Keefy caught up with Doug Robinson, vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Held., to discuss the band's debut studio album "Grey," released May 15, 2026, through MNRK Heavy. Doug breaks down how the post-hardcore supergroup came together alongside bassist Salvatore Mignano and drummer Josh Eppard of Coheed and Cambria, what it meant to step into the role of riff-writer and guitarist after decades as a strictly lead vocalist, and the stories behind the album's marquee guest appearances.

Grey features My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero on the lead single "New You Anthem" and Graham Sayle of High Vis on the track "Knifepoint." The eleven-track debut marks a significant personal and creative transition for Robinson, who picked up a Gibson SG to drive the musical identity of Held. alongside his longtime bandmates from The Sleeping.

Buy "Grey" and find more info here:

https://held2026.bandcamp.com/album/grey

This video's #gcshoutout → Paralyzer

https://www.instagram.com/paralyzerpa/

The Usual Suspects:

Interview by Ghost Cult Keefy

https://www.instagram.com/ghostcultkeefy

Editing by Omar Cordy

https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics

Theme music by Salted Wounds

https://www.instagram.com/saltedwoundsnyc

Check out our linktree - updated daily with top stories:

⁠https://linktr.ee/ghostcultmag

Discover your next favorite riff. It's New Music Friday for June 19th, 2026. Avarice – Perpetual Ruin (Mighty Music)Axemaster – Of Beasts And Plagues (Cosmic Fire Records)Bantoriak – Vol. II (Argonauta Records)Belarus Beaver – Grind af den Brune Bäfve (Self-Released)Belvedere – Seven Years Of Bad Luck (Thousand Island Records)Blood Mother – Blood Mother (Self-Released)The Carburetors – We Ride At Night (Fast Forward Records)The Conflux Collective – In The Wake Of Saturn (Self-Released)Cutthroat – Invoking Terror EP (Dying Victims Records)Cyclopic – Flesh Of Chaos (Awakening Records)Down – Over The Under Re-Release (Nuclear Blast)Drakkar – Invasion (Wormholedeath Records)Endseeker – Coffin Born EP (Metal Blade Records)Eternal Recurrence – Eternal Recurrence EP (Self-Released)False Messiah – Seven (Semetery Records)Gin Lady – Toads & Diamonds Volume One: Live In Spain (Ripple Music)Gold Spire – Steps Into Shadow (Awakening Records)Green Desert Water – Eerie Meadows (Small Stone Recordings)Hyena/Risingfall – Heavy Metal Heroes Split EP (Dying Victims Records)If I Die Today – I Felt Nothing (Self-Released)Inherits The Void – The Silent Abscission (Avantgarde Music)Innuendo – Not Lost (XLR8 Records)Iron Kobra – Eternal Dagger (Dying Victims)Judas Priest – The Best Of Judas Priest (Sony Music)Kerry King – From Hell I Rise: Extended Deluxe Edition (Reigning Phoenix Music)Kilter – Ten Billion Years (Excursus Records)Liminal Sky – All Tomorrow’s Darkness (Karisma Records)Loneshore – Nothing Left To Deconstruct (Willowtip Records)Lost In Kyiv – We’re All Going To Be Fine (Pelagic Records)Lumen Ad Mortem – A Grave Ascent (Hypnotic Dirge Records)Marillion – Marillion.com Re-Release (earMusic)Mattador – III (Frontiers srl)Mork – Monolitt (Peaceville Records)Plaindrifter – Gestalt (Ripple Music)Prince Of Failure – Prince Of Failure (Kscope Records)Quiet Fear – La Tierra Arriba/El Abismo Abajo (Iodine Records) Saidan – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memories Wrist (Avantgarde Music)Scordatura – Led Into Oblivion (Everlasting Spew Records)Shadowborne – Heaven’s Falling (Scarlet Records)Solitone – Le Champ Des Possibles EP (Self-Released)Stupidity – Beyond Stupidity (Wicked Cool Records)Various Artists – Ride The Rainbow: The Ultimate Tribute To Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow (Cleopatra Records)Warning – Rituals Of Shame (Relapse Records)ANDWitching Hour – Past Midnight Re-Release (Dying Victims)The Usual Suspects: 🎤 Micaela Petersen⁠https://www.instagram.com/micaeladeadeyes 💻 Omar Cordy ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics⁠⁠ 🎵 Fahad Syed ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/fahanziGet your next release on this weekly list, and stay updated with us.https://linktr.ee/ghostcultmag

Keefy caught up with Gabe of AntimozdeBeast to discuss the band's album A Vagrant Unkempt Grave, released May 15, 2026. Gabe breaks down the deeply philosophical and psychological concepts driving the record, including spiritual interrogation, inner rebellion, the human struggle to interpret suffering under ideological and religious pressures, and mankind's collective fear of the unknown and the erosion of societal belief systems.

Musically, "A Vagrant Unkempt Grave" pushes against straightforward arrangements, building its world through heavily distorted vocals, abrasive instrumentation, chaotic soundscapes, and spoken-word passages that refuse easy categorization.

Buy "A Vagrant Unkempt Grave" here:

https://antimozdebeast.bandcamp.com/album/the-vagrant-unkempt-grave

This video's #gcshoutout → Firstbourne

https://www.instagram.com/firstbourneband/

The Usual Suspects:

Interview by Ghost Cult Keefy

https://www.instagram.com/ghostcultkeefy

Editing by Omar Cordy

https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics

Theme music by Salted Wounds

https://www.instagram.com/saltedwoundsnyc

Check out our Linktree - updated daily with top stories:

⁠https://linktr.ee/ghostcultmag

Keefy caught up with Devin Townsend to discuss "The Moth," his landmark twenty-four-track symphonic progressive metal rock opera released May 29, 2026, through InsideOut Music, Century Media Records, and his own HevyDevy Records imprint. Devin describes the album as his life's work and most ambitious project to date, more than a decade in the making, chronicling the full arc of the human experience from birth to death through the central metaphor of personal transformation and self-discovery.

"The Moth" features vocal contributions from Anneke van Giersbergen and Lynn Wu of avant-garde outfit OU, alongside a full-circle guitar appearance by Steve Vai, bringing together some of progressive and heavy music's most distinctive voices for what stands as one of the most expansive solo statements of Townsend's career.

Buy The Moth and find more info here:

https://centurymedia.store/products/devin-townsend-the-moth-cd

This video's #gcshoutout → Extinction A.D.

https://www.instagram.com/extinctionad/

The Usual Suspects:

Interview by Ghost Cult Keefy

https://www.instagram.com/ghostcultkeefy

Editing by Omar Cordy

https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics

Theme music by Salted Wounds

https://www.instagram.com/saltedwoundsnyc

The volume war continues. It's New Music Friday for June 12th, 2026.Big|Brave – In Grief Or In Hope (Thrill Jockey Records)Bloodhunter – Sons Of The Abandoned (RPM ROAR)The Bobby Lees – New Self (Epitaph Records)Bolan – Gargoyle Of The Garden State (earMusic)The Chronicles Of Manimal And Samara – Misantropi (Self-Released)Cripple Bastards – La Tua Foto Sul Marmo EP (F.O.A.D. Records)Defiled – Altered State (Season Of Mist)Des Rocs – To Hell And Back (Sumerian Records)Dirty Heads – 7 Seas (Better Noise Music)Eyes Out – Satiate The Blade (HPGD Records)Fires In The Distance – Circadian Promise (Prosthetic Records)Fleshcrawl – Epitome Of Carnage (Distortion Records)Genghis Tron – Signal Fire (Relapse Records)Goetia – Mortuary Cult (Carbonized Records)Goreworm – Miasmic Solitude (Transcending Obscurity Records)Hawkwind – Psychedelic Selection (Cherry Red Records)Heavenwood – The Tarot Of The Bohemians – Part II (Mighty Music)The Heavy Eyes – Focus (Magnetic Eye Records)Joseph Tholl – It Might Be Art (High Roller Records)Khemmis – Khemmis (Nuclear Blast Records)King Potenaz – Arcane Desert Rituals Vol. 2 (Majestic Mountain Records)Klimt 1918 – Àmor (Prophecy Productions)La Sécurité – Bingo! (Mothland Records)Ljuset – Ljuset (Silent Future Records)Lockhart – City Pulse (High Roller Records)Make – Exegesis At The End Of Time (Accident Prone Records)Malist – Eternal Echo Of The Fall (Flowing Downward Records)Man Looking Man – Man Looking Man (Octopus Rising Records)Mirror Of My Soul – October Is Rising (Majestic Mountain Records)Non Serviam – La Lune Dont Mon Âme Est Pleine (Lay Bare Records)Nuclear Tomb – Epoch Inhumane (Rotted Life Records)Numen – Hustasuna – Oroitzapen Galduen Putzua (LADLO Recordings)OK Goodnight – stop/go (Self-Released)Piebald – Tales For The Rages (Iodine Records)Sahhar – Migja ta Mohh Mignun (Time To Kill Records)Scatter – Tech Hell Cyber Thrash EP (Self-Released)Soulburn – Quantifying Cosmic Doom (Testimony Records)Spread Eagle – The Brutal Divine (Frontiers srl)Stitched Up Heart – Medusa (Judge & Jury Records)Stormkeep – The Nocturnes Of Iswylm (Vesperian Records)Sweet – Live At The Capitol (Hannover 1991) (Metalville Records)Tarja – Frisson Noir (earMusic)Tombal – Grave Of The Damned EP (Blood Harvest Records)Triumph – The Best Of Triumph (Craft Recordings)Twist Lock – Surplus Citizen EP (Self-Released)Vanden Plas – AcCult II (Frontiers srl)Véhémence – Assiégé pour l’Eternité (Antiq Music)ANDWoewarden – The Roots Of My Neglect (Dusktone Records)The Usual Suspects: 🎤 Micaela Petersen⁠https://www.instagram.com/micaeladeadeyes 💻 Omar Cordy ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics⁠⁠ 🎵 Fahad Syed ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/fahanziGet your next release on this weekly list, and stay updated with us.https://linktr.ee/ghostcultmag

Catch up on what you missed in the world of Rock and Metal news this week! Please donate to the @metalhorrormadman9961 's recovery: Get well soon dude!https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-the-madmans-recovery?Please support Sonny Mayo's (ex Snot, ex @officialsevendust ) and his recovery from triple-bypass heart surgeryhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-the-madmans-recovery?Please follow and support The Anarchist Closet! https://www.instagram.com/theanarchistcloset/https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Anarchist-Closet-61555913247897/Go visit them in Stroudsberg, PA!2026 Livestream Price Menu! Answer your questions - Still freeGeneral support $3Buy us a Coffee $6We rate your song $25 liveMusic business consulting call $75Support us https://cash.app/$ghostcultmaghttps://ko-fi.com/F2F1F2PLPhttps://paypal.me/ghostcultmag Get hooked up from Fable Beard co products with our codehttps://bit.ly/FableBeardGhostCultMagTimestamp: 0:00 Intro ✅: Greetings2:00 Announcements ✅:111:00 Outro ✅: Please Like and SubscribeCheck out our linktree - updated daily with top stories:⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/ghostcultmag⁠

Keefy is in Milwaukee for Metal Fest, and he previews the fest, including a day-by-day breakdown, who the can't-miss bands are, and more! Livestream menu! Answer your questions - Still freeGeneral support $3Buy us a Coffee $6We rate your song $25 liveMusic business consulting call $75Support us https://cash.app/$ghostcultmag https://ko-fi.com/F2F1F2PLPhttps://paypal.me/ghostcultmag Get hooked up from Fable Beard co products with our codehttps://bit.ly/FableBeardGhostCultMagTimestamp:0:00 Intro ✅: Greetings and Salutations! 42:00 Outro ✅ Please like and sub!

Keefy caught up with Craig Wedren, frontman of post-Hardcore legends Shudder to Think and acclaimed composer of the Yellowjackets television series, to discuss the deluxe expansion of his 2024 solo record, The Dream Dreaming. Released April 10, 2026, through his independent label Tough Lover, the expanded edition grows the original eleven-song tracklist into a full twenty-one-track collection featuring five previously unreleased studio tracks, a five-song acoustic EP recorded live at Henson Studios in Los Angeles with a string quintet, and a live duet of "All Made Up" with Yellowjackets co-composer Anna Waronker of That Dog.

The conversation also touches on the remarkable resurgence of Shudder to Think, who reunited in late 2025 to release their first new music in twenty-seven years via Dischord Records and embarked on their most extensive touring in over a decade. Wedren's theatrical vocal style and avant-garde sensibilities connect both worlds, making this one of the more compelling creative stories in independent music right now.

The Dream Dreaming Deluxe (Tough Lover/Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/album/01u2NSeXGplRdl259e9mUu

This video's #gcshoutout → Finix

https://www.instagram.com/finix_heavymetal/

The Usual Suspects:

Interview by Ghost Cult Keefy

https://www.instagram.com/ghostcultkeefy

Editing by Omar Cordy

https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics

Theme music by Salted Wounds

https://www.instagram.com/saltedwoundsnyc

Check out our Linktree - updated daily with top stories:⁠ https://linktr.ee/ghostcultmag