April wrap-up 2026

Feat. Immolation, Foo Fighters, Six Feet Under, Sunn0))), Crimson Glory, Nervosa, et al.

Another month, another buncha new albums I didn't review because that shit takes time, y'all.

I heard the new Nervosa a coupla times, and purely production- and energy-wise, it was impeccable insofar as metal goes. However, its demeanor got a bit repetitive eventually, probably because none of the tracks really popped out. But if you get the chance to catch them live, go for it. They haul ass.

Sunn0))) put out a new LP. I almost wish I could say something about it, but, I mean… If you know the band, you will know that their particular flavor is most particular, and that it kinda defies words. Also in this case – in fact, especially in this case – you gotta check 'em out live if you haven't. Or if you have.

I loved Green Carnation's gigantic amalgamation between doom metal and prog rock on "A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia" from last year. I didn't review it due to time constraints, so it'd be weird to review this year's follow-up, "A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis". In fact, I only heard it once, which is not enough by far for a review of material like this. It sounded great, but there's too much else getting spit out all of a sudden. Man, if I could get sponsored, I'd just sit around and do reviews. Yeah, and travel, of course. Sit around and travel. Right.

Perhaps one of the more curious releases from last month was the Melvins / Napalm Death collab "Savage Imperial Death March". It did have some cool ideas and memorable riffs, but it was largely a jumble of random jamming and capricious noise, and it'll end up a peculiar footnote in metal history more than anything else.

Crimson Glory released their first LP since "Astronomica". That's 27 years, for those not counting. And it did sound like the band used to – their new vocalist even has a resonance and technique similar to Midnight (R.I.P.). But the album was void of any noticeably distinguishing elements – kinda generic heavy metal in that semi-proggy, semi-powery corner.

In the same corner, that first half of the new Gus G solo outing that I heard was pretty in-one-ear-out-the-other. Doro was on there, but it sounded like she had an off-day, and Matt Barlow sang something rhyming "fire" with "desire". Yes, and girl, we couldn't get much higher.

Apart from a new album, also Metal Church has yet another new lead singer. Said album gave me some vibes from both Overkill and Iced Earth – apart from the band's classic releases, of course. It had some fine energy and mostly solid songwriting, but it took place on auto-pilot mode a bit too much and ended up outstaying its welcome at +55 minutes. (Also, the opener used that lil' descending riff figure from "Seek and Destroy". You know which one I'm talking about; it's the one that Steel Panther also use in "Death to All But Metal".)

Unlike its predecessor, the new Foo Fighters album rocked pretty hard and seemed to have been written in a very focused mode. But it still lacked those evergreen hooks that made the band's old golden age LPs amazing. (Also, they might not be entirely hard enough for this website, either. But I like 'em, so they get a shoutout.)

Now the ones I didn't hear. First of all there was that Look Outside Your Window thing – you know, that Slipknot side project? However, nobody put it on YouTube. And we've talked about this before: I can't be bothered with streaming, and if your stuff isn't on YouTube, you're missing out on exposure. But allegedly, the album didn't kick that much ass anyway, so, meh.

Also, I had gotten under the impression that Attila Csihar – you know, from Mayhem and aforementioned Sunn0))) and all that – was releasing a solo album. Well, turned out that was just a metalcore band called Attila, whose song titles were so dumb I wouldn't even have bothered listening even if I didn't know it was metalcore. Also, even though I dug what I heard from Dub War back in the day, I took a look at some of the thumbnails and titles from the new Skindred album, and that's all it took to convince me that it shouldn't be mentioned here, or probably anywhere. (WHOOPS DID IT ANYWAY HERP DERP)

I did hear one intro and almost the entire opening track from the new Atreyu album. Faggy melodies, Auto-Tune, and a corporate dick-sucking pop production. Understand this already: Just because music features screaming, distorted guitars, and thrash metal tempos, there are still elements – such as those aforementioned – that negate everything not only metal, but artistic integrity. If you're listening to shit like this, you are actively complicit in putrefying metal, you miserable traitor. No excuses.

(Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh… I need that every time.)

In the world of death metal, Immolation released record of the month, if not more. "Descent" kinda reminded me of the latest album from Hate: not as complex and crushing, but just as dark, otherworldly, and majestic. Perhaps "Descent" isn't top-tier within the genre, but probably with the band, and either way it should satisfy any fan of Immolation and death metal alike.

I heard the first three songs from the new Six Feet Under album. The production was almost non-existing; the drums were way too loud in the mix; the whole thing got way too monotonous way too fast, and Chris Barnes' growl sounds drier than gargling sand. Sure, in and by itself, their old-school vibe IS pretty rad, and the riffs are also quite effective. But the sound and atmosphere are monotonous, and the songwriting is uninspiring.

The new Vomitory album, on the other hand, was hella cool. And, it had enough variation that I was able to enjoy several spins from A to Z, which is not a given. Also a bit of a dry growl, but fucking true death metal, close up there with Immolation, quality-wise.

As for what we DID get in terms of reviews on GMB, Archspire put out an unlikely sorta comeback with a new drummer, possibly even faster than his predecessor, and writing more focused melodies – shit, writing melodies in the first place. Corrosion of Conformity gave this former fan disappointment of the decade with belly flop of the year. (Still far better than that horrid "Atreyu" thing, though.) And At the Gates ended up putting out a relievingly worthy swan song for Tomas Lindberg who left us at only 52, but after a lifetime doing more for metal than most of us ever will. Rock in peace, warrior.

Alright, we got May coming up, and that one's got new releases lined up from the likes of Venom, Darkthrone, Sevendust, Black Veil Brides, Crashdïet, Social Distortion, Pro-Pain, Armored Saint, Devin Townsend, and, not the least of all, this totally new little Norwegian group called Dimmu Borgir. Stay tuned.

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