New & Noteworthy is Metal Insider’s weekly column highlighting some of the newest rock and metal releases coming out each week. This week includes new music from the likes of New Found Glory, Brian James, Exhumed, Yungblud and Sylosis amongst the many outstanding works hitting shelves. Don’t forget to check out our weekly playlist below. Enjoy!
February 20, 2026 Release Highlights:
New Found Glory, Listen Up! (Pure Noise):
The pop-punk band releases their 11th studio album. Recorded while guitarist Chad Gilbert was battling cancer, the new work was recorded with the aim to “encourage hope through hard times, while also looking at the world as somewhat of a fly on a wall: seeing people’s fear, negativity, and stress about small things that only scratch the surface of what life will eventually – but bring in a hopeful way.”
Brian James, Kicks And Diabolik Licks (Easy Action):
The late The Damned guitarist releases his final studio album, which was “inspired by his love of Italian culture.”
Exhumed, Red Asphalt (Relapse):
The gore metal band releases its 10th studio effort, which their Bandcamp describes as “crash(ing) the band’s hook-laden, high-speed deathgrind into whiplash-inducing grooves and dangerous musical curves. Red Asphalt is a love letter to the road – horrific accidents, vehicular homicide, defective cars, gore-filled instructional videos, zombified biker gangs, and more.”
Yungblud, Idols II (Island Records/Locomotion):
The singer releases the second half of last year’s blockbuster album, saying “The first part of the album is about the reclamation of one’s self. This part of the album is about the comprehension of mortality and the celebration of life and the celebration of existence and feeling the air on your face and feeling the water that goes down your neck when you take a drink.”
Sylosis, The New Flesh (Nuclear Blast):
The British thrash/metalcore band releases its seventh studio album, which Kerrang says “deals in themes of preservation, moving forward and finding your strength.”
February 20, 2026 Releases:
Worry Club, I’m Freaking Out (Good Luck Have Fun/Broke)
Altin Gün, Garip (ATO)
Abstracted, Hiraeth (M-Theory)
Bizarrekult, Alt Some Finnes (Season Of Mist: Underground Activists)
Clawfinger, Before We All Die (Perception)
Coscradh, Carving The Causeway To The Otherworld (20 Buck Spin)
Defaced, Icon (Massacre)
Eye Of Melian, Forest Of Forgetting (Napalm)
Incandescence, Hors Temps (Profound Lore)
Lead Injector, Witching Attack (High Roller)
Michael Monroe, Outerstellar (Silver Lining)
Misotheist, De Pinte (Terratur Possessions)
Nytt Land, Aba Khan (Prophecy)
Suplecs, Hymns Under A Blood Red Sky (Ripple)
W.E.B., Darkness Alive (Metal Blade)
Zepter, Zepter (High Roller)
Belzebong, The End Is High (Heavy Psych Sounds)
AmongRuins, Advent of Chaos (Theogonia)
Domhain, In Perfect Stillness (These Hands Melt)
Aeon Gods, Reborn to Light (Scarlet)
Phasma, Purgatory (Transcending Obscurity)
Mortal Blood, Vigil for a Hollowed Earth (Independent)
Soul of Anubis, Ritual (Time to Kill)
Daidalos, Dante (Rockshots)
Nazghor, A World Ablaze (Solistitium)
Dwellnought, Monolith of Ephemerality (Caligari)
L’Ira del Baccano, The Praise of Folly (Subsound)
Galibot, Euch’Mau Noir bis (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre)
Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne!, Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne! (Terratur Possessions)
Stam1na, Apnea (Sakara)
Asedio, Confrontación heroica (FHM)
Rozario, Northern Crusaders (Pride & Joy Music)
Struck/Down, Queue for the Cure (Independent)
Slik Helvetika, Walk Through Fire (Independent)
