Greek symphonic extreme metallers W.E.B. will unveil Darkness Alive, their first ever live album, on February 20th via Metal Blade Records!
Captured in the quartet’s hometown of Athens on September 22nd, 2024, Darkness Alive truly displays the band at the top of their game. Standout tracks include “Into Hell Fire We Burn,” which vocalist/guitarist Sakis Prekas describes as a, “thunderous marriage of black and heavy metal with a chorus that literally orders you to sing along,” “Dark Web,” an intense melodic death and modern metal onslaught, and today’s single, “Dragona” from the band’s critically lauded 2017 Tartarus, full-length.
“Dragona” serves as a blasting black metal masterwork with an epic finale that will forever be a staple in W.E.B.‘s live set. Lyrically, the track praises an ancient God with a funeral exodus and is considered by fans and critics alike among W.E.B.‘s most revered tracks.
Watch W.E.B.‘s live performance video of “Dragona” HERE.
Watch the band’s previously released video for “Dark Web” HERE.
Darkness Alive will be released digitally. Find pre-orders at: metalblade.com/web
Darkness Alive Track Listing:
01. Crimson Dawn (Live)
02. Pentalpha (Live)
03. Dark Web (Live)
04. Into Hell Fire We Burn (Live)
05. Murder Of Crows (Live)
06. Necrology (Live)
07. Morphine for Saints (Live)
08. Dragona (Live)
09. Eligos (Live)
W.E.B. is currently composing material for their next full-length album that will see them hitting the road once again. “It is by far the best material we;ve ever had on a record. I intend to keep the promise to myself regarding W.E.B. that all new material must be better material, otherwise there is no reason to release it,” Prekas concludes. “Stay Dark.“
As the February 6 release date approaches for Puscifer’s fifth studio album, Normal Isn’t, the band is giving fans another reason to visit their local record shops. Select independent retailers will host advance screenings of the new concert film Normal Isn’t: Puscifer Live At The Pacific Stock Exchange, turning album week into a shared, in-person experience.
Maynard James Keenan underscored the importance of those spaces, saying: “Brick and mortar vinyl shops are the lifeblood of independent bands. There is a symbiotic relationship that was almost obliterated by the age of digital downloads and streaming. Thankfully we survived by working together.”
Screenings of Normal Isn’t: Puscifer Live At The Pacific Stock Exchange will take place between February 6 and February 8, with participating retailers handling their own schedules and details. Fans who can’t attend in person will still be able to purchase the concert film online beginning February 9 at noon Pacific, or 3 p.m. Eastern here.
Shot inside Los Angeles’s original stock exchange, an art deco building long rumored to be one of the city’s most haunted locations, the film captures a pivotal moment for Puscifer. It documents the first live performance of Normal Isn’t and introduces a completely reimagined stage production, complete with new costumes and a light show driven by bold graphics. As songs such as “Self Evident,” “Pendulum,” and “Bad Wolf” echo through the granite-lined hall, Maynard James Keenan, Carina Round, Mat Mitchell, Gunnar Olsen, and Josh Moreau deliver a tightly focused, high-energy performance that translates the album’s mood to the stage.
The release of Normal Isn’t coincides with the concert film’s debut and includes the recent singles “Self Evident,” “Pendulum,” and “ImpetuoUs.” Beyond music, Puscifer has also expanded into comics, recently launching Tales From The Pusciverse issue No. 1, which quickly sold out. A second printing is scheduled to arrive on January 25, extending the band’s growing universe into another medium.
Def Leppard have released a new single, “Rejoice,” arriving just ahead of the band’s return to Las Vegas for Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency, which kicks off February 3. The track is out now via UMe on streaming platforms, and it’s being positioned as part of the build-up to a new run of shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
The band says the song started with a lyrical idea and quickly found the right musical match. Singer Joe Elliott described how the initial concept came together when he brought it to guitarist Phil Collen.
“This song’s been an amazing journey from concept to conclusion. I said to Phil [Collen, Def Leppard guitarist] one day, ‘I’ve got this idea for a lyric where the narrator is at absolute rock bottom and wants to rise up to a higher level. Do you have a musical piece that might match that? And he said, ‘As it happens, yes I do.’”
From Collen’s side, he had the core riff sitting around, and the timing lined up. He built the track’s foundation with a loop designed to push a more primal, percussive feel, then sent it over for Elliott to write on top of.
“I had this riff, this idea for a song a while ago actually, so when Joe came to me I created this drum loop based on a tribal sound, and it fit perfectly with this other arrangement I had. I sent it to Joe, and it was like magic — he sang straight over the top of it. And that’s how the song was formed. Then we gave it to Ronan [McHugh], who’d done a proper drum loop with different sounds. It all started gelling and just sounded like a powerful chant. We love it. It’s hard rock for us. It’s got a bit more of an ‘oomph’ than stuff we’ve been doing for a while. It’s kind of magical.”
The timing makes sense: “Rejoice” is set to get its live moment in Vegas, where fans can expect the new track alongside staples from Def Leppard’s catalog. Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency runs through February 28, 2026, and follows the band’s previous sold-out Vegas residency runs in 2013 and 2019.
Today we have the prodigious honor of premiering a work by one of our favorite projects: deathened black metal outfit Ashenheart.
“Stars Wept to the Sea” is a standalone track, with proceeds to be donated to the American Cancer Association. This song is deeply personal for founder Amanda Kauffman–written after the death of her wife–and the music matches the emotional weight of the subject matter. After opening with tender guitars and layers of synth, the track drives forward with meaty riff after meaty riff, tormented vocals above. There’s a bit of everything as things progress: haunting layered cleans contrast again vicious screams, a chunky bass feature and unison guitar/bass riffing, dissonant lines that twist over continuously churning textures, and spiraling leadwork that captivates. Eventually it closes with a piano outro and heartfelt spoken word.
Album art and design by Alex Loach
This is also the first ever song to boast the new, fuller Ashenheart lineup, as bassist Tyler Blake (Fathomless) joins Kauffman, Steve Wiener (Am I in Trouble?, Negative Bliss, Eveale), and Alex Loach (Eveale). Also, contributing the aforementioned leads is the always impressive Alicia Cordisco (Transgressive, ex-Judicator, ex-Project: Roenwolfe), whose talents are as eminently on display as ever. It’s fantastic to hear these five operating as one unit, and “Stars Wept to the Sea” is a touching tribute to a late loved one. Check it out in the player below and make sure to visit the AshenheartBandcamp and Ampwall pages; “Stars Wept to the Sea” releases officially next Monday, January 26.
Sodom’s, 1994 album Get What You Deserve didn’t stick to any of the rules of the era.
“We just wanted to sound completely nuts — full-on, in-your-face madness – it was pure Sodom just not giving a damn. Especially not about what anyone else was doing. We wanted to do what felt right to us — raw, grimy, unpolished. Songs that would make other people cringe — that’s what we were after.”
The new single “Jabba the Hutt” is one such track, and it may appear that it‘s named after a Star Wars character — but it’s actually about a real person. When asked about it, Tom Angelripper and Andy Brings respond in unison: “We won’t comment on that.”
The accompanying video is cut from archive camcorder footage of the infamous photoshoots for both the grotesque album cover of Get What You Deserve and its preceding EP, Aber Bitte Mit Sahne, and provides a snapshot into the warped minds of Sodom in 1994.
Thirty-two years later, this snarling beast is being unleashed on the metal community once again. A timeless punch to the gut — or, as Maik Weichert, guitarist and mastermind of German metalcore heroes Heaven Shall Burn, puts it: “The best punk album of the nineties!”
Get What You Deserve will be released as an extensive box set, remastered and newly mixed by Andy Brings, including the remastered and remixed Aber Bitte Mit Sahne EP, plus the first concert with Atomic Steif as a bonus double LP and a DVD with additional live shows.
Alongside the original hotel room cover, the package also includes the censored version with the band photo and the originally planned artwork featuring a Knarrenheinz painting by cult artist Andreas Marschall.
Chart-topping, British metalcore icons Architects are set to return to the U.S. in 2026, announcing a short North American headline tour kicking off in Reno, NV on April 28, with support from Holywatr, and making stops at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals. Artist presale tickets are available today at 2 PM local time, followed by additional presales throughout the week. General […]
(January 21, 2026) – Explosive hard rock band DOGMA return to the States this Spring on the Time to Rise Pt. 1. U.S. Tour 2026 with special guests Frayle. Kicking off on March 15 in Seattle, WA, and wrapping on April 3 in Philadelphia, this leg of the tour will see the group perform on key dates in New York City, Washington, D.C., San Diego, Dallas, and more. Full dates are below.
Frontperson Lilith says, “Last October and November, during our last U.S tour dates, we carried a message that was still taking shape. Some paths were broken before they could be completed, and certain cities were left waiting. That tension did not fade. It stayed with us, sharpened us, and demanded a proper return.”
She continues, “Time to Rise Part I U.S. Tour 2026 emerges from that demand. What comes next carries intention, consequence, and elements that will not announce themselves in advance. There will be moments you are not prepared for, choices you didn’t plan to make, impulses you didn’t expect to feel, and yet, you will feel them. Anaheim and Reno are part of that reckoning. To the sinners who remained present despite uncertainty: this chapter is written with you in mind. What rises now does so with purpose, weight, memory… and temptations that will test how far you’re willing to go.”
Time to Rise Pt. 1 U.S. Tour 2026 dates (with special guests Frayle):
March 15 – Seattle, WA – Substation
March 17 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
March 18 – Los Angeles, CA – 1720
March 19 – Reno, NV – The Alpine
March 20 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
March 21 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
March 24 – San Antonio, TX – Vibes Studio
March 25 – Dallas, TX – Trees
March 27 – Madison, WI – The Annex at The Red Zone
March 28 – Joliet, IL – The Forge
March 29 – Chesterfield, MI – Diesel Concert Lounge
March 31 – New York, NY – The Gramercy Theater
April 1 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
April 2 – Bethlehem, PA – Fowler Blast Furnace Room
April 3 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
Dogma is offering a limited-edition presale bundle with ticket purchase, including an exclusive design of the “spitting nun” T-shirt. For more information, visit HERE. Fans can also sign up HERE for a pre-show Meet & Greet, which includes surprise sweepstakes and a band photo.
Malignant Aura – Where All of Worth Comes to Wither > Death/doom > Australia > Releasing January 26 > Memento Mori
Way back in 2022 (which I swear feels like a decade ago already) I contributed a short writeup on Malignant Aura’s debut LP Abysmal Misfortune is Draped Upon Me to one of our monthly roundup articles. Among the words I said were these: “These are tracks you will get lost in, that you’ll wallow forlornly in, tracks that burn like fire and then bury the ashes beneath six feet of cold dirt.” It was a record that felt both shorter and longer than its 54 minutes in that it was easy to close your eyes and sink into the melancholy of it all, drifting through shadows and graveyards before being jolted from dark revery by furious charges of anger, unseen clouds pouring rain out of thunder-cracked skies. My expectations for this new LP were, accordingly, high.
As it turns out, Where All of Worth Comes to Wither is a more distilled, more violent experience than its predecessor. It stretches across 45 minutes in only five tracks, one of which functions as an intro, and in that more concise runtime it manages to delve deeper into both ends of the death/doom spectrum. It’s an album of sanity’s frayed edges, of trying and failing to balance grief and rage inside a single tormented vessel. Miserable pits of sorrow, uncontrollable frenzies of sheer violence. Where All of Worth Comes to Wither plumbs the depths of the human soul, the suffering of the psyche, and the ugliness within mankind, then paints all of it into one monstrous canvas of disparate yet indisputably related elements.
You’ll notice not long after the gongs(!) crash to open the first minute of the instrumental title track that GODDAMN is the guitar tone wicked on this record. It’s caustically sharp, the sort of burning, almost buzzing sawtooth sound that almost hurts to take in. A quick peek behind the credits curtain shows producer extraordinaire and Damn Good at Recording Loud Sounds Guy Brendan Auld at the board for his fellow Aussies, plus Arthur Rizk as masterer, and that makes sense: two guys who understand the best ways to get heavyweight-class old school sound with the best of modern means. The guitars should be and are the stars here, intertwining gloomily, meandering together, lulling you to an accepting sort of despondency as they rise and fall. Then comes the sudden arrival of “The Pathetic Festival”, shattering the doors to splinters and seizing you by the hair, forcing a torrent of hateful death down your throat.
This transition is the Where All Worth Comes to Wither experience in its most essential form: dirging, funereal sorrow, overcome with overwhelming whirlwinds of rage and pain, eventually sinking back into despair. Deep, gripping tremolos from the guitars offset by jabbing staccato licks launch “The Pathetic Festival”, which is the tightest of the album’s non-intro tracks at seven minutes. At times it’s almost martial, then it’s crushing, angular doom, then it’s revisiting the opening blast of battering death. Across it all are the tormented, gutty vocals of Tim Smith, whose performance here is grotesque, horrendous stuff (complimentary). Spewing, choking, howling, growls full of phlegm and bile, stentorian pseudo-spoken word: it’s spectacular stuff.
This record is simply stuffed to the gills with tremendous moments. There’s a goddamn RIFF and a half at :49 in “Languishing in the Perpetual Mire” that hits a syncopated groove and churns in a deeply satisfying way, and a brutish swinging compound meter crusher around the four-minute mark. The ending stretch of “Beneath a Crowd of Anguish” feels like a slow descent into the hell of madness, an incisive dropping riff compelled first by incessant blasts before it slows and expands, gaining what feels like tons of weight as it grinds down. The production supports across the board, and sometimes it makes the moment: for example, the dry snare’s popping tone is dominant in passages of merciless blasts in a way that makes those moments feel more frenzied and desperate.
Album art by Paolo Girardi
My favorite parts of the record are unaccompanied sections of twin guitars, burning and weaving in and out of one another slowly in a way that’s clearly informed by Mournful Congregation’s early works (and with tasty old school tone to boot). A passage like this leads us to the ending stretch of the “Languishing in the Perpetual Mire”, establishing a beautiful sorrow-drenched motif which the rhythm section rejoins, providing a palette for desperate solos and somber spoken word that close the track. Another of these intertwining guitar passages actually begins the song, and yet another signals the beginning of the end as enormous closer “An Abhorrent Path to Providence” enters its final quarter; emerging from beneath a particularly tortured vocal passage, the guitars feel like the grave dirge leading us home, taking us into eternity.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The follow-up to a great album in Abysmal Fortune is Draped Upon Me, Where All of Worth Comes to Wither is like a more concentrated, more punchy version of a proven formula. Malignant Aura’s willingness to push even further into both the funereal and death metal edges of their sound, and their ability to write captivating songs that deftly incorporate those elements, make this sophomore effort a particularly excellent one.
Good Day Noir Family,
A cold pulse introduces Laugh at the Tragedy, and it arrives with confidence. The opening track, “Polarity, establishes right away James Laurent’s futuristic direction.
Laugh at the Tragedy is James Laurent’s Album Out Now
Electronic grooves rub against the skin, while neon-tinted textures pull the listener into a dystopian frame of mind. At the same time, the beat invites movement. It scratches and seduces, creating a space where tension and release coexist.
Next, “On My Altar” shifts the mood without breaking continuity. A light guitar riff sets the scene and then the track soon mutates. Funk-inflected rhythms appear, and the song leans toward the dancefloor. Still, darkness lingers. The club atmosphere feels shadowy, almost ritualistic. The track wraps around you, urging motion while keeping a sense of unease.
“Anesthesia” follows with a more fragile entry. It flickers like a candle flame, unstable and intimate. Here, Laurent places his voice front and center. The delivery feels intense and exposed. Meanwhile, the dynamics change often, which keeps the track alive and unpredictable. This willingness to experiment defines the album’s identity and reinforces its forward-looking vision.
One of the standout moments arrives with “Crashout.” The atmosphere turns nocturnal, and the vocal treatment becomes slightly megaphonic. The song feels as if it’s transmitted from a parallel dimension. The push of the rhythm is steady, yet the mood remains reflective. You are left suspended, observing a plastic, night-colored universe that slowly closes in around you.
The closing track, “Dancing with the Devil,” brings introspection to the surface. The title alone sets expectations, and the song delivers. It feels like one of those late nights spent confronting personal shadows. The keyboard line circles relentlessly, echoing like distracting voices in the mind. Instead of resolving the tension, the track lets it linger, which suits the album’s emotional arc.
Overall, James Laurent’s music recalls a darker interpretation of Twenty One Pilots and Empire of the Sun, filtered through a more alternative lens. The album never feels derivative. Laugh at the Tragedy stands as a cohesive and immersive body of work, driven by atmosphere, rhythm, and a clear artistic focus.
Laugh at the Tragedy is James Laurent’s Album Out Now!
Intense!
James Laurent is an alternative artist blending pop-punk energy with cinematic emotion. Ecuadorian by heritage, Milwaukee-born and LA-based, he creates his music entirely solo—writing, recording, mixing, and mastering every release.
His track “Fake Love” earned Apple Music Editorial placement on New in Rock, leading into his December 2025 debut album Degen Z. An RIAA Gold-certified artist and experienced engineer, Laurent combines technical precision with raw emotional impact.
