Metalcore, Djent and Thall Releases in Autumn 2026: Albums, EPs and Singles
Autumn 2026 has been generous for anyone who listens to heavy music in low tunings. Metalcore walked into the season with a queue of albums, djent came back through instrumental records and new bands, and thall — the Swedish lineage of slow, dissonant, low riffs — did not get a new Vildhjarta, but got singles and announcements that show where the scene is heading.
This is a selection of what has come out since August and what is confirmed through November. Every date and label below was checked against dated sources on 24 October 2026. Where a label could not be confirmed, we do not name it; where a release belongs to a neighbouring genre, we say so.
Metalcore: the records that are out
Metalcore was the busiest genre of the period. There is everything in here: veterans going back to heavy, European bands growing fast and debuts appearing between the big names.
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- Imminence — Axis Mundi (2 October, Sumerian Records). The Swedes' sixth album and their first for Sumerian: 11 tracks, produced by Eddie Berg, Harald Barrett and Henrik Udd with co-production from Drew Fulk, and a run of singles — "The Sword That Never Bends", "False Light", "Crestfallen" and "If Not Now, When" — that made it one of the most talked-about records of the year. This is metalcore with violin, orchestra and soundtrack ambition.
- Wage War — Landfall (9 October, Fearless Records). The Floridians put out two records in one year — the EP It Calls Me By Name and now Landfall — and this one is the return to a heavier sound: 13 tracks, produced by guitarist Cody Quistad, with "Sweet Dreams", "Blindfold" and "Song Of The Swamp" proving the melody is still there.
- HALF ME — Dogma (23 October, Arising Empire). The Germans' second album, 14 tracks, with numbered interludes and singles such as "Psalm" and "Fear Is The New Belief". It is modern metalcore with an industrial streak that puts them among the names to watch.
- Windwaker — smile, you're on camera. (23 October, Fearless Records). The Australians' third album, which the press release describes as more guitar-forward and grittier than its predecessor, with analogue production. Singles include "closer", "Do Or Die" and "DNA".
- Miss May I — No Place For Me (2 October, Solid State Records). Eighth studio album, 10 tracks, singles including "Death Threat" and "Highbrow Thieves". The Ohio veterans are still doing the melodic metalcore that made them a poster name.
- 156/Silence — From A Distance (4 September, Pure Noise Records). The title track features Alex Reade of Make Them Suffer, and the video was directed by Chris Klumpp. One of the best balances of weight and melody in the period.
- Judiciary — Stalagmite Angels (EP, 4 September, Closed Casket Activities). Five tracks of crossover thrash and metalcore, produced and recorded by Phillip Odom and mixed and mastered by Will Putney — the name behind the sound of so many heavy records.
- Axty — The Pain Made Me Who I Am (21 August, Napalm Records). The trio opened the season with a modern, emotional metalcore record, with "selfish" and "fragile" already out.
- Spiritbox — "Mourning" (single, 7 September). Video co-directed by guitarist Mike Stringer with Alex Bemis and co-produced by Stringer and Dan Braunstein. It landed ahead of the autumn European and UK tour with Jinjer and Dying Wish.
- Employed To Serve — "Absolute Onslaught" (single, October). The Brits brought Andreas Bjulver of Cabal into one of the most direct tracks of the year, following "A Moment Gone Too Soon".
Djent: instrumental guitars and new names
Djent did not get a new TesseracT or Periphery record in this window — Periphery released A Pale White Dot in May and TesseracT postponed their autumn UK and German dates to March 2027. What it got was a wave of instrumental records and new bands, plus one of the most anticipated releases of the year.
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- Polyphia — BE NOT AFRAID (23 October, Rise Records). Tim Henson and Scott LePage's fifth album, co-produced by RJ Pasin and Spiro Dussias alongside Henson and LePage. Sessions ran through Miami, Los Angeles and Dallas, and "CAN YOU FEEL IT" came out the day before. A word of warning: the recent singles show an electronic turn that has split opinion — this is not a classic djent record, it is a Polyphia record.
- Unprocessed — Lost Tapes (EP, 14 August, independent). Six instrumental tracks written during the pandemic and released without a label. The Germans are one of the best examples of how a low-tuned riff works without vocals.
- Fervence — Constructs (16 October, Metal Blade Records). Progressive metalcore from Texas, 11 tracks, produced by Trent Odneal and Austin Bentley and mixed and mastered by Zack Ohren. The stated influences — Deftones, Architects, Silent Planet — explain the balance between weight and space.
- Glasswaves — while(True) (23 October, SharpTone Records). Debut album from the Rochester trio, built around a concept about a medical technology company that manipulates dreams. Alternative metal with a nu-metal and djent edge, singles "Swarm.ING_" and "SCARed".
- Our Common Collapse — "Ritual" (single, 27 August, 3DOT Recordings). The project Periphery's label introduced as its heaviest signing. "Invertebrate" and "Ritual" are the best calling card of emerging djent.
- Stellar Circuits — "In The Smoke" (single, 4 August). American progressive metal; another single from 2026, after "Stargazer" (July), which came with the announcement of the autumn European tour with Evergrey and Ignea.
Thall: the Swedish scene changed scale
Thall is the most curious part of this autumn — precisely because the bands that defined the sound released nothing. Vildhjarta have not put out an album since May 2025, Humanity's Last Breath only showed the "Godhood" video in January, and Meshuggah spent the year between remasters and anniversary signals with no new record. The news is one level down, in the bands picking up that language.
- Grayscale Season — The Weight Of Things We Cannot Touch (20 November; singles already out). The Swedes are the closest thing to this lineage here: "Strung Up" (27 August), "Yarusenai (Ghost)" (17 September) and "Exit" (8 October) precede an 11-track album.
- thrown — UNWANTED (6 November). The Swedish nü-metalcore band have their second album set for November, with "split", "rehearsed" and "critic" already out and a US tour with Norma Jean, BOLTCUTTER and HALF ME that ran through October. It is the most direct bridge between thall and current metalcore.
- Surgeon — Aphantasia (30 October). The solo project of former Reflections vocalist Jake Wolf: 18 tracks written between 2023 and 2026, all composed, produced and recorded by him. Reflections split this year, and this is the record that inherits that legacy.
- Distant — Into Despair (6 November, Century Media Records). Deathcore and downtempo from the Netherlands, 13 tracks, with heavy guests: Ricky Myers (Suffocation), Kyle Medina (Bodysnatcher) and Darius Tehrani (Spite). Not djent, but the same low-end family.
October and November: what is coming
These are the dates confirmed as this article closed. Where the label could not be confirmed, we do not name it.
| Date | Band | Release | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Oct | Surgeon | Aphantasia | Album |
| 6 Nov | thrown | UNWANTED | Album |
| 6 Nov | Distant | Into Despair | Album |
| 6 Nov | Hatebreed | Fatal Paradox | Album |
| 6 Nov | Comeback Kid | Chosen Hell | Album |
| 13 Nov | Kingdom of Giants | Usurper | Album |
| 20 Nov | Trivium | Crown in the Grave | Album |
| 20 Nov | Grayscale Season | The Weight Of Things We Cannot Touch | Album |
| 27 Nov | Northlane | Anemoia | Album (delayed) |
Northlane pushed Anemoia from 30 October to 27 November, citing production issues and the health of guitarist and vocalist Josh Smith; the single "Deathwish" was brought forward to 20 October. Hatebreed deliver their ninth album, Fatal Paradox, and Comeback Kid their eighth, Chosen Hell, produced by Will Putney with Courtney LaPlante (Spiritbox) and Brendan Garrone (Incendiary) as guests. Kingdom of Giants arrive with Usurper, the first album produced by vocalist Dana Willax, and Trivium with Crown in the Grave, their 11th, with Alex Rüdinger on drums and Josh Wilbur producing.
What it means if you play
There is no official tuning data for these releases, so we are not going to invent any: what you hear is a growing preference for long-scale guitars, firm low end and riffs that use silence and palm muting as part of the arrangement. Metalcore is absorbing djent's rhythm — odd bar lengths, three- and five-beat riffs — and the new bands use thall as an atmospheric language instead of copying it.
If you want to test these ideas on the fretboard, open Drop A with the Phrygian scale in Lowforge and try a slow two-string palm-muted riff. For the metalcore side, switch to B Phrygian in Drop B. And if you are choosing a guitar for this kind of music, the guides to baritone, multiscale and 7-string guitars and to Drop C answer the questions about scale length, strings and pickups.
Sources
- Wall of Sound: Wage War, Landfall (review)
- Radio Metal: HALF ME, the details of Dogma (September 2026)
- Metal Kingdom: Imminence, Axis Mundi
- Rock Sound: Employed To Serve, "Absolute Onslaught" (October 2026)
- ThePRP: Polyphia announce BE NOT AFRAID (August 2026)
- ThePRP: thrown announce UNWANTED (September 2026)
- ThePRP: Grayscale Season return with "Strung Up" (August 2026)
- ThePRP: Northlane delay Anemoia and release "Deathwish" (October 2026)
- Metal Hammer: Trivium announce Crown in the Grave
- ThePRP: Wage War announce Landfall (September 2026)
- ThePRP: Spiritbox release "Mourning" (September 2026)
- ThePRP: Windwaker announce smile, you're on camera. (July 2026)
- ThePRP: Miss May I announce No Place For Me (September 2026)
- Hold Tight: HALF ME release DOGMA (October 2026)
- ThePRP: weekly release database (dates and labels)