Op 11 maart berichtten we reeds dat Alissa White-Gluz de band Blue Medusa heeft opgericht, samen met Alyssa Day en Dani Sophia. Nu is het moment van de waarheid aangebroken en kun je met de nieuwe single Checkmate zelf bepalen wat je ervan vindt.
“This is a song where everything just clicked,” zegt White-Gluz. “Checkmate is an extremely cathartic song for me. It was created in one of those flow states where the lyrics and melodies and rhythms just write themselves and you get the feeling that you’re onto something powerful. It’s probably the heaviest thing I’ve written in terms of lyrics, and probably the lightest of what we have cooking in terms of sound. I wanted to share the intensity of these feelings with fans and give them something to hold onto. I’m so happy to see so much support for Blue Medusa already; fans can look forward to more dark, heavy, brutal and haunting music very soon.”
De Franse metallic hardcoreband Beyond The Styx heeft van het nieuwe album Divid, dat op 8 mei uitkomt, de tweede single online gezet.
Met Never Ending War behandelt BTSTYX de realiteit van de wereldconflicten en de overheden die het allemaal in stand houden. Over de single zegt zanger Emile :
“War has left me in a state of shock since I was a child… I have never understood, and I don’t think I ever will, in whose name or for what purpose we could possibly wish for the annihilation of our fellow human beings. What forces can truly operate in such a process?
One day, I had the idea to research how many armed conflicts were currently raging in the world… The ICRC estimates, according to its report, that there were approximately 130 armed conflicts worldwide in 2024 (more than half of them in Africa).
While my eyes were mainly fixed on the Eastern front, 128 conflicts whose existence I was unaware of were at work: killing, torturing, raping, starving, displacing, traumatizing, and taking millions of adults and children out of school across our world.”
“War is a massacre of people who don’t know each other, for the benefit of people who do know each other but don’t massacre each other,” Emile says, echoing French poet and essayist Paul Valéry.
He continues: “When we take a step back from the atrocity of the images, we realize that no conflict truly and lastingly affects any people without a real economic stake. And that’s precisely where the problem lies… How can my own country simultaneously promote ‘human rights’ and be the world’s second-largest arms exporter?
‘If you want war, prepare for peace’ is the adage of modern capitalism, which, under the pretext of wanting to protect everyone from the fear of war at all costs, ultimately pits people against each other for its own benefit: the interests of the market.
We spend our lives convincing ourselves that life is priceless, while the price of peace only increases. At a time when the number of armed conflicts worldwide seems to be at its highest level since 1946, wouldn’t it be better for the West to start trying to make peace within itself before attempting to make peace with the rest of the world?
Never!”
Multi-instrumentalist, producer en voorman van The Pineapple Thief, Bruce Soord heeft de nieuwe single/video Pillars uitgebracht. Het is de eerste single van het aankomende album Ghosts In The Park dat gepland staat voor 15 mei 2026.
Dit is zijn meest persoonlijke en openhartige werk tot nu toe: een album gevormd door verlies, herinnering en de stille momenten die zich openbaren wanneer het leven doorgaat terwijl alles om zich heen lijkt stil te staan.
Het album is geschreven over een periode van twee jaar, terwijl Soord uitgebreid op tournee was met The Pineapple Thief. Het ontstond in hotelkamers, onbekende steden en momenten van gedwongen eenzaamheid. Tegen deze achtergrond moest Soord de langdurige achteruitgang en uiteindelijke dood van zijn vader verwerken, evenals de voortschrijdende ziekte van Alzheimer bij zijn moeder. Deze ervaringen vormen de emotionele ruggengraat van Ghosts In The Park: verdriet in beweging, herinneringen die onvoorspelbaar opduiken en de stille vastberadenheid om door te gaan.
Zelf zegt hij over de nieuwe single/video:
“Excessive, damaging introspection, I guess is the theme of the song. I remember the day in my life when I was liberated from my god-fearing introspection. Only then could I see the damage it had done to me and was still doing to the people around me. The song is about that: the damage I have witnessed. It’s framed around religion and penance, but it’s not anti-religion, it’s about balance. Oh and the line about pillars. It’s a bit of a playful reference to Saint Simeon Stylites, a Christian ascetic from around 400 AD. Legend has it he perched on top of a pillar for 37 years, taking himself away from the world in order to dedicate his life entirely to prayer, fasting, and repentance. I thought it was quite apt.
I’ve been working with George Laycock from Blacktide Productions for years now, it’s incredible what he can do with his imagination and camera.”
Vanuit Nederland valt er ook genoeg te genieten. Twee topbands hebben in de afgelopen weken nieuw werk afgeleverd. Het inmiddels bekende en geweldige Changing Tides kwam met de nieuwe single To Exist Is Worth Nothing en Sugar Spine lanceerde The Coldness Of Your Absence als voorproefje op de nieuwe EP Soul Before Spirit.