Heavy Metal Talks music blog

  Artist: Colliding Worlds Origin: Germany Label: Independent Released: August 21, 2026 Genre: Melodic Death/Gothic Metal Rating: 7/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Colliding Worlds are a melodic death/gothic metal band from Germany, and Iridescence is their fifth full-length album. It was released independently on August 21 and consists of six tracks with a running time of just over 50 minutes. The first thing that hit me was the guitar playing, which is absolutely fantastic. Together with the atmosphere, it creates a dark and melancholic sound filled with both longing and sadness. There are some really beautiful melodic parts here, but the album still has plenty of weight. The vocals fit the music perfectly. The growling is clear, dark and on point the whole album. It becomes even more powerful on Abyss, where the vocals sound fucking insane.  Abyss is a bit more aggressive, and it really stands out for me. The album opens with Enigma, a track that runs for more th...

  Artist: Flykt Origin: Stockholm, Sweden Label: Hammerheart Records Released: June 19, 2026 Genre: Black Metal Follow: Facebook | Instagram Flykt is a name that deserves more attention. This year they released their second album, Sinister Strain, seven years after their debut Charnel Heart — and it's a record that combines aggression with real melodic depth. I reached out to talk about the long road to this album, what drives their sound, and what comes next. 1. For those who haven't discovered Flykt yet, how would you describe the band, and how did everything get started? The band formed in 2016. I joined shortly after, and the first album, "Charnel Heart," was released in 2019. The following seven years have been devoted to the creation of our second album, "Sinister Strain," which was released this June. 2. Where did the name Flykt come from, and does it hold a special meaning for the band? Since I wasn't present at ground zero,...

  Artist: Warning Origin: United Kingdom Label: Relapse Records Released: June 19, 2026 Genre: Doom Metal Rating: 7/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Rituals of Shame has been a highly anticipated album. It's been 20 years since Warning released Watching from a Distance, and now they return with five tracks and around 45 minutes of new music. I'll be honest , i was a bit scared to review this one. This is a strong album. Strong in many different ways. There's so much emotion here, with plenty of longing, self-loathing and all that kind of crap. This is very melancholic doom metal. The music is extremely slow and built around heavy guitars, dark melodic parts and long build-ups. Most of the time it works, but there are moments when it drags out. Some parts could have been a little shorter without losing the atmosphere. The album deals with guilt, shame, longing and love. The vocals carry much of the emotion, and they are very good. Really fucking good! They fit the d...

  Artist: Coma Control Origin: Finland Label: Independent Released: August 14, 2026 Genre: Progressive Death Metal Rating: 7.5/10 Listen/Buy: Official Links Coma Control are a progressive death metal band from Tampere, Finland, and Shed the Sleep is their second full-length album.  There was something about this dark and melancholic sound that capture me right away , and made me curious. There`s a lot happening on this album. At times it becomes chaotic, but it is technical and controlled, and most of the changes work really well. The music can go from heavy and aggressive to something much more atmospheric before changing direction again. Normally, this amount of change could easily become a mess, but Coma Control know what they are doing. The longer tracks made me skeptical at first , because this can easily loose my interest, that is not the case here. At times this is pure chaos, but it is technical and controlled chaos. There are changes everywhere, heavy...

  Artist: SAROF Origin: Lappeenranta, Finland Label: Independent Released: August 7, 2026 Genre: Melodic Death Metal Rating: 9/10 Listen/Buy: sarofband.com Melodic death metal from Finland just keeps getting better and better, and SAROF are no exception! Already after a few seconds, I was sold. There is just something about the sound on this album that hit me immediately. Via Discendi is the second full-length album from SAROF, following Force of Will from 2019. It contains nine tracks and runs for just under 40 minutes, and the quality stays high throughout the whole album. The sound reminds me of the old melodeath scene and that classic Gothenburg sound, and it is so fucking good. Is this the new melodeath sound coming from Finland? I do not know, but it sounds amazing. The vocals are on point all the way through. There are some great variations in the voice, which give the album exactly what it needs. The guitars are sharp, technical and fucking rhythmic, full ...

  Artist: Enshine Origin: Sweden / France Label: Independent Released: January 3, 2026 Genre: Melodic Death/Doom Metal Rating: 5.5/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp I thought I reviewed this album when it was first released, but apparently I forgot about it. So with a lack of both creativity and time, I decided it was finally time to bring out Elevation again. This is Enshine’s third full-length album and comes more than ten years after Singularity . It consists of eight tracks and runs for around 50 minutes. You can feel the atmospheric longing and darkness already from the first track. This is a heavily melancholic album. The guitars are beautiful and full of emotion, with some really good riffs and melodic parts. Together with the keyboards, they create a dreamy and almost cosmic atmosphere. The keyboards can become a little too dominant, but for the most part this works really well. The vocals are also good, although they disappear a little into the music from time to t...

  Artist: Cipher System Origin: Tjörn, Sweden Label: At Dawn Records Released: July 31, 2026 Genre: Melodic Death Metal Rating: 9 /10 Follow: Facebook After 15 years, Cipher System are finally back with a new release, and what a fucking comeback this is! Torn Between Realities starts so fucking strong with Endveiler . This track hit me immediately. The melodies, the energy and Christian Älvestam’s vocals all come together in a way that just works. Älvestam's clean vocals sound almost unchanged after all these years, and they hit exactly where they should. The growls are also on point, and the shifts between the two styles are a big part of what makes this work so well. If you are a fan of Scar Symmetry, you will definitly like this. It is difficult to listen to Torn Between Realities without thinking about the early Scar Symmetry period with Symmetric in Design , Pitch Black Progress and Holographic Universe . The last one also includes my personal favorite Scar...

Artist: Syrax Origin: St. Petersburg, Russia Label: Independent Released: July 31, 2026 Genre: Melodic Death Metal Rating: 7/10 This EP came completely out of nowhere. I saw the name Syrax on a list of new releases, and thought I had to check them out and it was much better than I expected. Another Side of the Battlefield starts with a folk metal feeling, at first I was not really sure what this was, but then it picks up and moves more into melodic death metal, mixed with elements of viking and folk metal. This works so much better than I first expected. The guitars sound really good and are a big part of this EP. There are plenty of great melodies, and the drums also get their moments with a good dose of blastbeats. Everything is technically well played and on point exactly where it needs to be, it feels like the band has been doing this for years. The vocals are a little special. Sometimes they are a bit unclear, but they are also very good when they hit. There are also...