It’s the dawn of a brand new year, and heavy-music fans around the world are pumped over the volume of horns-raising, headbanging moments we’re sure to enjoy through 2026. It’s a long road to December, though, so mercifully some new offerings are coming sooner than others.
Earlier this year at Revolver HQ, we rounded up our picks for the 60 most highly anticipated albums of 2026. Some, like a grand finale from a revered thrash institution, are days away from hitting our speakers. Others exist more in the abstract — though we’re no less excited to crank them once they arrive.
With that in mind, we asked Revolver readers to vote for the new records they’re eager to hear in 2026, and these were your top 5 picks.
Evanescence – TBD
Amy Lee’s 2025 was monumental — comprising Evanescence’s anime-scoring “Afterlife” single, as well as a stellar run of collabs including “End of You” with Poppy and Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante (which was Revolver’s Song of the Year). Understandably, the fan base is craving more nu-rock originals from her and her band, and the good news is that a full-length will soon follow.
Evanescence’s iconic vocalist has gone on-record stating that we should expect a new album sometime this spring. It’s been a long five years since the band released 2021’s The Bitter Truth, and our readers are honestly ecstatic for the follow-up.
Megadeth – Megadeth
The imminent arrival of Megadeth’s upcoming self-titled swan song has metalheads feeling incredibly conflicted.
On the one hand, we’re just days away from another Dave Mustaine-powered thrash attack, with early previews like “Tipping Point” and “I Don’t Care” confirming that their bandleader is feeling as cantankerously spicy and shred-forward as ever.
On the other side of things, this is the last we’ll ever hear from Megadeth, at least on record. Despite the finality of Megadeth, Mustaine has hinted that their victory-lapping final tour could take a few years.
Puscifer – Normal Isn’t
Many people have already heard the new Puscifer album, Normal Isn’t — the band staged a two-concert showcase back in August that found them performing the whole shebang.
Nevertheless, Revolver readers are anxiously awaiting the studio recordings, which Maynard James Keenan confessed were shaped by his and his cohorts’ early love of post-punk and goth music. Accordingly, a rumbling, death-rock-adjacent feel has been coded into the cuts we’ve heard so far.
We’re also dying to know more about Bellendia Black, the pointy-haired character Keenan has been portraying in album promo clips, and whose story is set to be told in the group’s new Tales from the Pusciverse comic book series.
Marilyn Manson – One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2
Revolver readers took it to heart that Marilyn Manson named his 2024 comeback LP One Assassination Under God – Chapter 1, and knew a second volume of the tale would arrive eventually. The shock rocker stated as much back in November, telling devoted Mansonites on Instagram, “Be prepared for Chapter Two very soon.”
While guitarist-producer Tyler Bates recently retired from the live band, he’s still working on Chapter Two behind the scenes, and has called the latest collab with Manson “our finest work together.” The fans can’t wait to put that claim to the test.
Gojira – TBA
Gojira have yet to fully capitalize on their globe-dominating 2024 Olympics performance, at least in an album sense. But the French metal vets are getting ready to pounce with Kaiju-like ferocity for the much-anticipated follow-up to 2021’s Fortitude.
Though a hand injury forced frontman Joe Duplantier into minor surgery in 2025, the band’s vocalist and guitarist confirmed they’ve been putting the work into an ambitious effort that presents “a clear step forward and upward” for Gojira. When it touches down remains a mystery, but it’s fair to say that Gojira’s next LP is monstrously anticipated by Revolver readers and the metal community at large.