Forty years into the madness, Helloween still know exactly where the big red button is — and at Leyendas del Rock, they pushed it repeatedly. Closing out the festival’s 20th-anniversary edition on Saturday night, the German power-metal giants arrived with a set built for maximum impact: huge riffs, twin-guitar fireworks, towering vocals and enough history to fill the Villena night sky. The festival itself had just enjoyed its biggest edition yet, with more than 60,000 people attending across four days, and Helloween gave the weekend the finale it deserved. Opening with ‘March of Time’ before charging into ‘The King for a 1000 Years’ and ‘Future World’, the band immediately established the mood. This wasn't a polite trip through the archives — it was a full-contact celebration of everything that made Helloween one of European metal's defining forces. And then came the songs. ‘Ride the Sky’. ‘We Burn’. ‘Twilight of the Gods’. ‘Hey Lord!’. ‘I Want Out’. Each one landed like another brick through the festival ceiling. The real magic, though, was happening in the crowd. Thousands of voices joined the band, transforming the Polideportivo into one enormous, beer-soaked choir. By the time ‘I Want Out’ arrived, the distinction between stage and audience had pretty much disappeared — Villena was singing the song back at Helloween. That's the trick Helloween have mastered over four decades: technical musicianship without losing the simple, glorious thrill of a great heavy-metal chorus. The 40th Anniversary tour could easily have become an exercise in looking backwards. Instead, Helloween played their history like something still alive, still loud and still capable of rattling the ribs. And with the festival reporting the performance as one of the most emotionally charged moments of its 2026 edition, the reaction was impossible to argue with. Forty years on, Helloween aren't simply celebrating the past. They're still making a very convincing case for the future of power metal. Words and photos: Rhyan Paul

il:lo don’t make electronic music for the background. Their sound demands attention — and on ‘Besides Everything’, the French duo turn down the volume on the outside world and let something far more interesting take over. Built around Dawa Salfati’s beautifully restrained vocal, the track moves with the patience of a late-night thought you can’t quite shake. Ethereal guitars shimmer around a slow, organic drum pulse while synthesizers gradually expand and contract, giving the whole thing an almost physical sense of breathing. It’s electronic music with lungs. What makes ‘Besides Everything’ particularly effective is its refusal to rush towards some enormous, hands-in-the-air payoff. Instead, il:lo understand that restraint can hit harder than excess. The track begins in a place of tension and uncertainty, then slowly opens out, replacing claustrophobia with space and possibility. It’s an elegant piece of downtempo electronica, but there’s nothing sleepy about it. Beneath those delicate textures is a quiet sense of momentum — the feeling of something shifting, finally, after being stuck for too long. The track is another strong indication of what’s coming with Lucent, il:lo’s forthcoming album. Across their work, Dejan Dejado and Andreas Schütz have developed a knack for making electronic music feel cinematic without becoming bloated, emotional without becoming sentimental. ‘Besides Everything’ takes that formula somewhere even more refined. Salfati’s voice is the secret weapon: intimate, weightless and perfectly positioned within the production rather than simply sitting on top of it. Every layer has room to breathe, and that space becomes part of the song itself. There’s a lovely contradiction at the heart of ‘Besides Everything’: it sounds simultaneously fragile and powerful. The pressure is still there, but it has stopped being the enemy. Now it’s fuel. With Lucent due on October 16 via Nettwerk, il:lo look increasingly comfortable operating in that elusive territory between darkness and light. ‘Besides Everything’ is a gorgeous piece of electronic escapism — not an attempt to run away from the chaos, but a reminder that sometimes the best response is simply to stop, breathe, and let the noise fall away. For more information: il:lo

Pretty Addicted has never sounded particularly interested in behaving itself. With ‘MOCK’, Vicious takes that attitude several steps further, dragging the listener into a twisted electronic cathedral where black metal, industrial noise and dark synths collide with the sound of a congregation that has completely lost its fucking mind. Following the recently released ‘ROT’, ‘MOCK’ is the second glimpse into Pretty Addicted’s new "Blackened Chapter" — and it’s a magnificent change of direction. Where ‘ROT’ crawled through the darkness, ‘MOCK’ walks straight into the fire. The track opens like some corrupted religious ceremony before the bass starts wriggling underneath everything, a filthy little earworm that refuses to sit still. Then the drums arrive with all the subtlety of a collapsing building, pushing the whole thing forward with a brutal, almost physical force. Over the top comes Vicious’ extraordinary vocal arrangement: part demonic growl, part sinister angelic choir, part congregation from the darkest church you could possibly imagine.It’s heavy. Properly heavy. But what makes ‘MOCK’ particularly effective is that Pretty Addicted isn’t simply throwing metal riffs and industrial electronics into a blender and hoping for the best. There is a very deliberate theatricality here. The song feels constructed as a twisted mirror image of religious worship music, borrowing the atmosphere, repetition and grandeur of a church service and dragging it somewhere considerably less holy. And then there are the lyrics. Vicious uses the Bible itself as ammunition, turning its own scriptures back on the belief system she grew up inside. Having spent her formative years immersed in evangelical Christianity before eventually walking away, the track carries something considerably more personal than simple shock value. This is not provocation for provocation’s sake. It sounds like someone finally getting to speak after years of being told what they were supposed to believe. There’s anger here, certainly, but also something cathartic. The song feels like an exorcism conducted with synthesizers, distorted vocals and a bassline that sounds like it has developed its own evil agenda. It’s confrontational without becoming musically one-dimensional, and the production gives every element room to make its presence felt. The vocal harmonies are particularly brilliant. One moment they sound almost heavenly; the next they’re snarling from somewhere underneath the floorboards. That contrast gives the track its identity. Pretty Addicted has created something that could almost pass for a worship song if worship songs were written by people who had spent the night listening to black metal and industrial techno while setting fire to the hymn books. And that is precisely why it works. ‘MOCK’ is theatrical, aggressive, weird, funny in places and completely committed to its own twisted universe. It doesn’t politely knock on the door of conventional songwriting. It kicks the door off its hinges, walks into the church and starts rewriting the sermon. There’s also something wonderfully punk about the whole thing. Apparently the song has already run into trouble with its distribution service, with the release reportedly being blocked over its content. If anything, that feels entirely appropriate. Pretty Addicted has produced a song about challenging imposed belief systems and immediately found itself being told what it can and cannot release. For anyone who has ever felt alienated by organised religion, ‘MOCK’ could land as a cathartic release. For anyone simply looking for something dark, heavy and genuinely different, it works just as well. And for anyone who considers themselves particularly devout? Well, maybe don't play it at Sunday school! With the new album still some distance away, ‘MOCK’ is a seriously promising second chapter. Pretty Addicted is building a world where electronic music, extreme metal, performance art and personal rebellion can exist in the same room without cancelling each other out. ‘MOCK’ isn’t polite, safe or particularly interested in your approval. Thank fuck for that. For more information: Pretty Addicted

There are still places where live music feels like something you discover rather than something that gets delivered to you by an algorithm. El Café de la Plaça in Carcaixent is one of them. And on Thursday, 13 August, it welcomes one of Valencia’s most distinctive singer-songwriters, Oscar Briz, for an intimate evening built around his music and his latest chapter, Sol després de l’eclipsi. Briz is no stranger to the Valencian music scene. A songwriter with decades of experience behind him, he has developed a sound that refuses to sit neatly in one box — rock, pop, folk and Mediterranean influences all finding their way into songs that are intelligent without ever feeling overly polished. This is exactly the kind of artist who makes sense at El Café. For owner Enric, music isn't simply something to put on in the background while people drink and hang out. Over recent years, El Café has become a genuine little cultural meeting point in Carcaixent, with Enric quietly building a programme that brings musicians, artists and audiences together in a way that feels increasingly rare. You can come for a drink, stay for a conversation, discover a new band, hear a songwriter you've known for years or simply end up spending considerably longer in the place than you intended. That's the charm. And Oscar Briz's appearance fits perfectly into that spirit. Sol després de l'eclipsi suggests light returning after a period of darkness, and Briz has always understood the power of a good song to do exactly that — not by pretending everything is perfect, but by finding something worth holding onto in the middle of the mess. Expect guitars, stories, sharp songwriting and the sort of close-up performance that works particularly well when the distance between artist and audience is measured in metres rather than rows of seats. If you've never been to El Café, this is a bloody good excuse to finally find out what all the fuss is about. And if you're already a regular, you'll know exactly why nights like this work.

Just when you think every grunge riff has been recycled and every overdriven guitar has been squeezed dry, a band like Torus comes crashing through the speakers with something that feels both familiar and refreshingly alive. Their latest EP, Take Me Home, doesn't reinvent the genre—it reminds you why it mattered in the first place. Across six tightly wound tracks, the Milton Keynes trio blend grunge, garage rock and hard rock into a collection that's heavy without becoming bloated and melodic without sanding off the rough edges. There's no unnecessary studio gloss here. Every distorted chord, every crashing cymbal and every howl of frustration feels earned. The title track sets the tone immediately. It's built on a muscular riff that refuses to let go, while Alfie's vocal balances vulnerability with defiance, capturing the EP's central themes of loneliness, longing and the search for somewhere—or someone—that feels like home. It's introspective without becoming self-indulgent, proving that emotional honesty still packs a punch when it's delivered through a wall of amplifiers. What makes Take Me Home stand out isn't just its volume—it's the songwriting. Beneath the layers of fuzz and distortion are hooks that stick around long after the guitars have faded. Torus understand that the biggest rock records have always been driven by memorable choruses, and every track here seems built around that philosophy. The band's chemistry has also taken a noticeable leap forward. With Jack Orr's driving drums and the recent arrival of Cameron Bell completing the line-up, Torus finally sound like a band firing on all cylinders rather than a project still searching for its identity. There's a looseness to the performances that suggests these songs were forged in sweaty rehearsal rooms and sharpened on stage, not assembled piece by piece on a laptop. The accompanying single "All Alone" captures everything that makes the EP work. Equal parts bruising and vulnerable, it's the emotional centrepiece of the release, demonstrating the band's ability to write songs that hit as hard emotionally as they do sonically. Then there's the now-famous cover of Billie Eilish's "Ocean Eyes." By now, its millions of Spotify streams and viral TikTok success have become part of the band's story, but hearing it alongside the original material only highlights how far Torus have come. Rather than feeling like the obvious streaming magnet, it slots naturally into the record, showcasing the band's gift for reshaping a delicate pop ballad into something darker, heavier and unmistakably their own. Influences from the Seattle greats are impossible to ignore, but so are flashes of desert rock swagger, garage-punk urgency and flashes of psychedelic colour. Crucially, none of it sounds like imitation. Torus wear their influences proudly while carving out a voice that feels authentic rather than nostalgic. At a time when British rock is crying out for young bands capable of writing big riffs without forgetting the song underneath, Take Me Home lands with impeccable timing. It's concise, confident and packed with enough choruses to suggest that Torus are aiming well beyond the underground. For more information: Torus

Forget the neon lights of Nashville. Forget the polished cowboy cosplay and the endless parade of songs about trucks, heartbreak and whiskey written by committee. Burgers and Fries is a different kind of country beast. It smells like old wooden bars, spilled beer, dusty highways and the kind of places where the jukebox is still louder than the conversation. Valencia’s HELEN HELEN have delivered a wonderfully rough-edged slice of honky tonk, country rock and barroom storytelling that feels authentic because it never tries too hard to be. This is music with boots firmly planted on the ground. The band take the classic ingredients—twangy guitars, swinging rhythms, memorable melodies and a healthy dose of attitude—and serve them up with a distinctly modern European twist. There’s a loose, live-wire feeling running through the record, like you’ve stumbled into a late-night gig where the band is halfway through their third encore and nobody wants to go home. The charm of Burgers and Fries lies in its personality. These aren't songs built for background listening. They demand attention, dragging you into their world of heartbreak, humour, characters and everyday chaos. The melodies stick, the arrangements breathe, and every track carries that unmistakable honky tonk spirit where sadness and celebration are often drinking at the same table. There’s plenty of classic country DNA here, but HELEN HELEN avoid simply looking backwards. They understand the attitude behind the music—the storytelling, the swagger, the imperfections that make a song feel lived-in rather than manufactured. The title alone tells you plenty. Burgers and Fries isn’t chasing glamour. It’s about the real stuff: the roadside diners, the late nights, the strange conversations and the small moments that become great stories after a few years. The result is a record full of character. It’s funny without being a joke, nostalgic without being stuck in the past, and traditional without feeling like a tribute act. In a musical world obsessed with polish, HELEN HELEN bring back the beauty of a little dirt under the fingernails. Pour yourself something cold, turn it up loud and let Burgers and Fries soundtrack the next questionable decision. Have a listen here: Burgers and Fries

Ten days - that's all that's left before thousands of leather jackets, patched battle vests, battered Converse and voices that have spent decades screaming punk anthems descend on Villena. For the first time in over a decade, Aúpa Lumbreiras!! is back. Not rebooted. Not reinvented. Not polished for social media. Just back where it belongs. Between 13-15 August, the legendary festival returns to the Polideportivo Municipal de Villena, bringing three relentless days across three stages with the kind of line-up that feels like somebody emptied the contents of every punk's record collection onto one poster. This isn't one of those festivals where people spend all day queuing for artisan burgers before watching the headliner from the VIP bar. This is sweat. Dust. Sunburn. Cheap beer. Friends you haven't seen since the last time somebody shouted "¡Aúpa!" across a campsite. It's Soziedad Alkoholika ripping holes in the night.It's Evaristo still refusing to mellow with age. It's El Drogas, Narco, Boikot, The Toy Dolls, Reincidentes, Def Con Dos, Talco, Kaos Etiliko, El Último Ke Zierre, Los de Marras, Envidia Kotxina and dozens more reminding everyone why this festival became an institution in the first place. The return has been years in the making. For many, Lumbreiras wasn't simply another weekend on the festival calendar—it was where lifelong friendships were forged, where political slogans mixed with guitar feedback, where every chorus felt like a protest and every campsite became its own temporary republic. Now those gates are about to open again. The venue hasn't forgotten how to throw a proper festival either. Three continuously running stages. Shaded camping. An Olympic swimming pool waiting to rescue exhausted survivors from the Alicante heat. Trees. Space. Actual room to breathe between the chaos. It's built for endurance because this isn't a sprint—it's three days of organised punk-rock mayhem. And perhaps that's why this comeback matters so much. Festivals disappear all the time. Very few come back with their identity intact. Aúpa Lumbreiras hasn't returned to chase trends or reinvent itself for a new audience. It has come back carrying everything that made people fall in love with it in the first place—attitude, community and enough volume to rattle the mountains around Villena. Ten days from now the first riffs will ring out across the Polideportivo. Ten days from now one of Spain's most beloved punk festivals writes its next chapter. Lumbreiras is coming home. Its sold out, but for more information: Aupa Lumbreiras If you are lucky enough to have a ticket - set times are below:

Reggaetón doesn't usually come with violins. It certainly doesn't arrive backed by a full symphony orchestra in front of more than 10,600 people. But that's exactly what happened at Valencia's Roig Arena as Puerto Rican superstar Yandel tore up the rulebook with Yandel Sinfónico, a show that swapped predictable backing tracks for soaring strings, thunderous brass and enough fire to keep the temperature climbing long after the sun had disappeared. It could have been a gimmick. Instead, it felt like a celebration of one of Latin music's most influential catalogues. Opening with "Puño de Tito" before sliding effortlessly into "Permítame," Yandel wasted no time reminding the crowd just how many anthems he's collected over the years. Every orchestral flourish gave familiar tracks a fresh heartbeat, transforming club staples into cinematic moments without stripping away the swagger that made them hits in the first place. As smoke rolled across the stage and flames erupted around the orchestra, the Roig Arena bounced through "Nunca Me Olvides," "Abusadora" and "Te Siento," each greeted like an old friend by a crowd that knew every lyric. The loudest reaction of the night arrived with "Noche de Sexo," unleashing a run of classics that turned the arena into one giant singalong. "Rakata" landed with all the force you'd expect from one of reggaetón's defining tracks, while "Encantadora," "Ay Mi Dios" and "Báilame" kept thousands of voices locked together from the floor to the highest seats. The second half leaned into Yandel's more recent material, with "Brickell," "Explícale" and the streaming phenomenon "Yandel 150" proving that his career isn't built solely on nostalgia. A welcome appearance from his brother Gadiel added another layer to the evening, with the pair delivering "La Pared" and "Plakito" to a roaring reception. By the time "Moviendo Caderas," "Sexy Movimiento" and "Algo Me Gusta de Ti" brought the night to its close, there was little doubt that the experiment had worked. Mixing reggaetón with a symphony orchestra sounds like a gamble on paper. Live, it felt completely natural. For one night in Valencia, the orchestra pit became the dancefloor, the violins hit as hard as the bass, and Yandel demonstrated why, two decades into his career, he remains one of the architects of Latin urban music's global takeover.

Leyendas del Rock has dropped the full stage times for its massive 20th anniversary edition, meaning thousands of fans are now staring at colour-coded schedules, debating impossible clashes and convincing themselves they can somehow be in two places at once. Forget packing your tent. The real preparation starts now. For four blistering days, Villena will once again become Spain's loudest postcode as one of Europe's premier metal festivals celebrates two decades of riffs, circle pits and sore necks. The line-up was already ridiculous. Now everyone knows exactly when the chaos begins. Godsmack finally bring their long-awaited Spanish debut to the festival. Sepultura continue their emotional farewell run. Helloween arrive armed with 40 years of power metal glory, while In Flames, Black Label Society, Arch Enemy, Slaughter To Prevail, Nothing More, Of Mice & Men, WarCry, Dark Tranquillity and a stacked undercard promise there'll barely be time to grab a beer between sets. Of course, no Leyendas timetable would be complete without a few cruel twists. Your favourite bands will overlap. Someone in your group will insist on camping at the barrier all day. You'll swear you'll leave one set early to catch another, then end up staying for "just one more song." It never works. It never has. And that's exactly what makes Leyendas special. This festival has never been about ticking bands off a list. It's about discovering your next obsession on a smaller stage, bumping into friends you only ever see in festival fields, losing your voice by lunchtime and somehow finding the energy to do it all again the next day. With the running order now locked in, the countdown has shifted into top gear. Battle jackets are coming out of wardrobes, playlists are getting one last spin, and metal fans from across Spain and beyond are preparing to descend on Villena for four days of controlled mayhem. The stage times are here. Now all that's left is surviving them! For more information: Leyendas Del Rock

Ryan Oakes doesn't do subtle, and "LIGHTS OUT" makes absolutely no apologies for that. From the opening seconds, the track barrels out of the speakers with the confidence of a heavyweight entering the ring, delivering a furious collision of alternative rock, hip-hop and modern metal that's impossible to ignore. If you've been waiting for a song to soundtrack your next adrenaline rush, this is it. Oakes has spent years blurring the lines between genres, but LIGHTS OUT feels like one of his sharpest and most complete statements to date. The guitars hit with real weight, the beats punch through the mix, and the production never lets the energy dip for a second. Everything feels dialled up to maximum without descending into chaos—a difficult balance that the track absolutely nails. The addition of Cody Carson from Set It Off proves to be inspired. Rather than feeling like a guest appearance added for streaming numbers, Carson becomes an essential part of the song's DNA. His soaring melodies provide the perfect contrast to Oakes' relentless vocal attack, creating a push-and-pull dynamic that keeps the song fresh from start to finish. Lyrically, LIGHTS OUT is all about taking control. It's fuelled by defiance, swagger and the determination to stand your ground when the pressure is on. There are no self-pitying moments here—just pure conviction wrapped inside massive hooks and enough attitude to shake the walls. What really elevates the single is how naturally Oakes moves between rap and melody. Plenty of artists attempt this hybrid approach, but few make it feel so effortless. His delivery carries genuine urgency, while the chorus arrives like a knockout punch, sticking in your head long after the song has finished. The production deserves plenty of credit too. Every element has room to breathe despite the sheer intensity of the arrangement. The riffs bite, the drums thunder, the electronic textures add cinematic depth, and the entire track feels built for festival stages where thousands of fists are punching the air in unison. More importantly, LIGHTS OUT never sounds manufactured. There's an authenticity to Ryan Oakes that separates him from many of his contemporaries. His music has always balanced vulnerability with aggression, and while this single leans heavily towards the latter, it still carries the emotional honesty that's become one of his defining traits. It also offers another tantalising glimpse of what's to come from his forthcoming album, Scary Stories After Dark, which promises to explore darker themes through his ever-evolving fusion of rock and hip-hop. Fans of artists such as From Ashes To New, Hollywood Undead, I Prevail, Fever 333 and Set It Off will find plenty to love here, but Ryan Oakes is rapidly carving out a lane that's unmistakably his own. He's no longer simply mixing genres—he's building a sound that feels both current and uniquely personal. LIGHTS OUT is loud, relentless and ridiculously infectious. It refuses to slow down, refuses to play safe and refuses to leave quietly. As another preview of Scary Stories After Dark, it suggests Ryan Oakes isn't just building towards a strong album—he's building towards a breakthrough moment. For more information: Ryan Oakes

If your idea of a perfect Friday night involves soulful vocals, scorching guitar solos and irresistible rhythm & blues, then Loco Club has the gig for you. On 3 July, one of Valencia's most respected live music venues will host an explosive double bill featuring Maria Carbonell Blues Mood and local favourites Los Fabulosos Blueshakers, with Quique Lledó keeping the party going with a DJ set afterwards. Leading the night is Maria Carbonell Blues Mood, one of Spain's fastest-rising blues acts. Fresh from being crowned Best Emerging Blues Band in Spain and after reaching the finals of the European Blues Challenge, the group has built a reputation for electrifying performances that honour the great women of African-American blues and rhythm & blues while adding their own contemporary flair. Fronted by the magnetic Maria Carbonell, whose rich, soulful voice has been described as "a voice to die for," the band channels the spirit of vintage New Orleans, where blues, swing and early rock 'n' roll first found their groove. Sharing the bill are Valencia's own Los Fabulosos Blueshakers, veterans of the city's blues scene who have spent nearly two decades getting audiences dancing with their infectious blend of Chicago blues, Texas blues, jump blues and classic R&B. Winners of the VII Concurso de Blues de la Societat de Blues de Barcelona, they're renowned for delivering high-energy performances packed with killer harmonica, swinging rhythms and feel-good grooves that never fail to ignite a crowd. For tickets and more information: Loco Club

Judas Priest, one of the most important and influential bands in the history of heavy metal, are bringing their legendary live show to Roig Arena for a night that promises volume, attitude and more than five decades of metal heritage. This isn't just another date on the calendar. This is a meeting with metal royalty. Since forming in Birmingham over 50 years ago, Judas Priest have helped define the sound, style and spirit of heavy metal. From the thunder of British Steel and Screaming For Vengeance to the unstoppable force of Painkiller, their catalogue is packed with songs that have become the soundtrack to generations of metal fans. And with Rob Halford still commanding the stage, leather, studs and that unmistakable voice intact, Judas Priest remain a band that refuses to simply live off nostalgia. Their latest album, Invincible Shield, proved that the Metal Gods still have plenty of fire left in the furnace, with recent tours showing they remain a formidable live force. The evening will kick off with Airbourne, Australia's answer to pure, unfiltered rock'n'roll chaos. Expect flying guitars, huge riffs and the kind of no-nonsense energy that has made them one of the most exciting hard rock bands of the modern era. Also joining the bill is Udo Dirkschneider, the legendary voice behind Accept, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the classic Balls To The Wall. A pioneer of German heavy metal, Dirkschneider brings decades of experience and one of the most recognisable voices in the genre. The result? A triple bill built for the faithful. Three generations of metal coming together under one roof. Roig Arena has quickly become Valencia's new home for major international concerts, but this one feels particularly special. Metal has always been about community—the old-school fans who were there from the beginning, the younger generation discovering the classics, and everyone in between united by the same roar when that first riff kicks in. Expect a sea of black T-shirts, raised fists, flying hair and thousands of voices joining together for a night that celebrates everything heavy metal was, is and continues to be. Valencia, get ready. The Metal Gods are coming! For tickets and more information: Roig Arena