The Weekly Ritual is back with Keefy and Ghost Cult Magazine for another hard-hitting rundown of the biggest stories moving through the rock and metal world. From new releases, tours, festival announcements, and scene chatter to the conversations that have heavy music fans fired up, this livestream keeps a finger on the pulse of everything loud, weird, heavy, and worth talking about.
Few albums have been at the top of the most-anticipated list for 2026, such as Mastodon’s new album, Marrow Deep (Loma Vista Recordings). However, this is not a typical album for the band, as it is the first album after the death of co-founder, guitar god, and vocalist Brent Hinds. Hinds departed the band and then this mortal coil in a terrible accident, and taking place just weeks after the death of Ozzy Osbourne, it was a dark summer for metalheads in 2025. The band is no stranger to tragedy and overcoming adversity, and they have channeled this into relatable, real, and smart metal albums that transcended their concept albums. But the loss of Hinds, coupled with the loss of drummer and co-lead vocalist Brann Dailor’s mother, Michele Lawrence, proved foundational for the bedrock of Marrow Deep, an album centered on the loss, regret, grieving, confusion, and anger surrounding death. The album is also said to be inspired by the Three Fates of Greek Mythology, also known as the personifications of destiny. This is on display, not just in the songs, but the cover art created by longtime Mastodon collaborator Paul Romano (Workhardened).
Joining Brann are fellow bandmates guitarist Bill Kelliher, bassist and co-lead vocalist Troy Sanders, along with new members João Nogueira on keyboards (previously a touring member) and new lead guitarist Nick Johnston; the band was hungry, ready to prove themselves to the world again. The album was produced by Patrik Berger and Kurt Ballou, but also co-produced by the band.
“Time and tide wait for no man,” says the famous quote by Chaucer. Especially when faced with your own mortality. Whether we accept it or not, Death comes for all of us eventually, and we have to accept that this flesh cage is not built to last. But also, tell that to Mark Whelan of Fuming Mouth, who faced down cancer and triumphed a few years ago. Death is a palpable figure on their new album “The Ringing Bell” – their first for Triple B Records. You feel the entire range of emotions Mark carries, delivered with heaving riffs and never-ending livid screams, all in just a breathtaking thirty-four minutes of extreme music.
GhostCultKeefy caught up with Kevin Comeau of Crown Lands, the award-winning Canadian progressive rock duo from Oshawa, Ontario, to discuss the band’s ambitious new album Apocalypse, released May 15, 2026, through InsideOut Music. Kevin breaks down the making of the record, including its centerpiece nineteen-minute multi-part title suite, standout tracks “Through the Looking Glass” and “Blackstar,” and how the album expands the cosmic narrative universe first introduced on their 2023 record “Fearless.”
For our special 1000th podcast, Keefy crosses one big interview off the bucket list! Having been a fan since 1995’s classic Fixation on a Co-Worker (Victory Records) album, Keefy has been aiming to interview Deadguy since their 2021 reunion!
Last year’s excellent Near-Death Travel Services (Relapse Records) showed the band has plenty left in the tank and is not just on a nostalgia trip. At Milwaukee Metal Fest 2026, we caught up with Tim Singer and Keith Huckins before their epic set during the weekend. We chatted about band history, the Deadguy: Killing Music documentary that helped ignite fans old and new, working with legendary producer Steve Evetts, and much more! Continue reading
GhostCultKeefy caught up with Gabe of AntiMozdeBeast to discuss the band’s album A Vagrant Unkempt Grave, released May 15, 2026. Gabe breaks down the deeply philosophical and psychological concepts driving the record, including spiritual interrogation, inner rebellion, the human struggle to interpret suffering under ideological and religious pressures, and mankind’s collective fear of the unknown and the erosion of societal belief systems. Continue reading
GhostCultKeefy caught up with Devin Townsend to discuss The Moth, his landmark twenty-four-track symphonic progressive metal rock opera released May 29, 2026, through Insideout Music, Century Media Records, and his own HevyDevy Records imprint. Devin describes the album as his life’s work and most ambitious project to date, more than a decade in the making, chronicling the full arc of the human experience from birth to death through the central metaphor of personal transformation and self-discovery. Continue reading
GhostCultKeefy caught up with Craig Wedren, frontman of post-Hardcore legends Shudder To Think and acclaimed composer of the Yellowjackets television series, to discuss the deluxe expansion of his 2024 solo record, The Dream Dreaming. Released April 10, 2026, through his independent label Tough Lover, the expanded edition grows the original eleven-song tracklist into a full twenty-one-track collection featuring five previously unreleased studio tracks, a five-song acoustic EP recorded live at Henson Studios in Los Angeles with a string quintet, and a live duet of “All Made Up” with Yellowjackets co-composer Anna Waronker of That Dog.
GhostCultKeefy caught up with Chris Elliott of Cell Arts and Black Angeles Media. In addition to working with Ghost Cult, Chris is a lifetime music fan and metal lover, but it goes much deeper than that. For years, Chris has been posting up at shows and documenting underground metal concerts of all stripes via his YouTube and other social networks. Keefy and Chris talk about music fandom, covering music, and charitable works.
