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Their upcoming run with GWAR & King Parrot may require them to go back to some primitive stage production.

The post Thieves Made Off With Soulfly’s Stage Backdrops & More Via A Recent Break-In appeared first on Theprp.com.

A master of proposals.

The post Metallica’s James Hetfield Got Engaged Over The Weekend Via An Underwater Proposal appeared first on Theprp.com.

Review & photos by Joe Schaeffer

Dark Chapel opened the night with songs from their debut album, 2025’s Spirit In The Glass. They have become the surprise standout opener. Featuring guitarist/singer Dario Lorina of Black Label Society, their live set captured the moody and cinematic of that record.

Zakk Sabbath is where the show exploded. The crowd really came to life as Zakk Wylde channeled Iommi with his crushing guitar tone. He added his signature pinch‑harmonic chaos to the tracks. The extended solos brought the songs a new life as only Wylde can do. The set ender “War Pigs” included one such solo and saw Wylde playing throughout the crowd.

The iconic Black Label Society hit the stage and broke out with their song “Funeral Bell,” setting an insane tone for the evening. The band brought incredible energy, crushing guitar riffs and a raw sound that feels both classic and timeless.

The “LA Chapter” of BLS (as dubbed by Zakk Wylde), matched the band’s upbeat energy through a brilliantly curated array of songs like “Destroy and Conquer” and “Heart of Darkness.” They only slightly slowed down for a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with the guitar solo and ending of “No More Tears.”

“Name in Blood” from the new album Engines Of Demolition was greeted well by the raucous crowd. There were flawless twin solo moments and hand-offs to fellow guitarist Dario Lorina for some killer guitar shredding. Bassist J.D. DeServio and drummer Jeff Fabb showed off their fantastic showmanship during the set.

BLS plowed through the night like a menacing freight train on a collision path with your head, until the final notes of “Stillborn” rang out.

Whether you’ve been a longtime fan or are seeing them for the first time, Black Label Society puts on a performance that’s loud, passionate, and unforgettable. Definitely a must for any metalhead. The tour continues into April with an appearance at the 2026 Monsters of Rock Cruise.

“Golden” won Best Original Song at tonight’s 98th Academy Awards. The Kpop Demon Hunters megahit sung by fictional group Huntr/x had already triumphed in the category at this year’s Grammys, Golden Globes, and Critics Choice Awards, and the Netflix movie also won Best Animated Feature. Mark Sonnenblick and EJA’s record-breaking chart-topper was the clear front-runner. Unfortunately for Diane Warren, it meant a loss in the category for the 17th time. She is now the most nominated person to never win an Oscar.

The post Diane Warren Breaks Record For Most Oscar Nominations Without A Win appeared first on Stereogum.

The 2026 Academy Awards are currently under way, and our music winners have been revealed. For Best Original Score, the Oscar goes to Ludwig Göransson’s Sinners, beating out Jerskin Fendrix’s Bugonia, Alexandre Desplat’s Frankenstein, Max Richter’s Hamnet, and Jonny Greenwood’s One Battle After Another. Best Song goes to HUNTR/X’s “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, winning over Diane Warren’s “Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless, Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson’s “I Lied To You” from Sinners, Nicholas Pike’s “Sweet Dreams Of Joy” from Viva Verdi!, and Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner’s “Train Dreams” from Train Dreams.

The post Oscars 2026: <em>Kpop Demon Hunters</em> Wins Best Song, <em>Sinners</em> Wins Best Score appeared first on Stereogum.

1980 saw Ian Dury‘s relationship with THE BLOCKHEADS strained to the limit, the singer’s addictions and other personal issues fueling his writing and performances but affecting camaraderie within the collective. The collective didn’t seem the same too, as the vocalist’s … Continue reading →

The post Ian Dury & THE BLOCKHEADS’ Archival Show Ready For Release appeared first on DMME.net.

With a whopping 16 nominations this year, including for Best Original Score and Best Original Song, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is the most nominated film in Academy Awards history. Tonight as part of the 2026 Oscars, Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq performed Sinners soundtrack highlight “I Lied To You.”

The post Watch The <em>Sinners</em> & <em>KPop Demon Hunters</em> Performances At The 2026 Oscars appeared first on Stereogum.

In episode three of 50 Shades Of Slaids – Andrew Slaidins sat down to chat with Scott Ian of   Anthrax to talk about the upcoming Australian tour at the end of March, their first headline tour since 2005 and their first visit in seven years. Ian talks about the excitement of the tour, mentioning that the band had recently completed a successful run of shows with Megadeth and Exodus in Canada. 

Slaids also tries to squeeze information about the forthcoming album out of Ian and the tease of new material in the live set.

In closing Ian promised an energetic and lengthy performance, stating that fans could expect “the most energetic, certainly minimum 90 minutes of metal you’ve ever seen from any band.”

For the rest of the fun you will just have to check it out.

ANTHRAX AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2026

Monday, March 23rd
Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane QLD

Wednesday, March 25th
Hindley St, Music Hall, Adelaide SA

Thursday, March 26th
Festival Hall, Melbourne VIC

Saturday, March 28th
Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW

For complete tour and ticket information, see here. 

The post ROCKPIT INTERVIEW: Scott Ian of Anthrax talks upcoming tour & new music appeared first on The Rockpit.

Sometimes death is waiting just around the corner. Sometimes death is the best option.

Project .44 – The System Doesn’t Work

Fun party crossover that rides revolutionary riffs until midsection breaks, intimating stadium heavy metal that never arrives, only to go back to more of the same. Song after song, we hear a band that wants to settle itself into the battleground of ideas but not enough courage is mustered. The cliche is there, but, like Testament, it lacks any substance past a catchy riff, one generic track after another. The heavily filtered vocals sink it more into the mire of oblivion.

Karelian Warcry – Veripellot

Advertised as blackened death metal, this is screamo played over a variety of death metal-influenced alternative metal that came to be known as dark metal. The quality is sufficiently rewarding, with moments that could almost be called interesting, but, like post-1995 At the Gates, it is never able to leave the radio-friendly, festival-ready, disposable tracks. What you have is a great guitar tone and well-studied riffs that fall through the cracks because there is no vision of the transcendent.

Aurora Disease – Epitaph

Advertised as a one-man metal band, this comes through as avant-garde weirdo urban mélange reminiscent of Peste Noire without the strength of drive or enough alienation to make the cut. The result feels sincere enough, the effort is present, the production and musicianship are present. Combining streams of understated black metal to emphasize a journey through words embedded in melody lines, Aurora Disease will find a fanbase among those who value message and aura packaged in decent production and effortful artistry. For those holding art to a higher standard of unity, aesthetic, and necessity, this release is forgettable.

Kaleidobolt – Karakuchi

Funny Scooby-Doo chase music with solos reminiscent of 70s music without actually entirely imitating it. This is simultaneously old and new. The band has a grasp of pop music dynamics and will be adept at playing festivals, weddings, and band battles, entertaining the many with guitar effects, solos, grooves, and the charisma of the momentary. Tomorrow, you won’t remember this band or this release.

AIDS Wolf – Harsh Human Style

Random snare hits, filtered farts, and an indistinct bass-guitar wobble, the opening of the present release reflects the name of the project as well as the promo pictures of the band members. The intent is a sort of experimental avant-garde without compunction. The band gets points for going all out on this idea and being able to record it. In its attempt and presentation, it is more sincere and pure than pop nonsense out there; its aesthetic constant and the streams of improvisation yield new patterns with each passing moment. Nevertheless, and despite the artistic unity, because of origin and intent, this is ultimately artsy-fartsy gutter music, coming from and destined for the garbage bin of human consciousness.

Black Reuss – ‘ENDGAME’ (Song from the Album Death)

Unfiltered, less directed allusions to goth rock and metal, Black Reuss dance to the tune of old, already very old and tired tropes used to focused effect through pop goth metal with male vocals. It does with the most established and generic materials, something that can stand on its own feet despite not moving the dial. The name of the virtue here is circumspection.

Epigram – Obsolescent

An admixture of Arch Enemy, Behemoth, and Amon Amarth, Epigram builds songs with a tried and true formula that will land with fans of the style. The structure is pop heavy metal, and the aesthetic relies on pushing simple catchy melodies over rhythmic riffs, and racing triggered drums with overprocessed and indistinct growls.

Dark Phantom – The Redline

Rhythmic Pantera and At the Gates, with lots of solos, political and social commentary from the Middle East. Lots of ‘heart’, computer games influence, allowing good musicianship and production in greater quantities, has made it so that anyone can make what in the 90s was the purview of media soundtrack composers. Nothing here will surprise, but the guitarwork might interest young guitar enthusiasts.

Devil Empire – Inside Infernal Anthropy Thrones

Catchy, sometimes unwittingly funny, abrupt, and lacking a sense of flow, this music sounds like a random collection of passages from what could be considered “cool driving black metal music”. Sometimes the music even appears to get stuck. The vocals sound right out of the 2000s by bands with vocalists who didn’t quite make the cut. The release ticks the style boxes, and it has the heart of the villager who happened upon a Mayhem album here, a Burzum there, and decades later found out he could do a lot of this in his bedroom. Computer orchestrations are thrown willy-nilly, and nothing in here makes sense. The intent, it seems, would be maximizing (farming?) aura moment by moment without regard for what just passed and what comes next in the music. While other music reviewed is just uninspired and mediocre, Devil Empire sounds like the product of passion and familiarity with (though definitely not mastery of) the morass of an underground genre. Marginally endearing and ultimately comical, it remains a belated and disorganized artifact of subpar releases of the past.

Blues stepped into the mainstream spotlight Sunday night at the 98th Academy Awards as the performance of the Oscar-nominated song “I Lied to You” from Sinners brought some of the genre’s most respected artists to one of entertainment’s biggest stages. The powerful performance earned a standing ovation inside the Dolby Theatre, marking a rare moment where blues commanded the center of the global spotlight.

Led by Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq, the performance featured an impressive lineup that included blues titans Buddy Guy, Eric Gales, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, and Bobby Rush. The stage was further filled out by Brittany Howard, Shaboozey and Alice Smith, alongside appearances by Misty Copeland, Jayme Lawson and Li Jun Li. Together, the group delivered a performance that captured the spirit and musical energy of Sinners, blending blues, roots music and cinematic storytelling on one of the world’s most watched broadcasts.

For blues fans, it was a moment that felt both historic and long overdue. The genre, which has influenced nearly every major form of modern popular music, rarely receives this kind of visibility at events like the Oscars. Seeing legends like Buddy Guy and Bobby Rush share the stage with modern torchbearers such as Gales and Kingfish created a powerful bridge between generations of blues musicians.

The performance was tied to Sinners, the Ryan Coogler film that entered the night with a record-setting 16 Oscar nominations, the most of any film this year. The live rendition of “I Lied to You” served as a musical centerpiece that reflected the film’s deep connection to blues and American roots music.

Moments like this do not happen often for the blues. While the genre’s influence is everywhere in popular music, it rarely receives such a prominent stage in front of a worldwide audience. The standing ovation that followed Sunday night’s performance felt like a recognition not just of the artists on stage, but of the enduring power and cultural importance of the blues itself.

Watch the full performance below.

Following the performance, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram took to social media, writing, “That was truly unreal.”

The post Watch top blues acts perform “I Lied To You” from “Sinners” at the Oscars appeared first on Blues Rock Review.