Bloodclot, the New York hardcore/metal outfit led by iconic vocalist, author, and triathlete, John “Bloodclot” Joseph (formerly of Cro-Mags), will release its third LP, Souls, through Upstate Records in December. Today, the record’s second single, “War Castles”, is released.


The convergence of long-running NYHC icons culminating on Souls shows Bloodclot delivering its heaviest and most detrimental record yet. The recording lineup sees John Joseph here joined by guitarist Tom Capone (ex-Quicksand, Beyond, Bold), bassist Craig Setari (Sick Of It All, ex-Youth Of Today, Agnostic Front), and drummer Darren Morgenthaler (Maximum Penalty, ex-Madball).
 
Souls is dedicated to longtime friend and bandmate, Todd Youth. The album was produced by Laz Pina of Ill Niño, recorded by Johnny “Pyro” Lafuentes, except for the cover of Bad Brains’ “How Low Can A Punk Get?” which was recorded at Found Soundation NYC, mixed by Kyle McAulay, the bass for the song tracked by Manuel Carrero. The record was mixed and mastered by Chriss Collier (Korn, Prong, Whitesnake) and its layout/design handled by Kim Cangemi and Darren Morgenthaler.


With the new Souls single “War Castles, John Joseph writes, "The song is a metaphor. There have been countless wars for profit over the decades - all carefully orchestrated and planned by the 'so-called' elite. The men with crooked minds who hide behind the curtain. The media are their knights in shining armor doing their dirty work. And we are treated as serfs. It's also about the other war going on. Their war for the minds of the masses, for total control, in particular, of the youth. Poisoning them with so much garbage - and the indoctrination begins early on. As the lyrics state, ‘Mainstream manipulation slaughters the youth, twisting reality away from the truth. Rolling over souls just for their goals, maniacs man the technology controls.’ They control the machines. They control the narratives. They do not care who is affected, injured or killed, because they don't value human life. Now we see global tensions rising. There is even talk of nuclear weapons being used. NYC is running tv spots on how to survive a nuclear event. You don't survive; you fucking die."




Listen to "War Castles" below.


Additionally, Bloodclot confirms that Christian Olde Wolbers (ex-Fear Factory) has joined the lineup for the band’s next album, which will be recorded shortly and released in 2023.


Upstate Records will release Bloodclot’s Souls LP on December 16, on limited edition Black And White Splatter 12” vinyl, CD, and on all digital streaming services. Find digital preorders at Bandcamp and watch for physical/merch pre-orders to be posted on November 4.





Tracklisting:


“Souls”
“Unhinged”
“War Castles”
“Save The Robots”
“Infectious”
“Relentless”
“How Low Can A Punk Get?” (Bad Brains cover)


“War Castles”:





“Souls” video:





(Photo – Steven J. Messina)

Detroit, MI-based rock band, Artificial Agent, have released an official lyric video for "Down And Out", a track featured on the band's new album, Pop Culture Disruptor, out now. Watch the clip below.


Who usurped the king? Who toppled the crown from his head? Social climbers, elbow rub-bers, schmoozers & opportunists. But the pretender had no heart, only slick packaging... Now the rightful ruler has defiantly, and definitively spoken; and his mouthpiece is Artificial Agent!


Taking aim at the bubblegum despot with their Pop Culture Disruptor, an angry and vengeful declaration of independence. The artful riffs and driving rhythms, captivate you. The relentless drum beats hunt you down, and trample you. Jagged and intense guitar solos make even the "air-guitarist's" fingers bleed. The vocals throat-wrenching at times, like an angry prayer, yet vulnerable and contemplative: both sonnet and apocalypse.




Trashy at times, Bratty at others, expect down-to-earth grass roots heavy metal rock-n-roll (wear your steel-toe boots while mowing). Surly and rebellious lyrics make this the score to your documentary of burning your boss in effigy!


Beating at 90 miles an hour, Artificial Agent's heart of rusted metal hemorrhages oil and spews acrid fumes. Pop Culture Disruptor will hit you in the face like a tennis racquet strung with barbed-wire if you don't bend the knee. Here's your warning.





Tracklisting:


"Pop Culture Disruptor"
"Down And Out"
"Off The Deep End"
"Headed For Disaster"
"No One Lies To Me"
"Do Or Die"
"Don't Breathe"
"Tight Rope"


"Down And Out" lyric video:





Lineup:


Derek Jendza - Lead Vocals
Mike Elgert - All Guitars and Vocals
Brad Jendza - Bass Guitar and Vocals
Karl Crafton - Drums

LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe, who has admitted to fantasizing about retiring from the band in the past, once again spoke about his post-LAMB OF GOD future in a new interview with Metal Hammer magazine. He said: "I haven't seen that exit ramp yet. That's very specific to LAMB OF GOD too — not to music in general, as I plan on making music for as long as I possibly can. But nobody needs to see 70-year-old Randy Blythe up onstage jumping around and yelling 'this is a motherfucking invitation."

The 51-year-old Richmond, Virginia-based musician continued: "I'm such a physical performer; that's what it is for me. Total physical immersion in our music. I don't know how long I'll be able to do that. I know for a fact that, unless something horrible happens, if we make it to 2025, that'll be 30 years of the band. I gotta make it to 30 years, and I think my body can take that."

Blythe, who published his first book, "Dark Days: A Memoir", in 2015, previously discussed his retirement from LAMB OF GOD during a 2016 appearance on "The MetalSucks Podcast". At the time he said: "I think I'm a better writer than I am a musician. And I'm not gonna be in LAMB OF GOD when I'm 70 years old. But hopefully I'll still be writing books."

He continued: "I will bet you every penny in my bank account that you will not see a 60-year-old Randy hopping around, screaming 'walk me in hell.' Fuck that. That's not gonna happen… It's not gonna happen. God, that would be atrocious. No one needs to witness that.

"Can you imagine me at 60? I'm skinny enough as it is. By then I'll have a little gut. I'll look like a toothpick that swallowed a bowling ball, probably bald… My throat will probably fall out if I do that by then."

In 2015, Blythe told Revolver magazine that he didn't think it was possible for him and his LAMB OF GOD bandmates to play extreme music into their 60s.

"I'm not going to be doing this when I'm fucking 60 — no fucking way," he said. "We're not THE [ROLLING] STONES."

He added: "I'm always going to be doing music, but not something quite so aggressive, I'm sure.

"I don't think LAMB OF GOD ever has to break up," he clarified. "I think we can, like, gracefully move out to pasture."

"Dark Days: A Memoir" focused on Randy's ordeal in a Czech Republic prison and his subsequent acquittal.

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

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

In July 2021, Blythe said in an Instagram post that he was about to begin writing his second book. Earlier this month, he described the upcoming non-fiction tome as an inspirational memoir "about different perspectives from other people that I've tried to incorporate into my own life and take something from."

Country-pop superstar Carrie Underwood performed a cover version of GUNS N' ROSES' "Welcome To The Jungle" at the kick-off show of her "Denim & Rhinestones" tour on Saturday night (October 15) in Greenville, South Carolina. Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

A little over three months ago, Underwood joined GUNS N' ROSES on stage during the band's concert at London, England's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Underwood made a surprise appearance toward the end of GUNS N' ROSES' main set, performing "Sweet Child O' Mine" with Axl Rose and his bandmates. She later returned to the stage during the encore to sing "Paradise City".

This past April, Rose joined Underwood on stage at the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, California to perform the same two songs. At the time, Carrie called the collaboration "the greatest night of my life."

Back in 2015, Underwood told E! in an interview with she really wanted to sing with Rose at some point in her life. She said: "I've covered enough GUNS N' ROSES stuff, and it was people like him who taught me how to sing."

"I look at people like him and Freddie Mercury, those people who were doing all these crazy runs. It was so different," Underwood added.

In 2013, Underwood delivered a faithful cover of "Paradise City" at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville.

Two years ago, while promoting her book "Find Your Path: Honor Your Body, Fuel Your Soul, And Get Strong With The Fit 52 Life", Underwood appeared on an episode of "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon" and talked about flying to Las Vegas to see her favorite band GUNS N' ROSES and called it "one of the best nights" of her life.

"We were nowhere near Las Vegas, so naturally I said, 'Let's go to Las Vegas with the band and go see GN'R play,'" Underwood shared with Fallon. "It's kind of a life-long dream of mine I never thought would happen. Couldn't waste that opportunity, so I abandoned my husband, abandoned my children, went to Vegas, and saw GUNS N' ROSES. Amazing."

She continued: "Usually, when I go to concerts, I'm like, in a box on the side, which is great — it has its perks, there's usually a bathroom in there, it's kind of awesome,' she explained. "But you miss the energy of the crowd. Because we were in Vegas, we were just in there with everyone else, it was absolutely incredible. You could feel everybody, everybody was screamin', I was screamin' — I was, like, 'I'm never gonna see none of these people ever again, I'm gonna act like a fool!. It was amazing."

Following that show, Underwood actually met Rose backstage. "It's hard to meet your heroes, because I do consider him someone who taught me how to sing," she said. "But he was super cool and great and nice and we talked. We're best friends."

Carrie said in a 2014 interview that late QUEEN frontman Freddie Mercury was high on her list of first loves.

"I've always been a huge fan and lover of Freddie Mercury," she said. "I would listen to him when I was a kid. He could do so many amazing things with his voice. People like that — who had incredible voices — I was always drawn to. I would want to try to do what they do. They were my teachers."

She also said that if you scrolled through her iPod, you’d find some really hard rock music, like MUDVAYNE.

"When I work out, I like to listen to things that are really angry," she said. "I couldn't do it on a daily basis or driving in my car. I think that would be kind of weird."

Ellefson-Soto have released a lyric video for "S.T.N.", featured on their debut album, Vacation In The Underworld. Watch below.


ROAR! Rock Of Angels Records recently announced that the debut album, Vacation In The Underworld, by the living metal legends Ellefson-Soto will be released in Europe on November 11 under the exclusive license of Rat Pak Records.


In a partnership that has been years in the making, Grammy Award winning bassist David Ellefson and acclaimed metal vocalist Jeff Scott Soto have joined forces for an all-new collaboration, Ellefson-Soto. The band follows the tradition of successful individuals that joined forces to create memorable music: David Coverdale & Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi & Glenn Hughes, Tommy Shaw & Jack Blades, Michael Sweet & George Lynch to name a few examples. The metal duo is joined by Andy Martongelli on guitar and keys and Paulo Caridi on drums to unleash their debut album, Vacation In The Underworld. The album features eleven tracks and three bonus recordings (four on the EU release) that demonstrate why Ellefson-Soto is considered legends by many in the metal world.




Vacation In The Underwold will be released in Europe on November 11 as jewel case CD and on December 16 as Transparent Green 180g Vinyl edition that is limited to 300. Both versions come with the exclusive EU bonus track. Pre-order here.


Vacation In The Underworld, available outside of Europe on October 7, was produced by Chris Collier and can be pre-ordered here.


From the fiery guitar lead of the album opener “Vacation In The Underworld” to the prog-metal fury of closer “Rise To Win,” Ellefson-Soto have created a debut that is sure to capture metal fans from all over the globe. Combining different styles of metal, songs like “Sharpen The Sword,” “The Revolution” and “Live To Die Another Day” showcase the various influences Ellefson-Soto have picked up over their four decades in music. Jade Etro from the Italian power metal band Frozen Crown makes a guest appearance on “The Day Before Tomorrow.” Steve Conley and Ken Mary from Flotsam and Jetsam perform on the title track “Vacation In The Underworld.”  





Vacation In The Underworld tracklisting:


"Vacation In The Underworld"
"Like A Bullet"
"Sharpen The Sword"
"The Reason"
"S.T.N."
"The Revolution"
"Celebrity Trash"
"Live To Die Another Day"
"The Day Before Tomorrow"
"Hercules"
"Rise To Win"
"Out Of The Blue" (Bonus Track)
"Lone Star" (Bonus Track)
"Writing On The Wall" (Bonus Track)
"I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" (Bonus Track, only available in EU version)


"S.T.N." lyric video:





“The Reason” lyric video:





“Like A Bullet” video:





"Vacation In The Underworld" video:

In a new interview with Tulsa Music Stream, GREAT WHITE guitarist Mark Kendall was asked if Brett Carlisle, who fronted the band for its performance on September 24 at the Cannery Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, has officially been named GREAT WHITE's new vocalist. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, yeah. We're talking about it. We're talking to him. We haven't made any big announcements yet. But as much as we love Andrew [Freeman, who was named GREAT WHITE's new singer in May] and respect him — and I still do respect him — he's just loyal to his band [LAST IN LINE]. And with our brand, we can't really have a singer that's in multiple bands; it just doesn't work. It's not really good for our brand. It makes it hard to schedule things when somebody else is busy doing something else. So we're more into somebody that sings great, is totally dedicated, loyal to us, loves to be in the band.

"We did a show with Brett, and it was world news," Mark continued. "And I didn't even wanna do the show. We auditioned, like, three singers, just to do one show. So it's extra work; you've gotta see if somebody can pull it off. And he sounded the best. A friend of ours turned us on to him. He's in a band called ALL OR NOTHING [out of Birmingham, Alabama]; I think they do maybe covers. I don't know a lot about it. But anyways, so I didn't even wanna do the show. They talked me into it. I heard his voice. He sang on a couple of our songs, put vocals on a tape. And I go, 'Well, he sounds closer than anybody so far. So, okay.' So we went and rehearsed in Las Vegas. And I was real nervous about doing the show; I [thought], 'This could be career ending.' And sure enough, it was completely the opposite. It was world news. There was press in Italy, the U.K., Germany, the U.S.A. A lot of the online magazines that normally are just dirt-seeking and they just want to pull dirt out of everything and just kind of bag on everybody, really, even they had good things to say. So he just nailed our songs. People loved him at the gig itself; not just the press. And he's a wonderful guy. He's 25 years old, so quite a bit younger than us. But he's very humble. He really loves the idea of being in the band, and he really throws down on stage. I was really surprised about that. And he asked a lot of questions. He's just a good guy."

Kendall also addressed Freeman's recent Facebook comment that the singer "wouldn't give a fuck if" GREAT WHITE threatened to fire him over his touring commitments with LAST IN LINE. Mark said: "That's okay. I still have respect for him because of his loyalty to his band. There's gotta be something to say about that. If he made a comment that was kind of rude, I'm sure it was just to kind of save face or something. He's a great guy, and man, he can sing too. He was a joy to be around. I was really sad that he did multiple projects.

"If we were a different situation that we were used to just having random singers every gig… It's just too much work to do that, because when somebody has to cancel a show, then we've gotta audition people," Kendall added. "And we don't wanna go out there with a different singer every time. But I thought Andrew was really gonna work out, and then, all of a sudden [LAST IN LINE] get this tour. And then I don't know what's gonna happen in the future. We were really in a tough spot. And we're really happy that things worked out with Brett, 'cause he's dynamite, man."

Asked about GREAT WHITE's approach when making changes in the singer department, Mark said: "I'd like to say that we always kind of settled. People would just get the songs close, and we'd go, 'It's probably not gonna get better than that.' Then there was… I won't go into any details because I have nothing bad to say about any of [the singers we've worked with in the past], but there were some other issues, like things that today, to me, are… We're so past any kind of ego trips or whatever; we're just happy to wake up in the morning and start a new day and say, 'Woah. Everything's great.' That's good enough for us. And try to make the best music we can. But when there's some kind of a — I don't know if it's insecurity or ego or what, when there's anything drama-related, it just turns me off personally. So I'd rather just concentrate on the music, make that the most important thing, and just have fun and enjoy ourselves. And Brett really seems like he's that type; he's very enjoyable to be around. He's just at ease. He loves singing. And he sings our songs perfect; it's quite incredible. And his range is from A to Z. This guy has a full voice in every note. So it's pretty incredible to find somebody like that; they don't grow on trees."

As for when GREAT WHITE plans to make an official announcement naming Carlisle its new singer, Mark said: "The time table is just… He has a few priority gigs that he committed to [with ALL OR NOTHING], and once that ends and we do pictures — we're scheduled to do a photo shoot in Vegas. Obviously, I'm spilling the beans now… But we just wanna have our ducks in a row and present it the right way."

Carlisle has been playing guitar and singing since the age of eight and counts bands like VAN HALEN, SKID ROW and METALLICA as his main influences.

This past May, GREAT WHITE announced that it had parted ways with singer Mitch Malloy and had replaced him with Freeman. Malloy had been in GREAT WHITE for nearly four years, having joined the group in 2018 following the departure of Terry Ilous.

In June, Freeman discussed his GREAT WHITE gig during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Regarding how he approached singing the classic GREAT WHITE songs originally recorded by the band's founding vocalist Jack Russell, Freeman said: "When I'm playing with GREAT WHITE, that's their thing, and I'm just there to try to do the songs like Jack. If we do original material, great. We're talking about it.

"I wanna make that band tough again, like it was when Jack was in it," he explained. "Jack would do a show and then bust a bottle over your head off the side of the stage."

Andrew went on to say that he was a GREAT WHITE fan from the early 1980s. "I really loved the first album," he said. "I got the first album when I was young, alongside with MÖTLEY CRÜE's 'Too Fast For Love'."

In a recent interview with Dr. Music, Mark stated about Mitch's departure: "We were going in separate ways in the sense that he was always by himself; he didn't really talk to us much. He just kind of showed up… That's just not the way a band works, as far as we're concerned. He's a wonderful singer. I don't think he's used to him not being in full control of everything because he's been a solo artist for so many years. He's a sweet guy. I really liked him. I think a few of our songs are a little out of his range, so it's a little bit of a struggle. But nothing real heavy — no big, huge fights. Nothing ever came to fisticuffs, if you will. [Laughs] So it wasn't a case of that."

Asked if he and his bandmates had given any thought at all to the idea of reuniting with original GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell, Mark told Dr. Music: "That's the other thing. [People say,] 'Why don't you patch things up with Jack?' What people don't understand is we never even got in fights [with Jack]. In 25 years together, we might have gotten in two arguments. The thing that took him out is the horrible demons of addiction, and it's really affected his health. I just saw a video the other day where he's not even standing — he's using wheelchairs and he's sitting in a stool. So for us to go back to that, it just feels dark. I'd rather remember him… 'Cause I'm very proud of our career — I'm very proud of the past. I'm so lucky to be a part of it. And I wanna remember it like that, where he's flying around on stage and getting the crowds pumped and singing his heart out — not a sick person. So going to that…

"My goal has always been to deliver the best show we can possibly deliver and have the fans be beyond impressed," Kendall explained. "And the way Andrew sings, I really like the way he delivers the songs, because it's what you wanna hear. So that's important to me, just to have the songs — the big songs, especially — be sung right and with full power. It just makes everything — it makes us play better, believe it or not. So that's the whole thing with me."

Ilous, frontman of '80s L.A. hard rockers XYZ, joined GREAT WHITE in 2010 after stepping in for touring vocalist Jani Lane (WARRANT).

The Ilous-led GREAT WHITE released two albums, 2012's "Elation" and 2017's "Full Circle", before Terry was dismissed from the group.

This version of GREAT WHITE is not to be confused with JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE, which features Russell alongside Robby Lochner (FIGHT) on guitar, Dan McNay on bass, Tony Montana on guitar and Dicki Fliszar on drums.

In the Rock & Roll Road Trip video below from AXS TV, Sammy Hagar heads to the Cooperstown restaurant in Phoenix, where he duets with Alice Cooper himself on "Schools Out". Later, Sammy gets a firsthand look at all of the rock and roll riches inside of the Musical Instrument Museum.





Sammy Hagar & The Circle released their new album, Crazy Times, via UMe on CD/Digital on September 30. 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)


"Funky Feng Shui" video:





"Crazy Times" video:





"Pump It Up" video:

GWAR has released the official MyGoodEye-directed music video for the song "The Cutter". The track, which is described in a press release as "a heavy metal burner", features a special guest appearance by HALESTORM singer Lzzy Hale.

GWAR vocalist Blöthar The Berserker comments: "Lzzy Hale is wonderfully talented. Few realize she is also an undercover Scumdog who came to Earth with the rest of GWAR eons 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 added: "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!"

"The Cutter" is taken from GWAR's latest album, "The New Dark Ages", which was released on June 3 on CD/digital and on vinyl and cassette on September 16 via GWAR's own Pit Records.

"The New Dark Ages" chronicles GWAR's adventures in the Duoverse, where the band rediscovers old powers such as Blöthar's terrifying Berserker Mode, and encounter new allies, such as the murderous maven known as The Cutter. Along the way, they battle the living monuments of a lost cause and armies of undead soldiers who rise again to fight a new civil war.

The album concept is tied to a companion graphic novel "GWAR In The Duoverse Of Absurdity", which was also released on June 3 by Z2 Comics. In the graphic novel, the bandmembers are sucked off into an alternate universe to do battle with their evil twins and the specter of rogue technology.

"GWAR In The Duoverse Of Absurdity" chronicles the epic battle between GWAR and their doppelgangers from an alternate universe the band discovers behind their treasured Magic Mirror. The book uses an innovative storytelling technique that combines words and pictures printed on paper (made from real trees!) in a seamless format we are calling a "graphic novel." The tale is illustrated by the masterful talents of Andy MacDonald ("Wolverine", "Dr Strange", "Wonder Woman"),Shane White ("Things Undone", "Braun", "Endless Summer"),Matt Maguire (GWAR) and Bob Gorman (GWAR).

Dave Brockie, who fronted GWAR under the name Oderus Urungus, was found dead in his home in Richmond, Virginia in March 2014. According to Virginia's State Medical Examiner's Office, he died from acute heroin toxicity by accidental means.

Brockie was last remaining original member of GWAR, which was founded 38 years ago. He was 50 years old.

The satirical metal band earned a following for its macabre, over-the-top costumes, offensive lyrics and graphic, gore-soaked shows, in which the bandmembers performed as the descendants of alien warriors who arrived on Earth to enslave and slaughter the human race.

Alienatör is a sludge metal band from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada that combines punk, hardcore, and noise rock elements into a stripped-down package, full of razor-sharp riffs and memorable hooks. They are gearing up to release their second album “Regrets” this fall and it is chock full of dark themes, ferocious intensity, and raw emotion. 





The first single off the album is “Blood Red Blood”, which vocalist/guitarist Brad King outlines:




“This one is a real barn burner and one of our first collaborative songwriting efforts. I showed up with the opening riff, which has an odd time signature, that we counted as 9/8 or something wacky. Sean wrote the rest of the music around it. I like the breakdown in the middle a lot, where we trade vocal lines back and forth. It’s a fun one to play live. The lyrics are about the cycle of violence and toxic masculinity. Basically how hurt people hurt people and how what we do to others eventually gets paid back to us in the end. Blood in, blood out.”


Listen to “Blood Red Blood” via its premiere on BraveWords:





Alienatör’s previous album was written as a two-piece, but for this new offering, the band consists of vocalist/guitarist Brad King, bassist/vocalist Sean Skillen and Simon Paquette on drums, which has taken their songwriting to the next level. They still have some blistering fast punk-influenced tunes, but they're branching out and showing their creative depth on songs like “The Priest”, “Irreconcilable” and “Dark Matters”. They delve into gritty topics such as alienation, grief, pain, and disgust at the state of the modern world. Composed during the claustrophobia of the 2020 election and the global pandemic the album channels more rage than its predecessor.


Alienatör started out cobbling bits of different heavy styles together, juxtaposing very fast, thrashy material with slower doomy influences and weird experimentation. Over time, they have forged their own sound which carries a lot of the energy of punk and post-hardcore, with a heavy, abrasive edge and introspective or socially conscious lyrics. They are recommended for fans of Unsane, Melvins, and Neurosis.


Preorder on Bandcamp.





Tracklisting:


“Revisionist History”
“Loss Leader”
“Blood Red Blood”
“Regrets”
“The Priest”
“The Less Dead”
“Flat Earth Society”
“Irreconcilable”
“Your Funeral”
“Wounded Birds”
“Dark Matters”


(Photo – Peter David Wragg)

More than a year ago, FAITH NO MORE scrapped all of its previously announced fall 2021 performances, saying singer Mike Patton was unable to perform as hoped due to mental health issues, partially exacerbated by the pandemic. The other members of FAITH NO MORE issued a statement expressing their disappointment about the tour cancelation while also throwing their support behind their bandmate.

In a new interview with The Guardian, Patton opened up about the issues that caused the cancelation of FAITH NO MORE and MR. BUNGLE's live appearances, saying: "My initial response to the pandemic was: 'I love this shit!' It allowed me to be an antisocial motherfucker. I had maybe three months of that: 'This is fucking awesome.' Then something changed — and not for the better."

Patton said that he became depressed and was diagnosed with agoraphobia. He also began drinking heavily.

"Because I was isolated so much, going outside was a hard thing to do," Mike said, "and that's a horrible thing. And the idea of doing more FAITH NO MORE shows — it was stressful. It affected me mentally. I don't know why, but the drinking just … happened."

Patton is scheduled to make his return to the live stage in December with MR. BUNGLE in South America.

The singer told The Guardian that he has now been sober "for a while" and is "doing pretty good." He added that he is excited to get back on the road, "but is "also afraid." Asked what he is afraid of, he said: "I'm afraid of myself. The band is rock solid and I want to make sure that I bring it. There are a few issues going on." Pressed about what those issues are, he simply responded: "I don't know if I wanna tell you."

Patton previously discussed the mental health issues which caused the cancelation of FAITH NO MORE and MR. BUNGLE's live appearances in an interview this past July with Rolling Stone. At the time he said: "It's easy to blame it on the pandemic. But I'll be honest, man: At the beginning of the pandemic, I was like, 'This is fucking great. I can stay home and record.' I've got a home studio. So I was like, 'Yeah, what's the big deal?' And then something clicked, and I became completely isolated and almost antisocial [and] afraid of people. That sort of anxiety, or whatever you want to call it, led to other issues, which I choose not to discuss. But I got some professionals helping me, and now I'm feeling better and getting closer to diving back in. Towards the end of the year, I'll be doing my first shows in, like, two years, which is the longest time since I started doing this, that I've been out of the game."

Asked to elaborate on the "other issues" that led to the cancelations and whether that included "substances" and "alcohol", Patton said: "It was a little bit of everything. But mostly, in my experience, it was mostly mental. I saw some therapists and all that stuff, which is the first time I ever had to do that in my life. And they basically diagnosed me as having agoraphobia; like, I was afraid of people. I got freaked out by being around people. And maybe that was because I spent two years basically indoors during Covid. I don't know. Maybe it reinforced feelings that I already had. But just knowing about it, talking about it, really helped."

Mike said that he realized he had a problem "right around the time that FAITH NO MORE was about to go back on the road. That's when I kind of lost it, and it was ugly and not cool," he said. "A few days before we were supposed to go on the road. I told the guys, 'Hey, man, I don't think I can do it.' Somehow my confidence was broken down. I didn't want to be in front of people, which is weird because I spent half of my life doing that. It was very hard to explain. And there were some broken feelings on both sides about it, but it's what I had to do. Because otherwise something really bad could have happened… It was right before our first rehearsal, and I just freaked out. I just said, 'I can't do it.' They had been rehearsing so [pauses] if I were them I'd be really pissed off at me. And they were. And they probably still are. But it's just about being true to yourself and knowing what your limits are. And I knew that if I kept pushing, it could have been some sort of disastrous result. It was just like, 'Goddamn it. Maybe I don't need to do this. Even though I agreed to do it, and it's gonna bum a lot of people out. I gotta take care of myself.' So I'm getting better at that."

As for where things stood with FAITH NO MORE as of three months ago, Patton told Rolling Stone: "Radio silence. [Laughs]. I don't know. We may reschedule stuff; we may not. I'll just leave it at that. It's a little confusing and complicated. So if we do, we do. If we don't, that's cool, too."

FAITH NO MORE initially reunited for touring purposes in 2009, 12 years after issuing its previous studio set, "Album Of The Year", and followed that up with 2015's "Sol Invictus".

Back in April 2020, at the very start of the coronavirus pandemic, Patton told Rolling Stone about his life in quarantine: "Although I am lucky enough to hopefully survive this, I have had an entire year of tours canceled, between different bands, and that certainly does weigh on me, the bands I'm working with, and obviously the fans who may or may not have purchased tickets! So … basically, it sucks. But personally, this lockdown lifestyle is not terribly different from my normal routine, as I'm quite hermetic and private. But sometimes it does resonate deeper — like, when you want to hit a restaurant with family or friends. No. What do we do? We adapt or die."

Last year, MR. BUNGLE recently released "The Night They Came Home", the NorCal band's first live album. The 14-song LP, accompanied by a physical-only film release, captured the band's Halloween 2020 livestream event and featured a new live video for "Eracist".

Canadian melodic power thrashers, Triskelyon, will be unleashing their debut album, Downfall, for October 28 via Washington state-based extreme metal label, Moribund Records. Today, the band presents their music video for the single, "Balance Of Terror". The song features vocals from Amanda Marie Jackman (Category VI).


Band founder Geoff Waye explains the track: "'Balance Of Terror' is primarily a nod to the best classic Star Trek episode (Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 1, Episode 14). It's also about the balance of power that has been built up over the decades. The music video was filmed along the coastline in the area of Cape Spear Newfoundland. There's a couple of shots from with the large guns that were a part of Newfoundland's coastal defense during WWII."







Founded by Geoff Waye, guitarist for Artach and Category VI, Triskelyon was conceived in late 2021 as a studio-only project. By January 2022, the band featuring contributions from vocalists Pete Healey and Marlee Ryley (Hyperia), along with drum programming by Raul Marques (Burning Torment) made their introduction to the metal world with a 3-track self-titled EP.


Composed and written mostly by Geoff Waye, with drum programming provided by Raul Marques, Downfall sees the band's next evolution as their first full length and it utilizes a myriad of both male and female guest vocalists from Oberon, Hyperia, Catagory VI and Incidium. Downfall has a range and depth of sound unique in today’s modern thrash metal scene, setting the band ahead and apart from the hordes of young new acts. Triskelyon also features guest bass appearances from members of Afterforever and Category VI, making Triskelyon a veritable super group of the Canadian metal scene.


Depicting a nature taking over post-apocalyptic view on our ever-screwed-up world, Triskelyon keeps with 80’s thrash tradition employing world-ending yet self-empowering socially conscious lyrical themes. From straight-up 80’s thrashers like “Odyssey (Blessed by Steel)”, to the power metal laced “Find A Way”, and more anthemic thrash tracks such as “Hunger” and “Willful Ignorance”, “Downfall” is sure to satiate even the most discriminating old-school and modern thrash metal fan alike! The album even features a unique and thrashing rendition of the Billy Idol song “Nobody’s Business”.


Album was mixed/mastered by Michael Small with the post-apocalyptic cover art by IvaanMR11.


With Downfall, Triskelyon deliver an amazing headbanging album that harkens back to the old-school days of such luminaries as Forbidden, Agent Steel, Sentinel Beast, Détente, Overkill, and Testament.


Pre-orders for Downfall are available at the following links:


- CD
- Digital





Tracklisting:


"Hunger"
"Find A Way"
"Odyssey (Blessed By Steel)"
"Willful Ignorance"
"A Time Of War"
"Balance Of Terror"
"Apex Predator"
"Indifference"
"Nobody's Business" (Billy Idol cover)


Album Credits:


- Tracks 1-3 are originally from self-titled demo/EP, the new versions have all been re-recorded bass and have been remixed and remastered
- All songs and lyrics written by Geoff Waye
- All guitars by Geoff Waye
- All drum programming by Raul Marques


Additional guests:
Dwayne Pike - Bass (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9)
Pete Healey - Vocals (tracks 1, 2, 5, 9)
Marlee Ryley - Vocals (tracks 3, 7)
Amanda Jackman - Vocals (tracks 4, 6)
Des Mason - Vocals (track 4)
Keith Jackman - Bass (track 7)
Darrin Pope - Bass (track 4)
Ellim - Vocals (track 8)

Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunenwill release her first-ever "best-of" collection, "Best Of: Living The Dream", on December 2 via earMUSIC.

A track from the collection, Tarja's previously unreleased song "Eye Of The Storm", has been made available and can be streamed below.

"It was the right time to finally release this song," Tarja explains. "It has a very deep feeling of closure in it. It's been influenced by two very important countries in my life: Finland and Argentina. It's an internal battle inside of me. Because at that time in life, I was really searching for my place in this world, where I belong as a person, as an individual."

Looking back on 15 extremely successful years of the Finnish singer's solo career, the "Best Of" contains not only Tarja's most well-known tracks, many of them newly remastered at Sterling Sound, and personal favorites from all six studio albums — "My Winter Storm", "What Lies Beneath", "Colours In The Dark", "The Brightest Void", "The Shadow Self" and "In The Raw" — but also the aforementioned "Eye Of The Storm".

"After all these years, I still really can't believe it's time for me to release a proper 'Best Of' album," Tarja says. "So many beautiful moments, unbelievable. It has been a dream to put together this collection. And I really hope that you will enjoy this as much as I did while making it."

The compilation was hand-picked by Tarja herself and will be released in a wide variety of formats, each featuring exclusive rarities and/or the previously unreleased two-hour "Circus Life" concert, which is eagerly awaited by fans, as well as upgraded versions of Tarja's music videos. Rounded out by high-quality artwork, deluxe liner notes, and many formats to choose from, this collection is a delight for casual fans, as well as superfans.

The standard version of the CD and vinyl contains 16 tracks (including the brand new single) as well as deluxe liner notes. The strictly limited mediabook holds 13 further tracks and the previously unreleased, two-hour live show "Circus Life". The strictly limited box set contains an additional 19 tracks selection of Tarja's projects including OUTLANDERS, four picture discs, six art prints, two posters, and a fine art print signed by Tarja.

CD1 / LP1+2

01. Eye Of The Storm (brand new song)
02. I Walk Alone (single version)
03. Die Alive (alternative version)
04. Enough
05. Falling Awake (feat. Jason Hook)
06. Until My Last Breath (single version)
07. I Feel Immortal (radio remix)
08. Victim Of A Ritual
09. 500 Letters
10. Never Enough
11. Innocence (radio edit)
12. Demons In You (feat. Alissa White-Gluz)
13. Diva
14. Dead Promises (feat. Björn "Speed" Strid)
15. Tears In Rain
16. You And I (band version)

CD2 / Picture Disc 3+4

01. Oasis
02. Sing For Me
03. Anteroom Of Death (edit version)
04. In For A Kill
05. Naiad
06. Crimson Deep
07. Mystique Voyage
08. Deliverance
09. Into The Sun
10. Eagle Eye (feat. Chad Smith)
11. Too Many
12. Love To Hate
13. Shadow Play

CD3:

01. Rukous, Op. 40 : N°2
02. Oi, Kiitos Sa Luojani Armollinen
03. Ave Maria (Camille Saint-Saëns)
04. Ave Maria (Giulio Caccini)
05. Ave Maria (Tarja Turunen)
06. Walking In The Air
07. You Would Have Loved This
08. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
09. Together
10. O Tannenbaum
11. What Child Is This
12. Varpunen Jouluaamuna
13. Heinillä Härkien
14. En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa
15. Witch-Hunt
16. You Take My Breath Away
17. I Feel Pretty
18. The Cruellest Goodbye
19. World in My Eyes

Blu-ray:

01. Mystique Voyage
02. 500 Letters
03. Naiad
04. Diva
05. You And I
06. Love To Hate
07. Demons In You
08. Never Enough
09. Falling Awake
10. I Feel Immortal
11. I Walk Alone
12. Victim Of Ritual
13. Innocence
14. Die Alive
15. Tears In Rain
16. Dead Promises
17. Until My Last Breath
18. Shadow Play

Three decades since the song was recorded at the 1988 sessions for "The Miracle", Simon Lupton's stunning new video for "Face It Alone" lends a powerful visual dimension to QUEEN's great "lost" anthem. Originally released on October 13, "Face It Alone" is the first new QUEEN song to feature the late Freddie Mercury's vocals in eight years, described by guitarist Brian May as "beautiful and touching."

The intention was to create, despite how the lyrics might be interpreted, an upbeat video that celebrated the fact that the period during which this song was recorded was one of the most prolific and cohesive in the band's history, says Lupton.

Now, as QUEEN's trusted content creator, Lupton captures all the song's poignancy and defiance in a dramatic video that touches on themes of solitude, bravery and the redemptive power of friendship. "The meaning of the song has been interpreted that when something catastrophic occurs in your life, your instinct is to surround yourself with what is dearest and most important to you," he explains.

"Immersing himself in his work, and surrounding himself with his bandmates, gave Freddie that control. Of course, in the end you have to face it alone — but the people around you can help how you face it."

From trailblazing animation and kaleidoscope effects to a recreation of the band's beloved Mountain Studios in Montreux, together with evocative images from the videos of songs they were creating at the time of "The Miracle" era, the new "Face It Alone" video is the perfect complement to the newly unearthed ballad that Roger Taylor calls "a little gem."

Further visited on the November 18 release "The Miracle Collector's Edition" box set, this rewarding return to the original "Miracle" recording sessions additionally provides first time hearings of five other previously unreleased QUEEN songs: "Dog With A Bone", "I Guess We're Falling Out", "You Know You Belong To Me", "When Love Breaks Up" and "Water", in addition to "Face It Alone".

"Face It Alone"'s existence was first revealed by May and Taylor in a BBC radio interview at their appearance at this year's Royal Jubilee concert at which they performed the opening with their regular singer Adam Lambert, with Roger Taylor describing it as "a little gem from Freddie that we'd kind of forgotten about," with Brian May saying "it's beautiful, it's touching."

Among its contents, "The Miracle Collector's Edition" includes "The Miracle Sessions": an hour-plus disc of further previously unreleased recordings, including the aforementioned six unpublished songs. Just as tantalizing for fans, the audio includes the band's candid spoken exchanges on the studio floor in London and Montreux, giving the most revealing window yet into the four members' creative process and the joy, in-jokes and banter on their return to working together.

"Face It Alone" was originally recorded during the band's historic 1988 sessions for that album, a prolific period which saw the band lay down around 30 tracks, many of which were never released, but remained among those that didn't make the final album cut. It was rediscovered when the band's production and archive team returned to those sessions to work on "The Miracle" box set reissue.

"We'd kind of forgotten about this track," admits Roger Taylor, "but there it was, this little gem. It's wonderful, a real discovery. It's a very passionate piece."

The single will be the first new song featuring Freddie Mercury released in over eight years. On 2014's "Queen Forever" album the band included three previously unheard tracks with Mercury, "Let Me In Your Heart Again", "Love Kills" and "There Must Be More To Life Than This".

Speaking of the rediscovered track, May says: "I'm happy that our team were able to find this track. After all these years, it's great to hear all four of us … yes, Deacy is there too … working in the studio on a great song idea which never quite got completed ... until now!"

Widely recognized as QUEEN's strongest album of the 1980s and one of their most inspired, the 1989-released "The Miracle" was a global success reaching No. 1 in the U.K. and several major European markets, even re-establishing the band in the U.S. where it delivered a gold album. Brian May has often cited the title track as his favorite 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 re-structuring of internal band dynamics before QUEEN regrouped in London's Townhouse Studios on December 3, 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 channeled 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 "whiz 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 unreleased tracks.

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", released as a single in October. 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.

Heard for the first time in QUEEN history, the spoken outtakes from "The Miracle Sessions" invite fans onto the studio floor to experience the band's unvarnished dynamic, more natural and revealing than any official press interview. These unguarded exchanges — by turns mischievous, encouraging, witty, even affectionately waspish — capture the band as they truly were during "The Miracle"'s late bloom, buzzing with renewed enthusiasm at their return to the studio, and driven by a rare chemistry that still threw up sparks.

Another first for the box set is the reinstatement of "Too Much Love Will Kill You". "The Miracle" was originally planned to be an 11-track album, but "Too Much Love" was removed at the last minute due to unresolved publishing issues. Later, QUEEN's original version was to emerge on "Made In Heaven" in 1995, featuring Freddie's lead vocal. While the CD version of the album remains faithful to the familiar ten-song running order, the vinyl record in this "Collector's Edition" marks the first time that "Too Much Love Will Kill You" has been presented as part of the album, in the exact position on Side One it was allocated in 1989.

Elsewhere, "The Miracle Collector's Edition" brims with rarities, outtakes, instrumentals, interviews and videos, including the last interview John gave, from the set of the video for the hard-driving single "Breakthru". The richly packed box set also includes a lavish 76-page hardback book featuring previously unseen photographs, original handwritten fan-club letters from the band, press reviews from the time and extensive liner notes, with recollections from Freddie, John, Roger and Brian on both the making of the album and some of their most iconic videos.

Those Damn Crows kick-off pre-sales for their newly announced UK headline tour by unveiling a brand new single and video for the scorching track, "Man On Fire", taken from their upcoming album, Inhale/Exhale, set for release on February 17 via Earache Records.


Frontman Shane Greenhall comments, "'Man On Fire' is about being in those situations where everyone overlooks what you’re capable of, underestimating you, while you sit back accessing what you need to do, smiling internally while your fearless self-belief takes over giving you the confidence, edge, and upper hand to take control over others in their moment of chaos. And NO ONE sees you coming!"


For the official video, the Bridgend, Wales locals chose to work again with the same team who created the video for previous single, "Wake Up (Sleepwalker)" - Shaun Hodson of Loki Films and David Provan of 12 Inch Media. Watch the official video below:







Earlier this week, Those Damn Crows announced a string of UK headline shows in February 2023. Pre-sales start today with tickets on general sale this Friday, October 21 at 10 AM, BST. Buy tickets here. The tour kicks off with an album release day party at the Key Club in Leeds. Special guests are yet to be announced.


Frontman Shane Greenhall enthuses, "We are all so stoked to bring our Crow headline show all across the UK, we cannot wait to perform for you all and to play brand new songs… live and loud, from our latest album Inhale/Exhale. DO NOT MISS THIS!!!"





Inhale/Exhale is available for pre-order worldwide now at earache.com/thosedamncrows on an immense number of formats including: a collector's edition bundle (which will house a burnt orange and black splatter vinyl with alternate fire carousel cover, exclusive to this edition); limited edition coloured vinyl with an exclusive 12-page booklet (clear with black smoke, purple, yellow), plus blue and white splatter vinyl with alternate blue sky carousel cover; signed CD with exclusive 12-page booklet and alternate fire carousel cover; a cassette collection of the band's full discography; USB; and digital download. HMV carry two more exclusive formats: CD with alternate blue sky carousel cover and black vinyl with alternate fire carousel cover. A green vinyl format exclusive to indie stores is also available.





Inhale/Exhale tracklisting:


"Fill The Void"
"Takedown"
"Man On Fire"
"Wake Up (Sleepwalker)"
"This Time I'm Ready"
"I Am"
"See You Again"
"Lay It All On Me"
"Find A Way"
"Waiting For Me"


"Wake Up (Sleepwalker)" video:





(Photo - Dean Chalkley)

I AM MORBID, the band featuring former MORBID ANGEL members David Vincent (bass, vocals) and Pedro "Pete" Sandoval (drums),has parted ways with guitarist Kelly McLauchlin (POSSESSED, DIABOLIC, UNHOLY GHOST) and has replaced him with Richie Brown (EXMORTUS, THE ABSENCE, TRIVIUM).

Brown made his live debut with I AM MORBID, which also includes guitarist Bill Hudson (NORTHTALE, DORO),Sunday night (October 16) at the Grita Fest in Colombia. Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below.

I AM MORBID's spring 2022 European tour marked the first time Sandoval and Vincent played together in 12 years.

Sandoval, who now lives his life as a born-again Christian, was forced to leave MORBID ANGEL in 2010 after undergoing surgery for a prolapsed disc.

Vincent told Invisible Oranges in a December 2013 interview that Pete had "found Jesus," which meant that Sandoval and MORBID ANGEL were no longer "compatible."

Sandoval has past the last few years recording and touring with TERRORIZER, whose latest studio album, "Caustic Attack", was released in October 2018 via The End Records.

More than a year ago, Sandoval released an Instagram video in which he addressed some of the most commonly asked questions regarding his time with MORBID ANGEL. He said: "I've been asked about who's my favorite singer or which era is my favorite one — the era with David Vincent or with Steve Tucker. Well, I wanna tell you that I love both eras. I had fun. I had a great time working with David Vincent, and I had a great time working with Steve Tucker as well. So, from 'Altars Of Madness' [1989] to 'Heretic' [2003], they're all masterpieces for me. We worked hard [on] those albums. So I'm telling you my answer that I don't have a favorite album, I don't have a favorite era, I don't have a favorite singer — I love 'em all. I had a great time in both eras with every album."

Sandoval added: "And as far as the album released in 2011" — referring to MORBID ANGEL's controversial "Illud Divinum Insanus" LP — "please don't ask me any questions about it, because I have no comments about it — no comments at all, man. I stay what I am, I did what I did, and I am so happy and grateful that I did what I did with these guys."

In a 2011 e-mail chat with Brazil's Som Extremo, Sandoval was asked for his opinion of "Illud Divinum Insanus", which incorporated industrial and electronic elements into MORBID ANGEL traditional death metal sound. "No comment! I don't play on that album," he wrote. He was then questioned about what he thought he would have done different on "Illud Divinum Insanus" had he played on the record. "More exreme deathgrind metal and less DJ, boring awful typical I care less industrial experimental same as everybody boring bull!" he said. "This is not what MORBID has been all about! ...Hmmmmmm, and I really care less...!"

Vincent left MORBID ANGEL in 2015. He has since been replaced by a returning Steve Tucker, who previously handled bass and vocals on MORBID ANGEL's "Formulas Fatal To The Flesh", "Gateways To Annihilation" and "Heretic" LPs.

In a May 2019 interview with Jorge Botas of the "Metal Global" radio show, which airs on the Portuguese public TV and radio broadcaster RTP, Vincent said that he had every right to perform MORBID ANGEL's classic songs with I AM MORBID.

"Times come and life works the way that it does," Vincent said. "And there are times when… It's like a marriage — sometimes they don't always work forever. But that doesn't mean that the children that we've had together, that I don't still love my children. Although Trey [Azagthoth, MORBID ANGEL guitarist and sole remaining original member] and I have some irreconcilable differences, that doesn't in any way preclude me from still having the love and the passion for all of my children."

Asked what he has to say to people who insist that he should not play MORBID ANGEL's early material without the other members of the group's classic lineup, David said: "There's examples of this very situation… I mean, when Ozzy [Osbourne] left BLACK SABBATH, that didn't stop him from playing 'Paranoid' every night, even though he didn't write the song. All of the songs that I'm singing I wrote. So I don't really understand that. But different people become attached to different things. And they have their opinion and I have mine. And I don't really consider this kind of negativity. I don't have it in my life."

In 2019, Vincent released "Something Wicked Marches In", the debut album from his supergroup VLTIMAS, also featuring guitarist Rune Eriksen (formerly of MAYHEM) and CRYPTOPSY drummer Flo Mounier. Two years earlier, Vincent issued his debut country single, "Drinkin' With The Devil".