King King played a one-off show for the third straight year in Omaha, Nebraska at Playing With Fire. The set included a performance of “Waking Up.”
Watch the performance below.
The post Watch King King perform “Waking Up” at Playing With Fire 2026 appeared first on Blues Rock Review.
A Metal Hammer reader put the question to Alex Terrible directly, in a People Vs feature recorded before Slaughter To Prevail’s Bloodstock headline set: will you ever beat the Nazi allegations? His answer was no — and not because he thinks the accusations are true. He then spent the rest of the interview doing something he’s mostly avoided until now: explaining the tattoos, the crowd he ran with in Russia as a teenager, and where he draws the line on what he actually did.
STREAM THE METAL BREAKDOWN DAILY NOW:Scott Penfold gets into the Alex Terrible interview on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — what he owned, what he disputed, and the story from his own family that reframes one of the accusations entirely. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and get it every weekday morning.
No. He doesn’t think it ever goes away.
His reasoning isn’t that the accusations are unfair in substance — it’s that the internet doesn’t work that way. People who want a reason to hate him will find one regardless of what he says or how he says it. He’s used to it.
Then the detail that’s worth sitting with: he says he never gets hate in real life. Only online. At festivals like Bloodstock he says he gets nothing but respect from other bands and from people generally, and that they tell him the internet isn’t real life.
His conclusion — people read something, build an image of him that isn’t real, and it sticks. Probably forever.
You can accept that or reject it. But it’s the first time he’s framed it as something he’s stopped fighting rather than something he’s arguing about.
LIVE & LOUD: Stream the World’s Hardest Radio Station 24/7This is the part that’s different from every previous interview.
Asked about the tattoos — the Black Sun and the Othala rune, both symbols appropriated by the Nazis and used since by white supremacist groups — he doesn’t deflect and he doesn’t minimise. He says he’s paying the price for a stupid decision.
His account: he got them while hanging around right-wing guys in Russia when he was young. He describes them as right-wing rather than Nazis, and says they used those symbols to look tough — that it was the culture he was in. He says he understands the hate.
Would he do it again? No. He says his mindset has changed significantly and he doesn’t understand why he got the tattoo in the first place. He’s had the Black Sun covered.
But he also argues the whole of it — good and bad — built who he is, and that he’s a human being who makes mistakes.
Then the line the headline came from: he says he made stupid mistakes, but he didn’t kill anyone, didn’t stab anyone, didn’t bully anyone, and he isn’t a Nazi and never was a racist.
He adds something else, unprompted — that the horrible things he did, he did to himself. He talks about drug use and nearly dying from addiction. And he says whatever else is true, he never went after anybody for their colour or where they came from.
The accusations of homophobia trace back to a since-deleted 2023 Instagram post about rules for real men, and a follow-up comment about brainwashing children that several outlets connected to anti-trans rhetoric.
His explanation is that the brainwashing comment was never about anyone’s identity. He says he was talking about religious education and military propaganda being pushed at Russian schoolchildren — that eight and nine-year-olds are being fed material about the glory of the military, that he thinks the war in Ukraine is bad, and that he wants to handle his own child’s moral education rather than have the state do it.
He states plainly that he doesn’t mind if someone is gay or trans, that it’s their business, and that he supports it.
Then he tells a story that nobody covering this today is going to lead with.
He says that at sixteen or seventeen, sitting with family at breakfast, he listened to relatives talking about having a problem with gay people at a club — calling them disgusting. So he asked what they’d say if he turned around and told them he was gay.
He says he was told he wouldn’t be part of the family anymore. He describes being angry and ashamed that they’d said it.
His point: he grew up around genuine homophobia and pushed back on it as a teenager, and now the same accusation gets levelled at him.
It’s his account, unverified, and people will weigh it how they weigh it. But it’s the most human thing he’s said in four years of this.
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Context matters here, and this article isn’t going to pretend the accusations came from nowhere.
The documented flashpoints are specific. The Black Sun tattoo. The Othala rune. A photograph of him in an SS helmet. The 2023 post. Years of social media comments critics have called homophobic and transphobic. And the fact that the band’s 2025 European tour announcement triggered enormous backlash aimed squarely at him rather than at any of the supporting acts.
He addressed a lot of it on the Downbeat podcast last year, where he denied being racist, homophobic or transphobic, said the Black Sun wasn’t political and confirmed he’d had it covered for the sake of his career, and expressed regret over the SS helmet photo. He did not apologise for promoting a band he himself described in stark terms, or for wearing a brand owned by a neo-Nazi activist.
Guitarist Jack Simmons gave his own explanation for a separate tattoo last October, while conceding the controversy is the band’s own fault.
So the list exists. What’s new is that he’s now engaging with it item by item instead of dismissing it wholesale.
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Two weeks ago, this same man posted a sarcastic apology to the trans community after his Bloodstock set, spent a day firing back at critics in his replies, then deleted the whole thing when one person told him his posts were getting other people piled on.
That was reactive. This is considered.
And whatever you make of him, that’s a meaningful difference in a genre where the standard response to this kind of pressure is either silence or escalation. He’s headlining Bloodstock. Slaughter To Prevail are one of the biggest bands in modern deathcore at exactly the moment the genre is breaking into the mainstream. He didn’t need to answer any of it.
Nothing here settles the argument. Plenty of people will read his explanations and conclude they’re insufficient, and they’ll have the documented record to point at. Others will read a guy who did something stupid at nineteen and has been paying for it ever since.
Both readings are available. That’s the honest state of it.
The full interview is at Metal Hammer, and it’s worth reading in his own words rather than through a screenshot.
In an interview with Metal Hammer published August 19, 2026, the Slaughter To Prevail frontman said he doesn’t believe he will ever escape the allegations, arguing that people who want a reason to dislike him will find one regardless. He stated directly that he is not a Nazi and never was a racist, while acknowledging he made mistakes.
He says he got the Black Sun and Othala rune — symbols appropriated by the Nazis and used since by white supremacist groups — while associating with right-wing men in Russia when he was young, and that the symbols were used within that culture to appear tough rather than for political reasons. He says he wouldn’t get them again, describes the decision as stupid, and has had the Black Sun covered.
He denies it. He says a since-deleted 2023 post about children being brainwashed referred to religious education and military propaganda pushed at Russian schoolchildren, not to anyone’s identity, and states that he doesn’t mind if someone is gay or trans and supports it. He also recounts challenging homophobic remarks made by his own family as a teenager. Critics point to the original post and to other past comments.
Aleksandr Shikolai, vocalist of the Russian deathcore band Slaughter To Prevail, formed in Yekaterinburg in 2014 and now based in Florida. He’s known for his extreme low-register vocals and separately competes as a bare-knuckle boxer.
The most direct he’s been in four years — but the record hasn’t changed. Does this move the needle for you, or is it too little? Have it out in the comments. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
The post Alex Terrible Was Asked If He’ll Ever Beat The Controversial Allegations Against Him appeared first on Loaded Radio.
Norwegian prog metal figureheads Enslaved have announced that they will release their latest album, Mið, through Nuclear Blast Records on October 30. The band have also shared a video for their new single, Solar Will, which features a guest appearance from Sami musician Johan Sara Jr.
Mið is an Old Norse word for ‘centre’, or ‘middle’, and is an album that sheds light on harmonies and dialogues embedded all around us: between the ways of the past, and how they can bring enlightenment to the present
“There have been sun cults as long as Magic Man has been around (at least),” explains guitarist and founding member Ivar Bjørnson. “The Sun is a nurturing and terrifying parent that can grant as well as obliterate life totally. Such a classic and awe-inspiring object of our worship and myths requires classic and awesome riffs, Bonham-esque drum grooves and blistering melodic flares celebrating its horrific glory. This is what that sounds like to me: Solar Will!”
“Solar Will explores archetypal conflicts, those that manifest in nature, the cosmos, mythology, and, above all, within the human mind,” adds bassist, vocalist and fellow founding member Grutle Kjellson. “In this instance, the central struggle is expressed through one of the enduring rivalries found in Norse mythology, embodied by two important, though often somewhat overlooked, figures within the pantheon. Readers familiar with the Norse mythological tradition will likely recognise the identities rather instantly, yet I shall refrain from naming them, allowing each reader the opportunity to engage with and decipher the lyrics on their own.
“After all, perhaps this is one of the essential functions of lyric writing: to invite interpretation and cultivate a sense of wonder? The conclusion, or more precisely, the absence of one, suggests that, for human beings, chaos and dreams are at least as significant as the realities we perceive through our senses. Ultimately, the work advocates not for resolution, but for the acceptance, assimilation, and shaping of these often contradictory forces.”
Mið is available as a CD jewelcase, a CD digipack (with bonus track and sticker) and as a gatefold vinyl LP(black, transparent blue, arctic blue pearl, blue/white/dark green/black marbled). You can see the new artwork and tracklisting below.
Enslaved: Mið
1. Non-Being
2. I Am Ice (featuring Johan Sara Jr)
3. Solar Will
4. Mountain
5. Spirit Helper (featuring Kevin Kicking Woman)
6. Parting
7. Tales of Trees
8. I Miðju
The pop/R&B group Color Me Badd formed in Oklahoma City in 1985. In the early ’90s, the group scored a few major hits, including “I Wanna Sex You Up,” “I Adore Mi Amor,” and “All 4 Love.” Since their success faded, Color Me Badd have had a tumultuous history, with original members coming and going as they play the nostalgia circuit. The only original member in the current Color Me Badd lineup is Mark Calderon. Another original member, Kevin Thornton, originally left Color Me Badd in 1998 to become a minister in Fort Worth, Texas, though he made a couple of temporary returns in later years. Now, the current version of Color Me Badd has issued a statement about Thornton after his estranged daughter accused him of running a violently strict and “cult-like” household.
The post Color Me Badd Distance Themselves From Co-Founder Accused Of Abuse By Estranged Daughter appeared first on Stereogum.
90s rock songs never go out of fashion. Over thirty years on from Nirvana’s trilogy of teenage wasteland records, many top rock bands of the 1990s still hold the apathetic youth of today spellbound; their basement vibe empowering a deep-set love for real, band-written music, distinctly removed from the soulless songwriting process behind vast swathes of commercial hits.
Our collective memory of 90s rock bands might be nostalgia-fueled, rose-tinted, and all that jazz. However, looking back, this legendary era is entangled with some of the last authentic rock groups to hit the top spots on the music charts consistently.
From Brit-pop wonders to US anti-heroes, our list collects the top 18 rock bands of the 1990s, in no particular order, each as influential upon the future of rock as the last.
Nirvana’s three-piece discography signaled a 180-degree turn from the 1980s pop/rock scene. Abandoning the new wave synth sound adopted by a host of late-80s rock bands, Nirvana crawled back to the roots of rock music, their sound an embodiment of hopeless youth, general disinterest, and soft-form anarchy against the clean-cut norm.
Doubtlessly one of the most influential early 90s rock bands to have surfaced, each of Nirvana’s records is a through-and-through hit in its own right. Not only is the Nevermind album cover seared into every alternative kid’s mind, but tracks like Smells Like Teen Spirit are dangerously overplayed to the ironic extent that Nirvana’s modern radio audience is almost as jaded to their music as the band was to the world. But despite the inescapable nature of their hits, Nirvana remains an icon of the rock scene, trailblazing a movement that would soon come to define 90s rock music: grunge.
Oasis found equal levels of fame and hatred with their apathetic take on rock ‘n’ roll, a musical aura of general distaste and disillusionment that filled the vacant space left after Kurt Cobain’s death in 1993.
Oasis likely never intended to carry forth the torch Nirvana ignited. Still, their 1994 debut album, Definitely Maybe, released only a year after Nirvana’s closure, filled the youth’s void of chart-topping punk ideals, reincarnating that grungy, 90s flavor of carelessness every mopey teenager craves.
Despite their gradual degradation through the early 2000s, Oasis’ first two records were game-changers, marking a revolt against synthetic pop and a return to a Beatles-style songwriting process. With nonsense lyrics, simple chords, and a frontman who thought he was the new John Lennon, Oasis’ music rattled as many as it rocked, yet their tapestry of 90s rock hits (including Rock N Roll Star, Live Forever, Wonderwall, and Don’t Look Back In Anger) make them one of the most quintessential and cherished of all British 90s rock bands.
Smashing Pumpkins’ first album Gish, was released in 1991, followed up by three Top 10 records later that same decade. With a collection of charting singles in the US and UK, Smashing Pumpkins designed a style that cherry-picks the best of alternative music, making them one of the most instantly memorable and famous 90s rock bands.
This band defined punk rock as the century came to a close whilst ripping apart its foundations in the process. Streamlining soft psychedelia into their grunge-tinted basis of indie rock ‘n’ roll, Smashing Pumpkins’ rawness resounds with a fresh air of anarchy, topped by an odd, warm comfort as their sound backtracks through varied influences of prior decades.
While Smashing Pumpkins was one of the most successful rock bands of the decade, The Offspring took the crown as one of the 1990s’ most successful punk bands. Threading songs with a fearlessly feel-good disdain, this band was met with shocking levels of commercial acceptance for an inherently anti-commercial punk band, hitting #1 on the charts with Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) in 1999, and #2 with follow-up single Why Don’t You Get A Job.
Of all the late 90s rock bands to sear their name into the scene, The Offspring’s early music stays fresh even 30 years on, fuelled by simple, cut-throat tones and the sense of a party-turned-riot, slitting through musical over-saturation with compelling authenticity.
The 1990s was an iconic era for Green Day, a staple punk trio that pushed the genre through the early decade and up to the present day.
Debuting in 1990 with 39/Smooth, the 1990s saw the release of Kerplunk, Nimrod, Insomniac, and one of the band’s all-time greatest albums, Dookie — bearer of Green Day’s first #1 single on the US Alternative charts: Basket Case, often listed as one of the best ‘90s rock songs to ever reach release.
Green Day’s early sound runs fresh with themes of grunge, punk, and misery; so fresh in fact that the band has been chasing the allure of their original sound ever since. They might be best known for their 2004 rock opera album, American Idiot, but Dookie earns Green Day a spot on our list, capturing the 90s in a nutshell whilst resounding with just as much relevance today.
One of the biggest pop-punk bands of all time, Blink 182, shot to fame in the late 90s; their tongue-in-cheek tracks are half-comic, half-profound, and thundering with all-too-relatable teen themes. Aside from creating one of the most iconic album covers of their genre (1999’s Enema Of The State), Blink achieved their status amongst the ‘90s greats for designing a sound so influential that swathes of post-2000 pop-punk bands continue to cite them as a musical influence.
Formed in 1990, Pearl Jam held an undeniable command over the coming decade of rock. Scoring three US #1 albums in a row with 1993’s Vs., 1994’s Vitalogy, and 1996’s No Code, Pearl Jam broke fearlessly into the mainstream consciousness, treading the muddied grounds of hard rock-meets-grunge and shaping the genre as we know it today.
Following the band’s biggest hit singles, Even Flow, and Alive, Pearl Jam found equal levels of respect and notoriety for tracks such as Jeremy, working obscure political sentiments into their music and videos (or artistic lack of) whilst giving voice to the ideals of their underdog generation; true grunge style.
Metallica’s golden age struck like lightning through the 1980s metal scene, but it was their 1991 album, the self-titled Metallica, which seared their name into the mainstream rock world, bestowing an immovable title of greatness, no matter how far the band fell post-90s.
Held by many as the last A-grade album of Metallica’s discography, the colloquially titled Black Album hit #1 in nine countries, led by its storm-clouded first single, Enter Sandman — which possesses one of the most recognizable rock riffs of the decade. Followed by 1996’s Load and 1997’s Reload, the 90s saw through the striking change from Metallica’s early thrash era to their later heavy metal sound, an evolution built on a foundation of alternative hits, each seeding their legacy deeper amongst the most popular 90s rock bands.
Back in the realms of indie rock, Radiohead took the alt world by storm with their ‘92 debut single, Creep, a British extension of the US grunge phenomenon. Often named amongst classic 90s rock bands such as Oasis, Radiohead’s peculiar exploration of sound separated them from the common batch.
With hectic atmospheres spotlighting a sharp balance of futurism, prog-pop, and old-school rock, Radiohead drew inspiration from across the spectrum of music, from frontman Thom Yorke’s teen idolisation of Neil Young to their subtle entanglement of Chopin melodies within their tracks (just listen to Radiohead’s ‘97 album track Exit Music For A Film next to Chopin’s Prelude #4).
Deftones’ debut release hit the record stores in 1995; their metal-flushed music was a distinct switch-up from the grunge aesthetic, yet truly rock in its own right. The band’s ground-breaking interpretation implants a melodic twist deep within the crushing distortions of heavy metal, wedding pop beauty, rock sleaze, metal brutality, and flairs of indie through each of their 90s records.
Vocalist Chino Moreno described Deftones’ irreplicable sound in his 2020 interview with NME: “That yin and yang of what we’ve always done makes us who we are. We’ve never just been a metal band, we’ve never just been an alternative band, we’ve always just been us. We feel comfortable in never having to choose.”
While some of Deftone’s biggest hits were captured on their 2000s releases, their two 90s albums, Adrenaline and Around The Fur, formed a solid basis for the band to evolve their untamable tincture, with an abrasive sound that stood out from the crowd from the start.
The Verve found ‘90s stardom with Bittersweet Symphony — the iconic Brit-pop track with pure-grunge attitude: “’Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s life, tryna make ends meet, you’re a slave to money then you die.”
Their ‘97 album, Urban Hymns, shot to #1 in the UK charts, reigniting the power of psychedelia, progressive rock, and stoner music in the UK scene, a kaleidoscopic mirror of what was going down overseas in the US. This record remains in the top 20 highest-selling albums of all time in the UK, a testament to The Verve’s spellbinding authenticity during an era over-saturated with disenchantment.
Slowdive has always perched on the obscurer side of fame but remains an acclaimed 90s rock artist in their downtempo niche. Hailing from Reading, England, Slowdive was a pioneering band of the reverb-drowned ‘90s shoegaze movement — a melancholic and wistfully dismal strain of dream pop.
Formed from a synthesis of pedals and threads of Cure-like new wave, Slowdive’s early ‘90s records were met with their fair share of disappointing reviews for their sound’s opposition to the all-consuming grunge rock scene. But this initial ‘90s trilogy — Just For A Day, Souvlaki, and Pygmalion — paints the first signs of life upon their genre’s canvas, a hypnotic basis for shoegaze to mutate and thrive in its underground dwelling.
One of these shoegaze mutations is My Bloody Valentine — a four-piece who rose alongside Slowdive as pioneers of the UK’s new subgenre of rock. Of their three sporadic releases between 1988 and 2013, it’s their 1991 album, Loveless, which is crowned time and again as the band’s best work.
90s rock bands with female singers may seem few and far between, but My Bloody Valentine breaks the mould, just like Slowdive; an ethereal take on alternative rock far-removed from the dominating grunge sound of the ‘90s, yet capturing the same disenchantment down treading the decade’s youth.
The Chili Peppers have been releasing records since the early ‘80s, but it’s their ‘90s collection which stands out from their 13-album-long discography. Heralded as the band’s unequivocal high-point, this decade saw the release of 1991’s Blood Sex Sugar Magik, 1995’s One Hot Minute, and 1999’s Californication (the first and last of which are often credited as the best records ever released by the band), supported by a tapestry of hit singles such as Give It Away, Under The Bridge and Around The World.
Their sound flip-flopping from psychedelic funk to alternative rap rock, the band’s legendary bassist, Flea, revealed the vibrant inspiration behind the band’s sound in his 1998 interview with Bass Frontiers: “I think without passion it’s ridiculous to play. For me, if you don’t play with your heart, you have nothing to say, and if you have nothing to say, you should shut up […] I’m always listening, and I’m always open minded. I’m always looking for something beautiful, whether it’s music or otherwise.” It’s attitudes like this that make bands legendary and make Red Hot Chili Peppers one of the most respected, far-reaching, and best rock bands of their era
After releasing a series of albums between 1983-1988, Pantera’s greatest commercial success spawned from their 1990 record, Cowboys From Hell — a title as infamous as the band’s relentless sound. This decade saw Pantera refine their direction from glam to groove metal, maturing in time with the scene around them yet constantly staying on top of their game.
Pantera shone a darker shade over the alternative scene; combating the power chord wave with a fearless exploration of musical technicality, making them stand out from their surrounding 90s rock artists, even to this day.
We admit Cradle of Filth is far more metal than rock, but with the extreme forces of Gothicism and deep-set controversy closely on their tails, this band’s early records highlight the ‘90s rock scene’s affiliation with the Satanic Panic and with breathtaking style.
From the sour taste of the band’s iconic ‘90s “Jesus Is A C***” t-shirt to the black metal terror underlying their earliest albums, Cradle Of Filth soaks each track in shock factor, devilish enchantment, and poetic perceptions of mythology. Their initial spiderweb of records, from 1994’s The Principle of Evil Made Flesh to 2000’s Midian, is the inarguable high-point of the band, distinct from their later downfall and showcasing the mystifying horror of Dani Filth’s vocals at their utmost best.
With a steady stream of releases between 1989 and 2020, Nine Inch Nails’ all-time greatest record is undoubtedly 1994’s The Downward Spiral — a relentless album of bedlam and subtlety, encircling a disturbing concept of self-destruction.
Despite their industrial snowstorm of sound, NIN found shocking levels of commercial success with this release, bringing together the mainstream rock world and the cavernous obscurities of industrial metal into one indomitable force. The Downward Spiral lives on for daring to break the mold of 90s rock music, a harrowing musical adventure undercut with profound messages and themes as bleakly relatable as their peers.
Slipknot might not fit perfectly into a ‘rock band’ list, but the nu-metal nine-piece’s debut record — the self-titled 1999 Slipknot — ended the decade with chaos unbeknownst to the alternative community. Their first two albums forming the original, corrupted soul of the band, we’ll let Slipknot edge onto our list for creating one of the most manic rock records of our generation, debuting a sound that evolved like a Lovecraftian monster, transfixing the scene from their first spread of ‘99 singles, and steering the sonic aesthetics of the mainstream alternative into the wilderness of the new, 21st century.
Weezer’s 1994 self-titled debut, the Blue Album, wrapped nerdy heartbreak and self-deprecation in fuzzed-out power chords, turning teenage awkwardness into an entire aesthetic. Songs like Buddy Holly and Say It Ain’t So sat comfortably next to grunge’s angst on the radio while sounding nothing like it, catchy where Nirvana was raw and disaffected.
Their 1996 follow-up, Pinkerton, flopped commercially on release, dismissed as an uncomfortable overshare, only to be reassessed years later as one of the decade’s most influential records, a blueprint for the emo scene that followed in its wake.
Weezer’s brand of geek rock proved that vulnerability, thick glasses, and a Moog synthesizer could hold their own against a decade otherwise dominated by flannel and distortion pedals.
Rage Against the Machine fused Zack de la Rocha’s incendiary political lyrics with Tom Morello’s guitar, an instrument he bent, scratched, and reprogrammed until it sounded more like a turntable than a rock axe. Their 1992 self-titled debut, powered by Killing in the Name, landed like a grenade in the middle of the grunge era, proof that rage could groove as hard as it screamed.
Rather than retreating into apathy like much of their 90s peers, Rage Against the Machine’s music demanded action, threading Marxist theory and anti-establishment fury through riffs heavy enough to fill arenas.
Their influence on rap-metal and the broader landscape of politically charged rock still runs deep, a reminder that 90s rock could be a fist in the air as easily as a shrug of the shoulders.
The post The 20 Greatest Rock Bands of the 1990s, Ranked appeared first on Metal Shout.