Let's discuss bands that released an album after an extended period of either inactivity, or no studio output for whatever reason. Was the new album worth the long wait, or was it a disappointment? Let's keep the boundaries of this discussion of bands who released an album after 7 or more years without one. That's when it starts to feel like an unusually long time between albums, at least for me. Here's a couple more recent examples to get things started:

Worth the wait:
Saturnus - The Storm Within (11 Years)

I'm astonished how this band can change lineups and songwriters so frequently over their career and still manage to release music that is so consistent to the band's core sound. They've never released anything but fantastic albums, and that tradition has continued with The Storm Within. Absolutely worth the long wait.

Not worth the wait:
Lumsk - Fremmede toner (16 Years)

After over a decade and a half of being "active", vocalist changes, and an album that started being recorded all the way back in 2009, the band finally finished recording and released something new in 2023. After you get past the first six songs, which are standard Lumsk songs, the trouble starts. The album features 12 songs, but each song is done twice in slightly different versions so you're really only getting 6 new tracks. Some of the alternate versions of songs are sung in German and English instead of the band's standard Norwegian, and there's a guest lead vocalist for the English songs, which only adds to the disappointment and a feeling that it doesn't sound very much like Lumsk at times. The band has mostly dropped their folk metal influences, which is a shame, and now are a slightly electric (but not heavy) Norwegian prog rock band. I think this album, and the odd choices they committed to back in 2009 when recording started, could have been a lot easier to swallow if it had come out several years after their previous album. I'm glad the band is back after such a long absence, and I like the new vocalist, but this wasn't completely worth the wait.

Worth it
Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls (7 years)
I think all of his solo albums are good to some degree. I tend to see Accident of Birth and The Chemical Wedding heralded as his best, and I believe this is worthy of being spoken of in the same breath as them.

Stratovarius - Survive (7 years)
At the time I hadn't realised it had been 7 years since their last album. I think it was the best metal album of 2022, and made it 5 winners out of 5 since Tolkki left the band.

Not worth it
Hypocrisy - Worship (7 years)
The album before this (End of Disclosure) wasn't particularly great, and this was only slightly better. It's shame that they're likely to end with two somewhat weak albums.

Lullacry - Where Angels Fear (7 years)
It was competent and enjoyable enough, but it sounded a little anaemic to me, whereas the previous two - three records sounded full of life. It lacked the infectious energy and catchy hooks of the albums before the extended break. It was like they were operating at 70% of their capabilities.

Morbid Angel - Illud Divinum Insanus (8 years)
We all know what's wrong with this one.

Indeed. It's right there with AOB and TCW in terms of quality.

others:
Anathema - "We're Here..." 7 years
From strength to strength, as this great band went from the wonderous "A Natural Disaster" in '03 to the remarkable "We're Here" seven years later. The shift in sound worked wonderfully -- it's as if this new era was simply the other side (the light) of the same coin (the dark). I've always found their music, from 1996 "Eternity" on, to be uplifting, even in its darkness, but with "We're Here" they upped the ante considerably.

My Dying Bride - "Ghost of Orion"
Due to personal reasons, MDB was "suspended" for a few years and the resultant gulf between "Orion" and "Feel the Misery" was five years. To a fanboy like me, those five years felt like ten. But it was worth the wait. While the band has settled comfortably in their lane, every album has something to offer. "Orion" continued the streak of doomy greatness.

Tyranny of Souls you can tell he was approaching while he was busy with Maiden - it's shorter and not every song rules as much as I'd like... but eh I still dig it, just not as much as the previous two. Really curious what the hell his upcoming album is going to be.

The Psychotic Waltz album from 2020 was more than worth the wait for me. Maybe the one I play the most from them now.

Evile's 2021 album was not worth the wait. I can't remember one single song.

Sieges Even - The Art of Navigating by the Stars (8 years) and they come back with their best line up and singer.

Mekong Delta - Lurking Fear (10 years) and Leo Spiegel from Crows, Scanner and Duke is the vocalist.

Watchtower - Concepts of Math: Book One (21-27 years) the first single from this ep was released in 2010 but the actual ep 2016. I wish these guys would have put out 8-10 albums by now.

Dragonland's newest album was such a drag man. It's been a while since I was disappointed like that. I dunno if it's because of the sci fi changes or just how uninspired it was compared to Under the Grey Banner.

Worth the wait:

Dissection - Reinkaos (11 Years)

I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me, and I completely understand why, but regardless I quite like this album. What helped was I wasn't expecting another Storm of Light's Bane, and melodic death metal was in a really bad place around 2006, and this album felt like a refreshing take on the genre. The songs are melodic and catchy, and I think it's about as good as it can be for an album like this. I do think the earlier albums are better as a whole, but I'm glad we got to hear Dissection go this route for one album before it was all over.

Empyrium - Über den Sternen (7 Years)

Easily one of the band's strongest albums ever in my opinion. I liked this one considerably more than their comeback album "Turn of the Tide", although that one is very good also.


Not worth the wait:

Eucharist - I Am the Void (25 Years)

This one should have been released under a different band name. The list of problems just goes on and on: The band changing to black metal instead of melodic death, Daniel Erlandsson didn't perform on it, most of the songs are too samey, and at over 76 minutes long (!) it becomes a chore to get through. You know something is wrong when an influential band of this caliber comes back after such a long time, and the album is quickly forgotten about.

Fatal Embrace - Manifestum Infernalis (26 Years)

Another 90s band making a comeback, but they really should have released this under a new moniker. This sounds nothing like their debut album from 1997 and it's nowhere near as interesting to me. For those who don't know, these guys put out one album in 1997 of unpredictable and complex melodic death - kind of similar to Dark Tranquillity's "Skydancer" album - then recorded a second album that never got released, and broke up. This new album sees the band courting black metal and trying to sound as dark and evil as possible. It's fine for what it is, and maybe this would hit harder as another band name, but as Fatal Embrace it's just confusing and disappointing.

Worth the wait

Cynic - Traced in Air (15 years)

Took everything that was great about Focus, added with more confident vocals from Masvidal, and less muddy production

Atheist - Jupiter (17 years)

Like Cynic, they picked up right were they left off, only issue with it is that its just a half hour long, and it's now been another 13 years with no new music

Exodus - Tempo of the Damned (12 years)
It's their best album

Hilarious.

Well, it is. He's not wrong.

On topic:
Fates Warning - Darkness in a Different Light (9 years)
I think it's one of their best albums. Songwriting is top notch on this ons.

Nothing mixed by Sneap is a best album outside of his work with Iron Monkey.

Worth it:
Blind Guardian - The God Machine (7 years)
Definitely a step up from their previous album, more concise, more intense and all around more enjoyable.

Blind Illusion - Wrath of the Gods (12 years)
Doesn't hit the heights of their first album but is a decent comeback with some replay value.

Not worth it:
Agent Steel - No Other Godz Before Me (14 years)
John Cyriis should have just wrapped it up at this point.

Savage Grace - Sign of the Cross (37 years)
If this was released under a different band name it wouldn't be such a disappointment. There's very little for fans of the speed/US power metal sound that they excelled at in the 80s.

Black Sabbath - 13 (18 years) worth it in a sense that it's a comeback to their doomy sound with ozzy on vocals, but the album itself is not all that great

Cynic - Traced in air (15) It's just really good

Odz manouk came back just recently with 2 new albums after 13 years and i think they're good

"Tempo of the Damned" may not have been their best album (I don't think it is; it's too inconsistent/full of filler tracks) but it certainly is still a good album and I'd say...still worth the wait.

I didn't expect Hittman to make another album, but they did. 27 years after their last one, and it's great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHBA5y39cIU

Accept's Blood of the Nations was definitely worth the 14 year wait.

I, for one, agree. It's nothing like the first two so I don't compare it to those albums. He was clearly going for something different, a more "traditional/classic heavy metal" approach, if you will, and I think the album succeeds at what it set out to do. I always liked it.

I guess I'll throw Satanic Warmaster's "Aamongandr" here, given the 8-year gap between that and Fimbulwinter. Fimbulwinter was okay, but never really impressed me as much as some of his other stuff. I have a feeling Aamongandr will hold up as well as the first three albums.


I'll have to kindly disagree on that. While it's nowhere near the levels of the previous two records, as far as melodic black metal goes, I thought it was decent for what it was. In the Blaze of the Blood Red Moon and In the Heart of Infinity in particular are bangers.

It's fine, in small doses at least. But man does it sound sterile. There is no life in the music (cue: anti-cosmic metal of death~!) and the lyrics are to in your face for my taste. They went from a more poetic form to just Liber Azerate-on-the-nose type stuff. I was probably more disappointed since the first two were so good and SotLB being one of my favourite albums ever. Reinkaos wasn't even in the same ballpark.

Worth the wait:

Summoning - Old Mornings Dawn (7 years). Summoning never disappoints; as always, all albums sounds like them while remaining distinct from every other without ever losing their great, memorable tunes.
Virgin Black - Pianissimo (10 years). Worth every single second of waiting, it was the piece that completed their magnum opus.
Rev. Kriss Hades - Wind of Orion (11 years after the first demo). One of the most unique —and greatest— black metal albums ever by legendary SadEx guitarist.
Mysticum - Planet Satan (18/10 years, depending on how you wanna look at it). It’s fucking Mysticum doing what Mysticum does, of course it’s fucking great.
Demilich - 20th Adversary of Emptiness (21 years). More of a re-release, but it included three “new” tracks, and they’re amazing.

Agreed with the Exodus and Psychotic Waltz mentions.

I'll also toss Pharaoh's The Powers That Be to the "worth the wait" category - 9 years after the masterful Bury the Light, and it's almost as good.

Shaarimoth - Temple of the Adversarial Fire (2017)
Released 12 years after their magnum opus 'Current 11' (2005).
Well worth the wait, and in some aspects even better than that magnificent debut

Worth the wait:

Possessed – Revelations of Oblivion (32 years)

The long wait was bearable because you didn't really expect them to return, did you? But then… bang… there it was: Their best album (to my ears).

John Arch: A Twist of Fate (17 years), Sympathetic Resonance (8 years), Winter Ethereal (8 years)

Amazing. He seemed to get even better with age. On every album there were some new and surprising vocal arabesques instead of much repetition.

There were also some minor drawbacks which I'll just hide in the spoiler box as they didn't discount the overall picture:



Not worth the wait:

Sacred Reich – Awakening (23 years)

Total flop. While other old thrashers returned to thrash, Sacred Reich returned to their groove metal and alt. rock-influenced period wrapped up in a tame production.

Worth the wait:

Warlord - The Holy Empire (11 years). Love the epicness of the songs and really dig Rick Anderson's vocals.


Not worth the wait:

Count Raven - The Sixth Storm (12 years). Very "dry" for lack of a better word which makes it sound like no other Count Raven album (in a not good way) and basically every track is overlong with too many repetitions.

Negative Plane - The Pact... (11 years). One of the absolute best black metal albums of our time, worth the wait and then some- just transcendent stuff.

Sadistic Intent - Reawakening Horrid Thoughts (12 years). Super, super badass stuff that doesn't suffer at all for being originally written as Possessed tunes. The Cortez brothers have their shit together.

Satan - Life Sentence (26 years). Holy fuck, what an album! You'd think they were still young men in the 1980s from how much energy and passion for heavy metal this one has. One of the best comebacks ever.

Desultory - Counting Our Scars (14 years). Best death metal comeback ever for my money, and totally makes up for how awful Swallow the Snake (1996) is.

There's plenty more I could write about but I am feeling too lazy. Other favorites just off the top of my head: Blood Farmers (19 years), Hell (25 years, or 27 years if you don't count the first album since it's all re-recordings), Autopsy (15 years), Nekromantheon (9 years)

One that was not worth the wait was the latest Satan's Host, and may have actually worked against them. It's like a student rushing their assignment at the last second. Songs had awkward pacing with riffs and structs coming out of nowhere not in a cool fiery way but more where they just didn't really know where to place them. Old mate Harry still had it and it shows in the new Jag Panzer too, but the rest didn't as the songs felt half-done at best. Them and Ironflame shared disappointment of 2022 for me.

I love to see this album mentioned, just like you I consider it one of the best black metal albums I've ever heard, unique and well crafted to the core. If he ever delights us again with an album (I doubt he will) it will be worth the wait as well.


I wouldn't call it the best they've done, but I certainly think that many, like me, thought it was going to be a disaster since it didn't seem that Possessed could contribute anything 32 years later, and although it's true that it's not comparable to Seven Churches, what I value most about Revelations of Oblivion is that you can tell that the musicians put their sweat, blood and soul to offer something incredibly worthy of carrying the name of Possessed, they studied their sound and gave the best possible result, very meritorious.

Two great call-outs.

Absolutely agree. I had actually started to wonder if that album was ever going to come out, but thank goodness the band finally figured out how to make it happen. I still say they should have just released the complete trilogy in one shot in 2007 - but I guess The End Records and/or the band wanted to milk every dollar they could to recoup those expensive recording sessions.

Agreed, it's not an album I spin all that often, but, it still kicks ass. Very straight forward "summoning dark gods of the universe" kind of material, and it has a very triumphant sound/feeling throughout that I'm sometimes in the mood for. Kind of like Behemoth's 'The Satanist' or certain Iron Maiden songs...

Another one - Seasons of the Wolf - Last Act of Defiance (11 years wait). What a brilliant piece of work. Concise, catchy, heavy and atmospheric. Pretty much everything good about trad metal.

19 years between 'Slaughter of the Soul' to 'At War with Reality' and, while it can't match the erratic beauty of their glory days, I consider AWWR a solid, worthwhile record. Worth the wait.

Sleep - The Sciences (15 years). I really lived this one too and I think it may be Sleeps best album.

Khanate - To Be Cruel (14 years). Up there with their best stuff.

Odz Manouk - Bosoragazan/Tzurr (13 years). Everything I was hoping for, he surpassed the first album by far.

Altar of Perversion - Intra Naos (12 years). This one was so much better than all their previous stuff it may as well be a different band.

Gorguts - Colored Sands (12 years). Their best album if you ask me.

Altars - Ascetic Reflection (9 years). This one is also their best stuff so far.

Antediluvian - The Divine Punishment (8 years). Their craziest album.

Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence (8 years). Another great album, they never disappoint.

Paysage d'hiver - Im Wald (7 years). It wasn't as good as Das Tor but still a worthy album.

Cobalt - SLow Forever (7 years). Another band releasing their best after a few more years that most bands.

Satan, Blind Fury and Pariah are the same group. For some reason they changed names with a few of the singers. Even still, it was 16 years between Unity and Life Sentence.

For 2004, it's a solid thrash album, but listening to that album now there are way too many groove-oriented tracks. Everything from track 3-8 is groove. It's a decent album, but nowhere near their best imo.

Worth the wait.

Cirith Ungol, "Forever Black" - It was 29 years since 'Paradise Lost', but this album sounds like they didn't miss a day and amped the quality up even further. I'd go so far as to say it's the best album of their career so far. I just hope we get at least one more full album out of them before time takes it's toll.

Morgoth, "Ungod" - I actual quite like "Feel Sorry For The Fanatic", but it took them 19 years to put out another album. While I'm thankful the album was a solid enjoyable release it looks like that may be the last one we get from them.

Not Worth the wait.

Metallica, "St Anger" - At a 'mere' 6 years this one could have taken 60 years and the extra time still wouldn't be enough to save this pile of feces. I'm still waiting (26+ years) for them to put out something that can at least meet the low bar their last semi-decent album was at. And that is a very low bar indeed given how few 'good' tracks I can listen to on that album. aka. "Reload", every thing after that has been bland filler that is utterly forgettable so far.

The Duke era usually gets a lot of shit but Shovel Headed Kill Machine was far better in my opinion.

Hum took 22 years to release their newest album, and it's probably the best album of the century so far.

Black Sheep Wall's new album is their best, and was released 6 years after the one before.

I firmly believe that illud was the morbid angel album we would have gotten after domination and I love it. For what it is, a great morbid angel album. Album of the year? Not quite but it has the essence of morbid that is laking in later releases. Tucker era is nice but it’s not 100 percent morbid angel. A can’t wait to revisit this topic when Snorre finally stops jerking around and releases Thorns 2. If it ever happens.

I'll still say that if the mix of death metal and industrial elements were better refined, this could've been a great album. This still has its moments but it's too lopsided track to track.


Yeah I like this one, too. I wonder if they'll make any more.


Can't argue with that. This album was such a pleasant surprise for me. Not a weak song anywhere.