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A rainy period.

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He is currently dealing with several disorders and conditions that have made daily life challenging for him.

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General Information

Personnel:
Bettie Floyd – vocals
Adam Sanders – vocals
Joey Grimaldi – guitar
Ryan Metroka – drums
Dave Hale – bass
Salem Belladonna – keys, cello

Producer: Joey Grimaldi
Release Date: September 18, 2026
Record Label: Eclipse Records

Setting the Scene

I am loving 2026 in music! So many old-timers returning, and so many debuts that feel like they’re the start of something huge. Here’s another one, this time a symphonic metal masterpiece.
Valkyrie’s Fire are a symphonic metal band from Nashville, Tennessee, who just released their debut album, Out of Darkness. The 13-track album marks the beginning of what could be a very interesting chapter for the band.

First Impression

Out of Darkness hits like a huge debut from a band that already knows exactly what they are capable of. A 13-track album can easily become exhausting, especially when you consider the length of some of these tracks. However, the pacing, production, and way the vocals are spread across the record keep the momentum going from start to finish. It has the heavy orchestration and variety you would expect from top-tier symphonic metal, and the music sounds far more experienced than you might expect from a debut album.

Similar Sounds

If you’re into any of these artists, this album should be on your radar.

Visions of AtlantisTemperanceAd InfinitumDragony

The Artwork

The album’s artwork, designed by Jan Yrlund, shows a lonely figure stepping out of a dark cave and facing a winding mountain path with a huge, fiery sunrise in the distance. It takes the title Out of Darkness pretty literally, but the contrast between the pitch-black cave and the bright golden light works really well. It also fits the music, which moves from heavy and darker moments into huge, anthemic power metal sections.

Track on Repeat

“Shattered”

After a song like “Burning Sky,” you might expect the next track to slow things down and simply keep the album moving. Instead, “Shattered” is one of the biggest surprises on the record for me. It starts at a calmer pace, but quickly shows that there is much more to it than that. The symphonic parts are huge, the guitars sound great, and there is plenty going on musically without making the song feel crowded. Both vocalists get their moments to shine, before the song ends with Bettie’s softer, almost serenading vocals. For me, it is easily one of the standout moments on the entire album.

In-depth Notes

Musical Shape 🎸

The guitars and orchestrations on Out of Darkness work together beautifully, with the band moving between huge orchestral openings and driving metal riffs in songs like “Valkyrie’s Fire” and “Nocturne.” The faster guitar leads in “Evermore,” “Cascade,” and “Skylark” add another side to the album, while “I See The Angels Fly” and “Bone and Thorn” show that the band can slow things down just as well. Both are beautifully written ballads and could easily work as singles on their own. The orchestrations are especially impressive on “Shattered,” where they take total command of the song, while the ten-minute closer “I Will Rise Again” uses them to build its longer sections and bring the album toward its conclusion. All of this comes through clearly in the production, which gives the guitars, drums, vocals, and orchestral parts enough room to be heard without making the arrangements feel cluttered.

Vocal Performance 🎤

The vocals of Bettie and Adam are a huge part of what makes Out of Darkness work so well. Their voices complement each other beautifully, especially in the big choruses of songs like “Evermore” and the ballad “Bone and Thorn.” Bettie gets to take the lead on “Cascade,” where her voice has a very distinct character that goes far beyond just hitting high notes. She also takes a much softer approach at the end of “Shattered,” closing the song with calm, almost serenading vocals. The harsher vocals also come in at the right moments, adding more weight when the songs need it. Mikael Sehlin’s appearance on “Burning Sky” is another great example of this. Sehlin may be a big name, but he is not simply there as a big name brought in for marketing. His particular vocal approach is exactly what the song needs at that point in the album, creating a great contrast with the operatic vocals and giving the track a heavier edge. That heavier side returns later in “I Will Rise Again,” giving the epic closer an extra impact.

Themes and Concepts 💭

The album tackles resilience, vengeance, and rebirth, with cosmic imagery and fire running through its themes. These ideas go beyond the lyrics, with the music itself carrying much of the emotional weight. The sweeping orchestrations and heavy arrangements help take the listener from deep grief to defiant triumph, giving the album’s themes a clear musical progression.

Final Verdict

★★★★★★★★★★

If aliens visit Earth and ask me what symphonic power metal is, I’m showing them this album. Valkyrie’s Fire have created a masterpiece with Out of Darkness, perfectly balancing brilliant orchestrations, beautiful guitar work, and iconic vocals.

Mood Meter

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Melancholy

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Darkness

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Serenity

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Energy

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Romance

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Perfect For…

Emotional Struggle – escape emotions through some heavy tunes
Nature – unplugged from the world, plugged into the universe
Working – listen to while working to focus your energy
Creating Art – perfect to enhance your creativty

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The post Album Review | Valkyrie’s Fire – “Out of Darkness” first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.

Learn how to pray for the pleasure of having nothing
Here for you, so choose me, use me, lose me, until I die 

Love can make a person remarkably inventive about the terms of their own disappearance. Give everything away, call it devotion, and eventually even the damage starts looking like proof that something extraordinary is happening. On Like Moths, Italian dark synthpop project Hermidgets follows that reasoning to its terrible conclusion, with two people drawn into a relationship whose destructive potential has become part of its appeal. The single accompanies a disturbing new video and offers the fourth preview of a third album expected in early 2027.

A deep, bass-heavy opening gives way to rhythmic, buzzing synthesizers, with Hermidgets’ baritone entering low and assured as the bassline and percussion settle into a thoroughly danceable groove. That persistent synth melody keeps everything moving, its abrasive edge making the tune all the more satisfying. There is something of Fad Gadget in the electronics, a trace of Brendan Perry in the voice’s sonorous gravity, and the immediate appeal of a late-1980s club hit in the way the parts fit together. The singing lends the song its weight; the rhythm makes carrying it feel almost indecently easy.

The chorus lands hard on “She grants me a loaded gun,” then leaves room for the synth line to take over, its bright, wiry melody carrying a little of the peculiar magic of an old eight-bit machine. That instrumental turn is a hook in its own right, drawing the ear straight toward “I will never be the same without your deadly grace.” Hermidgets has written one of his best songs yet, catching the listener between the pleasure of an exceptionally good refrain and the awful bargain being sung.

The lyrics make surrender sound increasingly devotional. “Learn how to pray for the pleasure of having nothing” imagines a point at which the loss of identity, possessions, and boundaries becomes something actively sought. The repeated invitation to be chosen, used, and discarded gives that desire an unsettling clarity. Both people remain caught in the attraction, feeding a bond they understand may consume them. By the time the moths appear, the fire has become the destination, and the promise of being wanted has swallowed any concern about what might survive.

The video gives that disappearance a physical form. Shot in stark black and white against a dark background, it confines our attention to Hermidgets’ head, bare shoulders, and hands as white modeling clay obscures and distorts his features. Palms press against the face; fingers pull the material into ridges and folds; the mouth opens through a surface that seems continually on the verge of closing over it. The face becomes a succession of unstable sculptures, with black pigment introducing another disturbance late in the performance. At moments, the effort of singing seems to be the only thing keeping a recognizable person visible beneath the mass.

There is a strong resemblance to Frank Tovey’s shaving-cream performances as Fad Gadget, where a familiar substance smeared across the body became an instrument of grotesque theatre. Hermidgets’ stated inspiration is French artist Olivier de Sagazan, whose transformations of the face and body provide a more direct point of reference for the clay and contorted gestures. The video concept developed independently of the song, making their eventual correspondence especially apt: the figure physically works at his own erasure while the lyrics describe an equally willing dissolution. It also extends Hermidgets’ longstanding commitment to anonymity, allowing the face to occupy the entire frame while withholding the usual reassurance of a recognizable artist.

Watch the video for Like Moths below:

Hermidgets is an Italian electronic project built on years of experience in the studio and onstage, with songwriting, performance, and self-produced visuals bound together by a deliberately anonymous identity. Distorted synthpop, darkwave, and intimate songwriting form the basis of the work, while the decision to keep personal biography at a distance gives listeners room to establish their own relationship with it.

The debut album, The Mire, appeared in November 2020, introducing songs including This Is Over and Nothing’s Perfect. A Flaw and Perks followed in 2021, eventually joining Meaninglessness and We Tend to Disappear on the June 2024 mini-album NIHIL. For that record, Hermidgets worked with a deliberately limited setup of two analog synthesizers, drum samples, and voice, using those restrictions to concentrate the arrangements and their emotional force.

The next album began to take shape publicly with Fall Apart in July 2025, followed by Sundown that December and Could I Be Better in March 2026, the latter revisiting Could Be Better from the debut. Like Moths continues that sequence with some of the project’s most immediate songwriting and most confrontational imagery.

Like Moths was mixed by Matteo Sandri and mastered by Giovanni Versari. The single is out now, with Hermidgets’ third album expected in early 2027.

Listen to Like Moths below and order the single here.

Follow Hermidgets:

• Website
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• Bandcamp
• Spotify
• Facebook

The post “Your Gaze Consumes Me” — Dark Synthpop Artist Hermidgets Follows Desire Into the Fire in Video for “Like Moths” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Sue Foley will release a new holiday album, Alone (Together) A Holiday Companion, a blues-focused collection that explores both the loneliness and connection that can come with the holiday season.

Rooted in Texas blues with elements of jazz, the eight-song album takes a subdued approach to holiday music, combining Foley’s electric guitar work with laid-back rhythms and a mix of original songs, seasonal material and blues covers.

The album follows Foley’s GRAMMY-nominated One Guitar Woman and puts her electric guitar back at the forefront. Rather than focusing exclusively on traditional Christmas songs, Alone (Together) A Holiday Companion includes material designed to work beyond the holiday season.

“I made this album for people who find the holidays difficult, especially those who are spending them alone,” Foley explains. “It’s meant to be a companion, to bring a little comfort and connection at a time of year that can be hard for a lot of people. For anyone spending the holidays alone, this is for you.”

The album’s first single is Foley’s interpretation of AC/DC’s “Ride On,” originally released on the band’s 1976 album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Foley takes the Bon Scott-era song back toward its blues roots with a more relaxed arrangement.

As Foley describes it, “‘Ride On’ is classic Bon Scott era AC/DC, but at its heart it’s straight-up blues. We wanted to take that raw, blues-rock edge of the original and pull it back toward something more like Jimmy Reed: lowdown, hypnotic and laid-back. It felt completely natural to me. It’s a great blues song.”

Along with “Ride On,” the album features Foley originals “‘Tis the Season,” “Just Another Day” and “Jingle Blues (Cha-Cha).” The track listing also includes “Merry Christmas Darling,” “Christmas Blues,” “Santa Claus Do You Ever Get the Blues?” and “I’ll Take Care of You.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Merry Christmas Darling – 5:32
2. ‘Tis the Season – 3:57
3. Christmas Blues – 2:52
4. Just Another Day – 7:13
5. Santa Claus Do You Ever Get the Blues? – 4:34
6. Jingle Blues (Cha-Cha) – 4:28
7. I’ll Take Care of You – 6:14
8. Ride On – 4:47

The vinyl edition places tracks 1-4 on Side A and tracks 5-8 on Side B.

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“This one was difficult because we definitely wanted to do the band. It feels so right to do the band. It’s too early to make masks and outfits and be sure of that stuff. “

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Σtella!!!! The Greek indie/pop artist Σtella returned this week with a new single for Sub Pop, co-produced by the tasteful and well-traveled Rodaidh McDonald. “Belinda” is a beautiful piece of work, carefully crafted but heartfelt, with lots of smart production choices to accentuate the music’s power. Rafael Cohen of !!!, who worked on Σtella’s 2025 album Adagio, also contributes here.

The post Σtella – “Belinda” appeared first on Stereogum.