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  • Belphegor – Touring Europe In Autumn

    Black/death metal formation Belphegor will unleash their fury across Europe on their newly announced headlining tour. It kicks off on September 29th in Essen, Germany, and concludes on October 18th at The Underworld, in London, UK. Krisiun and Asagraum will serve as support.
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  • Hexorcist – New Track Streaming

    “Crucificial Imprecations”, the first single and title track from Hexorcist‘s forthcoming studio record, has premiered online.
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  • TESTAMENT’s CHUCK BILLY On Asking ROB HALFORD To Write Foreword For ā€œHolding My Breathā€ Book

    Testament frontman Chuck Billy has spoken about his upcoming memoir, Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments of Chuck Billy, due Nov. 10, 2026 via Permuted Press, in a new interview with Scott Davidson of Chicago’s Rebel Radio — including the emotional experience of receiving the foreword from Judas Priest singer Rob Halford.

    When asked how he secured Halford and Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe to write the foreword and afterword, respectively, Billy said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): ā€œI did. And I had to get up a bunch of nerve to do it, because you wanna ask, but you don’t wanna be rejected. So it takes a minute to kind of get up the nerve to say, ā€˜Okay, I’m ready for the rejection if he says no.’ So when I wrote Randy, Randy was all in. He’s all, ā€˜Hell yeah. F*** yeah, man. I’ll do whatever you need.’ And then Rob as well. I finally had the nerve to reach out to Rob, and right away he came back saying, yeah, he’d be honored to do it. And within two days I had it. He wrote it. And it blew me away. It brought me almost to tears, the words he said, so it was awesome.ā€

    Holding My Breath is co-written with Dave Erickson and structured as two interlocking testaments. The Old Testament covers the explosive birth of Bay Area thrash metal, the formation of Testament, rivalries, brotherhood and the chaos of becoming one of the genre’s most powerful voices. The New Testament is a rawer account — Billy at 38, blindsided by a devastating cancer diagnosis, drawing on his Native American and Mexican-American heritage, spiritual healers and visions, and the fierce love of the metal community. At the center is the legendary ā€œThrash of the Titansā€ benefit concert in 2001, which rallied old rivals into brothers and helped ignite a genre revival while keeping Billy in the fight.

    Billy was diagnosed with germ cell seminoma — a rare type of cancer — roughly a quarter century ago, and has been cancer-free for over two decades following chemotherapy and traditional Native American healing, including the help of spiritual healers. He was declared cancer-free in 2002.

    Billy has been honored with a California State Assembly recognition for his positive influence on Native communities, was part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian exhibition ā€œUp Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture,ā€ and won ā€œBest Music Videoā€ at the American Indian Film Festival for ā€œNative Blood.ā€ Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments of Chuck Billy is available for pre-order at chuckbillybook.com.

    The post TESTAMENT’s CHUCK BILLY On Asking ROB HALFORD To Write Foreword For ā€œHolding My Breathā€ Book appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

  • Brymir – Next Full Length Completed

    Four years after Voices In The Sky was released, Finnish extreme folk metal battalion Brymir shared news that they have finished the work on the follow-up. More info coming soon.
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  • Metallurg Magazine Issue #7 Spotlights Metal Devastation PR Roster With Featured Cover The Prodigal Son! – @thebeast

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Metallurg Magazine Issue #7 Spotlights Metal Devastation PR Roster With Featured Cover The Prodigal Son!
    Metallurg Magazine has released Issue #7, delivering another packed edition of underground metal coverage featuring interviews, reviews, and a full compilation CD highlighting multiple Metal Devastation PR artists.
    This issue includes coverage of W’t’M, The Trousers, Eternal Autumn, Cruentus, Blood of Angels, Grate, Red Vinter, Mordeth, Archfiend, Age of Fire, Machine Cult Ritual, Hellfrost, and Magefa, all receiving editorial attention through features, reviews, and compilation placement.
    Front and center on the cover is Metallurg’s featured artist and Metal Devastation PR client The Prodigal Son, marking a standout moment in the issue and further cementing the publication’s commitment to spotlighting emerging and established underground talent.
    Metallurg Magazine continues to serve as a vital platform for the global extreme metal scene, keeping the underground documented, promoted, and alive.
    Issue #7 is available now on Bandcamp. Support independent metal media and grab your copy here:
    https://metallurg.bandcamp.com/merch/metallurg-music-magazine-no-7

    Check out the bands at these links:Ā 
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28274/the-prodigal-son-unleashes-progressive-heavy-metal-anthem-silence-of-kaos
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28214/magefa-unleashes-crushing-new-single-war-on-innocence-out-november-13-2025
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28845/age-of-fire-unleashes-from-the-forge-vinyl-edition-for-national-record-store-day-april-18-2026
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28709/machine-cult-ritual-announces-debut-album-occult-mechanics-out-april-3
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28978/hellfrost-ignites-florida-metal-scene-with-bestial-rage-and-teases-two-new-brutal-tracks
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28615/metal-devastation-pr-client-the-trousers-featured-in-metal-hammer-magazine
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28210/sweden-rock-magazine-hails-cruentus-and-their-new-album-end-without-end
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/21851/new-single-blood-of-angels-spillage-melodic-death-metal
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28568/grate-unleashes-new-single-your-life-sucks-on-social-blasphemy-records
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28964/red-vinter-launch-exclusive-pre-orders-for-new-album-ghost-in-the-fog
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28222/mordeth-unleash-their-fourth-album-hermetic-creation-a-cosmic-descent-into-brazilian-death-metal-darkness
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/28514/archfiend-announces-new-concept-album-lost-forever-out-now
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/25445/new-promo-eternal-autumn-below-the-lightless-heavens-melodic-death-metal
    https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/27863/wtm-hits-1-on-kxci-913-fms-heavy-chart
  • Stellar Circuits – Launch ‘Wounded Healer’ Single

    North Carolina progressive/alternative metal band Stellar Circuits are unveiling a lyric video for their new single, “Wounded Healer”.
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  • Comparing & Killing: Converge versus Converge

    When Converge released their eleventh album earlier this year, the critical and fan response was nearly universal: Love is Not Enough is the best Converge album in a long time. How long depends on what you like most about Converge, but Love Is Not Enough took the band’s sound back to their roots, recalling the sharp aggression of You Fail Me or Axe to Fall more than the moody atmospheres of All We Love We Leave Behind or Bloodmoon, Converge’s collab with Chelsea Wolfe.Ā 

    It’s not even four months after Love is Not Enough and we have Hum of Hurt, Converge’s twelfth studio album. That’s a fast turnover for the art-metalcore heroes but what’s even more impressive about Converge’s 2026 output is the fact that the two albums sound so different.

    Both records are shaved down considerably from Converge’s releases prior, finishing at just over 30 minutes each. Love Is Not Enough starts with four furious tracks, including the moshy ā€œBad Faithā€ and total sprint ā€œDistract and Divide.ā€ It takes until the fifth track before any attempt is made at slowing down, though they jump right back in with career high ā€œAmon Amok.ā€ Love Is Not Enough then peaks with ā€œForce Meets Presence,ā€ which serves as the sonic equivalent to a blunt object. There are three songs after, all setting a similar tone, with ā€œGilded Cageā€ even hinting at the noise rock-heavy style of the next album.Ā 

    If Love is Not Enough was Converge’s scorched earth album, then Hum of Hurt is their brooding (but explosive) record. Both albums were recorded in the same session, which makes the stark differences all the more surprising.Ā 

    ā€œIt was super fun to surprise people with a second Converge record this year,ā€ guitarist/producer Kurt Ballou said earlier this year when discussing Hum of Hurt. ā€œWhat happened was, there was a final sprint during the last round of writing where a lot more stuff got finished than we were expecting. We had to decide what to do with all this material. Nobody has the patience for a double album, the way that people listen to music now. They’re not gonna be able to absorb all these songs. And we really felt great about them, so we wanted every song to have the best chance it had to be heard.ā€

    Lead single ā€œDoom in Bloomā€ feels closer to Converge’s more recent albums: the skronky riffs and rhythms center vocalist Jacob Bannon’s pained vocals, which he aims at his and others’ inner pain. The best songs on the albumā€”ā€œIt Only Gets Worse,ā€ ā€œDetonator,ā€ the title track—take the trademark Converge crescendos and jumpy riffs and mix them with slanted, colorful riffs. Elsewhere, ā€œI Won’t Let You Goā€ enters the record as one of the most unique-sounding riffs in the Converge canon and ā€œDream Debrisā€ sees Converge slow down, making for the longest track on either record.Ā 

    There are (probably) no more Converge records coming in 2026 but the releases of Love is Not Enough and Hum of Heart make it one of the biggest years in the band’s catalogue. Converge have never left but the albums are proof positive that they can, and will, continue to reshape themselves and their surroundings.Ā 

    Hum of Heart and Love is Not Enough are available now.

    The post Comparing & Killing: Converge versus Converge appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

  • Amorphis – Japanese Shows Announced

    Amorphis are excited to announce three headline shows in Japan this September, two in Tokyo and one in Osaka.
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