New Glam Metal Bands: The 2026 Scouting Report
By the Daemon Grey editorial team
Quick Answer: The strongest new glam metal bands are Sweden's Crashdiet and Crazy Lixx and Norway's The Cruel Intentions, backed by Kissin' Dynamite in Germany, South of Salem in the UK, and Kickin Valentina in the US. Every act on this page released or announced a new record between 2024 and 2026.
Verified as of 30 July 2026. We re-check this report quarterly, and every refresh changes real entries: new records in, inactive bands out, never just a fresh date on old copy.
Most pages about new glam metal bands were written years ago and read like it. The revival has a fast release cycle: Crashdiet put out a new album with a new singer in May 2026, The Cruel Intentions dropped their third record three weeks later, and Kickin Valentina have one landing in August 2026. A list that misses those is not a list, it is a museum plaque. This is a scouting report instead: who is active right now, what each band keeps from the 80s template, what they change, and which record to start with.
Disclosure up front: this site belongs to the team behind Daemon Grey, a Canadian metal artist on a Berlin label. He is not a glam metal act and does not appear in this report; the parent hair metal bands guide explains why his corner of metal keeps ending up next door to this one.
The Scandinavian Sleaze Wave
The revival's centre of gravity has been Scandinavia for two decades, and in 2026 it still is.
Crashdiet (Stockholm, Sweden) remain the flagship. From the 80s template they keep the full package: the teased image, the gutter-glam riffs, the street-level Sunset Strip attitude relocated to the Stockholm underground. What is new in 2026 is the voice: their seventh album, Art of Chaos, released 8 May 2026 on Ninetone Records, introduces vocalist John Elliot, recruited from fellow Swedish sleaze act Confess, over ten tracks that pair that underground grime with stadium-sized hooks. A band surviving multiple singer changes across two decades and still shipping albums is the clearest sign this wave is a working scene, not a costume party. Start with Art of Chaos.
Crazy Lixx (Sweden) work the polished end of the same street. From the 80s they carry the Def Leppard school: layered choruses, big melodic hooks, party lyrics played straight. What is new is the craft consistency; founder and frontman Danny Rexon has steered the band to an eighth album, Thrill of the Bite, released 14 February 2025 on Frontiers Music, and Metal Express Radio's review filed it as the band doing exactly what they built their name on: anthems, riffs, and sing-along energy with modern production under it. Start with Thrill of the Bite.
The Cruel Intentions (Oslo, Norway) are the wave's punk-leaning wing. Fronted by Lizzy DeVine, previously of Swedish sleaze exports Vains of Jenna, they keep the 80s' short, nasty, hook-first songcraft and swap the hairspray gloss for garage energy. Their third album, All Hail Hypocrisy, arrived 29 May 2026 via Indie Recordings, trailed by the singles “Beating In My Chest” and “Reckoning”. Start with All Hail Hypocrisy.
The German Arena Wing
Kissin' Dynamite (Germany) prove the revival can chart. From the 80s template they take the arena-rock scale: gang choruses, glitter-and-leather staging, songs engineered for the back row. What is new is the production discipline; singer Hannes Braun produces the records himself, and it works commercially in a way most of this scene only dreams about, with 2022's Not The End Of The Road reaching number two on the official German album chart. The current record is their eighth, Back With A Bang!, released 5 July 2024 on Napalm Records. Start there.
The British Horror Party
South of Salem (UK) are the revival's gothic cousin, and the closest thing this page has to a crossover with the darker end of metal. From the 80s they keep the anthemic choruses and the theatrical staging; what is new is the source of the theatre, horror imagery in the W.A.S.P. lineage rather than Sunset Strip glamour, a combination Louder highlighted when it profiled the band's mix of “spooky vibes” and anthemic writing. Their second album, Death of the Party, released 20 January 2024 on their own Spider Party Records and produced by Romesh Dodangoda, is the starting record. Readers who like this entry more than the others should walk over to the 90s hair metal bands report, which covers the decade that first pushed glam toward darker territory.
The American Underground
Kickin Valentina (Atlanta, USA) are the scene's US work-ethic case. From the 80s they keep the sleaze: loud, unapologetic bar-band rock and roll in the early Motley Crue mould. What is new is the DIY infrastructure, a self-managed band grinding out European festival runs and UK tours from the American underground. Their new album, Anthems For The Underground, lands in August 2026, produced by Pete Newdeck and mastered by Harry Hess in Toronto, with lead single “Rock'N'Roll Casualty” already streaming. Start with the new single, then the album when it drops.
Starbenders (Atlanta, USA) stretch the definition, and earn the slot anyway. From the 80s glam playbook they keep the androgyny, the theatre and the hooks; what is new is everything else, with fourth album The Beast Goes On, released February 2026, folding synth-rock and moody alt-pop into the glam-punk swagger. Louder files them under new wave glam rock rather than glam metal, which is fair; scouts should watch them anyway, because they are where the aesthetic is mutating. Start with The Beast Goes On.
Steel Panther (Los Angeles, USA) are the veterans of the modern era and the joke that outlived the punchline. From the 80s they keep literally everything, played for comedy but executed with genuine chops. What is new is longevity: the parody act has now outlasted many of the bands it parodies, with On the Prowl (2023) the latest album and a European run booked for summer 2026. Start with On the Prowl if you are current-era only.
Status Board: July 2026
| Band | Home base | Newest record | Status as of July 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crashdiet | Stockholm, Sweden | Art of Chaos (May 2026) | Active, new vocalist John Elliot |
| The Cruel Intentions | Oslo, Norway | All Hail Hypocrisy (May 2026) | Active |
| Crazy Lixx | Sweden | Thrill of the Bite (Feb 2025) | Active |
| Kissin' Dynamite | Germany | Back With A Bang! (Jul 2024) | Active |
| South of Salem | UK | Death of the Party (Jan 2024) | Active, touring into 2027 |
| Kickin Valentina | Atlanta, USA | Anthems For The Underground (Aug 2026) | Album imminent |
| Starbenders | Atlanta, USA | The Beast Goes On (Feb 2026) | Active, glam-adjacent |
| Steel Panther | Los Angeles, USA | On the Prowl (2023) | Active, touring Europe 2026 |
One notable absence: Finland's Reckless Love, a fixture of older revival lists, announced a break in January 2024 after their drummer's exit and frontman Olli Herman's move to the Finnish band Popeda. If they return with new material, they go back on the board at the next quarterly check. For the bands that built the original template these acts are drawing from, the parent hair metal hub covers the 80s generation in full.
Want something darker between glam records? Daemon Grey’s catalogue lives here: stream it, buy on Bandcamp, or see the official music videos. His next single, “One True King”, arrives 6 August, and the email list hears it first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is glam metal coming back?
As a working scene, it never fully left. The revival has run for two decades with Scandinavia at its core, and the 2024 to 2026 release cycle alone includes new albums from Crashdiet, Crazy Lixx, The Cruel Intentions, Kissin' Dynamite, South of Salem and Kickin Valentina. It is a steady underground economy rather than a mainstream wave.
Which country leads the glam metal revival?
Sweden. Stockholm's Crashdiet have anchored the modern sleaze scene since the early 2000s and released their seventh album in May 2026, while Crazy Lixx released their eighth in 2025. Norway's The Cruel Intentions and Finland's scene make it a broadly Scandinavian movement, with Germany, the UK and the US contributing single strong acts.
What is sleaze metal?
Sleaze metal is the grittier, street-level end of the glam template: shorter songs, punkier riffs, and bar-fight attitude closer to early Motley Crue and Faster Pussycat than to Def Leppard's studio polish. The modern Scandinavian wave, led by Crashdiet and The Cruel Intentions, deliberately revives that end rather than the polished arena side.
What new glam metal albums came out in 2026?
The big three so far: Crashdiet's Art of Chaos (8 May 2026, Ninetone Records), The Cruel Intentions' All Hail Hypocrisy (29 May 2026, Indie Recordings), and Starbenders' glam-adjacent The Beast Goes On (February 2026). Kickin Valentina's Anthems For The Underground follows in August 2026.
Sources
- “Crashdïet – Art Of Chaos”, album review, Rock Report (2026).
- “Crazy Lixx – Thrill of the Bite”, album review, Metal Express Radio (17 February 2025).
- “The Cruel Intentions have announced the release date for their third album ‘All Hail Hypocrisy’”, Metal Sludge (2026).
- “Kickin Valentina return with new album ‘Anthems For The Underground’”, KNAC.com (2026).
- “South Of Salem count Avenged and W.A.S.P. as influences and are major horror nerds”, Louder.
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