Welcome! This is the first post. I intend this blog to be largely as a means of compiling record all of my music activities into one place.

If you’re following me, you know why you’re here.

If you stumbled onto this accidentally— my name is @Steve Wiener, I make music, filling various different roles in various different bands and projects, mostly metal. This blog will focus on those various bands and projects.

2026 has been off to a good start (for my music)!

JANUARY

January 26
My first release of January was with @Ashenheart. @Ashenheart is an international black metal band with some death metal elements. I first worked with the band as a guest on the single, House of the Daemon, in October 2024, and subsequently joined as an official member soon after. We then released the EP, Tales From Eternal Dusk in April 2025, on which I performed piano, synths, acoustic guitars, all guitar solos, backing harsh vocals, as well as all of the final mixing of the release.

On January 26, we released the stand-alone single Stars Wept to the Sea (featuring Alicia Cordisco), on which I handle clean vocals, piano, synths, acoustic guitar, clean electric guitar, as well as mixing the song. The song was mastered by new band member Tyler Blake (from the band @Fathomless). Tyler is now the bassist of Ashenheart, but also did a fantastic job mastering this release and handling re-amping for Amanda’s guitars and Alicia Cordisco’s guest guitar contributions.

Cover art by @Alex Loach

January 31
@Negative Bliss played our first show ever at The Meatlocker in Montclair, NJ. It was fantastic. We were delighted and surprised to learn that the venue records all their shows (both the audio and the video).

FEBRUARY

February 2
@Negative Bliss we launched preorders for a live album from our first show, Live at The Meatlocker. Aside from the obvious roles of vocals and guitar, I mixed and mastered the album. Live at the Meatlocker released on February 6, 2026.

Cover graphic design by Paul Shryock

February 2 (continued)
@Negative Agent— the industrial metal project of my friend Brian Stillman, who I met in the Ampwall Discord— launched preorders of @Negative Agent‘s debut album, Terminal Days. The album releases April 8, digital, CD, and cassette tape. I performed a guest guitar solo on track one, “Mind Wipe”.

Cover art by Brian Stillman

February 27
@Wince and Frisson— the new dissoblack metal project led by my friend Triumvir Kaleido (Tri for short) released our first single, Kärrhäxan. I met Tri in the Ampwall Discord a while back. He shared very early work-in-progress updates when he began writing @Wince and Frisson songs, literally just unplugged electric guitar. Just from that, I could tell that the music was special. When I learned that he was looking for help with drums and production / mixing / mastering, I jumped at the chance to offer my services. To my surprise, he offered to include me as an actual band member, and since then we’ve been hard at work at the debut full-length. It’s been a pleasure. Tri is exceptionally talented as a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, bassist, visual artist, animator, and social media content creator, and he’s a really nice guy that I’m thrilled to have become friends with.

No Clean Singing debuted the single and hand-drawn music video on February 24! Now Kärrhäxan is available for purchase on Ampwall and streaming on all platforms.

I hope you’ll give a listen to Kärrhäxan and give us a follow! It’s very different from any of my other projects, but anyone who digs intense, no-frills, suffocating, claustrophobic extreme metal, will very likely enjoy this.

Art by Triumvir Kaleido

FEBRUARY 27 (continued)
@Negative Bliss was booked for a second show! Tonight at Terry’s Serendipity Cafe along with the bands Jugular and Reefamancers. If you’re in the NJ / NYC area, we hope to see you there!

Flyer by Paul Shryock

Looking forward

I can’t provide much in terms of specifics yet, but in more immediate future:

• Am I in Trouble? has something coming in partnership with SHIFT+CTRL Music. It’s something I truly did not plan for; came about very organically and unexpectedly, and has resulted in a sprawling, enormous collaboration. Expect news from me and @SHIFT+CTRL Music soon!

• Eveale was recently announced to be signed jointly with Hypaethral Records (@Hypaethral Records) and Fiadh Productions (@Fiadh Productions) for our debut full-length. I am exceedingly proud of what Alex, Chris, Erik, and I have created with this album and can’t wait for more @Eveale details to drop.

• Ashenheart has a two-song EP coming up. This is a very impromptu release with two songs conjured up in a quick burst of rage-fueled inspiration by songwriter Amanda Kauffman. Due to the sudden and unexpected nature of the release, my role on this will be fairly minimal due to scheduling conflicts (likely just a guitar solo on one song), but nonetheless, keep your eyes peeled for two killer songs from Amanda, Alex, and Tyler!

• Wince and Frisson is hard at work on a next single and subsequently the full-length album, titled Tumult.

• I’m making preparations to finally lay down vocals for a debut release from Tuffy! @Tuffy is technically my oldest band (my punk band with oldest friend Connor). We’ve had instrumentals recorded (including drums from a drummer I’ve been very eager to work with for quite a while!), but a number of frustrating life things have made it relatively impossible for me to record anything with a microphone for many, many, many, many months, so finishing these songs has been in a state of limbo. Fortunately, it looks like the opportunity will finally present itself next month, so hopefully I can get these vocals done, and Tuffy can finally make its debut to the recording world after “existing” for, I want to say…. 23 years?

• Also related to vocals, I’m working on a really cool collaboration with NYC-based experimental / prog / drone / neoclassical / minimalist artist Imrryr, who you would remember (in the context of my work) from our recent collaboration on Am I in Trouble?’s Gray EP, where @Imrryr creating a reimaging / remix of the song “Black”.

It’s something I don’t think either of us have ever done before, and I’m incredibly excited about it. I am really hoping March can be a solid month for vocal recording.

• I’ve also contributed some guest appearances (assorted, varying from vocals to acoustic guitars) to some releases, that I THINK are releasing in 2026. Some of them I recorded quite a while ago, so I’m excited to hear them out in the wild when they release!

SUMMARY
So that about sums it up. 2026 has been a fruitful year for music in only two months so far. If you follow any or all of my bands, I really appreciate it! Same goes for all of the incredibly talented musicians and artists I’ve had the pleasure to work with.

Times are exceptionally tough, but creating is something that I truly think can help alleviate the pain (to some extent). So if you can, please afford yourself the time to write, draw, paint, cook, bake, sculpt, sing, play an instrument, code, playing with LEGO— anything that helps turn off the “consume” part of the brain and allows you the create something instead. The things you make matter.

Steve
February 27, 2026

The Hot Dog Factory