On April 9, progressive metal band ANCIENT CURSE released their anthem “Metal Lake” for the festival of the same name, where they will join the lineup alongside Warlord, RAGE, Victory, Motörhell, and Dishonor.
In the meantime, they’ve returned to Metal Lake (Vörder See) themselves to shoot the music video for the song—it doesn’t get any more authentic than that!
Biography: The North Germans have been shining with convincing progressive power metal for almost 40 years. With the premise of “breaking new ground” (literally), the band achieved cult status in Cuba in the mid-nineties and were the first western band since the Beatles to actually tour there with their No.1 hit! Even though the band went noticeably quiet for a while, the new album – their second since 2020 – is even more impressive and multi-layered than its predecessor. The professional standard also applies to the live performance: whether headlining or supporting (Brainstorm, Rage, Victory, Rough Silk, Tankard and many more), Ancient Curse have always managed to captivate the audience with their energetic live show. They also composed the festival anthem for the upcoming “Metal Lake” metal festival!
Current Album (without METAL LAKE!) Tracklist: 1. Forevermore 2. Ave Maria 3. Isolation 4. Dimension 5 5. Deny and Destroy 6. Tunnel Vision (G-LOC Part 1) 7. In Memoriam 8. Dreams of Lucrecia (G-LOC Part 2) 9. Paranormal Coincidence (G-LOC Part 3)
Disfiguring the Goddess unveil their powerful new single ‘AWOL’, the second track to be released from the forthcoming album Bloom, due out 31st July via Seek & Strike. Arriving as one of the album’s most unexpected moments, ‘AWOL’ showcases a more melodic and emotionally charged side of CameronArgon‘s (aka Big Chocolate) long-running project, balancing crushing heaviness with memorable hooks, soaring dynamics and an almost rock-like sensibility. Shifting seamlessly between punishing riffs, unplanned yet compelling clean vocals and an uplifting lyrical core, the track demonstrates the expanded creative range that defines Bloom while remaining unmistakably rooted in the Disfiguring the Goddess sound.
Commenting on the single, Argon states: “’AWOL’ came together late in the writing process, when most of the record was already finished. I originally set out to recreate the energy of one of the album’s more punishing tracks and thought I was writing something brutal, intense, and mosh-ready, but what came out was almost the complete opposite. The song ended up revealing a more melodic and emotionally direct side of the record. Vocally, this is one of my favorite performances on the album. I think the vocals across the record are some of the strongest I have ever done, but ‘AWOL’ stands out because of how naturally it balances heaviness with tonal catchiness. There is almost a rock quality to parts of it, but it still feels fully rooted in Disfiguring the Goddess. The clean singing was never planned. I was just mapping out the melody and structure in a clean voice, and when I listened back, I realized the part already had the right character. I kept it exactly like that. I am not a traditional singer, but that unpolished instinct ended up serving the song really well. Structurally, it shifts between 4/4 and 6/8, which gives certain sections a strong sense of movement and lift without changing tempo or key. Lyrically and emotionally, it has an uplifting, push-forward energy, with a touch of that wounded romanticism that has always been part of DTG.”
Disfiguring the Goddess has always operated on its own terms. Driven by Argon’s singular vision across vocals, production and programming, the project has built a global following outside traditional industry structures, blending deathcore with electronic textures and experimental elements. The partnership with Seek & Strike expands that reach while keeping full creative control intact.
This year also sees Disfiguring the Goddess perform live for the first time, with a run of Canadian dates alongside Angelmaker and Ingested. Long a studio-focused project, the move into a live setting marks a significant shift. Argon comments: “Disfiguring the Goddess hasn’t developed in the traditional sense of a touring band. It has existed as an experimental entity. Bringing DTG into the live sphere must reflect that history. It will be experimental, alternative and immersive.”
Despite the shift, the core ethos remains untouched. Disfiguring the Goddess is still driven by Argon’s meticulous approach to songwriting and production, dense, punishing compositions layered with atmosphere and precision. The difference now is scope: a larger stage for a project that has always deserved one, representing a new, exciting beginning for DTG. Argon remarks, “Bloom is an album about accumulation, cultivation, and execution. There are a lot of themes running through it, both personal and sonic, but when I step back and look at the bigger picture, it symbolizes nurturing the seed of DTG until it finally blossoms. It is the beginning of a new chapter and the closing of an old one.”
With Bloom, Disfiguring the Goddess continue to refine their identity with a clear focus. No compromises, no dilution, just a more direct and fully realised version of the project on a larger scale.
7/31 – Red Deer, AB – Bo’s 8/1 – Edmonton, AB – Starlite Room 8/2 – Grand Prairie, AB – Better Than Fred’s 8/4 – Saskatoon, SK – Coors Event Centre 8/5 – Winnipeg, MB – Park Theatre 8/7 – North Bay, ON – North Bay Granite Club 8/8 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace 8/9 – Windsor, ON – Scarehouse Windsor 8/11 – St. Catherines, ON – Warehouse Concert Hall 8/12 – Ottawa, ON – Brass Monkey 8/13 – Montreal, QC – Fairmount Theatre 8/14 – Quebec City, QC – La Source de la Martinière 8/15 – Moncton, NB – Xeroz Arcade Bar 8/16 – Halifax, NS – The Seahorse 8/18 – Sherbrooke, QC – Le Murdoch 8/20 – Sault Ste Marie, ON – TBD 8/21 – Thunder Bay, ON – Black Pirates Pub 8/23 – Regina, SK -The Exchange 8/25 – Calgary, AB – Dickens 8/26 – Nelson, BC – The Royal 8/27 – Kelowna, BC – Revelry 8/28 –Vancouver, BC – The Rickshaw
French atmospheric metal pioneers ALCEST will return to North America this fall as special guests on a massive tour featuring MASTODON and DEAFHEAVEN.
The tour begins September 16 in Orlando, FL and runs through October 22 in Atlanta, GA, making stops in cities across the United States and Canada.
The tour follows ALCEST’s triumphant return to North America in 2025 and continues the band’s support of their latest studio album, Les Chants de L’Aurore, released via Nuclear Blast Records.
ALCEST w/ Mastodon & Deafheaven North American Tour 2026
Sep 16 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Sep 18 – Asheville, NC @ Asheville Yards Sep 19 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE Sep 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall Sep 23 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues Sep 24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount Sep 25 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem Sep 27 – Montreal, QC @ MTELUS Sep 28 – Toronto, ON @ Rebel Sep 29 – Buffalo, NY @ Buffalo Riverworks Oct 1 – Detroit, MI @ Fillmore Auditorium Oct 2 – Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre Oct 3 – Minneapolis, MN @ Palace Theatre Oct 4 – Omaha, NE @ FILL Oct 6 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex Oct 7 – Garden City, ID @ Revolution Concert House Oct 9 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater Oct 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium Oct 11 – Del Mar, CA @ The Sound Oct 12 – Las Vegas, NV @ FILL Oct 14 – Denver, CO @ The Fillmore Oct 16 – Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom Oct 17 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant Oct 18 – Memphis, TN @ Satellite Music Hall Oct 20 – Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Oct 21 – Greensboro, NC @ Piedmont Hall Oct 22 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
Released to widespread critical acclaim, Les Chants de L’Aurore further expands ALCEST’s singular artistic vision, seamlessly blending shimmering shoegaze textures, post-rock atmospherics, and black metal intensity into one of the band’s most evocative and immersive works to date. A journey through both radiant beauty and profound melancholy, the album drifts between cathartic, dreamlike passages and moments of soaring emotional weight, as showcased on standout tracks such as “L’Envol,” “Améthyste,” and “Flamme Jumelle.” The record marks another high point in ALCEST’s celebrated catalog, reaffirming the band’s status as one of the most innovative and influential forces in modern heavy music.
About ALCEST: For principal songwriter and frontman Neige, ALCEST has always been a gateway to the otherworldly, a means of exploring his spirituality. An elemental two-piece, completed by long-serving drummer and creative confidante Winterhalter, ALCEST seem to dip their toes in a multitude of musical genres without ever quite fitting in. “In the metal scene ALCEST is a weird band, in the indie/post-rock scene ALCEST is a weird band- we never quite fit in,” Neige reflects. “This is how I feel in life, always an outsider; It’s not a problem, it’s just the way it is.”
Italian heavy/power metallers IBRIDOMA have re-signed with Punishment 18 Records for the release of new album. The band’s new album is due to be released at the end of the summer.
Out now via RPM, “Solstice” arrives as A.A.WILLIAMS’ most powerful and poetic work to date, an album shaped by extremes of light and darkness, weight and fragility, devastation and renewal. Thunderous highs, intimate lows and vivid emotional shifts unfold across a record that feels both deeply personal and cinematic in scale.
Long celebrated for her haunting vocals, immersive dynamics and striking emotional clarity, WILLIAMS expands her sonic world with an album that moves like a ritual through changing seasons. Guitars churn like gathering weather, strings glow with fragile warmth, and her voice unfolds from restrained intimacy into commanding emotional force.
“Solstice” captures A.A. WILLIAMS at a creative turning point. Inspired by years of global touring, acclaimed collaborations and genre-defying reinterpretations, the album finds her fully embracing both vulnerability and power.
Balancing crushing heaviness with moments of startling beauty, “Solstice” invites listeners into a world where silence can feel as immense as sound itself. It is intimate, dramatic and quietly radiant — music for endings, beginnings and the long road between the two.
Let the new season begin.
Track list:
1. Poison 2. Wolves 3. Little By Little 4. Hold It Together 5. Outlines 6. I’ve Seen Enough 7. The Veil 8. Just A Shadow 9. It Won’t Rain Forever 10. Breathe 11. The Gentle Harm
Jun 06 Tampere, FI — Ankea Festival Jun 13 Ferrara, IT — Ferrara Summer Festival ^ Jun 16 Zagreb, HR — SRC Salata ^ Jun 23 Tilburg, NL — Poppodium 013 ^ Jun 24 Amsterdam, NL — AFAS Live ^
Jul 04 Viveiro, ES – Resurrection Fest Aug 07 Jaromêr, CZ — Brutal Assault Aug 22 Bristol, UK — Arctangent Festival Aug 29 Maastricht, NL — Pelagic Fest
^ with A Perfect Circle
Photo Credits: Jake Owens
About A.A. WILLIAMS
Making her debut live appearance at the prestigious Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands off the back of a self-titled EP, A.A. Williams has since toured across the globe with the likes of Cult of Luna, Explosions in the Sky, Russian Circles, Sleep Token and The Sisters of Mercy, as well as establishing herself as a headline artist— including a show at the iconic Queen Elizabeth Hall inside London’s Southbank Centre.
Standout festival appearances have dovetailed with two album releases— 2020’s Forever Blue and 2022’s As The Moon Rests— both of which received widespread critical acclaim and placed A.A. Williams at the forefront of a wave of artists taking textured, epic and folk-rooted heavy music into new and progressive directions. A BBC session at the legendary Maida Vale Studios only bolstered her credentials.
Never one to rest on her laurels, she has also released a series of “companion pieces”: a collaborative single with Japanese post-rock titans MONO (“Exit In Darkness”); a solo covers collection recorded during 2020’s pandemic lockdown— Songs From Isolation— that drew praise from The Cure’s Robert Smith and Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan; and perhaps most impressively, 2021’s arco, in which the multi-instrumentalist completely reworked her debut EP from rock instrumentation to string ensemble, drawing on her classical training to stunning effect.
Kalandra will go on a Norwegian tour this fall/winter with their EP “Mørketid”, released in the winter of 2025. The band will visit the major Norwegian cities and will also perform in Bodø for the very first time.
“Mørketid” is an EP that embraces darkness and winter in a truly unique way. The EP features beautiful reinterpretations of the famous Scandinavian christmas hymn “Mitt hjerte alltid vanker”, alongside critically acclaimed original compositions such as “Ghosts”. The band will perform a very special repertoire for the tour, featuring songs that bring warmth and light as we enter the dark and cold winter season. The band says:
It’s been a while since we last toured Norway, and we’re incredibly excited to reconnect with audiences across the country.
It feels especially meaningful that we’ll finally be playing in Bodø for the very first time, and that we’ll soon return to Kristiansand, nearly ten years after our last visit. We’re also looking forward to returning to venues such as Kulturhuset in Bergen, SALT in Oslo, and HAVET in Trondheim, where we’ve made many fond memories over the years.
Mørketid is about bringing people together during the darkest time of the year and creating warmth, connection, and a sense of community through music. We can’t wait to share these evenings with both familiar faces and new listeners alike.»
Norwegian-Swedish collective Kalandra have spent over a decade carving out a distinct space between atmospheric rock, Nordic folk, and cinematic metal, building a reputation for immersive soundscapes and emotionally charged compositions.
Emerging with their debut album The Line in 2020, the band quickly gained international attention for their haunting, minimalist aesthetic — where delicate vocals meet brooding, slow-burning arrangements. Their sound, often drawing comparisons to artists operating on the fringes of metal and post-rock, is defined as much by restraint as it is by intensity.
But Kalandra’s story stretches further back. Formed in 2011 in Liverpool by vocalist Katrine Stenbekk, the band developed their identity through relentless live performances in the UK before returning to Norway and solidifying their lineup. Over the years, they have steadily expanded their reach — from intimate club shows to major festival stages including Hellfest.
Touring alongside artists such as Wardruna, Heilung and Leprous, Kalandra have connected with audiences across Europe and Australia, bridging scenes that span folk, post-rock, and progressive metal.
Their work on the soundtrack for Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Lands further cemented their ability to translate atmosphere into narrative, while their 2024 album A Frame of Mind marked a turning point — expanding both the sonic scope and emotional weight of their material.
Now, in 2026, Kalandra mark 15 years as a band, continuing to evolve while staying rooted in a sound that feels both timeless and deeply personal. Their music has travelled far beyond its Nordic origins, resonating with a global audience drawn to its sense of space, tension, and quiet power.
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