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Posted on May 26th 2026, 9:57a.m.

Avatar brought their Heavy Metal circus to The Dome at The Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford on their Don’t Go In The Forest Tour ’26. Opening the show were Frozen Soul and Fleshgod Apocalypse. The venue has a theatre and a “dome” area, which is standing room only and can hold up to 2,000 people. Tonight, we were in the dome.

Avatar – Fleshgod Apocalypse – Frozen Soul

The Dome At Toyota Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford – 19 May 2026

Words And Photography: Jody Wilk

Frozen Soul

Hailing from Texas, Frozen Soul were first to hit the stage with a short 30-minute set that got the fans moshing and crowd surfing right from the start.

This five-piece band is comprised of Chad Green on vocals, who has the look of a wrestler and the voice of a demon, Samantha Mobley kept the bass dark and heavy with Michael Munday and Chris Bonnar on guitar. Matt Dennard held it all together on the drums.

With their most recent video, Chaos Will Reign, released just two weeks ago and having over 100,000 views, I was expecting a killer show, and that is what we got. Frozen Soul are touring in support of their No Place Of Warmth album, which was released on 8 May via Century Media Records.

They played eight songs from of this album, two from of Crypt of Ice, and one off from Glacial Domination. Check out their website for tour dates starting up again in August.

Fleshgod Apocalypse

Fleshgod Apocalypse hit the stage at 8 pm, bringing a unique blend of death growls and opera-like vocals mixed up in a cauldron. Add to that stellar drumbeats, piano and killer guitar riffs, and you get the unique sound that is Fleshgod Apocalypse.

This Symphonic Death Metal band hails from Italy, formed in 2007, and will keep you in a sensory overload from start to finish. Frontman Francesco Paoli took to the front and centre of the stage on bass and lead vocals with Veronica Bordacchini on a riser behind him, singing operatic and clean vocals.

Francesco Ferrini rocked out on the piano, another anomaly for a Death Metal band, and Fabio Bartoletti on guitar and Eugene Ryabchenko round out this unique band.

They played Ode to Art (de’ Sepolcri), Minotaur (The Wrath of Poseidon), Sugar, and about five other songs. But one thing is for sure, the crowd wanted more. They certainly need more than a 30-minute set next time around.

Avatar

Swedish heavy metal band Avatar brought their unique brand of music to the stage at 9:00 pm to a venue packed with people ready for the main act.

Fresh off the stage of Sonic Temple Festival two days earlier, Avatar hit the stage with a slow, dark and theatrical start. The band was rolled out onto the stage on a riser in almost complete darkness with only some faint blue lights and lots of smoke.

Johannes Eckerstrom, shrouded in a cloak, carrying a medieval lamp, was followed by the two halves of the drum kit being wheeled in behind them. The song was Captain Goat from their current album and tour namesake, Don’t Go In The Forest. We were not allowed to photograph the first song because of the almost non-existent lighting.

With their heads banging and hair flying, and in stark contrast to the previous song, Silence In The Age Of Apes had the mosh pit roaring and the crowd surfers flying to some great Heavy Metal music. The show was just beginning, and I think these guys got the award for the most synchronised windmill hair spins, if there is such a thing.

With Johannes donning makeup and an outfit like a medieval court jester, and drummer John Alfredsson’s dark eyeliner and demonic stare, Avatar do not set out to perform a heavy set of Metal mayhem, as they are out to give you a full night of entertainment. 

With the album Don’t Go in the Forest having been released late last year, it was great to see that they played six songs from it throughout the night, mixed in with fan favourites.

The drum riser was configured so that it could be split down the centre and moved to the sides to change up the stage for different songs. The spotlight rigs behind the band were on wheels and would move around during some of the songs, adding to the circus-like atmosphere.

If you have never attended an Avatar show, you would not understand. One thing I did miss about this show was that they did not play Puppet Show, the song where Johannes goes out into the crowd and makes balloon animals and plays the trombone. 

A few of my favourite songs of the night were The Dirt I’m Buried In, Colossus, and Legend Of The King, where they bring a throne adorned with lion’s heads on the arms to the front and center of the stage, and guitarist Jonas Jarlsby takes a seat wearing a crown and gold jacket to play for the fans.

They finished their regular set with Tonight We Must Be Warriors, before beginning the encore set of three songs, which ended with Hail The Apocalypse. 

The Don’t Go In The Forest tour stop at The Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut was a huge success right from the start. With the Death Metal of Frozen Soul, to the melding of symphonic and growling vocals of Fleshgod Apocalypse, to the Heavy Metal circus that is Avatar, the fans were left tired and sweaty from moshing and crowd surfing.

They will be sure to return next time Avatar are in town. 

The post Avatar Unleash Their Heavy Metal Carnival At The Toyota Oakdale Theatre first appeared on MetalTalk – Heavy Metal News, Reviews and Interviews.

Iron Maiden have released a short new video documenting their recent show in Athens

Hard rock band Phantomy releases a new EP titled ‘First Takes’. The EP is digitally released on May 26th via Inverse Records. Listen to ‘First Takes‘ on streaming services – here In the summer of 2025, Phantomy emerged victorious from a battle of the bands competition after crushing their enemies. Little did they know… that they […]

The post Finnish Hard Rockers Phantomy Release New EP ‘First Takes’ appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

Following up on their 2022 debut release Rzeki Goryczy, Polish Black Metal outfit Piołun return with their second album Exolvuntur. “Stylistically, it is a continuation of Rzeki Goryczy,” Band founder Sorh says. “However, it presents Black Metal that is more dynamic and melodic.”

Piołun – Exolvuntur

Release Date: Out Now

Words: Jools Green

Sorh, the former guitarist with the Black Metal bands Blaze of Perdition and Oremus, and currently with Manbryne as XCIII, explains that “The album’s concept revolves around the cycle of life and death, referring to human transience in the face of ruthless nature.”

Exolvuntur manifests as “a thirty-seven-minute journey where the wildness of traditional Black Metal intertwines with nostalgia and melancholy.”

Musically, like its predecessor, Exolvuntur continues to be heavily inspired by the ’90s Scandinavian and Polish Black Metal, with Sorh emphasising that it’s delivered with “a refined, contemporary edge.” Overall, I think it is a very engaging listen.

As previously stated, Exolvuntur finds inspiration from the cycle of life and death, with each piece looking at the concept in a different way. Opening piece Manifest Kresu gives a bleak but somewhat honest view of the seemingly pointless circle of life, that the only purpose of being born is to die.

I love this quintessentially nihilistic Black Metal outlook. Musically, it bursts forth from a wall of riffs and drum battery into a cold, raw wave of engagingly undulating riffs with the vocals delivered with precise punch, the bleak riffing matching the bleak lyrics perfectly.

Sierpniowy Brzask, which translates as August Dawn, continues on the theme with a more darkly poetic approach. When the lyrics are translated, they make a fascinating read whilst still maintaining the poetic quality, albeit on the subject of reapers, sickles and fly-infested, stinking corpses among the field of grain.

To my mind, this is slightly reminiscent of Baudelaire. This bleak content is subtly reflected in the riffs and pace, and there is a more reflective tone to the vocal delivery, too. It is a great piece.

Czas reflects on what is left in this world after death, a headstone, bones and ashes and contemplates further on how time is the judge and executioner. Manifesting musically as an intense driver that runs away, rather like time and life, this is interspersed with slightly more reflective swathes that echo a hint of melody within the raw driving riffs and completed with a harsh vocal delivery.

Koło Życia takes another bleakly philosophical yet poetic look at the circle of life and death, and how from the dawn, death closes the circle of life. I particularly like how the harvest is collected with the reaping sickle. Also, heralding death is referenced. Musically, the opening pace reflects the daily drudge of life before opening out into a wall of frenzy, icy riffs that subtly mutate and evolve as they progress. The chant of “Biada! Biada!” rips into your very being. I love this piece. It is woefully expressive and hugely engaging.  

Moribunda looks at “the art of dying”, bidding farewell to life with hope of something after, but going to eternal darkness. I do like the mix of plodding doomy blackened riffs and more driving waves of icy riffing. The expressive protraction on the vocal delivery and the sudden dramatic stop at the end is impactful, making once again an excellent piece.

Próba Sznura lyrically delivers a descriptive, bleakly poetic look at death by hanging. As it opens and progresses, pounding rhythms meld with a hauntingly reflective melody alongside acidic, protracted vocals. I love the brief but slick switch in the second half to a clean melodic swathe. Overall, it is a powerful listen.

Final offering Hiems has a very icy Scandinavian feel to the riffing. It is dark, haunting, and reflective. The lyrics speak of ice, frost and bleak, barren landscapes and how nature kills and reclaims, closing this circle of life and death finally. A powerful and darkly poetic final piece.

Exolvuntur is a very deep, well-considered, and delivered album, both lyrically and musically. I am sure there is so much more hidden within the lyrics for native Polish speakers to discover and ponder. For the rest of us, it is a superb Piołun album to enjoy purely on its musical merits.

Released last Friday via Malignant Voices, Exolvuntur is available in CD, LP, and digital formats, along with T-shirts, and can be pre-ordered via Malignant Voices: http://sklep.malignantvoices.com (Poland) with Worldwide orders from https://malignantvoiceswebshop.bigcartel.com.

The post Piołun / Exolvuntur Is A Haunting Meditation On Life And Death first appeared on MetalTalk – Heavy Metal News, Reviews and Interviews.

Banks Arcade have just dropped their brand new single Rockstar.

Periphery – Pale White Dot (3DOT Records)

In a recent interview Misha Mansoor basically said that Periphery is a band the members play in for fun, they could not make money from being in it, in today’s climate. While this is a depressing statistic, especially for a band who are Grammy nominated it’s the reality faced by many bands of all sizes.

The silver lining for members of Periphery is that they used the technical expertise as musicians to branch out into other aspects to pay off their mortgages, mainly GetGood Drums series of plugins, Horizon Devices a pedal and effects company, a merch company and of course their record label 3DOT Recordings.

Always forward thinking in their music they are considered one of the foundations of that Djent explosion or around 15 years ago, creating forward thinking, intense and virtuoso music that owes just as much to free jazz as it does metal.

Their eighth album Pale White Dot could be the most personal, following on from 2023’s Djent Is Not A Genre, it’s got their signature experimental style all over it, every band member involved in the production, these songs are theirs alone the freedom of having their own label, production space and ultimately not being their primary source of income, there’s a freedom to do what they want musically without having to think about streams and radio play.

Obsession opens the album with slow burn the ‘plinky-plonky’ synths beeping and bubbling into the palm muted/fret sliding riffs as the cathartic vocals of Spencer Sotelo still have a vulnerability and aggression that has always brought a humanity to the mechanised assault of Periphery.

Sotelo is joined by Will Ramos on Subhuman for some extra rage, but the angst of their early work returns for Talk, which has some huge sub bass drops from Adam “Molly” Getgood, who handles mixing along with Mansoor, along with engineering, his rhythm section resolute with the mind blowing drum work of Matt Halpern, who can blast but does his best stuff on the crushing Mr God.

The blend of heaviness and electronic ambience is still perfectly mixed, Heaven On High and Unlocking being ideal examples, the latter especially while Blackwall goes full synthwave. This ambience and heaviness is driven by the guitar trio of Misha Mansoor, Jake Bowen and Mark Holcomb, interweaving and conflicting between each other, turning up the heavy for Malevolent and the anthemic Everyone Dies Alone.

While Pale White Dot won’t go double platinum and threaten Taylor Swift and the band are a voice for the state of the music scene today. The fact that Periphery still want to create new music for their fans shows dedication to their craft and perhaps a feeling of responsibility as one of the pillars of this technical style. 9/10

Boys From Heaven – The Wanderer (Frontiers Music Srl)

Some AOR now as Boys From Heaven return from, well I guess heaven, but more realistically Denmark. Having made a mark with previous releases they now sign to Frontiers music for their debut on the label.

The Wanderer is packed with nostalgic sounds done in a modern way, inspired by Toto (Say Goodbye), Journey (I’ll Wait) and even Mike & The Mechanics (I Will Never Let You Down), heavily leaning on synths/keys from Mads Noyé and soulful vocals from Chris Catton who also produced the record with Erik Martensson (Eclipse, W.E.T.) mixing and mastering with his modern retro magic.

The idea to lean more on the keys was deliberate for this album layering it with melodic hooks as the the guitars of Mads Schaumann bringing the choppy rhythms to the strutting Street Life, though he also gets a few leads, splitting them with Jonas Klintström Larsen’s saxophone, with Eileen again inspired by Toto built around Søren Viig Mathiesen’s drums.

The Wanderer announces Boys From Heaven to the Frontiers audience, their melodic rock excellence is obvious, so expect more from them with the labels backing. 8/10

Various Artists – XXX Anniversary Compilation (Frontiers Music Srl)

To celebrate their 30th anniversary as a label, president Serafino Perugino had the idea to show off just how important Frontiers Music has been in those three decades.

This compilation collates some new versions of classic tracks originally written by some of the biggest bands in the melodic rock sphere, released through the label, recorded here by the current crop of stars taking the vocals.

Produced by Aldo Lonobile, who can’t resist busting out the guitars alongside a studio band of shit hot Italian studio musicians featuring Alessandro Mammola (guitar), Andrea Arcangeli (bass), Cristian Timpanaro (bass), Alessio Lucatti & Antonio Agate (keys), with Alfonso Mocerino and Fortunato Grillo on drums.

In terms of songs, it’s going to make fans of this label jump for joy as James Robledo opens the record with Separate Ways from Journey, Cassidy Paris has Watch The Fire from W.E.T, there’s cuts from Harem Scarem, Eclipse, Nordic Union, Stryper, Allen/Lande and Pretty Maids, the latter with Robin McAuley on vocals.

For me the two best cuts are Sunstorm’s Edge Of Tomorrow with Ronnie Romero taking the mic, keeping the Rainbow link alive as the original singer was Joe Lynn Turner while Santiago Ramonda gets to walk on the shoes of Cov himself while singing Love Will Set You Free by Whitesnake.

The XXX Anniversary Compilation is a proper celebration of Europe’s premier melodic rock label, combining the history with the contemporary, it’s an album for the fans but they’re the reason why Frontiers are celebrating 30 years. 7/10

The Narrator – Phosphor (Nuclear Blast Records)

At nearly a decade old The Narrator have been loud members of the German metalcore since 2017, thrilling audiences with their stage performance, the realised their debut Lore in 2024 and now they follow it up with sophomore record Phosphor which is just as incendiary as it’s name suggests.

Dealing with themes of the closeness between hope and self-destruction, it’s a record full of rage and retribution, the clean/harsh dynamics used well to carry both the anthemic choruses and the massive riff grooves. Most modern metalcore is incredibly slick and Phosphor doesn’t change the format, the production gives it a contemporary muscularity.

Electronics bubbling under the surface against the sing along choruses and massive breakdowns of TN PFTS, while the influence of Nu Metal creeps in for Agnosia and the technicality increases on Stasis which features Sever from Avralize.

Phosphor burns strongly like it’s namesake, The Narrator telling a story that you may have heard but in a powerful way. 7/10

Blacktoothed have just released a killer new single.

Review: Devin Townsend – The Moth InsideOut Music – May 29th 2026 Reviewer – Chris O’Connor Devin Townsend: genius. That word is often overused, but in his case it is not only apt, but almost an understatement. Hevy Devy is an artist with seemingly endless ideas flowing through his mind, whose music regularly leaves listeners […]

The post Review: Devin Townsend – The Moth appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

Utica, NY-based slam outfit The Bleeding Oracle premiere a new single titled "Shotgun Amputation", streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below. Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com