Emerging from the swamps to grace the stage at Bloodstock for a second time, Froglord stop by for a chat with us.
It’s the day prior to their set and we discuss their plans for the show, their ambition to play all stages at the festival, the metal scene and environmentalism, small venues across the UK struggling and what the band plans to do next.
You can listen to the interview below, or jump over to any of the usual streaming services!
Mutation Unleash Primal Death Metal Fury on Debut Album Esoteric Order of Debauchery
Swedish Death Metal Destroyers Set October 9 International Release Through Hells Headbangers
Stockholm, Sweden’s Mutation are preparing to unleash their long-awaited debut full-length, Esoteric Order of Debauchery , with Hells Headbangers announcing October 9 as the album’s international release date. The record will be available on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape.
Formed around 2019 by drummer S.N and guitarist K.L , Mutation began as a mutual obsession with the earliest and most savage forms of raw death metal. The pair eventually expanded the lineup in 2022 with vocalist N.S , guitarist S.Q , and bassist S.B , finally giving the band the firepower needed to record their first demo.
Released in 2023, Demo ’23 arrived like a punch to the throat, delivering utterly unhinged intensity alongside an authentically ancient atmosphere. The demo caught the attention of Perdition Temple ‘s Gene Palubicki, who helped bring Mutation to the attention of Hells Headbangers . The label soon signed the band, setting the stage for what would become their first full-length assault.
Now, that assault has arrived.
Esoteric Order of Debauchery
Forged in the spirit of death metal’s most feral beginnings, Esoteric Order of Debauchery is raw, primitive, violent, and completely uninterested in modern polish.
Mutation don’t attempt to clean up the chaos. Instead, they embrace everything that made early death metal feel dangerous in the first place. Relentless blastbeats, savage riffs, filthy feedback, cavernous vocals, and an atmosphere soaked in menace come together in a sound that feels ripped straight from the genre’s darkest underground origins.
Every track is short, sharp, and savage, built around instinct rather than perfection. The songs hit fast and hard, with riffs that slash through the noise while the drums threaten to completely lose control. There’s an unmistakable sense of danger running through the entire record, as though every note carries its own death sentence.
This isn’t death metal designed to be polished, progressive, or accessible.
Mutation aren’t here to evolve death metal. They’re here to drag it back to its most primal form and make it bleed again.
Join the Esoteric Order of Debauchery or fall before their ritual blade.
Hear “Necromantical Holocaust”
In anticipation of the album’s release, Mutation have unleashed the brand-new track “Necromantical Holocaust” , available now through the official Hells Headbangers YouTube channel.
Fans can also hear the previously released track “Pestilent Whore” , offering another vicious preview of what Esoteric Order of Debauchery has in store.
International Release Date: October 9, 2026 Label: Hells Headbangers Formats: CD, Vinyl LP, Cassette Band: Mutation Album: Esoteric Order of Debauchery Origin: Stockholm, Sweden Genre: Raw Death Metal
Mutation’s Esoteric Order of Debauchery arrives October 9 through Hells Headbangers. If you’re craving death metal stripped down to its ugliest, most primitive, and most dangerous form, this one belongs on your radar.
Listen to “Necromantical Holocaust,” hear “Pestilent Whore,” and find preorder information through Hells Headbangers.
In the press release announcing Tomahawk’s triumphant return to the stage after 13 long years, guitarist Duane Denison said “In the spirit of the Olympics, Team Tomahawk has decided to rise up and go for the gold once again”. Those lucky enough to attend the completely sold-out Los Angeles show would 100% agree with Denison’s assessment – Tomahawk was back in force, and well worth the wait.
Tomahawk
Saturday’s concert at the 100-year-old Belasco Theater in DTLA marked the first of two shows in Los Angeles, and the second to last outing of the “A Huge Waste of Your Time and Money” tour, a twenty-two-date musical road trip across America with the Melvins. Minimalist lighting and set design placed the focus squarely on the band, and their formidable musicianship and stage presence.
To say that the 1500 capacity Belasco Theater was full, doesn’t do the scene justice. Fans were lined up outside the venue hours before the doors opened at 7:00pm, and there was zero room to move on the main floor once they did. Upstairs on the balcony, people were several rows deep across the entire span, so your odds of catching a glimpse of the stage from up there were zero unless you arrived early to claim a spot.
One would assume that all of the attention was on vocalist Mike Patton, who skyrocketed in popularity with the rise of Faith No More’s 1989 album The Real Thing. Mike has always been known as an unrivaled and sometimes unpredictable performer, to say nothing of his six-octave vocal range, but he wasn’t the only one on stage. Guitarist Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard), drummer John Stanier (Helmet), and the cowboy hat brandishing bassist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) were all in top form, and the combination of all four men working in perfect synchronicity is what made for an unforgettable evening.
Tomahawk’s nineteen song setlist drew from material spanning their entire 25-year career, but featured seven songs from 2021’s Tonic Immobility, which they weren’t able to tour at the time due to the pandemic. Fans eager to finally hear these songs live were treated to an incredible night of amazing music performed at the highest of levels.
Tomahawk is:
Duane Denison – Guitar (The Jesus Lizard)
Mike Patton – Vocals (Faith No More)
John Stanier – Drums (Helmet)
Trevor Dunn – Bass (Mr. Bungle)
Setlist:
1) Flashback
2) White Hats / Black Hats
3) SHHH!
4) Capt. Midnight
5) Howlie
6) Predators and Scavengers
7) Business Casual
8) Doomsday Fatigue
9) South Paw
10) I.O.U.
11) Fatback
12) Birdsong
13) Rape This Day
14) Sidewinder
15) Totem
Encore:
16) Hot Rod Lincoln
17) God Hates a Coward
18) Rise Up Dirty Waters
19) Point and Click
Melvins
Saturday’s show was a unique pairing of two incredible bands, and for their part, the Melvins exploded the moment they hit the stage at 8:00pm to an already packed venue. Los Angeles is known for many things, and late-arriving fans for sporting/music/theater events is one of them…however Saturday night was something special, and people arrived early and stayed until the end to see two legendary bands together.
The highly influential and pioneering Melvins always put on an incredible show – I’ve seen them in small clubs maxing out at three hundred people, and festivals with fields of thousands watching – it simply doesn’t matter – they plug in and get to work. Saturday was no exception – with no introduction or between-song banter, Buzz, Stephen, Coady, and Dale hit the stage and proceeded to figuratively burn it to the ground.
It seems obvious to say that Buzz Osborne is the visual cornerstone of the band with his untamed white shock of hair, erratic head gyrations to punctuate musical beats, full length muumuu, and habit of stalking the stage when not at his mic stand, but that takes away from bassist Steven McDonald (Redd Cross). McDonald seems to have been born to perform. Prowling the stage, engaging the audience while making direct eye contact, high-kicks, and rockstar poses all come naturally, while seamlessly holding down the low-end.
One thing that sets the Melvins current lineup apart from the rest is the dual drum attack from Dale Crover and Coady Willis. Watching them closely is a visual and audible treat – Willis is left-handed and plays stage right, while Crover is right-handed and plays stage left. This creates a percussive mirror image, as they play in perfect lockstep of one another. In a 2006 article in The Oklahoman, Crover described it as "Coady has more of a karate approach, where I'm more of a kung fu man,"…a perfect encapsulation of the situation.
The Melvins played a tight, hour-long set that left fans wanting more. The twelve-song setlist featured tracks from seven albums and seemed the perfect blend for the night, while complimenting Tomahawk’s set perfectly.
Melvins are:
Buzz Osborne – Guitar/Vocals
Dale Crover – Drums
Coady Willis – Drums
Steven Shane McDonald – Bass
Setlist:
1) Working the Ditch
2) Never Say You're Sorry
3) Sway
4) Evil New War God
5) Civilized Worm
6) It's Shoved
7) A History of Bad Men
8) The Bit
9) Blood Witch
10) Hag Me
11) Honey Bucket
12) Night Goat
Brooks RobinsonPhotographer & Writer
Brooks Robinson is an LA-based concert photographer, and 30+ year freelance camera operator for film, television, and music videos. He has photographed some of the largest film/TV projects in history, and hundreds of music videos in MTV's heyday.
(Andy Synn courts controversy yet again with his review of the new Warforged album, out now) We should probably start things out today by laying all our cards on the table, yes? While many people were impressed by Warforged‘s debut album, I: The Voice, I’m afraid I wasn’t one of them. Don’t get me wrong, there’s […]
Polish death-doom metal band DEATH HAS SPOKEN will release their third full-length album, Elegy, on vinyl for the first time on September 11 through Meuse Music Records. Limited to 200 copies worldwide, the 180-gram black vinyl edition also marks the band’s first release in the format. Originally issued on CD and digital platforms on October […]
The End of Melancholy Return With Powerful New Single “Halo” Out Now | Gothic Alternative Metal Rising From Adversity
For Fans Of: Lacuna Coil, Infected Rain, Spiritbox
After years of international touring, major support slots, and overcoming extraordinary challenges, Georgia-based gothic alternative metal outfit The End of Melancholy have unleashed their emotionally charged new single “Halo,” marking a powerful new chapter for the band.
Fronted by haunting female vocals and backed by crushing modern metal instrumentation, The End of Melancholy have spent years carving out their place in the international metal scene. The band has shared stages with artists including Motionless in White, Theatres des Vampires, and Hanzel und Gretyl , while touring extensively across Europe with performances in Poland, Lithuania, France, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Switzerland, Estonia, and beyond.
One of the band’s defining career moments came in 2019 when Chris Motionless personally selected The End of Melancholy as the support act for Motionless in White’s show in St. Petersburg. Their momentum continued in 2020 when they signed with renowned European booking agency Massive Music , home to artists including Infected Rain, Nile, Gorgoroth, and Vader.
The band has also earned praise from Chris “The Lord” Harms of Lord of the Lost, who publicly shared and complimented their cover of one of his band’s songs across social media.
Following the release of their acclaimed sophomore album Nature Unleashed in 2021, supported by multiple music videos and an international PR campaign with Maria Ferrero of Adrenaline PR, The End of Melancholy signed with DI Records in the United States before releasing the single “No Karma” in 2023.
Now operating independently once again, the band is preparing for the release of their next full-length album while actively seeking the right label and industry partners to help propel the project to the next level.
Leading the charge is “Halo,” a deeply personal and significant release for the band.
“‘Halo’ is the band’s most significant release since being forced to leave Russia. It is only our second release since relocating and marks another important step toward our new full-length album. The song was professionally recorded in the studio and accompanied by a full-scale music video filmed in Georgia. The entire process, from writing and recording the track to producing the video, took approximately one year.”
Produced by Andrew Petroff , who handled the songwriting, production, studio recording, mixing, mastering, and music video production, with all lyrics written and vocals recorded by Olly Lex , “Halo” showcases the band’s continued artistic evolution while delivering the cinematic atmosphere, emotional intensity, and modern heaviness fans have come to expect.
With a renewed sense of purpose and years of international experience behind them, The End of Melancholy continue proving that adversity can fuel creativity. “Halo” stands as both a statement of resilience and an exciting preview of what’s to come from one of gothic alternative metal’s most determined independent acts.
“Halo” Is Out Now
Listen to “Halo” on Bandcamp: https://theendofmelancholy.bandcamp.com/album/halo
All Streaming & Music Links: https://linktr.ee/theendofmelancholy
CONNECT WITH THE END OF MELANCHOLY
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/theendofmelancholy
Follow The End of Melancholy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theendofmelancholy
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theendofmelancholy
Linktree
https://linktr.ee/theendofmelancholy
If you’re a gigging enthusiast, like I am, earplugs are a necessity. And there’s an outside chance you’ve already discovered this the hard way, whether through that incessant ringing in your ears every night or the slow realisation you can’t pick voices out from a crowd anymore. If you’re not there yet, congrats! And if you are: the best time to start wearing earplugs was at your first gig, but the second-best time is now.
There’s a veritable shedload of earplugs available for you to get, but loads of them sound terrible – none worse than the freebie foam numbers you get from behind the bar at the gig venue. There’s plenty of consumer-focused earplugs too, that try to appeal through good looks over great sound. Usually, you’ve got to pay through the nose for an earplug listening experience worth the ticket price; what if there was an affordable pair of gig-friendly earplugs that actually sounded good?
Design
Where many Audio-Technica products prior have the musician, DJ, hobbyist or audio professional somewhat in mind, the AT-ERP5 clearly has the gig-going consumer in its sights instead – as telegraphed by some unusually swanky product design.
The AT-ERP5 sport some sleek chassis, with a metallic fingernail-like body and a smoky silicone ring for ease of removal and storage. They come in two colourways, too; mine are the black variety, but you can also get them in a fetching gold, with corresponding white ear tips.
Features
The Audio-Technica AT-ERP5 are pitched less as a fusty set of health and safety equipment, and more as a chic accessory for the gigging individual – a visual aesthetic that belies some truly clever dual-layer filtering technology beneath the sheen. We’ll come to what this tech yields experience-wise shortly, but for now: the AT-ERP5 sport a comfortable SNR of 21dB (and, for the US, an NRR of 14dB).
In the box, you get the earplugs themselves, a hard case for safe and easy transportation, and three sets of different-sized ear tips in a small paper envelope, which accompany the pair already installed on the earplugs (bringing the total sizes of ear tip on offer to four).
The pre-installed set were too large for my ears, and a tad painful at that, requiring me to step down to a smaller size. In doing so, I found that the tips of each earbud were flared more aggressively than most other brands, meaning a more secure fit for the provided tips but also a fairly protracted time of getting the next pair installed. Still, I’d rather this than they came out readily in my ear after use, which happens to me enough elsewhere to be an outsized nuisance in my gigging day-to-day.
That hard case itself is worthy of some notice. There’s a moulded silicone interior which satisfyingly receives the earbuds; those loop handles click softly yet firmly into place, past a small ridge into their respective moulds. I spent longer than I really ought to have done testing the security of this fit by dropping the entire hard case, lid open, to the ground – and I couldn’t get the earbuds to fall or bounce out once.
If there’s anything approaching a problem with this case, it’s that it’s a little bigger than some might prefer. But with a loop anchor set into the side, this could easily hang off your keys, carabiner, belt loop or jacket with the right cable or string (sadly not included).
And, while we’re at it, if there’s anything approaching a problem with the wider package so far, it’s the ear tips – all of which are single-flanged, and tend to be quite irritating if they spend more than a little while in your ears. Even after selecting the ‘right’ size for my admittedly somewhat undersized ear canals, they felt a bit raw after wearing these earplugs. Then again, I’ve been spoiled by earplugs over six times the price.
(Image credit: Future/James grimshaw)
Performance
Usually, when it comes to consumer-forward earplug products with which the ERP-5 share a shelf, I find the same essential sonic shortcoming: a noticeable high-end roll-off, albeit variable from product to product. Even though this is one of the primary problems that earplugs manufacturers task themselves with solving, and even though they have varying degrees of success in solving it, that slight muffling is practically impossible to negate completely – at least, not at this price point. Until, it seems, kind of now?
The Audio-Technica ERP-5 are, somehow, absurdly good at preserving enough high-end information to be believably transparent in loud, live situations. My first experience wearing them in front of a band was, frankly, bizarre. It’s the closest I’ve felt a pair of earplugs from this price range has gotten to literally turning down the volume on real life.
The instinct is to expect a bit of muffle, or a general preference for low-end information, simply due to the limitations of earplug designs past. The AT-ERP-5 are different, though; somehow, there’s a high-end preference that keeps things airy, breathable, semi-literally atmospheric. This pays dividends in boomy rooms, but also makes the AT-ERP5 surprisingly effective in quieter settings, as accessories to focus.
I’ve tried dozens of similar and semi-equivalent budget-range ear-plugging products before, and I can confidently say this is the first time that one has genuinely surprised me. It’s nothing short of a miracle that something at this price can achieve this so readily, and proof positive of Audio-Technica’s well-earned stature in the wider audio scene. It’s just a shame that they aren’t as comfortable long-term as they could be, else these unduly swanky little budget earplugs would get top marks.
The alternatives
Alpine MusicSafe Pro The de facto choice for musicians, there’s no discounting the excellence of the Alpine MusicSafe Pro. Rather than a hard shell with swappable ear tips, the MusicSafe Pro are all tip, with interchangeable filters that allow you to select the right amount of attenuation for your gig.
D’Addario dBud Though a little pricier, D’Addario’s dBud earplugs are intriguing prospects for their adjustable attenuation via a slider on each bud; they also come with a handy leash, magnetic chassis to keep them safely together around your neck when not in use, and five different sizes of tip for a better in-ear fit.
