Classic Rock magazine has premiered "Where The Wild Winds Blow", a brand new song from MICHAEL SCHENKER'S TEMPLE OF ROCK. The track, which can be streamed using the SoundCloud player below, comes off MICHAEL SCHENKER'S TEMPLE OF ROCK's new album, "Bridge The Gap", which will be released on December 2.

MICHAEL SCHENKER'S TEMPLE OF ROCK features legendary German guitarist Michael Schenker alongside vocalist Doogie White, guitarist/keyboardist Wayne Findlay, bassist Francis Buchholz and drummer Herman Rarebell. The CD marks the first time Schenker and fellow ex-SCORPIONS members Buchholz and Rarebell have appeared on the same album since the classic 1979 SCORPIONS LP "Lovedrive".

"Bridge The Gap" is described in a press release as "an album of 13 hard-hitting, adrenalin-fueled melodic rock'n'roll songs that showcase Shenker's distinctive and explosive guitar playing."

Says White: "Michael and I had talked about recording an album after the tour of 2012. We never spoke about it again until January 2013, when he sent me seven ideas he'd been working on.

"I'd never really written with him before, so I didn't know how flexible he would be, writing-wise. So I recorded some vocal tracks as ideas, and when Michael heard them, we were off and running. Within two weeks we were in the studio.”

Adds Schenker: "I wanted to combine the old with the new; that's why the album's called 'Bridge The Gap'. I always have some new, fresh sparks to share when I record a new album. I am inspired from within — it's infinite like a kaleidoscope."

According to Schenker, the album title has an additional meaning. "Everything that's currently going on in this world shows that people are desperate for change," he says. " We need to bridge the gap of poverty. There are too many innocent people getting killed in terrorist attacks. We need to leave all of this chaos behind us. We have to be strong. We have to continue moving forward, working together in a balanced way."

"Bridge The Gap" track listing:

01. Neptune Rising02. Where The Wild Winds Blow03. Horizons04. Lord Of The Lost And Lonely05. Rock'n'roll Symphony06. To Live For The King07. Land Of Thunder08. Temple Of The Holy09. Shine On10. Bridges We Have Burned11. Because You Lied12. Black Moon Rising13. Dance For The Piper14. Faith (bonus track; featuring lead vocals by Don Dokken)

Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing spoke to Midland Rocks about his shocking April 2011 announcement that he was leaving the band prior to their "Epitaph" world tour.

Downing, who recently started a career as a rock promoter under the banner The Future Of Heavy Metal, says that, contrary to popular belief, he didn't retire from the music business.

"I'll never get away from this retirement thing, but what happened was that I quit," Downing explains. "Retired implies that I am not physically able to do it. I am able to do it, but I didn't want to do it; I just wasn't enjoying it anymore

"A lot of things had changed. I think I counted about thirty reasons why I didn't want to do it at the time, and that is an awful lot of reasons.

"In all honesty, I think that in so many respects it had run its course.

"If you're part of a songwriting team, you get the recognition and reward for creating something, but for me, PRIEST became about going out and playing live and replicating exactly what people had enjoyed ten, twenty or thirty years ago. The fans would be just as happy if they could see us bin all of the modern guitars we now play and take them on a walk down memory lane, because I think that's what people enjoy most. And I understand that, because if I could go out now and see Eric Clapton with CREAM, then I would be the happiest person in the world."

He continues: "One of the beautiful things about being in the industry was the ability to continue to invent and create, constructing songs and making good records. You do feel the need to be creative, and that was taken away with the downloading thing, and as you get older, the balance of the scales starts to tip. So if you can't be creative, why would you want to continue to dedicate the time into something?

"I suppose if the industry was still healthy and people still had to spend their hard-earned money buying a record, it would be different, but if you give something away, then it has no value.

"We used to buy an album and think, 'Well, it's not that good, but I'll play it a million times [and] I'm sure I'll get into it, and now it doesn't really get a second chance.

"In the past, there was always the opportunity to create a record like 'Dark Side Of The Moon' [PINK FLOYD] or 'British Steel' [JUDAS PRIEST] or 'Back In Black' [AC/DC] that would be one of those albums that would be indelible and people will always come back to. And I think that opportunity has gone now, and I think it would take a miracle for one of those to happen again.

"If you consider an album like [JUDAS PRIEST's much-maligned conceptual effort] 'Nostradamus', then if that had been released in 1978, then it would have been another 'Dark Side Of The Moon', but it is all about the timing.

"When you think about it, in the early days, we had the opportunity to write great songs, play great solos and have great vocal performances, but people get used to it and it is hard now to get the reaction of, 'Wow, have you heard the new PRIEST album?'

"The industry has changed so much… I see companies that are repackaging and rehashing, and that started happening to us, and that was not a pretty thing to be a part of. It's kind of duping the fans a bit, because there are fans around the world that have got to have everything to complete their collection, so even if there are only a few thousand of them, if you put out a box collection, it might be $100, which is a lot of dollars, and so for me, that is something that I didn't get into music for."

Downing's place in JUDAS PRIEST was filled by new guitarist Richie Faulkner.

JUDAS PRIEST is currently writing and recording material for a new studio album, to be released sometime next year.

Earlier today (Monday, October 7), SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya spoke to Loudwire about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's next studio album — the group's first since the passing of guitarist Jeff Hanneman this past May.

"We have two songs," said Araya.

He added: "I haven't had the privilege of going through [Jeff's] audio files at the moment, but that's something I plan to do. Once we get some business squared away, that's something I plan to do; to go through his music and see what he has.

"I know that he had several ideas together that he had presented to us in the course of the past year. Before he passed away, there was one complete song that he had managed to send to everybody that I listened to and that I thought was really, really good and communicated that to him. There's stuff that I thought would be great to listen to just to see what's there and how we can possibly use what he had done. That's something I have every intension of doing."

Araya offered more information about the material that Jeff left behind that may end up on the next SLAYER record.

"One song was a song we didn't finish for [2009's] 'World Painted Blood'," he said. "That song is actually complete. Me and Jeff were working on melody and lyric ideas for that song. We weren't really happy with what we were doing or what was becoming of that song, so it didn't make it on the album. It was just something we were working on and we couldn't find anything we were happy with that would work well lyrically and melody-wise, so that's one reason why that one didn't make it on the album, but that song is complete, it's done, it's ready to go."

He continued: "I don't want to use the term 'typical' [laughs] but it's Jeff, it's obvious who put the song together. It's Jeff music. He created a certain way and he put music together a certain way; it's signature Jeff. It's new, it doesn't sound like anything else that we've done, in my opinion. Jeff usually just wrote songs and a lot of his stuff had certain signature things he would do to songs. That stuff is in there, but I would consider it new."

It is not presently clear if EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt — who has been filling in for Hanneman on tour since January 2011 — will be featured on SLAYER's next album.

SLAYER's 25-date fall 2013 North American tour kicks off on October 22 in Anchorage, Alaska. GOJIRA and 4ARM will provide support on all dates.

It was announced on May 30 by Araya and SLAYER guitarist Kerry King that Paul Bostaph would be behind the drum kit for the remainder of the band's 2013 international tour. Bostaph was SLAYER's drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band — the gold-certified "Divine Intervention" (1994), the 1996 punk covers album "Undisputed Attitude", "Diabolus In Musica" (1998), "God Hates Us All" (2001) that received a Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance", as well as the DVD "War At The Warfield" (2001), also certified gold. In addition to SLAYER, Bostaph has been a member of FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, SYSTEMATIC and TESTAMENT.

Original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo sat out the band's Australian tour in February/March due to a contract dispute with the other members of the group. Filling in for him was Jon Dette (TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX).



(Thanks: NJthrasher)

German female-fronted symphonic metallers XANDRIA have entered the studio to begin recording their sixth album for an early 2014 release via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2012's "Neverworld's End" is being helmed by Joost Van Den Broek (AFTER FOREVER, STAR ONE, REVAMP) and Sascha Paeth (EDGUY, EPICA, AVANTASIA), alongside the band's main composer Marco Heubaum.

XANDRIA in February recruited Steven Wussow (DOMAIN, SHYLOCK, ILLECTRONIC ROCK) as the band's new bassist.

"Neverworld's End" was released in North America on March 6, 2012 via Napalm Records.

XANDRIA in December 2010 announced the addition of singer Manuela Kraller to the group's ranks.

On October 5, drummer Thomas Jensen announced his departure from Danish extreme metallers ILLDISPOSED.

Says the band: "Thomas has been beating the drums for us for more than 10 years, but somehow lost his motivation to go on.

"We wish Thomas all the best for the future."

Comments Thomas: "I want to thank the band for 12 great years. And I want to express my gratitude to all the nice people and bands I've met along the way.

"I wish ILLDISPOSED all the best for their future."

A replacement drummer will be announced soon.

ILLDISPOSED's "Eyes Popping Out" video can be seen below. The clip was directed by MNEMIC guitarist Mircea Gabriel Eftemie.

"Eyes Popping Out" comes off ILLDISPOSED's latest album, "Sense The Darkness", which entered the official chart in Denmark at position No. 78. Released on September 21, 2012 via Massacre Records, the CD was recorded at Antfarm Studio in Aabyhøj, Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (MOONSPELL, DARK TRANQUILLITY, GOREFEST, SICK OF IT ALL). The artwork was created by Mircea Gabriel Eftemie.

Greek metallers SEPTICFLESH have entered Devasoundz Studios to record 10 new songs for their as-yet-untitled next full-length album for an early 2014 release via Prosthetic Records in North America. The follow-up to 2011's "The Great Mass" is being produced by former MACHINE HEAD and SOULFLY guitarist Logan Mader (CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, FEAR FACTORY, GOJIRA) and will once again include a collaboration with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, the group will also utilize full regular and children's choirs on the CD, which will surely further enhance the epic nature of their music.

SEPTICFLESH has earned extensive international acclaim for its eight albums to date, as well as its live appearances alongside the likes of CRADLE OF FILTH, AMON AMARTH, GORGOROTH, SATYRICON and CHILDREN OF BODOM. The group, which recently headlined the "Conquerers Of The World" North American tour, will take part in next year's 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise.

After the success of the reissues of SEPTICFLESH classics "Mystic Places Of Dawn" (originally out in 1994) and "Esoptron" (1995), Season Of Mist will release a newly remastered version of the Greek demons’ 1997 masterpiece "Ophidian Wheel".

Enhanced with three previously unreleased bonus tracks and a brand new cover artwork designed by SEPTICFLESH frontman Seth Siro Anton himself, the reissue of "Ophidian Wheel" will be available on October 25 (October 29 in North America) on CD and various LP editions.

GIFT OF GODS is the name of a new project from the mind of Nocturno Culto, one half of the legendary Norwegian black metal band DARKTHRONE. For GIFT OF GODS, Nocturno turns his hand to creating pure unbridled heavy metal excellence, taking in a vast array of influences from decades past to concoct a special whirlwind of melodic riffing and headbanging anthems on this 30-minute heavy metal pilgrimage.

Due on October 28 in Europe and November 5 in North America on vinyl and CD via Peaceville Records, "Receive" also features a rendition of "Looking For An Answer", originally written and recorded by the obscure Swedish '80s band UNIVERSE.

A labour of love over several years since its initial inception, GIFT OF GODS sees Nocturno performing all instruments himself and recording the mini-album at his own studio.

"Receive" was mixed and mastered at Enormous Door by Jack Control, who previously worked with Nocturno on DARKTHRONE's "The Underground Resistance" album.

Comments Nocturno: "Finally the mini album is done.

"GIFT OF GODS has been a great ride for me. I don't want this to end now, so I will most likely work on new material.

"Thanks to my partner in crime, K.A. Hubred, we got to rehearse during the last two years.

"What to expect? I have no idea how to describe this, but it's metal, for sure."

"Receive" track listing:

01. Intro02. Enlightning Strikes03. Receive04. Looking For An Answer05. Last Solstice06. Outro

The edited version of the song "Enlightning Strikes" can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

MONSTER MAGNET's new album, "Last Patrol", is available for streaming in its entirety using the SoundCloud widget below. Due in North America on October 15 via Napalm Records, the CD was produced by Dave Wyndorf and Phil Caivano, while "Evil" Joe Barresi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, BAD RELIGION) mixed the album, with additional production duties handled by Matt Hyde. The artwork was created by Johun Sumrow with consultation coming from Chris Ryall and designs by Ryan Clark for Invisible Creatures Inc. The album will be available as a limited edition CD, standard CD, 2LP and digital format.

In support of "Last Patrol", MONSTER MAGNET will embark on a full-blown North American tour. Although the band has toured Europe relentlessly over the past decade, this is MONSTER MAGNET's first full North American tour in over 10 years. Support will come from Prosthetic artist ZODIAC. The tour is scheduled to kick off November 14 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and will run through December 14 in New York City.

Frontman and MONSTER MAGNET mastermind Dave Wyndorf checked in with his thoughts about "Last Patrol": "'Last Patrol' is a return to our roots in terms of vibe and recording style. It's full-on psychedelic space-rock with a '60s garage feel, recorded almost exclusively with vintage guitars, amps and effects in our hometown of Red Bank, New Jersey. The songs are a kind of space-noir, tales of cosmic revenge, peaking libidos, alienation and epic strangeness. It's a weird trip through the back alleys of a dark, retro-future, which not by coincidence very much resembles my own life. [laughs] The lyrics aren't fantasy really, rather a recounting of my musings on, observations of and general emotional reaction to my life and environment during a 1 week writing period in February of 2013. But I tend to use the vernacular and imagery of science fiction and surrealism to express myself and that's where these lyrics get trippy. There's also our cover version of DONOVAN's 'Three Kingfishers', which I thought fit the mood of the album."

He continued: "'Last Patrol' was produced by Phil Caivano and myself with an effort to bring a homegrown feel to the whole affair. We had been doing smaller projects out of Phil's Studio 13 recording space and I really felt comfortable there so it was the natural choice on where to record the next full-scale MONSTER MAGNET album. Phil and I grew up together and have a shared love of some very particular vintage music and styles. And everybody in the band played their asses off on this one."

"Last Patrol" track listing:

01. I Live Behind The Clouds02. Last Patrol03. Three King Fishers04. Paradise05. Hallelujah06. Mindless Ones07. The Duke08. End Of Time09. Stay Tuned

The video for the song "Mindless Ones" can be seen below.

In METALLICA's new movie, "Metallica Through The Never", fans have a chance to see the band performing on a massive stage, specially constructed for the film, that incorporates elements of METALLICA live shows from the past 30 years. Movie Maniacs asked drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo if there is any chance of taking that stage show on the road. "Let's see how well the movie does and let's see if there's any kind of… I mean, we've never toured the stage," Lars replied (see video below). "It was just made for the movie. So there's definitely a chance that we may tour. I don't think… It's not gonna happen, like, in the next couple of years, but maybe it'll be something that we come back to five or ten years down the line. Right now, we wanna go and work on another METALLICA record for the better part of the next year, or whatever, but we may tour it one day, absolutely."

"Metallica Through The Never", opened this weekend to an estimated $1.67 million — the best opening for a concert film ever at IMAX theaters. The movie, which debuted on 308 3D IMAX screens, earned an estimated $780,000 on its first day. That gave the film a per-location average of $5,482. A blend of concert movie and fictional narrative, it will expand to 650 theaters next weekend.

Financed by the METALLICA members themselves at a budget of $18 million, "Metallica Through The Never" is the first new release via Picturehouse, the full-service independent film marketing and distribution company started in 2005, which reopened its doors with founder Bob Berney at the helm. The film, written and directed by Nimród Antal ("Kontroll", "Predators"), stars members of the iconic rock band and Dane DeHaan ("Chronicle", "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"). DeHaan plays a young band crew member who is sent out on an urgent mission while the band is playing a rousing live set in front of a sold-out crowd and unexpectedly finds his world turned completely upside down.

The soundtrack, which features a number of METALLICA classics performed live in the movie, was released on September 24. The two-disc CD came out on METALLICA's own label, Blackened Recordings, also in digital and vinyl formats.

"Burning Daylight", the new video from TONY HARNELL & THE WILDFLOWERS FEATURING BUMBLEFOOT, the collaboration between former TNT singer Tony Harnell and GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, can be seen below.

TONY HARNELL & THE WILDFLOWERS FEATURING BUMBLEFOOT recently released its debut album via CDBaby.com.

The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Paralyzed02. Get Up Again03. Runaround04. Devil Of A Healer05. Burning Daylight06. Somebody To Love07. What If08. Wouldn't Be Human09. Child's Play (Live at the Cutting Room)

Check out audio samples at this location.

Since leaving TNT in 2006, Harnell has been recording hard rock, metal and acoustic rock albums and has been putting on entertaining acoustic shows to sold-out crowds in the the New York City area with his current backing group, which features guitarist Jason Hagen, Amy Harnell (vocals, percussion) and newest member, Cassandra Sotos (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, MARK WOOD), on seven-string electric violin.

Thal and Harnell met 20 years ago when Tony was forming a new band after TNT took a break in 1992, and in January 2012, Ron and Tony were reunited at the NAMM convention in Anaheim, California, where they started discussing the possibility of working together.

After Ron attended one of Tony's performances in August 2012, which Thal proclaimed was "the best acoustic show he had ever seen," Tony, being a fan of Ron's otherworldly and original fretwork, asked if he'd like to join him on the project and contribute to his EP, which was already underway. Harnell stated: "In addition to Ron's superhuman and beautiful guitar playing, he also happens to have a great voice and writes amazing songs, which will greatly add to this project both live and in the studio." Thal has also been a longtime fan of Harnell's songwriting and vocal artistry, so the new coalition seems more than natural.

Finnish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH have announced the addition of Dutch singer Floor Jansen (REVAMP, ex-AFTER FOREVER) and English composer and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley (uilleann pipes, low whistles, vocals) to the group's permanent lineup.

Says the band in a statement: "Originally we were going to wait until 2014 to make a decision about the future lineup of the band, but the past year has clearly shown us that Floor and Troy are perfect matching pieces to our puzzle, and we are really grateful of the bond that has grown between all of us.

"We love you, guys." Adds Jansen: "Words cannot describe what I feel! This union is beyond everything, and I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to continue this amazing journey with my new brothers!

"Once I had a dream… and this is it!!!" Says Donockley: "'Imaginaerum World Tour' was a revelation to me and in that time, I became aware of a growing unity and then, finally, a transcendence of all the usual nonsense that affects bands. A beautiful process. And since the idea, the musical dream that is NIGHTWISH has been a part of me since before I was born, I am delighted to officially sail into uncharted waters with my brothers and sister. Wondrous scenes Ahoy!" NIGHTWISH will release a new DVD, "Showtime, Storytime", on November 29 as a limited 2Blu-ray + 2CD digipack, limited 2DVD + 2CD digipack, limited 2CD digipack, 2LP (colored) in gatefold and an exclusive Nuclear Blast mailorder edition.

"Showtime, Storytime" contains NIGHTWISH's entire August 3 performance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany. The show, which was played in the front of 85,000 screaming metalheads, was directed by Ville Lipiäinen, filmed with seventeen cameras and has a total running time of 85 minutes. The second disc consists of a 120-minute tour documentary, "Please Learn The Setlist In 48 Hours", also directed by Ville Lipiäinen, with no shortage of drama or overall madness. Also, there is a 16-minute NIGHTWISH Table Hockey Tournament, filmed on tour. In addition, there are two music clips: "I Want My Tears Back" (live at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland) and "Ghost Love Score" (live in Buenos Aires).

Check out a trailer for "Showtime, Storytime" below. The Wacken Open Air appearance was the first of the three final shows of NIGHTWISH's "Imaginaerum World Tour", which saw the band and their Jansen playing 104 concerts in 34 different countries, with a total audience of over 1.5 million fans around the globe.

Commented NIGHTWISH mastermind and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen: "Our darling flying Dutchwoman, Floor Jansen, has been nothing but incredible during her time in NIGHTWISH on this tour, so this is a perfect opportunity to immortalize the current vibe of the band on film!"

Jansen made her live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon.

Holopainen has known Jansen for more than 10 years already, having previously toured with her former band, AFTER FOREVER.

Asked about the reasons for Olzon's sudden exit from the group, Tuomas told U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine: "I'm sure it came as a shock to everybody. We came out with a statement [regarding the split], which pretty much says it all. It still is a private matter, and that's all we wanna say about it, like, ever. It was an amicable divorce, so to say, and made in good spirit, and we are just looking to the future. There really is no reason to go back into all the details and all that. I mean, this is not politics, this is a rock band."

ValvularTV.com has uploaded fan-filmed video footage of SLAYER's entire September 29 concert at Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina as the support act for IRON MAIDEN. Check it out below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. World Painted Blood02. Disciple03. War Ensemble04. Mandatory Suicide05. Hallowed Point06. Dead Skin Mask07. Hate Worldwide08. Seasons In The Abyss09. South Of Heaven10. Raining Blood11. Angel Of Death

SLAYER's first show in 25 years at the 3,700-capacity Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, set for Monday, October 28, has sold out, and a second show has been added for Sunday, October 27. Tickets are on sale now. Go to Slayer.net for purchasing information. These concerts are part of SLAYER's 25-date fall 2013 North American tour that kicks off on October 22 in Anchorage, Alaska. SLAYER — Tom Araya on bass/vocals, guitarist Kerry King, drummer Paul Bostaph, and guitarist Gary Holt, who continues to fill in for the late founding member Jeff Hanneman — will have GOJIRA and 4ARM support on all dates. "Really looking forward to playing a full-blown headline set across North America," said Kerry King. "Haven't done that in a fuck of a long time — must be like seven years — so prepare for the assault of a SLAYER headline tour. We are!" While still recovering from the devastating loss of Hanneman, Araya and King have begun to work on new material and hope to spend some time in the studio prior to this tour.

Bostaph was SLAYER's drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band — the gold-certified "Divine Intervention" (1994), the 1996 punk covers album "Undisputed Attitude", "Diabolus In Musica" (1998), "God Hates Us All" (2001) that received a Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance", as well as the DVD "War At The Warfield" (2001), also certified gold. In addition to SLAYER, Bostaph has been a member of FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, SYSTEMATIC and TESTAMENT.

Original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo sat out the band's Australian tour in February/March due to a contract dispute with the other members of the group. Filling in for him was Jon Dette (TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX).

Elliot Levin of the New York Hard Rock Examiner recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

New York Hard Rock Examiner: "Kingmaker" has become a favorite song from "Super Collider", and I've seen it going over well at the concerts too. What does it take for a new song to stay in the setlist beyond the album touring cycle, like "She-Wolf" has?

Dave: You know, a lot of it seems so scientific, but a lot of it isn't. It's just a matter of how long the set is, how high the song is singing-wise, who we're playing with... The set we did for Gigantour isn't that different from what we did for the IRON MAIDEN tour, but we took out a couple of songs, we took out "A Tout Le Monde" and we took out "Trust", kind of let it rip. I think a lot of people were totally surprised by that setlist for the IRON MAIDEN dates, and so was I. I thought that was a good setlist, but a lot of times you have people saying, "Oh, you gotta play 'A Tout Le Monde'. That's your biggest song. You gotta play 'Trust'. That's your number one hit. You gotta do this, you gotta do that." I ain't gotta do nothing. And listening to the fans, what they like, and listening to what I like. Between the two of us, one of us is going to be right. And I know that when it comes down to playing stuff that makes me feel good, I like playing the heavy stuff.

New York Hard Rock Examiner: I know the fans like the heavy stuff too. I don't think anyone comes to a MEGADETH show to hear the pop singles.

Dave: Well, that's the whole thing. There was the period there, going back to the "you have to have been there" syndrome, what were the songs that were coming out around the time "Risk" was out? BLUR was big, BUSH was big, SPONGE was big. There weren't really many metal bands out anymore. If you take all those variables and go, "Oh, yeah, music was looking pretty bleak back then." But if you think about the fact that every one of our records have had our songs on it, it's songs that are great, it's songs that are not great, and I think that that's the beauty of when you play music. You're playing music, you're not working at it. You're having fun, you're playing. Don't take yourself so seriously.

New York Hard Rock Examiner: "Youthanasia" was my very first MEGADETH record ever, so I'll always have a soft spot for it. Any chance you'll go out and tour the whole album like you did with "Countdown" and "Rust In Peace"?

Dave: Very big chance. In fact, funny that you mention that, we were just talking about the part where David Ellefson [bass] used to play the extra floor tom during "Reckoning Day", because the video we did for that song was filmed in Finland and Finland is right next to Russia, so the taxi cab I was in was an old cab from the Russian days back during the cold war. And a lot of the footage from that video, it's a really, really old video, was from all those concerts back in the day when metal was just huge and before the whole alternative new metal things confused things and fucked up our business.

Read the entire interview at New York Hard Rock Examiner.

San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD have posted the following message on their official Facebook page:

"Last night, the BLABBERMOUTH.NET Facebook posted a side by side photo of AVENGED SEVENFOLD's new stage set against MACHINE HEAD's 16-year-old lion crest. Unquestionably, lion crests have been around for ages, but there are some uncanny similarities to MACHINE HEAD's distinct lion crest.

* Lions (with axes)* Roman numerals at the bottom* Band symbol in the center* Black-and-white juxtaposition in the center

"Head Cases, tell us what think."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows told the Worcester/Boston, Massachusetts radio station WAAF that he isn't bothered by recent comments from MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn, in which Flynn called the band's new "Hail To The King" CD a "covers album." Flynn specifically called the band out for songs like "This Means War", which bears a strong resemblance to METALLICA's "Sad But True", along with others. Shadows told WAAF's Mike Hsu (hear audio below): "I think, more than anything, [Robb's comments] brought a lot of attention to the record.

"I saw a lot of people saying, 'Oh, well, I didn't like AVENGED before, but now I'm gonna check it out, and I like this record.' So that was kind of funny.

"But, you know, [I'm] just trying to be displomatic about the whole thing."

He continued: "I don't really care what anyone says, but when people ask you about it over and over, you have to have some sort of response. And my response is just, look, I know the guy. He can say whatever he says. He's a grown-ass adult. He's 40-something years old and has an opinion on our record. I guess he can write and say whatever he wants."

Flynn didn't pull any punches in his critique, writing, "Congratulations to AVENGED SEVENFOLD On their latest 'covers album' coming in at #1. Who knew that re-recording METALLICA, GUNS N' ROSES, and MEGADETH songs could be such a worldwide hit!!?? Ba-dap Psssssss!!"

"Hail To The King" sold 159,000 copies in its first week of release, giving the California band their second straight chart-topper after 2010's "Nightmare".

Guitarist/vocalist CHRIS CAFFERY (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, SAVATAGE) is back in the studio and has checked in with the following update:
"A single scratch guitar track is step #1 in recording my next new song. I had a demo version, doing the new one hopefully for a release by Halloween! It's a song called 'Over And Over'. It's over 7 minutes long! Super cool and emotional song with lots of colors. This is my brain on a midi piano track at 3:30am. Starting to record keeper tracks for 'Over And Over'. I'm still not 100% sure about all of the tempos in the song, so the safest thing to do first is the piano! I'm actually getting pretty good at it. Call me 'Liverace'. With midi I can have a final piano track and change tempos. Another advantage to using the VDrums as well. I'm thinking I'll have all the tracks ready to mix in about 10 days. Would be sooner but bow season does start Tuesday!"

Caffery recently released his new single 'Death By Design' via Amazon and iTunes. Check out the song via iTunes here or use the Amazon widget at the bottom of the page.
Caffery: "This song has been fun, kinda like an albums worth of work in any one element but as a complete work. I wrote the music and lyrics, engineered and recorded it. Played the guitars, drums, bass and keyboards. I did all of the singing. I have a little lead guitar work left then the mixing and mastering! I also did the cover art myself. For me it has been a lot more work then if I did one entire record of guitars alone!

Once again thank you for the years and years of support and friendship! 50,000 and growing... I look at the stats so many different countries and continents here... from North and South America to the Far East and Australia. Europe and the Middle East. Just about everywhere you can imagine! Also, a huge thanks to all of the amazing musicians I have had the privilege of working with throughout the past 30 years. Alive or in the heavens the magic happened with all of you together."

"Redemption", the new video from the Todd La Torre-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE, can be seen below. The clip contains scenes from the studio recordings and first U.S. shows with Todd.

The Todd La Torre-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE recently filmed a "mini movie," with the tracks "Spore", "Midnight Lullaby", "A World Without" and "X2" providing the score to a 10-plus minute story, dubbed "Queensrÿche: Ad Lucem". The film was created by Veva Entertainment Co. with director Daniel Andres Gomez Bagby and producer Marco De Molina and was filmed last month on location at Central City Stages in Los Angeles.

Commented Todd: "We decided to take a different approach with this video, which is comprised of four pieces of music from our latest self-titled release, 'Queensrÿche'. It's a conceptual mini-movie music video that invites the audience to scratch beneath the surface a bit, rather than the usual 'chewed food' that so many are used to being fed. We really wanted to deviate from a performance type of video so the music and story-line could be the main focus." He added: "The overall theme of the song 'Spore' is one that deals with personal demons, relationship struggles, career pressures, personal/professional morals and ethical dilemmas. These are issues we all face on some level and the video touches upon them all.

"'Midnight Lullaby'/'A World Without' deals with the loss of a mother during childbirth, leaving a father as a single parent and struggling to move forward through the turmoil.

"'X2', though it opens up our album, provides for a nice outro to it all. The end result is a roller coaster of emotion in an effort to find a healthy resolve.

"Given our history, we feel that this multifaceted conceptual video, along with a great cast of actors to suit, will really resonate with our fans."

QUEENSRŸCHE's new, self-titled album sold around 13,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 23 on The Billboard 200 chart. The record arrived in stores on June 25 via Century Media Records.

"Queensrÿche" marks the debut release from the lineup comprised of Todd La Torre (vocals; ex-CRIMSON GLORY), Michael Wilton (guitar), Parker Lundgren (guitar), Eddie Jackson (bass) and Scott Rockenfield (drums). The drums for the album were recorded at London Bridge Studios in Seattle, Washington with producer James "Jimbo" Barton — the man who engineered and mixed the band's classic 1988 LP, "Operation: Mindcrime", and its 1990 follow-up, "Empire", and co-produced 1994's "Promised Land". The rest of the music and vocals were laid down at several different facilities on the West Coast. The cover artwork was created by Craig Howell, who has previously worked on designs for "Star Wars", SLIPKNOT and "American Idol", to name a few.

Paul Di'Anno berated a fan for screaming out Bruce Dickinson's name during the former IRON MAIDEN singer's October 4 concert in Thessaloniki, Greece.

After someone in the crowd called out the name of MAIDEN's current frontman less than 15 minutes into Paul's set at the Block 33 venue, Di'Anno responded (see video below): "You think that's funny? You cock-sucking motherfucker. There's always one gay guy, always one f****t. Man, I'm not even gonna come off stage and beat the piss out of you. I'll get my security boys to take you out. Yeah. So shut your fucking mouth."

He continued: "So, Bruce Dickinson… Listen, I do not sing opera and I'm not a ballerina. I just play fucking straight-ahead punk heavy metal. If you wanna listen to Brucy baby, fuck off home. Otherwise, I'll play for my fucking friends tonight. So if you don't mind it, suck my dick, you cocksucker."

Di'Anno completed his first North American tour in early 2010, 17 years after he was deported following a prison term for guns and drug offenses.

On August 27, 2011, Di'Anno played his first show since serving time in a U.K. prison after he falsely collected U.K. government benefits by claiming he suffered nerve damage to his back that prevented him from working.

Due to a number of health issues, including a knee problem which will require surgery soon, Di'Anno announced in July 2012 that he would stop touring in 2013.

Di'Anno recorded two classic albums with IRON MAIDEN before being fired and replaced by Bruce Dickinson. He went on to front a number of other bands, including KILLERS and BATTLEZONE, and released several solo records.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Ozzy Osbourne was quite taken with Taylor Swift after meeting her for the very first time last weekend while out shopping in New York City.

Sharon Osbourne shared details of their meeting earlier this week on her daytime show (see video below), saying, "He was so blown away with her beauty and the aura that she projects. He said to me, 'I have finally met somebody that I can say is a true superstar.' He said, 'She reminds me of Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn.' He called her the most magnificent young girl he's met in his lifetime. He was so blown away by her."

It seems the Osbournes' daughter, Kelly Osbourne, has also taken to Taylor. The E! "Fashion Police" host tweeted on Wednesday (October 2), "#GirlsNight baking with @taylorswift13 you guys have no idea how good Taylor is at cooking!" The tweet was accompanied by a photo of the two wearing red and white aprons and opening an oven door with Taylor looking demure and Kelly looking shocked.

Cult Swedish black/death metal act NECROPHOBIC will release its seventh full-length album, "Womb Of Lilithu", on October 29 (four days earlier in Europe) via Season Of Mist. A digital single featuring the new song "Splendour Nigri Solis", taken from the forthcoming CD, was released exclusively through Spotify on August 19 (September 3 in North America).

"Womb Of Lilithu" track listing:

01. Womb Of Lilithu02. Splendour Nigri Solis03. Astaroth04. Furfur05. Black Night Raven06. The Necromancer07. Marquis Phenex08. Asmodee09. Marchosias10. Matanbuchus11. Paimon12. Opium Black13. Infinite Infernalis14. Amdusias

The song "Asmodee" can now be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below (courtesy of RevolverMag.com).

A Swedish appeals court last month reduced the prison sentence for NECROPHOBIC vocalist Tobias Sidegård, who was accused of beating his wife multiple times between September 2011 and April 2013.

Sidegård was originally sentenced to 18 months in prison for "gross violation of a woman's integrity," and offense that was first introduced into the Penal Code in 1998 dealing with repeated punishable acts directed by men against women who have or have had a close relationship with the perpetrator.

On September 20, the Svea appeals court found Sidegård guilty of simple assault — a less serious offense than "gross violation of a woman's integrity" — and reduced his prison sentence to six months. The musician was also ordered to pay his wife 16,000 Swedish kronor (approximately $2,500) in damages plus interest.

Sidegård previously denied all charges through his attorney, claiming that the injuries suffered by Tobias' wife that were described in the indictment occurred in "other ways" than through physical abuse perpetrated by the musician.

Tobias sent an e-mail to the Metal Insider and MetalSucks web sites earlier in the month insisting that he was "set free after second appeal in higher court." "I've been fucking innocently accused and never hit a woman in my life," he wrote.

The other members of NECROPHOBIC released a statement a month ago in which they declined to comment on the allegations against their singer — pointing out that the legal process was still "ongoing" — but stressed that they did "not condone domestic violence."

In 2011, NECROPHOBIC was joined by guitarists Robert Sennebäck (DISMEMBER, UNLEASHED) and Fredrik Folkare (UNLEASHED).

The band's current lineup is as follows:

Joakim Sterner - DrumsTobias Sidegård - VocalsAlexander Friberg - BassRobert Sennebäck - GuitarFredrik Folkare – Guitar

NECROPHOBIC supported MORBID ANGEL on a European tour in November/December 2011.

NECROPHOBIC's latest album, "Death To All", was released in Europe in May 2009 via Regain Records.

According to Box Office Mojo, METALLICA's new movie, "Metallica Through The Never", expanded to 589 locations on October 4, but in the process lost most of its IMAX screens to "Gravity", the outer-space thriller starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. As a result, it plummeted 56 percent to $697,763. So far, the hybrid concert movie, which was written and directed by Nimród Antal ("Kontroll", "Predators"), has earned just $2.7 million.

"Metallica Through The Never" officially opened on September 27 for an exclusive week-long run on IMAX screens. The film's surreal narrative winds its way through the concert footage, in which a roadie played by Dane DeHaan finds himself in an increasingly hostile urban environment while on a mission for the band.

Financed by the METALLICA members themselves at a budget of $18 million, "Metallica Through The Never" is the first new release via Picturehouse, the full-service independent film marketing and distribution company started in 2005, which reopened its doors with founder Bob Berney at the helm.

Asked if making the movie was worth the financial risk, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich told The Quietus: "That remains to be seen. Ask me when I come back and talk about the new record two years from now. I have no idea. I do know that we rarely consider other options, so compromise is not METALLICA's major strength. And I think that the fans hopefully appreciate that if its got the word 'METALLICA' written somewhere on or near it, that it comes from us."

He continued: "Creative experiences aren't really ones we share with anyone other than the closest few that we sort of purposefully let in. So, to sit there and take a bunch of money from a bunch of people to then have them [be] involved in editing and controlling the movie and so on just seemed wrong. That, of course, was before the project ran amok, but they always run amok, so it's nothing new.

"In METALLICA, we don't look at things as… there's a word called 'cross-collaterizing.' You sort of put everything against everything else so it's not [a case of], 'How is the movie going to do, as itself?' It's not like an isolated entity…

"I think nowadays in media it's very much, 'What did it cost? What did they get back? Was it a success? Was it a failure?' It's slightly more complicated than that, and that kind of breaking it down to absolutes really doesn't interest me.

"This is another chapter in METALLICA's existence, and I'm sure that if we don't make all the money back, then, I don't know, [we will in] t-shirt sales seven years down the line. Something good will come in the wake of these projects. It's just sort of how we roll."

The soundtrack, which features a number of METALLICA classics performed live in the movie, was released on September 24. The two-disc CD came out on METALLICA's own label, Blackened Recordings, also in digital and vinyl formats.

Fan-filmed video footage of MEGADETH's entire October 4 concert in Santiago, Chile as the support act for BLACK SABBATH can be seen below.

MEGADETH's latest album, "Super Collider", has sold 67,000 copies in the United States since its June 4 release. The CD arrived in stores via MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine's new label, Tradecraft, distributed by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). It marks MEGADETH's first release since the band's split with Roadrunner Records.

In a recent interview with Metal Insider, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson stated about the band's decision to release the new album via the group's own label, "The whole imprint idea is that we pretty much just put our logo on our own record [laughs], but we use the muscle of Universal Music Group around the world to push it out and to use all of their marketing and distribution, which is what you want.

"Anyone can start a label, but if you're just selling them out of your post office box, you're gonna sell about two copies versus having it distributed around the world. So major-label distribution obviously makes all the difference in the world. And we noticed that when we went from 'Killing Is My Business' to the 'Peace Sells' record years ago."

Regarding the songwriting process for "Super Collider", Ellefson said: "We worked with [producer] Johnny K on the last record, so we already had the getting-to-know-each-other experience on that record; that was kind of the first date and this was more digging into the songs on the record and had a good idea of what we were going into when we started it. And, really, the songs were laid out in October and we did the 'Countdown To Extinction' 20th-anniversary tour, and by the time we were ready to start tracking at the end of December, we had a good road map of where we wanted to go and there were a lot of tunes that were already on the deck and ready."

He added: "We're a band now that is always on tour, so we always try to find little windows to make records in between. [laughs] So yeah, we were already laying out the record during the last world tour. And we knew once we were rolling off the road that we were going to go in and start tracking. January gave us the opportunity to write about six more tunes, which also included bringing in the cover song of [THIN LIZZY's] 'Cold Sweat'."

BENEDICTUM's new album, "Obey", will be released on November 29 in Europe and December 3 in North America via Frontiers Records.

With a sound that nods to the legends of metal such as early RAINBOW, the stylings of SAVATAGE, WARRIOR, ROUGH CUTT, and PSYCHOTIC WALTZ, along with shades of BLACK SABBATH; BENEDICTUM unleashes "Obey" that will surely bring pleasure to the gods of heavy metal and their legions of fans around the world.

Led by the sultry and powerful vocal gymnastics of lead singer Veronica Freeman, whose voice has been praised on the television show "That Metal Show" on VH1 Classic, BENEDICTUM displays a plethora of aggressive riffs, fierce rhythms, and powerful melodies full of delicate textures that grow spikes with shredding leads to converge at the crossroads of tradition and innovation.

The rise of BENEDICTUM began when the band caught the ear and attention of DIO guitarist Craig Goldy, who in turn had his friend Jeff Pilson (DOKKEN, DIO, FOREIGNER) check them out. With the group's raw power and pure potential just beginning to surface, Pilson then produced and recorded BENEDICTUM's debut album, "Uncreation", in 2005. The band garnered rave reviews and won over enthusiastic fist-pumping fans rapidly. Their second album, "Seasons Of Tragedy", released in 2008 to more undeniable metal love from around the world. All of this led to BENEDICTUM being signed to a contract with Frontiers Records and further upping the ante in the studio. The band and Grammy Award-winning producer Ryan Greene (MEGADETH, F5, NOFX) joined forces for 2011's "Dominion" and BENEDICTUM had arrived. The band jumped onto the world stage, playing such events as Wacken Open Air festival, Doro's "Warrior Soul" tour, Headbangers Open Air and more. The CD was also a pick of the week by Don Jamison on "That Metal Show".

BENEDICTUM went through some personnel changes and challenges, but has landed on the soles of The V's high-heeled boots to record its highly anticipated fourth album, "Obey". Joining founding members Veronica Freeman and Pete Wells are Rikard Stjernquist (JAG PANZER) on drums and Aric Avina (TYNATOR) on bass. There is an unmistakable swell of excitement building in chat rooms and fan pages online not only for the album, but to also have BENEDICTUM perform at a venue near them soon.

"Obey" track listing:

01. Dream Of The Banshee02. Fractured03. Obey04. Fighting For My Life05. Scream06. Evil That We Do07. Crossing Over08. Cry09. Thornz10. Die To Love You11. Apex Nation12. Retrograde

Richmond, Virigina metallers LAMB OF GOD will release a special 10th-anniversary edition of their "As The Palaces Burn" album in November.

After some serious detective work tracking down the original album master tapes, the band went in with producer Josh Wilbur (who also produced LAMB OF GOD's "Wrath" and "Resolution" CDs) and gave "Palaces" a full-on, ass-kicking remix and remaster, front to back, top to bottom. The remixed version of "Palaces" is now how they had originally intended it to be.

To go along with the album re-release, LAMB OF GOD also shot a brand new DVD documentary recounting the recording process and the stories behind the music which features new interviews with original producer Devin Townsend, the band members and current producer, Josh Wilbur.

LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler comments: "We are lucky to have the opportunity, a decade after our first attempt, to bring what I consider to be our master work up to speed sonically.

"Ever since the original release, we've been distraught about the sonic qualities of 'As The Palaces Burn'.

"The band had captured lightning in a bottle and the budget limitation of a sophomore album turned our lightning into a firefly in a jar.

"The songs are undeniable and we've always been very proud of how this album launched our career. It feels appropriate to revisit now that we can and give this very special album the chance to reach our original hopes and it's true potential."

"As The Palaces Burn" 10th-anniversary edition track listing:

01. Ruin 02. As The Palaces Burn 03. Purified 04. 11th Hour 05. For Your Malice 06. Boot Scraper 07. A Devil In God’s Country 08. In Defense Of Our Good Name 09. Blood Junkie 10. Vigil 11. Ruin (previously unreleased demo) 12. As The Palaces Burn (previously unreleased demo) 13. Blood Junkie (previously unreleased demo)

The remastered version of the song "Purified" can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

To order "As The Palaces Burn" 10th-anniversary edition, go to this location.

KORN was the musical guest on next last night's (Monday, October 7) edition of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The band performed two songs — "Never Never" and "Blind" — on the show's Sony Outdoor Stage in front of a standing-room-only crowd.

KORN will be inducted into Guitar Center's RockWalk on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California later today (Tuesday, October 8), the same day that the band releases its 11th album, "The Paradigm Shift". KORN and ROB ZOMBIE will co-headline the "Night Of The Living Dreads" tour this fall. The 17-date run begins on November 3 in Reno, Nevada and wraps on November 26 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

In an interview with AltSounds, KORN singer Jonathan Davis was asked if "The Paradigm Shift" was the band's way of trying to appease KORN's hardcore fans after the dubstep influence on the last CD. "We wanted to do what we do best," he said. "Yes, we love our fans, but we're not trying to make the same record over and over. Sure, when we write certain parts we say to each other, 'The fans are gonna go crazy here,' but the fans that are the most vocal about it, if we paid attention to that all the time, we'd just be making the same thing over and over."

Speaking about original guitarist Brian "Head" Welch's return to the group, Davis said: "It was good to have him back, and it opened up the opportunity for Head and Munky to do what they're so good at. You know, playing off each other. So, it just clicked as if no time had passed. It was great to have our brother back again. With him being back and everything… it really worked."

FU MANCHU guitarist/vocalist Bob Balch and drummer Scott Reeder have joined forces with former KYUSS bassist Scott Thomas Reeder in SUN & SAIL CLUB. Their debut album, "Mannequin", will be released on November 19 via Satin Records.

The song "Held Down", taken from "Mannequin", can be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below (courtesy of RevolverMag.com).

Said Balch: "In between FU MANCHU tours, I was writing all this material that was really frantic and dark. Lots of notes and strange chords.

"A lot of times I would go interview a guitar player for my site PlayThisRiff.com and come back inspired and full of ideas. Just to make Scott Reeder laugh I would send him a file to play drums on.

"Well, anybody who has seen FU MANCHU live knows Reeder is a monster behind the kit. So I would try to throw him some curveballs to trip him up. No such luck. Every riff I sent him he nailed. After a while, there was an album's worth of stuff.

"I really wanted Scott Thomas Reeder to play bass on it. I love the work he has done in his recording studio too, so I figured that if we recorded stuff there, hopefully he'd dig it and play on it.

"I remember after the first take we walked into the control room and Reeder said, 'I had an idea!' He asked to play on it and I almost crapped myself. I don't think I've ever said 'Yes!' faster.

"His bass lines are insane. Lots of drop-A stuff which is probably pretty hard on bass. He nailed it too!

"Once the bass tracks were in place, we needed vocals.

"I had lyrics and melodies in my head. A lot of the vocal parts were four-part harmonies. Crazy stuff. So I laid down vocals on the home demos using a vocoder and a guitar.

"I thought if I could get an unmixed album with vocoder vocals together, I could start sending it out to singers that I liked to see if they had any interest. I went back into Scott Thomas Reeder's studio to lay down the vocoder parts as a guide for singers. I did the track 'Gang Justice' first and Reeder turned around and said, 'That's how the vocals will stay. It's inane.' He asked, 'Do you have stuff for every song using the vocoder?' I did. So we went to work. The only song I didn't have vocals for Reeder sang. It's named 'I'm Not Upside Down'.

"Overall, this record is heavy and dark. It's inspired by DEVO, VOIVOD, KRAFTWORK, TORCHE, SLAYER and much as it's inspired by ASWAD, JOE PASS and WES MONTGOMERY. The riffs are heavy and the vocoder vocals are full of harmonies.

"I wanted a super-heavy groove that would support angelic vocal harmonies. I think we achieved that.

Added Scott Thomas Reeder: "Yeah, Bob from FU MANCHU came into The Sanctuary do some recording with the other Scott Reeder — the drummer from FU MANCHU. I was stoked — been wanting to meet that guy for years! So they knocked out some crazy tracks all in a day — jaw- droppingly great stuff. I didn't know if it was supposed to just be drums and guitar... so I asked later on, 'Who's playing bass on this stuff?' They hadn't decided yet, but Bob was gonna come back and put some bass tracks down later. I suggested that maybe I take a stab at it, and they were down! It's really crazy stuff, the most challenging material I've done since I was in THE OBSESSED. I got through most of it — there were a few 'guide tracks' in there that I asked Bob to put down that were flawless — I ended up leaving those in. Spent just a few more days with Bob coming back to the ranch to add some textures with his arsenal of effects.

"I was kinda bummed when we wrapped on tracking! It was a blast working with these guys, and I'm glad the the other Reeder is a great guy and a monster drummer — can't wait for the confusion that is sure to come from having both of us on this thing."

Said Scott Reeder: About two years ago, Bob and I started trading riffs and beats back and forth via the wonders of modern technology. Sometimes he would be sending me three different things in one file and I would just throw up a 57 as an overhead and record my whole kit and send it back. Or I might have a beat and say, 'Hey, play something to this.' 'Whites Of Your Eyes' started that way. It was much faster and I was just warming up around the kit and got inspired to get it down. Then we got together and just slowed down the tempo and he added new parts.

"We agreed that most of the stuff needed not to be super picked apart and scrutinized. It was more of a 'first-thought-best-thought' approach. And whatever made us just laugh and go, 'Yeah, that's super weird. It's gotta be that way!!'

"It all springs from Bob's riffs; he can play anything, but he plays it the way you want to hear it!! As always, that's the most fun stuff to play to. I think that shows up in recording. It's fun to listen to.

"We blasted through 10 songs of basics in four hours. We were just having a great time, so we just knocked it out!! And to have that great bass playing of Scott's in there, I could not imagine it sounding heavier but, of course, he just blew me away."

Continued Balch: "In the end, we had J. Robbins (CLUTCH, THE SWORD, THE HIDDEN HAND) mix the record. I loved his work and I'm a big fan of the band he played bass in GOVERNMENT ISSUE. He mixed THE HIDDEN HAND's 'Mother, Teacher, Destroyer', which is one of my favorite-sounding records. I wanted to get a heavy sound like that, but I also wanted a DEVO 'Duty Now For The Future' or RUSH 'Moving Pictures' vibe. I think that those ingredients play off the vocoder really well.

"I've never even met J. Robbins. It's funny, I don't even know what he looks like. We spoke on the phone about the approach I wanted and then I sent the tunes to the East Coast to have him work on it. He did an insane job and was a total pleasure to work with.

"We picked Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio to master the record. He has worked with CLUTCH and COLISEUM in the past. We saw eye to eye immediately."

Reactivated British occult metal legends HELL are streaming their new single, "The Age Of Nefarious", to be released on October 25 via Nuclear Blast Records. The 10-inch vinyl will come in several different colors and will include the title track plus live versions of three songs recorded at this year's Bloodstock Open Air festival.

"The Age Of Nefarious" single track listing:

Side A:

01. The Age Of Nefarious02. On Earth As It Is In Hell (live)

Side B:

01. Blasphemy And The Master (live)02. The Oppressors (live)

After disbanding in 1987, HELL was reincarnated in 2011, with Andy Sneap (guitar) and David Bower (vocals) joining original members Kev Bower (guitar, keyboards), Tony Speakman (bass) and Tim Bowler (drums). Now the British quintet is about the release the follow-up to its highly acclaimed 2011 debut, "Human Remains". The band's sophomore offering, "Curse And Chapter", will be made avialable on November 22 via Nuclear Blast. The effort will include a bonus DVD containing six songs from HELL's February 23, 2013 show at the Darwin Suite Assembly Rooms in Derby. Commented Kev Bower: "In a world dominated by conflict, disease, corruption, poverty, disaster and crime — much of which has religion at its source — this is truly the dawning of 'The Age Of Nefarious'.

"The song was always going to be the perfect opener for the new 'Curse And Chapter' album since it lays the foundation for everything which follows, but when we were approached by our friends at Nuclear Blast with the idea of producing a lead-off EP, we also decided that out of four possible EP album-track candidates, this song should also be the one. It represents everything which HELL represents — it powers along in awe-inspiring majesty, but takes lots of unexpected twists and turns before reaching its inevitable conclusion. The artwork is once again the result of our collaboration with Dan Goldsworthy, and it shows just a tiny fraction of the artwork he has created for 'Curse And Chapter'.

"With regard to the additional live tracks, where better to have recorded these than from the main stage at Bloodstock Open Air 2013 — the spiritual home of U.K. metal, during one of the best shows we have ever played, and in front of 10,000 of the most dedicated metalheads in the world.

"We are proud to be giving you a glimpse into the second chapter."

"Curse And Chapter" track listing: CD:

01. Gehennae Incendiis02. The Age Of Nefarious03. The Disposer Supreme04. Darkhangel05. Harbinger Of Death06. End Ov Days07. Deathsquad08. Something Wicked This Way Comes09. Faith Will Fall10. Land Of The Living Dead11. Deliver Us From Evil12. A Vespertine Legacy DVD:

Derby Assembly Rooms

01. Let Battle Commence02. Something Wicked This Way Comes03. Plague And Fyre04. The Devil’s Deadly Weapon05. Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us

Bloodstock Open Air

06. Darkhangel07. The Quest08. Blasphemy And The Master Added Kev Bower: "The artwork for 'Curse And Chapter' is once again the result of our collaboration with artist Dan Goldsworthy and photographer Nigel Crane, who we first worked with on the 'Human Remains' album cover in 2011.

"The digipak for this is one of the most complex pieces of CD/DVD packaging ever attempted by Nuclear Blast, and the concept for this was dreamed up by myself and Andy Sneap [guitar] whilst staggering back from the local pub late one night, after a 'heavy creativity session.' It was inspired by the rise in spiritualism in England during the 19th century, during which time séances and attempts to communicate with the dead became commonplace — along with the establishment of numerous secret cults and aristocratic organizations who would meet in secret, attempting to raise spirits and reach 'the other side.' We also wished to explore the phenomenon known as 'post-mortem photography.'

"Because photography was very costly at the time, the only time ordinary families could justify the expense was after the subject was already dead. We became gripped by these macabre Victorian images of deceased family members and children being posed alongside their living families, often being supported in a standing position by equally macabre mechanical devices designed specifically for this gruesome purpose. The other major issue with spirit communication is that you never know who (or what) will 'come through' — and it was common for malevolent entities to create havoc in the séance room.

"Dan's done a superb job of rendering our dark imaginings into reality, using his vision and skill to generate an entire art platform based around the existence of such a secret aristocratic spiritual cult. The cover image shows the cult's symbol, and his manipulation of the additional photography shows a set of disturbing images which could easily have been shot at the turn of the century in some dark, dangerous English country house, during an exchange with the dead which should not happen."

Cited as a huge indirect influence, and as one of the true founding fathers of occult metal, HELL formed in 1982 from the carcasses of U.K. metal bands RACE AGAINST TIME and PARALEX, whose "White Lightning" EP was listed by METALLICA as a favorite, and which was subsequently included on the Lars Ulrich, Geoff Barton "NWOBHM '79 Revisited" sampler album.

Despite over five years of constant touring, the band was cruelly overlooked by the '80s music press, who just didn't get it. HELL were too different, too extreme, too musically intelligent and far too thought-provoking for all but the most enlightened to understand them. The final crushing blow came when their long-awaited 1986 album deal with Mausoleum collapsed as the label went bankrupt, followed by the tragic suicide of singer/guitarist Dave Halliday in 1987. The remaining members drew a line in the sand and stopped playing overnight.

GENERATION KILL, the band featuring EXODUS frontman Rob Dukes, will release its sophomore album, "We're All Gonna Die", on November 15 via Nuclear Blast. The CD was produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris, who has previously worked with SUICIDE SILENCE, ALL THAT REMAINS, SHADOWS FALL and SOULFLY, among others.

In the video clip below, Dukes and GENERATION KILL bassist Rob Moschetti (formerly of PRO-PAIN and M.O.D.) talk about their old-school songwriting approach on "We're All Gonna Die".

Commented Dukes: "We called this album 'We're All Gonna Die' because, for the most part, the lyrics are about the darker side of the existence of humans on this planet.

"The album as a whole is so diverse, drawing from our influences that we grew up on.

"We achieved our goal of creating something that we all are so proud of. I personally think this is the strongest vocal performance of my career, and as a band we can't wait for the hard rock/metal world to hear this album."

Added Zeuss: "This album is not an EXODUS clone. This is an album of music where five guys got together an explored our own roots of music, the records we grew up listening to and wrote songs paying homage to what we love."

"We're All Gonna Die" track listing:

01. Born To Serve02. Prophets Of War03. Self Destruction04. Friendly Fire05. Carny Love06. Vegas07. There Is No Hope08. We're All Gonna Die

GENERATION KILL's debut album, "Red White And Blood", was released in September 2011. The CD was recorded at J. Rod Production Studios in New City, New York (where the vocal tracks for EXODUS' "Let There Be Blood" and OVERKILL's "Ironbound" were previously laid down).

GENERATION KILL is:

Rob Dukes - VocalsRob Moschetti - Bass/Backing VocalsJason Trenczer - Lead GuitarJason Velez - Lead GuitarJames DeMaria - Drums