Best New Music 2026 Edition

[The_7th_one]

My February Fav albums are:


Francis Rossi - Accidental
Magnificient and very enjoyable solo album by the Status Quo singer. The album is full of catchy and accessible rock songs. The production is very fresh and modern and the sound is very very good. Highly recommended.



Megadeth - Megadeth
Amazing album in my opinion. Back to the roots. Sometimes reminds to Youthanasia sometimes to rust in peace or Peace sells...
I really enjoyed this album. The first 6 or 7 songs are great. Maybe the last note song is the weaker for me. Even Dave's voice sounds good here. The album closes a great career full of great albums, amazing music great guitar solos, great musicians through the years.
It's sad to know that this is the last album and we will not have any more music from the band. This could be the best Metal album of the year next to Kreator's one.



Soen - Reliance
Great album. Modern metal with catchy and atmospheric passages sometimes. It needed a couple of listenings to like me.
Mercenary, Draconian, Huntress are the highlights songs for me. Highly recommended.

 

[Maturin]

Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big) released his latest album WROC last Friday. A concept album with him singing, based on George Washington's Rules of Civility. A book about etiquette... (Yeah!) It's both serious and lighthearted, and in a blues rock style which fits the subject matter perfectly.

I have listened countlessly to his album Fuzz Universe (2010) since it was released - consider it the best instrumental guitar album of all time - and initially was a bit disappointed in this not being another cool instrumental, but I'd have to say "Conscience is the Most Certain Judge" in particular has a good chance of becoming my most played song of 2026. Paul Gilbert is not a vocalist, but his vocals fit here. He's not shredding anywhere, not doing anything he is known for - but the album is the better for it. It's new, and its interesting and - above all - it feels like a passion project.

It's as inspiring and energetic as him speaking about guitarplaying. Not many things are.

 

[Jer]

Black Swan - Paralyzed

The third album from this Frontiers supergroup continues to deliver at a high level, offering a great set of hard rock from the Beach/Pilson songwriting team that also brought us Dokken’s Erase The Slate.

This one easily claims the “best to date” mantle for 2026 for me, but this doesn’t surprise me, since their previous album Generation Mind was my AOTY for 2022.

Great stuff. Don’t miss it if you’re a fan of this type of music…