Category: news
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Gig Review: Rick Astley / Gabrielle – Hydro, Glasgow (10th April 2025)
This one’s Alan’s fault as, like several other gigs recently, Rick Astley is someone he liked when he was little but was too little to go and see him. Now Alan’s a big boy (with a knack for taking cracking pictures), he’s catching up on his youth. I, on the other hand, simply never got round … Continue reading Gig Review: Rick Astley / Gabrielle – Hydro, Glasgow (10th April 2025) -
SPIRIT ADRIFT Releases Final Album, Infinite Illumination ~ Available for Purchase and Stream Now!
The end has come… long revered and widely acclaimed heavy metal giants SPIRIT ADRIFT have released their sixth and final album, Infinite Illumination, today via 20 Buck Spin. Bookending a monumental decade+ long run, the band’s bittersweet swan song is marked by one of their most ambitious and crushing records to date.
SPIRIT ADRIFT mastermind Nathan Garrett’s final magnum opus is a return to the wellspring that first inspired it all and a testament to a band that in the last 10 years has crafted an impeccable signature thoroughly their own, molded from the elemental matter of more than a half century of heavy metal exaltation.
Infinite Illumination has a directness to it, a sense of urgency and raw intensity. The songs feel inevitable, like they had to be driven out from deep within during a time of great upheaval. The fatalistic ‘Born in a Bad Way’ summons a vengeful “broken relic from another age” that must “live again and make them pay” via Garrett’s swaggering snarl, while “White Death” impugns “God shined on a chosen few, we must kill the rest of you”.
These songs have a palpable sense of malaise both spiritual and terrestrial, personal and universal, inflicted via crushing traditional Doom riffs, thunderous mid-tempo marches and Garrett’s impassioned vocal delivery.
Long after the band is gone fans will continue to discover the SPIRIT ADRIFT catalog and witness the breadth of greatness they delivered in just a decade’s time. Every melodic, epic and emotionally charged thread that defines the band’s legacy honors the animating force behind pure creative ambition. And at its core Infinite Illumination carries both the weight of conclusion and the troubling realization that it is rarely painless to say farewell.
Infinite Illumination is available digitally today. Gatefold LP and CD editions will be released May 15th. Pre-order here: https://www.20buckspin.com/spiritadrift
Stream Infinite Illumination:
Youtube | Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
About SPIRIT ADRIFT:
Spirit Adrift’s music is an alchemical sonic melting pot that combines classic doom, traditional heavy metal, and the intensity of old school thrash, forging a unique and forward-thinking sound. Led by founder, multi-instrumentalist, and frontman Nate Garrett, the band built a reputation for towering riffs, anthemic songwriting, and emotionally charged performances rooted in both personal struggle and defiant perseverance.
Emerging in 2016, Spirit Adrift released a string of critically acclaimed albums: Chained to Oblivion, Curse of Conception, Divided by Darkness, Enlightened in Eternity, and Ghost at the Gallows. Earning praise from outlets such as Decibel, Revolver, Metal Hammer, and Kerrang!, who ranked the band among the best of the decade.
Spirit Adrift toured and shared stages with the likes of High on Fire, Yob, Crowbar, Corrosion of Conformity, Midnight, and has appeared at major festivals such as Download, Hellfest, and Psycho Las Vegas. Their live shows were visceral and cathartic, equal parts power and conviction.
In 2026, Spirit Adrift announced their end with the release of their 6th and final album, Infinite Illumination. While their band’s story comes to a close, their legacy and profound impact on heavy music will be felt for decades to come.
Follow SPIRIT ADRIFT:
Website | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
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“Been Awhile Since I’ve Lived” — Los Angeles Trio Mazarine Channel Restless Escape in Video for “EyeSpeak2U”
Now I’m screaming loud so I can fly away
There comes a point when the screen begins to feel less like a tool than a barrier — a black membrane standing between the body and the world outside. Mazarine’s new single “EyeSpeak2U” springs from that moment of restless recognition, channeling the urge to put the phone down, break routine, and feel fully alive again into a rush of washed guitars, clicking drums, and vocals poised between cool detachment and mounting unrest.
This latest track from the Los Angeles outfit finds Angie Kang and Derrick Perry, now joined by guitarist Eddie Diaz, sharpening their collision of shoegaze vapor, post-punk tension, experimental pop, and no wave abstraction into something brisker and more confrontational. According to the band, “EyeSpeak2U” is a fast-paced, emotionally volatile single about breaking out of confinement and clawing toward some kind of resolution, accompanied by a self-produced video that mirrors that pressure through fragmented performance and analog disorientation.
The song opens with a chiming guitar drone, a bouncy, detached bassline, distant strums, and clipped percussion that recall the snap and sway of late 80s and early 90s alternative underground. Then comes the saxophone, a sly, off-kilter presence that cuts through the track with a hint of downtown nowave mischief, nodding toward James Chance while the band’s broader frame stretches from dreampop to post-punk and beyond. Above it all, Angie Kang’s voice drifts in with a cool ache, airy yet urgent, carrying the melody with a glancing emotional pressure. As the final third of the track begins, the song briefly shifts into a more suspended, sighing section, where the guitars settle into a slow, metallic din and the saxophone flutters overhead like a siren echoing through fog, only for the song to quickly pick up speed again.
Lyrically, “EyeSpeak2U” feels like a restless push against routine and the numb, mediated habits that keep real life at a distance. “Put your phone away” lands less as a throwaway line than a small act of revolt, while “been awhile since I’ve lived” gives the song its emotional center: the sense of someone waking up to how long they have been sleepwalking through the feed, the screen, the same stale cycle. The repeated desire to “fly away” and “make it out of here” turns that frustration into motion, reaching not just for escape, but for contact, air, movement, and the jolt of feeling fully present again.
The video gives that instability a vivid visual grammar, cutting between a bare white performance space and a second plane of stacked CRT televisions glowing in violet and blue. In the studio scenes, the trio plays beneath hard light amid amps, cables, pedalboards, and the plain clutter of a live setup. Elsewhere, the monitors multiply the band into ghosted, grainy apparitions, flashing close-ups of eyes and mouths that make looking feel intimate and invasive at once. Neon triangle graphics tunnel inward behind Angie Kang as she sings, while the band’s name pulses across screens like a station ID from a half-remembered cable channel.
That interplay between clean performance footage and degraded analog image gives the clip its pulse. One moment, Kang stands center frame, bass in hand, flanked by Derrick Perry and Eddie Diaz in motion; the next, the image slips into smeared close-ups, blurred silhouettes, monitor reflections, and enlarged facial fragments that make the band seem caught inside their own transmission. Rather than leaning on retro fetish, Mazarine uses old television textures to suggest feeling filtered through machines — identity duplicated, desire delayed, and escape never quite cleanly won. Purple wash gives way to stark white light, fingers on guitar and bass are set against vast emptiness, and performers become signals, all reinforcing the band’s gift for contrast: intimacy and distance, clarity and distortion, gaze and release.
Watch the video for “EyeSpeak2U” below:
Based in Los Angeles, Mazarine began in early 2024 as a remote collaboration between Perry and Kang before widening its palette beyond shoegaze and dreampop to include trip-hop, grunge, post-punk, and no wave. Perry, a Virginia-born filmmaker and former DJ with roots in guitar bands and sample-based production, reconnects here with the rawer edges of his record-collection instincts, while Kang brings experience from the Austin noisy math-rock outfit Future Death. The addition of Eddie Diaz this year adds another layer of muscle and color to the group’s sound.
“EyeSpeak2U” arrives now ahead of the four-track EP Dress Rehearsal, due May 8.
Listen to “EyeSpeak2U” via streaming here.
Follow Mazarine:
The post “Been Awhile Since I’ve Lived” — Los Angeles Trio Mazarine Channel Restless Escape in Video for “EyeSpeak2U” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.
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Where to Watch Artemis Splashdown
Here’s where to watch Artemis splashdown, as the crew comes back to Earth. Get the scoop on how to see the action.
The post Where to Watch Artemis Splashdown appeared first on Audio Ink Radio.
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A Soldier’s Face After Four Years Of War | The Story Of Yevgeny Kobytev
The Architecture of Trauma: The Face of Yevgeny Kobytev
Two photographs hanging side-by-side in the Andrei Pozdeev museum act as the most haunting document of conflict ever captured. On the left: a young man full of artistic ambition. On the right: a hollowed-out survivor, his features carved by the cruelty of four years of hell. This is the visage of war.
Yevgeny Stepanovich Kobytev was born in the snowy isolation of the Altai village on Christmas Day, 1910. He was a man of the arts, not the blade. After mastering the pedagogical arts, he sought the higher calling of the Kyiv State Institute of Art in 1936. But history is often written in blood, and his dreams were abruptly silenced on June 22, 1941, when the Nazi invasion shattered the Soviet Union.
The Abyss of Khorol
Kobytev volunteered for the artillery, stepping into the mouth of the beast to defend the lands between Kyiv and Kharkiv. By September 1941, his service ended in injury and capture. He was thrown into the “Khorol pit,” a concentration camp where nearly ninety thousand souls were extinguished. The man who walked into that camp was not the man who would eventually emerge.
He escaped the pit in 1943, clawing his way back to the Red Army to serve through the brutal campaigns of Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, and Germany. He survived the machine of war, but it left him permanently scarred—a man rebuilt from the ashes of his former self.
The Discarded Hero
The injustice of Kobytev’s life didn’t end with the war. Though awarded the “Hero of the Soviet Union” medal, the High Command denied him the medal of victory. His status as a former prisoner of war rendered him a pariah in the eyes of the bureaucratic machine. The High Command discarded his military career like a broken instrument—a common tragedy for those who survived the front lines only to face betrayal in the peace that followed.
The Sound of the Struggle
Yevgeny Kobytev’s life echoes the themes we explore in our music: the weight of memory, the beauty lost to conflict, and the struggle to remain human in an inhuman world. If you find the story of Kobytev as haunting as we do, our soundscapes are the perfect accompaniment to his legacy.
Listen to the darkness:
“War does not determine who is right – only who is left.” — Bertrand Russell
The post A Soldier’s Face After Four Years Of War | The Story Of Yevgeny Kobytev appeared first on Edgar Allan Poets – Noir Rock Band.
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TR/ST, Stabbing Westward, King Woman, Etc. Booked For 2026 ‘Cold Waves’ Festival
Plus Tear Garden, Youth Code, PIG, Chalk & many more.
The post TR/ST, Stabbing Westward, King Woman, Etc. Booked For 2026 ‘Cold Waves’ Festival appeared first on Theprp.com.
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The Black Queen Welcome Ex-Nine Inch Nails/A Perfect Circle Member Danny Lohner To Their Touring Lineup
Their first tour since 2019 launches in May.
The post The Black Queen Welcome Ex-Nine Inch Nails/A Perfect Circle Member Danny Lohner To Their Touring Lineup appeared first on Theprp.com.
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Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 2026-04-10 23:05:49
Watch “Phantom of the Opera” HERE! https://youtu.be/WGKShiA2xw0
Joined by guitarist Eli Santana (IGNITE, ex-HUNTRESS, ex-HOLY GRAIL), Los Angeles’ symphonic progressive metal ensemble ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD present a hauntingly heavy and theatrical interpretation of “Phantom of the Opera“.
The instrumental offering unleashes the darkness and seductive power of the track’s narrative through the dynamic arrangement. Thundering percussion and driving rhythms provide intensity and movement, while the vocal duet between Christine and the Phantom is brought to life by JD McGibney and Eli Santana on lead guitars. The atmosphere is enveloped with Gothic allure by means of orchestral layers and tolling bells.
ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD inject their own distinctive qualities into the track including some unexpected moments. Sudden shifts in instrumental arrangements and embellished guitars entwine compelling elements and charisma into the sound.
Produced by ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD, the track was recorded at Counter Communications with engineering, mixing and mastering by Chris Wirsig. “Phantom of the Opera” cover art was created by JD McGibney.
About ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD:
Based out of Los Angeles, CA, ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD began as a side project for guitarist JD McGibney (ex-VOODOO KUNGFU) before augmenting to a full line-up in 2021. Alongside McGibney, the instrumental symphonic progressive metal band is now comprised of Jason Klein on bass (ex-BUTCHER BABIES), Eddie Trager on drums (ex-NEKROGOBLIKON) and Chris Wirsig on keyboards (award winning TV and film composer).
The ethos of the band is to empower listeners through music, to assist individuals who are fighting on their own battlefields and to help them find courage. ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD strive to improve awareness of and discourse around mental illness through the power of heavy metal. The band made their live debut at the 2022 “This Is My Brave” mental health fundraiser, where the band helped to raise around $30,000 to donate to local Los Angeles mental health charities.
2024 saw ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD open for Taiwanese folk metal artist NiNi at her debut USA headline show in November of 2024. In the following year, the quartet embarked on their debut headline West Coast tour across October/November of 2025.
In 2025, ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD‘s 2024 single release “Modern Prometheus” was long listed in the 2025 GRAMMY Awards in three categories: Best Metal Performance, Best Instrumental Composition and Best Arrangement – Instrumental or A Capella. Additionally, “Modern Prometheus” was nominated in the Hollywood Independent Music Awards in 2025.
Connect with ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD:
Official Website: https://onthewingsofdragons.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelsOnTheBattlefieldBand/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angels_on_the_battlefield/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6vQV1dRMKNBHCRku2IsPMU?si=RoaUH-SuTCq5nRsPMrgpEg
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/angels-on-the-battlefield/1441558520
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aotbband
Source: C Squared Music
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Drummer Eric Morotti Quits Suffocation: “I Will Not Work With Toxic, Abusive Drug Addicts.”
The band have already announced a temporary live replacement.
The post Drummer Eric Morotti Quits Suffocation: “I Will Not Work With Toxic, Abusive Drug Addicts.” appeared first on Theprp.com.
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Experience Clarify That They Have Parted Ways With Brady Ebert: “What He Did Is F*cked Up”
“Our connection with Brady was rooted in trying to support growth and mental health, which makes this even harder to sit with.”
The post Experience Clarify That They Have Parted Ways With Brady Ebert: “What He Did Is F*cked Up” appeared first on Theprp.com.