RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://glasblume.bandcamp.com/album/city-in-rain Oslo’s Glasblume is something quite out of the ordinary and a wonderful addition to the alternative music scene, which is evident in every nook and cranny of the eleven deftly executed compositions that their deeply atmospheric debut LP appropriately titled City in Rain is comprised of. Honestly, I could not think…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://papercrownmusic.bandcamp.com/album/letters What a lovely and heartwarming gem Letters is, and what a fantastic and memorable encounter Paper Crown is for that matter. Not being familiar with the entity beforehand, I had no idea what to expect from this eclectic duo, but what we have here is a superbly crafted and deeply evocative…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://tusm-rke.bandcamp.com/album/balderdom Few if any acts are as musically devious, lyrically interesting, deeply eclectic, and all-out quirky as the inimitable Tusmørke are, and those are obviously traits and characteristics to be loved and admired. Whenever they unearth new material, you know that it is going to be positively strange and surreal yet never…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://viadoloris.bandcamp.com/album/guerre-et-paix Conceived, meticulously crafted, and perfectly nursed in solitude, this majestic and heartfelt opus by Via Doloris, which is the brainchild of former Satyricon live guitarist Gildas Le Pape, is a most welcome surprise. Across seven inspired compositions and forty-eight thrilling minutes, Le Pape and renowned drummer Frost (1349, Satyricon) guide us…
– RELEASE YEAR: 2026 – BAND URL: www.convergecult.com I first saw Converge live over fifteen years ago. It was one of those nights you thought would change your outlook on music forever. I had listened to Converge for several years at that point, but for whatever reason, they’ve fallen out of favor with me over the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://edgedcircleproductions.bandcamp.com/album/psychodelic-darkness What we have here is a most interesting musical proposition. Hailing from Chile and nursed in oppressive gloom by mastermind (and multi-instrumentalist) Witchfucker and drummer Thoth, this short and concise slab of hellish black metal infused with speed metal influences titled Psychodelic Darkness is nothing short of a perverted musical feast…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://www.blackstonecherry.com/ Kentucky rockers Black Stone Cherry have released some impressive albums and EPs in the past, and on top of that of all that, they are also a killer live act and know perfectly well how to work the stage and the audience. Their upcoming offering titled Celebrate is nothing short of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/JoelHoekstra13 Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Revolution Saints, Cher) is not only one of the hardest working musicians out there but also one of the most talented and productive that I can think of, and a brief glance at his impressive resume should tell you all you need to know about this…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://pymlicomusic.bandcamp.com/ The classy Norwegian outfit Pymlico never fail to stir the senses and tick all the right jazz prog boxes whenever they gift us with new music, and the upcoming album titled No More, No Less is a perfect example of how to bring inspired and forward-thinking sounds to life in a…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://gjenferdbergen.bandcamp.com/album/black-smoke-rising Just when I thought that it would be impossible for this quartet to improve on their flawless self-titled debut offering from 2024, they go ahead and do something like this, i.e. bringing a lovely crafted piece of magical hard rock with vintage vibes to life and doing it in such a…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://originalasia.com/ Legendary prog rockers Asia returned to the stage last year with a reconfigured line-up featuring original keyboardist Geoff Downes, world-class guitarist John Mitchell, bass player extraordinaire Harry Whitley, and the fabulous drummer that is Virgil Donati. At the renowned venue known as Trading Boundaries in April 2025, the quartet performed the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://primalucerock.bandcamp.com/album/way-of-perfection The French prog metal act known as Primaluce released the impressive Dark Mirrors LP last year, which generated quite a lot of well-deserved praise, and it is therefore a thrill to see and hear that they have maintained their momentum and crafted an equally worthwhile offering in the shape of the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://ihxhi.bandcamp.com/album/unheeding-sun The talented multi-instrumentalist L.R. Måløy (If Nothing Is, Dødheimsgard) teamed up with drummer Jens Noteng and vocalist Kjersti Marie Seiersten a while back, which resulted in the intriguing and musically adventurous prospect known as IHXHI. They released a self-titled EP last year, and just a few days ago the mysterious entity…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: www.beforethesirens.com The British metalheads in Before the Sirens are back with another EP, ready to impress audiences around the world with their take on a well-established formula. They offer a form of melodic metalcore that might appear a bit generic at times, but it works surprisingly well. It has a universality to…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://exhumed.bandcamp.com/album/red-asphalt The purveyors of all things gory and unpleasant, namely US death/grind metal freaks Exhumed, are back with a punishing new record titled Red Asphalt, which essentially refers to all manner of horrors and terrors associated with the “American roadway” to borrow a phrase from vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey. The ten bone-crushing…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://koldbrann.bandcamp.com/album/den-klandestine-kjerne-eons-in-oblivion I hardly ever review singles as life is just too short for that kind of thing, but once in a while one has to make an exception to the rule – a case in point being this split 7-inch vinyl featuring two brand-new and deeply unnverving tracks by two of my…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/RobinTrower/ The legendary Robin Trower (ex-Procol Harum) has been impressively productive not to mention highly creative these past many years as evidenced by a string of robust and enjoyable solo offerings. As solid as many of those outputs are, the stage is where Trower truly shines and also where his songs pack…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://lnk.to/sidious The intriguing black metal horde from the UK sporting the moniker Sidious is an interesting proposition. Malefic Necropolis is inspired and relentlessly vicious music from the vilest pits of misanthropy known to man, and these chaps have got a firm grip on how to write engaging and propulsive songs of darkness…
Release year: 2026Band URL: https://www.facebook.com/1986uk/ The first album I listened to in 2026 was the debut album from Manchester based 1986. I went in cold with the somewhat vague description that they combine death, sludge and hardcore. It’s one of those musical combinations that can easily devolve into generic guttural growls and unidentifiable riffs, however…
RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/album/liturgy-of-death-24-bit-hd-audio Legendary Norwegian black metal pioneers Mayhem surely need no introduction as these charismatic and chimeric entities have been at the vanguard of forward-thinking music for decades now. Renowned, infamous, musically exceptional, and nothing less than wholly captivating are words and phrases that seem relatively apt here with respect to their back…
