Thomas' Metal Outlook for 2026

2025 was a year of changing moments for me. Most noticeably, I became a dad. Life-changing moments. And obviously, I’m going to fewer gigs for the foreseeable future and, of course, less time for music digging.

Rakkan kindly asked me for some takeaways from this year, but as you can imagine, I haven’t listened to a lot of new music and gone to many gigs, so instead I am writing about what I am looking for in 2026, and 10 bands I am looking forward to listening to new music or seeing on stage.

The Gathering’s “Mandilyon” extended 30th anniversary tour.

The Gathering has been a formative band for me. I discovered “How To Measure A Planet?” when I was a teenager sucked into metal music. It opened my ears to atmospheric and more progressive melodies when I was mostly listening to heavy metal, thrash, and nu metal.

In 2025, The Gathering embarked on a tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Mandiyon album, which I discovered straight after HTMAP. An at-the-time unheard mix of doom/harsh guitars with the angelic voice so recognizable of Anneke Van Giesbergen. They initially played a couple of gigs in the Netherlands (where they are from) and are planning to extend it in 206. Looking forward to seeing them again in London, after almost 20 years.

Ulver's new album

Not metal per se, but very related. I discovered Ulver when Garm, their singer, featured on “A Life All Mine” from their Souvenirs album. I could not find a way to get a hand on any of their albums, so I had to order the only two albums (“Themes from William Blake” and “Perdition City”) my local record shop could find from their dealer.

“Perdition City” was my gateway to electronic ambient music, and I’ve been closely following Ulver's work since then, with the “Silence” EPs and the more ethereal sound of “Shadows of the Sun”. Their 2010 tour, immortalized by the “Live at the Opera” recording, is one of the most memorable music gigs I’ve been to this day.

They went on a tangent path since 2011 with more synth/pop on the last couple of albums. They lost one of their core members in 2024 as well. They released 2 singles this fall for an upcoming album, which sounds like a return to their minimal 2000s album. I am looking forward to it.

The Old Dead Tree on stage  

Another band from the 2000s I listened to as a teenager: The Old Dead Tree. They are a  progressive death metal band from Paris, and I spent my 20s seeing them in small metal clubs. They went dormant for the last decade but released a new album in 2024, “Second Thoughts”. The album is a return to their first progressive roots with a much modern sound. They also recorded a live EP at Abbey Road Studios. I’m hoping to see them on stage in 2026.

More of the new British new wave of metal. It is great to see so many new English metal bands lately.

Heriot

I wrote about Heriot 2 years ago, and they released their first full-length album this year, “Devoured By The Mouth of Hell" in 2025.

Lowen

I missed Lowen’s headline gig at the Underworld, and I'm looking for more music, following their sophomore album “Do Not Go to War With the Demons of Mazandaran.”

Trivax

I discovered Trivax, an Iran / UK-based black metal band, at the Incineration Festival in London, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. It’s great to see so many creative bands coming out of England, and I’m hoping to dig some more.

The return of the Behemoths. The fan boy in me will be a fanboy. Especially for 2 bands:

Gojira

I discovered them with the release of The Link in 2003 and have followed them since. I saw them on stage multiple times in the last 20 years (I remember vividly the “From Mars To Sirius" tour in a small club in the South of France. I rarely felt a wall of sound like this). They just wrapped a bigger-than-life French arena tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the said album, and I really hope they bring this production to Europe. And they announced a new album in 2026, a heavy, back-to-roots release.

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden was my gateway to metal in 1996 with Powerslave. That was my first contact with the genre, and I never looked back. So yes, I’m a fan boy. I will be seeing them in Paris for their Run For Your Lives live recording show, and I am looking forward to it.