Dublin’s Lankum, last heard collaborating with Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten on the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man soundtrack, have a stark, doomy, experimental take on traditional Irish folk music. A lot of their power comes from the bell-clear voice of singer Radie Peat. Today, Peat releases her first-ever debut single, and it continues the Lankum project of spooky traditionalism.
The post Lankum’s Radie Peat Shares Debut Solo Single “Still I Love Him” appeared first on Stereogum.
Corey Taylor says it’s taken three therapists working together to help him appreciate what he actually has. The Slipknot frontman opened up about the process during a recent appearance on Mythical Kitchen’s “Last Meals” podcast, describing a three-year journey that began the moment he realized how his own behavior had been affecting the people closest to him.
STREAM THE METAL BREAKDOWN DAILY NOW:Scott Penfold breaks down Corey Taylor’s mental health revelation on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — on why hearing a frontman at Taylor’s level talk this openly about ongoing therapy still matters in metal, and what his comments about gratitude and appreciation actually reveal about where he’s at now. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play to stream the full breakdown.
Taylor didn’t mince words about the moment things came into focus. “I woke up one day and realized that I wasn’t happy. I had hurt everyone that I loved. I’d hurt people I worked with,” he said on the podcast. He traced the realization back roughly three years, describing a slow decline he hadn’t fully registered until it became impossible to ignore. “It’d just been getting worse and worse until I realized that this person who I was, I hated,” Taylor said, adding that he now attributes much of it to insecurity and a persistent feeling that nothing he’d accomplished was ever enough.
In the years since, Taylor has coordinated treatment through three separate mental health therapists working together — a process he described bluntly as “the arduous process of building me back up.” He was careful to note it hasn’t been a clean or finished journey. “It hasn’t been perfect. It’s meant looking at a lot of the mistakes that I’ve made and doing my best to make amends for it,” he said, without detailing specifics beyond acknowledging his family among those he’s had to make things right with.
Taylor credited his wife, Alicia, directly with helping him reach this point, saying plainly, “if it wasn’t for her, honestly, I wouldn’t be here.” The couple married in October 2019, roughly six months after Taylor proposed, having gone public with their relationship the year prior. He described her as the first person in his life who loved him without wanting anything from him, and pointed to her sense of self as something he’s leaned on while working through his own mental health. “She’s my inspiration in a lot of ways because she knows who she is and she knows without life, without family, what is success?” he said.
Taylor has been candid about his mental health before. Back in 2024, he opened up about canceling a North American solo tour after his workload pushed him to what he called “a real dark point,” crediting a reprioritization of family and personal limits with pulling him back. This new three-year timeline appears to overlap with and extend that same broader stretch of self-examination, suggesting a longer, ongoing process rather than a single isolated moment. Even as he’s worked through it privately, Taylor’s public-facing career hasn’t slowed — Slipknot’s current lineup remains active and the band continues to tour, with Taylor now describing a pre-show ritual of prayer and gratitude that he credits with helping him separate the rage of the stage from who he is off it.
Taylor said he began therapy roughly three years ago after realizing his insecurity and behavior had hurt people he loved and worked with, describing the process as rebuilding himself.
Taylor discussed his three-year mental health journey, crediting his wife Alicia and describing the ongoing work of therapy as an “arduous process.”
Corey Taylor is married to Alicia Taylor, whom he wed in October 2019 after the couple went public with their relationship the prior year.
Yes. In 2024, Taylor discussed canceling a solo tour after reaching what he called “a real dark point,” tied to workload and burnout.
Taylor’s had plenty to say about the darker corners of his own head over the years — hearing him talk this openly about the ongoing work of fixing it is a different kind of honest. Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for continuing coverage.
This piece touches on mental health. If you or someone you know is struggling, the SAMHSA National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) offers free, confidential support.
The post Slipknot’s Corey Taylor Reveals He’s Seeing 3 Therapists At Once appeared first on Loaded Radio.
Five Finger Death Punch has added another milestone to its career, landing its 18th No. 1 single on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Eye Of The Storm”.
The track has already drawn strong reactions from rock and metal media. Revolver wrote that it “mixes a flurry of battering metal chugs with a sense of melody, plus Ivan Moody‘s pensive-but-barked lyrics hinting at fears, regrets, burdens, blame, and the search for some kind of inner peace,” while Loudwire described it as, “The song is a driving, furious banger that kicks off what’s expected to be a new album cycle in grand fashion.”
With the success of “Eye Of The Storm”, Five Finger Death Punch has extended its record for the longest streak of consecutive No. 1 singles in the 45-year history of Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
The song appears on the band’s upcoming tenth studio album, Legacy. The digital edition is scheduled for release on July 31, while CD, vinyl, and cassette editions will follow on September 18.
Meanwhile, Five Finger Death Punch continues to support its recent releases, Best Of – Volume 1 and Best Of – Volume 2. Both collections include newly recorded versions of some of the band’s best-known songs. Among them are the chart-topping “I Refuse”, featuring In This Moment vocalist Maria Brink on Best Of – Volume 1, and “The End”, featuring Babymetal, on Best Of – Volume 2.
“The End” topped Japan’s iTunes Metal chart and climbed to No. 18 on the country’s overall iTunes chart, marking another notable achievement for an international rock act. In the United States, the song also became the first rock radio chart entry to feature Japanese lyrics, eventually reaching No. 1.
Both Best Of – Volume 1 and Best Of – Volume 2 were produced after the band’s original master recordings were sold without Five Finger Death Punch being informed or given the chance to recover ownership of them.
The post FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Enters No. 18 On Billboard’s “Mainstream Rock” With “Eye Of The Storm” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.
Human hook-factory Kai Slater is a member of the and Lifeguard and a key piece of Chicago’s Hallogallo scene, the circle of super-young bands documented on the recent Red Xerox compilation. Slater also makes groovy ’60s-style power-pop gems under the name Sharp Pins. Last year, he released the excellent album Balloon Balloon Balloon. Today, he’s got another super-impressive new gem of a song.
The post Sharp Pins – “Saturday Sun” appeared first on Stereogum.
Converge have announced UK and European tour dates for November.
The Salem, Massachusetts quartet will cross the Atlantic to play dates in support of their recently-released 12th album Hum of Hurt, with support from Sanguisugabogg, Blackbraid, and Pupil Slicer.
The tour launches in Munich, Germany on November 12, and runs through to November 22 in London, England.
The dates are:
Nov 12: München Backstage, Germany
Nov 13: Karlsruhe Substage, Germany
Nov 14: Eindhoven Helldorado, Holland (no Blackbraid)
Nov 15: Strasbourg La Laiterie, France
Nov 16: Paris Bataclan, France
Nov 18: Leeds Project House, UK
Nov 19: Bristol Electric Bristol, UK
Nov 20: Glasgow SWG3, UK
Nov 21: Nottingham Rock City, UK
Nov 22: London Electric Brixton, UK
Tickets for the tour go on sale at 10am BST on Friday, July 10, here.
The group have also shared a video for new album track It Used To Matter.
Hum Of Hurt is Converge’s second album of 2026, following on from Love Is Not Enough, which was released in February.
“It’s not a sequel,” says frontman Jacob Bannon. “The unifying musical idea early on was, Let’s make a noise rock album. But we never really did. The first one wasn’t. This one touches on that spirit, but it’s much more dynamic than that descriptor.
“To me, it leans more into being an emotional hardcore album, while Love Is Not Enough feels more metal leaning album. In the end, we simply gave creative birth to another Converge record with its own unique identity and character.”
Mit großer Betroffenheit nehmen wir Abschied von unserem Kollegen Claus-Dieter Brusch, der nach langem Kampf seiner Krankheit erlag.
Claus-Dieter ist in Wacken groß geworden und verband einen Großteil seiner Jungend mit eben diesem Ort. Sein Lebensmittelpunkt war sein Zuhause in Schenefeld und seine Familie, die für ihn stets an erster Stelle stand. Mit seiner herzlichen Art, seinem Verantwortungsbewusstsein und seiner Hilfsbereitschaft hinterlässt er bei allen, die ihn kannten, bleibende Erinnerungen.
Claus-Dieter unterstütze als Elektriker die ICS Gruppe und war ein Mensch, der sich im Arbeitsalltag durch große Verlässlichkeit und Ruhe auszeichnete.
Wir verlieren mit Claus-Dieter einen geschätzten Menschen, dessen Bescheidenheit, Loyalität und Lebenswille viele beeindruckt hat. Unsere Gedanken sind in dieser schweren Zeit bei seiner Frau Brigitte, seiner Familie und allen Angehörigen & Freunden.
Wir werden Claus-Dieter in dankbarer Erinnerung behalten.
In stillem Gedenken
RIP
Holger, Thomas & W:O:A Team
Der Beitrag Nachruf – Claus-Dieter Brusch erschien zuerst auf Live, laut, legendär!.
(Andy Synn has four more albums from last month that he needs you to check out) I’m in a bit of a rush today, so don’t have time for much of a preamble here… suffice it to say that June was a very busy month, for everyone here at NCS, which has left us with a lot […]
The post THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T) appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.
After releasing two albums this year, Converge have revealed that they are going to be bringing them to the UK and Europe for a tour this Autumn.
The band released ‘Love Is Not Enough’ back in February, and followed it up with ‘Hum of Hurt’ in June, and just absolutely decimated Outbreak Fest in Manchester last month.
Now, they are making their way around the continent in style with some pretty exceptional bands in tow.
They will be supported on this run by Sanguisugabogg, Blackbraid, and Pupil Slicer.
So that’s a load of this:
Then loads of this:
Then a whole heap of this:
Before, finally, lots and lots of this:
It’s going to be a heavy one, basically.
Here are all of the dates:
NOVEMBER
12 – MUNICH Backstage
13 – KARLSRUHE Substage
14 – EINDHOVEN Helldorado
15 – STRASBOURG La Laiterie
16 – PARIS Bataclan
18 – LEEDS Project House
19 – BRISTOL Electric Bristol
20 – GLASGOW SWG3
21 – NOTTINGHAM Rock City
22 – LONDON Electric Brixton
The post Converge Announce UK/EU Headline Tour appeared first on Rock Sound.
Ask Google about King Diamond and you’ll get the Satanism headline in half a second. That’s not wrong, exactly — it’s just not the story that explains why he’s still one of the most fascinating figures in metal 40 years in. The real answer is in the stories that never make the quick summary: a near-lawsuit from Gene Simmons, five hours legally dead on an operating table, and a haunted apartment that shaped his earliest music. Here are King Diamond’s wildest stories, the ones that actually get at the legend.
1. Gene Simmons Almost Sued Him Over Face Paint. In the early ’80s, KISS bassist Gene Simmons reportedly threatened legal action, claiming King Diamond’s face paint copied his own. King’s response has become one of the great deadpan lines in metal history: he told Simmons he didn’t have much money to sue him for, but plenty of other people had money Simmons could be sued by. The suit never materialized, and King eventually evolved his design into the more elaborate “cross” style fans know today anyway — influenced, he’s said, by Peter Gabriel and Alice Cooper, not Simmons at all.
2. He Was Legally Dead For Five Hours. On November 29, 2010, after years of heavy smoking led to multiple heart attacks, King underwent emergency triple-bypass surgery. His heart was stopped for a staggering five hours. He’s since described waking up with a breathing tube and having to relearn how to breathe and walk as a “nightmare come to life” — an experience that directly shaped the medical horror themes running through his long-awaited Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920 trilogy.
3. He Lived In A Genuinely Haunted Apartment. During his early Mercyful Fate days, King lived in a Copenhagen apartment he’s said was plagued by real poltergeist activity. His fascination with the supernatural isn’t just old horror movies — some of it is lived experience, which explains the authenticity running through even his earliest, rawest material.
4. He Guest-Starred On Metalocalypse. Proving the horror persona comes with a real sense of humor, King voiced multiple characters across four episodes of the animated series, including the Blues Devil and a cynical fast-food manager, plus a cameo as one of Dethklok’s faceless Klokateers.
5. He’s A Playable Character In Guitar Hero. To unlock him in the 2009 game, players had to master Mercyful Fate’s “Evil.” Developers meticulously recreated his stage movements and iconic bone-cross mic stand — though his makeup got a slight tweak, for the same licensing sensitivities that almost got him sued in the first place.
6. Metallica Bring Him Onstage To Perform Their Own Tribute To Him. After recording an 11-minute Mercyful Fate medley for Garage Inc., Metallica have repeatedly invited King onstage to perform it with them, including a 30th-anniversary show in San Francisco — proof of how deep the King/Metallica mutual admiration actually runs.
7. He Had A Cordial, Viral Moment With Stryper’s Michael Sweet. In 2022, a clip of King and the Christian metal frontman sharing a respectful, cordial exchange went viral despite their polar-opposite worldviews. Sweet later said he’d be open to a collaboration — though he’d “pray about it” first.
8. His Album “The Eye” Is Based On Real History. Not every King Diamond concept is ghosts and hauntings — 1990’s “The Eye” draws from the French Inquisition and the real case of Father Urbain Grandier, exploring religious hypocrisy and actual witchcraft trials. It remains one of his most intellectually ambitious records.
9. He Runs His Career Like A Family Business. King and his wife, Livia Zita, manage his career together with unusual independence for an artist at his level. Livia isn’t just a partner — she’s a backup vocalist on records like “The Puppet Master” and has been central to remastering his back catalog.
10. His First Two Album Purchases Still Define His Sound. King has cited Deep Purple’s “Fireball” and Black Sabbath’s “Master of Reality” as the first two records he ever bought — and the rhythmic drive of Iommi and operatic flair of Ian Gillan are still audible in every King Diamond and Mercyful Fate track since.
11. His Influences Run Deeper Than Metal. Beyond Sabbath and Deep Purple, King’s vocal style draws on the theatricality of Alice Cooper and Arthur Brown, the progressive structures of Peter Gabriel, and the soaring range of Uriah Heep’s David Byron — a mix of prog complexity and metal grit that’s shaped his sound since day one.
12. His Solo Debut Wasn’t Actually A Full Concept Album. Despite being known for epic, album-length horror narratives, King’s 1986 solo debut “Fatal Portrait” was a transition piece — only the first five songs follow a continuous ghost-story arc, while the rest, including the holiday favorite “Halloween,” stand alone. It was the stepping stone to the full concept storytelling of “Abigail.”
13. His Satanism Is A Philosophy, Not A Religion. The most consistently misunderstood King Diamond fact: he’s an avowed LaVeyan Satanist, made an eternal member of the Church of Satan by Anton LaVey himself in 1988 — but as he’s clarified for over 40 years, it’s a commitment to individualism and self-empowerment, not the worship of a literal devil. It’s the philosophical backbone running underneath every concept album he’s written.
King’s long-awaited horror trilogy, now titled Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920, is still targeting a late-2026 release — built directly from the real hospital nightmare that followed his 2010 surgery. If you’re looking for a companion deep-dive into another theatrical horror-rock act, our Ghost Albums Ranked list covers similarly theatrical territory from a very different generation of occult rock.
King Diamond identifies as a follower of LaVeyan Satanism, a philosophy centered on individualism and self-empowerment rather than the worship of a literal devil — a distinction he’s maintained consistently for over 40 years.
Yes. During emergency triple-bypass heart surgery on November 29, 2010, his heart was stopped for five hours. He made a full recovery.
Yes. Simmons reportedly threatened legal action in the early ’80s over King’s face paint, though the suit never happened.
Yes, he’s a playable character in Guitar Hero: Metallica, unlocked by completing Mercyful Fate’s “Evil.”
Yes, King Diamond continues to tour actively with both his solo band and Mercyful Fate.
Forty-plus years in, and King Diamond is still finding new ways to make horror feel real — which story on this list surprised you most? Let us know in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for more of the deep cuts the headlines always skip.
The post King Diamond’s Wildest Stories You Probably Don’t Know appeared first on Loaded Radio.
Reviewed by Eric Clifford
One of my favourite tech death albums is Nocturnus’ “Thresholds” release – which is one of those releases that seems to divide opinion, but it’s brand of thrashy death combined with relentless shredding and sci-fi themes still scratches the elastic, noodly itch for me every time. And I think my fondness for it goes some way to explaining why I’m having such a fun time with Arise from Worms here as well. I don’t know if any of the members involved here ever heard “Thresholds”, but if not it must somehow have crept into their subconsciousness regardless, because “A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self Destruction” feels like the rebirth of “Thresholds”, and I’m here for it every step of the way.
The lineup alone should see you salivating: Canadian drumkit warlock Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy), 50-fingered shred god Sonny Lombardozzi (Incantation, Fleshtized), mouthpiece for Sumerian demonkind Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel), and Derek Sherinian – who given that he’s played keys with Dream Theater, Malmsteen, and Steve Vai it’s safe to say that he too has the type of inhuman chops you typically have to barter at least your own soul for. In extreme metal terms, this is a Justice League tier lineup, and I’ll listen to anything each of these individuals has been part of. As you’d expect, the level of musicianship alone is damn near flawless, with each member holding more talent in a skin tag than most of us could boast of in the entirety of our being. But that only matters if it’s deployed well – I doubt any of us would struggle to come up with examples of technically gifted folk releasing bafflingly terrible material over the years. So. How are the band’s actual songs?
I’ve got my quibbles to be sure, but on the whole there is some amazing stuff here, and those of you who like tech or progressive death metal will likely struggle to reach the replay button over the vast, throbbing erections you’ll be nursing as a result of it. It’s gravid with agile performances, guitars, drums and keys unified in this kaleidoscope of speed and precision with examples being so frequent that it’s barely worth singling out specific ones because every one of the songs is overflowing with potential choices. I think the highlight for me is the 2-part “Axes of the Viovode”, it’s moody, crepuscular introduction melting away into an actively mutating thrash riff that spider-crawls through a mirror-hall of time signature and tempo switches, sudden jazzy flourishes, and one or the other of Sonny or Flo going fucking nuts on their instruments. The guitar wankery is just sublime – from about 1.13 onwards, part two is concerned only with shredding your face to the bone with an absurdly fast solo that crashes back into more of the band’s Dark Angel on Disco Biscuits death/thrash madness. It’s so fucking cool.
The promo sheet makes a point of outlining Sonny’s usage of less familiar scales, and while I’m in no way musically educated enough to converse of the relative merits of one scale vs another, I can at least say that the work here is definitely more outre than could be expected of the rest of us who are still fumbling our way through basic pentatonic runs. When he isn’t flying around Satan’s blues arpeggios, the band are in restless pursuit of other ways to keep things interesting. “Psionic Being” sees Steve Tucker’s baronic yell blast out at gale force over a meter and tempo that seems actively allergic to staying still too long, sections flowing into and around each other like squid jiu jitsu, all with the grace and confidence you only get from people who REALLY know what they’re doing.
But it does have missteps nonetheless. The keys, courtesy of Derek Sherinian, add a real proggy edge to tracks like “Forgotten Kings”, boosting that Nocturnus vibe that had me so enraptured. But the keys aren’t uniform throughout and I did miss their presence on otherwise excellent songs which could have been even better had the ivories been tinkled a bit more venomously within them as well. By far though the biggest detraction is “Laolongtou”, which seems to be a vocal-free instrumental version of “Forgotten Kings”. Besides being a bit bewildering (why would you ever want LESS Steve Tucker?) it’s stacked next to “Nine Walls”…which is also an instrumental (a 6.37 minute long one at that. And also one with a really neat sci-fi keyboard sting towards the end, since we’re on the subject). So basically, “Laolongtou” is a worse version of a track on the same album, immediately following after a song which renders it doubly redundant. In terms of bad choices, it’s up there with asking a cannibal for a blowjob. It’s also sat roughly in the midsection of the album, so it also assists with snapping the album’s momentum in half. I don’t know why the band did any of this, but as and when a follow up surfaces, I humbly but fervently entreat them not to do it again.
In a nutshell, this is a triumphant debut full length, albeit not one without it’s share of frustrations. The meat of the album is stupendous, and with a lineup this capable the sky is basically the limit in terms of what they can accomplish. I’ll be watching Arise from Worms like a hawk – not least to make sure that they don’t wait til Steve is off having a cigarette to stuff the same song back on the album without him on it – and I recommend that you do likewise, first and foremost by grabbing this the second it drops on us come the 10th July ’26.
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The post Album Review: Arise From Worms – A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self Destruction appeared first on The Razor's Edge.