A new official Pink Floyd compilation titled 8-Tracks is set for release on June 5 through SonyMusic. The collection pulls together eight key songs from the band’s 1971–1979 period and will be available on vinyl, CD, and digital formats.
The tracklist brings together some of the band’s most recognizable material, including “Money,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2,” “Time” and “Comfortably Numb.” It also digs deeper with “One Of These Days” and “Wot’s… Uh The Deal,” along with a full version of “Pigs On The Wing” that was previously only issued on the 1977 Animals 8-track cartridge. The sequence has been reworked by Steven Wilson, who used sound effects from the original multitracks to create a seamless, continuous listening experience.
8-Tracks captures a defining stretch in Pink Floyd’s career, covering the years when the band moved into its most commercially and creatively dominant phase. The compilation draws from Meddle (1971), Obscured By Clouds (1972), The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979). These records mark the period where Pink Floyd moved beyond their early psychedelic beginnings and established themselves as a global force in rock.
This release works both as an entry point for new listeners and as a focused collection for longtime fans who want a concise look at that era.
The announcement follows a strong year for Pink Floyd. The 50th anniversary edition of Wish You Were Here reached the Top 10 worldwide and returned the band to the #1 spot in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland—five decades after its original release. Earlier in the year, the theatrical release of Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII performed strongly at the box office, while its soundtrack gave the band their first UK #1 album since The Endless River, their final studio release.
History usually drains the danger from women, leaving behind only the harmless images of queens or consorts. Zenobia broke this pattern as a ruler who made the Roman Empire, one of the most feared forces in history, feel the weight of her presence. She entered the chaos of the 3rd Century and expanded her reach until Rome was forced to acknowledge her. In an era where authority was defined by command, her place at the center of the world was a deliberate choice.
Following the assassination of her husband in 267 AD, Zenobia stepped into the political vacuum to consolidate her hold on Palmyra. She used the instability of the Roman leadership to turn her city into the capital of a movement that would soon dominate the East. This was the start of a rapid expansion that moved far beyond the borders of a local city-state.
Her annexation of Egypt in 270 AD gave her control over the grain supply that kept Rome alive. She led her armies across Syria, Palestine, and Anatolia, absorbing territories until her borders reached the Black Sea. She systematically dismantled the Roman administration, replacing it with a government that answered only to her.
Within Palmyra, Zenobia built an intellectual environment that rivaled the centers of Athens and Alexandria. She surrounded herself with scholars like Cassius Longinus, creating a court where intellectual life was as sharp as the military. She was a scholar herself, fluent in Aramaic, Egyptian, and Greek, using this knowledge to govern a diverse population with a sophistication that few others could match.
By declaring herself Augusta and her son Augustus, Zenobia formally ended the illusion of Roman supremacy. She issued her own currency and established a bureaucracy that worked with an efficiency Rome could no longer reach. This total rejection of the existing order made her an existential threat. It eventually forced the Emperor Aurelian to lead a massive military campaign to reclaim what she had taken.
Zenobia represents a form of empowerment that existed long before the modern language used to describe it. She functioned entirely beyond the structures designed to exclude her. In a world that kept women away from the mechanics of rule, she became the rule itself. Her leadership suggests that influence is not always something to be negotiated or granted by others. She stands as a model of power that is claimed and enforced, moving far outside the narrow stories history usually allows women to occupy. Her life is a reminder that once power is taken, the impact remains long after the empire falls.
Black metal’s wide-ranging milieu encompasses many sub-genres—1st wave, 2nd wave, raw, symphonic, atmospheric, post—the list goes on. One niche of the black metalsphere, with neither a large sample size nor a large following, is black metal smashed hip-hop. Sure, some artists come to mind: Ghostemane, for one; then there’s what Zeal & Ardor is doing, as well as Déhà’s project NADDDIR, which melds flashes of black metal with trap beats and cloud rap.1 Tossing his spliff in the ashtray as it were is the mysterious Berliner, Foghazer, with his Hypnotic Dirge debut, He Left the Temple, an album comprised of nine, singularly titled tracks that cumulatively read “‘He’ ‘Left’ ‘The’ ‘Temple’ ‘And’ ‘Fog’ ‘Followed’ ‘Him’ ‘Out,”‘ and described by the artist as “low-visibility sound: slow beats, distorted memory and fog as both space and emotion.” Will Foghazer open the floodgates to a new sub-sub-sub-genre, or be just another basement-dwelling one-man band exiting his parents’ lowest-level ‘temple’ in a haze of pot smoke and lo-fi tuneage in search of munchies.
If Moderator2 and Portishead got down and “black metal” dirty with Burzum in some hole in the wall no-tell motel, the offspring of that union would sound like Foghazer. Eschewing nearly all vocals, He Left the Temple employs trip-hoppy drum beats with occasional blasts and jazz fills, moody-smooth bass lines, and eerily plucked or Filosofem-level reverb-drenched guitars to armor the majority of its aural palette.3 Toss in some scratchy, Portishead-style turntablism, operatic female soprano warblings, Master Boot Record-type bleepity-bloops (“He,” “Followed”) amidst other random sounds, and you’ve got the gist of what’s happening here. He Left the Temple strikes a decent cinematic chord, evoking a lo-res film noir experience that, at least in my mind’s movie, follows Foghazer and his gang of corpse-painted black metal beatniks as they roam the harsh streets of an “every-city” looking for trouble.
Laid-back and gloomy, Foghazer does a good job of setting a mood; He Left the Temple would serve equally well as a lounge-lizard soundtrack looping endlessly in an edgy, urban underground cigar-and-whiskey bar as it would a score for some Werner Herzog black metal remake of the movie Kids. “Left” has a slow, eerie build that transitions from creepy, singular guitar plucks to a double-bass rolling foundation that supports some nice, melodic riff patterns. “Fog” is another standout; its trippy bass line and trap beats trade punches with passages of doomy tremolos and double bass rolls, and had me thinking, ‘this is what Darkthrone might sound like if they took a stab at this kind of thing.’ There were many moments where I found myself slipping comfortably into the groove that Foghazer was laying down, my rollin’-through-Oslo-in-my-tricked-out-hearse head bob in full effect. Unfortunately, not all of the fog in the temple envelops completely.
There is a dark thread of similitude running through nearly all of He Left the Temple that impacted my overall experience. Foghazer rinses and repeats his compositional formula such that, if you were to cycle through the first five seconds of every track from “He” to “Fog,” each begins in much the same way, which cumulatively has a hypnotizing effect that takes you out of what’s happening more than it draws you in. I kept checking the track number every so often to see if I’d mistakenly played the same song over again. The other demerit I must levy against He Left the Temple occurs when Foghazer leans heaviest into his black metal. “Temple” is the most glaring example of this as it begins pensively, with some brooding bass tones and spindly guitar plucks before settling into its trip-hop beat section, which gets rudely interrupted at the 1:25 mark by an obnoxious blast beat that continuously pulses under those creepy guitars. This track also contains Foghazer’s only vocals, which, for us, is a blessing in disguise since I find his particular brand of shriek rather grating.
There’s some cool stuff going on in He Left the Temple, but this is nothing that’s going to put Foghazer on the map. I appreciate the groove and mood he’s able to create at times, but as a mostly instrumental album, the lack of any additional engaging dynamics left me wanting more from Foghazer. As it stands, He Left the Temple makes for some entertaining background music, but not much more.
The Spikes – A Noir Vision Carved in Sound and Image
There’s something deeply magnetic about an artist who doesn’t chase trends but builds a world of his own. The Spikes steps into that space with elegance and intention.
Iago Haussman, known as The Spikes, delivers a work that feels timeless from the very first listen. His music immediately brings to mind the shadowy intensity of Nick Cave and the artistic fluidity of David Bowie, yet it never feels derivative. It carries a distinct identity rooted in a noir, refined, and deeply expressive approach.
Photography Credit: Costanza Lay
The opening track, Sapling Tree, sets the tone with confidence. The vocal timbre is low and evocative, drawing the listener into an intimate emotional space. The arrangement is minimal, led by a steady piano that anchors the composition. Then, as the chorus unfolds, strings emerge and expand the sonic landscape, giving the track a cinematic depth that resonates long after it ends.
Elegance in Motion
Garden Song follows with a subtle shift in rhythm. The bassline carries a clear nod to The Velvet Underground, adding a gentle groove while maintaining the album’s introspective mood. There’s a nostalgic refinement here, a sense of restraint that allows the emotional weight of the lyrics to breathe. The songwriting feels poetic, almost fragile, yet grounded in authenticity.
Another standout moment arrives with Dancing. The track opens with a cinematic atmosphere, where sound design elements resemble an orchestra tuning in a futuristic dimension. When the song fully unfolds, echoes of Lou Reed can be felt in the phrasing and attitude. The melody carries a gothic waltz quality, delicate yet powerful, capable of stirring deep emotional responses.
Photography Credit: Costanza Lay
Aesthetic and Vision
What sets The Spikes apart is not only the music but the clarity of his artistic vision. This becomes evident in the collaboration with L.G.R, which feels completely organic rather than commercial.
The video for The Garden, directed by Michael Haussman, elevates this vision even further. Shot in a striking black-and-white aesthetic, it unfolds like a short film. Set in a Roman social space, the artist enters and begins to perform, gradually creating a shared emotional experience among the people present.
There’s also a visual echo of Bob Dylan in the artist’s look, particularly through the iconic eyewear, adding another layer of timeless character to the project.
Photo (left to right) by Jane Driver-Loach and ÐÑÑ ÐлавÑкина Decibel Magazine is currently streaming âEnter The Woodland Realmâ from transcontinental black metal outfit EVEALE. The track comes off the album of the same name, […]
Portland experimental hard rockers Rhododendron are about a month out from the release of new album Ascent Effort. Their new single is the kind to have you counting down the days. “Like Spitting Out Copper” is a proggy metallic shapeshifter with harsh ghoulish vocals and lots of winding twists and turns. At just over four…
The great pop duo Tears For Fears have had a bumpy, interesting history, and they’ve got a discography that never seems to stop percolating through popular culture. Now, one half of the duo will tell his story in a new memoir. Roland Orzabal, whose name is fun to say, is the Tears For Fears member who kept the group going as a solo project in the years after his partner Curt Smith quit the band, and he’s getting ready to publish an autobiography called Welcome To Your Life.
London-based Split Watches are proud to announce the global release of the official Ozzy Osbourne Tribute Watch: “The Ozzy” exclusively available Thursday, May 14 at Split Watches. This 50-piece limited-edition run celebrates Ozzy’s enduring cultural legacy and is priced at $2,960 (U.S.) with 100% of the proceeds being donated to MusiCares, the nonprofit partner of the Recording Academy and leading charity supporting the health and well-being of the music community.
“This watch represents something very meaningful–Ozzy always said, ‘Time is the most precious thing in the world. Be very careful not to waste it’”, Sharon Osbourne says. “We’re delighted that Split Watches created such a thoughtful piece that truly captures Ozzy’s spirit. The fact that they’re donating the proceeds to MusiCares, an organization that my husband and I have admired and supported for many years, is just fantastic. The money raised is a great way for us to continue to support MusiCares and the music community.”
The Ozzy is a tribute to a legend—Ozzy’s groundbreaking work via his solo career and as a member of Black Sabbath shaped hard rock for generations. For the Split founders, both lifelong fans of Sabbath and Ozzy, his impact goes far beyond the music.
“What Ozzy stood for is deeply ingrained in what we stand for and evident in every expression of the brand – he never pretended to be anything other than who he was” says Split co-founder EdMargulies. “He was raw and human. No borrowed playbook, no ego, he pushed boundaries.”
For Split co-founder and former musician Dara Amjadi, Ozzy’s influence is deeply personal. “These were the posters on my wall growing up,” Dara says. “The records that shaped what I wanted to do with my life. Music like that stays with you. It’s part of who you become.”
The team adds, “Ozzy stepped into the wider public eye through The Osbournes and what he revealed went far beyond reality TV. He showed that firstly he was a great family man, and also that vulnerability isn’t a weight meant to hold people down—it’s a force that can set everyone free. By owning every flaw, every struggle, and every unfiltered moment, he gave people permission to do the same.
“That’s the spirit we want in everything we make. The watch is an expression of what Ozzy and his music represented to us. In that honesty, he forged something rare—an unspoken, unbreakable bond with people across the world. Split is for those who value authenticity over ego.”
“At MusiCares, we exist to support the people who make music possible, through every triumph and every hardship.” said Theresa Wolters, Executive Director of MusiCares. “Ozzy’s impact on music and culture is immeasurable, and just as important is how he cared for people who make music possible. We’re deeply grateful to Sharon Osbourne and Split Watches for honoring Ozzy’s legacy in such a beautiful and fitting way. Together, we ensure that music people have the help they need, to keep the music playing for all of us.”
The Ozzy is based on Split’s MC collection that features a revolutionary Seiko family automatic chronograph. Using the most advanced modern materials, the watch is intentionally designed to be unpolished and stripped back. The Ozzy features the rock legend’s iconic purple tinted glasses on the sub dials and his cross at 12 o’clock. Each piece is meticulously hand painted and Ozzy’s logo can be seen on the rotor through Split’s exhibition case back.
“We want our watches to start conversations that matter.” Dara says, “the conversations we rarely make time for.”
“Our collaboration with MusiCares started the way the best things often do, with a conversation,” the Split Team says. “One of our earliest clients, who worked in the music, spoke highly of MusiCares and introduced us. He wasn’t wrong. What we discovered wasn’t just a charity, but a much-needed support system for those in the industry. It only took a couple of conversations with Wynnie Wynn, to realize our shared values, love of music and a belief that it’s essential to create a safe space for people in the community to talk. From that point on, it became clear that we needed to do something together, something with intent and purpose. All proceeds from The Ozzy will support MusiCares, which provides critical health services, financial assistance, and mental health support to music professionals. MusiCares helps the humans behind the music because music gives so much to the world. The collaboration reflects a belief that objects we choose should carry meaning.”
The brand was founded by Ed and Dara after a dinner between two lifelong friends, discussing the need for a modern watch with greater meaning. Ed, a third-generation watchmaker trained in Switzerland, spent decades working with some of the most respected names in horology, including Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin and Dara, is a former musician. Split brings together people who feel deeply and wear their feelings proudly. They don’t need to blend in or follow inherited rules.
Offering preventive, emergency, and recovery programs, MusiCares is a safety net supporting the health and welfare of the music community. Founded by the Recording Academy in 1989 as a U.S. based 501(c)(3) charity, MusiCares safeguards the well-being of all music people through direct financial grant programs, networks of support resources, and tailored crisis relief efforts. For more information please visit MusicCares website.
We’ve been loving the singles from sadie’s forthcoming album Better Angels. Today the hyperpop balladeer offers up another splendid tune to go along with “Arms Wide” and “Wash.” The new album’s title track is a warm and emotive electronic pop stunner with a video built from collaged-together online video clips by director Andrew Theodore Balasia.…