In This Moment have returned with their first new music of 2026, and it signals that they aren’t mincing their words in this new era.
Titled ‘Sleeping With The Enemy’, it finds the band reaching the perfect balance between harmony and high-stakes aggression, with vocalist Maria Brink dealing out heart-bruised admissions and throat-shredding refrains. It’s a song that feels as discomforting as it is disgusted, a look at how it feels to have betrayal on your very doorstep. Set against a soundtrack that is readymade for arena stages, it’s a sign of even bigger things to come than what have already transpired.
Maria had this to say about the track, and where it slots into where the band are right now:
“With ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ and our upcoming album, we’re confronting the darkness — whether it’s inside us or external. It’s about looking that darkness in the face and transforming it into empowerment. We feel so exhilarated and ready to show the world what we’ve conjured up.”
The track follows on from ‘Heretic’ featuring Kim Dracula, which arrived last year and will also appear on the band’s upcoming ninth album, their first for Better Noise Music.
The punk-leaning pop star tapped the vibrancy of 1980s new wave and the sentiment of “Sex and the City” on her new album “You Seem Pretty Sad For a Girl So in Love.”
Rock ‘n’ roll is alive and well, and in an age of AI bands and artists who cannot play live without a ridiculous amount of technology, it was refreshing to see Clearwater Creedence Revival and Ten Years After pouring blood, sweat and tears into a show without a safety net.
With the world’s greatest tribute to the mighty Creedence and the legendary Ten Years After sharing the stage at the Indigo, it would have been a shock for any fans of the former One Direction member to arrive mistakenly at the wrong part of the gigantic Greenwich venue, and whilst the teen hero may have had a bigger audience, it was here that the real soul lay.
Ten Years After – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
Ten Years After
Celebrating the sixth decade since their inception, it is only drummer Rik Lee who is the last man standing from the original line-up of Ten Years After, but with three new compadres by his side, the flame still burns brightly.
There is a weight of history on Lee’s shoulders, a rare chance for anyone to actually see a musician who played at Woodstock, but it is more than that reverential awe that drives the bands forever onwards. It is the songs.
Ten Years After – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
With new recruits, Samuel C Lees on guitar and vocals, Craig Fletcher on bass and vocals and young keys player Dave Burgoyne by his side, there has been an injection of fresh blood that has brought an extra edge to the outfit, whilst still remaining true to their core sound.
Certainly, there is a big, ballsy and bluesy swagger to opener I’m Going Home, Lees peeling out a ferocious solo that instantly confirms his rightful place in the footsteps of the legendary Alvin Lee.
Ten Years After – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
Also highly impressive, the stuttering boogie of Hear Me Calling sees some horseplay around Burgoyne as its Roadhouse Blues chug sees the crowd dancing and nodding to every beat.
Lee shows he has still very much got the chops on the drum solo during the psychedelic The Hobbit and Love Like A Man has somehow transformed from the heavy blues of before to something much darker and sinister, giving the number new life.
Ten Years After – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
Closing with a rampaging and fun medley, the quartet took their much-deserved bows, their status as one of the most vibrant and long-lasting bands in the country very much intact. Outstanding musicians, terrific songs and real heart and soul, here’s to the next sixty years.
Ten Years After – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
Clearwater Creedence Revival
The history of Creedence Clearwater Revival is a furious and chequered one, things falling apart when they split acrimoniously. Whilst the end of the quartet might have been lost in time, their songs certainly have not, and many are staples of rock radio to this day, over fifty years since the band parted company.
Clearwater Creedence Revival – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
With main man John Fogerty having played to a packed main arena last year, the thirst for this material is as strong as ever, and Clearwater Creedence Revival bring back the fire and spirit of the original band to visceral life.
The words ‘tribute band’ often have a sneering connotation, but this is somewhat different as the outfit not only perform the songs with reverence and precision, but there is a sense of excitement that flows both ways between band and audience that cannot be faked.
Clearwater Creedence Revival – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
Kicking off with diamond cut gem Proud Mary, it was no holds barred from the opening note onwards, the Fogerty penned single made their own by Tina Turner still has the rolling barrel house feel good drive that made it irresistible in the first place.
Up front on vocals and guitar, the ever-busy Jim Kirkpatrick shows off not just his always compelling fretboard skills but also his great voice, often a light under a bushel when next to his FM bandmate Steve Overland.
Clearwater Creedence Revival – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
Alongside him, founding members Peter Barton on guitar and vocals and drummer Geoff Hammond, bass player Alan Sagar and keys player Jackson Herbert bring a slice of rock history to life.
An incendiary cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkin’s I Put A Spell On You lights up the room and Born On The Bayou and Who’ll Stop The Rain bristle with intent and class. Viewed as an anti-war polemic at the time of its writing, the Vietnam-themed Run Through The Jungle is still a hard-as-nails barnstormer, capturing the very spirit of the times and the emotion with no uncertain passion.
Clearwater Creedence Revival – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
A slightly different side was shown in the long-awaited Lead Belly cover Cotton Fields, it’s country touches lighter but just has evocative, the writing again peerless.
Of course, no Clearwater Creedence Revival show would have been complete without Fortunate Son and Bad Moon Rising so it was a happy and slightly hoarse crowd who streamed out of the venue to mingle with those who had been to see Zayn Malik, heading for the exit to take them into the night.
Clearwater Creedence Revival – Indigo at The O2 – 23 May 2026. Photo: Manuela Langotsch/MetalTalk
Whether the former boy band member and his material will be as fondly remembered and revered in six decades remains to be seen, but it is certain that people will still be playing and singing some of the stone-cold classics that filled the Indigo that night.
Good music never dies, and these songs will be loved for many generations to come. A truly life-affirming experience.
Scarborough hard rock outfit This House We Built have officially released their brand-new single, “Desires,” complete with an accompanying music video. The track marks the sixth promotional single taken from their critically acclaimed sophomore studio album, Get Out Of The Rain, which landed last November via standalone digital platforms. The album has continued to gather … Continue reading This House We Built premiere music video for new single “Desires”
Life could not be any sweeter for Bruce Dickinson and Iron Maiden at the moment. With their hugely successful 50th anniversary tour starting its second leg, the recent premiere of the biopic Burning Ambition and an induction into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame, you would think they would have had enough of the red carpet treatment. But no, not these guys.
In what could be seen as slightly left-field, it has been announced that Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has received three nominations at the highly prestigious Speaker Awards.
The event, which will be taking place in London, will see a host of nominees vying for numerous different awards. Dickinson has been nominated in the Best Live Speaker, Best Motivational Speaker, and Best Storyteller categories.
Apart from being what can only be described as a “polymath”, embarking on alternative careers in aviation, fencing, broadcasting and brewing, Disckinson is considered to be somewhat of a raconteur extraordinaire.
A statement from the Speaker Awards selection committee said: “Known for his energy, insight, and unforgettable stage presence, Bruce Dickinson continues to captivate audiences around the world with inspiring stories drawn from music, business, aviation, and life at the highest level.”
The event will take place at the Leonardo Hotel in St Paul’s on 3 July 2026.
Break Them and Pryma had already done their thing on the Very Metal Art stage by the time the Main Stage began, opening up a stacked bill from all corners of the Metal world. Local Leicester lads, Fractions have the honour of being the day’s first act, bringing their crushingly heavy attack back to Uprising. Their hard-hitting death-infused progressive bludgeoning is somewhere between Periphery and Meshuggah, with them aiming blows into both the brain and the gut. It’s modern brutality that has no let-up and an ideal way to start the main stage programme.
I believe I owe Foul Body Autopsy’s Tom Reynolds an apology, after naming him as the player of the most outrageous guitar imaginable when Nagasaki Birth Defect hit the stage at Grind Before Death back in February. Turns out it wasn’t him, and I looked quite the ‘nana. But it most definitely is him tearing up the main stage in Leicester this afternoon, shredding brutality against crushing backing tapes. Most recent EP, 2024’s The Discovery of Witches gets a selection played, along with the brutal and the melodic for one of the most interesting sets of the day. Harsh lights and the liberal distribution of plectrums, alongside destructive riffs were the order of the day, but the set just wasn’t long enough.
Photo Credit: Tim Finch Photography
Norwegian progressives Mayfire were here to show Sleep Token how to be both mysterious and metal at the same time. Dressed as dark monks and making their debut UK festival appearance, the masked mob have only their 2023 album, Cloudscapes and Silhouettes to draw from, but do so in a remarkably engrossing way. There’s very much an Eighties feel about the band’s music, mixed with Classic Rock and performed with precision; there’s even a folky-feel to the closing, anthemic The Age of Kings.
While we’re considering theatricality – and without wanting to be bias, just because we’re from the same town – but WardXVI arrive to play a truncated show, compressing all the storytelling magic into a tight thirty-minutes. The whole entourage is boiler suited for We are Legion’s bombastic chants; the Inmates have brought their stage props with them this afternoon, with the cage of the asylum being swifty erected. Psychoberrie makes the first costume change of the set, emerging for What’s In the Box’s nursery rhyme opening, without boiler suit and dressed more for the scandalous subject matter of the Id3ntity album. It’s Kiss and Alice Cooper on a budget, with the overblown theatrics modified for a medium-sized festival stage.
Another costume change – Psychoberrie really is the scene’s Taylor Swift – for the debauched and hedonistic Macaberet. Cry of the Siren is the only tune that pre-dates the Id3tity record and the main hall is chocked full of Ward XVI shirts, wielding inflatable chainsaws; the fiery and full-on Blood is the New Black, after which another engrossing show is sadly over.
Photo Credit: Tim Finch Photography
Black Metal artists The Sun’s Journey Through the Night is a popular addition to Uprising’s bill. With an equal amount of their own theatricality, Sun’s Journey…’s show starts with a swelling introduction, cold riffs and demonic rasps. The combination of raw black metal, ambient passages and bombastic symphonic elements makes for a blasphemous sermon of icy blasts and sweeping orchestration, spewing unholy, grim theatrics. Singer, No One swings a light around, Deimos builds a huge percussive framework for guitarists Aphonos and Satis. The obvious point of reference was the band’s dark rite at Damnation 2023’s Night of Salvation and it feels The Sun’s Journey Through the Night would benefit from a detour back to Manchester sometime soon.
The closing trio on the Main Stage takes us back to the early noughties alternative metal scene for nostalgic trip down Memory Lane. Gibraltar-based Breed 77 make a return to the Academy and to Uprising, following their 2024 festival appearance, and last year’s Bloodstock show with Undeath and Static-X, showing that there’s still a huge hunger for their hard rock/ nu metal/ flamenco hybrid.
Releasing half-a-dozen albums over the space of a little over a dozen years at the start of the millennium, the band’s set is a wander through their formative years with 2004’s Cultura record, World’s on Fire and La Ultima Hora later in the set; the title track of Insects opens the show, newer tune, End of the Line shows the band still have the desire to intertwine hard-edged rockers with alternative sounds. The twenty-year old Blind is bookended by another newer tune, Outside, a dirty riff and a driving rhythm suggesting Breed 77 still have much left in their creative tank. The cover of The Cranberries’ Zombie, which takes the antiwar theme of the original and runs it through with fist-in-yer-face guitars and a defiant attitude.
Photo Credit: Tim Finch Photography
There was a time when Essex’s InMe were slated for greatness. Back in the early days of the century they could be found rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ministry, Marilyn Manson and Iron Maiden at the inaugural Download festival in 2003. Constant presence, Dave McPherson is no stranger to Uprising, having played here as a solo artist as well as with his band, it’s like a meeting of old friends as they step onto the Academy’s stage.
Celebrating thirty-years as band, InMe might not have the savage nature of Foul Body Autopsy, the theatricality of Ward XVI or the darkness of The Sun’s Journey Through the Night; what they do have is a history that has seen them face down the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and still remain standing; bruised, but unbowed. Still sporadically producing new music, there are enough InMe shirts at Leicester this evening to prove they are still close to many hearts.
Photo Credit: Tim Finch Photography
And, before you know it, it’s time for Pitchshifter and the closing phases of Uprising 2026. Reliable accounts suggest booking the band was easy as pie after last year’s appearance by Earthtone9, and a simple telephone call to seal the deal.
Half-a-dozen album in eleven years through the Nineties and Pitchshifter were being lauded as the great British hope for industrial music. Back-to-back years at Milton Keynes bowl, with Black Sabbath in 1998 and Metallica in 1999 sealed the deal for one the countries most imaginative and dangerous bands. Those shows, coming off the back of the extraordinary www.pitchshifter.com record, placed a marker into the ground, stating that these Nottingham lads would carry UK hopes into the new millennium.
Wearing identical shirts, the band take the stage to Triad, from the 1993 Desensitized album, after which some wag calls for an “older one”, to which JS makes a quip about the age of the band, introducing Microwaved to great appreciation. He belies his supposed age by making continuous leaps from the monitors and general high energy that may challenge to output of Stampin’ Ground’s Adam.
Photo Credit: Tim Finch Photography
he wag doesn’t get his wish as Triad is the oldest tune from the band’s back-catalogue, with only Infotainment’s Virus airing from around the same time. Understandably, the focus of the set is shared between .com and the most recent record – relatively speaking – 2002’s PSI.
Eight Days, We Know and Shutdown are interspersed with What’s In It For Me and Deviant’s pairing of Scene This and Hidden Agenda. This is my first Pitchshifter show since they headlined at Damnation Festival back in 2008, and it doesn’t seem that the years have been unkind to either the band themselves or the significance of their music.
PSI’s Down takes us into the closing trio of .com tunes, the 8-bit stylings of W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G., which might not mean a whole lot to folk below a certain age; the chaotic Please Sir takes us up to the limit and the closer, Genius, stomps its electronic boots all over the wearied souls of Leicester, who rise to the occasion one last time.
Photo Credit: Tim Finch Photography
The future of the Leicester Academy seems in doubt going forward, with contracts coming to an end and uncertainty surround any new operator, yet Uprising have confirmed the 2027 show will go ahead at an as-yet undisclosed venue. Perhaps not the country’s most glamourous, must-attend, festival, but Uprising is the heartbeat of what makes festivals of such vital importance. Not only do they give people like me the ability to chunner-on for three-thousand words, but also the chance to catch up with folks you don’t see from one event to the next.
More importantly, it allows bands to showcase their wares and lets up hear your soon-to-be new favourite band for the first time. And long may that continue.
