» 2026-08-01

Sid Wilson Out Of Slipknot

I have not been a big Slipknot fan for a long time, but I still found it shocking that they seemingly fired one of their original members. I couldn't even begin to imagine the drama involved in a band with 9 members, but after nearly 30 years you just assume some guys are going to be there forever.

There aren't many details available, just some cryptic social media posts and a TMZ story indicating it was due to personal conflicts with the rest of the band. Who knows how much we'll ever find out, as Slipknot's history is littered with dismissals only ever discussed in the vaguest of terms.

The current configuration of Slipknot is very far removed from the group that made two extremely important albums in the metal canon. While I do like some of their newer work, a bunch of essentially hired guns aren't going to recapture the magic and mystery of the old days.

Now, Sid Wilson wasn't the most integral part of the group's sound, but I do think his scratching and sampling did contribute a lot to the atmosphere and overall vibe of some of their better songs. I don't think his absence will affect the quality of future material one way or the other, but it's not generally a good sign when founding members leave a band.

It's also a weird coincidence that this all went down in the same year Look Outside Your Window finally released, which is an album written and recorded by Shawn Crahan, Corey Taylor, Jim Root and Sid Wilson in 2008, during the All Hope Is Gone sessions. (If the title doesn't ring a bell, it's because it made precisely no impact despite years of rumours teasing its release.)

Given all the rumour mongering, it's tough to not make the cynical read that it's a band shedding longstanding members, to replace them with hired guns making significantly less money. There's always a chance there's something more dramatic at the root of all this but, to me, this feels like the inevitable outcome in the later stages of a band like Slipknot's existence.

» 2026-07-31

Monthly Release Round-up: July 2026

It's a very short list this month. In addition to not finding a lot of releases that caught my eye, this has also been an exceptionally busy month. Any omissions will be included in the following months' round-ups.

Psycroptic, The Pulse Of Annihilation

A very likely entry on my Albums Of The Year list, this is some of the best technical death metal released in 2026. Sick grooves and too many great riffs to count.

Listen: Bandcamp

Devildriver, Strike And Kill

I have not paid much attention to these guys after The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand — and I certainly didn't indulge their side-quest into the country genre — but this new album is really good. Big, chunky riffs and Dez Fafara's distinctly menacing vocal delivery.

Listen: Bandcamp

Charli XCX, Music, Fashion, Film

I didn't much care for the Wuthering Heights soundtrack, but things get back on track with a decent follow-up to 2024's Brat. I'm still trying to determine where this album stacks up against earlier work.

Listen: Spotify

No Cure, It Is Going To Get Dark

Perhaps hell has frozen over, because I'm giving effusive praise to a straight edge hardcore metal record in 2026. No Cure have an impressive live energy and it comes across perfectly on this record.

Listen: Spotify

Loathe, A Stranger To You

A really diverse follow-up to the well received I Let It In And It Took Everything. I don't know if modern nu metal is a thing but, if it is, these guys are among the best doing it.

Listen: Spotify

» 2026-07-29

Quick Update

Things have been incredibly hectic for the past 4 weeks, but life should be slowing down (at least a little bit) in the very near future.

July's list of album releases will be a bit delayed as, honestly, I didn't find a lot that caught my interest. I'm sure there are more good albums out there, but I need some time to find them. I'm anticipating about a delay of about a week.

There is actually quite a bit I want to write here, so watch this space.

» 2026-07-21

Psycroptic - The Pulse Of Annihilation

I think it took me about 2 years after first seeing Psycroptic live on a Devastation Across The Nation tour back in 2018, before I fully gave them their due. Out of all the bands I saw at that show, it was them and Ingested who made the strongest, most lasting impressions. Still, for whatever reason, I didn't seek out of any of their music for a while. It was one of those situations where I would see their name come up, remember how good they were, and then do absolutely nothing to follow that thought any further.

When the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down, Psycroptic was one of the many bands actively posting on social media throughout the ordeal. They had already released As The Kingdom Drowns, and I was immediately regretting my baffling avoidance of them. The next record, 2022's Divine Council was even better, with "A Fool's Errand" and "Rend Asunder" both getting regular, near-weekly play when I'm at the gym — even to this day.

The 4-year gap between their last album and The Pulse Of Annihilation seems to have served them well. The band has always had a standout rhythm section, specifically the guitar, and it's firing on all cylinders here. This is still brutally heavy music, but the grooves and sparing melodicism tie everything together perfectly. There are some tonal similarities with past work, and there is a moment in "Our Pillars Fall" where the vocals strongly remind me of "We Were The Keepers". These are all positives, however; the songwriting is incredibly strong, and feels like a band their honing sound rather than simply rehashing past efforts.

The whole album is bangers, with a perfect running time of just under 39 minutes. This easily feels the band's best work, and a potential Album Of The Year.

» 2026-07-13

Ah Yes, That Crippled Irishman

I don't have a lot to say about UFC 329, as I did not watch the event. I rarely even watch the fights in .GIF or highlight video fashion anymore, the UFC has become such a revolting product that I would rather not get that stink on me.

Still, I was curious to see the outcome of Conor McGregor's purported return to MMA. I used to be a big Conor fan; I found his run from the Chad Mendes fight through to his dismantling of Eddie Alvarez to become a two-division champion very inspiring at the time. Then he revealed himself to be a unhinged cokehead and all-around detestable human being before making a fortune from a fight with Floyd Mayweather and selling his personal whiskey brand at peak value.

A little under a decade later and Conor's list of crimes is exhausting to recount, capped off by a recent finding of civil liability for raping Nikita Hand. Since capturing the lightweight title, he's lost a boxing match, got knocked out by Dustin Poirier, then shattered his leg rematching Poirier, pulled out of a prior fight due to a broken toe*, and lost his comeback fight in 69 seconds via injury.

When he's not doing crimes or embarrassing himself in competition, he's found time to foment racial hatred and xenophobia on social media. All told, he's a mess. His comeback fight was exactly the kind of disappointment you would expect from a 38 year-old who's spent the last decade in a drug-addled haze. Whether he came into the fight hiding a knee injury of some kind or is simply unlucky is moot, he's lost his aura and mystique.

I honestly have no idea why Conor even came back. If the vague rumours of financial issues are true, that would be remarkably sad. Like his former opponent, Floyd Mayweather, it's difficult to imagine someone who made hundreds of millions of dollars somehow mismanaging such a vast fortune...

I'm not sure what the future holds for Conor, and I largely do not care. From my vantage point, he has nothing left to offer fighting and may not even be physically capable of competing at a level to warrant his asking price.

* - this has always felt like a cover story for some other issue...