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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-

Fully independent and fiercely guarding artistic control, Hannah Wicklund turns personal battles into a sweeping, rocking call to arms. War On Women; Calling All Good Men is a bold, compassionate and technically dazzling manifesto for change.

Hannah Wicklund – War On Women; Calling All Good Men

Release Date: Out Now

Words: Liz Medhurst

Hannah Wicklund first came to the attention of UK audiences with her 2018 album Hannah Wicklund And The Stepping Stones, which contained gems such as Bomb Through The Breeze, Ghost and Mama Said. Bluesy, rocky and soulful, she captured many hearts and minds with her incendiary live shows, demonstrating mesmerising vocal and guitar work. 

Born in South Carolina into an artistic family, Hannah formed her first band when she was eight and started touring when she was sixteen, so music is a way of life. Composing has been, too. Last year’s The Living Vault contained some songs written when she was a young teenager, showing a maturity in her craft that some never reach in a lifetime. 

Hannah Wicklund is very much her own artist, but you can hear parallels to musicians like Susan Tedeschi, Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge. There is also something of Tori Amos in her stance, not stylistically of course, but in the way she stands firm in her artistry, issues direct challenges through songs and speaks out against injustice in the industry and wider world.

In 2024, Hannah released The Prize, a stunning album which ought to have sent her stratospheric, especially combined with high-profile opening slots for Deep Purple, Yes and Greta Van Fleet. At the time, she was speaking out about battles with record companies and management that led her to release independently on her own Strawberry Moon label to keep artistic control.

Unfortunately, those battles were not yet over, and a further fraught period followed, bringing breakdowns of personal and professional relationships and a fight to retain her rights. 

Still in her twenties, and now fully independent, Hannah Wicklund has returned with a self-produced album that continues where The Prize left off in a no-holds-barred declaration of who she is as an artist and a woman.

Doing things on her own terms extends to honouring the cycles of the moon. In a bold move, each track will be released to streaming services only on the Full Moon, meaning it will take a whole year for the full album to appear there.

She also releases an eclectic community-based arts magazine, The Strawberry Moon Tribune, at each New Moon. In the meantime, the full album is available directly from Hannah’s website.

Bookended by two acapella harmonised tracks which make up the album title, War On Women; Calling All Good Men is simultaneously a call to arms, a cautionary tale and a manifesto for hope. 

As easy as it would be to launch a withering attack and leave it there, Hannah does things differently. There is a huge amount of grace throughout. She gives her detractors space for redemption and wishes positive change while making boundaries strongly clear.

“I want it to be abundantly clear that I am not anti-men,” Hannah says of the closing track Calling All Men. “These are not just women’s issues; they are society’s issues, and finding a solution will involve all of us… my olive branch to all the good men out there to use their power and their voices to not just create a safer world, but to make space for women and girls to truly shine.”

Hannah is undoubtedly one of the best guitarists on the scene today, who plays with an instinctive passion to match her technical brilliance. The album showcases her full dynamic range, from shredding electric intensity to the most elegant of acoustic work. There is plenty of variety here, with gear changes in tempo and style, and a vocal range equally as stunning in every register and dynamic.

The hard-rocking tracks hit home, with the environmentally conscious anthem Red Gorilla and the driving Marionettes. Cowards And Kings is the centrepiece of the album, which contains the best solo by a country mile, an absolute soul-bearing maelstrom of notes that tells its own story.

Other highlights include The Pier, yearning and sorrowful but with a beautiful melody and a firm and proud assertion of “if I’m to be the moon you need to be the sun.”

Check out Diamonds too, overlaid with fluid proggy flute providing a lush counterpoint to a track which sounds straight out of the Laurel Canyon scene, or the gloriously sleazy Evil Is A Corporation. 

It is heartbreaking at times to listen to some of these songs knowing that they are autobiographical. However, there is also a sense of awe in recognising Hannah’s strength, resilience, courage and wisdom in putting her experiences into such a breathtaking and affirming piece of art. 

A rock ‘n’ roll barefoot fairy queen, fiery, passionate and intense, Hannah Wicklund burns with the flame of righteousness and justice but also with all things love and beauty.

She is creating a movement. Her immersive live shows are attended and equally lauded by heavy rock and blues fans, mothers and daughters, and everyone in between. 

Hannah returns to the UK in October for The Red Gorilla headline tour, with international dates to follow throughout 2027. 

Hannah Wicklund released War On Women; Calling All Good Men via Strawberry Moon Records on 28 August 2026. For more details, visit hannahwicklund.com.

Hannah Wicklund will be touring War On Women; Calling All Good Men on an extensive headline world tour throughout 2026/2027, starting in October with the Red Gorilla Tour of the UK, a preview of the impending War On Women World Tour to kick off in 2027. Tickets are available from https://hannahwicklund.com.

The post Hannah Wicklund Turns Battle Scars Into A Blazing Manifesto On War On Women; Calling All Good Men first appeared on MetalTalk – Heavy Metal News, Reviews and Interviews.

James Brown hosts The Age Of The Zine at London’s Photobook Cafe on 15 September, celebrating fanzines, DIY publishing and independent music culture.

The post The Age Of The Zine: London event celebrates fanzine culture with James Brown appeared first on Louder Than War.

On October 6th 2027, the Dutch symphonic metal formation Epica will perform a UK-exclusive show at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall as part of ‘The Symphonic Synergy Tour’ which celebrates their 25th anniversary.
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Medway, Kent four-piece Bad Pennies deliver pure, high-octane blues rock built on solid grooves and an unmistakable live energy. Made up of Gary Seager (guitar), Pete Clarke (vocals), Gavin Matthews (bass), and Richard Bailey (drums), the band thrives on playing original material and raw covers made to be experienced in a packed room.

Check out their live performance video covering Rory Gallagher’s “Wayward Child.” The track hits with phenomenal, scorching guitar tones and an authentic, fiery band performance. Capturing the raw grit of a true live set with all the glorious, real-deal imperfections, it’s live rock ’n’ roll exactly as it’s meant to be played.

Give it a go by clicking on the player below and follow Bad Pennies if you like what you hear.

For millions of festivalgoers, Steve Aoki is instantly recognizable: long hair, a huge EDM drop, a leap across the stage, then a sheet cake sailing toward somebody in the front row. The image is accurate, yet it captures one layer of a career built over three decades.

Aoki was organizing punk and hardcore shows before he became an arena-level DJ. He launched Dim Mak at 19, developed a reputation as an obsessive touring artist, and later created a foundation focused on brain science. The common thread is a habit of building communities around whatever fascinates him.

His Career Started in a College Punk Scene

Aoki’s early story feels far removed from giant festival stages. As a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he was active around KCSB radio and the local indie and punk community.

UCSB’s campus archive records his involvement in organizing shows at Biko House, a cooperative space in Isla Vista, as well as releasing music from his apartment.

The future superstar DJ first learned how to create momentum in rooms without giant production budgets. Punk’s DIY culture shaped his approach to promotion, touring, and independent releases.

Dim Mak arrived in 1996, when Aoki was 19. Its earliest identity grew from underground guitar music and the same do-it-yourself mentality surrounding his college years. Aoki eventually moved deeper into DJing and electronic production, while the label kept growing as its own operation.

Dim Mak Became a Career of Its Own

Dim Mak offers one of the clearest ways to see Aoki as a builder.

The Los Angeles-based company describes itself as an independent record label, events company, and lifestyle brand. According to the label’s Steve Aoki profile, its history includes releases connected with acts such as Bloc Party, The Kills, The Bloody Beetroots, Zedd and The Chainsmokers.

Aoki’s taste moved with the culture. Indie rock and electro collided in the 2000s, dance music exploded globally, and Dim Mak expanded with it. The company later launched the Latin-focused Dim Mak En Fuego imprint and developed clothing collaborations alongside music.

In 2026, the Dim Mak website is marking the company’s 30-year history with its DM30 branding. A college-bedroom label surviving for three decades says plenty about the organizational side of a man usually photographed in mid-jump.

The Famous Cake Began as a Marketing Idea

Even the cake has a backstory rooted in the label.

In 2011, Dim Mak artist Autoerotique released “Turn Up the Volume.” Its music video featured cakes exploding into people’s faces in slow motion. Aoki liked the imagery and decided to recreate it during a live set while promoting the track.

Early cakes even carried the song title. In Aoki’s account of the stunt, he recalled adding cakes to his show rider and keeping the tradition after the song had left his regular sets. Fans responded, videos spread online, and signs asking to be caked began appearing at shows.

A promotional stunt had developed into a ritual between performer and audience.

Digital entertainment often uses a similar cycle of anticipation and payoff. Guides from Sportzino show how progressive games build excitement around jackpots that grow over time, while Aoki creates anticipation around a much more physical question: who is getting the next cake?

Inflatable rafts, stage dives, and cake throws all came from Aoki’s interest in making crowds participate.

From a distance, the spectacle can look gloriously ridiculous. Inside the venue, it works like a shared joke that thousands of people already know.

Relentless Touring Became Part of the Aoki Myth

Aoki’s work rate has generated its own mythology, and one number gives the reputation some scale.

Guinness World Records lists him as the most-travelled musician of 2012. He covered 389,221 kilometres and performed 168 shows during that year, based on data originally compiled by Songkick.

The schedule helps explain the title of his 2016 Netflix documentary, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead. It also makes the cake ritual easier to view as repeatable live-show engineering. Every city could get a recognizable Aoki moment even as the tour moved at punishing speed.

His Family Story Shaped the Entertainer

Steve Aoki is the son of Rocky Aoki, the colorful entrepreneur who founded Benihana. His relationship with that legacy carried admiration, tension, and distance.

Aoki grew up primarily with his mother in California and saw his father during visits, according to a Los Angeles Times profile. His 2019 memoir, Blue: The Color of Noise, explores family expectations, Japanese American identity and his path through underground music.

Rocky’s influence appears clearly in Steve’s appetite for spectacle and business building. Benihana turned dinner into theater.

Decades later, Steve built live shows where audiences wait for a ritual involving flying dessert. Different industries, similar instinct: create an event people will retell later.

Brain Science Became a Serious Long-Term Interest

One of Aoki’s least expected projects sits far from nightclub culture.

The Aoki Foundation’s mission focuses primarily on brain science, regenerative medicine and brain preservation. Its work also reaches into longevity research, neurological disease and public conversations with scientists. Aoki serves as chairman.

Futurism already runs through his creative work, especially the Neon Future projects. The foundation gives part of that curiosity a philanthropic direction.

Some longevity-related fields remain early-stage or debated, so scientific claims still require the usual evidence and caution. Aoki’s involvement, however, has been sustained for years.

He Is Also a Serious Collector

Touring stopped during the pandemic, giving Aoki an unusual amount of time at home. He became absorbed in baseball cards, Pokémon cards, and digital collectibles. He later told Forbes about his collecting and the projects that grew from that interest.

By 2026, a Sports Illustrated profile reported that his collection had grown to more than 35,000 cards, spanning sports, Pokémon and pop culture. Aoki has also built public-facing projects around collecting and treated the hobby as another form of cultural curation.

The connection to his earlier life is easy to see. Record-label work depends on spotting artists and scenes with energy. DJing depends on selection.

Collecting applies a similar instinct to physical objects, with rarity, story and cultural memory determining what earns a place.

Steve Aoki Makes Sense as a Scene Builder

The flying cakes remain part of Aoki’s identity, and few performers have a visual signature so strange or memorable.

His longer career comes into focus through the communities he has built. A college apartment became a venue and label office.

Dim Mak became a platform for other artists. Futurist interests fed a science-focused foundation. Collecting opened another cultural lane.

Across every project, Aoki keeps returning to the same move: find an obsession, gather people around it, and turn the energy into something larger.

Black metal representatives Imperium Dekadenz are excited to announce that they have signed a new contract with AOP Records. The band’s last record, Into Sorrow Evermore, was released in 2023.
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Antarctica remains relatively unknown. That is the final clue ERASE THIS EARTH are willing to offer before revealing the complete story behind their forthcoming EP. The Finnish death metal band have released “The Walls Are Alive,” the first and only single from Horrors Unearthed. The three-track EP will arrive on October 15, 2026 through Inverse […]

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On Doom Metástasis, corruption does not remain confined to the individual. It spreads until the boundaries between identity, environment, life and decomposition begin to disappear. Central American death-doom band MORBID STENCH have unveiled “Narcissistic God,” the latest track from their third full-length album. The song is currently streaming through an exclusive Decibel Magazine premiere. Narcissistic […]

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French/Japanese black metal group Enterré Vivant has released a new track, “Gakidô”, as part of their forthcoming long player Kurogoku, which comes out on October 2nd, 2026 via Transcendance.
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