6 Great New Metal Albums that annihilate with riffs

I feel it necessary to apologize for what I feel was a kind of half-assed effort on my part with last month’s Shadow of the Horns column. Now, I had good reason—I explained my cursed month in the intro of last month’s roundup, and it’s not like the albums I included weren’t absolute rippers. They were. Let it never be suggested that I include anything other than the best of what makes it to my inbox every month. (Actually if you want to suggest that it’s fine, my guiding principle is that these are all records that I love first and foremost, so I know I don’t speak for everyone reading—but I hope my recommendations are appreciated anyway…)

So why am I apologizing? Because when I put together these selections every month, I try to find connective threads and thematic consistency. Like when I write about metal with sci-fi themes or metal that breaks genre boundaries. I think of this column like a mixtape in a lot of ways—these six albums should be able to cohere thematically, to feel like part of a greater whole rather than a hodgepodge of interesting but unrelated parts. And that’s a little like what January felt like to me. But then again we didn’t have drinkable water for a week. You try coming up with a consistent throughline.

So my mea culpa is this month’s roundup of albums that are all go-for-the-throat rippers. Though they draw from disparate styles—death metal, sludge and classic heavy metal—they’re all forward momentum and unrestrained energy. These are records that will beat you senseless with riffs, and you’re gonna take it and like it. Which I hope you do. Now that I’ve acknowledged my shortcomings, let’s all come together for the common goal of being annihilated by riffs.

Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums included are chosen by our editors and contributors.

Phrenelith – Ashen Womb

Copenhagen death metal outfit Phrenelith are three for three, returning in 2025 with their apocalyptic and unrelenting new set of songs, Ashen Womb. There’s no radical change in their M.O. here, no upending of their aesthetic or approach, but as with the best bands in death metal, they manage to find a spectacular balance between an atmosphere of all-encompassing doom and a rapid-fire aggression that feels like a horde of warriors storming the gates with swords in hand. From the brief but ominous intro of “Noemata,” Phrenelith set a tone of imposing darkness and stormy skies, less Halloween spooky than a kind of knowing danger coming up over the horizon. But in their best moments, like the ascendant gallop of “Nebulae,” they harness an undeniable power that sets them apart as one of the best Scandinavian metal bands today.

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

Mean Mistreater – Do Or Die

Texas heavy metal revivalists Mean Mistreater got off to a fantastic start just last year with debut album Razor Wire, and just slightly over 12 months later, they’ve delivered Do or Die, their sophomore set of hell-bent-for-leather power-chords-and-pumped-fists metal mayhem (and aesthetically similar skull artwork!). In contrast to many of the other albums in this month’s roundup, there’s no harrowing darkness, no gut-churning abrasion, no aesthetically sculpted ugliness. This is metal as your uncle or older brother cranked up while you were in the passenger seat of his car, metal that takes the best tricks from rock ‘n’ roll but louder, faster and meaner. And brother, it goes. From the opening surge of “Killer Red,” Mean Mistreater are off to the races and they’re moving at a sprint for most of these 27 minutes, wielding power chords like a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, and a hedonistic attitude that tends to be missing from so many contemporary metal bands. After all, this is supposed to be fun, right? All I know is I’m having a blast.

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

Sunrot – Passages

You can’t really fault an EP for being short—that’s the whole point of it, after all. But that being said, I’d take a triple-shot of the kind of sludge metal potency that Sunrot are pouring on their latest EP, Passages. Concise but characteristically massive, Passages is Sunrot’s sound reduced to its most potent, pairing crushing riffs with piercing noise and electronics for a more overwhelming sensory experience. They’re also in good company here, inviting a few friends to help amplify the mayhem, including Full of Hell’s Dylan Walker providing his harsh bark to the roaring standout “The First Wound,” or Cloud Rat’s Brandon Hill layering the instrumental ambience of “Sleep” with turbulent noise and static. While this might be only a miniature taste of things to come, on the riff-driven hell-ride of “Untethered,” the New Jersey group essentially perfects their molasses-thick tone and unholy groove—a promising sign of violence to come.

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

Grave Infestation – Carnage Gathers

Vancouver’s Grave Infestation describe their sophomore album about in terms that are simple, to the point, and entirely accurate: “The fast parts are faster, the slow parts are slower, and everything is just plain nastier.” Yes indeed, this is death metal with a bad attitude and a throat full of bile, a classic witch’s brew of North American-style murk and menace. (I’m not here to exploit the current divisions between the U.S. and Canada right now but do Tampa riffs get slapped with a 25 percent tariff too? Anyway…) Carnage Gathers is one ripper after another, unleashing a martial gallop on “Ritualized Autopsy,” groove-death with a badass strut on “Inhuman Remains,” and even a little classic thrash, Slayer-style, in the glorp and fanfare of “Black Widow.” Everything Grave Infestation said about their new album is true—this album stretches every extreme and holds nothing back. After all, what good is death metal that only goes halfway?

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

16 – Guides for the Misguided

Southern California brutes 16 have gotten a lot of mileage out of their signature sludge metal, which verges on noise rock at its most abrasive and grunge at its most melodic. But on their 10th album Guides for the Misguided, they maintain a balance of all three that frequently amounts to some of their most abrasively anthemic material to date. The brimstone-throated bark of Bobby Ferry means they’ll never be mistaken for a more hook-driven band like Torche, for instance, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know their way around a good melody, as with the soaring climax of opener “After All,” the rollicking low-end churn of “Hat on a Bed,” or the Alice In Chains-like dirge “Blood Atonement Blues.” If you’re the type who found a secret passageway to metal through grunge—like me!—then this is the album for you.

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)

Vacuous – In His Blood

My colleague Langdon was inspired to proclaim that death metal is “magical” on the strength of this album last week, and damned if I’m not inclined to agree. London’s Vacuous are low on frills and high on potency, specializing in the kind of sharpened-blade, straight-to-the-gut death metal that peers like Necrot have repeatedly proven that there’s still more depths to explore within this well-worn sound. Vacuous are similarly resourceful with their roaring aggression and razor’s edge riffs, occasionally veering into gothic ambience on standout moments like “Hunger,” but most often showing their strength through concise rippers such as “Flesh Parade,” hell bent on tearing through every obstacle in their path. How bands like Vacuous can still make barbarian gallop and ghoulish churn still sound so fresh and vital feels, well, magic.

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)