Our September 2026 Albums of the Month!
As we enter the final third of the year, I’m duty bound to mention a release that I think has been criminally underrated by the populace. Frustrating yet moving, pretentious yet blunt, ambitious and yet all too familiar, I am of course talking about the Tom Cruise Oscar vehicle Digger, in cinemas now. Go watch it and have loud opinions on it! In the mean time, let’s talk September music releases. This month’s batch includes hyperactive theatre rock, gurgling melodic tech-death, the completion of a prog metal trilogy, a dose of world-building metal etherea, some intense Japanese progressive folk metal, punchy progressive(?) metalcore, your expected dose of avant-garde black metal, and, of course, a solo cello record by a man who refuses to buy a shirt! Sample our selection while you book your seats for Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest cinematic feat.
Bear Ghost – Tiny Hitman
Recommended for fans of: The Dear Hunter, Closure in Moscow, My Chemical Romance, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Moron Police
Picked by: Ian
Before I recommend this album, I am legally required to ask a few screening questions. Are you a fan of music that views the walls between genres as flimsy little things to be crushed with the joyous alacrity of an overcaffeinated kaiju? Do you enjoy music that explodes with enough energy and earnestness to eliminate any ennui? Were you considered a “theater kid” once upon a time, or at least bear a soft spot for music that isn’t afraid to make big, theatrical plays to the cheap seats? If so, you may be the sort of fellow degenerate that, like me, considers Bear Ghost‘s Tiny Hitman one of the best albums of the year. With rambunctious, kinetic riffs, powerhouse tenor vocals, and audacious genre-bends aplenty, the album is both an incredibly fun, unashamedly wacky thrill ride and an ambitiously composed, thematically dense look at the interconnected harms of the modern era. I once heard it said that it is “better to be a few people’s shot of whiskey than everyone’s cup of tea”, and Bear Ghost have crafted one hell of a vintage. Just make sure you’ve got the constitution for it first.
Recommended tracks: In Our Image, New Kids, Sunshine, Tiny Hitman
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Hatchling – Spectral Contingency
For fans of: Archspire, Job for a Cowboy, Obscura, Necrophagist
Picked by: Johnno
Splendor does not always appear as a sweeping, lush forest with the serene stillness of Eden. Time and again grandeur nests in the everblack, lurking in the unseen endroits of desolate towns and murky caves. Spectral Contingency, Hatchling’s second full length LP, animates these dark forces in neoclassical and experimental ways. Punishing metal paired with ballroom symphony is somewhat in vogue lately thanks to Archspire and Lorna Shore, but there is no overindulgence to be found here. Hatchling’s magic lies in their ability to subtly weave lyricism into composition and sustain a uniquely eerie atmosphere. Instrumental performances boast technical acumen from proggy solos to stirring breakdowns; clever harmonies and brutal chromaticism summon forth satisfying juxtaposition; and, concurrently, a spiritual medium—Eddie Inman—channels inhuman gutturals into your auditory cortex. Above all, there are BASS SOLOS in the big year of 2026. JD Sims’ bass guitar is pleasantly audible and the slinky backbone of Hatchling’s ghoulish endeavours. As a whole, Spectral Contingency properly showcases the finest qualities of technical death metal and intersperses deathcore, Latin, and Opeth-y flavors for those looking for a progressive fix. With each listen more addictive than the last, the Indiana quintet have earned high marks.
Recommended tracks: Schematics To A Resurrection Apparatus, So It Rains, When I Was Plasma
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Dreadnought – Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light
Recommended for fans of: Myrkur, Messa, The Ocean
Picked by: Christopher
On their sixth album, Dreadnought build an ethereal world suffused with dystopian AI themes that prove depressingly resonant to our current cultural malaise. Combining post-black metal, electronica, proggy structures and folkish flourishes, Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light is an experiential record that fully immerses you in its eerie vibes. Kelly Schilling’s gossamer vocals and haunted wails remain the main draw, perfectly exemplifying the band’s deft balancing act upon the line between beauty and brutality. Bass thrums, drums blast, screams and beseechments soar over shimmering chimes and atmospheric synths. Following very much in the vein of previous release The Endless, the electronica ante has been upped, and the sense of seamless flow between ideas adds to the sense that this is a sonic story unfolding. Across a relatively svelte forty-minute runtime, Dreadnought manage to create one of the most mesmering music experiences of the year.
Recommended tracks: Tiamat’s Gate, The Archive, Aeonwar
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Sigh – Goh-Ka
Recommended for fans of: Thy Catafalque, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Arcturus
Picked by: Vince
It can be easy to underestimate what records stick with us. When I reviewed Goh-Ka, I expected to move on from it relatively swiftly, as can be the case with many of the albums I review. Yet, against all odds, Sigh’s latest has quickly emerged as one of my favorite records this year, a captivating mixture of traditional Japanese instrumentation and progressive black metal that I just keep pressing play on. From the kooky opening synth notes, lively shamisen, and flute solo of “Kuso-shi 1, 2, and 3”; to the driving energy of “Unputenpu” and beyond, Sigh have crafted a lavish, addictive record replete with tight performances (and a hypnotic turn behind the kit by contributing drummer, Mike Heller). In hindsight, my 7.5 feels cautious, perhaps fearfully so. No matter. The past is done; the present is now. And presently, I’m telling you that, whether you’re new to Sigh (like me) or a veteran listener, Goh-Ka is absolutely worth giving a spin.
Recommended tracks: Kuso-shi 1, 2, and 3; Unputenpu; “Jigoku-Zoshi” (1 + 2)
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Green Carnation – A Dark Poem, Pt. III: The Messiah Complex
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Pain of Salvation
Picked by: Claire
It’s a good thing Green Carnation are sick as hell, since this is—by my count—my eighth time writing about them for this publication. With The Messiah Complex, the Norwegians close their Dark Poem album trilogy with aplomb. The stately, melancholic grandeur that has long defined their sound is present in abundance, and it’s especially gratifying to hear the final pieces of this ambitious project fall so neatly into place. Across Part III’s first few compositions, Green Carnation navigate the murky waters of faith, alienation, and human folly, their progressive sensibilities manifesting as always in careful arrangements rather than displays of technical excess. Then, just when you think you know where The Messiah Complex is going, the band hand over the reins to a full orchestra and choir for a seventeen-minute finale that gives voice to the trilogy’s familiar melancholia through an entirely different musical language. What might have been a mere closing chapter is instead a stirringly cathartic culmination, rendering the whole greater than the sum of its already impressive parts. Eight writeups later, Green Carnation are still giving me reasons to come back for more.
Recommended tracks: Unconditional Artificial Chemistry, Broken Souls, Common Enemies
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Raphael Weinroth-Browne – Empyrean
Recommended for fans of: Apocalyptica, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leprous, Myrath, Max Richter, Hania Rani
Picked by: Noor
2026 has undoubtedly been a heavy release year full of even heavier releases. Among the new tech death, sludge, and crushing post-metal releases that are sure to satisfy every niche of metalhead, a calming palette cleanser arrives in the form of Raphael Weinroth-Browne’s modern classical work, Empyrean. Although rooted in classical cello, Empyrean has the same big-band energy that many of 2026’s releases have; with the looping pedal, Weinroth-Browne builds atmosphere, intensity, and strength in his grand soundscape with heavy galloping rhythms and soaring melodies. His cello work flourishes with techniques from tremolos to harmonics, taking a listener on a journey that invokes various emotions on a dime. Empyrean takes from Johann Sebastian Bach’s works, integrating accented baroque-style playing with the grittiness of prog metal’s jumping time signatures and identity. Metalheads, classical musicians, and any open-minded listener alike will find beauty in Empyrean’s culmination of gentle and intentional musical output.
Recommended tracks: Speed of Light, Integration, Dissolution, Revelation, Empyrean
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Krallice – Scour Order
Recommended for fans of: Gorguts, Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord
Picked by: Andy
Krallice are an institution, a paragon of high-quality avant-garde “black metal,” reliably delivering at least once every year or two for nearly two decades. After several years of experimenting heavily with synths, Scour Order brings the band back to their guitar-forward roots, composed with the classic metal instrument in mind. The record is vertiginously technical, mixing physically demanding string and drum parts with high-minded contrapuntal harmonies. Moreover, the delectable mix of consonance and dissonance throughout Scour Order makes it endlessly replayable despite the record’s length and dense, confusing tracks; there is always more to discover in the intricate interplay of these four musicians. Of course, mixed by Colin Marston at his own legendary studio, Scour Order sounds organic, the guitars like alien appendages exploring their new sonic environment in your ears as the record goes on. It’s everything you could want from a Krallice album and is yet another jewel in the crown of one of progressive black metal’s premier acts.
Recommended tracks: Agonal Shining, Indecipherable Divinities, Scour Order
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Burner – No One is Coming to Save Us
Recommended for fans of: Darkest Hour, Zao, Enforced, Lamb of God
Picked by: Clay
An addictive, high-throttle slab of progressive and melodic metalcore with a death metal-leaning hardcore swagger, Burner’s No One is Coming to Save You packs a hell of a punch. Somber acoustic passages and lines of backing guitar melodies alongside vocalist Harry Nott’s rabid vocal delivery create an atmosphere of apocalyptic contempt for the current state of society. But the real show stealers here are guitarist Nathan Harlow and drummer Jack Bryant who fluidly cycle between fiery blackened blast beat-driven sequences, infectious hard-hitting grooves, and death metal gallops that result in an ever engaging listen. Guest vocal appearances by Matthew Heafy (Trivium) and Josh Middleton (Sylosis) might pique the attention of many, but in truth, Burner’s consistent ferocity stands firm independently, needing no propping up from outsiders. God help those in the mosh pits when the breakdowns of “Sunrise, Parabellum” and “Wish Granter” hit, as the provided adrenaline-surge is sure to result in carnage. With No One is Coming for You, Burner have aggressively staked a regular claim in my album rotation, I suggest allowing yourself to succumb to their fury as well.
Recommended tracks: The Third Revelation, Sunrise, Parabellum, The Agony of Peace
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Non-Subway Picks
Noctule – Extinguish Thy Flame (melodic black metal, atmospheric black metal)
Svalbard may be no more, but frontwoman Serena Cherry continues to bless us lowly Tarnished with more from her video game-inspired meloblack project, Noctule. Lifting the lore and characters from Elden Ring, sophomore release Extinguish Thy Flame is a glorious stat-dump in fiery, atmospheric meloblack, leveling up the project from novel lockdown origins to a smashing must-listen.
Picked by: Vince
Villagers of Ioannina City – Venceremos (hard rock, stoner rock)
Notching down the Greek folkiness and psychedelia of earlier releases, Villagers of Ioannina City’s third LP builds upon a relatively simple hard rock base—and builds, and builds, until its epic, earth-shaking compositions come to life. In a word, the music is triumphant. Good luck making it through the record without putting your fist in the air.
Picked by: Cory
Cloven Hoof – Never a Prophet in Your Own Land (power metal, heavy metal)
Judas Priest and Satan aren’t the only uncs still releasing great music well over forty years into their career: the perpetually underrated Cloven Hoof, a NWOBHM band formed in 1979, just released their eleventh album, and it’s easily one of their best. Addictive, high-energy heavy British heavy metal at its finest.
Picked by: Andy
Pierre de Maere – Ave de Maere (singer-songwriter, artpop)
The eccentric Belgian performer continues his ascent in the French lyrical world since breaking out in 2022 and performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Against the backdrop of a liminal sonic landscape, de Maere strolls confidently and candidly through chansons of hopeless romance, isolation, and reconciliation. Unusual melodies, glitchy synthwave sensibilities, and sensual duets round out a solid pop LP for falling into the loving arms of what could have been and could still be.
Picked by: Johnno
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