The Hidden Hand is the stunning new full-length from instrumental post-rock sensations IF THESE TREES COULD TALK, out now on Metal Blade Records!
The Hidden Hand boasts nine stellar and plainly provocative songs with the band focusing on capturing sonic power. Utilizing three guitars to cover different areas of the spectrum, the IF THESE TREES COULD TALK experience feels like a slow, wordless conversation between the inner and outer world best consumed like the score to a cinematic picture or a space for meditation, healing, and clarity.
The instrumental odyssey was so named because of a “fascination with the unexplained and unknowable especially in the areas of influence, control, and guidance,” says drummer Zack Kelly, who co-founded the band with drummer-brother Cody Kelly in 2005, “symbols and signs hidden in plain sight only available to those who are looking.”
Longtime fans and newcomers alike will thrill to tracks like “Blurry Creatures,” which embodies the raw nature of IF THESE TREES COULD TALK via unrelenting riffs with epic highs and lows, ambient syncopated delays and a battle chant that stimulates the senses. “Sea Of Glass” offers a smooth optimistic post-rock landscape guided uplifting clean guitars and heavy chorus hooks which pay off with a haunting and explosive resolution. The seventh cut on The Hidden Hand, “Metonoia,” has 1980’s vibes pulsing with progressive delayed guitars, pounding drums and a soaring guitar solo reminiscent of vintage David Gilmour.
Swedish metal heavyweights Sabaton have officially announced that on September 11th 2026, their definitive blockbuster album, The Last Stand, will be re-released as a limited 10th Anniversary Edition via Nuclear Blast Records.
To do justice to this incredible milestone, the album will not only be released for the first time with all bonus tracks, but there will also be limited editions available featuring alternative artwork, along with live videos recorded at Sabaton Open Air 2016.
First released in 2016, The Last Stand conquered the world, cracking the Worldwide Top 10 and hitting #1 in multiple countries. The grand-scale concept album delivered Sabaton‘s signature, explosive heavy metal, unleashing fan-favourite tracks and setlist favourites such as ‘The Last Stand‘, ‘Winged Hussars‘, ‘Shiroyama‘ and many more!
Pär Sundström commented:
“Who would have believed that 10 years could fly by so fast? We have so many great memories tied to “The Last Stand”, so we’re really happy to celebrate its 10th anniversary with the special edition vinyl and digibook with all the extras.
If you get your hands on the digibook, you’ll find bonus video footage that captures Thobbe – our guitarist – playing his final show with us at Sabaton Open Air in 2016 before stepping away for an eight-year vacation. In a way, it became his own “Last Stand”! Of course, none of us knew at the time that he’d eventually return to the band in 2024, which makes looking back at those moments even more meaningful. It’s a poignant chapter in our history, and the perfect thing to share as we celebrate the album’s 10th birthday.”
The Last Stand (10th Anniversary Edition) will be available in the following formats:
CD+DVD Digibook (w/ bonus DVD feat. live clips from Sabaton Open Air 2016)
2LP Gatefold Vinyl (Disc One: Natural Red Marbled (Bloodstone marbled) / Disc Two: Trans Orange Black White Splatter)
The Last Stand (10th Anniversary Edition) tracklisting:
01. Sparta 02. Last Dying Breath 03. Blood Of Bannockburn 04. Diary Of An Unknown Soldier 05. The Lost Battalion 06. Rorke’s Drift 07. The Last Stand 08. Hill 3234 09. Shiroyama 10. Winged Hussars 11. The Last Battle 12. Camouflage *BONUS TRACK (Stan Ridgway cover) 13. All Guns Blazing *BONUS TRACK (Judas Priest cover) 14. Afraid To Shoot Strangers *BONUS TRACK (Iron Maiden cover) 15. Burn in Hell *BONUS TRACK (Twisted Sister cover)
The Last Stand (10th Anniversary Edition) DVD tracklisting:
01. Counterstrike (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 02. The Art of War (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 03. Resist and Bite (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 04. To Hell and Back (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 05. Sparta (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 06. Gott Mit Uns (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 07. Night Witches (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 08. Shiroyama (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 09. Primo Victoria (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016) 10. Metal Crüe (Live at Sabaton Open Air 2016)
ABOUT SABATON
In over two decades since their launch, Swedish metallers Sabaton have carved out a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in the business – gaining a legion of loyal fans across the globe, delivering eleven highly-rated studio albums (including two certified platinum-sellers), and scoring multiple industry award wins and nominations.
Metalcore would not exist in its current form without Detroit legends, WALLS OF JERICHO. With genre defining records like 1999’s The Bound Feed The Gagged and 2004’s All Hail The Dead captivating the underground scene and establishing the model, they went on to break through charts globally with With Devils Amongst Us All, The American Dream, and No One Can Save You From Your Self thoroughly cementing their prestige.
After years of gigging relentlessly, decimating prestigious stages at Louder Than Life, Hellfest, Tied Down, and Furnace Fest amongst others, they finally return with a new studio offering, System Error: Humanity, dropping November 13, 2026 via Napalm Records. Pummeling, confrontational, and uplifting, WALLS OF JERICHO remain steadfast to the values and sound their legacy was built on.
Frontwoman Candace Buckingham on System Error: Humanity: “System Error: Humanity is a raw, unapologetic, and most aggressive record to date. We set out to capture the chaos, intensity, and raw energy of our live show rather than chase perfection. Lyrically, it’s a rebellion against the modern forces that fracture identity: comparison, conformity, distraction, and the endless pressure to perform instead of live. At its core, this album is about reclaiming your attention, owning your choices, and becoming who you were before the world told you who to be. Kill the noise. Reclaim yourself.”
Alongside the album announcement, the band unleashes the menacing first single “The Ascent”. Tense from its opening notes, the track hurls discordant breakdowns at the listener, leaning on dissonant chugs with glacial weight guaranteed to kick you back a reading level.
Candace continues on “The Ascent”: “‘The Ascent’ is a crushing blend of dissonant riffs, massive breakdowns, and raw intensity. Lyrically, it’s about confronting yourself one hard truth at a time, shedding ego, silencing the noise, and discovering that real strength isn’t found at the summit, but in the discipline and honesty it takes to climb. Because growth begins where comfort ends.”
Clobbering listeners out of the gate with “True Til’ Death”, the band affirms the triumph of their comeback with rabid aggression: iconic frontwoman Candace Buckingham immediately commands listeners with her gargantuan growls. The discordant violence of tracks like “The Ascent” and “Untouchable”, tap into something truly primal and kick you back a reading level with their claustrophobic chord work, while more thrash driven tracks like “The Flame” and “Agency”, take off at 100 miles per hour, plowing through a plethora of protein packed riffage and solos. Lyrically the band is stoking the flames of discontent, with tracks like “Agency”, “Borrowed Ground”, and “Last Judgement”, delivering empowering messages of reclamation, self determination, and human rights, encouraging listeners to fight for a better world. The record also features a premier slew of guests including Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe on “Broken Mouths Can’t Speak”, his beckoning howl joining Candace on a ferocious duel attack; and Guy Kozowyk of The Red Chord on “Humanity”, propelling the groove laden pit starter into cataclysmic levels of chaos. After some more delicious violence, and a transcendent slow burn in the form of “A Brighter Fire”, “The Reckoning” finishes things off with an epic, catastrophic energy that is bookended with one of the album’s most punishing breakdowns, bound to send some unlucky concertgoers to the dentist.
Legendary producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou (NAILS, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Code Orange, and Every Time I Die) is behind the boards, capturing the band’s ferocious live energy while maintaining a pristine presentation. Powerful, fierce, and stirring, WALLS OF JERICHO re-emerge with righteous purpose and brutal dedication, humanity may be the source of the system error, but we are the system, and we are the solution.
System Error: Humanity Tracklist:
True Til’ Death
Beginning
The Flame
The Ascent
Broken Mouths Can’t Speak (feat. Randy Blythe)
Untouchable
Rise
Agency
Unchained
The End Before
Humanity (feat. Guy Kozowyk)
Borrowed Ground
Last Judgement
A Brighter Fire (feat. Patsy Puopolo & Matthew Ruby)
The Reckoning
WALLS OF JERICHO is: Candace Buckingham – Vocals Aaron Ruby – Bass Dustin Robert – Drums Bobby VaLeu – Guitar Kyle Gailey – Guitar Chris Towning – Guitar
‘Belligerence’, the second single off The Ocean‘s highly anticipated 12th studio album Solaris, is a heavy one. It makes reference to the band’s older albums while imbueing it with a fresh sense of intensity.
New vocalists Enrico Tiberi’s vocals deliver a familiarity and energy that is sure to resonate with long-time fans of the band. Meanwhile, Lane Shi (Otay:Onii) who used to sing for the American band Elizabeth Colour Wheel adds a new direction to The Ocean sound, comprising elements and experience as a musician and performance artist who has appeared at events such as CTM, Biennale or as part of Florentina Holzinger’s polarizing opera Sancta. When Shi‘s and Tiberi‘s voices meet in the harmonized verses, it’s moments of unprecedented beauty.
‘Belligerence’ draws parallels between the cosmic explorations of Tarkovsky’s 1972 film Solaris —the inspiration behind the band’s new album— and the explorative nature of artists and current-day political leaders. One of the last lines of the lyrics of Subatlantic, the closing track of Holocene is ‘prepare for departure’ – invoking the idea of a group of survivors embarking on a ship to take them away from a sinking mothership earth, to build a new place to live in space.
The band comment: “Belligerence is a song about the culture of arguing and about the destructive force of contained anger and belligerence as a trait of character, often transfigured as an attribute of reason and a critical mind.”
Track list: 1. 52°30’11” N, 13°26’12“ E 2. Departure Song 3. Light Pollution 4. Simulacra 5. Belligerence 6. Ultima Esperanza 7. Milk Of My Dreams 8. 51°28’30” S, 73°6’11” W
Solaris is an album that tells a story of cosmic escapism: a journey on that ship, which is essentially a celestial rescue boat escaping from a metaphorically sinking Mother Earth. The rescue boat can be imagined as a historic naval vessel, and the lyrics and episodes of the album make reference to the real-life explorers of the past who set out to discover (back then) unknown continents and uncharted territories: Da Gama, Magellan, Sir Frances Drake, as well as the Polar explorers Amundsen, Scott, Rasmussen etc. The stories of these historic journeys all share similar elements: storms, disease, wreckage, power games, personal rivalries, egos, belligerence, mutiny, finally the quest for truth and justice. While most explorers initially had noble motives and were driven by a limitless spirit of exploration and discovery which was stronger than the many hardships suffered along the way, their legacy is often stained with cultural imperialism, genocide and tales of dictatorial leadership.
Far from being a glorification of male, white explorers who sought to colonise unknown worlds, or a romanticization of patriarchal constructs, Solaris draws a line between these extremely driven explorers and present-day political leaders. It poses questions of the shadowy darkness of being a “great” leader, it queries the very notion of a divine calling and the cost of following such an instinctive pull. It also traces the shape of these psychological patterns into the creative world and applies the same lines of enquiry to creative forces. Can exploration be redefined to be conceived as a process of silent observation, documentation and learning, rather than bequeathing our own ideas and values on others?
The album serves as a critique of the underlying motives and psychological dispositions of an explorative mindset and a thirst for power. It is an existential questioning, a probe of reason of the general purpose of technological advance, in the specific light of the destruction of our habitat. It’s a dystopian outlook into a future where Earth has become uninhabitable – not despite, but as a direct consequence of human intelligence, as the foundation of technological advance.
Solaris will be released via Pelagic Records on 25th September.
The Ocean Line-up: Robin Staps – guitar, vocals Mattias Hägerstrand – bass Jordi Farré – drums, percussion Enrico Tiberi – vocals, keys Lane Shi – vocals Emmanuel Jessua – guitar Marco Gennaro – guitar
In addition, the following musicians performed on this record: Thorsten Quaeschning – keys Orestis Zafiriou – keys Simen Eifring – trombone Jiawei Zhang – vibraphone
Hot Sunday Blood is an Italian band, formed in Turin in 2013. In the early stages their sound is inspired by alternative rock music, with heavy rock influences. Each band member affects the sound in his own unique way, coming from different backgrounds such as metal, stoner, grunge, black metal, prog and new wave. The band loves to define itself as “plug and play”. It means there is the only need to plug instruments and start playing, ideas for new songs flow immediately.
Over the course of the years their sound shifted to a more distinctive imprint and the introduction of slight electronics support with a shift toward alternative and industrial sound. Lyrics are mostly in English, with electronics dictacing melodies, and solid guitar riffs supporting it. Those are recurring elements typical of their songs which gains depth through Andrea Amerini’s voice.
Stream the new single here:
Three full lengths and more than one hundred lives behind them, in July 2018 HSB opened Doyle for the Turin date of his European tour.
In May 2019 they organised a mini promotional tour in Romania, Croatia and Slovenia. HSB performed abroad again in 2023 at Ostrava V Plamenech Festival and as a supporter of Farthest Outpost European tour.
In 2024 they performed three times for the Emergenza Live festival in Turin, reaching the final round at Hiroshima Mon Amour in Turin. In 2025 HSB performed again in Italy at Balkan Metal Meeting in Bologna and abroad at the Fajtfest festival in the Czech Republic, Balkan Metal Meeting in Hungary.
HOT SUNDAY BLOOD are:Andrea Amerini Vocals – Stefano Capista Guitars – Paolo Iulita Bass – Carlo Borra Drums
Two decades after dragging listeners into the depths of the underworld, GWAR are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 2006 opus ‘Beyond Hell’ with a newly remastered deluxe edition, available for the first time ever on vinyl. The album is set for release on September 25th via the band’s own Pit Records.
Remastered by Paul Logus (Anthrax, Killswitch Engage), the anniversary edition breathes new life into one of the band’s most ambitious and theatrical releases. Alongside the remastered album, the release also includes a previously unreleased outro track recorded during the original ‘Beyond Hell’ sessions that was left off the original release.
Marking the announcement, the band also shares the remastered version of “Eighth Lock,” alongside it’s long-lost music video, available below.
Check Out the Official Video for “Eighth Lock” (Remastered) below, Stream / ListenHERE:
Originally released in 2006, ‘Beyond Hell’ marked a defining moment in GWAR‘s legendary career. Produced by Devin Townsend, the album brought together two of metal’s most unique creative forces, with Townsend helping shape one of the band’s most ambitious and beloved releases.
“I had been a GWAR fan since I was a kid. I loved the freedom, the metal, the spectacle, and the passion that went into it all,” recalls Townsend. “I met Brockie on a tour we did together and, after cornering him in an elevator basically telling him I’d work for free, I found myself co-producing ‘Beyond Hell.’ Dave and Corey came to Vancouver to stay with me, and we recorded at Profile Studios. The drums and basic tracks were done at Slave Pit in Richmond, Virginia, and the whole process took about three months.”
He continues, “GWAR were, and are, an amazing combination of artistic freedom, absurdity, and hard work bundled up with metal and performance. Loved them then, love them now.”
Chronicling the band’s descent into Hell to rescue their long-lost comrade Flattus Maximus, ‘Beyond Hell’ remains one of GWAR‘s defining releases, featuring fan favorites including “Back in Crack,” “Womb With a View,” “Tormentor,” and “The Ultimate Bohab.”
Twenty years later, ‘Beyond Hell’ is ready to rise once again, louder, heavier, and more gloriously blasphemous than ever before.
The first ever vinyl pressing of ‘Beyond Hell’ arrives on 180-gram vinyl housed in an elaborate tri-fold jacket that unfolds into an inverted cross. The CD edition also receives the deluxe treatment, featuring a fold-out poster.
The standard Gold vinyl edition will be limited to 2,000 copies. Fans looking for something even more exclusive can pick up the “Blood Moon” vinyl variant, limited to just 300 copies, exclusively at GWAR.net, while Metal Injection will offer an exclusive “Blood Smear” vinyl variant, limited to only 200 copies.
GWAR hits the road again starting in August with a slate of festival appearances, including Endless Fires Fest, Louder Than Life, and Riot Fest, followed by a brief headline run with support from Weedeater and BRAT. The Scumdogs will then embark on the “Gor Gor Must Die!” Tour featuring direct support from Midnight, with Mac Sabbath opening every night and X-COPS and Atomic Rule joining on select dates. A full list of tour dates is available below.
GWAR Live:
08/15: Syracuse, NY @ Endless Fires Fest ^ 09/17: Louisville, KY @ Louder Than Life ^ 09/18: Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest ^ 09/19: Davenport, IA @ Capitol Theatre * 09/20: Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection * 09/22: Memphis, TN @ Satellite Music Hall * 09/23: Baton Rouge, LA @ Chelsea’s Live * ^Festival Appearance *Supported by Weedeater and BRAT
The “Gor Gor Must Die!” Tour
10/27: Charlottesville, VA @ The Jefferson Theater * 10/28: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Heaven) * 10/29: Jacksonville, FL @ FIVE * 10/30-11/03: Miami, FL @ The Headbangers Boat 11/04: Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution * 11/05: Orlando, FL @ The Beacham * 11/06: Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues * 11/07: Winston-Salem, NC @ The Ramkat * 11/08: Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl * 11/09: Little Rock, AR @ The Hall * 11/10: Dallas, TX @ AM/FM * 11/12: Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre + 11/13: Salt Lake City, UT @ Rockwell at The Complex + 11/14: Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl + 11/15: Reno, NV @ Cargo Concert Hall + 11/17: Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee + 11/18: Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues + 11/19: Berkeley, CA @ The UC Theatre + 11/20: Chico, CA @ Senator Theatre + 11/21: Bend, OR @ Midtown Ballroom + 11/23: Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo + 11/24: Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory + 11/25: Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre + 11/27: Edmonton, AB @ Midway Music Hall + 11/28: Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall + 11/30: Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre + 12/02: Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre + 12/03: Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave * 12/04: Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot Ballroom * 12/05: Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues * 12/06: McKees Rocks, PA @ Roxian Theatre * 12/08: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club * 12/09: Worcester, MA @ The Palladium * 12/10: New York, NY @ The Palladium Times Square * 12/11: Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia * 12/12: Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa * *X-COPS Open +Atomic Rule Opens
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 ) 