April is gonna be an enormous month for steel. Not solely can we get new albums from Epica, Machine Head, Employed To Serve and Ghost, however we’ll even be getting our first correct glimpse of this month’s Metallic Hammer cowl star Papa V Perpetua because the Satanic Swedes hit the highway within the UK. High stuff.
However that is moreover the purpose – listed here are the outcomes of final week’s vote! It was a surprisingly tight-run battle for high spot, with Japan’s Esprit D’Air taking an admirable third place end. However even with their Hollywood connections in vocalist Vera Farmiga, The Yagas could not beat out the may that’s Evanescence and new single Afterlife, a observe that proves Amy Lee and co are nonetheless alt. steel masters after 20 plus years.
We have extra huge choices for you this week as we deliver the most recent singles from Babymetal, Sleep Token and Machine Head, in addition to all-new songs from Child Bookie, Dogma, UnityTX and so many extra. As ever, do not forget to inform us which tracks excite you most for the time being by voting within the ballot beneath – and have a wonderful weekend. Completely satisfied listening!
“Let’s go!” Babymetal have by no means been averse to function. They’re actually leaning into that with new album Metallic Forth, the tracklist full of visitor appearances as everybody from Bloodywood to Spiritbox and Electrical Callboy pops up. To rejoice that reality – and the announcement that the album can be with us on June 13 – Babymetal’s newest single sees them workforce up with hyperpop maverick Poppy on from me to u. In some ways, the observe looks like a throwback to the sugary candy/thumping beat mixture of Babymetal’s earliest releases, however added howls and breakdowns from Poppy that call to mind her work with Knocked Free on final yr’s epic Suffocate.
Sleep Token – Caramel
Our subsequent style of Sleep Token‘s Even In Arcadia, Caramel looks like maybe essentially the most revelatory track within the band’s again catalogue. Whereas their lore has lengthy been coached in poeticism and thriller, there are strains right here that appear to straight acknowledge the struggles of sustaining anonymity and coping with parasocial relationships. “Each time they attempt to shout my actual identify simply to get an increase from me“, Vessel sings. “Appearing like I am by no means wired by the rumour/I suppose that is what I get for attempting to cover within the limelight.” Seeded amidst a track that actually performs up the band’s interaction between R&B dynamics and crushing, clattering breakdowns, it is an actual underscore for the distinctive sound and place Sleep Token inhabit in steel in 2025.
Machine Head – Bonescraper
Did anybody order an enormous Machine Head banger? ‘Trigger that is positively what we have got with Bonescraper, an actual stompy headbanger with a killer hook (“Love is only a loaded gun“) and loads of “whoah-ohs” that’ve received us virtually bouncing on the spot serious about their Bloodstock headline look this summer season. With new album Unatoned coming in only a few weeks on April 25, we reckon we’re onto a stormer.
Child Bookie – Get Out (ft. Griffin Taylor)
Six years in the past Child Bookie teamed up with Corey Taylor on the genre-bending Caught In My Methods. Now he is going nex-gen as he recruits Griffin Taylor to deliver huge snarls and howls to Get Out. A collision between bassy hip hop and thumping steel, the observe is strengthened by the fusion of kinds, Taylor bringing some colossal vocal prowess atop a stomping beat that feels prefer it was designed to slay competition crowds and produce completely different audiences collectively.
Volbeat – Within the Barn of the Goat Giving Delivery to Devil’s Spawn in a Dying World of Doom
The toughest track title of 2025? We would must say so, Volbeat not holding again with their newest single. From slinky nation rock to neck-bothering heavy steel, it is a distillation of what Volbeat do oh-so-well and a first-rate instance of why we’ll be delighted when God Of Angels Belief arrives on June 6. Granted, the track does not go fairly as arduous as its title, however then… what does?
Dogma – Banned
Dogma clearly adore being transgressive. Whereas they could’ve provided up traditional-style heavy steel on their self-titled debut, their message – and naughty nun aesthetic – was designed to boost hackles with the overly straight-laced. They don’t seem to be stopping with the cheeky sultriness on new single Banned, however the band have traded away their guitars and riffs for nearly doo-wop fashion swing. Dogma/Twin Temple/Ghost tour when? [we’ll also warn you, probably best to avoid the video if you’re at work or around minors. Ahem].
Ghost Bathtub – Properly, I Tried Drowning
Ghost Bathtub may play depressive black steel, however there is a kernal of bleak gallows humour to the title of newest single Properly, I Tried Drowning. It isn’t fairly the one lightness amidst the sweeping maelstrom of riffs nonetheless; there are notes of synth and brittle high-end that add an otherworldliness to the blackened fury. Taken from new album Rose Thorn Necklace, due Might 9, it is a reminder that though the times are getting brighter, the darker arts nonetheless thrive.
UnityTX – Heinous
2023’s Ferality was a critical swing for hardcore/hip-hop crossover mob UnityTX. New single Heinous catches the band at their most transgressive, balancing out a stompy, beatdown riff with fast flows, all enamel and fists in a pleasant combine that brings to thoughts essentially the most livid ends of bands like Biohazard or Stray From The Path with a little bit of electronica chucked within the combine for good measure. On tour in Europe and the UK later this month with metalcore group Thrown, this band are effectively price protecting eyes on.
The Massive Hell – Heaven Is aware of I am Trolling You Now
Powered by queasy, lurching bass and squealing vocals, The Massive Hell’s newest single Heaven Is aware of I am Trolling You Now is all weirdness and noise rock brilliance with a stompy beat that’ll make you wish to put the ground by way of. The Wolverhampton band – that includes former God Rattling vocalist Thom Edward – put out their debut album Horrendous Mates manner again in January, however this seems to be a style of one thing else they have been cooking up.
Tallah – What We Know
The nu steel vibes are huge on Tallah’s newest single What We Know. Approaching like a collision of turn-of-the-millennium Korn, Slipknot and Dope, it is received us itching to interrupt out the saggy denims and pockets chains, all wailing angst and juddering beats. The primary style of latest album Primeval: Obsession // Detachment, due September 5, it is a floor-filler from high to backside.
Ward XVI – Blood Is The New Black
If there’s one factor we learn about steel within the twenty first Century, it is that vibrant characters and large personalities can go a good distance. Horrorcore heroes Ward XVI actually do not demure in new single Blood Is The New Black, an industrial steel tinged banger that stomps together with wailing synths and even a cheeky strut part that places a little bit of circus theatricality to their horror aesthetic. Taken from new album Id3ntity, due July 11, it is a deceptively addictive hear.
Seven Blood – To The Unknown
German newcomers Seven Blood go massive on the atmospherics with To The Unknown. Set someplace between alt steel and metalcore – assume Spiritbox, Lake Malice et al. – it is a fantastic stability of melody and heft that guarantees massive issues from debut album Life Is Simply A Part, due November 21.
