Archive for August 11, 2026

SPIRIT IN THE ROOM To Kick Off North American Tour With Down And Helmet This Week!

Posted in Hard Rock, Metal, Music, music news, news with tags , , , on August 11, 2026 by Metal Odyssey

Photo by LeftyRob

Later this week, Los Angeles-based eclectic rock alchemists SPIRIT IN THE ROOM will return to the road supporting Down and Helmet! The Strap It Down tour begins on August 15th in Atlanta, Georgia and closes on September 2nd in Chicago, Illinois. Tickets are on sale now. See all confirmed dates below.

SPIRIT IN THE ROOM w/ Down, Helmet:
8/15/2026 The Eastern – Atlanta, GA
8/16/2026 Piedmont Hall – Greensboro, NC
8/17/2026 The Basement East – Nashville, TN **
8/19/2026House Of Blues – Cleveland, OH
8/20/2026 Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA
8/21/2026 Elevation – Grand Rapids, MI **
8/22/2026 Royal Oak Music Theatre – Royal Oak, MI
8/23/2026 History – Toronto, ON
8/25/2026 MTELUS – Montreal, QC
8/26/2026 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
8/27/2026 The Queen – Wilmington, DE **
8/28/2026 Lark Hall – Albany, NY **
8/29/2026 Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY **
8/30/2026 The Fillmore Silver Spring – Silver Spring, MD
9/01/2026 Bogart’s – Cincinnati, OH
9/02/2026 Ramova Theatre – Chicago, IL
** SPIRIT IN THE ROOM + Helmet only

The vision of Louisiana-born and Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Dennis R. Sanders, SPIRIT IN THE ROOM unfurls through cigarette smoke, cheap booze, and distortion like an anachronistic fever dream soundtracked by a collision of gothic vocal hues, immersive alternative architecture, and jarring metallic catharsis. It’s scary at times. It’s sad at other times. If you ever wondered what goes on in the head of a film noir hitman, horror novel asylum inmate, or a golden age silver screen villain, it might sound something like SPIRIT IN THE ROOM.

SPIRIT IN THE ROOM’s released their Passengers EP in 2024. The offering includes three previously unreleased tracks (“Creepy Phone Calls,” “Show Me You,” and “Covenant”) as well as three additional tracks (“I Have A Heart,” “Affectionate Projectile,” “You Caught Hell”) that have been released throughout the years on YouTube, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud but never before available as a proper collection.

Above: Passengers EP cover

Find orders for SPIRIT IN THE ROOM’s Passengers EP at Bandcamp at THIS LOCATION and additional merch at the Housecore Records webshop at THIS LOCATION.

Watch SPIRIT IN THE ROOM’s video for “Creepy Phone Calls” HERE and lyric video for “Show Me You” HERE.

SPIRIT IN THE ROOM remains comfortable in the dark. Audiences initially met Sanders as part of Black Light Burns. However, he introduced SPIRIT IN THE ROOM during 2010 before revealing a series of projects: The Holy Phobia, Pt. 1 EP (2014), Demon (2015), and Spirit In The Room, Vol. 1 EP (2019), in between various singles and countless shows. SPIRIT IN THE ROOM released their Flamingo EP in 2022 via Housecore Records.

Maximum Volume Music hailed, “…a blistering heavy garage-come-industrial metal banger,” while Distorted Sound wrote, “we experience a whole range of feelings from paranoia to obsession that make Flamingo what it is: a musically progressive record with Sanders more than ready to take risks along the way.” In 2023, SPIRIT IN THE ROOM served as support for Pantera on four shows in the Western US.

https://www.facebook.com/spiritintheroomsounds

https://instagram.com/spiritintheroom

https://spiritintheroom.bandcamp.com

https://www.housecorerecords.com

Source: EARSPLIT PR

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RAM: Swedish Heavy Metal Titans To Release Against Full-Length, On October 9th, via Metal Blade Records ~ New Video/Single Now Playing + Preorders Available

Posted in Heavy Metal, Metal, metal bands, metal music, Music, music news, news with tags , , , , , on August 11, 2026 by Metal Odyssey

Photo by Sanna Bäckström

Watch/stream RAM’s “Ghost Emperor” HERE: https://www.metalblade.com/ram/

Swedish heavy metal titans RAM will release their new full-length, titled Against, on October 9th, through Metal Blade Records.

It has been nearly seven years since The Throne Within, an album defined by its spiritual and metaphysical themes. With Against, RAM takes a more grounded approach, focusing on the experience of being pushed beyond reasonable limits and refusing to comply. The album captures that moment of resistance “that fire of defiance, which ultimately defines its title and message,” as the band collectively states.

For the production, RAM reunited with their longtime collaborator Johan Reiven, who had previously worked with the band on Lightbringer (2009). Without their own studio, having sold Black Path Studios the band recorded at Studio Recordia in Varberg, Sweden.

“At first, I wasn’t really comfortable not being in my own domain,” admits singer Oscar Carlquist. “But Johan is a far better sound tech than me and he did a wonderful job. We recorded the solos in a cool new way, as we set up two amps, one wet with a lot of effects and one dry with no effects. They were both mic’d up separately and they played into the enormous recording room in Recordia that is 150 square meters, where we placed two room mics (left and right).”

The approach resulted in a rich, organic sound that enhanced the album’s overall character. Musically, both guitarists continue to favor bridge pickups, maintaining a sharp and aggressive tone. The equipment used on Against reflects a classic approach, contributing to a sound that feels both timeless and direct. Sonically, Against was conceived as a return to classic recording philosophies.

Drawing inspiration from the early works of Dio, MSG, and Sweet, the goal was to create an honest and unpolished sound. What you hear is what you get! In a music landscape increasingly divided into countless subgenres, the band positions itself deliberately outside of categorization. The title Against, itself, reinforces the band’s longstanding identity as nonconformists, viewing heavy metal as a form of sonic rebellion.

“We do not give a fuck about all these new strange subgenres popping up. We try to play heavy metal in its purest form. We try to hang on to the center of that energy, and we are completely uninterested in 99% of the metal scene,” asserts Carlquist. 

As a precursor to the release, RAM delivers the record’s lead single, “Ghost Emperor” and an accompanying video.

Carlquist comments, “This is the opener of the album, a straightforward classic heavy metal song and pure RAM. Lyrically, it deals with how our power structures exist to conceal the true rulers, the ones we will never see or know, pulling the strings behind the curtain and controlling us all.”

Watch RAM’s “Ghost Emperor” video HERE.

RAM’s Against full-length will be released on CD and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants:

180g Black
Clear Lilac Marbled
Purple Melt (Ltd. 300)
Crystal Clear Blackdust (Ltd. 300)
Silver Black Splatter (Ltd. 250)

Find preorders at: metalblade.com/ram.

Against – Track Listing:

1. Obsession

2. Ghost Emperor

3. One Vs. All

4. Abattoir

5. Out of Control

6. Leaving

7. Against

8. Night Blade

9. Rising Again

10. 1984

11. The Final Hour

RAM Live:
9/12/09/2026 Candelabrum Metalfest – León, MX
10/09/2026 TBA – Gothenburg, SE *Release Show
12/04/2026 Spectrum – Murcia, ES
12/05/2026 Peter Rock – Valencia, ES
12/06/2026 Upload – Barcelona, ES
12/07/2026 Urban – Vitoria, ES
3/12-13/2027 Heavy Metal Thunder Fest – Pisek, CZ
5/20-22/2027 Iron Fest – Ohmbachsee, DE

RAM:
Oscar Carlquist – vocals
Morgan Pettersson – drums
Harry Granroth – guitar
Martin Jonsson – guitar
Tobias Petterson – bass

https://ram-metal.com

https://www.facebook.com/RAMheavymetal

https://www.instagram.com/RAMheavymetal

https://www.metalblade.com

Source: EARSPLIT PR

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AVATAR – Don’t Go In The Forest ‘27 | Latin America Tour Dates, Countries & Cities

Posted in groove metal, Heavy Metal, Metal, metal bands, metal music, Music, music news, news with tags , , , , , on August 11, 2026 by Metal Odyssey

General on-sale begins Friday, August 14, at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Jan 10 • São Paulo, BR
Jan 12 • Montevideo, UY
Jan 13 • Buenos Aires, AR
Jan 15 • Santiago, CL
Jan 17 • Quito, EC
Jan 19 • Bogotá, CO
Jan 20 • San José, CR
Jan 22 • Guadalajara, MX
Jan 23 • Monterrey, MX
Jan 24 • San Luis Potosí, MX
Jan 26 • Querétaro, MX
Jan 27 • Puebla, MX

https://avatarcountry.com

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