Albums of May 15 and May 22, 2026

The most interesting releases of the week(s)!

Grand Serpent Rising was released on Nuclear Blast. Dimmu Borgir have had a…checkered musical history, but when they’re on the ball, their music is marvelous. As always, Dimmu Borgir play symphonic black metal with soaring strings and rambunctious blast beats. Grand Serpent Rising is an excessive album, as all great Dimmu Borgir albums are, and starts off with a long orchestral section. There are many fantastic moments spread over almost 70 minutes. Dimmu Borgir do an excellent job melding symphonic elements, catchy riffs, and sinister atmosphere in a way that few bands even have the resources to do. A late-career success from a band that’s more unique than they get credit for.

That album cover is one way to make your creation stand out. Depressants was released on Transcending Obscurity. Defect Designer play irreverent technical death metal with a prominent bass and guitar lines that sound like they’re trying to avoid the melody. On “Daily Dose of Doom,” the opening track of Depressants, the band shifts between ideas at a whirlwind pace, then settle down in a marching sound before blowing it up and going to something that’s a cross between a bass solo and the guitarist forgetting to show up to work. The album continues like this, with no regard for anything other than exploring the jagged edges of tech death. Depressants is an improvement over the already good Chitin, and is worth checking out for anyone who wants more freakish metal.

Old Gods Awaken was released on Blood Blast Distribution. Atavistia play melodic death metal with folk elements and a focus on singable riffs. Fans of Children of Bodom and Orphaned Land will enjoy. Old Gods Awaken contains many songs that sound designed to work best on stage, with choruses that can be sung back at them and simple, catchy, repeated riffs that will stay in the brain after the main act. The biggest issue with Old Gods Awaken is that many of the “extra” elements feel like ornaments rather than necessary parts of the songs, but the band is so good at writing catchy melodies and performing them with passion that I don’t really care about if the call and response section is dragging while the song is playing.

The Golden Citadel Of The Astral Sphere was released on I, Voidhanger Records, which you can tell by the opening notes. The core of Junon‘s sound is second-wave black metal, but the psychedelic elements push the sound down several dark rabbit holes during the long, long songs. It’s almost impossible to tell on first listen where a track is going to go, as you get somewhat traditional dissonant black metal sounds abruptly shifting into ambient blustering, but the songs hang together better than you may expect. This one is a journey.

Dwellers of the Twilight Void was released on Hells Headbangers. Desolus play thrash metal, they play it straight, and there are no tricks or surprises here. The band write and perform using Kreator‘s approach of trying to barrel over the listener with speed and aggression before the listener has an opportunity to ask questions. Those questions could be something like, “wait, was there a second note in that riff,” or “those vocals didn’t sound controlled or repeatable,” but I’m too busy having fun with my beard on fire to ask them. Oh well. If you like thrash at all, enjoy.