JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Motley Crüe co-founder Mick Mars’ 75th birthday.
Category: metal
New Video: Die Spitz Shares Seething “American Porn”
Rising Austin-based outfit Die Spitz — Ava Schrobilgen, Chloe De St. Aubin, Ellie Livingston and Kate Halter — can trace some of their origins back to when Schrobilgen and Livingston met in preschool. They befriended Halter in middle school. And they brought De St. Aubin into their friend group when they started the band back in 2022.
Initially, the quartet was looking to find reasons to hang out more often, and decided they should start a band after a late-night viewing of the Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt. They settled on the name Die Spitz over a “brown bag of Fireball,” opting for the feminine German definite article in place of the English. “It reminds me of the Grim Reaper spitting,” Livingstone jokes.
Their first live shows saw them pairing originals with covers from some of their early inspirations including Black Sabbath, Pixies, Mudhoney, PJ Harvey and Nirvana. Unsurprisingly, they express their ideas and themselves through a mischievously shameless blend of classic punk, hardcore metal, alt rock and more. They’ve also become known for riotous live show, where dueling cartwheels, members climbing rafters and solos while crowdsurfing could happen at just about any moment.
The Texan quartet’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, the Will Yip–produced Something to Consume was released last September through Third Man Records. The album sees the band combining their passion, friendship, identity and artistry to fight against the inescapable decay and chaos that surrounds modern life, “There’s a political side to it, but addiction and love can also be all-consuming,” the band’s Ellie Livingston says.
Something to Consume‘s 11 tracks contains multitudes and yet feels singular. It’s an expansive and expressive collection of songs, unified in its sense of deeply held camaraderie and freedom. “We depend on our freedom — freedom to do what we want, present the ideas we want, make the music we want,” Livingston says. “Whether it’s based in metal or something soft, no matter which of us wrote the song, we all contribute and work together. As a person, I don’t have a strong ego or voice, but within this band each one of us is capable of so much more.”
“Something to Consume is an album experience for everyone. Whether you’re craving a smack of lively metal or a melancholy wave of grungey violin, there’s a piece of all of us injected. Something to Consume is a call to the multitudes of ways we as humans allow consumption to enrapture our culture as well as ourselves.”
Though they’ve only been playing together for a few years, the album shows a maturity and technical prowess wielded and wed to the service of their deep and abiding friendship — and a hope to inspire change. “Some people aren’t interested in being political activists via music, but it weighs on me heavily and I feel misaligned with my calling if I don’t,” Chloe De St. Aubin says. “The four of us are free spirits with multiple interests, and there’s no limit or power dynamic that can derail us.”
The album features the previously released “Throw Yourself to the Sword,” a bruising mosh pit friendly synthesis of thrash metal, stoner rock and punk featuring some of the hardest and grimiest guitar riffs I’ve heard in some time. The album’s latest single “American Porn” comes as the quartet announces a lengthy list of summer and fall tour dates. The tour includes three New York City dates: November 13, 2026 and November 14, 2026 at Warsaw. Both of those shows are sold out. But don’t worry, they’ve got a February 19, 2027 stop at Brooklyn Steel. As always, all tour dates are below.
“American Porn” sees the rising Texans channeling a seething synthesis of grunge and riot grrl punk that calls out sexist record industry insiders and perverted older dudes, who come to their shows to leer and objectify them. “It’s a very angry song,” says the band’s Eleanor Livingston.” “And I want the people that come to our shows just because we’re pretty women or they want to sexualize or objectify us to listen to that song and tell us if they’re still a fan.”
Continuing an ongoing collaboration with director Emily Sanchez, the accompanying video for “American Porn” is a surreal fever dream of a visual that wouldn’t be out of place on 120 Minutes. The video calls out gender-roles, stereotypes and beauty standards with seething anger and a sense of mischief.
Throwback: Happy 71st Birthday, Angus Young!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates AC/DC co-founder Angus Young’s 71st birthday.
Throwback: Happy 78th Birthday, Steven Tyler!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler’s 78th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 63rd Birthday, Jason Newsted!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Jason Newsted’s 63rd birthday.
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy 68th Birthday, Ice-T!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Ice-T’s 68th birthday.
New Audio: The Wright Valley Trio Share Expansive and Bruising “Leben ist Schmerz”
Deriving their name from one of the most barren and foreboding locations on Earth, a huge, dry valley in Antartica, the Wiesbaden, Germany-based doom metal outfit The Wright Valley Trio — Dominque Fricker (vocals, guitar), Robert Krause (bass, synths)_ and Matthias Rodig (drums) — was founded back in 2013, but can actually trace their origins to working together in different projects over the years.
In their decade-plus history, the trio have released two albums, 2023’s Bitter Alter, a collaborative effort with Blackstaff; and 2021’s Der Wag, as well as three EPs 2017’s Shackleton, 2018’s Submarine Funeral and 2022’s Metal Doom. And through these releases, the German doom trio have developed a sound that seamlessly meshes elements of doom, sludge and post-black metal, anchored around extremely long songs that range from cultivated boredom to heavy riffs and massive walls of sound.
The German trio’s recently released album Leben ist Schmerz is a two-song album that the band explains tells the story of a life with bipolar disorder, exploring the extremes of that condition — and the struggles it brings. Clocking in at a little under 27.30, the album’s first single, album title track “Leben ist Schmerz” is an expansive, slow-burning and downright bruising bit of sludgy doom that captures the album’s central concept with a seemingly lived-in accuracy.
Throwback: Happy 65th Birthday, Vince Neil!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Motley Crüe frontman Vince Neil’s 65th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 62nd Birthday, Duff McKagan!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Guns ‘N’ Roses and Velvert Revolver bassist Duff McKagan’s 62nd birthday.
Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Mike Patton!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 58th birthday of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More frontman Mike Patton.
Throwback: Happy 71st Birthday, Eddie Van Halen!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 71st anniversary of the birth of Eddie Van Halen.
New Audio: Bronco Forte Shares Bruising “Obvious Alias”
Los Angeles-based stoner rock outfit Bronco Forte — Chris Klepac (vocals, guitar), All Hail the Yeti‘s Sako Inajaian (guitar), White Forest‘s Jen Glomboski (bass), and Batillus‘ and A Storm of Light‘s Geoff Summers (drums) — will be releasing their full-length debut, Lightning Scars on April 3, 2026.
After years of creative toil and preparation, the Los Angeles-based stoner rock quartet’s full-length debut sees the band stepping into the spotlight as a fully-formed heavy rock phenomenon with roots in the classic heavy music of the 1970s — but with a modern sensibility and sonic approach. Lightning Scars was tracked and mixed by engineer Kevin McCombs at The Steakhouse, the studio where Queens of The Stone Age recorded Era Vulgaris. The album was mastered by Nick Townsend, who cut the album to lacquer on his own personal lathe.
Thematically, Lightning Scars chronicle the uncertain lives of ordinary people of California and elsewhere, with the characters each song depicts desperately striving to maintain their integrity and sanity in the face of a rapidly-changing, increasingly dystopian hellscape.
And as a result, the album’s lyrics balance literary style and kitchen-sink realism. The album’s material is anchored around deep, dirty riffs, hard swinging grooves and song structures that are clever without being cluttered or overly complicated. And this is paired by a pop leaning sense of harmony.
Lightning Scars‘ second and latest single “Obvious Alias,” is anchored around the sort of bruising riffage that seemingly channels Queens of the Stone Age, Dirt-era Alice in Chains and Badmotorfinger-era Soundgarden while showcasing a band with an uncanny knack for pairing catchy, melodic-driven hooks, rousingly anthemic hooks and lived-in lyrics.
Throwback: Happy 56th Birthday Zack de la Rocha!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha’s 56th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 82nd Birthday, Jimmy Page!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 82nd birthday of the legendary Jimmy Page.
Throwback: Happy 73rd Birthday, Malcolm Young!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 73rd anniversary of the birth of AC/DC co-founder Malcolm Young.
