Alkaline Trio have cancelled their UK tour on the day of the first scheduled date as frontman Matt Skiba is dealing with worsening medical issues that have left him unable to “walk, talk, play or sing” properly.
The band were due to perform at the O2 Institute in Birmingham last night (Friday), but that show did not go ahead and neither will scheduled shows in London, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and at the 2000Trees festival in Gloucestershire on July 9.
In a statement, Alkaline Trio say: “We are immensely sorry, but we must cancel our dates in England, including tonight’s show in Birmingham, due to medical issues Matt has been suffering from that have worsened.
“He’s gonna be okay but needs to be treated stateside as soon as possible. We will be back healthier and stronger.”
Skiba later released a video giving further details on his illness. He says: “Thank you for all the love and support. It means the world to me.
“You guys deserve a better show than I can throw right now. I’ve got numbness in my feet, numbness in my hands, and as you can tell I’m losing my voice. I can’t really talk, walk, play or sing.
“I’m gonna go home and get looked at. I love all of you so much and we’ll be back asap to make these shows up to you.”
July 03: Birmingham O2 Institute July 04: London O2 Forum Kentish Town July 05: Newcastle O2 City Hall July 07: Leeds O2 Academy July 08: Manchester O2 Ritz July 09: 2000Tress Festival, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Japanese metal pioneers Sigh are back today with news of their new album ‘Goh-ka’; a new highlight of atmosphere, technical mastery, and meticulously arranged epics of metallic grandeur. Main-man Mirai Kawashima notes this as being as equally personal an album as ‘Shiki’, both musically and lyrically.
From a musical perspective, if you were to place the main ingredients of Celtic Frost, Voivod, Black Sabbath, horror movies and Japan into a cauldron and stir it, you will get ‘Goh-ka’. Numerous additional spices such as psychedelic rock, prog rock and classical music are also evident over the album’s close to one-hour duration.
The album title ‘Goh-ka’ has a triple meaning, being: 業火 infernal fire scorching sinners, 劫火 a huge fire that burns down the world at the end of time, and 業果 karma. The primary theme permeating the album is Kuso-zu; a series of Buddhist paintings or illustrations depicting the nine stages of a human body’s decomposition after death, created to encourage meditation on the impermanence of life, the inevitability of death, and the detachment from physical beauty and worldly attachment.
It openly shows the harsh reality that no matter how beautiful you are, you’ll be dead and rot sooner or later. And Kuso-shi is a poem based on these paintings. The artworks on the cover and in the booklet of ‘Goh-ka’ are therefore Kuso-zu themselves.
Joining Mirai Kawashima and Dr Mikannibal along with guitarist Nozomu Wakai, are Frédéric Leclercq (Kreator) on bass, plus renowned US drummer Mike Heller.
Among the additional contributors to the album, Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth notably delivers a special guest guitar solo on the track, ‘Unputenpu’.
‘Goh-ka’ was recorded across multiple studios, and once again mixed and mastered by Lasse Lammert at LSD studios in Germany.
PRE-ORDERS OF THE ALBUM FROM THE PEACEVILLE STORE AND BAND STORE WILL COME WITH THE FREE ‘LEGACY OF HORRORS’ 10-TRACK SIGH SAMPLER.
Japanese metal pioneers Sigh formed in 1989/1990. Their genre-classic Black Metal debut ‘Scorn Defeat’ arrived in 1993, and with a subsequent journey through the strange and the psychedelic, incorporating a whole eclectic mix of genre styles & ideas throughout their career, Sigh has remained a vital creative force in the avantgarde field whilst maintaining their old school roots, as witnessed on the 2022 album (and first for Peaceville Records), ‘Shiki’.
This was followed by the remaking of their ‘Hangman’s Hymn’ album as part of the band’s 35th anniversary celebrations, in the shape of ‘I Saw the World’s End: Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV’ (2025).
SIGH TOUR DATES:
EUROPE OLD-SCHOOL SET (AS A TRIO) 07/09 DE Torgau In Flammen Open Air (Scorn Defeat Set) 07/10 DK Fredericia Metal Magic (Special Old School Set) 07/11 UK London Downstairs at the Dome (Special Old School Set)
US 07/26 Fire In The Mountains 07/28 Seattle WA El Corazon 07/29 Portland OR Star Theater 07/30 Sacramento CA Cafe Colonial 07/31 Berkeley CA Cornerstone 08/01 Los Angeles CA 1720
EUROPE 09/03 PL Aleksandrow Lodzki Summer Dying Loud 09/04 PL Cracow Zaścianek 09/05 CZ Ostrava Metal III 09/07 DE Munich Hansa 39 @ Feierwerk 09/08 DE Leipzig Moritzbastei 09/09 DE Berlin Badehaus 09/10 DK Copenhagen Beta @ Amager Bio 09/11 DE Hamburg Betty 09/12 DE Oberhausen Death & Damnation Fest 09/13 NL Leeuwarden Neushoorn 09/14 NL Utrecht DB’s 09/15 FR Paris Backstage By The Mill
(written by Islander) I have mixed feelings about the Fourth of July, probably a result of living through wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan in which U.S. government officials wrapped themselves in the flag, exalted themselves with military fly-overs, and belched “patriotic” rhetoric while lying to citizens and sending their children overseas to be maimed […]
Following the massive news of Emperor headlining, the organizers behind Fortress Festival have dropped an incredible first wave of bands for their 2027 edition. Returning to the spectacular Scarborough Spa in North Yorkshire on 29th and 30th May 2027, the black metal weekender is already cementing its reputation for securing unparalleled international exclusives and debuts. … Continue reading Fortress Festival 2027 unleashes monumental first wave of band announcements
As the countdown to Catton Park continues, we are keeping our eyes firmly on the exceptional talent rising up through the underground. Today, we catch up with Kent Metal 2 The Masses winners Vampyra to talk horror punk, converted torture dungeons, and their upcoming appearance on the Stowford Press New Blood Stage. They’ll be tearing … Continue reading Road To Bloodstock 2026: Vampyra
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has named his “Last Supper” of guitar players – keeping a place for Rainbow and Deep Purple icon Ritchie Blackmore for “being metal as f*** back when there were no metal guitar players.”
Mustaine was asked to name his favourite guitar players in a new interview with YSOLIFE and he offered up a list of legendary musicians for his dream “Last Supper” scenario. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, AC/DC and UFO‘s guitar heroes would join Blackmore at the table curated by the thrash metal star.
Mustaine says: “I would have to say probably one of my favourite guitar players has a lot to do with the era that they came in. And I would say for guitar layering and sounds, it would be Jimmy Page.
“For excellent note selection, it would be David Gilmour. For being metal as f*** back when there were no metal guitar players, Ritchie Blackmore. I am not a fan of the keyboard, so I could have had them be a little bit lighter shade of purple and gotten rid of the keyboard player. But, yeah, he was great.
“And then, of course AC/DC and Angus and UFO with Michael Schenker. That’s my ‘Last Supper’ kind of thing I’d want, to have those guys with me.”
Mustaine adds that few modern day guitarists would make his list because, in his words, it’s easier to learn to shred now than it was in his day.
He says: “There are so many guitar players now that are really good, especially because of the software that they can learn how to play with.
“When we started off, we didn’t have all these apps. We had to learn by lifting up the stylus on the record and scooting it back a couple grooves and dropping it and hoping it went in the same f***ing spot so we could pick up our guitar and our pick at the right time and play along with the song again, until they started developing cassette decks where you could slow stuff down or back it up real easy.
“But that was the way we learned stuff.”
Megadeth’s self-titled and final album is out now and the band have a number of farewell tour dates lined up before wrapping up their decades-long career.
Noah Kahan is appropriating Will Toledo’s culture. The viral folk star’s eventful Great Divide tour happened to stop by Pittsburgh last night while the furry convention was in town, and he was for some reason very excited about that, welcoming the furries and even trying on the head of an audience member’s furry costume.
French black/death/doom metal tyrants Viande return with their second album of suffocating savagery. Set for release via Transcending Obscurity Records on 31 July.
A short introduction keeps suspense before malevolent riffs come into life with a crushing tone and hard drumming to match. The dissonance and grooves flow like molten putrescence with this ferociously heavy production allowing the filth to be felt in your very being as the instruments contort beneath some resplendently wicked vocal delivery. This is pugnacious, horrible music… in the best way! Taking some of the blackened death cues of bands like Teitanblood and Black Curse but with some industrial and noise elements; Viande curate a nightmarish experience like no other. Their debut album is a phenomenal one and their live shows are supremely intense. Thankfully they have not lost that edge and the opening moments of “Monument Aux Morts” concoct a pungent and bloody cocktail of death, horror, morbidity and anxiety.
From the sparse waves of anguishing dissonance to the hammering savagery of a more bestial rage; there is a range of emotions but they always link back to this dirty and malicious atmosphere that haunts this bloodcurdling record. Their use of dynamics is precise, wasting no time but also taking plenty to corrupt your soul with this suffocating and hostile experience which has clearly not been rushed. The attentiveness to detail and depth of the sound is magnificent. All of the small textures heighten the sensory experience while the obvious bludgeoning carnage is never diluted by anything unnecessary. A truly immersive session of auditory torture. Stirring disquiet from a bottomless abyss of inhuman black/death metal force; Viande has definitely created something potent that balances sheer violence with a more introspective and uncomfortable experience that is as haunting as it is scathing.
To quote my interview with Viande about this album’s creation: “Psychiatric wards, intensive care, drunk brawls leading to serious health problems, accidents, recovery… Some of us paid a very heavy price”. It is clear their music has led them to the darker realms, and that is palpable in these nauseating pieces of musical sickness. Their desire to create “highly visual and evocative music” has certainly been fulfilled here, as the record will transport you to an abattoir of horrors that take disturbing form. While lengthy, this album is varied, and its charred being twists into new constellations of darkness and depravity to ensure you will never quite predict what’s coming, nor feel any sense of security or safety throughout. The discordance meets militant aggression, and the fluid, incorporeal form of Viande moves between these sections effortlessly, with transitions that always evoke the maximum in vibrant despair.
This is as twisted as it gets. A foreboding and yet lethal dose of blackened death metal with such a superb sense of texture, sound, and atmosphere. There is no shortage of mean-spirited atmospherics and an equally sublime abundance of furious disarray. Though all of this comes together due to the constant, unwavering sense of doom that is conveyed with profound disdain and a mighty delivery from start to finish. From the pits of your stomach, you might feel revulsion towards this record and yet be allured by its authentic and unique approach to black/death metal that manages to summon a more zealous spirit to the style than many.
