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Dead of Winter Fest: The Trilogy has been and gone, but the stench and the memories from this one are going to stick around for a long while. Thankfully, there weren’t any tricky weather conditions to deal with this time, which allowed Kendo and Kwando from BrainBath to run a flawless festival. They managed to … Continue reading Dead of Winter 3 Video Interview: Toxaemia

Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda have confirmed that former Skid Row vocalist Sebastian Bach will front Twisted Sister for a select run of dates this fall. The band was quick to clarify that the appearances won’t interfere with Bach‘s existing or upcoming solo touring commitments.

A short clip of Bach in rehearsal with the band has already surfaced online.

The announcement comes roughly a month after Twisted Sister scrapped its 2026 reunion run entirely. On February 5, the band revealed that Dee Snider had resigned due to health issues, forcing the cancellation of all scheduled dates from April through early summer.

Snider addressed the question of a replacement on a recent episode of the “Beardo & Weirdo” podcast, hosted by Five Finger Death Punch bassist Chris Kael and comedian Craig Gass. When asked whether Twisted Sister could carry on without him, Dee was straightforward: “I hope so. I believe there’s gotta be somebody out there who can kick ass.”

When pressed on whether he had anyone specific in mind, Snider reached back about a decade to explain the situation’s irony:

“All right. Okay. Back it up. Back it up. So cut back to, we’re still reunited — it’s, like, 2014, something like that, and we only do, like, 20 shows a year, and they’re headlining festivals, whatever. And we realized that if somebody got sick or had a problem at home and they couldn’t do a show, it would be a great loss since it was one of 20 shows for the year. So we said, ‘Listen, let’s all find a stand-in guy who will do the job in case we can’t make a show.’”

Dee recalled going directly to Bach with the offer — and getting turned down flat:

“I was trying to get someone to replace me, in case we can’t make a show. And I called him Sebastian Bach. I was, like, dude, ‘Will you be the fill-in?’ And he goes, ‘No way.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean no way?’ ‘Dude, that’s a thankless job. No, I’m not standing in for you. Never.’ I’m, like, you’re my student. You studied me. You’re a great singer. You can do it. People will love it.’ ‘Nah, nah, no way.’”

Snider also mentioned reaching out to Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks with similar results. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, Dee appears to have no hard feelings: “I hear rumors that the band is actually trying to find someone, and I say, God bless ’em.”

When podcast co-host Gass pointed out he’d heard Twisted Sister had already been rehearsing with one of the singers Dee mentioned — an apparent nod to Bach — Snider confirmed it without hesitation: “Yeah, I know there’s been rehearsals with him. And he hasn’t reached out to me. I think he knows he has my blessing. And I would never begrudge anybody continuing to rock.”

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The post SEBASTIAN BACH Steps In As TWISTED SISTER’s New Frontman For Fall Shows, DEE SNIDER Says “He Knows He Has My Blessing” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Bodysnatcher are premiering a Toddi Babu-directed music video for “Violent Obsession”, their newest preview tune off their upcoming Hell Is Here, Hell Is Home record. The latter comes out on April 10th via MNRK Heavy.
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The hard-working blues-rocker Jack J Hutchinson is heading back out on the road. Jack has just announced his “Soul Believer Tour 2026”, which will see him tearing up venues across the UK in support of his upcoming studio album, Soul Believer, set to drop early next year. The title track single is out on Friday … Continue reading Jack J Hutchinson announces “Soul Believer” UK tour dates for 2026

With Dee Snider unable to participate in Twisted Sister's reunion, fans have thoughts about the group choosing Sebastian Bach to lead dates in fall 2026. Continue reading…

12 of the Hottest Emo Hot Takes was originally published on HM Magazine by Nao Glover.

Cullen and Mason are joined by their friends Meg Ryan and Lindsay Fickas to discuss their hottest takes about emo music. What are your emo hot takes? Check out Meg Ryan and Lindsay Fickas, and listen to the BlackSheep podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Spreaker. You can also follow us on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube.

12 of the Hottest Emo Hot Takes was originally published on HM Magazine by Nao Glover.

Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda tap former Skid Row singer following Dee Snider’s resignation due to health concerns.

The post SEBASTIAN BACH To Front Reunited TWISTED SISTER For Select Fall Dates appeared first on Metal Injection.

Daoud Tyler-Ameen is known as a former member of Bad Moves, the beloved DC power-pop band who played their last hurrah of farewell shows last year. Bad Moves are missed, but Tyler-Ameen has also had another project up his sleeve called Art Sorority that’s been going strong for years and absolutely scratches the Bad Moves…

The post Art Sorority Teams With Snow Ellet On New EP <em>Critical Distance</em> appeared first on Stereogum.

Wow! .

The post Wow! — Twisted Sister to play select shows in the fall featuring Sebastian Bach on lead vocals first appeared on Sleaze Roxx.

Four decades is a long time to be at the top of anything. Sales records are topped. Winning percentages are beaten. Music gets louder, faster, and more intricate as each new artist tries to top what came before it. But when it comes to thrash metal, there are few albums that have stood the test of time and remained one of the greatest examples of the genre than Metallica’s 1986 masterpiece, Master Of Puppets.

Looking back on it now in 2026, it’s easy to see Master for where it stands in the pantheon of metal albums. It’s unassailable in almost every way. From the opening salvo of “Battery” to the firebreathing, furious fuck you of “Damage, Inc.” the entire 55 minute runtime pulls no punches. And unlike its predecessor Ride The Lightning, there are no filler songs like “Escape” to muddy the waters.

But I cannot fathom what it was like on March 3, 1986 when the metal world was forever changed by the release of this titan of a record. Up until this point, Metallica only had two albums under their collective belt. And while Ride The Lightning was already considered a certified banger, nothing prepared the world for the sonic barrage that was their third studio effort. Imagine, if you will, opening up a copy of Master Of Puppets on release day and hearing “Battery” for the first time, followed by the now infamous title track. If your hair wasn’t already on fire and your neck wasn’t already sore, you could have probably been deemed legally dead by a physician.

Then came the slower and at times haunting one-two punch of “The Thing That Should Not Be” and “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”. The former is yet another song in Metallica’s discography about H.P. Lovecraft’s works of cosmic horror, while the latter is a song inspired by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And while the latter song is slightly controversial because of claims that Metallica plagiarized the song’s main riff from Bleak House’s “Rainbow Warrior”, it still remains a fan favorite.

Then comes what I consider the “hypocrisy” block of the album with “Disposable Heroes” and “Leper Messiah”. In “Disposable Heroes”, Metallica confronts the hypocrisy of sending our young men and women out to fight and die in some war for bullshit reasons (totally not applicable to today, though… /s). Then “Leper Messiah” deals with the hypocrisy of televangelism and churches demanding you pay money to “get a better seat” to heaven. Both songs are a big “fuck you” to those institutions.

Then comes “Orion” — the incredibly tasty instrumental track that really highlights the incredible bass playing of the late Cliff Burton. This would sadly be the final album that Burton ever played on, since he was sadly killed in a bus accident in Sweden that September at the age of 24. Burton’s deft playing really stands out above the rest of the band throughout the whole thing, but it’s at about the four minute when things slow down a bit and the bass line really floats within the mix. It’s an amazing moment where you get to just vibe with the record and hear Burton and the rest of the guys just jam. It’s a great moment of reprieve before things pick up again just in time for the album’s finale, “Damage, Inc.”

Not ones to let the album go quietly into the night, they blast into one hell of a closer with “Damage, Inc.” This isn’t a “metal anthem”, so much as it’s a call to action. From the intense riffing to Lars just thundering away on the drums in a way that he couldn’t even dream of doing these days, this final track is a reminder that at the end of the day, Metallica is here to lay waste to the pretenders. Posers beware — “life ain’t for you and we’re the cure.”

This album was the manifesto of a Bay Area thrash metal band planting their flag on the genre and claiming it for their own. Master Of Puppets was a mission statement — the world was going to fucking listen to this quartet from California and finally understand what thrash metal was all about. This was the benchmark by which all other thrash metal records will be judged moving forward. After all, Slayer doesn’t release Reign In Blood until seven months later in October, Anthrax’s Among The Living doesn’t come out for another year or so, and Megadeth won’t release Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? until September. So for months, Master Of Puppets was the new hotness in town and it propelled Metallica to begin headlining arena tours and never again looking back.

I’ll leave this retrospective with a personal anecdote. Back when I was just getting into metal, I was a nu metal kid — Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park — you know the drill. I’d been dipping my toes into other, more extreme forms of metal to see what I liked and at the time, Slayer kinda scared me (I was still kinda religious back then) and I never even heard of Anthrax or Megadeth. It wasn’t until I got Master Of Puppets as a gift that I realized this was my shit.

I have a distinct memory of me begging my mom to leave me in the car while she went shopping just so I could practically blow out her Pontiac’s speakers listening to Master Of Puppets. I remember the looks I got from passersby as they could clearly hear what I was listening to while I thrashed about in the front seat.

This album, above all else, changed my life and I know I’m not the only one. As I turn 40 this year as well, it’s hard not to look back at the years and wonder where it’s all gone. This album’s older, I’m older… Hell, the dudes in Metallica are way older. But what will outlive us all will be the fact that Master Of Puppets is one of those albums that will stand the test of time. From its release in 1986 until the eventual heat death of the universe, it’s an undeniable, unfuckwithable metal classic.

The post 40 Years Later, Metallica’s <em>Master Of Puppets</em> is Still the Quintessential Thrash Metal Record appeared first on MetalSucks.