United States Metal & Hard Rock Albums of the 2020s

Cursum Perficio is a useful way to hear ANTHRAX from a different angle within the 2026 catalogue.

The End Is Not The End, ATREYU's tenth album, ties the ferocity of metalcore to the openness of modern rock with a forward-looking spirit.

Engines Of Demolition finds BLACK LABEL SOCIETY shaping Southern-rock grit, doom-leaning weight and bluesy guitar cries into a 2026 album with a clear sense of identity.

Down's fourth album, with a release date of 20 November 2026 on Nuclear Blast. It is their first full-length since Over the Under in 2007, and King Diamond sings on "Merciful Fate".

Sanctuary finds EVANESCENCE shaping gothic/alternative-metal shade and dramatic melodies that include piano color into a 2026 album with a clear sense of identity.

Goliath finds EXODUS shaping rough Bay Area thrash riffs, confrontational energy and heavyweight sound pressure into a 2026 album with a clear sense of identity.

Legacy is a useful way to hear FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH from a different angle within the 2026 catalogue.

Greta Van Fleet's first album in three years, released on 9 October 2026 through Republic Records: thirteen songs made in spring 2026 at the band's studio in Tennessee and co-produced with Mike Elizondo, and named after the original purpose of London's Alexandra Palace. Universal Music Japan's SHM-CD edition, UICY-16536, followed on 14 October.

Shout finds HARDLINE shaping classic melodic hard rock and AOR-polished vocal drama into a 2026 album with a clear sense of identity.

Hatebreed's ninth studio album and their first in six years, produced by Zeuss: eleven songs in about thirty-five minutes.

II is a useful way to hear ICONIC from a different angle within the 2026 catalogue.

The first studio album Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have made together, issued as SatchVai on 6 November 2026.

Dark Asylum is a useful way to hear KAMELOT from a different angle within the 2026 catalogue.

The Anaheim Stadium show of 20 August 1976, released for the first time for KISS's fiftieth anniversary and newly mixed by Eddie Kramer.

Into Oblivion finds LAMB OF GOD shaping physical groove-metal weight, thrash-sharp riffing and modern aggression into a 2026 album with a clear sense of identity.

The ninth studio album, and the first made after Brent Hinds left the band in March 2025 and died that August. It is also the first with Nick Johnston (guitar) and João Nogueira (keyboards) as full members.

Released on January 23, 2026, Megadeth is MEGADETH’s seventeenth and final studio album.

Dead To Rights finds METAL CHURCH shaping hard-edged US power metal and thrash-leaning riffs into a 2026 album with a clear sense of identity.

The 2026 remaster of Metallica's 1997 seventh album, cut by Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering with Greg Fidelman overseeing, issued in Japan as a single SHM-CD.

The seventeenth album, which Ministry have named as their last. Cleopatra Records issues it on 30 October 2026.

A best-of collecting the band's signature songs as 2026 versions — re-recorded, remixed and remastered.

WROC finds PAUL GILBERT shaping virtuoso rock guitar, pop-minded playfulness and bluesy humanity into a 2026 album with a clear sense of identity.

Unbridled is Pride of Lions' eighth studio album, released by Frontiers Music on 10 July 2026. Jim Peterik produced it and Larry Millas mixed it; the Japanese edition followed on 22 July through Marquee Avalon.

Queens of the Stone Age's ninth album, out on 30 October 2026: nine songs built on the idea of kintsugi, produced by Josh Homme with the band's own bassist Michael Shuman.

EI8HT finds SHINEDOWN shaping modern American hard-rock strength and large melodies that can reach pop listeners into a 2026 album with a clear sense of identity.

Sixteen tracks in the 1998 order, remastered for SKID ROW's 40th anniversary: 40 Seasons, the band's 1998 best-of, on CD and on its first official vinyl.

The band counts this as its eighteenth studio album, released by Frontiers Music Srl on 25 September 2026.

Homage is a covers record on which TESLA pays respect to the songs at its roots, playing them as unforced, natural hard rock.

TRIVIUM's eleventh studio album, born of Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and steeped in Japanese horror film; Josh Wilbur produced it and Jacob Hansen mixed it.

An archival live album of the 5150 tour's New Haven show of 27 August 1986, the Sammy Hagar line-up issued as a standalone CD for the first time.

An EP Aerosmith made with Yungblud: four songs the two acts wrote together and a 2025 mix of "Back In The Saddle" from Rocks, the first new Aerosmith music in over twelve years.

Antifragile finds ALL THAT REMAINS shaping metalcore riffing and emotionally direct melodic-metal hooks into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

Roar Like Thunder finds BUCKCHERRY shaping rough rock-and-roll heat and memorable hard-rock hooks into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

Deafheaven's sixth studio album, from March 2025, returning to the blackgaze sound Infinite Granite had set aside.

Released on February 7, 2025, Parasomnia is DREAM THEATER’s sixteenth studio album and the first full-length studio record to feature drummer Mike Portnoy…

Seventeen tracks: fourteen marked "2025 VERSION" and three live recordings.

Nineteen tracks: sixteen marked "2025 VERSION" and three live recordings, including the collaboration with BABYMETAL.

Stand And Deliver finds GIANT shaping American hard-rock groove and AOR-polished melody into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

This Consequence finds KILLSWITCH ENGAGE shaping metalcore weight and a melodic-death/heavy-metal sense of melancholy into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

The fifteenth L.A. Guns studio album, released by Cleopatra on 4 April 2025 and built on hard, early-sounding rock and roll. King Records' Metal Frontier imprint issued the Japanese CD (KICP-4098) on 23 April with a commentary booklet, translated lyrics and one bonus track.

Unatoned by MACHINE HEAD: track list, Spotify player, music videos and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

The End finds MAMMOTH WVH shaping a thick modern hard-rock sound and intimate melodies touched by alternative rock into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

A career-spanning hits collection running from 1981 to 2025 and closing on a newly recorded "Home Sweet Home" with Dolly Parton; the Japanese edition runs to 26 tracks on two discs.

EvangelCore 1 finds PEYTON PARRISH shaping Viking/folk heroism, heavy modern-metal beats and cinematic choruses into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

A live acoustic EP recorded in the Catacombs of Paris on 8 July 2024, the first time a musical act had been allowed to play there with the city's permission.

The long-awaited Christmas album, released in 2025.

Para Bellum finds TESTAMENT shaping Bay Area thrash sharpness and the weight of modern heaviness into a 2025 album with a clear sense of identity.

Blood Incantation's fourth studio album, from October 2024, made of two suites in three parts each.

A Japan-only compilation closing the band’s fortieth year. The standard edition holds the sixteen songs a Japanese fan vote chose, about an hour and twenty-one minutes.

Arriving in BON JOVI’s fortieth-anniversary year, Forever brings the band’s open-hearted spirit and life-affirming outlook to the front.

The advance song from Forever, issued as a CD single in Japan alone. The disc carries the radio edit.

Gatecreeper's third studio album, from May 2024 and the first with bassist Alex Brown.

High on Fire's ninth studio album, from April 2024, folding Turkish and Middle Eastern music into their sludge.