Speed Stroke has released “Italian Coglione”, second single taken from the new album “Damage Control” to be released on August 21 by Scarlet Records.
When the place where you were born and raised turns into the world’s zoo, you might end up being the monkey… and we might love it. Despite all the frustrations and disappointments that Italy’s crumbling beauty inflicts on its people, you fall for her curse every time, and you become a coglione for her: willingly, hopelessly, proudly.
artwork (and song intro) by Stefano Mainini (Steve Emm)
“Damage Control”:
Fourth record for the uncompromising Italian hard rock stallions;
mixed and mastered by Erik Mårtensson (Eclipse) at Mass Destruction Production (Eclipse, Sinner, Primal Fear);
featuring Dario Capacci (Trick Or Treat) on drums;
featuring Giorgia Colleluori (Sinner, IT’sALIE) on vocals on “Blessed By Misery”;
cover & artwork by the painting master Claudio Elias Scialabba;
1 Glorious Breakdown 2 Heart Of The City 3 Damage Control 4 State Of Shock 5 Italian Coglione 6 In Flames 7 Blessed By Misery 8 All For The Weak End 9 Walls 10 Chain Reaction Total running time – 38:29
artwork by Claudio Elias Scialabba
Speed Stroke master the art of hard rock through a personal approach that perfectly blends the Scandinavian sleaze rock modern edge and the glorious legacy of the 80s street metal scene.
Top-notch songwriting, hit after hit, all killers-no fillers: that’s the recipe for a proper collection of hard-hitting and yet melodic tunes.
«Control the damage done to contain it or inflict controlled damage to break the chains of comfortable stasis?»: this is the question “Damage Control” sparks in the listener, delivered through a hurricane of dynamite-like riffs, jaw-breaking solos, and raw screams of rage and liberation.
By both glorifying the panic of the unknown and demonizing the safety of the comfort zone, the new Speed Stroke album presents the ultimate fight-or-flight dilemma, fueling the fire of change.
Speed Stroke: Jack – vocals D.B – guitar Michael – guitar Fungo – bass Maddy – drums
With “R.I.P.”, ENEMY INSIDE recently kicked off a new chapter in their career. Now, the band follows it up with the official music video for their latest single “Dopamine”, giving fans another exciting preview of what’s to come on their forthcoming studio album.
Driven by heavy riffs, infectious hooks and a hypnotic atmosphere, “Dopamine” once again showcases the band’s unmistakable blend of alternative metal, metalcore and industrial influences. The accompanying music video perfectly captures the song’s emotional intensity, translating its addictive energy into striking visuals.
About the new single, vocalist Nastassja Giulia says: “Dopamine is about the kind of chemistry between two people that gets under your skin. It’s about that rush of anticipation, obsession and euphoria when someone completely takes over your thoughts and suddenly everything else fades into the background.
Musically, the song combines infectious hooks with a hypnotic atmosphere that mirrors exactly that feeling. Raw energy meets memorable melodies, capturing the powerful attraction at the heart of the song.”
ENEMY INSIDE from Aschaffenburg, Germany, made an immediate impact with the release of their debut album “Phoenix” in 2018. Both the title track, which has become the band’s biggest hit with nearly seven million Spotify streams, and the album itself, now surpassing 25.6 million streams, introduced the band’s distinctive blend of modern alternative rock and metal to a rapidly growing international audience.
Their sophomore album “Seven” followed in 2021, accompanied by the successful singles “Crystallize” and “Release Me”, both of which have amassed millions of streams and further cemented the band’s reputation. After touring extensively across Europe and appearing at renowned festivals including Wacken Open Air, M’era Luna and the Full Metal Cruise, ENEMY INSIDE released their third studio album “Venom”, further refining their signature mix of alternative metal and metalcore elements.
Fresh off a successful European tour supporting Smash Into Pieces, the band is now looking ahead to the release of its next studio album. With “R.I.P.” and “Dopamine”, ENEMY INSIDE have already given fans a powerful first taste of the new record while preparing to bring both new songs and fan favourites to the stage on their upcoming headline tour, with dates to be revealed soon.
Tri-State area journalist and author, Adam Bernard‘s second book ‘One Hit Wondering: The Stories of 40 One Hit Wonders + Other Tales From The Crates’ is currently out and enjoying great early success, hitting number one on the Amazon “New Releases in Popular Music” chart over books about artists such as BTS, Madonna, Britney Spears and Jojo.
Bernard remarks, “I was totally floored when I saw it had reached #1. For my independently released book to be among names like Madonna, Britney Spears, BTS, JoJo, and Olivia Newton-John is amazing, and I’m really grateful. It’s incredible.”
With ‘One Hit Wondering ….’ Bernard doesn’t simply discuss the hit each artist had, he does a deep dive on their other career achievements, going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole to get the story beyond the story. The idea that became the book actually began as a monthly column on Bernard’s long-running music blog, Adam’s World, where he still writes it today. As he was approaching his third year of writing the column, he knew he wanted these stories preserved in book form. “I didn’t want these stories lost to time. I think we’ve all seen how the internet isn’t forever. Websites go down, or get wiped, in the blink of an eye. I knew I needed to do something special for these artists.”
‘One Hit Wondering: The Stories of 40 One Hit Wonders + Other Tales From The Crates’ is absolutely loaded with information about the artists who created some of your favorite songs, and it’s a must-have for those who want to have the inside track – or perhaps just want to show off your music knowledge at your next social gathering.
‘One Hit Wondering: The Stories of 40 One Hit Wonders + Other Tales From The Crates’ can be purchased, most conviently on Amazon.
While neither relics nor custodians for the old school, Defiled remain masters of death metal on their critically-acclaimed new album, Altered State.
“Fourteen pinpoint brawlers in 43 tightly wound minutes evince zero body fat or DM stasis”, Decibel writes in a 7/10 review.
“The venom is dripping across track after track”, Dead Rhetoric remark in a 8.5/10 review.
As the world of extreme metal delves deeper into the twisted maze of Altered State, today, Defiled are releasing a new live video. Filmed this spring during the band’s show with fellow legends Mayhem, “Live in Osaka 2026” commands the stage with mind-altering blasts of death metal.
“This live performance was filmed just before the release of our new album, Altered State”, Defiled guitarist and founding member Yusuke Sumita says. “It captures the raw energy of our live show. We hope you all enjoy it!”
Hear Defiled perform songs from Altered State during the band’s upcoming shows with I Am Morbid, Terrorizer and Brujeria.
Defiled 2026 Japanese Dates September 6 – Hyoho @ Harbor Studio* September 15 – Tokyo @ Cyclone# September 16 – Osaka @ Socore Factory# *with I Am Morbid & Terrorizer #with Brujeria
Tracklist 1. Dazed in Blindness (2:59) 2. Altered State (3:05) [WATCH] 3. Obsession (3:04) [WATCH] 4. Portal (3:39) [WATCH] 5. Necro-Force (2:31) 6. The Degradation (3:51) 7. Genocidal Stage (2:27) 8. Metamorphosis of Evil (3:11) 9. The Ultra Death (2:42) 10. Zombified (2:17) 11. Lunatics (3:07) 12. Prophecies (3:29) 13. Demolition (3:25) 14. Apocalyptic End (3:25)
Artwork by Wes Benscoter
Defiled truly are their own island. While active since 1992, during death metal’s golden era, the Tokyo legends are neither relics nor custodians for the old-school. They do not follow Western traditions. They cannot be reduced to tokens like kimonos or samurai. Like the Japanese salamander, they continue to evolve in isolation, free from passing trends. Founding member and guitarist Yusuke Sumita and his band of warriors remain masters of the form, but their upcoming ninth album bears only a passing resemblance to the genre’s past or present. On Altered State, Defiled unleash a dizzying blast of death metal straight from the future.
“Like many other bands, our musical roots are heavily influenced by early ‘90s death metal and ‘80s thrash and hardcore, however, our interpretation is different and has branched off from the current scene”, Sumita says. “On Altered State, there are many catchy hooks, but tricky progressive rhythms and song structures can be found as well. The album may not be understandable after a few listens, but it taps into a blind spot that many bands have missed”.
Though they’re indifferent to scenes within the larger world of metal, Defiled’s presence has spread far and wide for more than three decades. The band’s 1994 debut EP, Defeat of Sanity, quickly proved prescient after inspiring the name of their future Season of Mist labelmates Defeated Sanity. Their first three full-lengths – Erupted Wrath (1999), Ugliness Revealed (2001) and Divination (2003) – were allmixed by none other than the legend himself, Jim Morris, at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida. Early successset them upon a war path through the Japanese underground and onto the international stage. Defiled ransacked Milwaukee Metal Festival and banged heads with Morbid Angel, Mayhem, Cannibal Corpse and Incantation.
Since signing with Season of Mist in 2003, Defiled have shown no sign of slowing down. Despite enduring some changes between 2011’s In Crisis and 2016’s Towards Inevitable Ruin, the personnel around Sumita is now locked in with Keisuke Hamada pounding on drums, Takachika Nakajima nailing down bass and Shinichiro Hamada handling both guitars and vocals. Starting with Infinite Regress in 2020, this lineup is currently riding a seemingly endless hot streak. After reaching The Highest Level in 2023, they topped themselves once more with 2024’s Horror Beyond Horror.
“Horror Beyond Horror again finds Defiled stuck on the upswing”, Decibel wrote in an 8/10 review. “With their eighth studio album since 1992, the Tokyo death metal longhairs’ third pandemic-era disc completes a four-year hothouse of peak ability, creativity and volatility”.
Metalheads can be forgiven for assuming Defiled had already reached peak shredding, that there were no horrors left for them to reveal. But Altered State quickly quiets any leftover suspicions. Lead single “Portal” opens with a reminder that this band can sharpen even traditional riffs before breaking into a series of tempo shifts that unlock another plane of existence. Though still influenced by sounds that came from the underground, the album delves even deeper into their psychic perception of our warped reality with a twist of inspiration from Stravinsky. Occultists gather around the shapeshifting groove that seizes hold over “Obsession”.
“Both musically and lyrically, Altered State is an expansion of The Highest Level and Horror Beyond Horror”, Sumita says. “The music is a combination of old-school death metal, technical-thrash riffs and the rhythmic changes of progressive rock. The lyrics are based on the dystopian world presented in George Orwell’s science-fiction masterpiece 1984. They express the madness that everyone living in the present currently feels”.
Altered State isn’t afraid to wind through the darkest and most mysterious corners of our collective consciousness. But listen closely to Defiled and all secrets will be revealed. “Receive the power”, the band command on the album’s title track with a chaos that only they can control.
Production credits Recorded at Studio Zot in Tokyo, Japan Producer – Yusuke Sumita Sound Engineers – Shinichiro Hamada and Keisuke Hamada Mixing and Mastering Studio – Studio Nest in Chiba, Japan Mixing and Mastering Engineer – Kenji Kikuchi
Songwriting credits: Music and lyrics by Yusuke Sumita
Exciter Records is proud to announce the release of Judas Priest’s Sad Wings of Destiny (Original 1976 Masters), a newly restored 50th Anniversary archival edition that will make its debut in CD format exclusively at merchandise stands during Judas Priest’s FAITHKEEPERS Summer European Tour.
Created to celebrate one of heavy metal’s most influential and enduring albums, this landmark restoration returns to the original 1976 analogue stereo master tapes to present the album’s original mixes with exceptional fidelity and clarity while preserving the sound, dynamics, and character that established Sad Wings of Destiny as a cornerstone of heavy metal history.
The restoration project began with the careful preservation and high-resolution transfer of the original analogue master tapes at British Grove Studios in London under the supervision of Tom Allom and Luie Stylianou. The newly restored audio was then mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios in London, preserving the spirit and integrity of the original recordings.
This anniversary edition also restores the band’s intended running order, opening with “Prelude” and allowing listeners to experience the album as it was originally conceived in 1976.
“There have been numerous releases and reissues over the decades by different companies in different territories,” said Michael Closter, Founder of Exciter Records. “When Exciter Records acquired the original analogue master tapes, we were presented with a rare opportunity to return directly to the source. By carefully restoring the tapes, preserving them digitally for future generations, and creating a new master from those original recordings, we believe we have created the most faithful presentation of the original Sad Wings of Destiny.”
Premiering during the FAITHKEEPERS Summer European Tour, this tour-exclusive CD marks the opening chapter of Exciter Records’ 50th anniversary celebration of Sad Wings of Destiny. Additional projects and archival releases are planned throughout the commemorative campaign, further exploring the legacy and evolution of one of heavy metal’s most important recordings.
Sad Wings of Destiny (Original 1976 Masters) – FAITHKEEPERS SUMMER TOUR CD TRACKLIST:
Prelude Tyrant Genocide Epitaph Island of Domination Victim of Changes The Ripper Dreamer Deceiver Deceiver
KING DIAMOND is thrilled to announce the addition of guitar virtuoso Gus G. (FIREWIND, ex-OZZY OSBOURNE) to the band’s lineup. Gus G. joins as guitarist and will compose, record, and tour with KING DIAMOND going forward, marking an exciting new chapter in the band’s storied history.
The band extends their deepest gratitude and utmost respect to Andy LaRocque, whose extraordinary 40-year contribution to KING DIAMOND has left a permanent and irreplaceable mark on the band’s legacy and on heavy metal as a whole. Andy’s musicianship, dedication, and artistry have been an essential part of what makes this band what it is, and that will never be forgotten.
Comments KING DIAMOND, “It’s a Big Honor for me to Welcome Gus G. as our new guitarist. Gus will still continue with all his current projects, FIREWIND, Solo Project etc. No restrictions, just careful planning. We are already working with Gus and I simply can’t wait for you to hear all the new King Diamond music with him playing guitar on it!!! STAY HEAVY – King“
One of heavy metal’s most celebrated and in-demand guitarists, Gus G. – born Konstantinos Karamitroudis in Thessaloniki, Greece – has built one of the most impressive resumes in the genre. As founder and driving force behind FIREWIND for over two decades and ten studio albums, and as Ozzy Osbourne‘s lead guitarist from 2009 to 2017 – contributing to the Grammy-nominated album Scream (2010) – Gus G. has proven himself one of the most versatile and technically gifted players in metal. A celebrated solo artist with six albums to his name, he has also appeared as a guest on records by Bruce Dickinson, Arch Enemy, Doro Pesch, In This Moment, and many more. He has graced the covers of Guitar World, Total Guitar, Metal Hammer, and Young Guitar, and earned accolades including Metal Hammer’s Golden God Award for Best Shredder. His addition to KING DIAMOND represents a pairing of two of heavy metal’s most iconic forces.
KING DIAMOND and Gus G. are already deep in the creative process together, working on what promises to be one of the most anticipated new chapters in the band’s career. Fans can expect new music from the full lineup in the future. Stay tuned for further announcements.
About KING DIAMOND: KING DIAMOND is quite possibly the most recognizable and prolific personality ever in heavy metal. Revered by icons as big as Metallica and Pantera and inspiring newer upstarts globally, KING DIAMOND, the man and the band, have left an indelible mark on the history, and now again, the future of heavy metal.
In August of 2008, KING DIAMOND joined Metallica on stage at Ozzfest in Dallas to perform the Mercyful Fate medley made famous from the Garage, Inc. album. Additionally, KING DIAMOND was featured alongside Motörhead‘s Lemmy Kilmister as a playable character in Guitar Hero: Metallica in 2009.
By 2012, KING DIAMOND was prepared to return to the stage for a select number of shows. The band’s triumphant return were the highlights of both the Hellfest and Sweden Rock festivals in France and Sweden. Fans were treated to the largest and most involved stage production in the band’s storied history. KING DIAMOND continued to hit the stage from 2013 to 2018 including performances at Rock Hard Festival (DE), Copenhell (DK), Graspop (BE), Bloodstock Open Air (UK), Loudpark (JP), Wacken Open Air (DE), and Psycho Las Vegas (US), among many others.
In 2019, after the release of KING DIAMOND‘s first new single in twelve years, “Masquerade Of Madness,” the band hit the road with a series of live shows across Europe and North America.
In 2024, KING DIAMOND completed a massively successful North American headlining tour, during which they premiered new material live for the first time in years – including the brand new track “Electro Therapy” – before an ecstatic fanbase. On December 17th, 2024, the band released “Spider Lilly,” their first new single in five years and the first single and video taken from their forthcoming new Horror Trilogy, of which part one is titled Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920. Mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk and directed by David Brodsky of My Good Eye Visuals – with footage filmed at the notoriously haunted Pennhurst Asylum outside of Philadelphia – the single features a special guest appearance by Danish vocalist Myrkur. Written entirely by KING DIAMOND, “Spider Lilly” was met with an enthusiastic global response, reaffirming the band’s place at the forefront of heavy metal and whetting fans’ appetites for the full trilogy to come.
KING DIAMOND‘s forty+ year musical career is one of the most storied in the history of heavy metal, but the tale is not yet over. The most recent album, 2007’s Grammy-nominated Give Me Your Soul…Please, stands as one of the most critically acclaimed albums in an already iconic discography. Future albums will feature entirely new horror stories, concepts, haunting orchestrations, and the band’s signature brand of heavy metal. Many more albums, tours, and ventures lay ahead.
KING DIAMOND Lineup: King Diamond – vocals Gus G. – guitars Mike Wead – guitars Pontus Egberg – bass Matt Thompson – 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 ) 