The Top 10 Indie Rock Albums of 2026...so far

 

As the Doomsday Clock races, time speeds up, as 2026 is at its midpoint. With the impending end of times comes the need to get high, and these bands are making substantial soundtracks for that. These lists serve as a decent snapshot of where the year is heading in terms of music. I have already received promos for albums dropping as far out as August in my inbox, so they will need to bring it to compete with the top five albums on this list. For the mid-year report card list, I'm combining shoegaze with its close cousin, indie rock.  They are all more surreal than post-punk, not punk, and left of center when it comes to rock n roll.  I have included links to full reviews if you want to check these out, and with all that said, here are the top 10 indie-rock / shoegaze albums of 2026 so far. 

10-Voxtrot- "Dreamer's In Exile" 

The brand of indie pop this band deals in is more organic than, say, the 1975. Lead singer Ramesh's vocals anchor this in a more conventional pop vibe. He is emotive but plays it safe. Devoid of any punk tension, they jangle peacfully along and write some catchy songs in the process. As far as indie pop goes, they are doing the best so far. It's better than the new Modest Mouse. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/04/voxtrot-dreamers-in-exile.html

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9-Nothing -  "a short history of decay" 

Nothing's 5th album is a more organic excursion, with strummed acoustic guitar and vocals stepping out from behind the indifferent haze of effects. This is not to say Domenic has shed the idea of being a shoe-gaze, in fact, after some experimentation, the album begins to align itself even clsoer with conventional shoe-gaze losing some of the grungey edge.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/02/nothing-short-history-of-decay.html

 

8-Basement-"Wired"

The band's new album brings a late 90s sound that blends indie rock, pop-tinged hooks, and some post-hardcore grit; the vocals add needed grit to belt it out. I like that you can still hear the punk that is in the DNA of this kind of music that originally merged in the 90s. It takes you back to a time when songwriting mattered, as things evolved from the grunge explosion and began to form their own identity. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/04/basement-wired.html

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7- Xiu Xiu "Xiu Mutha Fuckin' Xiu: Vol. 1"

Cover albums can be hit or miss unless the band doing them is adventurous, as Xiu Xiu. They find the perfect balance of being true to who they are and honoring the song even amid the filter of weirdness they subject the song to; it captures the mood needed while staying true to who they are. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/01/xiu-xiu-xiu-mutha-fuckin-xiu-vol1.html

6-Bad Stuff- "s/t"

Former members of True Widow are some of the founding members of this project, so it obviously has to be worth a listen. 'm sure someone will try to throw some kind of doom tag on this because it is slow and melancholy, something like "doom noir,"  but I am not hearing the sense of loss, and the darkness is there, but in light mysterious ocean-side haze. They create a unique mood with familiar sounds, and they captured what they intended here in a very endearing manner.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/04/bad-stuff-st.html

 

5-Iceage-" For the Love Of Grace & the Hereafter"

The Danish punks are back to rock n roll after 5 years. Elias's voice is not as sullen, and the more Rolling Stones direction they were heading in is more subtle on some songs than others, with a rowdy jangle possessing some songs. With some pretty great songs on this album amid this more upbeat 90s indie rock vibe, I prefer them a little more downtrodden, but their talent still shines through.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/iceage-for-love-of-grace-hereafter.html

4-AA Williams - "Solstice"

Right from the start of this album, she makes it clear that she is not just another haunted folk crooner by locking into solid grooves and building the depressive vibes up into shimmering post-rock grandeur. At times, her voice has to carry the more minimal droning sections, which she builds back into dynamic crashes, making this an album full of twists and turns.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/04/aa-williams-solstice.html

 

3-Soft cult-"When a Flower Doesn't Grow"

This band took the number three spot in the top 10 Shoegaze albums of 2024. Their new full-length is even more polished, and songwriting is on point. Here they continue to prove themselves to be very consistent, and the full-length show off more musical range as a band. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/01/softcult-when-flower-doesnt-grow.html

 

2-Tori Amos-"In Times of Dragons"

This is a concept album in which Tori uses allegory to convey a political message. Nothing new for her, but it's done in an even more deliberate fashion. For a double album, she manages to be very consistent when it comes to songwriting, leaving little filler, so the sound of Tori aging gracefully and not fading away.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/tori-amos-in-times-of-dragons.html

1-Morrissey-"Make Up Is a Lie"

There is a reason Morrissey has a fanatical cult following outside of the Smiths. He is one of my favorite singers, even as his croon has aged. It's been six years since "I am Not a Dog on a Chain." E Moz is almost 67 rather than the 58 years he was when he recorded his last album. He keeps things at more of a reserved croon, which is pushed up further in the mix than the 2017 album, which sounded more like he does live. Overall, this album holds up his legacy in the manner expected.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/03/morrissey-make-up-is-lie.html

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May's Top 10 Albums

May is now two days out the door, so jsut catching up on this as I was trying to get ahead of kicking off June's Death Metal month, and life was being life, so now I am getting caught up, so let's get you abreast of new releases. This might help you, casual readers, with what you might have missed.  I am not doing little blurbs on them, just linking the reviews. This helps me organize my lists for the end of the year by listing the album's genre. This does not mean that these albums have been released this month, but it is a list of new or upcoming albums I have enjoyed the most. I have albums in my in-box that won't come out until August, so I am normally way ahead of the curve in this regard. They are ranked in order of how much I have listened to them. This month, leaned more on heavy stuff ranging from New Wave to Doom, so perhaps you will find your new favorite among them. Here are the Top 10 albums for May of 2026.

10-Metal Church- "Dead to Rights." 

Thrash

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-metal-church-dead-to-rights.html

9-Iceage-"For the Love Of Grace & the Hereafter" 

Indie Rock 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/iceage-for-love-of-grace-hereafter.html

8-Truck Violence- "the Weathervane is my body." 

Noise Rock

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/truck-violence-weathervane-is-my-body.html

7-Venom - "Into Oblivion." 

Heavy Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-venom-into-oblivion.html

6-Dimmu Borgir - "Grand Serpent Rising." 

Symphonic Black Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-dimmu-borgir-grand-serpent.html

5-Tori Amos-"In Times of Dragons" 

Alternative

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/tori-amos-in-times-of-dragons.html

4-Astari Nite,- "Medications in Bloom." 

Goth / New Wave

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/astari-nite-medications-in-bloom.html

3-Genghis Tron-"Signal Fire" 

Prog Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/genghis-tron-signal-fire.html

 2-Frozen Soul-"No Place of Warmth." 

Death Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/frozen-soul-place-of-no-warmth.html

,1- Warning-"Rituals of Shame." 

Doom

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-warning-rituals-of-shame.html

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Tori Amos : "In The Times of Dragons"

 

This is a concept album in which Tori uses allegory to convey a political message. Nothing new for her, but it's done in an even more deliberate fashion. "Shush" feels likea Nine Inch Nails ballad, another not surprising element when you consider the crossover in their respective fan bases. For 62, her voice has held up really well, though her feminist coded lyrics can't be taken all that seriously, given her Botox addiction, so we are just going to focus on the music. 18 albums in, we are not getting a ton of surprises as the opener carries the 90s brooding we might want from her. 

The title track gives her voice center stage. I always preferred how she works in the context of a band, though I prefer just a bass player and drummer to accompany her, rather than a guitar player crowding her, but it works on this song. "Provincetown" finds the drums giving her more momentum, and this sense of movement makes the song more effective, though Tori is no slouch on the melodies. She has a sweet spot where her voice sits in her alto range. So dynamically speaking, the vocals are not what they once were. But between her being a total pro and the production, she makes the msot of what she still has. 

In many ways, this album reminds me of "Under the Pink," though the instrumentation is more layered. Despite her vocals all sitting in the same place, she manages to make what she is doing keep working, as heard on "St. Teresa".  Though this also sounds like it could have come from Kate Bush's "Sensual World " album. She starts to reach up higher on "Gasoline Girls' which has too much skip in its steps and is the first song that sounds like filler as it does carry the "Cornflake Girl' type skip. "Ode to Minnesota' is more introspective, despite being more obviously about external stimuli. It feels like her brand of melancholy, so it works for me. "Fanny Faudrey" carries more of a ragtime swing to it.  This works better than "Gasoline Girls." 

"Veins" is darker, so I enjoy that; it drones with its own hypnotic flow. There is an interesting shift in the chorus. "Strawberry Moon" is one of her wandering ballads that still manages to hold itself together. The somber mood of "Song of Sorrow" works really well with where her voice is at and creates a subtle dynamic shift in the composition. "Flood" meanders a bit too much in its own ambiance. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, she is much more focused on "Pyrite." The drums work really well on this. "Tempest" finds her trademark flowing piano lines doing what you want her to do.  However, I think that "Angelshark" is a more interesting song. It's moodier and works of a droning beat that finds layers of piano added to. 

"Blue Lotus " is a little more laid back, though this is generally a pretty chill album even by Tori's standards. There is a cool piano, but her vocals lurk around the same style that has dominated the album.t "Stronger Together" finds her not budging much from the breathy alot that has been the centerpiece of her vocals on this album. It song does finds it's groove, which works well. The last song is almost just a wash of ambient sound that she is singing over. I will give this album a 9.5. This is a double album and she manages to be very consistent when it comes to songwriting, leaving little filler, so the sound of Tori aging gracefully and not  fading away.

 16.6

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Live Review - Tori Amos @ Ruth Eckerd Hall

 It's been almost 20 years since I had last seen Tori Amos live. To the best of my recall saw her in 2002 and 2004. Putting her at around 39 years old for those performances. As far as her studio album go, "Scarlet's Walk" was the the last one I listened to on a regular basis. "Native Invader:" I reviewed here , but aside from that I have only caught a few songs here and there. This was the second night of  this leg of her  tour which opened in  West Palm Beach. It makes sense that Amos who is a part-time Florida resident would include multiple dates in the state. The opening act was the trio towr's  , which was a quaint folk act that felt like some kind of mom-core as their songs seemed to be about the changing landscape of domestication. Tori's band took the stage first promptly at 9 pm. They were two session musicians John Evans and Ash Soan, who seemed pleased that they were able to cut loose and indulge their prog rock side. 

She opened with "God" and followed that with the title track from "Ocean to Ocean" which is the album is touring behind. With 16 albums in her discography, there is no way she could play something from each and still make the crowd happy. If she stuck to the hits, then it would have leaned perhaps more heavily than she would have liked are her first few albums. She actually played the most from "Scarlet's Walk" which found four of those songs in the set. At 59 it is understandable why she did not play more from the first two album that might fall a little out of her range, as she did not sing up in her soprano range much. Let's face it Tori has retained a very strong cult following that allowed her to sell out the 2000 seat theater, putting here in range of what Morrissey has in terms of draw these days. If you asked your average twenty something, they are not likely to know who she is unless their parents exposed them to her. 

But being a cult legend is not a bad thing as you are playing for the hard core fan base that is going to appreciate it when you dig deep and play a song like "Take to the Sky" which is a b-side from "Little Earth Quakes".  I would say the hard core fan base made up perhaps half the audience, which left the other half the audience holding their heads in boredom as they wanted to here "hits" that really never came until she close with "Tear in Your Hand".  I guess I split the difference as I knew the bulk of the songs, but aside from the Scarlet's Walk songs, many of  deeper cuts, I at least found the jazzy jam versions that they played to be interesting, perhaps not the most energetically compelling if you were expecting a rock show, but very consistent with who Tori is as an artist , and for that I can not fault her , as it made me more curious to start digging back to see what I have missed over the years. 

Tori Amos : "Native Invader"

My ex-wife would not let me play Tori Amos in the car after I played Kate Bush for her during our first week of dating and ruined Tori  Amos for her. Well when I was in high school I had already heard Kate Bush before hearing Tori, who is obviously influenced by  Kate , but always had a more emotionally fragmented rawness to her. Seeing her straddle her piano bench and play a harpsichord with one hand and a piano with her other made me forget those comparisons. It also made me not want to play the piano for a year. Tori and I have been estranged for 12 years as "the Bee Keeper" is the last album I bought of hers, and that was back when I still bought albums.  Her 15th album opens with a big dark piano sound. Her voice has mellowed over the years into a warm alto, that can still find it's way gracefully up into her head register. She works well over the groove of "Wings" which finds its shadowy introspection contrasting the more organic guitar oriented sway of "Broken Arrow". I am trying to be open minded about this guitar thing. In the past that is where Tori and I have part ways , as I want the piano to be the focus and for some reason I have not wanted her to have a six string in action on her songs, though I am ok with bass. So I am telling myself this time around to think of it more like I think of Elton John.

The strum of "Cloud Riders" is almost like the Decemberists. The way the melody rolls out there is a slight country twinge but it is still very Tori. I am not sure how to even file what she is doing on "Up the Creek" but I like it and the layered vocal harmonies sound great. "Break Away" has some beautiful piano in it, but it is really just a dialed in Tori ballad, she doesn't feel like she really has anything worth while to say here. "Wildwood" finds Tori indulging her more Joni Mitchell side with a filter of post-rock guitar. This is one of her best uses of guitar in a song to date. With 15 songs there was bound to be some filler and " the Chocolate Song" seems to fall under that. It's not bad just not as inspired as the first few songs. There is a darker undertone to this album and it continues to be felt on "Bang". It has a sultry smoke to it's western swing.  Two minutes it turns into something closer to chamber music which makes it very consistent in terms of who Tori is.

"Climb" finds the album dipping into a more intimate piano piece that reminds me a little of Led Zeppelin's acoustic moments. I prefer her stripped down like this. After the number of artists who do this in such a compelling fashion is fairly limited. "Bats" is more in line with her "Under the Pink"  years. The bass and drums plays around the song like a upbeat version of "No Quarter". It has a very 70s rock feel, like the stuff that floated on a cloud of cocaine and pot smoke from California, Don Henley I am looking in your direction. "Benjamin"  doesn't really connect with me despite staying in that 70s space. "Mary's Eyes" finds her going back into Neil Gaiman's world. So once again she connects with themes from her earlier work.  "Upside Down" and "Russia" close the album on that stripped down piano vibe. Over all it's a pretty solid album, if some of the fat was trimmed it could have been in her top 5, but that's not the case , but it did inspire me to want to go back and here what I have been missing over the course of the past 12 years, so I'll give it a 9. The album drops September 8th.

The Top 100 albums of the 90s :20 to 11

Here we are in the top twenty , so let the butt hurt begin as you start to see what you thought to be the best album of your drunken high school days is not on the list, because there are better albums, sure these might not have out sold Pearl Jam, but they have stood the test of time much better.

  20- Sade - "Love Deluxe"

 Half of you might have been conceived to this album. There were many trip hop albums that could have made the list, but Sade does what they do better, yes that includes Tricky and Massive Attack, who put out some good songs, but we are talking entire albums front to back and even "Mezzanine" has a little filler on it.

 



  19- Cranberries- "Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can't We?" 

This album carried more longing and passion than every thing they released after. The Cocteau Twins influence was very strong, but the vocals were layered in a different manner that makes this album.

 

  18- Sunny Day Real Estate - "Diary" 

If you were to own only one so called "emo" album, this would be the one. The band was disrupted in their prime by this guy named Dave Grohl who stole them for his cock rock band. Jeremy always claimed they started off as a hardcore band who was trying to play slow songs and on this album you can hear that more than the others.

 


  17-Tori Amos- "Little Earthquakes"

 Three years ago I ruined Tori Amos for my fiance when I played her Kate Bush and we have never been able to listen to her in the car since. While this is her "Lion Heart" it carries much more anger than Kate Bush ever taps into with the exception of the last song on "the Dreaming". Front to back their are no filler songs anywhere to be found and Tori can tinkle the keys better than Kate.

 

  16- Nirvana - "In Utero"

if you don't understand why this beat out "Nevermind" I'm not sure why you are reading my blog, but the short blurb version is that "Nevermind" is restrained and slick, where this album is a drugged out rock star in full train wreck mode. I need my rock stars dead on drugs.

 

  15- Jeff Buckley - "Grace"

For the rest of this list I will answer the nagging question of "But how did that beat out Nirvana?" . Have you ever heard Jeff Buckley sing? He could improvise singing from the phone book and it would beat Nirvana.He killed himself with much more style as well.

 


14-Alice in Chains - "Dirt"

An ode to drugs and misery. This rocks, "Rooster" is the only song I do not like on this album but "Would" balances that out. Reason it beat Nirvana? Jerry's guitar playing and Layne is a better junkie, Cobain also smoked crack while Layne just shot hard and he died from an overdose , not his wife murdering him. Yes trolls I know I just implied Cobain killed himself in the blurb above, and he did by staying with Love.


 


13-Acid Bath - "Paegan Terrorism Tactics" 

Yes they made it on here twice. Dax Riggs' first alright trumps Nirvana's discography. He might be alive or is he for he claims " dying felt so god damn good today" They are from New Orleans so my theory is he did before this album was made then brought back to life with voo-doo by children playing in the catacombs. Drugs... I scream ,you scream, every body screams for morphine.' He even admits to being a zombie.

 

  12-Fugazi - " Steady Diet of Nothing"

Dave Grohl would tell you they could not hold a candle to Fugazi, in fact he did while making a tv show about his terrible album. Ian Mckaye means no drugs. But this album has groove and punk anger coiled together and ready to burst at any moment, glued together with chops worthy of the Police.


  11- Nine Inch Nails - " the Downwards Spiral" I am not sure how this album's dominance over Nirvana could be in question. They even did it and got massive radio air play. This album did for industrial what Van Halen's 1984 did for cock rock. Reznor made it out alive, but this album has tons of self loathing. 11- Sade