German power metal machine Iron Savior is ready to unleash their new studio album, Deathbringer, on November 13th 2026 via Frontiers Music Srl. Additional details can be found below. Read moreâŠ
A summer programme celebrating David Bowie at Lightroom in King’s Cross will feature live performances, pitch-black album listening sessions, an outdoor concert and a book launch exploring the artist’s record collection.
The events run alongside David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, Lightroom’s immersive production built around landmark Bowie performances. The show is scheduled daily until October, with evening screenings extended into January and a special celebration planned for 8 January 2027, which would have been Bowie’s 80th birthday.
Peter Gregson Responds To Bowie’s Berlin Era
Cellist and composer Peter Gregson will present six concerts at Lightroom on 3, 4 and 5 September, with performances at 7pm and 9pm each evening. Created as a response to the work of Bowie, Brian Eno and their contemporaries during the Berlin era, the shows will combine live music with bespoke visuals drawn from David Bowie: You’re Not Alone and live camera work.
Using Lightroom’s HOLOPLOT spatial audio system, Gregson’s programme will include a new arrangement of Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint for electric cello, Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, Gregson’s recomposed Bach Prelude and newly written pieces. Each concert will also feature a different selection of Bowie covers.
Pitch-Black Bowie Album Listening Sessions
Pitchblack Playback will stage two remaining sessions in complete darkness: Let’s Dance on 4 August and Earthling on 11 August, both at 7pm. Each album will be played in full through the venue’s spatial audio system, followed by a screening of David Bowie: You’re Not Alone.
Free King’s Cross Summer Sounds Concert
On 13 August, Bowie Nights will open King’s Cross Summer Sounds with a free outdoor concert at Coal Drops Yard from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
The line-up includes Ashaine White, Jack Kaye, formerly of The Magic Gang, and a surprise headliner. Each artist will include a Bowie cover in their set, reflecting his continuing influence on contemporary music.
White blends alternative rock with soulful vocals and emotive songwriting, while Kaye has returned with new solo material six years after The Magic Gang.
The book explores Bowie’s inspirations through his personal record collection. The event will also discuss Heritage of London Trust’s project to restore Bowie’s childhood home at 4 Plaistow Grove, a house MacCormack knew during his own childhood.
David Bowie: You’re Not Alone
Written and directed by Mark Grimmer and Tom Wexler, the immersive production uses footage selected from the David Bowie Archive in New York to revisit performances spanning Space Oddity, Diamond Dogs, Let’s Dance and Blackstar.
The soundtrack has been reconfigured for Lightroom’s spatial audio system by sound designer Gareth Fry. The production is fully authorised by the David Bowie Estate. Tickets and further information are available from Lightroom in King’s Cross.
“Celebrating the multifaceted nature of art and artists is one of Lightroom’s central missions.” Lightroom chief executive Richard Slaney said. “That’s what these Bowie Nights are aiming to do.
“Peter Gregson’s live shows in September will be a fantastic and truly unique opportunity to see a brilliant musician play a show that will feel completely new, just as with our Yuja Wang x Hockney concerts in 2023 and 2024, but this time celebrating the influence of David Bowie and his contemporaries.
“There’s also the chance to listen to Bowie’s own classic recordings in three pitch-black album listening evenings, which will be very special and a totally new format for Lightroom.”
Heavy metallers Asomvel have unveiled their fierce new single “Lone Wolf”, the newest taste of their forthcoming record Set The World On Fire (out on October 1st). Read moreâŠ
The Rolling Stones formed in London in 1962 and built their earliest repertoire from American blues, rhythm and blues, soul, country, and rock and roll. The band interpreted songs associated with artists including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Muddy Waters, Marvin Gaye, Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, and Jimmy Reed before Mick Jagger and Keith Richards developed into one of rock’s most important songwriting teams. Once original singles such as “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” established the band as more than an exceptional interpreter of American music, the Rolling Stones began creating albums that expanded the
There is a saying. Over a long enough time span the chance of survival drops to zero. Itâs all about probability. The longer something exists the more likely it is to end. The same applies to bands. Eventually the magic fades. The more albums you release, the higher the chance that youâll click your fingers and there wonât be a spark. As Citizen release their sixth album âHalcyon Bluesâ you find yourself holding your breath, waiting to see if thereâs magicâŠ
Back in 2013 Citizen found themselves as part of an emo revival, not stadium emo, but the kind of emotional music driven by downbeat, personal songs. Their debut âYouthâ sold itself along the same lines as Brand New, but on each subsequent album the sound evolved in fascinating ways. However 2023âs understated âCalling The Dogsâ found them drifting toward the middle of the road. It sounded good, the songs were strong, it contained the rock solid quality youâd expect, but something felt missing. This is different.
The albumâs title âHalcyon Bluesâ implies itâs about the sadness of peace and calm. This is true, yet songs like âGood Fortuneâ and âHighs and Lowsâ crackle with rediscovered magic. In fact, all the songs do. A sense of mischief is woven through the track list, counterbalancing Matt Kerekesâ downbeat singing with a refreshed overall tone. Itâs a shift that makes the whole band feel completely rejuvenated, a puzzle where every single piece slots into place.
Most strikingly the record has an incredible sound. Itâs not the devil in the details, itâs the wizardry. Although the album was recorded by Kerekes itâs a combination of the sound mix by Tom Lorde-Alge that makes such a massive difference. Their previous records sound good, but this has so much presence and so much atmosphere they pale in comparison. Each instrument has its own space and every detail is picked out so beautifully can hear what itâs contributing to the song. Imagine a sunflower, or an eclipse, with a big, bold surface in the centre surrounded by a shimmering halo, thatâs what the sound is like. Itâs so striking it instils a slight sense of panic; but no, not all records sound this good. This is a work of art.
Due to the stunning production sound, and perhaps more than their previous records, this feels like a band effort. Everyone makes a defined and important contribution to the whole. As with 2021âs âLife In Your Glass Worldâ Ben Russinâs drums are a highlight. His playing style favours speedy snare hits, pushing the sound in a mechanical dance machine, a similar direction of the Strokesâ âRoom On Fireâ. Itâs also notable how he uses rapid hi-hat taps, especially how it gives âIs It In My Brainâ a rustling, uncomfortable edge, neatly suiting the songâs subject matter. However, itâs the recording and sound mix really make it. The pleasing th-ub and snap have a delightful natural depth while the stunning floor tom sound on âAnneâ needs to be heard to be believed. When taken alongside the slightly distorted fizz of Eric Hammâs bass it creates an intoxicating backbone that gives the bandâs two guitarists room to express themselves. Throughout the album Nick Hamm and Mason Mercer interweave striking sounds that give each song character like the back-and-forth tremolo picking on âIs It My Brainâ or the effects-drenched attack on âI Can See You from Hereâ but the smaller details like the soft pitch-shifting on âGood Fortuneâ or the subtle delay that gives âEither Wayâ its ghostly echo are just as important, making each feel like a rich and textured tapestry.
Matt Kerekes is a brilliant songwriter. You can hear it in his work with Citizen and also on his solo recordings. However, the thing about making music, the difference between a good record and a great one, is inspiration, thereâs plenty of that here. That glimmer of an indefinable something. Each song has it and strikes a neat balance between his tone of voice, melodies and lyrics. Songs like âHalcyon Bluesâ are built around a softer vocal while he leans into a harder sound and shouty sections on âHighs and Lowsâ. âEtherâ even features what passes for a rousing chorus. Although he wraps his voice around downbeat phrases like âDo you feel happyâ and âNo Good for me,â the tone isnât gloomy. Itâs emotional without a sense of alienation.
During the recordâs second half the band explore nosier sounds that hark back to their âYouthâ era while retaining this recordâs updated edge. In many ways the songs feel pleasingly, and softly, experimental. âHighs and Lowsâ dips its toes into soft, throbbing electronics to create a sense of atmosphere while âMatadorâ dives headfirst into a chaotic blend of noise, stop/start structures and electronic tickles that sees the band claim new territory. Helpfully, itâs also great song, and thatâs what the trick is, thatâs where the magic lies.
Citizen have clicked their fingers. âHalcyon Bluesâ has so much spark it practically sets fire to their sleeves. The magic is clear; Great songwriting, stunning production and newfound enthusiasm. Sadness rarely sounds so good.
Swedish Death Metal project Megascavenger return with studio offering number six, Toxic Noxious Undeath. It has been a slightly longer wait than usual, but when the mastermind behind the project, Rogga Johansson, is involved in somewhere in the region of forty-five other active bands and projects, I think a mere six years since Songs In The Key Of Madness is a very reasonable time frame.
The Megascavenger plan remains the same. A collection of songs, the lyrics penned by Rogga with a different guest artist performing on each track and as with most of the predecessors, they are guest vocalists, all given free rein to modify the lyrical content slightly to suit their style as long as it stays within the remit of the album’s concept.
Also involved in this aural carnage is Johan Berglund on bass, who is also responsible for the mixing and mastering and Thomas Ohlsson delivering a seriously impressive, unrelenting drum battery.
Megascavenger – Toxic Noxious Undeath – Out 13 August 2026
This time around, the album revolves around the idea that “over months, years, decadesâŠthe poison so carelessly disposed of sinks down through the soil â bleaching, mutating, choking all that it touches. Slowly, slowly it descends deeper into the underworld, through layers of man’s detritus, through roots and rock and history, finally pooling in a place of the forgotten dead â the abandoned, the unmissed, unmourned, unloved.
“And here the poison works a different dark magic. Where it has killed the living, it brings a hideous parody of life to the dead. The toxins permeate the ragged flesh and mouldering bones and by some unholy alchemy, some ghastly, mindless sorcery, the inert bodies start to moveâŠrising from their polluted resting place in a tainted miasma of corruption and decay, infused with a savage hunger and an implacable, unquenchable thirst for revenge.”
Toxic Noxious Undeath bursts into being with Graveyard Dreams And Bonehouse Screams, with Death Metal legend Kam Lee from Massacre, Bone Gnawer as the first guest. It is a brutal pounder on the whole, but one of the riff swathes does harbour a catchy groove, giving contrast to the raw driving ones that course in brutal harmony beneath Kam’s deep and equally brutal delivery. It is an absolute crushing beast of an opening track.
As the title suggests, Corpses Below continues with very dark, haunting undertones. The guest this time is Crematory’s Felix Stass. This is a densely layered track contrasted with haunting melodic swathes and with an often imposing drum battery which sits well with his raw, snarling delivery.
If there was a prize for best track title of the album, the next piece, Exploding Casket Syndrome, would be an outright winner and made me laugh more than I probably should have. It features a brutally guttural delivery from Vomitory’s Erik Rundqvist. This is a high-speed, insane, filthy driver, yet it still harbours small pockets of groovy catchiness, and the repeating blasts of squealing guitar work build on that crazy, explosive atmosphere.
It is the shortest piece on the album, but there is a lot packed into this two and a half minute time frame.
With its suitably ominous intro, Heading For The Furnace features Max Otero of Mercyless on vocals, who unleashes a raw, well-prolonged and expressive delivery. That ominous aspect reappears throughout this piece, which harbours a superbly sombre and dark feel despite being a deathly driver of a track.
A World Of Fire And Brimstone features Dave Ingram (ex: Benediction) on vocals. I love the gnarly repeating riff and dark, haunting melodic swathes to this track, which are great carriers for the vocal delivery.
Fleshburner Yearner opens as a crushing pounder of a track, levelling out and switching between an intense undulating drive and a slower sinister plod. The perfect carrier for Thorium’s Michael H. Andersen’s delivery, which moves between brutal growls and acidic snarls.
Maceration’s Jan Bergmann Jepsen features on the next piece, As Purgatory Ascends. A heavy crawler to open, the pace steadily builds to a driving repeat with superbly cavernous and protracted vocals that turn higher and more acidic briefly in the second half. A superbly smothering piece that oozes unease.
Title track Toxic Noxious Undeath features Silvester Koorevaar of Fondlecorpse on vocals, and the crushing, undulating drive across most of this piece suits Silvester’s very acidic low delivery, which is often protracted with menace. There is also a haunting repeat that breaks up the drive, reminiscent of those found on many of Rogga’s Furnace pieces, adding a reflectively melodic edge.
Penultimate offering Shallow Grave Overflow features the cavernous delivery of Avulsed’s Dave Rotten, snarling over a suitably sinister undulating drive punctuated with even eerier bursts.
Final offering The Morbid Rides Again features Peter Svensson on vocals, Rogga’s bandmate and the mind behind all those superb album lyrical concepts from Furnace and Heir Corpse One, as well as being involved in about another fifteen projects as well.
I love the catchy repeating riff that pops up across this piece, breaking up the undulating drive, punctuated by Peters’ searing and well-prolonged growls, making a superbly sinister finale to the album.
Toxic Noxious Undeath will be available as CD, limited edition vinyl, cassette or digital download via Xtreem Music and should be of great interest to fans of any of Rogga’s other endeavours.
