The world's greatest metal band, Metallica unite with their hometown symphony for a concert of symphonic metal magic to ring in opening night at San Francisco's new arena.
Twenty years into their career, instrumentally-driven trio Dysrhythmia still find new ways to surprise and astound listeners. Virtuosity isn't the only thing that matters here but it sure gives us a lot of marvel at on Terminal Threshold.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard go full metal to craft a brutal warning against ecological destruction on their 15th studio album, Infest the Rats' Nest.
A doomy concoction with black and thrash metal undercurrents, Thonian Horde throws extreme metal some groove on this blast from the upcoming LP, Downfall.
Reissues of The World Needs a Hero and The System Has Failed remind us that Megadeth has been coming back for years.
With State of Euphoria, Anthrax tempered some of the excessive '80s metal tendencies of their vocal, lead guitar, and song arrangements, reaching back toward something more viscerally punk as the '80s ended.
Metallica has perfected the arena rock experience, creating as immersive and inclusive an atmosphere as possible by performing "in the round".
Voivod may be veterans at this point, but with The Wake, they're still providing one-of-a-kind genre-shifting vivaciousness.
Jody Seabody & The Whirls mix and match musical genres with an eclectic elegance and seamless confidence on "All Gone White".
Winds of Time is a three-CD collection of songs by bands that barely anyone outside the UK have even heard of. It's also the Rosetta Stone of thrash metal.
Nevermore's The Complete Collection does an excellent job of gathering what we do have from a band that had much more to give.
There's common ground between all 20 metal albums despite musical differences: the ability to provide a cathartic release for the creator and the consumer alike, right when we need it most.
