To promote their third full-length release Power To Survive, due out on August 21st via Pride & Joy Music, Burning Sun have shared a new single/video “Quest Divine”. Read more…
Swedish thrash metal/punk formation Razorvoid have unveiled details and first single in connection with their debut album announcement. Entitled Into The Void, it will see its official release on October 2nd 2026 via Jawbreaker Records. Read more…
To taste a first piece of their next studio record Jenseitsritt, due out on September 25th via Dying Victims Productions, German heavy metal trio Midnight Prey present “Torn Into Pieces” single. Read more…
“I love you, man,” Serj Tankian beams, hugging Daron Malakian tightly to a sea of cheers from over 60,000 delirious, onlooking System Of A Down fans. The last time this writer saw the Armenian-American metal heavyweights share a stage – at Download festival 2017 – they looked like they all wanted to be anywhere else, shoulders slumped, static poses and practically ignoring each other. It was a depressing visual for one of millennial metal’s most creative and idiosyncratic bands.
Today, the vibes couldn’t be more different: singer Serj can barely stop smiling; guitarist Daron’s stage banter is playfully eccentric rather than grumpily off-kilter; bassist Shavo Odadjian looks like he’s having the time of his life. Even powerhouse drummer John Dolmayan’s trademark intensity is broken by the occasional grin. One 40-something fan sat near us remarks in disbelief as he takes in the spectacle: “Are System Of A Down back?!”
System are indeed back – back in the UK for the first time in almost a decade, a long ol’ absence by any standards in music. There are kids here who wouldn’t have been born when they last played, enjoying their first rock show, hoisted up on the shoulders of parents in matching Toxicity t-shirts. There are teens milling around sporting Serj’s iconic 90s tribal face paint (why didn’t we ever think of that?!) and, of course, a large portion of elder millennials ready to relive their nu metal heydays. Oh, and lots of people in banana costumes. That definitely wasn’t a thing nine years ago.
Long before System hit the stage, cult sludge heroes Acid Bath get us started in style. Their grimy psychedelic heft fits a stadium stage surprisingly well, even if the echoey thud of Shane Wesley’s bass bouncing off the empty seats at the back creates a head-spinning racket that’s even more of a trip than the far-out visuals splattered across the screens around them.
Queens Of The Stone Age are masters of their craft at this point, Josh Homme’s casual saunter out on stage suggesting he’s well versed to owning crowds this size. They get a big response from a rapidly growing audience, though a muddy mix sees some of their swaggering riffs lost in the ether. Still, they earn the first pits and crowdsurfers of the day, so it’s very much job done.
The response that greets Daron Malakian’s arrival on stage around 40 minutes later is deafening, but surpassed almost immediately by the singalongs that accompany Soldier Side; fans are already on shoulders and venue-wide circle pits are already beginning to open up before a proper riff has even dropped.
Then, the rest of System appear, launch into the dizzy opening crush of B.Y.O.B. and Tottenham’s home ground explodes into joyous, chaotic abandon. What follows is a relentless dishing out of anthemic alt metal ragers – thirty of them, in fact, unleashed at such a pace there’s barely time to remark “How good was that?!” after each song before they’ve already kicked into the next one.
“These three guys are the best fucking musicians in the world!” Serj remarks warmly at one point, noting that his bandmates “saved my ass” after a slight miscue. Tottenham definitely didn’t notice; the entire floor is a bubbling sea of movement from the first notes of B.Y.O.B. to the final bouncing riff of Sugar, the stands full of people off their seats dancing, jumping and singing their bums off.
Every song is greeted like a classic but there are undoubtedly highlights. Chop Suey! getting dropped two thirds of the way in sparks bedlam; Radio/Video‘s folky breakdown prompts all manners of shapes thrown; Daron’s now-trademark “I wanna see you spinnin’ around! Round, round, round and round!” command elicits at least 10 massive circle pits across the floor during an electric Toxicity.
That would all be enough to make this a hell of a gig, but the fact that the band themselves seem genuinely, wholeheartedly pleased to be here is what really puts it over the top. Whatever healing these four lads have done over the past few years has made all the difference: even if we’re resigned to never getting that new album, metal is just a better place for having a happy, healthy System Of A Down in it. Tonight was an absolute treat and one of the best rock stadium shows in recent memory.
This coming fall, Alice Cooper and his band will return to the stages across the North American lands for his ‘Alice’s Attic’ touring route. Read more…
It’s Gerard Way’s World, and we just happen to live in it. Why else would ninety thousand of us be attempting to decipher cryptic messages flashed across the screens of Wembley Stadium in order to try and extract secret messages from our emo prophets mere hours before My Chemical Romance start their show? They’ve always been a puzzle box and tonight proves that the line between hubris and genius, between the greatest show of the year and the musical equivalent of ‘The Room’, is razor thin. We get all four of these qualities in vast quantities and, even more astoundingly, honesty so sharp it grazes. For a brief couple of hours, we are utterly under their control.
Just like the usual events at Wembley Stadium, tonight is a game of two halves. We’ll politely sidestep the question of whether it’s appropriate to role-play as a Soviet era dictatorship – complete with mock executions, a secret police force and an ever-present Big Brother figure watching from a throne – when the victims of these real life political systems number in the tens of millions, and instead we’ll focus on the sheer drama. Way rewrites our teenage agonies as ecstasies from the moment ‘The End’ opens the show, his scarecrow charisma soaring as he sings for his life at the biggest misery party of the year. One note of ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ breaks us all. He takes to a podium and delivers it as preaching, our raised fists casting us as actors in his vision. “Once more into the breach,” he snarls. By the time we’ve reached ‘House Of Wolves’, the strength of the music buries his overacting, and its stunning; a song of colossal heartbreak.
Between the Shakespearean allusions, re-casting ‘Teenagers’ as seventies light entertainment that sparks rapturous screamed karaoke, and a cast member on fire running across the stage, we’re fully bought in. ‘Disenchanted’, the beginning of the end, is just so much grit and punch, an infernal resistance, and the sight of the band playing on in the middle of a fully burning set as rockets flare overhead is one that’s seared into our memories. The entire first act is a testament to magnificent ambition and the lasting power of our favourite album two decades on.
Then, the real surprises arrive, perhaps even more shocking than seeing the frontman stabbed by a clown. One transfer to the small second stage later and wesee MCR as they really are; a very human rock band, humbled by their success, and ready to give us the emo hit we need. Despite the fact there’s an entire town’s worth of people here, the second stage feels like an intimate little island in the middle of the chaos and a reward for sticking with the band for this long. Our thanks comes in the form of the first outing for ‘Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough For The Two of Us’ in a decade and a half, and their revelatory cover of Morrissey’s ‘Jack The Ripper’, played live for the first time since 2003. “It’s a little different,” Way remarks, and suddenly we’re witnessing the twisted post punk beauty that could always have been part of their sound. “Oh, we haven’t played this yet on tour! You love rave shit, don’t you?!” Way gently surprises himself before dropping ‘Planetary (GO!)’, and the tiny circular stage becomes the eye of a moshing storm. He might be right about ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ as well; the “greatest summer jam of all time” conjures a halo of phone screens around them as we slam as one, creating the MCR live moment we all wanted.
In the middle of ‘Helena’, with waterfalls of guitar raining around him and fireworks lighting the midnight sky above, the vocalist pauses between our shouted lines. “Fuck…” he whispers, barely audible above thousands of screams, the reality of what this show is finally hitting him. We all experienced that frozen realisation over the course of their set at one point or another. It might have been the theatrical microcosm of ‘Mama’, or waiting for zero to hit on the missile countdown above ‘Disenchanted’, or revelling in the vibrancy of ‘I Don’t Love You’, or a million other little moments which reached out to all of is.
It was a day trip to the world of My Chemical Romance at their finest and a payoff for anyone who clutched ‘The Black Parade’ to their hearts when they needed it the most, but most importantly; tonight could easily be a contender for the title of Show Of The Summer.
Norwegians Mortemia have revealed their version of the 1965 The Mamas And The Papas classic “California Dreamin”, featuring vocalists: Helle Bohdanova (Ignea), Caterina Nix (Chaos Magic) and Karmen Klinc (Venus 5). Arranged, produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Morten Veland at Audio Avenue Studios. Read more…
2000trees, the UK’s hottest festival, both figuratively and literally, is back for its 2026 edition. Four days of the finest rock covering everything from local legends to the next global superstars.
2000trees Festival 2026 – Wednesday
Split Dogs
Kicking things off for 2000trees 2026 is Split Dogs, who, despite their early billing in a reduced capacity on Wednesday, summoned an impressive crowd that neatly packed the Forest Stage.
The perks of such an early billing is a crowd brimming with enthusiasm and energy, perfect for Split Dogs’ raucous punk-rock attitude.
2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Gareth Bull
Singer Harry Atkins captivates the early headbangers with rebellious rasping vocals alongside the imperious riffs of Mil Martinez, which could as well have been plucked straight from the basements of the ’70s.
Shouting out the early birds for bringing the energy, Mil leaves us with a vital note of wellbeing for what is to come – “Don’t get sunstroke, stay hydrated and stay in the shade.”
Love Rarely
We have a new and improved Word Stage for 2026, allowing even more of the Wednesday arrivals to pack in as Love Rarely have the task of christening their upgraded podium.
Love Rarely – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
The beauty of the first day of the festival is that there are no clashes, which means that despite the enlarged tent, the audience is still spilling out into the campsite. This is the band’s second appearance in a row at the festival, but with a new album dropped just in April, they come armed with plenty of new material.
No upscale audience is going to scare this glorious, chaotic racket with their booming basslines, complex melodic hooks and dyingly passionate vocals. The craftsmanship of the band only seemed slightly challenged by the early festival fine-tuning of the sound.
Love Rarely – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
There were moments in the set when the delicate harmonics of the guitar and intimate voice of Courtney Jade seemed swamped by the intense noise of the bass and drums. But the muddy mix could not bury them as Courtney’s desperate screams soared above the noise.
Karen Dio
We Brits love to moan about the weather, but when a Brazilian enters the stage with complaints of the heat, you have to feel somewhat validated.
Karen Dio – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Joe Singh
Appropriately tempered for the fire of last year’s main stager, the experienced rocker arrives amidst calls to “be present, have fun”. The playful yet powerful set is the sort of performance you would expect to be used in a university class to show how it is done.
Karen Dio delivers her kick-ass punk-rock tunes with absolute ease whilst navigating from song to song with a humour and charm that makes the show ceaseless. Lost in the showmanship of the short but sweet performance, it seems over as quickly as it started, but at least we were present, and we had fun.
Karen Dio – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Joe Singh
Bruise Control
There is just something about a shirtless man walking onto stage brandishing a likely warm can of Magners that tells you the next act is going to be quite the ride.
Bruise Control – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
Existing somewhere on a spectrum between Soft Play and early Arctic Monkeys, the four-piece taste of a brawl down at your local boozer and bring the antics with their lively stage show.
Hyphen
This festival, from time to time, will serve up a show that transcends any expectations, and Hyphen’s set at 2000trees 2026 was exactly that. The breakout act summoned a huge crowd to the Neu Stage for the last edition of the festival, most of whom were already well versed in the back catalogue of the artist.
Given the roaring success of his last appearance, it is not hard to see why he was invited back for another shot, and this time to the most dedicated of the 2000trees community.
Unsurprisingly, the Forest is jam-packed ahead of this one for someone who is quickly becoming a festival favourite alongside the likes of the Nova Twins, Holding Absence and his recent tourmate Bob Vylan.
2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Gareth Bull
LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE. The sound system blares, introducing our fighter like a hometown hero to the backing track of ABBA’s Gimme Gimme Gimme. Hyphen has a talent that few can master. His music challenges the political injustice of the modern world with ferocity, but he does so with no deterioration to his optimism.
The show is a rallying call to all those of like-minded opinion, fueling rebellion but never losing sight of the beauty of the loving chosen community that we share.
Jacked on the adrenaline of the stellar support, Hyphen is euphoric, storming around the stage and even taking a dive into the circle pit to get a taste of the action for himself.
2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Gareth Bull
There are several occasions throughout the set that Hyphen naively tries to teach his lyrics of songs, such as Marching Powder and Hate Yachts Not Dinghys, to the crowd, before immediately being interrupted by a chorus of those already in the know.
It is no wonder that he proudly proclaims, “I fucking love this place.”
BLACKGOLD
Another of last year’s main stagers are the masked mob of BLACKGOLD. It cannot be easy taking to this heat in full mask, but they do not let it take anything away from their furious Nu-Metal.
BLACKGOLD – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
At a time when the touring circuit is being led by the likes of Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Korn, it could not be a better moment for this curious band to grab the opportunity by the throat.
Seemingly constantly on tour since their last 2000trees appearance, despite a slightly premature ending to their CKY support appearances, the group are in top form, bringing heaps of energy to a slot that could easily have suffered a post-dinner dip.
BLACKGOLD – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
The Dirty Nil
Arguably, James Scarlette’s most hyped band of the festival this year, barely a week has gone by on the Two Promoters One Pod podcast without them getting an honourable mention. Wednesday offers an early glimpse at what the highly recommended have to offer, but not through the lens of their own music. Tonight, we have a covers set.
Taking us on a whistle-stop tour from Metallica, to Van Halen, to AC/DC and Thin Lizzy, the band boldly claims “we wrote all these songs”, and while that may not be true, they certainly showed true musicianship by bouncing between these songs with ease.
As a covers set should be, this was a pure and simple good time gathering with plenty of smiles left on faces going into the final few acts of the opening day.
Split Chain
A breakneck change in atmosphere from the previous performance as frontman Bert Martínez-Cowles paces menacingly around the Word stage to a backdrop of twanging guitar and booming drums.
Split Chain – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
The mood of the music may be brooding, but the mood in the tent still has plenty of vibrance thanks to persistent calls for crowd surfers and mosh pits from Bert.
The band bring their everything to make this show a set to remember, the music is scalding and churns up plenty who surf their way to free band t-shirts whilst beachballs are released into the crowd for an additional cathartic outlet.
Split Chain – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
Lake Malice
Hands up if you have not seen Lake Malice in the last year? The unstoppable touring machine seemed to be attached to every support slot in the Metalcore scene, and it shows.
Lake Malice – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
Performance looks easy for the three-piece, fully clad in white to pop from the darkness of the stage. The trademark kick-jumps of Blake Cornwall are plentiful while Alice Guala bares her soul in emotional defiance.
The early part of the show sets the mood perfectly with atmospheric lighting and impactful presence from the band, but it feels as though some of the big moments could hit harder with a bit more bite to bring us along with them.
Lake Malice – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
Thankfully, as the set goes on, the power elevates, and with it, a flurry of activity in the centre of the tent, which Blake takes a stroll to experience, while Alice prefers the aerial approach with a bit of crowd surfing.
PUP
Closing the first day out, all the way from Toronto, are PUP. The longstanding Canadian quartet will be making two appearances over the weekend and took this extra special moment in the idyllic forest to pay tribute to their album, The Dream Is Over, which is 10 years old.
PUP – 2000trees Festival 2026. Photo: Jez Pennington
Before launching into a full play of the album, lead singer Stefan Babcock shared a perfectly Trees thought on the current state of the world, that “Out there it sucks, but in here we have an opportunity to make it suck a little less.”
The show is filled with euphoria to leave the spectacular opening day on a high, with the final reserves of energy producing a handful of crowd surfers and mosh pits. The album is closed out with a song that the band admit they have only ever played once before, not out of dislike but because it is a bit of a mood killer.
Stefan knows his crowd, though, and yells out, “You motherfuckers like being sad?” before launching into the track. Having covered their album in speedy time, the band have a quick meeting before returning with a fanfare of Reservoir and Hunger For Death before the crowd disperses into the campsite for the late-night antics to begin.
April breezes are blowing across the AMG estates even though the summer heat reigns supreme. With several big-ticket releases and a collection of killer platters from lesser-known acts clogging the April voting sheets, it was a pretty fat month for extreme music. This caused consternation among staffers as loyalties to iconic bands clashed and lengthy histories of excellence were rehashed, compared, and contrasted. In the end, hard decisions were made, office furniture was hurled, and curses were invoked. This is the AMG way. Welcome back to April!
If one band exemplifies death metal majesty, decay, and consistency over 30-plus years, it’s New York’s own Immolation. Since launching their crusade of brutality way back in 1989, the band have become one of the most influential acts in the genre, with a sound that evolves and mutates but is always recognizably Immolation. April brought us the 12th installment in their legacy of ugliness, and Descent [out April 10th from Nuclear Blast (Bandcamp)] is another statement on what death metal should be. Wickedly heavy, technical as hell, and ugly as fook, it’s the kind of album that feels like a tanker full of anvils. It highlights the inventiveness of Immolation even as it revisits past eras of the band’s enormous catalog. As a well-impressed Steel Druhm pointed out, “Immolation remain a rare, altered beast among other repellent horrors, painting their uniquely disturbing soundscapes across history and time.” An equally gobsmacked Kenstrosity added, “This twelfth album, soon upon us, perpetuates that standard and may even prove, with time, to have elevated it once again.” Strong words for the Grand Titans of Death. All hail Immolation.
Runner(s) Up:
At the Gates // The Ghost of a Future Dead [April 24th, 2026 | Century Media | Bandcamp] — It’s very difficult to review an album that you know will be the last for a metal luminary. It’s the end of a life, an era, and a musical companion you’ve traveled with for years, even decades. Such was the dilemma facing Grymm when The Ghost of a Future Dead was released in the aftermath of the tragic passing of legendary vocalist Tomas Lindberg. At the Gates have had plenty of genre-defining moments over their career, and fortunately, what Tomas left us with here can stand proudly among their very best. It’s a vicious, face-melting slab of thrashy melodeath with hooks and fangs aplenty, showcasing the classic At the Gates sound and the caustic, corrosive vocals of a brave and ever-defiant Tomas. As Grymm astutely summarized, ” If this ends up being At The Gates’ swansong, this is a hell of a way to go out, as they dropped another classic on our sorry asses. Awesome job to all those involved. Rest in power, Tompa.” Journey on, metal brother.
Green Carnation // A Dark Poem Part II: Sanguis [April 3rd, 2026 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — Successor act of Norway’s In the Woods..., Green Carnation traveled a strange musical path since 2000, passing through death and Gothic metal to eventually arrive at a kind of progressive metal-lite. A Dark Poem Part II: Sanguis finds them continuing their Poem trilogy, offering hard-edged moments alongside plenty of sad, sullen set pieces sure to bring the feelz to the coldest of hearts. Musically, Sanguis explores some older Green Carnation sounds while also pushing their style forward into new spaces, always with quality songcraft at the forefront. There are some genuinely tear-jerking moments here if you like to feel unhappy. As the usually jaded, cynical, and cranky-assed Doc Grier gushed, “For those who need something in these trying times to bolster their spirits or tear them apart (if only for a moment to reset), Sanguis is here for you.” Flower power!
At the Gates // 
Green Carnation //