FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ETHEREAL DARKNESS UNLEASHES HAUNTING NEW VIDEO “GONE WITH THE TIDE”
Belgium’s rising melodic death/doom force, Ethereal Darkness, has released their powerful new video for “Gone With The Tide,” available now. The track serves as a defining moment from their latest album Echoes , capturing the band’s signature blend of crushing heaviness, atmospheric depth, and emotional weight.
Formed in 2018 by guitarist and vocalist Lars, Ethereal Darkness began as a solo endeavor before quickly evolving into a full-fledged band with a clear and uncompromising vision. Their 2019 debut Smoke and Shadows made serious waves in the underground, setting the stage for what would become a steadily rising trajectory through the European metal scene.
Over the years, the band has brought their immersive sound to major festival stages including Dark Mental (DK), Alcatraz (BE), and Darken The Moon (BE), sharing the spotlight with heavyweights like Behemoth , Arch Enemy , Insomnium , and Harakiri for the Sky .
With the addition of lead guitarist Zjesse in 2024, Ethereal Darkness expanded their sonic palette even further, sharpening their melodic edge while digging deeper into darker, more atmospheric territory. The result is Echoes , a record that has already earned widespread praise for its balance of intensity and atmosphere, solidifying the band as one of Belgium’s most promising forces in modern melodic death metal.
“Gone With The Tide” stands as a centerpiece of that evolution.
“Gone With the Tide was the song that showed us what this album would become. It set the tone, the weight, and the direction. A lyrics video felt like an honest way to share it, the story deserves to be read as much as it deserves to be heard.”
The new video brings that vision to life, offering fans a deeper connection to the song’s lyrical themes while immersing them in the band’s dark, melancholic soundscape.
For fans of Insomnium , Be’lakor , and Harakiri for the Sky , Ethereal Darkness delivers a gripping experience that hits hard and lingers long after the final note fades.
“Gone With The Tide” is out now. Turn it up, read along, and let it pull you under.
Follow Ethereal Darkness for more updates and upcoming announcements.
Echoes is available now worldwide.
Support and follow ETHEREAL DARKNESS: https://etherealdarkness.bandcamp.com https://facebook.com/etherealplace https://instagram.com/etherealdarknessband
Electric Callboy have officially shifted the party into overdrive. The German electro-metal powerhouse has announced their long-awaited new album "TANZNEID", set for release on August 7, 2026, via Century Media Records. Alongside the announcement, the band has dropped explosive new single "Hypercharged," born from an unlikely but undeniably fitting collaboration with global mobile gaming phenomenon Brawl Stars.
Electric Callboy on their new single and Brawl Stars collab:
“We’ve always been massive gaming fans, so teaming up with Brawl Stars felt like a perfect match from the start. The track came together naturally, and we loved seeing it take shape as Damian’s theme. Damian fits our sound like he was built for it. Heavy, explosive, and impossible to ignore. It’s pressure, groove, and madness all at once. We love it!“
"Hypercharged" also doubles as the theme for Damian, a brand-new character introduced into the Brawl Stars universe through the partnership. At the time of writing, the music video has been out for less than an hour and already has 1.6 millionlikes, which is absolutely massive.
Electric Callboy spoke out on the Brawl Stars collab:
“We’ve always been massive gaming fans, so teaming up with Brawl Stars felt like a perfect match from the start. The track came together naturally, and we loved seeing it take shape as Damian’s theme. Damian fits our sound like he was built for it. Heavy, explosive, and impossible to ignore. It’s pressure, groove, and madness all at once. We love it!“
"TANZNEID" marks the follow-up to 2022's "TEKKNO", an album that generated nearly a billion streams and helped the band sell over 200,000 tickets on a globe-spanning world tour. It's no small act to follow. The band addressed the weight of it head-on, describing "TANZNEID" as something that took everything out of them — intense and exhausting in equal measure, but ultimately the record they needed to make. They pushed the "TEKKNO" blueprint further, loading it with new sounds, new extremes, and an energy built specifically for the stage.
Pre-orders are live now in a dizzying array of collector's editions — vinyl variants ranging from Neon Pink to Sea Blue Glitter to a hand-numbered Electric Pink Liquid Vinyl limited to just 500 copies worldwide, alongside box sets featuring NFC fan cards, a buildable stage set, and Neverrift Trading Card booster packs. Exclusive variants are spread across retailers, including Hot Topic, Revolver, HMV UK, and Sumerian.
The album cycle reaches its peak at Escalation Fest 2026 in Berlin, where Electric Callboy will perform "TANZNEID" live for the very first time. The event promises an Electric Bassboy DJ Set, new remixes, an actual TEKKNO TRAIN, and a headline performance at the Wuhlheide — essentially transforming the festival into an elaborate album release party.
Meanwhile, their "TANZNEID" World Tour is already underway across North America, hitting venues from the Kia Forum in Los Angeles and Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison to Brooklyn Paramount and MGM Music Hall at Fenway, with support from Polaris and Scene Queen through the run.
"TANZNEID" is out August 7 via Century Media Records.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SKULLCHURN UNCOVERS RAW DEATH METAL WITH “OF DEATH AND REBIRTH (DEMO 2026)”
Presave / Stream: Bandcamp | YouTube
April 24, 2026 – From the shadows of the European underground, Skullchurn rises to claim its place in the annals of death metal with their ferocious debut demo, Of Death And Rebirth (Demo 2026) . Forged from the bloodline of Dutch and Czech musicians who have traversed the realms of Burial Remains, Grim Fate, Massive Assault, and Symbtomy , Skullchurn delivers a sound that is raw, relentless, and unapologetically old school.
Blurring the lines between decay and brutality, the four-track demo is a masterclass in unpolished aggression. Razor-sharp riffs collide with relentless drumming, while production that favors grit over gloss evokes the feeling of discovering a long-lost tape from the earliest days of death metal. Listeners will find themselves trapped in a nightmarish landscape where violence, horror, and rebirth fuse into one suffocating experience.
Lyrically, Skullchurn channels surreal horror, spinning visions of death and transformation that feel ripped from decaying cult cinema reels. Each track is a cinematic fragment—violent, dreamlike, and drenched in dread—appealing directly to fans of Possessed, Death, and Necrovore .
“ Of Death And Rebirth delivers vile, old school death metal with a thrashy edge. Taking influences from the originators of the genre, from a time when death metal was raw and unpolished,” says the band.
Mixed and mastered by Wim de Vries , this demo is a declaration: Skullchurn is here to remind the metal world that true death metal never dies—it mutates, decays, and comes back even heavier.
Connect with Skullchurn:
Facebook Instagram YouTube Bandcamp
Label: Into It Records Contact: Carl Assault / skullchurn@gmail.com
(Andy Synn offers up three more prime Brtish exports for you to enjoy) Like I’ve said before, we like to keep you guessing here at NCS, which is why after spending the start of the week covering riff-happy ragers from At The Gates and Inherit the Curse I’ve decided to dedicate the end of the week to […]
SANTA BARBARA, CA — Groove metal icons DevilDriver have officially declared war on 2026. Frontman and mastermind Dez Fafara announced today, April 16, that the band will release their eleventh studio album, Strike And Kill, on July 10 via Napalm Records. The announcement marks a “carnivorous” return to the band’s California groove roots and features the highly anticipated return of founding bass legend Jon Miller.
Alongside the album reveal, the band has unleashed the lead single “Dig Your Own Grave,” which is an absolute vitriolic anthem and can be heard below via it’s official video.
‘We Are Here to Strike and Kill’
After the success of the Dealing With Demons double-album saga, Fafara makes it clear that DevilDriver isn’t slowing down or “softening” with age.
“My headspace hasn’t changed,” Fafara stated. “I have not become complacent or soft in my view of the world or in my music… we focused on ‘getting it all out’ lyrically, and backing those lyrics with savage, relentless music that fuels the heavy California groove.”
The new single, “Dig Your Own Grave,” is described as a lyrical lambasting of those responsible for their own failures. Fafara warns: “Six feet ain’t deep enough for you… Be careful when you choose to make decisions at midnight.”
Fans are particularly vocal about the lineup for Strike And Kill. The album features the virtuoso guitar duo of Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold, alongside drummer Davier Ortega Perez. However, it is the return of founding bassist Jon Miller that has the “California Groove” purists buzzing, signaling a sonic homecoming for the band.
DevilDriver isn’t wasting any time taking the new carnage to the stage. The band has confirmed the “Strike And Kill” North American Tour 2026, featuring support from Upon A Burning Body and Ov Sulfur.
The tour kicks off in San Diego at the Observatory North Park and hits major markets across the West and Midwest, including Dallas, Chicago, and Las Vegas.
Aug. 14 – San Diego, CA – Observatory North Park Aug. 15 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl Aug. 16 – Phoenix, AZ – Marquee Aug. 18 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theater Aug. 19 – Austin, TX – Come and Take It Live Aug. 20 – Houston, TX – House of Blues Aug. 22 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues Aug. 23 – Oklahoma City, OK – Diamond Ballroom Aug. 25 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge Aug. 26 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave Aug. 29 – Colorado Springs, CO – Sunshine Studios Aug. 30 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot Sep. 01 – Boise, ID – Treefort Music Hall Sep. 02 – Reno, NV – Club Underground Sep. 03 – Sacramento, CA – Goldfield Sep. 04 – San Jose, CA – The Ritz Sep. 05 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
DevilDriver has announced their 11th studio album, Strike And Kill, arriving July 10, 2026, via Napalm Records. The album marks the return of founding bassist Jon Miller and features the savage new single “Dig Your Own Grave.” A Western U.S. headlining tour kicks off this August with stops in San Diego, Dallas, and Chicago; tickets are on artist presale now.
It is one week until Elegant Weapons release their sophomore album, Evolution, and I, for one, cannot wait to see the reception it receives. I have been in its company for the last month, and it has equally thrilled, impressed and cemented itself into my soul.
Bridges Burn is the single that has been doing the rounds as the album single. It is a cool song, but its placement on the album, following Evil Eyes and Generation Me, is where it truly shines, for Evolution is an album’s album that should be heard in order, old school style.
That is not to say that Evolution is some ’80s-style throwback, far from it. It is just that this is an album I had such fun listening to. The energy across the album is intoxicating, fun, and across 11 songs, this is an album you can really feel invested in.
Evil Eyes is the natural opener on Evolution. Built around a fantastic Richie Faulkner riff, drummer Christopher Williams pushes the track along, and this is where you begin to feel the impressive impact that Ronnie Romero has on the album.
The work of Ronnie, Richie and producer Andy Sneap in producing the vocals from the ground up is a key element on Evolution. “If there was a different technique that we wanted to use,” Richie told MetalTalk earlier, “or a different mic or a different vocal line or melody or harmony, whatever it might have been, we really built it out from the ground up, which we didn’t do on the first record.”
Naturally, the solo is awesome, and those with a keen ear for detail will spot the industrial drill-type sound that leads into the solo. “It’s one of those things where it was a sound effect that I got out of the guitar,” Richie said. “I tried to do it again and couldn’t do it.”
Evil Eyes launches into Generation Me, an equally impressive track. Here, bassist Dave Rimmer solidly follows the riff, and it is the run into Bridge Burn that gives you the sense that this collection of songs is a journey.
Holy Roller finds Richie Faulkner in great form. If there is a Robin Trower feel to the opening, especially with the way Ronnie sings, as the track progresses, you realise you have become immersed in the songwriting and presentation. I’ve said it before, but once you hit the main solo and beyond, and you realise the song is about the Jonestown Massacre, then the goosebumps have hit.
Track Five, and the ballad kicks in. This track is one Evolution that Richie spoke about for Elegant Weapons. “It’s one of those songs that has been around for a long time in various forms,” he said, “and seemed not to work. I had the chorus for a long time and hadn’t found a home for it.”
Here it has the perfect home. Adam Wakeman adds some wonderful keys here, and once again, Ronnie shines. This is another example of many where Ronnie brings everything to the song.
The Devil Calls, Thrown To The Wolves and Shooting Shadows run deep into the album, three excellent tracks that keep the majestic momentum going.
If you have gone this far with the album, the trio to finish, finish Evolution off in true album style. Rupture is one of those synth-driven instrumentals that just get lost in the streaming world. “Sometimes when you write music, you get a movie in your head,” Richie said. The heartbeat in Rupture hints at someone’s survival, but the song finishes with the person flatlining.
The track runs straight into Mercy Of The Fallen, with its wonderful riff. Here, we hear the reprise of the dynamic in Rupture, and when Ronnie sings “Redemption, see the light divine,” the emotions run high.
Elegant Weapons finish Evolution on Keeper Of The Keys. Again, I have said this before, but this is a beautiful song with a proper ending to cap a beautiful album.
For me, Evolution is a triumph of songwriting and a real throwback to when albums were albums and were meant to be listened to all the way through. Keeper Of The Keys has that really classic ending as well.
“It’s what we try to do,” Richie said. “You put an album together as an album. I don’t know if people do that anymore. Obviously, people of a certain age and above do. But it’s almost becoming a lost art.
“People listen to tracks or a couple of tracks alone. But that’s what we try to do, and Keeper Of The Keys is exactly that. I couldn’t find any other place to put it on the record.”
When it finishes, the Hammond is bubbling over, the rotary speaker is going, and it ends like that. The urge to lift the needle, flip the vinyl and start again is huge.
Evolution, for me, is one of those albums where the sum is almost greater than the parts. With no weak tracks, the care in the ordering, attention to detail in production, and Richie’s magic guitar dust in the right places, has made this the type of album that sucked me into Metal in the first place all those years ago.
It is all about the journey. The hope that we might see Elegant Weapons later in the year on tour is a mouthwatering prospect and, as Richie told us, there are discussions around this ongoing.
To see the band live? Then the journey would be complete.
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.
Crimson Glory hold a special place in my own personal Metal Hall o’ Fame. I was a huge fan of their 1986 debut with its classic Queensrÿche-style and larger-than-life energy. Midnight immediately became one of my favorite vocalists, and I was dazzled by the way the band took classic metal idioms and made them feel so grand and elegant. 1988s Transcendence took their sound even further, getting proggier, heavier, and more epic in scope. This is the album that essentially invented the progpower genre. At that point in time, the band seemed poised to achieve amazing things and conquer the metaverse. Then they dropped Strange and Beautiful in 1991, and the wheels came off the Glory cart hard. To call that album a dumpster fire of a sellout is an understatement, and it still makes me wonder what the holy fuck the band was thinking when they released it. It’s on the same par as Celtic Frost’s Cold Lake, Metallica’s St. Anger, or Krokus’ Change of Address, and it will forever live in infamy as a career killer. Unsurprisingly, the band fell apart after that, with Midnight departing for good, leaving disgruntled fans to reflect on what might have been. The band attempted a jump-start in 1999, but Astronomica was nowhere near the quality of the early albums, and the band sank back into self-inflicted oblivion. 26 years later, three of the original members are attempting a new comeback with Chasing the Hydra. The cynic in me wondered why they’d even bother. They created 2 all-time classic metal albums, and nothing they do now could come close to rivaling them. With great expectations as their eternal enemy, it’s much more likely they’d only diminish the luster of their stellar releases. Still, the naive teen in me hoped for a miraculous rebirth of the band I still love. Where does Chasing the Hydra fall between those polar opposite scenarios? As you might expect, somewhere in the middle.
Aided no doubt by a set of very low expectations, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Chasing the Hydra. Obviously, it can’t touch the classic albums with a 100-foot Poke Em Pole, but it’s effective, entertaining progpower with enough of the classic Crimson Glory sound to trigger nostalgic reminiscing. Opener “Redden the Sun” is aggressive and urgent as new vocalist, Travis Willis, shows off his impressive collection of pipes. The guitarwork from OG Ben Jackson and new axe Mark Borgmeyer is fluid and technical, and the song itself is decent, though it gets a bit scattered. The title track opens with the lead riff from Transcendence classic “Red Sharks,” which is either cool or cornball, I can’t decide. The song sounds more like something off Sanctuary’s debut than Crimson Glory, but it’s good nonetheless, although Willis overdoes it at times. The first real winner comes with “Broken Together,” which sounds enough like vintage Glory where you could imagine it appearing on the early classics. Wills sounds so close to Midnight as to be unsettling, and the whole package has that same strange power the old albums did. “Angel in My Nightmare” is a sprawling epic that plays out like a pastiche of “Lonely in Love” and “Azrael,” and it takes you on an interesting voyage through the various eras of the band (wisely excluding Strange and Beautiful). It’s a bit too long, but the goods are delivered.
“Indelible Ashes” is another success story, sounding like the love child of 80s Crimson Glory and Rage for Order era Queensrÿche. Wills moves between Midnight and Geof Tate homage vocals, and this is another cut that feels like the logical successor to the Transcendence material. “Beyond the Unknown” is a good song where Wills shifts tone to sound almost exactly like Lance King, and the winning chorus sounds like essential Pyramaze. The only song that doesn’t really gel for me is “Armor Against Fate” where the writing gets too herky-jerky and proggy, jettisoning transitions to skitter from idea to idea. Even then, it isn’t bad and the chorus sticks in the head. At 47 minutes, and with most songs in the 4-5 minute frame, Chasing the Hydra ends up an easy spin with a nice ebb and flow.
A lot of the success of Chasing the Hydra comes down to the vocal magic of Travis Willis. Yes, the guy can emulate Midnight, which is no easy feat, but he doesn’t spend the entirety of the album trying to be a clone. He shifts tones and styles to suit the material and generally does a bang-up job elevating the solid-to-above-average material. Ben Jackson and new axe Mark Borgmeyer do a great job of decorating each song with the right mix of burly riffage and pretty, ethereal harmonies, never drifting too far into Cheese Meadows. There’s a surprising amount of scrotal power on some of these tracks, which offsets the lighter moments.
If you ran into me at a drunken New Year’s Eve shindig last December and told me I’d be giving good reviews to Metal Church and Crimson Glory in 2026, I’d have denounced you as a fool and a charlatan. Here we are, though, and I underrated Metal Church! Chasing the Hydra is the album we should have gotten in 1991. It may be 34 years late, but better that than never. The Glory days may not be behind us after all. I hope that somewhere in the Great Beyond, Midnight is smiling.
“I think the dancefloor is dead, so now we’re making rock music.” That’s the money quote. Charli XCX is the subject of a new British Vogue cover story, and it’s mostly about her work on the proper follow-up to her career-exploding 2024 landmark Brat. Charli has been extremely busy since Brat. She just released her Wuthering Heights soundtrack album in February, and she’s acting in approximately one million movies this year, but apparently she’s had time to work on another record amid all of that.
Deloyd Elze plays “not a lick” of fiddle, but he’s practicing on a newly acquired instrument when we connect via video chat. “It’s a learning curve for sure,” says the singer-songwriter and producer, real name Jacob Henry Allen. “I’m honking and sawing.”
Crimson Glory hold a special place in my own personal Metal Hall o’ Fame. I was a huge fan of their 1986 debut with its classic Queensrÿche-style and larger-than-life energy. Midnight immediately became one of my favorite vocalists, and I was dazzled by the way the band took classic metal idioms and made them feel so grand and elegant. 1988s Transcendence took their sound even further, getting proggier, heavier, and more epic in scope. This is the album that essentially invented the progpower genre. At that point in time, the band seemed poised to achieve amazing things and conquer the metaverse. Then they dropped Strange and Beautiful in 1991, and the wheels came off the Glory cart hard. To call that album a dumpster fire of a sellout is an understatement, and it still makes me wonder what the holy fuck the band was thinking when they released it. It’s on the same par as Celtic Frost’s Cold Lake, Metallica’s St. Anger, or Krokus’ Change of Address, and it will forever live in infamy as a career killer. Unsurprisingly, the band fell apart after that, with Midnight departing for good, leaving disgruntled fans to reflect on what might have been. The band attempted a jump-start in 1999, but Astronomica was nowhere near the quality of the early albums, and the band sank back into self-inflicted oblivion. 26 years later, three of the original members are attempting a new comeback with Chasing the Hydra. The cynic in me wondered why they’d even bother. They created 2 all-time classic metal albums, and nothing they do now could come close to rivaling them. With great expectations as their eternal enemy, it’s much more likely they’d only diminish the luster of their stellar releases. Still, the naive teen in me hoped for a miraculous rebirth of the band I still love. Where does Chasing the Hydra fall between those polar opposite scenarios? As you might expect, somewhere in the middle.