Having A Great Time
Happy Friday! It’s funny how things can shift in a year. 2025, especially early in the year, I spent a lot of time debating the future of the podcast and if it was even worth still doing. It wasn’t a constant hum but played often enough in my mind where I really thought maybe As The Story Grows had gone as far as it would. Fast forward to this year and there’s been a wealth of killer new music released and endless conversations I’ve gotten to have with new and returning guests. We’ve had two months of incredible guests and fun interviews and things really start to crank up in March, with three episodes hitting the feed starting next week. Patreon members have already gotten a taste of what’s on the horizon and I’m stoked for everyone to hear what’s coming!
This week we welcomed Final Gasp front man Jake Murphy to the show on Wednesday. Final Gasp released their sophomore album, New Day Symptoms, on Relapse Records back on February 27th. I enjoyed Mourning Moon a lot but Final Gasp really leveled up with New Day Symptoms in my opinion and it was cool to talk to Jake about the formation and inspiration for the band and how the sound evolved as the band’s collaboration grew.
Today Bryan Manning, front man for Bosse-de-Nage, is on the podcast! The new Bosse-de-Nage album, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, is out today on The Flenser. I liked this album so I much I got myself a cassette copy (plus a few other Flenser releases). I really enjoyed Bryan discussing his journey from black metal fan and wanting to create black metal to becoming something more avant-garde and experimental.
There’s been so much music news since the last newsletter but the big story I wanted to highlight (because I talked about it last year) was Arch Enemy naming Lauren Hart as their new vocalist and dropping To The Last Breath as her debut single with the band. The song is absolutely incredible ad the band doesn’t miss a beat. The torch has been passed and I think the first offering we get with Lauren is a smash hit. I’m stoked for whatever music the band gives us in the future!
Out today is the new ERRA record, “silence outlives the earth!” More my money, there’s not a better metalcore band than ERRA at the moment. Every release is an instant album of the year contender and “silence outlives the earth” is no exception. You should absolutely add it to your weekend listening plans!
There has been a constant flow of new music being released over the last month but I wanted to highlight one more release and that was the new single from Yoth Iria called The Blind Eye Anti-Christ. Certain bands and songs just connect without instantly and I style of black metal the Yoth Iria is delivering on this track just hit me right away and I love it!
On Tuesday I’m seeing Orbit Culture and Ov Sulfer, so I’ll have a full show review with photos next week! Have a great weekend!