Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

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 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…

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’.

The former Monsta X singer will spend January criss-crossing ten US cities, with the promise of new music to follow his ‘Core’ EP.

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.

The Dublin singer’s haunting take on an Appalachian murder ballad lands days before her solo debut arrives via Rough Trade.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Montreal artist moves up to Village Underground in London and YES in Manchester as part of a North American, UK and European run.

The Melbourne four-piece will trek coast to coast from February into April, taking in Noise Pop, Innings and Treefort along the way.

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.

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.

The Dublin post-punks return to the US and Canada in April and May, with tickets on sale this Friday.

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.

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.

The metalcore band’s follow-up to 2023’s ‘SUPERBLOOM’ arrives on 29th January, led by ‘fangs!!’ with Thornhill’s Jacob Charlton.

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.

El Kempner’s fifth Palehound LP arrives via Polyvinyl in February, trailed by a Rachel Brown-directed video for lead single ‘Natural Disasters’.

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

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’.

The Budapest festival returns to Óbuda Island from 10th-14th August, with KATSEYE, Lola Young and Royel Otis also in the opening announcement.

The Brighton six-piece will play Belfast, Dublin and Limerick in February, their first Irish headline run on the back of July’s debut.

The Bristol band, now the two-piece of Bec and Nic, mark a new chapter ahead of three sold-out November headline shows.

The Wow! Signal tour now takes in Blackweir Fields on 23rd June, alongside previously confirmed stops at BST Hyde Park and Leeds’ Roundhay Festival.

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.…

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

The Nordic rework arrives alongside limited white label 12″ vinyl and newly announced 2027 tours in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

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.

Mattie Vant’s new solo project previews a four-track-recorded debut arriving on 4th December via Nordic Records.

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.…

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.

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.

The self-produced single arrives ahead of a run of UK and European dates next May, her largest headline tour so far.

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.

The Amsterdam trio’s new record arrives in March via Les Disques Bongo Joe and Mothland, with cover art by Charles Jeffrey of LOVERBOY.

The Canadian folk-pop songwriter releases her third album this Friday via Bonsound and will play four UK dates in February and March 2027.

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.

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.

The Nottingham band’s Matt Peel-produced EP lands on 24th February, with a Rough Trade Nottingham showcase pencilled in for later this month.

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.

The Manchester folk-rock quartet’s debut EP arrives on 27th November via Practise Music, following last month’s first single ‘Drive Away’.

The Chicago post-hardcore trio’s self-directed video sets up December’s 12″ split pairing their first two EPs.

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.

Amelie Lens pres. AURA, Sofia Isella and ADÉLA complete the latest batch for next summer’s festival in Belgium.

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.

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 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.…

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…

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…

“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…

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…

Bastille and Sugababes join as special guests, with Pikehall playing host from 29th July to 1st August 2027.

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.

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.

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,…

The Brighton six-piece reshape the traditional Scottish folk song ‘Loch Lomond’ into a menacing, sax-stalked ripper about complacency and historical amnesia.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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…

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.

‘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.

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.

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…

Forbes has valued the former Beatle’s fortune at approximately $1.4 billion, placing him behind only Jay-Z and Taylor Swift.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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.

Jack Antonoff’s organisation returns to New York’s Skirball Center on 15th December, with a matching $2M year-end fundraising goal.

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.

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.

With ‘Smoochies’, ASHNIKKO has swapped apocalyptic fury for radical joy, and their colourful fantasy is taking on a life of its own.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 Brazilian-Danish duo’s three-minute blast of girl-group harmonies and garage-rock snarl is the first taste of their next record.

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 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…

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 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.

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’.

The Glasgow-based, Cornwall-raised songwriter’s third preview of his twin December release pairs a chaotic synth riff with half-whispered verses.

It sounds like all the bands your favourite band wants to sound like (this is a good thing – Ed), and yet also, not?

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.

The follow-up to 2023’s ‘No Joy’ swaps interior reckoning for heartland rock aimed squarely at the state of the world.

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’.

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.

The Indianapolis band will land at London’s Moth Club on 9th March after a run through Brussels, Paris, Hamburg, Berlin and Amsterdam.

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.

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.

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.”

The six-piece have released ten tracks spanning disco-funk, hyperpop, electronic house and pop rock to celebrate their tenth anniversary.

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.

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 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…

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.

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…

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 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,…

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…

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…

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,…

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 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 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…

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…

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 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 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…

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 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…

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 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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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’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.…

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…

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:…

‘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,…

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…

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 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…

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 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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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 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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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’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 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…

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 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…

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…

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 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 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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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 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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

“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 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 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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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 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,”…

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…

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…

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,…

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 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 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,…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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 –…

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…

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 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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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 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 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…

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 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…

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…

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 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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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 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,…

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 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 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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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 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…

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,…

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…

“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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

“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…

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 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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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, 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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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?…

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 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…

Canadian duo Angine de Poitrine have announced a mammoth world tour for 2027. The microtonal math-rockers, who exploded into public consciousness a mere eight months ago after their session on Seattle radio station KEXP went viral, will kick things off in Australia before heading across the Pacific to South America for shows in Argentina, Chile,…

Sharon Osbourne says that she didn’t share doctors’ warnings about the potentially fatal consequences of her husband Ozzy Osbourne undertaking his farewell show with the other members of Black Sabbath. Last week, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Osbourne revealed that doctors in England had strongly advised Ozzy not to perform at the Back To…

Former Nightwish singer Floor Jansen isn’t a fan of her old symphonic metal band After Forever’s recent comeback being called a ‘reunion’. Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer before her shock Nightwish exit last week, the Dutch vocalist, who led After Forever from 1997 to 2009, says that it’s great people get to enjoy the seven-piece…

“I’ve been dreaming up a storm lately. I’ve been dreaming up a storm lately, and the entire city is burning. Look, you can see the colours dancing around the flames like the inside of a mad jukebox. Horny angels stalk the streets, looking for a little damnation and wearing nothing but the red badge of…

Former Killswitch Engage cohorts Howard Jones and Adam Dutkiewicz have reunited in new band Burn Eternal. The US tandem announced today (Wednesday, October 21) that they have inked a deal with heavy metal label Metal Blade Records and will release their first song soon. The news follows years of teases about the project and their…

After having moved on from The Teardrop Explodes, Julian Cope released his second solo album, Fried, in 1984. It was received with bewilderment and confusion by many, but in 2014 Prog argued that it should be seen as a rewarding – if flawed – prog-pop experiment. After a whirlwind four years fronting psychedelic-loving post-punks The…

Jean-Michel Jarre has announced UK and European dates for his Oxygene & Beyond tour, celebrating 50 years of his landmark Oxygene album, plus music from a forthcoming new album to be released in spring 2027. The tour will initially visit cities across Europe, including London’s O2 Arena and Manchester’s Co-op Live, with further concerts scheduled…

Five months ago, we watched as Angine de Poitrine – microtonal sensations from Saguenay, Quebec’s fertile DIY rock scene via…I dunno, somewhere in space – sent a jam-packed Electric Ballroom into a state of feverish glee. Since then they’ve raked up millions more streams, made their US talk-show debut (The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon)…

When affordable synthesisers arrived just as punk ran out of its initial puff, the new machinery offered an alternative to picking up a guitar and learning three chords. Thus, tens of thousands of converts plugged in a keyboard and learned three notes – which, of course, is all you need if you have something to…

Texan singer-songwriter Ryan Hamilton has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for medical expenses after being diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and often aggressive form of cancer. “I never imagined I would be creating a GoFundMe to afford to fight for my life,” says Hamilton. “But I also never imagined I’d be sitting…

American rock titans Aerosmith, who announced their return to live action earlier this month, have shared several photographs taken during rehearsals for the shows. Alongside the images (below), which were shot by legendary rock photographer Ross Halfin and show drummer Joey Kramer resuming his place behind the drum kit, the band write, “The Bad Boys…

Rock legends The Rolling Stones have released a new single. Who You Callin’ Crazy, a breezy, upbeat affair powered by saxophonist Courtney Pine, comes from Foreign Tongues, Loose Lips, the upcoming expanded deluxe edition of their current album Foreign Tongues. The deluxe set includes four previously unreleased recordings. In addition to Who You Callin’ Crazy,…

Nirvana‘s era-defining 1991 album Nevermind has overtaken AC/DC‘s classic Back In Black to become the sixth best-selling album of all time – and it’s also outperformed Pink Floyd‘s epochal The Dark Side Of The Moon. The new numbers come from data analysis company Chartmasters, who combine physical sales, digital downloads and streaming to calculate an…

Danish ensemble Heilung have announced their first live shows since going on hiatus after completing their 2025 tour in Sweden last August. The ‘Amplified History’ collective, known for their euphoric live shows, which feature dozens of costumed musicians and dancers, will resume live work in March next year with a string of dates in Australia…

Talking exclusively with Metal Hammer, Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjørnson has looked back on the time he declined Type O Negative lynchpin Peter Steele’s invitation to support his thrash band Carnivore on tour. The 48-year-old progressive black metal player was 17 when he met Steele during Enslaved’s first tour of the US in 1994. The person…

Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine has explained why his Grammy-winning thrash metal band didn’t play Black Sabbath’s star-studded farewell show, Back To The Beginning. Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the singer/guitarist, 65, says that he and his bandmates didn’t know about the event – which had Metallica, Tool, Guns N’ Roses and dozens more on the…

The prolific Ozric Tentacles continue to carve out their own sonic universe on 17th studio album Harmonic Mind, which evokes their free-spirited origins and takes in trippy 90s rave culture. Prog catches up with bandleader Ed Wynne to discuss hanging out in Donovan’s flat, the ever-changing collective and his plans to avoid the AI trap.…

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has looked back on recording for his heavy metal side-project Probot with Motörhead legend Lemmy Kilmister. The Ace Of Spades singer/bassist was one on a long list of guest stars on Grohl’s 2004 album, which also featured late Venom leader Conrad ‘Cronos’ Lant, Soulfly/ex-Sepultura singer/guitarist Max Cavalera and Soundgarden’s Kim…

Metallica have uploaded pro-shot footage of their performance of Devil’s Dance at the Sphere. The Diamond-selling heavy metal titans played the deep cut from their 1997 album Reload for the first time since 2008 during the second show of their ongoing Life Burns Faster residency at the Las Vegas venue on October 3. It continued…

What began as an impromptu phone call in 2017 snowballed into a punk prog supergroup featuring Stewart Copeland of The Police fame, King Crimson and Zappa guitarist Adrian Belew and Level 42’s Mark King. Together Gizmodrome became a very happy and well-timed accident – and as Copeland told Prog that year, they also became “a…

Scott Holiday is a child of the desert. A beach dweller these days, the Rival Sons guitarist grew up in sight of California’s Mariana mountain range, on the edge of the Mojave riverbed. Summers were spent exploring, taking psychedelics and absorbing otherworldly surroundings. It left clear marks on his musical vocabulary, captured now in his…

The British Blues Boom found its fullest expression in late 60s releases from the likes of The Yardbirds, Cream and the Rolling Stones, when the blues-fuelled energy of the mod clubs in the earlier part of the decade had drifted and all-night dancing had been replaced by a laid-back, dope-smoking vibe. Key players such as…

The Pretty Reckless have released a video for About You (Bonus Version), a new version of a song that originally appeared on this year’s Dear God album, and singer Taylor Momsen has invited some friends along for the ride: Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and guitarist Pat Smear. “About You is one of my favourite…

Bring Me The Horizon‘s Oli Sykes and Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante appeared onstage together last night, October 18, to perform their collaborative track If The Sun Burns Out Tonight at the Valorant Champions Grand Finals opening ceremony in Shanghai. Written and produced by American EDM DJ / composer Grabbitz, aka Nicholas Chiari, the collaboration was…

Actor David Dastmalchian has revealed that he listened to Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, Joy Division and Nick Cave in order to tap into the mindset set of video game super villain M. Bison after being cast for the role in the new Street Fighter film. Though largely panned by film critics – The Guardian…

In 2014 Prog explored the history of Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell, which had been released 20 years previously. We included a potted history of the track High Hopes, regarded by many as the best song on the record. Shortly before the summer of 1993, Pink Floyd – joined by Guy Pratt and fellow touring…

Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant has spoken about how the death of his son Karac in 1977 changed his perspective on the band. Karac Plant passed away on on July 26, 1977, aged five, after contracting an acute gastrointestinal infection, which spread rapidly. His father learned of his death while touring Led Zeppelin’s seventh album…

For a band still yet to hit their 10-year mark, Green Lung have reached heights most of their peers can only dream of. Since forming in 2017 after a “seven-pint deep” conversation in London boozer The Black Heart, and more recently headlining the 3,000-plus capacity Roundhouse at this year’s Desertfest, their anthemic blend of doomy,…

Bon Jovi have been confirmed as the first headliners for next year’s British Summer Time festival, which will take place across multiple weekends in Hyde Park, London across summer 2027. Headlining Hyde Park on Thursday June 24, the announcement marks what will be Bon Jovi’s fourth time at Hyde Park, having previously played there in…

US rock icons Toto have announced their return to the UK, and they’ll be bringing none other than Todd Rundgren with them for the ride. “From the earliest stages of our career, the UK has supported Toto,” says Toto guitarist/vocalist Steve Lukather “There is a mutual affection between us and the entire country. I can’t…

Sleep Token have released a rare statement seemingly condemning other bands and artists claiming to be affiliated with the mysterious masked metallers. Following a year of inactivity – the band’s last live show was at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on October 11, 2025, and they haven’t released any new music since last year’s…

Man – Winos, Rhinos and Lunatics (Image credit: United Artists) Taking the Easy Way Out AgainThe Thunder And Lightning KidFour Day LouiseIntroKeroseneScotch CornerExit Described by Rolling Stone as “a Welsh band with its heart in San Francisco – specifically, in the elongated and textured music of Quicksilver and the early Dead”, Man released their debut…

When Bill Bruford’s former tech Pete Roth asked the prog veteran to play jazz for fun, no one realised it would bring the veteran prog drummer out of retirement. In 2024 the Pete Roth Trio started taking themselves seriously – but as the band leader tells Prog, they’re still aiming to have fun above anything…

London-based post-surf psychedelisists The Misty will be delighted with their week’s work, as their Neverknows single triumphed over that fella who used to sing in Led Zeppelin in our Tracks Of The Week contest. Congratulations to them! In third place, behind Robert Plant, came The Violent Hour and their corpse-friendly single and video Already Dead,…

A local politician has called for Marilyn Manson to be removed from the lineup at Slipknot‘s London show next July. Manson is due to appear on a bill that also includes rising deathcore heavyweights Lorna Shore and metalcore veterans Hatebreed at Wembley Stadium on July 3, the opening night of Slipknot’s 2027 (sic)est stadium tour.…

Metallica have been making a sweet, sweet noise around the world for about 45 years now. In that time, they’ve recorded 11 studio albums, played on every single continent and made the most frightening video ever. So, how well do you know Metallica? Are you a true fan or just a casual listener who has…

In 2009 Geoff Tate – singer with Queensrÿche until their spectacular falling-out in 2012 – looked back on the success of their genre-defining concept album Operation: Mindcrime, and discussed its relationship with its less-revered sequel, Mindcrime 2, offering a glimpse into the band’s approach to creativity at the time. (He’d go on to release Mindcrime…

Alice Cooper looks back at his influence on extreme metal in the new issue of Metal Hammer, explaining that he sees such genres as death metal as continuations of traditional hard rock values. The godfather of shock rock, responsible for such hits as I’m Eighteen and School’s Out, adds that it’s “great” he played a…

Triggerfinger are massive in mainland Europe, once replacing Foo Fighters at Pinkpop without a squeak of protest. While their UK footprint doesn’t quite measure up, Ruben Block (vocals/guitar) and Mario Goossens (drums) could yet cross over, with sixth album Tarmac evoking a continental Queens Of The Stone Age. Some musicians compare releasing an album to…

If you believe the history books, the concept album was deader than a dodo by the 1990s. While the great beasts of prog’s golden era – Thick As A Brick, Tales From Topographic Oceans, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway et al – were a distant memory, there were still contemporary outliers willing to hitch…

With 17 studio albums each featuring metal’s most iconic mascot, Eddie the Head, and sold-out performances in almost 60 countries, Iron Maiden’s rich history is absolutely rammed with five decades’ worth of brain-scrambling trivia. So, how well do you know the band? Will these 20 questions make you Run to the Hills or will your…

Experimentalist and former Swans member Jarboe’s latest album Sightings is an immersive album that will appeal to many prog fans. It sees her embracing the natural world and celebrating the life of late King Crimson sleeve artist Francesca Sundsten. The boundary-pushing multi-disciplinarian tells Prog about the new record, her time with Swans and her passion…

Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe has confirmed he has deleted his social media accounts, telling internet trolls “you don’t exist.” The vocalist says online criticism of him or his band is no longer a concern since he came off of all major social media platforms. He only communicates with fans online via his Substack,…

Getdown Services are enjoying one of those drastic upward surges that rarely happens to new bands. In the past year they’ve toured Australia, New Zealand and America, appeared on Later… With Jools Holland and been booked for two headline nights at London’s Roundhouse. Harry Styles and Harry Hill are both fans. It’s a long way…

Talk about a dramatic week in metal. From the retirement of Judas Priest’s Ian Hill to the departure of Floor Jansen from Nightwish, it feels like we’re hitting a serious period of change as we head inexorably towards the end of the year. But, the new releases keep coming. So let’s start with the results…

English artist Bobbie Dazzle – aka Siân Greenaway – is on a mission to revive the evocative sounds and vibes of the glam rock era. But the singer and flautist is also steeped in prog, as she explains. “I was taught the flute at school, but at 10 years old I hated being told it…

Metallica have released official footage of the band performing …And Justice for All on the opening night of their Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere in Las Vegas. The nine-minute epic is the title track of the 1988 album, the band’s fourth LP and their first following the death of bassist Cliff Burton a few…

Back in 2006, this writer took a little-known Mexican acoustic duo busking in Camden Town for a guitar magazine feature. Even without a licence, Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero couldn’t get arrested (although they did make a solid £58). It’s fair to say the pair have moved up in the world since then, with their…

Ever since Anthony Phillips left Genesis in 1970, he’s been viewed by some as an also-ran in prog history – but that view is wrong. After facing illness, heartbreak and stage fright, all of which contributed to his departure, he rebuilt his musical career and became the creator of many cross-genre albums, along with gaining…

From the day in 1978 that he released his debut album For You, on which he wrote and produced every song, played every instrument, and sang every melody and harmony, it was evident that Prince was a special, singular talent. But ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons has a crystal clear memory of the moment that he…

Glenn Hughes says that he is recovering well after undergoing a 10 hour open heart surgery operation. The Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion, Trapeze legend, who recently announced that he was retiring from touring, informed his social media followers that he has just returned home after an eight-day stay in a Los Angeles…

On October 16, 2025, Ace Frehley died after suffering a brain bleed following a fall. It was the second of two tumbles Ace had at his studio as he worked on a new album. He was airlifted to hospital and placed on a ventilator, but passed away several hours later in Morristown, New Jersey. He…

Anthrax’s founding rhythm guitarist Scott Ian has reflected on the thrash metal stars’ chaotic tour with Pantera in 1997 and ’98. Talking exclusively in the brand-new issue of Metal Hammer, the 62-year-old says he truly “learned how to drink” while on the road with guitarist Dimebag Darrell and the boys, for whom nu metal outfit…

Iron Maiden have announced a surprise return to North America in 2027, taking in arena shows and festival appearances, including a headline set at the Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival. Steve Harris says, “As many of our fans know, Maiden were planning on taking a break from live performances in 2027, but we’ve been…

It’s safe to say the CD is experiencing something of a second wind, buoyed by many things – amongst which, the vinyl revival and a growing dissatisfaction with the impersonal, algorithmic and unguided experience of using a streaming service for music. Between these, and as AI continues to devalue the merits of digital media, a…

Architects frontman Sam Carter has released a lengthy and emotional statement responding to comments online that have criticised his recent live performances. In the statement, posted via Sam’s personal social media accounts, the singer acknowledges that he has struggled with his voice at certain points on stage this year, revealing that he has suffered serious…

Paul McCartney has admitted that it can be difficult, as a music industry legend, to get sincere and honest feedback from collaborators. The Beatles legend discussed the topic in conversation with US comedian, actor and podcaster Amy Poehler on her Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast. McCartney prefaced his comments by talking about how, in…

Trivium frontman Matt Heafy has opened up on the day he momentarily quit the band last year. Speaking exclusively to Metal Hammer, Matt explains that a combination of issues within the band itself led him to a breaking point that saw him seriously consider turning his back on Trivium after more than 25 years. “[Our]…

Prog has teamed up with Pallas and their management to celebrate the release of A Song For Tomorrow, the band’s swansong with singer Alan Reed. You can get the brand-new issue of Prog with a unique Pallas front cover, a limited edition, exclusive A Song For Tomorrow t-shirt that you won’t find on merch stands…

Steven WIlson is on the cover of the new issue of Prog, which is on sale now! Steven’s ninth studio album, Requiem For A Village, is about to be released. It’s another fascinating album of depth, quality and intelligence that draws you into its insular and eerie world and refuses to let go. If someone…

Rick Wakeman & The English Rock Ensemble have dusted off their capes and returned to odd time signatures and big concepts on Return To The Red Planet. The unexpected sequel to 2020’s grandiose The Red Planet has been inspired by past and current discoveries on Mars. Wakeman tells Prog about his motivation, his legacy, and…

Thanks to a ‘plan’ sketched hastily on a napkin by Nigel Tufnel, Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge-themed stage props were famously under-egged, their replica structures a laughable 18 inches high. When Pink Floyd toured their 1979 masterpiece The Wall, though, the staging and production impressed. Clearly no ‘back of a fag packet’ conception, it involved rigorous input…

KK’s Priest, the band formed by former Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing, have released a cover of Judas Priest’s 1974 classic Never Satisfied with ex-Judas Priest singer Tim “Ripper” Owens, and the accompanying video is creating something of a stir. The clip, which features an AI-assisted recreation of a youthful KK Downing, opens with some…

Irish rock legends U2 will embark on a world tour in 2027. The Carnaval De Luz Presents: The Greatest Show On Earth world tour will kick off in late February in Mexico City before South American dates in Brazil and Argentina, with dates in North America and Europe still to be announced. Beck will support…

The Pretty Reckless vocalist Taylor Momsen has spoken about the challenges she faces when singing her hero Chris Cornell‘s songs with Soundgarden. Momsen cites the Seattle grunge legends as one of the bands who changed her life, and in a new interview with YouTube star Rick Beato she admits that she was “elated” when she…

Ex-Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist Roger Waters has delivered a fiery rant against James Hetfield, after the Metallica frontman seemingly told an audience at The Sphere that his band did not want to sway listeners with political statements. The heavy metal singer/guitarist, 63, continues to face backlash after saying at Las Vegas’ multimedia venue on Saturday (October…

When Spandau Ballet guitarist Gary Kemp became a founding member of Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets, he proved himself a lifelong member of the prog club. But in 2019 he revealed that, across the entire spectrum of musical genres he’d encountered, King Crimson mastermind Robert Fripp was his guiding light. My introduction to Robert Fripp…

On October 15, 2026 it was announced that Nightwish had parted ways with vocalist Floor Jansen after 13 years. In statements released by both Floor and the group, they described the split as “a mutual decision”. At the time of writing, both parties and unavailable for comment. Earlier this summer Hammer flew out to Finland…

Pink Floyd have shared a newly restored high-resolution footage of George Greenough’s iconic short film of their classic Echoes, from 1973 cult-classic surf film Crystal Voyager. It lands as Pink Floyd get ready to release a new San Tropez Orange Marble vinyl edition of their landmark 1971 album Meddle, for this year’s National Album Day,…

It’s been 40 years since we lost Cliff Burton, but the legendary Metallica bassist has left a legacy that still resonates today. We talk to his friends, music teachers, former bandmates and producers, alongside the artists who have been influenced by the immortal music he made. Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson recalls how frontman Dave…

Diamond Rowe, guitarist of Atlanta, Georgia nu metal four-piece Tetrarch, got to tick off one hell of a bucketlister on Sunday night (October 11), as she was invited to perform in front of 70,000 people at her hometown football stadium. Taking to the pitch at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium ahead of the NFL Sunday night football…

During her 14-year tenure in Nightwish, Floor Jansen became the face of symphonic metal. She led the Finnish theatrics for three albums before abruptly parting ways with them this week; she also launched a solo career in her own right (starting with 2023 album Paragon and continuing with next January’s Hytress) and collaborated with many…

Nightwish and their longtime lead singer Floor Jansen have parted ways. The Finnish symphonic metal band confirmed their Dutch vocalist’s departure earlier today (Tuesday, October 15), offering minimal detail but saying that the split was a mutual decision. They write: “Nightwish and Floor Jansen part ways. “After careful consideration, we have, in mutual agreement, decided…

Blondie will release a new album, High Noon, next year. The group’s 12th studio album, High Noon is their first collection of new music in nine years, following on from 2017’s Pollinator. The group’s final album with late drummer Clem Burke, High Noon was recorded in New York with The Paper Chase frontman/producer John Congleton…

While perhaps not as flash, or commercially successful as some of the others who also came up during the great British guitar player explosion of the late 60s, Richard Thompson has remained more consistently interesting than very nearly all of them. Even putting aside his work with Fairport Convention – although something as great as…

It’s a good time for Rick Wakeman to be returning to deep space and the surface of Mars. If only he can get there before Bezos or Musk land in a cloud of red dust and plant some sort of flag to claim dubious mineral rights. They’re not the only ones aiming for the stars.…

In the wake of US rapper Macklemore’s controversial removal from Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour following an onstage speech highlighting the plight of Palestinians affected by the conflict in Gaza, many musicians have felt obliged to make their own positions clear. For some, this has meant declaring their own shows agenda-free zones, where political and social…

Iron Maiden‘s Steve Harris has announced that his British Lion side project will play six shows at the historic Cart & Horses pub in Stratford, East London, this Christmas. The band’s residency will begin on December 13, with support from Albion, the band built around current Jethro Tull guitarist Jack Clark and former Tull guitarist…

They say you never forget your first time. And the broad smile that creases Myles Kennedy’s ruggedly handsome face as fragmented recollections of a red-letter day coalesce and come into focus rather telegraphs his subsequent admission that he treasures the memory as a transformative moment in his life. A practised, unhurried storyteller, he leans forward…

Taylor Momsen has spoken about her unfortunate and dangerous brushes with members of the animal kingdom during The Pretty Reckless‘ support tour with AC/DC. Earlier this year, the 33-year-old singer spoke to Metal Hammer about being bitten by a bat while performing onstage with her band at the Estadio La Cartuja on May 29, 2024,…

Pavlov’s Dog frontman David Surkamp has died, aged 73, the band have announced. The band’s current violin and mandolin player Abbie Steiling paid tribute to Surkamp on behalf of the current line-up on their Facebook page, saying, “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the unexpected passing of our creative force, lead…

The Rolling Stones have announced the forthcoming release of an expanded deluxe edition of their current album Foreign Tongues, featuring five new songs from the studio sessions which birthed the record. Foreign Tongues, Loose Lips will be released on November 27 by Polydor/Universal Music. The new collection features five recordings from the creative period surrounding…

In 2017, marking Jethro Tull’s 50th anniversary, Prog asked former members Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker, Jeffrey Hammond, Peter John Vettese and Tony Iommi about their memories of being in Ian Anderson”s band. Mick Abrahams (guitar, 1967-1968) Best thing about being in Tull? They used to let me sit in the front of the van when…

When Billie Joe Armstrong wrote Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) in 1993, he had no idea what to do with it. The song had originated from a Berkely house party (a “weird dudes with ponytails and an acoustic guitar kind of moment” as the singer described it to Rolling Stone) and it certainly didn’t…

Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill has opened up on his decision to step away from the band. Hill had announced his retirement from the heavy metal legends last week, due to an ongoing battle with arthritis that forced the band to play without him for the first time in their 56-year history last month in…