Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
-

Øya Festival has put Robyn and Pavement at the top of its 2027 line-up
Robyn’s only Norwegian show of 2027 is also her first in Oslo since 2019. Tickets for Øya, 11th-14th August, are on sale now.
-

Trivium are on the cover of the brand-new Metal Hammer
As Trivium release new album Crown In The Grave, we sit down with frontman Matt Heafy to get the inside story of the turbulent year that led to its creation. Following a career-best run of records, a celebratory tour for breakthrough album Ascendancy and a triumphant Bloodstock headline set, Matt found himself in the midst…
-

Joshua Burnside has taken the NI Music Prize’s album award, and CMAT turned up to join Philomena Begley on stage
Chalk won twice at the 15th NI Music Prize in Belfast’s Ulster Hall, and CMAT made a surprise appearance alongside Philomena Begley.
-

Planningtorock has announced ‘Gentlethem’, their first studio album since 2018
‘Gentlethem’ is due on 31st March 2027, with new single ‘Versions’ out now and a one-off ICA show on 4th December that will see Planningtorock’s mum join them on stage.
-

Part-Time Model have announced debut EP ‘Seen Not Seen’ and shared ‘Big Fish’, a song about escaping the 9-5
The Leeds four-piece’s EP is out on 9th April via LAB Records, and second single ‘Big Fish’ arrives today with a video.
-

Watch Lorna Shore’s Will Ramos flex his clean vocals as he guests on new Bullet For My Valentine single I Don’t Trust Tomorrow
Bullet For My Valentine have teamed up with Lorna Shore screamer Will Ramos for their new single, I Don’t Trust Tomorrow. The track, which features a rare clean vocal turn from Ramos, can be heard below. It continues the build-up to the Bridgend metalcore band’s new album Social Apocalypse, due out on March 19 via…
-

King Charles III has joined Elton John’s Rocket Hour for a special episode
The King sat down with Elton John in October to pick music for Apple Music, with the episode landing on his 78th birthday.
-

Dublin rapper Kojaque returns with ‘That’s Gonna Be Me’ and announces a 17-date 2027 tour
The single takes on anti-migrant sentiment, and its video was animated from 127 printed frames of Kojaque’s face on fake banknotes. The tour starts in Zurich on 7th March.
-

Make Them Suffer have shared ‘Black Sheep’, a song about the loneliness of life on tour
The Perth band’s new single, produced and mixed by Dan Braunstein, is out now via SharpTone Records with a video.
-

MUNA support EMMMA has shared ‘Porcelain’, a synth breakup song with a sun-and-moon video
The single is out now while EMMMA opens for MUNA across the UK and Europe this month, with a debut album due in 2027.
-

TesseracT have announced EP ‘ARC_ONE: Obscura’ and signed to Nuclear Blast
The three-song EP lands on 5th March 2027, with lead single ‘Crucible’ out now and a tour of North America, the UK and Germany to follow, including Brixton Academy.
-

Cliffords have shared ‘Rod For My Back’, their first single in a year
The Cork band recorded the song in London with producer Kev Jones, and it deals with being put in a cultural box they never felt part of.
-

Jamie T has lined up Kate Nash and Willie J Healey as support for his December UK tour
Kate Nash plays the Wembley Arena and Co-op Live shows, while Willie J Healey takes the other cities. Tickets are still available for Birmingham, Glasgow, Wembley Arena and Co-op Live.
-

Robert Baxter has reworked Lorde’s ‘Ribs’ with Prophecy Girl, and added Sydney and Adelaide dates
Jessica Fortuin and Sweatbaby support at Tokyo Sing Song in Sydney on 19th November, with Effie Isobel and Mutuals at Lowlife Basement Bar in Adelaide on 5th December.
-

Kelly Lee Owens will curate Hometown Meltdown in Bethesda, with Gruff Rhys on DJ duty
Southbank Centre’s artist-curated Meltdown approach leaves London for the first time, with two days at Neuadd Ogwen on 12th-13th December.
-

Dork’s Big Xmas Party returns with Swim Deep playing ‘Mothers’ in full
More names will be announced. Tickets for Dork’s Big Xmas Party are available via DICE and WeGotTickets.
-

TesseracT launch Crucible single from upcoming EP ARC_ONE: Obscura
TesseracT have launched dynamic single Crucible – their first release via Nuclear Blast. It’s taken from upcoming concept EP ARC_ONE: Obscura, set to arrive in March. And vocalist Dan Tompkins reports that their new approach to music is a result of what they learned from their most recent album, 2023’s War Of Being. “We’re trying…
-

What 50 years in business has taught Springetts about building brands that thrive
As it celebrates its half-century, the agency that named The Happy Egg Co., Nuii and Frubes shares the wisdom it’s acquired along the way. Most UK businesses don’t make it to their fifth birthday; according to the ONS, fewer than four in 10 do. Getting to 50, to many, can seem like an impossible dream.…
-

Tanmay Saxena on leaving a banking job to make surreal photographs about life’s stranger moments
From superheroes experiencing creative slumps to braids that trace generations of womanhood, the London-based artist draws on memories and the unexpected things he encounters while wandering. Even superheroes need a day off sometimes. For London-based photographer and artist Tanmay Saxena, this rather amusing thought became the starting point for Superhero Downtime, a photograph made earlier…
-

“It was the loudest thing I’ve ever done onstage, and it caused me a lifetime of tinnitus.” Steve Lukather picks the seven blues songs that changed his life
I’d love to tell you that I sit around all day and listen to Robert Johnson 78s from 1936, but I don’t. Guys my age started out with The Beatles, obviously, but I got to blues music through the British invasion. Clapton. Beck. Page. That’s what hit me hardest. Even though it was white-man blues,…
-

Jimmy Page says he doesn’t want to tour again but he’s still playing guitar
Jimmy Page says he no longer wishes to tour, but he’s still playing guitar. The Led Zeppelin man, who hasn’t performed in public since appearing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony four years ago, spoke to The Sun while attending this year’s Music Industry Trust Awards, held on Monday night at…
-

A.A. Williams has shared a ‘The Veil’ video made with about 40 metres of fabric, a hair dryer and a leaf blower
The piano-and-voice ‘The Veil’ from ‘Solstice’ gets a slow-motion film shot in camera, ahead of A.A. Williams’ winter run of UK and European dates supporting Chelsea Wolfe.
-

Luscious Jackson have found an unreleased Vivian Trimble song for the ‘Fever In Fever Out’ vinyl reissue
The 30th anniversary double vinyl is out now, with ‘Lost In A Crowd’ on a bonus side alongside acoustic versions, live recordings and outtakes.
-

Melissa Auf der Maur is playing her first solo shows in 15 years
The former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist will play Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario on 15th January and Montreal’s Le Gesù on 17th January 2027, and her ’90s demos are heading to vinyl.
-

DJ Seinfeld has teamed up with Peter Xan for ‘Modern Dystopia’
The British-Nigerian singer and rapper collaborates on the track, DJ Seinfeld’s first new music since June.
-

Cardi B has dared the promoter of the Jamaica festival she pulled out of to sue her
Promoter Ryan Burke says Cardi B was paid her $2.5 million fee in full. Her team says the organisers broke their payment obligations.
-

Beyoncé says RAYE, Sienna Spiro and Olivia Dean give her goosebumps
In an i-D interview, Beyoncé picked out RAYE, Sienna Spiro and Olivia Dean from the UK music scene, and says she has known Spiro’s family for some time.
-

Middle Kids have shared ‘Big Freak’, their first new song since ‘Faith Crisis Pt. 1’
Hannah Joy says that as a teenager she didn’t want anyone to notice her, but daydreamed about being interviewed on a big TV talk show.
-

sombr has asked one fan to please stop flipping him off at his shows
Mid-set in Ohio on the ‘You Are the Reason Tour’, sombr singled out a man in shades and a leather jacket who he says has been giving him the finger every night.
-

Melissa Auf Der Maur announces first solo live shows in 15 years, book signing appearances in Europe
Former Smashing Pumpkins and Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur has announced her first solo live shows in 15 years, plus a number of book signing appearances in Europe. Following the 2010 release of her second solo album, Out Of Our Minds, the Montreal-born bassist revealed that she would be taking an extended break from…
-

Rush add five more dates to Las Vegas Sphere residency due to “incredible demand”
Rush, who announced a five-date residency at Sphere in Las Vegas last week, have added another five dates to the schedule, due to what they describe as “incredible” demand. “Wow!” say the band. “Thank you everyone!” Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Anika Nilles and Loren Gold will now play five Elevate From The Norm shows in…
-

KATSEYE’s Megan performed most of the Austin show from a chair while recovering from a concussion
Megan sat at the side of the stage for most of KATSEYE’s Moody Center set, with the group already down two members. Some fans have voiced concern.
-

How ‘peasant metal’ band Netherwilds became a viral sensation
Lo! In this dark age, a light of hope comes. But it’s not from a gleaming knight’s helm or the monde of a kingly crown, it’s from a farmer’s ploughshare. Netherwilds’ debut album, Peasant Rising, is a thatch of blackened metal, post-hardcore, doom and folk. It’s a charming bardic tale and a subversive epic, detailing…
-

Gang of Youths have shared ‘Benny’s Video’ and dated new album ‘Compañero’ for March
‘Benny’s Video’ takes its name from a 1992 Michael Haneke film. It’s the second single from ‘Compañero’, due 12th March, and the band have a North American tour lined up for the spring.
-

Dolly Parton’s ‘He’s Alive’ acetates and a k.d. lang lacquer are up for auction from a Nashville mastering vault
Wax Poetics is auctioning 11 lots from the archive of Nashville mastering engineer Denny Purcell, including a 1976 test cut marked ‘NO’ in grease pencil. The sale closes on 3rd December.
-

walt disco have teamed up with Jacob Alon for a live version of ‘Look Out For Me’
The song was written on the day Jocelyn sought NHS advice over gender dysphoria. A ’25 Years’ t-shirt with QueerAF and Trans+ History Week is on sale, and the band are looking for openers on their 2027 UK tour.
-

Marika Hackman leads a choral cover of Kylie’s ‘Confide In Me’ on the soundtrack to Netflix’s ‘The Body’
Hackman sings on 31 of the 38 tracks of Christopher Stracey’s score, alongside the Budapest Art Choir, and it’s out today.
-

Phoebe Bridgers, Slayyyter and Billy Strings will headline Hinterland 2027 in Iowa
Hinterland returns to St. Charles, Iowa from 30th July to 1st August, with Caroline Polachek, Underscores and Remi Wolf on the wider bill.
-

Romy Mars has shared ‘Tell Him’, a song about a forbidden rendezvous with an ex’s friend
The new single is produced by Julian Dobson and follows ‘The Rage’. It’s out now via The Orchard/Sony Music.
-

The Sophs have a new single out and a spring tour opening for Gang of Youths
‘It’s A Fever’ is the LA band’s first new music since their GOLDSTAR album, and tickets for the 2027 North American dates go on sale this Friday.
-

12 classic rock and metal songs that wouldn’t exist without The Lord Of The Rings
Is there anything more rock’n’roll than The Lord Of The Rings? Across J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium – and the multiple films, series and games which have sprung from it – there are black-clad warlords, light-devouring spiders, feuding wizards and fire beasts the size of a house. It’s no wonder, then, that bands since the dawn of…
-

Ulrika Spacek follow February’s ‘EXPO’ album with new EP ‘field to the left’
Ulrika Spacek’s ‘field to the left’ arrives on 5th February 2027, with lead single ‘ulrika_adjacent_132.exe.’ and a video from Low Limit Vision.
-

Prince’s 3121 Las Vegas concert film has a trailer, and tickets are on sale now
‘Prince: 3121 Las Vegas Live’ runs to 154 minutes in 4K and opens in more than 500 cinemas in the US and Canada from 3rd December. It’s also the Blu-ray in the 3121 reissue.
-

Papa Roach have given £40,000 to CALM, double last year’s donation
The donation follows five UK dates on the Rise Of The Roach tour. Jacoby Shaddix says the run was the band’s biggest in the UK yet.
-

Witch Fever are heading to Birkenhead, Margate and Basingstoke for Independent Venue Week 2027
Six January headline shows, from Birkenhead on 25th January to Basingstoke on the 31st, with London’s Signature Brew Haggerston on the 30th. Tickets go on sale on Friday 13th November at 10am.
-

D’Arcy has shared ‘XTC’, a late-night club single with a video that turns into a nightmare
The video cuts between a white bed and a warehouse party before D’Arcy runs out onto deserted city streets.
-

Oklou has scored a Netflix animation with ROB, and the first track, ‘the swirl ahead’, is out now
The French pair’s 22-track ‘In Waves’ soundtrack arrives on 11th December, the same day the film reaches Netflix.
-

Dexter In The Newsagent has shared ‘Edge of the World’, written on a post-tour high
The South London artist’s new single takes its cue from the chorus of B.o.B and Hayley Williams’ ‘Airplanes’, and follows September’s ‘Fantasy’.
-

Liverpool experimental shoegaze trio Colourwash have announced their debut EP
The Liverpool trio wrote and recorded all five tracks within a month of forming, without a click track. The EP is out on 5th February 2027.
-

Kamasi Washington and Leon Bridges have recorded ‘Trying To Get There’ for Snoopy’s Christmas special
The song comes from the soundtrack to Apple TV’s ‘Snoopy Presents: 12 Days Of Snoopy’, which also features John Legend and Laufey.
-

State Fayre 2027 has completed its all-female headliner bill with The Chicks and Kacey Musgraves
Billy Strings, Sam Barber, The Corrs and Brothers Osborne are on the Hylands Park bill too. Friday and Sunday tickets are in a PayPal presale now, with general on-sale at 9am on Friday 13th November.
-

Quiet Light has shared ‘Forever’ and closes her UK and Europe tour with a sold-out London show tonight
The Austin artist’s single is out now via True Panther, and the last date of her 11-date run is at Oslo tonight.
-

DJ Shadow is reissuing ‘Preemptive Strike’ on 11th December, a week before his Barbican ‘Endtroducing’ show
The 1998 compilation of his Mo’Wax singles returns remastered at Abbey Road with a new sleeve, and the ‘Endtroducing’ 30th anniversary show at the Barbican follows on 18th December.
-

Swedish trio ViVii have shared ‘You Go I Go’, a call-and-response duet from their third album
The Swedish trio’s new single is out now via Dumont Dumont, ahead of ‘I Thought I Would Be Somewhere Else By Now’ on 29th January and six shows across Norway and Sweden in March.
-

holybones have shared ‘ATHENA’, and yes, she’s a real person
The anonymous London electronic collective’s new single is out now on Promised Land Records, following ‘ENGLISHMAN’ with Hak Baker and ‘SLUGBOY’ with Baxter Dury.
-

Peter Doherty has produced Charles Bueller’s debut single ‘The Mess’, and an EP is on the way in January
Charles Bueller’s ‘The Mess’ is out now, with a video shot in Margate. His EP ‘The Comedie Of Charles Bueller’ follows on 15th January 2027, with three tracks produced by Peter Doherty.
-

Italian noise-rock musician Claudia Cesana has announced Fuzz Pony’s debut album with a song about a threesome
Claudia Cesana, formerly bassist in noise rock band The Gluts, has joined Spinda Records for her solo project’s eight-track debut, out 24th March 2027.
-

Los Angeles post-punk band Agender have announced fourth album ‘Dizzyland’
The Los Angeles post-punks have self-produced a ten-track record, and Romy Hoffman says it’s sex and love, not the machines, that’ll be the death of her.
-

“I need 200 mules…”: Watch the cult ELP sketch that Carl Palmer just added to his UK tour
Carl Palmer has explained why it wasn’t accurate to label Emerson, Lake and Palmer as a prog band, and listed songs that support his case. The drummer believes the trio were just in the right place at the right time to acquire the definition, and names one band who came later as a more genuine…
-

Merge Records has dropped a surprise Christmas compilation, ‘Snowed In’
It features new originals from The Tubs, The New Pornographers, Dawn Richard, Case Oats and Mike Krol, plus a Rosali and David Middleman take on ‘The Cherry Tree Carol’.
-

Peel Dream Magazine have put ‘Taurus’ on vinyl for the first time, with four extra songs
The expanded edition of ‘Taurus’ is out now via Topshelf Records, and the band play a vinyl release show at Zebulon in Los Angeles on 12th November.
-

Mouth Culture have announced debut album ‘The Wire’ for April
‘Fool’ is out now, and the band support South Arcade on a ten-date UK run in February.
-

Kings of Leon have played ‘Wasted Time’ for the first time since 2014 at a one-off London show
Kings of Leon’s one-off show at the new British Airways ARC in London ran to 25 songs, with four from ‘O My Beloved’ and ‘Wasted Time’ for the first time since 2014.
-

Manchester Punk Festival 2027 has added The Bronx, who are bringing Mariachi El Bronx with them
The Bronx make their first Manchester Punk Festival appearance with a joint headline set alongside their mariachi alter egos. The Bar Stool Preachers, Petrol Girls and Popes of Chillitown join them.
-

All We Have Are Days has booked Gurriers, Cormac Begley and Thomas Bartlett for Limerick’s Brigid’s weekend
140 artists, 60 shows and 25 venues will take over Limerick City from 29th January to 1st February 2027, with tickets for selected shows from €10 on sale now.
-

Bernard Butler has returned with ‘Irish Goodbye’, and booked a UK tour for next May
‘Irish Goodbye’ is Bernard Butler’s first solo music since 2024, and it’s out now. Six UK dates follow in May and June 2027, with tickets on sale on Friday.
-

2hollis has released ‘Pirouette’, sixteen tracks narrated by a being called One
The follow-up to 2025’s ‘star’ is out now via Interscope, with cover art by Final Fantasy illustrator Yoshitaka Amano and UK dates at Wembley and Manchester next April.
-

Emma Ogier has released debut album ‘Fly 1111’ and will support Remi Wolf on tour in 2027
The Houston artist’s album is out now via Lost Highway, with three US headline shows this month and a run of Remi Wolf support dates starting in February.
-

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is taking her Christmas Kitchen Disco on a 17-date tour for 2027
The run finishes at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and pre-ordering her Christmas Disco album is the way into the first presale, which opens next week.
-

Maruja will headline Ritual Union 2027, Bristol’s one-day festival across three city-centre venues
Enemies Etc., a new project with members of IDLES, Los Bitchos, Petbrick and TRAAMS, are on the first-wave bill for 20th March.
-

Naima Bock has returned with ‘Rocks’, a song that came to her on a flight to somewhere less cold
The South London songwriter has a UK and EU headline tour lined up for spring 2027, with tickets on sale from Friday 13th November.
-

Racing Mount Pleasant have shared new single ‘Great Destroyer’, with more music promised for the new year
The Chicago seven-piece’s new song is out now on R&R, a month after they were confirmed for Primavera Sound in Barcelona next year.
-

BABYRAT have announced debut EP ‘Pretty Ugly’ for February
The Cork four-piece have shared ‘Say! (What You Wanna Say)’, with a video directed by their own Jamie Kierans, and lined up Irish dates and a London show for early 2027.
-

Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward nearly finished with next solo album, which has “at least 15 to 20” guest stars
Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has revealed that he’s almost done with his first solo album in 11 years. Talking to Metal Express Radio, the 78-year-old, whose longstanding heavy metal band retired at a blockbuster show in their hometown of Birmingham in July 2025, says that he’s about to master the 18-track follow-up to 2015’s…
-

Coachella has lined up Dua Lipa, Tame Impala and SZA as its 2027 headliners
Madonna, Robyn, Phoebe Bridgers, Weezer and Caroline Polachek are also on the bill, with passes on sale from Friday 13th November.
-

Eternal Rin has returned with ‘404notfound’, her first single in nearly a year
The North-East artist follows her Outbreak Fest London set alongside Deftones with a track about being stuck between a nightmare and reality.
-

Brandy and Monica will settle ‘The Boy Is Mine’ in Las Vegas for a 10-date 2027 residency
They broke the news on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ after performing their 1999 duet, with the shows running from May to July at Resorts World.
-

Heart’s Ann Wilson on why sister Nancy doesn’t appear in her In My Voice film
In My Voice, a documentary about Heart singer Ann Wilson, premiered in May in Seattle. The film, which is narrated by Wilson, traces her journey from childhood to stardom and draws from her archive of home movies, photographs and journals, in addition to previously unseen footage from her years with the band. The film also…
-

Liam Gallagher explains why Oasis won’t attend their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame
When it was revealed in April that Oasis were to be one of the artists inducted this year into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, frontman Liam Gallagher responded to the accolade with a comment that future generations studying the subtle nuances of the English language will be shown as a textbook example of…
-

This identity for a women’s sports community swaps cheerleading for real talk
New Zealand studio Essential Viewing crafted an identity for Woven that turns triathlon’s three disciplines into a braided symbol. The word Ironman might make you think of superhero movies. But it’s actually the name for a type of long-distance triathlon, in which competitors swim 3.8km, cycle 180 km, and then run a full 42.2km marathon,…
-

Koto points Giffgaff towards its next chapter with an arrow-led rebrand
The global agency gives the challenger telecoms brand a bolder, greener identity built around a simple signpost. Giffgaff is a UK-based mobile operator that has gradually grown into a broadband provider, with more than 4 million members. Although it’s been part of Virgin Media O2 since the two big brands merged in 2021, it still…
-

This French New Wave take on Sabrina Carpenter is genius in a bottle
La La Land director Damien Chazelle brings a playful, 60s-tinged cinematic style to this ad for Johnny Walker. As a 56-year-old straight white male, I sometimes get funny looks from people when I rhapsodise about Sabrina Carpenter. Particularly if they’re used to hearing about my love of extreme heavy metal festival Bloodstock, or how I’ve…
-

Blurry faces, pink skies and video game worlds: step inside Hawazin’s candy-coloured paintings
The Saudi artist draws on Gulf culture, childhood memories and the eerie landscapes of Silent Hill to create hazy paintings that explore identity and belonging. Hawazin’s paintings feature figures in crisp white thobes and ghutras, their faces dissolved into a gentle haze, seated on ornate armchairs or standing among hydrangeas and roses. Look closely, and…
-

“That’s absolutely the biggest factor”: When might King Crimson offshoot Beat make new music?
Adrian Belew has revealed when King Crimson offshoot Beat will decide their future – which may or may not include making new music. He and bassist Tony Levin were part of the acclaimed ‘80s line-up of Robert Fripp’s band. When Beat began with Fripp’s permission, guitarist Steve Vai and drummer Danny Carey joined them on…
-

Photographer Denis O’Regan looks back on Queen’s historic trip behind the Iron Curtain
Having shot Queen from the early 70s, Denis O’Regan was embedded in the band’s inner circle by the time of the Magic Tour. As the British photographer releases a career-spanning new book, Queen : Forever, he takes us back behind the Iron Curtain. What do you remember about the build-up to the Budapest show? We…
-

Six things you need to know about Hannah Wicklund
Hannah Wicklund was destined to be a musician. Born to a painter mother and drummer father and brought up in the island resort town of Hilton Head, South Carolina, Wicklund was raised on her father’s classic rock records and started writing her own songs when she was just four. Years later she headed to Nashville…
-
foto foto: The Easiest Way to Turn Your Work Into a Book (+ Giveaway)
Post Content
-

Dave Grohl played ‘Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners’ in Sydney in tribute to Todd Russell
Foo Fighters’ frontman performed the instrumental alone on a secondary stage at Accor Stadium, hours after news broke of the mine disaster survivor’s death.
-

Devin Townsend has announced a stripped-back ‘Metamorphosis’ tour of Australia and New Zealand for 2027
The Canadian progressive metal polymath will swap his usual elaborate productions for a six-date solo run next March and April, trading spectacle for storytelling.
-

Sade have confirmed they’ll skip the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony
The English quartet have posted a message on their official website thanking voters and listeners, but won’t appear in person at Saturday’s Peacock Theater ceremony in Los Angeles.
-

Why is Godzilla Minus Zero breaking box office records?
The sequel to the Oscar-winning ‘Godzilla Minus One’ has opened to nearly three times its predecessor’s debut. Here’s what’s actually driving those numbers.
-

Where does Wild Horse Nine sit in Martin McDonagh’s filmography?
With Wild Horse Nine now in cinemas, here’s how the sixth Martin McDonagh film measures up against the five that came before it.
-

What Middle-earth background do newcomers need to watch The Rings of Power?
A spoiler-light newcomer’s guide to where The Rings of Power sits in Tolkien’s timeline, which characters you already half-know, and what’s safe to skip before pressing play on season three.
-

Damage Control: why Warner Bros. keeps making a mess of the DC universe
James Gunn and Peter Safran are out at DC Studios barely a year after Superman kicked off their plan. Here’s what keeps tripping Warner Bros. up when it tries to build a comics universe.
-

Clutch announce Give The People What They Want tour dates
Clutch have announced North American dates for their Give The People What They Want tour, in support of their forthcoming 14th album Wasted Lands. Following the January 22 release of the record, the Maryland quartet’s follow-up to 2022’s Sunrise on Slaughter Beach, Clutch will kick off the tour at the EPIC Even Center in Green…
-

Nicko McBrain has published memoir ‘Hello Boys and Girls!’ as Iron Maiden skip their Rock Hall induction
The retired drummer’s 344-page HarperCollins book arrives days before Iron Maiden’s induction on 14th November, with McBrain stuck on a European speaking tour and his bandmates in Australia.
-

Beach Bunny have booked a sprawling 2027 North American tour behind new single ‘Vinegar’
The Chicago indie-pop band head out from March to May with Daisy Grenade in tow, taking in Dallas, Los Angeles, Toronto, New York and Chicago.
-

Sorry have returned with a sly new single called ‘Winner’
The North London indie band’s latest follows February’s ‘Billy Elliot’ and ‘Alone In Cologne’ and August’s ‘Tom Will Smack Your Ass’, keeping up a steady run of standalone tracks after last year’s album ‘Cosplay’.
-

Pavement have reportedly slipped back into the studio, with Stephen Malkmus keeping quiet on new songs
A new Pitchfork interview suggests the reunited indie rock stalwarts have been quietly rehearsing for a recording session at drummer Steve West’s Virginia home, a notable shift after Stephen Malkmus called the idea of a new album ‘total cringe’.
-

Squid have released live album ‘CROWDS’, captured on their 2025 UK tour for ‘Cowards’
The eleven-track set draws on ‘Cowards’, ‘Bright Green Field’ and ‘O Monolith’, with a double-vinyl pressing to follow December’s Barbican headline show.
-

The Radio Dept. have lined up a short May 2027 US tour ending at Kilby Block Party
The Swedish dream-pop trio will play five dates from New York to Salt Lake City, following a 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Pet Grief’ and the promise of new music.
-

It’s easy to troll U2, but Carnaval De Luz: shows they’re still digging deep 16 albums in
Five decades in and U2 still have the power to confound expectations. Following in the wake of the surprise one-two punch of the Days Of Ash and Easter Lily EPs earlier this year – six songs apiece, and with as much heft as a lot of albums – comes another dozen songs in what’s turning…
-

Lisa has announced new single ‘Leave With Me’ and a YouTube Premium home for ‘Always Lalisa’
The documentary arrives on YouTube Premium on 18th November, the same day a new song written for the film lands.
-

My New Band Believe have lined up a 2027 North American tour and shared ‘Heart of Darkness’
The British alternative band head stateside in April behind their self-titled album, with a new Jack Greeley-ward-directed video arriving alongside the dates.
-

Ecco2k has announced his second album ‘Echo’, arriving this Thursday
The Drain Gang founder’s first full-length in six years lands on 12th November through his own 9th label, with accompanying films shot across his travels.
-

Jimi Hendrix to be celebrated with official US dollar coin
Washington State plans to issue a commemorative Jimi Hendrix dollar coin in 2029. The coin is part of the US Mint’s American Innovation programme, launched in 2018, which celebrates examples of innovation or innovators from specific states or territories. “Washington is one of the most innovative states in the nation,” says State Governor Bob Ferguson.…
-

Evanescence’s Amy Lee on navigating loss, and the importance of celebrating the lives of loved ones who have passed
Evanescence‘s Amy Lee has expressed her appreciation of the integral role that music has played in helping her process her emotions during some of the most traumatic and challenging periods of her life. The 44-year-old Californian vocalist shared her thoughts on the cathartic power of creating music and art during an interview conducted for British…
-

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have announced new album ‘Entropy’ and shared ‘Rogue Wave’
The Australian group’s new full-length lands on 4th December through their own (p)doom records, and arrives as a companion piece to this year’s ‘Alien Metal’.
-

Wonho has lined up a 2027 Noche world tour across North America
The former Monsta X singer will spend January criss-crossing ten US cities, with the promise of new music to follow his ‘Core’ EP.
-

PETA have asked Cage The Elephant to rename themselves Free The Elephant for their NFL halftime show
The animal rights group want the band to adopt the temporary moniker across social media ahead of Sunday’s Patriots vs Lions game in Munich.
-

Lankum’s Radie Peat has shared ‘Willow Garden’ ahead of debut solo album ‘No Human Tongue Can Tell’
The Dublin singer’s haunting take on an Appalachian murder ballad lands days before her solo debut arrives via Rough Trade.
-

Conor Oberst has announced his first solo North American tour since 2019
Billed as An Alleged Evening with Conor Oberst, the run opens in Lawrence, Kansas on 19th February and closes with back-to-back nights at Colorado’s Stanley Hotel.
-

Phoebe Bridgers, Interpol and Gorillaz lead Rough Trade’s 2026 exclusive vinyl haul
The indie retailer has marked its annual albums-of-the-year rundown with exclusive pressings and bonus live EPs from its top 30, including new editions from Kneecap, Mandy, Indiana, Fat Dog and Vince Staples.
-

SZA has all but confirmed a Coachella 2027 headline slot while teasing new music
The singer has reposted a fan video captioned ‘2027: SZACHELLA … IM SEATED’ and shared a snippet of an unreleased track filmed at a tropical beach location.
-

Fontaines D.C. have taped ‘Happy for You’ and ‘Six Shot Chamber’ for Spotify’s Live Room
The Dublin band have recorded studio performances of two ‘Dopamine Chamber’ tracks for Spotify, premiering as their European tour winds towards a UK and Ireland arena run.
-

Flower Face has lined up a 2027 world tour behind new album ‘Kill The Muse’
The Montreal artist moves up to Village Underground in London and YES in Manchester as part of a North American, UK and European run.
-

Radio Free Alice have announced a sprawling North American ‘What’s In Between’ tour
The Melbourne four-piece will trek coast to coast from February into April, taking in Noise Pop, Innings and Treefort along the way.
-

Vevo have named Sienna Spiro DSCVR Artist of the Year as the 2027 Artists to Watch list is revealed
The music video network’s thirteenth annual tipping exercise highlights eighteen emerging acts, with the London soul singer handed the headline honour after joining the 2026 class.
-

Whitney have added a North American leg to their ‘Light Upon The Lake’ 10th anniversary celebrations
The Chicago duo will play their 2016 debut in full across a spring and summer run that lands at Kilby Block Party, The Wiltern and a two-night homecoming at Thalia Hall.
-

Gurriers have lined up a spring 2027 North American tour behind ‘Nobody’s Coming To Save You’
The Dublin post-punks return to the US and Canada in April and May, with tickets on sale this Friday.
-

Tove Lo has joined the Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album line-up with new single ‘Blood In Your Eyes’
The track soundtracks an official video confirming that pre-loads for Rockstar’s long-awaited sequel are now live, ahead of the soundtrack’s 20th November release.
-

LOUD & CLEAR have completed their inaugural Liverpool lineup with Witch Fever, Kila Kosa and King Cannoli
The multi-venue Baltic Triangle festival fills out its 21st November bill beneath headliners Saves The Day, who play 2001’s ‘Stay What You Are’ in full.
-

Silent Planet have signed to Pure Noise Records and announced new album ‘Infinite Sleep’
The metalcore band’s follow-up to 2023’s ‘SUPERBLOOM’ arrives on 29th January, led by ‘fangs!!’ with Thornhill’s Jacob Charlton.
-

Dirty Projectors have returned with piano-led new single ‘Jumbotron’ and a 2027 solo tour
David Longstreth swaps guitar for piano on the band’s first new music since early 2025, alongside news of a solo spring 2027 tour taking in Manchester, Glasgow and London.
-

Palehound has announced new album ‘You Sing Like You’re Joking’, and shared ‘Natural Disasters’
El Kempner’s fifth Palehound LP arrives via Polyvinyl in February, trailed by a Rachel Brown-directed video for lead single ‘Natural Disasters’.
-

Best Ex has released sophomore album ‘Good Girl’
Mariel Loveland’s second LP as Best Ex arrives via Iodine Recordings, led by Greek mythology-inspired focus track ‘Eurydice’.
-

Beach Bunny have signed to Atlantic and shared major-label debut single ‘Vinegar’
Lili Trifilio’s Chicago power-pop trio have moved from AWAL to a major, and their first offering is a fuzz-pop broadside at ‘the 21st century mass commodification of everything’.
-

Fontaines D.C., Bicep and IDLES have been announced for Sziget Festival 2027
The Budapest festival returns to Óbuda Island from 10th-14th August, with KATSEYE, Lola Young and Royel Otis also in the opening announcement.
-

Opus Kink have lined up a February 2027 Irish tour for debut album ‘The Sweet Goodbye’
The Brighton six-piece will play Belfast, Dublin and Limerick in February, their first Irish headline run on the back of July’s debut.
-

IDestroy have returned as a duo with soaring emo/pop-punk single ‘Sad’
The Bristol band, now the two-piece of Bec and Nic, mark a new chapter ahead of three sold-out November headline shows.
-

Muse have added a Cardiff show with Chvrches to their summer 2027 UK run
The Wow! Signal tour now takes in Blackweir Fields on 23rd June, alongside previously confirmed stops at BST Hyde Park and Leeds’ Roundhay Festival.
-

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr announce rare reunion for charity gig, as McCartney becomes third billionaire musician in history
Former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have announced plans for a rare onstage reunion. The two surviving members of the iconic Liverpool band will perform together at the charity gig VetsAid at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on January 29, with The Killers, St Vincent and others also on the bill.…
-

Dua Lipa’s ‘Levitating’ remix lawsuit has been dismissed three years after Bosko Kante filed
The talkbox artist’s copyright case over three ‘Levitating’ remixes, including the DaBaby version, has ended with prejudice weeks before it was due to go to trial.
-

Sinkane has announced new album ‘He’s Gone’, sharing ‘So It Goes’ with Mdou Moctar
Ahmed Gallab’s new Sinkane album arrives on City Slang in February, written in the wake of his father’s death and featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Mdou Moctar, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Annie & The Caldwells.
-

Kelela will headline RALLY 2027 with her only London show of the year
The alternative R&B artist tops a first wave that also includes ABRA, Chanel Beads, Fine, Helen Sun, Loidis, Shanti Celeste, Rhadoo and OK Williams for the fifth edition of the Southwark Park festival.
-

The Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx have lined up a 2027 UK and European Super Show tour
The LA punks and their mariachi alter ego will play both sets a night across nine dates in March and April, opening at London’s Electric Ballroom.
-

Ice Nine Kills have unleashed festive bloodbath EP ‘A Very Vicious Christmas’
The horror-metal crew’s eight-track Christmas massacre, created for Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, arrives ahead of their biggest ever UK headline show at London’s O2 Arena next March.
-

Peaches has shared an industrial Fever Ray and finnjävel remix of ‘Panna Cotta Delight’
The Nordic rework arrives alongside limited white label 12″ vinyl and newly announced 2027 tours in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
-

Mildred have shared ‘Fluorescence’ ahead of a largely sold-out UK tour
The Californian four-piece’s new AA-side arrives before a November run that has already sold out Brighton, Leeds and both London shows at The Ivy House.
-

Father Hell has shared ‘I Still Love You The Same As I Always Did’ ahead of debut album ‘Trust Some Machines’
Mattie Vant’s new solo project previews a four-track-recorded debut arriving on 4th December via Nordic Records.
-

“Before Anyone Noticed” by Photographer Keke Yang
Keke Yang Keke Yang’s Website Keke Yang on Instagram
-

Bring your own agent: Adobe opens Creative Cloud to outside AI
Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere and After Effects will soon work alongside the AI agent of your choice. But Adobe is keen to stress that your layers stay fully editable. Adobe has today announced it’s opening its doors to third-party AI agents in one of the biggest shakeups of its Creative Cloud suite since the subscription service…
-

U2 weigh in on Ed Sheeran/Macklemore controversy – and recall sounding ‘too Irish’ for Dolly Parton
Never known to shy away from political discourse, U2 have weighed in on the furore which surrounded Macklemore being kicked off an Ed Sheeran tour in September. The Thrift Shop rapper was forced off a US stadium tour with Sheeran following pressure from venue owners, who took exception to pro-Palestine speeches he was making onstage.…
-

Rosé has covered The Killers’ ‘Read My Mind’ at the LACMA Art+Film Gala
The BLACKPINK star performed a four-song mini-set at the Los Angeles museum’s annual fundraiser, dipping into Brandon Flowers’ 2006 songbook alongside her own hits.
-

Mallory Knox have added UK headline dates to their 2027 European tour
The reunited Cambridge alt-rockers will play intimate rooms in Norwich, Southend, Sheffield, Cardiff, Southampton, Plymouth, Chester, Blackpool and Newcastle before heading to the continent.
-

Dutch Mustard has teamed up with Bad Sounds’ Callum Merrett for new single ‘Are You Open’
The self-produced single arrives ahead of a run of UK and European dates next May, her largest headline tour so far.
-

Fatboy Slim and PNAU will headline Sydney Mardi Gras Party 2027 in the tunnels beneath Allianz Stadium
The official after-party returns on 6th March after a year away, with ELKKA and Griffin Maxwell Brooks also on the top line and three stages built into the stadium’s underground tunnels.
-

Baby Berserk have announced ‘Psycho Dance Sleaze’, featuring an ambitious goldfish and a Monks cover
The Amsterdam trio’s new record arrives in March via Les Disques Bongo Joe and Mothland, with cover art by Charles Jeffrey of LOVERBOY.
-

Shaina Hayes has shared piano-led new single ‘Steady’ ahead of her third album
The Canadian folk-pop songwriter releases her third album this Friday via Bonsound and will play four UK dates in February and March 2027.
-

Brighton emo-punks Had Sandy have announced their debut album and shared ‘Cracking Skulls’
The Brighton DIY emo four-piece will release their debut LP on 26th February via Sugar-Free Records, trailed by a Breakfast Club-sampling new single.
-

Handmade Festival is returning for one last party with Dutch Uncles, My Vitriol and Pulled Apart by Horses
Leicester’s independent festival returns for one final day at O2 Academy Leicester on 5th December, with My Vitriol marking 25 years of ‘Finelines’ and Jamie Lenman playing ahead of Reuben’s reformation.
-

Copenhagen four-piece Bænch have shared ‘Bug In Amber’ ahead of their new EP and UK dates
The Copenhagen four-piece’s third and final taste of the November 20th EP arrives ahead of a UK tour supporting Good Health Good Wealth.
-

Tom A. Smith has announced his debut album ‘The Golden Gates’, inspired by his lifelong heart condition
The Sunderland singer-songwriter’s debut arrives on 2nd April 2027 via Fiction Records, co-produced with The Futureheads’ Barry Hyde and led by Hugo White co-write ‘Carry That Weight’.
-

Georgia Mooney has shared ‘Australian Crawl’, a new single inspired by a rather elaborate romantic rejection
The Sydney-born, London-based songwriter’s second album lands next April, led by a maxi-folk account of a grand romantic gesture delivered beneath a fig tree.
-

North Shields indie rock group Lanterns on the Lake have launched their own label Dust & Matter and announced new album ‘There’s a Bird in My Ribcage’
The Mercury-nominated Northumbrian group’s new album arrives on 19th March via their own new label Dust & Matter, with a UK headline tour to follow in spring 2027.
-

Victory Lap have lined up a Rough Trade Nottingham showcase and announced debut EP ‘Hubrism’
The Nottingham band’s Matt Peel-produced EP lands on 24th February, with a Rough Trade Nottingham showcase pencilled in for later this month.
-

New York duo Sex Week have announced debut album ‘Ears as an Organ of Touch’ for February
The New York duo of Richard Orofino and Pearl Amanda Dickson have shared the title track as they head out on tour with Pretty Sick.
-

Manchester four-piece Disgrace, who met their violinist on a bench at Green Man, have shared new single ‘Eyeballs’
The Manchester folk-rock quartet’s debut EP arrives on 27th November via Practise Music, following last month’s first single ‘Drive Away’.
-

ira glass have shared ‘mister magnanimous’ ahead of a split EP vinyl and a short Canadian run
The Chicago post-hardcore trio’s self-directed video sets up December’s 12″ split pairing their first two EPs.
-

Ninajirachi, 3% and BOY SODA have taken home the 2026 NSW Music Prize
The Central Coast producer’s debut album ‘I Love My Computer’ lands the top $80,000 prize, with 3% and BOY SODA sharing the night’s other honours.
-

Interpol, James Blake, Dinosaur Jr. and 5 Seconds of Summer are among seven new Rock Werchter 2027 additions
Amelie Lens pres. AURA, Sofia Isella and ADÉLA complete the latest batch for next summer’s festival in Belgium.
-

JISOO is taking her CLICK pop-up to Singapore, with exclusive merch and a worldwide POPPOP popcorn debut
The BLACKPINK singer’s JISOO : CLICK in SINGAPORE experience lands at Marina Bay Sands from 13th-29th November, pairing first-release collectibles with the global launch of her POPPOP popcorn line.
-

Olivia Dean has been named Apple Music’s Artist of the Year, a first for a UK act
The soul-pop singer caps a 12-month run that took in four nights at Madison Square Garden and six at The O2.
-

Alex Lifeson’s return to Rush trashed Envy Of None’s touring plans. But they can live with it
Alex Lifeson’s Envy Of None bandmate Andy Curran has recalled his reaction when the Rush reunion tour trashed their own road trip plans. The alt-poprock outfit, fronted by vocalist Maiah Wynne, had released two albums – their self-titled 2022 debut and 2025’s Stygian Wavz – before it was confirmed that Rush were returning in 2026.…
-

Fifty years after forming, Northern Ireland’s finest The Undertones are in the mood to celebrate
Formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in the mid-70s, The Undertones had hits including Teenage Kicks, the all-time favourite song of the late DJ John Peel. After fragmenting in 1983, they reunited at the end of the last millennium, without frontman Feargal Sharkey. Below, rhythm guitarist John O’Neil, an original member, previews their 50th-anniversary tour of…
-

With freaky faces, warped type and happy accidents, Julien Gobled is tearing up the graphic design rulebook
The French artist and designer takes familiar images somewhere stranger, drawing on internet culture, forgotten archives and a healthy appetite for experimentation. “I feel less and less like a designer and more like an artist,” says Julien Gobled, and we can understand why. When you take a look at his work, you’ll notice how he…
-

Hanneke Rozemuller has embraced that being an illustrator is a journey without a finish line
It’s been three years since Creative Boom last spoke to Netherlands-based illustrator Hanneke Rozemuller. We caught up with her to hear how her work has developed. The last time Creative Boom spoke with Hanneke Rozemuller, she had just started pursuing illustration full-time. Not that you’d be able to tell, because her absurd, humorous work, inspired…
-

Maria Zilli’s wonderfully absurd animations find romance in the most unlikely places
From two plastic gloves making out in a supermarket to a car speeding through a dreamy landscape, the Italian illustrator and animator finds inspiration in the little things we barely notice, turning them into surreal stories with a healthy dose of humour. Imagine you’re doing your weekly food shop, minding your own business, when suddenly…
-

Publisher Sitting Wren encourages readers to burn books – but not in the way you think
A book of matches sits at the heart of Sitting Wren’s latest campaign, which uses a clever play on words. Sitting Wren is a small book publisher with a budget to match, specialising in new novels set in vintage eras. But thanks to the smart work of creative director and author Ryan Hewlett, it knows…
-

Joe Bonamassa reveals how Rory Gallagher rocked his world
In 2012, Classic Rock’s sister magazine The Blues put Rory Gallagher on the cover and told the story of his 1974 Irish Tour, a legendary run of dates that united fans from both sides of the sectarian divide. In the same issue, modern-day guitar hero Joe Bonamassa, who would later honour Gallagher with a live…
-

Villagers Of Ioannina City fill arenas in Greece: Now they’re ready for the rest of the world
“Every aspect of life in Greece is connected with music, everything,” says Alex Karametis, frontman of Villagers of Ioannina City. “From the happiest to the saddest moments, there is always music.” Perhaps that’s what gives his band extra potency. That sense that this music matters – singing of human struggles via powerful riffs, anthemic choruses…
-

Watch an unintentionally hilarious Paul Stanley screentest from the early 1980s
Footage of a screentest Kiss frontman Paul Stanley filmed in the 1980s has surfaced online, and it’s really quite something. In the clip, a makeup-free Stanley delivers a wild-eyed, overtly dramatic performance alongside an unseen reading partner. “You need money, you come to me,” menaces Stanley. “Who the fuck do you think you are, raising…
-

Y Not Festival have lined up Blossoms, Fatboy Slim, The Kooks and Nile Rodgers & CHIC for their 20th anniversary
Bastille and Sugababes join as special guests, with Pikehall playing host from 29th July to 1st August 2027.
-

The Smith Street Band and DZ Deathrays have joined forces for ‘The Great Australian Rock ‘n’ Roll Show’ 2027 tour
Two of the Australian scene’s longest-running fixtures will finally share a stage for a 20-date national run next March, April and May.
-

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are set for a rare reunion at Joe Walsh’s VetsAid in Las Vegas
The two surviving Beatles will share a stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on 29th January, joining Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh for his veterans’ benefit festival.
-

New date set for Steven Tyler sexual assault trial
A new trial date has been set in the long-running sexual assault lawsuit filed against Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. The case is now scheduled to go to court on May 3 in Los Angeles, with a fifth judge presiding. The appointment of Lawrence Riff follows a delay in the case caused when the previous judge,…
-

Opus Kink have returned with ‘Low Roader’, their first single since debut album ‘The Sweet Goodbye’
The Brighton six-piece reshape the traditional Scottish folk song ‘Loch Lomond’ into a menacing, sax-stalked ripper about complacency and historical amnesia.
-

renforshort has lined up a 2027 Canadian tour to launch sophomore album ‘Hotel 13’
The Toronto alt-pop singer-songwriter will take the Meet Me in the Lobby Tour to seven cities across four provinces in February, days after releasing her second album.
-

My Chemical Romance have landed their first US number one as ‘The Black Parade’ reissue tops the Billboard 200
Twenty years after the original was held off the top by the Hannah Montana soundtrack, the deluxe reissue has leapt from number 139 to number one.
-

How does VisionQuest measure up to WandaVision ahead of its finale?
With the Scarlet Witch trilogy about to close on Disney+, here’s how the new series stacks up against the 2021 show that started it all.
-

Black Belt Eagle Scout has shared ‘Fantasy’, her first new song since her multiple sclerosis diagnosis
Katherine Paul’s first release since 2023’s ‘The Land, The Water, The Sky’ was written after an MS relapse and finished with Hikes’ Claire Glass and Nay Mapalo.
-

Hallan have shared Nero-inspired single ‘Burning Rome’ and lined up a 2027 UK headline tour
The Portsmouth coldwave quartet’s latest preview of debut album ‘What’s a Heaven For?’ closes out a Roman trilogy and arrives alongside April headline dates.
-

Girls’ Generation’s TAEYEON has announced fourth solo album ‘Unspecial’ for 30th November
The K-pop vocalist’s first full-length solo record in nearly five years spans twelve tracks of R&B and pop, led by the title song.
-

John Summit has asked fans to stop lobbing things at him on stage
The house DJ posted a plea to his Instagram stories after an object was thrown at him mid-set at Fort Worth’s Ariat Arena.
-

Travis Scott and Cardi B will headline a Miami festival to launch ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’
Rockstar Games and PlayStation have teamed with the team behind III Points for a one-night live event marking the game’s 19th November arrival, with tickets handled by lottery.
-

Silversun Pickups have lined up a 28-date 2027 North American Tenterhooks Tour
The Los Angeles band’s spring run opens in Austin on 26th February and closes at Los Angeles’ Wiltern on 22nd May, behind their Butch Vig-produced seventh album.
-

Gentle Giant influenced Dream Theater, Travis Scott and Angine De Poitrine – but endured a “dark time” to do it
Gentle Giant released one of their most daring albums in 1973. In A Glass House was written and recorded during what vocalist Derek Shulman refers to as an “emotional, dark time.” He tells Prog about the album’s creation, the technology that made the recent reissue possible, and the modern prog band for whom he has…
-

Carly Rae Jepsen will host and perform at the 2027 Juno Awards in Winnipeg
The 56th Annual Juno Awards land at Canada Life Centre on 4th April, with Angine de Poitrine also performing and Our Lady Peace inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
-

Tate McRae’s ‘Housewife’ has locked down a third week at the top of Billboard’s global charts
‘Housewife’ remains the biggest song in the world, holding No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. with 48.8 million streams in a week.
-

Oscar Blue has shared a visualiser for emigration ballad ‘Child of Lir’
The Irish singer-songwriter’s single, out since 30th October, draws on the legend of the Children of Lir to trace the pull between London and home.
-

Fall Out Boy announce mammoth Twilight Of The Punks world stadium tour
Emo legends Fall Out Boy have announced the Twilight Of The Punks world tour, a four-month trek that takes them into arenas and stadiums across Europe and North America. The tour begins at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 17, and arrives in the British Isles at the end of that month…
-

Paul McCartney has joined the billionaires’ club, ranked third-richest musician in the world
Forbes has valued the former Beatle’s fortune at approximately $1.4 billion, placing him behind only Jay-Z and Taylor Swift.
-

Fall Out Boy have booked some huge shows on their 2027 Twilight of the Punks world tour
The pop-punk veterans have announced their biggest tour to date alongside new single ‘ACES’, with A Day To Remember and Neck Deep in support across Europe and the UK.
-

Bob Dylan has dusted off ‘Sugar Baby’ for the first time since 2012
The ‘Love and Theft’ closer resurfaced in Bologna on Saturday night as the Lights of Autumn tour continues to throw up surprises, with guitarist Julian Lage also returning to the band.
-

Oasis are skipping the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, with Noel booked in London instead
Neither Noel nor Liam Gallagher will be at the Peacock Theatre on Saturday to accept the honour, perform, or offer much in the way of thanks.
-

“I’d gotten used to being overlooked.” Phil Collins on Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction
On November 14, Phil Collins will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in recognition of his solo career, 16 years after being inducted as a member of Genesis. In a new interview with the New York Times, Collins says that he is “very, very pleased” by the accolade, and admits that…
-

Royal Blood have booked a 2027 North American tour behind new album ‘Dead Company’
Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher will cross the continent through April with Bodega in support, following UK and European legs that run from this month into March.
-

New Order have announced their first US tour since 2023, with Future Islands joining for the Texas run
The seven-date March run lands a week before the band’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, with Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris sitting out as Gilbert undergoes cancer treatment.
-

The Ally Coalition have announced their 12th annual Talent Show, with a $1M donation to LGBTQ+ partners
Jack Antonoff’s organisation returns to New York’s Skirball Center on 15th December, with a matching $2M year-end fundraising goal.
-

Radio Free Alice: “If it feels great, it’s cool”
Australia’s Radio Free Alice have found an increasingly enthusiastic second home in Britain, and debut album ‘What’s In Between’ is built to travel even further.
-

Meet 1000 Rabbits, your strange new best friends
London-based five-piece 1000 Rabbits bring together jazz, classical, pop and a lot of very different musical brains to make wonderfully strange art-pop. Debut EP ‘Are we friends yet?’ is their invitation to come along for the ride.
-

Forget the dystopian hellscape, ASHNIKKO has other plans
With ‘Smoochies’, ASHNIKKO has swapped apocalyptic fury for radical joy, and their colourful fantasy is taking on a life of its own.
-

Sheffield psych-pop quartet Sister Wives are getting heavier on their new album ‘Heavy Set’
The Sheffield-based psych-pop quartet’s follow-up to Welsh Music Prize-nominated debut ‘Y Gawres’ arrives on 5th February via Redundant Span Records.
-

Nieve Ella’s got 99 problems and a debut album
Nieve Ella went from posting covers in her bedroom to touring with some of Britain’s biggest guitar bands. Now she’s releasing debut album ‘How Long Will It Take?’, a dramatic departure inspired by Wolf Alice, Prince and vampire movies, and she’s got a few uncomfortable truths to share.
-

Beck has shared a black-and-white ‘Disappearing Act’ video as the Ride Lonesome tour’s North American leg winds down
Directed by Mikai Karl from Beck’s own concept, the clip arrives as the run closes with a sold-out night at Portland’s Keller Auditorium.
-

South Korean electro-pop artist The Deep has recruited Danny L Harle and Dorian Electra for new EP ‘Quest’
The South Korean electro-pop provocateur returns on 9th December with an eight-track set co-produced by Danny L Harle, Dorian Electra, atlgrandma and Frost Children’s Angel.
-

Uche Yara has shared a surreal London-shot video for ‘Fugazy’, taken from debut album ‘Bodyscanner’
The Berlin-based avant-pop artist’s team-up with North London punk-rapper TaliaBle gets a surreal, mask-strewn clip shot in London.
-

The Courettes have unleashed fuzz-fuelled new single ‘Killer Kiss’ ahead of 2027 album ‘Fuck Yous & Heartbreaks’
The Brazilian-Danish duo’s three-minute blast of girl-group harmonies and garage-rock snarl is the first taste of their next record.
-

Current Joys has released his eighth album ‘ROSEBUD’, complete with a music video for every track
Nick Rattigan’s maximalist eighth album arrives via They Are Evil / Stem, rolled out track by track with films from a cast of different directors.
-

My Chemical Romance score first US number one album with record originally released 20 years ago
My Chemical Romance have landed their first Billboard 200 number one album with their 20th anniversary reissue of The Black Parade. Following its original released in October 2006, the New Jersey band’s third studio album peaked at number 2 on the US albums chart, held off the top by the Hannah Montana soundtrack: it went…
-

Do Nothing drop in on Down With Boring to talk ‘Friend World’, Andy Kaufman and the parrot-versus-monkey question
This week’s episode also crowns Fontaines D.C.’s ‘Dopamine Chamber’ album of the month, picks apart the new wave of Christmas songs, and rounds up fresh cuts from Slayyter, The Itch, RIP Magic and The Healing Power Of Horses.
-

The Offspring have covered The Vandals’ ‘Oi To The World!’ for a punk-rock Christmas
The Southern California punk veterans have put their stamp on the 1996 Vandals holiday staple, a 178 BPM blast of guitars and drums pitched at anyone whose festive gathering leans away from tradition.
-

PRESIDENT have announced their biggest headline show to date at New York’s Radio City Music Hall
The masked UK collective will roll the campaign trail into Manhattan on 17th May 2027, headlining the 6,000-capacity venue in support of debut album ‘BLOOD OF YOUR EMPIRE’.
-

Stanley Welch has shared ‘Punisher’, a new single inspired by Renaissance paintings and people who talk too much
The Glasgow-based, Cornwall-raised songwriter’s third preview of his twin December release pairs a chaotic synth riff with half-whispered verses.
-

Dublin newcomers yes chef! have introduced themselves with debut single ‘cya mum’
It sounds like all the bands your favourite band wants to sound like (this is a good thing – Ed), and yet also, not?
-

Geese have covered Television’s ‘Ain’t That Nothin” in tribute to Richard Lloyd
Cameron Winter led the Brooklyn band through a brief rendition of the 1978 track at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, two days after the Television guitarist’s death.
-

Spanish Love Songs have released new album ‘Future Nausea’, turning their gaze outward
The follow-up to 2023’s ‘No Joy’ swaps interior reckoning for heartland rock aimed squarely at the state of the world.
-

Stray Kids have announced a 2027 ‘RUN IT’ world tour, with a London stadium date at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
The eight-member JYP Entertainment group will play Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 13th July as part of a near-30-date stadium run in support of ‘THIS & THAT’.
-

Nadine Shah, Charlotte Church and Maxine Peake lead climate collective Flow’s global album, out now via EarthSonic
The sixteen-track album, assembled by EarthSonic and In Place of War, lands on the opening day of COP31 in Antalya and gathers women artists from ten nationalities around a shared theme of water.
-

Wishy have announced a 2027 UK and European headline tour behind ‘Nature’s Pill’
The Indianapolis band will land at London’s Moth Club on 9th March after a run through Brussels, Paris, Hamburg, Berlin and Amsterdam.
-

HYBE hits back at New York Times report on NewJeans contracts, calls leaked agreements an attack on K-pop
The parent company of ADOR says the exclusive contracts the five NewJeans members signed in 2022, when they were aged between 14 and 17, were negotiated with legal counsel and protected by a government-standard supplementary agreement for minors.
-

Esmeralda Road have shared ‘Here Honey’ and lined up a debut EP for early 2027
The Belfast four-piece, formerly known as Moonboot, have signed to new label 26.2 and set the first quarter of next year for their EP.
-

“display” by Artist Nava Sabet-Imani
Nava Sabet-Imani …
-

Deftones have unearthed unreleased ‘Eros’ rarity ‘Melanie’ at Dia De Los Deftones
Chino Moreno and co. pulled a song from their shelved 2008 album for the first time in 18 years, telling the San Diego crowd: “This song doesn’t exist.”
-

NCT DREAM have marked a decade together with sixth album ‘Dream After Dream’ and ‘Boogie Woogie’ video
The six-piece have released ten tracks spanning disco-funk, hyperpop, electronic house and pop rock to celebrate their tenth anniversary.
-

Robbie Williams has wandered in on (and then out of) the Olivia Rodrigo Christmas song ‘debate’: ‘I couldn’t care less’
Our Rob has urged ‘some fucking sanity’ over online claims that ‘take me home (4 christmas)’ echoes his 2012 hit, as The Waitresses’ Christopher Butler continues to back Rodrigo’s festive single.
-

All we want for summer 2027 is Mariah Carey as a Live at Powderham 2027 headliner (with Sugababes and Eternal too)
The singer brings her Firefly summer tour to Powderham Castle in Devon on Sunday 27th June, joining Shania Twain and Alex Warren on next year’s bill.
-

Muse to headline two huge UK festivals in 2027
Muse will headline two big outdoor UK shows next summer. Devon’s loudest export have been announced as the next headliners for June’s British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park, London, with the trio set to top the bill on Saturday June 26, supported by Nothing But Thieves and Chvrches. Meanwhile, the following day, Sunday June…
-

Pet Shop Boys have announced two O2 Arena shows for the venue’s 20th birthday run
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe will bring ‘DREAMWORLD MAX: The Greatest Hits Live’ to north Greenwich next July, with Saint Etienne and Boy Harsher supporting across both nights.
-

German power metallers Powerwolf have announced a huge 2027 arena tour across Europe
Powerwolf have announced one of their biggest tours ever for winter 2027. The German power metal heavyweights – who played the largest show in their history at Wacken Open Air this past summer – will headline arenas around Europe and the UK, including stop-offs at London’s Wembley Arena and Manchester’s Co-op Live. “We’re incredibly excited…
-

“It’s obvious that ego and ambition played some part”: When Roxy Music and Brian Eno parted ways
Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry and saxophonist Andy McKay have revisited their experiences of making second album For Your Pleasure – the last to feature Brian Eno. He left soon after the 1973 record was completed, leaving the remaining members to exploit the more complex and experimental direction they’d discovered. Asked if it was obvious…
-

Muse to headline BST Hyde Park and Roundhay Festival in Leeds
Muse have been confirmed as the third headliner for next year’s run of BST Hyde Park shows in London. They’ll perform on June 26, joining the previously announced Bon Jovi (June 24) and 2026 Mercury Prize winner Raye (July 10) at the 70,000-capacity series of concerts. Support will come from Nothing But Thieves and CHVRCHES,…
-

The Balbusso Twins on revisiting The Handmaid’s Tale, and why book illustration is like making a movie
Anna and Elena share their process, influences and hard-won lessons from returning to Gilead for Folio Society’s new limited edition. Few illustrators get the chance to revisit one of their most celebrated projects more than a decade later. But that’s what happened to Anna and Elena Balbusso, the Milan-based duo known as the Balbusso Twins.…
-

Ozo’s campaign for Matalan pulls off a clever catwalk switcheroo
Be the Occasion opens like a luxury fashion film, then pulls back to reveal something much closer to home. When the new ads for Matalan begin, we all think we know what we’re getting. Moody lighting. A lingering close-up of fabric catching the light. A camera tight on the serene face of a supermodel. The…
-

Motion North welcomes global design and animation talent to Manchester
Manchester’s long-running motion design festival returns to Freight Island next March, with more than 20 speakers, three stages, workshops and a new marketplace. If you work in motion design, animation or a related creative role, it’s time to block out 10-11 March on your 2027 calendar. Because Motion North, the festival that pairs big global…
-

Chris Coombes’ charming postcard paintings play with the boundaries of what art can be
In Museum Postcards, the London-based artist turns mass-produced images back into unique handmade paintings with a twist. Is a trip to an art gallery really complete without a souvenir from the gift shop? And what could be better than a postcard of your favourite artwork to act as a little memento of your day out?…
-

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Jimmy Barnes hook up to record song for endangered coral reef
In one of the most unlikely musical alliances formed since Showaddywaddy supported Einstürzende Neubauten in London in 1987, genre-hopping Australian psych rockers King Gizard & The Lizard Wizard have hooked up with one of the nation’s most beloved stars, Jimmy Barnes, to release a charity single. The pair head a stellar Aussie cast on a…
-

Album Of The Week Club review: Slayer set a land speed record on Reign In Blood
Slayer – Reign In Blood (Image credit: Def American) Angel Of DeathPiece By PieceNecrophobicAltar Of SacrificeJesus SavesCriminally InsaneRebornEpidemicPostmortemRaining Blood Calling Slayer‘s Reign In Blood ‘the greatest thrash album of all time’ might sound like a convenient soundbite… until you hear it. With Rick Rubin producing, everything was taken to a height nobody would ever scale…
-

Classic Rock Tracks Of The Week: November 9, 2027
Tomorrow night, Hannah Wicklund will be performing at the excellently named Snug Harbor venue in New Paltz, a small town 80 miles north of New York City, and if she’s short of things to say to the crowd, she can tell them about her triumph in our latest Tracks Of The Week contest. And then,…
-

The Tool Trivia Quiz: How Much Do You Know?
With just five studio albums in the bag since 1990, no one can accuse Tool of rushing things out to make a quick buck or two. And during that time, they’ve created enough lore to fill several leather-bound books. But how much do you know about the band? Are you obsessed with the Fibonacci sequence…
-

Mayhem vocalist believes he has Joey Jordison’s final recording
Mayhem frontman Attila Csihar has told Metal Hammer that he believes that he has the last-ever recording to feature Joey Jordison playing drums – a cover of a 1975 Kraftwerk song. The pair met at a metal bar over 20 years ago, following a Mayhem show in Athens, Greece, and struck up a friendship in…
-

The David Bowie single Tony Visconti says is like “a Swiss Watch” – and the unlikely song that inspired it
The decade-long run of game-changing albums that David Bowie made from 1970‘s The Man Who Changed The World onwards remains unmatched by any artist. This hot streak came to an end with 1980’s Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) – his last truly great album until 2016’s grand farewell, Blackstar. Scary Monsters features one of Bowie’s…
-

This is the epic setlist and all the surprise guests from Sepultura’s emotional final show
Sepultura were joined by several special guests during their epic final show. The Brazilian legends brought the curtain down on their illustrious career on Saturday, November 7 with a farewell gig at the 9000-capacity Suhai Music Hall in São Paulo. Their 30-song set saw the band dusting down several classic tracks that haven’t been played…
-

Television guitarist Richard Lloyd dead at 75
Richard Lloyd, the former guitarist with influential New York punk band Television, has died at the age of 75. Lloyd passed away on Saturday morning at home in Tennessee. His death was a result of cholangiocarcinoma, a form of bile duct cancer. He had been diagnosed with the disease earlier in 2026. “His loving wife…
-

Phil Collins reveals the one thing that’s preventing him from touring again
Phil Collins says just one thing is preventing him from touring again – and it’s not his health. In August he told Prog that he had musical projects, complete and incomplete, which he could focus on if he wanted to. He added that the health issues that have hounded him in recent years were in…
-

Nicko McBrain opens up about using heroin – and how he kicked it
Nicko McBrain has revealed that he dabbled with heroin in the late 1970s. The former Iron Maiden drummer, who has just released his autobiography, Hello Boys And Girls!, tells Classic Rock that he used the drug, but that he was “lucky” to never become addicted. “This was a period where I was introduced to the…
-

Genesis pulled off one of the most controversial career changes ever. Some fans haven’t forgiven them
In the 80s, it’s safe to say, Genesis changed. “I do feel the strain,” confides Phil Collins, “because it’s said so many times that: ‘The pre-Collins era was the true Genesis’, and: ‘It all fucked up when he started singing.’ Because, really, we all changed. If you stay together as a band, what you wear…
-

Ian Gillan recovering from “successful procedure” following medical emergency
Ian Gillan has undergone a successful procedure in his journey to recovery from the medical emergency that led Deep Purple to postpone the remainder of their European and UK tour dates. The issue first came to light last week when the rock giants postponed two shows in Germany as Gillan was taken to hospital due…
-

Motionless In White give WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley her flowers in gushing onstage shoutout
WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley was hailed as a “frontrunner” for heavy metal when she was welcomed onstage by Motionless In White this week. Frontman Chris Motionless introduced Ripley during the band’s show in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday (November 5) and praised her for everything she has done for his band and for the wider metal…
-

Arthur Brown reveals he was threatened by Charles Manson’s followers
Arthur Brown has revealed that he was warned off of using his ‘God Of Hellfire’ persona by Charles Manson. In a career-spanning interview with Classic Rock, the shock rock godfather looks back over the controversy caused by his provocative 1968 single Fire, released under the name The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. Brown’s biggest hit,…
-

Test your nu metal knowledge with this Limp Bizkit trivia quiz
There’s more to Limp Bizkit than red caps, baggy chinos and Wes Borland’s bizarre stage make-up. Around the turn of the millennium, Limp Bizkit were an omnipresent force in the media. Love them or hate them – and, in their pomp, some people really loathed them – they knew how to grab news headlines and…
-

Nita Strauss on motherhood, becoming a new person, and the long road back to work
One of the strangest moments in Nita Strauss’s career as a mother so far came in the middle of a baking-hot day in Las Vegas. The Raiders were in the middle of a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Strauss was due to perform with Alice Cooper at the halftime show – her first…
-

Horror punk icons Murderdolls are reforming for their first show since Joey Jordison’s death
Murderdolls, the cult horror-themed glam-punk band formed by late Slipknot drummer-turned-guitarist Joey Jordison and singer Wednesday 13, have revealed that they are reforming to play their first shows in over a decade – and their first since Jordison’s death. The band are set to play Belgium’s Graspop Metal Meeting on June 18, 2027. “Murderdolls… coming…
-

Cliff Burton was a legend way before he joined Metallica. Here’s why
The brand new issue of Metal Hammer is dedicated to Cliff Burton, the legendary Metallica bassist who died 40 years ago. In this exclusive feature, we speak to Cliff’s pre-Metallica bandmates, friends and music teachers about the birth of the legend. Cliff Burton was born in Castro Valley, California in 1962. He developed an interest…
-

How Aerosmith’s Dream On invented the power ballad
If ever there was a song made for Steven Tyler to climb on top of a grand piano to, it’s Dream On. Aerosmith’s 1973 debut single was at the heart of the Boston band’s six-song mini-sets at their two Hollywood Bowl comeback shows. And there was Tyler, 78 years young, standing astride his white piano…
-

Why Type O Negative turned down “a lot of money” to reunite for a Peter Steele tribute show: “there’s a lot of guys running around singing with a deep voice pretending they’re Peter”
Founding Type O Negative guitarist Kenny Hickey has explained why the leading goth metal band have yet to reunite without late bassist/singer Peter Steele. Talking to the HardLore podcast, Hickey says that getting back together would be “such a large undertaking”. He also questions who would have both the vocal prowess and bass-playing skills to…
-

“I told him, ‘If the guitar’s out of tune, you can’t tune it”: Steven Wilson’s bid to avoid “vanilla prog”
Steven Wilson wrote a set of rules for his band before they recorded new album Requiem For A Village, in a bid to avoid what he describes as “vanilla prog” appearing on the record. In February he told Prog of the follow-up to The Overview: “I decided I wanted to remain in the realm of…
-

U2 frontman Bono says the idea of negotiating with Trump on humanitarian causes is “too much”
Over the course of his career, U2 frontman Bono has put a serious shift in when it comes to using his platform to advocate for those far less fortunate. He has campaigned to end extreme poverty and preventable disease with the ONE Campaign, raised funds to fight AIDS in Africa with (RED) and has lobbied…
-

Asia’s new album brings completion to the last song Geoff Downes started with John Wetton
Geoff Downes says he felt lost after the death of Asia bandmate John Wetton, calling him the best collaborator he’d ever had. Wetton died in 2017 while work was underway on the follow-up to 2014’s Gravitas. The pair had been developing a suite, now titled Tattoo Indigo, which has finally found a home in new…
-

Metal Hammer’s tracks of the week: November 6 2026
2026 is on its last legs. Thankfully. It’s been a long old year, but with just two months left to go – and some of that will be eaten by the holiday period – we’re starting to cast our eyes ahead to what might come next year. Festivals aplenty have already started announcing (Bloodstock and…
-

Mike Batt pays tribute to the Womble who was too busy for TV, and Led Zeppelin
Mike Batt paid affectionate tribute to session drummer Clem Cattini, a frequent colleague, who died on November 2 at the age of 89. Cattini’s impressive list of credits included Paul McCartney, The Kinks, Jeff Beck, Lou Reed, The Yardbirds, Roy Harper, Brian Auger, Justin Hayward and many others – but Batt, naturally, focused on his…
-

“God Brought Me to Pittsburgh” by Photographer Jacob Pesci
Jacob Pesci Jacob Pesci’s Website Jacob Pesci on Instagram
-

Floor Jansen compares Nightwish split to broken relationship: “if you can no longer get through the more difficult periods together, then it is over”
Former Nightwish singer Floor Jansen has likened her recent split with the Finnish symphonic metal titans to a broken relationship. Talking to NU.nl, the Dutch vocalist, who parted ways with the band last month after 14 years of service, says that she and her ex-cohorts could no longer navigate “difficult periods” together and couldn’t be…
-

Eurovision rocker Sam Ryder reveals how Iron Maiden changed his life
Former Eurovision finalist Sam Ryder has spoken about how Iron Maiden changed his life. The Space Man singer, who represented the UK at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest and came second in the grand final, discusses his love for the heavy metal band while competing on BBC programme Celebrity Race Around The World on Wednesday.…
-

Tom Morello says the hard work is only just beginning following US midterms election victory for the Democrats
Tom Morello says that despite the Democrats’ victory in the US midterm elections, the “real work starts now” if US citizens are to live in a “more just, more peaceful, more equitable world.” Following the elections earlier this week, the Democrats have now taken control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This…
-

The real story of Ireland’s greatest rock star, Rory Gallagher: Only in the new Classic Rock
Rock’n’roll has always belonged to artists who do things on their own terms, and Rory Gallagher was definitely one such character. This issue we look back at the life and work of the Irish guitarist who built a massive global audience through constant touring, magical stagecraft, a check shirt and a worn Fender Strat. The…
-

Peter Davis’s Gig Pose paintings capture the phones-in-the-air moment at every concert
The artist famous for painting portraits of people glued to their screens is back. This time, his theme is gigs, and he ponders whether we’re really there to see the music. There is nothing more depressing or infuriating than going to a gig, only to see everyone hold up their phone to record it. I…
-

Motörhead’s Orgasmatron was neutered in New York – and now it’s finally been fixed
After experiencing Motörhead work up 1986’s new songs (while strapped to a chair, at Lemmy’s behest) in rehearsal, then hearing rough mixes on his home stereo, Orgasmatron promised to be Motörhead’s wildest, possibly even best album yet. Bringing in unknown guitarists Würzel and Phil Campbell, Lemmy had seen his original vision of the UK’s MC5…
-

Theory Of A Deadman’s new record may be called Funeral Songs, but they’re far from finished
Twenty-four years on from their debut LP, Theory Of A Deadman are doing it their way. Part 1: Funeral Songs is the Canadian rock band’s new EP, conceived to deliver only the songs they want fans to hear. “Creatively, the days of putting out an album every few years are gone,” says frontman Tyler Connolly.…
-

Tennessee rockers Kings Of Leon’s 10th album O My Beloved is their most personal yet
There’s something rather lovely about Kings Of Leon seeming to be no longer particularly bothered about what people want them to sound like. Twenty-three years into their career, the multi-platinum group and family members have reached that privileged point where they can make a record they actually want to make, rather than trying to write…
-

Bryan Adams returns home and writes a love letter to his native Canada on How’s It Goin’
It seems appropriate that at a time when Canada is coming under financial and verbal attacks from the Trump administration, Canadian Bryan Adams returns to the metaphorical ramparts to create a collection of songs that pay homage to the place where he grew up and still sometimes calls home. It began simply enough, writing a…
-

“It’s going to be very difficult. It’s hard to let go”: Is Pallas’ new album the veterans’ final bow?
Pallas’ newly-released album, A Song For Tomorrow, is likely to be their last. It comes three years after 2023’s The Messenger and arrives a year after singer Alan Reed revealed he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. “I’m one of those guys that says, ‘Never say never,’ because there are lots of things we’ve said in…
-

Ex-Killswitch Engage bandmates Howard Jones and Adam D’s Burn Eternal release first single Wounds I’ve Made, announce debut album
Former Killswitch Engage collaborators Adam Dutkiewicz and Howard Jones have put out the first single from their new band, Burn Eternal. The track, Wounds I’ve Made, is out now and precedes the release of the duo’s self-titled debut album via Metal Blade on February 26. Watch the music video below. The album’s tracklisting and artwork…
-

How Ozzfest reinvented metal for the 90s
October 25, 1996 was the day metal stepped back from the edge of oblivion. On that hot Friday, 20,000 people descended on the Blockbuster Desert Sky Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheatre in Phoenix, Arizona, to watch 12 bands give the middle finger to the gatekeepers of cool and prove that a genre that had struggled for…
-

Ozzfest confirms return with UK, US and Mexico editions in 2027
Ozzfest will return to the UK, the US and Mexico in 2027. The travelling heavy metal festival, co-founded by its late namesake Ozzy Osbourne and his wife/manager Sharon in 1996, is coming back following the Prince Of Darkness’s death aged 76 in July last year. Although no performers have been announced, promoter Live Nation has…
-

“We are so effin’ excited!” Rush announce a five-date Elevate From The Norm run at The Sphere
Rush have announced a five-date residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, which will see the band perform on May 21, 23, 26, 28, and 30, 2027. As with their current 50 Something World Tour, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, with Annike Nilles and Loren Gold, will perform a set of fan favourites and greatest hits…
-

Pink Floyd announce Animals 50 reissue across various formats
Pink Floyd’s long-awaited, much-delayed reissue treatment of Animals comes to fruition on January 22 when the album gets released across a variety of formats through Sony Music, including a Deluxe Box set, various vinyl formats, CD and digital. The band have shared a 1977 promotional radio edit of Sheep, which has never been commercially available.…
-

Step inside Hang Yu’s wonderfully strange world of clowns, costumes and constructed identities
From the streets of New York to the backstage antics of Coney Island Clown Skool, the Chinese photographer explores the curious ways we perform identity and make sense of the world around us. Imagine being handed a hat, told to improvise on stage, then sent backstage to pick out a clown nose before doing the…
-

Ghost’s mega-hit Mary On A Cross has been streamed one billion times on Spotify
Ghost’s Mary On A Cross has been streamed on Spotify one billion times. The 2019 single is the latest addition to the 10-digit club, joining such heavy metal hits as Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters, System Of A Down’s Chop Suey!, Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train and Evanescence’s Bring Me To Life. The song was originally a…
-

“From the darkest of origins, they’ve become one of the biggest bands”: Korn delight London at sold-out O2 spectacular
For anyone who listened to Korn’s self-titled debut album upon release in 1994, “joyous” probably wasn’t the first word which came to mind. It was an anguished thing, rooted in frontman Jonathan Davis’ very real experiences of high-school hazing and sexual abuse. Yet, within a few years, it became the seminal text for nu metal:…
-

Steven Wilson’s ninth solo album Requiem For A Village welcomes the weird
‘Hiraeth’, a Welsh word, translates roughly as a deep, melancholic longing for a lost place, person or time which perhaps never even existed. Steven Wilson uses it as a track title here, but that feeling permeates the entire journey. It’s another twist in the career of an artist who, once categorised somewhat reductively as prog,…
-

“They raised the axe. He started improvising a poem”: When Enslaved didn’t like their new songs, an old saga saved them
Ivar Bjørnson says Enslaved pushed themselves into a new way of writing songs when he decided the material he’d witten for new album Mið wasn’t good enough to use. The follow-up to 2023’s Heimdal came about when he suggested they should start studio work without any material ready to track. He took inspiration from an…
-

Tatiana Egoshina finds beauty in bad typography, Italian folklore and happy accidents
From lovingly arranged shop windows to mountains illuminated with local legends, the Milan-based designer finds inspiration in unexpected places, turning everyday observations into colourful identities, installations and illustrations. When gathering the legends behind her latest installation, Tatiana Egoshina had to eat three extra helpings of pasta. The designer spent a week in Castelmezzano, a tiny…
-

Tomáš Brousil on how to choose typefaces that work in the real world
The founder of Prague’s Suitcase Type Foundry shares his four best tips for selecting the right fonts for your projects. Every company that designs typefaces wants to show them off in the best light. And I have to admit, writing articles about typography for Creative Boom, I’m all in favour of that. Everyone likes a…
-

How Joey Tempest survived the wild whirlwind of fame, fortune and global success entirely unscathed
Joey Tempest has been many things in his 62 years. An athletic, suburban Swedish kid with a voracious appetite for music. A pop star travelling by limousine. A rootsy solo singer-songwriter-turned-rock’n’roll comeback king. The guy who wrote one of popular music’s most widely beloved anthems. A lifelong hard worker, always wanting to do more –…
-

Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower listened to Sleep Token to prep for his new Lord Of The Rings TV role
Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower listened to Sleep Token to help get into character for his new role in The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power. Talking to IMDb, the actor/musician says that the UK masked metal band’s 2023 track Euclid was on repeat as he prepared to play the elf Celeborn…
-

Watch Nita Strauss and Josh Villalta play Metallica, Iron Maiden and more at LA Rams halftime show
Less than a month after returning to the stage with Alice Cooper at an NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders, Nita Strauss has resumed her role as the official guitarist of the LA Rams. Strauss took to the stage at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, accompanied on…
-

Bob Dylan meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican in rare public appearance
Bob Dylan has visited Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The 85-year-old singer-songwriter was received at the Apostolic Palace, the Pope’s official residence, while on tour in Italy. “The meeting between Pope Leo and Dylan – who wore a black hooded sweatshirt – was brief, consisting of greetings and a few lighthearted exchanges,” reports Vatican…
-

Watch Metallica unload Battery in latest pro-shot footage from Las Vegas Sphere residency
40 years after releasing their magnum opus Master Of Puppets, Metallica have proved that they can still dish out the thrash, sharing live footage of a recent Battery performance. The US heavy metal giants have been playing the 1986 album opener as part of their ongoing residency at Las Vegas multimedia venue the Sphere, and…
-

Looks like Will Smith moshed to Animals As Leaders at his daughter Willow’s birthday party on Halloween
Will Smith appears to have been spotted moshing to tech-metal darlings Animals As Leaders at an intimate show for his daughter’s birthday. Footage of the Academy Award-winning actor and Grammy-winning rapper seemingly going wild to the Washington DC band at a private party on Halloween was shared on Instagram by New York drummer Marco Cirigliano.…
-

Iron Maiden launch Somewhere In Time graphic novel
Graphic novel publisher Z2 have teamed up with Iron Maiden for a book celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1986’s Somewhere In Time album. Somewhere In Time: The Graphic Album will be published on March 2nd, 2027, and includes eight stories – each inspired by one of Somewhere In Time‘s eight tracks – plus an epilogue…
-

“Fearless Flowers” by Photographer Marcin T. Jozefiak
Marcin T. Jozefiak …
-

Katatonia announce Waking State Of Europe tour dates for March and April 2027
Swedish prog metallers Katatonia have announced their Waking State Of Europe tour dates for March and April 2027. Sadly, there are no UK dates in this run, although the band did appear as special guests to Opeth at the fellow Swede’s headline show at The Piece Hall in Halifax back in August (coincidentally, Opeth’s only…
-

Andstudio on the challenges of building a global studio from Lithuania
As the Vilnius agency celebrates its 10th birthday, co-founder Augustinas Paukštė discusses transforming a local firm into an international player. Ten years ago, two designers in Vilnius, Augustinas Paukštė and Doman Mikšys, launched Andstudio with no clients and no plan. Today, they have 14 people on staff, a client list including Ikea, NordVPN and the…
-

Hear Gojira’s Joe Duplantier roar on new Cult Of Luna single Sadness Will Reign
Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier has returned and lent his growl to a new single by Swedish post-metal luminaries Cult Of Luna. The Umeå band released their track Sadness Will Reign, featuring Duplantier, earlier today (November 4), as part of their build-up to new studio album In The Shadow Of Your Shadow, out on Friday. The…
-

“My desire to push those buttons made them nervous”: Jordan Rudess had much to learn when he joined Dream Theater
Jordan Rudess became a member of Dream Theater in 1999 after making two albums with Liquid Tension Experiment alongside John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy. DT’s ruthless decision to make space for Rudess by firing Derek Sherinian was vindicated when the new keyboardist made a dazzling impact on fifth album Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From A Memory.…
-

Yinka Ilori brings joy and colour to the Tottenham Hotspur away shirt
The British-Nigerian artist harnesses his signature colour, pattern and storytelling in a shirt design that celebrates North London’s community. Let’s start with some honesty. I’m not really interested in sport, so when I think “football shirt”, I generally think of something basic, functional, and corporate-looking. People who know more about this stuff have told me,…
-
Burger trees, spying fruit and flying taxis: the digital clay world of Daniel Jurman
The New York illustrator channels 1990s MTV bumpers and retro claymation in these gloriously odd mini-animations. If you’re old enough to remember the 1990s, you may recall the strange little animated bumpers MTV used to drop in between its shows. They rarely made any sense, but worked brilliantly to keep you engaged with the channel.…
-

Film is breaking out of its box, and this orchestral tour is showing the way
Forty-four years after it first aired, The Snowman is touring with an orchestra, including shows in four cathedrals. And I think this tells us a lot about where we are as a culture. It’s been 44 years since the animated version of The Snowman, originally an illustrated book by Raymond Briggs, appeared on our screens.…
-

20 years after the film that changed everything, Anvil frontman Steve ‘Lips’ Kudrow has no regrets
It’s no exaggeration to say that the 2008 documentary film Anvil! The Story Of Anvil brought the veteran Canadian trio a whole new audience. Some would claim it saved the career of the down-at-heel metalheads, whose singer and guitarist Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow was delivering school meals at the time. Prior to this year’s annual visit…
-

Dave Grohl says performing with AC/DC turned him into an emotional wreck
Dave Grohl has admitted that the experience of performing onstage with AC/DC turned him into an emotional wreck. Foo Fighters played two dates with the Aussie giants last month after the support band, The Pretty Reckless, were forced to drop out. Grohl recalled the appearance – which took place at the second show with AC/DC,…
-

Joe Walsh once joined a reggae band in New Zealand: The experience saved his life
By the end of the 1980s, Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh was running on empty. Years of stadium tours, heavy drinking, and rock’n’roll excess had pushed him to the brink. “I was pretty pitiful,” he told Classic Rock in 2012. “I had lost myself. I always thought: ‘Well, if I need to, I can stop.’ And…
-
2026 Booooooom Photo Awards: Call to Submit
Calling all photographers! Our fifth annual Booooooom Photo Awards are officially open for submissions. This year’s categories are Portrait, Nature, Street, Colour, and for the first time-ever, a special Student category. Our friends at Format are once again partnering with us to make it all happen. We’re thrilled to have an elite panel of judges…
-

Is Ghost’s Tobias Forge plotting a Repugnant reunion show?
Is Ghost frontman Tobias Forge on the verge of announcing a Repugnant reunion show to the wider world? Some fans on Reddit and Facebook seem to think there is one happening next April in Sweden. He may be on hiatus from all things Ghost-related this year, but that’s not to say he’s ruled out all…
-

How Pentangle survived being matched with Led Zeppelin and Cream
n a musical era when almost anything could and did happen, Pentangle rose to great heights with their experimental take on folk rock. Their peak came with revered 1968 album Basket Of Light – but as singer Jacqui McShee told Prog in 2009, it didn’t last long. Pioneers from a time before labels like ‘progressive…
-

How Fuming Mouth’s Mark Whelan faced his own mortality and emerged with one of the heaviest albums of 2026
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Fuming Mouth frontman Mark Whelan has been to hell and back in recent years. Following a week-long stay in hospital, on November 19, 2021 – a time when the USA had surpassed 47 million cases of COVID – he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), an aggressive…
-

There’s an official Ghost colouring book coming out just in time for Christmas
The Clergy have joined forces with the people at Rock N’ Roll Colouring to create an official colouring book featuring “darkly blasphemous images” based on the band Ghost. The non-ecumenical act joins a long, distinguished list of bands who’ve had their likenesses transformed into a series of crisp, black and white line drawings, including: Iron…
-

Inspired by strangers’ dreams, Moho builds glittering, slightly unsettling worlds
The Seoul-based artist transforms dreams submitted by people around the world into shimmering animations filled with pearls and sequins. “A dream is something we’ve experienced, yet it can be difficult to explain, and even the memory of it changes after we wake up,” says Moho, who has built an entire practice around that slipperiness. Hundreds…
-

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score new David Fincher film written by Quentin Tarantino
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have written and recorded the score for a new film by David Fincher. Written by Quentin Tarantino, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is a sequel to his 2019 film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and stars Brad Pitt as the titular character. “Murder, blackmail, theft, extortion – just…
-

Koto: We need to talk about how all electric car brands look the same
The studio’s new report asks a fundamental question: how EVs can stand out when they all look alike? Here’s something about the electric car boom that hasn’t been widely reported, but for me is fundamental not just to the sector, but the future of branding in general. People who make the switch to electric overwhelmingly…
-

Meshuggah mark 40th anniversary with huge 2027 European tour
Meshuggah have announced details of a comprehensive European tour next year in celebration of their 40th anniversary. The band formed in Umeå, Sweden in 1987. Their bludgeoning yet technical style of extreme metal has inspired countless acts over the course of nine studio albums and six EPs, leading to them being recognised as the fathers…
-

“They said, ‘We feel shafted. You didn’t let us know’”: What Avenged Sevenfold learned from The Stage
Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M Shadows says the release of 2016 album The Stage taught him a handful of important lessons. The band launched the record without previous notice on October 27 that year, intending to make an artistic statement with the approach. As a result it sold significantly fewer copies than 2013’s Hail To The…
-

Inspired by strangers’ dreams, Moho builds glittering, slightly unsettling worlds
The Seoul-based artist transforms dreams submitted by people around the world into shimmering animations filled with pearls and sequins. “A dream is something we’ve experienced, yet it can be difficult to explain, and even the memory of it changes after we wake up,” says Moho, who has built an entire practice around that slipperiness. Hundreds…
-

How Elie N’Guessan makes everyday London look like a movie
From an impromptu shoot with four curious kids to a sportswear campaign concept staged inside a car, the London photographer finds inspiration in familiar places and unplanned moments. Elie N’Guessan picked up a camera while studying Product Design at Central Saint Martins. Two years on, the Peckham-born photographer has built a portfolio of fashion, editorial…
-

How Elie N’Guessan makes everyday London look like a movie
From an impromptu shoot with four curious kids to a sportswear campaign concept staged inside a car, the London photographer finds inspiration in familiar places and unplanned moments. Elie N’Guessan picked up a camera while studying Product Design at Central Saint Martins. Two years on, the Peckham-born photographer has built a portfolio of fashion, editorial…
-

Imelda May: The nine songs that changed my life
Every Monday night there was a jam session in the Bruxelles club in Dublin, where I’m from. My brother and sister went down there. I went with them and musicians would jam until the wee small hours and I fell in love with the blues right there and then. I was just 16, so I…
-

Scorpions announce mammoth Love, Peace, & Rock’N’Roll European tour
German rock legends Scorpions have announced a lengthy European tour for next year. The band will kick things off at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain, on April 29, and wrap it all up on July 18 at the Unipol Arena in Milan, Italy. The run includes four shows in Ireland and the UK,…
-

California Dream On: Ten things we learned at Aerosmith & Friends (Night Two) at the Hollywood Bowl
The immediate reports following the first night of the Aerosmith & Friends shows at the Hollywood Bowl were intriguing. The word was that Axl Rose wasn’t sounding great, but Steven Tyler was holding up. Dave Grohl filling in on drums for Aerosmith was a pleasant surprise, but Night One offered no Run-DMC. Anyone attending on…
-

“What began as The Final Frontier now feels more like The Long Goodbye.” Neal Schon issues cryptic statement about Journey’s future
Neal Schon, founding guitarist with Journey, has issued a statement about the band’s future as their long-running Final Frontier tour nears its end. “After completing 110 shows in 2026, we’ve felt something powerful happen within Journey,” says Schon. “Playing two and a half hours each night in our ‘Evening with Journey’ shows – the longest…
-

Gavin Harrison on juggling King Crimson, Porcupine Tree and The Pineapple Thief, and the hardest songs to play
Gavin Harrison’s juggling act between Porcupine Tree, King Crimson and The Pineapple Thief hasn’t always been easy – but the drummer has found a way to make it work. He joined Steven Wilson’s band in 2002 before signing up with Robert Fripp six years later, then becoming part of Bruce Soord’s group in 2016. “Being…
-

Deep Purple postpone remainder of their 2026 tour dates until further notice
Deep Purple have postponed the rest of their 2026 shows following vocalist Ian Gillan’s medical emergency this weekend. The singer was hospitalised before the band’s show at Leipzig’s QI Arena on October 31, and their subsequent date at Hamburg’s Sporthalle the following evening was also shelved. While the details surrounding his emergency medical treatment have…
-

Zack de la Rocha wants Turnstile’s younger fans to discover bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and The Clash
It seems that Turnstile are all over the news of late following their recent benefit show at the National Mall in Washington, DC, to aid those in Palestine, Sudan, and Lebanon. James Hetfield recently revealed that the Baltimore punk five-piece declined an invitation from Metallica to support them on their M72 tour dates, before adding:…
-

Evanescence’s Amy Lee believes that an AI backlash is just around the corner
Evanescence singer Amy Lee says that an oversaturation of AI-generated art will trigger a human-led creative resurgence in the near future. “It’s my hope and belief,” Lee told the Rocked podcast at the Sick New World festival in Fort Worth, Texas. “Doomscrolling is real. It’s hard not to look around and just feel like, ‘Oh…
-

Affinity finally comes to iPad, and illustrators get a free all-in-one app
It’s official. Canva has launched Affinity for iPad today. The single app doesn’t just make your life easier – the core tools won’t cost you a penny, either. If you’ve ever sketched in one app, turned your work into vectors in another, retouched the photos in a third tool and then laid the whole thing…
-

Affinity finally comes to iPad, and illustrators get a free all-in-one app
It’s official. Canva has launched Affinity for iPad today. The single app doesn’t just make your life easier – the core tools won’t cost you a penny, either. If you’ve ever sketched in one app, turned your work into vectors in another, retouched the photos in a third tool and then laid the whole thing…
-

“Clearing” by Illustrator Evan M. Cohen
Evan M. Cohen Evan M. Cohen’s Website Evan M. Cohen on Instagram
-

My Chemical Romance confirm they’ll begin work on new album in 2027
My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way has revealed the band will begin work on a new album next year. The band’s vocalist told fans at their Hollywood Bowl headline show on October 30 not to expect any further shows while they focus on writing and recording new material. It will be their first new material…
-

“I wanted a new band to take it to another level”: Keith Emerson’s road to Emerson, Lake and Palmer
In 2016, marking Keith Emerson’s death at the age of 71, Prog looked back on the composer’s early years leading up to the formation of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Keith Emerson once admitted that he began to play piano while at school as a means of survival. “I was very studious and I kept in…
-

Robert Plant and Saving Grace announce Summer 2027 dates
Robert Plant and Saving Grace have announced a tour of England and Ireland for next year. The former Led Zeppelin man – accompanied by vocalist Suzi Dian, drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley, and cellist Barney Morse-Brow – will play five shows next June. The short run of dates…
-

Queens Of The Stone Age announce European leg of Perfecth world tour
Queens Of The Stone Age have announced a run of European dates for next June. The band, whose new album Perfecth was released on Friday, will begin the tour in Hanover, Germany, on June 13, and wrap things up at the end of the month in Pula, Croatia. No UK dates have been confirmed, but…
-

The full setlist from Aerosmith’s second night in Hollywood
Aerosmith have completed the second of their Aerosmith & Friends’ California: Dream On shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. And they addressed the viral remarks made by the host, comedian Bill Burr, on night one. Burr had told the audience that the two Bowl shows would be the band’s final ever shows, leading…
-

The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon shares the life lessons of an eternal underdog
Brian Fallon has a photo on the wall of his house of him singing with Bruce Springsteen on stage at London’s Hyde Park in June 2009. The Boss had become an unofficial cheerleader for Fallon’s band, The Gaslight Anthem, joining them on stage at that year’s Glastonbury Festival a couple of weeks earlier to sing…
-
How&How launches a new name, strategy, visual identity and website
Six years after launching in the midst of the pandemic, the London and LA studio is taking its own advice and turning up its truth. Rebranding a company is a lot of pressure. Multiply that tenfold when you’re a design studio, and you’re rebranding yourself. Few things you design will ever come under such scrutiny…
-

Wildwood: a big leap forward for animation that you need to see on a big screen
Laika’s handmade epic blends stop motion and CG like nothing before it, and it deserves to win at the box office. Last week I walked into a sold-out cinema screening, and let me tell you: it’s been a while since that happened. Yet that’s what I found at the Watershed arts centre in Bristol, where…
-

Wildwood: a big leap forward for animation that you need to see on a big screen
Laika’s handmade epic blends stop motion and CG like nothing before it, and it deserves to win at the box office. Last week I walked into a sold-out cinema screening, and let me tell you: it’s been a while since that happened. Yet that’s what I found at the Watershed arts centre in Bristol, where…
-

Swiss Typefaces crafts a warmer, friendlier custom font for Swiss Post
Creating a typeface for Switzerland’s postal service took three years, and it came with many challenges. When it comes to custom typefaces, designers are often faced with a dilemma. When clients have commissioned something for a lot of money, there’s often a desire, whether it be conscious or subconscious, to make a splash. In other…
-

Swiss Typefaces crafts a warmer, friendlier custom font for Swiss Post
Creating a typeface for Switzerland’s postal service took three years, and it came with many challenges. When it comes to custom typefaces, designers are often faced with a dilemma. When clients have commissioned something for a lot of money, there’s often a desire, whether it be conscious or subconscious, to make a splash. In other…
-
This celebrity ad shows what a difference it makes when you don’t use CGI
We’re so starved of practical effects; even a spot promoting financial services can be magical in the right hands. Ads for financial services are not something I go out of my way to watch. I tend to be almost entirely price-led, so if I’m seeking a loan, mortgage or whatever, I’ll spend my whole time…
-
This celebrity ad shows what a difference it makes when you don’t use CGI
We’re so starved of practical effects; even a spot promoting financial services can be magical in the right hands. Ads for financial services are not something I go out of my way to watch. I tend to be almost entirely price-led, so if I’m seeking a loan, mortgage or whatever, I’ll spend my whole time…
-

Album Of The Week Club review: Tony Iommi lives up to the Riff Lord branding on From The Dark
Tony Iommi – From The Dark (Image credit: BMG) Over The Violent SunBlack TimesWorld AloneBeyond The DeadStormwatcherDeath WakeReturn Of The ArbalistLegacy Fifteen months on from Black Sabbath‘s historic Back To The Beginning show in Birmingham, Tony Iommi emerged with his first solo album since 2005’s Fused. The album finds Iommi joined by frontman Jørn Lande,…
-

Classic Rock Tracks Of The Week: November 2, 2026
They’ll be dancing in the streets of Llanelli as news breaks that local heroes Scarlet Rebels have triumphed in our latest Tracks Of The Week contest, with their smashing recent single God’s Honest Truth defeating strong competition from a pair of stellar guitarists, Joanne Shaw Taylor and Ayron Jones. So congratulations to them, and to…
-

Test your Rush knowledge with this incredibly tough quiz
With 19 studio albums and 11 live albums released over the course of five decades, there’s lots to consider when creating a quiz to tax the mind of even the most dedicated Rush fan. So, how well do you know the Canadian prog legends? Are you the sort of fan who knows how many times…
-
Christmas adverts 2026: Scrooges, Muppets and a BFG with the sniffles – the best festive ads so far
Ghosts of Christmas past, old school pals and a friendly giant with a cold: we’re rounding up 2026’s biggest festive ads as they land. Then we’ll ask some industry experts to pick the winners, the losers and the theme that ties them together. It’s officially November, which means only one thing: time to swap pumpkins…
-

“We looked the the hippies they wanted to kill!”: How Opeth survived their early days in a scene they didn’t quite fit
These days Opeth are a highly-regarded prog band, with leader Mikael Åkerfeldt proudly boasting that his influences were always Genesis, Jethro Tull, Wishbone Ash and suchlike. But in their early days the Swedes played death metal – although they never looked the part. Their development hinged on their key connection with the extreme Norwegian black…
-

How Saint Agnes overcame tragedy and industry interference
Saint Agnes take their name from a 4th-century Christian martyr. Agnes of Rome had refused the hand of every noble in the city with the explanation that she was already married to God. Enraged, her suitors reported her to the authorities and she was beheaded as a heretic. Since forming in 2014, the London trio…
-

The 50 best thrash metal albums ever, from Metallica to Power Trip
It was the abrasive metal sub-genre that shot out of the early 80s like a punch to the gut. Fast, heavy, and blatantly in-your-face, thrash metal was a fierce antidote to glam metal as well as a big ‘fuck you’ to the conservatism of the Reagan era. Thrash had its roots in myriad influences, from…
-

Watch Paleface Swiss blast through three Slipknot songs while dressed as Slipknot at their Halloween gig
Swiss deathcore sensations Paleface Swiss dropped a massive Halloween surprise by opening their Halloween show by playing three Slipknot covers – while dressed as Slipknot. The band, who were headlining Core Fest at the EWS Arena in Göppingen, teased the crowd by using the Iowa band’s 742617000027 as their intro music, before the curtain dropped…
-

James Hetfield says Turnstile turned the chance to tour with Metallica
James Hetfield has revealed that Metallica asked Turnstile to open for them on tour – but the punk rock band turned them down. Speaking on his James Hetfield’s Riff Life radio show, the Metallica frontman says he and his bandmates are fans of the Baltimore band, leading them to approach Turnstile about appearing on their…
-

Brace yourselves, haters. Nickelback are going nowhere
Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger says the band have no plans to retire – although he doubts whether they’ll live long enough to match the longevity of the likes of the Rolling Stones. As the Canadian rock giants bask in the glory of the positive reviews for their new album Everything Under The Sun, Kroeger insists…
-

How Venom made their unholy masterpiece Black Metal and changed the course of metal
Venom’s 1982 album Black Metal is one of the most influential records in history, detonating a chain reaction that would result in thrash, death metal and, of course, black metal itself – even if it was roundly mocked at the time. In 2011, Venom singer and bass-bludgeoner Cronos looked back on the making of a…
-

Steve Hackett recalls messing with Genesis at their Rock Hall induction
Steve Hackett recalls the moment he upset his former bandmates by recommending Yes for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame during Genesis’ own ceremony. It was the guitarist’s way of involving old friend Chris Squire, who’d wanted to attend but couldn’t be accommodated. Genesis received the honour in 2010 and Yes were…
-

Test your knowledge with this Slayer trivia quiz
Slayer played their first show on October 31, 1981 at a Battle of the Bands night in South Gate, California. Their flyer invited rock fans to experience their “assault on heavy metal” and they weren’t messing about. The term thrash was still a few years away, but ever since their first ever show, Slayer have…
-

Deep Purple postpone two German shows with Ian Gillan in hospital following “medical emergency”
Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan is in hospital following a “medical emergency” that has forced the band to postpone two shows in Germany. The band’s appearances at Leipzig’s Qi Arena tonight (October 31) and at Hamburg’s Sporthalle tomorrow (November 1) have been pulled. As it stands, the November 3 show in Dortmund is still scheduled…
-

Night Ranger look back on 40 years of Floyd Rose flicking, big hits and avoiding retirement
In 1975, future Night Ranger frontman/bassist Jack Blades quit his pre-med studies at San Diego State University and moved to San Francisco. The Bay Area’s vibrant club scene blew the then-20-year-old’s mind, and Blades was soon rubbing shoulders with the likes of Grace Slick, Grateful Dead and Carlos Santana. By 1977 he was in funk…
-

The inspiration behind Mike Oldfield’s final album, Return To Ommadawn
Mike Oldfield’s 26th album, Return To Ommadawn, would prove to be his last. Six years after its release in 2017 he announced his retirement. But he’d left his fans with a record many of them had asked for, as he told Prog just before its release. “When I first began to think of what I…
-

The real-life tragedy behind The Crow, the ultimate goth comic book movie
When comic book creator James O’Barr licensed The Crow to a movie studio for $1,500, he never expected it to get made, let alone become an enduring gothic touchstone. Written gradually over nine years, starting in 1980, the original comic book story follows a young man named Eric Draven who returns from the dead to…
-

How an actor’s Boris Karloff impression turned into the biggest Halloween hit of all time
Every October, the coffin lid of Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett’s career used to creak open and out would come his one, cobwebbed, hit. The Monster Mash, a novelty song about a monsters’ dance party, sold over four million copies, charted three times, and 60 years on remains the most popular Halloween tune ever. “The whole thing…
-

The Pretty Reckless, Chelsea Wolfe, Green Lung and more made us a Halloween playlist
The nights are dark, the veil is thin, and suddenly we’re not the only people on the street wearing black. Yes, it’s Halloween, so in celebration of every metalhead’s favourite holiday, we’ve brought you a list of the spookiest tunes to soundtrack your festivities. Whether it’s haunting your local graveyard, shaking your bones at a…
-

Steven Wilson is working on a new Storm Corrosion album
Does Steven Wilson ever sleep? He’s about to release his third solo album in three years with the eerie, folk horror-inspired Requiem For A Village (the fifth if you count the two he’s put out under his experimental Bass Communion alter ego). And that’s not to mention his parallel career as the remixer to rock’s…
-

Queen were nearly derailed by a serious illness. It turned out to be the making of one of the greatest albums
“Darling, he’s far too busy in the studio. That’s what happens when you get sick in Queen – you have to make the time up.” In the South London offices of his band’s PR company, a characteristically flamboyant Freddie Mercury is entertaining the press. It’s the autumn of 1974, and Queen have almost completed their…
-

Bryan Adams takes aim at Donald Trump on unexpected new protest song, comparing US President to “a baby tossing toys from the pram”
Bryan Adams might be a globally recognised superstar having sold more than 100 million albums and singles during a career spanning almost five decades, but the Canadian musician isn’t traditionally known as a singer of protest songs. This, however, may yet change, as the 66-year-old Ontario-born singer/songwriter has just released a new single featuring barbed…
-

Lamb of God announce 2028 Headbangers Boat cruise with Paleface Swiss, Bleed From Within, Heriot, and more
Lamb of God have announced that the 2028 edition of their bespoke metal cruise Lamb of God Presents Headbangers Boat will sail from May 27 to May 31, 2028 from Southampton, England to La Coruña, Spain, the gateway to the rocky shores of the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death). Artists already booked to perform…
-
2026 Booooooom Illustration Awards: Meet The Judges
Post Content
-

Sleep Theory, Saxon and Imminence are among the best new metal songs this week
Happy Halloween! It’s the last chance to dance of Spooky Season, and there’s a whole heap of brilliant new metal songs for you to sink your teeth into as we hit the weekend. But first, the results of last week’s vote! Japan’s Zilqy took third place with Misfit Toys, while Vindicta proved they’ve got hooks…
-

Why Queen’s Brian May poured his heart and soul into the Masters Of The Universe soundtrack
Queen legend Brian May and award-wining English composer Daniel Pemberton have shared their happy memories of working together on the soundtrack for this year’s Masters Of The Universe movie. Released in June, the film had been a long, long time coming. It was first announced in 2009 by Sony Pictures International, and since then, the…
-

Was Meddle the last Pink Floyd album that combined all their powers?
Terrace chants, Steve Marriott’s dog and Hendrix’s guitar pedal… the lesser undulations in Pink Floyd’s 1971 textural opus Meddle built a cultural tsunami. In 2011 Prog revisited the unsung masterpiece that changed the band – and its genre – for ever. Ping. That sound, like a sonar signal.Ping. Or a radio signal from deep space.Ping.…
-

The 50 best horror movies ever, from Obsession to Nosferatu
For over a century, horror has continued to terrify, confuse and inspire cinema goers, challenging us to face our darkest fears and indulging in the kind of taboos that no other film genre dare touch. From early masterpieces of German silent cinema like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to modern classics such as…
-

How Satyricon created black metal’s answer to Back In Black
Oslo, 2011. The Nordic World Ski Championships. In the city’s University Square, a massive gramophone sits at the centre of a neon-lit stage. Dancers wrapped in fluorescent wiring contort at the back, and a stream of runway models strut across the front, clad in an array of alien-looking garments. In one of the most surreal…
-

Watch Steven Wilson and Phil Collins in conversation about Face Value
Phil Collins has shared a video of his conversation with Steven Wilson from last month’s launch of the new reissue of his debut solo album, Face Value. Prog was in attendance at the Odeon Luxe West End in London’s Leicester Square, along with a star-studded audience that included comedian and former Prog Awards host Al…
-

“Aesthetic of After” by Photographer Junya Suzuki
Junya Suzuki …
-

How Patrick Stewart went against type as Nazi punk gang leader in Green Room
Last night (Thursday October 29), it was announced that the great Patrick Stewart had passed away aged 86 following what was described by his family as a “brief” battle with with Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body Dementia. The beloved actor was a titan of film, TV and theatre, known to millions around the world for his…
-

Tom Morello pays tribute to late Star Trek star Sir Patrick Stewart
Tom Morello has paid tribute to late Star Trek actor Sir Patrick Stewart The Rage Against The Machine guitarist and self-professed Star Trek “nerd” made an uncredited cameo in the 1998 movie Star Trek: Insurrection, appearing alongside Stewart in one brief scene. “God bless you and thank you for your brilliance and your humanity, Captain,”…
-

“I said, ‘I wrote that song in 10 minutes!’ He replied, ‘Imagine how good it would have been if you took 15!’” How Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor snuck an obscure metal track into a Hollywood blockbuster
Cult Of Luna leader Johannes Persson has explained how Nine Inch Nails mainman Trent Reznor snuck a song by his old metal band Khoma into a blockbuster film. The Swedish singer/guitarist, who works as a casting director when he isn’t walloping audiences with post-metal, was in charge of wrangling extras for 2011’s The Girl With…
-

Aerosmith & Friends at the Hollywood Bowl – the full setlist from a historic night in Tinseltown
It’s been 1147 days since Aerosmith last stepped onto the stage together, and more than six years since drummer Joey Kramer was part of the package. Since abandoning the Peace Out… Farewell Tour after just three shows in 2023 – when frontman Steven Tyler suffered vocal cord injuries and a fractured larynx during a show…
-

Primal Scream hang red meat on their musical bones on The Bunker Trilogy
Although they’ll forever be associated with the hedonism of Screamadelica, the so-called Bunker Trilogy – named after their then recording studio in London – was where Primal Scream flexed their muscles and hung red meat on their musical bones. Derided as ‘dance traitors’ in the wake of the Stones-cribbing Give Out But Don’t Give Up,…
-

Frank Zappa vs David Bowie – the bitch-by-bitch account: “That’s the music business,” says Adrian Belew
David Bowie’s bid to persuade guitarist Adrian Belew to leave Frank Zappa’s band in 1978 included a series of bitchy interactions between the big stars, as the future King Crimson guitarist recalls. He’d been with Zappa for around a year when Brian Eno heard him perform and tipped off Bowie, who was looking for a…
-

Foo Fighters release 29-year-old cover of Gerry Rafferty’s classic Baker Street
Foo Fighters have delved into the deeper recesses of their back catalogue to release a cover of Gerry Rafferty‘s 1978 classic Baker Street. The Foo’s version of Baker Street was first released in November 1997 on a limited-edition EP accompanying the album The Colour And The Shape, alongside covers of songs by Killing Joke, Prince…
-

System Of A Down’s John Dolmayan has just spent $825,000 on a comic book
System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan, who is also the proprietor of Torpedo Comics, a store in Irvine, CA, and the publisher of two comic books, Ascensia and Dead Samurai, has purchased a copy of what’s been described as the “Mona Lisa of books”: the first issue of Action Comics. Dolmayan purchased the comic,…
-

“His music took on elements of jazz, funk and soul while never obscuring his first love, the blues.” Nine BB King albums you should listen to
At the time of BB King’s death in May 2015, the man born Riley B King in mid-20s Mississippi was the undisputed King Of The Blues. The ‘Blues Boy’ survived brutal racism, extreme poverty and even a brief association with U2 to endure as the ambassador for a style of music that has defied being…
-

“I have tremendous respect for the band’s legacy, but I’m even more excited about what lies ahead.” Skid Row announce new frontman with cover of The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again
Skid Row have found their new frontman. The New Jersey veterans have announced that Justin Sargent, a Broadway star who’s starred in productions of Rock of Ages, Bonnie & Clyde and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, has been picked for the role after “months of conversations, rehearsals, and time spent together.” Sargent has also worked…
-

Avenged Sevenfold’s Zacky Vengeance defends generative AI
Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Zacky Vengeance has defended the use of generative AI – in a statement he says was at least partially written by generative AI. The 44-year-old, who co-founded his Grammy-nominated heavy metal band in 1999, has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to reply to a fan who said that AI-generated artwork can “kick…
-

Hardcore newcomers Haywire got shut down by the NYPD
The nu metal renaissance is in full swing, and it seems its not just the style and fashion that’s made a comeback. Relative hardcore newcomers Haywire tried to film a guerilla gig at New York’s Times Square, but soon found themselves bringing another tradition back: getting their stunt ended by the police. Well, if it’s…
-

Blink-182, Korn, Alice In Chains, Judas Priest, Pierce The Veil, Papa Roach and Bad Omens among the more than 150 acts announced for Welcome To Rockville 2027
Korn, Blink-182, Judas Priest, Alice In Chains, Pierce The Veil and Bad Omens are among the more than 150 artists confirmed for Florida heavy metal festival Welcome To Rockville next year. The four-day weekender will return to Daytona International Speedway from May 6 to 9, with Korn headlining the opening Thursday, Bad Omens topping the…
-

“Veil” by Photographer Jennilee Marigomen
Jennilee Marigomen Jennilee Marigomen’s Website Jennilee Marigomen on Instagram
-

U2 add UK and European dates to 2027 world tour, humbly entitled The Greatest Show On Earth
U2 have added to their 2027 The Greatest Show On Earth touring plans, putting 12 dates in the UK and Europe to the itinerary. The Irish rock legends will hit the road from April to July, promoting their upcoming album Carnaval de Luz. The tour starts with two dates at Strawberry Arena in Stockholm on…
-

Eloy Casagrande has finished recording drums for Slipknot’s new album: “we have a lot of songs!”
Eloy Casagrande has finished laying down drum tracks for Slipknot’s long-awaited eighth studio album. Talking to ex-Stray From The Path drummer Craig Reynolds on the Downbeat podcast, the Brazilian drummer, who joined Slipknot in 2024, says that the band have “a lot of songs” in the bank. He calls the process of making his first…
-

Maynard James Keenan was dared to become the singer of Tool: “I was being critical about things. It was like, ‘If you think you can do better…’”
Tool singer Maynard James Keenan has revealed that he joined the Los Angeles progressive metal stars following a dare from someone he knew. Talking in the new issue of Metal Hammer, the 62-year-old says that he was criticising the local alternative music scene when someone “challenged” him to do it better himself, essentially telling him…
-

“Rod Stewart was pissed. I thought, ‘That’s something I could do!’” Fish and the making of Marillion
In 2016 former Marillion vocalist Fish confirmed he was beginning to wind down his musical career. Even though it would take longer than he’d expected, his announcement was the ideal opportunity to look back on what he’d achieved over the previous four decades, including his earliest days, his first artistic ventures and Marillion’s faltering steps…
-
How do I exorcise a nightmare client and ensure they don’t rise from the dead?
With Halloween almost upon us, we’ve picked a Dear Boom missive that reads like the opening of a horror film. A creative writes: “I’ve been working with a client for nearly two years. Every job starts as ‘something really simple’. The brief changes halfway through. Finished projects come back from the dead. And somehow, I…
-

Henry Chalfant’s legendary New York subway graffiti photos pull into Amsterdam at life size
Amsterdam’s Straat offers a masterclass in the tricky balancing act of bringing graffiti out of the streets and into the museum: its new show of Henry Chalfant’s sublime documentation of New York’s nascent 1980s scene does it beautifully. The art world, and society far more broadly, has had a tempestuous relationship with “street art” over…
-
How do I exorcise a nightmare client and ensure they don’t rise from the dead?
With Halloween almost upon us, we’ve picked a Dear Boom missive that reads like the opening of a horror film. A creative writes: “I’ve been working with a client for nearly two years. Every job starts as ‘something really simple’. The brief changes halfway through. Finished projects come back from the dead. And somehow, I…
-

A new Halloween game turns your unread emails into zombies you can actually kill
The Unread is a free, gory browser game that hooks into your Gmail, and every zombie you take down is a spam email you’ll never have to see again. I’m going to be honest with you. I’m no fan of the horror genre. Scary movies stress me out. And I don’t much enjoy video games…
-

Why Studio Atipus designed a wine label to look like it’s been shot from a speeding train
The design for Maria Rigol Ordi’s first still wine takes the name’s literal meaning and runs with it. Creatives often wax lyrical about finding inspiration in the most unlikely of places: a rusty shipping container, a 1970s cookbook, the pattern on their nan’s old curtains. All of which is lovely. But sometimes the best, most…
-

Dave Hill brings less noise on debut solo album Dirty Foot Lane
No one could accuse Slade‘s Dave Hill of rushing into this. Dirty Foot Lane, his debut solo album, arrives six months after his 80th birthday and precipitously late in a career during which he was happiest pulling on outrageous outfits to ‘sell’ hits others had written. But now Superyob reinvents his capacity to shock and…
-

The Who By Numbers: Now expanded, still teetering on the edge
Released bang in the middle of their brown flares and Brandy Alexander era, The Who’s seventh album is one of the most depressed musical statements ever released by a major rock act. Whereas their previous record, Quadrophenia, was an attempt to reconnect with what The Who meant to their audience – and vice versa –…
-

Everything Under The Sun finds Nickelback refusing to tread water
A band’s popularity peaks and fades. And should they happen to find themselves the subjects of ridicule, then that peaks and fades, too. But for Nickelback, the days of disdain are over. More pressingly, they need to re-evaluate: this eleventh album is their response to 2022’s Get Rollin’ becoming their first album this century to…
-

En route from the underworld, Queens Of The Stone Age show darkness and restraint on Perfecth
Most desert rock bands would be out of the crypt like a rocket. But when Queens Of The Stone Age descended into Paris Catacombs to record last year’s acoustic live record and shoot Alive In The Catacombs to an audience of skulls, they clearly unearthed something primal in themselves down there with the dead. Rather…
-

Madness announce reissues of first five studio albums
Madness have announced the reissue of their first five studio albums. The new editions of One Step Beyond… (1979), Absolutely (1980), 7 (1981), The Rise & Fall (1982) and Keep Moving (1984) will be released on January 29 on 180g black vinyl, strictly limited edition 180g coloured vinyl and CD. The five albums chart the…
-

U2 announce intimate BBC gig to take place in London: here’s how you could get tickets
U2 will perform an exclusive concert for BBC Music next month. The performance, recorded at an indoor central London venue in front of a select audience of fans on November 3, will see the Irish band perform songs from across their extensive catalogue, alongside new tracks from their forthcoming album, Carnaval de Luz. A limited…
-

The Who’s Pete Townshend on the birth of heavy metal, Black Sabbath, Hendrix, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin
Pete Townshend has shared his thoughts as to whether The Who should be acknowledged as one of the godfathers of heavy metal. The question arose during Townshend’s appearance on the Classic Album Review podcast, when host Barry Robinson referenced the evolution of heavy metal and noted that “everyone cites Black Sabbath as being the band…
-

Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath reign supreme in new concert movie (review)
It’s no overstatement to say that Back To The Beginning was the biggest metal gig of all time. From 21st Century stars (Mastodon, Gojira, Halestorm) to best-selling metal giants (Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Anthrax), it was a huge celebration of heavy metal over the past half century, all topped off by the final performances…
-

“I’ve done Genesis, ELP, Yes and King Crimson. It’s cool”: Arjen Lucassen’s rules for his Ayreon album guest lists
In 2013 Arjen Lucassen’s Ayreon released eighth album The Theory Of Everything. As ever it was a star-studded studio project, this time featuring Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett and John Wetton, among others. That year Lucassen demonstrated a little bit of the character that drove such productions. In a competition to find the most…
-

Ozzy Osbourne’s final show Back To The Beginning to be immortalised as live album, CD and Blu-ray in December
On the same day that Ozzy Osbourne & Black Sabbath: Back To The Beginning hits cinemas, a home release for the concert film depicting the Prince Of Darkness’s final performance has been announced. On December 11, producers Mercury Studios will put out box-sets immortalising the all-day show at Birmingham’s Villa Park, which took place on…
-

Artist Spotlight: Alina-Ondine Slimovschi
Alina-Ondine Slimovschi Alina-Ondine Slimovschi’s Website Alina-Ondine Slimovschi on Instagram
-

Have dinner with Yes and Asia’s Geoff Downes
Ever wanted to sit down for dinner with Geoff Downes and ask him that question that’s been burning away for ages? Well now you can… The Yes, Asia and Downes Braide Association musician will be the guest of honour at the inaugural Dinner For David, part of the David Longdon Foundation‘s new series of intimate,…
-

“My wife can send me to get milk and I’ll come back with a handbag! My brain is just too full”: Adam Wakeman on working with his dad Rick, playing Black Sabbath jazz style, War Of The Worlds, and loads of bands
Wizards, alien invasions, jazz metal, Grammy awards and jazz trios: Adam Wakeman can do it all – just. He tells Prog why it’s so important to work with his dad Rick, what’s happening with his Damian Wilson collaborations, and the biggest project of his already-busy next two years. When your father is one of the…
-

Royal portrait painter swaps palaces for a Barnsley chippy, a Catford corner shop and a pub run by ‘Slugger’
In Coca-Cola’s latest campaign, four independent business owners get something usually reserved for kings and queens: an oil-on-canvas portrait by artists who’ve sat opposite the late Queen, King Charles and Princess Anne. Before the camera came along, only the very rich could afford to have themselves immortalised in oils. I’m talking royalty, aristocrats, and the…
-

How Mother Design turned a séance into a new identity for Purple Garden
The London studio began rebranding the psychic services platform with a chakra reading and a little charcoal, and the result is a rich, purple-hued brand world that feels alive. It’s almost Halloween, so forgive me if, on discovering that a branding project began with a séance, I immediately thought of that brilliant ‘Day-O’ dinner party…
-

Tom Hegen explores the landscapes that are paying an invisible price for clean energy
In his new book The Mineral Age, Tom Hagen takes aerial photographs of the mineral mines essential to our transition to low-carbon living. Everyone knows about the climate crisis. It’s almost impossible to go a day without the news reporting on record-breaking phenomena; or, if you’re unlucky, you’ll experience the consequences first-hand. We all know…
-

Span’s identity for Illinois Department of Human Rights turns a common piece of punctuation into a rallying cry
Inspired by the posters and placards of past civil rights movements, the rebrand makes people’s rights easier to see and use. Since 1980, the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) has investigated discrimination in employment, housing, financial institutions, and public spaces based on race, sex, disability, religion, national origin, and age. The organisation has now…
-

Tony Iommi looks back on Black Sabbath’s stormy history and forward to his latest solo adventure
It’s a glorious summer’s day in rural England, and there’s a party of Japanese tourists outside Tony Iommi’s house. Instead of pointing their smartphone cameras at his place, they photograph the honey limestone walls and horse chestnut trees lining this picturesque village street, unaware that the godfather of heavy metal is nearby. As a tour…
-

Cheap Trick have reportedly cancelled all of next year’s tour dates
Cheap Trick have reportedly cancelled next year’s scheduled tour dates and are to go on hiatus. While the band have not publicly confirmed that they’re taking a break, several venues scheduled to host shows in 2027 have cancelled those performances. Cheap Trick are scheduled to resume their All Washed Up tour next week in Fort…
-

Every song on Never Mind The Bollocks ranked from worst to best
Despite having released only one single by that point, by the spring of 1977 The Sex Pistols were the biggest news in British music. And yet the punk movement’s most high-profile standard bearers still had to prove to a lot of rock fans that punk had some musical substance to back up the hype. The…
-

Ronnie Wood didn’t know if his old bandmates were still alive when he wanted them
When Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood formed a band for this year’s Fealess tour, he returned to two of the musicians who played on his 1974 debut solo release, I’ve Got My Own Album To Do: bassist Willie Weeks and drummer Andy Newmark. In a new interview with Rolling Stone Brazil, Wood reveals one of…
-

Watch the video for Dracula, Lita Ford’s first new music in a decade
Lita Ford has released her first new music in more than a decade. The former Runaway, who hasn’t released an album since Time Capsule, 2016’s album of lost recordings, has launched a new, Halloween-friendly single, Dracula, and promises more to follow. “Dracula is a song about an entity that represents seduction and control, eventually draining…
-

U2’s The Edge on finding your voice as a musician
U2 guitarist The Edge might not be everyone’s idea of a conventional ‘guitar hero’, but the 65-year-old musician has influenced generations of guitar players with his unique approach to the instrument, and his admirable determination not to rest on his laurels as a musician. “We genuinely think that we might just write the best song…
-

Kiss announce End Of The Road documentary
Kiss are to release a new documentary covering their farewell tour. Directed by DJ Viola, Kiss: End Of The Road will debut on the band’s web site KissOnline.com with a special live streaming event on November 19. The band’s farewell tour began on January 31, 2019 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, and ended…
-

Get in the Halloween spirit by having Kirk Hammett read you Edgar Allen Poe, soundtracked by a Metallica song
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has helped usher in Halloween by reading The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. On Tuesday (October 27), San Francisco’s thrash metal giants got their lead guitarist and resident horror hound to chill fans with the 1845 poem, long a staple of Gothic literature, soundtracked by the song Inamorata from their 2023 album…
-

Korn just played their first UK show since headlining Download last year – see the setlist and watch videos here
Korn have returned to the British Isles for the first time since headlining Download festival in June 2025. The Bakersfield nu metal pioneers put on their first of six shows in England and the Republic Of Ireland on Monday (October 26), where they played an 18-song set including such 90s hits as Blind, Freak On…
-

“Proof Without Claim” by Photographer Benjamin Jossinet
Benjamin Jossinet Benjamin Jossinet’s Website Benjamin Jossinet on Instagrm
-

Hollywood stars Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams debate the ethics of wearing band T-shirts
Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, the stars of director Taika Waititi’s new film Klara and the Sun, have been undertaking an extensive promotional campaign for the film in the UK, presumably to help distract potential cinema goers from some of the appalling reviews the film has received. As part of their media chores during a…
-

Turnstile raise more than $200,000 for humanitarian causes following benefit concert at the Washington Monument
Punk rock sensations Turnstile have raised more than $200,000 (£150,000) for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, Sudan and Lebanon following a benefit concert near the Washington Monument, which was attended by an estimated 60,000 people. The Baltimore Grammy-winners put on a free show at the National Mall in Washington DC on Saturday, October 24, where they…
-

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson announces 2027 European solo tour dates
Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson has announced a string of European and UK tour dates for summer, autumn and winter 2026. The mercurial frontman will hit the road with his solo band on the Psychogod tour from June to July, where he’ll play headline dates and a number of festival sets. He’ll return to the…
-

The dreamscapes and space trips behind the Flaming Lips’ American Head
The Flaming Lips released 16th album American Head during the confusion of Covid in 2020. It was their second LP in 18 months, but there was been a period of silence until they announced the 2027 arrival of The Teardrop Throbs. Back at the turn of the decade, band leader Wayne Coyne explained the autobiographical…
-

The best new typefaces for October 2026
From an industrial slab named after a hardness scale to a display face woven from memories of lace, this October brings a bumper crop of new typefaces. Is it that time already? The clocks have gone back, the weather is getting colder and wetter, and the countdown to 25 December has begun in earnest. But…
-

Socialist Hotels: relive the concrete dreams of the Soviet era with these beautiful photos
A new photo book documents the hospitality architecture behind the Iron Curtain. We all dream of staying in a luxurious hotel fit for royalty. Most of us settle for something half-decent, as long as it’s affordable. Either way, we don’t really expect to be surprised by the architecture: these days, even the best hotels are…
-

César Cid turns famous artists into letters in his playful alphabet series
The creative lead at CESS has created a fun new Artphabet featuring 26 notable artists. It’s a testament to an artist’s talent that their paintings can be abstracted and remain recognisable. César Cid proves this point 26 times over in The Artphabet, a 3D typographic series that turns famous artworks into letters matching their creators’…
-

Uncommon’s rebrand of global powerhouse White & Case ditches every law firm cliché
Uncommon Creative Studio’s visual identity swaps corporate restraint for kinetic type. We find out more. For decades now, it feels like there’s been an unspoken rule about law firm branding. That these are serious institutions and demand serious, conservative-with-a-small-c visual identities. You might think of sober serifs, a navy blue palette, stock photography of gleaming…
-

Take a trip back to Perth’s rave scene in Simon Wright’s design retrospective
Drawing on the Future is a two-volume series that documents the Australian city’s underground music scene at the turn of the millennium. It may be hard to believe, but it’s been 26 years since we entered a new millennium. And while it may feel like yesterday, the late 90s and early 2000s were a wildly…
-

Eddie Vedder and Steven Wilson Jr. release stunning version of Temple Of The Dog’s Hunger Strike
Last month, Eddie Vedder and Friends headlined the opening night of Vedder’s Ohana Fest in Dana Point, California, but the Pearl Jam frontman returned to the festival the following night to guest with country and rock singer-songwriter Steven Wilson Jr. Much to the delight of those lucky enough to be in attendance, Vedder sidled onto…
-

Neil Young files $10m lawsuit against Donald Trump over use of Rockin’ In The Free World at rally
Singer-songwriter Neil Young has sued one of US President Donald Trump‘s political action committees, Trump 47 Committee Inc., over its use of his song Rockin’ In The Free World at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, earlier this month. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District…
-

Anika Nilles reveals how she had to change her technique as she learned Neil Peart’s drum parts
Drummer Anika Nilles has revealed how she had to transform her technique as she learned to play Neil Peart‘s iconic drum parts in advance of Rush‘s ongoing Fifty Something tour. “I love to be challenged,” says Nilles, in a video filmed for Rolling Stone Canada. “So for me, it was just like I wanted to…
-

God, werewolves, Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett: The Flaming Lips announce first album in six years
Psychedelic Oklahomans The Flaming Lips have announced The Teardrop Throbs, their 17th studio album and their first since 2020’s American Head. The album will be released via Third Man Records on January 22, and is the band’s first since the departure of longtime members Michael Ivins in 2021 and Steven Drozd three years later. The…
-

Santana announce Planet of Free Will Global Tour
Santana have launched a world tour for 2027. The Planet of Free Will Global Tour will launch with a run of European shows in June and July, kicking off at the O2 in London on June 30 and wrapping up at the Kaivopuisto Blues in Helsinki on July 31. “Our intention, motives and purpose is…
-

“Can’t wait to see you there!” Tedeschi Trucks Band announce 2027 residency at New York’s Beacon Theatre
Tedeschi Trucks Band have announced the details of next year’s annual residency at the Beacon Theatre in New York. The collective will play ten nights in March and April, kicking off on March 16 and wrapping up on April 3. “We’re excited to return to The Beacon for 10 nights next year and can’t wait…
-

Sex Pistols/PiL legend John Lydon to release photo book, Archive
John Lydon has announced the forthcoming release of Archive, a new photographic memoir documenting his life and career. Available for pre-order from the singer’s website, the book provides “an unprecedented, deeply personal retrospective spanning five decades of cultural revolution”, according to a press statement. The statement adds: “Archive brings together exclusive, previously unseen photographs from…
-

Red Hot Chili Peppers laid bare in revealing new book from top British photographer
Red Hot Chili Peppers are the subject of a revealing new book from leading British photographer Tony Woolliscroft, who has been given unparalleled behind-the-scenes access to the band for over 25 years. Published by Cassell, Red Hot Chili Peppers: 25 Years Unseen on Tour collates more than 200 images of the band from Woolliscroft’s archive,…
-

International Assembly 2026: Glasgow’s festival returns with a secret stage and a night in a castle
Here’s everything you need to know about the November event. We get it: it’s cold, raining, and you just want to stay inside for the next six months. But you know, in your heart of hearts, this only leads to misery. And if you can get to Glasgow this November, there’s an event that’s purpose-made…
-

Artist Spotlight: Michelle Ramin
Michelle Ramin Michelle Ramin’s Website Michelle Ramin on Instagram
-

“My hope is that we start thinking of ourselves as global citizens.” Peter Gabriel shares latest single, Who Are We Talking To?
Peter Gabriel recently announced that he will release his latest studio album, oi, on November 27 through his Real World label. And he’s just shared the latest single from what will be his eleventh studio album, Who Are We Talking To?. “Who Are We Talking To? was conceived as something that might encourage activism,” Gabriel…
-

Phoebe Bridgers announced as first headline artist for All Points East festival 2027
Phoebe Bridgers has been announced as the first headline act for next year’s All Poiints East festival in London. The US singer/songwriter’s debut performance at Victoria Park in East London on Friday August 27 will be the biggest headline show she has ever undertaken. The supporting bill will feature Caroline Polachek, Kelsey Lu, Danielle Ponde…
-

Steven Wilson announces Requiem For A Village event with Al Murray and shares new video for A Basket Of Bees
Steven Wilson has shared a video for his new single, A Basket Of Bees, which is the third track he’s released from his upcoming ninth studio album, Requiem For A Village, which he released through Fiction Records on November 6. The video is part of a series of “Village Hall Sessions”, which sees tracks from…
-

Musical comedown? Movie template? Untoppable creative peak? The Who’s Quadrophenia is a prog classic
In 2012 Prog stated the case for The Who’s Quadrophenia to be seen as a prog concept classic alongside the genre’s other great releases of 1973. The Who’s sixth album is many things to many people. To some it’s the musical comedown that followed the R&B-infused mod scene of the early 60s. To others it’s…
-

Lego and Daft Punk’s team-up highlights exactly how brands should interact with fans
From a cryptic teaser to a fan-designed set, this latest partnership is a masterclass in treating your audience as collaborators. Remember the old days, when companies were obsessed with nothing more than competing with each other? Sometimes this could be thrilling. For instance, when I freelanced for music magazine NME back in the 90s, I…
-

Stocksy’s 2027 Visual Insights Report explores why some images connect with audiences so well
In an era when any image can be generated, Stocksy’s annual report argues that representation is no longer enough. So what is? The secret, it appears, lies in five small prepositions. Search your typical stock library for “couple walking on beach at sunset” and thousands of options will magically appear. Most will be bland and…
-

This floating sauna’s brand uses a simple typographic trick to stunning effect
DutchScot’s identity for Fjord, a sauna and cold plunge on San Francisco Bay, makes hot and cold its defining idea. Personally, I really don’t like saunas. The idea of baking your body in a small, suffocating oven, then shocking it by plunging into ice-cold water, appeals to me neither in theory nor in practice. But…
-

Michelle Gruppetta’s riso-printed animation reveals what sound sensitivity actually feels like
The Maltese animator’s debut short, Misophonia, combines risograph printing and an uncomfortable soundscape to draw us into a very different world. For most of us, sounds like people slurping, chewing or sniffing can be a little irritating. But there’s a world between that experience and suffering from misophonia: an aural disorder where specific sounds can…
-

The Cult make a career move on Sonic Temple and are briefly promoted to the Big Time
The Cult: Sonic Temple (Image credit: Beggars Banquet) Sun KingFire WomanAmerican HorseEdie (Ciao Baby)Sweet Soul SisterSoul AsylumNew York CityAutomatic BluesSoldier BlueWake Up Time for Freedom Sonic Temple was The Cult in their pomp, their ultimate bid to become the biggest band on the planet. They didn’t manage it, but they did leave behind this glorious…
-

Classic Rock Tracks Of The Week: October 26, 2026
Our Tracks Of The Week contest has been a fixture on this website for more than 13 years, bringing you somewhere north of 5000 different tracks, and this week, it was Erk Grönwall’s turn to celebrate as his new single Written In The Scars became the latest track to triumph in rock’n’roll’s premiere weekly song…
-

Greta Van Fleet’s Josh Kiszka reflects on the hate that greeted the band’s early success
Greta Van Fleet frontman Josh Kiszka has reflected on the dismay with which his band’s early success was greeted by some members of the rock fraternity. In an exclusive interview in the current edition of Classic Rock magazine, Kiszka recalls the reaction to GVF’s breakthrough, when the band’s soaring popularity was accompanied by a very…
-

Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp launch their most terrifying Sunday Lunch video yet
Internet sensations Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp have released their most terrifying video yet. The pair’s latest Sunday Lunch video finds them in full Halloween mode, with Willcox dressed as a witch and Fripp wearing the kind of mask that suggests he’d be up for replacing Jim Root in Slipknot. The lively pair choose an…
-

How Cancer Bats are surviving the music industry on their own terms
On April 21, 2025, Cancer Bats woke to the sound of jets. They were staying at a hotel next to Indianapolis airport after a sweaty show at the city’s Black Circle Brewing Company. They were just four days into a 26-date tour and everything was going great. Well, it was until the band walked outside…
-

AI Ozzy won’t be “selling cell phones” insists Jack Osbourne
Jack Osbourne says he shoulders the blame for the backlash to controversial plans to produce an AI version of his late father Ozzy. When the digital Ozzy was announced, Jack said his father “would be into” it. He and his mother Sharon later stressed that it was not the ghoulish cash grab that some fans…
-

Only members of The Clergy will get 100% right in this Ghost quiz
Let us gather, beloved congregation, and kneel before the sacred altar of fact and trivia. How much do you know about Ghost? Do you know who’s who when it comes to the long lineage of those named Papa Emeritus? Will your devotion to being correct reward you with a place in The Clergy or will…
-

Two members down, Haken’s latest EP is a hint at where they’re going next. They hope you’ll go with them
Late last year, extra-curricular activities, personnel departures and concert cancellations inspired rumours that Haken might be no more. Fortunately they were false: the band are returned with new EP In A Fever Dream, their first new music since 2023’s Fauna, which features some very special guests. Vocalist Ross Jennings tells Prog about the band’s latest…
-

U2 reveal the unbroken promise that they made to one another as schoolboys in Ireland 50 years ago
U2 recently announced the forthcoming release of their 16th studio album, Carnaval de Luz, and the first dates of their provocatively titled The Carnaval De Luz Presents: The Greatest Show On Earth world tour. While the name of the tour is a very deliberate and knowing flex from the Dubliners – “It’s a dare, to…
-

My Chemical Romance hit with legal action over fake Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
The owners of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have taken legal action against My Chemical Romance after the emo band brought a troupe of ‘gun’-toting lookalike dancers onstage at a recent gig. The stunt occurred midway through the first show of the band’s five-night residency at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The dancers, clad in…
-

Ricky Warwick’s wild stories of Lemmy, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and more
July 11 this year was a red-letter day for Ricky Warwick. Not only did he get to play in front of tens of thousands of rock fans with The Almighty at Iron Maiden’s spectacular Eddfest at Knebworth, it was also his 60th birthday. Few 60-year-olds in rock’n’roll look so good – “It’s wonderful what a…
-

Steven Wilson thinks he knows why people love Angine de Poitrine… and why others don’t
Steven Wilson has weighed in on Angine de Poitrine, the Canadian math rock duo whose rapid rise to fame this year has been accompanied by an equal amount of naysaying. The pair, who perform under the noms du rock Khn de Poitrine and Klek de Poitrine, went viral in February this year after filming a…
-

Jack Bruce’s Harmony Row; more prog than you might know
In 2014 Prog explored former Cream member Jack Bruce’s third solo album, 1971’s Harmony Row, viewing it from the perspective of a concept album that took him far away from the blues rock he’d prevously been known for. “I sat at my Blüthner piano and played the thing from top to bottom,” said Jack Bruce,…
-

The chaos, controversy and beefs behind Slayer’s Reign In Blood
Slayer’s Reign In Blood is one of metal’s all-time Hall Of Fame Albums. Released in the United States on October 7, 1986, it was darker, colder and more malicious than anything that had come before, including Metallica’s equally monumental Master Of Puppets, which arrived earlier that year. Its scalpel-cold sonics and diabolically depraved lyrics set…
-

The Dutch art-prog band who believe more is more – including studio mistakes
“We always want to do something different with each record – to try to evolve, and see if we can bring something new to the table,” says Ingo Dassen, guitarist with Dutch art-prog collective Lesoir. Their new album, Tomorrow Is Now Today, marks the next leap forward in the group’s musical journey. Dassen describes 2024’s…
-

Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi was asked to write theme tune for new Shaun the Sheep film
Shaun the Sheep’s latest foray into Hollywood might have been significantly more metal if Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi had agreed to write the theme music. Iommi has revealed he was approached to contribute to the score for this year’s movie Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, but had to turn it down…
-

Test your knowledge with our Slipknot trivia quiz
Slipknot emerged from a darkened Des Moines basement over 30 years ago. In that time, they’ve caused total chaos, broken bones, and huffed jars of festering crows on the road to becoming a band to define a generation. But how much do you know about the Des Moines mob? Do you know more than the…
-

“There’s no real excuse”: Protest The Hero can’t explain why it took six years to release Within
Canadian prog metal elders Protest The Hero have returned with what’s described as their most expansive and ambitious work yet, after more than half a decade of unplanned absence. Within explores their revised line-up via a series of cinematic arrangements, orchestral interludes and bold melodic experimentation. Vocalist Rody Walker and guitarist Luke Hoskin discuss breaking…
-

The overlooked Deep Purple album that Ian Gillan loved and Ritchie Blackmore hated
Fireball is often treated as the awkward middle child of the Deep Purple Mark II catalogue, sandwiched between the twin classics In Rock and Machine Head. Yet it was with Fireball, written and recorded amid relentless touring, mounting commercial expectations, personal frustrations and a determination not to repeat themselves, that Deep Purple tested just how…
-

How Steven Wilson got a former Doctor Who to appear on his new album
Steven Wilson has revealed how he persuaded former Doctor Who star David Tennant to appear on his new album. Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor between 2005 and 2010, adds narration to the Porcupine Tree frontman’s ninth solo album, the folk horror-inspired Requiem For A Village. “In my head, I wanted an Irish or Scottish…
-

Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale picks her five essential guitar albums
“A great guitar album makes me want to pick up my guitar, crank my amp and play,” says Halestorm leader Lzzy Hale. “Not necessarily to learn a particular song; it’s more of an unquenchable desire to hear the break-up of the amp’s speakers, feel the strings press into my fingers and make my right hand…
-

Tony Iommi on writing metal’s greatest riff: “You never know when the magic’s going to strike”
As his new solo album From The Dark proves, Tony Iommi remains the king of the riff. The Dark Lord laid won the blueprint for an entire genre with the immortal riff that opens Black Sabbath’s eponymous 1970 debut album, an he’s not stopped since. When Metal Hammer conducted a poll in 2018 to find…
-

Nicko McBrain opens up about using heroin – and how he kicked it
Nicko McBrain has revealed that he dabbled with heroin in the late 1970s. The former Iron Maiden drummer, who has just released his autobiography, Hello Boys And Girls!, tells Classic Rock that he used the drug, but that he was “lucky” to never become addicted. “This was a period where I was introduced to the…
-

How Mastodon coped with the grief of two deaths and made their most cathartic album
For Mastodon, 2025 should’ve been a celebratory year. The American metal heroes embarked on a tour of Europe and the States to mark their 25th anniversary, a schedule that included London’s Finsbury Park bonanza with Slayer and Anthrax, plus Black Sabbath’s grand send-off Back To The Beginning. But everything changed in late August, when they…
-

Slaughter To Prevail’s Alex Terrible shares new views on masculinity, hopes to inspire others to face fears
Slaughter To Prevail frontman Alex Terrible has shared how his attitude to masculinity has evolved, and says that he wants to inspire others to confront their weaknesses and fears. Terrible, who lists bear-wrestling and bareknuckle fighting among his hobbies, has previously espoused ideas about masculinity which have attracted controversy: a 2023 video from the singer…
-

Machine Head, Floor Jansen and Delain are among the best new metal songs this week
Thank god for the weekend! It’s feeling like winter is rapidly approaching this week, but we’re not quite at the end of year yet with plenty of brilliant new albums to sink our teeth into as we hit the penultimate week of October. That in mind, here’s the results of last week’s vote! Blackgold brought…
-

“We were invisible and insignificant. When nobody pays any attention to you, you realise how mortal you are. That’s why teenagers that are troubled are drawn to death.” The story behind My Chemical Romance’s world-conquering masterpiece The Black Parade
In the summer of 2006, My Chemical Romance came to England to play Reading and Leeds festivals, and to tease their forthcoming third album, The Black Parade, with a special headline show at Hammersmith Palais in west London on August 22. That night the New Jersey emo quintet gave live debuts to two songs from…
-

Kalandra: “I wasn’t a fan of the Beatles, but going into that audition, I said, ‘This has been my dream forever!’”
Whenever she’s anxious or stressed, Katrine Stenbekk has the same dream. The Norwegian vocalist is paralysed as she feels her bedsheets being pulled away from her; she then floats out the window and hears the voices of female relatives both living and dead, urging her to join them somewhere she can’t see. “I’ve started to…
-

“Marvelous Problems” by Artist Emanuela Lekić
Emanuela Lekić Emanuela Lekić on Instagram
-

Billy Corgan cites his Christianity as a reason for maintaining his friendship with Marilyn Manson
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has spoken about his friendship with Marilyn Manson, and explained why he has stood behind Manson in the face of the on-going sexual assault lawsuits which the singer faces. In 2021, more than a dozen woman accused Manson of sexual abuse/sexual assault, in the wake of allegations made by actress…
-

John Carpenter picks the records that changed his life
John Carpenter is a true master of horror. From genre-defining classics like Halloween and The Thing, to thrillers like Assault On Precinct 13 and Escape From New York, all the way to the fantasy-comedy of Big Trouble In Little China, Carpenter has created some of cinema’s most enduring movies. Although he hasn’t directed a movie…
-

Get Steven Wilson’s Requiem For A Village in Dark Green vinyl with an exclusive art print. Pre-order yours now!
Prog has teamed up with Steven Wilson and Fiction Records to celebrate the upcoming release of Wilson’s ninth studio album, Requiem For A Village, which is released on November 6. Get a limited-edition dark green vinyl variant of Requiem For A Village, plus a 12″ x 12″ exclusive art print, plus a copy of the…
-

Witch burnings, break-ins and trailer park theatre shows: meet the real Maria Brink
Maria Brink was bitten by the music bug at an early age. “My mama loved music,” she says, recalling her first gig when she was just five years old. “We’d be out on the lawn seats, and I got to see Stevie Nicks.” Since then, she has become one of the most vivid and intriguing…
-

British bluesman Robin Davey launches new album with damning criticism of modern blues
British bluesman Robin Davey, known for his work with Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse, The Hoax and Well Hung Heart, has launched a stunning attack on modern blues music. Davey, the youngest ever inductee into the British Blues Hall of Fame, singles out blues superstar Joe Bonamassa for special attention in a social media…
-

How Genesis recruited Steve Hackett after nearly breaking up
Genesis’ future was very far from guaranteed when co-founding guitarist Anthony Phillips decided to leave the band in 1971. After making the decision not to break up, Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks set about creating a new line-up. The arrival of Phil Collins made a big difference, then the recruitment of Steve Hackett…
-

Joanne Shaw Taylor pushes herself as a performer and writer on the dazzling The Trouble With Love
The most appropriate way to describe Joanne Shaw Taylor’s career arc, from being discovered by Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart at 16 to topping the Billboard Blues Album chart in the US, would be with a phrase coined by BB King: she’s paid the cost to be the boss. By the age of 25 she’d supported King,…
-

“I thought of me hitting the car’s windscreen.” Deep Purple launch performance video for Splat!
Rock icons Deep Purple have released a video for the irresistibly groovy title track of this year’s Splat! album, which was released in July. Earlier this year, Purple frontman Ian Gillan told Classic Rock that ‘Splat!‘ was a word he’d scribbled in a notebook years ago as a potential album title after thinking about the…
-

That long-awaited documentary about Fleetwood Mac will finally premiere early next year
Apple TV’s long-awaited documentary about Fleetwood Mac is finally ready to hit the small screen. Fleetwood Mac: The Chain, which was announced in November 2024, will premiere on January 29, 2027, and features contributions from Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, the late Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The release is timed to celebrate the…
-

“We’d been waiting for it to happen. We said yes immediately”: Transatlantic’s unexpected return with The Whirlwind
When Neal Morse left prog supergroup Transatlantic to pursue his religious callings, fans and band alike thought it was all over. But in 2009 he, The Flower Kings’ Roine Stolt, Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy and Marillion’s Pete Trewavas returned with third album The Whirlwind, to both surprise and acclaim. That year Morse and Stolt told…
-

The story behind the Foo Fighters’ cursed Million Dollar Demos
On the weekend of August 18/19, 2001, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers co-headlined the UK’s V festivals, playing to crowds of 50,000 music fans at Weston Park in Staffordshire, and Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex. Both bands were flying high on the success of the shows, but on the morning of August 20,…
-

Queens of the Stone Age announce US tour with Pixies in support
Queens Of The Stone Age have announced an American tour in support of their forthcoming album, Perfecth. The dates will follow on from the Los Angeles-based band’s previously announced South America shows. Beginning on May 1 at San Diego’s Viejas Arena, the tour takes in iconic venues such as Red Rocks in Denver and the…
-

Cliff Burton’s ex-bandmate remembers the late Metallica bassist’s prodigious talent
Old friends and bandmates of Cliff Burton have looked back at the late Metallica bassist’s prodigious talent in conversation with Metal Hammer. Talking exclusively in our latest issue, Mike Overton – the guitarist in Burton’s first professional band, Trauma – remembers the Castro Valley, California native as his “stage buddy”. However, he reveals that Burton’s…
-

Korn, Blink-182, Iron Maiden, Faith No More, Turnstile, The Prodigy and more confirmed for Sonic Temple Festival 2027 as full lineup is revealed
Sonic Temple festival has announced its full lineup for 2027’s edition, and it’s packing another absolute monster of a bill. One of the world’s biggest rock and metal festivals, which will take place May 13-16 2027 at the Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, will be headlined by Blink-182, Falling In Reverse and Korn, joining…
-

“The Sum Is Greater Than Its Parts” by Photographer Tara Behruz
Tara Behruz Tara Behruz on Instagram
-

The Offspring guitarist Noodles to step away from touring for health reasons
The Offspring‘s guitarist Noodles has announced that he is to step back from touring with the band as he deals with a health matter. The 63-year-old guitarist, real name Kevin Wasserman, shared his statement in social media post yesterday, October 21. “It is with deep sadness that I have to announce that I need to…
-

Murder, obsession and Victorian art: the story of Queen’s The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke
From the very beginning, Queen knew they wanted their second album to be “big”. Both in musical ambition and thematic grandiosity, 1974’s Queen II, as guitarist Brian May noted, enclosed a “whole world”. Though not strictly tied to a concept, it grew from a myriad of influences, from classical literature to chess imagery and Victorian…
-

Rehab, religion and slaughtered chickens: an audience with Alice Cooper
There are two sides to every story, and Alice Cooper just happens to be on both of them. Born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4, 1948, his creation of Alice Cooper – the larger-than-life villain inspired by 50s horror movies – helped to inject a bit of theatricality into rock’n’roll that has helped inspire everyone…
-

Apple Music’s new logo was shaped by Fred Again and a bath of mineral oil
Apple’s streaming service has rebranded for the first time since launch. Created with TBWAMedia Arts Lab, the new identity is full of ripples made by sound. We find out more. It’s hard to believe Apple Music launched in 2015 and hasn’t rebranded in the 11 years since. So when it finally got round to one,…
-

As Thought Bubble comic art festival turns 20, meet the indie creators who could be the next big thing
The organisers of the Yorkshire event pick the fresh names you shouldn’t miss this year. By definition, the big names in the creative world are few in number, and so we naturally tend to venerate them and think of them less as mere mortals and more as gods. And yet, if we can ever see…
-

Why is a creative agency in New York asking women to ‘send nudes’?
This provocative campaign turns a familiar online request into a powerful reminder. Call me a cynic. (Most journalists are, or at least the good ones.) But whenever anyone starts to wax lyrical about the liberating power of digital technology, I remind them that one of the things the internet is used for most is porn.…
-

Tony Iommi keeps the Black Sabbath flame burining on From The Dark
With Ozzy gone and Geezer and Bill all but retired, it falls to Tony Iommi to keep the flame of Black Sabbath burning. On this album, in tandem with Norwegian singer Jørn Lande, he does so in the style of the Ronnie James Dio-fronted lineup and the subsequent Heaven & Hell. Is it as good?…
-

“I don’t know what people were complaining about. They nailed it”: Dragonforce’s Herman Li on Dream Theater
In 2017 Dragonforce guitarist Herman Li told Prog how he discovered Dream Theater, and what becoming a member of their fan club had done for him. “I was born in Hong Kong and the pop music there was just awful. I just wasn’t into it. Then I heard guitar solos for the first time and…
-

Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain says he turned down the opportunity to play golf with Donald Trump
Iron Maiden drummer and longtime Florida resident Nicko McBrain has become the latest in a long line of musicians to express his dismay at Donald Trump’s US presidency. In a new interview with the Daily Telegraph, McBrain slams Trump and United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and reveals he turned down the opportunity to…
Got any book recommendations?