Singaporean grindcore trio Wormrot are streaming the new track “Hollow Roots”, featured on their new album, Voices, out worldwide this Friday, October 14th. Listen to the new song below.

The new album is the first to feature Wormrot’s new drummer, Vijesh, who brings a fresh and fitting sound to one of the most original bands in the grindcore scene. Combined with Rasyid's godlike grind riffage and Arif's distinct vocals switching effortlessly between deep guttural growls and rasping screams, the band's third full-length goes far beyond expectations from a band that already can seemingly do no wrong.

Tracklisting:

“Blockhead Fuck Off”
“Hollow Roots”
“Exit Fear”
“God’s In His Heaven”
“Oblivious Mess”
“Descending Into The Unknown”
“Dead Wrong”
“Fallen Into Disuse”
“The 1st Syndrome”
“Shallow Standards”
“Fake Moral Machine”
“Forced Siege”
“Take Aim”
“Still Irrelevant”
“Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Grind”
“Compassion Is Dead”
“Buried The Sun”
“Defaced”
“The Face Of Disgrace”
“Outworn”

“Hollow Roots”:

“God’s In His Heaven”:

"Fake Moral Machine":

"Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Grind":

“Fallen Into Disuse” video:

Studio video:

Wormrot will be touring in support of the new album. The Voices EU/UK tour kicks off on February 22nd in Antwerp, Belgium, marking the band's long-awaited return to the continent.

Wormrot guitarist Rasyid comments: "We're excited for our first tour in years and it feels like returning to where it all started.  We'll be playing most of Voices and some old ones, and we hope to see the same crazy crowd as before."

Tour dates:

February
22 - Antwerp, Belgium - Het Bos
23 - London, UK - The Underworld
24 - Manchester, UK - Rebellion
25 - Leeds, UK - Temple of Boom
27 - Hamburg, Germany - Hafenklang
28 - Berlin, Germany - Cassiopeia

March
1 - Vienna, Austria - Viper Room
3 - Tilburg, Netherlands - Netherlands Death Fest

On November 11th, Downfall Of Gaia will release their fourth full-length, Atrophy, via Metal Blade Records. A video trailer for the album can be found below.

Recorded in June 2016 at Hidden Planet Studio Berlin with Jan Oberg, Atrophy was mixed and mastered by Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden Studio in San Francisco, CA, and is a record about the absurdity of life and human existence - an album about the constant dialog between life and death.

Downfall of Gaia is a dark wall, moving forward relentlessly, enveloping the listener, absorbing one's spirit to take one into the realm of the band's potent sound. Founded in 2008 and having undergone several line-up changes, the quartet is now comprised of the two founding members Dominik Goncalves dos Reis (guitar and vocals) and Anton Lisovoj (bass and vocals), plus Marco Mazzola (guitar) and Michael Kadnar (drums), who are located respectively in Berlin, Hamburg, and New York City. Although the group's roots lie within the DIY / crust scene, Downfall of Gaia has expanded their sound to incorporate elements of black, doom, and sludge metal. For their efforts, the band has earned many "album of the year" accolades - and with their upcoming release, Atrophy, they will surely earn praise from media and fans alike, once again.

Atrophy tracklisting:

“Brood”
“Woe”
“Ephemerol”
“Ephemerol II”
“Atrophy”
“Petrichor”

Trailer:

“Woe”:

The record can also be pre-ordered here.

Available formats:

- CD
- 180g black vinyl
- black/white vinyl (limited to 300 copies)
- clear vinyl (limited to 200 copies)
- yellow marbled vinyl (limited to 200 copies)

* an exclusive t-shirt bundle, plus digital options are also available

Downfall Of Gaia lineup:

Dominik Goncalves dos Reis - vocals/guitars
Marco Mazzola - guitars
Anton Lisovoj - vocals/bass
Michael Kadnar - drums

(Photo - Downfall Of Gaia)

Hevidence will release their debut album, Nobody’s Fault, on December 2nd. Check out the band’s new video for the track “Dig In The Night”, streaming below.

Hevidence is the brainchild of Italian guitar player Diego Reali, founding member of prog metal masters DGM. After he left the band in 2006, he started dabbling in some different musical styles, but his heart called for him to get back to metal. Thus Hevidence were born and Diego joined up with DGM bass player Andrea Arcangeli, singer Corrado Quoiani and drummer Emiliano Bonini.

"This band is highly inspired by the classic hard and heavy sounds from the '70s and '80s, that's why we worked hard to make this album sound the most vintage that was possible,” says Diego. “We are convinced that a huge dose of improvisation during the recording sessions is needed for the success of an original product. Everyone of us has many different musical influences and they came out in a very spontaneous way within the song writing process, we just believe in the word "ROCK"!”

Hevidence offer a mature and personal vision of hard rock and metal with a style reminiscent of the classic Official Yngwie Malmsteen albums mixed with power metal and melodic hard rock influences (think early Europe). An EPK where you can learn more about the band and hear song samples is streaming below.

The band will be launching the album with a special Release Party show in Roma at the Jailbreak LiveClub on December 1st. More info here.

Nobody’s Fault tracklisting:

“Dig In The Night”
“Nobody' Fault”
“Miracle”
“So Unkind”
“Ave Maria”
“Overdrive”
“I Want More”
“Out Of This Time”
“Pack Your Bags”
“All I Ever Needed”
“Note”

“Dig In The Night” video:

EPK:

Hevidence is:

Corrado Quoiani - Vocals
Diego Reali - Guitars
Andrea Arcangeli - Bass
Emiliano Bonini - Drums

Brazilian/American metallers SEPULTURA released a special EP titled "Under My Skin" last year. The EP's cover was created around images of different tattoos that the band's fans sent in.

To show the band's fan base more about the creation of this release, the first part of the documentary "Sepultura Under My Skin - The Mediator UK Tour 2015", edited and directed by D.O. Blackley (Her Name Is Murder Productions), has been launched. Check it out below.

SEPULTURA played a new song called "I Am The Enemy" during their July 2 appearance at the Rock Al Parque festival at Parque Simón Bolívar in Bogota, Colombia. The track will be featured on the band's new album, due in the coming months via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2013's "The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart" was recorded at at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden with Swedish producer Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with OPETH, KREATOR, PARADISE LOST, SOILWORK and AMON AMARTH, among others.

Regarding how SEPULTURA ended up working with Jens Bogren on the new CD, guitarist Anderas Kisser told SVT.se: "We did like a small research on different producers that we didn't work [with] before; we wanted to work with somebody new. And the Swedish music and scene and the bands like MESHUGGAH, OPETH and many others inspired us to come here and to work with him. He also worked with KREATOR, a band from Germany, and ANGRA, another band from Brazil, friends of ours, and I was really impressed with the way he worked [with] both bands."

According to SEPULTURA singer Derrick Green, the band's next record will see him and his bandmates continuing to take their sound in new, previously unexplored directions, something that has become somewhat of a SEPULTURA trademark.

"This album, it's exciting, because I think a lot of fans don't have any idea what to expect, but they know that a SEPULTURA album is always different from the last," Derrick said. "I think that makes us better musicians, and I think that's what our fans expect."

Multi-platinum rock band Stryper kicked off their 30th Anniversary To Hell With The Devil Tour in late September, with record crowds in attendance for the first eight shows. With 28 cities to go before the band takes an indefinite hiatus from the road, tickets and VIP Meet & Greet packages are selling out fast.

“We’re only eight shows in and it’s incredible,” said frontman Michael Sweet. “The fan response has been overwhelming. It’s amazing that thirty years later, we’re still here. And it’s even more amazing that the fans are still here. We’re totally humbled by it.”

Stryper has resurrected their trademark yellow and black costumes for this tour, which includes two live sets, multi-media and their largest sound and lighting production in nearly two decades. Paying tribute to the hit album that made MTV history, Stryper takes the stage to perform the iconic To Hell With The Devil album in it’s entirety, followed by a second set of hits and fan favorites from other albums.

Fan-filmed video from Stryper's September 30th show at the House Of Blues in Orlando, FL is available below.

Go to this location for Stryper's complete tour schedule.

Released by Enigma Records on October 24, 1986, the Grammy-nominated To Hell With The Devil is the band’s third studio album and the first Christian metal album to achieve platinum status. Throughout 1987, the music videos for "Free" and "Honestly" ranked #1 on MTV’s list of most requested videos, and the video for "Calling on You" reached #2. Stryper was the first band to ever have two songs in MTV’s Top 10 simultaneously.

On October 21, Finnish rockers HANOI ROCKS will see their early albums compiled into two collector's edition box sets, one a 5CD set and the other a 6LP vinyl set, both to be released by Cleopatra Records. Titled "Strange Boys", these collections offer the band's first four studio albums, plus the live album "All Those Wasted Years". These are the complete albums and include several of the group's signature tunes, such as "Tragedy", "Motorvatin'", "Don't You Never Leave Me", "Malibu Beach Nightmare", "Back To Mystery City" and a ton more! These gorgeous sets re-create all of the band's original artwork and come with a glossy full-color booklet, which contain rare photos and extensive excerpts from the band's official biography, "All Those Wasted Years", which will be released for the first time in English this year.

HANOI ROCKS was formed in Helsinki, Finland in 1979 by Michael Monroe (Matti Fagerholm) and his friend, guitarist Andy McCoy (Antti Hulkko). The band saw major success in the early '80s, having sold over a million albums while touring the world. However, heartbreak struck the band when drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley was killed in a drunk-driving accident after a day of partying with fellow glam rockers MÖTLEY CRÜE. HANOI ROCKS broke up a year later in 1985, only to resurrect themselves in the early '90s with a reunion tour and several more studio albums. Now, decades later, Cleopatra Records keeps the legacy of HANOI ROCKS alive with this superb reissue that fans will absolutely love!

Track listing:

Disc 1

01. Tragedy02. Village Girl03. Stop Cryin'04. Don't Never Leave Me05. Lost In The City06. First Timer07. Cheyenne08. 11th Street Kids09. Walking With My Angel10. Pretender

Disc 2

01. Motorvatin'02. Don't Follow Me03. Visitor04. Teenangels Outsiders05. Sweet Home Suburbia06. M.C. Baby07. No Law Or Order08. Oriental Beat09. Devil Woman10. Lightning Bar Blues11. Fallen Star

Disc 3

01. Love's An Injection02. I Want You03. Cafe Avenue04. Nothing New05. Kill City Kills06. Self Destruction Blues07. Beer And A Cigarette08. Whispers In The Dark09. Taxi-Driver10. Desperados11. Problem Child12. Dead By X-Mas

Disc 4

01. Strange Boys Play Weird Openings02. Malibu Beach03. Mental Beat04. Tooting Bec Wreck05. Until I Get You06. Sailing Down The Tears07. Lick Summer Love08. Beating Gets Faster09. Ice Cream Summer10. Back To Mystery City

Disc 5

01. Pipeline02. Oriental Beat03. Back To Mystery City04. Motorvatin'05. Until I Get You06. Mental Beat07. Don't Never Leave Me08. Tragedy09. Malibu Beach Nightmare10. Visitor11. 11th Street Kids12. Taxi-Drivers13. Lost In The City14. Lightning Bar Blues15. Beer And Cigarette16. Under My Wheels17. I Feel Alright18. Train Kept A Rolling

British extreme metallers CRADLE OF FILTH will enter the studio in December to begin recording their follow-up to 2015's "Hammer Of The Witches" album for a tentative September 2017 release.

"The songs have been [musically] finished, actually," CRADLE OF FILTH frontman Dani Filth told Metal Wani in a new interview (hear audio below). "I'm far from finished [writing the lyrics]; I've written two songs so far. So we're working hard, and everybody's contributing."

Filth described CRADLE OF FILTH's new material as "very Victorian, gothic horror" with songs that "are seven, eight minutes" in length and that are "a bit proggy [and] fast."

The writing sessions for CRADLE OF FILTH's next album were held in Brno, Czech Republic, which was chosen as a location for several reasons aside from the draw of its elegance and rich architecture; drummer Marthus and second guitarist Ashok live there, plus Brno is also home to Europe's second largest Ossuary, which is essentially a medieval charnel house filled with fifty thousand skeletons, second only in size to the catacombs in Paris.

Among the tracks that are being considered for inclusion on the upcoming CRADLE OF FILTH CD is "Achingly Beautiful", which was originally composed during the sessions for "Hammer Of The Witches" but didn't make the final cut. Dani previously described the song as "very old-school CRADLE OF FILTH, featuring a haunting middle section full of soaring female vocals and choir very akin to 'A Gothic Romance' from the album 'Dusk... And Her Embrace'."

"Hammer Of The Witches" marked the first release with CRADLE OF FILTH's new lineup, which includes new guitarists Ashok (of Czech groups ROOT and INNER FEAR) and Richard Shaw (of English acts EMPEROR CHUNG and NG26).

"Rockabye Dreamland", a brand new song from ENUFF Z'NUFF, can be streamed below. The track is taken from the band's new album, "Clowns Lounge", which will be released on December 2 via Frontiers Music Srl.

"Clowns Lounge" is a collection of rarities and early demos that have been reworked and re-recorded by the band. This exceptional collection also features a guest appearance from the late Jani Lane (WARRANT) as well as an appearance from James Young of STYX. As people have been clamoring for a new release from ENUFF Z'NUFF, the band just happened to receive a call from Derek Shulman, and the rest was history: "We had unfinished, unreleased material in the vault, and I went back into the studio in Chicago and started working on all the songs," said Chip Z'nuff. "Guitars, bass, vocals, it all needed to be tweaked, and with help from Chicago Recording Company and Chris Steinmetz of Stonecutter recording studios, we were able to create another rock-solid record. It is basically an archival record featuring original band and ENUFF Z'NUFF as it is today. The record showcases the best elements of ENUFF Z'NUFF in the early days: in-your-face glitter rock with pop overtones. This is a true must have rock record for the diehard ENUFF Z'NUFF fans worldwide." Chip on how the songs came about: "Donnie and I wrote the songs in the later part of 1988-89. They were recorded in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, on two-inch analog tape, during the time of our debut. The tracks were never finished, as we were very prolific and focused on laying down as many ideas as possible. Through the resources provided to us — recording studio, production, etc.— we had a plethora of songs during that era and, for one reason or another, this batch slipped through the cracks.

"To restore the record we returned to the studio to record guitar, bass vocals, etc. which took us about six weeks in my studio and at CRC (Chicago Recording Company) along with Stonecutter studio in downtown Chicago. The skeleton of the song was already in place and we wanted to make sure the record had the feel of where the band is today. We also added a bonus single track ('Dog On A Bone') that we plan on releasing as the first single." Of course, a huge contributing member to this release was Donnie Vie. "Donnie and I wrote the songs together, as we have on all the ENUFF Z'NUFF albums," Chip continued. "In 2013, Donnie left the band, disillusioned by the business and facing related health issues, and although he will not tour with the band, he still shares in our vision of putting out great music. As he is dealing with his medical condition, we have his blessings on the record and moving forward with me as lead singer.

"When Peter Gabriel left GENESIS, Phil Collins took over lead vocal duties. That is exactly the template we used here as now I front the band and look forward to moving it into the future."

"Clowns Lounge" track listing:

01. Dog On A Bone 02. Runaway 03. Back In Time 04. She Makes It Harder05. Rockabye Dreamland 06. The Devil Of Shakespeare (feat. Jani Lane and James Young)07. Radio 08. Good Luv 09. Round And Round 10. Nothing 11. Backstreet Kids 12. One More Hit ENUFF Z'NUFF is:

Chip Z'nuff - Vocals, electric bass, guitarTony Fennell - Electric guitar, vocalsTory Stoffregen - Lead guitar, vocalsErik Donner - Drums, percussion, vocals

Roadrunner recording group THE AMITY AFFLICTION has debuted the official video for "All Fucked Up", the latest single from its new album, "This Could Be Heartbreak". The full-length disc arrived on August 12. The clip was directed by the band's frontman, Joel Birch, along with Ryan Mackfall, and it follows the band's two-part epic laid out in the videos for "I Bring The Weather With Me" and "This Could Be Heartbreak". THE AMITY AFFLICTION is currently celebrating "This Could Be Heartbreak" with a truly epic world tour, highlighted by their ongoing North American headline trek. The dates — which feature special guests including BEING AS AN OCEAN, HUNDRETH, TROPHY EYES and DEADSHIPS — are set to conclude on October 22 at San Diego, California's Soma. In addition, the band will be performing a festival set the following day, October 23, at Monster Energy Aftershock. Deeply personal and emotionally wrenching, "This Could Be Heartbreak" is THE AMITY AFFLICTION's most transformative and revealing record yet. Recorded by producer and longtime collaborator Will Putney at Melbourne's Holes And Corners with additional drum tracking done at Sing Sing Studios, the album finds THE AMITY AFFLICTION evolving their signature powerful and cathartic song craft. Both ambitious and grand, album standouts "This Could Be Heartbreak" and "All Fucked Up" are equal parts heavy and hopeful, fueled by frontman Joel Birch's desperation which achieves extraordinary transcendence through radical honesty and absolute power. "This Could Be Heartbreak" track listing:

01. I Bring The Weather With Me02. This Could Be Heartbreak03. Nightmare04. Tearing Me Apart05. O.M.G.I.M.Y.06. All Fucked Up07. Fight My Regret08. Some Friends09. Wishbone10. Note To Self11. Blood In My Mouth

Robert Plant and the SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS will be featured on "Austin City Limits" this coming weekend, marking his first time on the "Austin City Limits" stage in more than a decade. Plant's performance on the show, the longest-running live music television series, premieres this Saturday, October 15 on PBS stations across the United States. The full-hour set, which he taped at the end of his "Southern Journey" tour of the American South in March, includes songs from his 2014 Nonesuch debut album, "Lullaby And... The Ceaseless Roar" — "Rainbow", "Turn It Up" and "Little Maggie" — as well as LED ZEPPELIN favorites, like "Black Dog"; you can watch that performance below.

Plant joins Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, THE MILK CARTON KIDS, and more on their recently launched "Lampedusa: Concerts For Refugees" tour, starting at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee on October 12, and making stops in Chicago, Toronto, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, before culminating at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on October 21. Funds raised by "Lampedusa" will support Jesuit Refugee Service's educational programs for refugees around the world.

Plant told The Pulse Of Radio that he works hard to maintain a certain level of quality control in everything he does. "Well, you set the bar at a certain height in performance and in mending with your fellow man," he said. "You can’t drop too far down below that. Still, we labor on, but the bar must be kept high and you can't… I don't wish to do anything that's anything below the bar. I keep the bar really high. And the responsibility is, to keep in my own heart, to make sure that I don't waste my gift."

"Lullaby And… The Ceaseless Roar" features elven new recordings, nine of which are original songs he wrote with the band. "It's really a celebratory record," said Plant, "powerful, gritty, African, trance meets ZEP." Q calls it "his best solo album yet … a beautifully moving, soul-stirring, bravely genre-blurring album."

Plant spoke to Relix magazine about his current music and how it connects to his early days in LED ZEPPELIN, explaining, "I want people to know I'm pulling points of reference from other times and other places — incongruous and out of step and kilter — into another world. I've done it with ZEPPELIN lyrics, as well — 'if the sun refused to shine' and 'the road remains the same' and all the shit. There's so many bits like that, because I like the idea of spinning the bottle. And if one or two people pick up on it, that's the justice — that's about right."

Fan-filmed video footage of MEGADETH's October 11 performance at Sands Casino Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania can be seen below.

MEGADETH's tour with AMON AMARTH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, METAL CHURCH and BUTCHER BABIES kicked off on September 20 in Casper, Wyoming, with dates booked through October 16 in Camden, New Jersey.

MEGADETH is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, "Dystopia", which came out in January.

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine recently stated about the band's latest additions, Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known for his work with ANGRA, and former SOILWORK drummer Dirk Verbeuren: "Well, these guys are some of the best at what they do in the business, so it's really made me re-evaluate my playing. And usually I would not warm up before I would go out and play, because I know what I'm doing, and it's kind of like… I'm just a natural at it; for whatever reason, God blessed me with this gift. And seeing them now, they're just so fierce, it makes me wanna be the best I can be at what I do. Even if I am self-taught, even if it is something that I just was born with, I wanna be the best I can at it."

He continued: "You know, after I had the surgery on my neck, when my neck [was] broken, I had a plate stuck in my neck and it touched my vocal box so my voice changed, and it's made it so that my voice is a little lower. And that's kind of a bummer, because a lot of songs in the past we had to just skip because the register was so high. But with working through it and exercising and practicing and warming up and stuff like that, I've been able to return a lot of my vocal range, and that's been good for us, because we've been able to have more songs [to choose from]."

TRIUMPH legend Rik Emmett and his new band, RESOLUTION9, will release their electrifying new album, "Res 9", worldwide on November 11 via Mascot Label Group. "Res 9" features contributions from RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson, DREAM THEATER vocalist James LaBrie, and Rik Emmett's onetime TRIUMPH bandmates, bassist Mike Levine and drummer Gil Moore.

The track "I Sing", featuring a guest appearance by LaBrie, can be streamed below.

"This album represents a journey through my life," Emmett observes, "and the idea behind a lot of these songs is me trying to figure out who I am, and why I'm doing what I'm doing. There's a common thread of positivity here that ties into the records I was making 30 years ago. What did I learn from making them? You'll hear all of that echoed in the grooves of this album."

Indeed, the scope of the eleven deeply heartfelt songs on "Res 9" covers a lot of exciting aural ground, from the out-of-the-gate gallop of "Human Race" (which also features a driving 12-string contribution from Lifeson) to the testifying tones of "My Cathedral" to the whispering blues of "The Ghost of Shadow Town", not to mention the cutting-heads guitar duels on "End Of The Line" and the touching album-closing bonus track "Grand Parade". which reunites Emmett with Levine and Moore. The RESOLUTION9 band itself is comprised of Rik's touring quartet, with Dave Dunlop on guitar, Steve Skingley on bass and keyboards, and Paul DeLong on drums. Dunlop and Skingley also co-produced "Res 9" with Emmett.

Emmett is a strong believer in teamwork, and to him, the overall vibe of "Res 9" is clearly reflected in the brotherhood and camaraderie shared amongst all the artists who made this special music together. "You can't accomplish this kind of project 100 percent by yourself," Emmett believes. "It takes a lot of things working together to make something like this happen. I come back to the old saying that goes, 'Success has many fathers, and failure is an orphan.' I knew that I had to spread it all around. It's important I keep the guys in my band pretty happy."

Lead track "Human Race" masterfully sets the positivity table for what's to come. "I've been around the block a few times, and one of the things I like about the lyrics in 'Human Race' is when we get to the last verse where it says, 'I am still this guy. I still live this.' That's very true," Emmett acknowledges. "There's also a line in there about raising a joyful noise — and I still want to do that too."

Lifeson added some period-perfect 12-string guitar alongside Emmett and Dunlop to buttress the impact of "Human Race", and he says he found it quite an honor to play with and for his lifelong friend. "When Rik asked me to play on his new album, I didn't hesitate for a second," Lifeson reports. "He's the consummate musician, a wonderful guitarist, and a terrific person, and it's always my pleasure to work with him any chance I can get. There is a rock purity in his songwriting and performance, and it's just so much fun to get together and throw ideas around. He's always so up and open for anything — even a notoriously uncooperative Rickenbacker 12-string!" Dunlop points out the way RESOLUTION9 meshed with Lifeson "stands as a great example of the collective efforts of the brotherhood."

Another one of "Res 9"'s honored guests, LaBrie, lent his own considerable talents to a pair of tracks, "I Sing" and "End Of The Line" (the latter of which also features Lifeson taking the third guitar solo), and he jumped at the chance to record with his fellow Canadian.

"I've been extremely blessed and fortunate to meet so many great musicians and beautiful people throughout my career, and to have the opportunity to collaborate and record with some of them is really icing on the cake," LaBrie notes. "What a thrill it was to record with Rik, who is such an incredible musician and overall down-to-earth cool guy." About the slow-build manifesto of "I Sing", Skingley enthuses, "James sang his ass off on that song!" Adds Dunlop, "I enjoyed tracking the guitars on 'I Sing' the most because I got to go crazy with several layers of guitars — and I also got to channel [PINK FLOYD's] David Gilmour on the outro."

A fair amount of the album was recorded and mixed at Mississauga, Ontario's MetalWorks Studios, a location where Emmett, Levine and Moore (who owns the studio) recorded many of TRIUMPH's greatest works — and it's also where the trio convened to tackle "Grand Parade". Clarifies Emmett, "The TRIUMPH song is a bonus track. That's the best way to position it. It's like 'Suitcase Blues' [the last track on TRIUMPH's 1979 million-seller, 'Just A Game'] — or 'Her Majesty' at the end of Abbey Road!"

Having TRIUMPH involved on "Res 9" to some degree was always on the table. "I play 'Suitcase Blues' as the last song of the night in the encore for my acoustic shows. I dedicate it to Mike and Gil and the fact that they gave me the latitude to do the crazy things that I do," Emmett laughs. "As I was developing the lyrics for 'Grand Parade', I started thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great if I could get Mike and Gil to play on it? Wouldn't that just bring everything full circle?' One thing led to another, and there we were, recording in MetalWorks. Things just lined up perfectly."

Levine had a great time in the studio with his former bandmates. "We rocked it up a bit, and Gil made the drums heavier than they were on the demo," the bassist notes. "Once I paid deeper attention to the lyrics, I really got into the 'let's wrap up this late night' kind of feel to it. I think it turned out really fantastic. I told Rik I felt it was a really cool tune, one that was very personal for all of us. I'm really, really proud of it, and it was great to work with both Rik and Gil on it. It was really neat."

Moore wholly enjoyed the "Grand Parade" experience. "It was really a pleasure to have Rik and his band at MetalWorks, and getting to see him there every day was just like the old days," the drummer recounts. "I always liked how Rik was able to bring another dimension and another color palette to what we were doing, and I like the spacious bass and drum tracks we did together. That's what's always been in my wheelhouse, as far as my playing is concerned. I'm really happy with how this song turned out. I hope we get to do it again."

Emmett's ultimate goal for "Res 9" is to connect with as many people as possible. "The context of this entire album for me was, 'Wow, somebody tossed me a lifeline,'" he concludes. "I still want to make positive music and offer people something that's motivating and inspiring — and I want to do it for myself too. I need music, and music can provide that lifeline for me." Mission accomplished: "I've got a thirst for life," as Emmett sings on "Human Race". And you'll find that thirst being quenched quite handily in the very heartbeats that percolate within all eleven tracks of "Res 9". Drink up.

"Res 9" track listing:

01. Stand Still02. Human Race (feat. Alex Lifeson)03. I Sing (feat. James LaBrie)04. My Cathedral05. The Ghost Of Shadow Town06. When You Were My Baby07. Sweet Tooth08. Heads Up09. Rest Of My Life10. End Of The Line (feat. Alex Lifeson & James LaBrie)11. Grand Parade (feat. Gil Moore & Mike Levine) (bonus track)

Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt has revealed that he is in a "metal gentleman's club" with members of Entombed AD and Grand Magus.

The vocalist says he and Opeth bandmate Fredrik Akesson regularly meet up with Entombed AD guitarist Nico Elgstrand and Grand Magus frontman Janne 'JB' Christoffersson to drink and discuss topics ranging from music to their childhood teddy bears.

Akerfeldt tells Metal Hammer: "I love to have people over, and so we’ve started a gentleman’s club. It’s me, Fredrik, Nico from Entombed AD and JB from Grand Magus.

"We go out to have a drink, or we come to my place and we listen to music. We have a group email thing where we discuss the topics we’re going to talk about at the next dinner. Like, if you had a teddy bear when you were a kid, what was it called? Things like that.

"It’s very metal. We were talking about a name, and the one we came up with was The Swallowers, because we’re always eating. I’m planning to get some rings made, because I know a silversmith, so it’s a serious business.”

The Swallowers also enjoy some gentle ribbing, with JB usually on the end of it.

Akerfeldt adds: “With JB, it’s heavy metal or nothing, so he’s very easy to wind up! When he’s been to my place, I’ve played stuff almost exclusively for him – things he can’t get his head around, like Scott Walker or Magma.

"I love the guy. He’s very bright, very down-to-earth… and I’m making new friends, and that feels good.”

The official 360-degree visualizer for the song "Stronghold" from San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's twelfth album, "Brotherhood Of The Snake", which will be released on October 28 via Nuclear Blast. The cover was once again created by renowned artist Eliran Kantor, who also handled the art for the TESTAMENT's last album, 2012's "Dark Roots Of Earth", and also worked with bands like HATEBREED, SOULFLY and KATAKLYSM in the past.

"Brotherhood Of The Snake" track listing:

01. Brotherhood Of The Snake02. The Pale King03. Stronghold04. Seven Seals05. Born In A Rut06. Centuries Of Suffering07. Neptune's Spear08. Black Jack09. Canna-Business10. The Number Game

"Brotherhood Of The Snake" was recorded under the watchful eyes of producer Juan Urteaga (EXODUS, HEATHEN, MACHINE HEAD), guitarist Eric Peterson and singer Chuck Billy and was mixed and mastered by British metal producer Andy Sneap (ACCEPT, ARCH ENEMY, CRADLE OF FILTH, KREATOR, MACHINE HEAD, MEGADETH).

Regarding the lyrical themes covered on "Brotherhood Of The Snake", Chuck told Metal Wani: "Well, it's kind of like a concept record. I know, going into it, the past records, I was writing songs that were more personal and there were topics that were kind of real — losing a family member or anything that's real; that's what we were kind of writing. And Eric really wanted to kind of get back to, 'Let's write some cool stories and cool words and cool lyrics.' And so I was, like, 'Okay, that's cool.' And then, I kind of, at the time, was watching a TV series; it was a show called 'Ancient Aliens' that was on once a week. And it showed a lot of the connection between aliens and religion. And it kind of got my attention, because there was different religions all around the world, different spots in the world, where there was always the same alien being with big heads and strange bodies and flying objects in the sky. And it kind of made me realize, wow, how, that many thousands of years ago, did they communicate and see these same things unless it was real, unless there's something about it. So it really made me think, maybe there is something to these aliens and our existence and religion and everything. And then I stumbled on to the 'brotherhood of the snake' and the story of that. And that was about a secret society over six thousand years ago that were out on a crusade just to dig down religions. And there was an alien king, Anu, who basically created mankind as a slave for them to mine the minerals and gold from our planet earth. So it was kind of, like, 'Wow!' From an 'Ancient Aliens' show to this… There's something there that we can kind of run on and get the lyrics going and tell the storyline about. So that kind of got the ball rolling."

Peterson told Kaaos TV about "Brotherhood Of The Snake": "The only difference on this one is we're trying to be a little bit more organic, and getting away from Andy's perfection sound, and get more of a looser… you know, still keeping the slickness of it, but trying to get a little bit more raw. So it's kind of a hard way to describe it. But we don't want it too perfect. And I didn't record four guitars; I did two this time. So there's a lot more air going on with the rhythms and stuff like that."

Asked whether the musical direction of TESTAMENT's new material is a throwback to the band's early albums or if it's more similar to the recent TESTAMENT records, Eric said: "More like the modern [TESTAMENT sound], but, you know, like I was saying earlier, having that more raw feeling. Of course, our influences have changed a lot. For me, I always get accused of listening to older stuff [and I am told that] I need to listen to more new stuff. But I always like to go back and listen to records from the '70s and the '80s. And I won't name the bands I listen to, but I listen to a lot of different stuff that has nothing to do with metal, because I hear things differently. I don't hear it, like… You know, like if I listen to [American blues rock guitarist] Joe Bonamassa or something, I'm not, like, 'Wow, I wanna sound like that.' I just kind of get ideas of key changes and the way he hits certain notes or whatever and apply it to what we're doing. And that's the same thing with anything."

TESTAMENT will promote "Brotherhood Of The Snake" by teaming up with AMON AMARTH for a European tour this fall.

PANTERA's "The Great Southern Trendkill: 20th Anniversary Edition" will be released on October 21. This two-disc set includes the original album remastered, plus a dozen previously unreleased mixes, instrumentals, and live recordings. Also being released on October 21 is a single LP titled "The Great Southern Outtakes" featuring ten of the unreleased tracks.

More details on previously unreleased material: The companion disc that accompanies the original album features an unreleased version of every album track, including two versions of "Suicide Note Pt. 1" — a rough mix of the track, along with a separate version of the introduction, which spotlights "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott on 12-string acoustic guitar. The second disc also features a newly remixed version of the title track, rough mixes for "Drag The Waters" and "The Underground In America", as well as instrumental takes for "13 Steps To Nowhere" and "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)" . In addition to the studio recordings, the anniversary collection features three live tracks recorded at the Dynamo festival in Holland in 1998: "War Nerve", "Suicide Note Pt. II" and "Sandblasted Skin".

One of the album's previously unreleased cuts — an early mix of "Drag The Waters" — can be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below.

"That solo was thought out in a more orchestrated fashion than some of the others I play where I just start ripping right off the bat," Dimebag told Guitar World at the time of the album's release. "The thing that really makes the 'Floods' solo come across like it does is [bassist] Rex's [Brown] playing behind it. He's using his fingers and he plays a whole bunch of cool licks and shit in there. He definitely adds to the vibe and feel of my lead because I'm playing off his part a lot — it was a great foundation for me to build on, man.

"I picked up the idea of doubling from Randy Rhoads. It seemed appropriate to start off in a slow, melodic fashion and then build and build and build to the climax with the big harmonic squeals at the end."

"The Great Southern Trendkill: 20th Anniversary Edition" track listing:

Disc 1

01. The Great Southern Trendkill02. War Nerve03. Drag The Waters04. 10 s05. 13 Steps To Nowhere06. Suicide Note Pt. I07. Suicide Note Pt. II08. Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)09. Floods10. The Underground In America11. (Reprise) Sandblasted Skin

Disc 2

01. The Great Southern Trendkill (2016 Mix)02. War Nerve (Live 98)03. Drag The Waters (Early Mix)04. 10 s (Early Mix)05. 13 Steps To Nowhere (Instrumental Version)06. Suicide Note Pt. I (Intro) *07. Suicide Note Pt. I (Early Mix) *08. Suicide Note Pt. II (Live 98)09. Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath) (Instrumental Version)10. Floods (Early Mix)11. The Underground In America (Early Mix)12. Sandblasted Skin (Live 98)

In the June 1996 issue of Guitar World magazine, Dimebag stated about how "The Great Southern Trendkill" compared to PANTERA's previous efforts: "It's almost like a 'best of,' man. Some of the riffs on it date back to our 'Cowboys From Hell' and 'Vulgar Display Of Power' periods. Hell, a couple of ideas even go back to before we got signed. For example, when we were still playing small clubs, I used to play a 20-minute solo that consisted of everything from Eddie's [Van Halen] 'Eruption' to Randy's [Rhoads] '(Revelation) Mother Earth' — plus whatever else I felt like throwing in. A regular part of my solo featured a long-assed, 'sing-along' type lead section, which has ended up in a song called 'Floods'."

Dimebag also talked about his lead-guitar-playing approach on "The Great Southern Trendkill". He said: "There's definitely quite a few solos on this motherfucker! But beyond quantity, I think that I'm developing more of my own identity, lead-wise. My solos are more focused. Some of 'em even have a melodic, theme-like vibe in places — like the one in 'Floods'. Also, I've gotten into doubling my leads, like Randy Rhoads used to do. I'm not panning them right and left in the mix: it's two right on top of each other. To a lot of people's ears it might sound like I'm using a chorus or a similar type of effect, but it's just me doubling my parts."

He continued: "Yeah, there's definitely some guitar playing on this bitch, and once again, man, there's a real live vibe in my rhythm work. If anybody wants to learn how to play these songs right, you can't just learn the main riffs and then merely repeat 'em, you've gotta listen real close to catch all the little techniques, slurs and bends that I put in there. I think it's the subtleties that really add to the depth of our material, much more so than having some outrageous lead guitar jack-off in every damned song!"

In a 2010 interview with ARTISTdirect, singer Philip Anselmo stated about his lyrical inspiration for "The Great Southern Trendkill": "I was very aware of what was going on around us at the time. We were a heavy metal band that had created our own heavy metal niche and that was PANTERA. I saw everyone jumping on a bandwagon that was destined to die and, sure enough, it did—like anything else. As a matter of fact, make that like three or four little movements in music there that were fleeting. That happened. That's history. Follow the leader for a little while until it gets burned out then bingo, right back to the basics. I called out all of the little fucking trendy things, and I bashed them and lambasted them. That's where my head was at the time."

Official video footage of METALLICA performing its classic song "For Whom The Bell Tolls" live on September 27 at a special intimate show at the 1,500-capacity Webster Hall in New York City can be seen below.

Fans were able to witness the Webster Hall concert after entering an online contest for a chance to purchase $25 tickets, the proceeds from which benefited City Harvest, an organization that delivers food to New Yorkers in need. Also in attendance were members of TOOL and VOLBEAT and a cast member from "Orange Is the New Black".

METALLICA's tenth studio album, "Hardwired...To Self-Destruct", which 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.

"Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" was produced by Greg Fidelman with frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. The band recorded the disc at its own studio.

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

Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt has revealed he had a Swedish rap band with Katatonia frontman Jonas Renkse.

He says the pair experimented with different genres in the form of various side projects – because they had a lot of "spare time" and their bands "weren't going anywhere."

Akerfeldt tells Revolver (via The PRP): “I haven’t spoken about this a lot in interviews, but I have done demos with a rap band I had with Jonas, the singer from Katatonia. We were poor, we had no money, we had shitloads of spare time because our bands weren’t going anywhere – so we made these demos, and one of them was a rap group we had. So I have done some rap – in Swedish."

When asked whether they would release the tapes, he replies: “Well, they’re shit. They’re absolute shit! We can’t have been too old, doing something like that.

"All we did was smoke cigarettes, drink coffee and record these stupid fucking side projects. We had a country band, a rap band – we had one band where the music was just farts. And it was named Heinz, after Heinz beans.

"I’m not sure I’d want them to blow up on the internet, but it might be fun to sit down with someone I really respect and say, ‘Listen to this!’”

Currently on the road in Europe, legendary Bay Area rock band Y&T performed at the Z7 in Pratteln, Switzerland on September 18th. A five song recap of the show has been posted online; check it out below. The clip features the following songs:

"Midnight In Tokyo"
"Take You To The Limit"
"Hang 'Em High"
"Rescue Me"
"Open Fire"

Y&T are in Europe and the UK for 32 shows over two straight months. Frontman Dave Menikettit released the following statement before the tour:

“We know the fans are always asking us to play tunes that we haven't always had the opportunity to play for years; so we decided to work on some cool gems from Y&T's deep catalog of songs to make certain we give you a special and different show from previous years. Because we took some time off this summer, we are especially energized and excited to bring that special Y&T energy, passion, and enjoyment to every single one of these shows. Please come join us--especially now, as the world need the positive energy that we can all make happen together. See you very soon!"

Remaining dates are as follows:

October
13 - Essen, Germany - Turock
14 - Zwolle, Netherlands - Poppodium Hedon
15 - Uden, Netherlands - de Pul
16 - Zoetermeer, Netherlands - Cultuurpodium Boerderij
18 - Verviers, Belgium - Spirit of 66
22 - Vauréal, France - Le Forum
23 - Kortrijk, Belgium - De Kreun
25 - Norwich, UK - The Waterfront 
27 - Southampton, UK - The Brook
28 - London, UK - O2 Academy Islington 
29 - Bilston, UK - The Robin 2
30 - Liverpool, UK - O2 Academy Liverpool

November 
1 - York, UK - Fibbers 
3 - Glasgow, UK - The Garage 
4 - Newcastle upon Tyne, UK - O2 Academy Newcastle 
5 - Nottingham, UK - Rock City 
6 - Bristol, UK - O2 Academy Bristol

Leonard Haze, original drummer for Y&T, passed away on September 11th, 2016, at his home in Hayward. He was 61 years old. Everyone in the Y&T camp is saddened by the recent loss of Leonard Haze. As the band was overseas about to start their European tour, they received the news of Leonard's passing. Starting with the first show, Dave Meniketti has dedicated this tour to Leonard.  

Dave Meniketti has issued the following:

“My friend and Y&T brother, Leonard Haze, passed away in his sleep on September 11. It was a shock to all of us, even though we knew he was not in the best of health the past few years. Leonard had been struggling with COPD for quite some time, and he dealt with his disease while still managing to play a few gigs every so often, with the help of an oxygen tank always nearby. COPD is not normally a disease you get better with, but sometimes it can be managed, to some degree. Unfortunately, he had recently been diagnosed with Stage IV as the disease had progressed.

"I last saw Leonard when he jammed with Joey Alves and the rest of the current Y&T lineup at the Fillmore show on April 2 of this year. He had also jammed with us at the Fillmore the year prior, and the fans loved every minute of it. He'd told me that playing with Y&T at the Fillmore was a "Bucket List" item he could cross off, and we did it 2 years in a row. Now, more than ever, am I glad that we all had the opportunity to play together for one more time on stage, just a few short months before his passing.

"Leonard was responsible for creating a drum sound that helped the band be distinctive at a time when no one else was playing that style in that way. His "Thunderfoot" single kick fast bass drum style ended up influencing many artists and fans across the world. Together, Leonard, Phil, Joey, and I created some amazing music to start Y&T off in a direction that the band continues to represent to this day.

"Our video documentary producers have tons of recent interview footage of Leonard that they have been working with every day, and he will, along with Phil Kennemore, be faithfully represented in the film, which is now even more important than ever.

"I will miss his crazy, nutty intensity, and the funny wit and spirit that was truly his own. As this European tour progresses, I dedicate every show to Leonard, and he will always be a major thread woven into the fabric of this 42-year career that is Y&T."

A Very Special Mystic Weekend - Come celebrate the huge life of Leonard Haze at this year's Mystic Theatre weekend (November 18th - 19th in Petaluma, CA). Leonard's band, the HazeXperience, will honor their founder and the music he created with them at this year's Y&T Mystic shows. This weekend of shows always sells out, so be sure to get your tickets while they're still available for these extra special shows.

Find Y&T’s tour schedule at this location.

Sammy Hagar has shared a video from the first night of his 26th Annual Birthday Bash. Check out Sammy Hagar & The Circle perform a cover of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter”.

Hagar comments: “The Circle rehearsed a week before so we could have a dozen or so new songs in our set the fans have never heard of play."Whole Lotta Rosie" may be my favorite cover song to sing ever.

“’Seventh Seal’ never sounded better -- Jason Bonham keeping it in that deep heavy pocket I can't believe we left this one out for this long, it belongs to The Circle.

“‘Helter Skelter’ - Montrose used to do this song for an encore. I remember the year we open for Aerosmith in Detroit did "Helter-Skelter" and they came out and opened with it. Last night's version I had goosebumps from beginning to end. Another keeper for The Circle.

“‘Give To Live’ we played at last year's birthday bash once. I couldn't believe the people singing it at the top of their lungs, another hair raising moment from last night. We've got many more in store for the next few nights will keep you posted.”

Hagar’s birthday bash continues tonight at the Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

A tradition over 20 years running, this is the party you don't want to miss! Redheads gather from around the globe to celebrate Sammy's birthday in a series of four shows at the Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Sammy and the Circle hold down the fort, and you never know what special guests to expect.

Canadian rock veterans the Headstones are currently writing songs for the new record. They have posted a pre-production featuring Love & Fury album producer Chris Osti, live at the Killing Room Studio. Check out a snippet of the new song "For Your Consideration" below. The new album is due out in 2017.

The Headstones will perform a Halloween show on October 31st at The Venue in London, England. Go to this location for more details and ticket information.

The Headstones recently issued the following update:

"Introducing... Lyle the Executioner - now drumming for the Headstones on stage and in the studio. Obviously, he gives zero fucks."

Lyle replaces Dale Harrison who left the band earlier this year; Dale's statement reads as follows:

"It is with mixed emotion that I announce my departure from the Headstones drum chair to make way for other endeavors. It has been a 22 year adventure that has now come to a close for me with the band," says Dale Harrison.

"In May ‘94 I was recruited to tour Picture Of Health, record and help finish the second album Teeth & Tissue; after the departure of Mark Gibson - the drummer who helped craft the first disc. I was accepted as the new member by our fans and have been the drummer ever since. It is my hope that Headstones fans will show whomever replaces me the same respect I’ve enjoyed ever since. In 2003 after 9 ½ years of hardcore touring and five albums later the Headstones took a much needed hiatus. In 2011 we reunited and continued to hammer out our brand of chaos to incredible audiences and played slews of awesome gigs across Canada and bordering US cites. During that time we also accomplished production of two fresh albums and a 12" vinyl single.

I will always reflect on this time in my life with great pride but I feel it is now time to move on and follow my own aspirations. I wish the best to the boys in the band whom I’ve called brothers for many years. I will miss the team at Bernie Breen management who were and will always be like family to me. Perhaps one day our schedules will align again! Until then, adios amigos! All the best! Be well! Oh and stay tuned folks for what projects I've got coming up! PVTA!"

Photo by Gordon Hawkins

Funko will release a Pop! vinyl figure of MOTÖRHEAD legend Lemmy Kilmister in November. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and comes in a window display box.

Mark Robben, the toy company's director of marketing, told Fuse about its über-successful Pop! line: "This is now no longer just a collecting thing that is really kind of niche. Now it's hitting everybody, there's literally a license for everybody. If you like Batman, of course we got that. But if you like Supernatural or Orphan Black, or something that's a little deeper and a little more narrow, we've still got it." Robben noted that the Golden Girls and Star Wars Pop! dolls are huge successes, and that a collection of Playmobil dolls are on the way.

For more information, visit Aggronautix.com.

Lemmy, who celebrated his 70th birthday last Christmas Eve (December 24), learned two days later that he was afflicted with an aggressive form of cancer. He died two days later, on December 28, at his home in Los Angeles.

The MOTÖRHEAD frontman had dealt with several health issues over the past few years, including heart trouble, forcing him to cut back on his famous smoking and Jack Daniels habits.

The band canceled a number of shows last year, although they did manage to complete one final European tour on December 11, 2015.

Austin rock band Funeralizer will release its self-titled debut album on October 28th via Crayo KC. The group, a trio featuring drummer Trivett Wingo (ex-The Sword), guitarist David DiDonato (Ultimate Dragons) and bassist Clarke Wilson (Bangaar, Those Peabodys), play music that is at once, eclectic, electric and loud.

"'RIC’ kicks off our upcoming album and I think it’s one of our best songs," comments Wingo. "To me, it captures the essence of the math rock thing that we were all doing in Richmond, Virginia back in the ‘90s, like Breadwinner and Sliang Laos and all that." 
   
Recorded by Bryan Richie (The Sword) at The Berry, Funeralizer delivers 12 terse tracks that swell with Sturm und Drang, discordance and dissonance. The album's arresting cover art was created by Joby Ford, guitarist for The Bronx / Mariachi El Bronx.

"The idea behind Funeralizer is that everything is super concentrated. No fluff," Wingo continues. "It seems like the best parts of most songs can be summed up in about a minute and a half. The goal is to keep things dense. Boredom is the enemy."  He adds, "I'm excited to get this record out 'cuz I feel like, for the most part, it doesn't sound like anything anyone else is doing."

Tracklisting:

“RIC”
“Single Entendre (The Cigar Song)”
“Vexed And Perplexed”
“Koo Stark’s Big Break (Pt. III)”
“Kallista”
“The Real Tragedy Would Have Been If Romeo And Juliet Had Lived”
“The Monster That Lives In My Garage”
“Rotting On The Vine”
“One-Dimensional Chess”
“Gary’s Lament”
“Huck Fin”
“Game Over Man, Game Over”

“RIC”:

Poland’s Furia will release their fifth full-length on November 14th.  Entitled Księżyc milczy luty (roughly translates to “Moon Silent Severe”) the album is scheduled to be released through Pagan Records. Once again recording took place at Czyściec Studio. Mixing duties were fulfilled by the band’s vocalist/guitarist Nihil and mastering by Bartłomiej Kuzniak at Studio 333.

Furia were established in Katowice, Poland in 2003. Their unique take on black metal with elements of folk (dubbed “Nekrofolk”) and abstract poetic themes influenced by the astounding and brutal beauty of their home province of Silesia took Polish black metal to entirely new regions. The band’s music is spiced up with lyrics written by Nihil, who is one of the most gifted Polish artists of the decade. No wonder the band are considered to be one of the most influential acts in Poland. Nocel, the band’s previous full-length, dominated the Polish metal charts when it was released in October 2014 via Pagan Records.

Furia is part of the “Let the World Burn” collective which comprises multiple bands sharing the same members. This collective includes, but is not limited to: MasseMord, Furia, FDS and Cssaba.

Tracklisting:

“Za ćmą, w dym”
“Ciało”
“Tam jest tu”
“Grzej”
“Zabieraj łapska”
Zwykłe czary wieją”

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters will be featured on Austin City Limits (ACL) this coming weekend, marking his first time on the ACL stage in more than a decade. Plant's performance on the show, the longest-running live music television series, premieres this Saturday, October 15th, on PBS stations across the United States.

The full-hour set, which he taped at the end of his Southern Journey tour of the American South in March, includes songs from his 2014 Nonesuch debut album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar - “Rainbow”, "Turn It Up" and "Little Maggie" - as well as Led Zeppelin favorites and tunes from Plant's earlier solo album, like "In The Mood"; you can watch that performance below.

Robert Plant joins Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, The Milk Carton Kids, and more on their recently launched Lampedusa: Concerts for Refugees tour, starting at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee tomorrow, October 12th, and making stops in Chicago, Toronto, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, before culminating at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC, on October 21st. Funds raised by Lampedusa will support Jesuit Refugee Service's educational programs for refugees around the world.

For details, visit this location.

Veteran Danish power metallers Iron Fire have released a new single, “Iron Eagle”, from their new album, Among The Dead, out now via Crime Records. The album is available on CD, cassette, and vinyl LP formats. Order the album at this location. Listen to “Iron Eagle” below.

The new offering from Iron Fire is as old school as it gets 16 years into the millennium, according to a press release. The ‘90s spawned a lot of power metal classics, and Among the Dead is made in the spirit of those. Albums like Black in Mind (Rage), The Dark Saga (Iced Earth) and Better Than Raw (Helloween) were all blueprints for the making of Among the Dead.

Recorded in Death Island Studio with engineer Marco Angioni and Mixed in Poland's Hertz Studios, heaviness is guaranteed, along with melodic hooks, blistering guitars and pounding power metal drumming.

Among The Dead tracklisting:

“Intro (The Lost City)”
“Among The Dead”
“Hammer Of The Gods”
“Tornado Of Sickness”
“Higher Ground”
“Iron Eagle”
“Made To Suffer”
“The Last Survivor”
“No Sign Of Life”
“Ghost From The Past”
“When The Lights Go Out”
“For Whom The Bell Tolls” (Metallica cover)

“Iron Eagle”:

“Tornado Of Sickness”:

Among The Dead preview video:

Italy’s Hour Of Penance will release their seventh full length album, Cast The First Stone, via Prosthetic Records on January 27th. The follow-up to 2014's Regicide, Cast The First Stone was recorded at Kick Recording Studio by bassist, Marco Mastrobuono. Artwork for the album, as seen below, was completed by Gyula Havancsak.

Giulio Moschini, lead guitarist and songwriter goes into more detail on the album, "Sonically speaking, this is the best sounding album we've ever recorded. We really worked hard on this, listening to the album countless times before finally delivering the masters to Prosthetic Records. It was definitely worth the wait and we're 100% satisfied by the great work Marco has done behind the mixing desk. We've literally spent weeks trying different mic techniques, hardware and preamps;  all trying to avoid plug-in technologies as much as we could. We wanted our album to sound more dynamic and I think that we've achieved that 100%."

Regarding the concept of the album, vocalist Paolo Pieri says it revolves around the idea that the injustices suffered during the Crusades and Colonialism do not justify the chain of hate that propagandizes the destruction of the West. Pieri expands on this, “I believe that the political situation in recent years has brought to light again a millennial conflict between West and East. Events like the terrorist attack at the Bataclan, where we only played a few months before the massacre, have influenced the lyrics on this record very much. It does not matter who has thrown the first stone, but who first evolved his ideology to seek peace and coexistence instead of war to the bitter end."

Cast The First Stone tracklisting:

“XXI Century Imperial Crusade”
“Cast The First Stone”
“Burning Bright”
“Iron Fist”
“The Chains Of Misdeed”
“Horn Of Flies”
“Shroud Of Ashes”
“Wall Of Cohorts”
“Damnatio Memoriae”

Hour Of Penance is:

Giulio Moschini - Guitars
Paolo Pieri - Vocals / Guitars
Marco Mastrobuono - Bass
Davide Billia – Drums

(Photo - Carina Martins | Photography)

Dark Essence Records have announced the details of the new album from veteran Norwegian black metallers, Sarkom, which is set to hit the streets on December 2nd.

Titled Anti-Cosmic Art, the seven-track album was originally intended to mark the band's tenth anniversary, but was delayed due to a combination of personal and technical difficulties that often beset bands and skew carefully laid release plans. Which, as it happens, worked out for the best, because it gave the band time to rethink, and produce an album that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sarkom is a long way from being a "one trick pony", as is often the case on the black metal scene.

Featuring guest appearances from Alfahanne's Pehr Skjoldhammer, and guitar virtuosos Ronni Le Tekrø (TNT, Roquefire) and Peter Huss (Shining), as well as former Sarkom member Sagstad (Trollfest), and with artwork by Spectrvm Lvsitani.

Anti-Cosmic Art tracklisting:

“Previous Associates, Now As Targets For The Gun”
“Mind-Abscess”
“Ruiners Of Our Family Tree”
“Seen Through The Eyes Of A Paedophile Priest”
“Come, Dear Cancer”
“Black Metal Necrophilia”
“Sodomy And Lust” (Sodom cover)

Founder and frontman Unsgaard (So Much For Nothing), Sgt V (ex-Svarttjern) on bass, Thrawn (ex-Dødheimsgard) on guitar and Defest (Svarthaueg) on drums, have made full use of the unique, crushingly dark sound that is Sarkom’s trademark, and have come up with an album that ranges from icy, old school black metal, to more experimental tracks. Brutally catchy, guitar-driven, and featuring blast beats from hell, Anti-Cosmic Art demonstrates perfectly that Sarkom have no problems stepping out of their comfort zone, or of appealing to a wider audience.

To mark the release of Anti-Cosmic Art, Sarkom will play the following two Norwegian dates:

December
3 - Good Omens - Trondheim, Norway
17 - Revolver - Oslo, Norway