GA-20 has released “I’ll Change My Style,” the latest single from the band’s upcoming collaborative album with Charlie Musselwhite, Blues Now, which arrives July 31.
The new track follows the previously released singles “Crazy Love” and “I Can’t Hold Out,” offering another preview of the 10-song collection that celebrates classic Chicago blues while drawing inspiration from the roots of American music.
GA-20 guitarist Matthew Stubbs said, “This is a love song that blurs the lines between blues and traditional country, harkening back to the roots of early American music. Charlie Musselwhite’s friendship with Jimmie Reed is celebrated here in a dynamic and soulful rendition.”
Earlier this year, GA-20 entered the studio with Musselwhite for six days to record songs made famous by artists including Elmore James, Junior Wells and Eddie Taylor. The album also revisits two songs from Musselwhite’s acclaimed 1968 debut, Stand Back!.
Stubbs explained the band’s approach to selecting material for the project.
“We tried to find songs that Charlie had a connection to or artists that he knew personally from Chicago, but also just songs that we liked and thought we could do justice,” Stubbs said. “The GA-20 sound historically has been in that ballpark of raw Chicago Blues from the late ’50s and early ’60s, but we didn’t want to simply re-create Stand Back!, we just wanted to be influenced by it. We wanted to capture the spirit of that record.”
The album was recorded live in the studio with an emphasis on capturing the spontaneity and energy of musicians performing together in the moment.
Musselwhite said the recording sessions came together effortlessly.
“We’re so good we have to make mistakes on purpose. Everything went smoothly. Making this album was as easy as falling off a log.”
Blues Now will be available digitally, on CD and on standard black vinyl. Several limited edition vinyl variants will also be released, including a Teal Marble edition available through Plaid Room Records and Seasick Records, a Green Splatter edition exclusive to the band, and a Red Marble edition featuring an autographed insert from GA-20 and Charlie Musselwhite available through independent retailers and New West Records.
Hyphen has released a new track, and it doesn’t back in its taking down of modern living with savage wit and wisdom.
Called ‘SAID WHAT I SAID’, it’s a bruising piece of metal-leaning intensity that rips and tears at you with pure crossover energy. And lyrically Hyphen doesn’t hold back in dishing out plenty of home truths about the sorry state of theing right now. From those at the top running things to the media going along with things in a manner that divides us, it’s the sort of takedown that is as necessary as it is utterly brutal.
A song for the here and now.
Hyphen had this to say about its inspirations:
“Reform UK, potentially the next British Government, is made up of openly racist, sexist people who say they want to privatise the NHS and want to copy some of scariest, most evil policies from the US. They are funded by offshore billionaires and have taken bribes from the Russian government. Billionaire funded media is afraid to call them fascists. We should not be. The left slept walked into Brexit because we didn’t fully acknowledge the threat we were up against. We can’t make that mistake again. Said What I Said is a song about refusing to be gaslit by mainstream media about the threat that the far right really pose. It’s also just a fucking banger. The far right are fascists and would ruin this country to serve their wealthy donors. I said what I said.”
The track follows on from ‘HYDRA’ which was released earlier this year, and sounds like this:
Nonpoint will release its eleventh studio album, The Last Word, on September 18, 2026, through 361 Degrees Records.
Alongside the announcement, the band has premiered the official music video for its latest single, “Is It”. Fans can pre-save or pre-order the album here or through major digital platforms and participating retailers.
The new single has already gained traction at Active Rock radio, debuting as the No. 1 Most Added track upon release before quickly moving into the Top 50 on the Mediabase Active Rock chart.
Frontman Elias Soriano discussed the meaning behind the single, saying: “‘Is It’ is that internal conflict where you question getting too involved? Did I push too hard? Did I ask too much? It’s that feeling of wondering if doing what you thought was right actually meant hurting the people around you.”
For Nonpoint, The Last Word represents more than simply adding another record to its catalog. According to Soriano, the album reflects the band’s determination to keep moving forward.
“In a world that sometimes wants to put a timestamp on creativity, The Last Word is our way of saying we’re just getting started,” Elias says. “We’re pushing back against expectation and pushing forward into our own next chapter.”
Soriano also explained the symbolism behind the album artwork, which features a pencil as its central image.
“This album cover tells a piece of our story,” he says. “After years of making music, we feel more aligned than ever — musically, visually, and creatively. We’re writing some of the strongest material of our career, our live shows are as powerful as they’ve ever been, and the band feels focused and energized. The pencil on the cover represents what it’s like to be handed one last tool and expected to fit everything you have left to say into it. Not because the ideas are gone, but because longevity often comes with assumptions and limits. The Last Word isn’t about accepting an ending. It’s about challenging that narrative. If this is the pencil we’re being handed, we’re going to use it — and make sure the words written with it still matter.”
The album announcement also comes with news of Nonpoint‘s “The Even More Outta Control Tour”, which begins on July 25, 2026. The shows will feature new songs from The Last Word alongside the band’s established live favorites, giving fans an early taste of the upcoming record.
After more than two decades together, Nonpoint continues to be a consistent force in hard rock, building a dedicated following through relentless touring, charting singles and a reputation for energetic live performances. With The Last Word, the band signals that it has no plans to ease up.
The group has also joined the roster of artists endorsed by Heavys, an audio company focused on headphones, earbuds, and other products designed specifically for rock and metal listeners.
Formed in South Florida in 1997 by vocalist Elias Soriano and drummer Robb Rivera, Nonpoint built its name through groove-heavy riffs, aggressive live shows and socially aware lyrics. The band broke through with songs such as “What A Day” from Statement and became a regular presence on tours and festivals including Ozzfest and Rock On The Range, sharing stages with Sevendust, Disturbed and Stone Sour. Their cover of Phil Collins‘s “In The Air Tonight”, later featured in the film Miami Vice, remains one of the band’s best-known recordings.
(Andy Synn wants you to check out these four albums you may have missed in June) There’s an unfortunate “catch-22” involved in these “things you may have missed” columns… because while they’re important as away of catching you all up on, well, things you may have missed (the clue is in the title) they also take up […]
As previously announced, Italian death-grind veterans UNDERTAKERS will release their new album “Global Dominion” on July 10, 2026 via Time To Kill Records. Today the band unveils the album’s title-track, “Global Dominion”, offering another glimpse into the sonic direction explored on the new record. The song stands as one of the album’s key moments, capturing the band’s vision through a balance between the […]
Glasgow indie rockers the Yummy Fur were a going concern for most of the ’90s, but they called it quits in 1999, the same year keyboardist Mark Gibbons died by suicide. Two members of the band, Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson, went on to co-found Franz Ferdinand, which added Yummy Fur guitarist Dino Bardot many years later. (Another noteworthy connection: Lawrence Worthington, who drummed for the Yummy Fur before Thomson, went on to play in the Male Nurse and Country Teasers.)
In the wake of the release of their current album “…by the word…” on May 29, 2026 and just in time to coincide with the vinyl editions finally hitting stores on both sides of the Atlantic, TRELLDOM reveal the music video ‘When This Was Young‘, which is taken from the full-length. Shop link: https://spkr.store/collections/trelldom TRELLDOM do neither comment on their music nor explain their art. CreditVideo created by […]
The storms persist, but now it’s getting hot! Steam roils inside the filter ducts as my minions scald themselves in the pursuit of moderately valuable nuggets. Will they succeed before they cook like so many broccoli florets? Only time will tell.
Dead or alive, I’ll make sure these lazy louts deliver their semi-precious lodes. So be thankful, and BEHOLD!
Who knows why we don’t get promo sometimes? Countless times I’ve been faced with great anticipation for a new record by a band I was keeping tabs on, and countless times, for unknown reasons, promo never came. Louisville melodic black/death quartet Volcandra now enter those ranks with the unsent Beyond the Will of Mortals. Picking up where The Will of Ancients left off, Beyond the Will of Mortals expands in scope and scale, eliciting a grandeur in composition that recalls the epic yarns spun by Foretoken,Hath, and Astralborne, but with the thrashing sensibilities of Antiverseand Skeletonwitch. Leading the charge in stunning fashion, “Beyond the Will of Mortals” and “Marauders of the Cosmic Vortex” explode with a visceral burst of energy built around high-octane riffs, screaming solos, and majestic melodies. Dave Palenske in particular acquits himself admirably, expanding his vocal range far beyond the expected, foraying into scorching screams and subterranean gutturals with excellent technique and charisma (“Venom March Enchantress”). But the rest of the band easily keeps up, deftly trading blows between power metal-ready gallops, violent swings into thrash territory, and all manner of other pyrotechnics to make Beyond the Will ofMortals Volcandra’s most versatile and varied offering yet. To some, this may create a disjointed experience as rippers like “Mage of Fabled Sorcery” contrast in pacing and personality to its neighbors. However, with repeat listens that effects dissolves, making more room to appreciate how much fun this record really is. The back half capitalizes on that effect, unleashing lean and mean banger after banger to leave you salivating for another round (“Within the Webs,” “Infinite Decadence”). In sum, Beyond the Will of Mortals is a fine, invigorating inclusion into anyone’s rotation; so if you missed it, get on it now!
In The Collector’s Guide to Heavy Metal, Martin Popoff describes Wrong (1989) by Nomeansno as ‘the mightiest merger between the hateful aggression of punk and the discipline of heavy metal’ (316). Essentially, Popoff affixed to Wrong AMG’s Iconic label: 10/10.1 For readers perhaps unfamiliar with Nomeansno, my best follow-up on Popoff’s portrayal is that the band—formed in 1979 by the Wright brothers (Rob on bass/vocals, John on drums/vocals)—sounds like The Minutemen hijacked a Voivod. After an incredible eleven-album run, Nomeansno officially retired in 2016. Why am I wasting my word count with this history lesson on the greatest Canadian punk band of all time? Because Dead Bob, John Wright’s solo project, released its sophomore album this April. Whereas Life Like fulfills the vision of one man, John enlisted a band for Nothing Changes Everything. Bookending the album are the last two songs John co-wrote with Rob. The techy guitar/bass interplay of lead-off “Centre of the Universe,” as well as the pounding rhythms of closer “No Fun (Alt Mix),” come closest to the punk/metal hybridity of vintage Nomeansno. Between these tracks, the album gets increasingly weird (which is to say, it gets increasingly ‘punk,’ in the word’s original connotation). “Nothing Changes Everything” deploys horns, “Hard is Hard” mixes art/surf rock, and “The Present” sprinkles psychedelic guitar leads over pulsing synths and tribal percussion. If you’re a fan of avant-garde music in a compact package, you can’t go wrong with Nothing Changes Everything.
Whilst reading Tyme‘s (excellent) review of Twin Serpent’s (super fun) True Norwegian Blackgrass, a member of the commentariat reminded me of how much I enjoyed Poison Ruïn’s latest offering upon a first listen. That comment got me to revisit Hymn from the Hills, and I’m glad I did. To sell these Philly post-punks to the AMG Faithful, I’ll point out a few things: they’re signed to Relapse Records, they curate a medieval aesthetic (which includes deploying dungeon synths), and the new record was mastered by Arthur Rizk. In addition to liberal metal elements, Poison Ruïn occasionally stride with rock n’ roll swagger (“Hymn from the Hills”), with primary visionary Mac Kennedy channeling Blue Öyster Cult in his role as singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter (“Lily of the Valley”). “Eidolon” perfectly exemplifies the band’s hybridity, mashing up the melody of “Layla,” the propulsive drive of Hüsker Dü, and the rhythmic punctuations of “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” This may sound like a critique, but it’s not; Poison Ruïn excels at mixing punk, rock, and metal into their own arthouse concoction. Metal purists might have to wait until the end of the album, though, to have their fancy truly tickled. But wait, they should, as “Sleeping Giant (Interlude)” offers funeral doom content in a punk-sized package, while closer “The Standoff” gets moving with a wicked blast beat. I’ll definitely be heading for these post-punk hills more and more throughout the year.
Scimitar // Scimitarium II [April 24th, 2026 – Crypt of the Wizard]
Scimitar’s first song receptacle was one of my favorite debuts of 2025. On Scimitarium I, this Danish five-piece served up a scintillating selection of ‘black occult rock,’ combining the caustic fervor of Malokarpatan with the psychedelic haze of Blue Cheer, topped off with a post-punk flavoring of Joy Division. A year later, this Copenhagen cutter returns with Scimitarium II, a follow-up that satisfyingly mirrors the album-art format of its predecessor. Whereas Scimitarium I demonstrated range marred a bit by roughshod production, volume II sounds much sharper, slashing and dashing for a lean 40 minutes. The opening title track introduces our combatants: the dexterous drumming of CCsquele; the counter-melodic bass of Olle Bergholz; the sinister guitar fury of Johan L. Ekstrand and Anders M. Jørgensen; and finally, the commanding vocals of Shaam A.2 From there, the album rips through a trio of unrelenting ragers that feel like they can fall apart at any minute but miraculously hold together. “Through Lava Lit Roads to Lavilenda, Pt. II” offers the only reprieve, spotlighting Shaam’s dynamic range and impressive timbre. Closing out the collection is “Mobula Mobular,” a 13-minute monster built around a doomy riff whose chromaticism lurches upward and downward, to hypnotizing effect. If Scimitar can marry the ambition of I with the ferocity of II next time around, they’ll have a blackened-trad killer on their hands.
Everything about Elegant Weapons and the super group’s sophomore record Evolution is a misnomer. Evolution is a high-octane slugfest of tried-and-true heavy metal-leaning hard rock, and Elegant Weapons swing, punch, and bite through it with everything but grace. Is this a problem? When Richie Faulkener’s (JudasPriest) riffs are as groovy and burly as ever and his solos as grin-inducing, Ronnie Romero’s (ex-Rainbow, ex-Michael Schenker Group) voice is booming as it is, and when Dave Rimmer (Uriah Heep) and Christopher Williams’ (Accept) bass and drums respectively, carry as tight a pulse as they do on Evolution, not at all. When it all coalesces into uber catchy fist-pumping anthems like “Bridges Burn,” “The Devil Calls,” and “Shooting Shadows,” especially so. Evolution is easy-peasy listening, and Elegant Weapons’ chemistry and knack for hookcraft make its near hour-long runtime fly by, as well as ease the cringe of the hyper-Boomeristic lyricism on “Generation Me.” They also manage to make fairly stock power ballads in “Come Back to Me” and “Keeper of the Keys” feel affecting, driven by a viral vocal presence and emotive, timeless guitar soloing. Evolution is fun, and Elegant Weapons are sharp. ‘Nuff said.
Demon Spell // Blessed Be the Dark [April 24th, 2026 – Dying Victims Productions]
Creeping from an obscure, ancient, and sinister darkness, Sicily’s Demon Spell have conjured a shadow-cast era of heavy metal’s history back to the light of day with their debut Blessed Be the Dark. Wielding the evil auras of Mercyful Fate and Witchfinder General, Demon Spell play an early-80s melange of early thrash, occult rock, and NWoBHM riffcraft and swagger. Blessed Be the Dark is driven by excellent performances. Vocalist Federico Fano’s falsetto wails evoke King Diamond at his best on “As Lucifer Smiles” while drummer Dario Casabona drops slick, pummeling fills over “Curse of the Undead.” Sinister melodies and atmospheres abound on Blessed Be the Dark, with “The Tolling” and “Hexes and Horrors” driving home a vintage horror aesthetic while tearing it up with blistering heavy metal. Blessed Be the Dark also just sounds pleasantly old. Demon Spell’s guitars and bass sound pulled straight from 1981, complementing their retro songcraft perfectly. Blessed Be the Dark sounds like the night come alive, a fast, fun, and delightfully dark exploration of the kinds of heavy metal that gave your grandma panic attacks back in the day. Fall under the Demon Spell today!
For a band releasing their sixth album in twelve years, Nervosa sounds remarkably vital. Staying the course with a dozen tracks of their signature death/thrash, Slave Machine burns through forty-three minutes of whammy dives, soaring leads, and all-around thrashy goodness. Writing tunes that pay homage to Sepultura (“You Are Not a Hero”), Kreator (“Ghost Notes”), and Sodom (“The Call”), Nervosa bludgeons with blunt-force drama while touting slick riffs and venomous melodies. Slave Machine opens with “Impending Doom,” a stirring salvo that Arch Enemywishes they’d written, and from there Nervosa hints at the familiar without ever straying from their own lane. “Hate” starts with a riff that simultaneously reminds of Maiden’s “Flash of the Blade” and System of a Down’s “B.Y.O.B.” before spiraling into vaguely In Flames-tinged melodeath. Meanwhile, “Crawling for Your Pride” and “Beast of Burden” draw from the viciousness of mid-aughts Soulfly. Over and over, Nervosa pulls from known sources, yet bakes enough novelty into their songwriting to sound fresh and pummeling. Those intimate with Nervosa won’t find many surprises here, but are in for a treat. If this is your first encounter with these Brazilian badasses, gird your ears and strap in—welcome to the Slave Machine.
Five years after delivering debut Unusta Kõik, Estonian outfit Kõdu graces us with their sophomore album. Translated as ‘Letters from the Village of the Blind,’3Kirjad Sõgedate Külast details the sordid ruination of a backwoods village, relating its narrative aspects through a series of letters where each song chronicles a different villager’s perspective.4Kõdu grounds the lyrics in their native language, drawing from nineteenth and twentieth-century Estonian poets for inspiration. Despite the depth of the macabre backdrop, I never would have taken the time to learn more if Kõdu’s music hadn’t entranced me from the outset. Slow-burn black metal abounds on Kirjad Sõgedate Külast, recalling Dødheimsgard’s shifting moods (“II”) and eclectic instrumentation (“III”) muddled with Wayfarer’s rustic arrangements (“VI”) and Emperor’s dramatic flair (“V”). Musically, Kirjad Sõgedate Külast conjures lush soundscapes (“VII”) through considered songwriting, expertly balancing black metal discharges with melancholic passages that give moments just the right amount of time to bludgeon or breathe before pivoting. I regret not getting the chance to review Kõdu’s latest in full, because the folk magic they weave on Kirjad Sõgedate Külast deserves fanfare and kudõs aplenty.
Bloody Valkyria, the product of Finland’s Jere Kervinen, peddles in the same sort of epic symphonic/folk black metal that the likes of Ancient Mastery, Stormkeep, and Moonlight Sorcery dish out. Kervinen’s emotionally charged project appears inspired by a personal loss, and you can feel his passion in the emotional outpouring of his music and lyrics. On the epic opener, “Symphony of Silence,” Bloody Valkyria reveal their capability with the patient slow burn. There’s the natural, serene ambience of animal sounds, strings, folky flutes, and then a sudden explosion of riffs and blast beats. And boy does Kervinen write some extraordinary leads, which makes his slow-burn approach all the more rewarding. Each song contains a well-earned hooky riff/trem that holds its sway over you even as the song grows into more thoughtful serenity. Reading along with Kervinen’s poetic, touching lyrics makes the experience all the more poignant as he ruminates on death and the meaning of life. The grief by the end, as he sings about his “beloved north” and a desire for its/her embrace, is palpable. This is a beautiful record that may be too good for these dirty filters, but I just couldn’t risk it getting lost in the shuffle of the chaos that is the end of year.
“The undead are irresistible: DOMINUM infect their listeners with the zombie virus again through hooks and hits! Night is Calling is as contagious as can be!”– Metal Hammer (DE) “A painting made of chords and pure soundscapes carries listeners off into a world of dark fantasy.”– Rock It! (DE) “Sublime from start to finish!”– Fireworks (UK) Nearing the release […]
Norwegian progressive metal band Enslaved have released “Spirit Helper,” a deeply personal and cross-cultural collaboration with Kevin Kicking Woman, a tribal elder of the Blackfeet/Cree Nation in Montana.
Kevin Kicking Woman comments: “Songs are the Blackfoot way of knowing. Expressing relationship and responsibility, belonging and accountability. The purpose of this song is having the performative expression giving meaning to life. Connecting to the universes through the cosmos, earth beings, water beings and spirit beings. Spirit helper is the physical documentation in this process.”
Enslaved founding guitarist Ivar Bjørnson traces the origins of the collaboration back to 2019 in Colorado, where connections formed through the band’s extended musical community — including shared ties with Wardruna, their management, and the community surrounding the Fire in the Mountains festival on Blackfeet land in Montana — gradually led them toward the Blackfeet Nation. “What initially began as conversations around performances and artistic collaboration slowly evolved into something much deeper: an exchange of perspectives, histories, and spiritual traditions shaped by many people along the way,” he says.
Those connections deepened through By Norse Music — the label and artistic platform co-founded by members of Enslaved and Wardruna, together with manager Simon Füllemann — and came into sharper focus when Fire in the Mountains returned in 2025 to East Glacier, Mont. “We were welcomed into conversations and ceremonies that left a profound impact on us,” Bjørnson says. It was there that he met Nick Rink of the Blackfeet Nation, who later introduced him to Kevin Kicking Woman.
The pivotal moment arrived during a later gathering in New York, attended by representatives from the Blackfeet community, Fire in the Mountains, the Firekeeper Alliance, and Enslaved. There, Kevin Kicking Woman shared a traditional morning prayer song — a deeply personal and spiritual piece that he entrusted to Bjørnson and the band as the foundation for a new composition. “I immediately recognized the responsibility carried within that gesture,” Bjørnson says. “Rather than simply building around Kevin’s contribution, it became important for me to allow the music itself to adapt to the pulse, rhythm, and spirit already present within his song.” Over the following months, the two worked to find a musical language where their respective traditions could coexist — allowing Enslaved to remain fully itself while honoring the emotional core of Kevin’s prayer.
“For us, the song represents far more than a collaboration between artists from different backgrounds,” Bjørnson reflects. “It reflects what can happen when people meet openly, listen carefully, and allow themselves to be changed by the encounter. The generosity, trust, and wisdom shared with us by Kevin Kicking Woman, Nick Rink, the Blackfeet community, Fire in the Mountains, the Firekeeper Alliance, and everyone who helped shape this journey are things we carry with deep gratitude. Ultimately, ‘Spirit Helper’ is a song about connection — between past and present, traditions and people, and the spiritual and human worlds. For Enslaved, it stands as one of the most meaningful musical journeys we have undertaken.”
The artwork for “Spirit Helper” was created by Nicholas Rink, who describes it as a visual meditation on the forces behind the collaboration: a light blue wave at the bottom representing “the background vibration of existence connecting us all”; a red line representing shared humanity; a yellow spiral representing the song itself moving through all of those elements; and a black circle with a lightning bolt representing Kevin Kicking Woman’s singing and its spiritual power. The work is rendered on an old map of Norway, a nod to the importance of land in shaping human experience, with the rainbow of triangles paying homage to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.
Enslaved will return to Fire in the Mountains later this month to perform. Founded in 1991 by Bjørnson and vocalist Grutle Kjellson, the Bergen-based band released their debut demo “Yggdrasill” in 1992, the mini-album Hordanes Land in 1993, and their debut full-length, Vikingligr Veldi, in 1994. Over the three decades since, they have become one of Norway’s most celebrated and internationally recognized bands, widely known for their fusion of black metal and progressive rock.
Enslaved is Ivar Bjørnson on guitar, Grutle Kjellson on vocals, Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal on guitar, Håkon Vinje on keyboards and clean vocals, and Iver Sandøy on drums.
Who knows why we don’t get promo sometimes? Countless times I’ve been faced with great anticipation for a new record by a band I was keeping tabs on, and countless times, for unknown reasons, promo never came. Louisville melodic black/death quartet Volcandra now enter those ranks with the unsent Beyond the Will of Mortals. Picking up where 
Everything about Elegant Weapons and the super group’s sophomore record Evolution is a misnomer. Evolution is a high-octane slugfest of tried-and-true heavy metal-leaning hard rock, and Elegant Weapons swing, punch, and bite through it with everything but grace. Is this a problem? When Richie Faulkener’s (
Creeping from an obscure, ancient, and sinister darkness, Sicily’s Demon Spell have conjured a shadow-cast era of heavy metal’s history back to the light of day with their debut Blessed Be the Dark. Wielding the evil auras of Mercyful Fate and Witchfinder General, Demon Spell play an early-80s melange of early thrash, occult rock, and NWoBHM riffcraft and swagger. Blessed Be the Dark is driven by excellent performances. Vocalist Federico Fano’s falsetto wails evoke 
For a band releasing their sixth album in twelve years, 
Five years after delivering debut Unusta Kõik, Estonian outfit Kõdu graces us with their sophomore album. Translated as ‘Letters from the Village of the Blind,’
Bloody Valkyria, the product of Finland’s Jere Kervinen, peddles in the same sort of epic symphonic/folk black metal that the likes of