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Toru Utsumi, 60, works as a management consultant, but on his days off, he has become a global internet star — despite some local disapproval.

English artist Bobbie Dazzle – aka Siân Greenaway – is on a mission to revive the evocative sounds and vibes of the glam rock era. But the singer and flautist is also steeped in prog, as she explains.

“I was taught the flute at school, but at 10 years old I hated being told it had to be played in a clean, pristine way. So I stopped playing what felt like a stupid instrument and forgot all about it.

After I’d left school I stumbled across Jethro Tull, which in turn led me to discover the Dutch band Focus. I watched a live clip of their song Hocus Pocus on YouTube, and I was surprised to see Thijs van Leer pick up a flute and proceed to do all of the things I’d been told not to – but within the context of progressive rock.

He used the flute as a percussive instrument and made all of these weird sounds, pulling crazy faces; he looked like an absolute madman. But the best thing of all was that Thijs was having fun with the flute. I just thought, ‘Wow!!’

I rescued my flute from where I’d left it and the first song I tried to play was House Of The King [Focus’ 1970 debut single]. I was surprised how much muscle memory helped. It’s become my go-to song with the flute – whenever I warm up, it’s always to House Of The King.

I like to listen to Focus on shuffle because each of their albums tells a different story. But if you pushed me for my favourite I’d say In And Out Of Focus (originally released as Focus Plays Focus) because House Of The King is on that one.

I’ve yet to see the band live – I need to set that right because Thijs still plays lengthy tours, even at the age of 78. Big respect for that.

After falling in love with Focus I discovered Genesis, and Traffic, and it opened a whole new door to progressive rock for me. I already knew about Heart, but I didn’t know Ann Wilson was a fantastic flautist – she can rip out a solo just as well as Ian Anderson.

I’m considered a glam rock artist, but I also see myself as a prog one. I don’t think the two genres live too far away from each other. Both have lots of layers. I’m very proud of my attempt to bring glam into the prog world.”

Bobbie Dazzle’s second album, Star Power, is on sale now.

Blacklist .

The post Blacklist Union unleash video for single “Heavy Is The Crown” + band’s frontman engaged to Lorraine Lewis first appeared on Sleaze Roxx.

Three years after the release of Dreams of Lands Unseen, Ignea have completed a new album. Monumental is the title of the Kyiv-based band’s third full-length, featuring nine new tracks. Monumental continues Ignea’s journey through the wider territory of symphonic metal, with vocalist Helle Bogdanova once again at the center of the action. Tracks such as “Darkness” highlight her… Continue Reading →

Following the resounding performance of Depature Songs at Belgium’s Dunk! festival in May, We Lost the Sea are bringing it home for a grand finale celebrating the album’s tenth anniversary.

Depature Songs, the Sydney post-rock band’s 2016 emotionally gripping masterpiece, will be played in full for perhaps the last time on November 7. This exclusive performance will feature the band playing alongside members of the Sydney Philharmonia Choir and Metropolitan Orchestra, on stage at the City Recital Hall in Angel Place, Sydney.

This will be the band’s only Australian performance for the year.

Tickets are available now.

Dates are pending.

The post Dave Mustaine Says A 2027 Megadeth, Anthrax & Kerry King Tour Is In The Works appeared first on Theprp.com.

Doro .

The post Doro shares video for ballad “You R Not Alone” from upcoming album ‘Wild At Heart’ first appeared on Sleaze Roxx.

Metallica have released official footage of the band performing …And Justice for All on the opening night of their Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere in Las Vegas.

The nine-minute epic is the title track of the 1988 album, the band’s fourth LP and their first following the death of bassist Cliff Burton a few years earlier.

It was recorded on October 1 and marked the first time they had played the song live in 12 years.

They have also released footage of their performance of The Call of Ktulu from the same night.

Both clips can be viewed below.

Metallica are performing 24 dates at the revolutionary Vegas venue, split between October and November of this year and January, February and March of 2027.

The residency has wowed thousands of fans, but has also been mired in controversy after frontman James Hetfield seemed to criticise artists who use their platforms to make political statements.

That led ex-Pink Floyd man Roger Waters to call Hetfield a “complete prick” with “an IQ of about three”.

Metallica live dates 2026/2027

Oct 17: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 22: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 24: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 29: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Oct 31: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 05: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 07: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Nov 19: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
Nov 21: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
Jan 28: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Jan 30: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 04: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 06: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 18: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 20: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 25: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Feb 27: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Mar 04: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Mar 06: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Mar 11: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
Mar 13: Las Vegas Sphere, NV
May 08: Vancouver BC Place, BC
May 13: San Diego Snapdragon Stadium, CA
May 18: El Paso Sun Bowl Stadium, TX
May 22: San Antonio Alamodome, TX
May 26: Fayetteville Razorback Stadium, AR
May 29: Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium, MO
Jun 02: Raleigh Carter-Finley Stadium, NC
Jun 05: Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium, IN
Jun 08: Buffalo Highmark Stadium, NY
Jun 12: Madison Camp Randall Stadium, WI
Jun 15: Cleveland Huntington Bank Field, OH
Jun 19: Salt Lake City Rice-Eccles Stadium, UT

Renounce your essence

Mercy won’t come

The hate is relentless

Embrace what you’ve become

Humanity has an impressive talent for inventing elaborate systems of belief and then allowing those same systems to devour whatever individuality made life worth living in the first place. Give a desperate man a promise of salvation, a handful of commandments, and somebody sufficiently charismatic to explain why his suffering is necessary, and he’ll practically volunteer for his own psychological execution. History is littered with people who surrendered their judgment in exchange for certainty, mistook obedience for virtue, and discovered far too late that the road to redemption sometimes leads straight into the mouth of the beast. Somewhere in this miserable transaction, devotion becomes dependency, guilt becomes a form of currency, and the soul gets sold for the dubious privilege of belonging to something greater than itself.

Albuquerque, New Mexico’s UNATONED, a new darkwave, post-punk, and gothic rock project formed by Andres Diaz, Sidney San Gil, and Hissan Orozco, examines this particular human catastrophe with their debut single, Essence, an immediately infectious piece of gothic decadence concerned with the spiritual consequences of surrendering one’s identity to an all-consuming belief system.

Musically, Essence is catchy as hell, drawing upon the sleek electronic seduction of Depeche Mode, the spectral romanticism of Altar De Fey, the gothic grandeur of Octavian Winters, and the muscular post-punk propulsion of The Bellwether Syndicate. The electronics establish an atmosphere of impending catastrophe, while melodic guitars wind through driving rhythms with the sort of theatrical urgency that makes personal damnation seem an almost enjoyable recreational activity. There is considerable sophistication in the arrangement, particularly in how its accessible hooks coexist with the music’s more sinister inclinations. The result is a splendidly infectious introduction to a band already displaying an ear for gothic melodrama.

Lyrically, Essence confronts the dissolution of individuality through religious and ideological submission, following a tormented figure whose desperate pursuit of absolution becomes an exercise in self-annihilation. Guilt festers into hatred, forgiveness slips beyond reach, and the promise of transcendence culminates in spiritual bankruptcy. The song’s imagery of blood, martyrdom, and fallen angels gives this psychological deterioration a distinctly biblical character, suggesting that the road to damnation may occasionally be paved with the finest intentions.

The accompanying music video, filmed and directed by Oscar Montez in Albuquerque, translates these anxieties into a nocturnal gothic nightmare. Wandering deserted streets, the central figure eventually finds himself pleading before a candlelit altar occupied by a cloaked skeleton, an image that brings the song’s preoccupation with corrupted faith and spiritual extinction into particularly delicious focus. Death, apparently, has opened a confessional, although the prospects for absolution look decidedly poor.

Watch the video for Essence below:

For their first outing, UNATONED have delivered an impressively assured declaration of intent, combining irresistible darkwave hooks with the existential horror of discovering that salvation might require the complete destruction of everything you once were.

Follow UNATONED:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Bandcamp
• Spotify

The post Albuquerque Darkwave Trio UNATONED Explore the Cost of Blind Devotion in Debut Single “Essence” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The celebration of The Saints’ debut continues with a further two shows added to the 2027 Australian run of The Saints 73 – 78.

Shows in Adelaide and at Archies Creek have been included in the tour, tickets for which are available here.

Ed Kuepper’s rescheduled solo tour also kicks off at the end of the month, with the first two shows in Avoca and Canberra already sold out. Full dates of both tours can be found below.