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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Valley Returns With New Single “Like I Never Lived (Without You)”
Cairo Montenotte’s alt-prog innovators step boldly onto the international stage with emotive, cinematic soundscapes
https://music.imusician.pro/a/LBhLxURG
Cairo Montenotte, Italy – February 27, 2026 – Italian alternative progressive rock quartet The Valley are back with their latest single, “Like I Never Lived (Without You),” released today via Volcano Records & Promotion . The track melds grunge textures, atmospheric tension, and emotionally driven dynamics, showcasing the band’s signature ability to balance nostalgia with modern sonic exploration.
Produced and mixed in Los Angeles by Fabrizio Grossi (Alice Cooper, Steve Vai, Slash) and mastered by legendary engineer Pete Doell (Miles Davis, Marilyn Manson, Toto), the single demonstrates world-class production while preserving The Valley’s independent ethos. Recorded entirely in their own studio in Italy, the song’s layered guitars, dynamic rhythms, and evocative vocals explore the fragile line between love and emotional dependency.
“ Like I Never Lived (Without You) explores the fragile line between love and emotional dependency. It’s about losing yourself in someone else until you don’t recognize who you are anymore,” says the band.
Fans of Incubus, Alice In Chains, and Faith No More will recognize familiar textures, but The Valley transforms these influences into a distinctive, contemporary alt-prog identity. The official video, directed by Nazar Bajew , premiered exclusively via BraveWords ahead of release and can be viewed here: https://bravewords.com/news/exclusive-the-valley-premieres-like-i-never-lived-without-you-music-video/, marking a major step in the band’s international visibility.

Production Credits:
Produced & Mixed: Fabrizio Grossi, Los Angeles
Mastered: Pete Doell
Recorded: Mattia Miniati, Italy
Video Directed: Nazar Bajew
Label: Volcano Records & Promotion
Management: Independent / Volcano Records & Promotion
Media Contact: zach@metaldevastationradio.com
With this release, The Valley cements their reputation as one of Italy’s most compelling modern alt-prog acts, proving that emotional depth and technical prowess can coexist in music that’s both accessible and daring.

Connect:
https://music.imusician.pro/a/LBhLxURG
https://www.facebook.com/thevalleyprog
https://www.instagram.com/thevalley.band 
Contact: thevalleytheband@gmail.com eros.povigna@gmail.com

Is Touring Actually Broken for Major Metal Bands in 2026?

Not creatively — but financially and structurally, yes. The cost of staying on the road has exploded, margins are thinner than ever, and even legacy acts are questioning whether it’s sustainable.

TL;DR

Touring isn’t dead, but the traditional model is under serious pressure. Rising production costs, insurance spikes, inconsistent ticket demand, festival instability and artist burnout are forcing even major metal acts to rethink what the road looks like in 2026 and beyond.

I’ve watched this industry long enough to know when something feels off.

Metal isn’t declining. The passion is still there. The crowds still show up. But behind the curtain, the economics are getting ugly — and artists are starting to say it out loud.

When Trent Reznor told a crowd he didn’t know if Nine Inch Nails would tour again after this run, that wasn’t theatrics. It sounded like a man doing math.

And that’s the part nobody wants to talk about.

Get All Your Official 2026 Tickets To Live Metal Shows Here

The Cost Explosion No One Sees

Production has never been more expensive.

Fuel costs. Crew wages. Bus rentals. Insurance. Freight. Visa fees. Venue percentages. Merch cuts.

The fan sees the stage. The band sees the spreadsheet.

Margins that used to be healthy are now razor thin — even for bands playing large rooms.

For mid-tier metal bands, it’s worse. If you’re not moving serious ticket volume, you’re gambling every night.

That’s not drama. That’s logistics.

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Festival Fatigue Is Real

We’ve also seen instability creeping into the festival circuit.

Cancellations. Lineup reshuffles. Reduced capacity. “Scaled back” editions.

Promoters are being cautious. Sponsors are tightening budgets. Fans are more selective.

And here’s the tension: festivals used to subsidize the ecosystem. They gave bands large paydays that justified the road grind.

If those payouts shrink, the whole system shifts.

Fans Are Spending Differently

Ticket prices are higher. Everything is higher.

Fans are choosing carefully.

Instead of five shows a year, maybe it’s two.

Instead of mid-tier tours, maybe it’s only the must-see legacy act.

That changes routing math fast.

Metal fans are loyal — but they’re not immune to inflation.

Why Reznor’s Comment Matters

Trent Reznor has hinted at touring uncertainty before. That’s true.

But context matters.

Nine Inch Nails are not struggling to sell tickets. They are not irrelevant. They are not coasting on nostalgia.

If a band at that level is openly questioning the viability of continuous touring, it tells you something about the backend reality.

And it’s not just them.

More artists are:

• Doing shorter runs
• Limiting production
• Skipping secondary markets
• Pivoting to residency-style models
• Exploring one-off events instead of full circuits

That’s not collapse.

That’s adaptation.

Check This Out – 13 Raw Facts You Never Knew About W.A.S.P. (The Band)

The Model That Built Metal Might Be Obsolete

For decades, the touring model was simple:

Record → Tour → Record → Tour

Now?

Streaming gutted record revenue. Touring became the primary income engine. Then touring costs exploded.

That creates a dangerous squeeze.

If touring becomes financially risky instead of reliable, the foundation shifts.

Metal will survive. It always does.

But the scale and structure of touring might look very different five years from now.

More curated events.
Fewer sprawling runs.
Bigger cities prioritized.
Selective appearances.

Less grind. More strategy.

So Is Touring “Broken”?

Broken might be too dramatic.

But stressed? Absolutely.

Unsustainable at old scale? Increasingly.

And if major acts are quietly adjusting while fans are still buying tickets, that’s the phase you need to watch.

Because the public usually notices last.

The fuse doesn’t explode overnight.

It burns quietly.

FAQ

Why are metal tours struggling in 2026?

Rising production costs, higher insurance, increased venue fees, inflation impacting ticket buyers, and shrinking festival margins are all pressuring profitability.

Did Trent Reznor say Nine Inch Nails might stop touring?

He recently told a crowd he wasn’t sure if they would tour again after this run, sparking renewed discussion about touring sustainability.

Are metal festivals being cancelled more often?

Some festivals have faced cancellations or scaling back due to financial pressures, though the market remains active overall.

Is metal losing popularity?

No. Engagement remains strong, but the economics of touring are more complex than ever.

What will metal touring look like in the future?

Likely more strategic runs, fewer extended tours, residency-style shows, and carefully curated festival appearances.

The post Is Touring Broken in 2026? Why Major Metal Bands Are Quietly Struggling to Stay on the Road appeared first on Loaded Radio.

Looks like we’re in for a weird year.

The post Watch Gorilla Biscuits Cover 80s Hit “867-5309 / Jenny” With Tommy Tutone’s Own Tommy Heath Live In Portland appeared first on Theprp.com.

In January of 2025 Ringo Starr released the country album Look Up, which he made in collaboration with a ton of Americana, bluegrass, and country veterans like T Bone Burnett, Alison Krauss, Billy Strings, and Molly Tuttle. He must’ve enjoyed that experience, because the former Beatle already back with the follow-up Long Long Road. Out this April, it was also co-written and produced by Burnett, and features guest appearances from Strings, Sheryl Crow, St. Vincent, and more. Its lead single “It’s Been Too Long” is out now.

The post Ringo Starr Announces Another Country Album Feat. St. Vincent, Billy Strings, & More appeared first on Stereogum.

With And Now We Die now out in the world, Vanishment close a chapter that’s been unfolding since 2019. Formed by members with roots in Himsa, Lair of the Minotaur, and Trial, the Seattle band spent years writing, playing shows, and refining their direction after their 2023 debut No More Torture. I spoke with the band about finishing the record, recording in a church, embracing a broader sound, and what comes next.

Hi! And Now We Die drops right at the start of 2026, but you’ve been building this thing since 2019. After spending years writing, touring, and burning up stages from the Pacific Northwest to sharing bills with big names, did the moment of finishing this record feel like a breakthrough, a relief, or something else entirely?
I think a satisfying sense of accomplishment that we completed an album that we could all be proud of is the best way to describe that feeling. Easier said than done… The writing and recording process was chill, no BS, or drama. The final product conceptualization and completion happened very easily. It’s 1000% a lot of work, mind you, but a labor of love for all of us. Straight up, we had fun making the record, and will have fun making the next one too!

Your debut No More Torture came out in 2023 and hit with a lot of praise for its energy and aggression. When you went back into the room to write And Now We Die, was there a conscious sense of “we’re pushing this harder”, or did the songs take you where they demanded to go?
Yes, we wanted to have a bigger, better, bolder sound that reflected on how we sound live! The first record was total DIY effort, and made its mark, but we wanted more. More dynamics to the songs, more heavy, more hooks, more melody/harmony, more speed, more slow, more sick tones…y’know…more is more! We came into the studio with the songs dialed-in performance wise and really just wanted to capture hot takes, and good groove in all the parts. Keep that energy up!

You’re a band made up of people who’ve been in some seriously heavy outfits – Himsa, Lair Of The Minotaur, Trial and more. How much did those past lives shape the way you approached riffs and arrangements here, and how much did you want to leave behind any old habits and just hit new levels?
We have definitely been calling upon musical inspirations from our youth and everything else that’s inspired us along the way over the years, into Vanishment. Metal, Punk, Hardcore, Hard Rock… We don’t really have much in the way of rules or types of riffs that are allowed or not. Nor pin ourselves to one sub-genre. It’s not about genre virtue signaling or stamp-collecting, it’s about playing good riffs. If it’s truly good, and it rocks, it’s on the table at all times. Ultimately though, crafting a song that brings in all sorts of different influences and melds them seamlessly is not an easy challenge. Maintaining a flow with interesting but disparate elements is basically one of the main puzzles of successful songwriting in metal. Doing that for a whole album, without adhering to a formula is even harder! What serves the song best is what usually dictates the process for the most part. Iterate, assess, change, repeat until happy.

Throughout our lives we have played in a wide-range of bands but have always felt that “heavy” is home. We also have extremely diverse music tastes when we personally listen to music but we all agree that “heavy” is home. Drawing from all that you gotta get inspiration where and when you can, no matter how strange or even how immensely familiar.

As far as leaving behind old habits and hit new levels…we just want to have fun and continually enjoy playing music with each other. Minimum drama and bullshit. That’s more important than all other factors. If we are digging it then the “work” part of being in a band is a minor inconvenience to get to where we want to be: bunch of dudes jamming in a room and having a good time, gettin’ in the zone, playing out from time to time, banging heads, making killer records…

You recorded with Nicholas Wilbur at Anacortes Unknown, had Chris Wozniak mix it, and Alan Douches master it – that’s a team with some serious pedigree. Was there a moment in tracking or mixing where you heard something that made you go “that’s it – that’s the sound we wanted”?
Getting the sounds we wanted was mainly an iterative process, but I will say that the drum tones we got in the old church we recorded in, really set the foundation for the rest to follow suit. It took some time and elbow grease to get the electric string instruments dialed in, but we got there! Vocals were seemingly a breeze and done very non-traditionally in that we didn’t use a totally dead, sound-proofed room to record them but instead put some very quality condenser mics in the middle of the old church floor and let Rob rip. Acoustic guitars worked out great in the same way.

Seattle and the Pacific Northwest have such a deep, sometimes weird, musical history. Do you feel like your geography, the weather, the scene, the crowds, creeps into the pacing or aggression of your music in ways you couldn’t shake even if you tried?
Well yes there’s some definite truth to the stereotypical PNW experience: gray clouds, wet miserable winters, seasonal affective disorder, people throwing fish at an outdoor marketplace, coffee, grunge music of years gone by, tech industry, yada yada… but there’s way more to it than that. There’s beautiful landscapes, close proximity to stunning nature, amazing mediterranean summers (EVERYONE wishes they were longer), excellent art, food, and music scenes, tons to do… If anything there’s a weird dichotomy between the shitty weather seasons of Late Fall, Winter, and early Spring, that lend oneself to being indoors for long periods to hunker down, sorta hibernate, be kinda sad and be weird. Periods of introspection. That’s a potent mix for musical inspiration and writing songs in a band. Yet playing music with friends is a good reprieve from breaking out of the negative elements of that! Then the great weather months of Late-Spring, Summer, and early Fall, lend one to be outdoors more, enjoy the area, be more social, maybe be slightly less weird? Embracing that diverse experience and dichotomy in life is probably what sticks and is unshaken.

Playing with bands like Warbringer, Flotsam & Jetsam, Mutoid Man and Accused A.D. puts you in interesting company across thrash and heavy metal. Did sharing stages with those acts influence how you wrote or performed these new songs?
From a performance perspective it inspires us to keep playing with full-ass conviction, not half-ass mediocrity. Especially live! Gotta bring it and bring it hard every time, no slouching. No one is excited to watch an unenthused, uninspired, bored bunch of dudes. Fuck that shit. Those bands you mentioned didn’t do it, and nor should we. Also showed us that shredder dudes on the back-nine in life can still bring it even harder than the youngbloods!

From a writing perspective, how songs will be received by the crowd when performed live should always be an important point of consideration in crafting a song, especially in metal. Those bands listed definitely had very clear moments where the power of live impact was a deciding factor in certain parts of songs or timing of riffs. Smart intention can provide super heavy results.

The title And Now We Die carries a punch. Was that always the line you wanted up front as the thematic center, or did it evolve out of a vibe or a moment in rehearsal or tracking?
The title came from a line of lyric in a song, and the words just rolled off the tongue and had a monumental, powerful sound to them. Bold and resolute. Easily memorable, simple. I think we all really latched on to it’s straight-forward sound. “Alas, Ye Associates Shall Perish” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it? Hahaha! But also when you think of it in context with the lyrics in the songs on the album it can mean different things to different people. Is it fatally nihilistic? Maybe to some it is. Or does it mean to survive true adversity and be ready to be renewed in life? You be the judge.

Drums and bass have a huge presence on this record, tight, heavy, and thunderous. Were there any particular drum takes or bass lines during the sessions that surprised you in how much they shaped the final feel of a song?
We all wanted a bigger drum sound on this record, and a full heavy bass sound. It’s thicker than a lot of other similar styled albums, by design. For example in Die in My Shelter, the drums needed to be tight as fuck to give it a marching/martial kind of feel to emphasize the lyrics and meaning of the song. Same with Engraved Under Skin. Big drum sounds and huge bass tone make the songs heavy, more so than the guitars do. Slow and mid-paced songs absolutely crave big tones. Hell even in Ellipsis, the instrumental, the drums add an element of orchestral thunder to a quiet part of the album, to build up to the next song, which is a burner. Guitars always can have their day in the sun, but you can’t ever neglect the rhythm section if you want an album to sound good!

And Now We Die is your second full‑length after years of shows and road tests. When you hear crowd reactions to older songs now, does that feedback shape how you approach new material in rehearsal?
Yeah, paying attention to the ebb and flow within a song is super, super important. Mixing in slow heavy parts in between fast parts can better accentuate and highlight the power of both tempos even more. I’d say we pay more attention now to making sure there’s a dynamic mix of tempos/grooves in a whole set of songs to keep it interesting and give everyone a little something they’re looking for. Mixing it up is key to a good set, so then should be key to a good album. Diversity.

Looking back at the time between writing No More Torture and finishing And Now We Die, what’s one thing that changed in the way you approach songcraft, a riff approach, a writing habit, or just how you listen to each other in the room?
We wrote a lot of No More Torture during covid lockdowns and recorded our parts somewhat independently from each other, at home or at our rehearsal space, by ourselves. It was done that way due to necessity more than choice. For And Now We Die, we arranged all the songs in the room together and recorded, in traditional fashion in a real studio, all together. There’s a reason it is a tried and true method. Proof is in the pudding.

Heavy and thrash metal have roots, traditions, and sometimes strict definitions, but And Now We Die doesn’t feel like it’s trying to fit into a box, it feels like a declaration. Do you ever feel pressure to lean into a subgenre label, or is it just whatever hits you in the spine?
From a genre perspective, we all come from a lot of different musical backgrounds, experiences, prior band genres…it would be weirder for us to try and shoehorn ourselves into one distinct subgenre. It can be an easier way to go about it but we’re kind of categorically against that approach and find it limiting. For us at least. Whatever hits you in the spine is a good way to do it! The over-genrefication within metal is kind of a funny thing, super nerdy. “Are you blackened-thrash-war-metal?” “No dude, we’re power-thrash-classic-metal!” “Oh, so different music entirely!”… In the end, we’re simply a metal band.

If someone were only going to hear one track from And Now We Die as their first introduction to Vanishment, which one would you hand them, and why?
‘Scarred in Fate’ has a little bit of everything we do, so probably that one. Good sampler platter. Crack a beer, smoke a joint, and give it a rip!

Finally, after this chapter, writing, recording, touring, and now releasing, where does the band go next? More riffs waiting in the vault, new scenes to conquer, or just seeing how high this thunder can climb? Thank you for your time!
We are actively writing new material for the next record, and its sounding killer so far! We have tons of material to build our next record from. New scenes to conquer and seeing how high this thunder can climb? Hell yeah that’s a good description of what we want to do moving forward. Play outside of our areas more, bring a 100% Vanishment can of whoopass to every live show we play! And then keep on working to make an even more powerful record than …And Now We Die. We are just getting started…

https://linktr.ee/vanishment

Hot Chip co-leader Alexis Taylor has already released five solo albums. You probably haven’t heard all of them. It’s fine. There’s a lot of music out there. But you should absolutely not neglect Taylor’s upcoming solo LP Paris In The Spring, which comes out next week. I just listened for the first time, and it’s…

The post Alexis Taylor – “I Can Feel Your Love” (Prod. The Avalanches) appeared first on Stereogum.

Norway’s Vreid return after five years with The Skies Turn Black. The album begins with a melodic subtlety that twists and weaves into heavier elements, immediately sounding like this is going to be a new musical horizon with atmospheric tones in abundance. For an opening track, “From These Woods” certainly does a remarkable job of … Continue reading Album Review: Vreid – The Skies Turn Black

Growth and Slaughtercult will open.

The post Psycroptic & Rivers Of Nihil Announce Australian Co-Headlining Tour appeared first on Theprp.com.

The latest from “Live! On Samhain 2 2025”.

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