Category: news

Posted on July 14th 2026, 3:30pm

“Oh, I wish I had help back then/ Oh, I wish I had better friends.” That is a truly heavy sentiment, expressed about as directly as it can possibly be. It’s the opening line of “I Wish,” the devastating new single from the Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin. Get ready for this thing to fuck you up.

The post Julia Jacklin – “I Wish” appeared first on Stereogum.

GoFundMe campaign for health care raises over $200,000 in first 12 hours as family swear bassist won’t go quietly. Continue reading…

Death Metal Pioneer MIKE BROWNING, Founding Member of MORBID ANGEL and NOCTURNUS, Dies at 62

MIKE BROWNING, Drummer-Vocalist Who Helped Launch MORBID ANGEL in 1986 and Founded NOCTURNUS in 1987, Dies at 62

Former Morbid Angel and Nocturnus drummer-vocalist Mike Browning has died at the age of 62. Browning’s passing was confirmed on July 13 by Profound Lore Records, which released the two albums from his most recent band, Nocturnus AD.

“RIP death metal legend/sci-fi death metal godfather Mike Browning of Nocturnus/Nocturnus AD. Journey beyond the gateway to the outer void!” the label wrote.

Morbid Angel also paid tribute to Browning on Instagram: “R.I.P Mike, thanks for helping making all this happen. Our condolences to his family & especially his daughter.”

Browning played on what was originally intended to be Morbid Angel’s debut album, Abominations Of Desolation. Recorded in 1986, the LP eventually saw the light of day in 1991. In a 2019 interview with Bardo Methodology, Browning stated about Abominations Of Desolation, which was initially recorded for David Vincent’s Goreque Records: “I signed a record contract with Goreque and then recorded a full album in a real studio… There are also a few things out there written by Trey [Azagthoth, Morbid Angel guitarist] himself where he clearly states that the album Abominations Of Desolation was coming out.

“After it had been recorded, we played three shows and Sterling Scarborough replaced John Ortega on bass. Not a word was said about technical shortcomings; everything was all set to go.

“It wasn’t until I caught Trey with my girlfriend and beat the hell out of him — which led to the band splitting in half — that he decided not to release it. Prior to this, Abominations… had been recorded and was going to be presented as Morbid Angel’s first LP. These comments about it not being technically good enough only came once I was out.”

Regarding the 1991 version of Abominations Of Desolation made available through Earache Records, Browning said: “I didn’t think it would ever happen, since the album had already been bootlegged to death. I knew that if someone wanted to hear it, they could find the recording pretty easily on just about any tapetrader list.

“I never thought it would be put out by Trey and David through Earache, especially when I was on the same label with Nocturnus. I remember seeing my friend Jim at the gas station and he had Abominations… blaring through the car stereo. I asked him, ‘What version is that? It sounds really clear’, and he said it was the Earache release which had just come out.

“I was on the label but knew nothing about it. I immediately contacted them: they’d bought the tapes from David Vincent and then released a limited edition in order to stop the bootlegging. Dig from Earache told me it was David’s decision to not credit anyone by name or picture in the booklet. By leaving out who played on the album or who wrote what, it was treated like a bootleg of a bootleg by both them and Earache. Could you imagine doing a real Abominations… remix from the original reels?”

In 1987, Browning left Morbid Angel and founded Nocturnus alongside guitarists Vincent Crowley and Gino Marino and bassist Richard Bateman. That original iteration of the band recorded a raw, occult-themed self-titled demo before shifting into a progressive, sci-fi-oriented direction with keyboards in the late 1980s. Browning served as drummer and vocalist on 1990’s The Key and played drums only on 1992’s Thresholds before being fired from the band in 1993.

Other projects during the 1980s and 1990s included Florida death metal bands Incubus and Acheron. In 2008, Browning released a solo album, Trancemissions, via Pharmafabrik Recordings under the Mike Browning’s Inner Workings banner.

Browning’s most recent band, Nocturnus AD, released its debut album, Paradox, in 2019 and its follow-up, Unicursal, in 2024, both via Profound Lore Records. Browning is survived by a daughter born in 2007.

The post Death Metal Pioneer MIKE BROWNING, Founding Member Of MORBID ANGEL & NOCTURNUS, Dies At 62 appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Fresh from their first-ever festival, Eddfest, which took place at Knebworth this past weekend, Iron Maiden have revealed details of a huge business partnership with Pophouse Entertainment.

The band have sold a stake in their publishing rights and master music rights, as well as their name, image, and likeness rights, to the Swedish company – they are the founding investors and brains behind the ABBA Voyage virtual show in London.

This means that Iron Maiden can “pursue new creative ventures that connect with existing fans as well as bringing their extensive catalogue to new audiences” over the next decade.

“I am very excited about our relationship with Pophouse and the ability we now have to pursue, facilitate, and finance our many plans and dreams quicker than we ever hoped,” said manager Rod Smallwood. “The interest in the band has never been bigger, and this strategic partnership, which we’ve been quietly working together on now for over a year, has already had results with the progress on the ‘Infinite Dreams Museum’ and the filming of the current show.”

“Rod and Andy [Taylor, joint CEOs of Phantom Music] have always encouraged and inspired us to take chances in developing Eddie and the worlds he inhabits, such as horror, gaming, or comic books,” adds Dave Shack, Managing Director of Phantom Music and Iron Maiden co-manager. “The band provides the cornerstone of what Maiden is – superlative music and incredible live shows, and the Phantom team have focused on developing parts of Maiden lore that we think our fans will embrace and enjoy. Such Maiden-related initiatives include an award-winning mobile game, a global fan club offering, a vibrant drinks business, books and comics, and, of course, merchandising in all its forms. It’s absolutely one of the greatest sandpits for a creative to play in – and Pophouse have already shown they belong in it.”

For our review of Eddfest, go here.

Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick, equally renowned as a composer and improviser across metal and jazz, spoke about some of his earliest guitar influences in a new interview with Rad Jet.

Skolnick said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Going back, when I first started playing at 10 years old, I would say my first two or three years I was really focused on songs, and I didn’t know if I wanted to be a rhythm guitar player, singer, or a lead guitarist. I was more into John Lennon, Paul Stanley, Elvis [Presley]. I loved ’50s rock.

“Although Chuck Berry, he really inspired me to play guitar. He was in a movie called ‘American Hot Wax’. Yeah. And then I later made the connection: ‘Oh, he inspired The Beatles, he inspired AC/DC, he inspired Kiss.’ But he was really my idea of a lead guitarist until I heard Van Halen.

“And when I heard Van Halen, it was a few years after the debut. And this was already the early ’80s, so say, like, ’82 or so. I’m 13. They were already on, like, album four or five. But that was when I first heard that debut album, and then I had that same experience that many people talk about having in 1978 when the needle hit the vinyl and ‘Eruption’ [came on].

“I mean, ‘Runnin’ With The Devil’ was enough just ’cause of the tone, and the solo in that, it’s a composed solo, so it’s overshadowed by a lot of [Eddie Van Halen’s] other [stuff]… But that is amazing, too. I mean, nobody played like that. He already paved new ground just with ‘Runnin’ With The Devil’. And then, of course, ‘Eruption’ happened and then, okay. The world has changed.”

Skolnick added: “The Beatles [were] probably [my] biggest [early influence], or Kiss as well, and Chuck Berry, all of those. But then it quickly evolved into Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, AC/DC.

“I think [AC/DC lead guitarist] Angus Young actually deserves a lot more credit. He’s a guy that gets a lot of attention more as a performer. But he’s a really fantastic musician. And [late AC/DC guitarist] Malcolm [Young], too, may he rest in peace… And Eddie Van Halen cited [Malcolm] as one of his favorite musicians. And they were close friends too.”

One of the elite guitar shredders of the 1980s, Skolnick was famously a student of Joe Satriani alongside Steve Vai and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, and was sought out by Ozzy Osbourne, playing a gig with the Black Sabbath legend in the U.K. in 1995. Skolnick joined Testament in 1985 at age 16, stayed for eight years before departing in 1993, and went on to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

Skolnick’s long-running Brooklyn-based jazz-rock band Alex Skolnick Trio (AST) recently released its sixth album, Prove You’re Not A Robot, via Flatiron Recordings. Alongside Skolnick’s inventive guitar work, bassist Nathan Peck and drummer Matt Zebroski bring rhythmic complexity and emotional depth, with odd-time signatures and genre twists that have become AST hallmarks. Since forming in the early 2000s, AST has reimagined the jazz guitar trio by melding influences as far-reaching as Wes Montgomery, Black Sabbath, Prince, tango, calypso, and Western swing, earning praise from Billboard, Downbeat, Jazziz, The Village Voice, and NPR.

The post TESTAMENT’S ALEX SKOLNICK Names His Earliest Guitar Influences appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

(written by Islander) The Swedish group Teratum rose up from the ashes of the band Beastiality in 2024, and the next year they viciously announced themselves with a two-song promo tape made available in extremely small quantities. They are now following that with a debut EP named Ordnance of Spiritual Warfare, which will be widely […]

The post AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: TERATUM — “TOTAL VOID” appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.

For over a decade now, Jake Xerxes Fussell’s records have been making traditional folk music come alive for modern ears. Today he’s announcing his latest, The Old Beloved Path, set for release on Fat Possum this fall. The lead single is out now, a contemporary take on “Rock Island Line” that transforms the American traditional into a tender alt-country ballad.

The post Jake Xerxes Fussell Announces New Album <em>The Old Beloved Path</em>: Hear “Rock Island Line” appeared first on Stereogum.

The release includes the album’s first-ever vinyl pressing, a previously unreleased track, and the restored “Eighth Lock” music video.

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