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Tommy Lee shared that he took both tap and ballet dance lessons in his youth, finding an interest in the beat-driven experience of it all. Continue reading…

It's time to admit these bands are "dad rock," no matter how much we don't want to. Continue reading…

During a new interview, Soundgarden's Kim Thayil named the metal bands he listened to in the '80s when his band was first starting out. Continue reading…

Motley Crue sought revenge after being reprimanded for their hard partying backstage while on tour with Ozzy. Continue reading…

Strauss already has plans for baby Max when it's time to head back out on tour. Continue reading…

The Parkway Drive bassist apologizes for his role in bringing problematic rap lyrics to light in a pre-Parkway project. Continue reading…

Ginger says he’s extremely happy with the current lineup of The Wildhearts and that a reunion with his old bandmates is “never, ever gonna happen”

Here are some of our favorite releases from this past month.

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Houkago Grind Time – Sorry I Am Not From Japan | Independent (May 15)

It’s finally happened, folks – he used that King of the Hill sample that we’ve all been waiting for.

For the unaware, Houkago Grind Time is the solo goregrind project of Andrew Lee from Ripped to Shreds and Heavy Metal Shrapnel, among others. It’s safe to say that of all of Lee’s material, his HGT output is the most intensely personal, and I’m not just saying that because it offers him an opportunity to deliver tongue-in-cheek micro-treatises on powerscaling, anime localization, and why your waifu is garbage. No, Houkago Grind Time represents the purest distillation of Lee as a person, because unlike his other projects, this is strictly a solo gig, whether in the studio or on stage. Sure, he’ll tag in some guest vocalists and hire Colin Marston (yes, that Colin Marston) to master the album, but otherwise, every word, note, and blastbeat comes straight from the Weeb Dungeon.  

Sorry I Am Not From Japan puts a slightly new spin on the irreverent satire that has defined HGT since the start, wryly lamenting the death of the American dream and comparing racist microaggressions to scene gatekeeping. A Modest Proposal, this ain’t, but I’m sure Swift would’ve loved “Amerifat and Burgerpilled”.

–Alex Chan

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Restless Spirit – Restless Spirit | Magnetic Eye Records (May 8)

The Long Island stoner metal trio spent 2023’s Afterimage, let’s say, working through some personal stuff. As such, it was the heaviest album of their career in more than one sense. With that weight lifted off their chests—“I want to free you from these chains,” wails vocalist and guitarist Paul Aloisio at the outset of their self-titled fourth LP, and he may very well be talking to himself—they decided to have a whole lotta fuckin’ fun this time around. Indeed, Restless Spirit is 40 minutes of shit-hot riffing and flashy soloing, with the band playing like they’ve (still?) got something to prove, even though they’ve been one of the best stoner metal bands for most of the last decade. But then again, that’s how you continue to improve, right?

–Steve Lampiris

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Crown Lands – Apocalypse | InsideOut Music (May 15)

The influence of a certain Canadian prog rock trio on Crown Lands is impossible to deny, yet it is also extremely reductive to talk about the band as if they are nothing more than Rush clones. Apocalypse, the duo’s third full-length album, draws inspiration from many other classic, prog, and hard rock sources. Lyrically, Apocalypse is a direct prequel to their previous album, Fearless. It presents us with a science fiction narrative that deals with colonialism, corporate greed, and the impact of violence on society, which leads into the story that is then told on Fearless.

The album also functions as the successor to the two experimental instrumental EPs they released last year, Ritual I and II. The band’s expansive progressive hard rock sound has been deepened by the meditative world music found on those EPs. There are passages on this album that simply would not have been able to exist without incorporating those ideas in some way, creating a powerful and engaging album that culminates in a side-long epic title track that stands alongside classics such as Rush’s “Hemispheres” or Yes’ “The Gates of Delirium”. 

–Kevin Zecchel

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Panopticon – Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet | Bindrune Recordings (May 8)

Panopticon needs no introduction at this point; Austin Lunn, atmospheric folkened black metal from the heart of Minnesota’s north woods, guaranteed to move you to tears, you know the drill. Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet is his 11th full-fledged metal release, and the third album in what Austin has dubbed the “Laurentian Trilogy,” which started with 2021’s …And Again into the Light and continued with 2023’s The Rime of Memory. It is arguably Austin’s most ambitious effort to date, and his most in-depth collaboration with one-man orchestra Charlie Anderson, who I’m told on one song contributed 78 layers of stringed instruments on top of everything Austin had recorded as well. That is a perfect distillation of the time, effort, and care that went into making this record, and it is nothing short of a triumph. Along with a host of guest appearances across the tracklist, Austin and Charlie have created a cinematic monolith whose grandiosity is only rivalled by the northern lights over the Great Lakes. 

Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet tells a story from the perspective of a man living in the north woods 35 years ago who has reached the end of his life and is reconciling with how he has lived it. The slow scalding burn of “Woodland Caribou” details the decline of the caribou that once roamed the north woods until becoming mere legend today, and the enraged ferocity of “The Great Silence, Extinct” mourns the razing of the beautiful woodlands of the world and our time on this earth. “Blood and Fur Upon the Melting Snow” contemplates the cyclical nature of death feeding life, and the harrowing wake-up call of “The White Cedars” wrestles with the consequences of one’s existence and, in Austin’s words, “A lament for what might have been, and a meditation on the chances we never take.” The album’s most powerful moments come next, as “A Culture of Wilderness” explodes with orchestral might and eulogizes a life wasted with the distractions of the modern day that tear us away from the world around us, and a moment of serenity in the brief wood flute instrumental “Lyset,” before closing with the heart-wrenching “Ghost Eyes in the Fire Light,” chronicling the man’s final moments on this earth before he fades again into the light. Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet is an unbelievable storytelling achievement, and needs to be heard to be believed.

–Eric Wing

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Ashen Horde – The Harvest | Independent (May 1)

There aren’t many bands in the specific progressive black metal space that Enslaved has been carving out since the early 2000s, but that number has been steadily increasing over the last few years. Ashen Horde’s fifth album, The Harvest, is a fantastic entry into that sound, forging its own identity along the way.

The clean vocals bring quite a bit of variety to the proceedings. Some melodies are enchanting and mystical while others have a bluesy cadence to them, which is a unique take on the otherwise cold-sounding genre. The harsh vocals are the driving force, though, alternating between high rasps and deep growls. There are also riffs aplenty on The Harvest, of both the straightforward, head-bangable and knotty, progged-out varieties, often laid right after one another within a song. That duality is just one way Ashen Horde build and release tension, amounting to a dynamic listen that doesn’t fall into overtly technical playing. The Harvest deserves the attention of any progressive extreme music fan.

–Kevin Zecchel

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President Trump has pursued fame his entire adult life. Now in his second term in the White House, he is finding how little power he has to force cultural figures to fall in line.

– June 4th, 2026 –

Band To Finish Composing New Studio Album

San Diego death grind progenitors CATTLE DECAPITATION are pleased to present their latest video for the song “Dead End Residents” from the band’s critically-adored, 2023-released Terrasite full-length. The video release follows the band’s recent 30 Years Of Inhumanity headlining tour and serves as a final Terrasite visual component before the band heads back to the studio to record their next full-length, slated for a 2027 release.

Comments vocalist Travis Ryan, “We’re now sending Terrasite off to go live with the rest of our discography, so as a going away present for our fans we present to you the ‘Dead End Residents’ official music video that was shot live during our European tour last year as well as some footage from the No Fear For Tomorrow Tour. After the Flatline Fest later this month, we’ll be going into a short hibernation mode to finish writing our next album which we’re already many songs deep into! We hit the studio in January, so we’ll see you sometime next year!“

Watch CATTLE DECAPITATION‘s “Dead End Residents” video, by Nox Nohi, HERE.

CATTLE DECAPITATION Live:
6/15/2026 Flatline Fest – Denver, CO

Terrasite crushed Billboard charts upon its first week of release, earning the #2 position on the Current Hard Music Albums chart, #3 on the Current Independent Albums chart, #4 on the Rock Albums chart and more and appeared on multiple Year End List both stateside and abroad. Decibel Magazine called it, “the next important step for a consistently excellent band,” Metal Injection lauded, “another absolutely stellar release from these guys with lyrics and themes that represent the apex of today’s extreme music,” while Blabbermouth championed, “a phenomenal album that’s well worth the time of extreme metal fans who want to hear a band perpetually push itself.“

The record, which features the artwork by longtime collaborator Wes Benscoter (Vader, Kreator, Bloodbath, Hypocrisy), was produced by Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, Allegaeon) and includes Dis Pater of Midnight Odyssey handling piano and synths.

Preview/purchase Terrasite at: metalblade.com/cattledecapitation

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