Metal Contraband (2025)

27/08/2025

SLAYER CONFIRMS HEADLINE CONCERT AT HERSHEYPARK STADIUM SET FOR SEPTEMBER 20, 2025 WWE Star Damian
Priest to MC The Event

Fans Treated to a Truly Epic Heavy Metal Concert Line-up that will Feature a Mix of Legendary Bands with Acclaimed Newer Artists

"Slayyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeerrrrrr!!!!!! One night only, stacked lineup! It's going to be f*cking sick!!! Hersheypark - be there…..if not, you’re either dead, in jail or a sissy!!!!!” - Tom Araya

Purchase Tickets Here:
https://www.slayer.net/pages/live

Lineup:

Slayer
Knocked Loose
Suicidal Tendencies
Power Trip
Cavalera (performing Chaos A.D. - exclusive)
Exodus (performing Bonded by Blood)

“It’s going to be great for the fans,” Kerry King said. "Not having toured in a number of years, there might be some people at this show who have never seen Slayer before, or in some time. So, for the Hershey concert, we’ll play a Slayer show, we’ll have all of our big fire effects, just burn everything like we used to - a real Slayer show.” Added King, "“This will be the first time Slayer has played with Power Trip or Knocked Loose, but I am well aware of them from word of mouth and hearing their music on Liquid Metal. I’m looking forward to seeing them live.

Added Tom Araya, "My favorite part of what I do is the stage time. Nothing compares to the 90-minutes when we’re on stage playing live, sharing that intense energy with our fans. I love singing, and I love convincing everybody, ‘my god, that guy is a maniac.'”
“I’ve been a Slayer fan ever since I was a kid," said Priest. "Metal has always had a special place in wrestling, Slayer’s legacy is woven into the fabric of wrestling, and the genre wouldn’t be where it is today without Slayer. This September at Hershey Park Stadium in Pennsylvania, I’m excited and honored to host Slayer’s show and bring wrestling into their world.”
“Honored to share the stage with one of our all-time favorite bands, Slayer. See you sick f*cks at the riff clinic.“ Power Trip

"We’re excited to play with some of the best heavy bands of all time, past and present.”

Knocked Loose

"I'm very excited to bring Chaos AD to share the stage with Slayer. This show is a dream come true line-up for any Metalhead!" -— Max Cavalera

Slayer’s 2025 concert dates are as follows:

SEPTEMBER

18 Louder Than Life @ Highland Festival Grounds, Louisville, KY
20 Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, PA

About Slayer (2025)

For more than four decades, Slayer's onslaught has proved the band to be the supreme thrash-metal band on the planet, the band that other heavy acts are still measured against and aspire to. Their membership in "The Big Four" - Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax - the four bands that defined the thrash/metal genre - secures their place in music history.

The five-time nominated, two-time Grammy winners have also accumulated an abundance of certified Gold Albums along with "Best..." awards from media outlets all over the world, including Kerrang!, SPIN, Metal Hammer, Revolver, and Esquire. Throughout Slayer's history, the band never faltered in unleashing its extreme and focused sonic assault, and, unlike many of its contemporaries who commercialized their sound, Slayer remained crushing and brutal, steadfastly refusing to cater to the mainstream. Slayer's founding member, guitarist Jeff Hanneman passed in 2013, and Exodus guitarist Gary Holt has been filling that spot since.

Paul Bostaph, who was Slayer's drummer from '94 - '01, rejoined bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and guitarist Kerry King in 2013, and remains back behind the kit.

In January 2018, Slayer announced they were calling it a day and would be doing one final world tour to thank its fans for their support over the years. Launched on May 10, 2018, by the time the 18-month tour wrapped on November 30, 2019, Slayer had played 148 shows, performing in 34 countries and 146 cities around the world, and in 40 U.S. states. In September, 2024, Slayer surprised fans with the news that they would headline three, major summer U.S. festivals - Riot Fest, Louder Than Life, and Aftershock. While Slayer has no plans to do any extensive touring, the band likely will continue to play some one-off shows, such as the recent Black Sabbath concert in the UK, a handful of headline UK dates, and select major festivals.

All Hail Slayer.

22/08/2025

Signs Of The Swarm releases video for "Natural Selection" taken from new album 'To Rid Myself of Truth', out today via Century Media Records

Today (August 22nd), Pittsburgh deathcore titans Signs of the Swarm have released their sixth full-length, To Rid Myself of Truth, via Century Media Records. For a preview of the album, a video for the new single "Natural Selection"

Watch Here:
https://youtu.be/nneUP0CoW-I

Order Here:
https://SignsOfTheSwarm.lnk.to/ToRidMyselfOfTruth-AlbumPR

Vocalist David Simonich comments about "Natural Selection": "'Natural Selection' has become a defining moment in our live set. We have played it across North America and Europe, and the crowd response made it clear; this song had to be the anchor of our album cycle. To bring the vision to life, we teamed up once again with our longtime friend and director Eric DiCarlo, and I couldn't be more proud of the result. This track is about transformation—the prey becoming the predator—surpassing limits and evolving into something stronger."

In regards to To Rid Myself of Truth's release, Simonich comments: "'To Rid Myself of Truth' has been a heavy burden on my shoulders for a long time. It feels like I've shed my skin and used it as paper; this is by far the most personal and honest record I've ever made with Signs of the Swarm. It dives headfirst into raw vulnerability, pulling directly from my own experiences. I've been anxiously waiting to see how it will resonate. My hope is that this album impacts listeners as deeply as it's impacted me, and that we can all share in the connection it creates on the road this fall."
Drummer Bobby Crow adds: "We are so excited to finally have 'To Rid Myself of Truth' out into the world. It's been years in the making, and with every album it's such a surreal feeling to finally have it out of our hands and give it to people to make it 'theirs.' We set out to make something heavy and cathartic, and the response has been heart-warming for all of us. After 6 albums, I truly think 'TRMOT' has a taste of something for everyone who has followed the band over the last 11 years, and I can't wait to see these songs take on a life of their own.

"Alongside the album, we have released our final music video for this album, 'Natural Selection,' a song that at its core is a testament to growth. We've played it across the globe over the past 6 months and we chose to release it last because we wanted to do it right.
"We will be performing a ton of these new tracks for the very first time on our upcoming tour across North America October and November, with support from Mental Cruelty, Ten56., Carcosa, and Face Yourself.

"I would like to say thank you. Thank you to our amazing management, agencies, and label teams for supporting us in pushing ourselves ever-further, and thank you to anyone who has taken a chance on Signs of the Swarm over the last decade. It's an honor to have the opportunity to make sincere, honest, heavy music."

Reunited with producer Josh Schroeder (Lorna Shore, Mental Cruelty, Varials, King 810), Signs Of The Swarm continues molting their slamming deathcore exoskeleton, revealing a band now as indebted to Meshuggah, Gojira and Fear Factory as any of the deathcore bands they grew up on—now peers. After writing breakout 5th LP Amongst the Low & Empty (2023) almost entirely in-studio, the group geared up to do it again on To Rid Myself of Truth. This stint's 7-week lead time—PLUS the in-studio time—was a veritable vacation for the band, with the addition of guitarist/backing vocalist Carl Schulz adding a whole other set of riffing hands (and vocal chords) to the band. It was plenty of time for the now-quartet, rounded out by bassist Michael Cassese, to craft metal exactly as they think it should sound: MORE. PI**ED. And it is. Musically the album's edges are far more serrated than their last's flirtations with djenty bounce.

To Rid Myself of Truth track-listing

1. To Rid Myself of Truth
2. HELLMUSTFEARME
3. Natural Selection
4. Scars Upon Scars
5. Chariot
6. Clouded Retinas feat. Will Ramos
7. Iron Sacrament feat. Phil Bozeman
8. Forcing to Forget
9. Sarkazein
10. Fear & Judgement feat. Jack Murray (156/Silence) and Johnny Crowder (Prison, ex-Dark Sermon)
11. Creator

Fans can catch Signs Of The Swarm this fall when they headline a North American trek with support from Mental Cruelty, ten56., Carcosa and Face Yourself. The band will also be returning to Europe and the UK with Chelsea Grin, Mugshot and Crown Magnetar in November/December. See below for all dates;

tickets and VIP upgrades can be purchased now via: https://signsoftheswarm.com/

Signs Of The Swarm tour dates
w/ Mental Cruelty, ten56., Carcosa, Face Yourself
Oct. 2, 2025 - Montreal, QC @ Théâtre Fairmount
Oct. 3, 2025 - Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
Oct. 4, 2025 - Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch
Oct. 5, 2025 - Chicago, IL @ Reggies
Oct. 7, 2025 - St. Paul, MN @ Amsterdam Bar
Oct. 8, 2025 - Davenport, IA @ Capitol Theatre
Oct. 9, 2025 - Wichita, KS @ WAVE (Indoor)
Oct. 10, 2025 - Denver, CO @ HQ
Oct. 11, 2025 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell
Oct. 12, 2025 - Boise, ID @ The Shredder
Oct. 14, 2025 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
Oct. 15, 2025 - Portland, OR @ Dante’s
Oct. 16, 2025 - Roseville, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post
Oct. 17, 2025 - Fresno, CA @ Full Circle Brewery
Oct. 18, 2025 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Oct. 19, 2025 - Mesa, AZ @ Nile Theater
Oct. 21, 2025 - Austin, TX @ Come and Take It Live
Oct. 22, 2025 - Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
Oct. 23, 2025 - Little Rock, AR @ Revolution Music Room
Oct. 24, 2025 - Nashville, TN @ EXIT/IN
Oct. 25, 2025 - Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage (The Loft)
Oct. 26, 2025 - Orlando, FL @ Conduit - SOLD OUT
Oct. 28, 2025 - Greenville, SC @ Radio Room
Oct. 29, 2025 - Greensboro, NC @ Hangar 1819
Oct. 30, 2025 - Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage
Oct. 31, 2025 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Preserving
Nov. 1, 2025 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Meadows
Nov. 2, 2025 - Worcester @ The Palladium

Signs Of The Swarm tour dates
w/ Chelsea Grin, Mugshot, Crown Magnetar
Nov. 30, 2025 - Köln, DE @ Essigfabrik
Dec. 2, 2025 - Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall
Dec. 3, 2025 - Leeds, UK @ Project House
Dec. 4, 2025 - Glasgow, UK @ Garage
Dec. 5, 2025 - Bristol, UK @ Electric Bristol
Dec. 6, 2025 - Southampton, UK @ Engine Rooms
Dec. 7, 2025 - London, UK @ Electric Brixton
Dec. 8, 2025 - Tilburg, NL @ Poppodium 013
Dec. 10, 2025 - Antwerp, BE @ Kavka Zappa
Dec. 11, 2025 - Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle
Dec. 12, 2025 - Leipzig, DE @ Hellraiser
Dec. 13, 2025 - Wroclaw, PL @ Zaklęte Rewiry
Dec. 14, 2025 - Prague, CZ @ Meet Factory
Dec. 15, 2025 - München, DE @ Backstage
Dec. 16, 2025 - Berlin, DE @ Hole44
Dec. 17, 2025 - Nürnberg, DE @ Z-Bau
Dec. 18, 2025 - Esch-sur-Alzette, LU @ Rockhal
Dec. 19, 2025 - Zurich, CH @ Dynamo
Dec. 20, 2025 - Karlsruhe, DE @ Substage

Signs Of The Swarm line-up:
Bobby Crow - Drums
David Simonich - Vocals
Carl Schulz - Guitars
Michael Cassese - Bass

Signs Of The Swarm online:

https://signsoftheswarm.com/
https://www.instagram.com/signsoftheswarm/
https://www.facebook.com/signsoftheswarm/
https://www.youtube.com//
https://twitter.com/signsoftheswarm

21/08/2025

Brent Hinds Mastodon's Co-Founding Member & Guitarist & Singer killed in Tragic Motorcycle Accident:

Brent Hinds Mastodon's Co-Founding Member & Guitarist & Singer killed in Tragic Motorcycle Accident in Atlanta, GA on August 20th. He was 51 years old. Rumors started to circulate on August 21st with fans after a Instagram post by Adam Jones
from Tool. There was a story from the Atlanta Police Dept with details of a fatal accident between a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a BMW SUV. Today the Fulton County authorities had confirmed that the rider was Brent Hinds.

Mastodon posted on Instagram:

"We are in a state of unfathomable sadness and grief." on Instagram. "Last night Brent Hinds passed away as a result of a tragic accident. We are heartbroken, shocked, and still trying to process the loss of this creative force with whom we’ve shared so many triumphs, milestones, and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of so many. Our hearts are with Brent’s family, friends, and fans. At this time, we please ask that you respect everyone’s privacy during this difficult time."

Hinds was born in 1974 and played with Four Hour Fogger with Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders.

We send our deepest condolences to Mastodon and the Hinds family.

15/08/2025

DORO Releases Epic Video For "Warriors of the Sea"

The brand-new video for DORO's single "Warriors of the Sea" is now available to watch. The epic clip was directed by Peter Leukhardt, who captures the Metal Queen in action during the Metal Queen Metal Cruise 2025, among other striking settings.
See & hear the video:

Watch Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmPiESr7s-Q

"With 'Warriors of the Sea,' I wanted to create an anthem that goes straight to the heart," explains DORO. "It’s a song that brings joy — on land and at sea, especially on one of the many metal cruises — and expresses a strong sense of unity."

The performance, the powerful choruses, and the footage filmed on the high seas capture this atmosphere exactly.

The video also offers a first glimpse of the upcoming special release Warriors of the Sea, out October 24th, 2025 via Rare Diamonds Productions. This special album will be available not only as a CD digipak and picture-disc vinyl, but for the first time in DORO's career, also as Liquid Filled Vinyl — infused with Blue Curaçao.
The idea for this special release was inspired by the euphoria surrounding the two sold-out Metal Queen Metal Cruises 2025. DORO fans can already look forward to the next cruise on June 6th, 2026. Cover and tracklisting for the Warriors of the Sea special release are as follows:

Tracklisting for Warriors of the Sea:

1. Warriors Of The Sea
2. Touch Too Much
3. Tattooed Angels
4. Horns Up High
5. Seelied
6. Children Of The Dawn (live)
7. Fire In The Sky (live)
8. Revenge (live)
9. Above The Ashes (live)
10. Raise Your Fist In The Air (live)

15/08/2025

CORONER Announces New Album, 'Dissonance Theory,' Unleashes Music Video for First Single, "Renewel" 'Dissonance Theory' is due on October 17, 2025 via Century Media Records,

After more than three decades, Swiss technical thrash pioneer CORONER will be releasing a long-anticipated studio album, 'Dissonance Theory,' on October 17, 2025 via Century Media Records!

Pre-order
https://coronermusic.lnk.to/DissonanceTheory

To celebrate the forthcoming opus, the band is now unleashing the ferocious first single, "Renewal," along with a music video! The clip was directed by Dariusz Szermanowicz and can be found here:

Watch/Listen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O8PtResaY8

Coroner’s guitarist, songwriter, and producer Tommy Vetterli comments on the new music, “I thought a lot about what Coroner should sound like today, but I pretty quickly realized that looking backwards wouldn’t serve us. Of course, over time you develop a certain signature as a musician. So even if the material is new, it might still feel like a bridge to earlier phases - simply because it’s me writing it.

"That said, we didn’t set out to continue a legacy. We just wanted to create something honest and grounded in the present. ‘Renewal’ now opens the chapter for what became the first Coroner album I’m fully satisfied with, start to finish. So we’ll let the music speak for itself - you’ll know if it speaks to you.”

'Dissonance Theory' contains ten new songs across 47 minutes, recorded by Tommy Vetterli at New Sound Studios in Switzerland and mixed/mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden (Opeth, Kreator, Amon Amarth, etc.).

The album cover artwork was created by Stefan Thanneur and can be found below along with the tracklisting.

Coroner, “Dissonance Theory” Tracklisting:

01. Oxymoron (00:58)
02. Consequence (06:15)
03. Sacrificial Lamb (06:02)
04. Crisium Bound (05:29)
05. Symmetry (03:58)
06. The Law (05:00)
07. Transparent Eye (05:16)
08. Trinity (05:41)
09. Renewal (05:21) [WATCH]
10. Prolonging (03:13)

Full Running Time: 00:47:21

When Swiss metal pioneers Coroner disbanded in 1996, they left a trail of deeply inspirational and influential albums. From the classically-tinged 1987 R.I.P. debut and its follow-up one year later, Punishment for Decadence, to the sleek modernisms of 1993’s Grin, their discography is a clinic in performance acumen and how to balance grace with grit and grime. In a word, they were the true definition of “progressive” music: Always laser-focused with a firm direction, Coroner never let themselves be bound by genre convention.

Ever the forward thinkers, ever the seekers of unique expression, Coroner’s main material never traded heaviness for innovation. They were a rare band that merged both in a way that was never forced or too consciously conflated. And yet we can’t forget the bolder moves along the way: The haunting closer of 1989’s No More Color, “Last Entertainment (T.V. Bizarre)” and the Beatles cover on 1991’s Mental Vortex. These might have seemed unlikely choices on paper, but they actually worked brilliantly, lending great depth to their respective albums. There was nobody like Coroner. And the bar of expectation they set, they set very high.

With all that as part of historical record, it would seem that expectations for a new Coroner album would be impossibly high. But take one listen and you understand that it’s not hyperbolic, nor cliché, to say that with 2025’s Dissonance Theory, Coroner have met and even exceeded expectation. The material, as all the best Coroner does, hangs somewhere between stealthy restraint and wild abandon.

When the band returned to the stage in 2011, with original trio formation Tommy Vetterli, Ron Broder and Marky Edelmann, new material wasn’t even a consideration. For them, they were simply happy to revive all that much-loved material and present it to old fans, as well as younger ones who weren’t around to experience Coroner live the first time around. Indeed, they are another of metal’s finest bands that gained more popularity after the initial breakup than during their era of actual operation.

A couple years after their revival, Edelmann bowed out, although Vetterli and Broder kept the machine running because, in the guitarist’s words, “we were having way too much fun”. Still, they had no intentions of recording new material with freshly-installed drummer Diego Rapacchietti. But by 2015, seeds of fresh Coroner ideas, tiny as they were, began sprouting from Vetterli’s fertile mind. Ten years later, with a new album completed, the six-stringer explains the long gestation of Dissonance Theory: “I started sketching ideas around 2015, but never found the mental space to focus fully. Life kept getting in the way — short bursts of progress, then long interruptions. Running my own recording studio means I ’m constantly producing other bands while managing the studio’s demands. After nine-hour days recording or mixing, there’s not much creative energy left at night. The actual recording sessions didn‘t kick off until June 2023 — and even those got interrupted multiple times for the same reasons."

While Vetterli avoids mentioning particular musical artists, bands or movements as inspiration for the new material, he astutely notes, “Inspiration is just life, really. Everything you see, hear, or feel leaves a trace — music, films, books, the state of the world, personal stuff. Sometimes it’s something big. Sometimes it’s just a tree standing alone on a hill somewhere. That can be enough. It's never about specific bands or styles — more about what hits you at the right moment.”

It was also the presence of Rapacchietti that fueled Vetterli and Broder’s constructions as new material came together. “Diego brings a level of technical precision and musicality that opened up entirely new dimensions in our songwriting,” says Vetterli. “His versatility allowed us to explore fresh territory without losing ourselves. Especially rhythmically, we were able to push things further than ever before."

The album’s first tracks establish that the Coroner sound is intact, even 30 years after their initial run. In tone and texture, “Consequence” and “Sacrificial Lamb” are not terribly far away from the band’s early ‘90s material. These offerings unite the focused hypno-drone of Grin with the clean-kill post-thrash technicality of Mental Vortex. Yet that’s only an approximation of where the album sits in the sonic space. It’s after these that the scope widens. Ultimately, Dissonance Theory claims its own ground, sounding like an album that could’ve been released in the late 1990s, but one clearly informed by the variety of inspirations noted above and the many years lived between then and now.

It seems impossible after all the time elapsed, but this is Coroner at its best. We hear evidence of this on songs such as “Crisium Bound”, with its spacious dark pulse, and “Symmetry”, which is driven by drummer Rapacchietti’s colorful backing over one of the most exciting guitar solos Tommy Vetterli has ever composed. Broder’s bass lines are as commanding as ever throughout, and his arrogant snarl remains packed with bile and spite, as if 30 years had never passed. Sumptuous passages in “Transparent Eye” recall the atmospheric material the band were working on before their initial breakup, but merged with a stabbing momentum and a few tricky rhythms. A modern-day classic Coroner song.

Perhaps this all comes off so well because the band didn’t overthink anything. They understand the pressure of coming back with their first material in three decades, but they shook off that pressure and simply let Coroner be Coroner. As Vetterli notes, “I thought a lot about what Coroner should sound like today — but I pretty quickly realized that looking backwards would’t serve us. What’s past is past. So much time has passed, and we’re not the same people. Just like we didn‘t care about trends back then, we didn’t try to make this record for anyone but ourselves. We weren’t trying to continue a legacy — we were just trying to create something honest and present."

Further into the album, it becomes ever more apparent that their approach was the right one. “Trinity” shows Vetterli as the hugely underrated guitarist he’s always been: Its solo section is one that probably couldn’t have even been conceived of 30 years ago. It’s imbued with a kind of wisdom and experience that expresses itself in interesting melodic choices and wild fingerwork, brilliant melodic sparks flying from his instrument.

As we approach the culmination of the album, the well-titled “Renewal” is ablaze with energy, its vigorous pulse a statement of intent for this era of return. And in final track, “Prolonging”, we get another brave album conclusion from the band, featuring Hammond organ over beguiling, hypnotic metal drama, as Broder spits out a final question: “What remains? What remains?”

'Dissonance Theory,' in totality, is rich in sonic detail, a stereophile’s delight. Part of that can be attributed to the expert mixing/mastering by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden. But the production, arrangement and soundscape details are largely the work of Vetterli and a longtime creative partner at his own New Sound studio. Vetterli notes, “At some point, I felt something was missing — a kind of creative counterweight. Someone to reflect things back with a fresh, critical ear. That’s when I brought in a longtime collaborator I’ve worked with for years at my studio. He helped push things into new territory and gave me the clarity and momentum Dissonance Theory needed to move forward. We made a point throughout the production to record as many authentic, organic sounds as possible. The studio was packed with tube amps, analog synths, and vintage instruments — including a harmonium and a grand piano — and we put them all to good use. We've worked together on many other productions, so the trust was already there. We get into that whole collaboration — and how it evolved — more deeply in the CD mediabook edition.”

Coroner are offering a work that proves they know themselves and what their band should sound like. No Coroner fan could possibly be disappointed in Dissonance Theory. It’s like a massive bonus from a band we all thought had spent their creative energies decades ago. “They don’t make albums like this anymore”. Ever heard that one? Coroner proves they were not only always in metal’s top tier, but that anything less than a ferocious return such as this would never have been the Coroner way.

Lineup:

Ron Royce - Bass/vocals
Tommy T. Baron - Guitars
Diego Rappachietti - Drums

Recording: Tommy Vetterli at New Sound Studios in Switzerland
Mixing + Mastering: Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden Cover Artwork: Stefan Thanneur

25/07/2025

SABATON THE #1 GLOBAL POWER METAL BAND ANNOUNCES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED 11th NEW STUDIO ALBUM ‘LEGENDS’
DUE OUT OCTOBER 17 VIA BETTER NOISE MUSIC

RELEASES TWO NEW TRACKS TODAY VIA BETTER NOISE MUSIC

SABATON () the #1 Global Power Metal Band and one of Sweden’s most successful bands—is ready to ignite a new era with the highly anticipated release of their 11th studio album LEGENDS. It arrives October 17 via Better Noise Music and marks the band’s label debut.

Watch Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KUOX_VFVn0&list=RD6KUOX_VFVn0&start_radio=1

Pre Order Here:
https://sabaton.lnk.to/legendsbio

Throughout the aptly titled LEGENDS, which blends rock and history for fans of all ages, SABATON Joakim Brodén (vocals), Pär Sundström (bass), Chris Rörland (guitar), Thobbe Englund (guitar), Hannes Van Dahl (drums) delve into some of history’s greatest and most loved characters such as Jeanne D’arc (also known as Joan of Arc), Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, and the legendary swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi.

As a special celebratory gift to their legions of loyal fans around the world, SABATON to coincide with the long-awaited announcement of their new album is releasing not one, but two brand new songs from LEGENDS, available today (July 25) on all digital outlets. Watch the lyric video for “The Duelist” HERE and stream/download the track LEGENDS will be available across various different physical formats and retailer exclusives including CD, 2 CD digibook, 2 CD earbook (both including the exclusive Storyteller Edition), 11 unique vinyl editions (including a special vinyl color and exclusive artwork each), additional exclusive vinyl colors and a limited box set (including another exclusive vinyl color, the 2 CD earbook, and a colored cassette as an exclusive format).

In the more than two decades since the band's launch, SABATON has headlined major festivals, sold-out arena concerts worldwide, and gained a legion of loyal fans by carving out a reputation for being one of the hardest working bands in the business. Since their 2005 debut album, they’ve earned Gold, Platinum, and multi-Platinum certifications in territories around the world with their 10 studio albums. Eight of their albums scored Top 10 international chart status, and six claimed the Top 5. SABATON has earned eight Metal Hammer/Golden Gods Awards nominations, taking home the award for "Breakthrough Artist" in 2011 and "Best Live Band" in three different years, and a Grammis nomination (Swedish equivalent to the U.S. Grammy Award) as Best Heavy Metal band. They’ve accumulated more than three billion streams across all streaming platforms and two billion views on YouTube.

Here's the track listing for LEGENDS:

1. Templars
2. Hordes of Khan
3. A Tiger Among Dragons
4. Crossing the Rubicon
5. I, Emperor
6. Maid of Steel
7. Impaler
8. Lightning at the Gate
9. The Duelist
10. The Cycle of Songs
11. Till Seger

Amongst 11 unique vinyl editions, each one portraying one legendary figure, LEGENDS will be available as the “Hannibal Edition” and the “Miyamoto Musashi Edition,” which are linked to today’s song releases for “Lightning at the Gates” (Hannibal) and “The Duelist” (Miyamoto Musashi).

22/07/2025

It's With Great Sadness That We report That Black Sabbath Iconic Legend Ozzy Osbourne Has Passed Away At Age 76.

With great sadness we report that Ozzy Osbourne has passed away
at age 76. The iconic voice and front man was an irreplaceable part
of metal history.

In a statement from the Osbourne family:

It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time."

Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3rd, 1948 in Birmingham, England. Ozzy became the voice of generations
that spans decades since the first Black Sabbath album
in 1970. His unique voice was to became more than a creative
force but outlined and defined the band as the Godfathers of heavy metal.

His legacy will continue to thrive through the next generation and
continue to inspire new upcoming artists in the metal world.

27/06/2025

K.K. DOWNING PAYS TRIBUTE TO ROCKA ROLLA 50TH ANNIVERSARY WITH NEW COVER OF “NEVER SATISFIED”

K.K. Downing, a founding member of Judas Priest and leader of KK’s Priest, has released an updated version of “Never Satisfied” as a tribute to the recent 50th Anniversary of Judas Priest’s debut album, Rocka Rolla.

Originally appearing on the 1974 album Rocka Rolla, and as the B-side single to its title track, “Never Satisfied” was co-written by Downing and Al Atkins—the band’s original lead singer prior to Rob Halford.

Reflecting on the updated version, K.K. shared:

“It’s a real treat and great fun to revisit and record this version of ‘Never Satisfied,’ a song I co-wrote over 50 years ago! I really didn’t overthink it—I just plugged in my guitar drifting back to a time when Metal was an embryo of an idea. I knew the song already sounded great with Rob Halford, but I was especially keen on hearing the mighty Ripper Owens on the vocals.”

K.K. added, “The response to the 50th anniversary of Rocka Rolla has been so well received, I wanted to do a little something to add to the celebration — and I can see “Never Satisfied” becoming a fan favorite at a future KK’s Priest show!”

The new version of “Never Satisfied” is now available for streaming and downloading via Exciter Records, in partnership with K.K.’s label Hellfire Thunderbolt Records.

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/yc6hkcan
Apple: https://tinyurl.com/vnczxffa
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/ykpwmufp

Exciter Records, owned by publisher Reach Music, recently acquired the masters and publishing rights to both Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest. A 50th anniversary release of Sad Wings of Destiny in 2026 is currently in production.

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