Category: news

Sicksense‘s “A Moment Of Violence” music video has now arrived online. The latest clip once again saw the band share directing duties with Tony Aguilera (Stitched Up Heart, Exodus). The band, who feature members and alumni of Stuck Mojo, The Agonist and more, collectively commented on the new track: Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com

North Carolina death/thrash metal trio DECEPTOR are streaming their debut album, Reign of Terror, in full ahead of its international release. The record arrives on August 21, 2026, through Dying Victims Productions. The exclusive pre-release stream is currently available through Decibel Magazine. Stream Reign of Terror in full Hailing from Raleigh, DECEPTOR draw inspiration from […]

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Philadelphia death metal band ACCURSED WOMB are streaming their special CD compilation, Hymns of Blasphemous Fornication, in its entirety. The collection will receive its international release on August 21, 2026, through Nespithe Records. The exclusive pre-release stream is available through the Death Metal Promotion YouTube channel. Stream Hymns of Blasphemous Fornication in full Spanning almost […]

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British Thrash Punks AWAP Announce New Single And EP!

British Thrash Punks AWAP (an anacronym for Ant-Walking Alligator People) are back with their latest single, the ferocious ‘Panikos’, which is set for release on August 7th.

Speaking about the single, the band have said:

“This Greek myth inspired rager sees us tear apart the fear inducing, rage baiting world of media moguls and trolls. The Greek God and satyr Pan is linked to both music and irrational fear. He gave us the word ‘panic’ and in the song he is depicted as manipulating society aided by mankind.”

The news comes following the announcement of their new EP “Clown Carousel”, which is set for release on October 9th. Those new to the band are in for a violent treat, especially fans of Municipal Waste, Power Trip, and The Haunted.

The tracklisting for ‘Clown Carousel’ is:

1. Clown Carousel
2. Cargo
3. Panikos

Formed in 2017, AWAP (Ant-Walking Alligator People) began as a project to give a bunch of like-minded dudes somewhere to squeeze their creative juices. With a political persuasion to the band’s outlook and lyrics, AWAP is a metaphor not just for anti-war sentiment but also muses on the collective experience of all that stand at ‘ground zero’ in relation to social injustice and discrimination.

Made up of guitarists Aaron Sly & Dan Beadle, bassist Alex Ratcliffe, vocalist Matt Mason, and drummer Rael Bearman, the band are typically viewed through the lens of punk and thrash. However, a deeper listen reveals more post-punk and melodic influences ingrained in the fabric of the music.

The band released their first two EPs ‘Bigger Society’ in 2021 and ‘Mongrels’ in 2023, and now, the band are set to release their third EP, ‘Clown Carousel’, on October 9th, 2026.

From the anarcho-thrash of the title track—a scathing critique of political theatre that doubles as an infectious, fist-pumping anthem—to the mythologically steeped fury of “Panikos”, which exposes how media moguls and trolls weaponize fear and rage to manipulate the masses, through to the harrowing “Cargo”, a brutal indictment of human and animal trafficking in all its forms. AWAP returns with another, socially conscious assault on the absurdities and injustices that plague modern society.

Legendary producer Scott Atkins lent his talents to the drum recording and mastering of the three new tracks: “Panikos” (set for release August 7th), “Cargo” (set for release September 11th) and “Clown Carousel”. Elsewhere, the band’s own Aaron Sly took up engineering, production and mixing duties for the remaining elements. ‘Clown Carousel’ continues AWAP’s raw power whilst seeking progression in sound, production and musicianship.

Known for kinetic and chaotic performances that place themselves outside the usual super-serious metal/punk fare. AWAP have gigged extensively throughout the country and are remembered by anyone who has seen them.

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

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Portland, Maine-based black/death metal trio SHABTI are streaming their third studio album, Haze, Cacophony, And White Light, in full ahead of its official release. The record arrives digitally and on cassette on August 21, 2026, through Contemn Light. The exclusive pre-release stream is currently available through Decibel Magazine. Stream Haze, Cacophony, And White Light in […]

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Ahead of the August 28 release of their new EP, ‘Throat Slave’

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Bloodstock 2026: Sunday Review – S.O.P.H.I.E. Stage

9th August 2026
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Tim Finch

Apparently not learning my lesson from Friday, I’m having another Slushy and get the same brain freeze as I did then, only this one comes in lemon and lime flavour. In my frosty malaise I see a man wearing an inverted cut-off: just the sleeves, covered in patches, joined by some form of bootlace. Could have been a figment of my ice-riddled brain, or could have been a genuine leader of fashion.

Norfolk’s Acid Throne start the final day of Bloodstock 2026 with their brand of stoner doomy sludge. It’s a happy birthday to Sophia from the S.O.P.H.I.E. as the trio’s blackened, bass-heavy ditties cast oppressive shadows, regardless of that relentless sunshine.

Somerset death thrashers, Flayed Disciple, are elder statespersons of the underground with almost twenty-years of operation beneath their collective belts. Only album, Death Hammer, is fourteen-years old now, but Feast in the Forest of Impaled Bodies is still as feral as ever it was; Bleaching in the Sun was re-recorded for last year’s Blistering Autolysis EP, which gave ex-Hate Grind/ Priest Crippler vocalist, Merv Hembrough, a chance to lay down his version of the track. Newbie, Scraps for the Pigs rips and blasts, and Merv admits the band’s titular tune is a particular favourite of his.

I will have no truck with allegations of favouritism when it comes to Alunah – just because guitarist Matt happens to be a regular contributor here at The Razor’s Edge… ex-Hot Little Hands vocalist, Daisy Savage is a different visual fronting the band, following the 2024 departure of Sian Greenaway after the release of the Fever Dream album. I say visual, but the sound is still Alunah’s trademark fuzzy doom, part Wizard, part Sabbath, with Daisy’s pipes being an inspired choice. She gives a shout out to Sophie Lancaster herself as the band is now sound in a great place to explore all manner of new musical avenues. Latest single, La Pucelle, comes from the split with Samavayo, and the set closes with some guitar god virtuosity from our Matt.

Iranian blackened death mob, Trivax have attracted a big crowd and appear to be having a blast. Another band who has a 2025 album called The Great Satan (Robert Zombie, looking at you) the band bookend their set with tracks To Liberation and Beyond and Operation: Ramadan. Between these we get to hear vocalist, Shayan, extol the virtues of being free from deprivation [insert amusing comment about band having been based in Birmingham since 2011]. We get a rendition of an untitled song sung in Pharsi, and another metal rendition of a classic Seventies Iranian pop song; it is unimportant that we don’t know the references, all that’s important is Trivax rock hard.

Orange Goblin bassist, Harry Armstrong, bring his noise/ punk duo Nosepicker to the S.O.P.H.I.E. stage. Veteran of many projects outside Goblin, including Blind River, The Earls of Mars and Firebird, today Harry is here with this outfit, also celebrating a quarter of a century anniversary. Technical issues would normally derail the momentum of most bands, but the loose nature of Noisepicker means they’re taken in their stride. Feels there’s a certain Corrosion of Conformity vibe going on at times.

US metalcore merchants, Thrown into Exile, make their Bloodstock debut while being on tour with Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society. New vocalist, Joshua Santos has found his feet well and fronts the band like he’s always been there as he calls for movement from the crowd. A new tune is said to have been written specifically for the generation of circle pits and suggests a third album is incoming.

Square peg in Bloodstock’s round hole, Dream State are introduced as aiming to be the “least heavy band” at this year’s festival and, before they took the stage, and having seen them at Radar in 2023, I would have said there’s a reasonable shout for that. Fronted by the angelic Jesse Powell and playing alt rock and post-hardcore would seal the deal. Except, Dream State aren’t quite the shrinking musical violets they purport to be. Bittersweet Scars of My Past’s rambunctious approach, and progressive weight sees them falling at the second hurdle, even though there was a wobble during opener, Bloom. Words Unsaid comes with a call for a circle pit, rebranded as a Be Kind pit, before bouncing as well as any one this afternoon, and Still Dreaming is for “…all the dreamers out there”. Sorry, Dream State, you were just too heavy today! And I loved it.

Masked Ohio collective, Mushroomhead, were Slipknot two-years before Slipknot, combining all the elements of the then-most modern aspects of Nineties metal and blending into the blueprint for the genre. Alt, Industrial, Nu and experimental were all up for consideration as the ‘head have continued to make music and release records on a semi-regular basis since 1995.

The Spongebob Squarepants theme is the intro tape, and so confident in their new material are the band that they go straight into two of their most recent songs Eye to Eye and Fall in Line, both from the 2024 album, Call the Devil. The Righteous & the Butterfly duo Our Apologies and Qwerty land with hip-hop bounce and a harken back to the pre-millennial days, in tone if not timescale.

All those angry young people who raged as mis-understood teens in massive jeans, are now in their forties, with mortgages, kids and deadlines; but the soundtrack of your youth never leaves you, and the quieted angsty millennials are given a time to resurface and have sometime to see who you’ve let them all become. In the interests of general safety, Mushroomhead don’t play anything they recorded in the last century, making hay with The Madness Within, The Heresy and Sun Doesn’t Rise; even borrowing Prince’s When Doves Cry before finishing with 12 Hundred.

Also out of Cleveland, OH, but with something of a different approach to music, are 200 Stab Wounds, here to bridge the gap between Body Count and Judas Priest with a whole load of fierce old school death metal, that you can dance to, so says frontman Steve Buhl. And he’s not wrong. Fat melodic chugs, squealing, tortured guitars and rampant breakdowns dominate the set. New tune, Symbolic In Glory leads the charge, Masters of Morbidity and its B-side, Fatal Reality, come early in the set. The calls for circle pit have been echoing around Catton Park since Thursday, so Steve goes for a more explanatory “run in a circle” to break things up. A slow and brooding, yet meaty riff, comes from Itty Bitty Pieces; Release the Stench is a moot request at this time of a four-day festival, and Phallic Filth rages like one-hundred-miles an hour grind. Slave to the Scalpel’s Skin Milk and Tow Rope Around the Throat takes us into the finale of new song, Pain of Conscience.

There’s always going to be a problem when Judas Priest has just finished on the main stage and there is still one act to play. It’s hardly fair to have anyone sign off the show, knowing they’re on a hiding to nothing… unless you book an act so far removed, that it will seem a world away from the dying sounds of Living After Midnight. After seeing them close out the first day of Radar 2025, French Darkwave act, Carpenter Brut, with their combination of disco revival and progressive metal, all with a synth delivery and some of that eccentric Galic flare, seems so wrong, it could only be right.

Those with just enough energy left for an hour of uplifting Darksynth tunes close out Bloodstock in unusual fashion and confirm, again, that Catton Park in August is becoming a hot bed for all manner of heavy music.

Four days of the S.O.P.H.I.E. and my 2026 highlights are Cryptopsy, Shining, Stampin’ Ground, Death Angel, Sanguisugabogg, and 200 Stab Wounds. But all the bands, here, on the Ronnie James Dio, the EMP and the New Blood, should be congratulated for making the twenty-fifth anniversary of Bloodstock Metal Festival such a success. Until next year…

Photo credits: Tim Finch

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

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Bloodstock 2026: Sunday Gallery – S.O.P.H.I.E. Stage

9th August 2026
Photos: Tim Finch

200 Stab Wounds

Mushroomhead

Noisepicker

Alunah

Flayed Disciple

Acid Throne

Photo credits: Tim Finch

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

The post Bloodstock 2026: Sunday Gallery – S.O.P.H.I.E. Stage appeared first on The Razor's Edge.

Swedish black metal quartet TERATUM are streaming their debut mini-album, Ordnance of Spiritual Warfare, in full ahead of its international release. The four-track recording arrives on August 21, 2026, through Dying Victims Productions. The exclusive pre-release stream is currently available through No Clean Singing. Listen to Ordnance of Spiritual Warfare in full TERATUM emerged in […]

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He joined the Los Angeles brutal death metal band in 2010

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