Category: news

According to Slipknot's new press photo that was sent out with the song 'Arsenal,' they're now down to eight members instead of nine. Continue reading…

As part of her 50th Birthday celebrations, Finland’s undisputed “Queen of the Slide Guitar” Erja Lyytinen will release “Hard as Stone”, the second single taken from her upcoming highly anticipated double live album Erja Lyytinen – 50th Birthday Live 2026.

Released by Tuohi Records on Friday, October 9th, Erja Lyytinen – 50th Birthday Live 2026 is available to pre-order on CD and vinyl here and digitally here.

As part of her spectacular 50th Birthday celebrations, Erja is set to unleash a deluxe live album package featuring a double CD, double vinyl, and full-length DVD, capturing an unforgettable night at Helsinki, Finland’s prestigious House of Culture — affectionately known as “Kultsa” — on 21st March 2026. Steeped in rock history, the legendary venue hosted some of music’s most iconic names, including Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Slayer, making it the perfect setting for Erja’s landmark birthday concert.

Erja reflects on why she made “Hard as Stone” a part of the set list on her 50th Birthday album: “”Hard as Stone” is the second single from the live album, and I’m thrilled to have it back in the set list,” says Erja. “It has a force and personality all its own and stands apart from the rest of the songs.”

“In 2019, ‘Hard as Stone’ first appeared on my studio album Another World, and it’s always been a track I’ve loved,” says Erja. “Since then, my guitar playing has evolved so much that I started to feel the original version was a little too sweet. I knew it was time to give it a tougher edge.”

Erja continues: “I changed some of the chords and drove them harder to give the track more punch — to make it truly hard as stone. I recently bought my first Floyd Rose-equipped guitar, a 1989 Kramer Nightswan, and it proved to be the perfect weapon for this song, especially for the Whammy Octave solo section and the heavier refrain.”

On the double live album, Erja’s amazing band backs her through this 90-minute-long concert full of old gems from her colourful career. The release features songs from albums such as Voracious Love, Another World, and the latest studio album, Smell the Roses.

This is a heavy blues rock show with international stars. Erja brought her favourite artists to perform alongside her on the show. Swedish banjo punk/blues group Baskery featured on the song “Torn” with Erja accompanying their vocals on guitar.

Legendary bassist Sami Yaffa (Joan Jett, Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls) stormed the stage with Erja and her band for “One Thing I Won’t Change,” injecting the performance with a raw, electric charge. Rearranged especially for the celebration from Erja’s 2012 album Forbidden Fruit, the song becomes a full-throttle tribute to life, fearless musicianship, and Erja’s ever-evolving fire as a performer.

The evening starts with an introduction from Erja´s twin boys inviting the group on stage and after that the first band song, “Ball and Chain,” kicks in hard. We also hear “Smell the Roses” and “Going to Hell” from the latest studio album, before the set list continues with songs from older gems such as the rocking “Bird,” Erja’s beautiful slide solo take on “Lullaby,” the lushy “Cherry Overdrive” and “Nasty Weather” from Erja´s Dreamland Blues album. The latter was recorded in Mississippi in 2006 with Kinney and David Kimbrough and has now been played and renewed exactly twenty years later.

In the song “Another World,” Erja has a vocal breakdown, where a thousand people in the audience join her to sing along and savor this great moment together. The live recording also includes “Stoney Creek” and “The Ring” as encore songs that wrap up the joyous evening at House of Culture on Erja´s Birthday.

Additionally, the live album contains a concert from the Smell the Roses studio album release tour in October 2025. Recorded in Tempo, Mikkeli, Finland, this recording has all the album songs, like “Dragonfly,” the heavy “Abyss,” the heart wrenching ballad “Empty Hours,” huge southern-rock vibey “Wings to Fly” and in addition Erja´s favorite live tracks “You Talk Dirty” and a 13-minute-long rendition of “Wedding Day”. The latter was originally recorded on the album Another World, together with slide maestro Sonny Landreth.

Erja Lyytinen – 50th Birthday Live 2026 album is a great package showing that this firecracker lady continues to enjoy playing live and isn´t anywhere near ready to stop making music and developing herself as a musician, songwriter, and entertainer. This live album is a must for all Erja fans who enjoy unique hard rock and blues music played with an attitude. And it will leave you with a smile on your face!

Production Credits:

Erja Lyytinen / Vocals and Guitars
Harri Taittonen / Hammond and Backing Vocals
Heikki Saarenkunnas / Bass and Backing Vocals
Jesse Lehto / Drums
Olli Huttunen / FOH Sound Engineer
Santtu Lehtiniemi / Guitar Tech
Elsa Wellamo / Photography
Marko von Konow / Graphic Design

Recorded by Olli Huttunen at Mikkeli, Tempo, Finland on 03.10.2025 and House of Culture, Helsinki Finland on 21.03.2026
Mixed by Matias Kiiveri at Hollywood House, Helsinki Finland 2026
Mastered by Svante Forsbäck at Chartmakers, Espoo Finland 2026
Executive producer Erja Lyytinen for Bluesland Productions/Tuohi Records

The post ERJA LYYTINEN Shares New Single “Hard as Stone” From Upcoming Live Album “Erja Lyytinen – 50th Birthday Live 2026” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

D4L’s 2005 single “Betcha Can’t Do It Like Me” didn’t become a huge crossover hit like their other song “Laffy Taffy” did. But it’s still a prime example of the peak ringtone-rap era, and it still randomly gets stuck in my head way more often than it should. New York rapper/producer Cash Cobain made his name by building strange, horny new shapes out of ultra-familiar samples, and his new single “Betcha Can’t” gives D4L the sample-drill treatment.

The post Cash Cobain – “Betcha Can’t” (Feat. BabyChiefDoIt) appeared first on Stereogum.

Prepare for a Goldenstate Beatdown.

The post Snot, Bleeding Through, Breaking In A Sequence & Saltwound Announce Two Californian Shows appeared first on Theprp.com.

Lucy Dacus is celebrating 10 years of her debut album No Burden. The singer-songwriter announced an anniversary reissue today and shared the previously unreleased fan-favorite “No Thank You, I Love You, Goodbye.”

The post Lucy Dacus Covers Japanese Breakfast, Shares Previously Unreleased “No Thank You, I Love You, Goodbye” appeared first on Stereogum.

Their EP of the same name also just saw a release.

The post MOUTH BREAKER Launch “MoshUp” Music Video Featuring Nullifier’s Jeff Miller appeared first on Theprp.com.

Che and Nettspend, two of the young rage stars who bailed on that Canadian rap festival, are both young as fuck. Che turned 20 last week, so they’re not both still teenagers. Still, when you add up both rappers’ ages, you get a grand total of 39. Tomorrow is my 47th birthday, which means I am the wrong person to say anything about “KickAss (Pull Up Pls),” the two-rappers’ first-ever collaboration.

The post Che – “KickAss (Pull Up Pls)” (Feat. Nettspend) appeared first on Stereogum.

A former member of Stray From The Path directed that clip.

The post Get The Shot Launch “Crucifixion Depiction” Video Featuring Don’t Try appeared first on Theprp.com.

Bay Area thrashers Forbidden are premiering a brand new single, “Burning The Lungs Of Earth”, as part of their forthcoming self-titled album release. The accompanying video clip was directed by Chris Kontos and edited by Mike Sloat.
Read more…

Lustmord Lombardo, the pairing of two of heavy and experimental music’s most respected musicians, ambient heavyweight Lustmord and percussive force Dave Lombardo, release “The Desolate Shore Part I: Submergence” from the duo’s forthcoming album, The Pulse of Atoms (Oct. 2, Ipecac Recordings).

“’The Desolate Shore’ is a meditative landscape that feels like a slow descent into the abyss,” Lombardo says of the newly released track. “There is a sense of the ground moving beneath you as shifting rhythms make it feel like nothing is ever completely still beneath the surface.”

The pair previously released “Paleomagnetic Resonance,” an eight-minute meditative composition that Consequence described as “a brooding atmospheric drone track.”

Lustmord, discussing the duo’s approach to the album, shared: “One thing about an album like this is that you can’t really point it out as being part of any specific genre or, hopefully, any specific period. Is it from last year? Is it from 10 years ago, is it from 20 years ago, is it from 5 years in the future? It’s trying to create something that has its own sound, not tapping into whatever musical language or history you’re familiar with. It goes way, way further back. This is the sound of planets dying or of stars being born. It’s about a bigger picture. It’s the sound of the birth of the universe and the death of the universe; it’s not rock and roll.”

The two musicians met backstage at a Fantômas show, introduced by mutual friend Buzz Osborne, around the time that Lustmord and Melvins released their collaborative album. Nearly two decades later, Lombardo and Lustmord convened as Lustmord Lombardo, crafting an album that is as cold and distant as it is frantic and engaging. The Pulse of Atoms showcases an unheard side of Lombardo and brings Lustmord back to his industrial roots.

Rather than composing songs in a traditional sense, Lustmord built evolving walls and vortices of sound, leaving room for Lombardo to add percussion and various synthesizer layers. Once the editing and arrangement were complete, Lustmord mixed and mastered the record, which was a balancing act between the two players’ large, loud musical presences.

Album pre-orders, including a pair of limited-edition vinyl variants (Clear and Smoke), CD, and digital pre-saves, are available now.

Lustmord is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of dark ambient and industrial music. Active since the early ‘80s, his work draws on field recordings, low-frequency drones, and cinematic sound design to create immersive, atmospheric pieces. Lustmord‘s catalog spans dozens of solo releases and collaborations, and his influence extends into film and game scoring, as well as experimental electronic production.

Dave Lombardo is a GRAMMY Award-winning drummer whose playing style helped define the sound of thrash and extreme metal. He is also one of the most versatile percussionists in heavy music, known as a founding member of Slayer, as well as for his work with Fantômas, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungle, the Misfits, and a wide range of collaborations. In 2023, Lombardo released his debut solo album, Rites of Percussion, which NPR praised as “a very different side of one of metal’s most punishing drummers.”

The post LUSTMORD LOMBARDO, The New Project Featuring Dark Ambient LUSTMORD With Percussive Titan DAVE LOMBARDO, Release “The Desolate Shore Part I: Submergence” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.