Feature: April 2026 Playlist by Heaven’s Metal’s Chris Gatto
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April 2026 Playlist by Christ Gatto
1. KRIG– Bite My Byte – Long awaited technical death metal masterpiece from our favorite Brazilian ex-pat king and queen and their new American singer chronicling a very real world where Big Tech is out to silence and control you. Read my Krig interview here: Feature: KRIG – Louder Bark or Bigger Byte? – Heaven’s Metal Magazine or Jason McLaren’s album review here: Review: Krig – Bite My Byte – Heaven’s Metal Magazine
2. MARK FARNER– Just Another Injustice – Known primarily for being the frontman for Grand Funk Railroad, Mark’s solo albums starting with 1988’s Just Another Injustice are referred to as his gospel era following a late 80’s born again experience, much like his rocker peer Bob Dylan. Sure, it’s no surprise that Injustice is chock full of classic rock, bordering on hard rock, but it has a downright delectable bent for the blues that makes it a delight.
3. NOMAD SON– The Darkening – Maltese traditional metal band’s third of a trilogy of albums in the early 2010’s raised many metal fists in the air with their triumphant true metal sound, riding the borderline between speed and doom. Vocals are similar to those of the Swiss band Pylon.
4. HANGFIRE– Burn – Soaring melodic female vocals, not unlike Millennial Reign’s singer Tiffany Galchutt’s, but Washington state’s Hangfire steers more towards power metal and less towards the former’s prog metal tendencies. Released a year ago on Rottweiler Records.
5. OFFICER NEGATIVE – Fight EP- The Ventura, CA J.C.H.C. pioneers burned the torch in the late 90’s, fizzling out by the new millennium, reappeared as Death Campaign in 2004, and have reformed recently to punch out some new hardcore tunes. Freshen up your mohawks. You have been warned!
6. AFTERWINTER– Boundless – Greenville, OH’s AfterWinter established their own identity, apart from being Chaz Bond’s Biogenesis band on 2 of his releases with their own double disc concept album debut Paramnesia a few years ago. The album was a detective story, deeply ensconced in prog metal, and told through the interplay of male and female vocals, courtesy of Jerry Grazio and Majennica Nealeigh. Sadly, Jerry lost his battle with brain cancer in 2024, but guitarist Luke Nealeigh lends his vocals and the result is a brand new album Boundless in much the same vein as the debut- lots of great guitars, a whole lot of prog, and a wee bit of zany.
7. SUFFER NOT THE WITCH– Self-titled EP– Brand new to the scene is this TX based black metal band centered around Jarrod Butler, who I suspect has quite the testimony to tell, if these lyrics reflect his own story. Musically SNTW has some similarities to Irgalom, but fleshed out a little more with keyboards and even mandolin. I love to hear an extreme metal singer growling about the mercy of God.
8. ODYN– The Chronicles of the Sacred Eye Pt. II: The Fury of the Star Spawn- This Salem, OR based band from The Charon Collective is as odd as they come. They label themselves viking metal, but if that brings to mind extreme metal, put that notion aside. This is fantasy and storytelling in the grand style of Blind Guardian in their Lord of the Rings era, in the style of power/ prog, even thrash metal, but the vocals are mostly shouted in the manner of hardcore.
9. DIVINER– Avaton– Epic 3rd album from the Greek kings of traditional metal, after they left Ulterium Records. Yiannis Papanikolaou’s vocals resemble the late great Ronnie James Dio more than any other I’ve heard.
10. ZAXAS– Returns the Machine– A somewhat obscure band of ex-Marines who had the gall to release their one and only metal album in 1995 in the middle of the grunge fad. Or so I thought. Recently found that the band did indeed release a 2nd album of hard rock and heavy metal 20 years after the first. Returns the Machine | ZAXAS
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