Toundra is one of the most talented and underrated post-rock bands out there. They don’t get the praise or attention they deserve. However, they are always able to top themselves and push the envelope and they’ve proven they don’t know how to release bad albums…

There comes a point in every career of note, when it’s time to dig a trench in the turf; to define exactly who you are in a way that resonates in the broadest possible manner. For Bullet For My Valentine – now two decades deep into their story, one of rock and metal’s foremost names, a genuine success – that time is now.

Thankfully, Pantera has stopped attempting to outdo each successive album in terms of start-to-finish intensity, but that doesn't mean they don't try in spots. The Great Southern Trendkill is burdened with passages in which Phil Anselmo's vocals cross the line into histrionics, making the band's trademark intensity sound dull, forced, and theatrical rather than sincere…

Surviving a shaky decade that produced a couple decent albums and few identity crises, Korn bring it back to basics on their 12th full-length, The Serenity of Suffering. It's both a reminder that Korn are the masters of this particular universe and also fiercely dedicated to its fans. Inasmuch as the Korn faithful are capable of fuzzy feelings, Serenity delivers goose bumps for those who have stuck with the band since the '90s. Diehards will notice that Jonathan Davis and the gang have brought things back to the Issues/Untouchables era – especially on "Take Me" and "Everything Falls Apart" – when Korn perfected the combination of nu-metal brutality, desperate vulnerability, and spook show creepiness (in fact, the Issues doll – now wrapped in stitched-up skin with exposed ribs – makes a prominent appearance on Serenity's album art). Without pandering to career-peak nostalgia, Korn deftly execute all the hallmarks that have come to define their sound.

Left to their own devices on Here and Now, Nickelback have done the unthinkable: they’ve embraced who they are. Chad Kroeger’s brow is no longer furrowed, treating rock & roll as an ordeal; he’s stepped back a bit, allowing himself to have a good time. This doesn’t quite mean he’s left his misogyny behind – it lingers, infecting otherwise innocuous songs – but it does mean that Nickelback no longer rely solely on heavy-footed power chords set to lumbering rhythms. True, this signature sound still underpins much of Here and Now, but the group is now loose enough to throw in a disco-rock thumper (“Kiss It Goodbye,” another in a long line of anti-Hollywood, anti-plasticity anthems destined to be staples in Hollywood strip clubs) and even dabbles in a bit of power pop on “When We Stand Together,” giving it an actual swing, something unheard on previous Nickelback albums, and this isn’t an isolated incident. “Gotta Get Me Some” abandons the brutal four-on-the-floor Nickelback signature in favor of an actual groove and the group even sounds nimble on its power ballads.

Harakiri is the third studio album by Armenian-American singer Serj Tankian. The album was released on July 10, 2012, as a follow-up to his 2010 album Imperfect Harmonies, orchestral rock with jazz/electro elements. The album also constitutes the first of four planned albums, the other three being Orca, Jazz-Iz-Christ, and the still-unreleased Fuktronic.

The first single-CD collection from these genre-busting (metal? rap? funk? punk?) rockers! Epic; Introduce Yourself; We Care a Lot (Slash version); Easy; War Pigs; Evidence , and more key cuts from 1985 to 1997 join rarities like Arabian Disco and more- from the bizarre to the brilliant!

Introduce Yourself is Faith No More's second album, released in 1987. Due to the limited availability of the first album, We Care a Lot (until it was re-released on CD years later), many, including the band, once considered this Faith No More's true debut album. Being the group's major label debut, this album features better production than its predecessor, which is most evident on this album's version of the song "We Care a Lot," which also features updated, more topical, lyrics. It was the last album Chuck Mosley appeared on with the band. The record has garnered positive reviews from music critics, although as with the band's previous studio effort We Care a Lot, some criticisms have been directed at vocalist Chuck Mosley. AllMusic stated that "the album is consistent and interesting, with Mosley's out-of-tune vocals being an acquired taste to most". In 1988, Neil Perry of Sounds Magazine referred to the album as "a breathtaking harmonisation of molten metal guitar, deadly dance rhythms and poignant, pointed lyrics".

Mark Tremonti's back-and-forth between Alter Bridge and his other band Tremonti takes him back to his self-titled group this year. The singer-guitarist and his band will be supporting their fourth full-length album, A Dying Machine, which is now set to be released on June 8 via Napalm Records.

One of the most influential heavy metal albums of the 1990s, Vulgar Display of Power is just what is says: a raw, pulverizing, insanely intense depiction of naked rage and hostility that drains its listeners and pounds them into submission. Even the "ballads," "This Love" and "Hollow," have thunderingly loud, aggressive chorus sections…

Although Vulgar Display of Power remains Pantera's best and definitive album, Cowboys from Hell was the creative breakthrough that set the stage for its conception. Not only were its demos responsible for getting Pantera signed to a major label in the first place, but its fresh musical perspective also gave them a much-needed blank slate with which to conquer the 1990s and, first and foremost, erase their 1980s failures…

Black Labyrinth is the debut solo studio album by Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis, to be released on May 25, 2018 through Sumerian Records. The first single, What It Is, was released on January 26, 2018 as part of the soundtrack to the movie American Satan.

Although Filter's Title of Record was a creative step forward, Richard Patrick described the album's recording process as an exigent one, where everyone constantly butted heads. To the band's surprise, when they began working on The Amalgamut two years later, they encountered the exact opposite. The band, along with longtime producer Ben Grosse, felt the most open and creative they had in years. With two successful releases and two years of solid touring behind them, Filter allowed themselves the freedom to write and record new material at their own pace. After embarking on a cross-country road trip with his acoustic guitar and witnessing the September 11th terrorist attacks and Columbine High School shootings on television with the rest of America, Richard Patrick poured his inspiration into some of his most sincere and revealing material to date. Lyrically, Patrick is honest and unembarrassed throughout the album.

All I See Is War is the twelfth studio album by Sevendust. It is scheduled for release on May 11, 2018 via Rise Records.

In order to celebrate their 20 year anniversary LACUNA COIL and Century Media Records have compiled a limited box-set entitled "The Presence of the Past (XX Years of Lacuna Coil)" including all of their studio albums as well as selected live material, rare songs and b-sides on 13 discs. The box-set will come with a luxurious booklet that will not only give you all lyrics, but also historical photos and liner-notes. For Italy's LACUNA COIL, turning 20 will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not only for the Milan-based outfit, but also for their diehard fans around the globe.