After a decade with GLORYHAMMER, multi-instrumentalist visionary Michael Barber has announced his departure from the band to focus on WIZARDTHRONE. With a completed lineup, new music, and the project’s first-ever live shows on the horizon, Barber is making the shift official. The band’s current lineup features Michael Barber on vocals and guitar, Matthew Bell (Forlorn Citadel) on guitar, Keiran Allen (Akercocke) on bass, Christopher Bowes (ALESTORM) on keyboards, and Isak Olsson (TWILIGHT FORCE) on drums.
The announcement arrives alongside “Death Cycles”, WIZARDTHRONE‘s first new track since 2021’s Hypercube Necrodimensions. Barber has moved to both lead vocals and guitar for the release, which was mixed by Dave Otero (Archspire, Shadow of Intent) and features artwork from Dan Goldsworthy, who also designed the band’s debut album.
Listen to “Death Cycles” NOW
WIZARDTHRONE remains true to its self-described “extreme wizard metal” roots, but “Death Cycles” carries noticeably more weight than what came before. The track pushes into melodic death, black, and even power metal territory – drawing on influences like Children of Bodom, Dissection, and Wintersun – while taking the sound to darker places, built around winding riffs, relentless drums, and razor-sharp leads. The result trades the project’s earlier mathematical chaos for something heavier and more direct.
Lyrically, the song imagines a collapse of timelines, wherein an alien entity compresses every possible version of existence into a single point. Barber wrote the piece in response to the last few years of his own life; burnout, grief and the endless passage of time become inescapable cosmic horror.
Barber explains:
“Ever since Hypercube Necrodimensions came out in 2021, I couldn’t stop thinking about writing more music and getting WIZARDTHRONE on stage. The ideas stacked up between other tours until it was obvious: this had to be my number one focus. ‘Death Cycles’ is everything I am as a musician right now, and I can’t wait to share it – we locked in Dave at Flatline Audio for the mix and he really unleashed the energy from the recordings. Dan’s art perfectly matches the emotional desolation of the lyrics, and most importantly, this single captures the first performance of the new lineup: Isak and Keiran, two of the best musicians I know, alongside my long-standing songwriting partners Chris and Matt. More new music is in the works right now, and we’re finally ready to play live, starting in my hometown of London this November, at the very venue where it all began for me.”
WIZARDTHRONE Live 2026/27
WIZARDTHRONE will play their first-ever headline show on November 21, 2026, at The Underworld in London. In January 2027, the band will join ALESTORM and Battle Beast for a run of UK and Ireland tour dates, followed by their debut festival appearance at Masters of Rock in Vizovice, CZ, on July 08, 2027.
Debut Headline Show
21.11.26 UK – London / The Underworld
UK / Ireland Tour
with ALESTORM and Battle Beast
14.01.27 UK – Cardiff / The Great Hall
15.01.27 UK – Birmingham / O2 Academy
16.01.27 UK – Bristol / O2 Academy
17.01.27 UK – Bournemouth / O2 Academy
19.01.27 UK – Newcastle / O2 City Hall
20.01.27 UK – Leeds / O2 Academy
21.01.27 UK – Manchester / O2 Ritz
22.01.27 UK – Norwich / LCR
23.01.27 UK – Dundee / Livehouse
24.01.27 UK – Glasgow / O2 Academy
25.01.27 UK – Belfast / Ulster Hall
27.01.27 IE – Dublin / 3Olympia Theatre
28.01.27 UK – Nottingham / Rock City
29.01.27 UK – Oxford / O2 Academy
30.01.27 UK – London / O2 Forum Kentish Town
Festival
08.07.27 CZ – Vizovice / Masters of Rock
WIZARDTHRONE are:
Michael Barber – Vocals & Guitar
Matthew Bell – Guitar
Keiran Allen – Bass
Christopher Bowes – Keyboards
Isak Olsson – Drums
WIZARDTHRONE online:
WEBSITE
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK
TIKTOK
NAPALM RECORDS
