BraveWords Records is pleased to announce the signing of COLIN PETERIK. Colin is a “Power Pop” master of hooks and melodies and when you realize that his father is the legendary Jim Peterik, who co-wrote the iconic Rocky III anthem “Eye of the Tiger”, it makes complete sense. Colin is putting the finishing touches on a new album due out later this year, but in the meantime you can check out his latest single “Swans” on Bandcamp.
Colin talks about signing with BraveWords Records, “Giles, Michael, Tim and BraveWords have believed in me since day one, so it was exciting and surreal when they asked me to be on the label. I look forward to doing big things with them, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to join their stacked roster as a recording artist”.
Colin shares the backstory for the songs “Swans”, “My Dad (Jim Peterik) introduced me to Prefab Sprout about 5 years ago. He has showed me so much great music over the years, but this underrated British group must have slipped through the cracks!
Quickly I devoured their entire discography. I was obsessed with the lead singer/songwriter, Paddy McAloon and how he weaved words with melodies like I’ve never heard before.
“Swans” is a beautiful song from their 1997 album “Andromeda Heights”. The protagonist warns his lover that he’s bad news, and there’s still time for her to turn around. Paddy’s silky-smooth vocals express longing; using swans and foxes as metaphors.
I found myself singing it while waiting in a never-ending line at Disney World with my kids, and began working on the track that very night. When we got home, I recorded and finished the track. It was a lot of fun to get into it- I could almost feel the psychic connection with Paddy, singing his lyrics on the mic.
The original version’s production is very minimal, with no percussion, just ethereal keyboards. I decided to take it in a lo-fi hip-hop/jazz direction, which I think fits the mood well. We added some sax, flute, and horns as a finishing touch. I’m very happy with the result, and I hope Paddy has a chance to hear it someday. I’d love to meet him one day.”
“SWANS”
Produced and Performed by Colin Peterik
Lyrics by Paddy McAloon
Video created by Mark Misch
About COLIN PETERIK:
Colin Peterik is a singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Chicago, IL. His songs, including 2022’s “My Secrets” have racked up millions of plays and garnered him a loyal fanbase. His upcoming fourth solo album “That’s Cool (Or I’m Sorry)” expands on his already eclectic catalogue while focussing his sound and craft.
Albion’s masters of folklore, riffs and legends return with another slab of tomb-shaking, crypt-kicking occult rock. Green Lung have revealed their latest track, ‘Necropolitan Line‘, a Motorhead-meets-Deep Purple subterranean rampage across London’s infamous Necropolis Railway.
‘Necropolitan Line‘ is taken from Green Lung‘s forthcoming new record, Necropolitan, due out on Friday September 11th 2026. A monumental portrait of the power of nature over the dreams and dominion of humankind, Necropolitan is also a grand celebration of the occult lore and heavy music scene of the band’s birthplace, the city of London.
Green Lung stated:
“Is there a more fitting subject for a Green Lung song than the Necropolis Railway, a real-life train line that carried corpses and mourners across London in the late 19th Century? Mix in some inspiration from 1972’s London Underground-set shocker Death Line, a madcap neoclassical organ/guitar duel that evokes Richie Blackmore and Jon Lord at their finger blistering best, and a record Lung BPM of 180, and you have the second single from our fourth album. We can’t wait to play this one live for the first time at the Acid Bath show in Manchester on Thursday. Mind the doors!”
The video, directed by Tracy Mathewson and featuring animation from Joseph Brett, is a tribute to the early 70s German TV show Beat Club, which featured Lung antecedents such as Sabbath, Purple and Lucifer’s Friend. Featuring an introduction from longtime roadie Metal Joe, we enter the band’s own warped version of the show, titled Crypt Club. Will future episodes follow? Only time will tell…
Necropolitan – tracklisting OUT: September 11th 2026
01. Open the Hellmouth 02. Dance to the Grave 03. Black Magick Radio 04. Necropolitan Line 05. Evil in this House 06. Together in Death 07. Ozymandias 08. Alostrael (Be My Babalon) 09. To the Gallows Born
On the week that Necropolitan is released, Green Lung will be visiting some selected record stores to sign vinyl and CDs, plus fans will have the chance for a photo op with their very own Goatwizard. Head to greenlung.co.uk for more details!And keep your eyes peeled for more events as we get closer to release…
Later this year, Green Lung will be embarking on their European Dance to the Grave Tour MMXXVI. Special guests will be High On Fire with support from Gnome. The tour poster was designed by the band’s frequent collaborator, Richard Wells.
GREEN LUNG DANCE TO THE GRAVE TOUR MMXXVI w/ High On Fire & Gnome
03-Dec BE Antwerp @ Trix 04-Dec DE Frankfurt am Main @ Batschkapp 05-Dec DE Munich @ Backstage 07-Dec AT Vienna @ Arena 08-Dec DE Leipzig @ Anker 10-Dec DE Hamburg @ Große Freiheit 36 11-Dec DE Berlin @ Astra Kulturhaus 12-Dec DE Cologne @ Carlswerk Victoria 13-Dec NL Tilburg @ O13 14-Dec FR Paris @ Bataclan 16-Dec UK London @ The Roundhouse 17-Dec UK Bristol @ Bristol Electric 18-Dec UK Manchester @ Manchester Academy 19-Dec IE Dublin @ The Academy 20-Dec UK Glasgow @ SWG3 Galvanizers
With producer Tom Dalgety (Opeth, Ghost) at the helm, this time handling everything from recording to mixing, the band decamped to Rockfield Studios in January 2026, following in the muddy footprints of some of their key inspirations, from Black Sabbath to Queen to Judas Priest. Sonically, they were set on capturing their megalithic live sound more accurately than ever – stripping back their usual dense, multilayered arrangements to their rawest, leanest form and recording much of the album live to capture their Sabbathian heaviness, frenzied Hammonds and haunting Mellotrons as faithfully as possible.
The result is an album that combines the soaring hookiness of This Heathen Land with an uncompromising rawness and heaviness, and takes the band’s distinctive brand of sonic storytelling to macabre new heights.
If, a year after Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning show and the death of Ozzy Osbourne, you had any doubts about the future of traditional British metal, Necropolitan will lay them to rest. Here is a band taking the torch from the heavy metal godfathers and running with it, bursting with all the musicianship and storytelling flair that has kept the genre’s flame burning for a half-century, and using it to temper a lyrical and sonic world that is entirely their own.
A cult band in every sense of the word, Green Lung emerged from London’s heavy rock scene with self-released debut EP Free the Witch (2018).
Drawing on a host of peculiarly British musical influences, from doomy hard rock to pastoral prog and psych to the Hammer Horror theatrics of the NWOBHM, the band have swiftly risen to the forefront of the UK metal scene.
Lyrically celebrating the folklore, myths and legends of Britain, they conjure the wild and witchy spirit of their forebears for a new generation.
Green Lung have released three critically acclaimed albums, Woodland Rites (2019), Black Harvest (2021) and This Heathen Land (2023). They have toured internationally with Clutch, Opeth and Unto Others, and performed on festival stages from Roadburn to Download. Their latest album This Heathen Land landed at #1 on the UK’s Official Rock and Metal Album Chart.
“This is heavy metal how it should be done”The Guardian
Recipients of high praise from NPR, The Needle Drop, Brooklyn Vegan, Decibel and Metal Hammer, Wailin Storms have caught fire since migrating to North Carolina in 2014. Now, the Durham natives are fanning the flames even higher with their upcoming fifth album and first for Season of Mist. On The Arsonist, the band deliver a fiery baptism of Southern gothic rock.
“[…] moves between raw blues punk, gothic rock and folk-leaning melancholy, with an intentionally human and unpolished sound”, Distorted Sound wrote upon the release of the album’s title track.
“[…]soaring and enthralling”, CVLT Nation wrote about second single “You Never Answered”.
Today, Wailin Storms are premiering a suspenseful music video for the third and final advanced single from The Arsonist with Treble. With the ghost of David Lynch riding passenger seat, “Dead End” takes a harrowing post-punk turn.
“‘Dead End’ is about seeing yourself after you die”, Wailin Storms vocalist and guitarist Justin Storms says. “It’s the first song on The Arsonist and one of the first that was written for the album. It flowed out of me while I was messing around with my Strymon El Capistan guitar pedal. It sets the tone by jolting you straight into a fever dream that’s filled with cryptic messages from beyond.
Wailin Storms are igniting the stage this summer with a headline U.S. tour. The band will perform “Dead End” and other songs off The Arsonist for the first time, along with crowd favorites from across their critically-acclaimed discography.
Wailin Storms 2026 The Arsonist U.S. Tour
July 17 – Durham, NC @ Stanczyk’s [Album Release Show] July 29 – Johnson City, TN @ The Hideaway July 30 – Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar July 31 – Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light August 1 – Cincinnati, OH @ Motr August 2 – Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl August 3 – Columbus, OH @ Dirty Dungarees August 4 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Government Center August 5 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery August 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Gutter August 7 – New Hope, PA @ John and Peter’s August 8 – Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana
The Arsonist calls back to Wailin Storms’ past. Recorded by Matt Talbott of Hum in full analog, the album rekindles the band’s roots in raw-to-the-bone blues punk. Like a truck leaving the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, “Dead End” swerves behind bone-rattling drums and noisy scrapes of guitar. “So much music is drowning in sterile digital production”, Storms says. “With this album, we recorded everything in analog. We didn’t touch a computer until mixing”.
Inspired by Lynch and René Magritte, Wailin Storms throw heavier splashes of surrealism into the fires of The Arsonist. “Dead End” begins innocently enough – that is, until the nightmare takes hold. “Calm night, birds keep plucking out our eyes”, Storms sings as if lulled into a trance by the heavy swings of bass. The video stages a crime that would thrill Hollywood’s dark heart, but the album is inflamed by real-life anxieties. Seas rise; cars go screaming through the night, though already, on its opening track, the band warn that it’s too late.
“Don’t save me”. With one more punch of the gas, “Dead End” bursts into flame.
“I’ve always been fascinated with fire”, says Storms, who was raised by a church pianist and a Baptist preacher. As a child, growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, he came dangerously close to accidentally burning his family’s house down. “It speaks to our inherent attraction to danger and annihilation, but also, our hope for transformation”.
Tracklist 1. Dead End (4:48) [WATCH] 2. Heart of Mine (5:13) 3. You Never Answered (4:53) [WATCH] 4. The Arsonist (4:52) [WATCH] 5. Never Rest (4:59) 6. Saved (4:24) 7. Patient Night (3:22) 8. The Wind (6:01) 9. It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used to Be (6:30)
Since migrating to North Carolina’s inland coast circa 2014, Wailin Storms have caught fire with noisy, bluesy explosions of Southern gothic rock. Hot on the heels of critical high praise and thunderous applause from crowds on both sides of the Atlantic, the band’s fifth album and first for Season of Mist fans their flames with reckless abandon. While surrounded by darkness from the outside world, The Arsonist burns with all of our heart’s desires.
“I’ve always been fascinated by fire”, Wailin Storms vocalist and guitarist Justin Storms says before alluding to a time when he came dangerously close to accidentally burning his family’s house down. “It speaks to our inherent attraction to danger and annihilation, but also, our hope for transformation”.
Born the son of a church pianist and Baptist preacher, Justin Storms converted to the church of rock ‘n’ roll after listening to the teachings of his older brother. “He was responsible for getting me into outsider music”. After forming Wailin Storms in his home state of Texas and a pass through New York City, Storms hunkered down in Durham, North Carolina, where he was joined in 2014 by the band’s current drummer Mark Oates (Bats & Mice) and bassist Steve Stanczyk.
Debut full-length One Foot in the Flesh Grave laid a solid foundation for Wailin Storms in 2015 with an East Coast and Midwest tour that led to their first appearance at The Fest. 2017 follow-up Sick City infected more ears with coverage spreading from CVLT Nation to NPR. It was their third album, though, that really opened the floodgates. Rattle was featured by The Needle Drop and named one of the best albums of 2020 by Treble, Riff Magazine, Angry Metal Guy and Machine Music. More attention from Decibel and Metal Hammer came two years later around The Silver Snake Unfolds, which was followed by the arrival of guitarist Ben Melton, as well as shows and tour dates with everyone from City of Caterpillar, pageninetynine and This Will Destroy You to Acid Bath, Eyehategod and Young Widows.
“If Bauhaus, Killing Joke, and Black Sabbath had a child, this would be it”, Metal Injection proclaimed about Wailin Storms.
Brooklyn Vegan concurred. “It’s just loud, heavy, dark rock music, and it’s awesome”.
The Arsonist can be traced back through Wailin Storms’ past. Recorded by Matt Talbott of Hum in full analog, the album rekindles the band’s roots in raw-to-the-bone blues punk as a heated response to today’s vat of overproduced music and AI slop. By experimenting with swoons of Rhodes organ, “Heart of Mine” recalls the Roadhouse from Twin Peaks. “Some of these songs are more primitive and stripped down, harkening back to the four-track recordings that the band started with”, Storms says. “The recordings contain flaws but remain human in all the right ways. They could be a murder ballad or an old folk song that’s sung around the campfire”. Other early influences soak into the songwriting’s weathered fabric: Flannery O’Conner’s grotesque sensibility, Cormac McCarthy’s unflinching fatalism, Old Regular Baptist hymns. With its sideways gust of riffs and moaning chorus, “The Wind” blows loud enough to wake the entire cemetery.
“Because the heart wants what the body wants and the mind wants what the eyes want”, Storms gravely intones. “Won’t you take me through hell”.
Wailin Storms throw heavy splashes of surrealism into the fires of The Arsonist. “Many of the lyrics draw from the same imagery and emotions conjured by David Lynch, especially his film Wild at Heart”,Storms says. “Dead End” opens the album by taking a harrowing turn of its own when the drum’s rattle leads straight into a waking nightmare. “Calm night / Birds keep plucking out our eyes”.
While shrouded by a doomy and dreamy atmosphere, The Arsonist is inflamed by real life anxieties. Taking inspiration from René Magritte, the album’s cover art, which is heavily shadowed except for a tiny house gone up in flames, was painted by Storms himself. “These songs are steeped in the trials and tribulations of everyday life”, he says. The title track is slowly engulfed by love’s eternal flame. “Like the wind controls the sea”, he croons over the gentle sway of his guitar. “You always had a hold on me”. The thunderous climax surges with such feverish intensity that it threatens to send the night of passion up in smoke.
Amidst the wreckage of The Arsonist, Wailin Storms do find a semblance of peace. “It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used to Be” ends the album with a ghostly flicker of gothic romance. “I know a place where we can sit and grow old”, Storms offers with grim assurance. A piano tolls like death’s bell as he glimpses up at a church that resembles a skull. “There’s a sliver of hope in coming to terms with death”, he concludes. “Life is temporary and that’s where its beauty lies”.
On The Arsonist, Wailin Storms deliver a fiery baptism of Southern gothic rock.
Lineup Justin Storms – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar Ben Melton – Lead guitar, backup vocals, Rhodes organ, piano Steve Stanczyk – Bass Mark Oates – Drums
Recording credits Recorded at Earth Analog in May 2025
Production Credits Produced and engineered by Matt Talbott Mixed by Mike Lust at Phantom Manor (“Dead End”, “Heart of Mine”, “You Never Answered”, “The Arsonist”, “Never Rest”, “The Wind”, It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used to Be” Mixed by Dave Downham at Gradwell House (“Saved”, “Patient Night”) Mastered by Dave Downham at Gradwell House
When L.A. Guns hit the Guild Theatre stage last summer, for the launch of their new album Leopard Skin, few in the audience knew what to expect.
Reviews of the album were unanimously impressed, and the band could easily have focussed on that alone. As rocket.net remarked in its review, “this isn’t some nostalgic retread. L.A. Guns aren’t stuck in the past—they’ve evolved naturally, delivering a record that feels fresh while staying true to their roots.”
But those roots were still flourishing, and though the show opened – as did the album – with “Taste It,” it quickly became apparent that the band’s entire history was going to be on display tonight, a truly crowd-pleasing set that delved back to their very first LP – the band’s last single, “Electric Gypsy,” span from that still epochal debut, and it sounds as fresh now as it did way back then.
Whetting the appetite even further, today sees another single come driving into view, the mighty “The Ballad Of Jayne,” first heard on the Guns’ second album, 1989’s Cocked And Loaded, and occupying much the same place in the live show as it did back then, as the band neared the end of the show.
Live, it is a triumphant power ballad that leaves the audience drained and the Guns triumphant. But it was also L.A .Guns’ first major hit single, reaching #33 in the US and #53 in the UK; and, while the song is widely believed to have been composed about Jayne Mansfield, the impossibly glamorous actress who died in a car accident in 1967, Tracii Guns says no, and he should know!
Consistently ranked among the greatest power ballads of the 80s, “The Ballad Of Jayne” has lost none of its power across the ensuing decades – indeed, more or less alone in the ocean of the hopelessly overblown and generally ghastly songs that are also described as power ballads, “The Ballad Of Jayne” remains a truly gut-punching piece of work, as affecting today as it ever was back in the day.
It’s certainly the perfect introduction to Live From The Guild Theatre… at least, if you need one. Past singles “Electric Gypsy” and “Never Enough” should already be firmly entrenched in your brain, and there’s more to come on July 3 when the album hits; and, September 4, when the Blu-ray of the show is released.
Throughout, the Gunners are firing off killer versions of fan favorites tracing all the way back to the beginning, with “The Ballad of Jayne” just one of four songs drafted in from Cocked and Loaded – incredible “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Rip and Tear” and the set-ender, “Never Enough” are the others.
And across the entire show, L.A. Guns – Tracii, longtime vocalist Phil Lewis, Ace Von Johnson (guitar), Johnny Martin (bass) and Shawn Duncan (drums) – have never sounded better.
Which is quite one helluva achievement for a band that’s been tearing up the stages of the world since 1983!
1. Intro – Taste It 2. Cannonball 3. Electric Gypsy 4. Sex Action 5. Hellraisers Ball 6. Hit and Run 7. Like a Drug 8. Speed 9. One More Reason 10. Theremin Jam 11. Over the Edge 12. Guitar Solo 13. I Wanna Be Your Man 14. Lucky Motherfucker 15. Never Enough 16. The Ballad of Jayne 17. Rip and Tear
After a successful spring tour, Swedish rock quintet Hällas are pleased to announce a short run of Spanish dates, extending their previously announced European tour. The band will be hitting the road in support of their recently released fourth full-length album Panorama with Earth Tongue joining as support on most shows.
In addition, Hällas have confirmed foursummer shows supporting prog legends Opeth. A full list of dates is available below.
Hällas Summer Festivals 2026 03-07 Golden R Festial, Nea Anchialos (GR) 01-08 Rock Im Wald, Lichtenfels (DE) 30-08 Cosmic Vibration, Sheffield (UK)
Forget about everyday life and step into an adventurous fantasy world – that’s what Hällas want for their audience to experience. The Swedish quintet craft epic fantasy-themed concept albums filled with adventurous twin guitars, vintage synths, and mystical storytelling, carving out their own genre of adventure rock.
Their album Panorama is Hällas‘ fourth full length release. While staying true to their signature sound and lyricism, it may very well be the most varied and complex so far.
In one way, Panorama sounds familiar: an imaginative hybrid of progressive 70s rock and heavy metal with echoes of both folk and psychedelia, along with conceptual content. In another sense, you have not quite heard a record like this from Hällas before. The self-confidence has never been as evident. Influences from different directions collide, and sometimes clash, contributing to the feeling that the expected instead culminates in wonder at what it is you’re hearing.
Hällas were founded in 2011 and saw their initial breakthrough with their first full length album, Excerpts From A Future Past (2017), and its hit single ‘Star Rider’. Building on their initial success, Hällas released their sophomore album Conundrum in 2020, garnering them a Swedish Grammy nomination. The album trifecta was complete with the release of Isle of Wisdom in 2022, widening their repertoire even further.
With each release, the band have cultivated a cult following in the modern prog and hard rock scenes around the world. With their cinematic storytelling and timeless sound, Hällas has been touring far and wide-playing sold out shows all over Europe, as well as North and Latin America. Regardless of where, Hällas capture their audience with their own adventure rock universe coming to life on stage.
With their new album Panorama, Hällas both consolidate and expand the image of what the band is – but also what rock can be. This time, different perspectives in a scenario are explored regarding whether humanity is capable of understanding a viewpoint other than their own. It reflects our time but is, in typical Hällas fashion, staged in a fictional, distant world.
Italian rock band NAGUAL return with “If Only”, the brand-new single released via Volcano Records and now available on all major digital platforms.
The track opens a new chapter in the band’s career while also marking the beginning of their twentieth anniversary celebrations. Blending classic rock foundations with progressive textures and the emotional weight of ’90s grunge, “If Only” captures the essence of Nagual’s musical identity while pushing it into new territory. Drawing from influences such as Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, and Marillion, the song combines dynamic tempo shifts, layered vocal harmonies, and expansive melodic passages into a rich and emotionally charged composition. At its core, “If Only” explores human vulnerability and the challenge of confronting pain, tracing the fragile line between illusion, truth, and emotional survival. It’s a song shaped by tension and introspection, balancing darkness and hope while searching for meaning through connection and understanding. To support the release, Nagual have also unveiled the official lyric video for the single, now streaming on YouTube, giving visual form to the song’s emotional tension and lyrical depth.
Formed in 2006, Nagual have spent the last two decades carving out a distinct place within the Italian rock scene, building a sound rooted in hard rock, blues, progressive rock, and grunge. Across five studio releases, the band has developed a recognizable artistic voice defined by depth, atmosphere, and strong songwriting. Following the release of their latest album “And Once The Storm Is Over…” in 2024, the band returned to the studio in early 2026 to begin work on a new full-length record, scheduled for release this October. “If Only” serves as the first glimpse into that next chapter.
Listen to “If Only” on all digital platforms and watch the official lyric video here:
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
