Four years since their latest studio album, “Rage Of War“, Belgian combat metal powerhouse FireForce has returned with new song material. Following the previously-released single, “The Battle Of Ramadi”, today, the band is premiering a video clip for their new song “Living On The Edge”!
This blast beast of a track, featuring razorsharp riffs, epic vocals and raging heavy metal power, tells the story “of a jet fighter pilot and his everyday flirting with death,”the band comments. “Dedicated to Pavlo Ivanov, a Ukrainian Air Force F-16 fighter jet pilot, who was killed in action on Saturday 12 April 2025.”
Two years after returning triumphant with 2023’s “Ancient Glacial Resurgence“, US Black Metal force IMPERIAL CRYSTALLINE ENTOMBMENT(I.C.E.) unveil the full stream of their upcoming third opus, in collaboration with Black Metal Promotion YouTube channel. “Abominable Astral Summoning” conjures eleven unrelenting, frostbitten hymns in a searing tribute to the Anti-God Råvaskeith.
Listen here:
I.C.E. comment:
“The message of I.C.E. has been brewing and bubbling and infecting its way across the lands of this dying planet. Increasing our strength and power. There are no songs, nothing but the voice of Råvaskeith screaming out. Our inhuman souls are constantly colliding together on the astral level intertwining and inspiring each other and giving way to expressions from within that further the eternal agenda. We do not handle things as normal human men can comprehend. The words are just words that enter your brain but remain festering. In your sleep you will understand and awaken in fear. The end is coming and it’s all too real. Unspeakable and unable to formulate into spoken tongue, this great power is but energy that will crack the sky and open the portal to the vast bleak white endless pain that awaits us all.“
The first single from the new album, ‘Insufferable Shivers‘, offered a rare visual glimpse into the frostbitten universe of I.C.E. via a haunting video. Watch below:
“Abominable Astral Summoning” will be released on CD, vinyl – including an exclusive DMP variant – and digital on July 11th. A special t-shirt design will accompany the launch. Pre-orders are possible via the label’s EU, US, and Bandcamp shops.
IMPERIAL CRYSTALLINE ENTOMBMENT recently concluded a four-date incursion through Latin America (check out photos here) and are now planning forthcoming live rituals across the United States and Europe. Further details to be unveiled in due course.
Originating in 2003 after the arctic summoning of the ancient astral Anti-God “Råvaskieth”, IMPERIAL CRYSTALLINE ENTOMBMENT was manifested through the hypothermic possession of four unwilling dead souls. Their identities died the minute their hearts were ripped from their chests and cast upon the whirling winds of the “Crystalline Blisserred Shrine”.
Driven by the inherent will of timeless hatred to freeze all Worlds and return the Universe and all of its Dimensions to the original bleak, empty void of colourless cold death, “IceSickKill”, “Blisserred”, “Bleak” and “Mammoth” vowed to stop at nothing until this frozen wasteland was achieved.
The now infamous “Apocalyptic End In White” album was conjured in 2004 and released on its unsuspecting victims with extreme violence as the first wave of cryonic encapsulation. After years of spreading pummelling, hopeless extinction upon the earth with the use of their supreme brand of sonic devastation, I.C.E. was called by the instinctual pull of the “Great Orbital Råvaskeith” to return their bodies to a hibernative state, while their energies were displaced onto other distant planets and within four alternate entities, who have been spreading the cold white death further amongst the stars.
20 years have now passed and the repetitive howling shrieks of the “Astral Frost Invocation” from the loyal mortal servants below, have opened the archaic portal and reanimated I.C.E. once more to reign over Earth and begin the second wave of convulsing frigid annihilation.
Awakening within caverns of ice and snow, I.C.E. have returned from the abyss, across the frozen emptiness of space! All shall perish! Your children shall continue to be abducted and skinned under the piercing blizzard winds of the Arctic Aurora, until the vast army of ghastly “Lycanthropic Banshee Hordes” arrive!
Alt Rock favorites Yellowcard are celebrating today’s global release “Take What You Want” with an accompanying music video showcasing footage taken during the band’s recent tours in Japan, Australia and Europe. “Take What You Want” is the third new song from the group’s forthcoming studio album “Better Days” releasing worldwide on October 10th. “Take What You Want” follows the release of the first two songs “Better Days” and “honestly i” which have accumulated over 4-million streams since release on May 28th. Listen to “Take What You Want” HERE and watch the video HERE. Both were released yesterday (July 9th).
The highly anticipated new album is produced, and executive produced, by Travis Barker with Barker also playing drums on every song. “Better Days” is climbing up the Mediabase Alternative chart, currently charting at #13.
“The new track ‘Take What You Want’ really captures the amazing energy of these sessions with Travis Barker producing. The drums immediately pull you in, and the melodies are so focused and memorable” says lead singer Ryan Key.
Once ubiquitous on MTV and the Billboard Hot 100, the Vans Warped Tour veterans, whose first two albums produced double-platinum and gold title tracks, sound fully recharged and revitalized in 2025.
The band agreed that making a new album was pointless unless it was the best of their career. They refused to rush the process and for the first time gave themselves permission to ask for help. Ryan Mendez invited his long-time friend Nick Long into the writing sessions and it was through Long that Barker became part of the project, coming on board to play drums and produce the whole album.
“I started the record as one version of myself and came out the other side changed,” says front man Ryan Key who credits Barker with a significant impact on his personal and creative studio breakthroughs. “I went in knowing I needed help. I came out of it writing songs like I was 19 again.”
In June, Yellowcard announced their co-headline “Maximum Fun Tour” alongside A Day To Remember running from September 5th through November 22nd with stops on both the Warped Tour and When We Were Young Festival (Upcoming Tour Dates HERE!).
Formed in Jacksonville FL in 1997, Yellowcard became one of the most influential bands in the 2000’s alternative rock scene. Known for blending high energy pop punk with a signature violin twist, their 2003 breakthrough Ocean Avenue is certified Platinum with the title track now certified 2X Platinum. With over 4 million albums sold worldwide and over 1 billion streams, the band is poised for continued success on this new endeavor. After disbanding in 2017, Yellowcard reunited in 2022 entering into a new creative era and a year packed with a global tour to support it.
BETTER DAYS TRACK LIST
Better Days
Take What You Want
Love Letters Lost (feat. Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio)
honestly i
You Broke Me Too (feat. Avril Lavigne)
City of Angels
Bedroom Posters
Skin Scraped
Barely Alive
Big Blue Eyes
About Yellowcard
Yellowcard meant it when they said goodbye. The lights dimmed on one of the most beloved pop-punk and alt-rock bands of the 2000s with intention and authenticity. Wrapping things up with a farewell tour, Yellowcard exited the “right” way, with grace, appreciation, and finality.
But the story wasn’t complete. Legacy cracked the door. Healing blew it wide open. Riding a resurgence that saw the global Ocean Avenue 20th anniversary tour featured in Forbes and a reconciliation that put all four members at peace with their legacy and each other, Yellowcard just made the most ambitious and emotionally resonant record of their career. Better Days, the band’s first album in nearly a decade, was produced by blink-182’s Travis Barker, who also played drums on every track.
Their first release with powerhouse label Better Noise Music, Better Days is Yellowcard’s testimony that healing is a process, growth is nonlinear, and sometimes the best chapter opens after the supposed ending. This isn’t just a return. It’s a reckoning. And this time, Yellowcard is ready.
Yellowcard is: William Ryan Key – Vocals/Guitar Sean Mackin – Violin Ryan Mendez – Guitar Josh Portman – Bass
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to MEN WITHOUT HATS singer founder, Ivan Doroschuk about the bands new single ‘I LOVE THE 80’s, the bands upcoming new studio album and his collaborations over the years.
In the chat Ivan remembers recording with Jethro Tull’s singer Ian Anderson on the song , ON TUESDAY, taken off of the bands POP GOES THE WORLD which was release June 29, 1987.
Ivan recalls recording with Ian Anderson:
“The connection was through Derek Schulman from ‘Gentle Giant’ who used to tour with JETHRO TULL back in the back in the 70s. So he knew Ian. So because of ‘The Safety Dance’ video and the whole medieval thing. He (Derek Schulman) thought, it would be a great connection, which it was. And Ian came in and all he asked for was a six-pack of Grolsch beer and a Silver Shadow limousine (an antique limousine) to pick him up at the train station and drive him back after the gig. And he was great. I was really really nervous first of all to meet him because I grew up on Jethro Tull. The second thing is that the part that he had to play, it sounds all like the same thing, but every single line in the song is different. There’s little kind of little intricacies that make every little part different. And I didn’t want to be the guy sitting there with the talk back button going, “Sorry, Ian. I didn’t want to be the guy telling him what to do. But he came in and it was like one take. He knew every part. He knew all the little differences. He didn’t have to be told anything. He was a great, It was just a awesome experience. I can’t even think of a time that I’ve been let down by one of my musical heroes. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of the guys I grew up listening to and he was one of them. Often hear like, “Oh, this guy’s going to be difficult. He’s going to be this. He’s going to be that.” But he was just, he was awesome. He was awesome.”
The Metal Voice also spoke to IAN ANDERSON a few years ago and asked him about the same experience where Anderson said:
” It’s a nice tune that I was asked to play on because Ivan the main man was in London recording an album and he must have got wind of me having some positive comments about the Safety Dance. The song was quite a hit in the UK (Safety Dance) and a refreshing one it was almost an abandoned crazy hippy kind of video at a time where everything else was synth pop and rather contrived. This was a fun abandoned wacky song but everybody loved it in the U.K. and I enjoyed it too. I guess Ivan heard about that and said oh can we get Ian Anderson to play on a song and the record company got the message. So I trotted into the studio in London and recorded it and that was the end of it really. When I play on other people’s records I politely refuse any form of payment because I choose what to do I don’t do everything and I am certainly not a gun for hire. You can’t pay me to overcome my feelings for perhaps this is not the right thing for me to do or that I don’t really think I can add anything useful to your song. I have to feel like I can make a contribution. I am more likely to make that contribution if the music is someway away from what I do because then it becomes more of a challenge and I can step out of my normal musical area and tackle something a little different that I have not played before.”
German black/thrash conjurors DESASTER have been churning out their unique and unholy blend of extreme metal since 1989 and in 2025 they return with their tenth studio album, Kill All Idols, set for release on August 22nd on Metal Blade Records.
“While [last album] Churches Without Saints was a rather typical DESASTER old-school black-death-thrash metal album, the new one is a bit more diverse” enthuses founding guitarist Infernal. “Of course, Kill All Idols embodies our classical black/thrash metal approach and the epic parts DESASTER is well known for are there as well. But on the other hand, there are parts on the album where our punk roots shine clearer than possibly ever before.”
With a four-year gap elapsing since they dropped Churches Without Saints, fans have had to be patient again but will find the results more than worth the wait. “It does seem to be every four or five years that we release albums now, but I won’t say that’s because of a lack of creativity, rather the obligations the members have outside of the band have grown over the years. But, when the forces come together there’s always magic in the air, which is needed to write strong new songs.”
On the title Kill All Idols singer Sataniac elaborates, “All ‘role models,’ regardless of whether they are politically, religiously, socially, economically, or otherwise motivated, only have their own agenda and their own ‘retention of power’ in mind. The album title is nothing more than an invitation to think for yourself. Or at least to try. Realistically speaking, money is the last remaining deity and the great ‘role model’ for at least large parts of our secular societies. This fact is profound. Money and linear greed are not good, goal-oriented, or even sustainable ‘role models.’ But what can you expect? After all, all of this was produced and churned out in just seven days. Perhaps the almighty creator should have taken a little more time,” he laughs sarcastically.
In advance of the record’s official release, today DESASTER delivers the first single, “Towards Oblivion.“
Notes Sataniac, “It’s a general song of praise for homo sapiens, who leave no stone unturned in their quest to be ‘forgotten’ by destroying their own foundations. But we must not forget. We are not in a position to destroy the earth. We can only make this fine habitable zone uninhabitable for ourselves. Isn’t this arrogance that comes before the fall just wonderful?“
Adds Infernal, “‘Towards Oblivion’ was originally called ‘Stormbringers’ and was intended as a speed metal anthem for our fan club. The middle section is based on the song ‘Hellbangers’ from the 2007 Satan’s Soldiers Syndicate album, which also features the Stormbringers in the chorus. The idea of releasing the song in different versions as a 7″ single was not realized and in the end the lyrics and title were changed. ‘Towards Oblivion’ ended up being one of the best songs on the album for me!“
Kill All Idols was tracked in the band’s rehearsal room together with their live mixer Jan “Janosch” Gensheimer and mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson of Autopsy at his own Earhammer Studio in Oakland, California. Infernal notes, “Greg managed to give our sound a new guise. The collaboration with him was absolutely perfect and we have rarely been so satisfied after an album production.”
Kill All Idols Track Listing: 01. Great Repulsive Force 02. Emanation of the Profane 03. Towards Oblivion 04. Kill the Idol 05. Ash Cloud Ritual 06. Fathomless Victory 07. Throne of Ecstasy 08. They Are the Law 09. Stellar Remnant 10. Idols’ End (Outro)
DESASTER Live: 7/26/2025 Open Air – Riez-Bausendorf, DE 8/29/2025 Running Free Festival – Dryanovo, BG 8/30/2025 Hellhammer Festival – Srbobran, RS 9/18/2025 Defrag – Rome, IT 10/03/2025 TV Eye – Ridgewood, NY 10/04/2025 Metal Threat Festival – Lombard, IL 10/14/2025 JUZ Klosterhof – Villingen-Schwenningen, DE
Rockshots Records is proud to unveil “The Universal Realm”, the debut full-length by France’s AEDAN SKY – a visionary space metal opera crafted by Sébastien Chabot, known for his work as singer/guitarist of GALDERIA and bassist in KINGCROWN.
Echoing the golden age of European power metal, “The Universal Realm” is a conceptual journey that blends speed, melody, and spiritual narrative into ten chapters of awakening. Drawing inspiration from science fiction and esoteric philosophy, the album tells the story of SKY and AEDAN as they traverse space, time, and consciousness on a mission to ignite humanity’s inner light.
Three lead vocalists interpret the story’s characters, creating a theatrical and emotionally charged vocal experience:
Sébastien Chabot as SKY
Bob Saliba (Kingcrown, ex-Galderia) as AEDAN
Thomas Schmitt (Galderia) as SKY’s Soul
Musically, the album delivers an intense and uplifting melodic power metal ride: fast riffing, massive choirs, anthemic choruses, and cinematic soundscapes.
The first single to be released from “The Universal Realm” is titled “Beyond The Vortex Of Time”, and it serves as the perfect introduction to AEDAN SKY’s interstellar universe, a sweeping space opera built on the foundations of classic power metal. With high-speed riffs, majestic choirs, and soaring vocals, “Beyond The Vortex Of Time” delivers a powerful experience for fans of early Helloween, Gamma Ray, and Avantasia.
“Beyond The Vortex Of Time” captures the moment when the main character, SKY, is pulled through a vortex of light, transcending time and space and awakening to a new cosmic consciousness. It’s a dynamic and uplifting track, driven by speed, melody, and anthemic intensity.
The full album “The Universal Realm” is a concept work mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni (Domination Studio), Artwork by Felipe Machado Franco. “The Universal Realm” will be released on September 12th, 2025, and will be available on all digital platforms and in a CD Digipak. Pre-orders are now open at the following link ALBUM PRE ORDER: https://rockshots.eu/products/aedan-sky-the-universal-realm-cd
FFO: early Helloween (“Walls of Jericho”, “Keeper of the Seven Keys”), late 90s Gamma Ray (“Land of the Free”, “Power Plant”), Avantasia’s “Metal Opera” era.
Track Listing: 1. Opening 2. Call of the Universe 3. A Kingdom to the Stars 4. Gate of Skies 5. Beyond the Vortex of Time 6. From the Ashes to the Light 7. Land of Paradise 8. Interlude 9. Illumination 10. The Universal Realm
Aedan Sky Line Up: Vocal Cast / Characters Sébastien Chabot: Lead Vocals as SKY Bob Saliba: Lead Vocals as AEDAN Thomas Schmitt: Lead Vocals as SKY’s Soul Musicians Sébastien Chabot: Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keyboards Thomas Schmitt: Lead Guitar on track 4 Bob Saliba: Lead Guitar on track 9 Julien Digne: Piano on tracks 4 & 10 S.D.: Drums
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 ) 