That's Not Metal

We return to Outbreak Fest to see how the UK's biggest hardcore fest with sets from Code Orange, Converge & more integrates huge hip-hop acts into its bill for one of the now most innovative and genre-experimental weekends in the heavy music calendar.Releases:King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic ApocalypseRoyal Thunder - Rebuilding the MountainCreeping Death - Boundless DomainSunami - SunamiVulture Industries - Ghosts from the PastHome is Where - The WhalerSaturnus - The Storm WithinThy Catafalque - AlföldSwans - The BeggarTrophy Eyes - Suicide and SunshineMental Cruelty - ZwielichtMilitarie Gun - Life Under the GunBurner - It All Returns to NothingTsjuder - HelvegrXasthur - Inevitably DarkEbony Pendant - Ebony PendantWilt - HuginnLoma Prieta - LastStatic Abyss - Aborted From RealityCoffin Mulch - Spectral IntercessionGrotesqueries - Vile CrematoryKhanate - To Be CruelDivide and Dissolve - Systemic

We close the year's Album Club packs with the last time Tom DeLonge returned to Blink-182 with Neighborhoods, the returning Heck's Instructions, Anaal Nathrakh releasing the most venomous metal record ever made The Codex Necro, and remembering the time Christopher Lee made heavy metal records about Charlemagne and shed the blood of the Saxon men.This episode was originally published November 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

Avenged Sevenfold make the most daring and unhinged album of their generation, in a review episode colossus with new works from Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Rancid, Pupil Slicer, Vexed, Godflesh, & PONY.Avenged Sevenfold 9:21Foo Fighters 1:14:53Queens of the Stone Age 1:37:15Rancid 1:59:05Pupil Slicer 2:09:30Vexed 2:27:49Godflesh 2:39:32PONY 2:54:09

Fresh off one of the biggest weekends in UK rock festival history: the 20th anniversary Download Festival review, the full experience four day event featuring headlining sets from Slipknot, two unique Metallica sets, and a long-awaited graduation for Bring Me the Horizon.

Sam returns with a report on the organisational carnage at Slam Dunk as well as a trip to see Bruce Springsteen, and there's a very fresh look at the bizarre news surrounding Slipknot's activity and member change-ups.Releases:Godflesh - PurgeTorture Rack - Primeval OnslaughtScar Symmetry - The Singularity (Phase II - Xenotaph)Geld - Currency // CastrationJohnny the Boy - YouBlack Rainbows - SuperskullSuperbloom - Life’s a BlurGlass Casket - Glass Casket

A huge host of TNM faves are back with music as Creeper, Code Orange, Sylosis, Fever 333, and more offer themselves up, there's discussion around the news of Josh Middleton departing the Architects camp, Iron Maiden's Future Past tour setlist opened up, and everyone being in a right tizz at Royal Blood for saying some naughty words.Releases:Avenged Sevenfold - Life is But a Dream…Foo Fighters - But Here We AreRancid - Tomorrow Never ComesBuckcherry - Vol. 10Pupil Slicer - BlossomTigercub - The Perfume of DecayBully - Lucky for YouEinar Solberg - 16Tortured Demon - Rise of the LifelessBuggin - Concrete CowboysWytch Hazel - IV: SacramentBongzilla - Dab CityNecrofier - Burning Shadows in the Southern LightThantifaxath - Hive Mind NarcosisAmerican Nightmare - Dedicated to the Next WorldDamim - World Turned Hell

Album Clubs look at some beloved cult records in Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time ahead of the Future Past tour, Coheed and Cambria's In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, Descendents' foundational but thorny Milo Goes to College, and the murder psych rock breakthrough of Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats' Blood Lust.This episode was originally published October 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

Sleep Token are taking the world by storm. It's the most significant heavy release of the year, and historically, none of us get it. In this podcast, we try and assess how as non-worshippers we interact with a record like this, and the role of the reviewer to take in everything.Releases:PONY - VelveteenThe Used - Toxic PositivityThe Ocean - HoloceneBotanist - VIII: SelenotropeVnder a Crvmbling Moon - I: OblivionThulcandra - Hail the AbyssHenget - Beyond North StarRadien - Unissa palaneetVomitheist - NekoFvneralBlood Cult - Tomb of the Unknown RedneckMystic Prophecy - HellriotThe Dirty Nil - Free Rein to PassionsImmortal - War Against AllIncendiary - Change the Way You Think About PainElegant Weapons - Horns for a HaloMetal Church - Congregation of AnnihilationAJJ - Disposable EverythingHeart Attack Man - Freak of NatureLegion of the Damned - The Poison ChaliceVomitory - All Heads are Gonna RollCloak - Black Flame EternalSpeedwhore - Visions of a Parallel WorldUsnea - Bathed In LightPhlebotomized - Clouds of C

Eurovision goes into metal overdrive, and we review six of the month's biggest heavy releases from The Dirty Nil, Cattle Decapitation, Frozen Soul, Immortal, Drain, & Hot Mulligan. Big time for ice-people and shirt-tuggers.The Dirty Nil 26:34Cattle Decapitation 44:19Frozen Soul 1:14:55Immortal 1:30:20Drain 1:49:01Hot Mulligan 1:59:20

TNM considers and salutes the careers of departing bands Sum 41 and Dark Fortress, looks at new music from Queens of the Stone Age, Thy Art is Murder, and 30 Seconds to Mars, asks whether Billy Corgan paying a ransom was worth it, and takes a brief look at the rising trend of AI music in metal.Releases:Cattle Decapitation - TerrasiteThe Acacia Strain - Failure Will FollowThe Acacia Strain - Step Into the LightDevilDriver - Dealing With Demons Vol. IIHot Mulligan - Why Would I WatchThe Amity Affliction - Not Without My GhostsVeil of Maya - [m]otherLeft to Suffer - FeralBlack Spiders - Can’t Die, Won’t DieDe Forbandede - MenneskeIsland of Love - Island of LoveOmnerod - The Amensal RiseAscended Dead - Evenfall of the ApocalypseImpetuous Ritual - Iniquitous Barbarik SynthesisEsoctrilihum - Astraal Constellations of the Majickal ZodiacGrave Desecrator - Immundissime Spiritus

Bring Me the Horizon are still making music for Emo Girls, we check out Metallica's opening setlists for their No Repeats tour, put some venues to the sword in order to save Brixton Academy, and take the moment to assess who the best live band in the world is in 2023.Releases:Drain - Living ProofUnearth - The Wretched; The RuinousTherapy? - Hard Cold FireDave Lombardo - Rites of PercussionCurrents - The Death We SeekDeath Goals - A Garden of Dead FlowersBlood Ceremony - The Old Ways RemainEnforcer - NostalgiaHaunt - Golden ArmHerod - IconoclastShit Present - What Still Gets MeTeeth - A Biblical Worship of Violence

September's Album Clubs see Anthrax making the Big 4 with Among the Living, Taking Back Sunday's Louder Now explosion, one of hardcore's most underloved albums in Gallows' self-titled, and ahead of deploying it at Damnation Festival Pig Destroyer's psychotic masterpiece Prowler in the Yard.This episode was originally published September 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

Hyperblasts weighs in on the calls for Brixton Academy's license to be permanently revoked, the Trophy Eyes moshing debate, and a stinky Beartooth track, as well as a jubilant trip to Paramore's UK leg of the This is Way tour.Releases:Enforced - War RemainsCradle of Filth - Trouble and Their Double LivesDangerface - Be Damned!The Damned - DarkadelicCrown the Empire - DogmaVamachara - No Roses On My GraveMat Kerekes - You Look Like a StrangerDave Hause - Drive It Like It’s StolenLunar Chamber - Shambhallic VibrationsAustere - Corrosion of HeartsWallowing - Earth ReaperLucifuge - Monoliths of WrathSwollen Teeth - Swollen Teeth

We're joined by one man speed metal machine James McBain of Hellripper for an Album Roulette talking through his early thrash metal loves, nuclear post-punk, iconic Maiden live albums, and why the Red Hot Chili Peppers are kvlt.Toxic Holocaust - Evil Never DiesMegadeth - Peace Sells... But Whose Buying!Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex MagickCannibal Corpse - Evisceration PlagueBeastmilk - ClimaxIron Maiden - Live After Death

It's time for us to undertake our hour deep dive review into the brand new Metallica record 72 Seasons, on top of the new Every Time I Escape Plan music, Foo Fighters & others, a talk about the increase of festival cancellations in the UK, and a glut of Metallica-themed questions to seal the deal.Releases:Poison Ruin - HarvestOverkill - ScorchedSmoulder - Violent Creed of VengeanceVoidCeremony - Threads of UnknowingSól Án Varma - Sól Án VarmaThe Infinity Ring - Nemesis & NativityEnter Shikari - A Kiss for the Whole WorldGrave Pleasures - PlagueboysBell Witch - Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine GatePortrayal of Guilt - Devil MusicThe Smashing Pumpkins - Atum: Act ThreeThe St. Pierre Snake Invasion - GaloreAngus McSix - Angus McSix and the Sword of PowerDorthia Cortrell - Death Folk CountryTanith - VoyageSign Language - Madison & FloralOath of Cranes - The Unsung MantrasDawn of Ouroboros - Velvet IncandescencePredatory Void - Seven Keys to the Discomfort of BeingBirdflesh - Sickness in the Nor

If you're not all on Metallica... Toasting Balance and Composure's return, and reviews debate Enter Shikari, Bury Tomorrow, Grave Pleasures, a hardcore gauntlet of Jesus Piece, Enforced, & The Hirs Collective, and black metal opuses from Lamp of Murmuur and Dødheimsgard.Enter Shikari 20:32Bury Tomorrow 43:27Grave Pleasures 1:09:07Jesus Piece 1:29:24Enforced 1:40:53The Hirs Collective 1:49:57Lamp of Murmuur 2:07:59Dødheimsgard 2:24:08

Hyperblasts reviews new EPs from Scowl, Tribulation, and the split from Fit for an Autopsy, Thy Art is Murder, and Malevolence, and takes in news of Motley Crue's lawsuit, petty KISS drama, and Josh Klinghoffer's sky high self-confidence.Releases:Scowl - Psychic Dance RoutineTribulation - HamartiaFit for an Autopsy/Thy Art is Murder/Malevolence - The Aggression SessionsPowerwolf - InterludiumRise of the Northstar - ShowdownThe Nightmares - SéanceMudhoney - Plastic EternityWorriers - Warm Blankethealthyliving - Songs of Abundance, Psalms of GriefUnderstand - Real Food At LastAnthropophagous - Abuse of a CorpseMidnight Betrothed - Death…My Faithful BrideSunrot - The Unfailing RopeLo! - The Gleaners

We've got a double review on Hyperblasts with the verdict on Fall Out Boy's supposed return to form So Much (for) Stardust and Depeche Mode's poignant Memento Mori, along with new music from Empire State Bastard and Portrayal of Guilt among others and totally topical hot button questions.Releases:Lamp of Murmuur - Saturnian BloodstormOHHMS - RotBury Tomorrow - The Seventh SunGel - Only ConstantLordi - Screem Writers GuildCity and Colour - The Love Still Held Me NearFoxteeth - Through the BlueSamiam - StowawayThe Ongoing Concept - AgainKingsmen - Bones Don’t LieDead Lakes - DaydreamerThe Last In Line - JerichoDemonstealer - The Propaganda MachineRotten Sound - ApocalypseAllfather - A Violent TruthSpirit Possession - Of the Sign…Kommand - Death AgeVredensdal - Sonic Devotion to DarknessAara - Triade III: NyxAttack Attack! - Dark Waves

The State of Unrest Tour with Lamb of God and Kreator finally gets done and dusted, as well as an arena show for Beartooth and a 40th anniversary blast for W.A.S.P., hip-hop delivers two very different takes on heavy metal, and we talk the worst festivals we've been to.Releases:Night Demon - OutsiderKruelty - UntopiaSkourge - Torrential TormentForetoken - TriumphsVerminous Serpent - The Malign CovenantHyperdontia - DerangedDownfall of Gaia - Silhouettes of DisgustKamelot - The AwakeningBabymetal - The Other OneDawn Ray’d - To Know the LightFall Out Boy - So Much (for) StardustDepeche Mode - Memento MoriAugust Burns Red - Death BelowOv Sulfur - The Burden ov FaithThe Bouncing Souls - Ten Stories HighThe Hirs Collective - We’re Still HereGatekeeper - From Western ShoresSaxon - More InspirationsAcid King - Beyond VisionLiturgy - 93696Ne Obliviscaris - ExulKeep of Kalessin - KatharsisMork - DypetShores of Null - The Loss of BeautyCruachan - The Living and the DeadIhsahn - Fascination Street SessionsSoftcult - See

We're at August Album Clubs with an early 2010s selection of The Gaslight Anthem's derided Get Hurt, Sylosis' thrash ambition on Edge of the Earth, Trap Them defining Entombedcore on Darker Handcraft, and assessing the impact of Infant Annihilator's meme deathcore The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution.This episode was originally published August 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.