I listen to a lot of music. No, really. If I’m not catching up on what my fellow writers are putting down or doing homework for the Crushed Monocle Podcast (remember that?) I’ve always got my ear to the ground. There’s so much music out there that it’s hard to keep a cohesive list. While the podcast is a great way to discuss a few records each month, I feel I’m undercutting some of the other records that got repeated spins. What’s the remedy? This column! This is The Showcase March 2026.
Poison The Well – Peace In Place
Seventeen years is a hell of a long time for a hiatus. But Poison The Well returns not as a tired legacy act, but as a revitalized force that makes the current crop of “polished” metalcore sound like child’s play. This jagged, 36-minute gut-punch perfectly balances the mathy, dissonant aggression of their early years with the cinematic, post-hardcore atmosphere that set the group apart from their lesser peers. It’s a masterclass in tension and release, trading bone-breaking riffs for haunting, melodic textures. The album feels less like a “comeback” and more like an essential, rugged reminder that some bridges are worth rebuilding, even if you have to burn them down first.
Plantoid – FLARE
This album was recommended by our favorite Crushed Monocle co-host (and site owner) Jon! On the surface, FLARE is a pretty chill record. The vintage dream-pop with ethereal, otherworldly vocals floats above a chaotic landscape of scything guitars and lightning-fast percussion. Despite the appearance of being pretty laid-back, the bold, uncompromising music is both intellectually challenging and strangely captivating.
Deathcrash – Somersaults
Living is exhausting, isn’t it? That sentiment seems to be the unofficial theme of Somersaults, the latest record from Deathcrash. It’s a devastatingly personal album that captures the sharp ache of growing up and watching your childhood safety nets fray into nothingness. But while the music is genuinely heartbreaking, it’s not an exercise in misery for misery’s sake. I hear profound catharsis in the way the quiet arrangements eventually give way to these crashing swells of sound, like coming up for air after nearly drowning. Man, what a record.
Harrowed – The Eternal Hunger
With their debut album, The Eternal Hunger, the Swedish duo of Tobias Alpadie and Adam Lindmark exhume the rotting corpse of old-school death metal and give it a fresh, punk-flavored pulse. This is a remorseless, grit-under-the-fingernails affair where the vibe actually has teeth. It’s the kind of record that makes you want to wreck your living room while appreciating the sheer, unpolished honesty of it all. If you’ve got a soft spot for riffs that sound like they were dragged through a gutter, this is a promising, crusty-as-hell start that must be played loud.
Ashley Naylor – Racing Time
Mostly known from the Melbourne band Even as well as a guitarist in the current iteration of The Church, Ashley Naylor has left multiple prints on the Australian psych-rock scene. But with a catalog as lush as Naylor’s, where do you even start? While being the third single from his 2025 record, Alexandria Sunset, “Racing Time” might be the perfect example of what Naylor does best. Somewhere between the sugary power pop of Teenage Fanclub and the iridescent flair of Primal Scream, this particular track (and its psychedelic reprise on side B) makes it nearly impossible to sit down while listening.
Against I – Anti-Life
Delivering their fourth full-length album in just two years, Against I has released a massive, immersive experience that trades traditional lo-fi murk for a crisp, clinical production. The vocal performance is a versatile centerpiece, shifting from “black-clawed” shrieks to theatrical spoken-word passages that create a grand, Cradle of Filth-esque atmosphere on standout tracks like “Temple of Greed.” For fans who crave a relentless, cohesive wall of sound and brutal riffs, Anti-Life offers nearly an hour of uncompromising intensity and pure dedication to a dark, aggressive vision.
Cootie Catcher – Something We All Got
No matter how callous our exterior gets or how jaded our attitudes get, deep down, we’re all a little awkward and weird. It’s especially true when we let our guards down and stop lying to ourselves. That’s my biggest takeaway from Something We All Got. Maybe it’s somewhat corny, oddly twee, and maybe even a little cringe, but the music of Cootie Catcher is so endearing. The whole band has fully embraced who they are. They want to make silly little indie songs about crushes and being the furthest thing from the main character. It’s kinda liberating, if I’m being honest.
Necrosexual – Road To Rubble
I love metal with all my heart. You know this. But I have no problem admitting that sometimes the genre can be a little silly. Necrosexual is a band that understands this and leans super hard into the absurdity. This makes their music whole lot of fun even if it’s at their own expense sometimes. Beneath all the thrash and horror-punk, Road To Rubble is actually a well-written and produced metal record: definitely more Venom than GWAR.
Apathy Angelite – Final Girl Forever
I don’t know a lot about Apathy Angelite. Is it a band? A single person? Part of that mystery makes the project that much more interesting. Channeling the angelic discord of Tori Amos with the vulnerability of Phoebe Bridgers, Final Girl Forever is a collection of mini-triumphs. These songs come from the soul of someone who has clearly gone through some stuff. Theming an entire record about being the final girl in the everyday horror movie we’re living in is a bold statement. But even without knowing the artist’s personal backstory, it works perfectly. We’ve all faced a monster in life, but how many of us can say we made the final blow to defeat it and walked triumphantly into the sunset?
Carpenter Brut – LEATHER TEMPLE
Much like an industrial synthwave fever dream, LEATHER TEMPLE feels like the soundtrack to a DOOM mod or a Matrix sequel directed by Clive Barker. The ultra-beat architecture feels heavy, cinematic, and uncomfortably sleek. It makes the record less of a KMFDM knock-off and more like a visceral correction of where industrial could’ve gone if the ’90s lasted just a little longer. This is the kind of aggressive evolution Trent Reznor thinks his Tron soundtrack was.
Vitamin X – Ride The Apocalypse
Reviews of old-school trash kinda sorta write themselves, yeah? These dudes from the Netherlands aren’t exactly reinventing the wheel here, but that doesn’t make it any less fun! The album cover has a surfing skeleton. Come on, how could you not want to listen to this record?
Jean Ella – A New Day
There’s a rare satisfaction in finding an R&B record that feels both immaculately polished and refreshingly unrefined. On A New Day, Jean Ella strikes that balance by pairing clean, intentional production with a sharp indie edge that keeps her soulful jams from feeling too safe. This organic listen breathes naturally, proving you don’t need to sacrifice grit for clarity.
Exodus – Goliath
For their 12th record, Exodus trades some of their breakneck velocity for a sinister, rhythmic stomp. It’s a darker iteration of the Bay Area sound, prioritizing blunt force over speed. With Rob Dukes back behind the mic, the band taps into a specialized kind of hostility that fits this heavier, groovier sonic landscape perfectly.
The album is a bold reminder that Exodus can still evolve without losing their edge. I could be thinking too much into it, but I feel like, since his stint in Slayer, guitar-god Gary Holt has been a bit more ambitious with his riffs and experimenting with his compositions. While not as urgent as their previous record (2021’s Persona Non-Grata ), Goliath must-listen for anyone who likes their metal to feel like a physical weight.
Further Reading/Listening
Imaad Wasif – Superconsciousness | Worm – Necropalace | Lucid Express – Instant Comfort | Punk Pop: Privilege, Sexism, and Complicity