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Watch: ‘Frames – Live in Paris’ by HamaSaari

Posted: 5 July 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: 2026 UK tour dates, Europe tour dates, Festivals, Gazpacho, HamaSaari - Frames - Live at Le Petit Bain, Klonosphere, music video, Paris, Pictures, progressive rock, Stream

French progressive rock outfit HamaSaari have shared a stunning live performance video for ‘Frames’, one of the standout tracks from their acclaimed sophomore album Pictures, released earlier this year via Klonosphere.

Captured at the iconic Le Petit Bain in Paris during the band’s recent European tour supporting Norwegian progressive rock veterans Gazpacho, the video showcases HamaSaari at their most accomplished, translating the cinematic atmosphere of the studio recording into a powerful live performance. The footage was filmed by Pascal Van Beurden and edited by guitarist Jordan Jupin.

Reflecting on the experience, the band comment: “Le Petit Bain, floating on the Seine, is one of those Parisian venues with a soul all its own. Playing that stage, in that setting, felt like something special. That’s where we laid down ‘Frames’ that night, on our date with Gazpacho. We were already a week into the tour by then, well drilled, and it was their team, Pascal on sound and Jael on lights, who had our backs that night. It made for such a comfortable show. They even let us play one extra song, a gesture that really touched us. We’d also like to thank Lena Hemp (Uxcr Official / Hemp Prod) for capturing the footage and letting us loose in the edit room. And thank you to everyone who was there and shared that beautiful night with us.”

Their latest album, Pictures, expands upon the foundations laid by their debut Ineffable, exploring themes of perception, memory, mythology, dreams, and the invisible boundaries between reality and imagination. Rich in atmosphere and emotional nuance, the album invites listeners to reflect on the images we choose to preserve, the stories we inherit, and the beliefs that shape who we are.

Fresh from touring alongside Gazpacho, HamaSaari will continue bringing Pictures to audiences across Europe throughout the year, with appearances at clubs and festivals in France, Germany, and the UK. Check out the confirmed dates below:

04.07 — Holzbunge, DE — Woodbunge Festival
16.07 — Lille, FR — High Voltage Bar
17.07 — London, UK — The Camden Club
18.07 — Abingdon, UK — Prog For Peart Festival
19.07 — Manchester, UK — The Peer Hat
21.07 — Middlesbrough, UK — Café Etch
22.07 — Nottingham, UK — Mist Rolling Inn
25.07 — Xanten, DE — Rhine Ent . Festival
29.08 — Tresboeuf, FR — La Charrue Festival
17.09 — Nantes, FR — Prog Night (la carriere)
14.10 — Lyon, FR — Rock N’ Eat
24.10 — Amiens, FR — La Filature

TATV GRAL – Treachery EP

Posted: 5 July 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
Tags: beats, Chicago, Chris Vrenna, Coil, Daniel Myer, dark, Darkwave, goth, Haujobb, Industrial, NIN, Nine INch Nails, Remixes, Review, synth, Tatv Gral, Techno, Treachery EP, [melter]

Christopher Nosnibor

Active since the mid-nineties, Chicago’s TATV GRAL (tätü ’gräl) are an industrial-leaning dark synth act, the vehicle of Allen Addington, and one very much represents the seedy, sleazier, grindier aspect of the scene. As they put it, ‘Forged in shadow, shaped by archetypal psychology, the gay male gaze, and the ritual power of containment’, and the songs in their catalogue are abrim with hints of fleshly sensuousness and dark desires pitched alongside pulsating beats.

The Treachery EP offers four versions of ‘Treachery’ – the original, plus remixes by DSTR (Daniel Myer of Haujobb), Tweaker (Chris Vrenna of NIN), and fellow Chicago industrial outfit [melter]. These are some names to be reckoned with, making this a significant release for TATV GRAL, making several steps up the ladder, so to speak. And it flexes some muscles, too.

In terms of context, there’s a fair bit to this, from Hellenistic astrology to the psychology of James Hillman, we learn that ‘the song places these symbolic forces in dialogue with Coil’s ritual electronics, Kenneth Anger’s astrologically timed film work, and the Jungian tradition that informs them.’ Thankfully, knowledge of all of this is not a requirement when it comes to appreciating the song or the EP. But add to this the fact that Addington requested the project’s collaborators to not simply remix the track, but to draw out an emotional aspect not present – or at least, not explicitly conveyed – in the original, and it’s yielded some interesting results, which take it beyond the standard remix EP – thankfully. It’s a format that tends to feel lazy, delegating creative responsibility to others and milking material for all its worth and more, and more often than not I find I’m bored shitless of hearing the same song back to back to back with bigger beats or more bass or synth and stretched out over double the duration of the original… after Nine Inch Nails released Fixed, the remix EP had reached not only its peak, but its limit, as far as I’m concerned.

There are, of course, some exceptions, and this is one of them.

In its initial iteration, ‘Treachery’ grinds along, breathy, suggestive, with a pumping groove and with hints of DAF and Man 2 Man and Depeche Mode circa Black Celebration in the mix, and as when listening to ‘Stripped’, it’s hard to decide of you need a wank or a shower most.

The DSTR Remix is the longest of the three, adding almost a whole minute to the running time, and accentuating the heavy grinding bass synth and altering the vocals by downtuning them. The effect is weird, filthy, and vaguely menacing. The [melter] mix is all about the stomping beat and feels more aggressive, sweatier, more muscle-flexing. The arrival of the Tweaker Remix is well-timed, being altogether sparser, more minimal, and more expansive, picking apart the components and introducing significant space. You might say it’s less techno and more industrial, but whatever you say, it’s a dramatic shift in interpretation, and it works well.

Watch: ‘Head’ by Suffering Quota

Posted: 3 July 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: 7 Degrees Records, Grindcore, Head, Single, Sisyphean Life, Stream, Suffering Quota, Tartarus Records, Video

After fifteen years of relentless sonic punishment, Dutch grindcore outfit Suffering Quota return with Sisyphean Life, their fourth full-length album and their most conceptually ambitious and sonically uncompromising work to date. The album will be released on September 25 via a collaboration between 7 Degrees Records and Tartarus Records.

To mark the announcement, the band have recently dropped the album’s first single, ‘Head, accompanied by a video that premiered via Invisible Oranges, who described the track as: “Whiplash tempo changes ultimately send this roiling edifice crashing down into a miserable avalanche of suffocating grind shrapnel. Razor-sharp production gives ‘Head’ a level of sonic depth and power that further illuminates the song’s fierce, desperate energy.”

The band had this to say about this new track: “For me, this was the first song where the full concept began to click. I was going through a period of complete lack of motivation or desire, where the days seemed to blur into one another without a clear beginning or end. ‘Head’ became a frantic reflection of that state of mind and ultimately encapsulates everything the album is about.”

For more than fifteen years, Suffering Quota have carved out their own space within the European grindcore underground, crafting music that values tension, power, and physical impact over excess. Their songs are not merely fast or abrasive; they are deliberately oppressive, built around repetition, density, and an overwhelming sense of momentum that mirrors the emotional and psychological pressures of everyday life.

Inspired by the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus, Sisyphean Life examines the endless cycles that define the human experience. Like the mythical king condemned to push a boulder uphill for eternity, the album reflects on depression, monotony, and the perpetual search for fleeting moments of relief, only to find oneself back at the beginning. Rather than offering catharsis, Suffering Quota embraces the uncomfortable truth that some struggles are destined to repeat themselves.

Watch: ‘Departure’ by Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree

Posted: 1 July 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree, Departure, In Between Strides, Magnetic Eye Records, Official Visualizer, Post Rock, shoegaze rock, Single, Stream

BEES MADE HONEY IN THE VEIN TREE drop the first advance single, ‘Departure’, from their fourth album In Between Strides. The forthcoming new full-length by the German shoegaze rockers has been slated for release on September 18, 2026.

Bees Made Honey comment: “’Departure’ was the first song that we wrote for In Between Strides”, frontman Simon Weinrich reveals. “It was by far the hardest song to write for this record. It exemplifies our struggle of finding out where to go next after Aion. It was clear from the start that we wanted to go into a more melodic direction and more straightforward songs compared to our previous album. The second part of the song started as a separate composition, but we added it later since it is a nice conclusion of the first part. Our first demo of the second part was recorded at a studio near Passau. This is where the inclusion of a Fender Rhodes piano played through our regular guitar-setup stems from. It began as an experiment and was later re-recorded at Milberg Studios. Lyrically, ‘Departure’ portrays the first step and point of departure for our journey beyond our old ways of working. We recorded each song without knowing what the next one was going to sound like.”

Watch: ‘Aux inutiles’ my Mourir

Posted: 30 June 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: Aux inutiles, black metal, Mourir, music video, Nous le venin, Pelagic Records, Single, Stream

French quartet Mourir release their second full-length studio album, Nous, le venin, this summer via Pelagic Records. Their forward-thinking take on black metal and uncompromising approach to their work marks them out as ones to watch when they present this new material live at festivals across Europe including Hellfest, Rock In Bourlon and Resurrection festival in the months to come.

Ahead of the release of their new album Mourir, have shared 3rd single ‘Aux inutiles’, which according to the band, “Pays tribute to those who live out of sync — the sick, the depressed, the ones who see too clearly. It is the cry of those whom modern society casts into the shadows, consumed by such deep self-depreciation that it eventually destroys them. The track reflects the depression inherent to a disillusioned West — the weariness of living in a world saturated with meaning yet stripped of genuine emotion.Musically, it is more direct, fast-paced, intense, and filled with frustration. It conveys urgency and inner turmoil.”

With a demo, an album and an experimental EP to their name, the four-piece retreated to the studio at the end of 2025 to write the music for Nous, le venin. Recorded in January 2026 with Amaury Sauvé (Birds in row, Igorrr, Pneu) at The Apiary Studio in Laval, France, the six tracks are the very embodiment of Mourir’s approach to black metal. Although they draw inspiration from many artists in the old-school black metal world, they opted to lean into a more modern sound – one that would allow the depth of their sonic choices to shine. Blending elements of sludge and post-metal to the rawness of their black metal sound, and combining this with a mix that gives space to both the low frequencies and the high-octane viscerality, Mourir have created something both distinctive and captivating, which is demonstrated on epic first single and album title track, ‘Nous, le venin’.

Thematically, the band turns their detached gaze towards an ever-more untethered modern society, one that is inhospitable to those seeking meaning in the cruelty and absurdity of a seemingly senseless world. Yet within these tracks exists slivers of light, of hope and of luminosity – a belief that something better is possible is woven throughout the melodic passages and most celestial, ecstatic elements of their sound. The evocative cover art by Thomas Davezac captures the feeling of disconnection that permeates the album.

Mourir have recorded an album that cements their place among underground greats who deftly eschew the nostalgic trappings of black metal convention and breathe new life into the genre. Nous, le venin is imbued with raw emotion that is perfectly complemented by stylistic choices that echo the sentiment of being freed from the chains of the past.

Nous, le venin by Mourir will be released via Pelagic Records on 10th July.

Mourir by Jodie Roszak

Watch: ‘Deeds Define’ by Boneripper

Posted: 26 June 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: Agnostic Front, Boneripper, Deeds Define, metallic hardcore, Official music video, Radiant in Ruin, Single, Stream

Northern Netherlands metallic hardcore outfit Boneripper unveils music video for “Deeds Define,” the final preview from their upcoming second record, Radiant in Ruin, set for release this Friday, 26 June, on vinyl and CD as well as across digital platforms.

Says Boneripper: “‘Deeds Define’ is about choosing action over empty words. In a world full of noise, outrage, and endless debate, it reminds us that character is built by what we do — not what we claim to believe. Instead of arguing about what a good person should be, this song calls for leading by example and living your values every day. Because in the end, truth is not spoken — it is lived.”

Boneripper’s Radiant in Ruin stares straight into the current world, a world full of corruption, violence, environmental collapse, and social fracture. It calls out power structures, hypocrisy, and collective denial, but keeps circling back to the idea that survival isn’t granted, it’s chosen. It’s bleak, but not passive: more a warning shouted through clenched teeth than a lament, standing against oppression and refusing to break under pressure.

Boneripper will play Hostile Territory, a benefit festival in Dordrecht, on 26 June. A record release show in Leeuwarden is scheduled for 3 July, followed by an appearance supporting Agnostic Front in Rotterdam on 5 July. In addition, a slew of shows are lined up for this year.

Boneripper Band Photo by Daan Schaaf

Watch: ‘Super Rebound’ by 30,000 Monkies

Posted: 25 June 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: 000 Monkies, 30, champagnemetal, music video, Noise Rock, Post-Metal, Repetition, Riff, Single, Sludgy, Stream, Super Rebound, visualizer

Belgium’s most unpredictable noise-rock troublemakers 30,000 Monkies are back. On September 18, the Beringen quartet will release Super Rebound, a new full-length album that finds the band pushing their self-described ‘champagnemetal’ philosophy further than ever before: louder, heavier, stranger, and surprisingly uplifting.

To mark the announcement, the band have dropped a visualizer video for the album’s title track and lead single, ‘Super Rebound’. Watch it here:

A seven-minute barrage of repetition, momentum, and sheer force, the track perfectly captures the spirit of the album. Built around a hypnotic riff that refuses to let go, ‘Super Rebound’ gradually mutates into a runaway freight train of energy, feeding on frustration and accelerating toward cathartic release.

The band comments: “We like watching monster action movies where large creatures of all sorts punch each other in the face, rewinding again and again and again to enjoy the impact and associated audiovisual spectacle. That is exactly what we were doing in between recording and listening to takes at GAM studios when we were recording this album. Clearly, some of that translated into what the song sounds like.”

“Once we were playing the main repetitive riff we didn’t see why we should stop. We hope the listeners feel the same way!”

Photo: Ben van Heesch

Watch: ‘The Cringe’ by Cor de Lux

Posted: 24 June 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: alt rock, Cor de Lux, Ipecac Recordings, music video, Single, Stream, The Cringe, YEAR OF THE HORSE

Cor de Lux, the unorthodox alt-rock foursome from North Carolina’s outerbanks, who recently announced their signing to Ipecac Recordings, release their label debut, the J. Robbins-produced YEAR OF THE HORSE, on 18th September.

A preview of the nine-song album arrives today with ‘The Cringe’ and its accompanying video. The snarling single charges forward at full blast before veering into an atmospheric passage where the intertwined guitars of Dawn Moraga and Tim Lusk drift into haunting territory.

Moraga says of the track: “Living in a developing country really engraved in my heart about knowing what is important and what is not,” referencing her time abroad in Nicaragua. “Materialism fades like bad jeans. The exploitation of the poor to make the rich richer makes my blood boil.”

Bass player John Bliven adds: “’The Cringe’ explains our disdain of the billionaire ‘elite’ and the system that keeps them rapidly gaining. ‘I make a dollar a day’ refers to CEOs giving themselves a tiny salary while obtaining massive share value. Those shares aren’t taxed unless sold, and even then, that tax rate is less than the income tax everyone else pays.”

Watch the video here:

Produced by J. Robbins (War on Women, Mary Timony), YEAR OF THE HORSE captures Cor de Lux’s competing impulses: abrasion and melody. Atmosphere and momentum, chaos and control. Across nine songs, the Kill Devil Hills quartet balances post-hardcore urgency, shoegaze bliss, and guitar-driven catharsis. Recorded with Robbins, the album preserves the raw chemistry that defines the band while pushing their songwriting into sharper, more immediate territory.

YEAR OF THE HORSE is available for pre-order now with the album available on multiple limited vinyl variants (including a hyper-limited Bandcamp exclusive swirl vinyl and Ipecac/Cor de Lux orange effect vinyl), standard black vinyl, cassette, CD, and digitally.

Long before joining Ipecac Recordings, Cor de Lux was creating their own ecosystem in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a place better known for wind, water, and distance than as an indie-rock launchpad. That outsider geography shaped them. There was no shortcut to visibility and no industry machine waiting nearby. So they did what bands do: they wrote songs, played hard, released music themselves, and kept going.

The group, Dawn Moraga (vocals/guitar), Tim Lusk (vocals/guitar), John Bliven (bass), and drummer Jacob Richardson, first introduced their sound on their self-titled 2020 release, followed by Mediain 2023. Across both records, Cor de Lux established a voice rooted in tension and movement: post-hardcore urgency, shoegaze atmosphere, guitar-centered unpredictability, and the chemistry that only comes from musicians learning each other in real time.

That chemistry is the band’s engine. Since their outset, the musicians have stayed true to their belief of creating art without ego. Preferring to arrive at rehearsals willing to chase ideas rather than dictating marching orders, their songs are born out of spontaneity letting each members’ skillset share equal space in the spotlight. As Moraga explains, the band will usually plug in and start jamming on a fresh idea before rehearsing their established set. Often, it will be a dead end road, but on special occasions it will cause them to scramble to get it recorded. “Usually once or twice a month we will hit on something and go ‘oh no, not another new song,’” says Moraga with a laugh.

YEAR OF THE HORSE sounds like a band that earned every inch of its growth. Cor de Lux has been building from the margins: hauling gear, making records on their own terms, and forging community one show at a time. Now, with the reach of Ipecac Recordings behind them, they arrive not as newcomers, but as something rarer: a fully formed band entering its next chapter.

Photo credit: Jordan Olivia Howell

The Pixel Rain – Last

Posted: 23 June 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
Tags: A Sense of Danger, anthemic, contemplative, electronica, industrial rock, Last, Post-Punk, Review, Single, social commentary, Synth Pop, The Pixel Rain

18th June 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

‘Death is following us’, Áron Siegler warns at the start of, and throughout ‘Last’, the new single from Southeast London act The Pixel Rain. Hungarian-born songwriter and project founder Siegler has spent the last three years evolving a sound which draws on industrial rock, post punk, synth-pop and electronic music, and now, in the run-up to the release of the debut album, A Sense of Danger, set for a September release, they serve up a tune that pitches the guitar up in the mix.

Of the song, Siegler says, “‘Last’ was born from my scorn for modern-day authority figures as I was picturing a world that these kinds of people are gonna leave behind. The song has a specific meaning for me as a Hungarian person but I always try to write lyrics universally, encouraging the audience to find their own stories in my songs”.

The timing of the release couldn’t be better, landing just a few short days before the resignation of UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer, after less than two years in the position. The media – online, in print, and on TV – is frothing with speculation, of course, while much is also being made of his legacy. It’s remarkable how a leader so insipid could be so divisive – but certainly, under his leadership, the government has done no favours to the trans community, migrants, or those with disabilities, or civil liberties in general, particularly when it comes to protesting the genocide in Gaza, which he still maintains is simply Israel defending itself. What kind of world is he leaving behind? What of his predecessors, and what – just what? – of Trump?

Death is indeed following us – and it’s stalking us digitally, through social media, through AI. One might be forgiven for feeling paranoid.

The production of ‘Last’ forges a sonic density which encapsulates that inescapable tension. The band cite The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Horrors as sonic inspirations in addition to their usual electronic touchstones, and it may allude vaguely to Automatic in form, but I’d say it lands more in the domain of Interpol intersecting with Depeche Mode – although that’s by no means a bad thing. The guitars are mixed quite smooth and soaring, and the song is imbued with an anthemic feel, while propelled by an insistent beat, and the chorus is prominent and dominant. If the rest of the album matches this standard of songwriting, it’s destined for success.

Áron Siegler by Evelina Kloimova

Watch: ‘Heimaland’ by Maunah

Posted: 23 June 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: Doom, Expansive, Heimaland, Hjarta, Maunah, Official music video, Prophecy Productions, Single, Stream

Up-and-coming Nordic doom adventurers MAUNAH unveil their first music video ‘Heimaland’ (‘Homeland’) as the first advance single taken from their forthcoming debut full-length Hjarta ("Heart"). The Danes’ first album has been scheduled for release on September 18, 2026.

MAUNAH comments: “To us, ‘Heimaland’ feels like a signature track for Maunah that captures our urge to let beauty and doom coexist”, vocalist Søren Sol Koldsen-Zederkof muses. “The song carries the feeling of belonging to a place, but it also reflects the more difficult search for a home within oneself. We have lived with ‘Heimaland’ for a long time, shaping and fine-tuning the song until it finally became as it is now. We are deeply excited to finally release it into the world and hope that you will like it as much as we do!”

How on earth can any debut album sound as complete and sophisticated as Hjarta from Danish doom newcomers MAUNAH? How can a band that seemingly just appeared out of the blue deliver such a modern doom metal masterpiece?

Valid questions. The answer lies in the fact that although it is technically correct to label MAUNAH as a new band, the truth is that the members are veterans of the Danish rock, folk, and metal scenes.

MAUNAH’s popular frontman, Søren Sol Koldsen-Zederkof, has toured extensively with the beloved Nordic folk band KRAUKA, and he has also released several critically acclaimed albums under the artist’s name LOS. His fellow musicians come with experience as well. Guitarist Mads MP Laursen has, for example, played guitar with IRONGUARD and ENCYRCLE.

As it turns out, the chemistry was just right. All the stars aligned – and remarkable talent, fresh musical ideas as well as mature songwriting flowed together naturally in MAUNAH. The positive interaction of the band members became the catalyst for an alchemical transformation that turned music into sonic gold.

Although the roots of Hjarta reach deep into the melodic Scandinavian doom tradition, there is so much more happening on this album. A dash of Nordic folk here, a pinch of modern metal there, which is boosted by renowned producer Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, MOONSPELL, HEAVEN SHALL BURN et al.) being responsible for recording the groove parts with the Danes’ rhythm section.

With each new spin, Hjarta keeps giving as MAUNAH have crammed their album with excellent ideas and layers of details. Yet the Danes have not fallen into the trap of drowning out their own ideas by wanting too much in too short of a time. Their songs are allowed to breathe, develop cinematic moments, and unfold, before sinking captivating hooks into the ears.
That MAUNAH are a perfect example of the notion that the sum can become greater than its parts was already audible on the band’s digital EP Heimaland, which came out on June 20, 2025. Enriched versions of the songs found their way onto the debut album.

Another element that sets MAUNAH apart from their peers in doom is the absence of a lexical language. The vocals are built on tone, feeling, and rhythm – in an echo of human speech. This creates a space for a more direct connection between vocals and music that reaches beyond the limits of rational language.

In the Danes’ own poetic words: “Maunah is the sound of despair and open skies. Maunah is leaves crunching underfoot, the cold of the forest floor seeping through the soles. And Maunah is the warmth of the sun on the face and oxygen filling the lungs. In the music, the cold of winter meets the summer warmth in the chest, where Maunah pumps blood through the body and music into the air.”

With Hjarta, MAUNAH offer a remarkable debut that goes well beyond the average and exceeds expectations. How far can these Danes get? Only time will tell!

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