L.A. Guns will release a new live CD and DVD, Live From The Guild Theatre, on July 3 through Cleopatra Records.
The collection was recorded on July 10, 2025, at The Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, California, during a show celebrating the release of the band’s then-new studio album, Leopard Skin. The performance captures L.A. Guns running through a set packed with fan favorites, including “Electric Gypsy”, “One More Reason”, “The Ballad Of Jayne” and other staples from the band’s catalog.
To preview the release, L.A. Guns have shared the official music video for “Electric Gypsy”, the first single taken from Live From The Guild Theatre.
The lineup featured on the release includes vocalist Phil Lewis, guitarist and founding member Tracii Guns, bassist Johnny Martin, guitarist Ace Von Johnson, and touring drummer Shawn Duncan.
Released in April 2025, Leopard Skin marked L.A. Guns‘ return to Cleopatra Records, continuing the band’s productive run of recent releases.
Since forming in 1983, L.A. Guns have remained one of the key acts to emerge from the Sunset Strip hard rock scene. The band has sold more than six million records worldwide, with albums such as L.A. Guns and Cocked And Loadedearning gold certification. The latter included “The Ballad Of Jayne”, which became one of the group’s biggest hits, reaching No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 25 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
Through lineup changes and shifts in the music industry, L.A. Guns continued recording and touring throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Following their appearance at SiriusXM’s Hair Nation festival in 2016, the band entered the studio to record The Missing Peace, which became Frontiers Music Srl‘s highest-selling release of 2017. They followed that effort with The Devil You Know in 2019, another album that was well received by fans and critics alike.
With Live From The Guild Theatre, L.A. Guns offer a snapshot of the band’s current era while revisiting the songs that have kept them a fixture of the hard rock scene for more than four decades.
In a new interview with Talk Is Jericho, the podcast hosted by wrestling superstar and Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho, Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante discussed the band’s long-awaited 12th studio album, Cursum Perficio, which will be released Sept. 18 via Megaforce in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe. It is the band’s first record in 10 years since 2016’s For All Kings, which debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200. The phrase “Cursum Perficio” is Latin for “My journey has come to an end” or “I complete my journey.”
Benante said (transcribed by Blabbermouth) about the response to lead single “It’s For The Kids”: “Well, for me, I’ve been waiting so long for this moment because I’ve lived with this song for so long. And I knew once people heard it… You know how it is, man. It’s like when you have a song, and you think it’s really good, but you can’t really… How do you know how good it is until people hear it, and then you get that feedback? And it’s so important, for me at least, to hear that feedback.”
On why “It’s For The Kids” was chosen as the first single, Benante explained: “The first song, we wanted to release something that really represents the band and shows that we’re not slowing down. We’re hitting as hard as we feel we are. So it was definitely a statement. Someone said this was a love letter to our fans, and when they said that to me, I was, like, ‘You’re right.’ That’s exactly what this is.”
On why it took a decade to follow up For All Kings, Benante said: “The honest answer I can give is, me personally, I didn’t have it to write. I didn’t feel it. It just wasn’t the right time. I was, like, ‘Well, I don’t have anything to say right now. I don’t think the band has anything to say.’ And then the whole pandemic happened, which we started to actually write before the pandemic, and then that happened, and then that set us back — what? — two years. But a lot of these songs on this record — there’s a song called ‘Target On My Back’ [‘T.O.M.B.’]; that’s from 2015. There’s a lot of stuff that was old that I had, and then there’s some new songs that I felt, ‘This is too good to hold back and wait. I want this out.’”
Benante described how the songwriting process evolved: “A song like ‘It’s For The Kids’ — I would do these demos and I would put them in a Dropbox, and then Scott [Ian, Anthrax guitarist] would listen to them… I would just do the demo and throw it in there. So all of a sudden, we started to get an abundance of these songs, and then we would get together — me, Scott, and Frankie [Bello, Anthrax bassist] — and kind of play them live. And it was such a great feeling to be back with them and just playing some new songs. If you’re in a band, you kind of know what that feels like. It’s almost like spring training. You’re getting together with the guys again, and you’re doing the thing that you love, but there’s this new vibe happening.”
Benante spoke movingly about the song “The Long Goodbye”: “For me, it’s a very personal and emotional song. It’s about Scott‘s dad, who had Alzheimer’s. And it’s called ‘The Long Goodbye,’ and that, to me, even when I talk about it, I think about his dad, ’cause I loved his dad. His dad was one of the greatest — just such a great person. And it makes me sad just to think about that whole thing that happened because it brings me back to my parents and stuff like that.”
Benante also described how the album title came to him: “I was watching this documentary on Marilyn Monroe, and in her home in L.A., in Beverly Hills, she had this tile, this plaque, and it said ‘Cursum Perficio.’ And when I was watching it and the narrator was saying what it was and what it meant, dude, a light just went off in my head. I’m, like, ‘That’s it. That’s the title right there.’”
On the album cover, Benante said: “I was looking for an artist who did… those old Harry Houdini posters, the way they looked, like a Coney Island type of art. I was watching this magician, David Blaine, doing a docuseries, and after every episode, there was a piece of art that would basically summarize the episode. And when I saw the art, I’m, like, ‘That’s it. That’s exactly the style that I want.’ So I went to the credits, and I found the artist’s name, and we contacted him… It’s a very strange kind of Salvador Dalí-esque type of piece of art. And there are a couple of Easter eggs in the art. I see fans trying to pick it out… but each character on the cover has a backstory too, which will come out later.”
Cursum Perficio was recorded at Dave Grohl‘s Studio 606 in Los Angeles during 2022 and produced by Jay Ruston and Anthrax. The album will be available in multiple limited formats, including standard CD, black double LP with pop-up gatefold, and various exclusive vinyl variants.
Cruise to the Edge, progressive rock’s largest festival at sea, has announced its 2027 edition. For the first time, the cruise runs six nights — April 2 to April 8 — sailing from Miami, Florida aboard the Norwegian Jewel, with stops at Cozumel, Harvest Caye, and Costa Maya. The 2027 edition is headlined by Kansas, Steve Hackett, Big Big Train, and Asia.
Returning cruise favorites include Haken, Pendragon, Neal Morse & The Resonance, Von Hertzen Brothers, Caligula’s Horse, Temic, Crown Lands, Spock’s Beard, Moon Safari, Thank You Scientist, Rendezvous Point, Lari Basilio, Gazpacho, Mike Keneally & Beer for Dolphins, Marbin, and others. Joining the cruise for the first time are The Dear Hunter, Lunatic Soul, Voyage 35, Ozric Tentacles, Spafford, and Dim Gray, among others. Returning as hosts are Jon Kirkman, Roie Avin, and Mike Dawson.
Beyond concerts, guests can look forward to artist photo experiences, Q&A sessions, theme nights, dueling pianos, late-night karaoke, “Wheel of Prog — Live” and the “CTTE Late Night Live” open-mic hosted by Rob Rutz. Returning as hosts are Jon Kirkman, Roie Avin, and Mike Dawson.
On-sale dates:
2026 alumni — June 1, 2026 at 2 p.m. ET
Past alumni — June 3, 2026, at 2 p.m. ET
General on-sale — June 8, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET
Cruise to the Edge is truly the greatest prog-rock show on Earth and is a can’t-miss event for prog enthusiasts throughout the world. For more info, visit this location.
Post-metal visionaries The Ocean have announced their 12th studio album, Solaris, and shared its lead single, “Light Pollution.” A near-70-minute journey to the stars and back, Solaris is based on the late Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky‘s masterpiece of the same name, and is described as the most ambitious album of the band’s 25-year career.
From 2022 to 2025, The Ocean lost two-thirds of its members — the lineup that had made fan-favorite albums Phanerozoic I (2018), Phanerozoic II (2020), and Holocene (2023) gradually disbanded, culminating in a victorious final bow at Hellfest last year. Only founding guitarist, songwriter and lyricist Robin Staps, longtime bassist Mattias Hägerstrand, and new drummer Jordi Farré (also of Crippled Black Phoenix) remained. Rather than call it quits, they rebuilt: Emmanuel Jessua (Hypno5e) and Marco Gennaro joined on guitar, while vocalists Enrico Tiberi and Lane Shi (Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Otay:Onii) stepped in to replace Loïc Rossetti.
New vocalist Enrico Tiberi sings at the beginning of the song. Orbital motion is not only the gravitationally curved trajectory of a celestial body; in another context — alluding to early scenes in the film Solaris — orbital motion in water refers to the circular or elliptical paths water particles follow as waves pass through, transferring energy without moving the water itself forward.
“Light Pollution” begins with synth textures that connect seamlessly to its predecessor, Holocene, before gradually picking up momentum and culminating in a towering, slow-burning finale of orchestral grandeur, suffocating heaviness, and subdued rhythmic complexity. The song explores the pitfalls of 21st-century technology and humanity’s growing obsession with simulated reality.
Staps commented: “We’ve witnessed several communication revolutions throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, but have we actually become any better at communicating? Has there really been forward movement, or has the motion been orbital — have we merely been treading water? Light pollution symbolizes the transparency of the postmodern age, permeating everything and everyone. Everything is constantly visible; we’ve lost the darkness to hide in, and with the relentless glare of communication, we’ve also lost our privacy.”
The music video for “Light Pollution” was directed by filmmaker Craig Murray (Mogwai, Converge) and combines the arrival of new vocalists Lane Shi and Enrico Tiberi with the song’s lyrical themes. Staps described Murray as “a one-man army — every detail of the film exists in his head before he starts to shoot, he’s got hand-drawn sketches of every single scene. He gets up at 6:30 to make molds, shoot and direct, and he’s still up at 2 a.m., gluing tentacles or smearing slime and sand over faces.”
For the recording of Solaris, the band expanded its creative circle with contributions from Thorsten Quaeschning of Tangerine Dream on modular synthesizers. Jens Bogren, who previously mixed the band’s landmark albums Pelagial, Phanerozoic I, and Phanerozoic II, once again handled mixing and mastering. The full album lineup also includes Orestis Zafiriou (keys), Simen Eifring (trombone), and Jiawei Zhang (vibraphone).
In This Moment has released the explosive new single “Sleeping with the Enemy” via Better Noise Music. Along with the previously released “Heretic” (featuring Kim Dracula), the track marks the first taste of the band’s upcoming, as-yet-untitled ninth album and debut for Better Noise Music. More details will be announced in due course.
Maria Brink commented: “With ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ and our upcoming album, we’re confronting the darkness — whether it’s inside us or external. It’s about looking that darkness in the face and transforming it into empowerment. We feel so exhilarated and ready to show the world what we’ve conjured up.” Elsewhere, Brink also features on the current Eva Under Fire single “Villainous,” which is climbing toward the Top 10 at Active Rock radio.
In This Moment has been active since 2005, led by Brink (vocals) alongside co-founder and lead guitarist Chris Howorth, bassist Travis Johnson, guitarist Randy Weitzel and drummer Kent Diimmel. The band has amassed over two billion streams globally, earned a Grammy nomination for “The In-Between” (Best Metal Performance, 2020), and placed albums including Black Widow (2014) and Ritual (2017) in the Top 25 of the Billboard 200. Their seventh full-length, Mother (2020), was produced by longtime collaborator Kevin Churko (Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch). Most recently, the band released their eighth studio album, Godmode (2023, BMG), featuring “The Purge,” a cover of Björk‘s “Army of Me,” “Damaged” (feat. Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills) and “I Would Die for You,” which appeared on the John Wick: Chapter 4 soundtrack.
Hollywood Undead has released a brand-new single, “Feels Like Home,” via Sumerian Records, alongside the announcement that the band will co-headline the return of the “Taste of Chaos” tour with In This Moment and special guests I See Stars, Vana, and Melrose Avenue.
“Feels Like Home” captures the strange comfort of survival when darkness becomes routine, turning isolation into something communal and cathartic. The band said: “‘Feels Like Home’ is about getting used to the things that are slowly breaking you. It’s a song for the broken, a reminder that they’re not alone and that with us, they’re right at home.”
The single follows the band’s recent string of releases since signing with Sumerian Records: “Hollywood Forever” (October 2024, 20.3 million cross-platform streams, peaking at No. 18 at Active Rock radio), “Savior” (June 2025), “1×1” (March 2026, featuring a sample of Slayer’s “Raining Blood” riff) and “All My Friends” featuring Jeris Johnson.
The “Taste of Chaos” 2026 tour begins Sept. 22 in Charlotte, N.C. and runs through Oct. 26 in Anaheim, California. Artist pre-sales and VIP packages begin June 1 at 10 a.m. local; venue pre-sales begin June 2; general on-sale is June 3 at 10 a.m. local.
Hollywood Undead and In This Moment “Taste of Chaos” 2026 tour dates (all with I See Stars, Vana and Melrose Avenue):
Sept. 22 — The Fillmore — Charlotte, N.C.
Sept. 23 — The Ritz — Raleigh, N.C.
Sept. 25 — The Dome — Virginia Beach, Va.
Sept. 26 — The Theatre at Santander Arena — Reading, Pa.
Sept. 28 — The Fillmore Silver Spring — Silver Spring, Md.
Sept. 29 — Palladium — Worcester, Mass.
Sept. 30 — College Street Music Hall — New Haven, Conn.
Oct. 3 — The Rave/Eagles Ballroom — Milwaukee, Wis.
Oct. 6 — GLC Live at 20 Monroe — Grand Rapids, Mich.
Oct. 8 — Steelhouse Omaha — Omaha, Neb.
Oct. 9 — Vibrant Music Hall — Waukee, Iowa
Oct. 11 — Aragon Ballroom — Chicago
Oct. 13 — The Midland Theatre — Kansas City, Mo.
Oct. 14 — The Factory — Chesterfield, Mo.
Oct. 16 — House of Blues — Houston
Oct. 17 — The Bomb Factory — Dallas
Oct. 19 — Fillmore Auditorium — Denver
Oct. 20 — Rockwell at The Complex — Salt Lake City, Utah
Oct. 21 — Revolution Concert House and Event Center — Garden City, Idaho
Oct. 22 — Grand Theatre at The Grand Sierra Resort — Reno, Nev.
Oct. 24 — Harrah’s Ak-Chin — Maricopa, Ariz.
Oct. 25 — The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas — Las Vegas
Oct. 26 — House of Blues — Anaheim, Calif.
Hollywood Undead continue a major year of live activity, having recently appeared at Welcome to Rockville. Before the “Taste of Chaos” run, the band heads overseas for a summer run including Rock Im Park, Rock Am Ring, Download, Nova Rock, Graspop Metal Meeting, Jera On Air and Vainstream, plus headline dates across Germany, Poland and Switzerland. They will also play Inkcarceration, Rock Fest, Les Grandes Fêtes TELUS, Rock La Cauze and Rocklahoma before the fall co-headline run.
Since the release of their RIAA-platinum-certified 2008 debut Swan Songs, Hollywood Undead has accumulated over 3.2 billion cross-platform streams, over one billion YouTube views and 4.1 million monthly Spotify listeners. The band is now signed to Sumerian Records.
Accept are marking their 50th anniversary with the release of Teutonic Titans 1976–2026, a career-spanning collection featuring re-recorded classics and an extensive lineup of guest musicians from across the metal world.
Scheduled for release on September 4, 2026 via Napalm Records, the album includes 19 revamped tracks and appearances from 50 guest performers. Led by guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, Accept revisit songs from their classic catalog with a rotating cast of vocalists and musicians joining longtime frontman Mark Tornillo.
Reflecting on the project, Hoffmann said: “There is no better way to celebrate this 50-year anniversary than to have our musical peers, friends, and inspirations come together with us to record these classic Accept songs, which I am honored and proud to share with the world. I hope everyone enjoys this very special record as much as we all enjoyed making it.”
The album revisits material originally released between I’m A Rebel and Eat The Heat, giving each song a different lineup and a fresh interpretation. Among the standout collaborations, TobiasForge of Ghost appears on “Save Us”, while drummer Ray Luzier joins the performance.
One of the first tracks unveiled is “Fast As A Shark”, featuring Philip Anselmo of Pantera, KirkHammett of Metallica, Mikkey Dee of Scorpions, and Billy Sheehan from Mr. Big.
Discussing the recording, Hoffmann explained: “This song was so much fun! We even re-recorded the intro in a Bavarian oompah style… a friend of mine lives in Bavaria, and he was in contact with one of those traditional Bavarian woodwind outfits, and they recorded the traditional German folk song “Ein Heller Und Ein Batzen” for us, which was fantastic. We were lucky to get Phil Anselmo on vocals, Billy Sheehan on bass, and of course Kirk Hammett on guitar, which is amazing, and Mikkey Dee on drums, so that’s a pretty nice supergroup, isn’t it?”
Hammett added about “Fast As A Shark”: “A real honor to pay back the great inspiration Accept had for me!”
Other contributors to Teutonic Titans 1976–2026 include K.K. Downing of Judas Priest, Bobby“Blitz” Ellsworth of Overkill, Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian, Chris Jericho of Fozzy, RalfScheepers of Primal Fear, Ola Englund of The Haunted, and Jeff Loomis of Nevermore.
The collection also includes a new version of “Hellhammer” performed by the current Accept lineup of Hoffmann, bassist Martin Motnik, guitarist Philip Shouse, and drummer ChristopherWilliams, alongside Jason McMaster from Dangerous Toys.
Over the course of five decades, Accept have remained one of heavy metal’s most influential acts, with landmark releases such as Balls To The Wall, Restless And Wild and Metal Heart helping shape the genre. Since the arrival of Mark Tornillo in 2009, the band has continued releasing successful albums and maintaining a strong presence on the international metal scene, further extending a legacy that now reaches the half-century mark.
Mastodon has released “Your Ghost Again,” the first single from the band’s upcoming ninth studio album, due later this year. The track was produced by Patrik Berger (Taylor Swift, Robyn) and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou. It is the first piece of new Mastodon music to be released since the death of co-founding guitarist and vocalist Brent Hinds.
In a video accompanying the single’s announcement, the band described “Your Ghost Again” as a tribute to Hinds. Drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor said, “‘Your Ghost Again’ is about when you lose somebody that’s close to you that you’ve existed with for most of your life. When we were in the studio recording, I kept seeing Brent. I’d see him on my right holding the guitar because that’s where he’d usually be. It’s the same with my mom: I keep seeing her. I was just singing about what I was seeing, and I was seeing ghosts.”
Dailor elaborated: “It’s about being in those familiar places you used to be with people, which for us is in the studio. I just kept seeing [Brent] out of the corner of my eye, where he would normally be with his guitar. It’s about that: your mind plays tricks on you, especially so soon after someone dies and you’re in the places where they always were. You just see them.”
Bassist and vocalist Troy Sanders added, “My portion of the song, lyrically, is all about Brent, and for Brent. The bridge lyrics are two lines of pure gratitude towards Brent. It’s all the gifts from you, now you can take them back where you must go — meaning you came into my life, you exposed me to things that blew my mind, together we conquered thousands of stages around the world, had magical moments that we can never repeat again, but all the beauty that you brought it still remains, always will, and it’s just a line of gratitude because that’s important that we include Brent.”
Guitarist and vocalist Bill Kelliher commented, “We wanted to pick a song that sounds like Mastodon, and that has all the things in there, because it’s the first impression of what people are gonna hear. It speaks about things that have just happened and people passing.”
The upcoming album will also feature keyboardist João Nogueira, alongside touring guitarist Nick Johnston, who reportedly appears on the LP. Dailor said, “Hopefully this album helps everybody. Hopefully, they can find some piece of it that speaks to them about it. I know Brent’s not there, and it’s weird and it’s hard, and some people might be like, ‘Well, I don’t wanna listen to it because Brent’s not there and I’m hurting about that,’ but we are too. Big time. It means a lot to me, and I hope that’s able to translate to our fans and people who are grieving, too.”
Hinds had departed Mastodon in March 2025 after the band announced they had “mutually decided to part ways” after 25 years together. He was killed on Aug. 20, 2025, when he was struck by an SUV that turned left and failed to yield at the intersection of Memorial Drive SE and Boulevard SE in Atlanta, approximately two miles from downtown. He was found unresponsive by officers who responded to the crash around 11:35 p.m. and was pronounced dead by medical workers.
According to a crash report, investigators determined that Hinds was at fault for the accident: relying on video of the intersection, they calculated he was traveling between 63 and 68 mph — roughly twice the speed limit at the site.
Hinds had played his first show since exiting Mastodon on March 21, 2025, with his band Fiend Without a Face at 529 in Atlanta. He had also been active with Giraffe Tongue Orchestra — alongside members of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Alice in Chains — and Legend of the Seagullmen, and had an “An Evening With Brent Hinds” European tour planned for November and December 2025. “I’m a free spirit,” Hinds said in the Mastodon documentary The Workhorse Chronicles. “I enjoy life, and I live it to the fullest.”
One of the most distinctive and revered forces in rock music, Sweden’s Graveyard has announced October 9th, 2026, as the release date for their highly anticipated seventh studio album, Fever. Three years after the dreamlike haze of much-lauded previous record Six, the band returns with a heavier, more direct sound — while still carrying the blues-soaked soul that defined their breakthrough album Hisingen Blues.
Graveyard commented: “Alright folks. Here it is — album number 7, Fever. Haven’t we always had it? The itch, the burn, and the restlessness. The urge to push forward into the fog. Even with the teeth of hopelessness snapping at our asses and all the smoke and mirrors of our time telling us we’ve got no future. Come what may. Let’s go!
This time around, we decided to waste no time. No outside producer. No detours. Just Graveyard, straight to the point, doing what we do best. This just might be our greatest album so far! Hope you like it, too.”
The striking artwork for Fever was created by acclaimed Dutch artist Maarten Donders, whose powerful and expressive visual style has been showcased at the renowned cult festival Roadburn. Over the years, Donders has created artwork for more than 50 artists, ranging from Acid King to Frank Zappa.
Handling mixing duties is Pelle Gunnerfeldt, celebrated for capturing the raw intensity of bands such as The Hives and Refused, while more recently working with Viagra Boys.
Furthermore, Graveyard has confirmed the first leg of their 2026 / 2027 tour with Blues Pills. Scroll down for all confirmed shows. Stay tuned for more European dates to be announced!
Graveyard Live with Blues Pills & Skraecködlan Dates:
31.10. SE Eskilstuna, Lokomotivet * 06.11. SE Mejeriet, Lund * 07.11. DK Århus, Voxhall * 13.11. SE Örebro, Club 700 * 14.11. SE Karlstad, Nöjesfabriken * 20.11. SE Falun, Magasinet * 21.11. SE Norrköping Arbis * 27.11. SE Göteborg, Gothenburg Film Studios ** 28.11. SE Stockholm, Fållan **
French atmospheric metal pioneers Alcest will return to North America this fall as special guests on a massive tour featuring Mastodon and Deafheaven.
The tour begins September 16 in Orlando, FL and runs through October 22 in Atlanta, GA, making stops in cities across the United States and Canada.
The tour follows Alcest‘s triumphant return to North America in 2025 and continues the band’s support of their latest studio album, Les Chants de L’Aurore, released via Nuclear Blast Records.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 5th at 10:00 AM local time. For tickets and additional information, visit here.
Released to widespread critical acclaim, Les Chants de L’Aurore further expands Alcest‘s singular artistic vision, seamlessly blending shimmering shoegaze textures, post-rock atmospherics, and black metal intensity into one of the band’s most evocative and immersive works to date. A journey through both radiant beauty and profound melancholy, the album drifts between cathartic, dreamlike passages and moments of soaring emotional weight, as showcased on standout tracks such as “L’Envol,” “Améthyste,” and “Flamme Jumelle.” The record marks another high point in Alcest‘s celebrated catalog, reaffirming the band’s status as one of the most innovative and influential forces in modern heavy music.
For principal songwriter and frontman Neige, Alcest has always been a gateway to the otherworldly, a means of exploring his spirituality. An elemental two-piece, completed by long-serving drummer and creative confidante Winterhalter, Alcest seem to dip their toes in a multitude of musical genres without ever quite fitting in. “In the metal scene, Alcest is a weird band; in the indie/post-rock scene, Alcest is a weird band- we never quite fit in,” Neige reflects. “This is how I feel in life, always an outsider; It’s not a problem, it’s just the way it is.”
