Author: Editorial Team

Five and a half decades after forming across the pond, Foghat, now composed of Roger Earl (founding drummer), Bryan Bassett (lead/slide guitar), Scott Holt (lead vocals/guitar) and Rodney O’Quinn (bass/vocals), shows no signs of letting up as one of rock’s most reliable road warriors. Between its 2025 Slow Ride 50th Anniversary Tour and the ongoing 2026 Twang & Bang Tour, Foghat has torn through the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe, including a triumphant return to the U.K. after 52 years away, all while delivering the blues-soaked boogie rock that made classics like “Fool For The City,” “Slow Ride” and “I Just Wanna Make Love To You” staples of the genre.

Now, with an eye on 2027, Foghat is bringing the concert experience home with a new triple vinyl release, Live & Loud Across The U.S.A., arriving Oct. 30 through the band’s own Foghat Records, distributed by Select-O-Hits under the Sun Records banner. Pre-orders are open now. The package includes two gold vinyl discs plus a bonus red disc carrying a first-ever vinyl pressing of the cult favorite Earl & The Agitators record, Shaken & Stirred, which guitarist Bryan Bassett produced, mixed and mastered.

The lead single, “My Babe,” hit digital platforms today.

Fans can also snag a numbered, autographed edition of Live & Loud Across The U.S.A. through TalkShop.Live. Last night, Roger Earl, Scott Holt and Jason Peverett (son of the late Lonesome Dave), along with a handful of fans, sat down with host Steve Harkins on TalkShop.Live‘s Rock & Roll Channel to break down the new record and reminisce about the band’s long career.

Live & Loud Across The U.S.A. marks the current Foghat lineup’s first official live release, and it’s built entirely from performances the band captured across the country throughout 2024 and 2025. Most of these recordings have never seen an official release before, offering proof that the chemistry driving the band since 1971 hasn’t dimmed one bit.

The Earl & The Agitators side project has its own origin story worth telling. Roger and Bryan crossed paths with Scott Holt in 2014, fresh off more than a decade playing alongside Buddy Guy. The chemistry was instant, and Scott joined the fold to help write what became 2016’s Under The Influence, eventually cranking out 17 songs together. A year later, Tom Mix, who’d won a Foghat lyric contest while stationed as a pilot in Afghanistan, returned stateside and enrolled at the Dark Horse Institute in Franklin, Tennessee. His graduation project gave the band studio time, with students handling the mixing while Foghat kept the masters.

More songs piled up over the following days. One night, while sharing a bottle of Foghat Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Bryan Bassett floated the name Earl & The Agitators as a joke, and it just stuck. The side project started opening shows for Foghat itself, and by 2018 the music dropped online as Shaken & Stirred, quickly becoming a deep-cut favorite among diehards.

Foghat has kept churning out music that actually charts, too. Its most recent studio album, Sonic Mojo, dropped in November 2023 and spent 34 weeks on the Billboard Top 10 Blues Albums chart, including two at No. 1, the band’s first-ever chart-topping run on any Billboard list. Not even “Slow Ride” managed that. Sonic Mojo is available as a 12-track CD in a six-panel digipak, digitally, and as a limited 180-gram neon purple vinyl pressing with 11 tracks and a gatefold jacket.

Roger Earl penned a personal note included in the Live & Loud Across The U.S.A. packaging: “People often ask me if we’re ever going to slow down. The answer is… not yet!

“The performances on this album were recorded in cities across the United States during the past two years. We didn’t set out to make a live record, we simply wanted to capture Foghat doing what we’ve always loved to do: playing live. Most of these songs have never been released as official live recordings before, and I think they show where the band is today.

“For the second disc, we wanted to include something that many people may not realize is also part of the Foghatstory. Earl & The Agitators isn’t another band, it’s us.

“Whether you know us as Foghat or Earl & The Agitators, it’s always been about playing music we believe in and sharing it with people who love it as much as we do.

“Thank you for coming along with us on this incredible journey. We couldn’t have done it without your support, and we hope these recordings bring you as much enjoyment as we’ve had making them.

“See you down the road…”

Live & Loud Across The U.S.A. recording lineup: 

Roger Earl / Drums 
Scott Holt / Lead Vocals and Guitar 
Bryan Bassett / Slide and Lead Guitar 
Rodney O’Quinn / Bass and Lead and Background Vocals 
Eddie LeFebvre / Percussion and Background Vocals

Shaken & Stirred recording lineup: 

Roger Earl / Drums 
Scott Holt / Lead Vocals and Guitar 
Bryan Bassett / Slide and Lead Guitar 
Rodney O’Quinn / Bass, Lead and Background Vocals 
Craig McGregor / Bass 
Mark Petrocelli / Percussion (live tracks) 
Tony Bullard / Guitar (live tracks)

The post FOGHAT Reveals “Live & Loud Across The U.S.A.” Triple Vinyl Set, Featuring Long-Lost EARL & THE AGITATORS Record appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Chicago punk quartet Rise Against just dropped two new tracks, “Katy Bar The Door” and “Living Undercover”.More than 25 years into the band’s run, both songs carry the same restless energy that’s defined its catalog from the start.

“Katy Bar The Door” borrows its title from an old-fashioned phrase warning that trouble’s on the way and there’s no stopping what comes next.

“I don’t know where I came across this expression, but I immediately was taken with it,” says Rise Against vocalist Tim McIlrath. “While an obscure reference now… I liked the idea of resurrecting it for this song, and that it sort of fits what it feels like to be alive in 2026.”

McIlrath wrote the track in the wake of some of the harshest ICE raids to hit Minneapolis, framing the moment as one chapter in a much longer pattern of unchecked power.

“This is not the first time in history we have reckoned with abuses of power,” McIlrath says. “Bearing witness to the fragility of democracy is a scary thing, and it demands a response.”

“Living Undercover,” meanwhile, digs into the stuff people hide out in the open.

“Sometimes it’s because we’re building something beautiful behind the curtain, other times we’re hiding some kind of darkness,” McIlrath adds. “I like the cloak and dagger feel of the song that ties into its central theme.”

Both tracks came together at The Blasting Room, a studio the band has leaned on for years.

“The studio there is a home away from home, and we know those rooms like the back of our hands,” McIlrath adds. “It’d been a while since we worked at the studio, and it was good to be under their roof again.”

The new music lands right on the heels of Rise Against‘s newly announced headlining fall tour of the U.S., with Alkaline Trio along for support. The run kicks off Sept. 22 in Dallas at South Side Ballroom, with stops planned in New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C., Phoenix, Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and more. Right now, though, the band is overseas, opening for Jimmy Eat World on a U.K. run.

Photo credit: Mynxii White

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Rock/metal icon Marilyn Manson has released his highly anticipated new album, One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2, available now worldwide via Nuclear Blast Records here. To mark the occasion, Manson has also unveiled the official music video directed by Anthony Silva (@poisonpix) for the album’s opening track, “Unalive”, expanding on his signature dark, cinematic vision.

Co-written and co-produced alongside longtime collaborator Tyler Bates, One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 finds Manson pushing even deeper into the stark, cinematic landscape introduced on its predecessor. Balancing crushing industrial intensity with haunting melody and moments of unsettling beauty, the nine-song collection, including “Unalive” and recent singles “Exit Wound” and “Front Toward Enemy”, stands among his most focused and immersive works to date.

Following today’s release, Marilyn Manson returns to the road next week for a major North American tour, bringing One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 to audiences across the U.S. alongside Rob Zombie before continuing with additional headline performances this fall.

Step through the art gallery of One Assassination Under God, a virtual exhibit by Marilyn Manson.

Explore a collection of original visual works alongside the music created to accompany them, with audio commentaries by Marilyn Manson. Navigate the exhibition at your own pace and experience the story behind each piece in a new way.

The post MARILYN MANSON Releases “One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2” & Shares New Music Video For “Unalive” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

One of the most distinctive and revered forces in modern rock music, Sweden’s very own Graveyard are back with a brand new single, “A Means To An End”, the first glimpse at their highly anticipated 7th studio album, Fever, which will be released on October 9th, 2026, worldwide on Nuclear Blast Records.

Arriving three years after the gloomier, introverted Six, Graveyard are literally turning up the heat by delivering a sonic experience that is drenched in fuzz and distortion, sporting massive Sabbath-ian grooves on opener “Back From The Grave”, CCR fuelled grandeur on “Time To Tell” and straight-forward, hard hitting rock on “Room Tempered”, “Tongue Tied” and “Means To An End”. Formed in 2006, the band collectively emphasizes the fierce spirit of the album.

With Fever, the band returns to the forefront of the scene with a noticeably heavier, more direct sound. They’ve entrusted the mixing duties to Pelle Gunnerfeldt, who is widely renowned for capturing the ferocious energy of bands such as The Hives, Refused, and recently Viagra Boys, whereas mastering was handled by Robin Schmidt at 24-96 Mastering. Amidst its sheer drive, Graveyard retained the undeniable, blues-soaked soul that originally defined their breakthrough album, Hisingen Blues, on slower songs like album closer “Dead Note” yet with a good dose of fiery anger.

Fever will be available in the following formats here.

• LP Black (Gatefold)
• LP Oxblood (Gatefold)
• LP Transparent Orange (Gatefold) Ltd. Sweden Exclusive
• LP Coke Bottle Green / Black Marbled (Gatefold) Ltd. EU & US NB Mailorder Exclusive
• LP Transparent Blue, Red, Yellow Twister (Gatefold) Ltd. EU NB Mailorder Exclusive
• Jewelcase CD

After the fairly subtle, mysterious art on Six, Graveyard went for a striking visual approach on Fever, relying on acclaimed Dutch artist Maarten Donders, who cooperated with the band on their Split 7” with Goat, and whose work has been prominently showcased at cult festival Roadburn, featuring designs for more than 50 artists, ranging from Acid King to legendary Frank Zappa.

With two number-one albums in Sweden already to their name, Graveyard will initiate the touring cycle with a co-headline run through Scandinavia with Blues Pills to properly celebrate the release of Fever, followed by Europe/UK wide touring and festivals in 2027.

Brace for impact, Graveyard came back from the grave and they caught a Fever.

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If there was ever any doubt that the American festival circuit has become a battleground for sheer volume, ambition, and absurdly stacked lineups, Louder Than Life 2026 is here to settle the argument.

Returning to the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville from September 17–20, the festival’s 12th edition is shaping up to be its biggest yet: four days, seven stages, and more than 200 bands. The newly announced set times reveal a schedule that isn’t merely packed—it is almost aggressively overstuffed with metal, hard rock, punk, and everything that exists in the gloriously blurry territory between them. And for metalheads, that’s precisely the point.

Thursday alone could qualify as a festival unto itself. Iron Maiden closes the Louder Stage at 8:45 p.m., while Pantera headlines the Life Stage at 7:30. Before either of those titans takes the stage, fans can work their way through Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Anthrax, Sabaton, Machine Head, Suicidal Tendencies, Metal Church, GWAR, and Danzig. That’s a declaration of intent.

The heavier underground and modern-metal contingent gets its own considerable firepower, with Fit For A King, Chelsea Grin, Currents, ERRA, After The Burial, The Acacia Strain, Emmure, Born Of Osiris, Signs Of The Swarm and others spread across the festival’s additional stages.

Then Friday shifts gears without letting up. My Chemical Romance takes the Louder Stage at 9:25 p.m., with Pierce The Veil closing the Life Stage shortly after 8. But the real appeal for anyone who grew up with heavy music running through the veins is what happens throughout the day: A Day To Remember, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Coheed And Cambria, Loathe, The Warning, Cavalera, Soulfly, Mushroomhead, Butcher Babies, Angel Du$t, Twitching Tongues and more.

And Cavalera isn’t simply another name on a festival poster. The band is scheduled to perform Roots in its entirety, marking the first time in nearly a decade that the iconic Sepultura album will receive this treatment.

Saturday may be the day when the festival’s crossover DNA becomes most obvious. Limp Bizkit headlines the Louder Stage, with Papa Roach on the Life Stage, while Sublime, Babymetal, Ice Nine Kills, Tom Morello, Nothing More, P.O.D. and others fill out the upper reaches of the bill.

But once again, the deeper stages are where the adventurous listener can disappear for hours. Kublai Khan TX, Blood For Blood, Boundaries, Spite, Agnostic Front, Madball, H2O, Peeling Flesh and Many Eyes offer a crash course in hardcore and modern heaviness.

Sunday, however, is where Louder Than Life makes its strongest case as a destination for serious metal fans.

TOOL closes the festival at 9:25 p.m., with Gojira preceding them on the Life Stage. Mastodon, The Mars Volta, Black Label Society, Ministry, Dethklok, Animals As Leaders, Between The Buried And Me, Killswitch Engage, Underoath, Thrice, Haste The Day and 200 Stab Wounds are among the many acts scattered throughout the day’s schedule. That lineup alone would make Sunday worth the trip.

But Louder Than Life 2026 is much more than just the headline names. The festival has deliberately built an event around moments that are unlikely to be repeated. Pantera will play its only U.S. show of 2026, while Megadeth is scheduled for one of its final farewell performances. Danny Elfman will make his first show in the eastern half of the United States in nearly a decade, and several reunions (including Metal Church, Circa Survive, Get Scared, Blood For Blood, Primer 55, Sent By Ravens and 40 Below Summer) add another layer of historical significance.

There is also a healthy dose of anniversary worship, because apparently 2026 has decided that our collective youth is now officially old enough to celebrate. Jimmy Eat World will mark 25 years of Bleed American, while Sleeping With Sirens celebrates 15 years of Let’s Cheers To This. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Alien Ant Farm will commemorate 20 and 25 years, respectively, of Don’t You Fake It and ANThology.

For a festival this enormous, the danger is obvious: choice paralysis. That’s the Louder Than Life experience.

Seven stages mean that seeing everything you want is impossible. At any given moment, something else worth watching is happening somewhere else on the grounds. Thursday offers Iron Maiden and Skillet simultaneously. Sunday puts The Prodigy and Gojira in the same time frame. And buried underneath those headliners are dozens of bands that could easily become the surprise discovery of the weekend.

The festival drew more than 240,000 fans in 2025, and organizers say the 2026 edition represents the biggest lineup in the event’s history. The scale is now almost comically large, but the lineup suggests that the organizers understand something important: a festival isn’t memorable simply because it has enormous headliners. It becomes memorable when the space between those headliners is worth exploring. Louder Than Life 2026 appears determined to make every minute between the big names count.

And if you’re a metal fan, you’d better start planning now. The gates open at 10:45 AM each day, which means the serious business begins long before the headliners arrive.

Louder Than Life 2026 isn’t asking whether you can handle four days of heavy music. It’s asking how much of it you can survive without missing something.

All pass types are on sale now, including General Admission, VIP & Angel’s Envy Top Shelf VIP. Visit here to grab yours!

The post Louder Than Life 2026: Set Times Revealed For The Upcoming Four Days Of Metal Mayhem In Louisville appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Music producer, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and YouTube creator Rick Beato has announced The Everything Music Experience, a four-day event set to bring musicians, producers, gear enthusiasts, and fans together in Los Angeles.

Taking place from January 14 to 17, 2027, the event will be hosted at the Loews Hollywood Hotel. The program will center on live performances, conversations, and other music-focused events personally curated by Rick Beato.

From artists and producers to people obsessed with instruments and recording gear, the event is designed to put attendees close to the people driving modern music. Rick Beato describes the gathering as a chance to experience music from inside the room rather than simply from the audience.

The event announcement states: “You won’t find this experience anywhere else. Whether you’re a musician, producer, gearhead, or die-hard fan, this is your chance to be in the room with the artists and innovators shaping the sound of today.”

With the Loews Hollywood Hotel serving as the base for the event, The Everything Music Experience will bring together performances and discussions across four days. More details about the lineup and programming are expected as the January 2027 dates approach.

The registration includes:

• Lunches and dinners, beginning with dinner on the evening of the 14th and concluding with dinner on the evening of the 17th
• Four nights of luxurious accommodations at Loews Hollywood Hotel
• Masterclasses and discussions led by Rick and his hand picked Faculty
• Intimate breakout sessions with an all-star artist faculty including Tim Pierce, Gregg Bissonette, Tal Wilkenfeld, Nathaniel Murphy, Aydin Esen, and more
• Exclusive photo opportunity with Rick Beato and the faculty
• Customized Goodie Bag
• A limited-edition signed poster
• Late-night jam sessions with the Dreamcatcher All-Stars

The post RICK BEATO Announces 2027 “The Everything Music Experience” Featuring JOE SATRIANI, NUNO BETTENCOURT, NATHANIEL MURPHY & More appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Gloryhammer are opening the next stage of their Space Kingdom of Fife saga with “Die With A Sword In My Hand,” the second preview of their upcoming fifth album, Space 1993: Wrath Of Kor-Virliath. Napalm Records will release the album on October 16, 2026.

The new track follows Angus McFife V as he faces another turn in the intergalactic conflict at the heart of the story. What was supposed to be a safe location has been overrun by demons, leaving Angus and his allies facing an uncertain future. Musically, “Die With A Sword In My Hand” keeps the focus on fast-paced power metal, big hooks, and the theatrical approach that has defined Gloryhammer.

The song also arrives with an animated video presented like an episode of a TV series, continuing the band’s ongoing visual storytelling. Its message is straightforward: Angus has a fight ahead of him, and tonight is the night.

The Hootsman about “Die With A Sword In My Hand”: “I don’t always die, but when I do, it’s with a sword in my hand.”

Space 1993: Wrath Of Kor-Virliath follows 2015’s Space 1992: Rise Of The Chaos Wizards and continues the story of the McFife dynasty. Angus McFife V, the Crown Prince of Fife, was last seen in the 2022 single “Fly Away.” The new album sends him across spacetime toward the distant future of 1993, where another chapter of his destiny unfolds.

The record contains 11 tracks and expands Gloryhammer’s musical palette while keeping the songwriting firmly rooted in memorable power metal. Classic power metal, thrash, synth-driven rock, and orchestral arrangements all have a place in the new material. The band produced the album themselves, with Jacob Hansen, known for his work with Volbeat and Amaranthe, handling the mix.

Gloryhammer about the new album: “Mighty warriors, rejoice! The almighty Gloryhammer return triumphantly with a new chapter in the long and tumultuous history of the Intergalactic Empire of Fife. Multidimensional wormholes, abandoned space stations, and EPIC BATTLES await at the final frontier of Space 1993. FOR THE ETERNAL GLORY OF DUNDEE!”

The album opens with “Ultra Portam Astralem,” where dramatic fanfare and heavy drums establish the setting. “Ultimate Sacrifice” then digs into the source of the growing threat, with the Space Kingdom of Fife abandoned and Kor-Virliath looking for another path to power following Zargothrax’s failed ritual.

“On a Quest for Aberdeen,” previously released as a standalone single, returns in a new album context and gives Angus McFife V a more defined place in the wider narrative. The story takes a darker turn with “Die with a Sword in My Hand,” as Aberdeen falls under demonic attack. Its gang-vocal chorus also gives the track obvious potential as a crowd-participation song when Gloryhammer take it to the stage.

“Silver Talon” turns toward the galactic fleet, while “Starfighters of Leuchars” brings Ser Proletius and the Space Knights of Crail into the campaign. The latter track places the characters and their battles inside a broad orchestral arrangement.

“Warriors of Auchtermuchty” explores Zargothrax’s birthplace and gives the album another highly singable chorus. Elsewhere, Angus moves through an abandoned spaceship and finds an unexpected ally, bringing him closer to “Pax Galactica.”

Electronic textures drive “Demonic Devotion,” which follows its protagonist as he confronts the destruction left in his wake. “Hammer of Fate” then builds toward the final stage of the story, leaving the question of what fate actually awaits the heroes hanging in the air.

The closing track, “The Celestial Warhost of the Dundonian Empire Marches to Space Against the Dark Sorcerer: Final Assault on Battlemoon X-22,” runs close to 13 minutes and is divided into four theatrical sections. Voice lines from the saga’s characters further develop the narrative as the final battle for the galaxy gets underway.

Space 1993: Wrath Of Kor-Virliath will be released in several physical and digital configurations, including a limited white-label LP with a 24-page booklet and certificate, a wooden box set containing a Digipak CD, five miniatures, a 7-inch bonus LP and autographed card, plus several gatefold vinyl editions. The album will also be available on black vinyl, Digipak CD, and digitally. It can now be pre-ordered here.

For fans who have followed the Gloryhammer saga from Space 1992 onward, the new record pushes the story into another bizarre corner of the band’s fictional universe. “Die With A Sword In My Hand” offers the first real taste of how that next chapter sounds.

The post GLORYHAMMER Shares Animated Music Video For “Die With A Sword In My Hand” From Upcoming Album “Space 1993: Wrath Of Kor-Virliath” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Night Ranger are giving one of their best-known songs a fresh coat of paint. The band has released a newly remastered version of “When You Close Your Eyes,” taken from Best Of, the career-spanning collection arriving August 28 through Frontiers Music Srl. An official visualizer accompanies the new version.

Due August 28, Best Of brings together newly remixed and remastered recordings from across Night Ranger’s catalog, while also making room for material from the group’s later years. The collection will be available on CD and vinyl, with the double LP offered in black, gold, and orange-splatter editions.

For Night Ranger, the compilation is as much about the band’s ongoing work as it is about revisiting its biggest songs. As Jack Blades puts it: “The new Best Of is a celebration of not only our classic hits but also what we’ve created over the last 20 years. And we’re just gonna keep cranking it cause we’re having too much fun to stop! So enjoy the ride and see ya on the road!”

The tracklist covers the territory that has made Night Ranger a fixture of American melodic hard rock for more than 40 years. “Sister Christian,” “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me,” and “(You Can Still) Rock In America” sit alongside “When You Close Your Eyes” and “Four In The Morning,” bringing together the band’s arena-sized choruses, guitar-driven arrangements, and melodic songwriting.

The newer material makes the collection more than a trip through the early catalog. Songs including “Time Of Our Lives,” “High Road,” “No Time To Lose,” “Somehow Someway,” and “Truth” represent the music Night Ranger has released during the past two decades. Together, they show a band that has continued writing and recording while keeping its core sound intact.

The current lineup features Jack Blades on bass and vocals, Kelly Keagy on drums and vocals, Brad Gillis and Keri Kelli on guitars, and Eric Levy on keyboards. That lineup brings the same emphasis on musicianship, vocal hooks, and twin-guitar firepower that has been central to Night Ranger since the beginning.

Best Of also includes two bonus tracks. One is a new version of “Wasted Time,” recorded live off the floor at Sweetwater Studios and paired with an exclusive music video. The other is a live performance of “Feliz Navidad,” offering a lighter side of the band.

With the collection landing ahead of Night Ranger’s summer 2026 touring plans, Best Of works as both an entry point for listeners discovering the band and a refreshed collection for longtime fans. The remastered classics put the spotlight back on the songs that established Night Ranger, while the later material makes clear that the band’s story extends well beyond its early hits.

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Mastodon has dropped the official video for “In The Ruins,” the latest preview of the Atlanta progressive metal outfit’s long-in-the-works new album, Marrow Deep. The record lands on August 28 through Loma Vista Recordings and stands as the band’s first full-length without founding guitarist and vocalist Brent Hinds, who was let go from the group in March 2025 and died in a motorcycle crash five months after his departure.

Marrow Deep was tracked at Mastodon‘s own West End Sound studio in Atlanta, co-produced by the band alongside Patrik Berger (Lana Del Rey, Charli XCX) and Kurt Ballou (High On Fire, Converge), with mixing handled by Andrew Scheps (Adele, Black Sabbath, Metallica). It’s also the first Mastodon full-length to showcase new guitarist Nick Johnston, with keyboardist João Nogueira contributing significantly throughout.

“In The Ruins” grew out of the wreckage Hurricane Helene left behind in the life of bassist and vocalist Troy Sanders. The storm flooded his family’s home and wiped out their belongings, kicking off nearly two years of displacement that unfolded alongside the band grieving both Hinds and the mother of drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor, Michele Lawrence. What emerged from that stretch became less a lament than a statement of endurance. The accompanying video, created by animation and VFX studio Hey Beautiful Jerk, follows a one-eyed creature named Frank through a series of flooded, crumbling landscapes that mirror the song’s themes.

Mastodon framed the track in a statement: “‘In The Ruins’ is inspired by the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene and the havoc it wreaked upon Troy and his family. The catastrophic storm severely flooded their home and destroyed personal belongings, leading to a nearly two year period of displacement that coincided with the whole band navigating the passings of Brent and Brann‘s mother Michele. Yup, it’s another deep one, but ultimately it’s us channeling the loss into a powerful declaration of resilience and catharsis. We are lucky we have each other, and we are lucky we have you, our fans!

“We collaborated with animation wizards and long-time friends Hey Beautiful Jerk for this visual. We absolutely love it, here is some more about how it came about!”

Hey Beautiful Jerk shared the strange origin story behind Frank: “The initial inspiration for Frank and the concept for ‘In The Ruins’ came to me when I was in the ER for 10 hours with the worst eye infection of my life. The pain was so bad it felt like my eye was revolting and wanted to escape my head. I had just talked to Brann about the meaning of the song and how it was inspired by his and Troy‘s recent losses. The expression ‘picking up the pieces’ came to me and I sketched a very rough version of Frank on my phone, capturing the idea as fast as I could before my eye wanted to escape my face once again.”

Five years removed from the sprawling Hushed And Grim, Marrow Deep captures founding members Dailor, Sandersand Bill Kelliher working their way through years of upheaval and coming out the other side with a sharpened sense of direction. Drawing on the Three Fates of Greek mythology and the threads tying together life, loss and fate, the album turns the band’s recent hardships into some of the most ambitious and emotionally direct music of their career.

Second single “Snakes For Dinner” followed the instant favorite “Your Ghost Again” and marks Josh Homme‘s first appearance on a Mastodon recording since he guested on “Colony Of Birchmen” off 2006’s Blood Mountain. Built on heavy riffing and soaring melody, the track sits at the emotional center of Marrow Deep, wrestling with absence and what comes next.

“Bill, Brann and myself are thrilled that we still have the opportunity to do this, and we’ve got other members who are just over the moon to be in the band with us,” Sanders says. “That’s a magical feeling that makes us keep wanting to go to band practice. It’s reminiscent of the very beginning of our band, where all members are hungry, we’re united, and excited to get to work. And we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to do this record.”

Hinds had held down lead guitar and vocals in Mastodon since 2000, playing alongside Sanders, Dailor and Kelliher. That lineup stayed intact for 25 years and produced eight studio albums, running from 2002’s Remissionthrough 2021’s Hushed And Grim.

Mastodon has landed nine albums on the Billboard 200 and picked up six Grammy nominations along the way, taking home Best Metal Performance in 2018 for “Sultan’s Curse.” Hushed And Grim, the band’s most recent record before Marrow Deep, was a double LP cut at West End Sound.

Mastodon will support Marrow Deep with “The Poisonous Weapons Tour,” a full U.S. run backed by Deafheaven and Alcest. The trek kicks off Sept. 16 in Orlando and wraps Oct. 24 at Sick New World Dallas.

The post MASTODON Drops Music Video For “In The Ruins” From Upcoming Album “Marrow Deep” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi is set to take the stage at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Thursday, Sept. 17, for a rare evening dedicated entirely to his life story. The Birmingham date marks a one-night-only engagement built around Iommi‘s career and his lasting ties to the city that shaped him.

The timing lines up with a busy stretch for the guitarist. Iommi has more than 45 albums under his belt and is gearing up to release a new solo record, From The Dark, this October. That follows an MBE appointment he received back in June, adding to an already stacked list of honors and making this fall a fitting moment to hear the stories straight from the source.

Sports broadcaster and journalist Gary Newbon MBE, a fellow Midlands native, will lead the conversation on stage. Expect the night to move through tour tales, gig stories and a look at how Iommi built music that traveled far beyond Birmingham.

Few guitarists have shaped modern music the way Iommi has. As Black Sabbath‘s founding member and chief songwriter, he’s widely credited with laying the groundwork for heavy metal as a genre.

The recognition has piled up over the decades. Iommi holds multiple Grammy wins, a spot in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, an honorary doctorate from Coventry University, a Lord Mayor’s Award and the Freedom Of The City Of Birmingham. The MBE, awarded this past June, ranks among the highest honors available in British public life.

Iommi‘s signature sound traces back to a workplace accident in his youth that cost him the tips of two fingers. Rather than end his playing career, it pushed him toward a new technique and a heavier, darker tone that would go on to define Black Sabbath‘s music. He formed the band alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, and their run of albums through the 1970s turned them into one of Britain’s most significant musical exports of that decade.

Iommi‘s output hasn’t slowed much across six decades. He collaborated extensively with the late Ronnie James Dio, built out a solo catalog and reunited with Black Sabbath‘s original lineup for 2013’s chart-topping 13. That reunion carried through to “The End,” the band’s 2016-2017 farewell run that drew 1.6 million fans worldwide.

His recent work has stretched well past the standard rock circuit. In 2023, he partnered with the Birmingham Royal Ballet on “Black Sabbath – The Ballet,” a production built from his earliest compositions. Then in 2025, Black Sabbath headlined “Back To The Beginning” in Birmingham, a massive show that revisited the band’s roots and doubled as an emotional send-off for fans, arriving just weeks before Osbourne‘s death.

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