Cedric Bixler-Zavala, vocalist for The Mars Volta and At the Drive-In, went after Spotify on Instagram this week after Backline — a mental health and crisis support service for music industry workers — announced a partnership with the streaming platform for a mental health and songwriter summit in Nashville, Tennessee.
In a post shared via his Instagram story, Bixler-Zavala addressed Backline directly: “With Spotify? How are we supposed to take you fucking serious? Ain’t nobody at Spotify give a fuck about mental health. Fuck outta hear with this shitty propaganda. This is like forced religious arbitrations with your gremlin abusers. Wake. The. Fuck. Up. While they sit there listening to your humanity, Spotify contributes financially to death of children via military war applications they invest in.”
The anger is rooted in a controversy that flared in 2025, when it emerged that Spotify co-founder and executive chairman Daniel Ek had led a $693.6 million funding round for Helsing through his venture capital firm Prima Materia. Helsing develops AI-based military applications, and that association prompted a wave of artists to pull their music from the platform in protest. Bixler-Zavala‘s remarks are among the latest to connect Spotify‘s ownership ties to those military investments.
Seven years after their last album Necessary Excess Of Violence, Swedish death metal purveyors Sorcery are now located in studio where they are recording new music for the successor. More info at a later date. Read more…
When Mitski released her stunning new album Nothing’s About To Happen To Me in February, some fans noticed the lyrics to “Rules” feature the numerical sequence “6-7.” Yes, those numbers arrive when Mitski is literally counting up to 11, but any mention of “6” and “7” together is bound to spark memories of last year’s endlessly popular meme/verbal compulsion, in which “6-7” became a meaningless, all-consuming refrain among young people. Thus, “Rules” has been gaining attention on TikTok in recent weeks, leading up to one concertgoer shouting the phrase indiscriminately during a recent Mitski tour stop.
Green Lung have announced a UK and Europe tour this winter called the Dance to the Grave Tour MMXXVI. The fifteen-date tour starts in Belgium on December 3rd and includes five days in British cities, beginning on December 16th atThe Roundhouse in London.
Riding high after an emotional homecoming show at Desertfest London this weekend, Green Lung are excited about announcing their long-awaited fourth studio album, Necropolitan (to be released on Friday September 11th 2026) .Special guests on this tour will be High On Fire, alongside support from Gnome. The tour poster was designed by the band’s frequent collaborator, Richard Wells.
Necropolitan will be released on Friday September 11th 2026. A monumental portrait of the power of nature over the dreams and dominion of humankind, Necropolitan is also a grand celebration of the occult lore and heavy music scene of the band’s birthplace, the city of London.
With producer Tom Dalgety (Opeth, Ghost) at the helm, this time handling everything from recording to mixing, the band decamped to Rockfield Studios in January 2026, following in the muddy footprints of some of Green Lung‘s key inspirations, from Black Sabbath to Queen to Judas Priest. Sonically, they were set on capturing their megalithic live sound more accurately than ever – stripping back their usual dense, multilayered arrangements to their rawest, leanest form and recording much of the album live to capture their Sabbathian heaviness, frenzied Hammonds and haunting Mellotrons as faithfully as possible.
A cult band in every sense of the word, Green Lung emerged from London’s heavy rock scene with self-released debut EP Free the Witch (2018).
Drawing on a host of peculiarly British musical influences, from doomy hard rock to pastoral prog and psych to the Hammer Horror theatrics of the NWOBHM, the band have swiftly risen to the forefront of the UK metal scene.
Lyrically celebrating the folklore, myths and legends of Britain, they conjure the wild and witchy spirit of their forebears for a new generation.
Green Lung have released three critically acclaimed albums, Woodland Rites (2019), Black Harvest (2021) and This Heathen Land (2023). They have toured internationally with Clutch, Opeth and Unto Others, and performed on festival stages from Roadburn to Download. Their latest album This Heathen Land landed at #1 on the UK’s Official Rock and Metal Album Chart.
Necropolitan – tracklisting OUT: September 11th 2026
01. Open the Hellmouth 02. Dance to the Grave 03. Black Magick Radio 04. Necropolitan Line 05. Evil in this House 06. Together in Death 07. Ozymandias 08. Alostrael (Be My Babalon) 09. To the Gallows Born
Please find more details about the tour dates and tickets below Tickets will go on general sale: Friday, May 22nd @ 09:00 AM BST Pre-sales will be running from: Tuesday, May 19th & Wednesday, May 20th
GREEN LUNG – DANCE TO THE GRAVE TOUR MMXXVI w/ High On Fire & Gnome
03-Dec BE Antwerp @ Trix 04-Dec DE Frankfurt am Main @ Batschkapp 05-Dec DE Munich @ Backstage 07-Dec AT Vienna @ Arena 08-Dec DE Leipzig @ Anker 10-Dec DE Hamburg @ Große Freiheit 36 11-Dec DE Berlin @ Astra Kulturhaus 12-Dec DE Cologne @ Carlswerk Victoria 13-Dec NL Tilburg @ O13 14-Dec FR Paris @ Bataclan 16-Dec UK London @ The Roundhouse 17-Dec UK Bristol @ Bristol Electric 18-Dec UK Manchester @ Manchester Academy 19-Dec IE Dublin @ The Academy 20-Dec UK Glasgow @ SWG3 Galvanizers
Spain’s High Court has acquitted Shakira of tax fraud, ordering the government to reimburse her for a wrongly imposed 2021 fine equalling over $64 million. The ruling is in regards to a case alleging that Shakira had spent more than 183 days in Spain in 2011 — the minimum number of days required to be considered a tax resident of the country — without paying taxes.
In support of their upcoming full-length release Necropolitan, Albion stoners Green Lung have announced ‘Dance To The Grave Tour MMXXVI’ in December with American sludge stoners High On Fire and stoner trio Gnome (BEL). Read more…
US power metal entity Ruthless has launched a brand new song “Berserker”. The latter is part of their next studio record Curse Of The Beast, set to land in stores on July 14th via Fireflash Records. Read more…
Swedish black metal band Flykt have unveiled details of their forthcoming long player. Entitled Sinister Strain, it will be set free through Hammerheart Records on June 19th. Mixed and mastered by Karl Daniel Lidén at Tri-Lamb Audio. Two new song can be listened via Bandcamp and YouTube players below. Read more…
Formed just two years ago, Swedish melodic death metal outfit Abandon Agony are set to self-release their debut full-length, Endbringer, an effort in the making since the release of their debut EP, Dark Matter in 2024. In fact, this foursome—Johan Hedström (vocals), Tobias Järvelä (guitar), Jonathan Wagerland (bass), Robin Toresson (drums)—have included that first EP’s four tracks to flesh out Endbringer‘s ten cuts. The sound here is classic Swedish melodic DM, in the vein of all the finest purveyors of the genre—Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, et. al—but offered up with a 2026 freshness and intensity.
Endbringer was recorded at Eternal Studios, Vänersborg (March 29 – May 6, 2025). It was mixed and mastered by Robin Leijon. The band is self-releasing Endbringer digitally on May 22. You can presave it here.
Quote from band:
“Endbringer represents a turning point for us as a band. It’s where everything we’ve been building finally comes together — not just musically, but thematically as well.
The album moves through cycles of collapse and rebirth, reflecting a sense of inevitability that runs through everything — from personal struggles to larger societal tensions, and even the forces of nature and the universe itself. We wanted the lyrics to be open enough to be interpreted on multiple levels, whether as something deeply personal or something much bigger.
It’s darker, heavier, and more focused than anything we’ve done before — and at the same time, it feels like the most natural version of our sound.”
