Founder of The Animals, party buddy of Hendrix and Morrisonand hero to Springsteen, Eric Burdon is a bluesman, a rogue and a survivor, and this is his story

The final 2026 FIFA World Cup USA Opening Ceremony went down last night at Inglewood’s Los Angeles Stadium, featuring performances from LISA, Anitta, Tyla, Rema, Future, Dan + Shay, and Purahei Soul. It also had a headlining set from Katy Perry, who was joined by the 10-year-old Norwegian singer Tius Luka for her 143 track “Wonder.”

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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).

The post IRON MAIDEN’s NICKO McBRAIN Announces 17-Date European Spoken-Word Tour In Support Of Upcoming Autobiography “Hello Boys and Girls!” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

As the heat of early summer starts to take hold, March feels like a million years ago (because it was). This means we have to put on our Way-Back hats and recall the things that were rocking our world several months ago. There was a series of killer releases in March, and the voting was heated in the endlessly drab, urine-colored AMG backrooms. As ever, we carefully considered the sentiment of the staffers and tried to make everyone happy, but mostly management (the happy few). Power has privileges.

Belgium’s Ethereal Darkness reemerged from the darkness this year with a massive, monolithic statement on melodic doom-death with second album, Echoes [self-released on March 20th, 2026], and it fried my little ape mind. Borrowing from the greats like Rapture and Insominium, the band set out to weave enthralling, melancholic tapestries sure to ensnare the sadboi. Opening an album with an 11-minute magnum opus is always risky, but Ethereal Darkness use it to dunk you in the darkness and force you to love the negative emotions. Echoes is a large-scale dose of majestic, mighty, and miserable doom, and I’m still enjoying it as a grandiose mood piece all these months later. As I wisely summed up back in March, “This is a sumptuous feast for the ears and mind, and I get the feeling I’ll be spending a lot of time with this over the next few months. Ethereal Darkness are about to get a lot more attention in the metalverse, and they deserve it.” Adopt THIS darkness.

The Silver // Looking Glass of Hymnal Blue [March 20th, 2026 | Gilead Media | Bandcamp] — Made up of members of Horrendous and Crypt Sermon, The Silver is a strange project specializing in a blend of atmospheric Goth, post, black, and progressive influences. Their sophomore outing, Looking Glass of Hymnal Blue, finds them honing their sound and tightening up how the various elements work together. The overall balance that the band finds here is what makes the album such a pleasure to drink in. There’s a sense of grand melody and theatricality to the material, but this is still extreme music with jagged edges that can draw blood. Harsh and clean vocals collide as the music rises and falls in intensity, with creative ideas dotting the landscape. As Saunders enthusiastically gushed, ” Taking their time with this second opus, the payoff is grand, and The Silver’s welcome return suggests this project is here for the long haul.”

Hellripper // Coronach [March 27th, 2026 | Century Media Records | Bandcamp] — The blackened speed maniacs in Hellripper roared back into the fray with their Venom-meets-Motorhead –Darkthone brand of lightning insanity. The thrashy fury and straight-ahead attitude spice the technically sharp guitar work, and the all gas-no brakes mentality drives things off a cliff into a funeral pyre. But it isn’t all just crash and burn here despite the vibrant punk energy undergirding the material. Grin Reaper smiled and said the following about Coronach: “If lethargy creeps in or your mouth runs dry from a chronic deficit of Vitamin R, just take one to two doses of Coronach (by ear) and wait for Hellripper’s restorative fix to kick in.” Cheap speed thrills 4 sale!

 

 

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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).

The post EX-SEPULTURA Guitarist JAIRO GUEDZ On SEPULTURA’s Final Show: “It’s The End Of A Very Beautiful History — If ANDREAS KISSER Wants Me To Be Part Of That, It Will Be My Pleasure” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

The Pyramid are a five‑piece from Helsinki, formed in 2018 after the progressive rock band Ruhler Sloinc came to an abrupt end following the sudden passing of their virtuoso guitarist, Rudi, due to an undiagnosed heart condition. 

“Upside Down” is the name of their new single, a song in between a few genres, with a big melodic hook and a catchy chorus. It carries the weight of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, with a hint of Black Sabbath and a psychedelic, old-school twist in the middle that brings Pink Floyd to mind. 

Canadian death-groove outfit Pythonic have officially unleashed their brutal new single, “Set You Free”. The track stands as the sophomore promotional taste of their upcoming third EP, Laws of Karma, which is scheduled to drop on physical and digital formats on 10th July 2026. The single arrives as a direct and confrontational strike against organized … Continue reading Saskatoon’s Pythonic unleash groove-driven new single “Set You Free”

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Ontario-based punk rock trio Among Legends have officially unleashed their brand-new single, “Floating Here For Years”. Released on 12th June 2026, the track stands as the sophomore promotional taste of their upcoming full-length studio album, Lose My Grip, which is scheduled to land on physical and digital shelves on 10th July 2026. Following up on … Continue reading Among Legends return with reflective new melodic punk single “Floating Here For Years”