Rarely does it happen in the music industry that a band waits more than thirty years to release its debut album, but Finland’s The Solitude has done exactly that. Originally founded in 1993 by Janne Parviainen – drummer of Ensiferum and Satanic North – the project initially began as a Candlemass tribute project, taking its […]
Amon Amarth has taken an unexpected turn with its first acoustic release, “Upphaf”. Rather than relying on the band’s trademark melodic death metal attack, the new track presents a stripped-down interpretation inspired by Norse storytelling. Built around haunting melodies and layered choral arrangements, the song captures the atmosphere of a tale shared around a longhouse fire, offering a different perspective on the band’s enduring fascination with Oden ahead of its next full-length studio album.
“Upphaf” was produced by Jacob Hansen and is available digitally through Metal Blade Records, accompanied by a music video directed by Pavel Trebukhin.
Since forming in 1992 in Tumba, Sweden, Amon Amarth has grown into one of metal’s biggest live acts. Over the years, the band has toured alongside Slayer, Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, and Pantera, while also headlining its own major shows, including sold-out performances at The Forum in Los Angeles and Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver.
Festival appearances have played a major role in the band’s rise. Amon Amarth has headlined some of Europe’s biggest events, including a 2024 performance at Wacken Open Air in front of 85,000 fans. Louder described that show as “a 19-song masterclass in unbeatable, indefatigable force…a repertoire of songs that can conquer the biggest crowds on the planet,” highlighting the band’s reputation as one of metal’s premier live attractions. The group has also twice topped the bill at Bloodstock Open Air, appeared four times at Download Festival, and played Summer Breeze on eight occasions, six of those as headliners.
The band’s audience has continued to expand without moving away from the heaviness that built its reputation. Interest surrounding Amon Amarth‘s 2026 North American tour with Dethklok and Castle Rat reflects that continued momentum, attracting fans across multiple generations.
Commercially, Amon Amarth has maintained a strong presence on the charts. Jomsviking reached No. 1 in Germany, while both Berserker and The Great Heathen Army topped the U.S. Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart and the Canadian Billboard Top Current Albums chart. The Great Heathen Army also earned a Grammis nomination for Hard Rock/Metal Album of the Year.
Few modern metal bands have influenced concert culture the way Amon Amarth has with the now-famous Viking row. Widely believed to have started during the band’s 2009 appearance at Bloodstock Open Air, the tradition sees fans sitting on the ground and mimicking the rowing of a Viking longship together. The release of “Put Your Back Into The Oar” in 2022 further embraced the ritual, with frontman Johann Hegg saying: “We thought it was a good idea to write a song about The Row! This one is for you, the fans, wherever you are — and may Oden guide you as you row to your destiny in uncharted seas!”
The Viking row has since spread beyond Amon Amarth shows, appearing at concerts by other artists and even among crowds during the 2026 World Cup. Even so, video footage continues to point to Amon Amarth audiences as the origin of the now-recognized tradition.
More than three decades after the band’s formation, Amon Amarth remains built on the same sense of unity that has defined its career. That spirit is reflected in Johann Hegg‘s lyrics from last year’s “We Rule The Waves”:
“From cradle until the grave / As long as the sun sets in the west / We rule the waves / Our restless hearts / Have brought us far / As far as Vinland’s shores / We’ve gone further / Than any man has ever gone before.”
“Legion Of Doom”, the third advance single from Left To Die‘s forthcoming Death covers album Initium Mortis, has surfaced online. The band has also confirmed an extensive touring plan across the Latin American region. Read more…
Dublin’s Lankum, last heard collaborating with Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten on the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man soundtrack, have a stark, doomy, experimental take on traditional Irish folk music. A lot of their power comes from the bell-clear voice of singer Radie Peat. Today, Peat releases her first-ever debut single, and it continues the Lankum project of spooky traditionalism.
Corey Taylor says it’s taken three therapists working together to help him appreciate what he actually has.The Slipknot frontman opened up about the process during a recent appearance on Mythical Kitchen’s “Last Meals” podcast, describing a three-year journey that began the moment he realized how his own behavior had been affecting the people closest to him.
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Scott Penfold breaks down Corey Taylor’s mental health revelation on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — on why hearing a frontman at Taylor’s level talk this openly about ongoing therapy still matters in metal, and what his comments about gratitude and appreciation actually reveal about where he’s at now. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play to stream the full breakdown.
What Corey Taylor Actually Said
Taylor didn’t mince words about the moment things came into focus. “I woke up one day and realized that I wasn’t happy. I had hurt everyone that I loved. I’d hurt people I worked with,” he said on the podcast. He traced the realization back roughly three years, describing a slow decline he hadn’t fully registered until it became impossible to ignore. “It’d just been getting worse and worse until I realized that this person who I was, I hated,” Taylor said, adding that he now attributes much of it to insecurity and a persistent feeling that nothing he’d accomplished was ever enough.
The Work Of Three Therapists
In the years since, Taylor has coordinated treatment through three separate mental health therapists working together — a process he described bluntly as “the arduous process of building me back up.” He was careful to note it hasn’t been a clean or finished journey. “It hasn’t been perfect. It’s meant looking at a lot of the mistakes that I’ve made and doing my best to make amends for it,” he said, without detailing specifics beyond acknowledging his family among those he’s had to make things right with.
Taylor credited his wife, Alicia, directly with helping him reach this point, saying plainly, “if it wasn’t for her, honestly, I wouldn’t be here.” The couple married in October 2019, roughly six months after Taylor proposed, having gone public with their relationship the year prior. He described her as the first person in his life who loved him without wanting anything from him, and pointed to her sense of self as something he’s leaned on while working through his own mental health. “She’s my inspiration in a lot of ways because she knows who she is and she knows without life, without family, what is success?” he said.
This Isn’t Taylor’s First Time Being This Direct
Taylor has been candid about his mental health before. Back in 2024, he opened up about canceling a North American solo tour after his workload pushed him to what he called “a real dark point,” crediting a reprioritization of family and personal limits with pulling him back. This new three-year timeline appears to overlap with and extend that same broader stretch of self-examination, suggesting a longer, ongoing process rather than a single isolated moment. Even as he’s worked through it privately, Taylor’s public-facing career hasn’t slowed — Slipknot’s current lineup remains active and the band continues to tour, with Taylor now describing a pre-show ritual of prayer and gratitude that he credits with helping him separate the rage of the stage from who he is off it.
Taylor said he began therapy roughly three years ago after realizing his insecurity and behavior had hurt people he loved and worked with, describing the process as rebuilding himself.
What did Corey Taylor say on the Last Meals podcast?
Taylor discussed his three-year mental health journey, crediting his wife Alicia and describing the ongoing work of therapy as an “arduous process.”
Who is Corey Taylor’s wife?
Corey Taylor is married to Alicia Taylor, whom he wed in October 2019 after the couple went public with their relationship the prior year.
Has Corey Taylor talked about mental health before?
Yes. In 2024, Taylor discussed canceling a solo tour after reaching what he called “a real dark point,” tied to workload and burnout.
Taylor’s had plenty to say about the darker corners of his own head over the years — hearing him talk this openly about the ongoing work of fixing it is a different kind of honest. Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for continuing coverage.
This piece touches on mental health. If you or someone you know is struggling, the SAMHSA National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) offers free, confidential support.
Five Finger Death Punch has added another milestone to its career, landing its 18th No. 1 single on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Eye Of The Storm”.
The track has already drawn strong reactions from rock and metal media. Revolver wrote that it “mixes a flurry of battering metal chugs with a sense of melody, plus Ivan Moody‘s pensive-but-barked lyrics hinting at fears, regrets, burdens, blame, and the search for some kind of inner peace,” while Loudwire described it as, “The song is a driving, furious banger that kicks off what’s expected to be a new album cycle in grand fashion.”
With the success of “Eye Of The Storm”, Five Finger Death Punch has extended its record for the longest streak of consecutive No. 1 singles in the 45-year history of Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
The song appears on the band’s upcoming tenth studio album, Legacy. The digital edition is scheduled for release on July 31, while CD, vinyl, and cassette editions will follow on September 18.
Meanwhile, Five Finger Death Punch continues to support its recent releases, Best Of – Volume 1 and Best Of – Volume 2. Both collections include newly recorded versions of some of the band’s best-known songs. Among them are the chart-topping “I Refuse”, featuring In This Moment vocalist Maria Brink on Best Of – Volume 1, and “The End”, featuring Babymetal, on Best Of – Volume 2.
“The End” topped Japan’s iTunes Metal chart and climbed to No. 18 on the country’s overall iTunes chart, marking another notable achievement for an international rock act. In the United States, the song also became the first rock radio chart entry to feature Japanese lyrics, eventually reaching No. 1.
Both Best Of – Volume 1 and Best Of – Volume 2 were produced after the band’s original master recordings were sold without Five Finger Death Punch being informed or given the chance to recover ownership of them.
Human hook-factory Kai Slater is a member of the and Lifeguard and a key piece of Chicago’s Hallogallo scene, the circle of super-young bands documented on the recent Red Xerox compilation. Slater also makes groovy ’60s-style power-pop gems under the name Sharp Pins. Last year, he released the excellent album Balloon Balloon Balloon. Today, he’s got another super-impressive new gem of a song.
Converge have announced UK and European tour dates for November.
The Salem, Massachusetts quartet will cross the Atlantic to play dates in support of their recently-released 12th album Hum of Hurt, with support from Sanguisugabogg, Blackbraid, and Pupil Slicer.
The tour launches in Munich, Germany on November 12, and runs through to November 22 in London, England.
The dates are:
Nov 12: München Backstage, Germany Nov 13: Karlsruhe Substage, Germany Nov 14: Eindhoven Helldorado, Holland (no Blackbraid) Nov 15: Strasbourg La Laiterie, France Nov 16: Paris Bataclan, France Nov 18: Leeds Project House, UK Nov 19: Bristol Electric Bristol, UK Nov 20: Glasgow SWG3, UK Nov 21: Nottingham Rock City, UK Nov 22: London Electric Brixton, UK
Tickets for the tour go on sale at 10am BST on Friday, July 10, here.
The group have also shared a video for new album track It Used To Matter.
Hum Of Hurt is Converge’s second album of 2026, following on from Love Is Not Enough, which was released in February.
“It’s not a sequel,” says frontman Jacob Bannon. “The unifying musical idea early on was, Let’s make a noise rock album. But we never really did. The first one wasn’t. This one touches on that spirit, but it’s much more dynamic than that descriptor.
“To me, it leans more into being an emotional hardcore album, while Love Is Not Enough feels more metal leaning album. In the end, we simply gave creative birth to another Converge record with its own unique identity and character.”
Mit großer Betroffenheit nehmen wir Abschied von unserem Kollegen Claus-Dieter Brusch, der nach langem Kampf seiner Krankheit erlag. Claus-Dieter ist in Wacken groß geworden und verband einen Großteil seiner Jungend mit eben diesem Ort. Sein Lebensmittelpunkt war sein Zuhause in Schenefeld und seine Familie, die für ihn stets an erster Stelle stand. Mit seiner herzlichen Art, seinem Verantwortungsbewusstsein und seiner Hilfsbereitschaft hinterlässt er bei allen, die ihn kannten, bleibende Erinnerungen.
Claus-Dieter unterstütze als Elektriker die ICS Gruppe und war ein Mensch, der sich im Arbeitsalltag durch große Verlässlichkeit und Ruhe auszeichnete.
Wir verlieren mit Claus-Dieter einen geschätzten Menschen, dessen Bescheidenheit, Loyalität und Lebenswille viele beeindruckt hat. Unsere Gedanken sind in dieser schweren Zeit bei seiner Frau Brigitte, seiner Familie und allen Angehörigen & Freunden.
Wir werden Claus-Dieter in dankbarer Erinnerung behalten.
In stillem Gedenken RIP Holger, Thomas & W:O:A Team
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