Enshine
Elevation

What are the musical expectations for this 2026? The trend is likely to remain the same as in recent years: many quality albums, few that will truly stand out, and a very small number of masterpieces. It won’t be another 2024: while I have high hopes for the new Charli XCX release, it looks like I’ll have to wait until next year for my beloved Magdalena Bay. In any case, the start of the year is a special moment: many are eager to listen to the albums that kick off the season, but it often happens that you end up with quite a few stinkers. This time, however, I was lucky: delving into the depths of my favorite website, the first album of 2026 turned out to be a little gem.

The Swedish duo Enshine are relatively unknown; they’ve been active since 2009 and hadn’t released anything for eleven years, until today’s arrival of Elevation. This time I’ll keep it brief, because I feel like I’ve recognized some musical coordinates: think of a cross between the melo-death of Insomnium and certain post-metal sections of the titanic Isis (the band, not the other one...). So, it’s an album full of melody, skillfully alternating between more intense moments and others that are more esoteric and almost ethereal; there are even some electronic passages. Sometimes the rhythm section falters and the length is a bit much, but oh well—when you pick at random, you can’t really expect much more.

Will I have forgotten about it tomorrow? Probably, but for now I can say I’ve listened to and, all in all, enjoyed the first album with the 2026 stamp.