All summer, the prolific traditionalist country star Charley Crockett has been embroiled in controversy stemming from his decision to drop the opening act from a pair of his shows. The band in question was Twin Temple, a Satanism-themed retro rock duo comprising married couple Alexandra and Zachary James, whose new album Doomed Lovers was produced by Crockett’s close collaborator Shooter Jennings.
Gulf Coast Records [Release date : 28.08.26] Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductee and 2026 Blues Music Award winner Kevin Burt’s ‘This Trip’ digs deep into his reserves, for 10 emotionally charged songs given real weight by his big sounding … Continue reading →
Time To Kill Records has landed one of the underground’s most durable thrash institutions, officially bringing Whiplash into the fold. The New Jersey lifers, fronted by longtime frontman Tony Portaro, have spent over four decades grinding it out in thrash’s trenches, and the new deal puts a proper spotlight on a band that’s rarely gotten the shine to match its staying power.
The signing comes bundled with a release date: Whiplash‘s new album, Roar, arrives November 27, 2026. The record was tracked at Studio Mozart and Concrete Island Studio, with Portaro himself behind the boards as producer and Jamie King Audio handling the mix. Ten tracks deep, the album is built to replicate the chaos of a Whiplash set — sweaty, direct and unconcerned with anything resembling restraint.
Cuts like “Sonic Asylum,” “Bullet Train” and “Who Stole My Whiskey” aren’t chasing streaming playlists — they’re built for bodies colliding in a pit. Roar leans into exactly what’s kept Whiplash relevant since the Reagan era: riffs first, hooks second, trends never.
The album actually has a bit of a backstory. A limited batch of CDs quietly circulated under the working title Thrashquake during Whiplash‘s European run supporting Napalm Death on the Campaign For Musical Destruction Tour. Now it’s getting the full rollout it was always meant to have — new title, new cover courtesy of thrash-art legend Ed Repka, and a real international push behind it.
Portaro broke down the switch himself: “Thrashquake was the original title, and we made a limited number of copies available independently while we were touring earlier this year. As things developed and we started looking at the bigger picture for the worldwide release, Roar just felt like a stronger title and a better representation of the album as a whole.
“Partnering with Time To Kill Records allows us to take this record far beyond that initial tour release and give it the international campaign and worldwide distribution it deserves. With the new title, the new Ed Repka artwork, and Time To Kill behind the official release, Roar represents the definitive version of this album and the beginning of its real worldwide campaign.”
For Time To Kill Records, landing Whiplash is something of a coup — few acts carry the underground-thrash flag as convincingly as Portaro‘s band has for forty-plus years.
Whiplash got its start in Passaic, New Jersey, back in 1984, quickly carving out a reputation as one of the era’s defining East Coast thrash acts. Under Portaro‘s guitar work and vocals, the band’s blend of melodic speed metal and razor-edged riffing gave rise to the cult favorite Power And Pain in 1985, released via Roadrunner‘s Road Racer imprint.
Ticket To Mayhem (1987) and Insult To Injury (1989) followed, cementing Whiplash‘s identity within a New York scene that otherwise skewed heavily punk and hardcore. Lineup shuffles and stretches of inactivity ate into the band’s momentum over the years, but Thrashback surfaced in 1998 before another extended layoff.
Whiplash clawed its way back with Unborn Again in 2009, winning over both diehards and a fresh crop of thrash converts in the process. Portaro has anchored every version of the band through it all, keeping the power-trio format intact.
Now, in 2026, that same stubborn streak drives Roar — Whiplash‘s eighth studio full-length and its first release under the Time To Kill Records banner.
Maybe the greatest moment of Peter Jackson’s gigantic 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back is the scene where the cameras capture Paul McCartney writing the Beatles classic “Get Back,” seemingly on the fly. It’s absolutely crazy to see this guy picking these notes and words out of the air, knowing that most of us have been hearing this song for our entire lives. And while we don’t get to actually see it happening, we now get to hear the Beatles running through “Day Tripper,” another song that feels like it has always existed, when it was still a work in progress.
Maybe the greatest moment of Peter Jackson’s gigantic 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back is the scene where the cameras capture Paul McCartney writing the Beatles classic “Get Back,” seemingly on the fly. It’s absolutely crazy to see this guy picking these notes and words out of the air, knowing that most of us have been hearing this song for our entire lives. And while we don’t get to actually see it happening, we now get to hear the Beatles running through “Day Tripper,” another song that feels like it has always existed, when it was still a work in progress.
Time To Kill Records is proud to announce the signing of Whiplash, welcoming one of American thrash metal’s most enduring underground forces to its roster. Led by true underground warrior Tony Portaro, the New Jersey veterans have spent more than four decades keeping the raw spirit of thrash metal alive, inspiring generations of musicians and fans who still… Continue Reading →
In a recent interview with ‘Metal Shop TV‘, Body Count frontman Ice-T confirmed that the band has begun working on a ninth studio album, tentatively titled Death Wish. The successor to 2024’s Merciless is planned for 2027/28 release. Read more…
About one minute into “aimee lou wood freestyle,” the new single from the LA band untitled (halo),” a guy starts rapping in a detached, spaced-out flow that reminds me of SALEM when they first arrived: “666, yeah, all I see is black/ Don’t touch me if you ain’t touchin’ stacks.” Before that, “aimee lou wood freestyle” was pretty much a shoegaze song, with layered, processed guitars and dreamy vocals from band member Ariana Mamnoon. Once the verse kicked in, though, I didn’t know what I was hearing. That seems to be the intent.
