NIGHTBEARER launch the crushing performance video ‘His Dark Materials’ as the first single taken from their new full-length Defiance. The third studio album of the German death metal bookworms, which is based on a concept inspired by Sir Philip Pullman’s fantasy book trilogy "His Dark Materials", has been scheduled for release on June 13, 2025.
AA
NIGHTBEARER comment: “The tell-tale title ‘His Dark Materials’ is both, lyrically and musically, an excellent represantation of what were are about to unleash with our third album Defiance in 2025”, vocalist Michael Torka declares. “We hurl ourselves into the millennia-old war against the tyranny of a god who never existed, against his corrupted earthly and celestial vassals. It’s a fight against brutal oppression that is carried out in the name of liberation from superstition. This is the final, relentless battle for freedom!”
While they’re no strangers to the Southern California independent music scene, hardcore foursome Feed the Beast are poised to introduce themselves to more regional, national and international stages and speakers with their latest album, Mercy, the band’s debut for Futureless.
Feed the Beast’s history has been cultivated via years of consistently releasing recordings and fortifying a considerable presence across venues in their western Los Angeles and Santa Monica locales. Mercy signals their return from a hiatus with a reshuffled roster and new record label affiliation in tow. The group has seized the opportunity to not only elevate its presence, but also expand its latitude of sonic expression, melding the time-tested heaviness with occasions for experimentation and engaging in novel musical niches.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Nick Jett (of Terror) in under a week, Mercy is a compendium of punishing yet precise heavy cuts, deftly interspersed with melody, space, dynamics and syncopated rhythms. Original members James Hutchinson (vocals) and Nicholas Garcia (guitar) penned Mercy across a span of a few months with former Feed the Beast members Tye Trujillo (bass) and Patrick Chavez (drums).
“Nick’s the man,” says Garcia of Mercy’s producer. “He’s very efficient and it still blows my mind that we tracked seven songs in three or four days. It’s very cool to get to work with someone who is very professional.”
Feed the Beast’s origins began as high school friends who connected through their love of music. “It was a very small school, which was even funnier how we were all into the same music,” says Garcia. “It was just kind of a coincidence.”
This coincidental connection eventually found the group putting their musical minds to work as Feed the Beast began composing its material just before the COVID era struck in early 2020. After the pause, Feed the Beast soon booked themselves a busy self-release schedule with a handful of singles, the Vengeance album in 2022, and 2023’s EP, Silhouettes.
With Trujillo and Chavez leaving to focus on other projects (Trujillo plays in Suicidal Tendencies, filling his father Robert’s spot that became available when he joined Metallica, while Chavez plays with OTTTO), Hutchinson and Garcia retooled the lineup, recruiting new band members Julian Lincona (bass) and Billy Greenwood (drums) to support Mercy, which is slated for a release on Futureless in May 2025.
Mercy’s first single is ‘Tombs Underneath the Tombs,’ of which Hutchinson says is about “being content with and even embracing hell, which is a fate worse than hell itself. It takes on the perspective of an incredibly narcissistic individual who believes they are smarter and stronger than everyone, including creation itself.” Additional singles from Mercy include ‘Exorcism’ (which Hutchinson describes as “the most hopeful song of the first four singles”) and ‘Unjustified’.
Magic Wands is a dark pop duo originally formed in Nashville by guitarists and vocalists Dexy and Chris Valentine. Now based in Los Angeles, they are known for their shimmering and dreamy sound, which incorporates elements of shoegaze, dream pop, post-punk and goth. Heavily textured guitars, synth drones and ethereal vocals are combined in their songs to conjure an otherworldly atmosphere.
‘Moonshadow’ is the title track of a forthcoming album due out in the early summer on Metropolis Records. “It is a raw and introspective song about travelling at night on an underground train and how you can’t escape yourself or your own shadow,” explains Dexy Valentine.
‘Moonshadow’ follows ‘Hide’ and ‘Armour’ (both issued in 2024) as the third song to be lifted from the new album.
AA
Magic Wands will be supporting labelmates The Birthday Massacre on a North American tour prior to the release of the ‘Moonshadow’ album. Dates are as follows:
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 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 3rd May TORINTO, ON Velvet Underground 4th May MONTREAL, QC Foufounes
Swedish electronic environmentalists TWICE A MAN present the track ‘Birds Eye View’ as the first advance single taken from their forthcoming new full-length The Coloured Breeze Is a New Dimension. The highly anticipated album has been scheduled for release on June 13, 2025.
TWICE A MAN comment: “Overview can light sparks in the place where your roots are waiting”, guitarist and vocalist Dan Söderqvist writes on behalf of the band. “If you follow the time you can destroy the eradicating wheels of commerce. Don’t drown yourself in pretended sleep! There is a common knot that must be untied. Our thoughts are the light and nature sings our lullabies.”
AA
While the skies of the world are darkening, something powerful and resilient is pushing from below through the pungent springtime topsoil close to the City of Göteborg in Sweden. This sprout that is charged with organic and electric energy bears the name The Coloured Breeze Is a New Dimension. TWICE A MAN planted its seed with the song ‘Dahlia’, a ‘new’ track that was written to complement the compilation album Songs of Future Memories.
For three years, the Swedish dark electronic trio fertilised and nurtured the germ bud until it had taken firm root in their musical heritage and began to send offshoots to find new sonic spots beyond any previously built garden walls. The Coloured Breeze Is a New Dimension is an organic entity that creates something new by re-combining its musical DNA in various ways. As a result, its tracks blossom in many hues of electronic colours.
SUMAC and Moor Mother share the new piece ‘Hard Truth’, taken from their upcoming work The Film, to be released on April 25th. The piece highlights how inscrutably bold their collaboration is, invoking a haunting vocal melody atop burbling electronics and a density of distorted pulses, the throb accentuated by tactile scrapes. As a mere hint to what is contained within the album’s labyrinthian scope, the piece is brimming with the subtle, yet boundless creativity that the ensemble explores across the album.
The Film’s moniker speaks to the fact that it is conceived and delivered as a complete album, a full story or narrative. Moor Mother puts it best: “The idea is to create a moment outside of the convention. This is a work of art. Thinking about the work as a Film, instead of an album or a collection of songs. This task is impossible in an industry that wants to force everything into a box of consumption. You won’t understand or get the full picture until the artwork is completed. This work is developing and is requesting more agency within the creative process.”
The Film does have clear themes running throughout – again Moor Mother expounds: “the themes are universal in nature – land – displacement – the climate – human rights and freedoms – war and peace – the idea of running away from the many violent forces and horrific systems of man and empire.”
"people person" is a new song from mclusky which they are sharing today. there’s also a video directed by remy lamont which you can watch below if you like.
this follows their recent announcement of mclusky’s first album in 20 years; the world is still here and so are we (9th may, ipecac recordings).
andrew falkous says; "people person is the song that gave me tinnitus, so asking me about it is really cruel. it’s probably about being overwhelmed by the world because that’s what all of our songs are about."
as the song itself says; a lot of people like to be wise after the event.
AA
it’s important to state that the world is still here and so are we is the fourth mclusky album (no qualification being needed). they had an asterisk next to the name for a bit – out of respect for past band members and the precious memorial glue of teenage musical crushes – but fuck that, in for a penny, in for a pound. lyrically it touches on subjects as rich and as varied as work-it-out-yourself and impenetrable-inside-joke-for-the-band, but one thing is clear, all of the songs have different words. all hilarious joking aside, the best songs are about things without being precisely about them. mclusky endorse this sentiment. they positively insist on it.
mclusky tour dates:
may 8 - wrexham, uk – the rockin’ chair may 16 – tourcoing, fr – le grand mix may 18 – brussels, be – les nuits botaniques (w/ the jesus lizard) may 23 – manchester, uk – gorilla may 24 - leeds, uk – brudenell may 25 – bearded theory festival show may 29 - london, uk – electric ballroom may 31 - bristol, uk – swx
jan 6, 2026 – melbourne, aus – corner hotel jan 9 – adelaide, aus – lion arts factory jan 10 – sydney, aus – factory theatre jan 11 – brisbane, aus – crowbar
tickets for all shows are on-sale now with links available via ipecac.com/tours.
The final song in a trilogy of time-related experimental tracks, ‘Mnemosyne’ incorporates an original song – recorded in Mayfair Studios, London, in 1975 – into poetic musings, and haunting atmospherics, dwelling on nostalgia and false memory.
Electro-industrial band, THE FAIR ATTEMPTS have unveiled their latest single: the hauntingly cinematic, ‘Apart’.
‘Apart’ is a collaboration with renowned producer, Jaani Peuhu who also contributed vocals to the track. The single fuses melancholic depth with pulsating beats, creating a sonic landscape destined for gothic club nights and introspective moments alike.
‘Apart’ is a darkly captivating dance between sorrow and regret—a raw exploration of the human condition set against a driving industrial rhythm. Equal parts emotionally charged and dance floor-ready, it captures the essence of deep introspection while inviting listeners to move to its beat.
Imagine yourself adorned in grief, yet swaying in sync to a parade of emotions. That’s the soul of ‘Apart’. THE FAIR ATTEMPTS founding member, Timo Haakana explains. “I’ve carried my sorrow like a crown. There’s a certain elegance with it and I think we tapped into that feeling with our producer, Jaani."
Finnish stoner rock power trio KAISER has just dropped a brand-new music video for ‘Brotha’, a standout track from their crushing second album, 2nd Sound, released March 7, via Majestic Mountain Records.
Building on the raw, riff-fueled foundation of their debut, KAISER pushes their sound further into heavy, groove-laden territory, delivering thick, blues-soaked riffs, thundering rhythms, and soaring melodies that land somewhere between Kyuss, Sleep, and early Clutch.
Aural Aggravation 