Drummer Thomen Stauch​​​​ (Mentalist, ex- Blind​​​​ Guardian) is back with a new video. Watch him perform an alternate drum cover of The Rolling Stones hit, "Angie", below.


Says Thomen: Contact me by email, if you are interested in drum classes online or local and want to know more details about my fair prices, required equipment, a.s.o.! unterricht@thomen-drumchamber.com."







Thomen also released another video, in which he performs an alternate drum cover of the Bee Gees' disco hit, "Stayin' Alive":





Thomen previously shared drum covers of Fifth Angel's "Cry Out The Fools"Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls", and the Roxy Music classic, "Oh Yeah (On The Radio)". Watch below:

In a recent interview with Ruben Mosqueda of We Go To 11, SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo was once again asked about the possibility of a reunion with the band's former singer Sebastian Bach. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's not even a part of any sort of thought process. This is SKID ROW. And that conversation is 23 years old [since SKID ROW reformed without Bach]. And I have no desire to… I'm not interested; none of us are. It comes down to happiness, and we're really, really, really happy where we're at and how the band sounds and feels. I love playing our music, and I love playing it with the guys that we're playing it now with. And so I don't wanna change that. I'm in a great place personally, and I think we're all in a great place as a collective."

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY. In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger. SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I. Theart was fired from SKID ROW in February 2022 and was replaced by Erik Grönwall, who was previously a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T.

In March 2022, Sabo was asked by Scott Penfold of Loaded Radio how he feels about people still calling for a reunion with Bach. He said: "Well, it's been 23 years [since SKID ROW reformed], so to say that I'm over it would be an understatement. We attempted [a reunion] slightly [back in 2016]. We dipped our toes in the water and realized that it didn't feel so good. It's just one of those things where we still could not see eye to eye; we couldn't even get past the point of simple texting.

"I am really, really happy where we are," Snake continued. "I'm very proud of our past, and all due credit to everybody who's been involved in every aspect of our career, whoever that may be, 'cause it all led to where we are now.

"I've been asked a thousand times: 'What about the payday [of a reunion with Sebastian]?' And that's all well and good, but if that's why I did this — if that's why we did this; I can speak for everybody — we probably wouldn't be doing it," Sabo explained. "I wanna be happy, and I am very, very happy. And so are the guys; everybody's really happy.

"The music climate is what it is, and we're a classic rock band, and I'm proud of that. And we're still able to make music. I mean, Jeez — I live a very, very blessed life, man," Snake added. "I have nothing but gratitude and humility for what we have achieved and for what we're able to continue to do. So while there may be people out there who are flashing dollar signs with a lot of zeroes, I still have to be happy doing it, and I am. And that's what's most important. I need to be happy being in a band with the people I'm in a band with. A lot of other bands can go out and they don't see each other till they're on stage and travel on separate buses and all that stuff, and that's all well and good, but I don't wanna live my life like that. I don't wanna be up onstage and kind of living a lie; it just doesn't feel good. So, while I'm thankful for people's interest and whatnot, I'm even more thankful that we still get to play music for a living under our terms."

In the summer of 2021, Bach told Florida's 98.7 The Gater radio station that "there's no reason" for the classic SKID ROW not to reunite. "When those guys [in SKID ROW] try to say [about me], 'He's difficult to work with,' let me just say this one more time. We have not been in the same room together since the year 1996," he said. "Shut the eff up about you thinking you know what I'm like. You don't know anything about what I'm like. And the 'Gilmore Girls' think I'm okay to work with; Broadway thinks I'm okay to work with; the 'Trailer Park Boys' think I'm okay; GUNS N' ROSES think I'm pretty cool. We're not getting any younger."

Sebastian went on to say that a SKID ROW reunion "should" happen "for the fans. And we are absolutely running out of bands — bands that can play in sheds," he said. "The fact that we are all still alive and we are all in our 50s — some closer to 60 than others — but that, to me, is selfish that we're not together.

"I can play with anyone. I do play with everyone [laughs] — except for them."

Three years ago, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan also confirmed that he and his bandmates "were entertaining the idea" of reuniting with Bach following Harnell's departure. But Rachel shot down the possibility of a rekindling of his friendship with Sebastian, explaining: "Well… Here's the soundbite for Blabbermouth. I wouldn't say we were friends [when we were in a band together]. We were bandmates. You know what I mean? We're two very different people." Bolan added that he hadn't seen Bach "in years."

Four years ago, Bach was asked by Rolling Stone what it would take for SKID ROW to be reunited. He responded: "It would take those guys to realize that I have a lifetime manager. His name is Rick Sales. I've been with him since 2006. They don't want to deal with a guy like that. They want to give some singer who doesn't have a manager $700 to $800 bucks a week. I've got a team that's worked with me and don't allow me to get fucked around. I didn't have that team when I was 19 years old."

In response to Bach's statements about the earnings of SKID ROW's singer, Sabo told Rolling Stone in an e-mail: "I guess fact-checking isn't in his skill set… The five of us go on that stage as a band and we all get paid equally. We're in this together. There's no egos."

Sebastian went on to say that SKID ROW was "close to reuniting, but then it didn't happen. The fact that it didn't happen obviously makes me somewhat bitter, because life is only getting shorter, as the song says," he added.

"I wouldn't say 'came close,'" Bolan told Rolling Stone in an e-mail response to Bach's account of the reunion talks. "We entertained the idea. Snake and I went as far as talking with agents and promoters about money. But we quickly learned after a few text conversations, why we fired him in the first place. Nothing is worth your happiness and peace of mind."

Sabo added: "It was already a miserable experience, and we didn't even get on the phone."

In 2021, Bach completed a U.S. tour during which he celebrated the 30th anniversary of SKID ROW's sophomore album, "Slave To The Grind".

THE WINERY DOGS — the powerhouse trio consisting of guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen, bassist/vocalist Billy Sheehan and drummer/vocalist Mike Portnoy — will release its 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.

The official Vicente Cordero-directed music video for the second song to be released from "III", "Mad World", shot in Los Angeles last November, can be seen below.

From the clarion call for connection and societal understanding in "Mad World" to the door-opening personal realizations of "Breakthrough" to the undeniable muscle-flexing reign of the white-hot "Pharaoh" and the album-closing energy spillage of "The Red Wine", all 50-plus minutes of "III" prove THE WINERY DOGS haven't lost a step when it comes to conjuring fresh hooks, gutbucket grooves, and bold harmonies.

That said, it's been a long road back to the collective compound for Kotzen, Sheehan and Portnoy. Back in 2015-16, they hit the road hard together to showcase their mettle as hardcore (you guessed it) road dogs in order to build upon the success of their well-received 2015 sophomore studio effort, "Hot Streak", by touring all across the globe. Eventually, the seasoned trio returned to their respective corners to focus on various other projects for the ensuing next few years. But when that live itch needed another scratching, these three working musicians knew just what they had to do.

"We wanted to tour," Kotzen confirms succinctly of THE WINERY DOGS' 22-date run in early 2019 that was appropriately dubbed "Who Let The Dogs Out", before adding, "We had to get those cylinders firing together once again." Concurs Portnoy, "That was a fun little tour that reignited our enthusiasm — and that's also when we knew a third album was definitely in the cards." Adds Sheehan, "Getting back together like that was really refreshing. We could relax a bit and enjoy being together onstage, playing without any pressure. It was a beautiful thing."

Duly reinvigorated, THE WINERY DOGS were finally aligned to record again by initially ensconcing themselves together in Kotzen's intimate, cozy home studio in Southern California to jam on new material that was mainly created in the moment during many hours of face-to-face musical interaction. Always the driven and intuitive songwriter, Kotzen displays a definitive M.O. whenever he's working out new songs in the studio by scatting melodies and putting forth short bursts of semi-improvised lines and phrases that will soon enough transform into sharply honed subject matter. "My attitude is this: when I'm in the studio creating new music, the last thing on my mind is, 'How am I gonna do it live?'" Kotzen admits. "The reality is, I may never get to where I'll do it live. What's relevant is getting the vision that's in my head, in my heart, and in my soul to come out of the speakers. If it gets to the point where the tour is booked, the dates are confirmed, and we all get back in the rehearsal room together, that's when you figure out, 'Okay, how do I interpret this in a way it can be delivered live, and still be the same song?'"

"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'."

"III" track listing:

01. Xanadu
02. Mad World
03. Breakthrough
04. Rise
05. Stars
06. The Vengeance
07. Pharaoh
08. Gaslight
09. Lorelei
10. The Red Wine

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

ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann spoke to Spain's Metal Journal about the 2018 departure of the band's longtime bassist Peter Baltes. Asked if he has had a chance to talk to Peter since his exit from ACCEPT, Wolf said: "Sadly, there's hardly any contact, which I regret very much. But it seems to be the case… Every time anybody leaves the band, it's usually, as much as I regret it, that there's hardly ever any contact anymore, which I think is pretty sad. I wish we could just stay in touch and stay friends, but I don't know. He's been very reclusive lately, so I think he just needs the time to get away from it all. I think that was his idea maybe, but I don't know. I can't speak for Peter, what his motivations are; I can just assume things. I mean, why can't people just stay in touch even if they're not playing in the same band anymore? It's sad in a way, but it's reality a lot of times."

When the interviewer pointed out that Baltes never gave a reason for his decision to leave ACCEPT, Wolf concurred, saying: "No, he didn't. I wish he had. I don't know. You have to ask him [to find out what that is]."

When he was asked about Peter's recent stint as the touring bass player for U.D.O., the long-running band fronted by original ACCEPT singer Udo Dirkschneider, Wolf said: "I'd rather not comment on that. I don't wanna get into it. He's been my brother — I love him to death — and I'm sure he has his reasons for what he does."

Hoffmann was also pressed about Udo's insistence on still playing ACCEPT material with U.D.O. even though he announced seven years ago that he would embark on a special tour during which he would perform ACCEPT songs one last time under the DIRKSCHNEIDER banner before closing that chapter for good. Wolf laughed and said: "I just think it's funny. But as a general rule, I don't comment on anything he does and I ask for understanding. I don't wanna get into it."

This past January, Udo explained why the ACCEPT tracks are still finding their way into the U.D.O. setlist, saying: "I was doing DIRKSCHNEIDER for nearly three years and played only ACCEPT songs for three years — I think nearly three hundred shows or whatever. And that was also not planned. It was normally planned to do maybe 10, 15 special shows, but then it was exploding. And after these three years, I really [wanted] to say, 'Come on. I don't wanna play now ACCEPT anymore.' I mean, I have, at this time, 16 albums out with U.D.O., and I said, 'Come on. We have enough own stuff.' But then we did this Bulgarian show, and, of course, the promoter was, like, 'It's a special evening. Maybe you can play some ACCEPT songs.' And I said, 'Okay. Come on. It's the only show this year. We put some ACCEPT songs into the setlist.' And [in 2021] we had two shows — in Belgium [at the] Alcatraz festival and a festival in the Czech Republic, but this was under [the name] DIRKSCHNEIDER. So that was already normally planned also for 2020 for the 'Metal Heart' anniversary show. And then they said, 'Okay, we wanna do these shows now.' And then they said, 'Okay, but you have to do it under DIRKSCHNEIDER.' And then, let's say in the end, for us, it doesn't matter which name — DIRKSCHNEIDER, U.D.O. or whatever. And in the end, it also doesn't matter what kind of songs we are playing except U.D.O.; for us, it was the most important thing to go on stage and play in front of people. And of course, the audience appreciated it. I mean, still they wanna hear these songs. Okay, I don't have to make the whole evening ACCEPT songs."

Dirkschneider went on to say that requests for him to keep playing ACCEPT material also came from promoters in America. "The promoter, they came up and said, 'Yeah, a tour, blah blah blah.' And then they said, 'Yeah, but we heard Udo doesn't wanna play any ACCEPT songs,'" he said. "And then my management said, 'Yeah.' [And the promoter said] 'Yeah, but he cannot do America without 'Balls To The Wall'. It's not possible.' They were really asking, this has to be in the setlist. Then I said, 'Okay. Come on.' I know 'Balls To The Wall' in America is huge — a huge song. So I said, 'Yeah. Come on. It doesn't matter.' And now, all the people, they come and [say], 'Yeah, when you go on tour, maybe you can put three or four songs of ACCEPT in there.' Of course, they're always asking for 'Balls To The Wall', 'Metal Heart', 'Fast As A Shark' and, let's say, 'Restless And Wild' or stuff like that. So we will see. Maybe on the next tour we put it in the end as an encore.

"In the end, [it's about giving] people what they want," Dirkschneider reasoned. "Somebody also was saying, 'Can you imagine [a] DEEP PURPLE [concert] without [them playing] 'Smoke On The Water'?' I said, 'Not really.' So he said, 'Okay. You're in the same situation. They wanna hear some classic stuff.' So that will be definitely happening."

When he first announced the DIRKSCHNEIDER tour in 2015, Udo said that had "to make a clear break for myself — close the book and this is it. And I have the problem that people come to me and ask me to play more ACCEPT songs," he explained. "Other people ask me why I play ACCEPT songs at all, because there are [more than] fifteen U.D.O. records. I want to avoid such things and avoid the repeating questions concerning ACCEPT. I just can't stand that anymore. There is nothing more to be said. U.D.O. exists longer than ACCEPT. We have more records than ACCEPT."

While acknowledging that some ACCEPT fans wanted to hear the band's classic songs performed by the group's original singer, Dirkschneider explained at the time that "you always have these comparisons [between how these songs are played by ACCEPT and U.D.O.]. I don't want this anymore either. [The current lineup of ACCEPT] also play 'Metal Heart', they play 'Balls To The Wall' and 'Princess Of The Dawn'. And then some people tell me, 'Oh, [current ACCEPT singer Mark Tornillo] is doing it better than you.' And I go, 'That's fine. Enjoy yourself.' But I don't want this anymore. And to avoid all of this in the future, I said, 'We are doing this one more time.'"

Dirkschneider said in 2016 that his vow to never play ACCEPT material again came with one caveat. "If the band ACCEPT dissolves one day in the near future and I am still around with U.D.O., then there is a chance that I put ACCEPT songs back in the setlist," he said. "But currently there is ACCEPT, so go see them [if you want to see those songs performed live]. They are playing these songs."

Back in 2018, Wolf declined to comment on Dirkschneider's decision to embark on one final tour during which the singer would perform nothing but ACCEPT songs. "I have lots of thoughts about that, but I'm not gonna share 'em with you," he told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". "I'd rather not comment on that, because that seems so much 'back and forth,' and I think I should stay away from it… You can draw your own conclusions all day long, but I'm not gonna get into it; it's just not worth it.

"I get asked [about Udo] so many times, and, man, it's been so many years — it's such an old story by now," Wolf continued. "We've moved on way past that, and we've had 10 brilliant years [with Mark Tornillo], we're making cool albums; I think we're doing fine. So I don't spend any time thinking about it.

"I'm very proud of the history we have together and all that, but I'm just not gonna get into the current 'he said, she said' whatever — it's not worth it," Hoffmann concluded.

During a recent appearance on the "In The Trenches With Ryan Roxie" podcast, ARCH ENEMY singer Alissa White-Gluz spoke about the challenges of maintaining a strong relationship with her longtime boyfriend, MISFITS guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, when both of them spend so much time on the road. The 37-year-old frontwoman said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I wouldn't say I'm qualified to be a relationship coach by any means, but I think that a lot of it comes down to just having your goals aligned; the people in the relationship have to have their goals aligned. And we definitely do.

"I remember when I was a teenager and just starting to get into bands, you do that thing with your bros in the band, and you're, like, 'All right. Bands before everything — before girlfriends, before boyfriends, before school, before work. Bands before everything,'" she continued. "And I committed to that and I never broke away from it, essentially. I just said, 'Any opportunity that I can get with music, I have to take it a thousand percent,' and I'm still like that. And I also encourage Doyle to be like that, because I think that his band DOYLE is really good — really, really good. It's, like super-good music. And I'm saying that — of course I'm biased, but the thing is I heard his band when I met him, and I wasn't with him yet and I already liked it. So I thought it was a good band before I had a reason to think it was a good band. So I want his band to succeed. I want people to go to their shows. I want him to do well. I love when he plays MISFITS shows and it's a sold-out arena."

Alissa added: "So even though it's tough 'cause we don't see each other that much, I'm happy that he's getting to work and I'm happy that I get to work. And so it's not super easy, but it's worked for the past almost decade, so I guess it's fine. [Laughs]"

Back in 2014, Doyle, 58, who was previously married to former pro wrestler Stephanie Bellars (a.k.a. Gorgeous George),told Revolver magazine that he and Alissa met when "I was doing the DANZIG tour [in 2013] and she was on the first leg with her old band [THE AGONIST]. I met her the first day and I couldn't think anymore — still can't. She's the Queen Beast of metal! It's the way she sings — nobody can out-beast her."

That same year, Doyle told the San Antonio Metal Music Examiner that he and Alissa "cried" when she first landed the gig as the frontwoman of ARCH ENEMY. "She told me, and she was crying when she told me. I'm like, 'Is that bad?' She said, [Doyle adopts a higher-pitched voice] 'No, it's great. That's my favorite band.' Then when they did the announcement, she had to change all her social media (statuses) in the kitchen, and she said, 'Don't talk to me 'till I'm done with this.' She was hyperventilating while she was changing it all. She was, like [Doyle makes hyperventilating sounds]. Shut the computer, got up and went in the back, came back, and she started crying for, like, 20 minutes."

White-Gluz was announced as the new singer of ARCH ENEMY in March 2014. She later said that getting fired from THE AGONIST was "the worst betrayal" she has ever felt in her life and vowed to never speak to her former bandmates again.

It was announced in September 2016 that the ARCH ENEMY frontwoman had signed a deal with Napalm Records for the release of her first solo disc, which will feature contributions and collaborations with past and present members of ARCH ENEMY and KAMELOT, as well as Doyle.

ARCH ENEMY's latest album, "Deceivers", arrived in August via Century Media Records.

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In a new interview with MetalTalk's Dany Jones, HALESTORM drummer Arejay Hale was asked how he feels about some fans calling the band's latest album, "Back From The Dead", HALESTORM's heaviest effort to date. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I can see that being the case. In my experience, it was the first time that I had been in a studio where a producer wanted me to play more and play more aggressively. I feel like live we can kind of get away with messing around and kind of making up things off the top of our head and going a little bit extra crazy to bring that live energy, but on record I feel like our main objective was to keep everything very simple, have a lot of space, leave a lot of room. And that kind of makes sense; you want it to just be very simple and very basic. But our producers, both Scott Stevens and Nick Raskulinecz, they felt it was important for us to kind of bring a little bit more of that live energy to the recording. They felt that if we had just released another album like our previous records, with that same mentality where we were just trying to keep everything very open and spaced and simple, then it would get stale; it would kind of sound boring to our fans who had been waiting for this record, waiting through a whole pandemic. So I think it was a combination of the two of them really having a good, close ear to the ground and a good knowledge of what more modern rock fans wanna listen to."

He continued: "I feel like the resurgence of punk music, the resurgence of emo, punk music in pop culture has kind of driven the masses towards wanting to hear more energy, wanting to hear more unique, fun, instrumental moments and crazy drumming and crazy guitar playing and crazy singing and that kind of stuff. That was one of the main goals, was to try to bring more of that to the recording. And then, on the other side, you also have the four of us, who had been locked up in our homes for a year and a half, that just kind of inevitably seeped through us as we were playing; we were just going a little bit extra, hitting the drums a little bit harder, playing everything a little bit faster and just going a little bit extra crazy. So I can see why people think that this is our heaviest record. I like to consider it probably the record in our discography so far that has the most energy, the most live energy, I think."

On December 9, HALESTORM released a deluxe edition of "Back From The Dead". "Back From The Dead: Deluxe Edition" includes seven previously unreleased B-sides, including "Mine", a 1980s-inspired rocker. "Back From The Dead: Deluxe Edition" is available digitally, on CD, and cassette tape, marking the first time that the album has been offered in those physical formats.

Arejay and his sister Lzzy (vocals, guitar) formed HALESTORM in 1998 while in middle school. Guitarist Joe Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by bassist Josh Smith in 2004.

In December 2018, HALESTORM was nominated for a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy Award for its song "Uncomfortable". Six years earlier, the band won its first Grammy in the category of "Best Hard Rock/ Metal Performance" for "Love Bites (So Do I)".

Jen Majura has once again opened up about her exit from EVANESCENCE, saying there has been "a lot of judgment" about the circumstances that led to her getting fired from the Amy Lee-fronted band.

The 39-year-old guitarist's departure from EVANESCENCE was announced on May 21 via social media.

"It has been a very special chapter in the band with our dear friend Jen Majura, but we have decided it's time to go our separate ways," EVANESCENCE said in a statement. "We will always love her and support her, and can't wait to see what she does next! We are so grateful for the good times and great music we made all around the world together."

Jen spoke about her split with EVANESCENCE during a brand new interview with IbagensCast. Asked what the last seven months have been like for her, Majura said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm tired. I am very, very tired because there are many opinions and there's a lot of judgment out there. It got to a point where no matter what I posted, people had opinions about that. And it seems ridiculous to me, but if I would say honestly how I feel — I'm hurt; it's hard; of course I'm not feeling great — people would go, like, 'Oh, you're playing the victim.' So, I'm, like, 'Okay. All right then.' So I said, 'Actually, I'm doing okay. I'm all right.' And then, of course, people would go, like, 'She never gave a shit about the band.' And it got to a point where I'm, like, 'You know what? I could post about my blueberry yogurt, and you would still find a way to connect this to what happened.

"I must say I turned very quiet on social media, because I just wanted to avoid all that white noise, all that blabbering, all these opinions — I was just tired of that," Jen continued. "And also, at the same time, when you break up with an ex-partner — that's the easiest example; you break up with your partner — the last thing on planet earth is that you wanna see that ex-partner on social media moving on. It's, like, 'No. I don't wanna see that.' I needed time to digest the whole thing. And like I said, I think the first few months I was just very busy with convincing everybody that I was doing okay when I honestly wasn't; I was not okay. And when everything you say in public is being judged… And honestly, I can only imagine how [Prince] Harry and Meghan [Markle] feel [laughs] — people with real problems, in terms of paparazzi. Who am I? I'm just a little nobody. Why do people talk about me? I think there's way more important things that the humankind should talk about, like climate change and what's going on in this nonsense war [in Ukraine] — real issues that people should discuss and find solutions for — instead of me. So I just realized that apparently this is a topic and people like to talk about it, but I don't necessarily need to be a part of that. So I turned very quiet on social media. And the more I distanced myself from that whole thing, the more I'm, like… I'm gonna say this right now, 'cause it's horrible, but I'm gonna say it anyway… The more I felt grossed out by the humankind.

"So altogether, I have not been good," Majura added. "I'm okay, but I'm far away from being good… When life throws shit at you, honestly… I mean, take a look at the whole scenario. In the beginning of 2020, I lost my dear-hearted relationship. That was followed by two years of isolation and lockdowns and the whole pandemic situation. Great! And then finally things get back to kind of 'normal-ish', and then May happens. So I can't really say that my past few, couple of years have been great. So 2023 is gonna be amazing, right?"

Elaborating on her decision to scale back her social media activities, Jen said: "I believe it's important to give yourself space to heal or space to be. When everybody sees you and expects you to be the positive, energetic goofball that I am — there is a big, big chunk of my heart that holds exactly that, but if life throws shit at you, you can't always keep that up. And that's another part why I decided to turn really quiet, because I just couldn't. You have to recharge your own batteries before you're able to recharge other people… I just felt empty.

"What this whole past [few] months really did to me is I started questioning a lot more that I feel that I should," Majura admitted. "I have more doubts. I am way more careful. And I never decided to be like that, because I would like to be this open-hearted, positive, good, welcoming person. But it changed me. And I don't blame anybody, and I'm not playing the victim — just to make sure everybody understands — but it's just something that happened with me. And… I don't know. I don't know where all this is going. As of right now, I'm doing okay. I'm getting better, still. I'm still not feeling super happy, because there is nothing to be… well, [there are] some things to be super happy about. [Laughs]"

Jen previously spoke about her split with EVANESCENCE this past June during an appearance on THE HAUNTED guitarist Ola Englund's YouTube show "Coffee With Ola". At the time, she said that she was still "hurt" by the move and compared the situation to a divorce.

"I believe, honestly, it's three weeks now since I got the news, and I'm still in this blurry, oblivious momentum," she said. "I guess I'm still in shock, kind of, because after being married six years, all of a sudden you're divorced.

"You know me, I always try to find the positive in a situation, so every day, step by step — I'm not doing great yet — but every day I find little tiny things that I'm, like, 'Oh, actually, this is good.'"

Asked how she found out that her services were no longer needed in EVANESCENCE, Jen said: "Honestly, I was cleaning my apartment, and I got the phone call. And first of all, I was, like, 'Is this a bad joke?' And I remember, after I got the news, I hung up, and I have this hallway in between my studio and my living room, and I just lay there on the floor, staring at the ceiling, wondering what that was, and literally looking over to my suitcase that I had already started packing, because I was two weeks from going out on the road until pretty much the end of the year."

Majura, a self-described "half-Asian living in Germany," joined EVANESCENCE in August 2015 as the replacement for Terry Balsamo.

Shortly after she landed the gig, Majura spoke to EMP Rock Invasion about how she came to connect with EVANESCENCE. She said: "My name was somehow recommended by a sweet friend of mine, Alex Skolnick of TESTAMENT, and Dave Eggar — he's also known as a very good cellist, and he's a musician working in New York. And all of a sudden, there was this e-mail popping up: 'Are you interested in joining…?' And I was, like, 'What the fuck?' So I stopped breathing until my face turned kind of blue. And then afterwards, I was, like, 'Okay, I've gotta read it again.' Three days later, I found myself suddenly on an airplane, flying over to New York to meet Amy Lee. And we had some very, very cool talks. She's an awesome person. She's a very, very great musician. And so I found myself suddenly inside of his empire called EVANESCENCE."

Regarding the fact that she didn't even have to "audition" for EVANESCENCE, Jen said: "Yeah. To be honest, I was kind of concerned. I told [Amy], 'Do you want me to bring my guitar?' And, 'Would you like me to audition?' And she was totally, like: 'Nah, I know you can play. I've seen plenty of videos of you. And I know your live experience and you're touring the world, so… No, just come over and let's have some food and talk.' Yeah, and that's it. So, actually, what I was surprised by very, very much was that she actually had another guitar player on her list, and that was the guitar player of Alice Cooper [Nita Strauss]. And she's now with Alice Cooper and I'm now with EVANESCENCE. This is, like… I still can't believe it."

In 2019, Lee said she was happy to have Majura in the band. "She has added a lot to our live shows because she's a singer," Amy explained. "It has been a really awesome thing to have live background vocals for the first time. I am such a fan of layered vocals, and to have that better represented at our show has been a cool breakthrough for me. And also, she's just rad energy. She's got a great attitude, fun personality, very engaging, killer onstage, so she has been a fun addition to our family. And of course, it's awesome having another girl in the band for the first time."

Majura has released two solo albums thus far, 2014's "Jen Majura" and 2017's "InZENity".

Last year, EVANESCENCE released "The Bitter Truth", its first album in 10 years.

EVANESCENCE's new lineup, featuring Emma Anzai of SICK PUPPIES on bass and EVANESCENCE's longtime bassist Tim McCord on guitar, made its live debut in June in Athens, Greece.

Former Alice Cooper and current Demi Lovato guitarist Nita Strauss spoke to Guitar World magazine about her upcoming second solo album, to be released later this year via Sumerian Records. She said: "I'm a really emotional musician and person, and I write about what I'm feeling and what's going on in my life. Making this album, and especially doing a lot of the writing during 2020, when everything was shut down and uncertain, brought out a lot of emotion in my songwriting.

"I've grown a lot as an artist and songwriter since [my debut solo album] 'Controlled Chaos' came out in 2018, and I'm excited to show a higher level of playing and more depth and maturity in these new songs. I've improved a lot as a musician, my technique has gotten better in the last four years, and I've gotten more comfortable in my own style, so I feel I've come into my own as a guitar player."

Last October, Nita dropped a new single and accompanying music video, "The Wolf You Feed", featuring the vocal talent of Alissa White-Gluz of ARCH ENEMY. The lyrics of this song were inspired by "The Story Of The Two Wolves", a legend widely attributed to Native American storytellers. An old grandfather was teaching his grandson about life: "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil — he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued: "The other is good — he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf will win?" The grandfather simply replied: "The one you feed."

"The Wolf You Feed" was the second song Nita had released featuring a star guest vocalist, the first being the enormously successful "Dead Inside" which featured guest vocals from DISTURBED's David Draiman and saw Nita become the first ever solo female to have a No. 1 hit at Active Rock radio. She also returned to her instrumental roots earlier last year with the release of single "Summer Storm".

Nita made her live debut with Demi in July 2022 with a performance of Lovato's single "Substance" on ABC's Emmy Award-winning late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!".

Strauss had been playing with Cooper since 2014 when she replaced Australian musician and former Michael Jackson player Orianthi. She joined Alice in time for a mammoth MÖTLEY CRÜE tour. She was recommended to Cooper by the legendary rocker's former bass player and WINGER frontman Kip Winger.

Back in February 2022, Nita told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about her upcoming LP: "It's gonna be half and half — six tracks with vocalists and six tracks of instrumental [music]. We've been doing ['Dead Inside'] live on the solo tour and it's been getting a super-good reaction from our crowds."

In early December 2021, Nita told "The Mistress Carrie Podcast" about her decision to make the upcoming LP half vocal songs and half instrumental: "I did feel, and the label and everybody agreed, it's still important for me to keep my identity as a guitar player and not just branch off too much and go, 'Okay, well, now it's just guests.' Let me still have a little of what makes me me, which is the instrumental shred stuff. And the instrumental pieces that I've written on this record are, I think, better than anything I did on the first one — definitely more… I don't know if it could be more emotional but they're very emotional pieces of music and I think a little better crafted this time around. So I think all the songs in general are more well thought out, better put together this time around. And I do have some of my absolute favorite [singers guesting on it]. I have three amazing powerhouse female vocalists on this album so far."

Nita released "Controlled Chaos" to mass acclaim from fans and media alike, with Metal Injection calling it "a great debut that — as its creator intended — leaves no doubt", and Guitar World stating "'Controlled Chaos' is a panoramic view of Nita Strauss's many strengths".

As well as performing with Cooper, Nita has also played with R&B star Jermaine Jackson, early MTV darlings FEMME FATALE, video game supergroup CRITICAL HIT and popular tribute band THE IRON MAIDENS.

In April 2020, Nita launched "Rock Guitar Fundamentals" — a three-module online guitar teaching program suitable for learners of all levels. The course is available at www.iwanttoplayguitar.com.

In a recent interview with Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show, MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn spoke about the recording process for the band's tenth studio album, "Of Kingdom And Crown", which arrived last August via Nuclear Blast/Imperium Recordings. Asked if it was "stressful" making the first MACHINE HEAD album with the group's new lineup, featuring Polish guitarist Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (DECAPITATED) and British drummer Matt Alston (DEVILMENT, EASTERN FRONT),Robb said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "There wasn't really anything stressful because we had already been on tour for a while together. We were doing [a tour celebrating] the 25th anniversary of [MACHINE HEAD's debut album] 'Burn My Eyes'. My two new guys were doing it alongside Chris [Kontos] and Logan [Mader] from the 'Burn My Eyes' lineup, and we were doing the 'evening with', so it was a three-hour show. The first two hours were Vogg, Matt, myself and Jared [MacEachern, MACHINE HEAD bassist and backing vocalist] doing modern MACHINE HEAD — basically everything after'Burn My Eyes'. And then the last hour was 'Burn My Eyes' in its entirety. So we had jelled as a band — we played a lot of shows. And I think the biggest challenge, as with anybody during the pandemic, was just, like, 'Oh my God. We're all locked down and couped up.' And in some ways, I think it made the record better.

"I talk to a lot of younger bands, and I'm constantly around younger metal bands and death metal bands," Robb continued. "And when you talk to these guys, when they write, they just e-mail riffs around — they'll just e-mail a vocal or e-mail a riff or e-mail a drum beat and they just kind of add on to it like that. They don't even have a rehearsal place; they just rehearse at home and they show up onstage and play together, 'cause they're, like, 'We can't afford rehearsal rooms. It's so expensive now.' And I'm, like, 'Yeah, I believe it.' I remember thinking, like, 'I can just do that. I'll just e-mail Vogg riffs.' So I'd just demo some stuff and be, like, 'Hey, finish this. I don't know where to go after this riff ends, so just add something to it.' He did the same thing; he'd just send over riffs. Jared and I still live in the Bay Area together, so that was a big plus.

"When the pandemic hit, I was just in tour mode and playing and I was just, like, 'I've gotta keep on playing.' I was the only person allowed in my building, 'cause the studio is mine, so the building owner would let me in. And I just started coming down to my studio here and I started doing a [Facebook Live] thing called 'Acoustic Happy Hour'. I'd just drink beer and play acoustic songs. [Laughs] And I'd do that for two hours, or an hour and a half, and take requests and I'd just figure out stuff on the fly. I tried to learn two or three new songs every week just to kind of mix it up.

"Anybody who knows MACHINE HEAD, I've sang brutal my whole career," Flynn added. "And we do sing [clean], and we've always sang [clean], even going back to the first album, but it's never been a focus and certainly I've never sang a two-hour show completely clean singing. And the first seven or eight of 'em were terrible [laughs], 'cause I'm not very schooled, but they were fun and they were loose and they were completely spontaneous. We were locked down, and I was, like, 'I'm gonna start taking singing lessons again.' I had taken singing lessons about a decade back for my heavy voice, but it was more just to kind of keep my heavy voice in shape while we were on the road. I started taking lessons for my clean singing. And it wasn't to make the record better; it was really just so that I didn't embarrass myself [laughs] on Facebook Live. And it worked. Some of the 'Happy Hours', my voice would do everything that I want it to, and I was, like, 'Wow. That was killer. I'm so happy.' And then the next week I'd come in and I couldn't do anything that I did the week before. And I was, like, 'I know I can do this.' I'm self-trained, basically, and I was, like, 'I've gotta learn how to do this right. And what time better now than when we're all on lockdown. I'll just do something to improve myself.' So I started doing that. And then eventually, six months later, Jared [started] coming down. And Jared and I have this pretty magical combination with our voices; they sound so incredible together. So now he joins me for the 'Acoustic Happy Hours', and now we're doing Bob Marley songs, and we're doing FLEETWOOD MAC, and we're doing Stevie Nicks, and we're doing BEATLES songs. Just messing around every Friday, coming down three times a week, we kind of get to this point where he can finish my sentence. He knows what harmony I'm gonna go to; I know what harmony he's gonna go to. So then when we started going to work on the MACHINE HEAD songs, which we were also doing in the middle of the week, it's, like, 'Hey, why don't we try that Stevie Nicks this.' 'Hey, why don't we try that — whatever — FLEETWOOD MAC [thing]?', whatever the case may be. And it just kind of opened up this whole different line of possibilities of what we could do. And we went with it — we just went for it. And I don't know if that would have happened if we would have just kept on touring. I don't know if that would have happened if we would have just gone down the route that we were headed prior to the pandemic."

The follow-up to 2018's "Catharsis", "Of Kingdom And Crown" includes the three songs that were featured on the 2021 "Arrows In Words From The Sky" single: "Become The Firestorm", "Rotten" and "Arrows In Words From The Sky". Much of the new MACHINE HEAD album was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer/producer Zack Ohren.

As previously reported, MACHINE HEAD recruited HAVOK's Reece Alan Scruggs to play second guitar on the "Electric Happy Hour (Live)" fall 2022 tour. Scruggs filled in for Vogg, who was unable to make the trek due to his touring commitments with his longtime band DECAPITATED.

Reece made his live debut with MACHINE HEAD on November 3 at Strummer's in Fresno, California at the opening show of the "Electric Happy Hour (Live)" tour.

Vogg joined MACHINE HEAD's touring lineup prior to the launch of the band's "Burn My Eyes" 25th-anniversary tour in late 2019.

Back in November 2019, Flynn said that Vogg's audition for the band "just fucking blew" his "mind — it was so fucking tight and fucking accurate," Robb said. "He sent over [a recording of] 'Imperium' as his first song just as a test. We always had all the dudes do a sound test, just to make sure the levels are good and stuff. I was, like, 'Oh my God! This dude is playing 'Imperium' better than I can right now.' [Laughs] It was crazy. And we ended up talking. Super-nice guy."

In May 2021, Vogg told Finland's Kaaos TV that his addition to MACHINE HEAD's touring lineup was "a big surprise" for him, because he "didn't plan" to play with the band. "It kind of accidentally happened," he said.

In November 2020, MACHINE HEAD released a single, "My Hands Are Empty", via Nuclear Blast. The song marked the first musical collaboration between Flynn and original "Burn My Eyes" guitarist Logan Mader in 24 years.

"My Hands Are Empty" was just one in a line of singles to be released by MACHINE HEAD, which issued "Do Or Die" in October 2019, "Circle The Drain" in February 2020, and the two-song digital single "Civil Unrest", consisting of "Stop The Bleeding" and "Bulletproof", in June 2020. "Stop The Bleeding" featured guest vocals from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Jesse Leach, and was written and recorded just days after the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

In a new interview with Vulture, Led Zeppelin legend, Robert Plant, discusses the finest and most questionable music of his career.


The following is an excerpt from the feature, sub-titled "Most questionable music era":


Says Plant: "I’m not being smug, but everything I go into, I go into with my eyes open. I try things that sometimes depend on whether anybody has any time for what I do after all these years of pummelling the media and sort of nuance-ing my way through it all. I can’t really complain. Because am I thinking about whether the public accepted it? Or am I thinking about whether I accepted it? Well, it has to be how I feel, because there are many other options all of us can take who’ve been around this length of time. We can give up because there’s nothing else to offer. Or we could just write and sit back on our laurels.




"After John (Bonham) passed away and there was no Led Zeppelin, there had to be a way to go. I floundered around a lot because until I was 32, I was in some kind of wild and absurd adventure. I went through all that stuff. I’ll write with other people. It’s a very intimate thing to do. It’s hard for anybody to expose themselves musically. Other people with me, and me with other people. I have a lot of songs under my belt, which I co-wrote with the members of Zeppelin. It was a lot to live up to. I had a lot of people who gave me support and strength around that time, so I suppose the first two albums were driven by great friends.





"Phil Collins especially was a driving force and had positive energy with the first record, Pictures At Eleven. It wasn’t a difficult job to get together with other people, it was just whether or not we could cook it properly. With Phil, it wasn’t so much advice as encouragement and consideration. He was taking no prisoners. He would only allow himself a short amount of time to come to the studio in Wales and make it work. Nobody was hiding behind the performance. Then he came on tour with me and basically said, “Robert, the guy that sat behind you for all those years was my hero.” That was it. He said, “Anything I can do to help you to get back into fighting shape again, I’m here.” That was at the time when “In the Air Tonight” came out. Yet he was still mixing and working with me while kicking off a particularly impressive and successful timeIndeed, Collins somehow made time to play drums on the majority of Pictures at Eleven’s tracks, as well as serve as Plant’s drummer for the subsequent tour. This was after Collins became an international sensation with Face Value and Genesis’s early-’80s output. for himself. He’s a great spirit, a good man.





"By Shaken ‘N’ Stirred, I was so determined to become the opening act for Talking Heads. So I started writing more and more oblique pieces of music — embracing what had become new studio techniques and stuff. I probably lost my way, but then there are so many LPs in my being, so you have to live with it and live by it. On the other side of the coin, I came roaring out of it and made an album like Fate Of Nations with Richard Thompson and Nigel Kennedy. I came back onboard again. I think that was probably where I finally did find my way out of the passing of Led Zeppelin."


Read the full feature at Vulture.com.


CMT Crossroads recently celebrated 20 years of one-of-a-kind concerts with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. The new episode debuted November 28.


Plant and Krauss played Crossroads in support of Raise The Roof, the 2021 sophomore album from the pair released 14 years after their 2007 debut effort, Raising Sand.

Vocalist Johan Hegg of Swedish death metallers AMON AMARTH, who wrapped their largest U.S. headline run yet with a full-production concert at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on December17, spoke to Pollstar about the visual aspect of the band's show that features pyro and epic stage props and includes crowd participation.

"Something we've done well is to invite the audience to create the show together," Hegg said. "We might be the people on stage, but the interaction is really important. And if the audience interacts with us and we interact with them, the energy becomes so different in the room rather than if you don't have that connection. You can tell immediately. It's something we work on really consciously, to create that connection."

When it comes to AMON AMARTH's stage show, Hegg cited IRON MAIDEN as an inspiration.

"For me, they're one of the biggest, best live acts of all time," Hegg said. "But there are several others. I remember seeing AC/DC in Sweden in '91 on the 'Thunderstruck' tour, which was amazing. But if you look at bands doing some cool stuff now, I mean, obviously you have also classic bands like MERCYFUL FATE and KING DIAMOND. The production that they put into their shows is insanely cool. Modern bands today, I think they draw more to LED screens for production value, and it's not really our thing. I think it's cool if you do it the right way."

AMON AMARTH's fall 2022 North American tour kicked off on November 11 at the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, with dates across the continent, including at the new MGM Music Hall Fenway in Boston, Place Bell in Quebec (10,000 capacity),Fillmore Auditorium in Denver and more. The band's awe-inspiring stage show featured Viking ships, a Viking helmet drum riser, live battle reenactments, the now-infamous "Viking Row" and enough pyro to raze several villages to the ground.

AMON AMARTH's twelfth studio album, "The Great Heathen Army", was released in August via Metal Blade Records. The LP was recorded with acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap, who previously worked with the band on 2013's "Deceiver Of The Gods" and 2016's "Jomsviking" albums.

AMON AMARTH teamed up with MACHINE HEAD for the "Vikings And Lionhearts" co-headlining European arena tour in September and October.

Devin Townsend has confirmed that he was on the list of candidates when JUDAS PRIEST was looking for a new vocalist to fill the massive shoes of Rob Halford in the early 1990s.

The 50-year-old Canadian musician/producer discussed the hypothetical pairing during an appearance on the latest episode of "The SDR Show".

Asked if it it's true that he was approached to audition for PRIEST nearly 30 years ago, Devin said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Technically, yes, that happened, but it wasn't like they were knocking down my door. Basically, they threw out a blanket thing to a bunch of singers — Warrel [Dane] from NEVERMORE, myself, a couple of other people. It [came in the form of] a letter with the [JUDAS PRIEST logo].

"'Unleashed In The East' was the shit for me, and so to have that was… But I also remember thinking that singing was this thing that happened to me because of my involvement with Steve [Vai], because I never really set out to be a singer. I learned to sing because I was a guitar player and most of the singers I auditioned, I didn't relate to. So I thought, 'Okay, I'm gonna learn to sing until I don't have to fucking sing anymore. And then, here we are, so many years later, where it's kind of my deal. But, as a result of that, the technique that I had was so shoddy that had I gotten to a situation with that level of expectation, to sing like Rob Halford — dude, I'd be crucified."

Townsend previously spoke about his love for PRIEST in a 2012 interview with The Quietus where he was asked to pick some of his favorite albums. At the time, he said: "I guess if I was to choose a studio record [from PRIEST], I'd choose 'Defenders Of The Faith', just because that was the one I first heard when I was a kid, but I chose 'Unleashed In The East' because it was the first real heavy metal record that really caught my ear, it was that and the song 'Motörhead' by MOTÖRHEAD, it was sort of a one-two punch."

He continued: "'Unleashed' just had a vibe to it, you know, I think the thing that current metal sort of lacks for me — and I'm not saying it totally lacks it, just for me — is the blues element of it. I mean, I love the blues element of metal; that's what made [BLACK] SABBATH and [LED] ZEPPELIN and all of those guys so significant to me, that connection to those sort of microtones. And 'Unleashed' in general is cool — well, fucking 'Diamonds & Rust' or 'Green Manalishi', I always hated those fucking songs — but the thing is that there are two songs on 'Unleashed' that, again, I can decide in my mind that a record is one of the greatest records ever based on one or two songs, and the versions of 'Victim Of Changes' and 'Sinner', those two songs are huge to me, and I think a lot of it had to do with K.K. Downing. He was pretty much my first guitar hero, because he was microtonal as well — like, out of tune with tons of echo on it. I loved that; I loved the idea that someone plays a wrong note and then puts 20 seconds of echo on it, so not only is it a wrong note but it's a wrong note that's, like, 'Yeah, I meant to play it that way.' And, like, Glenn Tipton would always be playing these noodley little notey things. And, you know, technically I think Glenn Tipton was probably a better guitar player, but I love the fact that K.K. Downing was, like, 'I'm just gonna do this and it's gonna beef out over everything else and it's going to sound really, really evil or eerie,' but it was conscious. Even Rob Halford had tons of echo on his voice at the time too, and — I don't know — it just had a very quiet, bluesy yet dark sort of vibe to it. That record really drew me into heavy metal."

Townsend covered PRIEST's "Sinner" for "A Tribute To Judas Priest Legends Of Metal", which was released in 1996 via Century Media. You can listen to his version below.

In a new interview with Made In Metal, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann was asked if there are any plans for him and his bandmates to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their classic album "Balls To The Wall". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We've always stayed away from it in the past because we've always been so busy with working a current album or a new album. Five minutes ago [in this interview] you asked me about a new album [from ACCEPT], and now you ask me about [celebrating an] anniversary [of a previous LP]. So I can't do both. I have to [make] a decision [which way to go forward]. And usually we've gone with, 'Hey, let's make a new album. It's time for a new album.' And then we tour this album. So there's never been enough time to do all these anniversary tours so far. But that doesn't mean we won't do 'em one day."

Hoffmann previously dismissed the idea of performing a classic album like "Restless And Wild" or "Balls To The Wall" in its entirety, telling Metal Eye Witness in a 2018 interview: "Probably not. I mean, I've never been a huge fan of this whole idea. It seems to me like a marketing gimmick more than anything. Because in our age, we could have an anniversary every year. 'Cause it was 35 years [ago that] 'Restless And Wild' [was released], 40 years ago this, 30 years that — every year would be another anniversary — and, to be honest, we're so busy with promoting our current stuff that we don't really feel the need to do all that nostalgia stuff. Every year we have a new album, or every other year, and we've made four albums and a live album, so that's five, and I made a solo album — that's six releases in eight years. So I don't think we need to bother with any anniversary stuff at the moment. Maybe one day when we have nothing else, no other ideas. And we've done, actually, one show once where we played a complete album, and it was okay. But, quite honestly, I think we have a perfect setlist of old songs and new songs. I wouldn't rule it out, but at the moment, I've always said, why bother?"

Controversial at the time for its cover and some of the album's themes, "Balls To The Wall" was also ACCEPT's greatest commercial success, reaching No. 75 on the U.S. Billboard chart. "Balls To The Wall" was certified gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) for shipments in excess of half a million copies, partly off the back of the heavy rotation the title track's video received on MTV.

Taking much of its inspiration from the likes of fellow German hard rockers the SCORPIONS, as well as a debt to U.K. metal legends JUDAS PRIEST, ACCEPT at the time was fronted by the inimitable Udo Dirkschneider on vocals, backed by lead guitar heroes Hoffmann and Herman Frank and the backbone of bassist Peter Baltes and drummer Stefan Kaufmann.

Hoffmann is the sole remaining original member of ACCEPT, which he formed in 1976 in the town of Solingen, Germany with Dirkschneider and Baltes.

ACCEPT's latest studio album, "Too Mean To Die", was released in January 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The LP was the group's first without Baltes, who exited ACCEPT in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT's lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during 2019's "Symphonic Terror" tour, before being asked to join the band permanently.

In a new interview with "Coffee With Ola", the YouTube program hosted by Ola Englund, the Swedish guitarist, record producer and owner of Solar guitars, former MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick was asked if tried to replicate the solos in the band's classic songs perfectly while he was a member of the Dave Mustaine-led outfit. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yes. And I'll tell you why. Because not only, at the time, was I thinking about probably what Dave would want but also mainly, even more importantly, what the fans would want. Because ultimately they are now the owners and the keepers of that music, and they are the people that you're playing to and that are listening to you. So as cool as I think I can come up with some riff — like, 'Oh, they'll love this riff' — it doesn't belong in that song at that point. So, for me, it's all about recreating and trying to do [former MEGADETH guitarist] Marty Friedman justice — in the case of Marty Friedman or Chris Poland [another ex-MEGADETH guitarist] or any of the others. So I definitely wanted to try and make it as authentic as possible. The one thing that you can't deny, though, is your own sense of phrasing, and for me that comes down to timing and articulation and stuff like that. So, as far as the notes go, I really tried to recreate it as closely as possible, but then with my sense of timing and phrasing — maybe put it my own sense of phrasing."

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

In a 2015 interview with the online teaching site Guitar Zoom, Drover was asked what it was like stepping in and playing parts originally performed by other guitarists during his stints with bands like KING DIAMOND and MEGADETH. He said: "I've always felt that you should always try to keep… in terms of playing solos, you should always try to keep it somewhat close, I think, and at least keep the stronger melodies of solos intact, so that people, when they listen to it, they can identify, because they know the songs and they know how the solos should sound and this and that, and I've always tried to do that, not by force, but because I wanted to, starting with KING DIAMOND. But at the same time, you have to inject your own kind of personality in there, because you're you. And with MEGADETH, it was a little bit different, because there was a lot of force of trying to be somebody else to a tee. And I don't think that's right, because I think that you should try to keep certain pieces intact, certain melodies and certain key points of solos or whatever it is. But everybody's got their own DNA, and that should be injected. You shouldn't try to play something note for note. Because, for me, you sound like a robot, at the end of the day, if you try to do something note for note. And then you're just kind of a puppet. And I don't believe in that."

He continued: "In MEGADETH, there was a lot of pressure from not only the fans but certain people in the band for that. And I was just very… It's, like, 'This is not really what I envisioned from a musical standpoint.' As an individual guitar player, you have your own thing. For me, it didn't take too long to get to the point where it became boring."

Glen also spoke about the 2014 departures from MEGADETH of his brother, drummer Shawn Drover, and Broderick. He said: "Well, I really can't speak too much for those guys a hundred percent, but all I can say is that there's definitely a lot of puppeteering going on, and I'm just not into that kind of thing, man. For me, it's more about the music, and it's about the individuality, it's about expression. Music is about that — it's not a sport, it's not about, you know, you're copying this guy to a tee or this and that. It's definitely an expression. I would never wanna abuse music in any way, and I felt it was definitely being abused."

He continued: "You know, when I played in bands like KING DIAMOND and TESTAMENT, where it was okay to be, like ,'Okay, try to play the solos like they are, but you're not that guy, so you inject your own personality into that.' For me, even outside of that, just watching as a fan, I wanna see what the guy has to offer. I don't wanna see somebody being a complete clone. That's boring. I can listen to the album at home, man. That's the way I see it. But not everybody sees it that way. And that's cool."

Only hours after drummer Shawn Drover announced his exit from MEGADETH on November 25, 2014 to "to pursue [his] own musical interests," Broderick revealed he also quit the legendary metal band, saying that he was leaving the group "due to artistic and musical differences."

Six and a half years ago, Broderick spoke to Ultimate-Guitar.com about the circumstances that led to his decision to exit MEGADETH. He said: "I wouldn't say it's necessarily artistic and musical differences as much as it is the ability to express my musical and artistic choices. Everybody knows that MEGADETH is really Dave and that's fine."

He continued: "I knew that [Mustaine was captain of the ship] going in. But there comes a time where you're like, 'I've done this and it's great but I'm a musician and artist at heart and I need to express myself that way. So I need to have that outlet for myself and not just do it in support of another person.'"

Regarding how MEGADETH was run, Broderick said: "It wasn't a democratic or an equal band in terms of the decision-making process. And again, I was totally fine with that at the time. It was awesome for my career and it was great playing for all those fans but at some point, when do you decide you're gonna be a musician and really create your own music or are you just going to record what somebody else wants?"

Broderick joined IN FLAMES in early 2019 as the replacement for Niclas Engelin.

In a recent interview with Australia's Heavy, Adam "Nergal" Darski of Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH spoke about his desire to make the band's 12th studio album, "Opvs Contra Natvram", "sound very organic", especially when compared to its predecessor, 2018's "I Loved You At Your Darkest". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Every band these days, you talk to every band, and every band — literally — heavy metal band, thrash, death, whatever, says, 'Oh, we managed to get that organic sound.' And then I go and listen to those records and I'm, like, 'There's nothing organic about this record.' Ninety-nine percent of the records, they sound robotic. Every fucking click, every kick, every snare drum, every part of the record is exactly the same. It's not organic. 'Organic' is when music fluctuates, when there's dynamics, when it goes up and down. That's why we tapped Joe Barresi [to mix the LP]. You know him for his work with NINE INCH NAILS, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MONSTER MAGNET and a lot of rock bands. SLIPKNOT… Basically, rock bands, mainstream bands. And he does this old-school mixing. He doesn't use Pro Tools. I mean, he uses Pro Tools, but then, when he's done with one song, he just pulls all the knobs down and starts from scratch. You go, 'Hey, but I wanted to do some tweaks in the previous one.' 'Sorry, it's done.' You've got to pay for everything again. So [when] it's done, it's done. You don't endlessly go and correct that, which is beautiful. Twenty, thirty years ago, it was done that way."

He continued: "These days, you can fucking perfect things to the point that you cannot fucking listen to it, because the perfection makes things boring, imperfect and a whole lot uninteresting. Live, it's not perfect; that's why it's so fucking exciting. So why make things that are just so fucking polished? I don't get it, especially in extreme metal music. It's gotta be fucking weird, it's gotta be dangerous. Where is the danger factor? So I really wanted to bring the danger factor back to our music. It was present, but maybe this is the record [where] it's the most present ever."

Released last September, "Opvs Contra Natvram" 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."

"Opvs Contra Natvram" features twin cover art available in both black and white and was released in an array of physical formats designed by Bartek Rogalewicz (Lodge.Black).

Former HIM frontman Ville Valo spoke to Germany's Sonic Seducer about the band's decision to call it quits in 2017 after completing a farewell tour, closing the final chapter on the "love metal" group's 26-year career. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It took quite a long time for us to realize that the story of HIM had ended. After [HIM's 2013 album] 'Tears On Tape', Gas [Lipstick, a.k.a. Mika Kristian Karppinen], the drummer, left the band. Then we found a new guy. We toured a bit. We tried to get everything to work. But it just didn't sound as good as we wanted to. I think that we lost the spark, so to speak. And we tried to be adult about it and realized that maybe it's just not our time, because you couldn't blame us for not trying. We really tried to figure out… We didn't go to any therapy sessions — we didn't go down the METALLICA road — but we sat down long and hard and tried to figure out if there's anything we could give the world musically and decided that it's the perfect time to end it."

When HIM announced its farewell tour six years ago, Ville explained to Kerrang! magazine why the band decided to call it a day. "We were tired of the same shit," he said. "When you've done it for a long time, at some point it doesn't taste good anymore. We started working on some stuff, it didn't sound good enough, and we didn't get the teenage buzz you're supposed get."

Formed in 1991 by Valo, guitarist Mikko "Linde" Lindström and bassist Mikko "Migé" Paananen, HIM offered the world a new take on the metal genre, which became known as "love metal" (also the title of their fourth album).

HIM in 2015 parted ways with Gas and replaced him with Jukka "Kosmo" Kröger (formerly of HERRA YLPPÖ & IHMISET).

Four years ago, Valo teamed up with guitar legend Esa Pulliainen to record an album based on songs by the late, legendary Finnish singer Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki. The self-titled album by VILLE VALO & AGENTS was released in February 2019 and was followed by a short tour.

Ville will release his debut solo album, "Neon Noir", on January 13 via Heartagram Records, distributed by UMG/Spinefarm. The LP will arrive four months after Ville released "Echolocate Your Love", the second single from "Neon Noir". Five months earlier, Valo issued "Loveletting", which marked Ville's first new music in over two years, following the release of the three-track "Gothica Fennica Vol. 1" EP, also released under the VV banner, in March 2020.

Iggy Pop has once again explained his decision to retire from stage diving.

The legendary 75-year-old rocker, who popularized the move during his time as frontman of THE STOOGES, told Billboard about his stage-diving antics: "I'm not doing that right now. I hit my limit. I did about 40 shows last year and I crossed over [into the audience] a few times, but not with a full dive. A couple of times I sorta fell in and a couple of times I walked around, but if I don't have to, I prefer to stay on the stage. It's too much wear and tear at this point. I would get hurt. So I prefer to stay on the stage, but now at some of the shows people do it themselves; they leap up, touch toe, do a grab and dive off. That's cool with me."

Pop previously spoke about his decision to swear off stage diving last year in an interview with NME. At the time, he said: "I've left the proscenium a few times if the crowds were too dull, just to whip 'em up, but mostly I didn't have to.

"I won't do the dives again," he said. "I've managed to survive it mostly and I'm too rickety for that now."

Iggy had floated around the possibility of his retirement from stage diving back in 2010 after he was injured at a New York City concert. Pop had jumped into the crowd halfway through a performance of "I Want To Be Your Dog", but nobody in the audience caught him, leaving the singer with severe bruises.

"When I landed, it hurt and I made a mental note that Carnegie Hall would be a good place for my last stage dive," he told Jam! Showbiz at the time. "The audience were just like, 'What are you doing?'"

Pop's most recent stage dive reportedly came as recently as last June during a show in The Netherlands.

Iggy's new album, "Every Loser", will arrive on January 6. Pop's 19th solo LP will be his first to be released via the recently announced partnership between Atlantic Records and Gold Tooth Records, the new label founded by the album's Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum executive producer Andrew Watt.

In a new episode of SiriusXM's "Reverse The Verse", NICKELBACK's Chad Kroeger, Ryan Peake and Daniel Adair attempt to identify the band's songs after hearing just ten seconds played backwards. Check out the results below.

During a recent appearance on the "Pat's Soundbytes Unplugged" podcast, NICKELBACK bassist Mike Kroeger called his brother, NICKELBACK frontman Chad Kroeger, "one of the great rock songwriters of our time. I think he belongs in the conversation of the greats of this moment in history and of the last 20 years," he added. "And it's okay [if some people don't give him enough credit]. History will be the ultimate judge. And it's all right.

"We never got into this thing for accolades of our contemporaries or communities or award shows or any stuff like that; that's never really been the motivator for us, to, 'Oh, we've just gotta get out there and win a Grammy,'" he explained.

"This is another opinion. Art is an opinion. We create opinions to put out there and then people have their own opinions about that.

"Every person, I think, interprets a song in a different way, and I think that's kind of the magic of it," Mike added. "You can throw the same song at 10 different people, and you might get 10 different answers about what is it about to them, what does it mean to them, what does it make them feel. I think that's the great part about music."

NICKELBACK's history dates back to 1995 in Hanna, Alberta, where they got their start playing covers in a band called VILLAGE IDIOT, a nod to the small-town nature where they played and grew up. In 1996, Chad, alongside Ryan Peake, made the 10-hour trek west to follow Mike to Vancouver, British Columbia, where the band still resides and continues to make music today.

The band's numerous smash hits, coupled with worldwide sales of over 50 million albums sold, seals their status as one of the top-selling acts of all time and the second best-selling foreign act of the 2000s in the U.S., behind only THE BEATLES. The wildly popular smash hit "How You Remind Me" was named Billboard's "Top Rock Song Of The Decade", which was a contributing factor in the publication's decision to crown NICKELBACK "Top Rock Group Of The Decade" shortly after.

Beyond their Juno Awards, the group has received nine Grammy Award nominations, three American Music Awards, a World Music Award, a People's Choice Award and seven MuchMusic Video Awards. They were inducted into Canada's Walk Of Fame in 2007.

NICKELBACK's tenth studio album, titled "Get Rollin'", was released in November.

Veteran Arizona thrashers FLOTSAM AND JETSAM are hard at work on their 15th album.

The band offered an update on the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for the follow-up to 2021's "Blood In The Water" while sharing a performance clip of the song "Hammerhead", shot at last summer's Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Blgium.
FLOTSAM AND JETSAM wrote: "Metalheads! Here's another live clip from our Summer of 2022 European performances. And yes, before you start asking, we are knee deep into the process for what would be the follow up to 'Blood In The Water'. Are you are bracing for that impact? Because we can assure you it'll shake your core! Meanwhile enjoy this clip and remember, Flotz til Death!"

In June 2022, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM frontman Eric "A.K." Knutson stated about the band's plans for the next LP: "My guitar players, for ['Blood In The Water'], I think they wrote 40 songs and we only put 12 on the record. So we have a lot to choose from. Most of them will be taken apart, pieces stolen out of 'em and stuff like that. But we have enough music to keep going for a long time.

"We're about halfway written with the new record," he stated at the time. "We have a formula going on right now that's really working for us, and we're gonna probably stick to the same formula this time. The last three records have really done some good for us."

"Blood In The Water" was once again mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen (U.D.O., VOLBEAT, AMARANTHE, POWERWOLF).

It's been 37 years since FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, formed in Phoenix, Arizona, released its landmark debut, "Doomsday For The Deceiver", the only album to ever receive a 6K rating from the influential British magazine Kerrang! Bassist Jason Newsted would jump ship to METALLICA while the band released "No Place For Disgrace" in 1988. "Cuatro" (1992),"Drift" (1995),"High" (1997) and "My God" (2001) all still rank extremely high in heavy metal circles. But it was the first part of this unofficial trilogy in 2016's self-titled "Flotsam And Jetsam", followed by the crushing 2019 successor "The End Of Chaos" that a certain rejuvenation and reset was clearly felt.

Metalheads! Here's another live clip from our Summer of 2022 European performances. And yes, before you start asking, we...

Posted by Flotsam and Jetsam on Thursday, January 5, 2023

NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen spoke to Ireland's Overdrive about what it has been like for him and his bandmates to return to the road just weeks after singer Floor Jansen revealed her breast cancer diagnosis. "The first show of this [European tour] leg in Antwerp [Belgium on November 20] was just so emotional for all of us, but especially for Floor," he said. "It all came out during the song 'Sleeping Sun'. She couldn't sing the song towards the end, and she just broke down. It was a positive breakdown, if you know what I mean. It was just a huge release of so much anxiety and pressure that had been building up inside her. It was a culmination of beating cancer, finally do[ing] this tour, and [the fact] that her voice was good enough to do what she loves to do. All of that came out at the same time, and it's been wonderful ever since."

On November 18, Floor revealed that she was "cancer free" after undergoing surgery to have a tumor removed following a breast cancer diagnosis. At the time, she wrote on social media that "the surgery took everything cancerous out and it hasn't spread!"

Jansen went public with her diagnosis in October. At the time, she wrote: "The word cancer is a shocker. All that you found important in life before this diagnosis changes radically within minutes. Now I just want to be healthy again. I want to see my daughter grow into a woman; I want to live! And the scariest part of this diagnosis is that I thought I was healthy! I didn't feel the cancer, I didn't know it was there until I, as a 40+ woman, went to a standard mammogram checkup. Something many countries offer, for free even for the lucky ones. Had I not gone there, the tumor would have gone undetected. In a year from now this could have grown much bigger. The thought of that makes me share this story with you. A mammogram is lifesaving! It's uncomfortable and you might think that you won't have something in your breasts anyway but GO! And for the men reading this: remind your wife, girlfriend, mother, sister to go and get checked. Even without the luxury I as a western woman experience with free mammogram checkups: GO! Luckily, there are many organizations that offer information about self-detection if you do not have access or funds for a mammogram.
If I might inspire you to take good care of yourself, then something good will come out of this cancer diagnosis."

Jansen made her live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon. Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013.

As part of NIGHTWISH, Jansen landed two number one albums in Finland, and Top Five albums in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Born in the Netherlands, Jansen joined her first band, one of the world's first symphonic metal bands, AFTER FOREVER, when she was only 16 years old. The group went on to release five albums from 2000 to 2007, before they broke up in 2009.

Jansen's next band, REVAMP, released two albums in 2010 and 2013, before she joined NIGHTWISH as a full-time member. NIGHTWISH's first album with Jansen as the lead singer was 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", which landed in Top 10s around the world. This was followed by 2020's "Human. :II: Nature." , which was also an international success.

Jansen has toured extensively with the band and appeared on three of NIGHTWISH's live albums "Showtime, Storytime", "Vehicle Of Spirit" and "Decades: Live In Buenos Aires".

In 2019, Jansen participated in the popular Dutch TV show "Beste Zangers" where she scored a big hit with "Phantom Of The Opera" together with Henk Poort. She was recognized with a Dutch Popprijs award — a prestigious accolade for artists that has made important contributions to Dutch music. In the same year, her first solo tour sold out in less than 24 hours.

Floor will release her debut solo album, "Paragon", on March 24. The LP contains "a diverse collection of pop-infused tracks and emotional ballads influenced by the sounds of her career," according to a press release.

NIRVANA and HEART's Ann and Nancy Wilson will be honored with the Recording Academy's 2023 lifetime achievement award. Other honorees include Bobby McFerrin, Ma Rainey, Nile Rodgers and Slick Rick.

The awards will be presented at the Special Merit Awards ceremony, which will return for the first time since 2020 during Grammy Week on February 4, 2023, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.

The lifetime achievement award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's national trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.

"The Academy is proud to celebrate this diverse slate of influential music people spanning numerous genres and crafts as our 2023 Special Merit Awards honorees," said Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. "Each creator on this list has made an impact on our industry — from technical to creative achievements — representing the breadth of music's diverse community. We're excited to celebrate this group of legends next month that continues to inspire and shape the music world."

Formed in 1987 by Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, NIRVANA emerged from the Pacific Northwest onto the world stage with the 1989 release of its debut album "Bleach". Two years later, NIRVANA's sophomore album "Nevermind" would spark a seismic shift in global youth culture. Rising to No. 1 worldwide and featuring Grammy Hall Of Fame single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Nevermind"'s impact would transform Cobain, Novoselic and Dave Grohl into one of the most successful and influential musical entities of all time. NIRVANA's third and ultimately final studio album, "In Utero", was released in 1993, completing an indelible run that returned rock 'n' roll integrity and passion to the top of the charts. With a 2014 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and more than 75 million records sold, NIRVANA continues to be a singular inspiration for generations of fans and musicians the world over.

Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson are being recognized as lifetime achievement award honorees for their creative work with the rock band HEART. HEART was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, sold over 35 million records, garnered four Grammy Award nominations, landed 10 Top 10 albums, received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, had several No. 1 hits, and achieved "the longest span of top 10 albums on the Billboard charts by a female-led band." HEART's influence can be palpably felt everywhere from rock and heavy metal to hip-hop and pop. As a result, their music resonates in nearly every corner of pop culture.

The Recording Academy represents the voices of performers, songwriters, producers, engineers, and all music professionals. Dedicated to ensuring the recording arts remain a thriving part of our shared cultural heritage, the Academy honors music's history while investing in its future through the Grammy Museum, advocates on behalf of music creators, supports music people in times of need through MusiCares, and celebrates artistic excellence through the Grammy Awards — music's only peer-recognized accolade and highest achievement. As the world's leading society of music professionals, we work year-round to foster a more inspiring world for creators.

Finnish one-man dark acoustic prog folk rock band Nobody has released a new EP, Father Of Lies. This four track EP is once again released in cooperation with Inverse Records.


Listen to "Father Of Lies" on steaming services here. 


The man behind Nobody, Tuomas Kauppinen, comments the EP and tracks:




"The Father of Lies violates us every day of our lives, feeding us with hatred and fear, rewarding acquiescence with even more brutality. The further we give in to his reckless demands, the further he will tear our souls apart. He is a psychopathic god who will never stop, unless we say 'no.' And we will say 'no', eventually. It will not be a revolution of guns and bloodshed that will liberate us from his grip, but a revolution of our hearts."


"The Divine Marquis"


Kauppinen: "The marquis de Sade was a deranged bastard, without doubt. He bound up sex workers, whipped them bloody and imprisoned them in his chateau, forcing them to watch as he masturbated on religious icons. But this was not the reason why the status quo locked him up for the greater part of his life. The reason was that de Sade wrote about what the upper classes did in their free time, how they raped and tortured vulnerable people for their pleasure. Napoleon Bonaparte, that pitiful midget who thought he would grow bigger by enslaving Europe, saw de Sade as a threat because he wrote what he saw. And if you think that times have changed, that no longer truth-speakers are persecuted for speaking out, you are fatally mistaken."


"Chain Of Events"


Kauppinen: "Karma means reaction. For every action there is a reaction. Bear that in mind the next time you bitch at a clerk in the supermarket, just because your boss made you feel like shit at work. What are you doing in a workplace that makes you feel like shit anyway?"


"Alliance"


Kauppinen: "Love is impossible to describe. We all want it, but it takes sacrifices beyond what most of us are willing to make. Love easily destroys you, too, if you make too many sacrifices, in the wrong ways. Then love will rot and turn to hate. Every goddamn poet writes about love, but have they taught you anything about it, in the truest sense of the word? If they have, let me know. I still can't describe love."


"House Uphill"


Kauppinen: "My home country is filled with depressed, suicidal and even murderous souls who can't have access to help except in the form of pills that numb their minds, make them fat, deprive them of their sleep, make them impotent, psychotic, incoherent and disagreeable in infinite ways. No real help is available, unless you kill someone or almost kill yourself, at which point it's too little, too late. We are nothing but cattle to the Father of Lies, and he doesn't care about our well-being as long as we keep making him profit. This is the story of one of those animals who never had a chance, was never given a chance, and who was buried among the rest of the discarded livestock, without a flower on their grave to ease their decomposition."



 
Tracklist:


"The Divine Marquis"
"Chain of Events"
"Alliance"
"House Uphill"





Photo - Mikke Strandberg