Seattle indie rockers Chastity Belt have been making fuzzy, beatific music for 15 years now, and we gave Album Of The Week honors to their last LP, 2024’s Live Laugh Love. A couple of weeks ago, Chastity Belt released two tracks, “I Could Say Less” and “Pavement.” As it turns out, both of those songs will appear on Chastity Belt’s next album, the just-announced All My Friends. So will the band’s two brand-new songs.
Nefarious Industries welcomes newly formed thrash metal juggernaut Burning Hammer to the label.
Burning Hammer is a novel endeavor spearheaded by former Havok and Machine Head guitarist Reece Scruggs, created as a conduit to harness his own unaltered vision and creativity. With Scruggs handling all guitars and lead vocals, he’s joined by bassist Noah Martin (Arsis, WolvenSpirit, ex-Lilitu) and drummer Stefen Burns (Monolith), united in a tight-knit powerhouse thrash metal trio. Unapologetic shrapnel-ized death-thrash that deals in all things eldritch, cryptic, and covert. An idea born of pain that morphed into an inspired work of fury that puts its foot to the throat and never lets up.
The band is putting the final touches on their debut album, which will be unveiled for release in early 2027. In the meantime, the lead Burning Hammer single, “Rabid Lycanthropy,” has been let off the chain early to introduce this mangling new project to the masses. The track was produced, mixed, and mastered by Stefen Burns at B&M Studios, Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
On the band’s formation, Reece Scruggs states: “Burning Hammer was born out of pure passion and a sense of personal fulfillment in a very dark and uncertain time. It gave me the ability to have a creative, positive, and productive outlet, and it gave me the chance to see my own vision come to life. Nothing to do with ego or power, but purely just to see something through that’s 100% mine. To stand on my own two feet.
“Accompanying me are two dudes that I’m very fortunate to have on my team. Noah Martin has a body of work that speaks for itself. Along with his incredible bass playing, he’s brought enthusiasm and positive attitude that has really pushed me through this journey. Stefen Burns is a guy I’ve worked with on other projects, and I truly believe it’s just a matter of time before everyone in the scene is going to him to record their music. He’s an absolutely amazing engineer and drummer, but there’s also a brotherhood there with him as well. I’m extremely grateful for his work and participation.
“It’s too death to be thrash, too thrash to be death. Tech tendencies with punk structures, blackened moments, and full of cryptic, conspiratorial, and fantastic lyrical topics, all wrapped up in a horror movie-inspired La Sexorcisto-type of package. To add the cherry on top of this blistering, super fun, relentless project, it also features some of the absolute best musicians in the metal community and beyond.
“With the release of this first effort, I ask the listener, be it fan, journalist, music critic, or whatever else to come with me on a journey. Lose yourself in the fun topics of the lyrics and focus on the music. Drop your bullshit at the door and have some fun. I’m not reinventing the wheel here. All I’m doing is presenting my brand of tire. I’m not here to push an agenda either. I write death/thrash songs with lyric topics to get the listener away from the real world for a little bit. With that in mind, give it a try. This project and this record were a huge release for me in a terrible time in my life. I hope listening to it can help someone in a positive way.”
Noah Martin adds: “Reece and I had wanted to work together since Havok and Arsis crossed paths on tour. When we first started talking about what would become Burning Hammer, I could tell Reece quickly wanted to build something that hits back—a collision of thrash and early Shrapnel‑style guitar heroics with the blunt force of death metal. It’s also a treat and a real honor to have so many friends and killer players contributing guest solos.
“I’m proud to be part of something that feels this alive, and I can’t wait for people to hear what we’ve built. It’s the kind of album that reminds you why you picked up an instrument in the first place. There’s this clever simplicity to it—the songs just roll off the proverbial tongue. My parts came together over months of jamming what felt natural, without overthinking, and that instinctive energy is all over the record.”
Watch for a full-on assault of new info about Burning Hammer and the band’s impending debut LP to post over the bleak weeks ahead.
Burning Hammer is:
Reece Scruggs / Guitar and vocals Stefen Burns / Drums Noah Martin / Bass
(This is Daniel Barkasi’s review of a debut album by the German occult black metal band SRPNTS, which will be released on October 2nd by Serpent Sun Records.) Discovery is at the heart of what makes our music-craving juices flow, for this scribe anyway. There’s always the insufferable “nothing good came out since 1991” curmudgeons, […]
Outer Limits are one of the most interesting bands from the 80s lushing Japanese prog scene and their 1987 album titled “The Scene of Pale Blue”is likely their best work. This 20’30” title track I’m writing about is simply shocking. Each movememt has a different mood and all instruments have their own space: not only keyboards ( Mellotron & Synths) and guitars, but also violin and piano.
This is a Japanese prog pearl, IMHO.
The composition is high standing, the musicians very skilled and there are so many original ideas, some of them coming from horror movies or TV shows. Not only neoprogressive, then, but a surprising mix of genres, just as good prog should be!
Today marks the release of legendary guitarist Tony Iommi’s brand-new single. Titled “Stormwatcher,” it is driven by a signature guitar riff from the man who was the driving musical force behind Black Sabbath’s celebrated career. “Stormwatcher” has a nautical theme and tells the story of a ship stranded in a storm. The song is accompanied… Continue Reading →
Armored Saint today presents their visualizer for “Not On Your Life.” The track comes by way of the band’s critically acclaimed new full-length, Emotion Factory Reset, released earlier this year on Metal Blade Records. The kaleidoscopic clip was created by Costin Chioreanu of Twilight13media.
Comments vocalist John Bush: “The opening lyrics are, ‘You already know my name is John Doe / Yeah you already know but still give it a go.’ I think Phil [Sandoval] had the term, ‘you already know.’ Rhyming, I was, ‘oh, okay, this is cool, like, John Doe.’ There are a couple meanings to it: the cool guy from X is John Doe. It also means that you don’t know who this person is. It led to me thinking in terms of something a little vague, which sometimes I like to do. You already know, yet you don’t know at the same time.
Phil sent me the phrase ‘from dollars to donuts,’ and I got ‘Heavens to Betsy.’ My mom was named Betty, and it’s a little nod to [Bitch vocalist] Betsy Bitch because she’s on Metal Blade. I thought, ‘why not just have a little correlation here.’ It’s a cool, great rock song, and it seems to be some people’s favorite.
The lyrics ‘dollars to donuts’ sounds like something somebody said on the streets of Manhattan in 1950. I also used the phrase ‘lying on the floor in the drunk tank.’ ‘Drunk tank’ is another term people don’t really use in 2026.”
Armored Saint will kick off their North American co-headlining tour with Metal Church this November. The Metal Saint Tour 2026 begins on November 2nd in San Juan Capistrano, California and runs through November 21st in Agoura Hills, California with support provided by LiveKill.
Following the fiery response both bands received during their recent shows together in Europe and fans’ excitement for the upcoming Fall shows, a Spring 2027 leg of this killer metal package has also been announced. The journey will commence on March 19th in Austin, Texas and close on April 10th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Support will be provided by One Machine.
Offers Armored Saint vocalist, John Bush: “Three weeks in the Fall just didn’t seem enough so we decided to do another run of the Metal Saint tour in the Spring of 2027. Celebrating two classic bands from the ‘80s who also have new records out in 2026 is a no-brainer for any metal fan. Plus, there is still a lot of the country to cover. See you at the show!”
Comments Metal Church guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof: “We are stoked to be heading back out on the road with our friends in Armored Saint for another round of the Metal Saint Tour!”
Adds Metal Church drummer Ken Mary: “We are really looking forward to so many fans and friends on tour on this run and we are honored to be with our brothers in metal, Armored Saint !”
For a complete list of dates and to purchase tickets + VIP upgrades, check here.
Emotion Factory Reset, Armored Saint’s ninth studio album, is a resurrection of sorts, a tearing down and a rebuilding in eleven songs of diverse musicality and lyrical themes. Produced, as were the previous four albums, by bassist Joey Vera and mixed by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour), the record finds the quintet challenging themselves. Songs like “Close To The Bone,” “Hit A Moonshot,” and “Every Man-Any Man” have Armored Saint honoring their past as one of the most respected and recognizable bands in heavy music while making forward-thinking music rooted in the present.
Emotion Factory Reset was recorded across several studios including 606 Studios, Secret Hand Studios, Skullseven Studios, Constantine Studios, and Bridge Recording, engineered by OliverRoman, Bill Metoyer, Joey Vera, and Jason Constantine, and features cover art by DDKing.
Fontaines D.C.’s upcoming Dopamine Chamber promises to be one of the biggest rock albums of the fall, and it could be something special. The band has been debuting new songs live lately, and we’ve already heard lead single “Marianne.” The record has the group’s first-ever featured-guest collaborator: Rosalía, who shows up on the as-yet-unheard “Where Is Gone?” Today, Fontaines share the LP’s second single, and it’s a good one.
