We’ve talked a bit before about how music moves in cycles. While every year sees an almost endless amount of awesome new music released into the world, the aligning of release-cycles can leave some years seeming more fruitful than other, and others much less so—depending on how they align with your own personal tastes. For me, 2022 was the last time the stars and the release colander aligned, and I felt as though, not only were there an overwhelming amount of truly phenomenal new records, but that an overwhelming amount of them were tailored specifically toward my tastes. The years since have felt less fulfilling, with much of the alleged quality and conversation centred around bands and genres that are either not to my tastes, or that I find actively off-putting. Finally, we’re seeing the cycle come back around. 2026 is a year in which it seems like all of my favourite bands are releasing records again. Unfortunately, many of these albums are only ok, and often terrible.
Many of these disappointments have been long-awaited returns. Prog paladins Textures suddenly came back with an album that isn’t really the long lost second half to their crowning achievement, with an album that—while not terrible—is easily their weakest offering, historically-overblown lack metal titans Dimmu Borgir emerged after eight years with one of the most uneventful albums I’ve ever heard, and the once-electrifying and revolutionary sounding Marmozets came back with one of the most tepid, by-the-numbers (and terribly titled) pop-rock records you could imagine. A lot of other people have been scrambling to defend the snooze-fest that is the new Karnivool, and the less said about the first new U2 music in almost a decade, the better.
A lot of these disappointments have also been follow-ups to records I loved. The biggest and most heartbreaking of these is Crashdïet. The Swedish sleaze legends have had a tumultuous career to be sure. Yet, while they've had their ups and downs, even their weaker albums stand tall over the majority their peers. Their previous record, 2021’s Automaton was not only a welcome return to top form, but one of the best they or any other modern hair metal band have to offer. It was so good, in fact, that even Karlo liked it. Moreover, while the intervening years saw the departure of vocalist Gabriel Keyes, who seemed to have finally hit his stride with Automaton, it also saw his replacement by John Elliot of promising (and noticeably more metallic) up-and-comers Confess. While it's something of a Spın̈al Tap* style amusement that they're onto their fifth singer in almost as many albums, a more perfect match. Or so it seemed...
What we got instead was an embarrassing affair, that is not only worst Crashdïet album by a Nordic country mile, but one of the absolute worst records any of the Scandinavian sleaze have put their name to, that saw the once unassailable legends donning Jokerfied makeup and putting out sub-sub-par renditions of songs that sound like they could have been cut from one of the bad Wednesday 13 records. It was such an unexpected and shocking disappointment that the only plausible explanation is that it was a deliberate sabotage by Elliot to clear the way for his original band to release a much better, but still only really serviceable, record the week after. And even then, he didn't have to go that hard!
Elsewhere—to a lesser but collectively noticeable extent—Urne succeeded one of the most exciting modern thrash metal records with one of the most plodding, Poppy followed one of the best modern metalcore albums with one of the absolute dullest, and Gaerea jumped the shark into Sleep Token territory after previously finding a way to blend their brand of moody black metal with Misery Signals-inspired metalcore. Rob Zombie followed a surprising contender for his third or fourth best solo album with what is solidly his sixth or seventh, while Sepultura capped off an endless Kiss-style farewell tour with an uninspired EP that somewhat tarnishes the legacy left by superb swansong Quadra (2020). Kawaii metal heroes Hanabie. followed what is maybe the best record their relatively niche genre has to offer with some of the worst music ever made, while new hardcore champions Chamber couldn't maintain the quality of their sublime breakthrough record A Love to Kill For (2023). Sleeping With Sirens released a thoroughly nondescript record after winning me over with their previous outing, The Amity Affliction blew their return-to-form run with one of the most ridiculous and hilariously generic albums ever committed to record, and Kreator compromised their near-perfect run with a tired-sounding record that suggests it's time for another shake-up, even if some decent songs remain buried towards its end.** Similarly, Archspire followed the best modern technical death metal album with a rehash of diminishing returns, while The 69 Eyes followed one of their best albums, which finally won me over, with an extremely average EP that somehow makes even Thin Lizzy's "Cold Sweat" sound tired.
Even the new Don Broco album fell relatively flat, compared to the hype(man)-filled lead-up that came before, and I’ll confess that—as much as I love its first half—that first Converge album lacked the impact or staying power of what came before (or surprisingly soon after), and personal favourites like Sylosis and In Malice’s Wake have also released really good albums that I still don't think quite live up to their established levels of quality (even if they're still some of my favourite albums of the year. Also—and this one’s been wavering for a while now—but the complete lack of discussion, or even acknowledgement aver Devin Townsend finally releasing The Moth, seems to suggest that the metal world’s patience with its least quality-controlled creator may have finally run out?
On the other hand, there have been a fair few surprising returns to form from band’s whose recent releases have felt similarly subpar. Amid these seemingly overwhelming disappointments, 2026 has also gifted us with the best August Burns Red album in almost a decade, the best Lamb of God album in seventeen years, and the first Black Label Society album worth listening to in about as long. The returned Genghis Tron proved they’re (far) more than a boring dream-gaze band, and Poison the Well came back with one of the best albums of their career,*** as did lesser-sung hardcore heroes 100 Demons, at the complete other end of the metallic spectrum. Both DevilDriver and Protest the Hero have also staged similar and similarly unexpected returns to form, and if the rest of that new Mastodon album is anything like its lead single, then I will likely overlook these relatively minor let-downs and go down singing 2026’s praises as the year all the early-millennium metal masters returned to reclaim their throne.
*Speaking of disappointing comebacks...
**Also, what is with all the old thrash bands embracing shitty AI videos?
***Also also, what is with “cowboy hardcore” suddenly being a thing? I first noticed this awkward adoption on the last Blood Command album, but both Marmozets and Poison the Well (who I’ve mentioned above) have adopted the aesthetic, and I guess Gideon are a thing, no matter how hard I ignore them. I don’t know what the deal is within the United States or wherever you are, but from my outsider perspective, I’ve always associated Westerns and cowboys in particular with the kind of eye-rolling, American, right-wing romanticism I would think most liberal-leaning hardcore bands would want to avoid in this day and age? I’ll admit that I don’t really know what I’m talking about here, but I know I find it cringe-inducing and actively off-putting every time I see a member of a hardcore band donning a cowboy hat.