Metal Contraband News For March 3rd, 2026:
This week in Metal Contraband:
Machine Head has just announced a U.S. Summer tour with Killswitch Engage. Robb Flynn says, “I’m genuinely fired up to finally be hitting the road with Killswitch Engage — we’ve shared history and respect for a long time, but this will be the first time we’ve actually toured together, and that makes it feel special. Getting back into major cities like New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, Orlando and more with this kind of energy behind it is exactly where Machine Head belongs. Big rooms, big crowds, big nights — this tour is about connection, intensity, and reminding people why heavy music hits hardest when it’s experienced together”. Machine Head will be touring with their latest album, UNATØNED, in tow, with support from Iron Reagan and Havok. For all the dates and details, head to: https://www.machinehead1.com/pages/tour.
Frontiers Music Srl celebrates its 30th Anniversary in 2026, and a special event was held in the label’s hometown of Naples, where President & CEO Serafino Perugino delivered a speech: “30 years of Frontiers. And today, more than an anniversary, it feels like a promise. I’ve always put music before business. Business came later – as a consequence of passion, quality, and respect for what we do. This is a love story: for music, for people, for dreams. And it’s a story built on family: without my wife Maria, and without my father – my first mentor, in the small study where it all began – I wouldn’t be here. These 30 years have been a roller coaster – challenges, setbacks, new starts. But one thing never changed: the desire to give artists a home, a chance, a new artistic life. Nearly 2,000 releases later, and with a milestone that once felt impossible for a kid from Naples – a #1 on Billboard with Megadeth – one truth is clear: you don’t get anywhere alone. Thank you to my team, our partners, the artists, the fans, and to The Orchard for believing in the vision and pushing it beyond expectations. People have often called me ‘lucid crazy.’ I’m proud of it. I demand a lot, and I can be tough – but it’s because I want people to grow and shine. And one thing is non-negotiable: respect, truth, loyalty. Frontiers wants to be a true reference point for the entire music industry – fans, artists, managers, partners – because we genuinely love this work. And we believe in it. Every single day. So yes: Don’t Stop Believin’ ”. Frontiers also released a video with highlights from the 30th Anniversary celebration, which you can see here: https://youtu.be/ij1jj9Hpk1g?si=zqjuXJzMDN3vEkZi. Keep up with Frontiers at: https://www.frontiers.it/.
The National GUITAR Museum has announced their annual Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Ritchie Blackmore in 2025, in recognition of his 60-year career spanning Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore’s Night, The Outlaws, and more. Ritchie Blackmore says, “I’m rather thrown by the magnitude of this honorable award. I am grateful to accept this award and this recognition”. National GUITAR Museum Executive Director HP Newquist says, “It’s difficult to find any modern guitarist who has incorporated so many diverse styles into their playing—and then fused them all into something recognizably their own over their entire career. Ritchie was one of the first electric guitarists to add classical melodicism to his playing, along with classical speed and finesse. I think that most of the early ’80s guitarists who played lightning fast riffs and claimed to be learning from Bach and Mozart were, in fact, borrowing from Ritchie”. Keep up with Ritchie Blackmore via: https://www.blackmoresnight.com/.
Let Us Prey, the “two-man metal machine” of Marc Lopes (formerly of Metal Church) and Jon Morency (Living Wreckage), has a new album on the way. You can check out the first single with “In Nameless Blood” via Revolver Magazine here: https://www.revolvermag.com/premiere/let-us-prey-in-nameless-blood/. Marc says of the upcoming album, “This record isn’t about fitting into a legacy; it’s about building a new one. It’s unfinished business. So much to say through the art of music, no boundaries, no limitations. We aren’t afraid to play and pull from all our influences —from tech-death-grindcore to hard rock sensibilities—as long as it hits with maximum intensity”. Follow the band via: https://www.letuspreyband.com/.
Employed To Serve is getting ready to head out on a UK headline tour, with a new music video for the track “Now Thy Kingdom Come” out now: https://youtu.be/Gca_Pp0xHFo?si=yYek58WZQ6Ovquv5. Frontwoman Justine Jones says of the track, “We picked this song as we had a blast playing it on the Killswitch Engage tour last year and thought it deserved some attention. Come and join us on our UK March headline tour, where the awesome Cage Fight will be joining us. Tickets are over half sold for all of the dates, so pick one up and let’s have a good time”. For more, head to: https://www.employedtoserve.com/tour/.
Chart Editor: Munsey Ricci from Skateboard Marketing Ltd.
Editorial By Chelsea Nelson-Fernandez & Munsey Ricci
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