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Monolith, the trio featuring former Dream Theater drummer Mike Mangini alongside Hernán “Motley” Rodríguez on bass and vocals and Andy Barrow on guitars and vocals, has unveiled an official animated music video for its newest single, “Starchild”. The visual was directed by Rodríguez, with animation handled by Carlo Cassani, and continues the band’s steadily unfolding narrative.

The release of “Starchild” builds on a broader concept the band began rolling out last year. Monolith first set the tone with the singles “Oligarchs”, “Mother Martyr”, and “Gooru”, establishing the thematic backbone of the project. That storyline expanded further in December 2025 with the arrival of another track, “Farmer”.

The band first made waves in early 2025 when it caught listeners off guard with the announcement of its debut single, “Oligarchs”. Attention quickly followed as word spread that Mangini had joined forces with band founder Rodríguez and Barrow. The formation of Monolith marked the first group Mangini took part in after his time with Dream Theater, adding to the buzz surrounding the project. Since its release, the music video for “Oligarchs” has racked up nearly 400,000 views, while the follow-up single “Mother Martyr” has gone even further, surpassing 480,000 views and drawing in fans worldwide.

At its core, Monolith is a genre-blurring project that pulls from a wide range of musical backgrounds, merging elements of rock, metal, and Latin rhythms into something that feels deliberate but unrestrained. The group came together when industry veterans Rodríguez, Barrow, and producer Gabo Sanoja aligned around a shared goal of creating music that felt both forward-thinking and emotionally grounded. With Mangini completing the lineup, the band gained a powerful rhythmic foundation that helped shape its early sound. Together, these musicians have formed Monolith not just as a band, but as a collaborative platform designed to push boundaries while forging a genuine connection with listeners.

The post MONOLITH Featuring MIKE MANGINI Shares Animated Music Video For “Starchild” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

My biggest fail in 2025, by a wide margin, was missing the boat on the greatest garage punk album in years — the debut long player from Dutch destroyers The ETTERS. When I finally heard that record, maken je hartstikke DOOD!, it practically scorched my ears clean off my head. If you too have been waiting forever for the best album that Rip Off Records never released, you’re probably already an ETTERS super-fan. If not, well, now you’ve got two new releases to check out! Out on France’s Fish & Cheap Records, The ETTERS’ new self-titled 7″ delivers three furious tracks of ultra-snotty lo-fi trash in three glorious minutes. Even if you don’t know a single word of Dutch, you can tell how gleefully foul-mouthed and hilariously scathing these lyrics are. And this is how you play punk rock: with reckless thumping fury and a middle finger flying in the face of entire world. On top of that, these tunes are catchier than chlamydia on a college campus. With song titles that roughly translate to “There’s Nothing About You That I Don’t Hate” and “Eat My Snot,” you know they’re not singing about sunshine and roses. Had I been hip to the full-length while we are still living in 2025, it would have easily made my top three on my year-end albums list. But hey! At least I didn’t make the same mistake twice! My friends in Europe will want to grab the 7″ ASAP since it’s extremely limited. Here in the states, import prices are probably prohibitive. But you can certainly stream the shit out of maken je hartstikke DOOD! while you guzzle cheap beer, pogo like a maniac, and plot the ruin of everyone who has ever wronged you. Cheers to Jerry, Luna, and Kate for breathing so much life into punk rock that I feel like I’m hearing it for the first time again!

Hearing Sugar back in the game literally gives me chills. This was the one band that was the biggest game-changer for me as a young adult discovering music that existed outside the mainstream. I was a heavy metal and classic rock kid in the ’80s and was never really hip to much of anything beyond the FM dial. There were certainly some other bands that helped to open the gateway for me to indie/alternative rock, but Sugar was the band that busted it wide open and got me asking, “Where has this music been all my life?” I can still remember traipsing to the record store to buy Beaster and File Under: Easy Listening the day they came out. Copper Blue remains an all-time top ten ’90s album for me, and of course Sugar sent me down the rabbit hole to Husker Du and then to all the melodic/poppy punk rock that has been the love of my musical life. When Sugar suddenly re-appeared on the scene last year with its first new song in 30 years, it was like reuniting with an old friend. And as good as “House of Dead Memories” was, new single “Long Live Love” is even better. I always enjoy Bob Mould the most when he’s embracing the fine art of writing great pop songs. And “Long Live Love,” which he actually wrote in 2007, is the very definition of a great pop song. It conjures all those ’90s alt-rock feels without sounding like an exercise in nostalgia. It immediately sounds like Sugar, and that can only be a good thing. How unmistakable are those guitars and drums? Both new singles will be released as a 7″ record later this year, and you can pre-order it here! Sugar is back, and the world is better for it!

The Hu are back with a new single, “The Real You,” out today via Better Noise Music. The band leans harder into a heavy, atmospheric approach this time, putting more Western rock elements up front while keeping the core of what they call “hunnu rock”, traditional Mongolian instrumentation and throat singing fused with modern rock.

The track was produced by Dashka (Dashdondog Bayarmagnai) and mixed by five-time Grammy-winning producer/engineer/mixer Chris Lord-Alge, and it’s available on all digital outlets with a new video.

Temka, The Hu’s tovshuur player and throat singer, says “The Real You” connects directly to what they’re building toward on album three, and he describes the mindset behind recording it.

“‘The Real You’ single is the representation of our forthcoming new album. While we have traditional songs that have our signature rhythm in our third album, there are a few upbeat, fast songs, such as this single. We recorded this song thinking of our ancestors, riding fast on the horse back through the landscape. Listen to this song to express the feelings you have buried inside and feel the overwhelming energy we pass through to you. Enjoy!”

Lyrically, “The Real You” aims at self-accountability, stop judging other people, look at your own choices, and improve your own behavior. The song pulls from a Mongolian proverb that spells it out in plain terms: “Don’t worry about what is on top of a person’s head, just worry about what is not on yours.”

It’s sung in Mongolian, but the intent comes through even if you don’t speak the language, especially when the track hits lines like: “Will you keep slandering, gaslighting, menacing, and abusing?/Is it alright to keep enduring, fearing, and hiding?”

Beyond new music, The Hu continue to stack milestones. In November 2022, they became the first rock/metal band to receive UNESCO’s “Artist For Peace” designation at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, presented by UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay. The list of past recipients mentioned alongside them includes Celine Dion, Shirley Bassey, Sarah Brightman, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, and the World Orchestra For Peace. The band’s reach is massive by any measure, with over 961 million all-time streams and 483 million video views, plus high-charting releases, sold-out tours, government honors, and placements in games like EA Games’ “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order”.

Live, they’ve also got major stages lined up. Later this summer, The Hu will join Iron Maiden at Knebworth Park in the U.K. on July 11 with The Darkness, Airbourne, and The Almighty for the “Run For Your Lives” tour stop. After that, they’ll be part of Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson’s “Freaks On Parade” U.S. tour alongside Orgy, kicking off August 20 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The post Mongolian Rockers THE HU Release Visualizer Video For New Song “The Real You” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

U.K. thrash vets Onslaught are coming back to North America in March for the first time in well over a decade, and they’re making it count. The band is billing the run as a “Force From Hell” set, leaning hard on their first two albums—Power From Hell and The Force—with a setlist built to satisfy anyone who wants the raw, early ’80s edge.

The shows also double as a celebration of vocalist Sy Keeler’s return, with the band promising plenty of fan favorites from his era alongside the deep cuts pulled from those seminal records.

Co-headlining the tour are cult epic metal heroes Warlord, and their angle is just as specific: they’ll play Deliver Us in full, plus more classic-era material. Wildly, this marks Warlord’s first proper North American tour, despite the band being Los Angeles-based and active (in various forms) for more than four decades. Both bands will kick things off after a special set at Houston’s Hell’s Heroes festival.

Onslaught guitarist Nige Rockett put it plainly, with the focus on the long wait and the band’s current lineup: “Super stoked to be returning to the States for our first full tour in 11 years and with Sy Keeler back at the helm, it’s gonna be mega! This is just Part 1. We’re bringing this tour to the entire USA so that nobody gets to miss out on this epic setlist! See you in the pit!”

On Warlord’s side, drummer Mark Zonder explained just how strange their live history has been for an American band, and why this run is being treated like a long-delayed “what should have been.”

“Although Warlord is an American band, formed in 1980… in those 45 years since, we never once performed live in the USA (our first gig ever was actually in Germany in 2002). This year we will set forth on our first-ever tour of North America, performing the set that fans would have seen from us if we had done this all those years ago, the full ‘Deliver Us’ mini LP, ‘Cannons’ tracks, ‘Lost And Lonely Days’ EP, and more.”

See the tour itinerary below and get your tickets here:

03/18 – Houston, TX – Hell’s Heroes
03/19 – Dallas, TX – Trees
03/20 – Austin, TX – Come And Take It Live
03/22 – Tucson, AZ – The Rock
03/24 – Los Angeles, CA – 1720
03/25 – San Francisco, CA – DNA Lounge
03/26 – Sacramento, CA – Colonial Theatre
03/27 – Felton, CA – Felton Music Hall
03/29 – Portland, OR – Star Theatre
03/30 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
03/31 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre
04/02 – Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Saloon
04/03 – Denver, CO – Marquis
04/04 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theatre
04/06 – Chicago, IL – WC Social Club
04/08 – Kansas City, MO – Warehouse on Broadway
04/09 – St Louis, MO – Red Flag
04/10 – Murfreesboro, TN – Hop Springs
04/12 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade

For Onslaught, Power From Hell (1985) and The Force (1986) sit near the foundation of extreme thrash records that helped shape the harsher end of the genre and still get cited by bands that came after. The band formed in Bristol in 1982, came out of a hardcore punk background, and built their name on speed, aggression, and political bite. They also recently reintroduced Sy Keeler onstage, playing their first concert with him back in the lineup on November 9, 2025, at the U.K.’s Damnation Festival at the BEC Arena in Manchester.

For Warlord, this tour comes with history and loss attached. The band began as the project of guitarist/songwriter William J Tsamis and drummer Mark Zonder, and they’re widely viewed as pioneers of epic metal. Tsamis passed away in May 2021, and the group has continued with Zonder alongside longtime member Giles Lavery, plus Jimmy Waldo, Eric Juris, Diego Pires, and Stefano Pascolino. Now they’re finally doing the one thing their legacy never matched on paper: taking their classic material on the road in North America.

The post ONSLAUGHT Announce 2026 North American Tour With WARLORD appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

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The winning bidder and a guest will enjoy an exclusive lunch with John at a restaurant of his choice in Los Angeles. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will allow you to share stories, ask questions, and connect in a relaxed setting.

100% of proceeds support Future Youth Records’ mission to empower youth artists worldwide to create music that promotes positive change and awareness.

Pop Evil are marking the first anniversary of What Remains with a new expanded version, What Remains Midnight Edition, set to arrive March 27, 2026. Along with the announcement, the band has released a new single, “The Decay,” which premiered on SiriusXM Octane yesterday and is now available widely.

The band frames “The Decay” as a blunt statement about choice and accountability, and they spell out exactly where they want the song to land.

“In a world full of pain, lies, distractions, and half-truths, how easy is it to swallow venom dressed up as medicine without recognizing the damage being done? The choice to help or to hurt is ours. This song is raw, uncomfortable, and honest, an invitation to face the darkness, accept responsibility, and choose to make a difference while you still have time.”

They also made a point about how the visual side of this release was handled. Pop Evil says they avoided using A.I. when creating the official visualizer, which was directed by Sam Shapiro and produced by the CGI team at VSRL Company. The idea, as presented here, is to keep the visuals aligned with the song’s message about what people choose to create and support.

What Remains Midnight Edition adds new material to the original record, including “The Decay” and a studio-polished reworking of the ’80s anthem “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” filtered through Pop Evil’s modern-rock approach.

The original What Remains was described as the band’s most uncompromising and emotionally exposed release to date, heavier and darker than their previous work, while still built for big stages. The album’s narrative angle centers on frontman Leigh Kakaty, with the material focused on personal scars and hard-earned perspective. In the framing around Midnight Edition, the band positions it as a full-circle moment: confronting the past, standing in the present, and locking What Remains in as a defining statement for this era of Pop Evil.

Before this, the band released the four-song EP Unleaded last year, a live, acoustic set that intentionally stepped away from their usual distortion-heavy approach. It showed a different side of Pop Evil, trading aggression for a quieter, moodier presentation.

In terms of the bigger picture, Pop Evil first broke through with Lipstick On The Mirror, which included the RIAA-certified gold single “100 In A 55”. After Kakaty publicly tore up the band’s major label contract onstage, Pop Evil signed with MNRK Heavy (formerly eOne Music). War Of Angels (2011) landed in the Top 10 of the Rock Albums chart and generated three Top 10 singles.

From there, Onyx (2013) pushed them into the Billboard 200 Top 40 for the first time and delivered three straight No. 1 rock songs, plus RIAA gold and platinum certifications, including “Torn To Pieces”. The next release, Up, went to No. 1 on the Independent Albums chart in the U.S. and hit No. 25 on the Billboard 200, featuring multiple Top 5 rock tracks and the gold-certified “Footsteps”. The 2018 self-titled Pop Evil included the No. 1 hit “Waking Lions” (gold) along with two more Top 10 singles.

More recently, Versatile (2020) produced two No. 1 rock songs: “Breathe Again” and “Survivor”. In 2023, the band released Skeletons, which spawned No. 1 singles “Eye Of The Storm” and “Skeletons”. Now, with What Remains Midnight Edition on the way, “The Decay” sets the tone: direct riffs, a darker message, and a band leaning into what it wants to say without dressing it up.

The post POP EVIL Share Official Video For “The Decay”, Announce “What Remains (Midnight Edition)” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

In a new interview with Music Radar, Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee talked about the possibility of new music once the band wraps their 2026 headline run, “Fifty Something”. For the tour, Geddy and guitarist Alex Lifeson will be joined by German drummer Anika Nilles, who toured with Jeff Beck in 2022 and has been rehearsing with Geddy and Alex in preparation.

Geddy says writing music was already on his radar before the tour planning took over, and that early jamming with Alex opened a door he hadn’t expected: “My intent, before we got into this celebration of Rush‘s history, was to put some music together.”

“Now, I assumed I would be doing that on my own, not with Alex, but when we started jamming, I started seeing the possibility of doing something with Alex — but all of that went on hold now because there’s too much work. There’s too much work to do for this tour to even think about that, ” Lee added (via Blabbermouth). “But if we manage to survive the tour, and go back to Canada and have a rest, who knows what’ll happen, but I suspect some music will eventually come out.”

He also brought up Anika as a potential creative fit beyond the live setting, while making it clear nothing is locked in: “It would be fun to see what [Anika] can do in a creative situation. Like, that would be fun. But it’s all speculation until it isn’t, so…”

As for the tour itself, Rush will play multiple cities across Canada, the United States, and Mexico, starting June 7, 2026, at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The “evening with” format has the band playing two sets per night, with each show built from a 35-song catalog made up of the biggest hits and deeper fan favorites—meaning the setlists will change night to night.

Demand has been immediate. After Geddy and Alex announced the first 2026 dates in early October, the shows sold out fast. The band responded by expanding the run, doubling its length, and adding more dates afterward. At this point, “Fifty Something” is scheduled to run into fall and early winter, with sold-out stops already listed in Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto, plus dates in Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., among others.

The post GEDDY LEE Says New RUSH Music Could Happen After The 2026 Tour: “It Would Be Fun To See What ANIKA Can Do In A Creative Situation” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.