Even after 40 steamy, liver-destroying, gut-stretching years in the name of heavy metal, the Tankard beer train is unstoppable. Just in time for the celebrations of their 40th anniversary, Tankard release  their new album, Pavlov's Dawgs, today; their 18th album and debut for the new label Reaper Entertainment.


To celebrate the day, the band has unleashed a lyric video for the new single "Diary Of A Nihilist". CHeck it out below.


Vocalist Andreas "Gerre" Geremia: "Finally the time has come: Today our 18th studio album Pavlov`s Dawgs! Our new record company, Reaper Entertainment, spared no expense or effort to release today's fourth single 'Diary Of A Nihilist' in the form of a lyric video! We are extremely excited to see how you like the new disc and hope to see you on tour soon!"







The taps are polished, the Freibier is flowing, and Tankard are finally back to what they do best five long years after their last studio album: Thrashing madly, drinking thirstily, and ever so cleverly intertwining metal, humor, and sarcastic social commentary into one big raucous ball of entertainment.


Pavlov's Dawgs, which was recorded and produced at Gernhard Studio Troisdorf together with producer Martin Buchwalter, is  available on CD, vinyl in various color variants, limited earbook with previously unreleased pictures from the last 40 years of Tankard, and as a limited box set which includes two demos on cassette.


Find pre-orders here.





Tracklisting:


“Pavlov’s Dawg”
“Ex-Fluencer”
“Beerbarians”
“Diary Of A Nihilist”
“Veins Of Terra”
“Momento”
“Metal Cash Machine”
“Dark Self Intruder”
“Lockdown Forever”
“On The Day I Die”


"Lockdown Forever" video:





"Ex-Fluencer":





"Beerbarians" lyric video:





(Photo - Axel Jusseit)

On October 14, Lorna Shore will unleash their fourth full-length, Pain Remains, via Century Media Records. Today marks the next chapter in the band's epic journey, leading up to the release of new album: "Pain Remains II: After All I've Done, I'll Disappear". Currently streaming on all digital platforms, the age-gated video (directed by David Brodsky // http://www.mgenyc.com) can be viewed below.


The band comments on "The Pain Trilogy": "'The Pain Trilogy' is a three-part tale focusing on the stages of grief and vulnerability and exemplifying it through a love story. The first song, 'Pain Remains I: Dancing like Flames' begins with the main character becoming enamoured by the person within his dreams. He decides to turn to this reality as a sense of purpose despite knowing that the closer he gets to his goal, the further it seems to drift away. This leads to the second song, 'Pain Remains II: After All I've Done, I'll Disappear'. This is the part where the person vanishes and the main character struggles to accept the pain. He as well wishes to disappear and seeks to throw it all away. Lorna Shore supports suicide prevention and support. We encourage all to speak to their issues and spark conversations that help and mend us all. National suicide prevention hotline: 800-273-8255."


Don't miss the final part of the trilogy that will unfold when the album is released on October 14.







Pre-orders for Pain Remains are available in various formats, with the CD Digipak and all initial runs of the Gatefold 2LP coming with a special matte/glossy varnish. Pre-order here.





Tracklisting:


"Welcome Back, O' Sleeping Dreamer"
"Into The Earth"
"Sun//Eater"
"Cursed To Die"
"Soulless Existence"
"Apotheosis"
"Wrath"
"Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames"
"Pain Remains II: After All I've Done, I'll Disappear"
"Pain Remains III: In A Sea Of Fire"
"Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames" video:





"Into The Earth" video:





"Sun//Eater" video:





Lorna Shore has announced The Pain Remains North American headline tour. The band will be joined by Aborted, Ingested, AngelMaker and Ov Sulfur starting on October 21 in Philly and wrapping on November 20 in Montreal. VIP ticket packages will be available to purchase for each show, which will include a ticket to the show, meet and greet with Lorna Shore, an exclusive VIP t-shirt, a souvenir laminate with a lanyard, a signed poster, a tote bag, an enamel pin and early entry.


“We are excited to celebrate the release our new album Pain Remains across the US alongside some of our favorite bands. This tour allows us to put on a performance we feel this record deserves while giving fans an experience to remember,” states Lorna Shore guitarist Adam De Micco.





The Pain Remains Tour:


October
21 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
22 - New York, NY - The Gramercy Theatre
23 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
24 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage
25 - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
26 - Nashville, TN - Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
27 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade (Heaven)
28 - Tampa, FL - The Orpheum
29 - Orlando, FL - The Abbey
31 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall


November
1 - San Antonio, TX - Vibes Event Center
2 - Fort Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater
4 - Mesa, AZ - Nile Theater
5 - Los Angeles, CA - 1720
6 - Roseville, CA - Goldfield Trading Post
8 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
9 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
11 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex
12 - Denver, CO - Summit
13 - Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck
15 - Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
16 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrew’s Hall
17 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
18 - Mckees Rocks, PA - Roxian Theatre
19 - Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
20 - Montreal, QC - L’astral


(Photo - Mike Elliot)

FALLING IN REVERSE has been criticized by fans for pulling out of this year's WIIL Rock festival over "missing" laptops.

Just hours before the Ronnie Radke-fronted outfit was supposed to appear at the one-day event on Saturday, September 24 at Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake, Illinois, the singer and his bandmates scrapped their performance because their laptops — which the musicians use to "run" their "show" — were lost.

Earlier on Saturday, the WIIL Rock Facebook page shared a video message from Radke announcing his band's cancelation. In the one-minute clip, Ronnie said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "WIIL Rock, I regret to inform you that we have to cancel and we have no other option. I'm sorry. And I never make videos like this, but I feel like I owe it to you guys.

"So we show up to rehearsal. We only planned to rehearse one time. Because we just got off tour, we don't need to rehearse that much. And we walk into rehearsals and our laptops are missing that we run all of our show on and stuff. And as a band in 2022, you need your laptops. It's like driving a car without an engine. It's really unfortunate. Supposedly they are lost. Blame it on our crew, I guess. I don't know how that happened; that's never happened before. [I'm] pretty upset about it. They are brand new laptops. And I'll see you guys at Aftershock in Sacramento on October 2nd. I'm very sorry, guys."

As of this writing, the video message has generated more than 1,400 comments on Facebook, with many of the commenters expressing their dismay over FALLING IN REVERSE's apparent inability to take the stage without their computers.

"Can't you just play your instruments and sing", one person wrote. Another person added: "Ha he said in 2022 bands need their laptops…what…ya I don't think so! Should have lied and come up with a better excuse!" A third commenter chimed in: "I call crap...one of the main reasons I was gonna go. Less than 24hr notice for a headliner??!! How about at least a partial refund for tickets not scanned in". Another person weighed in: "I'm not going to the festival but what pisses me off about them canceling is he's blaming the crew. This excuse is bullshit. They just don't want to play and instead of faking an illness like the rest of us do, he's putting blame on the backs of people who work their asses of to make them look good. That's what's fucked up."

One person who shared Ronnie's video message on Facebook wrote sarcastically: "Hey everyone! Public service announcement. If you were going to go see FALLING IN REVERSE in concert there's been some absolutely horrible news…they don't have their laptops!!! They have to cancel Such a bummer! I hope they get new laptops on stage soon so everyone can see them again! Please have some empathy for them.

"Can you imagine playing music in 2022 without a prerecorded laptop show? I know…Me neither. On the plus side, he DID say that they don’t need to practice much when they DO have a working laptop (that can play most of their show for them).

"Please support this band. They really outwork everyone else and mix that with true talent. Nothing can stop their success (except maybe WIFI issues). I hope they can get a new MacBook soon so they can exist again!"

SiriusXM radio personality Eddie Trunk, who has been a vocal critic of rock bands using pre-recorded tracks at their live shows, also offered his opinion, writing: "This is astonishing .. First I heard about this I thought it was a joke to wind me up. How much longer are fans, promoters , media, just going to accept the epidemic of live rock shows… not really being live? Paying your hard earned money to see a band play “live” that’s not truly live?! And there are countless bands in 2022 that hone their craft and play live! Tons! New and old !! Including the one that subbed for them in their slot, JACKYL . No laptop needed there! This is just unreal. But at least I give them credit for being honest. Wow. I am closer than ever to launching my own band. And I can't sing or play a note .. simply amazing."'

Two years ago, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale spoke to "Offstage With DWP" about her band's insistence on performing completely live — without the aid of backing tracks. "We do it more selfishly, not necessarily as a statement," she said. 'But it has kind of become this interesting statement. We're very proud of that. But also, just again selfishly, I don't think I'd enjoy myself. I've guested with people — I've dueted with people and got up onstage where they have those things and I can hear it in my in-ear monitors — and some of it is, like, 'Chorus in one, two, three, four…' I'm, like, 'Oh my gosh! This would drive me nuts.' And also, I would rather have us sound imperfect than have somebody figure out that I'm miming, or a shaker goes awry — 'Where's the tambourine coming from?'

"I'm not a fan of when I find out my favorite bands do that," she continued. "And, like I said, I'm not knocking anybody who does it — you do you. But for us, that's just not our M.O. And there's nothing more fun that going out on stage and knowing that you're responsible for either we're gonna be tight, we're gonna be loose, something's gonna go wrong, we're gonna have to pull the train back onto the tracks, but that's cause we're listening to each other.

"And also, if we weren't actually playing, we would just get worse as musicians," she added. "We've been to shows where somebody's computer went down — the tracks are no longer there — and then they don't play anymore. And we're, like, 'Can't you just plug the instruments in?'



Sorry be the bearer of bad news. This really sucks! The show will go on! thanks for supporting 95 WIIL ROCK and our 30th anniversary!

Posted by 95 WIIL ROCK on Friday, September 23, 2022

Hey everyone! Public service announcement. If you were going to go see Falling In Reverse in concert there’s been some...

Posted by David Drejas on Friday, September 23, 2022

This is astonishing .. First I heard about this I thought it was a joke to wind me up. How much longer are fans,...

Posted by Eddie Trunk on Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Sammy Hagar has once again weighed in on the proposed all-star VAN HALEN tribute concert, saying "would love to play music" 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. "How could you?" Jason said. "There's nobody that can top it, so how do you show it honor? I didn't want it to be viewed as a money grab. And then it kind of just all fizzled."

Asked in a new interview with Rolling Stone if his CHICKENFOOT bandmate Satriani called him up before jamming with Newsted and Alex Van Halen to say that it was happening, Hagar said: "No, because the VAN HALEN camp is 100% secrecy. I bet when he walked through the door, they made him sign something, and I'm dead serious. Alex is a very, very secretive guy. I don't know how he can keep his lips so sealed. I could probably say something horrible about him right now and he wouldn't even respond. Don't take that the wrong way. I have nothing bad to say about him. I'm just talking about how stubborn he is. He does not budge. But Joe told me about it later, after it happened. I knew there was talk of it because [VAN HALEN's manager] Irving Azoff had called me. He said, 'I want to do a residency in Vegas with you and Mike and Al and a superstar guitar player.' And I said 'Like who?' And he said, 'Like Joe Satriani.' I said, 'It just sounds like CHICKENFOOT with Alex Van Halen instead of Chad Smith.' I wasn't much for that, as much as I love Joe. He could do that job best, without a doubt, because he's so friggin' anal about the way he plays, and every single note. I said to Irving, 'I'm going to call Joe.' When I did, he told me what happened. And I said, 'Jason Newsted? What the fuck is going on here, man? Whose idea is this? This must be a Dave [Lee Roth] idea.' And Irving said it was a Dave idea.

"Why would he want anyone but Mike?" he continued. "It's probably because he knows that Mike and I are so close. I would imagine if they would've called Mike, Mike would've said, 'Yes, I'll do it with Sam.' Because without Ed, there is no VAN HALEN to start with. So now, you're going to go out and just play the early songs, and not play the second era? That would be the biggest failure VAN HALEN ever had if they call themselves 'VAN HALEN' if they didn't have Mikey. If it's just Alex with other guys, that's like what Jason Bonham does with LED ZEPPELIN. There's a million bands out there doing that. It would be totally nuts. Also, I'd prefer that nobody attempts to replace Eddie Van Halen. I think that's blasphemy and should be illegal.

"Anyway, I think that Irving boohooed it, and Dave went around him and did it anyway. I'm surprised that Alex went that far, but Alex might have just been his methodical self and said, 'Well, let's see what this is like. Let's see how it feels.'"

Asked if he would be interested in playing with Alex and Mike as part of a Vegas residency, or any kind of tour, Sammy said: "Not a tour, no. I wouldn't leave what I'm doing for that. I would make myself available to have a rehearsal and see which guitar player would work the best. I'm telling you, Joe would be the best. But like I said, then it's just kind of CHICKENFOOT with Alex, which there's a problem there. And I think that's probably what they were thinking when they tried to get a different bass player, but that's stupid, too.

"I would definitely love to play with Alex and Mike with a great guitar player that doesn't try to just mimic Eddie perfectly. There's so many great guitar players. There's Steve Vai. There's frigging John 5, who is a great guitar player."

Pressed about whether he is thinking of merely a one-off tribute show, Sammy said: "I'm thinking of one-off weekend or something where we give the money away to some cause. It can't just be, 'Hey, we're going to grab some money.' I got plenty of money. There's nothing that I would do for money that I just wasn't in love with the idea of doing. And I'm not in love with the idea of being VAN HALEN without Eddie Van Halen. Matter of fact, I'm dead against it. But I would love to play music with Alex and Mike again. I would love to play those songs again. And if we did a residency or a tribute, I would sing 50/50. I would sing half the Dave songs too for the VAN HALEN fans. And those songs are great. I don't mind singing some of them. The lyrics don't fit in my life today, but neither does 'Rock Candy' or 'Bad Motor Scooter'.

"But I just think it's crazy to do anything that's called VAN HALEN without Eddie. I would love it if Dave wanted to do a tribute where he'd sing ten of his songs, and then I'd come out and do ten of mine. That would be great with Alex and Mike and maybe a bunch of different guitar players. Look at what Dave [Grohl] just did for Taylor [Hawkins]. That's one of the greatest events in rock history. That's right up there with the early Farm Aids, and right up there with Live Aid. That was a great event, and that could be done for Ed with everybody playing."

Asked if he has spoken much to Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang since he was a kid on VAN HALEN's 2004 tour, Sammy said: "Yes, but not a ton. I really gave him a lot of love when he made his first record, and he gave me some back. It was very cordial, not like, 'Hey, let's get together' and stuff like that. I mean, Wolfie blows my mind. Look what he did over in London for that Taylor thing. When he played Eddie's stuff, man, that was fuckin' really good. He just keeps impressing me with his talent. That song 'Distance' is so soulful. I had no idea he could sing like that. He's really got his pop's talent. It's kind of like Jason and John Bonham. I mean, Jason's just like his dad, man. He plays fuckin' that good. And I think Wolfie, maybe not as innovative because nobody is, but yes, he's definitely doing it right. I praise him for not trying to be Eddie.

"But now, I'll make a statement. If there was ever a situation where there was a VAN HALEN tribute in some kind of way with Alex, Mike, myself, Dave, if he would cooperate, and Wolfie playing Eddie's parts, now that would be worthy of calling 'VAN HALEN,' for a moment. Wolfie would be crazy to drop his life and his creativity and his career to be his dad's mimic. But for a moment, it could be great."

In July, Wolfgang was asked by Rolling Stone to elaborate on what happened to cause plans for the tribute concert to fall apart. He said: "What I can say is that there was an attempt at doing something. But, you know, I don't like to speak negatively about people, but there are some people that make it very difficult to do anything when it comes to VAN HALEN. After being in VAN HALEN for a long time, I really have strived to have an environment where there is no walking on eggshells and there is no personality that you have to deal with. It's just guys having fun making music and just having a good time. But, you know, from my time in VAN HALEN, there was always some stuff that gets in the way from just making music and having a good time. And, I think, that's what happened.

"I would love to just sit here and say everything and say the truth," he continued. "There are plenty of interviews my dad did, where he straight up just said everything. And people hated him for it and thought he was lying. So I could just say shit, but people have already decided how they feel about things, facts or not. So I can say the facts. But that may not align with how certain people feel. I know how VAN HALEN fans get. They are very motivated by which specific people they like in the band. And it's just not worth it. Just, we made an attempt, and some people can be hard to work with, and made it not happen."

Regarding his involvement in the proposed tribute concert, Wolfgang said: "When it comes to VAN HALEN, and decision-making overall and what VAN HALEN does, it's Al, and then I'm there and supportive. You know, I basically help make the decisions that dad would be there to make, because I'm in there in his stead."

Wolfgang went on to say that he "would really like to do something" for his father, but that the tribute concert idea "never even got off the ground."

"Look at anything that's happened with VAN HALEN," he said. "And look how things have fallen apart. You know? The fact that in my tenure, in VAN HALEN, we managed to do three tours, put an album of original material and a live album out is a fucking miracle.

"People love to pin every decision VAN HALEN has ever made on Dad," he continued. "But Al's the brain. Al has been the guy forever. He's the dude. When it comes to VAN HALEN, Dad just wanted to play guitar. But, you know, Al's mentality, and it's the mentality that VAN HALEN took for the entirety of its band, is that there's nothing worth talking about unless it's happening. So the reason that nothing has been talked about from VAN HALEN, the official channels, is because nothing's happened. And I know how that will stir people up and piss them off. But that's how the operation is run."

Asked what he would say if someone were to assume that the main problem was a certain singer with three initials — referring to David Lee Roth — Wolfgang replied: "I would say 'Do your research on the history of VAN HALEN, and come to your conclusions.'"

In June, Anthony confirmed to SiriusXM's Trunk that he was involved in some of the early conversations about the VAN HALEN tribute.

"I haven't spoken to him in a little while, but I have spoken with Alex on occasion," Michael said. "And for the most part, we don't even speak that much about music — more about just family, how we're doing and stuff like that. I know it still pains him a lot as far as Eddie goes and will probably for the rest of his life. But I spoke with him and Dave last year about a possible something, but Dave just starts going [talking really fast] And I'm, like, 'Okay.' And we basically just had kind of a conference call about having a conference call to discuss it, and then that other call didn't happen for whatever reason on their end. I told them that I'd obviously be interested. And it would be more like a celebration of the music rather than putting together something and calling it VAN HALEN because that just wouldn't be right at this point."

Anthony went on to say that he hadn't been aware Newsted was involved in the discussions until Jason disclosed it in The Palm Beach Post interview. "That's the first that I'd even heard about anything like that," Michael said. "And it was kind of interesting because he said he spoke to [Dave and Alex] about a year ago, and that's about the time I was speaking with them. So I don't know. I'm gonna have to call Jason and ask him. [Laughs]"

When Trunk noted that Roth said in his comment about the VAN HALEN tribute that "two of us" would be required "for every position" in the project's lineup, possibly suggesting that more than one guitarist and more than one bassist would be involved in the show, Anthony said: "I was kind of thinking along those lines also, but then one thing made me kind of change my mind and make me think, 'Well, Dave's just kind of being Dave,' and maybe he's just saying that it would take at least two people to be able to duplicate what one person in this band did, and the reason I thought of that was all of a sudden he brought up the name Pink. He was saying that Pink would have to be one of the David Lee Roth characters, or singers, and I'm, like, 'Huh.' That just sounded a little too 'Dave' to me.

"But I don't know," Anthony quickly clarified. "At this point, I've gotta tell you, I don't know if anything will ever happen. 'Cause Alex is — he's really hurting. Him and Edward were so close on all levels — musical levels and personally and whatever. It just seems to me like it might be really hard for Alex to even enter into something to bring back all those memories. I don't know. I could be wrong. I'm the guy that always says, 'Never say never.'"

According to Anthony, the proposed VAN HALEN tribute would likely take the form of a single concert rather than a full-fledged tour.

"What was being talked about was not actually doing a tour," he said. "You take something like this on tour and people are gonna think it's a cashgrab. I'd rather have something, like a memorial-type thing, done at a venue. And there were actually a couple of venues discussed. But do it that way instead of taking it on the road. And make it just a real celebration of the music…

"I actually would not be up for doing a tour right off the bat," Michael continued. "I think holding a celebration of Eddie and the music and the whole VAN HALEN legacy is great. And let's face it — none of us need the money. I don't need the money. I'd rather take the money and throw it in a charity."

Michael once again reiterated that he has no concrete idea whether any VAN HALEN tribute concert will take place. "I think it all really hinges upon Alex," he said. "And he's gotta be the person, really, that wants to do this and give his blessing to the whole thing for it to move forward. And like I said, when we speak, we really don't even speak about doing anything like that at this point. He's still healing. And if it gets to that point, I'm sure Alex will be the first one that'll wanna do something like that."

Asked whether there has been any bad blood between him and Alex and Dave in recent years, Anthony said: "Not at all. I only spoke to Dave that one conversation we had last year and I couldn't hardly get a word in edgewise, which is… that's typical Dave. But I have spoken to Alex on occasion, and it's great. We'll speak for, like, 45 minutes, an hour. And probably about the first 20 minutes is Alex, sometimes he'll vent to me a bit about all the circumstances around how everything happened with Eddie. But we basically just talk about family and we actually bring up some of the old times on the road, to lighten things up a bit."

In June 2021, Wolfgang, who joined his father in VAN HALEN for the band's 2007 reunion tour with Roth, replacing Anthony, told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" it would be "great" to eventually organize an Eddie Van Halen tribute show. "It's not in the immediate plans, 'cause that's a lot of moving parts that you've gotta corral to get that to happen. But I definitely think it should happen. Absolutely," he said.

Asked how he envisions the tribute concert taking place in terms of which musicians should be involved, Wolfgang said: "I have no idea. All I know is that the focus should a hundred percent be on Pop. While it could be a celebration of VAN HALEN and the band's history, I think more than anything, it should be focused on him… It's a tall ask and a big thing to figure out. But I do think it should happen at some point."

In November 2020, Wolfgang told Entertainment Tonight that proceeds from any tribute show in honor of his father will go toward Eddie's favorite charity, Mr. Holland's Opus, which helps underprivileged students access musical instruments. Proceeds from the debut solo single from Wolfgang's solo band MAMMOTH WVH, "Distance", are also benefiting Mr. Holland's Opus.

Eddie died in October 2020 at the age of 65. The legendary VAN HALEN guitarist passed away at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD has completed mixing the long-awaited follow-up to 2016's "The Stage" album.

Earlier today (Thursday, September 29),AVENGED SEVENFOLD drummer Brooks Wackerman took to his Instagram to share a photo of him and his bandmates with legendary producer Andy Wallace, who mixed the group's new LP. He captioned the picture simply "done!"

Wallace has mixed all of AVENGED SEVENFOLD's studio albums since 2005's "City Of Evil". Last year, AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows told the 93X radio station that Wallace is "favorite mixer ever." He explained: "We usually hand him so many tracks, and then when we get it back… None of our records sound the same; he's not putting it through the Andy Wallace lens. He's giving us what we want but he's allowing you to hear everything we've given him. So you can kind of sit there and go, 'If I wanna listen to the bass, I can hear it. If I wanna listen to that third guitar, I can hear it.' He does such a great job of making things sound big and full but also with all the layers; you can hear every layer. So, to me, he's just so important every time. He's my favorite."

This past April, AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ said during an episode of his Internet TV show "Drinks With Johnny" that he and his bandmates "had a lot of delays" making the new album, "for a lot of different reasons. We'll go into it at a later date and we'll be letting all the fans know. But it's just delays, and then adding COVID to some of those delays… We're a pretty intricate band. The delays were already there, and [COVID] just made it a little longer.'

He continued: "Finishing the record to the caliber that we have created… A lot of string arrangements, a lot of different things that you need — players to come in on, and they're all part of a union and stuff, and they have different new protocols of how… 'Oh, if we wanna do a full orchestra, we've gotta do these three guys and then these three guys.' We were, like, 'Nope. We're just gonna wait until we can get the whole fucking thing together. Let's do it right.' … And that's just one of the delays. There's a few others.

In February, M. Shadows said that the band's new album was "90 percent done" after the band was able to get a 78-piece orchestra to record its parts for the LP. A month earlier, M. Shadows told Metal Hammer that the band would complete the mixing of its eighth studio album by March. "The record's been recorded for a year, but we haven't been able to put the real strings on it, because we couldn't fly out to Prague," he said. "When an orchestra have to social distance and they aren't sitting next to each other, they can get out of tune, and we have just finally got to a place where we can use this 70-piece orchestra as we intended."

Regarding the musical direction of the follow-up to "The Stage", M. Shadows said: "There are so many influences… We're very influenced by Kanye West. The thing about Kanye is that he is pulling from such great soul music. I didn't grow up with that stuff — my dad listened to BOSTON and Alice Cooper [and] I didn't get that taste of black music and old soul. So, diving deep into jazz musicians… We're not trying to do a jazz record, but the chord changes and progressions are so eye-opening to us."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD kept a low profile during 2019. A blood blister on M. Shadows's vocal cords forced the band to cancel a summer 2018 tour with PROPHETS OF RAGE and THREE DAYS GRACE.

"The Stage" was surprise-released in October 2016. The release of the disc, which was announced the night it went on sale, earned the lowest sales of an AVENGED SEVENFOLD album in 11 years. It sold 76 thousand copies in its first week, 73 thousand of which were physical.

"The Stage", AVENGED's debut for Capitol, sold less than half as many copies in its first week as the group's two previous efforts, 2010's "Nightmare" and 2013's "Hail To The King".

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Brooks Wackerman (@thebrookswackerman)

Canadian singer, songwriter and producer Devin Townsend will release his new album, "Lightwork", on October 28. The music video for the LP's first second single, "Call Of The Void", which was once again created by Devin himself, can be seen below.

Devin comments: "The concept of the song is based around the 'call of the void' as an analogy for intrusive thoughts. I first heard the term describing 'the temptation to hurl yourself over the cliff when your driving a car'… or to 'put your hand in the fire when you know you'll get burned' etc… thoughts that you know are wrong, but you fear that you won't be able to control the impulses to deny it. The point being: often I feel we have a choice, and trying not to lose sight of that was very important to me during recent difficult times.

"In terms of the visuals: All through lockdown, I really fell in love with 'cabview train journeys' that 'Railway Cowgirl' and others were posting on YouTube. Essentially, they are often full, first-person journeys to cold and distant places, far from the chaos of the world, with a sense of constant momentum really calmed me. Maybe being on tour for so many years is what made it a comfort to watch during lockdown, but in any event, I started writing with the videos playing in the background in the studio and so I thought it would be appropriate for this video.

"(Thank you 'Railway Cowgirl' for the permission to use these clips. if while viewing this video you enjoy the footage, please visit her YouTube channel and check out all her wonderful content.)

"In regards to the 'story' of these three videos, the character is now on the train headed to where the Lighthouse is located.

"So there you go… song two. It's about not letting the chaos of the world shake you. Trying to stay calm at our center to try and get through it all."

Assembled from a barrage of material written during the pandemic, "Lightwork" — and its companion album of B-sides and demos, "Nightwork" — represents Devin at this stage of his life, post pandemic, and his reflections on what he (and many of us) all gone through.

For "Lightwork", Devin decided to see what would happen if he included a producer (an experiment he has been excited to attempt for some time) to help guide this selection of material. He chose longtime friend Garth "GGGarth" Richardson to help bring this idea to fruition, and through a difficult (but wonderful) process, the next Devin album have been delivered.

The name "Lightwork" represents the music, as well as the act of creating music, as a kind of "light in the dark" while trying to navigate the seemingly endless challenges that life can often present. When things seem like there's no way out or that a situation becomes seemingly insurmountable, the connection to music, family, and creativity became a light in the dark that ended up in this wonderful album.

Featuring artwork by frequent collaborator Travis Smith, "Lightwork" arrives in several editions including a limited deluxe orange 3LP+2CD+Blu-ray box-set that includes both "Lightwork" and its companion album "Nightwork" on both CD and vinyl, as well as a Blu-ray including 5.1 Surround Sound, album commentary and visuals, art-cards and extensive perfect-bound booklet, all contained in a lift-off lid box. There will also be a Limited 2CD+Blu-ray artbook, limited 2CD digipak, gatefold 180g 2LP+CD, standard CD jewelcase and digital album.

Devin will embark on a European headline tour in early 2023.

Photo credit: Paul Harries

Swedish metallers SABATON have made an exciting announcement: with their fascination for the stories of World War I and two dedicated studio albums filled to the brim with stories from this conflict, the band from Falun has decided to dive even deeper into this topic with its newest release, the EP trilogy titled "Echoes Of The Great War". This new EP trilogy features new songs specifically about World War I, coupled with topically related catalog music.

With this WWI collection, the band aims to present this music in a different way, enabling listeners to familiarize themselves with these incredible war stories while simultaneously quenching the thirst for metal music.

Commenting on the new project, bassist Pär Sundström states: "This trilogy complements our two studio albums 'The Great War' and 'The War To End All Wars'. We were definitely not ready to close our World War I chapter. We wanted to continue the journey and let it echo a little longer in the hearts and minds of our fans."

The first in the series, "Weapons Of The Modern Age", is out now. In times of conflict, science is very much linked to the war system. The First World War witnessed some of the biggest leaps in scientific evolution, weaponizing land, sea and skies in ways never witnessed before. This EP sheds light on the powerful and devastating tactics used to fight the war, and kicking off this release is SABATON's new track "Father".

Sharing his insight on the track, singer Joakim Brodén says: "Our new song 'Father' is a dark track about a very controversial person. Fritz Haber, the man who weaponized lethal gas, is responsible for about four billion people being alive today thanks to the Haber-Bosch process that he won a Nobel Prize for. It takes some serious thought to wrap your head around his story. Things aren't always easy to understand or simply black and white, but rather all shades of grey. 'Father' really forces you to think a bit more than the average song you hear on the radio."

The songs on the second EP in the collection, "Heroes Of The Great War", are a nod to some of the Great War's fearless heroes who left a legacy worthy of a thousand songs. Men and women pushed themselves to their physical and psychological limits, accomplishing almost superhuman things. In this EP, SABATON pays tribute to heroes whose unique stories resonated with the band, and whose narratives are truly inspiring.

The third EP in the series, "Stories From The Western Front", features songs about some of the most gripping tales from one of World War 1's main theatres of war. These stories, some of which are unimaginable in this day and age, depict the chaos, danger, and instability soldiers faced daily, fighting in the name of their countries.

For the sake of atmospheric continuity and staying true to the sound of both "The Great War" and "The War To End All Wars" albums, SABATON has continued to work with Black Lounge Studios — more notably Jonas Kjellgren, the band's longtime producer and recording engineer.

The three new EP releases will be available on all major digital music services. SABATON will also release an exclusive, limited-edition digipak with every EP.

A few weeks ago, SABATON announced its first full-length movie "The War To End All Wars" that the band has been working on for two years together with Yarnhub animation studios. "The War To End All Wars" is a cohesive, thought-provoking, and emotionally charged piece with a heavy focus on storytelling. It features members of the band, both in real life and animated, and a lot of research and effort has been put into it to ensure it depicts history in the most accurate way possible — this is something that the band is very passionate about.

SABATON had a dream of creating something entertaining but with great educational value, and that dream has become a reality after two years of hard work.

SABATON is currently on its 2022 North American trek, "The Tour To End All Tours".

Former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens has released the official lyric video for the title track of his new solo EP, "Return To Death Row". The effort, which will be made available under the RIPPER banner in late October/early November, will include the song "Embattled", which came out in July. The track, like the rest of the EP, was produced by Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Nick Bellmore (JASTA, DEE SNIDER). Players on the effort, which will contain Owens's "heaviest songs yet," include Nick Bellmore, Charlie Bellmore (DEE SNIDER, ex-TOXIC HOLOCAUST) on guitar, and Chris Beaudette (JASTA, ENTEIRRO) on bass.

In a recent interview with Australia's Heavy, Owens stated about the response to "Embattled" (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's been great. I think people are just gonna really dig it. If they're into the real mellow part of my career, then they might not dig it quite as much 'cause this EP is pretty heavy. Right off the bat, it starts with a really fast song. Then we'll probably go into 'Embattled'. Then it's got a couple of more fast songs. 'Embattled' is the second from being the mellowest song on the record. So it's really good.

"The whole part about Jamey Jasta and I talking about this is he wanted to capture what I did a lot in my early career and what I did with BEYOND FEAR and what I did with [JUDAS PRIEST's] 'Jugulator' [album]. His main part, when he first talked to me, he was, like, 'Man, we've gotta do something to capitalize on what you did on 'Jugulator', 'cause it was brutal and it was great, and the vocals on there.' And that was his big thing.

"People know me that I can sing a lot of different styles of music, and this is probably one of my favorite ways to sing, on this record," Owens added. "I like the straightforward, brutal metal that's still melodic, because it gives you bigger range. You can sing heavy as hell, but you can take it down and sing mellow, you can sing high, clear notes, raspy… I mean, it widens it even more.

"I think people are really gonna love it," Tim reiterated. "We'll be releasing a new single coming up, a new video, lyric video. And then we're gonna try to get the EP out as soon as we can. Originally we were shooting for the end of October; I don't know if we're gonna make that. I mean, it's done and everything is finalized, but we're just trying to get it out."

Asked to elaborate on what Jasta brought to the table, Owens said: "He did Dee Snider's [TWISTED SISTER] last couple of records, and they were a lot heavier for Dee and I think they were some of the best stuff I've heard from Dee in ages. It was such a fantastic [collaboration]. That's what really [convinced me]. I'm, like, 'Man, let's do that.' I think he just was sending me stuff that was, like I said, more aggressive and heavier but true to my vocal ability — kind of, like, 'This is what I want you to do.'

"People know that I'm a big fan of heavy guitar riffs and heavy music, and normal vocals," he explained. "I'm not the cookie-cutter guy, but I can do that. Probably on Dee's records, Jamey probably sang some backups to give him maybe a heavy part that needed that [guttural] part that was in the background. I think Jamey was probably, like, 'Hell, yeah, I don't have to do it on Ripper's record because he can do it himself.' But that being said, Jamey would send the vocal ideas that he had for songs, and we would go back and forth, and they were fantastic, his singing. There was a song he sent me — the last track; I can't remember the name of it offhand; the last track on the record — and I couldn't capture what he was doing at the beginning of the song. I'm, like, 'I can't do it.' This sounds like him. He just had this certain thing to it. So I think Jamey enjoys doing things like this 'cause it brings out other parts of the music — probably parts that he grew up listening to. It's like me — I grew up listening to heavy [stuff like] TESTAMENT and SLAYER and ANTHRAX and METALLICA, but also IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST and everybody else. And that was probably the same with him. Jamey grew up listening to hardcore, but he also was listening to PRIEST and MAIDEN and all that stuff as well."

When the collaboration was first announced, Jasta said: "Ripper has been one of my favorite voices in metal since [JUDAS PRIEST's] 'Jugulator' arrived 25 years ago. His power, range, and work ethic inspire me daily and I cannot wait for the world to hear the crushing new metal tracks we are creating!"

Released in May 2009, Owens's first solo album, "Play My Game", landed at position No. 66 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200. The CD was released via SPV/Steamhammer. The offering consisted of around a dozen brand-new tracks that Owens composed himself or together with renowned friends, such as Bob Kulick, Chris Caffery (SAVATAGE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA),Mike Callahan (ex-EARSHOT) and John Comprix (BEYOND FEAR, RINGWORM).

Owens is without doubt among the most important metal vocalists of the past 25 years. When he succeeded Rob Halford, joining JUDAS PRIEST in May 1996, the press rubbed their eyes, surprised as well as impressed: Owens had previously been a fairly unknown quantity to international music journalists and only a few new of him from the band WINTERS BANE, but he recorded his first PRIEST album, the Grammy-nominated "Jugulator" (1997) with more aplomb than even insiders had expected. Following successful tours with the British metal legends, the strong studio recording "Demolition" (2001) and the live recordings "Meltdown - 98 Live" (1998) and "Live In London" (2003),and the movie "Rock Star" that was loosely based on Tim's experience with JUDAS PRIEST, Halford's return put an end to Owens's stint with PRIEST. More or less immediately, he was enlisted by Jon Schaffer to team up with ICED EARTH and sang on "The Glorious Burden" in spring 2004. Three years later, Owens followed suit with the ICED EARTH album "Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Pt. I)", which succeeded the self-titled highly praised debut by his own band BEYOND FEAR. Spring 2008 saw Owens move on to join one of the world's best guitar players Yngwie Malmsteen, debuting with a sensational vocal performance on "Perpetual Flame".

Owens is currently the frontman of KK'S PRIEST, featuring fellow former JUDAS PRIEST member K.K. Downing.

Almost 10 years ago, Candlemass legend Leif Edling made the doom metal world a darker and ultimately more interesting place with new band, Avatarium. Over the next eight years the band released four studio albums, two EPs, and a live DVD, An Evening With Avatarium – Live in Stockholm. Edling eventually left Avatarium's ranks due to health issues, but the band forged onward, and 2022 finds them capping off a prolific decade with their brand new album and AFM Records' debut, Death, Where Is Your Sting, slated for a release on October 21.


Today, a haunting black & white lyric video has dropped for new single, aptly titled "Stockholm".


Vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith, reveals: ”'Stockholm' - this a song about hope and the courage to continue even in the darkest of hours!”







Ever since their impressive debut, Avatarium operated with the keywords "dark", "heavy" and "poetic", which best describes the Swedish outfit at its core. The band has evolved since their 2013 self-titled debut, and although they have introduced new elements along the way, Avatarium continue to operate within this doom-laden framework.


Yet they are somewhat unique within doom metal, fronted by Jennie-Ann, unintentionally breaking genre boundaries. She has learned a lot from working with Leif Edling, whom she affectionately refers to as The Master Of Doom, and Death, Where Is Your Sting, marks the first time Smith has written all the lyrics for an album. This is significant in that lyrics have always inspired the song arrangements in Avatarium.


"There's a red thread from our debut album dealing with all sorts of existential questions," Jennie-Ann reveals. "That's what doom is to me. I come from a different musical background, but when it comes to thinking about death, I'm a natural (laughs). Avatarium is a vehicle that soothes the seriousness, and offers the sheer joy of music. There are all these layers on the new album; it is intellectual, it is existential, there are serious topics of religion, philosophy and psychology, but you can still just enjoy the music and get lost in the riffs."


Death, Where Is Your Sting was written over a two-year period, during the global pandemic. Avatarium was forced to adjust to the routine of band members and people around them getting COVID, delaying and rescheduling writing and recording sessions as needed. Both guitarist Marcus Jidell and Jennie-Ann believe that the album turned out for the better in the end, even though it was a very long process to get it done:


"We often wonder when we're writing, 'Is it too much of this or that?'" Marcus admits. "We have the feeling that people who like Avatarium - our fans and followers - they enjoy it more when we push boundaries and step out in the deep water instead of just repeating the same stuff over and over. Every song has its own life, but it is supposed to be listened to as an album. It's important for us to try to take the listener on a journey."


Death, Where Is Your Sting was produced by Marcus Jidell, mixed by Mats Valentin and Jidell, and was mastered by Svante Forsbäck. The album will be available on October 21 as Digipak, Vinyl and ltd. 2-CD Earbook (incl. 5-track bonus CD) via AFM Records, pre-order your copy here.





Tracklisting:


"A Love Like Ours"
"Stockholm"
"Death, Where Is Your Sting"
"Psalm For The Living"
"God Is Silent"
"Mother Can You Hear Me Now"
"Nocturne"
"Transcendent"


Bonus CD (ltd. Earbook):


"Boneflower" (alternative version, live in the studio)
"Great Beyond" (alternative version, live in the studio)
"Rubicon" (alternative version, live in the studio)
"Lay Me Down" (alternative version, live in the studio)
"The Fire I long For" (alternative version, live in the studio)


"Death, Where Is Your Sting" video:





"God Is Silent":

Founding MURDERDOLLS vocalist Wednesday 13 has once again accused the band's former guitarist Acey Slade of taking the MURDERDOLLS name behind late SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison's back.

Last month, it was announced that Slade and former MURDERDOLLS bassist Eric Griffin would take part in a signing on August 28 at the Silver Scream convention at the Hilton Double Tree North Shore in Danvers, Massachusetts to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of MURDERDOLLS' first album, "Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls". The event was slated to be livestreamed on several platforms, including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Acey and Eric were also going to be doing a meet-and-greet after the announcement for those in attendance at Silver Scream Con. In addition, Acey and Eric launched a web site, murderdollsofficial.com, that purports to cater to all of the MURDERDOLLS alumni and their legion of fans affectionally known as The Ghoulscouts.

On August 25, Wednesday 13 took to his social media to throw shade at his former bandmates, insisting that any merchandise being advertised using the MURDERDOLLS logos, music and lyrics is unapproved and unauthorized. Two days later (August 27),Acey responded to Wednesday, saying that the re-release of "Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls" is officially licensed after he went through a "time-consuming and expensive" process reinstating the assets from Warner Music Group which fully acquired Roadrunner Records in 2010 after first buying 73.5% of the company in January 2007. He also invited all former member of the MURDERDOLLS to "use the band as a platform for their own endeavors".

On August 28, Wednesday 13 once again took to his social media to clarify his position on the MURDERDOLLS dispute. He wrote: "Hello everyone, I want to take a moment to explain my comments this week on this MURDERDOLLS situation.

"My issues have nothing to do with any ex members celebrating the 20th anniversary of that album. I have been celebrating the anniversary as well on my tours this year. However I have been celebrating it as Wednesday 13, not MURDERDOLLS.

"The first album released in 2002, all music was written by Joey and I. The only other member to contribute to this record was Tripp [Eisen] with a few guitar solos. All other instruments/vocals are performed by Joey and Wednesday. We assembled the touring lineup after the recording was finished consisting of Eric, Ben and Acey.

"The band went on hiatus eight years after this and returned in 2010 with the sophomore MURDERDOLLS album. This album and touring lineup did not feature any of the touring members from the first album. This was decided by Joey, as his decision to only have he and I photographed on that album.

"This was Joey's band, he invited me into this world, and I am able to do what I do today because of him and the MURDERDOLLS name, and that's what this whole situation is about.

"MURDERDOLLS trademark had lapsed. This was unknown to Joey or I as the band was inactive and no one was watching for this. However it seems Acey was watching for it, and applied for the MD trademark to take the name behind our backs. Acey succeeded in gaining the trademark. He applied for this trademark 1 year before I was notified and a year before Joey's passing. He never notified Joey about this, as he knew he would be furious and not approve.

"There's no other way I can view this other than he stole the name from Joey. He is now launching websites, merchandise, and our first album as Official MURDERDOLLS, erasing my name out of the bio/ history of the band.

"It's sad that I've had to make this a public discussion, but that's where we are. I'm not involved with this situation because I chose not to be involved with it. It doesn't sit well with me and I cannot get behind it."

Wednesday 13 elaborated on his ongoing dispute with Slade in a new interview with George Dionne of KNAC.COM. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've been touching on it a bit — not much more than what I said online. It's just unfortunate there's some drama within the MURDERDOLLS camp. And I made a statement online about it because I wanted people to know that I wasn't involved with this and I don't approve of what's going on.

"Basically, an ex-touring member of the first lineup 20 years ago decided to take the MURDERDOLLS name behind Joey's back before he even passed away," Wednesday continued. "The trademark had lapsed. Joey didn't know about it, so [Acey] took it. And now that Joey has passed, now [Acey is] selling MURDERDOLLS merchandise, web site, blah blah blah, trying to basically just make the history about the band be about the first album and those guys when they were literally just the touring musicians behind the record. And now they're re-releasing our first album, which they didn't play a single note on, and they're doing it without my permission and without paying me or anything. So it's a slap in the face to me, it's a slap in the face to Joey. And [Acey] hasn't told the truth to people what's going on, and that's why I said what I said. So hopefully this will go away sooner than later, but I'm definitely not gonna let it go the way it's going without putting up a fight for it."

After the completion of the touring cycle for "Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls", MURDERDOLLS went on hiatus so that guitarist Joey Jordison could focus on his other band SLIPKNOT. In 2010, MURDERDOLLS released a sophomore album, "Women And Children Last", which did not feature Slade, Griffin and drummer Ben "The Ghoul" Graves, all of whom played on "Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls".

Just a few days prior to "Women And Children Last"'s arrival, Slade gave an interview to Blog Talk Radio's "Zombilly's Horror Hour" in which he said that he wasn't invited to take part in the making of the LP.

"We waited around a long time — myself, Eric and the Ghoul — we waited around a long time to do this record. And when Joey and Wednesday said that they wanted to do it by themselves, that was a bit of a... like, 'Really?! That's not what we discussed,'" he said. "But, quite frankly, it's like, okay, well, it's been seven years. You can't hold somebody to something they said seven years ago. It's like, 'Okay, cool.'"

Acey went on to say that he didn't like the material on "Women And Children Last". "I think it sounds like all the things that the band said that we weren't gonna be," he said. "When I was in the band, it was, 'We don't drop-tune — we tune standard 'cause we're a rock band — it's all tongue-in-cheek, nothing's serious. And now it's drop-tuned, it's serious subject matter, and it's not something I wanted to be a part of. It's like, wow, we were supposed to be a fun band that pissed people off, not a pissed off band that is writing... I don't know... It sounds like DISTURBED to me. It sounds like DISTURBED with Rob Zombie vocals. That was the other thing, too. [Laughs] Everybody was, like, 'You guys are like ALICE COOPER meets ROB ZOMBIE,' and we weren't. And it seems like all the negative things that people thought about us before they heard us, the band has now become. I'm not interested in that. I have a lot more creativity than that. And those guys do, too. So I'm a little disappointed for them. But you know, hey.... whatever. I guess they're happy doing it, but it's not something that I would wanna be a part of. And it's, like, weird, the whole Joey and Wednesday... They've got pictures of just Joey and Wednesday. I think it's pretty clear that they didn't want anyone else at the party; they want it to be an exclusive thing for them, I suppose."

Wednesday 13 reunited with Griffin and Slade on stage for the first time in over a decade in August 2018 at Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood. The event, which celebrated the life of Graves, saw the trio performing some of MURDERDOLLS' classic songs.

Graves, who also worked with PRETTY BOY FLOYD and DOPE, passed away in May 2018 after a year-long battle with cancer. He was only 45 years old.

The MURDERDOLLS did a number of major tours in support of "Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls". By the summer of 2003, the tenacity of the band was paying off. Tours with IRON MAIDEN, PAPA ROACH and the FOO FIGHTERS around the world and a Top 40 U.K. single with "White Wedding" made the band fan favorite in Metal Hammer, Metal Edge, Kerrang! and Rock Sound magazines.

Wednesday 13 photo credit: Stephen Jensen at F3 Studios for Napalm Records

JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner has revealed that he underwent a second heart surgery in early August. The latest operation took place nearly a year after the 42-year-old British-born musician suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection during a performance at the Louder Than Life festival, just a short distance from Rudd Heart and Lung Center at UofL Health - Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. It took the hospital's cardiothoracic surgery team, led by Dr. Siddharth Pahwa and also including Drs. Brian Ganzel and Mark Slaughter, approximately 10 hours to complete Richie's first surgery, an aortic valve and ascending aorta replacement with hemiarch replacement.

On Monday, September 26 — the first anniversary of Faulkner's life-saving operation, he took to his Facebook to share a video of the audience preparing for PRIEST's performance at the 2021 Louder Than Life festival, and he included the following message: "#september 26th 2021. #louisville #kentucky. @louderthanlifefest

"One year ago today. Less than an hour before my life changed forever. It's crazy how one minute you're listening to the crowd singing war pigs- everything normal, everything seemingly fine- the next it turns out that it was almost the last time I ever heard it. Unbeknownst to me there was stuff going on under the surface that was about to literally explode.

"I'm fortunate and grateful to be here a year later typing this. My support system at home, the hospitals and of course from all you metal maniacs has been second to none and I thank you all.

"I'm not completely out of the woods yet. Just before we toured Europe, scans showed a hole in one of the connections between the synthetic graft and my own aorta that was causing a leak. The blood from the leak was forming an 8cm sack that was surrounding my heart. The doctors were okay for me to tour Europe, but as soon as I got back I had to go under again for another open-heart surgery. So 3 days after we played Belgium, they went in, removed the sack and fixed the leak.

"So I'm now six weeks post the 2nd open heart surgery, feeling well and strong and Looking forward to seeing you all again on the next leg of the US #50heavymetalyears tour starting in a few weeks. My surgeons were always confident that it was enough time for me to recover and get back out on the road and it seems like they were right. We had to lose @aftershockfestival in order for me to recover, but it looks like it's still gonna be a Kick-Ass festival.

"Look after yourselves and your loved ones, you never know what's round the corner.

"Stay safe and see you all soon.

"Much love, Falcon x RHRF DOTF".

Two weeks after his first surgery, Faulkner told reporters that he experienced a sharp pain as he was stepping off the stage. "That's when it exploded," he said.

"The more I read about it, the more astonishing it is to me to think that I even made it to the hospital," he added. "The amount of time when I actually go the pain and when I turned up in the hospital and when we were actually operating, it was quite a lot of time. The more I read about it, the more unbelievable — that amount of time — I don't know how I'm still around today."

Pahwha told reporters that the chance of survival for anybody with Faulkner's ailment is about 10%.

"There are about 70% to 80% patients who have their aorta ruptured and never make it to the hospital," said Pahwa.

Faulkner said he had no history of heart complications and that the aliment came completely "out of the blue."

"My point is I don't even have high cholesterol and this could've been the end for me," he said. "If you can get yourselves checked — do it for me, please."

Aortic aneurysms are "balloon-like bulges in the aorta, the large artery that carries blood from the heart through the chest and torso," according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Dissections happen when the "force of blood pumping can split the layers of the artery wall, allowing blood to leak in between them."

Doctors said Faulkner would continue to be monitored and would receive a CT scan every six months for the first year.

After Louder Than Life, JUDAS PRIEST postponed the remainder of the U.S. dates on its 50th-anniversary tour, dubbed "50 Heavy Metal Years". The shows were rescheduled for March and April 2022.

Faulkner joined PRIEST in 2011 as the replacement for original guitarist K.K. Downing.

Richie was once the guitarist in the backing group for Lauren Harris, daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris.

Faulkner and his girlfriend Mariah Lynch, daughter of former DOKKEN guitarist George Lynch, welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Daisy Mae, in July 2020.



#september 26th 2021. #louisville #kentucky. @louderthanlifefest
One year ago today. Less than an hour before my life changed forever. It’s crazy how one minute you’re listening to the crowd singing war pigs- everything normal, everything seemingly fine- the next it turns out that it was almost the last time I ever heard it.
Unbeknownst to me there was stuff going on under the surface that was about to literally explode.
I’m fortunate and grateful to be here a year later typing this. My support system at home, the hospitals and of course from all you metal maniacs has been second to none and I thank you all.

I’m not completely out of the woods yet.
Just before we toured Europe, scans showed a hole in one of the connections between the synthetic graft and my own aorta that was causing a leak. The blood from the leak was forming an 8cm sack that was surrounding my heart.
The doctors were okay for me to tour Europe, but as soon as I got back I had to go under again for another open-heart surgery. So 3 days after we played Belgium, they went in, removed the sack and fixed the leak.

So I’m now six weeks post the 2nd open heart surgery, feeling well and strong and Looking forward to seeing you all again on the next leg of the US #50heavymetalyears tour starting in a few weeks.
My surgeons were always confident that it was enough time for me to recover and get back out on the road and it seems like they were right.
We had to lose @aftershockfestival in order for me to recover, but it looks like it’s still gonna be a Kick-Ass festival.

Look after yourselves and your loved ones, you never know what’s round the corner.
Stay safe and see you all soon.
Much love,
Falcon x RHRF DOTF

Posted by Richie Faulkner on Monday, September 26, 2022

Adrian Vandenberg has admitted to a disagreement with David Coverdale over the 2021 reissue of WHITESNAKE's "Restless Heart" album. The guitarist made the revelation while chatting to Eonmusic in late August at this year's Stonedead festival in Newark, United Kingdom.

Vandenberg, who was a member of WHITESNAKE from 1987 to 1990, and again from 1994 to 1997, also talked about the injury which prevented him from taking part in the recording of the band's 1990 release "Slip Of The Tongue".

Said Adrian: "I had a serious wrist thing. I was in a hotel working on the guitar parts, because I was already recording the rhythm guitars, and I felt like somebody was holding my wrist, like there was a tight band. I had all kinds of theories about it, and the thing was, there was so much pressure on it because of the success of ''87' [the self-titled, multi-million selling WHITESNAKE album], so I told David, 'You know what? I've got to go home. I've got to take care of it.' So we talked about it and, 'Well, we need somebody to play the parts,' and we both came up with Steve Vai."

He affirmed: "I know all the theories that say it's all like a bullshit thing; it wasn't."

Going on to talk about his work on the 2021 reissue of "Restless Heart", which was originally released in 1997 under the DAVID COVERDALE & WHITESNAKE banner, Vandenberg admitted that although he was involved with it, he and Coverdale had differing visions for how it should sound.

"The thing was, we ended up in a disagreement about the direction of it," he said. "So Joel [Hoekstra, current WHITESNAKE guitarist] doubled the rhythms that I did on the album to beef it up a little bit."

Elaborating on how "Restless Heart" was originally recorded, he said; "It was weird because the demos that we made for 'Restless Heart' were also more back to WHITESNAKE being a blues rock band. I've always been a WHITESNAKE fan, so I know exactly what WHITESNAKE is supposed to be about, and that's what I discussed with David at the time. We both decided, you know what? It's a weird period, it's the '90s. Let's bring WHITESNAKE back to what it originally is, like a blues rock band without too many frills going on, too much polishing and stuff. Like in 'Too Many Tears'; that’s where David especially excels. He's got this big, bluesy voice, low register, and that's just great. And I'm really happy that we recorded that album."

Read the entire interview at Eonmusic.

In the wake of WHITESNAKE's massive late 1980s global success, Coverdale set out to record his third solo album in 1995. However, the plan was derailed when pressure from his record label forced him to change course and release "Restless Heart" under the DAVID COVERDALE & WHITESNAKE moniker. Despite the changes, the 1997 album was a Top 40 hit in the U.K. Surprisingly, the record was never released in the U.S. until Rhino's reissues in October 2021.

Last year, Coverdale told Eonmusic about the making of "Restless Heart": "I called Adrian, who's one of my dearest friends and a fantastic collaborator, and said, 'Right. I'm going to do a solo album. Are you doing anything? Do you want to fly over?' And he did, and he lived with us for about six months. It was amazing and another testament to how strong our friendship is — a great cook, great wine, a raconteur, a lovely man, superb guitarist, and you couldn't ask for a better songwriting partner. So, we were near the end of this thing, after doing the extravagant albums like 'Slip Of The Tongue' [1989] and 'Coverdale Page' [1993], I wanted it to be a bit more organic, strip it down a little bit."

Regarding how "Restless Heart" ended up being released under the DAVID COVERDALE & WHITESNAKE banner, Coverdale stated: "It was supposed to be a David Coverdale solo album after I'd worked with COVERDALE PAGE, and the guys at EMI promoted the idea of this working under my own name, which I've got to say I wasn't that enthusiastic about. I like being in a band; I like being in WHITESNAKE. Obviously, there's going to be elements of WHITESNAKE because I'm the principal writer for the band, but the circumstances, the new executives came in from EMI, and at least showed me the respect of flying over to Reno and sitting down to listen to the album. I bought a case of Puligny-Montrachet so we're all quaffing that, and then they asked if they could have a word with me, and I thought, 'Aye aye, what's this?!' They said, 'We want this to be a WHITESNAKE album,' and I'm going, 'But it isn't — not as it is.' And they said, 'Well, contractually, we can demand that, and we'd rather you were in agreement.' So I said, 'Fine.'"

As for why he felt that "Restless Heart" would not work as a WHITESNAKE album, Coverdale explained: "I felt the songs were really strong, but if it was a WHITESNAKE album, I wouldn't have used girls on it [female backing singers], I wouldn't have done 'Stay With Me Baby' [Lorraine Ellison cover], and 'Don't Fade Away' very likely would not [have appeared on it]. I sat with Adrian and Michael [Shipley, mixer] going, 'Well, we can turn the guitars up a bit, we can turn the drums up a bit,' but I always felt it wasn't doing it good service. And then the mastering was tough, and even more different executives came in, and it was just a really challenging record, so revisiting it was just an utter pleasure for me."

New York City electro metal pioneers DOPE will release their seventh studio album, "Blood Money Part Zer0", on February 24, 2023. The official music video for the LP's latest single, "No Respect", can be seen below. The cinematic visual is a punishing piece that is reminiscent of some of the most memorable scenes ever caught on film.

Taking pages from Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" and Eli Roth's "Hostel" series, the video depicts a violent interrogation taking place inside of an old garage, which ultimately ends in a fiery conclusion. The scene unfolds as the band performs the nitro-fueled song and frontman Edsel Dope lyrically proclaims: "You get what you deserve, and in the end you'll burn." The teeth-excising/finger-removing villain is played by Derron Ross — acclaimed Hollywood stuntman and video game visual effects supervisor. Ross has worked on "Deadpool", "Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War", "Apex Legends" and "Bloodshot", to name a few. The visually captivating video was directed by Edsel and co-directed by Matt Zane.

Edsel states: "It's funny. Most people watching the video will assume that Derron is playing the role of a villain, but he's actually playing the hero. The guy that we set on fire was guilty of some deplorable shit. In the end, he got what he deserved."

"Blood Money Part Zer0" is DOPE's first release in seven years and is the follow-up to 2016's "Blood Money Part 1", which debuted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, selling over 15,000 units in its first week.

DOPE has sold more than a million combined albums and has amassed an audience of nearly two million monthly listeners on Spotify while racking up more than 100 million plays on its cult classic "Die MF Die".

In a move to demonstrate the bands sincere appreciation to their loyal fanbase for more than two decades, DOPE is giving away "Blood Money Part Zer0" for free digitally. Longtime fans, curious listeners and people that enjoy gratis music can sign up to download the album for free on the band's web site. A physical pre-order will also be available on the band's web site for fans that want to purchase the new album in various physical formats.

DOPE recently released an introspective infomercial which doubles as a behind-the-scenes look into the real life of Edsel, his private life, and his many ventures outside of DOPE. A very private person, virtually inactive on social media, Edsel is intentionally secretive about what he does with his time between records and tours. This video serves as a direct message to the fans, inviting them to see behind the curtain of the mysterious man, whose creativity they have supported for years. In the end, the video is ultimately an introduction to "Blood Money Part Zer0" and will feature teaser clips from the music videos for "Believe" and "No Respect", but is also so much more.

DOPE will hit the road in 2023 in support of "Blood Money Part Zer0" as part of the "Rise Of The Machine" tour with STATIC-X and FEAR FACTORY. The 42-date trek kicks off February 25, 2023 in San Francisco, California and wraps up April 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

During his time away from performing with DOPE, Edsel has become a successful creative director, project manager and entrepreneur. As part of a three-year stint with Omnicom's GMR Marketing, Edsel headed up music programs for the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, WWE, UFC and many others while also lending his creative marketing talents to brands such as Indian Motorcycle, Nissan and "American Horror Story", to name a few. Edsel, who now resides in Los Angeles, is a father, has a family and is also the owner operator of the3D/4D capture stage to the stars. Ecco Studios is a company specializes in the technical art of 3D and 4D scanning, which is the foundation for creating the most unbelievably realistic digital humans imaginable. Ecco is skyrocketing at the moment and through this venture, Edsel recently worked with the likes of Paul McCartney, Snoop Dog, Terry Crews, Sylvester Stallone, while also working on titles such as "Spiderman", "Terminator: Dark Fate", "Love Death Robot", as well as several volumes of the EA Madden franchise.

Warner Music [Sony Music outside Europe] recently reissued Pink Floyd’s Animals on Deluxe Gatefold, CD, LP, Blu-ray and SACD. The individual versions were released on September 16, with the Deluxe version available from October 7. This is the first time the album has been available on 5.1 Surround Sound.


Animals surges back onto Billboard’s album charts (dated October 1) following its reissue on September 16.


The set, first released in 1977, re-enters Top Album Sales at #3 with 20,000 copies sold in the US in the week ending September 22, according to Luminate (up from 500 copies sold in the previous week). It’s the biggest sales week for any Pink Floyd album since 2014 and Animals’ highest rank on the 31-year-old chart.




Animals also re-enters at #1 on the Catalog Albums chart (its first week at #1 and the act’s fifth leader on the 31-year-old list), and impacts the top five on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Tastemaker Albums and Vinyl Albums. It also bounds back onto the Billboard 200 at #21 – the set’s first visit to the top 40, and highest rank, since 1977. That year it peaked at #3 for three weeks (on the charts dated March 5-19).


Read more at Billboard.


Animals is the tenth studio album by Pink Floyd, originally released in January 1977.. It was recorded at the band's Britannia Row Studios in London throughout 1976 and early 1977, and was produced by the band themselves. The successful album peaked at number 2 in the UK and number 3 in the US, and is considered as one of the band's best works. The album was recorded by band members David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright.


Animals 2018 Remix is released on CD, LP (with gatefold artwork), Blu-ray, SACD and Deluxe Gatefold formats. The Deluxe Gatefold version includes LP, CD, audio Blu-ray, audio DVD and a 32-page book. The Blu-ray and DVD audio include the 2018 remix in Stereo, 5.1 Surround (both by James Guthrie) and the original 1977 Stereo mix. The 32-page booklet features rarely seen behind the scenes photographs of the album sleeve shoot along with live images and memorabilia. The album artwork has been reimagined for this release.


Animals is a concept album, focusing on the social-political conditions of mid-1970s Britain, and was a change from the style of the band’s earlier work. The album was developed from a collection of unrelated songs into a concept which describes the apparent social and moral decay of society, likening the human condition to that of animals. Taking inspiration from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the album depicts the different classes of people as animals with pigs being at the top of the social chain, dropping down to the sheep as the mindless herd following what they are told, with dogs as the business bosses getting fat on the money and power they hold over the other. Although it’s been a long time since 1977, the narrative of the album still resonates today as our social and economical situation mirrors that of the time.


The album's iconic cover shows an inflatable pig (now known as Algie) floating between two chimneys of the Battersea Power Station, conceived by Roger Waters, and designed by long-time collaborator Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis Studios. For this new release, the artwork has been re-designed for the modern era by Storm’s Hipgnosis partner Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell. Taking new shots of the building as it appeared during the recent conversion work, Po experimented with new angles and produce some striking new takes on the classic original. Po elaborates: “With the original 1977 album cover being such an iconic piece of stand-alone art, I had the chance to update it, which was a rather daunting task, but Hipgnosis took the opportunity to re photograph the image to reflect a changing world, and by using modern digital colouring techniques I kept Pink Floyd’s rather bleak message of moral decay using the Orwellian themes of animals, the pig ‘Algie’, faithful to the message of the album.”





Tracklisting:


"Pigs On The Wing (Part One)"
"Dogs"
"Pigs (Three Different Ones)"
"Sheep"
"Pigs On The Wing (Part Two)"


Formats:


Deluxe Limited Edition 4 Disc Package
- 1LP/1CD/1DVD/1BLU-RAY
- 180 Gram black heavyweight vinyl
- 32-page booklet
- all housed in a hardcover book style cover    


1 LP Vinyl
- 1LP 180gram black heavyweight vinyl
- 28 page booklet
- gatefold vinyl sleeve


1 CD
- CD in card gatefold cd size sleeve
- 28-page booklet


1 Blu-Ray
- Special Blu-Ray gatefold card sleeve
- 16-page booklet


Blu-Ray - Audio Mixes
- 2018 Remix - Stereo: 24-bit/192kHz Uncompressed, dts-HD MA
- 2018 Remix - 5.1 Surround: 24-bit/96kHz Uncompressed, dts-HD MA
- 1977 Original Stereo: 24-bit/192kHz Uncompressed, dts-HD MA


DVD – Audio Mixes
- 2018 Remix: 5.1 Surround Mix (Dolby Digital @ 640 kbps, 448kbps), Stereo (LPCM 24-bit/48 kHz Uncompressed)
- 1977 Original Stereo Mix: (24-bit/48 kHz Uncompressed)


1 SACD
- Hardback book package with 28-page book, in slipcase.


Includes:


- 2018 New Stereo Mix (High-resolution DSD)
- 2018 New 5.1 Surround Mix (High-resolution DSD)
- 2018 New Stereo Mix (standard CD)


In the video below, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and David Gilmour describe the recording process for the 1977 album:

Danish/American rockers VOLBEAT have shared the live video "Shotgun Blue - Official Bootleg Live from San Diego" which was captured at the San Diego show on their recent 26-date "Wait A Minute… Let's Tour". The clip serves as a preview for "Volbeat - Wait A Minute… Let's Tour: Live From San Diego", a full concert stream that will be available for a limited time from Thursday, October 6 at 2 p.m. ET until Sunday, October 9 at midnight ET, on the band's YouTube channel. Capturing one of the band's first shows back on the road in autumn 2021, this intimate performance at San Diego's historic venue The Observatory North Park was filmed shortly before the release of their most recent album, "Servant Of The Mind". The setlist included some of the very first live performances of the hit singles "Shotgun Blues" and "Wait A Minute My Girl". The concert was filmed and edited by the team at Ghost Atomic Pictures ("Shotgun Blues", "Die To Live (Feat. Neil Fallon)", "Leviathan", Let's Boogie: Live From Telia Parken").

VOLBEAT's eighth studio album, "Servant Of The Mind", was released last December via Republic Records.

Revolver called "Servant Of The Mind" "excellent… the darkest and heaviest VOLBEAT offering yet." For the LP, the band, which consists of Michael Poulsen (guitar, vocals),Jon Larsen (drums),Rob Caggiano (guitars) and Kaspar Boye Larsen (bass),took its signature heavy metal, psychobilly and punk 'n' roll sound up a notch while showcasing Poulsen's keen ability for songwriting and storytelling. "Rarely has such a successful band sounded so ravenous," says Kerrang! magazine of the album.

"Servant Of The Mind" was written and recorded during the shutdown and quarantine necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The LP includes the "double barrel" of summer songs the band released in June 2021: "Wait A Minute My Girl" and "Dagen Før" (featuring Stine Bramsen),the former of which became the band's ninth number one single on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

For "Servant Of The Mind", the band took its signature heavy metal, psychobilly and punk 'n' roll sound up a notch while showcasing Poulsen's keen ability for songwriting and storytelling.

"I wrote the whole album in three months," recalled Poulsen, "I was in a good place and mood while at home, and had a captive audience of myself… There are a lot of VOLBEAT signatures in it. If you go back to the first record and compare it to where we are now, you can hear how the band has developed its style, while keeping the signature sound."

Previously released single "Shotgun Blues" is an anthemic track in which Poulsen explores the ghostly events he recently experienced upon moving into a new home. Other songs on the album weave intricate and fascinating tales. "The Sacred Stones" tells the story of "an earthly being who has committed himself to the dark side. He is on a mission, speaking to darker forces and fallen angels." Meanwhile, "The Devil Rages On" looks at the idea of the devil taking human form. Album opener "Temple Of Ekur" returns to the ancient themes explored in past songs such as "The Gates Of Babylon", while the epic album closer "Lasse's Birgita" explores the story of the first witch burnings to occur in Sweden in 1471.

Michael Monroe, who turned 60 in June, celebrated the milestone with a bang on September 23 at the Helinki Ice Hall (Helsingin Jäähalli) in Finland. As the grand finale of the concert, the original lineup of HANOI ROCKS, one of Finland's most significant rock bands of all time, took the stage: Monroe, Andy McCoy, Sami Yaffa, Nasty Suicide and Gyp Casino. Prior to Friday night's performance, the quintet, which started a historic chapter in the world's music scene, was last seen on stage at Helsinki's Tavastia on July 27, 1982. The "support band" for the show for Friday night's concert was the reunited DEMOLITION 23. Led by Monroe, the band rose to great cult fame, although they only released one album ("Demolition 23") in 1994 and broke up shortly afterwards. This was DEMOLITION 23's first performance since the band's breakup in 1995.

At the 60th-birthday show, Monroe was mostly accompanied by his longtime band consisting of Sami Yaffa, Karl Rockfist, Rich Jones and Steve Conte. In addition to the original HANOI ROCKS lineup and DEMOLITION 23, several top musicians and artists who collaborated with Monroe over the years took the stage. The almost-three-hour-long concert allowed fans to hear many Monroe classics throughout evening. To top the event, the lights and visuals are designed by the internationally acclaimed worldwide phenomenon Mikki Kunttu.

Speaking to Rockfiend about how it felt to perform with the reunited original lineup of HANOI ROCKS at his 60th-birthday gig, Monroe said in part: "It felt great. It was amazing. It was a big undertaking, and I worked on it quite a while. And the setlist — altogether there was 37 songs, including DEMOLITION and the original HANOI lineup… The original HANOI lineup played nine songs, actually, in the end… The emotion and the feeling was amazing. The crowd had such a warm feeling of love and appreciation, and everybody had a great time. It was a real success, I must say. I felt really great about it. There was a lot of singing — 37 songs — and my voice held up good."

The setlist for the original HANOI ROCKS reunion was as follows:

01. Tragedy
02. 11th Street Kids
03. Oriental Beat
04. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
05. Don't You Ever Leave Me
06. Motorvatin'
07. Malibu Beach Nightmare
08. Million Miles Away
09. Up Around The Bend (CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL cover) (with all guests)

Monroe previously discussed the HANOI ROCKS reunion during a September 14 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Regarding how the gig came about, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What happened was Sami Yaffa and Nasty Suicide were gonna be there anyway [for the DEMOLITION 23 reunion], since Sami is in my band playing the bass. I met with Gyp Casino, the original drummer from HANOI, in Stockholm last December when we were filming my documentary… [He is] a cool guy [and I have] nice memories [of playing with him]. And I invited him over to do something [at the gig]. And then Andy McCoy, he called me. He invited himself. He said, 'I heard you've got this 60th-birthday celebration. If I have time from my world tour, I may have time to show up and maybe I'll come and do 'Tragedy'.' [And I said] 'Okay. Whatever. Fine.' So then I started thinking about it. I said, 'Wow. That would be actually cool. All the guys will be there, the original lineup. Why don't we do a few HANOI songs in the end?' And then we were gonna have it as a surprise, and everybody agreed. This was the only way and the only time to do it, for the right reasons. Then Sami Yaffa told me one night, 'Are you sure you don't wanna let people know ahead of time? Because if fans find out about this later on afterwards, they're gonna be pissed off.' So I said, 'You're right. We should let people know.' The Ice Hall in Helsinki was already over half sold out, but then we had this press conference, and I had Gyp Casino come over too — all five of us — and it was fun. It was surreal to be with everybody right there — all five of us together — after 40 years. It was amazing. It felt really cool, actually. It was fun. And we announced that the end of the show will be the original lineup doing a set of HANOI songs. The next day, it was all sold out and everybody wants to be there."

Asked if he thinks there is a chance that this HANOI ROCKS reunion will lead to a full tour or more shows, Michael said: "No. [Laughs] No. This will be just one time — this one time."

When host Eddie Trunk pointed out that other reunion tours had materialized in the past after what were initially supposed to be one-off gigs and that Michael should "never say never," Monroe quipped: "I say 'never say never say never.' [Laughs]"

Monroe and McCoy founded HANOI ROCKS in the late 1970s and the band's original lineup was established in 1980. HANOI ROCKS, the first Finnish rock band to make an international breakthrough, recorded their first three albums with the original lineup: "Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks" (1981),"Oriental Beat" (1982) and "Self Destruction Blues" (1982). Casino was replaced in 1982 by Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley who became an integral member of HANOI ROCKS. Razzle died in a tragic accident in 1984. Unfortunately, this led to the band's untimely demise in early 1985.

HANOI ROCKS did reform once before in 2002, albeit with only Monroe and McCoy from the band's classic lineup, and released a comeback album, "Twelve Shots On The Rocks". The reunion lasted until 2009.

In a 2019 interview with Duke TV, Monroe stated about the band's "rebirth" two decades ago: "It was not planned. It just happened. I would never do a reunion to cash in on the reunion, so to speak, to cash in on the old name. It was interesting for me to see what we could accomplish with Andy because he had learned to respect my songwriting abilities, which he didn't in the past. It was cool to see what we could do. We had some old Ideas, like from 1984, that we had left over, that I remembered, that we reworked and made into songs. Then it started slipping into the same old 'you'd be nothing without me' and all that shit. I was, like, 'Are you sure you want to start this? Let's do some farewell tours.' I was ready to commit to that for the rest of my life if it had continued being fun, but it came to a point where it wasn't fun anymore, so I called Andy and said, 'Let's put this thing to bed.'"

He continued: "After that, I haven't seen him. We haven't had much to do with him, unless it was business with HANOI or something that has to be taking care of, our name in the paper — fine; we'll deal with that. Obviously, we're not the best of friend-friends, not like with Sami. Sami, Nasty and me had this bond that was created in the first half of a year of HANOI ROCKS when we started living in the streets of Stockholm homeless. That made us had this street gang kind of vibe. Us against the world, looking out for each other."

GREAT WHITE recruited Brett Carlisle to front the band for its performance this past Saturday night (September 24) at the Cannery Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Carlisle was filling in for GREAT WHITE's singer of the past few months, Andrew Freeman, who was unable to make the gig due to a scheduling conflict with his other band, LAST IN LINE.

According to Metal Sludge, Carlisle fronts ALL OR NOTHING (AON),a hard rock band out of Birmingham, Alabama. He 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.

ALL OR NOTHING is scheduled to open for GREAT WHITE on October 16 in Lititz, Pennsylvania.

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. Asked in an interview with "Barstools & Bandtalk" if Freeman's addition to GREAT WHITE had been in the works for a long time, guitarist Mark Kendall said: "Not necessarily. Not by design. It seems like everything that happens to us, some freak thing happens. What happened was we played with FOREIGNER up north in California [last October], and our singer at the time [Malloy] had to cancel the gig to go do a VAN HALEN tribute show. [Laughs] So we got Andrew to fill in for that gig. We didn't rehearse or anything; in a hotel room, we went over the songs and he kind of learned them at home. And he blew our minds. He just sang the songs so perfect in that short amount of time that we wanted to know if he was available, 'cause we really liked his vibe. I could read him pretty good right away that he wasn't into any kind of weird head trips or ego or anything like that; he was just straight-forward. He engaged the crowd really good and it seemed totally natural. For a guy going out and singing with GREAT WHITE for the first time ever, and we don't even rehearse, and he's getting the crowd up on their feet. And also not just doing that, but just not scripted just rapping to the crowd. So it wasn't just that arena rap; it was kind of just natural, and I really liked that too. I liked the way he was onstage. So when he told he was available, we went and rehearsed for a couple of days in Vegas, and he blew our minds again. He goes, 'Do you guys still do 'Stick It'?' And I go, 'How would you…?' 'Cause he's younger than us, a little bit. I go, 'How do you know 'Stick It'?' And he's, like, 'Oh, when I was 13, me and my buddy, we used to get these songs on 'Metalshop', and that one was always in the loop.' I go, 'Okay. Let's do 'Stick It'.' So we launched in, did 'Stick It'. He sings it perfect. So it was kind of cool to see all the different sides to his voice. I mean, obviously, LAST IN LINE is straight-ahead kind of metal delivery, but he has some different sides to his voice that I really like. So for us to be able to play 'Stick It' and him hit all the notes, and actually not ditch any notes in our other songs either… And a lot of 'em are kind of geared in a higher range; it's difficult to sing these songs — some of 'em. But he handles it all, and he's really prepared, real professional in that sense too."

Kendall went on to say that interpersonal relationships within GREAT WHITE are smoother now than they have been in a while.

"The vibe within the band, there's no… Everybody's, like — I don't know — just at ease and just enjoying ourselves," he said. "These days, if somebody has some big ego or there's… I told this one journalist, I'm, like, it'd be like you go to a party and you see cocaine, you see blow on the table, and you're going, 'They still have that stuff?' That's how I feel if somebody has a big ego. I go, 'They still do that?' At our age, we're gonna have a big ego or have some kind of head trip or something? I just don't get it. I just like to go out and play hard and play our hearts out and leave all the weird stuff away."

This past June, Freeman discussed his GREAT WHITE gig during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Regarding how he approaches 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."

Freeman, who has already played a dozen or so shows so far with GREAT WHITE since he joined the group, continued: "The hits — the 'Once Bitten' [1987] and '...Twice Shy' [1989] and that stuff — they're fun songs to play, but I think if the wrong person is presenting them, they come off like — I don't want anybody to get mad at me — they come off like a lesser, more glammy type of band. And I've never seen GREAT WHITE as that, as a glammy-type band. Everybody had the big hair; even Ozzy [Osbourne] had the big hair and the glitter and all that stuff… I never really saw them as that. I always see them as… when everybody was in the leather pants and the leather jackets and the cuts over the leather jackets with their band name on the back and stuff — that's how I see 'em. I see Jack… Even now when I see him on the road, 'cause I've done gigs with him — he doesn't know me from Adam — but he still seems like that guy [who's] gonna hit you with his cane. [Laughs]"

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."

Kendall went on to say that he doesn't think Malloy is upset about being out of GREAT WHITE. "He likes his solo career," Mark said. "I saw his post [about his exit from GREAT WHITE] where he said, 'Get ready for my VAN HALEN experience. And I'm gonna be doing an acoustic show, a storytellers show,' and all this stuff. So I'm encouraging people to go check him out when he gets in your area and wishing him to do well."

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 said: "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."

GREAT WHITE's current lineup is rounded out by Audie Desbrow (drums) and Scott Snyder (bass).

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.
vvvvv

Fan-filmed video of Alice Cooper's September 25 concert at Soldiers And Sailors Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee can be seen below.

Cooper played his first show with guitarist Kane Roberts since 1988 on September 7 at the kick-off of his fall U.S. tour at the Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Kane's return to Alice's touring band was first reported as a rumor by the Metal Sludge web site on July 11. He stepped in as the replacement for Nita Strauss, who announced her departure from Cooper's group two months ago after an eight-year stint. Nita has since joined the backing band of pop star Demi Lovato.

Alice announced his renewed collaboration with Kane in a social media post in July. He wrote: "I'm looking forward to welcoming back Kane Roberts for our shows in September and October. We've been friends all this time, and he's always been one of my favorite guitarists. He's bringing more muscle to the 'Detroit Muscle' tour.

"We've always had a swinging door policy where players can come and go, so it's very exciting to get back on stage with Kane. The fans are in for a real treat at these shows. It's gonna be a blast. Kane Roberts, Ryan Roxie, and Tommy Henriksen on guitars? Hell yeah!"

Kane has recorded a total of five solo albums (among them the PHOENIX DOWN project released in the late '90s),including his latest, "The New Normal", which arrived in January 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl. "The New Normal" contained the song "Beginning Of The End", featuring a guest appearance by Alice.

Kane's name and abilities first came to prominence on Cooper's "Constrictor" album, which was soon followed by his self-titled debut solo album in 1987. More albums and tours with Alice followed, making Kane a well-known face in the business especially for his guitar skills, but also for his body-builder image and his now iconic machine-gun guitar.

As a solo recording artist, he landed a few Top 40 hits, and his varied musical background includes recording, writing and touring with artists such as Rod Stewart, Alice CooperDesmond Child, KISS, Diane Warren, ALICE IN CHAINS, BERLIN, GUNS N' ROSES, Garland Jeffries and more. He's also written or recorded music for films like "Light Sleeper", Penelope Spheeris's "Decline Of Western Civilization", "Friday the 13th IV Jason Lives", John Carpenter's "Prince Of Darkness", and more. In 1991, his second solo album, "Saints And Sinners", for Geffen Records included the Top 40 Billboard hit "Does Anybody Really Fall In Love Anymore?", originally written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

In recent interviews, Strauss has said that the door is not closed on her return to Cooper's band at some point in the foreseeable future.

"There's no shutting of a door and changing of the guard, it's just I'm taking a step back a little bit," Strauss told Louder. "Depending on what the schedule looks like next year, I may have the chance to come back; I may not. But it definitely doesn't feel as final to me and to the people in Alice's band and the inner circle as it has been portrayed out in the world."

For his part, Roberts has said that he is not opposed to continuing his current stint with Cooper past the fall 2022 tour. "Well, I do want to record and sing with him," he told Vinyl Writer Music. "Right now, it's five weeks … there's a sort of a semblance of perfection in that, right? It has a beginning and an end to it. But if it evolves past that, there will be reasons why it should, and if it doesn't, then there will be reasons why it shouldn't."

HALESTORM was interviewed by Liv Maddix of 105.7 The Point backstage at Pointfest on Saturday, September 24 at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St, Louis, Missouri. Asked how different the band's latest album, "Back From The Dead", would have been had it not been for the global pandemic, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale said: "It would be a totally, completely different record, or it wouldn't have happened [at all], especially in the way that it was. 'Back From The Dead' is really a true depiction of that journey that we were going through.

"The craziest moment was we were all listening to the final mixes, and we were, like, 'Guys, I think we made a heavy record,'" she recalled. "We weren't really intending on doing that, but we didn't have a stage to lay any of those emotions out on, we didn't have the camaraderie that we do with other bands, we weren't seeing live music, so we had to lay it out there somewhere. So it would have been completely different."

HALESTORM's fifth studio album album, "Back From The Dead", was released in May via Atlantic. The follow-up to 2018's "Vicious" was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, MASTODON, ALICE IN CHAINS) with co-production by Scott Stevens (SHINEDOWN, DAUGHTRY, NEW YEARS DAY).

Lzzy (guitar, vocals) and her brother Arejay Hale (drums) formed the band in 1998 while in middle school. Guitarist Joe Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by bassist Josh Smith in 2004.

A month ago, Arejay spoke to Rock 100.5 The KATT about what it has been like touring during the coronavirus pandemic. He said: "Touring is different now. We're all trying to be very, very safe and just make sure that we don't have to postpone any dates. So we're still kind of doing a very 'bubble'-esque type of tour where we're not hanging out with people after the show. We have to put meet-and-greets on hold for a little bit, just to make sure that we can continue to do shows and we don't have to stop our tour for any reason. But it's honestly fine.

"We're coming back on tour and playing shows with a whole new… We feel rejuvenated almost completely 'cause we've had the most time off the road since our first album came out," he continued. "So coming back into it, we have a much better understanding of how to maintain physically, maintain mentally, not get too crazy, and we just don't take it for granted.

"Live shows were — poof! — taken away from us for so long, and I think a lot of us didn't realize how important it was for our collective mental health," Arejay added. "So I think that we're at this new mental state where we're, like, let's go up on stage and give it our all every night. 'Cause who knows — it could all be gone tomorrow, so let's play every show like it's our last."

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

DEF LEPPARD has released the thirteenth in a series of behind-the-scenes episodes from "The Stadium Tour", which kicked off on June 16 in Atlanta, Georgia and concluded on September 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Episode 13 takes you backstage with the members of DEF LEPPARD in Seattle, Vancouver and Edmonton.

The veteran British rockers co-headlined "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, with support from POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS.

DEF LEPPARD's set on the tour included some of the band's biggest hits, such as "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Photograph" and "Rock Of Ages" — as well as songs from the group's latest album, "Diamond Star Halos", among them "Kick" and "Fire It Up".

DEF LEPPARD's long-delayed North American trek was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022.

"The Stadium Tour" marked the CRÜE's first live dates since wrapping its 2014/2015 farewell tour. CRÜE toured with POISON back in 2011 and DEF LEPPARD teamed up with POISON for a string of road dates in 2017, but this jaunt was the first time all four acts had hit the road together for an extended tour.

In May 2021, DEF LEPPARD drummer Rick Allen told "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that promoters "made the right decision" by postponing "The Stadium Tour" for a second time. "I think the primary focus has gotta be people's health and well-being," he said. "So I understand why they made that decision. I think if we had gone out [in 2021], it may have been a bit more of a patchwork of a tour as opposed to being able to play the whole thing from start to finish. So, it's a bummer, but here we are."

Allen went on to say that he and his DEF LEPPARD bandmates were disappointed that they wouldn't be able to perform live again in the U.S. until 2022. "We're really bummed, 'cause, obviously, we wanted to get out there," he said. "It's been a long time. And I know — our fans are so loyal. It's incredible. The fact that we got the largest vote for the [Rock And Roll] Hall Of Fame — the fan vote. So our fans are just particularly special; I mean, they've always been a rock. So I feel for them. And I feel for us. But I just want people to come out and be safe."

Fan-filmed video of IRON MAIDEN's September 25 concert at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, California can be seen below.

As has been the case on all the shows of the 2022 leg of MAIDEN's "Legacy Of The Beast" world tour so far, the band opened the set with "Senjutsu", the title track of its latest studio album, and followed it up with two more songs from the same LP, "Stratego" and "The Writing On The Wall".

Other tracks aired during MAIDEN's performance included "Revelations", "Blood Brothers", "Sign Of The Cross", "Flight Of Icarus", "Fear Of The Dark", "Hallowed Be Thy Name", "The Number Of The Beast" and "Iron Maiden".

MAIDEN also played two encores, consisting of "The Trooper", "The Clansman", "Run To The Hills" and the closing track of the night, "Aces High".

The full setlist was as follows:

01. Senjutsu
02. Stratego
03. The Writing On The Wall
04. Revelations
05. Blood Brothers
06. Sign Of The Cross
07. Flight Of Icarus
08. Fear Of The Dark
09. Hallowed Be Thy Name
10. The Number Of The Beast
11. Iron Maiden

Encore:

12. The Trooper
13. The Clansman
14. Run To The Hills

Encore 2:

15. Aces High

Prior to the "Legacy Of The Beast" kick-off concert on May 22 in Zagreb, Croatia, IRON MAIDEN hadn't performed live in two and a half years — since the completion of its South American tour in October 2019.

Earlier this year, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson confirmed that the band is planning to stage a tour where it will perform its new album, "Senjutsu", in its entirety. The 64-year-old singer told the "Talk Is Jericho" podcast: "The plan we've got — it's not really a secret; I think everybody else has chatted about it — we will, I hope, we've talked about doing the entire ['Senjutsu'] album start to finish, but not this time around. And we all appreciate that that is something that really diehard fans will probably love and other people will go, 'Hmmm, I'm not gonna go see that.' So the answer is you play smaller venues so that they sell out with just your diehard fans. 'Cause it's a musical thing to do — it's a musical thing."

Dickinson went on to clarify that the 2022 leg of MAIDEN's "Legacy Of The Beast" tour, which is scheduled to hit North America in September and October, will once again focus primarily on a decades-spanning setlist of fan favorites.

"The 'Legacy Of The Beast' tour, people have all paid their money to see the 'Legacy Of The Beast' show, with Spitfires and flamethrowers and Icarus and everything that goes with," he said. "So they're gonna get all that. But the first three tracks are probably gonna be the first three tracks on the ['Senjutsu'] album. 'The Writing On The Wall' they already know, so everybody should know the first three tracks. And I just think [the] 'Senjutsu' [title track] is just such a great opening song — so dramatic. And then once you've done that — and we'll have a stage set to go with it — once you've done that, you're back to the kind of 'Legacy' world at that point. But I think 'The Writing On The Wall' is gonna be a great song — I mean, a crowd singalong song. You can imagine that. It'll be fantastic."

Addressing the fact that MAIDEN infuriated some fans by forcing them to sit through the band's then-new, 75-minute "A Matter Of Life And Death" album on tour in 2006, denying the crowd the greatest hits they'd come for, Bruce said: "Nobody has to buy a ticket. If you don't wanna go [see us play an entire new album live], you don't buy a ticket. It's gonna be plain as the nose on your face. This is gonna be what they're gonna do. So given that, don't complain that they did what they said they were gonna do."

Clocking in at a hefty 82 minutes, "Senjutsu" came out in September. It marks MAIDEN's second consecutive double album behind 2015's "The Book Of Souls" which is the longest MAIDEN album, with a running time of 92 minutes.

IRON MAIDEN's first album in six years, "Senjutsu" was recorded in 2019 in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by bassist Steve Harris. It features three tracks whose running time exceeds 10 minutes each.

For "Senjutsu" — loosely translated as "tactics and strategy" — the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai-themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris.

"Senjutsu" bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, charting higher than even the band's early classics like "Powerslave" and "The Number Of The Beast". Nearly 90 percent of the LP's 64,000 equivalent album units earned came from pure album sales. The critically acclaimed double album debuted one place higher than 2015's "The Book Of Souls" and 2010's "The Final Frontier", which both peaked at No. 4.

"Senjutsu" was MAIDEN's 13th album to top in the Top 40 in the U.S.

According to Billboard, "Senjutsu" logged the second-largest week of 2021 for a hard rock album in both equivalent album units earned and in traditional album sales.

"Senjutsu" topped the charts in several European countries upon its release, including in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland.

HEART's Nancy Wilson has released "Amigo Amiga", her tribute to late FOO FIGHTERS drummer Taylor Hawkins. All profits from the song will go to the non-profit organization MusiCares.

Wilson told Consqueuence that she began writing the night of Hawkins's passing in March, with the song's title being a combination of the nicknames the two gave each other.

"I heard myself in tears saying 'too soon too soon' which became a refrain in the song," Wilson said. "I spent quite a few sleepless nights trying to express it all. He was a wonderful friend and we always had funny pet names for each other like 'Amigo' and 'Amiga' as well as 'Luv' and 'Dahling'."

Regarding Taylor's death, Wilson said: "It is such a painful loss — but it also feels like Taylor has galvanized and re-energized rock 'n' roll with so many of his musician friends and fans coming together. It's a new renaissance Taylor and the FOO family have gifted us all."

Hawkins was found dead at the Four Seasons Casa Medina hotel in Bogota.

Taylor joined FOO FIGHTERS in 1997. Prior to that, he played with the Orange County band SYLVIA and was also in the backing band for Sass Jordan. He also toured with Alanis Morissette as her drummer.

Hawkins was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last year as a member of the FOO FIGHTERS.

Nancy's debut solo album, "You And Me", came out in May 2021 via Carry On Music. The LP included the song "Party At The Angel Ballroom" which featured a superstar backing band, including Duff McKagan of GUNS N' ROSES and Hawkins.

With her band HEART, Nancy Wilson recorded 16 albums, sold over 35 million albums worldwide and has four Grammy nominations. She had previously released one other album with just her name on it, "Live At McCabe's Guitar Shop", which captured her playing a set of covers and new songs in 1999. But Nancy considers "You And Me" her first true solo album.

Legendary hard rock singer Joe Lynn Turner (RAINBOW, DEEP PURPLE) will release his new album, "Belly Of The Beast", on October 28 via Music Theories Recordings / Mascot Label Group. The official lyric video for the LP's second single, "Black Sun", can be seen below.

Turner once again collaborated with Wayne Joyner, who created the accompanying visual for the lead reveal "Belly Of The Beast". He states: "Confucius shared, 'Signs and symbols rule The World, not words nor laws.' The Black Sun is an esoteric, occult symbol used by the secret Elite Brotherhood called the Illuminati. It is a symbol of power, energy, and dominance. Those of us who are familiar with the concept can better understand how the Beast System operates. The agenda is to create a system of global government imposed on the world population known as the New World Order or recently named The Great Reset. The agenda is once again activated to complete this imposed ideology. The Black Sun is on the rise…"

When asked about his collaboration with Joyner, Turner offers: "Our collaboration on the 'Belly Of The Beast' lyric video was an indelible experience. Wayne completely understands what the vision and purpose of such a medium must communicate to the audience. His professionalism is of the highest caliber and his easy-going personality makes it a pleasure to share ideas. He then sets these ideas into a form creating a visual experience for the musical identity of the song that otherwise would have been lost in audio format only. Wayne makes you hear it, see it and connect to it on a multitude of levels." Similar sentiments are shared when asked about Russian photographer Agata Nigrovskaya, who captured the portraits presenting his natural likeness timed to the reveal about his life-long condition of alopecia. He states: "Agatha is a very intuitive spirit. She connects with the artist on a deep emotional level and achieves an almost transcendent outcome in her photography. The communication between her and I was unspoken, but understood. Through her sophisticated, raw and fearless approach, she is able to bring the deeper emotions and potential out of her subject. I am so appreciative to have these two creative forces collaborating with me in supporting the upcoming 'Belly Of The Beast' album release."

The painting that graces the cover of the forthcoming Mascot Label Group debut is the work of Aliaksandr Akutsionak. As Turner shares: "Art should shake you, disturb you, inspire you, and make you feel emotions that penetrate the soul. When Aliaksandr presented me with this painting, I was absolutely moved by it, and knew at once it had to be the cover art for 'Belly Of The Beast'. It is a perfect visualization of the message and meaning I am trying to portray. He is a gifted young edgy painter, and tattoo artist. His visions and interpretations of his inner self are unique and original. His work transfers his spirit to canvas, and stimulates the imagination of the viewer."

The wildest times call for the freest of voices. After selling millions of records, playing to countless fans, and fronting some of the most influential rock bands in history, award-winning songwriter and vocal dynamo Joe speaks his mind as loudly as possible on his eleventh full-length offering and Mascot Label Group debut, "Belly Of The Beast". Joining forces with producer Peter Tägtgren (HYPOCRISY, PAIN, LINDEMANN),the New Jersey-born powerhouse conjures up the kind of heavy metal that not only makes you throw your fist in the air, but also makes you think.

"'Belly Of The Beast' is a phrase we've heard over and over again in history," he observes. "You can trace the cults and corruption all over the world back to prophecies in the Bible. It feels like it's coming to fruition these days. When you look at the book of Revelation, there it is. I've always dipped into esoteric knowledge, hermeticism, occultism, Bible research, eclectic philosophy. I've been fascinated with discovery of hidden mysteries. We are in a true spiritual war right now. It's good versus evil. We've all got an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. We're in the belly of the beast, trapped in the system, and there's no way out of it. The album addresses this."

A five-decade career prepared him to make such a statement. Joe founded FANDANGO in 1977 and sang for the band for four records before RAINBOW guitarist Ritchie Blackmore rang. His vocals powered the seminal "Difficult To Cure" in 1981, going gold in the U.K., France, and Japan in addition to cracking the Top 50 of the Billboard 200 and Top 3 on the U.K. albums chart. A year later, he ignited RAINBOW's "Straight Between The Eyes", which Guitar World retrospectively hailed as one of "The 25 Greatest Rock Guitar Albums" of 1982. It also spawned the Hot 100 hit "Stone Cold". During 1988, a Polygram VP wanted Turner to extend his writing and singing skills to collaborate with legendary shred virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen for his project RISING FORCE. Their album, "Odyssey", scaled the Top 40 of the Top 200, marking Malmsteen's highest bow on the respective chart and going gold in Sweden. Not long after, he reteamed with Blackmore for DEEP PURPLE's "Slaves And Masters" (1990),reaching gold status in Switzerland and Japan.

In addition, he has co-written for and appeared on classics such as Mick Jones's "Mick Jones" (1989),RIOT's "The Privilege Of Power" (1990) and Lita Ford's "Dangerous Curves" (1991),to name a few. Not to mention, he lent his background vocals to Michael Bolton's double-platinum "The Hunger" (1987),Cher's platinum "Cher" (1987),Billy Joel's Grammy Award-nominated quadruple-platinum "Storm Front" (1989),and many more. From 2001 to 2004 he teamed up with his friend and counterpart Glenn Hughes and formed HTP (HUGHES TURNER PROJECT). The release of two highly acclaimed original albums and two world tours in support gave him further recognition. Other collaborations range from shining on stage with "Raiding The Rock Vault" at LVH Hotel and Casino and an unforgettable turn on "X Factor Bulgaria" to two cuts on MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP's 2021 album, "Immortal".

In 2017, he initially met Peter after performing at his brother's private birthday party. Soon later, Joe and Peter collaborated on their first track "Don't Fear The Dark", cementing their creative partnership and assembling what would become "Belly Of The Beast".

"It happened completely by accident, but some of the best things happen by accident," Joe notes. "I was not very familiar with Peter's bands PAIN and HYPOCRISY, but when we met, I loved his personality, and I felt like we had a chemistry together. On the writing side, you have to change and grow to mature. I had this in me. As far as pushing into a heavy vein, Peter said, 'Joe adapted his voice,' which is the truth. It's still me though. I kept it dirty, gritty, and metal."

The title track and first single "Belly Of The Beast" storms out of the gate on a barrage of airtight guitars and pummeling double bass. Before a skyscraping solo, it crashes into a plea, "Heaven help us shall we be released, 'cause we can't break free."

"It's all about the ritual and the serpent god of fear, which is Lucifer," he notes. "Who creates the spell upon mankind. If you believe in good, you must believe in evil. It's the yin and yang of life. They must co-exist, it's simple physics. This track had an evil flavor, so upon listening, the story line was obvious to me. Peter sprang the double-time chorus on me, and we went for it."

This chapter saw him make a crucial personal decision too. Diagnosed with alopecia at three-years-old, he began to wear a wig at 14-years-old, dealing with "emotional and psychological damage from cruel bullying in school." So, he wore the hairpiece throughout his career until finally deciding to go without it. "In a way, it's a blessing and a curse," he admits. "I have nothing to prove, and I can wear a wig — or not. I am free to do what I want. I'm a grown man, and I'm getting to be an older man. Many men in this business eventually come to the decision to continue to 'wear hair' or shave their head which is very fashionable today. Either way, it takes a lot of personal courage. Assholes in high school trying to kick me around made me stronger and gave me the necessary motivation and strength to rise above the rest. Anger and pain are a great tool. If applied correctly, it could develop you to become the best version of yourself. Instead of running away, I was 'hiding in plain sight.'"

In the end, Joe has something to say at the pit of "Belly Of The Beast". "Rock 'n' roll is about entertainment of course, but I hope you hear the message as well," he leaves off. "It seems like everyone has sold their souls to major corporations. Once people are rich and popular, they become a part of the establishment. Where are the rebels? Who's going to say, 'Fuck you! We aren't going to take this shit?' I am."

Photo credit: Agata Nigrovskaya

SKID ROW has released the official music video for its latest single, "Time Bomb", taken from the band's upcoming album "The Gang's All Here". The clip was helmed by director Dale "Rage" Resteghini (FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, GUNS N' ROSES) whom SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan sought out to realize his artistic vision for the song about humanity's continuing struggles with self-indulgence and monotony.

Rachel said: "Co-directing the video with Dale was a great learning experience. His energy is infectious, and his knowledge is vast. It was something I had never done before and probably wouldn't have if it weren't for [SKID ROW guitarist] Scotti Hill saying, 'You should direct our next video.' It was a lot like writing a song, but the characters are real. It was all about making my vision come to life."

Rage, known for his ability to get extremely visceral performances and coming up with eye catching visuals, collaborated with Rachel while using the film world's latest breakthrough in cinematography, the brand-new Arri Alexa 35 and handcrafted MasterBuilt Classic Lenses helping create the stellar look for "Time Bomb".

Regarding the lyrical inspiration for "Time Bomb", Rachel said: "What would it be like to be in that position? Just be completely going about life, your normal everyday thing, but you're thiiiiis close to just completely losing your shit?"

"The Gang's All Here" will arrive on October 14 via earMUSIC. The group recorded most of the LP in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who has previously worked with FOO FIGHTERS, STONE SOUR, HALESTORM, EVANESCENCE, RUSH and ALICE IN CHAINS, among many others.

"The Gang's All Here" track listing:

01. Hell Or High Water
02. The Gang's All Here
03. Not Dead Yet
04. Time Bomb
05. Resurrected
06. Nowhere Fast
07. When The Lights Come On
08. Tear It Down
09. October's Song
10. World's On Fire

Swedish singer Erik Grönwall joined SKID ROW in January as the replacement for ZP Theart, who had been in the group for more than six years. Theart played his final gig with SKID ROW in February before being officially given the boot.

Grönwall was a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T. with whom he recorded four studio albums — "Address The Nation" (2012),"Tearing Down The Walls" (2014),"Into The Great Unknown" (2017) and "H.E.A.T II" (2020) — before exiting the group in October 2020.

Grönwall was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021. Six months later, he announced that he was cancer free after receiving a bone marrow transplant in August. "Some anonymous wonderful human being somewhere in the world donated his/her blood cells so that I could get a second chance at life," he told Headbangers Lifestyle in January. "Sometimes I can just get tears in my eyes when I think about it. It's so beautiful that one person who is not connected to me in any way wanted to do that for me. He/she doesn't know that the blood cells were for me. It's completely anonymous."

In September 2021, Grönwall released his cover version of "18 And Life" via all streaming platforms.

In 2018, Grönwall debuted in the U.S. for 10 million viewers in NBC's live broadcast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's musical "Jesus Christ Superstar". Along with John Legend, Alice Cooper, Sara Bareilles and others, Erik played the key role of Simon Zealotes.

Bolan recently told Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station about Grönwall's addition to the band: "Just the way he does things and his work ethic is one I've never seen other than the four of us that are already in the band. He just doesn't stop until he gets things absolutely right. Whether it's his version, what he thinks is right, or what we think is right, he works hard — he works hard. And you can see why he had the success he did overseas because he's a really, really hard-working singer that takes care of his instrument and that takes pride in his craft."

Rachel also reflected on SKID ROW's first live performance with Grönwall, saying: "Honestly, dude, from the minute he opened his mouth… His timing is impeccable. We knew it was gonna be cool. And each show has gotten even better, 'cause we're learning each other's rhythm on stage. When I walked away from that show, I said to Erik, I go, 'This was show one. I cannot wait for show one hundred. It's gonna be amazing.'"

Bolan previously talked about how Erik came to join SKID ROW during an appearance on an episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation L.A. Invasion", recorded just hours before SKID ROW's first performance with the Swedish singer. "We toured together. H.E.A.T. was on tour with SKID ROW. What year was that? '18? And we'd hear him every night from the dressing room," he said. "And a couple of times, I was, like, 'Man, listen to this guy sing. He's phenomenal.' And then, I forget who told me, someone that was with us, 'Yeah, he won 'Idol' in Sweden.' And I was, like, 'Man, he's got pipes.' And I was listening. Then I went behind the monitor board a couple of times. And in my head, I'm, like, 'Wow! When SKID ROW has some downtime, I'm gonna get in touch with this dude and start a side project with him.' And obviously, that never happened. But as time went on and we got to the point to where we were with ZP and stuff, Erik was our first… I told Snake, I go, 'We've gotta check this guy out.' And along with Snake and the rest of the guys, and Nick, our producer, Nick Raskulinecz, were, like, 'He's the guy, man. Send him some songs.' So we sent him some songs that we were recording, just with a guide vocal on it, and it came back about 24 hours later, and we were, like, 'All right. He's the guy. Get him on a plane. Let's do this.'"