The Lead Sheet ~ 1/27/2026

The Lead Sheet is your guide to this week’s new music - taking a look at newly released albums, who made them, and how listeners are responding.

Legendary thrash metal band Megadeth released their final album this week. Their decision to end the four-decade project is largely due to the recent medical diagnosis for guitarist and vocalist Dave Mustaine. The condition, called Duypuytren’s contracture, affects the connective tissue of the hands, making guitar playing painful and difficult. For many bands, their careers kick off with a self-titled album, (see Led Zeppelin and Van Halen) but for Megadeth, their catalog ends this way. Their final installment, Megadeth is celebrated as a fitting send off for the group. However, unfortunately the album suffers a noticeable, albeit understandable dip in quality. Listeners note that Mustaine’s vocals feel limited (the singer has also survived a recent bout with throat cancer), and find the guitar sections lacking punch when compared to Megadeth’s face-melting, high-octane hey-days. Critics also point out sub-par lyrics and a stale cover of Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning”. Despite valid criticism, the album’s strengths lie in its standout tracks: “Tipping Point”, which re-captures the band’s 80’s sound with proud nostalgia, and “The Last Note”, which functions as the group’s swan song. 

American performance artist Poppy released her seventh album, Empty Hands this week to positive reception. Often described as “post-genre”, Poppy subverts listener expectations leaning into opposite sounds to create unique motifs and melodies. Empty Hands explores this further, juxtaposing metalcore with theatrical pop, to great effect. The tracklist’s thirteen songs include a few standouts, like “Unravel” and “Time Will Tell”. Poppy describes Empty Hands as an “emotional roller coaster”; the album uses imagery of anatomy to explore the concept of external trauma causing internal stress. Poppy recently began her “Constantly Nowhere Tour”, and is scheduled to join Evanescence later in the year for the European leg of their tour. 

Indie rock duo The Format returns with a new album this week after a twenty-year music hiatus. The new record, titled Boycott Heaven, features Nate Ruess (former vocalist for massively popular indie-pop group Fun.) and Sam Means, who provides the album’s instrumentation. The duo’s last album, Dog Problems, released in 2006 to much enthusiasm, but the two would soon split in 2008 to pursue separate projects; Means going into music production and scoring, and Ruess soon joining Fun. Boycott Heaven is nothing short of a triumphant return, produced by Grammy award winner Brendan O’Brian, producer for behemoth acts like Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen. Musically the album leans into powerhouse guitar riffs, channeling indie acts of the 2000’s, as well as grunge and pop-rock. The album covers heavier topics like religious skepticism, getting older, and depression, but only loses energy on one or two tracks, like “Right Where I Belong” and “Back to Life”. Despite a few nitpicks, critics are calling it a career highlight for both musicians. The Format will kick off their first tour since 2008, the “Boycott Heaven Tour” starts in March of this year throughout the United States, and with one stop in Toronto, Canada.

Jazz savant and two time Grammy-nominated producer DJ Harrison, a.k.a Devonne Harris, released his new album, Electrosoul to fantastic early reviews and ratings. Dubbed a “no-skip” album by listeners, Electrosoul is a journey into jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop. The album contains collaborations with rappers Fly Anakin and Pink Siifu. The eighteen track record is described as warm and fuzzy, and was inspired by a 2024 health scare for Harrison, which as he describes made him want to create with urgency. This urgency is reflected in some of the album’s shorter songs, five of which are less than two minutes long, with the opener “Fresh Squeezed Drums”, at just forty-four seconds. Despite these experimental interludes, Electrosoul finds a firm foothold in Harrison’s discography.

Portland based singer-songwriter Searows released his second full album Death in the Business of Whaling. The title refers to a quote from chapter seven of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, in which the whaler Ishmael contemplates the perilousness of his vocation. In the context of the album, Searows explores the theme of death through nature, kicking off with the atmospheric “Belly of the Whale”. Throughout the album, Searows explores more cinematic sounds, shifting from his self produced 2022 debut album, Guard Dog. Listeners note the use of audio filters to create a muted, almost submerged sound in the rhythm sections, further transporting the listener and leaning into the nautical theme. Critics and listeners rate the album highly, acknowledging the massive growth and development of Searows’ sound since the musician’s most recent LP, and appreciate the thematic elements and meticulously crafted folk ambiance.

Megadeth- Megadeth 

Jan 23, 2026

Tradecraft, Frontiers, BLKIIBLK Records, 

Poppy - Empty Hands

Jan 23, 2026

Sumerian Records

The Format - Boycott Heaven 

Jan 23, 2026

DJ Harrison- Electrosoul

Jan 23, 2026

Stones Throw

Searows - Death in the Business of Whaling

Jan 23, 2026

Last Recordings on Earth