In a new interview with the YouTube channel of the Brazilian music journalist Igor Miranda, former RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE frontman Joe Lynn Turner was asked if he viewed the coronavirus pandemic as "more collective hysteria than a global health crisis" and whether he felt that was "an exaggeration in the measures imposed to combat the disease." Joe responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think that now there are many, many, many reports; there's much data out there now about the adverse effects of the vaccination; there's much, much information about the 'plandemic' as opposed to the pandemic; there's a lot of information about where it really came from, how it came about, where was the money coming from from this. A lot of things have opened up since the actual pandemic happened. And I think the truth is coming out more and more. And I think the people around the world are starting to wake up more and more and are starting to — as [I say] in one of my songs — rise up more and more and realizing that this is an attempt at absolute tyranny, at authoritarianism, about enslavement. This 'great reset' is really nothing more than the New World Order disguised in a new name. It's been happening from the beginning of time — since, say, like the Romans; they tried to do this, but humanity prevailed and broke the chains that the governments have tried to put on people. I really believe you have something very, very similar happening in your country. I've been following it very closely, and power to the people. And I believe, with God on their side, people will prevail.

"This has been happening in the United States and just about every country in the world — fixed elections and tyrannical governments and enslavement of people," Joe continued. "They're trying to starve us economically — energy, you name it. Look around. No one can say that this is not happening — no one. The facts are here.

"When I was writing [the songs on my new solo album 'Belly Of The Beast'], it's because I'm a very, very observant, resourceful and educated individual. I have been studying this stuff for many, many years — whether it's occultism, special secret societies, constitution, laws — you name it. It's one of my biggest passions. So I saw this coming a while ago. I wrote [the song] 'Black Sun', which is basically Illuminati, which they tried to make you think is a conspiracy theory… Oh, while I'm telling you this… You know the difference — this is a joke — the difference between a conspiracy theory and the truth? About six months. That's all it takes. Because then the conspiracy theories become truths. Because this is what's been happening all along. The people who know are still fighting this.

"What I'm trying to say here is I've known about something like this happening. And I wrote, say, 'Black Sun', 'Don't Fear The Dark' and 'Tortured Soul' before this happened — for maybe two or three different reasons. But 'Black Sun' was definitely about, 'Here we come.' They were coming for us. This has been predicted in The Book Of Revelations, in the Bible. And I'm not saying I'm religious. I'm saying the Bible, as well, is a very historical book and it's a very prophetic book. And many, many things in the Bible have been prophesied and have been true, including the beast system, including the mark of the beast. Which is what they wanna do now with the chips, and what they wanna do now with the passport IDs, the identification, which is what they want to do now with your money in your bank. They wanna make a currency that is just like China, where they can tell where every single peso, every dollar, everything is going.

"This is control of your life, man," Turner added. "This is what's happening to us right now on the planet. And if we don't rise up as a people and realize we have the control, because a mass psychosis has happened to the people.

"I can count many, many different psychologists who have said what mass psychosis is, and if we have not been under a mass psychosis, I can't tell you… That is the absolute truth. From so many great philosophers and psychologists — from Freud to Jung — all these people have talked about mass psychosis. And it is exactly what it feels like the world is under right now. Because the compliance and everybody just accepting what authority tells them to do out of fear. And fear is the great motivator, you see. The biggest control mechanisms that they can use is fear — fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of disease, fear of criticism. Napoleon Hill, in his interview with the devil, which is basically fictional, but very, very educational, he lists the types of fears that Satan himself says how he controls people, and this is the biggest one of them.

"Remember, the only real prison is fear," Joe concluded. "And the only real freedom is freedom from fear. Many people will do everything when they are afraid, and that is what they created. The mass media is just as much to blame. They are in collaboration with the cabals — absolutely — with the big corporations, Big Pharma, et cetera, et cetera. And nobody is gonna tell me, as you look around the world right now, and you will see the same things happening in every country to the leaders, to the elections, to the people, the conditions, what they are putting them under. You think this is circumstance? No. This is synchronicity. This is purposeful. Okay? I mean, it's very plain to see. Anyone with one brain cell can understand this."

Turner's latest comments come just five months after he performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The singer broke with most international artists who canceled their live appearances in Russia in response to the global condemnation against the Kremlin and its president, Vladimir Putin, over the war in Ukraine. In addition, major record labels suspended their operations in the country, while streaming services like Spotify pulled out of the market.

A month earlier, Turner apparently threw his support behind Roger Waters over comments the PINK FLOYD co-founder made about Russia. Waters blasted U.S. president Joe Biden for "fueling the fire in the Ukraine" amid Russia's ongoing invasion of the country, and asked in an interview with CNN's Michael Smerconish, "Why won't the United States of America encourage [Volodymyr] Zelensky, [Ukraine's] president, to negotiate, obviating the need for this horrific, horrendous war?" After Smerconish responded that Waters got it "reversed" and was "blaming the party that got invaded," Waters fired back, saying it was about the "action and reaction of NATO pushing right up to the Russian border."

A short time later, Turner took to his official Facebook page to share a video of Smerconish's interview with Waters, and he included the following message: "Roger Waters speaks TRUTH to power! Thank you Roger. Someone has to say it..."

This was not the first time Joe had publicly taken a political stance. Back in 2015, the singer made headlines when it was revealed that he joined a list of Western celebrities who publicly expressed support for and defended Vladimir Putin, whose image had suffered greatly because of Moscow's aggressive foreign policy.

Two years later, Turner said that his opinion of the Russian president had remained unchanged. "He still is [telling the truth]," the singer told Kraig Casebier's "American Barber In Prague" in a 2017 interview. "Honest to God, I got a lot of crap for [saying] that [before]. But it's true, and he still is, whether you like him or not. He may be a gangster, but he's a good gangster. And I say there are good gangsters.

"There were gangsters in my family, in the Mafia, and they were good people," he explained. "They were the safest neighborhoods, and they protected everyone on the block, and they took care of a lot of people. And they actually donated their time, money to good causes. If somebody didn't have enough bread or food, they'd buy it for 'em. I mean, it depends on what kind of gangster you are. The politicans are bad gangsters; they can't even cover up their crimes."

Joe went on to lament the state of American politics and denounced the culture of extreme political correctness, which he believed had gone too far.

"I think America's lost its way," he said. "We've lost God, we've lost a lot of things that made that country great. And I'm sorry to say, being an American — Italian-American, and holding an American passport… I have had uncles… and my father did military service for twelve overseas stripes — the whole thing. And I went to Iraq for the troops, so anybody that wants to challenge that, c'mon, bring it on, because I think I know a few more things than you. But I think that we've lost a lot in our values of America. We can't even speak freely anymore. There's more freedom in Russia; I can tell you that. I've done a lot of time there and still will. People don't understand what Russia is [in America]."

According to Turner, his country's demonization of Russia is rooted in the fact that "America always needs a big, bad wolf. We need to hate somebody, because of the military industrial complex," he said. "So we need to hate somebody all the time [and] create a war. There's no need for it, really. If we can just straighten out the economy and get the Fed out of there, I think the people would have a chance. But right now, I pray for them — I really do. Because I just think they've got it all wrong."

As if sensing the criticism that would likely follow his comments, Turner preemptively defended himself by saying: "I said Putin was telling the truth, 'cause he is telling the truth. I got subpoenaed by my own government, okay? So all these naysayers and these haters who are gonna see this about me and stuff, you guys have no clue. 30 percent of the American people have passports, so 70 percent of you are isolated and know dick about it — you have been nowhere and done nothing. Excuse me, but that's what you should have been told a long time ago."

The now-71-year-old singer went on to explain that he was "subpoenaed" by the U.S. government after he played "three charity shows" in Russian-annexed Crimea, which he called a "wartorn country." "The people had a great time [and] we had sellout houses," he said.

Joe was the singer of RAINBOW between 1980 and 1984 and he sang on the album "Difficult To Cure", which featured the band's most successful U.K. single, "I Surrender".

During Turner's time with RAINBOW, the band had its first USA chart success and recorded songs that helped define the melodic rock genre.

1990 saw Turner reunited with RAINBOW leader Ritchie Blackmore in a reformed DEEP PURPLE for the "Slaves And Masters" album.

SCORPIONS frontman Klaus Meine spoke to Scorpions Brazil about the fact that the band's music video for "Wind Of Change" recently surpassed one billion views on YouTube. The power ballad was originally uploaded to the platform in November of 2009.

Klaus said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's an incredible number. It's so hard to understand that [there has been] a billion clicks for 'Wind Of Change' on YouTube. It's cool [that] after so many years, [it] seems like the song hasn't lost its message, its meaning, singing about a peaceful world. It's amazing that after all these years the song seems to be still so relevant. And that's an amazing moment, I think, to reach this number and become part of the billion club, so to speak. It took a while, but here we are. And there's still another generation coming around the corner, picking up this song and the message, and to take a look into hopefully a peaceful future is, these days, more important than ever."

Meine and his bandmates wrote "Wind Of Change" after performing at 1989's Moscow Music Peace Festival in Moscow, where they shared the stage with other hard rock acts like BON JOVI and MÖTLEY CRÜE. The song was inspired by the sight of thousands of Russians cheering them on in 1988 — when they became the first hard rock band to play in Russia — and in 1989, at the aforementioned festival, even though they were a German band.

In the interview with Scorpions Brazil, Klaus explained the thought process behind changing the song's lyrics to acknowledge Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

"I thought it's not the time to romanticize Russia with lyrics like 'I follow the Moskva down to Gorky Park'," he said. "When I wrote that song, 'Wind Of Change' was something like a peace promise, going together into a peaceful future. And so many years later now, this peace promise was broken up last year. So I had the feeling I wanted to show our solidarity with Ukraine. That's why I changed a few lines."

In March 2022, at the opening concert of SCORPIONS' "Sin City Nights" residency at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino In Las Vegas, Nevada, Meine told the crowd before launching into "Wind Of Change": "This song is calling for peace, and tonight, I think, we shall sing it even louder. We dedicate this to the brave people in the Ukraine."

Back in 2015, SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker stated about the inspiration for the original version of "Wind Of Change" "We wanted to show the people in Russia that here is a new generation of Germans growing up. They're not coming with tanks and guns and making war — they're coming with guitars and rock 'n' roll and bringing love!"

"There were so many emotional moments in Moscow," Meine added. "I guess it could have been BON JOVI or MÖTLEY CRÜE, any of these guys who had gone home inspired by what they saw, but for them it was like, 'Hey! We rocked the Soviet Union, dudes!' For us, maybe it was different. We saw so many changes from Leningrad in '88 to Moscow in '89. That was the inspiration for 'Wind Of Change'."

SCORPIONS' latest album, "Rock Believer", was released in February 2022. The album was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SCORPIONS originally intended to record the new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose previous credits include SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. However, because of the pandemic, some of the initial work was done with Greg remotely, after which SCORPIONS opted to helm the recordings themselves with the help of their engineer Hans-Martin Buff.

Anders Fridén, vocalist of Swedish melodic death metal band IN FLAMES, has weighed in on THE HALO EFFECT, the new project featuring five former IN FLAMES members — Jesper Strömblad (guitar),Daniel Svensson (drums),Peter Iwers (bass),Niclas Engelin (guitar) and Mikael Stanne (vocals). Asked by GoetiaMedia.com if he has listened to the debut album from THE HALO EFFECT, which came out last year, Fridén said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No, I have not listened to that album, and from what I hear — someone told me it sounds more like [Mikael's longtime band] DARK TRANQUILLITY… No, I haven't listened to the album."

He continued: "People ask me all the time [about THE HALO EFFECT], but it doesn't affect us and the decisions that we make and the music that we do. I mean, there have been more bands in the past with ex-IN FLAMES members.

"I think people make it too big of a thing. We don't worry about that stuff. We have enough to deal with our own.

"If I was them, it must be tiring after a while just to keep hearing about IN FLAMES all the time," Anders added. "'Cause they are on their own part, they are on their own journey, and they need to find their own identity. I wouldn't be happy if I was being called ex-IN FLAMES all the time. No, they're two different things, in a way. And me and Mikael have very different voices too, so it's just… Yeah, it's a different style, a different thing."

Earlier in the month, Anders's IN FLAMES bandmate, guitarist Björn Gelotte told El Cuartel Del Metal that he hasn't thought too much about comparisons between THE HALO EFFECT and IN FLAMES. "These are extremely good musicians, all of 'em, and they all have been part of IN FLAMES as members — as touring members or as recording members — and they, for different reasons, chose not to tour, basically, or be part of this anymore," he said. "And if they found a way back to music, they are really good. The music I haven't really heard that much, but I know what they're all capable of. So this is obviously not gonna be bad in any way. And I haven't really thought about it in any other way."

Björn continued: "I think it's a great opportunity, maybe sort of a second chance for these guys, to do it in a way that fits their life now. And timing-wise, they get to do it in a pace that they wanna do it. So I think it's only positive, obviously. And I think the world's probably a better place with more music in it. And these guys know what they're doing."

Last July, Fridén was asked by Chaoszine if he had a chance to catch THE HALO EFFECT when they played at Sweden Rock Festival alongside IN FLAMES a month earlier. Anders said: "They played the day after [IN FLAMES played], and we were already gone by that time. We played on Friday and they were playing on a Saturday."

Fridén went on to say that he hasn't "really paid attention" to THE HALO EFFECT and added that he doesn't care about a supposed rivalry between the two bands. "People can do whatever they want," he said. "There have been former members of IN FLAMES that played in other bands. Why would this be any different?

"I think you — not you personally, but media, they want it to be something [more than that]. But they do their thing.

"Honestly, I haven't listened, but from what I hear, it sounds more like DARK TRANQUILLITY than IN FLAMES," Anders said, referencing the fact that Stanne has been a member of DARK TRANQUILLITY since that band's inception more than three decades ago. "But it's fine. I don't care. They are allowed to do music, and as long as they are happy doing whatever they do, then that's fine. It's never gonna change us and what we do. It's just one band out of many.

"Good luck. I don't have anything else to say," Anders added. "I know you want me to say more. But that's the way it is."

THE HALO EFFECT released its debut album, "Days Of The Lost", last August via Nuclear Blast.

Asked in an interview with "The Back Lounge" podcast about some fans' perception that THE HALO EFFECT was formed primarily with the intention of "sticking it" to IN FLAMES, Iwers said: "No, no, no. It couldn't be further from the truth. Somebody said it to me perfectly… When you get that question, well, it's like talking about your ex-wife. You had it, it was great at the time, but then you moved on. So THE HALO EFFECT started out of love for music — not at all to spite anybody or to create some rivalry; nothing like that at all. And it needs to be said, and it probably will be said a bunch of times. The love for music and the love for each other is a hundred percent what it's all about."

Peter went on to say that forming a band with the intention of competing with someone else "would be totally the wrong reason" to do it. "Everything I do I base upon how I feel," he explained. "I try to do everything with a good vibe and everything that makes me feel good, feel great. And that's what it's all about with everything that I do. So if I would ever start something to piss somebody else off, then it wouldn't make me feel good, and I couldn't keep on doing it. It's real simple in my world, but I understand how people think that and how some people would like to think that. But there's no rivalry. IN FLAMES, I was a member for 20 years. And it is what it is. It's a great band and they always will be."

THE HALO EFFECT made its live debut in June 2022 at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden.

Eight months ago, Iwers was asked in an interview with Australia's "Scars And Guitars" podcast if he would agree that "Days Of The Lost" is, in some ways, a "spiritual successor" to "Reroute To Remain", IN FLAMES' sixth album, which came out in 2022. Peter said: "Ooh, interesting. I haven't really thought about it. When you make music, like we do, you tend not to overthink stuff — you just go in and you write music and kind of know that what comes out will sound a certain way because of the style that we are playing and how we are playing and performing our music. So I haven't really thought about it, but maybe — maybe. It was definitely nothing intentional. We just went in. We had a bunch of ideas and we came out with a bunch of songs that happen to sound a certain way. But none of us really overthought it and it was never meant to 'it's gonna sound like this' or 'it's gonna sound like that.' We just [went], 'Let's write this music and see what happens.' And because of, like I said, how we're playing, it will sound a certain way."

Added Daniel: "A lot of people like to analyze music, and, of course, it sounds Gothenburg metal-ish because we all are from that genre and we are some of the people that kind of created it. So, of course, it will sound Gothenburg metal-ish, IN FLAMES-ish. And then which era, I don't know. And as Peter said, we don't really think about how it should sound. This is how we sound today, and with our legacy this is inevitable, that we sound as we do."

Continued Peter: "Obviously, people like to do a lot of comparing between us… It's a difficult topic to discuss because none of us have — even though we've all been in IN FLAMES at some point, none of us have really thought about this as what you're saying. But then a lot of people that we speak to say it. So it's a little hard to take in, as we've been very thorough in just writing music. But I'd say it's a little flattering to hear it."

Svensson, who joined IN FLAMES in 1998, announced in 2015 that he was leaving the group to focus on his family life.

A member of IN FLAMES since 1997, Iwers issued a statement in November 2016 saying that he was exiting the band "to pursue other endeavors."

A founding member of IN FLAMES, Strömblad quit the band in February 2010 in order to continue receiving treatment for his alcohol addiction.

Engelin has been sitting out IN FLAMES' tour dates for the four years but has never officially confirmed his departure from the band. Engelin's replacement for IN FLAMES' live shows since then has been former MEGADETH and current ACT OF DEFIANCE guitarist Chris Broderick.

Shortly after leaving IN FLAMES, Iwers joined CYHRA, the band featuring vocalist Jake E (ex-AMARANTHE) and Strömblad. Iwers announced his departure from that band in May 2018.

In a new interview with Matilda Svensson of Chile's Radio Futuro, former DREAM THEATER and current THE WINERY DOGS drummer Mike Portnoy was asked what advice he would give to aspiring musicians looking to follow in his footsteps. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "You look on Instagram or YouTube, there's all these young drummers — and I mean young; I've seen six-year-old girls playing my drum parts on Instagram or whatever. So it's pretty incredible that the bar has risen so high with these young musicians and drummers, and they're all so talented.

"What advice would I give? Try to learn as much as you can from as many people as you can, but also play with other musicians," he continued.

"As incredible as it is to see these young kids playing all of my crazy, technical drum parts, that's obviously very impressive technically, but there's more to playing drums than just playing these parts. Anybody can kind of learn how to make your four limbs do something and do it; it's another thing to create parts like that," Portnoy explained.

"So, play with other musicians. Write music of your own. It's not just about playing your own instrument yourself to Instagram followers; it's about playing with other musicians and creating music. And it's about how you utilize your instrument within the context of the bigger picture and the music you write. So that would be my advice."

Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER more than 37 years ago, abruptly quit the band in September 2010 while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD. He has since been replaced by Mike Mangini (ANNIHILATOR, EXTREME, JAMES LABRIE, STEVE VAI).

THE WINERY DOGS, Mike's power trio with guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen and legendary bassist Billy Sheehan (MR. BIG, TALAS, DAVID LEE ROTH),will release their third album, "III", on February 3 via the band's Three Dog Music label (via Burnside Distribution/The Orchard). Following in the footsteps of their first two albums, "III" was once again produced by THE WINERY DOGS and mixed by longtime band associate Jay Ruston.

"III" is the follow-up to the band's critically acclaimed and Billboard-charting album "Hot Streak", which was released October 2, 2015 on Loud & Proud Records via RED (a division of Sony Music Entertainment). After landing in the Top Five on many of Amazon's pre-order charts, including No. 1 on the Amazon BestSellers/Hard Rock chart and No. 1 on the Amazon Pre-Orders/Hard Rock Albums charts, it sold 30% more than their 2013 self-titled debut, landing them on various Billboard album charts including No. 2 on "Top Current Alternative Albums," No. 5 on "Top Current Hard Music" and "Top Hard Music Albums," No. 6 on "Top Current Rock Albums" and "Album Core / Genre Rock," No. 15 "Top Current Physical Albums," No. 16 "Top Current Albums," and No. 30 on the "Top 200 Albums" chart.

Upon its release, "Hot Streak" racked up rave reviews. Allmusic.com hailed, "'Hot Streak' is the trio's second album, and its loose, friendly feel shows that the trio doesn't feel compelled to rely on instrumental pyrotechnics. The bluesy, soulful 'Think it Over' would appeal to those who admire THE ALLMAN BROTHERS, while 'Captain Love' shows that the band also has some hard rock energy to unleash, and the title track lets fly some of the technical proficiency that its members are known for." And GuitarInternational.com praised, "'Hot Streak' picks up where their debut CD left off, but showcases the band coming into their own with straight-ahead rockers like 'Oblivion', 'Captain Love' and 'Devil You Know'."

THE WINERY DOGS is hitting the worldwide concert trail starting February 15 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania at the Palace Theatre for their "202III World Tour". Ticket and VIP package info can be found on the band's official web site.

Photo credit: Travis Shinn

In a new interview with Yes! You CAN Play Guitar!, ex-EXODUS guitarist Rick Hunolt reflected on his former band's decision to fire original singer Paul Baloff in 1986 due to what at the time was described as "personal and musical differences." Paul was replaced by Steve "Zetro" Souza, who had previously been the lead vocalist for LEGACY, an early incarnation of fellow Bay Area thrashers TESTAMENT.

Asked if he and his bandmates "felt bad at all" about taking LEGACY's singer, Hunolt responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't know, man. I really don't know if there was that much animosity. It was kind of like a natural progression. Because Zetro sounded a lot like Paul [and] he looked like him [too]. At the time, we were bigger than LEGACY. But we were all friends.

"Did we feel bad? It was kind of weird at first, I guess," he continued. "I guess you might say that, yeah. But they got Chuck [Billy to replace Zetro]. We were all really good friends."

Last November, Hunolt told For The Passion Not The Fashion about EXODUS's decision to fire Baloff: "Paul was… He wouldn't work. He was gettin' bad on the drugs. We all were, but Paul was probably the worst. And we were at a point in the band… It was so tough. It was the craziest thing, it was the hardest thing I ever did, the hardest thing we ever did. And I don't even know today, at this point… It could have been the biggest mistake we ever made. I don't know. No one will know. But I'll admit that — it could have been the biggest mistake we ever made. Who knows?"

Hunolt continued: "Zetro was great filling in; he was great. He did a good job. But after we let Paul go, he just fell deeper and deeper into his addiction and everything. Basically, he was homeless. He wouldn't get a job and he wouldn't stop doing what he was doing. We had to let him go. It was just to the point where it was getting so bad that he couldn't do anything. He couldn't remember lyrics. It was just bad.

"But I'll be the first to admit… I always try to think of what would have happened to EXODUS if we kept Paul," Rick added. "I don't even know. I don't even know if he would have been able to sing any of the music off of [EXODUS's second album, 1987's] 'Pleasures Of The Flesh'. I don't know.

"Anyway, that was the toughest decision me and Gary [Holt, fellow EXODUS guitarist] ever had to make. It was horrible."

Regarding Souza's addition to EXODUS, Hunolt said: "Not everybody's gonna like him. He's done a great job. He's had his ups and downs. But I think right now he's doing great. I think on [EXODUS's latest album] 'Persona Non Grata' he sounds better than he ever has."

Although Baloff didn't appear on "Pleasures Of The Flesh", he did record a demo in 1986 featuring three songs that made it to the final album: "Seeds Of Hate", "Pleasures Of The Flesh" and "Braindead".

Hunolt previously touched upon EXODUS's split with Baloff in November 2021 when he spoke with Heavy Culture about why he thinks his former band failed to achieve the same commercial heights as the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal, namely METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX. He said: "First of all, we were just kids. We couldn't even buy alcohol. We were super young and just crazy, full of crazy energy. We recorded the album, 'Bonded By Blood', and it took forever and ever and ever and ever for it to come out — it took forever. So that really messed us up in the world. SLAYER, METALLICA and EXODUS — we were all there at the same time, we all had albums ready to be released, and, of course, ours was last one [to come out] because of record company craziness. So, the follow-up ['Pleasures Of The Flesh'], losing Paul was super tough.

"I think that when anybody… A good example if 'Van Halen I' — to this day, everybody compares everything that they've done after 'Van Halen I' to 'Van Halen I'. Same thing that we've been dealing with for 30 years — everything that we do after 'Bonded By Blood' is gonna be compared to 'Bonded By Blood'. So there's always gonna be people that say that, 'No, no, no. Nothing will ever be as good as 'Bonded By Blood'.' And then there's gonna be people that say, 'Yeah, their stuff after that is good too.' It's always gonna be that way. We have no control over it.

"Hiring a new singer and putting out 'Pleasures'… And then we had to wait another year for 'Pleasures' to come out; it was, like, another year for 'Pleasures' to come out. So that was like a double… '84, and then we waited till… 'Pleasures' came out, what, '86 or something? Late '85? So, people were just waiting and waiting and waiting. And we're sitting there going, 'Goddamn it.' It was a lot of pressure. Meanwhile, we got METALLICA and SLAYER and ANTHRAX now on board releasing albums every year. And we're just slowly but surely losing traction. It was tough. But shit happens. We were just kids. We didn't know anything.

"I think losing Paul was a big deal back then," Hunolt added. "I think that maybe we made a mistake by firing Paul. And this is just looking back on everything for me; this is just my personal thought. This is the stuff that I think about sometimes. What would have happened if we didn't fire Paul? I just think that maybe we would have gotten a little bit more traction if we didn't have that lag in between.

"People love Paul. And Paul was… he's a legend. He was going through a bad time in his life, and I guess, at the time, we felt that maybe he was holding us back; I think probably that's what we were thinking. I think that probably we might have thought about getting him better instead of firing him.

"But as far as the 'Big Four' goes… Well, I don't know… Maybe it should just be the 'Big Five.' I will say this: I think that everybody has their place in the old-school thrash. If you wanna give 'em a number or whatever, go ahead. I think it doesn't mean anything. I think that the people that were there and the people that love our genre know where everybody stands. And I know where we stand, for sure. Without EXODUS, I think that thrash metal would be very, very different."

Hunolt makes a guest appearance on "Persona Non Grata", which was released in November 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records.

The San Francisco Bay Area thrashers' latest disc is the follow-up to 2014's "Blood In Blood Out", which was their first release since the departure of the group's lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

Longtime EXODUS fans will recall that Hunolt — the other half of the famed EXODUS "H-Team" who is on every studio recording from 1985 through 2004 and co-wrote some of the band's best-known songs such as "A Lesson In Violence" and "Deliver Us To Evil" — left EXODUS after the band's highly acclaimed 2004 reunion album, "Tempo Of The Damned". Following his departure, Hunolt was replaced by HEATHEN guitarist Lee Altus.

The original lineup of EXODUS consisted of guitarists Hammett and Tim Agnello, Hunting and vocalist Keith Stewart. Holt joined the band in 1981, while Kirk left two years before EXODUS's debut album, "Bonded By Blood", saw the light of day.

Souza is now on his third stint with EXODUS. A decade following his second departure, Souza returned to the fold in 2014, just in time to appear on "Blood In Blood Out".

Phil Soussan says that LAST IN LINE doesn't feel any pressure to perform a DIO-centric set during its live shows.

When LAST IN LINE formed, the intent was to celebrate Ronnie James Dio's early work by reuniting the members of the original DIO lineup. After playing shows that featured a setlist composed exclusively of material from the first three DIO albums, the band decided to move forward and create new music in a similar vein.

Soussan, who joined LAST IN LINE in 2016 following the passing of the band's original bassist Jimmy Bain, discussed LAST IN LINE's musical mindset in a new interview with The Rock Experience With Mike Brunn. He said: ""We wrestled for a little bit with people mistaking us for a heritage band or a Dio tribute band or whatever. There is a band that does that," apparently referring to DIO DISCIPLES, which pays tribute to Ronnie James Dio and is fully supported by Dio's widow/manager Wendy, "but it's not us. There are some [DIO] songs which we'd have to play; otherwise we'd probably get lynched. So we would do that.

"For us, a lot of those DIO songs that we used to play in the early days of LAST IN LINE were placeholders for our new material," Phil explained. "And so as we've been writing and releasing our own material, we started to replace some of those songs, to the point now where we do more original material than we do any DIO material.

"People have to come and have a listen to it and see. So many bands, [they go], 'Okay, here's the hits. Now we're gonna play one of our own songs,' and everybody files out to the bathroom. That doesn't happen with our shows," Soussan noted. "It's amazing. I don't know why — I have no idea why. But because of just the alignment of the planets, or whatever it is, people do really appreciate and love our material, and they want to hear those songs.

"When we played [the U.K.'s] Download [festival] in 2019, which was a pinnacle for us, actually, going out there on a stage in front of so many people, we did have a debate backstage," Phil recalled. "We said, 'What songs should we play? Are people here to hear the DIO songs?' And the idea came up to just go ahead and just play our own material. In fact, the only DIO song we played, I think, was an encore, but everything else was our material. Trial by fire, right? It's either gonna go down like a storm or a sack of shit. And it was fantastic. People loved it. And that really gave us the confidence to move forward and say, 'You know what? People really wanna hear this material. They love the new songs. They love the way it's going.' Obviously, it's quality. You can put it up next to the DIO catalog. But the DIO catalog was a long, long time ago. The only thing we have in common with that is the same DNA. So we have Vivian [Campbell, guitar] and Vinny [Appice, drums], of course. And the method by which we write the records, which we've kept the same as they did with DIO. In a nutshell, we don't bring in any songs that we record [on our own] as demos. We literally get into a room with nothing in front of us but our instruments and we create everything organically."

LAST IN LINE will release its third studio album, "Jericho", on March 31 via earMUSIC.

Last year, 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.

LAST IN LINE's third studio album 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.

Formed in 2012 by Appice, Campbell and Bain — Ronnie James Dio's co-conspirators and co-writers on the "Holy Diver", "Last In Line" and "Sacred Heart" albums — 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.

In a recent interview with Shannon Hernandez, a.k.a. The Shan Man, of 98KUPD, Arizona's Real Rock radio station, GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna spoke about some of the important life lessons that he learned in the early days of the band's major label success. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think one of the first growths in this whole venture of making this a professional career rather than just being a musician and jamming with bands in garages… Once you step into the ladder of climbing to the top and the big leagues, I remember the first thing that I kind of learned was that it distorts your reality. And what I mean by that is when you're a young band and you're doing the grind and playing the circuit and trying to get a deal, and you have this group of friends and you all hang out and they support you on the weekends with your gig and you go home and have beers with them and shoot pool at the bar, all those things are normal. And then you go to your job and you go to rehearsal at night, and that's your reality. And then the dream of being in the big time and on a stage and doing this for a living is really the fantasy. But as you become successful, that turns around and reverses itself where you're touring so heavily… I mean, there was times we were doing tours where it was seven shows in a row with one day off, nine shows in a row with one day off, eleven shows in a row with one day off. You do that for two or three years in a row, you just become a robot. And then, all of a sudden, your realities get twisted, and now that becomes your normal daily thing. And when you go home, all the things that used to seem normal to you are foreign. And you go to a bar, and you see the same group of guys and friends that you would hang with, and all of a sudden they kind of act and treat you a little different. It's a little bit of a standoff — you're staring at them, they're looking at you, and they expect you to be this thing now 'cause they've now seen you for the last so many years on MTV or in articles and on videos. The behavior changes."

He continued: "Even though I think we've done a great job over the years of keeping ourselves humble and grounded and never forgetting our roots, that was one of the first things I really noticed that changed — was the realities getting kind of turned upside down. And then, over the years, you get a grip on everything. And the real people stayed by you, and the people that are there for the wrong reasons stayed away. And then everything normalizes again. And you eventually learn who your circle is and your family and your friends. And we've been in that place for a while now, where we just have a great support team around us and good family and kids and friends and all that stuff. And we do our job; we go out there and we enjoy what we do. We've been blessed to be able to have a career that we love and we can actually make some money at. So all things are good now, and have been for a long time."

Erna went on to say that it was "weird" and "awkward" seeing some of his old friends for the first time after coming back home from GODSMACK's earliest tours once the band had hit it big. "You know these guys, all these people for so long, and then, all of a sudden, they claim that you've changed: 'Oh, he's changed now,'" he recalled. "And in reality, they are the ones who changed, 'cause they treat you a little different when you walk in the door, which makes you respond differently and feel uncomfortable. So, it's that thing."

GODSMACK's new album, "Lighting Up The Sky", will arrive on February 24 via BMG. The LP was co-produced by Erna and Andrew "Mudrock" Murdock (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ALICE COOPER).

The first single from "Lighting Up The Sky", "Surrender", which arrived in September, marked the first release from GODSMACK in four years, following their globally acclaimed and gold-certified 2018 album "When Legends Rise", which earned the Erna-fronted outfit a No. 1 spot across U.S. Hard Rock, Rock, and Alternative album charts.

In September 2021, GODSMACK's latest album, "When Legends Rise", was certified gold on by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales in excess of half a million copies. In addition, two more of the LP's singles (the title track and "Under Your Scars") were also officially certified gold by the RIAA. The album's first single "Bulletproof" earned a platinum digital single award in September 2020 and was previously certified gold in the U.S.

Spotlights, the hypnotic trio featuring married couple Mario and Sarah Quintero with Chris Enriquez, will release their new album, Alchemy For The Dead, on April 28 via Ipecac Recordings.


The album, written and recorded following the band’s move to Pittsburgh, finds the trio once again balancing the tightrope of light and dark, toying with sonic texture.


Mario Quintero shares the band’s mindset while writing and recording Alchemy For The Dead: “Our focus when making this record was to not repeat ourselves. I think we achieved our goal. Though we’re proud of all our releases, making just another ‘Spotlights’ album wasn’t an option. Pushing our own boundaries while creating something cathartic, yet strangely suffocating, with new sounds and textures as well as more personal and self-reflective themes, this album feels like a new fork in the path for us. Hopefully the listeners will follow.”




A preview of the nine-song collection arrives today with the release of the Oleg Rooz- created lyric video for “Algorithmic” (see below). “For me, the song has a religious theme to it,” Mario adds. “It touches on the story of resurrection and afterlife in this one narrative, while wondering, does any of it really matter?” That narrative, one of death, the resistance and acceptance to one of life’s most secretive aspects, is a lyrical theme throughout Alchemy For The Dead.


Album pre-orders, which include two 2LP vinyl variants: a standard black version and a limited-edition gold edition available exclusively via Ipecac.com and on the band’s upcoming Alchemy For The Dead tour, can be found here. Vinyl is slated for an August 4 release.





Alchemy For The Dead tracklisting:


"Beyond The Broken Sky"
"The Alchemist"
"Sunset Burial"
"Algorithmic"
"False Gods"
"Repeat The Silence"
"Ballad In The Mirror"
"Crawling Toward The Light"
"Alchemy For The Dead"


"Algorithmic" lyric video:





Spotlights is:


Mario Quintero (guitar, vocals, keys)
Sarah Quintero (bass, vocals)
Chris Enriquez (drums)


(Photo - John Pope)

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman spoke to Taryn Daly of Audacy's 99.9 KISW in Seattle about the band's upcoming 36-date "Take Back Your Life" spring/summer 2023 North American tour. The trek, produced by Live Nation, will feature support from THEORY OF A DEADMAN in Canada and very special guests BREAKING BENJAMIN and JINJER in select markets in the United States. "Take Back Your Life", which will kick off at Montreal's Bell Centre on April 27, will be DISTURBED's first full tour since 2018.

"We were robbed of normalcy for so long [due to the COVID-19 pandemic]," David said. "To feel like things are normalizing once again and to get back to doing what we are really meant to be doing in this life — all of us; not just us [in the band] — is an incredible thing. But now to be able to experience the celebration known as live performance and to feel that circle of symbiotic kind of relationship that you end up having and that energy surge in a whole new way, because it was taken for so long, it's sweeter now. And I think people are even more passionate. They're so pent up. They're ready. And we are too."

Draiman also talked about our ability to bounce back after the pandemic imposed a devastating effect on the psychological health of so many people, as they spent hours inside the house with little or no social contact with friends and family. He said: "I think that the human body and human spirit are both incredibly resilient. I think we are traumatized. There's no doubt about it. From every walk of life and every age range imaginable. I think the kids got hit the hardest during all this. When you are stripped of the things that keep you engaged, that keep you communicating, that keep you challenged, it can do long-term damage sometimes. I think that people are gonna take — it may take the rest of their lifetimes to sometimes get back to where they were after, not only what this whole experience did to us psychologically, but what it did to some people fiscally, what it did to them financially. It destroyed families, it destroyed jobs, it destroyed worlds. I mean, the effects were more than just the lives that were taken by the virus. Terrible. So it's weird. I feel very, very fortunate that we're still one of the ones that are in a position to go back out there and to do what we do and to keep doing what we love. The music industry as a whole, we lost two-thirds of our workforce. They're gone. They went to do other things, because live events couldn't happen for two to three years. So they had to put food on the table. There are bands like us who did everything that they could for their crew, and we'd do it again, but there are a lot of bands that couldn't. And people had to make a living. And so now, you have a few people left. Now costs are through the roof, now everybody's struggling, and we're still chomping at the bit to get out there. I think the challenge makes it better."

DISTURBED's latest album, "Divisive", was released last November. The LP recorded early last year with producer Drew Fulk (MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, LIL PEEP, HIGHLY SUSPECT) in Nashville, Tennessee.

Guitarist Dan Donegan's divorce inspired the "Divisive" song "Don't Tell Me", which is a duet with HEART's Ann Wilson. In two decades, it breaks ground as the first-ever guest collaboration on a DISTURBED record.

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 Joshua Toomey of the "Talk Toomey" podcast, SHINEDOWN's Brent Smith discussed the PANTERA concert cancelations in Germany and Austria this spring following an outcry over singer Philip Anselmo's previous racist remarks.

Most of the backlash that led to the cancelations stemmed from the fact that Anselmo made a Nazi-style salute when he performed at the January 2016 "Dimebash" event at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood in honor of late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. He also appeared to say "white power" as he made the gesture, but later claimed he was joking about drinking white wine backstage and was reacting to the audience members up front who he says were taunting him.

Before he delivered that Nazi salute onstage, Anselmo already had a history of making troubling racial statements, including several white-pride speeches at various PANTERA shows in 1995.

Addressing the latest PANTERA concert cancelations, Smith said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "They were scheduled to do Germany, Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park, and there was an outcry for it… The reality is that Phil, when what happened happened, he addressed it to the best of his ability. Most people, I believe, when he addressed it, believed that he was being sincere. When I watched what he said, and I saw the video — and believe me, man, I'll be honest with you, I was somebody that when I saw the video, the way that it was presented, it's not good; it's not. The fact of the matter is, the way that I see these types of things is how are you gonna grow if there's a constant level of just giving no one an opportunity to say that they made a mistake, that they genuinely made a mistake. And with Phil, if you look at it, I think point blank, in a lot of those interviews that he did, in a lot of those segments, he was, like, 'I would never, ever do anything that supported white supremacy or anything.' He made a lot of strong points that he said what he was doing and his gesture was towards the wine and what have you. A lot of people called B.S. on it and this and that and the other, but to go at it and to be as strong-willed as he was and to have a lot of the backing from people saying that 'this man is not a racist. This man, that's not who he is.'"

Brent continued: "There's gonna be certain people, because you also don't know how they were raised, how they were brought up, how they're gonna feel about it, and that's why it's called society. And I think we're all doing our best to move past… Especially in this country. Look, in the United States, it's always going to be something that we're gonna have to talk about. Will it ever be at a place in America where we'll all be able to get past it? I think there's a threshold inside of all of it. You don't wanna forget it because you're doomed to repeat it. And I think what we all have to focus on as a society from all walks of life is that in 2023 and beyond and for all time, it should not matter whether you're a man or a woman, whether you're younger, whether you're older, the color of your skin, that's irrelevant. We're all the same inside. Your religion, that's totally up to you. That's what makes you an individual. That's what makes you human. That's what makes you who you are. And we're all on this planet together. And I think in a lot of ways music is medicine."

Smith added: "I know a lot of people have been waiting for PANTERA for a long, long time, and the defiance of that music… Another thing that people should think about, PANTERA music — I know this for a fact — has saved a lot of lives. It has. And that's another thing to get brought up. It was born out of chaos, but it had a message and it was built on strength and perseverance.

"I go back to [PANTERA's] 'Vulgar Display Of Power'. It's probably, in my opinion, definitely in the top 20 of the greatest albums ever recorded — in my personal opinion."

The reformed PANTERA — featuring surviving members Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown along with guitarist Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) — was scheduled to appear at Gasometer in Vienna on May 31 and at Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals in Germany in early June as part of its spring/summer 2023 European tour. However, late last month, promoters released separate statements on social media saying that the shows were scrapped.

There was additional criticism with regard to the fact that Rock Am Ring takes place in Nürnberg (known in its English form as Nuremberg),where Hitler supporters held a series of mass Nazi party rallies between 1933 and 1938.

In calling for Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park organizers to cancel PANTERA's appearances at the festivals, the German Green Party said in the Nürnberg city council that Anselmo "repeatedly and deliberately made Nazi gestures and yelled racist slogans." Réka Lörincz, the spokeswoman for the Greens against racism and right-wing extremism, added that "the former Nazi party premises" were "being deliberately misused for the staging and reproduction of racist and inhuman ideology." The Green Party rep told Germany's Stern magazine that Anselmo's apology for his white power outburst was "not credible enough" and that hosting the band on the former Nazi Party rally grounds "clearly exceeds the limit of what is bearable."

“We are relieved about the organizer's decision not to offer the band PANTERA a stage. Their singer Phil Anselmo had repeatedly attracted attention with anti-Semitic and racist incidents," Lörincz wrote in a statement on the Green Party's web site. "Therefore, a performance was unimaginable for us — especially on the former Nazi party rally grounds."

In the days leading up to the Vienna concert cancelation, the Green party in Vienna demanded that this performance also be scrapped.

"Due to its National Socialist past, Vienna in particular has a special historical responsibility to oppose any form of right-wing extremism. The appearance of PANTERA is completely incompatible with this responsibility," they said in a statement. "Therefore, it can only mean for Vienna: No stage for a Hitler salute, no stage for PANTERA!"

Back in May 2019, Anselmo was asked by U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine if he feels the "Dimebash" debate is something he has moved past. He responded: "I feel like it's ridiculous. I made an off-color joke and 'Boom!' — it's like I'm literally Hitler! I'm not. I take each individual one at a time, in the way that any logical individual will. I have love in my heart. Over the years, I've learned to take the first step with love and to put good faith first. I get along with everybody. If there's any doubt about my political leanings, people should get it out of their heads. I was raised amongst a dazzling [cast of characters] from the theatre, from the mental hospital, from all walks of life — all colors, creeds and kinds. It's absurd to me that anyone in this day and age would judge anyone by the color of their skin, their heritage or their religion. I'm a harmless guy. I'm a reactionary, not a troublemaker."

In the days following the "Dimebash" incident, MACHINE HEAD's Robb Flynn — who played PANTERA songs with Anselmo at the event — released an eleven-minute response video in which he denounced Anselmo as a "big bully" and a racist. He concluded by saying that he would never play another PANTERA song again. ANTHRAX's Scott Ian, who is Jewish, released a statement on his official web site saying, "Philip's actions were vile" and invited Anselmo to make a donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Former PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, who hadn't spoken to Anselmo since the band's split in 2003, was dismissive when asked for a comment on the singer's white-power salute. "I can't speak for him," Vinnie said in a 2016 interview. "He's done a lot of things that tarnish the image of what PANTERA was back then and what it stood for and what it was all about. And it's sad."

In 2017, Anselmo blasted "false journalism in the metal community" for suggesting he was racist because of his actions at "Dimebash".

In the weeks after the "Dimebash" incident, Anselmo's DOWN project canceled a number of shows, including at France's Hellfest, Dutch festival FortaRock and U.K.'s Download. The singer wrote an open letter to the Hellfest organizers in which he said it was not the right time for DOWN to tour. He also revealed that he was suffering from a recurring knee injury and needed rehabilitation.

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, David Ellefson was asked if he misses playing bigger venues now that he is no longer in MEGADETH and his main focus at the moment is KINGS OF THRASH, which also features another ex-MEGADETH member, guitarist Jeff Young. The bassist responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "There's a place for all of 'em. [Playing the ShipRocked cruise in January as part of THE STOWAWAYS] was big, man. That was like playing a midsized arena out on the deck, 'cause people were piled up three tiers high; that was a real gig. And then we go and we play these clubs [with KINGS OF THRASH].

"I saw a review of [KINGS OF THRASH's] Phoenix show that I think the guy really hit it on the head and said to see me and Jeff and to hear these [early MEGADETH] songs performed in, say, a five-hundred-seat club, he put the connection together that these songs were written back in that day when that's the size of how big MEGADETH was; these songs were written to be played in those-size venues. And as the group got more popular and we started playing bigger venues, the thrash stuff didn't translate as well, and that's why we started to slow some of the tempos in the '90s, like with 'Countdown To Extinction' and 'Youthanasia' and 'Cryptic Writings', the songs started to change a little bit to accommodate the venues we were playing and, of course, radio…

"'Cryptic Writings' was a huge era for us," Ellefson continued. "It was a deciding factor: Are we gonna continue just doing thrash metal and that or are we gonna kind of reform the sound a little bit to stay competitive in the mix of what was happening? We talked to IRON MAIDEN's manager about managing us at that point. Obviously, what he did with MAIDEN worked well, because they just kept the band on the road — tour, tour, tour — and that's how he built and sustained MAIDEN. But for us, being an American band, we knew we had a whole other audience here in America that to just be on tour outside of the U.S. would be to leave this whole territory unattended to. So we took a different approach; we actually got Bud Prager, and he had managed FOREIGNER back in the day, and so had sort of an understanding of that kind of music. And his partner Mike Renault managed CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, and they were on the 'Youthanasia' tour with us. So we made the decision to keep our base here in America.

"So 'Cryptic' was a record that really helped us stay tuned in to an American audience," David added. "And it did well around the world; Japan loved it, and South America. So it was definitely the right move. 'Cause, as you know, the '90s were a bit of a challenge, once Seattle showed up and NIRVANA. 'The anti-rock star killed the rock star' kind of thing, that was a challenge. We were one of the bands that survived it and made it through to the other side."

KINGS OF THRASH recently signed a worldwide deal with Cleopatra Records. The group will release a live CD/DVD package called "Best Of The West…Live At The Whisky A Go Go" on March 24. The 17-song set was recorded and filmed live at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, CA on October 15, 2022 and also features performances with another former MEGADETH member, Chris Poland (guitar). The DVD was directed by Michael Sarna for Inmotion Entertainment.

Last month, KINGS OF THRASH announced the first leg of a planned 2023 world tour, commencing February 16 in Joliet, Illinois. The "Thrashin' USA" trek will cross the Midwest, East Coast, and southeastern part of the USA through March 15. As with the band's 2022 warm-up shows, the group, which also includes drummer Fred Aching as well as guitarist/vocalist Chaz Leon, will be performing MEGADETH's classic albums "Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!" and "So Far, So Good… So What!" in their entirety.

Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH nearly two years ago after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.

David was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.

In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Dave Mustaine, alleging the MEGADETH leader shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.

Young's entire career with MEGADETH was spent recording and touring in support of the band's 1988 platinum-selling album "So Far, So Good...So What!"

Jeff made headlines in December 2009 for accusing Mustaine of, among other things, "dissing, exaggerating and just plain lying on some level about nearly every talented musician that has passed through his dysfunctional little ensemble." He also disputed Mustaine's claim in an interview that Young's drug problem led to MEGADETH's 1988 Australian tour being called off and the group being "banned" from performing in the country.

YouTube channel Dennis Justus has uploaded video of original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley's entire February 5 concert at The Beacon Theatre in Hopewell, Virginia.

Ace's setlist was as follows:

01. Parasite (KISS song)
02. Snow Blind
03. Speedin' Back To My Baby
04. Rip It Out
05. Rock Soldiers
06. Escape From The Island (KISS song)
07. Insane
08. Detroit Rock City (KISS song)
09. Stranger In A Strange Land
10. Rocket Ride (KISS song)
11. Getaway (KISS song)
12. New York Groove (Russ Ballard Cover includes KISS "God of Thunder" intro)
13. Shock Me (KISS song)
14. Ace Frehley Guitar Solo
15. Cold Gin (KISS song)
16. Black Diamond (KISS song)

Encore:

17. Deuce (KISS song)

As previously reported, Ace is putting the finishing touches on his new solo album for a tentative early 2023 release.

The former KISS member offered an update on the LP's recording progress in late November while sharing a list on social media of his "Best 10 Sci-Fi Movies Released Up Until 1960". At the end of the message, he wrote: "My New Studio Record is nearing its completion! Hopefully it will be out Spring-Summer 2023!!!"

Back in November 2021, Ace said that he had collaborated with his longtime friend Peppy Castro on "some heavy songs."

Peppy reportedly taught Frehley how to play guitar and previously collaborated with KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons as a songwriter and performed on Frehley's and KISS frontman Paul Stanley's solo records.

In December 2020, Frehley told Talking Metal Live that he would start recording his next all-original album the following year. The record will be the follow-up to "Spaceman", which was released in October 2018 via eOne. At the time, he said that had "been writing all along. Plus, I have tracks that I've already recorded that I have to revisit and decide whether they have a chance to make it on my new studio record — [if they] have to be rewritten or [they're] just good the way they are," he explained. "And I've got people sending me song ideas constantly… So, little by little, it's an ongoing process, and it evolves as it goes."

Earlier in 2020, Frehley told Canada's iHeart Radio that he had "only written about three songs" for his next LP, and he added they were "not finished." He said: "Now that I'm [living] on the East Coast [after moving to New Jersey from Southern California], my engineer only lives an hour from me, Alex Salzman, who worked with me extensively on this last record, and he played a lot of bass guitar as well, So it's gonna be even easier, 'Origins Vol. 3' and the next [original] record."

Frehley's latest release was "Origins Vol. 2", the sequel to his 2016 collection of cover songs that inspired the former KISS guitarist.

"Origins Vol. 2" featured cover versions of THE BEATLES' "I'm Down", DEEP PURPLE's "Space Truckin'", LED ZEPPELIN's "Good Times Bad Times", THE ROLLING STONES' "Jumpin' Jack Flash", THE KINKS' "Lola" and THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE's "Manic Depression", among others. A cover of the 1975 KISS tune "She" also appeared as a bonus track. Guests on the set included CHEAP TRICK's Robin Zander, Lita Ford and former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick.

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons co-wrote two tracks on "Spaceman", "Without You I'm Nothing" and "Your Wish Is My Command", the latter of which also features Simmons's bass playing.

Rome’s Shores of Null is explaining their discography of melancholic doom with their fourth album The Loss Of Beauty, arriving March 24, 2023. Stylistically, The Loss Of Beauty continues along the sulcus set forth by Quiescence (2014) and Black Drapes For Tomorrow (2017). It’s melancholic dark metal with a wide range of influences, from gothic metal to doom and melodic black/death, with frequent use of vocal harmonies and deep growls. The next single is an emotional homage to stories told to guitarist Raffaele Colace by his grandfather, a WWII veteran. 


He shares the details:


“He was taken prisoner in Russia, but he managed to escape and he traveled all the way to Greece, where he hid for a few years in the countryside, in a swamp between the trees, sometimes in a pigpen. In his stories, he told of a woman that brought him a piece of bread every now and then, thus saving him from hunger. Although he managed to escape and survive the war and return to his family in Italy, sorrow never left him for the rest of his life. Whenever he recalled these memories, his eyes were full of tears, and we know for sure that the horrors he saw were way bigger than anything he was able to tell.”




Vocalist Davide Straccione takes his inspiration from daily life, in particular stories with a deep emotional meaning. Most of the time it’s the mood of the song that inspires him to write about a certain topic, and writing lyrics with a melody in mind allows him to visualize what he wants to tell. For The Loss Of Beauty some of the lyrics came after talking to Martina (Sanda Movies) about a few ideas for some of their videos, creating a triple connection between the music, the words, and the images.


BraveWords is premiering the new lyric video (created by Underrom Studio) for “My Darkest Years” – watch below!





The Loss Of Beauty will be released on March 24 via Spikerot Records. Pre-orders can be placed now at this location.


The Loss Of Beauty artwork and tracklisting:





"Transitory" 
"Destination Woe"
"The Last Flower" 
"Darkness Won't Take Me" 
"Nothing Left To Burn" 
"Old Scars" 
"The First Son" 
"A Nature In Disguise" 
"My Darkest Years"
"Fading As One" 
"A New Death Is Born"


Bonus Tracks (CD and Digital only)
"Underwater Oddity" 
"Blazing Sunlight" 


"The Last Flower" video:





"Nothing Left To Burn" video:

Trailight mastermind Omer Cordell has checked in with a new update:


"After five laborious months, I am thrilled to announce that the recording process for Mirrors is officially done! Joining Daniel, Cory and myself is the list of wonderful and talented guests; Devin, Oswin, Eyal, Dave, Conan, Andrea and Meris who have all contributed their unique and beautiful talents to this project. I am extremely proud of this album and I can't wait to share this with all of you. Daniel Cardoso is taking over mixing duties and will commence very soon.


'The One You Feed' featuring a lead guitar performance by the wonderful Devin Townsend will be available in the coming weeks. Daniel is doing a phenomenal job mixing this album as you will all hear very soon!"







Song titles on Mirrors include:


"The One You Feed" (featuring Devin Townsend)
"Mirrors"
"Lead A Horse to Water"
"Traveller"
"Elegy"
"Harbour"
"Victory"
"Harbour" (acoustic)

2022 was a very active year for South Carolina's Narcotic Wasteland founded by guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade. The band had tours supporting Accept and Malevolent Creation plus a performance at Rustfest (Detroit, MI) along with sharing with fans three new singles “Morality And The Wasp”, “The Best Times Have Passed” and “Victims Of The Algorithm”, which will appear on the band's forthcoming album due out later in 2023.


Today, Narcotic Wasteland is unveiling the latest guitar and vocal playthrough for their latest single “Victims Of The Algorithm”, a crushing speed storm of death thrash, with its visceral vocals, and a demolishing blast beat to annihilate the mosh pit.







"This guitar/ vocal playthrough was footage taken from the video shoot for our latest single Victims of the algorithm. We had rehearsed the song a good bit before the tour and had about two weeks out on the road to play the song live. So even though it's just a video I feel I got the performances pretty close to the studio version. Kenji Tsunami with Tsunami films once again does a fantastic job!" adds Dallas Toler-Wade.


Narcotic Wasteland is currently working on their forthcoming 2023 album to be released via Megaforce Records (release date to be determined). The single “Victims Of The Algorithm” was recorded with engineer, and producer Erik Schultek who is no stranger to the band having recorded drums, engineered, and produced their self-titled debut album. The band's 2023 album will be the follow-up to their sophomore full-length 2017’s Delirium Tremens.





Inspired mostly by thrash metal and classic heavy metal, Narcotic Wasteland is becoming more thrash and speed and less death metal and getting better at writing material that is meaningful and powerful. They are recommended for fans of Vader, Death, The Crown, Autopsy, Pestilence, and Nile.


Previous singles:


“Morality And The Wasp”





“The Best Times Have Passed”:


 





Narcotic Wasteland started as a side project Dallas Toler-Wade had been working on the past few years when he was not touring or in the writing/studio with metal heavyweights Nile.


"So I just started writing some songs kind of more in the style of things I was playing before my time in Nile. The more we started working on these demos the more we wanted to complete an album and take it to the stage!!! Our observation of what was going on in parts of the town we grew up in and in other parts of the world fueled a new level of angst for me personally.” - DTW


(Photo - Andrea Roberts)

Swedish hard rock outfit Steel Rhino has announced crunchy details about the new album, following the self-titled debut release in August 2022 via GMR Music. The mastermind Mikael Rosengren has confirmed that Firewind’s Herbie Langhans will still be on board handling the vocals. 


The new album will be called In Rhino We Trust and it will be released on October 21, via GMR Music.







A first taste of the album will come on February 17 with the brand-new single “Blades”.


In Rhino We Trust continues the identifiable Steel Rhino sound that served the band so well and appealed to all people who love classic hard rock. 


The founder Mikael Rosengren stated: “We could not leave the fans with just one album, so we continued the saga of Steel Rhino. I think this album is more raw and powerful. We have taken our arena rock sound to the next level and the songs have been maturing to become our best material to date.”


Once again Jacob Hansen (Dynazty, Volbeat, Evergrey, Amaranthe) is in charge of the mixing and mastering.


Lineup:
Mikael Rosengren – Drums
Herbie Langhans – Vocals
Filip Vilhelmsson – Guitar, Bass

Former Crimson Glory singer Wade Black has announced his Astronomica band is working on a new album. Astronomica is named after the 1999 CG album that Wade sang on. 


An album promo is now available:







For three decades, Wade Black has triumphed and stayed metal recording and touring internationally in bands such as Crimson Glory, Leatherwolf, Seven Witches, Leash Law, and Chalice Of Sin. 

Hard rock veterans, Black Water Rising, have released a new song, "Hail Mary", along with a music video. Watch the clip below.





"Hail Mary" is the new single from the band’s upcoming album, due out later this year. It also features original guitarist John Fattoruso, who rejoined BWR in late 2019. The video was directed by Tom Flynn (Lamb Of God, I Prevail).




The new material promises to be more melodic, yet still as riff-heavy as BWR’s previous albums - featuring hooks and catchy choruses to pull you in, all while retaining a musical identity of its own.


Commenting on the new video, drummer Mike Meselsohn shares, "It was great working with Tom (director) again on this new video. Although it's strictly a performance video, he was able to capture the live energy of the band while still creating a visually stunning compliment to the song!"


Stream "Hail Mary" here.





Black Water Rising are:


Rob Traynor - Vocals/Guitar
Mike Meselsohn - Drums
Oddie McLaughlin - Bass
John Fattoruso - Guitar

Kelly Clarkson has released her cover version of the WHITESNAKE classic "Here I Go Again".

The "American Idol" alum performed WHITESNAKE's 1987 Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper on the Wednesday (February 8) episode of "The Kelly Clarkson Show" as part of her opening "Kellyoke" segment.

Back in May 2021, "Here I Go Again" debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. The track saw a renewed interest following the death of actress Julie E. "Tawny" Kitaen, who appeared in the song's video. Kitaen passed away at her home in Newport Beach on May 7, 2021 at the age of 59.

While WHITESNAKE was working on it 1987 self-titled album, the band's lead singer David Coverdale started dating Kitaen, who had recently starred opposite Tom Hanks in the movie "Bachelor Party". Kitaen soon appeared in several of WHITESNAKE's music videos, including those for "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love" and "Still Of The Night". Footage of Kitaen writhing around on the hood of a Jaguar in the "Here I Go Again" clip has been called one of the most iconic — and sexiest — video moments ever filmed.

Coverdale and Kitaen tied the knot in 1989 but the union only lasted two years.

One of the Jaguars from the "Here I Go Again" video was dusted off for WHITESNAKE's clip for "Shut Up & Kiss Me", from the band's latest album, 2019's "Flesh & Blood".

In a new interview with Beef Vegan, DISTURBED's David Draiman commented on GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna's recent announcement that the latter band's upcoming eight album, "Lighting Up The Sky", will likely be GODSMACK's final collection of new material. Asked if he foresees a day when DISTURBED will similarly stop producing new music and just focus on touring, David said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I totally know where Sully is coming from. You put a lot into every single song. You put your heart, your soul, you invest your mind, you lay your thoughts and your inhibitions go away; you lay your thoughts bare. It's tough. And after a while, it's like you don't really need to go through all of the preparation and all of the work and all of the sacrifice that goes along with crafting these songs. But for me personally? Especially considering the experience that we just had making the 'Divisive' record; we had so much fun with it. The magic of that moment of creation, where you just… Like my guitar player Danny [Donegan] used to describe it numerous times, that happens literally every single time we're together, where we come up with stuff right in front of each other improvisationally that automatically resonates. And it's not that you come up with it automatically; you find it. That moment of finding it, of knowing that you have something, of knowing that you've got a chorus hook or you've got a riff is just undeniable. Those are incredible, magical moments. Personally, I don't wanna give those up just yet. I know that we've got at least another record's worth of original material waiting to go that is as good, if not demonstrably better, than what we just put out. So I have no intention of stopping [making new music] anytime soon. But I do understand where he's coming from."

In a recent interview with Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X, Erna spoke about the fact that "Lighting Up The Sky", which will arrive on February 24 via BMG, will likely be GODSMACK's final collection of original material. He explained: "It's the most important record, I think, we've ever written and recorded.

"I've never been that artist who says, 'Oh, this record is our newest record. It's our best work ever.' You can read any interview you want over my whole career, and you've never heard me say it," he continued. "I've always loved our records [and] I always knew there would be some good singles on it and hoped it did well, but I was never the guy that said, 'This is our best fucking work ever.' And I'm telling you right now this is our best fucking work ever. And it's because it's emotional, man. This is the last record we're ever gonna do. This is the last run around the mill for us. We put every single ounce of energy and emotion into this album. Especially for me, when I wrote a lot of these songs, it was about my life journey. That's really what the sequence of this album becomes about. Not that it was planned that way, but this really kind of mystical thing happened where I felt like the universe wrote this record.

"We went in there with no plan, no ideas — very minimal ideas, just jamming. And, 'what's gonna be the topic? What am I gonna talk about now? How many times can I talk about a broken relationship?' Blah blah blah. And then it just started happening where song after song that was written, as I'm sequencing it and putting it in the order that I would like people to hear it in… We're still old school and we like an album to have a flow from front to back. I love vinyl — I want people to listen to side A and side B. And this one really told a story. And when I started to realize that, I'm, like, Okay. Let me shuffle these around a little bit more.'"

Erna went on to clarify that GODSMACK does not intend to stop playing live shows anytime soon. "I wanna make sure people are clear about what we're saying here," he said. "I'm not saying that the band may be breaking up. What I'm saying is I think this may be the last body of work you get musically from the band. And it's because we're in this place in our lives right now where we've done a lot of work over the last three decades. Without sounding egotistical, which we're not trying to do, we're at 27 Top 10 singles, 11 Number Ones. We could literally do back-to-back nights in an arena and play 15 songs a night and never play the same single twice, let alone the 'B' cuts. And we started thinking, when we were in that thought process, why are we in here grinding all the time and doing this new music when we wanna just also know that we've never stopped in the 25 years we've been touring. We'd like to be able to enjoy our lives, our family, our houses, the things that we've earned over the years that we've sacrificed. So I think the balance for that, the happy medium, is to be able to just go out there now and continue to do live shows and put the greatest-hits show together.

"I don't know what we're gonna do after this record," he explained. "And it doesn't make sense to continue to do music. It really feels complete in a good way, in a positive way. We feel like we've honored our career, our relationships with our fans, and we're always gonna be there for them; we're gonna do shows. But as far as to continue this, after this [album], unless we just decide one day, 'Yeah, one more for the road,' I think this could be it for us with new music."

According to Erna, GODSMACK plans to hit the road after the release of "Lighting Up The Sky" and never stop. "That's forever now. It's forever now," he said. "From the point we start touring, we will always tour. We may take some breaks here and there, but we're now gonna start setting up the greatest-hits show, because we feel like we're able to do that. We can now play the best of the best that the fans have identified as what they've enjoyed the most over the years and why these songs became hit singles."

Sully said that the decision to stop releasing new albums was influenced by the fact that too many people these days don't care about new music from bands who have been around as long as GODSMACK.

"As a music lover and a fan of live shows and bands in general, that when you go see your favorite bands, there's a certain point in their career where you just go, 'I don't really give a shit about a new record anymore. I'm sorry, but I wanna hear 'Dream On' and 'Train Kept A Rollin'' and 'Same Old Song And Dance'. I don't wanna hear any of this new shit. I don't know it and I don't care. But these other songs have lived with me for two, three, four decades,'", he said. "And I just feel like we're getting to that place where… If we get out there and we don't play 'I Stand Alone' or 'Keep Away' or 'Voodoo' or whatever these songs have been for these people over the years, they ream us for it. So we know we're stuck with that. We're always gonna play the hits. But we have so many singles now that it's time, I think, to try to pull as many as we can off this record, add it to that list and then go out there and play the best of the best. And then maybe throw a few surprises every show, whether it's the drum battle or some fun cover."

Erna concluded by saying that "Lighting Up The Sky" does not represent "an ending" but is rather "a new beginning. This is a new beginning of an era — it's the beginning of our sunset years," he explained. "And in our sunset years we wanna create something really special for the fans live where we can take every cool moment that we've ever done in every album cycle — the 'Awake' album had certain things we featured in the live show; the 'Faceless' record had certain things we featured from the live show; and so on — now we can create a montage of all those special things in each tour and just do a 'holy crap' show. That's what I wanna create. We're gonna try to make it big and special and important, filled with all special moments that people have enjoyed over the years. And I think that's gonna be really satisfying to us as well, 'cause it takes a lot of pressure off of us to know now we can just go out and enjoy what we do. Playing music is what we love the most — live. And it gives us more time to connect with the fans, connect with the live show and just enjoy the best part of why we do this for a living."

Last September, GODSMACK released the first single from "Lighting Up The Sky", a song called "Surrender". The track marked the first release from the band in four years, following their globally acclaimed and gold-certified 2018 album "When Legends Rise", which earned the Erna-fronted outfit a No. 1 spot across U.S. Hard Rock, Rock, and Alternative album charts.

Bulgarian melodic death metal band, Eufobia, have released a music video for "Wolf Among The Sheep", from the band's latest album, Madness.





The video was created by Nikolai Tsvetkov of Ronin Cinema House. The main roles are played by the members of "Brothers in Arms" airsoft team and Maria Georgieva, who is known from the band's previous video for the song "Madness". Watch both clips below.

Former THUNDERMOTHER singer Guernica Mancini says that she was "blindsided" by her dismissal from the band.

Last week, it was announced that Mancini, drummer Emlee Johansson and bassist Mona Lindgren were exiting the acclaimed Swedish all-girl act and would form a new band together. At the same time, guitarist Filippa Nässil revealed that she would continue with a new THUNDERMOTHER lineup featuring singer Linnéa Vikström (THERION, AT THE MOVIES) and returning bassist Majsan Lindberg.

Mancini, who joined THUNDERMOTHER in 2017, reflected on her split with the band in a new interview with the "Rock And Roll Geek Show".

Regarding how she found out she was being fired from THUNDERMOTHER, Guernica said: "I was blindsided. It's almost like I'm in an episode of fucking 'Survivor'. [Laughs]

"I got an e-mail [letting me know that I was no longer in the band]. I had a feeling it was coming because the week prior, [Filippa] had taken me off all our social media accounts. And I thought we had gotten hacked. I wrote to the group; I was, like, 'Girls, I think we're getting hacked. I can't get into our e-mail or Instagram — none of the accounts.'"

Asked if Filippa had any issues with Guernica's live performance or what she was doing on stage, Mancini said: "No, that's not something that I've… no information that I've received. I think that there's nothing you can complain about my performance or my singing, 'cause I've always brought my 'A game.' And if you have problems with that, I think that's strange, considering that's something that people really enjoy and respect the band for. So I think that would be weird."

Clarifying that the reasons for the split were "a hundred percent personal", Guernica revealed that "a lot of things happened behind my back, and I was the last one to know… Like there were meetings behind my back, trying to convince my fellow bandmates that I'm an awful person, I'm all these things that I'm not."

When interviewer Michael Butler noted that all the girls in THUNDERMOTHER looked like they were getting "along really well" when they were supporting the SCORPIONS on a tour of North America last fall, Guernica said: "I deserve an Oscar nomination for my acting. [Laughs]"

According to Mancini, she is still "really close" to Emlee and Mona. "We're actually really good friends, and that's the best part of my time in THUNDERMOTHER," she said. "Me and Emlee, she's legitimately one of my best friends. And Mona has become a really good friend as well. And we have a mutual respect and similar work ethic and we want the same things. We just work together. I just feel like, if anything, it's really lovely and positive that we have each other and that we all feel the same way and we all have had the same experiences and the reasoning behind not feeling great in the band as it was."

Asked how Emlee and Mona found out Guernica was being fired from THUNDERMOTHER, Mancini said: "[Filippa] had a secret meeting behind my back. She just told the girls, 'I wanna fire Guernica, and I already have a new singer.' And the girls were, like, 'Woah. Hold up. Wait a second. We did not sign up for that. And we thought we were a democracy in this band,' because that's something that we'd been told and that's how we've done everything.' So they were shocked."

Guernica went on to say that Mona will play guitar in their new band and that a bassist for the project will be added once it is time to play live shows.

On February 2, Nässil released the following statement via social media: "The last year has been full of adventures, new impressions and we have made memories that will last forever. Unfortunately our journey ends in the constellation known to you until today and a new chapter will be written for THUNDERMOTHER with both old familiar and new faces and for sure a lot more adventures and memories to come.

"After seven years of being together, we unfortunately came to the decision that our paths lead in different directions. Guernica, Mona and Emlee will focus on their own careers and I wish them nothing but the best of luck.

"I am thrilled to announce that our bass player Majsan who left for studies 1,5 years ago has finished and will rejoin!

"I am happy to announce that THUNDERMOTHER could win Linnéa Vikström (THERION, AT THE MOVIES) with her incredible power, her extraordinary voice and her charming manners as a new singer for THUNDERMOTHER!

"We are beyond excited and looking forward to the future filled with a new positive energy and with these girls by my side the future is going to fucking rock.

"Let's show the world that there is so much female talent out there and let's give the girls a heart-melting warm welcome to THUNDERMOTHER! Rock must live on!"

Guernica, Emlee and Mona also released a joint statement regarding their departures from THUNDERMOTHER. "It's with a heavy heart that we are writing this," they said. "Filippa has made the decision that Guernica's time in THUNDERMOTHER is over. Because of this, and the lack of agreement regarding the decision-making process in the band, Emlee and Mona have decided to leave THUNDERMOTHER.

"Filippa will continue with a new THUNDERMOTHER lineup. Guernica, Emlee and Mona will continue playing music together and are forming a new band.

"To all the people who have been a part of this journey; Guernica, Emlee and Mona want to say thank you for the support, we love you all. We are so grateful for everything that we've experienced with THUNDERMOTHER, and hope you all will support our separate journeys.

"We understand how hard it is to read this. This is by far one of the toughest situations we've had to go through and right now we are mourning the loss of a big part of our lives. We humbly ask you to be kind and respectful. Thank you for your understanding."

Following the release of their latest album, "Black And Gold", last summer and countless live shows alongside an extensive tour with iconic SCORPIONS in North America last fall, THUNDERMOTHER recently announced plans to team up with SCORPIONS for more European live dates, as well as headline gigs on the "Black And Gold" tour 2023. It is not clear if any of those shows will be affected by the latest lineup changes.

"Black And Gold" was recorded at Baggpipe Studios in Stockholm, and was mixed and mastered by Søren Andersen at Medley Studios in Copenhagen.

Last November, Mancini released her first solo single "Inception" via Golden Robot Records.

Ron Young, lead vocalist of Little Caesar, shares his story about getting signed by Geffen Records, having Jimmy Iovine and John Kalodner in your corner, Bob Rock producing your debut album and a tour opening for KISS and how having all of that still didn't guarantee success in the music business. As one review on Amazon states, "Probably the most honest book about the music business."





Ron Young had what it takes to make a career in music. He had the talent, the songs, and the backing of a major label (Geffen). His band, Little Caesar, smashed their way onto the music scene—but then it all came crashing down.




Ron’s personal rise and fall began at the hands of an abusive mother. Music was his savior, and rays of hope appeared. However, that hope was ultimately destroyed under constant bad timing, bad luck, and people judging him by how he looked. Then came escape into a heroin addiction and the accompanying darkness. Finally, he found sobriety and a musical resurrection.


Join Ron through his personal story of joy, sorrow, and despair…and find out how he made peace with himself along the way. Through it all, Ron invites you to judge him by his actions, not by what you’ve heard. He urges you to take a closer look…and then judge this book by its cover.


Publisher Steve Olivas, "A runaway favorite, Judge This Book By Its Cover delivers a satisfying emotional connection to Ron Young while it guides the reader through the frustrating maze of his career. We are proud to offer this book to fans of the man, the band, the music industry, and fantastic human interest stories."


Purchase here. Autographed copy available here.

Perris Records announces the release of the Cherry St. CD, Twisted, Rude & Sticky Sweet. The CD features 11 demos that the band recorded before getting signed to JRS/BMG in 1993.


After it was discovered that someone in Russia was illegally selling a bootleg CD with a version of these demos on EBAY for $140.00, Perris Records decided to release the tracks with improved sound quality and original band photos in the CD artwork. The bootleg CD artwork consists of low quality pictures and the recordings were taken off old cassette tapes sold by the band years earlier. For this release on Perris Records, the first six tracks were taken off the master DAT tapes. Tracks 7 through 11 were recorded in smaller studios as pre-production and were never intended for sale. Anthony Focx, whose credits include Ace Frehley, Buckcherry & Night Ranger, mastered all 11 tracks on this CD.


Tom Mathers at Perris Records said, "This CD gives the fans a inside look with the demos recorded in 1989 before that band was signed. Having Anthony Focx master the tracks enhances the sound quality."




Order CDs via the following links:


- Perris Records
- WOWHD Worldwide Free Shipping
- Germany





Tracklisting (all songs written by Chris VanDahl, Todd ‘Taz‛ Anthony, Tom ‘Monroe‛ Mathers)


"Hell Raiser"
"Lickety-Split"
"The Walk"
"Comes Around, Goes Around"
"Soft And Slow"
"Push And Shove"
"Spinner"
"Now And Darkness"
"Nasty Reputation"
"Say You Love Me"
"Come And Get It"





- All recordings self produced in various studios in LA
- CD mastered by Anthony Focx (Ace Frehley, Buckcherry & Night Ranger)
 
Band members:


Chris VanDahl - Vocals, Tracks (1,2,3,7,8,9,10)
Billy Coane - Vocals, Tracks (4,5,6)
Todd ‘Taz‛ Anthony - Guitars (All tracks)
Tom ‘Monroe‛ Mathers - Guitars (All tracks)
Don ‘Spinner‛ Korbecki - Bass, Tracks (1,2,3,7,8)
Jaimie Scott - Bass, Tracks (4,5,6,9,10)
Sam Wilmore - Drums, Tracks (1,2,3,7,8)
Marc Razzle - Drums, Tracks (4,5,6,9,10)

In the early days of Depeche Mode’s career, many dismissed the group as the kind of fluffy new wave electropop that was as inconsequential and easily discarded as chewed up bubblegum. Opinions began to change, however, as the group matured and darkened their sound for their fourth album, 1984’s Some Great Reward, which featured edgier production and lyrical themes of BDSM (“Master & Servant”), persecution (“People Are People”) and, most powerfully, religious disillusionment on the controversial closing track “Blasphemous Rumours”.


Swedish industrial icon Skold knows a thing or two about controversy. As a member of Marilyn Manson’s band and even in his solo career, Skold has courted the wrath of the religious community for his use of spiritual imagery in both his album artwork and lyrics. Thus, it’s no surprise that DM’s “Blasphemous Rumours” would resonate with Skold, and no surprise also that his cover version would have an even sharper bite than the original.


As Skold himself puts it, “Depeche Mode has obviously had a very big influence on me and the music I make. I chose this specific song mainly because the heart crushing lyrics but also because of the very ‘industrial’ stylings of the track. I have covered Depeche Mode before together with Marilyn Manson [2004’s “Personal Jesus”] so I have “experience” for lack of a better term. It may be crazy but I see a clear line from Depeche Mode to music from more current artist too, for example XXXTentacion and the Weeknd and yeah I’m naming those 2 together to underscore the incredible diversity of music that is Depeche Mode.”




Stream/download the single here. Listen below:





Skold’s cover of “Blasphemous Rumours” is the second single to be released from the forthcoming All I Ever Wanted - A Tribute To Depeche Mode, which will feature even more incredible covers by Lebanon Hanover, Priest, Xiu Xiu, The KVB and more. Coming to stores and digital platforms March 17.