SPEED have announced a 2026 Asian tour. Here’s the dates for that run:
05/26 Tokyo, JP – Antiknock
05/27 Osaka, JP – Beyond
05/28 Tokyo, JP – Huck Finn
05/30 Kawasaki, JP – Bloodaxe Festival
06/03 Taipei, TW – The Wall Live House
06/05 Shanghai, CN – TBA
06/06 Guangzhou, CN – TBA
06/07 Hong Kong, HK – Mom Livehouse
06/09 Manila, PH – Mandaluyong
06/10 Ho Chi Minh City, VN – Out The Run
06/12 Bangkok, TH – Mr Fox Livehouse
06/13 Kuala Lumpur, MY – TBA
06/14 Singapore, SG – Aliwal Arts Centre
Judge have announced some shows in Germany and the Netherlands. Here’s the dates:
06/06 Emmen, NET – Pitfest
06/07 Saarbrucken, GER – Sektor Heimat
06/08 Essen, GER – Turock
06/09 Hamburg, GER – Logo
06/10 Wiesbaden, GER – Schlachthof
06/11 Nurnberg, GER- Z Bau
06/12 Torgau, GER- Ain’t Like You
Lost Society have premiered a new video for their new song “Is This What You Wanted.” This track is from the band’s new album, “Hell Is A State Of Mind,” which will be released on March 6. Frontman Samy Elbanna said the following about the single:
“This song comes from the feeling when you’ve worked tirelessly for years on your dream to come true and come to life, and you have these sudden realisations of how many important moments you’ve missed and how big the sacrifices have been that you’ve made along the way. A truly bittersweet feeling, because in the end of the day – they’ve been necessary to ensure your focus on your dreams. Nonetheless, it hurts. This comes from the heart and we hope it speaks to you and makes you remember that your loved ones would always have hoped for you to go after your dreams.”
During an appearance on “Roisin O’Connor’s Good Vibrations” podcast, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine further discussed his political views. According to him, he’s “an independent,” who “votes for whoever’s the least of two evils, sometimes three.”
Mustaine said the following:
“I’m a very keen observer, and I probably see things very similar to the way you see things. But the world has developed into a place where if you’re somebody offering a product, it’s best for you not to talk about your political persuasion. We never used to do that. People never used to say who they voted for. It’s none of your goddamn business. And people think I’m a right-winger. I’m not. I’m an independent. I’ve voted for Democrats, I’ve voted for Republicans. I vote for whoever’s the least of two evils, sometimes three.”
He also added the following when asked why certain narratives get built around him:
“Well, I believe that people who get fired from Megadeth are bitter, whether it’s musicians or people who work in another area with the band. And it’s really easy to say bad stuff about me. You can ask anybody I work with… All you can do is show up and be the best person you can be. And my reputation will precede me, of course, but my character will remain. And I think a lot of people are finding out that a lot of the stuff they hear about me or about the band is not true, because we’re very personable and I’m very approachable. When we’re down in South America, we’ll sit out on the steps of the hotel and serenade the fans. That’s how we really are. That’s how we live. We love our fans.”
During an interview with Immersive Audio Album, Steven Wilson offered an update on his new album. According to him, “it’s almost finished.”
Wilson said the following:
“Yeah, it’s almost finished, actually. It’s a very strange record. It’s a complete opposite of ‘The Overview’, which was a very lush, very big record and also about a very large — well, the largest possible subject matter you can imagine, literally the cosmos as we know it. This is a much more insular record. It’s still very conceptual. It’s still very experimental and the pieces are — well, it feels like another single piece of music to me, in that sense. But it’s much more angular and experimental in a way that I’m really excited about. And that’s all I can really say at the moment. Very different again, yeah.”
He also discussed his production approach:
“The way I make records is, by definition, pretty layered. I love the possibilities of the studio. I love overdubbing. Now on this particular new record I’m making, there’s a lot of what I would call sound design elements. Now, that’s not to say they haven’t been on all my records, but let’s just say I’ve taken it to another level on this record. There’s a lot of sound design. There’s a lot of sound effects that kind of place you in a particular place and a particular feeling. And there’s a lot of use of lo-fi sounds as well, keeping things sometimes in mono… But I’m making a lot of decisions on this album to keep things very small and mono, but also knowing that those things can be just as impressive in surround because you’ve got something very small and mono. You can place it very discretely in a particular place in the room. Sometimes when you have things that have been tracked four or five times, they’re kind of coming from everywhere. But sometimes what’s also nice in spatial audio is having something that’s just mono and being able to place it very, very particularly in a particular place. And that can be just as effective in spatial as the big immersive sound. So I’m using a lot of mono reverbs, spring reverbs. It all kind of relates to the concept of the record, which I can’t really talk about at the moment, but keeping things sounding almost old and rusted. And I think those are gonna be really effective in spatial audio, because I’ve got a lot of those kind of elements. I’m playing a lot of instruments I’ve never played before. I’m playing the drums on some tracks myself. I’m playing violins, oboes, harmoniums. It’s a very — I don’t wanna say it’s a nostalgic-sounding record, because it isn’t. There’s a lot of use of modern technology too. But, yeah, it’s gonna be a strange record, and I think it’s gonna be a really interesting — the kind of [Dolby] Atmos mix I’ve never done before, in the sense of all these little details and things that will be very discretely, particularly placed in a speaker or a position in the room.”
-(16)- have revealed that they will be releasing a new covers album, titled “Forgeries Vol 1 (1972 – 1984),” on May 1. The effort’s first single, a cover of Bee Gees’ “Tragedy,” can be found below:
“Forgeries Vol 1 (1972 – 1984)” Track Listing:
01. “Can’t Get Enough” (Scorpions cover)
02. “Nausea” (X cover)
03. “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
04. “Rotten to the Core” (Rudimentary Peni cover)
05. “Mother Mary” (UFO cover)
06. “Tragedy” (Bee Gees cover)
07. “Bloodstains” (Agent Orange cover)
08. “Beat My Head Against The Wall” (Black Flag cover)
09. “St. Vitus Dance” (Black Sabbath cover)
10. “Foreign Policy” (Fear cover)
The band shared more information on the release:
“There comes a point in every band’s life when originality stops being a virtue and honesty takes the wheel.
On their 11th long-playing record: ‘Forgeries (72-84),’ -(16)- return to the impulse that first dragged them into loud rooms and bad ideas: the urge to steal what we love and make it semi-unrecognizable through devotion. We have partnered with Heavy Psych Sounds Records to release a collection of covers that function less as homage and more as a possession to be given away. The artwork, rendered by the ever-amazing Marald, completes the ritual, iconic, unsettling, and unafraid.
We’ve always believed that a great cover is not mimicry but revelation. It’s finding a song that’s already lived inside you since youth and letting it crawl out, bruised and changed. From the early ’90s onward, -(16)- have treated covers as translations rather than as replicas, acts of tribute and emulation, filtered through distortion, fatigue, and lived experience. These are songs that taught us how to stand, how to fall, and how to keep going.
In our collective head, this album exists because these songs demanded it. Because they screamed copy me, and we listened. In the end, ‘Forgeries (72–84)’ stands as both a thank you note and a theft, a reminder that all music worth a damn is borrowed, broken, and passed on between friends.
The selections on ‘Forgeries (72–84)’ span eras and attitudes, unified not by genre but by necessity. Each track is a document of obsession, of influence absorbed and re-expressed without permission.”
Disturbed singer David Draiman has commented on the ongoing political divide that recently resulted in two Super Bowl halftimes. Those events included the official show, which featured Bad Bunny, and Turning Point USA’s alternate show, which featured Kid Rock. According to Draiman, someone should put together a festival featuring both acts in the name of unity.
Draiman said the following:
“Here’s a “radical” idea.
Music should be a bridge between all people.
The identity politics, partisan garbage, and division need to stop.
I challenge any organization out there to put on a festival that has Bad Bunny, Kid Rock and all kinds of acts from different sides of the political spectrum, sharing the same stage.
Everyone can showcase their respective cultures and backgrounds, fuse musical elements together, perform together, celebrate life together…
…PUSH BACK AGAINST THIS DARKNESS…TOGETHER.
It can be an opportunity to share, and appreciate the respective cultures that gave birth to each artist’s unique form of entertainment.
Music can unite people like nothing else in creation.
It’s beyond time we remembered that.”
Notably, some have labeled Draiman’s call for unity hypocritical due to his fierce support of Israel. He infamously signed an artillery shell in that country in 2024 and has continued to speak in their favor.
Metal Anarchy 
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