The Top 10 Heavy Metal Albums of 2026...so far

Metal here is an overarching banner to cover anything that is not one of the other sub-genres of metal. So everything from thrash, to power metal, to nu-metal.  I have already received promos for albums dropping as far out as August in my inbox, so they are really going to need to bring it to compete with the top five albums on this list. No matter the genre,  darkness trumps speed when it comes to heavy, so these bands reflect that sentiment. These albums provide a fitting soundtrack to the demise of the US.  I have included links to full reviews if you want to check these out, and with all that said, here are the Top 10 Metal albums of 2026 so far. 

10-Kreator - "Krushers of the World"

Before checking back in on the band for 2017's  "Gods and Monsters,"  the last album I liked by these guys was "Coma of Souls." In its day, this was a change for the band after "Extreme Aggression" had hooked me in. This time around, they are locked into a more rapid, furious form of modern thrash that works better than what they did on their last album. It sztill takes some getting used to when it comes to how Mille Petrozza approaches his vocal delivery that borders more on singing than his once scathing snarl. He also uses more anthem accents on the choruses

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/01/kreator-krushers-of-world.html

 

>9-Savage Master / Mystic Storm-"The Power / Wandering Time"

The split mini-album from these two bands is set firmly in the days of yesteryear. Savage Master is no stranger to us here, as I really enjoyed the last album, "Dark & Dangerous," that found them moving in a darker direction, but it was my first time checking out Mystic Storm. Who impressed me even more. They made me want to search out their other music and dive deeper into who they are.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-savage-master-mystic-storm.html

8-Evergray- "Architects Of A New Weave"

Swedish progressive power metallers Evergray have been at this for some time now. Their 2004 album "Inner Circle" was the last I gave a listen to, and it was a little too bogged down in the conventions of the genre to keep my interest, but things have changed. The guitar tone has grown denser to compete with the sound of modern metal. The singer and keyboardist are the only two members left over from those days as they now have the drummer from Shining, and Bassist from Therion in the fold, as well as the guitarist from Scar Symmetry. There is a heavier double bass attack bridging things, and the vocals might still be dramatic, but keep things in a more melodic and brooding direction.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/evergray-architects-of-new-weave.html

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7-Moonspell- "Far From God"

 The Portuguese band's newest album finds themalmost dropping the metal altogether with a more organic rock sound, and the sung baritone vocals being the dominant. That said, it's also a great song, so I am not complaining about it. There is a more Sisters of Mercy-like bass line to the title track. Though the vocals try to capture more of a Peter Steele-like resonance.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/06/moonspell-far-from-god.html

 

6-Lex Legion- "s/t"

When the King is away, the kids will play. This vocal is comprised of the top tier of King Diamond's band members. Pete Blakk and Andy LaRocque on guitars is worth the price of admission alone. But wait, there is more. Mikkey Dee took a break from the Scorpions to play on this album. Hal Pinto is covering the bass duties as well. Pagan's Mind vocalist Nils K LaRue joins the Swedes, bringing some Norse vocal power to things. His power metal style of vocals works well over things; there is clearly a King Diamond influence on what he is doing as he leaps up into falsetto. He is not King Diamond, but this will at least hold over even die-hard fans like myself. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/06/lex-legion-st.html

5-Metal Church- "Dead to Rights" 

The 14th album from the legendary thrash project helmed by Kurt Vanderhoof, who is the sole original member, now features an all-new line-up, including former Flotsam & Jetsam drummer Ken Mary, who also played on Alice Cooper's "Raise Your Fist and Yell" album, along with Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson. For what they are doing, you can't ask for a better backbone to drive these songs. The opening track is pretty impressive and delivers what you want from them. This is the 6th album that guitarist Rick Van Zandt has played alongside Kurt, so he knows the deal. Wayne and Howe are dead, so this sounds as muh like Metal Church as we are going to get, so they excelled at keeping it going

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

4-Dimmu Borgir- "Grand Serpent Rising"

One of Norway's biggest bands, and one of my faves, they have picked up where they left off with the last album. This is better than the last album and delivers what they know fans want. Even if it feels a little formulaic in this regard,This one grew on me with each listen. 

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

3-Megadeth- "s/t"

Here we are at the last Megadeth album. Better to hang it up than besmirch their legacy.  I used to love these guys, but "Youthanasia" was the last album I got into. The opening track feels like they are pretty focused on the kind of thrash that works best for them. I think they are the epitome of a band who struggle to find themselves when the creative head of the band got sober. Let's face it, these guys are pretty much just the Dave Mustaine show. He knocks it out of the park almost 100 percent of the time here.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/01/megadeth-st.html

2- Venom - "Into Oblivion"

The 16th album in the career of this project, which now counts Cronos as the sole original member. Things have not changed a great deal thanks to Cronos's voice that finds him belting it out with the same throaty zeal that drove their earlier. In fact, this album is more metal and less punk than what people would call Venom's most classic work.  https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-venom-into-oblivion.html

 

1-Rob Zombie - "The Great Satan"

It has taken me a decade to resign myself to the fact their is little difference between where Rob left off with White Zombie and his solo work, which is almost as good. It seems he is eager to recapture his more classic sound, as this album opens with a heavier edge. his album is fucking fantastic, and shows that just because you came out in the 90s it does not mean you have to forsake your sound when you can just perfect it.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/02/rob-zombie-great-satan.html

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Kreator : "Krushers of the World"

 Before checking back in on the band for 2017's  "Gods and Monsters,"  the last album I liked by these guys was "Coma of Souls." In its day, this was a change for the band after "Extreme Aggression" had hooked me in. This time around, they are locked into a more rapid, furious form of modern thrash that works better than what they did on their last album. It sztill takes some getting used to when it comes to how Mille Petrozza approaches his vocal delivery that borders more on singing than his once scathing snarl. He also uses more anthem accents on the choruses. It is funny to me lyrically that he declares they are Krushers of the world when he has lamented to the press that disturbing the concept of war is to him. 

Ventor is still pounding the hell out of the drums, having hung tight with Mille over the years. They are joined by the bass player from Dragonforce and the guitarist from Barren Earth. They have refined the art of grooving riffage that carries into "Tranenpalast." The melodic nature of the choruses does its job and is hard to deny even if I want a more aggressive apporach from the band. What they do is more accessible than their earlier work, which keeps them in motion over the years. "Barbarian" has almost a power metal feel.

You can hear how their thrashing attack influenced black with "Blood of Our Blood," where the chorus reminds me more of Accept, who were obviously an influence on this band from the beginning, and do not get enough credit for their impact on thrash. The lyrics to "Combatants' are awkward at best, though the riff makes it palatable. It feels like they are trying too hard to be relevant rather than just being themselves. They do a better job of hitting the mark in this regard on "Psychotic Imperator." There is a Slayer-like intensity they race into the song with. The lyrics are political but in broader strokes. 

"Deathscream" has better lyrics, but kind of races along like methed out Judas Priest. It feels like they set out to write their own version of "Painkiller." They end the album with a bigger gallop for the more power-metal tinged riff that marches the song into a more anthemic nature, but it still works in a very Accept-like manner. I will give this album a 9.5 as it's an improvement over the previous two albums and pretty flawless, though the lyrics are what kept it from being a perfect album, as well as the moments where it feels like they are trying too hard, but some of the riffs, and overall writing and is obviously a sucess when it comes to the band's intentions of ccreating this album. Nuclear Blast releases this January 16th.

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Dirkschneider- "Balls To The Wall RELOADED"

Here we are with Udo making an interesting decision to re-visit the classic Accept album, but covering it front to back with guest appearances from a heavy metal Hall of Fame. The anthemic title track finds Sabaton vocalist Joakim Broden trading verses with him. Never really listened to Sabaton, so only weighing this against the original. Udo sounds like he can still pull off his Bon Scott-like squeal at 72. Taking some of the homo-eroticism out of "London Leather Boys"  Biff Byford of Saxon fame joins to make it more about heavy metal fashion than leather culture. Byford's voice does not sound as good as it is on the last Saxon album perhaps it's just out of his range these days at  74. It's a sobering reminder that all the elder statesmen of metal are now elderly. 

Mille Petrozza of Kreator is featured on "Fight it Back. He sounds like shit, and it's not Udo's best moment either which begins to make me wonder if he should not have just left well enough alone. Nils Molin of Amaranthe fares much better by bringing his Dio-like belting to "Head Over Heels". His voice does not have the grit of Udo's which makes the song feel darker when he utters the second verse.  Michael Kiske of Helloween fame still sounds great at 56. as he helps tackle "Losing More Than You've Ever Had" this is one of the album's strong points, though Udo does not really contribute much. Swedish singer Ylva Eriksson lends her voice to "Love Child" This feels more like a duet wondering the contrast of their voices but works pretty well. Her voice does give things a more commercial Pat Benatar feel. 

Danko Jones comes aboard for "Turn Me On". His voice has enough balls to keep things heavier. This was never the best song on the album even in its original form, so it works well enough here. Dee Snider's voice blends with Udo's well on "Losers and Winners" making it one of the album's strongest moments. Ripper Owens does not go as over the top as I expected from him on "Guardian of the Night". He can serve the song after all. The last song is a duet of " Winter Dreams' with Doro Pesch who worked well enough with the song, at 60 her voice is not belted with the same power as her early work, but I will have to check out her more recent work before making a final judgment on how her voice is holding up these days. I'll give this album an 8.5, rather hear him get back with Accept, so while this re-imagining is not something on my wish list, it's well done and there are strong moments, but prefer the original versions. 

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Death is June - Kreator : "Hate Über Alles"

 These guys were one of the first thrash bands to churn out a more extreme sound that opened the door for death metal. Age has made them a little more melodic. I think it softened them as people as lead singer Mille has stated in recent months he is not an actual fan of extreme aggression or finding pleasure to kill, so he was just joking back in the 80s.  He continues to put on a similar show with such themes on the new album. The vocals are more shouted than snarled here. "Killer of Jesus" finds them keeping the speed poured on and working off the same blueprint as the previous song.  This shift in the vocal style has not yet grown on me though the last album I was really into by these guys was "Coma of Souls". 

"Crush the Tyrants" has a more deliberate gallop that reminds me of a beefier version of "Holy Diver". The drummer is the only other original member joining Mille. Finnish guitarist Sami of Barren Earth has been along for the ride since 2001 making him a solid part of the band by now. Making Fredric from Dragonforce, the newest member having joined on bass in 2019. There is a more classic metal gallop on "Strongest of the Strong". It almost has an Iron Maiden feel in how the guitar harmonies work. "Become Immortal" find the vocals gaining more snarl. The lyrics are more reflective about the journey of the band. The drumming continues to have echoes of Iron Maiden. There is a little cheese to this one but that is largely forgivable.

For a band against war what are they doing with "Conquer and Destroy". They could make the guitar harmonies come closer to death metal than power metal on this one, but I will write it off as just being European. There are a couple of head banging riffs but the rule here is "cool riffs alone does not a good song make". They put more into the song "Midnight Son' and bring in female vocals . It is so melodic it does not sound like the same band. There is a catchy refrain to "Demonic Future". Once again not tapping into the same aggression as their earlier more classic work, but solid for what it is. I normally like actual singing but I am not sure about when these guys do it though I cannot fault them for trying. Things are more deliberate on "Dying Planet" which is a good song but is it a good Kreator song?  Overall I will give this an 8.5, which is more polished and better songs than most bands out there are making, but these guys are one of the forefathers of extreme metal so it is far from their best work.   

Black Waves of Adrenochrome – The Sisters of Mercy Tribute

A metal tribute album to Sisters of Mercy is a pretty safe bet. Sisters were already half way there and they have certainty influenced most of the darker metal bands. The trick is capturing Andrew Eldritch's vocals . This can be the sticking point when many of these bands growl more than sing. In some cases this is the first foray into singing I have heard . Another odd thing about this album is it is not the bands that you think have this in bag that shine here. Case in point being the fact that Atrocity's cover of "More" smokes Paradise Lost's  take on "Walk Away". You would think Sisters of Mercy would be their bread and butter. Part of the problem being Atrocity just picked a better song/ 

Cradle of Filth is known for really butchering most covers they try to tackle. Dani Filth does does than I expected here. "No Time to Cry" is not my favorite Sisters of Mercy song by far,  "Deadlock" has better female vocals that help out with some of the backing parts , but she also sings some of Andrew's parts up the octave. I think they at least captured the spirit of the song. Nevergreen does an even better cover of "More" than Atrocity. Seems an odd song for multiple bands to cover on the same album. I have never heard of Maryslim, but they got to cover" This Corrosion". They do it justice so I guess there is not much room to complain about it.  Daeonia is another new band for me , they fare pretty well with "Alice".  Kreator is an odd choice for this album. They make "Lucretia My Reflection" work, but the odds were in their favor since it is likely the best song.  However Dan Swano steals it away from them with his cover which might be the album's best. 

Dreadful Shadows who closes the album wit ha pretty solid take on "1959" makes me feel like they were already a goth band and not a metal band covering goth. Crematory offers a heavier take on "Temple of Love" than the earlier version . Columbia Obstruction Box just does not seem like they are on the same level ass even the least known of these other bands. Their "Marian" is passable , but the vocals felt pitchy and strained.  I will give this an 8.5, since not all of these songs are new , the Kreator version was sitting around a few years . They assembled some lesser known covers from bigger bands to help bolster the lesser known bands, not a bad business model. 

The Top 50 Thrash Albums of All Time 50- 41

Of all the sub-genres of metal thrash was the most influential. It opened the door for bands to play louder, harder and faster thus spawning Death metal, black metal, grind core etc.. yeah doom stayed on it's own path. The bands that came out of it are now considered the biggest bands in metal...I mean Metallica and Slayer, come one end of debate. Normally I try to limit it to one album per artist. There are some artists that had much more of an impact so they might get another entry or two. There is thrash ranging from proto-death metal to hard core to power metal bands that evolved with the times. I grew up during the rise of thrash and listened to it through out highschool so some of this is determined by which albums did I listen to the most as they came out and which have endured the test of time. Lets face it none of your Toxic Holocausts or Revocations can touch these bands. They are pretty much tribute bands in comparison.


50- Atrophy- "Violent By Nature" 1990

The 2nd album from this Arizonia band found them dialing their song writing in to combine aggression and hooks.






49- Helstar- "A Distant Thunder"


Before power metal was really thought of as power metal, there were melodic speed metal bands giving a harder take on what Queensryche once did. This Texas band did it better than most of their
peers.

 






48Tankard - "The Morning After" 1988 


 This is not the only German band on the list. However where most German thrashers has a very militant dark nature to their chug, these guys wrote songs about getting wasted and had more of a punk party attitude.


 


 47-Meliah Rage - "Solitary Solitude" 1990

   This Boston band, might have been heavier on their 1988 album "Kill to Survive" ,this album has the edge due to the songwriting being better.,





 46- DRI- "4 of a Kind" 1988


 Yeah, the first two albums are great. The joke is what do you call a punk band that learns how to play their instruments...metal ! They were never shabby , but this album found them maturing into more of a metal band with the hard core punk side dialed back. There were never shabby just perfected the formula here.


 



45-Forced Entry -"As Above , So Below" 1991 


 Being a thrash band in Seattle in 91 was going against the grain. They evolved into something different than the rest here with songs like "Bone Crackin' Fever".


 

44 Laaz Rockit- "Annihilation Principle"- 1989 


The 4th album from this Oakland band found them evoling from a more classic power metal sound into a tighter thrashy sound. The vocals are given a great deal of focus and not an after thought.


 


43-Kreator- 'Extreme Aggression" 1989 


 This German band's "Pleasure to Kill" album is highly regarded, but here is where their song writing falls into place, but not forsaking any of the snarl. They were alsos a hug influence on death metal bands to come.



42-Onslaught -" In Search of Sanity"


1989 Steve Grimmett from Grim Reaper sings on this album and it still stays more thrash than power metal, while Steve has never sounded better.


 



41-Wrathchild America - "Climbin' the Walls" 1989

 This West Virgina band might get mistaken for being Metallica wanna bes until you really listen to them and hear how much rock n roll they inject into their take on thrash. They are not afraid to cover Pink Floyd and Drummer Shannon Larkin went onto play in Godsmack.


 

Metal Hammer's Judas Priest Tribute Album.

Judas Priest was one of my favorite bands growing up. I might not listen to them as much as I used to, but it always brings a smile to my face when I hear them, so I am not only very familiar with their body of work , but have a deep respect for it. Metal Hammer complied this album of previously recorded covers. Covering Judas Priest first and foremost in my mind requires a solid vocal performance. You don't have to hit all the notes Rob Halford does as there not not a ton of singers who can do that. But you need to convey where he was going with it and tell the same story. So I know this is going to be problematic.  This album  opens with Arch Enemy's cover of "Breaking the Law" . This gets a more "Painkiller" treatment. The verse riff is so iconic that trying to add extra chugs in it is self defeating. Here the problem with the vocals that I predicted wastes no time coming true. Just growling through not matter how nuanced the growl is only works on the chorus of this song. There are still enough trademark to recognize it. A power metal band like Sabaton, certainly seems more capable of handling "All Guns Blazing" . There higher register vocals, they are more of a choked AC/DC nature, but at least they are trying. Power Wolf's cover of "Night Crawler" even with the help of sung vocals comes across a little stiff .

 I love Katatonia, so was eager to hear how they did  "Night Comes Down".  This one is off of "Defenders of the Faith" not one of their strongest songs, it's more of a power ballad so it works for these guys. Granted his range doesn't reach beyond what Jonas normally does. Huntress does just fine with "Running Wild" which is a safer picker than "Beyond the Realms of Death" which Blind Guardian takes on. I guess I have never given these guys a fair shot as he does a great job with the more baritone croon. The higher notes at the chorus are more snarled like Ice Earth or even Blackie Lawless.  Kreator does a much better job with "Grinder" than I expected. They should the kind of restraint and served the song like Arch Enemy could have stood to have done a better job of.

Death's cover of "Painkiller" is taken from their 1998 album "the Sound of Perseverance" . I am pretty impressed with Chuck's vocals. Even though it's a scratchier tone he hits the notes. It also has him singing in clean voice on parts. Drummer Richard Christy who also played with Iced Earth nails his parts to the wall. Primal Fear covering "Metal Gods" is pretty much a no-brainer cus they are almost a Judas Priest cover band. I'll give this album a 8.5 . Granted these bands all benefited from having excellent source material to work off of.

Black Metal History Month : Black Metal's Top 10 Influences

Some of these get mentioned all the time , so much until the point you begin to wonder if the bands are just citing them because that is what is expected of them. One of these "typical" answers to the "Who are your influences question rank lower than expected. One of the interesting side notes of this is how big of an influence death metal was on black metal, despite often hearing in interview that the second wave of black metal, you know the church burning kind, made the music they did in retaliation of death metal.  So I scoured the inner webs for the influences of ten second wave bands, so any band influenced by one of these bands I researched would be too new to count , after these second wave bands have gone on to influence black metal as we know it today .

The bands these influences are compiled from are Mayhem, Burzum, Marduk, Dark Throne, Emperor, Taake, Immortal, Ulver, Enslaved, Dissection

 and the results are...

10-Death-

Varg always said he hated the bands that wore cammo shorts, but these guys surprisingly got mentioned more than Sodom and Possessed.

9-Von-

Well Watain took their name from them, but they aren't the only one that cited this lo-fi blasting beat death metal band that is now almost black metal by association.
8 -Kreator

This is not surprising as you can here their influence vocally on the black metal rasp taken on by Taake and Enslaved.
7-Destruction

Liked them when I heard them but this german band is the one band this list whose albums I have never owned.
6-Morbid Angel

"Altars of Madness" got cited a lot. It's dark and awesome, so this makes sense.

5-Slayer

I got the idea to make this list this am , because I woke up thinking about the "Hell Awaits" album. Yes, I wake up thinking about "Hell Awaits " that's how metal I am. Enslaved also wakes up thinking abut Slayer.
4-Venom

This is the band I though more would cite, of course the obvious ones like Darkthrone did.
3-Mercyful Fate

Of Emperor can not hide this fact. Darkthrone also have them a few shout outs over the years.
2- Bathory

The first of the viking metal.  I think  it is interesting  Bathory also cites Mercyful Fate as an influence, but since more bands said Bathory than Fate, this is where it falls.
1- Celtic Frost-

This is interesting as they are one of the slower bands on this list, maybe second to Mercyful Fate. I suppose it might not be their most black metal moment below, though they are wearing make-up