In a brand new interview with Rock Sins, guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH was asked what makes the band's latest album, "Sorceress", different from previous OPETH works. He said: "Well, I think that the songs, as far as I'm concerned, are more diverse within themselves. I think there's a great diversity to this record that is different. We've always been a band with great diversity, if I may say so myself, but I think that it's more distinguished on this record from song to song. I made a conscious effort to make each song quite — or very, very — different to the one before. I spent a lot of time and effort making each song very different from the one before whereas before I worked on dynamics within the songs. Not saying that they all sound the same, because I don't think they did, but now I worked a little bit more with trying to distinguish each song so that it becomes, er… It should be a little bit of a handful to find one song that represents the album. I would hope that no one finds one song that actually represents the album better than any other song."

Åkerfeldt also talked about whether he gets at all conflicted between writing music for himself and composing material that he knows more traditional OPETH fans might be able to appreciate.

"I'm not interested in writing music for anyone else than myself," he said firmly. "Myself first and foremost and the rest of the band secondly, and sometimes they may not understand what I'm after, but, y'know, you kinda massage them a little bit and they get into it. As far as that goes, once I'm happy and the rest of the other guys in the band are happy, we're gold as far as I'm concerned."

He continued: "I don't think I've ever tried to write a song for the fanbase; I don't think it works like that. If you take an example like AC/DC, for instance, they're a bit of a cheap shot to go for AC/DC who've virtually been sounding the same their whole career, so I wonder why people don't like 'Flick Of The Switch' or 'Fly On The Wall'. Those records are amazing because they're quite similar to 'Back In Black' or 'Highway To Hell' and those kinds of records, so I don't think it works like that. You can't adjust your style of writing in order to gain popularity and stuff like that. I think the only right way to do it, as far as I see it, is to write for yourself. If you like it, perhaps someone else will like it, and that's how we've been doing it since the beginning."

"Sorceress" was released on September 30. For the band's first effort for Nuclear Blast via OPETH's imprint label Moderbolaget Records, the group returned to Rockfield Studios in Wales, also home to pivotal releases from QUEEN, RUSH and JUDAS PRIEST, where the Swedes had tracked "Pale Communion" in 2014 with Tom Dalgety.

Band photo credit: Stuart Wood

Fan-filmed video footage of former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes performing on September 28 at Bannermans Bar in Edinburgh, Scotland can be seen below.

Holmes's latest album, "Shitting Bricks", was released last year via M & O Music.

In an interview with Noisey, Holmes talked about his decision to move to France back in 2014. He said: "My wife is from France. But since I left W.A.S.P. I dangled around in L.A., trying to find musicians to play with, but it just didn't work out. The change of culture in the last ten years… My kind of music isn't played that much — not like it was in the '80s."

He continued: "[A few] years ago, I pulled into a 7-11, and this kid got out of his car. He wasn't listening to rock. When I was his age, that's all I listened to. That made me realize the kind of music I do here anymore… [He was listening to] hip-hop. And I just don't play that kind of music."

Holmes added: "I was talking to one of my friend's kids — he's in high school — and I asked him, 'Why don't you listen to rock, like DEEP PURPLE or something?' And he said, 'Man, that's pussy music.' This is a white kid. So I thought, if people don't listen to this kind of music anymore, why should I even be here? I'm in my 50s, but I want to still keep on going, kind of. So I talked to my wife and we decided to move. They listen to rock more over here. There's lots more concerts and stuff."

Holmes joined W.A.S.P. in 1982 and remained with the group until 1990. In 1996, Holmes rejoined W.A.S.P. and stayed with the band until 2001. Holmes has not played with W.A.S.P. since.

Holmes in 2013 released a solo album called "Nothing To Lose". Chris composed, performed, and produced the music and vocals, and teamed up with former MOTÖRHEAD drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor to perform on and engineer the effort.

ETERNAL IDOL's music video for the song "Another Night Comes" can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's debut album, "The Unrevealed Secret", which will be released on December 2 via Frontiers Music Srl.

ETERNAL IDOL is a new band formed in early 2016 and that marks the start of a new musical adventure for RHAPSODY OF FIRE and ANGRA singer Fabio Lione, together with the experienced Italian guitar player Nick Savio (ex-HOLLOW HAZE) and a lineup completed by the young vocal rising star Giorgia Colleluori, Camillo Colleluori (both also from HOLLOW HAZE) on drums and Andrea Buratto (SECRET SPHERE, HELL IN THE CLUB) on bass.

While all the musicians have solid pedigrees and musical history behind them, ETERNAL IDOL have a brand new and original sound which will certainly catch many fans by surprise. Lione says: "After all the experiences with bands such as KAMELOT, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, ANGRA and many more, I think it is time to show the world a new side of myself with this amazing new band.

"Musically, ETERNAL IDOL offer an intriguing mix of classic metal, symphonic rock and a few progressive twists which is truly unique, thanks to the combination of female and male vocals."

Fabio took care of most of the lyrics and vocal melodies, along with three gorgeous tracks he wrote, while Nick Savio worked hard on songwriting and arrangements.

"'The Unrevealed Secret' is the album where all our ideas came to the light," says the axeman from Vicenza. "Heavy classic rock with symphonic elements and the magic atmosphere of two lead vocals, male and female, create a contrast between good and bad as the main subject, as it is possible to see on the impressive and mysterious cover artwork."

The album was recorded in the summer of 2016, produced by Nick Savio and mixed by Simone Mularoni (DGM, SUNSTORM) and promises to be one of the melodic metal releases of the year. Fans of KAMELOT, MAGNUS KARLSSON'S FREE FALL, MASTERPLAN and AVANTASIA should pay attention.

"There is a story to be told with this album, and the secret will be revealed on the next ETERNAL IDOL releases, so please take your time to listen this first chapter and enjoy... A new story has begun," Nick concludes.

"The Unrevealed Secret" track listing:

01. Evil Tears02. Another Night Comes03. Awake in Orion 04. Is The Answer Far From God?05. Blinded 06. Sad Words Unvailed 07. Desidia 08. Hall Of Sins 09. Feels Like I'm Dying 10. A Song In The Wind 11. Stormy Days 12. Beyond

ETERNAL IDOL is:

Fabio Lione - Lead VocalsGiorgia Colleluori - Lead VocalsNick Savio - Guitar, KeyboardsCamillo Colleluori - Drums Andrea Buratto - Bass

The official lyric video for the song "Designed To Piss You Off" from PAIN, the Swedish metal band led by multi-instrumentalist and producer Peter Tägtgren, can be seen below. The song is taken from the band's new album, "Coming Home", which was released on September 9 through Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2011's "You Only Live Twice" features cover artwork by Stefan Heilemann.

"Coming Home" track listing:

01. Designed To Piss You Off02. Call Me03. A Wannabe04. Pain in the Ass05. Black Knight Satellite06. Coming Home07. Absinthe Phoenix Rising08. Final Crusade09. Natural Born Idiot10. Starseed

Since the beginning of his career in the early '90s, the Swedish allrounder has enjoyed diving into the extreme and has grown to be an untameable force. But this is exactly what makes him so fascinating. Taboos, creative stagnation, or genre boundaries have never existed in the world of the forty-six-year-old mastermind. And, of course, Peter Tägtgren wandered the same unexplored paths when the time came to forge "Coming Home", the eighth studio release of the industrial institution PAIN. However, the path was long and winding and therefore, the writing process for the follow-up of "You Only Live Twice" wasn't all fun and games, but Peter Tägtgren is well prepared for the fight:

"Sometimes you pull your hair out and lay sleepless all night long, because you can't figure out this one chorus or don't know how to finish a certain song," admits the singer and guitarist."That's just me: When I dive into it, there's no ending in sight. It's a self-destructive mechanism. But I want perfection — or I don't want it at all."

Therefore, it is no wonder, that PAIN delivers a revolutionary mix of styles on this new release — bizarre alternative metal meets electronic melodies — and, in addition, the band weave some spectacular orchestral arrangements into the tracks on "Coming Home", without risking any cheesy moments or overloading the songs. The result is ten highly addictive hymns with massive depth and experimentation. With the orchestrated portions, PAIN entered a new era and seeked assistance from CARACH ANGREN's Clemens "Ardek" Wijers, who added some magical final touches to Tägtgren's bombastic songwriting. But the album also has time to breathe with beautiful acoustic guitar intros appearing hand in hand with stormy moments, showing the band at the zenith of their creativity.

"Coming Home" includes drummer Sebastian Tägtgren, Peter's seventeen-year-old son who delivers an impressive guest appearance on the title track as well as SABATON's Joakim Brodén who joins the team for some typically raw warrior vocals on "Call Me".

But a PAIN release wouldn't be a typical masterpiece without some thought-provoking topics and tales: On the callboy-singalong "Call Me" and "Final Crusade", the band crawls through the deepest corners of society and the human mind, while "Absinthe-Phoenix Rising" is based upon an incident in Leipzig during PAIN's tour with NIGHTWISH, where the band was attacked and beat up after leaving an Absinthe bar. And of course, lovers of mystery and conspiracy theories also get their money's worth with "Black Knight Satellite". "Nikola Tesla, who invented the lightbulb, electricity, and other stuff, thought that he heard beeping sounds from space," Tägtgren elaborates of the track's inspiration, "It was around the year 1899 and it seemed like a message to him, a hidden code. He was the first one to discover it, but in the 1950s, when humans started to go into space, they heard the same noises and found out: There is some signal from a satellite out there… but it isn't ours. And as they started their research, they found out, that people had been talking about this phenomenon for around thirteen-thousand years. The story of this so-called 'Black Knight Satellite' is very fascinating to me. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. But it definitely inspired me to write these lyrics."

PAIN will hit the road for a full European headline tour this autumn. The band will join forces with the German gothic metal outfit THE VISION BLEAK.

Italian classical power metallers RHAPSODY OF FIRE have vowed to continue following the recent departures of vocalist Fabio Lione and drummer Alex Holzwarth. Speaking to Metal Underground, keyboardist Alex Staropoli said: "It will take some time for the band to regroup so we are very busy working towards that. We are already in the process of finding a new singer and a new drummer. Once we confirm the partnership, we will introduce them to our fans one by one and talk about upcoming projects and live shows."

He continued: "It's important for us to build a solid new line-up that can benefit the years to come. The preparation will take some time. We hope sooner than later.

"As we all know, most of our fans were really saddened by the news. But after the initial shock, many have come to understand where we stand.

"We hope our fans will continue to show support and stay on the journey with us. There will be a lot of new challenges and RHAPSODY OF FIRE cannot conquer them all without our fans.

"With an album like 'Into The Legend', we showed everyone in the metal world what a huge impact RHAPSODY OF FIRE's music can still make.

"It will take some time to regroup and transit. It will be even more challenging to deliver better works than 'Into The Legend'. We really have to be patient. However, all these challenges also make the work we do more exciting. We hope the band will also have lots of fun in carrying out new plans."

Regarding Lione's exit from RHAPSODY OF FIRE, Staropoli said: "We knew Fabio's departure would happen eventually. It was a decision discussed carefully and collectively for a while. Those discussions were, as you can imagine, internal and confidential. It was our responsibility to calm down rumors in the summer because we didn't know for sure what was going to happen.

"This is the best professional solution to Fabio and the band's respective musical careers. It is also an opportunity for RHAPSODY OF FIRE to bring something new on board. We want to change the future rather than hold on to the past. We already have a basket of new exciting plans to carry out.

"Even though Fabio's departure wasn't exactly a surprise, it wasn't easy for everyone to face when it actually happened. We understood the necessity to accept this change and move on to a new chapter. Quite a lot of fans sent us caring messages and best wishes and kept encouraging us. We feel very lucky and we will stay strong and focused during this important transition."

Despite the recent personnel shuffles, Staropoli says that there was never any thought given to the idea of a name change for RHAPSODY OF FIRE. He explained: "Lineup changes are never easy and pleasant especially for the fans and the new transition might be challenging for some of them. However, I never seriously thought to change band name. As a co-founder and co-composer of RHAPSODY OF FIRE, I do feel fully commited to keep composing film score metal. It's my passion and I live for it.

"RHAPSODY OF FIRE is a brand with a strong concept: orchestral compositions entangled with inspired vocal lines, powerful guitar riffs, deep bass and kick-ass drums. The concept is not tied to individualities. This is our responsibility to keep the band going and to present a solid new lineup and epic music that will do nothing but honor our past history. We keep faith and look straight forward!"

Lione joined RHAPSODY OF FIRE in 1995, just after the "Eternal Glory" demo and before the release of the band's debut album, "Legendary Tales". He made a total of eleven full-length studio albums with the band.

Fabio's new band, ETERNAL IDOL, will release its debut album, titled "The Unrevealed Secret", on December 2 via Frontiers Music Srl.

"Blood On The Sand", a brand new song from Norwegian alternative metallers MADDER MORTEM, can be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below. The track is taken from the band's sixth full-length album, which will be released on October 28 via Dark Essence Records. Titled "Red In Tooth And Claw", the ten-track effort will first be released in CD and digital formats, with the vinyl edition hitting the streets on December 9.

With artwork by Christian Ruud, the track listing for "Red In Tooth and Claw" is as follows:

01. Blood On The Sand02. If I Could03. Fallow Season04. Pitfalls05. All The Giants Are Dead06. Returning To The End Of The World07. Parasites08. Stones For Eyes09. The Whole Where Your Heart Belongs10. Underdogs

Formed in 1993, and, having started out with a doom metal sound, MADDER MORTEM became one of the earliest bands from the contemporary Norwegian metal scene to break away from set genre boundaries. With each of its releases, MADDER MORTEM continued to develop, seamlessly transitioning into an experimental progressive metal band with a unique sense of groove and contrasting arrangements. Comprised of Agnete M. Kirkevaag on vocals, BP. M. Kirkevaag on guitar and vocals, Richard Wikstrand on guitars, Tormod L. Moseng on bass and Mads Solås on drums, and with seven years between the release of the band's last album, "Eight Ways", and "Red In Tooth And Claw", MADDER MORTEM still maintains its trademark sound, so well defined by Agnete's massive vocals, which range from the most tender whispers to the most violent screams. All in all, the long-awaited album retains all of the band's quirkiness, and gives it a catchy boost, with songs shifting between doomy melodies and hard-hitting riffs.

Orange County, California-based rock band OF MICE & MEN has been forced to cancel the remaining dates on its current European headlining tour. The group says in a statement: "We had to cut short our set in Portsmouth on Saturday night due to [singer] Austin [Carlile] being in pain throughout the show. We attempted to play the show in Cardiff the following night, but it became increasingly obvious that we were not able to continue and that we need to focus on Austin's health.

"As much as we wish we could complete the remaining dates of this tour, we know that we would be doing a disservice to all of our loyal fans, as well as ourselves, performing under the current circumstances.

"The reality is that we feel the best thing to do right now is go home, get Austin the appropriate medical attention and regroup before we head back out on the road again.

"We appreciate that our fans understand how important it is that we put health first and foremost and know that we would never cancel shows unless we felt it absolutely necessary.

"Refunds will be available at point of purchase for all cancelled shows."

Carlile suffered a collapsed lung during OF MICE & MEN's set in Denver in August but still finished the show. Carlile told Rolling Stone: "I couldn't breathe right and I was gasping. I managed to do the rest of the show. Then the medics came and gave me oxygen and the lung somehow kind of naturally re-inflated."

The lung collapse was one of the latest in a long series of medical issues that have plagued Carlile since he was a teenager. When he was 17, Carlile was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, which affects his connective tissue and causes weakness in his heart, lungs, ears, joints and muscles. Carlile revealed: "I have so much arthritis from this condition I'm in chronic pain from my wrists to my elbow. My spine and back hurts, my ribs hurt and my legs cramp up at night."

Carlile has had surgery on his ears, hip, heart, head and feet over the years, with operations last year on his ribs and skull forcing him to cancel a series of tour dates and undergo months of therapy.

Even with his ailments, Carlile decided to quit prescription drugs last January while recording the band's new album. He said that getting off his daily mix of OxyContin, Ritalin and antidepressants was a painful experience. "In January, I stopped taking all that and the next three months of my life, which was when we were in the studio, those were the worst months," he said. "You know, I would be throwing up over the toilet in the middle of the night or shaking in my bed and waking up, like, moaning and screaming, and you know, it was rough. I did physical therapy like four times a week, all while I was coming off the stuff for the first time in ten years."

The new OF MICE & MEN album, "Cold World", came out on September 9.

The first single and video from the band's fourth record was called "Real".

The band recently wrapped up a tour with SLIPKNOT and played several festival dates before kicking off the European trek.

The reunited Dokken - singer Don Dokken, guitarist George Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer “Wild” Mick Brown - played their first and only US show of their reunion tour at Badlands Pawn Guns Gold And Rock ‘N’ Roll in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on September 30th. Pro-shot footage of the band performing their classic "Breaking The Chains" is available below along with a previously released clip of "Alone Again".

Dokken performed the following set on the night:

“Tooth and Nail”
“The Hunter”
“Unchain the Night”
“Just Got Lucky”
“Don’t Close Your Eyes”
“When Heaven Comes Down”
“Breaking the Chains”
“Into the Fire”
“Dream Warriors”
“Kiss of Death”
“Will the Sun Rise”
“Heaven Sent”
“Alone Again”
“Mr. Scary”
“It’s Not Love”

Encore:
“In My Dreams”
“Paris is Burning”

The show was filmed for possible home video release.

Japan's Young Guitar Magazine recently interviewed Don Dokken and George Lynch; both were asked about the reunion of Dokken's classic lineup, which played its only US show on September 30th in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after which they embarked upon a six-show Japanese run dubbed Unleashed In The East.

"I never thought I would play with George again — ever," said Don Dokken."They've been asking me for almost six years to do a Dokken reunion, and I said, 'No. The answer is no.' It's not about money. I don't need the money. It's not about money. I have enough money to live me two lives. It's about the fans and the love and to play well."

"It's only six days, but there's not gonna be shows in America or Europe or Sweden or Germany. We have all these offers for a lot of money — they're (offering) us a lot of money — to play Sweden, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the answer is 'no.' Six shows — that's it. And it's never gonna happen again. And that's it. And we're gonna film it in Dakota — one show — film it on DVD, and that's it. George will go back to Lynch Mob, and Jeff (Pilson) will go back to Foreigner, and I will continue on with (the current version of Dokken featuring) Jon Levin and Chris McCarvill and Wild Mick (Brown)."

Lynch added, "There's always some pre-conditions that we were all aware of, but once those were met, we knew that it was basically clear skies and there weren't any obstacles other than just somebody not wanting to do it. There were a lot of reasons to do it and there weren't any reasons not to do it. I mean, it was a really minimal amount of time to invest. It's essentially just Japan, and we have kind of a wonderful and interesting relationship in our history with Japan. We had a lot of success there and had a lot of great memories from going over there."

Remaining tour dates:

October
11 - Aichi, Japan - Zepp Nagoya
12 - Tokyo, Japan - Zepp Divercity Tokyo

Italian melodic death metal act Black Therapy has revealed thecover art and tracklisting for their new album, In The Embrace Of Sorrow, I Smile, which will be released December 2nd via Apostasy Records.

Tracklisting:

"Tears Of Innocence"
"In The Embrace Of Sorrow, I Smile"
"The Foolishness Of Existence"
"Stabbed"
"She, The Weapon"
"Paintings Of A Black Ocean"
"Voices In My Head"
"Theogony"
"The Final Outcome"
"Infected"

A statement from Apostasy Records reads: "In the life of every human being there are times where they just struggle to find a way out of deep grief. The Italian Melodic death metal act Black Therapy delivers the perfect formula to get over it. In The Embrace Of Sorrow, I Smile will be released on December 2nd, 2016. This week, you’ll experience the first taste…"

Greek progressive black metal horde Aenaon will release their third studio effort on November 25th in Europe and December 9th in North America via Code666. Titled Hypnosophy, the seven track offering was captured at Crown Audio Conspiracies and is a work of vision and devotion. Dreamlike yet nightmarish, sensual yet dark, an extreme and progressive musical effort complemented by the unique art of Łukasz Wodyński, Hypnosophy is a portal to a glorious surrealistic journey.

In the meantime, sample first single "Oneirodynia":

"'Oneirodynia' is the opening track of our new album," elaborates the band. "A progressive inferno that offers no compromise. From the stormy parts to the more tranquil movememnts, 'Oneirodynia' simulates all the pleasures and sufferings that an individual can experience in the state of dreaming."

Tracklisting:

“Oneirodynia”
“Fire Walk With Me”
“Earth Tomb”
“Void5. Tunnel”
“Thus Ocean Swells”
“Phronesis – Psychomagic”

Hypnosophy will be released on CD, vinyl, and digital formats; pre-orders are available at this location.

Teaser:

Alpha Omega Management has signed London based, five-piece hard rock act Damn Dice.

Formed in 2011, Damn Dice are at the forefront of The UK's underground rock scene. With their adrenaline fuelled performance and larger than life stage show, they have quickly earned a loyal and expanding fan base. After the release of their six-track EP and a UK and European tour supporting L.A. Guns, the band released their debut full-length album, The Great Unknown in August 2015, and are currently working on their second effort; furthermore a new video will come out soon."

Damn Dice's statement about the signing: "We are extremely proud to join Alpha Omega and their impressive roster. We are sure that their expertise will help us grow as a band and export ourselves as much as possible. Our goal is get out there and play as many gigs as possible, promote our music and engage with our fans. Up until now, we've always used to do everything ourselves, limiting our potential reach. We now have the opportunity to work closely with an international agency and take it to the next level! Watch this space for some great news!"

Alpha Omega Management adds: "We are truly glad to welcome these great rockers in Damn Dice to our family! They are hard working guys and with their outstanding live shows we believe they go fast to the next level. The debut album, The Great Unknown, pulled in an army of new followers, and we are sure their new album, currently in the works, will bring Damn Dice to play widely on stages everywhere, so stay tuned."

"Rock (Like You Mean It)" video:

"What Now?" lyric video:

"Driven" video:

For further information, visit Damn Dice on Facebook.

 

Fan-filmed video footage of NIGHTWISH's October 9 performance at the Loud Park festival in Tokyo, Japan can be seen below.

NIGHTWISH frontwoman Floor Jansen recently shot down rumors that she will leave the band after welcoming her first child in early 2017 during the group's previously announced year-long break. She told Mariskal Rock TV: "No, I won't [quit NIGHTWISH]. I love this way too much; don't worry. You don't even have negative speculations one way or another. Things are great, and let's keep on doing this forever."

Jansen revealed in September that she was four months pregnant. The singer's partner is SABATON drummer Hannes Van Dahl.

NIGHTWISH has just completed the world tour in support of its latest studio album, 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful".

NIGHTWISH will release "Vehicle Of Spirit" on November 4. The DVD will feature the band's performance from the Wembley Arena in London, England, along with their show at Tampere, Finland's Ratina Stadion.

Professionally filmed video footage of SATYRICON's entire August 14 performance at this year's edition of the Bloodstock Open Air festival, which was held at Catton Hall in Walton-on-Trent, England, can be seen below.

SATYRICON drummer Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad told VirtualFestivals.com about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's next album, tentatively due in late 2017. He said: "We have come very far. I mean, we make so much material. I can safely say we have probably made more than three hundred themes for this album but now we have concentrated all the material into actual songs, and narrowing things down is really what we are doing now. We are deciding what songs will end up on the album."

He continued: "The music we have made and things that have been difficult to work with, we will leave it at that, because it didn't fit into songs that we were crystallizing in that period. So now we have like ten, twelve pieces of music that are more or less in the stages of becoming finished, and they feel like really good songs. We will record the album probably in January, and release it next year."

Asked if there is a specific theme that runs through the songs that have been written for SATYRICON's next album, Frost said: "No. It feels more creative than anything we have done before. I think that we managed to open quite a few doors, creatively, than with previous albums at least. This dynamic element was important. What I have been feeling is all those doors lead somewhere, and we have been exploring them and the result is what you will hear on that next album. It will go much further than previous albums, and I think it will be a very loaded album. Intense, very very diverse. An album impossible to sum up in a few words, which is a good thing."

SATYRICON celebrated the 20th anniversary of its seminal album "Nemesis Divina" with a never-to-be-repeated series of exclusive European shows, wherein the Norwegian trailblazers performed the album in its entirety for the first and last time.

To herald the 20th anniversary of this most illustrious piece of dark art, "Nemesis Divina" was re-released in spring 2016, newly remastered by Satyr himself and boasting upgraded and revamped packaging worthy of an album that has had a huge and enduring impact on both the black metal scene and underground heavy music in general.

Fan-filmed video footage of Bobby Blotzer's RATT performing on September 23 at Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton, New Hampshire can be seen below.

Blotzer's RATT recently announced the addition of Mitch Perry (TALAS, HEAVEN, STEELER, MSG, LITA FORD) and Stacey Blades (L.A. GUNS) on guitar and Brad Lang (Y&T) on bass. They joined the band as the replacements for Nicholas "Blaze" Baum, Michael "Doc" Ellis (Jizzy Pearl's LOVE/HATE) and Robbie Crane, who left Blotzer in early August.

Asked why his version of RATT has already undergone so many lineup changes in the past year, Bobby told the SiriusXM satellite radio show "Eddie Trunk Live": "[It's] hard to say. I think it started way back when we first came from [Las] Vegas with those guys, and we had this very unsavory guy that kind of corralled them, in my opinion… Some of these guys are really young; the lead guitarist was really young and impressionable. And there was colluding going on, a lot of colluding, and there was a lot of politicking. And I don't wanna name any names, but there was things of that nature going on."

He continued: "We've never had a fight in this band, we never have ever had an argument; we don't even disagree. So for me to find out, while we had a four-show run that started out in Louisville, then Cincinnati, then Wabash, Indiana, and then finishing the week in Detroit, I find out after the Cincinnati show that the lead guitar player is quitting; he's joining a country band and he's just out. And I'm, like, 'Ooookay.' And in the next week coming up, obviously, there [were] some giant shows…. I had to scramble, with a two-day notice, to either get somebody — which I didn't know who it was gonna be… I was pretty freaked out that out of the blue this guy is just quitting without telling me. And we finished the shows and subsequently got Stacey. He learned the set, an eighteen-song set, in two days, and came out in front of 35,000 and ripped it up. And we had Todd Kerns, who was filling in for Robbie Crane. And we knew that Todd was only out there for those specific shows.

"One of the guys in the band said from the get-go he doesn't wanna be on the road, even though he was having a great time. Even though I have texts from these guys saying, 'Thank you for bringing me aboard here,' and these are recent texts. And I respect a couple of these guys at this point. And when they're thanking me, I'm, like, 'Thank you for playing up there. You have helped build this thing, like we're building it right now. You're doing your job.' But the lead player split after Detroit. Stacey came in and did the gigs, like I said, and right now… I had so much e-mails and phone calls from guitar players and singers and bass players, it was insane. I'm, like, 'Fuck! How am I gonna get through all this?' So I just started thinking about personal friends. Mitch Perry and I go way back. Him and Sean McNabb and I had a band with Ralph from STEEL PANTHER back around '90, '92, something like that. So I called Mitch — great guitarist — and I said, 'Here's the deal.' And he's, like, 'Great! I'm in.' And then we were thinking, 'Okay. Bass player. Who? This person, that person.' And he came up with Brad Lang, who's a friend of his, and I had jammed with Brad at New Year's Eve in San Francisco for Phil Kennemore's memorial show that they did up there. And he's a great player and a great guy, he's got stage presence. And you know what? These guys are seasoned pros. I'll miss one of the guys that were in this band, but, you know, the knives that were just thrown into my back, dude, I'm just never gonna get over; they're never gonna stop bleeding."

Blotzer defended his decision to go out on tour as RATT without any other original members of the band, explaining that fans just want to hear the music performed the way it was recorded on the group's albums.

"No matter what, this band plays so good and does such great integrity to the music of RATT," he told ClassX Radio. "That's why everybody's been hired. The singer [Josh Alan] just blows Stephen Pearcy out of the water at this day and age. And frankly, [he sounds better than Stephen did] even when we started out."

Blotzer is involved in a legal battle with Warren DeMartini over the rights to the RATT name, with the guitarist filing a lawsuit last fall claiming that the drummer was falsely advertising his "tribute band" as the real thing. That dispute is still pending in California state court.

"Sorceress", the new album from Swedish progressive metallers OPETH, debuted at No. 24 on The Billboard 200, having shifted 16,000 equivalent album units in the week ending October 6.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

"Sorceress" first-week chart positions:

#1: Germany#3: Finland#6: Switzerland#7: Sweden#7: Australia#8: Norway#10: Austria#11: UK#11: The Netherlands#12: Italy#16: Belgium#24: USA#25: France#28: New Zealand

OPETH's twelfth album, "Sorceress", was released on September 30. For the band's first effort for Nuclear Blast via OPETH's imprint label Moderbolaget Records, the group returned to Rockfield Studios in Wales, also home to pivotal releases from QUEEN, RUSH and JUDAS PRIEST, where the Swedes had tracked "Pale Communion" in 2014 with Tom Dalgety. The band spent twelve days recording at the countryside venue among its serene and inspiring surroundings.

About the new album title, OPETH guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt told Fuse: "In the U.S., touring back in the day, I used to pick up '60s [and] '70s horror films from Amoeba Records, especially, in L.A., pick these DVDs up for fairly cheap. So I used to watch those, but it was the whole imagery of that, and that word resonated with me for some reason once I wrote it in a lyric. I figured that's a good title, actually. But I wouldn't say I have a particular sorceress in mind, it's more of a collective word for...I don't want to say evil women, but I'll say evil women anyway."

In a recent interview with The Quietus, Mikael stated about OPETH: I never considered us to be a virtuoso-type band. If you leave me out of it, the other guys are fucking great musicians. They can play circles around me and a lot of other musicians on the planet I think: they're fantastic. But I've never really been interested in that. I've always valued the quality of a song more, at least what I deem to be a quality song. So I don't think we ever gave in to the temptation of songs with showing off parts. Some parts are a bit show-offy but I've always felt that there's been something else to those sorts of parts too that I think adds value to the song, if you know what I mean. I can't remember a single part that I've written that is meant to impress people in that sense of, 'Oh fuck, these guys are great musicians.' I think of us more as a collective and once you do that you automatically think more of the quality of the song, as opposed to exposing each individual as a fantastic player. I mean, they are, but we never flaunted that."

Lars Ulrich says that METALLICA's "looser" approach to making albums nowadays has contributed to the delay in getting the band's new disc, "Hardwired...To Self-Destruct", completed and ready for release.

"Hardwired... To Self-Destruct" will arrive next month, marking the band's first full-length collection of new material in eight long years, with "Death Magnetic" having launched in 2008.

Speaking to MTV VJ and current KFOG San Francisco morning show host Matt Pinfield, Ulrich stated about the "Hardwired" writing and recording process: "I guess it was about two years ago, we started slowly kind of getting to listening to some riffs and connecting some dots and writing some songs. But the thing about METALLICA nowadays, which is really different from back in the day, is back then, it used to be very insular — you'd write a record, and the only thing you were doing for three months, or six months, or whatever, when you were writing that record was writing that record, and then you'd go into the studio and then you'd be in the studio for six months or whatever. But now all these lines are completely blurred. We'll write for a little bit and then we'll go play a festival or go do something. And then there's this or that or 'Metallica By Request', or somebody calls and says, 'Come play some cool shows in China,' or whatever. So the whole model now is really different than it was back in the day."

He continued: "It was about two summers ago [that we] started kind of grinding through some riffs and connecting some pieces of music together and slowly started writing some songs. Then we still played a Super Bowl show here in San Francisco six months ago and we did Lollapalooza last year. But, you know, it's been about a year and a half in and out of the studio.

"We decided to make this record all here at [the METALLICA headquarters in the [San Francisco] Bay Area, where 'Death Magnetic' was primarily done in L.A. with [producer] Rick Rubin. But we wanted to stay local, close to home, for this record. So [producer] Greg [Fidelman] came up here, I guess, fifteen months ago and has been holed up here ever since. And we started tracking and doing some different things and getting it together."

Ulrich added: "Making records nowadays, at least for us, is a much more sporadic undertaking than it used to be. And listen, certainly the great thing about being home is that you get to sleep in your own bed and see the kids and do kind of your home grind. Obviously, when you're in another city, you grind fourteen-, sixteen-hour days or whatever, which is fine, but when you're at home, usually you drop the kids at school in the morning, come down to the studio at nine or ten, and then kind of work or record or grind or whatever until school pickup around three or four and then get into family mode. So it's kind of a different management of time when you make a record at home rather than when you go somewhere else, but I wouldn't change any of it. But it just sort of puts a different kind of focus on the record. But I'd like to think that the looser kind of approach has also helped the record sound a little less manic and precise and perfection-based, and we've got a good mix of some cool sonics and some cool, little-looser-around-the-edges and some kicking songs. So we literally just finished it this week. Greg ran screaming out of the 415 yesterday, basically, and the last couple of tweaks were done on the mastering and stuff literally yesterday, and he bolted out of here before we came up with something else for him to do. So it's basically signed, sealed and delivered and about one day old now, so there you go."

"Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" is scheduled for a November 18 release via Blackened Recordings. The long-awaited follow-up to 2008's "Death Magnetic" consists of two discs, containing a dozen songs and nearly 80 minutes of music.

Instead of a previously announced bonus disc of demos, the deluxe edition of the album will now feature a number of cover songs that the band has recorded over the past few years, including a medley of Ronnie James Dio songs, IRON MAIDEN's "Remember Tomorrow" and DEEP PURPLE's "When A Blind Man Cries".

The deluxe version will also feature a live set recorded at Rasputin's in Berkeley, California on Record Store Day 2016 and a live version of the new song "Hardwired" recorded last month at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

METALLICA will appear at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, California on October 22 and October 23.

Don Dokken and George Lynch were recently interviewed by Japan's Young Guitar magazine about the reunion of DOKKEN's classic lineup, which played its only U.S. show on September 30 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota before embarking on a six-show Japanese run dubbed "Unleashed In The East".

"I never thought I would play with George again — ever," said Don. "I thought, 'This is it.'

"They've been asking me for almost six years to do a DOKKEN reunion, and I said, 'No. The answer is no.'"

He continued: "It's not about money. It's not about money. I don't need the money. It's not about money. I have enough money to live me two lives. It's about the fans and the love and to play well.

"It's only six days, but there's not gonna be shows in America or Europe or Sweden or Germany. We have all these offers for a lot of money — they're [offering] us a lot of money — to play Sweden, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the answer is 'no.' Six shows — that's it. And it's never gonna happen again. And that's it. And we're gonna film it in Dakota — one show — film it on DVD, and that's it. George will go back to LYNCH MOB, and Jeff will go back to FOREIGNER, and I will continue on with [the current version of DOKKEN featuring] Jon Levin and Chris McCarvill and Wild Mick [Brown], and we will go forward."

Regarding how the reunion of DOKKEN's classic lineup came about, George said: "Actually, one of our old techs, our drum tech, who actually works with GUNS N' ROSES now — he's Axl Rose's kind of right-hand man, and has been for decades. So he's pretty well-connected. He arranged this for us. His name's Tom Mayhew, and he put this together for us, and, miraculously, it worked for everybody — everybody agreed to it — which kind of shocked me, because we tried this before. This is maybe our second or third attempt at possibly reforming, and it's always fallen apart, obviously, until this time. I knew it was real when we bought our plane flights. Then I knew, 'Okay, this is actually gonna happen.'"

Lynch added that there was a strong motivation within the band to make the reunion happen. "There's always some pre-conditions that we were all aware of, but once those were met, we knew that it was basically clear skies and there weren't any obstacles other than just somebody not wanting to do it," he explained. "There were a lot of reasons to do it and there weren't any reasons not to do it. I mean, it was a really minimal amount of time to invest. It's essentially just Japan, and we have kind of a wonderful and interesting relationship in our history with Japan. We had a lot of success there and had a lot of great memories from going over there. So, actually, the way I'm looking at this is it's a good sort of test to see how we get along and how it feels and how it sounds when we start playing together. And if it works, maybe we'll continue on. That's what I'm hoping."

Dokken, Pilson, Lynch and Brown launched the Japanese tour on October 5 in Osaka, before heading to Fukuoka, Tokyo for an appearance at the Loud Park festival and continuing on to Hiroshima, Aichi and finally, back to Tokyo for the final show on October 12.

SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor joined KORN on stage on October 2 at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky to perform the KORN song "A Different World". Professionally filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

"A Different World" is the new single from KORN's upcoming album, "The Serenity Of Suffering", following the recent Top Five track "Rotting In Vain".

KORN singer Jonathan Davis spoke about getting Taylor to appear on the track. "We were trying to figure out who we wanted to collaborate with, and I'm like, 'You know, that's the one, that's the guy,'" he said. "And I texted him, I'm like, 'Do you want to be on a new KORN track?' He's all, 'Hell yeah! When and where, what do I do?' So he did great on the song. I already did my parts, I'm like, 'Do what you do, man.' And I like the way he did it, the approach: he starts creeping in underneath the song, you can start slowly hearing his voice under mine, and it crescendos up into the middle part where he sings, and then it's just full-on at the end, so the song came out great."

Taylor said that he became involved in "A Different World" after receiving "a phone call, like, 'Hey, do you wanna do this?' And I was on the plane the next day. I flew in, and I hadn't even heard the music. I was, like, 'Yeah.' 'Cause as a fan and as a friend, it was just something that we had been talking about for years. And all the stars aligned and I got to do this track. And it is heavy, dude. It is so righteous. People are gonna lose their minds.

"This whole [new KORN] album, and I'm gonna brag now, because I've heard eleven songs of this, it is such a great throwback to the first three KORN albums and mixed with that maturity that they have now. Like, it's, really, really heavy. People are gonna lose their minds. It's that good."

Due on October 21, "The Serenity Of Suffering" marks the band's return to Roadrunner, which previously released 2010's "Korn III - Remember Who You Are" and 2011's "The Path Of Totality".

The cover art for "The Serenity Of Suffering" was created by acclaimed artist Ron English. It depicts a teenage KORN fan at a dystopian acid-nightmare funfair who is clutching a disembowelled and skeletal version of the doll who adorned 1999's "Issues".

KORN has hit the road this fall with co-headliners BREAKING BENJAMIN for the "Nocturnal Underground Tour". The trek kicked off on September 24 in Fargo, North Dakota and will run through late October.

Rob Zombie and legendary director John Carpenter recently "buried the hatchet" after video surfaced of Carpenter blasting Zombie for allegedly "lying" to him about Zombie's 2007 remake of Carpenter's 1978 horror classic "Halloween".

Speaking to IndieWire about the supposed feud, Rob said: "I mean, it ended so quickly. Basically, I saw something online, that he was obviously upset about something I said. But I wasn't sure what it was, because I love John, I've got nothing bad to say about him, I was, like, 'Oh, my God, what could I have possibly said? How did it get misconstrued? What was it?' I didn't know. So I immediately called him up, we talked for literally one minute, and by the end of it, it was all good. It was just some misunderstanding and I said, 'No, no, no. That's not it at all, John. I don't know how it came across that way, but this is how I feel about that,' and whatever, and he was, like, 'Okay, great. No problem, Rob. Let's just put it behind us,' and it was over in one second."

He added: "It freaked me out because I've known John now for almost 20 years. I first met him when I went down to visit the set of 'Escape From L.A.' and he's always been super nice and I've always loved his work and loved him, and that's why I said, 'Oh, my God. What happened?' So, that's why I wanted to settle it as quick as possible, because I don't want that to be the case at all."

Carpenter tweeted on September 27: "To everyone fascinated with the JC/RZ feud, old news. We spoke Sunday, we buried the hatchet. Let's move on."

In the aforemention video, taken at the New York Film Academy last April, Carpenter said that he disliked Zombie's remake, adding that Rob was dishonest when he said that Carpenter never gave him his blessing to tackle the remake in the first place. Carpenter explained: "He lied about me. He said I was very cold to him when he told me he was going to make it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I said, 'Make it your own movie, man. This is yours now. Don't worry about me.' I was incredibly supportive. Why that piece of shit lied, I don't know."

Zombie's version of "Halloween" was reviewed poorly by critics but made nearly $60 million at the box office, leading to a Zombie-directed sequel in 2009.

Carpenter himself is executive producing yet another reboot of "Halloween", although further details on that have yet to be unveiled.

Zombie's latest movie, "31", recently premiered on digital outlets and VOD and will begin a limited theatrical run on October 21.

On 18th November 2016, Pink Floyd Records will continue the reintroduction of the Pink Floyd catalogue on vinyl with Animals remastered from the original analogue master tapes and reissued on vinyl for the first time in over 20 years. Wish You Were Here and The Dark Side Of The Moon are also back in stock on vinyl from October 14th and November 4th respectively.

These albums began the band’s most successful run of releases, gaining them a whole new audience around the world as their musical style progressed and they toured extensively.

After over eight months of continuous recording at their own Britannia Row studios in 1976, Animals was originally released in 1977 and became one of the band’s most popular albums. The album is amongst Pink Floyd’s most recognizable covers featuring the iconic pig flying above Battersea Power Station (‘Algie’ the pig was most recently seen flying above London’s V&A Museum to launch The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains).

Often cited as one of the greatest albums of all time, The Dark Side Of The Moon, released in 1973, has gone on to sell in excess of 50 million copies and is the band’s most commercially successful album. Including the songs “Time”, “The Great Gig In The Sky” and “Money”, this became their first No.1 chart placing in the US.

Released in 1975, Wish You Were Here was Pink Floyd’s ninth studio album and features the band’s epic tribute to former member Syd Barrett, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. The album reached No.1 in the UK and US charts.

All previous Pink Floyd studio albums are available on vinyl now.

“Childhood's End”, from Pink Floyd's seventh album Obscured By Clouds, has been remixed from the original master tapes in 2016 by Andy Jackson and Damon Iddins.

In February 1972, the band were already playing The Dark Side Of The Moon live and starting to record its songs, but production was briefly halted when they accepted their second commission for filmmaker Barbet Schroeder, to create the soundtrack for his feature film La Vallée.

In the last week of February 1972, Pink Floyd started work, at Strawberry Studios in Herouville, France, and as David Gilmour later described: “We sat in a room, wrote, recorded, like a production line.” The result was 10 pieces of music: six songs and four instrumentals, which Melody Maker described as “some of the most aggressive instrumentals the Floyd have recorded.”

David Gilmour’s “Childhood's End” was one of the few songs from the soundtrack to be included in Pink Floyd's live shows and was featured on European dates, starting on December 1st, 1972, and at the start of the band's March 1973 tour of North America, usually with an extended instrumental passage.

Pink Floyd will release The Early Years 1965-1972 on Friday, November 11th. A comprehensive 27-disc boxed set, it pulls together material from the Pink Floyd archive, as well as licensed Radio and TV recordings, to comprise a deluxe package that includes seven individual book-style volumes, (six of which are dedicated to particular years), featuring much previously unreleased material, as well as bonus content, reproduction memorabilia, and the band's first recording from 1965, released on CD for the first time.

Check out an unboxing video below:

The packages contain more than 100 photographs of Pink Floyd, the majority of which are previously unseen, as well as more than 40 items of memorabilia in special wallets. In addition, Pink Floyd's first five UK singles have been included in the box, on 7" vinyl with replica sleeves.

The Early Years 1965-1972 box set contains unreleased tracks, BBC Radio Sessions, remixes, outtakes and alternative versions. Ten CDs, nine DVDs and eight Blu-ray discs contain more than 130 audio tracks, as well as more than 14 hours of audio-visual material. There are more than 20 unreleased songs, plus previously unreleased live audio, rare concert footage, feature films and new sound mixes. Previously unreleased tracks include 1967's Vegetable Man and In The Beechwoods, both mixed especially for this release.

The six individual year-specific book-style packages will be released separately early in 2017, although the bonus volume, Continu/ation, will be exclusive to the box set, as will the larger memorabilia items, which are reproduced in actual size for the box.

Pink Floyd’s “Grantchester Meadows” (taken from The Early Years 1965 – 1972) is a Roger Waters song, originally performed solo on the Ummagumma album, that celebrates the English countryside, as in other compositions such as “Time”. This special group performance, taped for the BBC, with acoustic guitars and vocals from Roger Waters and David Gilmour, plus additional piano from Richard Wright and taped songbirds, successfully evokes a summer’s day in Grantchester, a small village close to Cambridge, England.

Grantchester’s famous former residents include the Edwardian poet Rupert Brooke, who moved there and subsequently wrote a poem of homesickness entitled The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.

Creative Director: Aubrey Powell, Hipgnosis. 2016 footage directed and edited by Nick Edwards. Performance footage director: John Coney for KQED, San Francisco 1970. Audio recorded for BBC Radio, 12 May 1969.

Also released on Friday, November 11th will be a companion edition, Cre/ation – The Early Years 1967-1972, a 2CD collection of some of the highlights of the box set, focussing on the band's material from 1967 to 1972.

2CD tracklisting here. Full tracklisting here.

 

 

 

 

Sammy Hagar has weighed in on the 2016 presidential election, saying that "the country needs a huge change."

The former VAN HALEN frontman, who built an empire and made a fortune off his Cabo Wabo clubs and tequila brand, tells Yahoo! Music: "I've never had two less likable candidates in my life… But I still like the shakeup, that [Donald Trump] busts people's balls and says things that are politically incorrect. Amen! It's like nowadays you can't say shit. Somebody's pissed you can't say this you can't say that. So if you say you like this person or this person, you lose that person and that person. So I think musicians and artists should stay the fuck out of politics."

However, Hagar adds: "I think the country needs a huge change. Whether it be Trump or Hillary [Clinton], both of them would be a huge, huge change. That will really cause the people to shake things up and — I don't think either one of them are going to be good. But we do need a change, so maybe it will cause something to happen and maybe we'll get an alternative in there again.

"I gotta say, Bernie [Sanders], to me, he was the only guy who would take my fortune and rip it to shreds, but I would be okay with that if it went to the people. If he really wants to feed people, and help poor people, that's okay. That's a good thing. That's what America is about, and what it still should be about.”

Hagar has spent the last couple of years playing sporadic shows with THE CIRCLE, in which he is joined by Michael Anthony (VAN HALEN), Jason Bonham (LED ZEPPELIN) and Vic Johnson.

THE CIRCLE released a concert album, "At Your Service", in May 2015. Recorded live on tour in 2014, this release documents the blistering performance of a band on fire performing hits from Sammy's four decades of rock (MONTROSE, solo, VAN HALEN, THE WABORITAS, CHICKENFOOT) as well as classic tracks from the LED ZEPPELIN catalog.

WARRANT drummer Steven Sweet underwent emergency surgery on Thursday, October 6 after his appendix burst. According to his bandmates, "He is recovering. Everyone is grateful it did not happen on the Monsters Of Rock cruise ship earlier [last] week! We are sending good vibes to Steven!"

WARRANT is next scheduled to perform on October 14 in Champaign, Illinois.

Guitarist Erik Turner recently told Backstage Axxess that WARRANT has tapped DOKKEN and FOREIGNER bassist Jeff Pilson to produce the follow-up to 2011's "Rockaholic" album, tentatively due early next year via Frontiers Music Srl.

Asked how diminishing music sales in the streaming age have affected WARRANT's desire to make new music, Erik said: "Well, nobody sells millions of records, but we started out playing music 'cause we can't help it. We just love writing music, recording music, playing music. And that's what we love doing, and we still love doing that. So that, first and foremost, is why we continue to make CDs and digital downloads and whatever they are. And the other thing is that it is a great way to keep the WARRANT name out there and alive and [it helps] with our touring. We do about fifty shows a year every year, and touring has been very good to us. So we love going out playing shows."

At the helm for "Rockaholic" was mega-producer Keith Olsen (OZZY OSBOURNE, WHITESNAKE, SCORPIONS), while the mixing duties were handled by Pat Regan (KISS, DEEP PURPLE, TED NUGENT).

WARRANT solidified its current lineup in 2008 when ex-LYNCH MOB vocalist Robert Mason joined the four original WARRANT members: Turner, bassist Jerry Dixon, drummer Steven Sweet and guitarist Joey Allen.

Former WARRANT singer Jani Lane suffered from "acute ethanol poisoning" when he died in August 2011 at a Comfort Inn motel room in Woodland Hills, California. The singer had battled alcoholism for years and also had a history of alcohol-related arrests.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN will return to Europe in June/July 2017 to play summer festivals and select headline dates. So far, the following shows have been confirmed:

Jun. 07 - Nancy, FR - Open Air ZenithJun. 10 - Paris, FR - DownloadJun. 12 - Prague, CZ - O2 ArenaJun. 17 - Lodz, PL - ImpactJun. 20 - Nimes, FR - NimesJun. 23 - Madrid, ES - DownloadJul. 02 - Arras, FR - Main Square

SYSTEM OF A DOWN recently posted two photographs at Instagram of bassist Shavo Odadjian, drummer John Dolmayan and guitarist Daron Malakian practicing in their rehearsal space, along with the hashtag #letsdothis. Singer Serj Tankian did not appear to be present in the pictures, but the three instrumental members of the group were jamming together again.

Whether this is for a new tour or possibly the recording of new music remains to be seen. SYSTEM OF A DOWN last toured in the spring of 2015 on the "Wake Up The Souls" tour, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The tour included a free concert in Republic Square in Yerevan, Armenia on April 23, 2015, SYSTEM's first show ever in the band members' ancestral country.

Although SYSTEM has toured intermittently in the last five-plus years, the band has not made a new album in more than a decade.

Their last records, "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize", came out in 2005, with the band announcing a hiatus in May 2006.

Cruz Del Sur Music has announced the release of Hammer King’s second album King Is Rising on November 11th. It will be available on CD (with one bonus track), vinyl and in digital formats.

Recorded at Charles Greywolf's "Studio Greywolf”, King Is Rising is once more packed with the truest heavy metal in this and all possible other worlds - heavy metal in the tradition of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest with more than a reference to German power metal. For the album’s artwork, the band decided to set up again a partnership with brilliant German artist Timo Würz.

Tracklisting:

“King Is Rising”
“Last Hellriders”
“For God And The King”
“Warrior’s Reign”
“Reichshammer”
“Kingbrother”
“Battle Gorse”
“Kill The Messenger”
“The Hammer Is The King”
“Viva ‘La King”
“Battalions Of War”
“Eternal Tower Of Woe”
“Our Fathers’ Fathers” (CD bonus track)

“King Is Rising” video:

The album will have its release party on November 12th, at Cruz Del Sur Music own Burn This Town Festival in Rome, also featuring Sacred Steel, Rosae Crucis, Battle Ram and Graal. Other shows have been recently confirmed, including:

October
14 – Weiher, Germany – Live Music Hall
15 – Kusel, Germany – Schalander
29 – Landeck, Austria – Altes Kino

November
19 – Kaiserslautern, Germany – Release Party

December
3 – Mannheim, Germany – 7er Club

January
14 – Pirmasens, Germany – Schwemme
15 – Buhl, Germany – Kneipple

April
8 – Neunkirchen, Germany – Stummsche Reithalle

Dario Mollo’s Crossbones will release their new album, Rock The Cradle, on December 2nd. The video for the title track is streaming below.

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 Official, Magnum and UFO, among others) before getting involved in the production side of things himself.

For this new Crossbones album, the Italian axeman brought back original drummer, Ezio Secomandi with the lineup completed by his regular collaborator Dario Patti on bass and keyboards. The choice for the singer was 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.

“I think this record has a strong identity and character,” says Dario. “It is a mature production and the songs range on many styles of hard rock and classic heavy metal, but every song has a catchy chorus. I also think this album shows how much I liked working with Carl. He is easily one of the best singers I have ever worked with. I am certain our cooperation will not end with this CD!”

Rock The Cradle tracklisting:

“Red”
“Take Me High”
“Navigation”
“Rock The Cradle”
“Gates Of Time”
“I Got This Feeling”
“In My Blood”
“Running From The Shadow”
“Speed”
“Fright”

"Rock The Cradle" video:

Cacophonous Records has announced that Cradle Of Filth’s Dusk…And Her Embrace – The Original Sin will finally be released as a gatefold double LP on 11th November. This follows the success of the CD and digital releases in July, which landed at #17 in the UK Rock Album Chart.

“Finally the vinyl for Dusk.. And Her Embrace -The Original Sin is due for release on November 11th via Cacophonous Records and I have to say that I am super excited about it finally seeing the light of day on LP format. 

“The artwork for the cover is fantastic and different from that of the regular cd format and put together by long-term 'Filth collaborator Drake Mefestta, who envisaged an ornate portraiture of the dusky maiden protagonist.

“Fans should also expect to be assaulted by the feral difference between this and the release that was officially released in 1996 by Music For Nations, with noticeable differences being the addition of 'Nocturnal Supremacy' and the absence of 'Malice Through The Looking Glass', albeit with plenty of differences to bat your ear at. 

“There are 666 copies at retail available in bone-coloured vinyl; 200 for mail order in 'blood and bone coloured vinyl, ('bone' with a slash of red splatter) and 100 in a pungent and forestry 'plague green'; all at 140g weight.

“So enjoy. This was 21 years in the waiting...”

Recorded at Birmingham’s Zella Studios in the Spring of 1995, the album saw Cradle Of Filth introduce Gothic elements to their extreme sound for the first time, focusing on decadent vampyric romanticism, death and loss, and forbidden love.

Soon after recording, the band faced a change in line-up, with some members going on to form The Blood Divine. The remaining members of Cradle Of Filth, did not want to release a record that represented the previous line-up and thus opted to re-record. This led to the release of the 1996 Dusk And Her Embrace which was release on Music For Nations. The original recording lay dormant for 21 years until Cacophonous resurrected and released this version in 2016.

Cradle Of Filth signed to Cacophonous in 1994, releasing their debut album The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh on an unsuspecting world, land marking 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.

Preorders can be found at this location.

Tracklisting:

LP1
“Macabre, This Banquet”
“Nocturnal Supremacy”
“Heaven Torn Asunder”
“Dusk And Her Embrace”
“A Gothic Romance”
“The Graveyard By Moonlight”

LP2
“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)

“Dusk And Her Embrace” lyric video:

Death metal legends Obituary have shared a new live song from their forthcoming new release Ten Thousand Ways To Die. "Visions In My Head" (from the band's Relapse debut Inked In Blood) was recorded live at Baltimore Soundstage in Baltimore, MD.

Ten Thousand Ways To Die is a special two-song single containing a pair of brand new studio tracks plus a bonus live set of twelve classics and fan favorites from the band's storied catalog. Recorded in eleven different cities during the band's highly successful 2015 Inked In Blood world tour, the live tracks capture the incredible performances of a band that has stood atop the death metal pantheon for almost 30 years.

Ten Thousand Ways To Die is sure to satisfy new and die-hard Obituary fans alike and will quench the bloodthirst of listeners until the band's new album drops in spring 2017. Ten Thousand Ways To Die is out this October 21st on CD/Digital.

Preorders for Ten Thousand Ways To Die are available at the Relapse Records Store here.

Tracklisting:

“Loathe”
“Ten Thousand Ways To Die”
“Redneck Stomp” (Live - The Mayan - Los Angeles)
“Centuries Of Lies” (Live - The Masquerade - Atlanta)
“Visions In My Head” (Live - Baltimore Soundstage - Baltimore)
“Intoxicated” (Live - Revolution Center - Boise)
“Bloodsoaked” (Live - Irving Plaza - New York)
“Dying” (Live - Metro - Chicago)
“Find The Arise” (Live - Opera House - Toronto)
“Til Death” (Live - House Of Blues - San Diego)
“Don't Care” (Live - Club Red - Phoenix)
“Chopped In Half-Turned Inside Out” (Live - The Ritz Ybor - Tampa)
“Slowly We Rot” (Live - Revolution Live - Fort Lauderdale)

"Visions In My Head":

“Intoxicated”:

“Loathe”:

The band commented on the live album saying: "We are very excited about the live songs that we recorded on this last US Tour. Joe Cincotta from Full Force Studio is also our live sound engineer and he had his full recording rig on the road with us so we took advantage of the opportunity and recorded the show every night. The quality was amazing so we decided to include this as part of the Ten Thousand Ways to Die release to give the fans a little Ob bonus! We selected songs from different cities so you will hear the sound difference between each song. Nothing was done to the songs after the live performance recording so it gives you the real, true, unedited "live show" sound and feeling that the fans experienced at each show."

Obituary have announced more dates for the Battle Of The Bays European Tour 2016, which will see them crushing The UK and Western and Eastern Europe this October and November alongside Bay Area thrash legends Exodus. NY rockers Prong and Australian grindcore up-and-comers King Parrot will provide further support. A list of currently announced dates is available below.

Battle Of The Bays European Tour 2016 dates:

October
21 - Hannover, Germany - Capitol
22 - Lille, France - Aeronef
23 - Rennes, France - L’Etage
24 - Paris, France - Elysée Montmartre
25 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom
27 - Glasgow, UK - Garage
28 - Manchester, UK - Academy 2
29 - Birmingham, UK - 02 Academy 2
30 - Southampton, UK - Engine Rooms

November
1 - Antwerp, Belglium - Trix
2 - Tilburg, Netherlands - O13
3 - Leuuwarden, Netherlands - Neushoom
4 - Cologne, Germany - Live Music Hall
5 - Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall
6 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Pumpehuset
8 - Dortmund, Germany - FZW
9 - Berlin, Germany - Huxley's
10 - Leipzig, Germany - Taubchenthal
11 - Warsaw, Poland - Progresja
12 - Katowice, Poland - Mega Club
13 - Ostrava, Czech Republic - Garaz
15 - Bucharest, Romania - Arlene Romane
16 - Budapest, Hungary - Durer Kert
17 - Zagreb, Croatia - Tvornica Club
18 - Vienna, Austria - Arena
19 - Bologna, Italy - Zona Roveri
20 - Zurich, Switzerland - Komplex