As the summer festival season winds down after a string of unforgettable performances, THE HALO EFFECT surprise fans with a brand-new release — a cover of the beloved 1997 hit ‘If You Were Here’ by Swedish alternative pop-rock icons Kent (originally released in Swedish as “Om du var här”).
Handpicked by bassist Peter Iwers, the track is a heartfelt tribute to a band that helped shape Sweden’s musical landscape. The Halo Effect’s rendition blends Mikael Stanne’s rich, emotive clean vocals with a hypnotic, pounding bass line and soaring melodic guitars, honoring the song’s essence while infusing it with the band’s signature sound.
Peter Iwers reflects: “Kent was a band that left a mark on many, weaving together pop rock and synth in a way that deeply moved me. This song remains one of my personal favorites. Out of respect for their artistry, we aimed to create our own version without straying too far from the soul of the original.”
Is there more in store…..?
THE HALO EFFECT live: 29.08. RO Campulung Muscel – Posada Rock Festival 30.08. GER Schramberg-Tennenbrom – Metalacker Festival 21.11. BU Sofia – Joy Station 22.11. TUR Istanbul – If Besiktas 25.11. JP Osaka – Bigcat 26.11. JP Tokio – Toyosu Pit 29.11. FI Joensuu – Unholy Winterfest
Photo credit: Stephanie Carbal (except Dovas by Mia Demonz)
Bay Area thrash metal icons TESTAMENTreturns this Fall with their fourteenth studio album, Para Bellum. The album which will be released on October 10th viaNuclear BlastRecords stands as both a battle cry and an observation of humanity’s uneasy alliance with its own creations. As technology accelerates and disconnection grows, Para Bellum sees TESTAMENTreflecting the modern chaos through music that’s urgent, sharp, and unflinchingly human.
Today, TESTAMENT deliver one of their most intense songs they’ve written to date, ‘Infanticide A.I.’. Lead by the blinding speed of their new drummer Chris Dovas, the band shows off its musical talent far beyond their expected norms. Watch the music video for ‘Infanticide A.I.” directed by Joey Durango, below.
TESTAMENT’s Chuck Billy comments, “The new album Para Bellum consists of some fast, heavy and melodic tunes. Once again Peterson has found a way to keep the song writing fresh and modern sounding. It’s gonna be hard to choose what songs to play live cause to many to choose from.”
TESTAMENT’s Eric Peterson states, “It’s been 5 years since our last record Titans Of Creation was released. Since then, we all waited to get back to it and we all did in a big way! Now our long over due new record Para Bellum is upon us and about to be released in October. We are super stoked and excited to release new blood and fury to you all! With our first single ‘Infanticide A.I.’ we’re coming out swinging! But with new velocities of fury, while maintaining a balance that we all love and know from a Testament track, enjoy!”
1. For the Love of Pain 2. Infanticide A.I. 3. Shadow People 4. Meant to Be 5. High Noon 6. Witch Hunt 7. Nature of the Beast 8. Room 117 9. Havana Syndrome 10. Para Bellum
Para Bellum was recorded with Juan Urteaga, mixed by Jens Bogren at Fascination StreetStudios, and was mastered by Tony Lindgren at Fascination Street Studios. The album is extremely polished and operating at full throttle. The band once again enlisted Eliran Kantorto create the album artwork. In an era flooded by AI-generated imagery. the hand painted creation encapsulates the album’s essence: a serene angel made of missiles, an explosion turned halo, surrounded by shovel-bearing cultists with books strapped to their faces.
From first note to last breath, Para Bellum is an album by warriors—crafted in chaos, and built to outlast the wars to come!
TESTAMENT live dates:
Latin America Tour 08.23.2025 BR Rio De Janeiro @ Circo Voador 08.24.2025 BR São Paulo @ Carioca Club
US Festivals 09.21.2025 US Louisville, KY @ Louder Than Life 2025 10.03.2025 US Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock 2025
European Tour 10.05.2025 DE Hannover @ Capitol 10.07.2025 UK Bristol @ Beacon 10.08.2025 UK Birmingham @ O2 Academy Birmingham 10.09.2025 IE Dublin @ Olympia Theatre 10.10.2025 UK Manchester @ Manchester Academy 10.11.2025 UK London @ O2 Forum Kentish Town 10.12.2025 BE Antwerp @ Trix 10.13.2025 DE Stuttgart @ LKA Longhorn 10.14.2025 DE Hamburg @ Große Freiheit 36 10.16.2025 CH Pratteln @ Z7 Konzertfabrik 10.17.2025 DE Wiesbaden @ Schlachthof 10.18.2025 IT Milan @ Live Club 10.19.2025 DE Saarbruecken @ Garage 10.21.2025 SI Ljubljana @ Media Center 10.22.2025 AT Vienna @ Arena 10.23.2025 PL Wroclaw @ A2 10.24.2025 DE Munich @ TonHalle 10.25.2025 DE Oberhausen @ Turbinenhalle 10.26.2025 NL Utrecht @ Tivoli Vredenburg – Ronda
EMPIRE DROWNS challenge the boundaries of melodic doom and death metal on their haunting new album “Endless Nights”. The Danish collective, featuring former and current members from Withering Surface, Urkraft, and Saturnus, delivers a sonic experience where melancholy, atmosphere, and aggression collide in compelling fashion.
“Endless Nights” is a record that breathes with its own pulse: melodic yet crushing, introspective yet vast, bleak yet strangely beautiful.
Across its tracks, “Endless Nights” weaves powerful growls, mournful guitar leads, pounding rhythms, and spectral keyboards into a cohesive whole that pays homage to genre titans like Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Katatonia and Amorphis – while carving out an identity all its own.
The album was recorded by Marco Angioni (Tygers of Pan Tang, Thorium) at Angioni Studios, and mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen at the renowned Antfarm Studios (Moonspell, The Haunted, Baest). The result is a deep, enveloping production that enhances both the weight and nuance of Empire Drowns’ sound.
“While the music retains a core of Scandinavian winter and grey skies, “Endless Nights” was forged not only in Denmark, but also in the vibrant heart of East Africa – a region of majestic landscapes and rich cultures, scorching sun, devastating cycles of drought and flood, profound political tumult, unforgiving poverty and deep resilience”, the band states. “The album’s inspiration is a paradox born of the extremes that shape these vastly different worlds, it stands as a powerful sonic reflection of life’s relentless contrasts”.
“Endless Nights” will be released on LP (grey vinyl, limited to 150 copies), CD and digital on 31.10.2025, via Mighty Music. Pre-orders are now available via this link. All the pre-orders coming in through Targetshop or Target Group’s Bandcamp are signed by the band.
Looking ahead, Empire Drowns will take “Endless Nights” to the stage in 2026, with live performances that promise to channel the album’s emotional depth and sonic weight into an immersive concert experience. This is not a studio project or a fleeting collaboration; this is a real band, committed to the long haul, ready to connect with audiences and make their mark on stages across Europe and beyond.
“One of the strongest Danish Metal albums of the year” – Devilution
Lineup: Michael Hvolgaard Andersen – vocals Thomas Birk – guitars Anders Ro Nielsen – keyboards Marco Angioni – bass Kim Jørgensen – drums
Italian melodic death metallers Dying Awkward Angel released yesterday, August 22nd, 2025, their most intense and uncompromising work to date, the new full-length album “The Missing Frame“, via Rockshots Records.
Formed in 1998 in the underground metal scene of Turin by guitarist and main composer Edoardo Demuro, the band forged its style drawing from the Gothenburg melodeath wave (In Flames, At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity) and the aggression of American thrash and death metal, adding its own unmistakable Italian touch. Over the years, they have shared the stage with Decapitated, Impaled Nazarene, Necronomicon, Forgotten Tomb, Node, and many more, building a solid reputation for their visceral and high-energy live shows.
“The Missing Frame” follows the critically acclaimed “Absence Of Light” (2018) and was anticipated by the singles “Music Kills” and “9.99”. Written during a period of renewed creative focus, the album is faster, heavier, and more deliberate, the result of what the band calls “a brutal and honest cooperation between us all.”
Lyrically, the record delves into themes of duality, good and evil, instinct and control, reality and illusion, often drawing from deeply personal experiences, stories, and nightmares of the band members. Tracks like “9.99” question the value of human life, while “Music Kills” explores the double-edged power of music itself.
Musically, the album delivers the cold precision of Swedish melodic death metal combined with the raw energy of American metal, all with a modern and direct production approach. “Don’t expect what you expect. Expect what you don’t,” the band warns.
Recorded at Bottleneck Studios in Turin and produced by the band, “The Missing Frame” is an album that stays true to the band’s roots while pushing their boundaries further than ever before.
Coinciding with the album’s release, the band unveils their newest music video for the track “The Inner Paradox”, a haunting allegory of deep depression. It portrays a layered prison that might almost seem bearable, if not for the grim reality that the world beyond its walls is even more harrowing.
In additional news, Dying Awkward Angel will have the honor of performing at Rock Inn Somma, a special event where the band will present their brand-new album live on its release day!
Track Listing: 1. The Ecstasy of God (Instrumental) 2. Black Waves 3. The Fallen 4. Music Kills 5. 9.99 6. Raptus 7. YOU MUST DIE! 8. Blinded 9. Skin and Bones 10. The Inner Paradox 11. Out of Mind (R’lyeh) 12. A Promise 13. The Missing Frame (Instrumental)
Folk/prog metal legends Vintersorg are about to release their 11th studio album Vattenkrafternas Spel, which will be out 26th September via Hammerheart Records. Their epic new single, titled ‘Störtsjö’, is now streaming via the label.
Vintersorg comment: “‘Störtsjö’ (rapid waves) is a song that contains the classic Vintersorg elements, still it has some new perspectives on how the elements are incorporated. This piece show a very strong connection with the water theme and merge the natural sound of ocean waves into the folk melodies that is the backbone of Vintersorg Universe.“
Vintersorg is the enduring vision of Swedish vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Andreas Hedlund, who has been blending harsh black metal, Nordic folk, and progressive soundscapes since 1994. What began in the frost-covered north of Skellefteå under the name Vargatron has grown into one of Scandinavia’s most unique and consistently evolving metal projects.
Early albums like Till Fjälls and Ödemarkens Son made a name for Vintersorg with their raw yet melodic take on pagan black metal steeped in nature, folklore, and sweeping clean vocals. Later records like Cosmic Genesis and The Focusing Blur took a sharp turn toward the philosophical and the cosmic, diving into metaphysics, astronomy, and avant-garde experimentation.
Known for a signature mix of soaring baritone vocals, icy black metal shrieks, layered harmonies, and a refusal to play it safe, Vintersorg continue to carve their own path, untamed, cerebral, and deeply connected to the forces that shape both nature and sound.
Cape Town’s filthiest rock ’n roll troublemakers, We Kill Cowboys, are back with a track that bites, bleeds, and refuses to behave. Cherry Lips is the band’s first creation as a full five-piece, and it’s a snarling mix of punk grit, grunge dirt, and post-hardcore venom.
Born from the brain and battle scars of tattoo artist-turned-frontwoman Alex Muller, We Kill Cowboys aren’t here to play nice. Alex has ditched the guitar to unleash her voice at full force — raw, untamed, and impossible to cage. The latest lineup sees long-time ally Floris Le Roux join on second guitar, trading blows with Mornay’s razor-sharp riffs, while Andrew pummels the kit and Miggs drops bass lines thick enough to rattle your teeth loose.
“It’s heavy — the first song we’ve written as a five-piece. It’s about rejecting the idea that anyone needs to save you or mould you into their personal fantasy and refusing to let someone tame your wildness. It’s a feminist song, drawn from personal experience, but the message applies to everyone: don’t be anyone’s bitch — be your own.” – Alex Muller
Cherry Lips is taken from their upcoming album Back From The Dead, coming soon via Mongrel Records.
This isn’t background music. This is sweaty, stomp-the-stage, scream-until-your-throat-tears stuff. Cherry Lips is the sound of a band turning up the volume on their chaos, spitting in the face of conformity, and daring you not to move.
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 ) 