Coal Chamber has announced the cancellation of its Louder Than Life festival appearance to allow drummer Mikey Cox to undergo cancer surgery. Cox revealed in a social media statement that he has passed the necessary medical tests and has received clearance to proceed.
In his statement, Cox wrote: “I’m going to be vulnerable and open about my situation as it directly impacts our fans and family. I’ve been going through a battery of tests to determine whether the cancer has spread to other areas of my body, and I’m grateful to report that all of those tests have come back clean. That has allowed our doctors to finally give us the green light to schedule what we hope will be my final cancer surgery. Out of an abundance of caution and for the sake of my long-term health and recovery, this surgery is going to take me out for the next few weeks, which means we will no longer be able to make our Louder Than Life appearance. As gutted as I am, I know this is the right choice for me and the best choice for the band and our future.”
Cox was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer on April 1, 2025. In a separate statement, vocalist Dez Fafara addressed fans on his KillerTube channel: “Anytime I’m talking to Mikey, I always end the conversation with, ‘Everything’s gonna be all right.’ The recovery is going to be difficult but we’re ready to support him in every way. We fully expect him to come through this stronger than ever, and then we are going to be back on that stage, I promise you that.” Fafara noted that Coal Chamber’s return to stages at Sick New World 2023 and Inkcarceration 2023 — the band’s first shows in eight years — was an emotionally overwhelming experience: “It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I was not prepared for the emotion of it. I literally cried on stage.”
Coal Chamber was formed in Los Angeles in 1993. The band’s classic lineup features Fafara, guitarists Miguel “Meegs” Rascon and Nadja Peulen, bassist Rayna Foss and Cox. Their four studio albums — Coal Chamber (1997), Chamber Music (1999), Dark Days (2002) and Rivals (2015) — were all released via Roadrunner Records.
The Warning, the rock trio of sisters Daniela “Dany,”Paulina “Pau” and Alejandra “Ale” Villarreal from Monterrey, Mexico, has announced their fourth studio album, Everything’s Falling, due August 28 via Lava/Republic Records. The announcement arrives alongside “Ritual,” the third single from the record, following “Kerosene” and “Ego.”
The band describes “Ritual” as an exploration of the pull of anxious thought patterns. In a press statement, The Warning said: “‘Ritual’ is about getting trapped in those thoughts and letting them keep you from actually living in the moment. It’s one of those songs that just kind of wrote itself — there was something really automatic about the process, which felt fitting for a song about falling into patterns.” On the album as a whole, the band added: “Everything’s Falling is a snapshot of where we are in our lives right now — the chaos, the beauty, the uncertainty. We’ve never made a record that felt this immediate or this personal.”
The Warning formed in 2013 and broke through internationally with their 2022 album Error (Lava/Republic), followed by Keep Me Fed in 2024. The band has accumulated more than 710 million streams and received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song for “Qué Más Quieres.” Their most recent release before Everything’s Falling was a live album recorded at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City in 2025.
Death Angel guitarist Ted Aguilar has offered his take on what he sees as a loss of individual identity in modern metal, in a new interview with Pipeman of the “Music Feeds the Soul” podcast.
On the diversity that defined the Bay Area thrash scene, Aguilar said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “The cool thing about the Bay Area is that every band was different. Anthrax sounded different from Overkill, Death Angel sounded different from Testament. Even the vocalists sounded different — Mark [Osegueda] doesn’t sound like Chuck Billy. Chuck Billy doesn’t sound like Sean Killian, and no one sounds like Zetro [Steve “Zetro” Souza of Exodus]. All the vocalists were very unique on their own.”
That distinctiveness, Aguilar said, is what he finds lacking in much of today’s metal: “There’s some incredible players out there. They could run circles around us. But I’m talking about identity — I can’t tell who from who. You know, it’s oversaturated with a lot of bands that basically sound the same. Some of it may be YouTube and social media, where everyone is trying to follow a template of what they think works. Back in our day, you had to figure things out. You had to be a band together, in a room with everyone learning from each other, bouncing ideas. There’s something about that organic chemistry that comes through in the music.”
Death Angel is currently on the second leg of their “Act III” 35th anniversary U.S. tour, which launched May 1 in Phoenix, Arizona with support from Vio-lence and Incite. The run wraps June 21 in Santa Cruz, California.
Death Angel was formed in 1982 in Daly City, California by members of the Pilipino-American Galeon family. The current lineup features vocalist Mark Osegueda, guitarists Rob Cavestany and Aguilar, bassist Damien Sisson and drummer Will Carroll. The band received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance for the song “Humanicide” (2019). Their most recent studio album is Humanicide (2019, Nuclear Blast).
Godsmack has recruited former Dream Theater drummer Mike Mangini to complete the remainder of the band’s “The Rise of Rock” tour, following the abrupt departure of Wade Murff. Mangini made his live debut with the band June 12 at the Morton Amphitheater in Riverside, Missouri, joining vocalist/guitarist Sully Erna, bassist Robbie Merrill, and guitarist Sam Koltun.
In an Instagram post following the show, Mangini wrote: “Taking this all in today with show 1 done. And just like that, I finally get to play these dream venues in the USA with my Boston brothers in Godsmack. I need to thank a lot of people for putting this together so quickly. I can’t even express how grateful I am to Sully, Robbie, Sam, and the entire organization for trusting me with no rehearsal.”
Murff had joined Godsmack this past spring, playing more than a dozen shows from May 8 at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, FL, through May 30 in Houston. On June 6, it was announced that Murff would fill in for Black Veil Brides drummer Christian “CC” Coma for the remainder of that band’s 2026 European tour due to what was described as “an unfortunate personal and private matter.” Hours before his last show with Godsmack, Murff had written on social media: “What a great start to the tour! Thank you to everyone who came out and saw ‘The Rise of Rock’ show.” He played his first show with Black Veil Brides on June 10 in Munich, Germany.
Mike Mangini was dismissed from Dream Theater in October 2023 after 13 years to make way for the return of the group’s original drummer, Mike Portnoy. Mangini had joined Dream Theater in late 2010 following a widely publicized open audition in which he bested six other candidates — Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer, and Derek Roddy — a process documented in the reality series “The Spirit Carries On.”
Prior to Dream Theater, Mangini played with Extreme in the mid-1990s and joined Steve Vai’s band in 1996. He later became a full-time instructor at Berklee College of Music. His solo debut, Invisible Signs, arrived in November 2023; in February 2025, he launched a new band, Monolith, with Hernán “Motley” Rodríguez (bass/vocals) and Andy Barrow (guitar).
Jethro Tull has announced J-Tull Dot Com: Another Cast of the Net, an expanded reissue of the band’s 1999 studio album, due August 14 via InsideOut Music. The release marks the album’s first-ever appearance on vinyl and features a new stereo and Dolby Atmos remix by Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief.
The set is available in a 3CD+Blu-ray configuration and as a gatefold 180-gram 2LP. The Blu-ray features the Dolby Atmos mix. Bonus content across the two additional CDs includes six previously unreleased studio recordings and three live performances captured in Katowice, Poland in 2000. The original album is presented in its remastered form on the first disc.
The full track listing, including bonus material, is as follows:
J-Tull Dot Com (Remastered): “Spiral” / “Dot Com” / “AWOL” / “Nothing Is Easy” / “Hunt by Numbers” / “Hot Mango Flush” / “El Niño” / “Black Mamba” / “Mango Surprise” / “Bends Like a Willow” / “Far Alaska” / “The Secret Language of Birds” / “A Gift of Roses”
Bonus Disc 1 (unreleased/rarities): “Aborted Soliloquy” (previously unreleased) / “Dot Com Acoustic” (previously unreleased) / “It All Trickles Down” / “Recollection No. 5” (previously unreleased) / “Pipes (Close to You)” (previously unreleased) / “Sad Suit” (previously unreleased) / “Stigmata” (previously unreleased) / “The Secret Language of Birds” (2026 Remix)
The 1999 lineup featured Ian Anderson on vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, Martin Barre on electric guitar, Andrew Giddings on keyboards, Doane Perry on drums, and Jonathan Noyce on bass. Jethro Tull’s most recent studio album is Curious Ruminant, released in March 2025 via InsideOut Music.
Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has announced a 17-date European spoken-word tour in support of his upcoming autobiography, Hello Boys and Girls! (Harper Nonfiction, Oct. 22, 2026). The tour runs Oct. 26 through Dec. 3 and covers Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Malta, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
In a statement, McBrain said: “Writing this book brought back so many incredible memories — from my earliest days behind the kit to the biggest stages in the world with Iron Maiden. Now I’m really excited to take those stories on the road and share them live with the fans who’ve been part of this journey. It’s going to be a very special evening — personal, funny, and heartfelt.”
The full schedule is as follows:
Oct. 26 — Frankfurt, Germany
Oct. 27 — Cologne, Germany
Oct. 29 — Berlin, Germany
Oct. 30 — Munich, Germany
Nov. 3 — Tilburg, Netherlands
Nov. 8 — Helsinki, Finland
Nov. 9 — Oslo, Norway
Nov. 11 — Stockholm, Sweden
Nov. 13 — Copenhagen, Denmark
Nov. 15 — Malta Metal Festival — St. Julian’s, Malta
Nov. 18 — Dublin, Ireland
Nov. 23 — Birmingham, U.K.
Nov. 26 — London, U.K.
Nov. 28 — Cardiff, U.K.
Nov. 30 — Bath, U.K.
Dec. 1 — Manchester, U.K.
Dec. 3 — Glasgow, U.K.
McBrain announced his retirement from Iron Maiden on Dec. 7, 2024, at the band’s final show of the year at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil. He was replaced behind the kit by Simon Dawson, who had filled in for McBrain during portions of the “The Future Past” world tour following McBrain’s stroke in August 2023. On Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, McBrain addressed the circumstances of his departure: “My health was the primary reason I had to step away. The stroke affected my playing in ways I had to work very hard to manage. And then the laryngeal cancer diagnosis — even though it was caught early — made it clear that my body needed a break that a touring schedule simply can’t accommodate. It was the hardest decision of my life.”
Nicko McBrain — born Michael Henry McBrain on June 5, 1952, in Hackney, London — joined Iron Maiden in December 1982, replacing Clive Burr in time to record Piece of Mind (1983). His tenure with the band spanned more than four decades and placed him among the third-longest-serving members in Maiden’s history. He played on every studio album from Piece of Mind through Senjutsu (2021).
Former Sepultura guitarist Jairo “Tormentor” Guedz has spoken about the possibility of making a guest appearance at the band’s final concert, scheduled for Nov. 7, 2026, at the Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu in São Paulo, Brazil, in a new interview with Tomasz Michalski of Poland’s MetalSide.
Asked if he might appear at the show, Guedz said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “It would be an honor for me and a pleasure, sure. If you ask me, I don’t think [original Sepultura drummer] Igor [Cavalera] and [original Sepultura guitarist/vocalist] Max [Cavalera] will do it, anyway. But I think it will be a very good, very amazing and good party for the fans — I mean, this final gig in São Paulo.”
Guedz, who has spent the last few years playing with The Troops of Doom, added: “I didn’t receive any invitation officially — nobody asked me to do that — but we talk sometimes, I talk to Andreas [Kisser, Sepultura guitarist] sometimes, not too much, but we talk sometimes, and if he wants me to do that, and if I’m in Brazil, it will be my pleasure to do it, yeah, because it’s the end of a very beautiful history, Sepultura.”
On his reaction to the farewell tour announcement, Guedz said: “Well, I was very sad about that, actually. As a fan, I think they have too many things to do and to give to the fans and the people. But I understand Andreas, and I think this is actually, it’s more of a decision from Andreas himself, because he is a little bit tired of everything. He lost his wife and his mother, and this and that, and he works a lot. So I understand. He wants to be more with his kids and his new girlfriend and not be on the road all the time. So I understand him. I think we will lose one of the biggest bands in the world, and I’m a big fan of the last two albums, for example — Quadra, for me, it’s a big one; yeah, it’s awesome.” He added that the possibility of an appearance at the final show had come up in conversation when he saw Kisser and bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. backstage at the Summer Breeze festival in São Paulo in April: “It’s possible to happen at the last gig.”
In a June 2024 interview with Metal Remains, Guedz explained why he was not involved in the Cavalera re-recordings of Sepultura’s first two releases — the 1985 Bestial Devastation EP and the 1986 Morbid Visions LP. He cited both the existence of The Troops of Doom and budgetary considerations, noting that Max Cavalera may have wanted to keep expenses low: “Maybe they want to do something more with a low budget and see what happens.” Of the three Cavalera re-recordings, Guedz said he finds the re-recorded Schizophrenia (1987) “better than the other ones for me — it’s more listenable.”
Sepultura was formed in 1984 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Guedz joined the following year and played on Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions, also participating in early songwriting sessions for Schizophrenia. He left the band in early 1987 and was replaced by Kisser. In June 2021, Guedz, Max Cavalera, and Igor Cavalera reunited virtually to record a new version of the classic Sepultura track “Antichrist” — originally from Bestial Devastation — for Igor’s YouTube series “Beneath the Drums.”
The Troops of Doom — founded by Guedz in 2020 during the pandemic, also featuring vocalist/bassist Alex Kafer and drummer Alexandre Oliveira — released their sophomore album, A Mass to the Grotesque, in May 2024 via Alma Mater Records, the Portuguese label operated by Moonspell singer Fernando Ribeiro. The band’s debut was Antichrist Reborn (2022), preceded by three EPs: The Rise of Heresy (2020), The Absence of Light (2021), and Prelude to Blasphemy (2023).
Marilyn Manson returns with the next entry in his ongoing creative resurgence, announcing the forthcoming new album One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2, co-produced and co-written with Tyler Bates, set for release on August 14 via Nuclear Blast Records.
To mark the announcement, Manson has unveiled the album’s first single, “Exit Wound”, available now on all streaming platforms.
Dark, cinematic, and unrelentingly visceral, “Exit Wound” continues the evolution of the sound found on Chapter 1 while pushing deeper into unsettling atmosphere, crushing industrial textures, and haunting melodic tension. The track serves as the first glimpse into a record that further expands the conceptual and sonic world established by its predecessor.
One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 will arrive days before the start of his late summer co-headline tour with Rob Zombie. Visit here for a complete list of Manson’s 2026 worldwide tour dates.
Pre-Order One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2here.
Billy Morrison takes a deep dive into his psyche with “Hollow,” the title track of the British guitarist, singer, and songwriter’s album of the same name out on August 7 via TLG|ZOID distributed by Virgin Music Group. The sonically explosive and lyrically gripping single is released today (June 12) along with an artful and eye-popping lyric video that traces Morrison‘s previously unhinged life.
“The title track to my new album was inspired by the life that I led when I was homeless and addicted to heroin,” says Morrison. “Begging for money on the streets and being the guy that people crossed the street from, I would watch people’s faces as they walked towards me, gradually realizing they had to walk past me and being disgusted at how dirty I was, or that I was begging for change. That leaves an indelible mark on your soul and the song is about slowly crawling out of that hollow life.”
Morrison is now lighting up the rock charts with Hollow’s first single, “Becoming” (feat. Sully Erna of Godsmack & GRAMMY Award winner Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme). Revolver dove into the track headfirst with an extensive feature interview, going on to note that “Morrison and Fuel member Brett Scallions co-wrote the song before sending it over to Erna, who delivers an impassioned and raspy set of lines. Bettencourt rises to the occasion and rips pure hellfire on his guest solo.”
Throughout an illustrious career, Billy Morrison has played live in front of millions of fans, collaborated with every A-list rockstar under the sun (even notching a #1 single with the late Ozzy Osbourne), sold his paintings in galleries on multiple continents, and logged hundreds of hours on-air as a radio host for SiriusXM. And yet—some folks wonder, “Who the F%@K is BillyMorrison?” Which is the title of a new short film that answers the question. Directed and edited by Mike Savage, it tells his story through punchy editing, candid footage, and new interviews with Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Al Jourgensen of Ministry, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, mixer/engineer/producer Barry Pointer, and Morrison himself. You can now watch the six-minute documentary here.
Two years ago, Billy Morrison released TheMorrisonProject via TLG|ZOID distributed by Virgin Music Group. It marked his third solo album (and first since 2015) and produced the #1 Active Rock Song (Mediabase) in America: “Crack Cocaine” featuring Ozzy Osbourne and SteveStevens and co-written by all three artists. A deluxe edition of the album followed in 2025, and bonus track, “Gods Of Rock and Roll (Orchestral)”—another seismic collaboration with Osbourne and Stevens—landed in the Active Rock Top Ten (Mediabase).
Hollow will follow the success of TheMorrisonProject format with 12 songs, half sung by Morrison and half sung by a handful of Morrison‘s friends. Guests include Dexter Holland, Marilyn Manson, Chuck D, B Real, Duff McKagan, Steve Stevens, DMC, and the above-mentioned Sully Erna and Nuno Bettencourt, among others. “Forgive Me,” “The Tailor,” “No Suspects,” “Another Day,” “Leave No Trace,” and “Becoming” are among the song titles.
Billy Morrison is a British guitarist, singer, and songwriter, widely known as Billy Idol’s rhythm guitar player for the past 17 years alongside lead guitarist Steve Stevens. He is also a solo recording artist in his right having released three albums including the successful and acclaimed The Morrison Project in 2024. His fourth solo album, Hollow, will arrive in August 2026. Morrison is also a former member of The Cult and Circus Diablo and currently also performs with the superstar cover band known as The Royal Machines. In addition, Morrison is a contemporary fine artist whose Warhol-inspired work has been shown at top galleries. He also has a regular show, “Influenced,” on SiriusXM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard (ch. 38), where he delves deep into the dynamic relationship between art and music.
The call came through a text. Rush bass tech Scully — who had previously worked as Jeff Beck‘s guitar tech and had seen Anika Nilles up close on that tour — reached out with two words: “I have to call you. It’s urgent.”
Nilles assumed something had gone wrong with someone from the Beck crew. It hadn’t. Scully had been talking to Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, and they had someone in mind. The Zoom call with Lee and Lifeson that followed was, in her words, surreal. “It was even crazier after I saw those two faces on my screen as we had this Zoom meeting, the first time I really talked to Geddy and Alex. Unreal,” she told Rick Beato in a recent interview.
Shortly after, she was deep in the Rush rabbit hole — music, interviews, live footage, anything she could find online. “I was just like diving directly into the Rush rabbit hole and just listening to everything I could catch,” she said. “The music, videos, interviews, live shows, everything you can find online, basically, to just get to know the songs a bit better.”
The first rehearsal centered on six or seven songs, which gave her something to focus on within a catalog that could otherwise swallow you whole. The tour launched this past Sunday to what Beato described as an incredible success.
Stepping into the seat occupied for decades by Neil Peart is not a small thing, but Nilles found an unexpected pressure valve in the fact that Lee and Lifeson were also shaking off rust. The band had not played together in nearly 10 years.
Photo by Nathan Cyprys
“As a trio, we had to find a way to come together,” she said. “It’s one thing when you come into a band, and everyone knows everything, and it’s just playing it smooth because they’re doing it every day on stage, and you’re the one who’s the newbie who has to adjust. It didn’t feel like that.” Having Lee and Lifeson essentially rediscover songs alongside her leveled the playing field in a way she didn’t expect. “That definitely took the pressure a little bit off my shoulders.”
Learning the material itself required a completely different approach than anything in her preparation playbook. Nilles typically builds a chart, listens, reads, and plays. That method broke down almost immediately with Rush‘s catalog.
“I figured with this, it doesn’t work. Sometimes you cannot really write it out because a lot of it is also kind of a feeling,” she said. “Technically, you can write it out, but I would have spent so much time with just that.” Instead, she broke things into chunks and learned them step by step. “Just memorizing all the parts is one thing. Learning the feeling is a different thing.”
And then there are the fills… the ones every Rush fan has been air-drumming since the 1970s. Nilles is aware of what awaits her every night. “Everybody knows those fills,” she said, with a laugh. “I do know them, too, now. But if they come out like that or not — we will see when the time comes.”
The kit she debuted on opening night was brand new — a Bubinga setup she and her tech spent four to five hours dialing in the day before the show. The tom configuration runs 12, 13, 16, and 18, a more conventional layout than she typically prefers, but one dictated by the melodic demands of Rush‘s drum parts. “In my own kit, I preferred the weird setting,” she said. “But here, because of all the melodies in the songs, it has to be that melody. So I just make it easier for myself.”
Her tuning philosophy leans low and dry. “My tuning is usually very low. The batter heads are really loose — I don’t like it if there’s too much rebound,” she said. She pulls pitch from the resonant heads rather than the batter side, tuning the bottom heads higher to generate tone. For the Rush shows, she has opened things up slightly to let the drums breathe in larger spaces.
She chose Bubinga specifically for the scale of the venues, having used the same kit on the Beck tour. “For this kind of huge stages and big venues, the Bubinga works really well,” she said. “It’s not my go-to choice when I play in smaller venues or clubs because then it’s too boomy. But for this kind of stage, it’s just the perfect wood.” The cymbals are all Meinl, with a shift toward brighter, more open, brilliant finishes — and a custom ride and hi-hat developed specifically to sit inside Rush‘s sonic landscape. “We developed a sound which is more adjusted to Rush‘s drum sound,” she said.
Photo by Richard Sibbald
Nilles grew up in rural Bavaria, the daughter of an amateur drummer who rehearsed regularly in the family basement. She gravitated to the kit early, though keyboards remained a parallel obsession. Her father taught her the basics before enrolling her in a music school — he was self-taught and wanted her to learn properly from the start. Her earliest ensemble experience came through a traditional brass orchestra, which is about as far from Rush as it gets.
Her path to professional drumming was indirect. Her parents pushed for something more stable first, and she obliged — studying social education before eventually making the turn to music full-time. The detour was not wasted. “I learned so much in communicating with other people in my social education study. That’s really helpful for bands as well,” she said. And there was a practical upside to drawing a paycheck first. “When you earn money, that’s a cool thing — you can buy a lot of drum gear.”
Her primary musical influence is Toto, specifically the drumming, which she studied in genuine depth as a teenager in a way she had not approached any other music before. “I would say that’s my strongest influence, actually,” she said. Before Toto, music was something she enjoyed without dissecting. “I didn’t care who was playing the drums. It didn’t go into detail. I was just having fun along with the music. But with Toto, it was different.”
The fluidity that drew Lee and Lifeson‘s attention is something Nilles worked hard to develop, and it came from a specific place. A record company executive caught one of her shows at around 17 and told her she started strong but lost energy by the end of the night. It stuck. “I really figured out that I have to work on my technique,” she said. “All the fluidity comes from practicing a lot of technique. I don’t have the muscle power of the guys — I’m shaped differently with my body. So I have to compensate a lot with technique.” That became her primary practice focus for years, well beyond the odd-meter workouts that might be more expected from a drummer in her lane. “My focus was a lot on technique to handle concerts, be stable with everything you have to do during a concert.”
Preparation for the tour has also involved gradually shifting rehearsal times later into the night to simulate show conditions, a detail Lifeson had mentioned to Beato separately. “There’s no nine o’clock sleep time anymore,” Nilles said. “We just shift the time back and back and back until we really rehearse at the time when we’re hitting the stage, because that does something to you. You have to be energized and keep the power at the time when you actually feel tired, maybe, especially with jet lag.” She has also been hitting the gym regularly to maintain stamina through what is shaping up to be a major run.
The tour is underway. For Rush fans who have spent five years wondering whether Lee and Lifeson would ever share a stage again, Sunday’s debut answered the question. For Nilles, the air drumming starts now.
