Following the announcement of a 2026 EU/UK headline tour and currently supporting Annisokay on their European run, modern metalcore unit THE NARRATOR continue to showcase their chops with another adrenaline filled hulk of a song called ‘Aurora‘, which is out today!
Turning hope into a nightmare, ‘Aurora‘ expresses the fear of an impending military conflict reaching what once felt like a safe and distant place.
Alongside the single a stylish music video has been released, which you can check out below.
20.11.25 DE Saarbrücken Garage 21.11.25 DE Dortmund FZW 22.11.25 DE Cologne Carlswerk Victoria 23.11.25 DE Berlin Huxley’s Neue Welt 25.11.25 DE Frankfurt am Main Batschkapp 26.11.25 DE Stuttgart Im Wizemann 28.11.25 CH Zurich Dynamo 29.11.25 IT Milan Legend 01.12.25 DE Munich Backstage 02.12.25 AT Vienna Simm City 03.12.25 HU Budapest Barba Negra 04.12.25 PL Krakow Hype Park 05.12.25 CZ Zlin Masters Of Rock Cafe 06.12.25 DE Leipzig Haus Auensee 15.01.26 UK London The Garage 16.01.26 UK Leeds Key Club 17.01.26 UK Bristol Thekla 18.01.26 UK Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Headline Show:
20.12.25 DE Essen Zeche Carl
THE NARRATOR – EUROPEAN HEADLINE TOUR 2026
30.09.26 CH Aarau, Kiff Aarau 01.10.26 AT Wien, Flex Café 03.10.26 DE München, Backstage Club 04.10.26 DE Stuttgart, Im Wizemann 06.10.26 CZ Prag, Rock Cafe 07.10.26 DE Leipzig, WERK 2 – Kulturfabrik Leipzig e.V. 08.10.26 DE Berlin, Frannz-Club 09.10.26 DE Hamburg, Bahnhof Pauli 10.10.26 DE Köln, Club Volta 11.10.26 NL Haarlem, Patronaat 13.10.26 DE Wiesbaden, Schlachthof Wiesbaden Kesselhaus 15.10.26 UK London, The Black Heart 16.10.26 FR Paris, La Maroquinerie 17.10.26 NL Tilburg, Little Devil 18.10.26 BE Antwerp, Kavka Oudaan
Nuclear Blast Records is proud to welcome HOKKA, a powerful new force in Finnish rock, to its global roster. The band unites three major names from Finland’s rock legacy: former BLIND CHANNEL frontman Joel Hokka, THE RASMUS founding member and former guitarist-songwriter Pauli Rantasalmi, and phenomenal young drummer Jimi Aslak.
HOKKA makes an explosive entrance with their debut single, ‘In the Darkness’, available today on all major streaming platforms: https://hokka.bfan.link/inthedarkness
Accompanied by an epic and visually stunning music video, the song introduces the signature elements of HOKKA’s sound: deep, dark, and cold Nordic melancholy fused with a modern rock edge. Their music channels the emotional intensity of early-2000s Finnish rock while pushing boldly into new territory with unapologetic energy and ambition.
Watch ‘In the Darkness’ now and experience the dawn of HOKKA:
With a magnetic debut and a fearless creative vision, HOKKA is poised to become the next breakout act from Finland’s rich rock scene.
The band will make their first live appearance on Finnish YLE’s major New Year’s Eve TV show, broadcast live from Oulu-halli on December 31st.
“Different generations of Finnish rock are united for this newborn band proud to be part of Nuclear Blast Records roster.” commentsJoel Hokka
Following the critical acclaim of their first collaboration in 2020, hallowed avant-garde doom acts BELL WITCH and AERIAL RUIN have released the next chapter of their profound, haunting partnership today. “Stygian Bough Vol. II“, available now from Profound Lore, is a monumental opus of crushing doom that takes listeners on an epic soul purging journey spanning nearly an hour over 4 songs.
Over the album a cyclical world unfolds in which different perspectives of how various forms of worship empower, eclipse, destroy and feed on each other is explored. “All four songs explore different aspects of worship or awe – transcendent experiences in different contexts,” vocalist and guitarist Erik Moggridge says.
Each of the album’s musical pieces set themselves apart from the individual bands’ non collaborative catalog. The resulting record is steeped in mysticism, legend, and the examination of “the connective threads that shape and influence the culture, mythology, and customs of all human societies throughout time in unique, localized ways,” says bassist Dylan Desmond.
The cover of the album is adorned by a stunning painting by acclaimed artist Denis Forkas (Behemoth, Wolves in the Throne Room). The piece encapsulates the focused attention and emotional heft of the record. “Denis Forkas’ cover art immediately spoke to me with the symbolism of the severed head,” says Desmond. “In conjunction with Stygian Bough’s aligning with James Frazer’s book The Golden Bough, the branch of symbology concerning severed heads throughout human societies is fascinating. No doubt, this fascination has been shared by many of our ancestors as well as those yet to come; it is something of our identity.”
“Stygian Bough Vol. II”is available on limited edition 2xLP vinyl and CD.
Additionally, BELL WITCH and AERIAL RUIN will embark on tours of North America and Europe in December/January in support of “Stygian Bough Vol. II”. Tickets are available now at THIS LOCATION
STYGIAN BOUGH North American Tour Dates:
12/10/2025 – Portland, OR – Star Theater 12/11/2025 – Eugene, OR – John Henry’s 12/12/2025 – Bellingham, WA – The Shakedown 12/13/2025 – Seattle, WA – Clockout Lounge 12/14/2025 – Vancouver, BC – The Pearl 5/29-31/2026 – Toronto, ON – Prepare The Ground
STYGIAN BOUGH European Tour Dates:
26.01.2026 – Warsaw, PL – Voodoo 27.01.2026 – Wroclaw, PL – Łącznik 28.01.2026 – Brno, CZ – Kabinet Muz 29.01.2026 – Vienna, AT – Arena 30.01.2026 – Munich, DE – Feierwerk 31.01.2026 – Dresden, DE – Club Pushkin 01.02.2026 – Munster, DE – Sputnikhalle 03.02.2026 – Paris, FR – Backstage By The Mill 05.02.2026 – London, UK – The Dome 06.02.2026 – Newcastle, UK – Cluny 07.02.2026 – Glasgow, UK – Stereo 08.02.2026 – Sheffield, UK – Corporation 09.02.2026 – Manchester, UK – Rebellion 10.02.2026 – Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds 12.02.2026 – Brussels, BE – Magasin 4 13.02.2026 – Nijmegen, NL – Doornroosje 14.02.2026 – Hannover, DE – Cafe Glocksee
About STYGIAN BOUGH:
Aptly named in reference to the aforementioned book, Stygian Bough, the collaboration between Bell Witch (Dylan Desmond, Jesse Shreibman) and Aerial Ruin (Erik Moggridge) enlivens its unbodied presence resembling both projects as a conduit in its own separate entity.
The partnership at the center of Stygian Bough is over in a decade in the making, growing from Moggridge’s recurring contributions to the Bell Witch catalog. Their initial collusion occurring on the debut Bell Witch album Longing (2012) following which, Moggridge would return to guest on both Four Phantoms (2015) and Mirror Reaper (2017).
Stygian Bough is:
Erik Moggridge – Vocals and Guitar Jesse Shreibman – Drums & Percussion, Organ, Piano, Synthesizer Dylan Desmond – Bass, Synthesizer
Swedish thrash metal juggernaut MEZZROW are back and louder than ever: Today marks the release of their brand-new studio album, “Embrace The Awakening”, out now via ROAR – A Division Of Reigning Phoenix Music, marking a thunderous new chapter in the band’s legacy.
To crank the mayhem up another notch, MEZZROW have also just unleashed a crushing new music video for the blistering track “Sleeping Cataclysm”, delivering a full-frontal assault of razor-sharp riffs and apocalyptic groove. No nostalgia trip here; this is present-day thrash with teeth!
“Embrace The Awakening” is now available on 2-CD Digipak including the Keep It True – Live bonus album, 1-LP Vinyl in Bloodred Sky Marbled edition, as well as in Digital formats: Order your copy of this must-have rager, one that belongs into every well-sorted thrash metal record collection, now at: https://mezzrow.rpm.link/embracePR
MEZZROW built themselves a name in the thrash metal scene during the late eighties with their critically acclaimed demo tapes, “Frozen Soul” and “Cross of Tormention”. In 1990, they released their classic debut album “Then Came the Killing” through Active Records (Candlemass a.o.), a subsidiary of Music for Nations. The album is still today considered as one of the best, if not the best, thrash metal releases from Sweden and Scandinavia.
During 2021 MEZZROW rose from the ashes, when bass player Conny Welén (ex-Hexenhaus) and singer Uffe Pettersson (ex-Rosicrucian) decided to make a new mark in the thrash metal world of today, together with new guitarists Magnus Söderman (Nightrage) and Ronnie Björnström (ex-Defiatory, ex-Aeon), as well as drummer Alvaro “Alvis” Svanerö (Imperial Domain).
Following their comeback album “Summon Thy Demons” (2023, Fireflash Records) and the much-acclaimed ”Keep It True – Live” record, MEZZROW started writing material for their third album. Eight new songs were later on chosen to become “Embrace The Awakening”, a Bay Area Thrash Metal monster made in Sweden! ”We wanted the new album to sound a bit more straight forward without stepping away too much from „Summon Thy Demons“,” Uffe recently said. “We feel that we’ve achieved that and at the same time kept our roots intact.”
With a sound that blends southern rock grit, post-grunge intensity, hard rock power, and glam flair, Italian quartet WILL O’ DUSK continue to build anticipation for their debut album The Long Lasting Dusk, arriving on November 28th, 2025 via Diotima Records. Conceived as a visceral and cinematic journey, the record explores the fragile balance between destruction and renewal, solitude and belonging.
Following the dark sensuality of Heartbreak Dust, the band now unleash Let It All Explode — the track that ignites the second act of the album, Resurgence. Fueled by defiance and revelation, the song marks a turning point where chaos becomes catharsis and destruction transforms into rebirth.
“Let It All Explode is where isolation gives way to revelation — a furious hymn to chaos as the fuel for survival,” explain the band. “No one is born good or evil, and this song silences both the voices of judgment and the whispers of fear with one clear command: shut the fuck up and let it all explode. It’s about transforming pain into energy, destruction into fire, and learning to love again — even through flames.”
The Long Lasting Dusk is conceived as a two-act journey. The first act, The Descent, explores the recognition of pain, the embrace of destruction, and the collapse into darkness. The second, Resurgence, rises from chaos toward resilience, light, and communion. From the brutal intensity of Lucifer’s Tears to the playful brightness of Slowmo and the communal closing hymn Last Drop, the album embraces the coexistence of shadow and brightness not as opposites, but as inseparable truths of the human experience.
The concept reflects the band’s own ethos: dusk as a place where contradictions meet — a moment suspended between good and evil, loss and rebirth. “Dusk is where light and shadow coexist,” saysthe band. “It’s not about erasing the dark, but about embracing both sides to truly find yourself.”
Musically, WILL O’ DUSK craft songs that are layered and haunting, yet immediate in their impact. Their sound is steeped in contrasts: intimacy and explosion, vulnerability and defiance, cinematic atmospheres and raw edges.
The lineup features Riccardo Maria Barchiesi (vocals), Danilo Casali (guitars), Stefano Grossi (bass), and Luca Gambazza (drums). Together, they create a sonic and emotional landscape where listeners are invited to move through darkness toward light — to find in dusk not just an ending, but the will to face a new dawn.
With The Long Lasting Dusk, WILL O’ DUSK offer more than a collection of songs: they deliver an odyssey of contradictions, crafted for the misfits and the dreamers who recognize themselves in twilight. It is an album about survival and communion, about confronting shadows without fear, and about finding beauty in imperfection.
It’s done: “Built To Destroy”, the eagerly awaited album by the new power trio N.Y.C., a joint venture of Warlock guitarist Tommy Bolan and his comrades-in-arms Stet Howland (W.A.S.P., Metal Church) and Steve Unger (Metal Church), has finally been released!
Although the band consists of highly experienced musicians, each one already bringing so much more than just respectable success to this new adventure in the ears of their respective fans, “Built To Destroy” as a first, massive sign of life from N.Y.C. represents a very special moment for all three of them: the conscious decision to form an extremely agile trio – something that is not all that common in metal these days – not only enables a very direct, straightforward chemistry, but also ensures a refreshingly unobstructed focus on what really serves the song.
In addition, the strong rhythm section comes to the fore in harmony with Tommy’s killer riffs, instead of languishing in the background. The string wizard himself shows his enthusiasm: “A lot of blood, sweat, and sacrifice on so many levels have gone into the making of this album… I am proud to show these 13 songs of what has been a mad journey – I have learned that nothing in life is easy and you have to hammer home your dreams if you want to succeed and if you are lucky enough to have the right people believe in you — then you have a chance. Also, having the rhythm section from hell (Stet Howland and Steve Unger), definitely increases the odds.”
To celebrate the album release in style, the band has prepared a final video single that is truly emotional: instead of being a dull party animator, “Lyin Eyes” focuses our attention on all those who suffer from the dark side of autumn, which is considered the break-up season for so many reasons.
Listen to the new album “Built To Destroy” including the recent single “Lyin Eyes” now on the platform of your choice: https://orcd.co/builttodestroy
Almost anyone who has ever lost their heart to someone special in their life and then had to go through a breakup full of disappointment as a result of an internal or external lie is familiar with the seemingly all-consuming feelings and thoughts that Tommy Bolan and N.Y.C. have captured in their brand-new single, “Lyin Eyes”: The lonely torment of an irrational longing coupled with the heavy weight of loss that sits in your chest and makes it difficult to breathe. The storm surge of past moments, signals, and fleeting observations in your head that suddenly come crashing down on you because everything that was once considered understood and certain has taken on a brutally changed meaning. The inner turmoil of a human turned leftover between all these feelings and the rising anger, which is supposed to open a valve to provide relief from the pressure, but only intensifies the chaos initially because it is partly directed inward…
“Lyin Eyes” hauntingly proves that even in quiet moments, there is no such thing as easy listening with N.Y.C. As a semi-ballad, this intense piece stands out from an album that could easily pass as an acoustic power fantasy for straightforward metalheads, yet at no point does it leave behind the dirty, dark tonality of “Built To Destroy.” On the contrary, the song begins almost deceptively with the romantic idealization of a past that overshadows the present, but this merely establishes the baseline on which we are led directly back to the tenor of the album via the climax: anger through realization. Tommy Bolan himself on “Lyin Eyes”: “I wanted to show a different groove of N.Y.C. with ‘Lyin Eyes’. The song takes you on an emotional roller coaster that goes through the pain of emptiness and confusion turning to anger as you become self aware and grow. A journey of reflection to resentment.“
As with “Heavy As Hell” and “Built To Destroy,” Hollywood veteran Walter Schulz is responsible for the creation of the video, treating N.Y.C. and fans to another expedition into the depths of the NRCity universe, which once again begins right in front of the stage in the fictional Heavy ‘n’ Hell Bar.
Markus Liedke, CEO and founder of Adrenalizing Media shares his view on the video from the co-producer’s perspective: “With this third music video, we are more or less accomplishing a trilogy, as we bring N.Y.C. not only back to our previous location in NRCity, the Heaven ´n´ Hell Bar and the ‘dimension on the other side’ with devastated landscape and city environment, but now we are adding some characters from the upcoming NRCity franchise to the video. Two of the main characters from the comic book, the show, and movie are making an appearance in the video. Riko Stahl and Jasmin ‘Jazz’ Zen getting into some memories of what happened during the events of the comic book. This marks the first time that we bring the two characters to the audience. Riko remembers the events that happened to him while he was with Jazz. This storyline aligned perfectly with the lyrics of the song, reflecting the feelings Tommy has based ‘Lyin Eyes’ on. Again we have Hollywood veteran Walter Schulz on board and this time we are using the Unreal Engine in a much broader way, adding unseen live action footage from NRCity (only screened at the Comic Con San Diego at our Adrenalizing Media Network booth) along with various technologies.”
About N.Y.C. and the New Album “Built To Destroy”
What would it sound like if AC/DC brawled with Judas Priest in an alley, while Motörhead revved a Harley over the whole thing? Meet N.Y.C. and their debut album “Built To Destroy” (release date: November 14). The record was produced by Tommy Bolan and is being released by ADRENALIZING MEDIA NETWORK (Executive Producer). It was recorded at Deep End Music Studios (mixed by Kenny Meriedeth) and mastered by Robert Vosgien (Los Angeles/USA). The album also features a guest performance by Grammy Award Winner and Hollywood composer Vince DiCola (Rocky IV, Transformers: The Movie). “Built To Destroy” is heavy, it’s loud, it’s fed up – and it’s definitely not here to make friends.
Founded by lead singer/guitarist Tommy Bolan, the six-string shredder behind Warlock’s platinum “Triumph & Agony”, born and raised in Queens, NY, the band also features metal legends Stet Howland (W.A.S.P., Metal Church) on drums and Steve Unger (Metal Church) on bass. Together, they channel the sound of New York City – noisy, restless, pissed-off, and ready to rise from the gutter.
The album is a full-on sonic tantrum and the pre-release festivities are coming in hot. The launch of Bolan’s signature guitar strings (via Optima Strings) is underway, alongside some – quite literally – epic and amazing videos with VFX veteran Walter Schulz (Emmy & Academy Award Winner and Hollywood VFX Director). Mr. Schulz and the team of ADRENALIZING MEDIA NETWORK have been working with Unreal Engine and all their latest technologies, spared no effort to get never done before use cases out of the outstanding capabilities of the latest gaming tech. “Walter is a master at his craft and a perfect fit,” states Bolan. “The visual world he has created captures the intensity of N.Y.C.”
Music experts should keep an eye out for some exciting promo content and give-aways with Schecter, Peavey, Morley, Optima Strings, Tascam, EHX, Gator, or Levy’s and look out for the upcoming release of the N.Y.C. signature Wine and Vodka.
“‘Built To Destroy’ is basically the return for anyone to end all of the bullshit that has been dumped on them in their life,” Bolan adds. “All of the madness, lies, and self sacrifice of body, mind, and soul at the hands of others shall now be turned around. As my song says: I am ‘Tired Of Smiling’. All of this has made me the half man, half machine you see before you. I have returned to set my demons free and tolerate no one’s limitations any longer.”
“Built To Destroy” isn’t just an album. It’s a sonic 10-ton nuke honing in on your stereo, so get ready and brace yourselves!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 