There is something special about an album like this being released in the fall. There’s a chill in the air and many of us start to spend more time at home after a busy summer, looking inwards and really feeling our feelings (for better or for worse). Well, enter Me and the Bells from Moonraker, there to remind us about what it’s like to live in this world. For fans of the Lawrence Arms, this one is for you. A west coast, so-cal dipped version of the melodic punk that I know and love. If you enjoy the call and response vocal style, you will definitely want to check this out.
The opening track “Wires” starts with more isolated vocals and overall really sets the tone for the record. Melodic, but quickly leading into the high energy punk that’s throughout the majority of the songs. “The Audacity” really stands out for me with the high energy sound and group vocals; honestly, it makes me wish I was at their show seeing it live. But it’s not without a slower acoustic number to break up the fast paced punk songs, which I always more than appreciated. “The Old Art School Try” slows things down and grows more beautiful as the song goes on with some piano strings making an appearance.
The lyrical songwriting really shines on this album and doesn’t go unnoticed. There are many instances of eloquent lines throughout along with brutal honesty about what it’s like to be human. In “Don’t Forget You’re Here Forever” they sing “cause real life looks more like crying in your kitchen just dying for someone to listen”, which really hits home with what the reality can be for so many of us. The single “Umbrage” is hard hitting and again filled with very clever wordplay – honourable mention for the pun from the first verse, “take your demons for a walk outside, lord knows they need the exorcise”.
You can pre-save the album and stream it here. Or better yet, why not order your physical copy through Punkerton Records?! In the meantime, check out the lyric video for the single “Umbrage” below.
Brian May says that his reported comment about Queen ceasing touring was “a misinterpretation”.
During an interview with The Sunday Times, published on October 4, May was quoted as saying that the legendary British band would not tour again in the wake of their acclaimed Rhapsody tour with vocalist Adam Lambert, which ran from 2019 to 2024.
“I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again,” the guitarist was reported saying to writer Will Hodgkinson, theUK newspaper’s Chief Rock and Pop Critic. “A close family friend died when we were in the States, so I said to my tour manager, I’ll just nip home for a few days and come back. She looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You know you can’t do that.’ I love to play, I love to travel, but the trade-off is sacrificing your freedom. I have a wife [actress Anita Dobson], grandchildren and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I’m thinking maybe 50 years is enough.”
May’s comments were picked up by media outlets worldwide, including by Classic Rock, but the guitarist now says that this wasn’t what he actually meant.
“This is a misinterpretation of what I actually said,” he posted on Instagram. “I have actually never said Queen won’t ever tour again. I could never say never. I simply made a personal decision last year to take a break from touring.
“I’ve been making lots of music, and Roger [Taylor] and I are constantly working together on Queen projects behind the scenes. I don’t know what the future holds. I’m ever open to new adventures!”
Last month, May revealed that he and Taylor are still weighing up the pros and cons of developing an ABBA Voyage-style immersive avatar show for Queen.
In an interview with Absolute Radio, the guitarist was asked if he might consider working on a similar virtual concert residency for Queen.
“Yes, we looked at it very seriously,”he replied, “Particularly after I saw the [Las Vegas] Sphere and what the Eagles did with the Sphere, which I thought was amazing. And I spent a lot of time planning out what I thought could be a Queen show.
“I’ve kind of backed off now because you can’t do it without massive use of A.I., with all the consequences of that,” he continued. “Now, in some ways, I don’t wanna be stealing the work of other people. If you’re stealing your own work, I’m not quite sure where I stand on it, ’cause you would be stealing from the Queen oeuvre, you know, which maybe is okay because that’s ours. But at the same time, you’re adding to the stresses that A.I. is putting on the world.
“So, I don’t know,” May admitted. “I’m not so keen as I was. I think it would be great to have a permanent place where people could go and feel like they’re seeing us play live in our peak, maybe all over the world, maybe at all points in time. The doors are open, but I don’t know if we’re gonna walk through.”
DEICIDE are returning to Australia for the first time since 2006. One of the biggest and most influential bands in death metal history will bring their uncompromising brand of extreme metal to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney in January and February 2027. Formed in Tampa, Florida in 1987 by Glen Benton and Steve Asheim, […]
For years, the iPod Shuffle looked like a perfect example of technology that had finished its job and disappeared. Phones swallowed the MP3 player, streaming swallowed the downloaded music library, and touchscreens replaced the little physical buttons people once used without even looking.
Then something strange happened. People started buying Shuffles again.
Not only collectors, either. Younger listeners who never owned an iPod during its original run have started picking them up second hand, clipping them to jackets, using them at the gym and filling them with deliberately small music libraries. In August 2026, ITV reported that refurbished-tech marketplace Back Market had recorded a 453% year-on-year increase in iPod Shuffle sales. eBay also reported a 31% rise in UK searches for classic iPods between January 2025 and January 2026.
A device introduced in 2005, with no touchscreen, no streaming apps and no access to an endless catalogue of songs, suddenly makes sense to a generation surrounded by all three.
A Tiny Music Player Has Become an Escape From the Phone
Second-hand audio has developed into a surprisingly active part of music culture, covering everything from preowned wireless headphones to old MP3 players and discontinued iPods. The Shuffle occupies an especially unusual place in that market because its limitations are now part of the attraction.
Streaming music on a phone is wonderfully convenient. It also means opening the same device that holds Instagram, TikTok, messages, email, news alerts and every other excuse not to listen to the song that is already playing.
The second-generation iPod Shuffle featured an integrated clip inspired by wearable accessories, making it easy to attach to clothing without a case.
An iPod Shuffle removes all of that.
You press play and music comes out. There is no album artwork to stare at, no notification arriving halfway through a chorus and no recommendation carousel waiting beneath the track. On most Shuffle models, there is not even a screen.
Twenty years ago, that sounded like a compromise.
In 2026, it can feel almost luxurious.
The Numbers Suggest That the Comeback Is Real
The renewed interest is no longer limited to a few nostalgic TikTok videos.
ITV News reported that Back Market had seen iPod Shuffle unit sales rise 453% year on year. The same report cited eBay figures showing growing searches for several older iPod models.
Earlier in the year, Axios also reported increased demand for discontinued iPods, connecting the trend with younger buyers looking for both nostalgia and a break from smartphones.
The Shuffle is particularly suited to the moment. It is tiny, recognizable and cheap enough in many second-hand listings to be treated as an experiment rather than a major electronics purchase. Its brightly colored later models also happen to look far more interesting clipped to a shirt or bag than another anonymous black rectangle.
Some buyers are not even beginning with the music. The clip itself has turned old Shuffles into fashion accessories, with people attaching them to clothing and even wearing them in their hair.
A product originally designed around portability has accidentally become wearable vintage tech.
The iPod Shuffle Was Built Around a Very Different Idea of Music
Apple introduced the first iPod Shuffle in January 2005. Its original pitch now reads like a message from another technological universe.
There was no promise of having every song ever recorded available instantly. Apple instead promoted the idea of loading a limited collection from iTunes and letting the player rearrange it for you.
The name was literal.
You put music on the device, moved a switch to shuffle mode and surrendered some control over what played next.
Modern streaming services technically offer the same button, but the experience is completely different. Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music surround playback with search bars, playlists, lyrics and recommendations shaped by systems such as Spotify’s recommendation algorithm.
The Shuffle gives you whatever you remembered to put on it.
That restriction changes listening more than it might appear.
If there are only 200 songs available, skipping ten tracks does not lead to another catalogue containing 100 million alternatives. Eventually, you hear the songs you loaded. Forgotten tracks come back. Album cuts survive. A song that would have lost a five-second battle for attention on a streaming app gets another chance.
Owning 200 Songs Feels Different From Having Access to 100 Million
Purchased DRM-free music files can often be transferred between compatible devices without requiring an active streaming subscription.
Streaming has made music abundance normal.
Almost any artist can be summoned within seconds, which is an extraordinary achievement. Yet unlimited access can also make individual songs feel strangely disposable. Another track is always one tap away.
A small MP3 player creates the opposite situation.
Someone has to choose what goes onto it. A computer is involved. Files need to exist somewhere. Storage has a ceiling. Adding a new batch of music may mean removing something else.
Suddenly, building a music library becomes an activity again.
Older listeners may remember spending an evening deciding which tracks deserved precious space on an MP3 player before a holiday or long bus journey. Younger Shuffle buyers are discovering the same ritual without necessarily carrying any nostalgia for it.
The result resembles making a mixtape for yourself. The limitation gives the collection a shape.
There Is Also Something Refreshing About Buttons
Physical controls have become oddly satisfying.
A fourth-generation iPod Shuffle has a circular control pad with dedicated buttons for play, pause, volume and skipping tracks. Once it is clipped to clothing, basic playback can be controlled by touch alone.
No unlocking. No swiping. No looking down.
Apple lists the fourth-generation model at just 12.5 grams, with a body measuring roughly 29 by 31.6 mm. It carried 2GB of storage and offered up to 15 hours of playback when new, according to Apple’s technical specifications.
Those numbers are modest by modern standards, but the physical design has aged unusually well. There is very little unnecessary hardware because there was never much hardware to begin with.
The entire object exists to play music.
Mechanical buttons provide tactile feedback, allowing users to confirm an action by touch without checking a screen
Yes, Wired Earphones Are Part of the Appeal Too
The Shuffle revival overlaps with another small reversal in personal audio. Wired headphones are making a comeback, appearing in street fashion, photography and social feeds after years of being treated as something everyone would inevitably replace with Bluetooth.
Part of the attraction is aesthetic. A visible cable looks unmistakably different in a world filled with tiny wireless buds.
There is also a practical relationship with the Shuffle. Later models use a standard 3.5 mm headphone connection, so a pair of wired headphones plugs directly into the player without Bluetooth pairing, an app or another battery to monitor.
That simplicity gives the entire setup an appealing sense of finality. Plug in headphones, press play and leave the phone somewhere else.
No ecosystem needs to be managed.
The Shuffle Has Become Fashion in a Way Apple Never Planned
Vintage electronics are increasingly incorporated into streetwear, where older gadgets can serve as personal style statements rather than just functional devices.
Few pieces of consumer electronics survive long enough to become visually interesting again.
The iPod Shuffle has managed it.
The small aluminum fourth-generation versions came in colors including silver, blue, pink, gold and space gray. Earlier generations had completely different shapes, giving collectors several very recognizable designs to hunt for.
The built-in clip matters just as much as the colors. Clipping a Shuffle onto a collar, waistband, bag strap or jacket turns it into something visible rather than another gadget buried in a pocket.
Gen Z has repeatedly found new uses for obsolete technology. Digital cameras returned partly because their imperfect photos looked different from computational smartphone photography. Flip phones acquired new cultural status. Old wired headphones became fashionable again.
The Shuffle fits neatly into the same movement, but it has one advantage over purely decorative retro technology.
It still does its original job extremely well.
Digital Burnout Has Given Old Technology a New Purpose
The most interesting part of the revival has little to do with Apple.
People are experimenting with devices that separate activities which smartphones spent years combining.
The trend extends beyond portable players. The renewed popularity of vinyl records reflects a similar interest in physical music formats and more intentional listening habits.
A camera for taking photos. An e-reader for books. A watch for telling the time. An MP3 player for music.
Using several devices sounds less efficient on paper. Efficiency is exactly what made the smartphone so dominant in the first place.
Attention works differently.
If listening to an album requires opening the same device that contains social media, work messages and breaking news, music has to compete against everything else on the phone. A dedicated player removes the competition before it begins.
TechCrunch recently described growing interest in so-called slow technology, connecting devices such as old iPods with attempts to regain control over attention and screen time.
The Shuffle might be one of the purest examples because it offers almost nothing to interact with once playback starts.
Buying an Old Shuffle in 2026 Still Comes With Problems
Nostalgia cannot repair a twenty-year-old lithium-ion battery.
Anyone buying an original Shuffle now is dealing with ageing hardware. Battery condition can vary dramatically between units, replacement parts require some effort, and older models use cables or accessories that are no longer sitting in every electronics drawer.
Music management can also feel archaic beside modern streaming. Songs need to be stored locally and transferred to the player, which means understanding digital music formats such as MP3, FLAC and WAV becomes useful again. The Shuffle supports specific formats, rather than every audio file type.
Bluetooth is another obvious absence. A standard Shuffle was designed for wired headphones. Using modern wireless headphones requires additional hardware rather than direct pairing.
Those inconveniences explain why the Shuffle is unlikely to replace the smartphone as the primary music device for most listeners.
Replacement may not be the point.
A Shuffle can be the player used on a run, during a walk, at the gym or during an hour when carrying the entire internet around feels unnecessary.
The Funny Part Is That Apple Already Told Us What the Shuffle Was For
Looking back at Apple’s original 2005 announcement, the central idea was remarkably simple. Rather than constantly choosing songs, listeners could let their own music library surprise them.
At the time, Apple was trying to make digital music easier and more spontaneous.
Two decades later, the same design solves a completely different problem.
Music has become almost too accessible. Choosing something can involve browsing playlists, watching previews, checking recommendations, reading comments and skipping repeatedly before a full song gets a chance.
A desperate struggle against an overwhelming sea drives “Ed egli mostrerà noi il suo volere”, the new single from Italian post-black metal collective DIE SÜNDE. The track follows its protagonists through increasingly chaotic movement until exhaustion finally wins and the water claims them. The song is the second preview of Effemeridi, DIE SÜNDE’s debut full-length, […]
A Night In Texas – The Darkest Side Of Humanity (Unique Leader Records) [GC]
Deathcore, death metal and hardcore mixed together, what is not to like? Well, sometimes a whole lot actually! When it’s done right its unrelenting and brutal as you could ever want but when it done wrong it just sounds boring and unnecessary, there really is a fine line between great and total dogshit, I’m a sucker for punishment so I’m about to find out where the latest A Night In Texas release, The Darkest Side Of Humanity fits into the picture!
It starts staggeringly well on Oblivions Dominion an ominous build up explodes into full blown carnage with drums smashing your skull into tiny pieces and guitars stabbing and pounding you in to shapes a human shouldn’t be able to make, you want to throw yourself around and destroy everything within a ten foot radius of you the second this hits, it is intense, brutally heavy and absolutely fucking glorious, one track in and I am sold!
They have something for a little build up to brace yourself because it’s done again here and when Rot From Within kicks of in every way possible you just need to sit and take it all in, the guitars are punishing and non-stop violence with a side of horribleness for good measure to describe the drummer as inhuman seems unfair but the way they just keep crashing around and all over everything is just unbelievable really and the vocals are just fucking nasty, pure bile and viciousness.
Fed To Death isn’t obviously changing anything or re-writing any rulebooks and do I care? Not one bit, this is how real deathcore sounds, it never stops or slows down, never takes any prisoners and there is absolutely no room for any melody of any sort and honestly more bands should take note of this because its probably one of the best things I have heard this year, UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLY good!
The punishment just keeps coming with Metastatic Misery which has a whiff of Soul Of A New Machine Fear Factory thrown in and this is not a slight in anyway, this is a compliment of the highest order, they don’t copy though they evolve and crush the sound and bring it directly into 2026 with such brutal force you almost feels sorry for any other deathcore bands who might want to release an album this year!!
Evolved From Hate reminds me a little too much of a Whitechapel song, which again isn’t a bad thing in a way but as soon as I saw the title and heard the track I though hang on? Look, its fucking crushing still and pisses on a lot of stuff just needs to vary a little bit more maybe?
As soon as I come up with one slight issue it is smashed away with When The Sun Burns Out remember that dirty word, I used before, melody? Wel here we have it in bucket loads, the first part is slow and tantalizingly beautiful but obviously this doesn’t last long before were back to business as usual and they also manage to shoehorn the melody back in without compromising the brutality and I’m all for it!
A Primal Conditioning is a swift and disgusting reminder that when yes, we can do melody and all that type of stuff, but THIS is what we are about, pure, unbridled, disgusting heaviness, don’t like it? Oh well, go listen to Miss May I or whatever metalcore band is popular now! Sometimes if something just constantly pushes one type of sound it could get tedious or boring, not here, it just keeps improving and getting better!
The Chronicles Of Nihilism is just chaos is music form, everything comes at you from a different attack point and all hit at the same time in a wave of blistering savagery that never lets up, once you’re in, you are IN! the manage to drop in some keyboards again here but not in the melodic breakdown way in the background of the beating sort of way another breathtaking track!
I feel like I am almost out of ways to explain how much I love this record, but then The Infinite Maw rockets into my skull with the subtlety of an elephant standing on your bollocks, twice! More furious drumming and sludgey, disgusting riffs that mix all the best bits of death meatal with the tones and drops of hardcore and a vocal performance that is nothing short of amazing, this is truly on another level.
So, It’s onto the final track of the album and The Darkest Side Of Humanity does not end on a whimper or let you down, they sum up the album in one last blast of perfection, they do that melody stuff again but its subtly layered underneath the brutality that is the trademark sound, it doesn’t let up and never stops building towards one last destructive drop, the differing styles are on show and it all shapes up to the perfect ending to this horrible bastard of a record.
Well, well, well!?? What an unbelievable record The Darkest Side Of Humanity is! So far, I can only think of one record I have heard this year that best this (you can wait till the AOTY lists to see what it is).
If you want to be stamped on, kicked about an then pummeled into a bloody puddle, this is the record for you, if you don’t and you just want fucking banger of a record, this is also for you, if you just want to hear something that is fucking awesome this is also for you” Look, whatever you want, just listen to this record, you will not regret it. 10/10
To The Grave – Liberation Front (BLKIIBLK) [Mateusz Stefanow]
Personally, I find a lot of deathcore follows a copy-paste scheme where a lot of bands fall flat just on account of trying too hard to emulate another band. I am happy to say that To The Grave does not subscribe to this, as Liberation Front is sheer brutality from start to finish/
A thrilling misanthropic trip into vegan deathcore. This album is crushing, with oppressive blast beats utilising a good imbalance between toms and cymbals, leaning more towards the former to add a depth and chunkiness to the tracks, and rhythmically they remind me of Anaal Nathrakh, which is a definite boon.
Meat The Humans hits the ground running, or blasting if you prefer. From the start you can tell this album is going to be gritty and in your face, with animalistic growls and judiciously selected horror-esque samples that blend beautifully with the harsh guitar tones.
Nail Mary could be lyrically taken for a black metal song, with their blasphemy, but that is not all this song excels at. From my earlier reviews it may show that I am a fan of well placed silent breaks, and this song showcases just how well this can work, with these being tactfully inserted in between sections of brutal beatdowns that gives the track an organic feel.
The pressure does not let up by Torture Porn, however the introduction of screams to the by now well known growls, giving this song a unique identity compared to the previous songs. Our eardrums can finally breathe a sigh of relief by the time we reach Terrorfire, only to realise that the first 2/3 were an interlude to build up for the latter 1/3, and The World Is A Slaughterhouse.
Check out this album for sure if you’re into heavy music, because it promises and delivers on all counts! 8/10
Untitled With Drums – Made Flesh (Season Of Mist) [GC]
Reading over the promo material for Untitled With Drums, there are a lot of brave references, comparing them to Quicksand, Deftones and Cave In is by any means bold but as mentioned very brave, those bands are hailed as trendsetters and icons, you have to have a heavy belief in yourself to write you are their (and I quote) ‘’worthy heir’’, I guess there is only one way to see of this is indeed worth the hype or if it’s just complete PR waffle.
Above My Head does have a purpose about it and has the grandiose atmosphere you would want and expect, the guitars are understated heavy and also beautifully melodic, the vocals when they are there are wonderfully light and airy and help with the mystique, the song builds to a wonderful crescendo and flows perfectly into Shame which has a bit more directness to it,.
There is more of an alt-rock-ness to this but it doesn’t take long for the more spaced out and mesmeric parts to begin taking the focal point but they mange to meld them together really well and create what feels like it should be a 7-8 minute track and condense it into just under 3:30, sterling work!
Matter has a sparse yet melodic build up, there is nothing lacking in the music and it expertly done to make you really pay attention to what is being played, the vocals once again are beautifully done with a restraint and measure behind everything as you feel that this could easily be one of those were a vocalist would want to take over but its all mixed together with such precision, an exquisite track in every way.
Gray is one of those track that makes you just want to put your headphones on close your eyes and just listen, it’s another lesson in restraint but also manages to pack the required much needed to not make you think that it’s just a nice track, it has bark and beauty in equal measure and in all honestly you would be happy if it was another couple of minutes longer as it builds and builds towards the end you just feel like you need more of it!
Space does its best to follow on and while its does a decent enough job it doesn’t really feel as involving as some of the other tracks, is a decent enough track and has a huge mid verse/chorus combo but I just feel that there is just something holding it back, I have mentioned the restraint previously and its worked but feel a bit of an unleashing would make this a much better track.
Change For You takes just that little bit too long to get into gear but when it does it really does, the laid back build up explodes into a melodic explosion that is just as quickly paired back into the spare build up of that fist verse and it’s a back and forth that really needs to be heard to be appreciated, its wonderfully emotional but also has the right amount of heavy to really push on and stick in the mind another inspired track.
I think that Oblivious is my favorite track, it sounds like Alice in Chains mixed with Isis and here I am throwing out names now, but honestly it’s that good, it has the grungy riffage to start then breaks down into a spacey and flowing parts with some amazing vocals to top everything off, the way they can remind you of bands this good but still make this sound like them is testament to how good Untitled With Drums actually are!
Parasitic is another more straightforward song that has a lot of simple guitar riffs to draw you in then breaks down and insists you pay attention then subtly draws you along before dropping back into the more riff heavy parts and this repeats in a hypnotic pattern till the end and usually this formula may be a bit boring a repetitive but not here, here its done with complete ease!
Been So High is a strange one, it stars slowly and acoustically and then when it does come to life, I just don’t connect with it at all, I listened back to it another time and still can’t really seem to get a feel for the track? Maybe it will come in time but a slight miss on this one.
Cry gets us back to the more familiar sound and it’s a welcome return to what has made this album such a good listen, they paid back the guitars but not with acoustic tones, they are still as heavy as they need to be but they let the vocals breath and layer together with a breathtaking beauty that has summed up the vast majority of this record, the highs and lows of the song are all there and all sound glorious and it’s a fitting ending to this majestic album
Now, I doubted that Untitled With Drums sounded like some of the bands they were compared to and that because they don’t really, they have touched of them but really sound like themselves and that’s the best thing you can really ever want from a band, right? Made Flesh is a beautiful, sorrow filled, triumphant stormer of a record and definitely deserves your time, because who knows where they could go from here?? 9/10
Sci-fi technical death-thrash is quite the mouthful, and that core ideal of being difficult to pin down pervades every aspect of Dissimulator’s newest release, Artifice Dissolves.
Featuring all the members of Chthe’ilist, Philippe Boucher, the human metronome also known from Beyond Creation, Antoine Daigneault also known from Exxûl and Atramentus, a band he is joined in by the last member, Claude Leduc. This history of interconnectedness highlights the phenomenal chemistry that this trio has.
This album leans further towards thrash than death metal, but not as we know it- blistering riffs with chugging basslines and blast beats that feel like being crushed underfoot in a robotic invasion. Apophenic Rage features some back-up vocals by Leduc himself, pitch shifted into a robotic vocal style that I personally am not a huge fan of but this could definitely be a strength for another listener.
Artifice Dissolves, Alloyed and Proprioceptor all feature the backup vocals of Chthe’ilist vocalist Laurent Bellemare, adding yet another layer of complexity to the magical arpeggios and palm muted chugs that Daigneault is smashing out consistently as Boucher switches up time signatures more than the average person changes socks.
For everything this album does well, I fear some things don’t work out completely for me, namely the 45 minute runtime. I found my multiple listens to this review to be rather same-ish and I found the tracks to be mildly interchangeable to an extent, which sadly does dock them a few points in my eyes.
Despite this, the death metal grooves along with masterful technical complexities inject vitality into the thrash DNA of this album, breaking away from the 80s reenactors. 7/10
With less than a month to go before their next full-length arrives, Swiss death metal veterans NIHILO have fired off the final advance track from Abyss. “Dishonored Death” is the album’s second and last pre-release single, accompanied by a lyric video and built as a direct, relentless dose of the band’s increasingly dark approach to […]
DEICIDE are returning to Australia for the first time since 2006. One of the biggest and most influential bands in death metal history will bring their uncompromising brand of extreme metal to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney in January and February 2027. Formed in Tampa, Florida in 1987 by Glen Benton and Steve Asheim, […]
