More bands have been added to next year’s Bloodstock Festival. The event will be held at Catton Park in Derbyshire, UK on August 6-9 and it will now feature: Saxon, Lamb Of God, Slaughter To Prevail, Judas Priest, Evil Scarecrow, Sepultura, Bleed From Within, Body Count, Heavysaurus, Municipal Waste, Of Mice & Men, Black Label Society, Biohazard, Northlane, Orbit Culture, Fit For An Autopsy, Vended, Death Angel, Kittie, Life Of Agony, Skynd, The Scratch, Castle Rat, Party Cannon, Battlesnake, Imperial Age, Inhuman Nature, Graphic Nature, Bootyard Bandits, Cryptopsy, Wednesday 13, Leprous, Carpenter Brut, Black Spiders, Shining, Nevermore, 200 Stab Wounds, The Hell, NECKBREAKKER, Stampin’ Ground, Mushroomhead, Mantis Defeats Jaguar, Seething Akira, Urne, Dream State, Excrementory Grindfuckers, Celestial Sanctuary, Noisepicker, Trivax, Hidden Intent, Sellsword, Viking Skull, Bound In Fear, Alunah, Flayed Disciple, Hammer, Blood Countess, Imperium, Outergods, Acid Throne, Gurt, and Froglord. Further artists are pending.
Kayo Dot have announced an early 2026 North American tour. Xasthur will open on select dates.
Tour Dates:
01/08 New Haven, CT – Space Ballroom
01/09 Boston, MA – Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub
01/10 Philadelphia, PA – MilkBoy
01/11 Pittsburgh, PA – The Government Center
01/12 Rochester, NY – Bug Jar
01/13 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace (The Cave)
01/14 Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups
01/15 Chicago, IL – Reggies
01/16 Minneapolis, MN – Zhora Darling
01/18 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive Denver
01/20 Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Saloon
With Xasthur:
01/22 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
01/23 Vancouver, BC – The Wise Hall & Lounge
01/25 Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
01/27 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
01/28 San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
01/29 Los Angeles, CA – Moroccan Lounge
02/03 Austin, TX – 29th St Ballroom
02/04 Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios
Kayo Dot:
02/06 Tampa, FL – New World Tampa
02/07 Orlando, FL – Will’s Pub
02/08 Savannah, GA – Coastal Empire Beer Co.
02/09 Atlanta, GA – Wild Heaven Beer
02/10 Nashville, TN – Drkmttr Collective
02/11 Raleigh, NC – Kings
02/12 Baltimore, MD – Metro Baltimore
02/13 New York, NY – TV Eye NYC
02/14 Montreal, QC – Turbo Haüs
Joyce Manor have premiered a new video for their new song “Well, Whatever It Was.” This track is from the band’s new album, “I Used To Go To This Bar,” which will be released on January 30. Vocalist/guitarist Barry Johnson commented:
“‘Well, Whatever It Was’ has got to be one of the most Southern California sounding songs ever recorded. I hear Jane’s Addiction in the verses, Beach Boys / Weezer in the chorus, and RHCP in the outro. It was LITERALLY produced by the guy from Bad Religion FFS. Everyone was just firing on all cylinders for this one. Joey Warnoker’s drumming, TLA’s mix, and Lenny Castro’s percussion all just sent it to the end-zone. This song would go insanely hard in a ‘Shrek’ film.”
“I Used To Go To This Bar” Track Listing:
01. “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives”
02. “Falling Into It”
03. “All My Friends Are So Depressed”
04. “Well, Whatever It Was”
05. “I Used To Go To This Bar”
06. “After All You Put Me Through”
07. “The Opossum”
08. “Well, Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before?”
09. “Grey Guitar”
In other news, Joyce Manor have also announced a headlining North American tour with Militarie Gun, Teen Mortgage, and Combat. Here’s the dates:
03/09 Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
03/11 Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
03/12 Houston, TX – House of Blues Houston
03/13 Dallas, TX – House of Blues Dallas
03/14 New Orleans, LA – House of Blues New Orleans
03/16 Orlando, FL – House of Blues Orlando
03/17 Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
03/18 Myrtle Beach, SC – House Of Blues Myrtle Beach
03/20 Baltimore, MD – Nevermore Hall
03/21 Boston, MA – Citizens House of Blues Boston
03/22 Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia
03/24 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
03/25 Buffalo, NY – Asbury Hall
03/26 Toronto, ON – The Danforth Music Hall
03/27 Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre
03/28 Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed
04/10 Indio, CA – Coachella (Joyce Manor only)
04/17 Indio, CA – Coachella (Joyce Manor only)
04/26 Madison, WI – The Sylvee
04/27 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
04/30 Des Moines, IA – Wooly’s
05/01 St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall
05/02 Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall
05/04 Denver, CO – Fillmore Auditorium
05/05 Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
05/07 Great Falls, MT – The Newberry
05/08 Calgary, AB – The Palace Theatre
05/09 Edmonton, AB – Midway Music Hall
05/11 Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
05/12 Seattle, WA – The Showbox
05/13 Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
05/15 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
Allegaeon have announced a March 2026 Australian tour. Here’s the dates:
03/04 Perth, AUS – The Rosemount
03/05 Adelaide, AUS – Ed Castle
03/06 Brisbane, AUS – Soapbox Beer
03/07 Sydney, AUS – The Underground
03/08 Melbourne, AUS – Corner Hotel
System Of A Down will be headlining next year’s Sick New World festival in Las Vegas, NV. Frontman Serj Tankian confirmed the news to fan during a recent signing. This news comes after the band previously teased the event.
During a recent interview with 107.7 The Bone, Trivium bassist Paolo Gregoletto commented on the recent departure of drummer Alex Bent. According to him, everything “ended on great terms.”
Gregoletto said the following:
“We’ve had a great nine years together. I feel like it’s kind of a weird thing because, obviously, being in a band together, but I feel like because we’ve all had families and stuff, there’s a tighter connection there that even just what people see. So I think it’s one of those things, we all were kind of sad, but at the same time, we said, ‘Alex, we want you to kind of make the statement. You kind of lead how you’d like to handle all this stuff.’ And I didn’t wanna put words in his mouth or say whatever. He made the statement. I feel like we ended on great terms. And that’s really kind of it. I mean, there’s no juicier CRADLE OF FILTH [-style] drama [with former hired musicians sharing their grievances online]. And, again, it’s one of those things where we wanted him to make a statement.
In the past we’ve always been very, like — we don’t really like to get into any behind-the-scenes stuff with that. And, of course, we’ve had changes before, but we felt like in this instance, rather than just saying ‘we’re parting’ or whatever, we [told Alex], like, ‘Well, you’ve been around for so long, our fans would wanna hear from you.’ And so that made it more important to us to be, like, ‘Okay, you are gonna say whatever you’d like to say.’ We didn’t [tell Alex], ‘You can’t say this or that.’ And then just give it 24 hours. And then as we hit the stage [at the Aftershock festival] today, be, like, ‘Okay, this is the guy playing with us for today, for the tour,’ and then that’s kind of it.”
He also said the following about recruiting fill-in drummer Greyson Nekrutman (Sepultura):
“It’s been a crazy whirlwind. He was on a tour in Canada, a drum-clinic tour. And he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ And he got home. He spent two 12-hour days, just in there, working on it, and then we flew him down. We jammed for two days, flew out here, and we’re gonna go jam in our little room here in a bit. But everything’s good. I feel like there’s good vibes. Of course, it’s one chapter ending, but I feel like the music that we made [with Alex] for the last nine years was great. And especially for the EP [‘Struck Dead’] coming [in late October], if that’s kind of the end cap on this era of TRIVIUM [with Alex], I’m very happy with everything we did.”
He also added the following about the band’s current plans:
“We’re gonna be out, I think, in Europe next summer. The first couple months [of 2026] is gonna be kind of, like, of course, [working on the next full-length] record and stuff. And then we’re gonna probably take a little bit of time and maybe jam with some people, just kind of see what we’re feeling for the next step.
This is still kind of new, so we’re not totally sure [what we’re gonna do about a new drummer], but we’ve never really taken a moment to kind of just step back. Because Greyson is incredible, but he is with SEPULTURA. And they have commitments, and we’re very lucky that there’s no clashes at the moment. He can get us through the end of the year, and [we] feel like the songs are in good hands. But … once we get off the road, once we get to holidays, everyone’s got clear heads — we know a lot of great people, and we don’t know if there’s someone that might be interested in that. So we’re, like, well, let’s just take a moment. And next year we’ll get into that. And then, of course, the record is gonna be the big thing for us. And, of course, you know what follows that — more touring, coming back around.”
[via Blabbermouth]
As previously reported, original Venom members Jeff “Mantas” Dunn and Anthony “Abaddon” Bray will be reuniting to celebrate the 45th anniversary of “Welcome To Hell” during the Keep It True festival in Lauda-Königshofen, Germany on April 24. Now, during a recent interview with The Metal Voice, the duo further explained their decision.
Mantas said the following:
“I’m just gonna speak the truth, the absolute truth. I’m the founder member [of VENOM]. If there’s a co-founder, it’s Abaddon. Cronos was the last one to join. Everyone knows that. I wrote all the early material, blah, blah, blah. And at this very moment in time, the way I look at it is there isn’t a VENOM out there. There’s bands out there who are playing VENOM material. And that’s the honest way that I look at it.”
“Myself and Abaddon, we said, ‘Look, why don’t we just do something to celebrate this fucking band?’ And that’s all we’re doing. It’s a celebration of ‘Welcome To Hell’, 45 years of that album. And this stupid fucking band has missed every major anniversary in its history. We’ve never celebrated an anniversary of this band. So I spoke to the guys at Keep It True, Oliver Weinsheimer in particular, the owner of the festival. And I said, ‘Right, here’s an idea. Why don’t we get some special guests, people who have been influenced by the band? All that kind of thing.’ And he said, ‘Great. Let’s do it.’ So that’s how it all came about. And now we’re getting offers from other places to do the same thing. So, yeah, if nobody else will do it, we’re gonna go out and celebrate this band.”
He continued when asked about a band name:
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no fucking name to it. There’s Abaddon’s VENOM logo, which is his. And underneath it, it says, ‘Mantas and Abaddon.’ And then special guests. And that’s what we’re doing.”
He also added:
“I know it’s not gonna be the PANTERA thing, and I know it’s not a fucking KISS reunion or anything like that, but this band has had, for whatever reason, and it still amazes me to this day, but this band has had so much influence on the metal scene from day one, especially when that album [‘Welcome To Hell’] came out. And then [VENOM’s second album] ‘Black Metal’ — black metal, as a genre, is still alive and kicking today. Extreme metal is around, people say, because of us.”
He also commented on the fan response:
“Every comment I’ve seen so far, 90 percent has been really, really positive. Like, ‘Great. Go for it, guys,’ all this kind of stuff. Then you get the one, ‘Oh, no Cronos, no VENOM.’ It’s, like, okay, listen to me right now. You can you imagine the most toxic relationship and the most stressful relationship you’ve ever had in your fucking life, and now go back and invite it back in. And that’s what we tried to do.
If everybody knew the real reason I left in 1986, you wouldn’t even fucking look at that guy again. All these people who say that about Cronos and stuff like that, yes, he was a part of the band. I appreciate that. He didn’t write all the fucking early material. He didn’t found the band. He was the last person to join.
If you were having problems with your wife and you put it on the fucking Internet, I would never go, ‘Oh, yeah, well, I know what’s going on,’ because you don’t — you don’t know the personalities of the people involved in it. All you see from the outside is a band. I mean, I love KISS. I love JUDAS PRIEST. Now there’s fucking problems with K.K. [Downing] and all the rest of fucking PRIEST. There’s problems with Ace [Frehley] and fucking Gene [Simmons] and Paul [Stanley] and Peter [Criss], but we don’t know what’s really gone on. And it’s, like, yeah, I tell you what, get back in your mom’s basement. Eat your fucking microwave meal and play your video games. This is ridiculous to comment on people’s careers. And that’s the way I feel about it. And all I’m saying is that myself and Abaddon, as the two original members of VENOM, we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna celebrate this band and its music. And that’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Abaddon chimed in as well:
“My take on that is very straightforward. If you’ve got three bands using the word VENOM to sell the music… Originally, VENOM were a three-piece. Unless you’ve got two members of that three-piece, you can’t call it VENOM because it’s Cronos and some other blokes, or it’s Dolan and some other blokes. If you’ve got me and Jeff, you’ve got two-thirds of the original fucking band. That’s as straightforward as you can get.”
[via Blabbermouth]
Metal Anarchy 
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