April is gonna be a large month for metallic. Not solely can we get new albums from Epica, Machine Head, Employed To Serve and Ghost, however we’ll even be getting our first correct glimpse of this month’s Steel Hammer cowl star Papa V Perpetua because the Satanic Swedes hit the highway within the UK. Prime stuff.
However that is moreover the purpose – listed below are the outcomes of final week’s vote! It was a surprisingly tight-run battle for prime spot, with Japan’s Esprit D’Air taking an admirable third place end. However even with their Hollywood connections in vocalist Vera Farmiga, The Yagas could not beat out the would possibly that’s Evanescence and new single Afterlife, a observe that proves Amy Lee and co are nonetheless alt. metallic masters after 20 plus years.
We have extra large choices for you this week as we deliver the newest singles from Babymetal, Sleep Token and Machine Head, in addition to all-new songs from Child Bookie, Dogma, UnityTX and so many extra. As ever, do not forget to inform us which tracks excite you most in the intervening time by voting within the ballot beneath – and have a wonderful weekend. Blissful listening!
“Let’s go!” Babymetal have by no means been averse to a great function. They’re actually leaning into that with new album Steel Forth, the tracklist full of visitor appearances as everybody from Bloodywood to Spiritbox and Electrical Callboy pops up. To have a good time that reality – and the announcement that the album might be with us on June 13 – Babymetal’s newest single sees them staff up with hyperpop maverick Poppy on from me to u. In some ways, the observe appears like a throwback to the sugary candy/thumping beat mixture of Babymetal’s earliest releases, however added howls and breakdowns from Poppy that recall to mind her work with Knocked Unfastened on final 12 months’s epic Suffocate.
Sleep Token – Caramel
Our subsequent style of Sleep Token‘s Even In Arcadia, Caramel appears like maybe essentially the most revelatory tune within the band’s again catalogue. Whereas their lore has lengthy been coached in poeticism and thriller, there are traces right here that appear to instantly acknowledge the struggles of sustaining anonymity and coping with parasocial relationships. “Each time they attempt to shout my actual title simply to get an increase from me“, Vessel sings. “Appearing like I am by no means wired by the rumour/I suppose that is what I get for making an attempt to cover within the limelight.” Seeded amidst a tune that basically performs up the band’s interaction between R&B dynamics and crushing, clattering breakdowns, it is an actual underscore for the distinctive sound and place Sleep Token inhabit in metallic in 2025.
Machine Head – Bonescraper
Did anybody order a large Machine Head banger? ‘Trigger that is positively what we have with Bonescraper, an actual stompy headbanger with a killer hook (“Love is only a loaded gun“) and loads of “whoah-ohs” that’ve received us virtually bouncing on the spot fascinated about their Bloodstock headline look this summer time. With new album Unatoned coming in only a few weeks on April 25, we reckon we’re onto a stormer.
Child Bookie – Get Out (ft. Griffin Taylor)
Six years in the past Child Bookie teamed up with Corey Taylor on the genre-bending Caught In My Methods. Now he is going nex-gen as he recruits Griffin Taylor to deliver large snarls and howls to Get Out. A collision between bassy hip hop and thumping metallic, the observe is strengthened by the fusion of kinds, Taylor bringing some colossal vocal prowess atop a stomping beat that feels prefer it was designed to slay pageant crowds and convey totally different audiences collectively.
Volbeat – Within the Barn of the Goat Giving Start to Devil’s Spawn in a Dying World of Doom
The toughest tune title of 2025? We might need to say so, Volbeat not holding again with their newest single. From slinky nation rock to neck-bothering heavy metallic, it is a distillation of what Volbeat do oh-so-well and a chief instance of why we’ll be delighted when God Of Angels Belief arrives on June 6. Granted, the tune does not go fairly as arduous as its title, however then… what does?
Dogma – Banned
Dogma clearly adore being transgressive. Whereas they may’ve provided up traditional-style heavy metallic on their self-titled debut, their message – and naughty nun aesthetic – was designed to boost hackles with the overly straight-laced. They don’t seem to be stopping with the cheeky sultriness on new single Banned, however the band have traded away their guitars and riffs for nearly doo-wop model swing. Dogma/Twin Temple/Ghost tour when? [we’ll also warn you, probably best to avoid the video if you’re at work or around minors. Ahem].
Ghost Bathtub – Nicely, I Tried Drowning
Ghost Bathtub would possibly play depressive black metallic, however there is a kernal of bleak gallows humour to the title of newest single Nicely, I Tried Drowning. It is not fairly the one lightness amidst the sweeping maelstrom of riffs nonetheless; there are notes of synth and brittle high-end that add an otherworldliness to the blackened fury. Taken from new album Rose Thorn Necklace, due Might 9, it is a reminder that though the times are getting brighter, the darker arts nonetheless thrive.
UnityTX – Heinous
2023’s Ferality was a severe swing for hardcore/hip-hop crossover mob UnityTX. New single Heinous catches the band at their most transgressive, balancing out a stompy, beatdown riff with speedy flows, all enamel and fists in a pleasant combine that brings to thoughts essentially the most livid ends of bands like Biohazard or Stray From The Path with a little bit of electronica chucked within the combine for good measure. On tour in Europe and the UK later this month with metalcore group Thrown, this band are nicely price preserving eyes on.
The Large Hell – Heaven Is aware of I am Trolling You Now
Powered by queasy, lurching bass and squealing vocals, The Large Hell’s newest single Heaven Is aware of I am Trolling You Now is all weirdness and noise rock brilliance with a stompy beat that’ll make you need to put the ground by means of. The Wolverhampton band – that includes former God Rattling vocalist Thom Edward – put out their debut album Horrendous Pals means again in January, however this seems to be a style of one thing else they have been cooking up.
Tallah – What We Know
The nu metallic vibes are large on Tallah’s newest single What We Know. Approaching like a collision of turn-of-the-millennium Korn, Slipknot and Dope, it is received us itching to interrupt out the saggy denims and pockets chains, all wailing angst and juddering beats. The primary style of latest album Primeval: Obsession // Detachment, due September 5, it is a floor-filler from prime to backside.
Ward XVI – Blood Is The New Black
If there’s one factor we learn about metallic within the twenty first Century, it is that vibrant characters and massive personalities can go a good distance. Horrorcore heroes Ward XVI definitely do not demure in new single Blood Is The New Black, an industrial metallic tinged banger that stomps together with wailing synths and even a cheeky strut part that places a little bit of circus theatricality to their horror aesthetic. Taken from new album Id3ntity, due July 11, it is a deceptively addictive hear.
Seven Blood – To The Unknown
German newcomers Seven Blood go massive on the atmospherics with To The Unknown. Set someplace between alt metallic and metalcore – assume Spiritbox, Lake Malice et al. – it is a great stability of melody and heft that guarantees massive issues from debut album Life Is Simply A Section, due November 21.
