On March 3rd 2027, UK’s Grief Ritual will put out a new 4-track EP titled Survive Out Of Spite. The latter was engineered, mixed and mastered by Charlie Wilson Jr at Monolith Studios. To taste a first piece of it, check out a music video for the “Abyssal Condition” single featuring Austin Hayes of Heavy//Hitter. Read more…
The Phoenix, Arizona death metal force Eternal has officially joined the BLK II BLK label. The four-piece is currently putting final touches on their second full-length album, due in 2027. Read more…
Tokyo’s underground Metal scene is thriving. This is fuelled by a network of intimate venues known as Live Houses, where bands play night after night to passionate audiences. At Earthdom in Shin-Ōkubo, Glenn Williams discovers the people keeping that scene alive, meets promoter Matt Ketchum, and catches up with Over The Hill, a band whose ferocious live performance prove their name is anything but a reflection of their musical ambitions.
Estimates of how many Live Houses, small venues with an average capacity of 100 to 500, there are in Tokyo vary. There are definitely well over 150, most likely closer to 200. The discrepancy is that the smaller ones open and close at an alarming rate, and that no official definition of the term Live House exists.
These types of venues range from a café to a basement in an office block to an actual purpose-built venue. The well-established ones are open seven nights a week and will put on up to six bands every night.
There is lots of live music in Tokyo, and one man who promotes shows in them is expat Matt Ketchum. I had a few words with him as the audience rolled in.
Matt Ketchum – Earthdom, Shin-Ōkubo, Tokyo – 2 October 2026. Photo: Glenn Williams/MetalTalk
For Matt, organising shows in Tokyo is what we would all expect. “Herding cats, promotion, designing flyers, and getting bands on board, communications, and various different social media, websites, listings,” he smiles. “There’s just everything to do.”
But this is something Matt does for the love of it. “The scene here is really good,” he says. “There’s a lot of really creative folk that really just do not get any kind of exposure, which sucks.
“I’m a musician too. You want people to hear what you’ve got. I started doing this back in 2013, and part of what I saw as a musician was that the musicians themselves were also taking on the responsibility of the booking, the management and the promotion.
“In my head, I was thinking, you are the musician, do the music. So I try to give back, participate, and help out with all the bands and folk that I know.”
Matt says there is competition, but it is not malicious. “There’s coordination as well,” he says. “I’ve got this night, you can have that night. It’s good that they do that.” Worship Pain is the band that Matt Ketchum is with, while the booking part is through Kaala. At this point, Matt has to run off for some reason or another, so I turn my attention elsewhere.
Over The Hill – Earthdom, Shin-Ōkubo, Tokyo – 2 October 2026. Photo: Glenn Williams/MetalTalk
The bar at Earthdom has a bright and smiley barmaid who serves me a beer in a paper cup. Joe and Bill are already in there, drinks in hand. Bill has just come off the wagon and has a big grin on his face. Joe and I both come from Leicester, England, while Bill is American. “Florida, I guess,” he says. “But it’s complicated”.
It is rare to see one without the other at a Metal gig. Tonight, their excuse is that they are in one of the bands, namely, Over The Hill.
Over The Hill – Joe Duggan (vocals) and Bill Jokela (bass)
Joe says the seeds of the band were sown when he went to a Sigh concert in 2010. “I had never been to a local Japanese show before, so I contacted them to book advance tickets. I contacted Mikannnibal specifically, and she said, ‘Oh, you’ll be OK, don’t worry about it.’ After a few exchanges, she said I should meet a friend of hers, Bill.”
Over The Hill played their first show in 2022. “It was a bit rushed,” Bill says. “The guy who originally started this band, Tim Yoshida, who is still technically a member of the band, he wrote a bunch of music and wanted to perform it. Then he asked how many friends I had.”
Yoshida sent the music to Joe, asking if he could write lyrics. “We jammed a few times,” Bill says, “and it was working, sounding cool.” Then Tim Yoshida announced he was leaving Japan and moving to Canada.
“Before that, though, he said, we need a lead guitarist,” Joe points out. “I didn’t know anybody, but he said he had a friend who is really good, but didn’t know if he would be interested in doing this, because it’s not quite up to his level. That’s how we got Kenta [Sugawara, lead guitar].”
“He was leaving Japan and I’m like, well, we’ve got to play before he leaves,” Bill says. “We managed to slip in a show at the Pit Bar in Nshii Ogikubo. We weren’t ready, but all things considered, it went pretty well.”
Over The Hill – Earthdom, Shin-Ōkubo, Tokyo – 2 October 2026. Photo: Glenn Williams/MetalTalk
A show at Bastardfest would follow, but there was no consistent lineup. “We are not playing at full strength tonight as one of our guys couldn’t make it,” Bill says. “But fortunately, we’re flexible enough that we can do multiple lineups and still pull off a show. Our drummer, Hitoshi, could not make it tonight, but Taka [Sano], our guitarist, actually played drums with us originally.”
Tonight would find Taka, the guitarist, on drums, Kenta on guitar, with Bill and Joe. Over The Hill are flexible, “but stable.” As for future recordings, there are plans, but “A couple of us have not recorded before so we’ll take it a step at a time.”
Over The Hill – Earthdom, Shin-Ōkubo, Tokyo – 2 October 2026. Photo: Glenn Williams/MetalTalk
Soggy beer cups were charged, and as Joe and Bill head off for the changeover, I find a suitable viewing position out front. Changeovers at Live Houses are swift, as everyone usually uses the same in-house backline, so it is barely ten minutes before they begin, and they waste no time in setting out their stall.
Aggressive Metal, it is definitely in-your-face, especially when Joe leans over the monitors and sings into your face. Given Bill’s comment earlier about not being at full strength tonight, Over The Hill showed no signs of not knowing what was going on.
Taka and Bill provide a solid backing for Kenta to lay some nifty guitar work on and also play a couple of blinding solos that belie his ‘average bloke’ image. He is a bedroom shredder let loose.
Over The Hill – Earthdom, Shin-Ōkubo, Tokyo – 2 October 2026. Photo: Glenn Williams/MetalTalk
Joe, as friendly as you like over a pint, gets possessed when singing, his eyes bulging as he stomps around the stage, urging the band on. Between numbers, he is all smiles as he chats to the audience. Bill throws in a few comments and then, bang. It is back to business.
Thirty minutes later, it is all over and we’re back in the bar. “We enjoyed it,” says Bill as he gets a round in. “And the audience seemed to enjoy it”
That they did. Bill and I leave them after a quick one to head home. Over The Hill may be the name of the band, but over the hill, figuratively speaking, they are certainly not.
Over The Hill – Earthdom, Shin-Ōkubo, Tokyo – 2 October 2026. Photo: Glenn Williams/MetalTalk
Over The Hill – Setlist
Twisted Over The Hill 7 Inches Of Steel So What (Anti-Nowhere League cover) Godbilla Bastard Sons Of Tokyo Over the Hill
From Tokyo’s underground Live Houses to the heart of Japan’s Metal scene, there is plenty more to discover. Explore more stories, interviews and live reviews in MetalTalk Japan.
Death metal purveyors Nihilo have launched a lyric video for “Dishonored Death”, the second and final advance single from their upcoming studio album Abyss. Read more…
These Wicked Rivers – Fire And Folklore (Fat Earth Records)
Everywhere I see genre tags for These Wicked Rivers, I see stoner and I just don’t hear it, southern rock on tracks like Horse To Water? Absolutely, this maybe a mistake on the internets part but it’s doing These Wicked Rivers a disservice.
They have an authenticity with their southern blues rocking, despite they come from Belper in Derbyshire, which is about as far from the Delta as you can be, but there’s no dirty stoner riffs to be found on Fire & Folklore, there’s lots of anthemic stadium rocking, with soul which is what they do very well.
Consisting of John Hartwell (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Arran Day (lead guitar/backing vocals), Adam Brewell (bass), Dan Southall (drums) and Rich Wilson (multi-instrumentalist) they’ve been spreading their soulful rock music around the country and beyond since 2014.
However with album number three they return home, recording the album in Belper alongside Andy Sneap and Colin Richardson, who need no introduction, but have an impact on the British rock and metal scene that is undeniable,
These close links to their hometown makes Fire And Folklore sounds like These Wicked Rivers at their most honest, from the emotive Brother Oh Brother to the organ drenched Love To Love, there’s honesty in this songwriting as The Healing has a heavy blues rock strut and Woodland Queen has the twin harmonies of The Allman Brothers or Black Stone Cherry.
It’s the sound of These Wicked Rivers exploring new routes with their ‘Wizard Blues’ but never starting too far from the band they started in 2014, take for instance Better Man, which is a soaring ballad that will gain them massive radio play, as barstool anthem Sing Another Song brings crossover appeal as fellow Derbyshire performer Kezia Gill adds her sublime country vocals.
Returning home has given These Wicked Rivers a chance to write a more personal record that experiments with their core style adding to it very well, these are the songs of Fire And Folklore, with These Wicked Rivers the perfect storytellers. 8/10
Black Water Redemption – Black Water Redemption (Self Released)
Rockers Black Water Redemption, emerge from the depths of Southampton with their self titled debut album.
Don’t think that they’re some upstart band of yoofs as they were formed by former members of Western Sand, so the musicians involved in this band having been road dogs for many years, making Black Water Redemption a new band but with veteran experience.
You can hear that from the opening riff of Stand For Something, as Black Water Redemption play big swaggering riffs that have massive grooves, a modern muscle and the attitude of grunge, shedding some of their Southern style from their previous life into a heavier style overall.
Reminding me of Stone Temple Pilots meets Guns N Roses, (so Velvet Revolver) they also have some Skid Row and the current crop of NWOCR included too, but BWC vary their approach on this record. From the melodic radio cuts, to the heavier guitar workouts, there’s piano balladry on Fly Like The Crow which feels like Black Label Society playing Mr Big.
With arena ready grooves from Dan de Vries (bass) and Chris Allen (drums), modern rock riffs/solos from Tyler Hains and gritty vocals from Adam Chambers, Black Water Redemption’s debut record is strong opening statement from these experienced rockers. 7/10
Scorpion Milk – Flesh Masks For Skulls (Peaceville)
The recently launched new project from Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures, Hexvessel and Dødheimsgard man Mat McNerney.
Scorpion Milk continues the trend of delving into the ‘Apocalyptic Post-Punk’ he’s been creating with Beastmilk and Grave Pleasures, but leaning more towards the former as he adds more of his black metal background to Scorpion Milk, making for post punk that sits at a darker place.
Following up the debut album Slime Of The Times comes this new EP Flesh Masks For Skulls, consisting of three new songs, two covers and remix of a track from the debut, so let’s deal with the remix first and Norwegian virtuoso collective Ulver have totally reinvented All Snakes No Ladders from the debut.
Metamorphosing it into a lost Depeche Mode track, the relentless electronic drum patterns matched by the acoustic ones for propulsion straight out of the 80’s as Ulver make the track their own with Scorpion Milk mastermind Mat McNerney’s voclas shifting to something more frenzied at the climax.
The covers are ingenious versions of new wave oddities Devo and post punk legends Gang Of Four as What We All Want gets a distorted make over that puts some haunting black metal put into it while Gut Feeling goes through a post punk echoplex and some jagged melodies.
As for the three new tracks Dreaming Skulls is raw opener, dissonant Crushed Under The Weight is the heaviest cut while Guilty By Default has a propulsive jangle straight out of 1984, as it seems there plenty to come from Scorpion Milk, welcome the apocalypse. 8/10
POHL & Ogives Big Band – Split (Ripcord Records)
Sheffield noise and Bristol riffs collide as POHL and Ogives Big Band combine their powers for this Spilt album with Ripcord Records the force bringing them together in some ear bleeding union.
This is the underground scene of the UK and you’ll need earplugs as though we’ve covered the Big Band here before, in a couple of forms actually, and we’ve also covered POHL, so having both in one place on this spilt may attract one to the other. The first four tracks are from Ogives Big Band and the last one is a 17 minute monster from POHL.
The four tracks are just what you want from Ogives Big Band, psychedelic sludge with obtuse riffage and frenzied vocals, never really sticking at one style for long, with I’m Glad You Exist raging like a lost Mastodon track, as The Patron Saint Of Lost Causes blends Opeth with At The Drive In, that mathy angular explosivity continuing through Dragging The Plates.
This is more direct Ogives Big Band, the psych elements on the fringes as the technical riffage takes over, it retains their unique quirks with sprirt of Deftones coming on Read Us The Book Of The Names Of The Dead, but overall these four tracks show a band with a new aggression and pace.
Pace being something that POHL really make their own, this psychedelic noise trio are unpredictable, as the sprawling Flayed Lord Prayer showcases to close this spilt. An epic cut where first section though is oppressive atmospheric doom, which crawls and grasps at the dying light before it truly kicks off.
An expulsion of percussive psych rock, that features saxophone blasts, like a demented jazz act, which often accompanies some anthemic alt rock catharsis, huge walls of guitars, extra fuzzy bass and some delicious drumming keeps your mind active to what’s going on as 17 minutes flies by before the lats notes of dying sax finish this spilt.
Showing the talents of two of the UK’s most interesting underground bands, if you’re new to them start here and get acquainted with Ogives Big Band and POHL. 8/10
More than twenty years after their formation, Belgian black metal band ALASTHOR are finally preparing to release their first full-length. Flesh Apart, Mind Aside arrives on 23 October, condensing the band’s long evolution into roughly 30 minutes of atmospheric black metal sharpened by an old-school thrash influence. A full-album YouTube premiere has also been set […]
The band’s 1976 classic will be made available as a three-LP set, a 3-CD set, an exclusive picture disc and a Blu-ray.
The three-LP set, 180gm heavyweight vinyl bookpack, shown below, mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios,is limited to 1,976 copies, containing an individually numbered Certificate Of Authenticity, alongside the original 1976 album, the 1987 Remix album, a Work in Progress album featuring early rough mixes, demos and alternative takes, and a deluxe book featuring full lyrics, bonus track commentary, and interviews with Alan Parsons, Sally Woolfson, musicians and contributors to the album.
The 3-CD set, also mastered by Showell, includes the original 1976 album, the 1987 Remix album, 34 bonus tracks (including 12 previously unreleased), alongside rough mixes, demos and alternative takes, as well as the book.
The Picture Disc LP features the original 1976 album pressed as a strictly limited-edition picture disc LP, and includes a 12” x 12” insert containing the original artwork of the inner gatefold sleeve.
And the Blu-ray features a new 2026 Dolby Atmos mix and the 2016 5.1 surround sound mix by Alan Parsons from the original multi-track master tapes. Also contains the original 1976 album HD Remaster plus the 1987 Remix Album remaster and the Work In Progress album all mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. The Blu-Ray edition also includes a fully illustrated 16-page booklet featuring full lyrics plus quotes from Alan Parsons and thoughts on the new remixes.
You can watch a video trailer for the releases below.
When you talk about skate punk royalty, few bands hold a candle to Sweden’s finest musical exports, Millencolin. For over three decades, these absolute legends have been providing the ultimate high-octane soundtrack to our lives, blending lightning-fast riffs, infectious melodies, and a relentless sonic energy that simply refuses to age. Now, the boys are gearing […]
Every now and then, a band bursts onto the alternative landscape with such violent, genre-shattering momentum that they force you to sit up, put down your beer, and take notice. Ladies and gentlemen, meet unpeople. The fast-ascending UK four-piece has been absolutely tearing up the rulebook over the last year. They have systematically evolved from […]
When you talk about skate punk royalty, few bands hold a candle to Sweden’s finest musical exports, Millencolin. For over three decades, these absolute legends have been providing the ultimate high-octane soundtrack to our lives, blending lightning-fast riffs, infectious melodies, and a relentless sonic energy that simply refuses to age. Now, the boys are gearing […]
Every now and then, a band bursts onto the alternative landscape with such violent, genre-shattering momentum that they force you to sit up, put down your beer, and take notice. Ladies and gentlemen, meet unpeople. The fast-ascending UK four-piece has been absolutely tearing up the rulebook over the last year. They have systematically evolved from […]