New Metal Releases: 12/7/25 – 1/3/26
Published: January 05, 2026
Here are the new releases for December 7th (and a few we missed from December 5th) to January 3rd. Releases reflect proposed North American scheduling, if available.
New Metal Releases: 12/7/25 – 1/3/26
Lunar Amulet — Lunar Amulet |
Independent | Black Metal + Dungeon Synth | United States (Portland, ME)
Falls of Rauros’ Aaron Charles delivers punkish black metal interlaced with borealist dungeon synth on his debut solo EP. It fluctuates from beautiful to knuckle-headed goodness with ease. We’ll have more on this one in the next few weeks!
–Colin Dempsey
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Night Vigil — Night Vigil + At the Frontier of Light and Day |
Independent | Black Metal + Dungeon Synth | Greece (Athens)
Night Vigil is a new project from Greek black metal legend Ayloss (Spectral Lore, Auriferous Flame, Mystras), and we are lucky enough to get two albums from him right off the bat. The first one,
Night Vigil, is atmospheric black metal. It emanates like a fog from the speakers, wrapping the listener in a dark, otherworldly mood.
The second of the two,
At the Frontier of Light and Day, is a fantasy-themed dungeon synth album with light elements of atmospheric black metal. It’s very easy to imagine as the soundtrack to some nonexistent fantasy JRPG, offering a laid-back and pleasant listening experience with a sense of adventure.
–Kevin Zecchel
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Fleshvessel — Obstinancy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded |
I, Voidhanger Records | Avant-garde Death Metal | United States (Chicago, IL)
In some sense, Fleshvessel’s sophomore effort feels like a companion to their debut album. It’s centred around a Greek mythological symbol in the same way, presenting similar lyrical themes. However, musically, it is on a whole other level. Their avant-garde death metal reaches new, maddened, and experimental heights.
–Kevin Zecchel
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Cultovar — I + II: Forgotten Hymns for Lost Futures |
Independent | Sludge Metal + Post-Metal + Black Metal | Canada
Two Thanksgiving-dinner-sized tracks constitute Cultovar’s debut record, and they’re dense as a brick. Patient and coy metal this is not. Cultovar string together electronic sludge metal, black metal, butt rock, and more, each with an immediacy that would lead you to believe they could’ve diced up the two gargantuan tracks into multiple standalone songs. However, the transience between the stylistic jumps is a core appeal of
I + II: Forgotten Hymns for Lost Futures.
–Colin Dempsey
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Fanatisme — Tro, håp og kjærlighet |
Fysisk Format | Black Metal | Norway
From Colin Dempsey’s
track premiere of “Nordens eteriske sommer”:
The young Norwegian band taps into primordial black metal, cymbals clanging and fuzzy riffs abound, barring their fangs with a cadence that’s closer to punk than blast beat-propelled second-wave worship. There’s some gothic moodiness, but it emanates from the guitar melodies, which pull from the theatrical notes of post-punk, rather than vampyric synths.
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Martröð — Draumsýnir Eldsins |
Debemur Morti Productions | Black Metal | Iceland + United States
Nearly a decade after their
debut EP, Martröð released their first full-length album late last year, and let me tell you: for a 37-minute-long black metal album, there sure are a lot of sounds on this one. I don’t mean that pejoratively, either. This is a behemoth of a debut that features guitars played with screwdrivers (in the Godspeed school of “melodic ghostly howls”), church organs, cellos, bells, and a choir, but don’t think that the twisted minds behind Martröð have gone soft or prog, as interesting as that prospect might be. This is (still) black metal at its most hypnotic and harrowing, and ambient moments such as the transition between Líkaminn (“The Body”) and “Tíminn” (“The Time”) primarily exist to lull you into a trancelike state before an avalanche of dissonance crashes down upon you. During the advance livestream, guitarist AP remarked that some songs have hundreds of layered tracks, and H.V. Lyngdal revealed that he recorded most of the vocals in a cabin, alone, out in the freezing Icelandic countryside. Unsurprisingly, Draumsýnir Eldsins sounds downright apocalyptic, a soundtrack for ego death and/or the heat death of the universe.
–Alex Chan
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Weft — The Splintered Oar |
Bindrune Recordings | Atmospheric Black Metal + Folk Metal | United States (Texas)
The Splintered Oar is the debut solo album from Panopticon violinist Charlie Anderson, and predictably carries a similarly long-winded and expansive modus operandi. Fortunately, it’s not Pantopticon DLC. Weft distinguishes itself with zany guitar solos earthier riffs, and a more prominent focus on the fiddle.
–Colin Dempsey
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Lynchgate — Precipice |
Debemur Morti Productions | Avant-garde Black Metal | England
For a while in the 2010s, it seemed like every few years a new Lychgate album would be released to high acclaim in certain circles. However, since 2020’s
Also Sprach Futura EP, the band has been silent–until now. Precipice sees the English avant-garde black metal band return with more twisted intensity than ever. Feverish surrealist jazz intermingles with ferocious inhuman black metal.
–Kevin Zecchel
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Nemorous — What Remains When Hope Has Failed |
Bindrune Recordings | Black Metal | England
Formed from the ashes of Wodensthrone, Nemorous plays a more expansive and melancholic version of atmospheric black metal than its predecessor.
What Remains When Hope Has Failed offers up fog-soaked melodies that take the listener through quiet, contemplative landscapes before bursting into something more intense. It’s a black metal journey into England’s unique natural vistas.
–Kevin Zecchel
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Kasm — Gravitational Echoes |
Independent | Atmospheric Black Metal | Canada (Calgary, AB)
There was a stupid of black metal that came to life in December (as if that wasn’t obvious by this column), yet Kasm’s debut was among the most arresting for how it combined vintage, occultish energy with a disorienting soundscape. Its artistic bend, most evident in the poetic lyrics slapped into paragraphs but pervading all of
Gravitational Echoes, makes what is unwieldly into a comprehensible, though not undaunting, excursion.
–Colin Dempsey
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Murgrind — Adepts of the Dark Spirit |
Uralte Herrschaft Productions | Black Metal | Germany
This is black metal for the winter solstice. Though not dominated by its symphonic or atmospheric qualities,
Adepts of the Dark Spirit indulges Murgrind’s dungeon synth roots with organ-lite interludes that bisect fanatical 90s black metal. It’s hardly innovative or novel, but the MIDI-only approach is charming.
–Colin Dempsey
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Ulver — Neverland |
House Of Mythology | Ambient + Experimental + Electronic | Norway (Oslo)
Neverland is Ulver’s first album recorded since the tragic passing of longtime keyboardist Tore Ylwizaker, giving it an extra layer of emotional impact. It departs from the synthpop that has been the main focus of their last decade, offering instead a variety of moods, from dreamy ambiance to laid-back psych to more energetic electronic experimentation.
–Kevin Zecchel
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Danny Soler — Friar Metal Blues |
Independent | Heavy Metal + Dungeon Synth | Spain (Barcelona)
20-year-old Danny Soler is on their third album in a year, diving further into fuzzy bedroom heavy metal and cathedral-ready dungeon synth without losing any steam. So much so that
Friar Metal Blues feels like an earned title rather than a description. In any case, the record’s metal aspects are lovingly influenced by
British Steel, erupting in a manner mightier than one would expect from a gaming chair and laptop recording booth.
–Colin Dempsey
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Woe — Legacies of Human Frailty |
Independent | Black Metal | United States (New York City, NY)
Legacies of Human Frailty is, essentially,
Legacies of Frailty Mark II. It’s a re-recording of Woe’s
last record with a full band, few overdubs, and a single-take vocal performance, rejuvenating what was an isolationist album into one that better represents Woe in 2026.
–Colin Dempsey
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Feed Them Broken Teeth — Poison of the Masses |
Independent | Grindcore + Death Metal | United States (Baton Rouge, LA)
Feed Them Broken Teeth make unhinged grindcore with a nice crunch from compressed audio. Some may argue that makes
Poison of the Masses rough on the ears, but the album personifies decay from the inside out–it’s intentionally unpleasant. You will welcome and appreciate the lack of civility.
–Colin Dempsey
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