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New York has always had its own style of death metal and with quite a lot of range, too. Continue reading…

Whitmer Thomas is perhaps best known as an actor-comedian, but he’s keeping the ball rolling with his singer-songwriter career. The Alabama native is following up last year’s Tilt EP today with the news that he’s signed to the esteemed Fire Talk Records. He’s got a new single too, a drowsy indie-country lope called “Candy Corn” that finds him singing repeatedly about “the agony of aging.” It’s produced by the very busy Brad Cook. Thomas explains, “This is my broadest attempt to write about what youth felt like, looking back as an aging knucklehead.”

The post Whitmer Thomas Shares New Song “Candy Corn” With Video Starring Joe Pera & Carmen Christopher appeared first on Stereogum.

Lily Allen’s West End Girl Tour does not offer a typical pop star concert experience. The opening act is a string ensemble called the Dallas Minor Trio performing the singer’s older hits with the lyrics projected behind them for the audience to sing along. Allen then takes the stage and sings all of West End Girl from start to finish to a backing track. Like a play, she has props and costume changes but no interaction with the crowd. Some fans, of course, do not like that. Allen addressed them today.

The post Lily Allen Addresses Complaints About Her West End Girl Tour appeared first on Stereogum.

A month ago, legendary singer-songwriter Edie Brickell unveiled a new supergroup called World Famous Pets, which sees her teaming with some of the most accomplished journeyman players in the music industry: Matt Chamberlain on drums, Kaveh Rastegar on bass, and Mason Stoops on guitar. They released debut single “Maybe Somehow” when announcing their existence to the world, and today they’re sharing a second song to go along with the details of their self-titled debut album.

The post Edie Brickell, Matt Chamberlain, Kaveh Rastegar, & Mason Stoops Announce Debut Album As World Famous Pets appeared first on Stereogum.

HKSPK are currently working towards the release of their new album Letters from the East, out September 11, 2026. The band’s two current tracks, Torture and rot in despair, show two different sides of HKSPK: direct, aggressive black/death metal pressure on one side, and a darker, more atmospheric approach on the other. Check out Rot […]

by Dave Campbell

Instrumental music can be polarizing to some fans, especially to the gatekeeping Metal community. It seems more palatable to Progressive Rock fans, who are used to long instrumental passages on some of the songs they love. Let’s take a deeper look at this. Vocals and lyrics are immediately accessible to music fans. You can sing along with them, and the lyrics can often echo things that you are thinking about and feeling. When you take them away, all that is left is the music itself. I love instrumental music. While I too enjoy vocals and lyrics, I often find deeper meaning within the music itself. Texture, dynamism, and even emotions are more easily digestible to me from instruments and not from vocals. That love probably started for me in 1985 when I first picked up the guitar, and when I discovered the landmark “Surfing with the Alien” album from JOE SATRIANI. In his hands, he made the guitar sing, and if you listen closely, you can often mirror what could have been a vocal pattern in some of his rhythms and lead breaks. Instrumental music can be just as vital and exciting as music with vocals. With all of this in mind, we explore ‘The Hidden Hand,’ the 4th full-length album from Akron, Ohio-based Post-Rock/Progressive Instrumental band IF THESE TREES COULD TALK.

“Archons” is the leading song – opening tracks often present a tease of what might be to come over the course of the album. An archon is a Greek term that generally refers to a leader or a magistrate. When you listen to the track, you understand why they chose that title. “Moon Machine” has a big guitar sound that is solemn, dark, and even regal, and I get a visual of a funeral procession for a loved monarch. The riffs are firm, powerful, and even a little cold at first. They soften a little, and become more pliable, but waves of frigid cold are still very much present. I get a distinct sense of sadness in this song, or possibly loss, even regret. It speaks to me as someone who looks back on their life and wonders what happened. “Sea of Glass” also has melancholy tones, but they are a little warmer. It’s as if someone threw you a life preserver and invites you inside the cabin for conversation, or just to listen to your pain. Some of the guitar chords are absolutely towering, and they play into the themes of the album, particularly the emotional quality.

“Blurry Creatures” is a veritable wave of sound that, like the ocean, never lets up, and you can hear the dynamic effect of three guitarists in the band’s music. It’s like a combination strike that first hits you in the face, then the stomach, and follows it up with a swift kick. Once they are finished with you, it does retreat into softer tones, but there is still a degree of tension in the song that you just can’t shake. “Silence Between Mountains” has two movements. The first is a short song that uses silence to speak. Silence can speak as loudly as words in many cases, and here, they sound like someone who just doesn’t have anything else to say. Maybe they can’t find the right words, or maybe they feel defeated in a sense. Segueing into part two, it continues the sentiment. The phrase that comes to mind is “why bother?” In other words, silence can be a weapon, and measuring the distance of it between two mountains can be a whole lot of mileage. When someone feels defeated, silence is often the response.

“Metanoia” is defined as a profound, transformative change in one’s heart, mind, or way of life, and you can immediately feel the album turning the corner from despair and despondence and into action. The human will is an amazing thing. No matter how often you are knocked down and kicked repeatedly, there is always something deep inside you that urges you to get up and keep fighting, and that sort of resolve is reflected well in this song, especially in the roar of each guitar chord.

“Film” is a cover song from . Suddenly, the dark clouds part and make way for bright waves of sunshine. It’s such a pretty song, and I can see why the band holds it in such a high regard. The corollary from the cover song to the music of IF THESE TREES COULD TALK is that it’s still just a bit reserved…a bit melancholy. What’s the saying…no matter how dark the night may be, there will always be a morning? That is at least one assurance we have in life.

“Endlessly Connected” is the final song originally written and performed by APHEX TWIN, and after the heavy, emotional weight of some of the previous songs, it serves as a reminder that we humans are, in fact, all connected in subtle ways we don’t even understand. It could be that we all face some of the same things in life…victories, celebrations, births, deaths, and struggles. That’s what I like to think it means.

The Hidden Hand is a captivating instrumental album that speaks volumes without saying a word. The album’s title can, in fact, have several meanings. It could refer to some of the darker cards we are dealt at birth…genetic predispositions, histories, and other forces at work in our lives that we can’t see or quantify. It could also refer to lawful and good forces that are at play, shaping and guiding us to continue working on ourselves and moving forward collectively. A hidden hand of help, if you will. There is a constant interplay of these two things happening at the same time on the album…unseen forces of both good and evil that never rest. Do you believe in destiny, or fate, or that we all have control of our own lives? “Hidden Hands” poses that exact question; there appears to be no right or wrong answer. It’s something that each of us has to discover for ourselves.

Released on July 10, 2026 on Metal Blade Records

Order here: https://ifthesetreescouldtalk.bandcamp.com/album/the-hidden-hand

Tracklist:

1. Archons
2. Moon Machine
3. Sea of Glass
4. Blurry Creatures
5. Silence Between Mountains, Pt. 1
6. Silence Between Mountains, Pt. 2
7. Metanoia
8. Flim
9. Endlessly Connected

Lineup:

Tom Fihe – Bass
Jeff Kalal – Guitars
Cody Kelly – Guitars
Mike Socrates – Guitars
Zack Kelly – Drums

The post If These Trees Could Talk – The Hidden Hand (Album Review) appeared first on The Prog Report.

Faded Away is the dramatic and emotional finale of AVALAND’s upcoming metal‑opera album Chemical Poetry (out October 30). The track opens with a fairytale‑like atmosphere before rising into soaring power metal and culminating in a grand metal‑opera climax, blending cinematic storytelling with the band’s signature choirs and theatrical arrangements. As the press release states, the […]

Launching towards the end of October.

The post Agriculture, Uniform & Pure Hex Set For Fall U.S. Tour appeared first on Theprp.com.

San Francisco Bay Area band, Tomorrow’s Lie, is a fusion of classic rock and metal, with a surge of melancholy alternative soundscape. With head songwriter Lance L. Amato on rhythm guitar, joined by Sean Boomer on drums, Mark (Shag) Nuñez on bass, lead guitar player Gary Witherell, and vocalist Todd Tauscher all together spinning a […]

With a voice that carries both stormy intensity and haunting clarity, Alexayndra has carved her own lane in the alternative world. Her journey is one of raw, artistic evolution: from a childhood spent at the piano on the New England coast to early industry recognition, including nods from the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, and […]