Another stack of new music has landed from the Napalm Records camp, and this one covers a ridiculous amount of ground.
DELAIN are tearing up the rulebook and entering a new collaborative era with a cast that includes some enormous names from across symphonic and progressive metal. DOMINUM have resurrected one of the most famous zombie songs ever written. IGNEA continue exploring architecture, nostalgia and memory with a seriously heavy guest collaboration. EVIL INVADERS are sharpening the blades for a new album in 2027, while VINDICTA have officially joined the Napalm family with their second ever single.
Five bands. Five very different directions.
Let’s get into it.
DELAIN Enter A New Chapter With “We Are Fire”
DELAIN have announced a major creative transformation, opening the project to a wider collaborative cast of musicians and vocalists rather than seeking one direct replacement for departing vocalist Diana Leah.
The first taste of this new chapter arrives with “We Are Fire”, featuring Fabienne Erni of Eluveitie, Noa Gruman and Paolo Ribaldini.
For DELAIN, this marks a significant shift in how the band intends to operate going forward.
At the centre remains founder, songwriter and keyboardist Martijn Westerholt, joined by Ludovico Cioffi, Ronald Landa and Sander Zoer. Around that core, DELAIN are opening the doors to a rotating cast of voices and musicians who can bring their own personality into individual songs and live performances.
And that list is seriously impressive.
Marko Hietala, Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation, Anneke van Giersbergen, Fabienne Erni of Eluveitie, Patty Gurdy, Noa Gruman, Paolo Ribaldini, Johanna Kurkela of Auri and Eye Of Melian, and Ruud Jolie of Within Temptation are all part of the new creative setup.
Marko Hietala, Fabienne Erni, Patty Gurdy, Noa Gruman and Paolo Ribaldini are also set to join DELAIN live during their February 2027 tour.
Rather than trying to force the band into one new fixed configuration, DELAIN appear to be embracing something much more fluid.
Westerholt explains:
“‘We Are Fire’ is about the inner fire that keeps us moving forward, even when the path ahead is uncertain. It’s about daring to cross boundaries, and refusing to give up on what we believe in.”
That sentiment fits this moment for DELAIN perfectly.
A lineup change can easily become a point where a band tries desperately to recreate what came before. Instead, DELAIN are using it as an opportunity to change the framework entirely.
Different voices. Different personalities. Different combinations.
The common thread is still DELAIN.
At the same time, this chapter brings the departure of Diana Leah, with the band expressing their gratitude for everything they shared during her time with them.
It is a goodbye, but it also feels very clearly like the opening of something else.
And if “We Are Fire” is the first indication of where this collaborative DELAIN might go, there are going to be plenty of interesting possibilities ahead.
DOMINUM Resurrect Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”
If there was ever a band perfectly placed to turn Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” into a metal song, surely the undead crew in DOMINUM had to be somewhere near the top of the list.
The modern metal outfit have released their own take on the 1980s classic, dragging its unmistakable horror atmosphere into the theatrical world of Dr. Dead and his zombie horde.
The track comes from the band’s current album Night Is Calling, released July 3 via Napalm Records.
And, naturally, Dr. Dead has a few thoughts about the historical importance of Michael Jackson to zombie representation.
“Before Michael Jackson came along, zombies had a serious image problem. They were extras in cheap B-movies, hanging around on terrible diets and taking a shotgun blast to the face by minute twenty.”
Fair point.
According to Dr. Dead, Michael Jackson ultimately did “more for the undead than any politician ever has,” so a simple thank-you card was never going to cut it.
The result is DOMINUM doing what DOMINUM do best.
Huge choruses, horror aesthetics, theatrical metal and enough tongue planted firmly in cheek to make the whole thing work without turning it into a novelty for novelty’s sake.
There is also something genuinely fitting about “Thriller” sitting inside the wider world of Night Is Calling.
DOMINUM have built their identity around this undead mythology, with Dr. Dead leading Tommy Kemp on guitars, Patient 0 on bass and Victor Hilltop behind the kit.
That concept might be playful, but the band’s rise has been very real.
Night Is Calling landed inside Germany’s Top 10, following previous album The Dead Don’t Die doing the same, while the band have already shared stages with the likes of Bruce Dickinson, Avantasia, Battle Beast and Peyton Parrish.
The new album was produced by Felix Heldt and mixed by Jacob Hansen, pushing the DOMINUM sound further with heavier riffs, bigger choruses and more cinematic drama.
Tracks including “The Circus Is In Town”, “Doctor Doctor”, “Dark Melodies” and the Battle Beast-assisted title track all expand the world around the Living Dead Squad.
Get Night Is Calling:
http://lnk.to/DOMINUM-NightisCalling/napalmrecords
Their headline tour also gets underway in late November alongside The Night Flight Orchestra and Edge Of Paradise.
And apparently, anyone moving forward during “Thriller” has already been cleared as dinner.
Consider yourselves warned.
IGNEA Manufacture Harmony With Britta Görtz
Ukraine’s IGNEA have been one of the most fascinating bands to follow through the lead-up to Monumental, and the album has now officially arrived via Napalm Records.
Before its October 23 release, the band offered one final brutal glimpse with “Harmony Manufactured”, featuring Britta Görtz of HIRAES.
Get Monumental:
http://lnk.to/Ignea-Monumental/napalmrecords
Fast, heavy and mechanically precise, “Harmony Manufactured” takes another architectural idea and turns it into sound.
This time the inspiration is Bauhaus.
Helle Bohdanova describes the track as a tribute to industrial design, the Bauhaus school and the idea that functionality and beauty do not have to exist separately.
She explains:
“The Bauhaus believed in the unity of art, craft, and technology, and that well-made things shouldn’t be a privilege but part of everyday life.”
That idea feeds directly into the track.
The mechanical intensity reflects the industrial side of manufacturing, while melody brings in the elegance of those everyday objects that can somehow survive generations and eventually become vessels for memory themselves.
In the accompanying video, though, IGNEA flip that concept toward the human body, treating it as perhaps the ultimate piece of design.
Then there is Britta Görtz.
Her extreme vocals alongside Helle create exactly the sort of contrast and collision the song needs, and Helle perhaps puts it best when she describes Britta’s voice as “the technical aesthetics of extreme vocals.”
Britta herself says the collaboration felt natural thanks to the mutual respect between the two vocalists, while praising IGNEA’s very clear artistic vision and their exploration of nostalgia and Bauhaus.
This latest collaboration also feels like another piece clicking into place on Monumental.
The album explores nostalgia through architecture, urban spaces, unrealised futures, industrial design and personal memory, using physical structures almost like emotional containers.
I recently had the chance to sit down with Helle for CRANNK and dive properly into Monumental, including the way nostalgia became central to the record and how IGNEA built this entire world around memory, architecture and the past.
The circumstances behind the record make that world even more striking.
Monumental is IGNEA’s second full-length written during the full-scale war in Ukraine, with much of the recording completed through the winter of 2025 and 2026 amid freezing temperatures and long power outages in Kyiv.
Helle has described nostalgia as something that can comfort us while also distorting the past, pulling us toward moments that can never truly happen again.
Across nine tracks, IGNEA explore everything from Cold War dreams of the future and monumental architecture to urban decay and deeply personal memory.
All lyrics were written by Helle, with music composed by Yevhenii Zhytniuk and additional contributions from Helle. Jacob Hansen handled mixing and mastering.
Musically, the album brings together technical metal, industrial textures, atmospheric spaces, massive choruses and melody.
There is brutality here, but there is beauty too.
Much like the architecture inspiring it.
EVIL INVADERS Weaponize The Chaos
Belgian thrash and heavy metal force EVIL INVADERS have announced their fourth studio album, Weaponized Chaos, arriving February 19, 2027 via Napalm Records.
The first strike comes in the form of “D.S.S. (Death Strikes Suddenly)”, a full-throttle blast of thrash complete with high screams, shredding and a guitar battle between Max Mayhem and Joe Van Audenhove.
Pre-order Weaponized Chaos:
http://lnk.to/EvilInvaders-WeaponizedChaos/napalmrecords
The band describe the track simply:
“A hard hitting thrash anthem that will kick you right in the face.”
Sometimes you really do not need much more explanation than that.
But Weaponized Chaos itself looks set to go considerably wider.
EVIL INVADERS describe it as their most versatile album yet, moving from savage high-speed thrash and crushing grooves into melodic heavy metal, progressive turns and atmospheric passages.
The intention is not to make ten variations of the same song.
As the band explain:
“No two tracks are quite alike, yet they all belong together.”
That sounds like an important distinction for a band whose roots are so deeply tied to classic heavy and thrash metal.
Rather than simply recreating the past, EVIL INVADERS are taking the things that made those styles powerful in the first place and putting them through their own songwriting lens.
Speed.
Aggression.
Hooks.
Dynamics.
Huge riffs.
And enough melody to make the songs stick around after the initial attack has passed.
Produced once again by Francesco Paoli of Fleshgod Apocalypse, Weaponized Chaos is the band’s first full-length since Shattering Reflection in 2022.
The title track leans hard into rapid-fire riffing and technical guitar work, while “Dreamstate” tackles modern overload through hard-hitting drums, dense guitars and shifting vocals.
But some of the most interesting moments may come when the band pull the speed back.
“The Wait” opens a more melodic and emotional space, while “Forever By My Side” is a deeply personal tribute to former guitarist Sam Lemmens, who recently passed away and was part of EVIL INVADERS between 2011 and 2015.
That connection runs all the way through to the closing track, “Lucid Dreaming”, which was written by Sam in 2014.
It gives the record a direct line back into the band’s history, and adds another dimension to an album that otherwise sounds intent on pushing their songwriting outward.
VINDICTA Join Napalm Records And Unleash “IDOL(L)S”
Napalm Records have welcomed another new name into the fold, with modern melodic metal outfit VINDICTA officially signing with the label.
And they have wasted no time introducing themselves.
The corpse-painted nuns have released only their second-ever single, “IDOL(L)S”, continuing the dark theatrical world surrounding vocalist Lilith and her disciples.
VINDICTA comment on the signing:
“We’re genuinely excited to be joining forces with Napalm Records and to have a team that believes in what we’re creating. There’s a lot behind VINDICTA, and we believe this alliance will provide the support to let our inner engine run at full force.”
There definitely appears to be a much bigger narrative being built here.
“IDOL(L)S” is presented as another act in a wider theatrical story that will eventually unfold across the band’s upcoming album.
The track looks at manipulation, distraction and the way audiences can willingly surrender themselves to spectacle, even when the figures controlling that spectacle stand for very little at all.
VINDICTA describe it as a “self-ironic reflection of society”, where meaning becomes secondary as long as somebody keeps the circus moving.
That makes the visual presentation feel much more deliberate than simple shock value.
The corpse-painted nun imagery, dark coven aesthetic and theatrical language are all part of the same emerging world.
With only two singles released so far, there is still plenty we do not know about exactly where VINDICTA intend to take this.
But that mystery is part of the appeal.
The band consists of:
Lilith – Vocals
Rusalka – Guitar
Lamia – Guitar
Medea – Bass
Kali – Drums
Napalm clearly see something worth getting behind early.
Now we get to watch the rest of the story unfold.
Final Word
This latest Napalm Records round up might be one of the more diverse batches we have had in a while.
DELAIN are completely rethinking what the band can be by opening their creative world to a rotating group of collaborators rather than simply replacing one voice with another.
DOMINUM are proving that sometimes the right answer really is turning Michael Jackson into theatrical zombie metal.
IGNEA continue to build one of the most conceptually detailed worlds in modern metal through Monumental, using architecture and design to explore memory, nostalgia and futures that never arrived.
EVIL INVADERS are preparing to unleash Weaponized Chaos, balancing pure thrash aggression with melody, atmosphere and some deeply personal connections to their own history.
And VINDICTA are only two songs into their existence but already building a theatrical universe big enough to catch Napalm Records’ attention.
Five completely different approaches.
One label.
And plenty more noise still to come.
