Canadian alt-rock heavyweights The Veer Union unleash their explosive new single ‘Sea of Fear’ Known for their signature blend of hard-hitting riffs and emotional depth, the Vancouver-based alt-metal act continues their legacy with a haunting anthem that dives deep into anxiety, survival, and inner strength.
With over 175 million streams worldwide, 12 Billboard Rock Radio hits, and recent viral success from their Covers Collection and Manifestations albums, the band is proving once again why they’re one of the most enduring forces in modern rock.
‘Sea of Fear’ marks the first taste of their upcoming full-length album Reinvention, slated for release on February 20th, 2026. Following years of chart-topping singles and high-energy tours across North America and Europe, The Veer Union are entering a bold new era, and this single is just the beginning.
Close Enemies, a powerhouse band featuring legendary musicians Tom Hamilton, multiple Grammy winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, and bassist of the biggest-selling American rock band of all time, Aerosmith, is joined by legendary drummer Tony Brock (The Babys and Rod Stewart), touring veterans Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow and Don Henley) and Trace Foster on guitar, and singer Chasen Hampton, who has been singing professionally since the age of 11, as a member and co-host of the famed 90s Mickey Mouse Club and pop group The Party, have announced that their previously scheduled California tour dates will be moved to January 2026 due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict. The band will release their new single “More Than I Could Ever Need” through TLG|ROCK, distributed through Virgin Music Group August 8, 2025 on all major streaming platforms.
Close Enemies have announced upcoming tour dates under the banner “An Evening with Close Enemies – Live in Concert.” Fans can expect an intimate experience showcasing the band’s undeniable chemistry and a setlist packed with songs from Aerosmith & The Baby’s along with their originals.
Mark Strigl SiriusXM on air host of Ozzy’s Boneyard states:
“Close Enemies is the real deal—a group of insanely talented musicians including bassist/songwriter Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith. Their new tunes are packed with energy & emotion, and they absolutely blew me away live. This is a band that delivers on every level—don’t miss them!”
Dean Baldwin, Host on SiriusXM, FM2.0 & StrykTV states:
“A Power Pop revival is on the horizon—a return to an era when rock music was all about hooks, harmonies, and heart. Close Enemies’ latest single, Inside Out, is the perfect example of what I’m talking about – long live rock!”
Tour Dates:
8/28 @ Iroquois Ampitheater in Louisville, KY w/ Tom Keifer & L.A. Guns 8/29 @ The Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL w/ Winger 8/30 @ The Sonnentag in Eau Claire, WI w/ Tom Keifer and L.A. Guns 10/2 @ Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, NY w/ Tom Keifer 10/4 @ Daryl’s House Club in Pawling, NY 10/8 @ Iridium Club in New York, NY 10/10 @ Six String Grill & Stage in Foxborough, MA 1/2 @ The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, CA 1/3 @ The Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, CA 1/7 @ Tower Theatre in Fresno, CA 1/9 @ The Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, CA 1/10 @ Goldfield Trading Post in Roseville, CA 1/11 @ The Nile Theater in Bakersfield, CA 1/23 @ Central Park Performing Arts Center in Largo, FL 1/24 @ Culture Room in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Polish progressive metal act BlackLight shatter genre expectations once again with the release of their new live video “Future Belongs To” and “Ghost”—a breathtaking performance where classical ballet collides with modern prog-metal power.
Filmed at the prestigious Ludomir Różycki General Ballet School in Bytom, the performance captures a surreal and spellbinding moment: a ballerina dancing like a ghost in the machine, moving through the atmosphere of BlackLight’s signature soundscape. The band performed live as part of a special graduation show for the school’s 9th-grade students, with over 500 captivated attendees in the audience.
“Future Belongs To” continues BlackLight’s artistic journey—a sonic tapestry woven with the finesse of Opeth, the ambition of Rush, the edge of Tool, and the elegance of Riverside. From Maciej Majewski’s emotive vocals and cinematic keyboards to the intricate interplay between guitars and rhythm section, the band once again proves they’re carving their own path in the progressive metal sphere.
Hailing from Poland, BlackLight is fronted by the multi-talented Maciej Majewski (vocals, guitar, keyboards), with Robert Kurzyński (guitar), Tomasz Szydło (bass), and Stanisław Skowroński (drums) rounding out the lineup. With influences ranging from Dead Can Dance to modern progressive giants, BlackLight fuses emotion, atmosphere, and technical mastery into every release.
Italian instrumental trio TALAQAT continue to unravel the sonic threads of their upcoming debut with the release of their second single, “XIII”, out today.
The track offers another glimpse into the self-titled album “Talaqat”, which will be released on August 8th, 2025.
“XIII” channels tension through intricate rhythms, stark contrasts, and emotive dynamics. True to the band’s vision of storytelling without lyrics, the composition invites listeners into a journey of unease and momentum, further affirming TALAQAT’s genre-defying identity rooted in post-metal, progressive structures and free-form experimentation.
“Talaqat” was born out of a need for total creative freedom—free from genre boundaries, labels, and classifications. The project is a pure expression of each member’s creativity, personal influences, and musical experience. All songwriting is collaborative, and ideas take shape organically during rehearsal sessions, never premeditated or forced. Each track is envisioned as a journey, telling a story without the use of lyrics, inviting the listener to interpret it in their own unique and personal way.
This approach gives the band’s sound a fluid and undefinable character. On first listen, it may defy easy categorization, but repeated plays reveal ever-shifting nuances that draw from post-rock, post-metal, progressive, and new jazz—a fusion of the members’ diverse backgrounds, shaped into a free, personal, and uncompromising musical identity.
“Talaqat” was recorded in the winter of 2024 at KONO Studio (Biella, Italy) and mastered by Harris Newman at Greymarket Mastering in Montreal, Canada.
Tracklist:
01. Pantalassa 02. Iter Circa Solem 03. XIII 04. Carminio 05. Idra 06. Penitenziagite 07. Talaqat
TALAQAT was formed in 2023 by three musicians with diverse backgrounds and a shared desire to push boundaries. Matteo Borzini (drums) and Adriano Fontaneto (guitar) have collaborated for years in several prominent underground acts such as Corey, One Fine Day, Steam, Fog In The Shell, Mathians, Postvorta, Killer Is Me, and The End Of Six Thousand Years. In recent years, Adriano has also explored electronic music, while Matteo continues to play with The End Of Six Thousand Years. Massimo Splendore (bass), who has occasionally worked with the pair in the past, brings a different trajectory—one that began in metal, passed through rock, and eventually touched Italian pop music. The project sets no limits in terms of genre. Instead, it draws inspiration from extreme metal, jazz, progressive, and hardcore, combining these influences into a sound that’s both distinctive and deeply personal.
Still staged in the gritty atmosphere and philosophical weight of post-metal, sludge, and ambient noise, idsungwüssä seesAbraham march even further into dissonant and defiant territory.
“The three albums are clearly linked together thematically”, the band comment, “although, rather than an additional chapter, idsungwüssä is more like a parallel narrative to Débris de mondes perdus. The latter was a jump in time after Look, Here Comes the Dark!, whereas idsungwüssä is a jump in space, a journey away from Earth. It should be the final piece of this little jolly ride.”
This album isn’t just heavy, it is absolutely drenched in delicious filth, and yet by embracing even more the melodic interludes and melancholic passages, they create a devastating contrast to the wall of power coming from stacked guitars, catastrophic drums, and raging, sharp vocals delivered in Swiss-German dialect.
“The album was recorded between November 2024 and February 2025, all while handling our day jobs and in a period that was, on a personal level, not the easiest for some of us. It is only in the last two weeks of the recording process, right before sending it out to mixing, that it sort of came together and started to feel like a coherent album, an album that we could be happy and proud about. For an album with change/transformation as an underlying theme, this is sort of performative!”
This urgency and duress bleeds into every song, an hour-long journey that moves from the grim to sublime, from melancholy to raw destruction — evoking ruined civilisations and the last wails of fractured psyches. Yet there is something less bleakly human, more ethereal at moments, as if glimpsing beyond the constraints of the body and its wheel of flesh and death.
Strewn throughout the record are appearances of Farfisa Louvre organ – prominently featuring on an Abraham album for the first time. The band were also joined by Kevin Galland (Coilguns), who added additional Moog and piano parts.
The band continue: “Our approach to recording guitars was different than what we did before. Instead of having one guitar on the left playing a part and one on the right playing another part, we decided that left and right guitars were to play the same part, and the center guitar was to play another part. We just stacked more guitars whenever we needed. And oh did we use a lot of reverb, too!”
The structures and movements of the songs found within idsungwüssä are unique and fresh. A balancing of themes and emotions that is both intoxicating and unsettling, it is an immersive journey that rewards deep listening and challenges the boundaries of genre. From the patient grandeur of coming extinction, to the chaos and fevered urgency of the aftermath, in idsungwüssä Abraham move forward from prophetic lamentation to an elegiac visceral response. The emotional closure of this expression is felt, something final that will leave you speechless and with only one real option: listen to it again.
Tracklist:
1. Fate of Man Lies in the Stars 2. I Am the Vessel and The Vessel Is Me 3. A Discomposite Shell 4. Naked in a Naked Sky 5. Suurwäut 6. En Tüüfus Tümpu 7. 06.00.40U 8. Home
Line-up:
Val DiCabillo – bass Steven Margo Dita d’Oro – guitars Dave Schlagmeister – drums, vocals Jakkob Wierdmann – guitars
[photo: Andreas Mattsson – Perspective by Mattsson]
Following previously-released singles, “Hör mitt kall” and “I skogsfruns famn”, Swedish metal vikings MÅNEGARM have shared a majestic official music video for their new single “Rodhins hav”. The stunning track is taken from the trio’s much-awaited upcoming studio album, Edsvuren, slated for release on August 29, 2025 via powerhouse label Napalm Records.
“Rodhins hav (Rodhin’s Sea) is a tribute to our beloved home and is also meant to honor the people from here who have fallen victim to the forces of the sea throughout history, and to the families who lost their loved ones to the depths of the water“, the band comments. “Rodhins hav is a beautiful and emotional acoustic song that features Ellinor Videfors on amazing vocals, and the violin is played beautifully by the one and only – Martin Björklund.”
Known for weaving Norse mythology, ancient rites, and folkloric wisdom into an unrelenting metal tapestry, MÅNEGARM celebrate their 30-year career with the release of their most evocative album to date. As one of the leading bands in the genre, they once again bring their inimitable style and the blood oath of viking, black and folk metal back together for an unforgettable and diverse sonic journey. Pensive and dreamy atmospheric monsters meet songs for a proper mead binge – this mixture has brought the band a loyal international fan base and highly acclaimed appearances at prestigious festivals such as Ragnarök and Summer Breeze Open Air.
On their forthcoming studio offering, Edsvuren, MÅNEGARM offer necessary authenticity with the use of traditional Nordic instruments. Guest vocalists Ellinor Videfors and Lea Grawsiö Lindström, who have also supported the band on previous albums, once again provide the perfect contrast between harshness and beauty. On title track “Edsvuren”, singer Liv Hope Lenard joins the wolf pack for the first time and provides one of the album’s most breathtaking highlights. On violin, the acoustic master Martin Björklund is back again, especially shining on pieces like “Rodhins hav”. Edsvuren was recorded and mixed by Pelle Saether at Studio Underground, and was mastered by Sverker Widgren at Wing Studios. The epic cover artwork was created by Kris Verwimp.
Melding raw aggression, ancient beauty and hypnotic black metal influences, Norse mythology, rites and folkloric wisdom in a relentless frenzy of orchestral finesse – on the battlefield of Viking Metal, only Swedish legends MÅNEGARM can emerge victorious with their thunderous anthems. With over 30 years of battle-tested heritage, MÅNEGARM continue to assert themselves as torchbearers of the genre with Edsvuren!
As long as winds will blow – Falkenback Cover (Wooden Box + Deluxe Vinyl Edition Bonus Track)
Flight of Icarus – Iron Maiden Cover (Wooden Box + Deluxe Vinyl Edition Bonus Track)
Hear my call – English version of Hör mitt kall (Wooden Box + Deluxe Vinyl Edition Bonus Track)
Ulvhjärtat – Exclusive piano Version (Wooden Box + Deluxe Vinyl Edition Bonus Track)
MÅNEGARM live: 07/26/25 – HMN Festival – Heimburg/DE 08/02/25 – Wacken Festival – Wacken/DE 08/29/25 – Manegarm Open Air – Norrtälje/SWE 12/13/25 – Heavy Metal X´Mass – Mexico City/MEX
MÅNEGARM is: Erik Grawsiö – Vocals & Bass Markus Andé – Guitars Jakob Hallegren – Drums
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 ) 