That's Not Metal

Summer arrives and we go into some classic Album Club territory with Sum 41's moodier metal turn Chuck, Blind Guardian's Nightfall In Middle Earth, Your Demise upset the windbreakers on The Golden Age, and Cattle Decapitation's boundary-crossing look into a dark future The Anthropocene Extinction.

This episode was originally published June 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

2023's first TNM reviews come from VV, Katatonia, Obituary, Twilight Force, Fireworks, Swiss Army Wife, Ahab, & Grief Symposium, Fall Out Boy do the unthinkable and write a rock song again, and we debate Trivium setlists after their long awaited UK tour.

VV 35:10
Katatonia 51:38
Obituary 1:04:03
Twilight Force 1:16:06
Fireworks 1:25:32
Swiss Army Wife 1:36:19
Ahab 1:43:17
Grief Symposium 2:00:40

Hyperblasts returns for 2023 bringing the first round of early news including new music from Sleep Token, Periphery, and Enter Shikari, Till Lindeman's statue getting nicked, and our quick little look ahead at the albums and shows we're looking forward to this year.

Releases:
Iggy Pop - Every Loser
Anti-Flag - Lies They Tell Our Children
HellPoison - Ultra Outbreak of Hell
The Canyon Observer - Figura
VV - Neon Noir
Obituary - Dying of Everything
Ahab - The Coral Tombs
Polar - Everywhere, Everything

It's the last dance of the year with the TNM Awards, as the gang assemble to anoint the greats and truly take to task the bull:
Most Improved Band
Song of the Year
Worst Song of the Year
Hero of the Year
Villain of the Year
Best New Band
Biggest Disappointment
Gig of the Year
EP of the Year
Artwork of the Year
Movie of the Year
Comeback of the Year
Surprise of the Year
Outstanding Achievement
Worst Band of the Year
Unsung Heroes
Story of the Year
Band of the Year

AOTY season continues at TNM with lists from 2022's fresh contributors Mark & Elliot, and most importantly the results of the listener album of the year poll are revealed and given the magnifying glass.

Start up the fanfare cause the Albums of the Year 2022 are here, celebrating another 12 months of great records with lists from Perran, Sam, & Alec.

Metallica are back with an absolute trad metal joy, we predict the albums of the year from metal's major outlets, and we open the official TNM Listener Album of the Year 2022 poll.

Releases:
Elder - Innate Passage
Jamie Lenman - The Atheist
In the Woods… - Diversum
Judicator - The Majesty of Decay
Trhä - endlh​ë​d​ë​haj q​á​shm​ë​na ëlh vim innivte
Tchornobog / Abyssal - Split
NOFX - Double Album
Amberian Dawn - Take a Chance - A Metal Tribute to ABBA
Isafjord - Hjartastaki
Hammers of Misfortune - Overtaker
Nihilist Death Cult - Death to All Tyrants
Other Half - Soft Action
Crosses - Permanent.Radiant

In May Album Clubs, we take the opportune time to fairly assess My Chemical Romance's as yet final album Danger Days. From there we dive into a world of weirdness with Swans' White Light from the Mouth of Infinity, Big Black's affront to tastefulness Songs About Fucking, and Sigh's ode to madness In Somniphobia.

This episode was originally published May 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

In a week with Turnstile up for multiple Grammys, we head into our last reviews bag of 2022 with albums from Nickelback, Skin Failure, Devin Townsend, SpiritWorld, High Command, Turnover, Dream Unending, & Spider God.

Nickelback 37:57
Skin Failure 1:00:09
Devin Townsend 1:14:47
SpiritWorld 1:30:27
High Command 1:41:29
Turnover 1:51:46
Dream Unending 2:04:44
Spider God 2:18:45

This week we review this year's massive Damnation, seeing exclusive album sets from the likes of Converge and Pig Destroyer as the event steps up to a much larger part of the festival year, and the enormous line-up for 2023's Download is revealed.

Releases:
Skin Failure - Radillac
L.S. Dunes - Past Lives
Chelsea Grin - Suffer In Hell
He Is Legend - Endless Hallway
Xentrix - Seven Words
Dream Unending - Song of Salvation
Bonecarver - Carnage Funeral
Spider God - Fly in the Trap
Kampfar - Til Klovers Takt
Fell Ruin - Cast In Oil The Dressed Wrought
Constellatia - Magisterial Romance
Fjort - Nicht
Envy - Seimei
Last In Line - A Day in the Life
Epica - The Alchemy Project