We recently had a chat with Yohanna, singer of the Greek metal band Passengers In Panic: In this interview we talked about the story of how she joined the band at a time of change and the deep personal significance of their second album, Amnesia. Yohanna also opened up about her pre-show rituals, the vocal struggles she faced in the studio, her deep respect for the late Chester Bennington, and the new extreme vocal techniques she is currently learning.
Highlights from the Interview
When asked about how she would describe the band in her own words, Yohanna said:
“I would describe Passengers in Panic as having a strong Greek identity with Greek traditional music, with Greek traditional elements in general. […] But I think you really understand the band and the mentality of the band when the line between the band and the audience just disappears. We are all part of the same experience. We are all passengers in panic at the end of the day.”
When asked about joining the band during an important chapter and taking over vocal duties, Yohanna said:
“I was incredibly happy because this was my dream and something that I had always wanted to do, but at the same time it was a huge risk, huge challenge for me because I was stepping into a band that had already started its journey and I was taking over the vocal duties from the original singer. So I had to find my own style and own way of doing things and make the role my own, and this was the hardest part of the whole experience, you know, the whole journey at first.”
When asked about what their powerful and emotional album Amnesia means to her personally, Yohanna said:
“Amnesia is very personal for me. It’s inspired by real experiences and stories that have affected us both personally and as a band. […] I think at its core, this album is also about what happens inside us when we live with so much pressure, uncertainty, noise around us. And sometimes we try to forget things that make us feel, you know, disappointment or anxiety, angry, every bad emotion, you know, we have in your soul if you want just to let it go, just to give it away. And actually in that way, when we try to forget bad things in our lives we experience our own kind of amnesia.”
When asked about the song that challenged her the most as a vocalist, Yohanna said:
“Well definitely without a doubt, Amnesia. You know, it probably challenged me the most, more than any other song from this album. And I was, you know, I was still figuring out my voice, my tone, what I wanted to do with that, how I wanted to express myself. And there were moments that I wasn’t sure how to translate what I was hearing into my voice and what I wanted to do.”
When asked about which artist in the world she would choose for a dream collaboration, Yohanna said:
“Well, it’s kind of an impossible collaboration because the one artist that I have on my mind right now and I always have in my mind actually is Chester Bennington from Linkin Park. […] There was so much power and vulnerability in the way he sung and I really admire every song that he sung with Linkin Park or without Linkin Park. […] I think that it’s maybe one reason that I’m here today and I’m doing music and I’m trying my best for that because of him, because of his voice.”
When asked about what fans would be surprised to learn about her, Yohanna said:
“I think that the one thing that they would be surprised to know about me is that I have recently started to learn how to do growls, you know, extreme vocal techniques, you know, which is completely new for me. […] You just feel like you are going to unlock a new part of what you are doing so far and it’s great because when I started learning how to do growls I realized that growling helps me a lot through my clean singing. And I felt that I started to do better in my clean singing.”
Slow Pulp’s highly anticipated Yard followup Melodie comes out in exactly two weeks. So far the Chicago indie rock crew has shared “Better Man,” “Not For Nothing,” and “Spill,” and today they’re debuting two new tracks on The Adam Friedland Show.
Six tracks landed this week and two of them arrived attached to releases out today. Polaris broke a three-year silence with the hardest song they’ll ever have to write. Saxon announced their twenty-fifth album. PRESIDENT’s debut arrived after a year of teasing, and the artist opening their tour tonight put out her first EP the same morning. Here’s everything worth your Friday.
The most important song on this list, and the hardest one the band will ever have to write.
“Without You” is Polaris’ first new music in three years, and it’s a tribute to guitarist Ryan Siew, who died in June 2023 at the age of 26.
The context matters. Siew’s death came less than three months before the release of Fatalism, an album he had already finished recording — his parts were completed beforehand and released posthumously. That record went to number one on the ARIA Albums Chart and won Best Independent Heavy Album at the 2024 AIR Awards. The band toured it hard, played Knotfest Australia, Download, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, and did not release a note of new music.
Until now.
Their statement is the only framing this song needs: they never imagined they’d one day have reason to write it, but three years on they find themselves still making sense of an immeasurable tragedy and what it has meant to be left in the wake. They describe it as the sound of crushing loss, shock, grief and heartache — and the beginning of learning how to share that with the world.
The video, made with Third Eye Visuals, shows the remaining members performing inside a stark, empty cathedral, with imagery from across the band’s history threaded through it.
It’s out via ADA in Australia and New Zealand and SharpTone Records everywhere else. And it isn’t only a tribute — the band have framed it as the start of their next chapter.
“Gods Of Thunder” is the title track of Saxon’s twenty-fifth studio album, announced Wednesday and due January 22 via Silver Lining Music. Ten tracks, produced by Biff Byford and mixed by Andy Sneap — the longtime Saxon collaborator who also plays guitar on tour with Judas Priest.
The song is a full-blooded piece of Celtic mythology, and Byford’s own pitch for it is exactly what you’d hope: a mighty tale packed with the spirit and power of true heavy metal, so turn it up and bang your head.
The album pulls on history, fantasy, horror, ancient mythology and pagan rites, which after fifty years is still Byford’s favourite territory. It follows 2024’s Hell, Fire And Damnation, and his verdict on it is short — they had great fun making it, and it’s going to be one to beat.
And there’s a genuinely good reason to be pleased about this one. Byford was treated for bowel cancer through 2025, completing his final round of chemotherapy in October. In January he confirmed a CT scan had come back clear, six months on from surgery, with nothing returned.
The band bring the album to the UK and Ireland in February 2027 — and they’re reviving the 30-foot mechanised Eagle, originally built in the early eighties for the Denim and Leather tour and the inspiration for the title of 1982’s The Eagle Has Landed. It’ll fly at every UK and Ireland date except Cardiff, where the venue won’t take it.
The masked English band’s debut album arrived today.
Blood of Your Empire is out via Atlantic — ten tracks, thirty-seven minutes, written and produced entirely by the band themselves. “Sleepwalker” is track six, and it’s one of the album cuts rather than one of the four singles that trailed it.
That trail was long: “Angel Wings” in February, “Mercy” in March, “Doom Loop” in May and “Dark Heaven” in July, following the King of Terrors EP in autumn 2025.
The frontman — identified only as the President — has described the record as born out of his own struggle with existential crisis, and with trying to make sense of belief, mortality and humanity’s relationship with faith. His observation is that religion has inspired incredible compassion, purpose and beauty, and has also been responsible for unimaginable suffering.
The band’s whole approach is a deliberate rejection of how the industry currently works. His words to Revolver: the music business has elements of fast fashion to it now, things come and go, everyone’s shouting for attention, and it becomes a conveyor belt. They wanted to step back from that — but if people want to enter the world they’ve built, they’ll be welcomed with open arms.
They played their first ever show at Download 2025, supported Bad Omens, and start their own sold-out North American headline run tonight in Nashville, wrapping October 14 in Dallas.
The Sleep Token comparisons have followed them since day one, which their vocalist has publicly pushed back on — and if you’re working through that corner of the genre, this is the record everyone’s arguing about.
Showing Teeth — “Make It Out”
And here’s the connection nobody else is making: Showing Teeth open that PRESIDENT tour tonight, and her debut EP came out this morning too.
A Fate Worse Than Loneliness is out via Republic Records and Spinefarm — seven tracks, with “Make It Out” arriving alongside a video.
The song is the most accessible thing on it. A glitchy opening riff gives way to palm-muted guitar and keys before a heavier refrain built around anxiety and self-defeat, with soaring guitars and a genuinely melodic vocal.
The backstory is the good part. Showing Teeth is essentially a solo project — Nashville-based artist Addison is the sole creative force behind it, with a full band for live shows. She started posting about heavy music on TikTok in 2023, sharing vocal practice clips and demos, then went to work in Nashville with producer Dan Book, multi-instrumentalist Zach Munowitz and Periphery drummer Matt Halpern.
“Labyrinth” landed in late 2025. Then a Spinefarm and Republic deal, an opening slot for Bring Me The Horizon in Manchester, an appearance onstage with Motionless In White, a Kerrang! cover, and a sold-out first-ever headline show in London in July — on the strength of two released songs.
From TikTok demos to a sold-out Camden headline and a major-label EP in under three years.
Wage War — “Landfall”
The title track of album six, premiered Wednesday night.
Landfall arrives October 9 via Fearless Records — thirteen tracks, produced by the band’s own Cody Quistad, which is worth flagging. They’ve been self-producing more and more and it’s clearly working.
The band’s framing of the song is about imminent danger and the moment you realise you aren’t in control. They’re a Florida band, so the hurricane imagery became the natural way in — that sense of being completely at the mercy of something bigger than you. They wanted the verses heavy and threatening and the chorus somber and inevitable.
That’s a good description of a hurricane and a better description of most of the last few years.
“Sweet Dreams,” “Blindfold” and “Song Of The Swamp” are already out and all three make the record.
They’re straight out on the road afterwards with We Came As Romans, Varials and Cane Hill — twenty-four dates from October 25 in San Antonio through to November 27 in Orlando, which for a Florida band making an album about hurricanes is the right place to finish.
Novelists — “Ravage”
The French melodic metalcore band premiered the video for “Ravage” on Wednesday, and the timing is deliberate.
Their North American tour with Bilmuri and Knuckle Puck kicks off today in Orlando, so the song lands with twenty-four hours to spare.
The video was directed by Bastien Sablé from a concept dreamed up by vocalist Camille Contreras — the band conceiving their own visuals is becoming a pattern across this list, alongside PRESIDENT and Showing Teeth.
Novelists have had a busy year. A member of the band won Bilmuri’s open call for a guest guitar solo on “WHERE TO FIND ME,” which is presumably how this tour came about, and they’re on a European and UK run this autumn with The Devil Wears Prada, 156/Silence and Oversize.
For a band who’ve spent a decade being one of the best European metalcore acts most Americans haven’t heard, this is the year that changes.
This week’s playlist
Polaris — “Without You” Saxon — “Gods Of Thunder” PRESIDENT — “Sleepwalker” Showing Teeth — “Make It Out” Wage War — “Landfall” Novelists — “Ravage”
All six are in rotation on the Loaded Radio stream this weekend.
TL;DR
Polaris — “Without You”: their first new music in three years, and a tribute to guitarist Ryan Siew, who died in June 2023 aged 26. Out via ADA and SharpTone, with a video by Third Eye Visuals.
Saxon — “Gods Of Thunder”: title track of their twenty-fifth studio album, out January 22 via Silver Lining Music. Produced by Biff Byford, mixed by Andy Sneap.
PRESIDENT — “Sleepwalker”: track six on debut album Blood of Your Empire, out today via Atlantic. Ten tracks, entirely self-written and self-produced.
Showing Teeth — “Make It Out”: from debut EP A Fate Worse Than Loneliness, out today via Republic and Spinefarm. Showing Teeth open PRESIDENT’s sold-out US tour tonight in Nashville.
Wage War — “Landfall”: title track of their sixth album, out October 9 via Fearless, produced by the band’s own Cody Quistad.
Novelists — “Ravage”: video directed by Bastien Sablé from a concept by vocalist Camille Contreras, released a day before their US tour with Bilmuri and Knuckle Puck.
FAQ
What are the best new metal songs this week?
Six standouts released the week of September 4, 2026: Polaris’ “Without You,” Saxon’s “Gods Of Thunder,” PRESIDENT’s “Sleepwalker,” Showing Teeth’s “Make It Out,” Wage War’s “Landfall” and Novelists’ “Ravage.”
Is Polaris’ “Without You” about Ryan Siew?
Yes. It is a tribute to the band’s guitarist, who died in June 2023 at the age of 26, and it marks Polaris’ first new material since. The band described it as the sound of crushing loss, shock, grief and heartache, and the beginning of learning how to share that with the world.
When is Saxon’s new album released?
Gods Of Thunder, Saxon’s twenty-fifth studio album, arrives January 22 via Silver Lining Music. It was produced by frontman Biff Byford and mixed by Andy Sneap, and comprises ten tracks built around history, mythology and pagan themes. It follows 2024’s Hell, Fire And Damnation.
What is PRESIDENT’s debut album?
Blood of Your Empire, released September 4, 2026 via Atlantic Records. The anonymous masked English band wrote and produced all ten tracks themselves. It follows their 2025 debut EP King of Terrors and was trailed by the singles “Angel Wings,” “Mercy,” “Doom Loop” and “Dark Heaven.”
Who is Showing Teeth?
A Nashville-based project led by singer-songwriter Addison, who is the sole creative force behind it, with a full band for live performances. She began posting heavy music on TikTok in 2023 before signing with Spinefarm and Republic Records. Debut EP A Fate Worse Than Loneliness was released September 4, 2026.
Six songs, two albums out today, and one tribute that took three years to write. Which one’s on repeat? Tell us below. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
SMOULDER Unleash B-Movie Mayhem With “Shadow of the Vulture”
Epic blackened metallers SMOULDER have unleashed a brand-new music video for “Shadow of the Vulture,” giving fans a gloriously trashy, sword-and-sorcery-inspired visual preview of their forthcoming third studio album, Witch Wife in an Alien World .
If you like your heavy metal with massive riffs, ancient warriors, dark forests, questionable amounts of fake blood, and the unmistakable charm of a low-budget fantasy flick, Smoulder have you covered.
“Shadow of the Vulture” is the second track from Witch Wife in an Alien World , arriving through Cruz del Sur Music this fall. The new video embraces the band’s love of classic sword-and-sorcery cinema and old-school heavy metal videos, deliberately choosing fun, atmosphere, and raw DIY energy over slick modern production.
According to vocalist Sarah Ann, the concept was built as a tribute to some of the band’s favorite cult films.
“We wanted to pay homage to our favourite sword and sorcery movies, and make a B-movie, DIY music video that was big and fun and trashy!”
Among the inspirations were Sorceress (1982), Deathstalker , The Devil’s Sword (1983), and Conquest (1983), alongside classic heavy metal video insanity such as Cloven Hoof’s “Highlander” and Hell’s “Death Squad.”
The band teamed up with Helsinki-based multidisciplinary artist Tekla Tekla Vàly, whose work has included music videos, photography, and cover art for artists including Warning, Oranssi Pazuzu, Hail Conjurer, and 40 Watt Sun.
The result fits Smoulder’s aesthetic like a battered leather gauntlet. There’s an intentionally homemade quality to the video that feels completely at home with the band’s old-school metal influences. And yes, apparently a severed head was involved.
As Sarah Ann puts it:
“She did a great job capturing that energy… plus, her severed head made us howl!”
A New Chapter for Smoulder
“Shadow of the Vulture” offers another glimpse into what makes Witch Wife in an Alien World such an intriguing next step for Smoulder.
The Canadian/American quintet has never been particularly interested in staying inside one musical box. The band’s previous work established a formidable blend of epic heavy metal, power metal, speed metal and doom, but the new album pushes further into darker territory by incorporating black metal into the band’s already expansive sound.
The result is being described as raw, ferocious, and intentionally unpolished.
And while “Shadow of the Vulture” delivers the kind of classic heavy metal chorus designed to be screamed back from a packed venue, Witch Wife in an Alien World promises considerably more than another collection of straightforward metal anthems.
The album features eight tracks that move between triumphant heavy metal, epic doom, blackened passages, sweeping melodies, and more adventurous territory.
The album opens with “Water Wars,” followed by “Shadow of the Vulture,” while songs such as “Cathedral of the Trees” and “Smouldering Remains” explore the band’s grander and more atmospheric side.
One of the album’s most fascinating tracks is “Noitien Loitsu,” the band’s first song featuring both English and Finnish lyrics.
The song draws directly from Sarah Ann’s Finnish roots and the environment surrounding her and guitarist Shon Vincent’s home in Helsinki. Finnish epic black metal musician Bootleg Henkka of Havukruunu also contributes a guest guitar solo.
That cultural connection runs deep throughout the album.
The title Witch Wife in an Alien World itself was inspired by Sarah Ann’s life in Finland and the contrast between the positive aspects of her surroundings and her frustration with the increasingly hostile world outside of them.
That tension feeds directly into the album’s themes, which deal with disconnection, political and social realities, and the strange contradiction of living in a world that has never been more technologically connected while feeling increasingly divided.
From Michael Whelan to Ian Miller
Smoulder’s visual world is getting a major transformation as well.
The cover of Witch Wife in an Alien World was created by legendary British fantasy and horror illustrator Ian Miller, whose extensive body of work includes fantasy, horror, Warhammer, Magic: The Gathering, H.P. Lovecraft publications, and the animated cult classic Wizards from Ralph Bakshi.
Miller’s artwork represents a noticeable shift from the band’s previous two albums, Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring and Violent Creed of Vengeance , both of which featured artwork from legendary fantasy artist Michael Whelan.
Where those previous covers carried the unmistakable grandeur of classic fantasy illustration, the new artwork reflects the darker, uglier themes explored throughout Witch Wife in an Alien World .
And that’s fitting because Smoulder aren’t simply repeating what they’ve done before.
They’re pushing outward.
Built for the Stage
Following the release of the new album, Smoulder’s attention will turn toward the live arena, where the band has assembled a lineup increasingly influenced by black and death metal.
The current configuration includes guitarist Nigge of black/thrash outfit Terror Cross, alongside the band’s core lineup of Sarah Ann, Collin Wolf, Shon Vincent, Adam Blake, and Kevin Hester.
That heavier influence is expected to make itself felt onstage.
For Smoulder, the live experience has become a major priority.
“Having a crushing live show has become priority number one for us,” Sarah Ann explains, noting that bands can choose different approaches when building their stage presentation.
For Smoulder, the goal is atmosphere.
Not costumes for the sake of costumes. Not an arena full of unnecessary props. Instead, the band wants to create something lurid, dark, atmospheric, and immersive.
Basically, heavy metal the old-fashioned way.
Loud. Strange. Epic. A little dangerous.
And preferably with some swords lying around somewhere.
Smoulder Hit the Road
Fans in Europe will have several opportunities to catch Smoulder live throughout the coming months.
The band will appear at Swamp Fest 2026 in Berlin on September 12 , followed by Old Grave Fest 13 in Bucharest, Romania, on October 10 .
November brings appearances at Little Devil in Tilburg, Netherlands, on November 26 , MTS Records in Oldenburg, Germany, on November 27 , and Metal Hammer Paradise in Weissenhäuser Strand, Germany, on November 28 .
With a new album bringing black metal influences into Smoulder’s epic heavy metal foundation and a live lineup geared toward delivering something heavier and more crushing, the band appears ready to enter its next chapter with both fists raised.
Witch Wife in an Alien World will be released through Cruz del Sur Music in Europe on October 9 and North America on November 6. The album will be available on CD, digital formats, and vinyl LP, including an edition featuring a foiled cover, 12-page booklet, poster, and download code.
But before the full record arrives, Smoulder have given us “Shadow of the Vulture.”
It’s a song built for headbanging, a video built for fans of gloriously cheesy sword-and-sorcery cinema, and another reminder that heavy metal doesn’t always need to take itself so damn seriously.
Sometimes you just need a killer riff, a questionable costume, a severed head, and a good old-fashioned B-movie adventure.
Watch the “Shadow of the Vulture” video:
Pre-order the album: CD: https://tinyurl.com/4f9crkae Black Vinyl LP: https://tinyurl.com/ys429asw Limited Vinyl LP: https://tinyurl.com/2ty3v2rv
More from Smoulder: https://smoulder.bandcamp.com https://linktr.ee/SmoulderDoom
Label: Cruz del Sur Music https://cruzdelsurmusic.com/store
British new wave legends Squeeze are currently on a North American tour with fellow ’80s veterans Adam Ant and Haircut 100, but they had to cancel last night’s Vienna, Virginia show for tragic reasons. Before the show, a tour bus collapsed on a man, killing him.
Candiria are often regarded as a cross-genre band, although many listeners don’t include prog rock among those genres. Hailing from New York City’s borough of Brooklyn, their first two albums were impressive enough. But 1999’s The Process of Self-Development remains the best example of their prowess, power – and progressive tendencies.
Though it was a famously difficult decade for traditional heavy metal, the 90s still managed to spark several fresh revolutions. Echoing the groundbreaking efforts of Tool, Meshuggah and Devin Townsend, New York City produced one of the most inventive and original bands in heavy music history.
Candiria were the living embodiment of all those clichés about the Big Apple being a perennial melting pot,. The emerged from the streets of Brooklyn with a sound that incorporated almost everything the city had to offer.
Built upon wild, intricate riffs and liberated jazz sensibilities, their songs were both challenging and thrillingly visceral, with elements of hip-hop, bebop and abstract noise woven through a central core of out-there riffing and brutish, hardcore punk vocals courtesy of livewire frontman Carley Coma.
Very much a work in progress on 1995 debut album Surrealistic Madness, Candiria swiftly evolved into something extraordinary. Beyond Reasonable Doubt (1997) was a significant step forward – but it was their third album that gleefully blew the doors off.
Released at the arse-end of the decade, The Process Of Self-Development was the mindblowing antithesis of the knuckleheaded rap-rock that was dominating the airwaves. Ferociously intelligent and utterly fearless, it still sounds ahead of its time.
If prog metal has a tendency to rely on well-worn, decades-old tropes, nobody told Candiria. The Process Of Self-Development is dominated by punishingly heavy but irrevocably weird songs that are driven by obtuse, freewheeling riffs that often make Meshuggah’s bewildering polyrhythms seem neat and straightforward.
Infused with the head-nod spirit of urban rap, and prone to sudden, surreal embellishments sent from deep leftfield, songs like Three Times Again, Temple Of Sickness and Elevate In Madness turned metal inside-out, reimagining it as a logical progression from Miles Davis’ electric era as well as the gritty clangour of New York hardcore.
Elsewhere, on the perverse, psychedelic Pull, and particularly on the smoky, brass-led Matter. Anti. Matter, Candiria explored their jazz influences with a casual authenticity that cannot be faked.
In contrast, Method Of Expression and Down To The Last Element were brooding, edgy hip-hop cuts, and an impressive demonstration of Coma’s rhyming skills.
Concluding with the esoteric funk grooves and tribal percussion of the title track along with the spaced-out dub of Leaving The Atmosphere, Candiria’s farewell to the 20th century boasted more smart ideas per square inch than most bands could muster in a lifetime.
Later albums continued the New Yorkers’ ambitious approach to varying degrees of underground success, but it was The Process Of Self-Development that most accurately defined their boundary-shattering bravery, and proud stewardship of the musical city that never sleeps.
‘The track is for anyone who’s sick of being controlled and manipulated. It questions how much we’re willing to sacrifice to stay on the path of least resistance, when really it’s time to resist.’
From its upcoming album All The Shadows, classic swords and sorcery heavy metal band Cirith Ungol has released its first single, the title track. Hit the play button below to check it out.
STREAM THE METAL BREAKDOWN DAILY NOW:
