A couple of friends of the site are bringing something quite new to Finland with Ankea Festival, to take place next summer in Tampere, giving a space for music that isn’t as much represented at festivals overall with a focus on alternative rock and progressive metal! The first dozen of names confirmed is already pretty impressive with Ihsahn, God Is An Astronaut, Oranssi Pazuzu, Kaelan Mikla, Green Carnation, Circle, A.A. Williams, Bruce Soord, Earthside, Ihlo, Vermilia and Virta!
Danish alt-metal visionaries MØL share new single & video “Young” from their upcoming album ‘Dreamcrush’, set for release in January 2026 via Nuclear Blast Records! After which you’ll find them on the road in Europe to bring the new album to you live!
Svalbard have released their very final song ‘If We Could Still Be Saved’ only days before their last UK tour, out with Nuclear Blast Records! 2026 will be your last chance catching these talented people live before they close the books…
Alcatraz Festival just gave us an early christmas present by adding 32 more bands to the 2026 lineup, making it almost complete with another nice selection of metal icons, underground greats, up-and-coming bands and artists from its own Belgian soil!
Last week, Belgian post-metal collective Juneau released their latest album ‘Scraps of the Final Lights’ digitally, but not before they shared a captivating video for the track ‘Observer’!
Post-doom project The Devil’s Trade has unveiled ‘Your Pieces Scattered’, the new single taken from upcoming album ‘Nincs Szennyezetlen Szép’, out next month with Pelagic Records!
Norwegian post-metal collective Monograf announced their new album ‘Occultation’ to be released in November via Overhead Productions and shared the single ‘The Prophet’!
Finnish Sonic Rites 2026 just got heavier and darker with the newly added Russian Circles, Pelican, OvO and Helsinki’s own Vestal Climax, joining an already stacked lineup!
The 18th edition of Alcatraz is shaping up to be historic with headliners Arch Enemy and Alestorm, legends like Soulfly, Saxon, Body Count, Rose Tattoo, extreme assaults from Immolation, Internal Bleeding, 200 Stab Wounds, Sanguisugabogg, and modern favorites like Kittie, Northlane, Animals As Leaders, The Ghost Inside.
We’re especially thrilled to see the Belgian flag flying high again with Channel Zero, Amenra, Enthroned, Psychonaut and Mantah on the bill. And let’s not forget our longtime Finnish favorites Luna Kills, making a big step onto the Alcatraz stage!
On top of that, the Prison Stage opens already on the Thursday for the first time ever, and day ticket prices are lower than 2025 right now!
Post-doom artist The Devil’s Trade has unveiled ‘The Sleep That Dragged You Away’, the powerful new single from the upcoming new album ‘Nincs Szennyezetlen Szép’, out in November via Pelagic Records!
Let The Answer Lies in the Black Void’s third album ‘Transcendental’ envelop you in an ethereal shroud of esoteric mystical doom. Out via Lay Bare Recordings.
Norwegian black metal outfit Vemod sets new prospective for its second album “The Deepening”. The album is recommended for fans of post-metal and shoegaze and influenced by bands like Alcest, out now via Prophecy Productions since last Friday.
On the sophomore album “Livslede” Sunken tackles the atmospheric style of black metal in a futuristic and unconventional way.
Listening to Psychonaut’s debut album is an emotional rollercoaster that ebbs and flows between psychedelic, atmospheric parts and grooving heavy sludgeness.
The founders of blackgaze, Alcest, are back with yet another opus!
Eindhoven power trio An Evening With Knives fuse psychedelia, punk and doom in thier latet effort “Fade Out.”
Last Of Us let their instruments do the talking on their latest release!
On the 8th of June Consouling Sounds is releasing a Split EP featuring both Soul Grip and VVOVNDS!
After a noisy instrumental interlude the music shifts towards a more shoegazy style that is not a million miles away from My Bloody Valentine or closer to home, Alcest, if you’d like.
Charnia is a young band from the counsouling sounds stable, they bring something new and refreshing with their blend of neo-classical compositions, post-rock and post-metal.
We caught up with Frayle at Alcatraz Festival 2025 to talk about their hauntingly beautiful new album ‘Heretics and Lullabies’ (out tomorrow with Napalm Records), the connection between artist and audience, and why walking through the dark is sometimes the only way to find the light.
We sat down with Svalbard at Alcatraz 2023 to have a chat about their new album ‘The Weight of the Mask’ (out October 6th via Nuclear Blast) and the importance of the mental illness topic on it, talking about what they would say to someone who struggles and what they hope the music could mean to their listeners.
A talk with Colin H. van Eeckhout about Amenra’s history, their music and playing shows.
