Pixies were a vastly influential band who didn’t stick around for too long or release too much music in their first incarnation, which means people have been mining their discography for decades. Somehow, though, someone has found a handful of Pixies tracks that have never seen the light of day. Later this year, Pixies will include those tracks on new reissues of their third and fourth albums, 1990’s Bossanova and 1991’s Trompe Le Monde.
The Dwarves return with a new full-length, JENKEM,arriving June 5 via Greedy Records (Distributed by MVD). Get a sneak peak of “Damned If I Do” before the record drops.
In anticipation of the album, we caught up with band mastermind Blag Dahlia to talk about what we can expect.
JENKEM feels really energized and locked in—not like a legacy act trying to recreate the past, but like a band still having fun pushing buttons and making loud, chaotic records. What excited you most creatively while making this album?
Thanks for noticing! That’s why the Dwarves call ourselves the last punk band—because a lot of times when bands get old, they forget why they started making records in the first place. It’s supposed to be fun! We still all get in the same room and knock it out together so it sounds like a band playing, not a bunch of overdubs looking for a guy to mix it. What excited me most about making the record was just hanging out with my friends, honestly. It’s still a lot of fun to talk shit and make fun of each other and everybody else. JENKEM is the end result of a bunch of pals enjoying themselves making music, who just happen to be rock legends!
One thing that’s always made The Dwarves unique is how you mix humor with genuinely catchy songwriting. Even when the lyrics are outrageous, there’s always real craft underneath it. Do you consciously think about balancing those two sides, or has that just become second nature over the years?
Everyone in this band writes songs, so it leads to an eclectic mix of styles, not just a repeat of what we’ve done before. It can also be tricky trying to make something catchy that’s often super fast with loud guitars. That’s why a lot of thrash and punk and metal records are so humorless, because the melodies that go over those kind of songs are often only one note, with a bald tattooed guy grunting about how alienated he is. I try to have a melody you can sing over an acoustic guitar or whistle when you walk down the street instead of hiding behind loud volume and angst. But sometimes grunting is fun; it really depends on the song and what you’re trying to put across.
People think we’re trying to be outrageous or shock everyone, but to me it’s just having the nuts to record what is actually careening through everybody’s mind all the time—sex, death, violence, profanity, more sex. A lot of artists censor themselves from the start, always trying to make something that won’t offend anyone, or that helps them virtue signal, or that might be a predictable success or whatever. They make us sound like we’re trying to shock people, when really we just want to convey that pure id impulse stuff, not to be background noise for a sports beverage advertisement.
The Dwarves have managed to survive and stay relevant through so many different eras of punk and underground music without ever really sounding like anybody else. Looking back, what do you think has kept the band connected to people for this long?
A lot of it was avoiding, or being ignored by, the music industry. Once you’re not 25 anymore and no record executives are looking to you to put their kids through college, you become a historical artifact. From there, you can make great music until you drop dead, and the only people who notice are the fans that actually like you. We were there for punk, post punk, nu metal, thrash, noise rock, grunge, pop punk, and all the rest, but to stay relevant requires actually liking what you do and keeping your ears open and taking chances and ignoring the haters. Those are hard things to do, especially when musicians get old and sensitive. That’s why being decadent, heartless bastards really came in handy for us sometimes. We just didn’t care that some Hollywood nepo baby, or a disgruntled British tabloid guy, or a social media hipster objected to our music. We didn’t make it for them, we made it for ourselves and the people who liked it and when no one bought our records; we just laughed.
Songs like “We Are the Scene” almost feel like The Dwarves reflecting on your relationship with punk culture after all these years. After decades in underground music, what still inspires or entertains you about the scene?
There is always something new bubbling up. When a young band like the Sik Sik Sicks reaches out to us and wants to play a show, it amazes me, I think, “How did you even hear of this band, let alone enjoy it?” So I wound up writing a duet to do with the singer of that band for the last record, and our fans loved it. Hopefully, there will always be pockets of cool young people coming up pushing the boundaries of what’s new and unearthing the best of what’s old.
“We Are The Scene” is a song that just pushes that idea of, “We really don’t give a fuck who likes this or who buys this or who promotes this; we did this for an audience of one, ourselves. We contain multitudes; we don’t need your love or approval or permission; we decide who’s running the scene. And it’s us!”
Your records have always had this mix of chaos, humor, great hooks, and total unpredictability that younger bands still try to capture. When you hear newer punk or hardcore bands today, do you hear elements of The Dwarves’ influence in ways that surprise you?
I wish I heard more of it! This is where all the marketing and stuff comes up because people are only influenced by what they actually hear, and since so few people ever heard us, we aren’t generally cited as big influences by a lot of bands. I think where our influence came in the most was young bands we played with who said, “Wow, you guys really don’t give a fuck, do you? You’re just doing what you like, and that’s it?” A lot of times they couldn’t believe it, especially the more management and label and agent and lawyer and publicist driven they were. The idea that you could be truly independent and just make a glorious mess onstage and laugh with your friends was really liberating for some bands that played with us. The better ones took up the challenge and ran with it.
This new video “Damned If I Do” is interesting because we had been doing more and more evolutionary things on our records over the last twenty years or so, using session people and producers and different styles and we said this time let’s just do a gut level punch you in the throat punk record which is what most of Jenkem is. Then, out of the blue, I just said, I’m going to write an 80’s style mid-tempo hit song and throw it on this album just to infuriate everyone, and it turned out to be the catchiest track on the record. Then we made this video with a young Hollywood director and hot LA babes and just reveled in the muck of it. This band started as a reaction to ’80’s style mid-tempo hit songs, and now we wound up making one just to piss ourselves off. If that ain’t punk rock, it’s something even better. It’s the Dwarves!
U.S. Dates
06/12 — Austin, TX @ Austin Noise Fest w/ Prong
06/13 — Dallas, TX @ Dusty’s
06/14 — San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill w/ The Pandoras
Europe & U.K. Dates
06/17 — Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz 3
06/18 — Valencia, ES @ 16 Toneladas
06/19 — Vitoria, ES @ Azkena Rock Festival
06/20 — Tours, FR @ Bateau Ivre w/ Eye Hate God (Free Show)
06/21 — Clisson, FR @ Hellfest
06/23 — Utrecht, NL @ DB
06/24 — Düsseldorf, DE @ Pitcher
06/25 — Haarlem, NL @ Patronaat w/ Eye Hate God
06/26 — Ysselstyn, NL @ Jera On Air
06/26 — Deventer, NL @ Burgerweeshuis w/ Truckfighters
06/27 — Hamburg, DE @ Hedi (2 Sets)
06/28 — Berlin, DE @ BiNuu w/ Eye Hate God
06/29 — Regensburg, DE @ Alte Mälzerei w/ Eye Hate God
07/01 — Trutnov, CZ @ Obscene Extreme Festival
07/02 — Brno, CZ @ Kabinet
07/03 — Zabok, HR @ Regenerator
07/04 — Pula, HR @ Monteparadiso w/ Eye Hate God
07/05 — Treviso, IT @ Nomad (Free Show)
07/08 — Athens, GR @ Gazarte Ground Stage
07/09 — Prolsdorf, DE @ Krach am Bach Festival
07/10 — Stuttgart, DE @ Goldmarks
07/11 — Essen, DE @ Don’t Panic
07/12 — Gierle, BE @ Sjock Fest
07/15 — Marseille, FR @ Molotov
07/16 — Bergamo, IT @ Punk Rock Raduno (Free Show)
07/17 — Turin, IT @ Blah Blah
07/18 — Theley, DE @ Backside Festival
Additional U.S. Dates
09/04 — Philadelphia, PA
09/05 — Brooklyn, NY
09/06 — Montague, MA @ RPM Fest
09/11 — Scottsdale, AZ w/ The Exploited, Total Chaos
09/12 — Los Angeles, CA w/ The Exploited, Total Chaos
09/13 — Murrieta, CA w/ Total Chaos
09/16 — Las Vegas, NV w/ Total Chaos
09/17 — Orange County, CA w/ The Exploited, Total Chaos
09/18 — San Francisco, CA w/ The Exploited, Total Chaos
09/20 — Sacramento, CA w/ The Exploited
(written by Islander) The Canadian death metal band Coprolith clearly have no desire to mislead anyone about the kind of music they make. Their name is a word for fossilized feces. The music on their self-titled debut demo from 2023 (reviewed here) was grotesquely ugly and maniacally marauding. Their forthcoming debut album is named Putrescence. […]
The Portland-based musician Emma Ruth Rundle specializes in bleak, overwhelming music about how we’re all completely fucked as a species (or maybe that’s just my takeaway.) But there’s something utopian about the way that Rundle makes music, collaborating freely across genre lines and finding community in unlikely spaces. It doesn’t negate the message or the…
It only seems like a few months ago that I reviewed ‘The End of Dormancy’ EP which was a three-track mini release, two of the tracks were the aforementioned title-track played both in the studio and also live with an accompanying brass section, the result was nothing less than stunning. Well, it turns out that review was six years ago, and now I have the pleasure of reviewing the new Voïvod release; a full-length live album with not just a brass section, but a complete performance with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra.
Comprising of twelve tracks from across the breadth of their 15 album back catalogue, although the setlist is heavily weighted, much to my delight, to my favourite two albums, with both “Dimension Hatröss” and “Nothingface” making up seven of the twelve tracks here!
Starting with the excellent ‘Experiment’ with its serpentine riffing and off kilter timings, the Orchestra adds both depth and subtle phrasing to an already complex arrangement, take the intro with the oboe and double bass taking prominent roles, the track builds and builds with more and more instruments added before the band itself cuts in, with the string section complimenting the heavy riffage seamlessly.
With the band stating that this is a dream come true; composer, arranger Hugo Bégin has helped to bring the project to fruition with his orchestration. The interaction between band and orchestra works extremely well. ‘The End of Dormancy’, ‘Fall’ and ‘Holographic Thinking’ represent the later part of the band’s discography, and each work equally well, with the former playing out like some soundtrack to an immense space battle from Star Wars.
‘Nuclear War’ from their debut alum “War and Pain” is transformed from a rough and ready punk track into something majestic, whilst still retaining the spirit of the original. The concluding track, although obviously a Pink Floyd cover; ‘Astronomy Domine’ Voïvod has made it their own over the years, having played it more live than the originators themselves, and is a fitting way to finish.
This is a truly amazing release, and even if you’re not a Voïvod or classical music fan, I urge you to at least give this a try, this is easily one of the most impressive collaborations of metal and Orchestra I have had the pleasure to listen to, forget about certain other joint efforts (cough cough S&M) this blows that out of the water. Listen loud with a good stereo system or pair of headphones and you will be transported to another dimension, just wonderful.
Death Metal Promotion has confirmed the release date, final lineup, and cover artwork for the compilation Death Metal Tribute to OZZY.
The album will be released digitally on August 7, 2026, featuring 26 DEATH METAL bands from the global extreme metal underground. Bands from Europe, North and South America, and Asia each contribute interpretations of songs originally performed by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath.
Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on July 22, 2025, remains one of the defining voices of heavy metal, known for his work with Black Sabbath and his solo career. The idea behind the compilation is simple: to pay tribute to his legacy by taking well-known tracks and pushing them through different interpretations coming from the death metal scene. The result isn’t meant to replicate the originals, but to reinterpret them in a heavier and more aggressive form, underlining how deeply these songs have influenced generations of metal musicians across the entire spectrum of the genre.
Tracklist:
Imperial Domain (Sweden) – Mr. Crowley
Hetrem (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – Bark at the Moon
Roast Dead (UK) – Crazy Train
Pleasure of Mutilate (Ecuador) – Paranoid
World Eater (USA) – Shot in the Dark
Icons of Blasphemy (Peru) – Believer
Desekryptor (USA) – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Flamecore (Greece) – A National Acrobat
Misgivings (France) – Hole in the Sky
Becoming the Entity (Mexico) – Symptom of the Universe
Vastness (Poland) – The Ultimate Sin
Insineratehymn (USA) – Into the Void
Pestifer (Portugal) – Killing Yourself to Live
Vephar (Poland) – Snowblind
Clairvoyance (Poland) – Sweet Leaf
Paraphilia (USA) – Cornucopia
Slaveson (Austria) – Gets Me Through
Rêvasseur (Vietnam) – I Don’t Wanna Stop
Hallucinate (Germany) – Changes
On Soulwings (USA) – A National Acrobat
Reckless Manslaughter (Germany) – Demon Alcohol
Bottlekopf (Poland) – Never Say Die
Tvmvlo (Portugal) – I Don’t Know
Podridão (Brazil) – Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes
Withering Earth (USA) – No More Tears
Transmigration Macabre (Argentina / Uruguay) – Electric Funeral
Chilean death metallers ROTTEN TOMB are now streaming their entire new album Vestiges of Tortured Souls in an exclusive premiere hosted by Death Metal Promotion, ahead of its official release on June 6th, 2026 via Nuclear Winter Records.
With Vestiges of Tortured Souls, ROTTEN TOMB take a significant step forward in their artistic development, delivering what is arguably their most accomplished and cohesive work to date. While remaining firmly rooted in the raw intensity and dark atmosphere that have characterized the band since its inception, the album reveals a more confident and deliberate songwriting approach, built around memorable structures and a stronger sense of identity.
Across its tracklist, each composition stands out through its own distinct character, allowing the record to maintain a compelling sense of variety without sacrificing cohesion. From relentless death metal aggression to darker and more atmospheric passages, Vestiges of Tortured Souls unfolds as a carefully crafted journey that highlights the band’s growing maturity as songwriters. The result is a powerful and distinctive statement that further solidifies ROTTEN TOMB’s position within the contemporary underground death metal scene.
Line-up:
Deathbringer – Guitar, vocals C. – Guitar A. Prophaner – Drums Utukku – Bass
Formed in 2016 in Iquique, ROTTEN TOMB have steadily risen as one of the most compelling acts within the South American extreme metal scene, blending death metal with doom-laden atmospheres and occult undertones. Following the strong impact of Visions of a Dismal Fate (2022) and the equally praised The Relief of Death (2024), the band now returns with their most ambitious and fully realized work to date.
Vestiges of Tortured Souls stands as one of the most anticipated death metal releases of the year. On this new record, ROTTEN TOMB refine their sonic identity without sacrificing intensity or authenticity. The riffs are sharper and more cohesive, while the melodies take on a more prominent role, painting soundscapes that feel more sorrowful and evocative than ever before.
Without losing any of the crushing heaviness and sense of decay that defined their earlier material, the band now delivers songs with an immediate and lasting impact. Each track strikes a balance between overwhelming force and carefully crafted lead guitar work, resulting in compositions that are both memorable and devastating.
Track-list:
01. Horror Manifestations 02. Condemned Reality 03. Lost Memories 04. Waiting, Dying 05. Mortified 06. Mind of Chaos 07. Here Lies Death 08. Ancestral Preservation 09. Human Pyre
The album channels the oppressive weight of the genre’s darkest pioneers alongside a deeply mournful and introspective atmosphere, while still maintaining a distinct and personal voice. This duality allows ROTTEN TOMB to push their sound forward, achieving a level of songwriting maturity that marks a clear evolution from their previous efforts.
Vestiges of Tortured Souls represents a major step forward for ROTTEN TOMB, solidifying their position at the forefront of Chile’s increasingly renowned extreme metal scene and extending their reach far beyond national borders.
For fans of: Incantation, early Paradise Lost, Krypts, Sonne Adam
(Andy Synn offers another four killer examples of albums you may have overlooked last month) This particular edition of “Things You May Have Missed” is definitely less diverse than yesterday’s article (which you can, and should, read here if you haven’t already), but that doesn’t mean it’s totally lacking in variety, as while there’s definitely a focus […]
