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Mari Rubio stays busy. The avant-garde musician is always juggling a million musical projects, including partnerships with claire rousay and Wendy Eisenberg (as Whait) and Lynn Avery (as Pink Must), the sprawling ensemble Water Damage, and her own robust solo catalog as more eaze. She’s about to add to that discography.

The post more eaze Announces New Album <em>valley and structure</em>: Hear “what’s wrong with the structure?” appeared first on Stereogum.

Frontiers Music [Release date : 21.08.26] At last, after 3 albums at the fringes, Oddland is now pushing the boundaries of structure and tone to the outer edges of Prog Metal. It’s a scary place to be if you can’t … Continue reading →

The post Album review : ODDLAND – Unilluminate To Illuminate appeared first on Get Ready to ROCK!.

Sonic Blast 2026. Riffs, chaos and a seaside festival worth crossing the atlantic for. After a few years of seeing the lineups and pining from across the Atlantic Ocean over my lack of attendance, the 2026 SonicBlast lineup was too good to pass up.

SonicBlast 2026 – Day One

Viana do Castelo, Portugal – 6-8 August 2026

Words And Photography: Tim Bugbee

There are many different forms of music festivals, and I prefer the ones that are not sprawling, artificial cities set up over a weekend, where the stress of getting and being there and wanting to see bands you came for can be a significant detractor. Forgone festivals like All Tomorrow’s Parties or Psycho Las Vegas were about the ideal for me. Manageable crowds, small enough that you can make random connections with other festival-goers early and often over the course of the event.

Roadburn still carries that flag, as do the various Desertfests. But over in the US, ask a person about a music festival, and they will probably answer with Coachella or Bonnaroo or another similar soulless, corporate-driven event with little continuity to the lineup other than trying to maximise profits. 

Flights and lodging were booked. What a shitshow the Lisbon airport is. The only place where a 2.5-hour layover still had me running to my now-closed gate. Thankfully, they let me board. I arrived at the semi-bustling and beautiful seaside town of Âncora, ready for what looked to be a wide-ranging and highly interesting lineup stretched over three and a half days.

Stoner rock with riffs capable of crushing skulls, foreboding Doom Metal, frenetic Hardcore, Black Metal, psychedelia, electronically-fueled dance music, Thrash Metal, feral garage rock, there was something here for everyone, and plenty of great options for most.

If you asked 20 random people who their top three bands were that drew them to this northern Portugal coastal town, odds are good you would get 20 completely different answers.

Fighting jet lag, I decided to skip the pre-fest event of four bands and a DJ that started at 22:20 and concluded sometime in the early morning hours to conserve my energy for the main event. The weather couldn’t have been better. Perfectly blue skies and moderate temps (18-25 °C) with a gentle breeze that did not screw up the sound.

Heading in from my lodging was an easy 15-20 minute walk along the beach and dunes, taking a left to descend to the festival grounds while the Atlantic beckoned on your right. The stage setup was ideal, two large stages side by side, and quick turnovers meant that there were no conflicts.

A smaller third stage was situated to the right of the main stage, over near the myriad food vendors (pro tip – get a late-night bifana), and the covering afforded some shade relief from the unrelenting sun, while still offering good viewing of the main stage.

SonicBlast – Day One

Day One kicked off with Madrid’s Free Ride at the third stage, wearing obvious influences of Fu Manchu on their sleeves. As more people slowly filtered onto the grounds, the many moving parts of a festival quickly became apparent.

Elephant Tree and Clamm swapped slots as Jack Townley had suffered an epileptic seizure and was not cleared to fly from the UK, so the band marshalled a hasty game plan to play without their lead vocalist and guitar player as a trio and pulled it off brilliantly.

They got a little help on one song when Ritual King singer Jordan Leppitt came out to lend a hand and larynx. Well done, mates. 

Melbourne’s Clamm were up next, another band in what seems to be an endless supply of Australian bands with a sneering in-your-face punk edge, tinged with a post-punk approach.

According to the International Monetary Fund, that particular flavour of Aussie rock is now the country’s fourth leading export. 

California’s Trash Talk stalked out on stage with singer Lee Spielman saying that the band did not do so well with high stages and separation from the crowd. So after about 30 seconds on stage, he jumped down and spent the remainder of the set at the rail or in the crowd.

To say he was the match that lit SonicBlast’s day one fuse would be an understatement. The circle pit was at maximum velocity for their entire set. At one point he had the entire crowd crouching down, instructing them that “When the drum hits I wanna see you act like it’s the first time you ever heard music.” Unsurprisingly, chaos soon erupted.

The standard was set, and no following band wanted even a whiff of mailing in their performance. For anyone who has seen the black-hooded sleaze merchants Midnight, that was never in question. Coming out on stage, Athenar quickly tossed a few cans of Super Bock into the crowd, with opener Unholy And Rotten, a good signifier of what they trade in, the muscular backbone of Motörhead rewired with the genetic code of Thrash Metal.

A few songs later, Athenar was rueing his decision and asked to barter a bottle of water for the beer cans he distributed. “I gave away my water, I gave away my Super Bock, next I’m giving away my anal virginity.”

Not sure if his attempt at learning Portuguese was in earnest, but he did want to know how to say “Fuck you, you cocksucker from Ohio.” You definitely cannot stop steel. 

Frankie And The Witch Fingers started with an unstoppable groove to their sound and then kept stepping on the accelerator. The Osees are a stepping-off point, and Dylan Sizemore’s guitar strap set-up preference does not dissuade those Dwyer vibes, but they take that blueprint into new directions.

Their set ended with Sizemore climbing up the PA scaffolding at the second stage and launching into the crowd, a precursor of things to come.

As the sun retreated, Deafheaven came out to the “You are sleeping” dialogue sample that The Smiths used for Asleep. No one was sleeping for very long as the band dialled back to their wild-eyed Black Metal sound, singer George Clarke eschewing the more mannered singing style of 2021’s Infinite Granite with a sound one might make after washing down a handful of rusty thumbtacks with a pint of kerosene. 

Aside from The Flaming Lips, I cannot name another band from Oklahoma City, but Chat Pile put that city back on the musical map with a vengeance when 2022’s God’s Country came out of nowhere and recharged the noise rock world.

Famously known for riffing on obscure movie trivia between songs, vocalist Raygun Busch found the audience not well-versed in the filmography of Michael Wilcox. The band plays an acerbic brand of noise rock, with consistent themes about injustice and the struggle to just survive. Check out Why if you are not familiar with their songs.

Mixing up the adrenaline onslaught delivery method was Snapped Ankles. The British quartet came out in Jawa costumes run through a shredder, headlamps affixed to their foreheads and obscuring their identities.

Highly danceable, the group display a heavy African rhythmic sound with what looks to be homemade or heavily modified electronic instruments. Ostensible leader Austin decided certain members of the crowd needed a closer look at these contraptions, so he clambered over the barricade and mingled with the people.

“Hello, we’re Weedeater. Without the Weedeater.” Wisconsin’s Bongzilla are definitely the Midwest answer to that band, and Muleboy does not deny the obvious parallels of singing about weed with a raspy voice amid relentless riffs.

My energy level drained, I made my way back to the hotel and could still hear the songs as clear as day when I reached the street across from the beach. If there is one thing you do not want to forget at SonicBlast, it is a good pair of earplugs.

Since forming in New York City in 2013, Castrator have confronted misogyny, violence against women, and political repression through unforgiving death metal. Drummer and co-founder Carolina Perez has been there from the beginning alongside bassist Robin Mazen. Their 2022 debut, Defiled in Oblivion, was followed three years later by Coronation of the Grotesque, a record Perez describes as the band’s strongest work to date.

Born in Colombia, Perez started drumming at 14. She moved to New York as a teenager, where she immersed herself in the city’s metal scene. Years later, returning to her hometown of Medellín to perform with Castrator became one of the most significant experiences of her career. “I couldn’t believe that it happened,” she recalls. “That was a dream come true, for sure.”

Perez spoke with us about Castrator’s beginnings, feminism and politics in death metal, remaining DIY, life on the road, and how touring helped inform Coronation of the Grotesque. She also discusses the physical demands of extreme drumming, seeing more women and non-binary fans in metal crowds, and where Castrator go from here.

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Can you discuss the band, its formation, the members, and what each of you contribute?

Castrator started in New York back in 2013. I used to play in another band called Hypoxia. We were based out of New York, partially Queens and Brooklyn, and then we played a show with Derkéta, which is the band that Robin played in. Robin’s the bass player for Castrator. So we played a show together, and then after the show, we got along and then we were like, “Hey, it’d be cool to start a female death metal band.”

Then we started recruiting, and we’ve been through a few lineup changes, but Robin and I have been the solid original members. It was really hard to find guitar players. That was the hardest challenge for the band. There’s a lot of guitar players out there, but there’s not a lot of real shredders.

What each member contributes to the band—their own talents and their own individual flavor. Most of the writing is done by Robin and me, because since the beginning, we’re the core of what we wanted to play and express with this band. But everyone’s very talented. Clarissa (Badini) is awesome. She’s got a very powerful voice and stage presence. And then Sarah (Loerlein), the newest member, is a really good guitar player as well.

You started drumming at 14 in Colombia. What was the first record that made you think, “I have to do that”?

I don’t think I can pinpoint a particular record. It’s more like a style of music, just metal. There were a lot of different punk bands, too, back at that time, where I was like, “you know, it looks like fun to play that way!”  If I had to pinpoint it to a record, it would probably be, well, I wasn’t really listening to records, so that would be a lie. I was just listening to whatever was on the radio because I didn’t have a record player. I was very poor. So, it was more the metal and punk that I listened to on the radio that inspired me. 

Your brother was/is a guitarist, right? Did that influence or shape your interest in music?

Yeah, definitely. We both started at the same time, and we started playing around with just a hand drum and him on the guitar and just being silly kids. Then before we knew it, we had instruments, and then we started jamming to covers. I think we tried playing Korn, Deftones, and Rancid. A lot of punk songs that were playing on the radio, stuff like that.

Castrator has turned the tables on the misogynistic tropes of ’90s death metal. Do you still find pushback, or have you noticed the scene becoming more welcoming to your perspective in 2026?

I think there’s always going to be pushback, but I think now that we’re a more established band and touring more and people see that we actually do this, we’re not in it for the trend or anything. This is something that we’ve been doing for a long time. We get some respect in that sense.

I feel like if we were younger, we wouldn’t get the respect that we’re getting now, you know what I’m saying? Because I just see it. When younger girls want to start, guys immediately reject it for some reason. It’s weird.

How did you decide on such a bold name?

We knew we wanted to play death metal, and we were looking for a name that was a statement and also was aggressive and would make a statement, too. We were thinking something that’s in your face, like Dying Fetus or Cannibal Corpse or stuff like that. We had a few suggestions, but Castrator was the one that we were like, “Oh, hell yeah!”

You’ve brought up real-world horror in your music, like the tragic killing of Mahsa Amini. Do you feel a responsibility to use your music as a platform to amplify these stories?

Yes. Also, things like that make an impact on me, and music is my way of expressing myself, so I’m always going to write about what’s bothering me or what’s causing this rage in me, which is why I play music, just to have this outlet. So, yes, it’s very important to use music as not only an outlet, but to amplify the message that needs to be heard.

But I feel like most people in the metal community don’t really want to listen to music for that reason, if you catch my drift. They just want to listen for entertainment purposes. There are very, very few people who actually listen for the actual message, unfortunately.

Is there a specific creative shorthand or energy that exists within all-female bands that you haven’t found in mixed-gender bands?

It’s going to be a very different dynamic. I think people are people. I think the most important thing about being in a band of any genre is taking your instrument and your craft seriously above anything. There’s always going to be differences of opinions or no one’s always in a good mood all the time, but as long as you can prioritize the band and the music, you’re always going to respect each other. Respect is everything.

So, yeah, the dynamic is very different, but musically speaking, it’s gotta be the same with either. It’s gotta be the same level of commitment and respect.

How do you protect your wrists and ankles at those BPMs?

I just have to keep them strong, so I gotta do a lot of practicing and strengthening of my important muscles to be able to keep up with that kind of drumming.

Being a drummer, and now that I’m over 40, forget it. I’ve been through it all. Carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, fractures, you name it. All kinds of shots/injections. 

How does it feel to see more young women and nonbinary people in the front row of your shows today compared to 10 years ago?

I love it! It’s the best. It’s the best reward. It reassures me that I’m doing the right thing. It makes me feel like I spent my time well, because I remember that was not the case for me when I was younger, and it just feels good to be able to see this in the whole metal community.

How would you respond to people who think feminism or politics don’t belong in music, especially metal?

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but like I said, there are a lot of people who listen to music just for the entertainment of it. They don’t want to be involved in any sort of—they want to use music as an escape. They don’t want to face reality. But then there are a lot of people that don’t feel that way and actually want to use music as their outlet and their medium for raging and expressing themselves.

So I respect everybody, but I think it’s important to have both, actually, because the music industry wouldn’t be what it is if everyone was trying to relay a message through music.

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You and Robin are the primary lyricists for the band. How does a song usually start between you two?

It depends. The way we work is, we do all the music first, and then we start brainstorming ideas that we think are strong suitors for the songs. Then we start building the lyrics together. There have been a few exceptions where we bring a whole idea or all the lyrics together. But for the most part, we work on them to suit the actual song.

You’ve been with Dark Descent Records since your debut album, Defiled in Oblivion. How did you connect with them? Do you feel you’re able to maintain full creative control working with them? 

A really good friend of ours recommended that we talk to Matt Calvert from Dark Descent, and he said, “Send over whatever you have, I’ll give it a spin.” He liked what he heard, so he signed us. It’s been great. We 100% have creative control. I mean, we got signed for what we write and what we play, so we’ll never compromise the band no matter what.

You handle much of the band’s social media and video editing. Do you feel that being a multimedia artist is now a requirement for modern musicians?

100%. I really admire bands that don’t need to be on social media to be successful, because most bands have to be constantly staying active on social media to stay relevant, and it’s kind of upsetting. It’s annoying because most of us as musicians don’t want to be spending time doing that.

But also, most bands cannot afford a social media person or video editor. Forget it. This stuff is so expensive. So, you’ve got to become one.

I really enjoy video producing and video editing, but it is extremely time-consuming. It’s hard to manage my time, especially lately, because I work full-time, I do full-time school, and then touring and practicing. I don’t even know how I do it. 

But when I was not in school, I was definitely spending most of my time doing a lot of video editing, and I’ve learned a lot just by going online and reading and trial by error. A lot of trial by error, especially with recording equipment for drums and microphones and interfaces and all that stuff. I didn’t go to school for any of that, but I got to learn on my own to be able to put something decent out there.

Now that the 2025 album has had time to breathe and you’re touring, which song has become one of your favorites to perform live?

I love playing “Deviant Miscreant.” It’s my favorite. It’s so much fun to play that song live. But I also love playing “Covenant of Deceit.” That song is very heavy, too. It’s hard because they’re all my babies. I love playing those songs live because there’s a very strong connection to each one of them. But yeah, “Deviant Miscreant” is definitely a good contender.

You did a tour supporting Obituary. Robin has a history with them?

Robin is a very successful tour manager. That’s what she does for a living. She also lives in Tampa, and she’s from back in the day. She’s an OG. She’s as relevant as George “Corpsegrinder” and all those guys because she’s been there from the beginning. She was there for all the early practices of all the legendary albums. She’s a living legend.

So all those guys know her and respect her and work with her, and she tours with them all the time, tour manages. So they actually gave her and Erik, who plays in Intoxicated, the opportunity to work together for us to come on the tour as well. And Intoxicated, too. Erik is the guitar tech for Obituary, and Robin’s the tour manager. The tour was amazing. Those guys are so cool. 

Have there been any tracks that have been more challenging to translate from the studio to the stage?

With the previous album, definitely. With Defiled in Oblivion, for sure, because “Voices of Evirato,” that album, we tried to get really amazing guitar players to do guest solos on our album. But that song specifically had a super long solo from Moyses Kolesne from Krisiun, and it was a super long solo and kind of impossible to do.

So for us to play that song live, it would sound so weird without that solo. We don’t really play it live because, yeah, the girls could do it, and now we can try again, but it was a challenge for us to even try to play that live.

The other songs are pretty good, though. We definitely kept that in mind for this record, to not do something like that.

Looking back, what have been some of the most significant interactions or moments that you’ve had during this musical journey?

It’s hard because when I’m on tour, everything is kind of a blur because you’re always so tired and so focused at the same time. It’s work, work, work. I don’t really get time to hang out.

But significantly speaking, travelling to Medellín, going back to Colombia to play that huge festival, was cathartic for me because that was my hometown. That was definitely very significant for my drumming career, and to be able to go there with Castrator, I couldn’t believe that it happened. That was a dream come true, for sure! Full loop. 

You know what? Now that I think about it, one of the other most significant moments of my drumming career was when we toured with Cattle Decapitation and we played in Tampa. It was the Orpheum. It was an outdoor venue.

When I got off stage, Paul Mazurkiewicz and Steve Asheim were right in the very front. They saw my whole set. They’re my heroes! I was freaking out! I couldn’t believe that was happening.

What’s one of the most important things that you’ve learned as a DIY band?

Tolerance. A lot of tolerance. The most important thing that we learned is that it’s very hard. It’s really, really hard to be a DIY band, but it is very rewarding, and every decision you make regarding sacrificing to go on the road is totally worth it. Just being able to work with like-minded people and badass ladies is great! It’s amazing.

Coronation of the Grotesque has been hailed as a leap forward. What shifted the energy compared to your debut, Defiled in Oblivion?

Coronation of the Grotesque is our second album, so we definitely learned a lot from our debut. When we toured with Cattle Decap, that was with Defiled in Oblivion, and just being on stage and playing every night and seeing what the crowd connects with more and what you feed off more from the energy from the crowd. Being on the road really is what made us better, to know what we wanted to write for the next album.

Are you still in other bands?

Yeah. I play guitar and sing for another band, Untoward. That’s with my boyfriend and my really good friend. And I do independent work. I recently recorded an album called “Mamakilla” with Ava Mendoza and Gabby Fluke in Brooklyn. We went to the Old Can Factory with Martin Bisi and we recorded. It was amazing.

I just always play whatever I can. If an offer comes my way and it sounds interesting, I’ll take it. I’m not exclusive to Castrator.

Even though geography has separated you at times, Castrator started and grew in New York City. How important is the city to the band’s identity and to you as a drummer?

Yes, Castrator was founded in New York City. Our first show was in Saint Vitus, a legendary metal bar. I actually played a lot of shows in New York, and I was there for a long time. I moved here to Ohio during the pandemic, and I’m still here. But I go to New York all the time. It’s home, definitely.

I arrived in New York when I was a teenager, and the New York metal scene is what shaped my playing as a drummer.  Also, New York is a melting pot, and it’s also a melting pot for metal, as happened with Castrator, because it’s where we met and were formed.

I was at every show possible. During my 20s and early 30s, I was very, very present in the metal scene in New York.

What’s one underrated aspect of being in an all-female death metal band that people might not realize?

The underrated aspect of being in an all-female band is that nobody is gross (laughs). Nobody is farting. Nobody is doing gross things. I’m not saying all men are gross, but most men are gross, and it’s really refreshing to be with other girls where everyone cleans up after themselves. It’s just nice.

What’s next for Castrator?

Next, we’re going to obviously start writing our next album. We already have a bunch of ideas and riffs and stuff, so we just have to get together and start working on the new album.

Also, we want to tour more on this album, so hopefully we will have more tours towards the end of the year. We have some shows during the summer, fall and winter, but we definitely want to tour more.

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Coronation of the Grotesque is available now.

The latest from rising alt-pop star Sophia Stel undergoes a beautiful metamorphosis. “Now I’ve Got A Lot You Know,” which follows her other stunning one-off, “Molly In The Club,” starts with a soft haze of synths and Stel’s vocals haloed in Auto-Tune. The song swirls in circles, its lyrics ruminating on an important love connection. The words spin in circles, like echoing in an empty room, before a punchy electronic hip-hop beat takes the track to new heights.

The post Sophia Stel – “Now I’ve Got A Lot You Know” appeared first on Stereogum.

After more than three decades of pushing the boundaries of progressive rock, The Flower Kings return with the new album, HOPE, due out on October 23rd, 2026 on InsideOutMusic. The follow-up to 2025’s LOVE, stands as both a celebration of their legacy and a bold artistic statement. The album also finds the band returning to the side-long epic, with tracks clocking in at 18 and 28 minutes.

Rather than chasing trends or revisiting past glories, the band has crafted a work that comfortably exists between refined musicianship and fearless ambition.
Founding member Roine Stolt explains, “At a certain point in life – you arrive at a place where outside opinions matter less – and the process gravitates towards making an album that YOU yourself would LOVE but would perhaps normally not be viewed as a commercial attempt at all. We, the band – trust YOU, the audience – to be curious and to trust us that we want to bring you a grand glowing adventure.”

To celebrate the release, the band has released the video for the first single titled “In A World Of Fools.”

Pre-order & stream the single here: https://theflowerkings.lnk.to/HOPE-Album

HOPE serves as a timely meditation on a turbulent time in the modern world. Without venturing into overt political commentary, its songs reflect on an era often marked by division and diminishing empathy while ultimately offering a message rooted in hope, acting as a roadmap, how to get there and re-ignite love in our hearts and our society.

The album’s compositions come from Stolt and keyboardist Lalle Larsson, with its centerpiece being the nearly 30-minute epic “The Gods of Rome.” Originally conceived from orchestral ideas developed more than a decade ago, the piece took an unexpected creative journey, at one point nearly becoming the musical foundation for another Anderson & Stolt project before ultimately finding its true home with The Flower Kings. Reimagined for the full band, it has evolved into a powerful reflection on contemporary life, using the imagery of ancient Rome to explore enduring themes of power, conflict, and the human cost of ambition.

Joining Stolt and Larsson once again are Hans Fröberg on vocals, Michael Stolt on bass, and Mirko DeMaio on drums. Supported by heartfelt performances from every member of the band, along with a number of special guests, the resulting album unfolds as a rewarding listening experience that reveals new details with each return. Stolt explains, “Like I said 37 years ago – ‘This is the band I will be in for the rest of my days’ – but I wouldn’t dream of us making one of our finest albums ever in 2026!”

HOPE will be available as Ltd.CD + Blu-Ray Digipak, featuring Dolby Atmos & 5.1 Surround Sound mixes by Rich Mouser, a first for the band. The album will also be available as Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 2LP & Digitally.

Tracklisting:
1.World Spinning – The Final Curtain (18:45)
2.In a World of Fools (5:35)
3.Mars & Minerva (4:40)
4.The Gods Of Rome (28:15)

The post The Flower Kings announce 18th studio album HOPE with new single “In A World Of Fools” appeared first on The Prog Report.

Jane Schoenbrun has great taste. The filmmaker recruited Alex G to score 2022’s We’re All Going To The World’s Fair and 2024’s I Saw The TV Glow, and they did the same for Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma, their new slasher film starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. The soundtrack is getting its official announcement today (though we’ve known about the score since February), and the lead single features the Blue Nile’s Paul Buchanan.

The post Alex G Announces <em>Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma</em> Soundtrack: Hear “Pain Is The Heart Of Love” (Feat. The Blue Nile’s Paul Buchanan) appeared first on Stereogum.

(written by Islander) As many of you will know, I usually post a column at NCS on Sundays with recommendations in the expanding orbit of black metal. I wasn’t able to do that last Sunday due to leaving home on the early side of the day for what turned out to be a cool birthday […]

The post SHADES OF BLACK: DARK PLAGUE, PYRE OF DESCENT, LA BESTIA DE GEVAUDAN, MATAVITATAU, SPIRIT POSSESSION, SKELETAL SERPENT appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.