Online tributes have been shared this week for Melbourne extreme metal identity Shane Rout, who died on Sunday.
Rout, who was 53, was the drummer with Blood Duster in the early 90s and played on Fisting the Dead before playing in other Melbourne extreme bands like Hecatomb and Filth.
He was later better known for his misanthropic black metal project Abyssic Hate, which produced a number of limited release EPs and splits along with the album Suicidal Emotions in 2000.
Further details of his passing have not been made public.
Prong has released several live albums, with “Live and Uncleansed” being the latest. This most recent live album was recorded in 2025 during the band’s European tour celebrating the 31st anniversary of their iconic album, “Cleansing.”Prong performed a 28-song set at their headliner shows, and the live album features 11 of those songs, along with… Continue Reading →
There are musicians who spend half a lifetime turning themselves into their own wax museum, shuffling out the old glories in decent lighting and hoping the crowd still wants the same suit, the same haircut, the same magic trick. Midge Ure has no interest in that kind of taxidermy. The striking thing about his new album,A Man Of Two Worlds, is that it arrives not as a victory lap, but as a restless dispatch from a man who has already done enough to earn permanent residence in pop’s marble hallway. He still sounds curious, still sounds like he wants to put his hands inside the machine and see what fresh noise or beauty might come spilling out.
That matters because Ure’s history is so stacked it could crush a lesser figure flat. Slik, The Rich Kids, Visage, Thin Lizzy, Ultravox, Live Aid – a résumé like that could turn anybody into a self-congratulatory bore. Instead, this record carries the mood of somebody taking stock with clear eyes and a steady hand. The split structure could have come off like a polite concept, some tidy filing-system division between composition and song form, but here it feels lived in.
The first half, World One: Music, lets the melodies walk around without language leaning on them, and that choice gives the album a kind of open air. These instrumentals do not beg for attention; they gather it by moving with patience and poise, letting space do some of the talking.
Then World Two: Songs steps in and the atmosphere changes, not with a thud, but with the pressure of weather rolling over. Ure turns his gaze outward and finds a planet full of broken speech, moral collapse, public fraud, private weariness, and the daily insult of watching power perform stupidity with a straight face.
Just Words lands like a ballad for an age drunk on public deceit, staring hard at the so-called “new normal” where people in power deny, distort, and dead-eye the truth no matter what sits plainly before us. Ure’s inimitable voice quavers through soaring guitars and wounded synths, giving the song a raw, weathered force. It feels like a clear-eyed reckoning dressed in grace. It brings to mind Bowie’s Heathen-era work: time-worn and world-weary, still with an open heart.
“In an ever-volatile world, words carry more power to make the change or make things worse,” he says. “In the Sixties, what was heard was peace and love, and nowadays it seems to be much more about division, hate, and war. Just Words reminds us words will only remain words unless they are acted upon.” That sentiment gives the album its moral center without dragging it into sermon territory.
Listen below:
A Man Of Two Worlds is kept alive in its balance of precision and feeling. The Man Who Stole Your Soul, Shouting At The Moon, and Caught In The Middle confront public and personal fracture with a measured intensity, while Ordinary Man (Precious Moments) and The Pictures You Carry With You carry age, memory, and fatherhood with grace instead of grandstanding. This is a record by a man who has seen the whole carnival, survived the hangover, and still found a reason to sing.
The album will be available on CD, LP formats, and digital download. ( An avid photographer, all photos in the booklet/inner sleeve were taken by Midge Ure himself!
Ambiguous Desire is creeping up on all of us, whether we realize it or not. We’ve been hearing about Arlo Parks’ clubby new album since January, when she shared lead single “2SIDED.” With February came “Heaven,” and now March has brought us “Get Go.” The track instantly swept me away. The crisp pirate-radio-inspired beat, the…
Blues will take center stage at the 98th Academy Awards this Sunday, March 15, as several of the genre’s most celebrated artists are set to appear during a special performance tied to one of the year’s most talked-about films.
Executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor and executive producer Katy Mullan announced the lineup for the ceremony, which will air live on ABC and stream on Hulu beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, with the official red carpet show starting at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
While the broadcast will feature several musical moments, blues fans will have plenty of reason to tune in thanks to the performance built around the Oscar-nominated original song “I Lied To You” from the film Sinners. The film leads all nominees this year with 16 nominations, making it the most nominated film in Oscars history.
Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq will perform the song during the ceremony, joined by a powerful lineup that includes blues legends and modern torchbearers such as Buddy Guy, Eric Gales, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Bobby Rush. The performance will also feature Brittany Howard, Shaboozey and Alice Smith, alongside appearances by Misty Copeland, Jayme Lawson and Li Jun Li.
The performance is expected to serve as a cinematic tribute reflecting the role music plays in the storytelling of Sinners, bringing together multiple generations of blues and roots artists on one of the world’s biggest stages.
Eric Gales shared his excitement about participating in the performance on social media.
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram also reflected on the significance of the moment, writing, “Truly an honor to be invited to join this stage with so many wonderful musicians. This one’s for the wonderful Sinners team and for the blues community.”
Meanwhile, blues legend Bobby Rush will also be making his Oscars debut as part of the performance.
The appearance of artists such as Guy, Rush, Gales, and Kingfish represents a rare moment for the blues at the Academy Awards, bringing some of the genre’s most influential voices to one of entertainment’s most visible global stages.
The 98th Oscars will be broadcast live Sunday, March 15 on ABC and streamed on Hulu.
