The Toronto death metal band Tomb Mold has quite a reputation for pushing the boundaries of their genre; their album The Enduring Spirit was one of our favorites of 2023. Even as that band thrives, the members of Tomb Mold have other things going on. Guitarist Derrick Vella makes dreamy, proggy, spaced-out doom as one…
The post Tomb Mold Members Announce Debut Math-Rock Album As Daydream Plus appeared first on Stereogum.
(written by Islander) Nearly 20 years into their career, which in the context of metal is akin to a geologic epoch, the Danish band Crocell prove through their latest album that they are at the peak of their powers rather than on a downhill slide. They have used their accumulated experience to create a harrowing […]
The post AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CROCELL — “SWARM OF INSECTS” appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.
The long awaited tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of “Mandylion” finally hit Trezzo Sull’Adda on a hot summery day, in a venue that was packed to the gills with nostalgics of the band’s iconic gothic style. They were not disappointed, as they lived a magical trip down memory lane.
LIZZARD
The ones who were lucky enough to attend the supporting act’s set can testify that Lizzard were the perfect choice to warm up the crowd and introduce the dreamy atmosphere that was about to follow. The French trio, featuring the charismatic Mathieu Ricou on vocals and guitars, the energetic Katy Elwell on drums and William Knox on the bass delighted us with a sophisticated alternative rock mixed with progressive elements, achieved through clean, expressive vocals, stratified guitar loops and energetic rhythms. The 45-minutes-long show included songs from the band’s five albums, showcasing the diversity of their songwriting.
Setlist:
THE GATHERING
After 18 years since talented von Giersbergen left the band, old fans of the Dutch rock band could finally see the original lineup on stage, and with the best possible outcome. The dive into the past began with “Mandylion“, the title track, that quickly merged with the popular “Eléanor“, setting the pace for a glorious show. Graphical, hypnotic videos on the background enriched an immersive experience guided by the singer’s enchanting voice, who didn’t age a bit and sounded even more fresh and captivating on every passage, especially on “Fear of the Sea” and “In Motion #1“. The memorable keyboards by Frank Boeijen, the strong guitar riffs of René Rutten and the solid bass lines performed by Hugo Prinsen Geerligs recreated the perfect 90s doom sound that stands the test of time and that can be enjoyed even by new fans. The second guitarist, Jelmer Wiersma, took part in all “Mandylion’”s tracks and “On Most Surfaces“, “Analog Park” and the beloved “Saturnine” that made up the encore together with “Travel“. The star of the whole show was of course Anneke, who was visibly emotional in seeing the crowd happily joining her in singing the airy, melancholic vocal lines, and who jumped and headbang like in the old times, especially on the last songs.
Listening live to a band that has been around for some decades, two things stand out the most: the authenticity and the genuine interest in experimenting for the sake of art in itself. How many bands can explore multiple universes in a single song like The Gathering, nowadays? Is it just a feeling of us aging Millennials and Gen X music lovers, or a product of how society evolved through consumerism and social media? We will probably never know, but we can always be thankful for the masterpieces from the past that we are still allowed to appreciate, even more when they’re impeccably performed live.
Setlist:
Encore:
The post The Gathering arrive in Italy to celebrate the anniversary of “Mandilyon” – live report of their show in Milan first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.
Maynard James Keenan tends to keep all his bands sliding in and out of frame. He released a new Puscifer album this year, occasioning a We’ve Got A File On You interview here at Stereogum. Tool just headlined Sonic Temple last weekend. But until today, we haven’t heard much from A Perfect Circle in recent…
The post A Perfect Circle – “Starless” appeared first on Stereogum.
In April 1979, New York punk-scene weirdos the Cramps played at a Washington, DC venue called the LBJ Club, and that must’ve been some show. The Cramps hadn’t released their debut album yet, but they were already pioneering a gothy, theatrical, knowingly kitschy take on rockabilly. The crowd was full of teenagers like young Ian MacKaye and young Henry Garfield, and they were inspired by what they saw. Pretty soon afterwards, MacKaye started his band Teen Idles, and Garfield started his band State Of Alert. Those bands didn’t last long, but then MacKaye formed Minor Threat, while Garfield changed his name to Henry Rollins and became the longest-tenured singer of Black Flag. The DC punk scene evolved a sound that had basically nothing in common with the Cramps, but that show was a major early flashpoint that’s since been acclaimed in about a million scene histories.
The post Ian MacKaye & Henry Rollins Releasing Shelved 1977 Cramps Album Produced By Alex Chilton appeared first on Stereogum.
After years of silence, the “supergroup” enigma known as A Perfect Circle has officially re-emerged. Just days before launching their first UK and European tour in nearly a decade, the band has unleashed a haunting new single titled “Starless.” Featuring the powerhouse lineup of Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel, and the return of studio drummer Josh Freese, the track marks a seismic shift in the alternative metal landscape for 2026.
With Keenan pulling “double duty” alongside Puscifer for a massive global run, the release of “Starless” signals that the wait for new APC material is finally, and spectacularly, over.
Recorded at Billy Howerdel’s Lankershim Ranch Studio in Studio City, “Starless” is the product of a rapid creative burst. While many APC tracks are famously “massaged for years,” Howerdel noted that this particular cut took shape quickly, “as if it had been there all along.”
The track features a “dream team” of engineering talent:
Maynard James Keenan, known for his cryptic and often playful media presence, admitted he is “absolutely chuffed” to debut the track live. “Songs always take on an expanded personality once we start playing them live,” Keenan shared, hinting that the versions fans hear at the O2 Academy Brixton next week may differ from the studio recording.
This summer marks the first time A Perfect Circle has touched down in Europe and the UK since 2018. The tour kicks off with a massive two-night stand in London before hitting major festivals like Hellfest, Rock am Ring, and Copenhell.
Following the European run, the momentum doesn’t stop. In a grueling display of vocal endurance, Keenan will perform back-to-back sets with both A Perfect Circle and Puscifer across South America, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii this winter.
Who played drums on the new single “Starless”? The legendary Josh Freese handled studio drumming duties. While Freese is currently a member of Nine Inch Nails and Foo Fighters, his history with APC remains a cornerstone of the band’s sound.
Where can I buy the “Starless” 7-inch vinyl? A limited-edition 7″ pressing of the new single has been launched via Revolver, expected to become an immediate collector’s item.
Is Maynard James Keenan still in Tool? Yes. Despite his heavy 2026 schedule with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, Keenan remains the frontman of Tool. This triple-threat activity is a rarity even for his high standards of productivity.
STAY LOUD: Catch the full breakdown of the “Starless” lyrics and the Brixton opening night setlist on the Loaded Radio Daily Podcast. Visit LoadedRadio.com or download our free app now.
A Perfect Circle has released their first new single in years, “Starless,” ahead of their 2026 European tour. The track was produced by Billy Howerdel and features drummer Josh Freese. Maynard James Keenan will perform the track live for the first time in London next week before embarking on a global tour pulling double duty with Puscifer.
Is “Starless” the lead-in to a full A Perfect Circle album, or is Maynard just teasing us while he balances his Tool and Puscifer empires? Let us know in the comments.
The post “Absolutely Chuffed”: Maynard James Keenan and A Perfect Circle Shock Fans with Surprise Single “Starless” appeared first on Loaded Radio.
The story of this interview, most appropriately, begins during the 2025 U.S. co-headlining tour featuring West Coast wonders the Melvins and U.K. legends Napalm Death. Editor-in-chief Albert Mudrian, after attending the Baltimore stop, sent Decibel’s co-nerds on official business to the Philly date the following night. While not exactly the target audience for our plucky column, our fearless leader clocked that guitarist John Cooke’s wardrobe would be of interest to us. Upon arriving at the venue, Napalm’s tour manager and longtime friend of the magazine was kind enough to set up a brief chat with the six-stringer before doors opened to the show. A short wait later, our man of the hour appeared in a well-worn Time Crisis shirt, immediately cementing his spot as a future guest without uttering a word.
Fast forward to 2026 and the unexpected collaboration of Napalm Death and the Melvins has manifested in the form of full-length LP Savage Imperial Death March. The album offers both bands the opportunity to push whatever remaining sonic boundaries remain for each other and, more importantly, the chance for us to finally link up with our new Namco-loving pal. Though his appearance in the Kill Feed arcade has been a long time coming—our fateful meeting at Union Transfer in Philadelphia happened over a year ago—the conversation picked up right where it left off without skipping a blastbeat. As Napalm Death is currently ripping through another trek across North America, learn all about Cooke’s adventures retro game hunting in Japan, his love of single-player games, the band’s surprising connections to the gaming world and much more. Who knows—maybe Napalm Death will one day return to our neon lights.
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The post KILL FEED 084: John Cooke of NAPALM DEATH Prefers a Solo XP Grind appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
There are certain guarantees in life and one of those certainties is that whenever you hear new music from Elder, you’d better be prepared to open your mind and get ready for an expansive trip. It’s one thing that the quartet do better than most bands, and as soon as you listen to opening track “Sigil To Ruin” you are instantly reminded of their ability to create shifting soundscapes and complex compositions.
It’s a bright sunny day in Cheshire as I listen to their new album “Through Zero” for the umpteenth time, but its not quite the right environment, especially when you listen to the shimmering excellence of “Capture Release”. You need to be sat outside as twilight approaches, and immerse yourself fully in their stunning music, as it is truly captivating and illuminating, with so much happening across the almost nine-minute journey.
I first saw Elder in Manchester back in November 2023, when I reviewed their live experience and they gave the impression that they were having one big jam session that we were invited to watch. And it’s this feeling that they’ve carried over into the six new songs, as the album title track, which describes the property of a frequency being able to pass through zero point and continue into the negative, further demonstrates their progressive patterns, hypnotic grooves whilst highlighting their expertise in the world of cinematic psychedelic rock.
As guitarist Nick DiSalvo says, “the songs on the album explore related themes that reflect my own observations and personal philosophy” but the band are continually pushing their creative boundaries further than ever. This is one group that refuses to stagnate and you get a different approach on “Strata” as the soft, almost comforting tones feel like a warm embrace. There’s an explosion that drives the song, as the keyboard sounds from Mike Risberg drift in and out of the rhythm, as the guitars from him and DiSalvo create magical melodies in that most ethereal of ways.
I’m never bored when listening to their music, as they make ten/eleven-minute songs that somehow feel as if they are over far too quickly. “Sight Unseen” offers a different approach, as they slowly build up the atmosphere with progressive guitars and more psychedelic musings. It’s a moving melody that combines well with the layered keyboard sound as Georg Edert then brings the drums alive with a crushing cymbal sound. They get more aggressive on the final two minutes, as the music comes alive with more blistering guitars before it drifts off elegantly into a different stratosphere.
Final track “Blighted Age” is by the far the shortest, at just under six minutes and begins with a gentle vocal from DiSalvo over a textured rhythm, before it slows down further allowing the guitar to dominate the space. It’s as if they are gently guiding the listener towards the end as the music plateaus towards the finish and ends a stunning return to form by the band.
The post Album Review: Elder – Through Zero appeared first on The Razor's Edge.
Edgar Allan Poe repeatedly returned to the image of beautiful dead women throughout his poetry and Gothic fiction. From Annabel Lee to Ligeia, Poe transformed grief, mourning, and tragic beauty into some of the darkest emotional landscapes in literary history. To modern readers, Edgar Allan Poe’s obsession with beautiful dead women can feel unsettling. Yet beneath the ravens, candlelight, funeral silence, and fading portraits lies something painfully human: the fear of loss, memory, and love disappearing into darkness forever.
Poe openly addressed this fascination in his essay The Philosophy of Composition. He famously declared that “the death of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.” The statement shocked readers in the nineteenth century and continues provoking debate today. However, reducing Edgar Allan Poe’s beautiful dead women to simple morbidity ignores the profound grief that shaped his emotional world. Death surrounded Poe constantly, transforming beauty into something fragile, unreachable, and eternally haunted by memory.
“The death, then, of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.”
Poe’s relationship with death began early. His mother died when he was still a child, leaving behind emotional wounds that never fully disappeared. Throughout his life, illness and mourning repeatedly entered his world, shaping the melancholic atmosphere surrounding his fiction. Unlike many writers who approached death abstractly, Poe experienced grief as something intimate and deeply personal.
This emotional devastation appears throughout poems such as Annabel Lee and The Raven. Love survives beyond burial while memory becomes psychologically consuming. Poe’s narrators rarely accept loss peacefully. Instead, they remain trapped inside endless mourning, wandering through dim chambers filled with fading portraits, candlelight, black drapery, and the lingering presence of the dead.
In Edgar Allan Poe: Genius or Madness?, we explored how obsession and emotional instability constantly shaped Poe’s imagination. Poe’s mourning heroines were not simply Gothic decoration. They reflected an overwhelming fear of emotional disappearance and the painful fragility of love itself.
No relationship influenced Poe more deeply than his marriage to Virginia Clemm. She became both companion and emotional refuge during some of the darkest years of his life. However, Virginia suffered from tuberculosis for years before her death, forcing Poe to watch helplessly as illness slowly consumed the woman he loved.
That prolonged suffering left visible scars across his writing. Many of his Gothic heroines feel suspended between life and death, fading like ghosts beneath dim candlelight while grieving narrators desperately attempt to preserve their memory. Death inside Poe’s fiction rarely arrives suddenly. Instead, it lingers slowly through silence, illness, winter atmosphere, and emotional decay.
This tragic experience transformed mourning into one of the defining emotional landscapes of Poe’s universe. Beauty becomes terrifying precisely because it cannot survive time. Love becomes painful because memory eventually threatens to fade into darkness.
If you enjoy Gothic horror, psychological thrillers, noir atmosphere, and dark cinematic music inspired by Poe’s emotional universe, explore our official Edgar Allan Poets playlist.
Poe understood something central to Gothic literature and Dark Romanticism: beauty becomes emotionally powerful precisely because it fades. His heroines often appear trapped between memory and reality, presence and absence, life and death. This haunting ambiguity gave Poe’s stories their dreamlike atmosphere and deeply influenced melancholic Gothic literature for generations afterward.
Characters such as Ligeia, Morella, and Berenice reflect Poe’s fascination with resurrection, decay, obsession, and tragic beauty. These women rarely function as ordinary characters. Instead, they become symbols of unattainable perfection and emotional memory. Their deaths create psychological collapse within the narrators who survive them.
Poe’s universe often feels emotionally frozen in mourning. Time itself seems to stop after loss occurs. The dead continue haunting reality through memory, guilt, and obsession. In many stories, remembrance becomes more terrifying than death itself.
Modern psychology offers another perspective on Poe’s recurring themes. Grief can distort memory, idealize the past, and transform emotional pain into fixation. Poe’s narrators frequently become consumed by remembrance, unable to separate love from psychological collapse. Their mourning evolves into paranoia, hallucination, and existential despair.
Stories such as Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher demonstrate this psychological instability powerfully. Death never feels entirely final within Poe’s imagination. Instead, it lingers through shadows, silence, decaying rooms, and emotionally haunted spaces where the living cannot escape memory.
Poe understood something deeply uncomfortable about grief: the fear of forgetting can become stronger than death itself. His characters cling desperately to memory because memory becomes the final remaining connection to lost beauty. This emotional terror still resonates today because mourning remains one of humanity’s most universal experiences.
For more historical insight into Poe’s life and literary legacy, you can also explore The Poe Museum.
Poe’s mourning heroines eventually shaped far more than literature alone. Their emotional darkness influenced Gothic cinema, Victorian mourning aesthetics, Dark Romantic art, noir storytelling, and modern melancholic culture. The image of the pale woman surrounded by ravens, candles, black lace, and funeral atmosphere still dominates Gothic visual identity today.
Modern filmmakers such as Tim Burton continue drawing from the emotional landscape Poe helped create. His mixture of tragic beauty, romantic melancholy, and psychological darkness remains deeply visible throughout Gothic cinema and dark fantasy storytelling.
In Edgar Allan Poe and Noir Rock, we explored how Poe’s emotional universe still shapes music and cinematic atmosphere today. His imagination transcended traditional horror because it transformed private grief into universal emotional symbolism.
Poe also deeply influenced European symbolism and decadent literature. In How Poe Inspired Baudelaire and Les Fleurs du Mal, we examined how French poets embraced Poe’s fascination with tragic beauty, mortality, and eternal mourning. His emotional darkness crossed languages and cultures because it touched fears that still haunt humanity today.
Modern horror often focuses on violence, monsters, or apocalyptic destruction. Poe approached fear differently. His horror emerged from emotional collapse, memory, grief, and the terrifying persistence of loss. He understood that some wounds never fully disappear. Certain loves remain psychologically alive forever.
This is why Edgar Allan Poe still feels disturbingly modern. His stories are not merely Gothic fantasies about death. They are intimate explorations of mourning, loneliness, obsession, Victorian grief, and the desperate human need to preserve beauty against time itself.
Long after the candles burn out and the ravens disappear into darkness, Poe’s mourning still lingers through literature like a ghost refusing to die.
If you enjoy Gothic literature, noir atmosphere, melancholic cinema, and music inspired by Poe’s emotional darkness, explore our official Edgar Allan Poets playlist.
The post Why Beautiful Dead Women Haunted Edgar Allan Poe’s Imagination appeared first on Edgar Allan Poets – Noir Rock Band.