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Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Shapes of Midnight (Album Review)
Release date: 18 September 2026 Record label: Killer Candy Records Riff Doctor’s Score: RRRR 4/5 Diagnosis With Shapes of Midnight, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats bring the guitars firmly back into focus without simply retracing their old steps. Recorded live to analogue tape at Abbey Road Studios, the album sounds raw, sinister and wonderfully out of time. The Cambridge cult favourites once again combine irresistible psychedelic melodies with proto-metal weight, doom-laden riffs
REVIEW: RØRY – BLOODLETTING
Release date: 11 September 2026 Record label: SADCØRE Records The Riff Doctor’s Score: RRRR1/2 — 4.5/5 The Riff Doctor’s Diagnosis BLOODLETTING turns suppressed grief and anger into RØRY’s heaviest and most ambitious work yet. Its genre-blurring journey is raw without becoming shapeless, devastating without surrendering hope, and held together by an artist prepared to feel everything in order to feel alive again. The Full Review What happens after you get everything you thoug
AIRBOURNE – AIRBOURNE (Album Review)
Album release date: September 4, 2026 Record label: Spinefarm Records The Riff Doctor’s Score: RRRR — 4/5 The Riff Doctor’s Diagnosis Airbourne do not reinvent rock ’n’ roll on their self-titled sixth album. They simply remind us how exhilarating it can still be when played loudly, shamelessly and with enough electricity to light up an arena. Familiar influences remain, but Airbourne stopped being an AC/DC tribute act a long time ago. This is faster, fresher and unmistakably
The Riffs of the Week – 28/08/2026
Happy New Music Friday — and this one is absolutely packed. August 28 brings one of the busiest release days we've had in a while, with several highly anticipated albums finally landing alongside a fresh wave of singles teasing what's still to come this autumn. As always, The Riffs of the Week isn't about picking the biggest names or chasing whatever happens to be trending. It's about the music that caught our ears — whether it comes from a band filling arenas or four ridicul
Aug 29
FOUR WEEKS TO GO: THE COUNTDOWN TO LONDON METALFEST 2026 IS ON
Four weeks. That's all that stands between us and the arrival of London Metalfest. On September 11th and 12th, a brand-new metal festival will hit the capital, bringing a distinctly European festival spirit to the heart of Camden — and with exactly four weeks to go, the countdown is officially on. London certainly isn't short of gigs. What it has perhaps been missing is something that feels a little more like the European metal festival experience: multiple stages, a packed d
Aug 13
The Riffs of the Week – 07/08/2026
Happy New Music Friday! Another week, another excuse to turn the volume all the way up. This week's selection brings together some of heavy music's biggest names alongside one of its most intriguing newcomers. From anonymous modern metal and old-school thrash to a legendary collaboration and one of this week's most anticipated album releases, these are the tracks that have dominated our speakers over the last few days. Don't forget to check out our THE RIFF Spotify playlist a
Aug 7
Interview with GEOFF TATE: Returning to OPERATION MINDCRIME with DOCTOR X at the centre of the story
"Money isn’t worth the frustration… or the emotional toll."
VEXED - Interview at Takedown festival
Brutal, relentless and built the hard way
DeVere:“Louder than everything else — and just getting started”
We caught up with DeVere just an hour before they stepped on stage at Takedown Festival
Ozzy & Black Sabbath’s Final Show Is Coming to Cinemas Worldwide This October
The story of Back To The Beginning is not over yet. Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s historic final performance will arrive in cinemas worldwide on October 28, 2026, giving fans another opportunity to experience the landmark Birmingham farewell on the biggest possible screen. Produced by Mercury Studios and distributed globally by Trafalgar Releasing, Ozzy & Black Sabbath: Back To The Beginning revisits the extraordinary show held at Villa Park on July 5, 2025. The concert p
London MetalFest 2026: A Triumphant First Edition Takes Over Camden
Electric Ballroom, The Underworld and The Dev, Camden, London — 12 September 2026 Camden has never needed much encouragement to turn up the volume, but on Saturday 12 September, London MetalFest gave the capital’s most famous rock district something it had been missing: a proper multi-venue metal festival with the ambition and character of its European counterparts. Following Friday evening’s Metal Cruise along the Thames, the festival’s main day spread across the Electric Ba
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Shapes of Midnight (Album Review)
Release date: 18 September 2026 Record label: Killer Candy Records Riff Doctor’s Score: RRRR 4/5 Diagnosis With Shapes of Midnight, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats bring the guitars firmly back into focus without simply retracing their old steps. Recorded live to analogue tape at Abbey Road Studios, the album sounds raw, sinister and wonderfully out of time. The Cambridge cult favourites once again combine irresistible psychedelic melodies with proto-metal weight, doom-laden riffs
CANDLEMASS HONOUR LONDON METALFEST SHOW WITH SPECIAL GUEST VOCALISTS AFTER JOHAN LÄNGQVIST IS HOSPITALISED
Candlemass vocalist Johan Längqvist was rushed to hospital in Stockholm on Thursday morning following a medical emergency, forcing him to miss the band’s headline performance at the inaugural London MetalFest. In a statement released before the show, Candlemass confirmed that Längqvist had undergone extensive testing and remained under medical care while doctors attempted to determine the cause of his illness. The band wished him a speedy recovery but made it clear that the L
SLIPKNOT BEGIN A NEW ERA WITH SURPRISE SINGLE ‘ARSENAL’
Slipknot have returned with “Arsenal”, their first completely new song since the release of The End, So Far in 2022 — and the opening strike from a considerably different version of the Iowa giants. The surprise single marks the recording debut of former Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande, who joined Slipknot in 2024 following the departure of Jay Weinberg. It is also the band’s first release since parting ways with longtime members Craig Jones and, more recently, turntablist
REVIEW: RØRY – BLOODLETTING
Release date: 11 September 2026 Record label: SADCØRE Records The Riff Doctor’s Score: RRRR1/2 — 4.5/5 The Riff Doctor’s Diagnosis BLOODLETTING turns suppressed grief and anger into RØRY’s heaviest and most ambitious work yet. Its genre-blurring journey is raw without becoming shapeless, devastating without surrendering hope, and held together by an artist prepared to feel everything in order to feel alive again. The Full Review What happens after you get everything you thoug
BLIND CHANNEL OFFER HOPE WITH NEW SINGLE ‘STARS WE SEE’
Finnish modern metal outfit BLIND CHANNEL have shared their new single and music video, ‘Stars We See’, offering another glimpse into their forthcoming studio album, Painstream. Transforming an existential crisis into a powerful message of hope, the track explores some of the new sounds and themes the band discovered during their recent break. It also reveals a more optimistic side of the upcoming record. “We’re incredibly relieved and grateful to have our band back, and abso
BLUE MEDUSA Unleash ‘CROCODILE.’ and Make Surprise Live Debut in Berlin
BLUE MEDUSA, the new band led by former ARCH ENEMY vocalist ALISSA WHITE-GLUZ, have unleashed their powerful third single, ‘CROCODILE.’, following ‘Checkmate’ and ‘Flying Monkey’. Dark, tense and deeply unsettling, the track captures the creeping sensation that danger is close at hand, lurking beneath an apparently safe or familiar surface. “‘Crocodile.’ is about that feeling that you’re being watched… that instinctive dread when you know something dangerous is nearby, even t
Tailgunner bassist Thomas Hewson responds to abuse allegations in extensive open letter
Tailgunner bassist Thomas Hewson has published a 36-page open letter responding to the allegations of sexual abuse and repeated abusive behaviour made by guitarist Jara Solís. Hewson categorically denies the allegations and asks readers to consider what he describes as the complete chronology of their relationship and the contemporaneous communications included in his statement. The letter follows the statement released by Solís in August, in which she described her account o
CREEPER BRING THE ‘OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!’ TOUR TO THE UK with Calva Louise + Starbenders THIS OCTOBER
October is already the natural habitat of Creeper, and this year the Southampton goth-rock storytellers will make it even darker with four UK headline shows accompanied by Calva Louise and firm The Riff favourites Starbenders. Formed in Southampton in 2014, Creeper have spent more than a decade turning punk rock into something increasingly ambitious, theatrical and gloriously macabre. Every new chapter has arrived with its own characters, mythology and visual identity, taking
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