Speed Metal 2020s Albums

DragonForce's tenth album and first self-titled record, with a release date of 19 March 2027: the first with Alissa White-Gluz and Alessio Garavello sharing the vocals.

A fiftieth-anniversary album: re-recordings of the band's best-known songs, each with a long list of guest musicians.

A melodic-metal EP that links fantasy-adventure imagery with bright speed, heroic guitar work and the renewed identity of HAGANE.

The second full-length album since HAGANE regrouped in 2024: eleven songs, two of them from the METAL QUEST EP, issued in Japan as a CD + Blu-ray and as a CD.

A career-spanning compilation running from the 1974 debut Rocka Rolla to 2024's Invincible Shield, released through Sony Music.

Kreator's sixteenth studio album, from January 2026, produced by Jens Bogren; the Japanese edition came out the same day.

A full-length statement from HAGANE’s renewed line-up, combining Japanese melodic color, speed, weight and direct choruses.

Giants & Monsters finds HELLOWEEN shaping German power-metal speed, bright humor and huge choruses into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

A three-CD, forty-two-track anthology for the band’s fortieth year, running from the 1985 debut to the 2021 reunion album.

In August 1976 Lemmy, Eddie Clarke and Phil Taylor recorded together for the first time at Manticore Studio in Fulham. The tape was lost for decades; restored, it came out on 27 June 2025 for the band's fiftieth anniversary.

A New World Rising finds RAGE shaping the direct drive of German power metal and hard riffs rooted in thrash into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

An eight-track EP marking the band's fiftieth year, issued by Silver Lining Music on 14 February 2025: five new songs, plus three live recordings that between them feature three different Raven drummers.

Humanoid looks at contemporary anxieties, but its core is unmistakably ACCEPT: steel-hard riffs, straight-ahead beats, and heavy metal built for immediate impact.

Blind Guardian's complete re-recording of their 1992 album Somewhere Far Beyond, released in August 2024 on the day they played Wacken Open Air.

DragonForce's ninth album, from March 2024: the first with Alicia Vigil as a full member on bass, and the last Marc Hudson sang on.

An EP that reignites HAGANE’s melody, speed and optimistic force around the theme of survival and forward motion.

Invincible Shield makes the heavy-metal language JUDAS PRIEST has forged over decades sound like a force that is still moving forward.

Afterlifelines is an ambitious double album that places RAGE’s raw trio attack beside a more expansive orchestral dimension.

Mean Streets finds the band carrying RIOT’s lineage with the heat and melody of American metal fully intact.

Ultrapower is a high-voltage record that amplifies the pleasures of heavy metal in a straight line.

Overkill's twentieth album, released in April 2023 after the longest gap of their career, and recorded by each member on his own during the pandemic.

The fifteenth studio album, recorded at drummer Mike Heller's own studio in Los Angeles and released by Silver Lining Music on 30 June 2023.

Touchdown polishes the classic heavy-metal feel U.D.O. has defended for decades.

Blind Guardian's eleventh studio album, released in September 2022: their first under the band's own name in about seven years, after an orchestral album.

HAGANE’s first full-length album, expanding the band’s twin-guitar sparkle, speed, heavy riffs and dramatic storytelling.

Kreator's fifteenth studio album, from June 2022 and the first with Frédéric Leclercq on bass.

Too Mean to Die reaffirms the muscular, traditional heavy-metal language ACCEPT have defended for decades, now delivered with contemporary weight.

Recorded in the Pumpkins United lineup with Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske alongside Andi Deris, this self-titled album is a major meeting point in Helloween’s history.

Sunburst, released on 29 December 2021, marks the band's fortieth anniversary. It is their first double album and the first record issued on their own label, Katana Music; earMUSIC released it worldwide in 2022.

Resurrection Day puts Rage’s twin-guitar lineup at the front, intensifying the mix of heavy riffs, speed and melodic guitar interplay.

Across a large sixteen-song running order, U.D.O. deliver traditional German heavy metal straight on.

Ballistic, Sadistic condenses the speed, odd turns and black humor associated with Jeff Waters’ Annihilator.

HAGANE’s debut EP, condensing clear melody, speed and technical guitar work into a concise first statement.

Wings of Rage connects the forward drive of German metal with Rage’s particular sense of melancholy.

The fourteenth album, and the first studio record with Mike Heller. Gallagher pitched it as the album Raven would have made straight after 1982's Wiped Out.

We Are One is an unusual collaboration between U.D.O. and the German Armed Forces Concert Band, directly combining heavy-metal riffs with full wind-band arrangements.