Billy Bragg is to reissue three of his classic albums, on vinyl for the first time since their original release. Brewing Up With Billy Bragg (1984), Talking With The Taxman About Poetry (1986) and Workers Playtime (1988) will be available from Cooking Vinyl in November. These editions are long overdue, having never previously been reissued […]
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Posted on September 9th 2026, 2:30pm
Anne Pigalle To Be Crowned Queen Of Soho At Open House Festival
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Last year, Deafheaven released their album Lonely People With Power. It was heavy, and it was also great. In the many years since they first came to internet prominence, Deafheaven have had a complicated relationship with the extreme metal underground that birthed then, and they seem to be fully embracing intensity right now. In fact, they apparently have a new EP in the works, and guitarist Kerry McCoy identifies it as “the heaviest thing” they’ve ever done.
The post Deafheaven Ready New EP That’s “By Far The Heaviest Thing” They’ve Ever Done appeared first on Stereogum.
Andy La Rocque played guitar for King Diamond for forty years. That ended, and according to King it took two days to decide and years to arrive at. Speaking to Frank Godla of Metal Injection, the singer said they’re still friends and always will be, that it wasn’t about anything anyone said or did, and that Andy’s side project had nothing to do with it. Then he described the moment he knew — and it wasn’t a conversation. It was watching Andy’s face when he saw the new touring plans.
STREAM THE METAL BREAKDOWN DAILY NOW:Scott Penfold covers the King Diamond split on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — what ended a forty-year partnership, how Gus G got the call, and the line King dropped about his own songwriting that nobody asked him for. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and get it every weekday morning.
This is the part that stayed with me.
King’s account: he had a feeling recently that when Andy heard the new touring plans and the new plans overall, the reaction wasn’t “yay.” It was more like — oh my God. Are you kidding me?
That’s it. That’s how a forty-year partnership ends. Not an argument, not a betrayal, not a contract. A man looks at a tour schedule and his face does something, and the person who’s known him for four decades reads it instantly.
King doesn’t think Andy likes touring the way they’re touring now. And he’s seen it before, more than once.
Michael Denner stopped playing with Mercyful Fate because he couldn’t handle the road — too much friction at home, missing it too much. King says he totally understands it. Former King Diamond bassist Chris Estes was the same. So was former guitarist Herb Simonsen.
His summary: most of the people who stopped playing with him along the road stopped for that reason. Family.
And then the line that explains why none of this is going to change: they tour longer now, and they’re going to keep going that way, because it’s very, very important.
There’s no villain in that. It’s two men who want different amounts of the same life.
LIVE & LOUD: Stream the World’s Hardest Radio Station 24/7Asked how quickly it happened, King was specific. The decision itself took two days.
But it had been coming for a while. His words: it’s not one thing, it’s not “you said this” or “you did this or that.” It really is moving apart a little bit here, a bit there.
He was also emphatic on what it wasn’t. Andy now plays in a band called Lex Legion, and King addressed that directly — the side project was never part of any reason for anything.
And he closed it with something that reads like a man still processing it. They played together for forty years. Think about it, he said. It’s crazy when you think about how long that’s been.
Forty years. Andy La Rocque joined in 1985, played on every King Diamond album, and became so associated with that guitar sound that a generation of players learned it note for note.
Two days.
Here’s where it gets genuinely funny, and it’s the detail everyone will share.
King Diamond didn’t know who Gus G was.
He told Hank Shermann — his Mercyful Fate bandmate — that he was looking for a guitarist. Shermann said he should check out Gus G. King’s honest reaction: he did not know who that was.
Then Brian Slagel, the founder and CEO of Metal Blade Records, said the same name. King admits he didn’t respond, because he still wasn’t aware of him. Two separate people, independently, before it registered.
Then he went and listened. And by his own account it moved fast from there — wow, wait a minute here, okay.
There was never an audition. Gus was the first person they discussed and they never talked about anyone else. King asked Slagel to hook them up, or at least to ask whether Gus would be okay with him calling.
When Godla suggested some things are just meant to be, King agreed — that’s exactly what it felt like the whole time. And that’s also why it doesn’t feel like a horrible thing, he said, because it’s good for both him and Andy.
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Worth pointing out, because Gus G has done this before.
In 2009 he replaced Zakk Wylde in Ozzy Osbourne’s band — a chair that had been occupied for the better part of two decades by a man whose playing was inseparable from the artist’s sound. He stayed until 2017 and played on the Grammy-nominated Scream.
Now he’s replacing Andy La Rocque after forty years.
That’s twice he’s walked into a job where the previous occupant was considered irreplaceable, and both times he got it without auditioning. Somebody recommended him, the artist listened, and that was the conversation.
Born Konstantinos Karamitroudis in Thessaloniki, he’s founded and driven Firewind across two decades and ten albums, released six solo records, guested with Bruce Dickinson, Arch Enemy, Doro and In This Moment, and won Metal Hammer’s Golden God for Best Shredder.
He is, in other words, exactly who you call.
King was clear about the approach, and it’s more generous than most bands manage in this situation.
On the classic songs, Gus is going to copy Andy as closely as he can and fully honour that — because that’s what people want to hear and see.
But this isn’t a hired hand. King’s words: he’s in the band, one hundred percent. Playing, recording and touring for as long as it works out, and hopefully until they don’t play any longer.
Beyond the back catalogue, King wants him playing his own style, provided it fits. Not Firewind — some of that, sure, but a new side of him that he may not have explored himself. King reckons the way he constructs things might push Gus into technique he hasn’t used before.
That’s a man who’s thought about this properly rather than just filling a gap.
Check Out – King Diamond’s Wildest Stories You Probably Don’t Know
And then this, which is the most revealing thing in the entire interview.
King raised — unprompted — the concern he expected from fans. That Andy’s leaving, the songwriter’s leaving, what are they going to do now.
His answer: wait a minute, you’re forgetting something. He has written by far the most in King Diamond. On average seventy percent of the music, plus all the lyrics, across every album they made together. He said it’s probably a natural assumption that the guitarist or keyboardist wrote the music, but that was never the case here.
Nobody asked him that question.
I’m not going to pretend I know what that means, and I’d be careful reading too much into it. But there’s a difference between answering a question and pre-empting one, and a man who has just described a friendly, mutual, forty-year parting doesn’t usually feel the need to establish who did the work.
It’s the one moment in the interview where the grace slips slightly, and it’s human as hell.
The other headline, and it’s substantial.
King Diamond and Mercyful Fate are both recording, simultaneously, and King has set himself a rule: he’s not doing one more show without knowing there are new albums out.
Mercyful Fate has the priority. Deadline is December this year, and King reckons somebody would have to break a limb for that not to hold. Release around May 2027, a European tour that summer, then a US run in the autumn — mid-October to mid-December.
King Diamond’s album will be finished before they leave for Europe with Mercyful Fate, then it sits and waits. Likely release around April 2028, with rehearsals in Europe mid-April and a tour starting five weeks before festival season.
Both bands have new stage productions. King says the King Diamond one is getting an extra step up — even more theatrical.
For context on how long the wait has been: the last King Diamond album was 2007’s Grammy-nominated Give Me Your Soul…Please. The new one is part one of a horror trilogy titled Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920, trailed by “Spider Lilly” in December 2024 — filmed at the genuinely haunted Pennhurst Asylum with a guest appearance from Myrkur.
He’s got the whole three-album story written. He says he already knows what the stage will look like when they play the final note of the third album, live.
Nineteen years between albums, and the man has the ending mapped out.
King Diamond — vocals Gus G — guitars Mike Wead — guitars Pontus Egberg — bass Matt Thompson — drums
King Diamond has said the split was gradual rather than caused by any single incident, and that the two remain friends. He indicated that Andy’s reaction to the band’s new touring plans suggested he no longer wanted to tour at the level they now do, comparing it to previous members including Michael Denner, Chris Estes and Herb Simonsen who stepped away for family reasons. King also stated that Andy’s side project Lex Legion was not a factor.
Gus G, the Greek guitarist who founded Firewind and served as Ozzy Osbourne’s lead guitarist from 2009 to 2017. He was recommended by Mercyful Fate guitarist Hank Shermann and Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel. There was no audition — King has said Gus was the first and only person discussed.
Forty years. He joined in 1985 and played on every King Diamond studio album.
Yes. Both King Diamond and Mercyful Fate are currently recording. Mercyful Fate’s album has a December 2026 deadline with a likely May 2027 release, followed by European and US touring. The King Diamond album will be completed before that tour and is expected around April 2028. It forms part one of a horror trilogy titled Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920.
King Diamond on vocals, Gus G and Mike Wead on guitars, Pontus Egberg on bass and Matt Thompson on drums.
Forty years, ended in two days, and neither man had to say a word for the other to know. Where do you land on Gus G taking that chair? Tell me below. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
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Blues rock thrives on raw power, created by combining the authentic intensity of the blues with the electrically amplified passion of rock and roll. Over the decades, from the genesis of blues rock in the early 1960s to the present, there have been albums that deliver something essential that keeps calling you back for another spin. The following 10 albums range from the pioneering work of blues rock titans to the contemporary blues rock acts of today.
Jeff Beck’s landmark debut album as a solo artist, Truth, was released in July 1968. Beck was constantly pushing the boundaries of the electric guitar, reinterpreting blues songs like “You Shook Me” and “I Ain’t Superstitious” by Willie Dixon. The album featured a formidable lineup, with the recently discovered Rod Stewart providing his raspy, impassioned vocals, future Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood playing bass, and Micky Waller on drums. The album contains 10 cuts, made up of three original compositions and seven covers, including the album’s opening song, “Shapes of Things,” by the Yardbirds, a band Beck had previously been a member of.
Brothers is the sixth studio album by the Black Keys and was released in 2010. It was recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, where a deliberate minimalist approach was used during the recording process. Songs like “Everlasting Light,” “Next Girl,” “Tighten Up,” and “Howlin’ for You” blend gritty guitar riffs with cavernous drums, creating soulful grooves. Their raw garage blues rock roots evolved into something that sounds both primal and modern, with hooks that make the album endlessly replayable.
Sloe Gin was Joe Bonamassa’s sixth studio album, released in 2007. The album’s title was derived from the title track, which appeared on the late Tim Curry’s 1978 studio album. It became Bonamassa’s epic signature song about crushing isolation and emotional exhaustion. It’s an album that reveals more with every listen as Bonamassa evolves beyond his image as a young guitar virtuoso and enters the next stage of his career as a fully developed blues rock artist. The album moves effortlessly between heavy blues rock, acoustic blues, soulful ballads, and atmospheric instrumentals. It contains 11 mesmerizing tracks, including four originals as well as carefully chosen covers of songs by Chris Whitley, Alvin Lee, John Mayall, and others.
Gary Clark – Blak and Blu
Gary Clark Jr.’s 2012 release, Blak and Blu, is his third studio album but his first on a major record label. The original release featured 13 cuts that blended blues with soul, R&B, funk, psychedelic rock, and hard blues rock. One of the best tracks demonstrating Clark’s amazingly dexterous guitar work and ability to create a song that feels both vintage and modern at the same time is the nearly eight-minute “When My Train Pulls In.” The infectious rhythm, combined with biting guitar work and powerful vocals, creates a mesmerizing experience that reveals new layers with every spin.
Disraeli Gears is Cream’s second album, and the band dives headfirst into the psychedelic counterculture groove. At the time, there was an ongoing debate about who the best power trio was, something Jimi Hendrix even joked about. Cream reinvents the blues at full throttle, from “Sunshine of Your Love” to “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” combining improvisation with carefully crafted studio rock. The album has 11 cuts that explore a variety of directions through the combination of Eric Clapton’s sharp, stinging guitar runs, Jack Bruce’s melodic bass, and Ginger Baker’s precise drumming.
Jimi Hendrix’s debut album, Are You Experienced, was released in May 1967, just prior to his landmark first American performance with his band at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. It is considered one of the most musically explosive debut albums in rock history, redefining the way an electric guitar could sonically interpret a multitude of genres. Power trio dynamics were expanded and opened up to a myriad of possibilities by synthesizing blues, R&B, hard rock, psychedelia, and jazz-rock into something that still sounds startling and rewards the listener over multiple replays.
Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut album was released in January 1969 after the quartet completed the tour dates for the Yardbirds’ final tour. The album was recorded in 30 hours and contains a potent fusion of amplified blues, folk textures, and high-voltage riffing. Two of the album’s nine songs are covers of Willie Dixon blues classics, with the rest consisting of originals or co-written songs. The combination of Jimmy Page’s sonic guitar wailing into the stratosphere and Robert Plant’s raw, explosive vocals, powered by John Paul Jones and John Bonham’s driving backbeat, creates a hypnotic experience that demands repeated listens.
John Mayall’s album John Mayall and the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton was released in 1966. It was nicknamed the “Beano” album because Clapton is seen reading a copy of the British comic on the album cover. Eric Clapton had recently left the Yardbirds when Mayall recruited him to play the blues. Clapton’s guitar was rich in overdrive, stellar guitar peals, and sustain, which contributed to the album’s raw power and emotional intensity. The album demonstrated that British musicians could interpret the blues with authentic feeling.
Stevie Ray Vaughan’s debut album, Texas Flood, was released in 1983 and spearheaded a blues revival, driven in large part by his remarkable skill on the Stratocaster. The album is comprised of 10 cuts, including four covers and six originals, performed by Vaughan on guitar, Chris Layton on drums, and Tommy Shannon on bass. Vaughan’s Stratocaster prowess is the centerpiece of the power trio, delivering road-honed material with raw intensity and no excess polish. Vaughan’s pinched, muscular bends are reminiscent of Albert King, combining Texas blues grit with rock drive.
ZZ Top’s commercial breakthrough occurred when they released their third studio album, Tres Hombres, in 1973. It peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and earned the band its first gold album certification, along with the nearly Top 40 single “La Grange,” which peaked at No. 41. The album features 10 cuts executed with precision by the trio of Billy Gibbons on guitar and vocals, Dusty Hill on bass and vocals, and Frank Beard on drums. The album is pure blues rock distilled through a Texas bar-band sound, filtered through Southern rock and a boogie beat. Gibbons draws inspiration from blues legends like Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker, as well as the more recent British blues rock of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and the early Rolling Stones.
Each of these 10 albums is hypnotically magnetic, with raw blues rock power, grit, groove, and emotional voltage. These albums connect the distant past with the present, from the pioneering spirit of Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix to the modern edge of Joe Bonamassa and the Black Keys. Their enduring legacy refuses to fade away after a single spin because the best blues rock doesn’t just capture a moment but creates a conversation between the past and the present that demands another listen.
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