Category: news

Left to Die has announced Initium Mortis, the band’s debut full-length, due July 17 via Relapse Records. The lineup brings together four veterans of the early death metal underground: bassist Terry Butler (Death, Massacre, Obituary), guitarist Rick Rozz (ex-Death, ex-Massacre), guitarist and vocalist Matt Harvey (Exhumed, Gruesome) and drummer Gus Rios (ex-Malevolent Creation, Gruesome). The record draws on Death and Mantas demo material spanning 1983 to 1987, the era before Scream Bloody Gore.

The album’s first single, “Archangel,” can be streamed below, and the album is available for pre-order here.

Matt Harvey said about the album inception: “After Gus and I performed Spiritual Healing in its entirety with Terry and James [Murphy], Rick wondered if people might want to hear something similar, but with him joining the three of us to perform Leprosy. Of course, I leapt at the chance to do it, and we quickly threw together a tour which surpassed everyone’s expectations, especially in terms of how much fun we were having playing together. As we continued to tour throughout the US, Europe, Latin America, Australia, and Asia, people kept asking if we were going to record or write anything. After going back and forth on the topic, we felt that (ahem) exhuming some of these old tracks made the most sense for us, after all, we’re not gonna top Leprosy.”

“I gleefully combed through the myriad Death/Mantas demos and rehearsals looking for stuff that would make sense for a record, and we ended up going with tunes that we felt would make the most cohesive album, hence why ‘Skill To Kill’ and ‘Back From The Dead’ sadly didn’t make the cut. I look at Initium Mortis as a kind of ‘alternate-universe’ version of the Scream Bloody Gore track list, as so many of these tunes were circling around the many Death lineups and rehearsals from ’83-’87. In fact, Chuck [Schuldiner] and Chris [Reifert] recorded a version of ‘Legion Of Doom’ for Scream Bloody Gore that never got completed. In revisiting these songs, it was crystal-clear to me that Rick‘s fingerprints are all over the Mantas stuff and tunes like ‘Slaughterhouse,’ so with that connection, the songs where his style really shone through immediately made sense to include on Initium Mortis.”

Terry Butler added, “Left To Die went from a thought to doing a full US tour in about three months! Pretty remarkable. We wanted to play the early material for the fans who couldn’t see the first albums in a live setting. There are many young fans at our shows who are hearing the foundation that Death stands on to this day live for the first time! With Matt channeling the best Chuck Schuldiner out there and Gus playing the material perfectly and respectfully, we hit the road and haven’t looked back!”

“For Initium Mortis, we wanted Death fans who never heard these demo songs to hear them with good production. Most of these early demos were recorded on a boom box, so by the time someone got their demo through tape trading, it was almost inaudible! We think these tracks are a good representation of the birth of Mantas/Death. This is ground zero – where it all started: three 15-year-old kids creating Death Metal history, and even within these choice cuts from the demo days, you can hear the evolution of the music. ‘Archangel’ is a great way to introduce this album. It’s controlled chaos at its finest: catchy and riffy with a killer evil-sounding middle section!”

Rick Rozz chimed in: “First, I would like to thank Gus, Matt, and Terry for making Left To Die happen. It’s been an honor and a pleasure working with them for the past few years and beyond. It’s really cool to be able to hear these tunes from 1984 properly! The old school Death fans are going to dig this release.”

Gus Rios concluded: “The band started simply because Rick called me and asked if I’d be into it… Which I very promptly replied by referencing bears, shit, and woods. I then called Matt and Terry, and the rest is history. Death‘s Leprosy record is my favorite death metal album, let alone Death album. To be given this unbelievable opportunity to play those songs with Rick and Terry across the globe is an honor and a blessing I find hard to put into words. Matt and I are living our 14-year-old selves’ death metal fantasy!”

“And now, to make an album with the guys is flat out surreal. I’m a pretty solid Death fan if I do say so myself, and yet these songs were all new to me. I never really gave the Mantas stuff much of a listen because I’m just not a ‘demo’ production fan. To hear these songs with clean and solid, yet classic analog style production for me is like getting new Death songs… Which rules!”

Ultimately, Left To Die celebrates a seminal band and the camaraderie of the genre’s most extreme corner of music. 

The post LEFT TO DIE (Featuring Former DEATH Members RICK ROZZ & TERRY BUTLER) Announces Debut Album “Initium Mortis”, Stream First Single “Archangel” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

The “Beast in the East” – Scotland’s oldest extreme music gathering, Hordes X – has officially announced the first wave of bands locked in for its monumental sixteenth edition. The influential underground live platform will return to the twin venues of Hidden and Music Hall Dundee on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September 2026, delivering … Continue reading Hordes X 2026 details sixteenth anniversary event and first wave of bands

The Hu has announced Hun, the Mongolian heavy rock band’s third studio album, due July 24 via Better Noise Music. The album is preceded by new single “Lost Soul,” which features Jonny Hawkins, vocalist of Nothing More. The Hawkins-featuring version is available digitally.

Morin khuur player and throat singer Galaa said: “‘Lost Soul’ is about finding your way back when everything feels lost. We all go through moments where we question everything — our purpose, our path, our identity. This song is a reminder that even in the darkest moments, the human spirit has the capacity to rise again.”

Hawkins added: “When The Hu reached out to collaborate, I was immediately drawn to the power and depth of what they do. There’s something primal and universal about their music that transcends language and culture. Being part of ‘Lost Soul’ was a profound experience.”

Pre-order the album here.

The Hu is currently on a North American tour with Apocalyptica and The Rasmus, running through June 7 in Anaheim, Calif. The band appeared on “Pray to the Sun,” a track by composer Declan de Barra included in the Netflix series One Piece, and contributed “Sugaan Essena” to the soundtrack of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. In November 2022, they became the first rock or metal band to receive the UNESCO “Artist for Peace” designation, presented by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay at a ceremony at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The post THE HU Announce Third Album “Hun”, Share New Single “Lost Soul” Featuring NOTHING MORE’s JONNY HAWKINS appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

The return of Oakley over the tops.

The post Australian Nü-Metalcore Band Headwreck Sign With Hip-Hop/Pop Stable EMPIRE appeared first on Theprp.com.

Four of the most technically insane musicians to ever melt the internet are packing it up and taking it back to the stage in 2027. Ola Englund , Bernth , Charles Berthoud , and Mike Dawes are joining forces again for the “Escape The Internet II” tour hitting Europe in February and March 2027.
And yeah, the name fits. These are four players who basically built careers out of doing the unthinkable online, then proved they could pull it off live without a safety net.
Following the success of their first European run, the crew is leveling up everything. Bigger lineup energy, new material, more collaborative moments, and the kind of live show that makes gear nerds stare at the stage like they just saw a UFO land on a bar gig.
Ola Englund summed it up pretty straight:
“After the incredible response to the first European tour, we’re coming back in 2027 with a bigger lineup, new music, more collabs and an even crazier live show.”
He added that fans can expect something built around both individual showcases and full group chaos, where every musician gets space to flex while also locking into moments you only get if you are in the room that night.
That is really the heart of this thing. Not just shredding for the sake of shredding, but four distinct styles crashing into each other in real time. Guitar, bass, acoustic, technique on top of technique, all of it colliding in a way that never quite repeats itself.
Here is the routing for “Escape The Internet II”:
2/5 Warsaw, PL Proxima
2/6 Prague, CZ Meet Factory
2/7 Nuremberg, DE Hirsch
2/9 Antwerp, BE Zappa
2/16 Paris, FR La Maroquinerie
2/18 Copenhagen, DK Pumpehuset
2/19 Stockholm, SE Debaser Strand
2/20 Gothenburg, SE Pustervik
2/21 Oslo, NO John Dee
2/23 Berlin, DE Columbia Theater
2/24 Frankfurt, DE Batschkapp
2/26 Cologne, DE Kantine
2/27 Hamburg, DE Gruenspan
2/28 Utrecht, NL Tivoli Vredenburg (Ronda)
3/2 Stuttgart, DE Im Wizemann Club
3/3 Esch-sur-Alzette, LU Rockhal
3/4 Solothurn, CH Kulturfabrik Kofmehl
3/5 Munich, DE Technikum
3/6 Vienna, AT Arena
Tickets & VIP upgrades are available now:
https://linktr.ee/escapetheinternet
Bottom line, this is not a nostalgia run and it is not background music for your phone scrolling habit. It is a full throttle display of modern musicianship from four players who helped define what internet-era virtuosity looks like, then decided to drag it into the real world and turn it up loud.
If you care about guitar, bass, or just watching people do things with their hands that should probably require a permit, this is one to circle on the calendar.

Plus, a possibly addictive word game.

Their fourth new song of 2026.

The post Extinction A.D. Launch New Song “Center Of Zero” appeared first on Theprp.com.

October’s doomed.

The post Khemmis Announce European/UK Tour With Celestial Sanctuary appeared first on Theprp.com.

Me Saco Un Ojo Records has fast become one of my favorite death metal labels, signing bands whose music sates my sickened sweet tooth and reeks with the dirty, rotten, filthy, stinking, rich stench of death! Warranted tags that also describe Costa Rica’s newest OSDM export and Me Saco Un Ojo rosterlings, Candarian. Inspired by early 90s death metal, guitarist Christopher G. De Haan and bassist/vocalist José Pablo Phillips (Astriferous) birthed Candarian in 2020, gigging extensively throughout their local scene on the strength of a handful of songs that would eventually end up on their 2022 demo, Stagnant Livor Mortis—a meaty morsel of moldy maleficence. Four years further down the cemetery path with tandem label partner Memento Mori in tow and that charmingly grotesque Grant Hatfield cover art in hand, Candarian prepare to dump their debut bucket of blood, Trepanación, on you, and the heads of unsuspecting prom queens everywhere. Having precariously lived through the original 90s death metal wave, I was curious to see whether Candarian would have any fresh ideas to offer. Is Trepanación the death shroud I’ll cozily wrap myself up in on a cold night, or will it have me praying for someone to strap me down and drill a hole in my skull, too?

Candarian peddle in plague-laden, gore-soaked, horror-themed OSDM, with Trepanación serving up steaming bowls of slop bloated with chunks of Incantation and Autopsy. Not entirely original perhaps, but still not a bad place from which to draw inspiration, especially if well executed. Which Candarian does, sans feats of technical wizardry, as De Haan and fellow string-slayer Felipe Tencio (Astriferous) opt instead to perform ear-hole surgery with a Golgothan bag full of rusty, tremoloed riffs, serrated squealies, and mangled, meat-hammered chugs (“Altars and Ancestors”). On drums stretched taut with human skin, blunt force butcher Pablo Umaña keeps the Candarian brain-drill from boring any errant head holes while Phillips, whose bass lines lurk and gurgle below like blood-clogged lungs (“Psychosurgery Ecstasy”) and whose cavernous bellows strike a very John McEntee chord, rounds out the cadaverous quartet. It’s clear these Ticos know death metal.

Candarian muscles their way through Trepanación with biceps built on strongwriting. Shifts in tone and pace within tracks are written with alacrity and performed with a transitional maturity that never feels forced or too abrupt. Basking in beams of light cast by “The Ibex Moon,”¹ the ghoulishly fun “Zombie Miscarriage” morphs smoothly from down-tuned tremolo-monstrous riffs over lumbering double-bass rolls to drunkenly swerving doom chords and mid-paced chug ‘n squeals, all punctuated by Phillips’ rancorous roars. Another limb retaining some viably meaty moments is “Relinquished Viscera,” its sluggish, Morbificated opening riffs acquiescing easily to speedier harmonic leads and oft-used pus-pinching harmonics. The last of my odious shoutouts goes to album closer “Vilipendio del Cadaver”² which sweats Mental Funeral-filled beads of ichor as it trudges and stomps a path filled with doomy goodness, Sabbathian trills, and a swingy section that could give “In the Grip of Winter” a run for its money.

Candarian hit the nail on the head of 90s death metal. Paying tribute to their influences without sounding overtly derivative and accomplishing this through a production that maintains just the right amount of rawness to stay menacing without devolving into the overly cloudy, reverberant depths of early cavern-core. Manageably brief, with a runtime barely cresting 33 minutes, Trepanación tends to feel longer than it is, thanks in part to all the inter-song twists and turns and to four of the seven tracks exceeding the 5-minute mark. Not a major knock, but it was something I felt on all my play-throughs. Working most against them, without having done anything egregiously bad or exceptionally good, is Candarian’s throwback “no more but no less” approach, as this can only take them so far. Which also reinforces guidance I once received from one wizened, hairy primate related to scoring death metal of this ilk.

If you’re ever in the mood for better than passable, old-school, filthy death metal, the Me Saco Un Ojo roster—Cryptworm, Invictus, Phrenelith, Ossuary, Diabolizer and many more among them—does not disappoint. Candarian, a band I’ll certainly be keeping tabs on, is another fine addition, and you could do a lot worse than spend an afternoon or three getting skull fucked by Trepanación.

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Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Me Saco Un Ojo | Memento Mori
Websites: Bandcamp | Instagram
Releases Worldwide: April 27th, 2026

The post Candarian – Trepanación Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

If ever the phrase “You can’t keep a good man down” applied to anyone, Peter Frampton is a viable candidate. Along with incredible highs like the success of Frampton Comes Alive, there have been a few lows — from what happened after Frampton Comes Alive, to a muscular condition called inclusion body myositis he contracted in 2019 that nearly ended his musical career. Though he struggles to get around and his fingers are not as nimble, Frampton continues to tour sporadically and release albums — ballet, acoustic, blues and covers. His last full-on rock album of new originals was 2010’s Thank You Mr. Churchill. For 2026, he’s taking risks, doing the unexpected, and including an eclectic roster of guests to make Carry The Light one of his most adventurous outings.

Co-written and produced with his son Julian, the 10-song collection features guest appearances from Sheryl Crow, Bill Evans, H.E.R., Tom Morello, Graham Nash, and Benmont Tench. Together, Frampton and Son take their collaborators and listeners on a joyride filled with fun and surprises. Cue the opening title track, and a chant erupts before Frampton takes the reins through a slow, disruptive groove.

There’s a reason “Buried Treasure” has a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers vibe. Featuring Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and written as a tribute to the late musician, the song takes its name from the SiriusXM radio show Petty hosted. The lyrics even tap Petty song titles. The guitar lead that winds down the number even sports a Mike Campbell attitude, though by its end, you can tell it has that unmistakable Frampton tone written all over it.

Graham Nash harmonizes on the album’s tear-jerker, “I’m Sorry Elle” and Sheryl Crow takes a verse and joins the chorus on the mid-tempo “Breaking the Mold.” A couple of nice and easy listening fodder for the counterbalance no doubt. Tom Morello actually “breaks the mold” with a flourish of spaghetti notes to the industrial-strength protest anthem “Lions At The Gate.” It’s a strong enough statement to reveal Frampton hasn’t lost his edge. Easing off the gas, he is joined by H.E.R. to swap guitar lines on the jazz-oriented instrumental “Islamorada.”

Saxophonist Bill Evans, who served his time with Miles Davis in the 1980s, cuts the rug on both “Can You Take Me There” and “Tinderbox,” the latter flooded with some of Frampton’s most expressive playing on the record. Though it could be argued that “At The End Of The Day,” the album’s final number, finds the guitarist at his most earnest.

Now that he’s a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer with accolades to boot and little else to prove, you’d think Peter Frampton would be kicking back, resting on his laurels and enjoying the spoils of a life well lived. The rules have changed; age and health issues certainly don’t make it any easier. Still, with Carry The Light, the man is determined to say more on the musical front. Up or down, he’s not about to stop now. And no living being, thing, or condition should even think about standing in his way.

~ Shawn Perry

Purchase Carry The Light