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"There's big, then there's bigger than big, and then there's f***ing like last night," Noel Gallagher said of the experience. Continue reading…

The post The Alternative Number Ones: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Impression That I Get” appeared first on Stereogum.

Nathalia Bruno has been releasing music under the alias DRIFT. for over a decade. In 2015 debut EP

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of their debut album The Age Of Quarrel, Cro-Mags will release the re-recorded version of the entire effort. Dubbed The Age Of Quarrel: 40 Years Of Quarrel, it will see the light of day on November 13th, 2026 via BLK II BLK.
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This coming November, American thrash metal veterans Atrophy will be heading out to Europe for a 2-week long headlining tour. Flyer with confirmed dates is at your disposal below.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THUNDERCHIEF, GODS & PUNKS & MOTHERTOMB FEATURED IN THE LATEST DOOM CHARTS

Metal Devastation PR is proud to spotlight three of our clients featured in this month’s Doom Charts , representing the crushing diversity of today’s doom, stoner, psychedelic, and heavy underground.
THUNDERCHIEF – With Hatchet, Pike or Morning Star…
Thunderchief have officially unleashed their brand new full-length album via ASR Records , delivering a powerful dose of underground heavy music.
Listen on Bandcamp
GODS & PUNKS – A Shrine by the Sea
The Rio de Janeiro psych/progressive/stoner rock veterans return with an expansive release praised for its massive riffs, deep grooves, atmospheric doom, and psychedelic textures. Justin Wittenmeier of DoomedForMetal praised the record for its “massive” riffs and ocean-sized grooves.
Listen on Bandcamp
MOTHERTOMB – Dying to Live
Michigan doom/stoner outfit Mothertomb make a powerful debut with Dying to Live , combining dark atmosphere, crushing riffs, and the commanding vocals of Alice Gawlinski. Steve De Rique of Howls from The Hollows, Doomed & Stoned, and Stoner HiVe called the release “Impressively oppressive!”
Listen on Bandcamp
Metal Devastation PR congratulates all three artists on their Doom Charts recognition and continues to bring underground heavy music to the attention of fans and media worldwide.
Discover the bands. Hear the albums. Support underground metal.
Check out the Doomcharts here: https://doomcharts.com/2026/08/07/doom-charts-july-2026/

On September 18, The Van Pelt will release their new album Remain Obscure on Ernest Jenning Record Co. (pre-order). Today the band is sharing

In support of their upcoming full-length release Travelling Around The World, symphonic power metal band Pirate Queen offer in listening another new track in advance “Lyxion”.
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I’ve always been attracted to biographies, whether it’s someone I’m familiar with or not. A few years back, I read James Spooner’s High Desert and fell in love with a story about finding punk rock that felt similar to mine yet completely different. Disappointed that it was cut short before his move to New York City, I hoped that it wasn’t the end of Spooner sharing his punk rock past. Thankfully, it’s not, with the release of his comic and prose hybrid, It Starts With Anger: A Punk Beginning and Afropunk Ending. Here, Spooner takes us on the journey of what punk means to him and how this definition evolved his ethos in regard to his identity, politics, and DIY approach to art and community-building.

It Starts With Anger… is broken up into two parts. Spooner starts by jumping straight into his punk rock past by giving a quick summary of his slice-of-life punk rock comic, The High Desert. It’s been a minute since I’ve read it, so I don’t remember if it’s a summary or a story that may have been left out, but it links these pieces of work together well. Eventually Spooner makes it to a pre-Giuliani New York City. It’s here that he is accepted into the LaGuardia School of the Arts and starts to navigate the punk rock shows he had gotten a taste of during summer visits to his dad’s place. 

What I like most about this story is that Spooner’s experiences in punk rock are easily relatable. He presents the punk rock he experienced in his youth for all to see, legitimizing the attempts a punk rock kid made. While there are moments that feel like crash courses on punk rock that he weaves seamlessly to enhance the story. Along with moments of honesty about the shitty behavior and hypocritical stances that came with punk, even when the bad behavior is his own. It’s not necessarily a baptism by fire, but looking back, it’s not hard to figure out how to do the right thing even if you have a mohawk, especially when it comes to racism, sexism, and homophobia. 

Spooner reconciles some of the problematic issues of early punk bands, such as lyrics written by favorite bands he was a fan of when he first got into punk rock. His contextualizing of lyrics for songs like the Ramones “Loud Mouth”, The Descendents “Sour Grapes”, and Minor Threat’s “Guilty of Being White” doesn’t excuse the bands, but highlights that these exist. It’s one of the many cracks that Spooner points out in punk rock. The crux of It Starts With Anger: A Punk Beginning and Afropunk Ending is Spooner processing what it means to be a POC in the local punk rock scene. Sadly, many people believe that punk rock is solely white music, which is definitely far from true. Most of these beliefs are shaped by Spooner’s experience in the NY hardcore scene and love for bands who should have been able to play with more of the prominent bands of the era, but didn’t due to the color of their skin. 

Part two pivots to Spooner’s sort of post-punk era after being disillusioned with the genre. He travels the country in some sort of punk rock odyssey for a few years until he settles into the NYC club and art scene doing DJ sets at dance parties. Yet, he becomes disillusioned when he is portrayed based on his race and how people would exploit him as being a “safe black.” A black individual who is perceived as non-threatening by non-Black peers. A term he uses critically and not self-descriptively. This continued disappointment sends Spooner on a quest to start documenting other black punks around the country who may feel like him. The baby steps to making the Afro-Punk documentary and then using the lessons of punk rock to get it shown to people, but even that comes with a headache when he accepts an offer to grow Afropunk as a brand. 

James Spooner’s It Starts With Anger: A Punk Beginning and An Afropunk Ending is one of my favorite books in a year where I’ve read a ton of really good books about punk rock and dissecting the scene itself. Spooner’s not the first person to hybridize comics and prose, but his panels-and-paragraphs approach to an autobiography is well done, but does lean heavier in prose. I like hearing a good story about a person finding their thing, and it gets double points for crossing over with my interests (punk). While parts of his story didn’t turn out the way he wanted, it seems that Spooner has made the best of his situation and came out a better person for it. It’s relatable, gives perspective, and overall tells a compelling story that is still being written. 

You Got Another Thing Comin’, Metal Gods, Breaking The Law: talk about an insane opening run. But then, when it comes to Judas Priest, you’d be hard-pressed to find any combination of hits that doesn’t feel like an all-time great selection of heavy metal anthems. So who better to close out the final day of Bloodstock’s 25th anniversary celebration?

“25 years of Bloodstock? 100 years of Judas fucking Priest!” Frontman Rob Halford declares to massive cheers.

Barely 20 miles up the road from where he grew up in Walsall, Bloodstock is as close to home territory for Halford as you can get without Priest doing a gig at Bescot Stadium and there’s a clear sense of gratitude as Priest get a homecoming for the ages. Early on, Rob sports a leather jacket with the Black Country flag proudly displayed on the back, and their ties to the region seep through in little nods and easter eggs that pop up in the graphics.

And this setlist is an absolute beast. With a greatest hits to promote, it’s not a massive surprise that Priest are cranking anthems out at industrial pace throughout the night – The Ripper, The Sentinel, Turbo Lover, Victim Of Changes. It’s perhaps not as adventurous as what they broke out at Bloodstock 2021, but it’s splitting hairs trying to figure out what you’d take out to round it out. Steeler for Exciter? Desert Plains for Judas Rising? Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Far from slowing down in their winter years, Judas Priest seem to be picking up steam. Rob Halford confirms the band are working on new material – a delightful concept, considering just how fantastic their last two records were – and there’s barely any pause in the set, even the encore – teeing a colossal finisher of Electric Eye, Hell Bent For Leather (complete with Harley ride-on, of course) and Living After Midnight – only taking a minute or two before the band charge back on.

In many ways, Priest are representative of what Bloodstock was all about in its early years – and still continues to be about now, even with the evolving roster of bands. This is, after all, a celebration of heavy metal in its entirety, a chance for bands who’d get relegated to the sidelines at more mainstream festivals to strut their stuff in front of an ardent and ever-enthusiastic audience.

With Priest covering much of their half-century-plus as one of heavy metal’s most iconic bands, there’s a real sense of celebration that makes it almost impossible not to grin like a loon and roar along to your heart’s content.

Judas Priest setlist @ Bloodstock Open Air, 9/8/2026

1. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
2. Metal Gods
3. Breaking The Law
4. The Ripper
5. The Sentinel
6. Desert Plains
7. Lightning Strike
8. Turbo Lover
9. Steeler
10. Delivering The Goods
11. Panic Attack
12. Victim Of Changes
13. Halls Of Valhalla
14. Painkiller
15. Electric Eye
16. Hell Bent For Leather
17. Living After Midnight