Insert excuse here for why this post is late this month. Let's jot it down to too much fucking music, if that's alright with you. That's a real thing by the way, every year I find myself kind of anxious around January and February, when the constant hum of new music in my ear is suddenly muted. What if this is the year I lose touch? What if music doesn't have that hold over me still? And then March comes along and an absolute fucking metric ton of releases hits my ears.
More on which next month. For now, here's the cream of the crop from what, as it turns out to be when I look on it, was a killer February. See you next month!
-Eden Kupermintz
Worm – Necropalace (gothy black metal/doom)
Worm aren’t afraid to embrace what everyone else is seemingly afraid to admit, which is that black metal peaked in 1996, with the first three Emperor and Cradle of Filth albums, and the next few DImmu Borgir Ones. While other blackened hordes preach about being uncompromising and unwavering, Worm practice a simple philosophy: if you can’t beat them, join them! Fourth full-length Necropalace therefore sees the formerly sludge-death outfit trying on some dramatically blackened threads and finding them almost tailor made. Something else that rules is shredding; Worm know this as well, which is why magnificently monikered mainman Phantom Slaughter has seen fit to not only let loose new(ish) collaborator Wroth Septentrion (aka Philippe Allaire-Tougas) (First Fragment, Exxûl, Chthe'ilist) to shred his heart out across the entire album, but also to enlist shredmaster general Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth/Cacophony) for an axe-slinging showdown on its final track.
Worm also aren’t afraid to admit that both Dracula and space dragon design (inverted castle) peaked with genre-defining PS1 classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997). In a world of AI slop and self-seriousness, the eagerness with which Worm embrace both the authenticity and mastery of their otherwise tongue-in-cheek theatricality, is beyond refreshing, especially when it’s executed with such superb style (and not an AI rose or lyric in sight!). All music videos should look like this, and most black metal should sound like it as well. Necropalace isn’t as inventive or revolutionary as the albums that inspired it but it is a welcome reminder of just how fun black metal can be, when it doesn’t take anything but its musicianship too seriously.
-Joshua Bulleid
Converge - Love Is Not Enough (progressive hard/grindcore)
These legends truly need no introduction. Thirty years of consistent metalcore (in the purest sense of the word) skullduggery and some of the best albums in extreme music history speak loudly for themselves. Love Is Not Enough comes off the heels of the band’s Bloodmoon: I project with Chelsea Wolfe, and more importantly to the album’s sonic makeup 2019’s The Dusk In Us. On the whole, it would be fairly easy to argue that Converge have become a tad more experimental over the past 15 years, if you wouldn’t know it listening to Love Is Not Enough. It’s straightforward mayhem from start to finish, and it is truly a delight.
If you’ve ever been a fan of Converge’s most aggressive work, there’s a seat at the table for you here. Manic, angry, wildly aggressive and chock full of all the Jacob Bannon retching one could ever want, Love Is Not Enough unfurls its splendor with four straight absolute bangers, with “Bad Faith” probably being my favorite of the bunch. The riffs are superb and the performances are universally tight, showing the band at the peak of their powers. The second half of the record provides a bit more of the sonic expansion and songwriting variation we’ve come to expect from modern Converge, but only by a little bit. This is peak rage mode and I’m all the way here for it.
At 30 minutes long, one of the principal complaints I’ve heard lodged against this record is that it’s too short. Which usually means two things: 1) A record is really good, and 2) people still haven’t learned about too much of a good thing. Would my opinion of this record change if it maintained this pace and was over an hour long? It absolutely would, and negatively at that. What Converge have shown in Love Is Not Enough is that they are truly masters of their craft, creating music that’s memorable, fierce, and fully and completely digestible (duration-wise if not sonically for the masses). There’s no need for more than what they gave us, because the gift we received was already perfect. The band’s best output since All We Love We Leave Behind, and one of the most focused and powerful releases of their career. A rousing success.
-Jonathan Adams
Cryptic Shift - Overspace & Supertime (jazzy prog-death, aliens)
OK, look, I know everyone is telling you to listen to this album but gosh darn it, they’re right. Progressive/technical thrash metal has been having a bit of a moment in the last few years, a revival of sorts, and 2026 appears to be a nadir of that movement. I won’t write about it too much here but if you’re interested then you should also check out Polaris Experience. Anyway, Cryptic Shift have been at the tip of this revival for as long as it has existed and have kept pushing the envelope on what it means to dig back into the 80’s and bring back what it sounds like when death metal, progressive metal, and thrash are smashed together. But nothing they’ve made so far has come close to the ambition of Overspace & Supertime, nor to the fact that they’ve actually pulled it off.
This album is maximalism personified. It has thirty minute tracks. It has expansive, convoluted science fiction concepts. It has more notes than an orchestra of performers. It has licks, solos, bridges, time signatures, and more. But, most of all, it has a goddamn heart and that is probably its greatest achievement. How, inside of the vast, whirling storm of metal that this album is, have Cryptic Shift managed to hold on to that quality which makes it sound like they give a shit about every note, passage, verse, and chorus? That’s the thing that stands out to me the most about this release: absolutely nothing feels superfluous or there just to be there. All of the compositions feel necessary and even natural, progressions of an idea rather than just a manifestation of a mode or an aesthetic.
Listen, trying to describe this album is a fool’s task. My recommendation is to actually play my favorite track from the album, “Hyperspace Topography” first. It has such an interesting approach to the album’s sound, with lots of jazz and progressive flourishes happening but also some absolutely sick thrash riffs. More than anything, it really captures that feeling of necessity I mentioned above; even around the five minute and a half mark, when the entire thing falls apart in swirling experimentation, everything feels like it fits, like it belongs. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an album this busy sound so essential. Give it a try; it’s a ride and then some.
-EK
Deadtrees - New World (progressive blackened post-rock)
New World is the fourth album from the Chinese solo-artist Deadtrees, and the biggest departure from their black metal roots. The fitting album title sees them exploring new territory into what is largely instrumental progressive post-rock/metal, however those roots are still alive in the ecstatic staccato drumming that punches through the mix, and the textural layer of deeply reverberating guitars simmering beneath. Deadtrees made a name for themselves with their bleak depressive black metal debut back in 2021. Five years later, the vocals have been stripped back, the production dialed in, and the dreary melancholy evolved into splendor. If the name means anything to you, this is in a sense the heavy Maybeshewill album I've been waiting for.
Few genres can ignite one's imagination quite like post-rock, and New World is a masterclass of that. The lack of vocals gives more space for the mind to wander and to let the purely auditory experience stir your emotions. The beauty alone of this album alone is enough to instill a sense of awe. It’s grand and vibrant, glimmering with an effervescence highlighted by the range of keys, strings, horns and synth melodies floating above the energetic and at times, heavy-hitting drumming and guitar. This sort of dynamism is often crucial to making a good post-rock album, and Deadtree’s experience with writing emotional and atmospheric metal shines through to accomplish that. The end result is something between dream-like and otherworldly. You can feel yourself floating out of yourself in its ethereal bliss. The compositions, the delicate and contemplative piano, the incredible saxophone performance in “Transcendence” and “Drink & Dance,” it all just stirs something inside you. And it sticks with you. Ear-worms and hooks are great, but sometimes just the experience of an album can linger with you, and New World has done that from the first listen.
Finding complaints with this album feels like nitpicking, but there is a hint of chinese folk influence through the use of some erhu and I’d love to hear more of that - not that there’s an onus on an artist to incorporate their own traditional folk influence, but it makes for a really unique and effective combination. It’s likely this sound would also work with the black metal vocals brought back, but it’s clear this artist has the ability to tap into something special, earnest and powerful, whichever direction they take. This is potentially the strongest instrumental album of the year so far, and its distinctiveness will likely keep it in that conversation all year.
-TB
Further Listening
Exhumed - Red Asphalt (death metal, goregrind)
The masters of goregrinding death metal have returned with a record that injects a fundamentally new life into their tried and true formula. With Red Asphalt, Exhumed prove once again that it’s possible for a veteran act to achieve great things. The riffs, songwriting, aesthetic, and performances are among the best of their career here, and if you’ve ever been moderately interested in this brand of music I strongly encourage you to give this record a listen. Sensational stuff.
-JA
Sylosis – The New Flesh (increasingly melodic groove-thrash)
“REMOVE YOUR FUCKING SKIN!!”
-Josh
Weedpecker – V (post/stoner prog)
In a just world, this release will finally see Weedpecker getting the recognition they deserve as stalwarts of progressive stoner rock in their own right inside of some sort of second fiddle. V is packed with excellent ideas executed beautifully and deserves your attention.
-EK
Lueens - Tender Anger (post-doom)
As I mentioned when I premiered the album, this is 2026’s biggest surprise so far for me. Deep, raw, heartfelt ambient doom with cavernous vocals and an even more cavernous atmosphere.
-EK
Phendrana - Cathexis (folky prog-death)
It’s pretty interesting to hear a progressive death metal with classical and folk influences where death metal is the secondary sound. Phendrana is filled with gorgeous compositions that are mostly not metal, and then punctuated with excellent compositions that definitely are. If you’re looking for something to usher in the spring, you could do much worse than this release.
-EK
Carpenter Brut - Leather Temple (synthwave, darksynth)
Leather jacket: on; sunglasses strictly for the neon glow of the city night lights: you know it; 80s sports car engine: ignited; bass: pumping. Carpenter Brut is back with their best, heaviest, and most metal album since Trilogy. Seems like they’ve been listening to some of Mick Gordon’s Doom OST.
-TB
Matador – Above, Below And So (post rock/doom)
Olhava – Memorial (post-black metal)
Sylosis – The New Flesh (increasingly melodic groove-thrash)
Good Tiger – The Most Negative Day of the Year (melodic tech-prog)
Misotheist – De Pinte (black metal) Stam1na – Apnea (prog thrash)
Ashbringer – Subglacial (post-black metal)
Forcefed Horsehead/Shaving The Werewolf – From Horrid To Worse (nasty mathcore)
Nullingroots – Fourth Dimensional Dreamscape (post-black metal)
Tailgunner – Midnight Blitz (heavy metal, power thrash)
Karnivool – In Verses (mellow/alt prog)
Chained To The Bottom Of The Ocean – Let Us Not Speak Of Them But Look And Pass On (sludge doom)