Interview by Thrasher Fresh off their run as national finalists in the 2026 Wacken Metal Battle USA, Florida’s own Ramtha are gearing up to bring […]
The post Controlled Chaos: Ramtha Talks Wacken Battle Success, New Album, and Tampa Death Fest appeared first on Metal-Rules.com.
Hot on the heels of last month’s Global Beatles Day comes news that a previously unreleased John Lennon track titled Little Girl will be included on the reissue of The Beatles‘ Rubber Soul, which is due to arrive on October 2 via UMG and Apple Corps Ltd.
The demo appears to have been hidden away in the vaults for decades before being unearthed when plans for the re-issue were being drawn up.
Producer Giles Martin tells Rolling Stone: “It was surprising. It was one of those things that came from the Lennon Estate – I think it was Sean. It was one of those things where they say, ‘Oh, and then there’s this.’”
The record has been newly mixed by Martin and engineer Sam Okell and, alongside the original mono mix, you’ll also find a new stereo mix sourced from the original four-track masters. There’s also a Dolby Atmos mix and the original Capitol US version is also included. The expanded album will also include previously unreleased home demos and studio recordings.
For Beatles’ enthusiasts, the main draw will likely be the Super Deluxe editions of Rubber Soul which will be released as 4CD and 5LP box sets. These contain a total of 68 tracks, with the vinyl box set featuring a 7-inch single with Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out.
There’s also an 88-page hardback book with an introduction written by Paul McCartney and a foreward complied from John Lennon’s own words. The book also includes track notes, photographs and an in-depth look at the background of the album.
Rubber Soul will also be released in limited-edition orange vinyl and zoetrope vinyl, 1CD and 1LP standard editions, and 2CD and 2LP deluxe editions.
To mark the announcement, you can watch a visualiser featuring Michelle (Take 1) below.
Rubber Soul: Special Edition Super Deluxe: 5LP + 7” single box set
LP1: New stereo mix
Side A
1. Drive My Car
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won’t See Me
4. Nowhere Man
5. Think For Yourself
6. The Word
7. Michelle
Side B
1. What Goes On
2. Girl
3. I’m Looking Through You
4. In My Life
5. Wait
6. If I Needed Someone
7. Run For Your Life
LP2: Sessions, demos and the single (Disc 1)
Side A
1. Wait (Take 3 – instrumental backing track)
2. Run For Your Life (Takes 1-5 – instrumental backing track)
3. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (First version –Take 1)
4. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Second version –Take 2)
5. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Third version – Take 3)
6. Drive My Car (Takes 1 and 2 – instrumental backing track)
7. Day Tripper (Songwriting work tape)
Side B
1. Day Tripper (Take 1 – instrumental backing track)
2. Day Tripper (Takes 2 and 3 – instrumental backing track)
3. If I Needed Someone (Take 1 – instrumental backing track)
4. In My Life (Take 1)
5. In My Life (Extract with unused organ solo)
6. We Can Work It Out (Paul’s demo)
7. We Can Work It Out (Take 1 – instrumental backing track)
LP3: Sessions, demos and the single (Disc 2)
Side A
1. Nowhere Man (First version – Take 2)
2. Nowhere Man (Second version – Take 5 – instrumental backing track)
3. I’m Looking Through You (First version – Take 1)
4. I’m Looking Through You (Second version – Take 2)
5. I’m Looking Through You (Second version – Take 3)
6. Michelle (Guitar rehearsal)
7. Michelle (Take 1)
Side B
1. What Goes On (Take 1 – instrumental backing track)
2. The Word (Takes 1 and 2 – instrumental backing track)
3. Girl (Take 2 – instrumental backing track)
4. Beatle Talk (Think For Yourself vocal overdubs)
5. Little Girl (John’s demo)
LP4: Mono
Side A
1. Drive My Car
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won’t See Me
4. Nowhere Man
5. Think For Yourself
6. The Word
7. Michelle
Side B
1. What Goes On
2. Girl
3. I’m Looking Through You
4. In My Life
5. Wait
6. If I Needed Someone
7. Run For Your Life
LP5: US Album
Side A
1. I’ve Just Seen A Face
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won’t See Me
4. Think For Yourself
5. The Word
6. Michelle
Side B
1. It’s Only Love
2. Girl
3. I’m Looking Through You
4. In My Life
5. Wait
6. Run For Your Life
7” single
1. Day Tripper
2. We Can Work It Out
In his quest to write some unique doom metal, Jamie Kobić dug deep into his own Bosnian heritage to draw on the traditional folk music called Sevdah. This musical tradition, with its slower tempo and melancholic tone, fits in perfectly with doom. Often, songs contain lyrical content about love and longing. My own research into Sevdah, including watching performances on YouTube, suggests it’s a more vocal-centric style. However, it allows for a mix of instruments, and Kobić cites Sevdah’s “expressive chord progressions” as one of his desires to incorporate the style into his compositions. Having only a 2024 split with his other band, Gavran, to its credit, Kobić releases The Forever Silent as the debut album for his new vision for doom, Svjetlost. Does the mix of Sevdah with the heavy reverb of stoner doom succeed?
Opener “Above the Mountains” lays down the foundation with thick stoner riffs and a near-funeral pace, giving the impression this will be an epic á la Sleep’s Dopesmoker. Yet Svjetlost aren’t just stoner doom, also incorporating Neurosis-style flourishes including arpeggios and feedback to layer on the atmosphere. On rare occasions, Kobić jumps into the higher-energy stoner riffs of High on Fire (“Between the Peaks”), but for the most part this is a slow, mellow record. The stoner riffs don’t really sound all that distinct from those of your typical stoner metal outfits, but there’s a satisfaction in the contrast between the louder, reverb-laden portions and the gentler sections. “The Golden Lilies” illustrates this, with some melancholic melodies strummed softly for a few minutes before Svjetlost breaks into the fuzzier, heavier side in a satisfying transition.
Kobić’s mellow approach to the vocals often means they play second fiddle to the instruments, and often he’s so quiet that he’s barely distinguishable from background noises. His gentle voice fits the style well, and he hits melancholic notes that seem in line with the Sevdah tradition. His melodic lilt serves as the emotional core, especially during passages on “The Golden Lilies” and “Between the Peaks.” Other times his voice rises barely above a whisper, and others yet he takes on a hypnotic chanting cadence. “Between the Peaks” is the only time he swaps out the cleans for something harsher, the agonized shouts of someone who can no longer contain his sorrows. Kobić’s voice is distinctive, yet it’s hardly dominant. Lengthy passages go by without hearing him, and when we do, he’s often reluctant to cede ground to his instruments, instead becoming one with the music.
Svjetlost sometimes feels adrift without any sense of direction. Sure, the switches in direction, tone, and tempo help alleviate the song lengths—each ranging from 13 to 16 minutes—yet the problem is that passages ramble on far longer than necessary without much variation in riffs or progressions. Kobić does demonstrate the ability to write compelling passages of music. “Above the Mountain” starts off strong, while “The Golden Lilies” contains moments of poignancy, and “Between the Peaks” mixes things up with its energetic and fun start. Yet as good as some of these individual passages are, the problem is that the length of each song demands more compelling material in the moments between, and The Forever Silent doesn’t always deliver, often lingering on repetitive passages that feel like they last, well, forever. Even worse, Svjetlost includes occasional moments of a high-pitched, whiny screech of feedback to snap your wandering attention back to the music—only to make you want to turn it off.
While the mix of Sevdah and stoner doom isn’t bad by any stretch, it’s also not particularly distinctive. Perhaps you can hear it in the vocals or maybe in those oft-repeated chord progressions, but for those unaware of this influence, The Forever Silent doesn’t sound all that different from your usual sludge/stoner doom outfit. Yet there’s no denying Svjetlost effectively weave a gentle melancholy into the music, heard in Kobić’s plaintive singing, in the arpeggios and the soft tempo. There’s a pleasure to be had in spending time with The Forever Silent for those who enjoy mellower stoner doom. Spending 55 minutes with this behemoth may be a tougher sell for anyone else.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Shadow of Sorrow Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: July 24th 2026
The post Svjetlost – The Forever Silent Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.
Interview with Geoff Bourrie, Founder / Promoter /Organizer of Loud As Hell Metal Festival Interview by Thrasher Nestled in the sun-baked badlands of Drumheller, Loud […]
The post “The Biggest Loud As Hell to Date”: Geoff Bourrie Breaks Down the 2026 Badlands Invasion appeared first on Metal-Rules.com.
Following the release of the triumphant debut single ‘Ashen World‘—chosen as one of Metal Hammer’s best tracks of the week—KAMELOT reveals the second single from their forthcoming masterpiece, ‘Dark Asylum‘, out August 28th via Napalm Records. The grandiose ‘Godlike Alchemy‘ emerges larger than life with its soaring string arrangements accompanying frontman Tommy Karevik’s goosebump inducing […]
The post KAMELOT Unveil Grandiose New Single ‘Godlike Alchemy’ appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.
Halloween Horror Nights is the world’s premier Halloween event, taking place over multiple nights during spooky season at several Universal theme parks, with a selection of haunted houses, scare zones and gothic entertainment.
This year at both Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood, Ozzy Osbourne will have his own special haunted house attraction as a tribute to the Prince Of Darkness.
Lora Sauls – assistant director of creative development and show direction for art, design and entertainment at Universal Orlando – talks us through what to expect.
Tell us about the new Ozzy Osbourne house at Halloween Horror Nights.
Ozzy Osbourne: Prince Of Darkness. That’s been a very special project. Our senior show director, Charles Gray, is a huge Ozzy Osbourne fan. He was in a rock band in the 80s. Charles had long hair, sang very similarly to Ozzy Osbourne. So he’s a huge fan. So when we were brought the opportunity to honour Ozzy and celebrate his most famous albums and all those album covers… and that’s what the house is based on, the ideas of all those album covers.
So you’re going into a very Gothic church or temple-like [structure], you’re going to see above you the Ozzy Osbourne symbol, Ozzy is there with all of his cloaked minions or followers. There’s vision pools that you’re seeing some of his concerts and you’re seeing him on stage in, and then you go into the dungeons and you’re seeing him in the dungeon – Patient Number 9, if you will.
Then what I love is you’re going to see an oversized bat eat the head off of a human. Role reversal in such a good way. You’re going into the cemetery and seeing Ozzy as the werewolf. You’re gonna see the Crazy Train and get on the Crazy Train with Ozzy as the conductor of the Crazy Train.
And you end with Ozzy on his throne from his very last concert. We got the assets of that throne, so you’re going to see the Prince Of Darkness on his throne with his dragon beside him. I love the dancing demons – female dancing demons that are very 80s-inspired, they’re amazing – that are kind of leading up to that throne. Then there’s a very special final scare in that scene. So we think there’s going to be a lot of people that have an emotional connection to this house. It is an absolutely gorgeous house. It checks all the gothic, horror box off for us. It is beautiful.
Did the process for the house begin after he passed?
It was. Last year’s Halloween Horror Nights, one of the final weeks in Hollywood [October 2025]. Jack Osbourne went to the Hollywood event, and he talked to John Murdy [Creative Director of Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood] about wanting to do something with HHN again. Because John did an Ozzy house many, many, many years ago [Black Sabbath: 13-3D in 2013]. So he had that relationship with them. We meet with John three or four times a week – so we’re constantly in communication with John Murdy on the West Coast – and he brought that to us and we’re like, ‘Yes, definitely, we’d love to do that.’
So both coasts got on a teams meeting with Jack, and we were like, ‘We definitely want to do it. We want to do it on both coasts.’ Jack was very jazzed about that. He was so jazzed that he’s like, ‘Can we do different houses on both coasts?’ So honestly, the Ozzy Osbourne: Prince Of Darkness house on both coasts are the most different of all of our IP houses.
Now, there are some similarities. You’re gonna get on the Crazy Train in both houses and you’re going to see some similarities. But he was the one that really was like, ‘I would love to see two different takes.’ He even had a joke for the Orlando team. He’s like, ‘Why don’t you use the [Hogwarts] train and just turn that into the Crazy Train?’ And we’re like, ‘We can’t do that. But hey, you know, good idea…’ But no, he was very jazzed.
Honestly, it’s been an honour – every week we are on a teams meeting with Sharon Osborne and she is approving everything herself. Which is so cool. It is so cool. And she’s so jazzed about it.
Have the Osbourne’s walked through the set builds yet?
Not yet. I don’t think they’re coming to Orlando yet, but we’re taking some of their team through it in a couple weeks. But we’re really hopeful that we get either Jack or Sharon or both at both openings because Orlando opens a week before Hollywood. So you can feasibly do both. So we’re very hopeful that they’ll come our way to Universal Orlando for our opening.
We did hear that they were going to put the billboard in Hollywood near their Hollywood home. They were so jazzed by that. I don’t know where their Hollywood home is, but they said two streets and Sharon’s like, “Oh, that’s perfect. That’s so close to home.” She was so delighted about where they were placing that billboard.
The Ozzy Osbourne: Prince Of Darkness haunted houses open on August 28 at Universal Orlando Resort and September 3 at Universal Studios Hollywood
During an early spin of Paired Sentinels, the fifth full-length album from Chicago’s Anatomy of Habit, a question-so-stupid-I-now-must-ask-it-in-public occurred to me: Does post-metal have anything to do with post-punk? If we really want to turn our mental deli-slicers to the finest setting, what I’m really trying to parse is something like “is post-metal a derivation of metal that is analogous to post-punk? Or is it meant to be a metalized version of post-punk?” Take this all with a grain of salt, of course, because metal sub-genres are largely devised post-facto by critics as a lexical shortcut and thus don’t teach us much at all about what inspires artists creatively. What post-punk has to do with post-metal doesn’t really matter, but the fact that Anatomy of Habit got me thinking about that connection kind of does.
Release date: July 31, 2026. Label: Self-Released. You’ll get where I’m coming from right off the top of “Always Arriving,” track one: dig that lightly reverb’d bassline set against a circular drum pattern, both of which lay a bed for vocals from Mark Solotroff that sound less sung than preached from a street corner near you.
Pull at this thread until it’s taut and what you’ll find at the other end isn’t Black Sabbath, it’s Joy Division. This journey to Manchester by way of The Second City lasts just a bit longer than a minute before the ‘eavy hammer falls for the first time, but it establishes a durable vibe. Anatomy of Habit do not sound like they play metal with post-punk flourishes; they sound like they play deeply rooted post-punk that ought to appeal to metalheads by dint of its heaviness.
While the compositions draft sketches of cold, industrial cityscapes, the performances themselves are pleasingly warm and lived in. Check out “The Importance of Risk,” a slow burner terraformed around the interplay between metal percussionist Isidio Reyes and drummer Skyler Rowe, the former laying down a clattering backbeat while the latter weaves a tribal pattern around it. Down-tuned power-chords repeatedly threaten to bring the track to peak intensity, only to pull back and make space for a recurring melodic bass figure to reveal itself as the true centerpiece. For me, this kind of stuff is so satisfying on a musical level and so inviting of repeat listens that it makes any game of pin the subgenre on the donkey feel kind of superfluous. Post-Metal? Metallic Post-Punk? Avant Post-Punk Doom? None of it matters as much as the fact that Anatomy of Habit are a sound and cohesive group of performers.
In total, Paired Sentinels comprises four tracks, and you’ll notice I’ve mentioned the two that run shorter than 10 minutes. The two longer pieces, “Conditions for Freedom” (13:41) and “Paired Sentinels” (13:33) will test your patience a bit more than the shorter tunes, but the payoff for close attention may be even more rewarding. “Conditions for Freedom,” in particular, is a trance-inducing waltz that walks precipitously close to the edge of combustion during the first half of its run-time before indulging in a free-form collapse for the duration of its second half. Closer “Paired Sentinels” functions either as a necessary exhale after the preceding 30 minutes of persistently ratcheting intensity or a mild comedown from a series of relative highs. In the right setting, my feeling is that it’s an appropriate wind-down, but in these highly distracted times, I empathize with listeners who will simply tune as the track fades away.
I spent perhaps too much time here dwelling on genre here, but what’s truly interesting to me is not what shoe best fits Anatomy of Habit, but how they walk their walk. Rather than employing the batch of genre tropes available in the post-metal starter pack, Anatomy of Habit sound like a group of ol’ fuckers whose collective record collection probably includes Closer, Streetcleaner, Filth, Journey Through a Body and Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions. Now, having functioned as a stable lineup for three consecutive albums, they’re operating from the same set of first principles that produced an album like Times of Grace, as opposed to cribbing from that album directly. But what it really sounds like is an album only Anatomy of Habit could make.
The post Anatomy Of Habit – Paired Sentinels Review appeared first on Last Rites.
Towards the Sky is the fourth album from progsters Long Earth and is the follow-up to the excellent An Ordinary Life album from 2024. I enjoyed that album a lot, so was pleased when AC at Bad Dog Promotions sent Towards the Sky over to me. There have been line-up changes since An Ordinary Life. […]
The post Long Earth: Towards the Sky Review first appeared on New Wave of British Heavy Metal.Posted on July 30th 2026, 10:53am
Everybody’s favourite beatdown tradesmen Pintglass have returned with an ode to getting away from it all and catching some sun with their blistering new track.
Titled ‘Geeza Holiday’, it is a thoroughly British affair, showcasing what it means to head over to Mallorca or Ibiza or Tenerife or Benidorm for some sun, sea and Stellas. Delivered with the tongue firmly in the cheek and with riffs and breakdowns as sharp as knives, it’s the sort of fun that heavy music needs.
Belligerant, bold and brilliantly crafted. It’s pure Pintglass.
It’s the first track from the band since their football anthem ‘STELLA F.C.’ dropped last year, which is also absolutely unstoppable.
Here it is:
The post Pintglass Share Bludgeoning Summer Anthem ‘Geeza Holiday’ appeared first on Rock Sound.