Italy’s FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE are preparing to shroud stages across North America in their haunting, symphonic-infused death metal and have unveiled a series of headline dates for this spring. This follows the announcement that the band will be joining AVATAR on their “Don’t Go in the Forest 2026” tour with guests FROZEN SOUL.
The band comments, “Could we come to North America and completely forget Dallas (TX), St. Louis (MO), Albany (NY), or let our Canadian friends in Montreal (QC) down? Of course we could not! That’s why we have added four exclusive headlining shows alongside the massive spring trek supporting Avatar this April and May. Expect a longer setlist, a bigger production, and some extra surprises! Our Texan friends FROZEN SOUL will be joining us for these dates, so you know exactly what to do. See you there folks!”
2026 Headline Dates: 4/21 – Dallas, TX – Granada* 4/27 – St. Louis, MO – Red Flag 5/17 – Albany, NY – Empire Live 5/18 – Montreal, QC – Beanfield Theatre
2026 Tour Dates with AVATAR and FROZEN SOUL: 4/16 Sacramento, CA Channel 24 4/17 Los Angeles, CA Novo 4/19 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theater 4/20 Albuquerque, NM Revel 4/22 San Antonio, TX Aztec 4/23 Oklahoma City, OK Criterion 4/25 Omaha, NE Steelhouse Omaha 4/26 Des Moines, IA Val Air 4/28 Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall 4/29 Moline, IL The Rust Belt 4/30 Grand Rapids, MI GLC Live at 20 Monroe 5/1 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Club Stage 5/2 Fort Wayne, IN The Clyde 5/4 Huntsville, AL VBC Mars Music Hall 5/5 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle 5/6 Knoxville, TN Mill & Mine 5/7 Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues 5/8 Daytona Beach, FL Welcome to Rockville 5/10 Raleigh, NC The Ritz 5/12 Richmond, VA The National 5/13 Philadelphia, PA Franklin Music Hall 5/14 Columbus, OH Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival 2026 5/15 New York, NY Palladium Times Square 5/16 Buffalo, NY Buffalo Riverworks 5/19 Wallingford, CT The Dome 5/20 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino
About FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE:
Italian Symphonic Death Metal maestros FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE are finally back with their brand new, 6th album titled Opera, a gut-wrenching musical journey inspired by the tragic mountain climbing accident occurred to their frontman and mastermind Francesco Paoli, in 2021.
Released via Nuclear Blast Records in 2024, the whole album is structured like a 10-act theatrical piece, as the title itself, “Opera”, draws a clear thread with the everlasting tradition of Italian classical music theater combining it with the epic brutality of death and symphonic metal, which has become their trademark sound.
Mixed and mastered by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, EPICA, ARCH ENEMY), Opera definitely marks another step forward for the band, incorporating new suggestions into that unique blend that FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE are renowned for: sheer violence, majestic orchestrations and soaring melodies. Such an ambitious musical endeavor called for an equally impressive artwork, a team effort between two arising Italian talents (artist extraordinaire Felicita Fiorini and visionary photographer Francesco Esposito), following the path traced by baroque painters like Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi. The cover art portrays Veronica as Music, a superior entity that defeats the social and artistic decay of modern age.
With this new record, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE are setting the bar even higher than before, pioneering what looks like a completely new sub-genre that might be called “opera metal”: an unprecedented mix of extreme music and theatrical elements.
After drawing closer and closer to the edge over the past decade, Unverkalt are plunging into the darkness that’s always awaited below. The post-metal luminaries are still possessed by a cinematic vision, but their new album and first for Season of Mist throws back the velvet curtain in favor of a blackened veil. While wrestling with the weight of our accursed histories, Héréditaire now stands as their heaviest and most heartfelt offering.
“The contrasting elements at play in Héréditaire, from the gloomy to the raging and the eerie to the explosive, make it a compelling listen that rewards over time”, Dead Rhetoricwrites in an 8/10 review. “Unverkalt grapple with the emotions and atmosphere with masterful tone and intention, eliciting a response that leave you reflecting on what you just heard and make you want to return to it once again”.
Today, Unverkalt are thrilled to release a new video for the song that serves as the emotional pillar of Héréditaire. Fueled by contempt for those content on watching the world burn, “I, The Deceit” radiates strength with support from the band’s Greek brother-in-arms Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ.
“I enjoy discovering new, unique and compelling music in today’s overwhelming world of information, and I believe I truly succeeded with Unverkalt”, Sakis Tolis says. “This is an exceptional piece of art, worth every minute of listening”.
“‘I, The Deceit’” captures the stillness of those who let the world burn, not out of ignorance, but because it serves them”, Unverkalt vocalist Dimitra Kalavrezou says.
Héréditaire marks a pulse-pounding new direction for Unverkalt. The album’s newfound heaviness traces back to humanity’s deepest and darkest origins. Each song peels back another layer of collective trauma that’s passed down to us through generations like a disease.
“Our new albumis a lament for what is far older than our very existence”, Unverkalt’s guitarist and chief composer Themis Ioannou says. “It speaks of what seeps through generations, searching for an answer to one pervasive questions: What do we carry that was never ours?”
Emerging from deep within Héréditaire, “I, The Deceit” burns like an open wound. With each pinprick of strings, a guitar throbs in pain. The entrancing chorus doesn’t come washing down like a wave of relief but as a numbing agent for our impending doom.
“This song carries the weight of human indifference toward the destruction we wreck upon the world”, Kalavrezou says. “That cruelty unfolds not as a distant tragedy, but as something intimate, almost ordinary”.
“I, The Deceit” is fueled by simmering contempt. From deep within its heavy blackened atmosphere comes a gust of blast beats. “The world falls apart / And you just stand there / Watching it burn down”, Sakis Tolis growls with scorn, standing strong amidst the eye of the storm.
Héréditaire might close shrouded in darkness, but a crack of light does appear in the form of Kalavrezou’s enchanting cleans. “I want us to have one heart together”. Like memories, the cry of horns and pleas screamed in Greek stoke the air as the song burns toward its fiery finish, reminding us of all we stand to lose.
“Even in the suffocating stillness, there’s a lingering ache for truth”, Kalavrezou says. “For something uncorrupted. And in that storm, something might still feel true”.
The video for “I, The Deceit” was directed and edited by Themis Ioannou at RAWBITE Studio.
Additional video credits Producer – Unverkalt Cinematography – Themis Ioannou Camera Equipment Support – Marcus Sander 2nd Camera Operator – Silvio Pelegrin (@silviopelegrin) Photography – Silvio Pelegrin On-Set Support – Silvio Pelegrin Lighting – Hariolf “Harri” Lemke Costume Design & Styling – Touché Privé, AllSaints, Disturbia Location – WHITEBOX030
Special thanks to Sakis Tolis.
Tracklist: 1. Die Auslöschung (6:06) [WATCH] 2. Oath Ov Prometheus (5:40) [WATCH] 3. Ænæ Lithi (5:34) 4. A Lullaby for the Descent (5:11) 5. Penumbrian Lament (6:02) 6. Introjects (5:25) [WATCH] 7. I, The Deceit (feat. Sakis Tolis) (5:47) [WATCH] 8. Death is Forever (4:50) 9. Maladie de l’Esprit (5:34) Full runtime: 50:11
UNVERKALT are drawn to the edge. Since emerging from the underground, the Germany by way of Greece post-metal band have balanced boundless atmosphere with suffocating heaviness. Their third album and first since signing with Season of Mist doesn’t continue in that direction so much as it plunges into the darkness that’s always been waiting below. Héréditaire lifts the veil from our cursed existence. What emerges is Unverkalt’s heaviest and most heartfelt offering.
“Our aim has always been to blend softer, more romantic elements with extreme chaos. With Héréditaire that time has now come”, says the band’s guitarist and chief composer Themis Ioannou. “This album is a lament for what is far older than our very existence. It speaks of what seeps through generations, searching for an answer to one pervasive question: What do we carry that was never ours?”
From the beginning, Unverkalt was born from an urge to give life to grief. In 2017, Ioannou started the band with vocalist Dimitra Kalavrezou in hopes of creating something that was slow-burning and visceral, crushing yet delicate. Their debut made good on that promise: “…so rivetingly beautiful that you will have to deepen to digest it”, Metal Hammer Greece wrote in awe of L’Origine du Monde. “Easily on the top-10 of 2020”.
The band’s second album followed three years later to further acclaim. While swooning between obsession and annihilation, A Lump of Death: A Chaos of Dead Lovers sharpened Unverkalt’s vision by pushing their avant-garde streak with more force. “Beyond being able to point roughly towards a couple of different genres, it is utterly impossible to compare them to any other artist out there making music in the same vein”, The Sleeping Shaman admired. Echoes and Dust agreed: “It stands in its own right as a beautiful slice of filmic post-rock, a soundtrack without a movie beyond the one playing in your head”.
Héréditaire is still possessed by cinematic visions. Like a camera coming into focus, lead single “Die Auslöschung” appears through a thickening haze before it’s snapped out of a trance by drummer Christian Eggers’ fiery blast beats. The album shifts between colors, textures, even languages. Stirred by a mournful saw of strings, “Ænae Lithi” raises memories of the Great Fire of Smyrna that were handed down by Themis’ grandmother. But where previous albums took cues from French painting and European film noir, this one throws back the velvet curtain in favor a veil. “Oath Ov Prometheus” dismantles the myth of man as god’s perfect creation with Kalavrezou’s freshly blackened vocals.
“We love to experiment with every album”, Ioannou says. “With Héréditaire, we wanted to introduce extreme vocals because they bring out all these heavy feelings. It’s like they’re shaking you awake”.
While Héréditaire is a pulse-pounding new direction for Unverkalt, the album’s arc traces back to our deepest and darkest origins. Amidst the tremolo-picked wreckage of “Penumbrian Lament”, long-held beliefs are swallowed into the void of guitarist Eli Mavrychev’s death growls. “It’s all sorts of dead ideas / They cling to us all the same”, Kalavrezou whispers, only to break into screams on “Introjects” beneath Joscha Hoyer’s throbbing bass line. “The concept behind the record is tied in with the album’s overall heaviness”, she says. “Each song peels back another blackened layer of memory, trauma and suffering, which linger over us like ghosts: invisible, yet endlessly present”.
Kalavrezou’s mystifying cleans remain one of Unverkalt’s defining traits. Even when trembling beneath the monolithic riff of “I, The Deceit”, her contempt for those who stand by as the world burns is heated when forged alongside her Athenian brother-in-arms Sakis Tolis from Rotting Christ. But as the album draws to a close, Héréditaire ends shadowed in doubt for the future. “Bathed in lies / Can we make it better” she wonders before disappearing into the shivering wake left by “Maladie de ‘Esprit”.
“This album is not meant to resolve”, the band says, “but to dissolve patterns from those who came before, faceless yet familiar. The colors have drained. What remains is veiled in black, not as a symbol, but as a truth that covers everything”.
On Héréditaire, Unverkalt lift the veil on our cursed existence with their heaviest and most heartfelt offering.
Guest Musicians: Sakis Tolis — Vocals on “I, The Deceit”
Songwriting Credits: Comped by Themis Ioannou. Lyrics by Dimitra Kalavrezou & Eli Mavrychev. Lyrics for “I, The Deceit” by Dimitra Kalavrezou & Joscha Hoyer.
Recording Credits: Recorded & Engineered by Unverkalt. Drums Recorded & Engineered by Christian Eggers at Noir Surge Sound, Berlin, Germany.
Production Credits: Produced by Themis Ioannou. Vocals produced by Dimitra Kalavrezou & Eli Mavrychev. Mixed by Joshua Barber. Mastered by Lasse Lammert at LSD Studios, Lübeck, Germany.
Swedish rockers Degreed unveiled the new single and official video “Believe”, taken from their new studio album “Curtain Calls”, out on April 10, 2026, via Frontiers Music Srl.
Vocalist Robin Eriksson described the track as “a straightforward rock song with some synth wave and pop influences. Big chorus! And yes, a love song.”
Talking about the new album, Eriksson stated: “This is truly one of the best albums we’ve ever made. Yes, it’s a cliche. Yes, a lot of bands say that about every new record they make. But I truly believe this is one of our best, if not THE best. I’ve never been as focused while making an album as I’ve been on this one”.
With “Curtain Calls”, Degreed deliver one of the strongest and most focused albums of their career. The band stays fully true to its established sound while refining it with precision: a powerful, contemporary production, technically solid performances, and – most importantly – an outstanding sense of melody and accessibility.
Produced by Mats Eriksson, the album strikes an excellent balance between technical craftsmanship and immediate listener appeal. The songs are energetic and polished, yet always approachable, showcasing a confident songwriting style that blends modern punch with classic melodic hard rock sensibilities.
“Curtain Calls” positions itself as a very competitive release within the current melodic hard rock landscape: consistent, well-produced, and strongly audience-oriented, while fully preserving the band’s identity.
Degreed have been releasing critically acclaimed music since the start of their career with their first album “Life, Love, Loss” in 2010. Over the course of their career, the band has gone from strength to strength with every release, touring and gaining fans all over the world. Their sound mixes classic melodic and hard rock sounds with more contemporary influences, offering the fans a very personal, fresh and exciting mix of great rock music.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band wasn’t able to tour on the heels of the release of the album “Lost Generation” in 2019. The band released the song “The World We Knew”, their musical summation of the year 2020 (the song became “Track of the Week” at Classic Rock Magazine’s website a week after its release) and then in 2021, Degreed began working on what would ultimately become “Are You Ready”, released in 2022.
Degreed released “Public Address” in July 2023, followed by the EP “The Leftovers – Volume I”, in July 2025, diving deep into their vault of unreleased gems.
“Curtain Calls” Tracklist:
1. One Helluva Ride 2. Holding On To Yesterday 3. Believe 4. Guiding Light 5. My Blood 6. Curtain Calls 7. The Rambler 8. Matter Of The Heart 9. Broken Dreams 10. Promise Me
Line Up: Robin Eriksson – Bass/Vocals Mats Eriksson – Drums Mikael Blanc – Keyboards Daniel Johansson – Guitars
It’s close to 45 years since Mourning Noise first came screaming out of suburban Lodi, New Jersey, but while they left precious little behind them at the time, few people forgot them and the self-titled journey through their early 80s back catalog that materialized back in 2021 was surely one of the most incandescent hardcore releases of the recent past.
Neither was it left to stand alone. 2024 saw Mourning Noise return, as drummer and founder member Steve Zing puts it, not as a reunion but a wholesale reinvention, “delivering darker, melodic music shaped by experience, attitude, and a relentless forward vision.”
Screams/Dreams was a fearless flash of high driven music, and now they’re back with more, following up acclaimed shows with Fear, Prong, The Misfits and Cro-Mags, and Zing’s role behind the drums with Samhain/Danzig, with Serpent Lip Service, a 12 track Behemoth that will be flattening record stores near you on April 17.
Just to get you ready for the main meal, however, “Live and Die For You” slips out of the album today, as both a single and a video that reveals the line-up of Zing bassist Chris Morance, guitarist Tommy Koprowski and vocalist / lead guitarist Robby Bloodshed sounding and looking sharper than ever. And Zing is right when he describes it as “a dark, emotional anthem for those who loved and lost. Crooning out the story of salvation and self destruction. “Love is spun, moonlit vision”. A tale as old as time, that we all long for.
As for the album itself, Serpent Lip Service “signals a powerful new chapter for Mourning Noise, reintroducing the band with a fearless departure from its earliest incarnation.
Zing continues, “Driven by themes of loss, reflection, and resilience, the album channels the individual identities and musical diversity of its members into a sound that feels both raw and evolved.
“Rooted firmly in the band’s original punk ethos, the record pushes beyond tradition, blending dark intensity with a broad spectrum of influences to create a gripping, unpredictable journey from start to finish.”
It’s easy, sometimes, looking around at the state of the modern world, to wonder what the days of old would have to say about it. Serpent Lip Service is the answer to that question – and it tells you exactly what you’d want to hear.
Southampton, New Jersey–based solo artist Zack Miranowic has released his new single “Reflections”, accompanied by a music video. The single is the first offering from his forthcoming full-length album Sinking Low, and continues Miranowic’s solo vision — channeling darker themes through massive riffs, dynamic songwriting, and powerful melodic vocals with a touch of grit.
Notably, Miranowic handled every aspect of the release himself.
“The album was completely produced, mixed, and mastered by me,” he shares.
His music dives into deeply personal territory, exploring mental illness, anger, the passage of time, and lived experiences with honesty and intensity. Balancing aggressive instrumentation with atmospheric depth and strong melodic sensibility.
“In life we tend to think about our past and how certain events played out. At times we come to regret some of our decisions or think we could have done better, but the truth is that we just did what we thought was right at the time,” says Miranowic.
Zack Miranowic is a Southampton, New Jersey–based solo artist creating heavy, guitar-driven music that blends elements of rock, metal, and progressive metal into a raw and emotionally charged sound. Known for his work in Disciples Of Verity, Sekond Skyn, and Riversend, Miranowic uses this project as a more personal and uncompromising creative outlet.
He introduced the project with his debut album Fear in 2022, followed by the EP Cryin’ Out in 2023. Continuing to evolve his sound, Miranowic is set to release new singles throughout 2026 leading into his upcoming album Sinking Low, pushing further into darker, heavier, and more personal territory while maintaining a strong sense of musical identity.
Sweden’s modern metal frontrunners SELF DECEPTION unveil the new single “THE WEDDING”, ahead of the upcoming Napalm Records debut album One Of Us, out on May 15, 2026! This energetic modern rock anthem features a particularly dark and twisted storyline, delivered through the powerful mix of clean vocals and aggressive screams, accompanied by the heavy combination of dynamic, groovy beats and crushing riffs. The band continues to raise the bar for contemporary rock with their seventh studio album!
“THE WEDDING” came into life while the band spent two weeks in Spain for writing sessions, and in the middle of it, drummer Erik Ingels Graham got married. “All of our families came along, and it turned into this beautiful mix of celebration and creativity. On the very night of the wedding, we ended up writing ‘THE WEDDING’ — but instead of capturing that fantastic day, we twisted it into a dark, dystopian story about a couple who secretly want to kill each other”, comments SELF DECEPTION’s vocalist Andreas Clark.
Known for their fiery fusion of anthemic modern metal and powerful melodic rock, SELF DECEPTION have shared stages with the likes of Electric Callboy, Danko Jones, and Adept since their 2009 debut, while racking up millions of streams and video views – including their viral 2022 hit, “Fight Fire With Gasoline”, with tens of millions of streams. Written on the road during the heaviest touring of SELF DECEPTION’s career so far, One Of Us is a cohesive album full of character, made for the stage – and the pit!
SELF DECEPTION about One Of Us: “One Of Us is our new album, inspired by life on the road and the energy of the live stage. Touring so much has put us in a kind of ‘live bubble’, and that feeling runs through the songwriting. The album revolves around outsidership and the desire to belong. On tour, we meet many lost and lonely people, all seeking a few hours of escape where they can disappear into a rock show. With One Of Us, we want everyone to feel part of something bigger, to feel like one of us.”
From massive pit churners to creative storylines and choruses full of hit potential, the energy on One Of Us is unmatched. The band has a busy festival summer following the album’s release, so fans will get the first chance to experience these new tracks live at several major European rock and metal festivals. With One Of Us,SELF DECEPTION is ready to push contemporary rock to the next level! The album will be available digitally and in several physical formats, with cover artwork created by Alex Tillbrook, who is well known for his work on the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things”, as well as for collaborations with artists such as Metallica, Blink-182, and Sleep Token.
Bone-crushing album-opener and title track “ONE OF US” takes no prisoners, unleashing the heavy modern metal side of the Swedish powerhouse: fusing relentless hardcore energy, in-your-face lyrics, and high-voltage attitude, the track hits with unstoppable force. Following track “TIME’S UP” features an absolute hit chorus, fresh hooks and high-energy instrumentals, while emotional “DON’T B E L O N G” addresses the difficult themes of addiction and mental health battles – the combination of hauntingly beautiful melodies, multifaceted vocal performance and heavy rhythm section carry this sentimental track. Further highlights on SELF DECEPTION’s new 11-track offering include “THE WEDDING” and “BREAK!”, with its heavy-hitting drums, electronic influences and yet another irresistible sing-along chorus. “ENTERTAINED” delivers one of the heaviest breakdowns on the album, before “GODDAMN ME” brings the record to a powerful close.
One Of Ustracklisting:
ONE OF US
TIME’S UP
WAKE UP
DON’T B E L O N G
DEATH OF ME
BREAK!
THE WEDDING
KETAMINE COWBOY
BLAME
ENTERTAINED
GODDAMN ME
SELF DECEPTION Live 2026
02.05.26 NO – Kopervik / Karmøygeddon Metal Festival 04.06.26 SE – Sölvesborg / Sweden Rock Festival 12.06.26 NL – Leeuwarden / Into the Grave Festival 13.06.26 UK – Castle Donington / Download Festival 01.07.26 ES – Viveiro / Resurrection Fest 17.07.26 AT – Leoben / Area 53 Festival 18.07.26 CZ – Vizovice / Masters of Rock 15.08.26 NL – Eindhoven / Dynamo Metal Fest
SELF DECEPTION are: Erik Ingels Graham – Drums Andreas Clark – Vocals Ronny Westphal – Guitar Patrik Carlberg Hallgren – Bass
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 