Blues-infused alt rock duo When Rivers Meet have released the official video for their new single “The Script,” the latest track from their forthcoming album Rhythm Rust & Static, due out May 29.
A rallying call centered on resilience and self-determination, “The Script” follows the album’s lead single “The Tide Is Turning” and continues to showcase the band’s evolving sound.
“This one feels very personal to me,” says When Rivers Meet’s Grace Bond. “It’s about that voice that creeps in telling you how things are going to go and choosing not to believe it.
“I love the idea that nothing is set in stone. The script isn’t written yet and that means I still get to decide.”
Husband and bandmate Aaron Bond describes the track as a defiant anthem rooted in perseverance.
“There’s a real sense of defiance in this song,” he adds. “Not aggression — just standing your ground when things feel uncertain.
“The line ‘don’t give in to fear’ really says it all. It’s about holding steady and writing your own ending.”
When Rivers Meet continue to build their career independently, having achieved two Official UK Charts Top 10 albums without the support of a label, management, or booking agent. The duo recently welcomed their first child in March and plan to bring their newborn, Bobby, along for their upcoming summer tour.
“A big part of our story is the independent side of what we’ve built,” adds Aaron.
“We’ve turned down major record deals along the way because we’ve always wanted to stay independent and follow our own path.
“When Rivers Meet has never followed the music industry rulebook. We’re proud to go our own way.”
The new single builds on the momentum of “The Tide Is Turning,” as the band shifts toward a more stripped-back and intimate direction following the release of 2025’s Addicted To You.
“With our previous album, Addicted To You, we leaned into a much bigger, more produced sound,” explains Grace.
“When we started thinking about the next album, though, we felt drawn to something a little more raw and intimate.”
The duo enter this next chapter following three consecutive Band Of The Year wins at the UK Blues Awards, along with extensive touring across the UK, US, and Europe. They also previously received Planet Rock Radio’s Best New Band award in 2021.
“When Rivers Meet has never followed the music industry rulebook,” adds Aaron. “We’re proud to go our own way and The Script is a manifesto for doing just that.”
“The Script” is out now on all digital platforms.
2026 Rhythm Rust & Static Tour Dates:
July 23 – Colchester, Arts Centre July 24 – Tunbridge Wells, Forum August 7 – Barnard Castle, The Witham August 8 – Newcastle, The Cluny 2 August 21 – Cardiff, Acapela August 22 – Guildford, The Boileroom September 3 – Huddersfield, The Parish September 4 – Galashiels, MacArts September 5 – Edinburgh, Voodoo Rooms September 6 – Aberdeen, Lemon Tree September 17 – Bristol, The Fleece September 18 – Norwich, Arts Centre October 1 – Newbury, Arlington Arts October 2 – Northampton, Black Prince
Sexcuse me, bohabs, but say it loud with me so everyone can hear it — FUCK CANCER. It’s a brutal scourge and unfortunately, another one of our own has been affected. This time, it’s GWAR founding member and human slave to The Sexecutioner, Chuck Varga.
It’s a shitty situation and we don’t know what he’s been actually diagnosed with, but cancer is cancer. He’s one of the approximately two million Americans that will be diagnosed with cancer in 2026. But what his friends in GWAR have is the platform for some potential good. Hence the beginning of a nationwide blood donation campaign that’s been launched in Varga’s honor.
GWAR is asking fans, bohabs, and everyone with the ability to understand this article to go out and donate blood. All you gotta do is head to a blood bank near you, register as donors or give in Chuck’s name. Do that and you’ll get a free exclusive t-shirt designed by Varga.
Aside from his time with GWAR, Varga is a sculptor, set designer, and rock artist by trade. His work has directly affected GWAR’s theatrics not only in the sculpts and art he’s done, but he’s also co-founded the band’s Slave Pit Studios in Richmond, Virginia back in the 1980s.
Varga eventually left GWAR in 1997 to pursue a career on Broadway, film, and television up in New York City. Though he would sometimes perform with the band over the years, he ultimately retired from that part of his life in 2021.
So if you have the ability to donate, consider doing so. You won’t just be helping Varga, but the millions of people affected by cancer, too.
With Ronnie Romero releasing his solo album Backbone last October and completing a tour with Primal Fear just last month, attention now turns to Evolution, the new album from Elegant Weapons, due out tomorrow. Known for a classic yet powerful Metal voice, Ronnie has the range to inspire thousands, but his influences may surprise some.
I grew up listening to more melodic singers,” Ronnie Romero told MetalTalk in Part One of this interview. “That’s something that the people don’t normally know about me. My father rests in peace, was a huge fan of classic rock music, especially from America. So I grew up listening to Journey, Kansas, Boston and all those more melodic bands.
“I was introduced to hard rock and Heavy Metal in my youth when I was 14/15 years old. So for me it’s really challenging, and I really love to sing more melodically and with a clean and soft voice. It’s really fun.”
Ronnie’s grounding in melody has defined the kind of musicians he connects with. That instinct for space and musicality becomes especially clear when he talks about the guitarists he had worked alongside.
Working with guitarists of the calibre of Richie Blackmore and Michael Schenker, Ronnie talks of a special chemistry. The relationship with Richie Faulkner shines on Evolution, and Ronnie talks of similar feelings working alongside all three.
“These are the kind of players that are not shredders,” he says. “They serve the guitar for the music and for the song, and that makes a singer’s work very easy. Because it’s not like you get only a little space in between licks. It’s a special chemistry and a special connection. I really love to work with him [Richie], and he is really good at doing that. He has all this influence from Schenker and all the old guys, but it still sounds very modern somehow. I think it’s very special in that way.”
That sense of musical understanding goes beyond technique. For Ronnie Romero, the connection with players like Blackmore, Schenker and Faulkner is rooted just as much in personal chemistry as it is in musicianship.
Talking with Ronnie, it is clear where his passion for collaboration lies, and the same is obvious in working with guitarist Jose Rubio on the solo album Backbone.
“I always try to work with people that I really love to hang around,” Ronnie says. “That’s the main reason for me. It’s not to get hired or hire people that are gonna do the job and see you in 3 months, and there’s no personal connection.”
Given Ronnies’ aim to make organic music, this is even more important. “It doesn’t always need to be a close friendship. I’m very lucky that everybody I work with are my friends. It doesn’t happen very often. Even Blackmore and Schenker.
“It’s funny because all the time I get this question, ‘Is it really hard to work with Richie? It’s probably very difficult, blah blah.’ I always had a great relationship with him. Same with Michael, same with Richie Faulkner, same with Jose [Rubio]. We’re friends, we enjoy playing together, and I think it elevates the performance.”
Elegant Weapons – Steelhouse Festival 2023. Photo: Georgia Brittain/MetalTalk
That mindset carried directly into the making of Backbone, where Jose Rubio played a central role in shaping the album’s sound.
Guitarist Jose Rubio was very important to the Backbone album. It is a great album. Jose’s mixing and mastering took the traditional classic rock sound and gave it a high-end renovation. The album was received very well, which Ronnie Romero says surprised him.
“It was great,” he smiles. “I didn’t expect that. We had a good reception with the first one [Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters]. For the writing and recording of the second album, I wanted to try something a little bit more straight, hard rock and close to the Dio solo material and Black Sabbath.
“I was a little bit afraid of how the people were gonna receive the songs because on the first album they were more dynamic and faster, and it was more like Heavy Metal.”
With that shift in direction, the real test was how the songs would land in front of a live audience.
Ronnie Romero – O2 Academy Islington – 11 March 2026. Photo: Manuela Langtsch/MetalTalk
Last month’s shows in the UK were the first time the new songs had been played live “I didn’t expect that the people were gonna like the songs that way,” Ronnie says. “There were a couple of songs [in the set] that were not even singles on the release, and people were cheering, and they were singing the lyrics.
“So that’s very satisfying. I was surprised because I didn’t expect that, but I’m very happy with the result. It’s the right path. I’m not in a hurry. I know that it’s a long way to the top. But I’m very happy with the results so far.”
That connection with audiences reflects Ronnie’s broader songwriting approach, keeping things direct, honest, and built for the stage.
MetalTalk said that Backbone had all the hallmarks of Ronnie Romero making an all-out statement of intent. Running Over is a real highlight, and we wrote that if the term ‘smash hit’ still existed in the hard rock world, then this has it written all over it. Ronnie smiles.
“We wanted to do music easy to listen,” Ronnie says. “I didn’t want to go complicated. I didn’t want to go overproduced or do something that’s really hard to digest. This is rock music that we should go out and play, and the people should put their fists in the air, and that would be perfect for me. I think we accomplished it in that way.”
Running Over was not a track that was in the Ronnie Romero setlist when they hit London, but of course, it is not me picking the songs. It was a 45-minute set, and as Ronnie says, they had to play songs from the previous album as well. “It’s not a Ronnie Romero show if we don’t play Rainbow.”
While Backbone leans into simplicity and impact, it also brings Ronnie into collaboration with some of rock’s most respected songwriters, adding another layer of legacy to the project.
Among the other contributors, Roy Z rebuilt Bruce Dickinson’s solo career, and Russ Ballard has written hits for many decades. When he is in a room with these kinds of people and that much history, how does Ronnie Romero make sure the results still sound like him rather than the greatest hits of their influences?
“I would say thanks to Richie Blackmore,” Ronnie says. “I got used to it, to be around legends. But also, Russ and Roy are good friends of mine. I met Russ in London in 2017 when he was invited to The 02 with Rainbow to do a couple of songs with us. We kept in contact.
“With Roy, he has Latin roots as I have, so he was always in contact with me. He was speaking Spanish, always telling me we need to do something together, brother. We need to do something in Spanish. When I was writing the album, I thought maybe I could take advantage of that friendship (smiles) and do a couple of songs with them.
“I think it’s fantastic. I’m not gonna say how skilled Russ Ballard is at writing music. He wrote music for so many great artists, and so I was a little bit afraid when he sent me the song, because I thought I needed to reach at least close to the level.
“But he was very happy with the result. We didn’t really touch the song much from the original. We did it a little bit harder, in terms of sounds. More like a rock song. He was very happy. He came to Madrid to record a video clip and all, so he was very happy with the collaboration.”
With collaborations spanning generations, Ronnie’s focus now returns to where that music truly comes alive, the stage.
Backbone and the recent short tour with Primal Fear have given Ronnie Romero the desire to get back in the UK soon for a headline tour. “The UK was always special for me,” Ronnie says. It was the shows with Rainbow that helped cement this.
“We have this connection. Obviously, everybody loves Rainbow there, and for me, the UK and Germany are my main markets, I would say, because of the Rainbow thing. It’s always great to go there.”
“We’re gonna come back as a headline tour for sure.”
That return may come after commitments with Elegant Weapons, but it is clearly already on the horizon.
“Because we are live performers,” Ronnie says. “We love to record music. I think all the energy is on stage, and we love that. We love to go on tour and especially going together with Richie, Dave [Rimmer], and Chris [Williams].
“We became good friends on the first tour we did. We have a lot of memories and stories. We need to wait until after Judas Priest plans this year, of course, because we respect that. Judas Priest is Richie’s main band.
“But yeah, we’re looking forward to it. Probably at the end of the year, we would do a couple of things and then probably next year, a full tour.”
Tomorrow, we delve fully into the excellent new album from Elegant Weapons, Evolution, with Ronnie Romero. You can read my review here.
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.
You can read the MetalTalk Elegant Weapons interview with Richie Faukner here: Part One and Part Two.
The “Metal Gods” of thrash are officially reclaiming their throne in Southern California. Due to what promoters are calling “overwhelming demand,” Slayer has added a second 40th-anniversary headline performance of their masterpiece Reign In Blood at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. After the initial November 13, 2026, date sold out instantly during presales, the band has locked in November 14 to satisfy the legions of fans hungry for their first hometown headline shows in seven years. These performances stand as the only West Coast dates where the band will perform the 1986 classic in its entirety.
Los Angeles Blitz: Two Nights at the Kia Forum
The addition of the November 14 show marks a significant milestone for the reunited lineup of Tom Araya, Kerry King, Gary Holt, and Paul Bostaph. While Slayer has made select festival appearances since their 2024 return, the Los Angeles residency represents a homecoming of sorts.
Fans attending the first night (Nov. 13) will be treated to a brutal opening package featuring Cannibal Corpse, Cavalera, and Crowbar. Support for the newly added second night is expected to be equally heavy, as the band celebrates four decades of an album Kerrang! once dubbed “the heaviest of all time.”
These Los Angeles dates aren’t just standard concerts—they are part of an ultra-exclusive three-date U.S. headline run. Aside from the Kia Forum, the only other city slated to witness the full Reign In Blood album performance is Shakopee, Minnesota, at the Mystic Lake Amphitheater on September 4, featuring support from Down, Suicidal Tendencies, and Hatebreed.
While the band is scheduled for various festival appearances throughout 2026, those sets will feature a rotating career-spanning list of hits. Only at these headline shows will the “pure ferocity” of the 28-minute thrash masterpiece be unleashed from start to finish.
Released on October 7, 1986, via Def Jam Recordings, Reign In Blood was the band’s first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. The album famously faced massive delays and controversy due to its graphic artwork and the lyrical content of the opening track, “Angel Of Death.” Despite being initially rejected by distributors, the album became Slayer’s first to break the Billboard 200 and eventually achieved RIAA Gold certification. As guitarist Kerry King famously noted, the album captured the band in its “pure ferocity,” a sound that drummer Dave Lombardo still describes as the “epitome of thrash music.”
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Slayer has added a second “Reign In Blood” 40th-anniversary headline show at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles for November 14, 2026, following an immediate sell-out of the first night. Alongside a September date in Minnesota, these are the only U.S. shows where the band will perform the iconic 1986 album in full. Tickets for the new Los Angeles date go on sale to the general public Friday, April 24.
Manchester trio Fatalist (7) play a kind of metallic post-hardcore that’s direct, insistent and alive with tension. Bass player Mat Smith grips the neck of his guitar like he’s trying to rein in something that’s almost out of control, a wide-legged stance with one foot anchoring the mic stand to prevent it being blasted away by his livid screaming. Drummer Phil Giles punctures the songs with vertiginous rolls that introduce a welcome shade of abstraction. Mid-set, one song seems to momentarily fracture and splinter before recoalescing around it’s purpose.
Although pretty quiet over the last few years, Nottingham sludgy doom quartet Moloch (9) are coming up on their 20 year anniversary. Despite their lengthy hiatus, they’re still one of the best bands in the country and yet remain criminally overlooked outside the close knit DIY community. Just released third album Bend.Break.Kneel.Crawl is another howl of screaming guitars and anguished vocals and proves the band has lost none of its potency since the previous album in 2018. The bands music possesses a formidable forward propulsion that’s full of weighty foreboding, and it all seems to be channelled through and out of singer Chris Braddock’s wide eyed stare and shredded throaty screams. The quieter passages only serve to amplify the crushing power of the noise when it resumes. Magnificent.
If you navigate music by genre, New Orleans quintet Slowhole (8) may present a few problems. All the songs are set against a backdrop of relentless feedback and effects noise from guitarists Dante Galliano and David Hunter. The individual songs generally proceed at a slow grinding pace, occasionally erupting into brief bursts of frantic thrashing, with vocalist Shannon Arsenault’s treated shrieking adding a human element to the noise, although it’s impossible to tell what she may be singing about. The anguish and turmoil in the voice may need to be enough.
The band perform in near darkness and don’t move around much, so there’s not much of a visual stimulus to provide a focus. As far as the music is concerned though, if you need reference points, try mashing together the slowcore of French doomsters Monarch, pure unhinged harsh noise, and the occasional dollop of hardcore velocity. Although it’s hard to get a handle on what’s going on half the time, the band clearly know what they’re doing.
Mid-set a guitarist breaks a string, leaves the stage to get a replacement and calmly restrings and retunes, while the rest of the band equally calmly fill in with an improvisation that manages to fit seamlessly with what came before and what comes after. Although I spent most of the set trying to figure out was was going on, there’s no doubt that just now this band have got hold of something that’s startlingly different, and seeing Slowhole again at the next available opportunity would be a no-brainer.
Manchester trio Fatalist (7) play a kind of metallic post-hardcore that’s direct, insistent and alive with tension. Bass player Mat Smith grips the neck of his guitar like he’s trying to rein in something that’s almost out of control, a wide-legged stance with one foot anchoring the mic stand to prevent it being blasted away by his livid screaming. Drummer Phil Giles punctures the songs with vertiginous rolls that introduce a welcome shade of abstraction. Mid-set, one song seems to momentarily fracture and splinter before recoalescing around it’s purpose.
Although pretty quiet over the last few years, Nottingham sludgy doom quartet Moloch (9) are coming up on their 20 year anniversary. Despite their lengthy hiatus, they’re still one of the best bands in the country and yet remain criminally overlooked outside the close knit DIY community. Just released third album Bend.Break.Kneel.Crawl is another howl of screaming guitars and anguished vocals and proves the band has lost none of its potency since the previous album in 2018. The bands music possesses a formidable forward propulsion that’s full of weighty foreboding, and it all seems to be channelled through and out of singer Chris Braddock’s wide eyed stare and shredded throaty screams. The quieter passages only serve to amplify the crushing power of the noise when it resumes. Magnificent.
If you navigate music by genre, New Orleans quintet Slowhole (8) may present a few problems. All the songs are set against a backdrop of relentless feedback and effects noise from guitarists Dante Galliano and David Hunter. The individual songs generally proceed at a slow grinding pace, occasionally erupting into brief bursts of frantic thrashing, with vocalist Shannon Arsenault’s treated shrieking adding a human element to the noise, although it’s impossible to tell what she may be singing about. The anguish and turmoil in the voice may need to be enough.
The band perform in near darkness and don’t move around much, so there’s not much of a visual stimulus to provide a focus. As far as the music is concerned though, if you need reference points, try mashing together the slowcore of French doomsters Monarch, pure unhinged harsh noise, and the occasional dollop of hardcore velocity. Although it’s hard to get a handle on what’s going on half the time, the band clearly know what they’re doing.
Mid-set a guitarist breaks a string, leaves the stage to get a replacement and calmly restrings and retunes, while the rest of the band equally calmly fill in with an improvisation that manages to fit seamlessly with what came before and what comes after. Although I spent most of the set trying to figure out was was going on, there’s no doubt that just now this band have got hold of something that’s startlingly different, and seeing Slowhole again at the next available opportunity would be a no-brainer.
Riverside frontman and founding member Mariusz Duda just revealed that he has decided to leave the band after 25 years. His full statement can be read below. Read more…
German avantgarde death metal pioneers Dark Millennium unveil their second single and lyric video, "Witchcraft Island," taken from the upcoming studio album "Come," set for release on May 22nd, 2026 via Massacre Records. You can check out the video below.
With "Witchcraft Island," Dark Millennium once again demonstrate their unmistakable ability… Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com
You know what’s fun? Watching two rock stars share a stage, especially when those rock stars like each other. Right now, Paramore leader and genuine bona fide rock star Hayley Williams is on her first-ever solo tour, and she brought along Water From Her Eyes as the opening act, which has led to some funny online reactions. On Wednesday night in Chicago, Williams enjoyed a moment of onstage collaboration with another genuine bona fide rock star, Stereogum “Discovery Channel” correspondent Rachel Brown.
