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He also throws cold water on rumors of a new album from the prog rock group. Continue reading…

Bassist Ian Hill says the band could continue with a new lineup in the future. Continue reading…

He tells UCR about the upcoming Smashing Pumpkins tour and why it was such a struggle to get the band's now-classic album to the fans. Continue reading…

Ireland’s Dom Martin is clearly an artistic force to be reckoned with. Immensely talented and fiercely honest, he is destined to be an international star – despite himself. It was never his intention or goal to be a household name.

In the music business, wearing your heart on your sleeve can be a detriment but Martin insists on being authentically himself and open about his feelings and motivation.

In a conversation with Blues Rock Review, he was humble and forthright when he revealed, “I’m not living to be a millionaire. I don’t need a lot to survive. As long as my kids are fed and I’ve got a roof over my head. I don’t think that’s a lot to ask. I just love to play.” He added, “Live shows are great therapy for me. It doesn’t matter where I’m playing. It could be at some dingy bar, I just love to play.”

In recent years, his career has been gaining momentum and the stages and audiences have become much larger. And comparisons to Irish legends Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore have only helped.

Those are giant, and perhaps daunting, shoes to fill as Irish music lovers voted Gallagher as Ireland’s greatest music artist in a national poll.

But Martin explained, “I never wanted the comparisons to Rory to begin with; I never tried to emulate him. But there’s a lot of people I would not want to be compared to so being compared to Rory, that’s a privilege, that’s a pleasure of mine.”

Martin definitely has his own distinct sound, especially his vocals, and he believes the comparisons are just a way to try to explain his music style to people. “It’s not all blues or rock; it’s a mix of all kinds of crazy stuff, so they kind of find it easier to say, ‘Oh, he’s like Rory Gallagher’.”

He acknowledged the influence of the Irish icon. “I would not be the guitar player or musician that I am today if it wasn’t for Rory. He’s been a massive influence on me.”

But Martin is just as quick to acknowledge his fans. “It’s not about the musicians, it’s always been about the people who go to the shows.”

Martin is often critical of himself and says that early on he felt he wasn’t ready for the kind of success that began to happen. “If I don’t feel like I played well, I kind of felt like I let everybody else down.” He continued, “I think I’m in a much better place now, to just enjoy the music life. There’s no pressure. I have no visions of grandeur.”

With the sleeve-heart clearly exposed, he said, “It is sincere music and I care an awful lot about it.”

Martin says he relied heavily on others in the recording of his first two albums but feels he hit his stride with his third album, Buried In The Hail.

“I had a much more hands-on approach in the studio. I was much more engaged in everything that was going on. I was in a much better place mentally and physically. And I had great musicians with me, which makes all the difference.”

Of major benefit to him were his cherished memories of recording in a remote room, and he said he’s looking forward to his next album because of it.

His love of soul-baring, live performances comes through clearly in his Buried Alive Live album that’s receiving incredible reviews.

At 35, Martin is thankful he survived his wild youth and has settled into a new life, focused on family and music.

He said there was a time when he was in a bad place with drinking and drugs. He’s been sober for about six years and said he just quit cold-turkey on his own and there’s no want or desire for any of that lifestyle now. “Now I just want to play music and be the best version of myself that I can be,” he shared.

Martin did enjoy a short tour in the US Midwest and was thrilled to have Buddy Guy join him on stage at Guy’s Legends venue.

And other opportunities are opening up for the young blues-rock artist. Last year he shared a show with Robin Trower and he was excited to discover he had loved some of Trower’s music long before he even knew who he was. He also just finished touring with Eric Gales and those stages were bigger than what he was accustomed to. He and his bandmates did enjoy being able to run around, using as much stage as possible.

“I loved that aspect of it. It does something to the performance, but it’s not better or worse. It’s just different. I don’t see much of a difference in any particular size of the venue.” He argued that he doesn’t see the difference between a massive stage and a small club gig, restating that he just loves to play.

Martin also recently took part in a Joe Bonamassa Blues Cruise and, at first, felt out of place but learned to enjoy the experience, and hopes to do it again soon.

As far as recognition goes, the awards are starting to pile up. Among them are UK Blues Awards including two Instrumentalist of the Year Awards, three Acoustic Artist of the Year Awards, Album of the Year, along with a European Blues Award for Best Acoustic Act, among others.

Racking up those awards in recent years, Martin says it’s not something he really thinks about and certainly didn’t set out to do, but concedes it’s something to put on your CV to help in the business. “It does look good to win the awards but I actually forget that it’s a thing.”

The bulk of the hardware supports his confession that he really loves acoustic performances. He revealed that he’s only been playing electric for six or seven years. “I love listening to electric guitar but I never wanted to be the lead. Acoustic guitar is where my heart really lies.”

But, he explained, “Forming a band was a necessity because a lot of venues wouldn’t hire a solo artist.”

“Doing the band thing is a pain in the arse. If I could never do a band gig again it would be a joy for me, but here we are,” he laughed.

When asked about his preference between performing, writing and studio work he joked that he enjoys each about 30 per cent with 10 per cent set aside for some solitude. “But to be honest, I truly love performing but my heart really lies in writing,” and then added, “I sometimes spend all night just writing and writing to the wee small hours.”

And he revealed all his writing is not necessarily for public consumption. A lot of it was poetry for his wife. “Waves of poetry would just hit her in the morning and the poor girl had to put up with me,” he confessed. “I started to feel sorry for her.”

And now with two young sons, including a newborn, he hopes his kids will pick up an instrument some day because, “It makes me so happy when I play, and I know how good it can make you feel.”

He wants that joy for them but not the headaches of the business. “I would not want them to have to be working musicians, and meet the kind of people you have to meet in this business. I would just want them to play for themselves.”

Having signed with Forty Below Records, an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California, Martin said, “I really have a good feeling about the whole thing and what’s going to happen. I’m keeping that spark going and not letting anyone diminish that.”

While he fully recognizes how difficult the music business can be, he offered other musicians heartfelt advice saying, “Don’t lose your dream. Whenever you really, really want to give up, whenever you say this is the last straw; if it doesn’t happen this time I’m done, that’s when you don’t quit. It’s like the old saying, ‘Successful people are just losers who tried one more time’.”

With unbridled enthusiasm, Martin says he would love to meet or be joined onstage by Tom Waits or Eric Johnson. “To me, that’s how you measure success; meeting someone like Tom Waits. That’s a million-dollar contract in my heart. It means so much. And I love Johnson’s music and his zen approach to life.”

He may be an enigma in the music business as he dearly enjoys solitude. But his ferocious honesty, sincerity, passion and enormous talent are powerfully magnetic to true music fans. We will be hearing a lot more from Dom Martin.

The post Dom Martin: Buried in Talent and Candor appeared first on Blues Rock Review.

Creatively speaking, returns are uneven on Drake’s surprise three-album drop. But commercially speaking, Iceman, Habibti, and Maid Of Honour are a major coup. The albums have debuted at #1, #2, and #3 respectively, making Drake the first artist to ever occupy the top three spots on the Billboard 200 concurrently.

The post Drake Becomes First Artist To Hold Top Three Albums On Billboard 200 appeared first on Stereogum.

Circle Jerks – Majestic Ventura Theater – May 23, 2026

Ventura California, is a sleepy coastal town about an hour north of Los Angeles, and while most of the action typically involves tourists and the Pacific Ocean, it went off on Saturday night for night two of the Circle Jerks takeover of the Majestic Ventura Theater.  I knew something was up when it took me twenty-five minutes to find a parking space in a downtown area that is usually devoid of cars at night.  I wondered if all of the people responsible for the limited parking were going to the show, and the answer was a resounding yes – the Majestic Ventura Theater was as full as I’ve ever seen it and completely sold out for the second night in a row.

Circle Jerks

I arrived early to pick up my photo pass and get situated in the pit up front, where I took a minute and talked to security to get a sense of what to expect.  The guy’s eyes grew a little wide when I asked, and I was told that night one of the Circle Jerks was off the hook, and the audience was wild throughout, with near-constant crowd surfers.  The air inside the 1920s era 1200 capacity theater was already stale, stagnant, and hot, with a smell not dissimilar to a high school football locker room at the end of a long season – as if the previous night’s frenzied show was still hanging in the air. I was sweating before the first band hit the stage.

The pioneering Circle Jerks formed in Hermosa Beach California in 1979, and it’s amazing that almost 50 years later, the hardcore punk scene they helped create is still thriving.  They are an institution, with nothing but respect from their fans and peers, and the reason was obvious from the moment they took the stage and the lights came up.  They aren’t a band to rest on their laurels, they’re a touring machine – already having played 28 dates this year – yet when I walked up to the theater, there wasn’t a luxurious tour bus waiting outside, but a Pensky cube truck.  These guys are punk to the core, and all that the punk ethos embodies. 

The previous night’s show must have been wild, because when Gorilla Biscuits were about to take the stage, security kicked the photographers out of the pit, stating that it wasn’t safe for us to be there.  Begrudgingly, we shot their set with telephoto lenses from the theater floor.  When it was time to take our spots in the pit for Circle Jerks, security again told us it still wasn’t safe due to the amount of crowd surfers.  I decided to test that theory, and went to the other end of the pit and asked the security guy on that side.  He was about to let us into the pit when his supervisor was called.  I pleaded my case to him, and after some back and forth, all seven of us got the go-ahead to shoot the customary first three songs from the pit – in photography as in life, it often pays to look for another angle if the answer given isn’t to your liking.

That said, by the time our three songs were up, the pit was becoming like a warzone with incoming crowd surfers, and I’m sure security was glad to be rid of us and have more room to operate.  The crowd was bonkers, with the short, fast, and furious songs exploding from the speakers in rapid-fire succession, fueling the crowd in the pit, and gliding surfers through the air atop the hands of others.  The majority of their set was from their inaugural album, Group Sex, with 10 tracks.  These guys know how to put on a show, and the audience responded with an exhausting frenzy of motion and mayhem.  The evening felt like a blur, between the ferocity of the set, the short length of songs, the three great opening bands, and the heat inside the theater – before you knew it, the show was over, but not soon to be forgotten.                                                 

Circle Jerks is:

• Keith Morris – Vocals
• Greg Hetson – Guitar
• Zander Schloss – Bass
• Joey Castillo – Drums

 Setlist:

1) Deny Everything

2) Letterbomb

3) In Your Eyes

4) Back Against the Wall

5) Behind the Door

6) I Just Want Some Skank

7) Beverly Hills

8) When the Shit Hits the Fan

9) Under the Gun

10) Coup d'état

11) Moral Majority

12) Don't Care

13) Live Fast Die Young

14) Wild in the Streets

15) I, I & I

16) Beat Me Senseless

17) World Up My Ass

18) Wasted

19) Revenge

20) Nervous Breakdown

21) What's Your Problem

22) Question Authority

 Gorilla Biscuits

The Gorilla Biscuits are a legendary hardcore punk band from Queens New York.  They’ve been around since the mid-80s, and have used the resulting forty years to come up with a no-frills formula that works – great songs, huge energy, and care taken to nurture a rabid fanbase. 

As previously mentioned, photographers weren’t allowed in the photo pit for their set based on the previous night’s sold-out show – security was concerned with our safety due to the amount of crowd surfers and the occasional stage diver.  I’ve had the threat of not being allowed to shoot in the pit before, but never was it actually enforced – this was a first.  It was quickly obvious why security had made the request – people were flying everywhere.

Vocalist Anthony Civorelli spent a good portion of the night standing on the back step of the barricade amongst the fans, leaning into their midst to sing, while also throwing his microphone into the throng for some lucky fan to sing the lyrics back to him.  This was a top-tier band, and they put on an amazing show.

Gorilla Biscuits is:

• Anthony Civorelli – Vocals
• Walter Schreifels – Guitars
• Arthur Smilios – Bass
• Luke Abbey – Drums
• Charlie Garriga – Guitars

7 Seconds

7 Seconds were formed in Reno in 1980, and brought everything they had to their tight forty-five-minute set.  It was great to photograph them and watch how happy their music made people in the audience – this evening was a true celebration of great music, and their inclusiveness made it okay for everyone in the audience to participate in whatever form worked for them. 

7 Seconds is:

• Kevin Seconds – Vocals
• Sammy Siegler – Drums
• Bobby Adams – Guitar
• Bobby Jordan – Bass

 Cosmic Joke

Cosmic Joke is an LA-based hardcore punk/skate punk band, and they were a great way to kickstart a fantastic four-band night of hardcore madness.  They played an incredible thirty-minute set that got the people going and set the mood for the remainder of the evening. 

Cosmic Joke is:

• Mac Miller – Vocals
• Morgan Miller – Guitar/Vocals
• Evan Rowe – Guitar
• Jake Goldstein – Bass
• Niki Vahle – Drums

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(Our contributor Zoltar is back with us again, this time presenting his interview with José Pablo, vocalist and bassist of the Costa Rican death metal band Candarian, whose debut album was released in April of this year.) Two out four members of CANDARIAN already play in Chile, eat your heart out? If you’re a classic […]

The post AN NCS INTERVIEW: CANDARIAN appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.

April is commonly known in many parts of the Northern hemisphere for bringing on the rain. It’s often a chilling kind of rain, bringing temps down and diffusing light such as to create a gloomy, but not uninviting, atmosphere. This year, it seems the rain came late, falling heavily into the first weeks of May, thus extending that cloudy aesthetic into the warmer months as they creep in. Enter Oregon’s Old Moon, a melancholic melodic black metal quintet whose sound perfectly fits this muggy season, and their upcoming debut LP, Home to Nowhere.

To those familiar with the sadboi side of the metal spectrum, Old Moon will sound quite familiar. Combining Insomnium with more atmospheric acts like Skyborne Reveries or Skyforest, but produced with the warmth of Izthmi, Home to Nowhere is diffuse and cinematic in its melancholy. Like much of the black metal scene, blast beats abound, but thankfully, there’s quite a variety of patterns, deathly and doomy that break it up—even going so far as to explore a gothic rock swagger at key junctures (“Obsidian”). A deep roar trades blows with higher placed rasps to complement Old Moon’s smooth and gradual shifts from sweeping melodeath riffs, weeping leads, and trem-picked atmospherics. Familiar pieces all, and in concert they bring great comfort to these ears.

It’s a shame that Home to Nowhere’s production conspires against that comfort at every turn. The biggest culprit of my woes in this space are the drums, which are placed so far forward in the mix, and adopt the sharpest possible tone for snare pops and bass kicks, that each hit registers as moderately annoying to mildly painful. You may think this an exaggeration, but a song like “Distance,” which flows gently and with the grace of a swan, succumbs entirely to those drums. “My Name is Death” similarly suffers, but its more aggressive songwriting and confrontational vocal mixing helps to offset the imbalance somewhat. Compounding the issue, Home to Nowhere’s boomy engineering offers no modulation in any instrument to give quiet moments breathing room or dramatic swells a sense of growth or depth. As a result, the whole furrows the brow as I struggle to relax into these songs and enjoy its musicality.

Once I did manage to accept Home to Nowhere’s production and move past my frustration with it, I finally began appreciating Old Moon’s songwriting. While nothing here is so exciting and fresh as to bring them into the same conversation as genre icons like Insomnium, songs like “Creations Undone” and “Distance” showcase a beautiful array of mournful melodies and gothic drama. Not to mention “Creations Undone” features one scorcher of a black metal riff that comes out of absolute nowhere and raises the hairs on my neck. Other songs like “A Rest to My Name” and “My Name is Death” boast strong ideas and compelling melodicism, but in their case, the whole feels underbaked. Even after nearly six minutes, I find myself wondering where the rest of “A Rest to My Name” in particular went as it fades to black. Thankfully, opener “Between the Stars” and the title track make up some of that missed potential with well fleshed out motifs that, while on the longer-form side at seven-minute territory, resolve into satisfying conclusions.

In sum, Home to Nowhere is a decent record with some very strong ideas, marred by a punishing production (that still somehow scores into double-digits on my DR meter). With softer drum tones, less volume,¹ and a more nuanced mix that allows quieter moments to shine alongside more intense ones, Old Moon could find much greater success in future efforts. Until that time, best to look elsewhere for a melancholy pall to go with that April May rain.

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Rating: Disappointing
DR: 11 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: M-Theory Audio
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 8th, 2026

The post Old Moon – Home to Nowhere Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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Heavy metal icons Judas Priest have officially commenced tracking for their highly anticipated 20th studio album, less than two years after dominating global charts with 2024’s acclaimed Invincible Shield. Bassist Ian Hill broke the massive news during a raw, career-spanning conversation with Spain’s Metal Journal, confirming that the instrumental foundations for the record are essentially complete.

The legendary British outfit, who have defined the genre’s sonic architecture for more than five decades, have spent the spring quietly constructing the project across dual tracking rooms in Nashville and Phoenix. In a staggering twist that has ignited immediate debate across the metal community, the band’s sole remaining original member also openly addressed the reality of a future Judas Priest operating completely without its foundational standard-bearers.

Tracking Secret Sessions Outside Nashville: Inside the Raw Record Groundwork

The lightning-fast turnaround between records comes as a massive surprise to an industry accustomed to four-year development cycles for legacy acts. According to Hill, the band successfully captured the overarching rhythmic architecture of the record during block studio lockdowns earlier this February.

Guitarist Richie Faulkner expanded on the tracking location, revealing that the band purposefully converged just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, to replicate the classic, live-room chemistry that birthed 2018’s Firepower. This marks a massive return to traditional recording methods compared to Invincible Shield, which had to be pieced together in fractured isolation camps across various global tour stops due to lingering post-pandemic travel constraints.

“We’ve done most of the music, or all the backing tracks anyway; we’ve got them down,” Ian Hill revealed regarding the state of the sessions. “There might be one extra song to do. But the vast majority of it, the backing tracks have been done. The guys have been to Phoenix working on vocals with Rob Halford over the last few weeks, I believe. So he’s in the process of putting the vocals down.”

When pushed on the exact musical trajectory of the unreleased material, Hill specified that the tracks represent a distinct evolutionary pivot rather than an explicit nostalgic retread of landmarks like British Steel or Screaming For Vengeance.

“The style, it’s a little bit different from the last one,” Hill explained. “It’s—I don’t know—a little bit more traditional, maybe a little bit quirky with some of the things. And, yeah, it should be good. Like I say, I’ve only heard it in very raw form—just basically guitar, bass and drums. That’s all I’ve heard so far. But, yeah, it’s shaping up to be a great classic Priest album. It’ll be out some time next year. It’ll be out probably March, April, something like that, I should imagine. That’s down to the record company… It’s more along the lines of Invincible Shield, but a lot more direct, shall I say.”

We Recommend – ‘STILL REIGNING’: The Definitive Judas Priest Albums Ranked List That Crowns the True #1

“Nobody’s Irreplaceable”: Ian Hill Confronts Retirement and Future Roster Shifts

Beyond the music, the conversation ventured into the inevitable reality of generational mortality within legacy rock acts. Having logged 57 years of uninterrupted service since the band’s initial 1969 formation, Hill spoke candidly about his own physical boundaries and the toll of navigating massive global travel itineraries.

Most remarkably, the bassist laid out an incredibly pragmatic philosophy regarding the potential survival of the Judas Priest brand name after its original members eventually choose to hang up their leather jackets permanently.

“There’s no reason why not,” Hill answered firmly when asked if the band could continue with entirely new musicians down the line. “I mean, we’ve already got through about six or seven drummers, four guitarists and two vocalists. So, why not? I’m sure everybody will be up for it if Rob or myself have to pack it in for one reason or another.

“Yeah, nobody’s irreplaceable, so you never know… Well, we’ll see. Like I always say, if the performance starts to suffer, it’s time to start thinking about hanging it up. So as long as we’re able to, to give that 100%—I’m talking personally here—yeah, we’ll carry on. But if there are any problems, and it ain’t feeling right, or you know you’re not giving your all, it might be time to call it a day.”

The metal icons have repeatedly shown an unmatched capacity to successfully retool their ranks across their 50-year campaign. The current core lineup features long-running drummer Scott Travis and modern shredder Richie Faulkner alongside Hill and Halford. Meanwhile, legendary guitarist Glenn Tipton continues his brave, 15-year battle with Parkinson’s disease behind the scenes, leaving primary live guitar tracking and touring duties to Invincible Shield co-producer and NWOBHM multi-instrumentalist Andy Sneap.

A Massive Anniversary Slate: Global Touring and “The Ballad Of Judas Priest”

The sudden surge of studio momentum coincides with a massive multimedia push designed to anchor the band’s unmatched historical legacy. Sony Music has officially locked in June 19, 2026, for the global drop of The Best Of Judas Priest, a massive career-spanning anthology celebrating over 50 million album sales and 2.5 billion career streams.

Simultaneously, the band’s definitive cinematic history is preparing for wide consumer release. The Ballad Of Judas Priest, a massive documentary project co-directed by Rage Against the Machine icon Tom Morello and acclaimed rockumentary director Sam Dunn, made a highly celebrated world premiere at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival this past February before making its North American debut at Toronto’s Hot Docs festival on April 26. The unfiltered film charts everything from Halford’s groundbreaking journey as a closeted gay icon in heavy metal to the band’s infamous 1990 subliminal message trial.

Before any new music arrives in the spring of 2027, the band will continue to cement their reputation as an elite live draw, roaring across the European continent this summer on their “Faithkeepers” headlining tour. The relentless trek features a marquee headline performance at the UK’s Bloodstock Open Air festival on August 9, followed by an intimate, highly anticipated evening at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on September 21.

Check This Out – Defenders of the Faith: The Ultimate Guide to Judas Priest

FAQ: Judas Priest New Album Progress

When will the new Judas Priest album be released? According to bassist Ian Hill, the band is currently targeting a release window around March or April of 2027. The exact release date will depend on scheduling and distribution rollouts handled by Sony Music.

Is Rob Halford currently tracking vocals for the new album? Yes. The backing tracks were completed by the instrumentalists near Nashville in February, and Rob Halford has spent the past several weeks tracking his final vocal takes at a studio facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

What is the upcoming Judas Priest documentary called? The official documentary is titled The Ballad Of Judas Priest. Co-directed by Sam Dunn and Tom Morello, the film premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival in February 2026 and is scheduled for a wide commercial release later this year.

STAY LOUD: Catch the full breakdown of the Judas Priest studio leak and the latest heavy metal news on the Loaded Radio Daily Podcast with Scott Penfold. Visit LoadedRadio.com or download our free app now.

TL;DR:

Judas Priest has officially tracking the vast majority of their 20th studio album, aiming for a March or April 2027 release date. Bassist Ian Hill confirmed the instrumental backing tracks are completely finished, and Rob Halford is tracking vocals in Phoenix. Hill also revealed he is totally open to the band continuing with an entirely new lineup of younger musicians whenever he and Halford retire.

Given that legacy acts like Kiss have turned to digital avatars, do you agree with Ian Hill that Judas Priest should eventually carry on with a completely fresh roster of real human musicians, or should the band name die when the original members retire?

The post HEAVY METAL ROYALTY: Judas Priest Commences Work On “Direct” New Studio Album As Bassist Ian Hill drops Bombshell on Band’s Future appeared first on Loaded Radio.

A powerful blend of melodic punk and metal, creadfted between rage and reflection. Mixed by Christian Carvin and