The Evanescence Sanctuary new single ‘Tell Me When You’ve Had Enough’ is among the standout tracks dropping this week, as September kicks off an absolute rush of releases across the metal spectrum, with new records from Chat Pile, Sleep and President all landing today.
Before we dive into what’s fresh, last week’s vote delivered its verdict. In This Moment took the crown with ‘I Want To Believe’, their industrial/metalcore hybrid proving irresistible to voters. Amon Amarth’s ‘Eight Legs Of Thunder’ galloped into third, pipped by black metallers I Helvete for second. This week’s selection spans sludge, death metal, black metal, grindcore and more, so vote for your favourite below.
Evanescence Sanctuary new single fires on all cylinders
Sanctuary, Evanescence’s sixth studio album, arrived on 5 June 2026, and ‘Tell Me When You’ve Had Enough’ makes a compelling case for how far the band have pushed themselves. According to Genius, the record was produced by Jordan Fish, Zakk Cervini and Nick Raskulinecz, a production team that clearly lit something of a fire under Amy Lee and co. The result is slick and hard-hitting, proof that Evanescence don’t need to look back to create something vital.
What makes the Evanescence Sanctuary new single land so well is that it picks up the energy of 2021’s The Bitter Truth without simply repeating it. And the backstory is a good one: Apple Music notes that Amy Lee first spoke the album title onstage in Australia while opening for Metallica in late 2025, which is quite the setting in which to plant a flag for your next chapter.
Fear Factory, Boss Keloid and the rest of this week’s essential metal
Fear Factory’s ‘Roboticist’ arrives after a turbulent few years for the band. Burton C. Bell’s departure in 2020 shook things considerably, and even with new vocalist Milo Silvestro joining in 2023 and a return to touring, it was hard to picture what new material might sound like. The answer, it turns out, is very much classic Fear Factory: gatling-gun beats, relentless force, and Silvestro sounding not entirely unlike Robb Flynn. Diehards should find plenty to love.
Blue Medusa’s ‘Crocodile’ is a ferocious piece of melodeath, galloping in at thrashy pace and landing like a speeding cement mixer. Alissa White-Gluz had teased a proggier direction when speaking to Metal Hammer earlier this year, but this is annihilating force first, experimentation second. Great cleans in the chorus, a few quirky sonic asides, and a debut album reportedly on the way next year.
Finnish band Evanescence‘s compatriots Blind Channel are dealing with the fallout of their singer departing for a project with a member of The Rasmus. Their response on ‘Stars We See’ is to lean harder into their metalcore instincts, with results that bring to mind arena-scale Architects singalongs. It’s a more austere listen than their last album’s nu metal bounce, but it suggests a band resetting themselves deliberately. New album Painstream drops 30 October.
Saxon remain magnificently unbothered by the passage of time. ‘Gods Of Thunder’ is the lead single and title track from their forthcoming album, due 22 January, and it delivers the implacable, howling heavy metal march the Barnsley outfit have been perfecting for over half a century. Some of their contemporaries are slowing down on releases; Saxon very much are not.
Boss Keloid’s ‘Landslide’ is a nine-and-a-bit-minute cosmic sludge epic of the highest order, all stompy riffs and trippy invention. New album Float & Aperture arrives 23 October. Kai Hansen’s ‘Wait And See’, meanwhile, ditches power metal entirely for a slick, near-industrial sound with a riff that’ll make you want to headbang, mosh, or simply shake yourself loose. His album Born With A Hammer lands 18 September.
Lacey Sturm reunites with violinist Lindsay Stirling on ‘Forever & Ever’, the pair having first collaborated on 2023’s Kenotic Metanoia. Eastern European folk melodies meet thumping guitar lines to dramatic effect. Polish band Jasmeno’s ‘His Rebirth’ is harder still to classify, cramming doom, prog and symphonic elements into under six minutes of genuinely strange, beautiful music. Their album Assemblage of Cinematic Idioms is out 11 September.
Rounding things out: Nails drop a surprise double-single with ‘Dollar Bin Generation’, grindcore nastiness delivered at full pelt. Love Sex Machine’s ‘The Herd’ sits somewhere between Godflesh-adjacent industrial and sludge, oppressive and menacing and not remotely recommended for the walk home alone. And Sri Lanka/Australia-linked hardcore outfit Illian Kaapan arrive with ‘The Rising Tide / Keeps Me Alive’, beatdown that swings like it has wrecking balls for arms. Their EP Undeniable is out now.
