sunn O)))
For nearly 30 years, SUNN O))) – Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson – have pushed the boundaries of heavy music,straddling the worlds of the avant-garde and rock to forge a style instantly recognisable as their own.Now, SUNN O))) return with their first album of new material since 2019’s acclaimed Pyroclasts. Their tenth album –their debut for new label Sub Pop – demonstrates the duo’s mastery of time and space, light and dark, and theirwillingness to evolve their unmistakable sound into bold new forms.The eponymously titled SUNN O))) was tracked at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, Washington with Brad Wood(HuM, Tar, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair). This location would prove crucial to the recording process.“The vast tracking room had big windows looking out on trees,” says O’Malley. “We could go hiking and be out in thewoods, spend time outdoors. That became a big part of it.”“It was very inviting and very comfortable there,” adds Anderson. “There was no stress, no worry about the timelineor anything like that. We just let ourselves go, and let the music come out.”“On this album for the first time all of the instrumentation was performed by Greg and I,” says O’Malley. “All of therecords have our leadership and direction, of course, but this time around, it was almost like this crucible of ideas thatwas really at the core of what we’ve been doing.”Recording exclusively as a duo should not be interpreted as SUNN O))) limiting or restricting themselves. To thecontrary, it has opened up new possibilities for their music.The six compositions on SUNN O))) are expansive and panoramic yet finely detailed, reflecting the arboreal setting inwhich they were recorded. Opener “XXANN” enters with howling feedback before crunching into what might at firstseem familiar territory – until one registers the sound of water trickling beneath. “Mindrolling” likewise incorporatesfield recordings, as does “Glory Black”, which in addition introduces piano, by turns sonorous and delicate, into themix, lending the already formidable piece a hushed, solemn feel. The Newcastle-forged originators of black metal geta shout out in the title of “Does Anyone Hear Like Venom?” which seems to position Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon asdeep listeners, attuned to their Tyneside surroundings in much the same way as SUNN O))) are to the forest enfoldingBear Creek Studios. Throughout the album, the interplay between O’Malley and Anderson attains fresh heights oftelepathic intensity as they shape a music that itself breathes the bracing, earthy air of the Pacific Northwest.In October 2025 SUNN O))) released the first fruit of a new deal with celebrated US label Sub Pop in the form of a maxi12” featuring “Eternity’s Pillars”, “Raise The Chalice” and “Reverential” – three monumental tracks from the samesessions that produced the new album. The alliance with Sub Pop makes perfect sense, as Anderson explains.“We decided that we should approach Sub Pop, after I’d had some great conversations with Jonathan Poneman,” hesays. “So I called him up and before I could get the words out of my mouth, he said, ‘We’d love to do it. Tell me whatyou guys need.’ He was really excited and supportive.”All of which adds up to a fully immersive experience, uniting sound, word and visual into something that is undeniably,completely SUNN O)))
Chasing Chance
In January 2019, two Omaha-based bands crumbled. In the vacuum that followed, two members of those fallen bands, John Faist (drums) and Parker Cundall (vocals/energy), reached out to Drake Rader (left guitar) with a goal: create a 5-piece band that simultaneously could be played on radio stations around the world and would not compromise the quality of music each of the members wanted. Their collective vision was one of thousands of fans screaming their lyrics back at them. Thus, Chasing Chance was born. Each of the members wanted so badly for this to be a reality that they patiently wrote music for the entire year while waiting for the right band members to join their cause. As they built up enough material for their first EP, they found time and again that potential band members did not share their commitment – did not share their energy – did not share their vision on what their music should be. After trying out several guitarists, frustration began to set in and they considered a number of paths forward to include biting the bullet and keeping Drake alone on guitar. Enter Robert Klingsporn (right guitar). Having just left a musical project into which he had poured 4 years of his life, he was hesitant to begin anew with band mates that he did not trust. He decided to try out on a whim and reached out to John, with whom he had played shows in previous musical ventures. After seeing the material Chasing Chance had written and after seeing the (frankly) alarming amount of commitment they had, he decided that this was a project worth investing in, and joined on as the second guitarist. The band still lacked a dedicated bassist, though, and despite the band championing to all their musician friends, they found it difficult to find one with both skill and commitment. Enter Pat Austin: Pat is a seasoned musician who was out astray looking for the right fit for such an awesome talent. Pat was introduced to the band when he saw Chasing Chance play their first show. Pat was a later addition, added to the line up after Chasing Chance’s first public outing. CC had a fill in bassist (good friend to the band, Gabriel Prado), but was still looking for someone to fill the position permanently. Pat reached out the band, auditioned, became the best member of the band…the rest is history. Characterized by a sonic hurricane of powerful, pop-punk influenced guitar and drums, Chasing Chance’s music is tempered by catchy vocal melodies that leave listeners humming the songs for days afterwards. One thing is for sure: their music burns with an unerring and infectious passion that will leave you begging for more. Chasing Chance is a band about energy; the band members thrive on feeling music — on thundering drums, chanting vocals, and bass so heavy it shakes your chest. Live shows should be a perfect and elegant performance, not a rote presentation of what you hear on the radio. What better place to experience that with us than at a gig?
Snooze
Snooze: happy heavy mathy band from Chicago Spotify | Instagram | Facebook
Crazy & the Brains
Crazy & the Brains is an American punk band. The band was originally Chrisoph Jesus’ solo project at The Sidewalk Cafe in New York, New York in 2013 (though most of the members are originally from Bayonne, New Jersey). They have toured with Gogol Bordello,The Bouncing Souls, The Bridge City Sinners, Days N Daze, Negative Approach, & The Slackers. Vice has compared them to Rancid and The Ramones. Earlier press also made mention of their use of xylophone in songs, referring to them as “xylo-punks” and noting ” There aren’t a whole lot of punk bands that feature the xylophone”
Ungoliant
Ungoliant – Ungoliant is a 4-piece black metal band from Omaha, NE. Formed in 2018, they have been bringing an old-school black metal approach to venues across the Midwest, opening for bands such as Warbringer, Uada, Panzerfaust, Jungle Rot, Hulder, and more. https://ungoliantamerica.bandcamp.com/VolsungaSaga – Pagan/Viking/Folk Metal from St Paul, MNhttps://volsungasaga.bandcamp.com/Rahvn – Blackened death metal from St Cloud, MNhttps://rahvn.bandcamp.com/Manson Lamps – Bog sludge doom stoner rock from Omaha feat. former members of Orpheus, Scabby Ghouls & Super Moon!https://www.facebook.com/people/Manson-Lamps/61571125720677/
Subhumans
Subhumans are one of the most influential bands from the UK Anarcho-Punk scene of the 80’s, filed right alongside Crass and Conflict, and just as relevant today as they were during the darkest days of Thatcher’s Britain. Take your choice in how to label them – Punk, UK82, Crusty, etc, – there lies the attraction and consequent reason for their popularity, the band epitomizes non-conformity and connects with people in many different scenes. Forming in 1980, recording and releasing a series of live and demo cassette tapes on their own Bluurg label, they continued to release music throughout the 80’s – building a powerhouse of a back catalog that completely stands the test of time. Their debut LP ‘The Day the Country Died’ (1983), with its Orwellian influence, is considered by many to be a classic and has sold in excess of 100,000 copies. The second album, ‘From the Cradle to the Grave’, came swiftly the following year (1984), and although the same frenetic pace is in evidence, this marks a significant musical development for the band. In 1985 Subhumans broke up, citing the usual musical differences, although they had managed to release a third, maybe ironically entitled, LP ‘Worlds Apart.’ A final EP was released posthumously in 1986, ‘29:29 Split Vision,’ a further demonstration of how far the band had come musically from their initial leanings. Dick Lucas subsequently joined Culture Shock and then formed political ska-punk band Citizen Fish in 1990, both bands releasing many albums, and still playing today. Subhumans had a couple of reunion shows in the nineties, before a more permanent return for the 21st century, including 2 major tours of the US, the first resulting in the ‘Live in a Dive’ LP. The Subhumans then released a further studio album in 2007, ‘Internal Riot,’ again on Bluurg Records. The band is still passionate and angry, illustrated by Dick saying “Being in a band is the source of most of my passion and drive! The live experience of sharing it with people keeps it ongoing, the release of anger, frustration and initially negative/destructive states of mind is a release from the downward spiral of keeping it all bottled up and it feels positive/constructive as a result.” The band have recently written ten new songs, which Pirates Press Records are thrilled to be releasing, and are embarking on a year of touring in both Europe and North America! First a split with The Restarts before a 12” of their own comes out in October of 2019! The social and political commentary of bands like Subhumans forged a path, along with their contemporaries, for punk to change lives and opinions around the world. Sadly the things they sang about forty years ago are largely just as important now, sometimes more so in an age of Trump and Brexit. We can’t wait to hear more of what they have to say about the current political climate, the immense imbalance of wealth and power, and the causes they hold near and dear to their hearts. — La Pobreska (ska/punk/hardcore from Los Angeles) https://www.instagram.com/lapobreska
Haunt
Haunt was originally formed by Trevor William Church as a musical project to be worked on alongside his existing band Beastmaker; the project was to take on a traditional metal sound as opposed to Beastmaker’s doom metal style. In 2017 Church wrote and recorded Haunt’s debut release, the extended play Luminous Eyes , with Daniel Wilson playing drums for the recording. It was first released digitally, as an independent release, but it later received physical releases from the Shadow Kingdom Records label. In 2018, Church wrote and recorded one single for Haunt, Ghosts . Later that same year, Haunt released their first full-length studio album, Burst into Flame . Daniel Wilson returned to play drums for the album, this time as an official band member. Joining Church and Wilson for the album were Matthew Wilhoit on bass and John Tucker on guitar. Both Wilson and Tucker would stay as permanent members, but Wilhoit would be replaced by Taylor Hollman on following releases. In 2019, Haunt released their second EP, ( Mosaic Vision ) their second studio album, ( If Icarus Could Fly ) and two split albums. ( A Fool’s Paradise / On the Streets Again and Sea of Dreams / The Crystal Temple ). The following year they released their third and fourth studio albums, titled Mind Freeze and Flashback respectively, as well as the Burst into Demos compilation.” Haunt has been featured on the cover of Decibel magazine (February 2020), featured in Rolling Stone magazine and has made numerous “top” lists, such as Rolling Stone’s top 20 metal albums of 2018 (with Haunt at number 12). The band has toured with Municipal Waste, and Toxic Holocaust as well as fellow metal travelers such as Hell Fire and Idle Hands. Haunt’s Spotify plays for 2020 reached 1 million streams. — Intranced (hard rock / heavy metal from Los Angeles) https://intranced.bandcamp.com/
Teenage Bottlerocket
They’ve toured the world countless times. They kept the leather jacket-and-Converse look alive through an increasingly neon landscape. They’ve written songs about KISS, Top Gun and Minecraft. Hell, they’ve even been on CNN a few times! Please welcome back to the spotlight Wyoming’s own…Teenage Bottlerocket! With more than 100 original songs already in their catalog, how does the band stay motivated when they’re eight records deep? “We’re always in competition with ourselves,” Carlisle explains. “The real competition is between me and Kody. It’s like, ‘You wrote a song that destroys everything else on this record. Let me try to do that to you real quick. How’s that feel?” And then he comes back and one ups me.“It’s all about the songs,” he continues. “The songs carry this record all the way. That’s not to say there are bad songs on our other records—we have a hard time releasing a shitty song. But these songs are especially great. You know ALL’s best-of record where Allroy is dissecting a musical note? I felt we kind of tapped into that record in a great way, not in a ‘Oh no, they’re experimental now!’ way. This is a Teenage Bottlerocket record through and through, but there’s a lot of hidden elements.” Carlisle’s pride about their latest album, Sick Sesh!, is obvious, but he’s not the only one who loves the album. “Fat Mike called me and said, ‘Hey, this is your best record,” Carlisle recalls. “I said, ‘Cool,thanks for noticing.’” Given that the band is already two decades old, however, is there any chance of the band slowing down? Carlisle shoots that idea down right away.“I want to have the best next 10 years,” the singer says. “We’ve grinded the grind. Now we get to actually enjoy being a band, and not think too much about different ways to try and ‘make it.’ We’re riding this wave we built ourselves. I wanna surf it for another 10 years.”Well there you have it: The three things in life you can always count on are death, taxes and Teenage Bottlerocket.
Archspire
Ticketless upgrade available at https://www.archspire.net/ Since 2009, Archspire has aimed to be one thing above all else: extreme. With their upcoming release Too Fast to Die, they’ve once again raised the bar for what extreme music can be. “We’re like a bit of meth in your cigarette,” says vocalist Oliver Rae Aleron, describing the band’s unhinged live show. “I think people don’t quite know how to describe what they’re hearing.” Now five albums deep, the band continues to push the limits of speed and virtuosity while somehow keeping a sharp focus on hooks. Their music sits on a knife’s edge of “too much,” and just when you think you’ve hit overload, they drop in a soaring melody or a meticulously crafted clean section long enough for you to breathe; before throwing you back into a rap-flow vocal assault or some of the fastest drumming you’ll ever hear. In 2025, Archspire announced their new drummer, Spencer Moore, marking a shift in the band’s trajectory. New blood brings new influences, and with the first single Carrion Ladder, they intend to show exactly how quickly he proved himself. “I had to step my game up fast to pull off the new material,” Spencer explains. “But once we started tracking, everything felt comfortable and natural.” Recorded in 2025, the album reunites the band with world-renowned producer Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Khemmis) for the third time. They locked themselves inside his Denver studio for several months, cutting out distractions and dedicating themselves entirely to the record. Too Fast to Die follows the critically acclaimed Juno Award winning Bleed the Future, and marks the band’s first fully independent release. Early in the writing process they chose to crowdfund the album, a strategy they’d used before; but nothing prepared them for the scale of what came next. They raised nearly $400,000 CAD in 30 days, blowing past their goal in under 24 hours and confirming that independence was the right move. “I was actually shaking when I pressed launch,” says guitarist Dean Lamb. “We’d never taken on something this big, and all I could think was, ‘man, I hope we don’t mess this up.’” Too Fast to Die is set for release on April 10, 2026, and represents a new chapter for Archspire. Now fully independent and armed with a revitalized lineup, they’re intent on expanding their already rabid fanbase, pushing the boundaries of extreme metal, and having a great time doing it.
Volumes
