That's Not Metal

That's Not Metal reviews for March are in absolute guitar heaven, and maybe hell, with Judas Priest, Bruce Dickinson, Midnight, Gouge Away, Chapel of Disease, & Dödsrit.Judas Priest 23:30Bruce Dickinson 55:35Midnight 1:24:56Gouge Away 1:40:20Chapel of Disease 1:58:20Dödsrit 2:23:24

One of the biggest weeks for heavy touring in the UK peaks with a podcast-wide trip to Napalm Death's Campaign for Musical Destruction with Pig Destroyer, Primitive Man, and Wormrot, coming with sadly some sombre news from the PD camp.Releases:Kid Kapichi - There Goes the NeighbourhoodScott Stapp - Higher PowerThe Black Crowes - Happiness BastardsGouge Away - Deep SageBleak - My Body is Not Where I BelongDragonForce - Warp Speed WarriorsSavage Oath - Divine BattleVltimas - EpicAborted - Vault of HorrorsNecrophobic - Into the Twilight GreyUdåd -  UdådO ZORN! - Vermillion HazeGreywind - AntidoteComeback Kid - Trouble

Hyperblasts brings a report from London's Celestial Darkness Festival checking out rare bookings in the worlds of black, doom, & goth and sets from the likes of Primordial, Tribulation, & Ihsahn, and salute a formative band for TNM as Palm Reader announce their farewell.Releases:Judas Priest - Invincible ShieldSonata Arctica - Clear Cold BeyondMyrath - KarmaKill the Lights - Death MelodiesMidnight - Hellish ExpectationsGost - ProphecyExhorder - Defectum OmniumSkeletal Remains - Fragments of the AgelessSlimelord - Chytridiomycosis RelinquishedMerrimack - Of Gravity and GraceIsenordal - Requiem for Eirênê

The biggest piece of Slipknot drummer rumouring yet, some absolutely blistering tracks from Knocked Loose and Inter Arma, and probably the maddest band drama ever to unfold. We've all done it.Releases:Mick Mars - The Other Side of MarsAce Frehley - 10,000 VoltsAmigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is OverAmaranthe - The CatalystGlitterer - RationaleShoreline - To Figure OutTimelost - DrainedSleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of the Last Human BeingThe Body/Dis Fig - Orchards of a Futile HeavenTraveler - Prequel to MadnessBorknagar - FallStygian Crown - Funeral for a KingMorta Skuld - Creation UndoneVircolac - VenerationGuiltless - ThornsPaledusk - PALEHELLBruce Dickinson - The Mandrake ProjectZakk Sabbath - Doomed Forever Forever DoomedMinistry - HopiumforthemassesNew Years Day - Half Black HeartMannequin Pussy - I Got HeavenPissed Jeans - Half DivorcedFirewind - Stand UnitedSuicidal Angels - Profane PrayerHaunt - DreamersSheer Mag - Playing FavoritesSentry - SentryMessiah - Christus HypercubusDevastator - Conjurers

February Album Clubs look at Fall Out Boy's initial send-off Folie a Deux, Kreator's proto-extreme masterpiece Pleasure to Kill, the oft brushed over Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent from Refused, and a decade of Beastmilk's last post-punk party at the end of the world Climax.This episode was originally published February 2023 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

February reviews on TNM pop the hell off with Chelsea Wolfe, Alkaline Trio, Ihsahn, Job for a Cowboy, Darkest Hour, Spectral Voice, Hulder & Slope, and reactions to the bamboozling news of Slayer's return and Ascendancy + The Poison tours.Chelsea Wolfe 57:00Alkaline Trio 1:23:40Ihsahn 1:39:18Job for a Cowboy 2:01:12Darkest Hour 2:19:57Spectral Voice 2:35:21Hulder 2:55:38Slope 3:09:25

Hyperblasts checks out the new single from Pearl Jam, tours from Malevolence and The Menzingers, and very exciting headliner announcements from Outbreak and Damnation.Releases:Idles - TangkBlackberry Smoke - Be Right HereLaura Jane Grace - Hole In My HeadIhsahn - IhsahnBokassa - All Out of DreamsProfiler - A Digital NowhereShooting Daggers - Love & RageGVLLOW - Twin FlamesThe Obsessed - Gilded SorrowPraise the Plague - Suffocating in the Current of TimeDarkspace - Dark Space -IIPestilength - Solar Clorex

Kerry King is back on the scene with all of the details surrounding his first album since Slayer, as well as some spicy interview snippets, and there's huge tours on both sides of the Atlantic. The Grammys also exist.Releases:Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to SheYellowcard + Hammock - A Hopeful SignThe Chisel - What a F*cking NightmareThe Pineapple Thief - It Leads to ThisThe Last Ten Seconds of Life - No Name GravesHaystack - Doomsday Goes AwayMorbid Saint - Swallowed By HellSpectral Voice - SparagmosHulder - Verses In OathChapel of Disease - Echoes of LightPetrification - Sever Sacred LightZwielicht - The Aphotic EmbraceTheophonos - Ashes in the Huron RiverHannes Grossmann - Echoes of Eternity

A mega edition of Hyperblasts finds TNM conducting a critical reflection on the legacy of YMAS with the news of their impending farewell, a moment you either feared would come or never come. There's also crazy new music in the form of Kaonashi's new EP, and some crazy choices in the form of Download's stage splits.Releases:Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes - Dark RainbowAlkaline Trio - Blood, Hair, and EyeballsThe Infernal Sea - HellfenlicOlhava - SacrificeUnsouling - Vampiric Spiritual DrainKnoll - As SpokenEye Flys - Eye FlysJunta - JuntaDeath Killer - Total Destruction of the Entire UniverseMountain Caller - Chronicle II: HypergenesisGUHTS - RegenerationSlower - SlowerCaligula’s Horse - Charcoal GraceMadder Mortem - Old Eyes, New HeartVitriol - Suffer & BecomeCognizance - PhantazeinWhitechapel - Live in the ValleyDream State - Still DreamingKaonashi - The 3 Faces of Beauty: A Violent Misinterpretation of Morgan MontgomeryMilitarie Gun - Life Under the SunJesu - Hard to ReachEnterprise Earth - Death:

One of the most farcical yet often great review gauntlets opens TNM 2024, with efforts from Green Day, Neck Deep, Saxon, Lucifer, Upon Stone, Rough Justice... and Lord of the Lost's 90 minute cover album.Green Day 3:35Neck Deep 34:19Lord of the Lost 52:08Saxon 1:18:19Lucifer 1:41:15Upon Stone 1:55:35Rough Justice 2:13:36

New Year Hyperblasts continue with an in-depth report from Bring Me the Horizon's Nex Gen tour with Bad Omens, Cassyette, and Static Dress, representing a state of the address at the start of 2024.Releases:Green Day - SaviorsNeck Deep - Neck DeepSaxon - Hell, Fire and DamnationUpon Stone - Dead Mother MoonLord Dying - Clandestine TranscendenceSlift - IlionKontact - Full ContactMaster - Saints DispelledResin Tomb - Cerebral PurgatoryVemod - The DeepeningSexual Perverts - Sex Maniac…ForeverHeavy Sentence - Warriors of Madness

That's Not Metal is back for the first episode of 2024 covering the big news from the beginning of the year, announcement straight away of the year's first special, plus a big thank you.Releases:Peyton Parrish - SoulSprints - Letter to SelfGray State - Under the Wheels of ProgressHaywire 617 - Conditioned for DemolitionRejoice - All of Heaven’s LuckCancer Christ - God is ViolenceSvdestada - CandelaCasey - How to DisappearRough Justice - Faith In VainRyujin - RyujinNeal Morse - The Restoration - Joseph: Part TwoAlluvial - Death is but a DoorLifesick - Love and Other LiesExtinction A.D. - Ruthless IntentEscuela Grind - DDEEAATTHHMMEETTAALL

Tis the night before Christmas, and all through the house... The TNM Awards hit back crowning the heroes and villains, menaces and marvels of 2023:Most Improved BandSong of the YearWorst Song of the YearHero of the YearVillain of the YearBest New BandBiggest DisappointmentGig of the YearEP of the YearArtwork of the YearMovie of the YearComeback of the YearSurprise of the YearOutstanding AchievementWorst Band of the YearUnsung HeroesStory of the YearBand of the Year

The second load of That's Not Metal Albums of the Year come from Mark and Sam, and crucially in a year of some of the most divisive albums we announce the results of the listener AOTY poll.

The end of the year at TNM is nigh; it's time to cut the ribbon and begin crowning our top 20 albums, as Perran and Elliot start off with all of the great musical colour and invention that has graced our ears in 2023.

News show close for 2023 with acknowledgement of the passing of Killing Joke's Geordie Walker, before turning to more new music from ex-Black Peaks members and Video Nasties, and some very exciting Glenn Danzig news.Releases:Future Static - LiminalityCruciamentum - Obsidian RefractionsValdrin - Throne of the Lunar SoulMidnight Odyssey - Biolume Part 3 - A Fullmoon MadnessKvelgeyst - Blut, Milch und ThranenGnaw Their Tongues - The Cessation of SufferingPanopticon - The Rime of MemoryMouth Culture - Mishaps of My Mid TwentiesFull of Hell & Nothing - When No Birds SangBjorko - HeartrotVarathon - The Crimson TempleGoing Off - Kill ListHealth - Rat Wars

The final reviews bag of 2023 is a brilliant one, with loads of late year contenders: The Gaslight Anthem, Green Lung, Dying Wish, NOBRO, Autopsy, Wayfarer, Underdark, & Malokarpatan.The Gaslight Anthem 24:45Green Lung 50:42Dying Wish 1:11:20NOBRO 1:27:30Autopsy 1:42:46Wayfarer 2:02:52Underdark 2:22:46Malokarpatan 2:37:30

When We Were Young pulls an insane choice, Slipknot drummer rumours abound, and live reports from Creeper and future Download headliners Queens of the Stone Age among others.Releases:Dolly Parton - Rock StarHigh Spirits - Safe on the Other SideRacetraitor - Creation and the Timeless Order of ThingsC.L.S.M. - Infinity ShitPlaguemace - Reptilian WarlordsFoetal Juice - GrotesqueSadus - The Shadow InsideAeturnus - PhilosopherKing - Fury and DeathBewitcher - Deep Cuts & Shallow GravesEarthside - Let the Truth SpeakSoars - RepeaterCeleste - Epilogue(s)

We were fully back on the ground for this year's Damnation Festival (41:12) to see sets from Anaal Nathrakh, Electric Wizard, Enslaved, Akercocke, and many more of the best in underground and extreme. Bonus on Download and Grammys whinging.Releases:Tarja - Dark ChristmasLonely the Brave - What We Do to FeelHelmet - LeftMTVoid - Matter’s Knot, Pt. 1Gama Bomb - BatsMouthBreather - Self-TapeEx Everything - Slow Change Will Pull Us ApartShylamagoghnar - ConvergenceNight Crowned - TalesVastum - Inward to GethsemaneLeft Cross - Upon Desecrated AltarsAGLO - Build FearSodom - 1982Triumph of Death - Resurrection of the Flesh

Spiritbox release their new Fear of Fear EP, and there are conundrums about the ethics of contriving "viral moments" at shows with Frozen Soul's Magic the Gathering pit and Blink-182 recreating the Denny's hardcore memeReleases:Green Lung - This Heathen LandDying Wish - Symptoms of SurvivalFuming Mouth - Last Day of SunSugar Horse - Truth or Consequence, New MexicoSpiritual Cramp - Spiritual CrampSexless Marriage - This is Not LoveMorne - Engraved With PainAll Get Out - All Get OutSuffocation - Hymns from the ApocryphaKrypta - Outo laaksoMortuary Drape - Black MirrorWatain - Die In Fire - Live In HellStrigoi - Bathed in a Black SunInsomnium - Songs of the DuskSpiritbox - The Fear of Fear