The big reunion the world was apparently waiting happens with Oasis, but it was nearly two in week with Deryck Whibley finding himself at the centre of a storm of confusion, plus talk on the comedy metal albums we actually like.

Releases:
Stand Atlantic - Was Here
Simone Simons - Vermillion
Within the Ruins - Phenomena II
Uniform - American Standard
Melt-Banana - 3+5
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Opera
Spectral Wound - Songs of Blood and Mire
Koldbrann - Ingen Skansel
Gravenoire - Devant La Porte Des Etoiles
Black Birch - Black Birch
Demiser - Slave to the Scythe
Nil / Castle of the Winds - Bastard Sons of Tyranny
Mark Lanegan - Bubblegum XX
Wintersun - Time II
Nails - Every Bridge Burning
Leprous - Melodies of Atonement
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Wild God
Thrown - Excessive Guilt
Oceano - Living Chaos
Satan’s Satyrs - After Dark
Phaëthon - Wielder of the Steel
Teeth - The Will of Hate
Anciients - Beyond the Reach of the Sun
Deceased - Children of the Morgue
Concrete Winds - Concrete Winds
Avmakt - Satanic Inversion of…
Copse - MMXXIV
Cutdown - To the Grave
Chelsea Wolfe - Undone
Hellripper - Fork-Tongued Messiah

Actual mythical albums lead this month's album reviews, as we discuss the actually real Wintersun album Time II, the comeback of Nails, Zeal & Ardor, Twin Atlantic, Four Year Strong, Leprous, & Nile.

Wintersun 40:06
Nails 1:21:18
Zeal & Ardor 1:50:16
Twin Atlantic 2:06:28
Four Year Strong 2:24:22
Leprous 2:37:44
Nile 2:51:32

We catch up to give our take on Bring Me the Horizon's Post Human: Nex Gen, albums from The Story So Far, Joey Valance & Brae, Candy, Umbra Vitae, Rotting Christ, & Julie Christmas, and take a trip to the movies for Ghost's Rite Here Rite Now film.

Ghost 1:59
Bring Me the Horizon 31:08
The Story So Far 1:15:50
Joey Valance & Brae 1:29:47
Candy 1:43:00
Umbra Vitae 1:53:47
Rotting Christ 2:05:56
Julie Christmas 2:20:37

In May Album Clubs, we take the opportune time to fairly assess My Chemical Romance's as yet final album Danger Days. From there we dive into a world of weirdness with Swans' White Light from the Mouth of Infinity, Big Black's affront to tastefulness Songs About Fucking, and Sigh's ode to madness In Somniphobia.

This episode was originally published May 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

In a week with Turnstile up for multiple Grammys, we head into our last reviews bag of 2022 with albums from Nickelback, Skin Failure, Devin Townsend, SpiritWorld, High Command, Turnover, Dream Unending, & Spider God.

Nickelback 37:57
Skin Failure 1:00:09
Devin Townsend 1:14:47
SpiritWorld 1:30:27
High Command 1:41:29
Turnover 1:51:46
Dream Unending 2:04:44
Spider God 2:18:45

This week we review this year's massive Damnation, seeing exclusive album sets from the likes of Converge and Pig Destroyer as the event steps up to a much larger part of the festival year, and the enormous line-up for 2023's Download is revealed.

Releases:
Skin Failure - Radillac
L.S. Dunes - Past Lives
Chelsea Grin - Suffer In Hell
He Is Legend - Endless Hallway
Xentrix - Seven Words
Dream Unending - Song of Salvation
Bonecarver - Carnage Funeral
Spider God - Fly in the Trap
Kampfar - Til Klovers Takt
Fell Ruin - Cast In Oil The Dressed Wrought
Constellatia - Magisterial Romance
Fjort - Nicht
Envy - Seimei
Last In Line - A Day in the Life
Epica - The Alchemy Project

Hyperblasts mulls over the news that the Lingua Ignota project is being retired, casts an eye over some potential festival hints, and picks a bunch of the perfect rock mixes.

Releases:
Devin Townsend - Lightwork
Turnover - Myself in the Way
Ingested - Ashes Lie Still
ChuggaBoom - Death Pledge
Dayseeker - Dark Sun
Born Without Bones - Dancer
Warlung - Vulture’s Paradise
InTechnicolour - Midnight Heavyweight
The Offering - Seeking the Elephant
96 Bitter Beings - Synergy Restored
Black Mirrors - Tomorrow Will Be Without Us
Black Anvil - Regenesis
Mord’A’Stigmata - Like Ants and Snakes
Frank Bello - Then I’m Gone

In this week's Hyperblasts round up When We Were Young got windy, and as it's Halloween we book a TNM Spooktacular and hypothesise the Universal monster's record collections.

Releases:
The Otolith - Folium Limina
Darkthrone - Astral Fortress
Dead Cross - II
Polyphia - Remember That You Will Die
Show Me the Body - Trouble the Water
Implore - The Burden of Existence
Fit for a King - The Hell We Create
The Gloom in the Corner - Trinity
Fire from the Gods - Soul Revolution
Single Mothers - Everything You Need
Therion - Leviathan II
Obsidious - Iconic
Worm - Bluenothing
Psychonaut - Violate Consensus Reality
Noctem - Credo Certe Ne Cras
Despised Icon - Déterré

This week's Hyperblasts reviews Architects' star-shooting new album, as well as covering the fiasco around Blink-182 tickets, Botch continuing to definitely not exist, and wondering which band could fight off the most goblins.

Releases:
Brutus - Unison Life
Cabal - Magno Interitus
Inclination - Unaltered Perspective
Witch Fever - Congregation
84 Tigers - Time in the Lighthouse
Orden Ogan - Final Days: Orden Ogan and Friends
Avantasia - A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society
Avatarium - Death, Where is Your Sting
Sahg - Born Demon
Black Royal - Earthbound
Exhumed - To the Dead
Battalions - King of a Dead World
Black Veil Brides - The Mourning
Full of Hell - Aurora Leaking from an Open Wound
Architects - The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit

In April's Album Clubs, AC/DC re-ascend to the throne with Black Ice, we return to the dawn of NYHC with Agnostic Front's Victim In Pain, celebrate the growing legacy of In Solitude's gothic heavy metal swansong Sister, and Kids In Glass Houses... try?

This episode was originally published April 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

The reaction to the Blink-182 return, October's reviews highlight massive drops in the metal calendar from Lamb of God and Lorna Shore, as well as records from Brutus, Counterparts, Press Club, Cloud Rat, and Cabal.

Lamb of God 33:53
Lorna Shore 55:42
Brutus 1:16:19
Counterparts 1:28:01
Press Club 1:40:20
Cloud Rat 1:47:25
Cabal 2:00:33

It's an episode of heavy live music logistics, with Depeche Mode, Iron Maiden and While She Sleeps all announcing massive shows, a trip to Behemoth and Arch Enemy's co-headlining European Siege tour, and Rammstein shake up the board with their legal action against resale giant Viagogo.

Releases:
Acid Witch - Rot Among Us
Melvins - Bad Moon Rising
Lamb of God - Omens
Wednesday 13 - Horrifier
Vukovi - Nula
A.A. Williams - As the Moon Rests
Bush - The Art of Survival
Counterparts - A Eulogy for Those Still Here
Get the Shot - Merciless Destruction
Armed for Apocalypse - Ritual Violence
Goatwhore - Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven
Cloud Rat - Threshold
The Antichrist Imperium - Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory
Faceless Burial - At the Foothills of Deliration
Languish - Feeding the Flames of Annihilation
Aenaon - Mnemosyne
De Profundis - The Corruption of Virtue
Queensrÿche - Digital Noise Alliance
Fucked Up - Oberon
Ancst - Zorn

One more massive record this month comes from Slipknot with this week's Hyperblasts holding our review of The End, So Far, the record that sees the band double down on dark experimentation and churning gloom for the discerning maggots.

Releases:
Gaerea - Mirage
KEN Mode - Null
Daufødt - Aromaterapi
Kid Kapichi - Here’s What You Could Have Won
Stratovarius - Survive
Venom Inc. - There’s Only Black
Razor - Cycle of Contempt
Frayle - Skin & Sorrow
Gutvoid - Durance of Lightless Horizons
Live Burial - My Head as Tribute
Lostalone - The Warring Twenties
Drowning Pool - Strike a Nerve
Lost Society - If the Sky Came Down
Tankard - Pavlov’s Dawgs
Autopsy - Morbidity Triumphant
Stake - Love, Death and Decay
Off! - Free LSD
No Sun - In the Interim
ColdWorld - Isolation
Strigoi - Viscera
Godeater - Vespera
Darkest Era - Wither on the Vine
Escuela Grind - Memory Theater
Autophagy - Bacteriophage
Sammy Hagar and the Circle - Crazy Times
Dropkick Murphys - This Machine Still Kills Fascists
Slipknot - The End, So Far

A huge live music summer continues with gigs galore but also the reports of drama, mismanagement, and poisoning coming out of Download Festival 2024.

Releases:
The Story So Far - I Want to Disappear
Wage War - Stigma
Kittie - Fire
Alcest - Les Chants De l’Aurore
earthtone9 - In Resonance Nexus
Foreign Hands - What’s Left Unsaid
Calcine - Common Love Common Nausea
The Dangerous Summer - Gravity
Sumac - The Healer
Portrait - The Host
Hyperdontia - Harvest of Malevolence
Sarke - Endo Feight
Kvaen - The Formless Fires
Cavalera Conspiracy - Schizophrenia
Black Veil Brides - Bleeders

It's the review motherlode from 2022's biggest month, with Parkway Drive, The Callous Daoboys, Megadeth, Behemoth, Clutch, Electric Callboy, Sumerlands, and The Wonder Years albums giving us disagreements, ethical discussions, huge tunes, and "ready spaghetti".

Parkway Drive 28:20
The Callous Daoboys 1:04:45
Megadeth 1:25:17
Behemoth 1:49:50
Clutch 2:19:25
Electric Callboy 2:32:11
Sumerlands 2:56:37
The Wonder Years 3:08:57

For March Album Clubs, time thaws on Judas Priest's poptastic Turbo, doesn't on The Rasmus' school disco goth with Dead Letters, there's Turbonegro's Scandipunk watershed Apocalypse Dudes, and Celtic Frost make metal's most revolutionary ever statement with Into the Pandemonium.

This episode was originally published March 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

A bumper live reviews pack checks out Machine Head and Amon Amarth's Vikings & Lionhearts tour, Blood Command, and The Xcerts, as well as a consideration of the reviewer mindset, and The Black Dahlia Murder looking to continue on.

Releases:
Behemoth - Opvs Contra Natvrum
Clutch - Sunrise On Slaughter Beach
The Mars Volta - The Mars Volta
Sumerlands - Dreamkiller
No Devotion - No Oblivion
Blaqk Audio - Trop d’amour
Death Cab for Cutie - Asphalt Meadows
Suede - Autofiction
Destrage - So Much. Too Much.
The Devil Wears Prada - Color Decay
Mindforce - New Lords
The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field
Spiritus Mortis - The Great Seal
Tribal Gaze - The Nine Choirs
Mortuous - Upon Desolation
Innumerable Forms - Philosophical Collapse
Phobophilic - Enveloping Absurdity
Wolfheart - King of the Abyss
Irist - Gloria

Sam joined Perran for an impromptu weekend at the first and last UK Deathfest, in a week that also saw the first Taylor Hawkins tribute show, Fat Mike hinting that NOFX will be calling it quits, and Darkthrone continually topping their own album announcements like the kings they are.

Releases:
Parkway Drive - Darker Still
Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number 9
Stray From the Path - Euthanasia
Bloodbath - Survival of the Sickest
Revocation - Netherheaven
Electric Callboy - Tekkno
Tallah - The Generation of Danger
I Am - Eternal Steel
Demon Hunter - Exile
Holy Fawn - Dimensional Bleed
Armor for Sleep - The Rain Museum
Afghan Wigs - How Do You Burn?
Flogging Molly - Anthem
Fallujah - Empyrean
Crippled Black Phoenix - Banefyre
Valborg - Der Alte

This week's Hyperblasts holds the much heralded review of Muse's further dive into lunacy Will of the People. Conversely there is the much more serious and important discussion around the news concerning Neurosis this week.

Releases:
Megadeth - The Sick, The Dying… and the Dead!
Blind Guardian - The God Machine
The Callous Daoboys - Celebrity Therapist
Miss May I - Curse of Existence
156/Silence - Narrative
Vermin Womb - Retaliation
The Hu - Rumble of Thunder
Carnal Ruin - Soulless I Remain
State of You - State of You

Some big summer album reviews with the massive return of Machine Head, The Interrupters, a melodeath barrage with Amon Amarth, The Halo Effect, and Arch Enemy, Sigh, and Thoughtcrimes, as well a new Botch song after 20 years that people were very normal about.

Machine Head 26:42
The Interrupters 55:06
Amon Amarth 1:11:23
The Halo Effect 1:31:50
Arch Enemy 1:41:30
Sigh 1:52:41
Thoughtcrimes 2:06:03

Album Club Pack returns for Round 2, landing a hard rocking grunge classic in Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, The Defiled's independent industrial metalcore debut Grave Times, a 2010s alt rock cornerstone in Basement's Colourmeinkindness, and an extreme metal Valentine's Day special on Bloodbath's Nightmares Made Flesh.

This episode was originally published February 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

A lot later than intended due to the small matter of needing a whole new microphone, but finally the That's Not Metal review of Bloodstock Festival 2022 is here! Perran is joined by Elliot Paisley to talk the UK heavy metal event headlined by Behemoth, Mercyful Fate, and Lamb of God.

The first new music from Fugitive featuring members of Power Trip and Creeping Death is here, with Ozzy and Iommi appearing at the Commonwealth games, and trying to reach for what are the worst albums we still secretly love.

Releases:
Arch Enemy - Deceivers
The Halo Effect - Days of the Lost
Norma Jean - Deathrattle Sing for Me
Hollywood Undead - Hotel Kalifornia
Boris - Heavy Rocks
Locrian - New Catastrophisms
AEIR - A Frith Befouled
Acid Blade - Power Dive
Weregoat - The Devil’s Lust
Kreator - Live at Bloodstock 2021

There's festival news around the world from Music Midtown's gun-caused cancellation to theorising on the identity of Bloodstock's first ever secret band, picking what bands would be on a TNM tour in 2022, and we cast our eyes over the clues that suggest Botch might actually be reuniting after all. If they're not trolling.

Releases:
The Interrupters - In the Wild
Amon Amarth - The Great Heathen Army
Soulfly - Totem
Dub War - Westgate Under Fire
Savage Master - Those Who Hunt At Night
The Flatliners - New Ruin
Mercy Union - White Tiger
Hot Milk - The King and Queen of Gasoline
Psycroptic - Divine Council
Abaddon Incarnate - The Wretched Sermon
Ether Coven - The Relationship Between the Hammer and the Nail
Liminal Shroud - All Virtues Ablaze
Wampyric Rites - The Wolves Howl to the Moon

The season of the big rock shows begins with Paramore supporting at The Eras Tour, double Metallica, Weezer + Pumpkins, as well as tonnes of new singles including big returns for Nails and The Black Dahlia Murder, and discussion of the Barclay's Boycott at Download Festival.

Releases:
Black Country Communion - V
The Early November - Self-Titled
Fu Manchu - The Return of Tomorrow
Julie Christmas - Ridiculous and Full of Blood
Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose
Lucifer’s Hammer - Be and Exist
Rezn - Burden
Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God
Downfall of Mankind - Purgatory
Malignancy - …Discontinued
Embryonic Autopsy - Origins of the Deformed
Groin - Paid In Flesh
Fellwarden - Legend: Forged In Defiance

On the eve of their new album release we're joined by Cammie Gilbert of Oceans of Slumber to talk about Louisiana sludge, classic Seattle, turbulent Americana and Scandinavian folk-pop.

Agents of Oblivion - Agents of Oblivion

Alice In Chains - Dirt

Mark Lanegan - Blues Funeral

Soundgarden - Superunknown

The Civil Wars - The Civil Wars

Eivør - Slør

This episode was originally published as early access on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

A heavy rock band are actually up for the Mercury Music Prize for once, we pick the best riffs of 2022 and the best songs to test your headphones with, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are back at it again.

Releases:
Ithaca - They Fear Us
Dune Rats - Real Rare Whale
Stick to Your Guns - Spectre
Bastions - Majestic Desolation
Dance Gavin Dance - Jackpot Juicer
Beach Rats - Rat Beat
Unwritten Law - The Hum
Anberlin - Silverline
Funeral Chic - Roman Candle
Krisiun - Mortem Solis
Triumvir Foul - Onslaught to Seraphim

It's time for one of modern metal's great traditions, the lowdown on a full new Slipknot era with reactions to new album, new songs and new masks. There's also a contentious new A Day to Remember single coming out of the You're Welcome cycle, as well as heavy discussion on what rising ticket prices at Download Festival could mean, and remembrance of one of heavy metal's great modern painters Mariusz Lewandowski.

Releases:
Deaf Havana - The Present is a Foreign Land
Senses Fail - Hell is in Your Head
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead - XI: Bleed Here Now
The Ever Living - Artificial Devices
Mantar - Pain is Forever and This is the End
Haunt - Windows of Your Heart
Fellowship - The Saberlight Chronicles
Behold! The Monolith - From the Fathomless Deep
Inhuman Condition - Fearsick
Molder - Engrossed In Decay
Maul - Seraphic Punishment
Hissing - Hypervirulence Architecture
Tombs - Ex Oblivion
Imperial Triumphant - Spirit of Ecstasy
Oceans of Slumber - Starlight and Ash
Witchery - Nightside
Palisades - Reaching Hypercritical
Wake - Thought Form Descent
Castrator - Defiled In Oblivion
Nicolas Cage Fighter - The Bones That Grew From Pain
Teethgrinder - Dystopia
Nebula - Transmission from Mothership Earth
Karl Sanders - Saurian Apocalypse
Panzerfaust - The Suns of Perdition - Chapter III: The Astral Drain
Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture
Pool Kids - Pool Kids

Album Club has a brand new home, giving you a month's worth of classic records in one swoop as our first episode positions Enter Shikari's A Flash Flood of Colour as the springboard for their next ten years, unearths Porcupine Tree's information age prog dystopia Fear of a Blank Planet, considers the untapped potential of Black Peaks' All That Divides, and tries to do justice to the profound heartbreaker that is Woods of Ypres' Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light.

This episode was originally published January 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

Incredibly dense and rich albums populate reviews with a returning Porcupine Tree, Conjurer, Greg Puciato, Ithaca, Imperial Triumphant, Blood Command, Wormrot, and Oceans of Slumber, but news that Pantera are "reuniting" seems maddest of all.

Porcupine Tree 38:16
Conjurer 56:05
Greg Puciato 1:18:49
Ithaca 1:32:35
Imperial Triumphant 1:46:25
Blood Command 2:07:12
Wormrot 2:26:20
Oceans of Slumber 2:44:10

Having made Kate Bush the most popular artist on planet Earth, we talk about the Stranger Things train lifting Metallica's Master of Puppets to similar heights, as well as the best metalhead character in popular media in years.

Releases:
Wormrot - Hiss
Vomit Forth - Seething Malevolence
Altars - Ascetic Reflection
Blind Channel - Lifestyles of the Sick & Dangerous
The Machinist - All is Not Well
Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

This week's Hyperblasts also sees a full review of last weekend's Outbreak Festival, where an arena-sized crowd signed mosh waivers to leap off stages for the likes of Turnstile, Knocked Loose, Deafheaven, & Vein.fm in what turned out to be a landmark year.

Releases:
Conjurer - Páthos
Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell
Blood Command - Praise Armageddonism
Municipal Waste - Electrified Brain
Shinedown - Planet Zero
Frayle - Skin & Sorrow
Thirteen Goats - Servants of the Outer Dark
Black Cilice - Esoteric Atavism
Hulder - The Eternal Fanfare
Massacre - Mythos
Fresh - Raise Hell
Camp Trash - The Long Way, The Slow Way
Chief State - Waiting For Your Colours

Reports from the first Nine Inch Nails UK shows in 4 years as well as SeeYouSpaceCowboy..., the first new music in a decade from The Mars Volta, new Megadeth, and a surprise Spiritbox banger heading up a wealth of new music, and one of the most overwhelming release weeks of the year.

Releases:
Alexisonfire - Otherness
Coheed & Cambria - Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind
Final Light - Final Light
Nervus - The Evil One
Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation
Candy - Heaven is Here
Dune Rats - Real Rare Whale
Petrol Girls - Baby
Graywave - Rebirth
Saor - Origins
Khold - Svartsyn
Entrails - An Eternal Time of Decay
Darkane - Inhuman Spirits
Werewolves - From the Cave to the Grave
Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands
Vicious Blade - Siege of Cruelty

Perran and Mark consider the news of a four day Download next year, the loss of The Pit/Lock Up stage at Reading & Leeds, the pros and cons of growling kids on talent shows, and a bunch of new tracks including a return to form In Flames and Steve Aoki putting his fingers in some rock music pies again.

Releases:
D.R.U.G.S. - Destroy Rebuild
Lit - Tastes Like Gold
Nova Twins - Supernova
Civil War - Invaders
Esoctrilihum - Consecration of the Spiritus Flesh
White Ward - False Light
Weezer - SZNS: Summer

Returning from Slam Dunk weekend, Alexisonfire's comeback album and another stormer from Kreator head up reviews with Bleed From Within, Coheed and Cambria, Joyce Manor, Final Light, Astronoid, & Nervus.

Alexisonfire 22:31
Kreator 41:38
Bleed From Within 56:31
Coheed and Cambria 1:09:07
Joyce Manor 1:19:48
Final Light 1:30:01
Astronoid 1:41:17
Nervus 1:52:15

After last week's trip to Slam Dunk, we hop to the other side of the UK festival spectrum to the upcoming black metal event Fortress Festival, headlined by Triptykon and Wolves in the Throne Room and setting black metal at the beach.

Releases:
Bon Jovi - Forever
Royal Republic - LoveCop
Apocalyptica - Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2
Evergrey - Theories of Emptiness
Joey Valance & Brae - No Hands
Sect - Plagues Upon Plagues
Candy - It’s Inside You
Umbra Vitae - Light of Death
Severe Torture - Torn from the Jaws of Death
Torturers’ Lobby - Deadened Nerves
Dysrhythmia - Coffin of Conviction
Hippotraktor - Stasis
Gurt - Satan Etc
Ernte - Weltenzerstorer

Perran's joined by guest Mark Sandison to talk about the feral action going down at Maryland Deathfest, Bring Me the Horizon's throwback Malta set, new tunes from Amon Amarth and Panic! At the Disco, but mainly the feral action going down at Maryland Deathfest. Good grief.

Releases:
The Chasm - The Scars of a Lost Reflective Shadow
Kreator - Hate Uber Alles
Bleed From Within - Shrine
Astronoid - Radiant Bloom
Gwar - The New Dark Ages
The Algorithm - Data Renaissance
Artificial Brain - Artificial Brain
Origin - Chaosmos
Crobot - Feel This
Memphis May Fire - Remade In Misery
No Pressure - No Pressure
Temple of Void - Summoning the Slayer
Killswitch Engage - Live at the Palladium

Milton Keynes' transport network is sent into meltdown by a bunch of emos as My Chemical Romance, Mayhem, and Elton John (not on the same bill) saw a crazy Saturday night. With this episode though we salute Alec Chillingworth, who takes his leave from TNM. Cheers for your love everybody, one and all.

Releases:
Decapitated - Cancer Culture
Def Leppard - Diamond Star Halos
Tremonti - Tremonti Sings Sinatra
Liam Gallagher - C’mon You Know
bigLOVE - Crusaders of Joy
Besvärjelsen - Atlas
Lord Belial - Rapture
Sacrifizer - Le diamant de Lucifer
Black Void - Antithesis
Spiter - Bathe the Babe in Bat’s Blood
Mournful Congregation - The Exuviae of Gods Part I
Baest - Justitia

As My Chemical Romance surprise us with their first new song, there's more talk of deathcore bands sneaking in Euro-metal with Lorna Shore's new track, charlatans selling the wrong rock artists at the Eurovision Song Contest, attempts to dodge flying setlist spoilers, and a general weird gig trip to Oranssi Pazuzu.

Releases:
Pkew Pkew Pkew - Open Bar
State Champs - Kings of the New Age
Moon Tooth - Phototroph
Visions of Atlantis - Pirates
Misery Index - Complete Control
Jungle Rot - A Call to Arms
Primitive Man - Insurmountable
Famyne - II: The Ground Below
Malevolence - Malicious Intent
Static Dress - Rouge Carpet Disaster
Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
Septicflesh - Modern Primitive
Casket Feeder - Servants of Violence
Anvil - Impact is Imminent
James LaBrie - Beautiful Shade of Grey
Evergrey - A Heartless Portrait: The Orphean Testament
Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses
Predatory Light - Death and the Twilight Hours
Luminous Vault - Animate the Emptiness
Come to Grief - When the World Dies
Unbowed - Colour the Soul
Be Well - Hello Sun

Some potential break-out records and long-awaited works populate May reviews with Ibaraki, Malevolence, Static Dress, Cave In, Puppy, Septicflesh, and Casket Feeder, but first, after the heartbreaking news we remember the wonderful Trevor Strnad.

Ibaraki 26:53
Malevolence 58:15
Static Dress 1:13:28
Cave In 1:25:46
Puppy 1:42:36
Septicflesh 1:55:56
Casket Feeder 2:08:51

The mystery of Rammstein's possible fake tour dates has us scratching our heads, Suicide Silence make a blast return to their roots, and we talk about versatile vocalists, our personal most important hardcore bands, and question what it could take to knock some of the big league bands off the top, as well as live reports from Tool's Fear Inoculum tour and Helloween's returning run.

Releases:
Halestorm - Back from the Dead
Fozzy - Boombox
Three Days Grace - Explosions
Silverstein - Misery Made Me
Simple Plan - Harder Than It Looks
Stand Atlantic - F.E.A.R.
Upon a Burning Body - Fury
Ibaraki - Rashomon
Terror - Pain Into Power
Puppy - Pure Evil
God Mother - Obeveklig
Chamber - Carved In Stone
Ufomammut - Fenice
Wo Fat - The Singularity
Cosmic Putrefaction - Crepuscular Dirge for the Blessed Ones
Tómarúm - Ash In Realms of Stone Icons
Haunter - Discarnate Alis
Malthusian / Suffering Hour - Time's Withering Shadow
Negative Plane - The Pact

This week's Hyperblasts sees our review of Rammstein's dramatic and diverse new album Zeit swiftly coming through the pandemic with more actual music, along with all the usual news antics.

Releases:
Watain - The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain
Devil Master - Ecstasies of Never Ending Night
Mizmor & Thou - Myopia
The Gathering - Beautiful Distortion
Dälek - Precipice
Helms Alee - Keep This Be the Way
The Lord - Forest Nocturne
Dischordia - Triptych
Al-Namrood - Worship the Degenerate
No/Más - Consume/Deny/Repent
Throwe - Forfald
Skull Fist - Paid In Full
Udo Dirkschneider - My Way
Beachdog - Beachdog
James and the Cold Gun - False Start
Heriot - Profound Morality
Rammstein - Zeit

Architects, While She Sleeps, The Wonder Years and Tribulation lead a barrage of tracks, and we cast our minds over ill-fitting collaborations.

Releases:
Darkher - The Buried Storm
Prince Daddy & the Hyena - Prince Daddy & the Hyena
Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Etc.
Rope Sect - Metanoia Sessions
The Troops of Doom - Antichrist Reborn
These Arms are Snakes - Duct Tapes & Shivering Crows
Greyhaven - This Bright and Beautiful World
Monuments - In Stasis
Analepsy - Quiescence
Egregore - The Word of His Law
Incandescence - Le Couer De L'Homme
Månegarm - Ynglingaättens öde
Undeath - It's Time... To Rise from the Grave
Bob Vylan - Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life
Northlane - Obsidian
Ocean Grove - Up in the Air Forever
Bodysnatcher - Bleed-Abide
Primus - Conspiranoid
Audrey Horne - Devil's Bell
Amenra / Cave In / Marissa Nadler - Songs of Townes van Zandt Vol. III
Vanum - Legend
Corpsessed - Succumb to Rot
Archgoat - All Christianity Ends
Static Abyss - Labyrinth of Veins
Mirror - The Day Bastard Leaders Die
Caliban - Dystopia
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizzard - Omnium Gatherum
Tribulation - The Dhampir

Divisive picks and party tricks lead April's reviews on TNM of new Meshuggah, PUP, Watain, Carpenter Brut, Undeath, Devil Master, Cancer Bats, and The Good, The Bad and the Zugly, as well as a first trip to Ghost's Imperatour.

Meshuggah 24:27
PUP 57:13
Watain 1:15:40
Carpenter Brut 1:43:26
Undeath 1:58:31
Devil Master 2:10:36
Cancer Bats 2:22:40
The Good, The Bad and the Zugly 2:34:43

The yearly Grammys sigh comes from bizarre decision of metal winner, Clutch hit us with the first taste of their next album (mystic), and Rammstein get misshapen in the Zick Zack video.

Releases:
Papa Roach - Ego Trip
The Good, The Bad and the Zugly - Research and Destroy
Health - Disco 4: Part II
Destruction - Diabolical
Hällas - Isle of Wisdom
Mors Principium Est - Liberate the Unborn Inhumanity
Tome of the Unreplenished - Earthbound
Terzij de Horde - In One of These, I am Your Enemy
Signals Midwest - Dent
Oceanator - Nothing's Ever Fine
Heart to Gold - Tom

Returning by popular demand after last week's launch, our new news and questions show takes a moment to celebrate the life of Taylor Hawkins, before turning to The Gaslight Anthem returning as an active band and the potential of a remixed The Blackest Beautiful edition. Alec hears of Pen Pineapple Apple Pen for the first time.

Releases:
Meshuggah - Immutable
PUP - THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love
Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
The Hellacopters - Eyes of Oblivion
Satan - Earth Infernal
GGGOLDDD - This Shame Should Not Be Mine
Black Death Cult - Diaspora
Blood Countess - Occulta Tenebrais
Kublai Khan - The Lowest Form of Animal
Devon Kay & the Solutions - Grieving Expectation
Evil Invaders - Shattering Reflection
Nite - Voices of the Kronian Moon
Ignite - Ignite

We take a trip to 2024's Slam Dunk event, and Nile come out with the song title of the year.

Releases:
Rotting Christ - Pro Xristou
Spiter - Enter the Gates of Fucking Hell
Thou - Umbilical
CHVE - Kalvarie
Four Stroke Baron - Data Diamond
The Hope Conspiracy - Tools of Oppression / Rule by Deception
Rhapsody of Fire - Challenge the Wind
Saltatio Mortis - Finsterwacht
Cloven Hoof - Heathen Cross
Bad Nerves - Still Nervous
Bad Breeding - Contempt
Hellbutcher - Hellbutcher
Troops of Doom - A Mass to the Grotesque
Shrapnel - In Gravity
House by the Cemetery - The Mortuary Hauntings
Haunted Plasma - I
Whoredom Rife - Den Vrede Makt
Wormwood - The Star
Graywave - Dancing in the Dust
Exodus - British Disaster: The Battle of ‘89 (Live at the Astoria)
Black Sabbath - Anno Domini 1989-1995

We debut our much-requested weekly news and questions show, dissecting Ghost's chart performance for Impera, the bands who've done best and worst during the pandemic, and lay out our first release calendar.

RELEASES:
Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems
Camp Cope - Running With the Hurricane
Helpless - Caged In Gold
Dream Widow - Dream Widow
Placebo - Never Let Me Go
Abbath - Dread Reaver
Sakis Tolis - Among the Fires of Hell
Absent In Body - Plague God
Emma Ruth Rundle - Orpheus Looking Back
Killing Joke - Lord of Chaos
Animals As Leaders - Parrhesia
Port Noir - Cuts
Architects - For Those That Wish to Exist At Abbey Road
Bâ'a - Egrégore
Falls of Rauros - Keys to a Vanishing Future
Desolate Shrine - Fires of the Dying World
Father Befouled - Crowned In Veneficum
Kanonenfieber - Yankee Division / Stop the War
MWWB - The Harvest
Reckless Love - Turborider

We lead with a huge look at Ghost's Impera in our March reviews as Papa guns for the bigtime, with Vein.fm, some right jokes with Sabaton, Midnight, Camp Cope, Soul Glo, Helpless, and Véhémence, as well as Rammstein's return.

Ghost 29:05
Vein.fm 1:05:17
Sabaton 1:27:02
Midnight 1:50:45
Camp Cope 2:01:24
Soul Glo 2:12:17
Helpless 2:24:39
Véhémence 2:33:01

TNM Does Horror turns a year old, so we're throwing a birthday bash for all listeners with the new Scream & Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. It's a face-off of the re-quels, both spinning commentary on the idea, with some surprise disagreements on what's really going on in them.