2026’s Sonic Temple is still lingering in the air, but attention has now turned to next year, with Danny Wimmer Presents confirming the dates that 2027’s festival will be taking place.
And those dates are May 13-16, once again taking place at the Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
Four dates passes are set to go on sale for next year on June 29, or if you’re a subscriber, pre-sale begins on June 26. You can get all those details from right here.
And if you need convincing why the festival is so unmissable, here are the some of the highlights from 2026, which saw MyChemical Romance, Shinedown, Bring Me The Horizon and Tool headline, alongside the likes of Pierce The Veil, Good Charlotte, The Offspring, Coheed And Cambria, Motionless In White, Black Veil Brides, Yellowcard, Lamb Of God, Rise Against and Halestorm to name a few.
On June 23, 1986, four days before the film opened in US cinemas, the soundtrack to Muppets creator Jim Henson’s dark fantasy Labyrinth was shared with the world. The album featured an excellent synth-heavy score by South African composer Trevor Jones, who had collaborated with Henson and conceptual designer Brian Froud on 1982’s Dark Crystal, but the USP for rock music fans was that it also featured five new original songs by David Bowie, who had been cast in the key role of Jareth, the film’s enigmatic, puckish king of the goblins, whose minions had ‘borrowed’ a human baby from the fictional Williams family.
Bowie, by this point in his career, had already proven that he was a versatile and accomplished actor, having demonstrated his range on the ‘silver screen’ with starring roles in sci-fi drama The Man Who Fell To Earth and in World War II drama Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, in addition to performing as Joseph Merrick in an acclaimed stage production of The Elephant Man on Broadway. Working with Henson offered the creatively restless star another opportunity for reinvention.
“Jim Henson set up a meeting with me while I was doing my 1983 [Serious Moonlight] tour in the States, and he outlined the basic concept for Labyrinth and showed me some of Brian Froud’s artwork,” the singer recalled in a 1986 interview with US entertainment magazine Movieline. “I’d always wanted to be involved in the music-writing aspect of a movie that would appeal to children of all ages, as well as everyone else, and I must say that Jim gave me a completely free hand with it. The script itself was terribly amusing without being vicious or spiteful or bloody, and it also had a lot more heart than many other special effects movies. So I was pretty well hooked from the beginning.”
Having a Hollywood budget didn’t hurt when it came to Bowie’s vision for the soundtrack. Recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York, the album’s gospel-flavoured closing track Underground featured backing vocals from Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston’s mother Cissy among others, and guitar from electric blues legend Albert Collins. Chilly Down, described by Bowie as a “little swamp-type number” voiced by actors Richard Bodkin, Charles Augins, Kevin Clash, and Danny John-Jules aka forest dwelling creatures The Fire Gang, was recorded at Abbey Road. But utilising deluxe studios and crack musicians didn’t necessarily mean that everything went exactly as Bowie had planned.
“Dance Magic [its title later changed to Magic Dance] gave me a bit of a problem,” the singer explained in a TV interview promoting the film. “It’s a song for the Goblin King and the baby. In the recording studio the baby I picked – one of the backing singers, Diva [Gray], had this cute little baby, and couldn’t put two gurgles together! And it wouldn’t work for me. I mean it just wouldn’t go; I kicked it, I did everything to make it scream, and it really buttoned its lip. So I ended up doing the gurgles, I’m the baby on that track as well.”
It should be stressed here that Bowie was joking about kicking the infant.
Magic Dance also features a spoken word intro lifted word for word from dialogue between Cary Grant and Shirley Temple in the 1947 film Bachelor Night (also known as The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.
Originally envisaged as a single to promote the film, As The World Falls Down, was described by Bowie as “the prettiest tune in the movie”. Written to soundtrack a dream sequence in which the Goblin King dances with teenager Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) at a masquerade ball, it’s the most tender song on the record. “Jim [Henson] wanted something which was fairly old-fashioned in its sentiments,” Bowie explained. For reasons never fully made public, the planned release of the single, and its accompanying video, was shelved for years, making it something of a hidden gem.
The last of the five Bowie songs on the album was his personal favourite, Within You.
“I had to write something that sounded like stone walls and crumbling power,” he revealed in Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History. “The overall effect, with Jim’s visuals, is, I think, very tragic and slightly disturbing.”
The Labyrinth soundtrack album charted in the UK at number 38, and in the US at number 68. Not Bowie’s biggest success then, but as he opted never to perform any of the songs from the album live, wanting them to remain forever within the film’s own world, the album retains a special place in the hearts of fans.
Halestorm singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale has lent her voice to a new cover of Soundgarden’s 1989 single Loud Love, also featuring Testament, Metal Allegiance and ex-Pearl Jam members.
The track, released today (June 23), is the latest offering from King Ultramega, a tribute project to late Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple Of The Dog frontman Chris Cornell led by Metal Allegiance bassist/founder Mark Menghi. Joining Hale and Menghi on the single is Testament’s Alex Skolnick on guitar and drummer Dave Krusen, formerly of Soundgarden’s Seattle scenemates Pearl Jam.
Proceeds from the release, as with King Ultramega’s past singles, go to mental health charity MusiCares. Listen below.
Hale says of the new song: “I feel like I’m always learning something from Chris. Every few years I’ll discover something deeper in his lyrics, or higher in his range. But there is an authenticity that comes with Chris that can’t be taught or trained for. I believe every word he writes. I’m inspired by his control over his animalistic vocal range, and his poetry, but also how honestly he sings.”
Menghi adds: “If you listen to the OG version of Loud Love, Chris’ vocals are just absolute insanity and who better than Lzzy to tackle this? Lzzy has complete vocal dominance, carries such a strong presence and quite frankly is one of the best vocalists in modern rock today.”
Krusen also comments: “Seattle was a very turbulent place in the late 80s and early 90s, and I think the best thing to come out of it was all the great music. I was a huge Soundgarden fan.
“I got to meet Chris and Matt [Cameron, drums] when we (Pearl Jam) were working on [1991 debut album] Ten and they were working on Temple Of The Dog. It was a huge thrill for me. The fact that I was asked to be a part of this King Ultramega record was a huge honour. I was very intimidated to try and tackle the drum parts in Loud Love, but the guys I was recording with made it no pressure and a lot of fun.”
Cornell, who co-founded Soundgarden in 1984, died at the age of 52 on May 18, 2017, while touring North America with the band. Menghi set up King Ultramega in October 2020, when he released a cover of Soundgarden’s Rusty Cage featuring singer William DuVall from Alice In Chains, also of the Seattle alt-rock scene, plus Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher.
The project then lay dormant for a short while, before signing a deal with Reigning Phoenix Music. They’ve since released a series of Cornell covers and hope to corral them into a studio album. Other musicians to have joined in on the project include ex-Arch Enemy singer Alissa White-Gluz, Joe Satriani and Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil.
“I was a pre-teen when I came across [Soundgarden’s 1988 debut album] Ultramega OK at a record store in Long Island,” he said. “Since finding that cassette, Chris has been one of the few musical constants that I can remember. It’s his voice – he’s the voice, right? – but also his songwriting. I always felt connected to the things he was saying.”
Despite the new single, no update has been given on the status of King Ultramega’s as-yet-unannounced debut album.
Those hyperpopping sibs are at it again. The glitchy, glossy, maximalist NYC duo Frost Children return today with word of a new EP, Tweaker Poem, arriving in just a few weeks. It’s the follow-up to last year’s Sister, and it arrives on the heels of a very hectic and chaotic 2026 so far. It sounds like things have been even more hectic and chaotic than we realized because Frost Children made Tweaker Poem in response to their experience with a stalker.
Symphonic black metal purveyors from Norway Profane Burial have unleashed “Triumph Of Dreadful Aftermath” track, the first taste of their upcoming full-length release Desolate Echoes Of Turmoil, to be released on July 24th. Read more…
Among the pivotal bands that shaped the European power metal sound in the 2000s, Masterplan holds an especially unique place in history. Originally conceived as a side venture by then Helloween guitar Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch to further pursue the darker and modernized aesthetic of 2000’s The Dark Ride, it quickly morphed into something entirely more substantial following their auspicious and subsequent dismissal from the band.
The inclusion of up-and-coming Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande and former Iron Savior bassist Jan-Soren Eckert to the fold created a strong supergroup-style hype behind the Masterplan name that quickly saw their ascent to prominence in the European sales charts and rock/metal media with the release of their 2003 eponymous debut. Though in later years lineup instability led to a fall in prominence for this breakaway melodic metal sensation, the initial impact it made in the mid-2000s was beyond question and was rightly viewed as a game-changer, and now, roughly 20 years later, this same outfit has rekindled the same magic with their latest LP, Metalmorphosis.
Though of the original lineup that took the European market by storm, only guitarist Roland Grapow and keyboardist Axel Mackenrott remain; this opus is as effective a return to form as could have been achieved with the entire original quintet. The rhythm section, consisting of former Stratovarius bassist Jari Kainulainen and drummer Kevin Kott, seamlessly lays down a massive sonic foundation fitting of the signature thick and forbidding atmosphere that Masterplan established with their hybrid approach of heavy yet hard rock-infused aggression.
Likewise, vocalist Rick Altzi continues to pour out a similarly gravely and smoky display from the microphone that Lande accomplished on this fold’s early material, though with an extra degree of rawness and grit that makes him easy to distinguish from his predecessor. But more so than anything else, Grapow’s prowess as a studio engineer and producer in approximating and building upon the aesthetic formula popularized by Andy Sneap is on full display, translating a sound that was considerably punchy for 2003 into its 2026 equivalent.
The familiar sounds of yesteryear come raging forth even before the first pummeling riff out of Roland’s guitar has a chance to take the helm, all but to the point of ushering Metalmorphosis in as the long-awaited sequel to the eponymous debut. The cinematic orchestration that flows out of Mackenrott’s keyboards and the accompanying military snare drum line at the onset of opening anthem “Chasing The Light” bears an uncanny resemblance to how “Spirit Never Die” begins, and the subsequent blend of rapid chugging guitar riffs and swift drumming beneath Altzi’s soaring resound could well be treated as the darker and heavier cousin of the latter, complete with a brilliantly crafted virtuoso solo out of Grapow’s mighty six-string.
The follow up mid-paced banger “Electric Nights” accomplishes a similar relation to the famed duet entry that helped put this band on the map “Heroes”, albeit with a nimbler presentation and minus the guest vocal services of Michael Kiske, while the chunky, down tempo beast of an entry “Shadow Man” channels pretty heavy comparisons to this band’s original leadoff single “Enlighten Me”, though the guitar and keyboard work is notably more adventurous and the tone even more aggressive.
The recurring formula of revisiting the early days in a more amped up fashion becomes so pronounced that one can’t help but see this as the album that MK II should have been. Whether it be the bleak, heavy rocking, high-impact bluster of “Bound To Fall”, the Led Zeppelin-like nod to Middle Eastern music with a punchier attack “Pain Of Yesterday,” or the bludgeoning yet earworm melody-steeped “Ghostlight”, it’s all highly reminiscent of the same power-infused format that dominated the debut album and 2005’s Aeronautics.
Likewise, though speed metal was always a secondary element in Masterplan’s formula, a duo of riveting entries that recall the carryover elements of Grapow’s stint with Helloween in the double bass happy crusher and title entry “Metalmorphosis” and the high octane thrasher “Through The Storm” nearly steal the show early in the second half of the album. Though this mighty LP closes with a raging, mid-paced, riff happy banger in “Rise Again”, the entry that really brings it all home is the colossal 8 minute epic “The Call”, which sees this fold stepping out of their comfort zone a bit in a favor of a more drawn out and progressive approach, and it melds perfectly with their hook-oriented and conventional mode of songwriting.
Metalmorphosis is not an album that dwells upon the past, but it definitely takes heavy cues from where Masterplan has been, takes stock of what worked at the height of their career, and builds something substantially new out of a pre-existing template. Along for the ride is a renewed sense of energy and drive that has not been seen out of this band since their initial run with Jorn Lande at the helm, becoming most apparent in just how insanely poised and ambitious Roland Grapow’s guitar performance unfolds, but is clearly spread across the entirety of the arrangement.
With more than a decade’s worth of time having passed since the last time any original studio material came out from this outfit and nearly a decade since their 2017 LP covering Helloween material penned by Grapow dubbed PumpKings, to call this a monster comeback would be putting it mildly.
Those who have ridden the Masterplan train since it first pulled out of the station will find plenty of familiar themes at work here, but those who have yet to discover their unique niche of dark, heavy rocking power metal will also find as good a starting point here as they would going back to where it all began.
Release Date: June 26th, 2026 Record Label: Frontiers Music Srl Genre: Power Metal
Children of Finland Fighting in Norway (C.O.F.F.I.N) are back with a new single, released today, called “Sleep In It,” which delivers earth-shaking guitar hooks and fierce vocal snarls from Ben Portnoy, perfectly contrasted by Beach Boys-style background harmonies.
The track is the first glimpse of their fourth studio album, called Out In Oslo, and it bursts with energy, a killer rhythm section (gotta love the drum intro!), and a no-frills attitude, topped off with fiery guitar solos and heaps of swagger. “Sleep In It” is definitely worth a listen.
Give it a go by clicking on the Spotify/YouTube player below and follow C.O.F.F.I.N as well, if you like what you hear.
The guy from the Killers caught the country music bug. Killers frontman Brandon Flowers has released a couple of solo albums over the years, the most recent of which was 2015’s quietly excellent The Desired Effect. We last heard from the Killers when they released Pressure Machine in 2021. In 2023, Flowers said that he’d scrapped an entire halfway-done Killers album. After teasing something new, Flowers is now ready to announce the new solo LP Thrasher, which he’s explicitly framing as his “country/western” album.
