotive melodies the band have conjured yet on songs like \u2018Det Oerh\u00f6rda\u2019 or the yearning midsection that sweeps through \u2018Of Interstellar Death\u2019s blistering melo-death like an icy breeze. This is one hell of a swansong, encapsulating everything that made At The Gates such a brilliant band whilst also going harder than any of their other post-hiatus records. Long live At The Gates \u2013 there will never be another.<\/p>\n Good God \/ Baad Man by Corrosion of Conformity<\/a><\/p>\n The latest Corrosion Of Conformity album arises out of similarly unlikely circumstances after the death of a long-standing band member; vocalist\/guitarist Pepper Keenan\u2019s triumphant return to the band with 2018\u2019s No Cross No Crown felt like a real full-circle moment, but drummer Reed Mullin sadly passed away in January 2020, before the band\u2019s comeback was firmly derailed by Covid, with much-loved bassist Mike Dean eventually leaving the band in 2024. Thankfully Keenan and founding guitarist Woody Weatherman have soldiered on, with this bountiful double album the result, featuring Bobby Landgraf on bass (who played alongside Keenan in Down for a good six years) and Galactic percussionist Stanton Moore, who previously played on Corrosion Of Conformity\u2019s barnstorming 2005 return-to-form In The Arms Of God, and his expressive, powerhouse drumming brings a lot of energy to Good God \/ Baad Man.<\/p>\n It feels like a double album in the truest sense too, with a clear thematic divide between the discs rather than just a bunch of loosely related songs. Whilst both have a noticeable psychedelic flavour, Good God is primarily concerned with being a big, brash, balls-out rock record, armed with greasy riffs and soaring hooks galore. Opener \u2018Good God? \/ Final Dawn\u2019 finds Keenan triumphantly boasting he\u2019s \u201ca reality mover\u201d over a Hawkwind-esque churn so convincingly cosmic you\u2019re inclined to believe him, whilst lead single Gimme Some Moore successfully fuses the band\u2019s hardcore origins with pure rock\u2019n\u2019roll swagger, as pit-ready chugs and gang vocals (featuring Ministry\u2019s Al Jourgensen) collide with bluesy leads and Iommic grooves. Good God culminates with the nine minute \u2018Run For Your Life\u2019, a sprawling, sun-scorched desert rock jam that owes as much to Robin Trower as it does Kyuss.<\/p>\n Baad Man, meanwhile, is perhaps an earthier, rootsier affair than its driving, heavens-bound counterpart. There\u2019s still plenty of pure rock fury here, of course (just check out the soaring Southern fried licks in the anthemic \u2018Lose Yourself\u2019), but also more pronounced blues, jazz and funk influences, with plenty of Keenan\u2019s New Orleans background coming through \u2013 especially in soaring closer \u2018Forever Amplified\u2019, featuring soulful \u2018The Great Gig In The Sky\u2019-style vocals courtesy of Anjelika \u201cJelly\u201d Joseph. There\u2019s a looser, jammier atmosphere here too, from the tripped out midsection of \u2018Asleep On The Killing Floor\u2019 to the swampy ZZ Top strut of \u2018Handcuff Country\u2019 or the rolling percussion and hand claps propelling the funky \u2018Swallowing The Anchor\u2019. Both discs fuse together to create a solid, cohesive listening experience that feels like more than the sum of its parts \u2013 in many ways, this feels like a proper follow-up to In The Arms Of God, not just because of Moore\u2019s fantastic drumming (although that certainly helps), but also in just how dense and colourful the songwriting is, with so many good riffs, infectious hooks and psychedelic passages packed into every nook and cranny.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Descent by Immolation<\/a><\/p>\n Now on their 12th full-length, New York death metal institution Immolation still seem to be on top of their game. Compared to its fiery, frantic predecessor, 2022\u2019s Acts Of God, Descent is a little slower and more brooding and ominous, but arguably hookier and more immediate too \u2013 the song structures here are a little more traditional, with perhaps less to untangle whilst still retaining the band\u2019s trademark complexity. The grandiose churn of \u2018Attrition\u2019 would have felt right at home on latter-day highlight Majesty & Decay, whilst \u2018The Ephemeral Curse\u2019\u2019s wonky grooves and staggered, sickeningly infectious rhythms recall the twisted song craft of their classic Here In After. Speaking of which, the closing one-two punch of atmospheric segment \u2018Banished\u2019 leading into the final title track is reminiscent of that album\u2019s epic closer \u2018Christ\u2019s Cage\u2019, as guitarist Robert Vigna\u2019s rich, heady licks build into a caustic wall of sound before dropping into the kind of absolutely infernal groove that only Immolation can really pull off.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even the record\u2019s faster cuts, like the ferocious \u2018Bend Towards The Dark\u2019 or blistering blasts of \u2018False Ascent\u2019, have a sinisterly melodic edge to them, demonstrating the band\u2019s keen ear for subtle hooks that seem to seep under your skin almost subconsciously. Descent may not reinvent the band\u2019s sound, but Immolation have carved out such a unique and recognisable niche for themselves in the death metal landscape that it doesn\u2019t need to; nobody else crafts death metal as richly, intricately and distinctively as Immolation, and it\u2019s nothing short of extraordinary they\u2019re still putting out records of this strength almost 40 years after their formation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bend. Break. Kneel. Crawl. by Moloch<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s somehow been eight years since Nottingham sludge legends Moloch\u2019s last album, the thoroughly flattening A Bad Place, and although we got the Love Songs EP and a split with Leeds\u2019 sorely missed grot merchants Groak the following year, it\u2019s been uncharacteristically quiet on the Moloch front since, by far their longest gap between releases. Opting against siphoning off new songs for splits was clearly a wise move however, as this third full-length could well be the band\u2019s most powerful and cohesive statement yet. As soon as opener \u2018In Chrysalis\u2019 drops into that sickening, lurching groove, you can tell the band mean business here, and that visceral, unblinking focus is maintained for the entire record. \u2018Bleeding Through The Interrogation\u2019 and \u2018The Bunker\u2019 trim away any excess, stripping the band\u2019s suffocating sound into bite-sized chunks of undiluted hostility without sacrificing any of their hypnotic riffing power.<\/p>\n The record\u2019s B-side pushes the band\u2019s sound into slightly more abstract terrain, whilst still retaining that initial breathless intensity. There\u2019s a genuinely unsettling tension bristling behind the well-monikered \u2018Another Family Slaughters Itself In The Countryside\u2019 as lumbering doom riffs gradually decay into a hissing smog of ominous tremolo picking and minimal yet pounding percussion, almost like hearing a Grief song gradually descend into a nightmarish Portal-esque dirge. \u201816.03.13\u2019 pushes the repetition even further as the band drill a punishing slab of rhythmic noise into your brain with the haunting detachment of no-wave era Swans, complete with some early Neurosis style additional percussion. \u2018Mother Medusa\u2019 is perhaps the biggest surprise though, with vocalist Chris Braddock briefly easing off on his usual paint-stripping screech in favour of a much more wounded, fragile chant \u2013 combined with some of the album\u2019s most dissonant riffing, it makes for a particularly harrowing note to end on. Reaffirming everything that makes Moloch sound so undeniably crushing whilst also hinting at even more sinister sonic vistas lurking beneath the surface, Bend. Break. Kneel. Crawl. is 2026\u2019s first essential sludge metal album.<\/p>\n