Metal veterani Metal Church se vračajo s 13. studijskim albumom Congregation Of Annihilation. Album bo izšel 26. maja pri založbah Rat Pak Records (ZDA) in Reaper Entertainment (Evropa). Tracklista albuma je takšna:

Another Judgement Day
Congregation Of Annihilation
Pick A God And Prey
Children Of The Lie
Me The Nothing
Making Monsters
Say A Prayer With 7 Bullets
These Violent Thrills
All That We Destroy
My Favorite Sin (bonus track)
Salvation (bonus track)

Stoner fuzz rockerji Black Rainbows bodo 9. junija izdali album z naslovom Superskull. Zasedba je že predstavila prvi single Superhero Dopeproof, naslove komadov, ki so našli svoje mesto na ploščku, in naslovnico. Tracklista:

Apocalypse March
Superhero Dopeproof
Children Of Fire And Sacrifices
Cosmic Ride Of The Crystal Skull
The Pilgrim Son
Till The Outerspace
Lone Wolf
King Snake
Desert Sun
All The Chaos In Mine
Megalomania
Fire In The Sky

Ukrajinska post/black metal zasedba White Ward je bila zaradi situacije v Ukrajini žal primorana odpovedati vse načrtovane nastope in turneje. Spodaj lahko preberete izjavo banda:

»Dear friends,

With a heavy heart, we need to inform you that our April tour is canceled. Last 2 weeks we fought for the fate of the tour. We tried all the possible ways, but the system proved to be stronger.

So, let's make it clear about what happened and about the reasons for the cancellation.

Right now “wartime” restrictions are applied in Ukraine, and they include limitations for men in ages 18-60 to cross the border, because it is a range when men are available for military service. So, there is a need to get special permission from state authorities to travel out of Ukraine. During the year 2022 the Ministry Of Culture helped Ukrainian musicians and different artists and assisted in acquiring such permits (for a limited time) and that is why we, and many other bands, were able to play in Europe last year.

But a working algorithm that allows to control the “way back” was not created and responsibilities related to the violations of the permission terms - were nowhere written. And that is why some impudent people just used this opportunity to run out of Ukraine and decided not to come back. Very few cases are known, but after the last one, which raised a lot of noise and dissatisfaction in the media, the Ministry Of Culture decided to implement immediate changes and new rules, even for artists who have already sent a request for permit weeks before an accident - we have sent such request on February, 20th. That is the reason why many Ukrainian bands like Schizogen, Bezlad, The Hypnotunez, Kazka, and many more have already canceled or almost canceled their tours. Some bands were affected when they were already at the border and shows should take place the next day, but due to new rules, they were not allowed to leave Ukraine!

The new rules suppose some additional documents to a request. In our case, every member of the band has his own difficulties in acquiring that, even with an immediate start - there is no guarantee that the process will be successful and accomplished in time. Also, that is anyway not a guarantee that the request will be approved - our colleagues` request was refused even with all the requested documents. So, we just can't get this permission and it is over.

We have tried everything, and the media noise was our last hope. But it hasn’t worked, unfortunately. Months of work, preparations, money - all this is now in vain.
We sincerely apologize to our fans, promoters, and everyone who helped us with this tour. We hope that one day we will make this tour real, and you will wait for us. We will still try to figure something out before Hellfest and August festivals, but no new tour announcements till the end of the war will be made.

But, the one and only responsible for this is russia. They broke everything by invading our country, killing our children, bombing our cities, destroying our culture, and applying all fascist methods to destroy us and we will never forget what they DID and are still DOING!«

Nemški thrasherji Necronomicon so po lanski napovedi svojega enajstega albuma končno razkrili nekaj več podrobnosti. Album bo izšel 28. aprila pri El Puerto Records, nosil bo naslov Constant to Death in obsegal 13 komadov:

Constant To Death
They Lie
Redemption
Stored In Blood
The Guilty Shepherd
A Voice For The Voiceless
Black Rain
Children Cry Alone
Bloodrush
Down From Above
The Blood Runs Red
Poverty Show
Outro

Kot smo že poročali, bodo Cruachan marca izdali svoj deveti studijski album The Living and The Dead. Nedavno je zasedba objavila še single The Witch s tega albuma, ki bo izšel 24. marca pri založbi Despotz Records in bo zajemal naslednje komade:

The Living
The Queen
The Hawthorn
The Harvest
The Festival
The Ghost
The Crow
The Reaper
The Children
The Changeling
The Witch
The Dead

Ameriški heavy metalci Children of the Reptile s komadom Burner napovedujejo svoj drugi album z naslovom Heavy is the Head. Ta bo izšel 7. aprila in bo obsegal devet komadov:

Delvers in Darkness
Warriors of Light
Burner
Silent Circle
Fear The Old Blood
Seven Days of Fire
Last Words (Ruin's Ride)
Adventurers
Oath to Order

Francoski simfonični power metalci Phoebus the Knight so posneli animirani video za pesem Children of the Night s prihajajočega prvenca Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror. Seznam pesmi:

Ante Lux
The Beast Within
The Iron Queen
The Scarlet Dance
Semen Pessimorum
Darkness Will Prevail
Children Of The Night
The Queen Of The Black Sun
Para Bellum
Massacres De Septembre
Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror
The Sword Of Justice

Danski power/thrash metalci Exelerate bodo marca prihodnje leto pri založbi From the Vaults izdali debitantski album. Samonaslovljeni prvenec prinaša naslednje komade:

Arrival
No Escape
Spawn Of Satan
Release
Children Of The Sun
God Of Man
Lethal Assault
In Between Sanity
Epilogue

Poslednji koncert skupine Children Of Bodom, odigran 15. decembra 2019 v Helsinkih, bo prihodnje leto izšel kot koncertni album. Band na Facebooku poziva fane, da pošljejo fotografije, povezane s skupino, in s tem pomagajo soustvariti booklet.

Warmen, projekt nekdanjega klaviaturista Children Of Bodom Jannea Wirmana, pripravlja nov album. Kot še sporoča zasedba, naj bi podpisal z založbo Reaper Entertainment, pri kateri bo naslednje leto izšel nov celovečerec. Pred tem band napoveduje ponovno izdajo zadnjega albuma First Of The Five Elements, ki je izšel leta 2014.

Francoski tehnični death metalci Carnage of Children so posneli live video za Endless Stairs z letošnjega albuma Darkness Within.

Nemški dark rockerji Lord Of The Lost so priredili pesem Children Of The Damned od Iron Maiden. Video priredbe je kolaž posnetkov, ki so nastali med nedavno turnejo z velikani heavy metala.

Na priloženi sliki pa lahko preverite vse datume prihajajoče oktobrske turneje Homecoming Tour 2022.

Nemci Mindivide bodo 23. septembra izdali prvenec z naslovom Fragments, ki prinaša naslednje komade:

Fragment 28
Skull
At Your Whim
D.I.D.
Reign Of Mediocrity
Children Of Nonsense
Timeless Spaces
Beauty Insane
Home

V svetu metala smrt Alexija Laiha (Children Of Bodom, Bodom After Midnight) še vedno zelo odmeva. Skupina bolj ali manj znanih glasbenikov je svojo naklonjenost in poklon izrazila s profesionalno posneto priredbo komada Follow The Reaper. Imena sodelujočih so:

Melissa Bonny - vokali (Ad Infinitum, The Dark Side Of The Moon)
Michalina Maisz - hurdy gurdy (Eluveitie)
Jonas Wolf - kitara (Eluveitie, Illumishade, Ful Halen)
Teemu Mäntysaari - kitara (Wintersun, Smackbound)
Vili Itäpelto - klaviature (Smackbound)
Rob Van Der Loo - bass (Epica)
Jocke Wallgren - bobni (Amon Amarth)

Več kot leto in pol po smrti Alexija Laiha se je odvil (težko) pričakovani intervju. Spregovorili so namreč nekdanji člani zasedbe Children Of Bodom, in sicer Jaska Raatikainen (bobni), Henri »Henkka T. Blacksmith« Seppälä (bass) in Janne Wirman (klaviature). Kot pravijo, je osrednji razlog za intervju zadoščenje vsem oboževalcem, samim sebi in tudi svojim bližnjim.

Glavna tema poglobljenega pogovora je seveda bilo dogajanje pred razidom zasedbe oziroma tisti pravi razlog za razpad Children Of Bodom. Če strnemo res dolg intervju, ki ga lahko v celoti preberete tukaj, se je vse začelo leta 2016, ko je Alexi ponovno vse večkrat pregloboko pogledal v kozarec. Leta 2019 se je vse skupaj zaostrilo do te mere, da je slavni kitarist za zajtrk »pojedel« steklenico viskija. V začetku omenjenega leta naj bi bil Alexi diagnosticiran s sladkorno boleznijo in napoten na rehabilitacijo s strani managerja, ki se je ni udeležil. Na polovici leta se je zgodil zloglasni prepis avtorskih pravic imena COB prav na Laiha, ki pa naj bi končno turnejo po Finskem preživel bolj ali manj trezen. Ko je leta 2020 njegova družina vztrajala pri strokovni pomoči, kitarist pa je to zavrnil, se je stvar končala tragično. Spomnimo, da je bil takrat za javnost kot razlog za razid zasedbe navedena »želja ostalih članov po preživljanju več časa z družinami«.