Cypher16 make their return with "Another High". The video showcases the band's first live show since the pandemic, at Rockfest in Finland, coupled with footage of them recording their second album in Sweden, Denmark and England. Cypher16 would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the process, which ended up stretching from 2018-2022.


Frontman Jack Doolan has this to say about the release: Well, it’s been a LONG time coming! We actually finished this record off in December 2019 at Abbey Road in London with a view to get it out in 2020, and then the world got turned upside down. As a result of the pandemic and various other things that I won’t go into right now, we’ve had some lengthy time away from music and some internal changes take place. We’re so grateful to everyone who continues to be around Cypher16, past and present and right now the vibe is the best it has been for a long time. We had A GREAT trip out in Finland over the summer playing our first show back (Rockfest), so now it’s time to start the engines up again and get on with the job!


“Moving on to address ‘Another High’ - It’s a pretty dark song just touching on some of the personal challenges some of us have faced, and continue to face, every day. We very nearly lost people in Cypher16 over the last couple of years, and it’s safe to say the situation is still pretty dangerous right now. We hope people who struggle can identify with some of the stuff mentioned. Our door is also always open to anyone who wants to get in touch to talk. We all know who, and what, we are,” says Jack Doolan.







The second album It’s A Long Way Back (From This Road) releases in early 2023 via Constant Evolution Records.


(Photo – Linda Florin)

Canadian black metal outfit Wormwitch has released their second standalone single of the year, “Exhumed From Flaming Stars.” A brooding black metal dirge with a driving punk edge, the track is streaming below.





Notes vocalist/bassist Robin Harris of the track, "'Exhumed From Flaming Stars' is an homage to the legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien, namely the tragic tale of Turin Turambar and the fell sword Gurthang, the Iron of Doom..."




Adds guitarist Colby Hink, "This song was the fourth of four tracks recorded this past summer; the other three have yet to surface. We've furthered our foray into live recording, hoping to capture the energy of a live performance on our recordings as much as possible."


Recorded at LRS Studios with engineer Michael Kraushaar and produced by the band, “Exhumed From Flaming Stars” is currently available across all digital download and streaming platforms.





November
15 - Vancouver, BC - Red Room*
16 - Seattle, WA – Funhouse*
17 - Portland, OR - Dante’s*
18 - Sacramento, CA - Café Colonial*
19 – Ventura, CA – Gigi’s
20 – Los Angeles, CA – Charged Noise Fest
21 – San Diego, AC – Brick By Brick
22 – Las Vegas, NV – Backstage Bar
23 – Phoenix, AZ – Underground
25 – Denver, CO – Lost Lake
26 – Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High
27 – Boise, ID – The Shredder


*supporting Bewitcher


(Photo – Lucien Cyr)

Progressive metal band Hollow Hour, hailing from the outskirts of Copenhagen, deliver a curious mixture of heavy, progressive guitars and majestic drum rhythms combined with melodic and catchy choruses. With their modern and distinguishable sound, the young quartet now present their brand new single, "The Canyon". Watch the accompanying music video below.


“'The Canyon' tells a personal story of betrayal. I tried to put into words how much I needed forgiveness in order to process this feeling, which seemed like a never-ending canyon to climb”, vocalist Jonas Larsen explains.


With roots in the small, Danish town Køge, three of the current band members united in 2015, playing club shows and writing demo material under the name Mosaik. With an ambition of solidifying their sound to a broader audience, the quartet changed their name to Hollow Hour. In 2022 the band has been releasing a string of singles while finishing up recording their coming debut EP with producers Claudio Andersen and Chris Kreutzfeldt (Cabal, Møl, Ghost Iris).




The new single "The Canyon", is available on all streaming services.

California sludge veterans, -(16)-, return with their heaviest and most devastating record to date, Into Dust. The new album, a collection of cautionary tales of survival and redemption, is set to an amalgamation of sludge, punk, metal, hardcore, and stoner riffs that could only be built through thirty years of commitment to their dark sonic craft, which -(16)- continues to improve upon.


Today, -(16)- share the third single, "Lane Splitter”, off Into Dust. Watch the full video below:







Into Dust is out November 18 on CD, LP, and digital formats. Find physical pre-orders via Relapse.com here, and digital downloads/streaming services here.





Into Dust trackisting:


"Misfortune Teller"
"Dead Eyes"
"Ash In The Hourglass"
"The Deep"
"Scrape The Rocks"
"Null And Eternal Void"
"The Floor Wins"
"Lane Splitter"
"Never Paid Back"
"Dirt In Your Mouth"
"Dressed Up To Get Messed Up"
"Born On A Barstool"


“Scrape The Rocks” video:





"Misfortune Teller" video:





In conjunction with the release of Into Dust, -(16)- has announced a US headlining tour this November. Main support will be provided by Doc Hammer.





-(16)- lineup:


Bobby Ferry - guitar, vocals
Alex Shuster - lead guitar
Barney Firks - bass
Dion Thurman – drums


(Photo - Chad Kelco)

In the video below from AXS TV, Sammy Hagar heads on down to Cabo San Lucas, where he visits his infamous Cabo Wabo Cantina. There, he takes the stage with bandmates from The Circle - including musicians like Van Halen's Michael Anthony and drummer Jason Bonham - to play "I Can't Drive 55".





Sammy Hagar & The Circle recently released their new album, Crazy Times. In the track-by-track video below, the band discuss the song, "Be Still":




A message from Hagar states: "The kind of singer I am I have to relate to the lyrics that's why I've always written my own lyrics 99% of the time. But when I read these words it was like the song I hadn't written yet I felt that close to the lyrics so the music came easy. I love this song."





Crazy Times is available via UMe on CD/Digital. It will be issued on vinyl on October 28. Order the new album here.





Tracklisting:


"Intro: The Beginning Of The End"
"Slow Drain"
"Feed Your Head"
"Pump It Up"
"Be Still"
"You Get What You Pay For"
"Crazy Times"
"Funky Feng Shui"
"Father Time"
"Childhoods End"
"2120" (bonus track)
"Father Time" - Acoustic Demo (bonus track)


"Father Time" video:





"Funky Feng Shui" video:





"Crazy Times" video:





"Pump It Up" video:

Volbeat have released the Official Bootleg video for “Becoming”, live from Minneapolis. Watch below:





Volbeat previously released Official Bootleg videos for “Wait A Minute My Girl” and "Shotgun Blues", live from San Diego. Watch below:










Volbeat’s Servant Of The Road Tour is underway. Tickets & VIP packages available here.

JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford joined country legend Dolly Parton on stage last night (Saturday, November 5) at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony to perform her classic song "Jolene". Also appearing with them as part of a "super jam" performance were some of the other Rock Hall inductees, including Pat Benatar, Annie Lennox and DURAN DURAN's Simon Le Bon.

Video of the performance can be seen below, courtesy of the YouTube channel Jrodconcerts Media.

Back in February, when PRIEST's third nomination for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was announced, Halford told Billboard that, "I must do a duet with Dolly Parton! … If Lionel [Richie] and PRIEST get in, I think we'll both be dancing on the ceiling together."

Halford had previously revealed he is a huge fan of Dolly, and had planned to take a photo with her at the ceremony.

"I'm going to force her to, even if she doesn't know who I am," he told Metal Crypt in June. "I'm going to see what table she is sitting at. I'm just going to run to the table and do the devil's horns thing. Tongue out, horns up, behind Dolly Parton's head. It's the only way to do it. I can't smile sweetly. I've got to stick my tongue out and my horns up."

Halford told Rolling Stone earlier in the year that he had no issues with Dolly being inducted into the Rock Hall.

"If you look at everyone in the Hall, it makes perfect sense to have Dolly Parton in there," he said. "I think it's just this 'rock and roll' thing. Should it be called the Music Hall Of Fame? I don't know. It started out with rock and roll, and roll and roll is everything and anything. It's just a phraseology."

Rob also talked about the possibility of sharing the stage with Dolly at the end of the night, saying: "I was onstage last weekend with Larry The Cable Guy! [Laughs] It was at Alice Cooper's blast for his great institution the Solid Rock Foundation. If I could stand alongside my buddy Larry and sing 'roll, baby, roll' [from THE DOORS' 'Roadhouse Blues'], I can certainly stand next to Dolly Parton on my left and Lionel Richie on my right."

PRIEST received the Musical Excellence Award at the event, which honored Eminem, Parton, DURAN DURAN, Richie, Benatar, EURYTHMICS and Carly Simon in the Performers category.

Queen recently announced the November 18 release of The Miracle Collector's Edition. 33 years later Queen deliver the long lost original LP cut of the classic 1989 album. The 8-Disc Box Set: Vinyl LP/5CD/DVD/Blu-ray is available for pre-order here.


The band have released a remastered video for "The Invisible Man", as well as a new lyric video for the song, both of which can be viewed below:










Watch Brian May unbox The Miracle Collector's Edition below:





Widely recognized as Queen’s strongest album of the 80’s and one of their most inspired, the 1989 released The Miracle was a global success reaching No. 1 in the UK and several major European markets, even re-establishing the band in the US where it delivered a gold album. Brian May has often cited the title track as his favourite Queen song of all time.


The hugely prolific sessions for The Miracle began in December 1987 and stretched out to March 1989. It was to be one of the most consequential periods in Queen’s history. Fifteen months previously, on August 9, 1986, Queen’s mighty Europe Magic Tour had ended on a high, before an estimated audience of more than 160,000 at Knebworth Park in Britain. As the band left the stage that night – toasting the flagship show of their biggest tour to date – they could hardly have foreseen that Knebworth marked a line in the sand. This would be Queen’s final live show with Freddie and the first in a chain of pivotal moments that would lead towards a lengthy separation for the band.   


It would take 15 months and a radical restructuring of internal band dynamics before Queen regrouped in London’s Townhouse Studios on December 3rd, 1987, to start work on their thirteenth studio album. For the first time, Queen would share songwriting credits equally, regardless of who conceived each song, a consensus of opinion that was to have fertile results. “Splitting the credits was a very important decision for us. We left our egos outside the studio door,” says Brian, “and worked together as a real band – something that wasn’t always the case. I wish we’d done it 15 years before.”


Said Roger: “Decisions are made on artistic merit, so ‘Everybody wrote everything’ is the line, rather than ego or anything else getting in the way. We seem to work together better now than we did before. We’re fairly up-and-down characters. We have different tastes in many ways. We used to have lots of arguments in the studio, but this time we decided to share all the songwriting, which I think was very democratic and a good idea.”


This show of unity was elegantly conveyed by band art director Richard Gray’s cover for The Miracle, which depicts Queen’s four faces merged into one. “The cover art represents the unity of the group at the time: a seamless merging of four people becoming one,” May has said. “We were also dealing with Freddie’s deteriorating health and pulling together to support him.”


While Freddie could no longer tour, Queen remained a band of staggering creative resourcefulness. As John Deacon implied, they instead channelled their live chemistry into the studio: “In the first few weeks of recording we did a lot of live material, a lot of songs, some jamming, and ideas came up.”


‘Party’ and raw rock ‘Khashoggi’s Ship’ “evolved naturally, straight away,” said Freddie. Inspired by something Anita Dobson would say, and later adopted for anti-apartheid protests, the massive ‘I Want It All’ was – though written before the band went into the studio – a forceful expression of Queen’s concert-honed heavy-rock powers. “We were never able to perform this song live with Freddie,” said May. “It would have become something of a staple core of the Queen show, I’m sure, because it was very participative – designed for the audience to sing along to – very anthemic.”


Says Roger: “Lots of the [Miracle] tracks have first-take stuff in them; we tried to preserve that freshness. We tried to capture all the enthusiasm that we had from playing together as a band.”


Queen’s writing also reflected their personal circumstances. The torn-from-the-headlines drama of ‘Scandal’ was May’s personal swipe at the press intrusion into the bandmembers’ respective personal affairs. Singled out by Deacon for praise, Freddie’s soaring album closer, ‘Was It All Worth It’, has in retrospect been interpreted as a reflection on the singer’s health.


One further ingredient in the mix was David Richards, who had worked with Queen since his billing as assistant engineer on Live Killers. After further credits on A Kind of Magic and Live Magic, Richards stepped up to co-produce The Miracle, praised by May for his “whizz kid” technical prowess.


The months in the studio birthed 30-plus songs, more than Queen could possibly need for one album. Ten tracks were selected to form the release, with others later appearing as B-sides or solo tracks, or carried over to the Innuendo and Made in Heaven albums. Five hit singles supported the album.


Says Brian: “We had all these bits and pieces of tracks, and some of them were half-finished, some of them were just an idea, and some of them were nearly finished, and it sort of happened on its own really. There are some tracks which you always want to get out and work on, and so they get finished, and there are some tracks which you think, ‘Oh that’s great, but I don’t really know what to do with it at this moment’, so they naturally get left by the wayside.”


Most of these left-over session tracks remained undisturbed in the Queen archives for the past 33 years.





For the Queen hardcore, meanwhile, one of the most highly anticipated elements of the new box set is The Miracle Sessions CD featuring original takes, demos, and rough takes of the full album plus six additional previously never before heard tracks including two featuring Brian on vocals.


Tantalizing enough that this hour-plus disc offers the first official airing of such near-mythical songs as "Dog With A Bone", "I Guess We’re Falling Out", "You Know You Belong To Me", and the poignant "Face It Alone". Add to that, the trove of sunken treasure spanning from original takes and demos to rough cuts that signpost the album The Miracle would become.


But perhaps the real gemstones of The Miracle Sessions CD are the spoken segments that bookend the musical takes. As the studio tape keeps rolling in London and Montreux, the four members are caught at their most candid, giving listeners the uncanny fly-on-the wall experience of standing amongst Freddie, Brian, John and Roger as they banter, debate, swap jokes and show both joy and occasional frustration.


With the band arriving at the studio with scarce mapped-out material these sessions found Queen at their most inspired and impulsive, and that atmosphere is mirrored in not just the music but the familial exchanges that punctuate it. As Freddie said: “I think it’s the closest we’ve ever been in terms of actually writing together.”


Find complete details here.





Queen recently released the rediscovered track, "Face It Alone", featuring the band's late and legendary frontman, Freddie Mercury. The digital/streaming single is available now, with a 7” single set for release on November 18.


Listen / pre-order here, and watch an official music video below:





Watch a lyric video for "Face It Alone":

Lords of black metal, Imperium Dekadenz, raise darkness from the depths of southwestern Germany’s Black Forest once more and proudly announce their new album, Into Sorrow Evermore, to be unleashed on January 20 via Napalm Records. Immersed in the void, they approach themes of depression, death and desperation, luring the listener into their sorrowful reality of existence. True to the beginnings of the genre, Imperium Dekadenz stick to their roots and leave their own haunting mark on the genre, claiming their rightful place in the upper echelons of black metal.


Today the first single "Memories... A Raging River" is released along with an official video. The song acts as a brutal and atmospheric exclamation mark showcasing Imperium Dekadenz’s unique style. Inspired by the Norwegian second-wave black metal bands of the 90s, the band has developed their own ambient sound with a strong emphasis on melodic structuring in their songwriting that immerses their compositions into grim and desolate soundscapes.


Imperium Dekadenz on "Memories... A Raging River": “A look at a time that left no traces and was irretrievably swept away as if by a raging stream. Brachial guitar lines meet melancholic, filigree melodies, shaken by poignant, touching cries from an endless abyss. Resolutely we step into an approaching darkness.”




Sink into darkness and watch the video for “Memories... A Raging River” below.


On their new album, Imperium Dekadenz continue their unique journey with dark, ambient sounds, luring the listener into suffocating spheres of black metal. Opener and title track “Into Sorrow Evermore” starts off with classic tremolo-picked black metal guitars and hard-hitting drums, building a gloomy atmosphere with the thrilling sound of vocalist Horaz spurring the album’s immersion. “Truth Under Stars” lures with pummelling blast beats accompanied by tragic guitar melodies as deep growls complement them to envelop the signature grim mood of the band. “Aurora” showcases melancholic pianos, accompanied by trudging drums as icy guitars swoon with a distorted but lush melody, building up to a serene guitar solo that cries its sorrows to the sky. The influence of various metal genres can be witnessed in songs like “Elysian Fields” and “Awakened Beyond Dreams”, while in between, “Forest In Gale” ensures characteristic style devices in mid-tempo speed, inducing a shift before delivering drama and dynamics. “November Monument” is a gloomy, slow doom inspired piece with steady drums that march on and guitars delicately plucking chords heavy with emotion, capturing the feeling of the approaching winter when November arrives. Imperium Dekadenz closes the album with "Memories... A Raging River", rightly encompassing all vicious vibes of the album into one final song. The album’s flow mimics life itself, beginning with high energy that slowly fades into melancholy as it lives on.


Imperium Dekadenz state: “In the dark and cold season, in a world that threatens to sink into its rising shadows, our new album ‘Into Sorrow Evermore’ rises from the fog of uncertainty. Melancholic, powerful, poignant, a reflection of the isolation and upheaval of recent years, but also a shadowy dream of what may come. Once again, we are happy to share our world and fill hearts. Into the darkness we strive, guided by our dreams, driven by the relentless time!”





Into Sorrow Evermore will be available in the following formats:


- Wooden Box Edition: 6 Page Digisleeve, Bonus Demo CD “Promo 2005”, Coverflag, Pendant, Patch (limited to 300 worldwide)
- 2 LP Gatefold White (limited to 300 worldwide)
- Tape Edition - GREY with gold print (limited to 100 worldwide)
- 2 LP Gatefold BLACK
- 6 Page Digisleeve
- 6 Page Digisleeve & Shirt
- Full Digital Album


Pre-order here.





Tracklisting:


"Into Sorrow Evermore"
"Truth Under Stars"
"Aurora"
"Elysian Fields"
"Forests in Gale"
"Awakened Beyond Dreams"
"November Monument"
"Memories... A Raging River"


"Memories... A Raging River" video:





Lineup:


Vespasian - Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keyboards
Horaz - Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals


(Photo - Benedikt Walter)

Extreme metal pioneers, Venom Inc., performed at the 2022 edition of the Bloodstock Open Air festival. Watch professionally-filmed footage of the band performing "Black Metal", "To Hell And Back", And "Buried Alive" below:





Watch "Teacher's Pet", "At War With Satan" and "Sacrifice" from the same show below:













Venom Inc. recently released their new album, There’s Only Black, via Nuclear Blast. Almost 40 years after their inception, the revitalized 1989 - 1992 Venom lineup of guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn and vocalist/bassist Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan, and the new addition of drummer Jeramie 'Warmachine' Kling have returned with one hell of a follow-up to their acclaimed debut, Avé, and show no signs of slowing down.


Order/save the new album here.





Tracklisting:


"How Many Can Die"
"Infinitum"
"Come To Me"
"There's Only Black"
"Tyrant"
"Don't Feed Me Your Lies"
"Man As God"
"Burn Liar Burn"
"Nine"
"Rampant"
"The Dance"
"Inferno"


"There’s Only Black" lyric video:





"Come To Me" lyric video:





"Don't Feed Me Your Lies" lyric video:





"How Many Can Die" lyric video:

In a new interview with SiriusXM's "That Eric Alper's Show", JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford spoke about how becoming the first metal icon to announce he is gay in 1998 during an MTV interview served as an inspiration to fans who were struggling with similar emotions.

"You know, I've become a dad," Halford laughed (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I am a dad. My kids… Glenn [Tipton, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist] always used to call the fans the kids; he still [does]. I'm, like, 'Glenn, they're as old as we are.' He goes, 'No. They're still kids, because we are all kids at heart.' It's important to find that child inside of you, to keep that nurtured.

"You become a dad," Rob continued. "You go to your dad about stuff. And I love that. That suddenly happened when I started to connect on social media. 'Cause I come from a place where that didn't even exist, folks… So, all of that great stuff started to happen. And then it's the Spider-Man thing: 'With blah blah responsibility comes blah blah.' And you have to take it very seriously, because words used incorrectly can be terribly destructive and hurtful and painful. So you really need to get into this philosophy, if it is at all possible, and it is — think before you speak; think before you tweet; think.

"We're all running on emotions, more now than ever. 'Cause the place I live in now in 2022 is nothing like the place I lived in in the '50 and the '60s. So this business of talking about sexual identity, talking about bullying, mental health and anti-Semitism and anything that is dark and destructive and painful, we all need somebody to be able to reach out to, and that's what we should do.

"That's what happens when you're in this beautifully blessed place, whether you're a musician or a sports personality or a movie star or whatever, these things come to you, and you have to be able to be ready to deal with them," Rob added. "You can't push it away; you can't push away these important questions. So I welcome them, and I do as much as I can to let that 14-, 15-. 16-year-old, 50-year-old person that is in the closet or going through a transgender transformation, whatever… First and foremost, it's your life. You live by your own rules; don't let anybody tell you how to live your life. A simple statement like that to somebody that's hurting can be very useful. Because you're in a ball in a corner; you can't let anything in, you can't let anything out. But if it's somebody that you admire because of their music or because of their basketball talent, you can listen to them.

"This is the great thing about music. When we were kids, we hated our mom and dad and school and friends and blah blah blah, but we loved our music. Our music was our only friend. Our music spoke to us. Our music was the one tangible emotion that we could relate to, and we could say, 'Yeah, that song is about me.' Or, 'I know how that song feels like.'"

Halford is promoting his new book, "Biblical: Rob Halford's Heavy Metal Scriptures", which arrived on November 1 via Hachette Books. In the follow-up to his 2020 autobiography "Confess", Halford runs his lively eye over all facets of the hard rock history and the heavy metal world via bite-sized reflections, opinions, and memories in scores and scores of areas, all linked by a biblical theme.

Several months ago, Halford publicly revealed that he battled prostate cancer during the pandemic. He previously mentioned his cancer battle in the new chapter added to the updated paperback edition of "Confess". In "Confess", Halford revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer after experiencing symptoms for at least a couple of years.

In July 2020, Rob underwent prostatectomy, an operation where the entire prostate gland is removed plus some of the tissue around it, including the seminal vesicles. After more cancer was found last year, he went through radiation treatments in April and May 2021 and eventually got then all-clear in June 2021. He also had an appendectomy after a tumor was discovered on his appendix.

"Confess" arrived in September 2020 via Hachette Books. Co-written with Ian Gittins, the book offered readers a compelling, heartfelt and honest look at the struggles Rob has faced with addiction and his sexuality as well as exploring his music and his many brushes with controversy.

Christian rockers STRYPER were forced to perform their concert Saturday night (November 5) in West Hollywood, California with two battery-powered practice amps, one snare drum and three members of the band singing a cappella after power went out at the legendary Whisky A Go Go club.

On Sunday (November 6),STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet took to his social media to share a photo from the venue, and he included the following message: "Well, that was a first!

"The power went out on Sunset last night 30 minutes before our set and we went out on @thewhiskyagogo stage and rocked with 2 battery powered practice amps, 1 snare drum and 3 acapella vocals to a second night, sold out crowd!

"You can't stop The Rock.

"The power came back on 30 minutes after our set.

"What an amazing night and we love you all!!!

"It was one for the books……

"The light always shines in the dark".

Last month, Michael once again claimed that STRYPER was never a "Christian" band despite the fact that the lyrics in a number of STRYPER songs explicitly point to Christ. During an interview with Effect Radio, the 59-year-old guitarist/vocalist, who is STRYPER's primary songwriter, explained: "Everybody knows where I stand on that term, 'Christian rock.' I've never really understood that term. We're a rock band comprised of Christians. We are Christians, we are believers, we have a deep faith and we're so honored to be able to tour the world and share that with people. And it's such a blessing. God has really blessed the band over the years. And we're looking at almost 40 years. And it's pretty amazing that the band is still thriving and still doing really well. We just performed to two sellout crowds in Costa Rica and Colombia, and whenever I go out on the stage and I see that, I'm in awe. I mean, I'm just thinking to myself, 'How is this possible? This is amazing.' And that's a God thing. It's incredible."

He added: "With the term 'Christian rock band,' a lot of people who aren't Christians aren't going to come see you — they're not gonna come see you. So, isn't that what we're here to do, is to reach people that aren't Christians? So why would you wanna limit yourself by saying 'we're a Christian rock band.' It's not to discredit what we stand for, who we stand for. We are firm believers in Christ and we're so proud to stand for Christ."

Even though STRYPER's third album, 1986's "To Hell With The Devil", made Sweet and his bandmates the first contemporary Christian act to score a platinum album, the group has often felt unwelcome in Christian circles, with some members of the church feeling that Christianity and heavy metal are incompatible.

"STRYPER was certainly not the norm," Sweet told Effect Radio. "We broke down all barriers… You can look at a video of us performing at the Dove Awards [which honors outstanding achievements and excellence in Christian and gospel music] in 1986, and I'll never forget the look on some of the people's faces when we performed. It was that deer-in-the-headlights look.

"I don't even know what's going on with STRYPER. All I know is God's used us and continues to use us in a powerful way to reach those that need to be reached. And that's all that concerns me. And we're gonna keep doing it until God tells us to stop."

In a 2018 interview with the Detroit Free Press, Michael said that STRYPER was never fully embraced by the heavy metal and hard rock communities, largely because of the band's Christian lyrics.

"We've never been accepted by either side," he said. "The secular side, the mainstream, they've never accepted us to this day. We're probably that band that everyone's going to go to whenever there's a time to mock. We'll be the band used for that in most cases. Now on the Christian side, we've never really had the full support of the Christian side because we don't fit into their little club. We're not wearing suits and ties and going to every church and preaching."

Formed 39 years ago, STRYPER's name comes from Isaiah 53:5, which states: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

STRYPER's albums include "To Hell With The Devil", "Second Coming", "No More Hell To Pay", "Fallen", "God Damn Evil", "Even The Devil Believes" and the band's latest effort, "The Final Battle".

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michael Sweet (@michaelsweetstryper)

In a new interview with Michael's Record Collection, legendary drummer Carmine Appice, best known for his work with VANILLA FUDGE, CACTUS and Rod Stewart, spoke about his diminished touring schedule as he approaches his 76th birthday. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We [in VANILLA FUDGE] don't do big tours anymore 'cause nobody wants to do a big tour anymore. Nobody wants to sit in a bus. We wanna go out, do three dates in close ratio, split a van and we fly to the gig, 150 miles, 200 miles, we're in there for three or four hours and we do the gig. And we go to a hotel and do it the next day. And then third day, fourth day, we go home. Then two weekends later we do the same thing.

"I'm friends with IRON MAIDEN, with Nicko [McBrain, MAIDEN drummer]," he continued. "He left his house in Florida in April. He's coming home next week. He's been on tour the whole time, rehearsing and on tour. We're too old for that. I talked to [guitarist] Mick Mars, who's been touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE. He just gave up his seat in touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE. And John 5 is gonna tour with them. He said, 'Man, we did our final tour [seven years ago]. Now we're out again doing this major tour with DEF LEPPARD.' And he said, 'I don't wanna do it no more. I'm sick of being in a bus.' He said he's gonna do a solo album and go out and do some gigs. I said, 'Look, if you need anyone to play drums, I'll play with you.' He goes, 'That would be great.' So maybe I'll do some gigs with him. But it's not gonna be big tours. It'll be a weekend maybe somewhere and then go home. Two weekends later maybe a weekend and go home."

Mars announced last month that he was retiring from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE due to his ongoing painful struggle with Ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the spine joints and ligaments and can lead to stiffness over time.

The 71-year-old Mars has struggled with Ankylosing spondylitis since his late teens and spoke about his first experiences with it in CRÜE's 2001 biography "The Dirt".

"My hips started hurting so bad every time I turned my body that it felt like someone was igniting fireworks in my bones," he said. "I didn't have enough money to see a doctor, so I just kept hoping that I could do what I usually do: will it away, through the power of my mind. But it kept getting worse. Then, one afternoon while doing my laundry. I started having trouble breathing. At first, it felt like someone had plunged a knife into my back. But as the weeks passed, the pain kept moving around my back. Next, my stomach started burning, and I worried that my whole body was about to fall apart. I thought that there was a hole in my stomach, and acids were leaking out and destroying my bones and organs. I'd grab hold of doorknobs, anchor my legs into the ground, and pull with my hands to stretch my back and ease the pressure out."

Mick told Metal Sludge in 2008 that his condition had worsened in the later decades and that he stopped playing guitar for almost two years. "Nowadays, it's not so bad, but back then when I was high on all that stuff and MÖTLEY were having a break, I knew if I didn't stop, I was gonna die. In the end, I had to go to a neuro-psychiatrist to straighten me up, and he said to me, 'Just hold the guitar for an hour a day — don't play it, just hold it.' It was pretty bizarre but I got through it, and in the end, I think I'm actually a better player because of it."

This past April, Paul Taylor, well known as an accomplished guitarist/keyboardist who has worked with countless artists as a composer and musician over the decades, most famously with WINGER, revealed during an appearance on the "Sonic Dorms" podcast that he spent "the last couple of years" collaborating with Mars on the CRÜE guitarist's long-awaited solo album.

"I wrote most of the record with Mick and [Alabama musician] Jacob Bunton, who sang with [former GUNS N' ROSES drummer] Steve Adler," Paul said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "Me and Jacob have written a lot of stuff for TV together. I'm really excited to have that come out, and that, I think, is gonna be towards the end of the year."

Taylor went on to say that he was impressed with Mick's skills as a guitarist and a songwriter.

"Mick is so awesome, and just the endless cool things he comes up with and the palette of sounds," he said. "There's days I just go, 'Is that guitar? Is that you doing all that?' [It's been] really fun. I'm very excited about that."

According to Taylor, he worked with Mars and Bunton on Mick's solo album "for a good year and a half. And Mick doesn't really want me to say too much about it," he explained. "But he said it's okay just to say it's a heavy record — it's definitely heavy — and it very versatile. I feel really lucky that I got to sit and work with him and turn these things into songs. I think it's gonna blow some people away. It's really cool."

Mars has been working on his solo disc — on and off — for at least the past six years. Some of the early sessions for the LP were helmed by recently retired producer Michael Wagener (OZZY OSBOURNE, ACCEPT, WARRANT, SKID ROW) at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, where Mars has lived for about nine years.

Two years ago, Bunton revealed that he was the lead singer on Mars's solo album. Speaking to AL.com, Bunton, who has previously also played with LYNAM, said about his collaboration with Mars: "I can tell you that I'm involved and the past several months we wrote and recorded a record and Michael Wagener produced it. The great Michael Wagener from [mixing 1986 METALLICA album] 'Master Of Puppets' and all that kind of stuff. He worked with MÖTLEY CRÜE on their very first record 'Too Fast For Love', when they did it themselves they recorded the record and then Michael Wagener mixed, and then when they got the record deal with Elektra, [QUEEN producer] Roy Thomas Baker ended up going back and remixing it. But on all of their self-released copies, it's Michael. But to make a long story short, Michael's producing the record because that was the first producer Mick worked with in MÖTLEY CRÜE, so he wanted to do his solo album, so it's been really cool. We've been recording it in Nashville and we're almost done."

Regarding what fans can expect from Mars's solo CD, Bunton said: "The songs are really cool, the record is really cool. He's such an inventive player and his riffs are insane and it's definitely going to be what people are expecting. When they hear it … It's really cool."

In September 2019, Mick told Billboard about the musical direction of his solo material: "[It's] not like today's music, which to me is pretty much pop metal and more growly guys. It's all cool and it's all good, and I'm just searching for something that's just a little different than that. I [also] don't want to be living in '85. It's hard to reinvent yourself, but that's what I'm doing now. I'm trying to reinvent the way that I approach music writing. I've got a lot of crap, and I've got a lot of good stuff too."

At the time of the Billboard interview, Mars said that he had been working with a vocalist named Jacob, leading some fans to speculate that he was referring to Bunton. "[He] can be a lot of different voices, and it's pretty amazing," Mick said. "I go, 'I want this kind of voice here,' and he'll pull it straight off."

In a separate interview with "Talking Metal", Mars said that his debut solo record will not sound like anybody else. "Well, I guess it's my own style," he said. "It isn't really blues. My playing has a blues element to it, of course, but it isn't what you would call a blues record. It's more of a heavier rock thing, but I don't wanna even try to 'outheavy' the heavies, you know what I mean? It's just something hopefully just a little different than what's going on now. You're not gonna hear a MÖTLEY-flavored song, except for the guitar, [because] that's me. They're gonna be a bit harder than that, but not as hard as the heavies, like MINISTRY and some of those guys."

Last December, former MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi said that he didn't know if the songs he recorded with Mars six years ago will make it to the MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist's solo LP.

Back in 2016, Mars released snippets of two solo songs, apparently called "Gimme Blood" and "Shake The Cage". The tracks, which were recorded at the aforementioned Blackbird Studio, featured Corabi, who appeared on CRÜE's 1994 self-titled album. Corabi later said that he didn't contribute to the writing process for the two songs, but that he was open to collaborating with Mars on some brand new material.

In August 2021, KORN drummer Ray Luzier confirmed that he is a featured guest on Mars's solo album.

METALLICA celebrated the life, legacy, and achievements of Megaforce Records founder Jon "Jonny Z" Zazula and his wife Marsha Zazula with a special show last night (Sunday, November 6) in Hollywood, Florida.

The show, which took place at the 7,000-seat-capacity Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, saw the Bay Area metal legends play songs exclusively from their first two albums, 1983's "Kill 'Em All" and 1984's "Ride The Lightning", both of which were originally released on Megaforce. Support at the gig came from British/American metallers RAVEN, who were also originally signed to Megaforce.

METALLICA's setlist was as follows:

01. Creeping Death
02. Ride The Lightning
03. Motorbreath
04. No Remorse
05. Trapped Under Ice
06. The Call Of Ktulu
07. Phantom Lord
08. Am I Evil?
09. Metal Militia
10. For Whom The Bell Tolls
11. Whiplash
12. Fade To Black
13. Seek & Destroy

Encore:

14. Fight Fire With Fire
15. Bliztkrieg
16. Hit The Lights

When the concert was first announced in September, METALLICA said in a statement: "Jonny gave us our first break in New York, released our first albums on his Megaforce Records label, and put us out on the road for our first real tour. With Marsha by his side, Jonny was a mentor, a manager, a label head, and a father figure to us all.... we would not be where we are today without the two of them. Sadly, we recently lost both Jonny and Marsha, just a little more than a year apart.

"We'll be cooking up a special setlist for you full of songs from our days with Jonny and Marsha at Megaforce. Our main touring partner from that time, RAVEN, will be joining us to add to the celebration and bring back the memories."

A portion of the proceeds from this show are being donated in Jonny and Marsha's name to MusiCares, a safety net supporting the health and welfare of the music community offering preventive, emergency, and recovery programs to musicians and industry professionals. Additionally, All Within My Hands once again supported Feeding South Florida with a donation following the show.

Jonny Z died in February at the age of 69. Jonny died of complications of the rare neuropathic disorder chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP),chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and osteopenia, his family said. Marsha passed away of cancer in January of last year.

Megaforce is widely credited for launching the career of METALLICA by releasing the band's first two albums, 1983's "Kill 'Em All" and 1984's "Ride The Lightning", before METALLICA landed a major label deal with Elektra. Megaforce's roster has also included such artists as ANTHRAX, TESTAMENT, OVERKILL, Ace Frehley, MINISTRY, KING'S X, STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH and RAVEN.

Born in 1952, Jonny began his extraordinary journey as a renegade youth who went from living on the streets of the Bronx in New York City, to later working on Wall Street, and eventually (and unexpectedly) transitioning into the music business and discovering METALLICA, ANTHRAX and others.

After Wall Street, Jonny Z began selling records at a flea market store in 1981 to put food on the table for his family. Dubbed Rock N' Roll Heaven, the store eventually blossomed into a major record store that influenced the heavy metal movement as we know it today. In the winter of 1982, Jonny Z received an unexpected demo tape from unsigned underground band called METALLICA. Eager and determined to have the music heard by the entire world, Jonny and Marsha founded Megaforce the following year and released "Kill 'Em All". Through this release, Megaforce cemented its position as the de-facto music label in America for heavy metal.

Jon's acclaimed autobiography, "Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived By Jon Zazula", was released in October 2019. The book tells the story of how the Zazulas ended up signing a band that shaped the sound of heavy metal for decades to come.

"It's all a blessing when you work hard and you stay smart and you go into the game and then eventually something comes your way and you're ready for it. And you're able to jump upon it and ride it," Jonny told Variety. "We were very fortunate, Marsha and I, that we have them to choose as a band that became the biggest band in the world. Not to mention a bunch of other great bands that made history."

FIREWIND guitarist Gus G. has released a new video message in which he offered an update on the band's plans for the coming months. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "FIREWIND is returning next year, and we are working on music. We're working on new songs. There will be a new album in 2023. We're writing songs right now. We're in pre-production mode and songwriting mode. And the new material is killer; it's coming together really nice. And we start the year off with a massive European and U.K. tour. We're playing 42 shows all over Europe and U.K. We're gonna be special guests of BEAST IN BLACK. They're an amazing band. They're blowing up right now. And they're taking us out on tour with them… It's gonna be an amazing show… So, yeah, we start the year off with a massive tour. New music is gonna follow. And we're gonna get to the rest of the parts of the world within the year."

FIREWIND's ninth, self-titled studio album was made available in May 2020.

In early 2020, FIREWIND officially parted ways with guitarist/keyboardist Bob Katsionis and singer Henning Basse. The group's current vocalist is Herbie Langhans, who has previously played with AVANTASIA and SINBREED.

Gus and Langhans got to know each other back in the autumn of 2019, when the FIREWIND leader was looking for a suitable replacement for Henning Basse after the tour with QUEENSRŸCHE. Just a few weeks later, the recordings for "Firewind" were a done deal, ready for Swedish sound engineer Tobias Lindell (EUROPE, AVATAR, H.E.A.T.) to mix them in Lindell Audio Studios.

Gus spoke about the evolution of FIREWIND's sound in a 2020 interview with Audio Ink Radio. He said: "Like every band, we go through our different phases. Especially for us, having quite a few different singers in the lineup in the past, each guy brought a different vibe and different things to the band. I think on this record, you'll hear elements from all our past records, especially with our new singer, Herbie, because he reminds me a lot of Stephen Fredrick, our first singer. But this album also has a lot of variety, and that might remind fans of albums like [2006's] 'Allegiance' and [2008's] 'The Premonition'. But then again, we're not trying to be retro or nostalgic or copy those albums. We're moving towards the future. The way I see it, there's always a new song to write. Every album, I try to make better songs, play better guitar, try different tempos, write in different keys. There's always things you can experiment with in the studio."

Former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST and current TRIPTYKON singer, guitarist and main songwriter Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom Gabriel Warrior) has weighed in on the news that PANTERA's surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass) will unite with guitarist Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

Anselmo and Brown, along with Wylde and Benante, will headline a number of major festivals across North America, South America and Europe and stage some of their own headline concerts.

According to Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of the band's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, as well as Brown, who last year said Wylde wouldn't tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It's unclear what changed his mind.

Fischer discussed his views on PANTERA's comeback in a recent interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I do understand it. The music was a milestone, and it has changed a lot of people's lives. And by now, of course, a lot of people are too young to have seen the original PANTERA. And I also understand that if you have been in a band, like I have been in CELTIC FROST, after a while you really would like to play this music again, and I'm not even talking about commercial reasons, because for the musician too, it shapes your life; it's a part of your personality."

He continued: "I know, of course, where the controversy lies, but I don't really know how they bill this tour. As long as it's not billed as a reunion, I think it's perfect. If they say it's a tribute tour, I don't have a problem with it. If they say it's a reunion, of course it's more problematic, because how can you reunite? So I think it's down to how they are advertising it and how they are communicating."

PANTERA will play its first shows in over 20 years in December 2022, starting with a co-headlining slot at Mexico's Hell & Heaven Metal Fest and Monterrey Metal Fest, followed by appearances at three Knotfest festivals in South America. There will also be a one-off show with JUDAS PRIEST in São Paulo, Brazil and a headlining concert in Santiago.

Next year, PANTERA will appear at Germany's Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park, two simultaneous rock festivals, which will take place June 2-4 in Nürburgring and Nürnberg, respectively.

Confirmed PANTERA shows so far:

Dec. 02 - Texicoco, Mexico - Hell & Heaven Metal Fest
Dec. 06 - Monterrey, Mexico – Monterrey Metal Fest
Dec. 09 - Bogotá, Colombia – Knotfest Colombia
Dec. 11 - Santiago, Chile - Knotfest Chile
Dec. 12 - Santiago, Chile - Movistar Arena
Dec. 15 - São Paulo, Brazil – Vibra São Paulo (with JUDAS PRIEST)
Dec. 18 - São Paulo, Brazil – Knotfest Brazil
Jun. 2-4 - Nürburgring, Germany - Rock Am Ring
Jun. 2-4 - Nürnberg, Germany - Rock Im Park

Benante told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about how he plans to approach the PANTERA gig: "I can't go do this as the drummer from ANTHRAX because it would be a different sound completely. So the way I'm gonna do that is if you close your eyes, it's gonna sound like it's Vinnie, basically. And that's how it's gonna be. The sound is gonna sound exactly like him."

Wylde said that he had a similar mindset. "You approach it the same way as you do when I'm playing with Ozzy," he said. "Obviously I've gotta learn [Randy] Rhoads's stuff and I've gotta learn Jake's [E. Lee] stuff, and when I was doing the [BLACK] SABBATH stuff, you learn it and do it as faithful as you can. Charlie's gotta learn all of Vinnie's parts. You approach it as if you're in a cover band. When we do the ZAKK SABBATH stuff," referring to his BLACK SABBATH cover band, "I don't start changing lyrics midway through 'War Pigs'. You learn the songs — so that's what you do."

A year ago, Anselmo said that he was up for reuniting with Brown for a special tour celebrating the music of PANTERA. The 54-year-old singer, who has spent the past few years playing a PANTERA-centric set with his solo band, THE ILLEGALS, discussed the possibility of re-teaming with his former PANTERA bandmate during an interview with Brazil's Inside With Paulo Baron. Asked if he and Rex would be open to playing some shows in celebration of PANTERA's legacy, Anselmo said: "If Rex and I had a show to play, or we were ever gonna be on stage again together, I would welcome it with open arms. I love Rex. And he'd be the same way. We're brothers forever. So playing on stage together, or doing some shows together, is not out of the question. It could happen."

In April 2021, Rex told Eonmusic that he and Philip still get offers for a PANTERA tribute tour. "But if you don't have the other guys in the band, it's not going to sound the same," he said. "If we were ever to do something like that, it would have to be spot-on, or I wouldn't do it. It would be a tribute."

Talk about a possible PANTERA "reunion" intensified when Anselmo regularly joined Wylde's BLACK LABEL SOCIETY to perform PANTERA's song "I'm Broken" during DOWN's 2014 stint on the "Revolver Golden Gods Tour". That buzz only got stronger after Brown joined the jam on May 23, 2014 when the tour swung through Texas.

Up until his passing, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. When PANTERA broke up in 2003, they formed DAMAGEPLAN. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

PANTERA is managed by Scott McGhee of 1 Degree Music Entertainment. The band's legal representative is Nick Ferrara And Associates. PANTERA is booked internationally by Rod MacSween at ITB. Artist Group International will book PANTERA's North American dates, with Dennis Arfa and Peter Pappalardo as the responsible agents.

“It’s the ultimate ragga-rocking, dancehall-shaking, dutty-winding, head-banging, horn-waving creation… yes party people the ’Dreds dem back!” – Benji Webbe / Skindred
 
Next year, Skindred – one of the UK’s most exciting live acts – celebrate their 25th anniversary with the release of their brand new album, Smile, their eighth long-player and their first for Earache Records, with whom they signed a global four-album deal last year.
 
Ahead of that comes the first single to be taken from Smile, the floor-quaking sonic blast that is "Gimme That Boom". A hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners, ragga-metal anthem, the song deals with the selfish entitlement that’s become so prevalent in this age of instant gratification, based on a frustrating encounter lead singer Benji Webbe had with an overfamiliar fan.
 
“I was out shopping one day and I could hear someone building up asking me for a picture,” the frontman recalls. “The person didn’t care who I was with or what I was doing - they just wanted their picture. In this day and age, people want you and they expect to get you on tap, constantly giving you that ‘boom’ so they can get their Instagram likes up. It’s important to remember that people can't give you that ‘boom’ all the time. People think because they follow you on social media, they own you.”





Featuring a technicolour video, shot in the neon-lit wonderland that is God’s Own Junkyard in East London, "Gimme That Boom" is an incessant earworm which gives Skindred’s legions of fans a first full flavour of what to expect from the upcoming album. The band did however tease another new track from it in their astounding set at Download Festival earlier this year when they debuted the pop-reggae masterpiece that is "L.O.V.E (Smile Please)" and saw tens of thousands of rock fans skanking with delight in the sunshine.
 
These two sides of the album, ranging from joy to rage and love to fury, suggest that Smile is going to be hailed as the band’s masterpiece; an album that brings together all facets of Skindred’s music – from reggae to metal, rock to pop, dub to electro – into the most mind-expanding and potent collection of songs, designed to melt stereos around the world when it’s released next summer.




Pre-order the new album here.
 
Skindred are currently on a massive European arena tour as special guests of Volbeat. The tour rolls into the UK and Ireland in December with dates as follows:
 
December
12 – 3Arena - Dublin
15 – OVO Hydro - Glasgow
16 – First Direct Arena - Leeds
17 – Cardiff International Arena - Cardiff
19 – Motorpoint Arena - Nottingham
20 – OVO Arena - Wembley


 


Skindred have also just been announced as next year’s headliners of both Dominion Festival in Durham May 7th and Takedown Festival in Portsmouth April 8th, 2023. For more details go to this location.

Canadian rock band Toque, featuring Todd Kerns and Brent Fitz - both of whom play in Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators - along with Cory Churko (Shania Twain) and Shane Gaalaas (Michael Schneker Group), has shared a video for their new single, "Can't Stop It".










In live news, Toque will be performing aboard the 2023 Monsters Of Rock Cruise, which sails April 29th to May 4th, going from Port Canaveral, Florida to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic to the Private Isle of Labadee. Other bands confirmed for the boat include: Tesla, Extreme, Faster Pussycat, Great White, Junkyard, Stryper, Tora Tora, and Winger, to name but a few.





For further details, visit MonstersOfRockCruise.com.


 

After MØL released their second studio album, Diorama, in November last year, the guys from Denmark are back today with their new Instrumental version of the album. Diorama (Instrumental) is available on all digital platforms and as a special vinyl edition to celebrate the anniversary of Diorama’s original release date. The band also release a brand new full guitar playthrough video for "Itinerary", which can be viewed below.


Nicolai comments: “We are very excited to present the instrumental version of “Diorama” to our fans. A lot of work and creativity goes into making our sound. That is why we feel that the music deserves a release of its own where it is possible to immerse yourself entirely in the soundscapes.”


Pre-order/stream Diorama (Instrumental) here.







Tracklist:


"Fraktur"
"Photophobic"
"Serf"
"Vestige"
"Redacted"
"Itinerari"
"Tvesind"
"Diorama"





Lineup:


Nicolai Busse Bladt - Guitar
Ken Lund Klejs - Drums
Holger Frost - Bass
Frederik Lippert - Guitar
Kim Song Sternkopf - Vocals


(Photo - Cornelius Qvist)

Frontiers Music Srl recently announced the signing of Spanish progressive metallers, After Lapse, to the label for the release of their upcoming album, Face The Storm, on December 9. The band's melodic progressive metal approach will surely be music to the ears of discerning prog fans around the world.


The release of the title track follows their first single and video, "Come Undone". Watch the music video for "Face The Storm" below.


After Lapse was initially formed in 2018  by drummer Roberto Cappa, keyboardist Pablo Sancha, and guitarist Arturo Rodríguez who had all previously played together in the band Delyriüm for many years. After a few member changes in the early years of the band, After Lapse settled into their current lineup in 2021 and soon after caught the attention of the Danish agency/management firm Intromental Management, who immediately signed on to represent the band upon hearing the demos the band had recorded at that time.




Over the course of 2021 and well into 2022, After Lapse kept writing and recording music for what would become their debut album, Face The Storm. When Frontiers Music Srl was passed demos that the band was working on from their management company, they were thrilled with what they heard and moved quickly to sign the band for the release of their debut.


After Lapse's musical influences vary from progressive metal bands  like Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Pain Of   Salvation, Haken, etc. to power metal bands like Kamelot, Angra, etc., but they are also their own entity unto themselves and not  merely the sum of their influences. But those influences do speak to  the categorization of the band as 'melodic prog metal' and gives fans a good clue as to what to expect from debut album Face The Storm.





Face The Storm tracklisting:


"Thrive
"Where No One Cares"
"Come Undone"
"Face The Storm"
"Beyond The End"
"The Lie"
"Through This War"
"More"
"Facta Non Verba"
"Heal"
"Along The Way"


"Face The Storm" video:





"Come Undone" video:





Lineup:


Rubén Miranda – Vocals
Jorge Escudero – Guitars
Pablo Sancha – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Javier Palacios – Bass
Roberto Cappa – Drums


Guest musicians:


Pedro J. Monge (Vhäldemar) – guitar solos in “Where No One Cares”
Carlos Lozano (Persefone) – guitar solo in “More”Alicia Avilés
Valero – cello in “Along The Way”

GWAR performed "Berserker Mode", from their latest release, The New Dark Ages, during their performance at the 2022 edition of Bloodstock Open Air festival. Watch professionally-filmed footage below:





During their recent tour, the band featured many new album tracks in their live set, including fan favourite "The Cutter", a heavy metal burner featuring a special guest appearance from Halestorm lead vocalist and undercover Scumdog, Lzzy Hale. GWAR recently released their music video for the track, directed by MyGoodEye.




Of the video, GWAR frontman Blothar had the following to say: “Lzzy Hale is wonderfully talented. Few realize she is also an undercover Scumdog who came to Earth with the rest of GWAR aeons ago under her true name Clitaurus Maximus of the Maximus clan. We are delighted to have her voice and image on this work of absolute genius.”


Lzzy Hale herself said the following about her alliance with the almighty GWAR; “I, Clitaurus Maximus The She Bull… hereby declare, 'The Cutter' as my FIRST feature in a MOTHERFUCKING GWAR SONG! Thank you so much to these interplanetary warriors for the much-appreciated bloodletting, and for giving this lil’ beast the opportunity to rear her three ugly heads!”


Get your first look at the bloody spectacle of "The Cutter" below:

THREE DAYS GRACE has shared the official music video for "I Am The Weapon". The song is taken from the Canadian band's latest album, "Explosions", which arrived on May 6 via RCA Records.

THREE DAYS GRACE drummer and keyboardist Neil Sanderson told the Toronto Star the title of the album refers to the crackling tension simmering in our souls.

"This whole record, there was definitely a common thread going through it of everybody having that boiling point inside of them," he explained. "It's not necessarily a boiling point out of anger and frustration, but it's … the need to express yourself and be yourself, and to say what you want and do what you want.

"[The] 'Explosions' [title track] represents that boiling point of something ticking inside of you that's going to come out and explode. I don't know if that's always the best option, if it turns into something that's destructive — and then a song like 'So-Called Life' contemplates the fact that you're at that point and either you are going to explode or you're going to find something to take the edge off, fill that void, distract you or kind of calm you down, whatever that is."

Regarding how he and his bandmates were affected by the pandemic, Sanderson said: "In some ways, we got fairly lucky. We toured so much in 2018-2019, just constantly — we did a lot of stuff in Europe and Russia — and we decided that we were going to take 2020 off of touring. Obviously, it ran into 2021 and, by that time, we had figured out some different techniques to collaborate remotely. So we were able to do a pretty good job of efficiently co-writing over the Internet."

The multiplatinum record-breaking band from Ontario, Canada has amassed billions of streams and millions of album sales, sold out arenas on multiple continents, and reached unprecedented heights, earning a staggering 17 total No. 1 entries on the Mediabase Active Rock chart and sharing the record for most #1 singles on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart with 16. The band's veritable arsenal of No. 1 hits includes "Chalk Outline", "The High Road", "Misery Loves My Company", "World So Cold", "Good Life", "Break", "Never Too Late", "Animal I Have Become", "Pain", "Just Like You" and "Home".

According to Dirt, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx has bought a new home in Southern California. The 63-year-old musician and his wife Courtney $6.9 million for a property in Lake Sherwood, an unincorporated community in the Santa Monica Mountains, in Ventura County, overlooking Lake Sherwood reservoir.

The 8,000-square-foot five-bedroom, six-bathroom house was built in 2001 and includes an attached four-car garage.

Check out pictures of the home at Dirt.

Nikki and his wife maintain a primary residence in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The couple sold a mansion in Westlake Village last year for $5.2 million.

In October 2020, Sixx spoke to the 95.5 KLOS radio station about his family's decision to move to Wyoming. Nikki said that the least populous U.S. state is filled with "no-B.S. type of people." He explained: "Everybody is extremely outdoors-driven — fishing, hunting, hiking, going on the river, going up the lake. Everyone's extremely healthy. And there's no entertainment business here, so you're not dealing with any of that kind of stuff — you're just dealing with blue-collar people. I relate to it 'cause I came from Idaho in the '70s, which it's 40 minutes to Idaho from where we live. And it's a lot of the same environment. I go back, I go on the road, I still see these beautiful cities, but as far as being a musician and a painter and a person who writes books, I felt it was maybe time, and a better place to raise my daughter."

Sixx's comments echoed those he made a month earlier when he told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about what it has been like to live away from Los Angeles for the first time in decades: "It's great for the creativity. I feel like all kinds of ideas are just floating around the air. Kind of like Keith Richards said — he said he's never written a song; he just plays guitar all the time, and then the song just shows up. And that's kind of what it's like for me up here in Wyoming. I'm just writing, and stuff's turning into a book and stuff's turning into songs. And you don't know where it's going, and that's really exciting."

He continued: "I feel like being back in Los Angeles, everything is about business: When is the deadline? When do the rehearsals start? When does the tour start? When? When? When? And I'm, like, that's great — I understand — but I kind of need to step back and just let some creative juices flow. I don't know. Maybe I don't have any more songs in me; maybe I do. [There's] only one way to find out, and that's to be in a place that's not so chaotic."

Last month, it was announced that MÖTLEY CRÜE and DEF LEPPARD will go global in 2023 with their co-headline "The World Tour". Produced by Live Nation, the trek will kick off on February 18, 2023 at Foro Sol in Mexico City and include stops throughout Latin America before heading to Europe in May 2023.

Photo courtesy of Jason Shaltz / SiriusXM
Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx has bought a mansion tucked away in the hills of Lake Sherwood. For more photos and info: https://t.co/q50umCEr6wpic.twitter.com/7213MUujQz

— Dirt (@DirtDotCom) November 7, 2022

Next month will mark 38 years since the life-altering accident suffered by DEF LEPPARD drummer Rick Allen in which he lost his left arm in an auto accident in England. Allen had to relearn how to play drums and drum manufacturer Simmons worked with him to build a kit. The band stuck with Allen through the difficult time and the drummer persevered through an accident that would have ended most people's careers.

Allen spoke about the incident during a recent interview with Page Six. He said: "I really didn't want to be here and I felt very defeated. A lot of my peers, a lot of fans, my family … a lot of encouragement, they all tried to help lift me up and then finally I got it. I got to a point where I realized I can do this … It wasn't until after the fact that I discovered the power of the human spirit and that’s what really propelled me to where I am now."

In a 2020 interview with Modern Drummer, Allen said that he "wanted to disappear" when he came around in the hospital and realized what had happened to him after the accident. "I didn't wanna do this anymore," he said. "And then I started getting these letters from all over the world… I got encouragement from everywhere — from my family, from the guys [in the band], from people all over the world. And I don't know what happened, but I discovered the power of the human spirit and just said, 'You know what? I can do this.' It was really a collective thing. It was all this encouragement I was getting from other people, and then it just manifested in wanting to succeed. And that's exactly where it came from."

Rick also talked about the support he received from his bandmates in DEF LEPPARD who stuck by him through his recovery and waited patiently for his return.

"They left the decision to me, whether I wanted to go on or not, and they gave me time to grow and develop, really, a whole new style [of playing]," Allen said. "And that's all I needed — I just needed the time. I needed the time to build my confidence and realize that I could do it. Nobody ever said, 'Well, you have to make a decision now.' I think that was the most important thing — just that time that they gave me just to find myself."

After visiting the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2006, Allen dedicated himself to helping war veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of sustaining injuries similar to his own.

Allen told ABC News in 2012: "I didn't know what my life would be like after that terrible day. It was the darkest time in my life… My desire is to encourage a support system for warriors, de-stigmatize PTSD, share their stories and offers alternative ways to pave the road to resiliency and health."

Last month, it was announced that DEF LEPPARD and MÖTLEY CRÜE will go global in 2023 with their co-headline "The World Tour". Produced by Live Nation, the trek will kick off on February 18, 2023 at Foro Sol in Mexico City and include stops throughout Latin America before heading to Europe in May 2023.

Norwegian hard rock band TNT has officially reunited with American singer Tony Harnell. The 60-year-old musician, was born in San Diego, grew up in California and moved to New York when he was 16, will rejoin forces with guitarist Ronni LeTekrø and drummer Morten "Diesel" Dahl on stage in 2023 for select live appearances, including the Tons Of Rock festival in Oslo the weekend of June 22-25.

Earlier today (Tuesday, November 8),Tony, Diesel and Ronni released the following statement via social media: "TNT are back! More than 40 years after it all started we're very happy to announce that 2023 will be an explosive year as brothers in rock Tony Harnell, Diesel Dahl and Ronni LeTekrø once again are gathering forces on stage. We are even more happy to tell everyone that our first show announcement for next year is Tons of Rock Festival in Oslo, the weekend of June 22nd-25th. Tickets on sale Friday this week.

"More news to follow!

"Can't wait to see you all on the road next year!"

This past March, Le Tekrø confirmed to the "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" that he had been in touch with Harnell about a renewed collaboration. Speaking about the group's status, Ronni said: "I've started writing new material, and I'm currently having good talks with Tony and the whole band. We have very much communication. And it's been 40 years [since TNT's formation]. But we're trying to bring the band back together and hopefully make one last tour of Europe and maybe America… I think we might wanna end the TNT chapter with dignity and do one last tour."

In April 2021, Harnell, who has been in and out of TNT several times throughout its four-decade existence, told "The Chuck Shute Podcast" that he didn't rule out returning to the band. "Ronni and I, contrary to popular belief, we talk often," he said. "Ronni's not a big technology guy, but he really loves FaceTime video. And it's kind of annoying, because I love him, but he'll call me early in the morning, 'cause he's overseas, so he'll call me early in the morning [for a] video chat, and I'm, like, in bed. But I love the guy. Whatever happens, we'll be on a beach someplace when we're in our 70s, laughing and hanging out.

"Most of the things that pushed us apart — again, contrary to popular belief — are business related," he continued. "I'll just leave it at that.

"'Never say never' is a good way to put it [regarding a possible new TNT album]. And there might be a time and a place."

Harnell's most recent split with TNT took place in October 2017, less than a year and a half after he rejoined the group. He later described his relationship with TNT in an "Unphiltered" interview as "a very long marriage. I'm here [in New York], they're there [in Norway] — they're across the pond really far away. It's a very difficult situation to be in without having a very unified business organization, and no matter what I did, I could not get the thing unified. We were just on two totally separate not only continents physically, but mentally, psychologically, we were on two different continents as well."

Harnell said that he "really, really wanted" his latest collaboration with TNT to work out. "In my opinion, this was gonna be it — we were gonna stay together until I didn't feel like singing anymore," he said. 'I was gonna do other things and do other projects and so forth, but my goal was that TNT would be my band for at least another five years, maybe 10 years or whatever, until it ran its course. So this was kind of an unexpected thing."

In a 2019 interview with "80's Glam Metalcast", Le Tekrø said that he was still on good terms with Harnell. "Definitely," he said. "We talk regularly and we're even discussing making a kind of Page/Plant album, a Harnell/Le Tekrø album, which could maybe lead into something in the future. But I think me and Tony Harnell — I'm speaking not on behalf of him, but on behalf of myself — we need a different playground to do more extensive hard rock with other ideas, whereas TNT is more limited to a [specific] sound. You see what I mean? So, we're definitely buddies, and that will last forever. We don't hate each other, and we never did. That was never the [case]."

TNT's latest studio album, "XIII", came out in June 2018 via Frontiers Music Srl. The band's thirteenth LP was TNT's first to feature vocalist Baol Bardot Bulsara, who replaced Harnell. Baol is a Spanish singer whose debut with TNT happened in front of 8,000 fans in November 2017 when the band opened for German hard rock legends the SCORPIONS in Oslo, Norway.

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A new dawn begins for Creeper. Following their sold-out one-off "When The Sun Comes" show at London's Roundhouse on Friday, the band now shares their brand new single, "Ghost Brigade". Listen here, and below.





The track represents the band's first release under a new deal with Spinefarm, home to Bullet For My Valentine and While She Sleeps. This new era sees Creeper set to build upon the chart success of their critically-acclaimed second album, Sex, Death & The Infinite Void, which debuted at #5 when it was released in 2020.




"Ghost Brigade" finds Creeper uniting their musical roots of full throttle punk and hardcore into one fiery statement of intent before unleashing an instantly anthemic, sing-your-heart-out chorus.


The track was produced by Tom Dalgety (Ghost, Royal Blood, The Damned, Pixies). The "When The Sun Comes" show represented the closing act of the present narrative of Creeper and ended on a shocking note with the apparent decapitation of Will Gould — a big, theatrical moment that continued the tradition of their infamous "final" show at KOKO back in 2018. The night starts with sets from special guests Bad Nerves and Zetra.





Creeper recently announced that they will headline a stage at next summer's Slam Dunk Festival. In the meantime, they are set to begin an Australian tour next week, headlining Stay Gold in Melbourne before playing four shows as special guests to Enter Shikari.

Sammy Hagar has once again weighed in on the proposed all-star VAN HALEN tribute concert, saying it would be "fantastic" to play with Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony again.

No progress has been reported on a possible VAN HALEN tribute show since April when former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted revealed to The Palm Beach Post that he was approached by the VAN HALEN drummer about six months earlier about playing bass for the project. Newsted told the Florida newspaper that he agreed to go to California to jam with Alex and legendary guitarist Joe Satriani and see if it felt right, but he eventually realized that it would be impossible to do justice to VAN HALEN's legacy.

During an appearance earlier today (Wednesday, November 2) on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Hagar was asked if there have been further developments about a VAN HALEN tribute concert in recent weeks. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "As far as I know, [there has been] nothing. There was that talk everybody heard about Jason being the bass player and Joe Satriani playing guitar and Alex and all that. Then I got the call from the management, I got the call from Irving Azoff, [who] said, 'Hey, you wanna do, you and Mike and Al with a superstar guitar player?' I said, 'I'll do anything with Al and Mike and play music with people, but it's not gonna be VAN HALEN. There is no VAN HALEN; I don't care what anyone says. Wolfie is VAN HALEN, okay?" he said, referencing Eddie's son Wolfgang, who replaced Michael in VAN HALEN back in 2007. "And he doesn't wanna be the VAN HALEN copy band. I don't blame him; he's doing a great job on his own stuff, and it's very cool when he jams a little bit here and there. He's VAN HALEN, and if he wanted to play guitar with Al and Mikey and myself, I would love to do that. That would be just one time for the big time. Not like, 'Okay, let's go out and tour the world and make records.' No, no, no, no. There is no VAN HALEN, but to play with Al and Mike and a great guitar player for some event — almost like the event that [FOO FIGHTERS leader] Dave Grohl put on for Taylor [Hawkins], something like that would be fantastic. But other than that, no."

When interviewer Eddie Trunk brought up Wolfgang's recent interview in which Van Halen heavily hinted that David Lee Roth is the hold-up in realizing an Eddie Van Halen tribute concert, Sammy said: "It ain't just one guy. Alex Van Halen and I don't talk. I reached out to Alex. I'm gonna tell you right now — I reached out to Alex again recently. Mikey had a sad thing happen in his family, and I reached out to Al, and he wouldn't return my call or my e-mail. And so I said, 'You know what? Fuck it. It's not on the top of my list, my agenda. I think Eddie deserves, definitely, a tribute… And the whole world would show up and the whole world would do it.

"I don't know why people put it on Roth," Sammy continued. "I don't talk to Dave. And if he did it, he'd wanna do it without me. I'm sure that's part of the dysfunction that Wolfie's talking about. I'll make a statement that I don't know is true or not, but what do you wanna bet that he goes, 'I will only do it if Hagar's not there.' And if that were the case, that's typical Roth, and that's part of the dysfunction. It's not like he controls it; it's just [that] he doesn't play well with others. And like I said, if Alex came to me and wanted to do it, I'm in. Absolutely — let's go [and] do it somehow. But Alex has got a stick up his ass about something with me still, and he's gonna take it to his grave, I guess. [I made peace with Eddie before he died but] I don't think I made peace with Al. And I don't think I'm going to unless he reaches back out to me. I've done it about five times now."

Hagar clarified: "I'm not trying to start a feud between the two of us. But I love the guy, and I love VAN HALEN, what we did together… Al is the most stubborn Taurus. He's a Taurus, and he's the most stubborn Taurus. Tauruses are known for [being] stubborn. He's a Dutch Taurus, and he is the most stubborn, hard-headed guy you'll ever meet in your life. And he is tough to [break] down and to let go. Nope — he's holding on to something. And I just wish he wasn't like that. I love the guy. Like I've said a million times, Alex and I actually got along better than Ed and I at times. Through the hard times, Alex and I still got along. But I don't know what happened. Somebody poisoned him. Somebody told him something. Maybe he still doesn't like my book, which was the most honest thing I've ever done in my life. Some people just don't think that that should have been done."

Hagar mended his relationship with Eddie Van Halen months prior to the legendary VAN HALEN guitarist's October 2020 passing.

Hagar replaced Roth in VAN HALEN in 1985 and recorded four studio albums with the band — "5150", "OU812", "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" and "Balance" — all of which topped the U.S. chart.

Sammy, Eddie, Alex and Michael last teamed up in 2004 for a U.S. summer tour. In exchange for taking part in the tour, Anthony reportedly had to agree to take a pay cut and sign away his rights to the band name and logo.

In his autobiography, "Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock", Hagar slammed Eddie, saying the guitarist was unkempt, hunched over, frighteningly skinny, drinking wine straight out of a bottle, missing part of his tongue (after a cancer scare) and several teeth. He told an interviewer in 2012: "What happened on that reunion tour in '04 was some of the most miserable, back-stabbing dark crap I've ever been involved with my whole life."

In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Eddie questioned an "embellished" portion of "Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock" that painted the guitarist as a "very angry drunk" during the group's 2004 reunion tour.

ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello has released the official music video for the title track of his debut solo EP, "Then I'm Gone". Issued as a deluxe gatefold split 12-inch via Rare Bird, the EP contains three songs alongside excerpts from his 2021 autobiography, read by the author and accompanied by additional new music.

Bello performs all instruments (except drums) on "Then I'm Gone", "It Won't Be Long" and "See Me Now", as well as the score accompanying the narrated pieces, each selected and read from the book released with Rare Bird last year, "Fathers, Brothers, And Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, And Anthrax".

Like the book, the songs on "Then I'm Gone" are intimate, revealing, and powerful.

"I revisited some really dark times in my life when I was writing my book, and writing these songs was the result of reliving them," explains Bello, who appears on every ANTHRAX release since 1985. "Music has always been a great outlet for me as a coping mechanism. I felt it was a good time to put out these songs for people who connected with the book and maybe some who haven't yet. Thanks for listening!"

A cornerstone of the legendary "Big Four" of metal alongside METALLICA, MEGADETH and SLAYER, ANTHRAX has sold over ten million albums, traveled the globe countless times, and collaborated with a diverse list of creative icons, including PUBLIC ENEMY, Keanu Reeves and the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. "Fathers, Brothers, And Sons" details the tragedy and triumph of the music industry and Bello's intense personal life.

Last fall, Bello told the "Highway 81 Revisited" podcast that he had "written some music" that he "didn't know what" he was going to do with. "'Cause after going through this cathartic thing with the book, it opened up a lot of things in my mind," he explained ."So I started writing during it, and it was really helpful with the book. So I've recorded these songs in a studio and all that — I have some great musicians on it. And yeah, eventually I'm gonna release some solo stuff. And if people like the ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE thing that I did with [former MEGADETH bassist] David Ellefson, it's probably like a continuation of that; it could be on those records. So it's kind of like a continuation of that. And I look forward to putting it out at the right time."

"Then I'm Gone" arrived on November 4.

Track listing:

Side A:

01. Then I'm Gone
02. It Won't Be Long
03. See Me Now

Side B:

01. First Kiss
02. Compass Point
03. See Me Now (Revisited)

Born and raised in the Bronx, Bello started playing when he was 12, learning bass parts on guitar; idolizing bass heroes such as Geddy Lee, Steve Harris and Geezer Butler; and frequently jamming with his uncle, ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante. Bello joined ANTHRAX in time for 1985's "Spreading The Disease" album, and fans loved his high-energy stage presence and deftly inventive bass style. Since that time, ANTHRAX quickly reached the upper echelons of metal stardom with a series of classic punk/speed metal albums fueled by Bello's ferociously riffing bass work. On stage and off, Bello is a veritable bass ambassador who doesn't pull any musical punches.

ANTHRAX is working on material for its next studio album, tentatively due in 2023. The follow-up to 2016's "For All Kings" will be ANTHRAX's third full-length release since the 2010 return of singer Joey Belladonna, who came back into the fold for the "Big Four" shows with METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH, in the process helping inspire a new wave of creativity.

LA-based alternative rock collective Beauty In Chaos presents their surprise single - "Bloodletting". This is a dark, spooky New Orleans-infused rendition of the Concrete Blonde track, featuring BIC vocalists Whitney Tai, Kat Leon and Tish Ciravolo in a nod to the original song.  


More than just a slight sonic departure from their previous releases, this track has BIC curator Michael Ciravolo taking the lead vocal, highlighting his New Orleans drawl, front and center. Ciravolo has also enlisted saxophone extraordinaire Mars Williams of The Psychedelic Furs to add some amazing jazz inspired avant-garde vibes to this incredible song.







“I always loved this song, as Johnette’s lyrics painted an eerily realistic picture of my hometown. On a recent trip there, I found myself walking through some dark side streets in the French Quarter with my BIC producer Michael Rozon and the freaky sights and sounds had this song ringing in my head. I heard a saxophone wailing from a distant club and that inspired this cover idea. Fortunately for me, my friends Tim Palmer and Richard Fortus had just produced the latest Furs album and kindly made an introduction to Mars. I’ve always loved what he plays with one of my favorite bands and he thankfully agreed to be part of this,” says Michael Ciravolo. 


Ciravolo adds: “Well, this video is certainly very different from our most recent single ‘Afterlife'. We wanted a very tongue-in-cheek (or would that be fangs-in-neck?) mix of Eyes Wide Shut and Lost Boys… focusing more on a loosely-based storyline than just a simple band performance with it all being in good campy fun!”