As December Falls have shared another taste of their next era, and it’s a sign to expect big things.
The track is titled ‘Teeth’, and it comes just before the trio head out on a US tour with Black Veil Brides.
Taken from the band’s as-yet-unannounced fifth album, it follows the release of driving single ‘Anymore’ earlier this year, which introduced us to the world that the record will exist within.
Speaking about what ‘Teeth’ adds to the story, vocalist Bethany Hunter has shared:
“Teeth explores how parasocial relationships can blur into something more unsettling. When people form a connection with you from a distance, it can feel real, even safe, but there’s a version of you they’ll never fully see. The song plays with that idea, that if you dig too deep into someone you’ve only imagined, you might not like what you find. It’s also the heaviest song we’ve written and we’re loving exploring new genres on this record.”
Take a listen below:
This week, As December Falls are set to hit the road across the US with Black Veil Brides. Later this year, they’ll be back in the UK for some headline shows and a run of dates with Dance Gavin Dance.
Check out their full list of dates below:
MAY
(w/ Black Veil Brides)
01 – DENVER Fillmore 02 – OMAHA ASTRO 04 – DALLAS House of Blues 05 – HOUSTON House of Blues 06 – SAN ANTONIO The Aztec 08 – ATLANTA Tabernacle 11 – GREENSBORO Piedmont Hall 12 – NORFOLK The Norva 14 – PHILADELPHIA Fillmore 15 – PITTSBURGH Stage AE 17 – DETROIT The Fillmore 19 – INDIANAPOLIS Egyptian Room 21 – MINNEAPOLIS The Fillmore 22 – CHICAGO Ramova Theatre 23 – MADISON The Sylvee 25 – TORONTO History 26 – MONTREAL M-Telus 28 – NEW YORK Palladium Times Square 29 – SILVER SPRING Fillmore 30 – WORCESTER The Palladium
JUNE
02 – STOKE-ON-TRENT The Sugarmill 03 – NORWICH The Adrian Flux Waterfront 04 – SOUTHEND-ON-SEA Chinnerys 05 – PORTSMOUTH Kola
JULY
30 – LE GARRIC Xtreme Festival
AUGUST
15 – CHEPSTOW Chepstow Castle
SEPTEMBER
(w/ Dance Gavin Dance)
02 – PARIS Trabendo 03 – BERLIN Columbia Theatre 04 – COLOGNE Kantine 06 – BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy 08 – GLASGOW SWG3 09 – MANCHESTER Academy 11 – BRISTOL The Prospect Building 12 – LONDON O2 Forum Kentish Town
Swedish heavy metal band Avatar played night two of their 26-date Don’t Go in the Forest Tour in Los Angeles on Friday, and it was beyond all expectations. Avatar is always a great show, and people that see them once tend to see them again and again. Their fanbase is extremely loyal, and for those lucky enough to attend, the show at The Novo in the L.A. Live complex in downtown Los Angeles was all a diehard fan or someone new to the band could wish for.
Avatar
The current tour is in support of 2025’s Don’t Go in the Forest album, and the evening’s set featured six songs off the new record. The crowd seemed to know them all, and was in a state of bliss throughout the evening.
Vocalist Johannes Eckerström talked about two things from the stage. The first came about halfway through the show – despite running and jumping all over the stage to that point, he admitted that he’d broken two toes just before leaving Europe for the tour by dropping a weight plate on his foot. He then thanked free European healthcare and lamented what we must go through to receive and pay for healthcare in this country. He said that we should organize to get better care, and that he was rooting for us. The second remark was that it was night two of the tour, which meant that “It is the first night of us sounding great.”, and sound great they did.
There was a unique element that I haven’t seen anywhere else – the stage was designed with rails embedded in the floor going side to side and front to back. During the intro to the opening song “Captain Goat”, a riser with Johannes, guitarists Jonas Jarlsby and Tim Öhrström, and bassist Henrik Sandelin seemed to float towards the crowd, while Johannes held a lantern in his hand next to his face. In addition, throughout the show, the drum riser moved between songs, and in some cases, half of the set went left, while the other half rolled right, allowing the band to walk through the middle of the drum set and out the upstage circus tent curtain to change instruments or take a breather out of sight.
The band was dressed in matching black leather wardrobe with the exception of Johannes, who wore his own version of it, while donning his customary dark, theatrical clown makeup. While each member provided their own individual attributes to bring their personalities into the fold, the stage gear unified them and drove home that they are a band united.
Formed in 2001, Avatar knows how to put on a show. I started listening to them in 2012 when “Smells Like a Freakshow” started gaining traction on Sirius/XM’s Octane, and have seen them multiple times, in settings ranging from 1000 seat theaters to tens of thousands cheering them on at festivals, and they simply know how to entertain regardless of the setting. There is something for everyone at their show – if you want to mosh, there’s a pit. If you want to crowd surf, someone will lift you up, and if you simply want to vibe and enjoy the show, that is encouraged too. Fans seem to be more inclusive than other heavy shows, and it makes perfect sense that their audience loves and remains loyal to them throughout their 10 album, 25-year career. They are one of the most fun bands to see live, and Friday night was no exception.
Setlist:
1) Captain Goat
2) Silence in the Age of Apes
3) The Eagle Has Landed
4) In the Airwaves
5) Bloody Angel
6) Death and Glitz
7) A Secret Door
8) The Dirt I'm Buried In
9) Colossus
10) Torn Apart
11) Howling at the Waves
12) Legend of the King
13) Let It Burn
14) Tonight We Must Be Warriors
Encore:
15) Don’t Go in the Forest
16) Smells Like a Freakshow
17) Hail the Apocalypse
Avatar is:
Jonas "Kungen" Jarlsby – Guitar
John Alfredsson – Drums
Johannes Eckerström – Vocals
Tim Öhrström – Guitar
Henrik Sandelin – Bass
Fleshgod Apocalypse
Operatic vocalist Veronica Bordacchini seemed to appear out of nowhere with an Italian flag by her side as the lights came up and Italian symphonic death metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse launched into their set with “Ode to Art (de' Sepolcri)”. A massive wall of sound exploded out of the PA system – a truly unique alchemy of blast-beats, opera style vocals, and orchestral arrangements. Dressed as though from the Renaissance period, Fleshgod Apocalypse was distinctive in every regard – visually, vocally, and musically, and the enthusiastic crowd responded appropriately.
Fleshgod Apocalypse is:
Veronica Bordacchini – Vocals –
Fabio Bartoletti – Guitar
Eugene Ryabchenko – Drums
Francesco Paoli – Guitar/Vocals
Francesco Ferrini – Keyboards
Frozen Soul
Dallas Texas death metal band Frozen Soul is touring in support of their upcoming album No Place of Warmth which comes out in three weeks. Vocalist Chad Green recently described the sound this way: “The best way I can put it is that it sounds like a fucking blizzard with razor sharp ice cutting through you.” That description sounded about right. Five of the eight songs played were from the new album and the audience seemed to love it. People showed up early for Frozen Soul’s 7:15pm start – the venue was mostly full by the time they hit the stage, and fans let them know how they felt about the music by happily moshing and crowd surfing throughout.
In a complete surprise to fans, Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance showed up to sing on the new record’s title track “No Place of Warmth”, which resulted in a massive roar of amazed approval from the crowd. Frozen Soul’s set was unrelenting, and a great way to kick off a fun and hard-hitting night of live music.
Frozen Soul is:
Chad Green – Vocals
Michael Munday – Guitar
Samantha Mobley – Bass
Matt Dennard – Drums
Chris Bonner – Guitar
Brooks RobinsonPhotographer & Writer
Brooks Robinson is an LA-based concert photographer, and 30+ year freelance camera operator for film, television, and music videos. He has photographed some of the largest film/TV projects in history, and hundreds of music videos in MTV's heyday.
Miguel Santos loves Edgar Allan Poe. He turned that love into a (sort of) one-man metal project called A Dream of Poe and uses a place called Tell-Tale Studios for mixing and mastering his records—Poe is clearly dear to his heart. The musical dream nearly crumbled, however, when a fire ravaged Santos’s home, destroying the music he’d written for his latest album—all but one song. This must have been devastating, yet from the ashes he resurrected the music and its tale about one character’s descent into the lowest of places: the underworld. Katabasis: A Marriage Among Ashes uses the symbolism of ashes as a parallel to Santos’s own personal tragedy in order to chronicle the agony of loss. The result is an album defined not by bleak darkness, but a sad beauty.
If you’re going to create a band inspired by Poe, there’s no genre more fitting than gothic doom mixed with the classical Romanticism of symphonic instruments. A Dream of Poe takes the form of My Dying Bride without its crushing brutality and the classicism of Tempestuous Fall without its opulence. Katabasis is a surprisingly tender and gentle piece of doom. The pianos and violins add a soft touch, and the guitars strum lovely melodies. The marriage of gentle and lightly brutal opens things on the poignant “The Wail of Gaea,” where the strings and pianos take turns setting a melancholic tone. “The Lament of Phaethon” begins with arpeggios and vocals that take on a folky Dolven vibe, and blaring horns late in the song tell of bad omens to come. Santos shows a knack for hooky choruses, particularly on the catchy “Lamia.” The hookiness returns on the finale, “À Medida de Damastes,” sung in what I assume is Santos’s native Portuguese. This tune kicks up the energy slightly, à la Paradise Lost, before descending into a chilling surge of terror that shatters the peace A Dream of Poe had previously maintained.
A Dream of Poe is technically a one-man project, yet Santos collaborates with a number of musicians who help shape Katabasis. Two of these collaborators split the bulk of the singing duties. Kaivan Saraei handles the first four tracks, with a voice that carries a gothic calm, evoking Dolven’s Jori Apedaile. João Melo, who closes the record out, has a more earthy tone that grows rawer when it increases in intensity. Santos himself contributes, briefly, with some growls that may be underpowered, but fit with the gentler nature of the album. Though Santos handles almost all instruments, other musicians aid in some small but important roles. Ruben Correia plays several guitar solos across Katabasis, providing some nice breaks from the gloom, notably on “Lamia” and “The Captivity of Hesperus.” Correia also plays violins on “The Lament of Phaethon” and “Lamia,” where he brings an organic and poignant touch to what are already terrific tunes. Regardless of who contributes, the musicians pour their hearts and souls into creating this emotionally striking work of art.
With funeral doom, lengthy slow burns are par for the course, yet writing a song that doesn’t overextend itself becomes a tricky balancing act. A majority of tracks on Katabasis fall in the seven-minute range and feel just right. The eleven-minute “Exhorting Nightmares” proves an exception. At seven minutes, it would have been fine, yet Santos keeps it going and even tacks on an ill-advised spoken word section towards the end. On the whole, Katabasis falls into a rather tight 45 minutes, so it’s only a minor complaint. The only other knock against the record is the lack of power behind the guitars and growls. A Dream of Poe is not aiming for the sort of power that My Dying Bride consistently delivers, but a little extra oomph here and there would have made a greater emotional impact.
It would have been so easy to give up in the midst of the loss Santos suffered. Yet he forged ahead and revived his lost music. While Katabasis presents a descent into a bleak place, there is something triumphant in the finished product. Santos, it seems, found himself at the edge of the pit, the imp within contemplating the fall, before the pendulum swung back and pulled him from the brink. He heard the beat of the Tell-Tale Studios and found himself driven not by madness, but by a desire to create his music and leave an indelible mark on the world of heavy metal.
Rating: 3.5/5.0 DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3 Label: Meuse Music Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook Releases Worldwide: April 24th, 2026
RØRY has announced the formation of the ‘Kids These Days Party’, and it comes with a hell of an anthem.
According to RØRY, the party has been created to “de-unite Britain and restore the values this country was built on: silence, inequality, and repression. The mission is simple: together, we can stop hope”.
Speaking on the movement, she’s said:
“Kids these days are getting diagnosed with ADHD, going to therapy, and talking about their feelings. That is not how it’s done. This is GREAT BRITAIN. We suppress things here. It’s time someone did something about it.”
Launching alongside the party is its rousing official anthem, ‘KIDS THESE DAYS’.
Take a listen below:
The first political broadcast from the ‘Kids These Days Party’ took place on St. George’s Day (April 23), where the first rule of the movement was established.
“Rule #1: Say Anything That Ignites Rage Everywhere“
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UK underground heavyweights Conjurer have been confirmed as the special guests for Gaerea’s upcoming UK run this September. It’s a pairing that makes a lot of sense; both bands are currently pushing the boundaries of what extreme music can be, moving far beyond the standard tropes of black and death metal. The tour comes as … Continue reading Conjurer to support Gaerea on upcoming UK tour
One of the joys of working with MetalTalk is uncovering an album that you really connect with emotionally. Evolution by Elegant Weapons is such an album. One of the elements I love is the impressive vocal performance by Ronnie Romero. So much so that, even after interviewing Richie Faulkner, I still felt there was a story here that needed to be told.
That feeling did not come out of nowhere. To understand why Evolution resonates so strongly, it is worth going back to where Elegant Weapons began and the very different circumstances surrounding their debut.
Horns For A Halo, the debut album from Elegant Weapons, was well received by and very much enjoyed by the MetalTalk team. Here, Ronnie Romero had inherited vocals sung by another singer and had the challenge to make melody lines, which another had already lived, his own.
“You always have space to put your own performance on it,” Ronnie Romero says. “I learned that working with Richie Blackmore. I needed to fill all those big shoes, from legendary singers. You learn how to perform the songs respecting the original, but not trying to copy. There is a little space in between where you can move when you’re trying to do a cover or trying to sing a song that was previously sung by somebody else.”
For Elegant Weapons, there was less of that type of pressure. “I heard the songs already recorded by another singer,” Ronnie says. “I just try to respect the performance, but also put my own thing so that people can hear that it is Ronnie Romero singing.”
Elegant Weapons – Steelhouse Festival 2023. Photo: Georgia Brittain/MetalTalk
Of course, studio work is only one side of the story. It is when the songs hit the stage that a band really finds its identity and for Elegant Weapons, that moment came quickly.
It was live, at the UK debut at Steelhouse and the Hellfest performance, that this four-piece began to feel that Elegant Weapons was a band that would work. Horns For A Halo was a lockdown experience, all separate, so those first shows meant they had to figure out how to play these songs live.
“It was a little bit hard because the first four shows were with Pantera,” Richie says, “so there was a little bit of pressure there. But then we started to feel very comfortable with each other, obviously, at the personal level, but also playing the songs together.
“Then we realised, I think, that OK, this is something we can work on. We felt very comfortable with each other, and we had a lot of fun playing the songs live.”
That growing sense of unity carried directly into the writing and recording of Evolution, shaping not just how the band played together, but what they wanted the album to represent.
Elegant Weapons – Hellfest Festival 2023, Clisson. Photo: Georgia Brittain/MetalTalk
As Riche Faulkner told MetalTalk, this new album is a real evolution for Elegant Weapons, and it now brings a different feeling to the band. I have written how Evolution deserves to be the polar opposite of the drip-fed streaming experience. This is an album, a journey and something you can immerse yourself in.
“That’s what I always try to do with all my music,” Ronnie says. “Even with Backbone. I try to be as organic as possible. We live in a time where everything is through a computer and through the phone, and everybody listens to Spotify, and the quality of the music is not the same anymore.
“There are, in my opinion, too many tools in the studio that fake a little bit the final result of music. One of the things that I don’t like nowadays is to overproduce the music. I always think that we need to make music that you can play live in the same way you recorded it.
“Sometimes you have too much overproduced music with so many layers and tracks. With Richie, we have the same way to see what we need to do. This must be like in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, where we have just four or five guys playing together in the studio and recording all together.”
Nowhere is that approach more evident than in the vocals, where the difference between the first album and Evolution becomes immediately clear.
Elegant Weapons – Steelhouse Festival 2023. Photo: Georgia Brittain/MetalTalk
The recording of the vocals on Evolution was a more collaborative process, built from the ground up. Here, Ronnie Romero, Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap have really excelled as Romero’s performance is exceptional. For Ronnie, this process enhanced his relationships with the songs.
“Especially for singers, people think that we have this big ego,” Ronnie says. “We always think that we are the best and we don’t need any help. It’s totally the opposite, in my opinion. The more help you can get in the studio and from different points of view is way better.”
The contrast with the debut Elegant Weapons album could not be sharper.
Horns For A Halo saw Ronnie in the studio for a couple of days. “Richie was in a rush also,” Ronnie says, “so I did it the best I could. I got some little details from Andy to change these little things. But it was really fast.
“But, then on, on Evolution we took the time to make it properly, like in the old times. You have the producer, you have the guy who wrote the song, and you have the guy who’s gonna perform the song. So you get this kind of synergy between the three of us.
“Sometimes you get stuck in the studio when you’re recording something, and you don’t understand really what the songwriter means with this vocal line. It feels a little bit strange. It’s not natural, or maybe I should add some backing vocals here or there. You need to do everything by your own. Sometimes you’re right, but most of the time you’re wrong, [laughs] especially if you didn’t write the music.
“But but this time it was fantastic because we spent two weeks on the Zoom call, and they were listening to the sessions live. We were working on every little detail of the vocals, and it was fantastic. I think you can notice that comparing the first album with the second.”
You can most definitely notice the difference, and it is impressive. This was a more exposed process than Ronnie Romero is used to, but it was one that he loved. “I’m not that kind of a singer that I think that I can do everything by my own and everything is perfect,” he says, “and especially coming from people like Andy or Richie, they’re more experienced.
“Andy is a fantastic producer. He has produced many great singers before, so I’m not gonna say no to advice coming from him. It’s like a learning process for me. I’m a little bit of a younger musician. So, for me, all that process is also a learning process, which is fantastic for me.”
Elegant Weapons have released new single Bridges Burn after signing with Exciter Records
That collaborative process becomes even more meaningful when you look at individual songs, especially those carrying their own history before they even reach the studio.
Richie said the ballad Come Back To Me used a chorus that he had been carrying around for almost 20 years. When a song arrives with that much history already attached to it, can Ronnie feel that weight when he is singing it?
“Sometimes you have those special songs that come to the session,” Ronnie says. “Richie tried to put the song with Judas Priest. There is a little demo recorded by Rob, so it’s a lot of pressure. There’s a lot of responsibility because you have a guy who is giving you this special moment, this special song that you think you can perform properly.
“You need to take special care of that and give the best you can. I think we did a good song, especially with the help of the guys. It would be impossible for me to do it alone, just to get the song and try to do it.
“That was one of the songs we really worked hard on in the studio because we wanted it to be special. I think it really shows up in that way at the end.”
Come Back To Me is special, especially when you consider the guitar solo and the temptation to run with something more flashy. But, as Richie Faulkner said, for Elegan Weapons and Evolution, the song always comes first, and everything is around the vocal and the message.
“I try to get that approach in every production I do,” Ronnie says. “I understand the music in the same way he does. It makes our relationship, musically, so special. You can notice that when you listen to the songs.
“We know that probably because we grew up listening to all those legends, and there’s a little bit of influence there also. We understand that the band should be dynamic and every instrument should have their own space during the song. It’s not just showing off skills.
“Again, nowadays we can see a lot of that, especially on YouTube. We have all those players who can play very fast and great licks, and they can sing very high. But it doesn’t bring anything to the table.
“So we wanted it to be special in the way that we’re putting a good song, it’s a great vocal line, it is a great guitar riff, it is a great solo, but it serves to the song and to the whole experience for the people to listen to it.”
While some tracks came with weight and history, others offered something different, a chance to push boundaries and explore new vocal territory.
Holy Roller is a great track. I really love Ronnie Romero’s vocals, and his phrasing is superb. With a grim theme of the Jonestown Massacre, he spits his lyrics out with some venom. I imagine that must have been a fun one to do in the studio.
“Absolutely,” Ronnie smiles. “I really love it when I can go out of my comfort zone because normally when I record an album with a collaboration, they come to me because they know this side of my vocals, where it’s a powerful, close to raspy, close to Dio, and they want that.
“For me, that’s a little bit boring and easy. That’s a safe zone for me. But when somebody comes and really challenges me in the studio and takes me out of my comfort zone, it really pops my creativity as a musician. I’m trying something different. I think the result is more satisfying than just going in and doing the screaming Heavy Metal thing.”
But beyond performance and experimentation, there are moments on Evolution that connect to something far more personal.
Richie Faulkner described Rupture, the instrumental built around the cardiac experience, as something he could hear a heartbeat through when he was writing. It then, in great album form, goes straight into Mercy Of The Fallen immediately. Knowing the connection, did that change the context of how Ronnie Romero approached the vocal?
“I remember when Richie had his health issue,” Ronnie says. “Seeing him performing the songs during the tour we did three years ago, it was encouraging for everybody, because it’s not easy to go through what he went through, get totally recovered and then go to kick ass on stage with Judas Priest.
“Working with Richie is very special in the way that he probably doesn’t know, and he doesn’t believe this, but he is inspiring. He’s bringing this inspiration to other people, to the people around him. That you know you went through hell, you know, it was really close, and now just performing brings this sense of love for the music.
“So every time I have the chance to work with him on these two albums and, even playing shows together, it’s just inspiring. Somehow, you need to take special care working on his music. I think it’s special. He’s not only a great guitar player, but he’s a great songwriter. But he is a special guy. He’s an inspiration for everybody.”
When you step back and look at all these elements together, the collaboration, the growth, the personal stories, then the album begins to reveal a deeper cohesion.
It is this magic that shines through Evolution, and when you put all the pieces together with the stories, it does make it all the more special.
Elegant Weapons – Hellfest Festival 2023, Clisson. Photo: Georgia Brittain/MetalTalk
If there is a downside, when we spoke, three days before the Evolution album release, Ronnie Romero realised he had not got his own copy. I wave my copy, signed, at the camera so Ronnie at least knows what they look like.
“I just quickly texted Richie to say I need my copy,” Ronnie laughs. “I didn’t ask for it before. I totally forgot. I’m very excited. I think that people are really gonna like it. Obviously, I know that people are gonna compare it with the first one. But as the album title says, it’s an evolution, it’s a different album. I think it’s more Elegant Weapons than the first one.”
With the album now out in the world, the focus naturally turns to what comes next. Live shows will follow, hopefully with at least a couple later this year and given the quality of this release, there will be solid support for those.
Ronnie Romero is excited, enthusiastic, and appreciative of the support from the people out there. “We just released a single a month ago,” he says, “and the people went crazy, especially the socials. Everybody’s looking forward to the release, and we really love that because actually, we’re like a new band.
“We’ve been together just for two albums. We’ve done 10 shows so far, and the people there are really looking forward. So we really love that, and hopefully the people are gonna love the second album as they love the first one.”
Elegant Weapons release Evolution digitally and on CD on 24 April 2026 via Exciter Records, with a special edition vinyl pressing to follow later in the year. You can pre-save and pre-order Evolution from https://exciter-records.ffm.to/elegantweapons-evolution.
Miguel Santos loves Edgar Allan Poe. He turned that love into a (sort of) one-man metal project called A Dream of Poe and uses a place called Tell-Tale Studios for mixing and mastering his records—Poe is clearly dear to his heart. The musical dream nearly crumbled, however, when a fire ravaged Santos’s home, destroying the music he’d written for his latest album—all but one song. This must have been devastating, yet from the ashes he resurrected the music and its tale about one character’s descent into the lowest of places: the underworld. Katabasis: A Marriage Among Ashes uses the symbolism of ashes as a parallel to Santos’s own personal tragedy in order to chronicle the agony of loss. The result is an album defined not by bleak darkness, but a sad beauty.
