Globally acclaimed dark-synth artist PERTUBATOR has announced that he has signed with Nuclear Blast Records for the release of his upcoming new album, which has officially been completed.

On his signing to Nuclear Blast, James Kent comments:
“Glad to finally announce that I’ll join forces with Nuclear Blast for future projects and even happier to tell you that I’ll hit the road again this November with my friends GOST and KAELAN MIKLA, it’s been way too long. I’ll give you some updates very soon”

Alongside the signing announcement, PERTURBATOR has also revealed the details of a UK & European headline tour for Winter 2025. The run of dates will feature the biggest venues that PERTURBATOR has ever headlined, and sees support form KÆLAN MIKLA and GOST.

In a new interview with Australia's Jaimunji, DROWNING POOL guitarist C.J. Pierce was asked if there was ever a point where he thought that maybe the band was "done". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Me personally, no. I mean, we've been hit with a lot of stuff, man. We've been hit with things — there's been stuff that's happened with us personally, within the band, that you read about, that has destroyed other bands for smaller things than that.

"I feel like I have a very full life," he continued. "I guess I should be appreciative of that. I've had a lot of life experiences — way more than I ever thought I would have. And it's pretty wild, man. But I love music. I'm passionate about it. We are. And when we're on that stage together, there's nothing like that in the whole world. And having that connection with the fans — and I'm a fan of music. There's been a lot of songs from a lot of other artists and bands that have gotten me through certain situations. And to hear that about your own songs from fans, it's, like, that connection, there's nothing like that in the whole world. So we do it for the right reasons.

"It's tough," C.J. added. "You've gotta fight the music business and all these things that tear you down and rip away from that passion. But you've gotta focus on what's real to you. And we love performing. We love playing. I love writing music."

DROWNING POOL's latest single, "Revolution (The Final Amen)", came out in September via SBG Records. It marks the first piece of music Pierce and his longtime bandmates — drummer Mike Luce and bassist Stevie Benton — have completed with singer Ryan McCombs in 13 years.

Regarding why DROWNING POOL chose "Revolution (The Final Amen)" as the song with which to reintroduce McCombs to the band's fans, Pierce told Australia's Heavy: "Well, we had several songs that are on the plate that we're working on together. This one just kind of gravitated towards being done first. I think all of us might have had a moment where [we thought] the eyes are gonna be on this, but at the end of the day, dude, it's us writing music together and it's not about the machine or about the industry. It's about us writing songs and art together as a band. And when it's ready to be out, that's when it's ready to go. All four of us sat down at a table with lyrics. We were all in a room together working on it. Musically, it's completely DROWNING POOL as us four, and that's the one that we finished first that we wanna get out to the world."

As for DROWNING POOL's plans to release more new music in the coming months, Pierce said: "We're hoping to get a few more songs recorded before the end of [2024] and a couple of more before we go to Australia in February [2025]. So, yeah, we're working on a full-length record.

"The original plan was to have a couple of reunion shows with Ryan, 'cause he still sings with SOIL… and then all of a sudden we just started writing songs together," C.J. explained. "And then we were getting [phone calls saying], 'Hey, come play some shows, play some shows.' So we've been pretty much just playing shows the last year and a half, having a great time doing it, writing music in between from all the inspiration from all the amazing shows, from all the awesome rock fans."

On the topic of what DROWNING POOL fans can expect from the band's upcoming material, C.J. said: "The next [song] coming up is even more jamming than ['Revolution (The Final Amen)']. I can't let any cats out of the bag. We have a very super-deep song that's coming out. I have a new tune that just came naturally that has a 'Tear Away' kind of vibe to it, that kind of chugging along feel that just came naturally again. And then we have some songs I got that [have] a lower tuning on it that's very Ryan McCombs's lower wheelhouse. I have some songs that are influenced by PANTERA. Who isn't? We have a lot of stuff on the plate, man."

McCombs played his first shows back with DROWNING POOL in March 2023 at Club L.A. in Destin, Florida and at the inaugural Throwdown At The Campground festival in Fruitland Park, Florida.

The longtime SOIL frontman, who has lived in Swindon, England since 2018, originally joined DROWNING POOL in 2005 and appeared on two of the band's studio albums, "Full Circle" (2007) and "Drowning Pool" (2010),as well as a live album, 2009's "Loudest Common Denominator". He rejoined SOIL after exiting DROWNING POOL in 2011.

McCombs is continuing to front SOIL and will carry on recording and performing with both bands.

The "Revolution (The Final Amen)" video was filmed at El Paso, Texas's Speaking Rock Entertainment Center and can be seen below.

DROWNING POOL's debut album, "Sinner", was certified platinum within six weeks of its release in 2001, while the CD's first single, "Bodies", was one of the most frequently aired videos on MTV by a new band. DROWNING POOL reached out to an ever-greater audience with dynamic performances at Wrestlemania XVIII and Ozzfest during the summers of 2001 and 2002. Unfortunately, their streak of success was not to last. Shortly after rousing the crowd at Ozzfest in Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 3, 2002, vocalist Dave "Stage" Williams was found dead of natural causes on the tour bus.

Photo courtesy of O'Donnell Media Group

In a recent interview with "That Fuzzing Rock Show", (SEVENDUST singer Lajon Witherspoon was asked why he and his bandmates chose to celebrate the 21st anniversary of their iconic album "Seasons" on a U.S. tour in late 2024. "Seasons" is the fourth album from the band's catalog and exploded on to the metal world when it was released in October 2003. The album spawned a Top 10 Rock single with "Enemy" and the album closer "Face To Face" is a show staple and fan favorite of SEVENDUST to this day.

Lajon said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I just feel like this album is such an important milestone for us and it was a very important thing. And the 21st, I think just with everything going on in the world and the slowage and everything that stopped us, this seemed like it would be a perfect opportunity to present it and its entirety, the way it should be, with everyone being able to come out properly, if that makes sense."

Regarding why "Seasons" was such a special album for SEVENDUST, Lajon said: "We got to do it with [producer] Butch Walker. It was one of the last albums we recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, and I remember leaving RubyRed Studios, which Butch Walker owned, and leaving on a tour bus and feeling like things were gonna be different from that point on. And for sure, God had a plan, and things did change. We started touring more.

"'Seasons' is a very important album," Lajon continued. "I felt like we sang a lot on that album. I felt like we weren't afraid to do what we wanted to do as a band at that time in our career, if that makes sense. Everyone wanted us to be, 'Oh, you guys gotta be heavy and you gotta just wreck everything.' It was, like, we matured enough to feel that our people, our family that have grown with us are letting us mature as musicians. And I felt like that was a milestone in our career for us."

SEVENDUST's fourth studio album, "Seasons" was the band's final LP with TVT Records and was dedicated to the memory to both Dave Williams (DROWNING POOL's original singer),who died of cardiomyopathy in August 2002, and Reginald Witherspoon (Lajon Witherspoon's younger brother),who was murdered in November 2002.

"Seasons" was, for a time, the band's last album with guitarist Clint Lowery as he left in 2004. Lowery returned to SEVENDUST in March 2008 and has remained with the group ever since.

SEVENDUST's latest album, "Truth Killer", was released in July 2023 via SEVENDUST's new label home, Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2020's "Blood & Stone" was once again tracked at Studio Barbarosa in Gotha, Florida with producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who has previously worked with ALTER BRIDGE and SLASH, among others.

"Truth Killer" showcases the original and current SEVENDUST lineup, comprised of Witherspoon, Lowery, John Connolly, Vince Hornsby and Morgan Rose.

Extreme metal giants BEHEMOTH have revealed the title, cover art, and release date of their upcoming new opus, "The Shit Ov God", which is due to be released on May 9 via Nuclear Blast Records. Alongside the title track, which is streaming now, an opulent music video will premiere at 10 a.m. ET today.

BEHEMOTH have always been known for not shying away from controversy, and they most certainly remain true to this approach with their 13th full-length. Here's a band that, 34 years in, is releasing its most inflammatory and extreme record to date. Eight songs that go into the fathoms of humanity, divinity, and what defiance means in an age where individuality is prized but everyone is clinging to their saviors — musically, politically, or otherwise. The title of the album is in line with those sensibilities.

Intentionally polarizing, BEHEMOTH founder and frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski says of the title: "We chose this provocative title deliberately, rejecting subtlety in favor of a direct and polarizing statement. It's a defiant plunge into the depths, daring to seek the absolute even in the gutter."

But make no mistake, despite its apparent insubtlety, the album title gets a touch of genius when seen in combination with the strikingly clever artwork, which depicts an upside-down version of the most common Christogram "IHS."

Nergal commented: "I've reached a point in BEHEMOTH's journey and my own creativity where words and statements mean less and less. The true essence of who we are and what we stand for lies in our music, our art, our visuals, our sounds, our performances, and the ways we connect with you. I deeply believe BEHEMOTH represents transcendent, timeless art.

"The number thirteen — so magical and significant. If this were to be our final album, I could say I die a proud man. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the most refined, purest representation of BEHEMOTH. No filler, no excess — just the very best we have to offer, handed to you.

"Hail Satan."

BEHEMOTH meticulously chose the audiovisual artists involved on the album. Production on the album was helmed by the inimitable Jens Bogren of Fascination Street Studios (EMPEROR, ENSLAVED, KREATOR, ROTTING CHRIST et al.). Working closely with the band, Bogren's deft hand underscored the band's natural sound while sacrificing none of the mayhem and ferocity which permeates the band's essence. As is always the case with BEHEMOTH, the visuals were as carefully constructed as the sound. The band tapped long-time collaborator and partner in crime Bartek Rogalewicz (BLACK.LODGE.IS.NOW) as well as Dark Sigil Workshop to make the beautifully ominous and unique cover art.

"The Shit Ov God" track listing:

01. The Shadow Elite
02. Sowing Salt
03. The Shit Ov God
04. Lvciferaeon
05. To Drown The Svn In Wine
06. Nomen Barbarvm
07. O Venvs, Come!
08. Avgvr (The Dread Vvltvre)

This spring, BEHEMOTH will embark on the extreme metal event of 2025, featuring legendary Norwegian black metal pioneers SATYRICON as special guest. From the ancient lands of Greece, the ever-epic ROTTING CHRIST completes "The Unholy Trinity".

The tour kicks off on April 4, 2025, in Vienna, Austria and descends across major cities, including Berlin, Paris, London, and Stockholm, before culminating in Prague, Czech Republic on April 27, 2025.

Fans can expect a night of incredible metal mastery, as each band bring their distinct and intense sounds to life on stage. BEHEMOTH's explosive performances, SATYRICON's black metal majesty and ROTTING CHRIST's dark, melodic ferocity will make this tour one for the ages.

BEHEMOTH tapped UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS drummer Jon Rice for the Polish extreme metallers summer 2024 European tour. Rice was temporarily filling in for longtime BEHEMOTH drummer Inferno (real name: Zbigniew Robert Promiński),who was unable to make the shows "due to health issues".

Rice previously subbed for Inferno during BEHEMOTH's 2022 South American tour with ARCH ENEMY, 2017 North American tour with SLAYER and select 2019 headlining dates in Israel and Turkey.

BEHEMOTH's "O Father, O Satan, O Svmmer" 2024 European tour was described in a press release as "a monstrous voyage through the continent to perform upon huge outdoor festival stages and selected club shows, accompanied by a wickedly curated lineup of bands. Truly a spectacle not to be missed!" The tour featured special guests TESTAMENT, GAEREA, PESTILENCE, UADA, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT and UNTO OTHERS on select dates.

BEHEMOTH's 12th studio album, "Opvs Contra Natvram", was released in September 2022. The LP was previously described in a press release as "a stark reminder of the rebellion, individuality, and unflinching self-expression that BEHEMOTH's phenomenal work imbues, shaped by a literary worldview."

Photo credit: Sylwia Makris and Christian Martin Weiss

SATYRICON singer Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven and drummer Kjetil "Frost" Haraldstad joined PANTERA on stage this past Friday (January 24) at Spektrum in Oslo, Norway to perform the Philip Anselmo-fronted band's classic song "Walk". Video of their appearance can be seen below.

Back in 2018, Satyr said that his EIBON project ultimately disintegrated as a result of Anselmo's severe drug addiction.

The short-lived black metal supergroup, which featured Satyr alongside the PANTERA singer, DARKTHRONE's Fenriz and NECROPHAGIA's Kiljoy, contributed one song to Moonfog Records' (Satyr's label) "A Different Perspective" sampler more than two decades ago and was working on a debut album, only to be shelved, never to be heard from again.

During an interview with Landry.Audio, Satyr was asked if he thinks there is any chance that EIBON could eventually be revived. "Every time when my brother Philip and I meet, we talk about it," he laughed. "So that's surely something that we would love to do. But it is hard to make that happen. I'm not really in touch with Fenriz, and nor is Philip. I guess Killjoy of NECROPHAGIA didn't necessarily… I don't know if he… In terms of lyrics, that was pretty much Philip, for the most part, and in terms of music, that was 95 percent me, if not more.

"Being brutally honest, Philip and I could do EIBON without Fenriz and without our late brother Killjoy, but I think that we should have finished it when we were working on this back in the late '90s [and] early 2000s," he continued. "But, frankly speaking, it was Philip's addiction at the time that ruined this whole project. That's all there is to it. [We] can talk about this and that, but that's what it comes down to. At the time, he was beyond fucked up. Yeah, but he really was. We were in the studio trying to do things. I'd come out from the recording room, [and] I'd find him lying, passed out on pills, heroin, whatever, on the floor, with his entourage surrounding him, not wanting to interfere or do anything that could offend him, because he was the big guy. And then I'd be thinking to myself, 'What the hell is this? I love this guy and he's a great musician, but I'm a black metal guy; I'm not a PANTERA fan. And when I travel from the other side of the world to come work, I'm here to work, not to do drugs.' So, for me, that was a deeply frustrating period that really upset me. But I consider Philip one of my very best friends and an outstanding musician, so, in one way or another, I would love to do more music with Philip at some point, that's for sure."

Asked if he knew Anselmo for a long time before they decided to collaborate on an album, Satyr said: "No, I didn't. And perhaps if I would have, maybe things would have been a little bit easier. I can't remember if it was '98 or '99 where I got to know him. It might have been '98, I suppose. And then we were on tour with [PANTERA] in 2000. I have to say this, though, about their music: in hindsight, I like it. I didn't like the music back then when we were actually on tour with them and had a lot to do with them, but in hindsight, I've grown to like their music. I think the [Abbott] brothers [Vinnie and Darrell], the way they interact musically, it's very intriguing. There's nothing quite like it. This rhythmical understanding that the Abbott brothers had is unique. And Dime's guitar playing is phenomenal, of course, but it's also… he [was] very creative from a rhythmical point of view. And I think Vince's way of playing drums and taking all the awkward timing of Dime's riffs and making it a little bit more powerful and straightforward with his drum arrangements was a unique quality that Vince had. And Rex [Brown] providing a strong backbone with his playing, and then Philip being just one of the most unique frontmen and singers in modern heavy metal history, I suppose."

Also in 2018, Anselmo admitted to Bardo Methodology that he "was still a pill-popping, druggard idiot who'd nod off mid-sentence" while he and Satyr were trying to work on EIBON in the studio. "But Satyr was always a hard worker; he was the guy who led," Philip said. "I found it interesting from a musician's standpoint. We played primitive black metal, so, in my opinion, the listener would consider what we were playing extremely simple… and it was — but I was made to play by the Norge rule of strumming with the wrist instead of down-picking on half-time parts, which is totally crazy in my mind. I tried explaining to a very willful Satyr that the downward chop sounds heavier than halftime-picking, but, alas, he was having none of it. [Laughs] So, despite the music's simplicity, it was a fresh, unexpected challenge within the genre. I fucking loved it! Damned cool experiences."

Asked what ultimately became of the project, Anselmo said: "There was a slight Norge fallout between the natives, and I didn't wanna get stuck in the middle of that particular fight. So, the band never materialized. All I have left is three poorly mummified-sounding songs, recorded and mixed terribly raw, with one song featuring place-keeper-style vocals. Hardly impressive."

Philip went on to say that he still keeps in touch with Satyr, although he hinted that he and the SATYRICON frontman weren't necessarily musically aligned. "Satyr kinda freaked me out back in the late 1990s to early 2000s with the type of bands he liked — especially U.S. acts who were popular at the time," Anselmo said. "I'll just leave it at that. I couldn't believe it. Terrible music taste, in my opinion, but music is subjective. Satyr always had big things on his mind, and there's a palpable hunger within him. I couldn't have predicted the direction they'd go in, but, truth be told, I played no role in the scribing of any SATYRICON record. That's all on them."

Australian guitarist, Orianthi, has two records in the works and recently spoke to Guitar World about them, as well as the way her career has shaped up since releasing her pop rock hit, "According To You", in 2009. Following is an excerpt:


Guitar World: You’ve dialled in your sound over your last couple of records. What’s been the key to that?


Orianthi: "I’m trying to get better. I’ve never stopped learning and want to be a better guitar player. I also want to be a better singer and songwriter because everyone has their own mind, fingerprint and journey. There were quite a few records where I was told the parameters, like, 'This is what you have to do. You have to make a heavy record,' or 'You have to make a pop record.' I was told what to do, but I wanted to play guitar. There’s freedom in that. You learn that there’s people out there that you’ll find who think they own you… but the label I’m working with now (Woodward Avenue Records) truly believes in me as an artist."




Guitar World: Are your two latest tracks, "First Time Blues" and "Ghost", indicators of where you’re going?


Orianthi: "Yes. And soon we’re putting out 'Some Kind Of Feeling' (available now), which is quite different. I wrote 'Some Kind Of Feeling' a while ago on acoustic and it’s got a soul kind of feel. People might think it’s quite a departure, but I figured, 'You know what? I put out enough heartbreak songs. Why not put out a happy song to manifest some good shit? I don’t want to be a person who only writes songs about a horrible relationship. This is about love, connection, what music does and what somebody can do when they come into your life. It can be love, a friend or a person… It’s just about feeling good. Life is all about connections for me, and this song represents that. I really dig the new vibe… it’s really different."


Read the complete interview via Guitar World here.








Alice Cooper recently announced that guitarist Orianthi will be joining his band for shows January 31 through February 16, filling in for Nita Strauss, who has conflicting obligations of her own. Orianthi toured with Alice from 2011 to 2014, along with longtime band members Chuck Garric, Glen Sobel, Tommy Henriksen, and Ryan Roxie.


“Working with him was such a blast, and it's such an honor. Alice is a legend,” Orianthi tells Guitar World. “I know the shows are going to be really fun. It's going to be just a whole different dynamic and sort of a change from Nita.”


The invitation came via an email that cut straight to the chase. “It basically said, ‘Hey, Alice would love for you to join him because Nita [Strauss] is busy.’ I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ Well, actually, at first, I said, ‘I'm not sure because I have my own stuff going on right now with my tour.’ But we moved things around and made it work.”


Read more at GuitarWorld.com.


Announcing Orianthi's return, Alice Cooper said, "When Orianthi moved on to pursue her own career in 2014, we were lucky to find Nita. Over the past decade, Nita, Chuck, and Tommy have also launched their own projects, and we always try to coordinate our schedule so we can keep the band

During an appearance on "The New Man" podcast with Tripp Lanier, LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe opened up about his feelings on religion. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I had some negative experiences with religion, organized religion, growing up. There were some negative experiences within the church when I was a child.

"When I was a child, I was raised in the church; I was raised in the Southern Baptist church. And I was always taught that God loves everyone and we shouldn't judge everyone and we shouldn't judge anyone and that we're all equal under the eyes of God. And then, around seven or eight years old, I began to notice rank hypocrisy within church-going people on how they treated other people, how they viewed other people, what they would say on the side. And I was, like, 'Okay, this is all bullshit.' So I was kind of done with the whole God thing. I was not an atheist. I've never been an atheist, but I was — I don't know. I just kind of loosely, I guess, gave lip service to the idea of a God, some sort of spirit, some sort of higher power. And it wasn't until I was really brutalized by alcohol to the point where I had to ask something outside of myself for help, 'cause nothing else was there — just me. 'Please help me. Something.' And so I definitely believe in a higher power. I don't know if it is a cognizant, rational, thinking deity. I don't know if it is simply a reality itself. I don't know if it is an underlying energy that runs through everything, but I think there is at least a sense of order to the universe.

"I've heard that the God uses an acronym for 'good orderly direction'," Randy continued. "If there wasn't any sort of direction, even within chaos, even within the chaos of our universe, I think everything would just cease to exist.

"So, do I believe in a God, for lack of a better term? Yes. Do I attempt to have a conscious contact with that quote-unquote God? Yes, on a daily basis. Really, the main point of it is, do I know what that God is? Absolutely not. No clue. It doesn't fucking matter.

"It seems illogical to me," Blythe added. "I don't think we can comprehend, specifically, with our limited senses… Like, if you think about a dog, a dog can hear things that we can't hear. I think we are not attuned to the frequencies of the divine. Not yet. So, it doesn't make sense for me for there to be a specific sort of monolithic, one particular god that 'this is it.' Because if there was, despite what cult leaders and televangelists and charlatans throughout the ages have tried to tell you, if someone had the fucking answer, then it would be self-evident when they presented it to you. But it's not. So I think with a lot of religions, at least the historically based ones, I think they have some, perhaps, divine aspect to this stuff. And maybe it's the divine expressing itself through a particular person so that that culture in that moment, in that time can understand it.

"That is one of my problems with dogmatic, fundamentalist religious people of any stripe," Randy said. "They're, like, 'My God is the only God. And if you don't follow this, you're gonna go to hell' or whatever. Let's just say Buddha, who wasn't even a God. He is a human being who supposedly attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree. Buddha, who appeared however many thousand years ago in India — he made sense when he he appeared there. Would he make sense to the Celtic tribes in Ireland at the same time, who were running around and committing warfare with the blue paint on their face or whatever, the Highlands of Scotland and Ireland, the Celts? No. He would not be culturally appropriate. So I think there may be culturally appropriate expressions of the divine throughout history in each corner of the world. So who am I to tell you my conception of the divine is the correct one when it wouldn't even make sense to you?"

Blythe's second book, "Just Beyond The Light: Making Peace With The Wars Inside Our Head", is due on February 18, 2025 via Grand Central Publishing (GCP).

"Just Beyond The Light" was previously described by Blythe as a "tight, concise roadmap of how I have attempted to maintain what I believe to be a proper perspective in life, even during difficult times."

Last month, Blythe announced more spoken-word and question-and-answer events to promote "Just Beyond The Light". The special "evening with" event includes a spoken-word performance, an audience question-and-answer session, a copy of "Just Beyond The Light" and an opportunity to have the book signed.

In a recent interview with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", Blythe was asked if "Just Beyond The Light" picks up where his debut book, "Dark Days", which focused on his ordeal in a Czech Republic prison and his subsequent acquittal, left off or if it's a completely different book. Randy said: "It's a completely different book. It's a collection of — I wouldn't call 'em essays, but different chapters about, basically different people and experiences who have [changed] my perspective for the better.

"As I get older, I try not to make the same stupid mistakes again and again and again and again," he explained. "And surprise, surprise, if you look at people who — you look at them and you think, 'Man, this person has their life together,' or, 'They've acted in a manner that I find admirable,' if you pay attention to them and follow their example, you don't do stupid things yourself. I'm not saying that I don't still do stupid things, but I'm trying fully in my old age to learn from others more."

In 2012, Blythe was arrested in the Czech Republic and charged with manslaughter for allegedly pushing a 19-year-old fan offstage at a show two year prior and causing injuries that led to the fan's death. Blythe spent 37 days in a Prague prison before ultimately being found not guilty in 2013.

Blythe's prison experience inspired two songs on LAMB OF GOD's 2015 album "VII: Sturm Und Drang": "512", one of his three prison cell numbers, and "Still Echoes", written while he was in Pankrac Prison, a dilapidated facility built in the 1880s that had been used for executions by the Nazis during World War II. It also led him to write the aforementioned "Dark Days", in which he shared his whole side of the story publicly for the first time.

“The exiles on the shores of the sea, if they turned towards the West in the desire of their hearts, spoke of Mar-nu-Falmar that was whelmed in the waves, Akallabêth the Downfallen, Atalantë in the Eldarin tongue.” (Tolkien – ‘The Silmarillion‘)

Delving deeply into the cosmos of J.R.R. Tolkien, US multi-instrumentalists Lord Bauglir and Griss have brought forth a monumental symphonic Black Metal creation. ANFAUGLIR – Sindarin for ‘Jaws of Thirst‘ – embodies the majestic vastness of its source material via intricate and longform cinematic compositions which take listeners to the heart of Middle-earth.

ANFAUGLIR states:

“At its core, our music serves as a vessel to tell stories that interweave the solace of darkness and despair with the danger of light and joy. Creating tension within hope and revealing serenity amidst sorrow, our art aims to reside in the nebulous fringes where shadows and light coalesce.“

ANFAUGLIR have signed with Debemur Morti Productions for the release of upcoming second full-length album, “Akallabêth“, in spring 2025. The album promises four towering compositions which weave a tempest of symphonic ferocity, metallic aggression and mesmerizing tranquility.

The band further unveils:

““Akallabêth” is a cinematic journey spanning over 3,000 years of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Second Age, following the downfall of the island of Númenor. Inundated with discordance and tragedy, the four epic tracks delve into the depths of doom and decay as light and existence fade beneath the cold inescapable torrent of oblivion.“

Discover an initial musical teaser below, and follow the band on Instagram for regular updates.

More details will be revealed soon!


ANFAUGLIR was forged by multi-instrumentalists Lord Bauglir and Griss as an exploration in storytelling through epic symphonic Black Metal. Based upon the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, the duo aims to match the scope and grandeur of the source material with their unique and cinematic compositions, transporting listeners to Middle-earth.

ANFAUGLIR are proud to partner with Debemur Morti Productions to bring their full-length album “Akallabêth“, a deluge of symphonic fury infused with discordant aggression and spellbinding tranquility, to light in 2025.

Shying away from traditional song structures, “Akallabêth” is written and arranged in the vein of a traditional symphony. Themes and melodies develop, recur and transform, entwining delicate motifs of rapture with tragedy, throughout the course of the album’s 4 monumental tracks.

Centering on the downfall of Númenor from the second age of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s legendarium, death, immortality and spiritual avarice weave the narrative thread creating a tapestry rich in conflict, emotion and sinking hope. From godly gifts to bombastic wars, the album spans more than 3000 years of prosperity, conquest and upheaval.

The band are currently working on their next album.

New Model Army announce their upcoming live album, ‘Live SO36’, to be released on March 28th, 2025, through earMUSIC.

Raw, unfiltered, and brimming with energy, ‘Live SO36’ captures New Model Army at their most visceral. This is the full electrifying performance, recorded on July 16th, 2022 at Berlin’s legendary SO36 venue, with 19 Songs, mixing both fan-favourites such as ‘The Hunt’, ‘Vengeance’ and ‘Poison Street’ with rarer songs from all eras of their long history – and can be seen as a companion piece to their 2023 live release ‘Sinfonia’, that had been recorded the day before.


When the idea of doing a New Model Army concert with a full orchestra at Berlin’s magnificent Tempodrom venue was first floated, we had a thought: that if we were going to do something so extravagant, we should also do the exact opposite on the same weekend. So, we booked the following two evenings at Berlin’s legendary Punk Rock sweatbox, the SO36 in Kreuzberg, and returned to being the simplest, stripped-down version of New Model Army we could be – without orchestra, keyboards or double drums. Over the two nights, we performed 38 different songs (to add to the 21 performed with the orchestra), with the intention that the weekend should be seen as a whole. The Sinfonia project, in all its magnificence, was released in 2023. Now, at last, comes the sweaty, full-on rock and roll. Both nights were recorded although only the first was filmed. Here it is!’ – New Model Army

Access the album ‘Live SO36’ HERE

‘Live SO36’ will be available as ‘2CD+DVD Digipak’, including the full show audio and video, and ‘Black 2LP Gatefold’. The first print-run of both formats exclusively include an audio download for the unreleased show 2, recorded one day later on July 17th, 2022.

During an appearance on the January 21 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", ex-MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman was asked why he finally decided to open up about his time with the band — after spending most of the last two decades focusing on his solo career — while writing his autobiography, "Dreaming Japanese", which came out on December 3, 2024 via Permuted Press. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's definitely true that even when I first started touring my solo music, which is quite some time ago, I made it an extreme important point within every contract that the word 'MEGADETH' or 'ex-MEGADETH' is not used anywhere, and otherwise the show is off and there's a fine. And this I took very, very seriously and still do today. It's in every single contract of everything that I do with my solo band.

"It wasn't difficult to write this MEGADETH stuff because I knew that I haven't spoken about it in years, but I know everything that happened in my life with great clarity," he explained. "I mean, as you see in the book, I stopped doing drugs when I was 17 — no drinking, no drugs — so everything is really clear in my mind, the things that happened. There's no blurry periods of time in there; it's all really clear. And so I think what kind of might have made it easier is the fact that I'd written everything after I had played Budokan with MEGADETH in 2023. I had, of course, a rough draft and manuscript of the entire book before that, but playing at Budokan with MEGADETH and meeting Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] there and playing it together was a huge, huge load off both of our backs. And it was kind of a love letter to each other, a celebration of the history that we have together and a huge thank you to the fans who didn't get to see that when it was originally booked and sold out. So it was kind of very therapeutic to do that show. And it was like taking a huge dump.

"People put importance on certain things — it's only one show, but, as you know, and a lot of people who know me know, Budokan is very, very big… It's kind of a landmark in my life as a music fan and as a music player, and every time that I play there, before playing with MEGADETH and since, it's just a big deal, because it's one of those little-kid things, like, 'I wanna play at Budokan. It's my dream.' And so when those things happen, it's big, even bigger than other things that should be bigger. But anyway, having that behind us, I was able to really be straight and not pull any punches,. I uncovered everything, all the stuff that I did that wasn't so cool, and all the stuff that everyone else did that wasn't so cool. And I also said all the cool things that everyone did, which, thankfully, far outweigh any uncool stuff. I mean, you don't wanna stay in a band for 10 years if things aren't cool."

Friedman added: "I'll just go on record and say [being in MEGADETH] was a wonderful, wonderful experience, but within any experience, like MEGADETH especially, you're in a bubble and you see the bandmembers in a more intimate way than you do even your own family. You're not with your family 24 hours a day, 11 months out of the year in bathrooms and dressing rooms and hotels and gigs and everywhere, so it's a really deep relationship, so things are gonna happen, there's gonna be drama. And so it was kind of fun to think what fans are going to find interesting and put that in the book. And there's a lot of petty nonsense in there as well. And I found that quite entertaining to write, because it's not the most important things but I think it humanizes everybody — petty, little things that we would bicker about and things that blew up into big arguments and things that didn't, things that went well things that didn't go well. It's flat. There's no agenda, there's no leaning left or right on it — it's just exactly how I saw it. And I think it's a very big, long, fun part of the book and will answer a lot of questions for the fans of MEGADETH and myself in that band, because I've always been very — not necessarily guarded, but not very sparing. [There's] not a lot of private information on me out there, so it was kind of fun to think of the things that definitely nobody knows and probably the band guys all remember for sure, but not things that have been in interviews and stuff like that."

Friedman also talked about the debilitating panic attacks he was experiencing while he and the rest of MEGADETH were touring in support of their 1999 album "Risk", his final recorded appearance with the band.

"Yeah, [the panic attacks] set me off for a whole year," Marty said. "And it was after I had announced that I quit the band to the band. It wasn't announced in public or anything, but it was announced to the band, so I was gonna finish out the tour we were on and then, once the tour was gonna take a break, I was gonna leave and they were gonna find another guy. But all the gory details are in there, but to sum it up, I had this — I didn't know it was a panic attack at the time, but it was a monster.

"I'd never had any issues with any kind of mental issues or psychological issues or health issues at all," Marty revealed. "Suddenly I was in the ER and I was just freaking out completely. I couldn't move. I was screaming. I was shouting. It's out of nowhere, dude. It was just out of nowhere. I had no idea what it was. And I had to figure out a way to continue the tour in that condition. And I couldn't walk without two people carrying me around. I'm cutting out a lot of the details here because it's impossible to shorten it. But I was on so many anti-depression things and muscle relaxers and all kinds of different drugs just to keep me from going completely mad. And then I found that if I ate these grilled chicken sandwiches, that sort of helped. And the only thing other than help was staying in a hot bathtub for hours on end. So what I would do — it was such a horrible thing. And I cringe when I think about it because I put the staff, the band and everyone around me in such a horrible situation, but I wasn't going to do anything without being in a fricking bathtub all day and being shuttled around like a fricking diva. And people would take me to eat, and I would go off on the waiters and stuff. And it's so unlike me. I was a completely different person. I put this in the book. I remember I was at a Japanese restaurant. And [Carlos] Santana's music was playing in the background. And I started screaming. It was like a sushi restaurant. I'm, like, 'Okay, there's probably protein here. Good. I can eat this.' As soon as I heard some of Santana's music in the background, I'm, like, 'What the fuck is this? This is a Japanese restaurant. Why are they playing Mexican music in here? What the fuck is this?' And I was screaming this at the top of my lungs, banging down on the table. Wasabi and ginger was flying all over the place. I was just such a horrible human being to everyone around me. And it was just so out of character, but in that moment, that's what it was, dude. I mean, it was that.

"And what really sucked about this was if I did stay in the bathtub all day and eat nothing but protein things and chicken sandwiches, the second I got on stage, I was normal," Friedman added. "I could fucking play — I could play music, and then when I got off the stage, I was over the wreck again; I was a complete wreck. So the guys in the band and the people in the staff were, like, 'What the fuck's wrong with this guy? He's totally fine. He's acting like he's sick and shit.' And so they probably hated my guts and rightfully so.

"You don't wanna talk about this stuff, but it's your autobiography," Marty explained. "But that's what it was, dude. It was that. I didn't wanna cause people problems, but I was there, that was happening, and I was not a good person for the entire time. And it took me, like, eight months after the tour stopped and I got off the tour completely of completely vegging out in my house. I didn't play guitar. I didn't listen to music. All I did was, like, take these antidepressant things and sit in the bathtub and eat fucking chicken sandwiches. That's what I did for, like, eight months until I started to see a little improvement and become normal again.

"This is the first time I ever talked about that, that awful, awful stuff in the book. And I talked about the psychological reasons for that in there, which is too detailed to talk about now, but they figured out kind of what it was and I kind of made peace with it. And I got back to myself around 2001, but that whole year was just — I feel sorry for everyone around me and I don't blame anyone at all for not forgiving me. I was not a cool person and, yeah, I'm just glad I came out of it.

"I thought that I was gonna turn into one of those — you know the lyrics in the RAMONES song ['Teenage Lobotomy'] where they're talking about 'DDT', 'lobotomy' and all that stuff, and I thought I was gonna be one of those people in the rubber rooms. That's what I saw in my future. That's what I felt like. And I'm just so grateful that I came out of it, but it took a real, real long time. Real long. Crazy stuff."

Marty's latest solo album, "Drama", came out last May via Frontiers Music Srl.

Friedman's first major impact in music was in the game-changing guitar duo CACOPHONY, which he founded with equally enigmatic and now-legendary guitarist Jason Becker. He then spent 10 years as lead guitarist in the genre-defining thrash metal act MEGADETH before moving to Tokyo due to his love for Japanese music, language, and culture.

Following his move, he landed a starring role for a new TV comedy "Hebimeta-san" ("Mr. Heavy Metal") and its spinoff, "Rock Fujiyama", which ran for six seasons and propelled him into the living rooms of Japan's mainstream. He has since appeared in over 800 TV shows, movies and commercials, including a two-year campaign with Coca-Cola for Fanta, authored two best-selling novels and was the first-ever foreigner to be appointed as an ambassador of Japan heritage and perform at the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Marathon.

At the same time, Marty has continued his career in music with several solo albums in addition to writing and performing with the top artists in Japanese music, racking up countless chart hits, including a No. 1 with SMAP, two No. 2 songs with MOMOIRO CLOVER, a No. 2 with SOUND HORIZON — just to name a few.

On March 21, UMe/Mercury and Anthem Records label groups celebrate the half-century milestone marker for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame icons with "Rush 50", a wide-ranging 50-track super deluxe anthology that encompasses the entirety of the band's long and storied career for the first time across all the band's label groups, bookended with the first ever reissue of their debut 1973 single and a live recording of the last song they ever performed together as a band at their final concert in 2015 at The Forum in Los Angeles.

"Rush 50" will be available to fans in five distinct configurations, including the (1) Super Deluxe Edition, (2) Rush Store Exclusive Super Deluxe Edition, (3) 7-LP Deluxe Edition, (4) 4-CD Deluxe Edition, and (5) Digital Edition.

Watch the "Rush 50" unboxing video below

RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee commented: "50? Is that all?…seriously…it's a cool collection…but look at all those songs — I'm exhausted just reading the effin list!"

In July 1974, bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist/vocalist Alex Lifeson, and the late, great drummer/lyricist Neil Peart came together to solidify RUSH's lineup that brought the world at large many multiple decades' worth of masterful progressive-rock-leaning musicianship and scores of rock radio masterpieces, iconic lyrics and storytelling. "Rush 50" serves as a complete career-spanning RUSH anthology on seven LPs and four CDs, featuring 50 tracks in total — seven of them previously unreleased — alongside numerous choice selections from every studio album, live release, and deluxe reissue the band has officially released over the years. Among the Holy Grail unreleased tracks are the first-ever official CD and LP reissue of RUSH's very first single on Moon Records from 1973, "Not Fade Away" and "You Can't Fight It", a pair of early gems that RUSH fans have been clamoring to be released officially for decades — newly remastered from the original analog tapes. Other studio rarities found on "Rush 50" include Vault Editions of 1974's "Working Man" and 1978's "The Trees", both of which showcase alternate guitar solos by Alex Lifeson, with the former track only having been available as a digital single while the latter cut has never been officially released beyond its appearance on instrument-based video games.

Additionally, five unreleased live songs have been culled from some of RUSH's most legendary performances. Four of them — including two non-album cuts, "Bad Boy" and "Garden Road" — originate from a pair of the band's earliest live shows at (1) Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, on May 15, 1974, and (2) the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 26, 1974. The two live tracks from the Ontario show include original drummer John Rutsey ("Need Some Love" and "Before and After"),while the other two from the Cleveland gig feature Neil Peart behind the kit ("Bad Boy" and "Garden Road"). RUSH visited New York's iconic Electric Lady Studios in December of 1974 with their unreleased performance of "Anthem" being presented here. The "Rush 50" collection's last unreleased live offering comes from RUSH's final career performance with Peart that took place at The Forum in Los Angeles, California, on August 1, 2015 — a masterful, nuanced medley construction of "What You're Doing / Working Man / Garden Road" newly mixed from the multi-tracks by longtime RUSH producer and engineer Terry Brown.

Besides these long-sought-after rarities, "Rush 50" embodies the full arc of RUSH's growth and ultimate prowess in the studio setting, as evidenced by the restless nomadic manifesto of "Fly By Night", the vulnerability linchpin "Closer To The Heart" and the crackling energy of the airwaves in "The Spirit Of Radio" and "Tom Sawyer". The collection continues to showcase at least one studio track from all 20 official studios albums while also spotlighting officially released live recordings such as "YYZ", "La Villa Strangiato" and two Neil Peart masterpiece drum solos.

The Super Deluxe Edition includes four CDs, seven LPs, and new artwork from Hugh Syme, the band's longtime creative director who has designed the collection's brand-new 50th anniversary graphics along with 29 new illustrations that celebrate the vibrant essence of RUSH's songs. The seven high-quality 180-gram audiophile black-vinyl LPs each feature additional new artwork from Syme in premium tip-on jackets. Each LP in the Super Deluxe Edition has been cut via Direct Metal Mastering and they have been pressed at GZ Media in the Czech Republic. The included 104-page hardcover book sports detailed essays from noted rock journalists David Fricke and Philip Wilding, who both recount their individual experiences with the band and convey their crowning achievements — and all of it is centered around incredible career-spanning photos of the band in action. Exclusives to the Super Deluxe Edition are 20 new illustration lithographs by Syme — showcasing one song from each studio album, and a second hardcover book, the brand-new 100-page graphic novel "The Fullness Of Time". Written and illustrated by Fantoons, the graphic novel visually brings to life a conversation between Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reflecting on the trials, tribulations and successes recording each studio album with contributions from many of the producers and engineers who were instrumental in the evolution of RUSH's sound over the years — Terry Brown, Peter Henderson, Paul Northfield, Peter Collins, Rupert Hine, Kevin "Caveman" Shirley, Stephen W. Tayler and Nick Raskulinecz. Finally, all of the contents in "Rush 50" are housed in a premium box with rotating lid and a "Rush 50" golden jubilee emblem.

The Rush Store-exclusive version of the Super Deluxe Edition of "Rush 50" will offer everything noted above plus four bonus lithos showcasing RUSH through time, newly illustrated by Fantoons from the characters created for the graphic novel depicting the band in the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s.

The third configuration of "Rush 50" will be released in a seven-LP Deluxe Edition, which is the vinyl-only equivalent of the Super Deluxe Edition with slightly different outer gold graphics, and it also features the 104-page hardcover book with the aforementioned essays, photos, and new Syme artwork in tow.

The fourth "Rush 50" configuration will be the four-CD Deluxe Edition, which features all 50 tracks from the Super Deluxe Edition, and it includes Syme's new artwork and the contents of the 104-page hardcover book as well.

Finally, the fifth configuration, the Digital Edition, is the digital equivalent of the Super Deluxe Edition.

As evidenced by the power and the glory of the elements that embody "Rush 50", the true spirit of RUSH lingers over every note, arrangement, and lyric heard in this truly historic career-spanning 50-track collection.

Track listing:

01. Not Fade Away**
02. You Can't Fight It**
03. Working Man (Vault Edition)**
04. Need Some Love (Live at Laura Secord Secondary School, St. Catharines, Canada – May 1974)**
05. Before And After (Live at Laura Secord Secondary School, St. Catharines, Canada– May 1974)**
06. Bad Boy (Live at Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio – August 1974)*
07. Garden Road (Live at Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio – August 1974)*
08. Anthem (Live at Electric Lady Studios, New York – December 1974)*
09. Fly By Night
10. Bastille Day
11. 2112: Overture / The Temples Of Syrinx
12. By-Tor & The Snow Dog (Live at Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada – June 1976)
13. Something For Nothing (Live at Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada – June 1976)
14. Closer To The Heart
15. Xanadu (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London – February 1978)
16. Drum Solo (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London – February 1978)
17. The Trees (Vault Edition)*
18. La Villa Strangiato (Live at Pink Pop Festival, Netherlands – June 1979)
19. In The Mood (Live at Pink Pop Festival, Netherlands – June 1979)
20. The Spirit Of Radio
21. Natural Science (Live at Manchester Apollo, Manchester – June 1980)
22. A Passage To Bangkok (Live at Manchester Apollo, Manchester – June 1980)
23. Tom Sawyer
24. Limelight (Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada – March 1981)
25. Vital Signs (Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada – March 1981)
26. YYZ (Live at The Forum, Montreal, Canada – March 1981)
27. Subdivisions
28. Red Sector A
29. Witch Hunt (Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada – September 1984)
30. New World Man (Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada – September 1984)
31. The Big Money
32. Time Stand Still
33. Distant Early Warning (Live at NEC Arena, Birmingham – April 1988)
34. Superconductor
35. Dreamline
36. Stick It Out
37. Test For Echo
38. The Rhythm Method (Live at World Music Theatre, Tinley Park, Illinois – June 1997)
39. One Little Victory (Remixed)
40. Cygnus X-1 (Live at Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro – November 2002)
41. The Seeker
42. Between The Wheels (Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, Germany – September 2004)
43. The Main Monkey Business
44. Workin' Them Angels (Live at Ahoy Arena, Rotterdam – October 2007)
45. Freewill (Live at Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio – April 2011)
46. Red Barchetta (Live at Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio – April 2011)
47. Headlong Flight
48. Manhattan Project (Live at US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona; American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas; AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas – November 2012)
49. Jacob's Ladder (Live at Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada – June 2015)
50. What You're Doing / Working Man / Garden Road (Live at the Forum, Los Angeles, California – August 2015)*

* Previously unreleased
** Previously unreleased on CD and LP

DEF LEPPARD has shared a video recap of the band's first concert of 2025, which took place on January 18 at Feria Estatal De León in León, Mexico. As was the case with the band's October 14, 2024 private show in Nashville (as part of the Daimler Truck Customer Appreciation Event),DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell was unable to join his bandmates at the León gig and was replaced by John Zocco, who is Phil Collen's guitar tech.

In the video, which can be seen below, DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott states: "We're in León in Mexico in a bit of an amphitheater. It's kind of a one-off gig. And we're doing it a man down as Vivian is not here. Vivian is recuperating from cancer surgery, and he's doing very well, but he's in a bubble. He's not allowed to travel. So John Zocco, John 'Bond' Zocco, basically Phil's guitar tech, has manfully stepped up to the plate because he's a phenomenal player himself. And he can sing a bit as well. So rather get some stranger in that we don't know, he's doing it, which is fantastic. We have every confidence that it will go swimmingly until our boy Vivian is back on the stage with us."

Less than a week after the León concert, Vivian offered an update on his health, writing in a post social media: "Thank you for all the recent messages and support. As you all may know, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma several years ago. I recently had a bone marrow transplant as part of my treatment plan, and it's safe to say that thus far it's been a very successful transplant! I just have to keep my head down and my spirits up for the next 100 days of primary recovery."

During a November 2023 appearance on the "Lymphoma Voices" podcast, Campbell spoke about his battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma, with which he was diagnosed in 2013. The now-62-year-old musician said in part: "I'm still dealing with the lymphoma. It's sort of like — it's an American expression — whac-a-mole. You beat something back and then it pops up somewhere else. But it's been a pretty consistent battle, but it hasn't been too difficult for me. I deal with it fine. I've been able to live my life. I've been able to continue touring. For the bulk of those 10 years, I actually was doing immunotherapy. Starting in June of 2015, I started taking a drug called pembrolizumab. I did that as part of a clinical trial. We discussed a few options. And I'd heard about this immunotherapy, and it was a very nascent treatment and I was really pushing for doing it. I remember at the time my doctors wanted me to do radiation and maybe a combination of radiation and chemo. And I just thought, 'Well, let's just try this immunotherapy thing. Let's see if this works.' So I managed to get on the trial. I'm happy to say that it worked well for me. So from June of 2015 until essentially the end of 2022, I was able to, just about once a month, go in and do an infusion of pembrolizumab and just go about my life, and it was very, very easy for me to do. Honestly, the hardest part was scheduling with all my travel. There were very, very subtle, very benign side effects. For me, I tolerated the treatment very, very well. And that was working great. But it sort of lost its efficacy a year, year and a half ago. And we could tell in the scans. I would do scans every three to four months just as a matter of protocol anyway to see what was happening. And my oncologist now had been telling me for essentially the last two years that the pembrolizumab was not being as effective as it once was and that we were gonna have to consider different treatments. So anyway, in November of [2022], we did a combination of pembrolizumab with three chemo drugs. You have to forgive me 'cause I cannot remember the names of the chemo drugs. But anyway, so I did a course of treatment, six cycles of that combination therapy of the three chemo drugs and the pembrolizumab. Unfortunately, it didn't put me into remission; we fell a little bit short of that. So I just recently, at the end of July [of 2023], started doing six cycles of a combination therapy of a chemo drug called brentuximab and an immunotherapy drug called nivolumab. I'm halfway through that. I've done cycle three. I do cycle four early next week. So far, so good. I had to go and get this stunning haircut yesterday because the brentuximab does have hair loss as a side effect. So I could start telling in the last couple of weeks, every time I touched my hair, it was coming out. So, I'm a little bit more proactive by going and cutting it super, super short."

Asked if he has gotten used to his much shorter haircut, Vivian said: "10 years ago, when I first started doing the ABVD chemo, that's when my hair first fell out. And so that was difficult. It was mostly difficult for me because I'd had long hair my entire adult life. I literally started growing my hair long when I was about 11 or 12 years old, and it's just gotten longer and longer. And it becomes part of your identity when it's around for so long, especially as a guitar player. And to be honest, it was a comforting thing to me because it gave me something to hide behind when I was on stage. I am naturally a very shy person and I identify with being a musician. I don't identify very much with being a performer, even though, if I'm being honest with myself, that's really kind of what we do in DEF LEPPARD. Yeah, we're musicians and we're songwriters, we write songs and we make records and we record music, but when we go on tour, we're performers, and that's part of it. And my hair gave me something to hide behind. It was a big part of my identity for so much of my life. So it was difficult letting go of it the first time again.'

He continued: "I was living in L.A. at the time, and I went to a theatrical wig maker when they first told me my hair was gonna fall out. They took pictures and measurements of my hair before it fell out. And they made a very, very realistic wig for me. It was very expensive and it was very realistic. And I could have transitioned to that, and people might not have noticed — other than the weight loss. I mean, I definitely was losing a lot of weight, so I was a bit more gaunt looking. But the wig thing just didn't feel right to me. And I know that it's different for everyone else. I literally wore that wig, I think, for about 12 or 13 minutes driving home after visiting the wig guy and getting fitted for this. And I pulled over. My wife was with me and. And I just took it off my head and I never put it back on since. And I decided to just go public about my cancer diagnosis'

Campbell added: "I was able to speak directly to DEF LEPPARD fans via social media and sort of tell them, 'Well, this is what's going on with me. I've had this cancer diagnosis. And my hair is gonna fall out. So you're gonna see me on tour. I'm not gonna have much hair. Don't be too shocked.' So that's sort of helped that I was able to put it out to anyone who cared or was interested before actually just going on stage as bald as a cue ball. And, and it did get to that stage, that my hair completely fell; I didn't even have eyebrows. But in a way I found the whole process somewhat cathartic, because I didn't have this mane of hair to hide behind. I had nothing to offer on stage but my talents as a musician, as a guitarist, as a singer, as a songwriter. And in a way, it was somewhat liberating for me. And I realized that it's probably easier for me than for a lot of other people, because at this time I was already in my early fifties. I don't think I would have handled that as well if I had gotten this cancer when I was 20 years old, as opposed to 50 years old, so I had a different mindset about it.

"So it is a very personal thing, "Vivian said. "But for me, I tried to look on the positive side of it. I didn't see any shame in it. There's no shame in having cancer. There's no shame in going through treatment and wearing the effects of your treatment physically, and even being in a very public position as I was, going on tour with DEF LEPPARD and playing in front of tens of thousands of people. Like I say, there was there was something kind of really liberating about it. It's not my first choice, but you kind of go with it and you own it and you make the best of it. And for me as a musician, like I said, there was something that just allowed me to go on stage and just focus on the essence of who I am as a musician and as a person and to just put it all out there."

Campbell — who before joining DEF LEPPARD in 1992 was well known for his work with DIO and WHITESNAKE — went public with his Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis in June 2013.

Vivian underwent three separate spells of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, only for his Hodgkin's lymphoma to return.

Six years ago, Campbell underwent spine surgery.

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

DEF LEPPARD's latest album, "Diamond Star Halos", arrived in May 2022 via UMe.

The official lyric video for the song "Missile" from the Canadian thrash metal veterans SACRIFICE can be seen below. The track is taken from the band’s first new album in over sixteen years, "Volume Six", which will arrive on February 21 via Cursed Blessings Records.

SACRIFICE vocalist/guitarist Rob Urbinati states about the song: "'Missile' is a thrashing anti-war riff-fest written about the beginning of drone warfare where pilots were a half world away launching missile strikes like a video game. War solves nothing."

"Volume Six", SACRIFICE's sixth album overall and second since reforming in 2006, features ten new originals and a cover paying homage to the Toronto scene from which they originally emerged.

Working once again with engineer Darius Szczepaniak — who was also at the helm for SACRIFICE's 2009 effort "The Ones I Condemn" — "Volume Six" was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Phase One Studios in Scarborough, Ontario. Tracked over a period of sessions between September 2023 and May 2024, the eleven-song offering was produced by Urbinati and features the band's original lineup, with lead guitarist Joe Rico, bassist Scott Watts, and drummer Gus Pynn as well as Urbinati. They are one of, if not the only, 1980s thrash band that still has its original lineup intact and playing together, and on "Volume Six", the band hits it out of the park.

"I write all the time," says Urbinati about the latest album's origins. "It was around 2017 when I wrote a couple songs that I thought were really good. I played them for the band, and they were totally happy with them and the direction. I wrote a couple more and Gus and I were making some real progress in getting the songs tight and even talking about recording, then the pandemic hit. My creativity completely dried up for whatever reason, even though I was sitting at home with nothing to do. There was nowhere to rehearse in the city because things would shut down, then open up, then close down again, so it was hard to get a consistent rehearsal schedule going and I just wasn't feeling it. When things started coming back, our original plan was to do an EP, but we had enough songs that we were completely comfortable and happy with to do a whole album."

The songs on "Volume Six" run the gamut from speedy, breakneck thrash ("Comatose", "Explode", "We Will Not Survive") to more nuanced, layered, metallic compositions ("Underneath Millenia", "Your Hunger For War"). Two instrumental tracks on the album show yet another side of the band's songwriting while still clearly being SACRIFICE songs: "Lunar Eclipse" is a showcase for Rico and Urbinati's excellent twin guitar leads, while "Black Hashish" is SACRIFICE at their most psychedelic. The album's final track, "Trapped In A World", is a cover of 1980s Toronto hardcore band DIRECT ACTION, a group that had a massive influence on the members of SACRIFICE during their formative years. The song features guest vocals by YOUTH YOUTH YOUTH vocalist and Toronto music legend Brian Taylor, who operated the Diabolic Force label in the eighties and produced the band's first three albums, bringing everything full circle three decades later with his appearance here.

"SACRIFICE generally has pretty dark themes and a lot of lyrics were written over the pandemic when things were feeling pretty apocalyptic, especially at the beginning of it," explains Urbinati. "'Comatose' comes from us playing in Vancouver a lot and seeing the amount of drug abuse around downtown East Vancouver. It affects you when you're seeing human beings everywhere with extreme drug problems and paramedics walking around at night in groups of three basically looking for people who have overdosed or died. There's that, world politics, all the wars going on, natural disasters — half of Canada was on fire last year! — the album is pretty dark, and I think the art conveys the content."

The stunning front cover artwork for "Volume Six" was painted by PROPAGANDHI bassist and lifelong SACRIFICE fan Todd Kowalski. There is a mutual admiration between both bands: PROPAGANDHI's song "The Bangers Embrace", off their 2009 album "Supporting Caste" is a love letter to SACRIFICE about seeing them play live back in 1990. The bands have shared stages over the years and released a split single of covers — SACRIFICE transforms RUSH's "Anthem" into a thrash classic while PROPAGANDHI does a CORROSION OF CONFORMITY song — via the War On Music label in 2010. When Urbinati asked Kowalski about painting the cover he gave him the lyrics and the music and asked him to interpret it visually as he envisioned it.

"Volume Six" will be released through all digital platforms and on CD, MC, and LP in blue, white, and black variants through Cursed Blessings Records in North America and High Roller Records in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

"Volume Six" track listing:

01. Comatose
02. Antidote Of Poison
03. Missile
04. Underneath Millennia
05. Your Hunger For War
06. Incoming Mass Extinction
07. Lunar Eclips
08. Explode
09. Black Hashish
10. We Will Not Survive
11. Trapped In A World (feat. Brian Tailor)
12. Trapped In A World (feat. Rob Urbinati) (North America CD/MC bonus track)

SACRIFICE originally formed in 1983 in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb in the east end of Toronto. Taking influence from both the underground metal and punk scenes of the day, the then-teenagers released their debut album, "Torment In Fire", in 1986 and established themselves as a band to watch. It was followed up by 1987's "Forward To Termination", featuring the video single "Re-animation", which ended up in regular rotation on Canada's Much Music video station the following year and even became the theme song for the channel's long running metal music video show, the "Pepsi Power Hour". Former SEPULTURA frontman Max Cavalera recently revealed "Forward To Termination" to be one of his three favorite thrash metal albums of all time. Their third effort, 1990's "Soldiers Of Misfortune", has been praised as one of the most important Canadian albums ever, making NOW Toronto's "50 Best Toronto Albums Ever" list.

SACRIFICE played a prominent role in the 1980s underground metal scene in Toronto, and along with VOIVOD, RAZOR and ANNIHILATOR, is considered one of the "Big Four" of Canadian thrash metal. The band released four studio albums on Diabolic Force in Canada, Metal Blade Records in the U.S., and Roadrunner Records in Europe before parting ways in 1993. After coming back together to play a reunion concert in 2006, the quartet released their fifth studio album, "The Ones I Condemn", in 2009. Since reforming, SACRIFICE has played major international festivals, including Belgium's Alcatraz, Germany's Keep it True, Peru's Ai-apaec, Maryland Deathfest and California Deathfest in the United States, and both the 2012 and 2018 editions of Japan's True Thrash Festival, among others.

Photo by Kelly Clark

In a new interview with Nik Nocturnal, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Jesse Leach spoke about the band's status as one of the leaders of the so-called New Wave Of American Heavy Metal scene, alongside such acts as SHADOWS FALL, LAMB OF GOD, UNEARTH and GOD FORBID. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think I'd be remiss not to mention the behemoth that is [former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman] Howard Jones as well. Him at the helm really took what we started out as sort of, like, I'd say fairly underground. That first record is not commercially viable. [2002's] 'Alive Or Just Breathing' was when we started to lean into that, but [2004's] 'The End Of Heartache' [which was Howard's first album with KILLSWITCH], to me, is when that band just blew up into the stratosphere. So I can't not mention that legacy. And to be able to be part of the legacy with rotating members and we're still at it, that's unreal. On paper, it shouldn't work, but it does somehow."

Regarding how KILLSWITCH ENGAGE ended up inviting Jones to make a guest appearance on "The Signal Fire", a song on the band's 2019 album "Atonement", Leach said: "I felt it was important in my heart. Those guys had to work some stuff out internally between them and Howard — a lot of unspoken stuff, which I respect highly that they kept it out of the public eye. They had to just settle some things. Once that was done and he started up again with — it was DEVIL YOU KNOW at the time, which turned into LIGHT THE TORCH, I'd always admired him. I always thought he was an incredible vocalist. I would even take it back to even before BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED, he was in a band called DRIVEN. And his band used to play with my band CORRIN, and I remember the first time seeing him sing and scream, and being, like, 'This guy, he's different. He doesn't sound like anybody else' that was doing it at the time. And back then, you're young; we didn't really know each other that well, and respecting him as a vocalist, but not really knowing him. So when it was water under the bridge and he started to show face and he came out to a show in Canada, it was the first time I got to hang with him and actually talk to him, which led to an entire evening of us hanging hard. He doesn't drink, but I was drinking. And I got enough liquid courage in me to sit him down and look him in the face, like, 'Dude, you know what, man? I've gotta tell you this. Out of respect for you, I've never had to sing anyone else's material. I was reluctant to do that when I rejoined the band. I was, like, 'Oh, this is awkward. I didn't write these lyrics.' I didn't know how I was gonna connect with them, but it became such a huge inspiration to me. And 'The Arms Of Sorrow' was the first song that really hooked me in. And I told Howard, I was, like, 'That song is what brought me in. You are great at what you do and I need to tell you to your face. People have tried to divide us and compare us and I have so much respect for you.' And then, within a half hour, he's, like, showing me LIGHT THE TORCH demos. And I'm, like, 'Dude. DEVIL YOU KNOW was good, but LIGHT THE TORCH, you're shining in this. This is really cool.' And then, at the end of the night, we're arm and arm singing old-school hip-hop songs together. We became friends. And then from there, it was, like, okay, so he's back. He's part of the legacy. He's part of the family."

Leach continued: "[In August 2018, Howard] was in London doing press while we were opening for IRON MAIDEN, and I knew he was gonna be around. So, of course, we invited him out, like, 'Let's just hang with Howard.' As we were walking to the arena in London, I looked over and was, like, 'Dude, you should do 'The End Of Heartache' tonight on your own. Are you cool with that?' He's, like, 'Yeah. Let me just listen to it 'cause I haven't listened to it for years.' I was, like, 'Cool. You've got a couple hours, man. Just get up on that stage and do what you do. It'd be good for everybody.' So there's a picture of him online with us. And the wheel started turning. And as I was writing 'The Signal Fire', which comes from the scene in 'The Lord Of The Rings' where they're lighting the fires on top of the mountain; to me it was like this call to arms and it was a song about unity. I'm, like, 'Dude, why don't we get Howard? It's perfect. The song is about unity. It's about asking for help.' And the back end of this story is this is pre-vocal surgery. I was having a hard time because I was singing on polyps for about 10 years, according to the doctors. I was singing on broken vocal folds for 10 years. Making of 'Atonement' was when it all went to shit. And I was having a hard time hitting simple notes. And Adam's [Dutkiewicz, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist and producer], like, 'Something's not right with you, dude.' So within two days of that, we had Howard flown out. And he jumped in the studio. I had to be quiet. I sat there and listened to him record 'The Signal Fire'. I went home, went to see the doctor. The doctor's, like, 'Bad news. Put the tour on hold, album on hold. You need to sit and be quiet. We're gonna pump you up with a bunch of drugs. Hopefully there's something we can do for you, which led to me three months of complete silence and vocal surgery and total, like, 'I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this anymore.' So, interesting timing of him coming in… And in my mind, it was, like, worst-case scenario, I'm done. He's already on the record. Maybe he just finishes the record up and I passed the torch to him. So that's the backstory to it all. But thankfully I was able to continue on."

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's new album, "This Consequence", is due on February 21, 2025 via Metal Blade. "This Consequence" is KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's ninth album overall, and sixth with Leach, who rejoined the band in 2012.

"Atonement" was released in August 2019 via Metal Blade Records in the U.S. and Sony Music Entertainment in the rest of the world. The disc featured an additional guest appearance by TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy. It marked the band's third full-length release since the return of Leach, who rejoined the group in 2012.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE will embark on a headline tour in March 2025. It's their first tour of North America since late 2022. The trek will feature support from KUBLAI KHAN TX, FIT FOR A KING and FROZEN SOUL, and will kick off on March 5 in Nashville and runs through April 12 in Portland, Maine.