Category: news

Track List:

1. Juno in Furs / The Rape of Paris
2. Scumbag
3. Woe to Thee, Alexandria
4. 一億玉砕
5. Valhalla's Edge
6. marisa.wav (Pink Noise Mix)

Review

Flowers For Juno is a solo project driven by Benjó James who performs vocals, instrumentals, and production himself. Their first single “Physical Culture” was released in 2023 and now, their most recent release “Pink Noise” was released on October 21st.

The 6 track EP starts with Juno In Furs / The Rape of Paris which introduces itself with dark, swelling synth bass as an ominous sound is built. The synth rises and continues by itself before cutting away to reveal some eerie tape distorted breathing noises before bringing back a more gentle, melodic synth soundscape. Building an atmospheric instrumental track to introduce the album.

“Scumbag“ brings the energy up as booming drums, fuzz-driven guitar tones, and dark synths work together to create a sludgy soundscape. From the very beginning of the album, Flowers For Juno’s synthwave, shoegaze, and metal influences are clear as evolving synthscapes and distorted guitar tones build powerful atmospheres with depth.

“Woe to Thee, Alexandria” starts with guest vocals from Zarina Saidova that soar through the mix with a style that reminds me of Arabian vocals. The mix of ritualistic middle eastern-style singing and deep synth bass create a very haunting sound that feels almost like a psychedelic trip gone-bad which instills a unique feeling in the listener.

Next is “一億玉砕” which starts with screeching guitar feedback and distorted synths creating an off-putting sound as distant electric guitar fills the background. Flowers For Juno build a sound that feels more industrial than melodic and definitely takes on a very experimental feel before fading out with a talking sample.

“Valhalla’s Edge” starts with more sludgy guitar distortion, as multiple tracks of low guitar blend together with occasional higher screeches. The song continues at that pace for 9 minutes before what sounds like distorted adult content audio fades out the song. “Valhalla’s Edge” feels more like an experimental soundtrack designed to be uncomfortable and creepy than a song.

“marisa.wav” sounds more like the Flowers For Juno that I’ve heard before with distant, distorted singing vocals, bright melodic synths, and upbeat guitar. I think it was good to put in a song that feels more melodic and bright to contrast the very dark nature of the rest of the album so far. The track closes the album with more distorted talking and ambience but this time with a happier synth behind it, feeling more uplifting than the previous songs.

Overall, much of “Pink Noise” felt more like an experience than music, which I think was a very distinct sound. Flowers For Juno created something that felt dark, eerie, and instilled strong emotions in the listener before ending with a song in their signature synthwave, shoegaze rock type style.

You can stream “Pink Noise” available on all platforms now.

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Find Them Here: Spotify

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South Wales hard rock outfit Scarlet Rebels have shared their anthemic new single and video, “God’s Honest Truth”, offering a final preview of their anticipated new full-length album, Flawed By Design, due on 13th November via Earache Records. To mark the release, the band have lined up an extensive run of UK in-store appearances alongside … Continue reading News: Scarlet Rebels release new single “God’s Honest Truth” ahead of album ‘Flawed By Design’, UK dates kick off soon!

More than eight years separate AGRIMONIA’s forthcoming fifth album from its predecessor. Awaken arrived through Southern Lord in January 2018; the next chapter, Of the Shadows, is scheduled for 11 December 2026 via De Records. The six-track record opens with ‘In the Silence Engraved’, which is now available as its first preview. Recording, mixing and […]

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The post Kacey Musgraves Announces <em>Middle Of Nowhere Vol. 2: Tex Mex Tapes</em>: Hear Two Tracks appeared first on Stereogum.

Britain has always been quite an influential place for metalcore. Be it Brighton’s Architects, Southampton’s Bury Tomorrow, Sheffield’s While She Sleeps or Bring Me The Horizon, English “-core” has always been a force to be reckoned with. All of the bands above have had storied careers, playing stadiums and festivals all around the world, but … Continue reading Gig Review: Acres / Wayside / What Lies Below / Lifespark – Rebellion, Manchester (16th October 2026)

Review by Bob Keeley

Since 1993 when the release of Journey of the Dunaden marked the debut of the mostly-studio band Glass Hammer, the albums produced by Steve Babb and Fred Schendel, along with a rotating cast of other singers and players, have focused on storytelling. Of their 22 previous studio albums (depending on how you count), at least 16 of them are concept albums, most telling a story. The earlier albums were inspired by existing stories from the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis but soon they (primarily Babb) began creating their own, even going so far as writing books to flesh out the stories even more.

Here we are, 33 years later, and Babb continues to carry the Glass Hammer banner. While Schendel has been less involved in the last few albums, he doesn’t appear on this album at all. Last year, Babb had surgery to have a brain tumor removed (he is doing fine now) and that process unleashed a creative surge. Over the years, as one would expect with an artist with this sort of longevity, the sound of the band has shifted this way and that, fueled in part by changing musicians with whom the band was working but also with the desire to have the music fit the story Babb wanted to tell. That is especially true on their new album, Black Light.

Glass Hammer likes to present big, bold stories but always with a twinkle in their eye and, often, a joke lurking in the background. This time, the jokes are a little more evident. Babb has created a fantasy story about a musician who gets pulled into a black light poster in a rehearsal room that takes him on a journey that involves meeting some of the characters that have populated previous Glass Hammer albums. Perhaps, facing serious surgery caused Babb to want to look back a bit. But Black Light is no nostalgia trip.

The first two tracks, “I Stared at it Too Long” and “Lost Horizons,” set the stage by putting our protagonist in a dream world. The first track is a brief non-melodic introduction, but by the time we get to “Lost Horizons” we realize that Babb is having fun with us. Much like Ian Anderson made fun of prog while producing an excellent prog album in Thick as a Brick, Black Light treads the same ground, both being very prog while poking fun at itself and the genre. For example, much like early prog, many of these tracks are titled with multiple sections and with a wink that shows that Babb knows exactly what he is doing.

The first part of this track is titled “Part 1. Concept album excess – it begins.” Gone is the heavy sound of the Skallagrim Trilogy and we find ourselves in classic Glass Hammer territory with melodic keys and guitars supporting a strong vocal melody featuring new singer Christopher Galen. One surprise for longtime fans is that Schendel was apparently not the only good keyboardist in the original duo. Babb, who played bass in the band’s occasional concerts, handles all the keyboard duties on Black Light with aplomb. Ferran Ligero handles the electric guitar duties nicely as well.

Track 3, “Evermore” features a nice ongoing guitar riff and allusions to the sorcerer from the album “On to Evermore.” During the middle jam section, flute gives a nice textural shift to the song. (I assume this is a flute sound played on keys since no one is credited with playing flute.) Nice three part Beach-Boy-esque background vocals help to reinforce the sixties feel to the theme of this album.

The ten-minute “Return to the Shadowlands” references both the album Shadowlands and the first section of the song (with the subtitle “Strangely Familiar to Fans”) which includes a reference to “The Morning She Woke,” from what many fans consider their best album, The Inconsolable Secret. The second section is more laid back but features another memorable melody with singer Trevor Laake featured on this track. His voice makes a nice change from Galen’s. The track builds in intensity as we approach the end of this track as Laake sings “I thought to cherish our walks in the garden,’ again with a nod to The Inconsolable Secret. This is a fun track and an early highlight.

Next we come to a trio of instrumental tracks with over thirteen minutes of music at the heart of this album. In “Neon Wizard – the Battle,” the first of these instrumental tracks, Ligero’s guitar and Babb’s keys trade riffs and Drummer Ken Kristiansen is particularly noticeable. This track is reminiscent of the epic finale of Arise, although it could just be Glass Hammer sounding like Glass Hammer. Next, we move to another instrumental, the moody track, “The Forest of Forgetting” and then to “The Persistence of Memory.” A delay-infused guitar riff drives this final instrumental piece with nice Hammond organ playing from Babb.

We come out of these moody and varied instrumental tracks and on to “Mercury Rain,” featuring the lovely voice of Olivia Tharpe, who we heard in their previous album, Rogue. I wish there was more of Tharpe’s voice on this album as it is a real highlight. On an album with lots of memorable melodies, “Mercury Rain” has perhaps the most memorable hook. This is followed by the short track “It Falls Upside Down” featuring spoken words over another moody backdrop. The finale, “Kaleidoscope Eyes,” brings the album to a stirring conclusion with both Galen and Laake swapping lead vocals. Lots of cool instrumental sections in this song once again giving Babb’s organ and Ligero’s guitar a chance to come to the front.

The music on Black Light is varied and inventive and can be appreciated without any reference to the story, but the story is fun and adds another layer of enjoyment to the music. Long-time fans, though, are rewarded with Easter Eggs referencing other Glass Hammer albums going back over 30 years. Steve Babb manages to continue to find new inspiration and talented new collaborators as Glass Hammer’s fourth decade looks every bit as interesting as their first three. Black Light is evidence that Glass Hammer is still a band to pay attention to as they deliver a superb example of how prog can reference the past while looking forward.

Released on Nov. 6th, 2026

1. I Stared At It Too Long
2. Lost Horizons
3. Evermore
4. Return To The Shadowlands
5. Neon-Wizard – The Battle
6. The Forest Of Forgetting
7. The Persistence Of memory
8. Mercury Rain
9. It Falls Upside Down
10. Kaleidoscope Skies

Christopher Galen – Lead & backing vocals
Trevor Laake – Lead & backing vocals
Olivia Tharpe – Lead & backing vocals
erran Ligero – Lead & rhythm guitar
Ken Kristiansen – Drums Oliver Day – Acoustic guitar
Steve Babb – Keyboards, bass, percussion and backing vocals

Order only at glasshammer.com, and will ship ahead of the November 6 world release.

The post Glass Hammer – Black Light (Album Review) appeared first on The Prog Report.

The post <em>The Black Parade</em> Turns 20 appeared first on Stereogum.

Krzysiek Śniadecki and Karolina “Keira” Dziewońska drew on more than one broken relationship when writing GODSLUT’s “The Art Of Deconstruction”. Their approach was to gather the heartbreaks they had experienced and reshape those memories into a coherent song. The title track from the Polish band’s second album now has a video shot and edited by […]

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Live Review: Blaze Bayley – Waterloo Bar, Blackpool

11th October 2026
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Rich Price 

It was only a couple of years ago that I was at this very venue watching the other Other Maiden singer smash out a superb set of his era-classics. Sadly, Paul Di’Anno passed away shortly after, but he left us with a reminder of those glorious early years.

Blaze’s situation was different to Paul’s in that Maiden were the biggest metal band of the Eighties and music had begun to change, first with Grunge and then with the Nu influences coming out of the US. The Nineties were anything but a purple-patch for the legacy bands we all grew up with: Priest had lost Halford to a solo career, Sabbath and Dio had parted company again after Dehumaniser, and even the likes of Metallica were having an identity crisis with the Load / Reload combination.

History hasn’t been particularly kind to the Blaze albums, but I’ve grown fond of The X Factor over the years and, while Virtual XI isn’t a go-to recorded from the back-catalogue for me, but neither is No Prayer for the Dying. I saw Blaze on both of his tours with Iron Maiden and had seen Wolfsbane more times than I’ve had hot dinners back in the day, so it wasn’t as though they’d plucked him from obscurity.

Mr B has been regular visitor to FY4 over the years and to bring this 30 Year Anniversary show to the coast was a real treat. A little like the Heaven &Hell shows between 2007 and 2009, it allowed Blaze to focus on his contribution to the Maiden legacy.

Goes without saying the UFO’s Doctor Doctor is the intro tape, second single from The X Factor, Lord of the Flies’ edgy early section finds Blaze stalking the stage like a character in the Ed Hunter game. If anyone was under the impression that this era of the band was a second thought, just listen to the singalong. Man on the Edge b-side, Justice of the Peace is an unexpected addition, custom-made to suit Blaze’s vocal style, but maybe not fitting into the overall melancholic dark atmosphere of the album.

Judgement of Heaven and Blood on the World’s hands showed mid-nineties Maiden to be mature and serious, Absolva and former Iced Earth bassist, Luke Appleton, replicating Mr Harris’ ominous four-string intro. Look for the Truth takes us into the first of two Blaze-solo era duos, the first being taken from the millennial debut, Silicone Messiah; Born as a Stranger and The Brave took me back more than any of the Maiden material as my mate Paul never seemed to not be listening to this record back then. The remnants of Virtual XI can certainly be heard throughout and, if proof were needed the first 1998 track, Lightning Strikes Twice, which Absolva guitar partners, Chris Appleton and Tom Atkinson manage with aplomb.

My personal favourite tune from nineties Iron Maiden is The X Factor’s opening epic, Sign of the Cross, which gets a mid-set airing. Different from the version Bruce and co played on the Legacy of the Beast shows, missing some of the gothic theatrics, but there’s only so much can be achieved in a small bar verses a mammoth arena. No matter, it’s still an awesome song in and of itself, and always great to hear live.

A second diversion into solo material territory comes from 2016’s Infinite Entanglement, the galloping Calling You Home and A Thousand Years prove Blaze’s post-Maiden quality has remained high across the decades. Virtual XI’s When Two Worlds Collide always felt a bit by the numbers to me, but the following The Clansman is a bone-fide classic, epic in scope and superbly handled by Absolva, calls of ‘Freedom’ filling the Waterloo – from who? Don’t care, we just want freedom… 2am slows things down to with a song that suits Blaze’s lower baritone vocal and concluded the 1995 record on a sombre note.

Virtual XI’s closing moment, Como Estais Amigos still stands as one of Maiden’s best kept secrets in my opinion and is given a warm reception and a tear-eyed appreciation. Best of the Beast’s single, Virus, arrived in 1996 and fit into the band’s then interest in all things digital. The Paul-era is represented with the punky Wrathchild, which is greeted like a long-lost friend. The Falling Down-inspired Man on the Edge, The X Factor’s first single drops and voices are raised for that killer chorus; Chris and Tom appear to be having a whale of a time with those conversing guitar parts and the familiar Maiden gallop rumbles along at full tilt.

Futureal barrels along with the tradition of blasting album openers like Be Quick or Be Dead, Aces High and Tailgunner; bristling before the heavy hitters come along. There’s a break from the Iron Maiden with a combination of Steve Harris’ admitted influences of UFO and Thin Lizzy, as well as a heap of soloing from Absolva themselves.

The much-maligned The Angel and the Gambler closes the set out, leaving one to wonder why all the hate for this one?

Blaze’s Maiden experience was probably never meant to be permanent, with the relationship between the band and Mr Dickinson being too strong to easily break. As evidenced by the appearance at Eddfest in the summer, Blaze is a part of the legacy of the beast and his contribution stands as testimony to that.

And to anyone who is disparaging to that legacy I simply ask: How many Iron Maiden records did you sing on? That works on everyone, except Bruce Dickinson!

Photo credits: Rich Price 

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The post Live Review: Blaze Bayley – Blackpool appeared first on The Razor's Edge.

Posted on October 23rd 2026, 3:00pm