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Nothing has so thoroughly highlighted his indefatigable petulance.

Alex Kilroy has announced a new EP, New Shade of Blue, due October 23. The Transylvania-born guitarist and singer-songwriter has also released the project’s lead single, “Crossroads On My Mind.”

The EP follows Kilroy’s debut album, Break My Chains, which was released in May. While that album incorporated blues rock, Southern influences, gospel, pop and melodic songwriting, New Shade of Blue moves toward a more traditional blues sound.

“Crossroads On My Mind” draws heavily from Kilroy’s own journey from Romania to the United States. The song reflects on his childhood in Transylvania, years spent playing local clubs, difficulties obtaining a visa and the support of his parents as he pursued a career in music.

Kilroy grew up in Bistrița, Romania, in a musical family and initially studied classical piano. His direction changed after his father imported a car from the United States that contained a copy of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Live at Montreux.

Watching Vaughan perform “Texas Flood” made an immediate impression on Kilroy.

“I could feel what he was feeling,” Kilroy recalls. “It clicked. That’s me. That’s what I want to do.”

His father challenged him to learn three Stevie Ray Vaughan songs note-for-note during a single summer before allowing him to leave piano behind and focus on guitar. Kilroy eventually fronted an SRV tribute band that toured Europe and opened for Lucky Peterson at Romania’s Sighișoara Blues Festival while still a teenager.

His father also encouraged him to develop his own musical identity.

“You can’t be the next Stevie Ray Vaughan. He already did that.”

At age 20, Kilroy raised money through wedding gigs and competed on The Voice Romania before earning a scholarship opportunity for Berklee College of Music’s summer program. He later booked his own performance at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago.

Visa complications sent Kilroy back to Romania for several months before he was eventually able to return to the United States. He later settled in Nashville, working gigs and sessions before relocating to Florida and connecting with management partners Clyde Harris and Pat Armstrong.

Those experiences eventually led to Break My Chains, produced with Tres Sasser, mixed by Joe Costa in Nashville and mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound. The album included its title track as well as Kilroy’s original “Let The Good Times Roll,” featuring Vince Gill.

With New Shade of Blue, Kilroy is putting a greater emphasis on traditional blues phrasing, grooves and guitar playing while drawing from his own experiences.

The project also arrives following the death of Kilroy’s father, Iulian, earlier this year. A guitarist who later moved into artist management, Iulian was one of Kilroy’s earliest musical influences and encouraged his son to respect the blues tradition without simply imitating his heroes.

That influence is reflected throughout the new project, particularly on “Crossroads On My Mind,” which connects Kilroy’s musical roots with his journey from Romania to the United States.

The seven-track EP also includes renditions of Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City” and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Life By The Drop.” Kilroy recorded the latter on August 27, 2026, in memory of Vaughan’s life and legacy.

New Shade of Blue Track Listing

1. Crossroads On My Mind
2. New Shade Of Blue
3. Sacred Ground
4. Sacred Ground (Reprise)
5. Make It Stop Raining
6. Living For The City
7. Life By The Drop

The post Alex Kilroy announces “New Shade of Blue” appeared first on Blues Rock Review.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DROID KILLER ANNOUNCES NEW FULL-LENGTH ALBUM 2030 JIHAD
Antarctica-Based Sci-Fi Metal Cult Act Unleashes Title Track Ahead of May 2027 Album Release
FFO: Megadeth, White Zombie, Six Feet Under
Black Halo
The new era of Droid Killer begins.
Antarctica-based Sci-Fi Metal force Droid Killer has officially announced its highly anticipated new full-length album, 2030 JiHad , the epic sequel to the band’s 2023 debut album, The Terminator vs. The Preacher . The magnum opus is set for release May 21, 2027 via Black Halo , with the album’s explosive title track, “2030 JiHad,” available now following its release on September 11, 2026.
“The new era of Droid Killer begins! Droid Killer announces full length album 2030 JiHad, the highly anticipated sequel to The Terminator vs. The Preacher. The Droid Killer magnum opus 2030 Jihad is coming! Welcome to The Apocalypse.”
Droid Killer is the definitive Sci-Fi Metal experience, based in Antarctica and chronicling a human/machine war apocalypse in real time. As the glaciers of Antarctica melt, something ancient and imprisoned beneath the subterranean ice is unleashed. Humanity has become enslaved by its own technology, and resistance rises as soulless death machines wage war against organic life.
With 2030 JiHad , Droid Killer takes the saga deeper into its apocalyptic universe.
The story began with the band’s debut EP, The Hive , introducing a grim future where demonic machines begin cleansing the world of human life. That story expanded with Droid Killer’s 2023 debut full-length, The Terminator vs. The Preacher , which explored the origins of the machine war and followed The Preacher as he travels through time from the Old West into the future to confront the machines.
Now, 2030 JiHad moves the story onto the battlefield of the future.
The remnants of conscious, living humanity fight for their very existence on a death-star planet where mind-controlled zombies wage war against conscious human life and artificial intelligence feeds upon human souls. Each Droid Killer full-length album is accompanied by a companion Sci-Fi novel , expanding the band’s mythology beyond the music and further developing its apocalyptic universe.
At its core, Droid Killer chronicles the timeless battle between good and evil, life and death, the synthetic and the organic , while exploring the mythology of creation rising against its creator. The band’s music serves as the soundtrack to a world where technology, prophecy, humanity and destruction collide.
Musically, Droid Killer describes its sound as Death Metal / Doom Metal / Life Metal , combining a distinctive “electric voodoo” guitar style with Death Metal that moves like classic rock and the crushing weight of Doom Metal. The result is a future-primitive sound built around molten riffs, subterranean arena anthems and a relentless celebration of the human spirit.
The production team behind 2030 JiHad includes Brian J. Sienkevich on mixing and production, with legendary mastering engineer Ted Jensen handling mastering. The album artwork was created by Zachary Jackson Brown , photography comes from Trevor Bexon , and the Droid Killer logo was created by Ross Sewage .
2030 JiHad arrives May 21, 2027 , with the companion novel and merchandise also slated for May 2027.
The title track “2030 JiHad” is available now.
I AM HUMAN!
Droid Killer is your lifeline during the human/machine war apocalypse as the future unfolds.
2030 JIHAD

Droid Killer
Black Halo
Release Date: May 21, 2027
Title Track: “2030 JiHad” – Out Now
2030 JiHad by Droid Killer

Connect: https://linktr.ee/droidkiller
Contact: droidkillermilitia@disciples.com

Duncan Sheik has died. The New Jersey-born singer-songwriter, best known for the pop-rock hit “Barely Breathing” and the musical Spring Awakening, passed away last night from organ failure. “Duncan was a father, husband, son, brother, and friend,” reads a statement shared on his social media. “He will be remembered for his sensitivity, wit, inteligence, and depth of spirit he brought to those who knew and loved him.” Sheik was 56.

The post Duncan Sheik Dead At 56 appeared first on Stereogum.

This is their new single, called Grandiosity. It features a super catchy chorus, a very powerful rhythm section fantastic riffs. It’s energetic and no frills. Lyrically, the song is “about someone slowly falling apart and desperately hoping to be seen before it’s too late. It’s a cry for help, connection, and someone who won’t walk away”, says the band. It’s very cool one and amazingly performed by the band. Give it a go by clicking on the Spotify player below and remember to follow Cult Media on social media, if you like what you hear. 

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In another, better, universe, Moonspell would be absolutely massive. Granted, they’ve not done badly for themselves – five number one records and a Gold Certification in their home country of Portugal for 2006’s Memorial – but as a band who’ve been namechecked by HIM as an influence and were part of the 90s goth metal boom, they certainly deserve better than the smattering of support slots that’s consistuted their UK tours this decade thus far.

So, we’ve sacked the UK off and come to Portugal to see them on home turf. Ish. Playing up the road from their homebase of Lisbon in the mountainous region of Sintra, Moonspell are playing the first gig of its kind in the grounds of a stately home. There’s a couple thousand fans milling around, only its all gone tits up.

Partway through opener Cross Your Heart, everything cuts out and everything is plunged into darkness. It takes a good 35 minutes before Moonspell return to the stage – we’re later told one of the production hires for the gig had inadvertently plugged a light into an amp, causing a blowout – but thankfully the crowd is an eager (if somewhat captive) audience and grumbling is kept to a bare minimum. When they do return, Moonspell show what they’re made of.

Portugal’s biggest metal band, they take to the occasion with a sense of pomp and theatricality that is begging for TikTok take off. Hey, if it can happen for Crowbar, it can happen for anyone. Not that there’s any novelty production: the papier-mâché bats have been left in the belfry and Moonspell are letting their songs do the talking, reaching an appropriately vampiric, otherworldly peak on the likes of Mephisto and Vampiria. Playing new album Far From God in its entirety, they chuck in the vast majority of 1996’s Irreligious (only intro Peverse… Almost Religious and dancey interlude Subversion skipped) as an added bonus.

Early on, new songs Cross Your Heart and Far From God prove fine additions to the Moonspell catalogue, easily as hooky and slick as fan-favourites like Opium or Alma Mater (which thankfully gets an inclusion in the set, even with the focus on other records). Elsewhere, there’s the stomping heft of For A Taste Of Eternity that hints towards their extreme metal past, and even a headlong plunge into 80s synthpop territory on For The Love Of Mortals and Raven Claws, the latter seeing vocalist Mariangela Demurtas hop on for the most satisfying new romantics revival this side of Paradise Lost’s Smalltown Boy cover.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of Quinta da Ribafria and with a light show that would do Jeff Wayne proud, the show has a genuine sense of occasion. Moonspell might still be goth metal’s best kept secret, but for one night in Portugal, they feel like the kings of lusty, dark allure.

Moonspell setlist @ Quinta da Ribafria, Sintra September 12 2026

1. Cross Your Heart
2. Far From God
3. Biblical
4. Opium
5. Awake!
6. For A Taste Of Eternity
7. The Great Wolf In The Sky
8. Your Promise Of Light
9. For The Love Of Mortals
10. Ruin & Mortals
11. A Poisoned Gift
12. Raven Claws
13. Mephisto
14. Herr Spiegelmann
15. Our Freedom To Fall
16. Reconquista
17. Vampiria
18. Alma Mater
19. Full Moon Madness

Testament singer Chuck Billy has confirmed that a remixed version of the band’s 1990 album Souls of Black is in the works and on track for release in 2027. In a new interview with Metal Express Radio (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Billy explained the background: “Me and (Testament guitarist) Eric (Peterson) took back all the Atlantic records, the six records we did with Atlantic. Now we took them back. Next year we get The Ritual (1992) back, and a few years later we’ll get Low (1994) back. But right now we have The Legacy (1987), The New Order (1988), Practice What You Preach (1989), and now Souls of Black.

“And we remastered all the others — The Legacy, The New Order, and Practice — because we couldn’t find the two-inch master reels, so we just did a remastering. But for Souls Of Black, we had all the tracks, so we went in there and remixed it, and it sounds great. I can’t wait for people to hear it. It sounds so good. Really modern sound and raw. It sounds good.”

Asked what led to the original version of Souls of Black sounding the way it did, Billy said: “Well, we put our faith in the producers, engineers, people mixing it. We were young, and we put a record out every year and toured. We didn’t know the studio or any of that stuff. We were just writing songs and recording, so we left it up to the people in charge. In the end, we wanted it to sound better, but we didn’t know how to make it sound better.

“It took us 35, 40 years later for us to get in a studio and put up the tracks again and go, ‘Oh, God, that sounds bad. Let’s fix that.’ So now that’s what we’ve done, and it just sounds… I hear the songs way different now, because you can really hear the guitars are so heavy and the vocals aren’t all wet and reverbed out. We pulled a lot of stuff back and made it really raw and hit you a lot harder. So, yeah, it’s way better.”

Asked whether he was tempted to re-sing any vocal tracks to improve them, Billy said: “I thought I would. But I was very happy with all the vocals. It was actually a very strong performance on all the tracks. There was no… Nothing, when we listened to it, said, ‘Oh, oh, I wanna change that,’ or, ‘Oh, I don’t like that.’

“All of it was… I had a good performance on that record, so that helped. I didn’t have to fix anything.”

On the release timeline, Billy commented: “That’ll be next year sometime. Right now we’re still pushing the original version with Nuclear Blast. And then next year, once that’s done and we’ve got really cool packaging put together, that’ll come out next year.”

Souls Of Black was originally released in October 1990 via Atlantic Records, making it the band’s fourth studio album. Testament and guitarist Eric Peterson reclaimed their first four Atlantic albums — The Legacy, The New Order, Practice What You Preach, and Souls of Black — and entered a new partnership with Nuclear Blast in 2023 to reissue the catalog in the United States. The band’s latest album, Para Bellum, was released last October via Nuclear Blast.

The post TESTAMENT’s CHUCK BILLY Announces Remixed Version of “Souls of Black” Coming in 2027 appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

(written by Islander) “[M]erging the ferocious thrash attack of prime Kreator with the soaring melodies of Nevermore and Vektor.” That’s a very quick introduction to the sound of the Italian band Adversor and their forthcoming fourth album This Mortal Coil, which is set for release on November 6th by Selvajaria Records. But we have a […]

The post AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ADVERSOR — “SHATTERED VISIONS” appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.

Colin Moulding is not the frontman of the UK psychedelic new wave cult heroes XTC; that’s Andy Partridge. But Moulding has played bass, and sometimes sung lead and written songs, for the band since they first formed in 1972, and he’s responsible for some of their best-known songs, including “Generals And Majors” and “Making Plans For Nigel.” Moulding has also been in XTC side projects the Dukes Of Straosphear and TC&I. But Moulding does not make fully solo music very often. Today, he puts out the second solo release of his decades-long career.

The post XTC’s Colin Moulding Shares Second-Ever Solo Release <em>Want It Bad (The Pep Talks And Playing Fields Of Old England)</em> appeared first on Stereogum.

Album Review: Crown Magnetar – The Hollowing Of Godflesh

Reviewed by Oli Gonzalez

Some bands like to play the long game with their releases. Some like to have a more regular release cadence. Then there’s Crown Magnetar! The dust barely settling since their blistering EP “Punishment” dropped in early 2025, the Colorado deathcore bruisers are back with a full length effort “The Hollowing Of Godflesh”. All part of the band’s commitment to release new music every calendar year! In today’s age, that’s arguably how you stay relevant! They tour hard as well, and come to the UK and Europe this autumn alongside Archspire and The Zenith Passage. So, let’s have a sneak preview of what we can expect on this tour and on the 25th September release day.

Going under the deathcore banner, this is in many ways everything you’d expect from a band in this genre. Especially when they drop the hammer with the filthiest of slams during ‘Godkiller’ or the album’s title track. Yep, this is going to cause carnage when they come to Europe this autumn! The band draw influence from bands they consider to be the OGs; Suffocation and Dying Fetus, bands who ‘slam as hard as they shred’, whilst vocalist Dan Tucker cites brutal death metal acts like Putridity and Brodequin as inspiration. These influences are easy to see as “The Hollowing Of Godflesh” is as muscular as it is devastating! Examine ‘Dead Crown’ for a lesson in brutality with some disgusting guitar tones piercing through the mix!

The use of backing tracks adds extra dimension to the music, but merely as an enhancement and not being the melodic focal point, in the same way a band like Shadow Of Intent would do. Take ‘Desecration Infinite’ as an example of layering extra atmosphere but not taking the limelight through background synths.

Though in many ways, they hold an ace up their sleeve that separates them from their genre peers. See, many deathcore bands fall into the trap of dropping 10 ton slams every minute and lie to themselves by calling it ‘heavy’. You need something else. Crown Magnetar has that. They have a more technically refined edge, mostly due to the recruitment of Rob Maramonte. Having spent time in Fallujah and The Zenith Passage, you can see some passages being executed in odd time signatures whilst keeping crazy mechanical flow and tightness, whilst not sacrificing that sheer atomic heaviness. ‘Domination’ allows Crown Magnetar to flex their technical muscles, whilst ‘Torture Engine’ demonstrates some advanced shredding!

Look, there’s been some heavy releases this year, especially from the likes of Ov Sulfur, A Night In Texas, and Ingested. “The Hollowing Of Godflesh” ranks right up there with the most destructive releases for 2026! A band still young in the grand scheme of things but who are beginning to realise their terrifying potential!

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The post Album Review: Crown Magnetar – The Hollowing Of Godflesh appeared first on The Razor's Edge.