This is the kind of Friday slate where one band can steal the whole conversation, and the rest still hits.
April 17 brings a new Wage War EP, a Metal Blade debut built for whiplash pits, a goblin-core EP that’s going to start fights in group chats, and a Crippled Black Phoenix record that sounds like it was written in the hours when your brain refuses to shut off.
Here’s what matters this week.
If you’re the kind of listener who judges a release by how fast it makes you want to start moving, Wage War showing up with a new EP is the main event.
Wage War have always understood the core metalcore equation, big riffs, clean hooks, and breakdowns that land like a door slamming. The point of an EP like It Calls Me By Name is simple: no filler, no long runway, straight into the parts that hit.
Pre-save/stream: Wage War on Amazon
The Last Ten Seconds of Life’s Metal Blade debut reads like a band making a point, ten tracks, all pressure.
The band have talked up a “rolling-tank” feel, and the guest list backs it up. David Simonich (Signs Of The Swarm), Nate Johnson (ex-Fit For An Autopsy), Alan Grnja (Distant), and original vocalist Storm Strope all show up across the record. If you want modern deathcore with a mean streak and actual structure, this is the lane.
Pre-order/stream: The Last Ten Seconds of Life on Amazon
From Ashes To New have been leaning deeper into that modern alt-metal lane where the chorus still matters and the production hits like a clean punch.
Reflections is framed as a confidence record, 12 tracks built to play big without losing the grit. If you’ve been tracking the last few years of radio-friendly heavy getting heavier again, this one is worth a front-to-back.
Pre-order/stream: From Ashes To New on Amazon
Nekrogoblikon never do “normal,” so an EP drop that looks like it’s part new material and part live chaos makes perfect sense.
If your Friday listening needs one release that doesn’t take itself too seriously while still hitting hard, this is it.
Pre-order/stream: Nekrogoblikon on Amazon
Crippled Black Phoenix have always sounded like a band wrestling with the world, but Sceaduhelm turns that fight inward.
Season of Mist are framing it as their most austere, inward-looking statement yet, written and recorded across 2023–2025. Expect slow builds, unresolved tension, and songs that refuse to give you an easy release valve.
Pre-order/stream: Crippled Black Phoenix on Amazon
Crimson Glory returning with a full new album after 26 years is still hard to process.
The hook is the same one it’s always been for them, US metal with ambition and melody that does not soften the riffs. New vocalist Travis Wills is the make-or-break piece for a comeback like this, and the early material suggests the band know exactly what the name needs to sound like in 2026.
Pre-order/stream: Crimson Glory on Amazon
If you’re doing the Record Store Day run the next morning, a few rock/metal titles are going to disappear fast.
A short hit list (Record Store Day is record store only, no “fallback”):
Full breakdown and strategy: https://metal-mantra.com/record-store-day-2026-rock-metal-picks/
For full Metal Mantra coverage, visit our Metal News hub and check the New Releases archive.
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