June wrap-up 2026

Feat. Fleshcrawl, Warning, Tarja, Blood Incantation, August Burns Red, et al.

For this month's edition of albums I didn't review because I also have to sleep, I'd like to start off in the category of positive surprises.

For a group with a name like August Burns Red, their new album was actually not that bad. It had some gnarly riffing, standout leads, and some noticeable rhythmic finesse. Very tightly played. First and foremost, though, it was blessedly without those wimpy pop elements that often blemish this corner of supposed metal. I didn't finish it, though, because much like virtually everything else in its genre, it had those tediously predictable fucking breakdowns in EVERY SINGLE TRACK. I've heard them all before, and these ones sound exactly the same as 99% of all the others – except for the breakdowns in Lorna Shore, but upon hearing those, any other breakdown sounds kinda unimpressive in comparison. Do you see how any listener with a modicum of awareness of songwriting features gets desensitized to this ONE songwriting feature when you're over-milking it like that?

In somewhat the same category was yet another new LP form Converge who seem to be on a productive roll these months. It wasn't necessarily very memorable, but it had a much sharper and more raw edge and desperation that reminds me more of a band like Neurosis than any other generic kind of hardcore group. I might not be taking a deep dive into these guys anytime soon but I'll definitely acknowledge this effort.

I'm normally not a fan of that whole opera metal thing (unless it's the two first Avantasia albums), but the new output from former Nightwish diva Tarja Turunen got me a bit curious. Not only did it present an unashamedly dynamic production unlike those heard in way too much contemporary metal, but also some neat riffing and some interesting features like horns, meditation gongs, and guest appearances by Marko Hietala and Dani Filth. And, needless to say, her vocals that should please any fan of operatic ditto. It's not the kinda thing I'd necessarily put on, but I wouldn't mind listening to some more of her back catalogue – if not giving Nightwish yet another chance.

On to death metal. With "Epitome of Carnage", well-kept German secret Fleshcrawl put out 40 minutes of lovely old school DM with that really gnarly, biting distortion tone that sounds like those 90s Stockholm groups such as Dismember and Entombed. Badass riffs, even a couple of memorable leads. If I could prioritize reviewing this, it would get a 5 out of 6. Also Nunslaughter put out a round of true, blasphemous DM. The drums were a little untight and with a bit too high mid-range EQ, and the vocals and lyrics were a little monotonous. But the whole thing still sounded like a masterpiece next to all that sorry-ass plastic metal these days.

Also, hype generators Blood Incantation put out a sorta soundtrack, apparently, to a new documentary about the band. Lotta noise surrounding last year's "Absolute Elsewhere", and with good reason. But I didn't hear this one because nobody put it on YouTube like we've talked about before. But it's still only a soundtrack, so it doesn't really count anyway. Same thing went for the new album from The 69 Eyes – not that they're death metal or put out a soundtrack, but that I might have reviewed their new LP had it been on YouTube. Welp, their loss.

The first half of the new Evergrey sounded nice like its predecessor, and it had some sweet soloing, but nothing really stuck out. Like much of their other music, it was clean without being sterile, and melodic without being poppy, but also without being memorable – just rather kinda bland. Not bad, but not interesting, either.

One of the big comebacks of 2026 is undoubtedly "Rituals of Shame" – the first LP in 20 years from Britain's well-kept doom metal connoisseur secret Warning. And comeback or not, it was damn fine. Meticulous, unhurried, and emotional. Not mysterious and stately, but longing, sentimental, and sad. That lead vocal vibrato might part the waters for some, and the whole thing is a bit on the constant side for my taste in doom. But it didn't set itself up for some great comeback only to bellyflop; it worked because it kept on doing a few things really, really well.

My countrymen in Speedslut released "Cimbrian Rites" – a round of cool, ugly, aggressive speed metal, but with a bit much reverb on it, making the whole thing sound like it was recorded in a hangar or something. It started getting a bit too monotonous eventually, but their style and energy are rad.

The new LP from folk metal veterans Einherjer should please any fan of the genre. It wasn't anywhere near as catchy and inspired as last year's masterful release from Månegarm, but pretty sturdy black-y folk metal nonetheless. And finally, the new Masterplan album was the definition of an in-one-ear-out-the-other 3-out-of-6. The band has lots of good intentions, and the album had a few hooky moments, but overall, it was a deluge of filler ideas and a horribly compressed mixing. Also, Jorn isn't with them any longer. Anybody know what he's up to these days?

Apart from not reviewing any new albums in June, yours truly went to the second round of the Hamburg Metal BC meetings and to Copenhell. The former was unconditionally enjoyable. The latter was enjoyable when good bands were playing – especially Anthrax, Saxon, A Perfect Circle, and, of course, Iron Maiden were sublime. But it left an ugly taste in this headbanger's mouth being on a festival that's paid money to have anti-metal bullshit like P.O.D. and Papa Roach performing. So much so that my regular post-festival summary virtually turned into an essay about how metal is dying. And I bitterly stand by every word.

It seems like July won't have a lot of interesting new output, either. We do have new releases from Deep Purple and Moonspell already out. I'll most likely be reviewing the new Psycroptic album; we'll see about the ones from DevilDriver and The Hu. Hahah, or the ones from Combichrist and Five Finger Death Punch.

Apart from that, yours truly will finally be hitting the road again and going to some old countries again, so I might do some travel recommendation vids from there as per standard mode. Either way, stay tuned and stay true.

Thanks for reading.
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