Tag Archives: USA

Laden – Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (2026); Wren – Black Rain Falls (2025)

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Hey there, friends. Hope you’re having a good Friday.

Nah, wait, Good Friday was last week. Hope you’re having a GREAT Friday!

I’d like to share something with you that’s just being released today — an album by single-member band Seattleite Laden which I recently discovered through the Metal Bandcamp Gift Club.

For those who may not be familiar, MBGC is essentially a mailing list — which has gone through various incarnations over the years but currently hosted on Substack — where you can share your birthday and your Bandcamp wish list, and every day (well, most days) a message goes out to let everyone know whose birthday it is that day, and a link to their wish list.

It’s a great way to give and receive the gift of music, to support independent artists, and also a great way to discover new suggested stuff to listen to: if you see someone’s list and you think, hey I like a bunch of these bands, chances are you may want to check out some of the other stuff on their list.

Speaking of which, I thought it would be fun to discuss this brand-new album alongside the most recent release from a band of Londoners who Laden have cited as one of their influences: Wren — an album which happened to sneak its way into my list of favorites from last year.

 

Laden – Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (self-released, 10 April 2026)

 

Wren – Black Rain Falls (Church Road Records, 21 February 2025)

 

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Pia Isa – Distorted Chants (2022); Ten East / SoftSun – Turned to Stone Chapter 10 (2026)

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Good afternoon, y’all. Is it just me, or do you also find that Monday morning return to work tends to be brutal and exhausting no matter how much time off you’ve had or how relaxed you might have been in the interim?

I had a three-day weekend since my company took Friday off thanks to the Zombie Jesus holiday; had a fairly nice time visiting with family part of the weekend, and lounging out in nature the rest of the time. So I should be feeling refreshed and ready to go, but that never seems to be the case.

Anyway, we can all feel hashtag-blessed with some hypnotically chill music to help us survive another tedious day of drudgery: a split record Ripple Music just released on that holiday Friday, as well as a solo album from a few years back by one of the members who was involved in both projects on that split.

 

Pia Isa – Distorted Chants (Argonauta Records, 25 March 2022)

 

Ten East / SoftSun – Turned to Stone: Chapter 10 (Ripple Music, 03 April 2026)

 

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Tide Harvester – Palemoon Spelltone (2023), Triumph of the Dragon-God (2026)

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Well, friends — so concludes another week. And one of the busiest and more stressful in recent memory; or at least it was for me. How are you all doing? Before I sign out of here and go pass out for the entire weekend, I’d like to share some new music with you. Well, some brand-new and some slightly less-new.

Did you hear Syrup Moose Records is back? They’ve started grinding out the albums again for 2026, and today marks the release of the second full-length by a Kansas Citian one-piece band whose debut LP was one of SMR‘s earliest output, almost exactly three years ago.

 

Tide Harvester – Palemoon Spelltone (Syrup Moose Records, 07 April 2023)

 

Tide Harvester – Triumph of the Dragon-God (Syrup Moose Records, 27 March 2026)

 

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Educated Owls – The Fires of Dead Stars (2026); Glassing – From the Other Side of the Mirror (2024)

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Good day, friends!

I guess.

I mean, after all, it is Monday. And as we all know, the Iron Sheik (R.I.P.) would probably have had some choice words to say about that on Twitter (R.I.P.).

In typical Monday fashion, it’s time to play catch-up from last week. Specifically, there was a brand new album released last Friday that I was planning to share with you all, but then — well — you know.

That new release comes to us from Washington (D.C.)’s Educated Owls, a name that may seem familiar to you from a handful of compilations that have been featured on this site over the past couple of years.

And as an added bonus, we’ll also check out the latest (albeit coming up upon two years since it was first released) from Austin (TX)’s Glassing, who also may be familiar to you from a couple previous releases we had discussed.

 

Educated Owls – The Fires of Dead Stars (self-released, 20 March 2026)

 

Glassing – From the Other Side of the Mirror (Pelagic Records, 26 April 2024)

 

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SoftSun – Daylight in the Dark (2024), Eternal Sunrise (2025)

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Hello, Dear Readers! Hope you are all having a splendid Thursday.

Yesterday I told you about this weekend’s Mojave Experience festival taking place Friday and Saturday in the California desert.

Well today, I’d like to call your attention to another group who will be making an appearance in the Yucca Valley this Friday night (20 March): SoftSun, a collaboration between Norwegian bassist/vocalist Pia Isaksen (also known for her solo act Pia Isa as well as being a member of Superlynx (reviewed here) and Californian guitarist Gary Arce (whose other band Yawning Man will ALSO be at the Mojave Experience on Saturday) with the trio rounded out by a different drummer on each of their first two albums.

 

SoftSun – Daylight in the Dark (Ripple Music, 08 November 2024)

 

SoftSun – Eternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych Sounds, 07 November 2025)

 

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Secret Cutter – /// (2025); Blunt Knife Castration – Blood & Oil (2026)

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It IS once again Bandcamp Friday, so if you’ve had your eye on something in your wishlist — or if you hear something today that catches your fancy — it’s a good time to make that purchase, since 100% of the cost ends up going straight to the artist!

For all my good friends and casual acquaintances out there reading these words: I’ve decided to close out the week with one album that was released last March by a band from the other side of the state that we’ve been fans of for a long time here in the Valley, and one that was released last Friday by an artist from the other side of the Atlantic whom we’ve only just learned about when they recently reached out by email. In both cases, we 100% guarantee you will love what you hear, or we’ll refund every penny you spent on your free subscription to valleyofsteel dot net.

 

Secret Cutter – /// (self-released, 20 March 2025)

 

Blunt Knife Castration – Blood & Oil (Remorseless Records, 27 February 2026)

 

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Bog Wizard – Journey Through the Dying Lands (2024), Satanik Panik (2025)

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It’s Bandcamp Friday once again — hope you all are having a happy one!

Feels like a good time to check in on our Michiganian friends Bog Wizard. Back when we published a review of their 2020 and 2021 releases, there were a few specific references to the “Satanic Panic” of the late 20th century. Well, since that time, the band went and released a whole damn album named for that concept. They also put together an album with literary tie-ins, both of which are highly recommended for you to check out!

 

Bog Wizard – Journey Through the Dying Lands (self-released in collaboration with Madness Hearts Games, 25 October 2024)

 

Bog Wizard – Satanik Panik (self-released, 31 October 2025)

 

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1994 Called…

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The Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen (RIYL: Soul Asylum, Dig)

 


 
Corrosion of Conformity – Deliverance (RIYL: a rendering of Master of Reality dripping with southern-fried sludge)

 


 
Sugar – File Under: Easy Listening (RIYL: Matthew Sweet, Urge Overkill)

 

I know all of you are looking at the title of this article, then looking at those three album covers I posted up there, and immediately you’re saying “Hey wait a minute, wasn’t Gentlemen released in 1993 though?” And you’re absolutely correct, it did hit stores in the fall of that year, on the heels of the title track’s music video hitting the airwaves, but my recollection was that this Queen City band really started getting attention around the time this (their fourth album)’s second single dropped in early ’94.

In any case, the point of this article is to draw attention to a trio of bands who are embarking on major 2026 tours, each including a stop in Pittsburgh, any which would have been a huge deal to my ninth-grade self. And my BMG Music Service membership.

See below for full lists of dates, along with some relevant links. Enjoy!

 

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Aint Pancakes – Love Your Neighbors (2025)

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Every day we hear about people doing shit like this and we love to see it and it fills us with joy and momentarily restores our faith in humanity, but at the same time we hate that people HAVE to do shit like this, which once again makes us wonder if the world wouldn’t be better off getting hit with another dinosaur-extinction-level asteroid.

I guess this is just the world we live in now. Happy Thanksgiving Eve, y’all.

 

Aint Pancakes – Love Your Neighbors (Philip K. Discs, 15 November 2025)

 

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Xoth “Exogalactic Actuality” Tour || ABA Community Weekend

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Hey there! I’ve got two (completely unrelated) things to bring to your attention today, both of which might interest you if you live in or around the Pittsburgh area, and one of which might still interest you if you are in any of several other areas throughout the eastern or central United States.

First up:

 


 

ABA‘s Pittsburgh Community Weekend

20 & 21 September, 2025

Join the American Birding Association for a fun weekend of birding in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

On Sat. morning, Sept. 20, we will bird together at Hartwood Acres Park where we will explore the trails around the estate buildings, meadows, and mature woodland areas. In the afternoon, we head over to Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve for two presentations, one by Brian Shema and the other by Nick Stahlman, hosted by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. In the evening, come down into the city and join us at East End Brewing for a little urban birding and socializing over pizza and local drinks on their outdoor patio.

On Sun. morning, Sept. 21, we will visit Frick Park, one of the area’s top birding locations, to look for fall migrants. Later we will gather at the Frick Environmental Center for a fun presentation by Mike Fialkovich, president of the Three Rivers Birding Club.

All bird walks, talks, and workshops are free and open to the public (with cash bar/food during the evening social), but registration is mandatory. The ABA’s bird-friendly SongBird Coffee will be served before and after each bird walk and presentation.

We are grateful for the support of Vortex Optics, who are providing a variety of excellent Vortex binoculars for participants to use during our field trips. There are limited binoculars available for loan, and we will distribute them on a first come first served basis, so sharing might be needed and appreciated.

Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to connect with fellow bird enthusiasts and enhance your birding skills. Sign up now and join us for an unforgettable weekend!

 

All of the locations listed here are local hotspots for bird activity — especially Frick which has been buzzing with reports of migrating warblers and flycatchers over the past few weeks. As stated above, all of this weekend’s events are FREE, you just have to sign up here. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since the ABA first announced it early this year, and I hope to run into some friendly faces over the two-day gathering!

 

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and next:

 


 

Xoth – “Exogalactic Actuality” Tour 2025

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