2026 Albums

[Zzzptm]

Wait - did you say there's a Finnish guitarist in a metal band? How can such a thing be? I've never heard of strangeness like that!

For Savatage - to your own heart be true. It's an official release and not a re-release or boxed set. Therefore, it's new to 2026, regardless of its bootleg status. Get it on the list and then we'll all have to brace ourselves for the incoming Anthrax!

Loving 2026 in music so far!

[Charger]

Lets  see how many albums we're gonna be getting this year that are good enough for a top 10 list.

If there's less than 10 I'll add the Savatage live album, if more then I won't.

[Zzzptm]

Planned releases I see reported on the Wiki page for 2026 albums include:

Tony Iommi
Anthrax
Saxon nope that's 2027

I missed the Armored Saint release - I was having some health issues at the time, likely what messed me up. But I gots to go an check it out, BRB...

OH HELL YEAH THIS ONE'S STARTING OFF STROOOOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGG 

[Zzzptm]

Armored Saint - Emotion Factory Reset

1. Close to the Bone - absolute banger
2. Every Man-Any Man - total banger
3. Not on Your Life - total ripper
4. Hit a Moonshot - absolute ripper
5. Buckeye - slow-cookin' ripper
6. Compromise - ripping banger
7. It's a Buzzkill -  ripping slow-cooker
8. Throwing Caution to the Wind - banging ripper
9. Ladders and Slides - slow-cookin' banger
10. Bottom Feeder - banging slow-cooker
11. Epilogue - absolute total ripping banger

OK, hype aside, the last track is the gem of the album. Loved it. It opens strong, I think it loses some steam at tracks 9-10, but finishes beautifully. There is *not* a variety of styles on this album, it is loud and proud and metal all the way through. I may need to have repeat listens to get into the slower tracks before it wraps up, and I'll have those listens as I compare it to The Stripp and Metal Church. I think The Stripp will beat it and the real fight will be with Metal Church for that 7-8 spot.

[Zzzptm]

1. Deep Purple - SPLAT!
2. Sky Valley Mistress - Luna Mausoleum
3. The Black Crowes - A Pound of Feathers
4. Megadeth - Megadeth
5. The Rolling Stones - Foreign Tongues
6. The Stripp - Life Imitates Art
7. Metal Church - Dead to Rights
8. Armored Saint - Emotion Factory Reset

9. Love and Machines - Midival Punditz
10. Valley of the Sun - The Chariot
11. Black Label Society - Engines of Demolition

That is a tight crowd at the top. I think the Metal Church album is better than the Armored Saint one, but it was *so close* to pick one over the other. This is a great year for albums, no question about it.

[Thelemech]

I just ordered the new Metal Church Dead To Rights from Amazon and it was under 15 dollars

[Vyn]

I finished up a few spins of the Stones' latest, and am impressed. It's a legit good record. I am pleasantly surprised at the last few releases from that venerable band, a set of some of their best work in decades.

That is such a far-out thing to say in regards to a rock band named The Rolling Stones. By all accounts they should have wrapped it up prior to Black and Blue, but they've managed to hang tough through the years, even scoring some success during the disco years. I recall when they were coming out with Steel Wheels, and all the hype surrounding it. I did not like it much at all, and from then on I have not been interested in anything they released. It wasn't until Blue and Lonesome that I revisited them, and I enjoyed the covers they did. Not a stellar release, but fun and true to their roots. Hackney Diamonds was a complete surprise to me, it was so good. And this one is too. 

[Charger]

I just ordered the new Metal Church Dead To Rights from Amazon and it was under 15 dollars

Now that's a great deal! And It's a good album too!

[Zzzptm]

I just ordered the new Metal Church Dead To Rights from Amazon and it was under 15 dollars

Now that's a great deal! And It's a good album too!

Seconding the gentleman from Finland! It's some excellent metal. It pairs very well with the Armored Saint release from this year. Megadeth's release was strong and Anthrax looks to drop a banger - 80s metal is alive and well and sounding GREAT!

[Zzzptm]

I finished up a few spins of the Stones' latest, and am impressed. It's a legit good record. I am pleasantly surprised at the last few releases from that venerable band, a set of some of their best work in decades.

That is such a far-out thing to say in regards to a rock band named The Rolling Stones. By all accounts they should have wrapped it up prior to Black and Blue, but they've managed to hang tough through the years, even scoring some success during the disco years. I recall when they were coming out with Steel Wheels, and all the hype surrounding it. I did not like it much at all, and from then on I have not been interested in anything they released. It wasn't until Blue and Lonesome that I revisited them, and I enjoyed the covers they did. Not a stellar release, but fun and true to their roots. Hackney Diamonds was a complete surprise to me, it was so good. And this one is too. 

My mom has been of the firm opinion that the Stones have been dead from the neck up since 1967. But playing the last cuts on both Hackney Diamonds and Foreign Tongues got her to allow that maybe, just *maybe* they got a little bit good again.

My view is that the Stones did have a creative change in direction after Brian Jones left the band and died, but they did some good stuff in the 70s. I'm not a fan of most of their stuff in the 80s, 90s, and they faded from view in the 00s and 10s. But in the 2020s, they are showing real strength. They've been around 60+ years as a band and their only real personnel issues were with the 2nd guitarist until they locked in on Ronnie Wood and then their rhythm section aging out. Jagger and Richards have managed to keep things together and it's clear in the music that they are genuinely still having a great time.

[Zzzptm]

Deaf Radio, a band I enjoy following, has a new album "Shelter" coming out on 4 September. The lead tracks from it are pretty good. I'll likely get it because they make good records, but I'm not expecting it to rank above Armored Saint's offering. Iommi and Anthrax have much better shots at cracking the top 10 ranks.

[Charger]

My workout music for this week has been the new KREATOR album and the more I listen to it the more I like it!

So much so that I might have to revise my list ranking for it soon...it might overtake Megadeth! 

[Zzzptm]

I played back all my top ranked records and I find that I like listening to the lower ranks, but the higher the ranking, the more I'm singing along with the tracks. That's my standard, going forward, am I singing along or not. Even on first listens, a good hook can rule. Case in point are Deep Purple's "My New Movie" and the Stones' "Hit Me in the Head".