The Finnish death metal band Gates Open released a new ferocious single ‘The Black Scorpion’.  LISTEN to ‘The Black Scorpion’ single: https://push.fm/fl/gates-open-scorpion  The band comments:“The black scorpion has always been present where fear and darkness meet. It moves through cultures. From the deserts of South America to the deepest chambers of the human mind, always as the same […]

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Ghost has officially secured the “Best Hard Rock/Metal” trophy at the 2026 Swedish Grammis for their chart-topping album Skeletá. Tobias Forge and his elite songwriting team accepted the honor Wednesday night at Annexet, further cementing the band’s legendary status in the global metal scene after a year of unprecedented Billboard dominance.

TL;DR: Ghost dominated the 2026 Swedish Grammis, taking home the Hard Rock/Metal award for their history-making album Skeletá. Tobias Forge accepted the honor alongside his production team, marking the band’s fifth win in this category and setting the stage for a massive year of global touring and potential high-profile collaborations.

Ghost Secures Fifth Grammis Win for Best Hard Rock/Metal

The victory at Annexet marks a historic milestone for Ghost, bringing their total “Hard Rock/Metal” Grammis count to five. Tobias Forge was joined on stage by his core songwriting and production team—Max Grahn, Vincent Pontare, and Salem Al Fakir—to accept the prestigious award. The win follows an incredibly competitive year for Swedish music, where Ghost beat out formidable nominees including Sabaton, Sarcator, The Haunted, and The Hellacopters.

Tobias Forge Delivers Unscripted Acceptance Speech

During the ceremony, Forge expressed profound gratitude to the fans and his creative circle. In his signature witty style, he joked about his lack of notes, expressing his hope that the record would be “loved into eternity.” The moment was a testament to the band’s enduring connection with their Swedish roots despite their massive international success.

The Role of Europe Frontman Joey Tempest

The award was presented by none other than Joey Tempest of Europe, adding a layer of Swedish rock royalty to the proceedings. Tempest later teased on social media that Ghost had even joined Europe in the studio during the recording of their own upcoming album, sparking massive speculation about a potential high-profile collaboration that could bridge two generations of Swedish rock excellence.

We Also Recommend – Ghost Albums Ranked Worst To Best — The Definitive List

Skeletá Achieves Unprecedented Global Billboard Dominance

While the Grammis win solidifies their home-turf advantage, the success of Skeletá has been a worldwide phenomenon. Released in May 2025, the album achieved what few heavy acts can in the modern era: a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200. With 86,000 equivalent album units in its first week, the record was propelled by a staggering 77,000 in traditional sales—44,000 of which were vinyl.

Breaking Chart Records for Hard Rock

This achievement made Skeletá the first hard rock album to hit the top spot on the Billboard 200 since AC/DC’s Power Up in 2020. It serves as the band’s ninth charted effort and their fifth to break into the Top 10, showing a steady upward trajectory for a project that first entered the charts in 2013 with Infestissumam.

A Night of Multiple Nominations for the Ghost Creative Team

Ghost wasn’t just a one-category wonder at this year’s Grammis. The band and its creative leads were nominated in a staggering six categories, including “Artist Of The Year” and “Album Of The Year.” Individually, the production team of Forge, Grahn, Pontare, and Al Fakir received nods for “Producer,” “Songwriter,” and “Lyricist.”

The Evolution of the Ghost Production Sound

This level of recognition highlights the sophisticated pop-sensibility and high-level production values that Forge has brought to the metal genre, bridging the gap between underground occult rock and mainstream prestige. Each win has signaled a new era of the band’s theatrical evolution, and the Skeletá era appears to be their most commercially and critically successful to date.

Check This Out – Tobias Forge Hits Pause on Ghost — But Film Projects, a Secret Album, and Scuba Diving Say Otherwise

Legacy and the Future of the Clergy

The history of Ghost at the Grammis is a storied one. Having previously won for Infestissumam, Meliora, the Popestar EP, and Impera, the band has become the gold standard for the category. The momentum from the 2026 North American “Skeletour,” which wrapped up this February in Los Angeles, has clearly carried over into the awards season, proving that the band’s theatrical narrative continues to resonate with a massive, growing congregation.

Looking forward, the clergy is far from finished. With rumors of a new feature film project and the aforementioned studio time with Europe, Tobias Forge is expanding the Ghost universe beyond the confines of a traditional rock band. The 2026 Grammis win is not just a reward for past work, but a fuel injection for the next phase of their occult empire.

The Swedish music industry has recognized what we at Loaded Radio have been shouting from the rooftops for a decade: Ghost is the definitive heavy rock act of this generation. Seeing them stand tall among their peers in Stockholm only confirms that the “Skeletour” era was a masterstroke of marketing, melody, and metal. Forge’s ability to remain “incredibly grateful” while maintaining such a sharp, professional edge is exactly why this band continues to top charts while other legacy acts struggle to stay relevant.

The post GRAMMIS GLORY: Ghost Wins Swedish GRAMMIS ‘Best Hard Rock/Metal’ Award For Skeletá appeared first on Loaded Radio.

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Today, Belgian metalpunks Shewolff premiere the new track “Nail + Burn” at heavily trafficked web-portal InvisibleOranges.com. The track is the third to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated debut mini-album, We’re All Gonna Fukking Die, set for international release on May 22nd via Dying Victims Productions. Hear Shewolff‘s “Nail + Burn” in its entirety exclusively HERE.   Hailing from Belgium, Shewolff emerged from the underground as a solo-project of K. Von […]

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The post Album Review: Ultrabomb – The Bridges That We Burn appeared first on The Razor's Edge.

This hits harder than the regular moon

Nostalgia has proven a highly potent force in rock music of late, with the likes of Greta Van Fleet, Dirty Honey, and The Struts rising to prominence by largely rediscovering a sound that hit its original zenith more than half a decade ago.

But in the specific case of the Pottsville, Pennsylvania-born quartet Crobot, it isn’t the only factor in how the glory days of a seemingly bygone era have been enjoying a noteworthy renaissance in recent years. Originally cutting their teeth in the mid-2010s under the same Wind-up Records banner that propelled the likes of Creed and Evanescence into the stratosphere and a subsequent stint under the umbrella of Mascot Records (former home of Black Label Society, Fozzy & Volbeat), they’ve since struck out on their own with a signature blend of 70s heavy rock and 90s alternative influences and hit critical pay dirt with their 2024 self-released opus Obsidian.

Roughly 2 years to the day, this fold has channeled the same winning formula into their 6th and latest studio LP, Supermoon, and there’s scarcely a trace of hyperbole in that title when considering the contents it carries with it.

The road up until now for this Pennsylvania original hasn’t been without its share of bumps, though for the most part those have come in the form of a constantly shifting rhythm section supporting the soaring vocals and occasional harmonica handiwork of helmsman Brandon Yeagley and guitarist Chris Bishop. For their part, newly recruited bassist Willie Jansen and his brother/drummer Nico carry their weight and then some, filling the shoes of an assembly line of players that have come and gone since 2013 without missing a beat or even giving a hint of disruption in the smooth flow from one album to the next that this outfit has continued to exhibit since its inception.

However, from this album’s onset, it’s clear that the heavy, blues-infused riff work and Robert Plant-like vocal gymnastics of this band’s two co-founding members are the most dynamic and auspicious elements in play in how these songs go from typical classic rock revivalism to signature anthems that transcend a single period in history.

An unmistakable air of familiarity hangs over each of the 12 songs that round out this opus, yet while obvious nods to hard rock’s icons Led Zeppelin and alternative/stoner staples like Soundgarden and Queens Of The Stone Age are hard to miss, at no point does anything feel like a total throwback. The dank and punchy “Gun To My Head” could almost be an outright nod to Badmotorfinger, yet intermitted harmonic chime-ins and Yeagley’s smoother and nimbler vocal presentation almost turn it into a homage to Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard”.

Similar raw and distorted stories like “Battle Cry” and “Trouble (Looking For You)” lean a tad closer to a vintage psychedelic twist on the same early 90s grunge format, though the effects-heavy timbre of Bishop’s guitars shows some clear affinities with Tom Morello, though his guitar solo work leans in more of a traditional blues/rock direction. Things get so bottom-heavy later on in the album that hard stomping numbers like “Bigger By The Pound” and “Too Heavy” put their sound right in their respective names, not to mention draw even greater Black Sabbath comparisons by seeing the Jansen brothers go wild and channel their respective inner Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.

How each chapter of this sonic novella varies from the others often involves heavy elements of another genre encroaching upon the hard rock genre’s dominant position. The strong, bluesy swagger of “Foot Off” sees Crobot taking some time to make Dirty Honey work for their title as premier blues rock revivalists. The loose, flowing blend of easy-going balladry and blues-driven swagger of “Happy Days” and “Let It Kill Me”, as well as the harder-edged swing of “Cold Blooded,” would surely have found George Carlin modifying his stance on white guys playing the blues had he lived to hear them.

The spacey ride through the psychedelic haze with a comedic edge, “Me And Your Mother” lands some infectiously funky grooves that could have simultaneously gained George Clinton’s nod of approval and made Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple all in the same day. Though when all is said and done, the song that proves a cut above the rest is the more traditionally hard-rocking banger “Tethered To Maw”, which is definitely one of the more impressive guitar displays in a hard rock context to come about in the past few years.

Supermoon is the sort of album that showcases that while consistency is the best road to a quality album, the versatility of the established formula proves invaluable in keeping things fresh for those who have been in the passenger seat since the beginning. The influences on it are far from a mystery, yet how they are implemented results in a highly unique sound that would not be mistaken for the more straightforward 70s rock revivalism that has been all the rage for the past decade.

It rocks heavy as much as it rocks hard, channeling the dark and brooding character of Tony Iommi’s signature guitar sound while avoiding becoming an outright heavy metal affair due to the combination of Yeagley’s lighter and more vibrant vocal display and a generally more concise songwriting approach. If rock radio were still the dominant medium, Crobot would be all over it, but even in the more fragmented world of streaming media, the universal power of hard and heavy rock that this album carries will find little difficulty punching through.

Release Date: May 1st, 2026
Record Label: Megaforce Records
Genre: Hard / Heavy Rock

Musicians:

• Brandon Yeagley / Vocals
• Chris Bishop / Guitars
• Willie Jansen / Bass
• Nico / Drums

Supermoon Tracklist:

1. Gun To My Head
2. Foot Off
3. Battle Cry
4. Happy Days
5. Girl From Another World
6. Me And Your Mother
7. Cold Blooded
8. Trouble (Looking For You)
9. Bigger By The Pound
10. Too Heavy
11. Tethered To Maw
12. Let It Kill Me

Order the album here.

The post CROBOT – Supermoon (Album Review) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Celebrating Udo Dirkschneider’s 75th Birthday, 40 Years of U.D.O. and upcoming 20th studio album! German heavy metal legend U.D.O. are set to hit the road in early 2027 with their massive “Triple Anniversary Tour 2027”, celebrating three major milestones at once: Udo Dirkschneider’s 75th birthday, 40 years of U.D.O., and the band’s upcoming 20th studio album, due for release in early […]

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The last time that Olivia Rodrigo announced a tour, the big news was that alt-rock legends the Breeders would open her shows in New York and LA. But a different Rodrigo opener was the one who got the most out of the tour. Chappell Roan opened the first run of dates on Rodrigo’s Guts Tour in 2024, and those shows fueled Roan’s meteoric rise to superstardom. The tour probably also helped boost fellow openers PinkPantheress and Remi Wolf, too. Maybe Rodrigo’s next tour will do something similar for her next set of openers, a carefully curated crew of young alt-rockers: Grace Ives, Wolf Alice, the Last Dinner Party, Devon Again, and Die Spitz.

The post Olivia Rodrigo Announces Unraveled Tour With Grace Ives, Wolf Alice, Last Dinner Party, More appeared first on Stereogum.

AVALAND is an epic and symphonic Metal Opera, inspired by fantasy, alchemy, legends and History. The band are more than just music, as the creator Adrien G. Gaga wrote a lore available on World Anvil. Two chapters have already been released: Theater Of Sorcery (April 2022) and The Legend of the Storyteller (March 2023) which […]