That's Not Metal

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

Green Day threaten us with a new album, there's the out of nowhere news of Mike Portnoy's return to Dream Theater, and Mortician become the unlikeliest social media stars of all time. We TOLD you.Releases:Within Temptation - Bleed OutMyrkur - SpineBoys Like Girls - Sunday at FoxwoodsKnuckle Puck - Losing What We LoveGo Ahead and Die - Unhealthy MechanismsCirith Ungol - Dark ParadeSAVAGE - Glory RidersClowns - Endlessawakebutstillinbed - chaos take the wheel and i am a passengerAfterbirth - In But Not OfMarthe - Further In EvilWorm / Dream Unending - StarpathThe Gaslight Anthem - History BooksTaking Back Sunday - 152Wargasm - VenomPoppy - ZigIn This Moment - GodmodeYear of the Knife - No Love LostEND - The Sin of Human FrailtyRile - PessimistNOBRO - Set Your Pussy FreeAutopsy - Ashes, Organs, Blood and CryptsWayfarer - American GothicMalokarpatan - Vertumnus CaesarEndseeker - Global WormingDokken - Heaven Comes DownSorcerer - Reign of the ReaperLegendry - Time Immortal Wept

This month we feast upon the new albums from Creeper, The Menzingers, Blink-182's nostalgic reunion, Svalbard, Kristin Hayter, Primordial, Maggot Heart... and Roger Waters redoing Dark Side of the Moon.Creeper 26:20The Menzingers 1:01:40Blink-182 1:20:43Roger Waters 1:41:29Svalbard 1:58:50Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter 2:16:00Primordial 2:37:29Maggot Heart 3:03:44

Sam catches a double helping of Better Lovers, and Sick New World announces its lineup for 2024.Releases:Creeper - SanguivoreThe Menzingers - Some Of It Was TrueBeartooth - The SurfaceCrosses - Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.Twin Temple - God is DeadÅrabrot - Of Darkness and LightFree Throw - Lessons That We Swear to KeepThe Keening - Little BirdGévaudan - UmbraBody Void - Atrocity MachineSulphur Aeon - Seven Crowns and Seven SealsKrieg - RuinerGruzja - Koniec WakacjiSlidhr - White Hart!Laster - Andermans MijneSadistic Force - Midnight AssassinAcid Blade - Shooting Star

This week we review two new albums from bands who have changed the modern sonic make-up of hardcore in Harm's Way's industrial brutality Common Suffering, and Code Orange's latest (divisive as always) piece of their ongoing conceptual evolution as they go up into The Above.Releases:Svalbard - The Weight of the MaskOf Mice & Men - TetherCapra - ErrorsCarnifex - NecromanteumCitizen - Calling the DogsProng - State of EmergencyHeavy Load - Riders of the Ancient StormBlodet - Death MotherOctober Tide - The Cancer PledgeSpider God - Blackened: Pink

Our September Album Club Pack is a Damnation Fest special as we look at four diverse records from heavy history being showcased at this event: Leprous' prog majesty Coal, Unearth's Oncoming Storm, Deadguy's deranged Fixation on a Coworker, and Akercocke's sexy suit Choronzon.Album Club normally goes up at patreon.com/thatsnotmetal, but teaming up with Damnation Festival, this one's on us straight away. Enjoy!

Some weeks just get overrun by drama: Thy Art is Murder's quite unbelievable decision to replace the vocals on their album in a week has the extended discussion that such a subject warrants, Bloodstock complete their 2023 headliners, and there's an intriguing LiveNation merch cuts scheme. Simmering down, we talk Busted.Releases:Samurai Pizza Cats - You’re HellcomeHeart of a Coward - This Place Brings Only DeathGuilt Trip - Severance3TEETH - EndExKEN Mode - VoidKill Devil Hill - Seas of OblivionPkew Pkew Pkew - Siiick DaysSincere Engineer - Cheap GrillsProfanatica - Crux SimplexFinal Gasp - Mourning MoonSilence in the Snow - Ghost EyesMourning - Hive of ResentmentBlood Command - World DominationCode Orange - The AboveHarm’s Way - Common SufferingKoyo - Would You Miss It?Grove Street - The Path to RighteousnessPrimordial - How It EndsMaggot Heart - HungerBlack Stone Cherry - Screamin’ At the SkySteven Wilson - The Harmony CodexGunship - UnicornKK’s Priest - The Sinner Rides AgainGraveyard - 6Asinhell - Impii Ho

In the busiest month of the year TNM reviews Corey Taylor, Baroness, Sylosis, Blood Command, Kvelertak, Empire State Bastard, Cannibal Corpse, & Hexvessel, toast the achievements of the departing Dawn Ray'd, and ask... WHO did Stef Carpenter tell about the new Deftones album?!Corey Taylor 38:00Baroness 1:06:37Sylosis 1:25:31Blood Command 1:43:35Kvelertak 2:06:11Empire State Bastard 2:21:57Cannibal Corpse 2:37:48Hexvessel 2:55:27

Nickelback and Massacre both draw conversational lines in the sand, and While She Sleeps release a new track that goes full... something.Releases:30 Seconds to Mars - It’s the End of the World But It’s a Beautiful DayCorey Taylor - CMF2Baroness - StoneTesseract - War of BeingAsh - Race the NightDanko Jones - Electric SoundsPain of Truth - Not Through BloodMagnitude - Of Days Renewed…Worriers - Trust Your GutNight Verses - Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of NightExplosions in the Sky - EndTomb Mold - The Enduring SpiritBrujeria - Esto es BrujeriaGridlink - Coronet JupiterShining - ShiningAlkaloid - NumenFabricant - Drudge to the ThicketAltarage - Worst Case ScenarioBlood Incantation - Luminescent BridgeMayhem - Daemonic Rites

Sleep Token have to call out impersonators and we call out "presidential bid" publicity stunts. Also a week of gig reports from Hot Mulligan/Spanish Love Songs, The Story So Far, Dawn Ray'd, and Full of Hell/Antichrist Siege Machine.Releases:Sylosis - A Sign of Things to ComeKvelertak - EndlingAngel Du$t - Brand New SoulUnityTX - FeralityDying Fetus - Make Them Beg for DeathMyrath - KarmaUada - Crepuscule NaturaCryptopsy - As Gomorrah BurnsSlomatics - Strontium FieldsFire Down Below - Low Desert Surf ClubDomkraft - Sonic MoonsNasty - Heartbreak CriminalsWith Honor - BoundlessCaptain Planet - Come On, CatExcarnated Entity - Mass Grave HorizonMonolord - It’s All the SameAcranius - Amoral

The Album Club Pack is back for a second year as we look at Linkin Park's experimental A Thousand Suns, Primus Sailing the Seas of Cheese, the sleeper crossover influence of Iron Age's The Sleeping Eye, and cower beneath the unreachable pinnacle of caveman horror death metal meatheadedness that is Mortician's Chainsaw Dismemberment.This episode was originally published January 2023 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

Job for a Cowboy finally release new music, Trivium hit the UK for their second tour of the year highlighting cuts from Shogun, and we talk the completed Damnation Festival bill and the bands we'd pay the most for.Releases:Holding Absence - The Noble Art of Self DestructionThe Armed - Perfect SaviorsAsking Alexandria - Where Do We Go From Here?The Word Alive - Hard ResetHot Milk - A Call to the VoidOrbit Culture - DescentFiddlehead - Death is Nothing to UsDethklok - Dethalbum IVKnife - Heaven Into DustIncantation - Unholy DeificationGodthrymm - DistortionsBlut Aus Nord - Disharmonium - NahabUrfaust - UntergangDrab Majesty - An Object In MotionFull of Hell/Gasp - SplitRoyal Blood - Back to the Water BelowEmpire State Bastard - Rivers of HeresyPolaris - FatalismJeff Rosenstock - HellmodeTaking Meds - Dial M for MedsPrimal Fear - Code RedBio-Cancer - RevengeanceGrave Pilgrim - The Bigotry of PurposeUndergang - De syv stadier af fordaerv

Some of the leaders in alt rock top reviews with Spanish Love Songs, The Xcerts, and Teenage Wrist, as well as new Skindred, Urne, Spirit Adrift, Horrendous, Celestial Sanctuary, and a conversation addressing recent comments from CJ McMahon.Spanish Love Songs 37:20The Xcerts 1:01:51Teenage Wrist 1:22:55Skindred 1:34:21Urne 1:47:03Spirit Adrift 2:01:35Horrendous 2:12:22Celestial Sanctuary 2:27:20

TNM returns to Bloodstock Festival for the 2023 event as Perran reports on sets from Killswitch Engage, Megadeth, Triptykon, Meshuggah, Knocked Loose, Employed to Serve, and generally more heavy metal than you could shake a stick at.

We pore over the first Wacken announcement looking for festival clues for 2024, debate the worth of rock's various one hit wonders, and learn some mad stats about AC/DC's setlists.Releases:The Hives - The Death of Randy FitzsimmonsUrne - A Feast on SorrowCaskets - ReflectionsKataklysm - GoliathWerewolves - My Enemies Look and Sound Like MeSlugchild - Wounds Untold

Wacken caps its attendees early, Marmozets tease a return, Skindred announce their first Wembley show, and we poke the bands sitting on albums for too long. The return of Toolwatch?Releases:Teenage Wrist - Still LoveSkindred - SmileMammoth WVH - Mammoth IIHumanity’s Last Breath - AshenAn Autumn for Crippled Children - Closure