Staff Album Picks:
June 2026

Gladys Haelters

“Bring Me The Horizon” is a band that made me do a complete 180. Let’s just say that I have had two decennia, to go from “hating” the band to becoming a true fan!

In 2011 they performed as supportact, besides DevilDriver on Machine Heads’ “Eight Plague Tour”, honouring their then new album “Unto the Locust” (honourable mention: Epic album!). This was the first time that I saw Bring Me The Horizon live, and went in with already not the best prejudices, but damn was the performance bad…

By now, years later, it is no longer a secret that the singer was struggling with severe drug- and alcohol addictions and had severe problems with his voice. This, in combination with a weak presence and chaos on the stage, turned this performance into a terrible experience. For me, this performance sealed their fate, I wasn’t a fan.

Small anecdote about this concert; During the last track “Davidian”, brought by “Machine Head”, a shoe was thrown on stage, hitting guitarist Phill Demmel in the head. He stormed off the stage in anger, but return soon after to throw the shoe back at the crowd, give the 1-finger salute and storm off again… Definitely some penalty points for concert etiquette :smile:. By pure chance, I was able to capture the moment this happened! Unfortunately, I will have to do some exploration of my hard drive, to rediscover this piece of history and share it with you!

I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but as time went on, the band found their way into my life again. In the past they had always done really unconventional and experimental things in the metal scene, and did a lot of huge genre switches (see the album “Amo”). The singer (and the band) did the work and turned things around and entered their redemption-arc. Little by little they were able to conquer my heart again. And today I am all-in again!

All they have left to do is convince me with a real-life performance again. But due to circumstances I haven’t been able to attend any of their concerts since then. But when they announced that they would be performing on Graspop, the decision was easily made; even when only few bands were announced, and the final line-up was less than I was hoping for. This year I really had to go!

And that is the reason I am presenting them this month, in the running up to Graspop.

Choosing a single favourite album is impossible, and so I present their last studio album from 2024: “POST HUMAN: NeX GEn”. I am tempted to say that the three months after this release, all my code was written under the musical guidance of this album. The album is chockfull of choruses, collabs and genre mixes, that can be surprisingly refreshing (if you’re in the mood).

Favourites from the album are:

• Kool-Aid: the first track I heard, and got stuck immediately
• Limousine: A collab with Aurora, who makes magical non-metal music.
• A bullet w/ my namE On: A track that was written as a provocative critique on the Israeli-Palestine conflict en worldwide indifference.

The lyrics contain the following:

And if Jesus Christ returns We’ll just kill the fucker twice

The track puts the desperation of a war-victim into words and suggests humanity has become so violent, that if Jesus was to ever return, the powers to be would immediately have him executed again. This verse and the mention of Jesus is not a coincidence, referring to the location the conflict is taking place. And honestly, over two years later, the conflict is still going on. Unfortunately the tracks reflects mostly how I feal about this delicate situation.

Most of their tracks have lyrics that can do with some reading between the lines. Some of them might appear quite superficial at first, but often contain more meaning that one would think. Subjects such as addition, mental health and personal struggles often form the common thread, which is not surprising, considering the lead singer has had to deal with these struggling himself and still has to work on them.

In conclusion: POST HUMAN is a four-part, multi-genre concept with tons of lore. The music, artwork and music videos, are filled with cryptic message and easter eggs that together build a story around EVE and the dying of humanity. Their liveshows are built entirely around this, with a production value that is unmatched. This is the second album in this series. For the other parts we will need to have a bit more patience (hopefully not to long anymore).

Enjoy!

Kenzo Staelens

Apparently my colleagues have the (wrong) impression that almost my entire playlist consists out of female-fronted bands…

While there might be some truth to this impression, especially looking back at my previous album picks, there are also a good chunk of non female-fronted bands that I listen to. In fact there are heaps of good bands, so look forward to that, for the next months.

This month is then the perfect opportunity to give an example of that, and would like to present Wind Rose. Despite “Diggy Diggy Hole” being a legendary pick (nudge nudge Gladys); I will have to pick “Warfront”. With the track “Fellows of the hammer” as my favourite track, and a better example of Dwarven Metal (Dwarves also happen to be one of the best fantasy races too)!

Maarten VanPraet

My pick this month is the double feature (you read that right, double!) “hypnotize/mezmerize” by System Of A Down. These are the last two albums they made, before the band split up. The continue their cheery chaos with toppers such as “radio/video”, “holy mountains” and “vicinity of obscenity”.

If you don’t know the band yet (which would be hard to believe); they always bring a mix of absurd lyrics and social engagement in a very unique wrapping. The only bands that even come remotely close are “scars on broadway” and “Serj Tankian”; 2 solo projects of the 2 frontmen after the split.

There is no better way to introduce the band, than with a direct quite from “vicinity of obscenity”:

banana banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie

Pieter-Jan Cassiman

A band that I discovered not that long ago, with the track “Strange Ways”. From the first listen I was immediately sold and the track has since them been on repeat countless times. Bit by bit, I got to know the rest of the album “Remnants of the Vessel”.

Not longer after, they started releasing new singles and announced a new album. And surprisingly they also announced a European tour! After learning this, I immediately got tickets, which I ended up regretting in the least, it was an amazing performance!

Now, why did I choose “Labirinthine” and their previous album? Faetooth is known for their “fairy-doom” style, but also a bit of doomgaze. Where “Remnants of the Vessel” is more the typical doom; fairly slow yet still having relatively clean vocals. Labirinthine is in stark contrast with this. The whole album has become a good bit heavier, just like the vocals.

All of this creates a very heavy and sultry atmosphere. I find it a very etheric album, and you have to let it wash over you completely (one of the tracks is called “it washes over”). Especially the first time you listen to the album. If you are able, you should definitely listen with good speakers or even headphones!

When you are listening a second time, it might be handy to read the lyrics as you are listening, it can be quite hard to make out the lyrics.

This album is a definite recommendation for fans of Deftones, Messa, Chelsea Wolfe, King Woman ed.

For many “Hole” is the best track of the album, and while an amazing track, for me the best track is “White Noise”. Here the clean and growling vocals are layered on top of each other, by the bassist and guitarist singing together, with the following lyrics:

Can we sit like this forever? Let us sit like this forever.

The way they roll of the “forever”, gives the impression of something filled with envy or disgust, but at the same time something hopeful.