2022 felt like one of the most jam-packed years for new heavy music in recent memory. But going by the names on this list, 2023 is shaping up to be even more fruitful. Some of the biggest bands in metal are set to grace us with new records, while many rising stars will stake their insurgent claims to the throne. In all, a litany of fresh releases across the headbanging spectrum — thrash, death metal, hardcore, industrial, goth and beyond — should be arriving within the next 365 days. Below, are our 55 most anticipated albums of 2023.
200 Stab Wounds
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
The name 200 Stab Wounds might make you wince at the unimaginable pain of so many gashes, but these Ohio gorehounds are focused on massaging your death-metal pleasure centers. Their 2021 breakout, Slave to the Scalpel, danced gleefully in the graveyard of OSDM stylings, and their rising hype earned them tours with Obituary and Cannibal Corpse, plus a deal with a little ol' label called Metal Blade Records. Also, their 2022 single, "Masters of Morbidity," is their best song yet by a long shot. We need another 200 cuts ASAP.
3TEETH
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
TOOL-approved industrial-metal insurgents 3TEETH spent the pandemic holed up in a bunker in the Cali desert with a whole lotta guns and a handful of creative co-conspirators (Ho99o9 and Dana Dentata, to mention a few) and made a new album. We expected to hear the results last year, but good things to those who wait longer: If 2019's Metawar sounded like Armageddon, its follow-up should be positively post-apocalyptic.
The Acacia Strain
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
"Revolver had us on their list of 'most anticipated albums of 2022' so we recorded one song," the Acacia Strain's vocalist Vincent Bennett wrote on Instagram, introducing his band's December single, "Untended Grave." OK, so we were off by a year. Now it looks like 2023 is when the deathcore OGs will finally unveil the follow-up to 2020's decimating Slow Decay. Bennett said the pummeling new joint is "no indication of what's to come," but this is the Acacia Strain we're dealing with: Face-maulingly heavy is a given.
Anthrax
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
It's been seven long years since Anthrax released their last album, For All Kings. In that time, they've toured relentlessly, celebrated their 40th anniversary and lent one member, guitarist Scott Ian, to the reunited Mr. Bungle, and another, drummer Charlie Benante, to Pantera's new lineup. Which begs the question regarding a new album: Got the time? According to band members' recent interviews, they think they do. Expect to get caught in a mosh.
The Armed
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Throughout the last decade, the Armed have been flipping hardcore's stuffy conventions on their heads with riotous, genre-liberating convulsions. They attained a higher state of being on 2021's ULTRAPOP, morphing into a who-knows-what-to-call-it mangle of noise-rock, metal and outsider pop that lyrically stuck a Warhol-ian funhouse mirror in the face of extreme-music stuffiness masking as subversion. How the fuck could they possibly top that? The Armed will find a way.
August Burns Red
Title: Death Below
Release Date: March 24
August Burns Red are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, and they're throwing the kind of party where everyone gets a gift. Death Below is the metalcore veterans' 10th full-length, but they're not just honoring that milestone on their own: Several of their high-profile peers, including Killswitch Engage's Jesse Leach and Underoath's Spencer Chamberlain, dot the 12-song tracklist. This will be a rager, indeed.
Avatar
Title: Dance Devil Dance
Release Date: February 17
Madcap Swedish troupe Avatar are full of bravado heading toward the February release of their ninth album, Dance Devil Dance. They've said that they're on a mission to save heavy metal. They've claimed to have blown the competition "off the mountain." The world is now theirs, they've boasted. The singles so far have been plenty heavy, eccentric and maniacal — Avatar may just deliver the bite to match their bark.
Avenged Sevenfold
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
It's finally fucking happening. Avenged Sevenfold have promised fans that this is the year when they'll hear new music from the O.C. titans, whose last album, The Stage, arrived way back in 2016. Drummer Brooks Wackerman described the new material as "unlike anything we've ever released," and since A7X have already traversed metalcore, thrash, groove-metal, rock balladry and conceptual prog, who the hell knows what we're in for with this one. We're just excited for something new from the Deathbat crew.
Babymetal
Title: The Other One
Release Date: March 23
Befitting the album's title, Babymetal's new LP — the Japanese kawaii-metal group's first-ever concept album — sees them exploring new sonic territory and headier concerns. Each of the 10 songs purportedly represents a unique theme based on 10 parallel worlds discovered in an alternate dimension called the Metalverse. Musically, far from the dance-y, cutesy bops that sent Babymetal viral, singles "Divine Attack" and "Monochrome" delve into tantalizing post-metal and djenty power-ballad realms, respectively.
Baroness
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
The headline here is that, after five albums all named for colors, Baroness are finally breaking the mode. So, what will their new LP be called? The possibilities are virtually endless. The sonic possibilities may be endless, too, for the follow-up to 2019's diverse, dynamic Gold & Grey. Working throughout the pandemic, John Baizley and Co. wrote over 30 songs, which they've been focusing and paring down for the album, their second with guitarist Gina Gleason.
The Big Six
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Throughout December, self-described "metal boy band" the Big Six — a.k.a. Lorna Shore's Will Ramos, Attila's Chris Fronzak, Fit for an Autopsy's Joe Badolato, Left to Suffer's Taylor Barber, Infant Annihilator's Dickie Allen and Traitors' Tyler Shelton — did all they could to break the internet, trolling haters and tantalizing fans. The guys are clearly having a blast, and we're loving the spectacle. If nothing else, their debut EP will be totally fucking ridiculous.
Biohazard
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
In a world where every band will reunite, it was only a matter of time before Biohazard got back together. The Nineties rapcore pioneers are set to play shows in 2023 with their OG lineup —Evan Seinfeld, Billy Gradziadei, Bobby Hambel and Danny Schuler — to celebrate their 35th anniversary. More surprising, Biohazard also plan to hit the studio and record new material early in the year. We're ready for some more tales from the hard side.
The Black Dahlia Murder
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
The metal world is still reeling from 2022 death of Trevor Strnad — hell-raising frontman of the Black Dahlia Murder and open-armed champion of extreme music's underground. For his surviving bandmates, moving forward is their way of healing. The Michigan melodeath vets have re-shuffled their lineup (co-founding guitarist Brian Eschbach is taking over vocal duties) and are continuing on full-force, which includes writing their first LP without their founding shrieker. We're intrigued to see where this new era leads.
Body Count
Title: Merciless
Release Date: TBA
Ice-T's metal band Body Count have been on a tear since their 2014 album, Manslaughter, dropping politically incisive invectives ("No Lives Matter"), enlisting diverse guests (Riley Gale and Amy Lee!) and winning Grammys ("Bum-Rush"). In February 2022, Body Count started recording their latest LP, Merciless, and according to the band's frontman, it will not disappoint. "Only one goal…" Ice-T tweeted. "It's gotta be HARDER than the last…. It already is."
Brand of Sacrifice
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Brand of Sacrifice's 2021 album, Lifeblood, is a deathcore landmark. The Canuck band's fusion of crushing 'core instrumentation and cinematic strings yielded a widescreen sound that few of their contemporaries could match, and late last year, Brand of Sacrifice unveiled the "next chapter" of their band with a monstrous new cut called "Exodus." The dense storytelling and incendiary breakdowns remained intact, but there were also a few tasteful clean vocals in the mix. We're ready for the next course.
Bring Me the Horizon
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
In 2020, Bring Me the Horizon unveiled the first edition of their four-part POST HUMAN EP series, re-injecting their chameleonic sound with metalcore menace and ramping the pop futurism into warp speed. We thought part two was imminent when they dropped "DiE4u" in 2021, and then again when they unveiled the similarly emo-tinged "sTraNgeRs" last summer. It's been radio silence from team BMTH ever since. But we're feeling lucky about 2023. Pretty please?
Keith Buckley's "heavy" new band
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
In January 2022, Buffalo's beloved metalcore institution Every Time I Die broke up following a highly-publicized falling-out between frontman Keith Buckley and his bandmates, including his brother Jordan. But that wasn't the end of Keith's musical story. Late last year, he announced that he's been hard at work recording fresh material with a new band, and that the new songs have "never been heavier." "I can promise you'll see me again in 2023," he wrote. And we can promise we're psyched.
Cannibal Corpse
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Cannibal Corpse have been unloading sonic torture scenes at a relentless pace since their formation over 30 years ago, and the quality has rarely dipped. That said, 2021's Violence Unimagined LP was a late-career peak, so we're stoked to hear them ride that creative spark onto the next full-length. For as influential as they are on new-wave death-metal leaders such as Undeath and Sanguisugabogg, no one snaps necks quite like Cannibal Corpse.
Chevelle
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Chevelle took five years between albums before releasing 2021's stellar NIRATIAS, and in the lead-up to that LP, frontman Pete Loeffler said it might be the alt-metal veterans' last offering for a while. Well, guess what? Shit has changed. In October, his brother Sam, Chevelle's drummer, revealed that they had seven songs written already for a new album — which will be the group's first since their 1999 debut, Point #1, not to be released on a major label.
Code Orange
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
A casino could rake in a lot of money if they made a game where people bet what the next Code Orange project will sound like. The Pittsburgh genre-munchers have dabbled in hardcore, metalcore, industrial and even nu-metal throughout the last decade, and each record has marked a definitively new era. Back in 2021, the band revealed they were in the studio with Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan for a still-unreleased project. We can be sure that whatever comes next won't stray from their go-big-or-go-home ethos.
Crosses
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
With Deftones having completed the cycle for 2020's Ohms, singer Chino Moreno is planning to spend the new year focused on Crosses (†††), his on-again, off-again electronic-rock project with Far's Shaun Lopez. As good as 2022's PERMANENT.RADIANT EP is, we're looking forward to what they have cooking: The band is now in their "White Pony era," according to Moreno, and making boundary-less music that includes what they described to us as their "heaviest tune" yet.
The Cure
Title: Songs of a Lost World
Release Date: TBA
The Cure have plenty of new songs — we know this because they played a number of them live on their recent tour, to rapturous response. Soon they should also have a new album, and according to frontman Robert Smith, a "merciless" one that leans into the doom and gloom of their goth classics, Disintegration and Pornography. If that doesn't have you salivating already, consider that Songs of a Lost World is also just the first of two work-in-progress albums.
Depeche Mode
Title: Memento Mori
Release Date: Spring
When Depeche Mode co-founder Andy Fletcher died last May, the future of the electronic-rock legends was unclear. Then in October, the band broke the news that they would be continuing, not only with a big 2023 world tour, but also a new LP. It's aptly named Memento Mori — which literally means "remember you must die" — and according to Depeche Mode's Martin Gore, "Fletch would have loved this album." If it's as dark as its title, we certainly will, too.
Dethklok
Title: Dethalbum IV
Release Date: TBA
There was a time when it seemed like the Adult Swim series Metalocalypse — and, by proxy, its starring cartoon metal band, Dethklok — were dead and done. Then, in 2021, came the unexpected news that a Metalocalypse movie had been greenlit, which would've been exciting enough even if it didn't also mean that we should finally be getting Dethklok's first album in 11 long years, presumably titled Dethalbum IV. The real-life band's Brendon Small (vocals, guitar), Bryan Beller (bass) and Gene Hoglan (drums) have been spotted together in the studio. This will be brutal.
DevilDriver
Title: Dealing With Demons II
Release Date: TBA
It's been over two years since DevilDriver dropped part one of their ambitious Dealing With Demons double album, which saw Dez Fafara and Co. exploring gothy new ground (see the Sisters of Mercy-esque love song "Wishing"). The vocalist will be busy playing shows with reunited "spookycore" stars Coal Chamber in 2023, but we're also looking forward to finally hearing Dealing With Demons II — if only because, word on the street is, it's the heavier half.
Drain
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
When people talk about hardcore bands who could potentially follow in Turnstile's footsteps and become massively popular, Drain rank high. The California group dropped their simultaneously catchy and crushing debut, California Cursed, in April 2020, right as the pandemic put live shows on pause, but by the time shows returned over a year later, Drain were the hardcore band everyone had to see — including Epitaph Records, who inked them a deal for their impending sophomore full-length.
Dying Fetus
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Musical influence is cyclical, and right now there's possibly no other band with a more palpable thumbprint on the fruitful convergence of death metal and hardcore than Dying Fetus. The Maryland OGs are the quintessential masters of dual-wielding breakdowns and blast beats, and the hype for their first album since 2017's Wrong One to Fuck With is real. Last year's "Compulsion for Cruelty" single was utterly beastly, and a full LP's worth of material should be on the way this year.
Dying Wish
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Dying Wish are a new favorite over at Revolver HQ for their faithful yet refreshing take on early 2000s metallic hardcore. Their 2021 debut, Fragments of a Bitter Memory, is packed with knuckle-dusting breakdowns and ferocious, throat-stabbing screams by vocalist Emma Boster. Since then, they've been dedicated road dogs, touring with everyone from Limp Bizkit to the Devil Wears Prada, so whenever they next hit the studio, we'll be hearing from a whole different animal.
Every Time I Die sans Keith Buckley
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Keith Buckley isn't the only former ETID member who's been staying active. The other four guys — guitarists Jordan Buckley and Andy Williams, bassist Stephen Micciche and drummer Clayton "Goose" Holyoak — quickly formed a whole new band (with a still-undisclosed frontperson) and have been dribbling out studio updates for months. It's not entirely clear if other non-ETID members are also involved in the project, but the important part is that shit is moving and it seems very likely that we'll hear what this as-yet-unnamed band sounds like in 2023.
Fear Factory
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Fear Factory fans have two things to look forward to in 2023. First is the long-awaited reveal of (and inaugural tour with) the industrial-metal pioneers' new frontman, who guitarist Dino Cazares has been teasing for what feels like eons. Then, there's a whole new album on the way, which will mark the band's first LP without founding vocalist Burton C. Bell. Cazares said they're heading into the studio in early 2023 and plan to have the record out shortly after it's complete, which should be later this year if all goes to plan.
Godsmack
Title: Lighting Up the Sky
Release Date: February 24
Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna has been crystal clear: The long-running nu-metal/post-grunge band will continue to play shows, but Lighting Up the Sky will be their last album of original material. If that indeed proves to be the case, the "I Stand Alone" hit-makers are set to go out with a bang: Lead single "Surrender" is already big enough to block Metallica's surprise new song "Lux Æterna" from debuting at No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
In Flames
Title: Foregone
Release Date: February 10
Over their 13 LPs to date, Swedish melodic death-metal pioneers In Flames have veered far from their original sound, pursuing an industrialized alt-metal approach influenced by Korn and others. Album No. 14 sees them throwing back to their early days, re-embracing melodeath ("State of Slow Decay") and Nordic folk ("Foregone: Pt. 2") alike. It's a welcome return for old-school fans and a blast of fresh aggression for newbies.
Jesus Piece
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
It's been five long years since Jesus Piece lay claim to the hardcore scene with their brutal, pit-decimating 2018 debut, Only Self. Since then, the band were in semi-hibernation as frontman Aaron Heard did time as the bassist of Philly shoegazers Nothing. He left that gig last year, and now Jesus Piece — newly signed to Century Media — are his No. 1 priority again. If don't-call-it-a-comeback single "An Offering to the Night" is any indication, their long-awaited new LP is gonna be an ass-beater.
Judas Priest
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
"There is an album in the pipeline, and it's not far from being finished." That's the update Rob Halford gave last fall, adding that we'll either get to hear it this year or next. We're gonna keep our fingers crossed that 2023 will be the year of more Priest, who still have our undivided attention over 50 years on from their humble beginnings. Their last record, 2018's Firepower, lived up to its blazing name, and we know those boys have got more greatness in the tank.
Kerry King's new band
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Ever since Slayer called it a day in 2019, fans have been eager to hear new music from guitarist Kerry King, who has promised to keep the freak flag flying. His as-yet-unnamed new band — which also features Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph — was set to launch in 2020, but then a little thing called COVID-19 fucked shit up. This past summer, King promised that the wait is almost over. "You know me," he added, "so you know what it's going to sound like." SLAAAYER!
King Diamond
Title: The Institute
Release Date: TBA
In late 2019, King Diamond dropped his first song in over a decade, "Masquerade of Madness," along with news that his 13th solo album was on its way. Over two years later, we're still waiting. But the great Dane has a good excuse: He's been busy playing reunion shows with his other band, Mercyful Fate. 2023 should finally be the year of The Institute; even better, according to Metal Blade's Brian Slagel, we should be getting two new Fate songs, as well.
Knocked Loose
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
It's been nearly four years since Knocked Loose dropped a full-length album, and in that time, the Louisville metalcore sluggers' popularity soared to breathtaking heights. Now one of the biggest bands in hardcore, they have the potential to make bona fide stars with whatever they do next. Knocked Loose have the vision and talent to nail a bigger, bolder, catchier sound, but it's unclear if they'll go that route: 2021's A Tear in the Fabric of Life EP was their heaviest release yet.
Loathe
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
2020's I Let It in and It Took Everything announced Loathe as bold new rising stars with its stunning mix of pummeling metallic hardcore, industrialized djent and Deftones-esque melody and atmospherics. The U.K. firebrands, led by the charismatic Kadeem France, recently wrapped touring for the LP with their first-ever U.S. headline run on which they played the album in full. The bar has been set absurdly high for a follow-up, but we have every faith they can surpass it.
Mastodon
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Mastodon's last album, 2020's Hushed and Grim, was an 86-minute-long double album, so you might think they'd be out of new material for a little while. Think again. In October, drummer-vocalist Brann Dailor revealed that the Atlantan prog-metal titans have plenty of work-in-progress leftovers from the Hushed sessions, which they plan to "dig into" and finalize. "Maybe you'll see some new music from us sooner than later," he teased. We certainly hope so.
Metallica
Title: 72 Seasons
Release Date: April 14
A new Metallica album is about as big as it gets for us at Revolver HQ, so to say that we're looking forward to the 12-track, 77-minute 72 Seasons — a concept album of sorts about the first 18 years of a person's life — is a serious understatement. Pedal-to-the-floor, NWOBHM-inflected lead single "Lux Æterna" only feeds the anticipation: Judging from it, the follow-up to 2016's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct might just kill 'em all.
Mudvayne
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
It feels surreal to even be writing this, but holy shit, there's a very real possibility that Mudvayne will release new music this year. After reuniting in 2021, and getting back in fighting shape during last summer's tour (their first in 13 years), the alt-metal aliens told us that the writing process for their first material since 2009 had begun. Drummer Matt McDonough said some of the new digs are "heavy," but that the band are really loving the "sense of freedom" to experiment. Happy? Yes, we are.
Myrkur
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
As much as we enjoy Myrkur singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Amalie Bruun's forays into Scandinavian folk, we really just want to hear her rock. The follow-up to 2020's acoustic swerve, Folkesange, promises a return to the blackened extremity of 2015's M and 2017's Mareridt, trailblazing albums that established her as both a lightning rod for kvlt purists and a force of nature hailed by even unlikely fans such as Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan.
Obituary
Title: Dying of Everything
Release Date: January 13
This one's coming up quick and we can't wait. On January 13th, Florida death-metal swamp things Obituary will grace us with their first album in six years — the longest gap in their release schedule since they reunited way back in 2003. First singles, "The Wrong Time" and "Dying of Everything," reassured fans that the band didn't lose their sinfully sludgy riffs, and that frontman John Tardy still has his muck-voiced mojo.
Periphery
Title: TBA
Release Date: mid 2023
It's been a while since we've heard from djent's foremost prog progenitors. Their last album was 2019's dizzying Periphery IV: Hail Satan, so this four-year gap marks the longest stretch of time between records in their whole career. All that means is that we're particularly hungry for some of Misha Mansoor's bottom-heavy chugs and wire-bending shreds, and a proper dose of Spencer Sotelo's skyscraping belts. Seems like we'll get a chance to eat at some point this year.
Poppy
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
We were transfixed by Poppy's antics and transformations even before she went metal on 2020's I Disagree, but now that she's an undeniable part of Revolver's world, we're even more locked in. Her next shape-shift comes this year, with the full-length follow-up to 2022's Stagger EP. What do we know so far? She's going blonde, and as Poppy told us recently, the new music is "unlike anything I've ever done" and it will "visually fit with the blonde hair color and a turning of a new chapter."
Power Trip
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
The August 2020 death of Power Trip frontman Riley Gale was one of the greatest tragedies that metal and hardcore suffered in recent years. But, as it turns out, his revered thrash band did not die with him. Last summer, guitarist Blake Ibanez said he and drummer Chris Ulsh "have been working really hard" on new material that amounted to what "I guess you can call a record." The bar is set incredibly high for a replacement vocalist, but if they can nail that pick, this will rip.
Queens of the Stone Age
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Things have been very quiet in QOTSA land for a while. There was the Mark Ronson-produced dance-rock album, Villains, in 2017, a tour in 2018 and a one-off show in 2020. Two year later, shit finally seems to be heating up: Gigs booked, and guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen hinting at further activity, while Josh Homme's Eagles of Death Metal bandmate Jesse Hughes has straight-up said there's a new Queens album already recorded. Bring it the fuck on.
Sanguisugabogg
Title: Homicidal Ecstasy
Release Date: February 3
A lot has happened to Sanguisugabogg since their 2021 breakout, Tortured Whole. Founding guitarist and co-songwriter Cameron Boggs left the band sometime last year, but the Ohio unit recovered in stride, keeping up a relentless touring pace that's swiftly established them as one of death metal's leading new bands. The singles from Homicidal Ecstasy sound even heavier than their old stuff and the cover art is, well, eye-catching. We're ready to be sonically dismembered by these maniacs.
Scowl
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
In just over a year, Scowl have risen from fresh-faced hardcore upstarts to one of the genre's must-see live acts. Their 2021 debut, How Flowers Grow, was a riotous mosh pit of no-bullshit hardcore rippers that nodded to everyone from Negative Approach to early Ceremony. There was even a song called "Seeds to Sow" that featured a sax and a catchy, Pixies-like melody from vocalist Kat Moss. Whether they lean further into that sound or keep things fast and furious, whatever they unveil next is sure to take over our 2023 playlists.
Slaughter to Prevail
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Last year, Slaughter to Prevail frontman Alex Terrible revealed to us that he was "tired of deathcore" and that the band's follow-up to 2021's very-deathcore Kostolom will be wildly different. "I want to do something crazy," Terrible said, citing early Slipknot and Rammstein as examples of groups he's looking to as beacons for Slaughter to Prevail's next step. Whatever the sound ends up being, we just hope the accompanying music videos can match the bears, bazookas and blood of the infamous "Baba Yaga" clip.
Slipknot
Title: Look Outside Your Window
Release Date: TBA
As die-hard Maggots well know, Slipknot have been sitting on a whole unreleased album, tentatively titled Look Outside Your Window, written and recorded during the sessions for 2008's All Hope Is Gone. Even more tantalizing, the experimental record has "much more of a Radiohead vibe," according to Corey Taylor. To kick off 2023, Shawn "clown" Crahan revealed that the album might finally be released this year — as soon as after April Fool's Day, when the 'Knot are finally off their longtime label, Roadrunner Records.
Smashing Pumpkins
Title: Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts
Release Date: January 31 (Act Two), April 23 (Act Three)
Smashing Pumpkins conquered the double-album format back in 1995 with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and most of their "single" albums should qualify as twofers, anyway. Now, Billy Corgan and Co. are going for the goddamn turkey — an ambitious triple-LP that's billed as the sequel to Mellon Collie and is being rolled out in three parts. Act One dropped last year, but Two and Three are on the docket for 2023.
Nita Strauss
Title: TBA
Release Date: Spring 2023
A lot has happened to guitar virtuoso Nita Strauss since her 2018 breakthrough solo album, Controlled Chaos. Since then, she's jumped from her long-running role in Alice Cooper's live band to becoming pop star Demi Lovato's right-hand shredder, and in 2021, her collab single with Disturbed's David Draiman became a record-setting hit on Active Rock Radio. Her next LP is slated to feature a slew of high-profile singers, so it'll be different than the instrumental fare we're used to. Change has worked out well for Strauss, though, so this should be a doozy.
Suicide Silence
Title: Remember... You Must Die
Release Date: March 10
Over their two-decade career, Suicide Silence have cycled through many members, notably losing generational frontman Mitch Lucker in 2012, and most recently, splitting with longtime drummer Alex Lopez last year. But the deathcore leaders just keep trucking. Lucky album No. 7 — the group's fourth helmed by former All Shall Perish vocalist Eddie Hermida — promises to be one of their most head-splitting, as pulverizing singles "You Must Die" and "Alter of Self" attest.
Sunami
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
Alongside Drain, Scowl and the now-defunct Gulch, Sunami are one of the preeminent bands in the NorCal hardcore revolution. The band's half-playing, half-serious tough-guy schtick is as ridiculous as it is fun — "There's two types of people in this world, real motherfuckers from the Bay/and a bunch of bitches that wish they were," is one of their mosh calls — but their snarling anthems lead to real-deal chaos in the pit. East Coast bitches or not, we want an album.
Testament
Title: TBA
Release Date: Late 2023
A new Testament album is always cool, but the thrash band's next record is going to be particularly special since Dave Lombardo will be behind the kit. The former Slayer drummer reunited with the Bay Area vets early last year and has been killing it in the live setting, with guitarist Eric Peterson recently enthusing that Testament have "sped up a little bit" since Lombardo's joined. So not only a new Testament record, but a faster new Testament record? Count us in.
