Category: news

President, the mysterious masked British rock band widely rumored to be fronted by Charlie Simpson of pop-punk act Busted and post-hardcore outfit Fightstar, will release its debut album, Blood Of Your Empire, on September 4 via Atlantic Records. The announcement is accompanied by a visualizer for the album track “Dark Heaven.”

President said of “Dark Heaven”: “‘Dark Heaven’ is a reflection on the contradictions of faith, and how something intended to unite humanity has so often been used to justify division, violence, and power. It’s about the way greed can wear the mask of righteousness. It isn’t an attack on belief itself; it’s about searching for something real beneath the noise, and asking what remains when certainty begins to crumble.”

The band added about the album: “Blood Of Your Empire was born out of my own struggle with existential crisis and trying to make sense of belief, mortality, and humanity’s relationship with faith. Religion has inspired incredible compassion, purpose, and beauty in the world — but it has also been responsible for unimaginable suffering and bloodshed throughout history.

“This album lives in the tension between those two truths. Writing it became a way for me to confront the fear, confusion, and questions I’ve carried for years, and turn them into something I’m truly proud of.”

The Blood Of Your Empire album cover is the painting “The Battle Of Poitiers” by French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix, which hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

President will headline a sold-out North American fall tour in support of the record, launching September 4 — the same day as the album release — at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville. The trek hits Chicago, New York, Toronto, Boston, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle and Los Angeles before concluding October 14 at the House of Blues in Dallas. Cenobia and Showing Teeth provide support on select dates; the tour is produced by Live Nation.

President launched in 2025 and released its debut EP, King Of Terrors, that fall. The project operates under a deliberate cloak of anonymity, prioritizing intent over image and refusing to conform to traditional genre or identity structures. The band completed its first-ever full U.S. run as support for Bad Omens before announcing the album. In a cover feature for Revolver, President said of its approach: “The music industry has elements of fast fashion to it these days. Things just come and go. Everything’s really quick. Everyone’s shouting for attention and there’s just so much noise, and it just becomes a f***ing conveyor belt.

“[We] wanted to step back and not be a part of that. But if people are interested, and they want to enter into this world, we’ll grab them with open arms.”

The post PRESIDENT Releases “Dark Heaven” Visualizer From Upcoming Debut Album “Blood Of Your Empire” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Phish rang in 2026 with a salute to dairy. Now, halfway through the year, the definitive jam band is breaking their own records.

The post Phish Set 2,051-Show Bustout Record With XTC Cover appeared first on Stereogum.

“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.”

Flying well under the radar, Illinois-based psychedelic sludge/doom metal duo Beware of Gods would’ve released their third installment in their Upon Whom the Last Descends series, entitled Behead the Oracle in such complete obscurity that even Metallum doesn’t know about it yet. But thanks to our resident sludge expert Cherd, Behead the Oracle entered our consciousness just in time for an assortment of ne’er-do-wells to offer their entirely unearned judgment of its mettle. Little do the Gods know that when they enter the realm of dogs, there be risk of piles. Good luck out there, and may your souls be spared. –Kenstrosity

Beware of Gods // Upon Whom The Last Descends III: Behead The Oracle [July 10th, 2026]

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Grin Reaper: Beware of Gods throws a lot of labels into their description of Upon Whom the Last Light Descends III: Behead the Oracle,¹ all of which are apt. Cinematic, progressive, doom-laden metal toeing the line between sludge and post furnishes a rich backdrop where Beware of Gods details a dystopian narrative with elements like machine messiahs and the illusion of free will. Conceptually, this environment will feel familiar to fans of Fear Factory and The Matrix, but musically Behead the Oracle lands in an industrial-tinged sludge trudge that often reminds me of a doomy Nine Inch Nails (“Secondary Drowning,” “Disenchanted Enchanter”), even down to The Archetype’s Reznor-like croon. Instrumentally, Beware of Gods delivers convincing performances in service to Behead the Oracle’s story, where guitars and bass swell and groove in a deftly-mixed soundscape. Unfortunately, Behead the Oracle suffers a fatal flaw when it comes to length, compounded by a few tracks that can be challenging to listen to over repeated spins. “The Ghost of a One-Armed Comedian” draws my biggest complaint, as it’s a six-minute plod featuring a meandering voice-over that would be more effective if chopped in half or cut altogether. Meanwhile, closer “Starve My Eyes That I May See” drags an already overlong album on for another ten minutes. Ultimately, Beware of Gods delivers good ingredients undercut by an unsavory length and a few skippable tracks, but exhibits enough talent and intriguing ideas that I’ll check out whatever divine warning they offer next. Mixed.

Spicie Forrest: The concept album strikes again! Centered around protagonist I, Nomad, Beware of Gods’ third LP, Upon Whom the Light Descends III: Behead the Oracle travels through an industrial, post-collapse hellscape. The album’s cinematic trappings of remind me of IPs like Mad Max, Fallout, and Casshern Sins, making Descends III feel more like the soundtrack to an unwritten movie than a typical album. Primary creative force The Archetype weaves riotous, stimpak-fueled sludge (“Tectonic Boogie with the Grief Eater”), the hard-boiled spoken word of seedy, smoke-filled hideouts (“The Ghost of a One Armed Comedian”), and 90s nu-metal (“Behead the Oracle”) into a surprisingly singular vision. While there are a lot of styles on display here, they’re stitched together well, with theatrical threading embodying the irreverence necessary to survive such a hopeless world. And for such a range of metallic styles, The Archetype’s pipes rise to each occasion and complement the music suitably well. I particularly enjoyed my nerves patiently fraying at the atonal hammering of “Disenchanted Enchanter” and “Starve My Eyes That I May See,” but those two are the longest tracks on the album, and they—along with a couple others—struggle to support their own weight. And while I can understand the narrative demands of Beware of Gods’ vision, getting through Descends III in one sitting proved a struggle, largely due to having three interludes (“Conflict Code_Cursed Blessed,” “Dead Radio Daylight,” “Correction Code_Pre-emptive Strikes Against Prophecy”). Nevertheless, of 56 minutes, there’s about 40-45 minutes of solid material here. 2.5/5.0

Sentynel: I know it’s a cliché for this sort of stoner-psych music, but wow, Behead the Oracle has a problem with songs that don’t go anywhere. I was misled by Beware of Gods’ promise of “cinematic sci-fi doom/post-metal,” but make no mistake: under the Scooby-Doo mask is but a meandering stoner album with a slight industrial edge to its sound palette. It sounds like it wants to be Isis (“Conflict Code_Cursed Blessed”) by way of Mutoid Man (“Tectonic Boogie With the Grief Eater”), with a reference here or there to Kyuss/QotSA (“Dead Radio Daylight”). But we’ve hit the fourth track (“Ocean of Teeth”) before we get a song with any trajectory at all. And that’s only if you survive the six minute spoken word plod of third track “The Ghost of a One Armed Comedian,” which will certainly haunt me. The rest of the album serves up an interlude and a repetitive Monster Magnet offcut for every additional track with any interest at all (“Disenchanted Enchanter,” “Dethroning the Delusion”). There’s lots of things I should like here, and when I put this on in the background it was very easy to tune in occasionally and hear something vaguely interesting. Actually sitting down and listening to the whole record, on the other hand, was a slog. Bad.

Alekhines Gun – Utilizing a flair for concept and story telling usually found in post-hardcore, Beware of Gods has emerged with a djenty, doomy, ethereal release. Fusing slabs of Conan heft with post-metalisms and a fantastically varied vocal approach from “The Archetype”, Upon Whom the Last Light Descends II: Amnesia Island is a real mixed bag of a listen. The vocals do a good job at selling the story, as our Archetype bounces from the expected howls and yowls to full on cleans and spoken-word passages, conveying a narrative to suit the ever-shifting soundscape. Upon Whom is definitely a journey, and an engaging one, though how gripping you find it depends entirely on what you’re looking for. It’s rather light on real riffs or songs of memorability, in the traditional sense, though some real might rears its head in the grin-inducingly titled “Tectonic Boogie with the Grief Eater”, and particularly in “Ocean of Teeth (Haunted by the Glimpse of a White Light)”, the highlight of the album. But what it might lack in the brutz it makes up for in sheer personality and charm, inviting one to listen in on the bizarre and inscrutable exploits of one armed comedians one minute, only to hear the bluesy laments of a “Disenchanted Enchanter” the next, with just enough curb stompage to keep boredom from setting in. Worth a few listens, but not casual ones; really lock in and let this light descend all around you. 3.0/5.0

Kenstrosity: I wasn’t sure what to expect from Beware of Gods when they were brought to my table. Despite a fair bit of lead time, it took a while for me to wrap my head around what Behead the Oracle meant to be, what it meant to achieve. An unexpectedly fluid mix of NIN-esque industrial with Mastodonic sludge and Psychonautic post-metal, slowed down to a doomed crawl and enriched with bouts of poetic spoken word, Behead the Oracle hypnotizes as often as it confuses. With hooky tracks like “Tectonic Boogie with the Grief Eater,” “Ocean of Teeth,” and “Secondary Drowning,” Beware of Gods makes a compelling showing in the style. Competent and varied vocals blend with trippy riffs and eerie melodies in these stronger cuts to create a kaleidoscopic, but dense and dark, bluesy shroud that envelops the senses. In other areas, like the spoken word “The Ghost of a One Armed Comedian” or the overlong “Disenchanted Enchanter” and meandering closer “Starve My Eyes That I May See,” Beware of Gods loses traction as muddy storytelling and abstract character development obfuscate the record’s message in flowery language, repetitive songwriting, and lack of propulsion. Over time, though, I found myself growing more curious to understand this enigmatic record, and found substantial enjoyment in the way it flows despite its lumbering pace and occasionally monotonous sequences. It’s possible that Behead the Oracle is a bit too smart or abstract for its own good, which makes connecting more deeply with its story a challenge. Nonetheless, it’s a curious and layered affair that deserves a spin or two even if it never finds permanent residence in your rotation. Mixed.

The post AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Beware of Gods – Upon Whom The Last Light Descends III: Behead The Oracle appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

You picked Brand New Heartache – A New Alchemy as your favorite new release for the week of July 24, 2026.

At Lollapalooza last night, the Smashing Pumpkins brought out Olivia Rodrigo, Melissa Auf der Maur, and Yungblud. Rodrigo sang “Thirty-Three,” and it was only the second time the Pumpkins have played the Mellon Collie single since 2018 — the first was at their Lollapalooza aftershow at the Riviera on Wednesday. It was also the Smashing Pumpkins’ first time playing their hometown festival in 32 years.

The post Olivia Rodrigo Joins The Smashing Pumpkins At Lollapalooza 2026 appeared first on Stereogum.

Located about a half-dozen miles from downtown Boston proper, on the literal banks of the historic Mystic River, lies Deep Cuts. It’s a venue that’s carved itself a niche as a destination spot over the last three years; the brick walls and tin ceiling of the live music room and adjoining pinball arcade and sandwich counter/record shop project a no-frills spot that’s been all but gentrified out of the city itself, particularly since Covid. And selfishly, as a long-time resident of Boston’s northern suburbs, it’s wonderful to have a venue that you can get to door-to-door in twelve minutes without taking the highway. Perfect spot for the one-and-only Smoking Popes to kick off the northeast run on their 35th Anniversary tour!

 The premise of this current tour is to celebrate all corners of the Popes extensive catalog; night one features songs from Get Fired (1993), Destination Failure (1997), Stay Down (2008) and Into The Agony (2018), while night two highlights Born To Quit (1994), The Party’s Over (2003), This Is Only A Test (2011), and their latest record, last year’s Lovely Stuff. This creates the effect of having two nights worth of a mix of longtime crowd favorites and deeper cuts that don’t see the traditional light of day in a standard Popes set circa 2026, and gives the current lineup – Josh Caterer on vocals and guitar as always, joined as has been the case more often than not lately by Reuben Baird on bass, Jack Sibilski on lead guitar and John Perrin on drums – plenty of space to explore and jam and shred their punk rock hearts content.

Night one – Thursday 7/23 – kicked off with the always enjoyable Into The Agony track “Simmer Down,” which sounds like it was written to be a show opener, a perfect, punchy, two-and-a-half-minute anthem to staying in the fight. From there, the quartet blazed through another dozen-and-a-half tracks from the four albums of the moment; “Star Struck One” into “No More Smiles,” into “Let’s Hear It For Love,” “Stay Down” into Jawbreaker-ode “You Spoke To Me” into “Welcome To Janesville,” and on and on through an energetic hour-plus set. Sibilski is a constant ball of frenetic energy, while Baird and Perrin are a remarkable locked-in rhythm section, not just for the first night of a tour. Later in the set, the crew went perhaps predictably off-script by throwing the classic “Need You Around” into the set. They went even further off-script during the encore, adding a request – “Writing A Letter” – for a fan who’d come all the way from the Popes’ hometown of Chicago.

Night two started with the already classic “Golden Moments” from last year’s Lovely Stuff, another perfect, anthemic ode, this time a paean to the power of live music. Both nights’ sets were high energy as you might imagine, but night two seemed like it was ratcheted up by a few degrees. The crowd seemed a little bit more engaged a little bit earlier in the set as well. “Rubella” and “Midnight Moon” and “Madison” and “Fox River Dream,” and some extended guitar shredding on “Gotta Know Right Now” have that effect on people. The standalone single “Allegiance” appeared late in the set and is always a personal favorite of mine. “Need You Around” made another appearance late in the set, as did “Writing A Letter” again, much to the enjoyment of the same Chicago crew from the evening before. Two Smoking Popes shows in two nights about a block from my office made me, in a word, happy. I see a lot of live music (obviously) and most of it is good and some of it is great and a lot of it is cathartic. But the Popes live experience makes me uniquely happy, even all of these years later, which is maybe a little ironic given that so much of their back catalog especially is about pain and heartache and unrequited love. But Josh and the crew make it sound so fun!

Radiator Hospital opened both of these shows in Medford, and indeed, all shows on this Northeast run. Based in Philly, the now one-man project that’s the brainchild of Sam Cook-Parrott is as much performance art as it is a live music show. Backed solely by a tape player that he frequently manipulates to cue up and pitch-change backing tracks, Cook-Parrott sings and dances his way along to the music in a way that’s as earnest and individual as any set I’ve seen in recent memory. There were more than a handful of fans who voiced that they’d come to both shows specifically for Radiator Hospital, and then stayed for the Popes’ sets, becoming new fans of the seminal band in the process. That, right there, is what live music and this scene are all about. Also, shout out to the one-man Wall Of Death during Radiator Hospital’s set during night two; little fella couldn’t have been more than three years old himself, and was a cosntant ball of energy, running back-and-forth non-stop at the front of the stage for the better part of half an hour.

Check out more pictures from the evening down below!

In recent years, Slipknot has seen departures from original percussionist Chris Fehn, original keyboardist Craig Jones, and longtime drummer Jay Weinberg. Now, the metal group’s original DJ, Sid Wilson, has reportedly been fired after 28 years.

The post Slipknot Reportedly Fire Sid Wilson After 28 Years appeared first on Stereogum.

Finnish melodic heavy metal band Invincia unveil ‘Unite‘, the first single taken from their forthcoming debut album, ‘Echoes From the Past‘, scheduled for worldwide release on September 25th , 2026 via Escape Music. Listen to ‘Unite‘ – here Following the enthusiastic response to their independently released EP ‘The Enemy Within‘, Invincia return with a song […]

The post Invincia Unveil ‘Unite’, 1st Single From Debut Album ‘Echoes From the Past’ appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

Following a breakthrough year of touring on both sides of the Atlantic, Nashville based Everette return with their new single, ‘Settling Down‘, ahead of their first UK headline tour this August. ‘Settling Down‘ is out now on all platforms – here Written solely by frontman Brent Rupard, ‘Settling Down’ is a deeply personal reflection on […]

The post Everette Release New Single ‘Settling Down’ Ahead Of First UK Headline Tour appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

These death metal bands waited until their last album to hit their peak and deliver their very best. Continue reading…