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Returning with their first release since their debut album Faithless Rituals, Sky Valley Mistress have launched back into the sonic stratosphere with their brand new single ‘Too Many Ghosts’.

Recorded at The Nave Studios, Leeds with engineer Danny Blackburn (Adult DVD), it’s clear that the sound of the desert still fuels this band wherever they go as their latest cut is cactus needle sharp. From the moment the track picks up, Sky Valley Mistress drive you beyond the horizon and leave you hanging by the hook of the chorus ready to ride again. Or as the band explain:

“This song is meant for the open highway. Somewhere you have the freedom to put your foot down and still feel like you’re cruising”.

Watch the lyric video for ‘Too Many Ghosts’ now:

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Now streamlined and stripped back to the two original members, refusing to conform to conventions, on the record Sky Valley Mistress have doubled down their studio sound and present themselves as a four-piece band. How the hearse rollin’, flare strollin’, speaker ‘splodin’ outfit recreate this in the flesh as a Duel-Drumming Duo however, has to be seen to be believed. Lead vocalist Kayley “Hell Kitten” Davies picks up the sticks and play one half of a drum kit, with former drummer Maxwell Harvey William Newsome III taking on the electric guitar and keeping one foot on the kick drum. No samples. No backing tracks. No click tracks.

No one is playing rock and roll the way that these two do.

With a new album recorded and ready to be released September 2025 on cult indie label New Heavy Sounds, just like an adrenaline shot in the hands of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, this band is ready to hit unsuspecting fans in the chest with a sound that will make them feel electrified, spiritualised and give them the overwhelming urge to stand in front of a mirror, grab their butt cheeks and exclaim, “ I AM ALIVE!”

TOUR DATES:

Sat 29th March – The Ferret, Preston

Fri 4th April  – Our Black Heart, London w/ Bear Bones

More TBA

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Canadian dark-pop act The Birthday Massacre have released a new single today (28th March) entitled ‘All Of You’. It coincides with the opening night of a North American tour to promote Pathways, the forthcoming new album by the group that will be released on 11th April via Metropolis Records.

The powerful ‘All Of You’ “explores the emotional weight of death and the profound sense of being lost in its shadow,” the band explain. “It speaks to the hopelessness of trying to find peace when the heart is still caught in the echoes of absence.”

‘All Of You’ is the second single to be lifted from Pathways, following the release of ‘Sleep Tonight’ at the end of February.

THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE  |  NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2025

28th March  NEW YORK CITY, NY (le) Poisson Rouge
29th March  PITTSBURGH, PA Crafthouse
30th March  DETROIT, MI Small’s
31st March  CHICAGO, IL Reggies
2nd April  MINNEAPOLIS, MN Fine Line Music Hall
3rd April  KANSAS CITY, MO RecordBar
4th April  DENVER, CO The Oriental Theater
5th April  SALT LAKE CITY, UT Metro Music Hall
7th April  SEATTLE, WA El Corazon
8th April  PORTLAND, OR Dante’s
10th April  SAN FRANCISCO, CA Bottom Of The Hill
11th April  LOS ANGELES, CA EchoPlex
12th April  LAS VEGAS, NV Backstage Bar
14th April  SAN DIEGO, CA Brick By Brick
15th April  MESA, AZ Nile Theater
17th April  HOUSTON, TX Warehouse Live
18th April  DALLAS, TX Granada Theater
19th April  AUSTIN, TX Come And Take It Live
21st April  TAMPA, FL Orpheum
22nd April  ATLANTA, GA Masquerade
23rd April  ASHEVILLE, NC The Orange Peel
25th April  VIRGINIA BEACH, VA Elevation 27
26th April  BALTIMORE, MD Soundstage
28th April  WASHINGTON, DC Union Stage
29th April  MECHANICSBURG, PA Lovedrafts Brewing
1st May  BOSTON, MA Paradise Rock Club
2nd May  PARSIPPANY, NJ Dark Force Fest
3rd May  TORONTO, ON Velvet Underground
4th May  MONTREAL, QC Foufounes

A 13 date autumn UK tour commencing on 24th October has also been confirmed.

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Norwegian post-rock outfit Korean Cars are set to release their debut mini-album “#1” on May 23 via Mas-Kina Recordings — and the leading single ‘Drömtorp’ is now available.

‘Drömtorp’ sets the tone for the record — a haunting yet powerful track that captures the emotional intensity and melodic depth at the heart of Korean Cars’ sound.

Listen here:

Blending melancholic post-rock with melodic post-hardcore, Korean Cars create a dynamic soundscape where atmospheric depth meets raw emotional release. Drawing from the alternative and post-hardcore scenes of the ’90s and 2000s, the band’s sound fuses soaring melodies, jagged noise, and unpredictable shifts into a captivating experience.

Formed by members of Rumble in Rhodos, Infidels Forever, Arms on Fire, and Insense, Korean Cars combine seasoned musicianship with a shared passion for layered, emotionally charged songwriting. Their sound echoes the cinematic textures of Explosions in the Sky and the emotional punch of Trail of Dead — a beautiful chaos of melody and intensity.

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CERESIAN VALOT release a visualiser for the next single ‘Valojuovat’ (‘Tracers’) taken from the forthcoming debut full-length Uumen (Depths). The first album of the Finnish heavy alternative band has been scheduled for release on May 23, 2025.

Wille Naukkarinen writes: “The new advance single ‘Valojuovat’ is one of the most recent songs that I wrote for Uumen and my personal favourite on this album”, the guitarist and main songwriter reveals. “I don’t have much to tell about the composition process, because this was one of those rare cases where the song basically wrote itself. The instrumental version was completed pretty quickly. It’s a mix of prog and melancholia, showcasing both our quieter and heavier side in a very melodic way. I recommend to listen to ‘Valojuovat’ with your eyes closed.”

Panu Perkiömäki adds: “This song has strong dystopic vibes”, the vocalist opines. “The key idea of the song is inspired by the writing of Albert Camus. It’s a song about wars and other manmade disasters. It is also a song about solving problems by changing the channel, if the news get too stressful. ‘Valojuovat’ does even contain some doubts about religions and their infallibility.”

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Helmed by Black and Cherokee composer and multi-instrumentalist Takiaya Reed, Divide and Dissolve will release their new album, Insatiable, on April 18 via Bella Union.

The 10 track album run the gamut of doom metal – from the ear-splitting depths of lead single ‘Monolithic’, to contemplative, softer moments on the aptly titled song ‘Grief’, released today. Like all of Divide and Dissolve’s music, Insatiable is almost entirely instrumental.

While the album’s sheer grandiosity represents an evolution in Divide and Dissolve’s sound, it also marks the very first time that Takiaya has ever lent vocals to a D//D song. On ’Grief’ her distorted voice echoes atop a vibrating bass tone, repeating the lyrics: “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do/ I’m so lonely without you.” Takiaya explains, “The voice is such a mysterious  instrument. This album feels different, and I wanted to honour that”.

The director of the music video, Sepi Mashiahof, adds; “The music video for ‘Grief’ is an ode to the feelings of empowerment, resistance, and sadness that Divide and Dissolve weaves into our bodies. It’s an expressionist diary made up of dissonant and revelatory memories. Grief eclipses everything around us, innocuously lingering in the functional movements of our daily lives, then aggressively literal in the reflective silence behind our eyes. Grief is inherent to our existence, knowing that a better world exists for all of us and its potential is boundless, yet we’re made to suffer the atrocities of greed and exploitation instead. We can honor Grief as a passage of life, but we must resist the forces that impose it as a numbness to injustice.”

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Divide and Dissolve live dates (so far):

18-05-2025 Desertfest London – London
30-08-2025 Supersonic Festival – Birmingham

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Photo credit: Brandon McClain @eathumans

Ahead of the release of their new album, The Double, Brooklyn-based goth-folk duo Charming Disaster have unveiled a video for the track ‘Trick of the Light’.

The Double invites listeners to step across the border of an alternate reality, where spells are cast, time travel is possible, plants are taking over civilization, and vampires lurk in the shadows. Adventures in the darkness lie beyond the threshold.

The album’s ten songs include ‘Black Locust,’ a lullaby about mortality; ‘New Moon,’ a magical nature ritual; ‘Trick of the Light,’ a reimagining of Bram Stoker’s Dracula; ‘Time Machine,’ in which Charming Disaster change the past and start over again; ‘Scavengers,’ a walk in the woods with vultures and bones; ‘Beautiful Night,’ a defiant response to struggles with depression; ‘Vitriol,’ a tribute to artist Thomas Little, who turns guns into ink; ‘Haunted Lighthouse,’ a swashbuckling sea voyage; ‘Gang of Two,’ a true crime adventure; and ‘Green Things,’ a love letter to what grows between the cracks (and its inevitable takeover).

The album features an array of talented collaborators. Co-producer Don Godwin, who has worked on Charming Disaster’s entire discography, contributed bass, drums, and horns as well as engineering and mixing. ‘Haunted Lighthouse’ features Broadway percussionist Mike Dobson along with circus composer Peter Bufano, who played piano and accordion and engineered the track at Cirkestra World Headquarters in Boston, MA (with additional tracking at Tonal Park). ‘Scavengers’ features cello recorded by Kate Wakefield of the duo Lung, who also created the string arrangement for ‘Beautiful Night.’ Stefan Zeniuk of Gato Logo contributed saxophone to ‘Green Things.’

In conjunction with The Double, Charming Disaster is releasing the second edition of their “oracle deck” (similar to a Tarot deck). The Charming Disaster Oracle Deck contains 72 cards (including 12 new cards for the second edition), each representing one of the songs from Charming Disaster’s discography. The cards feature illustrations commissioned from more than thirty different artists. The deck can be used as a divination tool, or as a visual accompaniment to Charming Disaster’s music. The duo themselves use these cards in their live performances to determine the set through the element of chance.

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04 Charming Disaster photo by Isaac Harrell

Having completed a trilogy of experimental songs, Papillon de Nuit begin a new cycle, reaching for the epic, and with a more structured (but no less adventurous) approach. With Steve Whitfield on board (The Cure, The Mission) as Producer, and an array of incredibly talented, diverse musicians and singers, Ariadne is the first release in this phase. We are delighted to share it with you.

Continue with us on our journey….

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METAMORPH has just revealed their new single – a gut-punch of emotion and power, ‘Crown of Shattered Glass’. The song is impossible to ignore—a warrior cry wrapped in razor-sharp gothic rock.

Margot Day’s bold vocals cut through a cinematic soundscape of pounding beats and darkwave edge, delivering a chorus that demands to be felt: “Shattered, shattered, I’m stronger than you know”. Every lyric carries the weight of a hard-earned victory. The shattered glass isn’t a weakness—it’s a crown. This is the sound of breaking free.
With sharp lyricism and relentless energy, this track transforms heartbreak into pure power, hitting hard and lingering long after the last note.

As the Wheel of the Year turns, METAMORPH unveils a new track every six weeks, each one an incantation of power, love, and defiance—all leading to a full METAMORPH album this fall.

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Having issued ‘Let The Flowers Grow’ (a surprise duet with Boy George) as a standalone single in late 2024, original post-punk icon Peter Murphy followed it in mid-February with ‘Swoon’, a majestic slice of synth-punk/funk that also served as a perfect Valentine’s Day gift for his fans.

‘The Artroom Wonder’ is available as a brand new single from today (21st March), with Murphy explaining its genesis as “an echo from my 4th year at senior school. Daniel Ash [former Bauhaus bandmate] and I are listening to the mysterious 6th year cool intelligentsia that have gathered in the artroom. We have dared to enter their conclave, and the music coming from it is intriguing. We discover that the song being played is [David Bowie’s] ‘The Bewlay Brothers’, highly intelligent, mystical and sensual, with the singer’s voice as seductive as anyone I’d ever heard.”

  Justin Chancellor of Tool plays bass guitar on ‘The Artroom Wonder’, one of several guest musicians on Murphy’s new album Silver Shade, which is scheduled for release on 9th May 2025 via Metropolis Records on 2xLP (with colour variants), CD and digitally. Containing both ‘Swoon’ and ‘The Artroom Wonder’, the physical and Bandcamp digital formats will also include ‘Let The Flowers Grow’ as a bonus track. 

Produced by Youth (Pink Floyd, The Verve, Crowded House, as well as a member of Killing Joke, The Orb, The Firemen) at his studio in Spain, ‘Silver Shade’ is Murphy’s tenth studio album and a long-awaited follow-up to ‘Lion’, which the pair worked on together a decade ago. A symbiotic relationship born of artistic collaboration, Murphy states that “this new album is as powerful as any of my work to date.”

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Melvins 1983 – the lineup featuring Buzz Osborne and original drummer Mike Dillard – offer a second preview of Thunderball (out 18th April, Ipecac Recordings) with today’s release of ‘King of Rome’.

The charging track once again features contributions from avant-electronic artists Void Manes and Ni Maîtres, with Osborne saying of the song;
“The ‘King of Rome!! Hot Cross Buns! This song is a hot little punk rock number. I hope all of you enjoy it and tell your friends.”

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