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Following their 2023 demo, Stockholm raw death metal barbarians Mutation are back to present their debut full length album. Out via Hells Headbangers on the 9th of October.

An eerie introduction sets the mood for the record with classic horror vibes and shredding guitars, total 80s mania. Giving way to total death, we soon drown in a tidal wave of wild riffing, vocal lunacy, ruthless bass lines and drumming hostility. Blending the Swedish titans such as Merciless, Grotesque and Morbid with the US giants such as Morbid Angel, Incubus and Necrovore, Mutation have a timelessly unrelenting death metal onslaught with a raw production that is designed to send wimps running. Those grave-lurkers who find this sort of necrophiliac ensemble tasteful will certainly revel in the mean-spirited splendour of the record as its earliest moments show a band whose intent is sadistic and their barbarism absolute. A strong start for the Swedes.

Combining the unrelenting death metal with tinges of black and thrash, this is one of those releases that feels like those key early cuts from when before each extreme metal subgenre was not clearly defined, instead bleeding together into some convergence of morbidity. For me, those were many of the best bands we have ever had. Mutation manage to balance an unruly spirit and mercilessly extreme songwriting with a tight finesse that allows that to sound very live while not feeling sloppy at all. The way the riffs, drums and vocals are always maddening but tied together by those stabbing bass guitar tones is utterly killer. Along with the obvious death metal influences we hear plenty of Slayer, Protector, Morbid Saint and Dark Angel (maybe an influence on the new logo too). This LP is absolutely metal to the bone!

There is not much more to say than this is the definition of nasty, mean, cruel and wicked death metal that takes no prisoners with its morbid onslaught of total malevolence. Spawned from Sweden or the pits of hell, they bring demonic fury into your cranium with the utmost skill and aggression. Even when they slow things down they feel as unholy as ever, although these moments never allow you to relax as a maelstrom of volcanic hellfire is never far away. Some of the more off-kilter sections remind me of Repugnant, a band that embodies death metal never dying. Everything about Mutation reeks of the sepulchral rot you would encounter cracking open a coffin in the most putrescent catacombs. Stick this record on, your bloated corpse won’t be able to resist banging its head to the esoteric order of debauchery…

In an ever more artificial world, the primitive and violent metal of old is more appealing than ever. Mutation honour these roots triumphantly in ecstatic bloodshed. The vision of this band is clear; a raw and unapologetically lethal ceremony of destruction and carnage. If you miss death metal that pushed the needle into the red, pushed whammy bars into the body of the guitar and derails your sanity, then Mutation’s new opus is exactly what you need.

Welsh hard-rockers Scarlet Rebels have announced their first full UK headline run in three years for February 2027, alongside the premiere of their brand-new single and video, “Chains” (scroll down for the video, or stream it all over the shop now). The track is the third offering from their forthcoming studio album, Flawed By Design, … Continue reading Scarlet Rebels announce 2027 UK headline tour and release new single / video “Chains”

Posted on September 2nd 2026, 12:20pm

The Warning have announced the details of their first ever headline show in a stadium, a huge accomplishment, to say the least.

The band will be taking over Estadio GNP Seguros, in the heart of Mexico City, a venue that holds 65,000 people. The band will also be joined by The Linda Lindas for the occasion.

The show will be taking place on February 05 2027, and tickets will be going on general sale from September 11 at 11am CST.

The band had this to say about it, simply stating, “We’ve dreamed and worked so hard to get to this moment that we still can’t believe it’s finally becoming a reality”.

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The announcement comes hot on the heels of the release of the band’s new album ‘Everything’s Falling’. Here is the freshly released video for one of its many highlights, ‘Bite My Tongue’:

The post The Warning Announce First Ever Stadium Headline Show appeared first on Rock Sound.

Posted on September 2nd 2026, 12:15pm

Resolve have kickstarted their new era with the announcement of their new album ‘Spread My Ashes Into Space’, as well as sharing the title track.

The record is set for release on January 15 next year via Arising Empire.

Vocalist Anthony Diliberto had this to say about what it represents for him, “In a world where we value appearances over true worth, where aesthetics have replaced the soul, where numbers outweigh substance, where the façade is so often far removed from the truth, I no longer feel like I belong. Spread My Ashes Into Space is a record born from that suffocating feeling. It is a refusal to pretend anymore.

Each song is a new destination, a different perspective, an attempt to make sense of a world that grows heavier on my shoulders with each passing day, in a society that has forgotten what truly matters. When my time comes, I dream that my ashes will be scattered among the stars, where perhaps authenticity and a sense of true peace still remain. There has to be something better out there.

But this record is not just another reflection on the world around us. It is a voyage inward. Some songs unveil my deepest wounds, the scars and traumas that have shaped the way I see life and fueled these reflections. I’m not hiding anymore. Life, in its rawest form, is not all bliss and beauty. It is within this fragile balance between disillusionment and the longing for something beyond that this album finds its truest voice. Spread My Ashes Into Space is more than a title, it is a manifest, an exhale, a final hope that, beyond our self-imposed limits, there may still be a place where beauty, love, and poetry remain.”

The artwork looks like this:

And to the title track, a sprawling, synth-laden, beautifully affecting piece of otherworldly and existential post-hardcore, it is an epic to say the least. Everything that the band have represented in the past, propelled forward into a bright and blistering future.

Anthony had this to add about the meaning of ‘Spread My Ashes Into Space’ within the wider picture of things:

“This first single and title track dive into the moment the breaking point is reached, and how that kickstarts a new perspective. The core of this song revolves around one specific question that kept coming up when writing the lyrics: ‘Is it a cure or an escape?’

I’ve had times when the sheer weight of everything, the noise, the expectations, made me almost consider changing up my whole life and escape to a quieter, more serene place. In this song, space represents this: an ultimate silence and isolation. A place with “no rules, no gods, just infinite black unknown”. It’s about the desperate need to find a sanctuary where you can finally be free from the weight of reality, a place where you can just exist however you see fit. This place has been harder and harder to reach for me these past few years, and I think I’m not alone in that.

Some might read the lyrics and see a dark surrender, but I want the audience to see it as written from a place of hope. It’s that feeling of being an “escape artist with no hands,” trying to find a way out when you’re completely backed into a corner. Ultimately, it’s a very raw admission that sometimes, the urge to disappear isn’t about wanting to escape the actual world, but simply trying to save yourself from a system that feels too loud.”

The post Resolve Announce New Album ‘Spread My Ashes Into Space’ appeared first on Rock Sound.

Mastodon have looked back on the stressful but ultimately rewarding experience of playing Black Sabbath’s final show Back To The Beginning in July 2025.

The Atlanta heavy metal band opened the all-day extravaganza at Villa Park stadium in Birmingham on July 5, followed by sets from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool and more before Sabbath and singer Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band headlined. It was Osbourne’s last time onstage before he died of a heart attack 17 days later, aged 76.

In a new appearance on Amoeba Records’ What’s In My Bag? video series, singer/bassist Troy Sanders picks Osbourne’s 1980 solo debut Blizzard Of Ozz as one of his chosen records, saying, “We’ve all been fascinated by Ozzy and Black Sabbath our whole lives, especially this last year, after playing the final Sabbath show a year ago, and then Ozzy’s passing.”

He adds: “We played Crazy Train before every live show we’ve done over the past year. We just cannot thank Sabbath and Ozzy himself enough for creating the genre that we now call home. So, Ozzy forever, this is a no-brainer. Thank you, my friend.”

When asked what it was like playing Back To The Beginning, Sanders answers: “Unfathomable. Nerve-wracking. Equal amounts extreme anxiety and unbelievable pleasure.”

Guitarist Bill Kelliher adds: “There was a lot of tension and anxiety until we played first, and then it was like, ‘Yay! This rules. We did it!’”

“We didn’t screw up!” says drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor. “We played Supernaut and we nailed it, I think, and then we played for 15 minutes, and then I was in the audience with a beer. I enjoyed the rest of the show until Ozzy came up, and then everybody started bawling and hugging and crying. It was really, really incredible and probably my favourite musical experience of my life.”

Mastodon played a three-song set, opening with the originals Black Tongue and Blood And Thunder before playing Supernaut with Gojira’s Mario Duplantier, Tool’s Danny Carey and Slipknot’s Eloy Casagrande handling extra percussion.

Dailor looked back on Back To The Beginning during a Metal Hammer interview in August 2025. “As soon as he hit the stage, everything changed,” he recalled. “As long as he sat there, it didn’t matter if he didn’t sing a note, because everyone was doing it for him. It was a beautiful thing to be a part of, everyone weeping and hugging. The Mr Crowley intro came on and everybody was just done.”

Mastodon, who formed in 2000 and won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance with their single Sultan’s Curse, have a long history with Sabbath. Talking to The Guardian last month, Dailor said, “The first time I ever met [guitarist] Tony Iommi, he came into the dressing room and he was like, ‘Oh, Mastodon! Me and Geez [bassist Geezer Butler] were listening to you guys on the bus last night.’”

Butler performs a bass solo on the band’s new album, Marrow Deep, which came out last week. It was their first studio album without founding guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, who parted ways with the band in March 2025 and died in a motorcycle accident, aged 51, the following August.

Smote make heavy, droning psychedelic folk rooted in ancient traditions, monumental repetition and the dark atmospheres of old weird England.

The post Band of the day : Smote – Ancient Folk Drone and Psychedelic Folk appeared first on Louder Than War.

The duo of Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland – otherwise known as Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate – return with another glorious album of powerful, inventive and varied progressive rock of the highest order which brings in so much to the table as always. A huge thanks to Malcolm for sending me a copy of […]

The post Hats Off Gentlemen Its Adequate: Parallel Lives Review first appeared on New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

A wedding dress incident confirmed her suspicions some time before the couple talked it out. Continue reading…