And we’re done! It’s a bit too early to be downing tools for Christmas just yet, but with December’s arrival it is time to start looking at the big end of year lists – including the best metal songs of the year. That in mind, we’re making this the last of our regular round-ups, giving you a little bit of time to decide which metal songs have excited you most this year.
But before that, the results of last week’s vote! NWOBHM heroes Girlschool took an admirable third place with their cover of Metallica’s Hit The Lights, while Sylosis nabbed second on the thundering The New Flesh. But our overall winner was the debut solo single from former Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White Gluz, The Room Where She Died taking gold as it introduced a new era of artistry for her.
As we said up top, this will be our last regular songs round-up for the year, but there’s still some heavy hitters in the mix. We’ve got new music from Guns N’ Roses, Poppy, Paleface Swiss, Ov Sulfur and so many more to sink your teeth into – and don’t forget to vote because the winners of next week’s poll will be the last bands entered into our “best songs of the year” vote for 2025. Have an excellent weekend!
Poppy – Guardian
Talk about timing. In the week where Poppy has been announced as support for Evanescence’s 2026 world tour, her latest single feels more than a little indebted to Amy Lee and co. Not that its derivative, mind: the chugging guitars and silk-smooth melodies might bring to mind Ev, but Poppy stamps her own musical identity over the hefty influence, capturing a sense of enormity befitting one of alternative music’s rising stars. With new album Empty Hands coming on January 23,
Ov Sulfur – Vast Eternal
We might be coming up to the end of the year, but Ov Sulfur are soundtracking the end of the world. The deathcore brutes are limbering up for their second album Endless – out January 16 – with new single Vast Eternal, a track whose title goes some way to capturing the sheer expansive, abyssal heft they conjure on the track. Blancing cinematic extreme metal with good ol’ fashioned breakdowns and pigsqueals, it’s a glorious track that connects deathcore’s past and future.
Alter Bridge – Playing Aces
As brilliant as Myles Kennedy’s voice is – and trust is, it’s on spectacular form here – there’s something so satisfying when Mark Tremonti gets his teeth into a proper metal riff. That’s exactly what we get on new Alter Bridge single Playing Aces, a belter of a track that comes from the band’s upcoming self-titled, out January 9.
N0trixx – Revenge On God feat. Yentl Cambre
If you’re a tad disappointed by how straight Poppy’s new single is, you’d do well to check out new artist N0trixx. Russia-born and based in Lancashire, she’s just announced debut album A Catalogue Of Madness and Melancholia for a March 13 release date, the single Revenge On God chucking up everything from industrial and trap metal to hyperpop in a claustrophobic, bass-driven package. It’s dark stuff – even before you get to the fact the song is written about the effects of dementia – and has us plenty excited about what she might have in store.
![n0trixx - Revenge On God feat. Yentl Cambre [Official Music Video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QlToly6Sxqs/maxresdefault.jpg)
Guns N’ Roses – Atlas
New Guns N’ Roses album in 2026? Stranger things have happened, and while we’ve had a steady stream of info that the band have been at work, new singles Atlas and Nothin’ are our first taste of new material since 2023. Full “lighters-up, grab your mates” fare, Atlas is exactly the kind of song you’d expect a stadium-sized band to come out with, big on sentiment and wistful, fist-pumping energy. Hopefully we’ll see how it goes down when they come back to Download Festival next summer.
Paleface Swiss – Everything Is Fine
Even deathcore bands can have ballads. Paleface Swiss are flexing their more melodic side on Everything Is Fine, a track positively steeped in anguish and heightened emotion. It’s a refreshing change of pace and highlights why PFS are one of deathcore’s rising stars, shunning expectations to create something powerful. Keep your eyes out for new EP The Wilted on January 2.
Uuhai – Khar Khulz
Mongolian metal has come a long way since Tengger Cavalary put out their debut in 2010. 15 years on, the scene has forged an undeniable breakout success in the form of The Hu, and newcomers Uuhai could well follow in their footsteps. The folk/metal blend is certainly familiar, but never feels gimmicky; this is music forged from a love of their culture, and the bounding energy of Khar Khulz has us eager to hear what else the band have in store. We won’t have to wait too long: the band’s debut Human Herds is out Jan 9.
Slagmaur – Huldergeist
Almost a decade since their last album, Norwegian black metallers Slagmaur are roaring back to life on Huldergeist. Taken from the album Hulders Ritual, due February 26, it’s an epic track whilst maintaining the spiky, punk-adjacent feel of early second wave BM, traversing a few different sonic plains across its expansive 8-minute runtime. Frosty, ear-tickling tremelo guitars, explosive guitars and even a melodic passage towards the end, it’s a glorious testament to the band’s ambitions that they’ve drafted in three guest vocalists for the track in the form of Hoest (Taake), D.G. (Mispryming), and Maria Charlotte Lund.
Agenbite Misery – Cascara Sagrada
Like a breath catching in your throat and choking you, there’s something suffocatingly oppressive and subversive about Agenbite Misery’s new single Cascara Sagrada. Set somewhere between doom and black metal, it’s a glorious hint to where the band may go on debut album Remorse Of Conscience, due February 6.
Crystal Lake – Neversleep
Fired up with their first new album since the departure of vocalist Ryo Kinoshita in 2022, Japan’s Crystal Lake go hard on new single Neversleep. Taken from The Weight Of Sound, due January 23, it’s a furious and pummelling track that sees them draft in Volumes/Fire From The Gods vocalist Myke Terry for an old school hardcore-coded smackdown.
Divine Chaos – Hate Reactor
Sometimes only a bounding thrash riff will do. Thankfully that’s exactly what Divine Chaos are offering up on Hate Reactor, a delicious slab of modern thrash that chucks in some melodicism a la a thrashier Trivium. Keep your eyes on this lot next year, we reckon.
Moodring – Cannibal
Moodring are really tapping into the turn-of-the-millennium club metal vibes on Cannibal. The track isn’t overly nu metal coded, but those chugging guitars and sleek vocal melodies wouldn’t seem out of place in a playlist alongside the likes of Halo or Closer.
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