Abnorm are heading out on a UK tour in April, and they are doing it with fresh momentum. Single “Rats” is out now, and the band has already been putting in work on the road with support slots alongside Paige Kennedy and JOOLS. Five dates across Belfast, London, Nottingham, Leeds, and Edinburgh make up the April run, a tight, focused sweep through some of the UK’s best independent venues.
There is not a lot of fat on this announcement, which suits Abnorm fine. The dates speak for themselves, and a band willing to play Billy Bootlegger’s in Nottingham for free knows exactly who they are playing for. Tickets are on sale now for the majority of dates.
April UK Tour Dates:
April 5 – Belfast – Voodoo
April 8 – London – Nambucca
April 9 – Nottingham – Billy Bootlegger’s (free entry)
Home for the Weekend have released “Fast,” and it does exactly what the title suggests. The Milwaukee three-piece, built around Derek Wiedmeyer on vocals, Nick Magestro on guitar, and Emmett Wood on drums, have been sharpening their 90s alternative and early-2000s heavy rock sound since their DIY beginnings, and this single pushes that progression further than anything on their 2025 album ‘Dead Man Walking’. Self-recorded and produced entirely in-house, “Fast” is aggressive, relentless, and emotionally raw, a track about burnout, numbness, and the weight of expectations that grind you down over time.
Emmett Wood speaks to what the track represents for the band: “‘Fast’ pushed the boundaries for us as both musicians and producers, and we feel it showcases our skills more than anything else we’ve done as a band. Each guy has a chance to shine in that song, but it never loses its cohesion.” With live support from Milwaukee bassist Emilio Gutierrez and a growing presence across Milwaukee, Chicago, and Madison, Home for the Weekend are clearly done playing small. “Fast” is out now on all streaming platforms.
Mascara have released “MARROW,” the latest single from their debut full-length ‘Going Postal’, out March 13 via Fever Ltd. The Paris-based five-piece have spent years sharpening their blend of shoegaze and post-hardcore across three EPs, most recently 2022’s ‘HLA-11TF’, and this record marks the moment it all comes together. “MARROW” runs five minutes, opening with haunting vocals before swirling rhythms build to a breaking point, guitars and drums converging with the kind of emotional force the band has been working toward since forming in 2019. It is one of the most fully realized things they have put to tape.
The band frames the track with clarity and weight: “‘Marrow’ speaks of the wounds we inherit without choosing them, the burden passed down from generation to generation. Pain doesn’t disappear; it changes form, hides beneath the skin, and finds new ways to resurface.” That theme of inherited trauma runs through ‘Going Postal’ as a whole, an album about navigating a world in collapse while pretending to hold it together. Written over two introspective years and recorded in one intense week with Clément Decrock at Boss Hog Studio, the nine-track record moves between pulverizing riffs, hazy distortion, and experimental ambience without losing its thread.
Powerplay have a new label home and a new single to match. “Liberosis” marks the Miami hardcore outfit’s first release on Terminus Hate City, and it arrives with a guest appearance from Andrew Neufeld of Comeback Kid that adds serious weight to an already anthemic track. Built around mental health struggles and the daily grind of keeping it together, the song pushes toward solidarity rather than despair, a shout-along rally cry for anyone who has felt the weight of things they cannot control. It is direct, honest, and hits exactly as hard as it needs to.
Vocalist Adam Hussler traces the band’s origin plainly: “Like many newer bands, we were born out of the pandemic. PowerPlay was actually never supposed to be a touring entity or anything it has become, but just a musical outlet. Like all things, it evolved, and we just rode the wave.” Since their 2024 EP ‘Sealed Envelopes’, the four-piece have built their reputation through relentless touring across the United States and Central America, drawing from the urgency of Sick of It All and Blood for Blood while keeping the focus on shared experience and community. The Terminus Hate City signing puts them in position to push further. “Liberosis” is out now.
Sébastien Tellier’s new album ‘Kiss The Beast’ is out now on Because Music, and it lands as one of the most ambitious records of his career. Built from Paris to London with contributions from Oscar Holter (The Weeknd, Katy Perry), SebastiAn (Frank Ocean), Victor Le Masne (Paris Olympics), and Daniel Stricker, the album features Owen Pallett’s strings, Nile Rodgers’ guitar, and guest appearances from Slayyyter and Kid Cudi. New track “Amnesia,” featuring Cudi, is a hypnotic meeting point between alternative hip-hop and avant-garde pop, driven by deep basslines and Tellier’s hazy piano. The connection between the two artists runs deeper than this record, as Cudi previously sampled Tellier’s “Roche” on “CHUNKY,” making this a reunion with real history behind it.
Tellier frames “Amnesia” with characteristic elegance: “It is a song in which the boundary between love and dependence becomes blurred. Amnesia becomes a refuge and a prison.” That tension between beauty and unease runs through ‘Kiss The Beast’ as a whole, an extravagant pop record that pulls from Tellier’s two decades of cult classics while pushing into new territory. The man who delivered one of the most memorable performances at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games opening ceremony with “La Ritournelle” has lost none of his instinct for the grand gesture. The European tour is deep into its run, with London’s Koko still ahead on March 23, followed by Berlin’s Theater Des Westens on March 30 and a WE LOVE GREEN Festival appearance in Paris on June 5.
Upcoming Tour Dates:
March 19 – Reims, FR – La Cartonnerie
March 20 – Dijon, FR – La Vapeur
March 21 – Strasbourg, FR – La Briqueterie
March 23 – London, UK – Koko
March 25 – Bordeaux, FR – Le Rocher De Palmer (sold out)
BAND-MAID are making their biggest move yet. The globally acclaimed Japanese rock quintet have mapped out the BAND-MAID WORLD TOUR 2026, a massive run spanning Japan, Asia, Europe, and North America, with a two-night finale at the legendary Nippon Budokan in November. That Budokan show has been a long-held goal, with the original 2021 performance cancelled due to the pandemic. Getting there now, on the back of years of relentless global touring, carries real weight for the band and their fanbase.
The tour’s scope reflects how far BAND-MAID have come. Their 2023 global run included a historic Lollapalooza appearance, making them the first Japanese band to play the festival since X JAPAN thirteen years prior. Their 2022 U.S. tour drew over 20,000 fans. ‘Epic Narratives’, their 2024 full-length, featured collaborations with Michael Aaron Einziger of Incubus and Mexican powerhouse trio The Warning, charting high across worldwide rankings. Their 2025 EP ‘SCOOOOOP’ earned them a spot on Grammy.com’s list of Japanese artists to know. The momentum has been building deliberately and consistently.
The European leg marks the band’s first solo tour on the continent since before the COVID-19 pandemic, with stops at the Bataclan in Paris, O2 Academy Islington in London, and venues across Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich. North American dates in the United States and Mexico are confirmed for October. Following the Nippon Budokan finale, BAND-MAID will enter a live performance hiatus, describing it as a “recharge period for world domination,” with a full return planned for 2028, their 15th-anniversary year. The band stated plainly: “We are channeling all of our deep gratitude for your incredibly warm support into every single performance.”
BAND-MAID World Tour 2026 Dates:
April 11 – Kanagawa – KT Zepp Yokohama
May 2 – Miyagi – Sendai GIGS
May 10 – Tokyo – Zepp Haneda
June 3 – Berlin – Columbia Theater
June 5 – Frankfurt – Batschkapp
June 6 – Munich – Technikum
June 9 – Paris – Bataclan
June 11 – London – O2 Academy Islington
July 12 – Hokkaido – Sapporo Factory Hall
July 17 – Kumamoto – B.9 V1
July 18 – Fukuoka – Zepp Fukuoka
November 3 – Osaka – Namba Hatch
November 13 – Tokyo – Nippon Budokan
November 14 – Tokyo – Nippon Budokan
North American dates (US and Mexico) confirmed for October. Details to follow.
Varials have released ‘Where The Light Leaves’, their fourth album via Fearless Records, and it arrives as one of the most ambitious records of their career. Produced by longtime collaborator Josh Schroeder (Lorna Shore, Dayseeker, The Plot In You), the 13-track collection pairs guttural heaviness with new melodic textures, raw performances kept deliberately imperfect to keep the human connection intact. New single “The Hurt Chamber” is a strong example of where the band has pushed their sound, measured and deliberate rather than relentless, with a keys-driven fade out that lands somewhere between haunting and cinematic. Vocalist Skyler Conder cut his vocals in a single take, first try, and the band left it untouched.
Conder explains the track directly: “‘The Hurt Chamber’ is a song strictly about being addicted to a high that is inevitably difficult to break. Whether that be love, drugs, or a certain type of situation, you become blind to what’s happening, all of the bad disappears because it always feels amazing. But it’s doing nothing but harming you throughout every time you become close to it. The ache becomes a salvation of sorts.” That emotional directness has defined Varials since ‘Pain Again’ in 2017, through ‘In Darkness’ and ‘Scars for You to Remember’, and it runs through ‘Where The Light Leaves’ with renewed focus. The tour is underway now with Unity TX, Heavy Hitter, and Boltcutter, running through April.
‘Where The Light Leaves’ Tracklisting:
Where The Light Leaves
No Lie Untouched
Illusions of Loss
Conscious Collapse
Your Soul Feeds
The Hurt Chamber
[wouldyoufollowme]
Silent Demise
Blissful End
Romance II
Metanoia
I’ll Find the Dark
[intothequiet]
Tour Dates (w/ Unity TX, Heavy Hitter, Boltcutter):
March 28 – Oklahoma City, OK – Beer City Music Hall
March 29 – Austin, TX – Come and Take It Live
March 31 – Pensacola, FL – Handlebar
April 1 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
April 2 – Orlando, FL – The Social
April 3 – Greensboro, NC – Hangar 1819
April 4 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club
April 6 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
April 7 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird Café & Music Hall
April 9 – Allston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
April 10 – Brooklyn, NY – The Meadows
April 11 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
STARSET have released “We Are Empire,” the official theme song for Arknights: Endfield, the latest entry in the acclaimed Arknights franchise. The Columbus, Ohio sci-fi rock collective are a natural fit for the partnership. IGN praised the game for its “visually enticing battles and a captivating atmosphere,” and STARSET have spent their entire career building exactly that kind of world, cinematic, conceptually driven, and visually ambitious at every turn. Forbes has noted the band has “one of the most firmly established brands of any modern rock band,” and “We Are Empire” puts that brand to work in a gaming context that earns it.
The single arrives on the heels of ‘SILOS’, STARSET’s most recent full-length released last fall via Fearless Records. With billions of streams accumulated, multi-platinum certifications on breakout track “My Demons,” and sold-out shows across North America and Europe, STARSET bring serious reach to the Arknights universe. “We Are Empire” is out now on all platforms.
REVERYA have a new single out and it hits with the kind of emotional directness that defines their best work. “Envy” tackles the psychological weight of comparison, self-image, and the pressure of perceived perfection, moving between vulnerable atmospheric passages and explosive heavy sections without losing momentum. The Tampa trio, formed in 2022, have built their sound around that dynamic range, and “Envy” is their most personal release yet, lyricism unfiltered, music to match.
Nadine’s vocals anchor the track with genuine presence, while Travis and Kaleb drive the heavy sections with the precision the band has sharpened since their debut EP ‘Melinoe’ and their 2024 full-length ‘Affliction In Bloom’. Drawing from the sonic territory of Spiritbox, Jinjer, and Evanescence while carving their own path, REVERYA continue to build something distinct in the modern progressive metal space. “Envy” is out now.
Nearly thirty years after first crossing paths at the Chicago Blues Festival, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Guy Davis are back together. ‘Fight On! True Blues Vol. 2’ arrives April 17 on Yellow Dog Records, a nine-track collection that moves between traditional material and original compositions without ever treating the past as a museum exhibit. Recorded separately in Virginia, Mississippi, and New York, the performances are raw, direct, and grounded in deep personal investment. Harris reimagines a Jimmy Strother banjo song in Piedmont-style guitar. Hart pulls out the first Charley Patton piece he ever learned, played on a 1950s Sears Silvertone-branded Kay flat-top. Davis reworks Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree” through the lens of Blind Willie McTell. The results are striking.
The stakes behind the music are clear. Harris frames it plainly: “The thematic tie of the record lies in the fact that we are three African-American bluesmen who are fighting to maintain our cultural legacy and heritage. Each of these nine tracks represents a contemporary image of traditional Black lifeways.” Davis adds: “The fight we are waging is to keep this precious music form alive.” Hart connects it all back to that original 1996 photograph: “It was destiny that we’d end up doing something like True Blues.” ‘Fight On! True Blues Vol. 2’ is available for pre-order now.
