Category: news

A 9-date run has been confirmed.

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A musical version of the 1980s tear-jerker will close months earlier than planned after opening in April to negative reviews and soft sales.

Step into the mozz pit.

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In a recent interview with Guitar World, Rush bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee addressed something that weighed heavily on him after drummer Neil Peart‘s death in January 2020: the number of drummers who immediately pushed themselves forward as replacements. Lee drew a sharp distinction between the friends who kept their grief to themselves and those who saw an opening.

“People who are close to us — good friends that are successful drummers — would never infer something like that because they have too much respect, not only for Neil and for the situation,” Lee told Guitar World. “They were grieving as well, so they wouldn’t be so selfish as to say something inappropriate like that.”

Others, he said, were less considerate. “There were many other drummers who reached out to me in the aftermath of Neil‘s passing that were pushing themselves, and that was most distasteful to me. It was completely inappropriate timing.”

On how he and guitarist Alex Lifeson eventually landed on award-winning fusion drummer Anika Nilles for the “Fifty Something” reunion tour, Lee said: “We didn’t really know where to begin to look. We started with Anika because she had been recommended to me, and I had done some research on her. I loved her vibe and diverse style.”

“We didn’t have a list,” Lee added. “When Al and I finally said, ‘Okay, I guess we’re getting serious. Who’s going to sit in that impossible seat? It’s daunting.’ We started with the name that was already on my mind. We called her up, she came, and we hit it off. She brought a lot to the table, but more than her chops, more than her guts, and her willingness to sit in that hot seat, she brought an intelligence and a story.”

The outreach from drummers was already something Lifeson had referenced publicly. Back in March 2025, around seven months before the “Fifty Something” tour was announced, Lifeson told Q104.3: “After Neil passed, it didn’t take more than a few minutes before we started getting e-mails from all kinds of drummers who wanted to audition for the band, thinking that we were just gonna replace somebody that we played with for 40 years who wrote all the lyrics for our music. I don’t know what some of these people were thinking.”

Lee had touched on it even earlier. During a January 2024 appearance on “Strombo’s Lit,” the Apple book club curated by Canadian broadcaster George “Strombo” Stroumboulopoulos, Lee said: “Oh, yeah, I heard from all kinds [of people]. That was a very weird moment. My little black book got filled up really quickly.” When Stroumboulopoulos noted that some of those people were “people you thought were friends,” Lee said: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was, like, ‘Whoa, that’s just so inappropriate right now. Dude, wait two months. At least two months — if ever.’ It still happens, now that the clickbait freaks are out there talking about Alex and I getting a new drummer and starting Rush again.”

Peart died on Jan. 7, 2020, after quietly battling brain cancer for three and a half years. Rush held the announcement for three days before going public. In 2022, Lee revealed that Peart had wanted his diagnosis kept private and that he and Lifeson had been “dishonest” with fans at times in order to protect that privacy.

Rush will play multiple “evening with” shows across Canada, the United States and Mexico on the “Fifty Something” tour, opening June 7, 2026 at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Each night features two full sets drawn from a rotating 40-song catalog built from the band’s greatest hits and fan favorites. After their first batch of 2026 dates sold out instantly following the October 2025 announcement, Rush doubled the run and continued adding dates, stretching the North American leg into the fall.

The post RUSH’s GEDDY LEE Recalls Drummers Pitching Themselves Days After NEIL PEART’s Death: “Dude, Wait Two Months — at Least Two Months” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Arch Enemy and The Black Dahlia Murder have announced the “Wrath Across America 2026” co-headline fall tour, a 30-date North American run with support from Septicflesh, Crypta and Thrown Into Exile. The tour runs Oct. 5 through Nov. 19, with pre-sales beginning May 20 at 10 a.m. local time and the general on-sale set for May 22 at 10 a.m. local time.

Arch Enemy guitarist and founder Michael Amott said: “North America, we are proud to announce our return, joined by the formidable Black Dahlia Murder, alongside special guests Septicflesh, Crypta and Thrown Into Exile. An exceptional lineup, built for those who live and breathe pure fucking metal. We look forward to bringing you a new era of Arch Enemy to a city near. Be there!”

The Black Dahlia Murder drummer Alan Cassidy added: “I’d take my arch enemy to see The Black Dahlia Murder and Arch Enemy! Then throw them in the pit. See you this fall!”

Arch Enemy enters this tour in a new chapter. Amott formed the Gothenburg, Sweden act in 1996, and over three decades and eleven studio albums the band has become one of the defining forces in extreme metal, known for pairing razor-edged riffing with anthemic twin-guitar leads. Angela Gossow fronted the band from 2001 until 2014, when Alissa White-Gluz stepped in and led the band through albums including War Eternal (2014), Will to Power (2017), Deceivers (2022) and Blood Dynasty (2025). The band has since welcomed Lauren Hart as their new frontwoman; their latest single, “To the Last Breath,” marks the opening salvo of this new era.

The Black Dahlia Murder heads out in continued support of Servitude, its tenth studio album, released in 2024 via Metal Blade Records. Blabbermouth called it “an album that nobly delivers the goods, while screaming defiance at the stars.” Metal Injection called it “fucking killer death metal,” while Distorted Sound crowned The Black Dahlia Murder “one of melodeath’s greatest, most consistent bands.”

Arch Enemy and The Black Dahlia Murder “Wrath Across America 2026” tour dates (all dates with Septicflesh, Crypta and Thrown Into Exile):

• 10/05 — Riverside, CA — Municipal Auditorium
• 10/06 — Phoenix, AZ — Marquee
• 10/08 — Salt Lake City, UT — Rockwell at The Complex
• 10/09 — Denver, CO — Fillmore
• 10/11 — Dallas, TX — Echo
• 10/12 — Houston, TX — House of Blues
• 10/13 — San Antonio, TX — Aztec Theatre
• 10/15 — Orlando, FL — Beacham
• 10/16 — Ft. Lauderdale, FL — Revolution
• 10/18 — Tampa, FL — Jannus
• 10/20 — Atlanta, GA — Masquerade (Heaven)
• 10/21 — Charlotte, NC — Fillmore
• 10/22 — Raleigh, NC — Ritz
• 10/24 — New York, NY — Palladium Times Square
• 10/25 — Silver Spring, MD — Fillmore Silver Spring
• 10/26 — Philadelphia, PA — TLA
• 10/28 — Worcester, MA — Palladium Worcester
• 10/30 — Quebec City, QC — Videotron Centre Hall
• 10/31 — Montreal, QC — Olympia
• 11/01 — Toronto, ON — Danforth
• 11/03 — Chicago, IL — Concord Music Hall
• 11/04 — Detroit, MI — Royal Oak Music Theatre
• 11/05 — Cleveland, OH — Agora
• 11/07 — Minneapolis, MN — Fillmore
• 11/08 — Winnipeg, MB — Burton Cummings Theatre
• 11/09 — Saskatoon, SK — Coors Event Centre
• 11/11 — Calgary, AB — MacEwan Hall
• 11/12 — Edmonton, AB — Midway
• 11/14 — Vancouver, BC — The Key
• 11/16 — Seattle, WA — Showbox

The post ARCH ENEMY & THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER Announce “Wrath Across America 2026” Co-Headline Fall Tour With SEPTICFLESH, CRYPTA and THROWN INTO EXILE appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Beartooth has detailed the U.S. leg of its “Pure Ecstasy” world tour — 23 dates with Don Broco, Magnolia Park and Windwaker on board for every show. Promoted by Live Nation, the run opens Nov. 11 at MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston and closes Dec. 19 at Hard Rock Live in Wheatland, California. It follows the band’s announcement of Pure Ecstasy, their upcoming album due Aug. 28 via Fearless Records.

Beartooth was formed in 2013 when vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Shomo, then recovering from a difficult stint in the heavy music world as a teenager, locked himself in a basement studio and recorded an entire batch of songs entirely by himself. What emerged was a band built on raw emotional honesty and melodic intensity. Across six albums, the band has piled up chart-topping results — 2023’s The Surface debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hard Rock Albums chart and delivered back-to-back No. 1 singles at both Active Rock and Mainstream Rock radio. The catalog has cleared 1.3 billion streams worldwide, including one RIAA-certified platinum single and one gold single.

Beartooth “Pure Ecstasy” fall 2026 U.S. tour dates (all dates with Don Broco, Magnolia Park and Windwaker):

• 11/11 — Boston, MA — MGM Music Hall at Fenway
• 11/12 — New York, NY — Hammerstein Ballroom
• 11/13 — Philadelphia, PA — Franklin Music Hall
• 11/15 — Washington, DC — The Theater at MGM National Harbor
• 11/18 — Pittsburgh, PA — Stage AE
• 11/20 — Chicago, IL — Aragon Ballroom
• 11/21 — St. Paul, MN — Myth
• 11/22 — Omaha, NE — Steelhouse Omaha
• 11/28 — Nashville, TN — The Truth
• 11/29 — Atlanta, GA — Coca-Cola Roxy
• 12/01 — Charlotte, NC — The Fillmore Charlotte
• 12/02 — Charleston, SC — The Refinery
• 12/04 — St. Augustine, FL — The St. Augustine Amphitheatre
• 12/05 — Ft. Lauderdale, FL — FTL War Memorial Auditorium
• 12/07 — New Orleans, LA — The Fillmore New Orleans
• 12/09 — Austin, TX — ACL Live at the Moody Theater
• 12/10 — Dallas, TX — South Side Ballroom
• 12/12 — Denver, CO — Fillmore Auditorium
• 12/13 — Salt Lake City, UT — The Union Event Center
• 12/15 — Albuquerque, NM — Revel Entertainment Center
• 12/16 — Phoenix, AZ — Arizona Financial Theatre
• 12/18 — Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood Palladium
• 12/19 — Wheatland, CA — Hard Rock Live

Beartooth “Pure Ecstasy” Australian tour dates (with Silverstein, Fit for a King and Volumes):

• 01/26 — Adelaide, AUS — Thebarton Theatre
• 01/28 — Melbourne, AUS — Festival Hall
• 01/30 — Sydney, AUS — Hordern Pavilion
• 01/31 — Brisbane, AUS — Fortitude Music Hall

The post BEARTOOTH Announces Fall 2026 U.S. “Pure Ecstasy” Tour With DON BROCO, MAGNOLIA PARK and WINDWAKER appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Kings of Thrash has released “Bullets Ready” via Cleopatra Records, a new original single featuring a vocal duet between guitarist and vocalist Chaz Leon and Gabriel Connor, frontman of Los Angeles theatrical rock act Red Devil Vortex. Former Exodus vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza also appears on the track. The single was mixed by Grammy-winning producer Cameron Webb, known for his work with Motörhead, Danzig and Godsmack. Guitarist Jeff Young spoke about the song’s origins with The Entertainment Outlet.

“Well, we recorded ‘Bullets Ready’, and the great news is no one can say it’s A.I., ’cause there was no A.I. when we wrote ‘Bullets Ready’ three, four years ago, when we started writing originals,” Young told The Entertainment Outlet (transcribed by Blabbermouth). “I came in with two [songs]. We demoed them. A couple of months later, David came back to L.A. with two [songs]. We finished those off, demoed them. So that all happened before [we launched] Kings of Thrash.”

On why the song sat unreleased while the band spent years performing Megadeth catalog material, Young said: “We never planned on playing any Megadeth. We just wanted to make an EP of new originals. So that song’s been sitting on the back burner just… You gotta let songs write themselves. You can’t force it. You can’t put your ego on it and try to mold and shape it. You gotta just allow, allow, allow, allow. And so we kind of got sidetracked with the whole Megadeth thing and doing — learning all these albums in their entirety is no small chore. But now that we’ve been out doing that, and then [the Kings of Thrash single] ‘Lockdown’ came out [in May 2025], of course. Chaz wrote most of that. And that was a great first experience for him, and I think he did a great job. That was actually written after the first four. So ‘Bullets Ready’ was written long ago. We put the newest song out first. Now we’ve gone back, and ‘Bullets Ready’ just seemed, lyrically, with everything that’s going on in the world, it seemed so timely and apropos that we couldn’t resist.”

The song’s connection to Red Devil Vortex‘s Connor grew out of a touring relationship. Young said: “We were out on tour with Red Devil Vortex opening for us, and Ace Frehley had just died, and Gabriel Connor, the singer-bass player for Red Devil Vortex, a huge Kiss fan, we kept bringing him out every night on the tour for ‘Cold Gin’. And so his participation in the song grew organically out of our Kiss jams every night on tour. And as a matter of fact, we’re gonna be dropping a live video on Kings of Thrash YouTube of the ‘Cold Gin’ track in a week or two.”

When “Bullets Ready” was first released, Young revealed the unusual origin of the track’s rhythmic foundation: “During the making of the [former Megadeth drummer] Nick Menza [documentary] film, I acquired several demo recordings of Nick playing various drum progressions. In essence, the introduction, verses and chorus of ‘Bullets Ready’ came from playing along to one of Nick‘s energetic grooves. During [Megadeth‘s] So Far, So Good… So What! tour, it was often David, Nick and myself that would conduct the soundchecks. It was a surreal and nostalgic feeling to be playing along and writing riffs with my long-lost friend. Nick‘s playing inspired so much of this song and his spirit is forever encapsulated inside this recording.”

Kings of Thrash formed in April 2022 after Ellefson and Young performed three classic Megadeth songs alongside Leon at “Ultimate Jam Night” at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood. The event was honoring the Big Four of thrash metal. The chemistry from that night led directly to the band’s formation. Kings of Thrash has since built its live set around celebrating the Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good! and So Far, So Good… So What! era of Megadeth‘s catalog, with Ellefson and Young joined by Leon and drummer Fred Aching of Dead Groove and formerly of Bulletboys.

The post KINGS OF THRASH’s JEFF YOUNG on “Bullets Ready”: “Lyrically, With Everything That’s Going On in the World, It Seemed So Timely and Apropos” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Walk alone, reflections in glass

Head down, feel the glare staring back

It sees, receives and it leads

I’ve got angels watching over me 

Neo Dimes’ Alone arrives with its teeth bared and its heart sealed inside a panic room. Stephen Edmunds, the Denver musician behind the project, has made a debut full-length steeped in industrial rock, dark synth tension, and bruised private terror: the dread machinery of Nine Inch Nails, the devotional grandeur of Songs of Faith and Devotion-era Depeche Mode, the narcotic pressure of Massive Attack, and the dread of a man confronting fatherhood as the public world grows meaner, colder, and more automated.

Alone studies addiction, technology, ideology, romance, grief, and memory as interlocking systems of control. These songs describe a life under constant surveillance: trained, tempted, sorted, sold, and finally abandoned. The album’s deepest fear, however, is older than any device or algorithm: it is the terror of being left alone inside your own head, reaching outward, and finding no hand reaching back.

Beasts retreats from the judging outside world into a hidden interior where alienation hardens into appetite. Hope collapses into instinct, and the self becomes something fed by its own exile. Angels is sharper still, recasting guardianship as surveillance. Glass, screens, and invisible networks replace divine protection, turning guidance into control and attention into captivity. The song understands how modern life sells convenience while quietly narrowing the room. God’s Perfect Meme savages hypocrisy, grift, and cultural exhaustion, where lies become performance and everyone is too numb or compromised to challenge them. The song glimpses escape, change, and grace slipping further out of reach.

Trigger turns alcohol into the spark that sets addiction, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation in motion, but Edmunds locates the deeper wound with painful clarity: “Alcohol is the trigger that brings on all kinds of other issues (addiction, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation), but all of that pales in comparison to how terrifying loneliness and both physical and emotional isolation is to me,” he admits. The song moves through shame, self-sabotage, and the brutal mercy of truth, where revelation can only offer deliverance after it has cut through every lie once used for survival.

Directed by Ty Borkowski, the video extends that private terror into the public realm, tracing the impact of mass media through the image of an authoritarian figure commanding the masses from the glow of broadcast television. It channels an Orwellian nightmare in which isolation is exploited, fear becomes programming, and control arrives disguised as communication.

Watch below:

Don’t Think pushes that fear into the public square, attacking groupthink, propaganda, and apocalyptic obedience. Authority twists language until lies feel liberating and cruelty starts passing for clarity. Edmunds hears the machinery that pulls disillusioned people toward extremism: give them grievance, give them enemies, give them a script, then call surrender awakening.

The political charge grows from a personal crisis. “I recently lost a career right as my daughter came into…a world where she has fewer rights than her mother did and where tyranny is creeping into every facet of life,” Edmunds reflects. “We’re addicted to the technology in our pockets that opens us to the world by consuming us entirely. It’s omnipresent and inescapable, and I’m pissed off.”

Obsidian confronts guilt, false purity, and the ruin left by deception, while One Thing turns betrayal into sleepless obsession, where freedom depends on an answer that may never arrive. How To Love lowers its guard, pleading for patience, trust, and the chance to repair what fear has damaged. It Comes and Goes sits with grief as a recurring force, carrying regret, drinking, spiritual exhaustion, and the stubborn will to move forward anyway. Ending with Dear Ghosts, the album reaches toward renewal through wreckage, finding no easy absolution, only the hard work of staying alive when the ghosts keep calling.

Even the release strategy comes with a raised fist. Physical copies of Alone arrive on vinyl and cassette a month before the digital version, a pointed act against the scroll-and-discard economy that turns songs into passing data. “The single covers convey the album’s story, with each song’s cover serving as a chapter and visual representation of paranoia, persuasion, control, and acceptance that fuse together to form the final album cover,” says Edmunds.

Edmunds is blunt about the intent: “The album concept and the release itself is a fuck you to the tech overlords and the world they have foisted on all of us.” That anger gives the album its charge, but the pain underneath gives it weight. All things considered, a strong debut from Neo Dimes.

Listen to Alone below and order the album here.

Follow Neo Dimes:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Bandcamp
• Spotify

The post “Through the Fire, Till the Dawn” — Denver Darkwave Project Neo Dimes Unveils New Album “Alone” and Shares Video for ‘Trigger” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Z2 has announced The Mandrake Project: Year Two, the next installment of the graphic novel saga co-created by Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson and writer Tony Lee. The 184-page volume picks up where the first book left off, sending Necropolis into a near-death experience that propels him into a parallel world where the dark secrets of his family tree — and the forces controlling his fate — come into full, disorienting focus.

Dickinson teased the new volume: “Oh, just hold on to your proverbial hats, folks… This one gets REALLY weird!” Lee added: “You thought the first book was going to get us sued and bring out the pitchforks? You haven’t seen anything yet!”

Beyond the graphic narrative itself, Year Two includes an extensive series of interviews and essays documenting Dickinson‘s 2025 solo tour in support of The Mandrake Project album, along with behind-the-scenes insight from the creative team on how this chapter of the saga developed. The book opens with an introduction by Sacha Gervasi, director of Anvil! The Story of Anvil. It also contains a feature article on Wilhelm Reich, the sociologist and mystic whose controversial work led to his imprisonment by the FBI; Reich died in federal custody in 1957.

The oversized 12″x12″ deluxe and platinum editions are housed in a die-cut slipcase bound with a sealing ribbon and gilt paper edging, and include four new foil collector cards and a new edition of the antiqued metal “Mandrake Project” medallion. Both signed editions will be available directly from Z2 here. A standard 9″x9″ hardcover edition without slipcase will be available through Z2‘s retail partners, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, HMV UK, and independent comic and music shops worldwide.

Z2 editor-in-chief Rantz Hoseley said: “I thought I knew the limits and boundaries of Bruce‘s mad vision for this world, but one thing ‘Year Two’ has made brutally clear… there are no limits to where the story will go! And, let me just say, we are all the luckier for it!”

Dickinson is the vocalist of Iron Maiden and a multidisciplinary figure whose work outside music includes a career as a commercial airline pilot — flying three configurations of Iron Maiden‘s Ed Force One, including a 747 — as well as a BBC radio show, a podcast, television documentaries, films, novels, memoirs, film scripts and comics. He has also competed internationally in fencing and co-created a multi-million-selling beer with Robinsons Brewery. He has developed the mythology behind The Mandrake Project for over a decade.

Lee is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and comics writer with credits at DC, Marvel, Hachette, IDW, Del Rey and Z2. He is known for his long run on IDW’s Doctor Who comic beginning in 2008, the 2012 Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover series, audio dramas including Confessions of Dorian Gray and Robin of Sherwood, and writing for BBC One and ITV Studios. Pre-orders for The Mandrake Project: Year Two are available at Z2Comics.com/BruceDickinson.

The post IRON MAIDEN’s BRUCE DICKINSON and Z2 Announce “The Mandrake Project: Year Two” Graphic Novel appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Arch Enemy and The Black Dahlia Murder will team up for a co-headlining North American tour, to be executed in October and November. ‘Wrath Across North America’ encompass 30 shows in total and feature support from Septicflesh, Crypta and Thrown Into Exile.
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