California technical death metal collective, Wrath Of Vesuvius, now more commonly known as WRVTH, recently joined forces with extreme metal powerhouse, Unique Leader Records, for the release of their third full-length this Spring.

Established in 2007, WRVTH self-financed their 2009 A World In Peril EP, followed by their 2010 debut long player, Portals Through Ophiuchus, before piquing the interest of Mediaskare Records who released sophomore rager, Revelation, in 2013. Following two years of maniacal tour schedules, personnel shifts, and a wholly matured approach to their sound, Wrath Of Vesuvius will drop their self-titled third offering this Spring.

Comments the band of their union with Unique Leader, "We are beyond excited to be working with Unique Leader Records. They have always had cutting edge heavy bands that stand out among the modern metal scene. They're a solid label which means a lot these days, and we couldn't have asked for a better partner in taking our next step. We took a fresh approach to writing this record and its really starting to come together. This band has changed a lot over the last few years, and we think this record will display the distinctive character and eclectic personality that we bring to each song."

In related Wrath Of Vesuvius missives, the band will level stages alongside tech death behemoths/labelmates Inanimate Existence on a two-plus week takeover. The Enter Into Atonement Tour 2015 is scheduled for liftoff on February 26th in Stockton, California and will wind through 18 cities with additional onstage demolitions being announced in the coming months.

WRVTH with Inanimate Existence:

February

26 - The 207 - Stockton, CA

27 - EPEK Print Shop - Salinas, CA

28 - Musichead - Medford, OR

March

1 - The Third Street Pub - Bend, OR

2 - The Pin - Spokane, WA

3 - The Palace Lounge - Missoula, MT

4 - Machinery Row - Great Falls, MT

5 - Loading Dock - Salt Lake City, UT

6 - Bushwackers Saloon - Denver, CO

7 - The Blu Phoenix - Albuquerque, NM

8 - Joe's Grotto - Phoenix, AZ

9 - Slidebar - Fullerton, CA

10 - Boondocks Tavern - Banning, CA

11 - White Oak Music - Van Nuys, CA

12 - Strummer's - Fresno, CA - Free Show!

13 - The Divebar - Las Vegas, NV

14 - Arlene Francis Center - Santa Rosa, CA

15 - On The Y - Sacramento, CA

 

UDR will release guitar legend Uli Jon Roth's brand new double album of 19 re-invented SCORPIONS tracks, titled "Scorpions Revisited", on March 10. Pre-orders are available now via iTunes. When you pre-order, you get the song "Catch Your Train" as an instant grat track. You can now listen to the song below. For over four decades, Uli Jon Roth has forged new frontiers in the world of guitar, both in terms of approach and style. He even managed to invent the "sky guitar," a six-octave lead instrument that remains unparalleled. But before he started to explore the creative worlds of music, philosophy and art, Uli Jon Roth was a member of German rock giants SCORPIONS, a band with which he helped create a new path in hard rock music. In 2013, venerated for his originality and dynamism at the time, Roth found himself intrigued by the memory of those early days which began 40 years ago, and specifically by the music he helped write, perform and occasionally sing on the albums "Fly To The Rainbow", "In Trance", "Virgin Killer" and "Taken By Force". It led to Roth deciding to spend a year re-visiting, exploring, performing and re-recording his favorite SCORPIONS songs. The first results of this magical, mystical journey into his own past can be heard on "Scorpions Revisited", a double-disc CD recorded in Hanover, Germany which sees the maestro re-harness all the collective power and poise of those original SCORPIONS classics, and re-imagine them as he feels today. No one in their right mind would dare call these mere re-recordings, as it's clear that Uli Jon Roth reinvents these songs from the soul up.

"The material for this double CD was recorded last year in the same hall in Hanover that we used for the SCORPIONS rehearsals 1973-1978," explains Roth. "Together with an amazing bunch of very talented young musicians, I revisited my personal favourites from the early SCORPIONS period, some of which were written in that same hall. It was an emotional few days and I am very pleased with the results in more ways than one. The idea was to stay truthful to the original spirit of the music, while also putting a new slant on it whenever it felt like the right thing to do. I feel we really succeeded in this and I'm very excited about this project. It was a intense journey into the past and I think we really managed to bring the songs back to life with a vengeance." The band which performed with Roth for these historic shows was Nathan James (vocals), Jamie Little (drums), Ule W. Ritgen (bass), Niklas Turmann (guitar, vocals), Corvin Bahn (keyboards, vocals) and David Klosinski (guitar). "Scorpions Revisited" track listing:

CD1:

01. The Sails Of Charon02. Longing For Fire03. Crying Days04. Virgin Killer05. In Trance06. Sun In My Hand07. Yellow Raven08. Polar Nights09. Dark Lady CD2:

01. Catch Your Train02. Evening Wind03. All Night Long04. We'll Burn In The Sky05. Pictured Life06. Hell Cat07. Life's Like A River08. Drifting Sun09. Rainbow Dream Prelude10. Fly To The Rainbow As noted, this is the first fruit from a re-engagement with his history that left Uli Jon Roth enjoying a surge of fresh creativity and approach to this classic material. Expect a further announcement for 2015. But for now, feast your ears, heart and emotions on Uli Jon Roth's unique return to his most famous musical legacy.

The 15th studio album release, Apex Predator - Easy Meat, from UK grind pioneers, Napalm Death, is released as of today in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Finland, via Century Media Records. The album will be available on January 26th in Europe and January 27th in North America.

To celebrate the album’s first release, a really special promotional video clip for the short and intense track “Smash A Single Digit” is now available. The video for “Smash A Single Digit” was directed and produced by Michael Panduro, who has previously worked for bands like Cephalic Carnage, Saint Vitus or Job For A Cowboy.

Trivia facts about this clip: The video is made up of 1093 unique drawings, each one hand-drawn in ink on paper by artist Lisbet Fredslund and actually 225 of the drawings are of the face of Napalm Death vocalist “Mark “Barney” Greenway, who checked in to comment the clip as follows:

“Couldn't be happier with the "Smash A Single Digit" video clip. It shows nothing of dignity or life's fundamental pleasures - only a snapshot of those unfortunate enough to only be deemed as numbers for production quotas in this world. When a 'digit' has therefore been expended, it is rubbed out (or consumed leaving no trace, as in the case of this video). In my opinion, Michael Panduro and the team produced a real work of art and I think the general style holds some really nice future artistic possibilities for Napalm Death."

"Smash A Single Digit" video:

These are the album formats for Apex Predator - Easy Meat:

- Jewel Case CD with 20-page booklet (14 songs)
- Digital Download (14 songs)
- 180gr. LP with a double-sided A2 poster, lyric sheet and one bonus track (15 songs, bonus track: “Critical Gluttonous Mass”)
- Limited Mediabook CD with expanded 40-page booklet, a sticker and 3 bonus tracks (17 songs, bonus tracks: “What Is Past Is Prologue”, “Oh So Pseudo” and the G-ANX cover-version "Clouds Of Cancer / Victims Of Ignorance")
- Digipak CD with 24-page booklet and one bonus track / North America only! (15 songs, bonus track: “Oh So Pseudo”)
- Limited red-coloured Cassette with one bonus track (15 songs, bonus track: “Critical Gluttonous Mass”)
- Limited Mailorder Boxset, 1000x copies worldwide (Content: Mediabook CD with expanded 40-page booklet, a sticker and 3 bonus tracks, a clear cassette version of the album with one bonustrack, an exclusive Napalm Death beanie, a double-sided A3 poster and a button bag with 3 pins).

The LP will be available in the following versions:

- Unlimited Black LP
- 200x Clear LP (Via CM Webshop Europe)
- 300x White LP (Via CM Distro Europe)
- 200x Transparent Green LP (Via Nuclear Blast Europe)
- 800x Solid Red LP (Via CM North America)
- 200x Solid Blue LP (Via CM Distro USA)
- 200x Dark Green LP (Via CM Distro USA)

Pre-order the album from CM Distro in Europe here.

The album’s striking artwork, which can be seen below, was created by Danish designer Frode Sylthe / Friktion.com, who has previously worked on the band’s latest album Utilitarian as well as with bands such as At The Gates, Totalt Jävla Mörker, The Haunted or Burst.

Napalm Death checked in to comment about the artwork as follows: “There are many meanings that you could grab from the new album artwork, I think. But one is the representation of how our natural and most basic needs for happiness and communication are being stripped away by materialism and pre-packaged garbage - crap that we don't need, filtered to us through the media via the megacorporations with the goal to maintain the bloated bottom line of profit. It's all just stuff that will be obsolete in 6 months time. And behind the scenes of course, modern day slavery is alive, well and obscured by this facade. It's all an exercise in deceit to shower us with fake fulfilment, while the poor and underprivileged fall further by the wayside“. - Shane Embury

“Across the albums, we have had some very complex and interconnected artwork. This time we wanted to keep it more simple - strip it down perhaps to a single image that would sharpen the focus. I loved the idea of the supermarket-style packaging as soon as I saw it, as when you go into one of those places with nourishment in mind and you're greeted with some miserable, artificially-enhanced foodstuff contained in a bleak little receptacle of industrial plastics, it doesn't exactly inspire you. To then fill that plastic tray with the dregs of meat production, well, that is the 'easy meat' in the title - representing the people who suffer for burgeoning consumption degraded and dumped in the most pitiful way”. - Mark 'Barney' Greenway

 

 

Apex Predator - Easy Meat tracklisting:

"Apex Predator - Easy Meat"
"Smash A Single Digit"
"Metaphorically Screw You"
"How The Years Condemn"
"Stubborn Stains"                             
"Timeless Flogging"
"Dear Slum Landlord…"
"Cesspits"
"Bloodless Coup"
"Beyond The Pale"
"Stunt Your Growth"
"Hierarchies"
"One-Eyed"
"Adversarial / Copulating Snakes"

"How The Years Condemn":

“Cesspits”:

"Dear Slum Landlord...":

Napalm Death are announced to appear at 2015’s edition of the 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise in the Caribbean (Florida / Jamaica) from January 22nd to 26th alongside bands like Arch Enemy, Behemoth, Blind Guardian, Cannibal Corpse, Municipal Waste and many more.
 
Napalm Death and Voivod will join forces at the end of January for a North American Tour, aptly titled Through Space And Grind.

Napalm Death have issued the following update: "Due to illness within his family, we would like to announce that Mitch Harris will unfortunately not be performing with us for the near future. We stress that this is not a permanent arrangement, although we are unsure exactly when Mitch will return under the circumstances.

Naturally, we sympathise and wish Mitch all the best for now. In the meantime we will be joined by guitarists who we know can grind it out in his absence. Thanks for your understanding..."

On the upcoming tour, Napalm Death's Mark "Barney" Greenway previously said: "As a celebration of both the unconventional and more straight-out methods of musical attack, I think this tour lineup really hits home. To think that 30 years ago I was marveling at the savage eccentricities of War And Pain and now I'm sharing stage / living space with Snake, Away and co... surreal, almost. From Napalm's perspective, we'll bring the overdrive to the spaciness - it's all going to rage whichever way you slice it."
 
Voivod's Michel "Away" Langevin states: "I am psyched to tour North America with Napalm Death, for which I always had a huge respect. We crossed paths over the years and finally we'll get to unite Voivod's spacy thrash metal with Napalm's grindcore. A perfect combination!!"

Exhumed, Iron Reagan and Black Crown Initiate will support on all dates. Special guests on select dates include Ringworm, Dayglo Abortions, Theories and Phobia.

 

 

Tour dates:

January
27 - Miami, FL - Grand Central*
28 - St Petersburg, FL - State Theater*
29 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade*
30 - Winston-Salem, NC - Ziggy's*
31 - Baltimore, MD - Soundstage*

February
2 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theater*
3 - Philadelphia, PA -  Union Transfer*
4 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
5 - Ottawa, ON -  Maverick's
6 - Montreal, QC - Club Soda
7 - Worcester, MA - Palladium*
8 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance Theater*
9 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Ballroom*
10 - Chicago, IL -  Reggie's*
11 - Minneapolis, MN -  Amsterdam*
12 - Winnipeg, MB - The Zoo
13 - Regina, SK -  The Exchange
14 - Calgary, AB -  - Republik
15 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite Room
17 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theater**
18 - Seattle, WA -  Studio 7 #
19 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
20 - Oakland, CA - Metro ##
21 - Fresno, CA - Strummers ##
22 - Los Angeles, CA - House Of Blues
23 - Tempe, AZ - Club Red ##
24 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater ##
25 - Denver, CO - Summit Music Hall ##
26 - Lawrence, KS - Granada Theater ##
27 - Dallas, TX - Gas Monkey ##
28 - Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's ##

* with Ringworm
** with Dayglo Abortions
# with Theories

SLAYER has partnered with The Ave, a concept store that delivers unique and legendary footwear. The Ave is offering 18 brand new SLAYER designs on Converse Chuck Taylors and Vans slip-ons. Each shoe is custom made, to order, by a human, at The Ave's location in Venice Beach, California.

The shoes are ready for order from The Ave's web store at this location.

The Ave opened on April 7, 2010 by Los Angeles native Nick Romero, who brought on the sharpest, brightest people he could find to run a successful business.

A life-long Converse Chuck Taylor fan, Romero armed himself with a printer that could print on various garment types, including canvas. After countless hours of trial and error, the full concept for The Ave was born. Nick found the perfect location for The Ave in Venice Beach, a place where he hung out regularly growing up, living just a mile away in neighboring Santa Monica (the birthplace of his grandmother and father). Nick was able to get a patent for his device, and soon The Ave became the first and only fully-customizable shoe store.

Former Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover has checked in with the following update on his new band with Megadeth bandmate, guitarist Chris Broderick, and ex-Scar The Martyr vocalist Henry Derek Bonner:

"Another very productive week. We now have chosen who will produce our new record, we have chosen our bass player, and will be signing our record deal this week. All will be revealed very, very soon. February 1st it begins...."

Drover previously issued the following update on the new band's progress:

"It's all sounding 100% HEAVY METAL. Some of the song’s are very aggressive and fast, other’s are more “accessible” to the average heavy metal listener.

I don’t like to label everything into the 100 sub-genres of metal. To me, Accept is pure heavy metal, yet so is King Diamond and Gojira - do they sound the same?? NO, but they are all METAL!!  Chris, Henry and myself are all fans of all kinds of heavy music, which is great, as we are not putting any musical parameters on what we are creating here, which is very liberating, I must say.  

Stay tuned for updates.

Queensrÿche vocalist Todd La Torre is featured in a new interview with Music Enthusiast Magazine discussing the ongoing work on material for the band's forthcoming album. 

La Torre: "The songs that we have right now are, I would say, melodic. There are some heavy tunes on there that are just, like, really rocking. I mean, some of the songs remind me, again, of Rage For Order, Operation: Mindcrime. We’ll probably slip in something that’s got a commercial - not that we’re trying to - something with a more commercial appeal, like the song ‘In This Light’ did on the record that I did before. But, overall, I’m hopeful that when it’s all said and done this record will have a really good drive, great, melodic choruses, great guitar parts, very dynamic. A little more prog. There’s a little more proggy elements…"

Go to this location for the complete interview.

 

La Torre recently posted the following message online following the band's recent weekend stand at Island Resort & Casino in Harris, MI:

"What do you do when a little kid is in the very front? You pull him onstage of course and give him a memory he'll never forget....that's what it's all about."

Guitar legend Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE), who is known for endorsing Gibson guitars and Marshall amplifiers, is starting his very own guitar, amp and accessories company called Wylde Audio.

From the various photos that have been released thus far, it appears that there will be a Master 100 amp head and a guitar with Bullseye finish.

Wylde Audio is making its debut at at a private, off-site location during this weekend's NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.

For more information, visit www.wyldeaudio.com.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's latest studio album, "Catacombs Of The Black Vatican", sold around 26,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 5 on The Billboard 200 chart.

"Catacombs Of The Black Vatican" was released in Europe on April 7, 2014 via Mascot Label Group and one day later in North America through eOne Music.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY amicably parted ways with longtime guitarist Nick Catanese and replaced him with Dario Lorina (LIZZY BORDEN).

BLACK LABEL SOCIETYs' "Angel Of Mercy" video was directed by longtime collaborator Justin Reich of the Antimatter Studio. The clip depicts a stripped down version of the wall of sound that is widely associated with the band.

In a brand new interview with Spotlight Report, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke about how life has changed for the band following the recent departures of drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist Chris Broderick.

"It is obviously going to be different without them," he said. "We spent five years together with them in that lineup; that is a long time. We did multiple live albums with them, two studio albums, [and] we toured together. So it's a bit like some family members are gone. Especially through the holidays, I've kinda been a little sad about it.

"I realize that they wanted to move on to something else, and I support them as my friends, but selfishly, I'm definitely going to miss them, for sure.

"Things are moving forward, of course, and there will be a new development happening on that front."

Asked about the progress of the search for Drover and Broderick's replacements and whether MEGADETH will be bringing back some former members, Ellefson responded: "I can't talk about it yet; I can't say anything. Most importantly, we're moving forward with writing a new album. Once we get into the studio to record it, then the lineup will naturally evolve around that."

Only hours after Drover announced his exit from MEGADETH on November 25 to "to pursue [his] own musical interests," Broderick revealed he also quit the legendary metal band, saying that he was leaving the group "due to artistic and musical differences."

Broderick joined MEGADETH in late 2007 as the replacement for Glen Drover, who left the group in order to focus on family life.

Shawn joined MEGADETH in 2004 as the replacement for Nick Menza, who had only just rejoined the group. Drover performed on four MEGADETH studio records: 2007's "United Abominations", 2009's "Endgame", 2011's "TH1RT3EN" and 2013's "Super Collider".

Latest album Long Beach 1971 in earMUSIC’s DEEP PURPLE reissue series, over the last two years, has seen the release of rare live material from the band, including “Paris 1975”, “Copenhagen 1972”, “Stockholm 1970” and “Graz 1975”.

Spanning over 70 minutes of music, “Long Beach 1971” has been remastered in 2014 and is going to be released on February 27th, 2015 on earMUSIC.

Recorded at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California, on July 30, 1971, it was broadcast on radio (KUSC 91.5 FM), a showcase for a support performance to Rod Stewart and The Faces.

An official release for a concert that has long been considered a landmark for the band, the set featured tracks (“Speed King” and “Child In Time”) from their fourth studio album, June 1970’s “In Rock”. This was a transitional release for the Mk II version of the band – guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, frontman Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover, organ/keyboard player Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice –, being their first hard rock affair as well as their commercial breakthrough as the third leading über-rock band of the day along with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Completing the set that day were a considerably extended version of “Mandrake Root” from their July 1968 debut album “Shades Of Deep Purple”, and “Strange Kind Of Woman”.

Opening with an 11-minute long “Speed King”, the show actually starts off like a climax, with a frenzy of organ and batter of guitar and drums, before segueing into a fast and furious riff and some classic caterwauls from Ian Gillan. Next up is “Strange Kind Of Woman”. The piledriving central motif is a classic combination of rhythm and riff, the band hitting a bluesy, even funky, groove. Following is an impressive version of the Deep Purple classic “Child in Time”: it is 20 minutes of heavy action from Blackmore. If you’re not too exhausted by that, there is time for one more, and it’s a good – not to mention long – one: “Mandrake Root”, a 27-minute extrapolation of the debut album track and concert standby.

All in all, the frenzy, powerful show is leaving the audience staggered, and not a little dazed, as they head towards the exit, into the warm California night, wondering what the hell just happened.
Deep Purple live just happened.

Tracklist
1. Speed King
2. Strange Kind Of Woman
3. Child In Time
4. Mandrake Root

All songs remastered in 2014