Back in the early, glorious 1980s, the world of heavy metal looked very different indeed. There was a unique spirit of creativity combined with a rebellious sense of new beginnings, and the now-classic works of IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, SAXON and other icons influenced and inspired generations. Right at the heart of it all was Jürgen Breforth from Münster, who, alongside MAD MAX, founded one of the first heavy metal bands in German history, following in the footsteps of ACCEPT and the SCORPIONS. Their first EP was released in 1981, followed by their debut album „Heavy Metal“ (1982), whose title said it all.
MAD MAX are still active and will soon release their anniversary album „Stories Of Destiny“. It is closely linked to the history and experiences of Jürgen Breforth, who has kept them alive for over 45 years. Musically, however, he has primarily anchored the band in the hard rock genre, which enabled them to achieve great success worldwide in the 1980s.
At heart, however, Jürgen Breforth is a true metalhead whose riffs still possess the same edge and who has the NWoBHM in his blood. Under his aptly named own quality label, BREFORTH, the string wizard has established a second venture, through which he musically reconnects with his early days and with heavy metal itself. The debut album “Metal In My Heart” could hardly have been more aptly titled and offered flawless, traditional old-school heavy metal. In frontman Peter Lenzschau, he made the perfect choice, as his raspy voice is at times reminiscent of Udo Dirkschneider. The North German quintet is completed by Erik Blumenthal on lead guitar, Jens Lükermann on bass and Arne Fleischhut on drums. Together, BREFORTH won the ‘German Rock & Pop Award’ in 2023 with their debut album.
BREFORTH are currently working on new songs for a second studio album, due to be released in 2027 on their new label, Fireflash Records (Holy Moses, Wolf, Rock Justice, amongst others). The first new single, entitled “Colombian Hills”, is set to be released during October and is currently being given the finishing touches.
“The motto of my new label, Fireflash Records, is ‘HEAVY METAL IS THE LAW’, and that’s exactly why I founded my band Mad Max back in 1981; Breforth, too, have ‘Metal in my heart’. That’s why I’m absolutely delighted that BREFORTH have found the right partner in FIREFLASH RECORDS to tell many more exciting stories through music from my now more than 40 years in the heavy metal business,” states Jürgen Breforth.
“I’m absolutely delighted to welcome another veteran of the scene, Jürgen Breforth, to Fireflash Records. I had the honour of taking a trip down memory lane with Jürgen to work on and realize the reissue of the Mad Max debut, and the chemistry was spot on right from the start. In my opinion, Breforth’s album „Metal In My Heart“ is an absolute masterpiece that far too few fans are aware of and should discover. Metalapolis Records were kind enough to pass on to us the majority of their remaining stock, which the band signed to celebrate the signing of the contract. We’d like to offer it to you at a special price via our Bandcamp shop page. Do yourselves a favour and grab this heavy metal gem on LP or CD, or stream it on repeat. You can also look forward to new material and a few surprises”, adds Fireflash owner Markus Wosgien.
Markus Wosgien (Fireflash Records) and Jürgen Breforth (Breforth)
“Metal In My Heart” is now available via Fireflash Records digitally, and on CD & Vinyl via Bandcamp in a signed version exclusivly.
The German progressive black metal band Der Weg einer Freiheit are announcing an instrumental version of their critically-acclaimed sixth album. The instrumental version of Innern marks the album’s one-year anniversary by highlighting the compositions and instrumentation that underpins one of the band’s most introspective albums.
Along with the announcement, today, Der Weg einer Freiheit are releasing the instrumental version of “Xibalba” across all digital platforms. The song carries particular significance for Innern. It was the first song on the album that the band finished the instrumentation for but was the last to receive vocals.
Listen to the instrumental version of “Xibalba” on the Season of Mist YouTube channel.
“The initial idea came from our bassist, Alan,” says Der Weg einer Freiheit vocalist and guitarist Nikita Kamprad. Alan Noruspur spent months living with the instrumental version of “Xibalba” during the writing process for Innern. He found himself missing it once vocals were added. That attachment led the band to reconsider an idea they had floated even before theoriginal release of Innern: a fully instrumental companion to the album.
The instrumental edition is not simply a muted version of the original mix. Kamprad built an entirely new mix for the release, rebalancing instrument levels and adding new atmospheric layers in places. “The instrumental version has to carry the same atmosphere, emotion and narrative on its own,” he explains. “Removing the vocals allows all of these carefully crafted details to breathe.” With the vocal layer gone, the synthesizers and ambient textures that give Innern its cinematic scale, treated by Kamprad as compositional elements rather than embellishments, move to the foreground, alongside the interplay between Kamprad and Nicolas Rausch’s guitars, Alan Noruspur’s bass and Tobias Schuler’s drums.
“Every song usually begins as an instrumental composition, so in many ways, this version of Innern represents the songs in their original form” Kamprad says. “We don’t see it as an alternative to the original album, but as another perspective on the same body of work, one that places the focus entirely on the music itself.”
Der Weg einer Freiheit 2026 European Fall Tour with Conjurer and Brnjsmin
October 16 – Dresden, DE @ Groovestation October 17 – Kraków, PL @ Zascianek October 18 – Warsaw, PL @ Mechanik October 19 – Brno, CZ @ Melodka October 20 – Graz, AT @ Explosiv October 21 – Milano, IT @ Q-Hub October 22 – Wörgl, AT @ Komma October 23 – Sion, CH @ Le Port Franc October 24 – Langenthal, CH @ Old Capitol October 25 – Maastricht, NL @ Samhain (without Brnjsmin) October 26 – Cologne, DE @ Essigfabrik October 27 – Marburg, DE @ KFZ October 28 – Bremen, DE @ Tower October 29 – Hanover, DE @ Bei Chez Heinz October 30 – Rostock, DE @ Peter Weiss Haus October 31 – Stuttgart, DE @ Kulturquartier
With Innern, their sixth studio album, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT return with their most introspective and compositionally expansive work to date. A meditation on suffering, transformation, and the fragile thresholds of the human psyche, Innern refines the band’s signature blend of black metal intensity and post-metal atmosphere. The title, German for “inward”, anchors the album’s conceptual weight: a turning away from the external, into a realm of personal reckoning, silence, and renewal. Across six meticulously crafted tracks, the band explores cycles of disintegration and emergence, inviting listeners to confront the deep and often contradictory nature of existence itself.
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT formed in Würzburg, Germany in 2009, the brainchild of guitarist and composer Nikita Kamprad and original vocalist Tobias Jaschinsky. The band’s early beginnings were humble but explosive: their self-released debut quickly sold out, drawing attention across the underground metal scene. A reissue in 2010 with newly recorded drum parts by Christian Bass (Heaven Shall Burn, ex-Night in Gales) established the band’s first official lineup and led to extensive touring across Germany and Europe. From the outset, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT were set apart not just by their technical prowess, but by a philosophical inclination that would become the band’s artistic hallmark.
Their 2012 sophomore album, Unstille, expanded on their debut’s melodic harshness, while introducing a deeper emotional weight. It also marked the first appearance of drummer Tobias Schuler, whose intricate and expressive playing would become central to the band’s identity. Though vocals on Unstille were still performed by Tobias Jaschinsky, he would leave the band shortly after its release. Kamprad took over vocal duties in the months that followed, stepping into the role of frontman in time for the writing and recording of their next album.
Stellar, released in 2015 via Season of Mist, solidified the band’s stature within the modern black metal landscape. Drawing from post-rock and progressive influences, the album embraced wider dynamics and cinematic structures, aligning them with the likes of Wolves in the Throne Room and Deafheaven, without sacrificing their own Germanic rigor and introspection.
In 2017, Finisterre signaled a conceptual leap forward. It confronted themes of isolation, personal dissolution, and spiritual finality across sprawling arrangements and stark tonal shifts. This period saw further lineup changes, with the departure of guitarist Sascha Rissling and bassist Giuliano Barbieri, and the arrival of Nicolas Rausch and Nicolas Ziska. Finisterre also marked their first chart placement in Germany and set the stage for increasingly ambitious live performances.
A live album, Live in Berlin (2019), captured the raw power and cathartic energy of the band’s concerts, affirming their reputation for immersive, emotionally charged performances. But it was Noktvrn, released in 2021, that truly redefined what DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT could become. Inspired by the ambiguous state between wakefulness and dreams, and drawing influence from classical composers such as Chopin and Arvo Pärt, the album saw Kamprad experiment with clean vocals and subdued textures. It was both a thematic and sonic breakthrough and was received by critics as their most refined and contemplative release to date.
Now, with Innern, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT move even deeper into the abyss. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Kamprad in his own studio, the album is an intensely focused work. “Eos,” the album’s lead single, contrasts war and renewal, imagining a post-human earth fertilized by sacrifice and reclaimed by nature. “Marter” follows as a searing portrayal of inner torment and emotional release—suffering not only as a source of agony, but as a path toward transcendence. “Xibalba” then confronts the machinery of fear—media, propaganda, and spiritual fragmentation—urging a return to our collective essence through introspection and clarity. And with “Forlorn,” the band delivers their most vulnerable statement yet: a delicate plea for emotional refuge, sung in English to underscore its universality. The album also marks the studio debut of bassist Alan Noruspur, whose presence brings a new emotional and personal depth to the band’s sound.
Musically, Innern leans into contrast and contradiction. Kamprad and Rausch’s guitar interplay oscillates between searing aggression and elegiac restraint. Noruspur’s basslines pulse with warmth and gravity, while Schuler’s drumming remains as meticulous as ever-bridging technicality with emotional nuance. The album’s production captures a sense of immediacy and live energy, yet remains rich in detail and atmosphere. It is not merely a refinement of past styles, but a reinvention—one that places the listener in direct confrontation with the void.
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT stand now at the peak of a fifteen-year evolution. Their music is as concerned with silence as it is with sound, as shaped by introspection as by fury. As they prepare to bring Innern to European stages in autumn 2025, they do so not as provocateurs of extremity, but as artists navigating the fragile space between collapse and clarity. In a genre often defined by spectacle, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT remain committed to vulnerability, transformation, and truth.
Line-up: Nikita Kamprad — Guitars Nicolas Rausch — Guitars Alan Noruspur — Bass Tobias Schuler — Drums
Production Credits: Recorded, mixed & mastered in Würzburg, Germany by Nikita Kamprad. Drums recorded separately at Studio Weißmann, Würzburg, Germany.
Progressive metal powerhouse Teramaze have revisited one of their most beloved tracks, “Weight of Humanity,”delivering a brand-new recording featuring the band’s current lineup.
The decision to re-record the song came from a simple place: the band still absolutely love playing it live.
Rather than radically reinventing the track, Teramaze have taken the original song and brought it into the present day. The arrangement remains faithful to the version fans know, but the performance reflects the energy, chemistry and musical identity of the band’s current lineup.
“We absolutely love playing this song live, so we thought it would be fun to give it a fresh recording and a slightly new spin. We’ve kept the song essentially the same, but played it the way we perform it today.”
The result is a fresh take on a Teramaze favourite — familiar enough to retain everything that made the original special, while capturing how the band sounds and performs in 2026.
“Weight of Humanity” features: Dean Wells — Guitars / Backing Vocals Nathan Peachey — Vocals Andrew Cameron — Bass Guitar Nick Ross — Drums Luke Rosten — Keyboards
For longtime fans, the new recording offers a chance to hear a classic Teramaze track through the lens of the band as it stands today. For newer listeners, it serves as a powerful introduction to the chemistry and dynamic of the current lineup.
Riding the wave of their critically acclaimed, JUNO Award-nominated self-titled album, Canadian rock powerhouse The Damn Truth are turning up the heat ahead of the worldwide release of The Damn Truth (Deluxe Edition) on 11 September 2026 with the release of their explosive new single “Killer Whale” on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, complete with a brand-new music video.
“Killer Whale” is available on all streaming platforms HERE. The official music video is available to stream on YouTube HERE.
The Damn Truth (Deluxe Edition) is available to pre-order HERE.
Exploding from the band’s acclaimed self-titled album, “Killer Whale” is a live-wire fan favourite that has become a highlight of The Damn Truth’s electrifying shows. Produced by Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith), this adrenaline-fuelled rock anthem surges with power, hope, and celebration.
Says the band –
“In true rock n roll fashion Killer Whale started with a banging guitar riff. Screaming through the vintage amp we knew we had something special with this song. Bob heard it too when we recorded it in Vancouver at The Warehouse Studios. The song itself is not about heartbreak. It’s about what gets left behind after all the noise has gone.
“Night after night, all over the world, “Killer Whale” gets the rock ’n’ roll party started early in the set, lighting the fire that burns through the full 90 minutes of pure rock ’n’ roll that is The Damn Truth.”
The release of “Killer Whale” offers fans excitement and celebration as one of the standout tracks from the Deluxe Edition album. The new single also coincides with The Damn Truth’s UK tour which kicks off with a free acoustic session at The Gibson Garage in London from2 –2:30pm on Thursday August 27th.
The Gibson Garage acoustic session is open to the public. Entry is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Fans are advised to show up early on the day, to ensure admission to the rare and intimate acoustic performance. Address: 61–62 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8NQ.
With another action-packed year ahead, The Damn Truth are set to keep the momentum roaring with tour dates across the UK, Europe, and Canada, including high-profile special guest appearances on Europe’s The Final Countdown – 40th Anniversary Tour, along with major festival appearances and electrifying headline shows.
27 Aug – The Gibson Garage, London, UK (free acoustic session) 28 Aug – The Live Rooms, Chester, UK 29 Aug – Stonedead Festival, Newark, UK 30 Aug – Nightrain, Bradford, UK
SEPTEMBER 2026
01 Sep – The Globe, Cardiff, UK 02 Sep – Cavern, Exeter, UK 03 Sep – The Craufurd Arms, Milton Keynes, UK 04 Sep – Bear Cave, Bournemouth, UK 06 Sep – The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool, UK
EUROPE’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN – 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR FEATURING SPECIAL GUESTS: THE DAMN TRUTH
30 September – Glasgow, SEC Armadillo, UK 2 October – Wolverhampton, Civic Hall, UK 3 October – London, Eventim Apollo, UK 5 October – Arnhem, Musis Sacrum, Netherlands 6 October – Paris, L’Olympia, France 8 October – Barcelona, Poble Espanyol, Spain 9 October – Bilbao, Arena Miribilla, Spain 10 October – Madrid, La Cubierta, Spain 12 October – Lausanne, Salle Métropole, Switzerland 13 October – Zurich, Volkshaus, Switzerland 14 October – Milan, Alcatraz, Italy 16 October – Stuttgart, Liederhalle, Germany 17 October – Vienna, Gasometer, Austria 19 October – Berlin, Admiralspalast, Germany 20 October – Warsaw, COS Torwar, Poland 22 October – Frederiksberg, Falconer Salen, Denmark 23 October – Gothenburg, Sweden 24 October – Stockholm, Sweden 26 October – Oslo, Sentrum Scene, Norway
Legendary hardcore and metalcore force WALLS OF JERICHO are back with their long-awaited new album System Error: Humanity dropping November 13, 2026 via Napalm Records. Following the triumphant release of their first single “The Ascent” praised by fans and critics for its “fierce breakdowns and demolishing riffs” (Metal Injection), today, WOJ unleashes its exceedingly ferocious follow up “Agency”.
Like a bullet from a gun, “Agency” takes off at 100 miles an hour in explosive thrash excellence, before turning around and dropping you on your head with a tectonic breakdown. Iconic frontwoman Candace Buckingham gives a moving sermon of self-actualization, galvanizing listeners to fight for their inalienable, human rights.
Frontwoman Candace Buckingham on “Agency”: “Agency is a song about freedom. The kind that lives within you, the kind no one can take away, and the kind you have to fight for every single day.”
Clobbering listeners out of the gate with “True Til’ Death”, the band affirms the triumph of their comeback with rabid aggression: iconic frontwoman Candace Buckingham immediately commands listeners with her gargantuan growls. The discordant violence of tracks like “The Ascent” and “Untouchable”, tap into something truly primal and kick you back a reading level with their claustrophobic chord work, while more thrash driven tracks like “The Flame” and “Agency”, take off at 100 miles per hour, plowing through a plethora of protein packed riffage and solos. Lyrically the band is stoking the flames of discontent, with tracks like “Agency”, “Borrowed Ground”, and “Last Judgement”, delivering empowering messages of reclamation, self-determination, and human rights, encouraging listeners to fight for a better world. The record also features a premier slew of guests including Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe on “Broken Mouths Can’t Speak”, his beckoning howl joining Candace on a ferocious duel attack; and Guy Kozowyk of The Red Chord on “Humanity”, propelling the groove laden pit starter into cataclysmic levels of chaos. After some more delicious violence, and a transcendent slow burn in the form of “A Brighter Fire”, “The Reckoning” finishes things off with an epic, catastrophic energy that is bookended with one of the album’s most punishing breakdowns, bound to send some unlucky concertgoers to the dentist.
Legendary producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou (NAILS, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Code Orange, and Every Time I Die) is behind the boards, capturing the band’s ferocious live energy while maintaining a pristine presentation. Powerful, fierce, and stirring, WALLS OF JERICHO re-emerge with righteous purpose and brutal dedication, humanity may be the source of the system error, but we are the system, and we are the solution.
System Error: Humanity Tracklist:
True Til’ Death
Beginning
The Flame
The Ascent
Broken Mouths Can’t Speak (feat. Randy Blythe)
Untouchable
Rise
Agency
Unchained
The End Before
Humanity (feat. Guy Kozowyk)
Borrowed Ground
Last Judgement
A Brighter Fire (feat. Patsy Puopolo & Matthew Ruby)
The Reckoning
WALLS OF JERICHO is: Candace Buckingham – Vocals Aaron Ruby – Bass Dustin Robert – Drums Bobby VaLeu – Guitar Kyle Gailey – Guitar Chris Towning – Guitar
With mere days to go until the release of their sophomore album, Ydos, Lithuanian force BLACK SPIKES releases another single. “DULKĖS”, Lithuanian for “dust”, is Ydos’ mystical album closer. Versatile, yet grasping, the five-piece breakout band solidifies its upward trajectory with this powerful track. Initially driven by slow modern drum sounds and singer Agni’s captivating whispers, “DULKĖS” quickly explodes into a thrilling headbanging invitation.
Always keeping up the exceptional balance between sensitivity and heaviness, the song wraps up BLACK SPIKES’ bleak exploration of humankind’s relationship with its vices. Ydos is a creative twist on modern metal, a progressive sweeping blow reaching out with fierce claws never to let you go. The album releases this Friday.
BLACK SPIKES about “DULKĖS”: “The final song of Ydos, ‘DULKĖS’, closes the whole fairy tale by returning everything to dust. It is about the shortness of human life and what remains after we are gone. Our bodies disappear, the past fades, and the future belongs to others. But dust also carries the possibility of new life, reminding us that everything ends only to begin again.”
Emerging from the shadows are BLACK SPIKES, bringing the darkness right along with them on their new album, Ydos, out August 28, 2026. The Lithuanian breakout band’s first release with Napalm Records, coming shortly after their nomination at their home country’s Grammy-comparable M.A.M.A. Music Awards, deals with the eponymous flaws of humanity, conceptually interwoven with modern progressive metal, serving as a complex mirror for us all.
The depth of its concept is reflected in every note of Ydos, from every heavy riff to every proggy twist. Leaning into electronic music while holding on firmly to their metal roots, the Lithuanian band creates a distinctive sound, alluringly dark and captivatingly heavy. BLACK SPIKES venture into gloominess, filling the void with spine-tingling philosophical thoughts and posing as Janus-faced companions on a fateful journey into the self in which every step should be taken with caution because a trap just might snap …
BLACK SPIKES about Ydos: “Ydos is a conceptual album—a dark fairytale about human vices. The idea was there from the very beginning and guided the entire songwriting process. Each vice has its own name and story, and many songs will be brought to life through music videos where these vices take shape. It was our first time creating a conceptual album, and we really enjoyed starting with an idea and expressing it through music.”
Initiating the story of Ydos is the eerie “PASAKA” (engl. fairy tale), an intro setting the mood with menacing ticking sounds growing into orchestrals and singer Agni’s high vocals layered with screams. A calming lullaby exploding into growls, thunderous blast beats, and elaborate guitar riffs, “MOTINA” (engl. mother) describes the birth of humankind’s vices and therefore serves as an exposition for the storytelling aspect. Throughout the ten songs of their second album, BLACK SPIKES explore the relationships with flaws we all carry within, devoting a song to each of them. “MELAS” (engl. lie) introduces trap beats and rap to the mix, all with an approach clearly rooted in modern metal with sophisticated progressive elements. “MARA”, investigating excessive curiosity, beautifully contrasts calmness and calamity, with the quintet allowing their different elements to breathe while still entwisting them persuasively. Following, “ZELVAR”, which features the album’s only English lyrics, and “REVANA” add endearing, highly recognizable riffs to Ydos, further opening the gates to the hauntingly beautiful realms BLACK SPIKES are unfolding as they delve into greed and revenge, respectively, the concepts personified in the form of demons. The raw rage evolves into carefully structured “APATIJA” (engl. apathy), whose futuristic intermezzi make for especially interesting headbanging rhythms throughout which Agni’s voice acts as a gentle guide. “AUREA” continues BLACK SPIKES’ cinematic approach in its depiction of pride, unleashing a storm of rapacious riffs and galloping drums, frequently broken up by halcyon parts, their cleverly placed tranquility conveying comfort in seemingly hopeless hazes. With pressing “SENAS DEMONAS” (engl. old demon), BLACK SPIKES free yet another hellish entity, before “DULKĖS” (engl. dust) picks up on the melodized cinematography, wrapping up this bleak exploration of what it means to be human.
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 