Canadian thrash metal veterans RAZOR will release "Cycle Of Contempt", on September 23 via Relapse. "Cycle Of Contempt" is a direct, cutthroat record that pulls no punches and takes no prisoners.

The official lyric video for the song "Flames Of Hatred" can be seen below.

RAZOR guitarist Dave Carlo said: "We are so psyched to finally offer this recording to our awesome and patient fanbase! It was our pleasure to make this for you and we sincerely hope you feel it was worth the wait. Play it loud my friends!"

From the catchy, concise riffs and insistent beats of album opener "Flames Of Hatred" to the double-barreled assault, muted power chord chugging and combative gang vocal of album closer "King Shit", "Cycle Of Contempt" is a trenchant reminder of a time when clubs around the world were packed with long-haired bands that played as fast as they could to mosh pits that spun and tumbled like clothes in a short-circuiting dryer.

As energetic and exciting as "Evil Invaders" and as urgent and powerful as RAZOR's 1989 speed-fest "Violent Restitution", "Cycle Of Contempt" showcases a band that never stopped spewing venom.

"I tried to write songs that everybody could listen to and say, 'Yeah, I know a guy who's done that to me or done this, or I know that situation. I can relate to that,'" Carlo said. "And I didn’t want to make everything specifically about me because when you do that, you exclude people. I wanted to include everyone that’s ever felt pissed off about anything."

An unrelenting slab of old-school thrash that showcases RAZOR's encyclopedic knowledge of the past along with Carlo's growth as a songwriter, player, and lyricist, "Cycle Of Contempt" is here to show that RAZOR are as dominating as ever.

"Cycle Of Contempt" track listing:

01. Flames of Hatred
02. Jabroni
03. Off My Meds
04. A Bitter Pill
05. Crossed
06. First Rate Hate
07. Cycle of Contempt
08. Punch Your Face In
09. All Fist Fighting
10. Darkness Falls
11. King Shit

Formed in 1984 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, RAZOR split up in 1992, but reformed in the late 1990s to record another album, titled "Decibels", in 1997. The band dissolved again, and reformed in 2005.

Carlo has been the only permanent member in the band's 38-year history.

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

W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless has issued the following recap of the band's return to the live stage: "It was December 2019, Sao Paulo Brazil, the last time we set foot on any stage of any kind anywhere in the World. Little did any of us know this same 'World' was about to dramatically change… for all of us! At that time we were busy preparing for what was to be the '1984 To Headless' World Tour.

"In late January 2020 James Hetfield [METALLICA] was premiering his Custom Car Collection at the Petersen Car Museum in L.A. and being a vintage 'car guy' myself I was keen on going to check it out. There was a record amount of people attending the show. After taking pic's with a lot of the people there and talking music and cars it all seemed a great time was had by all…. until about a week later. One week later I thought I had come down with the flu and was feeling pretty rotten for about 4-5 days, but then it got worse every day for about 4 more days. Each day seriously worse than the one before. I'd never had anything like this ever happen before. And then I lost all sense of taste and smell for about 10 days. This too had never happened before. So I fought it for about 9 weeks and slowly over the news we start hearing about this strange new illness that nobody really knows what it is. Fast forward a few months and find I'd unknowingly been selected to become a 'Beta Tester' for this horrible new thing that didn't yet even have a name. Well everyone now knows how tragically it all played out all over the World.

"So let's recap the last 2 1/2 years. One global pandemic, One serious worldwide recession with gas prices spinning out of sight, and a monster sitting in the Kremlin deciding now is his time to retake and remake the old Russian Empire.

"Every single persons life was upended and quarantined into mass isolation with literally no where to go but sit and wait. But slowly life, as resilient as it has always been, reared its bloodied head and pushed forward one more time.

"So that brings us to Saturday night, July 23rd in Stockholm, Sweden. It's now been 2 1/2 years since we stood and played in front of an audience. We were seriously concerned about actually getting there. With all the flight cancellations, moving a band and crew and gear is challenging in the best of times. But now there are nightmare scenarios going on out there right now with airlines. But the flight could not have been better and band and crew and gear all arrived safe and ready to make sound.

"The longest break between shows I had ever done before in my life was a 3 year gap after touring the Crimson Idol in 92-93 and then to K.F.D. in 1996. But that was by design, this time it was not. But the funny thing was, when we got ready to do the rehearsals for the K.F.D. tour I had not played live or even been a rehearsal room with a band. I remember putting on the guitar for that first day of rehearsal and I thought, 'I have no idea how to do this anymore'. It was like I was in someone else's body with no clue how to play much less try to sing. That whole first day it was like I was walking around bumping into walls and the simplest of things was like I'd never done it before. But the 2nd day I started getting the hang of it again and the muscle memory returned pretty quickly.

"But although I expected it to be much the same as the K.F.D. rehearsals had been this time was totally different. Don't ask me why. This time the first day in rehearsals I put on the guitar and said to the guy's, 'wow, this is the first time I've stood up with a strap on since Sao Paulo'. Meaning all the guitar playing I'd done during the pandemic was sitting down in a studio. But then I ran back in my head what I had just said. I thought. 'I need to seriously rephrase that' and I told them, 'when I said I had not stood up with a strap on', it sounded like I said 'I hadn't stood up with a Strap-on since Sao Paulo'. Or sit down with one either for that matter. Talk about the ultimate Freudian Slip! Everybody in the room fell over laughing and from that moment forward playing all the songs was joy like I had not experienced in many, many years. Even when we got out on stage in Stockholm and being still totally jet lagged it was joy. The thing I'll remember the most was looking at peoples faces in the crowd. It's something I've seen so many times before but this time it was different. I saw happiness I had not seen in a long, long time and I don't think it was just me. What I believe I was seeing was a collective reaction by the everyone there and it was not like people who had been locked away for a long time, it was more of a collective sense of just joy. That's the best way I can describe it, just pure joy!

"I'm sure there's a lot to be said about 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' and I'm sure deep down on some phycological level we all knew it. And when I say 'we' I mean the band and the whole audience. But that's not what it looked like. It was almost like we were all doing it again for the first time and remembering what all those early shows we saw were all about.

"I'll take your faces with me for the rest of my life. And for that priceless gift…. Thank You Stockholm!

"After the first show in Stockholm we felt pretty good. Considering we had not been on stage in 2 1/2 years it all went pretty smooth. I don't care what anybody says, any Band, and I mean any Band, is going to feel that kind of hesitancy and apprehension after that long of a layoff. You wouldn't be human if you didn't feel that. But within just a song or two it was like we never left. The reviews were positive and the audience all seemed to dig it so we up and running once again.

"I would like to take a moment to explain that these 2 shows, as well as they were received, were never meant to be a representation of what the upcoming tour is going to be. They were festivals and our intention was to treat them as such. The upcoming 40th Anniversary Tour will look, sound and feel different than anything we've ever done before. That's not hype, THAT'S A FACT !

"We've been working on this presentation for a while now and I give you my word, this will be different than any other Rock Show we've ever done. On that note, I can say it's been a while since I was as excited about the elements of a show like what we're going to do this Fall. For the two Sweden shows we did not want to reveal anything that's going to be in this coming tour. I don't wanna keep you in suspense, but I'm sure you understand and I promise it'll be worth the wait. Personally I can't wait to get into rehearsals for this new show.

"The Skogsrojet Show was great. It was a little cold when we took the stage, but I like that because it's way easier to perform when it's cooler than being in a swampy sauna. It was also good to talk to some of the other Bands on the bill that we had not been able to run into in a long time.

"And then came the trip home. We got off stage at 1 AM in the morning and had to leave for the airport at 5:30 AM. After a 2 hour ride back to the airport in Stockholm and an 11 hour plane ride, from the time we got up the day before and the combined trip, we had gone 37 hours with zero sleep before we got back to L.A.

"It's like Ray Charles used to say, 'I don't get paid for playing, I get paid for traveling!' Truer words have never been spoken.

"So Good Night Sweden - We'll See You Next Year.

"BUT - Look out America - Very Soon….We're Coming to Hurt You!!"

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

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

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

DIO's classic debut album, 1983's "Holy Diver", was reissued last month as "Holy Diver: Super Deluxe Edition" via Rhino. The four-CD boxed set comes with two versions of "Holy Diver". The first is a new mix of the album made by Joe Barresi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, SLIPKNOT). He used the original analog tapes to remix all nine tracks on the album. The second is a newly remastered version of the original 1983 mix. The Super Deluxe Edition also features unreleased live performances and outtakes, along with a selection of rarities from the era.

Original DIO guitarist Vivian Campbell discussed the decision to remix "Holy Diver" during an appearance on this past Wednesday's (August 3) episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Asked if he has heard the new version of "Holy Diver" and what he thought about it, Vivian said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I have not. And I find it a little bit unsettling that I ended up being talked into doing an interview a couple of months ago about it, not having heard the record. And I've gotta say I haven't heard good reports. [Laughs] That was a little weird. I just spoke to some journalist at length about this, but I haven't actually even heard the product."

He added: "I've heard that they've put out outtakes of tracks from 'Holy Diver' and solos that didn't make the cut. And I'm wondering why… There's a reason why stuff didn't make a record in the first place. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to be putting it out there."

Original DIO drummer Vinny Appice admitted to "The Rock Is George" podcast that it was "risky" remixing "Holy Diver" nearly 40 years after the LP's original release. "When you mess with something that is a classic, you're taking a chance that, is this gonna be better or is this gonna be different?" he said. "The remastered [version of the album], I heard some of that, and that sounds pretty good. I heard a little bit of the remix… I'm almost afraid to listen to it because the sounds on there sound great — the drums sound great. And I think it might sound a little bit drier, maybe a slightly different sound to the album.

"You're used to hearing an album like 'Led Zeppelin I'," he continued. "There's a sound to that record. And the drums are recorded great on that; [Jimmy] Page's guitars and the mix — fantastic. The mix is incredible on those albums — all the ZEPPELIN albums. So when you're gonna take up that task of trying to remix something like that, that's risky. I think even Joe was nervous with touching this classic thing. And the problem with the remix, too, is when we mixed that album, there were not really any computers in the studio. There was outboard gear brought in. There was some red thing we had — I forgot what it was called — we put on the drums, an EMT thing. And that was on, and it gave the drums some ambience. And so everything was live. So when we mixed it, it was Ronnie [James Dio, vocals], Angelo [Arcuri, engineer], me or Viv [guitarist Vivian Campbell] or whoever was in the studio. We went over how we're mixing this. 'Okay, you pull those faders down a little bit when this part comes up.' 'Angelo, you put the guitar solo up.' 'Ronnie, you do the keyboard' — whatever was in there. So we mixed it like that. We didn't put it on an auto-mix and the computer remembered the mix and then you can just keep mix to that. That was the way we mixed it. So even Joe mentioned that he couldn't really get some of the… Like that EMT, they don't use it anymore. [They have] plug-ins now, but it still sounds different. So that's the way we mixed it, and now you bring it up to the new technology and things are done differently. So he had quite a task ahead of him. I mean, it sounds good, but if you're used to the other sound, it sounds a little different."

Two months ago, Ronnie's wife and longtime manager Wendy Dio told Rob Rush Radio about the reasoning behind "Holy Diver: Super Deluxe Edition": "We were just — Rhino and myself — were thinking that it would be nice to re-release it with a newly remixed version. And I went through lots of different producers and thinking who would make a good job of it for Ronnie and bring it a bit more modern. So we picked Joe Barresi, who's done lots of stuff with TOOL and QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and so on. And he was quite reluctant in the beginning to do it because he said, 'Oh, I can't improve on what Ronnie did.' And I said, 'Well, it's not really to improve on it. It's just to make it a little bit different and to bring it up to today's standards.' And so he did it, and I'm very pleased. I think he did an absolutely amazing job with it. And [next month] being Ronnie's 80th birthday, we wanted to bring something out to celebrate it. So it's a two-LP set and there's a vinyl with it and lots of outtakes that nobody's ever heard of before. We went into the vault and found lots of outtakes, and Joe said, 'What about these?' And I said, 'Fine. Let's do that too.' And there's also, on the deluxe version, a show that Wyn Davis, a longtime engineer and friend of Ronnie's, he remastered that one. And so that one's coming out as well on there. It was done in 1983 on the 'Holy Diver' tour at the Selland Arena in Fresno. So he mixed it — it was a concert, a live recording, so he mixed it. And that's on there as well. It's gonna be a wonderful deluxe version and a super celebration of Ronnie's life."

Barresi's new mix of the "Holy Diver" title track is available digitally as a preview to the new album mix. Check it out below.

In addition, Barresi's new mix of "Holy Diver" was released the same day as a two-LP set on 180-gram vinyl ($34.98). It includes the original nine tracks, plus the 1983 B-side version of "Evil Eyes" as a bonus track. Side four is decorated with an etching of the legendary demon Murry that graces the album's iconic cover. The vinyl is kept in a gatefold sleeve that shows off newly commissioned artwork by longtime DIO artist Marc Sasso. The same artwork is also used for the four-CD Super Deluxe Edition.

Critically acclaimed and a commercial success, "Holy Diver" contributed two timeless classics to the heavy metal canon — "Rainbow In The Dark" and its title track. The album also ranks No. 16 on Rolling Stone's current list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time."

After departing BLACK SABBATH in early 1982, Dio began composing songs that would eventually appear on the album. After writing both "Holy Diver" and "Don't Talk To Strangers", Dio then assembled an amazing group of musicians, two familiar faces and one fresh recruit, with Appice (Dio's BLACK SABBATH bandmate),bassist/keyboardist Jimmy Bain (Dio's RAINBOW bandmate) and Campbell joining him to record the "Holy Diver" album.

In the illustrated liner notes that accompany the Super Deluxe Edition, music journalist Mick Wall shares the album's creation story, including the making of its crown jewel, "Rainbow In The Dark".

He writes: "Lyrically, it was Ronnie James Dio at his poetic best… Musically, 'Rainbow In The Dark' was also the band's first truly collaborative endeavor. The inspiration for the monster guitar riff came from something Viv had written when he was 16. Vinny added his distinctive battle-cry beat, and Jimmy added the final touch with the infectiously simple keyboard motif." The song was finished in 10 minutes, he adds.

"Holy Diver: Super Deluxe Edition" goes beyond the original album with a previously unreleased recording of the quartet performing live in 1983 at Selland Arena in Fresno, California during the "Holy Diver" tour. Wyn Davis mixed the concert recording, which spotlights live versions of songs from "Holy Diver" ("Stand Up And Shout" and "Rainbow In The Dark"),RAINBOW classics ("Man On The Silver Mountain" and "Starstruck"),and SABBATH staples ("Children Of The Sea" and "Heaven And Hell").

The Super Deluxe Edition also revisits the "Holy Diver" recording sessions to uncover unreleased outtakes for several album cuts, including unheard takes for "Invisible", "Straight Through The Heart" and a version of "Rainbow In The Dark" that boasts an alternative guitar solo. There's also an early version of "Evil Eyes", a song that would resurface on DIO's 1984 follow-up album, "The Last In Line". A selection of rarities rounds out the new collection with mono and stereo 7" single edits for "Rainbow In The Dark" and a version of "Evil Eyes" that was released in 1983 as the B-side to "Holy Diver".

"Holy Diver: Super Deluxe Edition" CD track listing:

CD1: Holy Diver (2022 Joe Barresi Mix) *

CD2: Holy Diver (2022 Remaster)

01. Stand Up And Shout
02. Holy Diver
03. Gypsy
04. Caught In The Middle
05. Don't Talk To Strangers
06. Straight Through The Heart
07. Invisible
08. Rainbow In The Dark
09. Shame On The Night

CD3: Live at Selland Arena, Fresno, CA, 1983

01. Intro *
02. Stand Up And Shout *
03. Straight Through The Heart *
04. Shame On The Night *
05. Children Of The Sea *
06. Holy Diver *
07. Heaven And Hell – including guitar solo *
08. Rainbow In The Dark *
09. Man On The Silver Mountain *
10. Starstuck *
11. Man On The Silver Mountain – reprise *
12. Don't Talk To Strangers *

CD4: Outtakes, Singles & B-Sides

Tracks 1-7 unreleased

01. Evil Eyes – Wyn Davis remix *
02. Don't Talk To Strangers – Take 1 (Joe Barresi mix) *
03. Invisible – Take 1 (Joe Barresi mix) *
04. Invisible – Take 3 (Joe Barresi mix) *
05. Rainbow In The Dark – Alternative Guitar Solo Version (Joe Barresi mix) *
06. Straight Through The Heart – Take 2 (Joe Barresi mix) *
07. Straight Through The Heart – Take 3 (Joe Barresi mix)*
08. Rainbow In The Dark – 7" Mono Edit
09. Evil Eyes – 1983 Version. B-Side of "Holy Diver"
10. Rainbow In The Dark – 7" Stereo Edit

* previously unreleased

"Holy Diver: 2022 Joe Barresi Mix" 2-LP clear vinyl track listing:

LP1: Side One

01. Stand Up And Shout
02. Holy Diver
03. Gypsy
04. Caught In The Middle

LP1: Side Two

01. Don't Talk To Strangers
02. Straight Through The Heart
03. Invisible

LP2: Side One

01. Rainbow In The Dark
02. Shame On The Night

Bonus Track

03. Evil Eyes – 1983 Version. B-Side of "Holy Diver"

LP2: Side Two

Etching

Guitarist and vocalist Joel O'Keeffe of Australian hard rockers AIRBOURNE was interviewed by Janne Innanfors of the Rock Klassiker radio station when his band supported IRON MAIDEN on July 22 at Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. One of the topics they discussed was that the fact that the pandemic has shuttered many businesses across the world, including live music venues, especially smaller ones.

Joel said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It makes me angry, this whole thing, because the ecosystem of live music… The whole future of rock and roll depends on small clubs. If you don't have the small stages… When you start out as a band, you can't just go walk onto the IRON MAIDEN stage; you've gotta fucking earn your stripes. And you can't do that unless you go play in front of 10 people — at a 'Battle Of The Bands' kind of thing or anything like that. And it fucking pisses me off, because the small venues, if you kill that, then you kill the future of rock and roll, basically, because that's the only play [new bands] have to play."

He continued: "It makes no sense that governments will help football teams, they'll help all the sports, all of the religions, all of this stuff, but they won't help the arts — music. And if they do, it'll be violins and fucking cellos and not rock and roll. So the more people that get educated of the fact that if you build an apartment, a 12-story apartment building, next to a little venue and then it says you've gotta shut the venue down so a bunch of people can live up there and complain about the noise when they were there 30 years after bands like MOTÖRHEAD learned to play in that room. That's just so crap; it makes no sense. It's one of the things that makes me so fucking angry."

Joel added: "What would be great is if the Dave Grohls and the Lars Ulrichs and everyone got together and said, 'We're gonna change this. We're gonna go to the governments. 'Cause they always come to our shows.' There's always the politician that wants the backstage pass. It's, like, 'Well, here's 10 minutes of our time in the backstage area. You do this, you kill this. So while you wanna go to the FOO FIGHTERS gig and the METALLICA gig, the future bands from your city won't be able to have a future 'cause literally the laws that you make and the laws that you govern stop it.'

"So, it's one of those things that just makes me [really angry], because it's just wrong," he reiterated. "And after a two-year pandemic and all this sort of stuff, there's so many kids learning guitars, there's so many kids wanting to play, and if they don't have a stage to play on, where are they gonna play? And you saw the little kids out there tonight. This is a band that's been going for 40 years, and there's kids out there watching Dave Murray, watching Janick [Gers], watching them play, watching Steve Harris play bass, watching Bruce [Dickinson] sing and drummers who wanna be like Nicko [McBrain]. That's still alive. We can still do it. So if we can stop that around the world, that would be great."

AIRBOURNE's latest album, "Boneshaker", was released in October 2019. The cover artwork for the disc was a collaboration between Matt Read of Combustion Ltd., and Sean Tidy of Design House Studio Ltd.

With the creation of "Boneshaker", AIRBOURNE decided to take the bolder path — to align with Nashville producer Dave Cobb, whose credits include both Chris Stapleton and "A Star Is Born" soundtrack.

AIRBOURNE is planning to enter the studio in late 2022 to begin work on a new album for a 2023 release.

Image credit: Marshall

Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing presents "Solid Rock", a new XL-sized coffee table book which will be exclusively available from Always Distinctive via their dedicated online store.

"Solid Rock - The Collector's Edition" is a special pre-release set of limited editions, only available by pre-order, and includes a limited number of Downing-signed and -personalized versions. They are only available at www.metaldefender.co.uk.

A whole host of the greatest rock and metal guitarists ever to plug in an electric guitar are immortalized in "Solid Rock", each stunningly represented across a double-page spread, including a full-page vintage image and original design alongside a unique commentary drawn from "in-conversation" sessions with Downing — Grammy Award-winning guitarist and a founding member of JUDAS PRIEST.

K.K. states: "Join me as I look back over my incredible journey in rock and heavy metal.

"It has certainly been an honor and a privilege to meet and gig with so many of the great players in 'Solid Rock'.

"Without rock and metal, the music we love, our lives would not be what they are today.

"So many millions of fans also shared this wonderful journey throughout the decades with these great artists; this era may one day be gone but will never be forgotten! It will certainly live on inside 'Solid Rock'.

"'The Collector's Edition' is a wonderful illustrative compilation featuring 75 of these icons that not only played and performed but also composed so many legendary and timeless songs. It is the ultimate memoir and celebration of an era that will always be honored and revered by us all, for eternity."

"Solid Rock - The Collector's Edition" is scheduled for release on February 28, 2023.

K.K. departed JUDAS PRIEST 11 years ago but looked back on his time with the British metal titans in his autobiography, "Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest", which came out in September 2018. The book, which was written with collaborator Mark Eglinton, covers all of the behind-the-scenes turbulence that led to Downing's exit from PRIEST, including his strained relationship with Glenn Tipton and his gripes with certain managerial decisions.

In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as "a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music," while the second was "angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties." Downing later said that he believed the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST after Tipton's decision to retire from touring.

Downing recently launched a new band called KK'S PRIEST, in which he is joined by former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens (vocals), along with guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE), bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX) and drummer Sean Elg (DEATHRIDERS, CAGE).

KK'S PRIEST's debut album, "Sermons Of The Sinner", was released in October via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records.

Downing spent four months writing and recording "Sermons Of The Sinner" and, along with new ideas, he even resurrected a few archived riffs from the '80s.

K.K. formed KK'S PRIEST after JUDAS PRIEST turned down his offer to rejoin the band for their 50th-anniversary tour. It followed a couple of celebrated stage appearances, first with former MANOWAR guitarist Ross The Boss in the summer of 2019, then with a one-off lineup that included former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson and former PRIEST drummer Les Binks later that year.

Official Release - reserve a personalised copy here...

Posted by K.K.Downing's Metal on Sunday, August 7, 2022

In a new interview with Noise11.com, KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer was asked why he hasn't yet released a solo album. He laughed and responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I don't know. That's a good question. These days I don't know if people are really interested that much in buying music now, to be honest with you. I mean, KISS isn't doing records, nobody is really doing records, because the business has changed so much. It's all about streaming. And it's hard to sell records these days and people aren't really buying music — sadly, that's just not happening. So it kind of disincentivizes you to spend a lot of time writing [and] recording albums and doing that, even though it's fun and it's cool to go through that creative process. But I don't know if it really makes sense."

Earlier this month, Thayer told Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips that he will continue to play music once KISS completes its ongoing "End Of The Road" farewell tour. "I don't know if I'll ever be in another band and that sort of thing, because how can you stop being in KISS?" he said. "But I'll probably still be involved in music or in the entertainment biz on some level — maybe even with KISS, 'cause KISS is not gonna go away; the touring thing is, but the entity of KISS and the brand and the music, that's not gonna stop. So maybe there's something for me to be involved with that."

He continued: "I've been doing some other things — I've been involved in developing some animation projects, children's animation projects, and maybe some of that will see the light of day. I've also been delving into the wine business a little bit now. I bought some vineyard property up in Oregon, and I've got some wines coming out through my brother's wine label. So there's a lot of things. I'm always pretty busy; I'm quite involved in a lot of things. But as far as bands and things like that, playing in bands, I think this will be it for me as far as that goes."

A month ago, KISS singer and bassist Gene Simmons told Finland's Chaoszine that "End Of The Road" will be extended to hit 100 more cities around the world before he and his bandmates exit the stage for good. Speaking about when he envisions the tour coming to an end, the 72-year-old rocker couldn't say for sure. "We don't know. We've never retired before. This is our first time," he said. "It's like painting a painting or writing a book. When somebody says, 'When is it gonna be finished?' You're in the middle of it; you don't know."

Simmons then spoke about the decision to extend the tour. "The crew is happy. Everybody's happy," he explained. "So we've decided to add another 100 cities before we stop. I don't know how long that's gonna take."

Four years ago, Thayer admitted to Argus Leader in an interview that his addition to KISS in 2003 as the replacement for Ace Frehley was met with some backlash from the band's fans. However, now that he has been in KISS even longer than Frehley's combined years, he said that he has become more comfortable in the lead guitar role.

"I have to be honest, when I first came into the band, there was some pressure," Thayer said. "It was kind of a no-win situation when you're replacing somebody like that. There's a lot of fans who are unhappy with this and I understand. They followed the band for a long time and it's hard to see things like that change sometimes. After a few years went by, I got more confident and more comfortable in the situation, as time goes on, it continues to be a growing experience and something that I get more used to."

Last December, Thayer told Guitar World about what he thinks his legacy with KISS will be: "I don't know if many people realize this, but I've been the lead guitarist in KISS longer than any other KISS guitar player. But I will always be known as 'the new guy' though — no matter what happens. I'm 'the Ronnie Wood' of KISS.

"My legacy will be a guy who came in, worked hard, and was the glue that kept the band together for a long period of time," he continued. "I think the kind of character and personality that I have is that of a team player and somebody who can bring people together and bind things together.

"And I think the reason that we've done so well and so consistently in the last 20 years is because of the personalities, the give and take, and the ability to keep everybody happy… and keep working together on a professional level.

"It works well. I'll probably be that guy that has been in the band longer than anybody else besides Gene and Paul [Stanley], that kept things together, and was the glue that made it work."

Image credit: Gibson

Former SEPULTURA guitarist Jairo Guedz joined Max and Igor "Iggor" Cavalera on stage on August 4 in Curitiba, Brazil and on August 5 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to perform the early SEPULTURA classic "Troops Of Doom", a song that Jairo co-wrote. Fan-filmed video is available below.

Jairo's new band THE TROOPS OF DOOM was the support act at the Curitiba, and Rio De Janeiro shows.

THE TROOPS OF DOOM's debut album, titled "Antichrist Reborn", arrived in April via Alma Mater Records, the Portuguese label run by MOONSPELL's Fernando Ribeiro. It is digitally available via Blood Blast distribution.

SEPULTURA was formed in 1984 in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais. Jairo joined the group the following year and played on the band's first two releases, 1985's "Bestial Devastation" EP and their 1986 full-length debut, "Morbid Visions". He also participated in the early songwriting sessions for 1987's "Schizophrenia".

In early 1987, Jairo quit SEPULTURA and was replaced by São Paulo-based guitarist Andreas Kisser.

In 1996, Max exited SEPULTURA after the rest of the band split with Max's wife Gloria as their manager.

Igor left SEPULTURA in June 2006 due to "artistic differences." His departure from the band came five months after he announced that he was taking a break from SEPULTURA's touring activities to spend time with his second wife and their new son (who was born in January 2006).

After Max exited SEPULTURA, there was a rift between him and Igor, one that was eventually repaired through the redemptive power of music. Some time had passed and Max and Igor were unable to resist the musical pull in their magnetic fields and their musical collaboration was renewed. The duo came back for round two with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, which released its debut album, "Inflikted", in March 2008 and follow-up effort, "Blunt Force Trauma", in March 2011.

Max and Igor played together for the first time in 10 years at the 10th annual D-Low Memorial Festival on August 17, 2006 at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Arizona.

Max and Igor kicked off the 2022 "Return Beneath Arise" tour in May in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The trek sees them performing select tracks from SEPULTURA's seminal "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise" albums.

Playing lead guitar on tour with Max and Igor in South America is FEAR FACTORY's Dino Cazares.

Professionally filmed video of HEART singer Ann Wilson performing the band's classic song "Barracuda" earlier today (Saturday, August 6) at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany can be seen below.

In a recent interview with Grammy.com, Ann was asked if she and her sister and HEART bandmate Nancy have any plans for the band to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. She responded: "Yes, we do. I'm not at liberty to say exactly what they are yet because it's such early days, but sure. It will be next year. And we're doing a thing. Definitely. We're still formulating it now."

Ann's latest comments came three months after she denied rumors of a rift with Nancy. In an interview in the 300th issue of Classic Rock, Ann said that she is "not" feuding with her younger sister. "It's a myth," she insisted. "Nancy and I are okay with each other. We just have different ideas for what HEART should be, and we haven’t figured out a compromise yet.

"Fifty years on, I still want it to break barriers and rules, and she's more satisfied to ride the L.A. imaging thing and just do legacy stuff," Ann explained. "So that's a real split between us. Things like this will happen, though, but then they'll get better, and we'll love each other more."

Relations between the two sisters were considered to be at an all-time low after a much-publicized incident when Ann's husband was arrested during a HEART tour in 2016. But in a recent interview with Rock Candy magazine to coincide with the release of her new solo album, "Fierce Bliss", Ann said: "Things happen in families. And that was a really good example of something that happened within a family, and we worked it out. But the part that made it hard was that it happened in the public eye. If it had happened privately, we'd have got the family in a room and sat down and worked it out between us. Instead, the police were called, and this myth was born that Nancy and I were feuding, and we were at each other's throats all the time. And it's really not like that at all."

A proposed HEART tour fell through last year after the two sisters failed to agree on which backing band to use. Ann wanted her guys, Nancy didn't. But Ann now says that another HEART album, which would be the band's first since 2016's "Beautiful Broken", is a definite possibility, especially considering the fact that 2023 marks HEART's 50th anniversary.

"It depends on the songs," she said in her Rock Candy interview. "The songs lead everything. And I'm writing songs again now. I don't know if they'll be for my solo thing or for HEART. But yes, I would like to make another HEART album."

Ann previously said that HEART will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2023 "because next year's the 50-year [anniversary] of when we actually got together and got going," she told Liz Barnes of Planet Rock's "My Planet Rocks". "Nancy didn't join until '75, but the band got going in '73. So, yeah, we have a bunch of stuff planned for next year. So I can definitely see HEART doing something."

Six months ago, Nancy spoke to Joe Rock of Long Island, New York's 102.3 WBAB radio station about why HEART has been inactive for most of the past three years.

"HEART had a big offer on the table last year for a bigger tour, but Ann wasn't interested in going out with my lineup of guys that we were out with before," she said. "She has a new lineup of guys that she wanted me to join up with. And I sort of [thought] I don't really know them and don't have loyalty yet for anybody like that."

HEART toured North America in the summer of 2019 after the aforementioned nasty split that kept the Wilson sisters estranged for three years.

Ann and Nancy had a falling out during HEART's 2016 tour, when Ann's husband Dean Welter was arrested for assaulting Nancy's then-16-year-old twin sons in a backstage altercation at a gig near their hometown of Seattle. He pleaded guilty to two lesser assault charges to avoid jail time.

After completing HEART's 2016 tour, Nancy formed a new band called ROADCASE ROYALE and released an album, "First Things First". ROADCASE ROYALE featured three members of HEART along with Liv Warfield from Prince's NEW POWER GENERATION band and her guitarist Ryan Wilson.

In Nancy's new band NANCY WILSON'S HEART, she is joined in the group by her longtime collaborators, guitarist Ryan Waters, drummer Ben Smith, bassist Andy Stoller and keyboardist Dan Walker, along with powerhouse singer Kimberly Nichole.

Nancy's debut solo album, "You And Me", was released in May 2021 via Carry On Music. The LP was recorded primarily in her California home studio, working with bandmembers and special guests remotely.

STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis played a new song called "I Ain't Made In China" during his August 4 solo concert at the Psycho Silo Saloon in Langley, Illinois. Fan-filmed video of the performance is available below.

"I Ain't Made In China" apparently features such lyrics as "I ain't made in China / From all the cheapest clothes / And I ain't one for driving an imported foreign car / I'm more like an American muscle from 1966 / I ain't made in China / I'm American as it gets".

The 50-year-old Lewis, an outspoken conservative rocker who reinvented himself as a solo country artist in the last decade, released his latest solo album, "Frayed At Both Ends", in January.

Aaron first dipped his toes into country music with his 2011 EP, "Town Line". His second full-length album, "Sinner", arrived in the fall of 2016 and was followed by a stand-alone single, "Folded Flag".

Lewis released his third full-length country album, "State I'm In", in April 2019 via Big Machine imprint Valory Music.

STAIND has released seven albums since 1995, the latest being 2011's self-titled effort. The band has had a number of hit songs during its first two decades, including the Top 10 smash "It's Been Awhile" from the No. 1 album "Break The Cycle". Follow-up LPs "14 Shades Of Grey" and "Chapter V" also topped the Billboard chart.

STAIND released its first album in nine years, "Live: It's Been Awhile", in May 2021 via Yap'em/Alchemy Recordings. The "Live: It's Been Awhile" album was accompanied by "The Return Of Staind", a two-part global streaming series in partnership with Danny Wimmer Presents.

STAIND played its first full live show in five years in September 2019 at the Louder Than Life music festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

Last summer, STAIND completed a U.S. tour as the support act for KORN.

Last November, Lewis claimed that he beat COVID-19 by taking ivermectin, a drug with no evidence of being a safe or effective treatment for the novel coronavirus. He said he also used Z-Pak, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections by inhibiting the growth of bacteria in the body.

Lewis made headlines last September when he urged his fans to chant "Fuck Joe Biden" during a STAIND concert in Pennsylvania.

This past March, Lewis told the Los Angeles Times that he doesn't blindly listen to information that is delivered by the mainstream media.

"I'm not uneducated; I'm actually really smart, and I look for myself. I seek other options of information," he said. "I refuse to believe that a huge, gigantic corporation has our best interest in mind."

Asked where he gets his news, Lewis said: "I have news feeds and people that I follow on Telegram. Dan Ball. Andrew Wilkow. Mark Levin. If I'm gonna watch any sort of news source on television, it's Tucker Carlson."

Pressed about whether Fox News is an exception to his mistrust of corporations, Aaron said: "I think that if Tucker didn't have the following he has, he'd be gone. He's pretty much anchoring the network at this point."

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IRON ALLIES, the new band featuring former ACCEPT members Herman Frank and David Reece, will release its debut album, "Blood In Blood Out", on October 21 via AFM Records. The LP's first single, "Full Of Surprises", was made available last week.

Speaking to Metal Talk, Reece stated about "Blood In Blood Out": "It is heavy, melodic. I really think it's one of the best records I've ever done. And everybody says that, but this album, it just sticks to you. When AFM heard it, they went, 'No question. We want it.'"

Reece went on to say that he wants to go on the road with IRON ALLIES "'cause I deeply love" Herman.

He added: "People talk badly about Herman and I from ACCEPT. They always have these 'stories.'

"One thing the fans don't realize is when I joined ACCEPT, it's not like I hired myself," he explained. "They needed to make a change and break America, so they got me; they found me out of nowhere. And rough treatment involved, and good treatment, and that's what put me where I am. But I just think the nucleus of us together, we're showing what we're capable of doing without certain people dictating what happens. I'm really excited about it."

The "Blood In Blood Out" title track will also be released as a single, accompanied by a lyric video. A third single/video, "Destroyers Of The Night", will also be made available.

Frank previously stated about the effort: "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 said. "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 explained. "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 said: "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 put 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 came down to Italy, 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".

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.

In a new interview with Pushing The Limits, SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo was asked if he still has a relationship with the band's former singer, Sebastian Bach. He responded: "Not at all. None. We've all moved on. It was an awful long time ago; we're talking 23 years ago [that SKID ROW reformed without Sebastian], so that's an awful long time ago. [Laughs]"

Pressed about whether he ever sees a day down the road when he is able to make amends with Sebastian and they are able to have a conversation again, Snake said: "You know what? I don't know. I've gotta be honest — it's not something that I think about. Truly, it's not something that I think about. My mind is always in the present and the here and now. And I'm thankful for everything that we've created — all the collective people who've been a part of SKID ROW — that we've all created since the very beginning up until now.

"The only thing that I can have any sort of part of or control over is the right now, and it's the band that it is now," he continued. "And we have a new record coming out, 'The Gang's All Here'. And I think we've made some really, really great music. I hope people feel the same way.

"We're really proud of where we're at right now. We're really proud of the way we're playing and the tours that we're doing, and we're just gonna keep moving forward. So that conversation doesn't even enter my brain, to be honest."

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY.

In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger.

SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I. Theart was fired from SKID ROW in February and was replaced by Erik Grönwall, who was previously a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T.

This past March, Sabo was asked by Scott Penfold of Loaded Radio how he feels about people still calling for a reunion with Bach. He said: "Well, it's been 23 years [since SKID ROW reformed], so to say that I'm over it would be an understatement. We attempted [a reunion] slightly [back in 2016]. We dipped our toes in the water and realized that it didn't feel so good. It's just one of those things where we still could not see eye to eye; we couldn't even get past the point of simple texting.

"I am really, really happy where we are," Snake continued. "I'm very proud of our past, and all due credit to everybody who's been involved in every aspect of our career, whoever that may be, 'cause it all led to where we are now.

"I've been asked a thousand times: 'What about the payday [of a reunion with Sebastian]?' And that's all well and good, but if that's why I did this — if that's why we did this; I can speak for everybody — we probably wouldn't be doing it," Sabo explained. "I wanna be happy, and I am very, very happy. And so are the guys; everybody's really happy.

"The music climate is what it is, and we're a classic rock band, and I'm proud of that. And we're still able to make music. I mean, Jeez — I live a very, very blessed life, man," Snake added. "I have nothing but gratitude and humility for what we have achieved and for what we're able to continue to do. So while there may be people out there who are flashing dollar signs with a lot of zeroes, I still have to be happy doing it, and I am. And that's what's most important. I need to be happy being in a band with the people I'm in a band with. A lot of other bands can go out and they don't see each other till they're on stage and travel on separate buses and all that stuff, and that's all well and good, but I don't wanna live my life like that. I don't wanna be up onstage and kind of living a lie; it just doesn't feel good. So, while I'm thankful for people's interest and whatnot, I'm even more thankful that we still get to play music for a living under our terms."

Last summer, Bach told Florida's 98.7 The Gater radio station that "there's no reason" for the classic SKID ROW not to reunite. "When those guys [in SKID ROW] try to say [about me], 'He's difficult to work with,' let me just say this one more time. We have not been in the same room together since the year 1996," he said. "Shut the eff up about you thinking you know what I'm like. You don't know anything about what I'm like. And the 'Gilmore Girls' think I'm okay to work with; Broadway thinks I'm okay to work with; the 'Trailer Park Boys' think I'm okay; GUNS N' ROSES think I'm pretty cool. We're not getting any younger."

Sebastian went on to say that a SKID ROW reunion "should" happen "for the fans. And we are absolutely running out of bands — bands that can play in sheds," he said. "The fact that we are all still alive and we are all in our 50s — some closer to 60 than others — but that, to me, is selfish that we're not together.

"I can play with anyone. I do play with everyone [laughs] — except for them."

Less than two years ago, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan also confirmed that he and his bandmates "were entertaining the idea" of reuniting with Bach following Harnell's departure. But Rachel shot down the possibility of a rekindling of his friendship with Sebastian, explaining: "Well… Here's the soundbite for Blabbermouth. I wouldn't say we were friends [when we were in a band together]. We were bandmates. You know what I mean? We're two very different people." Bolan added that he hadn't seen Bach "in years."

Three years ago, Bach was asked by Rolling Stone what it would take for SKID ROW to be reunited. He responded: "It would take those guys to realize that I have a lifetime manager. His name is Rick Sales. I've been with him since 2006. They don't want to deal with a guy like that. They want to give some singer who doesn't have a manager $700 to $800 bucks a week. I've got a team that's worked with me and don't allow me to get fucked around. I didn't have that team when I was 19 years old."

In response to Bach's statements about the earnings of SKID ROW's singer, Sabo told Rolling Stone in an e-mail: "I guess fact-checking isn't in his skill set… The five of us go on that stage as a band and we all get paid equally. We're in this together. There's no egos."

Sebastian went on to say that SKID ROW was "close to reuniting, but then it didn't happen. The fact that it didn't happen obviously makes me somewhat bitter, because life is only getting shorter, as the song says," he added.

"I wouldn't say 'came close,'" Bolan told Rolling Stone in an e-mail response to Bach's account of the reunion talks. "We entertained the idea. Snake and I went as far as talking with agents and promoters about money. But we quickly learned after a few text conversations, why we fired him in the first place. Nothing is worth your happiness and peace of mind."

Sabo added: "It was already a miserable experience, and we didn't even get on the phone."

Last year, Bach completed a U.S. tour during which he celebrated the 30th anniversary of SKID ROW's sophomore album, "Slave To The Grind".

MUDVAYNE singer Chad Gray has assured fans that he will "get through" the injuries he sustained when he fell off stage during a concert last month.

The incident happened on July 26 in Tampa, Florida when Grayand his bandmates were performing the song "Not Falling" at MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre as part of MUDVAYNE's co-headlining U.S. tour with ROB ZOMBIE, dubbed "Freaks On Parade".

On Saturday (August 6),Gray took to his Instagram to share a new video update on his condition, saying: "Besides dealing with some kind of fucking chest cold bullshit or whatever, I've obviously got my rib thing going on. I didn't really wanna know what was going on, but through much pushing from my professionals and people around me that love me, I went to a doctor yesterday. And I have negative X-rays. He said I probably should go get a CT scan just to make sure. He said I've got some inflammation of some cartilage happening. But ultimately, yeah, I'm gonna get through it.

"I just wanna say thank you to everybody for all your love and support," he continued. "And if I keep coming up and getting in your face, make sure that you guys hold me up; don't let me fall. I'm battling and I refuse to cancel any of these shows. I know how important these shows are to you, and they're certainly every bit as important to me. So let's just get together and lose our fucking mind. And I'll see you down the road hopefully sooner than later. Until then, please stay safe. Stay happy. Stay healthy as always. Stay heavy metal."

A few days after the incident, Gray joked about the irony of him falling off stage while singing "Not Falling", calling it "crazy" and "unbelievable". While appearing on DWPresents On Twitch's "The Gunz Club" show hosted by his wife Shannon Gunz of SiriusXM, he said: "It's amazing. I mean, it really is. C'mon. The fucking irony, that it happens during 'Not Falling' is just unbelievable. It's so crazy."

According to Gray, the fall happened just as suddenly as could be seen in the numerous fan-filmed clips that have circulated on social media.

"As fast as you see that happen, it's literally as fast and as hard as my chest hit the top of the barricade," he said. "I wanted to fucking pee my pants. I mean, it fucking hurt so bad."

As for the reaction from the fans and the media to his fall, Gray said: "What's fucking crazy is the love that I'm getting from the fans and the people that were either there or not there, or have been to these shows and are fucking just over the moon about everything have been so fucking radical. The people that are really kind of giving me the most fucking shit are my friends. Dude, my fucking friends have been blowing me up, sending me all these fucking memes. I was, like, 'You know what? Fuck you.'"

On July 28, Gray posted a video message on his Instagram in which he shared "the whole truth" behind the incident. The 50-year-old musician said in part: "I just want you to know that it's not like I walked out there and fuckin' slipped on a banana peel or something and fell into the crowd. It was absolutely my intention to get out there and get down in your face and lay on ya and lean into ya and scream and have you scream back at me. It's probably one of my favorite parts of any show that I ever play, is getting that close with you guys.

"What happened was… So I basically walk to the down stage edge of the stage, and I step across and I put my foot on top of the barricade. When I'm on the stage, there's about five feet underneath me from where my feet are at to the ground, so I'm even higher, my head and shit. So, yeah, it's probably four or five feet. So what happened was I stepped out, the crowd surged forward, pushed my foot off backwards, so my foot went straight fuckin' down. My left foot was still on the stage — I hadn't stepped across yet — and my whole fucking body just went 'wham!' like that, right on top of the barricade, right here, right across my sternum. I thought I was gonna piss my pants; it hurt so fuckin' bad. We were ironically in the course of 'Not Falling', which is amazing, so I just started singing that. And I was able to sing. So I just pushed through the shit.

"It was fucking brutal," Gray admitted. "But we did it, and I got through it. I'm on day two now. I'm hoping this is the worst of it. I hope it's kind of like lifting weights where you get sore for a couple of days. But the good news is I didn't break a rib. Otherwise this tour could be over and I would be absolutely fuckin' devastated because all I wanted to do for the last two and a half years is get back out here and be with my fuckin' heavy metal family around the country and hopefully soon around the world."

Produced by Live Nation, the 21-city "Freaks On Parade" tour kicked off on July 20 at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights, making stops across the U.S. in Tampa, Holmdel, Tinley Park, and more before wrapping up in The Woodlands at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on August 21. Support on the trek is coming from STATIC-X and POWERMAN 5000.

MUDVAYNE formed in 1996 and has sold over six million records worldwide, earning gold certification for three albums ("L.D. 50", "The End Of All Things To Come", "Lost And Found"). The band is known for its sonic experimentation, innovative album art, face and body paint, masks and uniforms. MUDVAYNE is Gray, Greg Tribbett (guitar, backing vocals),Matthew McDonough (drums, synthesizer) and Ryan Martinie (bass).

Gray has spent the past 16 years fronting HELLYEAH, which released its sixth studio album, "Welcome Home", in September 2019 via Eleven Seven Music. The disc marked the group's final effort with drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, who passed away more than four years ago.

MUDVAYNE did not tour behind its fifth album, which was barely promoted and sold weakly upon release.

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Danish metal legends, Mercyful Fate, performed at Germany's Wacken Open Air festival over the weekend, as did Judas Priest. The frontmen of both bands met up at the festival, and King Diamond took to social media to share the moment.


Says King: "Had the extreme pleasure of meeting again a true hero of mine, the legendary God of metal Rob Halford, at Wacken Open Air. As always, Stay Heavy, til we meet again." 🖤🤘🏻🖤

Upcoming Mercyful Fate tour dates are listed below.







 


August
11 - Brutal Assault - Jaromer, Czech Republic
13 - Bloodstock Open Air - Derbyshire, UK
21 - Psycho Las Vegas - Las Vegas, NV

Professionally filmed video of OVERKILL performing the song "Ironbound" on August 4 at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany can be seen below.

This past May, OVERKILL canceled its previously announced shows in U.K., Ireland and Germany "due to unforeseen circumstances.'

The four-date run of dates was scheduled to kick off on May 27 in Northampton, U.K. and conclude on June 1 in Essen, Germany.

Guitarist Dave Linsk sat out OVERKILL's most recent U.S. tour due to "personal reasons" and was temporarily replaced by former MACHINE HEAD and current VIO-LENCE guitarist Phil Demmel.

This past March, OVERKILL bassist D.D. Verni spoke to Hardrock Haven about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's 20th studio album. He said: "All the drums are done. All the guitars are done. I still have to do the bass. Blitz [Bobby Ellsworth, OVERKILL singer] has gotta get to his vocals. But I had almost all of it written when we went out on the tour before COVID, 'cause that's where we were in our cycle. So I had to have my part — the music for the record — pretty much done. I had two songs left that I had to do when I got back home. 'Cause that's where we needed to be, 'cause the record was supposed to come out in the fall of that year or whenever. But then we were, like, 'We've got a little extra time.' And then we had more extra time."

He continued: "It was funny, because usually I'll kind of demo up everything at home, all the songs, and I'll send it out to the guys, and then they'll learn the stuff from the demo and then we'll get together and play. [And then we'll decide] 'Maybe it should be faster or slower' — we kind of noodle around till it feels good in the room. But we weren't able to do that 'cause of COVID. But now that it's taken so long, we could have done that. So, I don't know exactly… This one's still gonna be a bit of an odd record 'cause it was kind of done all remotely — everything. We're gonna put out a record of songs that we've not one single time stood in a room and played together."

As for the musical direction of the new OVERKILL material, Verni said: "Compared to the other ones… It's hard to say. It's maybe got a little bit more SABBATH-y kind of parts in it, a little bit more doomy.

"I know Colin Richardson's gonna mix it," he added. "Poor Colin. We thought we were gonna do it, and then we pushed him off, and then we pushed him off again, and then we pushed him off again. An we said, 'You know what? We'll call you when we're ready.' So whenever that's gonna be, we'll call him again. But we're psyched about that 'cause he's just great. He's a great mixer and a great producer. So if nothing else, it'll sound great."

Richardson previously worked with OVERKILL on 1997's "From The Underground And Below", 2000's "Bloodletting" and 2003's "Killbox 13".

PRIMUS has unveiled a music video for "Follow The Fool", the final single off its new "Conspiranoid" EP. Their first new music in more than five years, the EP features several commentaries on what frontman Les Claypool described as "the mental state of the contemporary world," with "Follow The Fool" asking the pointed question — "who's the bigger fool? Is it the fool, or is the fool who follows the fool." A special vinyl release of the "Conspiranoid" EP is out now via ATO Records.

PRIMUS announced the "Conspiranoid" EP in April with the release of its epic, 11-minute opening track, "Conspiranoia". "I'd been itching to record an opus — basically a long, winding, bastard of a song, reminiscent of some of the compositions I cut my teeth (or ears) on, in my music-hungry adolescence," Claypool said. "'Conspiranoia' was sprouted from a seed I had planted in my notebook a year or so ago — a few lines commenting on the mental state of the contemporary world."

Claypool elaborated on the genesis for the single and its accompanying B-sides in an interview with Consequence. He said: "With our new studio in the works and some impending touring, we decided the world needed to be subjected to some new PRIMUS material. Not wanting, or even having the time for recording an entire album, the notion of a 'single' was tossed around. I'd been itching to record an opus — basically a long, winding, bastard of a song, reminiscent of some of the compositions I cut my teeth (or ears) on, in my music-hungry adolescence. I said to the fellas, 'Let's record a 20-minute song.' The end result was an 11-and-a-half minute, progressive hunk of sound called 'Conspiranoia'.

"'Conspiranoia' was sprouted from a seed I had planted in my notebook a year or so ago — a few lines commenting on the mental state of the contemporary world," he explained. "I watched the distrust and divide grow between friends, colleagues, relatives, and the general population because of the consumption and digesting of disinformation, misinformation, warped information, and flat-out fairy tales being perpetuated by anyone with a slight hint of web design aptitude. I was compelled to shed light on the ridiculousness of many of these perspectives and the lack of rational thought that was being applied in the interpretation of many such entities and theories.

"Because the single 'Conspiranoia' is of such length, I realized that for a B-side of the vinyl, we would need at least two tunes to fill out the real estate of the actual 12-inch disc," Les added. "I had the song 'Follow The Fool' in the chamber and we fleshed it out. [Guitarist] Larry Lalonde had the riff for the song that became 'Erin On The Side Of Caution', which I supplied the lyrics for by again pulling from my notebook of notions. Because all three songs were bred in an odd time of divide, confusion, angst, frustration, and social senility, the title 'Conspiranoid' seemed like an appropriate moniker for the EP."

The release of the "Follow The Fool" video comes just before the final U.S. shows of PRIMUS's wildly popular "A Tribute To Kings" tour in Vail, Colorado on August 12 and August 13, which will find them performing RUSH's 1977 album "A Farewell To Kings" in its entirety, following a set of their own music. As Claypool told Rolling Stone, the "A Tribute To Kings" tour was about paying tribute to a band that has given him so much inspiration over the years. The band will also be performing a two-night run of "A Tribute To Kings" in November in Chile.

"'Hemispheres' was my first concert," Claypool said, referring to RUSH's 1978 album and tour. "Originally we'd always kind of joked around about doing 'Hemispheres'… but we settled on 'Kings', because A) it was the first RUSH record I ever heard and B) it contains 'Cygnus X-1', which has always been my favorite RUSH tune. It seems to be a good one for us to tackle; '2112' seemed a little obvious."

After the release of two new singles following a decade-long hiatus, THE MARS VOLTA has unveiled details surrounding its seventh full-length album, "The Mars Volta", due on September 16. The new album bravely challenges everything you thought you knew about them, delivering their most exciting, most accessible, and most sophisticated music yet.

Today, the band also releases a third single and music video for "Vigil", with Cedric Bixler-Zavala noting: "And the obits wait for a perfect name."

In addition, "The Mars Volta" is now available for digital and physical pre-order. Digitally the album will be available in Dolby Atmos and spatial audio, and physically on CD and vinyl with Clouds Hill holding an exclusive, kinetic version of the vinyl. A special, gold-foiled outer sleeve with embossed art will be available on LP, CD and cassette.

The new album shakes loose some of THE MARS VOLTA's long-standing shibboleths, with only two tracks lasting longer than four minutes, and the dizzying, abrasive prog stylings of earlier albums absent. "The Mars Volta" pulses with subtle brilliance, Caribbean rhythms underpinning sophisticated, turbulent song craft. This is guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala at their most mature, most concise, most focused. Their sound and fury channeled to greatest effect.

"The Mars Volta" track listing:

01. Blacklight Shine
02. Graveyard Love
03. Shore Story
04. Blank Condolences
05. Vigil
06. Qué Dios Te Maldiga Mí Corazón
07. Cerulea
08. Flash Burns From Flashbacks
09. Palm Full Of Crux
10. No Case Gain
11. Tourmaline
12. Equus 3
13. Collapsible Shoulders
14. The Requisition

"Vigil" follows the release of the singles and short films for "Blacklight Shine" and "Graveyard Love". The short films, directed by Rodríguez-López depict the beauty of life in Puerto Rico and rail against U.S. colonial rule.

THE MARS VOLTA has announced its first live shows in ten years. Dates have been added to select cities due to overwhelming demand with many of the shows now sold out.

THE MARS VOLTA tour dates:

Sep. 22 - The Factory in Deep Ellum - Dallas, TX
Sep. 23 - The Factory in Deep Ellum - Dallas, TX
Sep. 25 - Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
Sep. 27 – The Metropolitan Opera House - Philadelphia, PA
Sep. 29 - Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Sep. 30 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY
Oct. 01 - MGM Music Hall at Fenway - Boston, MA
Oct. 03 – The Anthem - Washington, DC
Oct. 05 - Massey Hall - Toronto, ON
Oct. 06 - Royal Oak Music Theatre - Detroit, MI
Oct. 08 - Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, IL
Oct. 09 – The Eagles Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI
Oct. 11 - The Mission Ballroom - Denver, CO
Oct. 14 - Moore Theatre - Seattle, WA
Oct. 15 - Moore Theatre - Seattle, WA
Oct. 18 - The Warfield - San Francisco, CA
Oct. 19 - The Warfield - San Francisco, CA
Oct. 21 - Hollywood Palladium - Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 22 – Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 23 – Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA

Formed by guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, THE MARS VOLTA rose from the ashes of El Paso punk-rock firebrands AT THE DRIVE-IN in 2001. On a mission to "honor our roots and honor our dead", THE MARS VOLTA made music that fused the Latin sounds Rodríguez-López was raised on with the punk and underground noise he and Bixler-Zavala had immersed themselves in for years, and the futuristic visions they were tapping into. The albums that followed were one-of-a-kind masterpieces, their songs of breath-taking complexity also possessing powerful emotional immediacy. After the group fell silent, a legion of devotees (including Kanye West) kept up an insistent drum beat for their return. Now — a year after "La Realidad De Los Sueños", a luxurious 18-LP box-set compiling their back catalog, sold out its 5,000 print run in under 24 hours — THE MARS VOLTA is back.

Former MEGADETH members David Ellefson (bass) and Jeff Young (guitar) recently announced the first four shows of the KINGS OF THRASH "The MEGA Years" tour. They will be joined at the dates by another former MEGADETH member, Chris Poland (guitar).

KINGS OF THRASH, which also includes drummer Fred Aching as well as guitarist/vocalist Chaz Leon, will perform MEGADETH's classic albums "Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!" and "So Far, So Good… So What!" in their entirety.

In a brand new interview with Yes! You CAN Play Guitar!, Ellefson stated about how KINGS OF THRASH came together: "[Jeff] and I got along well. We roomed together a lot, 'cause back on the 'So Far, So Good… So What!' tour, band and crew was always shacking up, sharing rooms together. So he and I had spent a lot of time together. I did a lot of guitar playing with him; I learned a lot of stuff from him, which was fun. So now to connect with him all these years later… We connected through the [making of the upcoming] Nick Menza movie [about the late MEGADETH drummer], quite honestly. And I'd stayed in touched with him. We even jammed together once at a Ronnie Montrose tribute thing at NAMM a few years ago. So we've not been completely estranged from each other."

According to Ellefson, the idea for KINGS OF THRASH materialized after he and Young reunited on stage on May 10 at Ultimate Jam Night, the long-running community-oriented show in residency at the famed Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California, as part of a special tribute to the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX. The event marked the first time David and Jeff had played MEGADETH songs together on stage since the U.K.'s Monsters Of Rock festival on August 20, 1988. "That spawned, basically, the KINGS OF THRASH," he said. "It was, like, 'Wow! That was frickin' cool, and that was a lot of fun.'"

David went on to say that he started thinking about a way to perform some of MEGADETH's classic material last year. "This idea had come to me — and it came to me last fall," he explained. "I was at an autograph show on the East Coast, and people were bringing me 'Killing Is My Business' records left and right. And it just reminded me, this record needs to be played; it needs to be performed. Same as 'So Far, So Good… So What!' To me, those are kind of these two really special records that — they never went unnoticed, but they didn't get the big fanfare like 'Peace Sells' and 'Rust In Peace' and all this stuff. So, to me, I made it my mission. I was, like, 'You know what? Let's unearth these things and let's bring these up on the stage and play them.'

"[Jeff] told me, he said, after MEGADETH, I think he said he intentionally forgot how to play MEGADETH songs; he just wanted to move on," Ellefson continued. "'Cause when you come into the band, it is a deep dive and it is a heavy compression. You really have to live that music in and out, day in, day out, all the time in order to really grasp what it is. And he did that. And then when the gig ended for him, he moved on.

"He has been doing a ton of heavy lifting on [the KINGS OF THRASH]. He is really working with our singer Chaz, the drummer Fred to get through this stuff. Even he and Chris Poland are working on this thing."

David clarified that the intention behind KINGS OF THRASH is not to stick it to his former bandmates.

"This is a celebration, not a retaliation," he explained. "This is a good moment. This is a happy moment, to celebrate these songs and these tracks and these records. So we go at it with just fun… It's, like, 'Wow. Wouldn't it be fun if we went out and played these records?' And we're doing it. So it's meant to be this celebration and bringing people together. And honestly, that was kind of always my role in MEGADETH. Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] always called me 'The Ambassador', and I was always that guy, and I am that guy. So it's, like, let me just continue that role in our community and have one of good will."

Asked if there are plans for KINGS OF THRASH to play more shows after the already announced dates in October, Ellefson said: "I think so. That was the whole thing — let's pop four of these up, see if anybody cares. And it seems like everybody… The phone's blowing up — people are calling, the promoters are calling, and people wanna see it. It's interesting. It's cool. This is a deep dive into a very particular period of the band's history and catalog that may not get performed elsewhere. So it's, like, 'Hey, we'll do it.' And we're qualified. Certainly our resume and our pedigree and our history with the group — it's legitimate. And I've gotta say — it's fun, man. I think it's fun."

As for KINGS OF THRASH's approach to performing material that was originally written and recorded more than three decades ago, Ellefson said: "I've gotta say, man, 'Killing Is My Business', there is a lot of deep stuff on that record, but because of the tempos and because of the speed, a lot of that kind of gets a bit glossed over, because the production of the record wasn't super great, because we didn't have a lot of money to do it at the time. Now live, going into it, there are some rhythmic figures and some grooves that I think are coming out in a live setting that are so hip. There's this almost funk, kind of R&B vibe to some of the rhythms that are so cool.

"When we wrote those songs, especially 'The Skull Beneath The Skin' and even 'Looking Down The Cross', these songs were written very slow; the original tempos were [much slower]," he revealed. "So they were really cool. So one of the things we're focusing on is bringing out the sleazy, slinky, greasy groove that's in there — because it really is in there. And I think our drummer Fred is helping a lot with that. I think people are gonna really enjoy what they're gonna hear."

KINGS OF THRASH tour dates:

Oct. 12 - San Diego, CA - Brick By Brick
Oct. 13 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
Oct. 14 - Las Vegas, NV - The Space
Oct. 15 - West Hollywood, CA - Whisky A Go Go

VIP packages are available for all shows.

The Whisky A Go Go concert came four months after Ellefson and Young reunited in Los Angeles for interviews to be included in the upcoming feature-length documentary "This Was My Life: The Story Of Nick Menza". Ellefson has signed on as a co-producer of the film, and also will provide narration to guide the viewer through the exploration of the late MEGADETH drummer's life.

In June, Ellefson told The Neurotic Guitarist that he and Young "have been working on a couple of new songs."

Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH more than a year ago after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.

David was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.

In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Dave Mustaine, alleging the MEGADETH leader shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.

Young's entire career with MEGADETH was spent recording and touring in support of the band's 1988 platinum-selling album "So Far, So Good...So What!"

Jeff made headlines in December 2009 for accusing Mustaine of, among other things, "dissing, exaggerating and just plain lying on some level about nearly every talented musician that has passed through his dysfunctional little ensemble." He also disputed Mustaine's claim in an interview that Young's drug problem led to MEGADETH's 1988 Australian tour being called off and the group being "banned" from performing in the country.

Poland was a member of MEGADETH from 1984 to 1987, during which time he performed on the band's classic albums "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" and "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" He is also a featured soloist on the group's 2004 album, "The System Has Failed".

Back in 2004, Poland and/or his management and attorney filed a lawsuit against Mustaine regarding the use of the three "Rust In Peace" demos on the album's reissue without Chris's permission. Chris eventually settled for $9,500 and thereby ended a professional relationship with Dave and MEGADETH.

For the past couple of decades, Poland's main musical focus has been the fusion band OHM:, which has released several full-length studio albums to date.

MACHINE HEAD's Robb Flynn and Jared MacEachern held the latest "Electric Happy Hour" on Friday, August 5 during which they performed the band's debut album, 1994's "Burn My Eyes", in its entirety to mark the LP's 28th birthday. They were joined for the celebration by original "Burn My Eyes" drummer Chris Kontos. In addition to all of the beer drinking, banter and merriment, they also performed a healthy selection of their favorite cover songs like SLAYER's "Black Magic", METALLICA's "Motorbreath", SEPULTURA's "Territory" and EXODUS's "A Lesson in Violence".

Released worldwide on August 9, 1994, "Burn My Eyes" was and still is considered to be one of the most important albums of its genre, garnering the band an unprecedented level of recognition and spawning a myriad of imitators — all from just MACHINE HEAD's first record.

In 2019, Flynn, Kontos and "Burn My Eyes" guitarist Logan Mader reunited — along with MacEachern — to celebrate the LP's 25th anniversary on tours in Europe and the U.S.

Asked by Metal Hammer if it bothers him that some fans still regard "Burn My Eyes" as MACHINE HEAD's best album, Flynn said: "No. The clincher for me, and this rarely happens, is when someone says, 'You should write 'Burn My Eyes' again,' but it'd be so phony! I'm not 24, fuckin' running around on the streets. It was real and that's why it came out the way it did. If I tried to do it now, it wouldn't be real. Those times made me who I am and affected me forever and I'm fearless because of them, but I'd like to think that I've aged gracefully and I hope to continue to do that. How dumb would it be for some [50]-something dude to be acting like some teenage gangster? It'd be ridiculous."

Kontos left MACHINE HEAD before the release of the band's second album, 1997's "The More Things Change", and was replaced by Dave McClain.

McClain and guitarist Phil Demmel exited MACHINE HEAD in the fall of 2018.

Adam Duce, who played bass on "Burn My Eyes", was fired from MACHINE HEAD in February 2013. He was replaced four months later by MacEachern. Adam later sued MACHINE HEAD, claiming that the other bandmembers "simply kicked him out of the band and presumed he would forget about over two decades of hard work, dedication, and effort" he put into the group. Duce also said his likeness was used on the band's web site and in promotions without his authorization. The lawsuit was settled out of court in July 2014.

MACHINE HEAD will release its tenth studio album, "Of Kingdom And Crown", on August 26 via Nuclear Blast/Imperium Recordings.

The band's current lineup is rounded out by Polish guitarist Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (DECAPITATED) and British drummer Matt Alston (DEVILMENT, EASTERN FRONT).

The members of THE OFFSPRING escaped unharmed after one of their vehicles caught fire Saturday while they were en route to Rimouski, Quebec, Canada for a concert.

The veteran punk rock act took to social media yesterday to share a short video of the burning vehicle, and included the following message: "While traveling through Canada yesterday, something flew off the vehicle in front of us and became wedged underneath one of our SUVs and it caught fire. Everyone got out safely, but the luggage, passports, laptops and pretty much everything else was destroyed.

"We are happy to report that everyone is doing ok and we've made it safely to Rimouski and will be performing tonight at Les Grandes Fetes TELUS. Hope to see everyone there!"

THE OFFSPRING guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman also shared a clip of the burning SUV and wrote: "No one was hurt. Everyone got out of the vehicle unscathed. Unfortunately about half our crew lost all their belongings in the fire, including luggage, computers, & passports. But it could've been much worse. The band & I are so thankful & relieved that all involved are OK.

"No one is sure what started the fire yet, but the SUV hit something big & heavy, possibly a lost trailer hitch, and within seconds the vehicle was in flames. You can see from the video that they didn't even get off the Highway before everyone had to bail. No time to save any belongings. Scary shit!

"Our crew do all the heavy lifting so that we look & sound as good as possible when we take the stage. They're travel & workdays are always longer & more arduous than ours, and we can't thank them enough for all they do. To see them have to go through something like this is heartbreaking & frightening. I am so glad they are all OK!"

THE OFFSPRING reportedly played in front of 3,000 fans on Thursday (August 4) in Sherbrooke and was en route to Rimouski for the next show on its North American tour.

The band is currently on the road in support of its most recent album, "Let The Bad Times Roll".

Frequently regarded as one of the best rock bands of all time, THE OFFSPRING have garnered a reputation for their unmistakable sound and social comment. The multi-platinum band first achieved worldwide success in the 1990s with the release of their album "Smash", which sold over 11 million copies. Following "Smash", they continued to release hit after hit, popularizing rock at a mainstream level.

Throughout THE OFFSPRING's career, they've sold over a staggering 40 million albums, and toured arenas, and built a global fan base. "Let The Bad Times Roll" marks the band's tenth studio album and third album produced by the legendary Bob Rock. True to the irreverence at the core of their rock music, the band and lyricist Dexter Holland took a view to today's cultural moments and didn't shy away from creating topical material in this album.

"Let The Bad Times Roll" has been a huge global success, hitting career-high chart debuts with seven top 5 and ten top 10 international debuts and nine top ten debuts in the U.S. The album peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. chart and hit No. 1 on the Alternative Albums chart in the U.S.

Originally formed under the name MANIC SUBSIDAL, THE OFFSPRING's lineup consists of Holland, Wasserman and bassist Todd Morse. THE OFFSPRING is often credited — alongside fellow California bands GREEN DAY and RANCID — for reviving mainstream interest in rock in the 1990s.
While traveling through Canada yesterday, something flew off the vehicle in front of us and became wedged underneath one of our SUVs and it caught fire. Everyone got out safely, but the luggage, passports, laptops and pretty much everything else was destroyed. pic.twitter.com/8CjLep1Bei

— The Offspring (@offspring) August 6, 2022


We are happy to report that everyone is doing ok and we've made it safely to Rimouski and will be performing tonight at Les Grandes Fetes TELUS. Hope to see everyone there!

August 6 | Rimouski, QC | @grandesfetes

— The Offspring (@offspring) August 6, 2022



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During a question-and-answer session at this weekend's Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, Alissa White-Gluz, the lead vocalist of ARCH ENEMY who is also vegan and straight edge, was asked if it's difficult for her to maintain her lifestyle while she is on tour. She responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It super easy, actually, because I still party; I just don't intoxicate myself when I do it. But if other people wanna do that, that's their choice — it's up to them. Smoking, I'd like them to stay away 'cause I don't wanna breathe that in. But otherwise, it's really, really easy, actually. It's not even something that I think about. And actually, we have… In our tour bus, in our band and crew, I'm not the only sober one and I'm not the only vegan either, so I'm surrounded by a lot of different kinds of people and we all get along beautifully."

A little over two years ago, White-Gluz explained why being vegan is definitely metal, telling the Mercy For AnimalsFacebook page: "So, I've been vegan for over 20 years now. I was vegan before I ever started in music. I've never eaten meat in my life. I grew up in a completely vegetarian household, so going vegan was just like the logical next step. And when I started doing music, there was nothing that I wanted to talk about more than animal rights. And so I was now using this heavy, passionate form of music to sort of convey a message that I wanted to. When I'm screaming in my band, I feel like I'm screaming for the voiceless. And I can't imagine being that loud if I had nothing to say.

"Being female, being vegan and also being straight edge in the metal world is just a combination of targets on my forehead that make it really easy for me to get singled out or pushed around," she continued. "But those are just things that are so much a part of who I am that I couldn't change them even if I wanted to. And I wouldn't — I wouldn't change for anyone.

"In my opinion, metal is all about rebellion — it's about carving your own path, thinking against what everyone's trying to make you think," Alissa added. "And veganism is the ultimate form of rebellion, because you are literally taking things that people have told you are normal that deep down inside you don't think are normal that you've been conditioned to accept about your day-to-day tasks, like eating or what you wear or what you choose to buy. Everyone says that that's normal, that you need to exploit other living beings for those things, but you don't. And so taking a stand against that is what veganism is. And that is really metal."

A decade ago, Alissa snagged a Libby Award in the category of "Breakthrough Artist" from peta2, PETA's youth division. The annual Libby Awards ("Libby" is for "liberation") honor animal-friendly people and products.

White-Gluz took a stand against the universally condemned annual seal slaughter in her native Canada by shooting a striking peta2 ad that showed her above a photo of a baby seal who was about to be clubbed and read, "Bang Your Own Head, Not a Seal's." She also spoke out against the fur industry, and she encouraged everyone to buy only cruelty-free personal-care products.

TESLA has released a new single, "Time To Rock!". The official music video for the song, which can be streamed below, will make its online debut on Tuesday, August 9.

Last month, TESLA vocalist Jeff Keith told "The Chuck Shute Podcast" about "Time To Rock!": "We've been playing it live since June 11th when we played our home show here in Sacramento. So we played it live and we just kept it in the set.

"Like with all TESLA songs, we like to have that raw, live feel, and this song has totally just got that raw and live feel. So we've only played it live," he explained.

Regarding the lyrical inspiration for "Time To Rock!", Jeff said: "It's that kind of song that just, you know, everything you might have going on when you go to a concert, you wanna just kind of let your hair down and this song is exactly about that. Just not let things go, but just drop 'em down and still hold 'em in your hands tight, but just let things go and let your hair down for four and a half minutes. Time to rock!"

Keith previously discussed "Time To Rock!" earlier last month in an interview with the "Metal From The Inside" podcast. Regarding the band's decision to debut the track during a live performance in early June — weeks before the song's official release — he said: "We wanted to play it live for our hometown crowd. We played Thunder Valley [Casino], which is right down the street from our houses in Sacramento; it's actually in Lincoln, California. But we wanted to play it for our hometown crowd first, because it isn't being released until August. So we thought we'd play it for our hometown crowd, and we're having so much fun with it, we're playing it for every crowd — some new material — and we're excited about that.

"You know, TESLA, we're old dogs but we still like to write new stuff," Jeff continued. "Because sometimes, being as far back as we are, you can just go out and play your catalog from '86 to whatever it may be, but we like to throw new stuff in there; we just like to write songs. So it's fun to have a new single. Actually, we have another single that was put out — gosh — last August or whatever, and it was 'Cold Blue Steel', and it's actually still doing something on the classic rock charts or something. But yeah, so it's good to have stuff that we're writing, and it's actually doing a little something."

As for whether TESLA fans can eventually expect to see a new full-length album from the group, Jeff said: "Right now, the way things work — the guys were explaining to me — 'cause usually that's all you did was made a record, since I've been in the band. And they go, now, with social media or whatever you call it — Spotify, whatever the names are; I don't go on the Internet, but it's a wonderful tool to have these iPhones and you can release a single without making a [full] record. So so far we've just put out some singles. But probably in the next year — no more than two years — we're gonna go and say, 'Let's make a whole record again.' But right now, it's very convenient because you can just download a single. And the guys were explaining to me, they go, 'Jeff, it's just like back when THE BEATLES, and before that when people would put out a single on a 45 record. Like Hank Williams, he'd do something live and just put it out as a single. Back in the day, they used to just put out singles, and then, of course, they would records too. So we're kind of in that mode. And now, instead of it being on a 45 record, it's on a digital form that you can have people download. I don't know — it's the best I can understand it."

Fan-filmed video of TESLA performing "Time To Rock!" on June 26 at Des Plaines Theater in Des Plaines, Illinois can be seen below.

TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon spoke about "Time To Rock!" in June in an interview with Robert Cavuoto of Sonic Perspectives. Asked if DEF LEPPARD's Phil Collen, who produced TESLA's latest album, 2019's "Shock", will return to helm the band's follow-up effort, Frank responded: "The 'Shock' album that Phil did, they worked really hard on that. When I say 'they,' I'm talking about Phil Collen and Brian Wheat, our bass player. Man, they really worked hard on the album. It was a collaboration. Phil wrote most of the songs. And some people thought it was a great album and other people didn't like it. But we gave it a shot. But from now on… Brian and I had a discussion… Brian and I are the founding members of the band TESLA, along with Jeff Keith. And we decided from now on, we're gonna write and produce our own music. We worked with enough producers — we've had producers coming and going our whole career — so from now on, at our age, we're gonna produce our own music. And we're actually producing a brand new single that's gonna come out [in August], and it's frickin' rocking. I'm really excited about it.

"The best thing about producing ourselves is it's imperfect and it's edgy and it's got the warts and everything and it's as real as it can be because it's us. We're not technicians where we know how to make things perfect.

"[TESLA's latest single, 2021's] 'Cold Blue Steel', we produced it ourselves, and this new song — it's called 'Time To Rock!' — I've been producing it and working on it for about two months. And it'll ultimately get put on a self-produced album."

Asked if TESLA will continue to focus on releasing individual singles before dropping another full-length album, Hannon said: "Yeah, we're gonna put out singles after singles and just focus on one song at a time, man, and rock that song.

"What happens is when you're young, man, you can write 10 songs and frickin' put out an album every year, but as you get older, like we are now, it's not as easy to do that," he explained. "So you end up sacrificing quality for quantity, and we don't wanna do that. Why put out 10 songs that are just in a rush when we can spend our time and just create singles that we're real proud of. And this one next one, I'm telling you, Jeff Keith and I are really excited about it, 'cause he and I wrote it on the road last year and I got the band to put it together. I've been chipping away on it in the studio producing it, and I'm getting ready to produce a video for it this weekend. It's called 'Time To Rock!', and it does rock."

This past March, TESLA released the official lyric video for "Cold Blue Steel". The clip, directed by Brandon Gullion and produced by Hannon, is raw and high electric energy that takes fans back to the roots of TESLA.

Originally released last August, "Cold Blue Steel" was the first TESLA song to ever be produced by the bandmembers themselves.

Last December, Hannon told Let's Rock that the lyrics to "Cold Blue Steel" have been partially misinterpreted by some fans.

"We've been getting a lot of flak from people that only hear the couple of verses in the song, thinking it's about gun control," he said. "And in a way it is, but, really, it's so much deeper than that, the lyrics. We try to definitely not take sides and be political but we wanna sing about a situation. Something like what we did with 'Modern Day Cowboy' in the '80s; we sang about foreign lands and terrorist demands and 'bang bang, shoot 'em up' and how that attitude was still happening in the world at that time, being a gunfighter, cowboy situation, but we're not pointing fingers. And that's the same way with this song, but some people only hear parts of it and have been giving us some shit about it. But if you listen to the lyrics, it's asking a question, 'What's to blame? Let's get real.' And the song is really about people that you give 'em an inch, they take a mile — whether it's a politician, whether it's a crook, whether it's a police officer. And we support our police."

He added: "There's evil intentions in all parts of life, and that's what the song is really about — just observing and asking the question, 'What's to blame?' It's not talking about 'take away guns' or any of that shit. But it started off just being a fun poke at Ronnie Van Zant. That last lyric in the song, 'Just like Ronnie said, 'Let's dump 'em to the bottom of the sea,' that's where the song started for fun. And then we took it and tried to make it a little bit more serious."

Last September, TESLA drummer Troy Luccketta announced that he would "take a little time from the road" to spend with family and friends. He is being replaced at TESLA's gigs by Steve Brown, the younger brother of former DOKKEN drummer Mick Brown.

TESLA is:

Frank Hannon - guitar
Brian Wheat - bass
Jeff Keith - lead vocals
Dave Rude - guitar
Steve Brown - drums

The official music video for the song "My Parasite" from FACE WITHOUT FEAR, the new industrial rock band featuring ex-STATIC-X and DOPE guitarist Tripp Eisen, can be seen below. The clip was created by South Town Productions from Lubbock, Texas.

Eisen is joined in the group by Reg S. on bass, Kenny "Mantis" Hoyt (CRUSHPILE) on vocals, T.J. Cooke (METHODICAL) on drums and Dante on guitar.

The first visit that Eisen made back to California after STATIC-X frontman Wayne Static's passing in 2014 was an emotional time for the guitarist. The mourning process involved spending some time with long-time STATIC-X friends and associates like Tony Campos. He had also re-connected with Ken Jay and they shared in the shock and sadness of the estranged singer's death. This trip inspired Eisen to pen two songs that he wrote as soon he returned, "Road To Hell" and "Love Kills".

"Road To Hell" was ultimately retitled "My Destruction" and appears on the 2020 STATIC-X album "Project Regeneration Vol. 1", but some unused parts of the song evolved into "My Parasite", which is a highlight of the FACE WITHOUT FEAR setlist.

FACE WITHOUT FEAR had been playing an early version of "Road To Hell", but with Eisen's collaborations with Campos and vocalist Xer0, the song was given up for what Eisen coined "Project-X", or what became "Project Regeneration". "Road To Hell" was also the opening song on STATIC-X's first teaser in 2018 and Tripp music introduced the world to the return of STATIC-X and the announcement of the upcoming album and tour, after the band's nine-year hiatus.

The two sister songs "My Destruction" and "My Parasite" therefore have a unique history with both STATIC-X and FACE WITHOUT FEAR.

"My Parasite" is a collaboration between Eisen and vocalist Mantis, and features programming by veteran sound-artist Spydah, who has done several tracks for the band.

Eisen says: "The song is about the type of person that clings to another person and sucks the life, energy and finances from you. But it is also symbolic of the parasites on society that feed off of the rich, the poor or anyone that can act as a host. It's not a deep concept, but it's universal."

Formed in 2017 by Eisen, FACE WITHOUT FEAR draws you in with gritty-yet-polished guitar work, electronic sampling, and metal vocals infused with surprisingly refined melodic phrasing.

In their lyrics, the concepts of individualism, liberty and freedom, as well as the universal experience with human relationships encompass their lyrics.

The band also takes inspiration from the conceptual and futuristic world of Ayn Rand, and is where the band's name is drawn from ("Atlas Shrugged: Part II", Chapter 9: "A face that bore no mark of pain or fear... It was a face that had nothing to hide or to escape, a face with no fear…")

After a slight hiatus due to the pandemic, FACE WITHOUT FEAR is planning several upcoming live shows which will feature an album's worth of original material, plus a few treats for fans of Tripp's previous projects as well as a few dynamic updated covers by such artists at THE BEATLES, RAMONES and MISFITS.

Eisen has not given up on an eventual reconciliation with STATIC-X even after some adversarial jabs in 2020 with his old band and executive producer Edsel Dope — who is rumored to be Xer0 — regarding the details of his involvement with the entire STATIC-X reunion. Eisen will launch a podcast in the coming weeks to chronicle his experiences in STATIC-X and his other bands.

Tripp joined STATIC-X in 1999 and recorded three albums with the platinum-selling band.

A decade and a half ago, Eisen — whose real name is Tod Rex Salvador — served time for meeting and sexually assaulting two underage females in January and February 2005.

Five years ago, Eisen told "Totally Driven Radio" that his arrest and prison sentence was "a difficult time of my life" and insisted that he has "learned from it" and "grown. What happened to me was really bad judgment, terrible mistakes that I made, and I paid a price for 'em," he said.

German thrash metal veterans SODOM will release a 40th-anniversary album, "40 Years At War - The Greatest Hell Of Sodom", on October 28 through Steamhammer/SPV. The effort sums up the band's history in an unusual and highly ambitious way.

"Our goal was to re-record one song from each of our previous albums," SODOM bassist/vocalist Thomas "Angelripper" Such explains. "Not necessarily the most obvious ones, we wanted to go for rarities or tracks we've never or very rarely played live."

The CD and vinyl double LP with their martial cover artwork penned by Eliran Kantor (KREATOR, TESTAMENT, GWAR, among others) include 17 tracks, all newly recorded by the current SODOM lineup featuring Frank Blackfire (guitar),Yorck Segatz (guitar) and Toni Merkel (drums).

Angelripper explains: "We cover the songs unaltered, that's to say in exactly the same key and with the original lyrics. We're better musicians now than we were back then, of course, so the new versions sound tighter and more up to date but the arrangements of the songs were deliberately kept unchanged."

SODOM's 40th-anniversary festivities will be carried over into their concerts in the fall. "We'll not only play the SODOM classics but also consider fan requests," Angelripper says. "We're launching a poll about songs we've rarely or never played live on a tour to find out which ones the fans want to hear."

That's exactly what SODOM is about: being close to their fans, full of ideas, burning for action while keeping their eyes on the goal ahead.

Angelripper says: "If you want to draw a summary of the past four decades, it can only be this: 40 years later and we're still here."

"40 Years At War - The Greatest Hell Of Sodom" track listing:

01. Sepulchral Voice
02. After The Deluge
03. Electrocution
04. Baptism Of Fire
05. Better Off Dead
06. Body Parts
07. Jabba The Hut
08. Gathering Of Minds
09. That's What An Unknown Killer Diarized
10. Book Burning
11. Genocide
12. City Of God
13. Ashes To Ashes
14. In War And Pieces
15. S.O.D.O.M.
16. Caligula
17. Euthanasia

SODOM's latest studio LP, "Genesis XIX", came out in November 2020 via Entertainment One (eOne) in North America and Steamhammer/SPV in Europe. The disc was recorded by Siggi Bemm and mastered by Patrick W. Engel and comes shrouded in the cover art of Joe Petagno of MOTÖRHEAD fame.

Angelripper described "Genesis XIX" as "one of the toughest and most diverse studio recordings that SODOM have ever released."

The wait is finally over. Delain, the brainchild of keyboardist, founder and main songwriter Martijn Westerholt, returns with full power, presenting themselves with a new lineup featuring the terrific Diana Leah as their next singer. Her powerful, heart-wrenching voice fits perfectly with the band's style and adds a new strength to their sound.


Rejoining the fold and bolstering the band’s continuity are original guitarist Ronald Landa and original drummer Sander Zoer, while new members Diana and bassist Ludovico Cioffi continue the evolution of the band’s sound.


The multi-million streaming leading symphonic metal outfit sets off into their next era, creating the perfect symbiosis of tested strengths and new influences.







The band's new single, “The Quest And The Curse”, implements this in an impressive manner. Trademark bombastic riffs, lush orchestrations, elements from film music, metal, pop, electronic, and much more mark an amalgamation of the old and new, and build the next chapter of the band's history.


As Martijn Westerholt states: "The future of Dealin looks bright!"


Watch the video for “The Quest and the Curse” below:





Delain is:


Martijn Westerholt - keyboards
Diana Leah - vocals
Ronald Landa - guitars and backing vocals
Ludovico Cioffi – bass and backing vocals
Sander Zoer - drums

BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi reunited earlier today (Monday, August 8) in their original hometown of Birmingham, England to perform the band's classic song "Paranoid" — preceded by a truncated version of "Iron Man" — at the closing of the city's Commonwealth Games. They were joined by two musicians from the band's final tour, Adam Wakeman, who played bass and keyboards, and drummer Tommy Clufetos.

A few years ago, Osbourne said that he was open to the possibility of a SABBATH reunion at the Commonwealth Games, telling ITV that it "would be fantastic" to play at the the opening ceremony for the 2022 Games. "With BLACK SABBATH or on my own," he said at the time.

Late last month, Iommi took part in the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. Iommi and acclaimed saxophonist Soweto Kinch led a "dream sequence" piece, titled "Hear My Voice", based on the lead track from the 2020 film "Trial Of The Chicago Seven" at the event on July 28. After Tony and Soweto played an extended instrumental lead-in, they were joined by the City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a 700-strong community choir.

The ceremony took place at Alexander Stadium in front of an audience of more than 30,000, with the event also being broadcast live on BBC One and iPlayer to an estimated global television audience of one billion.

Headlining the ceremony was the new wave group DURAN DURAN, with additional appearances by some of the city's most celebrated artists under the musical direction of rapper, artist and educator Joshua "RTKal" Holness.

After the ceremony, Ozzy tweeted: "@TonyIommi , I was really proud to see you tonight at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in our home town of Birmingham".

Earlier that week, Iommi talked to BirminghamWorld about the pressure of performance for such a large audience.

"A billion people tuning in is a huge figure," he said. "It's going to be seen not just across the Commonwealth but throughout the world. We really have to do Birmingham proud.

"Representing Brum is a great honor and I'm bursting with pride to be doing it. I've flown the flag for Birmingham all of my life because it's my city and it's given me wonderful opportunities.

"I like to think that BLACK SABBATH helped to put Birmingham on the map musically, and it's great now that the Games ceremony will feature so many talented people from the city. It means a hell of a lot to me. But I have to admit, there'll be a bit of stage fright on the night. I haven't played onstage at a big show for five years since the final SABBATH show in February 2017."

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games saw around 4,500 athletes from 72 nations and territories compete in 19 sports and eight para-sports across 15 competition venues from July 28 July until August 8.

Last year, Iommi was asked by The Mercury News about the possibility of another BLACK SABBATH tour at some point in the not-too-distant future. He laughed and replied: "I wouldn't think so. But it's a strange thing with SABBATH — how many times we thought we were with Ozzy, then we had [Ronnie James] Dio, then back to Ozzy, then Dio again, and then Ian Gillan and Tony Martin and Dio and back to Tony Martin. It's gone backwards and forwards at different stages. So, you just never know.

"I think it's highly unlikely that we'd get back onstage again," he said. "It certainly wouldn't be touring. We'd only do so many shows, if anything.

"I would like to play with the guys again. But I can't see that happening.

"The reason we stopped touring in the first place was basically my fault, because I had to be careful of my health," Iommi explained. "When you book a tour — and it's always an 18-month tour — it doesn't sound a lot when you talk about it at first. But when you get out there, and you are touring, it's bloody hard work. And it wasn't particularly good for my health, because of the blood cancer. So, I said, 'Look, you know, this should the last tour, I think.' But I really do miss it. I really miss playing onstage. I miss seeing the audience."

Iommi revealed his cancer diagnosis in early 2012, shortly after SABBATH announced a reunion tour and album. He underwent treatment throughout the recording of the disc, titled "13", and the subsequent tour to promote it.

Texas hard rock stalwarts DROWNING POOL have announced "Strike A Nerve", their first new record since 2016. In addition, the band has released "Mind Right", the first, intense taste of "Strike A Nerve" and a perfect re-introduction to the band for the 2020s. DROWNING POOL's heaviest record to date, "Strike A Nerve" will be released on CD, 180-gram vinyl and digital on September 30 via T-Boy/UMe.

"This record is so badass, it's perfect. It's the four of us doing what we do to the best of our abilities," says DROWNING POOL vocalist Jasen Moreno. "The band is tight in every way. We're firing off on all cylinders. We're at the top of our game. There are all different ways of saying it, but it all amounts to the same thing — the results are just magic. From the way the record sounds, to the writing of it, to the production, to the look of it — it's just a perfect DROWNING POOL record. None of us could ask for anything more..."

"'Strike A Nerve' is the most exciting and intense music from DROWNING POOL to date," adds longtime DROWNING POOL guitarist CJ Pierce. "We've stayed true to the core sound people know from us, but we've taken everything we do to another level. We've been writing music together for over twenty years — half of that with Jasen — and this album is more refined and more true to who we are than anything we've done before. Sometimes it's heavier than we've ever been, sometimes it's lighter, and sometimes we go in a direction that surprises even us — but it's always just brutally honest, and that comes through in every track."

"'Mind Right' started with the core DROWNING POOL sound, then really dug into our southern metal roots," continues Pierce about the LP's lead single. "This song was written not long after Vinnie Paul died, as a tribute of sorts to him and Dime and a way for us to honor the impact PANTERA had on our local Dallas scene. It's probably the heaviest song we've recorded, but it's the perfect way to close 'Strike A Nerve'; like the title of the song says, we all need to get our minds right. We need to see what's going on around us, stand up for what we believe in, and always focus on the bigger picture. We can't wait to play this one live!"

DROWNING POOL have long been hailed as champions of blue-collar hard rock and metal, not just because of their consistently incendiary live shows and vastly impressive catalog, but because of the trials and tribulations that have marked their career. They aren't unique in that regard. What they are is resilient, their everyman, working-class ethos and stubborn perseverance creating a bond few bands ever realize.

"Strike A Nerve" was inspired by wearing life's battle scars on our sleeves. Those bumps and bruises got magnified during the worldwide COVID lockdowns; lockdowns that started mere months after DROWNING POOL completed recording, mixing and mastering "Strike A Nerve", an 11-song tour de force through the torn and battered psyche of a band. Written and recorded before the pandemic that halted the world in its tracks for more than two years, "Strike A Nerve" became more poignant with its time on the shelf.

"Strike A Nerve" track listing:

01. Doing Time In Hell
02. Hate Against Hate
03. Stay And Bleed
04. Strike A Nerve
05. Racing To A Red Light
06. Choke
07. Everything But You
08. Down In The Dirt
09. Rope
10. A Devil More Damned
11. Mind Right

The title track and "Racing To A Red Light" are mid-tempo burners like we haven't heard from DROWNING POOL before, the band's heightened sense of melody coupling with white hot hooks and irresistible choruses. "Can you hear an empty stage, can you hear tomorrow rage… I can't go forward because I can't be heard," Moreno testifies on "Strike A Nerve" — again, a song written and recorded years before the world careened into its current state. "Stay And Bleed" and "Down In The Dirt" are instant DROWNING POOL classics, their punishing grooves making the jarring and somber ballad "Everything But You" even more impactful: "I hate everyone and everything, but you…" From the softest song the band has ever recorded, to their heaviest in album closer "Mind Right", an homage to their hometown friends and brothers PANTERA.

Formed by Pierce, Benton and Luce in Dallas, Texas in 1996, DROWNING POOL began as an instrumental trio, named after the 1975 film "The Drowning Pool". The group enlisted singer Dave Williams to join their fold three years later and the band signed with Wind-Up Records which released "Sinner" in 2001. Williams died tragically on tour August 14, 2002, stricken by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an undiagnosed heart condition. "Sinner" stands as his only studio album with DROWNING POOL.

DROWNING POOL is Jasen Moreno (vocals),CJ Pierce (guitar),Stevie Benton (bass) and Mike Luce (drums).

"Strike A Nerve" was produced by Shawn McGhee and DROWNING POOL.

"Mind Right" is out now on all DSPs.

DROWNING POOL fall 2022 tour dates:

Sep. 17 - Central Florida Metal Fest - Orlando, FL
Sep. 26 - Lafayette's Music Room - Memphis, TN
Sep. 28 - Jergels - Warrendale, PA
Sep. 29 - The Eclectic Room - Angola, IN
Sep. 30 - The Machine Shop - Flint, MI
Oct. 01 - Stormy's Music Venue - Beaver Dam, WI
Oct. 02 - The Forge - Joliet, IL
Oct. 04 - The Winchester Music Tavern - Lakewood, OH
Oct. 05 - The Blue Note - Harrison, OH
Oct. 07 - Hard Times Four Mile Fork - Fredericksburg, VA
Oct. 08 - Stage West Penn State - State College, PA
Oct. 09 - RV Music Fest (Ellie Ray's Resort) - Branford, FL
Oct. 09 - Dingbatz - Clifton, NJ
Oct. 11 - The Concourse - Knoxville, TN
Oct. 12 - Shagnasty's - Huntsville, AL
Oct. 14 - The Wildcatter Saloon - Katy, TX

On August 4th, former Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider hit the stage at Wacken Open Air 2022 for a full set of Accept classics. Check out pro-shot video of "Princess Of The Dawn" below.





Udo Dirkschneider released his new album, My Way, on April 22nd via Atomic Fire Records. According to the label,  Dirkschneider made the sensational jump to #4 in the official German album charts. For the 70-year-old metal icon, this is the highest chart entry of his career, outshining Accept's 1986 classic  Russian Roulette (#5) and the U.D.O. 2018 album, Steelfactory (#7).







He is THE constant among the German metal scene - Udo Dirkschneider. Originally becoming world-famous as a founding member of Accept, he continues to steadily expand upon his international successes with his U.D.O. and Dirkschneider outfits. Remaining true to himself over the years in a way few musicians could, Dirkschneider consistently bucks music industry trends in favor of following his heart. Yet his most personal and extraordinary album to date will be released on April 22: My Way.


This new release contains 17 cover versions of the very songs that have influenced the musician and singer the most. All kinds of classics from music history are among them - including those that you might not expect from Udo. Not only does a very personal story lie behind each of the tracks, but also a sometimes surprising arrangement that, despite the very individual implementation, lives and breathes Udo’s manuscript throughout. “Now when I hear the song, I remember the time when, as a very young Udo, I’d go out to light up the town and lived all the stories that can only be experienced late at night in the clubs."


Here, Alex Harvey’s "Faith Healer" allows the artist to feel those days of an era long past. The fact that "Nutbush City Limits: is also on the album reveals a secret rarely told until now: “What hardly anyone knows so far: I was a huge fan of Ike and Tina Turner, and especially Tina’s voice, once. We always covered this song during Accept rehearsals in the early days. It was one of the mainstays of our Accept rehearsal repertoire for years. Regrettably, there is no recording of it.”


With Wolfsheim's "Kein Zurück", Udo sang in German for the first time in his career: “I immediately felt like the words understood me. It seemed to me that the lyrics were telling the story of my career, of my highs and lows and all the good and bad experiences that life has. There simply is ‘no going back’ for those who choose to live as a musician.”


The cover album also makes one thing clear: Just how many in the music industry have come and gone over the years. Yet, Udo Dirkschneider is still here.





Tracklisting:


"Faith Healer" (Alex Harvey)
"Fire" (Crazy World Of Arthur Brown)
"Sympathy" (Uriah Heep)
"They Call It Nutbush" (Tina Turner)
"Man On The Silver Mountain" (Rainbow)
"Hell Raiser" (The Sweet)
"No Class" (Motörhead)
"Rock And Roll" (Led Zeppelin)
"The Stroke" (Billy Squier)
"Paint It Black" (Rolling Stones)
"He's A Woman, She's A Man" (Scorpions)
"T.N.T." (AC/DC)
"Jealousy" (Frankie Miller)
"Hell Bent For Leather" (Judas Priest)
"We Will Rock You" (Queen)
"Kein Zurück" (Wolfsheim)
"My Way" (Frank Sinatra)


"We Will Rock You"





"He's A Woman, She's A Man"

German icons Rammstein released their debut album, Herzeleid, on September 25th, 1995 via Motor Music. YouTube user and Rammstein fan Tim Nightpain has assembled an unofficial documentary looking back on the making of the record and the band's first steps towards international fame.


Tim Nightpain: "Berlin, January 1994. Six musicians form a band that would later become one of the most popular and worldwide recognized bands from Germany: Rammstein. Selling millions of albums and filling stadium after stadium, Rammstein climbed their way up with innovation and hard work. See how it all began. This is the story of Herzeleid."







To celebrate Rammstein's first indelible impact on global hard rock history, the band and Vertigo/UMe released limited, remastered editions of the band’s groundbreaking debut on December 4th, 2020.





Herzeleid (XXV Anniversary Edition - Remastered) features the album’s original tracklist on a single CD, housed in a lavish, cross-shaped digipak with deluxe slipcase, and, for the first time ever, the remastered album with HD is available digitally.





Tracklisting:


"Wollt Ihr Das Bett in Flammen Sehen"
"Der Meister"
"Weisses Fleisch"
"Asche zu Asche"
"Seemann"
"Du Riechst So Gut"
"Das Alte Leid"
"Heirate Mich"
"Herzeleid"
"Laichzeit"
"Rammstein"