hard & heavy

Vital, venerated, and vintage, when Diamond Head first released “Lightning to the Nations” forty years ago in 1980, few could have predicted the importance it would carry - and establish - with regards to heavy metal's new wave and sound. Stacked and packed with riffs, “Lightning to the Nations” would be one of the prime catalysts for a movement known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM).

Amahiru arose from Frédéric Leclercq’s and Saki’s friendship. Having gotten to know each other in 2015 when Mary’s Blood opened for Dragonforce in Hong Kong, they immediately hit it off, both personally and musically.

After exchanging many ideas over the years, Frédéric finally travelled to Japan in March 2019 to finalise what soon became their debut album. Combining traditional metal with melodic and oriental-infused elements, Amahiru’s self-titled debut will be released on November 27th, 2020, via earMusic.

Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons are back in town! The Hard Rock powerhouse from Wales announce their new album “We’re the Bastards” today, to be released on November 13th, 2020, via Nuclear Blast!

Singer Neil Starr on the new album:

Tony Martin, former Black Sabbath singer, signs with Battlegod Productions Australia for his upcoming solo album “Thorns”. The album is licensed in all of North and South America by Dark Star Records.

Lancashire’s soaring hard rock sect, Wytch Hazel, will release its shimmering new album, “Wytch Hazel III: Pentecost”, on October 30th, 2020, via independent underground label Bad Omen Records (Satan’s Satyrs, Spell).

Michael Schenker has completed the recording of a brand new MSG album, which is set to be released on January 8th, 2021, via Nuclear Blast.

The album title will be “Immortal”, a perfect statement to describe Michael Schenker’s legacy and to celebrate his 50th anniversary as a musician.

Today, Michael Schenker reveals the cover artwork of “Immortal”, created by Zsofia Dankova (Powerwolf a.o.).

On Saturday, October 10th, 2020, at 1PM PST//4PM EST//10PM CET, Armored Saint will host a live record release show online for their upcoming album, “Punching the Sky” (due out October 23rd, via Metal Blade Records).

Set to take place at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, CA, Armored Saint will be performing a full set, including 4 new songs from “Punching the Sky”.

On October 23rd, 2020, Armored Saint will release their eighth full-length, “Punching the Sky”, via Metal Blade Records.

For a first preview of the album, a video for the new single, “End of the Attention Span” (directed by Robert Graves), can be viewed below.

Voodoo Six are set to release their new studio album “Simulation Game” on Friday October 16th, 2020. Critical consensus is that they’ve raised themselves to another level with this release. The band have signed a deal with Explorer 1 – a new Hollywood based full-service music company the band are ready to make their music resonate across the pond as well as in the UK, Europe and beyond.

Michael Schenker is currently in the final stages of recording a brand new MSG album, which is set to be released on Nuclear Blast on January 8th, 2021. The album title will be “Immortal”, a perfect statement to describe Michael Schenker’s legacy and to celebrate his 50th anniversary as a musician.