Frontiers Music Srl’s 30th Anniversary celebrations continue with a new milestone moment, as Dave Mustaine of Megadeth congratulates the label following the global success of the band’s latest release, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200.
This achievement is a significant result for Frontiers and its partners, showing the label’s continued growth and global impact.
Mustaine recorded a video message for Frontiers President & CEO Serafino Perugino and the entire team, recognizing the collaboration behind the campaign.
The message follows Frontiers’ recent 30th anniversary celebration in Naples, marking three decades of independent growth, nearly 2,000 releases, and its evolution into a global rock and metal powerhouse.
As part of this milestone moment, Megadeth recently gathered in Nashville for “Thrash The Charts, Megadeth’s #1 Celebration,” an event honouring the album’s chart-topping success.
“The last two private events for Megadeth fans were a reward for all the hard work leading up to this,” Dave Mustaine says. “Thank you to our label Frontiers and BLKIIBLK, our management at CTK Enterprises, BMI, Warner Chappell, The Orchard, and all of our guests and VIP’s. It was a blast!”
“Congratulations to Dave and Megadeth on this historic moment”, says Jeff Stevenson, General Manager, Frontiers Label Group/BLKIIBLK Records. “We, at Frontiers Label Group/BLKIIBLKRecords, couldn’t be prouder to have partnered with the band and CTK Management to help achieve this amazing accomplishment, marking a milestone in the legendary career of one of metal’s most important bands.”
Following the performance, commemorative #1 plaques were presented to the band and key partners, including Frontiers Label Group / BLKIIBLK, alongside The Orchard and other collaborators.
Released in partnership with Frontiers Label Group’s BLKIIBLK label, the album debuted at #1 in 11 countries worldwide and reached Top 5 positions in 11 additional territories, marking one of the most significant achievements in the label’s history.
Thirty years after its founding in Naples, Frontiers continues to expand its international presence while remaining focused on its core mission: supporting artists, developing long-term careers, and delivering global success through strong creative and commercial partnerships.
Swedish metallers Narnia are proud to announce their tenth studio album, X, set for release on May 29th via Sound Pollution, marking the band’s 30th anniversary and nearly three decades of unwavering presence on the international metal scene.
While their previous release Ghost Town (2023) reaffirmed the band’s melodic metal foundation, X expands Narnia‘s sonic landscape. The album moves confidently between soaring, arena-ready choruses and more adventurous, progressive passages, without ever losing the band’s unmistakable identity.
Songs like “Oceanwide,” “Every Breath,” and “Heaven’s Calling” showcase Narnia‘s gift for strong hooks and uplifting melodies. At the other end of the spectrum, the high-energy “Remedy (SOS)” pushes the tempo to new heights, while tracks such as “God Under Fire” and “Jerusalem” explore more intricate arrangements and progressive textures.
Multiple lead vocalists share the spotlight throughout the album. Guitarist CJ Grimmark and bassist Jonatan “Jono” Samuelsson step forward on selected tracks, adding new tonal colors, while Christian Liljegren’s unmistakable voice continues to anchor the sound.
The album also reconnects with the band’s legacy. “The Man from Nazareth Pt. II” serves as a continuation of a fan-favorite from the 2006 album Enter the Gate, while “The War that Tore the Land (Reprise)” offers a reflective callback to 2019’s From Darkness to Light.
Guitarist CJ Grimmark comments: “This album represents both where we come from and where we’re heading. It’s heavier, broader, and more dynamic, but still unmistakably Narnia.”
X stands as both a celebration of Narnia‘s legacy and a bold statement of where the band stands today—musically sharper, more diverse, and more confident than ever.
The first single, “Oceanwide,” will be released on April 4th, 2026.
The album is produced and mixed by CJ Grimmark and mastered by Thomas “Plec” Johansson at Studio Bohus. It will be available on all digital platforms, CD, and vinyl on May 29, 2026 via Sound Pollution Distribution.
American heavy metal icons, Armored Saint, are back with their anticipated new full-length release, Emotion Factory Reset, due out on May 22nd through Metal Blade Records.
Emotion Factory Reset, the lineup’s ninth studio album since 1984’s March Of The Saint, is a resurrection of sorts, a tearing down and a rebuilding in eleven songs of diverse musicality and lyrical themes. Produced, as were the previous four albums, by bassist Joey Vera and mixed by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour) the record finds the quintet challenging themselves. Songs like “Close To The Bone,” “Hit A Moonshot,” and “Every Man-Any Man” have Armored Saint honoring their past as one of the most respected and recognizable bands in heavy music while making forward-thinking music rooted in the present.
“Each Armored Saint record, to me, is like a new skin for the band, a different chapter. I don’t think we’ve ever repeated ourselves,” says Vera. “Every album has been pretty different from the previous one, a snapshot in time. In 2026, Emotion Factory Reset is where our heads are at.”
“When we start coming up with songs, I always say we can do whatever we want,” notes Bush. “Use all our influences through the years, diverse music that we listen to and love, and let that seep in and bring something new out of us. It leads to something more adventurous.”
Bush, one of music’s most respected vocalists, operates from a place of passion and presence in the studio and on stage. In fact, about 85% of his vocals from the last three Armored Saint records are taken from the demo sessions, capturing the raw power. While Vera is a granular and detailed writer, like Bush, the bassist says: “I try not to overthink and be right where I’m at that time. I really don’t look over my shoulder much, like, ‘what did I do in the past? What’s going on in the next lane?’ Once the ball starts rolling, I just sit back and let it happen.”
The collaborative nature of Emotion Factory Reset led to the album title, a phrase from PhilSandoval. “To me, Emotion Factory Reset means to reset yourself back to clarity. Take a pause and breathe before you respond or react. You can’t control outside events, but you can control your mind,” the guitarist says. “How you interpret things is what hurts you, not the event itself.”
His brother, drummer Gonzo notes: “the world is going through a technological upswing/ awakening. I look at our planet as the factory and in the most positive way we need to realign, reimagine, reset for our better selves.”
In advance of the record’s release, today the band presents the first single and album opener, “Close To The Bone.” Comments Bush: “The first track on the record sounds like vintage Armored Saint. Yet vintage that comes out in 2026! How did we do that? The title of the record, Emotion Factory Reset appears as the first line of the bridge. Killer riffs, awesome rhythms and attacking vocals gets this train rolling. The title implies the human response to withdraw and keep things to yourself instead of being confrontational; something I believe we all struggle with as humans. Do you just say, ‘aww, whatever man,’ or do you say, ‘hey, fuck you!’ Depends on the moment I guess.”
Vera adds: “Musically, this song was inspired by my love and appreciation for metal that was coming out around the time of the NWOBHM, which is right when Armored Saint was formed. As always, I try to reimagine my early influences by giving them a slight modern twist.”
Guitarist Jeff Duncan agrees: “I like to think that Armored Saint doesn’t keep making the same album over and over. Emotion Factory Reset is another musical chapter for the band. When the five of us play together, we have a special chemistry and our first single ‘Close To The Bone’ demonstrates this perfectly; it’s musically sophisticated but still retains the Armored Saint signature sound.”
Armored Saint’s Emotion Factory Reset was recorded across several studios including 606Studios, Secret Hand Studios, Skullseven Studios, Constantine Studios, and Bridge Recording, engineered by Oliver Roman, Bill Metoyer, Joey Vera, and Jason Constantine, and features cover art by DDKing.
The record will be released on CD digipack (w/ 20-page booklet) and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants:
Amber Marble (US)
Orange and Red Marble (US)
Brutal Panda Exclusive – Citron Smoke (US)
180g Black (EU)
Beige Gray Marbled (EU)
Clear Black Gold Smoke (EU – Ltd. 500)
Metallic Gold Black Dust (EU – Ltd. 300)
Clear Gold Splatter (EU – Ltd. 200)
Additionally, a special European edition of the CD digipak includes the bonus track “One Chain (Don’t Make No Prison),” only available digitally until now!
A special European edition of the single gatefold LP comes w/ insert and DL card + 7” vinyl “One Chain (Don’t Make No Prison),” (only available digitally until now!) w/ an etching on the B-side, a poster, and slipmat.
Decibel Books has announced Sodom: The Official Authorized Biography, a long-awaited and fully approved account of German thrash mainstays Sodom, now available in English for the first time.
The hardcover release runs over 300 pages and sets out to document the band’s full history in detail. Built on interviews with nearly every past and current member, along with contributors from the broader German thrash scene, the book traces the band’s evolution from their early days through decades of lineup changes and releases.
It also includes more than 200 rare and previously unpublished photos, giving readers a closer look at Sodom across their entire career. An excerpt is already online, focusing on 1984 and the recording of In the Sign of Evil, one of the band’s earliest defining releases.
Fans interested in picking it up can pre-order now, with shipping expected between late May and early June.
With Sodom: The Official Authorized Biography, Dr. Holger Schmenk visits the deepest basement rehearsal rooms and scours the roughest pubs to unearth the unfiltered truth about Tom“Angelripper”Such and his ever-changing lineup of bandmates. From their wild early days of the “Witching Metal” demo to their international breakthrough with Agent Orange, and right up to the present day, Schmenk tells the unvarnished story of a thrash metal legend that has gone through more guitarists than other bands have gone through amplifiers.
Sodom: The Official Authorized Biography tells the story of a miner’s son from Gelsenkirchen-Buer who rose from being a blue-collar underground laborer to an internationally acclaimed metal star, without ever forgetting his roots or compromising his integrity.
Navigating four decades of metal history, Sodom: The Official Authorized Biography features interviews with nearly every past and present member of the band, along with a supporting cast of the German thrash metal scene. Packed with over 200 rare and previously unreleased photos, this hardcover history is over 300 pages, beautifully designed, and fully translated into English.
Formed in 1981, Sodom has seen numerous lineup shifts, with Tom “Angelripper” Such remaining the central figure throughout. The current lineup features Angelripper alongside guitarists Frank“Blackfire” Gosdzik—who previously played with the band from 1987 to 1989 before returning in 2018—and Yorck Segatz, as well as drummer Toni Merkel. Alongside Kreator, Destruction, and Tankard, Sodom holds its place as part of the “Big Four” of Teutonic thrash metal.
Connecticut hardcore and metal mainstays Hatebreed are set to lead the 2026 run of the Summer Slaughter tour, bringing a stacked lineup along for the ride. Joining them on the road are Devourment, Snuffed On Sight, Balmora, and Face Yourself, rounding out a bill that leans heavily into aggressive and extreme sounds.
For the final stretch, the tour will get an added boost from veteran death metal act Incantation, who are scheduled to appear on the last five dates. Their inclusion is expected to give the closing shows an extra punch.
Fans looking to catch the tour can now secure their spots, as tickets are currently available here.
7/02 Reading PA Reverb 7/03 Virginia Beach VA Elevation 27 7/05 Worcester MA The Palladium 7/07 Cincinnati OH Bogart’s 7/08 Nashville TN Brooklyn Bowl 7/09 New Orleans LA Tipitina’s 7/10 Houston TX House of Blues 7/11 Austin TX Emo’s 7/12 Tulsa OK Cain’s Ballroom 7/14 Denver CO Summit Music Hall 7/15 Omaha NE The Admiral 7/19 Saginaw MI The Vault 7/21 St Louis MO Pop’s Nightclub (+ Incantation, no Devourment) 7/22 Fort Wayne IN Piere’s Entertainment Center (+ Incantation, no Devourment) 7/23 Toronto ON Phoenix Concert Theatre (+ Incantation, no Devourment) 7/24 Buffalo NY Town Ballroom (+ Incantation, no Devourment)
A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to one of the most brazen streaming fraud cases ever prosecuted, using AI-generated artists and bot-driven fake listeners to steal more than $8 million in royalties that belonged to real musicians and songwriters.
Michael Smith, 54, of Cornelius, North Carolina, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl in the Southern District of New York, admitting to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces up to five years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for 07/29/2026, and Smith has agreed to forfeit $8,091,843.64 in full.
The scheme was methodical. Smith used AI to generate hundreds of thousands of songs under fake artist identities, then built out thousands of bot accounts across Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music — the platforms explicitly named in the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release — and set those bots to stream his catalogue on a continuous, automated loop. To stay below the fraud-detection threshold, he deliberately spread artificial plays across his enormous library rather than hammering any single track. The result was billions of streams that looked, on paper, like genuine consumer activity.
It’s a particularly corrosive form of theft. Streaming royalties are distributed proportionally from a shared pool, which means every fake play Smith manufactured came directly out of what real artists were owed. His bot traffic not only generated money for him, but actively drained it from everyone else.
U.S. Attorney Jay Claytonput it plainly: “Michael Smith generated thousands of fake songs using artificial intelligence and then streamed those fake songs billions of times. Although the songs and listeners were fake, the millions of dollars Smith stole were real. Millions of dollars in royalties that Smith diverted from real, deserving artists and rights holders. Smith‘s brazen scheme is over, as he stands convicted of a federal crime for his AI-assisted fraud.”
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the SDNY’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
What it leaves unanswered is the larger question that Metal Injection raised: how does a scheme of this scale — hundreds of thousands of fake songs, billions of fraudulent streams — run long enough to generate over $8 million before anyone catches it? The platforms named in the indictment have the technical infrastructure to detect anomalous streaming behaviour, and the financial incentive to do so. Whether Smith‘s conviction prompts any of them to actually strengthen those safeguards, or whether this gets filed away as an isolated incident, remains to be seen. Real artists shouldn’t have to wait for the next Michael Smith to find out.
Fifteen years after walking away from Kamelot at the height of his career, Roy Khan is finally ready to step out under his own name. The former frontman — now also the returning voice of Conception — has confirmed to Rockpages.gr that his debut solo album is in progress, tentatively targeting a late 2026 or early 2027 release. And for anyone wondering whether he’s mellowed out: he hasn’t.
“It’s definitely gonna be metal, for sure,” Khan told interviewer Yiannis Dolas (transcribed by Blabbermouth). “That’s one of the reasons why I love this genre, is the melancholy and the heavy guitars. It’s a must-have. But I’m also walking on the brighter and lighter side of life on some songs, but it’s definitely gonna be metal. But I have other song ideas and songs that don’t really fit this genre that well. I could, of course, adapt them to fit an album of this kind.”
As for why it’s taken this long to go solo, Khan points to the Conception reunion, the pandemic, and finally landing the right team around him: “I’m not sure I have any good answer to that. One answer is, of course, Conception, ’cause [we] reunited in 2016. That’s when we started really looking into making new songs and getting into a new production. And after that, I’ve been pretty busy. We’ve also had the pandemic, and a couple of years just disappeared. And now I’ve found a good group of people that I feel complement me in a good way. And I’m looking forward to do a new album, that’s for sure.”
The material draws on a stockpile that runs deeper than you might expect: “Some of these ideas go way back, like way back. And they weren’t used in the past either because we had the stuff we needed or somebody else in the team didn’t like it, or didn’t feel that it fit style-wise. It’s a good mix of new stuff and old stuff. And also old stuff that is modified and changed somehow.”
The collaborative backbone of the record is Caio Kehyayan, guitarist for Brazilian outfit Firewing, who Khan describes as central to the whole endeavour: “I play the guitar, and I play the piano, but it’s always good to have somebody that can really, really play, so you can get the ideas out and they may have some ideas. So some songs I’ve written with other people, which is a big part of the fun of doing this at all… There’s one guy who is a big part of it. That’s Caio Kehyayan. He plays in the Brazilian band Firewing. He’s been extremely helpful, and he’s good with recording technology and stuff like that. So, that’s really cool. And he’s a creative and really talented guitar player. I’m looking forward [to it]. I’m also bringing him [to perform with me] live.”
Production duties fall to Sascha Paeth — the man behind the boards for some of Kamelot‘s most celebrated records, including The Fourth Legacy, Karma, Epica, and The Black Halo — with co-production from Kehyayan and Adrienne Cowan of Seven Spires, both of whom have also contributed to the songwriting. Bill Hudson, known for his work with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I Am Morbid, and Circle II Circle, is among the additional writers on board.
The reunion with Paeth is no accident. His fingerprints are all over the sound that made Khan a household name in the power metal world, and this record looks every bit like a deliberate effort to pick up a thread that’s been left dangling since 2011. Khan‘s departure from Kamelot that year came after years of accumulating damage — relentless touring, a growing family, and a lifestyle he’s since described as unsustainable. The years that followed took Khan in an unexpected direction. He settled in Moss, Norway, joined a church, and underwent what he described as a fundamental shift in perspective.
He returned to the stage last July at Tokio Marine Hall in São Paulo for a one-night-only celebration of The Black Halo‘s 20th anniversary, backed by members of Brazilian prog-metal band Maestrick and joined on select tracks by Adrienne Cowan.
The solo album doesn’t have a title yet. But between Paeth on production, a guitarist he trusts enough to bring on the road, and a drawer full of ideas that stretch back decades, Khan sounds less like a man making a tentative return and more like one who’s finally ready to say something on his own terms.
Candlebox frontman Kevin Martin has confirmed the band is well into work on a new studio album, due in 2027 — the follow-up to The Long Goodbye, the record that was supposed to be their last.
Speaking to Clint Switzer on the On The Road To Rockpodcast, Martin didn’t overthink the about-face (via Blabbermouth): “Yeah, for some reason we think we should make another record. [Laughs] We have eight songs now. We’re working on probably two or three to get done, and single releases this year, and then go for the full album release next year.”
No small part of that renewed energy comes from the return of original guitarist Peter Klett, who rejoined the fold last year. Martin is unambiguous about what his presence brings back: “It’s been really just a pleasure. When he came back last year, and we did, I think we did, like, 15 to 16 shows last year, maybe 20, I don’t recall, it was just like old times. And I think that the thing that I forget, when I leave the touring world, and I go home, and I’m with my family, and I’m kind of doing what I do around the house, I forget how much Candlebox actually means to me. And having Pete back in the band, it’s the icing on the cake, really. He’s such a stellar player. He’s such a beautiful soul and a beautiful human being. And it really just ups the game when we get out on stage, because he brings all of that, the magic fingers that he has, right back to those songs.”
“It’s funny — when he plays, I sing the song exactly how it’s supposed to be sung,” Martin explained. “It’s just the oddest thing. With Brian [Quinn] and Island [Styles], I can go wherever I want, but there’s something about how [Pete] plays that makes me sing the song exactly how it was done on the record. It’s wild.”
As for the “farewell” tour — the “We Can’t Quit You, Babe” rebranding says it all. Martin explained earlier this year on the Stupid And Contagious Podcast how the whole retirement plan unravelled: “I was done [in 2023]. We were putting out the record, and we were going out with 3 Doors Down, and I really wanted to focus on my family and my relationship with my wife and son more, and I was also releasing this bourbon, and I wanted to focus on it. And I just kind of felt like I was done with this music business. And then the minute you say that, your value becomes tenfold. And then I was asked to go out with Bush, and, of course, Gavin [Rossdale, Bush frontman] and I have been friends since the ’90s, and I was, like, ‘I can’t pass up on that.’ And it was [also] with Jerry Cantrell [on the bill]. And then it kind of all kicked off again. And my wife’s, like, ‘Look, you know you’re not done with this.’ And then Pete‘s, like, ‘Hey, man, I’d like to come back.’ So, yes, it’s now — we’re calling it the ‘We Can’t Quit You, Babe’ tour. I mean, fucking Rainbow said they were retiring. So did The Who, Kiss…”
Martin doesn’t romanticise any of it, though. He’s clear-eyed about how brutal the economics of touring have become — and willing to name names on who he thinks is making it worse: “It’s a hell of a lot harder. It’s a hell of a lot more expensive. Certainly, with socials and social media and stuff, it’s difficult because there are expectations, I think, that fans have of the bands. I mean, back in the day, Candlebox was the most faceless rock and roll band out of Seattle. So it was easy to play a show and go out and watch the opening band, and nobody knew who we were. Now your face is all over everything, and people can reach out and say, ‘Oh, my uncle’s a huge fan.’ And, ‘I met you guys through this person’ and ‘You’re not coming to my town. Why not?’ That kind of stuff… Everybody asks that, and it’s, like, you live in a tiny little town in the middle of Iowa. Nobody goes there because it’s the most difficult place to get to, and it’s incredibly expensive to get there. And it’s not that we don’t want to — we would love to. If we could afford to hit 70,000 cities in the United States in one year, we would, but the odds are stacked against you.”
“But other than that, it’s really just the expense of being a touring band. It’s so financially unbalanced now. A tour bus, for example. If you’re in a 2010 tour bus, let’s say. That’s 15 years old — a 15-year-old tour bus that probably hasn’t been very well taken care of or upgraded or anything like that. It should be about $500 a day, but what you end up paying is about $1,500 a day for that bus. That doesn’t include the driver, that doesn’t include the fuel. So you’re looking at a bus that’s 15 years old that’s gonna cost you $2,200 a day. The cost of hotels is $350 a night, [plus] taxes, insurance. I mean, my daily nut to tour is $22,000. That’s a day that I have to pay to tour. And the merchandise isn’t cheap. To print a shirt is about $12 to $15. That’s why t-shirts at shows are $40 and $50 and $60 because it’s like retail markup. You’ve gotta make a hundred percent markup. And it’s not gonna get any easier as long as Trump’s in office, with tariffs,” he added.
That was 2023. It’s now 2026, there are eight new songs in the can, and Peter Klett is back on guitar. Retirement, apparently, is a conversation for another day.
Sepulturahave confirmed that their 09/05 set at Rock In Rio in Rio de Janeiro will be built entirely around the Derrick Green era — meaning none of the material from the band’s classic Max Cavalera lineup will make the cut. Fan favourites like “Roots Bloody Roots”, “Territory”, and “Refuse/Resist” won’t be heard that night.
Cleveland native Derrick Green made the move from fronting Ohio hardcore outfit Outface to joining Sepultura in 1997, relocating to São Paulo for nearly two decades before eventually settling in Los Angeles. His tenure now spans well over half the band’s existence — yet the shadow of the Max era has never fully lifted, in part because Roots and Chaos A.D. remain Sepultura‘s commercial high-water marks, both certified gold in the U.S.
Green has never hidden his feelings about the constant backward glances. In a 01/2020 conversation with the Scars And Guitars podcast, he addressed the ongoing reunion speculation head-on (translated by Blabbermouth): “I think for some people, it’s hard for them to really move on. It’s hard for people to change in general because they’re fearful of change, because of the unexpected when changing. It’s hard for certain people, but that’s okay. It’s not where we’re at musically, and thank god that we were able to move forward and not only rely on the past. I think it’s natural for certain people that they gravitate to something that they’ve known from the past, and maybe that’s just where they like to have their heads.”
He continued: “I never wanted to be in that position, just because I’m an artist and, for me, it’s important to really explore and to evolve, and change is actually necessary. And that’s something that’s happening in all of our lives, so I accept it and go with it and live within the moments that are happening now.”
He added, “I don’t worry too much about other people and them being trapped in the past. It’s just something I don’t wanna be a part of or be near that. [Laughs]”
The Rock In Rio show arrives in the middle of Sepultura‘s ongoing farewell run. The tour launched 03/01/2024 at Arena Hall in Belo Horizonte — a sold-out night that also marked the debut of drummer Greyson Nekrutman, who came aboard after Eloy Casagrande departed to join Slipknot. The band is currently recording 40 songs across 40 cities for a live compilation, with the final North American leg — featuring Exodus, Biohazard, and Tribal Gaze — kicking off 04/29 in Montclair, New Jersey, and wrapping 05/29 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.
Darkthrone are back. The Norwegian black metal institution has confirmed Pre-Historic Metal as the title of their new studio album, set for release on 05/08 via Peaceville Records.
The announcement lands hot on the heels of The Fist In The Face Of God, the recently issued box set revisiting the band’s foundational black metal years. Now Fenriz and Nocturno Culto — currently marking 40 years since their earliest formation as Black Death — are ready to drag something new out of the primordial dark.
The title track video, directed by Matthew Vickerstaff, can be seen below.
Fenriz isn’t overthinking the title. “Prehistoric is a loose term,” he says. “I just figure it’s our vibe, our take on things, and it’s more of a statement that we use old style to create something new.”
Picking up where 2024’s It Beckons Us All left off, Pre-Historic Metal is built on primal riffs and a sound rooted firmly in the spirit of the ’70s and ’80s. The record charts a course through thrash, black, heavy, and doom metal, with Darkthrone reportedly leaning harder into the writing instincts of their late-’80s output — but with the craft sharpened rather than softened.
Fenriz lays it out plainly: “It means that we are metal. With very loud guitars. ‘Frightfully barbaric but not without finesse’, I call it. We collaborated in the studio more than ever, who’s playing what is still in a purple haze, but last but not least, it was a sort of hardening of the arteries — we decided to tighten the tourniquet and do eight effective songs brimming with riffs instead of the airy plodding we so much enjoy usually.”
The album was recorded at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo, with production handled by Ole Øvstedal, Silje Høgevold, and Mads Luis. Mastering duties went to Jack Control at Enormous Door and Maor Appelbaum Mastering.
