A piece of black metal history has been lying dormant for over two decades, deep in the shadowy abyss of dust-ridden, musty vaults. The authors of this forbidden rite decided the world was not quite ready for its offering in 1995, and thus locked it away from the light. But the years passed, and gradually it's power grew too strong.

Freed from its vault by genre-defining creators Cradle Of Filth and the recently resurrected extreme music label Cacophonous, the two have joined forces to finally unshackle the unreleased sophomore album Dusk… And Her Embrace: The Original Sin as a CD and digital album today, July 8th. A vinyl LP version will be available later this year. Watch a new lyric video for “Dusk And Her Embrace” below:

“The wait is over. The original Dusk… And Her Embrace is dragged kicking and screaming into the world, and people can finally hear for themselves what a true masterpiece it is.” – Neil Harding, Cacophonous Label Head.

Tracklisting:

“Macabre, This Banquet”
“Nocturnal Supremacy”
“Heaven Torn Asunder”
“Dusk And Her Embrace”
“A Gothic Romance”
“The Graveyard By Moonlight”
“Funeral In Carpathia”
“Beauty Slept In Sodom”
“The Haunted Shores Of Avalon”
“Carmilla’s Masque”
“A Gothic Romance” (Bonus Demo Track)
“Nocturnal Supremacy” (Bonus Demo Track)

Cradle Of Filth signed to Cacophonous in 1994, releasing their debut album, The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh on an unsuspecting world, consequently landmarking themselves at the forefront of the extreme music movement. With their writing becoming more fluid, more confident, Dusk… And Her Embrace: The Original Sin is the precursor to the band’s sound as it is today, and a must-have for any extreme music fans.

Blues Pills will release their second album, Lady In Gold, on August 5th. A fourth video trailer can now be seen below. Lady In Gold will contain 10 brand new tracks (see full tracklisting below).

Bassist, founding member and main songwriter Zach Anderson comments on the album art: "The design comes from the dutch artist Marijke Koger-Dunham who already worked with us for the first album cover. We are super proud to have the opportunity to work with such a legendary artist who has even worked with The Beatles, Cream and many more. The original design was made by her 50 years ago. We worked together to adapt the colors to fit the mood of the album. Hopefully our fans will like it as much as we do."

Commented singer Elin Larsson on the choice of the album's title: "Lady Gold is a character who symbolizes death. We wanted a twist on the typical stereotype of death being the grim reaper. So instead we made her a lady in gold."

Tracklisting:

“Lady In Gold”
“Little Boy Preacher”
“Burned Out”
“I Felt A Change”
“Gone So Long”
“Bad Talkers”
“You Gotta Try”
“Won’t Go Back”
“Rejection”
“Elements And Things”

“Lady In Gold” video:

Trailer #1:

Trailer #2:

Trailer #3:

Trailer #4:

Just as its successful predecessor Lady In Gold was once again produced by Don Alsterberg (Graveyard, Division Of Laura Lee, José González, Jerry Williams). More info to be revealed soon.

(Photo by: John McMurtie)

STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet will release his seventh solo album, "One Sided War", on August 26 via Rat Pak Records. Backing Michael on the record are WHITESNAKE guitarist Joel Hoekstra, EVANESCENCE drummer Will Hunt, bassist John O'Boyle and East Coast shred-master Ethan Brosh.

"One Sided War" showcases a full plate of hard rock and classic metal riffs that Michael Sweet has come to be known for throughout his illustrious musical career.

The album, which was recorded at Spirithouse Recording Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts, is available for pre-order at this location.

"Musically, it's my heaviest solo album," Sweet said. "It's not thrash metal but there are definitely some songs on there that will pop out at you. There are some songs that have a bit of the IRON MAIDEN / DIO feel to them, as well as some songs that have a little bit of a VAN HALEN influence to them. It's a very guitar-oriented, hard rock/metal album with lots of melodies and hooks." The fast and furious opener "Bizarre" ignites the album's pace with its lightning fast riffage, soaring vocals and blazing guitar solos. Tracks like "Can't Take This Life", "One Sided War", "Golden Age", "I Am" and "Comfort Zone" keep the metal fires ablaze, while songs like "Radio", "One Way" and "You Make Me Wanna" bring the hard rock vibe to the forefront.

"One Sided War" features only one ballad, "Who Am I?", a heartfelt, passionate song that reminds us of the softer side of Michael's talents. Closing out the disc is a bonus track; it's a different version of the song "Can't Take This Life", a duet between Michael and 16-year-old up-and-coming female vocalist Moriah Formica.

An EPK that talks about the CD and contains samples of "Bizarre" and "Radio" is available below.

"One Sided War" track listing:

01. Bizarre02. One Sided War03. Can't Take This Life04. Radio05. Golden Age06. Only You07. I Am08. Who Am I09. You Make Me Wanna10. Comfort Zone11. One Way Up12. Can't Take This Life (bonus track; feat; Moriah Formica)

Sweet is best known as the singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer for Christian rock pioneers STRYPER, who have sold over ten million albums worldwide. In addition to STRYPER, Sweet has had a successful solo career, and he served as the guitarist and co-vocalist for the legendary classic rock band BOSTON from 2007 to2011. The future remains bright for a man who has endured heartbreaking tribulations throughout his life and career, including the 2009 passing of his wife of more than 22 years, Kyle. In 2010, Sweet remarried to Lisa Champagne-Sweet, a woman he describes as "a Godsend and the one who fits perfectly by my side." Sweet continues to record and tour with STRYPER, as well as touring and recording as a solo artist.

Earlier this month, Nathan J. Biggs (vocals), Robin Sjunnesson (guitar) and Michel Bärzén (bass) of Swedish/British modern metallers SONIC SYNDICATE answered a number of fan-submitted questions. You can now watch the question-and-answer session below.

SONIC SYNDICATE recently entered Ramtitam Studios in Stockholm to begin recording its sixth album, due later this year via Despotz Records & Music.

Asked how the new CD compares to SONIC SYNDICATE's previous releases, Nathan said: "I think we always make a conscious effort to not repeat ourselves, definitely."

Robin: "And we say it all the time, but that's how it is: we never repeat ourselves. Every album is like a new experiment for us. But this one is definitely a completely new sound."

Nathan: "This one's unique in the fact that we literally haven't decided anything or limited ourselves to anything. We have literally just gone from whatever the hell we wanna write, whatever feeling it is."

Robin: "We wrote almost a completely full album, and we were kind of pretending, 'Yeah, this is good. This is good.' But you could feel it: 'Nah, it's not there. It's not where we wanna take this.' So we basically just trashed it."

Nathan: "We got our own studio and we did pre-production, and we had at least ten finished songs. We liked some of them, and some of them were really heavy and really rocking, but we were just like, 'It's not quite there. It's not good enough. Is this what we wanna do?' And we scrapped the whole record. And then we literally just wrote from the heart, with no limitations on genre or anything."

Robin: "Exactly. We kind of agreed: 'Let's just write whatever comes now.' Like, 'What's on the fingertips? What do we wanna do right now?' And I guess that's also why the new album is… We all love it."

Nathan: "I've never enoyed recording an album this much before — just pure fun from our side."

Robin: "We're trying out new stuff that we haven't tried before, and that's fun."

SONIC SYNDICATE last year parted ways with longtime bassist Karin Axelsson and replaced her with Michel "Miche" Bärzén (DEGRADEAD).

SONIC SYNDICATE's self-titled fifth album was released on July 4, 2014 via Nuclear Blast.

SONIC SYNDICATE is:

Nathan J Biggs - VocalsRobin Sjunnesson - GuitarsMichel Bärzén BassJohn Bengtsson - Drums

San Francisco Bay Area metal veterans TESTAMENT will release their new album, "The Brotherhood Of The Snake", on October 28 via Nuclear Blast. The CD recorded under the watchful eyes of producer Juan Urteaga (EXODUS, HEATHEN, MACHINE HEAD), guitarist Eric Peterson and singer Chuck Billy and is currently being mixed and mastered by British metal producer Andy Sneap (ACCEPT, ARCH ENEMY, CRADLE OF FILTH, KREATOR, MACHINE HEAD, MEGADETH).

Peterson told Metal Maniac about the new disc: "It came out really, really good," he added. "I'm really happy with it. It's very diverse, but it's very epic. There's nothing on there that breeds commercial. And I think for thirty years of recording music and trying different formulas and stuff, I think we've found a formula that is very metal. I think for the metal fan that is looking for something for the nook and crannies… not just your normal, 'Oh, it's got a thrash beat and a riff.' There's a lot going on here. And just the title: 'The Brotherhood Of The Snake'. You're gonna expect something more in-depth. It's not, like, 'Satan's Death' or 'Kill 'Em All'. Well, no, 'Kill 'Em All' is killer. Sorry. But you know what I mean. I mean, it's more in-depth sounding."

Peterson previously told Metal Forces about the musical direction of "The Brotherhood Of The Snake": "It's different. This one is more thrash. I mean, this has got some of the fastest stuff that we have ever played. Usually, we have one or two thrash songs, and then we have some mid-tempo, and then we have a slow, heavy one, and then up-tempo kind of stuff. Half of the new record is thrash, which we've never done before. Even with our first record ['The Legacy', 1987] , there's 'Over The Wall' and 'First Strike Is Deadly', but then there's stuff that's back and forth from mid-tempo to thrash like 'Do Or Die' or 'Apocalyptic City'. Full-on thrash though, like six or seven songs, has never been done by us. It's kind of a trip to hear it."

He continued: "It's kind of like 'Demonic' and 'The Gathering', but a little bit wiser, I think. Chuck's not singing so death. I mean, he does some death stuff but he's singing more like he did on the last record and then with the craziness of 'The Gathering' or even heavy stuff like 'Demonic'."

Billy echoed Peterson's sentiments, saying "The Brotherhood Of The Snake" "is definitely gonna be geared up to a little more faster than 'Dark Roots Of Earth' record, definitely a little more aggressive musically, for sure, probably vocally as well. I think I'll probably attack with a little more heavier voice on this one. I'll kind of feel my way through the song, which voice to use. But there's definitely gonna be some 'Demonic' [-type] stuff, but again like 'The Gathering', 'cause I think I did a little bit of everything on that record, which that's what we'd like to accomplish."

Chuck also talked about the lyrical themes covered on "The Brotherhood Of The Snake". He explained: "[The title track is] basically about a lot of the early secret societies that started taking over power, trying to control the society and spawned off into illuminatis and stuff like that so it's kind of going back to a lot of that — a lot of human control and religions and the similarities between religions and alien beings and stuff like that. I've been fascinated a lot by a lot of programs that show a lot of different religions and all the writings or hieroglyphics on the walls always have the same type beings with all of these religions. And it makes you think, wow, so long ago, these people didn't know people on the other side of the ocean, but yet they have these common sightings within their religions that they talk about and reference. And it just really was interesting to me, opening my eyes a little more to religion. I was raised Catholic, but growing up and just seeing these connections just really makes me think about all the religions, you know? And the connection between the human race and aliens, it's just really fascinating to me. So we started spotting a lot of ideas for songs off of that."

TESTAMENT will promote "The Brotherhood Of The Snake" by teaming up with AMON AMARTH for a European tour this fall. A summer festival run will kick off next week.

Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral

Berlin, Germany’s Tanzwut release their tenth studio album, Schreib Es Mit Blut, today (July 8th) via AFM Records. The band have released a lyric video for the album track, “Reiter Ohne Kopf”, which can be found below.

Tracklisting:

“Schreib Es Mit Blut”
“Steig Ein”
“Bruder Leichtsinn”
“Chaos”
“Reiter Ohne Kopf”
“Geteert Und Gefedert”
“Stille Wasser”
“Reicher Als Ein König”
“Hahnenkampf”
“Wenn Ich Tot Bin”
“An Den Klippen”
“Bleib Bei Mir”
“Wer Wir Sind”
“Neue Ufer”

Bonus track:
“Stille Wasser” (featuring Liv Kristine)

“Reiter Ohne Kopf” lyric video:

“Stille Wasser” (featuring Liv Kristine) video:

“Schreib Es Mit Blut” video:

After celebrating the album release with a live show at this year's RockHarz Festival and playing two other festival gigs, Tanzwut will be on club tour in the fall.

Live dates are as follows:

July
7-9 - Ballenstedt - Rockharz Festival
29 - Langen Trechow - Open Air auf dem Nopperhof

August
13 - Aich - Schlosshof Festival

October
7 - Zwickau - Alter Gasometer
8 - Dresden - Tante Ju
14 - Munchen - Backstage Halle
15 - Kaiserslautern - Kammgarn
16 - Nurnberg - Hirsch
20 - Osnabruck - Rosenhof
21 - Rostock - M.A.U. Club
22 - Wilhelmshaven - Pumpwerk

November
3 - Koln - Underground
4 - Aschaffenburg - Colos-Saal
5 - Hannover - Musikzentrum
11 - Hamburg - Knust
12 - Berlin - Postbahnhof Club

December
23 - Polten - Mittelaterspektakel

The Alain Duplantier-directed video for "Low Lands", a brand new song from French progressive metallers GOJIRA, can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's latest album, "Magma", which was released on June 17 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2012's "L'Enfant Sauvage" was recorded at GOJIRA frontman Joseph Duplantier's Silver Cord Studio in Queens, New York.

Said Joseph Duplantier: "['Low Lands'] is an intimate and poetic piece directed by our dear cousin and friend Alain Duplantier.

"One of the 'characters' featured in this film is 'Gayeres,' the family house where Mario [Duplantier, GOJIRA drummer] and I grew up. We jammed to our first songs, started GOJIRA, and recorded most of our albums there. Our sister Gabrielle also contributed to the making of this video.

"We want to thank all the wonderful people who worked hard to make this happen and all our fans for supporting us with so much passion and respect. We hope you'll enjoy the trip as much as we do."

Joseph told RollingStone.com that the band worked on twelve songs for the album before ultimately deciding on ten. "We want a short album," he said. "Something less epic than what we usually do. People's attentions are shorter now. So a lot of the songs are four minutes."

Joseph and his brother, who make up the band's songwriting core, were forced to put the sessions for the new album on hold when their mother got sick and eventually died last summer.

"I felt physically, mentally exhausted," Joseph told RollingStone.com. "At the same time, though, the way it happened was beautiful. We were all around her. We had to cancel a few shows when she died, but it was very enriching at the same time. We learned a lot about death."

"When you read Joe's lyrics, for me, I cry right away," Mario said. "They're very deep and to the point. No bullshit. We recycle our sadness and depression in the music."

"Mario was recording drums, and I was playing guitar with him, just trying to help him know where he's at in the song, and both of us would start crying at the same time," Joseph added.

"The songs were half-written while she was sick," he said. "After she died, I still had to finish them. So one song was like, 'You're going to make it,' but the second verse is 'You didn't make it.'"

Asked what the title of GOJIRA's new album, "Magma", means to him, Joseph Duplantier told Kerrang!: "To me, 'magma' is the primal energy. It's the blood of the earth. It's hot. It's dangerous. It is the guts. It's this music. It's the music we play. It's fusion. It's fire. It's electricity. It's… everything that we're trying to express with this music. That's what it means to me, 'magma.'"

Joseph also talked about how he comes up with all those heavy GOJIRA riffs. He said: "I don't know if we have a formula or a secret to write some of our riffs. But I wanna say that we connect ourselves to a certain energy, we put ourselves in a certain state of mind naturally. The kind of music we wanna hear, the kind of riffs we wanna hear are intricate and heavy and spiritual and there's a part of mystery in it. So we put ourselves in this kind of state of mind. But, really, we have visions when we play. When I've got my guitar, I'm already in a certain mood, and then everything that comes out will be in that specific mood. Yeah, I guess we're really connected to all… everything that's nature… Ideas like infinity, outer space, black holes [are] very inspiring for heavy riffs."

SLAYER frontman Tom Araya decided to drop by Music Minds in Dublin, Ireland during the band's current European tour to see if he could find a new musical instrument to jam on. After much deliberation, he settled on a mandolin.

Music Minds' owner said: "I think you can agree [Tom] has found his true calling in music. Irish jigs will never sound the same to us again.

"Thanks so much for buying from my store and making my staff's day.

"The man's a legend."

Earlier this year, Araya told The Charlotte Observer about some people's tendency to stop listening to metal when they get older: "I don't like hearing that people outgrow music. I come across a lot of fans. When they find out who I am, because people will recognize me, they'll say, 'I used to listen to you,' and they will name off earlier records. I'll just look at them and say, 'What do you mean used to?' They say, 'I'm older. I got kids.'

"You're never too old to listen to any kind of music. I frown. 'You're making yourself older than you really are.'"

He continued: "[My] kids growing up had to listen to whatever music we listened to. They've grown up liking the music we play, '60s bands, heavy stuff, country. Now that they're older [19 and 16], they have a preference, but they can enjoy other [styles of] music. People create these generation gaps [when they] don't let the kids listen to what they listen to."

Asked what his kids listen to, Araya said: "My son gravitated toward heavier-edged music. My daughter gravitated toward not-so-heavy music. She likes all the TWENTY ONE PILOTS, FALL OUT BOY, PANIC AT THE DISCO. My son likes VAN HALEN, all the heavier stuff."

GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash joined WHITFORD/ST. HOLMES, featuring the dynamic duo of AEROSMITH guitarist Brad Whitford and TED NUGENT vocalist/guitarist Derek St. Holmes, on stage last night (Thursday, July 7) at Exit/In in Nashville, Tennessee to perform the songs "Red House" (Jimi Hendrix) and "Stranglehold" (Ted Nugent). Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

Joining Whitford and St. Holmes on the road are bassist Chopper Anderson and keyboardist Buck Johnson, who both played on the "Reunion" album. Filling in on drums for all dates is Brent Fitz (SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS) replacing Troy Luccketta, who is touring with TESLA.

"We are very excited to have Brent join us on this run," said Whitford. "Troy is so good, he is just not an easy guy to replace!" "We really needed a guy with the right feel," adds St. Holmes, "Brent brings that with him along with the power that kicks these songs out like they were meant to be."

Asked how he feels about his new gig, Brent was quick to answer. "I was already excited for the new WHITFORD/ST. HOLMES 'Reunion' record. So, it goes without saying how thrilled I was to get a call from Derek and Brad asking me to step in on drums for the tour. Playing brand new music with these two legends, and in such a great new band, couldn't be more exciting! I consider them both architects of my own musical makeup."

It was 1981 when Whitford, who had left AEROSMITH, first teamed up with St. Holmes to release their self-titled debut. Tracks like "Sharpshooter" and "Whisky Woman" carried on the stadium rock and roll style that made them famous. The album received critical acclaim and they did a successful round of tour dates before returning to their respective bands and shelving the duo. Until now!

Recently, the two friends found themselves living in the same town on the outskirts of Nashville. While working on some catch up time, they decided to revamp their collaboration. After writing a number of songs, the duo recruited Anderson, Johnson and Luccketta to record the album. Produced by Whitford and St. Holmes, the album was recorded at The Castle Studios in Franklin, Tennessee.

Brant Bjork will release his new album, "Tao Of The Devil", on September 30 via Napalm Records. The CD is said to be "more focused" than its predecessor, 2014's "Black Power Flower", and boasts a more song-oriented and groovy stoner sound, with a healthy dose of '70s-style greatness. As the founder of KYUSS, the singer, guitarist and drummer might be the ultimate icon the desert rock scene has to offer — but despite all this praise and worship, Brant's only concern rests in supplying the planet with unpretentious laid-back rock, adorned with hefty jam-outs. "Tao Of The Devil" track listing:

01. The Greeheen02. Humble Pie03. Stackt04. Luvin'05. Biker No. 206. Dave's War07. Tao Of The Devil08. Evening Jam (bonus track) "Tao Of The Devil" will be made available as:

* 4-page digipak* 1LP gatefold* Deluxe fan LP edition:- 1-LP gatefold- 1-LP slipcase (3 Bonus Tracks)- 4-page digipak- Slipmat- A2 Poster

Video footage of OPERATION: MINDCRIME, the new band led by former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, performing on June 4 at the Metallsvenskan festival in Örebro, Sweden can be seen below.

Joining Tate in OPERATION: MINDCRIME's current touring lineup are guitarists Kelly Gray (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Scott Moughton, drummer Scott Mercado (CANDLEBOX), bassist Tim Fernley (THE VOODOOS) and keyboardist Randy Gane (MYTH).

"I love touring and I love playing live, performing with like-minded people in front of like-minded audiences and being there in the moment together when all of our passions collide," Tate told Digital First Media. "Typically I play a few songs off the new album, but really I focus on playing songs from my catalog of albums. I typically try to pull out different things that people haven't heard before or that I haven’t played in years or ever. I like doing that surprise thing during the show."

Asked if touring is something that he will be doing indefinitely or if he has a timetable as to when he will cease touring altogether, Tate told Oregon Music News: "I will always tour. I can't see myself stopping. I love performing live and I'm a believer that music is always best when experienced live. You're seeing it, you're experiencing it and you're witnessing the moment. It's incredibly special. I think a lot of us lose track of that in the 20th century digital age. There's nothing that compares to a live performance. I don't think there ever will be anything that will come close to it."

He continued: "I'm still relatively old school in the sense that I buy music on release date and whether you buy it online and have it shipped and it arrives on release date or if you go out and track down a hard copy. Nothing compares to tearing off the cellophane, popping the CD in and looking through the liners. It's sad that those rituals are essential a thing of the past, don't you think?"

Tate added: "In the United States, music has become a disposable commodity for people. It's not part of their lives like it once was. That's due to our cultural shift. I saw something similar happen in Japan in the early '90s; people grew out of music that was dear to their hearts. That's how the music industry treated music as if it were a passing thing. It was like this is what you liked in your youth and then you grew up to be an adult and then you didn't have anything or want anything to do with that music anymore. [Laughs] Music is art and music is essential to the human environment and essential to the human story. We need art. It's one of the most essential things to human existence."

"The Key", the first album of an ambitious trilogy from OPERATION: MINDCRIME, sold around 2,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD was made available on September 18, 2015 via Frontiers Music Srl.

On the latest episode of Digital Tour Bus' Dream Tour, the hard rock band The Answer discusses their ultimate tour line-up while on tour with Whitesnake. Check out the clip below. 

"So folks, we’re excited to announce that we’ve got this brand new record which we've been working on for the last six months and it’s just about ready to go," comments The Answer vocalist Cormac Neeson.  

"It's called Solas which is the Gaelic (Irish Language) word for Light and also the title of the lead track on the album. All I will say about this record is that it's a journey and one we've never really taken before so prepare yourselves for a few surprises. But don't worry they are ridiculously good surprises... well I think so anyway. Oh and we'll be giving you a few tasters of what's to come when we take to the stage this summer!"

"Solas is going to be released on October 14th, has been produced by our Rise producers Andy Bradfield and Avril Macintosh, and we’ve had a great time working with them again. It's all good people!"

As high as The Answer have soared in their decade together, the band is reflecting on their roots with a special 10th anniversary edition of their debut, Rise, released on June 17th. Rise: 10th Anniversary Edition comes on 2-CD hardback digipak or 180g vinyl along with a special 12" hardback book marking this milestone in The Answer’s career. The album features never before heard 2004 demos, rare acoustic versions and exclusive mixes of tracks that never made the original album, all presented alongside revised artwork, brand new merchandise, and special bundles that you can check out at this location.

Lead singer and frontman Cormac Neeson said, “This album will forever hold a special place in our hearts. As with most of the music we release, we approached the 10th Anniversary of Rise from a music fans perspective. We spent weeks sifting through our old demos and photos from that period in our lives and found some stuff I’d forgotten even existed! We also went back into the studio to freshen up a new version of 'Under The Sky' and of course there’s a never before released vinyl format of this record which I’m personally looking forward to annoying the neighbours with when I get back home to Belfast!”

The release also includes an exclusive Rise poster, t-shirt and personally signed band autographed copies of all formats. The artwork has been revised by original designer Paul Chessell and developed to include lots of old photos, liner notes and period memories penned by each member of the band. The tracklisting includes the original album re-mastered, ten demos from 2004, three exclusive mixes of tracks from 200, five rare acoustic versions plus a brand new mix of "Under The Sky".

Rise gave the band, who hail from Northern Ireland, a hit not only in The UK but in other key international territories, notably Japan. The 2006 album set them on their way to not only performing shows with the likes of AC/DC, Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Rolling Stones and Paul Rodgers but also headlining shows across the world. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who has attended several concerts, also gave them his seal of approval.

Metal Wani's editor in chief Owais "Vitek" Nabi recently conducted an interview with guitarist Herman Li of British epic power metallers DRAGONFORCE. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

Speaking about the reactions from metal music elitists in North America about the style of the Japanese teenage girl pop metal band BABYMETAL — considered to be by far one of the most polarizing acts in metal today — Herman said: "I think metal fans, or generally people in rock and metal are divided anyway. People that like, say, DREAM THEATER, a lot of them don't like the metalcore stuff, and people that like metalcore don't like some of the other stuff; they don't like power metal, for example. Obviously, there are people that like different kinds of music, but it's a matter of taste, and there's no way… No one is forcing them to listen to it, and the same thing is, no one is forcing them to listen to BABYMETAL."

He continued: "BABYMETAL, in a way, the funny thing is… The way they combine the music and the show together with metal and the J-Pop stuff, they actually unite people that don't listen to rock and metal into metal… I believe they're definitely a band which is able to influence a lot of people that don't listen to rock or metal and discover guitar music — rock [and] heavy metal stuff — and I think that is a great thing."

Herman added: "Usually, it's not very easy to be able to inspire people and influence them into a new style; you really have to do something interesting that's never been done before. So BABYMETAL have done that combination that hasn't been done before. Like SLIPKNOT, when they came out, they were doing something different too. I was never a fan of that music, but I recognized their approach and how good they were doing what they do. So I view it as some kind of the same way."

BABYMETAL's song "Road Of Resistance" (formerly referred to as "The One"), which was debuted during the band's November 8, 2014 concert at the Brixton O2 Academy in London, England, was a collaboration between BABYMETAL's production team and Li and Sam Totman of DRAGONFORCE, whose guitar playing can be heard in the studio version of the track.

DRAGONFORCE recently began recording the follow-up to 2014's "Maximum Overload" album at Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden with producer Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with OPETH, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT, AMON AMARTH, KATATONIA, SOILWORK and SYMPHONY X, to name a few.

DRAGONFORCE, will release a comprehensive career-spanning "best-of", "Killer Elite - The Hits, The Highs, The Vids", on July 23 through Spinefarm. The 22-track set contains two hours and 30 minutes of music, featuring both studio and live material, with promo clips added to the deluxe set. DRAGONFORCE will headline the ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta on Wednesday September 7 and a special "up close and personal" show at St. Vitus in Brooklyn on Saturday, September 10. At both shows, the band will play a "best-of" set to reflect the track listing of the "Killer Elite" album.

In a brand new interview with Reverb.com, MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was asked for his opinion the current state of metal music. He responded: "I think there are a lot of exciting new bands out there, but I also think that inasmuch as there are great bands out there that need to be heard, they may not be ready to go on the road. I think that's one of the things that's hurting these young, talented musicians: they get ready to go on the road, they make a bunch of empty promises, and [they] go on the road and crash and burn."

He continued: "You have no idea how many new Randy Rhoads there are out there or other fantastic talents that we're not going to hear because they weren't ready.

"I think the new musicians, a lot of them are good players, especially with the advent of technology for people to record and stuff like that, but there are also a lot of people who aren't mature enough to get in a bus and leave their home for six weeks and ride around, slogging it out."

Earlier this year, Mustaine said that younger artists aren't being afforded the same opportunities that MEGADETH was because record labels cannot afford to sign and develop acts like they used to.

"There are a lot of new bands out there that unfortunately don't get to make the same decisions that we and other bands did because the nature of the music business has totally changed," he told Paste. "A lot of bands, when they wanna 'make it,' they go from the rehearsal room to the studio to the stage to getting signed and being a legit band in a really brief time, and they don't have the opportunity to really develop or to learn what it's really like on the road.

"In every professional business, such as the sports world, for example, they have rookie camp where they tell you there's gonna be gold diggers, and you're gonna have some of your so-called friends come out of nowhere and ask for loans, and you need to talk like this and say that," he continued. "Obviously I never had any media training. [Laughs] But some of these younger bands, I think it's disgraceful the way the labels are prostituting them out, because good songs need to germinate. You don't plant a field and harvest it the next day. You can cram for a test, but you can't cram for a crop."

As previously reported, MEGADETH will team up with AMON AMARTH, METAL CHURCH and HAVOK for a U.S. tour in the fall. The trek, which is expected to include an as-yet-undisclosed fifth band, will last for five weeks.

MEGADETH's last full U.S. tour took place earlier in the year and featured support from SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, CHILDREN OF BODOM and HAVOK.

MEGADETH is continuing to tour in support of its fifteenth album, "Dystopia", which shifted 49,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending January 28. In terms of pure album sales, it opened with 48,000 copies, marking MEGADETH's highest-charting album since 1992's "Countdown To Extinction" debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the chart dated August 1 of that year. "Dystopia" also logged the group's best sales week since 2007, when "United Abominations" landed at No. 8 with first-week sales of 54,000.

Originally from Chile and now settled in Madrid, Spain, new RAINBOW singer Ronnie Romero spoke to Metal Shock Finland's Alison Booth about the band's recent three comeback shows and the possibility of future performances from the Ritchie Blackmore-led outfit. You can now listen to the chat at this location. A couple of excerpts follow.

On he feels after performing the first three RAINBOW shows:

Romero: "I feel like in a dream. It's hard to assimilate all that has happened in the last few weeks. Not just living this situation with Ritchie and the other bandmates in RAINBOW, [but also the chance to] meet the fans so close to the stage and backstage and all the people going to the show. And then, all these musicians that I love and that [were] at the shows and [they] talked to me and told me that I [did] a great job. But it's a dream come true."

On RAINBOW rehearsals for recent shows:

Romero: "Well, there [were] two rounds of rehearsals — one in November and the other in May. And we rehears[ed] maybe a couple of weeks at a time. It was a little bit strange, because [they weren't] rehearsals like I know a rehearsal. [They were more] like jam sessions and improvisations a lot with the songs."

On working with RAINBOW mainman Ritchie Blackmore:

Romero: "Ritchie is Ritchie. It's amazing to see how he can still play guitar at 71 years old. It's amazing. He's a legend. Ritchie is a really nice guy inside the band. He made me feel very comfortable and very good. And all the bandmembers, we have like a little family, you know. Ritchie [made] me feel very good, not just in the rehearsals, but [also] on stage [during these] two weeks of tour[ing]."

On how he feels about his performances with RAINBOW:

Romero: "I feel really good with my job, because I tried to make justice, not just to the songs, but all these singers — Ronnie James Dio, Joe Lynn Turner, Graham Bonnet, Ian Gillan and David Coverdale. I just tried to sing the songs in my own way and my own style, and I think the people appreciate that. I'm not just a copy of the other singers. I prefer to sing like Ronnie Romero singing these songs of Ronnie James Dio and David Coverdale and whatever. And I think the people prefer that, and they really appreciate the situation, because I think the people don't like to see a guy or pay for a ticket to see a guy try to sing like Ronnie James Dio. It's not a good idea. So I feel really good with my job and I know the people and the fans that have sent me messages and told me that they really appreciated [how I interpreted the songs]."

On whether there will be more shows for RAINBOW:

Romero: "I hope so. I really hope that we can do some more shows, maybe next year. I have a really great feeling about the band and about this relatship with Ritchie. He's really happy with the results, he's really happy with the audience [response]. And maybe we can make some more shows next year."

The new lineup of RAINBOW made its live debut on June 17 at the Monsters Of Rock festival at Freilichtbühne in Loreley, Germany. Joining Ritchie in the group were Romero, STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson, BLACKMORE'S NIGHT drummer David Keith and bassist Bob Nouveau (a.k.a. Robert "Bob" Curiano, ex-BLACKMORE'S NIGHT).

Cliff Williams says that he will retire from touring and recording after AC/DC's current tour, explaining that "it's the right thing."

The bassist's revelation follows a series of misfortunes to plague AC/DC. Last year, former drummer Phil Rudd was sentenced to eight months of house arrest after he was found guilty of taking drugs and making threats to kill a former employee.

In 2014, the band announced guitarist Malcolm Young's retirement from the group after he was diagnosed with dementia.

AC/DC has since resumed its tour with GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose as a "guest vocalist," meaning that most of the people Williams has spent the past four decades with are no longer there.

"It's been what I've known for the past 40 years, but after this tour I'm backing off of touring and recording," Cliff tells Gulfshore Life. "Losing Malcolm, the thing with Phil and now with Brian, it's a changed animal. I feel in my gut it's the right thing."

Williams added that he is proud of the band's massive accomplishments, which include having the sixth-highest-selling album of all time in the U.S. with 1980's "Back In Black".

"When you start out, you kind of hope for success," Williams says. "That's what you are working for. But you never really know. It's been surreal, really."

AC/DC released a video clip earlier in the week in which Williams talked about his role in the band. He said: "AC/DC has been… you know, just… I don't know what else I would wanna do. I love the music and I love playing in the band, and I'm all filled up.

"My role as part of the rhythm section is to give drive, to give foundation, and engine, if you like, [and] support the guitars.

"My first album with the band was 'Powerage', and that was 1977. It was all new and fresh, and these people, I didn't know them, and Australia, and I'm from London, and there was the whole fitting in thing. They were great — very accepting.

"They were very famous in Australia when I joined them. They'd pretty much gotten to the top of the heap there very quickly. And they'd been to Europe once or twice at that point too. But we were still touring on a modest basis. We were playing small venues with little equipment, with a little van, and we were all driving together in a station wagon and stuff. And that, over the years, has changed. Not to say it wasn't fun; it was a lot of fun."

The rescheduled dates of AC/DC's North American tour — which will be the band's first concerts here with Rose on lead vocals — will kick off in Greensboro, North Carolina on August 27, just five days after Rose completes his summer stadium run with GUNS N' ROSES.

Original AC/DC singer Dave Evans says that he would have returned to the band if he had been asked to step in for Brian Johnson on the Australian group's recent European tour.

AC/DC postponed the last ten dates of its recent North American trek after doctors told Johnson he faced a total loss of hearing if he did not stop touring immediately. AC/DC has since resumed its tour with GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose as a "guest vocalist," with Johnson apparently not returning to the group.

Asked by Finland's Kaaos TV if he would have done the recent European shows with AC/DC if he had been asked to rejoin the group, Evans said (see video below): "Well, it depends how much they wanna pay me? [Laughs] You know, I'm busy. But, yeah, it depends on money, mate. If they wanted to pay me enough money, of course I'd do it. You'd do it too, if they asked you. But, yeah, of course."

Earlier in the year, Evans had kind words for Johnson, who admitted in a 2014 interview that his hearing loss wasn't due to playing loud rock music every night for a living but was the result of Johnson's other obsession: auto racing.

"A lot of people make jokes about going deaf from listening to loud music," Evans told The Sydney Morning Herald back in March. "It's never been a problem for me.

"I just thought it was sad news. It's your lifeblood as a singer, live performances are so personal, without the crowd and the adrenaline, it's going to be hard for him. Performances are the big highs in our lives."

Evans added that his return to AC/DC would probably never happen. But, he said, "it would be nice to do one guest performance. [Former members] were all part of the band no matters what era they were from."

Evans also said that he thought AC/DC could continue, even without Johnson. "So long as Angus [Young, guitar] is there in his uniform... it's a branding thing now, the name AC/DC is almost bigger than the [members of the] band itself. It's a massive thing all over the world."

Evans recorded AC/DC's first two singles, "Can I Sit Next To You Girl" and "Baby Please Don't Go", before leaving to join Newcastle glam rockers RABBIT.

Evans was replaced later in 1974 by Bon Scott, who sang on AC/DC's first six studio albums and became a legend himself after his death in 1980.

Evans said he "never had a problem with Bon," adding, "He had an opportunity to take my place and become the singer for AC/DC. I would have done the same thing. Bon was a rock and roller and as hard as me... He was quite a few years older than me but we grew up tough and did the hard knocks."

Evans told Wales Online that his former bandmates have not acknowledged his role in AC/DC's early history, saying, "They like to pretend in interviews that Bon Scott was there from the very beginning. The truth of the matter is that a lot went on before Bon became involved — in fact, the band had already got through two bass players, three drummers and a handful of managers by that point . . . all the stuff [Bon would] later do onstage with AC/DC, like taking off his shirt and carrying Angus around on his shoulders, was nicked off me."

Philip Anselmo says that DOWN has a future despite the the fact that the band was forced to cancel a number of shows earlier in the year after he was filmed giving a Nazi salute and shouting "white power" at a California concert.

During a question-and-answer session on June 26 at the Diamond Pub Concert Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, Anselmo said about DOWN's current status: "I think between myself, [bassist] Patrick Bruders and one James Bower [drums] from EYEHATEGOD… We haven't seen much of Pepper [Keenan, DOWN guitarist], because he's obviously been busy with C.O.C. That's the freedom that rock and roll brings. So, yeah, we're all kind of doing our own things, but we always come back together because BLACK SABBATH, TROUBLE and SAINT VITUS bring us back together, and that's where we started from, you know what I'm saying?"

You can check out an audio recording of some of the Anselmo question-and-answer session in Louisville by listening to the "Talk Toomey" podcast at this location.

Anselmo performed the PANTERA classic "Walk" at the January 22 "Dimebash" event at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, California in honor of his former bandmate, late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. As he left the stage, he made a Nazi-style salute. He appeared to say "white power" as he made the gesture, but he later claimed he was referring to drinking white wine as part of an "inside joke."

The singer apologized for the incident and wrote an open letter to the organizer of the French festival Hellfest in which he said it was not the right time for DOWN to tour. He also revealed that he was suffering from a recurring knee injury and needed rehabilitation.

Besides Hellfest, DOWN was scheduled to play at the Download festival in the U.K.

The band was dropped from the bill by Dutch festival FortaRock in February.

Keenan offered his take on what transpired, telling Metal Wani DOWN was "far from done" after the controversial incident. "You know, DOWN didn't do anything wrong," he said. "I mean, we were just guilty by association on that one. That was Phil's mistake. I've spoken to Phil and told him to get his shit together, and he is. He knows he made a mistake and was being stupid."

He continued: "I've known the guy [most of my life]. He's not what that whole thing framed him to be at all. But, yeah, there's definitely a future for DOWN. I wouldn't throw all the shit we've done, beautiful music we've done on one stupid moment that was caught on camera, and he apologized for. [So we are] far from done."

DOWN currently has just one live date on its schedule: August 26 at the Psycho Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Revocation’s new album, Great Is Our Sin, is slated for a July 22nd release via Metal Blade Records. Head to this location to pre-order your copy. The album track, “Profanum Vulgus”, is now streaming below.

The band have released a video providing in-depth footage from the recording process of Great Is Our Sin. Watch below:

When it came time for the follow-up to 2014's Deathless, the quartet had their work cut out for them, and their response to the challenge is a record that grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. Never forcing anything, the songs that would comprise Great Is Our Sin came together organically, and while the members being spread all around North America would have been an impediment to some, Revocation drew strength from it.

Reuniting with producer Zeuss (Hatebreed, Bleeding Through), who also helmed Deathless and 2012's Teratogenesis EP, the record packs the requisite punch, yet retains the organic feel with which it was conceived. Known for their technical prowess, the band remained dedicated to upping the ante without ever losing sight of the importance of good songwriting.

While the songs come together to make for a cohesive record that is engaging from front to back, they are further united by the lyrical concept penned by Davidson. The title itself appropriated from Charles Darwin's quote: "If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin", Davidson went about building a theme that was not only fittingly expansive, but also had real resonance with regard to contemporary society. "The concept revolves around the folly of man throughout the ages. Some themes come from historical references that are hundreds of years old, yet sadly these themes are still very relevant today due to mankind's refusal to learn from the lessons history has taught us, time and time again."

Regardless of the state of the world, nothing is going to slow Revocation down any time soon. Whilst the lineup has changed over the ten years the band has been in existence, Davidson's passion has never waned, and they are arguably sounding better than ever as they look toward the future. "We can't wait to bring these songs out on the road and perform them for different audiences all over the world. 'Great Is Our Sin' is a new chapter for the band, and collectively we feel that it is our defining record to date."

Great Is Our Sin tracklisting:

“Arbiters Of The Apocalypse”
“Theatre Of Horror”
“Monolithic Ignorance”
“Crumbling Imperium”
“Communion”
“The Exaltation”
“Profanum Vulgus”
“Copernican Heresy”
“Only The Spineless Survive”
“Cleaving Giants Of Ice”

“Profanum Vulgus”:

“Crumbling Imperium” lyric video:

“Monolithic Ignorance” lyric video:

“Communion”:

In support of Great Is Our Sin, Revocation will be hitting the road this summer as part of the Summer Slaughter tour, alongside Cannibal Corpse, Nile, After The Burial, Suffocation, Carnifex, Krisiun, Slaughter to Prevail and Ingested. The tour kicks off July 23rd in Orlando, FL and runs through August 21st in Atlanta, GA. A complete list of dates can be found below.

Summer Slaughter tour dates:

July
23 - Orlando, FL - The Plaze Live
24 - Tampa, FL - The Ritz Ybor
26 - Knoxville, TN - The International
27 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
28 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
29 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance
30 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
31 - Cleveland, OH - The Agora Theatre

August
2 - Minneapolis, MN - The Cabooze
3 - Chicago, IL - Concord Music Hall
5 - Denver, CO - Summit Music Hall
6 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex
8 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SODO
10 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom
11 - Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory
12 - Los Angeles, CA - The Novo
13 - Tempe, AZ - The Marquee
15 - Dallas, TX - Gas Monkey Live
16 - Austin, TX - Empire Control Room
17 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
19 - Richmond, VA - The National (B4BQ)
20 - Wilmington, NC - Ziggy's By The Sea
21 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade

Revocation lineup:

David Davidson - Guitars / Vocals
Dan Gargiulo - Guitars / Vocals
Brett Bamberger - Bass / Vocals
Ash Pearson - Drums

(Photo - Jeremy Saffer)

abcNEWS reports that Jon Bon Jovi was a reluctant singer at a Florida wedding last weekend.

Video (below) shows the rocker sheepishly taking the microphone after a wedding band led by singer Lourdes Valentin launched into Bon Jovi's 1986 classic, "Livin' On A Prayer."

Valentin tells The Associated Press she knew Bon Jovi would be a guest at the wedding and she prepared the song specifically for him. She says he told her he didn't think he wanted to sing before the party and she was "very surprised" when he decided to "grace us with his talent."

Check out the video below, courtesy of coolcoconutstudios.com:

Bon Jovi have completed work on their upcoming 14th studio album, expected this fall. The band posted the photo below via social media with the simple tag, “The album is done!”

The new album, tentatively titled This House Is Not For Sale, will be released via the band’s label, Island Def Jam Music Group. Details on the upcoming release are expected to be revealed soon. Stay tuned.

The new album marks the first Bon Jovi album with no input from guitarist Richie Sambora, who left the band in 2013. The band’s previous release, Burning Bridges, included mostly older songs, including a co-write from Sambora.

Pictured above, left to right - Hugh McDonald, David Bryan, Tico Torres, John Shanks producer, Jon Bon Jovi, Phil X.

(Photo - David Bergman)

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame members Heart return tomorrow, Friday, July 8th, with Beautiful Broken, their sixteenth album and their first on Concord Records. An advanced album stream can be found below.

Heart has sold over 35 million records, and this anticipated album is their first in four years. Beautiful Broken finds Ann and Nancy Wilson exploring new songs, but taking some of their favorite "cherry picks" from their catalog and rerecording and rethinking them.

The title track and first single features a dynamic guest vocal contribution by Metallica's James Hetfield with Ann Wilson. A lyric video for the track can be seen below.

"There is really a seventies feel to this record both in the sound, and the way we got to the emotional core of each song," says Nancy Wilson. "We picked songs that we always wanted to re-do, plus we've added three new tracks. On both new and old, we have the band playing together the way we used to. This is classic Heart."

The seven tracks that were pulled from the Heart catalog were tunes both Nancy and Ann wanted another shot at, due many times to how they were initially produced. Songs like "City's Burning”, “Down On Me," and "Sweet Darlin'" have always been live favourites of the sisters, and of Heart's fan base, but they had somewhat languished. "Those songs may have fallen through the cracks, in a way, because of where radio was at the time when they were first released," Ann Wilson says. "Rediscovering those songs, I found ways they emotionally still speak to me." Two songs are from Passionworks, two from Private Audition, and two are from Bebe Le Strange.

Beautiful Broken's title track had been a bonus song off Fanatic, Heart's last album, but this version is essentially an entirely new song with barnburner vocals-and even some lyrics-added by Metallica's James Hetfield. "It blows the previous version out of the water," says Nancy. "James just took the song on, and what he added was perfect with a bite and a rock accent."

Tracklisting:

“Beautiful Broken”
“Two”
“Sweet Darlin'”
“I Jump”
“Johnny Moon”
“Heaven”
“City's Burning”
“Down On Me”
“One Word”
“Language Of Love”

Album stream:

“Beautiful Broken” (featuring James Hetfield) lyric video:

Beautiful Broken was co-produced by Nancy Wilson with Heart's bassist Dan Rothchild. Rothchild had previously produced Better Than Ezra's platinum-selling Deluxe, but he also comes from rock royalty: his father was legendary Doors producer Paul Rothchild. Beautiful Broken was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, the same studio the Doors cut their best work. "There were eerie echoes in the hallway," Nancy says.

Rothchild said his goal was to capture the human feel of Heart live in the studio. "On these classics, some of which had suffered from eighties-era over-editing-production-curse, we stripped the paint off and found the beauty underneath," he says.

For Ann, the album allowed her to revisit, and re-sing, songs she felt "never reached their full development." For Nancy, the lyrical Heart came alive: "I felt these songs were poetic pieces that were lost in translation with the sounds of the eighties, which was harder and more digital. We wanted to drape them in velvet, and make them shine."

One example of is "City's Burnin’”, originally on the 1982 album Private Audition. "The first time we recorded that was in 1981," says Ann, "and it was in a key that was a bit 'show-offy,' and sped-up. On Beautiful Broken, we put the key in the right place, and the song really bore fruit."

Nancy Wilson sings one of three new songs, "Two”. The song had a different genesis than many Heart classics, as Wilson first heard it on a demo made for a television show her husband Geoff was working on. She reached out to the song's writer - R&B sensation Ne-Yo - and asked if he'd consider giving her the song. "I went to work begging for the song," she says. "Ne-Yo said, 'sure.' It ends up he's a Heart fan. He may still release his own version at some point, but to me the song feels like mine now.

One of the unique aspects to Beautiful Broken is the string arrangements on four songs done by legendary arranger Paul Buckmaster. Buckmaster's resume includes work with the Rolling Stones and Elton John ("Levon"). "We were talking about how we wanted 'Paul Buckmaster-type' strings at one point," Nancy said. "So then we decided to call Paul himself."

Buckmaster's work on "Sweet Darlin'" is, in particular, a standout, but only because the strings highlight Ann's powerful vocals. Ann had always wanted another shot at "Sweet Darlin'" so it was an ideal choice for Beautiful Broken. "To me the original sounded somehow incomplete," Ann says. This version, with Buckmaster's strings, finishes the song properly, but it also showcases how Ann's voice has remained strong over the decades.

Ann and Nancy Wilson formed Heart when the idea of two women leading a rock band was still groundbreaking. From the moment 1976's Dreamboat Annie was released, they became stars. With hits like "Magic Man”, "Crazy On You”, "Barracuda”, "Alone”, "What About Love" and "These Dreams”, the band became one of the biggest hit-makers in the seventies and eighties. In 2012, their memoir Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul and Rock & Roll. became a New York Times bestseller, and in 2013 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They have sold more records than any sister act in the history of popular music, but they've done so keeping their vision - that women can both rock and put forth emotional intimacy - central to their sound.

Beautiful Broken follows in that tradition, an album with pure rock power on the title track, but also tender sexual yearning on "Language Of Love”. It's a contrast that has always been the essence of Heart. "We still make records like we always have, and they are always impossibly romantic, because Ann is always an impossibly romantic singer," Nancy says. "In a world where there is less poetic lyric writing, we've always tried to plant a flag for poetry."

That may seem "broken" in a way, in a world of machine-created pop music, but it is also certainly a beautiful vision. This year Heart will bring that vision to half a million fans during their summer concert tour, and Beautiful Broken extends that relationship with radio-ready songs, and deep album cuts.

Pre-order the album via the Amazon widget below.

The dates for Heart's headlining summer tour with Joan Jett & the BlackHearts and Cheap Trick are here.

 

 

(Photo - Heart-music.com)

In the new video below, Dream Theater - currently on tour in support of their new album, The Astonishing - show the tour visuals for the new song “Moment Of Betrayal”:

Upcoming Dream Theater dates include:

July
8 - Pepsi Center WTC - Mexico City, Mexico
9 - Pepsi Center WTC - Mexico City, Mexico
11 - Teatro Diana - Guadalajara, Mexico

The video below features scenes from one of Dream Theater’s VIP Meet & Greet sessions. Get your VIP Meet & Greet tickets at this location.

Platinum Meet & Greet VIP includes:

- An exclusive meet and greet with the members of Dream Theater
- A personal photograph with the band
- A signed limited edition collectible tour poster
- A collectible Dream Theater meet and greet laminate and a special tour gift

Soundcheck video:

In the new clip below, Dutch classical guitarist Thomas Zwijsen performs an acoustic/classical guitar arrangement of Deep Purple's “Highway Star”. The track is available on the Nylonized album, available at ThomasZwijsen.com.

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson's "Tears Of The Dragon" was performed on acoustic guitar, violin an vocals during the release concert of Thomas Zwijsen's new Nylon Maiden album, Preserved In Time. The video features Zwijsen on acoustic guitar, Ingrid Pontes on vocals and Anne Bakker on violin.

A video for “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” from Preserved In Time, can be seen below. Nylon Maiden is headed up Thomas Zwijsen - known for his acoustic renditions of some of metal’s greatest songs and arrangements of Iron Maiden tracks.

Nylon Maiden’s Preserved In Time was released in June. Thomas has gained almost 10 million views on YouTube with his arrangements of Iron Maiden songs for classical guitar, making this his most anticipated album to date.

Preserved In Time promises to be Zwijsen’s ultimate Iron Maiden tribute album. It makes the classical guitar world a bit more metal by adding 16 Iron Maiden songs (and two Bruce Dickinson songs) to its repertoire.

Zwijsen’s long-time collaborator Blaze Bayley is one of the returning guest musicians on this album, performing two tracks from his Iron Maiden days, as well as a unique version of “Blood Brothers” off the Brave New World album! This is the first time Blaze performs an Iron Maiden song from the post-Blaze era. It gives Iron Maiden fans an idea of what it would have sounded like if Blaze had stayed with the band.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1
“If Eternity Should Fail”
“Stranger In A Strange Land”
“Judgement Of Heaven” (with Blaze Bayley & Anne Bakker)
“Ghost Of The Navigator”
“Powerslave” (Thomas & band)
“Burning Ambition”
“Tears Of The Dragon” (Bruce Dickinson song)
“Blood Brothers” (with Blaze Bayley)
“When The Wild Wind Blows” (Thomas & band)

Disc 2
“Afraid To Shoot Strangers”
“Como Estais Amigos” (with Blaze Bayley & Anne Bakker)
“Wrathchild”
“Tears Of A Clown”
“Jerusalem” (Bruce Dickinson song)
“For The Greater Good Of God”
“Reach Out”
“Fear Of The Dark”
“Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” (Thomas & band)

Zwijsen comments: “In our attempt to choose the best track listing for the most fulfilling, surprising and complete Iron Maiden tribute album, we simply couldn't fit all the songs on a single CD, so we decided to make it a double CD this time. Many of the songs were requests from people on YouTube. If this were to be the setlist at an Iron Maiden concert, I’d be very happy!”

“When The Wild Wind Blows” video:

“Powerslave” video:

“Tears Of The Dragon”:

Status Quo have released a video for “Rockin' All Over The World”, from their Aquostic! Live At The Roundhouse title, released last year on 2CD, 2CD+DVD, vinyl, DVD and Blu-ray formats via earMUSIC.

This landmark release, recorded in October 2014 in a joint effort by earMUSIC and the BBC, captures the band’s first ever live acoustic performance at the glorious Roundhouse in London. This sensational recording features the new pared-back side of Quo, as revealed on the hit 2014 album Aquostic! (Stripped Bare). This album soared to #5 in the charts, giving the band their highest placing for 18 years, and has now been certified Gold. It was in fact the best-selling independent label album of 2014.

BBC Radio 2 broadcast this special Aquostic performance live, and the footage was made available on the night on Red Button and was the BBC's highest-rated music program with 1.3m views in just five days. Now, with the release of Aquostic! Live At The Roundhouse, it is available for Quo fans to own. 2015 sees Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Andrew Bown, John ‘Rhino’ Edwards and Leon Cave building on the incredible momentum that Aquostic has generated. The DVD and Blu-ray formats feature bonus behind the scenes material.

 

 

Tracklisting:

“And It’s Better Now”
“Break The Rules”
“Again And Again”
“Paper Plane”
“Mystery Song”
“Little Lady”
“Rock ‘N’ Roll”
“Caroline”
“What You’re Proposing”
“Softer Ride”
“Down Down”
“Pictures Of Matchstick Men”
“Down The Dustpipe”
“All The Reasons”
“Reasons For Living”
“Rollin’ Home”
“Don’t Drive My Car”
“Claudie”
“Rain”
“Marguerita Time”
“Na Na Na”
“Whatever You Want”
“Rockin’ All Over The World / Encore”
“Rock ‘Til You Drop”
“Burning Bridges (On And Off And On Again)”

“Whatever You Want”:

Trailer:

 

Dario Mollo’s CrossBones will release a new album towards the end of 2016, with tour dates to follow.

Best known for his partnerships in the The Cage with Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) and Voodoo Hill with Glenn Hughes (Black Country Communion, Deep Purple, California Breed), Italian guitarist Dario Mollo began his career in 1981 with the band Crossbones. With them, he released his first studio album in 1989, which was produced by Kit Woolven (Thin Lizzy, Magnum and UFO, among others) before getting involved in the production side of things himself.

“This new project, CrossBones, was created with the intent to pay homage to the band from where it all started," says Dario. For the occasion, he brought back the drummer of the original lineup, Ezio Secomandi together with his regular collaborator Dario Patti on bass and keyboards.

The choice for the singer is Carl Sentance (Nazareth, Don Airey Band, Persian Risk, Krokus), who came at the suggestion of Don Airey of Deep Purple, during a recent visit to Dario’s home.

“This album includes the best of all the experience I gathered in my career in music and in artistic production,” concludes Dario.

Updates to follow.

Elusive international prog rock powerhouse, An Endless Sporadic, is set to return on September 16th with a new album, Magic Machine. Watch a teaser video below.

Magic Machine is a showcase for mind-bending musicianship and rich expressiveness via avante garde film-score soundscapes. An abstract journey through different styles of music and environments, the album offers a coruscating kaleidoscope of colours and joy, flashes of stylistic innovation featuring ensemble work that is staggeringly packed full of drama yet still meaningful from a compositional standpoint. This is an aurally challenging album with an experimentally wide sound palette, but as a whole is assuredly palatable, mesmerising and resides in a class paralleled by none.

Hailing from the hallowed halls of Berklee College of Music in Boston, the brains behind An Endless Sporadic, Zach Kamins, is no stranger to the synergy or intuitiveness that his particular brand of prog-rock-jazz-fusion offers. Anyone who has ever played Guitar Hero can attest to the beauty of An Endless Sporadic and their songs. The band gained most of their popularity with the song, “Impulse,” which was placed on Guitar Hero 3. After that they recorded, “Anything,” which was placed on Guitar Hero World Tour. From here they produced more songs to create their first EP, “Ameliorate.” And so An Endless Sporadic was born.

Comments Zach: “I feel that Magic Machine was created out of a strong desire to bring out the true intention of the name, An Endless Sporadic. I have always had a passion for music that was part of a bigger story, where ideas can take time to develop and be presented in many different ways.”

Magic Machine's visually stunning cover art was created by Costin Chioreanu (Arch Enemy, Ihsahn, Opeth, Hexvessel), which can be seen below along with the tracklisting.

Joining master multi instrumentalist Zach Kamins on this album is a stellar lineup of virtuoso musicians (we stopped counting at 30 instruments…all recorded live and including hand hammered Lasagne trays!) and special guests including Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment), Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), Michael Iago Mellender (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) and Navene K (Animals As Leaders, Entheos) to name just a few.

Comments Jordan Rudess: "Zach has an enormous musical talent that I've been aware of for a long time. It was my pleasure to play some tracks on Magic Machine as well as to be part of this important step in his career journey. The album is filled with awesome compositions and great playing!"

Magic Machine tracklisting:

“The Departure”
“Magic Machine”
“Galactic Tactic”
“Finding The Falls”
“The Assembly”
“Agile Descent”
“Sky Run”
“Through The Fog”
“Sea Voyage”
“Impulse II”

Teaser:

Truckfighters’ own label, Fuzzorama Records, and Century Media Records team up to floor the gas and fuzz pedal. The Örebro, Sweden based band was formed in 2001 by Oskar “Ozo” Cedermalm (vocals & bass) and Niklas “Dango” Källgren (guitar). Since that time, they have released four studio albums and several more releases through their own label Fuzzorama Records – including the 2011 DVD documentary (Fuzzomentary) featuring guests such as Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age) and more friends from bands Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Witchcraft, Graveyard and more.

“Signing to Century Media Records is like kicking in the fuzz pedal with all knobs turned to 11 - maximum energy, maximum output and totally out of control!”, comments the band.

The new album, V will be released worldwide through Fuzzorama in cooperation with Century Media Records on September 30th. To celebrate the band’s 15th anniversary and nearly 700 shows around the world,  a new website has been created which allows fans to mark a Truckfighters show they have attended in the past. All gig dates and the names of the fans who sign in and mark their show will be printed in the special edition of the album. To join in and find more info head here.

Shortly after the album release, the Truckfighters will hit the road again to play an extensive European tour. Exact tour dates and further plans to play the rest of the world will be announced soon.

Truckfighters is:

Oskar “Ozo” Cedermalm (vocals & bass)
Niklas “Dango” Källgren (guitar)
Daniel "El Danno" Israelsson (drums)

Dust Bolt have released a new video for the title track of their upcoming Mass Confusion album. Mass Confusion will hit the worldwide stores on July 8th via Napalm Records. A full album audio preview can be found below.

Mass Confusion will be available as:

- Regular Jewel Case
- CD & Shirt Bundle (Webstore)
- 1LP Gatefold (black & different colors) & Vinyl exclusive Track “Into The Void” – Black Sabbath Cover

Pre-orders are available here.

It's only been five years since Dust Bolt won the W:O:A Metal Battle 2011 - five years the band used to transform themselves from hot newcomers into national thrash heroes with their debut Violent Demolition. These Bay Area aficionados are ready to drop their third full length in shape of Mass Confusion.

Dust Bolt on their brand new album: “We are more than thrilled and excited to unveil Mass Confusion! We have never put so much blood, sweat and tears in anything else than this album before. Since the release of Awake The Riot we’ve incredibly learned, as musicians, as people and together as a band. With Mass Confusion, we have managed to accurately represent the band, exactly the way we wanted it to convey and we are incredibly happy about that. It shows the typical Dust Bolt sound, as well as new sides from us, which makes the album so unique. Our goal was to show that a new generation of musicians and metal bands have grown up, which is now ready to face the world with Mass Confusion on July 8th - the day everyone lives in confusion!”

Relentless touring plus constant fine-tuning of the typical Dust Bolt sound have finally paid off: the old school songwriting is focused and free of ballast weight, yet despite all the rage and aggression there is still plenty of breathing space for melodic guitar work, gang shouts and ten ton grooves.

Mass Confusion tracklisting:

“SickxBrain”
“Mass Confusion”
“Allergy”       
“Turned To Grey”
“Blind To Art”   
“Mind The Gap”  
“Exit”
“Empty Faces”
“Taking Your Last Breath”
“Portraits Of Decay”
“Masters Of War”
“Into The Void” (LP Bonus Track)

Album preview:

“Mass Confusion” video:

Studio videos:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Trailer: