The Zac Schulze Gang has released its new single, “Hellhounds On My Trail,” available now on streaming platforms.
Recorded live with longtime producer Ian Sadler, the track showcases the band’s high-energy blend of blues rock, classic rock, and punk influences. Fronted by guitarist and vocalist Zac Schulze alongside drummer Ben Schulze and bassist Ant Greenwell, the trio first learned the song after being invited to perform it at the Rory Gallagher Festival in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Written by Tony Dowler and the Hellhounds, the song draws inspiration from the legend of Robert Johnson.
“We were first introduced to the song when our friend Petra Burns asked us to perform it at the Rory Gallagher Festival in Holland,” says Zac Schulze. “We’d never rehearsed it before, but from the first time we played it, we knew it had to stay in the set. Every time we perform it, it evolves—we improvise and discover something new. The recorded version is our best attempt to capture that live energy while paying tribute to Tony Dowler, who wrote such a brilliant song. It really sums up where we are as a band right now.”
Hailing from Gillingham, Kent, the Zac Schulze Gang built their reputation on the U.K. touring circuit before gaining wider attention following an appearance at the Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival in 2022. Since then, the band has played more than 250 shows annually, appeared at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival and earned Best Emerging Blues Band at the 2024 UK Blues Awards, followed by Young Artist of the Year honors in 2025.
The release of “Hellhounds On My Trail” comes as the band continues to expand its international profile. This fall, the Zac Schulze Gang will tour North America as special guests of Samantha Fish and Tab Benoit, bringing their live show to U.S. audiences.
TOUR DATES *** supporting Tab Benoit ++ supporting Samantha Fish Aug 21 Fox Theatre – Tucson, AZ *** Aug 22-23 MIM – Phoenix, AZ *** Aug 25 Pappy & Harriet’s – Pioneertown, CA *** Aug 27 Belly Up – Solana Beach, CA *** Aug 28 Coach House- San Juan Capistrano, CA *** Aug 29 World Records – Bakersfield, CA *** Aug 30 Venice West – Venice, CA *** Sept 2 Golden State Theatre – Monterey, CA *** Sept 3 Cornerstone Berkeley – Berkeley, CA *** Sept 4 Rocklin Concert Series / Quarry Park- Sacramento, CA *** Sept 5 Uptown Theatre – Napa, CA *** Sept 6 The Hangar – Lake Tahoe, CA *** Sept 12-13 Big Blues Bender – Las Vegas, NV Sept 16 Phil Long Music Hall – Colorado Springs, CO ++ Sept 17 Gothic Theatre- Englewood,CO *** Sept 18 Boulder Theater – Boulder. CO ++ Sept 19-20 Telluride Blues & Brews – Telluride, CO Sept 23 Golden State Theatre – Monterey, CA ++ Sept 24 Uptown Theatre – Napa, CA ++ Sept 26 Center for the Arts – Grass Valley, CA ++ Sept 27 Guild Hall – Menlo Park, CA ++ Sept 29 Rev Hall – Portland, OR ++ Sept 30 Music Millennium – Portland, OR Oct 3 Kings Hall at APEX – Everett, WA ++ Oct 4 Panida Theater – Sandpoint. ID ++ Oct 10 Crescent City Blues Fest – New Orleans, LA Oct 22 De Spot – Groningen (NL) Oct 23 De Neushoorn – Leeuwarden (NL) Oct 24 Outbaix 2.0 – Ubach-Palenburg (DE) Oct 29 Kammgarn – Kaiserlautern (DE) Nov 4 Museumkeller – Erfurt (DE) Nov 6 KL17 Klub – Dobeln (DE) Nov 10 The Key Club – Leeds (UK) Nov 11 Night & Day – Manchester (UK) Nov 12 The Crescent – York (UK) Nov 13 The Adrian Flux Waterfront – Norwich (UK) Nov 14 The Hope & Ruin – Brighton (UK) Nov 15 Rescue Rooms – Nottingham (UK) Nov 19 Het Podium – Hoogeveen (NL) Nov 20 Paard – Den Haag (NL) Nov 22 Poppodium Hedon – Zwolle (NL) Nov 23 La Boite a Musique – Wattrelos (FR) Nov 24 New Morning – Paris (FR) Nov 28 Maiwaldhalle – Achern (DE) Nov 29 Podium Fluor – Amersfoort (NL) Nov 30 Spirit Of 66 – Verviers (BE) Dec 11 Music Club N9 – Eeklo (BE) Dec 12 MOMfest – Veghel (NL)
2027 Feb 23 The Cluny 1 – Newcastle (UK) Feb 24 Voodoo Rooms – Edinburgh (UK) Feb 25 Stereo – Glasgow (UK) Feb 27 Islington Assembly Hall – London (UK) Feb 28 Thekla – Bristol (UK) Mar 2 The Globe – Cardiff (UK) Mar 3 The Joiners – Southampton (UK) Mar 4 Hare & Hounds – Birmingham (UK)
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It’s Friday, which means it’s time to sort through the week’s avalanche of new heavy music and pull out what actually matters. This week delivered two genuine event singles — Amon Amarth’s first new music in four years and Hatebreed’s first in six — alongside a tenth album announcement from Finland’s melodic death metal royalty, a fresh cut from Beartooth’s reinvention, a Nonpoint collaboration fans have been waiting on since April, and an all-star Soundgarden resurrection with Lzzy Hale on vocals and Matt Cameron behind the kit. Here are the six best new metal songs this week, ranked.
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Amon Amarth’s return, Ministry’s farewell, Ghost’s new concert film and more — Scott Penfold covered all of this week’s biggest rock and metal headlines on Metal Breakdown Daily, every weekday morning. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and stream the broadcast now.
6. Nonpoint – Red Yeti (feat. Skye Sweetnam)
Nonpoint fans have been waiting on this one since April, when the band road-tested it live in Tampa with Sumo Cyco’s Skye Sweetnam joining Elias Soriano onstage. Now it’s out properly, and it earns the anticipation.
“Red Yeti” is a genuine trade-off track — Soriano and Sweetnam pushing each other across an aggressive arrangement rather than the polite guest-verse handoff most collaborations settle for. The two bands have shared stages for years and you can hear the familiarity. It sits at track eight on The Last Word, the band’s eleventh album, arriving September 18 via their own 361 Degrees Records — their first full-length since 2018’s X.
5. Beartooth – Eyes Closed
Out today, and the fourth single from Pure Ecstasy, arriving August 28 as Beartooth’s sixth album and their first for Fearless Records.
“Eyes Closed” is track two on the record and it’s heavy in both senses. Musically it’s the riff-forward Beartooth that Caleb Shomo has spent a decade perfecting; lyrically it sits in doubt, guilt and the instinct to bury everything rather than say it out loud — which, on an album explicitly about Shomo working toward expressing himself honestly, is the tension the whole record runs on. Shomo said of the track that “It felt incredible to scream it out and let go”, and you can hear precisely that in the back half.
Shomo wrote, recorded and largely produced the album himself, with some collaboration from Jordan Fish.
4. Insomnium – Gleam In The Black
Finland’s masters of melancholy announced their tenth studio album this week, and “Gleam In The Black” is the second single from it.
If you know Insomnium, you know the formula and you know it never gets old: mournful melody laid over genuinely ferocious melodic death metal, all of it soaked in the specific Karelian gloom the band have been bottling since forming in Joensuu. This one leans harder into the aggressive end than the previous single, with the melodic hooks working underneath rather than sitting on top. The official video was directed by Patric Ullaeus.
The album is Netherworlds, out October 16 via Century Media, and it catches the band in a very strong run of form.
3. King Ultramega – Birth Ritual (feat. Lzzy Hale, Matt Cameron, Joe Hottinger)
This is the one with the story.
King Ultramega is the all-star Chris Cornell tribute project spearheaded by Metal Allegiance’s Mark Menghi, and for “Birth Ritual” they pulled off something remarkable: Matt Cameron, the Soundgarden drummer who co-wrote and played on the 1992 original, sat back down behind the kit to re-record it. Lzzy Hale handles the Cornell vocal, her Halestorm bandmate Joe Hottinger plays guitar, and Menghi produces and plays bass.
“Birth Ritual” was always one of the strangest, heaviest things in the Soundgarden catalogue — a Badmotorfinger-era outtake that surfaced on the Singles soundtrack and later on the Telephantasm and Echoes Of Miles compilations. Hale doesn’t imitate Cornell, which is the only correct approach, and Cameron gave the version his blessing, calling it “a nice modern update, but still sounds true to the original”.
It’s the second time a Soundgarden member has appeared on a King Ultramega track, following Kim Thayil’s guitar work on their version of “The Day I Tried To Live.” The single arrived July 21, one day after what would have been Cornell’s birthday.
2. Hatebreed – Kill Count Increase
Six years. That’s how long it’s been since Hatebreed put out a record, and “Kill Count Increase” wastes exactly none of its runtime reintroducing them.
Two and a half minutes, detuned, d-beat-driven, and functionally a wall coming down. Jamey Jasta sounds furious in the way only Jasta manages — clear enough that every word lands, delivered like he’s tearing something out of his chest. It’s the opening track on Fatal Paradox, out November 6 via BLKIIBLK, produced by longtime collaborator Chris “Zeuss” Harris, which is exactly the right call. Jasta described it as “straightforward, in-your-face Hatebreed. Fast. Hard.” He isn’t overselling it.
Worth noting: this is the band’s ninth album and their first since the 2024 departure of bassist and longtime songwriter Chris Beattie. The tracklist also includes “Sacrifice Season” featuring Obituary’s John Tardy, and “Make The Demons Obey” — a track we covered when it first surfaced last summer — finally getting an album home.
Hatebreed are headlining Summer Slaughter right now, with the second leg launching August 20 in Albuquerque.
1. Amon Amarth – Gjallarhorn
Top spot, and it isn’t close.
Four years on from The Great Heathen Army, the Vikings have returned with the opening track from The Allfather Awakens, out October 2 via Metal Blade. Named for the horn that announces Ragnarök in Norse mythology, “Gjallarhorn” does exactly what a first-single-in-four-years needs to do: it moves fast, the central riff lands immediately, and the chorus is built to be shouted back by 40,000 people standing in a field.
What makes it work is how clearly it’s designed for the room. After the recent acoustic detour of “Upphaf,” this is the shield wall reassembling — and it arrives from a band who rebuilt their entire recording process for this album, finishing each song completely before starting the next and swapping modern amps for classic Marshalls to get a rougher edge.
Two comeback singles in one week from bands who’ve been away four and six years respectively is a genuinely rare thing, and both delivered. But the track that’ll stay with people longest is probably the King Ultramega one — there’s something quietly moving about Matt Cameron sitting back down to play a song he wrote with Chris Cornell in 1992, more than nine years after losing him.
Heaviest track of the week is Hatebreed. Most replayable is Gjallarhorn. Best surprise is Red Yeti. Fight about it in the comments.
TL;DR
Amon Amarth’s “Gjallarhorn” is the week’s biggest release, the first single from The Allfather Awakens, out October 2 via Metal Blade
Hatebreed’s “Kill Count Increase” is their first new music in six years and opens Fatal Paradox, out November 6 via BLKIIBLK
King Ultramega’s “Birth Ritual” features Matt Cameron, Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger covering Soundgarden as a Chris Cornell tribute
Insomnium announced their tenth album Netherworlds, out October 16 via Century Media, with second single “Gleam In The Black”
Beartooth released “Eyes Closed,” the fourth single from Pure Ecstasy, out August 28 via Fearless Records
Nonpoint’s “Red Yeti” features Sumo Cyco’s Skye Sweetnam and appears on The Last Word, out September 18
FAQ
What are the best new metal songs this week?
The six essential new metal tracks for the week of July 24, 2026 are Amon Amarth’s “Gjallarhorn,” Hatebreed’s “Kill Count Increase,” King Ultramega’s “Birth Ritual,” Insomnium’s “Gleam In The Black,” Beartooth’s “Eyes Closed,” and Nonpoint’s “Red Yeti.”
What is the new Amon Amarth song?
“Gjallarhorn” is the opening track and lead single from Amon Amarth’s thirteenth album, The Allfather Awakens, released October 2, 2026 via Metal Blade Records. It’s their first new music since 2022’s The Great Heathen Army.
Who is singing on King Ultramega’s Birth Ritual?
Lzzy Hale of Halestorm handles lead vocals, with her bandmate Joe Hottinger on guitar, Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron on drums and Mark Menghi of Metal Allegiance on bass and production. King Ultramega is a tribute project honouring Chris Cornell.
When does the new Hatebreed album come out?
Fatal Paradox, Hatebreed’s ninth studio album and first in six years, arrives November 6, 2026 via BLKIIBLK. The lead single is “Kill Count Increase.”
Who is featured on Nonpoint’s Red Yeti?
“Red Yeti” features Skye Sweetnam of Sumo Cyco. The track appears on Nonpoint’s eleventh album, The Last Word, out September 18, 2026 via 361 Degrees Records.
Six tracks, two long-awaited comebacks and a Soundgarden resurrection — not a bad week for heavy music. Which one hit hardest for you? Let us know in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RISING ALMA RELEASES NEW EP “YOUR OWN STORY” OUT NOW
Stream the new EP: https://risingalma.bandcamp.com/album/your-own-story
Watch the official music video for “Colors Flow All Around Us”: https://ditto.fm/colors-flow-all-around-us
Melodic hard rock force delivers emotionally charged new chapter following Cracking The Moment
Female-fronted multinational melodic hard rock band Rising Alma has officially released their powerful new EP, Your Own Story , available now.
Blending the emotional depth of alternative rock with the weight and punch of melodic hard rock, Your Own Story delivers a modern, expressive sound built on heavy riffs, soaring vocals, and strong, memorable songwriting. The five-track release showcases a band continuing to evolve while staying true to the emotional core that defines their identity.
Formed in 2021, Rising Alma has quickly built a distinct musical presence rooted in balance, strength, and vulnerability. Drawing influence from bands such as Shinedown and Flyleaf, the group combines heavy instrumentation with melodic intensity, creating songs that connect on both personal and cinematic levels.
Lyrically, Your Own Story explores themes of struggle, transformation, hope, ambition, and resilience. Each track stands strong individually while contributing to a larger emotional journey, inviting listeners into a world where reflection and power collide.
The EP follows the band’s previous album Cracking The Moment , representing a continued evolution in both sound and vision. The production maintains a raw and organic feel, keeping the emotional impact front and center while delivering the energy and intensity fans have come to expect from Rising Alma.
The band comments on the release:
“ Your Own Story is more than just a collection of songs. It’s an emotional experience shaped by growth, contrast, and real life. Every track brings a different perspective, but together they tell a story about facing what life throws at you and finding strength through it.”
The EP’s lead single, “Colors Flow All Around Us,” is available now and accompanied by an official music video, offering fans the first glimpse into this new chapter of Rising Alma.
With tight arrangements, powerful performances, and a fearless approach to musical evolution, Rising Alma continues to establish themselves as a standout force in modern melodic hard rock.
Your Own Story is available now independently.
Release Details:
Artist: Rising Alma EP Title: Your Own Story Release Date: July 24, 2026 Genre: Melodic Hard Rock / Alternative Rock Tracks: 5 FFO: Shinedown, Flyleaf
For interviews, reviews, radio requests, or additional press information, contact: zach@metaldevastationradio.com
Insomnium has released its new single and video, “Gleam In The Black”, offering another preview of the Finnish melodic death metal band’s upcoming tenth studio album, Netherworlds. The record is scheduled for release on October 16, 2026, through Century Media.
One of the faster songs on the upcoming album, “Gleam In The Black” balances Insomnium’s trademark melodic approach with crushing riffs while continuing the dark and introspective themes that have long defined the band’s music.
Vocalist and bassist Niilo Sevänen said: “Being one of the faster songs on the new album, this is a track that should get the crowd moving when played live. It definitely carries a classic Insomnium spirit. The lyrics tell a dark and mysterious love story, capturing the mood and atmosphere of the entire album. We are doomed to wander the nightly woods, searching for something lost long ago, something we can reach only in our dreams. That single gleam of light amidst the blackness.”
The video for “Gleam In The Black” was directed and produced by Patric Ullaeus of RevolverFilm Company AB, whose visual style complements the song’s bleak atmosphere.
“Gleam In The Black” is the second track revealed from Netherworlds, which follows another chapter in Insomnium’s career after nearly three decades of refining its blend of melodic death metal, atmosphere, and melancholy.
Formed in Joensuu, Finland, Insomnium has built its reputation on combining heavy riffs with emotional songwriting. With Netherworlds, the band continues to expand its sound, introducing fresh ideas while preserving the melodic identity that has made it one of the genre’s most recognizable names.
The album also marks the beginning of a new production partnership, with producer and engineer Miiro Varjus taking on a central creative role during the recording process and helping shape the album’s overall sound.
For the final mix and mastering, Insomnium once again turned to Jens Bogren and TonyLindgren at Fascination Street Studios, a collaboration that delivers a production designed to match the album’s balance of atmosphere, melody, and heaviness.
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