Ghost Cult’s Chris Small (aka Smallz, Papa Smallz) has been an essential member of our live coverage team this year and chipped in a few other types of reviews over the years as well. When he is not voraciously consuming heavy music, he is also a dad, documents underground rap shows, and streams on Twitch. Here are his top 20 albums of 2022 list! Peace and Chicken grease, as Chris would say…
Lamb Of God will release their highly-anticipated new album Omens, on October 7th, 2022. Via Epic Records. The first single, “Nevermore,” arrives on Friday, June 10. Omens was produced by longtime collaborator Josh Wilbur (Korn, Megadeth). The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal architects will support the new album with a massive Live Nation produced U.S. headlining tour, The Omens Tour, featuring special guests Killswitch Engage on all dates. Different legs will also see support from Baroness, Motionless In White, Spiritbox, Animals As Leaders as well as Suicide Silence and Fit For An Autopsy. The tour kicks off September 9th in Brooklyn and runs through October 20th, see full routing below. Tickets go on sale starting Friday, June 10 at 10am local time at the link below!
Animals As Leaders started as a project by virtuoso guitarist Tosin Abasi, after his former label Prosthetic Records asked him to create a solo LP, following the end of his band Reflux. After taking a year out to study and immerse himself in his guitar playing, he put together the group who have now been releasing music for over a decade through to Parrhesia (Sumerian) their fifth album.
Animals As Leaders have booked “The Parrhesia Tour” which will see the band perform 2 sets per night in nineteen cities across the US to support their upcoming album of the same name. This monumental tour, produced by Live Nation, will feature two special sets by the progressive metal outfit – one of which will feature the new album Parrhesia (out on March 25th via Sumerian Records) in its entirety. Direct support acts will be announced soon. Tickets go on general sale at 10AM local on Friday, January 21st at the link below. Continue reading
Animals As Leaders have dropped a new song, their first in five years, “Monomyth.” They also shared an incredible video to go along with the track which you can see below. The band also announced they have resigned with their label Sumerian Records! Stream the track and watch the video now! Continue reading
Metal and Coffee’s Mini-Metal Mixtape, presented by Ghost Cult Magazine is back with a new episode! Time to get your weekly dose of an essential mix of the newest extreme music by essential bands, and a few classics baked in there too! This edition by Ebonie Butler a.k.a, Metal & Coffee, and the next few weeks of this series will celebrate black artists in honor of Black History Month. This week’s playlist features Bam Bam, Sevendust, Animals As Leaders, Suffocation, and Dress the Dead In her 12-year journey as an extreme metal DJ, Metal & Coffee has delved into the depths of the heavy music world to bring you a new mix each week. Metal & Coffee has been featured on Philadelphia’s most popular college radio station, WKDU 91.7 FM, and has also spent time as the resident New Releases DJ over on GIMME METAL. Stream the newest playlist right now!
I assume it’s easy to look back at the aughts and be dismissive of the entire decade particularly from the perspective of metal or punk fan. Nu-Metal was slowly being phased out as any goodwill from the previous decade had eroded and acts like Simple Plan and Good Charlotte made everyone realize that maybe the idea of Pop-Punk was a mistake. But those who kept their ear close to the ground knew better than to become jaded. Hard rock was alive and well and young bands were doing very exciting things. Young bands like Between the Buried and Me with their seminal Alaska (Victory Records 2005/Craft Recordings 2020).
American Satan, the 2017 movie Directed by Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen will see a television sequel Paradise City soon. The film starred and featured music from many Sumerian cornerstone artists with a score co-written by Jonathan Davis of Korn. The series stars Black Veil Brides leaders Andy Black and Ben Bruce, along with Sleeping With Sirens frontman Kellen Quinn and many others. Listen to this trip-hot inspired reimaging of Danzig’s classic ‘Mother’, in a video with clips from the original film right now!Continue reading
Throughout the journey from my home in the North of England to Leicestershire’s infamous Download Festival, I could be sure of only two things as a first time attendee; that I would absolutely see Tool headline, and that I would have to endure what was to become the muddiest weekend of my life in order to reach that point.Continue reading
The granddaddy of UK music festivals, Download Festival takes flight this weekend and Ghost Cult is there! The forecast calls for rain (surprise!) but the spirits will not be dampened! Here is the day by day rundown of indispensable bands to not miss and the running order! Continue reading