2026 Albums

[Charger]

Indeed.

This is probably one of the best years for metal in a looooooooong time!

[Zzzptm]

New ANTHRAX tune is out!!!

This might be the best one yet!

I was listening to their stuff from 1984/85 earlier today. That's where I was, once upon a time. Seeing Anthrax backstage with their reading glasses on is kinda where I am today.

This track is keepin' it true. Hopefully, the rest of the album isn't a bait-and-switch with the other tracks being experimentations with pan flutes and accordions. I'm pretty sure that won't be the case, but this is one big crazy world and all...

[Thelemech]

I was just listening to State Of Euphoria today and I am going to get the new album as soon as possible
So many great records have been made for this year

[Charger]

Horror movie icon JOHN CARPENTER has released a new album!!

It's called CATHEDRAL and here's a track from it called REVENGE!

Carpenter has also made the music for almost all of his movies (part from The Thing that was scored by another legend Ennio Morricone) and he is a very talented composer.

I think I'll be getting this album...this track is rather brilliant!!

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

[Zzzptm]

^ Added Red Desert by Red Desert. It's a nice enough groove album, I can play it in the background and enjoy it the way I do the Valley of the Sun release. This one has a few more groove hooks in it, so I'm enjoying it a bit more. It's not in the same league as the top 8 I have so far, but likeable enough for me to buy.

[Charger]

DOWN is back!!!

New album Volume V is coming in November and based on this track they'll be climbing high on the Album of the year listings!!

[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. Red Desert - Red Desert
10. Valley of the Sun - The Chariot
11. Love and Machines - Midival Punditz
12. Black Label Society - Engines of Demolition
13. Deaf Radio - Shelter

Tried out the latest from Deaf Radio and it was disappointing. I'm trying out a new album from Desert Collider, which I've not heard before, and it's likely to go into somewhere around where I have Red Desert and Valley of the Sun. It's good for environmental listening, and I'm likely going to buy it.

[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. Desert Collider - Generation Ship
10. Red Desert - Red Desert
11. Valley of the Sun - The Chariot
12. Love and Machines - Midival Punditz
13. Black Label Society - Engines of Demolition
14. Deaf Radio - Shelter

Bought the Desert Collider album, the last track "Nebuchadnezzar" is a proper banger. The whole album is heavy, fuzzy, and fierce.

[Zzzptm]

I'm playing the Desert Collider album enough that I think I need to have it square off against the Armored Saint album...

[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. Desert Collider - Generation Ship
9. Armored Saint - Emotion Factory Reset

10. Red Desert - Red Desert
11. Valley of the Sun - The Chariot
12. Love and Machines - Midival Punditz
13. Black Label Society - Engines of Demolition
14. Deaf Radio - Shelter

There are two songs on the Armored Saint album, Buckeye and It's a Buzzkill, that are sending me up the wall. When I play the album without them, it's great. The highs on it are very high, but damn those two songs bugged the hell outta me.

Desert Collider's album is consistent throughout and really drives things home with the final two songs. I don't skip anything and I don't want to miss anything on that release.

[Charger]

So the new ANTHRAX album...

I think they put out another really solid release here...it doesn't have an instant banger track like Fight 'em Till You Can't but it's a very wholesome piece of work...more so than For All Kings.

Where it'll land on the rankings...impossible to say yet.

[Zzzptm]

I just started on it, I do enjoy the opening two tracks.

[Zzzptm]

I just started on it, I do enjoy the opening two tracks.

Sadly, for me, it fell off from that hopeful opening. There's nothing I'd drop from the album to make it better, but I don't have any songs that I'm truly banging along with or singing choruses to. I checked some folks talking about it online and it's getting mixed responses. There are those that are loving it and there are those that, like me, are disappointed with the album. It's overall played competently and there are a few moments on it, but it feels like metal by the numbers. As I was playing it last night, my wife was listening in and didn't know what it was. She thought it was me doing research on generic 80s metal and was surprised when I told her it was Anthrax' latest.

It's not bad, but it's also not great. They've done better and, knowing that, makes me wish they'd done better. Megadeth, Metal Church, and Armored Saint all gave albums this year that had some "I wanna play that track again!" bangers, but this one doesn't have that kind of magic.

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. Desert Collider - Generation Ship
9. Armored Saint - Emotion Factory Reset

10. Red Desert - Red Desert
11. Valley of the Sun - The Chariot
12. Anthrax - Cursum Perficio
13. Midival Punditz - Love and Machines
14. Black Label Society - Engines of Demolition
15. Deaf Radio - Shelter

[Zzzptm]

Just to check myself, I fired up the Metal Church. Night and day for me, and I think that album's a true gatekeeper for the rest of the year. I'm going to compare Desert Collider's album to it, but I'm in the title track and yeah... this is one great album, no question.