In a new interview with Chile's iRock.cl, former JUDAS PRIEST and current KK'S PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens spoke about the importance of having good physical stamina to handle the rigors of the road, especially since he spends so much time away from home. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Health-wise, I'm probably in the… Well, I haven't been to the gym in a while 'cause I've been on the road. But I go to the gym every day, and I lost weight and work out, and I'm probably healthier. But I just got some vocal issues. And as a singer, that happens. I mean, you can do any kind of remedy you want, but when you have vocal issues, you have vocal issues. So I've been trying to figure out how to sing with vocal issues, which is maybe not a bad thing."

Owens continued: "Because I don't cheat when I sing, I sing everything how I'm supposed to sing it. I don't change the versions. I don't dodge high notes. But now that I've had some vocal issues, I'm trying to learn how to not do that. I don't do it that often because I just… Sometimes I go for that note and something might not come out, but God, gosh darn it, I'm trying to hit that note. But I'm learning how to maybe tame it back a little bit. Maybe I can find ways to save myself 'cause [I'm] not getting any younger."

Asked if he still feels "the same excitement before stepping on stage" now as he used to earlier in his career, Tim said: "Well, I still do. I still get a little nervous. Not nervous to step on stage, but nervous 'cause I wanna sing good. I get quiet and I pace. I never used to warm up — ever in my life, I never warmed up — but I have to warm up since my voice has been doing this. And I get nervous thinking I'm not gonna sing good. I've always been like that. But I still look forward to the show and I love to walk out on the stage. I love to see the facial reactions of the people. That's why I can't stop singing the high notes. I don't even love singing high notes and high stuff, but I love to watch the people's reaction [and see them] smile. I watch guys and girls smile during the show when I sing, when I hit notes and I sing, and they just smile, and that's what makes you excited about going out there."

Owens continued: "I'm a pretty quiet guy off the stage, but when I walk on stage… People used to call me 'Clark Kent' because I would be off the stage and be quiet, and I used to wear a suit at work, and I'd be normal, and then they watched me go on stage, and, like, 'What the heck is this? What is this guy?' But you feed off the fans. When the fans aren't very good, and they're sitting down on their butts, and they're eating food, it's hard to get into the show. But when they're just [going crazy], it's great."

Back in October 2023, Owens reiterated his commitment to singing all songs like they were originally recorded, whether it's material from his former band JUDAS PRIEST or his new project KK'S PRIEST. Speaking to DJ Ramo (a.k.a. Omar Rodriguez) of The Metal Mixtape specifically about KK'S PRIEST's sophomore album, "The Sinner Rides Again", Owens said: "Everything you hear on this record I can sing live. I'm so sick of watching singers, and I don't care — I'm [in my late 50s], [and] I've seen singers in their 50s that still couldn't do it. I'm so sick of watching singers — I know they can do it, but they change their songs; they lower it, they make new melodies and they hit a high note for a second. And it's, like, 'Dude, sing what you wrote. Sing what you wrote.' I understand it gets tougher. But I can sing 'Sermons Of The Sinner'. And these songs, the KK'S PRIEST songs are harder to sing than the classic PRIEST songs, except maybe 'Metal Meltdown'."

He continued: "I pride myself on whatever I did in the studio, I can do live. I mean, listen, we open out of the gate with 'Hellfire Thunderbolt', and if anybody's heard it from these concerts, it goes 'Hellfire Thunderbolt' into 'One More Shot At Glory', and they sound like the record — I mean, close to the record. And that's the other thing about doing these vocals — one minute I want it to be aggressive, one minute I want it to be high and clean, I want it to be soft and beautiful, but I can do all that live.

"These songs are great to do live, man," he added. "I love doing these ones [on 'The Sinner Rides Again'] even better than the first record [2021's 'Sermons Of The Sinner']. 'One More Shot At Glory', 'Reap The Whirlwind', 'Strike Of The Viper' — I mean, man, they sound great live, man. They are unbelievable."

Regarding what he does so that he can perform the songs faithfully, Owens said: "Listen, I don't warm up. It really starts with, are you a good live singer or not anyways? … There's songs I've just heard recently that it sounds so manufactured. Not that it's a bad song, and it sounds great, but it doesn't even — I could just hear where it's pieced [together] and hear where it's Auto-Tuned. And it's, like, you're not gonna sing it live.

"There are some singers out there, they're like the best singers in the world, but they're just not great live singers," he explained. "They're not great live singers at singing what they record in the studio. They're still great live singers; it's just they've changed the version. They've made up their own version to make them be able to sing — which is fine, because there's gonna be times where I'll have to do that to a song or I might lower a word, but I try to stick to it. I mean, you would see singers like Ronnie Dio. He wasn't going off… If he changed the version, he probably made it harder. He would sing it live.

"I record everything at the top of my ability, and I always struggle with my material," Tim explained. "Like when I tour solo, it's pretty easy. It's pretty easy tours. It's okay tours for me, because I'm doing my own stuff. But when my rest comes [is] when I get to sing the classic PRIEST songs, and I imagine it's the same even with Rob [Halford], when he gets to sing 'Breaking The Law' and 'Metal Gods'. I mean, those things are, like — anybody could sing them, it's so easy and it's a break. But this tour, you open up with 'Hellfire Thunderbolt', 'One More Shot Of Glory', 'The Ripper'… I'm doing 'Night Crawler' — 'Night Crawler''s easy. 'Burn In Hell', easy. 'Sermons Of The Sinner' — I was scared of 'Sermons Of The Sinner', to be honest, cause I was, like, 'Holy crap, man. This is gonna be tough.' And it's actually fun to sing.

"I think all singers should be recording to the top of their ability. So my songs are always harder, and that's why, but some singers just can't reproduce it. This record, I had a better feeling I would reproduce easier even than the first, because I sat here [at home] and did it myself. I wasn't told what to do. I was told what the melody is, but I'd use my own voice to do it. But some singers, they don't sing exactly what they do live. I mean, that's just how they are."

After BLABBERMOUTH.NET published Tim's original comments to The Metal Mixtape in October 2023 with the headline "TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS Is 'Sick' Of Watching Singers Who Change Their Songs To Accommodate Their Aging Voices", Owens took to X to clarify: "Actually it was all singers who can’t sing what they record! That's what I don't like. Any age any singer. Not sure why people are upset I said that".

Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — before PRIEST reunited with Rob Halford in 2003.

On May 30, 2026 at the legendary Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, THE DEAD DAISIES returned for a special night of rock featuring Glenn Hughes on vocals and bass. Glenn joined guitarist Doug Aldrich, drummer Tommy Clufetos and guitarist David Lowy for this rare, one-off performance delivering a thrilling 50/50 split set, kicking off with 10 of THE DEAD DAISIES' favorite tracks followed by almost as many iconic DEEP PURPLE classics.

Professionally filmed video of the concert — featuring three powerful tracks from THE DEAD DAISIES' catalog alongside three DEEP PURPLE classics performed under the banner of THE PURPLE DAISIES can be seen below.

Aldrich delivered blistering solos and signature riffs that have made him one of rock's most respected guitarists, while Clufetos provided the thunderous backbone that drove the performance from start to finish. Lowy completed the lineup, bringing his trademark passion and stage presence to an evening that celebrated both the band's own music and the timeless songs that influenced them. The result was a truly special concert that blended the energy, musicianship and camaraderie of long-time friends. Whether you're a dedicated DAISIES fan or a lover of classic rock, this exclusive footage offers a rare chance to witness a memorable night that few were lucky enough to witness live. From hard-hitting DAISIES tracks to DEEP PURPLE's monster hits "Burn", "Highway Star" and "Mistreated", the performance captures the spirit of a band having fun, and creating memories that will undoubtedly last long in the minds of everyone who attended, and now, everyone who watches.

Doug commented: "Man, it was such a great night… We worked really hard on the songs to make it a great night. We all had a blast!! I'm glad people will get to see and hear a bit of how cool it was."

According to Setlist.fm, the setlist for the show was as follows:

01. Unspoken
02. Resurrected
03. Chosen And Justified
04. My Fate
05. Fortunate Son (CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL cover)
06. Born To Fly
07. Rise Up
08. Radiance
09. Hypnotize Yourself
10. Holy Ground (Shake The Memory)

DEEP PURPLE set

11. Stormbringer (DEEP PURPLE cover)
12. Sail Away (DEEP PURPLE cover)
13. Space Truckin' (DEEP PURPLE cover)
14. Gettin' Tighter (DEEP PURPLE cover)
15. Might Just Take Your Life (DEEP PURPLE cover)
16. Smoke On The Water (DEEP PURPLE cover)
17. Mistreated (DEEP PURPLE cover)
18. Highway Star (DEEP PURPLE cover)

Encore:

19. Long Way To Go
20. Burn (DEEP PURPLE cover)

Hughes exited THE DEAD DAISIES in May 2023 after a four-year run with the band. He has since been replaced by a returning John Corabi. It's Corabi's second stint THE DEAD DAISIES. He originally joined in 2015 and departed four years later to make way for Hughes.

In a recent interview with Illinois Entertainer, Hughes stated about the prospect of performing with THE DEAD DAISIES again: "It's great to be back with my friends. This is my family; I love everyone in THE DEAD DAISIES. Everyone is such a good friend of mine. So for me to go back and play the songs I did with THE DAISIES, and to, of course, play a set of DEEP PURPLE songs, is a miraculous achievement."

Speaking specifically about the selist for the Arcada show, Glenn said: "Joining this great idea of having two sets, DAISIES and then PURPLE, it's exhilarating for me. I think it's exhilarating for the people who are coming to see it. All the songs I did with PURPLE are classic songs, and I'm so grateful to have been in the band during that period of time. But there'll be some other classic songs as well. I'm smiling because it's a moment to celebrate both THE DEAD DAISIES and, of course, the era of DEEP PURPLE that I was in."

In a 2023 interview with Myglobalmind, Glenn stated about his decision to leave THE DEAD DAISIES: "I am primarily a solo artist, and I'm real comfortable being in that genre. When I joined THE DEAD DAISIES, David Lowy had me come in and write some songs, which turned out to be great. And we recorded 'Holy Ground'. And then the pandemic hit and we obviously did a second album [2022's 'Radiance'] and you saw some shows. In December [2022], David Lowy wanted to take a hiatus for six months, and it was at that time where I was getting a lot of offers to do my own work again. And Joe [Bonamassa] and I decided to do [the fifth] BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION [album]. So, at the beginning of [2023], I switched gears and started going back to my solo work and playing with my band, and writing with Joe.

"THE DEAD DAISIES will continue with my friend John Corabi, and I had nothing but great times with that band, but it was never going to be forever for me," Glenn explained. "I may have said before that BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION will be the last band I record with, and I believe that will be the truth. And with THE DEAD DAISIES, it was all good. We ended amicably. They didn't want me to go, but it was time for me to go back to my band."

Photo courtesy of THE DEAD DAISIES

In a new interview with the Thunder Underground podcast, DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen spoke about the band's latest single, "Rejoice". The track was released in late January ahead of DEF LEPPARD's return to Las Vegas for their "Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency" that kicked off on February 3. "Rejoice" is available via UMe now on all streaming platforms. Asked if "Rejoice" is representative of the material which will appear on DEF LEPPARD's next album, Phil said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, that's one style of a song that's on there. There's some stuff on there that's, like, 'Whoa.' You'd go, 'This is really wacky.' And so I like that. I love the fact that we've kind of — not got brave, but we haven't got scared to express ourselves. And whoever writes whatever song, everyone puts 100% into it. So it kind of, again, takes on another life when you do that as well.'

He continued: "A lot of people, they write a song and they produce it and they do it exactly their way. This isn't like that. This is, like, someone writes a song and then everyone gets involved. It's really diplomatic and it's a democracy. But good ideas win. No one says stuff to justify it. And then we try it out. No, it's, it's great. So, yeah, we write all over the place on the latest DEF LEPPARD stuff, for sure."

During the same chat, Collen reflected on DEF LEPPARD's "Slang" album, which was first released in May 1996 and is considered the band's most underrated LP. At the time of its release, the music industry was at the height of the '90s grunge scene and DEF LEPPARD with bands like NIRVANA, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and PEARL JAM were dominating the airwaves. Despite this musical shift, "Slang" charted on the Top Five U.K. official chart and the Top 15 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 chart. The album was also voted in the Top Ten Albums Of 1996 by the U.K.'s prestigious Q magazine. As a testament to DEF LEPPARD's music transcending through time, "Slang" was recognized for its musical departure from the band's signature sound. The collection incorporated new sonic elements that gave the album a slightly darker introspective mood than their previous releases.

"When it came out, it kind of sucked, and I was going through a divorce at the time. And so that sucked," Phil recalled. "And then you're writing lyrics that are kind of influenced by that. And so there was a lot of stuff going on, but I love how it turned out, you know? It... And we had to do that. We had three albums. We had 'Pyromania', 'Hysteria' and 'Adrenalize' that were of an ilk. And Steve [Clark, DEF LEPPARD guitarist] had passed away, so we really needed to change things and shake things up. It wasn't a commercial success or anything, but it went gold, which is pretty good. But it was different. It had a spirit of its own. We've been playing [the] 'Slang' [title track] on tour now, and it's so much fun. We do an extended part in the middle, and it goes into this whole funk thing, and it would be James Brown and David Bowie, and it's all of this really weird stuff. So, no, I love that. Again, diversity is the key for me. I love it."

Asked if it took him a little bit of time to warm to "Slang" considering what he was going through on a personal level during the period that the album was being made, Collen said: "I think with music and art in general, it's a great valve. I never had teenage angst as a kid. I grew up in the East End of London, and my buddies at school, some of these kids were really getting into awful trouble, and I didn't. These were my buddies, and they would be doing stuff, and I'd be, like, getting into the music, and that was my release. So I think that even with that, I look back fondly at the recording of it because it allowed me to not really concentrate on being morose or anything and just releasing and kind of experiment and having a great time with music and expression. And that was pretty cool."

"Slang" debuted at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 and went gold, but was DEF LEPPARD's slowest-selling album in more than a decade.

"Y'know, I think we could've put out 'Sgt. Pepper's' or 'Dark Side Of The Moon' and I think it would have been the same because it was DEF LEPPARD and we had gotten lumped in with all the crap metal bands of the '80s that were kind of pale versions of us," Collen explained to Billboard.com more than a decade ago. "NIRVANA had come along and everything had changed. What was very interesting was people said they didn't like it so much because it didn't sound like us, but we set up in a villa in southern Spain and pretty much recorded live, so it was actually closer to the mark than the other albums where we didn't play live and did the usual studio thing of putting one thing on at a time and building it from there."

In January 2025, DEF LEPPARD released a cover of Ben E. King's 1961 classic "Stand By Me". All proceeds from the song went to FireAid, which raises money for those impacted by the fires that swept through Los Angeles in January 2025.

DEF LEPPARD's version of the song is featured in the Netflix film "Bank Of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger", which was released in January 2025. The band can be seen performing the track before the credits.

DEF LEPPARD's "Just Like 73" single, featuring a guest guitar solo from RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, was made available in June 2024.

DEF LEPPARD's 12th studio album, "Diamond Star Halos", came out in 2022. A year later, the band followed it up with "Drastic Symphonies", a collection of reimagining of some of DEF LEPPARD's greatest hits with London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road. The album spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Current Classical chart.

DEF LEPPARD was finally inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2019 — 14 years after the British rockers first became eligible.

Aylmer, Ontario, Canada-raised, Nashville-based metal/pop/country genre-blender artist Royale Lynn returns with a video for her new single "Altar", co-written with Cody Quistad of WAGE WAR. Emerging from the confines of her 2025 LP "Black Magic", Royale moves through a series of striking archetypal vignettes and sonically deepens the dark-pop elements introduced on fan-favorite "Wtch". Anchored by soaring vocals and thunderous synth-driven breakdowns, "Altar" captures Royale's empowering declaration: "Devotion is choosing you in every version of reality," as she unfolds the layers of femininity and desire.

Royale Lynn's music video for "Altar", filmed by Maya Sassoon, can be seen below.

With over 135 million global streams and over 1.5 million followers across socials, Royale Lynn has established herself as a powerhouse in the hard rock scene. She has brought her "ceiling-scraping vocals" to festivals like Louder Than Life, Welcome To Rockville and Aftershock, received the once-in-a-lifetime chance to perform alongside rock legends DISTURBED and toured North America with SKILLET, SEETHER and ASKING ALEXANDRIA.

Praised by Billboard, Loudwire and Revolver, her 2025 release "Black Magic" tore through the rock scene. Hard-hitting singles like "Death Wish" featuring Danny Worsnop (ASKING ALEXANDRIA) landed at No. 27 on the rock radio charts, "Inside Out" spotlighted on a Times Square billboard by Amazon Music, and the smoldering "Greed" ushered in the 2025 WWE Summer Slam. The powerful music video for "Sacrifice" painted a visual picture of the darkness that can accompany mental illness.

Royale will kick off her "Royale Pain In The A$$" tour on July 9 in Knoxville, Tennessee, supporting MEMPHIS MAY FIRE, before starting her headline dates on July 16.

"Royale Pain In The A$$" tour dates:

July 9 - Knoxville, TN - The Mill & Mine *
July 11 - Albany, NY - Empire Live *
July 12 - Portland, ME - Aura *
July 14 - Rochester, NY - Anthology *
July 15 - McKees Rocks, PA - Roxian Theatre *
July 16 - Annapolis, MD - Rams Head On Stage
July 19 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall *
July 21 - Springfield, MO - The Regency Live #
July 23 - University City, MO - Blueberry Hill #
July 24 - Des Moines, IA - xBk Live #
July 25 - Menahga, MN - Mid Summer Music Fest
July 26 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon ^
July 28 - Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen ^
July 30 - Saginaw, MI - The Vault Saginaw ^
August 1 - Mattawa, ON - Thunder Valley Semi Races
August 2 - Ottawa, ON - Galerie SAW Gallery ^
August 5 - Toronto, ON - Drake Underground ^
August 6 - London, ON - Rum Runners ^
August 7 - Watertown, NY - Maggie's on the River ^
August 9 - Columbus, OH - The Summit Music Hall ^
August 11 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie ^
August 12 - Lowell, MA - Taffeta Music Hall ^
August 14 - Lynchburg, VA - Super Rad Arcade Bar +
August 15 - Raleigh, NC - Kings +
August 16 - Gainesville, FL - Heartwood Soundstage +
August 18 - Winter Park, FL - Conduit +
August 19 - Tampa, FL - The Orpheum +
August 21 - Mobile, AL - Soul Kitchen Music Hall +
August 22 - Little Rock, AR - Stickyz Rock'n'Roll Chicken Shack +
August 23 - Oklahoma City, OK - Resonant Hall +
August 25 - Houston, TX - The Secret Group +
August 26 - Dallas, TX - TX Tea Room +
August 27 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger +
August 29 - Albuquerque, NM - Uptown Funk Dueling Pianos @
August 30 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar @
September 1 - Los Angeles, CA - Moroccan Lounge
September 3 - Henderson, NV - Grey Witch @
September 5 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake Lounge @
October 17 - Nashville, TN - Ceremony Festival 2026

* Supporting MEMPHIS MAY FIRE
# KINGDOM COLLAPSE
^ MVSSIE
+ PRETTY PITY
@ HOLLOW PACT

A small-town girl turned Nashville singer/songwriter, Lynn grew up with Avril Lavigne and BREAKING BENJAMIN in her CD Walkman and makes music with gutsy abandon and charm. Lynn's songs resonate with folks equally cozy at Stagecoach festival or Sonic Temple.

Heralded by Billboard as "a ferocious newcomer with ceiling-scraping vocals," Royale Lynn's boundary-smashing amalgamation of hard rock and country demonstrates the growing appetite for her brand of genre-bending.

"I know there are a lot of people who grew up in the country that love rock, and vice versa," Lynn previously said. "I want to bring together a community of people who embrace being different and who are open to talking about mental health in small towns."

Photo credit: Rowan Daly (courtesy of Epitaph Records)

In a new interview with Benedetta Baldin of Finland's Chaoszine, former ARCH ENEMY singer Alissa White-Gluz spoke about her recently announced collaboration with extreme power metallers DRAGONFORCE. After Baldin noted that a lot of people didn't see her collaboration coming before it was announced in early May, Alissa said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I was surprised that people were surprised, actually, 'cause we thought that people knew. That's why we made this video and we were, like, 'Hey, the rumors are true,' because we thought that people thought this was happening already. We were walking around together. I mean, people took photos of us together for months already. We were surprised that nobody knew. [Laughs]"

She continued: "It's great, because DRAGONFORCE is a band that really, really cares about delivering an excellent-quality piece of entertainment every single night, to the point that Sam [Totman, DRAGONFORCE guitarist] is building the set for the stage, and Herman [Li, DRAGONFORCE guitarist] is taking care of all the ins and outs of the tech. And they're not just strolling onstage, throwing a little bit of playing out there and getting offstage. Everybody's, like, super involved. And I've always been like that too, because I come from working in theater. I worked in theater for many years, where I was the stage manager and set designer, and I loved that. And so to be around people who really care — they care that the lighting looks good, they care that the props are in place, they care that the audience has a great time — I am super, super detail-oriented like that also, and it's really cool to be around other people who are like that. And so in terms of matching the energy, it's actually a very good fit. And also DRAGONFORCE is super heavy in a different way. They're heavy because they're so fast. [Laughs] It is a workout for every single musician on stage. The drummer, the vocalist, the bassist, the guitarist, everybody's, like, 'Ah,' the whole time. [Laughs] We get on stage and I'm, like, 'Take one breath before I get on stage, 'cause I'm not gonna be able to breathe again until 45 minutes from now.' It's hard. It's challenging. So it's really cool to be expressing that kind of really intense energy, but in a different way."

Asked what it has been like to shift gears and pour her soul into a fresh project like her newly formed band BLUE MEDUSA after fronting ARCH ENEMY for a decade, Alissa said: "Yeah, it feels great. And I'm still gonna be fronting one of the biggest bands in metal, as you just said. I'll be in DRAGONFORCE for all these tours. So in that regard, nothing much has changed, actually. But it's great to be able to have the time to invest in... I mean, I never have enough time, but I have more time now that I can actually invest into BLUE MEDUSA fully, because it's my main focus and project. And I love the music that we're making, and it's very inspiring to make music that you love and that you're super, super proud of without compromise. So it feels great."

Last month, Alissa was asked by Local Band Smokeout if her 2025 collaboration with extreme power metallers DRAGONFORCE on an alternate version of their track "Burning Heart" was what ultimately led to her joining the latter band. She responded: "Kind of. I think we all kind of agreed that we got a really good vibe from working together, and that the music could be really cool to combine everything that DRAGONFORCE is known for and what I'm known for, and play on our strengths. And I think we just weren't sure if we could really do it. And I think in life you're never really ready to do something; you just have to do it and then figure it out. And so we were, like, 'You know what? It's now or never. Let's just do it. Let's just jump into this and make it happen.' And so we did. And so we've been working, yeah, for a while, actually, just to get prepared to be able to perform these shows together, and also working on new music."

Regarding what the experience has been like of working on new music with DRAGONFORCE, Alissa said: "[It's been] really good. You never know... 'Cause you can practice your stuff on your own and write independently and it could be fine, but when we actually started playing together in the same room, playing properly, rehearsing, writing, working on lyrics, working on chord structures, parts, arrangements, concepts, titles and stuff like that, we worked on stuff and then we listened back and we were, like, 'This sounds really good.' I think we were... We were pretty confident, but then listening back to it, we were, like, 'Ooh, okay. We're really on to something here.' So it was great."

Alissa also talked about DRAGONFORCE's recently announced tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's monumental album "Inhuman Rampage" — the record that birthed the platinum-selling global phenomenon of "Through The Fire And Flames" and spent 23 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200. Asked if there is a particular song from that LP that she is looking forward to performing, Alissa said: "Obviously I'm looking forward to all of it. Obviously I'm looking forward to 'Through The Fire And Flames', 'cause the room just ignites when you start that song. But interestingly, in the set that we just did for the past two shows, we included 'Storming The Burning Fields', and that one is super fun to sing. Something about that song is very satisfying to sing. So I'm glad that we started incorporating that one. And I didn't really realize that that would be a favorite. 'Fury Of The Storm' [from 2004's 'Sonic Firestorm'] is also really fun to sing. I think that there's gonna be some favorites that pop up as we go through the tour, and it's kind of hard to predict which ones they would be right now, 'cause there's so many factors that lean into that. I like to perform songs that are challenging, but also satisfying, but also that the audience likes. So it's like a fine balance. 'Cause sometimes if a song is too easy, it becomes a little boring to perform night after night, and if a song is too hard, you can't enjoy it because you're just, like, freaking out the whole time. And also, usually if it's a super-complex song, the audience might not totally grasp it, 'cause it's a live performance, a live environment where things sound crazy. So I think there's that fine balance. And I have a feeling 'Storming The Burning Fields' will probably be in the top."

DRAGONFORCE's largest North American tour in more than two decades will bring the world's fastest band to 22 cities this November and December, with support from ENSIFERUM and RHAPSODY OF FIRE. Beginning at San Diego's Observatory on Friday, November 13, dates will stretch from New York City's Palladium Times Square to Chicago's Riviera Theatre, Los Angeles's Wiltern and beyond, further marking 2026 as the start of DRAGONFORCE's biggest, boldest and most electrifying era yet.

DRAGONFORCE previewed the forthcoming tour with two festival performances at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple, which were "riotously received" (Metal Hammer) and "epic" (Metal Injection).

White-Gluz is joined in BLUE MEDUSA by guitarists Alyssa Day (MINDSCAR, ABSENTIA) and Dani Sophia (ex-Till Lindemann). Bassist Alicia Vigil (DRAGONFORCE, VIGIL OF WAR) and drummer Delaney Jaster (STITCHED UP HEART) will also take part in BLUE MEDUSA's live shows.

Photo by Travis Shinn

Jay Buchanan, frontman of RIVAL SONS, has released a heartbreaking rendition of BLACK SABBATH track "Changes" from the BLACK SABBATH album "Vol. 4" (1972). The western-gothic-style cover (in the same vein as Jay's debut solo album "Weapons Of Beauty" which was released earlier this year) came about after Jay was asked to cover a SABBATH track for a Rolling Stone France session. The song has taken on special meaning for the singer, finding depth and resonance in "Changes" after the events of the past year.

Buchanan spent 18 months on the road with BLACK SABBATH around the world, when RIVAL SONS were main support on SABBATH's "The End" tour. As Ozzy Osbourne put it while talking about RIVAL SONS: "It's so refreshing to see a band coming up with such a great vibe… you see 500 bands and you see one and you go, 'Fuck, they're good.'"

Jay offers this heartbreaking cover in homage to Ozzy and SABBATH, on the anniversary of what was a most brilliant and never-to-be-replicated charity stadium event "Back To The Beginning".

Jay states: "The chorus lyrics in this song, just four short words, are so eloquent to me. Ozzy became a permanent fixture in my life about ten years ago and the man I witnessed was a man who, against just about all odds, won. This man left us last year, in victory. I wanted to frame the song in that context, the hero that was allowed to age, lived to see his grandchildren and in his very last sunsets be kissed by the entire goddamn world when we saw him off at Villa Park last year."

The cover is available on all streaming services July 1, 2026, and as a very limited 300 copy run of seven-inch singles only available at Fingerprints Records in Long Beach, California.

Buchanan is currently in Scandinavia playing two sold-out shows in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway. He will continue his solo tour dates with a five-date solo U.K. tour in July 2026 bracketing RIVAL SONS' eagerly awaited headline slot at Steelhouse Festival on July 25.

Buchanan will play solo acoustic concerts at Brighton Komedia, Southampton Attic, Bristol Lantern, Birmingham Glee Club and Leeds Wardrobe. The shows follow the February release of Jay Buchanan's critically acclaimed solo album "Weapons Of Beauty". including one of Rolling Stone's best songs of 2026 (so far),"True Black".

On the U.K. tour dates, Jay adds: "The idea of visiting these U.K. cities I've loved for years now as a solo artist is very exciting for me on this short outing. People have been so supportive, thank you!"

Buchanan is a vocalist, songwriter and performer of rare intensity — a preacher-voiced storyteller whose live performances feel less like concerts and more like communal reckonings. He has spent over a decade commanding the world's biggest stages with RIVAL SONS, wielding a voice that can roar like thunder or fall to a near-whisper. These shows promise to linger long after the lights go down.

Released in February 2026, "Weapons Of Beauty" found Buchanan stepping away from the safety of RIVAL SONS and into his own romantic desert wilderness. The album marks his tenth collaboration with nine-time Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb — one of modern rock's most enduring creative partnerships. Cobb reflects: "I think this record is like seeing into the heart of Jay — no filter, no noise, just pure raw emotion."

Buchanan's live presence is magnetic and unvarnished. There is no artifice, no theatrical smoke and mirrors — only truth, conviction and a deep respect for the power of song. Stories flow freely between songs, shaped by wide skies, the people he has met and loved along the road, and a profound sense of introspection. His voice, steeped in gospel, soul and American roots music, moves effortlessly between grit and grace, embodying both the rock star and the singer-songwriter in the same breath.

Beyond his own work, Buchanan appeared in the acclaimed biopic "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere" last year, and has collaborated with artists including Brandi Carlile, Barry Gibb, Miranda Lambert, MASSIVE ATTACK and Jason Isbell, most recently joining country star Cody Johnson on stage during his headline set at Stagecoach festival, California for their new duet "Rabbit Gets The Gun".

Image credit: Jukka Heikkinen

In a new interview with Remzi "Jam Man" Yates of Rocking With Jam Man, LAST IN LINE drummer Vinny Appice offered an update on the band's search for a new singer following the recent departure of LAST IN LINE's original vocalist Andrew Freeman. Appice said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're working with somebody — I don't wanna mention names — and we're getting together soon and checking out how that works, as far as, 'Let's write some stuff together. Let's play.' We're not doing any gigs. So it's gonna be a while for the next album. And we still have a deal with [earMUSIC], we still got a record deal with the record company, so everything's sitting there. And it's a matter of seeing if it works. If it doesn't work, then we'll be going to the next step. So, [it's] kind of on a hold right now."

Asked what caused the split with Freeman, considering that Andrew recently said that he wasn't given a clear reason for his dismissal from LAST IN LINE, Vinny said: "I don't even wanna talk about it."

Earlier this month, LAST IN LINE bassist Phil Soussan, who joined the band in 2016 following the passing of LAST IN LINE's original bassist Jimmy Bain, told Robert Edwards of Talkin' Bout Rock about the group's singer search: "We've got someone of great interest. [Laughs] Let's just say that. We've actually been sort of doing some work and stuff remotely, but we are going to get together very, very soon, and I think that will be the yes/no announcement that's coming up very soon. But I, unfortunately, can't say very much more than that."

After Edwards noted that fans are waiting to see what happens next with LAST IN LINE, Phil said: "Yeah. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be fantastic, because I think it's gonna be a new chapter and a progression as well. So I'm excited about that."

In early June, Freeman was asked by the Hard Rock History Show if he was surprised by the fact that he was fired from LAST IN LINE — which was originally formed by original DIO members Appice (drums),Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Jimmy Bain (bass) — via an e-mail last September from the group's management. Andrew said: "I'm surprised at how it went down… But that's those guys. That's the three of those guys. They can't do anything face to face… But all of this stuff could've been fixed with a conversation. It's plain and simple. And I've had arguments with Vinny on the phone over the years. But he's from Brooklyn; I'm from New York. You're shout talking. You're shout talking, and then it kind of, like, 'Look, this is what I mean.' And we always had [the kind of] relationship [where we] could get through stuff, because he's talked me off the ledge sometimes and I've talked him off the ledge sometimes. He was a good friend, and maybe he still is. I don't know. I don't hear from him. But you don't really hear about Vinny talking shit about people when he does interviews, but he's talking shit about me now. And I don't go for that shit. If you got something to say, back it up. Call me. Fuck, call me. We'll talk it out. Even if it doesn't fix the band, we're still in business together."

Outlining his contributions to LAST IN LINE in the 13 years that he had been in the band, Andrew said: "I created that branding for that band, I toplined all those songs, I wrote all those — more than 50 percent, sometimes, of some of those songs, and gave away publishing so it was like a VAN HALEN split, where everybody gets 25 percent of what happens, even though 50 percent, if not more, happened in this room [in my home studio]. The vocal tracking, the arranging happened in this fucking room. With no hesitation I'll tell you I did more work on those records than any of those guys did. And they can fucking say whatever they want, but they're full of shit. Because when you walk in and put maybe three or four days to track a record, and then you leave and you don't come back to it, and then you leave it to somebody to make these fucking things songs, that's not an easy task. And somebody's gotta be able to do it, and I was the guy who did it."

Circling back to the way he was fired from LAST IN LINE, Freeman continued: "But, yeah, I'd rather just have a conversation about it and get it done and keep it out of this. So when a guy who doesn't talk about anybody else all of a sudden gets a bug up his ass because, for whatever fucking reason, it's hard for me to kind of get my brain around that because, again, I did the songwriting, I did the branding. All the merch designs I did. I'm a partner in the company. I'm not a hired guy. I'm a partner. So I have to resign from the company in order for them to move on."

After the interviewer noted that as a partner in the LAST IN LINE business, Freeman is still "owed a piece of the action", Andrew concurred. "Of course I am," he said, adding that he expected his LAST IN LINE bandmates to treat him with more respect. "Just be cool. If you're not happy with what I'm doing — believe me, I'm not super happy with you guys either, because you're affecting my career. And getting back to [when I was briefly in] GREAT WHITE, there was a guy [in LAST LINE] who called the agent and said, 'Why are you trying to poach our singer [for another band]?' Like, trying to poach our singer? What are we doing? Should I call DEF LEPPARD's manager, and be, like, 'Hey, why are you poaching our guitar player" — referring to Vivian Campbell — "for our dates? Why is our guitar player leaving in the middle of a U.K. tour and flying back to L.A. to announce a MÖTLEY CRÜE/DEF LEPPARD mega tour while I'm sitting in a hotel for four days waiting to go back on the road, not getting paid?' We're supposed to be patient for each other, we're supposed to work together, especially on a project that is a glorified side project. It was a full-time job for me, doing the web site and doing the social media — like, all of that shit is me. So you're gonna get rid of me? Cool. Write me a check. Cool. Be cool about it. Say, 'Hey, we wanna work something out.' Don't just give me a letter, like, 'Don't worry. We'll send you a release that you can sign.' Like, fuck you. Fuck you. I don't have to do anything. It's gonna cost you more money. So that's fine. Whatever. Anyway, I'm probably saying too much."

Freeman previously talked about his exit from LAST IN LINE during a May 27 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" show. Asked if Vinny's March 25 interview with "Trunk Nation" host Eddie Trunk was when he first found out he was no longer a member of LAST IN LINE, Andrew said: "No, it's not the first [time I heard about it]. I knew it, but they had never done me the courtesy of making an official announcement. I got a letter back in September of last year, and I think that they thought there was gonna be a bigger reaction from me, and I didn't have one. They e-mailed me — they had the manager e-mail me a letter. So I got a letter basically saying that they were moving on without me, with the name… I did find out about it, but there was just complete silence up until [Vinny spoke about it on] your show."

After Trunk noted that there has been no public statement from LAST IN LINE about Freeman's exit from the band, Andrew said: "[There has been] no public statement 'cause it's just not that simple to get rid of me. ['Cause] I'm an owner [of the LAST IN LINE business]. And I'm one of the original [members]. I mean, obviously, it's a collective of the original DIO band, but it's the music business, it's a business, and we had to form a business in order to do it, and the original partners are me, Vinny and Vivian. And they decided to do that [make me a partner]. They could've kept me as a hired hand [when we first formed LAST IN LINE], but they didn't. So with the original band, when we first put it together, it was the three of us and then Jimmy Bain and [former DIO keyboardist] Claude Schnell… So when we started, it was the original guys from the original band and then me singing, and we did a few shows, and we got offered a record deal, and then it turned into a business, and then they end up firing Claude and brought in this guy, Erik Norlander, who was a hired guy."

Addressing the fact that LAST IN LINE was performing DIO material, alongside LAST IN LINE's original songs, up until the end of his time with LAST IN LINE, Andrew said: "At the end, we were doing a half-and-half set. It was maybe a little more DIO than our stuff, but we'd do about 12 or 15 songs per show, so it was about six [DIO songs] and six [LAST IN LINE songs], or seven and five or whatever. So it wasn't like we could sustain an entire show, I believe, doing just our material… I mean, we could if we were opening for somebody maybe, but to go out and do a headline run, I think a lot of people would scoff if we came out and we didn't do 'Holy Diver'. They wanna see that stuff."

After Trunk said that there is a "perception out there" that Andrew did not want do play the DIO material with LAST IN LINE, Freeman clarified: "The person who really didn't wanna do the DIO stuff was Vivian. Now, we started doing it, and we started writing these songs. For example, we played the Download festival in England, and we played the same day DEF LEPPARD did, so he had double duty. He was headlining the show, and we were the first band on the bill. So we do the first show, and right before we go on, we're getting everything together, and he's, like, 'Let's just do all of our stuff.' Like, 'You sure you wanna do that? We at least gotta do one. That's pretty brave.' He says, 'Yep. We're an original band. Let's go out and let's do an original set.' So the compromise was we did a full original set, and then our last song was, I think, 'Rainbow In The Dark'. So we closed with 'Rainbow In The Dark'. But I was always the guy that was, like, 'Hey, I don't think that's a good idea,' because coming from the cover band world years ago and having original bands where you do two covers and you put an original in, just to slip it in between the stuff as you're trying to grow, I thought that that was the best idea, was to always have the DIO material. 'Cause Vinny really likes doing the DIO stuff, and I think Vinny likes doing the DIO stuff more than he likes doing the LAST IN LINE stuff."

Asked if that was the first time he sensed "maybe a difference in direction", Andrew said: "Everything that I did with those guys was following their lead, basically, because it's their heritage, it's their whatever, their history, and I just wanted to be comfortable sitting in with that. I wanted to take it to the goalpost with them, because I'm a fan, and this is something that Vinny and I had spoken about back when we were doing LYNCH MOB back in like 2005, about, 'Hey, what's going on with Vivian?' Blah, blah. 'Cause I've known Vinny for a long time, and he's the one who brought me in. And he's, like, 'Well, Vivian doesn't wanna do it.' And I said, 'Okay.' And then later on [Vivian] contacted all of them and said, 'Hey, I'd really like to get together with you guys.' It was after [Vivian] did the THIN LIZZY run and wanted to play rock, he says 'rock guitar' again. No slight on [DEF LEPPARD], but he wanted to play rock guitar again, he said. So they got together. He called Jimmy, he called Vinny up, and I guess they called Claude as well, and they got together and jammed. And Vinny said, 'I know the singer. I already got the singer.' So he e-mailed me and said, 'Hey, do you wanna come over and jump in this jam we're doing?' I'm, like, 'Well, I got a session that day, but I'll come over for a little bit.' So I literally went over for a half an hour. We did three songs, and I had to split because I had a session... So I had to leave and do that. But I don't really have any issue doing any of that stuff. What I don't like about it is if we're gonna market ourselves as an original band, then we gotta get out there as an original band. With all the connections these guys have, why are we not opening up an ALICE IN CHAINS run?... We did a couple of runs where we were out with… Who did we play with? We did a UFO tour. We did a SAXON tour — I think a couple of SAXON tours. And we did some MEGADETH dates over in Europe. So with the pedigree of that band and the respect that they get from the metal community, I never understood why we weren't doing more stuff besides playing Joe's Clam Shack in Tupelo. Like, what are we doing? And I think that that, and the lack of enthusiasm that some parties in the band had towards it, because they have other jobs, it was really frustrating, and I think that just came off to them as I wasn't interested or whatever."

Elaborating on the differences in the various members' vision for LAST IN LINE, Andrew said: "When you join a band and one of the guys goes to you, 'You need to dye your hair black.' 'Why?' 'Well, so you look more like Ronnie [James Dio].' 'I don't wanna look like Ronnie. So if you want me to do that, go get somebody else.' I'll go out and sing this material and I'll get it as close as I can with the voice that I have. And I understand I don't sound just like this guy. There's plenty of guys out there that do this just like Ronnie does it or as good as or close to. I'm not one of them.

"Now, I understand that it's a battle," Freeman continued. "'Cause you're trying to win hearts and minds in a crowd. Because you're basically representing their childhood and representing something that's extremely important to them, so you gotta be as close as possible. But you also can't be a mimic, and you can't be a clown while you're doing it. I'm not gonna put a wig on. I'm not gonna dye my hair to look a certain way. I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna be me, but I'm gonna sing the shit out of the stuff.

"This is not a tribute band, and when people would come at us and say, or in the press, like, 'Oh, you're in the DIO tribute.' I'm not in a fucking DIO tribute," Andrew insisted. "This is an original band of the guys who used to be in DIO. We do some of that stuff, but we're not up there glorifying Ronnie. I mean, depending on who you ask in [LAST IN LINE], they don't even like Ronnie, they didn't even like the guy… [It was] not just [Ronnie] and Vivian [that had issues]. There's a couple of guys that were in the band that had [issues with Ronnie], but they didn't talk about it as much.

"I think a lot of times the confusion is there's Ronnie James Dio the man, and then there's DIO the band. So to decipher those two things, you have a bunch of guys going out and playing Ronnie's songs, which are also Jimmy and Vinny and Vivian's songs, 'cause they were a collective, they were a band, it's confusing. So what do you do?"

Andrew went on to say that he is "amazed" that LAST IN LINE has lasted for almost a decade and a half, considering Vivian's hectic touring schedule with DEF LEPPARD.

"Every time that we did something, it was always a decision, are we going forward?" Andrew explained. "When Jimmy passed, I thought we were done. And then we got somebody else to come in, and then we went out and filled some commitments that we had, and then we decided to do another record. 'Okay, we'll do another record.' Well, we did that record, did a tour with that, toured that record for a few years, and then, 'Hey, do you wanna do another [album]?' We changed labels, and we did 'Jericho'. So we did 'Jericho', and we thought this was gonna be where we would take off. But honestly, since the pandemic, we haven't done really anything besides put that record out. I mean, we've done a handful of shows. So you're talking six years now of really doing nothing. So, what else are we gonna do?"

Circling back to the way he was fired from LAST IN LINE, Andrew said: "For me, personally, I think it's completely asinine, the decision they've made what to do. Straight up, it's asinine, because we have business together. [It's asinine] to get rid of me — to get rid of anybody at this point, because basically you are trying to win your audience over, and you've won your audience over to a degree. because we tour and people show up. And people get the records, and they know the songs, blah, blah, blah, all of that. So it's an international touring act. You've established yourself over 14 years with a guy who's replaced [Ronnie James Dio], one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic singer in the history of rock music. And he's been accepted by the majority of the people that come to see you. Because I'll tell you, I don't get booed off. I don't get death threats. I don't get any of that stuff. People, they like the band. There's some people who don't, and you'll hear them and see them online or whatever. So you get rid of that guy, and then after you've done three records already, and 14 years in, now you're gonna establish a guy to maybe go on the road and maybe to do some touring? Because I'm telling you, ever since we released 'Jericho', ever since the pandemic and touring started again, [in] 2023 [they said], 'Yeah, it looks like we're gonna go big in '24.' And then '24 would come, and LEPPARD would tour, tour, tour, tour. And we were, like, 'You know what? We're gonna look in '25, and in '26, and in '27.'"

Asked if he thinks he could ever go back to LAST IN LINE or if that door is now permanently closed for him, Andrew said: "To me, it doesn't really matter if it happens, if I go back to the band. Would I go back to the band? I mean, never say never. If they wanna do another record, we've got, like, four songs already done. So why not? I mean, let's just finish it out. But for me, it's more of a pain in the ass than anything else because this band that I've committed to over the years has blocked me from… I had a really great gig with GREAT WHITE, and I got replaced in that because they didn't wanna deal with LAST IN LINE's schedule, and we had, like, four shows. So I couldn't cancel those shows, 'cause those guys would [get] upset. And when I got that [GREAT WHITE] gig, two of the guys in [LAST IN LINE] were pissed, were pissed that I got that gig, and didn't want me to do anything because we had the 'Jericho' record and we had to promote it, but, again, we only did, like, five or six shows. So at times, when I've had other gigs come to me that were bigger-name gigs, I wouldn't get them because… One time, one of the guys called the agent up and said, 'Why are you trying to poach our singer?' So when you call somebody like that, it's, like, what do you do? So it affects my career. It affects my income. So I don't want it to affect my income and my career anymore. I would love to get out there and tour with a big-name nostalgia band… But I don't even have to do that, because the money I make with the tributes is exactly the same as what I make with LAST IN LINE."

Freeman added that he was never earning enough money from LAST IN LINE to be able to survive without taking on other gigs.

"I can support myself doing this [playing music], which says a lot," he said. "My kid's in private school. I have a mortgage and a car payment and all that stuff. Not money to burn, but I can support myself. I mean, you see me around town. I have beautiful hair. [Laughs] I buy drinks. I buy rounds for people… I'm not like a lot of these guys are, where they don't have a pot to piss in. I actually have planned my future. But I do this for a living, and if I'm not making enough money to sustain my life, then I take that seriously anymore. But this [LAST IN LINE], I took very seriously because there was always that dangling carrot saying, 'Hey, next year's the year. We're gonna go out. We're doing a full run. We're going out with this band. We're going out with that band. We got a full summer of touring.' Eddie, we haven't had a full summer of touring in our entire 14-year existence."

After Trunk said that Freeman probably took LAST IN LINE more seriously because the band was playing a lot of original music that Andrew had a hand in creating, Freeman said: "I guess that's where the loyalty comes, because this is my band. This is my band. I've written 50% of every song, and that's being kind. 50% of every song that we've done. There's maybe one or two songs that one of the guys came up with a lyric here, one of the guys came up with a couple of lyrics here. But I sit in my room in my studio, and I just work, work, work, work, work. And that's the frustrating part, because I put a lot of work into these records, a lot more work than those guys have.

"Quick story. We were doing the 'II' album, and Vivian was on the road somewhere with LEPPARD, summer tour. And there was a break in the '[Raiding The] Rock Vault' show, so I had him the entire month of August to work on the album. So I'm in the studio working on the album every day, every day, every day. And you get into that mode — you're not showering. You're in this crazy woodshed mode. So every morning I get up, I go to Starbucks to get coffee up the street, and I'm in the Starbucks line and I'm listening to the radio, and I hear how much the DEF LEPPARD tour had grossed, and it was some ridiculous amount of money. And good for them — like in the millions, like tens of millions of dollars. And I was, like, 'Wow, I'm sitting here doing this guy's record for free — for free — and not getting paid a dime, while he's out making millions of dollars.' And then when the record comes out, it's all about the genius of Vinny and Vivian. And that's cool, totally fine, because I know exactly what my position in a a band like this is. I'm to facilitate, but I'm doing a lot more than facilitating on these records. I'm top-lining, if you will."

Vinny first brought up the fact that LAST IN LINE was looking for a new vocalist during the aforementioned March 2026 appearance on "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". He stated at the time about LAST IN LINE's current status: "We parted ways with Andy Freeman, the singer, and we're looking for singers, actually, right now. So we have a deal in place. And Viv's busy — he was busy with LEPPARD and he's doing a lot of rally racing, so we're trying to schedule finishing our next record and then playing some dates. 'Cause we have a lot of fun playing. It's great to play with Viv again. It's awesome. So that's what we're doing right now."

After Trunk brought up the fact that Freeman is busy playing with "a couple of tribute bands", Vinny said: "He's playing a Dio show [with a band called] DIO RULES. He didn't really wanna play that stuff with us, which is — go figure — and now he's doing all Dio stuff. Crazy."

Asked what happened between Freeman and the rest of LAST IN LINE to cause the singer's departure, Vinny said: "Yeah, [there was] a lot of tension between us, and the last show, one of the last shows [we played], [at] the M3 [festival in Maryland in 2024], there were things he commented to the audience, and people were scratching their heads, going, 'What's up with that?' He's his own thing. So finally we just said, 'It'd be a lot smoother to find another singer.' So that's what we're doing."

As for whether LAST IN LINE already has "any prospects" in mind as a potential replacement for Freeman, Appice said: "No, we don't have any prospects. If you know anybody, you could text me, that might fit the bill. We're gonna have to set something up. Maybe we can get some videos and stuff. Kind of like SKID ROW did — they set something up, and people are sending in videos, singing and all that. We have a couple of guys, but we're waiting to see if that's gonna work out. But we'll see."

LAST IN LINE's debut album, "Heavy Crown", was released in February 2016 via Frontiers Music Srl, landing at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Initially, the release had been preceded by tragedy when Bain unexpectedly died at the age of 68 on January 23, 2016. LAST IN LINE, honoring what they knew would be Bain's wish to keep the band moving, brought in Soussan and committed to sustained touring in support of the album before beginning work on the follow-up release, 2019's "II", which was also made available through Frontiers Music Srl.

LAST IN LINE's latest album, "Jericho", came out in March 2023 via earMUSIC. It was helmed by Chris Collier, who has previously worked with KORN and WHITESNAKE, among other bands. LAST IN LINE's first two albums were produced by former DOKKEN and current FOREIGNER bassist Jeff Pilson.

In 2022, LAST IN LINE surprised fans by releasing a unique version of THE BEATLES classic "A Day In The Life", which was made available on the limited 12-inch silver collector's EP with the same name.

Photo credit: Jim Wright (courtesy of earMUSIC)

In a recent interview with Germany's Metal.de, PARADISE LOST guitarist Gregor Mackintosh was asked how he and his bandmates have managed to keep most of their original lineup intact for nearly four decades. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, I think there's a few things. First is sense of humor. You have to have a similar sense of humor. You don't have to have a good sense of humor, just a similar sense of humor, so that you can kind of laugh at the same things. We never really took ourselves... We take the music very seriously, but we never took ourselves seriously. We were always kind of laughing from the edges, not believing anything, any of the hype or anything like that. So we always had our feet on the ground. But also acceptance. So you learn how far you can push people, when to leave them alone, when to give people space. And it's quite easy once you get used to it."

He continued: "It took us a long time to figure it out. We had our ups and downs. It's easier now than it ever was. When we see each other, it's like we're just a bunch of housewives just talking about what's happened in the last two months. So, yeah, acceptance is a big one."

Asked if PARADISE LOST is "kind of a second family" for him, Gregor said: "Yeah. Well, apart from real family, it's the only constant that's been in my life, 'cause things come and go. But it's kind of always been there since I was — well, before I was 18; 17, since I was 17. So, yeah, they've been there as long as most family has."

In June 2025, PARADISE LOST vocalist Nick Holmes was also asked by Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting how the U.K. gothic metal pioneers have managed to keep almost the same lineup for almost four decades. He responded: "We grew up as kids and then we started as a band very innocent, kids just into metal music. We were also in the right place at the right time. We've been very, very lucky as well. There's so much luck involved, I think, when you're in a band, and we've had a lot of that as well. So a lot of the right chemistry, et cetera. So, yeah, lots of things, but being friends first and foremost was very important, I think."

This past February, Mackintosh revealed that he was going through some "health issues" which had resulted in him losing a significant amount of weight.

PARADISE LOST is continuing to tour in support of its 17th album, "Ascension", which came out last September via Nuclear Blast Records. The band's first LP in five years, following 2020's critically acclaimed "Obsidian", was produced by Mackintosh and mixed/mastered by Lawrence Mackrory.

More than three decades into their career, and with over two million albums sold, PARADISE LOST remain the undisputed kings of metal's dark side. Formed in Halifax in 1988, the band quickly became noted as the pioneers of gothic metal through their early groundbreaking albums like 1991's aptly titled "Gothic", a mixture of heaviness intertwined with shadowy melody and atmosphere.

Never a group to remain creatively static, across their career they've explored a myriad of avenues of dark music, from sludgy doom-death roots, to conquering the metal mainstream with the enormous, lush sounds of 1995's "Draconian Times", to more experimental, electronic leanings, leaving an influence on a trail of artists as varied as CRADLE OF FILTH, HIM, GATECREEPER and CHELSEA WOLFE.

In a new interview with Spin magazine, former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted was asked if he is writing a book. He responded: "I have a few lined up, but I have to do my memoir first as far as release. I have my poetry and lyric book done. I have the one that I did all the drawings. But I have to do my memoir and get the ball rolling. I've actually been working on it for about five years. I've got 130 chapters. Some are one page and some are five pages. It's that kind of a read. More internal things and photos and fun vibe told a page at a time."

He continued: "I don't do any kind of beaten-to-death redundancy with stories that have already been told a whole bunch of times. I'll do my view on a couple things that people might not have known about a certain famous gig or a certain famous event or award show or something, but I don't go over and over all the shit that everybody's already told. A lot of more inside personal things and stuff. No mudslinging or that shit. None of that stupid drug story stuff or anything other than factual things about painkiller addiction."

A decade ago, Newsted was asked by For Bass Players Online if he had considered writing an autobiography. He responded at the time: "As the NEWSTED thing was winding down [in 2014], I had a book offer. I was just about in; they wanted to send money for the advance, and I had a few conversations with publishers about choosing a [co-]writer and everything. It just didn't work out, though. I realized I didn't want to do it right now. Maybe someday. I'm hoping I can build some more stories with this and then write [the book] some time along the way when I settle down. I still want to do this [music] while the skills are intact, while the functions are intact and everything is cool. I want to make sure that's the way it's gonna go and not get sidetracked from that just yet."

Last year, Newsted was diagnosed with throat cancer, but he kept it a secret from fans until May 2026. The 63-year-old musician, who played with the heavy metal giants from 1986 to 2001, chalked the cancer up to the "accelerated lifestyle" of his time touring with METALLICA. He explained how, due to the intense touring schedule, one METALLICA year is the equivalent of "four or five" normal years, creating a lifestyle that had taken its toll. "If you put the math down, that's taxing on your cells, three flights a day… that kind of shit, it'll get you," he said. Newsted underwent surgery for the cancer in May 2025 and eventually got his "free and clear" in April 2026.

Jason will embark on the first-ever North American headlining tour with his THE CHOPHOUSE BAND this summer.

JASON NEWSTED & THE CHOPHOUSE BAND will play eight headlining dates in cities including Northampton, Albany, Alexandria, Grand Rapids, Knoxville and more. The group will also support iconic Atlanta country rock outfit BLACKBERRY SMOKE for 10 shows in July.

This 18-date run will kick off on July 1 at Northampton's Iron Horse Music Hall, and visit major markets across the South, Midwest, and East Coast, and conclude with a two-night stand at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee on July 24-25.

Since 1992, JASON NEWSTED & THE CHOPHOUSE BAND have performed periodically at select benefit shows and charity gigs, supporting causes like veterans' relief and animal rehabilitation, as well as youth music and arts education programs.

Newsted leads the 2026 JASON NEWSTED & THE CHOPHOUSE BAND lineup, in which he is joined by Jesse Farnsworth (guitar, vocals),Jimbo Hart (bass, vocals),Humberto Perez (guitar) and Robert John-Tucker (drums, vocals).

Jason left METALLICA back in 2001, but was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, along with Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and the man who replaced him, bassist Robert Trujillo, in 2009.

Twelve years ago, Jason shelved NEWSTED, the heavy metal project he operated between 2012 and 2014, saying that it cost him "an awful lot of money — hundreds of thousands of dollars." He added: "I couldn't continue because the business is such a harsh thing now and so different than what I had known."

Forty years have passed since the last time the three original members of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada's death/thrash/crossover pioneers SLAUGHTER stood beside each other and made a hell of a noise. On June 3, 2026, drummer/chainsaw/percussionist Ron Sumners traveled back to Toronto and met with bassist/vocalist Terry Sadler and guitarist/vocalist Dave Hewson. They rented an old schoolhouse and bashed out a few of their classic thrashers. It was 1986 again.

Hewson commented: "The age of Hell's rebirth... 2026.

"We placed a few cameras around a blackened room and recorded a moment of mayhem. No studio quality audio recording, no storyboarding, no makeup artists or any real preparation whatsoever — just reviving our gritty past.

"We are releasing our only music video to date … And through this blood and gore comes the 'Incinerator'…

"SLAUGHTER has been reborn and are ready to offend. 2027 will be 40 years of [SLAUGHTER's debut album] 'Strappado'. What could possibly be next?"

SLAUGHTER — not to be confused with the American pop-metal band that haunted MTV in the early '90s — left an outsized mark on extreme music during its brief but legendary original run from 1984 to 1986. The trio helped shape the foundations of the chainsaw laced death/thrash/crossover sound, influencing countless underground bands and scenes worldwide.

SLAUGHTER's 1985 demo, "Surrender Or Die", and the landmark 1987 album "Strappado" cemented SLAUGHTER's reputation as seminal progenitors of gritty down-tuned heaviness, dual vocal assaults, and the now-iconic chainsaw sound. More than four decades later, their raw, uncompromising approach continues to echo throughout extreme music, and is enshrined in time, vinyl, cassette, CD, and the internet webs for all ears to hear.

A wealth of live, demo, rehearsal, and archival recordings has surfaced over the years, including the 2000 LP release of the "FOD (Fuck Of Death)" rehearsals from 1986 — recorded during the brief period when guitarist/vocalist Chuck Schuldiner of DEATH/MANTAS, played with the band.

In 2001, "Strappado" was re-released via Nuclear Blast. The German record label also issued a SLAUGHTER compilation of demos and live tracks called "Not Dead Yet/Paranormal".

After SLAUGHTER broke up more than 35 years ago, Hewson recruited a new lineup and continued playing as STRAPPADO, but the band never progressed beyond the demo stage.

SLAUGHTER was a crucial player in the early Toronto thrash metal scene alongside genre heavyweights RAZOR, SACRIFICE and EXCITER.

This past February, it was announced that a book about SLAUGHTER was being written by two longtime fans of the band, Dragan "Ed" Balog (Utopian Vision Music, Black Mark Production – North America, DOWNFALL, INNER THOUGHT) and Nick Sagias (NIHILIST DEATH CULT, TRIBE OF PAZUZU, SOULSTORM, OVERTHROW, PESTILENCE). Titled "Tales From The Chainsaw", the book is currently slated for release in late 2026 or early 2027.

Balog commented: "It all began in the fall of 2024, when Nick first shared the idea with me. That initial conversation led to several follow-up discussions over lunch and dinner with Ron Sumners and Dave Hewson, both of whom approved the concept. The idea was then brought to Terry Sadler, who was also on board. Since then, the ball began to roll, and we have both been deeply involved with many interviews with the original members, friends, fans, and many well-known voices within the underground music scene, to give us images, stories, and tales from the chainsaw to share with the fans soon."

In a new Instagram Live, DISTURBED guitarist Dan Donegan spoke about the band's plans for the coming months. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[We have a] couple of shows coming up, as you may know. Just two shows, that's all we're doing this whole year. Obviously, last year was the big 25th-anniversary tour [celebrating 25 years of DISTURBED's debut album, 2000's 'The Sickness']. And we were in Europe. We finished up in Europe last fall. So we've been off this whole time. Everybody's taking some down time, some family time, some personal things in our lives, and finding our own ways to stay busy. But [we're playing] two shows this year. That's it. We have July 17th coming up in Mansfield, Ohio at the Inkcarceration festival. We headline that Friday night. For those of you that are familiar with the movie 'Shawshank Redemption', it is held at that prison. So just outside the prison they've set up a few stages. Massive lineup all weekend long. We're just headlining Friday night. You got LIMP BIZKIT headlining one of the nights, and I think BAD OMENS the other one. But massive lineup with many great bands. And then a week later we come down to Hollywood, Florida to play the Hard Rock Casino down there. We haven't been there in probably 20-something years. So we decided to pick up a show down there and do a show on the 25th of July. So we got a lot of friends that are actually gonna do a couple road trips. They're gonna do the Ohio show and the Florida show. So if you guys are looking to check out either one of those, it's the only two we have this year."

He continued: "So nothing to announce for '27 just yet. We have our talks internally with management and amongst the band, but nothing that I could put out just yet. We're still trying to get together a game plan and see where everyone's heads are at, where we are with material, where we are with future touring. So just one step at a time. We're just gonna bang out these two shows.

"I definitely miss it," Dan added about performing live. "It's been long enough. I think Scotland was our last show we did in late October last year. So definitely going through withdrawals. So [I'm] looking forward to those two [shows]."

This past May, DISTURBED frontman David Draiman said that fans will be "pleasantly surprised" by the material he and his bandmates have written for DISTURBED's follow-up to 2022's "Divisive" album.

Back in April 2025, Dan told Rock 100.5 The KATT FM's Cameron Buchholtz that he and his DISTURBED bandmates had recorded "a bunch of material" in the fall of 2024, "enough for an album, and it's great and we love it and we're excited about it. But we thought at least with this [early 2025] tour [celebrating 25 years of 'The Sickness'] we'll put out 'I Will Not Break' as a [new standalone] single just to give fans something new along with this anniversary tour, but not quite announce a release date of the whole album. 'Cause we're still trying to strategize when we're gonna tour… We may drop another single at some point, and maybe we'll have a release date for the whole album by that point."

Regarding the fact that "I Will Not Break" marked DISTURBED's first release via the band's own label, Mother Culture Records, Dan said: "We've been with Warner Brothers our whole career, and this is, yeah, the first time us doing it on our own. We had a great relationship with them. They always worked hard for the band. [We're] very thankful for the relationship we had. And it probably helped that we were successful early on the first album, that they always stayed out of our way. So we were able to do what we wanted to do, and they'd say, 'Hey, it's working. We're not gonna interfere.' And that's always a great relationship when an artist could do what they want. So it was a great run with them, but we weren't obligated to stay. We have a great relationship with our management company, with Q Prime, and they have the infrastructure too. So they have their radio department and their marketing and their social media and everybody. And they've been amazing with us as well. And I think our relationship with radio and the fans over the years, just as the band, all the relationships we've built, we've had a lot of support. You guys, everybody have always been there for us. So if we keep delivering the songs and you guys keep playing it, it's a good partnership for us."

Dan spoke about the the musical inspiration for "I Will Not Break", which came out in February 2025, during an appearance on an episode of The Mistress Carrie Podcast. He said: "We were out in L.A. [in the] fall [of 2024] and just started getting the ideas out. And we had an album's worth of material already done. And me and [DISTURBED drummer] Mike [Wengren] and Drew [Fulk, also known as WZRD BLD], our producer, were sitting in the room. And I like to keep going. Once the ball's rolling, I don't like to quit — I don't like to stop, because I always feel like the excitement's there. You've got something new so I keep writing. And David's trying to play catch-up, because he's gotta write all these lyrics to these songs. So a lot of times he wants us to stop because 'cause we're getting too far ahead of him. And one day I was in the studio, and I was already digging back into old demos that I had at home, old cassette tapes that we had in the '90s, as we're going through the vault of things… So I wanted to go back and just kind of get back in that headspace of… Some of those recordings were actually just hitting the 'record' button and putting a little cassette player in the back of the room, so it's the worst quality ever. But I wanted to hear some of those improvised tapes and get in that headspace of where we were back then. And even though 'I Will Not Break' is a brand new riff, it kind of just had that vibe."

Donegan continued: "I was supposed to be tracking guitars in the studio for something else that day and I'm, like, 'Ah, let's just put that on the back burner. I just feel like doing something new.' And we just start messing around a bit and I'm just playing around with this riff for a while. I changed the riff probably 50 times as we were sitting there, and I think when the riff finally came about, I think me, Mike and Drew just looked at each other and were, like, 'That's it. That's the one. Go with that.'"

Dan added: "Cakebread is one of the wines we have backstage here [on tour]. And we were having that in the studio that night. We opened up a bottle of wine and started improvising. So the working title for the song was called 'Cakebread'."

Donegan previously talked about "I Will Not Break" in a February 2025 interview with Ryan McCredden of the I-Rock 93.5 radio station. Dan said at the time: "[That song] came late in the recording process. We were out in L.A. this past September, October and November, just getting the ball rolling. There was no really gameplan of a timeframe or deadline in any way. We had some time off the road with only a handful of shows last fall, so we said, 'Let's get back in the room and get things going again and see how the creative process goes.' And everything was going great. We wrote a bunch of material, tracked it all, and then 'I Will Not Break' kind of came late in the session. I just felt like I still had a lot left in me. And I was supposed to be tracking guitars for something else that day, and I just told my producer I felt really creative. I wanted to kind of go with this kind of old-school — I wanted to give something to David that was gonna hopefully trigger kind of that old-school delivery out of David. So we just kind of worked on this heavy groove, this beat, and I just started improvising over it, and as soon as the riff came around, we kind of all just looked at each other, like, 'That's the one. That's the one.' And then I just continued down that road and put together a rough structure. David wasn't there at the moment, at the time, so we just kind of worked out the music and put together a rough structure. And when I'd seen him next, I kind of went over it with him and he connected with it. And he kind of gave us those elements that we were looking for — the still melodic, but still quick, rapid-fire syncopation at times and just that kind of delivery we were hoping to pull out of him. And we thought it would be a great lead-off track to share with the fans."

When McCredden noted that "I Will Not Break" sounds like something DISTURBED could have recorded 25 years ago, possibly inspired by the fact that the band was preparing to embark on a 34-date North American tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of "The Sickness", Donegan concurred. "I was going through the archives and going through a lot of stuff here, my memorabilia, gearing up for this 25th-anniversary tour, and I came across some old demo tapes," he said. "I had actually cassette tapes, if people don't remember what those are. Back in the day, in the late '90s, when we got David in the band, we would just set up a little cassette player in the back of the room and hit 'record' and record us — crappy version, but record our practices so we could hear us just improvising ideas. And so I was kind of in that headspace 'cause I was listening to these old riffs and these old deliveries of us just kind of improvising, like I said, and it just had me in that headspace. Actually, one of the song ideas was a riff I pulled from 1998 off the demo and I kind of slid it back into the mix. I have a history of doing that. I have a way of sneaking in old ideas and seeing if it triggers anybody, if they remember it and pick up on it, if it's been that long ago. But I try to get back into that headspace. And so, even though the riff for 'I Will Not Break' is brand new, I was kind of in the spirit of that old-school DISTURBED, and that's what we were hoping to do — trigger [David] in that that kind of way."

Fulk previously worked with DISTURBED on "Divisive", which was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee.

According to Billboard, "Divisive" sold 26,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release, with 22,000 units via album sales. On the all-format Billboard 200 chart, "Divisive" debuted at No. 13.

DISTURBED has had five No. 1s on the all-genre chart, beginning with "Believe" in 2002.

In a new interview with LA Lloyd, the nationally syndicated radio host for the "LA Lloyd Rock 30", ICE NINE KILLS frontman Spencer Charnas was asked what part of the band's journey, 20 years since the release of ICE NINE KILLS' debut album, "Last Chance To Make Amends", surprises him most or has been the most impactful to him. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think there's so many things that are running through my mind with a question like that. But, to me, the two most impactful things, if you break down what ICE NINE KILLS does in two parts, it's the music and it's the horror/comedy. And two of my biggest influences since I was a little kid were METALLICA and [the] 'Scream' [movies]. And the fact that we have gotten a co-sign from both of those entities, two entities that we respect the hell out of, to the point where we're on tour with METALLICA playing in stadiums across the world, and in the new 'Scream' movie with our song in the closing credits, it's like you can't write this kind of thing. And I'm so thankful that we get to do this. There are a million bands out there, tons of bands that are just as good as us, if not better, and somehow we've managed to accomplish these things. And I'm just so proud and thankful."

Charnas was also asked what lessons he learned from having the opportunity to tour stadiums around the world with METALLICA in 2023, 2024 and 2025. He said: "One of the biggest things that we learned from them is how well they treat the bands that open for them. When going into playing with a band like METALLICA, you have no idea. This is one of the biggest bands of all time — indisputably one of the biggest bands of all time; certainly the biggest metal band of all time — and so you have no idea if you're gonna see them ever, or whether just get on stage and we'll never see them. Either way, we'd be indebted to them for life. But they're the kind of guys, we go into our dressing room the first night, there was this bottle of champagne and a cake that said, 'Welcome to the circus,' or something like that. They all introduced themselves to us, I think, within the first couple of shows. They would watch our set. They would invite us to dinner sometimes after. And that really stuck with me. You should treat every band the same, with respect, no matter if they're the smallest band in the world or the biggest. And that's one of the biggest things that we learned from them. Other than playing in a stadium, which we had never done, in the round, which is such a different monster altogether. But [we] definitely learned a lot from playing those-scale shows, and I think it's helped us when we go on to these other huge festivals. We kind of are a little bit seasoned from having done the stadium thing, which, again, something that… What percentage of bands ever get to say they played a stadium, let alone with METALLICA, all over the world?"

This past April, Spencer told Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station about touring with METALLICA: "It was amazing, man. If you go back to my love of music since I was a little kid — you got NIRVANA and you got METALLICA, and those were two of the bands that really got me into wanting to play guitar and wanting to learn how to play, either [NIRVANA's] 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' or [METALLICA's] 'Master Of Puppets' or something like that. So I'd always been a huge fan of theirs. I went to see them in '97 with my dad. We went to the Boston Garden on — I think it must have been one of the 'Load' album cycles. Yeah. The concert blew my mind. I can close my eyes and visualize being there; I remember it so vividly.

"It's kind of funny because I went to that show, and not too far after I went to see 'Scream'," Spencer recalled. "So it was like my love of horror being birthed as well as my love of, of metal. So getting the call to do that, the first show in Vegas, which was just one show at Allegiant [Stadium in 2022], if it all ended there, it would've been incredible. And then just getting the call [to do] more and more and more. And then to do the full world tour was incredible. The band and the crew and their whole team treated us great. And it was some of the most incredible experience of my life."

Speaking specifically about the "M72" tour's in-the-round stage design that relocated the famed METALLICA Snake Pit to center stage, Spencer said: "It took us a little while to get our sea legs, especially with a stage like that that's so unusual. It's like a big donut. And I think the first few times I was, like, 'Man, I'm getting winded.' I'm trying to run around this thing. 'Cause you're at a stadium. You're, like, 'Wow, I gotta really put on this show. There's so many people here, I gotta work 150 percent of my energy.' But what you realize is the video monitors, when you're in that vast, that large scale of a venue, they do a lot of the work for you. So you don't have to run around like a crazy person. Smaller steps can sometimes play bigger on camera."

Asked if the guys from METALLICA gave him and his ICE NINE KILLS bandmates any advice, Spencer said: "I remember talking to [METALLICA frontman] James [Hetfield] one of the first days. He goes, 'You guys figure out how to use the stage yet?' I was, like, 'Not really.' He was, like, 'Yeah, I'm still trying to figure it out myself.' But, yeah, they're pros. And they still sound and put on such a fantastic show."

Charnas previously discussed the METALLICA touring experience during a January 2024 interview with Mike Hsu of the 100 FM The Pike radio station. He said at the time: "Anytime anyone mentions it when I'm doing an interview, and I'm not B.S.ing here, I get chills. Because it takes me back to when I first saw METALLICA, which was, I guess it would have been the Fleet Center [in Boston] in '97; it just switched over from the Garden a few years before, I think. And I remember that concert so vividly. My dad took me to it. They were, if memory serves, I think they were on the 'Load' or the 'Reload' album cycle, and it feels like that concert was a week ago. I remember the way that Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] came out over onto the stage, and he was drinking a beer, and they had this, like, pyrotechnic kind of, like, accident, but it was part of the show. One of the crew members, I remember, fell down and was hung by his like feet by a wire and everyone was, like, 'Oh my god.' But it turned out it was all part of the show."

Spencer continued: "They were one of those seminal bands for me. They made me, along with NIRVANA, wanna learn how to play guitar riffs. And so when we got that call to be on a few shows at first back in 2022, getting that call a few months later, 'Hey, do you wanna do the whole world tour with us?' I mean, for someone who grew up on that kind of music and METALLICA being the pinnacle of that, it's such an honor. And I still have to kind of pinch myself every time we show up at one of those stadiums and realize, 'I'm not just going to see them. We're on the show.' And they've been so nice to us. They come into the locker room and say 'what's up' to us. And they're really sort of showing us the way of how, when you're coming up, you take bands out, and take the bands out that you think are cool, and you treat them great. And we've learned a lot from them. And we can't thank them enough, and also thank all of their crew and their whole team. They've just been so accommodating. And also thank you to our fans who keep coming out to those shows, to see us play with METALLICA. I see so many INK shirts in that crowd. It's just a huge honor."

This past February, ICE NINE KILLS released a new single, "Twisting The Knife", taken from the soundtrack of horror blockbuster "Scream 7" and featuring one of the film's stars, Mckenna Grace. The track was accompanied by a high-production music video, and it featured Roger L. Jackson, the voice of the iconic antagonist Ghostface in the "Scream" series, as well as franchise star David Arquette.

In March, ICE NINE KILLS released a 1980s-style glam rock single, "Hell Or High Slaughter (Grave Diggler: Pt. 2)", under the guise of spoof band GRAVE DIGGLER.

In a new interview with Finland's Kasarin Lapset, QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's upcoming follow-up to 2022's "Digital Noise Alliance" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "In between our rigorous touring schedule, we've managed to get a lot of really great demos recorded. And at some point we're gonna not tour as much and really concentrate on the album, and then we'll see what happens. But it's something that could happen really quick, or maybe it won't happen till next year. So I don't know. But the band will determine when it's finished."

Asked what he is most proud of when he looks back at his four-decade-plus career, Wilton said: "I'm proud of the path that we've gone down and how we've stayed true to our DNA. And it's amazing that the fans still wanna hear it, and I think that in itself is something you can look back at. You made a difference in someone's life, whether it was personal or whether it was just music. People just dug your music. I love to play, but I love to see people absorb what I'm playing. So that's so cool, man. That's why I love doing this."

Regarding QUEENSRŸCHE's musical evolution between 1986's "Rage For Order" and 1988's "Operation: Mindcrime" albums, Michael said: "Obviously, 'Rage For Order', which is 40 years old now, we toured [in support of that LP]. We were a touring rock band. We were doing a lot of that. And then one thing with QUEENSRŸCHE, back in the legacy days, was we tried to do 180 degrees different with each album. So off of 'Rage For Order', we go, 'Well, why don't we do a conceptual album?' And so that's where that seed was born, and that's kind of the path we went on that. And here we are, and it's still people's favorite album. But then, at our shows that we're doing over here, people, they say 'Rage For Order' is their favorite album. So we have pockets of fans, and the reason is because each album is a little bit different than the previous one. We haven't written the same album over and over and over again."

This past February, Wilton told Mark Strigl about the musical direction of the new QUEENSRŸCHE material: "Well, we're pushing the envelope. We don't get a lot of standard radio play, so we're just going for it. We're keeping the progressive element, the melodic element, the heavy metal element. So it's gonna be a killer album. But we're trying to make it a little bit different than the previous one. So, fingers crossed."

Asked if QUEENSRŸCHE is still in the "pre-production" and songwriting stage for the next LP or if he and his bandmates are already recording the music for the effort, Wilton said: "Well, it's a bit of both. We're at a point where we know our sounds, so if it's kept in the arrangement of the song, then you're halfway there. But yeah, QUEENSRŸCHE likes to come up with, in the writing process at least, 15 to 20 songs. So that's kind of where we are right now. We're probably on the 13th idea right now. So we're kicking ass."

Wilton also talked about his songwriting chemistry with fellow QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Mike Stone, explaining: "We're both in the room with Zeuss, our producer. And if I have a song, I play my idea. We document it, get it recorded, and then I go, 'Mike, it needs another part on top,' and he comes up with something and it complements, and then we just work together and just build the song. It's great, because you can bounce ideas off each other and it's not just one person saying, 'It's my way or the highway.' It's about getting the vibe and getting the right flavors of the music, and I'll tell you what: Mike Stone does a great job. He can understand what I'm playing and he knows that what we call RŸCHE-ian sound."

Zeuss previously worked with QUEENSRŸCHE on 2015's "Condition Hüman", 2019's "The Verdict" and "Digital Noise Alliance" LPs.

Wilton told the "Iron City Rocks" podcast about QUEENSRŸCHE's working relationship with Zeuss: "We built such a relationship, and when he hears my ideas and my riffs and everything, he knows, and I trust him with his decisions. And we just have a great relationship with Zeuss."

In a separate interview with J.J. Caithcart of Different Stages Radio, QUEENSRŸCHE bassist Eddie Jackson stated about Zeuss: "Yeah, he's just awesome. He's great to work with and bounce ideas with. He's a great guy, and he's actually a good musician too; he plays guitar and all that. But if it's still working, why not continue working with him?"

In April 2025, QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre was asked by Brazil's Monsters Of Rock which "unexplored musical directions" he would like to see the band go in on its next LP. He said: "[We're] kind of [doing] the same thing as what we've been doing. I mean, we don't go in writing a record with a preconceived idea. We just get in a room and [go], 'Hey, show me your guitar parts. What do you have in your mind?' And we kind of all get together in a room and just see what happens in real time. So as far as unexplored musical directions… Personally, I'd love to hear more clean guitar on the next record, maybe some more spacious stuff, some more clean guitar. Orchestration is always fun to work with. It's very huge and cinematic sounding. So those are fun things to play with. Maybe some different percussion things would be interesting to play around with again.

"But, gosh, after 40-plus years, I think without completely changing the band, the band's style of music, I don't know that there's really any too much unexplored musical directions," he continued. "I mean, QUEENSRŸCHE's kind of done a lot within the large space that QUEENSRŸCHE has to run around in. I mean, if we were to do something — we wouldn't write a hip-hop song, we wouldn't write a death metal song. So within the confines of what QUEENSRŸCHE kind of is, as diverse as it as it is, I don't know what kind of unexplored musical directions there would be. On the next one, I mean, I would love to, like I say, play around with some other clean guitar sounds, maybe some more interesting percussion things — like the song 'I Am I' had some really neat percussion things going on."

Stone, who rejoined QUEENSRŸCHE in 2021, contributed guitar solos to the band's latest studio album.

Since late May 2021, Stone has been handling second-guitar duties in QUEENSRŸCHE, which announced in July 2021 that longtime guitarist Parker Lundgren was exiting the group to focus on "other business ventures."

Stone originally joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album "Tribe" and stayed with the band for six years before leaving the group.

For the past nine years, drummer Casey Grillo has been filling in for original QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield, who stepped away from the band's touring activities in early 2017 to spend time with his young son.

In October 2021, Rockenfield filed a lawsuit against Wilton and Jackson, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge. A few months later, Jackson and Wilton filed a countersuit against Rockenfield, accusing him of abandoning his position as a member of the band and misappropriating the group's assets to his own personal benefit. That dispute has since been settled out of court.

In a recent interview with The Joel Martin Mastery Podcast, Wilton stated about QUEENSRŸCHE's songwriting process: "Well, the last few albums we've kind of wanted to write fresh, so kind of on the spot. So I'm not looking at anything I've done in the past. I'm looking at just the inspiration of the day and getting something recorded and live with it for a couple of days and then come back and go, 'Okay, yeah, this is pretty cool,' or, 'Nah, I'm gonna delete this.' But I think it's something that is special to a group of guys that everything that you create is new or kind of new. We're probably ripping ourselves off blind with all the riffs and melodies, but that seems to be the fresh approach. I mean, the stuff that goes by the wayside, that's stuff that goes on solo albums. [Laughs]"

Wilton previously discussed the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to "Digital Noise Alliance" in February 2025 in an interview with Marko Syrjala of Metal-Rules.com. Michael said at the time that he and his QUEENSRŸCHE bandmates were "following the same process" this time around as they did for "Digital Noise Alliance". "With ['Digital Noise Alliance'], the recording and writing sessions were meant to feel fresh — nothing was e-mailed back and forth," he said. "Everything was built during the writing process. In that sense, it was about going back to the days when we'd be in a room writing the [debut QUEENSRŸCHE] EP in the morning. Back then, we didn't have technology like we do now. No cell phones, no computers — maybe, if you were lucky, you had a four-track recorder. The way we worked was simple: 'Hey, Chris [DeGarmo], you got a riff?' And I'd say, 'Okay, I like that. Let me add something to it.' It was a real band effort because everyone was in the room, giving input. That's exactly what we did with ['Digital Noise Alliance']. Everyone was involved — 'Oh, I like that,' 'Oh, I don't like that' — and the songs evolved a little more each day. Some songs we dissected and reworked completely. Take 'Tormentum', for example — that's like four songs merged into one! [Laughs]"

Asked if it's "correct to say" that recording the "Digital Noise Alliance" album was "a fresh start" for QUEENSRŸCHE, with Grillo becoming a permanent bandmember and Stone returning to the fold for the studio sessions, Michael said: "Yeah, I think so. This next one will be even better because, with ['Digital Noise Alliance'], Mike didn't come in until the end of the process. But now, he's here from the beginning of the process. He's writing with me, and I'm writing with him, so it should be a bit more cohesive, I think… He knows the ways of the RŸCHE. He knows the guitar style and how to stay within that area. But, like I said, the stuff we've written so far sounds pretty cool."

QUEENSRŸCHE kicked off a European tour on June 6 in Köln, Germany, with shows running through July 5 in Cartagena, Spain. Dates include a mix of headlining shows with RIVERS OF NIHIL opening, as well as festival appearances.

During the Tuska Forum by Bleeding Metal at this past weekend's Tuska festival in Helsinki, Finland, MEGADETH guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari was asked what it has been like to tour and record with the Dave Mustaine-led outfit for nearly three years. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, of course, it all happened very fast in the beginning. I was called as a replacement [for previous MEGADETH guitarist Kiko Loureiro], and then soon the guys realized that I'm gonna be needed later for a longer time. And then we toured for a little bit, for about a year, and then we already started recording the new album. So everything was kind of almost like a snowball effect. Everything happened very fast, and I didn't really have too much time to process or too much time to reflect. And, yeah, just going for the next thing and then the next thing and the next thing, and here we are finally [playing] in Finland."

Asked how he has been able to balance his admiration and respect for the previous guitarists in MEGADETH and his creative ambition, Teemu said: "Yeah, of course, knowing MEGADETH for a long time and knowing the band's legacy and the long history and my huge respect for all the previous guitarists in the band, I kind of decided early on that I'm not gonna stress about anybody else's opinion about comparing me to somebody else, but just try to be myself and do the best that I can and knowing that there's gonna be people who love one of the old guys and it's gonna be hard to convince them with the new guy. But, yeah, just trying to do my best and really pay respect to the music — the old catalog and then, of course, the new music that we've been recording and playing live."

Regarding how he has been received by the MEGADETH fans, Teemu said: "Yeah, I have to say the MEGADETH fans have been super welcoming and very warm from the very beginning, so I'm super humbled to, to be in this position. Very happy to play for the fans."

Also at this past weekend's Tuska festival, Mustaine told Finland's Radio City about Mäntysaari: "Yeah, I'm excited. I'm really excited for Teemu because he's never played here [in Finland] with us. And Teemu is a national treasure here — the first Finnish man to ever have a Number One record in America. So I get a lot of pleasure out of seeing him have success. 'Cause he's such a wonderful person and is a perfect example of the Finnish spirit of people — they're nice, they're intelligent, they're wonderful people. And he's been the missing link that we've been looking for for many, many years."

Reflecting on what it was like for him to initially play alongside Teemu, Dave said: "Well, he was very, very shy when we first hired him, because you go from being in a smaller band into a bigger band, obviously there's gonna be a little bit of an adapting period. But MEGADETH is not a little bigger band — it's a lot fucking bigger. So, I promised him, I said, 'Your life's gonna change. And it's gonna change to where you're gonna be the happiest you've ever been, beyond your wildest dreams.' And that's happened. We're [super tight] on stage. We play like we've been playing together forever. And I think that his guitar soloing on the new album [2026's 'Megadeth'] really helped excite me too. The album's got over 40 solos on it, I think — I think it was 45 or 47 solos on the album, and they're all really involved, complex solos. So it's a great guitar players' record, and the songwriting part is very melodic, where I think a lot of people gravitated toward. It was Number One in 11 countries, so we did something right."

Back in August 2024, Mustaine was asked by Chuck Armstrong of Loudwire Nights how the dynamic within the band had changed since Teemu's addition the year before. Mustaine responded: "Well, we are a band again. It doesn't feel like me and some side players or some session guys. Not that it felt like that with any of the previous lineups, but that was one of the fears that I had. I feel like Kiko did us a really huge courtesy by helping us find Teemu because with Kiko needing to step down… I thought I was gonna finish my career out with Kiko, and when things came up with him, he couldn't tour anymore because he needed to be home for his kids. So I see he's touring again, which I'm happy that he's still playing. But he had to go home. And when he did, he introduced us to Teemu. And it was an even closer connection between me and Teemu than Kiko and I had. We'll [Kiko and I] always be friends, but this new relationship I have is — it harkens me back to the days when we had Marty Friedman in the band and the four of us actually felt like a band."

Mäntysaari was born in Tampere, Finland and began playing guitar at the age of 12. In 2004, he joined the band WINTERSUN. He has also been a member of SMACKBOUND since 2015.

Earlier in August 2024, Mustaine was asked by Kyle Meredith what Mäntysaari had brought to MEGADETH that wasn't there before. Mustaine responded: "God, he's such an amazing talent. And as far as being a human is concerned, he's a really humble guy. He's fun to be around because he's kind of — there's this 'greenness' to him, if that's a word, greenness. He makes it really fun because he's gone from being in a band that was pretty well known to being in MEGADETH. And so everything's very new for him at this level. And for us, we get to kind of enjoy ourselves, because we sometimes forget where we're at and then you see other people that, 'Wow, the bread is round and so is the meat,' that kind of shit. And it just makes him really happy, and it just reminds you of how good you have it."

Regarding how much a lineup change like that actually alters the musical DNA of the band, Dave said: "Well, it depends on who the new player is. If they're willing to learn the parts, then the songs either, they stay where they are or they get better. And a lot of times when you have a new player, like when Teemu came in, he played everything identical to the original players. So, he's been one of the best guitar players to step in and play somebody else's stuff."

In June 2024, Mustaine told Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece about Teemu: "He knew more about the band and understands the metal backbone of so many of these songs more than some of the other people would understand it."

He continued: "When you're a metal guy, I think you understand metal compositions more than somebody who, say for example, knows progressive rock like [former MEGADETH guitarist] Chris Broderick does, or somebody who knows bossa nova, which Kiko does, or somebody that plays jazzy, like [former MEGADETH guitarist] Glen Drover would play, maybe Al Pitrelli. These guys all have their strengths."

Mustaine added: "I've often thought, although I've never said it, I do believe that when somebody gets singled out by me, that's pretty much it for them. They've been indoctrinated into the world of great guitar players, and from that moment on, their life will change."

In October 2023, Mustaine told Shaggy of the 94.9 and 104.5 The Pick radio station in Idaho Falls, Idaho about Teemu's addition to MEGADETH: "People are losing their minds over how things are going right now 'cause we have a really good chemistry together."

In September 2023, Mustaine was equally full of praise for Mäntysaari, telling Wes Styles in a separate interview: "He's really great. And I'm super excited with what Teemu has brought. And it's uncanny because he plays a lot like Marty. And it's really exciting. At certain times I just close my eyes during the set and I just hear these songs played, whether like Kiko in the past or Teemu now, it just sounds really magic because these guys have learned these songs and they're not just going out there and just banging their guitar around; they actually learned the solos from some of the virtuosos that I've played with over my career."

In addition to Mustaine and Mäntysaari, MEGADETH's current lineup includes former SOILWORK drummer Dirk Verbeuren and bassist James LoMenzo.