Progressive metal collective LUNAR returns with a powerful new standalone single, “Mechanical Animals,” a bold reinterpretation of the iconic Marilyn Manson track. Following the critical acclaim of their 2025 concept album “Tempora Mutantur,” LUNAR continues to evolve, this time stepping into the world of covers for the first time in their career. “We’re really excited to release our new single ‘Mechanical Animals’. This is a cover of an old Marilyn Manson song that we’ve been wanting to do for quite some time now. I’ve listened to this song many times over the years, and there were certain parts that I always thought, ‘ooh, that would be cool to do there.’ Having these different ideas in my head to make it a bit more proggy, I figured it was a perfect track for LUNAR to cover. It’s also the first recorded LUNAR track with our new guitarists, Jordan Price and Jason Ashcraft, on it. We hope you all enjoy it!” shares drummer and founding member Alex Bosson.
“Mechanical Animals” bridges the gap between “Tempora Mutantur” and the band’s forthcoming fifth album, offering fans a taste of LUNAR’s evolving sonic palette. The track blends the haunting industrial tones of Marilyn Manson’s original with LUNAR’s signature progressive flair, layered instrumentation, dynamic vocal interplay, and atmospheric depth. This release also marks the debut of new guitarists Jordan Price and Jason Ashcraft, whose contributions bring fresh energy and complexity to the band’s sound.
With “Mechanical Animals,”LUNAR not only pays homage to a formative influence but also showcases their ability to transform familiar material into something uniquely their own. The single will be available now on all major streaming platforms on September 12, 2025.
Listen to “Mechanical Animals” via its premiere on Metal Addicts HERE.
LUNAR was formed in 2013 by Bosson and the late Ryan Erwin and has grown from a studio passion project into a full-fledged progressive force, with a lineup now featuring Jason Ashcraft (Rhythm Guitar), Alex Bosson (Drums), Brian Lewis (Growl Vocals), Chandler Mogel (Lead Vocals), Jordan Price (Lead Guitar), Ryan Price (Bass), and Anthony Stahl (Keyboards). Making their live debut at the 2025 Hyperspace Metal Festival in Vancouver, they are already booking festival appearances for 2026 to be revealed at a later date.
LINEUP: RHYTHM GUITAR: Jason Ashcraft DRUMS: Alex Bosson GROWL VOCALS: Brian Lewis LEAD VOCALS: Chandler Mogel LEAD GUITAR: Jordan Price BASS: Ryan Price KEYBOARDS: Anthony Stahl
Swiss Black Metal outfit VÍGLJÓS are following up on their blistering new material with a video for their single “A Seed of Aberration”, the second track to emerge from their highly anticipated sophomore album, “Tome II – ignis sacer”. The album is slated for release on September 19 via French label Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions. Following the atmospheric lead single “Claviceps”, the new video for “A Seed of Aberration” offers another glimpse into the band’s meticulously crafted world.
Emerging from Basel in 2022, VÍGLJÓS (Old Norse for “the light which is just bright enough to be able to kill a man”) has since solidified its ranks into a potent four-piece, featuring members from both Germany and Switzerland. With their lineup now wielding guitar, drums, mellotron, and vocals, the band recently laid down their second album at Marc Obrist’s (Zeal & Ardor) Hutch Sounds in Oberwil, BL. Obrist’s meticulous work on recording, mixing, and mastering promises a production that will undoubtedly capture the band’s intense vision, complemented by striking artwork from Adrian Smith and layout by Luca Piazzalonga.
While VÍGLJÓS openly acknowledges the profound influence of Norwegian Second Wave Black Metal titans like Darkthroneand Immortal, their sound is far from a mere homage. They skillfully weave the raw, frigid essence of ’90s Black Metal with unexpected layers of synth, intricate tremolo picking, and even light infusions of rock’n’roll riffs and beats. These elements are all underpinned by hauntingly atmospheric mellotron tracks, adding a unique depth to their dark canvas. For those who’ve experienced VÍGLJÓS live, the word is out: expect an “auditive, visual and olfactory experience” that lingers long after the final note.
Thematically, “Tome II – ignis sacer” delves deep into the phenomenon of ergotism – the voluntary or involuntary poisoning by ingesting the claviceps fungus that grows on wheat. This ancient affliction, which fueled historical phases of civil unrest, witch crazes, and societal meltdowns when climate favored its growth on essential food sources, is a central inspiration.
Tracklist:
Sowing
A Seed of Aberration
The Rot
Claviceps
Dellusions of Grandeur
Decadency and Degeneration
Harvest
Fallow – A New Cycle Begins
“Tome II – ignis sacer” will be coming out on September 19 via Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions in CD/LP and DIGITAL formatsand is available for pre-order atTHIS LOCATION
VÍGLJÓS are: J – Drums L – Vocals N – Guitar Mellotron by Aorrta as Guest Musician
Swedish heavy metal force A.Y.M proudly presents the release of their brand-new EP Are You Ready, now available worldwide on all digital platforms.
Formed in Växjö in 2023, A.Y.M brings together five seasoned musicians from the Swedish hard rock and heavy metal circuit: Alex Vince (vocals), Oskar Hollingsworth (guitar), Tony Pettersson (guitar), Christoffer Elofsson (bass), and Johan Svensson (drums).
With many shows under their belts across Sweden, Europe, and beyond, the members of A.Y.M have united under one mission: to prove that heavy metal is very much alive. Their sound blends powerful riffs, thunderous rhythms, and undeniable hooks—crafted to make audiences bang their heads and sing along in unison.
“Are You Ready” EP captures the raw energy of the band’s live presence while delivering sharp songwriting and anthemic choruses. Featuring tracks like “We Wear the Crown” and the title track “Are You Ready”, the record embodies everything fans crave from modern heavy metal: power, passion, and authenticity.
Since their formation in 2009, Der Weg einer Freiheit have carved out a singular place in modern black metal. While rooted in the genre’s foundations, the band are constantly evolving. Now, following their last critically-acclaimed LP, they’re once again pushing boundaries by turning inward on their intense and introspective new album.
“…it’s clear that they’re now fully engaged in a process of sonic and spiritual evolution that just might be the start of a whole new direction for their sound”, No Clean Singing writes in a review of Innern.
“It is undeniable a powerful experience…” says Pavillon 666.
“With Innern, Der Weg einer Freiheit once again deliver an album that combines the harshness of black metal with the atmospheric textures of post-metal, shaping them into highly integrated songs”, Obliveonapplauds in a 9/10 review.
Innern was released today, September 12 on Season of Mist, and you can hear all six piercing tracks by listening to the full album stream on the Season of Mist YouTube channel.
Formed in 2009 by guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter Nikita Kamprad, Der Weg einer Freiheit has risen from the underground to become one of Europe’s most essential black metal voices. With Innern, the band turns its gaze inward, refining its signature fusion of blistering intensity and melancholic grandeur while embracing moments of atmospheric serenity.
Across six tracks, Innern traverses cycles of collapse and emergence. Opener “Marter” embodies torment and catharsis, surrendering pain into the infinite cosmos. “Eos” offers a meditation on destruction and renewal, envisioning nature reclaiming the devastation of war. “Xibalba” confronts the machinery of fear and propaganda, invoking mythological imagery to urge a return to the core of human essence. “Fragment” reflects on incompleteness and the search for clarity, while “Forlorn” emerges as a vulnerable plea for emotional refuge.
In light of their introspective new journey, Der Weg Einer Freiheit are embarking on a headlining tour of Europe this fall in support of Innern. Joining the band as a special on this run are their fellow post-black metal Germans in Heretoir.
Next year, the band will finally make their long-awaited return to the U.S. with their first-ever performance at Maryland Deathfest.
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT – INNERN FALL TOUR 2025: September 18 – Dresden, DE @ Chemiefabrik September 19 – Berlin, DE @ Heimathafen September 20 – Prague, CZ @ Rock Café September 21 – Munich, DE @ Backstage September 22 – Leipzig, DE @ Werk 2 September 23 – Salzburg, AT @ Rockhouse September 24 – Vienna, AT @ Szene September 25 – Zurich, CH @ Dynamo September 26 – Geneva, CH @ PTR/L’Usine September 27 – Grenoble, FR @ Ampérage September 28 – Paris, FR @ Le Petit Bain September 29 – Ludwigsburg, DE @ Scala September 30 – Wiesbaden, DE @ Schlachthof October 1 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust October 2 – Tilburg, NL @ 013 October 3 – Haarlem, NL @ Patronaat October 4 – Bochum, DE @ Christuskirche
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT @ Maryland Deathfest May 21-24 – Baltimore, MD
With Innern, their sixth studio album, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT return with their most introspective and compositionally expansive work to date. A meditation on suffering, transformation, and the fragile thresholds of the human psyche, Innern refines the band’s signature blend of black metal intensity and post-metal atmosphere. The title, German for “inward”, anchors the album’s conceptual weight: a turning away from the external, into a realm of personal reckoning,silence, and renewal. Across six meticulously crafted tracks, the band explores cycles of disintegration and emergence, inviting listeners to confront the deep and often contradictory nature of existence itself.
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT formed in Würzburg, Germany in 2009, the brainchild of guitarist and composer Nikita Kamprad and original vocalist Tobias Jaschinsky. The band’s early beginnings were humble but explosive: their self-released debut quickly sold out, drawing attention across the underground metal scene. A reissue in 2010 with newly recorded drum parts by Christian Bass(Heaven Shall Burn, ex-Night in Gales) established the band’s first official lineup and led to extensive touring across Germany and Europe. From the outset, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT were set apart not just by their technical prowess, but by a philosophical inclination that would become the band’s artistic hallmark.
Their 2012 sophomore album, Unstille, expanded on their debut’s melodic harshness, while introducing a deeper emotional weight. It also marked the first appearance of drummer Tobias Schuler, whose intricate and expressive playing would become central to the band’s identity. Though vocals on Unstille were still performed by Tobias Jaschinsky, he would leave the band shortly after its release. Kamprad took over vocal duties in the months that followed, stepping into the role of frontman in time for the writing and recording of their next album.
Stellar, released in 2015 via Season of Mist, solidified the band’s stature within the modern black metal landscape. Drawing from post-rock and progressive influences, the album embraced wider dynamics and cinematic structures,aligning them with the likes of Wolves in the Throne Room and Deafheaven, without sacrificing their own Germanic rigor and introspection.
In 2017, Finisterre signaled a conceptual leap forward. It confronted themes of isolation, personal dissolution, and spiritual finality across sprawling arrangements and stark tonal shifts. This period saw further lineup changes, with the departure of guitarist Sascha Rissling and bassist Giuliano Barbieri, and the arrival of Nicolas Rausch and Nicolas Ziska. Finisterre also marked their first chart placement in Germany and set the stage for increasingly ambitious live performances.
A live album, Live in Berlin (2019), captured the raw power and cathartic energy of the band’s concerts, affirming their reputation for immersive, emotionally charged performances. But it was Noktvrn, released in 2021, that truly redefined what DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT could become. Inspired by the ambiguous state between wakefulness and dreams, and drawing influence from classical composers such as Chopin and Arvo Pärt, the album saw Kamprad experiment with clean vocals and subdued textures. It was both a thematic and sonic breakthrough and was received by critics as their most refined and contemplative release to date.
Now, with Innern, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT move even deeper into the abyss. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Kamprad in his own studio, the album is an intensely focused work.”Eos,” the album’s lead single, contrasts war and renewal, imagining a post-human earth fertilized by sacrifice and reclaimed by nature.”Marter” follows as a searing portrayal of inner torment and emotional release—suffering not only as a source of agony, but as a path toward transcendence. “Xibalba” then confronts the machinery of fear—media,propaganda, and spiritual fragmentation—urging a return to our collective essence through introspection and clarity. And with “Forlorn,” the band delivers their most vulnerable statement yet: a delicate plea for emotional refuge, sung in English to underscore its universality. The album also marks the studio debut of bassist Alan Noruspur, whose presence brings anew emotional and personal depth to the band’s sound.
Musically, Innern leans into contrast and contradiction. Kamprad and Rausch’s guitar interplay oscillates between searing aggression and elegiac restraint. Noruspur’s basslines pulse with warmth and gravity, while Schuler’s drumming remains as meticulous as ever-bridging technicality with emotional nuance. The album’s production captures a sense of immediacy and live energy, yet remains rich in detail and atmosphere. It is not merely a refinement of past styles, but are invention—one that places the listener in direct confrontation with the void.
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT stand now at the peak of a fifteen-year evolution.Their music is as concerned with silence as it is with sound, as shaped by introspection as by fury. As they prepare to bring Innern to European stages in autumn 2025, they do so not as provocateurs of extremity, but as artists navigating the fragile space between collapse and clarity. In a genre often defined by spectacle, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT remain committed to vulnerability, transformation, and truth.
Lineup:
Nikita Kamprad — Vocals, Guitars
Nicolas Rausch — Guitars
Alan Noruspur — Bass
Tobias Schuler — Drums
Production Credits: Recorded, mixed & mastered in Würzburg, Germany by Nikita Kamprad. Drums recorded separately at Studio Weißmann, Würzburg, Germany.
The singer – guitar player Valtteri Saharinen tells about the track:
“The core idea behind This Is Our War came together pretty easily. The goal was to create an intense track where we wouldn’t hold back—neither lyrically nor musically. Instead, we wanted to let everything out, raw and unfiltered. Maybe that’s why the song feels like a full-on adrenaline rush—like punching a heavy bag with bare fists until your knuckles bleed and your hands are torn to shreds.
Where exactly this kind of aggression stems from is a good question. But like with all our previous songs, there’s always a piece of real life in there—things we’ve lived through ourselves or seen up close. It’s that raw experience that inspires us and demands to be let out—onto the page, the guitar fretboard, or through a drumstick smashing into a drumhead.
This Is Our War succeeds in doing exactly what we set out to do: capturing pure, unrestrained rage in under four minutes.
Everyone will find their own meaning in the lyrics and the mood—this is how we see it.”
Justice Theory started as a thrash metal band in 2012. After that they have moved towards more melodic approach without forgetting their thrash metal past. They have released around dozen singles and EP releases.
After shaking the scene with the devastating “Fallen” (Wanikiya Record), Walls of Babylon continue their musical journey and are ready to return with a brand-new chapter: “Aeons Apart”, a powerful and ambitious work. Coming soon on Wanikiya Record.
The band on the album:
“This isn’t just a collection of songs. It’s a tapestry of stories, each track a different chapter, each one connected in subtle, unexpected ways. Together, they form a journey through memory, loss, hope, and transformation. We were lucky to have our friend Marco Ricco (Icon of Ember) onboard as the architect of the concept and lyrics. He’s been our very own “Paul O’Neill”, helping shape the emotional core of this record and weaving the narrative threads that tie it all together.”
TRACKLIST:
Silent Guilt
Eternal Hunt
Tales of Luminescence
Ashen Hero
Starblight
Once Again
Lies to Gold
Blood for Blood
Epilogue
From the Beginning to the Present
Formed at the end of 2013, Walls of Babylon have always aimed to carve out a place of honor in the metal scene, building a unique sound that blends various influences on a solid progressive power foundation.
Their path has been marked by works of strong identity:
2015 – The Dark Embrace: their debut, already defining the band’s dark and melodic traits.
2018 – A Portrait Of Memories (Revalve Records): their first true international step, featuring more complex sounds and mature songwriting.
2020 – Fallen (Wanikiya Record): a dark, visionary concept album narrating humanity’s downfall, caused by a hidden gland in the human brain, “The God Switch,” capable of unleashing the most primal impulses and driving mankind towards extinction.
An album that established Walls of Babylon as a solid force, able to combine conceptual storytelling with sonic power.
Today, a New Era is About to Begin
With “Aeons Apart”, the band is ready to push beyond their limits, promising an album that will strike the deepest chords of the metal soul, with epic, dark, and modern atmospheres.
Current Line-up Valerio Gaoni – Vocals Fabiano Pietrini – Guitar Francesco Pellegrini – Lead Guitar Matteo Carovana – Bass Marco Barbarossa – 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
Ads
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 ) 