Guitarist Adam Miller was a founding member of Johnny Jewel’s great and frustrating Italo-disco crew Chromatics, and he spent two decades in that band. His tenure ended in 2021, when the non-Johnny Jewel members announced that Chromatics were done. Jeff Schroeder, another guitarist, had a 16-year run as a member of Smashing Pumpkins, and it…
The post Former Chromatics & Smashing Pumpkins Members Launch New Project Inner Magic With “Underground” & Spacemen 3 Cover appeared first on Stereogum.
We represent Somerset’s foremost sorcerer, who crafts brittle Dungeon Synth under the moniker Flickers from the Fen. Being firm followers of both thee wizard himself and of Invisible Oranges’ excellent coverage of the scene, we thought you might like what he does too. His latest collection of stewed synthesis – Stoned in Gielinor – arrives 3/3/23. Select the above link to add this item to your inventory, but we prithee do not share it with anyone ‘side yourself and your organisation. For formality, you’ll find a press release attached too. Do let us know if you have any queries or if you would like to cover the collection, perhaps yourself or Jonathan Carbon may be interested? We can also send a fine compact cassette of the recordings if you wish.
Eternal hails,
This was forwarded to me in early 2023 with the email showcasing the Old School RuneScape logo. It was signed Mercian Sam and came with the famous crossed swords emoji. I was rereading it recently and laughing at the absurd dedication to character. I wonder how many other emails were sent out. It’s a wonder Invisible Oranges got this first. Who could say no to it? It is pure charm.
It has been two years since the release of Stoned in Gielinor, the debut from UK-based Flickers from the Fen. I received the promo because of my involvement with dungeon synth (or maybe because I talked a lot about video games), but even in 2023, it was questionable how much the terms “dungeon” and “synth” applied to Flickers From The Fen. Much has happened since this first email, including another record, numerous reprints on labels like Dungeons Deep, headlining spots on a US tour, and write-ups in Bandcamp Daily and Angry Metal Guy. Their latest development is the third entry in their Stoned in Gielinor series, which we’re premiering below.
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First, some lore. Mercian Sam and I were in DC a few days after the 2025 Texas Dungeon Fest. They were beginning a tour with fellow UK synth act Orcus, as well as Amn and Silencio Permanente. For a chance encounter through email, it felt surreal to be speaking with them, in the US, outside at a local metal venue that served savory pies. Sam was drinking non-alcoholic beer and talking about being vegetarian. We chatted about the golden age of NA drinks and the reality of still paying bar prices for fancy tasting water. The beer choice was a part of a new lifestyle adopted after a past life spent with “too much weed.” I think it was even mentioned as a “wreckhead period,” which I assume is English slang similar to burnout.
I bring this up to contrast with the playful album title, Stoned in Gielinor. Being stoned while playing video games and hiding from the world is a funny pitch, but I eventually came to see that the figure adorning the debut was in fact the creator, Mercian Sam. Flickers from the Fen, then, seems to be a project of transformation and celebration of the spirit which revels in joy and redemption.
Flickers from the Fen isn’t what you think of when describing dungeon synth, but an artist like this doesn’t become something like this without a community like dungeon synth. Dungeon synth, for me, has always been about fantasy-adjacent experimental electronics. Flicker’s unique take on folk music through the lens of fantasy could have only come through a community like this, since we all seem weird and starve for something genuine. The Stoned in Gielinor series fits that bill, beginning as a tribute to sleepless nights spent on RuneScape and evolving into an admiration for the dungeon synth scene itself.
You can preview Stoned in Gielinor III before it releases on Friday and read my conversation with Mercian Sam about the record, his tours, and his penchant for climbing during concerts.
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Since this is the third Stoned in Gielinor installment, we can safely call it a trilogy. How does the third release fit into your world? Did you ever think you would be making three of these?
With every album I made of the trilogy, the original inspiration of Old School RuneScape (OSRS) faded further away, and the fen itself loomed larger and larger. With Stoned in Gielinor III, the original motivation of soundtracking childhood late-night RPG sessions is still there, but there’s an attempt to create something new rather than ape a previous experience. On album 1 (and 2 to an extent), I was looking back to a time when fantasy felt more potent than it did in the here and now. With that nostalgia came an attempt to reference the nooks and crannies of Gielinor very nakedly, often through the OG soundfonts and homely riffs people associated with OSRS. But now, fantasy as an everyday state feels so much more alive to me than it did when the project began. It’s in the friendships and deep connections I’ve made in the scene, it’s hidden in the rural landscape that surrounds my home in the fen, it’s present in the ancient folk music that creeps its way into our sound at the edges. Living in that space as opposed to pure nostalgia is what Stoned in Gielinor III is trying to do, and the album art speaks to that, a portal from one way of being to another. I did have a trilogy planned from the start, but I didn’t think this would be the direction it’d go, and I’m pleased it did.
Though I think Stoned in Gielinor III is a fine record on its own, it works best as a conclusion to ideas presented in the previous two installments. Over time and throughout the records, the music becomes more refined, from playful chaos to a cinematic journey that is full of nostalgia and majesty. Though the music was created much in the same way throughout the records, the melodies feel more animated, as if they were stepping out of the computer screen. If we are going by album covers, the entire hero’s journey begins with a wizard in front of a computer before being swept up in blurs of colors then finally travelling into some mystical portal. Visually, this sort of journey represents one of motion, which seems antithetical to a static existence. This sort of presentation can only come from a person who is constantly editing a vision to its natural conclusion. Much like its creator, the figure adorning these album covers never seems able to stand still and find themselves in very high places threatening bodily injury.
During your last tour, I heard you had a penchant for finding the craziest places to run around in the venue. In DC, you ran out onto the patio of the Pie Shop. What was the most exciting (dangerous) place you got yourself into?
Literally the moment I walk in any venue, I’m like, “Where can I get to?” And we played such a variety of venues (from squats to churches) on the 2025 US tour that there were all number of climbs to reach. I think the most fun must’ve been violin scrubbing for my life, standing on a spit high above the stage at Southgate House Revival in Newport, KY. The minute I stepped over the safety rail, I realised the platform was vibrating and for a second I thought it’d all come crashing down with me atop.
Talk to me about the UK Dungeon Synth scene or its developments. I have been seeing more shows around that part of the world.
Everything’s coming up Blighty. It feels like there’s a real hunger for more dungeon synth on the isle lately. We’ve got not just the odd gig or all-dayer now, but regular event series from the likes of Greater Restoration in the South East, BDSN in Brighton, and Cryptic Steel in Glasgow. More and more international artists are making stops around the UK and I feel like that’s because the DIY scene has been putting in the work and peeps have been turning out to shows. Long may it continue!
Now that your US tour is over, what was the best and worst American food you had last year?
Best food: Bento from Koriente (RIP) in Austin. Worst food: Grilled Cheese Sandwich from a rural gas stop in Iowa. The locals gave me the stink eye and the sandwich tasted like farts.
What were some of your favourite releases of 2025?
Dungeon synth and adjacent: Feudal Lord – Centuries of Serfdom (criminally underrated dungeon prog synth), Tottomori – Shoreline Mistward (fantasy-adjacent pastoral Ghibli-esque goodness), Chestnut Brown – Incantalia (tied with Deep Gnome for my favourite all-time comfy synth artist), and ORCUS – Return to Necropolis (best melodies going in DS).
Other releases include: STERÖID – CHAINMAIL COMMANDOS (sing-alongs in the whip daily), ELVIS 2 – THANK YOU VERY MUCH (sing-alongs in the whip daily 2), and Gates of Dawn – III (never knew I needed deadhead black metal).
What are your plans for 2026 (promotion / US/ UK tour)
We’re launching the album at Life After Death Festival in London on Saturday, February 21st with the biggest iteration of the band (sextet) ever, then going on tour (with a different band lineup every night) with Elyvilon, Hermit Knight, and L A N D S R A A D to the following cities:
Feb. 27th – Glasgow
Feb. 28th – Manchester
Mar. 1st – Bristol
Mar. 2nd – Brighton
Mar. 3rd – Paris
Mar. 5th – Utrecht (Echoes from the Dungeon Fest pre-show)
We’re mad psyched to be supporting Quest Master in Bristol and London on April 3rd and 4th, respectively.
Following that, FftF will be headlining Appalachian Dungeon Fest in rural Kentucky (Wiley’s Last Resort, Whitesburg) June 13th, and I’ve heard a whisper in the fen that news of more US dates around the fest will materialise soon…
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Stoned in Gielinor III releases tomorrow. It’s available through Flickers from the Fen’s Bandcamp, on vinyl from Crypt of the Wizard, Phantom Lure, and Out of Season, and on cassette from Dungeons Deep.
The world of heavy music is doing extremely well these days. But it’d be doing a little better if any of these bands would come back.
The post 15 Metal Bands That Need To Reunite appeared first on Metal Injection.
Foo Fighters unveil “Your Favorite Toy,: the title track to their 12th album, arriving April 24 via Roswell/RCA.
The post FOO FIGHTERS Stream New Single "Your Favorite Toy," Announce 12th Studio Album appeared first on Metal Injection.
Straddling the yawning divide between Black Sabbath, Bad Brains, the Lunachicks, Public Image Limited, Minor Threat and Babes in Toyland comes Maryland-based spasmodic punkers Pearl. Featuring current and ex-members of Celebration, Wet Brain, Hormone, Alone Time and Mallwalker, as well as the prolific Sienna Cureton-Mahoney — as in, she was (or is) in most of the aforementioned bands — Pearl offers short, aggressive shots of guitar wash hardcore, bass heavy angularity, urbanite rage and the uncomfortable feeling you get when you leave a house show covered in the singer’s dried sweat and spittle.
The Baltimore band have a new album coming down the pipe on 20/20 Records entitled Love & Grief. In the lead up to its April 20th release, they’ve been hitting the promotional circuit with song and video premieres, including Decibel’s airing of the video for “Act Like Sisters” today. When asked about the song and accompanying video, Cureton-Mahoney replied with: “‘Act Like Sisters’ is the epitome of any horror movie in which the lead actress is pushed to her limits, combusting into a Carrie-like fury after being manipulated one too many times. I channeled these women as I wrote the song, reflecting on the few times when I’ve been confronted with the knowledge of someone I respect fully lying to my face. Should I take the high road or should I burn everything to the ground? This song is about the latter. It’s the metaphorical slap of having trust broken and the violent gut reaction that follows. Each song on the album Love & Grief is a different facet on the emotional scale and ‘Act Like Sisters’ is steeped in rage.”
Check out/preorder/further investigate Love & Grief at the band’s Bandcamp or 20/20 Records.
And here’s the Alexa Bristol-directed video for lead off single “Party” because why not…?
The post Video/Track Premiere: Screaming At All the Walls With Baltimore Punks PEARL appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
Power metal outfit Vicious Rumors experienced a major shakeup in their lineup with the ousting of their longtime drummer Larry Howe. It was a major shift that wasn’t brought about because of misconduct, poor play, or internal strife within the band, but rather for his “extreme” political views that the band says has led to shows being cancelled.
The move to get rid of Howe was announced via social media yesterday, with the band offering the following explanation:
“After years of disagreement on the issue, Vicious Rumors will no longer be touring with longtime drummer Larry Howe.
“As a band, we have never agreed with Larry’s personal political ambitions. As hard as it is to let an original member go, VR can no longer tolerate being punished by association for Larry’s personal opinions. They do not reflect the opinion of Vicious Rumors. Our message is simple and clear: Unity! and celebrating heavy metal together!”
The band said their overarching mission statement of uniting people through metal hasn’t changed since their inception back in 1979. In addition, they announced that Howe agreed to remain on the band’s touring roster throughout the remainder of their U.S. leg of the ‘Devil’s Asylum Tour’, before announcing their new touring drummer.
Shortly after posting that initial statement, the band issued a second clarification of what went down and why the decision was made to let Howe go. In it, they said the band was “about the music” and not politics.
“VR is about the music! Not politics! Due to Larrys extreme views that have nothing to do with VR – four shows have been canceled / so far because of this. It’s not about choosing sides in VR it’s about entertainment for all.
“When the band is penalized this severly and our live events are being canceled, for one outspoken belief a change has to be made.”
In the wake of the band’s decision, Howe offered his own personal statement to what went down. Needless to say, the “rock n’ roll patriot” subscribes to a certain side of the political spectrum and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess what his views are.
Either way, here’s his statement:
“The skull. A depiction often used in vicious rumors merchandise and logos as in numerous other heavy metal bands. The reason being that it is the denomination of the collective gathering of a particular type of music enthusiast, the heavy metal fan.
“The main reason for this is that it is the one characteristic that we all share. It does not matter what color skin lies on top of the skull, what color the hair -or if there is any, and also for what goes on inside between the ears. All these things can be different, the one thing that we all have in common is the skull. Nothing can change this. Those differences are the things we should all look beyond as we listen to the music we love, and attend live shows playing the music, taking us away from a judgmental world if only just for a few hours at a show.
“So when I see junk journalism in what amounts to a grocery store gossip rag disguising itself as a heavy metal magazine, chastising band members such as myself and other musicians for their proclivities and beliefs, I see it as a crack in the system. These types of divide and conquer tactics are usually embraced by controlling authoritarian oligarchs, or corrupt career politicians, or DIGITAL DICTATORS. This cannot stand.
“The heavy metal industry as a whole is one of the smallest markets in the entire music industry, and we shouldn’t allow it to disintegrate through infighting like children yelling on a playground in a ‘cancel culture’. Yes, I am guilty of reposting some memes that have upset some people. It was not my intention and I humbly apologize.
“But we cannot afford to let this bastardization of opinion splinter the very foundation of the heavy metal scene around the planet. We need to embrace our differences to be stronger than ever, and remain vigilant and yearn for the freedom to express our opinions and thoughts without such a destructive result. United we stand divided we fall . Remember, in the state run entity, there is no music or freedom of speech, and this is something that we simply cannot ever allow to happen.
“Musicians and fans alike look forward to these gatherings as a way to escape the banalities of life. Work related problems, stress , loss of relationships, marriage, divorces, foreclosure, bankruptcy… etc. etc. These are the things we ALL need to leave behind as we attend live music events.
“If you feel the need to attack any musician over something they have randomly said or posted, you have that right. That is the double edged sword of freedom of speech. But please don’t seek to destroy the heavy metal scene we’ve all been building for decades. It is like one big family and we need for it to remain so. Whatever our differences may be.
“So now I will politely walk away from the European tour since the German promoters felt the need to cancel the shows Geoff had worked so hard to arrange for our fans. This is an unfortunate result. Please continue to support the band that has been such a big part of my life for so long. FYI, I’m still doing all of the American shows.! It really should be an interesting tour!! don’t miss it!”
Yeahhh, I think we can all guess who Howe voted for…
Either way, if you still want to support Vicious Rumors — and you absolutely should if you’re a fan — be sure to catch them while they’re on tour at the following dates.
2/25 Orlando, FL West End Trading Co.
2/26 Tampa, FL The Brass Mug
3/1 Atlanta, GA 529
3/10 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room
3/12 San Francisco, CA DNA Lounge
3/13 Reno, NV Alturas Center Stage
3/14 Salt Lake City, UT Aces High Saloon
3/15 Colorado Springs, CO Lulu’s Downtown
3/17 Lincoln, NE 1867 Bar
3/18 Iowa City, IA Wildwood
3/19 Chicago, IL Reggie’s
3/21 Kent, OH The Outpost
3/23 Earleville, MD Club RYD
3/24 Providence, RI Alchemy
3/25 Rochester, NY Photo City
3/26 Catonsville, MD Morseburgers Tavern
3/27 Newark, DE Halftime Sports Bar
3/28 Bristol, CT Bleachers
3/29 Harrisburg, PA HMAC
3/3 Wichita, KS John Barleycorn’s
3/4 Oklahoma City, OK 89th Street
3/5 Dallas, TX Haltom Theater
3/6 Austin, TX Kickbutt Coffee
3/7 San Antonio, TX Fitzgerald’s
3/9 Albuquerque, NM El Rey Theater
5/10 Zagreb, HR Hardplace
5/10 Zagreb, HR Hardplace
5/11 Belgrade, RS Klub Fest
5/11 Belgrade, RS Klub Fest
5/13 Selb, DE Rock Club Nordbayern
5/14 Essen, DE Don’t Panic
5/15 Lichtenfels, DE Paunchy Cats
5/16 Brno, CZ Kabinet Mus
5/17 Kosice, SK Colosseum
5/18 Zilina, SK Smer Club 77
5/20 Munich, DE Backstage
5/22 Plozevet, FR Courts Of Chaos Festival
5/28 Portugalete, ES Groove Room
5/29 Madrid, ES Sala Silikona
5/30 Barcelona, ES Lennon’s Club
5/31 Valencia, ES Sala Zulu
5/8 Freiburg, DE Skullcrusher Fest
5/9 Cham, DE LA
6/10 Hamburg, DE Logo
6/11 Kassel, DE Goldgrube
6/12 Den Haag, NL Musicon
6/13 Breda, NL Sound Dog
6/14 Oldenburg, DE MTS
6/17 Dortmund, DE Cafe Banana (Exclusive Acoustic Show)
6/17 Dortmund, DE Cafe Banana (Exclusive Acoustic Show)
6/18 Osnabrück, DE Bastard Club
6/19 Düsseldorf, DE The Pitcher
6/20 Graspop, BE Graspop Metal Meeting
6/3 Velden, AT Bluesiana
6/5 Modena, IT Vibra Club
6/6 Vicenza, IT Super Metalfest VIII
6/7 Milano, IT RHO Rock n Roll
6/7 Milano, IT RHO Rock n Roll
6/9 Stuttgart, DE Der Schwarze Keiler
9/12 Brooklyn, NY Rage Of Armageddon Festival
9/18 Madison, WI Blades Of Steel Festival
The post Vicious Rumors Part Ways with Their Drummer Over Conflicting Political Views appeared first on MetalSucks.