Today’s metal and hard rock news rundown lands with the usual mix of grief, movement, and noise. One underground original is gone, one festival bill got heavier, a melodeath institution just fired off another warning shot, and the summer tour circuit keeps filling up with names scene lifers actually care about.
GosT Dies at 46
James Cody Lollar, the man behind GosT, has died at 46. He was never a clean fit for metal media boxes, but that was part of what made the project hit so hard, dragging synthwave through horror, industrial grime, and enough metallic menace to make it matter well beyond retro-nostalgia circles.
His death leaves a real hole for listeners who like their dark music meaner, stranger, and less interested in playing nice. GosT carved out a lane that felt hostile, cinematic, and unmistakably his own, and that kind of voice does not get replaced.
RippleFest Texas Loads Up for 2026
RippleFest Texas has unveiled a lineup built for riff addicts, with YOB, Khemmis, and Greenleaf leading a stacked bill in Austin this September. The appeal here is simple: this fest knows its lane, and instead of watering it down, it keeps doubling down on volume, weight, and bands that know how to lock into a groove and crush with it.
For Metal Mantra readers, this is the kind of regional fest announcement worth watching because it is not chasing trend traffic. It is building a destination weekend for people who want doom, heavy psych, stoner metal, and low-to-mid-tempo punishment delivered properly.
At The Gates Drop “The Dissonant Void”
At The Gates have released “The Dissonant Void,” another preview of The Ghost of a Future Dead, due April 24 through Century Media. The track sounds exactly like what you want from a band at this stage, sharp, urgent, and unwilling to turn legacy status into autopilot.
The bigger pull is what the album represents. Between the return of Anders Björler and the weight around these final Tomas Lindberg recordings, this campaign does not feel like a routine veteran-band cycle, it feels like a record people are going to sit with.
Silverstein and Story Of The Year Announce Camp Screamo Tour
Silverstein and Story Of The Year are taking the “Camp Screamo Tour” across the U.S. this summer, with Origami Angel joining the run. It is the first time the two bands have toured the States together, which makes this one feel less like lazy nostalgia bait and more like a package that somehow took too long to happen.
If you came up on early-2000s post-hardcore and still want a live bill that can balance memory with actual momentum, this one has teeth. Both bands still know how to sell catharsis without turning themselves into museum pieces.
Experience Moves Ahead Without Brady Ebert
Experience says it is still releasing its debut EP Stay Present in June, even after Brady Ebert’s arrest and exit from the band. That keeps the story planted in ugly territory, because the music is now inseparable from the violence allegations and the wider fallout surrounding Ebert’s break with multiple projects.
The remaining members are trying to separate the release from the man at the center of the case, but that is easier to say than make real once a story gets this serious. Either way, this is no longer just scene gossip, it is a developing legal and reputational mess with consequences that are not going away.
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