Want some thrash? We're back with another sprawling round-up of the very best new metal songs you need to hear, and this week it seems we've stumbled through a wormhole to the 80s as we bring you some of the finest fast'n'furious metal tracks since the Big Four earned their stripes.
But first, the results of last week's vote! There was a tight-run dash for third place as Orange Goblin took on Kittie, but ultimately the nu metal vets pulled ahead for an admirable third place. In turn, Black Label Society drummer Jeff Fabb showed off his wares on boundary-pushing new track Love And War, but the clear winners of the week were Within Temptation, whose new standalone single A Fool's Parade serves as a reminder of just how powerful that band have become in recent years.
This week it's all to play for as we bring you a mix of names old and new, looking everywhere from Brazil to Thailand, the US to Finland to find you the very best new metal songs around. As ever, we need your help to crown the best song of the week, so don't forget to cast your vote below. Happy listening!
Kerry King - Residue
There’s a little over a month to go until we get Kerry King’s solo debut From Hell I Rise, but our thrash appetites are being kept satiated with new single Residue. If previous single Idle Hands was all about capturing the full-throttle viciousness of Slayer at their best, then Residue is a more direct showcase of the tight rhythmic grooves King and drummer Paul Bostaph lock into when working together, tapping into the claustrophobic intensity of God Hates Us All era Slayer.
Leyan Senay - Bluetiful
Balancing ethereal melodies and almost proggish percussion, Turkish drummer Leyan Senay offers a distinctive vision of the alternative on new single Bluetiful. A bewitching mix of alt. metal weirdness and gothic grandeur - not hurt by creeping piano melodies - the track is one of her first solo compositions, having made her name serving as both a drum teacher YouTuber who previously performed drum cover videos online.
Architects - Curse
There’s a lot to talk about heading into new Architects’ single Curse. For much of 2024 the Brighton band have been under fire over guitarist Adam Christianson’s apparent sharing of homophobic and transphobic content, Christianson later claimed sharing the content was “a total accident”. The release of a new single with minimal acknowledgement of the backlash will likely only add more fuel. Produced by former BMTH keyboardist, backing vocalist and songwriter Jordan Fish, Curse marks the first new song Fish has produced since departing his former band in December and brings some of the enormity and radio-friendly hooks that made Bring Me a trend-setting band in modern metalcore. It also continues the stylistic shift the band touched on with previous single Seeing Red, suggesting that now they’re comfortably headlining arenas in Europe - and with a Bloodstock headline debut to come in August - they’re setting their sights on pushing their own boundaries.
Darkthrone - Black Dawn Affiliation
Anyone for some rampaging black metal? Almost 40 years and 20 studio albums haven’t curbed Darkthrone’s appetite for ragged, tooth-gnashing black metal and where many of their contemporaries have embraced more grandiose elements, Fenriz’s Norwegian stalwarts still sound as if they’re crawled straight out of the grave on latest single Black Dawn Affiliation. New album It Beckons Us All is out on April 26 and Dawn… is yet more proof that if it ain’t broke, it don’t need fixing.
Nothing More - House On Sand (ft. Eric V)
It’s been a decade since Nothing More stepped up into the big leagues with their self-titled third album, embracing a more alt-metal friendly sound. Massive crowds throughout the UK in February attested to just how that decision has paid off for the band, and new single House Of Sand captures some of the anthemic power that has earned them such a vocal and passionate fanbase. With guest vocals from I Prevail’s Eric Vanlerberghe, the track is powered by buoyant riffs and stuttering guitars than chuck a bit of nu metal into the mix, suggesting new album Carnal might be their heaviest release in years whilst not losing sight of the enormous choruses that have become the band’s bread and butter. Either way, we’ll find out June 28.
UnityTX - Playing Favorites
With their second album Ferality, UnityTX were as comfortable on bouncing hardcore rager like Burnout as they were dipping into synth-driven trap tracks like Diamond Diez, mixing hardcore, hip hop and metal in a fascinating way. New single Playing Favorites shows off the band’s more muscular hardcore edges, bounding along with menacing basslines and bulldog snarls that capture some of the visceral thuggishness of hardcore/crossover legends like Biohazard and Body Count.
Annalynn - Circle The Flame
Speaking of vicious, thuggish metalcore, Thailand’s Annalynn bring the beatdown in a big way with their latest single Circle The Flame. Taken from their upcoming Failure Will Find Me EP - due May 24 - the track is all clenched jaws and swinging fists, an absolute metalcore menace that reminds us that while some areas of metalcore are breaking through to arenas, others remain resolutely street-level without losing sight of the genre’s most ascendant elements.
Heavy Temple - Extreme Indifference To Life
Tapping in the abyssal majesty of cosmic doom, US doom trio Heavy Temple have just released their second album Garden Of Heathens. New single Extreme Indifference To Life captures the band’s nihilistic yet utterly enthralling mixture of doom and psychedelia, vocalist High Priestess Nighthawk (yep, that’s her name) capturing the misanthropic disdain of a Jus Osborn or Lee Dorrian whilst intoning her own unique spin on the genre.
August Burns Red - The Cleansing (ft. Will Ramos)
A collision of metalcore and deathcore, August Burns Red have teamed up with Lorna Shore growler-in-chief Will Ramos for new single The Cleansing. While ABR haven’t exactly skimped on heaviness in the past, The Cleansing nonetheless feels like the band are bridging their melodic elements with Shore’s apocalyptic heft, skewing towards the deep end of extreme metal as the song builds to a gloriously demonic mid-section. Epic, in the very best way.
Dolly Dagger - Tower
Based out of Los Angeles, newcomer Dolly Dagger captures some of that city’s dark yet irresistible allure on new single Tower. The subtle pulses of electronica feel in keeping with the city’s industrial-tinged offerings from the likes of HEALTH or 3Teeth, but Tower also mixes in the seductive earworm brilliance of alt. rockers like Garbage and the tight, canned-riff qualities of Helmet in a punchy three-and-a-half minute package.
Crownshift - My Prison
With alumni of Children Of Bodom, Nightwish and Finntroll in their ranks, its fair to say Crownshift have a lot to live up to. Thankfully the Finnish supergroup seem determined to aim high, new single My Prison offering a mixture of shimmering prog metal and Alice In Chains like soulful gravitas with massive breakout moments that capture a sense of enormity. The band’s self-titled debut is out May 10 via Nuclear Blast, and definitely one to keep an eye out for.
Thou - I Feel Nothing When You Cry
Coming on like the bastard offspring of a natural disaster and a 20-car pile-up, Thou this week announced new album Umbilical for a May 31 release. A wall of ear-shredding extremity that blurs lines between noise, black metal and all-out extremity, lead single I Feel Nothing When You Cry should be all the persuasion you need to batten down the hatches and prepare for absolute devastation when this record arrives.
Authors Of Fate - Leather Liver
Kerry King not scratching the thrash itch for you? Then get some Authors Of Fate in your lugs. the Los Angeles thrashers’ latest single Leather Liver dialling up the extremity to almost ludicrous levels as the band blur boundaries between extreme metal subgenres, delivering the gut-wrenching nastiness of old school death metal with the pacing of Teutonic thrash.
Troops Of Doom - Chapels Of The Unholy
What’s that, you want more thrash? Then cast your eyes down to Brazil, death metal brutes Troops Of Doom going full Slayer on the infernally brilliant Chapters Of The Unholy. Taken from the band’s upcoming second album A Mass To The Grotesque, due May 31. If you were delighted by the Cavalera brothers’ decision to rework their early death metal/thrash crossover material last year, this one is an absolute must. Prepare for a very, very sore neck.
