The results are in! We've hit the ground running for this year's tracks of the week round-ups, with some big names already crawling out the woodwork to show 2026 won't be a letdown for new releases.
So, the results of last week's vote! Irish cowboy cosplayers Uncultivates took an admirable third place in our first poll of the year, but it was a tight-run race for top spot. Ultimately, frequent TOTW champs Lord Of The Lost won out, beating Black Veil Brides with their Wednesday 13 team-up I Hate People.
With those first three winners, we've started building our playlist for the best metal songs of 2026 - which you can hear below. That of course means it's all to play for again this week as big names Black Label Society, Lamb Of God, Ghost and Within Temptation go up against rising stars like n0trixx, Static Dress and Gaerea. Don't forget to cast your vote in the poll below and let us know which new song excites you most!
Lamb Of God - Into Oblivion
Into Oblivion is the title track for Lamb Of God's upcoming twelfth studio album - due March 13 - and an assessment of the world as it stands in 2026. Thankfully, if anyone can turn bleak nihilism into a thundering, fuck yeah metal track, it's Lamb Of God, and Into Oblivion certainly doesn't disappoint with ravaging grooves and massive vocal flexes from Randy Blythe that we can practically already hear crowds screeching along to. The band won't have to wait long to put that to the test; they'll be touring the US in March then headlining Bloodstock in the UK in August.
Black Label Society - Name In Blood
Black Label Society have been teasing a new album for a little while now, but with Name In Blood they've officially announced their twelfth studio album, Engines Of Demolition for a March 27 release. Name... delivers prime Zakk Wylde riffs, all chugging motörised riffs and howl-along vocal melodies. If it ain't broke...
Within Temptation - Somebody Like You (ft. Smashed Into Pieces)
With every new collaboration, Within Temptation prove they're so much more than just a symphonic metal band. On Somebody Like You, they've joined forces with Sweden's Smashed Into Pieces for an atmospheric, alt-metal-coded track that makes great use of both their grandiose underpinnings and Sharon Den Adel's colossal vocal talents.
Static Dress - Human Props
Static Dress may well be ahead of the curve. Where everyone else is on the nu metal revival, the British band are spearheading a callback to 00s screamo. New single Human Props taps into the infectious, punkish energy of peak The Used. That might sound strange for a band currently on tour with rising deathcore stars Paleface Swiss, but it speaks to how unique Static Dress are.
Humanity's Last Breath - Godhood
Claustrophobically oppressive and just all around menacing, Humanity's Last Breath are on fine form with new single Godhood. Deathcore by way of Godflesh style industrial bleakness, it's a track of lurching, queasy tones and spittle-spraying snarls, proving HLB were the perfect choice for support on Lorna Shore's upcoming UK tour, which starts next week.
Gutslit - I, Berzerker
BREEEEEEEEEE. Right from the off, Mumbai's Gutslit are planting themselves firmly in the none-too-brutal realms of extreme metal past on new single I, Berzerker, the track swinging from pummelling, technical death metal to vocal stylings you'd expect to hear from goregrind and deathcore acts of the lat 2000s. Proper nasty stuff, and we love it.
Ghost - It's A Sin
"Covers EP for me, not for V!" So rules Frater Imperator in the latest YouTube update from Ghost. It's a well-worn tradition that the band release at least a single - if not full EP - after their new record, and considering that's given us some of their biggest songs - Square Hammer, Kiss The Go Goat, Mary On A Cross - there's plenty of excitement for what they'll go with. This time, it seems to be a buried cover of Pet Shop Boys 80s pop classic It's A Sin, which naturally Ghost take to with bombast and irrepresible enthusiasm. Is that all we'll get in 2026? Well, there's a long year ahead...
Charlotte Wessels - After Us, The Flood
Charlotte Wessels has blossomed as a solo artist, the former Delain singer finding ways to bridge her past to fascinating new musical directions. After Us, The Flood continues that trajectory - there's something of modern-day Nightwish to its composition, playing with grandiose, whimsical and even proggy elements whilst keeping enough of her symphonic metal roots to craft something that feels properly epic.
n0trixx - harmless feat. Sarunas Brazionis
An industrial-adjacent ballad about Borderline Personality Disorder, n0trixx's latest single Harmless feels like the lovechild of A Perfect Circle and Evanescence. From mournful melodies to thrumming, snarling breakouts, it's a track that revels in extremes and spells bright things ahead for n0trixx's debut album A Catalogue of Madness and Melancholia, due March 13.
Gaerea - Phoenix
The days of Gaerea existing in extreme metal's underground feel firmly in the past. With Phoenix, the band are taking a big swing towards the mainstream. That doesn't mean they've given up their extremity entirely, but rather that their earlier black metal coded work has now been supplanted by a melodeath style enormity that itches to be blasted to massive crowds. New album Loss is out March 20, and could well see them seriously blow up in 2026.
Møl - Crush
Gaerea aren't the only band to shed some of their blackened past on their latest single, it seems. Post-black metallers Møl don't do away with the shrieks entirely, but Crush definitely feels like a leap away from the familiar realms of blackgaze we've become accustomed to, adding more an alt. metal spin that feels genuinely fresh and exciting. New album Dreamcrush is out January 30.
Eihwar - Nauðiz
Given just how atmospheric modern Nordic folk tends to be - think Heilung, Wardruna - it's easy to lose sight of the folk/metal crossover roots in more frenetic, dancable tunes. Eihwar haven't lost sight of that, however; new single Nauðiz has a hale, infectious energy that'll make you want to move around, without losing any of the impressive, epic sounds that have made the Nordic folk scene so revered. Keep your eyes out for new album Hugrheim on March 13.
