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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RIFTPATROL LAUNCHES CINEMATIC UNIVERSE WITH NEW SINGLE “PARASITE” FEAT. YUUKO SINGS, DJ NEON NIGHTS & AMANDA POWER

Riftpatrol, the boundary-pushing project formed in 2025, is stepping fully into its own lane with the release of their new single “Parasite,” out now on all major platforms.
Built as more than just a music project, Riftpatrol fuses modern heavy music with cinematic storytelling and a growing visual universe. The sound pulls from metalcore, alternative rock, goth, and J-rock, shifting between crushing heaviness and eerie atmosphere without ever settling into one box. It hits hard, then pulls you into something stranger right after.
At the center of Riftpatrol’s world is The Captain, a detective navigating fractured realities, chasing truth across timelines and broken dimensions. Every release adds another chapter to the story, expanding through manga and webtoon-inspired visuals where characters evolve alongside the music itself.
“Parasite” is the latest entry in that unfolding narrative, and it does not hold back. The track explores isolation, emotional weight, and the slow collapse that comes when you feel disconnected from everything around you. It is heavy in both sound and meaning, built to pull the listener directly into that headspace.
The single features Yuuko Sings, DJ Neon Nights, and Amanda Power, bringing together a global mix of voices and styles. The result is a cinematic metalcore and J-rock fusion layered with multilingual vocals, eerie melodies, and massive drops that swing between beauty and chaos.
Riftpatrol continues to build through collaboration, bringing together artists from different countries, languages, and creative backgrounds. The goal is not to fit into a scene, but to build a universe of its own.
“Parasite” is out now.
Stream it here:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/riftpatrol/parasite-feat-dj-neon-nights-yuuko-sings–amanda-power
About Riftpatrol

Riftpatrol is a 2025-born multimedia music project blending heavy genres with cinematic storytelling, visual narrative, and cross-cultural collaboration.


 Connect: 
https://www.instagram.com/riftpatrol/
Contact: riftpatrol@gmail.com 

The Van Halen star has been performing the surprising cover on his 2026 North American tour. Continue reading…

Leading up to the release of The Harvest, Ashen Horde finds themselves pushing against the boundaries of the identity they’ve honed since forming in 2013. Conceived by Los Angeles-based Trevor Portz, the sole contributor through the band’s first two albums,¹ Ashen Horde stands as a studio-only project, blurring the lines between black and death metal with progressive tendencies while telling unified stories through each album’s runtime. On third album Fallen Cathedrals, Ashen Horde enlisted the talents of powerhouse vocalist Stevie Boiser (Inferi, Equipoise) to tremendous effect. Portz and Boiser delivered another gem on follow-up Antimony, joined by drummer Robin Stone (Chestcrush) and bassist Igor Panasewicz (NightWraith). On fifth album The Harvest: newcomer Karl Chamberlain (Putrefier) replaces Boiser and leans heavily into melodic cleans, Panasewicz exits the fold, the narrative element has been replaced with a looser theme,² and Ashen Horde begins rehearsals for their first-ever live performances later this year. Do all these changes result in an effective crop rotation, keeping The Harvest’s yield fresh and rich, or do the white-hot flames of slash-and-burn songwriting blaze too brightly, leaving only a bumper crop of ash?

Where Boiser’s vocals amplified Ashen Horde’s ferocity within the confines of black and death metal, Chamberlain’s stylings push the band’s sound into a more melodic arena. Clean vocals sparsely populated Ashen Horde’s Boiser era, but The Harvest sees them co-headline, prominently featuring Chamberlain’s versatile melodic phrasing. Prior releases’ touchstones Opeth and Enslaved continue to be relevant, yet the emphasis on cleans skews heavily towards Trivium and, to a lesser extent, Killswitch Engage.³ The shift is broader than the vocals, though, as the instrumentation diversifies as well. Frantic trems and knotty compositions previously grounded Ashen Horde’s sound in progressive black metal akin to Ihsahn, but The Harvest evolves to bring a distinctly Voivoidian essence to the guitar work (the riffing after the solo on “Backward Momentum” is classic Piggy). Performance-wise, Ashen Horde delivers first-rate moments that ground returning listeners in a familiar setting, with Portz laying down his usual impressive stringed attack and Stone supplying nuanced exhibitions throughout. In total, these changes evince a band at a crossroads, uncontent to rest on its laurels while a new outlook is forged.

The maturation of Ashen Horde’s sound amounts to more than an inflated list of references, though. For starters, the underlying genres require reevaluation. Fallen Cathedrals and Antimony classify as black metal, death metal, and progressive metal, yet The Harvest adds a healthy dose of melodic death metal and a dash of thrash. Specifically, “Remnant” evokes a slightly proggier take on 90s In Flames while “Apparition” recalls a less rabid The Black Dahlia Murder. Besides Voivod, The Harvest taps into thrash via the jazzy grooves heard on Species’ latest (“Entropy and Ecstasy”) and the whirring, dissonant refrains endemic to Coroner (“Autumnal,” “A Place in the Rot”). With so many moving pieces, it’s a wonder that Ashen Horde retains as much of their core identity as they do.

Given the dramatic musical pivot, The Harvest feels like a snapshot of a band mid-flight rather than one reaching their final destination. With Ashen Horde stacking so many elements on top of one another, I’m not sure how well they gel into a unified album. The vocals in particular give me the biggest pause—not because of Chamberlain’s performance, which is potent across harsh and clean deliveries. I’m just not convinced how well they work in concert, given the even split between them. On previous albums, cleans were sparingly used as accents, but their expanded involvement on The Harvest conjures disparate moods that flit back and forth in a way that occasionally feels jarring (“Autumnal”). The end result is a compromise that lands between the familiar and the bold.

Despite Ashen Horde exploring a new identity on The Harvest, plenty of earwatering fruit awaits a good reaping. As the band calls out in their promo materials, even though the central theme is about endings, The Harvest is a new beginning. I expect opinions will be split on the new direction, but Ashen Horde is a project that teems with ideas and new frontiers, and I’ll take that every time over a band that’s content to remake the same album over and over. Now go check out this week’s Harvest and sample its tasty Ashen Hordeuvres.

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Rating: Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026

The post Ashen Horde – The Harvest Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Hailing from Limerick in the west of Ireland, Tooms’ progressive sludge metal has been evolving into ever more astounding forms since 2017. Bassist Anto Donnellan, drummer Kieran Grace and guitarist/vocalist Alex Hölzinger had been working together for four years prior to that, under the name of Gaia, but it was with the first Tooms single, ‘Simon Ferocious’, […]

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Ghost went into the awards show with six nominations.

The post Watch: Ghost’s “Skeletá” Wins Best Metal/Hard Rock Album Of The Year At 2026 Swedish Grammis appeared first on Theprp.com.

The French dance producer Madeon has been working for a long time without getting much attention from Stereogum, and that seems to be working out just fine for him. He’s playing huge festival sets and doing well for himself. He doesn’t need us. But now, Madeon has a new album coming out, and he’s got…

The post Madeon Announces New Album <em>Victory</em>: Hear “Fire Away” (Feat. Slayyyter) appeared first on Stereogum.

With the previously-released Celestial EP laying a powerful foundation, Australian/Finnish dark progressive gothic metal collective THE ETERNAL return with a striking new chapter: an animated lyric video for their brand new single “Lament For The Hollow.” The track offers a first glimpse into their upcoming studio album Obscured Horizons, set for release on September 18th via Reigning Phoenix Music! Following the widespread acclaim of their […]

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bjarte K. Helland Announces New EP Scorched — Out May 2, 2026 via F.T.A.T.P

Bergen, Norway — Norwegian drummer and composer Bjarte K. Helland is set to release his new progressive metal EP Scorched on May 2, 2026 , delivering a rhythm-driven, cinematic take on modern instrumental metal that pushes the drum kit right to the front where it belongs.
Built from a composer’s mindset and a drummer’s instincts, Helland’s solo project flips the traditional progressive script. Instead of guitars leading the charge, Scorched is shaped from the kit outward, creating a heavy, dynamic, and atmospheric sound world where rhythm dictates structure, tension, and release.
Fans of technical and fusion-driven progressive metal will feel right at home alongside the energy of Liquid Tension Experiment, the futuristic precision of Planet X, and the modern complexity of Animals as Leaders.
Helland, known for his work with FastLoaders, Pitch Black Mentality, and Quadrasonic, brings a wide musical background into this release, blending progressive metal, fusion, and experimental instrumental styles into something both aggressive and cinematic.
A heavier evolution

The upcoming EP features collaborations with internationally respected musicians including Billy Sheehan, Jarle H. Olsen, James Pulli, Yas Nomura, and Tore Christer Storlid , adding extra weight and depth to an already ambitious project.
Helland explains the direction behind the release:


“ Scorched is my second solo EP and the first time I recorded and mixed the drums in my own studio, which gave me a much closer connection to the sound and the direction of the release. Compared to my previous EP, this one moves further toward the heavier side of progressive metal, while still keeping the melodic and cinematic elements that are important to me as a composer. The title captures both the erosion of the rule-based world we once relied on globally, and the reality that growth often comes through challenging and transformative experiences. Each track explores a different aspect of that tension, from the fierceness of Lupus Ferox to the more eclectic atmosphere of Embers Eternal .”


Check out the video premiere and subscribe:


Production credits

Composer: Bjarte K. Helland
Arrangement: Jarle H. Olsen, Bjarte K. Helland
Mixing: Jarle H. Olsen, Bjarte K. Helland
Production: Jarle H. Olsen, Bjarte K. Helland, LANDR
Drums: Bjarte K. Helland
Guitars: Jarle H. Olsen
Bass: Billy Sheehan, Yas Nomura, Tore Christer Storlid, James Amelio Pulli
Label

F.T.A.T.P
Listen / Pre-save
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/bjartekhelland/scorched



Scorched lands May 2, 2026. No filler, no fluff, just pure progressive fire carved from rhythm and controlled chaos.

Connect: 
Website: www.bjartekhelland.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bjartedrums
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bjartekhelland
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/BjarteKHellandDrums
Bandcamp: https://bjartekhelland.bandcamp.com/album/scorched
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6goY9aF0lGC10oj2lxFqRe
Apple Music:https://music.apple.com/no/artist/bjarte-k-helland/1570164951
Contact
Bjarte K. Helland
bjartekhelland@gmail.com

One last visualizer before their new album “ONE” arrives.

The post Sevendust Premiere New Single “Construct” appeared first on Theprp.com.

Posted on April 30th 2026, 5:30p.m.