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It won’t be available for streaming upon release.

The post Exhumed, Nunslaughter, Molder & Traffic Death Team Up For New Split Release appeared first on Theprp.com.

Rooted in Montréal — though often descending in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, and beyond — MUTEK is devoted to sonic and digital creativity. The festival was founded by PhD scholar Alain Mongeau in 2000. He discovered rave culture in the 1990s, inspired by the Interference Festival at Love Parade in Berlin; Sónar in Barcelona; and German duo Sun Electric. “In theory, I should have moved to Europe because it attracted me,” he admits. “I had a kid, so I had to stay.” The decision to remain in Canada has transformed his concept into a six-night electronic cornerstone.

The post A Week At MUTEK Made Montreal Feel Too Good To Be True appeared first on Stereogum.

– August 31st, 2026 –

JARI MÄENPÄÄ RETURNS TO ENSIFERUM FOR LIVE SHOWS – FIRST TIME OUTSIDE FINLAND

For the first time since 2004, founding vocalist and guitarist Jari Mäenpää will reunite with Ensiferum (Markus, Petri, Janne, Sami, and Pekka) for very special live shows – marking his first appearance with the band outside of Finland.

This reunion will celebrate the early era of Ensiferum, focusing on the material that defined the band’s legacy and helped shape the modern folk metal landscape.

Fans will witness Jari performing lead vocals on the songs he originally recorded, in a setlist spanning:
• 1997 Demo Tape
• Ensiferum (2001)
• Iron (2004)
• Dragonheads (2006)
• Victory Songs (2007)

From fan favorites to deeper cuts and rare early tracks, this performance will be a definitive tribute to Ensiferum‘s formative years – and a rare opportunity to see Jari return to the material that first brought him international acclaim.

The band states: “This is more than a show – it’s a return to the roots. To the energy and vision that started it all.“

Jari adds: “I’m excited and honored to be joining Ensiferum for these very special ‘Early Years’ live shows! After more than 20 years, I’ll be performing with Ensiferum again. I can’t wait to sing these classic songs with you all. See you there!“

Whether you have followed Ensiferum since the demo days or discovered them through the legends of Finnish metal, this is a historic reunion that no fan will want to miss.

ABOUT JARI MÄENPÄÄ
Jari Mäenpää is a Finnish multi-instrumentalist, composer, and one of the founding members of Ensiferum. He performed vocals and guitar on the band’s first two studio albums – Ensiferum (2001) and Iron (2004) – before departing to form Wintersun in 2004, a band that would go on to achieve its own cult status in the extreme metal world. His style and songwriting helped define the sound of Scandinavian epic folk metal, blending blistering melodic riffs, heroic storytelling, and deeply rooted Finnish musical traditions into a blueprint that inspired an entire generation of bands.

ABOUT ENSIFERUM
Ensiferum – Latin for “sword bearing” – are one of the most enduring and beloved bands in folk metal. Founded in Helsinki, Finland in 1995 by guitarist Markus Toivonen, the band has spent three decades forging a signature sound that blends ferocious melodic death metal with sweeping folk melodies, heroic battle anthems, and deeply rooted Scandinavian tradition.

After a series of early demos that earned them a deal with Spinefarm Records, Ensiferum released their self-titled debut in 2001 – a record widely regarded as a landmark of the genre. Their sophomore album Iron (2004), recorded at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen with producer Flemming Rasmussen, further cemented their reputation. Following Jari Mäenpää’s departure to form Wintersun, guitarist and vocalist Petri Lindroos stepped into the role, and the band continued to evolve and expand their reach without missing a step.

Across nine studio albums – including Victory Songs (2007), From Afar (2009), Unsung Heroes (2012), One Man Army (2015), Two Paths (2017), Thalassic (2020), and Winter Storm (2024) – Ensiferum have remained one of the genre’s most consistent and passionate acts, headlining major international festivals and touring across the globe. Their catalogue spans Spinefarm Records and Metal Blade Records, and their fanbase spans continents.

Today the band consists of Markus Toivonen (guitars, vocals), Petri Lindroos (vocals, guitars), Sami Hinkka (bass, vocals), Janne Parviainen (drums), and Pekka Montin (keyboards, vocals) – a lineup that continues to carry the Ensiferum torch with fire, pride, and the spirit of warriors.

Watch ENSIFERUM‘s previously released videos for “Winter Storm Vigilantes,” “Long Cold Winter Of Sorrow And Strife,” “Fatherland,” and “The Howl,” which, when viewed consecutively, create a short movie, HERE.

Preview/purchase Winter Storm at: metalblade.com/ensiferum

https://ensiferum.com
https://www.facebook.com/Ensiferum
https://www.instagram.com/ensiferummetal

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Judas Priest singer Rob Halford and bassist Ian Hill have teamed up with Metal Pilgrim‘s Steel Wings Foundation for a new fundraising campaign backing the nonprofit’s work on the ground in Ukraine.

Halford has put up a batch of personal items for fans to win by donating, including bracelets and a cross he’s worn, plus “Faithkeepers” tour picks that come packaged with Icons he placed in himself.

The headline item is a one-of-a-kind bracelet Halford made by hand. Only one exists, and it goes to whoever makes the single largest donation of the campaign.

Every 1 UAH (Ukrainian Hryvnia) given to the fundraiser counts as one entry toward the other prizes. A donation of 100 UAH (roughly $2.25) gets a fan 100 entries; 1,000 UAH (roughly $22.50) gets 1,000. The math scales from there.

Fans can donate and enter here.

Halford and Hill also recorded a video urging the metal community to pitch in, which can be watched below.

This isn’t the first time Judas Priest and the Steel Wings Foundation have worked together. A previous campaign in 2024 pulled in 1,000,000 UAH (about $22,500), with fans that time winning items like a pair of Halford‘s sunglasses and guitar picks that also came with Icons.

The Steel Wings Foundation is a Ukraine-based metal nonprofit started by YouTuber Metal Pilgrim. It works directly on the ground in Ukraine, pulling together the international metal community to raise money and get support to people who need it.

Items up for grabs in the current campaign:

• A one-of-a-kind, handmade bracelet from Rob Halford, guaranteed to the top donor
• Bracelets worn by Rob Halford
• A cross worn by Rob Halford
• “Faithkeepers” tour picks with Icons Halford placed in the packages himself

The post JUDAS PRIEST Returns To Support Steel Wings Foundation With New Ukraine Charity Drive appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Frontiers Music [Release date : 04.09.26] “Seven Spires”, says Sascha Paeth, “are one of the few new real personalities in metal”. And you would need an abundance of personality and indeed, confidence to assemble such a suite of music as … Continue reading →

The post Album review : SEVEN SPIRES – A Fortress Called Home (Master Key Edition / 3CDs) appeared first on Get Ready to ROCK!.

Each of which are in new cities for that reunion trek.

The post Rush Add Four U.S. Dates To Their ‘Fifty Something Tour’ appeared first on Theprp.com.

Gary “Angry” Anderson, frontman of Australian hard rock institution Rose Tattoo, has been hospitalized after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The news arrives three weeks after Rose Tattoo canceled the remaining dates of its summer 2026 European tour, citing a “medical issue” affecting the 79-year-old singer.

In a statement posted Sunday (August 30), Anderson‘s bandmates in Rose Tattoo thanked fans for their support during the 20 days since his hospitalization.

“We would like to let everyone know that Angry suffered a cardiac arrest and is currently in hospital receiving treatment and the care he needs,” the statement reads.

“At this time, we kindly ask that you please respect the privacy of Angry and his family as they focus on Angry, his treatment, and his recovery.

“We appreciate everyone’s understanding and ask that you continue to keep Angry and his family in your thoughts and prayers during the days ahead,” the statement adds.

“We are incredibly grateful for the love and support that has already been shown. It is comforting to know just how many people are thinking of Angry and wishing him strength in his recovery.

“Thank you again for your kindness, understanding, and continued support.”

Rose Tattoo had nine shows left on its “One Last Ride” tour when Anderson was hospitalized, with the run originally due to wrap Aug. 21 in Busdorf, Germany.

The band is still booked for a run of farewell shows across Australia in September, with stops planned in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. Whether those dates go ahead remains unclear.

Rose Tattoo‘s influence stretches well beyond Australia, with songs like “Bad Boy For Love,” “Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw,” “Nice Boys” and “We Can’t Be Beaten” still regarded as pillars of the country’s rock scene.

The band’s catalog runs eight studio albums deep: Rose Tattoo (1978), Assault & Battery (1981), Scarred For Life(1982), Southern Stars (1984), Beats From A Single Drum (1986), Pain (2002), Blood Brothers (2007) and Outlaws(2020).

Rose Tattoo has also lost six former members over the years. Four came from the original recording lineup: Dallas Royall (1991), Peter Wells (2006), Ian Rilen (2006) and Mick Cocks (2009). Lobby Loyde, who played in the band between October 1979 and September 1980, died in 2007. Neil Smith, who filled in on bass before Loyde joined, died in 2013.

Since the band’s first gig on New Year’s in 1976, Rose Tattoo has stuck to one identity: the best barroom blues-rock band going. Anderson has been the constant across all 50 of those years, his voice carrying the band’s usual subject matter of bars, booze, fights and love that doesn’t work out.

Rose Tattoo has spent most of that career touring hard across Australia and Europe, with occasional runs through the U.S. along the way.

The post ROSE TATTOO Gives Update On ANGRY ANDERSON’s Condition Following Cardiac Arrest appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Roughly a decade ago, I obsessively hunted and consumed anything and everything I could find that claimed to be symphonic metal. At some point, though, the genre appeared to become dominated by poppy acts who added keyboards more like an afterthought. But, as if to grant my foregone wish, Ledmotiv has emerged from Gothenburg, Sweden, to put the symphony back into symphonic metal. Captained by composer Viktor Hakan, The Ghost of Carrion was written as a holistic suite and recorded with an array of authentic orchestral instruments. Ledmotiv may be a small band now, but they have big dreams of playing in arenas someday. Given that this, their sophomore record, totals a whopping 75 minutes, their songs must be especially dazzling in order to prevail.

Luckily, Ledmotiv has the skills to make their lofty aspirations a reality. The basis of this mad science experiment is the buoyant rock operas of Avantasia mixed with ultra-catchy Ghost anthems. As reagents, we have the orchestral bombast of Nightwish and the borderline-Broadway theatricality of Ayreon or Scardust. To cap it all off, Nils Leufvenius sprinkles ample quantities of melodic guitar soloing that frequently flirt with power/prog metal territory. All in all, The Ghost of Carrion is very high in sugar, but also contains a great deal of substance, making it digestible without inducing a stomachache.

Although The Ghost of Carrion is a concept album, Ledmotiv keeps the focus where it belongs—on superb songcraft. It’s hard to overstate the importance of the elaborate orchestral compositions in making this so much richer than a collection of arena rock songs. I particularly love when these instruments are brought from a supporting role to the forefront. Oskar Valeberg’s elegant cello gets the spotlight in the intro of “Mother Opus” and a brief solo in “Eureka.” Elsewhere, Miguel Chamorro brings the heat with sizzling violin strings in “What Have I Missed?” that could send the Devil scuttling back to Georgia. Instead of depending on a star-studded cast of voice actors (as Ayreon does), Vide Bjerde’s charismatic and heartfelt performance propels things along with a wide vocal range. He really belts out his lines when it matters most, “For Fire to Behold” and “Eureka” being some of his standout performances. Spoken dialogue is, thankfully, minimal, only popping up a few times during the entire 75 minutes.

Such a long runtime affords many opportunities for things to go awry, but The Ghost of Carrion somehow stays squarely on the rails for the most part. Each of the ten tracks can stand alone, with no irksome intros or interludes. They are bound together by oft-recurring leitmotifs¹ introduced early on in “Come to the Light.” Ballads are where many a metal album loses its footing, but Ledmotiv manages to make “Gem of Amber” just as musically enticing with poignant vocal and violin swells. “The Shadow and the Caster,” the nearly 15-minute centerpiece, is a rockin’ ride where each segment segues into the next, occasionally channeling the wacky energy of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Alas, Ledmotiv does finally begin running out of steam in “Be All, End All” and “Deep in the Cauldron,” both a tad more languid than The Ghost of Carrion needs to be as it crests the 1-hour mark.

Even so, it’s genuinely impressive that Ledmotiv was able to formulate as much stellar material as exists in The Ghost of Carrion. It’s also refreshing to encounter a concept album that largely lets the music do the talking. This is a veritable wellspring of creativity, a rare record that appeals to me just as much now as it would have if I had heard it ten years ago. Anyone else who isn’t afraid to feast on the aural equivalent of fluffy, decadent cheesecake should dive right in. It feels like the sky is the limit for Ledmotiv at this early stage of their career, and I’m eager to see how high they can soar.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Websites: ledmotiv.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/Ledmotivofficial
Releases Worldwide: August 27th, 2026

The post Ledmotiv – The Ghost of Carrion Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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Fifty-five-plus years into its run, Foghat shows no signs of slowing down. The current lineup — Roger Earl on drums, Bryan Bassett on lead and slide guitar, Scott Holt on lead vocals and guitar, and Rodney O’Quinn on bass and vocals — has spent the last two years crisscrossing the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe behind the 2025 Slow Ride 50th Anniversary Tour and the still-running “Twang & Bang Tour,” which included the band’s first U.K. dates in 52 years. Through it all, Foghat has kept leaning on the same blues-boogie-rock formula that made “Fool For The City,” “Slow Ride” and “I Just Wanna Make Love To You” staples in the first place.

That road work is now being properly documented. Foghat will release a new triple-vinyl set, Live & Loud Across The U.S.A., on Oct. 30 through the band’s own Foghat Records, distributed by Select-O-Hits under the Sun Records umbrella. The package comes as two gold vinyl discs of live material plus a bonus red vinyl disc carrying the first-ever vinyl pressing of Shaken & Stirred, the long-running fan favorite from Earl & The Agitators, the side project Bad Wolves… — sorry, side project featuring members of Foghat, produced, mixed, and mastered by Bryan Bassett. Pre-orders are open now.

The video for the album’s lead single, “My Babe,” dropped today and is available to watch below.

Numbered, autographed copies of Live & Loud Across The U.S.A. are available through TalkShop.Live. Roger Earl, Scott Holt and Jason Peverett (son of the late Lonesome Dave),along with a handful of fans, sat down with host Steve Harkins on the platform’s Rock & Roll Channel to dig into the new release and look back on the band’s history.

Live & Loud Across The U.S.A. marks the first live album from this specific incarnation of Foghat, pulled together from shows across the U.S. throughout 2024 and 2025. Much of what’s on it has never been released in live form before, and it’s meant as proof that the band, active since 1971, hasn’t lost a step.

The current lineup traces back to 2014, when Roger and Bryan crossed paths with Scott Holt, who had spent more than a decade on the road and in the studio with Buddy Guy. The chemistry was immediate. Scott ended up writing and performing on 2016’s Under The Influence, a session that produced 17 songs total. A year later, Tom Mix — who’d won a Foghat lyric-writing contest while stationed in Afghanistan as a pilot — came home and enrolled at the Dark Horse Institute in Franklin, Tennessee. He invited the band to record at the school’s studio as part of his graduation project, with students handling the mixing and the band keeping the masters.

More songs got written and tracked over the following days. During one session, guitarist Bryan Bassett floated the name Earl & The Agitators — reportedly over a bottle of Foghat Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon — and it stuck. The side project started playing shows, often opening for Foghat itself, before the music finally surfaced online in 2018 as Shaken & Stirred, where it’s remained a cult favorite since.

Foghat isn’t just touring, either. Its most recent studio album, Sonic Mojo, came out in November 2023 and spent 34 weeks on Billboard‘s Top 10 Blues Albums chart, two of them at No. 1 — the band’s first-ever No. 1 on any Billboardchart, a feat even “Slow Ride” never managed. Sonic Mojo is out on CD with 12 tracks in a six-panel digipak, along with a limited 180-gram neon purple vinyl edition featuring 11 tracks and a gatefold jacket.

Tucked into the Live & Loud Across The U.S.A. packaging is a note from Roger Earl: “People often ask me if we’re ever going to slow down. The answer is… not yet!

“The performances on this album were recorded in cities across the United States during the past two years. We didn’t set out to make a live record, we simply wanted to capture Foghat doing what we’ve always loved to do: playing live. Most of these songs have never been released as official live recordings before, and I think they show where the band is today.

“For the second disc, we wanted to include something that many people may not realize is also part of the Foghatstory. Earl & The Agitators isn’t another band, it’s us.

“Whether you know us as Foghat or Earl & The Agitators, it’s always been about playing music we believe in and sharing it with people who love it as much as we do.

“Thank you for coming along with us on this incredible journey. We couldn’t have done it without your support, and we hope these recordings bring you as much enjoyment as we’ve had making them.

“See you down the road…”

Live & Loud Across The U.S.A. recording lineup: 

Roger Earl / Drums 
Scott Holt / Lead Vocals and Guitar 
Bryan Bassett / Slide and Lead Guitar 
Rodney O’Quinn / Bass and Lead and Background Vocals 
Eddie LeFebvre / Percussion and Background Vocals

Shaken & Stirred (Earl & The Agitators) recording lineup: 

Roger Earl / Drums 
Scott Holt / Lead Vocals and Guitar 
Bryan Bassett / Slide and Lead Guitar 
Rodney O’Quinn / Bass, Lead, and Background Vocals 
Craig McGregor / Bass Mark
Petrocelli / Percussion (live tracks) 
Tony Bullard / Guitar (live tracks)

The post FOGHAT Proves It Hasn’t Slowed Down With New Live Album & Recent Video For Single “My Babe” Video appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.