Good Day Noir Family,
Cold, abrasive textures greet the listener right away, and yet there is intention behind every strike.

Shadows Of The Eclipse is Ungoliath’s Album Out Now

 Shadows Of The Eclipse does not aim to welcome; instead, it confronts.

From the opening moments of “Sealed In Fire, Crowned In Dusk,” a razor-edged guitar tone cuts through the air while reverb stretches the notes into something vast and hostile. Soon after, relentless drums surge forward, and an ancestral scream pulls you into a frozen ritual that offers no comfort. However, this harshness never feels careless. Rather, it establishes the album’s bleak universe with precision.

Then, “Threnody Of The Fallen Sphere” deepens that descent. The pace remains unforgiving, yet the atmosphere grows heavier and more suffocating. Instead of release, the track insists on endurance. Still, subtle shifts in rhythm and texture prevent monotony. The listener stays alert, trapped inside a landscape shaped by tension and resolve.

The title track, “Shadows Of The Eclipse,” accelerates the chaos even further. Here, the music feels like a barrage, almost mechanical in speed. Meanwhile, the keyboards emerge as ceremonial elements rather than decoration, evoking images of ancient rites performed under a blackened sky. The vocal delivery is merciless, alternating between guttural force and solid intensity. The track becomes one of the album’s most punishing statements.

Yet Ungoliath understands contrast. “Rise From Ruins” briefly shifts perspective. At first, cinematic keys suggest fragile calm, almost deceptive in nature. Nevertheless, that illusion collapses quickly as the storm returns. This balance between restraint and explosion adds emotional depth, proving the project can shape narrative, not just aggression.

“Born To Ashes” closes the album with apocalyptic weight. The imagery feels tangible: smoke, embers, and distant destruction drifting through silence and fury alike. Instead of offering resolution, the track leaves a scar. The album ends not with closure, but with aftermath.

Overall, Shadows Of The Eclipse blends black metal ferocity with melodic and cinematic instincts. While it remains uncompromising, it also shows careful construction. Moreover, Ungoliath demonstrates a clear vision that refuses trends and embraces intensity. This is not easy listening; It is deeply immersive for those willing to step into the darkness.

Shadows Of The Eclipse is Ungoliath’s Album Out Now!

Relentless!

Ungoliath is a Berlin-based atmospheric black metal project founded in 2002 by Steffen Kraatz, known as Bane. Conceived as a passage into the dark realm of Tendalied, the music blends haunting melodies, evocative riffs, and somber ambience into immersive soundscapes.

A one-man project rooted in the underground, Ungoliath explores themes of fallen gods, cosmic ruin, and inner struggle. With releases like Whispers of the Gale (2024) and The Fourfold Descent (2025), the project continues to evolve, fusing raw black metal energy with symphonic and cinematic depth.

Find Ungoliath Here:

Spotify
Instagram

Discover New Bands Click Here

The post Shadows Of The Eclipse is Ungoliath’s Album Out Now appeared first on Edgar Allan Poets – Noir Rock Band.

For the 15th consecutive year, Still in Rock publishes its selection of the year’s best albums. Any ranking exercise is necessarily imperfect, particularly when it seeks to compare post-punk, pop, and slacker music, but the list stands as an honest snapshot of the year. All albums are available for listening below and can be added to Spotify with a single click. Many thanks to everyone who keeps this ritual alive.

40. blister – Window of Islands
[spotify]

 .

39. Personality Cult – Dilated
[spotify]

.

38. Sex Mex – Repackaged II
[spotify]

 .

37. Rex Tycoon – No Limit 2 Luv
[spotify]

 .

36. shame – Cutthroat
[spotify]

.

35. PUP – Who Will Look After The Dogs?
[spotify]

.

34. Vaguess – Another Man’s Treasure
[spotify]

 .

33. PAL – Under Your Radar
[spotify]

 .

32. Teo Wise – Fermo o Sparo!
[spotify]

 .

31. Alien Nosejob – Forced Communal Existence
[spotify]

.

30. Glyders – Forever
[spotify]

.

29. Public Body – Finger Food
[spotify]

 .

28. CLAMM – Serious Acts
[spotify]

 .

27. Ty Segall – Possession
[spotify]

.

26. CIVIC – Chrome Dipped
[spotify]

.

25. Dragnet – Dragnet Reigns!
[spotify]

 .

24. Jacuzzi Boys – Too Cold To Tango
[spotify]

.

23. Snooper – Worldwide
[spotify]

.

22. ty – WE R TY
[spotify]

.

21. Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out

[spotify]

.

20. Mac DeMarco – Guitar
[spotify]

 .

19. Mini Skirt – All That We Know
[spotify]

.

18. Baby Tyler – Sucker With A Dream
[spotify]

.

17. Tickles – Sugar & Plastic Plates
[spotify]

.

16. Metdog – One For The Kids
[spotify]

.

15. Los Scallywaggs – Plastic People
[spotify]

.

14. Osees – ABOMINATION REVEALED AT LAST
[spotify]

.

13. Helvetia – Welcome the Summer Heartbreak
[spotify]

.

12. The Wytches – Talking Machine
[spotify]

.

11. STEROÏD – CHAINMAIL COMMANDOS
[spotify]

.

10. Motorbike – Kick It Over
[spotify]

.

9. Wavves – Spun
[spotify]

.

8. Death by Unga Bunga – Raw Muscular Power
[spotify]

.

7. ELVIS 2 – THANK YOU VERY MUCH
[spotify]

.

6. Radioactivity – Time Won’t Bring Me Down
[spotify]

.

5. Fuzz – Fuzz’s Fourth Dream: Singles, Demos And Rarities
[spotify]

.

4. Bee Bee Sea – Stanzini Can Be Allright
[spotify]

.

3. White Reaper – Only Slightly Empty
[spotify]

.

2. King Gizzard – Aerodynamic

.

1. TH da Freak – Negative Freaks
[spotify]

The post Best of 2025: Best albums appeared first on Still in Rock.

Inspired by a famous monologue from the legendary 80s blockbuster Blade Runner, Tailgunner dives into epic songwriting with the second single from their upcoming album, Midnight Blitz, out on February 6, 2026, via Napalm Records.

“Tears In Rain,” named after a phrase the movie’s antagonist, Roy Batty, uses in his last words, showcases Tailgunner frontman Craig Cairns’ broad vocal skills and the band’s ability to deliver huge, infectious choruses. No wonder the young British band even got heavy metal legend K. K. Downing himself on board as producer. “Tears In Rain” – contrary to the original movie quote – will definitely not be lost in time!
 
“‘Lost in time, like Tears in Rain…’ The most iconic monologue in cinematic history, and one of most legendary on-screen moments of the 80s. ‘Blade Runner’ has been a focal point throughout writing our new album, and none more so than here, on our new single ‘Tears in Rain’. Carrying a chorus for the ages, this is a track we can’t wait to take out on the road and have you sing with us, deep into the night. Made for those moments where the light fades, and things get that little more epic, ‘Tears in Rain’ is an all-time anthem, here for the modern day,” says the band.

Pre-order the album here.

Bursting onto the scene in 2022, their sophomore work draws heavily from classic British heavy metal, but just like those influences, the band is determined to push forward. Always crafting their sound and building on what they have, whilst never compromising on what they started with – pure heavy metal. In an astonishingly short time, the emerging British heavy metal talent has found support in the very heroes they follow: after making a strong impression supporting KK’s Priest, legendary guitarist K.K. Downing went on to produce the upcoming album, Midnight Blitz.
 
Midnight Blitz is classic heavy metal without being a pastiche. This is a band for the here and now – not just worshipping at the altar, but determined to stand upon it as the Metal Gods of a whole new generation of headbangers. Tailgunner prove their skills effortlessly, carving themselves out as heavy metal’s future and grabbing the torch from the legends themselves. Catchy hooks, killer riffs, and appealing to every heavy metal fan – join K.K. Downing and discover your new heroes now!

The post Rising Heavy Metallers TAILGUNNER Pay Homage To Classic 80s Movie Blade Runner With New Single “Tears In Rain” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

A lot of progressive metal lives and dies on the details: the tuned-to-perfection rigs, the playback and monitoring, the production pieces that make the heavier moments hit the way they’re supposed to. So when a band loses gear, it’s rarely “just equipment.” It’s more about momentum, hard work, and a carefully built system that took years to perfect.

That’s what Vola are dealing with after a fire at Nettolager, a storage facility in Copenhagen. Nobody was hurt, but the part of the building where their unit was located reportedly burned down completely, wiping out most of what they rely on to rehearse, record, and tour.

If you’ve ever watched a band level up from club stages to tighter, more technical live shows, you already know how much infrastructure sits behind the scenes. For Vola, that entire backbone was sitting in one place.

Here’s the band’s full statement, in their own words: “Last week, a fire broke out at Nettolager, a storage facility in Copenhagen. The section of the complex where our unit was located was completely burned down. Everyone is safe, but everything that allowed us to function as a band is gone. Most of our Vola equipment was stored there.”

“This was the whole infrastructure behind Vola. Instruments, touring rigs, audio and monitoring systems, recording equipment, merch, vinyl, and years of accumulated tools built specifically for this project. Among the items lost are those that cannot be replaced, not to mention the immense time it takes to build these racks and systems,” the band explained.

“Members of our crew lost essential tools required to do their work. Rebuilding even a minimal live setup also means enabling our front-of-house team to continue working and earning a living. This project has always been bigger than the people on stage,” they added.

“We have set up a GoFundMe, and any support will go directly toward replacing essential gear, rebuilding the live system, and getting us ready to play live again. If you want to support us, the best ways are to buy tickets, buy merchandise, or contribute here if you are able. Sharing this page also helps more than you think. We are deeply grateful for every message, every share, and every form of support. Thank you for helping us keep Vola moving forward.”

Vola later added an alternate route for anyone who asked about another way to contribute: “Since you asked, those who want to donate via PayPal can do so via mail@volaband.com”

However you feel about crowdfunding, this is one of those situations where the ask is simple: replace the essentials, rebuild the live system, and get back to doing the thing that brought people to the band in the first place.

The post VOLA Launch GoFundMe Campaign After Most Of Their Equipments Get Destroyed In Storage Unit Fire appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Edited by Anselm Anderson 

Written by Ellis

I love being a part of the Noob Heavy team. Espi, Jangel, Kep, Kirk, Westin – great people covering great music, standing up for important shit, making me laugh a lot and sharing some highly appreciated parenting solidarity when I have needed it. Shout-out to the wider NH community too and especially the album swap crew, even if you have exposed me to things like ‘gorenoise’ and X-Mas Death Jazz. 

I don’t always get round to writing up an end of year list but I was feeling it this year and I’m breaking it down into five demos, five EPs and ten albums.

Starting with the demos: I’ve written about all but one of these already in my quarterly demo round-ups so we’ll do these quick. In no particular order apart from Turn of Phrase defo at number 1:

Unmoved – Demonstration

Martyr AD/Coalesce type metalcore from Vancouver, Canada.

xWeaponx – Weapon X Demo 2

“WEAPON X HATES YOU” – straight edge supergroup shit init.

Direct Order – Demo 2025

Real stomp stomp music. Legitimately inspired the creation of the entire Demolicious Derby series.

Dead Stare – Demo

Terror are probably my favourite band too…

Turn of Phrase – Finish Just To Begin

Drinking water melodic hardcore from London/Brighton, UK.

Now the EPs. Consider these half ranked. I’m trying not to overthink it but my top two or three are defo where they should be.

Recollection – Vivid Dreams

A late entry for me but this EP sounds too much like my top album pick and apparently shares members with the band behind it so that has essentially thrown this straight into ridiculously heavy rotation. Shout-out my friend Jamie for keeping me supplied with the very best Stage Dive Music.

Crush Your Soul – Living Gracious

I am fully convinced that Jay Petagine is the best frontperson in all of hardcore at the moment, and this and the preceding Crush Your Soul EP are doing absolutely nothing to disabuse me of that notion while I wait for that third Mindforce LP. Remember swag?

Hour of Reprisal – Endless War, Endless Peace

Take everything Hour of Reprisal already did brilliantly—incisive lyrics, squeaky guitar bits, stoopid breakdowns—add a few extras like pig squeals and a bit more melody and package it up in the best production they’ve had yet and you get this EP. “Car bomb at the gates of Eden” .

Dynamite – Settle the Score

Best band in the UK bar none and a genuine contender for best hardcore band in the world right now. Dynamite don’t miss and this is surely their best sounding record yet. Opener “Hardcore Pride” is truly a perfect hardcore song.

Mercy Ruin – The Killing March

Carries all the giddy, ecstatic and cathartic thrills of the kind of run in the cold where you can feel the air tearing into the back of your lungs in the best way possible. Gloriously urgent gothy post-punk from Boston/Brooklyn.

And lastly: albums. These ones are as ranked as they can be…

SCARAB – Burn After Listening

Absolute Demon Music from SCARAB—as per really. Eight tracks and 13 minutes of mosh, fast bits, scorching vocals, killer guests and a perfect dollop of metallic stuff for good measure.

Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH

What is there to say? It’s Turnstile init. There’s a reason these guys are (probably) the Biggest Guitar Band in the World RN. My friend Jack described it as “hardcore taking a bubble bath” and I couldn’t put it better myself. 

Martirio – Los Siete Sellos

Limiting myself to one real metalcore/edge metal pick in the name of diversity or something. I think Martirio is legitimately the best one of these I’ve heard this year but could also easily have been Faced Out or xdetesterx or Divine Hatred. Oops.

By a Thread – Mirrored Life

Described this in the September round-up as “post-hardcore for adults” and I stand by it. Epic, authentic, anthemic stuff, soaked in reverb and atmosphere and carrying an unmistakable emotional heft.

First Attack – No Escape

Boot. Wearing. Music. Vancouver’s First Attack are easily one of my favourite Axe to Grind discoveries of the year (fellow Canadians Home Front are another and their latest album probably only missed out on this list by one). This album makes me wanna shave my head and kick shins, and I’m just about done shaving my shins…

*RECORD SCRATCH* *FREEZE FRAME* 

“Wait, isn’t this a metal site?” I hear you ask. And yes I haven’t really got any pure metal in my top 10 but there are a few albums that would have probably been sniffing around my top 20 if I’d had capacity for that, so please allow this brief intermission to identify my top metal picks by subgenre:

• Black Metal: Blood Abscission – I I
• Death Metal: Sepulchral Curse – Crimson Moon Evocations
• Doom Metal: Conan – Violence Dimension
• Thrash Metal: Inhuman Nature – Greater Than Death
• Trad Metal: TOWER – Let There Be Dark

(Editor’s note: don’t worry, pretty sure my list has enough metal for both of us.)

Age of Apocalypse – In Oblivion

After all that, this one’s probably the closest to a metal pick that I’ve got here and that’s thanks pretty much entirely to vocalist Dylan Kaplowitz’s absolute pipes. This is uniquely epic metallic hardcore, with soaring melodies that stand just as tall as any of its most gargantuan riffs and breakdowns.

Stateside – Where You Found Me

Every year for the past few years there’s always been literally one pop-punk album that’s given me everything I want from the genre. No Pressure in 2022, Koyo (with a bullet) in 2023, Neck Deep last year, and now Stateside absolutely clearing it with their debut full-length this year. Bonus points for some lashings of emo and post/melodic hardcore.

Backxwash – Only Dust Remains

Backxwash is surely one of the most talented, creative and important artists of this generation. Only Dust Remains is a stunning evolution on the trilogy of innovative industrial hip-hop albums that preceded it, stepping into a newfound vibrancy while still holding firm to the quality and intensity that marked each of those records.

Speedway – A Life’s Refrain

Just as I was in the April round-up I am still struggling to put into just how infectious this album is. I just think all hardcore should sound like this honestly. Urgent, catchy and as impossible to contain as it is to put down.

Skinhead – It’s a Beautiful Day, What a Beautiful Day

As tough as it is vulnerable, as genuinely funny as it can be emotionally devastating—consider the final two tracks “Separate Checks” and “That’s a Promise (The Song About a Dog)” for example—over the past six months I have found that I can listen to this album in any mood and any context and by the end of it have drawn the exact same conclusion as its title. Whether it’s missing friends gone too soon or just wanting to kick an op’s teeth in, It’s a Beautiful Day… covers it all with such disarming authenticity and packages it up in nine of the catchiest Oi!/punk tracks this side of Shock Troops by Cock Sparrer.

Thanks for reading this far if you’re still here. Shout out Jesus, straight edge, and my family for saving my life every day. Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year/Thursday etc. Free Palestine. Free Sudan. Fuck the police. Go to a show.

The post Ellis’ End of Year Lists 2025 (Demos, EPs, & Albums) appeared first on Noob Heavy.

^{Death Angel brought a heavy lineup stacked with many of their Bay Area thrash brothers to The Belasco to close out the final night of the 35th anniversary Act III U.S. tour. Opening the show was Chicago thrash band Misfire. While this band isn’t from the Bay Area, they do have a Death Angel connection.}

^{Death Angel founder and guitarist Rob Cavestany does have a guest appearance on the title track of Misfire’s latest album Product of the Environment. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a guest appearance at the show, but the Chicago thrashers delivered a set worthy of a lineup featuring two of “Big Six of Bay Area Thrash Metal” bands. Their album is out now on MNRK Heavy.}

Lions at the Gate was up next with their nu-metal-tinged brand of groove metal. While they’re mainly known for vocalist Christian Machado and guitarist Ahrue Luster’s former band ill nino, Luster has a Bay Area thrash connection. He did a stint with Bay Area groove thrashers Machine Head. Their tight set was mostly from their 2023 debut The Excuses We Cannot Make, but they did play a few newer tunes including their latest single “Burn the Candle.” They’ll have a new album out next year.

^{Vio-lence was up next with a blistering set as always. Vio-lence may never have received the commercial success of some of their fellow big six from the Bay, but vocalist Sean Killian has always been a master of putting together a great band and putting on an amazingly intense show. They played the “Upon the Cross” from the 2022 EP Let the World Burn, and the rest of the set was from the Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel era of Vio-lence.}

^{Finally it was time for Death Angel. After an already nonstop metal assualt with only 15 minute changeovers between the other three bands, the crowd was more than ready for the thrash legends. Death Angel aren’t just part of the big six of Bay Area thrash, but they’re widely considered a leader in the second wave of thrash as part of the “Big Eight.” After playing a set of Act III songs, the band also played a 6-song encore with a sampling of their other releases and the newly released single “Cult of the Used.” It was a powerful ending to the anniversary tour before going back home for their annual-ish Another Death Angel X-mas Show.}

Here we go again! Let’s dive in. I am pleased to be revealing the rankings for the best EPs, the best music videos, the best sessions, and… the best album artwork. Tomorrow, I will unveil Still in Rock’s Top 40 albums, followed on Wednesday by the 100 best songs. Cheers!

***

The 5 best EPs of 2025

(minimum of 4 songs, maximum of 6!)

5. Fan Club – Stimulation

.

4. Nov LT — ME TIME!

.

3. Gull House – Gull House II

.

2. Beer – Beer III

.

1. Sick Thoughts – Another Piece Of Plastic

***

The best music videos of 2025

.

***

The best sessions of 2025:

.

.

.

***

The best artworks of 2025:

(good music only)

ELVIS 2 – THANK YOU VERY MUCH

.

Metdog – one for the kids 

***

The post Best of 2025: Best EPs, artworks, videos… appeared first on Still in Rock.