In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Ozzy Osbourne discussed the supposed cross-town rivalry Randy Rhoads, the first guitarist Osbourne worked with after BLACK SABBATH, had with Eddie Van Halen.

Rhoads's pre-Ozzy band QUIET RIOT had been gigging on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California at the same time as VAN HALEN. Although both Rhoads and Van Halen later became some of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century, playing with a similar flare and incorporating finger-tapping into their fleet-fingered solos, Eddie found commercial success before Rhoads, due in part to the fact that VAN HALEN landed a record deal years before QUIET RIOT did.

"I heard recently that Eddie said he taught Randy all his licks … he never," Osbourne told Rolling Stone. "To be honest, Randy didn't have a nice thing to say about Eddie. Maybe they had a falling out or whatever, but they were rivals."

The rivalry between Rhoads and Van Halen was explored in the documentary "Randy Rhoads: Reflections Of A Guitar Icon", which was released this past May. The film contains archive audio of Van Halen discussing Rhoads, saying, "He was one guitarist who was honest, anyway. Because he said everything he did he learned from me.

"He was good," Van Halen continued. "But I don't really think he did anything that I haven't done. And there ain't nothing wrong with it. I've copied some other people, you know?"

Randy's friend Kim McNair also spoke about the Rhoads-Van Halen rivalry in "Randy Rhoads: Reflections Of A Guitar Icon", reflecting: "This was the years of guitar heroes. To a large degree, bands were judged on their guitar player. I think all the guitar players in town kept up on each other."

Meanwhile, QUIET RIOT fan club president Lori Hollen said that at some of the band's early shows, "we would see David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen there, which was always interesting to me. Because I know Randy never went to see them play. But they would always come to see QUIET RIOT and Randy play."

Elsewhere in the film, Rhoads's guitar tech Brian Reason recalled how he used to stick a picture of Eddie Van Halen to Randy's wah pedal. "He wasn't very excited about [it], but it was in the perfect place," Reason explained, "because every time he stomped on his wah wah pedal, he stomped on it as if he wanted to crush it."

Rhoads and two others were killed on March 19, 1982 when the small plane they were flying in at Flying Baron Estates in Leesburg, Florida struck Osbourne's tour bus, then crashed into a mansion. Rhoads was 25 years old.

In his "Biography: The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne" special, Ozzy stated about first meeting Rhoads after his departure from BLACK SABBATH: "I knew instinctively that he was something extra special. He was like a gift from God — we worked so well together. Randy and I were like a team.

"One thing that he gave to me was hope, he gave me a reason for carrying on," Ozzy added. "He had patience with me, which was great. He was great to work with. He pulled the best out of me. We had a lot of fun."

Rhoads's death had a tremendous impact on Osbourne's life. "I lost a dear friend in my life — I miss him terribly," Ozzy said. "I just bathed my wounds with alcohol and drugs."

"The day that Randy Rhoads died was the day a part of me died," he added.

Last October, Randy was posthumously inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame during the 2021 ceremony. Rhoads received the Musical Excellence Award at last year's event, which was held on October 30 at Cleveland, Ohio's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Musical Excellence Award is given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.

Rhoads was inducted into the Rock Hall by Morello who stated in a video message. "Randy Rhoads is a peerless talent. He revived Ozzy Osbourne's career as his gunslinger sideman. And it was Randy Rhoads's poster that I had on my wall... You could study Randy's songs in a university-level musicology class and bang your heads to them in a 7-11 parking lot."

Also offering a video tribute was METALLICA's Kirk Hammett, who stated about Randy's death: "All of a sudden, the curtain came down unexpectedly and the show was over before it really, really got going." Wylde spoke highly about his predecessor, saying "Randy, hands down, sits at" the round table of greatness in the Hall Of Fame alongside Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen.

Rhoads played on Osbourne's seminal records "Blizzard Of Ozz" (1980) and "Diary Of A Madman", influenced many musicians and is considered one of the greatest guitartists of all time. His death was a huge shock to the world and Ozzy wrote in his autobiography "I Am Ozzy" that he almost quit music after Randy's passing.

Shortly after Rhoads's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was announced, Ozzy told Rolling Stone: "I knew him for a very short amount of time. But what he gave me in that short amount of time was immeasurable in fucking greatness. To get somebody like Randy Rhoads to play on two albums, and for those two albums to sound as good as the day they were recorded, is something else. And I'm forever in gratitude for that. God only knows where that man would be today. The very fact that he’s not here to breathe the air is just a fucking crime.

"Thank God that he's getting recognized by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He finally got there in the end. I'm sad that his mother was not alive to see it, because he was very close to his mom. It shows that he's not been forgotten. He was a dedicated, true musician, and he was a lovely guy. I still think about him all the time."

MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren has paid tribute to his former bandmate in SOILWORK, guitarist David Andersson, who died earlier this week at the age of 47.

Verbeuren, who had been playing with SOILWORK for more than a decade before joining MEGADETH in 2016 as the replacement for Chris Adler (ex-LAMB OF GOD),took to his Instagram earlier today (Thursday, September 15) to write: "Dr. David knew how to have a good laugh. Whether he was being goofy or making ingenious observations or imitating a band we were on tour with in his own brilliant way, he cracked us up all the time. His mood was usually light-hearted bordering on nonchalant. He seemingly walked through life without a care, never taking anything too seriously- perhaps sometimes to his own detriment.

"If you've listened to recent @soilwork or @nightflightorchestra, you know David was a master of inventive riffs and melodies. Songs like Long Live The Misanthrope and Tongue are brilliantly composed, reflecting his prosaic nature. Funny to think David would often write tunes while lounging in his bathtub- but not surprising if you knew the man's penchant for rolling around naked in the dressing room.

"Underneath all the silliness was a darkness which sadly took over David's life in recent years. 47 is way too young and I'm gutted to see another former bandmate depart so soon. My heart breaks for his ex-wife and kids, and for his family, friends and bandmates.

"Rest easy, Doctor, and thank you for all the good times."

In a statement announcing David's passing, SOILWORK called the musician "one of a kind and a brilliant man in so many ways. He was our guitarist for more than 10 years and had a big impact on SOILWORK's musical journey forward." The band went on to blame his death on "alcohol and mental illness".

In addition to being a longtime member of SOILWORK, David played in THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA alongside SOILWORK singer Björn Strid.

Andersson officially joined SOILWORK in 2012 as the replacement for Peter Wichers. Prior to becoming a member of SOILWORK, Andersson had toured on and off with the band since 2006.

SOILWORK released its first studio album in three years, "Övergivenheten", on August 19 via Nuclear Blast Records.

SOILWORK was formed in Helsingborg in 1995. Following two highly acclaimed albums, "Steel Bath Suicide" (1998) and "The Chainheart Machine" (1999) on Listenable Records, SOILWORK joined the Nuclear Blast roster in 2001. The band's unique blend of melodic metal developed at a staggering rate as they released a new bombshell each year, touring aggressively throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Some of the highlights included Ozzfest alongside headliners BLACK SABBATH and IRON MAIDEN and an arena tour with LAMB OF GOD and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE.

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Guitarist Chad Gilbert of the long-running pop-punk band NEW FOUND GLORY has undergone surgery to remove a tumor in the spine.

Earlier today (Thursday, September 15),Chad shared a few photos from the hospital and he included the following message: "ANOTHER unexpected turn of events. I was supposed to start radiation on Monday for the small amount of Pheochromocytoma left in my T-12 Vertebrae! A few days before that I started having the worst hip pain! Excruciating. So bad I couldn't sit longer than 10 minutes or sleep longer than 2 hours at a time because of the pain. I was standing up all night for several days. Awful. Was having to watch TV standing up. So on Tuesday I went to the hospital for an MRI of my hip!

"Good news: my hip was fine. Bad news: the tumor in my spine started growing again in the wrong direction and got aggressive very quickly. So by noon yesterday I was in surgery again! It lasted 6 hours this time and they removed the rest of my T-12 vertebrae! I now have a fake vertebrae!

"Good news is we cut out the entire tumor now! That whole bastard got the boot! So the cancer in my spine is gone! We will still hit it with light radiation just to be thorough for any microscopic invisible ones. But this battle has been won. No more tumor. And I continue to turn into Robochad. #pheochromocytoma @pheopara".

Gilbert's latest health setback comes less than a year after he was diagnosed with pheochromocytoma, a rare type of tumor that develops in the adrenal glands, small glands on the top of the kidneys. A week after his December 2021 diagnosis, the now-41-year-old musician underwent successful surgery to remove the tumor and declared in late January that he was "cancer free".

Last year's pheochromocytoma diagnosis was not Gilbert's first cancer scare. Back in 2010, he underwent thyroid surgery to remove a suspicious lump. While he was recovering from that operation, guitarist Anthony Raneri of BAYSIDE stepped in for Gilbert on NEW FOUND GLORY's tour.

In December 2021, NEW FOUND GLORY gave fans an early Christmas gift — a holiday album, "December's Here", out now via Hopeless Records. NEW FOUND GLORY helped fans get into the holiday spirit with eleven original songs, including singles "Somber Christmas" and "Holiday Records".

Earlier in 2021, NEW FOUND GLORY released a new deluxe album, "Forever And Ever x Infinity...And Beyond!!!""Forever And Ever x Infinity...And Beyond!!!" featured six new songs that the band wrote and recorded during the pandemic, including singles "Backseat" and "The Last Redeye".

NEW FOUND GLORY is Gilbert, Jordan Pundik (lead vocals),Ian Grushka (bass guitar) and Cyrus Bolooki (drums).

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Poland's extreme metal overlords BEHEMOTH have revealed their latest visual feast, "Opvs Contra Cvltvram", a streaming event shot on the roof of Warsaw's renowned Palace Of Culture And Science. This landmark event heralds the arrival this Friday, September 16 of the band's epic 12th studio album, "Opvs Contra Natvram".

BEHEMOTH's leader and artistic alchemist Adam 'Nergal' Darski comments: "Legions! We have gathered atop Poland's infamous Palace Of Culture to perform four brand new tracks from our record 'Opvs Contra Natvram', released this Friday!

"For a long time, BEHEMOTH have been censored and pursued by the Catholic Church at the behest of our fascist government. This performance, with the backdrop of this building, represents a monumentous middle finger to those pigs and another for Joseph Stalin and his Soviet circle jerk. Viva Freedom!"

The band's upcoming 12th studio album is a stark reminder of the rebellion, individuality and unflinching self-expression that BEHEMOTH's phenomenal work imbues, shaped by a literary worldview. It also reflects a musical evolution, as there's little doubt that "Opvs Contra Natvram" is BEHEMOTH's strongest and most sophisticated musical collection to date.

BEHEMOTH are not only the creators of Poland's extreme metal scene, but they are masters of their vision and showcase what a band can achieve when the brakes are off. With "Opvs Contra Natvram" they have created 10 fresh chapters, created at a very strange time for the world. Their goal to create something new, something that doesn't sound like anything that has gone before, was an ambitious one.

As with previous studio outings, "Opvs Contra Natvram" was produced by BEHEMOTH, with mixing by studio legend Joe Barresi (NINE INCH NAILS, TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, ALICE IN CHAINS).

"Opvs Contra Natvram" features twin cover art available in both black and white and will be released in an array of physical formats designed by Bartek Rogalewicz (Lodge.Black),certain to thrill collectors of limited editions.

Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes, who recently completed seven weeks of radiation therapy in his battle with cancer in throat and neck, discussed his illness in a new interview with France's Duke TV. Reflecting on how he was diagnosed, Holmes said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "In November of '21, my throat hurt real bad. I was taking throat lozenges and it just wouldn't go away. [My wife] Sarah goes, 'We're gonna go to a throat specialist,' and I did. And he [inserted] a camera in my nose and it goes down your throat. And he pulled it out, and he said something to my wife. And I go, 'Was it yeast infection?' And he shook his head, 'No.' And then he was talking to Sarah, and she kind of looked down to the ground, and I knew it was cancer. I go, 'Oh, man.'

"One third of everybody gets cancer on this planet, they say, so it just happened to be me," he noted. "And I drank and I smoked all my life. I didn't just smoke light cigarettes. I even asked the doctor if it could be from that. And he said he didn't know. He said, 'I couldn't put a stamp on what it is. It could be hereditary. It could be anything.'"

Chris went on to say that he is trying to stay "positive" in his battle with the disease. "At least the cancer I had was treatable," he said. "God forbid, a lot of people get cancer and they can't treat it. At least mine was treatable."

Holmes also spoke about his treatment, saying: "What happens is seven weeks of radiation — Monday through Friday. And the first you do the radiation, of the treatment, they give you chemo, and then you're supposed to do chemo halfway through and then at the end. My throat starting hurting. I couldn't drink water. I was taking morphine. I'd get the treatment and I'd just come home and just go straight to bed and [go] to sleep. And then Sarah, my wife, would wake me up at dinner time and try to get me to even drink something, and I couldn't drink. And she was almost crying because I was withering down to nothing. They kept telling me they were gonna put a tube in my nose. And that kind of scared me, getting that thing shoved in my nose and my throat, but once they put it in, it didn't bother me. And I got fed by a tube for a while.

"I finished [treatment] in April, so it's been four months, and I'm starting to feel a lot better," he said. "I'm not a hundred percent now. I get a real lot of phlegm in my throat, and it's real thick and gross. So if I sleep at night, it builds up and I wake up and I can't get any air, and I'll have to cough it up. And I have no taste. Everything I taste — I'm not gonna say it tastes like shit, but everything I taste just doesn't taste what it smells like. I just had a banana, and it didn't taste like a banana, but I ate the whole thing 'cause I know I've gotta start eating food."

Holmes joined W.A.S.P. in 1982 and remained with the group until 1990. In 1996, the guitarist returned to W.A.S.P. and stayed with the band until 2001. Chris has not played with W.A.S.P. since.

Earlier this month, Chris told Canada's The Metal Voice that he hasn't heard from W.A.S.P. leader Blackie Lawless since his diagnosis. He said: "Blackie could have helped to pay for some of my treatment, but [he didn't]. But Nikki Sixx [MÖTLEY CRÜE] did. He gave me a lot of money. He was the first one; he forked over 500 bucks, and I love the guy for it. Thank you, Nikki. I love him for that."

He continued: "About the first month I was sick, [I got video messages of support from fellow musicians] and [I got one from JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford]. [In his message, he said], 'Chris, this is your Metal God, Rob Halford.' And it was kind of cool. Rob talked a little bit on there. And then the guitar player that took [Glenn] Tipton's gig [Richie Faulkner] thanked me. A bunch of… tons of people did. But nobody from W.A.S.P. did. It's kind of weird. Nobody. [Blackie] didn't send me a message at all. I thought he would, but he didn't. But that's okay; I didn't expect it. Glenn Hughes did. I met Glenn on the [BLACK] SABBATH tour [in 1986, when W.A.S.P. was the support act]. What's sad is I haven't been able to talk to him since he was fired [from SABBATH]. And we were good drinking buddies [on that tour]. He's got a heart of gold."

A few hours after Chris's diagnosis was made public in February, Lawless released a statement via W.A.S.P.'s social media in which he said: "The entire W.A.S.P. family are all optimistic of a positive outcome concerning the diagnosis for Chris. I certainly wish him the very best."

Last year, Holmes told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that W.A.S.P. was "a group, a band" on the first LP. "And after that, the second album, it wasn't a group — it was a one-man show," he said. "And it's been a one-man show after that ever since. It's the way it is. Look at the records. It's the way it is in that band."

According to Chris, he, guitarist Randy Piper, drummer Tony Richards and Blackie were all part of W.A.S.P. initial management contract, but Blackie was the only one signed to the record label. "Everybody thinks we [all] signed to the label, but it wasn't [like that]," Holmes told "Trunk Nation".

Despite the fact that he only got songwriting credit on a couple of the songs on each of the first four W.A.S.P. records, Holmes was adamant that his input was essential to the band's overall sound.

"If I would have quit after the first album, the way I play guitar, the way I play is really important to writing those songs," he told "Trunk Nation".

"If I hadn't joined in the beginning, it would have never worked. Blackie told me that the first day, when he came and talked to me to play in W.A.S.P. He says, 'I've got this band. It's not gonna work unless you're in it.' He told me that to my face."

This past February, Lawless shot down Holmes's claim that the guitarist was "screwed" out of receiving royalties on the W.A.S.P. albums that he performed on. Lawless discussed Holmes's tenure with W.A.S.P. in an interview with "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Asked to respond to Holmes's assertion in Chris's recently released documentary "Mean Man: The Story Of Chris Holmes" that he was financially taken advantage of during his time in the band, Lawless said: "I don't really know much about… I spoke to [former W.A.S.P. guitarist] Randy Piper a couple of years ago. I don't really know what's going on with the rest of the guys. And I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about with Chris about not being paid.

"Chris, at two different points in his musical career, received settlements from this band; he signed documents as such," Blackie explained. "And he was paid quite well.

"I haven't seen what you're talking about. The answer I'm giving you right now is based on what you just said to me."

The W.A.S.P. frontman went on to confirm that he hasn't seen Chris's documentary and was once again asked about Holmes's claim that there is money and songwriting credits that he didn't get that he's due. Lawless said simply: "That is not true."

During a November 2017 press conference in Moscow, Russia, Lawless was asked what he would say to those W.A.S.P. fans who continue to call for the band to reunite with Holmes. He responded: "People get divorced for certain reasons, and there's times when the kids want the parents to get back together, but sometimes it never happens. And this is one of those [times]. Sorry."

IRON ALLIES, the new band featuring former ACCEPT members Herman Frank and David Reece, has released the official music video for the title track of its debut album, "Blood In Blood Out". The LP will arrive on October 21 via AFM Records.

Last month, IRON ALLIES released its first single, "Full Of Surprises". At the time, Frank stated about the track: "The unusual triplet beat, the guitar work I can put my soul into, combined with David's distinctive voice that is always full of melody and never just screaming — this surprising mix serves as the perfect appetizer for our album."

A third single/video, "Destroyers Of The Night", will also be made available.

Frank comments: "This record cannot be compared to anything David or I have produced in our past. It's at the same time standing on its own, while sounding like it came from the one and the same mold. You could say: the two of us have sought and found each other."

Although these two exceptional musicians had known each other for a very long time, sparks really started to fly during Frank's visit to Piacenza, Italy, where the American-born Reece has been living after marrying an Italian woman.

"We hit it off right away because David — like me — is not only an old warhorse, but a total music lover," Herman says. "It's only with this unswerving passion for music that you can last as long as we have in this shark tank.

"I love David's voice, that unique blend of metal, rock and blues. Also, he's an awesome lyricist and as a U.S.-American he obviously has a much greater range of vocabulary than non-English-speaking singers."

"In a way, 'Blood In Blood Out' is the motto of IRON ALLIES," Herman explains. "This band was formed as a blood brotherhood, and no one gets out of here without shedding blood.

"Blood In Blood Out" was recorded at Horus Sound Studio in Hannover, Germany with co-producer Arne Neurand. Joining Frank and Reece on the IRON ALLIES album, which was mixed and mastered by Dennis Ward, are drummer Francesco Jovino (U.D.O., PRIMAL FEAR, VOODOO CIRCLE, JORN),bassist Malte Burkert and rhythm guitarist Mike Pesin.

Frank says: "We left nothing to chance. All positions were perfectly cast."

IRON ALLIES are more than sure that this concept will also convince concert organizers, tour promoters and especially their fans. Because, as Frank puts it, "People love strong characters. They want to see real men, not little boys. IRON ALLIES is made up of old-school knights and 'Blood In Blood Out' provides the perfect soundtrack for that."

Last October, Reece discussed his collaboration with Frank in an interview with the "Heavy Metal Mayhem" radio show. He said: "The ironic thing about Herman and I, we played festivals many times and not even met each other. And here we are, part of the same band and their history. And we would miss each other by, like, two minutes. We always wanted to see each other, but something came up [and] we never really got to meet. So Herman and I started talking, and we said, 'Yeah, let's put a band together. Who do you wanna get?' We talked to [drummer] Mike Heller from FEAR FACTORY a few times, and that didn't really work out. And then I said, 'I've got Francesco Jovino, dude, on my [solo] album. This guy is a beast.' So then we got the band together."

Regarding the musical direction of IRON ALLIES, Reece said: "It's got some of those elements of old [ACCEPT circa] 'Restless And Wild'. It's got Dave's voice — [as heard on my solo albums] 'Cacophony [Of Souls]' and 'Blacklist [Utopia]'. It's ripping shit, man. I'm really excited about it."

According to Reece, part of the motivation for putting IRON ALLIES together is the negative publicity surrounding their respective departures from ACCEPT. "They badmouth him, they badmouth me, there was this back-and-forth all the time, and then [Herman] said, 'You know what? Screw it. I'm gonna call David Reece,'" David explained. "And I'd never really talked to him. He just came down to Italy about two weeks ago, and we got to actually meet face to face. We went out to a great dinner, hung out for about six hours. He was just driving around Europe, relaxing, 'cause he had just finished another VICTORY album and his solo album, so he needed a break."

David said that he was excited about the prospect of hitting the road with a seasoned veteran like Herman.

"This is a band of guys who have been around and done it all," he said. "So we're not gonna have that, 'Oh, I don't wanna go there. Do we have to get up so early?' We know what we've gotta do. We've gotta travel and we've gotta rock."

"Blood In Blood Out" track listing:

01. Full Of Surprises
02. Blood In Blood Out
03. Destroyers Of The Night
04. Fear No Evil
05. Evil The Gun
06. Martyrs Burn
07. Blood On The Land
08. Nightmares In My Mind
09. Selling Out
10. Freezin'
11. Truth Never Mattered
12. We Are Legend (You And I)

Herman joined ACCEPT in 1982 shortly before the release of the band's "Restless And Wild" album and exited the group for the first time after the arrival of 1983's "Balls To The Wall" LP.

When ACCEPT reunited for festival appearances in 2005, Herman handled second-guitar duties alongside founding axeman Wolf Hoffmann, with Stefan Schwarzmann sitting behind the kit.

Frank and Schwarzmann were involved in ACCEPT's comeback with singer Mark Tornillo and appeared on the reunited group's first three studio albums: 2010's "Blood Of The Nations", 2012's "Stalingrad" and 2014's "Blind Rage".

Two years ago, Herman told All That Shreds about his decision to exit ACCEPT in December 2014: "It was just time to leave the band. Let's put it this way: I wanted to do music the way I started to. I wanted to have my own band. I wanted my own music and just wanted to just play my own leads. Not to follow somebody's guitar. I was getting too old for it. It's fine to be a backup, but after a couple of years, it's time for a different thing."

Reece was recruited for ACCEPT's "Eat The Heat" LP in 1989 following the departure of Udo Dirkschneider. Reece's higher-pitched delivery was in sharp contrast to Dirkschneider's distinctive style, and overall, the album was a critical and commercial disappointment. Midway through the "Eat The Heat" tour, differences between the band and Reece had come to a head, leading to the altercation between the singer and bassist Peter Baltes in Chicago. By the end of 1989, ACCEPT had hung it up.

David spoke about the circumstances that led to his dispute with the bassist during an interview with Metalliluola. He explained: "Peter had told my girlfriend I was having an affair. And I asked him, 'Did you tell her?' And he said, 'Yes.' So I slapped him. That ended it. It was bad before that, the communication. Ticket sales weren't good. We were opening for W.A.S.P."

He continued: "I think they really thought that getting the American [singer] in, they were gonna break the United States. But ACCEPT aren't really huge in America, like [in Europe]. That's why they hired me — they wanted a change. And the tour was going kind of slow. We did a headline tour first in the States, [playing in the] clubs. That was good. And then we went out with W.A.S.P. and METAL CHURCH, and it was half[-filled] rooms. So they were feeling the stress of that, and the communication was bad. So it was building."

David went on to say that he is sorry for assaulting his former bandmate. "Peter and I are friends now," he said, adding that "it was a bad decision" that was made while he and the rest of the group were under "a lot of stress. Being in a band, it can be a lot of drama. He had no right to tell her, and I had no right to slap him. So, I regret it."

Italian heavy rockers LACUNA COIL have released the official Trilathera-directed music video for a new version of their song "Swamped". The new version of the track will appear on "Comalies XX", a "deconstructed" and "transported" version of LACUNA COIL's third album, "Comalies", which will be made available on October 14 via Century Media Records.

Back in 2002, LACUNA COIL released an album which is now undeniably an anthem-laden millennial classic that established them as a band with the stamina to go the distance. Now, 20 years later, the current lineup of LACUNA COIL decided to revisit the songs, but not to just re-record them as they were but deconstruct and transport them into 2022.

"This is not a reboot or a spin-off or anything like that," says LACUNA COIL vocalist Cristina Scabbia. "We just wanted to give these songs a 2022 dress and see how this guy or girl who was born 20 years ago would still look fucking slick in 2022."

"Comalies XX" track listing:

CD 1:

01. Swamped XX
02. Heaven's A Lie XX
03. Daylight Dancer XX
04. Humane XX
05. Self Deception XX
06. Aeon XX
07. Tight Rope XX
08. The Ghost Woman And The Hunter XX
09. Unspoken XX
10. Entwined XX
11. The Prophet Said XX
12. Angel's Punishment XX
13. Comalies XX

CD 2:

01. Swamped
02. Heaven's A Lie
03. Daylight Dancer
04. Humane
05. Self Deception
06. Aeon
07. Tight Rope
08. The Ghost Woman And The Hunter
09. Unspoken
10. Entwined
11. The Prophet Said
12. Angel's Punishment
13. Comalies

As previously reported, LACUNA COIL will celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Comalies", by performing it in its entirety at a one-night-only concert on Saturday, October 15 at Fabrique in Milano.

"Comalies" was originally released on October 29, 2002 through Century Media Records. The LP, which featured the band's breakthrough single "Heaven's A Lie", has reportedly gone on to sell over 300,000 copies in the United States alone.

Regarding the "Comalies" title, Scabbia said: "[During the album's recording], we had a sort of creative explosion. We were working in a coma, sort of like in a different dimension. First of all we just wanted to use the word 'coma' but there was something missing so we played with the two words coma and lies."

The "Comalies" song "Swamped" is available as a downloadable track for the music video game series "Rock Band" and also appeared in the 2004 video game "Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines".

LACUNA COIL played its first show in front of an audience in more than two years on April 7 as the support act for APOCALYPTICA at the Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia.

Prior to the Atlanta concert, the last time LACUNA COIL played together was at the group's special September 2020 livestream event where the bandmembers performed their latest album, "Black Anima", in its entirety with no audience in attendance at the Alcatraz Club in Milan, Italy. That show was released as a live album, "Live From The Apocalypse", via Century Media.

LACUNA COIL hadn't played in front of a crowd since the completion of the band's South American tour in February 2020.

In June 2021, Scabbia told Revolver that she and her bandmates didn't use the coronavirus downtime to work on new music. "We didn't want to force the fact that because we were home, we had to write music," she explained. "We always thought that to write music, you need to be inspired. And inspiration comes from the outside, comes from experiences that you have, things that you live. At least this is valid for us.

"Everything we do in a regular life, in a normal life enriches us and gives us input that we can put in our music," she said. "And also we like to write together. So, if Marco [Coti Zelati, bass] creates the basis of the music together with the other musicians in the band, then Andrea [Ferro, vocals] and I jump in with the lyrics and vocal lines. But we do that together. We need to enter in songwriting mode. So we didn't really like the fact that we had to write separately just because we have to put a record [together] because it's quarantine. Now we are starting to collect ideas 'cause we feel a little bit happier."

Scabbia continued: "We didn't want anything connected to the negativity of the pandemic… That's why I used my time to do something completely different. Because I know that what I did that it's completely different from what I usually do will make me start again to do what I did before with passion — with the same passion. I was just afraid that if I would have used all the downtime making music when I didn't really want to, it would have had a negative influence on me. And it would have been, like, 'I really don't want to do that.' And I also wanted to prove to myself that, yeah, music is main passion. I love what I do for a living, and I hope that I can do it until the day I die. But I also wanted to show myself that I can be capable of doing something else as well."

Fresh off of the release of their JUNO Award-winning 2020 full-length album Abyss, Canadian modern power metal frontrunners Unleash The Archers revisit its predecessor, 2017’s seminal Apex. In celebration of the album’s five year anniversary, Apex will be available as a limited reissue 2CD Earbook edition, as well as in Deluxe Digital formats, on November 18 via Napalm Records. Pre-orders for the special edition of Apex are available now.


Both the 2CD Earbook and Deluxe Digital versions will include the full original Apex album, plus two new bonus tracks - “Falsewave” and “Acoustipex” - reimaginings of original album tracks “False Walls” and “Apex”, respectively, as well as a newly mastered instrumental version of the original album. The bonus tracks will also come on a limited edition single-style 10” vinyl EP available as part of the Earbook edition.


The synthwave reimagining “Falsewave” translates perfectly with the original track’s super moody, midtempo vibes, while “Acoustipex” haunts with gothic folk/country-western cinematic flavor, breathing new life into the Apex title track. Hop in your DeLorean and jam to the electric grooves of “Falsewave”  now, also listenable via a brand new lyric video, which can be found below.




Unleash The Archers frontwoman Brittney Slayes says: "Hard to believe it's been five years since we released Apex! That record was really the beginning of a new era for us, so we are so excited to finally give it the deluxe treatment it deserves! The new bonus tracks were a lot of fun to create, as they've allowed us to show some of our other musical influences more prominently. The earbook is definitely the part I am most excited about though, being that the earbook for Abyss was really a sequel to the story from Apex. Now our listeners can read the full 'Immortal Saga' chapter by chapter and discover some new details that were too difficult to convey through the music. And, we can't forget about the instrumental edition! We've had fans asking for it for a long time and we can't wait to hear the vocal covers and new renditions they come up with! We are just so excited for everyone to get their hands on this new edition - it's such a great way to celebrate the fifth anniversary of this album that will always remain so special to us!"


This special edition release is available in the following formats:


- 2CD Earbook Edition  & 10" Single
- Deluxe Digital


Pre-order here.





Tracklisting:


2CD Earbook & Deluxe Digital edition:


"Awakening"
"Shadow Guide"
"The Matriarch"
"Cleanse The Bloodlines"
"The Coward's Way"
"False Walls"
"Ten Thousand Against One"
"Earth And Ashes"
"Call Me Immortal"
"Apex"
"Falsewave"
"Acoustipex"


Instrumental Album:


"Awakening"
"Shadow Guide"
"The Matriarch"
"Cleanse The Bloodlines"
"The Coward's Way"
"False Walls"
"Ten Thousand Against One"
"Earth And Ashes"
"Call Me Immortal"
"Apex"


10" Acoustipex EP (included in Earbook edition):


"Falsewave"
"Acoustipex"


"Falsewave" lyric video:





Unleash The Archers is:


Brittney Slayes - Vocals
Scott Buchanan - Drums
Grant Truesdell - Guitar
Andrew Kingsley - Guitar
Nick Miller - Bass


(Photo - Shimon Karmel)

Powerwolf have truly established themselves as a global phenomenon: They are on top of the European heavy metal scene and have managed to ensure that their success continues to grow, which can be seen with the release of the band's current album, Call Of The Wild (2021).


Now, following a 10th Anniversary reissue of Powerwolf's Blood Of The Saints album last year, and in order to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the band's second studio album, Lupus Dei (2007), a special deluxe edition will be released on November 11 via Metal Blade Records.


The special reissue includes (demo) bonus material as well as stunning new front cover artwork by Zsofia Dankova. The reissue's street date also matches the start date of Powerwolf's huge and comprehensive Wolfsnächte 2022 tour across Europe with Dragonforce and Warkings as support acts.




"Wrapped in between the Latin Ave Maria in the intro, and the Pater Noster in the outro, this album probably was our most important one as for me it defined Powerwolf. If "Return In Bloodred" was birth, this was the rite of passage", commented Powerwolf's Matthew Greywolf as part of the liner notes for Lupus Dei (15th Anniversary Edition).





Lupus Dei (15th Anniversary Edition) is available in multiple limited deluxe editions such as a Gatefold 2LP (Clear w/ black smoke vinyl - 500x copies via EMP, Bloodred black marbled vinyl - 500x copies via Napalm Records and Clear grey-blue w/ black smoke vinyl - 300x copies via Powerwolf's webshop), 2CD Earbook, 2CD Digibook or as Gatefold LP (Black vinyl, Gold black melt vinyl - 500x copies, Silver black splatter vinyl - 500x copies and Clear orange brown w/ black smoke vinyl - 300x copies) with Poster.


Pre-order here.





2CD Earbook tracklisting:


CD1: Lupus Dei
"Lupus Daemonis" (Intro)
"We Take It From The Living"
"Prayer In The Dark"
"Saturday Satan"
"In Blood We Trust"
"Behind The Leathermask"
"Vampires Don't Die"
"When The Moon Shines Red"
"Mother Mary Is A Bird Of Prey"
"Tiger Of Sabrod"
"Lupus Dei"


CD2: The Lupus Dei Demos
"Lupus Daemonis" (Intro) (Demo Version)
"We Take It From The Living" (Demo Version)
"Saturday Satan" (Demo Version)
"Behind The Leathermask" (Demo Version)
"Vampires Don't Die" (Demo Version)
"Tiger Of Sabrod" (Demo Version)


2LP tracklisting:


LP1: Lupus Dei
Side A:
"Lupus Daemonis" (Intro)
"We Take It From The Living"
"Prayer In The Dark"
"Saturday Satan"
"In Blood We Trust"
"Behind The Leathermask"


Side B:
"Vampires Don't Die"
"When The Moon Shines Red"
"Mother Mary Is A Bird Of Prey"
"Tiger Of Sabrod"
"Lupus Dei"


LP2 - The Lupus Dei Demos
Side A:
"Lupus Daemonis" (Intro) (Demo Version)
"We Take It From The Living" (Demo Version)
"Saturday Satan" (Demo Version)
"Behind The Leathermask" (Demo Version)
"Vampires Don't Die" (Demo Version)
"Tiger Of Sabrod" (Demo Version)


Side B:
Etching


2CD Digibook tracklisting:


CD1: Lupus Dei
"Lupus Daemonis" (Intro)
"We Take It From The Living"
"Prayer In The Dark"
"Saturday Satan"
"In Blood We Trust"
"Behind The Leathermask"
"Vampires Don't Die"
"When The Moon Shines Red"
"Mother Mary Is A Bird Of Prey"
"Tiger Of Sabrod"
"Lupus Dei"


CD2: The Lupus Dei Demos
"Lupus Daemonis" (Intro) (Demo Version)
"We Take It From The Living" (Demo Version)
"Saturday Satan" (Demo Version)
"Behind The Leathermask" (Demo Version)
"Vampires Don't Die" (Demo Version)
"Tiger Of Sabrod" (Demo Version)


LP tracklisting:


Side A:
"Lupus Daemonis" (Intro)
"We Take It From The Living"
"Prayer In The Dark"
"Saturday Satan"
"In Blood We Trust"
"Behind The Leathermask"


Side B:
"Vampires Don't Die"
"When The Moon Shines Red"
"Mother Mary Is A Bird Of Prey"
"Tiger Of Sabrod"
"Lupus Dei"


Lineup:


Attila Dorn - Vocals
Matthew Greywolf - Guitar
Charles Greywolf - Bass
Falk Maria Schlegel - Organ
Roel Van Helden - Drums


(Photo - Matteo Vdiva Fabbiani / VDPICTURES)

Phoenix, Arizona-based technical thrash metal masters, Vektor, have signed a worldwide contract with Century Media Records and are currently working on their upcoming, fourth studio album, to be released in 2023.


Vektor guitarist and vocalist David DiSanto checked in with the following comment: "We are extremely pleased to announce that Vektor has signed with Century Media Records! They have long been on our radar, and we couldn't be happier for this new partnership. Recording of our fourth studio album has commenced and we have set the bar very high for ourselves once again. We are eager to begin the next phase of our global takeover with such a legendary record label. On the heels of this amazing news, we cannot wait to begin our European tour this fall after a nearly six-year hiatus. See you out there, Vektonauts!"







Philipp Schulte, Vice President Century Media Records, commented as follows: "We are excited to announce our cooperation with Vektor. Vektor seamlessly merge outstanding songwriting and technical finesse into something truly standard setting for modern metal. In the spirit of their quantum-leap vision for themselves, new music awaits. Let the countdown begin!"


Next up, Vektor will be touring all across Europe together with labelmates Cryptosis, Comaniac and Algebra in October as well as an additional run dates with Cryptosis across the UK, Ireland, Greece and Turkey (No Cryptosis!) in November.








Vektor lineup:


Stephen Coon - Bass
Mike Ohlson - Drums
Erik Nelson - Guitars
David DiSanto - Guitars & Vocals


(Photo - Dakota Jeane DiSanto)

Butcher Babies performed upon the Ronnie James Dio Stage at the 2022 edition Bloodstock Open Air 2022. Professionally-filmed footage of the band performing "Monsters Ball" can be viewed below:





Las Vegas-based, dark rock/pop/industrial artist, rue vox, recently teamed up with Butcher Babies frontwoman, Heidi Shepherd, on her single, "Bitch Don't Come For Me". With the music video produced and directed by Shane O'Neal, and cinematography by Deed Debruno, "Bitch Don't Come For Me" was produced by Brian Steele Medina (Gemini Syndrome) and features Henry Flury (Butcher Babies) on guitar.




Click here to purchase/stream "Bitch Don't Come For Me". Watch the music video below.

Wolfheart unleashes the ice age on the melodic death metal scene with their blazing third single, “Cold Flame”, cut from their upcoming full-length, King Of The North, out this Friday, September 16 via Napalm Records.


King Of The North continues right where their last two releases - Wolves Of Karelia (2020) and the Skull Soldiers EP (2021) - left off, taking every aspect of their trademark blend of colossal melodies, earth-shaking vocals, gripping lyricism and driving rhythms to searing new levels. The new album manifests Wolfheart at the top of their genre - millions of streams on Spotify alone prove that they are here to stay.


“Cold Flame” showcases Wolfheart’s trademark melodic death metal sound at artistic levels never heard before, featuring none other than icon Karl Sanders of legendary extreme metal group, Nile.




Wolfheart’s Tuomas Saukkonen about “Cold Flame”: “’Cold Flame’ is deep diving trip into the mythology behind the northern lights. The mystic phenomenon that has been enchanting people in the nordic realm for ages. Cold and grandiose are words to describe both the stories behind the lyrics and the music itself. Monstrous growls from Karl Sanders were a cherry on top of a cake to rise the song into a new level."





Each song on King Of The North is dedicated to a different story of Finnish mythology – underlined by Wolfheart’s grand, crushing songwriting and production. “The King”, for instance, tells the tale of the forest god with horns and pianos accompanying heavy guitar riffs and solos, before raising the energy levels once more on the relentless “Cold Flame” featuring Karl Sanders of legendary extreme metal group Nile. King Of The North is a true masterpiece of melodic death metal, crafted with loads of attention to detail and intricate mythology-driven storytelling – showcasing Wolfheart at never-before-heard artistic levels!


Tuomas Saukkonen about King Of The North: "After Wolves of Karelia it made a lot of sense to continue writing thematic albums, but this time I wanted to travel a lot further in history than 2nd world war and went straight to the tales about creation of nordic world, ancient gods of north and the majestic nature. The colorful theme also inspired me to write the musically most diverse Wolfheart album and also bring the biggest variation of vocals than ever before, putting Lauri and Vageliss in their well-earned spotlight."


King Of The North will be available in the following formats:


- LP Gatefold Vinyl Black
- LP Gatefold Vinyl Die-Hard Edition Marbled Crystal Clear/Black + Poster + Slipmat (limited to 300)
- LP Gatefold Vinyl Marbled Orange/Yellow
- CD 6-page Digisleeve
- Digital album


Pre-order here.





King Of The North tracklisting:


"Skyforger"
"Ancestor" feat. Jesse Leach
"Knell"
"Desolated Land"
"The King"
"Cold Flame" feat. Karl Sanders
"Headstones"
"Fires of the Fallen"
"Eternal Slumber"


"The King" video:





"Ancestor" video:





Wolfheart are:


Tuomas Saukkonen - guitar, vocals
Joonas Kauppinen - drums
Lauri Silvonen - bass, vocals
Vagelis Karzis - guitar, vocals


(Photo - Teppo Ristola)

To celebrate the release of their highly anticipated new album, "Sunrise On Slaughter Beach" this evening, acclaimed U.S. groove rockers CLUTCH have announced that they will be livestreaming a very special performance from their upcoming Baltimore show for free on their YouTube channel this Saturday, September 17. The "Live At Hammerjacks" livestream will begin at 10 p.m. EST and will feature a full setlist that includes their exceptional new album in its entirety. Fans can tune in for free via the band's official YouTube channel. Fans who cannot tune in live will also be able to watch the show on demand as it will live on the band's YouTube channel after its initial broadcast.

Speaking on the imminent release of their brand new album and this very special livestream, CLUTCH frontman Neil Fallon shares: "'Sunrise On Slaughter Beach' is a weird record. It was, by and large, a studio creation. It reminds me a lot of 'Jam Room' in that regard. Under normal circumstances we may not have entertained the idea of using vibraphones, theremin, or backing vocals (thank you, Deborah Bond and Frenchie Davis!). But as they say, necessity is the mother of weirdness.

"The YouTube stream of our September 17th performance at Hammerjacks is a way to say thank you for all the fans who have supported us over the past 31 years, the last two years in particular. Also, it's a good way to inspire us to get our shit together and learn the new material."

CLUTCH's thirteenth studio album, "Sunrise On Slaughter Beach" is a slamming summary of everything that makes the band great and another giant leap forward into career longevity. New bangers like "Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone)", "Nosferatu Madre", "Skeletons On Mars", "Jackhammer Our Names" and "Mercy Brown" take their rightful place alongside CLUTCH classics. "Sunrise On Slaughter Beach" is the natural culmination of what CLUTCH began as teenagers in the early '90s.

Recorded at the The Magpie Cage Recording Studio in Baltimore, Maryland, the album was produced and mixed by Grammy-nominated Tom Dalgety (GHOST, ROYAL BLOOD, PIXIES) with additional engineering by J Robbins (JAWBREAKER, AGAINST ME!, THE SWORD).

Track listing:

01. Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone)
02. Slaughter Beach
03. Mountain Of Bone
04. Nosferatu Madre
05. Mercy Brown
06. We Strive For Excellence
07. Skeletons On Mars
08. Three Golden Horns
09. Jackhammer Our Names

Drummer Jean-Paul Gaster initially thought album thirteen would be an opposite reaction to the polarization and uncertainty of the pandemic years. Perhaps something more upbeat, in the vein of 2013's "Earth Rocker". "The more the songs took shape, the less I saw that kind of an album," he said. "Something different took shape. The record we ended up with is, in some ways, the most different record we've made in a long time."

"Sunrise On Slaughter Beach" introduces some "firsts" into the CLUTCH canon: vibraphone (from Gaster),theremin (J. Robbins),and female backup vocals from singers Deborah Bond and Frenchie Davis. The album’s nine songs are a diverse ride, destined to please long-time fans and intrigue newcomers alike. It’s a new chapter in an ever-unfolding story which means as much to the fans as it does to the band.

CLUTCH shares more in common with THE GRATEFUL DEAD, RUSH and THE ALLMAN BROTHERS than their heavy riffs and heady twists-of-phrase might suggest. Because like those bands, the supporters who adore CLUTCH are there for the experience, community, and authentic connection. To love CLUTCH is to feel a sense of ownership, membership, and belonging.

Seneca Valley High School classmates Neil Fallon (vocals),Tim Sult (guitar),Dan Maines (bass),and Jean-Paul Gaster (drums) share an unshakeable musical and personal bond now three decades strong. Shaped by the same region which birthed BAD BRAINS, MINOR THREAT and RITES OF SPRING, CLUTCH crafts hyper-literate and libertine jams informed by hardcore fury and fuzzy, athletic, stoner rock.

Fallon likens CLUTCH's longevity to the story of The Three Little Pigs. "You can quickly build a house with sticks, but it falls apart. It takes a lot longer to build it out of stone. I feel like that's what we've done. This has been a marathon. It took a long time to build, but it's gonna be here for a long time."

CLUTCH has just kicked off a U.S. tour. Joining them on the 26-date run are HELMET and QUICKSAND, who are rotating the main support slot nightly, and special guest JD Pinkus.

P.O.D. frontman Sonny Sandoval joined EVANESCENCE on stage this past Tuesday (September 13) at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington to perform EVANESCENCE's breakthrough 2003 hit "Bring Me To Life". Video of his appearance can be seen below.

Last month, "Bring Me To Life" experienced a resurgence 19 years after its original release. The song, which initially reached No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and was EVANESCENCE's first U.K. No. 1 single, landed at No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes chart.

This past February, EVANESCENCE's music video for "Bring Me To Life" surpassed one billion views on YouTube. The Philipp Stölzl-directed clip, which was uploaded to YouTube in December of 2009, was filmed in Romania in January 2003. It features singer Amy Lee in a night gown and barefoot, in her room, inside a tall building in the city at night. The rest of the band is playing on a higher floor of the building.

The album version of "Bring Me to Life" — which featured guest vocals from Paul McCoy of 12 STONES — was included on the soundtrack of superhero film "Daredevil".

Stölzl previously stated about the video: "On the one hand, it brings out the most catchy part of the song, the bridge, the duet with the male and female vocals. On the other hand, it reflects the ['Daredevil'] soundtrack background of the song. I did not know if I would have to use a stunt double for most of the angles, which would have restricted me a lot, but then it turned out that Amy did everything herself, hanging on Paul's arm for hours without getting tired. In the end, she is the one who made that shot strong."

Last year, Amy spoke to Germany's Sonic Seducer about the lyrical inspiration for "Bring Me To Life".

"I remember what I wrote 'Bring Me To Life' about, because I wrote it about my current husband before we were married," she said. "There was this moment — I was in a tough place and in a bad relationship. And my husband now, Josh, at the time was just a friend and a person that I barely knew; it was maybe the third or fourth time we'd ever met. And we went in to go grab a seat at a restaurant while our friends parked the car. And we sat across from each other, and he looked at me and he just said, 'So, are you happy?' And it took me so off guard, and I just felt like it pierced my heart, because I felt like I had been pretending really well, and it was, like, somebody could see through me. And then that whole first verse came out of it: 'How can you see into my eyes, like open doors.' It really made me feel and recognize the sense of yearning that I had to get to a better place. And it really kind of set me out on a journey. And it's amazing that that became the song, the first song that broke us on to the scene and made everyone hear of us, because it was about something — I don't know — something so personal that I was recognizing in my life."

In March 2021, Lee told Alternative Press that EVANESCENCE's original record label Wind Up threatened not to release the group's debut album, "Fallen", if she and her bandmates didn't add a male voice to lead single "Bring Me To Life" to make it more palatable for radio.

"Fallen" sold 17 million copies and won two Grammys, including "Best Rock Performance" for "Bring Me To Life".

EVANESCENCE's latest album, "The Bitter Truth", arrived in March 2021 via BMG. It was EVANESCENCE's first album of original music in ten years.
Thank you @evanescence for having me up last night! #payableondeath#evanescencepic.twitter.com/eWrE1WVkQL

— P.O.D. (@POD) September 14, 2022

In a new interview with Z93's "The Morning After", Tobias Forge spoke about GHOST's touring plans for after the Swedish occult rockers' current run of U.S. dates with MASTODON and SPIRITBOX. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're gonna do a lot of touring in 2023. We were sort of a little bit out of sync. [GHOST's latest] record ['Impera'] came out in the spring, obviously, and that was great. We managed to do 50 shows in the spring, which was incredible considering where the state of the world was at that point with not only war and uncertainty, especially in Europe. We were leaving for the tour not knowing if some of these countries [were] gonna be open yet, and that the tour actually happened — there was one show that was canceled because of some sort of safety concern — that was incredible. But we had already decided to not do the summer festival route, just because 2022's lineup was 2020's lineups, so there was no place for us; they couldn't cater to a new band coming in, because all the slots were taken since two years back. So we decided, 'Okay, so we're gonna have the summer off. Fantastic. And then we're gonna do a U.S. tour.' And then we decided to sort of hunker down for some time."

The singer continued: "There's just simply too much going on right now — so many bands out — and it's just too crowded. And it's hurting everyone, actually. I don't wanna bring out the fiddles for rock and roll music, but trust me when I say that a lot of your favorite bands are really suffering because of… Coming out of COVID, everybody's trying to tour at the same time, and, obviously, people cannot see every band that comes through. So we just decided, 'Let's just stay out of [this shit].' It's just too much. We're happy for what we got. We are ecstatic about this tour that we're doing now, that people show up, and that's a lot. And also, not to sound too political or too aware of things, but we had a plan to tour in Europe also now in the winter, and Europe is just too weird right now. There's too much going on, and there's a huge energy crisis. So it was a nice relief to feel like, 'Let's come back in March' or something. [Laughs] 'Let's do something else, like, just stay out.' There's plenty of things that we can do, and there's plenty of others that need to do their thing. And we have so much going on in 2023 anyway. We're gonna do the whole fucking world in 2023."

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.

In March 2020, at final show of GHOST's "Prequelle" tour in Mexico City, Mexico, the band officially introduced Papa Emeritus IV, the new character who is fronting the act for its "Impera" album phase.

Forge performed as a "new" Papa Emeritus on each of the band's first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of "Prequelle".

In a new interview with Nick Bowcott of Sweetwater, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine spoke about his songwriting process, particularly as it relates to the band's latest album, the just-released "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I like to take my approach to writing as organic as possible so that I know what the melody is. And it makes it a lot easier for me to sing something over it because I'm not a… I wasn't born to sing. I believe I was born to play guitar, but I don't think I was born to sing. And there's a lot of people out there that would say, 'We agree.' [Laughs]"

When Bowcott noted that Mustaine's singing voice is "instantly recognizable and identifiable," Dave said: "Yeah. It works for me, I think. The funny thing is before I got [throat] cancer [in 2019], I was having a lot of problems with my voice. And then the cancer came, and I got treatment, and I got healed, and then I had to kind of learn how to sing again, which has been bizarre, because it's like learning how to talk again. I think there's a lot of things inside here [points to his neck area] that kind of got messed up from the whole process, 'cause they are putting beams of light through you that disintegrate stuff. And I had nine… I think it was nine doses of chemo and 32 doses of radiology. It was a lot — it was a lot. And when I started singing this tour last leg, I wasn't having a good time singing, but the desire to sing better was there, 'cause I was feeling better about myself. And you'd be surprised when you feel good about yourself how you wanna make that 360-degree feeling. And I'd heard from Kiko [Loureiro, MEGADETH guitarist] — he was living with me for a little while during the record 'Dystopia' — he had said that as long as you get one percent better every day, it's only gonna take a hundred days till you're completely changed and a new you. And I thought, 'You know, that's great.' So that's kind of when I started doubling up on my training and my classes, taking care of myself better and learning a little bit about what's wrong with my voice. I contacted Tom [Keifer] from CINDERELLA [who overcame vocal cord paresis, a condition that typically ends a professional singing career], who's a really nice guy. And we would have been mortal enemies back in the '80s, right?"

Nine years ago, Mustaine said in an interview with Denver, Colorado's classic rock radio station 103.5 The Fox that he became the lead singer of MEGADETH after he and the band's original bassist David Ellefson were "auditioning guys and we kind of ran out of patience. The last guy that auditioned as a vocalist came — and we were homeless at the time — and the guy rolled up with a 12-pack of beer, and we thought, 'Great!' Then we got a closer look at him and he had eyeliner on. And we figured, 'As soon as the last beer was down, he was out of the band,'" he recalled. "It was New Year's Eve one night, and David just goes , 'Man, why don't you sing?' and I was like, 'Why don't you?' So I ended up doing it, and it stuck. I actually enjoy it a lot of times, but it's not my strong point. I've been working really hard at it the last few years. I wish I would have given it as much attention in the beginning as I do now… It's definitely a unique voice sound. You know, you hear people like Axl [Rose, GUNS N' ROSES] or myself or [James] Hetfield [METALLICA] or some of the other people that are really easily identifiable, it's scarce. Like Chris Cornell [SOUNDGARDEN], you hear Chris, you know it's him."

According to Billboard, "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.

Swedish/American metallers IN FLAMES will release their fourteenth studio album, "Foregone", on February 10, 2023 via Nuclear Blast. The LP will feature the two songs IN FLAMES released earlier this year, "State Of Slow Decay" and "The Great Deceiver".

IN FLAMES frontman Anders Fridén states: "Going into the 'Foregone' sessions, we wanted to make a record that was heavily guitar-driven, and that had a strong foundation between the bass and drums. We still approached our songwriting the same way, as we always have, as a juxtaposition between melody and aggression. That's the DNA of our music. From the lyrical end of things, there was no shortage of inspiration to draw from, especially the concept of time."

He continues: "Humanity as a whole was forced to slow down and take breather. In that break, many of us spent time evaluating and reprioritizing. Time is a constant, but what do we do with it and how we perceive it varies. Especially now looking at where the world seems to be headed faster than ever before."

Fridén concludes: "It's crazy that after everything we are still here and on our fourteenth album. I feel that we've found a great balance between the past, the present and the future with 'Foregone'. This is a new era of IN FLAMES!"

IN FLAMES has also shared the visualizer for "Foregone Pt. 1". The clip was created by Oleg Rooz and can be seen below. The Ukrainian graphic designer used groundbreaking AI technology to create the visuals. As one of the first bands relying on AI for a music video, IN FLAMES remain on the cutting edge.

"I thought that everything we've been through these past few years would be a reminder that life is precious, and that time is not on our side," offers Fridén. "Unfortunately, I feel that we've woken up in a world that's more hostile and bleak than ever before. The clock is ticking and the countdown has begun…"

"Foregone" features artwork designed by Blake Armstrong.

"Foregone" track listing:

01. The Beginning Of All Things That Will End
02. State Of Slow Decay
03. Meet Your Maker
04. Bleeding Out
05. Foregone Pt. 1
06. Foregone Pt. 2
07. Pure Light Of Mind
08. The Great Deceiver
09. In The Dark
10. A Dialogue In B Flat Minor
11. Cynosure
12. End The Transmission

Fridén recently spoke to MoreCore.TV about IN FLAMES' upcoming album. Asked if the LP's first single, "State Of Slow Decay", is a good representation of what fans can expect from the record, Anders said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "IN FLAMES has always been about melody and aggression. The short answer is yes, but it's not gonna be all fast. We try to explore all corners of metal with our music. Let's put it like this: if you're a fan of IN FLAMES, then you will love this album."

Elaborating on what fans can expect from the upcoming IN FLAMES album, Anders said: "This is the fourteenth album. So if you know IN FLAMES, you know sort of what you're gonna get. But I think this is a good mix of the past, the present and wherever we're going, and [it] has a little thing for everyone; it has the heavy, it has the melodic, it has the uptempo and the slow parts. I think it's amazing, and it really represents who we are at this time."

Asked if the pandemic influenced the songwriting process for the new IN FLAMES effort, Anders said: "Well, in a certain way. Lyrically, for sure. I thought this two-year break would make us see us who we are as people and maybe come out on the other side being a little bit more nice and gentle and with more understanding, but I think it's the opposite. So it definitely inspired the lyrical side.

"Of course, a break like that, it's a pause, so when you get back into it, maybe unintentionally you have more energy across the board, [and] with the music as well," he explained.

IN FLAMES performed "State Of Slow Decay" — which was produced by Howard Benson, mixed by Joe Rickard and mastered by Ted Jensen — live for the first time on June 10 at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden.

This past March, guitarist Björn Gelotte confirmed that IN FLAMES' upcoming album was once again recorded with Grammy-nominated producer Benson and Howard's longtime engineer Mike Plotnikoff.

In early July, Fridén told Chaoszine about the songwriting process for the new IN FLAMES album: "Me and Björn, we live on different sides of [Sweden] — he lives in Gothenburg; I live in Stockholm — and we only saw each other once or twice during the whole pandemic. But towards the end, when we kind of felt like it's gonna open up for real, we started talking and then we decided to take a trip to the U.S. and just get the machine rolling again — write some stuff; just get things out of our system. So we spent some time — like, three weeks — in L.A. And then we flew home and had Christmas and so on, and then we flew back again and started recording stuff for real. But as soon as we got together, a few weeks in the writing process, it felt like it always has."

Anders went on to say that he and Björn "had to be in the same room" in order to maximize their songwriting efforts. "We feed off each other's energies and ideas and so on, and I don't think we can write apart," he explained. "I mean, we can, but it won't be the same. So we have to get in the same room and be amongst everyone in the band… Me and Björn, we are the ones that are writing everything. The other guys are obviously partaking and bringing in their energy and their skills to the band, but when it comes to the writing, it's not much different."

Speaking in more detail about the contributions of IN FLAMES' three American members — drummer Tanner Wayne, bassist Bryce Paul and guitarist Chris Broderick — Anders said: "They are great individual musicians, so they bring in their skills and their way of playing, and it's very unique from person to person. And that's what they bring. And also the feeling — it's such a good atmosphere within the band; there's no arguments, really, and we're just having a good time being around each other. And that helps the whole creative process. And what they've done… I mean, you will hear it whenever we… We released one new song, but more to come. You can hear it, what they do. They're amazing guys and amazing musicians and really good friends."

Wayne joined IN FLAMES following the departure of Joe Rickard, who played on "I, The Mask" and 2016's "Battles".

Tanner made his live debut with IN FLAMES in July 2018 in Brno, Czech Republic.

Longtime IN FLAMES drummer Daniel Svensson announced in 2015 that he was leaving the band to focus on his family life.

Paul has been playing most of the shows with IN FLAMES since longtime bassist Peter Iwers's November 2016 exit.

In August 2020, IN FLAMES released a special 20th-anniversary edition of its seminal, critically acclaimed album "Clayman". "Clayman 20th Anniversary Edition" came entirely remastered by Ted Jensen (PANTERA, DEFTONES, GOJIRA) and featured all-new artwork in a 16-page booklet, a brand-new instrumental medley plus four re-recorded versions of fan favorites such as "Only For The Weak" and "Pinball Map".

Christian rockers STRYPER have released a new single, "Transgressor". The song will appear on their upcoming studio album "The Final Battle", which is due on October 21 via Frontiers Music Srl. The follow-up to 2020's "Even The Devil Believes" was produced by guitarist/vocalist Michael Sweet and was once again recorded at SpiritHouse Recording Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Sweet commented: "'Transgressor' is a ride like no other. You take off at 100 MPH and it doesn't let up until the very last note. It's definitely one of our heaviest songs yet we wanted to incorporate melody and structure. We're really excited about this one and we can't wait to perform it live!"

In a recent interview with "The Chuck Shute Podcast", Sweet discussed the inspiration for the title and artwork for "The Final Battle". He said: "The story behind the title and the artwork is the battle of Armageddon, which is ultimately the final battle, biblically speaking. And that's really what we're referring to, for the most part."

Asked if he thinks the battle of Armageddon — which refers to the final war between human governments and God, ultimately bringing human rulership to an end — is something that "coming soon," Sweet said: "Well, I'll tell you, man, if you say that in today's world, boy, you are labeled an instant loon — you're a loon, you're crazy and you need to be committed and you're out of your mind. But yet at the same time, when you go through the Bible, if you were to really dive deep into the Bible and have someone explain the theory of it to you and the stories that are behind the stories — so someone really smart, who isn't me — they could explain to you stuff that would make your chin hit the floor. And all the stuff that the Bible predicted that has already taken place, and really the only thing left is God's return and what follows after that, one of those things being the battle of Armageddon.

"People can laugh and sneer and think Christians are crazy, and that's fine," Michael continued. "I believe in the Bible, I believe what it says, and I think those times are coming. I think we're living in those times — absolutely, for sure. We live in a very interesting world, and I think everyone could at least agree on that — that times have changed dramatically in the past two years."

When asked by host Chuck Shute to clarify whether he truly believes we are "on the cusp" of the battle of Armageddon, Michael said: "Yeah, I do. Those people out there who watch this moment, when I say 'yeah,' who roll their eyes and think I'm crazy, that's fine. You guys can go ahead and keep thinking people like myself are crazy. The only thing I can say to that is when that day comes and it's reality, obviously everyone will know that those who believed weren't crazy, and then at that point it'll be too late for the people who thought those people were crazy."

When Shute noted that the people who are labeled "crazy" are the ones who claim that they know the exact date and circumstances leading up to the big apocalypse, Michael said: "And the Bible is very clear about that too: 'No man will know the hour.' No man knows the hour. You can't sit and [say], 'Okay, according to this timeline, yeah, He's coming on this day.' And that's what people try to do. You can't.

"I think we're definitely living in the end times, but that could be short, that could be relatively soon, in the very near future, or that could be in a relatively distant future," Sweet explained. "I don't think it's gonna be hundreds of thousands of years from now, but I think that it's coming and our time is marked. And look, we may get hit by a giant comet before God comes back. Who knows?

"I think sometimes we think we're invincible — nothing can hurt us — and, obviously, COVID kind of taught us a lesson on that, didn't it?" Michael added ."We are not invincible and anything can happen at any given time unexpectedly that leaves us in awe, saying, 'Oh my gosh. I had no idea. I never even imagined that ever happening.' And it can and will happen. It's just a matter of time."

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

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

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

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

Guitarist Michael Amott of extreme metallers ARCH ENEMY spoke to Australia's Loud magazine about his band's decision to once again incorporate clean vocals on an album. The track "Handshake With Hell" from ARCH ENEMY's latest effort, "Deceivers", marks Alissa White-Gluz's first foray into the clean-vocal territory on an ARCH ENEMY LP since "Reason To Believe" from 2017's "Will To Power".

"We all knew when [Alissa] joined the band in 2014, she came with an entire new toolbox of things that she could do vocally," Michael said. "That opened up a lot of doors for me as a songwriter. I can think about maybe replacing a guitar melody with a vocal melody instead, or having her carry the melody here. I've always done all the melodies on the guitar. And it's still very guitar-based, there's so many melodies going on.

"Maybe some of her most diehard fans probably think that I am, or we are, holding her back, and she's just dying to sing more clean on the albums. But that's not actually the case," he explained. "She loves to scream and do the extreme vocals, and that is, of course, the ARCH ENEMY signature sound, with my melodic guitar work and an extreme voice. Now I think moving forward, I'm pretty sure we'll do more things like that. But as long as the melodies and the approach is right, and whatever feels right, whatever fits. We don't want to try to force it.

"There are a lot of bands that do the screaming and the clean vocal; they go back and forth. A lot of it I'm not a fan of at all — most of it, I would say, because I don't feel like the melodies usually are metal; they sound more like a little boy singing in the chorus. It just doesn't fit. It's more like a pop sensibility to it, which is just not my taste at all, and it's not what we want to do. As long as it's metal, I'm all for it. And I love clean vocals — some of my favorite vocalists are who you would call 'clean vocalists', like Rob Halford [JUDAS PRIEST], people like that, Ronnie James Dio [BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW, DIO]. And I put David Vincent [MORBID ANGEL] or these kinds of death metal singers up there as well. So we love both styles."

In a 2017 interview with Revolver conducted shortly after the release of "Will To Power", Alissa said that some ARCH ENEMY fans were "really surprised" to hear her sing "different ways. But I've been doing that since high school and in my other bands, [such as THE AGONIST], so that's nothing new to me," she explained. "In the ARCH ENEMY world, it seems like there were only a few people who knew that. When I posted the video I did with KAMELOT for 'Liar, Liar', a lot of people were, like, 'Um, what is going on?' And I was like, 'Wait, you don't know about this? [Laughs] From that point on, a lot of people were like, 'Wow, we want to hear clean singing in ARCH ENEMY, too. And actually, Michael had been dying to write sort of like an extreme-metal ballad. So ['Reason To Believe'] was perfect."

ARCH ENEMY's 11th studio album, "Deceivers", arrived on August 12 via Century Media Records.

The band played the first show of its "The North American Siege 2022" tour with BEHEMOTH and NAPALM DEATH on April 16 at The Marquee in Tempe, Arizona.

ARCH ENEMY is appearing at select summer festivals before embarking on the rescheduled "European Siege 2022" trek (with BEHEMOTH, CARCASS, UNTO OTHERS) in the fall.

Ahead of Ministry making a public announcement of their own, the organizers of The UK's Damnation Festival have shared the news that Al Jourgensen and co. have cancelled their 2022 European Tour, which was supposed to run from October 28th to December 1st, with opening acts The 69 Eyes and Wednesday 13.


A post on the official Facebook page for Damnation Festival reads:


"We've just been told, literally minutes ago by e-mail, that Ministry have cancelled their entire European tour due to a festival they were due to play on that run being cancelled without any warning.




This is obviously a huge blow to Damnation, albeit not one that will have any impact on it taking place in Manchester in November.


We haven't really had a chance to digest the news, or even start to consider a replacement as yet, but we didn't want our fans to find out via third parties, or worse, have Ministry fans buying tickets tonight when we know they won't be playing.


This is the statement we've been sent from the band:


'Due to previously unforeseen circumstances, including the recent cancelation of a festival, we are forced to cancel our fall Europe tour. Hope to see you all next summer.'


We're sorry, and we're here to answer any questions you guys have."






 


 

Just in time to celebrate their European tour with labelmates Black Stone Cherry, The Georgia Thunderbolts have released a new single, "Livin' In Muddy Water".  Click here to download / stream, and listen below.





Catch The Georgia Thunderbolts opening for Black Stone Cherry across Europe at the following shows:




September
13 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli Vredenburg 
14 - Hamberg, Germany - Markthalle
17 - Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller Music Hall
18 - Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Hornstulls Strand
19 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio
21 - Berlin, Germany - Metropol
22 - Vienna, Austria - Arena Wien
23 - Budapest, Hungary - Barba Negra
24 - Munich, Germany - Tonhalle
26 - Milan, Italy - Alcatraz
27 - Zurich, Switzerland - Komplex 457
28 - Stuggart, Germany - LKA Longhorn
30 - Bilbao, Spain - Santana 27


October
1 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
2 - Madrid, Spain - Sala Riviera
4 - Bordeaux, France - Le Rocher de Palmer
5 - Paris, France - Le Trianon





(Photo courtesy of @tdeanimages)


 

MOTÖRHEAD's fifth album, 1982's "Iron Fist", will be re-released for its 40th anniversary in new deluxe editions on September 23. There will be hardback book-packs in two CD and triple LP formats, featuring a hammer fist blow, remaster of the original album, previously unreleased demo bonus tracks and a full concert, originally broadcast on Radio Clyde from March 18, 1982, plus the story of the album and many previously unseen photos. There's also a limited-edition blue-and-black swirl of the original standalone album.

A live version of "(Don't Let 'Em) Grind Ya Down", recorded in 1982 in Glasgow and featured on the upcoming "Iron Fist" 40th-anniversary release, can be streamed below.

The time-honored phrase "Follow that!" rang with deafening resonance when MOTÖRHEAD was faced with having to follow a rock milestone ("Ace Of Spades"),a No. 1 album ("No Sleep Till Hammersmith") and their bomber — the most spectacular stage prop rock had ever seen. As last shout from the three amigos lineup of Lemmy, "Fast" Eddie Clarke and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, "Iron Fist" was rudely dismissed by some ignorant loudmouth hap'orths as being "less" and has always suffered slightly from that initial idiotic disdain. We're here to finally correct that nonsense, as "Iron Fist" reveals itself as a vital snapshot of the band at a crucial period when they found themselves caught in the tornado ignited by success and, in true MOTÖRHEAD style, careered into their next phase at such velocity it transcended logic or reason to become this trio's final kamikaze joyride. Forty years later, "Iron Fist" sounds like prime MOTÖRHEAD with the gloves and seatbelts off. For sheer velocity, it could be fastest, most out-of-control of them all.

LP And CD track listing:

Original "Iron Fist" album

01. Iron Fist
02. Heart Of Stone
03. I'm The Doctor
04. Go To Hell
05. Loser
06. Sex And Outrage
07. America
08. Shut It Down
09. Speedfreak
10. (Don't Need) Religion
11. Bang To Rights

Jackson's Studio Demos October 1981

01. Remember Me, I'm Gone
02. The Doctor
03. Young & Crazy
04. Loser
05. Iron Fist
06. Go To Hell

CD & Digital Bonus Tracks

01. Lemmy Goes To The Pub
02. Some Old Song, I'm Gone
03. (Don't Let 'Em) Grind Ya Down (Alternate Version)
04. Shut It Down
05. Sponge Cake (Instrumental)
06. Ripsaw Teardown (Instrumental)
07. Peter Gunn (Instrumental)

Live at Glasgow Apollo 18/3/82 (Previously unreleased)

01. Iron First
02. Heart Of Stone
03. Shoot You In The Back
04. The Hammer
05. Loser
06. Jailbait
07. America
08. White Line
09. (Don't Need) Religion
10. Go To Hell
11. Capricorn
12. (Don't Let 'Em) Grind Ya Down
13. (We Are The) Road Crew
14. Ace Of Spades
15. Bite The Bullet
16. The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
17. Overkill
18. Bomber
19. Motörhead

Taylor died in November 2015 of liver failure. Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister succumbed to cancer the following month. Clarke died in January 2018 after a battle with pneumonia.

Clarke, Taylor and Lemmy appeared on five albums together: MOTÖRHEAD's 1977 self-titled debut, 1979's "Overkill" and "Bomber", 1980's "Ace Of Spades" and the aforementioned "Iron Fist".

Photo by Allan Ballard

Michigan's THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER has just announced a show in Detroit on October 28 at Saint Andrew's Hall, which will be a celebration of the life and legacy of Trevor Strnad. The concert marks the band's return to the stage after the untimely passing of their beloved frontman on May 11. Founding member Brian Eschbach will be putting down his guitar and taking on the role of lead vocalist moving forward — a decision that wasn't made lightly when the band got together to discuss their future after they started to work through the initial shock and grief of losing their best friend. Stepping back into the THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER family is guitarist Ryan Knight. Support for the show will come from DARKEST HOUR and PLAGUE YEARS.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, September 16 at 10 a.m. ET.

Decibel has interviewed all members of the band for a cover story of the magazine's November 2022 issue, out this month.

Eschbach tells Decibel: "We spent many days thinking things like, 'Is this over?' None of us wanted it to be over. We still feel like there is a lot left to do. I know Trevor would keep this band going if I went down a deep, dark path and weren't here. It's bigger than us. When we finally started talking about it, we thought, 'Let's remake it from within and see if Ryan wants to return. And I'll take a crack on the vocals and see how it goes.' I can't go out there and do Trevor's voice or try to be him. I can only execute the music of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER with respect and try to do it the most justice I can. I've heard Trevor perform more than anyone else alive."

Knight says the decision to return was easy despite the difficult circumstances. "The time I've spent with this band is the best time I've ever had," he says. "Being away has given me a lot of time to reflect, and it always occurred to me that being in THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER is the best use of my time. I've thought a lot about the band while I was away and realized how much value this band has. I almost feel like I let some opportunities slip, being away from the band. So, it feels great to be back and like everything has come full circle. I've realized how much I love being in this band."

A memorial for Strnad was held on July 30 at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. The private event was attended by Strnad's friends, family members and music industry colleagues, including Brian Slagel and Michael Faley of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER's record label, Metal Blade Records, and BROKEN HOPE guitarist Jeremy Wagner.

Strnad's death was announced by his bandmates on social media on May 11. At the time, they wrote: "It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Trevor Scott Strnad. Beloved son, brother, and Shepard of good times, he was loved by all that met him. A walking encyclopedia of all things music. He was a hugger, a writer, and truly one of the world’s greatest entertainers. His lyrics provided the world with stories and spells and horror and whimsy. It was his life to be your show." The band also shared the telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER guitarist Brandon Ellis wrote in a separate post: "I can not even begin to process this... In total shock and disbelief. It has been my greatest honor to spend the last six and a half years in a band with this absolute icon and legend. A brother. A best friend. One of the funniest and most entertaining people to walk the earth. The life of the party that is THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, as well as any given room he happens to occupy. A lyrical mastermind. A champion of the entire culture of heavy music. Also my biggest supporter. This man changed my life and believed in me more than I do myself. I can not believe there will no more laughs had, songs written together, or stages decimated with Trevor at the helm. I hope he knew how much he was loved the world over."

Last November, Strnad shared on social media that he was having a difficult time dealing with the passing of his mother, who had "died a few weeks" earlier "very abruptly." "Even at 40 years old, it's still hard," he wrote. "We were close. I feel like a lost little kid. Props to the many of you out there who have dealt with this and made it out the other side."

In an April 2021 interview with Metal Injection, Strnad spoke about his battle with depression and alcohol dependence. At the time, he said: "At the rate I drink while we're gone on tour, it's just not sustainable for getting older. Being 40-plus and being able to do what I do well and not look like a shithead, I've gotta be better to myself. So that's really the impetus [for quitting drinking]. That's the heart of it. It's not that… I know I'm no fun [when I'm drinking].

"I did an eight-month stint with no alcohol out there, but at that time it was more to save a relationship; it wasn't something I really, really wanted to do and really invested myself in. I was embittered by having to do it after a while and kind of resentful of my partner. But this is full-on my choice. I want to have the excitement I had before I ever drank. When we started this band, I was a fucking weird straight-edge kid. And now it's become kind of like… it's a lubricant for me to get up on stage and be funny and be kind of carefree and be the wild guy that [fans] expect of us, that they've seen from our DVDs and shit, which is really just a compilation of the good times. So if you expect any band that's just raging full-on like that all the time, they're not — it's just not sustainable. But it's to the point where I'm having 10 drinks a day plus to go on stage. And two weeks into it, I've been hung over every single day. I'm chasing that hangover with just more liquor, until the end of the tour [by which time] I have doubled my intake just to get by, basically. And it's not fun — it's disgusting; it sucks. It starts as fun. The three of us that drink in the band are, like, 'Yeah, bro. Sipping time.' And it is fun, but it's not sustainable. I've seen photos of myself, videos of myself where I'm, like, 'Yeah, you look like shit.' I don't wanna look like shit. From here on out, it's only gonna get harder to meet people's standards physically.

"Even though it's a death metal band, there are so many eyes on us and so much judgment, it's insane," he continued. "We're not a boy band. I'm not supposed to be fucking handsome. Who gives a fuck? But people berate you. I can't tell you how many times I've been called fat on the Internet. It's insane — literally. You've gotta have a thick skin to do what I do. But also it does wear you down over time, man. Doing all the social media myself and taking the brunt of whatever anonymous abuse, it's accumulated in some self-doubt, it's accumulated in more anxiety, for me, as the band has gotten bigger and bigger and there's more eyes and more pressure."

Trevor went on to say that his 40th birthday was a turning point for him. He explained: "I wanted my 40s to be awesome. I wanna look presentable; I wanna be a better frontman; I want to be more physically fit; I want to go into my 40 screaming. I don't want anyone snickering at me. I don't wanna be in W.A.S.P. I want this band to keep going at this tremendous speed, and I wanna segue into being an older metalhead gracefully. Luckily, in metal you can be an older metalhead. It's not like pop music where they just throw you away. Thankfully, this music is just as much about the past as it is about the present and the future. People are always gonna love the classic metal records. And that's one thing I enjoy about it. It's not this disposable music that you like for a week and throw away.

"I see this band going for another 20 years. But to physically be able to do it at this level and not top out at all is gonna take a focus on health and longevity and sanity too. [Laughs]"

He added: "Being left alone with my thoughts all this time [during the pandemic] has just been so dangerous for me."

Strnad also revealed that he was about to undergo ketamine therapy as a way of treating his depression. "It's intravenous," he said. "They pump ketamine into you over the course of two weeks — three days a week for two weeks. And they put you in this euphoric state for a couple of hours. And eventually you've done it enough to where your brain makes new passageways, new synapses, and you stop doing these cyclic kind of thinking — self-defeating. I've been a lot better now, but there was times when shit got pretty fucking dark for me over the last two years.

"You can go there as an emergency if you're ideating suicide really crazily — they can take you in on an emergency basis. You're basically high as fuck and euphoric as fuck, and they just give you all these great chemicals — you release all these happy chemicals and stuff like that. And they just keep doing that to you until you kind of rewrite the way you think.

"Really, this put the nail in the coffin for me about the way I look at the world, and it's been heavy as fuck," he continued, referring to his life during the pandemic. "I feel like there's no happy ending for any of us in the way that we've set everything up — government and just everything. I feel like it's just gonna be darker and darker from here on out. And that's a lot for a person to think about all the time. It basically stole whatever little bit of innocence I had left or any little blinder I had on to the way shit is. It's been heavy, dude. This has been a heavy fucking thing for me… I'm arrested by all of this right now and by my own feelings. It's just brought my anxiety to an ultimate head, basically. It's to the point where I've gotta do something."

Formed in 2000, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER — named after the infamous 1947 unsolved murder of actress Elizabeth Smart — had a number of shows scheduled for later this year, including an appearance at Daytona Beach, Florida's Welcome To Rockville festival.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER's latest album, "Verminous", came out in 2020. It was described in a press release as the band's "most dynamic, rousing and emotional release to date."

Canadian rock band NICKELBACK has shared the official music video for its new single, "San Quentin". The clip was filmed on August 30 at the Simon Fraser University Convocation Mall in British Columbia. According to CTV News, hundreds of NICKELBACK fans attended the shoot, including one fan who one fan traveled all the way from Edmonton.

"San Quentin" is taken from NICKELBACK's long-awaited tenth studio album and and first release in five years, "Get Rollin'", which will arrive on November 18 via BMG.

"San Quentin" was inspired after frontman Chad Kroeger met a real-life warden from the notorious high security California prison. The song follows the story as he plots his clever escape. In addition to "San Quentin", the band's forthcoming collection will feature 10 new songs all penned by NICKELBACK.

Regarding why it took so long to produce the follow-up to 2017's "Feed The Machine", Chad told the WRAT radio station: "Well, we should have been making a record a lot sooner, with all that time off [due to the coronavirus pandemic]. But it's weird to say this, but for 25 years it feels like someone's been standing behind us with a cattle prod and telling us, 'Hey, the record's gotta be done at this time. We're gonna tour at this time. We're gonna do Australia and then we're gonna go do Europe and then we're gonna come back. We'll go across Canada. We'll hit America.' Just like every other band that has to do this stuff, you wanna get a chance to see your fans all around the world. But with this, we were, like, 'We'll get to it when we get to it.' [Laughs] And yeah, we took our time with it, which was just a wonderful luxury, to be able to sit back and [go], 'No. I'm gonna play this guitar solo 40 more times for another three days and make sure it's just exactly how we want it as opposed to deadline, deadline, deadline."

Asked about some fans' reaction to a 10-second clip of "San Quentin" that it sounds on initial listen like the heaviest song the band has ever written and unlike anything NICKELBACK has done before, guitarist Ryan Peake said: "It's funny. We've been hearing that quite a bit. It's actually interesting because I think NICKELBACK fans would know for sure [that it's us once they heard the full song]. I don't think it's unusual… It's a heavy rock song, and if you've seen us live, you would definitely get it. But I kind of like that people are feeling like it's a surprise that we can have rock songs like that in the repertoire."

As for whether "San Quentin" is representative of the musical direction of the rest of the album, Chad said: "All of our records are all over the map. We don't have one record that really sort of sounds the same in terms of songwriting from top to bottom. I mean, they're all all over the map, and I absolutely love that. I don't know how we sort of did that and how we got the acceptance from our fans to be able to do that, but we're very lucky because we don't have to record the same kind of music thinking to ourselves, 'Well, the fans are expecting this, so we've just gotta give 'em a whole album of that.' We can kind of do whatever we want. It's so all over the map, and it's fulfilling as an artist to be able to get in, and as a songwriter, for us to be able to get together and go, 'Let's do something completely left field. Let's try something heavier than we've ever done. Let's try something lighter than we've ever done.' Whatever we're feeling that day, we just do it."

Chad also talked about the lyrical inspiration for "San Quentin", saying: "I met the [San Quentin prison] warden at a party. And I couldn't believe how young he was. I was, like, 'There's just no way that you're the warden of San Quentin,' and everyone was, like, 'Yup. He is.' Guy Fieri's [American restaurateur, author and Emmy Award-winning television presenter] a buddy of mine, and I was at his birthday party a few years back. And the entire time we were talking, I'm, like, [laughs] I'm speaking to this guy, but in my head all I could think about was, 'I'm gonna write a song called 'San Quentin'. That's it.' And I stuck it in my notes in my phone. And then once the riff was down, I think I screamed out this line, 'Can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?' And we just took it from there."

"Get Rollin'" and "Get Rollin' (Deluxe)" will be available via digital platforms and physical CD format. The deluxe edition includes four bonus tracks — acoustic versions of "High Time", "Just One More", "Does Heaven Even Know You're Missing?" and "Horizon". Standard and exclusive versions of the album will also be released on vinyl in 2023.

"Get Rollin'" track listing:

01. San Quentin
02. Skinny Little Missy
03. Those Days
04. High Time
05. Vegas Bomb
06. Tidal Wave
07. Does Heaven Even Know You're Missing?
08. Steel Still Rusts
09. Horizon
10. Standing In The Dark
11. Just One More
12. High Time (Acoustic) *
13. Does Heaven Even Know You're Missing? (Acoustic) *
14. Just One More (Acoustic) *
15. Horizon (Acoustic) *

* "Get Rollin'" deluxe version

Amassing hits for over two decades, NICKELBACK is the 11th best-selling musical act of all time, counting over 50 million units sold and over 4.7 billion career streams to date. The band has released 23 chart-topping singles, with 19 reaching the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Their undeniable success has resulted in over 26 awards, including Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, MuchMusic Video Awards, People's Choice Awards, JUNO Awards, and more. Among their numerous accolades the band has also achieved 12 consecutive sold-out tours, with nearly 10 million tickets sold worldwide.

Named the "most successful rock back of the decade" by Billboard in 2009, NICKELBACK is one of the most commercially viable and important rock acts of the past two decades. The four-piece, comprised of Chad Kroeger, Mike Kroeger, Ryan Peake and Daniel Adair, is globally celebrated for its career-defining and award-winning hits, including "How You Remind Me", "Photograph", "Far Away" and "Rockstar", which all held top spots on the Billboard 100. Their success includes worldwide sales of more than 50 million units, solidifying their status as one of the top-selling acts of all time and the second best-selling foreign act in the USA in the 2000's decade, behind only THE BEATLES. Their inescapable, irresistible smash "How You Remind Me" was named Billboard's "Top Rock Song Of The Decade". It was the number-one most played song on U.S. radio (any format) in the 2000s decade according to Nielsen Soundscan, with over 1.2 million spins.

Amongst all these accolades, they've also been named Billboard's "Top Rock Group Of The Decade" and received nine Grammy Award nominations, three American Music Awards, a World Music Award, a People's Choice Award, twelve JUNO Awards, seven MuchMusic Video Awards, and have been inducted into Canada's Walk Of Fame (2007). With more than 23 chart-topping singles and fans spanning the globe, NICKELBACK boasts twelve consecutive sold-out world tours, playing to well over 10 million diehard and adoring fans.

Ozzy Osbourne spoke to Rock 95.5's "The Klinger Show" about his desire to return to the road after a number of health issues he has dealt with in recent years, including surgeries to treat a staph infection in 2018, the reveal of his Parkinson's disease diagnosis in 2019, a pneumonia battle that was followed by a fall at home in 2020 as well as a major neck surgery in June and a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. "That's what I'm heading for," he said. "I'm hoping I will feel well enough to tour. As soon as I'm finished with [doing] promotion [for my new album], I'm dying to get some physical exercise in and go all out to get myself back on my feet.

"It's different," he explained. "It's awkward right now. If I haven't got the confidence up, I'll lose my balance. So I've gotta get my confidence up. I've overcome drug addiction and alcohol addiction and tobacco. I'm sure I can give it a good effort. I need it; I need to get back on that stage."

Earlier in the month, the 73-year-old BLACK SABBATH frontman told Kerrang! magazine that he is focused on getting his physical health back to the point where he can manage being on tour again. "I am going to put 110 percent into getting myself out there. Time is my most valuable asset now. I'm 73. I don't think that I'll be here in another 25 years. I've got a goal: the goal is to get back onstage. I had my last surgery in June. I can't have any more. So whatever I make of it is entirely up to me now. Even if I manage one show, then fall over, [I'll have done it]. But I know that I'm going to carry on. I know I can beat it. I know that I can get back onstage. It's just that I've got to get off my butt and go for it."

Ozzy added he's working on getting his "rhythm again," admitting that "my balance is all fucked up, but I've got to keep going. I mean, I'll probably always have a limp. But I don't mind, as long as I can fuckin' walk around without falling on my head. I have a goal: that next summer I will be onstage. If I put every effort into it and I still can't, at least I can't say that I haven't tried."

As previously reported, Ozzy performed at halftime of the Los Angeles Rams season opener last Thursday (September 8) at SoFi Stadium. Fans in the stadium were treated to a multi-song medley from Osbourne while viewers at home saw a portion of the performance on NBC and Peacock during halftime.

Ozzy opened with the title track of his new album, "Patient Number 9", backed by Andrew Watt on guitar, Chris Chaney on bass and Tommy Clufetos on drums. Longtime Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde then joined them onstage to play the singer's classic track "Crazy Train".

The performance came on the eve of the release of "Patient Number 9", which arrived on Friday (September 9) on Epic. It marked Osbourne's first stateside performance since he took the stage alongside Post Malone and Travis Scott to perform their "Take What You Want" collaboration at the 2019 American Music Awards. Ozzy has not played a full concert since 2018.

Prior to the the halftime show, Ozzy last performed in August when he made a surprise appearance at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in his former hometown of Birmingham, England.

Ozzy publicly revealed his Parkinson's disease diagnosis in January 2020. And although he still struggles with walking, his symptoms are said to be quite mild.

In 2019, Ozzy suffered a fall at his Los Angeles home while he was battling pneumonia.

Last week, Ozzy and his wife/manager Sharon announced their return to TV with a 10-part reality series called "Home To Roost". Set to air on BBC One and iPlayer, the show will document the Osbournes' journey back to Britain, alongside daughter Kelly and son Jack's efforts to support them.

In a new interview with the 105.7 The Point radio station, SHINEDOWN frontman Brent Smith spoke about the band's current live show, which includes a massive stage complete with moving lights, pyrotechnics and a piano riser that appears and disappears onstage throughout the night. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The goal is to take you on a ride. The goal is to, sonically and visually, give you an experience — everything that you want a show to be, not just even in the rock and roll mindset of that.

"We've always been a band… we've put it back into the show over the years," he explained. "I do remember the very first time, going back 10 years ago, that we told our management that we were gonna bring in pyro, and they were, like, 'You're gonna do what?' Because sometimes people look at pyro and they're, like, 'Money is just going up in flames.' But I'm, like, 'No, it's not.'

"Here's the thing about pyrotechnics: I come from the school of RAMMSTEIN; I come from the school of KISS; I come from the school of those types of shows back in the '80s and the early '90s. I don't look at pyrotechnics as a gag; I actually look at pyrotechnics as an extension of the song live. There's a creative moment for it. Because some artists, if they do pyro, it kind of looks a little off or it doesn't look exactly maybe that's what they should do. But for us, we've always felt like the pyrotechnics, along with the sound and the lighting and the video elements and everything that we do, that it's an extension of the song in a live environment."

SHINEDOWN's new album, "Planet Zero", produced by bassist Eric Bass, is out now via Atlantic Records. The album debuted in the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart and the official U.K. albums chart, and at No. 1 on six other Billboard charts, including Top Album Sales, Rock, Hard Rock and Alternative Albums.

Three weeks ago, SHINEDOWN released a brand-new Amazon Original of the band's current hit single "Daylight", available now only on Amazon Music. The track is a complete re-imagining of the song that changes up the chord progression and tempo and injects big drums and an aggressive distorted synth guitar tone that balance against the beauty and softness of the verses and chorus.

Fans can hear SHINEDOWN's Amazon Original on the Rock Arena playlist or by simply asking "Alexa, play the new song from SHINEDOWN" in the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android, and on Alexa-enabled devices. In addition to the new track, Amazon Music listeners can access hundreds of Amazon Originals, featuring both emerging and established artists across numerous genres, available to stream and purchase only on Amazon Music.

"Daylight" is a meaningful portrait of a vital human connection that reminds us that we are never alone, and reflects on the importance of empathy and the relationships in our lives that help get us through to the next day. The poignant anthem recently became SHINEDOWN's 19th No. 1 at Active Rock and 18th No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart — both all-time records on these charts.

British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN have released the official live video for their song "Stratego" from. The track, which was written by guitarist Janick Gers and founding bassist Steve Harris, is taken from the band's 17th studio album, "Senjutsu", which came out in September 2021 via BMG.

Says IRON MAIDEN: "The U.S. & Canadian leg of the 'Legacy Of The Beast' world tour is now underway! Here is 'Stratego (Live)' — dedicated to you, our incredible fans across the world!"

"Senjutsu" was recorded in 2019 in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Harris.

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.

IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson told France's La Claque FNAC about the LP: "It's always a big thrill when you get a new IRON MAIDEN album and it comes out. We thought it was a great album when we made it. But it was three years ago now. So we just have to pinch ourselves and go, 'Let's just check.' It's one of my favorite albums. And after 17 albums, it's pretty cool."

Regarding the writing and recording process for "Senjutsu", Bruce said: "I would like to say that everything was very organized, but actually, we're not. We turn up and we sort of go, 'Oh, has anybody got a couple of ideas?' And Steve said, 'I've got one idea. I've got this track 'Senjutsu'. What do we think about having a Samurai Eddie?' And we were, like, 'Oh, yeah. Cool. Why haven't we done that before?' Because we had an Egyptian Eddie and we had a sci-fi Eddie and we had a Mayan Eddie. The album is like the picture that's in the frame. But just because the frame is Japanese doesn't mean every song is organized to be about Japanese themes."

"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.

MAIDEN's first two Paul Di'Anno-era albums, "Iron Maiden" (1980) and "Killers" (1981),as well as with those recorded with singer Blaze Bayley, "The X Factor" (1995) and "Virtual XI" (1998),all failed to dent 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. It trailed only FOO FIGHTERS' "Medicine At Midnight", which debuted on the February 20, 2021 chart with 70,000 units (of which 64,000 were in album sales).

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

Kid Rock has released the official music video for his new single "Never Quit". The track is taken from his latest album, "Bad Reputation", which came out in March.

"Bad Reputation" includes the three songs Kid Rock released in January — "We The People", "The Last Dance" and "Rockin'" — as well as his November 2021 single "Don't Tell Me How To Live", which was recorded with Canadian hard rockers MONSTER TRUCK.

"We The People" features the chorus of "Let's go, Brandon," conservative code for "Fuck Joe Biden" (born when a NASCAR reporter misheard a crowd, reporting that they chanted in support of racer Brandon Brown when they were actually chanting expletives toward the U.S. president),and also takes aim at the mainstream media, CNN, TMZ, Twitter and Facebook, as well as mask mandates and COVID-19 restrictions.

"We the people in all we do reserve the right to scream, 'Fuck you!" Kid shouts in the song. "Wear your mask. Take your pills. Now a whole generation is mentally ill," he adds.

Elsewhere in the song, he raps: "COVID's near. It's coming to town. We gotta act quick, shut our borders down. Joe Biden does, the media embraces. Big Don does it, and they call him racist.

"Inflation's up like the minimum wage. So it's all the same. Not a damn thing changed," he exclaims.

He then calls for politically polarized Americans to come together, saying: "We gotta keep fighting for right to be free. And every human being doesn't have to agree. We all bleed red, brother, listen to me. It's time for love and unity."

The track concludes with sampled crowd chanting, "Let's go, Brandon."

In a Facebook video announcing the three tracks in January, Kid Rock described "We The People" as a "hard rock-rap tune."

"[It's] about, well, all the craziness going on in our world in the last few years and the politics and the polarization and social justice," he said. "You know, constantly for just being a Trump fan attacked in the media day in day out."

He added: "I don't mind taking a punch, but I hit back, motherfucker, and I hit hard."

LAMB OF GOD drummer Art Cruz joined Joshua Toomey and the "Talk Toomey" podcast this week to discuss all things LAMB OF GOD and the band's upcoming album, "Omens". In the video clip below, Art talks about the fill-in musicians that helped out LAMB OF GOD on their recent tours, and the "greatness" of LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe.

"I'm speaking as a fan as well," Art said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "Randy Blythe, he's the greatest frontman in heavy metal history, in my opinion — not just on a vocal level; it's more of a performer, you know what I'm saying? Metal bands need a performer and somebody like that that can really take it and lead you through this adventure. So I think between Randy and people like Jamey Jasta [HATEBREED] and obviously Phil Anselmo [PANTERA], these are elite frontmen, in my opinion. That's just in my generation too. You can go back even more and start going deep into the older stuff, the classic metal days and stuff like that. There's a lot more performers happening now, I think. From the hardcore scene and that New Wave Of American Metal that came through, your frontman was kind of everything."

Blythe spoke about what he believes makes a good frontman during a recent appearance on a recent episode of "Stoke The Fire", the alternative lifestyle and culture podcast hosted by musician Jesse Leach (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE) and DJ/presenter Matt Stocks ("Life In The Stocks"). "There are guys in their closet with their YouTube rig or in their garage who can outsing either fucking one of us," Randy said, addressing Leach. "There is no doubt about it, man. They have more talent, natural talent, in their little pinky than either of us. But the difference is… I think one of the main requirements to be a frontman, a good frontman — actually, the only requirement, probably; I mean, you've gotta have some talent — is a willingness to get up in front of people and make an idiot out of yourself and be really bad for a while until you become good. And so these people with all this natural talent, it doesn't fucking matter unless you can get in front of people and do it, and you have to do it with a group of people; you have to feel that bond; you have to deliver."

Two and a half years ago, LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton praised Blythe's abilities while discussing the band's appearance at the 2019 Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival in Columbus, Ohio. He said: "That particular Sonic Temple Festival, it was in a stadium, and Randy Blythe, who I think is the best frontman in heavy metal, made that stadium into a theater that day. I remember telling him when we walked off stage, 'Randy, you're the best in the world.' Because he took tens of dozens of thousands of people who were there, and he shrunk that whole stadium into the size of a 2,500-seat theater. That's why he's the best in the world at what he does. I will give him love all day long. He's one of my best friends and I think he's the best frontman in heavy metal. Sometimes when you have a star like that and they're 100 percent on point and the audience is willing, you can actually make that connection even in a monster arena like that."

"Omens" is due out October 7 on Epic. LAMB OF GOD tracked the effort with longtime collaborator Josh Wilbur (KORN, MEGADETH) live in the room together at Henson Recording Studios (formerly A&M Studios) in Los Angeles, California, a location that birthed classics from THE DOORS, PINK FLOYD, RAMONES and SOUNDGARDEN, among others.

The "Omens" album pre-order is live at Lamb-Of-God.com, boasting several exclusive items, including a signed colored vinyl variant, shirt, hoodie, and signed CDs with an alternate color cover. All physical CD and vinyl releases will include a free access code to watch the livestream viewing of "The Making Of Omens" documentary, which will premiere the week of album release.

LAMB OF GOD is supporting the new album with a massive Live Nation-produced U.S. headlining tour featuring special guests KILLSWITCH ENGAGE on all dates. Different legs are also seeing support from BARONESS, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, SPIRITBOX, ANIMALS AS LEADERS as well as SUICIDE SILENCE and FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY. The tour kicked off on September 9 in Brooklyn and will run through October 20.

"Omens" is the follow-up to LAMB OF GOD's self-titled album, which was released in June 2020 via Epic Records in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Records in Europe. That LP marked LAMB OF GOD's first recordings with Cruz, who joined the band in July 2019 as the replacement for the group's founding drummer, Chris Adler.

Finnish Love Metal pioneer, Ville Valo (VV), has set January 13 as the release date for his debut solo album, Neon Noir. You can pre-order the set here.


"Neon Noir is a sonic step-by-step guide on how to survive, and perhaps even enjoy, the realm of VV with its abundance of things that go bump in the night," says Valo. "It's a teary mascara marathon between Robert Smith and Ozzy, with a dash of hope."







Tracklisting:


"Echolocate Your Love"
"Run Away From The Sun"
"Neon Noir"
"Loveletting"
"The Foreverlost"
"Baby Lacrimarium"
"Salute the Sanguine"
"In Trenodia"
"Heartful Of Ghosts"
"Saturnine Saturnalia"
"Zener Solitaire"
"Vertigo Eyes"


"Echolocate Your Love" video:





"Loveletting" video:





VV's headline tour, taking place next year across Europe, the UK, and North America - has already sold-out across a number of cities. Get your tickets here to avoid disappointment.





 
(Photo - Joonas Brandt)