Tasmania's finest export - extreme metal pioneers Psycroptic - are set to add another layer of steel to their legendary status on a co-headline tour with like minded-but-saxophone-wielding US progressive death wizards Rivers of Nihil this August.

The last 18 months have seen Psycroptic's unrelenting work ethic at peak focus - with global touring alongside Dying Fetus, Six Feet Under, and their upcoming co-headline tour partners.

Rivers of Nihil are still riding high off the back of 2025's masterful and hugely successful self-titled fifth album through Metal Blade Records - a heavy metal institution and label home that will soon be shared with Psycroptic as they prepare to unleash their 9th studio in mid 2026.

Joining them on all shows will be the psychologically twisted sounds of Melbourne's Growth, and the straight up brutality of Sydney young guns Slaughtercult. 

Friday August 14 - Lion Arts, Adelaide

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PSYCROPTIC + RIVERS OF NIHIL (USA) CO-HEADLINE TOUR

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of their award-winning debut album Glorious Heights, **Montaigne** is heading out on national tour to sing, dance, laugh and cry with fans old and new! Experience the album played in full with a sprinkling of beloved tunes from other eras when they hit the road in August 2026.

This historic celebration comes off the back of a motley crew of career successes, including: releasing their first independent and self-produced album it's hard to be a fish in 2025, amassing over 64 million streams on their song 'Red Flags' with Tom Cardy, a 31 date tour of Europe and the UK alongside Eurovision collaborator Dadi Freyr, and earning a Grammy nomination  for their collaboration with acclaimed indie composer Austin Wintory.

Grounded as a person but elevated as a performer, Montaigne is one of those rare artists whose talent and skill on stage and off is rivalled by their ability to connect authentically with their audience, finding joy, humour, and catharsis in every performance.

Expect powerhouse vocals, theatrical movement inspired by friend and collaborator David Byrne, a strong sense of community, and a warm, inclusive space for all. It's time to reach glorious heights!

&ldquo;glorious to watch and hear.&rdquo; -themusic.com.au

"Montaigne possesses an incredible, swooping voice, sitting somewhere between **Kate Bush **and **Lola Young**, and keeps the crowd in the metaphorical palm of their hand&rdquo; - God Is In The TV, UK concert review

Presented by Select Music.

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Montaigne - Glorious Heights 10th Anniversary Tour

Welsh rock trio **Holding Absence** have announced their first ever Australian headline tour this August, bringing California metalcore outfit **Kingdom of Giants** out to join them on their run around the country. 

The run sees Holding Absence stepping into several cities as headliners for the first time, after having previously visited supporting tours with **Thornhill**, **Void Of Vision** and **You Me At Six**. 

Over the past decade, the Cardiff group have built a devoted global following and a reputation as an unmissable live act. Amassing hundreds of millions of streams worldwide, they have toured extensively across the UK, Europe, North America and Australia. Earlier this month, they shared their poignant new single* "**Whisper Of A Dream**", *their first new music since 2023's ***The Noble Art Of Self-Destruction*** and their debut release with **Sumerian Records**. Since forming in 2015, Holding Absence have rapidly established themselves as leaders within modern post-hardcore, with *The Noble Art Of Self-Destruction* closing a defining trilogy that began with their 2019 self-titled debut and 2021's ***The Greatest Mistake Of My Life***.

Joining them on all dates, Kingdom of Giants return to Australia following their 2023 run with **Bury Tomorrow**. Since then, they've released two new EPs, ***Bleeding Star*** and ***Burning Chrome***, and are primed and ready to bring their expansive and cinematic take on heavy music back to Aussie stages. Their sound lives at the meeting point between crushing and compelling, drawing inspiration from synthwave and cyberpunk, bending the boundaries of modern heavy music.

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HOLDING ABSENCE Australian Tour 2026

A live dedication featuring the nation's most extraordinary musicians, singers and dedicators of PRINCE in a concert style performance that has been applauded by even the most die hard PRINCE fan.

Touring Australia with a ONE NIGHT ONLY SHOW in each State - Expect a concert that brings all the attitude the music of Prince demands including a flamboyant vocal performance by All Together Top 100 Judge Carl De Villa (RENT) accompanied by some of the country's best musicians, recreating all the hits LIVE including 1999, Kiss, When Doves Cry, Cream, Little Red Corvette and countless other with the authentic Minneapolis sound that changed pop and rock music forever.

A show carefully constructed by the nation's most dedicated followers of Prince, this will be a celebration that every Prince fan has been waiting for...YES! The dance floor will be open!

Disclaimer: This show and its intellectual property and promotional material is not affiliated, sponsored, endorsed or associated with The Prince Estate.

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HONOURING PRINCE: 10 Years On

AVATAR (SWE)

Australian deathcore firestarters **To The Grave** have barely allowed themselves a moment's rest since expanding their frontlines into the international circuit in 2023. Relentless global touring has seen them take their apocalyptic message of animal liberation, misanthropic furore and musings on environmental catastrophe to stages shared across the globe with the likes of Lorna Shore, Signs of The Swarm, I Killed The Prom Queen, Carnifex, Thy Art Is Murder and Shadow of Intent. All executed off the back of the methodically violent dropping of 2021's '*Epilogue', *2023's '*Director's Cuts'* and 2024's '*Everyone's A Murderer' *albums through extreme metal institution Unique Leader Records. 

2026 has so far allowed To The Grave to take a moment not so much to catch their collective breath, but to instead channel their justified rage into yet another forthcoming release. 

The next campaign from To The Grave kicks off with 'Nail Australia To The Walls' this September - 8 savage shows all around their home turf.

The onslaught will feature the down under debut of the American death metal/hardcore group **No Cure**, touring in support of their upcoming third album of heartfelt straight-edge anger '*It's Going To Get Dark*'.

Rounding out the package is Melbourne's brutal beatdown champions **Algor Mortis**.

Keep your senses on high alert for urgent new music from To The Grave in the imminent future.

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TO THE GRAVE 'NAIL AUSTRALIA TO THE WALLS' with NO CURE (USA) & ALGOR MORTIS

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**SHRED FEST // Australia 2026**

September 2026 – Prepare your necks and brace your ears &mdash; **SHRED FEST 2026** is coming! The renowned travelling metal festival will storm across Australia and New Zealand, delivering an unmatched celebration of technical excellence, intensity, and musical precision.

This year's edition features two of the most acclaimed names in modern extreme metal Obscura (GER) & Fallujah (USA):

**OBSCURA (GER)** – Progressive death metal pioneers and masters of technical virtuosity. Following two successful Australian tours along with a return to New Zealand, OBSCURA are back to present their latest album *A Sonication* as part of their ongoing world tour.

**FALLUJAH (USA)** – The visionary force of progressive and atmospheric technical death metal, set to unleash their transcendental soundscapes across southern shores.

Joining the international lineup are some of Australia's most formidable local acts:

**ASHEN (Perth, AUS)** – Delivering crushing death-doom steeped in atmosphere and relentless groove.

 **ANOXIA (Sydney, AUS)** – Champions of old-school death metal, channelling raw aggression and riff-driven fury.

Additional guests will appear in every city on this tour

**Line Up**

**OBSCURA (GER)
 FALLUJAH (USA)^
 ASHEN (WA) +
 ANOXIA (NSW) #**
 *+ Special Guests *

**Dates**

03/09 **AUS** Perth - The Rosemount +^ with Allocer

04/09 **AUS** Adelaine - Lions Art Factory +^ with Tzun Tzu

05/09 **AUS** Brisbane – Soapbox +^ with Snake Mountain

09/09 **AUS** Canberra - The Baso #+^ with Blackened Dred

10/09 **AUS** Sydney - Manning Bar  #+^ with Besomora

11/09 **AUS** Melbourne - The Corner  #+^ with Munitions

13/09 **AUS** Darwin – The Ampitheatre ^+ with TBA

15/09 **NZ** Auckland – Whammy with TBA

16/09 **NZ** Wellington – Valhalla with TBA

17/09 **NZ** Christchurch – Churchills Tavern with TBA

19/09 **AUS** Hobart – Altar with TBA

# Anoxia Appearing only in Canberra, Sydney & Melbourne

+ Ashen Appearing all shows bar Darwin, NZ and Hobart

^ Fallujah Appearing all shows bar NZ and Hobart

SHRED FEST 2026 promises a diverse and uncompromising showcase of extreme metal &mdash; from technical precision to devastating heaviness. Expect the ultimate convergence of musicianship, passion, and power.

**Tickets on sale via ****www.yourmatebookings.com** & https://www.shredfest.net/

SHRED FEST 2026 

Having captivated crowds in Melbourne and Sydney in 2025, multi-Platinum selling US duo **MKTO** are set to return - charting a full national tour of Australia, as well as a stop in New Zealand, this September!

Presented by **Teamwrk Touring **and **MRG Live**, the Australian/NZ tour will see **MKTO** hit venues in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and New Zealand for the first time in over a decade; while fans in Sydney and Melbourne have another chance to connect with the hitmakers and their inimitable live show.

Since their last Australian visit, the duo have been riding wave on wave of exciting momentum; performing epic shows in North America alongside the likes of **The Kid LAROI** and **2 Chainz**, while continuing to expand their reach with new audiences throughout the country. For **MKTO**, commanding stages has been part of their DNA from the onset yet now, as they head into this new era, **Malcolm Kelley **and **Tony Oller **are excited to share a rejuvenated chemistry with fans; longtime and new alike.

**MKTO**'s relationship with Australian fans stretches back to their debut single **'Thank You'**, released in 2012. Taking the **ARIA Charts** by storm, the single landed **MKTO** on Australian radars in a big way: their fusion of pop and R&B became the flavour on a menu many fans wanted a part of. 

Following 'Thank You' with further **ARIA Top 40** singles including their worldwide breakout **'Classic'**** **(which also cracked the **Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100**),** **as well as** ****'God Only Knows'** and **'American Dream'**, the 2014 self-titled debut album ***MKTO*** saw them transformed into a global sensation with platinum and gold certifications in Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand, Sweden and Denmark. 

WIth over **2 billion streams** to their catalogue, **MKTO **have maintained their dedicated fanbase around the world and this year, the duo is keen to get back in contact with as much of it as possible.

MKTO

**Jack Gray** is an Australian singer-songwriter whose music feels like the pivotal scene in a film just before everything changes&mdash;warm, impulsive, full of yearning, sharp turns, and the emotional clarity that only hindsight can bring.

Raised in Mackay, Queensland, in a musical family, Jack taught himself multiple instruments and began recording songs in high school. After six months at music school, he left to follow a self-driven path that's taken him across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the U.S., and Canada; touring with Tate McRae, Maren Morris, Jeremy Zucker, Daniel Seavey, Mahalia, Matt Corby, Maisie Peters, Ella Vos, and most recently, Good Neighbours.  

Now based in Los Angeles, Jack is a self-produced multi-instrumentalist with over 1.5M+ total streams across his recent single releases. In 2025, he signed with Island Records Australia and released the first five singles from his debut album: &ldquo;Dumb Sh*t,&rdquo; &ldquo;Drive Her Home,&rdquo; &ldquo;Blind Lovin,&rdquo; &ldquo;Tattoos&rdquo;, and most recently &ldquo;Look At You.&rdquo; Jack's long-awaited debut album, &ldquo;Swimming In Jeans&rdquo;, arrives September 4, 2026.  

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Jack Gray 'Swimming In Jeans' Tour

"Ash rule. They are geniuses. Gods maybe."- NME

Ireland's favourite power pop trio, Ash, finally return to Australia and New Zealand to Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of their iconic debut album, '1977', by performing the album in full. Released in 1996, the album's title references both the decade the band members were born in and the year Star Wars first hit cinemas.

'1977' has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide and was written, recorded and released when most of Ash were still only 19. A cinematic punk-pop soundtrack to binge drinking, chasing girls, youth and frustrated adolescent idealism, the album fused power pop, glam rock, post-grunge and Britpop into a loud, melodic and exuberant sound.

It struck a chord with the hearts, minds and hormones of a generation of like-minded teens, delivering a run of singles including &ldquo;Girl From Mars&rdquo;, &ldquo;Kung Fu&rdquo;, &ldquo;Angel Interceptor&rdquo;, &ldquo;Goldfinger&rdquo; and &ldquo;Oh Yeah&rdquo; &mdash; all of which reached the UK Top 20 and helped cement Ash's reputation.

The 30th Anniversary Celebration of '1977' will give Ash fans the chance to relive the album that featured &ldquo;hit after honey-topped hit&rdquo; and Britpop ruled the airwaves. Oh yeah!

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ASH ‘1977’ 30th Anniversary Tour

US punk-metal mainstays **Strung Out** return to Australia this September to celebrate 30 years of their landmark album Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues with a national run of headline shows. Originally released in 1996, Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues crammed 13 songs into 32 breakneck minutes and became a defining record for a generation of punk fans. From the opening blast of &ldquo;Firecracker&rdquo; through to &ldquo;Wrong Side of the Tracks&rdquo;, the album's mix of hook-heavy melodies and high-speed riffs still hits just as hard today. Across ten albums and countless tours, **Strung Out** have built a reputation as one of the most explosive live bands in punk rock – loud, tight and direct, with no throwbacks for the sake of it and no wasted moments.   This September, Australian fans will hear Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues celebrated throughout the set, alongside favourites from across the band's catalogue.

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Lion Arts Factory

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