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"Playing those songs from those first four albums in a combined package like this is something we've never attempted before," Blackie Lawless said in a statement. Continue reading…

Yesterday, it was revealed that officials in Turkey canceled shows scheduled for both Slaughter To Prevail and Behemoth over what was described as “societal values.” It was based on existing laws within the country, but that doesn’t mean the affected bands have to stay quiet about the situation. Enter Behemoth, who’s no stranger to show cancelations over their dark image and material.

In a statement from the band, Behemoth responded to the Turkish government’s decision to not only cancel their show, but to ban all events at Istanbul’s Zorlu PSM and Zorlu Center for two days.

“To our fans in Istanbul and Ankara, we are deeply disappointed to confirm that our scheduled performances in Turkey have been cancelled. Despite exhausting every possible avenue throughout the day and engaging in extensive discussions, the decision from the local authorities remains final. There is simply nothing further we can do to overturn it.

“The cancellations come after pressure from religious groups who have characterized our art as satanic propaganda and deemed it unacceptable. This is another example of ideology being used to suppress artistic expression and restrict cultural freedom. Behemoth has always stood for creative independence and the right of artists to express themselves without censorship. Music is not a threat, but silencing it should concern anyone who values freedom of expression.

“To those who planned to attend, who travelled, and who stood ready to share this night with us, we are truly sorry. We fought to make these shows happen and we share your frustration and disappointment. Turkey has some of the most passionate and dedicated fans in the world and we hope the day will come when we can return to Istanbul and Ankara and perform for you without interference. Until then, thank you for your unwavering support.”

When the cancelations were announced, a press release from Istanbul Governor Davut Gül’s office cited the potential for public backlash if the shows were to go on as scheduled. The official statement cited Articles 17 and 22 of Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations and Article 32/Ç of Law No. 5442 on Provincial Administration. As such, it was said that they had no choice but to axe the shows.

“No activity that corrupts society in Istanbul has ever been permitted up to this day, and it will not be permitted in the future either.”

Both Behemoth and Slaughter To Prevail were accused of “preaching satanism and stealing the faith of young people” and “blatantly opposing religion with their satanic attire” by some Turkish media outlets, which helped stir up any outcry against the shows taking place. In one instance a broadcaster mentioned how the bands in question had been banned in other parts of the world for similar reasoning.

“These two groups are banned in Russia. We call on the authorities to act urgently and cancel these events that poison our children and youth.”

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The post Behemoth Respond to Turkish Officials Canceling Their Istanbul Show Over “Societal Values” appeared first on MetalSucks.

Don Henley hints that the group may stop touring after this year – "and I am OK with that." Continue reading…

Behemoth and Slaughter to Prevail members have responded to their shows in Istanbul being canceled by the Turkish government. Continue reading…

Waterpistol landed their first show supporting CVC in April 2023, just months after forming in late 2022. For a six-piece band blending 60s garage-psych with 90s shoegaze, that’s a quick turnaround. “Initially, there were three of us in the band who had played together for years prior,” vocalist and guitarist Aaron Tormey explains. “That somewhat gave us confidence, but the three of us that joined were automatically family and got the shtick. We had the tunes and an attitude of ‘the world is waiting for this, whether it knows it or not.’ It was either gonna be flying or falling in style.”

The South Wales band, Harry Watton on vocals and percussion, Rhea Padua on vocals, Aaron Tormey on guitar and vocals, Carwyn Whiteman on guitar and vocals, Emma Way on bass, and Efan Watkins on drums, have been compared to The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The La’s, and Shack. There’s even a Shack album called Waterpistol. The connection isn’t accidental. “The connection is total admiration, like naming a child after a person that means something to you,” Tormey says. “As for how it affects our output, we follow our taste and do what we love. To put it another way, if I enjoy bananas, I’ll eat bananas, and if I eat bananas, then you can be sure a banana’s gonna come out of my ass in some shape or form.”

The band’s new single Felin, arriving February 14, tackles the highs and lows of the creative process. The name itself carries weight. “I don’t know if you’ve seen Shrek. In Shrek, he declares he, like onions, has layers,” Tormey explains. “This theme is of the music being a persistent presence in those highs and lows. Felin as a name derives from the name Féilim, which we understand to mean ‘ever good’, ‘constant’ or ‘beauty’ in Gaeilge. Our understanding is that the name represents the outlook on submitting to the compulsion, an iteration on Dory’s ‘just keep swimming.’”

That blend of 60s garage-psych and 90s shoegaze didn’t happen by accident. The band’s sonic palette comes from deep roots. “That’s the music we’ve loved the longest,” Tormey says. “We’ve grown up with grandparents who indoctrinated us with the likes of the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, The Hollies, Deep Purple, Howling Wolf or Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, to our parents being massive fans of the music they grew up with, to showing us the likes of Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged In New York, Alice in Chains or Blur, The Verve and the unavoidable epidemic called Oasis (1 in 2 people get cancer) and just falling in love with the rock ‘n’ roll glue that seemed to be in so much of what we gravitated towards.”

As for who pushes which direction, Tormey clarifies, “Initially, you’d presume it was Harry pushing for ’60s and me pushing for the ’90s, but it really doesn’t go like that. There’s a fascination with 3’s going on in this band. One of those 3’s is sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. A holy trinity for any aspiring reprobate. For our process, we see it as a cycle of tradition, mutation and evolution.”

The band’s lyrics deal with darker themes, isolation, detachment, even psychosis, while the music sounds sunny and nostalgic. That contrast isn’t accidental. “Honestly, it’s both,” Tormey says. “We’re a species full of contradiction and hypocrisy. It’s impossible not to reflect that, as Blindboy Boatclub would say, fallible human beings.”

Listen to “FELIN” below:

One distinctive element of Waterpistol’s sound is their prominent use of bongos, courtesy of Harry Watton. It’s not a common choice for modern psych-rock bands, but Tormey pushes back on the label itself. “We’re not a modern psych-rock band. That label to us defines drones and adhering to a pre-existing template, escapist soundscapes in a time when art needs to be utilised as a tool that shapes life as something we don’t want to escape from. More than mere entertainment. Aesthetically following along with the tradition of it while void of any genuine pushing of the envelope just to watch it bend.”

As for the bongos themselves, “Completely Harry’s idea. Big into his Eric Burton & War to name just one influence on him. They typically come into play when the party kicks into swing or things slow down, and Harry needs to fidget.”

From that first CVC support slot, Waterpistol moved fast. Festival season followed in quick succession: Green Man, FOCUS Wales, and Sŵn Festival. The experience shaped the band in ways beyond just stage time. “During that festival run, particularly the May to August ’23, we had ample opportunity to better figure out our internal dynamics as a family band,” Tormey reflects. “Living in close quarters, it gets hard to hide a blemish. Outside of the family bonding, we got to shop our shtuff out to a wider range at a larger scale, which made for some interesting interpretations on what the hell we’re up to, some affirming feedback and our personal favourite ambition fuel, good ol’ harsh criticism. We love relieving ourselves onto consumer expectations.”

The Welsh connection runs deep for the band, even for members not born there. “We also find that while only half of our entity is Welsh by branding at birth, culturally we’re all soaked in it. Whether it’s English, Irish or Filipino, there’s no fighting that for Waterpistol, Wales is home.”

With six members and multiple vocalists, the writing process could easily become chaotic. “Is there an option to tick the box for ‘it’s complicated?’” Tormey asks. “I will try to bring finished songs to practice, some could be ready to go, others need hashing out. Not everything brought in will be used, some things will be altered while others can be rejected entirely. It is hard to pleasure five people when you only have two hands.”

The band recorded their previous single Où est ton âme? at Rockfield Studios, a legendary space that’s hosted everyone from The Stone Roses to Black Sabbath. The weight of that history didn’t change their approach. “Of course you feel some sense of standing in the footsteps of the likes of The Stone Roses, Black Sabbath, Iggy Pop, the Charlatans, Sepultura, Coldplay and Motorhead, who came before you,” Tormey says, “but that reverence doesn’t affect the approach to what we’re doing, it more so adds to the assurance and the understanding that those who came before did their thing and, come gutter or glory, we’re doing ours.”

Waterpistol recently received the BBC Horizons 2026 Launchpad Fund in partnership with BBC Cymru Wales and Arts Council Wales. The funding arrives at a pivotal moment for the band. “You’ll spend your life in a gag if you’re gagging for external validation,” Tormey says. “However, this fund was very validating and arrives during a progressive step in our life as a band. A period of improved action, where we have been working off stage in a bigger way than before to bring Waterpistol to you all. The BBC awarding us the Horizons Launchpad fund provided us the ability to improve our capacity for promotion and also displayed to us that someone who can put their hand into the stream and affect the current is watching, and has the faith that we can do that too.”

With Felin landing February 14 and more material already taking shape behind the scenes, Waterpistol are moving forward with the same confidence that got them on stage months after forming. Tradition, mutation, evolution. The cycle continues.

Photo Credit: Patrick Starsky Thomas

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The post Waterpistol: South Wales’ Psych-Rock Revivalists on Tradition, Mutation, and Evolution appeared first on Montreal Rocks.

This morning, two major forces announced they would be putting their proverbial heads together and releasing what should be a crazy record. Napalm Death and Melvins are no strangers to one another and now on April 10, they’ll be releasing Savage Imperial Death March via Ipecac Recordings.

Described as a “true collaboration — not a split, but a new album featuring members of both bands,” one can only imagine how wild this thing’s gonna get. Of course, the album title is the same name as the two bands’ tours from 2016 and 2025.

Napalm Death’s Shane Embury said he and the rest of the guys were excited to put this album out.

“I have loved the Melvins forever and their outlook on music. A chance to make an album of eclectic musical madness with them was truly an honor and a whole lot of fun, which surely is the whole point! Let’s do another one soon.”

Similarly, Melvins’ Buzz Osbourne gushed about his time with Napalm Death.

“Napalm Death are one of my favorite bands ever. It was an absolute pleasure and a dream come true to do this collaboration with them. We wrote songs together. I would write a riff and we would learn it and record it right there. They wrote stuff and we would learn it immediately as well. It was truly a 50/50 partnership.”

In addition to the album announcement, the duo put out the album’s first single “Tossing Coins Into The Fountain Of Fuck”. You can check that out below.

Savage Imperial Death March won’t be available until April, but you can preorder your copy today.

“Savage Imperial Death March” track listing:

1. Tossing Coins Into The Fountain Of Fuck
2. Some Kind Of Antichrist
3. Awful Handwriting
4. Nine Days Of Rain
5. Rip The God
6. Stealing Horses
7. Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy
8. Death Hour

The post Napalm Death and Melvins Join Forces for ‘Savage Imperial Death March’ Collab Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

The post EMILY RACH BEISEL: Chicago Avant Woodwind Artist/Composer To Release Second LP, Sumptuous Branching, April 10th Via Amalgam; “Cantilevers” Single, Performance Video, Preorders, Tour Dates Posted appeared first on INFRARED MAGAZINE.

James McMurtry does not talk much, and he does not volunteer myth. He answers questions carefully, sometimes obliquely, often economically, as if every word costs something. That reserve has become part of his public character, as recognizable as the stark clarity of his songs. McMurtry is a listener first, a keen observer of language and […]

Bring Me The Horizon announced a worldwide cinema event capturing their sold-out performance at São Paulo’s Allianz Parque Stadium, screening March 25 and 28 in theatres across 35+ countries. The band unveiled the trailer today for L.I.V.E. in São Paulo (Live Immersive Virtual Experiment), a filmed concert that played to 50,000 fans at the Brazilian stadium last year.

The cinema release comes via Trafalgar Releasing, Sony Music Vision, and RCA, with tickets on sale now through bmth.live. Countries include the USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Brazil. The film was co-directed by CiRCUS HEaD and uses multi-camera coverage, drone footage, and fan-submitted content to capture the performance. The band called it their best show yet.

The film expands the visual universe of the POST HUMAN series, blending cinematic production with raw fan perspectives and character cameos including E.V.E, Selene, and M8. The setlist spans the band’s catalogue from Sempiternal and That’s the Spirit through amo and the POST HUMAN albums, covering the evolution of their sound over the past decade.

Watch the trailer below:

Bring Me The Horizon have sold over 6.6 million albums worldwide and accumulated more than 9.4 billion global streams. The band has won BRIT Awards and earned Grammy nominations, establishing themselves as one of the biggest acts in modern rock. The São Paulo show represented a peak moment for a band that has consistently pushed scale and spectacle in their live performances.

The band will release L.I.V.E. IN SÃO PAULO as a live album on April 10 across all major streaming platforms, with vinyl and CD/DVD editions available. The cinema event runs for two nights only, with full screening details and ticketing available now at bmth.live.

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The post Watch the trailer for Bring Me The Horizon: L.I.V.E. in São Paulo appeared first on Montreal Rocks.

On this edition of the “Popcast” Song of the Week, our critic Jon Caramanica dives into Zach Bryan’s “Appetite,” a redemptive and contemplative track about “the horrors that you visited upon yourself.”