That's Not Metal

The electronicore scene is fractured by Blessed by a Broken Heart dramatically returning to the scene calling out Electric Callboy for supposedly stealing their sound. Who will prevail?! We also saw Napalm Death with Barney (slightly) consigned to a chair, talk our dalliances with the slam scene, and about Funeral for a Friend doing a Casually Dressed tour, again.Releases:Majesties - Vast Reaches UnclaimedPeriphery - Periphery V: Djent is Not a GenreSuicide Silence - Remember… You Must DieJudiciary - Flesh + BloodMeet Me @ The Altar - Past // Present // FutureManchester Orchestra - The Valley of VisionStory of the Year - Tear Me to PiecesNanowar of Steel - Dislike to False MetalGorod - The OrbFluisteraars - De Kronieken van het Verdwenen Kasteel - I - Harslo

New music from Svalbard and Cradle of Filth, Avenged Sevenfold teasing through social media "hacks", a trip to Obituary and Conjurer's London show, and trying to pick four of the deathcore new breed.Releases:Can’t Swim - Thanks But No ThanksZulu - A New TomorrowEnslaved - HeimdalHaken - FaunaFull of Hell & Primitive Man - Suffocating HallucinationViscera - CarcinogenesisEntheos - Time Will Take Us AllNecropanther - BetrayalSortilège - ApocalypsoFake Names - Expendables.gif from god - Digital Red

Architects call for a band strike on venue merch cuts, Frozen Soul release their first Matt Heafy-produced cut, and a lengthy report on Gojira's arena tour with Alien Weaponry and Employed to Serve and theorising on how far they might go.Releases:Avatar - Dance Devil DanceGraphic Nature - A Man Waiting to DiePigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Land of SleeperMan Must Die - The Pain Behind It AllUlthar - Anthronomicon / HelionomiconCult of Fire - Om Kali Maha KaliHost - IXNaut - HuntGoing Off - What Makes You Tick?Hundred Reasons - Glorious SunsetGodsmack - Lighting Up the SkyDope - LovesongSteel Panther - On the ProwlInsomnium - Anno 1696Lovebites - Judgement DayMegaton Sword - Might & PowerBig|Brave - Nature MorteDeath Pill - Death PillVenomous Concept - The Good Ship Lollipop

July Album Clubs look at the victory of one of heavy metal's patron saints Dio's Holy Diver, the most ripped off pop punk album of the decade Under Soil and Dirt by The Story So Far, the psychological horror metalcore splurge of Norma Jean's Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child, and examines bluegrass and worker's solidarity in black metal with Panopticon's Kentucky.This episode was originally published July 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

The superb new Paramore record tops February reviews with In Flames, Hellripper, Sanguisugabogg, Narrow Head, Naut, Host, and Going Off in tow, as well as Unto Others b-sides, lost Linkin Park songs, and Code Orange's ARG remix album.Paramore 37:30In Flames 59:54Hellripper 1:16:12Sanguisugabogg 1:27:06Narrow Head 1:41:38Naut 1:51:52Host 2:00:02Going Off 2:11:16

The results of the 2023 Grammys are discussed with a particularly poor showing for Rock & Metal, with the problems of treating categories like lifetime achievement awards and valueing genre tourism over homegrown acts, and we pay respects to one of our favourite alt punk bands Camp Cope.Releases:Paramore - This is WhyYou Me At Six - Truth DecayPierce the Veil - The Jaws of LifeNarrow Head - Moments of ClarityDelain - Dark WatersKlone - MeanwhileStormo - EndocannibalismoFrozen Dawn - The Decline of the Enlightened GodsOak - Disintegrate

The Prince of Darkness announces his touring retirement, Slipknot and Year of the Knife surprise drop new music on us, Zara Larsson pulls an oopsie! with her choice of questionable band merch, and we try to drill into the intrinsic appeal of a skeleton.Releases:In Flames - ForegoneSanguisugabogg - Homicidal EcstasyMemoriam - Rise to PowerFvnerals - Let the Earth Be SilentCalderum - Lord CramridorTorso - A Crash Course In Terror

News absolutely boots off with discussion of Pantera being removed from various festival lineups in Europe, Panic! At the Disco calling it quits, and a barrage of bizarre and questionable new music arrives from The Xcerts, Ghost ft Joe Elliot, power metallers dropping diss tracks, and... David Ellefson and Violent J covering Faith No More. Give us strength.Releases:Maneskin - RushNew Found Glory - Make the Most of ItRiverside - ID.EntityTidal Wave - The Lord KnowsImperium Dekadenz - Into Sorrow EvermoreNothingness - SupraliminalDeiquisitor - ApotheosisTribunal - The Weight of RemembranceDryad - The Abyssal PlainGrief Symposium - …In the Absence of LightFucked Up - One DayWhite Reaper - Asking for a RideSightless Pit - Lockstep BloodwarOozing Wound - We Cater to Cowards…And Oceans - As in Gardens, So in TombsBizarrekvlt - Den Tatpe KrigenTrastorned - Into the VoidFreeroad - Do What You Feel!The Lucid - Saddle Up and Ride

Summer arrives and we go into some classic Album Club territory with Sum 41's moodier metal turn Chuck, Blind Guardian's Nightfall In Middle Earth, Your Demise upset the windbreakers on The Golden Age, and Cattle Decapitation's boundary-crossing look into a dark future The Anthropocene Extinction.This episode was originally published June 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

2023's first TNM reviews come from VV, Katatonia, Obituary, Twilight Force, Fireworks, Swiss Army Wife, Ahab, & Grief Symposium, Fall Out Boy do the unthinkable and write a rock song again, and we debate Trivium setlists after their long awaited UK tour.VV 35:10Katatonia 51:38Obituary 1:04:03Twilight Force 1:16:06Fireworks 1:25:32Swiss Army Wife 1:36:19Ahab 1:43:17Grief Symposium 2:00:40

Hyperblasts returns for 2023 bringing the first round of early news including new music from Sleep Token, Periphery, and Enter Shikari, Till Lindeman's statue getting nicked, and our quick little look ahead at the albums and shows we're looking forward to this year.Releases:Iggy Pop - Every LoserAnti-Flag - Lies They Tell Our ChildrenHellPoison - Ultra Outbreak of HellThe Canyon Observer - FiguraVV - Neon NoirObituary - Dying of EverythingAhab - The Coral TombsPolar - Everywhere, Everything

It's the last dance of the year with the TNM Awards, as the gang assemble to anoint the greats and truly take to task the bull:Most Improved BandSong of the YearWorst Song of the YearHero of the YearVillain of the YearBest New BandBiggest DisappointmentGig of the YearEP of the YearArtwork of the YearMovie of the YearComeback of the YearSurprise of the YearOutstanding AchievementWorst Band of the YearUnsung HeroesStory of the YearBand of the Year

AOTY season continues at TNM with lists from 2022's fresh contributors Mark & Elliot, and most importantly the results of the listener album of the year poll are revealed and given the magnifying glass.

Start up the fanfare cause the Albums of the Year 2022 are here, celebrating another 12 months of great records with lists from Perran, Sam, & Alec.

Metallica are back with an absolute trad metal joy, we predict the albums of the year from metal's major outlets, and we open the official TNM Listener Album of the Year 2022 poll.Releases:Elder - Innate PassageJamie Lenman - The AtheistIn the Woods… - DiversumJudicator - The Majesty of DecayTrhä - endlh​ë​d​ë​haj q​á​shm​ë​na ëlh vim innivteTchornobog / Abyssal - SplitNOFX - Double AlbumAmberian Dawn - Take a Chance - A Metal Tribute to ABBAIsafjord - HjartastakiHammers of Misfortune - OvertakerNihilist Death Cult - Death to All TyrantsOther Half - Soft ActionCrosses - Permanent.Radiant

In May Album Clubs, we take the opportune time to fairly assess My Chemical Romance's as yet final album Danger Days. From there we dive into a world of weirdness with Swans' White Light from the Mouth of Infinity, Big Black's affront to tastefulness Songs About Fucking, and Sigh's ode to madness In Somniphobia.This episode was originally published May 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

In a week with Turnstile up for multiple Grammys, we head into our last reviews bag of 2022 with albums from Nickelback, Skin Failure, Devin Townsend, SpiritWorld, High Command, Turnover, Dream Unending, & Spider God.Nickelback 37:57Skin Failure 1:00:09Devin Townsend 1:14:47SpiritWorld 1:30:27High Command 1:41:29Turnover 1:51:46Dream Unending 2:04:44Spider God 2:18:45

This week we review this year's massive Damnation, seeing exclusive album sets from the likes of Converge and Pig Destroyer as the event steps up to a much larger part of the festival year, and the enormous line-up for 2023's Download is revealed.Releases:Skin Failure - RadillacL.S. Dunes - Past LivesChelsea Grin - Suffer In HellHe Is Legend - Endless HallwayXentrix - Seven WordsDream Unending - Song of SalvationBonecarver - Carnage FuneralSpider God - Fly in the TrapKampfar - Til Klovers TaktFell Ruin - Cast In Oil The Dressed WroughtConstellatia - Magisterial RomanceFjort - NichtEnvy - SeimeiLast In Line - A Day in the LifeEpica - The Alchemy Project

Hyperblasts mulls over the news that the Lingua Ignota project is being retired, casts an eye over some potential festival hints, and picks a bunch of the perfect rock mixes.Releases:Devin Townsend - LightworkTurnover - Myself in the WayIngested - Ashes Lie StillChuggaBoom - Death PledgeDayseeker - Dark SunBorn Without Bones - DancerWarlung - Vulture’s ParadiseInTechnicolour - Midnight HeavyweightThe Offering - Seeking the Elephant96 Bitter Beings - Synergy RestoredBlack Mirrors - Tomorrow Will Be Without UsBlack Anvil - RegenesisMord’A’Stigmata - Like Ants and SnakesFrank Bello - Then I’m Gone

In this week's Hyperblasts round up When We Were Young got windy, and as it's Halloween we book a TNM Spooktacular and hypothesise the Universal monster's record collections.Releases:The Otolith - Folium LiminaDarkthrone - Astral FortressDead Cross - IIPolyphia - Remember That You Will DieShow Me the Body - Trouble the WaterImplore - The Burden of ExistenceFit for a King - The Hell We CreateThe Gloom in the Corner - TrinityFire from the Gods - Soul RevolutionSingle Mothers - Everything You NeedTherion - Leviathan IIObsidious - IconicWorm - BluenothingPsychonaut - Violate Consensus RealityNoctem - Credo Certe Ne CrasDespised Icon - Déterré