Category: news

Signs Of The Swarm have revealed that they are heading back to the UK and Europe for their first proper headline tour, and with a stellar supporting cast.

The band will make their way around the continent in early 2027, with support coming from ten56., Oceans Ate Alaska and Face Yourself.

So that’s some of this:

A whole load of this:

A smattering of this:

And then loads and loads of this:

Pretty pretty pretty good.

Vocalist David Simonich had this to say about it all:

“We’re excited to do our first proper headline tour in Europe and the UK! We knew that meant we needed a lineup worthy of it, and after a lot of back-and-forth we settled on this juggernaut. Ten56. are riding up the lineup to direct support after we also had them on our North American To Rid Myself of Truth Tour; Face Yourself also opened that and are making their European debut here. In between them is Oceans Ate Alaska for their first tour in three years. They also recently sent off what would be their first LP in four years for mixing, so perhaps we’ll all get lucky with some new fire. We hit it off with OAA at Core Fest in Germany back in 2024, and they truly bring this lineup together.”

Here are all of the dates:

FEBRUARY 2027

03 – FRANKFURT Das Bett
04 – UTRECHT Tivoli Pandora
05 – COLOGNE Essigfabrik
06 – HAMBURG Logo
07 – COPENHAGEN Pumpehuset
08 – GOTHENBURG Filmstudion
09 – OSLO John Dee
10 – STOCKHOLM Kollektivet Livet
12 – HELSINKI Tavastia
13 – TAMPERE Olympia-Kortteli
15 – WARSAW Proxima
16 – BERLIN Hole44
17 – PRAGUE Rock Cafe
18 – VIENNA Szene
19 – BUDAPEST A38 Ship
20 – MUNICH Backstage Halle
21 – MILAN Legend Club
22 – ZURICH Dynamo
23 – PARIS Petit Bain *
25 – BRISTOL The Fleece
26 – LONDON O2 Academy Islington
27 – MANCHESTER Club Academy
28 – DUBLIN Opium

MARCH 2027

01 – BELFAST Limelight 2
03 – GLASGOW Slay
04 – LEEDS Key Club
05 – NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
06 – SOUTHAMPTON The Brook
07 – ANTWERP Trix Club

The band recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of their latest album ‘To Rid Myself of Truth’ with a surprising cover of Rob Zombie’s classic track ‘Dragula’.

The post Signs Of The Swarm Announce UK/EU Headline Tour appeared first on Rock Sound.

A Life Without Punk

The post John Robb and Mark Reeder announce A Life Without Punk German tour with Pauline Murray, Budgie, Colin Newman, Malka Spigel and more appeared first on Louder Than War.

If there is one undeniable truth in the brutal, beautiful world of heavy music, it is that complacency is a killer. The moment a band thinks they have the game entirely figured out is precisely when the universe steps in to deliver a ferocious reality check. Nobody understands this balancing act of chaos and raw […]

Based on naming traditions and a tendency to dub groups after horrific activities, such as Cattle Decapitation or Immolation, Australian Deathcore band A Night In Texas must believe there is nothing more terrifying than spending an evening in the Lone Star State. Perhaps the horror of the unknown hits hard for a group eight thousand miles away from their namesake, but A Night In Texas is no stranger to the ubiquitous elements of modern deathcore that defy the confines of any nation or state. With The Darkest Side of Humanity, the band’s latest comes at the start of their second decade, preceded by four records that exemplified solid, if a little uninspired, deathcore and a nominally influential debut. Is their latest the one to turn heads from Texas to Brisbane, or will it cowtow to deathcore trends known the world over?

Featuring a new vocalist after the departure of their longest-running lead, Sam Cameron quickly shows that he is no slouch. If The Darkest Side of Humanity has any weakness, it isn’t for lack of Cameron’s breadth and brutality. Properly Gollum-worthy highs pierce ears alongside gut-rumbling lows as he shows as much or more potency than those that came before. Founding member and lead guitarist Cory Judd is clearly the sonic soul of the band, as The Darkest Side of Humanity is as oppressively crushing as previous records. Amongst the cacophony (more on this later), Tommy Williams feels properly black metal at times, weaving tantalizingly sullen melodies just beneath the boiling surface of Judd’s bouncing battering. Freshman drummer Chris Whitbread delivers inhuman drumming that showcases technicality rarely seen in the more beatdown-driven core, lending the band a sound that at times straddles deathcore and tech-death.

The Darkest Side of Humanity stands out from much of modern deathcore thanks to A Night In Texas’ focus on speed and tech-death trappings. Bolstering their instrumental prowess are surprisingly inspired lyrics and a genuine devotion to rhythmic timing, reminding one of Unhallowed Deliverance. Each track features a standout moment and drives to a proper crescendo, but the devotion to an ecstatic ending becomes formulaic by the album’s end. The Darkest Side of Humanity could lose a track, and it would be better for it. When the record pops off, it does so with aplomb, and the back half is particularly vicious and rousing. The mid-record epic “When the Sun Burns Out” is driven by atmospheric plucking and tasteful, yet sparse clean singing. “The Chronicles of Nihilism” is an immediate standout with its bounce-worthy lead riff and adherence to speed.

While tech-death is clearly an inspiration for A Night In Texas, The Darkest Side of Humanity is another victim of the utter flattening of the genre due to the explosion in popularity of Lorna Shore. What was once tech-deathcore now must include hamfisted symphonic elements and triple-tap bursting breakdowns. While those tech influences remain a part of Judd’s DNA, the paint-by-numbers orchestration does nothing to enhance any individual song. Ironically, the back half of the album either abandons or minimizes backing tracks to great effect, becoming far more epic through sheer instrumentation and scale. The repetitive machine-gun riffage runs rampant, and while it is used more tastefully than most, I can’t help but feel A Night In Texas has the chops to do so much more and display as much alongside the derivative chords. For every predictable breakdown or riff, there is a flurry of inspired technicality or hooky earworms.

The Darkest Side of Humanity is inoffensive for deathcore, and even shows moments of true grandiosity. The latter half is great at times; the title track and finale are a high note to go out on, but cutting a track and stripping the album of most of its orchestration would do wonders for it. For a record that is so fast, heavy, and technical, with over-the-top vocals and orchestration, it sounds consistently cacophonous. This record is dense, but there is gold in them hills for those who take the time to sift. If A Night In Texas leans into the tech, focuses on hooks, and avoids chasing trends, their next record could reach the heights I know they are capable of. For now, The Darkest Side of Humanity stands out as a solid tech-deathcore record, head and shoulders above most of its peers, but the competition is not necessarily fierce.

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Rating: Good
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Instagram
Releases Worldwide: September 4th, 2026

 

The post A Night In Texas – The Darkest Side of Humanity Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Evanescence and Poppy took to the stage together and performed the collaborative hit ‘End Of You’ for the first time in Leeds.

The song was first released in 2025, bringing together Poppy, Amy Lee and Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante for a powerhouse crossover. Three of the most celebrated and wondrous voices in modern metal, all rooting for the same cause and winning in style.

And with Evanescence and Poppy being out on the road together currently, it turned out to be the perfect moment to give it its long-awaited debut.

Taking place at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, Amy and Poppy push each other to the limit, beauty and brutality in equal measure, and the result is spellbinding, to say the least.

You can check out fan footage of the performance below.

The duo are making their way across the UK together, with further support from K.Flay. Here are the dates:

SEPTEMBER

10 – MANCHESTER Co-op Live
11 – BIRMINGHAM Utilita Arena
13 – LONDON The O2

And here is the studio version of ‘End Of You’, just because.

The post WATCH: Amy Lee & Poppy Perform ‘End Of You’ Together For First Time appeared first on Rock Sound.

Reykjavík, Iceland-based slamming death metal band Devine Defilement have released a brand-new single, called “J.E.F.F.”. The track features a guest appearance from vocalist Marcus Jasak of Acranius. Check out the music video below.
Read more…

Norwegian atmospheric folk doom act Abyssic have signed with Soulseller Records. The band have completed recording their upcoming album, Trollsyn, which is scheduled for release in early 2027 via the label.
Read more…

One metal album from the ’90s really breaks through, even ahead of some of the earlier metal records.

The post 5 Reasons This 1990 Metal Album Is the Greatest of All Time appeared first on Audio Ink Radio.

Pink is the colour. Barbie pink, bubble-gum pink, it has so many connotations. Scene Queen, Hannah Collins to her friends, embraces them all. With her new EP ‘Metalicious’ she’s embracing something else too, metal. Over six tracks she’s exploring the heavier side of her sound; Bimbocore never sounded so brutal.

If you haven’t stumbled across Scene Queen her music mixes elements of trap, rock, breakdowns and hardcore, all combined with a glorious wit; what she describes as ‘Bimbocore’. This time, there’s more. You see, inside everyone are two people – or at least, there are inside Hannah Collins – a bubbly motormouth and a darker side. That duality is what she’s exploring here, and it sounds like a type of mania.

The contrast is obvious. On songs like ‘Shopaholic’ or ‘Tracksuit’ her delivery switches between singing and death growls, but that’s not all. The EP is far stranger than that. It takes the pop-adjacent effervescence found on her 2024 album ‘Hot Singles In Your Area’ and wraps it around darker, filthier guitar riffs and punishing breakdowns. While parts of ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’ sound like Linkin Park filtered through a pair of curling tongs, the title track features full-on deathcore (courtesy of Left To Suffer) that stings like hot wax on a very sensitive area. Flipping between these sounds and trap beats, like on ‘Manicure’, gives the songs a sweet & sour flavour that is surprisingly alluring.

Vocally, she favours an interesting trick, repetition. This works remarkably well, especially with the detached way she sings “Ring Ring Ring Ring” as a melody line on ‘Pink Flip Phone’. On ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’ the refrain is clearly a riff on ‘Rest In Peace’ and would be irritating if she didn’t give it momentum by changing the presentation each time. In contrast the repeating phrase “Hittin’ the mosh” on ‘Meltalicious’ is used to create a sense of stasis so that when the huge stampede of deathcore hits it induces a crushing sense of tonal whiplash.

Despite having her tongue firmly wedged in her cheek the lyrics are honest and sexually liberal. There are two ways of looking at the title; Metal-icious or Meta-licious. Both work. Either it’s about Collins wrapping her tongue around the delicious sounds of metal, or about being delightfully metatextual about herself, music and the scene in general. There’s also a third reading by way of the EP’s cover art, which has Collins pictured wearing what look to be a pink pair of Meta’s AI glasses, sometimes dubbed “Pervert Glasses” for their insidious connotations. While it may be a stretch to assume she’s definitely sporting a pair, she is well known for delightfully barbed takedowns of toxic culture – check out her 2024 single ‘18+’ for an indication of how pointed her work can be – and the tone here is no different. It’s almost chaste compared to the in-your-face approach of ‘Hot Singles In Your Area’, but it does feature a song called ‘T!ts Out At Brunch’, which injects a dose of smutty humour.

‘Metalicious’ is a fascinating sonic experiment that swings wildly between irreverent and intense. It’s a gloriously unsubtle EP, like a big, pink patchwork quilt.

IAN KENWORTHY

When it comes to choosing your favourite R.E.M. record, there are many versions of the Athens, Georgia alt-rock heroes to choose from. You could go for the jangly college-rock of their early days or the jaunty expansive anthems of the late 80s, the moody country-fied twangs of Automatic For The People or the experimental grooves of the late 90s? So many R.E.M.s to pick from.

In an interview with this writer in 2021, frontman Michael Stipe said that his favourite from the group who released 17 studio albums before calling it a day in 2011 was one that marked the end of an era because it was the last to feature drummer and co-founder Bill Berry, who left the band in 1997, having collapsed on stage during a gig in Switzerland on March 1, 1995, suffering from a brain aneurysm.

“I never thought of R.E.M. as a “rock band” – I’m going to put that in parentheses,” said Stipe. “I never thought of myself as a rock person. I always felt like I was a punk rocker who was immersing myself into some post-new wave something and through just presenting ourselves as who we were helping to radically spearhead and alter what pop music was going to become from where, certainly from where it was.”

For Stipe, the band’s 1996 album New Adventures In Hi-Fi was the one that really captured what they were all about.

“For [1994 record] Monster, we were having to go on tour and we needed material that wasn’t from Automatic For The People and Out Of Time – we needed big, loud songs and so we wrote a quote-unquote ‘rock record’,” Stipe explained. “But it was very distanced and taking a lot from glam-rock, an ironic distanced version of rock music. New Adventures… might be as close as we came to being a four-piece rock band and I say that with no regret. It was was Bill [Berry, drummer] and Mike [Mills, bassist] and Peter [Buck, guitarist] performing at their very best as a three-piece and me doing what I do on top of that, creating a fearful force.”

New Adventures In Hi-Fi was written and partially recorded on the road as the group embarked on a huge tour to support Monster, the result being a band who are well and truly locked in with each other, the confidence of playing the world’s biggest venues also prompting them to experiment and break new ground.

“Looking back, it does feel like it’s pulling from all through our career,” Stipe said. “I’m so proud of that record.”

Stipe said there was one other R.E.M. album that for him shared the top spot.

“I have two favourite records that we ever put out, one that has joined New Adventures… as my favourite,” he said. “It’s the record Reveal. It’s just my participation. My contribution to those albums is probably my favourite in those two records.”

Bassist Mike Mills also rates New Adventures In Hi-Fi highly.

“It usually takes a good few years for me to decide where an album stands in the pantheon of recorded work we’ve done,” he told MOJO. “This one may be third behind Murmur and Automatic for the People.”

“We got into the studio feeling very happy and relieved that everyone was okay, especially Bill. It brought us all much closer and made us realise how important we are to each other. Once we’d been through a crisis like that [Berry’s collapse from a brain aneurysm on tour], making a record was a piece of cake.

While there will be no new music from R.E.M., Michael Stipe is currently working on his debut solo album.

“I want it to be great, but I’ve got the pressure of having been in R.E.M. and it’s a high bar, because I want this to be as good as that, and that’s near impossible,” he said earlier this year. “So it’s fucking exciting but also terrifying, and I’m doing the music for the first time too, and I think I’m good at it but not great.”