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What kind of perspective are you looking for? Like ones that are mentioned a lot by press and get good reviews? Do they have to be recent? Do you want more mainstream or more generally well liked by people who like metal? Can they be obscure?

Mainstream and new (not necessarily ones I like) :

• Knocked Loose
• Poppy
• Sleep Token
• Lorne Shore

Recent ish and well liked, maybe more underground:

• Archsprire
• Imperial Triumphant
• Ghost

Generally well liked by metalheads, not necessarily new or not new :

• Slayer
• Death
• Cynic
• Beyond Creation
• Napalm Death

Ones I like because they are well made :

• Behold The Arctopus (check out Canada for an entry point, the song Skullgrid is too chaotic for newcomers)
• Igorrr
• Pryapisme
• Slugdge
• Artificial Brain

200 Stab Wounds is the best new band in the death metal scene right now, very closely followed by Frozen Soul, Brat, and Bonginator.

Gojira just played the Olympics and won some awards, so I'd say they're fairly critically acclaimed right now.

Blood Incantation just released a new album that's a mix of death metal and Pink Floyd, and I believe it won't since awards as well.

That's definitely more, but those two I listen to regularly and can think of off the top of my head.

Critically? I've seen some reviews of Dream Theater's most recent album that approach fawning. It deserves it, imo.

I've seen hype for Cryptosis here and there, again quite justified. Same with Vitriol, and their most recent album is still in my heavy rotation playlist.

Eschaton always gets praise.

Oh! Can't forget Obscura.

2025 has been a slap fest of great metal so far, so there's a lot of buzz going on.

Judas Priest's new album is one of their best, depending on exactly which critics you run across.

Tbh though, because of how I run across critics of metal, you might notice a bias towards tech death in that mini list. I don't seek out critiques, but I have a friend that does, and sends me links. Guess what his favorite subgenre is lol.

We're in a great wave of metal now. The established bands over the last few years have been bringing solid albums, and there's a fairly noticeable boom in new fans seeking metal out, which means there's traction for new bands too. Gonna hype Oklahoma Blood in that regard. Crunchy as fuck, just a great trio that released their first album this year.

Which is just me being happy to see it, it isn't on topic with what you asked.

Nickelback Is thirty years old and still rocking hard.