Category: news

The Press Release: Mattel, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAT), a leading global play and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world, and Paramount, … Continue reading Mattel and Paramount Announce Multi-Year Global Licensing Partnership for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles →

The legendary prolific output of The Fall continues to be celebrated with an expanded reissue of their 2005 album, Fall Heads Roll. Arriving March 27, 2026, via Cherry Red Records and Narnack Records, the 4-CD box set includes the original album, sessions, B-sides, a live show, and a full disc of demos from Chapel Studios. […]

Groundbreaking new platform Dune launches to monetise streaming in an equitable Way for artists and fans At last there is hope on the horizon for musicians struggling to survive in the streaming age.   Dune is the groundbreaking new online platform that will create new revenue streams for artists through the monetisation of their streaming […]

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Punk veterans Good Riddance have announced their tenth studio album, Before The World Caves In, set for release on March 27th through Fat Wreck Chords. It is their first record since 2019, and the band has previewed the collection with the fierce new single, “There’s Still Tonight.” Frontman Russ Rankin describes the new material as […]

Tigers Jaw is back with “Primary Colors,” the lead single from their newly announced album, Lost on You, arriving March 27 via Hopeless Records. Produced by Will Yip, the track features the signature dual harmonies of Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins. Walsh explains that the song explores the sensory overwhelm of a relationship’s aftermath—a theme […]

Red Arrow Highway has shared their latest single, “Stop Worrying,” a neatly wrapped alt-rock anthem exploring the “atomic bomb” relief of a relationship ending. Frontman Nate Johnivan describes the track as the story of a couple circling the inevitable, finding peace in the finality of the fallout. The single previews their upcoming album, Be Someone […]

Dropkick Murphys have officially released their powerful new single, “Citizen I.C.E.” (featuring Haywire), a reimagined version of their 2005 classic “Citizen C.I.A.” The track serves as a centerpiece for their upcoming 12” split LP, New England Forever. Accompanied by a message of solidarity and a call to raise consciousness against tyranny, the band is using […]

Norwegian black metal titans Mayhem join forces with Sweden’s Marduk and US death metallers Immolation to deliver extremity to London the 90s way. Following a day of haunting West Norwood cemetery, I was ready for macabre metal mayhem.

First up are the death metal horde Immolation. With a crushing blend of intricate and savage drumming, riffs that were performed with surgical precision, and monstrous vocals, this juggernaut of death metal delivered punishment by brute strength. Especially in the more mid-paced sections, the guitars sounded massive, which occasionally got a bit lost in the faster blasting moments. But overall, this was a scathing and magnificent opening performance with a setlist spanning Immolation’s consistently high-quality discography and proving them to still be at the top of their game as musicians. 

Next, we hear the signal for warfare with Swedish black metal squadron Marduk. It’s been a few years since I last saw them, and I have to say tonight their sound was much better than the previous couple of shows I saw years back. I’ve always loved the Marduk records, but they seem to have simply had bad luck in London with sound before. This time, however, after a couple of minor feedback issues at the start, they got the auditory assault they deserve. Much like Immolation, the Swedes have an impressive and consistently strong discography, and they did not neglect this when picking their setlist. Indeed, the variety of songs allowed us to hear that Marduk are a more dynamic band than many give them credit for, and yet their brutality and intensity never dissipated for the 50-minute show. Morgan’s guitar work and Simon’s bass complemented each other gloriously, while the drumming artillery ensured total ferocity at all times. As always, Mortuus’ vocals provided a supreme mixture of gurgling menace and piercing shrapnel that held the audience in bewitchment throughout the show. It felt a real privilege to see this legendary titan of extremity bulldozing London in the way I had always wanted and lived up to every hope I would have had from such an essential name in black metal.

Finally, Mayhem took the stage with their ghoulish Norwegian black metal assault. Taking a blend of their magnum opus “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, naturally, along with some cuts from their new “Liturgy of Death” LP, these parts were of course expected. But the mix of material from “Grand Declaration of War”, “Chimera” and “Wolf’s Lair Abyss” along with “Daemon” and “Esoteric Warfare” – it is fair to say that the set did not neglect anything… anything but “Deathcrush” at least. Anyway, more on that later. Hellhammer’s massive drum sound, especially on the toms and cymbals, filled the air with that unmistakable “DMDS” skill while the guitars had the sharpness of rusted razor-wire. Necrobutcher’s bass added plenty of gritty thunder and finally Attila’s vocal contortions were on full display. From the eerie snarls to the vampiric howling and all morbid invocations in between. I was thoroughly enjoying myself but that question of “where is the first EP?” definitely in my mind. Finally, after leaving the stage, the encore provided most of those missing tracks alongside “Carnage”. The mix was especially strong on the “Deathcrush” songs with the band’s enthusiasm for its primal energy tangible in the air. This felt like the perfect climax to a unique and spellbinding set. I never tire of watching Attila, especially, whether it’s with Mayhem or Tormentor (or indeed his other ventures). This felt like the ideal Mayhem setlist to experience the band from beginning to present and their delivery was one of very experienced musical talents. A spectacle of Norwegian black metal might!

To sum up, a night of legendary extreme metal bands joining force, this was a triumph. All three bands delivered strong sets with a variety of songs from their expansive discographies. With all of the bands being most renowned for their 90s output but still putting out fantastic records and playing phenomenal shows; the past is alive…

Great art should speak for itself. There’s a good reason for this. Listening to an artist describe their work can be absolutely excruciating. Either you’re subjected to a sales pitch, or they describe something that bears no resemblance to the finished project or, worse still, they fail to grasp that subject and execution are not mutually exclusive. Story Of The Year go to great lengths to tell you how clever the title of their new album ‘A.R.S.O.N.’ or ‘All Rage Still Only Numb’ is. Except, the only way you’d put those words in that order is if you were trying to make the acronym in the first place. Thankfully, the music is more than capable of making a statement.

There is a lot to like about Story Of The Year’s seventh album. It is, as you might expect, made up of big, fun rock songs with an air of pop punk and a whiff of hardcore. If you’ve enjoyed their previous work, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy the ten songs collected here. ‘A.R.S.O.N.’ is Story Of The Year, but not by numbers. It has different ambitions. It’s neither remarkably inventive, nor particularly different, but it is saying new things. It’s a bold statement. A strong one. There are ideas, flashes of inspiration and, most importantly, great songs. They’ve been doing this since 1995 yet they’ve managed to uncover a degree of freshness. Indeed, while 2023’s ‘Tear Me To Pieces’ was desperately saying: ‘Remember how good we were?’, here they’re saying: ‘Surprise! We’re Still Relevant’, which is a much stronger statement.

Despite the tepid results on their last album, the band has again elected to work with producer Colin Brittain. Trust is important. Clearly they work well together and you’d be forgiven for thinking it would retrace the same steps. But ‘Gasoline (All Rage Still Only Numb)’ almost immediately takes a match to that idea. The result is not really a reinvention but makes different, better choices, capturing a chunky sound that retains enough personality to feel both invigorated and novel. The trick is threading a needle between two sounds, a live band and a studio-based project. It resultantly feels like four guys jamming in a room even when it dips its toes into electronic trickery.

Given the record’s title, you can’t help but think of fire; a rapid, persistent change of state – a transfer of energy. It’s a good way to think about the record as that fieriness defines it. This is partly due to the band’s pop-punk roots but there is also a bounce to the riffs and song structures that feel electric. Indeed, the mix of style and substance has a lot in common with bands like Hot Milk or Fever 333; remarkable when you remember that this band is old enough to have grandkids. You can feel this energy being built around big, string-bendy riffs like on ‘3am’, but more broadly you can hear it in the way different elements interact. The work from drummer Josh Wills is particularly noteworthy and the way he chases grooves around his kit is delightful. You can hear this on ‘Disconnected’ and ‘Fall Away’, both of which have an electronic element but which flow in coherent (if slightly unusual) ways; a clear indication that youthful energy isn’t about copying twenty-year old work.

Unsurprisingly, the record has a lot to say about sequencing. The songs all have a straightforward shape with little fat. It is carefully organised so it hums along, spreading the ‘classic’ style between the more unusual songs here, allowing so much energy to crackle through that you’d think it was strung between two pylons.

Any statement the record makes is of course filtered through vocalist Dan Marsala and by approaching each song with a different emphasis, he reinforces its inventiveness. ‘Halos’ feels like a classic Story of The Year song, with a proper verse, chorus and breakdown and yelling. Meanwhile, ‘3am’ has more of a pop-punk feel and ‘My Religion’ feels like he’s trying to squeeze too many words into one space, only adding to the song’s feisty spark. This continues on ‘Fall Away’, which drops a few rapped bars amongst some of the album’s heaviest riffs, giving it a really unusual flow. It’s a great use of the hackneyed ‘let’s add a rapped verse’ trope while expanding the album’s range.

Slightly silly backronyms aside, Marsala’s lyrics are oblique enough to have a sense of about, without losing the accessibility you’d expect from this type of rock music. He makes a lot of strong, effective choices and gives each song a sense of identity. Notably, there’s a huge chorus to ‘Into The Dark’ which leans into the Woah Woah energy to create the album’s biggest song, and one you’d expect to see as a breakout single. The similarly triumphant closer, the epic and emo ‘I Don’t Wanna Feel Like This Anymore’, is an absolute delight – the kind of song that should become a live staple. Even the slightly forgettable acoustic number ‘Better Than High’ offers a rock-solid piece of songwriting, keeping the overall quality high.

Although ‘Good For Me/Feel So Bad’ harks back to yesteryear, it still manages to bathe in the past’s warm glow while avoiding sounding old and tired, which a surprising feat. It’s overall a step forward, and a strong one too. The past is gone; there is only now. Story Of The Year are comfortable with that. ‘A.R.S.O.N.’ speaks for itself. It’s refreshed, energetic and the strongest record they have made in at least a decade.

 

 IAN KENWORTHY

After a particularly strong 2025, the bar is high for traditional metal in 2026. And the debut from Turbo’s Tribunal, Mills of Tribunal, just clears it.

The band Turbo’s Tribunal is but one Danish man, Andreas Thunbo. To its credit, Mills of Tribunal very much sounds it. Singular in vision, the album draws from a similar well of influences as a like-minded band such as Helvetets Port, though perhaps less rocking, more distinctly metal, and more synth happy, with a not subtle hint of echo in the vocals.

Admittedly, I was not immediately bowled over by Mills of Tribunal. It is deceivingly layered for a one-person project. At first listen – in one ear and out the other. Fortunately, I chose to let it be my soundtrack at work for a while. You ever do that? Can’t make up your mind about an album that, on paper, should intrigue and entertain and satisfy some dark corner of your soul? Undecided as I was, I literally sat with it for some time, its layers slowly unveiling themselves over the course of a sunny but extremely cold afternoon.

If you meet Mills of Tribunal where it’s at – again, the singular vision of one Dane with an obvious love for warmly produced traditional metal that flirts quite heavily with synths and King Diamond-lite vocals – you will be pleased. After all, there’s a lot to like in the album’s relatively slim forty minutes, not least of which is the riffs. In true metal fashion, all but one of the album’s nine songs is announced by a riff. It’s a charming nod to tradition, and, more importantly, imbues Mills of Tribunal with purpose and distinction.

Mostly a mid-paced affair, Mills is fueled by a near-equal mix of riffs, synth, and other atmospherics. One of the stronger tracks, “Satan is Here” is perhaps the most obvious example of this. The riffs are a constant presence and leave a surprisingly soothing impression. But it’s the synth and vocal melody that give the song its character.

Mills of Tribunal shines brightest in those rare moments where the pace shifts. “The Sky Comes Alive” and “Men of the World” are prime examples. The former commits to a quieter, more pensive aesthetic; ultimately a more appropriate stage for Thunbo’s vocals. And the latter leans more prominently on the power of the riff; a simplified approach, to be sure, but one that gives the principal ingredient here its loudest voice.

Turbo’s Tribunal plays the long game on its debut; a slow, but impressionable seduction. Though that impression is perhaps too reliant on vibes, the approach is effective and its core pieces strong. One gets the sense that even better things await for those paying attention to Turbo’s Tribunal.

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