Necrosonic Festival returns to Mansfield Tavern on Saturday 22 August 2026 - bigger, darker and more unhinged than ever before.
What began as a bold new gathering of the heavy has become an annual ritual for those who like their music brutal, immersive and intensely forbidden..

When British extreme metal legends CRADLE OF FILTH and American metal titans DEVILDRIVER joined forces for a North American tour in 2023, the results were predictably amazing, with undeniable synergy between two of heavy music’s most ferocious live acts. This July, Australia will finally experience the much lauded team-up, with full headline sets packed with classics.

With a reputation for high-energy live performances and a message that cuts straight through the noise, the band has forged an undeniable connection with audiences worldwide — from packed headline shows to some of the world’s biggest festivals including Rock Am Ring, Hellfest, Graspop, Aftershock and Warped Tour.

‘The New Flesh’ is heavy-as-hell through the bassline and drums, stacked with melodic heavy hooks and razor sharp lyrics. From destructive riffing to beautiful melody and guitar work, it carries a message about fighting dark feelings and living in “new flesh”.

Florida based New Found Glory's 11th studio album is ‘Listen Up!’ and it’s a return to late 1990s pop-punk energy. It’s full of fun, love and a ‘f@#k cancer philosophy’. The album has been created in the shadow of guitarist Chad Gilbert's cancer battle and the reality a diagnosis like that brings to the person and his loved ones.

Brisbane welcomed LORD OF THE LOST on their Australian tour, as the German goth metal outfit brought their live show to a packed Crowbar for their first Australian run.

British glam rockers The Darkness brought their Dreams On Toast Tour to the Tivoli. The city’s rock fans sold out the show and gave the band a very warm, sweat-soaked, welcome back to Australia. It was a night of high rock drama: stage and balcony diving, singing lessons, fan engagement, rockstar theatrics and absolutely fantastic razor-sharp rock ‘n’ roll.

When Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski promised to bring to Australia an “uncompromising vision” of his band’s music I was hopeful at seeing and hearing the dark anti-version of the catholic faith as practiced in Poland. And that is exactly what Behemoth fans got to hear and see at the Tivoli as the band combined their signature religious referencing, black death metal with intense, theatrical, and apocalyptic stage production.

Behemoth brought 30 years of dominance to Brisbane and showed exactly why they’ve lasted this long.

Bryan Martin returns to Australia for his first-ever headline tour and he’s coming in hot. After turning heads at CMC Rocks in 2024 and joining Chris Young for a run of powerhouse shows, Martin is stepping into the spotlight on his own terms. This April, he’ll bring his unmistakable, grit‑soaked anthems to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and will also appear at Meatstock (Toowoomba and Gippsland).

Frontier Touring is thrilled to announce that one of the biggest and most beloved rock bands of all time – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Foo Fighters – will make their hugely anticipated return to Australia and New Zealand next summer.

Industrial juggernauts HEALTH are returning to Australia this September for a national headline run, bringing their apocalyptic dancefloor energy to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and Fremantle. Joined by darksynth architect Perturbator and industrial firestarter King Yosef.

GAEREA is one of the rare bands where the boundaries between life and art not merely intertwine but forge a totality that you not only hear on record but one that also plays out in the band’s explosive live performance.

In the eve of their Chant of the Eastern Lands Australian Tour, the Governor of Istanbul has cancelled Behemoth's concert there in an effort to save Turkish youth from "exposure to Satanic Filth". Gül addressed the cancelations on social media today, stating: "No activity that corrupts society in Istanbul has ever been permitted up to this day, and it will not be permitted in the future either."

Australia, brace yourself. This September, Welsh ragga metal powerhouse Skindred return for their biggest headline tour yet, tearing through Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Armed with chaos, unity and unstoppable hooks, plus new album You Got This landing in April.

VOILÀ delivered a spicy, beautiful performance across four acts filled with CO2 cannons, sparklers and glowing bunny ears. From ‘Drinking With Cupid’ to ‘Figure You Out’, the crowd bounced, sang and clapped on command. With Yorke setting the tone early, it was playful, joyful and truly magical from start to finish.

Eivør is bringing her ethereal voice and genre-defying music back to Australia. “I like my setlists to be a musical journey,” she explained. With an album almost ready and Sylvaine performing a rare solo set, this tour blends Nordic traditions, electronic influences and powerful live energy.

After triumphantly casting off the shackles of claustrophobic dissonance on 2020’s lauded ‘Stare Into Death and Be Still’, New Zealand unorthodox death metal legends ULCERATE up the ante with mind-bending seventh album ‘Cutting the Throat of God’. An acknowledgement that the band’s most powerful material leans melodic, this refined and hook-laden record is a self-sufficient universe of inventively visceral death and black metal.

‘The New Flesh’ is heavy-as-hell through the bassline and drums, stacked with melodic heavy hooks and razor sharp lyrics. From destructive riffing to beautiful melody and guitar work, it carries a message about fighting dark feelings and living in “new flesh”.

Florida based New Found Glory's 11th studio album is ‘Listen Up!’ and it’s a return to late 1990s pop-punk energy. It’s full of fun, love and a ‘f@#k cancer philosophy’. The album has been created in the shadow of guitarist Chad Gilbert's cancer battle and the reality a diagnosis like that brings to the person and his loved ones.

Story Of The Year have crafted a record of metaphorical songs about rage, resilience and control in a world that is chaos. From the call to arms of ‘Gasoline (All Rage Still Only Numb)’ to the massive hits and huge singalong chorus, it’s melodic hard rock with surprises in the mix. 

Angel Du$t deliver a hard rock ‘n’ roll album in 11 tracks and in 26 minutes that is ultra-lean but high on the interesting quotient. The band has produced an album that has a hardcore punk philosophy with short songs and minimal instrumentation. It appears the punchy drums, bold guitar riffs and the lead singer’s Justice Tripp's charismatic vocals lead the way: it’s a rock album that is slightly unhinged.

It’s been five long years since we have heard those tones and that voice. Devil Electric have roared back with Tahlia, their third studio album and most emotionally charged release to date. At its core, Tahlia is about fracture and survival, pain, frustration and relationships breaking under pressure.

EVERGREY, Gothenburg’s masterminds of melancholia, offer up another outburst of beautiful darkness and turn their inner fire into something unstoppable: their intense fifteenth album, Architects Of A New Weave, will be released on June 5, 2026 via Napalm Records.

At last year’s Good Things Festival, our contributor Stewart worked with bands across the lineup to capture a series of artist portraits throughout the day, including Wargasm, Inertia, Yours Truly, Bad Nerves, Make Them Suffer, Windwaker, South Arcade, CIVIC, Cobra Starship, GWAR, Scene Queen, and Dayseeker.

Metal heroines NERVOSA announce their new album: Slave Machine will be unleashed on April 3, 2026 via Napalm Records! Their sixth album shows the Brazil-based modern thrash metal band releasing their inner beasts at staggering speed and with formidable emphasis. Having performed at the biggest metal festivals worldwide, from Wacken to Hellfest, and making a lasting impression on fans and critics alike, NERVOSA aims to consolidate their standing as genre frontrunners.

Currently blazing their way across Europe opening for ALTER BRIDGE, GRAMMY® Award–nominated metal icons SEVENDUST have announced their 15th studio album, ONE. The highly anticipated release from the quintet arrives May 1 via Napalm Records.

EXODUS have announced their 12th studio album the follow up to their highest charting record ever and Napalm Records debut, Goliath, out March 20, 2026! The band have revealed the massive opening track "3111" – the sinister single strikes dissonant chords before careening into breakneck thrash intensity. This album standout showcases EXODUS' ever-increasingly dynamic approach, even decades into their historic reign.

MØL’s Dreamcrush moves between floating synths, clean melodies, and bursts of heavy vocal fry. Across the album, light and darkness sit side by side, shifting between dream and nightmare as hopes, tension, and emotional weight are explored through layered sound and atmosphere.

Hammers’ ‘Death Wobbles’ delivers heavy alternative rock with metal edge and unmistakably Australian character. Packed with local slang, clean and fry vocals, and thick guitar work, the album moves from chaotic nights out to darker reflections on life, loss, and consequence, closing on the eerie mythos of ‘Yowie’.

Experience the first taste of the devastation with their new single "Adversary"—a crushing blend of blast beats, intimidating leads, and cavernous vocals. Defined by merciless percussion, dissonant riffing, and Ross Dolan’s commanding growls, the track is a monumental display of the band's enduring power.

As Chapter 24 of their wildly popular webisode series launches, GHOST has unearthed a dusty gem and made its cover of Pet Shop Boys’It’s a Sin available to stream across DSPs for the first time. Previously available only as a 7” vinyl bonus single in deluxe editions of GHOST’s 2018 album Prequelle.

Moodring symbolize transformation. The musical entity's name hints at volatility — color, emotion, and temperature in flux. Nowhere is that more evident than in death fetish, a defining album for a haunting and defiant new chapter. For founder and frontman Hunter Young, this is more than a record. It's survival, reflection, and metamorphosis. It is art made from the raw materials of pain, purpose, and persistence.

 Zakk began writing ENGINES OF DEMOLITION in 2022 during his relentless Pantera Celebration World Tour and continued through 2025, when he wrote his most personally profound and heartfelt ballad to date ‘Ozzy’s Song’. A song for the man who started this all for Zakk Wylde.

Brisbane metal outfit DIESECT announce HIDE FROM THE LIGHT Deluxe EP, out Friday 20 February via Greyscale Records, alongside their new single "FOUR WALLS". The band will tour their new music across Europe for the first time this February and March with Crystal Lake (JPN) & Miss May I (US) and will support Spite (US) & Varials (US) across Australia in March.

Poison The Well released the definitive album The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation in December 1999, which went on to become a benchmark of the genre and inspire a generation of bands. Today, the band announce Peace In Place, their first album in 16 years, set for release on March 20.