On September 3, 2026, Missstand will release “Lichter? Aus!”—the third single from their upcoming album Smells Like Abgrund, which is set to be released on September 18, 2026, via Aggressive Punk Produktionen (Edel / Kontor New Media). Together with Guido Donot of the Donots, Missstand deliver a powerful anti-anthem about carrying on when hope threatens… Continue Reading →
After more than five decades of friendship, musical exchange and separate careers that helped redefine what the electric guitar could do, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have finally made a record together. ‘The Sea of Emotion‘, the first studio album from SatchVai, will be released November 6th, 2026 via earMUSIC. The announcement arrives alongside the […]
Exodus will lead the Metal Command onboard 70,000 Tons of Metal 2027, The Original, The World’s Biggest Heavy Cruise.
The festival also announced Exmortus, Brymir, Avaland, Talia Hoit and Famous Strangers Band as additions to the line-up.
70,000 Tons of Metal will sail from Miami, Florida on January 14th and port in Puerto Plata, Dominican Re… Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com
British heavy metal legends Saxon are back with Gods of Thunder—their new studio album, which explores themes such as history, fantasy, horror, ancient mythology, pagan rites, and the enduring spirit of rock ’n’ roll. The brand-new single and title track—a powerful, anthemic journey into the world of Celtic mythology—are being released today. “‘Gods of Thunder’… Continue Reading →
Wyrm Chasm is a feral force of black metal rising from Dallas, Texas. Formed in March 2015 by guitarist Eric Carrasco and bassist/vocalist Stephen Jeter, the band aimed to forge a cutting-edge sound rooted in raw atmospheres.
A blend of atmospheric and melodic black metal, Wyrm Chasm crafts a cold, oppressive atmosphere punctuated with emotionally charged riffing and furious percussion.
“We’ve crafted our eponymous album into a melodic, yet atmospheric release that fully represents our sound and attack.” – Wyrm Chasm
Wyrm Chasm will be released October 23 on vinyl, CD, and digital formats.
FFO: Winterfylleth, Wolves in the Throne Room, Emperor, Mgla
At the end of the year, End Of Green will release their long-awaited new album, Ashes & Gold. Over the years, the band has established itself as a reliable source of quality with its dark and melancholic take on metal, and the new album is set to further strengthen that position. To promote the album… Continue Reading →
For the last few weeks, I have been working on my 50th article for MetalTalk. It is my own personal list of 50 of the most important stoner/doom albums since 1999. It is probably going to take me another few weeks to finish writing that. In the meantime, I, along with many others, have been smitten/bitten by Dying To Live, the debut album of Michigan’s Mothertomb. The repeated spins bodychecked that article, to the point where I had to write an album review.
That review starts with the album cover, taking me back to my younger years. But my ears, perhaps paradoxically, are younger today, which is why an album as fresh as Mothertomb’s can hit me hard, because I have consciously provided space for new listening experiences.
Album art has been an important consideration for me to have the most immersive experience listening to a band’s album. People of my generation (I am 62) just used to stare at albums to decode and interpret the art while we listened to whole sides of albums.
Most of the time we were relegated to guesses as to what the fuck was going on. But if the art matched the vibe of the album, we were more than satisfied. That was my teenage experience.
Mothertomb’s Dying To Live cover is black and white. There are skulls, gravestones, and ghosts. There is also a young barefoot woman coming out of an entrance to a tomb. It is a dark image, but oddly not bleak. There is a healthy reverence for death and the mystery that comes with it. It is eerie, but you are lured in, much like the songs inside.
Mothertomb / Dying To Live – Out Now
When I started listening to the album, I had no idea what I was in for. However, I really hoped the haunting/dark romanticism of the cover art matched the music, and the sooner that dreamy/nightmarish atmosphere could be conveyed, the better my chances of falling in love with the album.
The Summoning, even just its opening seconds, hit the bullseye of what I was feeling when looking at the cover. And I know precisely why. It is not the first time my ears have immediately fallen in love with atmosphere.
My favourite song of all time, and it has been since I heard it in 1978, is Heart’s Nada One. The main reason is that the atmosphere Nancy Wilson conjures up right away with her acoustic guitar and dreamy intro which has, in my opinion, never been matched. It is 30 seconds of the softest magic you will ever hear, conjuring up an image of a Japanese Tea Garden in some reflective end to an Anime film.
Here is a bit of what I wrote about it in my book Sonic Seducer.
“But Nada One has a magic uniquely its own, like it was plucked from somewhere mystical and eternal. Having a restorative agency wholly unique to its ineffable aura. An attraction whose seductive power lies in the softness of delivery of burning love. An attraction that also feels either once existed or will one day exist. An attraction that feels either ancient or alien.
“Are you beginning to understand why I have been consumed by this song for more than forty years? It’s my heaviest moment with music, caused strangely by a song sonically delicate. Yet, somehow, it burns with an intensity incongruous to its instrumental and vocal weight.”
Heavy is beyond the physics of sound and loudness. Heavy is a feeling. It can often be summoned in seconds. A bursting heart will always eclipse ringing ears. When both can happen, you’re flirting with godly magic.
Mothertomb, unconsciously and unwittingly, has tapped into that feminine energy, and The Summoning is the perfect song to announce that ‘space’, and patience with it. It is going to be a calling card of the band. The rest of the album is a heavenly/hellish ride of unpredictable sonic and emotional heaviness.
Balance. The feminine and masculine energies are inextricably woven throughout the album. At times they seem like they are at peace with each other, and other times they seem like they are in a final battle.
Listening to this album is both exhausting and replenishing. The band has receipts for this balance in the form of the video for Mountain Hag.
It would have been easy for the energy of the band to have centred around the vocals of Alice Gawlinski. After all, there is a fuck ton of atmosphere and attitude coming from those pipes.
Nope. This is such a balanced video in terms of integrating all the moving parts that make up a band, and ensuring that each member is highlighted and recognised for their contributions to the collective sound of the band. The musical excursion that is this song is nuanced, and all the diversions seem intentional with zero self-indulgence.
Dying To Live is an album that will always be played from front to back. No songs are to be extricated from the whole album experience. Skipping over the first song would be foolish, to say the least.
I have been a sucker for the female voice since I was a teenager. Throw in the heaviness of sound that this scene demands, I easily gravitate to Ruby The Hatchet, Electric Citizens, Acid Kings, Hippie Death Cults, Windhands, etc.
That is because both the feminine and masculine energies can, pardon my language, fuck the hell out of each other.
You can now confidently add Mothertomb to that list. It just dawned on me that the band’s name contains two important words, one symbolising birth, and another one communicating death. Together they fuse a continuum of harmony and chaos.
Their debut album will be filed by some under the Doom label. For me, and hopefully others, it will defy such categorisation because the band’s sound, attitude, A-to-Z music influences, and cosmic weight of both birth and death simply cannot be contained in such a generic and lazy categorisation.
Dying To Live is simply a masterpiece of art, emotion, and energy, all working overtime to leave the listener with a beautiful experience of modern heavy.
Dying To Live by Mothertomb is out now. Find out more about the band at Bandcamp.
My introduction to the mighty Green Lung dates back to the release of their first album, Woodland Rites, in 2019. Since then, I have watched like a proud Pagan father their ascent to the Heavy Metal heights.
After Woodland Rites, the band released another LP via Svart Records, Black Harvest (2021), before signing with Nuclear Blast. This Heathen Land (2023) was their debut on Nuclear Blast, and Green Lung have gone from strength to strength since then.
The band’s winning combo of Paganism and Heavy Metal is what initially drew me to them. It is obvious that frontman Tom Templar knows his stuff involving Paganism and Wiccan witchcraft. You do not need to delve too deep into his lyrical content to see that Tom is very well informed. It has been said that he may even be part of a coven himself. Who knows?
Green Lung – Necropolitan is a blast from start to finish.
I have been lucky enough to see the band in a live setting a few times. The most memorable occasion was in a sweaty club in Greece a few years ago. They are an incredible live band. If you have never heard Green Lung before, just imagine Black Sabbath riffage, Deep Purple style keyboard wizardry, and melodic vocal acrobatics. Have I sold them to you? Of course I have. Welcome along for the ride.
The band’s latest effort, Necropolitan, is described perfectly by the band as “A love letter to gothic London in riffs, ” and is possibly their greatest moment so far. The album title is derived from the seven garden cemeteries, or necropoli, which circle the city, all built in Victorian times.
With producer Tom Dalgety at the helm (Ghost, Opeth), the band headed to the legendary Rockfield Studios (just up the road from me) to record the nine wonderful tracks that make up Necropolitan.
The LP opens with the atmospheric introduction of Open The Hellmouth before Dance To The Grave reminds us of the power of Green Lung.
Monstrous riffs courtesy of guitar wizard Scott Black, who sounds heavier than ever here, kick the album off with style. A catchy sing-along chorus makes it a perfect way to open the record. Fantastic stuff. Welcome back, lads.
The latest incredible single with a superb video to match, Black Magick Radio, is next up with its references to ’60s gothic subculture. The Process Church is mentioned, as well as the famed Soho Goth Haunt – Le Macabre. The chant from the old occult text “Eko Eko Azarak” is also used.
Necropolitan Line is a fantastic mashup of Deep Purple and Motörhead-style mayhem. The answering keyboard and guitar solos are magic. Take a bow, John Wright.
Evil In This House is another standout track. Green Lung’s formula is a heady blend and is intoxicating. I cannot help but nod along while I am writing this. Brilliant stuff. I think I need to highlight how important drummer Matt Wiseman is to the band. Never flashy, always playing for the song, he is the bedrock of Green Lung’s signature sound.
Together In Death has echoes of some of Alice Cooper’s macabre nods to death. It reminds me of Cold Ethyl or Gail. Not musically, but the lyrical content for sure. Ozymandias gallops along nicely with a few perfectly timed 808 bass drops. Amazing stuff.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Castle Rat’s Rat Queen herself, Riley Pinkerton, has a guest appearance on the track Alostrael (Be My Babalon). Another solid track.
The album closes with the epic To the Gallows Born, a mid-paced affair which builds to a perfect crescendo. Tom Templar’s vocals are on fire here. Superb.
For those people who are worried about the future of British Heavy music, I say worry not. Green Lung are more than capable of grabbing the baton from the old school and will run at full pelt with it. I was so happy to see that they have been announced as Saturday’s special guests on the Ronnie James Dio stage for next year’s Bloodstock Festival. So well deserved.
Necropolitan is a blast from start to finish. Grab yourself a mug of tea and a couple of rounds of toast, and strap yourselves in for a journey back to Victorian London. ‘Cor blimey, Guv, those Green Lung boys can belt out a tune.
Green Lung release Necropolitan on 11 September 2026 via Nuclear Blast Records. Pre-orders are available from greenlung.bfan.link/necropolitan.
APOCÆLYPSE makes its presence known today with the release of the band’s debut album, Fænix. Led by acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Ira Black (Vio-Lence, Lizzy Borden, Metal Church), APOCÆLYPSE marks the highly anticipated album’s arrival with a brand new music video for “Fænix…Out Of Flames.” Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/6EKAKBJ7aKM?si=5RnodzaGfN16ykB-
