Christian rock veterans Skillet has released “Scream,” an explosive new single accompanied by an official music video directed by Josiah “JOSIAHx” Moore. The track serves as the first glimpse of a new creative era for the band, with frontman John Cooper confirming additional releases are planned for later this year.
Cooper described returning to Memphis for the sessions: “We went back to Memphis and worked with a producer who knew the band before we’d made our first record. Life has taken some great turns, but it’s also taken some painful turns. Now we’re here, and we still have more of a story to tell. The music kept getting heavier, and I said, ‘We’ve got to go all in.’”
On the lyrical theme of the single, Cooper explained: “I don’t think I’m the only one who’s noticing the volatility of the world and how social media is a cesspool where people are constantly yelling at each other. It’s not helping anyone’s mental health. In this landscape, it’s easy to feel like nothing matters. ‘Scream’ is about wanting your life to matter when the world feels chaotic and overwhelming.”
The single’s debut coincides with the announcement of the “Comatose: 20 Years, Still Screaming Tour,” celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the landmark 2006 record. Cooper said: “When we released our 2006 album Comatose, we all had a feeling that we were making something special. What we didn’t know is that the album would change the trajectory of the band’s career. It defined our sound, our message, and propelled the band into a much bigger level of notoriety. But most importantly, it resonated with all kinds of people from all walks of life. At every show, someone tells me that this record helped them through the darkest times of their life. That is why we wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Comatose by doing something we have never done — commemorating the album by dedicating a large portion of the show to these songs that are so meaningful to the band and so many others. Some of them we have played a thousand times. Others we have never played. We are excited to perform them alongside our catalog on this once-in-a-lifetime tour.”
“Scream” received its live debut on May 14 at Arena 8888 in Sofia, Bulgaria, during Skillet’s European headline run, which sold out across 23 cities and drew more than 90,000 total attendees — the band’s largest international audiences to date. The release also arrives on the heels of a major streaming milestone: their six-times-platinum anthem “Monster” has crossed four billion global streams, earning a place in Spotify’s Billions Club as the only song by a Christian artist to reach one billion streams on the platform.
At the end of 2025, Skillet released its first-ever Christmas recording, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” which reached No. 1 on five Billboard charts. With more than 23 million albums sold worldwide, more than 12 million monthly Spotify listeners, 12 RIAA-certified singles and four certified albums, the band has earned two Grammy Award nominations, a Billboard Music Award, and three Top 5 debuts on the Billboard 200.
On July 17, Fantastic Negrito will release his live album Alive! Having won three previous Grammys, this record feels likely to earn him his fourth. It’s a nearly perfect live album, the best record I’ve reviewed this year for Blues Rock Review.
The music is incredible: feeling like a marriage of James Brown’s funk and Led Zeppelin’s metal. The album was recorded from live performances in Italy, the US, Switzerland, and the UK. The music is by turns heavy metal, funky grooves, jazzy progressive rock, gospel, and soulful blues. The lyrical themes range from dire warnings about the state of the world to sad heartbreaking laments, to juvenile rhyming jokes. The scale of the music never feels anything less than epic, whether the song is slow and mournful or fast and growling. It’s eclectic, energetic, and it rips.
The band is made up of Fantastic Negrito himself on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Bryan Simmons on keys and backing vocals, Clark Sims on lead guitar and backing vocals, Lily Stern on bass and backing vocals, and James Small on drums. Every player shines bright here, especially on “In the Pines,” where nearly everyone gets a moment.
At 15 tracks, the record is longer than many recent releases in the blues rock genre, but at no point does it overextend its welcome. Formally, only one track (track 11, “Eat Less Sugar”) is designated as an interlude, but the sixth track “In the Pines” (over ten minutes of mostly instrumental riffing that veers wildly from jazz to old school country to prog rock to gospel) and the fourteenth track “The Duffler,” which feels like a very short (less than two minutes) Zeppelin song. Every single song is unique, distinct, and perfect. As the kids say, no skips.
If I had to pick favorites, I adored “Living With Strangers” for its big bold metal chords, scat-style vocal riffing, and sultry grudge-holding blues, to say nothing of the Black Sabbath rendition about two-thirds into the track. “I Hope Somebody’s Loving You” is also an all-timer, a big soul ballad that feels nothing like the rest of the record, more Chi-Lites than the Funk/Metal vibe the rest of the album cultivates. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the closing track “Please Computer,” a real barn burner of a song that builds intensity throughout to an explosive conclusion.
Alive! Perfectly shows off exactly the creativity, talent, and spirit that made Fantastic Negrito a multi-Grammy winner. A definite top record of 2026 to date, an absolute can’t miss album that will thrill any blues rocker.
The Review: 10/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– Honest Man – Bullshit Anthem – I Hope Somebody’s Loving You – Living With Strangers
Triumph drummer/vocalist Gil Moore has reflected on the legendary Canadian rock trio’s recently completed 50th-anniversary comeback tour — the band’s first in more than 30 years — in a new interview with Jimmy Kay of Canada’s The Metal Voice.
For the 2026 run, Triumph’s original members Moore and singer/guitarist Rik Emmett were joined by guitarist Phil X, drummer and keyboardist Brent Fitz and bassist Todd Kerns. Original Triumph bassist Mike Levine did not participate in any of the 2026 tour dates after revealing in December 2025 that he has “a problem” with his hand that “precludes” him “from being able to really play well.”
Asked about the fan response to the Triumph reunion tour, Moore said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “The feedback we got was unbelievable. When the tour started, there were those fans who were, like, ‘Bring it on. Can’t wait. Any version of Triumph is great by me.’ And then some were the naysayers that were, ‘Rik’s not gonna show up. Gil’s not gonna show up. They’re gonna mail it in,’ or something, or, ‘It’s gonna be all on tape.’ All of which was baloney, because we proved them all wrong. And one show at a time, they just got knocked down like bowling pins. And you can see the social media — anybody can see the social media — it’s 99.99% positive. The only guy that was upset couldn’t get a parking spot. So that was a big change. And it’s a confidence booster for us.”
Moore continued: “From the stage, you could see people crying. You could see people cheering and crying. It was very much like a family reunion, is what this tour was. And I think it shocked a lot of people that the band was playing at the level that we were now capable of playing at, and that we had no backup tapes. Everything was live. Nothing was mailed in. Everything was real. So the result was — it was pretty incredible.”
“I’ve been around Rik Emmett my whole life. I’ve never, ever seen him as happy as on this tour,” Gil added. “It’s written all over his face. You can see it a mile away. And I was backstage with him, hugging him, and he’s like a kid. He’s so excited. Even the guys in [support act] April Wine were excited for us because they could see this thing going on.”
Describing how the tour grew stronger as the run progressed, with early shows in Florida requiring some recalibration before the band hit its stride, Moore offered a vivid analogy: “The way I see the tour, it’s kind of like when you go to get your lawnmower for the first time in the spring to cut the grass, and you forgot to drain the gas out of it. It’s got stale gas in it. You didn’t clean the underside. It’s still got some grass clippings from last year. And you try to start the thing up, and it’s, like, — it’s got a rough go. You finally get the thing going, and it’s kind of coughing and sputtering. That was kind of the rock and roll machine getting going. And no matter how many rehearsals we had at [Moore’s recording studio] Metalworks, there’s no comparison to being on a big stage. And when we were playing in Florida, every now and then we’d look at each other, and the look was, ‘Do you know where I am? Do I know where you are?’ And so there was this, I’ll call it the look of uncertainty.
“And also a little bit of comedy in there because it would be, like, ‘Oh my God. The rollercoaster’s going and the seatbelt’s loose.’ And then we came to Sault Ste. Marie [in Ontario on April 22]… And so we got it sort of settled down, put fresh gas in the tank, and all of a sudden it was like… We had new sound guys — boom, big change in Sault Ste. Marie. Then we come down and we play Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and TD Coliseum in Hamilton, of course, and then cross the border. So by the time we hit Chicago and we’re going in the Midwest through St. Louis, Kansas City, and stuff, all of a sudden things are starting to cook. And then by the time we get into Texas, it’s boiling. It’s on fire now. So it was a jelling of the musicians, a blowing off of some cobwebs, I’ll say, or just not having adequate rehearsal time or whatever. But, yeah, once it got going, it was like a well-tuned machine,” Moore added.
Asked about the possibility of more dates in the coming months, Moore said: “Well, we figured out that we’re capable of it. I kind of look at it like this: in sports, the thing that kills sports teams is a bad dressing room. And you look at a lot of these bands that are out there, and they can’t get along with each other. Or the wives can’t get along. Triumph’s the opposite. So we’ve got a super dressing room where everyone is… It’s a mutual admiration society, I suppose you’d call it. Everyone gets along great. Everyone’s got a great sense of humor, which is imperative. Everyone likes pyro, which is mandatory. Yeah, it couldn’t be any better in the dressing room. And then family support — I mean, we’ve got family support like no band out there. And that’s why I say that the fans [are] just a part of the extended family. So, when they ask us to do shows, yeah, I suppose it depends on a lot of things, what we might do in the future. We’re definitely gonna do another [documentary] film, so that’s already partially in the can. So that’s gonna be neat, to have another doc out there. And I think we’ll probably play some more shows, but until they’re locked in and everyone’s in agreement, I don’t wanna start shooting my mouth off.”
On the subject of the upcoming documentary — a follow-up to 2022’s Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine — Moore told The Metal Voice: “The first documentary doesn’t answer ‘what now?’ It sort of culminates in the superfan fest, I’ll call it, at Metalworks, and the guys ride off into the sunset, and it’s, like, who knows? There’s no end to this. And I’ve been saying for 25 years, like, ‘I’m not going back on the road with Triumph. That will never happen.’ And I was 100% serious when I said that. And Rik said more or less the same thing too. Like, ‘I’m not going back out on the road.’ Even his own solo career, he retired. ‘I’m not playing anymore.’ So neither one of us were looking like anything was gonna happen. But the fluke in all this — well, it’s a series of flukes. I mean, the fluke number one was just the thing that happened in the hockey playoffs [when Phil X, Fitz and Kerns played with Gil and Rik on June 6, 2025 at the Rogers Festival At The Final, a free outdoor concert in the ICE District ahead of Game 2 of the 2025 Stanley Cup final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada]… But what that sparked, of course, was a lot of interest from fans and a lot of speculation. And then Live Nation all of a sudden plotted a tour and said, ‘We really need to do this,’ which I still thought was probably not gonna happen and was probably… I don’t know. What band takes two and a half decades off and then starts playing again? Nobody does that, right? But we did. So, that’s funny that we were able to do that. I think it’s kind of like when we first went to America and we said we were gonna headline every show from day one. And everyone that knew what they were doing said, ‘You guys are crazy. That’ll never work.’ And we made it work.”
Elaborating on what the second documentary will cover, Moore said: “I think it would be like having a seat, an insider seat, and seeing what was going on — seeing the uncertainty and having to put together the whole concept of double drums on a double drum riser and what that entailed and the incredible job that Brent did with that. Or my journey back into performing.”
“This is the thing — maybe the band wasn’t performing [during those two and a half decades], but Rik was performing,” Moore explained. “He was performing as a solo artist all this time. I wasn’t. So, I was never concerned about Rik. I knew his playing is great. He’s gonna be fine. As long as he feels good, and as long as his health is solid, he’s gonna be great. The other guys are obviously great. So I was most concerned about myself. So it documents, I think, each person’s journey. I think Rik, it wasn’t his playing, but I think there was still a lot of apprehension, a lot of uncertainty, like, ‘Should I do this? Should I not do this?’ I think it’s that, ‘Does she love me? Does she hate me?’ kind of stuff that we do to ourselves.”
Moore confirmed the Metalworks team documented everything from the very beginning: “I said, like, ‘Win, lose or draw, even if this ship sinks in the harbor before it ever leaves, we’re gonna film the whole thing.’ And so maybe the end of Triumph is the ship sinks.”
“I don’t think anybody could have forecast how well it went,” Moore continued. “And then in the venues, as you saw, the fan reaction, people were just standing up the whole show… And then we didn’t play any shows where there wasn’t this kind of massive excitement, and it was all, ‘I think that was better than yesterday.’ Every show was better than yesterday when really they weren’t. They were all the same. It was very enlightening, I think, for all of us to see how this five-piece version of Triumph worked, the splitting up of the drums so that we effectively have Brent playing keyboards and just Gil playing drums, or we have Gil singing out front and Brent playing drums, or we have Gil and Brent both playing drums and Rik or Phil or Todd singing out front. So it was kind of this relay race of… It’s just a different setup than any band I’ve ever played in.”
Formed in Mississauga in 1975, Triumph rose from playing high school auditoriums and rock ‘n’ roll bars to selling out iconic arenas, including Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens and Reunion Arena in Dallas. Their virtuosic musicianship, soaring vocals, and high-production live shows helped define an era of arena rock, blending hard rock power with progressive ambition. Triumph has sold over 15 million albums worldwide and performed at landmark events including the 1983 US Festival before 500,000 fans, with hits such as “Lay It on the Line,” “Magic Power,” and “Fight The Good Fight.” Emmett quit Triumph acrimoniously in 1988 over music and business disputes and was estranged from the other members for 18 years before they repaired their relationship.
The band’s return to the road followed a defining period for Triumph’s legacy. In June 2025, “Magic Power: All-Star Tribute To Triumph” was released via Round Hill Records, featuring contributions from Phil X, Sebastian Bach, Slash, Nancy Wilson, Joey Belladonna, Dee Snider, Alex Lifeson and others, produced by Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Whitesnake). Triumph was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame in October 2025, adding to existing membership in the Canadian Music Industry Hall Of Fame (2007), the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame (2008) and Canada’s Walk Of Fame (2019).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Starved of Light Unleashes Crushing New Single “Cut Into Moonlight”
Atlanta Melodic Technical Death Metal Force Returns With Another Devastating Anthem Produced by Josh Curl at True Fiction Audio
ATLANTA, GA – Atlanta’s rising melodic technical death metal outfit Starved of Light continues its relentless ascent with the release of their brand-new single, “Cut Into Moonlight,” available now on all major streaming platforms. Following the critical underground response to their debut album Into Early Mourning on Dark Sails Entertainment, the band returns with another emotionally charged and technically blistering offering that pushes their sound even further into the darkness.
🎧 Stream “Cut Into Moonlight” Now: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/starvedoflight1/cut-into-moonlight
🎵 Bandcamp: https://starvedoflight.bandcamp.com/
Produced, mixed, and mastered by Josh Curl at True Fiction Audio , “Cut Into Moonlight” showcases Starved of Light’s signature blend of razor-sharp musicianship, punishing riffs, soaring melodies, and unrelenting aggression. The new single explores themes of loss, isolation, and the struggle to find meaning in the shadows, delivering a powerful listening experience that balances technical precision with raw emotional weight.
Fans of The Black Dahlia Murder , Job for a Cowboy , and Revocation will find plenty to love as Starved of Light continues forging its own identity within the modern extreme metal landscape.
About Starved of Light
Formed in late 2024, Starved of Light brings together four veterans of Atlanta’s extreme metal scene:
Tim Jones (vocals) – Leaf Blower, All American Organ Grinder
Josh Kerston (guitars) – Burning Palace, Abattoir
Robbie Cook (drums) – All American Organ Grinder, Abattoir
Elliott Stotler (bass) – Coat Hanger Abortion, Abattoir
Drawing from years of experience in the underground, the band combines melodic intensity, technical mastery, and emotionally driven songwriting into a sound that is both ferocious and unforgettable.
What’s Next
With “Cut Into Moonlight” now streaming worldwide, Starved of Light is preparing to bring its devastating live performance to audiences while continuing work on new material. Fans can expect more music, videos, and live announcements in the months ahead as the band continues building momentum.
For interviews, review requests, promo materials, or additional information, contact:
Zach Moonshine Metal Devastation PR zach@metaldevastationradio.com
Check out the video:
For updates, music releases, and more, connect with Starved of Light:
https://www.instagram.com/starved.of.light https://www.facebook.com/Abattoir.atl.metal https://starvedoflight.bandcamp.com/ https://darksailsentertainment.com/
Contact: starvedoflightbooking@gmail.com
Three decades after recording his take on “Without You”, Steelheart frontman Miljenko Matijevic has finally decided the time is right to release it.
The song, originally recorded in 1996, remained in the vault while other versions of the Badfinger classic found worldwide success. That same year, Mariah Carey‘s rendition topped the charts in more than a dozen countries, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the European Hot 100, and finished as the seventh best-selling single of the year in the U.K. At the time, Matijevic had already established himself with Steelheart through songs like “She’s Gone” and “I’ll Never Let You Go (Angel Eyes)”, but chose to hold back his own recording.
Now available, Steelheart‘s version of “Without You” features a 40-piece orchestra and what Matijevic describes as “the most emotional vocal he’s ever captured on tape.”
The release follows the band’s Steelheart 30 campaign, marking 30 years since Steelheart‘s self-titled debut arrived on July 10, 1990. The album sold 33,000 copies on its first day in Japan, eventually earned platinum certification, and reached No. 40 on the Billboard 200.
Meanwhile, the band’s signature ballad “She’s Gone” spent 17 weeks at No. 1 on international charts and has now surpassed 278 million streams on Spotify. The track also recently received a 30th-anniversary orchestral video, available on YouTube.
“Without You” was written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger and first appeared on the band’s 1970 album No Dice. The song later became a major hit through versions by HarryNilsson, Air Supply, and Mariah Carey. Matijevic’s recording now gives fans the interpretation he completed nearly 30 years ago.
The release also continues a busy period for Steelheart, which has included Steelheart 30, featuring re-recordings, remixes, and orchestral versions of the band’s music, as well as a limited pressing of 500 signed and numbered vinyl copies. More recently, Matijevic teamed up with Tesla vocalist Jeff Keith for a cover of Foghat‘s “I Just Wanna Make Love To You”.
Born in Zagreb, Croatia, Matijevic moved to the United States at the age of six and has remained a recognizable voice in hard rock for more than 30 years. Beyond leading Steelheart, he provided the singing voice for Mark Wahlberg‘s character in the film “Rock Star” and later performed with The Doors, sharing the stage with Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger. His career continued after recovering from the serious injuries he suffered during a 1992 stage accident.
Looking ahead, Matijevic is also preparing a new original hard rock project with Niclas Englin of The Halo Effect and former In Flames guitarist. More details are expected to be announced during 2026.
This is the second album from US death metallers Thætas. Across 31 minutes of bone-crushing death metal The Irredeemable Age stomps and rages its way into the world. Brought to us by members of Asystole, Buckshot Facelift, and Reeking Aura, Thætas dish out the punishment in no uncertain terms. Thætas offer up a compelling mix … Continue reading “Thætas – The Irredeemable Age (Review)”
This was my tenth year attending Tons of Rock Festival in Norway, and it is always one of my favourite trips of the year. For the first few years, the festival took place in an actual fortress atop a hill in Halden, but more recently it has been located in Ekebergsletta in Oslo. The festival … Continue reading Festival Review: Tons Of Rock 2026 Day 1 – Oslo, Norway (24th June 2026)