- Country: USA
- Style: Thrash / speed metal
- Label: Napalm Records
- Release date: 28 August 2026
Arizona veterans Flotsam and Jetsam have released Rats in the Temple, their first album for new label Napalm Records. The lineup of Eric “A.K.” Knutson, guitarists Michael Gilbert and Steve Conley, bassist Bill Bodily and drummer Ken Mary is unchanged from 2024’s I Am the Weapon. The band produced it together with Mary, Jacob Hansen mixed and mastered it, and the cover art is by Andy Pilkington.
Thirteen songs run just under an hour, built on fast, riff-heavy thrash with A.K.’s soaring melodic vocals on top. The quality is on par with the band’s last two records, with a slightly meaner edge, though the length means a few tracks could have been trimmed.
Best tracks:
Harvesting the Hate
Rats in the Temple
The Edge of Nowhere
Anthem for the Broken
Author’s rating: 7.5/10
