We don't want to alarm you, but we've already started getting announcements for albums coming in 2025. Yep, already. Still, the horrors of the inexorable march of time aside, that does mean we can officially start getting excited about all the excellent things to come in the year ahead, not to mention the remaining stragglers of 2024.
Speaking of which, here are the results of last week's vote! We had one of the biggest turnouts of the year as heavyweights and newcomers alike went head to head, but ultimately there were some clear-cut champions. Nightwish took a healthy third place with the epic An Ocean Of Strange Islands, but the real battle took place between Finland's Blind Channel - covering Backstreet Boys, no less - and LA newcomers Echosoul, with the latter winning out by an impressive margin. Kudos!
This week we've got one hell of a selection for you, covering everything from cinematic Nordic folk to nu metal, avant-garde and reliable old metalcore. As ever, we want to know which tracks excite you most so don't forget to cast your vote below - and have an excellent weekend!
Wardruna - Himinndotter
With Heilung making their debut at Glastonbury Festival earlier this year and Nordic folk arguably never more popular, it seems the perfect time for the OGs to return to claim the throne. Granted, Wardruna aren't the first band to explore Nordic folk - we reckon there's a good millennia of musicians who might have beat them to the punch - but there's no denying they are an unconquerable force when it comes to cinematic spiritual sounds, new single Himinndotter ("Sky Daughter") arriving with all the epic grandeur of a Scandinavian saga. Taken from new album Birna, due January 24, it's a reminder of just how much influence Wadruna have had on the modern metal landscape.
Body Count - Comfortably Numb
Body Count do love a good cover. But where in the past they've tackled the likes of Suicidal Tendencies and Slayer, this time Ice-T's crossover champs have gone down a very different route - setting their sights onthe melodic prog anthem that is Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. The end result is a near-total reimagining, Body Count even drafting in David Gilmour to solo over Ice's rapped verses, giving way to the iconic melodic hook - "hello, is anybody out there?"
Beartooth - Attn
Having already completed a massive tour of the US this year, Beartooth now have sights on some of their biggest headline shows in the UK and Europe in the coming weeks. As if to highlight the fact they're stepping up to bigger venues, the band have released an impossibly catchy new single in Attn. Taken from the deluxe edition of 2023's The Surface, the track plays up to the band's most melodic inclinations, veering into almost pop-punk territories whilst not losing any of the choppy riffing and soaring choruses that have made Beartooth such a beloved phenomenon.
Nightwish - Lanternlight
With their most epic and bombastic inclinations well and truly catered for on previous single An Ocean Of Strange Islands, Nightwish are embracing their more fragile and delicate sensibilities with Lanternlight. Taken from new album Yesterwynde - out today - the track takes a more gentle approach to their symphonic stylings, letting Floor Jansen take centre-stage on a stirring and beautiful ballad that tugs at the heartstrings.
Danefae - Blind
Proffering ultra-dense prog metal with an ethereal, otherworldly vibe - think early-2000s Opeth - Danefae are a fascinating new act hailing from Denmark. The band's second album Trøst is set for a January release, and new single Blind showcases their fascinating sound that should be sought out by anyone who loves groups like Gojira or Opeth and is looking for similarly boundary-pushing adventurousness.
Tetrarch - Live Not Fantasize
Tetrarch have been waving the nu metal renaissance flag since long before the genre hit TikTok and blew up big again, but it still feels perfectly fitting that they've popped back up the same week as the third edition of Sick New World has been announced. Although it feels like someone is missing a trick by not having the band on the poster - but hey, there's still time - new single Live Not Fantasize shows they aren't turning their backs on the scene, the track offering up a massive radio-ready chorus with more than a hint of Korn in its melody.
Swollen Teeth - Family
It's all been a bit quiet since Swollen Teeth released their Ross Robinson-produced self-titled EP last year, but the band have come howling back from the void on new single Family. While some of those nu metal shadows are undoubtedly present, Family is more in line with the frantic, eye-gouging realms of extreme metal than anything you'd expect Korn or Deftones to touch, the masks and boiler suits not the only Slipknot-isms that pop up on the brutal track.
Vola - Cannibal ft. Anders Friden
With guest vocals from In Flames' Anders Fridén, Vola strike a balance between cosmic melody and explosive ferocity on new single Cannibal. The mixture of sleek prog metal and forceful melodeath sensibilities proves a potent concoction, playing up to Vola's capacity for anthemic, cinematic songs to great effect.
Signs Of The Swarm - IWONTLETOUDIE
Slathered in about six foot's worth of filth and delivered with vicious, strategic brutality, Signs Of The Swarm's latest single IWONTLETYOUDIE is pure tooth-gnashing nastiness. Where some of their deathcore contemporaries have embraced more melodic sensibilities and grandisoe, symphonic elements, Signs... are gleefully digging into the genre's muckiest elements to produce a track that pushes the genre to its sludgiest conclusion. With a UK tour set to kick off on October 25, we suspect this one'll be leaving a lot of bruised and bloody bodies.
Imperial Triumphant - Eye Of Mars
On the decidedly more avant-garde edges of extreme metal, we have the disorienting hellscape that is Eye Of Mars, the latest single from New Yorkers Imperial Triumphant. The more explicit jazz elements have seemingly been flipped into the background on the band's latest track, a queasy, swivel-eyed concotion of death metal growls and sudden bursts of apocalyptic opera. God help us if their next album all sounds like this - it'll be terrifying (and incredible).
Charlotte Wessels - Ode To The West Wind (ft. Alissa White-Gluz)
Take two powerhouse vocalists and stick them together on an incendiary metal track. What's not to love? The pairing of Charlotte Wessels and Alissa White-Gluz worked so well on 2022 track Lizzie that clearly Ms. Wessels couldn't resist a second outing, and we're all the richer for it, Ode To The West Wind a propulsive track that hints at both the symphonic grandeur of Wessels' past work and the fiery melodeath White-Gluz has championed this past decade at the front of Arch Enemy whilst finding a bridge between the two styles to create something altogether bigger and more massive. Taken from Wessels' new album The Obsession - out today - this is a real highlight.
Bleeding Through - Dead But So Alive
Bleeding Through might be coming back to the UK in November to celebrate the 21st anniversary of This Is Love, This Is Murderous, but the metalcore veterans have clearly still got eyes on the future with the release of utterly annihilating new single Dead But So Alive. In execution, the track has more in line with the ultra-vicious and technical chops of modern deathcore than the band's 00s metalcore roots, but when the melodic break hits all bets are off as a vicious blastbeat gives way to pure anthemia.
Battle Born - Magic And Steel
Let's face it; the second you read the band name and song title, you'll probably know if Battle Born are for you. This is pure quest-taking, monster slaying, Dungeons and Dragons loving power metal delivered with a manic grin, riffs flying at a thousand miles per hour while vocalist Jack Reynolds shrieks and wails with the gusto of a young Kai Hansen. Horns up!
Seven Kingdoms - The Square
Don't put the plastic swords away just yet. From the fantastical lands of, erm, Florida, Seven Kingdoms are also taking the classic power metal torch and running with it, new single The Square all galloping riffs, headbanging breaks and wails to the heavens. The title track of their upcoming EP - out November 8 - The Square hints at Seven Kingdoms' capacity for massive, room-uniting singalongs, something the band can prove when they head out on tour in the US in November.
Fates Messenger - They Walk Among Us
With hardcore swagger and the fiery vitriol of groove metal, the latest single from Fates Messenger - They Walk Among Us - hits like a baseball bat to the face. It's a straight-ahead rager delivered with zeal and grit, the melodic break after the two-minute mark arriving like a surprising twist on what could otherwise be a thuggish pummeller.
