To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Metallica’s landmark album Master Of Puppets, we’ve dug deep into the archive to bring you the definitive inside story of a record that sent shockwaves through heavy metal and changed our world forever.
Featuring rare photography from 1986 and choice cuts from Kerrang!’s own history books when we were there at the time, this 24-page A5 zine is the ultimate tribute to one of the greatest metal albums of all time.
Posted on March 3rd 2026, 3:21p.m.
Frontman to step away after one last Dallas performance as band plot End of Silence anniversary run and new era.
The post RED Announce MICHAEL BARNES' Exit After 19 Years, Reveal Final Show and 20th Anniversary Tour Plans appeared first on Metal Injection.
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Formed in their native Athens in 2019, Greek warriors, Triumpher, still led by guitarist Christopher Tsakiropoulos and singer, Mars Triumph, have returned for their third studio album, Piercing the Heart of the World. Coming a couple of years after the close releases of the 2023 debut, Storming the Walls, and its follow-up Spirit Invictus a year later, this new record goes further to solidify Triumpher’s growing reputation as one of Europe’s most reliable Epic Power Metal exponents.
Having shared stages with the likes of Grave Digger, Primordial, Midnight and Tom G’s Triumph of Death, this Greek quintet – completed by bassist Stelios Zoumis and drummer Agis Tzoukopoulos, alongside guitarist, Mario Ñ Peters – are as unashamedly Metal as they come. Taking influences from the stalwarts of the genre, Piercing the Heart of the World is manna to anyone with a penchant for that European Eighties bombast, with every one of the album’s seven – not counting the interlude – tracks ticking all of the chest-beating, fist-pumping, horns-aloft anthems the fan-base expect – no, demand of their Metal.
Black Blood get the ball rolling with the sound of a raging storm, and it doesn’t take long for Triumpher’s symphonic majesty to put a bit of wind and rain into context. Agis’ drum-kicks are imperious, and his percussive tolling death bells adds to the overall mythological nature of the album. There’s very much a Priest feel to the widescreen nature of the music, one that is heard weaving its way throughout the record.
The Flaming Sword has an upbeat chug and a killer solo to go with its big chorus, sounding all the world like the intent of Manowar; Destroyer starts with some Speed Metal scratching and fast and furious riffing, the galloping guitars and gang vocals giving the thrashing feel of Iced Earth, more so when the symphonic darkness sounds akin to the infernal interlude of Horror Show’s track, Damien.
There’s a slow baroque piece, understatedly called Vault of Immortals that finds Mars in a particularly sombre mood, and Erinyes blast with black metal intensity and blistering fretboard runs for the most musically savage moments on the record.
But no self-respecting Power Metal album is going to neglect some epic tunes, and Piercing the Heart of the World has three. The Mountain Throne is all about that big subject matter, creating atmosphere through the interplay between meaty guitars and delicate keys. The second half of the tune foregoes any subtlety and forges ahead, lead by Stelios’ bass, into the grandeur of the titular throne as the guitars scream like the rage of Achilles himself.
Following on from that comes Ithaca (Return of the Eternal King) in which the guitars evoke the gentle breeze in Odysseus’ sails as he nears home. Atmospheric and with a huge vocal presence, this telling of the final parts of The Odyssey, makes you feel the salt-water hitting your face as the waves crash against the bow. As land appears into view, the music swells and Mars’ voice adopts a Dickinson-like tone, as the end of the Ithacan king’s twenty-year journey is close to its end.
Triumpher return to Homer and the subject of Trojan War for the epic album closer, Naus Apidalia, which draws the record to a suitably bombastic conclusion, and includes a little nod to fellow Hellenics, Rotting Christ, in a lick as it comes out of its ambient mid-section respite.
I’m not the world’s biggest Power Metal fan, but I had a blast with Piercing the Heart of the World’s overblown presentation and unabashed bombast. I’ve seen enough to know this will be hungrily lapped up by the Metal Warriors around the world and they will turn out in their hordes when Triumpher come to town.
Are you supposed to sharpen a plastic sword, does anybody know? Asking for a friend.
The post Album Review: Triumpher – Piercing The Heart Of The World appeared first on The Razor's Edge.
Metalcore titans hit the road June 3 through 27 in support of This Consequence, marking first U.S. run since Summer of Loud.
The post KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Announce U.S. Tour With MACHINE HEAD, IRON REAGAN & HAVOK appeared first on Metal Injection.
Yay! Greg Mendez is back! We last heard from the Philly singer-songwriter in 2024 with First Time / Alone, which was one of our favorite EPs of the year. Now he’s announcing his new album Beauty Land — his debut for Dead Oceans — and a North American tour. The quiet, candid lead single “I…
The post Greg Mendez Announces New Album <em>Beauty Land</em>: Hear “I Wanna Feel Pretty” appeared first on Stereogum.
Basement have announced details of their first body of work since 2018’s ‘Beside Myself’ and shared two new songs.
‘WIRED’ will be released on May 08 via Run For Cover Records, to which the band have returned following their shift to Fueled By Ramen during the ‘Beside Myself’ era.
The artwork looks like this:
And the tracklisting like this:
1. Time Waster
2. WIRED
3. Deadweight
4. Broken By Design
5. Pick Up The Pieces
6. Embrace
7. Sever
8. The Way I Feel
9. Satisfy
10. Head Alight
11. Longshot
12. Summer’s End
The band have also shared two tracks from the album, which demonstrate two different strings on their bow.
First up is the title track, a spiky, angular epic. Pulling on the bright and breezy nature of alt-rock and grunge back in the 90s, whilst still feeling spectacularly modern and fresh, it is a sensationally catchy and thrilling track to umbrella the record.
Vocalist Andrew Fisher had this to say about it, explaining, “‘WIRED’ is about how sometimes it feels that we are set up to feel and behave in certain ways beyond our control. That no matter how hard you try to hide it, eventually it will come out – either by choice or by force. This song was almost lost – a few of us were into it, but it sort of lost traction for a bit. Then one day it cropped back up, and we put it at the forefront of our minds, and it ended up being one of my favourite songs to perform and record.”
And the second is ‘Broken By Design’, which slows things down to a gorgeously glacial pace. Sun-stained, sentimental and stunningly delicate, it’s the polar opposite of the title track yet still quintessentially Basement.
Andrew had this to add, explaining, “Broken By Design’ is about giving something your absolute best and realising it’s destined to fail. Getting to the other side of the situation, looking back and deciding to do everything differently and feeling grateful for the opportunity to grow. We’ve all done a lot of work on getting better at talking to each other as friends and as bandmates. Sometimes that’s an easy distinction – or rather, not a distinction at all. Other times, the lines are blurred and we lose track of who we are and why we do this. When I’m singing, ‘let’s go back to the start’ I mean to when we did this purely for fun. For an excuse to see each other, to travel, to be creative, to express ourselves through music. We all feel so lucky to be in a position to still get to do this and this album and this song in particular, is us trying to go back to how it should be.”
The post Basement Announce New Album ‘WIRED’, Their First In Eight Years appeared first on Rock Sound.
Finally! Basement returned in 2024 with their first US headlining shows in five years. I went to one; it was awesome, just pure, sweaty mayhem. They played zero songs from their last record, 2018’s Beside Myself, which I thought was hilarious. Now the beloved emo band is finally announcing that album’s followup, Wired, arriving in…
The post Basement Announce First New Album In Eight Years <em>Wired</em>: Hear Two Tracks appeared first on Stereogum.