Lambchop’s newest song is the story of a family struggling through the Great Depression. You’re intrigued, aren’t you? You should be. For many years, sole permanent Lambchop member Kurt Wagner has brought tons of gravitas to his lush country-rock songs, so you already know you want to hear him use that voice on a subject that demands such gravitas.
The post Lambchop – “The New World Wave” appeared first on Stereogum.
Psycroptic have been a cornerstone in the tech death scene since the turn of the century. Their 2003 classic, The Scepter of the Ancients, is a legendary record that helped define the genre.1 Since then, these Tasmanian devils have churned out seven albums of inventive tech death, setting a standard that few have matched and even fewer have surpassed. 2015’s self-titled release marked the point at which Psycroptic truly settled into their modern form. And although Kronos’ review of follow-up As the Kingdom Drowns found it to be the stronger record, I’ve always had a soft spot for the self-titled effort. 2023’s Divine Council, on the other hand, was a record that proved to be comparatively modest. Enter The Pulse of Annihilation, the group’s ninth record.2 With Kronos relinquishing his tenured stewardship of the quintet’s output, he now passes the scepter to me.
From the flashy, virtuosic riffage of Joe Haley’s guitar work, to brother David Haley’s impossibly precise drumming and Jason Peppiatt’s steadfast bark, every element on The Pulse of Annihilation is undeniably Psycroptic. The caravanning acoustic passages that helped define the group’s self-titled record resurface again on “A Sword of Me” and “Our Pillars Fall,” providing moments of calm before torrents of syncopated riffing and lightning-fast scales slam the accelerator to the floor. “To Embrace This Curse,” “Annihilation Pulse” and “Gathering a Venomous Herd” remove subtlety altogether, immediately launching into frenetic picking and turbocharged double bass patterns that aim to tear your face off and succeed in spades. Returning from Divine Council is the twin vocal attack of Peppiatt and Jason Keyser (Origin), who once again split the record’s roars and growls. Fortunately, the dramatic clean belting that occasionally felt forced on prior records has been dialed back, allowing the vocals to sit more naturally within the material, even if they remain far from The Pulse of Annihilation’s main attraction.
Psycroptic have always placed their trust in Joe Haley’s inhuman ability to write some of the most badass riffs on the planet, and The Pulse of Annihilation is no exception. His fretwork twists and turns through cuts like “Foraging the Crown,” “No Blade of Grass,” and “To Embrace This Curse,” darting in multiple directions at once while locking into his brother’s rhythmic prowess. And just when the material threatens to disappear into a maze of technicality, Haley reels it back with a steady stream of memorable, hook-laden phrasing. “Gathering a Venomous Herd” is a legit Song O’ the Year candidate thanks to the guitar work alone, giving bands like Gorod a run for their money. Its serpentine passages, mechanical bends, squeals, and hammering scales unfold with surgical precision, creating a labyrinth of thrashy Revocation-esque shredding that never gets old. Likewise, the rhythmic pummel of “To Embrace This Curse” is impossible to ignore, as Haley unleashes a barrage of intricately woven guitar patterns that pound your ears to dust with sheer groove.
But the real secret sauce to The Pulse of Annihilation is its consistency. In fact, this is one of Psycroptic’s most consistently entertaining records of their modern era. While still operating within relatively traditional song structures, the material on The Pulse of Annihilation feels leaner, more urgent, and more energized than much of Psycroptic’s recent output. Transitions feel smoother, and the arrangements flow more naturally rather than being stitched together. It’s as if they stripped their sound back to its essentials, allowing their chemistry to guide the songwriting rather than getting lost in excess. That said, not every track hits with quite the same force. Mid-album cuts like “Our Pillars Fall” and “No Time for the Weak” don’t quite hit as hard as The Pulse of Annihilation’s stronger tracks, but they’re far from filler. Both songs still showcase noticeably sharper pacing and construction than much of Divine Council, and there’s more than enough creativity on display to carry you through to the title track “Annihilation Pulse.”
If Divine Council left you wondering whether Psycroptic were beginning to plateau, The Pulse of Annihilation puts those concerns to rest. By tightening their songwriting and focusing on groove without sacrificing their trademark technicality, Psycroptic have crafted one of the most rewarding releases of its modern era. After more than two decades in the game, The Pulse of Annihilation proves that these Tasmanians have plenty left in the tank and they’re showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Rating: Very Good
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: psycroptic.bandcamp.com | psycroptic.com | facebook.com/psycroptic
Releases Worldwide: July 17th, 2026
The post Psycroptic – The Pulse of Annihilation Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.
Love it or loathe it, progressive rock polarises opinion like no other type of heavier music. In 2016 – after much drawn-out, passionate debate – we presented our list of the 10 essential prog albums from the 1970s.
Rooted in the psychedelic late 60s, prog built up a real head of steam in the early 70s as rock musicians freed themselves of the limitations of four-minute songs and standard time signatures and revelled in the freedom to stretch out a single track over a whole side of vinyl, draw on unlimited musical sources and create music in more complex, and sometimes staggering time signatures.
The results could range from the dizzy heights to the gruesome depths. Case in point, Yes went from the triumph of Close To The Edge to the nadir of Tales From Topographic Oceans in 16 months.
Prog has twisted, turned, explored and exploded in the five decades since; but the 70s are truly the first step of the genre’s journey to maturity. So, with epic songs, intricate harmonies and psychedelic album designs aplenty, we take you through that decade’s highlights.
The definitive Jethro Tull album. One of their strengths has been their constant musical evolution, aided and abetted by a bewildering, ever-changing cast of musicians alongside leader Ian Anderson and – until 2011 – his long-time lieutenant guitarist Martin Barre. The title track and Locomotive Breath are among the most celebrated and heavy tracks in Tull’s enormous repertoire, with acoustic tracks like Mother Goose providing the light relief.
Their final album with Bill Bruford suggests that the drummer’s timing was impeccable in every sense, striking out for King Crimson just as Yes reached their peak with this fifth album. Best known for its sprawling title track, it also features two other Yes staples, And You And I and Siberian Khatru. Jon Anderson’s lyrics are of course utter nonsense, but the music is sublime from start to finish. Don’t be put off by artist Roger Dean’s uncharacteristically dull cover – inside lurks one of the most enduring 70s prog albums. Despite 1974’s worthy Relayer, Yes would never recapture this sort of form again.
Belying the myth that prog is a minority interest, Pink Floyd’s monumental The Dark Side Of The Moon has sold in excess of 35 million copies since its release. Packaged in Storm Thorgerson’s iconic artwork, it was recorded over seven months at Abbey Road in London. Containing a host of key Floyd tracks, including Time and Money, this was a (slightly) more democratic Floyd than would later emerge under bassist/vocalist Roger Waters. Whether you’re a prog aficionado or not, Dark Side is the soundtrack of a generation.
‘Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends…’ Containing the monumental Karn Evil 9 suite alongside their marvellous adaptation (or mauling, depending on your point of view) of the hymn Jerusalem, ELP’s fifth album Brain Salad Surgery is their most consistent studio release. There was always a power struggle within ELP, and after Works Volume 1 provided Keith Emerson and Greg Lake along with Carl Palmer a side of vinyl each, the writing for the band was very much on the wall.
In which some public school boys, plus a chap on drums called Phil Collins, created a concept album tour de force. And no self-respecting prog band should be without at least one fully fledged concept album in their armoury. With The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Genesis wisely chose to eschew the dungeons and dragons, swords and sorcery nonsense that blights so many prog concepts. Instead, singer Peter Gabriel’s vivid imagination conjured up an unsettling vision involving a young man called Rael who undergoes a weird transformation among a cast of oddball characters who wouldn’t look out of place among the pages of a Lewis Carroll novel.
Having announced themselves in fine fashion with In The Court Of The Crimson King, Robert Fripp’s King Crimson would continue to enthrall lovers of more complex, challenging prog for half of the next decade. One of Crimson’s enduring features was that their only constant was change. With their ever mutating line-up and sound, Red showcased the formidable trio of Fripp, bassist/vocalist John Wetton and ex-Yes drummer Bill Bruford. The music is by turns beautiful and utterly brutal. Starless remains as haunting now as on its release, with Wetton’s commanding voice at its finest.
Supertramp are a stark contrast to most of the 70s prog bands featured here. Far more orientated towards the mainstream than their peers and later with a successful propensity for crossing over into pop rock waters, Supertramp brought plenty of jazz influences to their music. With Roger Hodgson’s high-pitched vocals contrasting with Rick Davies’ lower register and John Helliwell’s saxophone given a prominent role, Supertramp were a very different proposition to the likes of Yes, Genesis, etc. Crime… features long-time ‘Tramp favourites including the infectious Bloody Well Right and the stirring Asylum.
By some distance Kansas were the finest of the American prog bands. Having rapidly released three frustratingly inconsistent albums, their fourth, the punsome Leftoverture, caught light with the marvellous Carry On Wayward Son. From its glorious acapella opening to the crunching guitar riff and stunning instrumental interplay, this is the Kansas rocker par excellence, complete with Steve Walsh’s crystal clear vocals. Elsewhere The Wall’s glorious, soaring guitar, the epic Magnum Opus and Cheyenne Anthem make this the most compelling 70s US prog album.
Originally heavily influenced by Led Zep and Cream, Canadian trio Rush gained momentum when they recruited drummer extraordinaire Neil Peart for their second album. After some promising earlier works, 2112 is Rush’s crucial 70s album. With a whole side of vinyl devoted to the wondrous seven-part title track – complete with the ‘We have assumed control…’ grand finale – the five shorter tracks, A Passage To Bangkok, The Twilight Zone, provided a neat contrast. The production of 2112 may sound a little dated now, but live still retains all of its original power.
Already proven as a compatible rhythm section as part of King Crimson, bassist/vocalist John Wetton and drummer Bill Bruford formed an unlikely quartet with guitarist Allan Holdsworth and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson to create UK. The result was one of the decade’s most distinctive prog albums with some superb ensemble playing. Wetton’s bass is at its adventurous best, and Jobson’s otherworldly violin is like nothing else heard in the 70s. In The Dead Of Night is a moody 13-minute suite, while shorter pieces such as Time To Kill and the wonderful jazz fusion of Nevermore provide more instant gratification.
One of our very favorite albums of 2025 was Burnover, a big breakthrough for the Burlington, Vermont indie rock rambler Greg Freeman. It’s a work of deeply felt country-rock choogle that earned Magnolia Electric Co. comparisons, and it earned Freeman a whole lot of momentum. Today, Freeman announces All Set The Bone, his first album as a full-time musician.
The post Greg Freeman Announces New Album <em>All Set The Bone</em>: Hear “Indu” appeared first on Stereogum.
And new music from Trivium is on the way.
The post Trivium Announce North American Tour With In Flames, Orbit Culture, Fit For An Autopsy & Frozen Soul appeared first on Theprp.com.
(Andy Synn has been a fan of this band for a long, long time… but is he a fan of their new album?) There’s a commonly quoted, but often misinterpreted, maxim which states that as you grow older there comes a time when you must “put away childish things.” What it actually means is that […]
The post PROTEST THE HERO – WITHIN appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Sweden’s master of musical mayhem and scientists of sonic chaos, Meshuggah, celebrate milestones for two of their most important works: Catch Thirty-Three, perhaps the band’s most divisive album, and the sophomore Destroy Erase Improve, when Meshuggah became the Meshuggah we know today, were give new remasters and polishes in honour of their respective twentieth and thirtieth anniversaries last year. Catch Thirty-Three will be covered elsewhere, but in this piece I’m focusing on that second album from 1995, after which extreme music would never be quite the same.
Cast your mind back to the early nineties and the release of Meshuggah’s debut, Contradictions Collapse; while having some moments of eccentricity, this 1991 record was predominantly a thrash metal album, which incorporated other elements, such as industrial drums and it is the only one of the band’s albums to feature the rhythm guitar of Jens Kidman. But there was enough, in tracks like Internal Evidence and Choirs of Devastation, to suggest there was more than Metallica cloning going on here.
Spool forward to 1995 and the release of second full length, Destroy Erase Improve, which ejected the fat, chugging riffs and Hetfield snarls, in favour of a sharp, machine-like precision, dissonant technicality and progressive extremity, which would mark their path going forward.
From the opening moments of the classic Future Breed Machine it’s obvious that things have shifted since 1991. Tomas Haake’s drums pound with a mechanised power, the unrelenting guitars of Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström crush and mesmerise in equal measure, and Jens’ vocals are bile-spat and at times inhuman. This is the point that Meshuggah make good on the promises of None’s Gods of Rapture and stepped into a brave new world.
Demo versions of Vanished, Inside What’s Within Behind and Suffer in Truth appeared on the Selfcaged EP about a month before the album hit the shelves, with Vanished embracing a mid-track progressive moment amid its own chaos; Inside… is built around an edgy groove and spiralling guitar lines, while Suffer in Truth has a still-impressive crushing weight throughout.
Speaking back to the time when Destroy Erase Improve was first issued, one should remember how the landscape of Metal looked at that time: we were just free of the Grunge-era, bands like Pantera and Fear Factory were being hailed as the future, and the band seen as the bridge between the old and the new, Sepultura, were about the unleash the Nu blueprint that was Roots. The old guard were at something of a nadir, Bruce had left Maiden, Rob had gone from Priest, Metallica were experimenting with Load and Reload, and Ozzy was still to make a post-retirement comeback.
‘Twas a desperate time, as you can imagine/ recall, but nature abhors a vacuum and Meshuggah’s unconventional approach to songwriting and production was just the sort of thing the underground needed to survive.
Both Beneath and Soul Burn include groove in their raging aesthetic, and Transfixion is entangled in the kind of polyrhythms that would characterise the band’s sound for decades; Terminal Illusions still manages to maintain some of Contradictions’ thrash elements, yet it is the wistful instrumental, Acrid Placidity, that shocks with its quiet, sombre mood.
Closing track, Sublevels, brings everything together in a singularity: hauntingly modernistic riffs, cold and clinical, rub shoulders with the more traditionally progressive, accentuating both by their placement side-by-side.
Destroy Erase Improve is widely considered one of the defining records of its decade and a high watermark for extreme metal in general. The seeds were sown here for Meshuggah’s brutal percussion and staccato riffs which went on to define the entire genre of Djent. Rolling Stone magazine even listed it in their Top 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time and in their Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. To this day, Future Breed Machine is still heavily featured in the band’s live sets, with Soul Burn and Suffer in Truth getting the occasional airing.
In all honesty, I love Meshuggah, but if you’re one of those folks who think they too cold and angular, maybe give Destroy Erase Improve a chance, and start to uncover the imperious majesty of their approach to extremity.
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The post Album Review: Meshuggah – Destroy Erase Improve [Reissue] appeared first on The Razor's Edge.
Trivium are hitting the road hard this fall. The Grammy-nominated Orlando metal titans — Matt Heafy, Corey Beaulieu, Paolo Gregoletto and new drummer Alex “Rudi” Rüdinger — have announced a fall 2026 North American headline tour with a genuinely stacked support bill: In Flames, Orbit Culture, Fit For An Autopsy and Frozen Soul. And they’re not just playing the hits — the band say they’ll debut brand-new material on stage, marking the unofficial start of Trivium’s next era.
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The run kicks off November 5 in St. Petersburg, Florida, and rolls through December 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina — 31 shows across the U.S. and Canada. For a fanbase that’s been waiting to see where Trivium goes next, this is the answer: a new drummer behind the kit, new songs in the setlist, and one of the deepest support lineups the band has ever assembled.
Let’s talk about that lineup, because it’s the story. In Flames as special guests is a full-circle moment — the Swedish melodic-death legends were a foundational influence on early Trivium, and the two bands have shared stages before, including a 2022 run alongside Megadeth and Lamb Of God. Now In Flames slots in just below Trivium on a bill that also stacks Orbit Culture — one of the fastest-rising names in modern metal — with deathcore heavyweights Fit For An Autopsy and Texas death-metal crushers Frozen Soul.
Trivium didn’t downplay it. “This fall’s Trivium tour is a huge one for us,” the band said. “The lineup is stacked from top to bottom, and we’re honored to have special guests In Flames, who not only influenced our early years but continue to prove time and again why they’re one of the greatest metal bands of all time.”
They added: “With Orbit Culture, Fit For An Autopsy and Frozen Soul rounding out the bill, we can’t wait to get out there, kick off this next era of Trivium with Rudi behind the kit, and give you a taste of the new music we’ve been working on. We’ll see you soon!”
The phrase “next era” isn’t marketing fluff here. This tour is the first major outing with Alex Rüdinger — an in-demand drummer whose résumé runs deep in technical metal circles — who stepped in as Trivium’s newest member. Pair that with the promise of debuting unreleased material live, and the fall run doubles as a soft launch for whatever the band’s eleventh album turns out to be.
Trivium’s last full-length, the critically acclaimed “In The Court Of The Dragon,” arrived in 2021 and earned praise from outlets ranging from The New York Times and NPR to Guitar World and Revolver. They followed it with the “Struck Dead” EP in fall 2025. New full-length music teased on this tour would be the band’s first album of the Rüdinger era — and the setlist is where fans will hear it first.
Trivium have earned the headline slot. The band broke through with 2005’s now-canonical “Ascendancy,” named Album Of The Year by Kerrang!, certified gold in the U.K., and later placed in the Top 15 of Metal Hammer’s “100 Greatest Metal Albums Of The 21st Century.” That record kicked off a remarkable run of six straight Top 25 Billboard 200 debuts and five consecutive Top 3 debuts on the Hard Rock Albums chart, peaking with 2017’s “The Sin And The Sentence.” Their song “Betrayer” scored a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance, and they’ve shared stages with Metallica, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden while headlining the biggest festivals in the world.
The band has kept that momentum on the road for years — from the Poisoned Ascendancy Tour to their joint 20th-anniversary celebration with Bullet For My Valentine. A fall 2026 headliner built around new music is the logical next chapter.
Nov. 05 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
Nov. 06 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
Nov. 07 – Louisville, KY – Old Forester’s Paristown Hall
Nov. 08 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe
Nov. 10 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
Nov. 11 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall
Nov. 12 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
Nov. 14 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall
Nov. 15 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium
Nov. 17 – Laval, QC – Place Bell
Nov. 18 – Toronto, ON – GCT Theatre
Nov. 20 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
Nov. 21 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
Nov. 22 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee
Nov. 24 – Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle
Nov. 25 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory at The District
Nov. 27 – San Antonio, TX – Boeing Center at Tech Port
Nov. 28 – Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center
Nov. 29 – Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom
Dec. 02 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
Dec. 03 – Las Vegas, NV – The Pearl
Dec. 04 – Inglewood, CA – YouTube Theater
Dec. 05 – San Francisco, CA – The Masonic
Dec. 07 – Penticton, BC – Penticton Trade & Convention Centre
Dec. 08 – Vancouver, BC – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
Dec. 09 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
Dec. 11 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra Resort – Grand Theatre
Dec. 13 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
Dec. 15 – Tulsa, OK – Tulsa Theatre
Dec. 16 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse
Dec. 18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Citizen’s Live at The Wylie
Dec. 19 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
General on-sale begins Friday, July 24 at 10 a.m. local time, with earlier presales running earlier in the week.
Trivium have announced a fall 2026 North American headline tour with In Flames, Orbit Culture, Fit For An Autopsy and Frozen Soul. The 31-date run opens November 5 in St. Petersburg, Florida and closes December 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s the band’s first major tour with new drummer Alex Rüdinger, and Trivium have confirmed they’ll debut new music on stage, marking the start of their next era following 2021’s “In The Court Of The Dragon” and the 2025 “Struck Dead” EP. General on-sale is Friday, July 24 at 10 a.m. local.
The tour opens November 5, 2026 in St. Petersburg, Florida and runs through December 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In Flames are special guests, with support from Orbit Culture, Fit For An Autopsy and Frozen Soul.
General on-sale is Friday, July 24 at 10 a.m. local time, with presales running earlier that week.
The band say they will debut new material on this tour, marking the start of a new era. It would be their first new full-length music since 2021’s “In The Court Of The Dragon” and the 2025 “Struck Dead” EP.
Alex “Rudi” Rüdinger is Trivium’s current drummer and the newest member of the band, and this tour is his first major run with the group.
A stacked bill, a new drummer, and fresh songs on the way — this might be the Trivium tour to catch. Which city are you hoping makes the setlist history books, and are you more hyped for the new material or the In Flames reunion? Drop it in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
The post Trivium Announce Fall 2026 North American Tour With In Flames, Debuting New Music To Kick Off Their Next Era appeared first on Loaded Radio.
It’s amazing to hear how much noise two people can make together, especially if those people are both wigged-out avant-garde virtuosos. You probably already know about Colin Stetson, the baritone sax master who has recently turned toward scoring tense films like Hereditary and The Menu. Stetson is a born collaborator; earlier this year, he released Nethering, the album that he made with fellow outsider types Greg Fox and Trevor Dunn. And that brings us to the other name in this blog post’s headline, the one you may not recognize: Scottish bagpipe experimentalist Brìghde Chaimbeul.
The post Colin Stetson & Brìghde Chaimbeul Announce New Album <em>All The Light In The World</em>: Hear “Dirt Dance” appeared first on Stereogum.
Following last week’s single release, Marilyn Manson has unveiled the official music video for “Front Toward Enemy”, directed by Henri Alexander Levy. The track is the latest offering from his forthcoming album, One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2, due August 14th via Nuclear Blast Records.
Building on the release of the album’s lead single, “Exit Wound,” “Front Toward Enemy” continues the dark, cinematic vision of One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2, the highly anticipated second installment in Manson‘s latest sinister sonic odyssey, co-written and co-produced with Tyler Bates.
One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 will arrive days before the start of his late summer co-headline tour with Rob Zombie. Visit here for a complete list of Manson‘s 2026 worldwide tour dates.
In addition to standard formats, One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 is available as the “Claymore Edition” vinyl, a deluxe collector’s variant limited to just 1,800 copies worldwide and available exclusively through the Nuclear Blast Merch Store.
One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 is available now for pre-order in a variety of formats, including a limited box set and accompanying apparel.
The post MARILYN MANSON Reveals New Video For “Front Toward Enemy” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.