KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy La Rocque spoke to the "Heels And Quads" about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's long-awaited new album. Titled "The Institute", KING DIAMOND's first studio LP in 16 years is tentatively due in 2023 via Metal Blade. It will be made available as a two-LP horror concept story, with the second part arriving at a later date. Andy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[KING DIAMOND frontman and namesake] is focused on [MERCYFUL] FATE right now, but we've been talking a little bit about that. I sent him a bunch of songs in January that we started working on, arrangement-wise, in the springtime. But then MERCYFUL FATE came in between. So as soon as they're done with [the MERCYFUL FATE tour] in the fall, we're gonna pick that up again and continue. So we have a bunch of songs. And then also King will write a few songs too, of course. So there will be plenty of songs to put on the album, that's for sure. So, yeah, we're definitely working on it."

At this year's Bloodstock Open Air festival at Catton Park, Walton-on-Trent, United Kingdom, King spoke to Bloodstock TV's Oran O'Beirne about his plans for "The Institute". "Something with KING DIAMOND, we have a very special thing [planned] for that album," King said. "It's gonna be a two-album story. The release will be next year. And touring in the summer is the plan. But KING DIAMOND, we are building something that you will never have seen on a stage before — not that way. And with the light guy, he's never done it that way either. … It's very different, very sick. You will not have seen musicians standing on stage in that type of light. It's gonna be very dark. They have to learn to play in dark areas. It's crazy. I know that our light guy, he can't wait for us to do it. I showed him some pictures that have the kind of feelings I want, the kind of backdrops I want, stuff like that. … This is gonna blow people's minds when they see it, I am a hundred percent sure."

Back in November 2019, KING DIAMOND released its first new song in 12 years, "Masquerade Of Madness". A month later, La Rocque told The Metal Voice that he came up with the music for the track first before passing it off to King, who "needed to arrange a few things and change just a small few things for making it work with his vocals. And then, of course, he wrote the lyrics for it," the guitarist revealed. "So we [went] a little back and forth until he felt like, 'Okay, this is cool, man. This is the right key to sing in,' and all that."

La Rocque, whose real name is Anders Allhage, discussed his vision for the new KING DIAMOND album with The Metal Voice, saying that it will be filled with great "melodies, of course. Super important. Without melodies, there is no music," he explained. "I'm also envisioning a more organic sound of the album. If you look back to the older albums, when Mikkey [Dee] played [drums for the band], for example, it's, like, a little bit up and down in tempo, and that makes it dynamic and also organic. So that's one thing that I would like to hear on the next album, for sure. But building up a dynamic, kind of organic feel, the drummer is a really important thing here, of course. And I know that Matt Thompson [current KING DIAMOND drummer] is the right guy to do this, for sure."

In March 2019, King told Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show that the next album from his namesake band will be "absolutely gruesome" with a story set in a 1920s mental institution. "I chose that because I think it's a very creepy scenario," he explained. "And some of the things that go on that we're gonna show onstage is also things that certainly was going on back then, when medicine was beginning to take a beneficial turn in history and actually being able to help human beings live longer. But there was some experimentation going on, too, that was absolutely gruesome. Some of that is involved in the story, but it's something totally different. Once you get to the second part of the story, you will begin to suddenly understand that, 'What the hell is going on here? What is this really about?' 'Cause there's a whole different story that will not come to you till second part. But in the first part, you're gonna get to know a lot people at a certain place… Some of it takes place here, this world, and some of it takes place in a parallel world. And there's a correlation between what happened to me and what happens to some people in this place and where they suddenly appear. And you will find out why they are there, how they appear there and the places down the road. I won't say too much right now, but it's gonna be very creepy."

KING DIAMOND received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the track "Never Ending Hill" off the band's last album, 2007's "Give Me Your Soul … Please".

"Give Me Your Soul ... Please" sold 4,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 174 on The Billboard 200 chart.

KING DIAMOND released a DVD/Blu-ray, "Songs For The Dead Live", in January 2019 via Metal Blade Records. The set captures 1987's seminal "Abigail" album in its entirety, twice, and in very different locales: Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting in June 2016 and Philadelphia's Fillmore in November 2015. The performances feature KING DIAMOND's current band, comprising of guitarists La Rocque and Mike Wead, bassist Pontus Egberg and Thompson.

Fan-filmed video of IRON MAIDEN's September 13 concert at Moody Center in Austin, Texas 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.

Guitarist David Andersson, of Soilwork and The Night Flight Orchestra, passed away thids week at 47 years of age. Frontman for both band, Björn "Speed" Strid, has paid tribute to Andersson with the following mesage:


"Good night dear Dr Andersson. Really hope you can rest now. Together we created magic until that dark hole couldn’t be filled anymore. The alcohol and your mental illness took you away from us. It hurt so much to witness it. So glad I got to see you one last time at the hospital and have one last hour of classics and listen to some old hits from the past, before you fell asleep. I kissed your forehead and said 'See you on the river side' like my grandmother used to say. My grandmother, whom you invited on New Year's Eve probably 10 years ago, when you flamed beets in Gammeldansk. Will do my utmost to carry on our common musical legacy. Thank you for everything you taught me and the unforgettable travels we made together. Taxi trip to Palm Springs. A staircase in St Petersburg. A bridge in New Jersey. We tuned all that and much, much more. Thank you."


 




BraveWords offer our condolences to Soilwork, The Night Flight Orchestra, and David's family, friends and fans. RIP.


 


 





 


 





 


 


(Photo - Stewart Munro Photography)


 

P.O.D. recently announced the October 14 release of When Angels & Serpents Dance via Mascot Records / Mascot Label Group.  The album has been remixed and remastered with three bonus tracks not on the original master. Pre-order the album here.


A video for the title track can be viewed below. The original video animated by artist and band friend Evil Little Clown has been edited to feature the new audio.







As history repeats itself, the significance of certain statements strengthens over time. Back in 2008, P.O.D. first presented their seventh full-length LP, When Angels & Serpents Dance, upon an unsuspecting world. It immediately reacted with audiences, bowing at #9 on the Billboard Top 200 as their fourth consecutive Top 10 debut on the respective chart. However, its themes, observations, and messages only resonate louder in 2022. The multi-Grammy Award-nominated multiplatinum genre-busting San Diego band reupped, remixed, and remastered the original thirteen songs, adding another three tracks from the vault to complete the vision.


Now, the quartet - Sonny Sandoval [vocals], Marcos Curiel [guitar], Traa Daniels [bass], and Wuv Bernardo [drums] - re-release When Angels & Serpents Dance at just the right moment via Mascot.


“It was a new chapter,” observes Sonny. “A lot of personal things happened during the record, so it ended up being lyrically heavier and darker. I see P.O.D. albums as chapters from beginning to end. From our previous releases to the next album, we’ll put out in 2023, each one is a timeline of where we’re at, what we’re going through, and who we are.”


“In terms of the music, we were flirting with a lot of different elements at the time,” recalls Marcos. “Now, I’m stoked it’s actually going to be available again. It’s a record I think people need to hear. What Sonny is singing about seems like it’s more relevant today - maybe even more so than it was back then.”


The record not only proved important for a myriad of creative reasons, but also for a big personal reason as well. After a three-year hiatus from P.O.D., Marcos returned to the fold. He rejoined the guys for a special New Year’s Eve performance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! before kicking off 2007 with a renewed sense of collective purpose together.  “It was special, because Marcos had come back,” Sonny goes on. “When he rejoined, we were free to be us. We really enjoyed making the record as this united brotherhood again.”


During 2021, P.O.D. plotted a reintroduction of When Angels & Serpents Dance following years unavailable on streaming platforms. The boys reteamed with original producer Jay Baumgardner [Godsmack, Bush, Seether] for remixing.  Howie Weinberg re-mastered the album. Fittingly, they reintroduce the record with the opener and first single “Addicted.” A staccato palm-muted riff sets the tempo as the momentum builds towards a provocative question, “Why do I love you when I know you’re wrong?”  “We all have friends or family going through something,” says Sonny. “Sometimes, it gets out of control. Once that happens, it ruins your life and takes over. How much of it is your choice, and how much of it is just being caught up? I grew up around addiction, and I saw it ruin people’s lives or kill them.”


On the other end of the spectrum, acoustic guitar resounds through soft strings on “Tell Me Why.” The vocals echo with unbridled emotion as Sonny ponders, “Why must we fight? Why must we kill in the name of what we think is right?”


“We’ve always been the type of band who wants to inspire and encourage our brothers and sisters,” notes Marcos. “The song was relevant to us. We try to create awareness of how to be a light in the world.”


“We never had an acoustic song quite like this,” Sonny goes on. “It stemmed from the idea of war. You have these politicians and the elite making all of these decisions, but the common people are the ones at war with each other. It probably fits better now than even then, because our leaders are still doing things the people don’t want.”


P.O.D. are certainly proof. The group rose out of a tough upbringing in San Diego and reached stratospheric heights. To date, they’ve earned three Grammy Award nominations, moved 10 million-plus records, tallied over 1 billion streams, collaborated with artists as diverse as Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® inductee Carlos Santana and Katy Perry, endured nearly three decades together, and captivated the hearts of countless fans.


When Angels & Serpents Dance stands out as yet another milestone.  “This was a painting in time,” Marcos leaves off. “I hope you see all of the different shades, colors, and vibrations. I’m just glad everyone can hear it again.”


“Music has always been our outlet,” Sonny concludes. “We realized, ‘I don’t have to die on my street or sell drugs’. Coming from our neighborhood and upbringing, music saved us. We’ve seen this game change so much. I’ll always stay in this band, because our music continues to speak to all ages. I hope it continues until we decide to lay it down. Until then, there’s a lot more to do.”





Tracklisting:


"Addicted"
"Shine With Me"
"Condescending"
"It Can’t Rain Everyday"
"Kaliforn-Eye-A" (feat. Mike Muir)
"I’ll Be Ready" (feat. The Marley Girls)
"End Of The World"
"This Ain’t No Ordinary Love Song"
"God Forbid" (feat. Page Hamilton)
"Roman Empire"
"When Angels & Serpents Dance"
"Tell Me Why"
"Rise Against"


Bonus tracks:


"Don’t Fake It"
"Ridin’ With You"
"Walk On Water"


“Tell Me Why” lyric video:





"Addicted" video:

The Antichrist Imperium have released a second track from their forthcoming album, Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory, which drops next month - check out the 3D visualiser video for “Misotheist” below.


The avantgarde death metal 4-piece have also revealed the artwork and tracklisting for their new album, which is set for an October 7 release via Apocalyptic Witchcraft.


Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory will be available in digipak CD, Cassette and digital format, whilst the vinyl version will be released at a later date in 2023.




Four years and countless hours in the making, Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory is everything great about The Antichrist Imperium turned up to 11. Whether you are into haunting melodies, progressive journeys, or ceaseless blasting, this album is an aural feast that will stand forever in your collection like a curse!


Vocalist Sam Bean comments:  “We have no message to convey, all we wish is to deliver to you is a glorious and reverent ode to Satan, a dream of a world where a black hoof steps on your face forever. Volume 3: Satan In His Original Glory has our best riffs, our greatest songwriting efforts, most insane lyrics, and the most taboo artwork seen on an album of dark art.”





Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory tracklisting:


"The Sweetest Juice"
"Vilest Of Beasts"
"Third Degree Baptism"
"Exorcist Evisceration"
"Chapel Of The Crippled Seed"
"Tu Verus Mundi Lucifer"
"Menage A Triumvirate"
"Misotheist"


"Misotheist" 3D visualizer:





"Third Degree Baptism":





The Antichrist Imperium lineup:


David Gray – drums
Matt Wilcock – guitars
Sam Bean – vocals, keyboards, bass
Samuel Loynes – vocals, keyboards


(Photo - Sean Keatley)

During a new appearance on "The LA Lloyd Podcast", MEGADETH's Dave Mustaine discussed his songwriting process. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The songs really never are done until they're done. The lyric is a whole different subject because I am a stickler for grammar. And a lot of times I'll go back and look at my lyrics and think, 'God, what are you? A fourth grader?' Because some of the grammar and the punctuation and stuff will be off. But it helps me a lot to go back and look at what I've written and learn from that because I sometimes will sing the song in a character. So many of the songs are about relationships, so a lot of times if I'm singing it, I can be me or thee. It's whatever."

Asked if there has ever been a situation where a cadence containing perfect grammar might not be flowing with where he is trying to go with the lyrics, Mustaine said: "No. The thing for me is if I'm trying to write a lyric, I've got a pretty good grasp of the King's English, so if I have a word that I wanna use that doesn't fit, I'm pretty safe at saying I know a synonym for the word in question."

According to Billboard, MEGADETH's latest album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marks the band's eighth top 10-charting album. Of "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!"'s 48,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprise 45,000, SEA units comprise 3,000 and TEA units comprise a neglible sum.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown to Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

"The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" arrived on September 2 via UMe.

In a new interview with Metal Edge magazine, W.A.S.P. leader Blackie Lawless was asked how he plans to stage a "real-deal W.A.S.P. show" to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary "with the existence of cancel culture and woke culture." He responded: "That's a complicated question you just asked. Because first of all, I'm not gonna even consider a woke culture. That has nothing to do with my world. You know, if that's what somebody wants to do that's their privilege. Free country. But our fan base is our fan base. So, one of the things I learned a long time ago is that if you're going to have a genuine career… And when I say a real career, I'm talking about somebody that does it for a lifetime, I'm not talking about somebody that just makes records. And that's okay, too. In the pop world, that's fine. You know, that's what people want. But if you're going to have a genuine career, I'm not talking about somebody that's around for five years, or 10 years. I'm talking about somebody who's around 20 years, 30 years, longer. What you're saying, in effect, is you're going to take that fan base on a lifelong ride. And if you're going to do that, you have to have an intimate relationship with them. And if you don't have that intimate relationship, they will never feel like they know you.

"You've got to be willing to crack your skull open, and let them come inside and walk around barefoot, inside your head," he continued. "You really do. And the only way you can do this is with lyrics. We can do interviews like this, and it helps considerably. I mean, people get to know you a lot that way. But the lyrics are where they're really gonna get to know you. Because that's what they're listening to most of the time. And so to do that, you've got to be willing to share parts of yourself that a lot of artists just aren't willing to do. Let them get in there, into the nooks and crannies, and find the good and the not so good.

"So, to get into a culture that is doing that, that would do me no good, because I'm talking to specific people out there. First of all, our type of music, whether it's us or anybody else in our genre, we are a subculture. We're not mainstream. We're not the pop world, which is 50 percent of the market. We're a smaller market, like, you know, 25 to 30 percent of that potential pie that's out there. It's not going to do me any good to try to talk to people that aren't going to listen anyway. My whole thing is to try to identify what it is I'm thinking and feeling at the moment. Because I, too, like everybody else, my opinions are gonna change from time to time.

"And so the idea is, when you take people on that lifelong ride, they look at what you wrote 30 years ago, and they go, 'Oh, wow, look what he was thinking,'" Blackie added. "And they listen to something, whatever the last thing was that came out, and they go, 'Oh, wow, look at how he's thinking now.' So this is that intimacy, where you take people and you're literally communicating with them over the course of this journey. So, trying to do anything from a standpoint of being influenced socially would do me no good. Or anybody like me that does this. You have to be true to yourself. I mean, we got into this not giving a damn about what people thought so why should it be any different now?"

W.A.S.P.'s first live performance since December 2019 took place on July 23 at Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden. A week later (July 30),W.A.S.P. also played at Skogsröjet festival in Rejmyre, Sweden.

W.A.S.P. recently postponed its European 40th-anniversary tour, originally scheduled for spring of 2022, until the spring of 2023. The new dates will take place in March, April and May of 2023. All tickets previously purchased for the 2022 tour will be valid at the rescheduled 2023 shows.

W.A.S.P. will embark on its first U.S. tour in a decade this fall. The trek will coincide the band's 40th anniversary and will include support from ARMORED SAINT and MICHAEL SCHENKER on select shows.

Lawless has led W.A.S.P. as its lead vocalist and primary songwriter since its beginning. His unique brand of visual, social and political comment took the group to worldwide heights and sold millions of records alongside a legacy of sold-out shows across the globe for four decades. He is joined in W.A.S.P.'s current lineup by bassist Mike Duda and guitarist Doug Blair, whose tenures in the band span 26 and 18 years respectively, along with drummer extraordinaire Aquiles Priester.

The latest episode of "Psycho Schizo Espresso", the podcast from IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson and Oxford University psychologist and best-selling author Dr. Kevin Dutton, has just been launched across all podcast platforms. Check it out below.

In this episode, Dickinson and Dutton catch up with each other from different sides of the globe. With Bruce in San Antonio, Texas, in the middle of IRON MAIDEN's world tour, Kevin has a unique opportunity to treat him as one of his "guinea pigs" and delve deep into the psychology of one of the rock world's true global icons. Kevin identifies Bruce as one of the toughest people he's ever met (and, given some of the folk he hangs around with, that's saying something). But where does that toughness come from? Bruce talks about his childhood in the north of England; about how discipline, resilience and humility are the keys to longevity in the ego-infested waters of the music business; and how a bulb of steamed garlic always helps him "come down" after a show.

Bruce and Kevin rarely talk in a straight line and their fascinating conversation has all the familiar twists and turns that we've now come to expect. Bruce reveals how he once fought off two skinheads outside a pub by fencing them with his umbrella; why airline pilots never eat the same dinner; and how our ego is like a balloon… it shouldn't be pumped up too big; it should be let back down again slowly to prevent it flying all over the place, and if it comes into contact with a prick, it has a tendency to explode.

Speaking about 1980s hard rock bands who often engaged in debauchery with groupies, Bruce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We toured with bands who were like that, and they'd look at us like we were just weird. Yeah, obviously, we all had girlfriends, and sometimes you had girlfriends who were temporary girlfriends. [Laughs] But I don't like it when there's this undercurrent of abuse. It was Pete Townshend [THE WHO], who knows a bit about abuse, I think, because he underwent quite a lot of it, and he said — and it clicked for me — he said, 'The big moment is when you realize that you can manipulate people because of who you are.' Because when you first start out, you don't have any realization that people might want to sleep with you because you're onstage. You think they want to sleep with you because they want to sleep with you, because it might be nice and because they like you. And often that's true — it's often that it's true… And yes, there are some people that want you as a notch on the bedpost, just as some guys have that [same thing] with women, and, yeah, we've all been guilty of it, no doubt. But there comes a point, which is incredibly corrupting and corrosive, in which you suddenly go, 'Hang on a minute. You can actually kind of click your fingers and make things happen.' And that's a really scary moment, to realize that that power exists. And that's why the Harvey Weinsteins and all the rest of it, and the whole Hollywood thing… So that awareness of that, that's when it becomes really corrupting. I mean, the guy… What's his name? R. Kelly, who's been indicted, been convicted, I think. It's the same thing for actors as well… And then when you throw in a bucket of mood-altering drugs into the equation, then the wheels really come off the bus."

You can listen to "Psycho Schizo Espresso" wherever you get your podcasts, and the show is also available in Vodcast form on YouTube.

Dutton explained how the idea for the podcast came about: "Not long after meeting Bruce, it became instantly clear to me that we shared a number of wide-reaching interests and that we should channel that into a podcast. 'Psycho Schizo Espresso' is certainly a journey of exploration for the both of us, and we are sure our listeners are going to learn a lot from our guests. Whether from the music industry, academia or elsewhere — you may, for instance, share our interest in psychopaths, both good and bad — this is certainly a podcast that we feel everyone will enjoy and should go and subscribe to straight away."

Rounding off a special anniversary year for the band (35 years since foundation of the group as well as launching the debut album Animal House) and its fearless leader & voice Udo Dirkschneider (who turned 70 this April), November 18 will see German heavy metal legends U.D.O. release an extensive career-spanning "best of" compilation, titled The Legacy.


With such a rich, high class catalogue gathered within the past three and a half decades, it’s simply an impossible task to compile a double CD of material and satisfy everyone, but The Legacy is by far the most extensive retrospective the band has ever released, featuring 33 tracks overall and including songs from all U.D.O. studio albums. Among these 33 tracks are 4 rare songs which a lot of U.D.O.‘s loyal followers will hear for the first time here.


The Legacy proves that U.D.O. produced classics throughout their entire career. Their longevity and quality of output is almost unmatched within the Heavy Metal scene.




The rare track "Dust And Rust" (originally from 2013‘s U.D.O. album Steelhammer and now included on The Legacy) is available for streaming below. Pre-order The Legacy here.





Tracklisting:


CD 1:
"Fear Detector"
"Metal Never Dies"
"Wilder Life" (rare bonus track)
"Pandemonium"
"One Heart One Soul"
"Make The Move"
"What A Hell Of A Night" (rare bonus track)
"Pain"
"Decadent"
"Falling Angels" (rare bonus track)
"Metal Machine"
"Steelhammer"
"Dust And Rust" (rare bonus track)
"I Give As Good As I Get"
"Rock’n’Roll Soldiers"
"Dominator"


CD 2:
"Mastercutor"
"Vendetta"
"24/7"
"Blind Eyes"
"Man And Machine"
"Like A Lion"
"Shout It Out"
"Holy"
"Freelance Man"
"Independence Day"
"Metal Eater"
"Future Land"
"Blitz Of Lightning"
"We’re History"
"Break The Rules"
"Go Back To Hell"
"They Want War"


"Dust And Rust" (rare bonus track):

In the new video below from AXS TV, Toto founding member Steve Lukather talks with Sammy Hagar about music and George Harrison before the two jam out with Kenny Aronoff to "Crossroads" by Cream.





Sammy Hagar & The Circle will release their new album, Crazy Times, via UMe on CD/Digital on September 30, and on vinyl on October 28.




In the video below, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony invite you to their talkshoplive event on September 28 at 3 PM, ET. Join in on the action and tune into the livestream where they'll be interviewed by Steve Harkins, answering YOUR questions, with autographed copies of Crazy Times available. Pre-order yours and tune in, here.





Sammy and the band recorded the new album with producer Dave Cobb at Nashville's historic RCA Studio A, showing a whole new side of The Circle.


Says Hagar: "Working with Dave Cobb for the first time was enlightening. We went into the studio to record in the fall of 2021, when the world was starting to come out of the pandemic bubble we’d all been living in. The lyrics for ‘Crazy Times’ just came from that new freedom we were feeling, the freedom felt unbelievable, but a little uncertain, too. We had to ask ourselves ‘what are we doing here and what do we want?’


“Going back in the studio, creating and being with the music is just what felt natural. And it was just so different from any record I've ever made. There was joy in the hard work, catharsis and the camaraderie we’d craved.  It was like those two years of not being able to do very much fell away and we really all came together and let it out in the music and lyrics. We were able to express what we all felt."


Crazy Times is a follow-up to their debut, Space Between, a multi-category #1 Billboard charting album. The new album will include 10 songs, nine of which Hagar wrote or co-wrote, along with a notable cover, “Pump It Up,” a 1978 song by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. The song “Crazy Times” was written by the whole band along with Dave Cobb and recorded live.


Sammy explains: “Before I stepped into the studio with Dave, he’d told me he wanted the best of my career on this record, and he wasn't going to let me get out of that studio until I gave it to him. So, I said, ‘If you expect that from me, at my age, as many records as I've made, you're going to have to push me,’ and he said no problem. Obviously, I dug down and just tried to write good strong songs, great lyrics, great melodies and not worry so much about the arrangements because he had that covered. And he pushed and squeezed every one of us. We went in the studio with seven songs and came out with 10. We ended up cowriting three songs with Dave Cobb and the band—including the new track, Crazy Times.”


Pre-order the new album here.





Tracklisting:


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


"Funky Feng Shui" video:





"Crazy Times" video:





"Pump It Up" video:

Original DIO drummer Vinny Appice has once again said that Ronnie James Dio should have been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

The legendary heavy metal vocalist, best known for his work with BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW and his own band DIO, died of stomach cancer 12 years ago at the age of 67.

Vinny, who played with Ronnie in DIO, BLACK SABBATH and SABBATH offshoot band HEAVEN & HELL, spoke about Dio's exclusion from the Rock Hall during a recent appearance on the "Talkin' 'Bout Rock" podcast.

Speaking about why he and Dio were both left out of the SABBATH Rock Hall induction in 2006, Vinny said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "'Cause they're a bunch of fuckin' assholes. I mean, SABBATH wasn't in it for how long? They [finally] got in it [16 years ago].

"I've been to that place, and there wasn't really much of Ronnie in there either," he continued. "It's, like, Ronnie? C'mon! RAINBOW, 'Man On The Silver Mountain', 'Long Live Rock 'N' Roll'. And then SABBATH, the 'Heaven And Hell' album and the rest of the albums we did, and then DIO, and he's only in there for this 12-inch square placemat or something. They don't mention me. Hey, you know what? I've been around… I'm still around from all these years. I guess it doesn't count for anything."

After one of the other guests mentioned that DIO's debut album, "Holy Diver", had influenced an entire generation of rock musicians, Appice added: "That should be in it. That should be in it… I meet people, like, 'Oh, man. 'Holy Diver'.' Dave Grohl, he was totally influenced by that album. He even went to Sound City [studios] to record their album, NIRVANA, because there was a platinum 'Holy Diver' on the wall, and they said, 'That's it. We've gotta record here. This album was done here.' It was a great influence on so many people."

Appice previously touched upon Ronnie's absence from the Rock Hall in a 2020 interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com. At the time he said: "Well, I think the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame suck anyway. It's supposed to be rock and roll, and there's people in there that [are] not rock and roll one bit. And just the way they do business — it took 'em that long to put BLACK SABBATH in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? BLACK SABBATH started all this heavy stuff. BLACK SABBATH started the tuning down that affected everybody, and everybody copied it. And here's a band that started all this stuff, and yet they weren't in it. So I wasn't expecting them to induct Ronnie and I. They should've, but they didn't. So I think they suck."

He continued: "I went [to the Rock Hall] once. It was a fricking joke. And Ronnie should have been in there, even by himself. He should have been inducted… He's been in all these major bands and major albums, and he's not in there. It's sad. I don't even care that they didn't induct DIO — the band DIO — but they should have did him and mentioned us. That would have been nice. I mean, 'Holy Diver' is [40] years old and it's still selling. So that's a joke, that whole thing."

In February 2020, Ronnie's widow and manager, Wendy Dio, told "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show" that she didn't know why her late husband had not yet been inducted into the Rock Hall. "One day maybe they'll come to their senses and realize he was in three biggest bands," she said. "And if you look at any heavy metal chart, there's always a RAINBOW record, a DIO record and a BLACK SABBATH record in there."

Back in 2006, Ronnie's representative said that the singer wasn't bothered by the fact that he wasn't invited to BLACK SABBATH's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. After hearing that Ronnie wasn't at the Rock Hall, Cleveland Scene's Ferris called the offices of Niji Management — which is owned by Wendy Dio — to see if Dio's camp had any kind of quote from Ronnie. Niji's Diana DeVille, who answered the phone, said: "Ronnie was not invited, but he's not bothered by it, because he is busy working on his own projects. He wishes them the best."

Dio recorded three studio albums and one live set with RAINBOW before exiting in 1978, including "Rising" and "Long Live Rock And Roll".

He replaced Ozzy Osbourne in BLACK SABBATH in 1980, recording the "Heaven And Hell" and "Mob Rules" albums, plus "Live Evil", before leaving in 1982. He rejoined the group 10 years later for an album called "Dehumanizer", and again teamed with the group under the HEAVEN & HELL banner in 2006. HEAVEN & HELL released an album called "The Devil You Know" in 2009.

He also recorded 10 studio albums with his own band, DIO, including a classic 1983 debut, "Holy Diver", and an equally renowned follow-up, 1984's "The Last In Line".

Dio was also behind the HEAR N' AID project, a collection of metal artists who recorded the track "Stars" in 1985 to raise funds for African famine relief.

West Coast death metal trailblazers, Ripped To Shreds, recently announced their Relapse debut full-length 劇變 (Jubian), out October 14. The song “漢奸 (Race Traitor)” can be streamed below.


Frontman Andrew Lee comments: "I've been a melodeath fan from day one, so Race Traitor is my take on Eucharist/Intestine Baalism style melodeath. The lyrics here directly speak to the experience of existing as a minority in a country where any action is seen as representative of their whole race."







Physical pre-orders on LP/CD/CS are available here. Digital downloads/streaming here.





劇變 (Jubian) tracklisting:


"Violent Compulsion For Conquest"
"Split Apart By Five Chariots"
"獨孤九劍 日月神教第三節 (In Solitude - Sun Moon Holy Cult Pt 3)"
"Harmonious Impiety"
"漢奸 (Race Traitor)"
"Reek Of Burning Freedom"
"Peregrination To The Unborn Eternal Mother"
"Scripture Containing The Supreme Internal Energy Arts That Render The Practitioner Invincible Throughout The Martial Realm"


"Reek Of Burning Freedom" video:





Led by guitarist/vocalist Andrew Lee, Ripped To Shreds emerge from the West Coast underground with their ferocious new album, 劇變 (Jubian). The death metal trailblazers unleash their most fully realized and visceral work yet. Recorded and mixed by Lee in his home studio and mastered by Damian Herring at Subterranean Watchtower, 劇變 (Jubian) proves to be Ripped To Shreds at their most focused and refined.


The album bursts wide open with “Violent Compulsion for Conquest,” an elegantly dark, new kind of chainsaw sound teeming with acidic vocals gnashing out lyrics inspired by the Mukden Incident. From its lightning-flash solos to those immensely killer echoing “Ough!”s, this absolute scather, according to Lee, was born to lead. Elsewhere, longtime Ripped To Shreds fans will find the latest chapter of the ongoing ‘Sun Moon Holy Cult’ saga to be its most thrilling episode thus far. One of the album’s most impressive and catchiest tracks,“漢奸 (Racetraitor),” represents that “straight-up melodeath” banger Lee says he’s always wanted to produce while also giving vent to his experience as a minority in America. The charring “Reek of Burning Freedom,” Lee says, is “an anti-war song” that incites to remind its discerning listers of the the United States’ “indiscriminate bombing” campaign waged on North Korea during the Korean War.


Chainsaw guitars, relentless drumming, dizzying solos and disgusting growling throughout  - 劇變 (Jubian) is undeniably ripping death metal.


All of the intensity of power coursing through 劇變 (Jubian) is somehow perfectly captured and rendered by Chinese artist Guang Yang, who also painted the cover of the last Ripped To Shreds album. The statue on the cover is Mazu, the Taiwanese sea goddess. The setting of the painting was inspired by several of the local temples Lee has visited in Taiwan. “I felt like it was important to have something standing in for Chinese people," Lee says. "The cultural context and impact of Ripped To Shreds as a Taiwanese-American band cannot be understated; Lee declares that a driving force behind Ripped To Shreds has been “to increase the visibility of ABCs [American-born Chinese] in extreme metal by being very blatantly Chinese.”


It’s not about taking over. With 劇變 (Jubian), which translates to ‘upheaval,’ Ripped To Shreds make their intentions clear.


(Photo - Greg Goudey)

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge spoke about the importance of social media both as it relates to promoting his band and his personal need — or lack thereof — to stay connected to the outside world. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "As a person, I've never had a Facebook account other than what I had to have in order to go into our own Facebook at a certain point, but I gave that up a long, long time ago. I've never had Instagram, I've never had Twitter or anything. I already felt in 2008, when all that stuff sort of appeared, that that was not for me. So I just live a lifestyle that is a little bit more old school, if you will. But I also understand the meaning and the mechanisms that drive people to use that and why it's important and all that, and why it's important for us. So I do not criticize it from that standpoint. And Spotify, the same thing. Yeah, of course, I wish it was 1985 — that would be fucking phenomenal — but it's not. And specifically Spotify and similar services definitely drew the music business out of the dark ages it was [in] about 10, 12, 15 years ago, where there was nothing; it was just a big decline. And now at least it works. Spotify gave the investors, for lack of a nicer word — the record labels and music labels, whatever — they gave the labels an incentive to invest in bands again. And that is what was going out the door in 2007. They were leaving; they were not doing it anymore, because everything that they invested in was a loss. So I'm really happy about that, and I am happy about TikTok even though TikTok was something… I mean, I do have kids and I know that TikTok existed but TikTok is something that I learned in the last month what it was, basically. I quickly had to sort of, like, 'Just tell me what the fuck is going on. I don't get it. Okay. Okay. Cool.'"

Forge previously discussed his lack of interest in social media earlier this year in an interview with Metal Hammer magazine. At the time he said: "I don't go on social media unless there's something that someone is pointing at. 'Look at this thing!' 'Oh, crazy....' I'd say that over half the time, it's my wife showing me some artist who's done something cool. It's very little. I don't get my updates from social media. I had a feeling 15 years ago, around the time that Facebook arrived. I said, 'That is not good.' Of course, I didn't foresee all of the ways that it would destroy mankind and politically or all of those other things that it was going to be used for."

He continued: "I read a long time ago that our mind — our psyche — has a limited amount of space. You mind's RAM, basically. There's a limited amount of megabytes in your head and from what I read, you have space for roughly three thousand people in your head and you can have eight relationships. So there are eight chairs around your table and you're sitting at the head. Four and four. And you have three thousand people in your gallery. That worked perfectly fine in the old days because three thousand people was just about how many were in your village and eight people were probably your family; whereas now, the fucking Kardashians take up space in my head! Why? I don't give a fuck about them! Why do I know...I can't really tell who's who, but why do I fucking know this?"

Earlier this month, GHOST scored its first-ever Top 40 single in the U.K. with the 2019 song "Mary On A Cross" after a TikTok user used a slowed down version of the song to soundtrack a short video about the Netflix show "Stranger Things". Since then, the "Mary On The Cross" hashtag has amassed over one billion TikTok views and the song was used to soundtrack tens of thousands of videos on the platform. GHOST later released the official slowed down version of "Mary On A Cross" with added reverb.

GHOST's fifth album, "Impera" sold 70,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked the third top 10 album — and fifth top 40-charting set — for the Swedish act.

"Impera" landed at position No. 1 in Germany and Sweden, No. 2 in the U.K., Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, No. 3 in Australia, No. 5 in France and Ireland, and No. 20 in Italy.

"Impera" was released on March 11. The 12-song effort was produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace.

Forge worked on the follow-up to 2018's "Prequelle" with Åhlund and Swedish co-writers Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare, whose credits include Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Thrash metal pioneers MEGADETH have officially staked their claim of the Web3.0 space by unveiling their one-of-a-kind new project. "Rattleheads" is a generative art collection pulling from nearly 40 years of iconic themes and imagery. The collection is based on MEGADETH's skeletal mascot Vic Rattlehead, an otherworldly being born in a dungeon of torment and pain. With eyes covered by a riveted-on visor, his mouth clamped shut, and ears closed with metal caps, Vic embodies the phrase "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".

Produced by Five To One Collective in partnership with Upper Echelon Studios, the collection is inspired by MEGADETH's long-standing Cyber Army fan club and features militaristic "mission deployment mechanics" alongside vast additional utility to be revealed in upcoming transmissions.

Says MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine: "As long as MEGADETH has been a band, I've ensured that we were leading the charge. Our first album set the standard for thrash metal. We were the first band to have a web site. Our fan club Cyber Army was started in 1994. Our 2016 album 'Dystopia' came with a full Virtual Reality experience. And now with the rise of Web3 technology and its ability to directly connect us with our fans — this moment is perfect for MEGADETH. It allows the ultimate connection with our community and with none other than the almighty Vic Rattlehead as our standard-bearer."

According to Billboard, MEGADETH's latest album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marks the band's eighth top 10-charting album. Of "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!"'s 48,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprise 45,000, SEA units comprise 3,000 and TEA units comprise a neglible sum.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown to Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

"The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" arrived on September 2 via UMe.
#RATTLEHEADS… Here We Come. Follow @rattleheadsnft now. pic.twitter.com/kBhdryQ4oq

— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) September 13, 2022