2020 Metal & Hard Rock Albums

Sepultura's fifteenth studio album, from February 2020, built on the number four and divided into four sections.

Code Orange's fourth studio album, from March 2020, built around glitches and noise as much as around riffs.

Deftones' ninth studio album, from September 2020, and their first with producer Terry Date in seventeen years.

Loathe's second studio album, from February 2020, pulling shoegaze texture into metalcore.

Napalm Death's sixteenth studio album, out in September 2020 after the longest gap between albums in their history.

Oranssi Pazuzu's fifth album, from April 2020, and the record their psychedelic black metal is best known for.

Pallbearer's fourth studio album, from October 2020 and their first full-length for Nuclear Blast.

Paradise Lost's sixteenth studio album, from May 2020 and the last with Waltteri Vayrynen on drums.

Ulcerate's sixth studio album, from April 2020 and the first they released on Debemur Morti Productions.

The seventeenth album, out on 10 April 2020: thirteen tracks built on changing his own style to suit each song.

Outrage's thirteenth album, out on 15 April 2020. Jay Ruston mixed it, and it closes with two tributes to the NWOBHM.

The third album, distributed by Disk Union on 29 July 2020. Six of its nine songs were given official films, more than any other Unlucky Morpheus record, and at Toyosu PIT the following year the band played all nine of them almost in album order.

An original EP put into national distribution on 29 April 2020, its three songs built around Takiyashahime, the figure held to be the daughter of Taira no Masakado. The CD adds instrumental versions of all three for six tracks; the streaming release carries the three sung songs alone. The title track got a music video and "Tetsuou" a lyric video.

Pride of Lions' sixth studio album, out on 9 October 2020. Jim Peterik steered its twelve songs deliberately towards straight AOR, and Marquee issued the Japanese edition on 14 October as MICP-11578.

Explosive!! -studio jam- is credited to Anthem featuring Graham Bonnet and was released in 2020. It grew out of a friendship of more than twenty years: eight songs recorded in Tokyo, drawn in roughly equal measure from Anthem's own catalogue and from Bonnet's.

The eighth album and the third for Nuclear Blast: twelve songs that never let the tempo or the pressure drop.

Three tracks — the title song, "Don't be long" and an 89-second version — and the band's last single for Nippon Crown.

The first single cut from Electric Pentagram, with two previously unreleased songs and an orchestral version alongside the title track.

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.

The third album, named after the genre tag the band invented for itself. A European tour ended about a week after its release when the pandemic closed everything down, and "Dark Side" came out of that.

A studio album released in 2020.

BABYMETAL’s first best-of collection, tracing ten years of transformation from early shock to global-scale metal spectacle.

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

With Brian Johnson, Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams back in the fold, Power Up returns AC/DC to thick rhythm guitar, a straight beat and shouted vocals.

Evoke 2010-2020 is the ALDIOUS decade-anniversary project, recasting the band's earlier songs with its current lineup, twin guitars and clear vocals.

Evoke II 2010-2020, the companion to Evoke 2010-2020, marks ten years of ALDIOUS by recasting its songs and familiar material in today's sound.

Manifest pushes Amaranthe’s defining three-vocal approach into bolder electronic detail and metal momentum.

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

Cell-0 places the sound of the cello itself at the center, with Apocalyptica working without a featured vocalist.

Released for the band’s twenty-fifth anniversary, Expansion reinforces BLINDMAN’s identity as a melodic and emotional hard-rock band with a stronger sense of ensemble.

As its title suggests, Bon Jovi’s fifteenth album is closely tied to the atmosphere of 2020.

Moment gathers Dark Tranquillity’s core language—sharp guitars, cold keyboards and an introspective lyrical atmosphere—into a fluid melodic-death-metal record.

Continuing its collaboration with producer Bob Ezrin, Deep Purple’s twenty-first album balances hard-rock weight with a relaxed sense of play.

Alter Echo develops Dizzy Mizz Lizzy’s alternative-rock edge into more detailed, narrative-minded structures.

The Dark Delight sharpens Dynazty’s modern melodic-metal momentum into a harder and more dramatic form.

Fates Warning’s thirteenth album uses progressive-metal complexity not as a display case, but as a way to trace time and shifting emotion.

On its self-titled ninth album, Firewind organize the elements that make the band immediately recognizable.

F8 builds on Five Finger Death Punch’s huge riffs and modern-metal groove while placing emotions beyond anger at the front.

FM’s twelfth album refines the space between AOR and hard rock around Steve Overland’s smooth, powerful voice.

#13 by GOTTHARD: track list, Spotify player, music videos and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

H.E.A.T II revives the energy of eighties arena rock with modern punch and speed.

Change the World brings together Harem Scarem’s strengths—smart chord movement, muscular guitar and unforgettable choruses—with a high level of finish.

Skycrest drives Iron Savior’s long-running space-age imagery and straightforward power metal with renewed heat.

Wide Awake (In My Dreamland) gathers Jeff Scott Soto’s experience across AOR, melodic rock and hard rock into one solo record.

By choosing a self-title for its tenth album, Lamb of God reasserts the band’s core.

Electric Pentagram shows Lovebites’ unity as a five-piece through both speed and drama.

Tokyo Jukebox 3, the third installment of MARTY FRIEDMAN's cover series, adds newer songs to his guitar takes on Japanese pop and anime.

Metal Division does exactly what its title promises: it puts fundamental heavy-metal elements directly in front of the listener.

Human. :||: Nature. is Nightwish's ninth album, a two-disc story of humanity and nature that pairs a set of songs with an orchestral suite.

Ordinary Man, Ozzy Osbourne’s first studio album in nearly a decade, places his enduring defiance beside direct thoughts about age and mortality.

Perfect Plan’s second album polishes the appeal of Scandinavian melodic rock in a very direct way.

Cowboy Man is Peyton Parrish’s debut, mixing country earthiness, post-grunge directness and metal weight into one songwriting world.

Metal Commando lives up to its title by committing fully to traditional heavy metal’s forward drive.

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

Rise brings together the personalities of Deen Castronovo, Doug Aldrich and Jack Blades with no wasted motion in service of melodic rock.

Royal Hunt’s Dystopia is a concept work that uses detailed keyboard arrangements, thick guitar and several guest vocalists to dramatize an oppressive future vision.

Testament’s thirteenth album retains thrash metal’s cutting edge while adding the weight and ease of a long career.

Verminous pours the speed of melodic death metal into a dense world that suggests horror and fantasy literature.

Lions, Tokyo Motor Fist's second album, sets Ted Poley's likable voice and Steve Brown's bright guitar to eighties-style melodic hard rock.

Trivium’s ninth album tightly connects thrash sharpness, metalcore aggression and progressive movement, even within compact songs.

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.

2020 is Adrian Vandenberg’s first Vandenberg studio album in roughly thirty-five years.