Knotfest Mexico have unveiled this year’s line-up.
Taking place at Mexico City’s Estadio Fray Nano on December 5, the event will host Bad Omens’ only Latin American show of 2026, as well as appearances by Lamb Of God, Poppy, The Ghost Inside, Blood Incantation, Sylosis, Vana and Versailles. Tickets go on general sale this Monday, March 23 from 11am local time.
As well as their current North American headline tour, Bad Omens have a bunch of other live dates planned this year – including returning to the UK in June for Download Festival. But will they also find the time to keep working on new music? Following a string of 2025 singles, frontman Noah Sebastian told Kerrang! that he was “champing at the bit” for more material, explaining that, “I’m just hoping to find the time to make more progress on whatever becomes the next chapter for this band, and what it looks like as a full body of work.”
He teased that he was “a little bit closer” to figuring out the follow-up to 2022’s massive THEDEATHOFPEACEOFMIND, sharing: “There’s a lot of large moving parts and ideas being worked through, but there are still plenty of other things that have to get done for the record in the meantime.”
Anyway, check out the Knotfest Mexico 2026 announcement below:
Spanish Melodic Hard Rock band XTASY continue the momentum toward their upcoming album ‘Phoenix‘ with the release of ‘Can’t Get Enough‘, their third single with the official video, available now on all digital platforms and YouTube. Stream – here Taken from the upcoming studio album ‘Phoenix‘, scheduled for release on April 10th, 2026 via Art Of […]
It takes an immense amount of talent, courage, and self-confidence to venture out in the music world and release a totally instrumental album. It may be even less common when that instrumentalist happens to be female. Such is the case with Laura Chavez, as her first solo album, My Voice, approaches its official release on March 20.
Laura Chavez is a seasoned veteran of the blues, R&B, and soul music world and has played alongside many popular artists, as well as appeared on numerous recordings. Born in California, Chavez is said to have been drawn toward music because of her mom’s piano playing. At age six or seven, she began taking guitar lessons, but soon stopped and did not begin playing again until she was in her teens. Soon afterward, she became the house band guitarist at a venue called J.J.’s Blues in San Jose, CA. It was there that she met Lara Price, and they played together professionally for eight years. In 2008, Chavez received a referral from Sue Foley and became Candye Kane’s lead guitarist. That led to many other opportunities, as she performed alongside artists such as Deborah Coleman, Nikki Hill, Vanessa Collier, and Big Daddy Wilson. Guitar Player Magazine named her one of the top fifty “Sensational Female Guitarists,” and she won the Blues Music Award for the “Instrumentalist – Guitar” category in 2023, after being nominated in 2019 and 2021. This was the first, and only, time a female had won that award.
My Voice, while entirely instrumental, provides an opportunity for Laura Chavez to sing in a way that is sure to please even the harshest vocal critics, and that is with her guitar. What she cannot, or chooses not to, express vocally, she makes up for with her masterful guitar skills. The album opens with Chavez’s take on the classic Creedence Clearwater Revival piece, “Born On The Bayou.” It is a great opening that highlights her skillful guitar playing. This song rocks. Let me get this out of the way right now: her accompanying musicians on this recording are simply great. I would be remiss if I did not mention them and the outstanding job they do throughout the album.
The very next track is “Mind Your Step,” a funky number that incorporates what makes so many songs successful. The ingredients to that success are three chords, six strings, and a lot of feeling in between. As with each song on this recording, there is a lot of great guitar playing, and if you love to dance, make sure to put your dancing shoes on while listening to this cut.
“So Long Baby, Goodbye” is the sixth tune on Laura Chavez’s My Voice and is her rendition of The Blasters’ 1981 track. It is upbeat and features, in addition to Chavez’s masterful guitar riffs, some very enjoyable keyboard work.
After listening to “La Llorona,” I thought to myself, and even mentioned to my wife, that the guitar sounded like someone crying. Because I do not speak Spanish, I looked up the meaning of “La Llorona.” I found that it translates to “the weeping woman,” “the wailer,” or “the crier.” The track is slow and bluesy, and I felt almost reaffirmed in being able to receive and understand Chavez’s intention. Her guitar here is, no doubt, crying, and the song serves as a great conclusion to this well-crafted recording.
Laura Chavez’s guitar playing on My Voice is one of the most beautiful voices you will ever encounter. Supported by the other excellent musicians on the album, this recording is sure to please not only guitarists but anyone who appreciates great musicianship. Many of the songs from this album can be found on YouTube, along with several of her live performances, so be sure to check those out. She also has upcoming concerts, so take a look at her schedule and experience her playing in a live setting. I would highly recommend listening to My Voice for yourself. I am confident that you will not be disappointed.
The Review: 9/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– Born On The Bayou – Mind Your Step – So Long Baby, Goodbye – La Llorona
Album Review: Engorgement – They Rot Beneath Our Floor
Reviewed by Patrick O’Reilly
A thirteen-year hiatus since their last release has seen Engorgement fester and seep into the cracks beneath the floor, the place where the bodies lay, the pit of rotten gore of their own making, a dumping ground for their victims. And they have taken this flesh and blood and twisted it, moulded it, turned it into a seething mass of hate and riffs.
The result is ‘They Rot Beneath Our Floor’ a stupendously heavy assault on the senses and human sensibility.
Opening with ‘Prelude of your dismemberment’ which unnervingly sets the listener on edge with its chilled hip hop vibes before the brutal onslaught begins, ‘They rot beneath our floor’ bursting forth from the speakers with true inhuman force, a savage masterwork of riffage, pounding baselines and frenzied drumming. Before another beguiling trippy outro, the albums true closer, ‘Blunt force osteotomy’ is unleashed, tearing its way through the flesh and bone of your head to bury into your brain. Unstoppable.
With a disgusting production from none other than Floor Van Kuijk of Korpse fame, a man who is no stranger to devastating brutality, every instrument is captured in its purest most brutal form.
Make no mistake this is true extreme metal, a heady mix of slam and brutal death, whose blasts and breakdowns will shake you to your core, like an accident in a piece of industrial machinery, and sounding remarkably similar to that too! Fans of the genre will relish this release and be left slavering to hear these songs in the live environment, which will not be far off as Engorgement prepare to tour the UK and parts of Europe in April. Make sure you are there!
Nuclear Messiah release new single ‘For Mad Men Only‘ feat. Joe Lynn Turner on vocals & Pat Travers on guitar, out now. Their new album ‘Black Flame‘ will be released on April 24th on Cleopatra Records. Nuclear Messiah – built around the visionary guitar mastery of Chris Poland – have released their new single, ‘For Mad […]
McFly have been revealed as one of the first acts who will be playing at a new venue in London, set to open this Summer.
That venue is the British Airways ARC, a new state-of-the-art 3800 capacity room in Olympia, situated above the history-soaked West Hall. A part of a full transformation of Olympia, the renovation will also feature a 1,575-seat theatre, a host of new bars and restaurants, 2 hotels and 550,000 sq ft of office space.
But the music is where we are focusing right now. And McFly will be playing on June 18, following Self Esteem’s two-night stint as the official opening on June 16 and 17. The Zac Brown Band will be playing on June 25 whilst Khalid will be heading over there in the Autumn on October 24. Basically, there’s a bit of everything going on.
Tickets for all shows will go on sale on March 27 from right here.
Call Of The Wild Festival returns to Lincolnshire Showground from 28th – 31st May 2026, and the momentum behind this year’s event shows no signs of slowing down. With headliners Florence Black, Onslaught, and Von Hertzen Brothers already anchoring the weekend with three distinct, high impact headline sets, organisers have now unveiled a powerful new […]
Jamie Campbell Bower has just released a beautiful, cinematic new single, Waiting For Your Love.
A couple of months on from bringing Stranger Things 5 to an end and saying farewell to his iconic role as Henry Creel / Vecna, Jamie’s attention has turned back to music. And for his first new tune of 2026, he’s actually reunited with his brother Sam Bower – who used to play guitar and sing alongside Jamie in defunct punk band COUNTERFEIT.
Initially teasing Waiting For Your Love, Jamie posted on X: “March 19… Sees the first collaboration between me and Sam since COUNTERFEIT. Who’s ready? I’m scared.”
Yesterday (March 18), he also wrote, “I made a song, it’s called Waiting For Your Love, it’s out tomorrow. Sam wore slippers to help make this track. That seems important.”
Fair play, guys, we’d absolutely love to know what was in those slippers because this is stunning…
