Prior the official release day of their new studio record Arcani this Friday, symphonic metal collective Temperance are premiering the last new song in preview titled “The Fool”. Read more…
On February 19th 2027, Bay Area thrashers Heathen will put out their next full-length instalment dubbed Lifetime In Hell. The latter was produced, mixed and mastered by Zeuss. To taste a first piece of the new music, check out a video clip for the song “Escapegoat”. Read more…
I cannot play down my joy that Wales-based Bulgarian Post-Metal quartet Thrakian are finally set to release their debut full-length, the four-track, thirty-three-minute, The Way. Having had the joy of catching them live twice supporting Death/Sludge outfit Warcrab, both times their powerful live performance have had a massive positive impact, making this studio album a very exciting and anticipated release for me.
The Way is a weighty beast in terms of track duration, with timings ranging from just over six minutes to well over the twelve-minute mark. Across all the pieces, they deliver a crushingly heavy sound that I am pleased to say maintains the massive impact of their live performance.
With The Way, Thrakian deserve the recognition that I hope this release will give them.
The album is “shaped by ancient philosophies, personal upheaval, and the turbulent process of rebuilding identity in a new land” and is also a “reflection on the human condition.” Awash with pummeling riffs and immersive Post-Metal soundscapes, it draws thematic influence from Thracian mythology and timeless narratives of loss, endurance, and resilience.
The album opens with Labors of Insanity, which is haunting and reflective as it begins. Building in crushingly heavy increments, the harsh vocals cut through on arrival with impact amongst the chugging riffs. This is contrasted by soaring, haunting lead work. It is a superbly phrased and composed piece with a dramatic build and reflective ebb midway, rebuilding with suspenseful drum rhythms to a driving pace and sharper lead work slowly ebbing and falling with the chugging rhythms to the close.
Next is the twelve-and-a-half-minute monster Ancient Glory, a mid-pace heavy crusher that encompasses superb melodic swathes. Deep, raw vocals protract and coast commandingly across the music as the pace undulates, twists and turns. Intense blasts are balanced with quieter moments for engaging contrast.
There is also some superb drum work in the first third of this piece, after which it drops dramatically to a clean, reflective guitar-based sound, gradually building in depth and pace to the original melodically heavy crush. A great piece with more dramatic drum rhythms that build atmosphere in the closing third. I love how this piece also seems to break into musical chapters, which helps to make a listen that is both interesting, powerfully moving and filled with surprises along the way. Not least at the end, when you think it is finished and there is one final rousing epilogue to the piece.
I love the opening build to The Way, where initially you get clean, reflective guitars that slowly build in layers. Once the main riffs arrive, your ears are again graced by powerful and catchy drum rhythms that dominate the musical landscape without overpowering the deep, raw vocals that course over the music.
Even when the sound ebbs back, those drums remain dominant and carve a rhythmic path through the piece, building in pace toward the middle before dropping away briefly but dramatically. It is such an engaging piece just from the perspective of the power and punctuation of the drum rhythms and fuzzy, crushing yet subtly melodic guitar work. When you add the vocals to that mix, you have a piece that “breaks the glass ceiling of excellence.”
Final piece In The Grips of Illusions offers something slightly different. This delivers a meld of sludgy, groovy, heavy goodness alongside a mix of spoken and deep, harsh, growled vocals. During the harsher delivery, a little more punch and chug emerges from that sludgy groove, completed with superbly reflective but groovy second-half leadwork.
The Way is a superb debut offering from Thrakian. They are a hugely underrated band who are both superb live and are also able to recreate that level of excellence in the studio. Thrakian deserve the recognition that I hope this release will give them.
Thrakian release The Way on 16 October 2026 via Aonair Records. For more details, visit linktr.ee/thrakian.
The jubilee 30th edition of the Brutal Assault festival kicks off another massive wave of bands, adding 26 more names to an already stacked lineup. Headlining this batch are American hardcore heavyweights Knocked Loose, joined by proven staples like Agnostic Front, Heaven Shall Burn, and cult video game soundtrack composer Mick Gordon. They join pr… Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com
It’s all been building up to this for SNAYX, as they reveal all of the details of their upcoming debut album, ‘Greed’.
The record will be released on February 19 2027 via Nettwerk Music Group.
The tracklisting looks like this:
1. Violence 2. Wasted Again 3. Go With You 4. Gold Star 5. Lost Cause 6. Everything (Interlude) 7. Brain Cell 8. Mouthfeel 9. Nice Day 4 It 10. Strut 11. Soul 2 Sell 12. Sunshine 13. Good Life
And the artwork like this:
As you will see, the album will feature the previously unleashed ‘Nice Day 4 It‘, ‘Strut’ and ‘Brain Cellz’, as well as the freshly shared ‘Gold Star’.
A belligerent, deafening, sensationally bold further assessment and takedown of moderN culture, it is made to be played loud and proud.
The band had this to say about the tune:
“It’s about that guy we’ve all seen flashing their cash at the bar and preaching about work ethic. He’s that ‘manosphere’ misogynist screaming about lifestyle and the grind, buying his friends and followers because they’re so inherently unlikable. Well done, you drive a nice car and got a round in, but that doesn’t make you any less insufferable.”
If that wasn’t enough, the band will also be making their way around the UK and Europe next year in support of the record. Here is where you will be able to catch them.
APRIL 2027
10 – NEWCASTLE The Cluny 11 – GLASGOW King Tut’s 13 – LEEDS Brudenell Social Club 14 – SHEFFIELD Yellow Arch 15 – MANCHESTER YES Pink Room 16 – LIVERPOOL District 18 – BIRMINGHAM Sunflower Lodge 19 – BRISTOL Strange Brew 20 – EXETER Cavern 21 – BOURNEMOUTH Bear Cave 25 – LONDON Scala 27 – BRIGHTON Concorde 2
MAY 2027
04 – PARIS La Boule Noire 05 – DEVENTER In Vredes Naam Fest 06 – NIJMEGEN Merleyn 07 – AMSTERDAM Melkweg 09 – ROTTERDAM Rotown 10 – COLOGNE MTC 11 – ZURICH Dynamo Werk 21 13 – MUNICH Kranhalle 14 – VIENNA Chelsea 15 – PRAGUE Café V lese 18 – BERLIN Kantine 19 – HAMBURG Betty 21 – STOCKHOLM Kollektivet Livet 22 – OSLO John Dee
There’s an art to writing long-form metal albums. Determining how much to write while keeping listeners engaged as their attention inevitably wanes is no easy task. But how long is too long? We will use that question as the launchpad for our journey into the cosmos with death metal duo Iapetus. Multi-instrumentalists Jordan Navarro and Matthew Cerami have been testing the limits of attention spans since 2010, releasing two albums built around epic compositions designed to function as complete works. Thus far, it has worked splendidly. Their 2019 self-released effort, The Body Cosmic, impressed the Eldritch one enough to earn a spot in his Things You Might Have Missed feature, and it appears Iapetus made an equally strong impression on the team at Willowtip Records, which has chosen to release the duo’s new record, The Mother Void. This third effort concludes a trilogy started by 2017 debut, The Long Road Home.
Telling a story about humanity, the cosmos, and the tension between a mortal existence and the vastness of immortal space, The Mother Void largely follows the formula Iapetus established on previous releases while refining it into a compelling odyssey among the stars. Four tracks serve as the record’s focal point across its 69 minutes, with shorter interludes providing the connective tissue between each showstopper. The compositions are seamless and as grandiose as before, seesawing between tremolo-heavy, volatile surges and soft, shimmering moments. Fabienne Erni (Eluveitie) lends her talents to wistful verses (“The Mother Void”), entrancing bridges (“Aniara,” “Parturition”) and bombastic choruses (“Red Giant”), leaving absolutely nothing on the table as she tears through the fabric of space and time.1 Cerami’s coarse growls occupy the death end of the spectrum and provide a powerful counterpoint to Erni’s soothing, soaring melodies, creating a dynamic interplay that helps give The Mother Void its robust character.
From the title track through “Red Giant,” Iapetus forms The Mother Void’s celestial nexus, swelling and expanding like the universe in the wake of the Big Bang. The title track immediately launches the listener into overdrive with a blaze of tremolo picking and relentless blast beats, evoking the melodic black of Wintersun as Erni’s ethereal vocal lines guide the song into a sea of tranquility. “Aniara” is reminiscent of Ne Obliviscaris at their best. Beginning with a crestfallen tone before returning to Iapetus’ trem-picked tendencies, the cut’s knotty yet catchy riffing shines at the bridge, striking an impressive balance between technicality and melodicism. The same can be said of the guitar solo that anchors the track’s closing minutes. Everything reaches its zenith with “Red Giant,” which melds the influences of the prior tracks while injecting Mors Principium Est’s sharp melodeath into the mix. In short, it’s an epic song that never overstays its welcome, despite stretching to nearly twelve minutes. The same can be largely said of The Mother Void’s first half, where the group’s ambitions are matched by a keen sense of pacing.
It’s at this point—as the interlude “Énouement” gives way to “TON”—our initial question comes back into focus. While The Mother Void largely avoids the pitfalls of bloat, “TON,” and, to a lesser extent the dreamlike heart of “Aniara,” find Iapetus exceeding the bounds of The Mother Void’s scale and flow. At nearly nineteen minutes, “TON” initially succeeds, pairing forceful melodeath with Frank Harper’s strong guest vocals while showcasing Iapetus’ knack for complex songwriting. By this stage, their formula has grown somewhat predictable, but that alone is not an issue. The main issue lies in the song’s second half. The track lingers far too long, settling into a tropey Gojira-esque riff that feels out of place amid the song’s otherwise more distinctive traits. The outro only compounds things, sounding as though it’s winding down before pressing on for several more minutes. Similarly, the inclusion of “The World Be Undone” feels unnecessary, as Iapetus could have ended on a stronger note without it.
Like the universe it contemplates, The Mother Void burns brightest when it keeps its ambitions in balance. Though a few songs drift beyond their natural limits, the addition of Erni elevates the duo’s sound, while the songwriting remains ambitious, emotive, and richly textured. Iapetus has delivered an odyssey that serves as a worthy conclusion to the trilogy they began years ago, standing as another impressive achievement from one of progressive death metal’s most promising acts. For death fans of all stripes, The Mother Void is well worth the journey.
There’s an art to writing long-form metal albums. Determining how much to write while keeping listeners engaged as their attention inevitably wanes is no easy task. But how long is too long? We will use that question as the launchpad for our journey into the cosmos with death metal duo Iapetus. Multi-instrumentalists Jordan Navarro and Matthew Cerami have been testing the limits of attention spans since 2010, releasing two albums built around epic compositions designed to function as complete works. Thus far, it has worked splendidly. Their 2019 self-released effort, The Body Cosmic, impressed the Eldritch one enough to earn a spot in his Things You Might Have Missed feature, and it appears Iapetus made an equally strong impression on the team at Willowtip Records, which has chosen to release the duo’s new record, The Mother Void. This third effort concludes a trilogy started by 2017 debut, The Long Road Home.