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Words and interview by Aysha Swanson On Sunday, October 11, Sunshine Coast hardcore outfit Human Condition will return to Nambour Bowls Club for the launch of their debut EP S.C.H.C., bringing TwoSeventy, No Harm, Blatant Saint, Asbestos and Doping Control to the stage. Best of all, the whole thing is free and all ages. For […]

Ready .

The post Ready To Strike unleash remixed version of track “Screwdriver” featuring JeongJeong first appeared on Sleaze Roxx.

STARSET formed in Columbus, Ohio, in 2013 under the direction of vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Dustin Bates. From the beginning, the project was designed as more than a conventional rock band, combining cinematic hard rock, electronic textures, orchestral elements, science-fiction storytelling, visual media, and an expanding narrative connected to the Starset Society. That concept helped give the band a distinct identity while songs such as “My Demons” introduced STARSET to a wide international audience. The band’s first full-length album, Transmissions, arrived in 2014 and established the large-scale sound that became central to the STARSET catalog. Vessels followed in 2017 with

The post Complete List Of Starset Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Most in-ear monitors try to seal you off from the world. The Westone AM Pro X10 does something a little rebellious: it deliberately lets some of the room back in. It's a single balanced armature driver; it's aimed at performing musicians, and it uses a passive vent system Westone calls StageSense to keep you from feeling like you're playing inside a bubble.

So does it work, and is it worth your money? Here's the honest breakdown, based on what we found and what the spec sheets actually say.

A Quick History of Westone

Westone has been around since 1959. According to published company history, it was developing balanced armature drivers for custom earpieces in the 1980s and produced what's credited as the first in-ear stage monitor. Universal-fit earphones followed in 2002, and Lucid Audio acquired the company in 2020, which brought a new custom lab. That stage-first DNA is exactly why the AM Pro X series exists.

What Is the Westone AM Pro X10?

The AM Pro X10 is the entry point of Westone's three-model ambient in-ear monitor range (the X20 has two drivers, the X30 has three). It uses one full-range balanced armature driver per ear and a passive filter called StageSense built into the housing. The idea: you hear your monitor mix at full quality while a bit of the stage, the band, and the crowd bleeds through naturally.

Westone's own pitch is that traditional open-vent ambient monitors wreck frequency response, and that its filter avoids that trade-off.

Unboxing

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Build Quality and Design

The shells are clear plastic, so you can see the driver and internal wiring, with a red sound tube leading to a long, narrow nozzle and a black Westone badge on the faceplate. They're tiny and very light. Westone also includes their impact-resistant case that is tough enough to hold up for years.

The included T2 cable is silver-plated copper, fairly thin, with a chin slider and rubberized Y-split. T2 is similar to MMCX but smaller. It's secure for most, though T2 cables are far less common than MMCX or 2-pin. The box also includes five pairs of silicone tips, five pairs of foam tips, a wax tool, and a cleaning cloth.

Westone AM Pro X10 Sound Quality

Overall Sound

Think neutral, detailed, and a touch cool, with a forward midrange. It's surprising how big and coherent a single BA can sound with the X10. Single-driver designs can have that classic "BA timbre," but the X10 mostly avoids it. The big caveat is low-end weight, which is polite rather than punchy.

Bass

Balanced armatures can't move air like dynamic drivers, and the X10 doesn't pretend otherwise. What you get is fast, clean bass with good attack and texture, plus a smooth handoff into the mids with no bleed. The sub-bass is slightly reduced in level and is lean with its sense of depth and weight. Fortunately though, the ambient vent doesn't gut the low end, which is what you'd normally fear from a vented design.

Mids

This is the star. The midrange is slightly forward, detailed, and natural, with vocals rendered well and lots of space around instruments. The tonality is neutral with a hint of coolness. It's a great fit for vocalists, acoustic work, and anyone monitoring their own performance.

Treble

Smooth, extended, and clean, with good air and fast transients. I had no trouble with harshness or sibilance. Westone lists a 16 kHz upper limit, which is lower than the X20 and X30, but this can be hard to hear a difference in live listening.

Timbre, Soundstage, and Imaging

Timbre is natural, and using one driver keeps everything coherent across the range. The Soundstage is spacious with width, height, and depth in rough proportion. Imaging and layering are strong for a single BA. Don't expect open-back headphone scale, but the stage is bigger than the tiny shells suggest.

Does StageSense Actually Work?

This is the feature that defines the X10, so it deserves its own section. Westone's launch materials quote roughly 10 dB of ambient reduction. Importantly, it's passive, meaning it's a tuned, filtered vent rather than a microphone system.

During a full-band performance, the ambience effect isn't super noticeable, but between songs, when nobody is playing, the X10 makes conversations possible without pulling an earpiece out. If you play on loud stages and run your mix hot, expect StageSense to matter less. If your levels are moderate, it's a useful quality-of-life feature.

Comfort, Fit, and Isolation

The low-profile shells and deep-insertion nozzles make for a comfortable, snug fit once seated, and these are all-day wearable. Fit does matter here: find the right tips, and you'll keep your bass; get the wrong ones, and you'll lose low end and possibly your earpieces. The long nozzles do limit 3rd party tip-rolling.

Isolation is intentionally moderate. It's good, but outside sound is still discernible. That's the point of the design. If you want a full seal, look at the non-ambient Pro X10 sibling instead.

Westone AM Pro X10 vs the Competition

vs Westone AM Pro X20

The X20 adds a second driver and extends the range to 18 kHz. The dedicated bass driver adds a balanced, slightly warm presentation and sufficient bass power despite the vent. It also costs noticeably more at around $399. If bass weight matters and budget allows, the X20 is the natural step up.

vs Etymotic ER3SE (around $200)

Another single-BA IEM with a flat, accurate sound and a 20 Hz to 16 kHz range, but the philosophy is opposite: the ER3SE targets 35 to 42 dB of isolation, while the X10 lets the room in. The ER3SE also uses MMCX cables, which gives you more upgrade options. Read our full Etymotic ER3SE review if you're deciding between accuracy-first and awareness-first.

vs Sennheiser IE 200 (roughly $130 to $150)

A dynamic-driver IEM that Sennheiser markets as neutral with impactful bass. It typically gives you more low-end weight than a single BA can and costs less, but it offers no ambient feature and isn't stage-focused. Pick it if you want a bassier all-rounder on a budget.

Who Should Buy the AM Pro X10?

It's best for singers, acoustic players, and musicians who run moderate monitor levels and want some stage awareness. It's a good pick for anyone who values midrange clarity and a natural tone. Skip it if you need heavy bass, a fully sealed experience, or maximum durability in a cable connection.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is StageSense technology?

It's Westone's passive filter system built into AM Pro X housings. It provides linear attenuation of outside sound so you can hear your surroundings while keeping your monitor mix intact.

Are ambient IEMs good for casual listening?

They can be. The X10 allows you to be able to pause music and talk to someone nearby without removing an earpiece. Just know you'll get less isolation than a sealed IEM on a loud commute.

Do you need a headphone amp for the AM Pro X10?

Its specs are easy to drive, but a decent DAC or dongle helps.

Final Verdict

The Westone AM Pro X10 is a thoughtful, well-tuned stage monitor with a genuinely useful idea and a balanced, natural sound. It's not a bass cannon, the ambient effect is subtle, and the prices can vary significantly depending on the retailer, but for vocals, acoustic work, and moderate-volume performers, it's an easy recommendation.

Technical Specifications

• Driver: single full-range balanced armature (per ear)
• Sensitivity: 114 dB @ 1 mW
• Frequency response: 20 Hz to 16 kHz
• Impedance: 19 ohms
• Ambient technology: StageSense passive filter (quoted around 10 dB attenuation; one source says 12 dB)
• Channel matching: +/- 3 dB
• Cable: proprietary detachable T2 cable with 3.5 mm plug
• Tips: 5 pairs silicone (XS to XL), 5 pairs foam (XS to XL)
• Accessories: Mini Monitor Vault case, wax removal tool, cleaning cloth

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After more than four decades of sobriety, Alice Cooper has spoken about how his addiction to drugs almost killed him.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph to mark the release of his new memoir, Devil on My Shoulder, Cooper says his struggles with narcotics came after his well-documented problems with alcohol and only began after he was misleadingly told that he could safely smoke cocaine without becoming dependent.

“This was at the very beginning of crack, and crack is the most addictive drug there is, by far,” says Cooper. “That was really the thing that almost killed me.”

Cooper first entered rehab in 1976 to address his issues with alcohol – a four-week stay that inspired his From The Inside album – but lapsed after a year, before finally conquering his addictions in 1983 after his wife, Sheryl, gave him an ultimatum: clean up and reaffirm his Christian vows, or leave.

“So I did,” says Cooper. “And that put us back together, you know. And it was almost a relief to get back to church.”

Cooper also reveals how modern musicians live very differently from those in the 1970s.

“If you’re in a touring band, nobody gets high, nobody ever drinks, because now it’s a big business and you can’t afford to have a guy that’s doing that,” he says. “In the Seventies, you didn’t hire the guy unless he got high, so everybody was on the same level.”

Alice Cooper begins his Devil On My Shoulder book tour on October 11 in Cardiff, UK, before kicking off the latest leg of his Alice Attic tour at the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL, on October 27. Cooper has also just added some more dates to his upcoming Welcome To My Nightmare Las Vegas residency with magician Criss Angel. Full dates below.

Devil On My Shoulder is published on October 8 via Ebury Spotlight in the UK and Da Capo in the US.

Alice Cooper: Devil On My Shoulder UK book tour 2026

Oct 11: Cardiff New Theatre
Oct 12: Cambridge Corn Exchange
Oct 13: London Palladium
Oct 14: Brighton Dome
Oct 16: Manchester Opera House
Oct 17: Stockton Globe
Oct 19: Glasgow Pavilion Theatre
Oct 20: Wolverhampton Civic Hall

Alice Cooper: Alice’s Attic tour 2026

Oct 27: Clearwater Ruth Eckerd Hall, FL
Oct 30: Richmond Altria Theater, VA
Oct 31: Atlantic City Tropicana Casino & Resort, NJ
Nov 01: Bethlehem Wind Creek Bethlehem, PA
Nov 04: Hershey Theatre, PA
Nov 06: Windsor Caesars Windsor – The Colosseum, ON
Nov 07: Kalamazoo Wings Event Center, MI
Nov 08: Waukegan Genesee Theatre, IL
Nov 10: St. Louis Stifel Theatre, MO
Nov 11: Park City Hartman Arena, KS
Nov 14: Indio Fantasy Springs Casino, CA
Nov 15: Prescott Valley Findlay Toyota Center, AZ
Nov 17: San Diego Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre, CA
Nov 18: San Jose San Jose Civic, CA
Nov 20: Wheatland Hard Rock Live at Hard Rock Hotel + Casino, CA
Nov 21: Reno Grand Theatre at Grand Sierra Resort + Casino, NV

Find Alice Cooper tickets.

Alice Cooper and Criss Angel: Welcome To My Nightmare residency

Nov 27: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Nov 28: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Nov 29: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Dec 03: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Dec 04: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Dec 05: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Dec 06: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV

Find Alice Cooper and Criss Angel tickets.

Photos by Paul Miles Melbourne’s premier symphonic metal powerhouse ANA have returned home from tearing the United States a brand-new one. In what can only be described as a monumental, career-defining milestone, our homegrown champions landed the coveted support slot for the legendary, unmistakable icon of the dark arts himself: Danzig for a run of […]

Wage War emerged from Ocala, Florida, in 2010, beginning under the name Empires before eventually adopting the Wage War name. The band’s current lineup features Briton Bond on lead vocals, Cody Quistad on guitar and clean vocals, Seth Blake on guitar, Chris Gaylord on bass, and Stephen Kluesener on drums. Before their Fearless Records era began, the group released the independent The Fall Of Kings EP in 2011 under the Empires name, offering an early look at the heavy, melodic approach they would continue to develop. After signing with Fearless Records, Wage War introduced themselves to a much wider audience

The post Complete List Of Wage War Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Her secret lies behind his broken eyes.

You carry her all alone inside of you.

And you’re still searching for some validation.

Why only find frustration? Well, I don’t know.

Sometimes the body gets treated like evidence. People inspect it, name it, assign meaning to it, and then act surprised when the person living inside has a different account of who they are. When a person spends enough years absorbing that scrutiny, it can become difficult to tell where somebody else’s judgment ends and their own voice begins. That confusion can be especially brutal for a trans person, because acceptance may require untangling identity from shame that was handed to them before they had the language to reject it.

Novelí’s debut single, Mind or Body, begins from inside that argument. The longtime underground DJ, who describes her hybrid of darkwave, synthpop, old-school EBM, Latin freestyle, and related electronic strains as “Maximal Wave,” builds the track from stern machine rhythms, synthetic bass pressure, and melodies that carry the extravagant romanticism of early electronic pop. You can hear traces of Dead or Alive and Depeche Mode in its architecture, alongside the severe physicality of Anhalt EBM and the strange emotional immediacy of a forgotten 1990s game soundtrack playing through cheap speakers in an empty room.

Then Novelí opens her mouth. Her register brings Andrew Eldritch and Peter Murphy immediately to mind, though the visual contradiction is part of the pleasure. Novelí embraces femme-fatale glamour while singing in a bass voice she once regarded as incompatible with womanhood. Her own explanation says everything: “I used to think my voice was too deep for a woman, but I’ve grown to think there’s something kind of sickening about being a bass singer who looks like a femme fatale,”

Mind or Body gets its emotional voltage through lyrics that move through secrecy, frustration, loneliness, scrutiny, and the weary confusion that comes from being forced to interrogate your own existence over and over. The physical body and social expectation become tangled until even the source of pain becomes hard to locate. Novelí leaves room for uncertainty, but she also introduces a far more dangerous possibility: what if the part of yourself you were taught to hate could become beloved?

“Not everyone can relate to the trans experience, but I think almost everyone can relate to feeling like something about you is socially unacceptable, so you feel like you have to carry it alone,” she says. “And ideally, you eventually figure out how to live with it and even embrace it. It’s about entertaining even the tiniest possibility that you can fall in love with the parts of yourself you’ve been hating for a long time.”

Daniel Foerste’s accompanying video pushes that idea into religious horror. Novelí appears as a sacrificial figure who eventually becomes a living altar, drawing on Bauhaus, Siouxsie Sioux, Sopor Aeternus, Giallo, Butoh, religious imagery, and vaporwave unreality. “Society sees trans bodies as something horrific, and I wanted to capture that. We’re so often scapegoated, but I also wanted to show that there can be something divine in us, something sacred.”

Watch the video for Mind or Body below:

Released on the Autumn Equinox and destined for the forthcoming album Transfigure, “Mind or Body” makes transformation feel messy, theatrical, frightening, sensual, and spiritually charged. Novelí has begun her recording career by turning the courtroom inside her head into a nightclub, then placing the accused behind the microphone.

Novelí says the sales will support her gender-affirming care and sustain her artistic practice. Listen to Mind or Body below and order the single here.

Follow Noveli:

• Bandcamp
• Instagram

The post “You Carry Her All Alone” — Novelí Turns Self-Discovery Into Darkwave Devotion in Video for Trans Anthem “Mind or Body” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

PRESIDENT came out swinging. Showing Teeth made sure the room was ready.

At House of Blues Orlando on September 22, the North American Campaign arrived with a sold-out crowd and a shortened bill. Tickets had disappeared before some fans could grab them. Others missed the announcement altogether. Inside, the people who made it got a night worth putting on repeat.

The original lineup had already changed. Cenobia announced her withdrawal on August 28, saying the divines were not in her favor. That left Showing Teeth opening and PRESIDENT headlining, with set times pushed back and two bands carrying the night.

Showing Teeth had another problem to work through. Sickness.

You could forgive an artist for easing off under those circumstances. This set gave the room very little reason to ease off with her. The delivery hit hard, and what started as my first encounter with a band I had never heard or seen became an immediate reason to pay attention. Sometimes an opener gives you time to settle in. Sometimes you leave looking up everything they have released.

This was the second kind.

A preview of the new song “Hell Raiser” sealed it. Even with illness hanging over the performance, Showing Teeth brought enough bite to make that unreleased track a standout. My first impression? Ten out of ten. I want to hear it again.

Then PRESIDENT took over.

No slow build. No waiting around for the songs the room wanted. The hits came early, and the crowd stayed with them from start to finish. That connection was the engine of the set. Each song kept the momentum moving, with no stretch that felt like everyone was waiting for the next recognizable opening.

From my perspective, that is what you watch for. The moment attention turns into movement. The instant a crowd stops observing a performance and starts answering it.

PRESIDENT kept that exchange going.

With only one opener, the night had a different rhythm from the usual stacked touring bill. It worked. Showing Teeth delivered a discovery worth following, and PRESIDENT gave the room a headline set that landed at exactly the right length.

Enough to feel the full hit. Enough to want another round.

Walking out, my verdict was simple. Run it back.

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Rodrigo Pagavino is a composer and guitarist from Barcelona. Pagavino just released his latest single "Velomorph" on August 25th. The track's name emphasizes themes of movement, velocity, and transformation–hence the wordplay between Velocity and Morph. "Velemorph" is also a single leading up to his debut solo guitar album, scheduled for release in October, 2026.

Rodrigo Pagavino recorded the song using a 14-string guitar by Felix Martin who he is endorsed by. The song blends progressive rock, fusion, and electronic elements while using the unique 14-string guitar to cover a more expansive tonal range than a standard 6-string guitar.

Beyond its musical aspect, “Velomorph” serves as a gateway into Rodrigo Pagavino's conceptual universe: a space where listeners can enter his way of experiencing and understanding music. The name itself comes from a play on concepts connecting ideas such as Love, Form, Velocity, and More, reflecting different aspects of this universe and the identity behind the project.

You can watch the official music video for "Velemorph" below.

From the very start of the track, Rodrigo showcases his exceptional guitar talent as he plays his both sides of his double neck 14-string guitar at the same time, as rapid arpeggios fill the mix. As the song kicks in fully, bass and drum grooves are added to support the clean guitar leads.

Despite "Velemorph" lacking vocals, the interplay between bass, guitar, and drums creates a highly melodic and catchy sound as the guitar continues to evolve with speeding leads, gentle chords, and wildly impressive technique taking the spotlight. At just over 5 minutes, the song starts to get pretty crazy past 3 minutes as Pagavino begins to shred on both necks of the guitar at once as rapid solo guitar playing kicks things up a notch and in the music video, the lights begin to flash suddenly.

I get clear rock, prog, and even some blues/jazz influences in the song and despite the simple overall mix compared to many modern songs with dozens of synth tracks, Rodrigo balances simplicity with the complexity of his guitar work, creating a deeply interesting track.

If you enjoy progressive music, instrumental songs, and guitar-driven tracks, Rodrigo Pagavino will be right up your alley. You can stream "Velemorph" available everywhere now.

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Find Them Here: Spotify | Instagram

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