Throat Chakra Fire Horse Disability Musing, Recommendations + A Slow Start to 2026

I have a number of friends or relatives who have choked to death in some manner. Be it overdose, freak occurrence, bad luck or expiring in their sleep, life conspired to end their breath in a sad manner. Some of you might say that drowning intoxicated or overdosing and choking or whatever are life choices, but those people were also outsiders and had capitalism induced depression. We do not live independently of systems that affect us. Not everyone has the same coping mechanisms or support systems. 

Anyway, my point in bringing this up is that those were vibrant and wonderful people who had their voices taken away. I have been a singer and writer for over thirty years and have often pushed myself past the healthy point of content creation, cranking out many metal articles since 2007 weekly (if you don't count the years writing for small zines in the Hudson Valley prior to that all the way back through the mid to late nineties). 

I have a Mares Of Thrace shirt that says "it's ok to be a slow creator". That is sort of the opposite of how I write music, as I am always working on something. Some songs take a lot longer to write than others. One song for my Walking Bombs project took 16 years, a tribute for a friend who was murdered. Other times I write and record and release multiple Garage Band songs in a day! It is all valid. My current partner has taken a long time between albums, almost 8 years now - due to ptsd and a myriad of other factors and health concerns. But she is still always trying. Not everyone is on the same path or rhythm. 

Society demands an unhealthy output level from musicians then moves on from us in the blink of a doomscrolling eye, then floods the Spotify with AI imitation tracks anyway by the thousands. You at some point have to get off the worry teet and just realize the game is rigged and to make art for yourself, ice skate for yourself, be your own pet. 

Create when inspired! Or if you are fatigued and need self-care, just use your voice the best you can as you have the strength. 

The reason I am laying all this out is the Epstein files, my type 1 diabetes, working full time in a management position at a shitty company, playing in multiple bands and having five cats has believe it or not actually has taken a toll on my writing output this year. I took a lot of time being slower during the waning Year Of The Snake and wrote like one article about fuckin' Megadeth so far this year. 

I appreciate everyone who has followed my articles in various publications over the years. Much of it has been lost in the erosion of time and website domains or not being backed up properly. But so was a lot of the history of punk. We have to be in the moment as much as possible and keep resisting and building community and not be perfectionists. Archiving and history are important, but as the world faces massive polycrisis and pedo crisis, we have to just do our best. Eric Dane was on point in his farewell message to his daughters about being in the moment. 

So yeah, Metal Riot hasn't been that active this year. I have been more focused on protesting or sharing things on my socials or performing live after a near ten year drought of pulling back from it to deal with grief and get sober until I could be less self-destructive and more positive again to myself and others. Thankfully I now have six years dry and it is an empowering Fire Horse year- my year as a Horse. 

So, seeing how lucky I am to have bees in the flowers of the yard where I live in California and crows crowding the Palm trees and other testaments to nature having a more beautiful rhythm without meddling humans, I decided to try to take the extra effort today and spew some thoughts to shake off the dust and promote some cool stuff or recent cool events to those few who follow this once website and now turned micro blog. It says Metal Riot News in the URL, but I don't really do news posts and tour announcements anymore. This is more interviews, which always need a home in our lack of attention span climate, and random thoughts and poorly edited ranting. Haha. 

Anyway, something I loved so far this year is 'Stars Wept to the Sea' by mostly black metallers Ashenheart! With a great master by Tyler Blake at Fathomless Studios, the track proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.

Let's get into the track! It is a slower and dirgier march for them. I like the production the best from them so far. The bass is nice and clanky and present but not overpowering. While I liked their previous releases to this single, I like the vocal mix and placement better on this and felt that the vocals were a little too bright in the mix for my tastes for this genre previously. That said, they are def one of my favorite groups in metal currently and it is not meant as any slight on their material. 

Alex, Amanda, Steve and Tyler crushed this song.Yeah, this new single is a banger and they also are working on a new album...I believe. There are almost weird little noodly atonal noise rock parts atop the frantically picked black metal ferocity. It reminds me of a more lo fi and trans Immortal pushing into borderline trad march territory. The end repeated dirge riff section is fantastic. Alicia from Transgressive guest guitar solo also based, of course! And a piano outro that almost reminds me of something gothier like My Dying Bride. Good stuff and very poignant. 

It reminded me of how many of us are trying to find our strength or honor one another's lives in the face of adversity or mourn loved ones. 

So yeah, it is up to us to try to use our voices the best we can in these times. When the Bafta Awards are leaving in N Words but censoring 'Free Palestine', you know the deck is stacked.

The Epstein Class is trying to hyper control us, eradicate us or take our agency and voices away completely. Each moment we reclaim in whatever manner we need to survive is a literal breath. And when we fall down in the pit we can pick one another up. 

Congrats to new Arch Enemy singer Lauren Hart (ex-Once Human). Or rather congrats to Arch Enemy, because she might be their best vocalist choice yet. She was always crushingly potent in Once Human, cares about animals a lot like Alissa, and can roar as well as Angela or Johan. Lauren was also super nice when I met her at my day job and fan-personed out while she was trying to buy groceries a few years ago, sorry if I was annoying Lauren! Really loving the new single and this energy is going to be huge for this legacy act's continued dominance. I am not pushing a lot of Century Media stuff lately for a variety of sketchy factors, but made an exception for her.