New Year, New Music

The existing music threads are getting long, tired, and cluttered. So for 2026, I'm launching this one. And I'll start with some early releases from some favourites of mine.

First up, we've got German metalheads Beyond the Black, led by the beautiful and talented vocalist Jennifer Haben, launching a new album entitled Break The Silence. It's solid, energetic, melodic power metal quite typical of this band. They have some friends along for the ride, with fellow Germans Lord of the Lost and Japanese power metal act LOVEBITES joining for one track each. This is the release day single.


And then my favourite singer Floor Jansen kicked off the year with another TV appearance in her homeland (The Netherlands). This time, she covered "Weak" a song by UK act Skunk Anansie, who are a favourite of hers.


Yes, this means the metal and Floor threads are going dormant. This thread will cover all schools of music. So it might get a bit loud in here at times.

Sheryl Crow -The New Normal

Returning To Myself - Brandi Carlile

Voces8 says farewell to first soprano Andrea Haines after 17 years with a composition by tenor Blake Morgan (who himself has been in the group for quite a while now though not as long as Andrea). The words are traditional but of uncertain source, the notes say they might be either Maori or Apache but apparently no one is sure. Blake does a beautiful job. He mostly does arranging so I'm glad to see an original composition from his pen.

Is the NU normal abnormal or just paranormal prior to the meta normal ... when thought of out of the box as shed did ... Frieda sings my NU song as blue? Something to bet that someone will be pained ... thunderous app*lause ... as laws? Percolating as cabbaged from the prior ... never ending ... how to get around the loss of ends? Con junction!

Or so we gather ...

Charlotte Wessels has been in the Dutch rock scene for decades in spite of only being in her thirties. She began her career as a teenager and came to prominence as the vocalist for the band Delain for nearly 17 years. After leaving the band in 2021, she launched a solo career which has been leaping from success to success even as she moved beyond symphonic metal, where she started in Delain, to explore a more diverse sound. Her current backup band is excellent and includes her former Delain bandmate Timo Somers, a top metal guitarist. Charlotte dropped a terrific new single this morning, hopefully the beginning of the lead-up to a fourth solo album. The apocalyptic video is a bit cliched, though. Apoc and post-apoc themes for rock and metal videos got tired sometime in the 90s.

The Dutch have wandered the world in their wariest Wessels ... even with the phonetic twist ... some even say "B" where there was a "V" ... a carry over ? Ohd amn ... which the Nordic took as Odon ... as the middle dropped out as "M" ... Burl Ives re iterated ... was that mean of Heh or moderately in between? There's a crush there ...

Complex Jews ing as a hanging proposition converting to party Syble ... messy? You bet ... dark and even, minor chords ... Nacht! Some people have it and some don't ... mores to get over to assimilate the ethics ... thic Kaye?

If fickle it'll never stick ... problem? Just trouble ...

One more week until the release of Swiss vocalist Melissa Bonny's first true solo album (her band Ad Infinitum started as a solo project but kind of escalated). While the video makes it look like she's playing the instruments, Melissa actually has a fine group of musicians backing her, including her partner Morten Lowe Sorenson on drums and the bassist from her band Ad Infinitum.


And Eye of Melian, featuring Finn Johanna Kurkela on vocals, dropped another track from their upcoming release. This is a rare cover from them, originally by UK vocalist Bruce Dickinson who is best known as the frontman for heavy metal greats Iron Maiden.

One band that danced and sang their way onto my radar last year is Solstice, a folk-influenced neo-prog (so in a similar vein to Marillion, if you know them) band from the UK. It is a bit odd that I am just finding them now because they actually started when I was in high school. The original Solstice ran from 1980 to 1986 with one studio LP in 1984. Then they reformed for a while in the 1990s, releasing two more albums before founder/guitarist Andy Cross dissolved them again in 1997 to work in another band of his. He brought the Solstice name back for good in 2007 and released their 8th studio album last year. Andy is the only commonality among all lineups of the band though in a cute twist, current bassist Robin Philips is the son of a woman who played keys on the first album back in 1984. The current lineup is a big band even by prog standards, with three vocalists (a lead and two backup though they do shuffle around at times), a violinist who doubles as a fourth vocalist occasionally, and then a traditional rock band of guitar, bass, keys, and drums. Their sound is very light and lively, almost the polar opposite of the death metal I often listen to these days. Current lead vocalist Jess Holland is a terrific young singer (young as in probably the same age as Andy's kids if he has any) as are the two current backups. Ebony Buckle, one of them, has 2 or 3 albums of her own out. All dance and move constantly when performing on stage, giving some real life to their performances. And Andy? Wow. How he has stayed off my radar I will never know. A terrific prog guitarist very much in the vein of other favourites of mine like David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Steve Howe (Yes). Though the band's sound is quite different from either of those bands.

First up, this song comes from Clann, their latest album which dropped last year, but this is the song's debut performance in a concert from 2023.


Another live debut of a song that ended up on Clann, this one from 2024 before it actually had a title (eventually, it was titled "Life"). Very jazzy sound, which is typical for this band. Jazz has always been a huge influence on prog, even heavier bands like classic Yes, but that influence really shines with this band and they could probably just as easily sell themselves as jazz fusion or something.


The closing track of Clann is called "Earthsong 2025" and is a remake/reimagining of a song from their 1984 debut. Ebony Buckle takes over on leads here, with Jess moving to her spot at the back. Another characteristic of this band is harmony. The three singers do lovely three-part harmonies or even four-part if violinist Jenny Newman joins in. Even lead vocals are sometimes sung in harmony.


As for Andy himself, besides his work in Solstice, he is a well-regarded sound engineer who has done work with, among others, Ian Anderson and Ian's band Jethro Tull for five tours. As a guitarist, he has sat in as a session player with Bill Withers and Geno Washington.

Pat Benatar was one of the great rockers of the eighties and is still active today in her seventies. This performance is a couple years old now, from PBS's Austin City Limits, when she was 71. Guitarist is Neil Giraldo, her husband of 40+ years and also the producer and co-writer of a lot of her hits. He has also worked for many other artists besides his wife as a session player, producer, and writer. Great performance of one of Pat's classics including some killer riffs and solos from Neil.

Mendalla said:

Pat Benatar was one of the great rockers of the eighties and is still active today in her seventies. This performance is a couple years old now, from PBS's Austin City Limits, when she was 71. Guitarist is Neil Giraldo, her husband of 40+ years and also the producer and co-writer of a lot of her hits. He has also worked for many other artists besides his wife as a session player, producer, and writer. Great performance of one of Pat's classics including some killer riffs and solos from Neil.

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Good stuff, still rocking.

Poor Man's Poison's latest release is the Promised Land single/EP, dropped on October 24, 2025. This marks their most recent output, following their pattern of focusing on singles and shorter projects since reforming in 2019 (rather than full-length albums).


Poor Man's Poison is a group of four friends from the small California farming town of Hanford. PMP consists of members Tommy McCarthy, Ryan Hakker, Mike Jacobs, and Dustin Medeiros. These friends grew musically together in the form of many different bands such as Done For Good (look for them wherever you listen to music). Taking inspiration from Rock, Metal, Reggae, Blues, Soul, Hip Hop, Pop, and R&B these friends gathered on the porch of a country home and let whatever happens, happen. The result... Poor Man's Poison!

This is still my favorite:

Love that second one. Great tune and the band sounds terrific. Not really my usual, but I like it.

Poor Man's Poison is close enough to Blue Grass.

If I had to choose one music genre to rule them all it would be Blue Grass.

Big Richard (all female bluegrass quartet) is the band behind "Girl Dinner".

"Girl Dinner" is the title of Big Richard's studio album released in January 2025.

The "debut energy" is still carrying strong into 2026, with huge anticipation building for their sophomore album Pet, which drops on February 6, 2026 via Signature Sounds.

Coming from backgrounds in bluegrass, country, jazz, classical, rock, and beyond, Big Richard pushes the bluegrass envelope while remaining firmly planted in tradition. They mix high-energy old-time numbers like “Greasy Coat” with covers of Radiohead, Billie Eilish and Lorde.

Political commentary and social justice themes are delivered alongside material that is rollicking good fun.

Unlike other artists who cancelled their Kennedy Center appearances after Donald Trump’s takeover of the national arts institution, Big Richard in July of 2025 came dressed as the U.S. Founding Fathers and did Black Sabbath’s War Pigs, closing with an unconventional rendition of The Star Spangled Banner that would have Jimi Hendrix smiling.

AH MU Sin?

Flowerleaf are a relatively new band in the world of symphonic metal. They started in Brazil but I believe they relocated to Europe last year. A heavier sound than some in the genre but Vivs Takahashi is right up there with the other powerful female voices that dominate in symphonic metal and she's quite on her game in this new video. They are getting help from another Brazilian ex-pat, Marina La Torraca, who sings in multiple bands (Phantom Elite, Exit Eden, and soon Battlebeast) and produces the vocal tracks for most of Flowerleaf's recent material.

WhyCzar said:

Poor Man's Poison is close enough to Blue Grass.

If I had to choose one music genre to rule them all it would be Blue Grass.

Big Richard (all female bluegrass quartet) is the band behind "Girl Dinner".

"Girl Dinner" is the title of Big Richard's studio album released in January 2025.

The "debut energy" is still carrying strong into 2026, with huge anticipation building for their sophomore album Pet, which drops on February 6, 2026 via Signature Sounds.

Coming from backgrounds in bluegrass, country, jazz, classical, rock, and beyond, Big Richard pushes the bluegrass envelope while remaining firmly planted in tradition. They mix high-energy old-time numbers like “Greasy Coat” with covers of Radiohead, Billie Eilish and Lorde.

Political commentary and social justice themes are delivered alongside material that is rollicking good fun.

Unlike other artists who cancelled their Kennedy Center appearances after Donald Trump’s takeover of the national arts institution, Big Richard in July of 2025 came dressed as the U.S. Founding Fathers and did Black Sabbath’s War Pigs, closing with an unconventional rendition of The Star Spangled Banner that would have Jimi Hendrix smiling.

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Dang, I need a raised horns smiley for this one. I've heard bluegrass go heavy before but, wow, they really nailed this. That a capella opening is stunning, too. Ozzy must be smiling wherever he is now. And the ending is to die for. A beautiful way to give Trump and his MAGA board a great big middle finger.

(EDIT: Crap, completely missed that you posted the full show video with a timestamp link to that song and the ending. Thanks, @WhyCzar. I shall add this to my "Concerts to listen to" playlist)

Mendalla said:

A beautiful way to give Trump and his MAGA board a great big middle finger.

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Big Richard played it right by not cancelling their Kennedy Center appearance.

While they got paid to "stick it to the man" the virtual signalers were left "preaching to the choir".

Been a long time since I've listened to anything from Christian rock artist Michael Sweet, best known as lead singer of Styper (Christian hair metal) and a short stint in secular band Boston. He's been around since the eighties, I think. Pretty sure I first heard him in my Christian days. Great anthemic rock that would have have lights on and hands waving in an arena (or arms raised to heaven in a church) and the message is one I could actually have got behind in my Christian days (and parts of it resonate now, even if "master plan of God" is where we part company). He packs a great rock voice, too.

Lots of new metal or metal-adjacent music this week.

First up, Fabienne "Fabi" Erni and Lena Scissorhands (a stagename, obviously) are both best known for their work in bands. However, for Fabi's upcoming solo album, they teamed up for this terrific duet. Lena is a masterful growler and both pack great clean voices.


Poppy is an interesting performer. Pop star looks and clean voice, but some of the filthiest screams and growls in metalcore when she goes there. Her new video dropped today.


Then there's Spanish band Ankor fronted by English vocalist Jessie Williams who also writes the lyrics. Mix of electronica and metalcore. Jessie packs a great voice both clean and harsh.