The first release for the year from Give Praise Records is a pay-what-you-want compilation that is available now, via Bandcamp. You can check out a video for the comp here and download it below… “Welcome to the year of praise 2026! We are starting this year with a brand new sampler – available for free on Bandcamp.This sampler spans […]
Midsummer recently announced its return after four years with a new lineup and a heavier modern hard rock/metalcore sound. Fueled by personal struggle and creative rebirth, the band’s new era merges emotional storytelling with massive riffs, aggressive energy, and cinematic atmosphere. Its newest single, “Paralyzed” is an emotionally driven modern rock track about being stuck in […]
Midsummer recently announced its return after four years with a new lineup and a heavier modern hard rock/metalcore sound. Fueled by personal struggle and creative rebirth, the band’s new era merges emotional storytelling with massive riffs, aggressive energy, and cinematic atmosphere. Its newest single, “Paralyzed” is an emotionally driven modern rock track about being stuck in […]
Roman Candle have shared a new song, focusing on the disillusion of the life handed to you by the music industry as members of a band.
Titled ‘Bite Harder Than You Bleed’, it showcases the band’s feelings on how quickly things change when you’re suddenly at the centre of attention within the music industry. Presenting via a dizzying blend of banshee howls and razor-sharp riffs, a perfect distance between hardcore battery and screamo vulnerability, it’s a caustic way to state your case.
It serves as a reminder to never let the world around you try to dilute what makes you who you are. And when music and art is concerned within that, it’s a case of not letting those who haven’t lived this be the ones to tell you if it is worthy enough or not.
Vocalist Piper Ferrari had this to say about the song, stating, “‘Bite Harder Than You Bleed’ came from this place of being completely jaded with the music industry—the pressure to act the same, think the same, and worship the same idols. It’s that ‘kill your idols’ moment where you realise even the people you look up to are just as hollow, anxious, and bruised as you are. Lines like “falsely shallow, hollow, refusing to follow” and “your idols hate you too” were me processing how disheartening it can feel, but also how freeing it is to acknowledge it. The song is basically my reminder that you have to bite harder than you bleed—push back, stay sharp, and refuse to let the world wear you down.”
The track is the band’s second of the year, following on from ‘Can We Watch Something Happy?’ which arrived last month.
Seattle-based indie rock band instant crush is excited to announce the release of the deluxe edition of their acclaimed debut album I’M SORRY I DIDN’T BITE MY TONGUE out March 13 on Share It Music (pre-order). The expanded release features six new tracks – three new studio recordings and three previously unreleased demos – together with the original album release tracklist. Today the band […]
Seattle-based indie rock band instant crush is excited to announce the release of the deluxe edition of their acclaimed debut album I’M SORRY I DIDN’T BITE MY TONGUE out March 13 on Share It Music (pre-order). The expanded release features six new tracks – three new studio recordings and three previously unreleased demos – together with the original album release tracklist. Today the band […]
THE MAGUS, the Luciferian project helmed by Necromantia co-founder and ex-Rotting Christ musician The Magus, was formed in 2022 following the dissolution of the legendary Greek Black Metal band Necromantia, after the death of Baron Blood in 2019. Daemonosophia is their second studio full-length, the follow-up to 2023’s Βυσσοδομώντας.
On Daemonosophia, he is once again joined by long-time collaborators El on guitars and Maelstrom on drums. This release is promised to deliver a more aggressive and dynamic sound than the previous album, while maintaining the devouring dark atmosphere the project’s music is known for.
The Magus explains that “the new album is a journey to Demonhood. The Truth lies Below not Above. The Six are Three. The Unholy Trinity. The Three are One. The Absolute. The Infernal pact.
“Musically, it is more edgy and vengeful, more aggressive and dynamic. Still theatrical and horrifying in nature, hellish and complex in performance. And as always there are these diabolically diverse moments that will surprise and will make you feel unease…but Lucifer has many names and many faces. In some parts, collaboration with top-level musicians and vocalists was deemed necessary to achieve maximum impact.”
THE MAGUS – Daemonosophia. “Musically, it is more edgy and vengeful, more aggressive and dynamic.”
After the brief but sinister mood-setting opener, Pater Noster, the attention-grabbing Pseudoprophetae bursts forth, initially as a blackened sensory assault with squealy thrashy leads. The vocals are scathingly acidic, and the overall vibe becomes blacker as it progresses. I love the ebb and build to this piece as it creates so much atmosphere. A superbly constructed, enthralling piece.
I love the engaging and atmospheric build to Daemonosophia. Firstly, you get deep, male chants building into clean female vocals, courtesy of guest vocalist Lambrini Gioti, that complement and contrast with The Magus’ acerbic, raw vocals, adding a duality to the piece. Coursing over straightforward riffing, this changes into something far more complex as the pace ramps up for the mid part of the track. Dropping back to the twin delivery in the latter stages of the piece, a more haunting and complex undercurrent is maintained.
The Six In Three Is All One is a haunting driver from the offset with a sharp, discordant edge to the riffing, which I really like. The Magus’ acidic vocals tear through, the pace paring back to a very dark, haunting mood as the main body of vocals becomes more dominant. But that discordant feel and sharpness are largely maintained throughout, with the pace rebuilding and ebbing to the close, making a great piece.
Next is The Era Of Lucifer Rising, which is a Luciferian interpretation of the Rotting Christ Thou Art Lord classic, heavily reinterpreted to reflect The Magus’ personal philosophy. I do love this piece. It is slow and smouldering, as well as hugely reflective yet powerful both musically and lyrically. This is a piece that I am sure will resonate with many people.
You could be forgiven for thinking Magia Obscura was going to be a reflective otherworldly piece as it opens. But half a minute in, it opens into a raw black assault on your senses as waves of crushing riffs surge towards you alongside acerbic vocals. But that reflective melodic element returns as a haunting undercurrent. I love the otherworldly spoken element midway, as it adds an air of mysticism, and the lead work is haunting and extensive, but cleverly understated so as to just build on the mystical atmosphere.
The Magus describes the next piece, Amelia, as his personal inner tribute to King Diamond and this aspect is reflected in the solos and keyboard work. Again beginning with a reflective opening, rapidly ramping up to a piece awash with sumptuous soaring leads and all the more impactful for the deep haunting repeat of “Amelia” alongside the acidic vocals. It is a superb listen.
Possibly my favourite track, The Chapel of Iniquities, is a piece that engulfs you entirely. It is eerily otherworldly to open, developing into ritualistic tribal drum rhythms that set your head spinning, expanding into an intense and all-encompassing wall of cold black riffing. This is made all the more engaging and dramatic by the extreme degree of the ebb and flow, which moves between the reflective and all the way to a crushing wall of black riffing.
The atmosphere builds in dense layers as an unearthly spoken element is delivered alongside the acidic raw vocals, with the haunting keyboards building further on the atmosphere. I like how the lead work has to battle with the riffs for its place within the track. This is four and a half minutes of intensely filled excellence.
Penultimate piece, The Pact, is more straightforward but in true Magus style harbours its own set of intricacies, and I love the almost cinematic swathe of lead work towards the close.
Final piece La Llorona Negra features guest vocals from Ioanna Zacharopoulou, and it is inspired by La Llorona, which The Magus saw performed by the legendary Amanda Galas over a decade ago. Her performance so blew him away that it kindled the desire within him to do his own interpretation eventually.
The result is excellent. Opening with piano and Ioanna’s vocals, the guitars and drum work do not arrive until midway. When they do, the intent is complex and crushing. I love the dramatic contrast between Ioanna’s haunting, clean delivery in the first half of the track and The Magus raw, caustic delivery in the second half. These two polar opposite aspects complement each other perfectly.
The Magus collaborated with Mexican artist Nestor Avalos, known for his work with numerous bands, including Exodus, Deicide and Rotting Christ, on the album cover art. This depicts “an Infernal Triptychon portraying six (yes) infernal entities: Lucifer/Samael in the centre, Leviathan/Tiamat to the left and Belial/Satan to the right. Each of them portrays its qualities, and all six lead to one.
“We were working for months together to achieve the perfect result in the finest detail. Nestor himself is involved in the occult arts, so he understood perfectly what we wanted, and indeed, he created a majestic painting of infernal wisdom and occult meanings, giving prominence to the Luciferian tradition and the music of the album.”
More simply put, the three/six entities represent wisdom, action and will.
Released on 20 February 2026 via The Circle Music, Daemonosophia is a powerful offering that speaks volumes and is available to pre-order in CD and vinyl formats, along with a limited luxurious box set and merch bundles. For more details, visit thecirclemusic.lnk.to/Daemonosophia.
When Kiki Wong joined the Smashing Pumpkins in 2024 as a replacement for Jeff Schroeder, it was a dream come true. Like the Pumpkins’ leader, Billy Corgan, Wong is a meathead at heart. But, like many of us, she also grew up loving ‘90s alternative rock… like the Pumpkins. This is to say that Wong, with her high skill level, endearing personality, and cooler-than-cool vibe, was a perfect fit for the machine that is the Smashing Pumpkins. And so it was to be, but as wild as it sounds, Wong has social media to thank. She admits that she never
Twenty One Pilots have officially added their track ‘Drag Path’ to streaming services and attached a cute but vital video to it.
The song was originally released as part of ‘Breach: Digital Remains’, an expanded version of their 2025 album ‘Breach’ that was available to purchase for one week only. Though thanks to the song’s virality, especially on TikTok after being used on over 75,000 videos, and with there being no official version of the song available, the band have decided to let it run free. But with a slight change.
The version of the song that can now be listened to is a different edit than what was on ‘Breach: Digital Remains’, meaning that those who purchased it last year still have their own special version of it. Though that doesn’t stop what we hear now from being any less affectingly beautiful. A delicate, building, devastating look at the lasting effects of grief, it’s a song that sits heavy on the heart, but one that reminds you that everybody has their own scars to bear and stories to tell.
And the video that accompanies it is unlike anything the band have put their name to previously. Directed by Tobias Gundorff, it is a beautiful stop-motion epic, one that, despite the clay being used to bring the cutesy creatures to life, is an incredibly human watch. Inspired by a video of his that Tyler Joseph had an affinity for over a decade ago, it is an expansive on an idea as well as a full-circle moment. It’s heartbreaking, curious and strangely beautiful, very much like life itself.
Death inspires me like a dog inspires a rabbit.
Check it all out below.
The band are due to bring their fantastical world to the big screen later this month. ‘Twenty One Pilots: More Than We Imagined’ will hit cinemas from February 26, and IMAX from February 25, for a limited time. Tickets will be available to secure from January 15 from right here.
You can check out our interview with the director, Mark Esleman, below:
Twenty One Pilots are also set to make their return to the UK for an exclusive show at All Points East on August 30. On top of their headline performance, they will also be joined by the likes of Wunderhorse, REN, BBNO$, PVRIS, Nova Twins, Dead Pony, Kid Kapachi, and LEAP. Tickets are available right now from right here.
