The Finnish progressive folk/black metal band Jotungrav are set to release their debut album ‘Elegi’ on August 20th 2026 via Inverse Records. The only single ‘Återfödd‘ is unleashed today and it’s available here: https://push.fm/fl/jotungrav-aterfodd The band comments: “Återfödd” (Swedish for “reborn”) sees Jotungrav embrace its folk metal roots more than on any other song from the […]
The official trailer for Ghost’s new concert film, 2 Big To Rig, has been released. The movie marks the band’s second project with Trafalgar Releasing and brings the final shows of the first Skeletour run to the big screen.
Shot on 16mm film during two sold-out nights at Palacio De Los Deportes in Mexico City, the feature places viewers in front of nearly 40,000 fans who witnessed the performances in September 2025.
Unlike 2024’s Rite Here Rite Now, which mixed concert footage with a narrative, 2 Big To Rig centers entirely on Ghost’s live production. The film combines behind-the-scenes footage of the crew responsible for bringing the band’s elaborate stage show to life with the only professionally filmed material from Papa V Perpetua and the Nameless Ghouls recorded during the phone-free Skeletour. The result is a complete document of one of the band’s biggest touring productions.
The title 2 Big To Rig refers to the conclusion of Skeletour, which wrapped up in February 2026 after 70 performances across North America, Europe, and Mexico. The film was created to give fans in regions the tour could not reach a chance to experience the production, while also serving those who missed the original opening night in Mexico City after the first of three scheduled concerts was canceled because of illness, leaving two performances instead.
Presented in IMAX where available, the concert film captures material spanning all six Ghost studio albums, including tracks from Skeletá alongside fan favorites “Mary On A Cross”, “Kiss The Go-Goat” and “The Future Is A Foreign Land”.
Kymberli Frueh, EVP content acquisitions and programming at Trafalgar Releasing, said: “Ghost captured the final nights of the legendary Skeletour’s first leg on 16mm film in Mexico City — creating a nostalgic experience and a fitting farewell to an era for fans. We’re proud to share it with cinema audiences worldwide before Ghost takes a well-publicized break. It’s the perfect way to close such a significant chapter in the band’s history and give fans a chance to relive this moment together.”
2 Big To Rig will arrive in cinemas and IMAX worldwide for a limited run beginning Wednesday, August 26. Tickets are already on sale.
In his time capsule capture as the leader of Bread, David Gates is forever seen as an extremely mellow fellow, the man behind the feel-good West Coast ballads Everything I Own, If and Make It With You – gauzy, grown-up love songs full of sun-kissed confidence; just add soft-focus.
However, all is not always as it seems . There was a little grit in his softcore oyster. “People always associate me with the ballads and pretty things, but I did quite a lot of rhythm ‘n’ blues and rock stuff early in my career,” he told writer Graham Reid in 2003.
The Tulsa-born Gates had been a key session man and producer in the 60s, playing with the likes of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. He’d forever be a footnote in rock’s underground for his production of two singles for Captain Beefheart at A&M in 1966. He wrote the A-side Moonchild for the good Captain, sweetening his sound for the label’s hierarchy. Bread would also have their heavier moments, calling the style ‘Bread Zeppelin.’
By 1973 Gates was a household name as Bread had become world superstars – but his tension with co-leader James Griffin put the band on hiatus, allowing him to release his debut solo album.
First was made, unsurprisingly, with the cream of LA session players, and showcased all his sweetness and craft. However, at the end of its first side there’s a slice of proper prog – Suite: Clouds, Rain is a rumination on life and love inspired by a plane journey home. It’s two songs joined together, with epic synths and a piano motif redolent of Jimmy Webb’s MacArthur Park.
Gates played keyboards and guitar over a rhythm section of Larry Knechtel (bass) and Russ Kunkel (drums). Sleeve essayist Alan Robinson noted: “It’s a splendidly atmospheric concoction… making for a mini-masterpiece of subtly shaded mood and tone, and the way that the sharp tang of electric guitar pierces the carefully-created atmosphere is illustrative of how many years of studio technique he could bring into play.”
Clouds, the first part of the song, ends with a portentous thunderclap. A section was taken for a single, reaching the US Top 50, and striking a chord with a lot of British fans when it was used as a closing theme for Samantha Dubois’ show on Radio Caroline.
Gates returned to Bread, and when he had later solo success with the track Goodbye Girl, he put together a compilation of his first two albums, and Suite: Clouds, Rain (re-titled the less proggy Clouds Suite) featured prominently. He was duly proud of his work.
Gates big copyrights remain staples of oldies programming; but for those who prefer something a little deeper, a visit to this quite wonderful track is thoroughly recommended.
Less than a year after delivering one of my favorite albums of 2025,1Sallow Moth flutters in to unload another monstrous helping of progressive death metal. Thematically, Hydrophilous Brood continues exploring the quantum entanglements of the Mossbane Lantern, a capriciously powerful artifact that can transport users across planes of existence—often with horrific consequences. I thoroughly enjoyed this backdrop on Mossbane Lantern, and learning that Sallow Moth’s new platter would once again fathom the inscrutable fickleness of the Lantern made me equal parts giddy and nervous. With expectations unfairly inflated, I slipped off my skivvies to bathe in the marvels of Hydrophilous Brood.
Compared to Mossbane Lantern, Hydrophilous Brood luxuriates in murkier, more organic tones than its predecessor. Largely, the differences between them condense into two observations. First, Garry Brents’ addition of drummer Allen Gingerich pays off big time. Second, most of the electronic embellishments heard on Mossbane Lantern have dwindled significantly, even though their spirit periodically reemerges via guitar or bass reprisals. What stands out most against Mossbane Lantern is the new LP’s commitment to more traditional instrumentation, even if the compositions themselves remain wildly unpredictable. Rather than abrupt shifts between crushing death metal, trip hop shimmers, and electronica-infused breaks, Hydrophilous Brood suggests most of these moods without pulling the rug out from listeners, and the end result impresses with more streamlined, delightfully lawless musical hooliganism.
Performance-wise, Sallow Moth doesn’t miss a beat as Brents and Gingerich glide through Hydrophilous Brood’s runtime. Most immediately, Gingerich’s drums supply an enormous boost to Sallow Moth’s compositions. The percussive elements on Mossbane Lantern never disappointed, yet Hydrophilous Brood quickly reinforces the magic that a skilled technician can add. Robotic rolls and precision snare abuse (“Driftmoth Vivisector”) may give the impression of programmed drums, but Gingerich also imparts slick sticksmanship and jazzy spasms (“Polymorphic Gnaw,” “Serene Aqueous Leech”) that leave me reeling with whiplashing wonder. In addition to the drums, Gingerich discharges a couple of guitar solos on “Arcane Benthic Umbilicus” and “Polymorphic Gnaw” that hew closer to more traditional fretwork, adding further depth to Sallow Moth’s arrangements. Brents, meanwhile, rekindles the aural anarchy from Mossbane Lantern, especially the crisply shred-infested riffing interspersed with brief passages of Cynical bass noodling and subtle synth atmospherics. Vocally, Brents strikes with a varied attack, assaulting listeners with brown-note toilet burps in line with this year’s Lureplasm (“Nebulous Appendages of Vacillant Seafoam,” “Polymorphic Gnaw”),2 aggrieved caveman roars (“Arcane Benthic Umbilicus”), and several brief guest cameos, including Corey Peterson (Thætas) and Evan Sadler (Labyrinthine Heirs).
In all, Sallow Moth throws a dizzying spread of instrumentation at listeners, making Hydrophilous Brood so dense and tangled that it can be difficult to navigate at first. It’s a bit like a several-thousand-piece puzzle, where the first listen is just flipping all the pieces over the right way. With more time, though, the album takes shape and reveals the overarching vision beneath the madness. Melodic phrases regularly trade the spotlight with tumultuous chugs and squealing guitars, never allowing songs to lock in before lurching to the next. I understand how it can be jarring, but catching the quick-flitting melodies as they dance to the fore then fade into the background without dissipating altogether demands appreciation. Thematically, the whimsical nature of the Mossbane Lantern artifact persists on Hydrophilous Brood, exerting wicked fun throughout.
After delivering one of my favorite death metal slabs of 2025, Sallow Moth follows up with another gloriously depraved contender. As I reflect on the music I’ve loved over the last couple of years, I find that what appeals to me mostly falls into one of two camps: flawlessexecutions of proven recipes and novelexplorations of metal. Sallow Moth lands squarely in the latter, and though novelty for its own sake often falls flat, the stories embedded within Hydrophilous Brood amplify the music, giving form to its chaos. Sure, there are things I miss from Mossbane Lantern, particularly the electronica-infused injections, and there are things I wish had been utilized more, like Ola’s noir-coded trumpet on “Serene Aqueous Leech.” Yet in the end, my critical comments mostly boil down to what I wish they’d done more of rather than faulting what they did. It takes patience to unravel and appreciate Sallow Moth’s latest, but after marinating in its waters for spins on end, I’m unashamedly glued to the Brood.
The Hu could have easily been a novelty. When Mongolia’s folk metal horde stormed the mainstream with 2018 single Yuve Yuve Yu, their ‘gimmick’ of playing Western rock with native instruments would have quickly got dull without the songwriting to back it up. Instead, the four-piece have refused to give in.
Hun comes four years after predecessor Rumble Of Thunder, the members’ feet having seldom touched the ground during that time as they toured with Iron Maiden, played Glastonbury festival and lent songs to a Star Wars videogame (for the second time!). In the more distant past, they’ve also collaborated with Metallica, had guest features from Jacoby Shaddix and Lzzy Hale, and received the Order Of Genghis Khan: the highest state honour in Mongolia. To question their staying power at this stage is like pooh-poohing how much money Avengers: Endgame made.
The Hu’s third album shows that they’ve taken mostly the right lessons from engaging with their hard rock heroes. The Real You gallops like The Trooper and evokes Maiden’s double-lead-guitar histrionics with its horsehead fiddle melodies. Universe is a nine-minute juggernaut, the hulking mid-section having more than a whiff of the Black Album about it.
Yet, for all the advancing chops and stylistic hat-tips, The Hu are still The Hu. Warrior Chant bellows their characteristic ‘Hu! Hu! Hu!’ cries within 30 seconds of starting, while Echoes Of My Father straddles the border between windswept folk and crowd-seizing power ballad. The only time ambition exceeds capability is during Lost Soul, as the sterilised electronics and lines from Nothing More radio-rocker Jonny Hawkins pull in two directions too many.
Hun reiterates that The Hu are a serious rock band with serious skill, worthy of all the endorsements they’ve picked up. A good gimmick opens the door but it’s good songs that push you through, and this is another enjoyable platter.
This article originally appeared in the new issue of Metal Hammer, available to order now. Hun is out via Better Noise on Friday, July 24. The Hu will tour Europe and the UK from September to November.
Doing for Cymru what Darkthrone’s A Blaze In The Northern Sky and Immortal’s Sons Of Northern Darkness once did so territorially for Norway, Ysbrydnos’s latest album, Welsh Mythical Darkness, drives another blade deep in the black metal map.
“It’s a declaration,” claims the project’s inscrutable architect, Ysbryd. “A statement that Wales and its legends are to be celebrated. For the last few years, I’ve been using Ysbrydnos as a vehicle to forge personal connections with the Welsh landscape, and this album revisits places important to me, such as Twmbarlwm in Risca and Carmarthen, tying them to fictional versions of their histories.”
Ysbryd’s treatments of his country’s past owe much to the visionary approaches of author-cum-mystics such as Alan Moore and late Welsh supernaturalist Arthur Machen.
“These guys use local legends to create their narratives,” Ysbryd explains. “I hope to remind people that magic is alive in the everyday, in nature and in the places where we live.”
Fully conscious of the problematic relationships between myth, history and nationalism, Ysbryd is quick to distance himself from “the flag-waving, beer-bellied fascists using ‘pride’ as a synonym for intolerance”.
Instead, enhanced by folkish melodies and dungeon synth atmospherics, his fantastical tales – full of wraith-inhabited castles, blood-harvesting hobgoblins and cryptids descended from Madoc, a 12th-century Welsh prince – conjure an alternative medievalism doubling as allegories in support of a marginalised people.
“Tracks such as A Fallow Harvest focus on divisions between rich and poor, exposing the myth of menial work as the peasant’s lot in life,” explains Ysbryd.
“Welsh Mythical Darkness is a rallying cry for Welsh culture – a haunted shriek boldly proclaiming that even after being invaded, our language being banned and every effort being made to remove local culture from the minds of people, we still exist, and are proud to be Welsh.”
This article was originally published in Metal Hammer issue 415, July 2026. Welsh Mythical Darkness is out now.
The Avalanches have lately been cryptically teasing a new album, and they’ve also been dropping collaborative singles — first “Together” with Nikki Nair, Jessy Lanza, and Prentiss, and then “Every Single Weekend” with Jamie xx. Today, they quietly posted a video for another new song, and this one is a team-up with Yeah Yeah Yeahs leader Karen O.
The greatest thrash metal band of all time existed for 37 days on stage, played roughly ten shows in front of a few hundred Bay Area headbangers, and dissolved before ever setting foot in a recording studio. Its name was Metallica — but not the Metallica you’ve seen at a stadium. This was the short-lived 1983 lineup of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Dave Mustaine and Cliff Burton, a four-man collision of talent so volatile it couldn’t survive a single spring. No official album. No music video. Just a handful of gigs, one lo-fi bootleg tape, and an argument that metal fans will be having until the sun burns out.
This is the story of the band that never was — and why, at Loaded Radio, after decades of covering every era of Metallica and every chapter of the Mustaine saga, we think the evidence says it might be the most dangerous thrash lineup ever assembled.
Go ahead. Get mad. Then read the receipts.
Thirty-Seven Days Of The Perfect Storm
Here’s the thing about lightning in a bottle: nobody ever gets to keep the bottle.
Cliff Burton agreed to join Metallica in December of 1982, replacing original bassist Ron McGovney — but only on one condition. He wasn’t moving to Los Angeles. If Hetfield, Ulrich and Mustaine wanted the kid from Trauma who played bass like a lead guitarist, they had to relocate to the Bay Area. They did. That single demand rerouted the history of heavy metal, planting Metallica in the middle of a scene that would become thrash’s ground zero.
On March 5, 1983, Burton played his first show with the band at The Stone in San Francisco. The opening act that night? Exodus — featuring a young lead guitarist named Kirk Hammett. Read that again. On the very first night the greatest lineup in Metallica history took a stage, the man who would end it was standing in the same room, warming up the crowd.
You couldn’t script it. A screenwriter would get laughed out of the pitch meeting.
The setlist that night was essentially Kill ‘Em All before Kill ‘Em All existed — including “The Mechanix,” the Mustaine composition that would later be slowed down, rewritten and retitled “The Four Horsemen.” A rough audience recording of that show survives, and it’s the closest thing we have to an official document of this band. Ten songs, ten shows, thirty-seven days. Then it was over.
April 11, 1983: A Firing With The Precision Of A Military Strike
Metallica had already made the call. On April 1, 1983 — while Mustaine was still in the band, still playing shows, still writing — they quietly phoned Kirk Hammett and invited him to audition. Ten days later, on the morning of April 11 at the Music Building in Queens, New York, Hetfield, Ulrich and Burton woke Mustaine up and told him he was out. No warning. No second chance. No intervention.
When Mustaine asked what time his flight home was, he got the answer that became metal folklore: he wasn’t flying. He was handed a one-way Greyhound ticket to Los Angeles — a four-day bus ride — departing from Port Authority in about an hour. Hetfield drove him to the terminal himself.
Somewhere on that endless ride west, a hungover, furious Mustaine started scribbling lyrics on a political handbill from Senator Alan Cranston that read, “the arsenals of megadeath can’t be rid.” Drop an “a,” and the rest is history. The firing didn’t just end the greatest lineup Metallica ever had. It created their fiercest rival. One two-month lineup effectively spawned half of the Big Four. We broke down that four-day bus ride — and twelve other jaw-droppers — in our 13 shocking Dave Mustaine facts feature, and it still reads like fiction.
Now for the part that turns friendly bar conversations into shouting matches: how much of classic Metallica is actually Dave Mustaine?
The official credits don’t leave much room for debate. Mustaine has writing credits on four songs from Kill ‘Em All — “The Four Horsemen,” “Jump in the Fire,” “Phantom Lord” and “Metal Militia” — and two from Ride the Lightning: the title track and “The Call of Ktulu.” That’s not a guest spot. That’s foundational architecture on the two albums that defined thrash metal, recorded after he was gone.
And “The Call of Ktulu” isn’t a footnote — Mustaine’s ominous opening arpeggio is the spine the entire eight-minute instrumental is built on. He even recycled the idea nearly two decades later on Megadeth’s “When.” The DNA doesn’t lie.
Then there’s the claim that keeps the feud evergreen: Mustaine insists his fingerprints are on Master of Puppets too — specifically “Leper Messiah,” where he says he wrote the main sliding riff and the mid-song “spider” riff. Kirk Hammett has flatly denied it, saying Mustaine’s contribution amounts to maybe ten seconds of a chord progression and that he personally watched Lars come up with the main motif. The song remains officially credited to Hetfield and Ulrich, and Mustaine never formally challenged it. Who’s right? That’s above our pay grade. But the fact that they’re still arguing about it four decades later tells you exactly how deep Mustaine’s shadow runs through Metallica’s golden era.
Oh, and those Kill ‘Em All solos? Mustaine has spent forty years pointing out that Hammett’s recorded leads followed his originals nearly note-for-note. Hammett stepped into a band whose live set — and whose lead breaks — were already written.
Strip away the nostalgia and the tribalism and ask one cold question: what do people actually lose their minds for at a Metallica show in 2026?
It’s not “King Nothing.” It’s not “Spit Out The Bone,” fine a song as it is. When the lights drop at a stadium on the M72 world tour, the moments that turn 70,000 adults into feral teenagers are “Seek & Destroy,” “Whiplash,” “The Four Horsemen,” “Ride the Lightning,” “Creeping Death,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Overwhelmingly, that’s material either co-written by Mustaine or forged in the white-hot period immediately surrounding his firing — the era when his aggression was still the band’s default setting and Cliff Burton was pushing the musicianship somewhere no thrash band had gone.
The Black Album will inevitably enter the chat, so let’s handle it now: Metallica’s 1991 self-titled record is a colossus. Sixteen-times platinum. A masterpiece of heavy metal songwriting. It is also, by almost any honest definition, not a thrash album — it’s the moment Metallica formally stopped being a thrash band. Which means if we’re arguing about the greatest thrash lineup, the Black Album isn’t a counter-argument. It’s evidence for the prosecution.
Here’s the gut-punch that makes this more than a fun hypothetical: this is the one great “what if” in metal that can never be answered.
Cliff Burton died on September 27, 1986, when Metallica’s tour bus crashed in Sweden. He was 24. Whatever peace Mustaine and Metallica have made over the years — the tearful embrace in the Some Kind of Monster documentary, the Big Four shows, Mustaine joining the 30th anniversary celebrations in 2011 — the four men who stood on that stage at The Stone can never stand together again. And with Mustaine now steering Megadeth through a farewell tour he says will run three to five years — while slamming the door on lineup reunions of any kind — the window for even a symbolic gesture is closing fast.
Ten shows. One bootleg. Zero albums. And a body of riffs that two of the biggest metal bands in history have been fighting over ever since.
The greatest thrash metal band that ever existed never got to prove it. Maybe that’s exactly why the argument will never die — and maybe, just maybe, that’s what makes them the greatest.
TL;DR
The Metallica lineup of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Dave Mustaine and Cliff Burton played together on stage for only about 37 days in 1983 — roughly 10 shows — and never made a studio recording.
Cliff Burton’s live debut was March 5, 1983 at The Stone in San Francisco; Kirk Hammett’s band Exodus opened that very show.
Mustaine was fired April 11, 1983 and sent home on a four-day Greyhound ride, during which he conceived Megadeth.
Mustaine holds official writing credits on four Kill ‘Em All songs and two Ride the Lightning songs, and claims disputed contributions to “Leper Messiah” on Master of Puppets — a claim Kirk Hammett denies.
Metallica’s most explosive live staples today still come overwhelmingly from the Mustaine-era and immediate post-Mustaine thrash period, not the Black Album and beyond.
Cliff Burton’s death in 1986 means this lineup can never reunite — the question of “greatest thrash band ever” stays open forever.
FAQ
Did Dave Mustaine and Cliff Burton ever record an album together in Metallica?
No. The four-man lineup of Hetfield, Ulrich, Mustaine and Burton never made a studio recording. The No Life ‘Til Leather demo (July 1982) featured original bassist Ron McGovney, and Kill ‘Em All was recorded after Mustaine’s firing, with Kirk Hammett on lead guitar. The only known documents of the Mustaine/Burton lineup are live recordings, including the March 5, 1983 bootleg from The Stone.
How many shows did Metallica play with both Dave Mustaine and Cliff Burton?
Roughly ten. Burton debuted live on March 5, 1983, and Mustaine was fired on April 11, 1983 — a 37-day window on stage together.
What Metallica songs did Dave Mustaine write?
Mustaine has official writing credits on “The Four Horsemen,” “Jump in the Fire,” “Phantom Lord” and “Metal Militia” from Kill ‘Em All, plus “Ride the Lightning” and “The Call of Ktulu” from Ride the Lightning.
Did Dave Mustaine write anything on Master of Puppets?
It’s disputed. Mustaine claims he wrote key riffs in “Leper Messiah,” but the song is officially credited to James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett has publicly denied Mustaine’s version, saying his contribution was at most a few seconds of a chord progression. Mustaine never formally challenged the credit.
Why was Dave Mustaine fired from Metallica?
His bandmates cited his volatile, aggressive behavior when drinking. The firing came without warning on April 11, 1983 in New York — Kirk Hammett had already been contacted on April 1 and was hired before Mustaine even knew he was out.
Is the Black Album a thrash metal album?
By most definitions, no. The 1991 self-titled record slowed the tempos and streamlined the songwriting into heavy metal and hard rock territory — a deliberate move away from Metallica’s thrash roots, and a big reason the “greatest thrash lineup” debate centers on the band’s early era.
What do you think — is the Hetfield/Ulrich/Mustaine/Burton lineup the greatest thrash band that never was, or is this pure revisionist history? Sound off in the comments and defend your era. And for more deep dives into the stories that built heavy metal, follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
Testament has joined forces with KnuckleBonz for an official collaboration that will bring the Bay Area thrash legends into the upcoming KnuckleBonz360 BackStage Experience. The immersive 3D platform is scheduled to launch in the summer of 2026, giving fans a new way to interact with the band and other members of the metal community.
“Testament is very excited to be a part of a new experience for fans to connect directly with the band,” says Chuck Billy, frontman of Testament. “KnuckleBonz360 is gonna blow some minds with what is available in this digital world.”
KnuckleBonz360 is being built as a digital destination centered around legendary bands and artists, recreating their visual identity through interactive 3D environments. More than 20 dedicated band worlds are expected to be available when the platform launches in 2026. Users will be able to meet other fans, take part in mini-games, browse exclusive collectibles, and experience classic album artwork brought into an explorable digital space.
According to KnuckleBonz CEO and creative director Tony Simerman, Testament was a natural fit for the project.
“Testament has been one of the defining forces in thrash metal for over four decades and building the Testament world inside KnuckleBonz360 means every fan around the globe now has a place to gather and live inside original thrash,” says Tony Simerman, adding: “Chuck and the band understand exactly what this platform can be for fans, and that energy is going to come through in every corner of the experience.”
The Testament experience is being created by a development team made up of artists, engineers, and dedicated music fans. The goal is to give followers of the band a place where they can celebrate its legacy while exploring key elements of its history and identity. Visitors will be able to move through environments inspired by the band’s rise from the early Bay Area thrash scene, alongside its recognizable skull artwork, crushing guitar riffs, and Chuck Billy‘s signature vocal style that has defined Testament for more than 40 years.
In addition to the virtual world itself, the experience will include digital collectibles, physical collectibles, and exclusive merchandise available for worldwide shipping. The multiplayer environment also gives fans the chance to explore the world together when the platform launches in the summer of 2026.
Founded in 2003, KnuckleBonz has spent more than two decades producing premium music collectibles and content for dedicated fans. With the introduction of KnuckleBonz360, the company is expanding into immersive digital experiences while continuing its focus on music memorabilia, art, and collector culture.
Less than a year after delivering one of my favorite albums of 2025,
