In May, Bleachers released their fifth album, everyone for ten minutes, but that’s not the end of the musical output this year from Jack Antonoff and friends.
The post Bleachers Share <em>Practical Magic 2</em> Single “Caught Myself Believing,” Bring Out Carly Rae Jepsen In LA appeared first on Stereogum.
(In June of this year Edged Circle Productions released a new album by the Swedish heavy metal band Dead Kosmonaut, and that led to the following extensive interview by our Comrade Aleks of the band’s founder and songwriter Mattias Reinholdsson.) This Swedish heavy metal band, officially formed almost twenty years ago by bassist Mattias Reinholdsson, […]
The post AN NCS INTERVIEW: DEAD KOSMONAUT appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.
It’s been six years since Jhené Aiko graced us with her last album Chilombo. She announced the long-awaited follow-up, titled Westside Whimsy, only a couple days ago, not giving us much time to process the information. Today, we get to hear the 20-track collection that has some major features including Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Larry June, Tyga, and OHMA.
The post Jhené Aiko Shares New Album <em>Westwide Whimsy</em> Feat. Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Larry June, & More appeared first on Stereogum.
We were at the 2026 edition of Leyendas del Rock in Villena, Alicante, Spain, experiencing first-hand one of the most important rock and metal festivals. We were also lucky enough to interview several of the artists and people who were part of this incredible event. For several days, Villena became a meeting point for thousands of rock and metal fans, bringing together international and national artists, unforgettable performances, and plenty of memorable moments.
One of our most special interviews was with Marco Di Salvia and Luca Princiotta, members of Hardline. After trying several times to make it to Leyendas del Rock, they finally managed to be part of the festival and take the stage in Villena. It was something they had been hoping for for a long time, making their appearance particularly meaningful. And the excitement was not only theirs. The audience welcomed Hardline with great enthusiasm, creating one of those special festival moments that remind us that live music is about much more than simply playing a concert.
Hardline are a well-known melodic hard rock band with a long career and fans around the world. Their music combines powerful guitars, strong melodies and the classic hard rock sound that has made the band a respected name within the genre. Marco Di Salvia is an Italian drummer with an extensive career in rock and metal, who also plays at the band Edge of Forever while Luca Princiotta is a highly experienced guitarist who has been involved in several musical projects and collaborations throughout his career.
We also had the opportunity to interview Jackie LaPonza, one of the members of the spectacular American band Mushroomhead. Their appearance at Leyendas del Rock was particularly exciting, especially for Spanish fans who had been waiting for the opportunity to experience the band live.
Mushroomhead are internationally known for both their music and their unique visual identity. The band combines different elements of alternative metal, industrial rock and experimental sounds, creating a style that is difficult to put into a single category. But if there is one thing that immediately makes Mushroomhead recognizable, it is their spectacular live show. Masks, characters, dark aesthetics and theatrical elements have always been an essential part of the band’s identity.
Jackie LaPonza brings her own personality and vocal style to the band, contributing to the distinctive atmosphere that defines Mushroomhead. Her presence adds another dimension to a group that has always chosen to do things differently. Meeting Jackie and talking with her during Leyendas del Rock was a truly special experience.
Another memorable interview during the festival was with Asrunn, one of the members of Eihwar. Eihwar offer something completely different within today’s music scene. Their artistic universe draws inspiration from ancient sounds, Norse culture, rituals and fantasy. Their music blends traditional elements with modern and electronic sounds, creating an experience that feels like a journey into another world. Asrunn plays an important role in that identity. Her voice, stage presence and performance help bring Eihwar’s unique universe to life, both through their music and on stage.
Among the people we had the opportunity to meet during Leyendas del Rock 2026 was also Raquel Piqueras from Rock FM. Radio continues to play an important role in the world of music. It creates a direct connection between artists, bands and their audiences. And Rock FM is an important part of that world, helping to keep the passion for rock music alive and reaching new generations of listeners.
Meeting Raquel at Leyendas del Rock was also an opportunity to talk about music, festivals and the passion that brings so many people together. Because festivals like Leyendas del Rock are not only about the artists on stage. They are also about the professionals behind the music, the media, the people working at the festival and, of course, thousands of passionate fans.
The post Leyendas del Rock 2026: Interviews, Emotions and Great Protagonists in Villena first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.
Rolling Stone has published an excerpt from Dave Mustaine’s memoir In My Darkest Hour covering David Ellefson’s 2021 firing from Megadeth, and Mustaine’s conclusion is that the end was coming regardless — the scandal, he writes, simply hastened it. But the excerpt isn’t really about the scandal. It’s about forty years, a lawsuit, a job title Mustaine still disputes, and a friendship he says only ever worked while they were both using.
STREAM THE METAL BREAKDOWN DAILY NOW:Scott Penfold covers the Mustaine memoir excerpt on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — what he wrote about Ellefson, the line about sobriety that nobody’s quoting, and the word he’s still arguing about forty-three years later. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and get it every weekday morning.
Worth getting straight before anything else, because it gets repeated wrong constantly.
On May 10, 2021, sexually explicit videos of Ellefson appeared on Twitter. They came out of an online interaction with a nineteen-year-old Megadeth fan — a legal adult. Mustaine’s own excerpt states her age.
Allegations that Ellefson had groomed a minor circulated widely online and were false. He denied them, filed a police report in Scottsdale over the unlawful distribution of the images, and hired a criminal lawyer rather than a civil one — his reasoning at the time being that the distribution was the actual offence. The matter has since been resolved.
He was notified on May 14 that Megadeth were parting ways with him. Three days later he was fired.
Steve DiGiorgio of Testament re-recorded his bass parts for The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!, and James LoMenzo was announced as a permanent member in May 2022.
That’s the factual spine. Now the part that’s actually new.
LIVE & LOUD: Stream the World’s Hardest Radio Station 24/7Mustaine’s account of finding out is that he learned the same way everyone else did — online.
His words on what followed: it was impossible to separate fact from fiction, truth from fantasy, as the internet exploded in typically histrionic fashion. But one thing was clear, and that was who was in the videos.
Then the question he puts to himself: would David have remained a member of Megadeth if that video had not surfaced?
His answer: who’s to say. He’s seen enough people come and go, and experienced enough upheaval with Ellefson, to know the end was likely near. But certainly the scandal hastened the process.
That’s the headline everyone will run. Here’s the bit they won’t.
Mustaine goes back over the whole relationship, and it’s considerably more candid than anything he’s said in an interview.
They were friends and creative partners. They fought like enemies. They played a lot of great music together.
And then: we were codependent junkies, feeding and fueling each other’s addictions.
That’s the whole friendship, in his telling. Not a partnership that happened to involve drugs — a partnership that was the drugs.
He explains what happened next, and this is the part that stopped me.
When they both got sober, the distance increased. Partly, he writes, because they’d lost the awful, unhealthy thing that had bonded them. Partly because they approached sobriety and recovery from different places, with different points of view.
Sit with the shape of that for a second.
Two teenagers start a band in 1983. They build one of the biggest catalogues in metal. Forty years of records, tours, a lawsuit, a firing, a reunion. Both of them eventually get clean — which is the outcome you want for anyone, and it’s the reason they’re both alive to argue about this.
And it finished them.
I’ve interviewed Mustaine. He does not hand things over. He is not a man who volunteers a weakness or offers you an angle you didn’t have. Writing that down and putting it in a book is a harder thing than firing anybody, and it’s the most honest sentence he’s ever put in print.
He also adds a line that reads as a shot without ever naming a target: there are plenty of people in the fellowships committed to genuine transformation, and there are others who mostly just talk the talk. He tries to stay away from those folks. Sometimes unsuccessfully.
Given that Ellefson spent a year at seminary and has been publicly a man of faith, that one doesn’t need decoding.
The other thing the memoir does is settle a job title.
“As original members of Megadeth” — and then Mustaine interrupts himself in brackets — “David likes to say he was a ‘founding’ member. I don’t view it that way. I started Megadeth and invited him to join.”
Forty-three years on, in a book about his own life, he has stopped to correct the word.
Underneath it is the thing he states plainly a paragraph later: it was my band and mostly my songs, and that was always a source of friction.
And this is where it gets interesting, because he isn’t alone this week.
Five days ago King Diamond volunteered — unprompted, in an interview about parting with a guitarist of forty years — that he’d written roughly seventy percent of the music across every album himself. Nobody asked him whether he could write alone. He answered it anyway.
Two bandleaders, same week, both establishing authorship at the precise moment their longest partnership is being discussed. That isn’t a coincidence, it’s an occupational reflex — and if you want to know what it actually costs to be the one whose name is on the band, that’s the tell.
Mustaine has more claim to authorship than most, incidentally. His riffs are on the first two Metallica albums as well.
The other detail worth pulling out.
Ellefson filed an $18.5 million lawsuit against Mustaine in 2004, alleging he’d been shortchanged on profits and that Mustaine had backed out of a deal to hand Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. It was dismissed. Mustaine’s line in the memoir: the outcome was not nearly what he hoped for, and let’s leave it at that.
They patched things up in 2010 and Ellefson returned — as a salaried player, not a creative partner. Mustaine says that plainly, and adds that things were never great between them. Too much history, too much anger, too much behaviour he found distasteful.
Ellefson has described the same arrangement from the other side. Speaking to Trunk Nation in 2021, he said it had been clear since 2004 that the band would be reframed around Mustaine unilaterally, a hundred percent the boss, and that the nineties partnership era with him, Nick Menza and Marty Friedman was done.
His summary of the 2021 exit was blunt and, to his credit, unbitter: this time there was no partnership to dissolve. It was, hey, we don’t want you here, there’s the door, don’t come to work on Monday. Okay. Fine.
Both men are describing the same eleven years. One calls it a salaried arrangement. The other calls it the optics of a partnership. Neither is wrong.
He’s spoken about it more than once and he’s been consistent.
To Metal Hammer in January 2024: there are two sides to it. When you bare it all, you’ve got nothing to hide. What he feels worst about is the embarrassment it caused people like his family, who didn’t deserve it — and out of respect for them he keeps the family dynamic off the table.
On Mustaine’s response, he says Dave, his manager and his lawyer called him, and that one of them suggested stepping back and letting Ellefson deal with it, which would leave the door open for a return. Dave didn’t want that. He made his decision and it is what it is.
To Trunk Nation, Ellefson said he ran toward the bullets. The Megadeth camp told him not to say anything; his lawyers told him he should. He did, and he believes that’s what led to his dismissal.
His line on going to the police: the bad guy doesn’t go to the police department.
Worth including, because he was asked directly at the time and the answer was more human than the internet gave him credit for.
Speaking to Metal Hammer, he said he’d made mistakes himself and knew what it felt like to have people gunning for you. He pointed out what Megadeth actually is — four members, their families, management, agencies, technicians, on and on — and that decisions he’d made in the past had damaged the security of all of it.
Then, audibly struggling: God, it’s so hard to tap-dance around this.
He said he didn’t want to say anything about someone unable to defend themselves. That all he wanted was a clean break that didn’t hurt anyone, including Ellefson, and that he hoped the man was doing okay. He drew the parallel himself — it was hard for me when I lost my job — which is Mustaine referring to being thrown out of Metallica in 1983.
And then the line that sums the whole thing up:
I’ve forgiven him before when he sued me and I’ll forgive him a thousand times. I just won’t play music with him anymore.
Four years on, a memoir has arrived that says the same thing at greater length.
The band ended their run with a self-titled seventeenth album in January 2026 that became the only Megadeth record ever to reach number one on the Billboard 200 — after forty-three years and sixteen previous attempts.
James LoMenzo is on bass. The farewell tour is underway and Mustaine has said it’ll run for years rather than months.
Our full ranking of every Megadeth album is here, and every guitarist who’s passed through the band is a longer list than most people realise.
Ellefson was in Megadeth from 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 to 2021. Nearly thirty years across two stints, and on most of the records that built thrash metal.
In an excerpt from In My Darkest Hour published by Rolling Stone, Mustaine writes that Ellefson’s time in Megadeth “was likely near” its end even before the May 2021 leaked-video scandal, which he says hastened the process. He also describes their friendship as having been built on shared addiction, writing that when both men got sober the distance between them increased because they had lost the unhealthy thing that bonded them.
Explicit videos of Ellefson appeared online in May 2021, arising from an online interaction with a nineteen-year-old fan. He was notified on May 14, 2021 that Megadeth were parting ways with him and was dismissed three days later. Mustaine has said the decision was made because the situation made working together impossible given an already strained relationship.
No. Ellefson denied them, the person involved was nineteen and therefore a legal adult, and he filed a police report in Scottsdale, Arizona over the unlawful distribution of the images — hiring a criminal lawyer rather than a civil one on the basis that the distribution was the offence. The matter has since been resolved.
No. In In My Darkest Hour he writes that Ellefson “likes to say he was a ‘founding’ member. I don’t view it that way. I started Megadeth and invited him to join.” He also states that it was his band and mostly his songs, and that this was always a source of friction.
Steve DiGiorgio of Testament re-recorded Ellefson’s bass parts for The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!, and James LoMenzo was announced as a permanent member in May 2022, having previously played bass for the band in the mid-2000s.
Forty years, one lawsuit, one firing — and a man writing in his own memoir that getting clean is what finally ended it. Where do you land on it? Tell me below. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
The post Dave Mustaine Says He Was Firing David Ellefson Anyway, Scandal Or Not appeared first on Loaded Radio.
HAKEN – ‘in a fever dream’ deluxe digital edition out now
Photo credit: Oli Kember
European tour starts 23rd September
UK progressive, alternative metal band HAKEN are pleased to release a deluxe digital edition of their new EP ‘in a fever dream’, now featuring instrumental versions of all tracks. The EP also sees its physical release on CD and limited coloured vinyl on the 18th September (InsideOutMusic). Listen to the deluxe digital edition here: https://haken.lnk.to/inafeverdream-EP_DeluxeEdition
The band comments: “return to the fever dream from a whole new perspective.
dive in and immerse yourself in the instrumental version of the EP.”
The band are set to embark on a European headline tour in September & October 2026, with support from IHLO on all dates, as well as Benthos, AVKRVST, IONS & Ancient Fragments on select dates. Find the full list of dates below, tickets on sale now.
23rd September – Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona, Spain
25th September – Kiff, Aarau, Switzerland
26th September – Trabendo, Paris, France
27th September – Euroblast Festival, Cologne, Germany
28th September – Backstage Halle, Munich, Germany
29th September – Dürer Kert Man Hall, Budapest, Hungary
30th September – Roxy, Prague, Czech Republic
1st October – Simm City, Vienna, Austria
3rd October – Magazzini Generali, Milan, Italy
4th October – Largo, Rome, Italy
6th October – Frannz Club, Berlin, Germany
7th October – Oczki, Warsaw, Poland
9th October – Olympia-Kortteli, Tampere, Finland
10th October – Logomo Teatro, Turku, Finland
11th October – Tavastia, Helsinki, Finland
12th October – Debaser Strand, Stockholm, Sweden
13th October – Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway
15th October – Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark
UK/Ireland tour 2027:
1st February – The Limelight 2, Belfast
2nd February – Academy, Dublin
3rd February – Slay, Glasgow
4th February – Academy 2, Manchester
5th February – Trinity, Bristol
6th February – Institute 2, Birmingham
7th February – Islington Assembly Hall, London
Haken recently released a making-of documentary for the EP. Filmed & edited by Oliver Kember, you can watch it in full here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usHTkn_6L-A
‘in a fever dream’ has been gathering excellent reviews from the media, find a few of them below:
“healthy portions of experimentation, huge musical moments, odd time signatures and Jenning’s inimitable vocals” – Prog Magazine
“ ‘in a fever dream’ is both a brave step away from the expected and a strident consolidation of everything that the band have achieved to date. Ingenious and classy, as ever.” – Blabbermouth.net
“The EP is packed with moments of classic Haken style, and the songs should be accessible to curious new listeners too.” – The Prog Report
‘in a fever dream’ will be available as CD, Deep Blood Red LP (in Europe), Lotus White LP (in the US) and as a very limited clear LP edition available only from the bands store. Pre-order now here: https://haken.lnk.to/inafeverdream-EP
The full track-listing is as follows:
1. in a fever dream
2. delirium
3. eclipsed by you
4. bleeding sky
5. lotus
Sign up to the new Haken newsletter here: www.hakenmusic.com
HAKEN are:
Ross Jennings
Richard Henshall
Pete Jones
Ray Hearne
HAKEN online:
www.hakenmusic.com
www.twitter.com/Haken_Official
http://www.facebook.com/HakenOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/haken_official/
INSIDEOUTMUSIC online:
www.insideoutmusic.com
www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV
www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic
www.twitter.com/insideouteu
www.insideoutshop.de
Concept Album Marks the First New Original Studio Material Since the acclaimed 2021 Skywound release.
Belgian progressive music project Transport Aerian returns with a deeply personal new concept album, Intervention, arriving November 18, 2026, via Melodic Revolution Records
After years of creative exploration, personal turmoil, and searching for the right story to tell, Transport Aerian is ready to unveil Intervention, the project’s first new album of original material since the 2021 release of Skywound.
Written, recorded, and produced by Transport Aerian mastermind Hamlet, Intervention represents a new chapter for the project. The album will be released worldwide on November 18, 2026, through long-time U.S. label partner Melodic Revolution Records, with European promotion handled by Hard Life Promotions (Netherlands).
A Story Born from Fate
Explaining the inspiration behind the album, Hamlet says:
“A long time to wait, but finally, this is something we can share with you! With years of creative torture, seeking the concept and the relief in writing, it finally found its release within the personal turmoil, which, as always happens with me, became a conduit for putting the puzzle of self-penned creations together. And so, here we are!”
At the heart of Intervention is the idea of a life-changing incident, a moment when fate intervenes and radically alters the course of a person’s life.
Sometimes that intervention leads somewhere better. Sometimes it brings pain. But whatever form it takes, it forces movement, pushing us away from a dead end and, perhaps, pulling us back from the edge of the abyss.
For Hamlet, that concept became intensely personal following a major twist of fate in his own life this year.
“Reflecting on the twist of fate in my own private life which happened this year, and yes, the romance and pain are present in more than a fair share, I found what story I want to merge into music this time.”
Unlike the grand, expansive themes explored on Skywound, Intervention is deliberately intimate.
“Unlike grand-themed Skywound, this one is close and personal. Still, the Interventions can and do occur in everyone’s life at least once; I’m certain about this. And we are here to tell you how it feels to be dragged out of the swamp by the hand of fate.”
A New Musical Direction
While Intervention represents a significant evolution for Transport Aerian, longtime listeners will recognize connections to two important chapters in the project’s history.
Hamlet describes the album as a possible spiritual successor to * Therianthrope *, particularly in its themes, darkness, and emotional intensity, while also carrying forward the collaborative spirit of Skywound.
Musically, however, Intervention takes Transport Aerian somewhere new.
Rather than Hamlet working primarily as a composer assembling pieces with various guest musicians, the new album grew organically from a live-band environment, with the musicians creating and shaping the material together.
The album features:
• Hamlet: vocals, compositions and production
• Stefan Boeykens: guitars
• Mauro Belmans: drums
• Umut Eldem: piano
• Yasmien Pieters: violin and dance
Yasmien Pieters brings a particularly distinctive dimension to the project. A violinist and dancer, she will also play a key role in the upcoming live program built around Intervention.
Hamlet promises that more will be revealed about Yasmien’s unique artistic contribution and the developing Intervention live experience in the coming months.
November 18, 2026
After years of waiting, the next chapter of Transport Aerian is finally ready to emerge.
Intervention will be released November 18, 2026, through Melodic Revolution Records (USA), with European promotion handled by Hard Life Promotions (NL).
A darker, more intimate, and deeply personal work, Intervention explores what happens when fate reaches into our lives and changes everything, sometimes without warning, sometimes painfully, but ultimately forcing us to move forward.
As Hamlet puts it:
“We are here to tell you how it feels to be dragged out of the swamp by the hand of fate.”
Hugs,
Hamlet.
Transport Aerian Online Info
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/transportaerian.music
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/transportaerianproject
Website: https://transportaerian.net/
Melodic Revolution Records Online
https://li.sten.to/mrrmusiccom
Music You Didn’t Know You Would Love.
There was a lot of drama with members of Mastodon right up until the tragic passing of former guitarist and vocalist Brent Hinds last year. What first seemed like an amicable split turned out to be a hostile breakup, with Hinds revealing, right before his fatal motorcycle accident, that he was kicked out of the band. Now, a year after his death, the feuding between Mastodon and Hinds’ estate continues.
The post Mastodon Sued By Brent Hinds’ Estate appeared first on Stereogum.
