German comedian BÜLENT CEYLAN is no longer just a metal fan. After dominating stages across Germany for over 25 years as one of the country’s best-known and most successful comedians, he released his debut album, Ich liebe Menschen (Engl. I Love People), in 2024, followed by a tour of the same name with his four-piece band. Bülent has also thrilled thousands of metalheads at legendary festivals such as Wacken Open Air and Summer Breeze. Following his recent signing with Napalm Records, BÜLENT CEYLAN now presents his eagerly awaited new single, “Diktatürk”.
Introduced by a striking fanfare intro, “Diktatürk” is a hard-hitting industrial track bursting with raw metal energy. Once again, BÜLENT CEYLAN showcases his razor-sharp perception and willingness to take a stand through the song’s provocative lyrics. Welcome to the world of “Diktatürk”!
The Mannheim native wrote his first program in 1998. Since then, his stages have grown (as impressively as his hair), expanding into a wide-ranging and dynamic repertoire. Today, he’s known not just as a comedian, but also as a presenter, author, actor, voice actor – and, of course, a musician. Anchored in German-language industrial metal but embellished with duets ranging from medieval rock stars Saltatio Mortis to living legend Peter Maffay, his first album, Ich liebe Menschen, was released in 2024.
Alongside his signature heavy sound, BÜLENT CEYLAN once again proves his sharp social insight through his lyrics. Ich liebe Menschen boldly takes on issues like online hate and racism with a strong stance. He also takes supporting important charity work seriously, spreading the word and still holding strong to his trademark wit. One thing should be clear to all metalheads moving forward: BÜLENT CEYLAN doesn’t just headbang for laughs – he’s metal to the core!
Swedish rock’n’roll powerhouse THUNDERMOTHER invites us to join one of their energetic live shows once more with a new single from their upcoming live album, Live’n’Alive, coming digitally on April 17, 2026 via Napalm Records. The second single off the thrilling first release with their new label is a new rendition of “Hellevator”. Originally released as a standalone single in 2016, THUNDERMOTHER gave the song some extra power during their show in Huskvarna, Sweden, during the second leg of their “Dirty & Divine Tour” in November of 2025. The concert’s explosive atmosphere can also be witnessed through the accompanying live video filmed during the same show. Additionally, “Dog from Hell – Live in Huskvarna” (Heat Wave, 2020) and “I Left My License in the Future – Live in Copenhagen” (Dirty & Divine, 2025) are also available to stream now.
Filippa Nässil about “Hellevator – Live in Huskvarna”: “I’m going down, down, down below… In the Hellevator you cannot pray… and this would be the perfect elevator song, don’t you think? It’s all about fun, and this song has always been so fun ever since we wrote it, haha. Stream it loud!”
Swedish rock’n’roll powerhouse THUNDERMOTHER is set to unleash a thrilling new live album, Live’n’Alive, out digitally on April 17, 2026 and physically July 10, 2026 via Napalm Records! Founded in 2009 by guitarist Filippa Nässil, the band is well-known for their electrifying rock anthems and relentless touring – some live highlights include supporting the legendary Scorpions both in North America and Europe, playing the KISS Kruise and performing regularly at major festivals such as Wacken Open Air. In 2025, THUNDERMOTHER unleashed their highly acclaimed sixth album, Dirty & Divine – their first with the new lineup consisting of Filippa Nässil, vocalist Linnéa Vikström Egg, returning bass player Majsan Lindberg and drummer Joan Massing – hitting the top 3 on the Official German Rock/Metal Charts. Live’n’Alive was recorded on the European headline tour that followed – this hefty 19-track offering showcases THUNDERMOTHER’s explosive live energy through their 2025 setlist.
With no backing tracks, overdubs or re-recording of instruments, Live’n’Alive makes no compromises. This is THUNDERMOTHER – 100% live, 100% rock’n’roll! Live’n’Alive will be available as a digital album first – stay tuned for physical formats!
Filippa Nässil about Live’n’Alive: “It’s all live. We use no backing tracks like almost every band does today. We have made no overdubs or re-recording of instruments. It’s ALL live and rock’n’roll. Me on guitar, Majsan Lindberg on bass, Joan Massing on drums, and Linnéa Vikström on lead vox and rhythm guitars on some songs. Song order is not compromised, it’s our setlist of 2025, through and through. Hell yeah, this is how it’s done.”
Live’n’Alive cuts through the band’s catalogue, delivering high-energy live versions that encapsulate the band’s true rock’n’roll spirit, from powerful reimaginings of classic THUNDERMOTHER hits to newer tunes. Anthemic opening track “Can you feel it – Live in Cologne” (originally from the newest studio offering) kicks the album right off, followed by equally energetic “Loud and Free – Live in Cologne” (from Black and Gold, 2022 – #6 on the Official German Album Charts!). Further highlights include the groovy “Whatever – Live in Gothenburg” (originally from the 2018 album Thundermother) as well as the catchy “Speaking Of The Devil – Live in Huskvarna” (from the 2025 album). THUNDERMOTHER wraps the album up impactfully with a new version of their biggest hit “Driving In Style – Live in Huskvarna”, originally from the 2020 success record Heat Wave (#6 on the Official German Album Charts).
Live’n’Alive tracklisting:
Can you feel it – Live in Cologne
Loud and Free – Live in Cologne
The Road is Ours – Live in Cologne
So Close – Live in Huskvarna
Bright Eyes – Live in Huskvarna
Take The Power – Live in Copenhagen
Dead Or Alive – Live in Huskvarna
I Don’t know You – Live in Cologne
Sleep – Live in Cologne
I Left My License In The Future – Live in Copenhagen
How do you follow up one of the most electric rock/punk albums of 2025? You don’t just repeat it — you surpass it. You burn it brighter, louder, and more dangerously. GYPSY PISTOLEROS return with “I’m The Prince of the Damned”, the second single from their feral, unapologetic killer new album Dark Faerie Tales.
This isn’t just music — it’s a riot. A feral collision of fur-clad glam, gothic decadence, punk attitude, and sleazy rock ’n’ roll danger, built for outsiders, misfits, romantics, and anyone bored of beige rock. Co-written and produced by the wizard-of-chaos Dave Draper (Michael Monroe, The Wildhearts, Therapy?, Elvana), the track doesn’t recycle rock history — it sets fire to it.
“I’m The Prince of the Damned” is a dark, swaggering hard rock anthem steeped in gothic menace and glam-punk bravado. Massive riffs, venom-laced vocals, and a hook-laden sleazy chorus make it a track designed to dominate specialist rock radio and late-night alternative playlists. Lyrically, it dives into corruption, temptation, and inner demons, with cinematic and theatrical intensity:
“We crown the wrong kings and call it salvation, Follow wolves in borrowed halos straight into damnation. Even when the lies crack, we bow and obey — Sheep to the slaughter, giving our souls away.”
The world’s only Glam Punk Goth ’n’ Roll outlaws return with their most ambitious and eclectic album yet — ‘Dark Faerie Tales’, out April 17th, 2026 on The New Church Records / Plastichead Distribution.
Following the success of Church of the Pistoleros — hailed as one of 2025’s most fearless and eclectic rock albums — the Pistoleros have conjured something even bolder: a dark fairytale for the damned, a love letter to the beautiful and broken, and a twisted hymn for the strange of heart.
Born from the fires of their own mythology, Dark Faerie Tales drifts through haunted woods and neon dreams — where sleaze-drenched punk anthems meet gothic grandeur, and glam swagger burns with outlaw soul. Dark Faerie Tales the full album unfolds like a scorched fairytale: churches burn, saints fall, and survivors mutate into something wild, beautiful, and dangerous.
‘Dark Faerie Tales’Track Listing: Dark Faerie Tales My One Desire, Burn It Up King of Almost Everything She’s Getting Stranger Take My Hand to Nightmare Land Behind The Mask Prince of the Damned Rattling I Whisper Goodbye The Ghost of Baby Strange
Dark Faerie Tales U.K. Tour dates: 11 April – St Austell, The Band Club 16 April – London, The Underworld (SLADY, Continental Lovers, Bai Bang) 17 April – Worcester, The Marrs Bar 18 April – Pontypool, The Dragonffli 22 April – Newcastle, The Cluny 24 April – Dunfermline, The Brasshouse 25 April – Edinburgh, Bannermans 1–2 May – Beltane Gathering Festival, Wales 9 May – No Sleep Till Blackpool Festival @ The Waterloo 10 May – Stoke-on-Trent, Eleven (Matinee Show) 15 May – Nottingham, The Old Cold Store 16 May – Stockport, The Holy Diver 23 May – Breaking Bands Festival, Droitwich
Special Guests: James Kennedy & The Underdogs to support throughout Tour 6–9 August – Rebellion Punk Festival, Blackpool Winter Gardens
Gypsy Pistoleros’ live shows are gothic theatre, glam-punk ritual, and unmissable rock spectacle. From Rebellion to Planet Rockstock, they’re ready for their biggest UK headline run yet.
Expect: • Sleaze-drenched punk anthems & gothic theatrics • For fans of Alice Cooper, YUNGBLUD, GHOST, The Cult, The Damned, Hanoi Rocks, Killing Joke • A wild, theatrical experience — part gothic carnival, part rock ’n’ roll ritual
Los Angeles–based heavy metal outfit Lightning Strikes return with their long-awaited new full-length album, The King Is Victorious, out since February 18th.
The album features eight powerful new tracks and showcases a truly international lineup of elite musicians. The majority of The King Is Victorious was recorded by Lightning Strikes co-founder Maksudian, alongside Japanese guitar virtuoso Norifumi Shima (Concerto Moon), American bass legend Barry Sparks (Michael Schenker Group, Yngwie Malmsteen), and rising Argentinian vocalist Mariano Gardella. Rounding out the album is a special guest appearance by keyboard maestro Derek Sherinian (Black Country Communion, Sons Of Apollo), who also appeared on the band’s debut release.
Karpis Maksudian shares:
They said heavy metal was just noise.
They said the wait was too long.
They said the fire fades with time.
They were wrong.
This album isn’t just music — it’s years of pressure, pain, growth, and hunger forged into sound. Every riff hits harder. Every drum feels like thunder. Every scream carries everything I’ve been holding back.
This is the heavy metal you’ve been waiting for.
Superstar-level heaters. No fillers. No limits.
Just raw power.
I didn’t come back quietly.
I came back louder. Stronger. Hungrier.
When this drops, it’s not just an album release — it’s a takeover.
Turn your speakers up.
Tell the world heavy metal is alive.
And get ready… because once this is out, there’s no turning back.
And I also as a producer want to take this moment to speak from the heart.
From the bottom of my soul, thank you to every single person who was part of this powerful journey. This album was built on passion, fire, and brotherhood — and I’m beyond grateful to the warriors who stepped into the storm with me.
A special, thunderous thank you to the legends who played on the title track “The King Is Victorious” without hesitation, without conditions — just pure love for the music and the metal spirit:
Rowan Robertson, Mark Zavon, Craig Goldy, Norifumi Shima, Takehiko “Shake” Kogure, Dario Mollo, Mariano Gardella, Rob Math, Barry Sparks, Derek Sherinian, Michael T. Ross and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.
Your talent, your energy, your riffs, your solos, your power — you helped turn this song into a battlefield anthem. This wasn’t just collaboration… this was unity. This was heavy metal brotherhood at its finest.
The King is Victorious because of all of you.
Let the world hear it.
With The King Is Victorious, Lightning Strikes build upon their legacy with a refined, aggressive, and globally influenced heavy metal sound that honors the band’s roots while pushing forward with renewed intensity.
A Japanese edition of The King Is Victorious will be released via Rubicon Music, featuring a bonus track exclusive to that territory.
The King Is Victorious is available worldwide: SPOTIFY
Physical CD’s can be purchased in America at the following locations:Walmart – Amazon
Originally formed in 1984, Lightning Strikes made history as the first heavy metal band with an all Armenian-American lineup, predating the emergence of System Of A Down by more than a decade. After disbanding, Maksudian revived the Lightning Strikes name more than 25 years later, assembling a new lineup to record the band’s self-titled debut album in 2016.
That release featured Brazilian vocalist Nando Fernandes (Sinistra, Hangar), drummer Rob Math, Derek Sherinian, and legendary former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin, who sang on and penned lyrics for standout tracks “Death Valley” and “301 AD (Sins Of Our Fathers).” Mixed by renowned producer Roy Z, the album was met with strong critical acclaim and peaked at #6 on Japan’s Burrn! Magazine import charts.
TÜRBÖWITCH return with “Cult Mastery”, the second single taken from their upcoming third full-length “Under Haunted Skies”, and a blazing declaration of true metal intent. Fierce and triumphant, the track stands as a full-throttle anthem forged in speed, steel and devotion to the old ways. Driven by galloping riffs, searing leads and a breakneck rhythm section, “Cult Mastery” captures the band at their most commanding, fusing blackened speed-thrash ferocity with an unmistakable sense of epic menace.
“Under Haunted Skies”, will be released on March 20th, 2026 via Time To Kill Records.
Commenting on the song, the band explain:
“Among the ashes of chaos, cults flourish. Desperate crowds pray to a false god, searching for something to cling to under the cursed heavens. The power of the cultists grows and with it, madness itself”.
“Under Haunted Skies” marks a decisive step forward for the Budapest-based band, further refining the uncompromising attitude and relentless live energy that have earned them a strong reputation within the European underground. With “Under Haunted Skies”, TÜRBÖWITCH deliver their most focused and ferocious material to date: a concentrated blast of massive riffs, breakneck tempos and instinctive urgency.
Rooted in blackened speed-thrash, the album draws from the raw savagery and punk-fuelled aggression of acts like Midnight, the razor-sharp thrash precision of The Crown, and the dark melodic drive of Hellripper, while maintaining a clearly identifiable personality. Melodic accents cut through the chaos, adding depth and character without ever dulling the band’s visceral impact.
Faithful to their no-compromise ethos, TÜRBÖWITCH channel the spirit of ’80s extreme metal through a modern sense of immediacy, delivering songs that are fast, filthy and built for maximum impact. With Time To Kill Records backing the release of “Under Haunted Skies”, the band are poised to bring their unholy speed assault to a wider audience, while remaining firmly rooted in the reckless intensity that has defined them since day one.
Tracklist:
01 – Evoker of the Twilight 02 – Markoláb 03 – Under Haunted Skies 04 – Cult Mastery 05 – Ashbringer 06 – Highways of Death 07 – Ultimate Failure of Will 08 – When the World Crumbled 09 – Moshpit at the End of the Day 10 – Road to Resilience
TÜRBÖWITCH was born in 2016 in Budapest, founded by vocalist Zslöd and guitarist Kommandante Klit as a raw, no-frills tribute to the sonic fury and visual madness of ’80s extreme metal. What started as a fun side project between longtime friends quickly evolved into a far more focused and dedicated band, without ever losing its unfiltered energy and love for chaos.
Over time, TÜRBÖWITCH grew into a full-fledged live five-piece. Their discography began with a demo in 2016, followed by the debut full-length “Napalm to Posers” (2017), the EP “Beyond the Last Call” (2018), and their second album “Fullmoon Liquorthropy”, released in late 2022.
Musically, TÜRBÖWITCH deliver a volatile mix of early thrash metal aggression, speed metal velocity, and a heavy dose of punk attitude: fast, loud, and completely unrepentant.
On stage, the band have shared the chaos with cult acts from around the world such as Abigail (JP), Mystifier (BR), Nuclear (CL), Blackevil (DE), Adversor (IT), Sexmag (PL), Necro Ritual (UK), Siberian Meat Grinder (RU), Deströyer 666 (AU), and Nunslaughter (US), always bringing booze-fueled energy and unrelenting volume to the pit.
Their momentum reached a new peak in June 2024, when they won the Wacken Metal Battle Hungary finals, earning a coveted slot at the legendary Wacken Open Air in August 2024, where they unleashed their sonic assault on the world’s biggest metal festival stage.
In March 2025, TÜRBÖWITCH hit the road with Swedish heavy metal titans Enforcer, taking their explosive live energy to even wider European audiences.
Hopelessly addicted to fast riffs, unholy noise, and loud parties, TÜRBÖWITCH continue to thrive in the filth and fury of the underground metal scene.
Embrace Of Souls release today “Desolate Lands”, the new single and official video taken from their upcoming fantasy concept album“The Battle Of The Dead”, set for release on May 22nd, 2026.
Forged in classic power-metal steel and sharpened with symphonic force, “Desolate Lands” delivers fast, militant rhythms, massive orchestral arrangements, and a relentless melodic drive rooted in the ’80s and ’90s tradition. Dark tonalities and epic tension shape the track, driven by Giacomo Rossi’s commanding vocals and reinforced by Martina Mazzeo’s operatic power – a song of devastation, sacrifice and defiance rising from the ashes of war.
Taken from the upcoming fantasy concept album “The Battle Of The Dead”, the single introduces a world torn apart by a mysterious plague that corrupts the soul, pushing kingdoms toward an inevitable clash between the living and the dead. The album unfolds as a complete narrative experience, exploring themes of power, betrayal, sacrifice, and hope.
Founded by drummer and composer Michele Olmi, Embrace Of Souls began as a studio project aimed at bringing together talented musicians from the Italian metal scene, before evolving into a full band with a strong identity and a collaborative creative approach.
This new chapter is marked by a renewed line-up. Giacomo Rossi steps forward as lead vocalist, delivering a powerful and expressive performance, while Martina Mazzeo’s soprano vocals add a theatrical dimension. Their interplay reinforces the balance between power metal intensity and symphonic elegance, a dualism of light and dark that runs throughout the album.
The songwriting process reflects the same collaborative spirit: initial ideas developed by Michele Olmi are expanded together with the band, with each member contributing to the final shape of the music and the narrative.
The album also features a special guest appearance by Morby (Domine), further strengthening the connection with the classic Italian power metal tradition.
“The Battle Of The Dead” was mixed and mastered by Alessio Garavello at Rogue Studios, London, enhancing the clarity, impact, and cinematic depth of the band’s sound.
As the band states:
“We want The Battle Of The Dead to be a complete listening experience. Each track has its own identity, but everything is connected to the story. We want listeners to dive into the world of the album and discover it step by step.”
For fans of: Rhapsody Of Fire, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Nightwish.
Track Listing: 1. The Battle Of The Dead 2. Eversun 3. The Plague 4. The Gathering 5. Spine 6. Who Can Save Us 7. Betrayal 8. The Dark Lord 9. The War (feat. Morby) 10. Sacrifice 11. Desolate Lands
Line-up: Giacomo Rossi – Vocals Martina Mazzeo – Vocals Edward De Rosa – Guitars Xavier Rota – Bass Davide Baldelli – Keyboards Michele Olmi – Drums
More info: https://www.rockshots.eu https://www.instagram.com/embraceofsouls/ https://www.facebook.com/embraceofsoulsofficial/
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