On Thursday, March 19, Friday, March 20, and Saturday, March 21, 2026, a worldwide contingent of music fans will again convene at Houston’s White Oak Music Hall for “America’s biggest metal party”, the Hell’s Heroes Festival. Now in its eighth year, the vaunted music fest will showcase a hand-picked selection of international heavy metal bands that includes both seminal, genre-pioneers, highly regarded modern day groups and more, in a can’t-miss concert event. Today, Hell’s Heroes unleashes the first wave of exclusive, confirmed acts for HHVIII, including German legend, Udo Dirkschneider (performing a special “Balls to the Wall” set in honor of the Accept LP’s 40th Anniversary), Seattle sceamers, Sanctuary, German thrash titans, Tankard, and Canadian avant-garde greats, Voivod (delivering a fully-eighties set), respectively. Tickets for Hell’s Heroes VIII are on sale now at this location. Continue reading →
Heavy Metallers Whtie Wizzard are currently working on new music for their next full length! In the meantime they have released their cover of Iron Maiden’s classic song “Fligh of Icarus.” Check it out!
Having released six full-lengths and other assorted releases in just five years, it’s only inevitable for Haunt’s output to start getting samey. Their first (and probably not last) album in 2021, Beautiful Distraction carries on the polished, synth-laden variant of Heavy Metal last seen on 2020’s Mind Freeze and Flashback. Fortunately, the formula is still enjoyable with tracks like ‘In Our Dreams’ and ‘Face Of Danger’ offering uplifting hooks while ‘Imaginary Borders’ hits. It’s rather strange to see new versions of ‘Hearts On Fire’ and ‘It’s In My Hands’ considering their appearances on prior albums, but their later placements in the track order ultimately amount to inoffensive inclusions. As interchangeable as these albums have become lately, fans will still find their favorite pleasantries on full display.
7 / 10
Witchseeker – Scene Of The Wild
Like 2017’s When The Clock Strikes before it, the second album from Singapore’s Witchseeker offers high octane Speed Metal with a certain Hard Rock sensibility. That latter element is especially pronounced on Scene Of The Wild (Dying Victims Productions) as songs like ‘Rock This Night Away,’ ‘Sin City’ (Not an AC/DC cover), and ‘Tokyo Nights’ among others are packed with catchy singalongs and frolicking beats. Fortunately, there’s still enough rawness to go around with the tempos often opting for total intensity, the vocals having an endearingly untrained quality and a filthy as hell bass tone. It may not be a serious gamechanger but another fun listen for fans of Enforcer and White Wizzard.
8 / 10
Significant Point – Into The Storm
Significant Point’s debut album follows in the footsteps of their countrymen in groups like Loudness and Anthem, but their approach to Speed Metal ends up feeling more German than Japanese. Songs like the opening ‘Attacker’ and ‘Riders Under The Sun’ show strong influence from Running Wild and Walls Of Jericho-era Helloween with their blazing guitar runs, flamboyant harmonies, relentless drumming, and unhinged yet melodic wails.
There’s also room for more Classic Metal leaning fun with ‘You’ve Got The Power’ and ‘Night Of The Axe’ offering some in your face optimism. The more epic touches on ‘Running Alone’ also make for another highlight of a closer. Into The Storm (Dying Victims Productions) may be rather rough and tumble for some fans, especially when it comes to the vocals, but comes strongly recommended to those who like their Power Metal with extra grit.
