US heavy metal psych voyagers BOOK OF WYRMS return with “Proficient Dreamer”, the second single from their highly anticipated new album, Megacelestial, out December 11, 2026, via Argonauta Records on CD, colored vinyl, and digital formats. Alongside the new track, the band reveal the complete details of their upcoming fourth full-length, marking a bold new chapter in their ever-evolving sonic journey.
Following the release of “Slime Fever”, which offered the first glimpse into the new record, “Proficient Dreamer” provides another taste of the band’s renewed creative direction. Faster, dirtier, and more direct, Megacelestial captures Book of Wyrms embracing a sharper, more aggressive heavy metal attack without abandoning the psychedelic spirit and otherworldly atmosphere that have always defined their sound.
Formed in 2014 through a shared love of Hawkwind and ZZ Top, Book of Wyrms have spent over a decade exploring the outer reaches of heavy music. Their latest album reflects a significant shift in both energy and approach, inspired by the arrival of drummer Brian Wiltz, whose powerful, straightforward playing has helped reshape the band’s songwriting and dynamics.
For Megacelestial, the band also collaborated with Rob Wrong (Wrong Way Recording, Witch Mountain), who handled the mix for the first time in the band’s history. Drawing inspiration from the melodic power of 80s Judas Priest, Dio, Thin Lizzy, Scorpions, Queen, and Motörhead, the new material delivers a more immediate and hard-hitting sound, balancing razor-sharp guitar work, fuzz-driven low end, atmospheric synthesizers, and commanding female vocals.
The band previously described their new approach as making music for “driving across the country on no sleep”, a fitting description for an album built around momentum, intensity, and a refusal to settle for anything less than full impact.
With Megacelestial, Book of Wyrms push their cosmic heavy psych into more forceful territory, delivering a record that promises to resonate with fans of Judas Priest, Blood Ceremony, Earthless, The Black Angels, Castle Rat, and Howling Giant.
The release of Noctiferia’s latest single “AEON SHIFT” made it more than clear: Their long awaited eighth studio album “AXIOM I” (out November 20, 2026) will be a defining new chapter in the evolution of one of Slovenia’s most legendary extreme-metal acts.
Marking the band’s first studio album with a new vocalist in more than two decades, “AXIOM I” captures Noctiferia at a point where three decades of experience collide with a renewed sense of energy, ambition, and creative urgency. The result is the most technical, aggressive, and contemporary-sounding record in the band’s catalogue, combining precision and complexity with a raw, uncompromising sonic character. Built upon the experience accumulated throughout Noctiferia’s 30-year career, their eighth full-length embraces a distinctly modern approach while retaining the intensity and experimental spirit that have defined the band since its beginnings. The album represents both a continuation of the band’s legacy and a deliberate step into new territory — sharper, heavier and more forward-looking than ever before. “AXIOM I” was recorded in Slovenia, with mixing and mastering handled by David Caplinger in Ohio, USA, bringing together the band’s European roots with an international production approach.
To get ready (and even more excited) for the highly anticipated album, fans are now given one more glimpse of what’s to come with the high-energy, groove-driven second album single “PARADOX REDUX”. Released along with an impressive video, the track explores with uncompromising sonic intensity what the band describes as “the paradox at the heart of human existence”. It’s about nothing less than one of the fundamental contradictions of being human: our own apparent insignificance in the face of an incomprehensibly vast universe, and our extraordinary capacity to comprehend, challenge, and reshape it. The band explains: “On a cosmic scale, humanity is little more than a microscopic speck — fragile, temporary, and seemingly irrelevant. Yet through consciousness, imagination, and the ability to question reality itself, we possess something that makes us appear almost godlike. We are simultaneously prisoners of our own limitations and creators capable of transcending them.” With “PARADOX REDUX”, Noctiferia channels this philosophical duality into a powerful sonic statement, combining groove-oriented aggression with the band’s unmistakable intensity. The result is a track that confronts the listener with the tension between human insignificance and seemingly limitless potential.
As the second release from “AXIOM I”, the track continues to reveal the conceptual direction of the upcoming album, exploring the boundaries of human existence, consciousness, and the ever-evolving relationship between humanity, its future, and its own creations.
NOCTIFERIA’s eighth studio album “AXIOM I” is out on November 20, 2026 via Nika Records. Pre-Save NOW: https://noctiferia.lnk.to/AxiomI
“AXIOM I” Tracklist
1. NOX 2. PARASOMNIAC 3. PARADOX REDUX 4. AEON SHIFT 5. THE SHIMMERING 6. COLOSSUS IN MOTION 7. THE BENDING SOIL 8. DECORONATION 9. SUN COLLIDER
ABOUT NOCTIFERIA
The pioneering Slovenian extreme-metal band NOCTIFERIA was officially formed in Ljubljana in 1997. Over three decades, the band has continually transformed its sound, moving through black metal, death metal, industrial, and groove metal while incorporating electronic, ethnic, and acoustic elements. Their career has established them as one of the most influential and internationally recognized bands in the Slovenian metal scene. The band originally emerged from the early-1990s underground under the name Emetica before becoming Noctiferia. Their debut album, “Baptism at Savica Fall”, was released in 1998 and established their early black/pagan-metal identity. Subsequent releases saw the group progressively move toward a more extreme and experimental sound, including “Per Aspera” (2003), “Slovenska Morbida” (2006), “Death Culture” (2010), “PAX” (2014), the genre-defying acoustic project “Transnatura” (2016) and tribute album to legendary Laibach under the name of “Reforma” (2021) with David Vincent (ex-Morbid Angel), Attila Szihar (Mayhem) and Jorgen Munkeby (Shining) as guests. Throughout their career, Noctiferia have performed extensively across Europe and China, sharing stages with internationally renowned acts and appearing at major festivals. They became the first Slovenian band to perform at Wacken Open Air, while their career has also included performances at Ljubljana’s Drama Theatre and Opera House. Their international collaborations have included renowned producers such as Peter Tägtgren, Jonas Kjellgren, Johan Örnborg, Jens Bogren and Henrik Udd among others. In 2026, Noctiferia enter a new chapter following a period away from the live stage. The band introduces Miloš Mihajlović as their new vocalist and David Bordon as their new drummer and returns to performing with a new lineup. The current full lineup is:
Miloš Mihajlović — vocals Igor Nardin — guitar Uroš Lipovec — bass Andrej Blatnik — guitar David Bordon — drums
The new lineup made its Slovenian live debut at Orto Fest in Ljubljana on 18 April 2026, performing established Noctiferia material alongside selected new compositions. Noctiferia will release their new studio album “AXIOM I” on November 20, 2026, marking another new phase in its musical evolution. The 2026 return also serves as the beginning of the band’s approach toward its 30th anniversary celebrations in 2027.
Turborock band Grillijono K.O. floors the accelerator with its new single “Dildometsä” (“Dildo Forest”). A cinematic music video for the track is also out today, taking viewers on a mushroom-picking trip into the dark depths of the human mind.
The new single is the band’s acceleration lane towards its upcoming album, Ei tällä elä… mutta kuolee nopeammin (Can’t Live Off This… But You’ll Die Faster), due out in January 2027.
“Dildometsä” was inspired by a well-known roadside rest stop near Vaasa, the band’s hometown in western Finland, where men have been known to get intimate in the neighbouring woods. Using satire, the song takes aim at homophobia and the narrow-minded attitudes towards sexuality that remain all too common.
“Homosexuality was still classified as an illness in Finland in the 1970s, and the song looks at how the path homophobia points out has led men into the woods,” says Lobo-Tommi, the band’s singer and guitarist.
The music video starts with what appears to be an innocent mushroom-picking trip, but things soon spiral out of control, turning into a battle against inner demons and external temptations.
Blending rock, punk and metal seamlessly, Grillijono K.O.’s sound combines catchy riffs and clever pop melodies with guitar-hero solos and hardcore screams that push the limits of the vocal cords.
Grillijono K.O.’s third full-length album, Ei tällä elä… mutta kuolee nopeammin, will be released on 22 January 2027.
The band’s previous album, Härmägeddon (a play on Armageddon and Härmä, a colloquial name associated with Finland), came out in 2024, while their debut, Napalmia korville (“Napalm for Your Ears”), was released in 2021.
To support the new album, Grillijono K.O. will hit the road for a tour across Finland. On previous tours, the band’s turbocharged live shows have earned them a strong following at both clubs and festivals. Along the way, they have also opened for Therapy? in Finland.
Grillijono K.O. – Finland Tour 2027
22 Jan – Klubi, Tampere 23 Jan – Fanny-talo, Vaasa 29 Jan – Rytmikorjaamo, Seinäjoki 30 Jan – Lutakko, Jyväskylä 5 Feb – Kuluma Pub, Imatra 6 Feb – On the Rocks, Helsinki 19 Feb – Sawohouse Underground, Kuopio 20 Feb – La Barre, Joensuu 27 Mar – Toppila Klubi, Oulu 28 May – West Coast Billiard Bar, Kokkola 29 May – Club 45 Special, Oulu
Danish death metal/metallic hardcore champions LIFESICK will unleash their When Brutality Becomes The Language full-length on January 22nd, 2027 via Metal Blade Records.
With When Brutality Becomes The Language, LIFESICK delivers their most focused and hard-hitting record to date. Blending death metal-inspired riffs with fast hardcore energy and crushing breakdowns, the album pushes the band’s sound further while staying rooted in the chaos of the pit. Following their tenth anniversary in 2024, on this fifth long player the jaundiced Jutlanders have their methodology rigorously locked in. Once again long‑serving sound man, former Hatesphere vocalist, Jacob Bredahl, proved integral to the process. “Jacob understands exactly what we want LIFESICK to sound like and how to push us to get there…,” the band notes. “At this point he almost feels like the sixth member of the band.”
The album emerges “ringing with the band’s own sonic quirks… redolent of punk rock jam‑room intimacy and mired in deathly HM‑2 crunch tones, but with a bitter tang that’s entirely LIFESICK.” Lyrically, the record is grounded in the timeless themes of survival, confrontation, and resilience; being shaped by the harsh realities of life and coming out harder to break.
As is customary, LIFESICK welcomes an array of featured artists from bands they respect and enjoy, each collaborator invigorating the material with new energies. “No Bark, All Bite” features Copenhagen hardcore luminaries and friends of the band Jonathan Albrechtsen (Rot Away) and Victor Kaas (Eyes), “Damaged Goods” showcases Nitisart “Mike” Chaiburi (Whispers), Hallgeir Skretting Enoksen (Purified In Blood) enhances “Scum,” while “Assassination Culture” includes Christoffer Bach Kofoed (Neckbreakker).
In advance of the record’s release, today the band presents “All Eyes On Me,” with an accompanying video. The band comments, “‘All Eyes On Me’ is built for the pit. It moves from groovy riffs into heavy beatdown sections and ends in a crushing breakdown made to clear the floor. Lyrically, it’s about being impossible to ignore – growing in someone’s head, refusing to disappear and making sure your name sticks.“
Watch LIFESICK‘s previously released videos for “Hard To Kill,” “Die With Me,” and “At War With You” HERE.
When Brutality Becomes The Language was mastered by Brad Boatright (Corrosion Of Conformity, Nails, Obituary, Beastmilk, Yob, Code Orange, etc.).
When Brutality Becomes The Language Track Listing: 01. When Brutality Becomes The Language 02. Hard To Kill 03. All Eyes On Me 04. No Bark, All Bite (Feat. Rot Away, Eyes) 05. Damaged Goods (Feat. Whispers) 06. Scum (Feat. Purified In Blood) 07. Assassination Culture (Feat. Neckbreakker) 08. Attitude Adjustment 09. At War With You 10. Die With Me
LIFESICK is: Simon Shoshan – vocals Nicolai Lindegaard – guitar Nikolai Lund – guitar Jeppe Riis Frausing – bass Lasse Skyttegaard – drums
Florida’s power metal quartet SEVEN KINGDOMS has released a behind the scenes video for their latest offering, “Sono Sola.” SEVEN KINGDOMS pull back the curtain to showcase their resourceful approach to producing high quality visuals for their songs that combines DIY hacks with a trip to Nevada’s dry lake beds for cinematic shots. “Sono Sola” is the first single and music video to land ahead of the forthcoming album, Sono Sola.
Following the success of their Kickstarter Campaign, SEVEN KINGDOMS recently announced their 6th full length record Sono Sola will be released on January 29, 2027, continuing their partnership with Reigning Phoenix Music. Sono Sola is available to pre-save and pre-order.
Sono Sola was recorded at Morrisound Recording in April and May 2026 with Jim Morris (SAVATAGE, WARRANT, DEATH). SEVEN KINGDOMS wrote the record together with Jim Morris, who also produced the record along with co-producer Francesco Cavalieri (WIND ROSE). The album artwork for Sono Sola was created by Bo Bradshaw.
Sono Sola Track List: 1. Twin Flames 2. Dissonance 3. The Serpent And The Lotus 4. Endless Night 5. Undone 6. Through These Waves 7. I Don’t Care 8. The Oracle 9. Five Tones 10. Sono Sola
NINI MUSIC w/ SEVEN KINGDOMS Remaining US Dates: Oct 23 – Indianapolis, IN – Black Circle Oct 24 – Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge
About SEVEN KINGDOMS:
SEVEN KINGDOMS, a power metal band hailing from Deland, FL, was formed in 2007. After solidifying their lineup in 2009, the band signed with Nightmare Records and began gaining momentum in the metal scene. Their big break came in 2010 when they were handpicked by BLIND GUARDIAN to support their North American tour, which introduced SEVEN KINGDOMS to a wider audience. Following this, they played notable tours and festivals, including ProgPower USA and the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise, while releasing The Fire is Mine in 2012, which marked a pivotal moment in their career with its refined sound and strong reception.
In recent years, SEVEN KINGDOMS has continued to expand their reach with international tours alongside acts like STRATOVIRUS, AMARANTHE and EVERGREY. The band’s latest full-length album, Zenith (2022), was released through Distortion Music Group, further cementing their place in the power metal world where they were featured as the sole support for the first US Tour of POWERWOLF and then with WIND ROSE in the USA and Europe shortly after.
In 2024, they released their highly anticipated EP, The Square, under Reigning Phoenix Music, which hit the stages across Europe and the US. In 2025, the quartet embarked to Europe as support for UNLEASH THE ARCHERS alongside STRIKER and they joined BLIND GUARDIAN once again some 15 years later for their North American tour as support with ENSIFERUM. Fall 2026 will see SEVEN KINGDOMS traverse across the US with folk metal artist NINI MUSIC. With world-wide touring view on the horizon, SEVEN KINGDOMS continues to elevate their status in the global metal scene.
Ferociously melodic in their approach, SEVEN KINGDOMS fuse high octane energy and intensity with compelling harmonies in their charismatic, modern take on power metal. With recording for the new album, Sono Sola, now complete, SEVEN KINGDOMS are gearing up to ignite this next chapter. Sono Sola, produced by Jim Morris, SEVEN KINGDOMS and Francesco Cavalieri (V.B.O./WINDROSE), will be released in January 2027 via Reigning Phoenix Music.
SEVEN KINGDOMS is: Sabrina Cruz – Vocals Camden Cruz – Guitars Kevin Byrd – Guitars Keith Byrd – Drums
Season of Mist is proud to welcome back Mar de Grises.
Since forming in 2000, Mar de Grises have led the way for metal in South America. Inspired by their native Chile, with a cinematic vision and melodic touch, the band bring the mighty Andes, the salty Pacific Ocean, the dreaded cold of Cape Horn, metropolitan Santiago, the lush green Valdivian forests and the Atacama desert to progressive death-doom.
Mar de Grises were signed to Finland’s Firebox Records before becoming the first band from South America to join Season of Mist. The French label released the band’s latest album, 2010’s Streams Inwards. The album brought them international recognition and major tours with Sólstafir, Swallow the Sun and Saturnus, as well as festival appearances alongside Opeth, Enslaved and Katatonia. In a review of Streams Inwards, Exclaim! declared that Mar de Grises are “singularly unique while raising the bar for contemporaries, like comparably brilliant groups such as Swans or Anathema before them”.
Now, after more than a decade of silence, Mar de Grises are excited to announce that they are returning to Season of Mist, who will release the band’s long-awaited fourth album next year.
“After more than a decade of absence, we are thrilled to announce that Mar de Grises have re-signed with the legendary record label Season of Mist”, the band says. “Once again, with our new album, we are pushing the boundaries of genre. These new songs are dark and cinematic, born from the contrasts of Chile’s landscape, which stretches from the Andes to the Pacific, from the Atacama Desert to Tierra del Fuego. The wait is over. Mar de Grises are back!”.
More news about Mar de Grises fourth album is coming soon. Next week, the band are headlining Cryptic Celebration VII in Santiago, Chile ahead of opening for Opeth.
Listen to a teaser from Mar de Grises upcoming fourth album:
Mar de Grises 2026 Dates October 30 – Santiago, Chile @ Teatro Cariola (Cryptic Celebration VII) [TICKETS] November 1 – Santiago, Chile @ Movistar Arena w/ Opeth [TICKETS]
Mar de Grises’ third album, Streams Inwards, is available now through Season of Mist.
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
