That's Not Metal

A lot later than intended due to the small matter of needing a whole new microphone, but finally the That's Not Metal review of Bloodstock Festival 2022 is here! Perran is joined by Elliot Paisley to talk the UK heavy metal event headlined by Behemoth, Mercyful Fate, and Lamb of God.

The first new music from Fugitive featuring members of Power Trip and Creeping Death is here, with Ozzy and Iommi appearing at the Commonwealth games, and trying to reach for what are the worst albums we still secretly love.Releases:Arch Enemy - DeceiversThe Halo Effect - Days of the LostNorma Jean - Deathrattle Sing for MeHollywood Undead - Hotel KaliforniaBoris - Heavy RocksLocrian - New CatastrophismsAEIR - A Frith BefouledAcid Blade - Power DiveWeregoat - The Devil’s LustKreator - Live at Bloodstock 2021

There's festival news around the world from Music Midtown's gun-caused cancellation to theorising on the identity of Bloodstock's first ever secret band, picking what bands would be on a TNM tour in 2022, and we cast our eyes over the clues that suggest Botch might actually be reuniting after all. If they're not trolling.Releases:The Interrupters - In the WildAmon Amarth - The Great Heathen ArmySoulfly - TotemDub War - Westgate Under FireSavage Master - Those Who Hunt At NightThe Flatliners - New RuinMercy Union - White TigerHot Milk - The King and Queen of GasolinePsycroptic - Divine CouncilAbaddon Incarnate - The Wretched SermonEther Coven - The Relationship Between the Hammer and the NailLiminal Shroud - All Virtues AblazeWampyric Rites - The Wolves Howl to the Moon

On the eve of their new album release we're joined by Cammie Gilbert of Oceans of Slumber to talk about Louisiana sludge, classic Seattle, turbulent Americana and Scandinavian folk-pop.Agents of Oblivion - Agents of OblivionAlice In Chains - DirtMark Lanegan - Blues FuneralSoundgarden - SuperunknownThe Civil Wars - The Civil WarsEivør - SlørThis episode was originally published as early access on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

A heavy rock band are actually up for the Mercury Music Prize for once, we pick the best riffs of 2022 and the best songs to test your headphones with, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are back at it again.Releases:Ithaca - They Fear UsDune Rats - Real Rare WhaleStick to Your Guns - SpectreBastions - Majestic DesolationDance Gavin Dance - Jackpot JuicerBeach Rats - Rat BeatUnwritten Law - The HumAnberlin - SilverlineFuneral Chic - Roman CandleKrisiun - Mortem SolisTriumvir Foul - Onslaught to Seraphim

It's time for one of modern metal's great traditions, the lowdown on a full new Slipknot era with reactions to new album, new songs and new masks. There's also a contentious new A Day to Remember single coming out of the You're Welcome cycle, as well as heavy discussion on what rising ticket prices at Download Festival could mean, and remembrance of one of heavy metal's great modern painters Mariusz Lewandowski.Releases:Deaf Havana - The Present is a Foreign LandSenses Fail - Hell is in Your Head…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead - XI: Bleed Here NowThe Ever Living - Artificial DevicesMantar - Pain is Forever and This is the EndHaunt - Windows of Your HeartFellowship - The Saberlight ChroniclesBehold! The Monolith - From the Fathomless DeepInhuman Condition - FearsickMolder - Engrossed In DecayMaul - Seraphic PunishmentHissing - Hypervirulence ArchitectureTombs - Ex OblivionImperial Triumphant - Spirit of EcstasyOceans of Slumber - Starlight and AshWitchery - NightsidePalisades - Reaching Hypercri

Album Club has a brand new home, giving you a month's worth of classic records in one swoop as our first episode positions Enter Shikari's A Flash Flood of Colour as the springboard for their next ten years, unearths Porcupine Tree's information age prog dystopia Fear of a Blank Planet, considers the untapped potential of Black Peaks' All That Divides, and tries to do justice to the profound heartbreaker that is Woods of Ypres' Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light.This episode was originally published January 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

Incredibly dense and rich albums populate reviews with a returning Porcupine Tree, Conjurer, Greg Puciato, Ithaca, Imperial Triumphant, Blood Command, Wormrot, and Oceans of Slumber, but news that Pantera are "reuniting" seems maddest of all.Porcupine Tree 38:16Conjurer 56:05Greg Puciato 1:18:49Ithaca 1:32:35Imperial Triumphant 1:46:25Blood Command 2:07:12Wormrot 2:26:20Oceans of Slumber 2:44:10

Having made Kate Bush the most popular artist on planet Earth, we talk about the Stranger Things train lifting Metallica's Master of Puppets to similar heights, as well as the best metalhead character in popular media in years.Releases:Wormrot - HissVomit Forth - Seething MalevolenceAltars - Ascetic ReflectionBlind Channel - Lifestyles of the Sick & DangerousThe Machinist - All is Not WellTelekinetic Yeti - Primordial

This week's Hyperblasts also sees a full review of last weekend's Outbreak Festival, where an arena-sized crowd signed mosh waivers to leap off stages for the likes of Turnstile, Knocked Loose, Deafheaven, & Vein.fm in what turned out to be a landmark year.Releases:Conjurer - PáthosGreg Puciato - MirrorcellBlood Command - Praise ArmageddonismMunicipal Waste - Electrified BrainShinedown - Planet ZeroFrayle - Skin & SorrowThirteen Goats - Servants of the Outer DarkBlack Cilice - Esoteric AtavismHulder - The Eternal FanfareMassacre - MythosFresh - Raise Hell Camp Trash - The Long Way, The Slow Way Chief State - Waiting For Your Colours

Reports from the first Nine Inch Nails UK shows in 4 years as well as SeeYouSpaceCowboy..., the first new music in a decade from The Mars Volta, new Megadeth, and a surprise Spiritbox banger heading up a wealth of new music, and one of the most overwhelming release weeks of the year.Releases:Alexisonfire - OthernessCoheed & Cambria - Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking MindFinal Light - Final LightNervus - The Evil OnePorcupine Tree - Closure/ContinuationCandy - Heaven is HereDune Rats - Real Rare WhalePetrol Girls - BabyGraywave - RebirthSaor - OriginsKhold - SvartsynEntrails - An Eternal Time of DecayDarkane - Inhuman SpiritsWerewolves - From the Cave to the GraveCalderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian LandsVicious Blade - Siege of Cruelty

Perran and Mark consider the news of a four day Download next year, the loss of The Pit/Lock Up stage at Reading & Leeds, the pros and cons of growling kids on talent shows, and a bunch of new tracks including a return to form In Flames and Steve Aoki putting his fingers in some rock music pies again.Releases:D.R.U.G.S. - Destroy RebuildLit - Tastes Like GoldNova Twins - SupernovaCivil War - InvadersEsoctrilihum - Consecration of the Spiritus FleshWhite Ward - False LightWeezer - SZNS: Summer

Returning from Slam Dunk weekend, Alexisonfire's comeback album and another stormer from Kreator head up reviews with Bleed From Within, Coheed and Cambria, Joyce Manor, Final Light, Astronoid, & Nervus.Alexisonfire 22:31Kreator 41:38Bleed From Within 56:31Coheed and Cambria 1:09:07Joyce Manor 1:19:48Final Light 1:30:01Astronoid 1:41:17Nervus 1:52:15

Perran's joined by guest Mark Sandison to talk about the feral action going down at Maryland Deathfest, Bring Me the Horizon's throwback Malta set, new tunes from Amon Amarth and Panic! At the Disco, but mainly the feral action going down at Maryland Deathfest. Good grief.Releases:The Chasm - The Scars of a Lost Reflective ShadowKreator - Hate Uber AllesBleed From Within - ShrineAstronoid - Radiant BloomGwar - The New Dark AgesThe Algorithm - Data RenaissanceArtificial Brain - Artificial BrainOrigin - ChaosmosCrobot - Feel ThisMemphis May Fire - Remade In MiseryNo Pressure - No PressureTemple of Void - Summoning the SlayerKillswitch Engage - Live at the Palladium

Milton Keynes' transport network is sent into meltdown by a bunch of emos as My Chemical Romance, Mayhem, and Elton John (not on the same bill) saw a crazy Saturday night. With this episode though we salute Alec Chillingworth, who takes his leave from TNM. Cheers for your love everybody, one and all.Releases:Decapitated - Cancer CultureDef Leppard - Diamond Star HalosTremonti - Tremonti Sings SinatraLiam Gallagher - C’mon You KnowbigLOVE - Crusaders of JoyBesvärjelsen - AtlasLord Belial - RaptureSacrifizer - Le diamant de LuciferBlack Void - AntithesisSpiter - Bathe the Babe in Bat’s BloodMournful Congregation - The Exuviae of Gods Part IBaest - Justitia

As My Chemical Romance surprise us with their first new song, there's more talk of deathcore bands sneaking in Euro-metal with Lorna Shore's new track, charlatans selling the wrong rock artists at the Eurovision Song Contest, attempts to dodge flying setlist spoilers, and a general weird gig trip to Oranssi Pazuzu.Releases:Pkew Pkew Pkew - Open BarState Champs - Kings of the New AgeMoon Tooth - PhototrophVisions of Atlantis - PiratesMisery Index - Complete ControlJungle Rot - A Call to ArmsPrimitive Man - InsurmountableFamyne - II: The Ground BelowMalevolence - Malicious IntentStatic Dress - Rouge Carpet DisasterCave In - Heavy PendulumSepticflesh - Modern PrimitiveCasket Feeder - Servants of ViolenceAnvil - Impact is ImminentJames LaBrie - Beautiful Shade of GreyEvergrey - A Heartless Portrait: The Orphean TestamentBlut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable AbyssesPredatory Light - Death and the Twilight HoursLuminous Vault - Animate the EmptinessCome to Grief - When the World DiesUnbowed - Colour the SoulBe

Some potential break-out records and long-awaited works populate May reviews with Ibaraki, Malevolence, Static Dress, Cave In, Puppy, Septicflesh, and Casket Feeder, but first, after the heartbreaking news we remember the wonderful Trevor Strnad.Ibaraki 26:53Malevolence 58:15Static Dress 1:13:28Cave In 1:25:46Puppy 1:42:36Septicflesh 1:55:56Casket Feeder 2:08:51

The mystery of Rammstein's possible fake tour dates has us scratching our heads, Suicide Silence make a blast return to their roots, and we talk about versatile vocalists, our personal most important hardcore bands, and question what it could take to knock some of the big league bands off the top, as well as live reports from Tool's Fear Inoculum tour and Helloween's returning run.Releases:Halestorm - Back from the DeadFozzy - BoomboxThree Days Grace - ExplosionsSilverstein - Misery Made MeSimple Plan - Harder Than It LooksStand Atlantic - F.E.A.R.Upon a Burning Body - FuryIbaraki - RashomonTerror - Pain Into PowerPuppy - Pure EvilGod Mother - ObevekligChamber - Carved In StoneUfomammut - FeniceWo Fat - The SingularityCosmic Putrefaction - Crepuscular Dirge for the Blessed OnesTómarúm - Ash In Realms of Stone IconsHaunter - Discarnate AlisMalthusian / Suffering Hour - Time's Withering ShadowNegative Plane - The Pact

This week's Hyperblasts sees our review of Rammstein's dramatic and diverse new album Zeit swiftly coming through the pandemic with more actual music, along with all the usual news antics. Releases:Watain - The Agony & Ecstasy of WatainDevil Master - Ecstasies of Never Ending NightMizmor & Thou - MyopiaThe Gathering - Beautiful DistortionDälek - PrecipiceHelms Alee - Keep This Be the WayThe Lord - Forest NocturneDischordia - TriptychAl-Namrood - Worship the DegenerateNo/Más - Consume/Deny/RepentThrowe - ForfaldSkull Fist - Paid In FullUdo Dirkschneider - My WayBeachdog - BeachdogJames and the Cold Gun - False StartHeriot - Profound MoralityRammstein - Zeit

Architects, While She Sleeps, The Wonder Years and Tribulation lead a barrage of tracks, and we cast our minds over ill-fitting collaborations.Releases:Darkher - The Buried StormPrince Daddy & the Hyena - Prince Daddy & the HyenaSpanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Etc.Rope Sect - Metanoia SessionsThe Troops of Doom - Antichrist RebornThese Arms are Snakes - Duct Tapes & Shivering CrowsGreyhaven - This Bright and Beautiful WorldMonuments - In StasisAnalepsy - QuiescenceEgregore - The Word of His LawIncandescence - Le Couer De L'HommeMånegarm - Ynglingaättens ödeUndeath - It's Time... To Rise from the GraveBob Vylan - Bob Vylan Presents the Price of LifeNorthlane - ObsidianOcean Grove - Up in the Air ForeverBodysnatcher - Bleed-AbidePrimus - ConspiranoidAudrey Horne - Devil's BellAmenra / Cave In / Marissa Nadler - Songs of Townes van Zandt Vol. IIIVanum - LegendCorpsessed - Succumb to RotArchgoat - All Christianity EndsStatic Abyss - Labyrinth of VeinsMirror - The Day Bastard Leaders DieCaliban - Dyst