Finnish Heavy Doom band Occult master are set to release their self-titled debut album on August 14th 2026 via Inverse Records. The first single ‘Island of Leper’ is unleashed today and it’s available on streaming services: https://push.fm/fl/occult-master-island
The band comments:
“A contemplative, multi-part, poignantly beautiful and overwhelmingly heavy progressive metal epic takes listeners on a sombre, melancholic journey, centered around two former lovers who are struck by a devastating misfortune after contracting leprosy. The couple, beloved of youth, meet on the island of the lepers, where they reminisce about their wonderful youth. The island, their final resting place, ultimately embraces them in its leprous embrace, where they will find an ultimate fulfilment.”
–Composed & lyrics by Ari Eskola –ISRC: FI3FC2552702 –Cover art by Kimmo Lukkari
Occult Master Track list:
Just Another Nail in the Failier’s Coffin
Island of Leper
Heavy Metal Madness
Lucifer’s Henchman
Ground of the Damned
Who Is Our Enemy
Sorry Soul
Soothing Swamp
Gnarly Geezer
–Recorded by Jussi Risto –Mixed & mastered by Kimmo Lukkari –Cover art by Jarno Vesa
“Occult Master was founded in 2012 in Oulu, Finland, first starting as a heavy rock/doom band. After a line‑up change in 2020, the musical style turned faster, more rhythmic and more complex. Occult Master’s music is heavy, versatile and full of nuances, ranging from full‑throttle metal blasting to quiet, subtle and beautifully eerie musical landscapes. The band’s roots lie strongly in the classic heavy metal of the 1970s and 1980s. The songs are delivered in a hardy, straightforward and no‑nonsense style. In the dark‑toned music, the lyrics deal with different matters of life and the world in general, and at times even horror stories told with a devilish grin.
Occult Master are: Ari Eskola – guitars and vocals Toni Mäki – bass and backing vocals Jussi Risto – drums
Elevate Records is proud to announce the signing of Silver Horses, one of the most appreciated Anglo-Italian hard rock bands in the European scene.
The deal brings with it news that fans have been eagerly awaiting: Weird Tales, the band’s fourth studio album, will be released in June 2026.
Founded in 2011 by guitarist and songwriter Gianluca Galli, Silver Horses took shape gradually: once the band’s core was established, legendary vocalist Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) joined the fold, giving life to a project destined to leave its mark. The current line-up — completed by Jacopo “Jack” Meille on vocals (frontman of the legendary Tygers of Pan Tang), Andrea Castelli on bass, and Matteo “Bona” Bonini on drums — stands as one of the most authoritative and exciting in European hard rock today.
Weird Tales is the sixth chapter of their discography and the first released on Elevate Records. Twelve original tracks spanning territories of dark romanticism, cinematic atmospheres, and powerful, visceral rock — following the artistic path of Electric Omega (2024) and Perspectives (2025). Influences range from Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple to Black Country Communion, but the result is unmistakably Silver Horses: music that doesn’t look back out of nostalgia, but because it knows exactly where it’s headed.
We are thrilled to welcome Silver Horses to the Elevate Records family. Their music embodies exactly what we believe in: quality, substance, and a rare ability to move people.
From the beginning, it was clear that Beyond Creation possessed a special aura. Back in 2011, the Montréal four-piece quickly proved they were the next progressive evolution in technical death metal with their very first album. Now, fifteen years later, the genre still basks in the enduring glow of The Aura.
“Laden with atmosphere, The Aura stands out from the crowded 2011 tech/death scene thanks to the prominent use of fretless bass, varying drum patterns, and experimentation with tempo”, wrote Metal Injection in a recent retrospective. “Combine that with a variety of searing vocal styles and classically-influenced, lightening-fast sweeps, The Aura is a decadent joy to the mechanically and sonically minded”.
As the Independence Music Award winners and Canadian Grammy nominees prepare to perform their landmark debut in full for the very first time on their upcoming Latin American tour, today, Beyond Creation are announcing a special anniversary reissue of The Aura. The new limited-edition colored vinyl variant is cut at 45 RPM for superior sound quality. It comes with a double-sided full color poster and an embroidered patch.
“Fifteen years ago, The Aura marked the beginning of our sonic journey”, Beyond Creation lead vocalist and guitarist Simon Girard reflects. “Our celebration of its 15th anniversary officially begins with this special limited-edition reissue. Join us in the celebration during our upcoming tour of Latin America with our special guests Fallujah, where we will perform the album in its entirety for the first time ever, as well as our new single ‘Reverence’”.
Listen to the full album stream on the Season of Mist YouTube channel:
Beyond Creation The Aura 15th Anniversary Latin American Tour with special guest Fallujah
April 19 – San Jose, Costa Rica @ Utopia [TICKETS] April 20 – Bogota, Columbia @ Relevent Music Hall [TICKETS] April 22 – Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Teatro Flores [TICKETS] April 23 – Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Burning House [TICKETS] April 24 – Santiago, Chile @ Blondie [TICKETS] April 26 – Monterrey, Mexico @ Cafe Iguana [TICKETS] April 29 – León, Mexico @ Rock Station [TICKETS] April 30 – Guadalajara, Mexico @ Foro Independencia [TICKETS] May 1 – Aguascalientes, Mexico @ RockSi [TICKETS] May 3 – Mexico City, Mexico @ Circo Volador [TICKETS]
The Aura immediately stood out as a shining achievement for technical death metal. With microscopic precision, the band spliced together classic brutality and prog’s unbending curiosity with an unforeseen tact for melody. “Coexistence” opened eyes far and wide to a new realm of possibilities, where headbanging riffs don’t collide but resolve amidst an extended instrumental passage that glistens like the cosmos. After more than 6 million views on YouTube, “Omnipresent Perception” is still blowing people’s minds. Its fretless bass solo, while impossible to follow, leads along the path to enlightenment.
“Are we the chosen ones?”, Girard wonders during “The Deported”, the album’s epic 11-minute closer. He’s questioning humanity’s own presumed superiority, but when it comes to Beyond Creation and the universe of progressive technical death metal, the answer is still a resounding “yes”.
The French part of Canada is home to a vibrant culture of technical death metal fostered by outstanding acts such as Gorguts, Cryptopsy, Martyr and Neuraxis. This illustrious family tree has produced many sprouts in the past, yet none of them are as brilliant as Quebec’s amazing scion: Beyond Creation.
Beyond Creation saw the light of day in 2005 in Montreal, Canada but it wasn’t until 2010 that the band was ready to hit the stage with their original line-up consisting of Simon Girard, Kevin Chatré, Guyot Bégin-Benoît and Dominic ‘Forest’ Lapointe. A year later, the band self-released their debut full-length album The Aura (2011), which quickly became a highlight in the genre. Since then, Beyond Creation has been known as the progressive, innovative and exciting new metal sound of their homeland, Quebec.
In late 2012, the band had Philippe Boucher (Ex-First Fragment, Incadescence, Chthe’ilst, Décombres) take Guyot’s place on drums and things started moving at a faster pace in 2013, when they joined Season of Mist, re-releasing ‘The Aura’ and touring North America, Japan and Australia. In 2014, Beyond Creation released their second masterpiece Earthborn Evolution.
After the addition of Hugo Doyon-Karout (Brought By Pain, Equipoise, Conflux) on bass, the band focused on touring as much as possible on the Earthborn Evolution album cycle compiling three North American tours, three European tours, countless shows in Canada, appearances in Mexico, Colombia and Dubaï, sharing the stage with heavy weights like Arch Enemy, Hate Eternal, Misery Index, Dying Fetus, Psycroptic and Obscura. They also took part in multiple large-scale music festivals such as Hellfest (FR), 70 000 Tons of Metal (US), UK Tech-Fest, Montebello Rockfest (CA), Heavy MTL (CA) and Damnation Fest (UK).
In 2018, Beyond Creation recorded their IMA award-winning and JUNO-Nominated third album Algorythm at The Grid Studio in homeland Canada. With their latest album, Beyond Creation delivers a ferocious blend of technicality, melody, and brutality aided by fang-filled growls, which is interwoven with beautiful progressive interludes.
Since then, Beyond Creation have toured extensively. The band have played multiple times across North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand with the likes of Ne Obliviscaris, Decapitated, Cynic and Rivers of Nihil. They’ve also hit the festival circuit with appearances at Shred Fest, Loud As Hell Open Air and Trois-Rivières Metal Fest.
In 2026, Beyond Creation released “Reverence”, their first single in eight years, ahead of the 15th anniversary of The Aura. To celebrate 15 years since the release of their landmark debut, the band announced a special limited-edition reissue of the album through Season of Mist. They will perform the album in full for the first-time ever during their 2026 Latin American Tour with special guests Fallujah.
Line-up Simon Girard: Vocals & Guitars Kevin Chartré: Guitars & Back Vocals Hugo Doyon-Karout: Bass Philippe Boucher: Drums
California has always been fertile ground for thrash metal, leading the charge with some of the genre’s most legendary acts. San Diego’s NUKEM follows in the footsteps of thrash metal’s founding fathers, producing the kind of time-tested, neck-breaking thrash that invokes deep nostalgia while still sounding fresh and modern.
The thrashers are now pummeling fans with a performance video for the single “Policies of Hate,” which can now be found at THIS LOCATION.
The track is taken from the band’s new sophomore full-length, ‘The Grave Remains,’ which was released on April 10th, via Redefining Darkness. The album can be purchased in the U.S. HERE and the rest of the world HERE.
The artwork for ‘The Grave Remains’ was created by Megan Mushi and can be found below along with the tracklist.
Nukem is a Thrash metal force from San Diego, California, that delivers an honest, old school thrash attack. Formed in 2012, Nukem released their 2016 debut album “The Unholy Trinity,’ which was mixed & mastered by Ulrich Wild (Pantera, Static X, Dethklok, White Zombie) and was released via Sleaszy Rider Records out of Greece.
Nukem had entered the studio in 2024 once again with Ulrich Wild to work on our second album. Ten songs of pure molten metal! Some songs are full on unstoppable Bay Area style Thrash metal violence while others are more of a mid tempo power groove. Nukem has now forged a new union with Redefining Darkness for the release of their oncoming onslaught… stay tuned!
Recording Lineup: Steve Brogden – Vocals & Guitar Norm Leggio – Drums Don Lauder – Bass
Live Lineup: Steve Brogden – Vocals & Guitar Norm Leggio – Drums Don Lauder – Bass Xander Gambini – Guitar
Special Guests: Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer) – Solo on ‘Empress of Evil’ Lee Altus (Exodus/Heathen) – Solo on ‘Don’t believe a word’ Rob Cavestany (Death Angel) – Solo on ‘Into the Kill Zone’ Russ Tippons (Satan) – Solo on ‘Random Acts of Violence’ Laura Christine (Dark Angel/Warface) – Solo on ‘Empress of Evil’
Cover Art: Megan Mushi
Produced by Steve Brogden & Nukem Recorded at The Wilderness with Ulrich Wild & Forge Audio with Steve Brogden Forge Audio with Steve Brogden Mixed by Ulrich Wild Mastered by Maor Appelbaum
For Fans Of: Exodus, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Overkill
Italian trio SCONFITTA will release their debut album “Essere Nessuno” on May 1, 2026, marking the first official statement from a project built on the deliberate rejection of success, coherence and convention.
SCONFITTA has as its sole objective in failure.
By fluidly blending various niche musical genres, from hardcore punk to metal, passing through dark wave, post-punk, and jazz, we aim to be a dissonant and out-of-tune note in the paradoxically homogeneous and artificially harmonious chorus of protest music. In a system, both related to the music industry and life in general, that promotes the hegemony of ambition and considers victory the sole measure of excellence, even protest is stifled within traditionally predefined genres and languages, which end up neutralizing its revolutionary force by confining it to an uncritical and self-referential model.
The lyrics are important, and they are all political.
Shifting rapidly between feelings of anger, introspection, indignation, and reflection, “Essere Nessuno” speaks only to those and with those who have no interest in winning, only to those and with those who place the nobility of failure before success at all costs.
Schizophrenic music against standardized dissent.
FFO: Negazione, Mr Bungle, Refused, Hüsker Dü, and Johnny Dorelli (for non Italians, imagine some ‘70s nightclub jazzy vibes of sort). But all blended together.
Tracklist:
1) Sconfitta (3:33) 2) Brucia sempre così (2:34) 3) Senza esempi (3:27) 4) Buio nella mente (2:35) 5) Lunghe ombre (1:39) 6) Non un vizio di forma (2:01) 7) Essere nessuno (3:25)
SCONFITTA was born from a (bad) idea by Simone. After failing almost all of his previous musical incarnations (Antropofagus, Feed Them Death, Nganga, Grieving Sea, Pseudodoxia), he felt the need to create a new project to add to the long list of things no one else really needed. The nearly seven years spent with Giorgio (Derhead, Katiusha, Dual, Grieving Sea, Ultio) stubbornly sowing seeds of failure with the label Brucia Records became the blueprint on which the duo decided to lay the foundations for their new musical failure.
Last but not least, Enrico arrives to complete the debacle. Technically gifted and strangely showing no signs of obvious mental health issues, he is still a drummer and therefore plays and collaborates with various bands simultaneously (ExpiatoriA, IKITAN, The Healing Process, Derhead, and Noisext). He’s the most handsome and successful of the three, but he’ll lose by osmosis.
In just a few months, the trio has composed an album without rhyme or reason that’s unlikely to please anyone, and they’ve even topped it all off with a little book that no one will ever read.
Defeated, possibly, by name and by nature, but always by choice.
30 years since they first donned metal’s crown of horns, Cryptopsy remain insatiable as ever. The Montreal legends’ latest album, An Insatiable Violence, received their second nomination for Best Metal/Hard Music Album at this year’s JUNO Awards, a category they won two years ago. Now, as they prepare to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Decibel Hall of Fame inducted album, None So Vile, with a headlining run on this year’s Decibel Magazine Tour, Cryptopsy are proving once more why they are the most vile band in death metal.
Today, Cryptopsy are releasing the uncensored version of the music video for “Malicious Needs”, the second single and harrowing finale of An Insatiable Violence. While initially labeled too vile for unfiltered consumption on YouTube, the uncensored video fully reveals the explicit desires feeding our digital fantasies.
“‘Malicious Needs’ is the last song that we wrote for An Insatiable Violence and right away, we were all completely enamored with it”, Cryptopsy vocalist Matt McGachy says. “We are thrilled to finally unleash the fully uncensored version of the video, which brings the dystopian horror story behind our latest album writhing and screaming into the light! Come see us perform this song during our headline set on this year’s Decibel Magazine Tour, which starts this month! ”.
“Between the strength of the material on their latest release, An Insatiable Violence, and the anniversary celebration of their landmark, None So Vile, 2026 is clearly the year of Peak Cryptopsy”, Decibel Magazine’s Editor-In-Chief Albert Mudrian says. “We couldn’t be more honored to bring the band’s paramount present and potent past together to headline this year’s Decibel Magazine Tour”.
Chat with Matt McGachy ahead of Cryptopsy’s headline run on The Decibel Magazine Tour during this Saturday’s Reddit AMA.
Cryptopsy Reddit AMA r/TechnicalDeathMetal Saturday, April 18 @ 1 pm Eastern Time
The Decibel Magazine Tour 2026 with Cryptopsy (celebrating 30 years of None So Vile), Necrot, Fulci and Blood Monolith
April 30 – Worcester, MA @ Palladium (Upstairs) [TICKETS] May 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Monarch [TICKETS] May 2 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage [TICKETS] May 3 – Philadelphia, PA @ Decibel Metal & Beer Philly [TICKETS] May 5 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (Hell) [TICKETS] May 7 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall [TICKETS] May 8 – Dallas, TX @ The Studio [TICKETS] May 9 – Austin, TX @ Come And Take It Live [TICKETS] May 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Belasco [TICKETS] May 13 – San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick [TICKETS] May 14 – Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone [TICKETS] May 16 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater [TICKETS] May 17 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon [TICKETS] May 20 – Denver, CO @ Oriental Theater [TICKETS] May 22 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe [TICKETS] May 23 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge [TICKETS] May 24 – Detroit, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom [TICKETS] May 25 – Cleveland, OH @ The Grog Shop [TICKETS] May 26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Preserving Underground [TICKETS] May 27 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace [TICKETS] May 28 – Montreal, QC @ Fairmount Theatre [TICKETS]
An Insatiable Violence, None So Vile and other albums from Cryptopsy’s fearsome discography are now available through Season of Mist
Tracklist 1. The Nimis Adoration (4:10) 2. Until There’s Nothing Left (3:59) [WATCH] 3. Dead Eyes Replete (3:57) [WATCH] 4. Fools Last Acclaim (3:26) 5. The Art of Emptiness (4:16) 6. Our Great Deception (4:21) 7. Embrace the Nihility (3:50) 8. Malicious Needs (5:52) [WATCH]
More than 30 years into their storied career, Montreal death metal innovators Cryptopsy return with their ninth studio album, An Insatiable Violence, set for release on June 20, 2025 on Season of Mist.
Revered in extreme metal circles for such groundbreaking classics as 1994’s Blasphemy Made Flesh and the 1996 magnum opus None So Vile, Cryptopsy find yet another gear on An Insatiable Violence, which further solidifies the band’s place in the upper echelon of death metal. Coming out of the pandemic, the band dedicated themselves to staying on top of their game more than ever before, with the intention of consistently putting out a new record every two years. That started with 2023’s acclaimed As Gomorrah Burns, and continues 21 months later with An Insatiable Violence.
“We had to write the majority of An Insatiable Violence while on the Death to All tour, which was something we’d never done before”, vocalist Matt McGachy says. “Flo [Mounier, drums] and Chris [Donaldson, guitar] really put their hats on. It was a feat”.
“Ever since COVID our focus is clearer, a lot of work gets done faster, and we push each other to get it done.”, Mounier says.
In addition to featuring some of the fastest passages Cryptopsy has ever recorded – keen listeners will even hear the odd gravity blast from Mounier, a rarity from the virtuoso drummer – the controlled chaos of their signature sound is offset by well-timed passages that ease off the gas pedal enough to allow listeners to come up for some air. That dynamic rage on An Insatiable Violence in turn makes the more aggressive moments hit even harder, which is immediately noticeable on the harrowing “Until There’s Nothing Left” and the chugging closing track “Malicious Needs”. Olivier Pinard anchors “Fools Last Acclaim” with stunning authority (keeping pace with Mounier is an unenviable task) while Donaldson offsets gnarly, atonal riffs with melodic passages throughout the record. “It’s a continuation of As Gomorrah Burns,” McGachy says, “We really wanted to make a groovy record, and we think we’ve done it.”
It seems as though nothing is scarier than real life right now, and An Insatiable Violenceis a commentary on today’s society as though filtered through the transgressive, countercultural perspectives of J.G. Ballard and David Cronenberg.
“It all came to me in a dream in August 2023,” elaborates McGachy. “I woke up, I took my phone, and I wrote down the title of the record. It’s about a person that wakes up every day and fixes a machine. Tinkers with it, tries to make it better all day long, sweating in the sun, and then at night, they strap themself into this machine and the machine tortures them, and they love it. Then they wake up the next day and fix it again to make it more efficient, to keep harnessing it, and then just keep doing it over and over again.
While fantastically twisted, An Insatiable Violence mirrors our toxic relationship with social media. “We’re continuously trying to feed this algorithm of the machine while it’s totally tearing us apart socially and psychologically”, McGachy continues. “’The Nimis Adoration’ is about mukbang, these Korean people that eat too much food on the Internet. Piles and piles of food. A poor girl died on a live cam”.
At the center of the album is the mind-boggling percussion skill of Mounier, arguably the most imposing Canadian drummer not named Peart, who dominates such standout tracks as “Dead Eyes Replete”, “Fools Last Acclaim”, and “Embrace the Nihility”. “I look at Flo as an Olympic athlete,” says McGachy. “I want to push this guy to go a lot faster than Cryptopsy’s previous releases. We have so much more to give, and I wanted just drain it all out of him while he’s still at the top of his game, because he is. He’s crushing.”
“I mix up a lot of a physical activity, like resistance training into the drumming,” Mounier says. “I recently developed new techniques that make it easier to go even faster, so I tried to push that on this album. My focus is now more on dynamics and the touch of the snare, a certain snap of the snare, a rim shot on the snare, the toms, a light touch or a hard touch. Live, I can really let go, you know, give the sound guy a hard time,” he adds with a laugh.
For McGachy, who has always boasted a powerful, guttural death growl, the rigors of touring have enabled him to evolve as a vocalist, and he turns in a revelatory performance on An Insatiable Violence. In addition to ear-scraping screams that rival George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, McGachy unleashes the deepest, filthiest death growls of his career. “Gomorrah was the first album that I recorded with my full false chord scream, which is something that I’d only just touched on The Book of Suffering: Tome II in little sections,” he says. “We did at least 140 shows since Gomorrah. I exclusively did my false chords during all the songs that we performed on None So Vile and Blasphemy Made Flesh. And then, when we did go into the studio for An Insatiable Violence, Chris would be like, ‘Deeper, you must go deeper!’”
Another fearsome vocalist from Cryptopsy’s lore pops back into the booth on An Insatiable Violence. “When we were recording the vocals for ‘Embrace the Nihility’, Chris had the idea of ending the song with the same vocal pattern as the end of ‘…and Then It Passes’”, McGachy remembers. “We figured if we were going to rip ourselves off, then we may as well get the real thing. We were honored that Mike DiSalvo accepted. We are all huge fans of Cryptopsy’s DiSalvo era. His vocals on this album are an ultra Easter egg for our fans”.
In addition to the effusive praise As Gomorrah Burns received from within the metal scene, the 2023 album achieved a first for Cryptopsy: earning them their first ever JUNO Award in 2024 for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year. “We had little-to-no expectations of winning” says McGachy. ”We didn’t even go to the ceremonies because we were on tour in Europe with Atheist. On the day we found out that we won, we had a crazy 18-hour drive from Derby to Germany, plus a ferry ride. But we still partied for 48 hours. Flo bought an expensive bottle of champagne”.
Cryptopsy recognize that not every death metal band sticks around long enough to win a Canadian Grammy 30 years into their career. The cover art for An Insatiable Violence was created by the late, great vocalist Martin Lacroix. “The album artwork has got to be one of the most important things to us!”, the band says. “Martin Lacroix was one of our vocalists, one of our great friends and one of the nicest people that anyone could have the privilege to meet. We really wish he was here with us to share this moment. His perfect smile would say it all! Rest in peace brother”.
With Cryptopsy’s latest career renaissance showing no signs of slowing down, the recent accolades are only the beginning. An Insatiable Violence reaches a new peak in a career loaded with them.
Lineup Flo Mounier – Drums Matt McGachy – Vocals Christian Donaldson – Guitar Oli Pinard – Bass
Guest Musicians Mike DiSalvo performs vocals on “Embrace the Nihility”
Recording, Mixing & Mastering Studio Christian Donaldson’s Studio
Production, Sound & Mixing Engineer Christian Donaldson
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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