That's Not Metal

There's reports from High Vis and Tribulation both hitting headline tours around the UK, A Day to Remember bring news of their surprise album and its promised big ole volumes, and Parkway Drive stake a claim on the Sydney Opera House. Releases: Killswitch Engage - This Consequence Silverstein - Antibloom Anxious - Bambi To Obey a Tyrant - Frigore Inferni Wren - Black Rain Falls Hirax - Faster Than Death Morax - The Amulet Pissgrave - Malignant Worthlessness Gràb - Kremess Abduction - Existentialismus God Complex - He Watches In Silence Spy - Seen Enough

letlive. finally break the seal on their UK return dates, Death Grips seem to disband again, and there's questions on the misconceptions that surround some of rock's most underrated, misunderstood bands. Releases: Bleeding Through - Nine Lacuna Coil - Sleepless Empire Love is Noise - To live in a different way Winona Fighter - My Apologies to the Chef The Nightmares - Fire In Heaven Hangman’s Chair - Saddiction Pothamus - Abur Mantar - Post Apocalyptic Depression Savage Lands - Army of the Trees Fell Omen - Invaded by a Dark Spirit Church Tongue - You’ll Know It Was Me Final Resting Place - Bound by Affliction Lacerated - Lacerated

A bumper edition of Hyperblasts sees Trivium & Bullet for My Valentine embark on the Poisoned Ascendancy tour, Cattle Decapitation & Shadow of Intent also co-headline, Gojira win a Grammy, Courtney LaPlante wins the Grammys, and oh yeah Black Sabbath?! Lot to cover in this one. Releases: Dream Theater - Parasomnia Jinjer - Duel Marko Hietala - Roses from the Deep Majestica - Power Train Obscura - A Sonication Phrenelith - Ashen Womb 16 - Guides for the Misguided Morast - Fentanyl Saor - Amidst the Ruins Ereb Altor - Hälsingemörker Unreqvited - A Pathway to the Moon

Some of 2025's first heavy hitting singles arrive all at once from Deafheaven, Behemoth, Poison the Well, & also Bring Me the Horizon cover Wonderwall for some reason. Releases: Dax Riggs - 7 Songs for Spiders Vukovi - My God Has Got a Gun Century - Sign of the Storm Avatarium - Between You, God, The Devil and the Dead Negative 13 - Recover What You Can Harakiri for the Sky - Scorched Earth Sunrot - Passages The Night Flight Orchestra - Give Us the Moon Grief Ritual - Collapse L.S. Dunes - Violet Tayne - Love Great American Ghost - Tragedy of the Commons The Hellacopters - Overdriver Pentagram - Lightning in a Bottle Jonathan Hultén - Eyes of the Living Night Revenge - Violation.Strife.Abominate Scrüda - Fury Among Ruins

Our first TNM reviews of 2025 hit the runway with The Night Flight Orchestra, Wardruna, The Halo Effect, The Great Old Ones, Trauma Bond, & Grief Ritual, and we pay tribute to one of the greatest left-field artists and dreamers of all time David Lynch. The Night Flight Orchestra 45:00 Wardruna 1:07:53 The Halo Effect 1:28:45 The Great Old Ones 1:44:48 Trauma Bond 2:00:34 Grief Ritual 2:10:30

Album Club returns to start 2024 after a few months away with a bumper episode, setting the record straight on Bring Me the Horizon's Post Human: Survival Horror, destroying orcs with 3 Inches of Blood's Advance and Vanquish, Joyce Manor's micro-classic Never Hungover Again, and Reign Supreme with #WhyNotDyingFetus This episode was originally published January 2024 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

Hints of a Nine Inch Nails world tour, uncertainty in the SeeYouSpaceCowboy camp, Exodus swap their old singers again, and SpiritWorld go full cowboy. Releases: Eidola - Mend Grave Digger - Bone Collector Tokyo Blade - Time is the Fire Trauma Bond - Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone. Sarcator - Swarming Angels & Flies Necrodeath - Arimortis Necromaniac - Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable Onirophagus - Revelations from the Void Hierarchies - Hierarchies Day By Day - Dust and Ashes Dark Fortress - Anthems From Beyond the Grave - Live In Europe 2023

We're back for 2025 looking to our hopes and goals for the year ahead, announce our first 2025 special, get a first batch of promising to stupid new singles, and yet another reunion. Releases: Patriarkh - Prophet Ilja Paleface Swiss - Cursed Mutagenic Host - The Diseased Machine Ethel Cain - Perverts Stick to Your Guns - Keep Planting Flowers Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out Tremonti - The End Will Show Us How The Halo Effect - March of the Unheard The Cimmerian - An Age Undreamed Of Haunted Horses - Dweller Ex Deo - Year of the Four Emperors Jota - Haven

For our last show before Christmas we arrive at the TNM Awards for 2024, as we gather to end the year with the successes, stories, downfalls and villain arcs that defined the year in heavy: Most Improved Band Song of the Year Worst Song of the Year Hero of the Year Villain of the Year Best New Band Biggest Disappointment Gig of the Year EP of the Year Artwork of the Year Movie of the Year Comeback of the Year Surprise of the Year Outstanding Achievement Worst Band of the Year Unsung Heroes Story of the Year Band of the Year

We round off the best rock and metal albums of 2024 with lists from Sam and Mark, plus the all important and really incredibly great this year listener poll from all of you to really see who gets crowned.

The That's Not Metal Albums of the Year for 2024 begins, with Perran and Elliot giving their lists of so much that the best in metal, the underground and beyond had to offer.

Our final reviews bag of 2024 happens to feature the biggest rock comebacks of the year and underground heroes, with Linkin Park, The Cure, Opeth, Better Lovers, Many Eyes, Tribulation & Neon Nightmare getting discussed. Linkin Park 31:45 The Cure 1:01:04 Opeth 1:25:59 Better Lovers 1:49:56 Many Eyes 2:09:03 Tribulation 2:20:08 Neon Nightmare 2:41:53

2025 singles really start coming with Spiritbox, Architects, Killswitch Engage, Machine Head, and Coheed and Cambria, W.A.S.P. go full mental, and we talk the "bad" albums we got into bands on. Releases: Opeth - The Last Will and Testament Body Count - Merciless Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More Ocean Grove - Oddworld Polar - Nova Fellowship - The Skies Above Eternity Coilguns - Odd Love Múr - Múr Defeated Sanity - Chronicles of Lunacy Gutless - High Impact Violence Ante-Inferno - Death’s Soliloquy Panzerfaust - The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Kruelty - Profane Usurpation Mallavora - Echoes Doro - Rock ‘N’ Roll Xmas Party

We hit that point of the year where we have Grammy nominations and Download headliners to either complain about or debunk complaints about, and a mega live review as Sepultura's farewell tour finally arrives on UK shores. Releases: Linkin Park - From Zero As I Lay Dying - Through Storms Ahead Poppy - Negative Spaces Full of Hell / Andrew Nolan - Scraping the Divine Primal Code - Opaque Fixation Thy Catafalque - XII: A Gyönyörü Álmok Ezután Jönnek Spider God - Possess the Devil Chelsea Wolfe - Unbound Less Than Jake - Uncharted Mammoth Grinder - Undying Spectral Resonance Deadbody / Tribal Gaze - Deadbody / Tribal Gaze Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come Obliterated

We once again convene for a review of the UK’s biggest underground event at Damnation Festival and witness legendary returns from Dragged Into Sunlight, Nails, Cradle of Filth, Bleeding Through, Inter Arma, and so many other TNM faves absolutely tearing it up. Elliot's audio is beaming in through the internet on this one, but we'll be back sounding proper soon. Releases: Make Them Suffer - Make Them Suffer Sólstafir - Hin helga kvol State Champs - State Champs The Arrival Note - …Home is So Far From Here The Body - The Crying Out of Things Thank - I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed Klone - The Unseen Massacre - Necrolution Yoth Iria - Blazing Inferno Paysage d’Hiver - Die Berge Counterparts - Heaven Let Them Die

We convene on Halloween night to talk yet more big reunions at big American rock festivals, the news that Ithaca are calling it a day, and give the definitive answer on whether bands wearing their own shirts is cool or not and whether we're too focused on the size of bands in appreciating their art. Releases: Jerry Cantrell - I Want Blood Japandroids - Fate & Alcohol Pinhead Gunpowder - Unt Grand Magus - Sunraven Ensiferum - Winter Storm Swallow the Sun - Shining Harvestman - Triptych: Part Three Serpent Column - Tassel of Ares Better Lovers - Highly Irresponsible Devin Townsend - PowerNerd Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came Kids In Glass Houses - Pigs In Glass Houses Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness Meryl Streek - Songs for the Deceased Pom Pom Squad - Mirror Starts Moving Without Me Fit for an Autopsy - The Nothing That Is Pøltergeist - Nachtmusik Butcher - On Fowl of Tyrant Wing Gaerea - Coma Schammasch - The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean Black Curse - Burning In Celestial Poison Living Gate - Suffer As One Bunuel - Mansuetude Behemoth - XXX Years Ov Blasphemy Enforced - A Leap Into the Dark Pest Control - Year of the Pest Fifteen Rhema - Drawing Upon Lost Time A Year Ago Today - A Year Ago Today The Cure - Songs of a Lost World Cane Hill - a piece of me i never let you find Planes Mistaken for Stars - Do You Still Love Me? Thirdface - Ministerial Cafeteria Tribulation - Sub Rosa In Aeternum Neon Nightmare - Faded Dream Bombus - Your Blood Nachtmystium - Blight Privilege New Skeletal Faces - Until the Night Mitochondrion - Vitriseptome

We face some of our toughest Album Club challenges yet: Matchbox 20's Ken anthems Yourself or Someone Like You, ponder how Attila's About That Life achieved some kind of longevity, cheer originality in hardcore on Twitching Tongues' In Love There is No Law, and the troubling eternal mystique of Acid Bath's When the Kite String Pops. This episode was originally published July 2023 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

We convene for conversations on 2024's most monolithic potential landmark records, reviewing Blood Incantation, Undeath, Balance and Composure, High Vis, Touché Amoré, Oranssi Pazuzu, and Chat Pile, as well as scratching our heads at festival clues and Acid Bath(?!), and a toast to the late Paul Di'Anno. Blood Incantation 45:58 Undeath 1:22:56 Balance and Composure 1:45:20 High Vis 2:00:55 Touché Amoré 2:19:41 Oranssi Pazuzu 2:42:46 Chat Pile 3:09:54

On this Album Club episode we return to the scene of the crime to again preview some of the must-see sets at this year's Damnation Festival: Cradle of Filth's old school origins with The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, Ne Obliviscaris' Citadel, Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing, and Dragged Into Sunlight's terrifying Hatred for Mankind.

We've got a big catch-up chat talking about Sam's trip to a Tokyo hardcore show, tours from Orange Goblin, Cannibal Corpse, and Frank Carter fronting the Sex Pistols, leading into a discussion of the surprising news around The Rattlesnakes calling a hiatus and their potential future, and questions around nostalgia festival booking double standards and which band we'd want to see "do a Wintersun". Releases: High Parasite - Forever We Burn Weather Systems - Ocean Without a Shore Origami Angel - Feeling Not Found Adorior - Bleed On My Teeth Spite - The Third Temple Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere Undeath - More Insane Fever 333 - Darker White Trash Boat - Heaven Can Wait Balance and Composure - With You In Spirit Drug Church - Prude Chubby and the Gang - And Then There Was… Godspeed You! Black Emperor - No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead 1349 - The Wolf and the King Lowen - Do Not Go to War With the Demons of Mazandaran Cosmic Putrefaction - Emerald Fires Atop the Farewell Mountains Maul - In the Jaws of Bereavement Motley Crue - Cancelled Sylosis - The Path The Offspring - Supercharged Myles Kennedy - The Art of Letting Go Real Friends - Blue Hour Touche Amoré - Spiral in a Straight Line Envy - Eunoia The Linda Lindas - No Obligation Chat Pile - Cool World Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja Doedsmaghird - Omniverse Consciousness The Crown - Crown of Thorns Vomit Forth - Terrified of God De Mannen Broeders - Sober Maal