Prepare to transcend reality—ZETRA return with new sounds, visions, and mysticism
Ethereal synth-rock duo ZETRA have unveiled a spellbinding music video for their recent single “So,” marking their first new release since their acclaimed self-titled debut album dropped in September 2024. Directed and edited by Billy Howard Price, the visual companion to “So” is as otherworldly as the music—dreamy, hypnotic, and charged with haunting beauty.
But that’s not all: ZETRA have also revealed two new cinematic B-sides—the sweeping “Shards of Power” and the celestial “A Queen Ascends.” These instrumental pieces further expand ZETRA’s shadowy mythos, conjuring images of fractured kingdoms and ascendant monarchs in the void between worlds.
“Can we believe the lie? The membrane shudders to the touch. Alive within the mind, a barrier between two worlds. Will there be peace beyond the veil? Or is chaos ever raging? It is so. ZETRA are reborn.”
ZETRA were recently awarded The Great Escape’s Steve Strange Award for 2025, celebrating their bold, genre-defying performance and honoring the legacy of the late, legendary music agent. Their impact continues to grow—this past weekend they graced the stages of Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park, and they now prepare for a performance at Download Festival and a special show supporting enigmatic new act PRESIDENT in London.
🕯 ZETRA Live Rituals 2025
June 14 – Donington, UK – Download Festival
July 30 – London, UK – The Garage (supporting PRESIDENT)
Cosmic riff architects DVNE have announced a full-scale European tour this May, bringing their interstellar new album Voidkind to stages across the continent. With a reputation for jaw-dropping live performances and soaring post-metal grandeur, the Glasgow-based five-piece is poised to deliver their most immersive run yet.
Fresh off the critical buzz surrounding Voidkind—hailed as “post-metal album of the decade thus far” by Metal Hammer UK—DVNE will journey from the UK to Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and back, with additional festival appearances lined up for summer 2025.
Recorded in rural Scottish isolation, Voidkind strips down DVNE’s sonic density while amplifying their emotional impact. Lyrically, the album follows a dream-haunting godlike entity and the generations of followers it seduces—a concept echoed in Felix Abel Klaer’s stunning artwork and the band’s explosive live execution.
01/05 – Glasgow, UK – Cathouse 02/05 – Leeds, UK – Key Club 03/05 – Nottingham, UK – Rescue Rooms 04/05 – Norwich, UK – Waterfront 06/05 – Sint Niklas, BE – De Casino 07/05 – Groningen, NL – Vera 09/05 – Oslo, NO – Desertfest 10/05 – Stockholm, SE – Bar Brooklyn 11/05 – Copenhagen, DK – Beta 13/05 – Berlin, DE – Cassiopeia 14/05 – Poznań, PL – Pod Minoga 15/05 – Warsaw, PL – Voodoo 16/05 – Vienna, AT – Escape 18/05 – Ljubljana, SI – KUD Channel Zero 19/05 – Zagreb, HR – Klub Mocvara 20/05 – Novi Sad, RS – SKCNS Fabrika 21/05 – Sofia, BG – Pave Club 22/05 – Thessaloniki, GR – 8ball Club 23/05 – Larissa, GR – Skyland 24/05 – Athens, GR – Gazarte 27/05 – Bologna, IT – Freakout Club 28/05 – Martigny, CH – Caves Du Manoir 29/05 – Zurich, CH – Exil 30/05 – Mainz, DE – Schon Schön 31/05 – Haarlem, NL – Patronaat 01/06 – London, UK – Oslo Hackney
Summer Festival Dates 12/06 – Hradec Kralove, CZ – Rock For People 08/08 – Kortrijk, BE – Alcatraz Festival 16/08 – Bristol, UK – ArcTanGent Festival
Progressive deathgaze voyagers KARDASHEV have released their stunning new single “Seed of the Night”—a beautifully heavy piece of cosmic philosophy wrapped in melodic breakdowns and emotional gravity. The track arrives ahead of the band’s next full-length transmission, Alunea, set to drop April 25th via Metal Blade Records.
The single’s title might suggest fantasy—but “Seed of the Night” is pure Kardashev: deeply human, painfully introspective, and spiritually celestial.
“This is Sky-Brother explaining to a newly born being—Atlas—that they were created to carry humanity’s legacy to a place our species could never reach,” explains vocalist Mark Garrett. “That burden shapes them, and in that weight, they find purpose… and pain.”
Musically, the band trades tired deathcore chugs for what they call the “funk-down”—a melodically rich, rhythmically diverse evolution of the breakdown. Think space opera meets math rock meets soul-punching post-metal.
“We wanted to deconstruct the ‘epic moment’ trope,” adds guitarist Nico Mirolla, “and build an entire song that earns it through patience and progression—not just brute force.”
💿 Alunea Drops April 25th via Metal Blade Records
A direct sequel to The Almanac, Alunea continues Kardashev’s mythos with intricate lore, introspective lyricism, and sonic world-building. The album features:
Guest vocals from Erin (Genital Shame) on “Speak Silence”
Ethereal duduk instrumentation by Pawel JJ Przybysz on “We Could Fold The Stars”
Artwork by Karl E.
Mixed/mastered by Zack Ohren (Entheos, Machine Head, Fallujah)
The album also incorporates constructed language (“conlang”) created by Garrett, adding new linguistic and cultural layers to the story of Atlas and Sky-Brother.
“I used to make up grammar rules while working at a call center,” Garrett admits. “Eventually, that evolved into a language that became part of this universe we’re building.”
Canadian sludge-noise duo Mares of Thrace are back with another crushing chapter in their journey through sorrow and sonic chaos. Their latest single, “Anticipatory Grief,” is out now, offering a raw and relentless preview of their upcoming full-length record The Loss, due out May 16 via Artoffact Records.
The third track to emerge from The Loss, “Anticipatory Grief” erupts with an ominous guitar riff that spirals into crushing distortion. Thérèse Lanz delivers a feral vocal performance that feels like a cathartic exorcism, while drummer Casey Rodgers smashes forward with thunderous precision. Together, they create a suffocating wall of sound steeped in dread, anxiety, and inevitability.
Lanz explains the meaning behind the song:
“The songs on The Loss follow the sequence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ famous stages of grief, but in my reading I found descriptions of very specific flavors of grief that often go unacknowledged—bonus grief, if you will. Anticipatory Grief is the pain of watching loss creep slowly toward you, knowing it’s coming, and feeling helpless in that long descent.”
Following their previous release, Complicated Grief, this new single continues the band’s emotional excavation through the psychological terrain of mourning and survival. Gritty, visceral, and unapologetically dark, “Anticipatory Grief” is more than a song—it’s a confrontation with pain.
Produced by Scott Evans (Sumac, Sleep, Yautja), The Loss is the band’s fourth full-length and most personal release to date. A thematic reflection on the complex stages of grief, each track dives deeper into human vulnerability and strength. It’s an unflinching gaze into mortality, transformation, and the universality of emotional wreckage.
🔥 About Mares of Thrace
Formed in Canada, Mares of Thrace fuse sludge, doom, noise rock, and hardcore into a pulverizing sound that defies easy categorization. Frontwoman Thérèse Lanz (hailed as “an unrivalled monster of a frontperson” by Exclaim!), and drummer Casey Rodgers (also known for stepping in for Gene Hoglan in Zimmer’s Hole) bring a devastating presence to both stage and studio.
After re-emerging in 2022 with The Exile, the band toured extensively across North America and Europe with heavyweights like Conan, Bell Witch, and KEN mode, all while earning critical acclaim. Now signed to Artoffact Records (Kaelan Mikla, GGGOLDDD), their upcoming album marks their most ambitious evolution yet.
Bristol-based band, Svalbard, has just unveiled the exciting news about their long-awaited studio album, ‘The Weight Of The Mask,’ which is set to be released on October 6th through Nuclear Blast Records.
Accompanying the announcement is the release of their powerful single, ‘Faking It,’ accompanied by an engaging music video. The track delves into the struggles of dealing with depression and the realization of wearing a mask to navigate through life. Svalbard’s music aims to provide solace and support during people’s darkest moments, and ‘The Weight Of The Mask’ fearlessly explores the themes of mental illness and depression to help destigmatize these important topics.
Serena Cherry, the lead vocalist and guitarist of Svalbard, describes the album as a testament to fighting one’s inner demons with unwavering determination. The songs on this record showcase a transformation from depression to aggression. While the creation of ‘The Weight Of The Mask’ was a challenging and painful process, it ultimately proved to be cathartic. The album represents two years’ worth of internal darkness that has now been unleashed.
The track ‘Faking It’ sheds light on the emotional disconnect caused by depression, where individuals feel compelled to put on a façade, isolating themselves from genuine human connection. The lyrics explore the pressures of forced positivity and the fear of not being accepted when expressing one’s true emotions. Svalbard questions the roots of society’s intolerance towards depression and challenges the expectations of constant happiness.
Pre-order The Weight Of The Mask + stream ‘Faking It‘ HERE Watch the ‘Faking It‘ video HERE
The captivating ‘Faking It’ video employs deliberate binary oppositions to emphasize the song’s message. It juxtaposes glossy, smiling shots filmed in an artificial setting known as The Selfie Factory with dark and expressive performance footage that represents the internal struggle individuals face.
Stream the previous single ‘Eternal Spirits’ Watch the ‘Eternal Spirits‘ video here:
‘The Weight Of The Mask’ was recorded at The Ranch Production House in the UK. The album was expertly produced and mixed by Lewis Johns, with Grant Berry handling the mastering. Engineering duties were carried out by Lewis Johns, assisted by Matt Janke, with additional editing by Kel Pinchin and Sebastien Sendon.
Renowned artist and illustrator Hestor Aspland created the stunning album artwork, which beautifully captures the essence of Svalbard’s melodies. The intricate floral elements represent the sonic beauty within the music, while the somber animal skull mask symbolizes the lyrical content. Collaborating with Hestor was a dream, and Svalbard is thrilled with the art she has created for them.
Here is the tracklist for ‘The Weight Of The Mask’:
Faking It
Eternal Spirits
Defiance
November
Lights Out
How To Swim Down
Be My Tomb
Pillar In The Sand
To Wilt Beneath The Weight
The album will be available in various formats, including CD Jewel Case, LP (1LP Crystal Clear w/Black Marble and 1LP Purple w/Black Splatter – band exclusive), and Digital Album.
Svalbard recently completed an extensive tour supporting post-metal giants Cult Of Luna and Russian Circles. They are currently halfway through a series of European summer festival performances, including appearances at Inferno (Norway), Hellfest (France), and With Full Force (Germany), as well as 2000Trees and Portals in the UK. Check out their remaining festival dates below.
SVALBARD’s Festival Performances:
04-06 Aug – CH, Gränichen, Gränichen Open Air
11-13 Aug – BE, Kortrijk, Alcatraz Festival
16-19 Aug – UK, Compton Martin, ArcTanGent
In October, SVALBARD will return to the EU mainland for six headline show dates, concluding with a headline performance at The Key Club in Leeds, UK.
SVALBARD October Headline Dates:
14 Oct – NL Nijmegen, Soulcrusher
15 Oct – DE Cologne, Helios 37
16 Oct – DE Berlin, Urban Spree
17 Oct – DE Dresden, Chemiefabrik
18 Oct – DE Neunkirchen, Stummsche Reithalle
19 Oct – FR Paris, Backstage By The Mill
21 Oct – UK Leeds, The Key Club
Svalbard consists of Serena Cherry on vocals and guitar, Liam Phelan on vocals and guitar, Mark Lilley on drums, and Matt Francis on bass.
Don’t miss out on this highly anticipated album and the band’s electrifying live performances. Svalbard continues to solidify their position as a powerful and essential component of the global music scene.
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