Brisbane rock mob Runt released their self titled debut today, along with another single.
Home is the fourth track lifted from the album, exploring the the moral decay and hyper-sexualization that dominates our screens.
Released today on XMusic, Runt is available here.
Music can often feel like a journey. The listener is taken on an emotional ride with the musicians at the helm, inviting us to reflect on our own lived experiences as their music scores the way. The fittingly titled ‘Takeoffs & Landings’ by Leeds-based instrumental post-rockers Din Of Celestial Birds charts both a physical and emotional voyage for the band. Since the release of their 2023 debut ‘The Night Is For Dreamers’, the band has taken their sound on the road with critically acclaimed appearances around the globe. During these upward career trajectories, the band has also experienced personal losses, with some of the music here written as catharsis and a tribute in the face of the most challenging experiences. Anyone who has seen them live already knows of the profoundly intimate and genuine relationship Din Of Celestial Birds has with their fans, and whilst the songs that make up ‘Takeoffs & Landings’ are written about their personal experiences, the band are keen for these tracks to be open to interpretation to the listener also.
The title track opens the album in spectacular fashion as flickering guitar melodies are propelled along by energetic drums and a pulsating bass line, with the whole track feeling like it’s about to leave the runway and soar high above the clouds in a vast expanse of blue. It’s simultaneously life-affirming and bittersweet, the feeling of leaving something behind as you venture into uncharted territories. ‘Marmoris’ follows in similar fashion, with the graceful guitar melodies of chief songwriter Andie Gill and fellow six stringers Tom Hazelhurst and Chris Core intertwining to mesmerising effect. It’s hard to avoid the flying metaphors with an album called ‘Takeoffs & Landings”, but the songs here are filled with such soaring movement and wonder that the feeling of propelling motion is ever present. Indeed, in the album’s quieter passages, there is a sense that even when time appears to stand still, life subtly moves ever forward, like on the spacious and stirring ‘From This Summit We Can See The Heavens’, which conjures a twinkling tapestry as enormous as a starlit sky. Likewise, the epic grandeur of ‘You Are My Temple’ manages to sound both tender and colossal as subdued passages give way to galaxy-sized melodies and riffs that pack serious heft.
Elsewhere the breathtaking beauty of the second half of ‘When Suddenly…” is the most heartrending music the band have penned thus far, as plaintive pianos give way to charging drums, melancholic synths and an epic choral-like zenith that carries the listener up into the warm glow of the heavens. The affecting ‘I Hope That Road Leads You Somewhere Beautiful, Somewhere You Belong’ is another highlight. It’s a deeply personal track, penned following the tragic death of Gill’s partner Roisin in early 2025 during a time of intense grief. The song is also a beacon of light, a memorial of sorts and a reminder that those we lose shine on in the light they leave behind. The shimmering guitar melodies are heartbreakingly delicate, buoyed by sensitive synths and delicate drum patterns, adding to the track’s fragile, beguiling nature.
Huge credit goes also to producer Joe Clayton, who manages to capture the band’s full splendour in dazzling aural technicolour. The band themselves have admitted to wanting a richer sound for this album, to make use of the possibilities that the studio can provide, with synths and double tracked guitars creating a more intricate sound than we’ve heard from them before. This also is what lends the music its more cinematic feel, with Clayton making even the smallest detail visible within the radiant panorama. With ‘Takeoffs & Landings’, Din Of Celestial Birds has documented the adventures and personal odysseys that they’ve traversed over the past few years, and have entrusted us to accompany them too. But more generously, with these mesmerising songs, they’ve provided a soundtrack we can apply to our own lives; music that we can take into our hearts, to be a source of comfort in our own journeys too.
ADAM FIRTH
Peter Katsis, the former manager of Korn, Limp Bizkit, Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, Ministry and more, has died aged 69.
Katsis passed away on August 6 due to complications from congestive heart failure, Variety reports.
A native of Chicago, Katsis discovered and managed Ministry in the early ’80s, before moving to Los Angeles to work with artists including The Cramps. In 1997, he became a partner at LA management company the Firm, where he helped guide the careers of Korn, Limp Bizkit, Audioslave, Thirty Seconds To Mars and more, including pop superstars the Backstreet Boys.
In 2008 to 2014, Katsis and Firm CEO Jeff Kwatinetz co-founded Prospect Park Entertainment with Rich Frank, adding Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, Bush and Ice Cube to their roster.
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan was among the first musicians to pay tribute to Katsis following his passing.
“Heartbroken that Pete is gone,” he posted on Instagram. “He meant a lot to Chloe and I as a dear friend and extended member of our family. He will be missed and I’ll always cherish his intense candor and deep love of great music; which was infectious. And he deserves immense credit for helping to usher in the alternative revolution of the 80’s and 90’s and beyond. He was truly one of a kind. One of a us. And Chicago royalty through and through.”
MInistry’s Al Jourgensen also expressed his condolences.
Rest in power Pete,” he posted. “He was our first manager in 1981. May your next journey be as prodigious as this one. We (Ministry camp) loved you. Safe travels my friend.”
“Peter was a force of nature”, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale told Billboard. “He lifted me up personally like no other and he drove our band towards the stars at all times. He will be deeply missed.”
It comes back to control me
What it said is stuck on me
It comes from the shadows
So elusive to me
Portland duo Princess Ugly approach labour as something closer to possession on their new single, The Work, turning the ordinary language of obligation into a study of creation, anxiety, and control. J. Christopher-Rome’s lyrics begin with familiar pressures: unfinished tasks, the reluctance to ask for help, the nagging sense that something remains unresolved…before those pressures acquire a strange agency of their own. Work ceases to feel like an activity and begins behaving like a presence, capable of following its creator home.
Christopher Moncrieffe builds that unease into the arrangement through clipped electronic rhythms, stern bass movement, and the mechanical forward motion of classic EBM. There is enough post-punk space around the instrumentation for Rome’s voice to carry the psychological weight, while the programming maintains a physical momentum suited equally to headphones and a crowded club. The tension comes from how naturally those two impulses coexist: the body is encouraged to move while the mind gets trapped inside a recurring thought.
Rome delivers the words with the exhausted concentration of someone attempting to identify a fear while still living inside it. Memory becomes another form of labour, something requiring constant maintenance before it can be trusted, and even dreams appear subordinate to productivity. Images of dust, unfinished construction, and something sharp waiting in the dark give the song an almost metaphysical dimension. Creation rises out of debris, yet the resulting object seems capable of turning upon its maker.
The song recognizes a contemporary condition in which occupation, identity, output, and self-worth have become increasingly difficult to separate. You build something, maintain it, remember why you started, and eventually discover that the structure has developed requirements of its own. Princess Ugly allows that cycle to remain unresolved, which suits a piece concerned with repetition and the unease of never reaching completion.
Watch the video for The Work below:
Listen to the Leæther Strip Remix of The Work below and order the single here.
Claus Larsen pushes those instincts toward the dance floor on the accompanying LEÆTHER STRIP Remix. His version thickens the percussion and sharpens the electro-industrial attack, giving the track a harder, more immediate propulsion without losing its underlying dread. Larsen treats the original’s anxiety as fuel, transforming psychological pressure into movement.
Together, the two versions make The Work feel less like a conventional song about employment than an examination of creation becoming obligation, obligation becoming authority, and authority eventually learning how to follow you home.
Follow Princess Ugly:
The post Portland Darkwave Duo Princess Ugly Shares Video for “The Work” and It’s Leæther Strip Remix appeared first on Post-Punk.com.
Bloodstock 2026 is finally upon us, and we return to the hallowed turf of Catton Park for the 25th anniversary of this great festival. The first day is usually very much the bedding-in day with a handful of smaller acts performing in the Sophie Lancaster Tent.
Words: Adrian Stonley, Matty Hunter
Photography: Adrian Stonley, Keith Conlin
This year there is change afoot as the main arena and Ronnie James Dio stage are opened for the first time. Subsequently, we have two stages to cover, although proceedings do not get underway until late afternoon, so the fare on offer is reduced.
That being said, the day is closed out by the Mighty Saxon, who played the very first Bloodstock festival in Stoke a quarter of a century before.
However, before we fall entranced by their mighty Metal, there are some other bands to consider.
First up, with a serious amount of tongue-in-cheek come Germany’s Heavysaurus. It is what it says in the name. Heavy Metal dinosaurs, and no, we have not been on the beer yet either.
Bloodstock has always had a reputation as a family-friendly festival despite the more extreme nature of some of the acts that will play over the weekend. Heavysaurus are definitely for the kids, whether little ones or much bigger kids who should know better and after all these years still do not.
Musically, it is standard run-of-the-mill classic rock fare. But they are entertaining and ham it up to the perfect level. That said, I have to be honest, we are probably never going to hear or see Don’t Stop Believin’, Highway To Hell or We Will Rock You in quite the same way ever again.
Scarred for life, but fun.
We know things will take an upturn as the weekend progresses, and next up are long-term festival and BOA faves Evil Scarecrow who have always been a popular addition to any bill.
Although I have to be honest, the tongue-in-cheek humour is still very much to the fore. Unsurprisingly, they deliver their own interpretation of a mad, over-the-top, and completely bonkers Metal show. This is a perfectly balanced set of killer Metal with comedy.
Frontman Dr. Hell kept the crowd engaged with constant banter and theatrics.
The band brought a healthy crowd of early Bloodstock attendees whose energy was excellent, with plenty of singalongs. There were a few crowd surfers who wanted to kickstart the weekend in the best way.
What do you want from a band? Well don’t answer because they will provide it. If there is a band here this weekend who really know how to work a crowd, then it is Evil Scarecrow. It is daft, it is fun, it is seriously good Heavy Metal. The main thing is not to take them seriously.
There is enough onstage messing around and frivolous theatrics to last a lifetime, whether it is a caricature of Donald Trump throwing Dollar bills around (it did not take long for someone to have a dig at him), or inflatable balls and spiders and a good dose of pyro.
Of course, we still have all the charismatic and bizarre onstage characters as well as the death makeup and splattering of blood. Good unhealthy fun, that’s what it is and all in the best possible taste.
Despite all this stage presence, Evil Scarecrow also have the songs (and song titles) as well. Whether it is Green Bin Day, March Of The Spider God or Crabulon, they have something for everyone. We have often heard it said that Metalheads are scary. If you saw them dressed as dinosaurs and shuffling from side to side whilst waving hands in the air in a crablike manner, then you may well change your mind.
Mad, in a good way, but definitely not dangerous.
This was a memorable performance by the lads to kick off the weekend as the second band following Heavysaurus. Crabulon was a particular highlight in the set, with the crowd singing and dancing along.
The Nottingham lads who clearly love putting on a performance will be welcome back again after five years away from the Catton Hall grounds.
Finally Main Stage sanity is restored with headliners and Metal Gods Saxon. Saxon proved exactly why they remain one of Heavy Metal’s most enduring institutions, delivering a triumphant Thursday night headline performance.
The band, who are 50 years and counting into their career, show no signs of stopping.
As the very first headliner at the original Bloodstock in 2001, their return to close this year’s opening day felt very full-circle, with thousands gathered to honour these Metal legends as the band took the audience through their discography with a meticulously crafted set.
The whole band were on fire, but Biff Byford particularly was in outstanding form throughout, his unmistakable voice showing little sign of age despite five decades of his craft. Addressing the crowd, he reflected on everything Saxon had experienced over the past 50 years, reminiscing about an era before Facebook, TikTok and streaming, when discovering Heavy Metal meant spinning vinyl records and cassettes.
The atmosphere was one of genuine celebration. Byford declared that everyone present was now part of the “Saxon family”, and the audience embraced that sentiment wholeheartedly. Fans young and old packed the field, with a constant stream of crowd surfers passing overhead as generations of Metalheads were seen.
It perfectly captured the community spirit that has always defined both Saxon and Bloodstock as the band delivered a set of greatest hits that provided everything that either a long-term fan or a newbie wants. Strong Arm Of The Law, Wheels Of Steel, 747, Dallas 1 PM, Princess Of The Night, it goes on and on.
Saxon have still got it, and what a way to close out the main stage of Bloodstock’s 25th anniversary opening night.
Cryptopsy brought the opening day of Bloodstock’s 25th anniversary to a devastating conclusion, making a long-awaited festival debut by headlining the Sophie Lancaster Stage.
Walking on to a tape of Metallica’s For Whom The Bell Tolls, the Canadians were met by an enormous crowd that had stayed out until the 10:40 pm start, with anticipation at fever pitch for one of Technical Death Metal’s most revered acts.
Celebrating 30 years of their landmark 1996 album None So Vile, the hour-long set focused predominantly on the record that many fans regard as one of the defining releases and among the greatest of all time in the genre.
The band’s upgraded production elevated the performance even further. Twisted and disturbing visuals filled the giant backing screen throughout the set, perfectly complementing the music’s relentlessness, while an endless stream of crowd surfers and a constantly rotating circle pit drove the tent into absolute carnage.
Despite the late finish approaching midnight, the crowd showed no signs of slowing down, feeding off the band’s relentless energy from start to finish.
The current lineup of Matt McGachy, guitarist Christian Donaldson, bassist Olivier Pinard and drumming phenomenon Flo Mounier appears incredibly tight-knit. McGachy is an exceptional frontman who pays homage to the legacy of Lord Worm while also imprinting his stamp on the band as he approaches 20 years in the quartet.
This appearance formed part of the band’s Malicious and Vile Summer Tour. As a huge Cryptopsy fan, this marked my third time seeing the band live, having previously caught them twice, most recently on their None So Vile 30th anniversary tour in Manchester earlier this year.
Remarkably, they still managed to raise the bar once again as a very talented group of musicians. On a personal note, it was great to meet the band again earlier in the day at the signing tent, and it was nice that they recognised me.
Bloodstock 2026 will be held over the long weekend of 6-9 August 2026. MetalTalk’s Matty Hunter, Adrian Stonley and Keith Conlin will report from Catton Park.
Take Part: Were you at Bloodstock this year? Who did you enjoy seeing the most? Email MetalTalk Editor Steve Ritchie to share your experience at Bloodstock@MetalTalk.net.
#boa26. For more information, visit bloodstock.uk.com. You can view a map of Bloodstock HERE.
You can find all MetalTalk Bloodstock 2026 coverage at https://www.metaltalk.net/bloodstock.
MetalTalk’s Bloodstock 2025 Coverage
MetalTalk’s Bloodstock 2024 coverage
MetalTalk’s Bloodstock 2023 coverage
MetalTalk’s Bloodstock 2022 coverage
Bloodstock 2027 will be held over August 5th – 8th. Early bird standard weekend tickets will be available at the main entrance box office throughout the festival, priced £210.00 with no booking fee. Tickets can be purchased online from Monday 10th August at 9 am at the official Bloodstock website.
SYREETA brings a sleek tech house groove to This Song, built around chunky basslines, crisp percussion, and a rolling rhythmic pulse designed for the dancefloor. The production keeps things tight and energetic, allowing the groove to drive the track while melodic details and vocal elements add character and movement. With its confident club-ready feel, the track sits comfortably between contemporary house and techno, reflecting SYREETA’s instinct for reading a crowd and building momentum. Hypnotic, punchy, and effortlessly danceable, This Song delivers a polished electronic workout with enough melodic edge to keep the groove engaging throughout.
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This is part 3 of our annual Missing Pieces series, when we cover stuff we dig that we missed upon initial release. Part 1 can be viewed here, and part 2 can be viewed here. Enjoy!
released February 3; independent
Since each of us is a perfect, beautiful snowflake, there are nearly infinite ways someone might describe Degenerate Synapse. Nevertheless, I feel relatively confident saying that, even if you put ten thousand of us monkeys in front of ten thousand typewriters, we’d compose a pentameter-precise Hamlet sooner than any of us would describe Degenerate Synapse (and their debut LP Battle for the Mind) as “chill.” This Chicago quartet plays the sort of grind-heavy death metal that seemed much more prevalent in the early/mid-00s than it does now, but there’s nothing particularly anachronistic about Battle for the Mind. Still, if you get a little tingly-tangly in your dingly-danglies for Misery Index and Cephalic Carnage, early Willowtip standouts like Crowpath and Commit Suicide, or even Pig Destroyer circa Terrifyer, Degenerate Synapse is barking right up your tree. The album’s title track is a neat microcosm of the band’s many strengths, switching on a dime between stout, thrashy riffing, spidery, grinding fret runs, mosh-inciting breakdowns, a tastefully nasty solo from guitarist Stephan Jurgovan, and a lurching, spaced-out breakdown that culminates in a frenzied solo run from bassist Dylan Piskula. Each song is lockstep-tight, but the band peppers the brew liberally with unexpectedly deft touches, like the neatly ominous Hanneman-King harmonized lead on bass and guitar in the last few seconds of “Nauseous at the Altar.” The only real breathing room the band offers across these 27 minutes is the surprisingly lovely acoustic instrumental “Bizarre Ritual,” because the rest of Battle for the Mind is a supremely good time for getting down with filthy bad vibes. [DAN OBSTKRIEG]
released June 12; F.O.A.D. Records
It’s been nearly eight years since the last full Cripple Bastards, with only a demo comp and a couple of splits in the interim – the band’s once-prodigious output has slowed considerably in the new millennium, but with it, with their move away from noisegrind into an amalgam of grindcore and death metal and modern hardcore, has come a greater power, a sharper attack. The addition of guitarist Der Kommisar in place of founding member Alberto The Crippler brought a greater emphasis on varied riff-craft, and albums like 2014’s utterly stellar Nero In Metastasi are all the better for it. (Though, it should be duly noted, that is not intended as a knock on Alberto – the band’s earlier, rawer material is also great, just with a different kind of intensity.)
Six songs in thirteen minutes is not a lot of time and space, but in true grindcore fashion, it’s plenty enough. The Bastards spend the first six seconds on a chiming, post-metally arpeggiated guitar bit before Raphael Saini lowers the hammer with a dense wall of blastbeats. Vocalist Guilio The Bastard snarls and growls atop it all, and Kommisar and bassist Schintu The Wretched cycle through a series of eminently catchy riffs that pull from various types of metal and punk, each one sporting world-sized hooks that latch right into your brain. “Vendicativo” and the title track are the EP’s centerpieces (literally and also musically), with riff after riff after riff after pissed-off riff… The former sports a hardcore middle-section that’s custom-made for moshpit madness, while the latter rides an epic drive that any thrash band would’ve killed to compose, complete with dashes of what almost approaches melody.
When discussing grindcore, I find myself overusing variations of the word “furious,” and there’s probably no band better suited to all of them than Cripple Bastards. These thirteen minutes are the sonic embodiment of anger, pieced together with utmost skill and regard for more than just the beatdown itself, with a notable reverence for creating something that is both unequivocally violent and vicious, but also a beatdown that the listener wants to inflict upon themselves time and time again. And that’s what’s happened – I was late catching up to La Tua Foto Sul Marmo, but it’s been in consistent rotation since, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. [ANDREW EDMUNDS]
released January 19; independent
If you saw Retorsion’s name on a bill with Sulfuric Cautery this summer, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking the Hungarians were another turbo-ping blaster, perhaps a recent graduate from the Pulmonary Fibrosis school of pitch-shifted blurrrghhh. The art for Rosszabb, mint a halál…, Retorsion’s first full-length, doesn’t show its hand either, displaying a mummified corpse draped over a store counter or merch booth. (Methinks the artist Serus knows what it’s like to be punished after a show.) Ah, but you’d be wrong. You fool; you dolt. How could you let a dumbass writer lead you so astray? Nope, this quartet is a throwback to the maggot-rich coffins of early grindcore: Horrified, World Downfall, and the like. Rosszabb, mint a halál… sounds like it was playing tag with the other newly-limbed tadpoles that crawled out of the thrash and punk primordial pools. Like, no one is going to say that Retorsion has high sci-fi concepts or that it has the razor-sharp precision of an industrial robot arm armed with surgical knives. Again, nope, these wrecking ball grinders are fine with burning a ton of calories getting to the same short-distance point B. For instance, the songs plow forward with the inevitability of a nose tackle unconcerned with analytics and believes the job is only finished when everyone is on their asses. I love how the drums slap and thump instead of subscribing to the dainty dexterity of a playthrough video athlete. I love how the bass sounds like there’s something wrong with the bass amp. I love how the guitars are hellbent on finding every power chord on the fretboard before engaging in solos that are like hundreds of horses screaming as they meet their gluey fate in an ill-advised cavalry charge. Sick. I also love how the CD’s interior features a photo collage of the homies being homies alongside at least three snaps of cats. Hell yeah. Pet those cats, dudes. [SETH BUTTNAM]
released March 27; Discos Enfermos / Human Future Records / Broken Skull Records
Back in mid-July I threw down a tribute to the Crumbsucker’s 1988 sophomore full-length Beast On My Back, one of the most adventurous crossover records ever recorded. In preparation for that article, I spent the better part of the month prior completely submerging myself in as many classics from the off-shoot as my ears could handle. And as it happens, this debut from Bavaria’s Spiritual Law found its way into that mix.
Now, to be clear, I would NOT consider this Spiritual Law S/T launch to be crossover, even if I’d admit that it shows enough crossover appreciation to fit comfortably amidst a classic crossover playlist. Think of it more as… the straight-up hardcore album a band might release before allowing thrash and a touch of melody a slice of the raging pie. So, yes, it’s clearly more Victim In Pain than it is Cause for Alarm, and it also spends a fair amount of its rather brief but fucking deadly 18 minutes underscoring a deep understanding of classic D-beat. The vocals here are barrel-chested and furnaced, the riffs are loud enough to cracks bricks, and the drumming keeps everything muscling forward without ever coloring outside the lines—all of which whips. But if I had to hand out a single gold star for my favorite element (beyond the album’s excellent artwork, by Nathan Ward), it would go to the bass thiccness, because its presence up and down this relatively succinct assault hits with the strength of a nuclear-powered bulldozer on a seppuku run.
GET HAMMERED. [CAPTAIN]
released May 27; independent
There’s wonderful healing power in the simple normalization of emotional pain. The validating relatability of another’s experience can soothe and even motivate or, at the very least, remind us that we don’t suffer alone. And when that experience connects us through song it can be transformative.
Milan’s Cellar Noise makes modern heavy prog about that regular kind of suffering that can feel so mundane as to be meaningless, and the sharing of which feels like a trite kind of grousing, begging an eyeroll before compassion. And yet it also is actually mundane, so commonplace as to be a matter of fact. Then they make something more of it in the gentle recognition of its ubiquity, finding freedom in acceptance, strength in knowing one’s limits and therefore one’s potential.
Much of that sentiment, of course, comes from open, vulnerable lyrics, but they gather power from a musical approach that values the filigree of atmospheric prog as much as the fired forge of prog metal. And, while they share space with well known acts like Riverside, Porcupine Tree, and The Pineapple Thief, theirs is a voice all their own, even as it speaks of shared experience. [LONE WATIE]
released March 13; Encephalic Productions
Report From The Sewer: Part 3
…I somehow survived ten full minutes of being sucked down into that whirlpool of piercing noise, disembodied voices and ugly crushing pressure. I’ve been shat out in a straight line of multiple tight coridors. Every inch is caked in gore and each brief section is separated by plasmatic waterfalls. There’s a gurgling suction quality to this portion that hints at the end of the line. I must crawl due to the bite-size nature of the passages but the brief sections urge speed and a willingness to harm oneself to escape, practically pulling your neck and twisting it forward. As I’m progressing, other-worldly emanations echo throughout like the cries of an alien ancestor buried alive and attempting to message to the skies for help. This system, however, is built of impenetrable suffering.
It only takes 20 minutes to sprint on hands and knees through the 16 portions of this final trial of the sewer, but I emerge coated in vital fluids and viscera. What I’ve discovered is a rotting, ichor-dripping heart at the center of Last Rites Kingdom, a sign that our home was built on the bones of brutality. Some of us may try to fight it, but a DNA test would surely tell us we were all born of the sewer and those few denying it are only delaying the inevitable. We came from here; we’ll return. The beating nucleus of this world is disgusting, yet enchanting in equal measure.
There appears to be a pool of swirling bodies made from the ground up bits of the weak, eager to burst to the surface like Old Faithful. I am jotting my final notes here and chucking the journal into the pool in the hopes that it may one day fire up through latrine shafts of the Last Rites Castle where our brethren too comfortably defecate. They must learn of what I’ve borne witness to. It’s coming for us all…we all float down here. [SPENCER HOTZ]
released June 19; Peaceville Records
Norwegian black metal project Mork started out as a simple nod to the genre’s second wave. Since its debut record Isebakke in 2013, head honcho Thomas Eriksen has carved out somewhat of a niche. And while you can still tell he comes from the school of that Scandinavian scene, Mork, nowadays, relies on catchiness and organized songwriting more than anything else. His new record, Monolitt, released back in June, certainly emphasizes that.
There’s a Slayer thrashiness and groove to the songs, especially on “Under Vekten Av Verden,” that sounds downright evil. However, you also have tracks like “Ødelagt” that are reminiscent of a more traditional black metal sound, but with some chunky palm-muted riffs and breakdowns sprinkled in just for the hell of it. Eriksen is also a fan of the old school given the intro on “Inn I En Annen Strære,” that grants us an epic heavy metal build-up and addicting tremolo melodies.
While Mork continues to experiment by throwing various pieces of heavy metal history into the music, Eriksen still manages to keep it a black metal project at its core. The necro vocals are still there, and the cloth of Darkthrone is still interwoven, perhaps more than ever considering the trajectory from black metal to a smorgasbord of sound.
I’ve always dug Mork, but more and more as time goes on. I think Monolitt is Eriksen’s best release to date. And that’s saying a lot. Killer stuff. [BLIZZARD OF JOZZSH]
released June 12; MNRK Heavy
I have been openly anticipating a new King Diamond record every year dating back to 2019 via Last Rites’ annual Most Anticipated Albums Of… articles, but in truth I’ve been anticipating new KD material probably since around 2010—three years post Give Me Your Soul… Please, which seems like a equitable gap between albums for an ‘active’ band. Clearly, King Diamond has been on a different schedule, and despite the fact that I remain fully aware that a fair stretch of those gap years presented some rather difficult health challenges for King, I think most fans would agree that… Things have gotten out of hand.
Would matters be helped if there was a little more transparency concerning obstacles? At this point, I don’t think so. But our side of the fence probably would benefit if folks in the King Diamond camp would stop teasing fans every year with dubious claims along the lines of “things are progressing nicely!” Yes, King has a remarkable discography in the rearview and obviously doesn’t owe us a thing, but holy crap have a lot of fans been scrambling for that tenner on a string being pulled down the sidewalk for a long time. Brass tacks: Andy LaRocque apparently had eight pre-production songs done, dusted and submitted back in 2022, King accepted three of the five (with plans to fill out the remaining songs mostly on his lonesome), and now Andy has left the project (amicably) to focus his attention on a brand new project, Lex Legion.
Not exactly news to anyone reading these words, but Lex Legion involves four of the five members responsible for 1988’s masterful “Them”: Andy, Pete Blakk (guitar), Mikkey Dee (drums) and Hal Patino (bass), with Pagan’s Mind vocalist Nils K. Rue capping things off behind the mic. Regarding the latter, anyone with a bit of PM familiarity knows why Nils was selected (AHEM), and various claims of “avoiding a copycat label” notwithstanding, this debut very much does come across as: 1) A more stripped down interpretation of classic King Diamond (how could it not??), and 2) A rather loud illustration to, um, anyone out there paying attention that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Does Lex Legion actually sound like a King Diamond album, though? Again, it’s nearly impossible to NOT draw such a conclusion, given the context, the players involved and Nils’ uncanny ability to hit those highest of high notes (he is a wonderful vocalist—full stop). The record does, however, purposely sidestep most anything to do with being overly dramatic / theatrical or pushing a ‘concept album’ angle and instead opts to favor… simply rocking? In that way, it’s probably most reminiscent of, say, side A from A Spider’s Lullabye. Difficult to complain about that.
Speaking truthfully, it’s taken me a good amount of time to finally find the opportunity to sit with the album for extended spins, and I have since walked away with the following understanding: Lex Legion is good, and that’s great! The record didn’t need to be an outright world-beater, it just needed to get out there and deliver something familiar that a shit-load of people have been waiting to hear over the course of the last two decades. The result is basically 35 minutes of rockin’ King Diamond-inspired heaviness with all the delectable melody and siren wailing we’ve been craving, and it just so happens to get stronger and stronger as the album hustles along. So, yes, as of right now I find myself very contented, hungry for more, and eager to see footage of the band powering through these songs from the stage. Boom: mission accomplished.
Can’t wait to hear what they come up with next. [CAPTAIN]
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The post Missing Pieces: The Best Of What We Missed In 2026 So Far, Vol. 3 appeared first on Last Rites.
Dreams do come true. I am the living proof of this. Because if we go back to 2010 when I became a Nightwish fan, there was just one thing that I wanted to do, and that was to meet Anette Olzon, and tell her that she changed and saved my life. I had to wait only 16 years to do that, but it was worth the whole thing. I also got the honor of interviewing her for FemMetal, and you can read here what we talked about.
Benedetta
Hi Anette, how are you doing?
Anette Olzon
I’m fine, thank you. I’m really happy to be touring again.
Benedetta
Awesome. And exactly, you have been touring again after a long time. How did it feel to be back on stage in South America?
Anette Olzon
Well, that was the thing. I haven’t wanted to go on stage because, like I said, I have stage fright. And the last couple of years when I entered menopause, because I’m that old, I got more anxiety and more panic. So actually I cancelled the show with The Dark Element due to that. But yeah, you know, with some medicines and things and stuff like that. And then the opportunity from Eliel came. He asked me already a couple of years ago, “Do you want to come?” And I was like, “No, no, no, no, no.” But then he again asked me and he was like, “I will have the band and I will fix this“. Then I asked my husband, “Should I go?” He was like, “Go. And if you like it, fine”. I loved it. So when I came home, I was kind of depressed because I didn’t want to go to my job as a nurse. It was so boring, you know, after all this love. So I asked my family if I could go, so now I’m going to sing for a while. Yes.
Benedetta
That’s the best news ever. I don’t know if you know this, but your voice and yourself, you have inspired so many new generation of artists. And I know people like personally that they said that Anette was such a big inspiration for me to start singing. And so many bands are created because of your influence and your art.
Anette Olzon
Thank you. I never hear that. I only hear the negative. So thank you. I’m going to take that and put it in my heart. But really, I’m very good at just hearing the bad ones or reading the bad ones. That’s my person, you know, because I was bullied in school. I think that’s why I’ve always, you know, felt very insecure if people like me. So if you say that, I’m going to take it to my heart, and that will help me.
Benedetta
Also your resilience has inspired lots of people not to give up on their dreams. Because, I mean, sometimes it takes a very bad or negative comment to give up. You are the living proof that anything is possible.
Anette Olzon
Yeah. But believe me, I have given up many times during my life from music. There have been times when I have said “I’m not going to sing anymore. I hate this. I’m not going to sing.” And then I quit like for a year or something. But then there’s something when you love music. It’s the only thing if I have a bad day, I put on some music and I get happy. And when I sing, I am happy, whether it’s in my living room. So every time I think if you’re a true musician and you love what you do, you will come back. But of course, there will be times when you want to give up because it’s a very hard business and it’s not a normal job in many ways.
Benedetta
I’m so thankful that you didn’t give up at all.
Anette Olzon
No, I’m still going 55 and going also.
Benedetta
Can you share with us how your passion for knitting and making your own clothes started?
Anette Olzon
You know, the fun thing is that my mom has always knitted, since she was five years old. And she’s always said “You should knit” because I’ve been a very restless person. Like I said, with anxiety, she said “It would be good for you to sit and do something”. I was like, “No, no, no, no, no, no. Hate it”. But then I don’t know why, but I just thought it was like sewing was the first thing. And it was like, “I’m going to try and make dresses“. I couldn’t make anything. But, you know, I just cut and did it, it was so much fun. Then I just started knitting. I don’t know. But now I’m crazy. I have like my whole living room, there’s like this corner with so much yarn that I could have a yarn store. So my plan after touring when I’m tired of singing is to have my own yarn cafe and showroom. Because it takes so much of my home. My kids are like “Mom!!!!“, I have a whole yarn store and I need to knit. I didn’t bring any knitting on the tour because I was thinking maybe it’s good if I take a break for four weeks. Maybe I will go and buy some. We’ll see. No, but I think it’s really good for me. I bite my nails, that’s why I have these fake ones. And when I knit, I don’t do that because I need to have something to do all the time. So if I’m knitting while I’m watching TV, I’m relaxed and it’s nice. It’s also I’m thinking about when you do music and singing is creative and you’re a creative person. So everything you do with your hands or it’s like music. Nemo asks every day, kind of, “Should it look like this, mom?” And I’m like, “I have got some more yarn“. The cats are climbing in the yarn and there are more shells. I need to get some other storage for it. When I do something, I do it a thousand percent. Like I don’t need one knit. Then I do 100 knits. My father was the same. If he started planting bonsai trees, he didn’t get one. He got like 200.
Benedetta
How are your cats, by the way?
Anette Olzon
Oh, it was really hard to leave them. It was harder to leave them in a way than my kids. Because last tour, when I came home from South America, I had two cats and the female cat was actually very, very ill and I had to put her down. So that was like the first thing after coming from a super tour, going to the vets and having her in the hospital. And then she had to die. Then I got two others, so we have three cats and the little boy, he’s the orange cat. My first orange tiger, Simba. He’s on me all the time. I don’t know how he’s going to survive now. It was very hard to pack yesterday. No, but the cats are good. I love my cats and I love my kids, but Simba is very special. He will be depressed for sure. Or he will love my husband more than me when I get home. And then I will cry even more. I don’t want that to happen. No, but they’re fine.
Benedetta
You said that you wanted to be an author. Can you recommend some books that you, or what you are reading now, if you’re reading something?
Anette Olzon
I actually read, it’s a Swedish author, his name is Pascal Engman. And this book is called “The Clan”. It’s about gangs. You know, in Sweden, we have lots of problems with gangs and kids, 12-year-olds that kill people. And this is actually about that. So it’s a very horrible book, but it’s really, really good. So I like to read those kinds of books, serial killers or crimes. That’s my thing. It needs to be something really hard. And I watch all the serial killer documentaries. I don’t know why it’s some kind of thing. I think many women do that actually.
Benedetta
Do you think that we will ever reach some sort of equality between men and women in the metal world?
Anette Olzon
Well, I think it’s better now. It was already when I started in Alyson [Avenue] on this female fronted when we were playing, many people like “Pff, a girl singing”, and you still have that in some way. And I also feel that I didn’t want to be that kind of singer that was having very little clothes on, like Beyonce in metal world. Some female singers do that, and of course, that’s a way to get the attention. But I think also with the growling from Arch Enemy and, you know, those kind of female voices that are showing that you can sound so brutal and being a little girl. So I think it’s better. I mean, the world is what it is, and we are male and female. There is not the perfect equality, and music is like that. It’s better than when I started singing. There will always be those that don’t listen to you if you’re a female singing. But it’s better. It’s better. But I think it will be always hard. But we have those Alissa White-Gluz and those that are showing that women are just as good or even better at many things.
Benedetta
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. It’s been an honor and a pleasure to meet you. Is there anything else that you want to add to our readers?
Anette Olzon
Just come. Come see us. Come see the boys because my musicians are amazing. And they have traveled all over from Brazil just to be with me on this tour. And they are amazing. Really good. So come. Come listen to them. If you don’t listen to me, listen to them.
The post “If you’re a true musician and you love what you do, you will come back to music” – Interview with Anette Olzon first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.
“Yorkshire! Yorkshire! Yorkshire!” There’s something perfect about seeing Opeth in God’s Own Country on Yorkshire Day, the band’s early sound undeniably influenced by the Peaceville Three. Speaking of whom, Paradise Lost are actually pulling main support duty for the day (and we hear tell that former My Dying Bride vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe has been spotted in the crowd too).
Not to be entirely outgunned, Opeth have enlisted fellow Swedes Katatonia to kick the event off. Set within the gorgeous confines of Halifax’s Piece Hall, an 18th Century market hall that hosted both Korn and Limp Bizkit ahead of their jump to Download headliner status – though we won’t hold our breath for Opeth doing the same – Katatonia look and sound magnificent, their majestic, melancholic prog metal stirring and epic to behold.
Paradise Lost might steal the day. Apparently the doom metal masters have never played their hometown, but when frontman Nick Holmes mentions the fact it’s nice to be at home it prompts an effusive chant like someone’s set up a third faction in the English civil war.
Pulling from across their career, the set is proof positive that Paradise Lost have only gotten better with age: 90s classics One Second, The Last Time and their killer cover of Smalltown Boy are undeniable anthems, but the likes of The Enemy, Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us and Ghosts (featuring a guest appearance from former drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, who now plays in Opeth) show PL are still producing some of their best material well into the 21st Century.
The difficulty with any Opeth setlist is, there’s only so much they can squeeze into any headline set. Even so, they do a spectacular job of spanning their careers; from 1999 on, at least. There’s no denying 2024’s The Last Will And Testament felt like their finest moment in over a decade, so hearing just how well §1 and §7 work live adds more fuel to the desire for the band to perform the whole record in full. Frontman Mikael Akerfeldt does point out the difficulty in having guest contributions, however.
“If you’ve heard this record, you’ll know we got Ian Anderson to do some spoken word,” he starts, to a massive cheer. “He’s not here. Now, we don’t have any clicktracks or any of that shit, but we do have Ian’s part on a tape. So we’re going to play this song a little fast or a little slow, and we’ll just see where his part ends up happening.”
It turns out, Anderson comes in at exactly the right time… only for the video to run out of sync. Can’t win ’em all. It’s something the band take with good humour however. As the set winds back to their ‘classic’ era – Windowpane, The Grand Conjuration, The Drapery Falls – we’re treated to some sublime visuals as lights shimmer amidst thick plumes of smoke that make it look like the band has opened a portal to another dimension, Akerfeldt undercutting the otherworldliness with a self-deprecating humour that feels as Northern as white roses and dark satanic mills. They’ll make a Yorkshireman of him yet.
