Blog

It’s not a secret that Mark Vennis & Different Place are one of the most prolific bands on the contemporary music scene. With their critically acclaimed full-length, “Small Town Empire,” they proved how rock music can still sound exciting, innovative, fresh, and unique, while simultaneously incorporating all those traditional elements that made this genre famous […]

Interview by Ali Williams If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to survive 30 years in an Australian band without a punch-up, a lawsuit, or at least a few costume changes, Quan Yeomans of Regurgitator is here to tell you—it’s mostly sweat, setlist amnesia, and just the right amount of “naive courage” to dive headfirst […]

In these times, when so many bands compete over who’ll get a better guitar tone, polished production, and become the next big thing on a contemporary music scene, there are still music outlets that rely on authenticity, tradition, and classic sound that drew all of us into a rock ‘n’ roll world in the first […]

Very few movies manage to be relevant, or to show us something about life that makes us want to re-engage from our comfortable armchair debt servitude, and very few do it so insightfully and elegantly that they might be “classics,” but this film surely qualifies.

Ostensibly a war film, it re-tells Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in a Nietzschean take informed by the civilization collapse riffs of T.S. Eliot, set in the Vietnam war to symbolize the ongoing interaction of the West with the third world.

Instead of the usual hoorah nonsense we receive instead a meditation of the deepening of descent into both crisis and an escape from the mental poison of civilization, hitting on many of the themes of black metal which Conrad carries on from Plato.

Its peak may be the infamous sampan scene where means-over-ends reasoning collides with ends-over-means, a moral critique echoed in the final scenes, where an escape from social morality provides the characters a means of going forward, even if scarred by the past.

While it is criticized for its intense nihilism and seemingly depressing theme of the ongoing failure of civilization in the West, its message to a metal fan offers the usual hope: if we can escape the mental pathology of civilization, we can rediscover the wisdom of nature and become participants in our own lives again.

Band:	Kanonenfieber
Release:	Soldatenschicksale
Genre:	Black Metal, Death Metal
Country:	Germany
Release Date:	6th of February 2026
Released via	Century Media Records/Sony Music

Kanonenfieber’s third studio album, titled Soldatenschicksale, is essentially not a new album in the traditional sense, but rather a compilation of their three previous EPs. In addition, there are two new tracks:“Z-Vor!”, which was released in August last year, and “Heizer Tenner”, a new song.

That being said, the three EPs were not simply thrown together. All of the material was reworked and re-recorded. This becomes especially obvious when listening to the old and new versions back to back: the recordings and overall sound are clearer, the mixing is different, and the drums and riffs are much more prominent. Some passages were also slightly altered; the two “Füsilier” tracks in particular clearly show an adaptation to the band’s own 2025 sound, which had not yet been present on their debut album.

However, even after listening to it several times, two questions still remain for me: did this album really need to exist in this form, and is it actually worth it? Do the new versions justify a full album, and was this necessary after only five years as a band? Personally, I would say no. Even the excellent “Z-Vor!” and the solid “Heizer Tenner” cannot fully save the album’s overall concept for me. I can also imagine that especially death/black metal fans who prefer a rawer sound might not be particularly fond of the cleaner sound design, despite the supposed “improvements”. That said, the steadily growing number of Kanonenfieber fans will surely appreciate the album just as much as its predecessors. One thing still holds true: the band continues to deliver consistently strong songs that simply work.

Since the release of Die Urkatastrophe (Review) in 2024, it has become quite clear where the band is heading: top spots on upcoming festival line-ups are already in their sights, and this summer they will once again appear on several line-ups that have already been announced. In more and more countries around the world, sandbags are being set up on stages. Whether an in-between album like this is really needed to support the new tour is something the band’s fans will ultimately have to decide for themselves.

Listening to EVA UNDER FIRE (@evaunderfire) is like hard rock therapy, turning scars and demons into anthems of inner strength. Nowhere is that clearer than on the Detroit band’s latest single, the sonically fierce and lyrically razor-sharp Murder Scene, released today (February 6) via Better Noise Music. “‘Murder Scene’ explores eating disorders, body dysmorphia, self-doubt, […]

Lost in Hollywood push things forward with their brand new single Pieces, taken from their upcoming sophomore self-titled album, out on March 20. After the strong impact of their previous singles, Pieces hits with a darker, more direct edge—channeling frustration, pressure, and the slow collapse that happens when everything you’ve built starts slipping through your […]

LONG DISTANCE CALLING return with new music and open an entirely new chapter in their career. Today, the German instrumental rock pioneers release A Secret Place, the first single and video taken from their upcoming studio album The Phantom Void, set for release on April 10, 2026. Described as “the shortest, hardest and strongest album […]

Tunisian French metal innovators Myrath shine a new light on their recent single Soul of My Soul with the release of its official music video, adding a powerful new emotional layer to a song that has already deeply resonated with fans. Released two weeks ago, the track now gains renewed attention through visuals that expand […]

The Statement: With Regrets, Twisted Sister Cancels 50th Anniversary Celebration Performances. Due to the sudden and unexpected resignation of Twisted Sister’s lead singer Dee Snider brought on by a series … Continue reading Twisted Sister Cancels 50th Anniversary Celebration Performances →