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Yesterday we featured the splendid, new 2026 Remixed & Remastered edition of JUDAS PRIEST’s landmark 1976 album ‘Sad Wings Of Destiny’.
But celebrating the 50th anniversary of the album, Exciter Records is also releasing “Sad Wings Of Destiny [Original 1976 Masters]“, presenting an archival edition of the recordings, sourced from the original analog master tapes, preserved in storage for decades, and remastered for the anniversary. The release adds the original 1976 version of “Diamonds And Rust”, which was recorded during the “Sad Wings” sessions but left off the album.
For those who appreciate the vintage charm and authentic sound of the album, this ”Original 1976 Masters” edition is essential: pure ’70s vibe, ‘that’ snare drum, the dry, raw guitar riffs.
Featuring Rob Halford (vocals), Glenn Tipton (guitar), K.K. Downing (guitar), Ian Hill (bass) and Alan Moore (drums),”Sad Wings Of Destiny” was a bold, dark, and ambitious statement that would help define heavy metal and featured future metal classics such as “Victim Of Changes” and “The Ripper” — songs that JUDAS PRIEST performed live during their 2026 “Faithkeepers” summer tour.
Presented in the band’s intended running order beginning with “Prelude,” this CD also includes the bonus track “Diamonds and Rust,” recorded during the Sad Wings of Destiny sessions.
Combining meticulous archival restoration with premium audio quality, this landmark release celebrates one of heavy metal’s most enduring and influential recordings fifty years after its original release…

DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION, the unlikely duo formed by Yes / Asia keyboard icon Geoff Downes and pop hit-maker Chris Braide, have proven to be a worthy team over the last few years. The pair now return with their new studio album titled ”Trauma”, their 6th overall.
Drawing on Downes’ and Braide’s rich musical heritage to create a delightfully accessible brand of progressive rock, ”Trauma” links the Seventies & Eighties with a modern, contemporary sound. As example there’s a duet vocal on ‘Juliet’ with Marc Almond (fron 80s pop Soft Cell), and another duet on ‘Love And Loss’ with young electronic / female singer Emmi.
There’s some great songs in “Trauma”, pop-rockers, ballads, and even melodic rockers, like the Asia-like ‘I Wish I’d Known’, a wonderful tune plenty of melody and swirling guitars. “DBA 6′ ”Trauma” should be the combo’s most strong album to date, while on previous works they leave space for some experimentation, this new CD is focused on songs – and very good songs.
Fans of Asia, commercial side of YES, Marillion, GTR, World Trade, Saga, need to hear “Trauma”…

REVLIN PROJECT is the Peruvian / European Melodic Rock/AOR project founded by songwriter, producer, and keyboardist Nilver Pérez. Since its inception, the project has been dedicated to crafting a sound that blends memorable melodies & strong songwriting, inspired by the essence of classic Melodic Rock, AOR, and Hard Rock.
Throughout its career, Revlin Project has released three studio albums—Dimension (2017), Trascender (2021), and Beyond the Dreams (2023) — establishing a distinctive musical identity through collaborations with outstanding musicians and vocalists from the international rock scene.
Now the project unveils its fourth studio album, ”Rising Hope”, marking a new chapter in its artistic evolution. The CD will be released November 13th, 2026, and we are presenting it in exclusive on 0dayrox.
”Rising Hope” features driving powerful songs filled with energy, catchy melodies, lovable choruses, and a message of hope, perseverance, and passion for melodic rock.
The current line-up of REVLIN PROJECT consists of German vocalist Thorsten Bertermann (Lioncage), renowned Swedish drummer Christian Sundell (Grand Illusion, C.O.P), and Nilver Pérez (keyboards and producer), plus many session musicians.
Together, they have developed a musical vision that captures the spirit of foundational Melodic Rock and AOR, combining timeless influences with modern production to bring the music of REVLIN PROJECT to old and new audiences around the world…

We don’t feature much thrash metal here aside from the ‘Big Four’, simply because in our opinion, there aren’t many talented bands in the genre right now. Well, Italians GAME OVER are good, and very good I’d say.
Now settled in with clean and capable singer Danny Schiavina, the 2.0 version of GAME OVER thrashes about in melodic, energetic fashion through their upcoming new studio album ”When Darkness Falls”. This line up alrealy pleased us last year with the charismatic LP ‘Face The End’.
With ”When Darkness Falls” the guys perfected the formula: catchy – yes, catchy – thrash metal songs, most of ’em around the 3:30 minute mark, and a total running time of 32 minutes – pure effectiveness. Add tons of melody, precise riffs, huge anthemic choruses, and we have a winner here.
”When Darkness Falls” is not for fans of the genre only – it packs universal appeal, and Rocks!
Traversing commercial edges thanks to a more potent, versatile range in the vocal department, it’s only natural to see the band settle into these songs a bit more confident to spread some wings while keeping those key gang / shouting background components, catchy riffs/rhythms, and general mid to up-tempo aspects top of mind.
You’ll get eight full songs beyond the spoken word “What Fate Brings” style interlude plus “Hollow and Cold” intro, guitar harmony driven instrumental opener – cultivated in an adrenaline fueled, bouncy manner which seesaws between European sensibilities next to consistent Bay Area dominance…

It is time for us to do our shout-out to Eric Singer and one of his projects. Before KISS, drummer Eric Singer had played with Black Sabbath and he even had his own band Badlands that released a stellar release in 1989. Then he joined KISS with the Revenge album and stayed with the band up until the reunion tour in 1996. He would later play with numerous artists, but most notably the great Alice Cooper.
Meanwhile, Eric planned a side project to showcase his love for classic rock / hard rock paying homage to some of his inspirations via luxury cover versions. ESP (ERIC SINGER PROJECT) became a supergroup that had Eric on drums and some vocals, former Motley Crue’s John Corabi vocals, guitar & bass, Karl Cochran on guitar, bass & vocals, and Eric’s former KISS co-hort, Bruce Kulick on guitar.
Ace Frehley also has a guest guitar solo on one of the bands’s two tributes to Jimi Hendrix, “Foxy Lady”.
The album was titled “Lost And Spaced“, and all the covers stick pretty close to the original song arrangements, adding in a bit of hard rock flavor from each of the respective artists. Among the favorites are Sweet’s “Set Me Free” from their album Desolation Boulevard, Aerosmith’s “SOS (Too Bad)” from their album Get Your Wings, and the hugely underrated Kiss song “Going Blind” (Hotter Than Hell LP).
However, each track is quite enjoyable making for a solid and entertaining disc overall.
This Japanese Edition worth the investment for the two exclusive bonus tracks; Grand Funk Railroad’s killer tune “American Band”, and Pat Travers’ classic “Snortin’ Whiskey”…

Swedish guitarist and songwriter THOBIAS WIKLUND is member of classic metal bands Twilight Illusion and Nozanopra, but has a strong solo career as well. Straddling the line between melodic hard rock and neo-classical metal, the September 11, 2026 released third solo album from Wiklund, ”The Gates Of Heaven”, offers a new collection of classic material ranging from high-energy anthems to soulful ballads.
Aside from guitar, Wiklund handles almost all instruments, and this time the lead vocalist is the awesome Johnny Gioeli (Hardline, Axel Rudi Pell), and the great Göran Edman returns as ‘guest’, performing lead vocals on 3 songs.
When guitarists make solo records, instrumental tracks are close at hand. But there’s only 1 instrumental on ”The Gates Of Heaven” the rest of the songs features Gioeli & Edman, elevating the album’s quality.
Album opens to what in our opinion is one of its choice tracks, “The Light Streaks From The Sky”. The song takes a neo-classical melodic metal approach, dazzling with its lustrous harmonies and engaging hooks of a refuse to go away variety. Gioeli rocks as usual.
“Waiting On A New Day To Dawn” embodies ”The Gates Of Heaven” melodic hard rock side. It traverses at a measured midtempo clip, boosting heaviness as crisp rhythm guitar and substantial low-end take hold but stays true to the classical themes revealed in a symphonic keyboard touch…

CleoRecs is releasing a Deluxe reissue of this powerful late-career triumph from British hard rock legends UFO; ”A Conspiracy Of Stars”, that stands today as one of the strongest albums of the group’s latter years.
The record features the unmistakable vocals of Phil Mogg alongside longtime guitar virtuoso Vinnie Moore, delivering a stellar collection of hook-laden hard rock, melodic muscle, and world-class musicianship that lives up to UFO’s legendary reputation. Produced & mixed by the great Chris Tsangarides, ”A Conspiracy Of Stars” rocks with a powerful punch.
Expanded for this definitive reissue with two bonus tracks – the hard-hitting “King Of The Hill” and a rare instrumental version of “Devil’s In The Detail” – this 2026 reissue offers fans even more from this acclaimed and often-overlooked chapter in the band’s history.
If you’ve stuck with them this long, you should already be excited about ”A Conspiracy Of Stars”, and you’ve got good reason to be: this is why you’ve been coming back all these years. Because this is great hard rock. Because this is UFO…

GLORY OF KINGS is a melodic progressive metal band featuring the talents of current and former members of the well-known bands SACRED WARRIOR, WHITECROSS and THEE FINAL CHAPTRE, which are releasing their debut album “Roots Of The Past“.
Glory Of Kings is the brainchild of guitarist Jonathan Johnson, formerly of Sacred Warrior. Several songs on “Roots Of The Past” were originally written for a Sacred Warrior album during Johnson’s time with the group. The new recording also features another Sacred Warrior connection, with Steve Watkins contributing bass parts to this exciting release.
Completed with also ex-Sacred Warrior vocalist Erik Schilling and drummer Michael Feighan (Whitecross) they have regrouped under the name GLORY OF KINGS, brandishing their debut album “Roots Of The Past”. Sacred Warrior was some kind of Crimson Glory meets Queensryche, and that’s what you’ll hear on “Roots Of The Past”.
GLORY OF KINGS does not merely attempt to reproduce an older sound. It brings compositions, musicians and unrealised plans out of the past to determine whether classic progressive melodic heavy metal can still speak in a living voice of its own. The ‘roots’ are not decorative nostalgia or a marketing reference to the 1980s and 1990s. They are part of the material from which the new album was constructed.
“Roots Of The Past” reaches deep into classic melodic prog metal, offering a solid grounding for Glory Of Kings’ debut. The album boasts a dramatic, yet muscle-bound approach to riffcraft, while vocally these Kings took notes from Queensrÿche’s usual operations…

STANLEY / SIMMONS, the collaborative project of Evan Stanley and Nick Simmons — sons of legendary KISS masterminds Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, will release their debut album next October titled “Dancing While The World Is Ending“.
Though Evan and Nick have been close since childhood — raised on the road by their fathers — the idea of collaborating musically never crossed their minds. That changed in December 2024, when an impromptu Instagram reel brought them together in front of microphones for the first time. “We were shocked,” Evan and Nick recalled. “The chemistry was instant. The way our voices locked together… it was undeniable.”
Early demos caught the attention of legendary producer Rob Cavallo (Fleetwood Mac), who immediately signed on to produce the duo’s debut full-length record and stepped into the role of manager.
There’s flavors of all different artists genres in what they do, in the same way that virtually everybody who’s out there or has succeeded has elements of something else. We hear ’70s classic rock on the title track, while in the vocal harmony-rich ‘Body Down’ shades of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, even Eagles.
‘Starve The Beast’ has some Richie Kotzen’s Mother Head’s Family Reunion on it, some Nelson on ‘Cold’, while the rocking ‘Running Just A Little Too Long’ brings to mind a very early Steve Perry song only existing as a demo.
“Dancing While The World Is Ending” is a very strong debut by STANLEY SIMMONS, not just ‘the sons of’ – these are talented guys, and the songs are good, very well executed and production is lively crisp…

Presenting the triumphant new album titled ”Moonfall”, KingCrown hailing from France is back with more ‘anthemic metal’ that seems to have no end in their creative minds to beget, mainly, great choruses, heavy music, nice riffs and cool drumming in an album that is going to keep your fists raised.
The band strikes up with the title track in a very melodic fashion, crunchy riffs and dramatic vocals but soon they gain momentum with the song ‘Nothing’ that has a helluva refrain that goes off in one’s face although the song being a midtempo one.
‘We Are Kingcrown’ candidly ask if you ”ARE YOU METAL” which is an assertion of traditional trueness before the band goes all in, with short but great solos. Put your fists in the air and then another triumphant tune is chanted with heaviness and attitude named ‘A Thousand Years’.
Built around a science-fiction narrative exploring technological evolution, time distortion, and humanity’s uncertain future, Moonfall balances immediate songwriting with conceptual depth.
KingCrown’s ‘Moonfall’ is full of crunchy, melodic metal with big choruses and bigger hooks. It’s a guitar-forward sound with keys playing the supporting role and there is no shortage of vocal lines that should have crowds singing along in force whenever KingCrown plays live…

England, Northamptonshire five-piece band STORMBRINGER is releasing their new studio album, ”Transcendence”, through Attic Records. Blending classic Hard Rock and melodic Heavy Metal with a contemporary edge, the band explores adversity, resilience, self-acceptance and the relationship between personal struggles and the wider world.
Heavy but melodic with outstanding solos and groove throughout the crystal-clear produced record, STORMBRINGER’s ”Transcendence” is just a straight ahead rocking record with very strong songs. The opening double-header, in particular, packs a punch and definitely leaves you wanting more; the powerful hard rocking “Energy,” which lives up to its name, and the stoically grooving “Busy Doing Nothing” impressively showcase the band’s songwriting prowess.
The following tracks, “Other Of 2”, “Dirt And Bone” and the fast-paced “Grow”, are in no way inferior to the opening and ensure that this is not just pleasant background listening, but that the sheer presence of the songs causes one or more physical reactions…

Coming from Glasgow, Scotland, melodic heavy metal band PYROCLAST used to be called TANTRUM not so long ago and the upcoming “Fractured State” is technically the very first album after the name change.
Playing a very intense style of metal in the same lane of Iron Maiden, Lion’s Share, Bloodbound, Helloween, and the likes, the band starts destructing everything with the opener ‘Pyroclast’, a punchy number with a plethora of solos and the great vocals of Mark Reid that sings his lungs out with real potency and if it is true metal is what you want, true metal is what you get!
Riding the hot hand, then appears the equally outstanding ‘Slaughterhouse’ with gigantic guitar solos that explodes everything in sight. The honest-to-goodness DIO-esque Break The Tide is the junction of mid-tempo rhythm with potent vocals of Mr. Reid and of course the twin guitars of Baz Fitzsimmons and Chris Horne conquered my heart in another ace moment of the album, and they go hell for leather in the track ‘Prisoner Game’ that resembles the Germanic metal, I mean, a lot!

A week ago Japanese label BELLE ANTIQUE / Ｍａｒｑｕｅｅ has started a beautiful reissue campaign of SAMSON albums pressed on SHM-CD, fully remastered 2026 and adding rarities / bonus tracks, all presented in a mini-LP / paper sleeve format replica.
Regarded by many as Samson’s finest album, their third LP, 1981’s “Shock Tactics” was the last to feature Bruce Dickinson on lead vocals before he joined Iron Maiden – who were coincidentally recording Killers, their last album with Paul Di’Anno, in the same studio at the same time of Samson’s “Shock Tactics”… Coincidence? I don’t think so…
Founded by guitarist Paul Samson, SAMSON were one of the seminal acts of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal between the late Seventies / early Eighties, known for having their first three LPs with future Iron Maiden Bruce Dickinson (then ‘Bruce Bruce’) as frontman.
Despite of being part of the NWOBHM, Samson’s style was more hard rock oriented than metal, with lots of melodies in the same wagon of Praying Mantis or Tygers Of Pan Tang. In “Shock Tactics” the band’s songwriting had improved to a more direct, catchy, easy to the ear songs and a clear yet powerful sound.
The band also benefited greatly by the presence of producer Tony Platt, known for his work with Foreigner, Gary Moore, and… Iron Maiden’s first EP (another coincidence?) among other Rock acts…

The brainchild of talented guitarist & songwriter Jack Ponti, Melodic (Hard) Rock band SURGIN’ grew out of the New Jersey scene in the early ’80s alongside the likes of Bon Jovi, T.T. Quick, Prophet, etc. Jack had know Jon Bongiovi for a long time indeed, they had been in a band called ”The Rest” together. Over the years, Ponti became songwriting partner for Bon Jovi, but also for many other major hard rock acts.
SURGIN’ finally released their debut album in 1985, their only official LP, a wonderful slice of mid-80s Melodic Hard Rock / AOR. But Ponti, a prolific songwriter, previously put on tape dozens of his songs for Surgin’ (with many of these being recorded by other major acts later).
We already featured on 0dayrox a compilation of these demos titled ‘Electric Nights The Final Chapter’, now it has been requested other compilation CD titled “Tokyo Rose“, compiling more unreleased SURGIN’ songs as well.
On these never released recordings sound quality varies—they are demos, so a HQ version would be redundant. What truly matters are the fantastic melodies and the irresistibly catchy choruses that shine throughout these great songs, very much in the style of Bon Jovi first album, Aldo Nova, Virginia Wolf, Prophet, etc.
‘Fade Away, ‘Line on You’, ‘Stranded in the Night’, ‘Lies’, ‘Sleepin’ All Alone’ (later recorded by Bonfire), title track ‘Tokyo Rose’ – all are really good songs for this genre.
Take a trip back to those heady days of the mid-80s, when rock music was all about catchy hooks and infectious choruses!