1. Converge – Hum of Hurt (Epitaph/Deathwish)
Top 5 Best New Releases Out Today: Converge, Death Cab for Cutie, of Montreal, The Creem, SLIFT
Posted in New Releases with tags Converge, Creem, Death Cab for Cutie, Jacob Bannon, Kurt Ballou, Mike Stroud, Nick Thorburn, Of Montreal, SLIFT, Unicorns on 06/04/2026 by Kurt OrzeckOn Tyranny: Emperor X Contends That Arts Communities Need Heterodoxy During Global Political Realignment
Posted in Essays, Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Chad Randall Matheny, Emperor X, fascism, On Tyranny, trump, tyranny on 06/04/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Gifts come in all shapes and sizes. But The Bad Penny has never received nor published any piece of writing as remotely profound, thoroughly researched, detailed, brilliant, educational and exceptional as a dissertation-style thought piece/ intellectual analysis of this website’s On Tyranny series that Berlin-based American singer/songwriter Chad Randall Matheny, a.k.a. Emperor X, recently sent us. In his comprehensive analysis, Matheny discusses the connection that On Tyranny has to the broader worldwide trend that the educator and noise-pop provocateur refers to as “The Global Political Realignment” that is currently underway.
Before you dig into Matheny’s masterpiece, this seems like an appropriate time and place to tell readers of this website, and specifically On Tyranny, that maintaining it has been and continues to be a tremendous challenge. While I will elaborate on the story of the series at another time – truly, what Emperor X has created here is worthy of your attention more so than any other post on this website – publicists, musicians, friends and family members have recommended I halt or even terminate this series amid the growing threat of fascism in the U.S.
[Emperor X’s new album, Unified Field, will be issued by Bar/None and available for purchase starting June 26. Rest assured that The Bad Penny will cover the release heavily. Read more about Emperor X on his website; and his Instagram, Facebook and Bandcamp accounts.]
Continue readingDoppelgängers: ‘WTF’ Podcast Host Marc Maron and Joy Thieves’ James Scott
Posted in Comedy, Doppelgängers, Features with tags James Scott, Joy Thieves, Marc Maron, podcast, What the Fuck?, WTF on 06/03/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Our last edition of Doppelgängers was maybe a little bit of a stretch, but you will lose the argument if you say you don’t see the resemblance between comedian and former What the Fuck?‘ podcast host Marc Maron and Joy Thieves producer James Scott.
Continue reading10 Best Portuguese Heavy Bands Ever, According to Portugal’s Own Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell
Posted in Interviews, Lists, Videos with tags Bizarra Locomotiva, Desire, Fernando Ribeiro, Gaerea, Heavenwood, Ibéria, Moonspell, Tarantula, The Coven, Thormenthor, Thragedium on 06/03/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
First we unveiled our list of the top 20 melodic death metal bands from Sweden in mid-December. The preponderance of popularity encircling that list led us to release a “10 Best Finnish Melodeth Bands Ever” rundown several months later. Around the same time, we interviewed red-hot Finnish hard-rockers the Feral Kids, and they gave us their own list of the best metal bands that Finland has ever produced. And just two days ago, Prime Creation chimed in with their list of Sweden’s top heavy metal bands.
It was at that point that we came to our senses: Top 10 lists are all the rage these days, and that fine and dandy – but the people putting together those lists should be the ultimate authorities on what they’re ranking. Ergo, we have reached out to bands from foreign lands to learn directly from them which musical acts from their home countries really belong on GOAT lists.
The latest edition in our series, which targets Portugal, should have the word “Ultimate” with a capital “U” attached to it. That’s because the musician who put together this top 10 list is, by leaps and bounds, the most talented and iconic metal musician in the history of his country. Like most leaders of metal bands – or at least melodic death metal bands, or at least melodic death metal bands hailing from Europe – Moonspell vocalist Fernando Ribeiro is sweet to the core, extremely smart, musically gifted and charismatic.
The Bad Penny is grateful for having interviewed Ribeiro three times now, as he reminds us of the good fortune we have to live in the present moment (and all the more time we have to listen to music, my dear). Ribeiro’s list of the 10 best heavy metal bands in Portuguese seems just about perfect, save one crucial error: Moonspell, the country’s greatest contribution to metal, isn’t on it. So if you had any doubts as to whether Ribeiro is one humble, rad dude, they’ve no evaporated.
Now let’s enjoy Ribeiro’s guided tour through the history of metal bands that Portugal has produced, shall we?
1. Gaerea – Loss (2026)
Gaerea is the pride of Portugal. A band from another cosmos, with such taste and personality that defies the gods. Their private concept of pain and release keeps getting more and more to the point and Loss just cristalizes that beautiful yet heart-wrenching tension.
Vocalist for Ohio Mainstream Rock Band ENMY Says ‘We Always Feel Like the Outsider’
Posted in Concert Previews, Interviews with tags Brady Reis, ENMY on 06/03/2026 by Kurt OrzeckRoughly one month ago, The Bad Penny caught up with mainstream-rock band ENMY, which consists of four guys who live in Cincinnati, Ohio. (ENMY isn’t to be confused with the now-shuttered British music publication NME, even though pronouncing their letters in succession leads to the same result.
“We’re kind of in the same vein as Linkin Park, Korn and Limp Bizkit, who all spell their band names wrong,” vocalist Brady Reis disclosed. “So, it’s like, the people who are into those bands will make the connection that we overlap with them a bit.”
Continue reading‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Could’ve Parodied Lots More Nirvana Songs After Spoofing ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’
Posted in Comedy, Features, Videos with tags Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Weird Al, Weird Al Yankovic on 06/03/2026 by Kurt OrzeckThe Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Queen, The Police, R.E.M. and dozens more artists (except Coolio) were cool with, and sometimes even flattered by, “Weird Al” Yankovic parodying their songs. But perhaps no musician was more delighted by the comical accordion player and singer parodying one of his songs than Kurt Cobain.
Continue readingTwo Cent Review: Black Lung’s ‘Forever Beyond’
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Black Lung on 06/02/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
With Forever Beyond, the title of which alludes to their limitless ambitions, Black Lung have fully embraced their psychedelic proclivities. In doing so, their experimentalism reaches greater heights than ever before; such exploratory tendencies are one of the main characteristics of psychedelic music. Somewhat similar to Jason Spaceman embellishing and expanding his vision for Spiritualized with each successive album, Black Lung incorporated not only the aforementioned add-ons but also the bouzouki and cello on Forever Beyond.
Continue readingTwo Cent Review: Elder’s ‘Through Zero’
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Elder on 06/02/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
With their seventh LP, heavy psych-rockers Elder demonstrate what experimental majesty a band can create when they’ve spent two decades working to play together on the same wavelength.
Continue readingDoppelgängers: Robert Plant and Pink Mountaintops’ Stephen McBean
Posted in Doppelgängers, Features with tags Led Zeppelin, Pink Mountaintops, Robert Plant, Stephen McBean on 06/02/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
I mean, kinda, right?
Exclusive: Nightrage Chief Reflects on Deceased Friend Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates: ‘I Still Have Him in My Heart’
Posted in Exclusives, In Memorium, Interviews with tags Anders Friden, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, Exhumation, In Flames, Marios Iliopoulos, melodic death metal, Mikael Stanne, Nightrage, Tomas Lindberg on 06/01/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Nine months after his shockingly sudden death, tears are still being shed for Tomas Lindberg, frontman of massively influential Swedish metal band At the Gates. One of the most well-read, warmhearted and respected musicians in melodic death metal – regardless of country – his skills remain unparalleled and might not be bested for quite some time. In the months subsequent to his passing, metal icons who – like Lindberg – were instrumental in giving birth to MDM in Scandinavian have publicly professed their sadness over his loss.
The latest member of MDM royalty to join the chorus and sing the praises of Lindberg is Greece’s greatest contribution to melodic death metal: Marios Iliopoulos. He helped develop the subgenre during his nine years playing lead guitar for Exhumation, then developed even more acclaim for his subsequent band Nightrage, which he co-founded with Gus G of Firewind in the same year that Exhumation split: 2000.
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