Frontiers announces the release of Lunarian's debut album, Burn The Beauty, on September 9. Lunarian is a new musical endeavour centred around  vocalist/songwriter, Ailyn.


Burn The Beauty is a showcase for the immense voice of Ailyn, which she has displayed in her work with Trail Of Tears, Sirenia, Her Chariot Awaits (her project with Mike Orlando of Adrenaline Mob), Heart Healer (Magnus Karlsson's rock-metal opera), and more.


A new single and music video, "Dream Catcher" is out today. Pre-order/save Burn The Beauty here, and watch the music video below.




For Lunarian, Ailyn teamed up with producer Aldo Lonobile (Secret Sphere, Archon Angel, Sweet Oblivion) to write songs for an engaging, mesmerizing symphonic metal album. And that is exactly what you get with Burn The Beauty.


Spanish singer/songwriter Ailyn has been performing professionally since the early '00s. She started off as a solo artist before becoming the lead vocalist of the popular Norwegian symphonic metal act Sirenia. Ailyn was a member of Sirenia until 2016, releasing four albums with them. She then took a short hiatus from her musical career before announcing her return with Her Chariot Awaits, a collaboration with Adrenaline Mob guitarist Mike Orlando. The band released one album, a self-titled debut via Frontiers Music Srl. Since 2020, she has also been working with Norwegian gothic/symphonic black metal band Trail Of Tears as well, handling soprano vocals for the band.


In working with Frontiers on Her Chariot Awaits, Ailyn and the label developed a good working relationship and eventually brought her together with producer Aldo Lonobile to discuss the possibility of making a more symphonic metal sounding album compared to the contemporary hard rock sound of Her Chariot Awaits. AIlyn headed to Italy to work with Aldo and record her vocals and thus Burn The Beauty by Lunarian came to life.





Burn The Beauty tracklisting:


"Don't Wait Until I'm Gone"
"Dream Catcher"
"Embrace"
"Bleeding Out"
"Embers"
"Burn The Beauty"
"Endless Sleep"
"Invincible"
"Never Ending Circle"
"Scarlet"
"Sacrifice"


"Dream Catcher" video:





Lineup:


Ailyn - Vocals
Aldo Lonobile - Guitars
Mattia Gosetti - Bass
Michele Sanna - Drums
Antonio Agate - Keyboards & Orchestral Arrangements

Kerry King spoke to Metal Hammer magazine about his post-SLAYER project, saying that "won't be dragging [his] feet much longer" when it comes to going back on the road.

Nearly two years after he revealed that he had more than two records' worth of music written for his new band, King stated about the new material's direction: "You know me, so you know what it's going to sound like. I played this new song for a buddy, and I said to him, 'If there's anything I've written in the last few years that sounds like SLAYER, it's this.' And he said, 'That sounds like you could have pulled it off of any SLAYER record.' I actually made that riff up backstage at a SLAYER show. We were walking to the stage and I got my phone out and recorded it so I wouldn't forget it."

While King was reluctant to reveal the rest of the lineup of his new band, he confirmed the involvement of former SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph.

"We just started rehearsing and the only person I can give away is Paul because I took him from SLAYER and we work very well together," the 58-year-old guitarist said. "We didn't start rehearsing until the end of March, and that was the first time since that last SLAYER show at the end of 2019 that me and Paul finally got into a room together."

King went on to say that he expects his new band to start out by playing "much smaller" venues than SLAYER did at the end of its four-decade run.

"Had it have been up to me then I'd have been out in 2020," he said. "But that thing called the pandemic fucked everything up for everyone. You know, I waited on that, because it had to run its course. I didn't want to be the guinea pig; I didn't want to learn how to tour again. I already did my dues; I don't want to have to prove myself again.

"Have I been dragging my feet? Yeah, because I wanted this [pandemic] shit to get sorted. I won't be dragging my feet much longer."

SLAYER played the final show of its farewell tour in November 2019 at the Forum in Los Angeles. One day later, Kerry's wife Ayesha King said that there is "not a chance in hell" that the thrash metal icons will reunite for more live appearances. In August 2020, she once again shot down the possibility of her husband and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya sharing the stage ever again under the SLAYER banner.

After Ayesha shared three photos of Kerry holding their cat in slideshow-type Instagram post, a fan wrote: "No Tom, No SLAYER Kerry. Stop thinking SLAYER without @tomarayaofficial". Ayesha then replied: "don't worry, they'll never be SLAYER again! You can rest easy".

That same month, Bostaph confirmed that he is involved in a brand new project headed up by Kerry. Paul told Australia's Riff Crew that the new band will "sound like SLAYER without it being SLAYER — but not intentionally so. I mean, Kerry's been writing songs in SLAYER his entire career, and he has a style," he explained. "And that style, as a songwriter, you just don't change your style because your band is done… So, all I can say is if you like heavy music and you like SLAYER, you'll like this."

Just a few days earlier, Kerry told Dean Guitars that he had plenty of musical ideas for his upcoming project. "I've been very, very lucky with riffs in 2020," he said. "Maybe because I can't go anywhere — I don't know — but riffs have certainly not been a problem. And looking forward into the future, what that means for me is I'm gonna be able to cherrypick the best stuff. And it's good stuff. I've got more than two records' worth of music, but to be able to go through that and cherrypick the best 11 or 12 [songs]… That first record should be smoking."

When SLAYER first announced that it was embarking on its final tour back in January 2018, Ayesha assured fans that they would "always get music" from her husband.

King has said in previous interviews that his post-SLAYER musical efforts would not be much different from the sound fans have grown accustomed to hearing from him.

"If someone quit, I'm not going to go around with a made-up SLAYER," he told AZCentral.com back in 2010. "But my next band would sound like SLAYER, that's all I know."

SLAYER's final world tour began on May 10, 2018 with the band's intention to play as many places as possible, to make it easy for the fans to see one last SLAYER show and say goodbye. By the time the 18-month trek wrapped at the Forum, the band had completed seven tour legs plus a series of one-off major summer festivals, performing more than 140 shows in 30 countries and 40 U.S. states.

In a new interview with Sarah Hagan Backstage, Mike Mangini reflected on his widely publicized audition for DREAM THEATER in late 2010 following the departure of the band's original drummer Mike Portnoy. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[Portnoy and I] were friends before I got this job [as the new drummer of DREAM THEATER]. Literally, in my [then-]place in L.A., we were hanging out. He was the one that invited me to all the DREAM THEATER shows. He was the person [in DREAM THEATER] I was closest with. He said all kinds of nice things about me all the time to people and in magazines. And so the audition thing happened and our relationship kind of just went into a holding pattern [once I joined DREAM THEATER], and that was that. Whatever that means — it might have been awkward for him or whatever; I don't know. But, anyway, we just kind of did our things.

"What's interesting is with my audition, I wasn't friends with [the other members of DREAM THEATER]. I knew [singer] James [LaBrie] 'cause I had done three records with him and would consider him a friend, to a point, but we didn't yap other than that. Portnoy was the one that was my friend, so the guy that left was the person I was closest with. And even for the audition, James had his [then-]current drummer, Peter Wildoer, into the DREAM THEATER audition. So it was nothing… anything that was suggested that I was friends with them and I was just given the job or anything like that 'cause it's totally not true — [it's] totally false, totally made up by whoever wants to make things up that they wanna think."

Mangini beat out six other of the world's top drummers — Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer and Derek Roddy — for the gig, a three-day process that was filmed for a documentary-style reality show called "The Spirit Carries On".

"I wasn't nervous about what would happen 'cause I had such a good day that day," Mike recalled. "But I didn't know. I was, like, 'Oh my gosh. I'm nervous. I really would like to do this.' And who knows? All the other drummers, if they weren't already my friends became my friend after that. So I have close relationships with everybody. I was nervous because I know that each of the drummers does something amazing that the other one doesn't do. That's the beauty about art and music, is everyone has things that they're own and I know how great they all are. All I know is I didn't do anything that was a mistake to the point that it was noticed. It's a better way for me to describe than for me to say, 'I didn't make any mistakes that day,' or whatever. I have to be clear that I don't know that I hit this drum and I should have hit that drum — that's not what I mean. What I mean is nothing caused us to stop; nothing was out of place; I got every single test the first time; the jam was pretty good, it was fun; I played the songs correctly and had zero stops. It was that kind of thing — nothing was out."

Mangini made his name in the hard rock world in the mid-1990s when he played with EXTREME, before landing the gig with guitar legend Steve Vai in 1996. Nearly a decade later, Mangini took up a full-time teaching position at the world-renowned Berklee College Of Music.

DREAM THEATER's latest album, "A View From The Top Of The World", came out last October.

Three months ago, DREAM THEATER won its first-ever Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 64th annual Grammy Awards, which was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. DREAM THEATER was nominated for "The Alien", a track from "A View From The Top Of The World". DREAM THEATER's previous Grammy nominations were for the song "On The Backs Of Angels", from 2011's "A Dramatic Turn Of Events" album, and the single "The Enemy Inside" from 2013's "Dream Theater".

THE DARKNESS frontman Justin Hawkins has weighed in on the news that PANTERA's surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass) will unite with guitarist Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

Anselmo and Brown, along with Wylde and Benante, will headline a number of major festivals across North America and Europe and stage some of their own headline concerts.

According to Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of the band's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, as well as Brown, who last year said Wylde wouldn't tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It's unclear what changed his mind.

Hawkins, a 47-year-old British-born rocker who currently lives in Switzerland, discussed his views on the PANTERA comeback via his YouTube series "Justin Hawkins Rides Again" where he shares a mixture of serious musician analysis and fun hot takes to his 168,000 subscribers.

In the description accompanying the release of his video commentary, Hawkins wrote: "Big news for PANTERA fans with the announcement that they plan on reuniting for a tour, as PANTERA, despite Dimebag Darrell & Vinnie Paul no longer with us. This has been received with mixed feelings from PANTERA fans, they don't believe they should tour as PANTERA without the Abbott Brothers but rather as a tribute act. Is this an overreaction? Should the surviving members of PANTERA be allowed to tour as PANTERA or is it disrespectful after everything that's happened?"

In the 11-minute video, which can be seen below, Justin stated in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What is the problem here? It's PANTERA, isn't it? It's the surviving members of PANTERA. I know that two of the most iconic people in that type of metal are no longer with us, so they can't do it. So I think what the fans are saying PANTERA should be allowed to rest in peace now. And actually, there's something about that that makes sense. Maybe they should call it something else. Maybe it should be called 'The surviving members of PANTERA featuring' and then say Zakk Wylde and the other guy. Or maybe just don't do it. I don't know. I'm just playing devil's advocate here.

"I can understand the conundrum, because on one level, it's their right; it was their band," he continued. "Why wouldn't you go out and just do that? But at the same time, there's something about the legacy of PANTERA; this is one of those bands where that actually matters, I think. So maybe they should call it something else. I'm not suggesting they shouldn't do it. I always think about QUEEN in this instance. Why shouldn't Brian May and Roger Taylor go and play those songs as QUEEN featuring Adam Lambert or Paul Rodgers or whoever it happens to be. Of course they should do that. Why would you begrudge somebody the opportunity to go and play their own songs as their own band under those really awful circumstances where the people that you'd like to be performing and see performing just are no longer with us."

Talk about a possible PANTERA "reunion" intensified when Anselmo regularly joined Wylde's BLACK LABEL SOCIETY to perform PANTERA's song "I'm Broken" during DOWN's 2014 stint on the "Revolver Golden Gods Tour". That buzz only got stronger after Brown joined the jam on May 23, 2014 when the tour swung through Texas.

Up until his passing, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. When PANTERA broke up in 2003, they formed DAMAGEPLAN. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

DEF LEPPARD has released the sixth in a series of behind-the-scenes episodes from "The Stadium Tour", which kicked off on June 16 in Atlanta, Georgia. Episode 6 takes you to the stages at Detroit and Hershey, and shares more guitar stories, a new song on the setlist, singer Joe Elliott's performance of "Pour Some Sugar With Me" with Billy Joel, and more.

In the five-minute clip, which can be seen below, bassist Rick Savage — known to all simply as Sav — reflected on the Detroit gig, saying: "Wow, Detroit. What a show. The crowd was fantastic. There was just a great energy about the set. Just within the stadium, from the get-go, right from the start, it was, like, bang! And we were with the crowd. The crowd with us all the way. And it just kept going like that — it just kept going up and up and up and up."

He continued: "It was just a great night — absolute great night. It's one of those nights where it reminds you what a great job I've got — it reminds me what a great job I've got.

"Playing in a band like this is just fantastic. And every so often you have a night like tonight that just jogs your memory and [you] go, 'I've got the best job in the world.' And it was because it was fantastic."

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

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

DEF LEPPARD's long-delayed North American trek was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022. "The Stadium Tour" will conclude on September 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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

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

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

In July 2021, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx told the 95.5 KLOS radio station that his band and DEF LEPPARD "might even drag" the same tour "to Europe, South America, Japan," but he cautioned, "We don't know yet. Right now it's a little far off. But us and DEF LEPPARD are super close; that's great. And we'll just see what version of 'The Stadium Tour' might fit for other countries, if we decide to go. Maybe it'll be the same lineup. I know people are super stoked for the lineup. It's a good outdoor fun party evening."

SLIPKNOT will release its new album, "The End, So Far", on September 30 via Roadrunner. The official music video for the LP's new single, "The Dying Song (Time To Sing)", can be seen below. Directed by the band's own M. Shawn "Clown" Crahan, the clip sees one of the world's most popular and deeply enigmatic bands relentlessly charting new ground as they continue to redefine, revitalize, and reimagine the scope of rock music.

Speaking about the forthcoming album, Crahan asserted: "New Music, new art, and new beginnings. Get ready for the end."

Produced by SLIPKNOT and Joe Barresi, "The End, So Far" is available for pre-order today with several vinyl variants available at Slipknot1.com. "The End, So Far" includes the band’s 2021 surprise single "The Chapeltown Rag" and follows their widely celebrated 2019 album "We Are Not Your Kind", which marked SLIPKNOT's third consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The release made a massive global impact with No. 1 debuts in the official album charts of twelve countries around the world, including the U.K., Australia, Canada and Mexico, with Top 5 debuts in an additional twelve countries including Germany, France and Sweden.

In February, singer Corey Taylor told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about the musical direction of the new SLIPKNOT material: "It's really killer, man. It's darker than 'We Are Not Your Kind', but there's a ton of melody. I've been telling everybody that it's like a heavier version of 'Vol. 3[: (The Subliminal Verses)]'. It's got so many textures and layers. The heavy stuff has attack but the melodic stuff you can just sink your teeth in; there's a lot of great melodies and hooks. I'm really, really excited for people to hear it."

In March, SLIPKNOT drummer Jay Weinberg told Wisconsin's WZOR (Razor 94.7/104.7) radio station about the musical direction of the band's next LP.: "I would say we kind of turned up the dials on experimentation. And there's some new things happening that are really exciting, really interesting, stuff that maybe I wouldn't have even expected us to pull out of our hat. We've got a song that's like the heaviest blues song on earth, and stuff like that that's super exciting to hear what the guys are doing. Then, once we're working on the instrumental for a while, then we get to hear what Corey brings to the table and how that elevates things and turns things into newer and better and whatever… It's very exciting to hear that kind of taking shape. But, man, there's so much in it that is trademark SLIPKNOT. We're not gonna get away from that; we can't escape that even if we wanted to. There are certain things that are just touchstones of what we are, and I think we're really happy with that. And the fact that we can try to find new ways of presenting those elements — the loud, the fast, the abrasive, the discordant, all that is there for sure. And that's really exciting. I think [last year's single] 'The Chapeltown Rag' is a great example of that. I think that's a song that's us kind of at peak energy and chaos. But what also really excites me is the way that we push things in experimental ways without questioning it. It's just kind of, like, 'This is what we wanna do. And people can take it or leave it. We don't really care.' Like on our last record, 'Spiders' was a great example of a song that is totally out of no playbook of SLIPKNOT's, but we make it SLIPKNOT. I think now that we're kind of in this final stage of mixing this album, I think I'm confident in saying that we just kind of turned up the dials on all that experimentation. And there's some really, really new stuff that's super exciting. And I hope it makes its way onto the stage soon. It's gonna be exciting to share."

Asked how songs come together during the SLIPKNOT writing process, Jay said: "In a myriad of ways. There's really no one set formula for anything that happens. I think the one thing that we can all expect when we embark on making a new album — 'cause it takes so much, it takes so much time and energy and thought — the one thing, I think, that we try to maintain is that each process is pretty different. We wanna push ourselves, and the only way you're gonna push yourself is to change it up, make yourself uncomfortable in situations so you can become comfortable in those situations. And so I think pushing what we do to the extreme — you wanna kind of level up, for lack of a better term, each time you kind of go back to the drawing table."

He continued: "Now, after [making] three records [with SLIPKNOT], I know there are certain patterns of the way that we work together and our musical chemistry and the trust that's there. 'Cause we're all kind of trusting each other to make the greatest thing possible. So that could start with a lyric, it could start with a guitar riff, it could start with a drum beat, it could start with something that Sid [Wilson, turntablist] pulls from outer space. There's a million different ways to go about it.

"My first record with the band, '[.5:] The Gray Chapter' [2014], was very much like… I'm very proud of it, but I can tell in it, it was a lot of getting up to speed and really feeling out my new bandmates. 'Cause I joined the band and literally the next day we were working on demos for that record. Then so much of it is informed by our live show. I find that when we went in to make 'We Are Not Your Kind', so much of what we were doing was informed by how our natural musical chemistry is and how we are on stage, really, I feel, made it into that record. And then making this record, I think, was kind of just following more down that wormhole. And working with new people. This time around, we were able to work with [producer] Joe Barresi, which was an exciting time. I loved working with Greg Fidelman, who did our last two records, but working with Joe this time was different and a lot of fun. And yeah, the creation is just so thorough and it takes so much of all of us. It's so much more than I could have ever expected, being an outsider of the band and now having made three records. It's a gnarly experience that tests everybody, but I think the music, at the end of the day, kind of speaks for itself. And we're very happy with it."

"The End, So Far" track listing:

01. Adderall
02. The Dying Song (Time To Sing)
03. The Chapeltown Rag
04. Yen
05. Hivemind
06. Warranty
07. Medicine For The Dead
08. Acidic
09. Heirloom
10. H377
11. De Sade
12. Finale

Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner

SKID ROW frontman Erik Grönwall, bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo were interviewed by Chaoszine prior to their performance at Sauna Open Air festival in Tampere, Finland on July 9. You can now watch the chat below.

Regarding the feedback SKID ROW has received to the first single from the band's upcoming album, "The Gang's All Here", and their recent live performances, Bolan said: "It kind of feels like a new band, like we hit a reset button. And the attention that we're getting now, it's very positive, and it's nice to have that back."

Rachel also touched upon the addition of Erik, who went from auditioning for the competition show "Swedish Idol" back in 2009 by singing a cover of SKID ROW's "18 And Life" to now fronting the band. He joked: "We needed to wait for [Erik] to be born and grow up. That was our plan all along. We were waiting for some kid in Sweden to be born and then be old enough to come on the road with us.

"But, yeah, it's been great," Bolan continued. "And it has really brought this band to a new level. There's nothing bad I could say about it — 'cause I would. [Laughs]"

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

In May, SKID ROW shared the music video for "The Gang's All Here" title track.

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

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

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

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

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

Sumerlands have returned from the astral plane with another powerful collection of timeless, hooked filled hits: Dreamkiller. In the driver’s seat is renowned producer and guitarist Arthur Rizk who polished these eight metallic gems at Philadelphia’s Redwood Studios with his brothers in Sumerlands. Coming off of recent production credits with Kreator, Soulfly, and Show Me The Body, Rizk needs no introduction. His past work and expertise behind the boards with Power Trip, Ghostemane, Code Orange’s Grammy nominated album, Forever, Sacred Reich and many others have blown minds for over a decade. But it’s Sumerlands that truly fulfills his dream of melancholic chug.


The Sabbath-inspired haze of their 2016 S/T debut has been turbocharged with bigger riffs, distinct, Jan Hammer worthy synths, and forays into Badlands gone doom. But although doom crackles at the edges of Dreamkiller, this is classic, melodic metal forged with the melodrama of the Scorpions, the emotional heft of Foreigner, with an extra dose of depression.    


The album’s galloping lead single and title track “Dreamkiller”, available now, is an uptempo tour de force with an instrumental break and a festival-worthy chorus.




Rizk elaborates: “The ‘Dreamkiller’ instrumental section was inspired by Elton John’s ‘Funeral For A Friend’ which has the most evil sounding Bach-like guitar harmonies. I was drawing from the epicness of that song, as well as Judas Priest’s ‘Stained Class’ and Billy Joel’s ‘Movin’ Out’ which to me all typify that big 70s sound.”


Watch the "Dreamkiller" music video below.


The band’s alchemy is on full display throughout Dreamkiller as bassist Brad Raub (Eternal Champion) smirks behind his P-Bass while drummer Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms, Dream Unending) stares you dead in the face, swinging. New vocalist Brendan Radigan (Pagan Altar, Magic Circle) sings strikingly of lost souls in a world gone mad. Rizk and guitarist John Powers (Eternal Champion) keep their “Strats only” policy intact while wheeling in the full Marshall stacks to douse the record in glorious solos (witness the album closing duel of “Death to Mercy”).


Make no mistake, Dreamkiller is full of traditional metal fuel. After an amicable split with original vocalist Phil Swanson, Sumerlands have dug deeper into their secret well of cathartic riffage to soundtrack a planet “Running in circles as the bells, they chime.” Sing along, dream along, Dreamkiller kills ‘em all!    


Dreamkiller sees its release on September 16 via Relapse Records. The physical pre-order is available here, and to pre-save or listen on digital platforms, go here.





Tracklisting:


"Twilight Points The Way"
"Heavens Above"
"Dreamkiller"
"Night Ride"
"Edge Of The Knife"
"Force Of A Storm"
"The Savior’s Lie"
"Death To Mercy"


"Dreamkiller" video:





Sumerlands is:


Brendan Radigan (Vocals)
Justin DeTore (Drums)
John Powers (Guitar)
Brad Raub (Bass)
Arthur Rizk (Guitar/Synth)


(Photo - Jaclyn Woollard)

Las Vegas hard rockers Generation Landslide have released the second single from their upcoming Ruling the Street Scene album due later this year on the Weapon / Vanity Music Group label.





"Sometimes even the smallest decisions can have an impact on a person’s life,” says frontman Anthony White. “You may think you have made the correct choice, whether it's a relationship or any other life decision but you need to be prepared for the results."







The quartet's debut album, Ruling the Street Scene is a whirlwind of ‘80s and early ‘90s influenced melodic rock, complete with ocean wide hooks, sing-a-long choruses and a "feel good" vibe that continues throughout the entire album.  “The whole idea was to try and bring back all the elements of listening to an album from front to back that took you on some sort of a musical panache. I think it's a combination of catchy riffs, catchy songs with a bit of a modern feel mixed in,” related White. 


Generation Landslide is: 
Anthony White – Lead vocals, lead guitars (Cold Sweat drummer)
Sandy Stein – Guitars, vocals
Jonathon Swanson – Bass, vocals
Ken Koudelka – Drums, percussion, vocals (ex-Lillian Axe)


(Photo – Jennifer Swanson)

VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth has responded to a recent controversial article on Rolling Stone, "Inside A Superfan's Secret Friendship With Eddie Van Halen", in which a former music journalist opened up about his supposed clandestine five-year correspondence with the late rock icon. In the article, Blair R. Fischer claims that the legendary VAN HALEN guitarist took the opportunity in one e-mail to eviscerate Roth over the fact that VAN HALEN couldn't agree on a way to make new music.

"The reason it took that long for [VAN HALEN's 2012 album 'A Different Kind Of Truth' to come out] is Roth, including all the rehashed demos," the purported Eddie Van Halen wrote. He also blamed the singer for VAN HALEN having "nothing but a live record [2015's 'Tokyo Dome Live In Concert'] to show for three years downtime." The purported Eddie went on to say that Roth only wants to be onstage doing his "Vaudeville shtick!!", adding that "Roth is out of his mind" and not at all interested in rock and roll. The purported Eddie then said Roth only likes "dance music" and "hates bands like AC/DC," claiming that Roth calls that band's fans "culturally illiterate."

A representative for VAN HALEN said the band and Eddie's family declined to comment on the Rolling Stone article, as did a representative for Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen, who replaced bassist/vocalist Michael Anthony for VAN HALEN's 2007 reunion tour with Roth and remained in the band for the recording of "A Different Kind Of Truth". However, Roth decided to break his silence on the matter, issuing a brief statement to the Van Halen News Desk web site. He wrote: "1. I've always loved AC/DC. 2. I've never said that anyone's audience was culturally illiterate. I said that Ed was culturally illiterate." He added: "God Bless our Troops.."

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

Eddie was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000 and had tongue surgery. He later battled lung cancer and had been receiving radiation treatment in Germany. Things took a turn for the worse in early 2019 when Eddie got in a motorcycle accident. He was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor, and received gamma knife radiosurgery to treat the illness.

VAN HALEN had been inactive since it completed its U.S. tour in October 2015 in Los Angeles, California.

Just three months before Eddie's passing, Roth said that he didn't know if Van Halen would ever tour again. He told The New York Times at the time: "I don't even want to say I've waited — I've supported for five years. Because what I do is physical as well as musical and spiritual — you can't take five years off from the ring. But I did. And I do not regret a second of it. He's a bandmate. We had a colleague down. And he's down now for enough time that I don't know that he's going to be coming back out on the road. You want to hear the classics? You're talking to him."

Roth canceled a series of Las Vegas residency shows in January because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Three months earlier, he had announced in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was planning to retire after the residency.

Earlier this month, Roth released a new solo song titled "Pointing At The Moon". The acoustic-based, Americana-flavored tune was accompanied by a new abstract painting from Roth.
That's a thinker... 🤔 https://t.co/8owF25tBhj#VanHalen#EddieVanHalen

— Blair Fischer (@WriteBlair) July 16, 2022


Thank you for everything @eddievanhalen. Portion of my fee will donated to cancer research in EVH's name. 🧡🤘 https://t.co/fvX0AczJNn

— Blair Fischer (@WriteBlair) July 3, 2022