After 12 years of blasphemous underground activities from EPs to splits and even a live album; Nuctemeron are ready to unleash blackened speed metal hell with their debut full length LP. Out via I Hate Records on March 13th.

Beginning with samples that evoke Hammer Horror movies, this feels old school before we even begin. Funereal guitars soon bring the malevolence of bands like Tormentor into the mix with pounding evil on the drums taking us back to the glory days of underground metal. Ripping instrumentals are met by piercing vocals with a strong Nifelheim approach to them. The mix has a strong balance with the sharp guitars and busy drum work all audible and complemented by the vocals rather than subdued by them. Indeed all of the ingredients for a demonic concoction of metal is here, let’s get obsessed by cruelty and possessed by evil! Firing on all cylinders, the record doesn’t waste time and the opening couple of tracks assure us total desaster and extreme aggression are inbound for strike. Maniacs, you’ve heard the call, prepare for slaughter!

There are moments of slightly more melody, not in a wimpy sense but akin to that first self-titled EP by Helloween or something. These moments balanced with the blackened hammering of Satan’s anvil is a perfect middle ground for Nuctemeron to flourish their wicked metallic thunder and electrify us all with the lightning that accompanies. The Germans have always got speed metal right and this tradition is as true today as it was in 1985 when “Hellish Crossfire” was released. If ripping guitars and wild drumming with possessed screaming isn’t for you; then frankly I am not sure my reviews are either. Real headbangers are going to love this record, pure and simple. What it lacks in originality is made up for thousandfold with savage passion, fantastic musicianship and bestial performances all round. Conviction and bonafide mania for metal is all I care about when supporting an artist (along with obviously having great music) and these criteria are certainly met on “Demonic Sceptre”.

From the blasting sadism to the gallops of pure heavy metal thunder and soaring epics; I love the amount of ferocious riffing and equally lethal bass lines. Similarly the leads are venomous and the vocals just as hostile. Finally the drums are varied and bulldozing, completing the recipe for violence and force that no true metal maniac will be able to resist. This band clearly only cares about unleashing hellfire and ravenous storms of their own blasphemous creations and do so with a magnificent outcome. The fist of armageddon and blasphemous torment is coming straight for your face, feel the knuckle-splitting force of total metal and either join those under devil’s command or fuck off! This record is an incinerating opus of sin and hellfire that will consume all in its blaze and burn skin to leather. A strong, impressive debut album that has clearly been refined across the band’s prolific releasing until it was ready in its most savage and violent form possible.

This is primitive, forceful and uncompromising metal from the underground; untouched by modernity and trends, coming in for the kill with their debut album of mayhem. I think the killer artwork and band photos will tell you if this is for you before hearing a note, but once this ride through the abyss starts, you won’t be getting off ’til the end – possibly alive, possibly not… Wield the demonic sceptre and brandish the hammer of hell; Nuctemeron’s metallic thunder will reverberate through the underground and destroy all!

Alan Morse’s scorching guitar has led Spock’s Beard over the past three decades through various incarnations of the band. His unique style of playing and performing has been a cornerstone of the band. During that time, he has only released one solo album of his own, the excellent jazz fusion album Four O’Clock and Hysteria. Considering that it was an all-instrumental album, it comes as a surprise that his new solo album, So Many Words, is a collection of vocal pieces largely sung by Morse himself.

After years of hearing that a new solo record was close, Morse talks about it like a finished thing that had to wait its turn. The delay was not mysterious, but simply messy. “All kinds of weird things happened,” he says, and part of it came down to conversations that stalled out. “There was a label we were talking to that might have put it out, but then that didn’t happen.” He describes a record that sat completed while the timing refused to line up: “It’s been really in the can for quite a while, but just scheduling just didn’t quite work out.”

Even with the album basically done, he kept working. “We tweaked a few things over the past year, but it’s pretty close to what it was a year ago.” Then he points to one late addition that changed the feel of the finish line. “Added some awesome, like, did a big gospel choir thing on the last song on ‘Behind Me.’ And that came out amazing. A couple of awesome singers came in and we just stacked it all up and made a huge choir.” For Morse, it was the kind of extra push that paid back the patience: “It makes it worth the wait.”

Morse has sung lead before in the Spock’s Beard world, even if most fans remember him first as a guitarist. “A couple of times,” he says. “There are a few of them where Ted’s, I wrote it, and Ted sounds a lot like me, but it’s actually him.” Then he reaches for one deep cut: “There was like, maybe it was like a bonus track called ‘A Moth of Many Flames,’ I think. I think I sang lead on that.”

Taking the mic for most of So Many Words brought a mix of nerves and pride. When asked how it feels to be the lead vocalist across the record, he does not pick one emotion. “Kind of all of the above,” he says. Then he gets specific about where he feels the payoff. “I think the vocals came out great. And some of it, I mean, I’m super proud of.”

Collaborating with top-notch musicians like Simon Phillips and Tony Levin, and Spock’s alumni Nick D’Virgilio, Jimmy Keegan, and Ted Leonard, Morse also brings in his son and daughter to join him on a couple of pieces. Of course, brother Neal Morse is included in the mix, sharing some lead vocal and co-writing credits. But this is very much Alan Morse’s own creation, with him stretching out further than ever before.

One of the biggest moments for Alan is the track he did with his brother. “There’s a big vocal extravaganza on the song that I do with Neal. It’s called ‘In the Shadow of the Sun.’” And he keeps coming back to the same reaction when he hears it back. “Every time I hear that, it just kicks my ass. I mean, I just think it sounds amazing. I’m so, so proud of how that came out.” He also flags another vocal performance that surprised him: “There’s this one called, ‘And It’s Time’ that I really like,” and later, “The vocals, I think, just came out. I’m kind of amazed that I could do that.”

There is also a clean line from the Spock’s Beard camp to this solo album. “Ted Leonard sings lead on one song, too, with all the Spocks guys,” he says. That track has its own backstory. “We actually recorded it,” he explains. “And for one reason or another, it just never ended up on a Spock‘s record. And so I thought, you know, I’ll just put it on myself, my own record, because I think it’s a great song.”

He even calls his shot on why it lands. “Jimmy Keegan just kills on that record, on that song,” he says, then zooms in on a very specific instruction he gave Keegan: “There’s one part where I said, ‘OK, dude, play just like Keith Moon, you know, play like Keith Moon.’ And he’s just perfect. He just nails it. It sounds just like Keith Moon.”

When the conversation lands on Tony Levin, it comes back to timing and modern collaboration. “If we could get anybody, who would we want? Oh, I’d love to just have Tony on it. And he was into it.” The limitation was his schedule. “He was getting ready to go on tour with Peter Gabriel, and so his schedule was a little tight. So he could only do the one song.” They did not track in the same room. “We just sent him the tracks, and he sent us back the thing. So I didn’t actually get to hang out with him.” Still, the reverence is obvious when he flashes back to the first time he saw Levin live. “He’s always been one of my heroes ever since I saw him. And the first time he toured with King Crimson, they came out with Adrian and him.” Then he sums it up the way fans do when they run out of adjectives: “I saw them in a little club in Hollywood, and it was just magic.”

The record also leans into texture, which is where Morse has always been sneaky-good. When the interviewer calls out the title track’s bouzouki, mandolin, and electric sitar touches, Morse explains the mindset. “I like, you know, throwing all the different instruments and stuff, because that’s fun,” he says, and he ties it directly to his own standards: “I like to try to do something different every time, you know, something that I haven’t heard already.”

If there is a downside to all of this for fans in the U.S., he calls it straight. “I’d love to play some U.S. gigs,” he says, then lays out the problem: “Art touring is pretty hard in America. It’s so spread out.” Even one show can turn into a grind. “You fly all the way to, I don’t know, New York, and do one gig and then turn around and fly back. It’s kind of rough.” He still talks like someone looking for a workable angle: “Maybe we can figure something out. It would be cool to at least do a West Coast thing or something, maybe or an East Coast kind of deal.”

And because Morse never sounds like someone who only has one gear, the interview veers into one of his other obsessions: the Cyclotron, spelled “with a P-S-Y-C-H.” He describes it with the excitement of a guy showing you a new pedal or a weird instrument. “It’s super fun,” he says. “Anybody can play with it. You don’t have to be an artist, but you can make amazing-looking animations, and you can play with it, and it’s low-tech.” Then he gives the best part, the part that explains why it is hard to describe in plain text. “There are no screens, no computers,” he says. “It involves a large turntable,” and when you hit it right, “you kind of hit it with a blacklight strobe, and the stuff starts to animate, and it looks, it’ll just blow your mind.”

That is the thread running through So Many Words. A long wait, a lot of detail, a lot of voices, and a lot of moments where Alan Morse sounds genuinely surprised by how strong the final result came out.

The post ALAN MORSE Reveals He’s Got “So Many Words” To Say: “Not Everybody Can Relate To Instrumentals, So I Wanted To Do Something For People Who Like Words” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

This October, singer, songwriter, and visual artist Chloe Trujillo launched a bold new chapter of her musical career with the release of her first single, “As the Sky Is Falling Down.” The song serves as the opening statement from her upcoming four-song metal EP, Rebirth, due out March 5th.

While her past releases explored a wide range of musical genres, Rebirth represents a turning point, an artistic surge where experimentation gives way to clarity and self-truth. The result is a collection of guitar-driven metal songs that are her most personal and emotionally honest work to date.

The hypnotic and fiery lead single, “As the Sky Is Falling Down,” explores the search for inner calm amid the chaos rising above negativity, while trying to remain grounded and strong. At the same time, songs like “Lies” and “Thumbs Up” showcase your ability to throttle between clean melodic vocals and full guttural screams.

At the core of Rebirth is Chloe as the driving force, writing with a clear musical vision while working closely with producer Jake Carmona, who also handled guitar, bass, and instrumentation to shape the EP. Songs that are a bold and ambitious evolution of Chloe’s abilities to shift into the metal realm that transport listeners on a multi-faceted journey.

Please visit her website to pre-order Rebirth in the coming weeks.

Robert Cavuoto spoke with Chloe about the songwriting process for Rebirth. She shares that some ideas are written the traditional way using guitar or keyboards, while many of her musical ideas emerge while she’s painting. In those moments, melodies and words arrive organically. Other times, inspiration comes when she awakens from a dream, with late-night recordings whispered into her phone. For Chloe, creativity is less about control and more about acting as a conduit, allowing ideas to pass through freely, whether visually or musically.

Thematically, Rebirth is shaped by Chloe’s spiritual outlook and life experiences, including trauma. Rather than viewing hardship as defeat, she sees it as a catalyst for growth. This philosophy runs throughout the four songs, which emphasize the long arc of personal growth that only becomes clear years later.

Throughout the interview, she reflected on how maturity, coupled with confidence, has changed her relationship with creativity. Where she once hid lyrics in notebooks or burned them out of fear of being seen when she was young, she now views openness as essential. With many songs completed and ideas still swirling, Trujillo hopes to put together a band and tour once she has a full album.

The post CHLOE TRUJILLO Offers Details About Her Upcoming Metal EP, “Rebirth”: “It Takes Courage To Share Your Emotions” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

As one of the tens of Real Rejects super-fans populating this Earth, I am a firm believer that a TJ Cabot biopic would be must-see TV. If they can make a gigantic Hollywood film about Bruce Springsteen recording demos in his house with Stingray from Cobra Kai, why can’t they make one for TJ Cabot that would at least go straight to streaming? Whether or not the lyrics in new demo “Some People Just Ain’t Liked” are fact or fantasy, I can totally see someone pitching Ryan Gosling the role of the hapless barista who has been disliked and mistreated his whole life for no good reason and proceeds to exact his sweet revenge through fabricated allegations of a pubic hair turning up in a cup of coffee. Why does no one else see the cinematic gold that lies right in front of us? Look, there’s Tyler lying on the floor listening to MOTO. Look, there’s Tyler throwing the remains of a gas station sandwich at the TV when the Leafs choke away a playoff series. Who could resist a dramatized account of the time the words “occipital neuralgia” were first scribbled on a piece of paper? They could call the movie Patron Saint of Degenerate Little Shitheads. You are all welcome to steal my idea. All I ask for in return is a six-pack of high quality Canadian lager. 

Mit Folge 68 geht´s in die neue Staffel. Oder ist es eher Folge 1 von Tippi allein im Rockcast? Egal! Los geht’s mit einem Auftakt, der hängen bleibt. Ich gehe raus. Mitten nach Hamburg. Mitten ins Schweinske. Dort treffe ich Robert Günther. Einen Mann, der Rock’n’Roll nicht nur erlebt hat. Er hat ihn festgehalten.

Wir sitzen zwischen Gesprächen und Geschirrklappern. Genau das passt. Ich rede mit ihm über Musik. Über Fotografie. Über Geschichte. Über diese Sekunden, in denen du abdrückst und weißt, dass der Moment nicht zurückkommt. Robert war offizieller Fotograf des legendären Star-Club. Einer der Orte, an denen internationale Acts Geschichte schrieben. Ohne Fotografen wie ihn gäbe es viele dieser Bilder nicht.

Er bewegte sich damals frei durch den Club. Vor der Bühne. Hinter der Bühne. Im Umfeld der Shows. Daraus entstand ein Archiv mit über 11.000 Aufnahmen.
Diese Bilder zeigen nicht nur Auftritte. Sie zeigen Situationen, Nähe und Atmosphäre. Genau darüber sprechen wir. Ich frage nach Technik, nach Entscheidungen, nach dem Druck, wenn Licht und Timing nicht mitspielen. Er erzählt von Blitzen auf der Bühne und Jimi, der seine Rechnung nicht gezahlt hat.

Sein Weg dorthin begann klassisch in Hamburg. Er machte dort seine fotografische Ausbildung. Über seinen Arbeitgeber kam er zu ersten Einsätzen rund um Veranstaltungen und Konzerte. Aus diesen Aufträgen entstand Routine. Daraus entwickelte sich der Zugang zur Konzertfotografie. Am Ende führte ihn dieser Weg direkt in den Star-Club.

Zu seinen bekannten Arbeiten zählt eine Aufnahme von Jimi Hendrix aus dem Jahr 1967, die international ausgezeichnet wurde. Ein World-Press Foto!
Er fotografierte oft direkt auf der Bühne, unter schwierigen Lichtbedingungen und damals tatsächlich noch mit Blitz. Seine Arbeit erforderte Timing und Erfahrung. und nur so wurde Geschichte festgehalten.

Und solche Geschichten erzählt er mir im Gespräch. Nicht als Legende. Sondern als Handwerker. Als Fotograf eines der wohl bekanntesten Musikclubs der Geschichte.

Diese Folge lebt vom Ort und vom Ton. Das Gespräch zeigt, wie eng Musik und Fotografie zusammengehören. Bilder konservieren das, was Sound auslöst.

Mit Folge 68 setze ich den Startpunkt für die Staffel. Ich gehe raus zu Menschen, die etwas erlebt haben. Ich treffe sie dort, wo Leben stattfindet. Dieses Gespräch steht dafür. Hamburger Musikgeschichte. Direkt erzählt. Festgehalten im Rockcast.

Der Beitrag Im Rockcast-Interview: Robert Günther – offizieller Fotograf im legendären Star-Club Hamburg erschien zuerst auf Rock-Music.net – Live, laut, legendär!.

Good Day Noir Family,
Bimurta’s “All Skies Lead to the Sun” confirms, within minutes, that this band operates on a different frequency.

All Skies Lead to the Sun is Bimurta’s EP Out Now!

Originality is not an accessory here; instead, it is the core of their identity.

The journey begins with Baba Hargila, an opening piece that creates an atmospheric tone rooted in the band’s Indian cultural background. At first, the track feels meditative and spacious. Then, almost unexpectedly, the music hardens. Metallic textures, industrial edges, and ancient rhythmic impulses collide, resulting in a striking hybrid that feels ritualistic and confrontational.

The Immortal reveals another side of Bimurta. An ethereal arpeggio floats gently, almost as if drifting through open space. The listener is invited to slow down and observe rather than react. This track functions as an atmospheric ballad; its chord progression avoids obvious resolutions. The use of an Indian language transforms the song into something closer to a chant or prophecy. It feels like an oracle speaking, not performing, and that choice adds depth rather than distance.

Following this, Said/Unsaid acts as a brief interlude. Voices overlap and interact over a restrained musical backdrop. Although short, this moment bridges ideas and prepares the ground for what follows. Then Rodalisnan enters with a more intricate structure. Here, the band’s cinematic instincts become undeniable. The arrangement unfolds like a scene rather than a song. It is easy to imagine this music living inside a film.

The closing track, Pale Blue Drought, leaves the strongest impression. A tremolo-drenched guitar introduces a mysterious, almost dystopian mood. Gradually, the song grows in intensity. When the raw and intense vocal finally arrives, it cuts through the mix with urgency. The guitar riff remains direct and unfiltered, anchoring the track. Background vocals add a meditative quality, yet tension never fully disappears. Calm and unease coexist, holding the listener in a suspended state.

Overall, Bimurta demonstrates a rare ability to merge ancestral references, industrial force, and cinematic vision. All Skies Lead to the Sun feels less like a standard release and more like an experience designed to be absorbed slowly and thoughtfully.

All Skies Lead to the Sun is Bimurta’s EP Out Now!

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Visionary!

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Bimurta are a metal band that reimagines metal from the west through a lens that is very much colored by their upbringing in the east. Hailing from Assam, the three of them lived in an environment that harboured the will to create music that combined the loud, unforgiving guitars and drums, that they began to resonate with, combined with the gentle melancholy of Indian instruments that give them their identity. The band defines its music as “Cinemetal”

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Bela Spit: sings/sobs Nika Ticciatti Record Club Out Feb 10th DL | CD | Cassette (merch store only) Available to order HERE A group of maximum, sensory ambush by harnessing a new field of lo-fi minimalism, Bela Spit, for all intents and purposes, a Leeds post-punk group, are about to release their second album via […]

The post Bela Spit: sings/sobs – Review & Interview – ALBUM OF THE WEEK! appeared first on Louder Than War.

Good Day Noir Family,
Tom Minor’s album Ten New Toe-Tappers for Shoplifting & Self-Mutilation announces its intentions right away, not only through its provocative title but through a theatrical musical language that refuses to sit still.

Ten New Toe-Tappers for Shoplifting & Self-Mutilation is Tom Minor’s Album Out Now

 The opening track, “Future Is an F Word,” introduces a twisted, storybook atmosphere that feels lifted from a Tim Burton universe.

The tone is playful yet uneasy, thereby create the atmosphere for an album that thrives on contrast, irony, and sharp imagination.

“Expanding Universe” shifts direction. A guitar line with clear spaghetti-western overtones pulls the listener into a cinematic space. However, the track never stays locked in one reference. Instead, it bends genres with confidence, moving between rock attitude and surreal pop instincts. This flexibility becomes one of Minor’s strongest traits across the record.

“Obsessive Compulsive” continues that journey with a nostalgic edge that still feels forward-looking. The song creates visual scenes that could easily belong to an animated film, yet the emotional core remains human and relatable. Meanwhile, the melodies stay memorable without relying on predictable structures.

One of the album’s highlights arrives with “The Manic Phase.” The background vocals immediately evoke Queen, while the song’s dramatic shifts recall the adventurous spirit of Bowie. At the same time, there is a melodic clarity that hints at the Beatles. Rather than sounding derivative, the track feels like a lively conversation with British music history, filtered through Minor’s restless personality.

Then comes “Outgoing Individual,” which opens with a piano arpeggio that feels almost magical. The rhythm carries a sly humor; the song plays like an ironic ballad that smiles while questioning itself. This balance between wit and emotion defines much of the album.

The closing track, “Change It!”, brings everything together. The rhythm pushes forward with urgency, while harmonic shifts briefly transport the listener into unexpected spaces. Even so, the song never loses focus. It channels energy, unpredictability, and emotional honesty in equal measure.

Ten New Toe-Tappers for Shoplifting & Self-Mutilation is an album driven by curiosity and fearless creativity. Tom Minor proves he can blend genres, references, and moods without losing coherence. The record feels alive, theatrical, and deeply personal, all at once.

Ten New Toe-Tappers for Shoplifting & Self-Mutilation is Tom Minor’s Album Out Now!

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Unpredictable!

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The album was written and arranged by Tom Minor and produced by Teaboy Palmer.

Hailing from London N1, singer-songwriter Tom Minor draws inspiration from indie rock, new wave and punk, power pop, psychedelic and garage rock, soul and R&B. After years of writing for others Minor now focuses on his own brand of ‘existential indie’.

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The post Ten New Toe-Tappers for Shoplifting & Self-Mutilation is Tom Minor’s Album Out Now appeared first on Edgar Allan Poets – Noir Rock Band.

Sounding like Bolt Thrower with more of a NWOBHM influence and Graveland overlays in the melodic department, this band creates its own style of grindcore on the verge of death metal by focusing on a few themes.

These are independent from lyrics, but more follow the spirit of the interaction of riffs, which rumble to life from a grinding posture and then elevate into a death metal style expansion with haunting melancholy from black metal.

In this sense, the band avoids the usual attempt to mix the genres directly, but instead picks a genre and injects influences from elsewhere, sticking its own voice in the middle through the stories it tells.

Sharon Osbourne is openly considering reviving Ozzfest. In a new interview with Billboard, she said she’s already in discussions with Live Nation about what a new edition could look like, and why it mattered so much to Ozzy Osbourne in the first place.

“I’ve been talking to Live Nation about bringing [Ozzfest] back recently,” she revealed. “It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people. We really started metal festivals in this country. It was replicated but never done with the spirit of what ours was, because ours was a place for new talent. It was like summer camp for kids.”

She also put a rough window on it, saying the next iteration could potentially launch as soon as 2027, while hinting it would arrive with a different approach than the old blueprint: “I’d like to mix up the genres.”

In the same conversation, Sharon said she’s working with Live Nation on something else that’s very different from a touring metal festival: a classical tour built around Black Sabbath’s catalog, performed by local orchestras and paired with modern visuals.

The festival began 30 years ago and became a major turning point for hard rock and metal touring in the U.S., especially in terms of giving rising bands real exposure in front of massive crowds. But it hasn’t operated as a full U.S. traveling festival since the “free” edition in 2007. After that, it shifted into limited and one-off formats: a single Dallas event in 2008, a year off in 2009, and then a run of just six cities in 2010.

The modern-era highlights were more event-style than full tours. In 2017, an all-day Ozzfest drew more than 17,000 attendees, headlined by Ozzy, with Rob Zombie closing out the next day’s bill. That was also the second year Ozzfest merged with Slipknot’s Knotfest into a two-day heavy metal blowout.

Then came the one-night-only New Year’s Eve Ozzfest on December 31, 2018, at Kia Forum in Los Angeles. According to Pollstar, it drew 12,465 fans and generated $1.2 million in ticket sales, with prices ranging from $59.50 to $179.50. The lineup included Ozzy at the top, plus Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Korn’s Jonathan Davis performing a solo set, and Body Count. A second stage featured Zakk Sabbath—the Black Sabbath tribute band fronted by Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde.

If Ozzfest really does come back, the question is whether it returns as a full-on touring institution again or evolves into a new hybrid, especially with Sharon talking about mixing genres while still keeping the original point intact: breaking newer acts in front of big crowds.

The post SHARON OSBOURNE Reveals She’s In Talks With LIVE NATION To Bring OZZFEST Back, With A New Twist appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.