70000 Tons Of Metal is adding more firepower to its 2027 lineup, with Exodus and Exmortus now confirmed for the next edition of the massive metal cruise.
The festival will depart from Miami, Florida, on January 14, 2027, heading to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, before returning to Miami on January 18. The event will take place aboard Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas.
The current lineup, listed alphabetically, features Abigail Williams, Æther Realm, Arch Enemy, Battlelore, Brainstorm, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Enforcer, Equilibrium, Evergrey, Exmortus, Exodus, HammerFall, Melechesh, Moonspell, Mors Principium Est, Naglfar, Obscura, Origin, Primal Fear, Rhapsody, Uli Jon Roth, Sinister, Thulcandra, Warbringer, and Ye Banished Privateers.
More bands are expected to join the bill in the coming weeks, with the final event set to feature 60 metal acts from around the world.
The cruise combines multiple days of live metal with artist-hosted activities, meet-and-greets, and plenty of opportunities for fans to interact with the musicians away from the stage. Performances will take place across four stages, including the Pool Deck Stage, billed as “The World’s Biggest Open Air Stage Structure to Ever Sail the Open Seas.”
With only 3,000 tickets available, the event is designed to keep the crowd relatively small compared with a conventional large-scale festival. Organizers describe that community as the “United Nations of Heavy Metal at Sea”.
For metal fans looking to make the trip, the 2027 edition offers four days at sea, a stop in the Dominican Republic, and a lineup that already spans thrash, death metal, black metal, power metal, folk metal, and other corners of the genre.
Gwar fans have been asking for it for years, and now it’s finally happening. Digital Dreams Entertainment Inc. has announced Mutant Football League 2: Antarctica Scumdogs, a new DLC pack built entirely around the shock-rock legends, set to hit PlayStation 5, Steam and Xbox Series X|S in October 2026.
Gwar has ripped its way into the Mutant Football League 2 universe, a world where the sport is nearly as violent as the band itself. Players get maimed, referees can be killed, cheating is part of the strategy, and sometimes the smartest move on the field is simply wiping out the other team. For a band built on carnage, it’s practically a homecoming.
“MFL fans have been asking me for years, ‘When are you going to get Gwar into the game?’” said Michael Mendheim, president of Digital Dreams Entertainment. “Well, the wait is finally over. Football just got louder, bloodier, and a whole lot more Gwar. The Antarctica Scumdogs are coming to MFL2, and we’re making damn sure they’re the deadliest team in the game.”
For more than 30 years, Gwar has combined heavy metal, over-the-top characters, elaborate mythology, sharp satire, and outrageous live shows into one of metal’s most recognizable acts. Now that chaos has a new home, and this one comes with goalposts.
Mutant Football League 2 isn’t your average football game. It’s a full-contact bloodbath where referees expect dirty play, mistakes can be fatal, and the stadium itself might take you out depending on where you’re standing when the buzzsaws start up and the mutant worms come out to feed.
It’s the ideal setting for Gwar, and exactly the crossover fans have been clamoring for. Antarctica Scumdogs marks the band’s first video game appearance in more than three decades, and it’s the only place you’ll ever get to play as Gwar. The in-game roster includes:
Blöthar The Berserker Bälsäc The Jaws ‘O Death Jizmak Da Gusha Grodius Maximus Beefcake The Mighty Sawborg Destructo Bonesnapper
Gwar frontman Blöthar The Berserker offered his own take: “Today, the Antarctica Scumdogs of Gwar take to the frozen tundra of the Mutant Football League, where killing isn’t everything, it’s the ONLY thing! Let the games begin!!”
True to form, the Scumdogs are built purely for destruction, and they’re easily the most physically punishing team in the game, engineered around brutality and chaos in a way that turns every matchup into a fight for survival. Against Gwar, the scoreboard quickly becomes an afterthought.
No Gwar production is complete without an equally unhinged setting, and Antarctica Scumdogs delivers a new stadium steeped in the band’s mythology, along with a handful of surprises being held back for launch.
The Gwar: Antarctica Scumdogs DLC will get its first public hands-on debut at PAX West in Seattle, running September 4 through 7. Attendees can find it live at the Digital Dreams Entertainment booth, located in the Arch Building, Level 4, Booth #853. The studio is also running a daily raffle throughout the convention, giving attendees a shot at being immortalized as a playable member of Gwar‘s Antarctica Scumdogs roster.
Gwar‘s own mythology stretches far beyond this planet. According to the band’s lore, they began as elite warriors known as the Scumdogs of the Universe, serving in the army of the Master of All Reality, before their recklessness got them exiled to a backwater world called Earth. Once there, they shaped human history itself, wiping out the dinosaurs and interbreeding with apes to create mankind, before the Master of All Reality froze them in the Antarctic ice as punishment. They stayed there until a con man named Sleazy P Martini dug them up and introduced them to pro wrestling, late-night horror films, heavy metal and a steady diet of crack cocaine, kickstarting the cultural force Gwar has become.
Mutant Football League 2 serves as the spiritual successor to the cult Sega Genesis title Mutant League Football, cranking up the mayhem with a mix of arcade football, tactical depth, dark humor and nonstop violence. The 8-on-8 game pits mutants, monsters, skeletons, robots and other bloodthirsty competitors against each other across hazard-filled arenas loaded with dirty tricks, brutal hits and plenty of ways to permanently exit the match.
Mutant Football League 2 is currently available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Steam.
Digital Dreams Entertainment Inc. was founded in 2010 by Michael Mendheim and Maxim Novikov. The studio, headquartered in Morton Grove, Illinois, with core development based in Kyiv, Ukraine, specializes in retro-inspired, high-concept games across PC, console and mobile platforms. Michael and Maxim‘s combined credits include Need For Speed: Pro-Street, Tazmania, BattleTanx, FIFA Street 2, Robocalypse, Mutant League Football, Mutant League Hockey, Def Jam Icon, Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes, SSX On Tour, CrimeCraft and Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter.
Mutant Football League is created strictly for entertainment purposes. All names, logos, likenesses, teams and events depicted are used for parody, satire and commentary, and the game has no affiliation with, endorsement from or license from the National Football League, its teams, players or the National Football League Players Association.
Grumpy’s new album Unfindable Ring comes out next month. So far Heaven Schmitt and co. have unleashed “Twenty Five” and “OBL,” the latter of which we named one of the best songs of the week. Now, the NYC indie rockers are back with the Alex G-esque earworm “The Whale” featuring D.A. Crimson.
Dance DJ and producer Logic1000 has been around for a while, and she’s about to release her new collab-heavy album Confirmation! We’ve already posted the singles “All In For You,” with KUČKA, and “Jersey,” with Jam City. But the most famous of the LP’s guests is probably Rahim, the French art-pop artist who records as Christine And The Queens. Today, we get to hear what happens when the two of them get together.
After more than five decades of friendship, musical exchange and separate careers that helped redefine what the electric guitar could do, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have finally made a record together. The Sea of Emotion, the first studio album from SatchVai, will be released November 6, 2026 via earMUSIC. The announcement arrives alongside the release of “Mayhem,” the album’s blistering new single, out today.
The story began in 1973, when 13-year-old Steve Vai began taking guitar lessons from his 17-year-old teacher, Joe Satriani, on Long Island. Neither could have known where that shared obsession with the guitar would lead. More than 50 years later, after establishing themselves as solo artists and sharing stages around the world through the legendary G3 tours, they have brought their musical histories together on one album.
“We’ve been planning this since 1973,” Vai says with a laugh. “Just unconsciously.”
The album came together after a G3 reunion tour created an unexpected opening in their schedules. What began as a suggestion to record a single track quickly expanded when Satriani sent Vai two finished pieces, “The Sea of Emotion, Part 1” and “Part 2.” Vai knew immediately that the time had come.
The process was anything but predictable. Although the two musicians share a deep musical history, similar influences and a lifelong understanding of the guitar, they discovered that they write very differently. That contrast became one of the defining elements of the record, with ideas moving back and forth until the songs took unexpected turns.
“The biggest surprise was that we write in completely different ways,” Satriani explains. “And that’s what made the project so fun and interesting.”
The album brings together two musicians who have spent decades developing unmistakable individual voices, while giving each the freedom to push the other somewhere new. Producer and keyboardist Eric Caudieux helped keep the process honest, while a formidable group of longtime collaborators supplied the rhythm section, including drummers Gregg Bissonette, Jeremy Colson, Kenny Aronoff, Matt Chamberlain and Mike Mangini, and bassists Billy Sheehan, Bryan Beller, Philip Bynoe, Matt Bissonette, Marco Mendoza and Henrik Linder.
Across The Sea of Emotion, SatchVai moves from the raw rock ’n’ roll of “Mayhem” and “Bronco Freight Train” to the darker, cinematic “Old Sins Have Long Shadows,” the unruly swing of “Zoot Suit Riot” and the arena-sized “I Wanna Play My Guitar,” featuring legendary singer Glenn Hughes.
At the center of the album is the three-part “The Sea of Emotion” suite, which reaches back to the Carle Place school field where the two teenage musicians once spent time dreaming about music. “The Sea of Emotion, Part 3” even begins with a vintage reel-to-reel recording from one of Vai’s early lessons with Satriani, a glimpse of two young guitarists still searching for their voices.
“It illustrates just how far we’ve come,” Satriani says. “We’re these two kids who haven’t found our sound yet, but we’ve got enthusiasm. We’re chasing something, and we’re determined.”
For Vai, the album ultimately represents something more personal than a meeting of two celebrated guitarists.
“That’s when I really feel, like, wow, we really did it,” he says. “It’s a beautiful coming together of me and my friend in a very intimate musical way. That was the reason we did the record.”
The Sea of Emotion is available to pre-order here.
On August 8th, Zumiez, the infamous nationwide skateboarding & clothing brand, hosted a hardcore lineup of bands in Chicago’s Daley Plaza – featuring one band in particular, GODCHAIN: a household name in our community.
GODCHAIN’s 4 members – drummer Kyle Clark, lead guitarist Luis Montanez, bass player Kyle Ritchey, and vocalist/rhythm guitarist Jacob Campos – are staples of this scene. Loud, fierce, and unapologetic, they have gathered dozens of fans over the last year – to the point where they are so undeniably notable in the scene. Every show of theirs comes with a message, and one that has undoubtedly managed to span across the masses of Chicago. I mentioned this as my opener, and Campos led with this
Campos at the Zumiez show on August 8th, 2026.
“I generally think of it as I like writing and I like performing, just politically charged,” he replied. “And it’s not always political. I wish it didn’t have to be. But generally, it’s, ‘I made this’. I made it for myself. If someone else likes it, beautiful, and if people want more of it, then I’m happy to write more.”
GODCHAIN has made a definite mark on the scene, from performing at DIY venues to skateparks to our very own, locally infamous hardcore venue Casa Cafe – a very popular vessel for the local music community. They are unapologetically metal, punk, and themselves. I asked where such a strong confidence in who they are and what music they make came from; Ritchey then chimed in next.
Kyle Ritchey, the bass player of GODCHAIN, recalled memories of his dad introducing him to ska punk – where icons like Goldfinger & Reel Big Fish were mentioned for having a huge impact on him growing up. The progression to creating GODCHAIN’s unique Chicago ‘heretic metal’ sound was natural for many of the members, as heavy metal, punk, and hardcore crept into their lives and consumed their music taste, for most, very early on. Campos and Montanez spoke about their experience growing up in households of color, Campos burning CDs and all blasting their favorite music – no matter the critique or the judgment. We spoke about the cultural phenomenon of families of color being against or conflicted about the widespread love for hardcore, then conversely, about how the new generation of punks are still big fans of their parents’ favorite music.
“I’ve kind of forced my family to accept it because they know they can’t not listen to it. But it was never, like, a case of, like, ‘turn that shit off,” Campos shared.
“My dad – all he liked listening to was soul music. So as a kid, if it wasn’t anything Mexican, it was James Brown. But then I moved to California when I was a kid – and over there is where my uncle introduced me to all this new stuff: my first introduction to Linkin Park, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera.”
People of color; varieties of cultures up on stage – fiercely driven by the combination of their unshakable love for music and the craving to be loud, that is exactly what GODCHAIN is.
Clark at the Zumiez show on August 8th, 2026.
“Just because it’s already been said by other people you play with, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t say it anymore,” Campos noted. “You come to a GODCHAIN show, you’re going to see two brown men. You’re going to see a Mexican man singing and a Mexican man playing guitar. You’ll see a white man playing bass and a white man playing drums. And you see these people because we all were together on whatever it is we want to say.”
In a world so difficult to cope with sometimes, I asked about how the music helps or influences the emotions stirred up by global injustice.
“There’s so much screaming. To the point where you’re ‘screaming’ the message every time,” Montanez expressed. “Sometimes screaming, sometimes preaching, but every single time, we are persistent.”
Montanez at the Zumiez show on August 8th, 2026.
GODCHAIN has a song out on platforms now entitled “The American Dream:” a song that Campos explained is about nuclear weapons, race, protests, and the criticism of religion. He explains that there won’t be a single GODCHAIN song where they’re not attacking a certain injustice or speaking out against a certain wrongdoing. It is innate within the message of GODCHAIN to be deliberate yet always heard, and is unequivocally a huge part of the culture they create at their shows. Unrest lies within the scene, and GODCHAIN does not forgive that.
“There was a point when we were making this album when he said the music felt like an extension of our friendship,” Steve Rothery says, turning to his counterpart, Steve Hackett, with a warm smile.
“When you’re friends first and the music comes later, you know it’s non-competitive, and something else starts to happen,” says Hackett with a matching grin.
The long-standing friends have are discussing their first full-length collaborative album, The Roaring Waves, which is billed as a cinematic exploration of all things oceanic. Eight years in the making, it showcases the two virtuosos in a dramatic new light.
“It’s not a technical album,” says Marillion’s Rothery. “For me, music has always been about melody, emotion and atmosphere, and I think that’s what we both encapsulate in our playing. You’re going to move people a lot more with several notes over a beautiful chord sequence played with emotion than you are by sweep-picking across the neck for five minutes.”
Ex Genesis guitarist Hackett says the album goes against the argument that “you put a couple of guitarists together and they try and outplay each other,” adding that it’s “deliberately non-virtuosic, and certainly not the kind of album guitarists normally make together.”
A score to a non-existent movie, The Roaring Waves finds them creating musical musings on everything from Rothery’s childhood by the sea in Whitby to the final voyage of a lost Soviet submarine.
It opens with The Storm, where after some gales and rainfall effects, Hackett plays a sorrowful lead call-out as a military-style rhythm develops. Then both guitarists drive into a heavier riff before more freeform fret-bothering, each reacting subtly and sensitively to the other’s choices of direction.
The residual benefits of Rothery working with Thorsten Quaeschning of Tangerine Dream on their Bioscope project might be evident in places, where restraint overrules rocking out. Sandsend, named after an area near Whitby, bathes in a kind of subdued serenity, honouring its melody without overselling it.
Red Dragon throws the listener off with faux bagpipes before digging into a chunky, meaty motif. Then it’s back to the ocean for the seven-minute title number. There’s a tantalising taste of flamenco, then stabs of tension introduce warm, unapologetic guitar wizardry. The construction here is perhaps the closest this album comes to Hackett-era Genesis.
K-129 was inspired by a Soviet submarine which went missing in the late 1960s, with some claiming the captain took it on a suicide mission to the seabed rather than start a war. It’s faintly too perky to evoke the claustrophobia it’s shooting for, but the insistent whispery sidebars of electronica give it gravitas, and there’s sincere urgency over the closing stretch. Next, The Black Sea glides in gracefully – and here’s where Rothery really gets his Andy Latimer on. The tender melancholia could sit comfortably within a Camel opus such as Moonmadness or The Snow Goose.
(Image credit: Anne-Marie Forker)
“The original ideas defined the concept,” Rothery says of the fruits that bloomed from their initial jam sessions at Marillion’s studio, Racket Records. “We asked, ‘What picture does this paint?’ and from that moment, the songs and concept evolved together; they guided the mood and atmospheres.”
Though their ever-packed schedules have made writing sessions sporadic, they’ve revelled in a distinct lack of pressure to get it done. “It’s a case of letting the music grow organically,” Rothery says. “We’re trying to create music that people would love to listen to on headphones last thing at night.”
What defines this album more than most guitar pairings is that it’s responsive. There’s question and answer – it’s antiphonal
Steve Hackett
That’s why the tracks defy conventional song structures to flow like the waters that inspired them; sections barely repeat as their current pulls listeners along to what Rothery calls “a fascinating dialogue between our instruments.”
Hackett adds: “I think that what defines this album much more than most guitar pairings is that it’s responsive. There’s question and answer – it’s antiphonal. We’ve been able to take things onto a whole different level.”
An inspiration-seeking trip to Rothery’s old stomping grounds on the North Yorkshire coast provided a powerful full-circle moment for him. “If you’d have told the 15-year-old me, who was just discovering Genesis and starting to learn to play guitar, that one day this legendary guitarist would be a great friend of mine, and that we’d be walking around these same streets, 40 years later, I’d have fallen over,” he says.
After all the ghosts at sea, the album finale is a blindside blast of light relief, tacked incongruously onto the end because they liked it so much. Pacific Coast Highway is one for cruising across the States in a beloved car: in parts it sounds like they’re auditioning for a new Top Gear theme tune. Hackett kicks it off with some busy harmonica, thoroughly enjoying himself.
“That’s the one that’ll give the biggest shock to prog audiences,” Rothery notes of the piece, which also includes both Steves’ wifes – both named Jo – providing a splash of vocals.
Hackett and Rothery express a desire to write more music, and even tour together. There’s just the small matter of trying to find some free space in their perennially ink-black diaries. As Rothery jokes, “It might take another 10 years!”
