Swedish Death Metal trio Furnace, the masters of the concept album, return with another tale in the shape of their seventh full-length album, Echoes Of A Distant Future, and who can resist a great storyline? I know I cannot.
This time around, it follows on from the narrative of 2024’s Trojan Hearse, which, as a quick recap, centred around a man who travels the kingdom of the dead, searching for his dead wife, only to find she had betrayed him in life and, as a result, was never his. On top of that, the afterlife was not quite what he expected.
Furnace – Echoes Of A Distant Future, a concept-driven death metal journey packed with alien intrigue, tension and power.
On Echoes Of A Distant Future, we find the central character escaping Hell via the arcane and necromantic Trojan Hearse, once again. He intends to return home, but instead reawakens in a distant, dystopian future where alien forces secretly dominate humanity, and he is drawn into a resistance movement.
The album “explores themes of survival, identity, and the enduring question of whether mankind can reclaim its fate.”
Musically, On Echoes Of A Distant Future reflects the enduring and engaging signature sound that makes Furnace albums instantly recognisable, hugely engaging, and delivers a fascinating storyline that grips your attention, thanks to Peter’s superb tale and the clarity of Rogga’s vocal delivery.
The album also features guest guitar solos by Kjetil Lynghaug, who also dropped a few solos on Trojan Hearse, as well as working with Rogga on many other projects, including Paganizer and Heir Corpse One.
First piece Shores Of Oblivion finds the central character departing from Hell via the “engine” fully expecting to return to the living world and his own time. It is haunting to open and rapidly picks up pace. The repeat melody is optimistic, gradually generating into something all the more crushing and searing with spiralling and sharp riffs. I love this gradual intensifying. It really builds on the excitement of what is to come.
Moving on to Vast Horizons, which sees the central figure realising the place he has been transported to is not where he expected to be, but a different and unexpectedly dystopian future. Again, it is a haunting builder and features the first guest solo midway from Kjetil.
In Refracted City Lights, the album single, he realises there is something very “off” as his presence suddenly sets off an alarm and men in uniform approach him. I love this piece just on the basis of Kjetil’s blues-rock-influenced lead work that starts off haunting and rapidly soars in the first minute, grabbing your attention from the outset.
It returns midway, adding a sense of added unnerving urgency, and the closing lines, “It’s the same, but something has changed, These city scenes seem quite strange”, sum up the situation perfectly. Overall, it is a superb piece.
The melodic drive continues and holds the atmosphere of excitement, peril, and urgency with The Enemy Of My Enemy as the main character of this tale darts down a back lane into an old abandoned church, where he discovers from others hiding there that aliens have infiltrated and taken over everywhere.
The next piece, Semblance Of Sanity, looks at our hero and his new renegade friends and their method of outwitting the aliens who have microchipped the masses to keep track of their every movement and action. Their method is to carry a microchip with them and blend in and move about without actually becoming part of the “chipped herd”. This track is a punchy chugger, with a catchy repeat and up-tempo melodic swathes. I like this piece. It is powerful and upbeat. You can sense the mood of triumph as they outwit the aliens, but will it last?
The pace and mood elevate with This Engine Runs On Spite as the band of renegades move freely without suspicion and plot how to defeat the aliens. Repeating catchy chugging riffs meld with uplifting melodic swathes, and there is a midpoint leadwork burst. I love the sense of defiance that this piece oozes. It is a powerful listen.
On Betrayal, it seems that someone within their band has betrayed them to the aliens, and the potential punishment for the treason is execution of our band of renegades. I love the haunting opening riffs and the leadwork that soars out of it. There is something quite emotive about this piece, not just the apparent betrayal in the lyrics and the increasingly acidic slant on the vocals, but an aspect within the repeating riff that cannot fail to move you. It is such a great piece.
Our hero flees to an apparent sanctuary, but it is not all it seems as he has been followed by the aliens, and it looks like he has been set up to take the fall on Cathedral Gates. Can he escape, or is all lost?
I love the drive and urgency to this piece and the protraction on Rogga’s vocals builds on the intense and desperate atmosphere.
The first thing you notice with the next piece, 61 Cygni, is a slight shift in mood, atmosphere and to a certain extent the sound reflecting that mood. Kjetil drops in some spiralling, squealing lead work midway, and Rogga does a superb job with the vocals, employing two subtly different voices, impressively deep and otherworldly to better express the storyline.
As our hero is cornered by the aliens and unable to escape, he is keen to hear from their perspective why they are there and what their intentions are, possibly my favourite piece of the album.
Final piece, Astral Ascension takes on a more up-tempo drive alongside a very groove-rich repeat. Ultimately, this is not our hero’s place or time, and so he once again departs to another dimension and the endless possibilities it might entail.
Will we cross paths with him on future travels? Only time will tell.
Aside from the hugely engaging and listenable music of Echoes Of A Distant Future, the storyline is both fascinating and attention-grabbing, and left me with so many what-if questions on this intriguing sci-fi subject.
This is yet another superb offering from Furnace. Released via Emanzipation Productions on 29 May 2026, it will be available on CD and digital formats. For more details, visit frnc.bfan.link/echoes2.
Post-metal band The Ocean have announced their 12th album, Solaris, due to be released on September 25th, 2026 via Pelagic Records. The first single off the new record “Light Pollution” was released as well and you can listen to it below. Read more…
Out NOW Via M-Theory Audio Words by: Courtney Stark There are few names that remain as entwined with the early evolution of British black metal as Hecate Enthroned. Emerging from the shadowed corners of the Welsh underground in the mid-1990s, Hecate Enthroned band played a pivotal role in shaping a distinctly British interpretation of the […]
Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry have taken their recent collaboration and turned it into a whole tour, making its way around the US later this year.
The pair joined forces on the sensational ‘Hive Mind’ earlier this year, a track that is as vital and vicious a crossover of culture and sound as you’re going to find. And the sentiment of the song is continuing to ring true, a callout to trend-hoppers, internet leeches and negativity hubs that have no place, or any actual interest, in hardcore.
So, the ‘Hive Mind’ tour is born, with Knocked Loose and Denzel both appearing, with further support coming from Superheaven and Boundaries. Very much a line-up that showcases just how deep the roots of respect go.
And here are all the dates you need to know:
SEPTEMBER
26 – NEWPORT MegaCorp Pavilion 27 – DETROIT Majestic 29 – MINNEAPOLIS St. Paul 30 – CHICAGO The Salt Shed Outdoors
OCTOBER
02 – PHILADELPHIA Stateside Live! 03 – WASHINGTON The Anthem 05 – QUEENS Knockdown Center 06 – NEW YORK The Rooftop at Pier 17 08 – BROOKLYN Brooklyn Paramount 09 -WORCESTER The Palladium 11 – TORONTO Theatre at Great Canadian Toronto 14 – ASHEVILLE Hellbender 16 – ORLANDO Orlando Amphitheater 17 – FT. LAUDERDALE FTL War Memorial Auditorium 19 – NASHVILLE The Pinnacle 21 – ST. LOUIS The Factory 22 – KANSAS Uptown Theatre 27 – PHOENIX Mesa Amphitheater 29 – LOS ANGELES Shrine Outdoors 30 – SAN DIEGO Gallagher Square at PetCo Park 31 – SAN FRANCISCO Cow Palace Warehouse
NOVEMBER
02 – SALT LAKE CITY Union Event Center 03 – DENVER Fillmore Auditorium 05 – AUSTIN Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park 08 – MEXICO CITY Foro Teambro
Knocked Loose are on the cover of the latest issue of Rock Sound, chatting about how life on the road has shifted over the last couple of years, preparing to tour with Metallica and more.
Phil Anselmo’s voice became one of the most recognizable forces in modern heavy metal, rising out of New Orleans with a sound that moved from traditional metal power to the harsher edge that helped define Pantera’s most famous years. Born Philip Hansen Anselmo on June 30, 1968, in New Orleans, Louisiana, he grew up with Italian, French, and Danish heritage and attended schools in Louisiana and Texas before leaving Grace King High School in Metairie during 12th grade. His father owned Anselmo’s, a restaurant in Metairie that later closed after Hurricane Katrina. As a teenager, Anselmo worked on a shrimp
It’s the final day of Desertfest and the skies over Camden are decidedly greyer than they have been for the preceding days. With less draw to mingle outside, this does mean that the smaller venues are once again full from the moment they open. It’s obviously fantastic for bands that might not be as well-known to play to a capacity crowd, but it does feel like Desertfest is crying out for an additional venue on the Saturday and Sunday that can comfortably house more than a few hundred people.
Words: Ellie Odurny // Photos: Jessi Lotti, Sam Huddleston and Tim Bugbee
TRUCKFIGHTERS
Formed back in 2001, Swedish stoner rock outfit Truckfighters have steadily garnered a global fanbase as a powerhouse duo with a revolving series of drummers. They manage to embody the coolness of Californian desert rock, whilst simultaneously fizzing with energy. The set is heavy on tracks from new album ‘Masterflow’ – their first in a decade – which slot seamlessly into the realm of muzzy guitars and hefty beats that fans have grown to know and love. Spinning whilst shredding guitar behind your head is quite the talent, one which a topless Niklas “Dango” Källgren is quite happy to share as he jumps, skips and hops around on stage. Oskar “Ozo” Cedermalm drives the rhythm steadily onwards on bass, belting out bluesy powerful vocals with a rasp that is quintessentially stoner rock. There’s nothing enormously innovative or challenging about Truckfighters’ music, but as archetypes of the genres that are most prevalent at Desertfest, they do a darn good job.
HOWLING GIANT
It can’t be easy being scheduled to start at the same time as Earthless, especially at Desertfest. This could be why people aren’t quite jostling for space at the Underworld. For once, nobody is stuck behind one of the infamous pillars. This thankfully doesn’t seem to dampen the spirits of Tennessee’s Howling Giant, who announce mid-set “We’ve come all the way from Nashville, and we weren’t sure what to expect so thanks for making this great”. If you’re also not sure what to expect from a Howling Giant live show, think beefy, classic rock riffs, subtle progressive tempo changes and big soaring harmonies (even if you’re not entirely sure where they’re coming from). The mix isn’t always perfect, with the melodic treble at times lost under bellowing bass notes, but Howling Giant add a psychedelic flair to a set packed with rock’n’roll charm.
FORLORN
The Dev is once again shrouded in mystery and ritual for folk-metallers Forlorn. Shrouded so much, in fact, by the constant plumes of smoke cloaking the stage, that anyone more than a few feet away will likely only be able to catch an occasional glimpse of an eerily waving arm or the spikes of the crown adorning vocalist Megan Jenkins. Much as it would be nice to see the band in all their darkly haunting glory, it’s almost enough just hearing their mix of airy melodies waft over the bar and descend into fiendish screams, grinding metalcore riffs and grizzly bass. The lack of a focal point does mean that it’s hard to remain attentive throughout, rendering Forlorn somewhat as victims to circumstance, playing to a venue with ample daylight before the sun has fully set.
THE SWORD
With a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” hiatus that lasted all of around 18 months, it has still been over ten years since Texan quartet The Sword have played on UK soil. There’s a buzz around the Roundhouse for the penultimate main space act, and an eager cheer marks their entrance. Sadly, the sound levels don’t quite pack the expected punch and the vocals, despite being tuneful, are muffled beneath slightly flat guitars. This doesn’t seem to deter the core crowd, however, who are lapping up the hazy stoner guitar refrains and drum fills with delight. As the chatter towards the edges dies down and the head-banging ramps up, it’s easy to get lost in the undeniable riffs and precise, heavy blows. What The Sword might lack in reckless abandon, they more than make up for with smooth, ballsy confidence.
CLUTCH
There’s probably not a great deal to say about headliners Clutch that hasn’t already been said already. A prolific touring band with a career that spans four decades, they’ve finessed their live show to run like a well-oiled, supercharged, sleek machine. You could focus on their unmatched stage presence; the charisma that oozes from Neil Fallon on the mic or the understated but phenomenally tight rhythm section. You could talk about how Clutch usually don’t follow a specific setlist for each tour, preferring to surprise the audience with the mix and order of songs from their extensive back catalogue. There is one moment of novelty this evening in the form of ‘Drifter Returns’; a live rework of 1999’s ‘The Drifter’. It sounds great, but then again, it isn’t really anything new. You could mention how the smooth blues sometimes make you forget how heavy Clutch can be. Perhaps you could mention how odd it is to see the band grace the Roundhouse stage in May, as opposed to their usual slot every few years in December for what is now endearingly described as “Clutchmas”. The more memorious of you will note that the 2022 edition of said festivities featured Saturday headliners Green Lung as support. The fact that these two bands now share a headline slot indicates the meteoric rise of Green Lung over recent years, in comparison to rock giants Clutch’s calm and steady consistency in delivering a solid, warm and fuzzy show time after time after time.
Out NOW Via M-Theory Audio Words by: Courtney Stark There are few names that remain as entwined with the early evolution of British black metal as Hecate Enthroned. Emerging from the shadowed corners of the Welsh underground in the mid-1990s, Hecate Enthroned band played a pivotal role in shaping a distinctly British interpretation of the […]
HOWLING GIANT
FORLORN
CLUTCH