Brooklyn bruisers Sanhedrin have carved a nice niche for themselves on the American metal scene over the ten years, and quite rightly so. Their mix of superior song manipulation and, well, an ear for what makes a simple but great metal tune always hits the spot, and that’s no different on new album Heat Lightning, their latest outing for the venerable Metal Blade imprint. And when this album is good, it’s very, very good indeed…

Indeed, people more knowledgeable than I are saying it’s the band’s best yet, and it’s hard to argue when exposed to classy material like The Fight of Your Life, which mixes superb lyricism, catchy riffs and rock solid rhythms played with an easy class that’s hard to resist. I’ve been wracking my brains for some while, and I still can’t remember an album that’s come out recently that packs such a punch from the get go – First track Blind Wolf is a classic metal album opening track whilst second track Heat Lightning just oozes a classy self assurance that let’s you know this a band absolutely on top of their game.

Erica Stoltz‘s vocals pack a big punch throughout, but this is surely a team effort; Stolz’s bass locks in with drummer Nathan Honor‘s rhythms in watertight fashion to form the perfect bedrock for Jeremy Sosville‘s guitarwork. Sosville is a team player too, never running amok but keeping his solos taut and his riffage tasty – just how we like it!

If I’m not mistaken the epic King of Tides will be at the head of the queue come the year-end plaudit fests, and this album is already a highlight of 2025 for me even though we are not even in March yet! It’s great to see some great American metal already blazing the trails so far this year – and this really is great American metal!



Heat Lightning releases on March 14th.