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Belarus metal pioneers DYMNA LOTVA unveil the dramatic, highly symbolic music video ‘Return My Coffin Home’, which also features Ukrainian musician Ingvarr (SCHREIGARM).  This track is the third advance single taken from the forthcoming new full-length “Vyraj“. The fourth album of the post-black metal band has been scheduled for release on August 7, 2026.  Pre-sale link: https://spkr.store/collections/dymna-lotva DYMNA LOTVA comment: “Many of our friends and we ourselves may die in exile, in captivity […]

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Avenged Sevenfold has unexpectedly released a new four-track EP, Statica, marking the band’s first new collection of songs since 2023’s Life Is But A Dream….

The EP features four tracks: “Lights”, “Statica”, “Rejoice” and “Ashes”. It also follows the standalone single “Magic”, which arrived in December as part of the Black Ops 7 Season 1 update for Call Of Duty.

Running 18 minutes and 7 seconds, Statica finds Avenged Sevenfold continuing to push beyond traditional metal boundaries. Across the four songs, the band incorporates robotic vocal effects, science-fiction-inspired synthesizers, and electronic dance elements into its sound.

So far, Avenged Sevenfold has not issued an official statement regarding the surprise release. Like its recent output, the EP has been released independently, continuing the band’s current approach to distributing new music.

Fans won’t have to wait long to hear whether any of the new material makes its way into the live set. Avenged Sevenfold will hit the road this summer alongside Good Charlotte for a 16-date North American tour promoted by Live Nation. The run begins on July 25 in Ridgedale, Missouri, and continues through cities including Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, New York, Boston, Charlotte and Dallas before concluding on August 27 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The post AVENGED SEVENFOLD Surprise-Release Experimental New EP “Statica” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

King Diamond has announced that Gus G. — the Firewind founder who spent eight years as the late Ozzy Osbourne’s lead guitarist — is the band’s new guitarist, and will compose, record and tour with King Diamond going forward. The announcement confirms the end of Andy LaRocque’s four-decade run alongside the King, the longest and most defining creative partnership in the band’s history, dating back to 1985. Gus G. is already writing with King Diamond on new music, and he will continue with Firewind and his solo career alongside his new role.

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This is the biggest King Diamond shakeup in forty years, and Scott Penfold is tearing into it on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — what really lines up between Andy LaRocque’s exit and that Lex Legion reunion, and whether Gus G. is the right axe for the Horror Trilogy. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and get the breakdown every single weekday morning.

The Announcement

In a statement released today, the King Diamond camp confirmed that Gus G. joins as a full member — not a touring hand — with composing, recording and touring duties all on the table.

“It’s a Big Honor for me to Welcome Gus G. as our new guitarist,” King Diamond said. “Gus will still continue with all his current projects, Firewind, Solo Project etc. No restrictions, just careful planning. We are already working with Gus and I simply can’t wait for you to hear all the new King Diamond music with him playing guitar on it!!! Stay Heavy — King”

The statement also paid extended tribute to LaRocque, extending “deepest gratitude and utmost respect” for what it called an extraordinary 40-year contribution that left “a permanent and irreplaceable mark” on the band’s legacy and on heavy metal as a whole. Notably, no reason was given for the departure, and as of press time LaRocque has not issued his own statement.

The new King Diamond lineup:

• King Diamond – vocals
• Gus G. – guitars
• Mike Wead – guitars
• Pontus Egberg – bass
• Matt Thompson – drums

End Of An Era: The LaRocque Legacy

It is genuinely difficult to overstate what Andy LaRocque means to King Diamond. The Swedish guitarist joined in 1985 — his recorded audition was the solo on “Dressed in White” from the debut album Fatal Portrait — and from that moment forward he was the King’s essential musical foil. Fatal Portrait remains the only King Diamond album without a LaRocque writing credit; everything after it, from the neoclassical nightmares of Abigail and “Them” through 2007’s Grammy-nominated Give Me Your Soul…Please, carries his fingerprints. Through more than fifteen lineup changes across four decades, the two constants in King Diamond were the man in the paint and the man on his right.

Beyond the band, LaRocque built a parallel legacy as a producer and engineer at his Sonic Train Studios in Sweden, and famously lent his lead work to Death’s classic Individual Thought Patterns at Chuck Schuldiner’s personal request. This is not a sideman leaving. This is a co-architect.

We Recommend – King Diamond’s Wildest Stories You Probably Don’t Know

The Lex Legion Timeline

Here’s the context the press release doesn’t mention — and the part longtime fans will be chewing on. Back in March, LaRocque surfaced in Lex Legion, a new band uniting him with fellow King Diamond alumni Mikkey Dee, Pete Blakk and Hal Patino — four-fifths of the beloved late-’80s lineup that recorded “Them” and Conspiracy — fronted by Pagan’s Mind vocalist Nils K. Rue. At the time, it read as a fun legacy side project. Four months later, LaRocque’s chapter with King Diamond is over.

To be clear: no one has connected those dots officially, and neither camp has stated any reason for the split. But the timeline now tells its own story — while King Diamond moves forward with Gus G., LaRocque already has a band full of old friends, over 40 years of shared history, and a debut album in the works.

Who Is Gus G.?

If you were building a replacement for a legend in a laboratory, the resume would look a lot like this one. Born Konstantinos Karamitroudis in Thessaloniki, Greece, Gus G. founded Firewind more than two decades and ten studio albums ago, then spent 2009 to 2017 as the late Ozzy Osbourne’s lead guitarist — contributing to the Grammy-nominated Scream and standing as the second-longest-serving guitarist in Ozzy’s solo career behind only Zakk Wylde. Add six solo albums, guest spots with Bruce Dickinson, Arch Enemy, Doro and In This Moment, covers of every major guitar magazine, and a Golden God award for Best Shredder, and you have one of the most decorated players of his generation.

The “no restrictions, just careful planning” arrangement tracks, too — Gus G. said earlier this year that he had just finished a new solo record and was wrapping a new Firewind album, both expected before year’s end. The man does not sit still, which may be exactly what a band deep in an ambitious multi-album concept needs.

Check This Out – King Diamond’s ‘The Institute’ Album Faces Delays — But The Story Behind It Just Got Darker

What This Means For The Horror Trilogy

The timing is the real story for fans. King Diamond is deep into his long-promised Horror Trilogy, which opens with Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920 — the project that produced the 2024 single “Spider Lilly” featuring Myrkur, with its video shot at the notoriously haunted Pennhurst Asylum. The King has previously detailed ten new tracks in the works for the album, and the road to this point stretches back years — through shifting timelines for new King Diamond and Mercyful Fate material that fans have tracked with growing impatience.

Today’s announcement makes one thing explicit: the band and Gus G. are “already deep in the creative process together,” and new music from the full lineup is coming. Whether that means Gus G.’s leads will define Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920 itself — or the chapters beyond it — is the question every fan of the most theatrical showman in metal will be asking until the King answers it.

One era ends. Another begins. And somewhere in Sweden, four-fifths of the “Them” lineup just became the most interesting new band in metal.

TL;DR

• Gus G. (Firewind, ex-Ozzy Osbourne) is King Diamond’s new guitarist and will compose, record and tour with the band going forward.
• Andy LaRocque’s 40-year run — the longest creative partnership in King Diamond history, dating to 1985 — is over; no reason was given, and LaRocque has not yet commented.
• In March, LaRocque united with fellow King Diamond alumni Mikkey Dee, Pete Blakk and Hal Patino in the new band Lex Legion.
• Gus G. keeps Firewind and his solo career running — King Diamond says “no restrictions, just careful planning.”
• The band and Gus G. are already writing together, with the Horror Trilogy opener Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920 still in the works.
• New lineup: King Diamond, Gus G., Mike Wead, Pontus Egberg, Matt Thompson.

FAQ

Is this a shocking end to an era, or the shot of adrenaline King Diamond needed for the Horror Trilogy? Drop your take in the comments — and pour one out for 40 years of Andy LaRocque. Follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.

The post Andy LaRocque Is Out Of King Diamond After 40 Years — Former Ozzy Osbourne Shredder Gus G. Takes His Place appeared first on Loaded Radio.

The Zac Schulze Gang has released its new single, “Hellhounds On My Trail,” available now on streaming platforms.

Recorded live with longtime producer Ian Sadler, the track showcases the band’s high-energy blend of blues rock, classic rock, and punk influences. Fronted by guitarist and vocalist Zac Schulze alongside drummer Ben Schulze and bassist Ant Greenwell, the trio first learned the song after being invited to perform it at the Rory Gallagher Festival in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Written by Tony Dowler and the Hellhounds, the song draws inspiration from the legend of Robert Johnson.

“We were first introduced to the song when our friend Petra Burns asked us to perform it at the Rory Gallagher Festival in Holland,” says Zac Schulze. “We’d never rehearsed it before, but from the first time we played it, we knew it had to stay in the set. Every time we perform it, it evolves—we improvise and discover something new. The recorded version is our best attempt to capture that live energy while paying tribute to Tony Dowler, who wrote such a brilliant song. It really sums up where we are as a band right now.”

Hailing from Gillingham, Kent, the Zac Schulze Gang built their reputation on the U.K. touring circuit before gaining wider attention following an appearance at the Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival in 2022. Since then, the band has played more than 250 shows annually, appeared at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival and earned Best Emerging Blues Band at the 2024 UK Blues Awards, followed by Young Artist of the Year honors in 2025.

The release of “Hellhounds On My Trail” comes as the band continues to expand its international profile. This fall, the Zac Schulze Gang will tour North America as special guests of Samantha Fish and Tab Benoit, bringing their live show to U.S. audiences.

TOUR DATES    
*** supporting Tab Benoit    ++ supporting Samantha Fish
Aug 21      Fox Theatre – Tucson, AZ  *** 
Aug 22-23 MIM – Phoenix, AZ  *** 
Aug 25      Pappy & Harriet’s – Pioneertown, CA  *** 
Aug 27      Belly Up – Solana Beach, CA  *** 
Aug 28      Coach House-  San Juan Capistrano, CA ***
Aug 29      World Records – Bakersfield, CA ***
Aug 30      Venice West – Venice, CA  ***
Sept 2       Golden State Theatre – Monterey, CA ***
Sept 3       Cornerstone Berkeley – Berkeley, CA ***
Sept 4       Rocklin Concert Series / Quarry Park- Sacramento, CA ***
Sept 5       Uptown Theatre – Napa, CA ***
Sept 6       The Hangar – Lake Tahoe, CA ***
Sept 12-13 Big Blues Bender – Las Vegas, NV
Sept 16     Phil Long Music Hall – Colorado Springs, CO ++
Sept 17     Gothic Theatre- Englewood,CO ***
Sept 18     Boulder Theater – Boulder. CO ++
Sept 19-20 Telluride Blues & Brews – Telluride, CO
Sept 23     Golden State Theatre – Monterey, CA ++
Sept 24     Uptown Theatre – Napa, CA ++    
Sept 26     Center for the Arts – Grass Valley, CA ++   
Sept 27     Guild Hall – Menlo Park, CA ++   
Sept 29     Rev Hall – Portland, OR ++  
Sept 30     Music Millennium – Portland, OR
Oct 3         Kings Hall at APEX – Everett, WA ++
Oct 4         Panida Theater – Sandpoint. ID ++
Oct 10       Crescent City Blues Fest – New Orleans, LA
Oct 22       De Spot – Groningen (NL) 
Oct 23       De Neushoorn – Leeuwarden (NL) 
Oct 24       Outbaix 2.0 – Ubach-Palenburg (DE) 
Oct 29       Kammgarn – Kaiserlautern (DE) 
Nov 4        Museumkeller – Erfurt (DE) 
Nov 6        KL17 Klub – Dobeln (DE)
Nov 10      The Key Club – Leeds (UK) 
Nov 11      Night & Day – Manchester (UK) 
Nov 12      The Crescent – York (UK) 
Nov 13      The Adrian Flux Waterfront – Norwich (UK) 
Nov 14      The Hope & Ruin – Brighton (UK) 
Nov 15      Rescue Rooms – Nottingham (UK) 
Nov 19      Het Podium – Hoogeveen (NL) 
Nov 20      Paard – Den Haag (NL) 
Nov 22      Poppodium Hedon – Zwolle (NL) 
Nov 23      La Boite a Musique – Wattrelos (FR) 
Nov 24      New Morning – Paris (FR) 
Nov 28      Maiwaldhalle – Achern (DE) 
Nov 29      Podium Fluor – Amersfoort (NL) 
Nov 30      Spirit Of 66 – Verviers (BE) 
Dec 11      Music Club N9 – Eeklo (BE) 
Dec 12      MOMfest – Veghel (NL)

2027
Feb 23       The Cluny 1 – Newcastle (UK) 
Feb 24       Voodoo Rooms – Edinburgh (UK) 
Feb 25       Stereo – Glasgow (UK) 
Feb 27       Islington Assembly Hall – London (UK) 
Feb 28       Thekla – Bristol (UK) 
Mar 2         The Globe – Cardiff (UK) 
Mar 3         The Joiners – Southampton (UK) 
Mar 4         Hare & Hounds – Birmingham (UK)

The post Zac Schulze Gang unleashes “Hellhounds On My Trail” appeared first on Blues Rock Review.

Third time’s the charm?

The post Vulvodynia Welcome New Vocalist Maya Pobst appeared first on Theprp.com.

Last week, John R. Miller’s new alt-country LP The Great Unknowing (recorded at Leon Russell’s legendary Church Studio in Tulsa) came out digitally. The acclaimed Appalachian musician returned to the Grand Ole Opry last night and introduced a “monumentally influential practitioner of the guitar” as his surprise guest: J Mascis.

The post J Mascis Makes Opry Debut appeared first on Stereogum.

Watch the Japanese masters command the stage with dizzying blasts of death metal DEFILED, Tokyo death metal veterans active since 1992, have released a new live video, “Live in Osaka 2026.” Filmed this spring during the band’s show alongside fellow genre legends Mayhem, the video arrives as the world of extreme metal continues delving into […]

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“A delightfully winding, hook-filled song that starts off a little stealthily”  –Jaakko Silvast, journalist / Inferno Ambassador of melancholic metal, Segmentia releases “Nuclear Sun”, the second single from its upcoming debut album. The song plays with contrasts: delicate guitars give way to epic soundscapes while moods of hope and despair alternate. Almost cinematic and built […]

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It’s Friday, which means it’s time to sort through the week’s avalanche of new heavy music and pull out what actually matters. This week delivered two genuine event singles — Amon Amarth’s first new music in four years and Hatebreed’s first in six — alongside a tenth album announcement from Finland’s melodic death metal royalty, a fresh cut from Beartooth’s reinvention, a Nonpoint collaboration fans have been waiting on since April, and an all-star Soundgarden resurrection with Lzzy Hale on vocals and Matt Cameron behind the kit. Here are the six best new metal songs this week, ranked.

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Amon Amarth’s return, Ministry’s farewell, Ghost’s new concert film and more — Scott Penfold covered all of this week’s biggest rock and metal headlines on Metal Breakdown Daily, every weekday morning. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and stream the broadcast now.

6. Nonpoint – Red Yeti (feat. Skye Sweetnam)

Nonpoint fans have been waiting on this one since April, when the band road-tested it live in Tampa with Sumo Cyco’s Skye Sweetnam joining Elias Soriano onstage. Now it’s out properly, and it earns the anticipation.

“Red Yeti” is a genuine trade-off track — Soriano and Sweetnam pushing each other across an aggressive arrangement rather than the polite guest-verse handoff most collaborations settle for. The two bands have shared stages for years and you can hear the familiarity. It sits at track eight on The Last Word, the band’s eleventh album, arriving September 18 via their own 361 Degrees Records — their first full-length since 2018’s X.

5. Beartooth – Eyes Closed

Out today, and the fourth single from Pure Ecstasy, arriving August 28 as Beartooth’s sixth album and their first for Fearless Records.

“Eyes Closed” is track two on the record and it’s heavy in both senses. Musically it’s the riff-forward Beartooth that Caleb Shomo has spent a decade perfecting; lyrically it sits in doubt, guilt and the instinct to bury everything rather than say it out loud — which, on an album explicitly about Shomo working toward expressing himself honestly, is the tension the whole record runs on. Shomo said of the track that “It felt incredible to scream it out and let go”, and you can hear precisely that in the back half.

Shomo wrote, recorded and largely produced the album himself, with some collaboration from Jordan Fish.

4. Insomnium – Gleam In The Black

Finland’s masters of melancholy announced their tenth studio album this week, and “Gleam In The Black” is the second single from it.

If you know Insomnium, you know the formula and you know it never gets old: mournful melody laid over genuinely ferocious melodic death metal, all of it soaked in the specific Karelian gloom the band have been bottling since forming in Joensuu. This one leans harder into the aggressive end than the previous single, with the melodic hooks working underneath rather than sitting on top. The official video was directed by Patric Ullaeus.

The album is Netherworlds, out October 16 via Century Media, and it catches the band in a very strong run of form.

3. King Ultramega – Birth Ritual (feat. Lzzy Hale, Matt Cameron, Joe Hottinger)

This is the one with the story.

King Ultramega is the all-star Chris Cornell tribute project spearheaded by Metal Allegiance’s Mark Menghi, and for “Birth Ritual” they pulled off something remarkable: Matt Cameron, the Soundgarden drummer who co-wrote and played on the 1992 original, sat back down behind the kit to re-record it. Lzzy Hale handles the Cornell vocal, her Halestorm bandmate Joe Hottinger plays guitar, and Menghi produces and plays bass.

“Birth Ritual” was always one of the strangest, heaviest things in the Soundgarden catalogue — a Badmotorfinger-era outtake that surfaced on the Singles soundtrack and later on the Telephantasm and Echoes Of Miles compilations. Hale doesn’t imitate Cornell, which is the only correct approach, and Cameron gave the version his blessing, calling it “a nice modern update, but still sounds true to the original”.

It’s the second time a Soundgarden member has appeared on a King Ultramega track, following Kim Thayil’s guitar work on their version of “The Day I Tried To Live.” The single arrived July 21, one day after what would have been Cornell’s birthday.

2. Hatebreed – Kill Count Increase

Six years. That’s how long it’s been since Hatebreed put out a record, and “Kill Count Increase” wastes exactly none of its runtime reintroducing them.

Two and a half minutes, detuned, d-beat-driven, and functionally a wall coming down. Jamey Jasta sounds furious in the way only Jasta manages — clear enough that every word lands, delivered like he’s tearing something out of his chest. It’s the opening track on Fatal Paradox, out November 6 via BLKIIBLK, produced by longtime collaborator Chris “Zeuss” Harris, which is exactly the right call. Jasta described it as “straightforward, in-your-face Hatebreed. Fast. Hard.” He isn’t overselling it.

Worth noting: this is the band’s ninth album and their first since the 2024 departure of bassist and longtime songwriter Chris Beattie. The tracklist also includes “Sacrifice Season” featuring Obituary’s John Tardy, and “Make The Demons Obey” — a track we covered when it first surfaced last summer — finally getting an album home.

Hatebreed are headlining Summer Slaughter right now, with the second leg launching August 20 in Albuquerque.

1. Amon Amarth – Gjallarhorn

Top spot, and it isn’t close.

Four years on from The Great Heathen Army, the Vikings have returned with the opening track from The Allfather Awakens, out October 2 via Metal Blade. Named for the horn that announces Ragnarök in Norse mythology, “Gjallarhorn” does exactly what a first-single-in-four-years needs to do: it moves fast, the central riff lands immediately, and the chorus is built to be shouted back by 40,000 people standing in a field.

What makes it work is how clearly it’s designed for the room. After the recent acoustic detour of “Upphaf,” this is the shield wall reassembling — and it arrives from a band who rebuilt their entire recording process for this album, finishing each song completely before starting the next and swapping modern amps for classic Marshalls to get a rougher edge.

Thirteen albums in and still setting the standard. If it’s reignited the eternal argument for you, our definitive ranking of every Amon Amarth album is where that fight belongs.

Loaded Radio’s Take

Two comeback singles in one week from bands who’ve been away four and six years respectively is a genuinely rare thing, and both delivered. But the track that’ll stay with people longest is probably the King Ultramega one — there’s something quietly moving about Matt Cameron sitting back down to play a song he wrote with Chris Cornell in 1992, more than nine years after losing him.

Heaviest track of the week is Hatebreed. Most replayable is Gjallarhorn. Best surprise is Red Yeti. Fight about it in the comments.

TL;DR

• Amon Amarth’s “Gjallarhorn” is the week’s biggest release, the first single from The Allfather Awakens, out October 2 via Metal Blade
• Hatebreed’s “Kill Count Increase” is their first new music in six years and opens Fatal Paradox, out November 6 via BLKIIBLK
• King Ultramega’s “Birth Ritual” features Matt Cameron, Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger covering Soundgarden as a Chris Cornell tribute
• Insomnium announced their tenth album Netherworlds, out October 16 via Century Media, with second single “Gleam In The Black”
• Beartooth released “Eyes Closed,” the fourth single from Pure Ecstasy, out August 28 via Fearless Records
• Nonpoint’s “Red Yeti” features Sumo Cyco’s Skye Sweetnam and appears on The Last Word, out September 18

FAQ

Six tracks, two long-awaited comebacks and a Soundgarden resurrection — not a bad week for heavy music. Which one hit hardest for you? Let us know in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.

The post Best New Metal Songs This Week: Amon Amarth And Hatebreed Both Return From Long Absences, And Lzzy Hale Sings Chris Cornell With Matt Cameron On Drums appeared first on Loaded Radio.

At the returning Saint Vitus.

The post The Dillinger Escape Plan Add Brooklyn, NY Date To Their Final “Calculating Infinity” Shows appeared first on Theprp.com.