Author: Editorial Team

Armored Saint and Metal Church have announced “The Metal Saint Tour 2026,” a 16-date co-headlining North American run with Livekill in support on all dates. The tour begins Nov. 2 in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and concludes Nov. 21 in Agoura Hills, Calif. Tickets go on sale May 29 at 10 a.m. local time.

Armored Saint vocalist John Bush said: “Two classic metal bands from the ’80s on tour together doing headline sets and both with brand new awesome records out [Armored Saint with Emotion Factory Reset and Metal Church with Dead To Rights]. If you call yourself a metalhead and you don’t come to this show when we roll into your town, you’d better have a damn good excuse. AS and MC. Let’s do this!”

Metal Church guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof said, “It’s incredibly exciting to be getting back on the road with our friends and an honor to be sharing the stage with one of America’s finest metal bands! Definitely a show you won’t want to miss!”

Emotion Factory Reset, Armored Saint‘s ninth studio album, was produced by bassist Joey Vera — as were the previous four albums — and mixed by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour). Songs include “Close To The Bone,” “Hit A Moonshot,” and “Every Man-Any Man.” A special European edition of the CD digipak includes the bonus track “One Chain (Don’t Make No Prison)” — originally written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and first released by People in 1970, subsequently covered by The Four Tops (1974), Santana (1978), and The Doobie Brothers (1989). Cover art is by DDKing.

In July 2023, the band was inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, Calif. In May 2023, the long-awaited documentary Armored Saint: Band of Brothers had its world premiere in Hollywood.

Metal Church released its 13th studio album, Dead To Rights, on April 10 via Rat Pak Records. The album marks the first release from the band’s latest lineup, featuring founding guitarist Vanderhoof alongside longtime guitarist Rick Van Zandt, former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, drummer Ken Mary, and new vocalist Brian Allen. The album was produced by Vanderhoof and mixed and mastered by Chris “Zeuss” Harris at Planet Z.

Born from the West Coast metal scene of the early ’80s, Metal Church signed with Elektra Records and released two landmark albums — their self-titled debut and its follow-up The Dark — both of which remain essential listening in the heavy metal canon. The band toured with labelmates Metallica as the U.S. metal wave surged. Metal Church continued to evolve with vocalist Mike Howe on the acclaimed Blessing In Disguise and The Human Factor. In 2016, the band reunited with Howe for XI, which debuted at No. 57 on the Billboard Top 200 and charted internationally; its 2018 successor, Damned If You Do, continued that momentum. Howe died in July 2021; Marc Lopes joined in the summer of 2022 as his replacement and recorded one album with the band, Congregation of Annihilation, released in May 2023 via Rat Pak Records.

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Following a triumphant run of sold-out shows, festival appearances, and overwhelming fan demand, acclaimed hard rock titans Alter Bridge are announcing the second United States leg of their massive What Lies Within Tour. The 18-city tour will run this November and December with beloved Canadian rock outfit Big Wreck and rising outlaw rocker Tim Montana as support.

The second leg will bring the quartet comprised of Myles Kennedy (vocals/guitars), Mark Tremonti (guitars/vocals), Brian Marshall (bass), and Scott Phillips (drums) to fans nationwide when it kicks off on November 5 (Philadelphia, PA) and runs through December 5 (Reno, NV). The What Lies Within Tour will make stops in major markets, including Cleveland, OH (November 10), San Antonio, TX (November 19), Anaheim, CA (November 22), and Denver, CO (November 30), among many others. Known for their crushing riffs, soaring melodies, and electrifying performances, Alter Bridge continue to cement their reputation as one of modern rock’s most powerful live acts.

The What Lies Within Tour comes in support of the band’s latest musical chapter and promises a career-spanning setlist featuring fan favorites alongside new material that showcases the band’s continued evolution. Tickets for all dates go on sale this Friday at 10 AM local time, with various pre-sales beginning earlier in the week. VIP packages and additional information can be found through the band’s official website.

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Finally, the time has come, the first look into thrash legends Flotsam And Jetsam‘s new album Rats In The Temple, out August 28 via Napalm Records. The album’s title track is a ghoulish hit, packing sweeping guitar harmonies, thunderous drums, and the exalted frontman Eric A.K. Knutson‘s haunting wail. After four trailblazing decades, countless world tours, and 15 groundbreaking studio albums, Flotsam And Jetsam remain refined and revered.

Eric A.K. Knutson says about the track: “We’re super excited to release the first single from the album, which is very fittingly the title track, ‘Rats In The Temple’!  This song has a lot to say, and we hope the fans love the song as much as we do. This is possibly one of the most technically challenging songs Flotsam has ever recorded, and we look forward to delivering this song live as well!”

Rats In The Temple lunges out full force with 13 rabid onslaughts of ornate guitarmonies, pummelling double bass kicks, hypnotic bass grooves, and exalted frontman Eric A.K. Knutson’s unmistakably haunting wail. As the temple is besieged by vermin, Flotsam And Jetsam line the walls with grim tales of death, abuse, betrayal, and war, inviting listeners into a dark world not too distant from our own.

Pre-order Rats In The Temple here.

Frontman Eric A.K. Knutson said about the album: “This record is a BEAST, truly our best effort to date!! Do yourself a favor. Dim the lights, grab a drink, put the headphones on, and crank this up. You will not be sorry you did!!!”

The legends from Arizona have been a fixture of the metal scene for the better part of the last four decades. With modern renaissance records like The End of Chaos (2019) and I Am the Weapon (2024), capturing the glory of their inceptional material, the Kerrang! championed classic Doomsday for the Deceiver (1986) and No Place for Disgrace (1988), it’s no wonder they’re still raising hell for their throngs of dedicated fans along festival circuits internationally.

Rats In The Temple opens strong with the stadium-ready hooks and dizzyingly precise performances of “Harvesting The Hate” and “Damnation”, before delving into thrash virtuosity on “Absolution”. The iconic guitar duo of Michael Gilbert and Steve Conley paint vividly ghoulish images on tracks like “Blame The Knife” and “Rats In the Temple”, then continue to flex their metal muscle on “The Ghost Behind My Door” and “First on the Spike”, invoking pure first-wave excellence with a pummeling modern menace.

“The Edge of Nowhere” builds inescapable suspense before firing listeners out of a gun, full throttle into “Last Rites”, another standout track for the band. The legendary rhythm duo of drummer Ken Mary and bassist Bill Bodily take center stage on the anti-war anthem “A Taste For War”, their methodical syncopation invoking images of tanks and boots on the ground. “Her Blood Your Pain” brings ornate, medieval guitarmonies before “Anthem For The Broken” goes full balls to the wall, and “Going Down That Way” hits listeners with heavy riffs and even heavier truths. Rats In The Temple remains enthralling throughout, giving listeners entry to numerous of the band’s metal chambers, sampling a refined and eclectic serving of influences.

Churning like magma beneath the Earth, Flotsam And Jetsam have only been growing more and more fiery with time, and Rats In The Temple sees the band exploding to the surface in a magnificent and awe-inspiring blaze. For fans new and longstanding, you cannot escape them; they’re through the walls.

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DragonForce have announced their largest North American tour in more than two decades. In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of their monumental album, Inhuman Rampage – the record that birthed the Platinum-selling global phenomenon of “Through the Fire and Flames,” and spent 23 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 – the cross-country run will soon bring the world’s fastest band to 22 cities this November and December, with support from Ensiferum and Rhapsody of Fire.

Beginning at San Diego’s Observatory on Friday, November 13th, dates will stretch from New York City’s Palladium Times Square to Chicago’s Riviera Theatre, Los Angeles’ Wiltern, and beyond, further marking 2026 as the start of DragonForce’s biggest, boldest, and most electrifying era yet. 

Following this month’s earth-shattering announcement of Alissa White-Gluz as their new vocalist and first frontwoman, DragonForce previewed the forthcoming tour with two festival performances at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple. But with White-Gluz at the helm, this fall will see sets that are as exhilarating as they are technically breathtaking, filled with even more time-warping precision, spectacular set design, hits from Inhuman Rampage, and an early taste of their impending studio album. 

Public on-sale for DragonForce‘s Inhuman Rampage 20th Anniversary Tour begins at 10 am local time this Friday, May 29th, with Citi and artist presales starting at 12 pm ET today. See the full list of dates below, and find tickets at this location.

As the preeminent pioneers of extreme power metal, now joined by one of metal’s legendary vocalists, DragonForce have welcomed tens of millions of listeners into the fold through the seismic history of Inhuman Rampage and their eternally joyous, adrenaline-filled music. Founded in 1999 and based between Los Angeles and London, they have rewritten the rules of heavy metal while redefining the possibilities of their respective instruments.

“Alissa joining the band is an expansion of everything we’ve done up to this point,” said DragonForce co-founder and lead guitarist Herman Li, at the time of White-Gluz‘s announcement. “Twenty years is a long time to do anything, let alone survive the music industry and still be so inspired to continue doing what we love. Together, we will honor what made Inhuman Rampage matter, while showing people exactly where we’re going next. Having Alissa in the room changes everything. She doesn’t just sing, she makes all aspects of our music better. And she sounds incredible live! I can’t wait for the fans to see her and hear what we have been working on.”

“As a long-time fan of DragonForce, having seen them in concert multiple times over the last 20 years, I am beyond excited to be bringing such iconic music to life with these amazingly skilled musicians in such a fun and inspiring environment,” said Alissa White-Gluz, whose ferocious, melodic theatricality and creative fearlessness spans 15+ hours of recorded music, 60+ music videos, 40+ collaborations and 2,000+ concerts across a myriad of subgenres.

“It feels great to showcase all the colours of my voice in technically challenging, deeply energizing, highly addictive songs. Creating and performing with musicians who deeply care about the music and concerts as much as I do is so refreshing. Plus, with Blue Medusa going full throttle and gaining so much momentum in parallel, I feel like I am permanently in the creative zone, which is exactly where I want to be! I am so thankful for the amazing support I have been lucky enough to receive from the metal world; I want to keep pushing my boundaries and delivering exceptional music and live experiences to the fans that we cherish so much.”

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Crowbar frontman and guitarist Kirk Windstein has announced via social media that the New Orleans sludge metal band will play a free hometown show on July 17 at Southport Music Hall in New Orleans. The concert will be filmed for a future live album release.

The announcement comes at a moment of renewed and expanded visibility for Crowbar, a band nearly four decades into its career. Viral interest — particularly within the bodybuilding community, where Crowbar‘s music has become widely associated with training and powerlifting culture — propelled the band past one million monthly listeners on Spotify in February 2026.

Crowbar was formed in New Orleans in the early 1990s and has remained one of the defining acts in sludge and doom metal, known for a catalog that balances crushing heaviness with raw emotional directness. Windstein has led the band continuously across more than a dozen studio albums.

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Violet Breed has released “Sing,” the project’s fifth single. The band is a collaboration between Brian Wheat, founder and bassist of the multi-platinum rock band Tesla, and Alex Gonzato, an emerging U.K. singer-songwriter. Wheat handled production and engineering on the track, which he and Gonzato co-wrote. The prior four singles — “Awake,” “10 Years Sober,” “Endless Days” and “Stay Away” — have accumulated more than 960,000 combined music video views.

“Sing” is described as a rock anthem built around a chant-like hook, an anthemic chorus layered in melodic vocal harmonies, gritty guitars and thunderous drums. Lyrically, the song is about using your voice as a rallying cry — speaking up for yourself and others as an act of defiance against the restrictions of everyday life. Wheat and Gonzato have spent five years developing material for a debut album that draws from their own life experiences. Shared musical touchstones include The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Queen and My Chemical Romance.

Wheat has spent more than four decades in the music industry as the founder and bassist of Tesla, managing the band alongside his own recording work with side projects including Soul Motor and now Violet Breed. He is also the author of the autobiography Son of a Milkman.

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Avatar has announced the “Don’t Go In The Forest ’26” European headline tour — 23 dates running from November 20 through December 19, 2026, with Danish death metal band Neckbreakker in support on all dates. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, May 26 at 10 a.m. local time here. The tour follows a summer that sees the Swedish theatrical metal band supporting Metallica on their global run and playing major European festival stages before heading to Australia.

Vocalist Johannes Eckerström said: “A Europe in November. A Europe in December. Cold, wet and dark. We all know what it’s like, and we know exactly what you’ll need. The first European leg made us feel very lucky to be doing this. This time around, we will do everything within our power to make you feel lucky to participate. We live by but one ethos: Better than ever. I really want to see you, and you really don’t want to miss this.”

Avatar released its tenth studio album, Don’t Go In The Forest, in October 2025 via Black Waltz Records. The follow-up to 2023’s Dance Devil Dance was produced by Jay Ruston, who has previously worked with Anthrax, Steel Panther and Uriah Heep, among others. Ruston first worked with Avatar mixing Hail the Apocalypse and has since produced Avatar Country and Hunter Gatherer. Dance Devil Dance featured a guest appearance by Lzzy Hale of Halestorm on “Violence No Matter What” and included the single “The Dirt I’m Buried In,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

Eckerström founded Avatar in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2001, and the band’s lineup has remained largely unchanged since — save for guitarist Tim Öhrström, who joined roughly a decade later. The current lineup is Eckerström (vocals), Jonas Jarlsby (guitar), Öhrström (guitar), Henrik Sandelin (bass) and John Alfredsson (drums).

“Don’t Go In The Forest ’26” European tour dates with Neckbreakker:

• Nov. 20 — Wolverhampton, England — KK’s Steelmill
• Nov. 21 — Southampton, England — O2 Guildhall
• Nov. 22 — Cardiff, Wales — Depot
• Nov. 24 — Dublin, Ireland — National Stadium
• Nov. 25 — Belfast, Northern Ireland — Limelight
• Nov. 27 — Norwich, England — UEA
• Nov. 28 — Newcastle, England — Northumbria University
• Nov. 29 — Edinburgh, Scotland — Corn Exchange
• Dec. 1 — Amsterdam, Netherlands — Gashouder
• Dec. 3 — Oberhausen, Germany — Turbinenhalle
• Dec. 5 — Budapest, Hungary — Barba Negra Red
• Dec. 6 — Prague, Czechia — Sasazu
• Dec. 8 — Innsbruck, Austria — Musichall
• Dec. 9 — Linz, Austria — Posthof
• Dec. 10 — Ulm, Germany — Roxy
• Dec. 11 — Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg — Rockhal
• Dec. 12 — Zürich, Switzerland — Komplex
• Dec. 13 — Frankfurt, Germany — Zoom
• Dec. 15 — Padova, Italy — Hall
• Dec. 16 — Ljubljana, Slovenia — Cvetlicarna
• Dec. 17 — Zagreb, Croatia — Boogaloo
• Dec. 18 — Bratislava, Slovakia — Majestic Music Club
• Dec. 19 — Wrocław, Poland — A2

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President has announced Blood of Your Empire, the masked British rock band’s debut full-length, due Sept. 4 via Atlantic Records. The announcement is accompanied by a video for the album’s latest single, “Doom Loop.” President, which launched in 2025, operating under a deliberate cloak of anonymity, is rumored to be fronted by Charlie Simpson of pop-punk act Busted and post-hardcore outfit Fightstar. The band’s debut EP, “King of Terrors,” was released in the fall of 2025.

The band’s frontman said of “Doom Loop”: “The song is really about the strange tragedy of time — how we spend our lives chasing it, wasting it, and fearing it — only to realize its value once a moment is gone. It’s a reminder for people to be present while they are actually living their lives, not just remembering them afterwards.”

On the album, the frontman said: “‘Blood of Your Empire’ was born out of my own struggle with existential crisis and trying to make sense of belief, mortality, and humanity’s relationship with faith. Religion has inspired incredible compassion, purpose, and beauty in the world — but it has also been responsible for unimaginable suffering and bloodshed throughout history. This album lives in the tension between those two truths. Writing it became a way for me to confront the fear, confusion, and questions I’ve carried for years, and turn them into something I’m truly proud of.”

The album cover reproduces “The Battle of Poitiers,” a painting by Eugène Delacroix that hangs in the Louvre. Fresh off its first U.S. run supporting Bad Omens, President will return to North America this fall for a sold-out headline tour promoted by Live Nation. The run kicks off Sept. 4 at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville and makes stops in Chicago, New York, Toronto, Boston, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle and Los Angeles before wrapping Oct. 14 at House of Blues in Dallas. Cenobia and Showing Teeth will support on select dates.

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According to License Global, Jack and Sharon Osbourne confirmed at Licensing Expo 2026 in Las Vegas that the Osbourne family has partnered with a company called Hyperreal to create what Jack described as “the digital DNA of Ozzy Osbourne — voice, image [and] movement.” The expo took place May 19 through 21 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Sharon said of the project: “The things that you can do with that are just endless.”

Jack elaborated: “It’s kind of scary how it’s really very accurate. He will exist digitally as himself for as long as we have computers. Technology has come such a long way to where it’s almost drag and drop. You could shoot a template for a commercial… literally prompt what you want digital Ozzy to do in that commercial and you just drop it in. It’s that simple now.” Sharon added: “You can ask Ozzy anything, and he will answer you in his own voice — and the answers will be what Ozzy would have said. We’re going to take it all around the world. People can talk to him and he will talk back.”

Hyperreal describes itself as “powering ownership, control, performance, and monetization of identity across digital ecosystems.” The company previously created a life-sized A.I.-powered avatar of late comic book legend Stan Lee that interacted with attendees at the 2025 Los Angeles Comic Con, where visitors could pay $15 to speak to the holographic Lee and receive responses in his recognizable voice. Hyperreal has also developed digital avatars of Paul McCartney, the Notorious B.I.G. and Mike Tyson.

Sharon and Jack Osbourne appeared at a session titled “The Enduring Legacy of a Rock Icon and His Family: Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbournes” on May 20, moderated by Jens Drinkwater, head of licensing at Global Merchandising Services, and Lisa Streff, senior vice president of licensing and brand development at Global Merchandising Services.

Ozzy Osbourne, known globally as the Prince of Darkness, died July 22, 2025 of a heart attack. He built his legacy redefining heavy metal with Black Sabbath before launching a solo career that became a global phenomenon. Upcoming projects tied to his name include an Ozzy Osbourne biopic, the “Back to the Beginning” Ozzy and Black Sabbath theatrical project and the return of Ozzfest in 2027.

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According to Danish newspaper Sjaellandske Nyheder, Rasmus Stavnsborg, 53, from Solrød, Denmark, is the owner of what is believed to be the world’s largest collection of Iron Maiden memorabilia. More than 10,000 items dedicated to the legendary British heavy metal band are spread across six rooms of his villa in Solrød Strand — floor to ceiling with memorabilia, pinball machines, a homemade Iron Maiden bar, drums, incense sticks, and countless other objects, all featuring the band’s iconic mascot, Eddie.

Stavnsborg first dreamed of creating his own version of a Hard Rock Café as a child after visiting the famous restaurant chain — only his would be devoted entirely to Iron Maiden. The collection originally occupied a 100-square-meter basement in the family’s former home in Karlslunde. Around 12 years ago, it outgrew the space, prompting Stavnsborg, his partner, and daughter to move to Solrød Strand, where the collection grew from around 5,000 items to more than 10,000.

Among the most unusual items is a cigarette butt once smoked by former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno. Stavnsborg and his friends retrieved it after meeting Di’Anno at a bar. “He asked what on Earth we were doing and what we were going to use it for. We just said we were going to clone him one day when he died, and then he shook his head and said we were some strange idiots,” Stavnsborg recalls. Di’Anno died in 2024.

The stories behind the objects are as important to Stavnsborg as the objects themselves. “If I just wanted to buy things to plaster the place with Iron Maiden stuff, that would be the easiest thing in the world. But I like that things have a story, whether it’s personal or connected to the band,” he says. “A hunter hangs dead animals on the walls. I hang Iron Maiden things on the walls that I’ve hunted around the world.”

Stavnsborg has attended more than 300 Iron Maiden concerts since first seeing the band at Copenhagen’s KB Hallen in 1988. During the band’s 2006 “A Matter of Life and Death” tour, his dedication earned him an official “Super Fan Pass” granting him free admission to every concert on the tour. “I was completely overwhelmed. It’s an insane recognition to get from a band,” he says.

Stavnsborg appears in the new documentary Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, which premiered in early May and explores the band’s history and the devotion of fans around the world. His plans this year include shows in Sweden, Denmark, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Peru, and Ecuador, with a hike to Machu Picchu also on the itinerary. “We experience the world together, and it brings us closer together as a family,” he says.

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