Remember Two Minutes To Late Night? That was my motherfucking shit. Two Minutes To Late Night started off as a metal-themed late-night talk show parody at the tragically defunct Brooklyn venue St. Vitus, but it turned into something else during the pandemic. The comedian Jordan Olds, in character as Gwarsenio Hall, would round up heavy…
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Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted is taking The Chophouse Band on the road this summer for their first-ever North American headlining run — 18 dates across the South, Midwest, and East Coast, kicking off 07/01 in Northampton, Massachusetts, and wrapping up with two nights at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on 07/24 and 07/25.
Eight of those dates are headlining shows; the remaining ten see Newsted and company supporting Atlanta country rock outfit Blackberry Smoke through July. Tickets go on sale Friday, 04/24 at 10 a.m. local time. Get them here.
The 2026 Jason Newsted & The Chophouse Band lineup features Jesse Farnsworth (guitar, vocals), Jimbo Hart (bass, vocals), Humberto Perez (guitar), and Robert John-Tucker (drums, vocals).
Newsted had this to say about the run: “We’re fired up to finally take this to the people, and it’s an honor to head out on the road with the Blackberry crew for our first proper run. Blackberry Smoke has built a loyal following that knows and enjoys good music.”
“We’ll be performing The Chophouse Band originals and selections from a few of our heroes. Even at places like the Ryman, we will play some acoustic-based tunes, but throughout the set, it is guaranteed to get heavy!,” he added.
The Chophouse Band plays a rough-edged brand of Americana with roots stretching into bluegrass, folk, soul, rock, and heavy metal — and Newsted‘s lyrics lean personal, threading his own stories through the music.
He elaborated on the band’s direction: “I’ve realized that this is where I can place my energy effectively now. The Chophouse is the continuation of my ambassadorship of American music. The Chophouse Band plays everything from bluegrass to fucking slabs of metal. We’re covering a lot of ground. There could be country flavor to a song, but it’ll still have sharp teeth. We are looking forward to an exciting summer!”
The band takes its name from Newsted‘s four recording studio facilities around the U.S. It got its start in 1992 when Newsted founded The Chophouse Records Studio in San Francisco, with The Chophouse Band performing periodically at benefit shows supporting veterans’ relief, animal rehabilitation, and youth music and arts education programs ever since.
The post Former METALLICA Bassist JASON NEWSTED And His THE CHOPHOUSE BAND Are Heading Out On Their First-Ever North American Headlining Tour appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.
Atilla was originally published on HM Magazine by Casey Conemac.
Atilla was originally published on HM Magazine by Casey Conemac.
This past Friday, California-based multi-instrumentalist Leila Abdul-Rauf released a sonically intense album when she dropped her sixth studio effort, Andros Insidium via 20 Buck Spin. Known for her work on five Vastum albums, Abdul-Rauf has been working on her solo efforts for a while now. This time around, her album serves as the darkest, most confrontational piece of music in her career.
Described as a deep dive into the “dark vastness of the psyche of woman,” the album is appropriately cinematic and dark, with ambience and industrial flair building the backbones of the entire release. The whole project comes with some special guest contributions from Samuel Foster (ex-Saros, ex-Weakling), Kienan Hamilton (Cartilage, False Figure), Gregory C. Hagan (ex-Common Eider, King Eider, ex-Thomas Carnacki), and Drew Zercoe (Field Of Fear), so be sure to keep an ear out for them.
But enough jibber jabber from yours truly. Here’s Leila Abdul-Rauf giving a deep dive breakdown of each track on Andros Insidium.
Among the ceremonial din of gongs, a choir narrates Inanna‘s treacherous descent into the underworld. The militant drumming (courtesy of Sam Foster) signals the calling that lures Inanna into the underworld as she braces herself for a journey of violence and harm.
Steeped in an ambiance of doom-laden synths, the lyrics continue telling the myth: Inanna has reached the deep darkness of the underworld. She is murdered by the sister goddess Ereshkigal, her corpse hung from a nail on a wall. She is later rescued and brought back to life through the help of her servant and gods, and sacrificial killing of her husband.
The most cinematically epic track on the album, the lyrics describe the incestuous dance of the two goddesses, free to roam in the darkness and explore their innermost desires away from the gaze of male dominance. Lute sections deftly performed by Kienan Hamilton, and Sam Foster reappears on percussion. One of my personal faves on the album.
Ancient sounding horns call and respond to the deeply resident throat-singing courtesy of Gregory Hagan, evoking a landscape of medievalism concurrent with the decline of a matriarchal goddess age, and a rise of patriarchy in myth and religion. Originating from a trumpet improv, this was the first song written for this album, from which the rest of the tracks developed.
An electronified, industrialized reimagining of Vastum’s “Corpus Fractum”, I love how hard this song hits – a relentless frame drum beats among a backdrop of heavy distorted synths; it’s a staple in my life set. Drew Zercoe contributes a few vocal lines at the end. The lyrics are more philosophically driven, describing someone on the brink of a crucial inner development, digging deeply and searching, always questioning…
Stripped down instrumentally to just voice, piano, and synths, the title track is the most emotionally raw song on the album. The lyrics depict a revenge fantasy of a survivor against their abuser through castration and sodomy, which in this story, is enacted by a vengeful goddess. It speaks to the rage-filled fantasy the individual has against an attacker as well as the collective rage caused by systemic abuse through sexual, political, relational, emotional control. The goddess’s acts of revenge symbolize a reckoning against patriarchal harm and an imagined dawning of a new age where feminine power and wisdom are restored – violent and unapologetic.
The title track hits such a nerve, I felt that the listener needed space to sit in grief during whatever track would follow it. Featuring more of my signature ambient drones and horns, this was my first attempt at plainchant style vocals, and it felt appropriate to sing about the death of Inanna-Ishtar, as a symbol of the death of the feminine divine, weakened by a rising patriarchy.
Almost the entirety of this album deals with such dark subject matter – a darkness that keeps compounding upon itself – I felt its conclusion needed some semblance of light at the end of the tunnel, a bittersweet finale. Kienan Hamilton makes a reappearance with wistful lute passages. The lyrics tell of Inanna’s eventual return from the underworld reuniting with her people. Not unscathed, she bears her scars as badges of honor. It describes the journey of Everywoman and her survival amidst a world that hates her and wants her shrunken, silent or dead. We rejoice the return of Inanna, not taking her power for granted, as we visualize the path towards a new goddess age in the modern world that benefits all, hardened and restrengthened against the threat of an ever-present manosphere.
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With Empty Shell Casing, In 2 Again and more.
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Slayer has announced two U.S. headlining dates tied to the 40th anniversary of Reign In Blood, with the album played front-to-back at both shows. One of them marks the band’s first Los Angeles appearance in seven years.
A limited number of VIP experiences and curated Travel Packages for those journeying to see a show will also be available. The pre-sale details are as follows:
These are the only U.S. headline shows where Slayer will perform Reign In Blood in its entirety. Festival sets throughout the year will be different. Down, Suicidal Tendencies, and Hatebreed will support in Shakopee; Cannibal Corpse, Cavalera, and Crowbar will open the Los Angeles show.
Slayer‘s current lineup is the same one that closed out the band’s farewell run in 2019: guitarists Kerry King and Gary Holt, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, and drummer Paul Bostaph. Their recent activity has included major festival appearances in the U.K. and Canada, an East Coast U.S. show at Hersheypark Stadium, and a six-song set at Black Sabbath‘s final concert, “Back To The Beginning,” on 07/05/2025 at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.
Reign In Blood came out on October 7, 1986, through Def Jam Recordings — the band’s first record with producer Rick Rubin. Kerrang! called it “the heaviest album of all time,” and it remains a defining record in the history of thrash and speed metal.
The album’s release was held up due to concerns over its artwork and lyrics. Opening track “Angel Of Death” — which documents the atrocities carried out by Nazi physician Josef Mengele at Auschwitz — drew accusations of Nazism, which the band consistently denied.
Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo shared his perspective on the album in a 2021 interview with Metal Injection: “I look at that album as a masterpiece. And it’s one of those albums that will stand the test of time. It’s brilliant. The fire, the energy that that album has. I don’t hear that in other records. I don’t know if it’s because I’m listening to a band that I was part of, but I have this perspective that’s objective.”
“But you know, it’s brilliant, and I’m very appreciative… I think that album will forever be like the epitome of thrash music and part of a historic time in music history… Slayer had a certain energy that’s unlike anything else. And so that definitely is for me one of the greatest metal records ever made,” he added.
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You can now hear the lead single “Meat For The Beast”.
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Over the past month or so, the former pop-rap hitmaker Jack Harlow has gone viral for some incredibly dumb reasons. He just released his neo-soul album Monica, and during the promotional rounds, he went on the New York Times Popcast, he told two white music writers that he “got Blacker.” Also he wore a gigantic and very silly hat in his “Say Hello” video. As a result, Harlow has been the target of jokes from august institutions like Saturday Night Live and Dionne Warwick.
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