What a couple of weeks for new releases! A smorgasbord for my young *eek ears! As of Monday, August 31st we have been blessed by Zebraheads new album I.O. Californian rock band, Zebrahead have been around since 1996 and have been pumping out glorious pop punk tracks for the majority!  Now they've brought their four latest EPs together, I from November 2024, right up to O in August of this year alongside the single, "I Don't Know How To Put This(But I'm kinda a big deal)" Now, I don't know whether this album has just come along at the right time for me or what but I can't get enough of these tracks, catchy, fast punchy riffs and that pop punk rap style that IV grown up with and am clearly still obsessed with. This album offers up 12 songs, all filled with a ridiculous amount of energy, catchy easy to follow lyrics that will have you singing along in the car, and trying to keep quiet on the public commute. Personal favourites for me, and ones for you not to miss out on are: 'Happy Endings at the Movies' - just a proper nostalgic throw back to the pop punk bangers that I used to listen to in the early 2000's. 'Doomsday on the Radio' - just filled with those edgy, catchy lyrics that have you singing along at full volume. We love a 'na na na nana na na' 'Pulling Teeth' - Rap infused punk, which I think we need more of in this day and age! Excellent drum beats and just another excellently executed track. Zebrahead have just played Slam Dunk in May and unfortunately have no UK dates at present, though they are playing in Europe towards the end of the year so here's hoping we get a cheeky Glasgow date sometime soon!

So on our new release Friday, we have anonymous English metal band President's first album Blood Of Your Empire. A relatively new band and unknown until announced for download festival 2025, currently selling out shows across the country and beyond. President are bringing their own brand of alternative metal with electronica to the masses and it seems the people cannot get enough despite continued speculation on the masked band's identity. Blood Of Your Empire is the debut studio album and has been supported with the release of four singles in the run up to the 4th of September. The album consists of 10 tracks, a compact run time of 37mins and the singles included in this release are Angel Wings, Doom Loop, Dark Heaven, and Mercy.  In a statement released by the band in regards to the album, Blood of your empire was born out of the struggle with existential crisis and making sense of belief, morality and humanity's relationship with faith. The first track of the album, Angel Wings has been out since February and what an introduction to this ambitious piece of music, blending heavy guitar riffs, electronic music and dynamic Melodies. Track 5, Mercy is actually a personal favourite and is filled with screamy shouty goodness, deftones-like deep grooves and intense lyrics focusing on religious division and loss. Now this band and this album definitely won't be to everyone's taste but if you're looking for something a little different, if you're already into bands like Bad Omens and Sleep Token then this might be for you. Unfortunately for anyone late to the game, President's Glasgow show at the O2 Academy on the 19th of November is well an truly sold out, so let's hope for some cheeky resale tickets as I'm sure this is a spectacle not to be missed live.

There is a party on in Sheffield next weekend and Rockfiend will be there to watch the fun. Zhany & Steve, the good folks behind the ’Rockin’ the Bowl Festival’ in previous years, are going indoors at a new venue for one final fling before stepping back. The Forge is handily-placed near a tram stop and is a fully-covered venue with room for 1,000 rockers and plenty seating inside and out plus bars, toasties and other food options. Sound good? Doors open at 12 and the action gets underway at 12:30 with a special set from Adam & the Hellcats. The guys and girls in the Hellcats are a fun, party band that rock hard with a bit of glam. You can’t be sure how exactly how many will be in the band but there’s usually a keytar, and for this performance, they will be joined by Paul Quinn out of Saxon and Jackie Chambers out of Syteria / Girlschool. Now that’s how you start a festival. The next attraction to make sure folks want to get in early is Viking pagan metal band LN, who seem to have played at most of this summer’s festivals and have been getting great reviews. After that, it’s Brighton rockers The Rattlebacks and we’re not even at 3 o’clock yet. The afternoon belongs to UK rock scene stalwarts JOANovARC and Juliet’s Not Dead, before Swiss high-energy rockers Dobermann take us up to dinner-time with a bit of glam & sleaze. They are on tour and highly anticipated in Scotland where they’re playing Bannerman’s and Kinross after the Sheffield show. Black-clad alt-rockers Black Lakes will be followed by the top-of-the-bill, which will be a riot of colour, glam, sex-appeal and good melodic rock sounds, starting with Welsh chanteuse Chez Kane and her band smashing the best tunes from the lady’s top-notch albums. The festival will come to an end with the finest purveyors of Scandi-melodic rock H.e.a.t. who are guaranteed to bring the house down. We don’t get to see them as often as we should, so this will be one to enjoy.  As well as the bar and toasties, there will other vendors with vinyl and pre-loved t-shirts, prize karaoke and a hot food order & collection service. The Friday night party is sold out but you can still get tickets for the Saturday if you’re quick. See you there?

So you've had the new Beartooth album, pure ecstacy for a week and a half now.. thoughts? So let me tell you, I've been following Ohio metalcore band Beartooth for a number of years now, caught them headlining the barras in March 2023 and I am highly anticipating their gig supported by Silverstein and Kingdom of Giants at that very same venue in October. Pure Ecstacy is Beartooths sixth studio album, and the first since lead singer Caleb Shomo came out in May of this year, which has been met with mixed emotions from fans and critics alike. The album is absolutely a journey for Caleb and that's clearly evident with the emotion and energy exuded through every track. Every one of the 11 songs tells a story and carries you through the recent struggles that Caleb has faced in his personal life. Most of these tracks are bangers and none should be skipped over by the listener to get the full effect but I will try and pick a couple of favourites and let you make up your own mind. The album starts with title track, Pure ecstacy. Starting with heavy rifts and heavier lyrics about setting oneself free despite warring with your own self. Just filled with excellent beats, soulful vocals and powerful imagery, you'd struggle not to sing along. Track 3, bullshit, is another strong favourite with abit of an electronic vibe, lyrics filled with attitude and just another banger that you can't help nodding your head along to, and the breakdown at 2:30 is *chefs kiss* Song 9 on the album, You, is another heavy hitter for me. I love those heavy riffs and again, just lyrics filled with so much emotion.. I truly believe that you need to listen to the full album to get the whole experience, preferably loudly. Overall, music should be an expression and as much as it's for us the listener, we're in a privileged position of getting to experience those feelings from the point of view of the writer.  This album is another triumph for Beartooth, self confessed vibrant and visceral and I'll be listening constantly right up to October's Glasgow gig.

Triosphere was a familiar name that grabbed my attention on the Frontiers release list at the end of August. I hadn’t heard the Norwegian band’s name for several years but I immediately fondly recalled seeing them play in Glasgow a few years ago. Whilst I definitely remembered their performance, I couldn’t remember who they were supporting. When I looked it up, it was a March 2011 gig at The Garage headlined by Sonata Arctica, with Labyrinth also on the bill, but it was definitely Triosphere that made the biggest impression on me. I’m still not sure where they’ve been since their last album in 2014, but their 4th album ‘Oceans Above, Stars Below’ is a cracker and I really enjoyed it. Musically, they hit hard in the sweet spot between classic hard rock and power metal with some prog-lite twists thrown in. After a short instrumental opener, ‘Of Tyrants’ is a powerful blast of power metal but without any excesses or high-pitched histrionics. Singing bass-player Ida Haukland exerts power and control throughout an epic and melodic song that ebbs and flows and features a typically restrained guitar solo picked out by the original member Marius Bergesen on guitar. The title track mixes melody with hard-hitting riffs and drumming and absolutely soars on the chorus. One of my favourites is ‘Shorelines’ which sounds authentically 1980s hard rock and hits the spot musically and vocally. ‘Embers’ barrels along at quite a rate, while ‘Cadence of Chaos’ at nearly six minutes is probably the most prog metal one and moves through the gears nicely.  Overall, the album is hard-hitting but slips in subtleties and melodies at every turn and the vocals were very much to my taste. I highly recommend it. It’s good to have them back and I think I will enjoy slipping back into their earlier work too

Released 18th September 2026 via Silver Lining Music

Released October 2nd, 2026

OUT NOW VIA FRONTIERS MUSIC SRL

Out on December 4th via Frontiers Music Srl