Cryptic Shift - Exxul - Leatherhead - Mega Colossus - Ponte Del Diavolo - Primaluce - Vreid

Here are some of the highlights of 2026 so far. Well at least to me and I suggest you check them out.

Cryptic Shift - Overspace & Supertime

If there ever was an album that needs your full attention throughout to appreciate it, this must be the one. Almost 80 Minutes of technical death metal. And if the music was not tough enough, the lyrics while in English are very hard to follow too. Cryogenically Frozen and Stratocumulus Evergaol are only the first two songs and it doesn't get easier thereafter. While saying all that if you take your time preferably with headphones on you shall be rewarded. I was fully blown away after first listen and immediately ordered their first full length too. So many solo's make this album a joy and even theremin  is used. Definteliy not for always and everywhere, but if you have a spare 80 minutes, listening to this album is a nice way to spend them.

Exxûl - Sealed Into None

Exxûl are from Canada and they play epic doom metal, that reminds you more of Scandinavia. However, their songs are longer than your typical Swedish doomsters ranging from 8 till 14 minutes apart from a short instrumental opener. Vocals are important to me on this style of music and that is all fine with Stargazer taking care of the Chants of Foretold Doom. Some might know him better as Thomas Karam from the mighty Noor. Coming back to the album it is a highlight in this style of doom metal. Pity I can't read along with the purple on black printed lyrics in the booklet, which meant it took longer to grasp the full album. Now several spins further it is definitely one to go back to and hoping they come over one day (or play Montreal as a sort of pre-Progstorm party).

Leatherhead - Violent Horror Stories

Anyone missing the late eigties when speedmetal ruled? Here is your remedy Leatherhead from Greece. I already loved their self-titled debut album from 2024, but did not pick it up due to poor timing being abroad. This one might even be a notch better. Speed metal albums should not last forever and with 37.39 Leatherhead do it just right. This is an intense ride and many times Agent Steel springs to mind. Eight songs fly by and your neck hurts at the end, since not banging along is not an option. Another band I would love to see live on stage and I guess Sounddog would be the most obvious place for that.

Mega Colossus - Watch Out!

I posted quite a bit about Mega Colossus recently so a short recap only. Discovered them with their previous album Showdown, which became my album of the year 2024. Now they are back and toured this album around it's release. During their Musicon show the CD was not yet available but it arrived soon thereafter. And yes Mega Colossus did it again. This album is as good as Showdown. Seven very catchy melodic heavy metal songs of uplifting spirits. The perfect remedy for those suffering from current tough times. I so wish more people discover this band as they are great, on stage too as we saw in Musicon. Not the most renewing or challenging album, but for sure one I shall play most this year.

Ponte Del Diavolo - De Venom Natura

How nice is it to encounter bands that do not sound like a million others before them. Ponte Del Diavolo is named under black, doom, post-punk in reviews and probably there is a bit of all of it here. Even the seven songs itself on this album sound pretty diverse. Sung in Italian, English or both. The band has a female vocalist, who matches this diversity. I knew their debut in 2024 but did not pick it up. The band played The Netherlands already several times, but I never made it. Now I bought this album I also hope to attend Into the Void in September where this band together with Anciients justify the trip up north. A change of styles works well on the appetite, also in music.

Primaluce - Way of Perfection

Primaluce is a band/project based in Paris, build around Italian Stefano Primaluce. The number of releaes over the past few years is endless, but this is the frst full lenght I picked up. Well on bandcamp only, as I have not seen any physical releases. Primaluce play melodic progmetal and do so very well. What stands out is the extremely clear sound. Even on speakers of my phone the songs sound very good and what a voice. The first name as comparisson that came up with me is Enchant. That is the level of heaviness and musicality on display. A very well written album with as only flaw to me that it is too long. Not that any song sounds like a left-over but this style for me works best around 45 minutes and over 70 is somewhat long. Hope they become a touring band.

Vreid - The Skies Turn Black

Vreid play Blackmetal or Sognametal from their region. Now this might scare some people off, but that is not necessary as it is much more than that. There is lot to discover here and several styles are blended in with progressive parts and plain heavy metal. They even wrote music for Norwegian movie Kraken and that song is completely different. Not unlike the Loving the Dead where a female vocalist from Djerv guests. So variation is key and I wonder why I did not bump into them before as I love Borknagar. On King's Night Vreid play Leiden. I would not be surprised if Abbath and Hypocrisy suffer to top them. Well King's Night shall tell.

High Parasite & The Old Dead Tree - Paard The Hague, 18 March 2026

High Parasite that other band of Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride fame. Well I heard about them, but never got into them. This mainly because I also don't follow My Dying Bride closely. Saw MDB live before, but only hold one of their CD's. No it was The Old Dead Tree that made me aware of this show and go to het Paard. During In Mourning earlier this moment I already learned that Alex would be joining too.

An early start on this election day it was when at 19:45 The Old Dead Tree kicked off in the small hall, which was half filled. 23 years plus one day before they released their debut album The Nameless Disease which I got and loved. This highly emotional album about the suicide of a bandmate really got under your skin. So I was curious if years later they would revisit this album still. After all the band was partially new. After their first three albums (now available as box setunder the title the mourning years) they went on a long hiatus. This decade a new band is back with Manuel on vocals and Nicolas on guitars as career spanning members. Their set kicked off with new work from 2024 full length Second Thoughts. As I liked these sonsg I got the CD afterwards. The Old Dead Tree play metal with prog and gothic influences and the ocassional grunting outbursts. It all sounded good, but for me the highlight came when they went back to The Nameless Disease and played We Cry As One. I believe it was followed bu It Can't Be! but I did not replay the album in advance and shall do so today. The gig information on this show called The Old Dead Tree leaders in French progmetal. Well I tend to agree as their show was at least a lot more energetic than Klone. A great band whom I missed so far live, even if they stated it is always a pleasure to play in The Netherlands. 

High Parasite was for me a blank page until recent. I did play some clips on Youtube after deciding to attend this evening. Theim usic blends metal with lots of Gothic and even some New Wave. Actually it comes as close to dancing metal as it can get. And this worked wonderfully well live on stage. I was not convinced that at home on CD it could have the same effect on me, but live this was one great band. This also because the presentation was good. White suited Aaron's dry humoured comments inbetween songs worked well and it was mainly about playing without long interruptions. With a first tour there was some electronics and female backig vocals coming from tape, but that did not disturb. A very nice evening was had with two good bands. As I read several people into metal from The Hague were not aware of this show, maybe Paard can improve their promoton a bit. And while we are at it, don't blow the airco so cold over us, as I woke up with a cold. Cold one of the many singles High Parasite played tonight.

Alter Bridge - Textures - Under - Wolverine

We are already in March, about time I start recommending some CD's/ Soon more to follow.

Alter Bridge - Alter Bridge

Alter Bridge are much bigger than the fan in me of them is. For years I heard and read how nice they are, but I never was bothered to dive into their discography. I picked up Blackbird at a metal market and that was about it. When I understood they would play in Lisbon when I was there I decided to check out their latest self-titled album. That was a nice surprise as this is easy listening hard rock performed very well. Myles Kennedy is one of the great voices in current hard rock and the guitar work of Mark Tremonti is nice too. So where I read some reviews statiing the surprise is gone, that is not valid for me, as I  just found out how nice they are. Live was good on album pleasant too.

Textures - Genotype

With Textures it is the opposite as I was there with them since their debut Polars. I even saw them live when OLS was still called OLS. I don't have all their albums, but often saw them through the years. Last time live was at Progpower, when they were touring goodbye. And now they are back with Genotype and more accessible than ever before. To me this means their best album ever (I think) The whole band shines here and Daniel de Jongh matches his vocal performance from last year'sTiktaalika. Very catchy songs and this new Textures should be able to attract even more fans.

Under - What Happened in Roundwood

Now here is a weird band. I discovered them when going through my bandcamp app under the tag progressive rock. The cover spoke to me, so I tried them and heard anything apart from traditional progressive rock. This trio play noise or sludge of the very uncomfortable kind. Still as from first listening this album clicked with me. The shouted vocals telling the story of Isaac in Roundwood is an album I shall return to several times. Definitely not for every moment, but when in the right mood it shall put a cynical smile on your face. Regarding live shows this band screams Complexity Fest.

Wolverine - Anomalies

Staying in the area of bands making a comeback I present Wolverine. Anomalies follows ten years after last album Machina Viva. The grunts from their earlier years are long behind us. Wolverine play nowadays melancholic rock with a few heavier outbursts only. Moody and beautiful their music is and in a way you can compare them with latter day Anathema on the moods. So on Anomalies I won't get surprised by the songs on offer, but they all sound so damn fine. As they are the Progpower houseband through the decades and the line-up is far from closed I would say why not again in 2026.

In Mourning, Fallujah & Omnium Gatherum - Tivoli Utrecht, 5 March 2026

In Mourning coming back to The Netherlands. As opening band of this package of melodic, doomy and technical death metal. Now I saw them before at ProgPower (twice) Brainstorm and Baroeg, so I knew I was in for a treat. If than also last year, they released with The Immortal possibly their best album, it was this band that made me go to Utrecht on this early spring Thursday.

Now Utrecht on a sunny day, made me tran in even earlier to wander a bit around in the city centre. The Dom Tower was restored I believe and in full sunlight it was impressive indeed. Now the real reason was I was going to check some CD stores as in The Hague all good CD stores have been murdered by all who were born after Gen X. Unfortunately the new albums I was looking for, were not in stores. So back to Tivoli it was where I would meet with Ton. First I bumped into Willem and later Marcel and Alex too. So a pleasant night was ahead of us and now bring on the music.

In Mourning opened and even if I knew all the songs I can not always place titles with them. The sound could have been a bit better as I thought the guitars too low in the mix. Still I highly enjoyed them kicking off focussing on The Immortal. The triple harsh. grunted and clean vocals  plus triple guitars did come over well and the response from the audience was animated. The far too short set ended with their best song Colossus and that was mega. No surprise here as this is the week of Mega Colossus. If there was anything to comment which I did as second Dutchman this evening Tobias told me (Alex was first) The T-shirts. All were black, while their great cover artwork of The Immortal screamed for a grey Tee. Well this short set already fully justified my trip to Utrecht and I am now waiting for a full headline set one day.

Next band on were Fallujah who play Tech Death. I have one of their albums 2016 Dreamless, but found no time to replay it before the show. Their last year's album Xenotaph is very strong and it was only wrong timing that made me not pick it up. First thing that struck when the band came on is that there were two guitars, but no bass. You could hear the bass, as well as keyboards and (loud) backing vocals. So that was a busy tape machine. If you managed to look through that we did get an excellent set with pretty damn fine guitar work. Low of their set was when the vocalist first asked for a pit, which opened space before the stage, but noone really entering apart from one guy. Later on that improved, but I still think pits should start spontaneously. A good show they gave us and definitely a band I should follow more seriously again.

For headliner Omnium Gatherum I went upstairs to the balcony to sit with Ton and watch from the side of the stage. Last year I saw Omnium Gatherum also in Tivoli, when they supported Insomnium. This year the band was different as there was a last minute substitute vocalist for this tour. The bassist earlier this evening helped out In Mourning, so it all is one sort of family really. Also by this band I only own one CD (The Burning Cold) that is not the case for guitarist Markus Vanhalla, as I have lots of Insomnium albums and would love to see him with his progmetal outfit Malpractice one day. Anyway today it was Omnium Gatherum and that sounded fine. Maybe the bit where the band was introduced took a bit too long. As I did come for the inverse order tonight I did not stay fully till the end, even if enjoying some Omnium Gatherum too. So it was down the 8 (eight) pairs of stairs and escalators to reach ground level and train home again. A nice evening was had, bring on more. In Utrecht that shall be Iotunn with In Vain for me.

Mega Colossus & Speed Queen - Musicon The Hague, 2 March 2026

Mega Colossus I only discovered in 2024 when they released with Showdown my favourite album of that year. During the summer they came to Europe with Köln closest to home, so I drove down to see them. It was that steamy hot night that I spoke with some of the band, which in the end resuted in their first show in The Netherlands being 2 March in Musicon. Support that evening were Speed Queen from Belgium and as the two bands seem to get along really well, they share some dates on this tour again. The bonus for me came in the fact that I could host Mega Colossus at home and get to know the band a bit better.

Now it was Monday night and Heavy Metal in the west of the country always suffers to pull a crowd. So a not very full Musicon welcomed Speed Queen on the stage and they kicked of hidden in smoke. The stage was all Speed Queen with some additional logo boxes and lights along them. I did see Speed Queen several times before and do like their Heavy Metal It is the old style filled with guitar solos and fast bangers. Last year they released their album .. With a Bang! and I got the chance to pick it up after the show. A good set by these nice guys and Zeeman shorts still rule.

Mega Colossus are touring Europe in support of their new album Watch Out!. This album is officially released this Friday 6 March only, but the label was so friendly to release it on Youtube when the tour started. This was a good thing as half the set were new songs. Now I slightly recognized bits and pieces. Actually their music is easy on the ears at first listen too. This because they play good songs where the twin guitars are treating you well all the time.I love this kind of melodic metal and when the vocals came out fine too I knew this was one of 2026's highlights. This even if bits were hidden in smoke. After the show it was not over for me as we could have an afterdrink at home and it turned out they are very nice guys too. This morning with today's show being in not so far Essen we even had time to visit the beach and Mega Colossus considered the North Sea (not an ocean) cold. Go see them on tour if you have the chance, as they just come to give you a good time and know how to do that very well.