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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
METAL DEVASTATION PR BACKS “QUIESCENT MANTIS LIVE FROM THE HIVE” FREE ALL-AGES METAL TAKEOVER IN DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE

Knoxville, TN – Saturday, July 18, 2026 | 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM CDT
Downtown Knoxville is about to get loud in the best possible way as the free all-ages event Quiescent Mantis Live From the Hive invades Market Square on Saturday, July 18, 2026.
Presented in part with support from Metal Devastation PR , this stacked summer night brings together a heavy hitting lineup of underground and rising metal acts for a four hour outdoor assault right in the heart of the city.
This one is open to everyone, no ticket required, no excuses needed.
LINEUP



Autumn Lies Buried
Quiescent Mantis Official
Warclown
Do Yourself In
Once More Again
Plus a special secret set still under wraps

EVENT DETAILS

Market Square, Downtown Knoxville
Free show, all ages welcome
Music runs 6 PM to 10 PM
Outdoor stage takeover featuring multiple heavy sets and a surprise moment built for true metalheads
ABOUT THE EVENT

“Live From the Hive” brings the underground spirit right into the city center, turning Knoxville’s historic square into a full scale metal gathering. Expect crushing sets, community chaos in the best way, and that raw DIY energy that keeps this scene alive.
With Metal Devastation PR backing the event, the goal is simple: amplify the underground, pack the square, and give the scene a night to remember without barriers or gatekeeping.
FINAL WORD

This is not a background music situation. This is a full volume, boots on the ground, shake-the-pavement kind of night. Show up early, bring the crew, and let Knoxville feel it.
Let’s make Market Square shake.
Go here for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1210834637623626

Last year’s epic Lux earned Rosalía attention from all sorts of listeners, including Mick Jagger, who recently told GQ that he’s a fan: “That was something really conceptual, really interesting. And she really pulled it off, and I really admire her for doing it.” She also earned attention from Ween fans for posting a vinyl copy of 1994’s Chocolate And Cheese on her Instagram story. Is she a fan of the brown sound, or does she merely like the cover art? Hopefully the next person who interviews her will get the scoop.

The post Rosalía Shares Tour Essay, Delights Ween Fans, Gets Shoutout From Mick Jagger appeared first on Stereogum.

“It’s funny how so many B- and C-level bands seem to spend more time talking about us than writing songs people actually remember.”

The post Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx Fires Back At Ex-Godsmack Drummer Shannon Larkin Over Backing Track Claims appeared first on Theprp.com.

Moonspell have made a career out of defying the trajectory most gothic metal bands end up on. Where others either calcify into self-parody or drift toward industrial textures and cleaner production in search of a broader audience, the Portuguese quintet has kept moving on their own terms: sometimes frustrating, sometimes revelatory, always distinctly themselves. Far From God, their fourteenth studio album, feels like the record they have been building toward for the better part of a decade, even if it takes the form of a deliberate step backward.

The Irreligious comparison is going to follow this album everywhere, and it is not wrong. Far From God shares the same DNA: dense gothic atmosphere, Fernando Ribeiro‘s baritone commanding the center, vampiric imagery treated with the kind of sincerity that lesser bands use as a punchline. But calling it a nostalgia exercise misses the point. Moonspell are not trying to recreate 1996; instead, they are applying what they learned from it.

The title track makes that clear from the opening minute. The riff is heavy and deliberate, the keyboards expand the space around it without swallowing it, and Ribeiro sounds like a man who has been saving something for exactly this moment. The vampire at the heart of the song is not a horror prop: it is the same figure that runs through the best of Moonspell‘s catalog, a symbol of desire that destroys, beauty that cannot survive contact with the ordinary world. It lands because they believe it, and because Jaime Gomez Arellano‘s production gives it the density it needs without flattening the atmosphere.

“Cross Your Heart” is quieter and, in some ways, more affecting. Built around brooding mid-tempo riffing and a melody that takes its time arriving, it deals with roadside shrines, premature death, and the particular loneliness of a life lived in motion. It is the kind of song that sneaks up on you; maybe not immediately striking, but hard to shake afterward.

“The Great Wolf in the Sky” brings in strings courtesy of Alicia Nuhro and functions as the album’s emotional peak. It carries the weight of tribute and collective mourning in a way that gives the record a scope beyond its own runtime, tying Moonspell‘s mythology to the people and losses that helped build it. It is the song that earns the album’s more ambitious claims.

The thematic territory across Far From God — vampires, werewolves, sacred imagery, guilt, faith, desire, mortality — is well-worn ground for Moonspell, and that familiarity is both the album’s strength and its only real limitation. There are moments where the record settles into a groove that feels slightly too comfortable, where you wish it would push harder or take a sharper turn. But those moments are few, and they are outweighed by how consistently the band delivers on what they set out to do.

Arellano‘s production deserves particular credit. He gives the guitars enough weight to carry the darker material without turning the album into a slog, and he keeps Ribeiro‘s voice where it belongs: out front, dramatic, never buried. The keyboards fill space rather than dominate it, which is a balance Moonspell have not always managed on previous records.

Far From God will not convert anyone who has never understood what Moonspell are doing, and it is probably not the entry point for the uninitiated. But for listeners who have followed this band through their more experimental phases and wanted them to find their footing again, this is the record that delivers. It is focused, heavy where it needs to be, atmospheric without being indulgent, and emotionally direct in a way that gothic metal rarely allows itself to be.

Moonspell have been here before. The difference is they sound like they mean it again.

Release Date: July 3rd, 2026
Record Label: Napalm Records
Genre: Gothic Metal

Musicians:

• Fernando Ribeiro / Vocals
• Ricardo Amorim / Guitars
• Aires Pereira / Bass
• Pedro Paixão / Keyboards, guitars
• Hugo Ribeiro / Drums

Far From God Track-list:

1. Cross Your Heart
2. Far From God
3. The Great Wolf in the Sky
4. Biblical
5. Your Promise of Light
6. For the Love of Mortals
7. Our Freedom to Fall
8. Reconquista

Order the album here.

The post MOONSPELL – Far From God (Album Review) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

The track marks the first release from the band’s new lineup and previews their upcoming fifth album

Source

🔥 Who Will Rise as This Week’s Champion on the MDR Battle Of The Bands? 🔥
And who will dominate next month as Band of the Month on Metal Devastation Radio?
Last month’s winners, TRIVAN  , crushed the competition with a staggering  6,396,074 VOTES , claiming the title of Band of the Month on Metal Devastation Radio! You can check them out HERE !
This is the weekly championship edition of the Band Of The Month – Battle Of The Bands that we host every month on MDR!
How does it work?
Every Monday, we launch a new poll featuring bands that submit music each week on metaldevastationradio.com. Voting runs until Friday at 9PM EST .
Each Friday night , at the start of The Zach Moonshine Show , I’ll be spinning the Top Six weekly winners , and announcing the #1 band of the week live on air — getting thousands of listens on Mixcloud !
At the end of the month , all weekly votes are added up, and the band with the highest total votes becomes our Band of the Month !
Winning Band of the Month gets:
A featured post on our Facebook page, reaching thousands of fans
A front-page spotlight on metaldevastationradio.com , which pulls in hundreds of thousands of views every month
A free PR email blast from Metal Devastation PR, hitting 40,000+ contacts including labels, zines, stations, and more
Airplay every hour during general rotation
Tons of social media shares and exposure across our network
If you want the world to know who your band is, this is the easiest way to make it happen!
💥 Want in on the next battle?
Comment below with your band name and we’ll add you to next week’s poll — or email me at zach@metaldevastationradio.com with “Battle Submission” in the subject line.
Bands can compete as many times as they want , and if you enter multiple weeks in the same month, your votes combine toward the Band of the Month title!
👇 Click on the bands below to vote as many times as you like, or add your own! Poll closes Friday, July 3rd at 9PM EST!




Who Will Rise as This Week’s Champion on the MDR Battle Of The Bands?? 06/29/26 – 07/03/26

Bad Bunny’s world tour brought him to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London for a pair of shows over the weekend. As Sunday night’s gig was drawing to a close, the global superstar brought out a local legend, Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn. The former Blur frontman joined Bad Bunny for two songs: “Tormenta,” their collaboration from Gorillaz’ 2023 album Cracker Island, and “Clint Eastwood,” the iconic single from Gorillaz’ 2001 self-titled debut.

The post Bad Bunny Brought Out Damon Albarn For Two Gorillaz Songs In London appeared first on Stereogum.

Two new members have joined the group for this next chapter.

The post Bad Wolves Unveil Their New Lineup With “Paint It Red” Music Video appeared first on Theprp.com.

Bob Dylan has been enjoying his latest tour leg, busting out deep cuts like “Baby, Will You Be My Baby” and “I Shall Be Released.” But something is going on with his band.

The post Bob Dylan Mysteriously Splits With Two Tour Guitarists appeared first on Stereogum.

(written by Islander) A decade has passed since the Finnish metal band Rapid released their first demos, eventually leading to their 2022 debut EP Blackstar Oppression Regime. The music captured in those four songs has rightly been described on behalf of their label as an electrifying collision of “the urgency of hardcore punk, the hook-oriented […]

The post AN NCS PREMIERE: RAPID — “MOONLESS NIGHT” appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.