Blog
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Pyrefly emerge with long-awaited debut album ‘Lost & Found’
Australian progressive metal unit Pyrefly have finally released their debut full-length album, Lost & Found. Recorded in the band’s own home studio and mixed and mastered by Justin Gonzales at PAL Studios, the record marks a triumphant and emotional milestone for the Sydney-based quintet. Formed in 2016, Pyrefly’s journey was tragically interrupted in 2018 following … Continue reading Pyrefly emerge with long-awaited debut album ‘Lost & Found’ -
Venville, Malcolm (Dir.) Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition (film review)
Reviewed: May, 2026 Published: 2026, NOTB Films/ Universal Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: JP Normally we publish our reviews once a month but the occasional rare exception […]
The post Venville, Malcolm (Dir.) Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition (film review) appeared first on Metal-Rules.com.
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What To Expect From Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s Album
The guitar legends are currently on tour together and tell UCR about their forthcoming SatchVai record. Continue reading… -
Mad Sneaks rescue the essence of grunge with new album ‘Incognito’
Brazilian power trio Mad Sneaks are leading a resurgence of raw, visceral rock with the release of their latest album, Incognito. In an era dominated by polished digital productions and algorithm-driven playlists, the band is deliberately pushing back, offering a sound that is unapologetically human, imperfect, and authentic. Incognito is an English-language reimagining of the … Continue reading Mad Sneaks rescue the essence of grunge with new album ‘Incognito’ -
UNVERKALT – Héréditaire
Unverkalt have always masterfully balanced fragile, cinematic atmospheres with post-metal pressure, but this time the melancholy is accompanied by far more black metal ferocity, desperate screams and an intensity that evokes both physical and spiritual disintegration. The songs on Héréditaire speak of death, emptiness, loss of faith, world-ending devastation and inner decay nourished by old […] -
NASCITURUS – Fabulae
The Polish band Nasciturus’ debut full-length, Fabulae, clearly belongs to that strand of Central European black metal which combines the genre’s classic toolkit with folk-inspired themes rooted in stories passed down from the region around the Beskid Mountains. Released by Via Nocturna, the material runs a little over 40 minutes, and even its title establishes […] -
LES BÂTARDS DU ROI – Les chemins de l’exil
For fans of dark, initiatory melodic black metal journeys, the French band Les Bâtards du Roi’s second album, Les chemins de l’exil, will be a true little gem. The sound is both aggressive and epic, faithfully reflecting the band’s momentum and the members’ dedication to the occult arts. At the time of recording, the line-up […] -
Debbie Harry & Pamela Anderson Will Play Mother & Daughter In New Age Comedy Maitreya
Icons Debbie Harry and Pamela Anderson will be starring in a new movie called Maitreya, Deadline reported. In the new age comedy, Anderson plays Maitreya who’s a rising influence in the new age healing community. She’s preparing to head to India for a conference when she gets news from her estranged sister that their father is dying. Maitreya invites the entire family to the conference to “put her New Age healing theories to the test (all while surreptitiously gathering material for her next book).”
The post Debbie Harry & Pamela Anderson Will Play Mother & Daughter In New Age Comedy <em>Maitreya</em> appeared first on Stereogum.
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Fright night! Motionless In White plunge the Sunshine State into darkness at Welcome To Rockville 2026
Posted on May 10th 2026, 6:13p.m.
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Album Review: Acid Reign – Daze Of the Week
Album Review: Acid Reign – Daze Of the Week
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Long before Municipal Waste took the crown for being the world’s premier Party Thrashers, that title was firmly held by Harrogate’s Acid Reign who, alongside Onslaught Sabbat and Xentrix, made up the ‘Big Four’ of British thrash metal.
Sadly for Acid Reign, two EPs and two full-lengths were all that the original incarnation of the band could muster between Moshkinstein in 1988 and Obnoxious in 1990 – the latter being in line for Worst Album Cover Ever – before splitting in 1991, but not before opening for such genre juggernauts as Flotsam and Jetsam, Exodus, Dark Angel and Nuclear Assault.
The band rebooted in 2015, headlined Bloodstock Open Air’s S.O.P.H.I.E. stage the following year and issued album number three, the Age of Entitlement in 2019. Now, seven years after that comes Acid Reign’s fourth album, with a sixty-percent new line up from the previous record, including guitarists Matt Smith and Darren McGillivary and ex- Shrapnel drummer Johnny Grimley, who join bassist Pete Dee and Mr Acid Reign himself, Howard H Smith, as ever on vocals, for Daze of the Week.
The first thing you’ll notice about the album – other than it’s Script for a Jester’s Tear parody cover art – is just how angry it is from the outset. The Who of You crashes in with a big statement opening and dense, dark old school thrash riffs, showing there is a seriousness about Acid Reign c.2026. Crunching riffs and a frantic pace match with H’s bile-spitting vocals and, in truth, I can’t recall ever hearing the frontman in such confrontational mood.
The title track comes with those Eighties thrash guitar tones and blends them with a snotty punk attitude and dissonant riffs all liberally sprinkled with classic Anthrax vibes. Alonely and No Truth are crunchy-riffed dancefloor fillers, full of driving rhythms and whiplash guitars, making you wonderwhere those high-tops trainers were stored and whether you can squeeze into those Bermuda shorts one last time. If you wore them the first time around, then the answer is No, you can’t and you’ll thank me for guiding you away from the inevitable injuries which would surely ensue.
Don’t just take my word for it; listen to the band’s dire warning on Old Young Man, the central part of the unashamed thrash trilogy that dominates the second half of Daze of the Week, beginning with Sorrowsworn’s frenzy and ending with Fantastic Passion’s break-neck speed, it feels like getting mugged from an old friend.
Acid Reign have built a reputation for being a good-time band, guaranteed to get any party started, and with H at the microphone they have a pocket-rocket frontman who can whip any crowd into a frenzy. What is often overlooked is their emotional depth, which Daze of the Week has in spades,and which gives this record a mature and, sometimes, introspective feel. Conniption King seems aimed at modern sensibilities and the obnoxious point of view they can engender. Slower and harder hitting than anything we’ve heard so far, it’s no less aggrieved in its position and allows the band to explore the limits of the genre.
Blind Lies starts like a Morbid Angel track and develops into a hardcore thrasher, possibly the most brutal I’ve ever heard Acid Reign; dark and confrontational, it’s the album’s longest tune, yet one that feels as though there’s more to be said on the subject. Closing tune, Centre of Everything opens with running water and a liquid guitar tone; H sings clean and when he does turn angry is does so with an intensity rather than with speed.
The whole band sound on top form throughout Daze of the Week; guitarists Matt and Darren give a masterful display of how to thrash in 2026, Johnny and Pete provide the engine that purrs like a kitten, but it’s H’s contribution to the album that is the icing on the cake. I can honestly say that I have never heard him deliver such a performance, exploring the ranges of his vocals and hitting every point with laser-sharp accuracy.
Production is crystal clear, dirty when it needs to be, but never muddy.
Next month I’ll be continuing my tradition of seeing Acid Reign at every Preston show they play, going back as far as 1988, when they opened for Nuclear Assault at the Chater Theatre one Friday night in October. Sounds impressive, until you realise it took them thirty-six years to make it back to town on Good Friday in 2024, but facts are facts.
The post Album Review: Acid Reign – Daze Of the Week appeared first on The Razor's Edge.