Rock + Metal Bands That Released Albums 40 Years Apart

Here are examples of rock and metal bands that released albums 40 years apart from each other.

Think about what that means for a moment — the band had to have been actively making new music four decades after the initial release. There are a lot of rock and metal bands that are still touring after 40 and even 50 years but most of them aren’t still putting out full studio albums after that amount of time.

A handful of artists have been making albums for over four decades, though. Black Sabbath formed in the late ’60s, released their last album in 2013 and continued touring for several years after. AC/DC have put out over 15 studio albums since their formation in the early ’70s. Judas Priest have the unique distinction of having two records that are exactly 50 years apart: Rocka Rolla (1974) and Invincible Shield (2024).

READ MORE: The 25 Longest-Running Bands in Rock + Metal History

And not to remind you how old you are or anything but the year 1980 was 46 years ago, which means bands that released albums in the early ’80s and again in the 2020s fit the bill for this one as well. There are a few artists who made it for ’70s releases, a few for ’80s releases and one or two managed to hit both parameters.

We’re not being overly stingy about the dates either. If the first of the two albums came out in August of 1980 and the second in March of 2020, we counted it. We didn’t exclude entries because the timeline was precisely 39 years and six months apart — from 1980 to 2020 is 40 years.

Keep scrolling to see albums released by the same band 40 years apart in the gallery below.

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See our picks for the best hard rock album of each year since 1970 below.