SCOTT HEPPLE & THE SUN BAND are proud to announce their new album ‘Wyrd Seasons,’ set for release on October 30th via Rise Above/Popclaw. To mark the announcement, the band shares the first single, “Stranger,” alongside a musc video, available below.
SCOTT HEPPLE & THE SUN BAND returns with ‘Wyrd Seasons,’ a new album that spans intense hard rock, psychedelia, and woozy ballads, with memorable hooks and solos throughout. Inspired by the world around them rather than specific musical influences, the record finds the quartet exploring its heaviest, moodiest and most introspective material to date.
Since early 2025, the band has consisted of Scott Hepple (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Sam Taylor (guitar), Alfred Annable (bass) and Luc Hindmarch (drums). After touring widely and drawing on influences ranging from the Beatles and Neil Young to Black Sabbath, Pentangle and Uncle Acid, the group has developed a more personal sound. Compared to their previous album, ‘English Mustard,’‘Wyrd Seasons’ takes a more grounded approach while retaining elements of 1970s songwriting and production.
Recorded on an 8-track tape machine at their Newcastle studio over the summer and autumn of 2025, ‘Wyrd Seasons’ captures the band’s power and immediacy. The album’s varied songwriting includes “Kailash,” their heaviest song to date, and “Stranger,” written on an Omnichord. Much of the material came together spontaneously in the early hours of the morning, lending the record an introspective atmosphere best suited to nighttime listening.
SCOTT HEPPLE & THE SUN BAND played a handful of dates in Europe in October, including one in Morocco, before touring Europe with Kadavar in November and December. An early 2027 European headline tour is currently being finalised.
“Kärsimysten Tie” is the first single from the upcoming album Taivas Kaareutuu Narkissoksen Yllä by the Finnish extreme metal band Underwater Father, set for release early next year.
The track represents the heavier side of the album—drawing on Satanic themes—and explores internal struggle, confronting one’s own shadow, the purification from sins, and the price of such purification.
It also serves as a hymn to the fire that burns away the old, compelling a person to look at themselves stripped of the masks of illusion. The song invites the listener to face their own shadows and burn away their sins within this lifetime, so that the journey through the flames of the afterlife might be “more pleasant.”
Underwater Father is a metal band from Kotka, Finland founded in 2024. The band serves up a blend of the darkest growls and beautifully bitter melancholy.
Rather than relying on dominant posturing, the band leans into something more deeply entwined with suffering. On stage, we scream at our fears, rather than trying to project an image of something we are not.
The songs explore suffering, madness, despair, and other shadows of the human condition—both in concrete terms and as an internal experience. Some tracks are colored by fantasy; even when they don’t originate in reality, they strive toward it.
The lineup consists of the following renegades: Samu Haatainen – Guitar, vocals Jan Lindberg – Guitar Antti Lampinen – Bass Joonas Nieminen – Drums
Finnish melodic metal band Dead End Finland are set to release their sixth studio album ‘Carbon’ on March 12th 2027 via Inverse Records. The new single ‘Mercy of Fools’ is out today and it’s available on all essential streaming services: https://push.fm/fl/def-mercy-of-fools
–Composed & Written by Dead End Finland –ISRC: FI3FC2647708 –Cover art by Mikko Virtanen
The band comments: “How far can we go before everything starts falling apart?
“Mercy of Fools” is a song about a world where madness takes control, leaving ordinary people to clean up the destruction left behind by others. It speaks of powerlessness, anger and despair – but also of a longing for peace that seems increasingly difficult to reach.
As the world becomes divided by ever-deeper conflicts and hostility, one question remains: will we ever find a way out of this cycle?
Sometimes, there is nothing we can do to stop everything happening around us. We can only close our eyes, take a breath, and hope that somewhere in the midst of all this, there is still a path towards tranquility.“
Track list:
Poison Mind
Saint & Sinner
Remembrance
Adrenaline
(interlude)
Innocent
The Reason
Mercy of Fools
Breakdown
Epilogue
–Composed & Written by Dead End Finland –Cover art by Mikko Virtanen
BIOGRAPHY: Dead End Finland is a melodic metal band from Helsinki founded in 2007. The lineup, which has remained unchanged since the beginning, has enabled the band’s sound to develop into its current rich form. Dead End Finland is difficult to place into any specific genre, and in the songs you can hear tones from classical music to death metal. During the years, the band’s style has become even more bombastic and melodic. The compositions have gained more depth and insight. The upcoming sixth album takes the band in a more modern direction, although Dead End Finland’s recognizable sound and basic elements are still easily heard.
Line-up: Mikko Virtanen – Vocals Santtu Rosén – Guitars & Bass Miska Rajasuo – Drums Jarno Hänninen – Keys
While the present-day incarnation of Cactus continues to defy the passing of time (the band’s new video, “300 Pounds of Joy,” is among the heaviest things you’ll encounter this year), the band’s former self is crushing the opposition as well.
Formed by Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert after the former Vanilla Fudge-rs initial intention of teaming up with Jeff Beck was derailed by the guitarist’s car accident, Cactus swiftly established themselves among the loudest, and most influential hard rock bands of the early 1970s.
Three killer albums set the stage for a legacy that swept even Van Halen into their court – Carmine still possesses a cassette tape Eddie Van Halen gave him, of the then-unknown band blasting Cactus covers to a clubful of fans. And the last few years have seen Cleopatra Records delve into the band’s archive for a clutch of live albums that capture the original band in even more fiery form – The Birth of Cactus, Ultra Sonic Boogie ’71 and, stressing on December 18, Auxiliary Studios ’71, a truly monstrous performance from fall 1971, and an historic one as well.
This was the night when the band announced that guitarist Jim McCarty was on his way out of the band, and they were searching for a new axeman – a shock split that hit the fan-base like an earthquake. Cactus were already known across the US as “the American Led Zeppelin.” And now the American Jimmy Page was on his way out.
It didn’t affect the show, though. Carmine recalls, ““McCarty’s playing was amazing on this show. He was on fire with us, me and Tim [Bogert, bassist]. As much as he didn’t like playing rock, because he was a blues guitarist, that’s what kicked him into doing what he did.”
From the outset, Cactus were a step ahead of the rest of the field. The drummer continues, ““Everything was so fast, hardly any grooves, just 110mph of energy. It became a really wild band, and we played all over the place. We went to England, Europe, we did the Isle of Wight Festival – that was incredible; we used to do the boogie, Rusty would say ‘come on everybody, let’s boogie!’ and the whole place was on its feet, from the front by the stage to the back, a gigantic wave. I’ll never forget it.”
Neither did their fans. Black Oak Arkansas’s Jim Dandy cited Cactus frontman Rusty Day as an influence; later, so did David Lee Roth. And, Carmine recalls how, as he was putting together a new line-up of Vanilla Fudge during the 1980s, he called Eddie Van Halen to tell him the news. Eddie’s response? “**** that, get Cactus back together!”
“Cactus went onto be a really big underground band that really influenced a lot of bands,” Carmine continues. “Evil,” the Chester Burnett classic that highlighted Cactus’s third album, Restrictions, and opens Auxiliary Studios ‘71, “became a giant song of our’s. Dee Snider cut it, the Daisies cut it, so many people cut it.”
Three songs from Restrictions open the Rochester show, “Evil,” “Alaska” and Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.” But the show itself is less about the songs and more about the atmosphere. You listen to Cactus, particularly their live recordings, and you can feel the planet start spinning faster. And, by the time they hit tonight’s closing number, an epic “Boogie Mama”… well, let Carmine explain.
“Rusty had a ball with that. He changed the lyrics every night, Rusty was amazing with lyrics, he’d be singing something and then something else would come into his head, and we used to flow with him, he was with lyrics the same as we were with drums, bass and guitar. There was no other band like us. It was a great time of our lives, we had a ball.”
And now you can have one as well, as Auxiliary Studios ’71 prepares to leap onto your holidays playlist on CD and as a startling red/black/marble double vinyl pack. Just make certain that you play it loud.
Few names are as revered in metalcore as that of dynamic duo of singer Howard Jones and guitarist/producer Adam Dutkiewicz. There is a certain magic that exists between them that is truly transcendent.
Establishing the blueprint in New England’s burgeoning underground – Jones with Blood Has Been Shed and Dutkiewicz with Aftershock and then the legendary Killswitch Engage, the two would go on to join forces and play key roles in what would become seminal KsE years between 2002 and 2012. Their contributions to the scene – both together and apart – are undeniable.
When the dust finally settled on the Jones fronted-era of KsE, the duo had amassed an impressive resume of awards and accolades together, including the band’s first of several GRAMMY nods for The End of Heartache, which also won best album at the 2004 Metal Hammer Golden God awards, as well as the 2006 platinum-selling As Daylight Dies, which remains the best-selling KsE album to date.
To the delight of diehard fans and the internet, the pair reunited for a new and long-gestating but worth-the-wait creative collaboration that will soon see the light of day!
Jones and Dutkiewicz are exploring new aspects of their musical chemistry and partnership with the new project BURN ETERNAL, who will release music soon, as they have signed with Metal Blade Records.
“We couldn’t be more excited to announce Burn Eternal joining forces with Metal Blade for our debut album,” states Jones. “The whole team has been amazing, and we can’t wait to get this music out. From an idea while having lunch in London to a completed album, this has been such a fun way to reconnect with my friend. Burn Eternal lives!“
Dutkiewicz concurs, saying, “I am wicked excited to finally be able to share my project with Howard with all of you! It feels great to be hanging with an old friend and making more music with him. We’re just two goofballs just dicking around in the studio again. We are also excited to be putting it out with the Metal Blade family. Mostly because they truly feel like family, not a corporation. Good vibes abound!“
Metal Blade founder and CEO Brian Slagel is thrilled to bring the band to the roster, saying, “As a huge fan of both Howard and Adam, it is a huge honor to welcome Burn Eternal to the Metal Blade family! I am excited for everyone to hear the record! as a fan, I love it! This is going to be fun working with everyone!“
Stay tuned for the first official music drop from Burn Eternal… it’s coming sooner than you’d think!
Rise Above Records is proud to announce CATHEDRAL‘s ‘The Guessing Game (Rethink)’ set to release on October 30th.
The album has been completely remixed from the original masters by longtime collaborator Jaime Gomez Arellano. The new mix delivers a more cohesive, stripped-down, raw and powerful sound, incorporating alternate takes and extended versions of songs across five sides of vinyl. This expanded presentation allows the tracks to breathe like never before, giving ‘The Guessing Game’ a revitalized energy that makes it feel almost like a new album.
Marking the announcement, a video for the new version of “Edwige’s Eyes” is out now, available below.
CATHEDRAL’s ninth studio album was originally released by Nuclear Blast in 2010 as a double-disc set and produced by three-time Grammy Award winner Warren Riker (Fugees, Down, M People, Destiny’s Child, COC). Perhaps their most ambitious effort to date, ‘The Guessing Game’ spans a wide range of musical territory, with each song offering a distinct vibe.
‘The Guessing Game’ has been somewhat overlooked in the CATHEDRAL repertoire. While the band was happy with the production, they always felt the original mix was a bit lackluster. Now, with the recording rights having reverted to the band, they decided it was the right time to revisit the masters and bring the album closer to the sound they had originally envisioned.
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
