Alternative Music

Fusion metal pioneers DUB WAR have released their brand new rousing single “Blackkk Man”, the first single off of their first album of all-new material in over 25 years, “Westgate Under Fire”. Watch the new lyric video here. The track packs a punch with jagged guitar, furious rhythms and tough vocals from founder and frontman Benji Webbe (who many will also recognize as the mighty SKINDRED‘s lead singer). Released in the midst of the celebration of Black History Month in the U.S., “Blackkk Man” is a furious revolt against racism and a bleak reflection of crucial events from this decade in particular, including the murder of George Floyd. Says Webbe: “This song is exactly how I was feeling at the time of Mr. Floyd‘s murder. This is a cry...

RATING: 8.5/10 As any dedicated fan of ultra-miserable, deathly doom metal will tell you, the Finns have absolutely got their shit together. Although less well-known, KUOLEMANLAAKSO deserve to be regarded along those other benchmarks of funeral and melancholic doom metal: SHAPE OF DESPAIR, SKEPTICISM and SWALLOW THE SUN. Across a series of fascinating and emotionally supercharged albums, this shadowy unit have become increasingly potent. Led by the enigmatic presence of SWALLOW THE SUN frontman Mikko Kotamäki, KUOLEMANLAAKSO have long threatened to produce something special, and “Kuusumu” is precisely that. More overtly gothic and theatrical than any of the aforementioned, the Finns’ sound has truly blossomed here over seven wistful but punishing nose-dives into the dark....

San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS have announced their “Persona Non Grata” European tour 2022, which will take place in July and August and will feature a slew of club shows as well as appearances at a variety of Europe’s most renowned summer festivals. Some of the dates will also feature EXODUS‘s peers and labelmates TESTAMENT. EXODUS will be touring in support of its latest album, “Persona Non Grata”, which was released last November via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP is the follow-up to 2014’s “Blood In Blood Out”, which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers’ first release since the departure of the group’s lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Steve “Zetro” Souza, who pre...

Time can’t heal a wound you choose to leave open. All over PAINLESS, the second album by Nilüfer Yanya, the London songwriter lingers in feelings of heartbreak, dislocation, and rejection, and refuses to let them go. “Don’t like whenever I’m not in pain/Peeling back, not noticing/The blood and bones beneath my skin,” she sings on “midnight sun,” one of several disquieting lyrics about doing herself harm or inviting whoever hurt her to go ahead and grind her heart underfoot while they’re at it. The sting proves that this thing was once alive, even if she has to dig her nails under the scab to still feel it. Yanya has always written such physical music. Her voice is a tender muscle; her songs have a sinewy twist, and her loud-quiet guitar can flood in as unexpectedly as cheeks flushing at th...

During a recent appearance on “Drinks With Johnny”, the Internet TV show hosted by AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ, former BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE bassist Jason “Jay” James opened up about his departure from the Welsh metal band more than seven years ago. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It is tough to talk about, to be honest, after all the little bits that happened. All I can say is everybody was partying, everybody was having a drink, and everybody liked to have a drink. “My real problem started with alcohol,” he continued. “I was a pretty big drinker. And I’ll hold my hand up to some of the troubles that I caused the band or caused myself, absolutely. But a lot of what I was doing, other people were doing [as w...

METALLICA played its first concert of 2022 on February 25 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show, which was reportedly attended by 60,000 fans, featured support from GRETA VAN FLEET and ICE NINE KILLS. Professionally filmed video of METALLICA‘s performance of the song “Wherever I May Roam” from the Vegas gig can be seen below. METALLICA‘s setlist was as follows: 01. Whiplash 02. Ride The Lightning 03. The Memory Remains 04. Seek & Destroy 05. Fuel 06. One 07. Sad But True 08. Moth Into Flame 09. Wherever I May Roam 10. For Whom The Bell Tolls 11. Creeping Death 12. Fade To Black 13. Master Of Puppets Encore: 14. Battery 15. Nothing Else Matters 16. Enter Sandman The Las Vegas show took place more than two months after METALLICA‘s two 40th-anni...

On this week’s episode of 95.5 KLOS‘s “New & Approved” show, VOLBEAT frontman Michael Poulsen discussed what it was like for him and his bandmates to play several shows with former SLAYER and TESTAMENT drummer Jon Dette in late January and early February after the group’s regular drummer Jon Larsen, tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It was very early on [our U.S. co-headlining] tour [with GHOST]. Suddenly Jon got hit by COVID and we had to get him out of the building and then get him into a hotel. And he was there for — I don’t know — five, six [or] seven days. “The worst thing is always to cancel shows because you really don’t wanna let dow...

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS have released their new single “Poster Child”. The song is taken from the band’s upcoming album, “Unlimited Love”, which will arrive on April 1 via Warner. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS‘s first new LP with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006’s “Stadium Arcadium” was once again produced by Rick Rubin who previously worked on “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” (1991), “Californication” (1999), “By The Way” (2002) and the aforementioned “Stadium Arcadium”. The band stated about the new record: “Our only goal is to get lost in the music. We (John, Anthony, Chad and Flea) spent thousands of hours, collectively and individually, honing our craft and showing up for one another, to make ...