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Big Big Train are preparing to hit the road on The Woodcut & Other Stories tour later this month, which will see them perform the entirety of their latest studio album across the UK & Europe. Earlier this year, the band played two acclaimed shows on board Cruise To The Edge 2026, and they are pleased to reveal a live recording of the track ‘Love Is The Light’ featuring Haken’s Ross Jennings on guest vocals.

Listen to the track here: https://bigbigtrain.lnk.to/LoveistheLight_LiveatSea2026-Single

Alberto Bravin says: “Back in March this year Ross played an acoustic solo set to open a warm-up show for us in Southampton before both we and Haken travelled to the USA to perform on board Cruise To The Edge. I’ve always been a Haken fan and we jumped at the opportunity to invite Ross to join us when we played Love Is The Light in Southampton. When I wrote the song originally I didn’t envisage it as a duet but performing it with Ross worked brilliantly. Ross was then able to guest with us again at the first of our two shows on Cruise To The Edge. We felt that this performance of the song was particularly special and were keen to make it available to everyone. Enjoy!”

Ross Jennings comments: “The moment I heard Judas Unrepentant from English Electric Part 1, I instantly became a Passenger on the Big Big Train and I’ve been on board for every station; every album; every up and down. After David Longdon sadly passed, I wondered if anyone could fill those big big boots. When Love Is The Light landed in my ears it was evident to me that Alberto was absolutely perfect for the band’s continuation. This track rapidly became a favourite of mine and a joy to watch live. Accepting an invitation to perform this song alongside Alberto and this incredible band was a no-brainer and an absolute pleasure for me. Something special was in the air on that Cruise performance and I’m so thrilled this ‘duet’ was captured!”

The band recently released a new Digital Deluxe Edition of Woodcut, complete with demos of each track from the album, as well as two acoustic tracks. Listen here:
https://bigbigtrain.lnk.to/Woodcut-DeluxeEdition-Album

Big Big Train will play a warm-up show on Thursday 24th September 2026 at Thornden Hall in Eastleigh, UK to kick off The Woodcut & Other Stories tour.

This will be the first of 19 shows across the UK and Europe this autumn where the band will play this year’s acclaimed Woodcut album in full as well as over an hour of other material from their extensive back catalogue.

Tickets for all shows are on sale here: www.bigbigtrain.com/live

The post Big Big Train launch live recording of ‘Love Is The Light’, featuring guest vocals from Ross Jennings (Haken) appeared first on The Prog Report.

B.B. King was born on September 16, 1925, and died at the age of 89 in 2015. This would be his 101st birthday, and his legend has only grown since his passing. In 2025, his 100th birthday triggered events in Memphis, Tennessee, and Indianola, Mississippi, Joe Bonamassa’s Blues Summit, along with tributes, museum events and memorials. In 1997, I attended and reviewed a B.B. King concert in Portland, Oregon, but it didn’t get published until now, 29 years later.

On Monday night, February 3, 1997, B.B. King played at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon, to a sold-out, standing-room-only crowd that nearly lapped itself as it wound around the block waiting to enter for the second show of the evening. The earlier 7:00 PM show had just let out, and the theater was being cleaned and prepared for the next show. Upon entering the venue, the first thing that caught my attention was the attire of the security personnel at their various stations. The same people who were wearing T-shirts and blue jeans at the Hot Tuna and BoDeans shows a few months earlier were now all wearing suit coats, ties and dress slacks.

The show began at about 10:10 PM with Corey Harris opening. Harris, a Louisiana native, played solo. He sang a variety of traditional blues, gospel and original blues compositions while accompanying himself on dobro and acoustic guitar. One of the most notable things about his set was the intensity of his songs. I could see tears running down his cheeks during most of his numbers. His set ran 30 minutes.

The crew took the next half hour to set the stage for the main act. At 11:10 PM, B.B. King’s nine-piece orchestra, decked out in tuxedos, made its entrance. They played two instrumental numbers before “The King of the Blues” appeared with Lucille in hand. The 71-year-old, multi-award-winning blues legend then proceeded to demonstrate the reason for his title during the next 1½ hours.

Throughout his set, he repeatedly told the crowd, “Thank you so much!” for their applause and adulation. At one point during the set, a woman in the crowd tried to give B.B. a rose. When security tried to restrain her, King beckoned for them to allow her to pass. He took the rose, placed it in the neck of his guitar and played with it there for the remainder of the night.

After about 45 minutes, the horn section left the stage, and three chairs were brought out, as well as a small table and a glass of water. King took the glass of water, downed it and, after placing the empty glass on the table, sat down in the center chair. Leon Warren, his rhythm guitar player, and Michael Doster, playing bass, sat in the other two chairs, with Tony Coleman and Calep Emphrey Jr. on dual drum kits behind them. B.B. then told the audience that he wasn’t tired but just wanted a change of pace. The stripped-down band then played blistering blues for half an hour before the rest of the band returned for the last 15 minutes of the show.

Throughout the night, King pumped out crisp, stinging guitar solo interludes on most songs. Other tunes were more dominated by his vocals. His entire set was devoid of any egotism, yet at the same time luxuriantly abundant in showmanship.

The songs he performed included various blues and R&B classics, including “Rock Me Baby,” “Why I Sing the Blues” and “Nobody Loves Me but My Mother & She Could Be Jivin’ Me Too.” For his final song of the evening, King performed his trademark, “The Thrill Is Gone.” Rather than do an encore, he stood at the edge of the stage and signed autographs for 15 minutes. During this time, the band played while two of King’s personal security people stood to his right and left. As the band played, one of the members repeatedly announced, “B.B. King, King of the Blues worldwide.”

The post Inside a B.B. King Concert From 1997: Here’s What Happened appeared first on Blues Rock Review.

2025s 20th anniversary of the UK’s biggest Extreme Metal festival was possibly their best. The first two-day event at the BEC Arena in Manchester was a huge success with massive performances and a sold-out crowd. 

2026 promises even more of the Extreme with an eclectic but punishing lineup. As we head towards the winding back of the clocks in late October, thoughts once again move from those final summer festivals to the intensity of an indoor event and, with it, possibly the endurance test of the winter. 

As October fades, the BEC Arena will become the focus, and on 7 November, will open its doors for two days of controlled ruin. Damnation Festival 2026 promises a descent through blast-beaten chaos, monolithic riffs and suffocating atmosphere. This will be a gathering where every stage feels like a warning and silence has nowhere left to hide.

And yet, in contrast to what unfolds on the stages, you will also find one of the friendliest and inclusive audiences. Solo travellers and large groups will mix, embrace and immerse themselves. This is an event that has long been a must in the calendar.

Organiser Gavin McInally has certainly curated a bill that is not for the faint-hearted. A quick look at the two-day list shows few bands will not shake the skull.

The anchor of any Extreme Metal festival, 2026’s edition has a strong selection of Death Metal and Deathgrind. Expect a merciless barrage of down-tuned riffs, blast beats and abyssal growls that lands with bone-crushing weight.

Five bands that sit within the category include the legendary Carcass, back for the first time since the final hurrah at Leeds in 2021. Alongside Carcass, Birmingham’s Benediction brings the OSDM sound whilst a reactive Gorerotted, Swedes LIK and the tech death of Spaniards Wormed add to the weighty bill. 

In some editions of Damnation, the Black Metal community has bemoaned an absence of darkness, frostbitten guitars, scorched vocals and an atmosphere of ritual dread.

Not this year, as Black Metal combines with the buried fury of Blackgaze and Blackened Doom, in a promising collection that should please even hardened aficionados. Groza were many fans’ favourite outfit at Fortress Festival, and they make their debut alongside the combined Black Metal and Crust Punk of Sweden’s Dödsrit.

Add in New Yorkers Krallice, Danes MØL (exceptional at Arctangent), Sunday headliners Satyricon, US masters Wolves in the Throne Room and the cavernous atmospherics of Floridians Worm, and it gets ever tastier.  

Music engineered to crush the air from the room with monolithic riffs, diseased distortion and dread that tightens with every measure. Yes, Damnation has it in spades. From the sludgy New Orleans riffage of Crowbar and the Punk edge of the equally legendary Eyehategod, through to the Post-Metal of Saturday headliners Cult of Luna, this lineup has ample.

Add in the riffs of Pelican, the nihilistic bleakness of Rotherham’s Swamp Coffin, and the suffocating intensity of Black Sheep Wall, plus Coltaine, Fange, Leeds’ Hundred Year Old Man, Rwake and The Moth Gatherer. It’s going to be some weekend. 

Hardcore, Metalcore and Grindcore

No Damnation in recent years has been complete without a selection of Hardcore, Metalcore and Grindcore, and Damnation brings that punk fury sharpened into a blunt-force weapon again. Expect barked vocals, neck-snapping breakdowns and momentum that never loosens its grip from the likes of Cabal, Danish bruisers Eyes, Connecticut’s Intercourse, melodic Screamo from LA’s Lagrimas, Machukha, the relentless savagery of Hull’s Mastiff, Medulla, Nocte, the first UK appearance in the UK since 2019 for Walls of Jericho and the powerviolence of Illinois outfit Weekend Nachos.

Get the paracetamol ready.

As if all these were not enough, Damnation throws in extra genres. There will be twisted time signatures, violent structural turns with unavoidable collision courses as the unpredictability of the Progressive, the Mathcore and the Experimental Metal explodes in front of us.

Seek out US outfit Car Bomb, the Scottish-American combination of Frontierer, the Belgian confusion of Hippotraktor, the chaos of Igorrr and the crushing unpredictability of Bristol’s Sugar Horse.

Do not forget that this is the age of the machine, and as we career towards Judgement Day, the opportunity to lose yourself in the Industrial electronic world of machine rhythms that grind beneath corroded guitars whilst synths, samples and hammering beats pulse through the darkness.

Last year, Pertubator were something else. This year, there is a stellar representation of Los Angeles’ HEALTH, the Danish duo of John Cxnnor (out of LLNN) and, of course, the hugely anticipated extremities of Australians The Berzerker

There may be limited chance to lose yourself in the world of Shoegaze, but if you want melody swallowed by walls of reverb and distortion, only to return as a mounting wave of unease, then Holy Fawn and Slow Crush will scratch that itch. 

And to complete the preview, we have not forgotten two bands who provide the collision between iron-clad riffs collide and harsher, stranger and more malignant extremes. Sitting outside of any real genre label, don’t miss the intense set from Tom G Warrior’s Triptykon or the experimental Metal of Norwegians Shining. 

Fewer than 400 tickets remain for Damnation 2026. It promises to be something else. Make sure you are there. Ticket Link and more information at https://www.damnationfestival.co.uk/

Posted on September 17th 2026, 1:28pm

Belgian Thrash and Heavy Metal unit Evil Invaders strike with their huge new standalone single, “Dreamstate (Single Version),” out now, accompanied by a cinematic official music video. The anticipatory intro of the song builds into a relentless storm of sound, defined by heavy-hitting drums, roaring guitars, and multifaceted vocals.

Drawing lyrically from the rat race and sensory overload that defines modern society, Evil Invaders unleash a true heavy metal banger with their first music release since the 2022 album Shattering Reflection, reinforcing their standing as a rising force in the international scene.
 
Having toured with Dirkschneider and Sepultura earlier this year, Evil Invaders have proved that they are ready for the big stages, and recently announced more exciting tours for 2027. The band will be co-headlining continental Europe with Heathen and Exhorder, bringing Warfield along as a special guest, and co-headlining with Heathen only in the UK. Immerse yourself into the thrilling music video for the new single below and stay tuned for more new music coming soon.
 
Frontman Joe says about the new single and video: “‘Dreamstate’ is about overwhelming stress and how our mind deals with it. In a world where there’s no time for rest or any peace of mind, we lay awake at night and rejoin the rat race by day. Our body gets ignored when it tells us to slow down; we push through while we’re multitasking our way through life. Suddenly, we realize we’re not really awake or living in ‘the now’ anymore…Can you escape the Dreamstate?
 
“The whole video concept was made by our friend Jens De Vos from Panda Productions. He wanted to make a video clip that was not mainly based on quick editing and fast camera movements. Instead, he chose a more cinematic way of filming. It resulted in a video that feels like you’re watching a movie more so than a music video. Something completely different. We also want to make clear that there was no AI used for the special effects in the video. Everything is real work done by human beings.”

The post EVIL INVADERS Unleash Music Video For New Single “Dreamstate” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Ozzy & Black Sabbath: Back To The Beginning, the concert film capturing Ozzy Osbourne’s final performance and the last show by Black Sabbath’s original line-up, will open in cinemas worldwide on 28 October 2026 for a limited run.

Produced by Mercury Studios and released globally by Trafalgar Releasing, the film documents the sold-out Back To The Beginning concert staged at Villa Park in Birmingham on 5 July 2025. The event featured Ozzy’s solo set and reunited Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward onstage for the first time in more than 20 years.

The performance took place 17 days before Ozzy’s death. The film combines the final show with personal reflections from musicians inspired by Ozzy and Black Sabbath, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the event.

“Back To The Beginning came about because I asked Ozzy what would really make him happy,” Sharon Osbourne said. “And he said the only thing that would make him happy was if he could perform again and say goodbye to his fans. That’s all he wanted to do. He wanted to say goodbye and thank you.”

Hosted by Jason Momoa, with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello serving as musical director, the concert also featured sets from Alice In Chains, Anthrax, Gojira, Guns N’ Roses, Halestorm, Lamb Of God, Mastodon, Metallica, Pantera, Rival Sons, Slayer and Tool.

“There’s never been anything like that that’s happened in the history of rock and roll,” Morello said. “There’s never been a precedent for a show like this. Black Sabbath gets to play their final show basically in Ground Zero, where they created Heavy Metal.”

All-star segments included Adam Wakeman, Andrew Watt, Billy Corgan, Chad Smith, David Draiman, David Ellefson, Jake E. Lee, KK Downing, Mike Bordin, Nuno Bettencourt, Papa V Perpetua, Ronnie Wood, Rudy Sarzo, Sammy Hagar, Sleep Token II, Steven Tyler, Travis Barker, Vernon Reid, Whitfield Crane and Yungblud.

Ben Wainwright-Pearce directed the film for the screen, while Tim van Someren directed the live concert. Jim Parsons, Jamie Silk and Dan Seliger produced the project, which was created specifically for cinema presentation and will be shown with Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround sound.

“Ozzy Osbourne is one of the most influential figures in music history, and his final performance with Black Sabbath deserves to be seen on the biggest possible stage,” Mercury Studios co-leads Ken Danquah and Andrea Dunn said. “This film is the next chapter, giving fans a new way to experience that night on the big screen.”

“It was a closure for the band, and it was a good way to go out, I think,” Tony Iommi said.

Geezer Butler described the concert as “pure love,” adding, “It was just a wave of love. It’s the only way I can describe it, really. I could feel it as if it was tangible.”

Bill Ward said he “felt completely at home in a place where I belong. It almost felt like I was in a dream.”

Tickets go on sale at 3pm BST on 24 September 2026 through backtothebeginning.com.

FINNISH ROCK LEGENDS HANOI ROCKS ANNOUNCE NEW MAMMOTH 6LP AND 6CD BOXSET ‘THE COMPLETE COLLECTION 1981-1984’ SET FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 13TH VIA BMG PRE-ORDER HERE: […]

The post HANOI ROCKS’ mammoth 6LP and 6CD box set’s Nordic countries exclusive colorways out in November appeared first on Metal-Rules.com.