A music campaign works best when every post has a job. One clip may introduce the song, another may reveal the story behind it, and a later post may push fans to stream, pre-save, or buy a ticket. Random posting rarely creates that sense of movement.
For a single, album, or tour, start with one clear goal and build a sequence around it. Short-form video can create discovery, YouTube can hold longer material, and streaming profiles can turn attention into listening or ticket activity.
Start With One Campaign Goal
Clear goals make every piece of campaign content more purposeful
A release can generate streams, followers, pre-saves, merchandise sales, ticket sales, or press attention. Pick the outcome that matters most for the current phase.
A single often needs discovery. An album may benefit from pre-saves and repeat listening. A tour usually needs local awareness and ticket conversion.
Match the Goal to a Measurable Action
“Get people excited” gives a team little to measure. “Increase pre-saves before release day” or “sell tickets in Chicago during the next ten days” produces a clearer campaign.
Spotify’s current Countdown Pages allow fans to pre-save upcoming albums and EPs, preview tracklists, watch countdown videos, and receive the release in their library when it arrives.
Spotify reports that artists publishing a Countdown Page at least seven days before release see nearly twice as many pre-saves on average as artists publishing later.
Music marketing becomes easier when the campaign has a central idea. A song about leaving home could generate studio footage, lyric explanations, old photographs, fan stories, and live performances built around the same emotional thread.
Choose Repeatable Content Angles
Useful angles include the song, the artist’s personality, the making of the project, and fan participation. Rotate among them so every post adds a new piece.
A 20-second chorus performance might lead into a songwriting story two days later. An album campaign can introduce individual tracks or collaborators. A tour campaign can move city by city with venue footage, local memories, rehearsal clips, and set-list hints.
Prepare an Asset Bank Early
Collect vertical video, photographs, artwork crops, rehearsal audio, lyric cards, behind-the-scenes clips, and clean versions of key hooks before the campaign starts.
Artists who need additional promotional variations can also use Pollo AI’s AI UGC ad video generator to create presenter-led social videos from a script without organizing a separate shoot.
Plan the Campaign in Phases
Release day works better as a peak inside a longer arc.
Phase
Main purpose
Useful content
2 to 4 weeks before
Build curiosity
Teasers, artwork details, studio clips, pre-save posts
Release week
Convert attention
Song clips, video premieres, fan reactions, direct links
Following weeks
Extend interest
Live versions, lyric stories, remixes, creator posts
A rigid calendar can become stale when a surprising clip takes off early. Keep several slots open for fan videos, replies, press moments, or another version of a strong-performing idea.
TikTok for Artists, launched globally in 2025, provides daily-updated analytics for songs, posts, and followers, plus a Pre-Release tool for album campaigns. The TikTok artist platform helps artists decide which creative idea deserves another variation.
Give Each Platform a Specific Role
Short-form video can introduce music to audiences well beyond an artist’s existing followers
Reuse the core campaign idea while adapting the edit, opening seconds, caption, and call to action.
Use TikTok and Instagram for Discovery
Short-form video works well for hooks, performances, stories, visual jokes, and fan prompts. Aim for material people can react to, save, send, or remake.
Instagram also offers Trial Reels, which can show a Reel to non-followers first. Meta reported that, among creators who increased posting after trying the feature, 80% saw greater Reels reach from non-followers, while noting that results are not guaranteed. The company’s Trial Reels data makes the feature useful for testing ideas before a major release push.
Use YouTube as a Multi-Format Hub
YouTube can connect Shorts, official videos, live performances, visualizers, interviews, and community posts around one release. Its current artist resources recommend pre-release, release-day, and post-release strategies built across multiple formats.
A Short may introduce a chorus. A full video can become the main viewing moment. An acoustic performance can return the song to feeds later.
Treat Streaming Profiles as Conversion Pages
Refresh artist images, bios, featured releases, and links before a campaign begins. Fans arriving from social media should immediately see the music, merchandise, or dates being promoted.
For touring artists, Spotify can surface shows through artist profiles, personalized recommendations, and the Concerts Near You playlist. Its live-events tools give artists another route from listening activity to concert discovery.
Build Tour Campaigns City by City
Localized promotion makes individual tour dates feel more relevant to nearby fans
A general poster announces the route. Local content gives individual dates a pulse. Record a short message for the city, mention a past show there, tag the venue, or post a ticket update.
Increase Urgency Gradually
Early posts can announce the date and explain the show. Later content can reveal support acts, rehearsal footage, or availability updates. Final reminders work best when they contain useful information, such as limited tickets or doors and set times.
TikTok has expanded in-app ticketing partnerships that let eligible artists attach ticket links to videos in participating markets. Its expanded Ticketmaster partnership shows how social discovery and ticket purchase can sit close together.
Measure Fan Movement and Conversion
Views matter when they lead somewhere. Track profile visits, saves, pre-saves, streaming clicks, follower growth, email sign-ups, and ticket conversions.
A post with 40,000 views and almost no profile activity may contribute little to the campaign goal. A clip with 8,000 views that drives hundreds of pre-saves may carry far greater value.
.@Stray_Kids is breaking Spotify records ahead of its Nov. 21 release with “DO IT,” hitting 1 million streams on the pre-save-based Spotify Countdown—a first for a K-pop album. The album also topped Spotify’s Global Top 10 Countdown for three consecutive weeks, building hype for… pic.twitter.com/CGg7lOGxJC
Face-to-camera videos may outperform polished edits. Lyric clips may earn fewer views and more saves. Tour rehearsal footage may convert well in cities where ticket sales are already moving. Use those patterns to shape the next week.
A Simple Three-Week Single Campaign
Imagine an independent artist releasing a single in three weeks.
Week one introduces the visual world with a teaser, cover reveal, and studio clip. Week two brings the strongest chorus, a story about the lyric, and a fan prompt. Release week adds the full link, performance footage, reactions, and a thank-you video.
During the following two weeks, the artist can post an acoustic version, a fan-created clip, and a behind-the-scenes moment. Strong posts can receive new edits or alternate openings.
Build Momentum That Can Survive Release Day
A good social media campaign gives people several reasons to notice a project and a clear way to act once they care. Start with one goal, develop a recognizable creative idea, prepare enough assets to stay flexible, and keep watching how fans respond.
Singles benefit from repeated discovery. Albums benefit from a wider narrative. Tours benefit from local relevance and timely calls to action. Strong campaigns keep moving after launch day because fan response helps shape the next creative decision.
John Piotrowski, lead singer for Shadow Of Jupiter, hopes the band’s sound, feel, vibe, and attitude capture the experience of flipping through vinyl at a record store that year. It does not get more passionately precise than that, right?
Immediately, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon should come to mind. After that, arguably the greatest releases from The Who and Genesis, Quadrophenia and Selling England By The Pound. You also have debut albums from Aerosmith and Lynyrd Skynyrd. And, you also had the critical releases of Houses Of The Holy and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath as well.
But while Shadow Of Jupiter’s already distinctive tone, which has become more evident on their second release, Bones, is rooted in classic hard rock and well-placed prog elements, the band is a collective that cannot be defined even with all their influences and inspirations.
Their whole, as the popular saying goes, is bigger than the sum of their parts. The problem with even that is that the quote, which was attributed to Aristotle, is not correct. The word ‘sum’ was never used in that phrase found in Metaphysics.
The word was ‘beside’ and the whole sentence reads like this from a 1908 translation.
In the case of all things which have several parts and in which the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something besides the parts.
This ‘whole’ in terms of the creative size and songwriting that Shadow Of Jupiter bring to the table is magically captured from this excerpt from a review of their album:
This is music with sand in its gears, blood on its fingers and fire in its veins. Bones does not simply move from song to song… Hell no. It drifts. It crawls. It runs. It explodes. It stretches massive riffs across wide open landscapes where crushing weight meets mighty grooves and, at certain times, a cosmic atmosphere. Colin Peterson’s guitars carve out towering walls of sound, Scott Brakebill’s bass rolls like distant thunder, Adam Kazragys’ drums lock into deep, primal grooves, and John Piotrowski’s vocals rise like a weathered storyteller yelling from a high and weathered peak. Joop Konrad, Stoner Hive
Shadow of Jupiters is something well beyond their parts, and this was organically and warmly unravelled in my one-hour interview with all four members.
My first question feels like a question that would be further down the list. But, I know Colin (guitarist) and John (vocalist) really well. In fact, we had a friendship that was already forming prior to me seeing them live at RippleFest in Austin in 2024.
Friendship. The whole stoner/desert/doom scene is built on this. Connection transcends the music–because of the music.
That’s why I wanted my first question to be kind of a curveball. There is lots of baseball fandom in the band.
Since I have all four members of Shadow of Jupiter here, I am going to ask you a question about musical influences that is different. You each have to, without repeating another band member’s choice, give me an artist that is an influence that the audience would probably not expect.
Also, try to stretch the collective “perimeter” of the band’s influence with your selection.
John: Minor Threat.
Colin: Thin Lizzy
Scott: Grateful Dead
Adam: Toto
Attitude. Guitarists. Jams. Precision.
In many ways, the band plays within the territory of those words, with deep complexion and personality. It was hard not to go off on a serious tangent when Colin mentioned Thin Lizzy, my favourite band of all time.
We managed to mention all the great guitarists of the band without getting too derailed!
My next question birthed an answer that led to the opening of this article–1973.
Who designed the album cover?
John: “Well, we wanted to go with a vibe that conveyed original art and original work. We knew the raven was going to be a central theme to the cover, and we wanted to convey something that you might flip through when searching for albums back in 1973. (John remembered the artist’s name, Fajar Rahadian, later in the interview)
So, who then designed the logo?
Colin: I am going to have to go back and check on that, as the name escapes me now. However, we loved what was created because it has this feel of something you might associate with an absinthe house in France.”
Even the standard questions around album and logo design yielded answers that were doused in old school memories. My closing question on this topic was one that was prefaced by my reluctance to “always know the answer”, removing the mystery associated with origins of musical ideas.
The band’s name. What does it mean?
Scott: “I was hoping you would ask that question, because I don’t even know!”
Adam would also chime in, but not before giving some wrong answer about it being a reference to the size of this head. Yes, we were all laughing at this point!
Adam: “I also don’t know. I just got a text message from you guys (John and Colin) that I was interested in playing in your little project.”
Thankfully, yes, thankfully, the story behind the band’s name was kept a mystery on my small insistence.
I then moved onto the title track of the album, Bones. And, not too surprisingly, the conversations that came out of my inquiry into this song were deep and satisfying. I didn’t have a question so much, but I wanted the band to comment on anything related to the creation of this opening track, which has so many things going–even in the first 90 seconds. My sister heard The Beatles. I heard Soundgarden and Jane’s Addiction.
Colin: “John and I have a long history, and some of that involves taking psychedelics while listening to Ravi Shankar. We just wanted the main riff of the song to be placed later in the song, building up to it. Also, the song is a pure collaborative effort of the whole band.”
My brain goes to weird places for associations when discussing music or mathematics. So, I reached for the show Better Call Saul in describing the band’s music. It is a slow burn. I also shared this quote from the photographer Glen Friedman on his definition of punk: “An intense obligation to the truth of your innermost self”
John: “That reference to Better Call Saul was epic, and made my heart swell. We’re able to create music that is like this because the scene is so cool. The scene is so wild and eclectic! From day one, we’ve been welcomed by so many bands, and we’ve been allowed to be as creative as we want. Let us play what we want to play from the heart”
What is your go-to Zeppelin and Sabbath albums in 2026?
Colin: Physical Graffiti and Mob Rules
Adam: Led Zeppelin II, because of Moby Dick and Black Sabbath
Scott: Song Remains The Same (Soundtrack) and Black Sabbath
John: Led Zeppelin III (my go-to!) and Mob Rules
What is your non-musical inspiration in your life?
Colin: “Ed Pashke, a local Chicago artist. I love his modern and twisted style.”
Scott: “My job as a pipe construction fitter has been an inspiration between building complex structures from small parts, and how it relates to creating a song.”
Adam: “Frank Lloyd Wright. I love the order and structure of his designs and how he used space to inspire creativity.”
John: “Commitment to social justice. I am constantly inspired by activists who are involved in projects to better the lives of others.”
What is your favorite song on the new album, but you can’t say Bones?
Adam: Rumblestrip
Scott: Riot Dog
Colin: For Heaven Above
John: For Heaven Above
The whole interview goes much deeper into a band that exudes depth of inspirations, creativity, and connection through music, friendship, and community.
This is Shadow Of Jupiter’s humble orbit, and I was lucky to go on board with the full crew for 60 minutes.
Today is Bandcamp Friday. For 24 hours, from midnight to midnight Pacific Time, Bandcamp waives its normal revenue share on music and merchandise purchases. The money goes to the artist or label, minus payment-processing fees and, where relevant, the artist’s label or fulfilment costs.
Aaron Turner will probably go to his grave before revealing specifics on the concept behind Celestial. Turner and the rest of his bandmates are unified in believing that the work of deconstructing towers and deciphering sgnls is best left to the listener. That said, the towers referenced on four of the songs on Celestial (and its companion EP, SGNL>05) were directly inspired by the Orly Airport towers in Chris Marker’s groundbreaking 1962 photomontage (and later inspiration for 12 Monkeys) La Jetée, where the soundtrack supplies a sense of movement to enhance the static images. That’s kinda the wavelength that Celestial is on, as embodied by the title track, which bends time and space repeatedly in just shy of 10 minutes.
It’s worth noting that the concept of the towers in Celestial ties in particularly well with the meaning of the Tower card in the Tarot deck, which broadly represents upheaval and change. Deconstructing the tower is a way of memorializing the old and ushering in the new, which is what Celestial accomplished in hindsight. The first full-length album from Isis is very much a marker of transition from the more primordial sludge metal of earlier releases to the more polished post-metal sound that defined the band from Oceanic onward. Turner describes it as a “work on becoming,” with the idea that it’s often more interesting to observe how things are being put together than engage with the final form. Celestial is unquestionably a middle point between two distinct periods in the band’s oeuvre.
Celestial is a strong, confident, mature and focused work in the vein of Cave In’s Jupiter or Botch’s We Are the Romans—just one that happened to struggle to capture the limelight with stiff competition from the two near-flawless albums that followed it. We salute the rawness and immediacy of Celestial, as well as its sonic experimentation: The then Boston-based quintet was taking inspiration from everywhere and applying it to an expansive canvas. The jump between the industrial grind of “Celestial (the Tower)” to the comparatively quiet melodicism of “Gentle Time” (featuring an early vocal turn by keyboardist Bryant Clifford Meyer) represents a huge pendulum swing, but the tone, tension, emotional heft and uncomfortable sense of menace are constant throughout.
To hear the band members tell it below, this is the album where Isis dropped its obsession with administering sonic punishment and opened the door to exploring nuance. You can hear that on all of the “SGNL” tracks, transient seemingly random bursts of noise that subtly shift attention and prime the listener for what’s to come. The Isis lineup that coalesced on Celestial—featuring Turner, Meyer, bassist Jeff Caxide, guitarist Mike Gallagher and drummer Aaron Harris—later focused on exploring the less ugly components of the band’s sound. Thematically speaking, Celestial is opaque compared to the rest of the Isis catalog. But when it comes to totemic riffs, it remains unsurpassed. Welcome to the Decibel Hall of Fame for the second time; we hope you’ll be back.
Need more classic ISIS? To read the entire seven-page story, featuring interviews with all five members who performed on Celestial purchase the print issue from our store, or digitally via our app for iPhone/iPad or Android.
Creativity rarely follows a straight line. Whether you’re writing music, a book, or a comic, inspiration and frustration can hit at different times. Take comic book writer Justin Heggs. After writing the first issue of Death Metal Duck in 2007, he decided to quit writing and step away from comics completely. While his artist on the book, Cam Hayden, continued to level up his skill, it took Heggs about seven or eight years to jump back on the wagon and finish the book he had started.
Together, they tell the story of Curtis, who was once the frontman of thrash metal band Puke Hammer. After the band fizzled out, Curtis settled into being a dad and husband. Time hopping back and forth, we learn about Curtis’s metal past, the contrast of the present, and the potential future where both of those things merge. Curtis’s second chance plays out in a story that has as much heart as it does angst. Justin and Cam talk to us about the journey to getting Death Metal Duck published and the surprising reactions they’ve received from it.
How did this idea come about?
Justin Heggs: Do you know the book, The History of Marvel Comics by Sean Howe? I got to the chunk in the 1970s, and they were talking about everyone who was working there. They hit on Steve Gerber and stuff like that. I really got interested in his story. Because of Steve Gerber and Howard the Duck, I think the name Death Metal Duck came from that. That was the initial thing for it, but once I had the name, I think it just sort of came out. That first 20 pages, like the first chapter of it, was written pretty quickly. The ducks were just sort of a tribute to Steve Gerber.I think ducks in general have a pretty big place in comics, in the history as far as the different characters that have been in it. So yeah, it definitely fit.
Dying Scene: Did you have any bands, eras of music, or subgenres that kind of shaped the tone of the book for you?
Justin Heggs: When I was writing the first issue, that was right when The Grinding Wheel by Overkill came out. That whole album is basically the soundtrack of me writing the first chapter of the book; that was a huge thing. I don’t know if it made its way in there or anything recognizable, but if I listen to that now, that’s what’s in my memory for sure. Then, as far as music, Children of Bodom was the one that’s mentioned in the book. Alexi Laiho and his playing were kind of supposed to be what he would be styled after, what I had in my mind for sure.
Dying Scene: Cam, how different were the earliest versions of the ducks in this world? Did they all kind of stay the same, or did you change anything up a bit?
Cam Hayden: A lot of it was locked in when we did the initial first issue. We kind of took a first crack at it about ten years prior. When we went to finish it off, I wanted to go back and redraw the first issue because I’d gotten ten years more experience. As far as the character designs and things like that, we had to lock those in early. They stayed pretty consistent as it progressed to the version that we have now.
Dying Scene: Did the story change at all in those ten years from the initial idea to the finished product?
Justin Heggs: Yes, I think so. I stopped writing after Death Metal Duck after the first issue came out in 2017, so I didn’t have the rest of the story finished yet. I just had some notes and such. When I came back to finish it in 2024, some of my notes were there, but I think it changed from what it would have been back then because it’s a lot more. I’ve been saying it’s a little autobiographical of myself. I think it took a more real turn. I was thinking maybe Spinal Tappy or something like that. I don’t think the story ever really ended up leaning that way. It always just sort of came out a little more… I don’t know about serious, but sincere or something like that.
Dying Scene : I don’t think that would have been a bad comic, but I think this is the better version of that story.
Cam Hayden: I do think it sort of sets that up a little bit. I think when people see it on the table, their first thought is probably, “This is going to be this crazy gonzo rock story with just excess and mayhem.” Then we pull a bit of a switcheroo on them when they read it. They find that it kind of hits them differently than they’re expecting, which is good so far. There’s just that sincerity that sort of hits them in the feels a bit.
Dying Scene: Trying to juggle art and grown-up shit hit me really hard. Were there any world rules or logic rules for Death Metal Duck, or just ducks as humans?
Justin Heggs: I really like the collaborative nature of comics, working with somebody else like this. So I try to, if I don’t have a specific thing that I’m picturing for whatever reason, like maybe later down the road that has to come back so it has to look a certain way, I really like just handing it out there and seeing what comes back. There were no rules other than when he’s older, he has a bald spot. Like he’s got three pieces of hair when he’s younger, two pieces later, so you know when the flashbacks are. Other than that, it was anything goes. Cam came back with things like, they don’t wear shoes or any of that sort of stuff. That was all him, which is awesome.
Cam Hayden: Which sort of cuts off the ability to give them like Gene Simmons KISS boots and stuff like that.
Justin Heggs: No need for platforms.
Cam Hayden: So they’re fully decked out in every other way, except they just got their bare feet hanging out. I guess they’re gnarly enough.
Dying Scene: Were there any tiny details that you added that readers may miss? Any kind of heavy metal Easter eggs or anything like that?
Justin Heggs: There’s a couple. I think there’s a few connections that maybe people miss or don’t pick up on maybe the first time through. I wrote it sort of dishing out the information a little bit at a time and sometimes out of order.
I still sometimes have people surprised, like, “Who’s Michael?” And he shows up four pages later. So, you know, you’ll piece it all together. I didn’t want to have a scene where they just sort of explained that. It just sort of comes in. So I think there’s some of that that gets missed, little details. There are definitely a couple of rock legend cameos in there that Cam put in.
Cam Hayden: Yes, I grew up reading Mad Magazine, so I was a big fan of the Will Elder Chicken Fat. I like to put little things in the background just for some visual spice, I guess. They’re definitely sprinkled throughout. Little callbacks to metal things and comic things.
Justin Heggs: There’s definitely a duck Lemmy. I’ll say that.
Dying Scene: Cam, were there any key decisions outside of the “no shoes” you had for the character designs?
Cam Hayden: Not really. When I got the script, I just started drawing it and sort of feeling it out. I didn’t do a lot of planning ahead. I just wanted to see how it would come out when I just started drawing it. If there were any changes along the way, then I would go back and make adjustments. I kind of just wanted to follow my intuition on it.
I didn’t want to make them look like Disney ducks. I wanted them to be fairly human-looking because it lends itself more to realistic band equipment and things like that. I didn’t want it to look like a Disney rip-off. I wanted it to look more underground, which I tend to lean towards anyway. Not a ton of pre-planning. I just kind of did what I do, for better or worse.
Dying Scene: How did you guys come up with the band name?
Justin Heggs: I think that’s something I had. I don’t know where Puke Hammer came from. I think the idea was that the logo could definitely be very splatter-heavy and unreadable. That was supposed to be one of the ideas as well: having Puke in there and then Hammer.
Dying Scene: And it’s like the most metal name anyway. How has Puke Hammer not been taken all this time?
Cam Hayden: Puke Hammer and the title Death Metal Duck, both of those just knocked it out of the park. Coming up with those, they’re very direct and attention-grabbing. It’s all good. My hat’s off to you.
Dying Scene: How did you incorporate metal aesthetics without parodying them too much?
Cam Hayden: I think because I’ve played in bands, I sort of understand the seriousness of it. I know some people look at stuff like that, and it’s done in a jokey way, and it’s sort of ridiculous. I think it is, in a lot of ways, sort of like a uniform, like a musical tribe. I know it can be kind of goofy and zany, but the script didn’t call for it to really be like that.
In most cases, there are a couple of instances where we kind of lean into the funny aspects of it. Anyone who likes metal is aware of that. I’m a big fan of KISS. Part of the attraction of KISS is how goofy they are and the way they fall on their face all the time. They’ve got some great albums and then they’ve got some just absolute stinkers. Their costumes, their get-ups, on one hand, they’re kind of goofy.
On the other hand, that’s what drew me to them in the first place, and it’s awesome about them. I still love bands like Ghost and GWAR, all that stuff. It’s visually awesome. It’s entertaining. I think I wanted to approach it in a respectful way because I’ve played in bands similar to that. I love bands that are like that, so I respect it.
Dying Scene: Do you have a page or panel that you feel captures the book, what the book is about?
Cam Hayden: I don’t know. The splash page turned out pretty good.
Justin Heggs: I definitely have panels that are like… There’s one where Murphy’s exhaling and he’s like, “Have you been crying?” I was like, “Holy shit, that’s all I do now.” I really like that. That was mostly just for the detail of a duck exhaling smoke. There are a lot of pages that have a lot of meaning for me, but I don’t know. It might be them on stage.
Cam Hayden: Yeah, there are a lot of different layers going on. Maybe I’m too close to it as well.
Dying Scene: Did you have a way to figure out the dialogue? Did it start feeling more autobiographical than you were expecting it to be as you were going through?
Justin Heggs: When I came back to start writing again, that was literally the day that I told Cam that I was going to finish Death Metal Duck. So that was me coming back after a long time off from writing anything at all. A lot of that coming back into the music stuff that Curtis is doing, there were a lot of feelings of that coming back into the writing part of it for me. There are definitely some parts in there that are text messages that I have with friends and stuff like that on Instagram or just whatever, talking about what I was going through at the time. Reading it back now, I put a lot of that in there. It was definitely affected for sure.
Dying Scene: Outside of Howard the Duck and Metal, were there any non-metal inspirations that shaped the comic?
Cam Hayden: I would say that even though Puke Hammer is a metal band, as a guy who plays in bands, I can say that it is very representative of my experience as well in bands that are not necessarily metal bands. I think that’s true for a lot of my friends who are in bands, who are our age, and who have had a family kind of land in the middle of what they thought was being on the verge of taking off in their band situation and just having everything kind of reprioritized and the card deck reshuffled. If you’re looking just at music, I think any sort of genre of music, I think it’s applicable too. I find a lot of the band dynamics transfer pretty readily across every band that I’ve ever been in, at least.
Justin Heggs: I think for me it just ended up being the importance of creating. If that’s something that you’re drawn to, we would have printed this and sold it ourselves at the shows that we happened to go to. It would have been similar to the other 2017 version where if you bought it or if you read it, you got it directly from us because that was the only way to get it. We were totally going to do that, you know, no big deal, and then it got picked up; it blew up into something different.
The importance of creating it as part of the story. Like, if that’s in you, then bottling that up doesn’t work. That’s what Curtis is doing. That’s why it’s not so much that there are obstacles he has to overcome, whatever it is. And like, that’s what the story is that kind of goes pretty smoothly for everybody once they decide what they want to do. But that’s the story, you know, like these things happening for all these characters and based on just going back and tackling that dream again, right?
Dying Scene: What was your collaborative process like? How did you guys divy up the work, if you will?
Justin Heggs: I think once I had sent Cam the script, I just sort of stepped back. I didn’t know if he was going to send character sketches or anything like that. I think the first thing that he sent me was the first three pages done. As far as what he’s doing and what I’m doing, I wrote it. There were very little changes or anything like that. Anything that has to do with that was all his department.
Cam Hayden: There may have been a couple of instances where I would send a page and you would have a couple of notes on it, but it was nothing, no crazy redraws or anything. It’s kind of just you fire me a script, and I would turn it around and shoot it back at him. And then usually it was, it was okay.
Dying Scene: Were you guys mostly on the same page?
Justin Heggs: There were a couple of things I noticed. There’s maybe two word balloons that I think Cam added in that sort of move the story forward a little bit between panel progressions. And it was like, “Oh, yeah, you know, that works or whatever,” just sort of like, I think he put it like a “so” just to sort of move the scene on. I was like, “Yeah, that works perfectly.” I think those were the only things that I noticed. Other than that, I think it was pretty accurate to what I had written.
Like, the old version of the book was like, one of the best things I had done up to that point. I was super proud of it. Getting the art back for the redraw of what turned into all of this blew my mind. Cam definitely leveled up a few stages for all of that. So I was very grateful for all that. I think the detail that blew my mind was in the word balloons for when Curtis is talking to his daughter, Macy, and he says, “What are you going to scream when I’m on stage?” And she says, “shit.” The word balloon’s tail is all squiggly, and it just sort of comes up. It was just perfect and not a detail that I had added in at all. He did the lettering and the art as well. The lettering is a huge part of it. Stuff like that was genius. It communicates just with a squiggle in the balloon line.
Cam Hayden: Yeah, for me, I think it was kind of when the scripts for Part Two and Three came in, because where we left off in Part One, it definitely could have gone into kind of this gonzo, crazy rock story. I was pretty blown away just by how deep the script was. For anyone who’s seen any of my other work that I do, it’s pretty lowbrow, just goofy comedy, horror stuff. It put me in a bit of a different ballpark than what I’m normally functioning in. The depth of the story kind of blew me away and knocked me into another lane, which I think is good. I think a lot of people who buy it, who are familiar with my previous work, are impressed with the script that Justin has done for this, as I was as well.
Dying Scene: Are you guys going to do any more?
Justin Heggs: It’s hard to say. I definitely have a story for it now, but I don’t know if it’ll be like the next thing we do or anything like that, trying to get this one sold as much as possible. Get that out there, but there is definitely a Side B for this. I mean, it took us ten years to make this one. Maybe we have to wait ten more years for the sequel. That just might be how it works.
Cam Hayden: We are getting a really good response from it, though. If there are people who want more, and there’s a script ready.
Dying Scene: Did you pitch it to Black Panel Press, or did they have a copy of the old one and pick it up?
Justin Heggs: When Cam was probably halfway through redrawing the first issue, I was like, “Holy shit, we should pitch this instead of just trying to do it ourselves.” I think by that time, we had the first issue done, the first twenty pages, which is a great amount to be able to send to people because it breaks off the story in a nice little cliffhanger or whatever. We were able to send twenty pages to all the places you can think of that you would want to publish your stuff. Black Panel got back to us probably a month later, and just based off of those twenty pages, was interested in it.
Dying Scene: I like their lineup of books because they’re very unique in what they choose. What feedback have you received from comic readers that surprised you?
Justin Heggs: I guess I’ve been surprised that everyone’s been pretty positive about it. That’s been a pleasant surprise, just because I’ve never put anything out there beyond personally selling it to someone at a convention. People in stores that I don’t go to and don’t know have bought and read the book. It seems like it’s been received pretty well. I think it’s personal, but it also sort of makes it more general because everybody is kind of feeling some piece of something that I’m mentioning in the book. That’s why I’m happy when anybody says that they connected with it, or what they took out of it, maybe not music. Just the parenting stuff or getting older. I guess 100% of us are doing that.
Dying Scene: Have metal fans read it? Do you know if they like it?
Justin Heggs: I think so. I don’t know if they’ve specifically said, “We represented the music well,” or something like that. When we were at TCAF (Toronto Comics Art Festival) selling it, there were people who came the second day because someone told them on the first day that there’s a book called Death Metal Duck.” All walks of life, right? So, I mean, I hope they liked what we did afterwards. That definitely brought them in.
OZRIC TENTACLES RETURN WITH THEIR NEW SINGLE ‘SPACE PLATFORM’
Photo by Simon J Evens
THE FIRST SINGLE FROM THE NEW STUDIO ALBUM HARMONIC MIND SET FOR RELEASE ON KSCOPE ON 18th SEPTEMBER
Following the recent announcement of their new albumHarmonic Mind, Ozric Tentacles today share the album’s first single, ‘Space Platform’. From chief Ozric Ed Wynne himself – “Hey everyone, hope you’re doing well n stuff. Here’s the first taster for the upcoming Harmonic Mind. Space Platform is a bit like a launch pad to the new Ozric world. Twisting and turning through the lines and spaces of the Harmonical mind landscape. Hang onto the turf lest you float away.”
Harmonic Mind, the band’s 17th studio album, is another welcome chapter in the ever-evolving Ozric’s story. Named after the geometric structure and harmonic nature of existence, the album weaves together soaring guitar melodies, intricate rhythms, lush synth textures and deep, hypnotic grooves into the kind of free-flowing psychedelic odyssey that has become their trademark.
Recorded at the band’s home studios as it gradually took shape across Scotland, Devon and finally Glastonbury, Harmonic Mind also captures something a little different. Featuring the full touring line-up – including drummer Pat Garvey, bassist Corey Wallace, percussionist Paul Hankin and multi-instrumentalist Saskia Maxwell – the album has a natural energy that reflects the chemistry of the band’s live performances, with each player bringing their own voice to the music.
A LIMITED PURPLE VINYL LP EDITION IS ALSO AVAILABLE THROUGH OFFICIAL KSCOPE AND OZRIC TENTACLES STORES.
From the driving pulse of “Guardstones” to the cosmic momentum of “Space Platform”, Harmonic Mind is packed with the flowing musicianship and exploratory spirit that fans have come to expect and adore. “Malachite” pays tribute to one of Ed Wynne’s favourite minerals, while also giving centre stage to his custom sandalwood acoustic from Kif Wood Guitars, complete with a beautiful malachite inlay around the sound hole. It’s one of many moments that highlights the warmth and detail running throughout the album, alongside the fluid interplay between Ed Wynne’s guitar and Silas Neptune’s ever-shifting synth landscapes.
Produced by Ed Wynne and Silas Neptune, with mastering handled by Silas for the first time, the album feels both fresh and reassuringly familiar. Even the return of the beloved Erp on the cover art offers a knowing nod to longtime listeners. There’s no radical change of direction here, just Ozric Tentacles doing what they do best.
Ozric Tentacles – Harmonic Mind
1. Guardstones [06:40]
2. Space Platform [05:57]
3. Harmonic Mind [09:12]
4. Malachite [07:52]
5. Tillamook [09:11]
6. Sumipad [04:54]
Since emerging from the UK’s festival scene in the early ’80s, Ozric Tentacles have remained one of psychedelic music’s true originals. More than four decades on, they’re still pushing forward, still exploring new sonic possibilities, and still making music with the same spirit of curiosity and freedom that first set them apart. 2026 sees Ozric Tentacles continue their extensive touring schedule with a large run of Autumn/Winter shows and a number of co-headline shows alongside The Orb.
OZRIC TENTACLES TOUR DATES
2026
22nd August – Down the Hill Festival, Aarschot, Belgium 31st August – Honey Fest, Honeystreet, Devizes, England
4th September – Existence Festival, Tetbury, England 17th September – Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek, England 18th September – Equinox Festival, Coningsby, England
16th October – Gazarte Ground Stage, Athens, Greece 17th October – WE, Thessaloniki, Greece
11th November – Buttermarket, Shrewsbury, England 12th November – Boilershop, Newcastle, England (with The Orb) 13th November – Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, Scotland 14th November – Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, Scotland (with The Orb) 15th November – Platform, Morecambe, England 18th November – Social, Hull, England 19th November – O2 Academy, Leeds, England (with The Orb) 20th November – O2 Academy, Liverpool, England (with The Orb) 21st November – Bodega, Nottingham, England 22nd November – Club 85, Hitchin, England 25th November – Con Club, Lewes, England 26th November – O2 Academy, Bournemouth, England (with The Orb) 27th November – O2 Academy, Bristol, England (with The Orb) 28th November – O2 Academy 2, Oxford, England
2nd December – The Church, Ipswich, England 3rd December – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, England 4th December – O2 Ritz, Manchester, England (with The Orb) 5th December – O2 Kentish Town Forum, London, England
2027
25th February – De Helling, Utrecht, The Netherlands 26th February – De Pul, Uden, The Netherlands 27th February – Poppodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
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Much of underground metal is fueled by the devotion of single-minded enthusiasts. For every obscure band that spends years lingering between major releases, there are several solitary creators like Gary Brents or Damián Antón Ojeda whose prolific output forms a substantial part of the genre’s global ecosystem. Die Entweihung is one such project, serving as the creative outlet for Israeli multi-instrumentalist Denis Tereschenko. Over the past 15 years, Tereschenko has released an astonishing 11 full-length albums under the Die Entweihung banner. I’d never encountered his work before, but the project’s latest release, Worldwide Terror, landed in our overflowing promo bin promising a blend of progressive thrash and classic heavy metal. Joined by vocalist Alena 7, Tereschenko aims to deliver a forward-thinking, challenging record fit for a turbulent era. With that much experience behind him, does Die Entweihung’s twelfth full-length live up to its ambitions?
The particular brand of thrash on Worldwide Terror feels ripped straight out of the mid-80s. This is a vintage flavor of the style that largely eschews modern production and tonecraft for an analog-flavored, heavy metal-adjacent payload that recalls early Overkill, tempered with flashes of Voivod. The eponymous opener sets the stage with the expected power-chord gallop, but tempers its aggression with subtle melodic keyboard lines throughout and largely succeeds as a piece of throw-back enjoyment. Tereschenko deploys plenty of energetic, odd-meter riffs, and his active bass work and grounded drumming style provide some much-appreciated instrumental meat even as the song rides a standard structure for just a tad too long. On tracks like this and “Warriors of the Lie,” Die Entweihung reads as competent prog-tinged retro thrash executed with just enough personality to keep things engaging, but the same cannot be said for much of the album’s runtime.
Alena 7’s vocal performance on Worldwide Terror recalls the hard-rocking delivery of Doro Pesch or Lee Aaron, lending Die Entweihung a distinctive, campy personality even when the vocal lines themselves fall short. She switches between throaty mid-growls and charmingly unpolished operatics, but too many songs are undermined by grating melodies. The hooks on “Newborn,” “Really Your Life, and “Eight Billion Headed Whore” are particularly tough to stomach, actively detracting from the listening experience. Thrash may not be known for stellar vocal performances, but the record’s heavier traditional-metal leanings and vintage production place far more emphasis on the vocals, making their inconsistencies difficult to ignore. As a result, the back half becomes a slog, particularly when the shaky vocals are compounded by increasingly uninspired songwriting.
There are plenty of exciting instrumental moments on Worldwide Terror, but the disparate pieces rarely coalesce into satisfying songs. Die Entweihung largely deploys all-too-familiar riffs and songwriting clichés that just fail to register as anything interesting. Tereschenko is a skilled musician who understands the assignment, yet his compositions too often feel plodding and directionless. Every track stretches past the five-minute mark, and there simply isn’t enough substance to justify those runtimes. “The Darkest Morning” and “Newborn” push seven and eight minutes, respectively, and while both feature dynamic shifts and notable turns, their transitions are clumsy enough that every minute of their length is felt. Occasional flourishes, like the strings and saxophone interjections on “Generation of Pawns,” add some welcome texture but can’t rescue songs that fundamentally lack momentum. Moreso, the record features two full-length instrumentals (“Generation of Pawns” and “The Brightest Night”) which offer little structural variation and ultimately feel more like unfinished compositions in search of vocals.
It brings me no joy to pen such a negative review of a small artist, but I struggled immensely to make it through repeat listens of Worldwide Terror. Die Entweihung has delivered an album of overlong songs built around riffs that are simultaneously boilerplate and ineffective, further kneecapped by some genuinely unpleasant vocal lines. It’s clear that Tereschenko is both a veteran of the scene and a talented musician, but this entry in his prolific catalog is best left unattended.
Much of underground metal is fueled by the devotion of single-minded enthusiasts. For every obscure band that spends years lingering between major releases, there are several solitary creators like Gary Brents or Damián Antón Ojeda whose prolific output forms a substantial part of the genre’s global ecosystem. Die Entweihung is one such project, serving as the creative outlet for Israeli multi-instrumentalist Denis Tereschenko. Over the past 15 years, Tereschenko has released an astonishing 11 full-length albums under the Die Entweihung banner. I’d never encountered his work before, but the project’s latest release, Worldwide Terror, landed in our overflowing promo bin promising a blend of progressive thrash and classic heavy metal. Joined by vocalist Alena 7, Tereschenko aims to deliver a forward-thinking, challenging record fit for a turbulent era. With that much experience behind him, does Die Entweihung’s twelfth full-length live up to its ambitions?
