The Flaming Lips have shared a new video for their live cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” The clip was recorded during the band’s September U.S. tour.
-
Metal Anarchy’s New Music Showcase: Q&A With Stone Sea
Time for the next edition of Metal Anarchy’s “new music showcase,” the feature where I introduce you to bands that readers of this site may find interesting. This time I have a Q&A with Stone Sea.
METAL ANARCHY: Tell me a little about your band:
STONE SEA: Stone Sea was born from my urge to express emotions — I try to find a balance between weight and lightness. The project started in Brazil, grew in Ireland, and now lives in Spain. Each phase reshaped it, but the essence remained: heavy riffs, grooves, introspective lyrics, all tied together through guiding melodies. Stone Sea has always been a trio blending stoner rock, bluesy licks, alternative harmonies, and subtle hints of world music.
METAL ANARCHY: Who are your main influences?
STONE SEA: Black Sabbath sparked the heaviness and openness, and Nirvana taught me about emotional honesty. Later came bands like Down, Type O Negative, and countless elements from traditional world music that shaped the worldly side of Stone Sea. Living a third of my life away from home, mixing with people from all over, has also influenced me — I like to think I’m a globalized human being (laughs).
METAL ANARCHY: What is your latest release and why should readers of this site check it out?
STONE SEA: Our latest single “Age of Tears” is part of our upcoming album “Ad Astra.” It’s a song about transformation through decay — fragile beginnings leading into heavy, cathartic riffs. Musically and lyrically, it’s probably the heaviest track we’ve recorded so far. As a teaser, our next single Left to Be will counterbalance it with a grungy, optimistic vibe and a very emotional, powerful solo to close out the year.
METAL ANARCHY: What can people expect when they go to your live shows?
STONE SEA: Some sort of gravitational trance. The low end hits hard with the grooves, while the melodies are meant to carry you away. If I see people moving their heads while seeming lost in thought at the same time, I know it’s probably working (laughs).
METAL ANARCHY: Where do you see your band heading in 5 years?
STONE SEA: Hopefully touring across Europe and beyond, connecting with people who resonate with our music. The ultimate goal is to keep evolving — musically and personally — and leave something behind that feels honest, lasting, and true to who we are.
-
Metal Anarchy’s New Music Showcase: Q&A With Illusions Of Grandeur
Time for the next edition of Metal Anarchy’s “new music showcase,” the feature where I introduce you to artists that readers of this site may find interesting. This time I have a Q&A with Illusions Of Grandeur.
METAL ANARCHY: Tell me a little about your band:
ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: Illusions of Grandeur is a powerful female-fronted metal band based in Los Angeles, CA, that captivates audiences with their dynamic sound and theatrical performances.
I.O.G. have made appearances at various festivals including Rock Fest, Michigan Metal Fest, Sav Fest, Dewey Beach Music Festival and Witney Music Festival. I.O.G. has shared the stage with artists as varied as Burning Witches, DOPE, Motograter, September Mourning, New Year’s Day, Puddle of Mudd, Stryper, República, Stitched up Heart and Otep.
I.O.G. ‘s Live show The Siren Saga is a story of the journeys, perils, and triumphs of the Siren and her warriors. The story mixes facts and fiction combining Greek and Norse Mythology, Sirens, Gods, Archangels.
Illusions of Grandeur’s fierce and energetic live show has gained them a legion of fans dubbed “The Siren Nation” who follow them worldwide, at live shows, and on social media.
METAL ANARCHY: Who are your main influences?
ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: Illusions of Grandeur’s influences come from many genres of course starting with metal; like Korn, In This Moment Metallica, Avatar and Evanescence.
Each member draws off their individual influences as well which are varied from The Sirens love of Classic rock like Janis Joplin and Heart to CM’s love of YES, Supertramp, Soundgarden and Slayer
IOG feels this just adds to the sound and allows the band to explore a lot of themes in their music.
We still listen to these artists and many, many more.
METAL ANARCHY: What is your latest release and why should readers of this site check it out?
ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: we recently released a new single titled “MIDNIGHT25.”
While the 1st version of “Midnight” appeared on “The Siren”(2022) album, as Illusions of Grandeur has been evolving over the past few years and changing our sound, we felt “Midnight” needed to come along on this journey.
So, we, with our new producers, decided to update the song and release it as a standalone single “MIDNIGHT25.”
Updating the sound of “MIDNIGHT25” to meet our new production. Illusions of Grandeur has moved into a little more of a modern metal and industrial sound which appears on our new EP “The Siren Rises PT1: The Witch”.
Taking Midnight and bringing that song into this new world was a challenge and exciting!
Lyrically, while the idea for the song stems from and was inspired and written for the Netflix’s show “Wednesday,” there is a deeper meaning behind it. Humans are the true monsters, and while we have seen many portrayals of “monsters” in our culture, people are the truly scarier than the creatures of our stories.
METAL ANARCHY: What can people expect when they go to your live shows?
ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: Illusions of Grandeur is a live band. We love being in the studio and creating, but on the love, stage is where the band really comes alive!
Illusions of Grandeur’s live show “The Siren Saga” draws its story line from the concept albums “the Songs of the Siren prt1”,“The Siren prt2” and their newest EP “The Siren Rises PT1:The Witch.”
Acting out the songs and story on stage amidst a light and video show. IOG’s fan’s known as The Siren Nation are amazing, supporting both in America and Europe.
Touring and connecting with our fans and meeting new people worldwide, traveling is the best experience I feel you can have. During Illusions of Grandeur “The Songs of The Siren Tour 2019” the band played a few weeks in the Ukraine.
One of those shows was in a small town called Smila in the Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast of Ukraine. What we thought was a festival we were playing on, turned out to be a small festival built around IOG headlining.
It was crazy they turned the central park of the town into a festival ground with a large stage and it seemed like the whole town came out for the day. It was an amazing experience.
METAL ANARCHY: Where do you see your band heading in 5 years?
ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: Illusions of Grandeur’s ”The Siren Hellfire Tour” continues through the remainder of 2025 into 2026.
IOG are currently while tour producing the 2nd EP the next story in The Siren Saga “The Siren Rises PT2: The Accension,” which the band looks to have out in 2026.
-
Frank Bello On New Anthrax Album: “We’re In Mixing Right Now”
During an interview with Thomann’s Guitars & Basses, Anthrax’s Frank Bello offered an update on the band’s new album. According to him, the band are “in mixing right now.”
Bello said the following:
“I think it’s been almost 10 years since the last ANTHRAX record, which is insane. We all are very, very hungry, ’cause we’re in mixing right now. The new ANTHRAX record, I’m proud to say, I’m very psyched about this, that it’s mixing, and now we get to hear the whole thing of it. And just to hear them really come to life now after all that, and, really, the parts are all done. Everything’s locked in. And to hear what they’re gonna sound like for when people hear it, as a fan of the band, it’s, like, ‘Fuck yeah!’ You get hungry and you’re ready and you know you have the goods. So we’re pretty psyched.”
He continued:
“You know what it is, man? I think you never stop being a fan. Never stop being a fan, because that’s where the gut is. It comes from your gut, and you are hungry. I’m an ANTHRAX fan, so I wanna hear the best of the best. What do we have? When you hear a bad riff, it’s out. Something’s gotta work and it’s gotta be good enough for us. That’s why we know if it’s good enough for us, everybody will like it. And that’s the way we’ve always worked.”
He also discussed the songwriting process:
“It’s all [about exchanging] demos at this point. It’s all digital stuff, so we send each other stuff. Charlie’s [Benante, ANTHRAX drummer] in Chicago, Scott’s [Ian, ANTHRAX guitarist] in L.A., I’m in New York. So imagine traveling like that. The three of us get together after we have a collection that we think are strong enough, and we’ll bat them down and really put ’em together and make sure they work.”
[via Blabbermouth]
-
Elegant Weapons’ New Album Is “Pretty Much Ready”
It looks like Elegant Weapons (Judas Priest, Rainbow, etc.) are nearly finished with their new album. Frontman Ronnie Romero recently confirmed the news to The Rock ‘N’ Blues Experience, saying the effort is “pretty much ready.”
Romero said the following:
“Actually, the album is recorded already. It’s finished. It’s totally done. Actually, a couple of weeks ago, I got some final mixes from Richie, just to check it out. Yeah, it is fantastic. I think it’s gonna be fantastic. Also, I feel like it’s really a step forward from the first one, because when I recorded the first album, the album actually was already recorded by another singer. So what I did, it was just going to the studio and trying to fit my vocals on what it was already done. And it took me two or three days doing that recording. But this time we took the time, going to the studio, being all together with Richie Faulkner and [producer] Andy Sneap and just working on the songs: ‘This kind of lyrics works.’ ‘This doesn’t work.’ ‘We need to change the vocal line.’ ‘We need to change the key.’ ‘We need to change this.’ ‘We need to add some backing vocals here.’ And we spent a lot of time together, so this is more ELEGANT WEAPONS than the first one.”
He continued when asked about the title:
“Yeah, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say something. [Laughs] I think that also there was a cover art that Richie sent me to check it out also, so I will say it’s pretty much done. It’s pretty much ready.”
He also added the following about release plans:
“That’s the only thing that I know because, actually, Richie is still talking to some record labels because he’s not going to release the album with the same record label that we did the first one. So he’s just thinking of some options. And it all depends on his duties with JUDAS PRIEST, because now he’s touring in the U.S. and then I think they’re starting to work on a new album.”
[via Blabbermouth]
-
Brent Hinds (Ex-Mastodon) Recorded A New Solo Album Before His Death
During a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Brent Hinds’ Fiend Without A Face bandmate Duane Trucks revealed that the former Mastodon guitarist recorded a new solo album before his death. Trucks said the following about that:
“Brent’s got an entire album that hasn’t seen the light of day. He sent me the whole album of tunes and it’s cool as shit.”
Metal Anarchy 
You must be logged in to post a comment.