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COUNT VLAD'S TOP LIST OF OCTOBER 2026

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There are 358 new releases in total on 30 and 31 October, and this is crazy. It alone makes October hectic; now multiply by 4 to get the full picture for the four weeks of the month! In fact, October had five Fridays! Even worse!... I shortlisted 44 picks from this October endless list, but half of them are just reminders of what made an impression. The first 26 are good, especially the top row of 7. (The list is in somewhat in particular order, as usual). All of them are the finest ones for me released in October 2026, the ones who I enjoyed, the ones that might stay longer. Also, it is worth mentioning that there were some nice splits released too; however, they are mentioned in the list here. Worth checking indeed.  Album of the month - SERVENT! Cathartic! Dungeon Serpent's new one is second, very close to being album of the month as well. WITTR with superb new bleak misty album in third place.  So here's my list. No other words needed, but I am super exhausted of this cons...
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MY TOP LIST OF SEPTEMBER 2026

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  This actually might be one of my last posts here. I am definitely considering a new domain and a new hosting platform. This Witness to my metal experiences over the last years deserves a better place. I need a new plot of land where I can continue building up and preserving this subculture. Stay tuned. I just wanted to start this way; now back to September 2026. The month was rich in new releases, but overall pedestrian in quality. Below, I listed 30+ records selected from the big pile that made the strongest impression. I am going to take a few of them with me ahead of time, though. The rest will stay in this moment in time, the very busy month of September 2026. Only on the last Friday of the month, there were 148 albums officially released. I will always keep on saying - what for? It is way to much, and I really can't check, listen to, and enjoy everything that is out properly.  Maybe there are albums that I didn't pay enough attention to, but they deserve to be on this l...
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MY TOP LIST OF AUGUST 2026

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  This is going to be a short one.  August gone. With a clear winner here. The Night Eternal's Black Velvet is just crushing it, and my love for the band is enormous. Probably my AOTY. At this point in time, it is. I don't know what could beat it. The rest is more or less clear, keeping in mind the fact that I had less willingness to check new music in this very weak month. I can live easily without 85% of the releases listed below. So, no more words needed.  Here are my 16 choices for the finest new releases of August 2026. THE NIGHT ETERNAL - Cold Velvet ( Bandcamp ) MASTODON - Marrow Deep ( Bandcamp ) MISCREANCE - Reminiscence ( Bandcamp ) AZATOTH - Carnal lust of Blasphemy ( Bandcamp ) GOROD - Remains ( Spotify ) RAHATY - Bestial Lustmord ( Bandcamp ) TSIRHIC - To Satan I Reply... ( Bandcamp ) HESPERIA - Picenum (True Marchigian Black Metal Renaissance) ( Bandcamp ) DEATH. VOID. TERROR. - To the Great Monolith 2.5 ( Bandcamp ) MARILYN MANSON - ONE ASSassinati...
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MY TOP LIST OF JULY 2026

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  The most noticeable event in July 2026 was that I turned 48. Besides that, it was another pedestrian month for the new releases. And thank fk (again)!  I like and believe in consistency. That's why I keep on doing these posts and lists. In this respect Rolling Stones put out a new album in July 2026 too! Monsters! Honestly, I did NOT check a lot of new albums; I simply wasn't willing to do so. From the ones I did, though, I managed surprisingly to put here 23! And I guess I'll continue my life with not more than 4 or 5; the rest I won't pay much attention to in the future.  Not much to describe and discuss around my choices REZN won against Coprolith, Cabinet, and Sallow Moth. Left to Die left me hesitant, and surprisingly I liked the new Moonspell. As usual, my list is in some order, so the second half of it I enjoyed in this particular moment in time, but they are not having the staying power. Let's see. Anyway, below are the best July 2026 new releases for me. ...
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MY TOP LIST OF JUNE 2026

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Thank fk June 2026 was weak af! Basically, I can take very few albums with me. The new ROTTEN TOMB is my album of the month and death metal album of the year so far for me. Stormkeep is The Kovenant rip-off, right? I liked it a lot though ...And this is the most important of all. Some other proper BM albums, and that's it. I had expectations for Morgal, but it is really weak compared to everything they have done before. I didn't like the new Evergrey either.  Let's leave this publication for history only. I hardly listed 17 albums below, but it should have been 10. Here are the June'26 releases that I liked the most: ROTTEN TOMB - Vestiges of Tortured Souls ( Bandcamp ) STORMKEEP - The Nocturnes Of Iswylm ( Bandcamp ) ENEVELDE / GJENDØD - Elegier fra avgrunnen ( Bandcamp ) HORN - Apokalyps 1618 ( Bandcamp ) GRABUNHOLD - Frostheim ( Bandcamp ) ORDER OF THE DEATH'S HEAD / KAEVUM - Décomposition / Abstand ( YouTube ) ASTRIFEROUS - Atavistic Unraveling ( Bandcamp ) VÉHÉ...
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MY TOP LIST OF MAY 2026

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  May 2026 was a relatively "unstable" month for new releases. What do I mean? One week it is ok, next is great, third - meh, and then in the end - here comes the flood, out of which I had to pick the best... The thing is that I listed here 30 records, and probably 2/3 of them I won't listen to very often, or at all anymore. But hey, every list is a momentary snapshot. It depends on the mood, the circumstances, the events surrounding the listening, etc. So it is always subject to change.  Frankly, it was difficult for me to select the album of the month, too. Finally, I just put Restless Spirit, supposedly because I am going to listen to it a lot in the future. There were some other very good releases, in fact, too. One of the biggest surprises for me was the new Dimmu Borgir, who turned into a complete shit around Spiritual Black Dimensions. So if anyone goes through my lists, he/she should know that I enjoyed all these thirty albums during the past month for some reason...
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MY TOP LIST OF APRIL 2026

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  April 2026 was a hectic month again. Too many new releases dropped, and the list here demonstrates it. I am not comfortable with having 36 albums here. It means I can't decide properly, or the month was mediocre and they were equally bad without having a distinctive leaders... My album of the month, naturally, is HAJDUK - Хвърковата чета. No doubt. I think it is also my BM album of the year (I know it's early). I am in direct contact with Belgun. Then, Reeking Aura - an absolute and addictive death metal banger. Then the rest, in more or less particular order, and always depending on the mood. There are quite good albums there, very enjoyable and very underground. I think I'll take some of the names to the AOTY list; others will stay in April 2026 only, for liking them in this very moment. Let's mention here for the sake of nostalgia - the last Spirit Adrift and the last At The Gates. Sad. I don't want to write brief reviews on each and every record. Let me save t...
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MY TOP LIST OF MARCH 2026

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  March 2026 was solid, delivering a lot of new releases, among which I'll take a few to my AOTY list. There are big names on my March list as well as very underground ones. In the end, I picked the 27 records I enjoyed most from the ones I checked. Of course, I haven't listened to all the albums released in March, it is absolutely impossible. According to The Metal Archives, there are 1885 entries for the period 1 March 2026 - 31 March 2026!!!! This is completely insane, and I bet there were even busier months... Why do we need this? I just can't comprehend.  I noticed that it shaped as a serious black/death list, but I am listening to BM most of the time this year. For the release of the month, I chose The Crawl by TEMPLE OF VOID. Another glorious album by the Americans, digging my favourite death doom area. Hooks, mood, and heaviness. Just a reminder that their Summoning the Slayer was my death metal album of 2023. Lomsk's second album was uper close to take the firs...
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MY TOP LIST OF FEBRUARY 2026

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  February 2026 was a proper month for the UG. It delivered some very good new releases, especially in the black metal area. My list here demonstrates this exactly. It is packed with solid black metal and, here and there, some death metal albums. I enjoyed the month, as I was in a particular BM mood. I am going to carry with me many of these releases into the year, and I believe most of them will make my end-of-year (black metal) lists.  I was hesitant about the album of the month - either MAYHEM or DIABOLUS, MECUM SEMPERTERNE!. I put MAYHEM in the end, although all the albums below are very close to one another, and listing them in a somewhat particular order does not really matter. There is a small comment next to each one, describing my thoughts, so I won't spend much time here discussing the albums and what is good and what disappointed me. To make a long story short, all these albums released in February 2026 deserve a listen (or a lot of listens).  GO! MAYHEM - Lit...
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MY TOP LIST OF JANUARY 2026

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  It was like yesterday when I was summarizing 2025 and publishing all the AOTY lists. January 2026 is already gone, so I am again in the monthly lists preparation pattern. During this past month, I wondered whether and how to continue here, what could be added, altered, or scrapped. I still don't have the answers, and therefore I keep on doing it the old way that I adopted in the past year.   January 2026 didn't offer much. Few major events were recorded, though. Megadeth released their very last album (everybody knows), Kreator released a monster and destroyed my scepticism, and some very enjoyable underground albums came out and found their place on my list below. I was hesitant about my album of the month. In the end, I put Kreator. Megadeth was my second choice due to nostalgic reasons and the lump in my throat. However, just put against each other, "Krushers of the world" is definitely the better one.  It is way too early to predict how the year will go, but th...
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