New Progressive Rock Album Scheduled for Spring 2027 Release
Melodic Revolution Records is proud to announce the signing of Jef Bek, the acclaimed U.S. progressive rock multi-instrumentalist, composer, academic, and radio host, for the release of his forthcoming album, Gyascutus.
Gyascutus will mark the fourth album of Bek’s career and his first release under the Melodic Revolution Records umbrella. The album is currently targeted for release in spring 2027.
“Jef and I first met over coffee more than a year ago,” says Nick Katona, founder and president of Melodic Revolution Records. “We hit it off immediately and quickly realized that, beyond sharing a good cup of coffee, we had something else in common: we both love to produce and release great music. That first meeting set in motion what has grown into a wonderful musical partnership, and I’m thrilled to welcome Jef to the Melodic Revolution Records family.”
Bek brings a diverse and deeply creative background to his work. As a progressive rock composer and multi-instrumentalist, he has developed a distinctive musical voice shaped by his work across recording, live performance, theater, academia, and radio.
He is particularly recognized for composing and directing original live music for theatrical productions in Chicago and Los Angeles, including collaborations with such notable organizations as Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Geffen Playhouse, and New Crime Productions.
With Gyascutus, Bek continues his exploration of progressive music while bringing together his broad experience as a composer, performer, and musical storyteller. The upcoming album represents a new chapter in his creative journey and the beginning of a new partnership with Melodic Revolution Records.
In a statement from Jef
I’m thrilled to be partnering with Nick Katona and joining the esteemed Melodic Revolution Records family! I grew up loving the great progressive rock bands of the ’70s. As I developed as a musician, composer and performer, I discovered that the music I was writing felt more at home in a theatre than in a bar, and I went on to spend much of my musical career writing and performing music for original theatrical productions.
When I returned to my first musical love and released Distant Starlight in November 2023, I really didn’t know anyone in the prog community. I began forming new friendships through social media, and before long I connected with Nick Katona, who seemed to be a conduit for all this wonderful independent musical energy. I immediately recognized a kindred spirit in Nick. and in his passion for supporting musicians who dare to make music that you didn’t know you would love.
I couldn’t be happier that Gyascutus has found a home at Melodic Revolution Records.
About Jef Bek
Jef Bek is a U.S. progressive rock multi-instrumentalist, composer, academic, and radio host whose work spans music, theater, education, and broadcasting. His career includes composing and directing original music for theatrical productions in both Chicago and Los Angeles, with collaborations including Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Geffen Playhouse, and New Crime Productions.
Gyascutus, Coming Spring 2027
Gyascutus will be Jef Bek’s fourth album and his first release with Melodic Revolution Records. Additional album details, artwork, track information, pre-order opportunities, and release announcements will be revealed as the project moves toward its spring 2027 release.
Previous Releases by Jef Bek: Distant Starlight (2023) CD, Digital Download, Streaming Nosferatu (2001) CD, Cassette, Digital Download, Streaming One F no C (1991) CD, Cassette, Digital Download, Streaming
Creativity is infinite. Music is infinite. Hardcore is infinite. Turnstile is infinite. The ground-breaking, expansive Baltimore band announced an all-star take on their 2025 Grammy Award-winning albumNEVER ENOUGH. It’s not a remix album. It’s not a covers album. Maybe it’s a testament to creativity’s limitlessness. Either way, you will never be able to guess who is on it. It’s the most Turnstile thing ever — an expected unexpected – and it’s out in one week.
Metal Hammer have teamed up with Swedish spooky metal sensations Ghost for a limited edition bundle that you can’t find anywhere else. The bundle features an exclusive Ghost cover variant of the latest issue of Metal Hammer magazine and a special ‘puff print’ Ghost t-shirt.
Inside the magazine, we chat to Ghost leader Tobias Forge about the band’s epic new concert movie 2 Big To Rig, as he reveals the roots of his obsession with film, the food poisoning incident that almost killed off the new movie and some special ambitions he’s yet to fulfil.
Elsewhere inside the Issue, as Motionless In White hit 20, we find out how they’ve evolved from metalcore wannabes to an arena band who are headlining Bloodstock next year; Mastodon open up about the death of guitarist Brent Hinds, just months after he split from the band, and explain why they’re moving forwards with new album Marrow Deep, and a brand new outlook; Five Finger Death Punch’s Zoltan Bathory gets The Hammer Interview treatment; Dave Mustaine revisits his cancer journey in an exclusive interview and an extract from his new book.
There are also brand new interviews with Green Lung, Snot, Sleep Theory, Halestorm, Chad Grey, Godsmack and much more.
(Our Australia-based contributor Tør is back with us today, providing a report on a show in Melbourne last weekend headlined by Psycroptic and Rivers of Nihil. He also provided a lot of good photos that we’re also sharing with you to help commemorate the experience of a great show.) I almost miss the entire show […]
For days now, the music world has held its collective breath over the brewing beef between young hyperpop acts Bassvictim and daine. The young hyperpop artist daine will release their debut album In Endless Awe & Agony later this year, and London duo Bassvictim dropped a remix of daine’s single “PQC” last month. In a recent Instagram live session, Bassvictim member Ike Clateman claimed that daine’s team were “hitting us up over and over again to do a remix” and that “the offer just kept getting higher and higher.” In the comments, daine wrote, “this is poor taste and weird af i DID NOOOT think it was like that at all. my team asked if id like a BV remix & i said yes they’re awesome. our teams know each other. i was not desperate & i did not break the bank at all.” Oh shit! It’s on!
British blues-rock guitarist and singer Joanne Shaw Taylor has released a new single, “The Girl That You Loved Before,” from her upcoming studio album, The Trouble With Love, due October 23 via Journeyman Records.
The song finds Taylor reflecting on a past relationship and the way people evolve or the years. Built around a melodic, mid-tempo groove, “The Girl That You Loved Before” pairs Taylor’s vocal with a sense of nostalgia before building toward a prominent guitar solo.
“This song came from looking back at past relationships and realising how much we change over time,” Joanne shares. “It’s about being remembered for who you were, not necessarily who you are now. I wrote it to explore that nostalgia, that longing, and the bittersweet ache it brings.”
An official music video has also been released for the song. The video alternates between footage of Taylor performing and scenes of her alone in a dimly lit bar, reflecting the song’s focus on memory and relationships that have ended.
“The Girl That You Loved Before” is the latest preview of The Trouble With Love, which was produced by Kevin Shirley. The album blends blues, rock, soul and Americana while exploring different sides of relationships, including desire, heartbreak, resilience and acceptance.
Taylor has already released several songs from the album, including “The Trouble With Love,” featuring Joe Bonamassa, and “What Good Is My Love?,” featuring Orianthi. Other previously released songs include “Hell Or High Water,” “This Is Who I Am,” “Tired Of Being Right” and “Bad Boy.”
The new album continues Taylor’s recent collaboration with Shirley, whose production credits include Led Zeppelin, The Black Crowes, Aerosmith and Bonamassa.
Taylor will remain on the road ahead of the album’s release, with U.S. dates continuing through September. She will begin another U.S. tour on October 28 in Albuquerque, with shows scheduled throughout the Southwest, Mountain West, Pacific Northwest and California. Select dates will feature Bywater Call, followed by a run of shows with Robert Jon & The Wreck.
2026 U.S. Tour Dates
August 19 – Lexington, MA – Cary Hall August 20 – Norfolk, CT – Infinity Music Hall Norfolk August 21 – Buffalo, NY – Electric City August 22 – Interlochen, MI – Interlochen Center for the Arts September 10 – Paw Paw, MI – Warner Vineyards September 11 – Dayton, OH – Levitt Pavilion Dayton September 12 – Louisville, KY – Mercury Ballroom
2026 Fall U.S. Tour
October 28 – Albuquerque, NM – KiMo Theatre * October 29 – Flagstaff, AZ – Orpheum Theater * October 30 – Phoenix, AZ – Celebrity Theatre * November 1 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre * November 3 – Grand Junction, CO – Mesa Theater * November 5 – Colorado Springs, CO – Phil Long Music Hall * November 6 – Ft Collins, CO – Aggie Theatre* November 7 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater * November 9 – Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room ** November 10 – Boise, ID – The Egyptian Theatre ** November 12 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory ** November 13 – Tacoma, WA – Rialto Theater ** November 15 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater ** November 17 – Grass Valley, CA – The Center for the Arts ** November 19 – Napa, CA – Uptown Theatre Napa ** November 20 – Bakersfield, CA – World Records ** November 21 – Monterey, CA – Golden State Theatre **
* with Bywater Call ** with Robert Jon & The Wreck
Six tracks landed this week and they cover an unusual amount of ground. Down broke a nineteen-year silence between proper albums. Ministry started saying goodbye for real. Enslaved dropped a song with a riddle in it. Wolves In The Throne Room came back after five years with an eight-minute epic set a thousand years after the end of civilization. Miss May I got mean. And Starset appeared out of nowhere. Here’s everything worth your Friday.
“Blood Oath” is the lead single from Volume V, out November 20 via Nuclear Blast — and it’s the first proper full-length Down album since Down III: Over The Under in 2007. Nineteen years. The two Down IV releases in 2012 and 2014 were EPs, which is why the new one is called Volume V rather than Down V.
The song is built on a riff the band describe as alternately hard-hitting and hummable, resolving into a huge clarion-call chorus. It’s also stuffed with New Orleans references that Phil Anselmo says anyone from the city will clock immediately — the band’s own line is that it practically bleeds old gold, black and white, which if you know NOLA you can decode in about a second.
Pepper Keenan’s verdict is the useful one: you’ll know it’s Down from the first bar. Anselmo’s is more interesting — it’s a Down song, but it takes a turn.
Recorded at Anselmo’s home studio with Keenan and Kirk Windstein tracking guitars in the room together rather than layering separately, which is why it sounds like five people rather than five files. Windstein reckons it’s the same vibe as NOLA with another 35 years of songwriting behind it.
If you want the full context on where this band sits, our NOLA sludge guide covers the scene that made them.
Ministry — “We Hate”
The last angry record Al Jourgensen will ever make, and he’s not going quietly.
“We Hate” sits at track four on Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), out October 30 via Cleopatra Records. It’s Ministry’s seventeenth studio album and Jourgensen has been unambiguous that it’s the final one — his exact framing being that he’s done, proud of what he accomplished, completely at peace with it, and that it’s time to herd goats.
Look at the surrounding song titles and you get the temperature immediately: “Clown Car,” “Grifter,” “The White Man Lied,” “Voices of Hate.” Forty-five years in and the man is still pointing at things and naming them.
One detail worth flagging on this track specifically — backing vocalist Badpenny von Eckardt shape-shifts across the record, and on “We Hate” she’s playing what the band’s own notes describe as a double-agent mercenary. That’s a lot more theatrical construction than people give late-period Ministry credit for.
The current lineup is Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto on guitars, Paul D’Amour on bass, John Bechdel on keys and Pepe Clarke Magaña on drums. And on the closing track, Paul Barker returns — Jourgensen’s creative foil from 1986 to 2004, back for the last one after two decades away.
The Goodbye Europe tour starts April 2027 with Die Krupps. Before that they’re at Louder Than Life next month, plus Red Rocks and Sick New World Texas.
If you’ve never seen Ministry, this is the window closing.
Enslaved — “Solar Will”
The most intellectually demanding song of the week, and Enslaved have made you do homework to get to the bottom of it.
“Solar Will” is the lead single from Mið, the Norwegians’ seventeenth album, out October 30 via Nuclear Blast. Mið is Old Norse for “centre” or “middle” — the ð is pronounced like the “th” in “the.”
Musically it’s exactly what Ivar Bjørnson promised: he says a sun cult that terrifying and that ancient demands classic riffs, Bonham-esque drum grooves and blistering melodic flares, and that’s what it sounds like to him.
But the lyrics are the fun part. Grutle Kjellson says the song is built on one of the enduring rivalries in Norse mythology, embodied by two important but often overlooked figures — and he flatly refuses to name them, arguing that inviting interpretation is one of the essential functions of lyric writing.
Our reading, and we’ll flag it as a reading: Sól and Sköll. The sun goddess and the wolf who chases her across the sky and finally catches her at Ragnarök. A pursuit with no resolution until the world ends, which lines up exactly with Kjellson’s own note that the song’s conclusion — or rather its absence of one — argues for accepting contradictory forces rather than resolving them.
Wolves In The Throne Room — “Ghosts Among The Obelisks”
Eight minutes long, and the first new Wolves In The Throne Room music since 2021’s Primordial Arcana.
It’s the lead single from Estuary, out October 23 via Relapse in North America and Century Media everywhere else, and the concept is superb. The record is set a thousand years in the future, after the death of civilisation. Nathan Weaver describes survivors of a cataclysm wandering haunted ruins in a world of mutant creatures and open portals, with post-apocalyptic religion forming in a wild landscape.
His framing of the title: if wilderness overcame the cities, estuaries would become realms of power and magic — nexus points where magic takes physical form, with spirits both good and evil walking the earth.
The song itself follows a warrior travelling from the lowlands of the old world to a mountain sanctuary, through forgotten ruins haunted by ancient spirits, while the earth patiently reclaims what was conquered.
Sonically it’s more concentrated and more melancholy than their most sprawling work — mid-tempo, doom-laden, with the double bass mixed forward enough to keep it from drifting into pure ambience. There’s industrial noise and gothic guitar in there too, which is new.
Self-produced at their own Owl Lodge studio, with touring bassist Galen Baudhuin on the record and Weaver directing the video himself. It’s the sort of thing atmospheric black metal was invented for.
Miss May I — “Death Threat”
The most straightforwardly violent song here, and it arrives with a lyric video.
“Death Threat” is the fourth single from No Place For Me, the Ohio band’s eighth studio album, out October 2 — and their first release through Solid State Records after a run on SharpTone.
It follows “Sanctuary,” “Hand Me A Halo” and “Die On The Vine,” and it sits at track five on a ten-track record. Levi Benton has described the album as everything he’d felt for a long time without having the words for it, and said writing it taught him who he actually is even when that was hard to look at.
Eighteen years into a career that broke wide with 2012’s At Heart hitting number 32 on the Billboard 200, this is a band who’ve never really softened. The riffing is still thrashy, the vocals still shredded, and there’s no gesture toward crossover anywhere.
They belong squarely on any serious metalcore list, and this run of singles is the strongest they’ve had in years.
Starset — “Parad0x1c”
The mystery of the week.
Starset dropped “Parad0x1c” today with almost no fanfare, framed with the tagline “a vision of your future” — which for a band who’ve built an entire fictional universe around the Starset Society is either an announcement or a breadcrumb. Probably both.
If you don’t know them: Dustin Bates fronts a project that’s more sci-fi multimedia narrative than conventional rock band, wrapping cinematic strings and electronics around genuinely heavy guitars. Their last album, Silos, arrived in September 2025 via Fearless.
At time of writing there’s no album announcement attached, no tracklist, no context beyond the song itself. That’s the Starset way — the lore usually arrives before the details do.
Worth a listen, and worth keeping an eye on their channels this weekend.
This week’s playlist
Down — “Blood Oath” Ministry — “We Hate” Enslaved — “Solar Will” Wolves In The Throne Room — “Ghosts Among The Obelisks” Miss May I — “Death Threat” Starset — “Parad0x1c”
All six are in rotation on the Loaded Radio stream this weekend.
TL;DR
Down — “Blood Oath”: lead single from Volume V (November 20, Nuclear Blast), their first full-length album in nineteen years.
Ministry — “We Hate”: from Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), out October 30 via Cleopatra. Al Jourgensen’s seventeenth and final Ministry album.
Enslaved — “Solar Will”: lead single from Mið (October 30, Nuclear Blast), with lyrics built on two Norse figures the band deliberately won’t name.
Wolves In The Throne Room — “Ghosts Among The Obelisks”: eight-minute lead single from Estuary (October 23, Relapse), a concept album set a thousand years after the end of civilisation.
Miss May I — “Death Threat”: fourth single from No Place For Me (October 2), their eighth album and first for Solid State Records.
Starset — “Parad0x1c”: surprise release with no album announcement attached, framed as “a vision of your future.”
FAQ
What are the best new metal songs this week?
Six standouts: Down’s “Blood Oath,” Ministry’s “We Hate,” Enslaved’s “Solar Will,” Wolves In The Throne Room’s “Ghosts Among The Obelisks,” Miss May I’s “Death Threat” and Starset’s “Parad0x1c.” All were released or premiered during the week of August 21, 2026.
Is Ministry’s new album really their last?
Al Jourgensen has stated clearly that it is. Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), out October 30, 2026 via Cleopatra Records, is Ministry’s seventeenth studio album and Jourgensen has said he’s done and at peace with ending the band after 45 years. A Goodbye Europe tour with Die Krupps begins in April 2027, followed by a US run.
When is Down’s Volume V released?
November 20, 2026 via Nuclear Blast Records. It’s Down’s first full-length studio album since 2007’s Down III: Over The Under — the 2012 and 2014 Down IV releases were EPs, which is why the new record is titled Volume V.
What is Wolves In The Throne Room’s Estuary about?
It’s a concept album set a thousand years in the future, after the collapse of civilisation. Vocalist and guitarist Nathan Weaver describes survivors of a cataclysm wandering haunted ruins in a world of mutant creatures and open portals, where estuaries have become nexus points of magic. It arrives October 23, 2026 via Relapse Records.
What is Enslaved’s “Solar Will” about?
Grutle Kjellson has said the song explores archetypal conflict through one of the enduring rivalries in Norse mythology, embodied by two important but frequently overlooked figures — whom he has deliberately declined to name so listeners can decode the lyrics themselves. It’s the lead single from Mið, out October 30, 2026.
Six songs, one Friday, and two bands saying goodbye in their own way. Which one’s getting the repeat plays — and what did we miss this week? Drop it in the comments. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream, where all six are in rotation — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
Indianapolis-based death-doom metal outfit Mother Of Graves will release their new studio album, The Light That Keeps Us, on October 16th via Profound Lore Records. As a first preview, the band has unveiled the album’s lead single, “Through The Pale Shade”. Check it out below. Read more…
Scottish Blackened Speed Metal Maniacs To Lay Waste To North America From October 21 Through November 20, 2026
Scottish blackened speed metal force HELLRIPPER will return to North America this fall for an extensive U.S. tour in support of HAVOK .
The “Goat Kvlt” will embark on the 22-date trek beginning October 21 at Metro Music Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah, and will tear across the country before bringing the run to a close November 20 at the Gothic Theatre in Denver, Colorado.
The tour comes in support of HELLRIPPER’s critically acclaimed latest album, Coronach , which was released worldwide on March 27, 2026, through Century Media Records . The album marks HELLRIPPER’s debut release for the label.
Known for its ferocious collision of black metal, speed metal, thrash and rock ‘n’ roll, HELLRIPPER has built a reputation for delivering unrelenting old-school metal with a distinctly modern bite. Coronach continues that tradition while expanding the project’s sonic and atmospheric palette.
The critical response has been equally savage.
No Clean Singing praised HELLRIPPER’s distinctive blend of black metal, speed, thrash, punk and rock ‘n’ roll, while Angry Metal Guy described Coronach as an album that builds upon the project’s earlier work while injecting it with “a lethal dose of vitality.”
Heavy Metal Philosophy noted that the record manages to remain true to the spirit of heavy metal while still sounding “fresh and hungry,” while KNAC highlighted the album’s atmospheric and thematic elements as giving it an identity beyond simply being another high-speed metal record.
Other outlets have also delivered high marks, with Kerrang! awarding Coronach a 4/5 rating and calling it “45 minutes of scything magnificence both ancient and timeless.” Distorted Sound went even further with a 10/10 review, while Metal Hammer gave the album an 8/10 and proclaimed HELLRIPPER “the new Celtic king of thrash.”
The upcoming U.S. run will give American metalheads their chance to experience the chaos of Coronach in the live setting, with HELLRIPPER joining HAVOK for what promises to be a particularly violent stretch of the autumn touring calendar.
HELLRIPPER U.S. Tour Dates
10/21: Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall 10/22: Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club Ballroom 10/23: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon 10/24: Portland, OR @ Dante’s 10/26: Roseville, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post 10/27: Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone Berkeley 10/28: Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater 10/29: Fresno, CA @ Strummer’s 10/30: Las Vegas, NV @ Backstage Bar & Billiards 10/31: Mesa, AZ @ Nile Theater 11/02: Dallas, TX @ AM/FM 11/03: Austin, TX @ Come and Take It Live 11/04: Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Midtown 11/06: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Hell) 11/07: Nashville, TN @ Basement East 11/08: Asheville, NC @ Eulogy 11/09: Richmond, VA @ Canal Club 11/11: Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage 11/12: Harrisburg, PA @ Capital City Music Hall 11/13: Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall 11/14: New York, NY @ Racket 11/15: Lakewood, OH @ Mercury Music Lounge 11/17: Detroit, MI @ Catacombs at the Sanctuary 11/18: Chicago, IL @ Reggies 11/19: Kansas City, MO @ Recordbar 11/20: Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
Tickets are available now.
HELLRIPPER’s Coronach is out now via Century Media Records. The album is available to stream, download and purchase through all major digital platforms and retailers.
The album’s cover artwork was created by Adam Burke / Nightjar Illustration .
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