Lucifer have returned with a monumental new offering. The band released their latest record, Lucifer IV, last November via Century Media. Today, they have unveiled a new visualizer for the song, “Orion”, from the aforementioned record.


A cosmic, stargazing affair that offers soaring vocals, punchy drum sequences, and mystifying guitar riffs - fans can check out the visualizer for “Orion” below.


Speaking on the track and the visualizer for “Orion”, Johanna comments: "We've been meaning to pick 'Orion' as a single all along for its emotional impact but opted for the harder rockers first. This heavy heartbreaker rocks no less but is a lot more melancholic and wistful. It's a song about two people colliding briefly, then drifting apart again and about the loneliness you sometimes feel within your existence. You're born alone and you will pass on alone. In the end, we are all just particles revolving around each other in the universe, each one of us a lonely star in the night sky. The idea came to me when I read in Marianne Faithfull's autobiography about her relationship to Mick Jagger and the aftermath."







Furthermore, Lucifer announce that their latest album, Lucifer IV will be available as coloured vinyl for the first time.


Lucifer IV will be available in the following colors:


- Ltd. transp. orange (available at all outlets)
- Ltd. glow in the dark (limited to 500 units/band exclusive)


The release is set for May 20. Pre-order here.





Tracklisting:


"Archangel Of Death"
"Wild Hearses"
"Crucifix (I Burn For You)"
"Bring Me His Head"
"Mausoleum"
"The Funeral Pyre"
"Cold As A Tombstone"
"Louise"
"Nightmare"
"Orion"
"Phobos"


"Crucifix (I Burn For You)" video:





“Bring Me His Head” video:





“Wild Hearses” lyric video:





Lineup:


Johanna Platow Andersson – Vocals
Nicke Platow Andersson – Drums
Linus Björklund – Guitar
Martin Nordin – Guitar
Harald Göthblad - Bass


(Photo - Ester Segarra)

In a new interview with "The Garza Podcast", hosted by SUICIDE SILENCE guitarist Chris Garza, FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares opened up about his band's search for a new vocalist following the departure of Burton C. Bell nearly two years ago.

"A lot of people are calling me out for not announcing our new singer," Dino said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "[They're saying] 'What's up? You were gonna announce a new singer? What happened?' What I was gonna do is announce the new singer just before the STATIC-X tour [with FEAR FACTORY] that was supposed to happen right now. So I was gonna announce it, I was gonna release a track just before the tour, just to get some hype for the tour [and] introduce the person. But the tour got postponed, and I went on tour with SOULFLY [as a guest guitarist] and then all this other stuff.

"The thing is if I announce his name right now, everybody's gonna attack — boom! They haven't even heard him yet, and they're gonna attack him," Dino explained. "So I wanna do where I release a track. Everybody's, like, 'Release a track right now.' Well, there's planning involved. I don't wanna put a song out just to put it out and nothing behind it. So, in other words, what I'm trying to say is what most fans don't understand is you wanna create hype for something. In other words, just before a tour, I would release a song with the new singer, and people would get excited — boom! — you've got something to tour on. It would hopefully help generate more ticket sales, generate more interest for the band, blah blah blah blah. But if I release a track now, there's nothing behind it and it's just whatever. That's what most fans don't understand — there's planning and there's timing involved. So I'm withholding who this person is till the time is right… So that's my thing that I'm saying to everybody right now, is that."

When asked by Garza if the new FEAR FACTORY singer is "emotionally" ready to handle the inevitable pushback from some fans that he will get once his identity has been revealed, Dino said: "I think that they're ready. When it comes to talent, they're very ready. But 'tour ready' is completely different. Let's hope that… Well, the person that we have has done some touring, but not touring like we do touring. Like, a full U.S. tour can be anywhere from four weeks to six weeks to whatever, then you fly over to Europe and do another four to five weeks, come back to the States, do another tour, then you go to South America and do another few weeks there, then you go to Australia and do another few weeks there, and then you plan for next year. I think one of the other things, too, is when this person is announced, they're gonna have to be able to handle all the criticism. That's gonna be the hard part. 'Well, it didn't sound like Burt.' Well, of course not. I want this person… They do actually sound like Burt — they can handle all the old stuff like Burt — but as far as moving forward, I would like them to have their own identity. We're still gonna have the formula of what makes FEAR FACTORY — for sure — but I want this person to somewhat have his own identity as well."

Pressed about what happened to cause Burton to leave FEAR FACTORY, Dino said: "Good question. I don't know. I think he just lost interest in… I can only assume, because we went through some really heavy lawsuits for four years, and it financially crippled us — personally as well — and I just believe that he lost interest. I think that possibly all the stuff that we went through in FEAR FACTORY was just, like… He's one of those guys, 'Fuck it. I'm out. I quit. Fuck it.' He doesn't come across as a fighter — as somebody who's gonna be, like, 'Fuck it. We went through it. Let's go through it and let's just continue.' I mean, I left the door open for him for a while to come back into the band, but he pretty much said fuck me, Raymond [Herrera, former FEAR FACTORY drummer] and Christian [Olde Wolbers, former FEAR FACTORY bassist] — everybody. Fuck everybody.

"I'm not gonna push it," Dino added. "I'm not gonna push him or nothing like that. Fans ask me all the time: 'Hey, call him up. Just call him up.' Well, if you saw the stuff he said when he left, he's not exactly a phone call away… He left pretty bitter, and that's pretty much where… It looks like he's having a good time being free. So I'm not gonna force anybody to come back or [any] stuff like that.

"Some people want change in their life, but sometimes fans just can't accept that. Fans are, like, 'He was the singer for 30 years. Come back.' That was his decision. No one pushed him out; no one forced him to leave — none of that stuff. That was his decision."

Two months ago, former NIGHTRAGE singer Antony Hämäläinen, who recently unsuccessfully auditioned for the vocalist slot in FEAR FACTORY, claimed in an interview that the new FF frontman is "a person from Italy." He also added that a female vocalist who is "in a band with somebody who's a well-known producer/musician" auditioned for the position as well but didn't get the gig.

Asked about his previous comment that he was open to hiring a female vocalist for FEAR FACTORY, Dino told Bucketlist TV: "That was true. I auditioned a few women, yes. But it didn't work out — not because they were female or anything like that. Because I wanted to pick whoever was best for the position, and it turned out to be a guy."

Dino also addressed his statement from last year that he wanted to give an "unknown guy a shot" at fronting FEAR FACTORY. He said: "Well, it wasn't like I was only looking for somebody that nobody knew. I was looking for all different [types of singers]. Sure, if the guy turned out to be, or the girl turned out to be, someone that nobody knew and I gave 'em that shot, yeah, great. I was open to all of it, is what I'm saying. Male, female, whatever, known, unknown — I was open to all of that."

In September 2020, Bell issued a statement officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY, saying that he "cannot align" himself with someone whom he does not trust or respect.

Bell's exit from FEAR FACTORY came more than two weeks after Cazares launched a GoFundMe campaign to assist him with the production costs associated with the release of FEAR FACTORY's latest LP.

Bell later told Kerrang! magazine that his split with FEAR FACTORY was a long time coming. "It's been on my mind for a while," he said. "These lawsuits [over the rights to the FEAR FACTORY name] just drained me. The egos. The greed. Not just from bandmembers, but from the attorneys involved. I just lost my love for it.

"With FEAR FACTORY, it's just constantly been, like, 'What?!' You can only take so much. I felt like 30 years was a good run. Those albums I've done with FEAR FACTORY will always be out there. I'll always be part of that. I just felt like it was time to move forward."

In October 2020, Dino issued a statement in which he said that the door for Burton to come back to FEAR FACTORY wouldn't "stay open forever." The guitarist also revealed that Burton "lost his legal rights" to the FEAR FACTORY name "after a long court battle" with Herrera and Olde Wolbers. "I had the opportunity to do something right, and I felt that obtaining the name in full was the right thing to do for the both of us, so after nearly four years we can continue as FEAR FACTORY, to make more records and to tour," he said. "That is why it is sad to hear that he decided to quit and, in my opinion, for whatever issues he has it seems like it could've been worked out."

FEAR FACTORY's latest album, "Aggression Continuum", was released in June 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP, which was recorded primarily in 2017, features Cazares and Bell alongside drummer Mike Heller.

During an appearance on a recent episode of "The Bob Lefsetz Podcast", AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows offered an update on the band's long-awaited follow-up to 2016's "The Stage" LP. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We recorded an album a few years ago. We haven't finished it yet. We kind of took some time off for family, COVID, weird touring circumstances, some changes within our team. And we are still currently with one record left on Warner Brothers Records. We'll be finishing that record up — I think we have May locked out; our producer can get back to work on it — and then we're gonna go mix with Andy Wallace in August. And then we're gonna figure out if it's [going to be released in the] first quarter or fourth quarter or what we're gonna do. And then we're gonna be booking tours and put the tickets on sale when the record comes out and the whole nine yards."

M. Shadows also addressed the fact that Warner Bros. sued AVENGED SEVENFOLD in late 2015 after the band left the label by citing the California Labor Code's "seven-year rule." The rule allows for parties to exit contracts after seven years if certain unfavorable conditions exist. The band then moved on to Capitol, which issued the aforementioned "The Stage" as a surprise release in October 2016, promoted with a concert on top of the Capitol building.

The singer explained how AVENGED SEVENFOLD ended up returning to Warner Bros., saying: "There's a lot that goes into that. We pulled the old seven-year clause that we were trying to get out of our deal, but the reality is we wanted our masters back — we wanted to make some sort of deal and be able to own our recordings, or possibly re-sign and get a check, all the things you can do. And then we started thinking about the seven-year clause and we actually wanted to see if we could help artists out in a way.

"The people that we had a problem with at Warner Brothers that simply weren't engaged in the band had left, and some new people came in and they flew out and we basically broke bread and said this record we did with Capitol Records, come back to Warner Brothers, finish up your deal and we'll deal with it from there. So, obviously a lot of rabbit holes in there."

Elaborating on why AVENGED SEVENFOLD was so unhappy with Warner Bros. before going back to the label, M. Shadows said: "[When] our 2014 record, 'Hail To The King', came out, we just noticed that no one at the label cared about our band. Basically, they'd come to the recordings, they'd come and check out the record, and it was just everyone's on their phone, and there was just no support. So we tried to get a better deal or at least get our masters back and get out of there. We went over to Capitol Records and put out a record. I think we're the only band that actually put out an album while we were still in some sort of litigation over the seven-year clause which caused a huge uproar between the labels and ourselves."

Pressed by Lefsetz about how Capitol feels about AVENGED SEVENFOLD returning to Warner Bros. after the band released only one album through the former label, M. Shadows said: "We went to Capitol and they knew the situation we were in, obviously. They're not dummies — they're not gonna sign us and say, 'We're getting into some long-term deal here.' We were under the idea that we would get our record back. They were basically putting one record out for us, and then we'd be free. So I think they kind of probably expected something like that to happen. When the regime change happened with Warner Brothers, and obviously the amounts of money we were spending arguing with them back and forth, it was obviously… the smart thing to do was just kind of put it to bed. So I think Capitol, they're fine. They got their one record, and we went out and worked it — we toured for a long time on it. And now we're back to finishing up our contract."

A provision in the California Labor Code's "seven-year rule" allows labels to collect money that would have been made on undelivered albums. In its lawsuit against AVENGED SEVENFOLD, Warner Bros. sought damages based on the fact that the band had one album left on its contract, while the group argued that extensive turnover in the label's staff led to an unsatisfactory working relationship. Had it lost the case, AVENGED SEVENFOLD would have faced a verdict between $5 million and $10 million. Warner Bros. was also allowed to seek its attorney fees — which by 2018 had amounted to more than $1.5 million.

"The Stage" debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 album chart in November 2016. The surprise release of the disc earned the lowest sales of an AVENGED SEVENFOLD album in eleven years. It sold 76,000 copies in its first week, less than half the tally of its previous two efforts.

A few years ago, M. Shadows told The Pulse Of Radio that AVENGED SEVENFOLD was aware of the risks in such an unusual release. "One thing that we knew, you know, all the analytics proved that, you know, we shouldn't do this because of the way that rock fans consume music," he said. "You know, it's very physical-heavy, and one thing we knew is that we had to get records in stores, but we were gonna be basically setting ourselves up for a leak, which would have been a huge disaster. But Capitol Records did an amazing job of being able to get these records into stores, so we were able to be the first band to actually have a physical and digital release that was a surprise."

In a new interview with "The Mistress Carrie Podcast", SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo was asked which is harder to keep together: a band or a marriage. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I've had success and failures at both. There's a lot of similarities in the two things, but what usurps everything is love and respect. And that's a two-way street. Rachel [Bolan, bass], Scotti [Hill, guitar] and I, and Rob Hammersmith, the drummer who's been in the band 12 years, and now Erik [Grönwall, vocals], there's a love and respect that is completely palatable; you can feel it in the room with us, in the dressing room, on stage. It's all very real. That has to exist with the home life too. I love my family — I love my wife; I love my family. And as long as I'm able to be the man that I know I'm capable of, for my friends, for my family, then I'm the happiest guy in the room, I'm the happiest guy in the world. My happiness isn't based on how many zeroes are on my bank account statement; that's never been the driving force. It's always been about waking up and having a smile on your face.

"We all face really, really rough circumstances," he continued. "Our singer Erik is a cancer survivor. He didn't know if he was gonna live, much less sing again. And now this kid's on stage killing it, tearing it up. And it is a great testament to a person's love and fortitude and their character. And he exudes it with every note he sings. And I look at that and I'm inspired. It makes me a better person, a better guitar player, a better songwriter, a better performer. And it's so honest and truthful that it's completely infectious; it's undeniable.

"We navigated our career in such a path that regardless of the ups and downs of what we experienced in this business, we were able to always maintain some level of happiness throughout it all," Snake added. "We found strength in a lot of areas where other bands might have found despair."

SKID ROW's new single, "The Gang's All Here", was made available last month. The song is the title track of the band's upcoming album, which will arrive on October 14 via earMUSIC.

Grönwall joined SKID ROW two months ago as the replacement for ZP Theart, who had been in the group for more than six years.

SKID ROW, which played its first show with Grönwall on March 26, recorded "The Gang's All Here" 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.

Grönwall sang on H.E.A.T.'s last 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.

The 34-year-old Swedish singer was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021. A short time later, he wrote on his social media: "I am extremely privileged and grateful to live at a day and age where a disease like this is curable. There's been so much progress made in this field. My body is reacting well to the treatment but it's a long treatment and it's going to be the toughest challenge of my life so far, for me and my family."

Halestorm, who will release their fifth studio album, Back From The Dead, on May 6, have released an official lyric video for their latest single, "The Steeple". Watch below:





Back From The Dead is available in multiple formats for fans to pre-save and pre-order, here.




Produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Mastodon, Alice in Chains) with co-production by Scott Stevens (Shinedown, Daughtry, New Years Day), Back From The Dead quickly evolved from songwriting exercises into a matter of survival for the band.


Lead singer Lzzy Hale says, “We started writing this album about three months B.C. (Before COVID). Once we went into lockdown and were unable to perform and tour, I fell into a dark place and something of an identity crisis. This album is the story of me carving myself out of that abyss. It is a journey of navigating mental health, debauchery, survival, redemption, rediscovery, and still maintaining faith in humanity.”





Back From The Dead tracklisting:


"Back From The Dead"
"Wicked Ways"
"Strange Girl"
"Brightside"
"The Steeple"
"Terrible Things"
"My Redemption"
"Bombshell"
"I Come First"
"Psycho Crazy"
"Raise Your Horns"


"The Steeple" video:





"Back From The Dead" video:





Halestorm recently announced their summer 2022 tour featuring special guests The Pretty Reckless, The Warning, and Lilith Czar on select dates.


Produced by Live Nation, the 16-city tour kicks off on July 8 at Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill in Detroit making stops across the US in Boston, Charlotte, Phoenix and more before wrapping up in Portsmouth at Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion on August 12.





Dates:


July
8 - Detroit, MI - Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
10 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
12 - Indianapolis, IN - TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
13 - Cleveland, OH - Blossom Music Center
15 - Cadott, WI - RockFest (festival date)
17 - Baltimore, MD - Pier Six Pavilion+
19 - Boston, MA - Leader Bank Pavilion
20 - Bridgeport, CT - Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
22 - Harrington, DE - DE State Fair (festival date)
23 - Scranton, PA - The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
25 - Gilford, NH - Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion+
27 - Syracuse, NY - St. Joseph's Health Amphitheater at Lakeview
28 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center+
30 - Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre


August
2 - Irving, TX - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
4 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater
5 - Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Federal Theatre
7 - Grand Junction, CO - Los Colonias Amphitheater*
9 - Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheatre*
10 - Rogers, AR - Walmart AMP
12 - Portsmouth, VA - Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion+


* Not A Live Nation Date
+ Check local listings for lineup


(Photo - Jimmy Fontaine)

Tempe, Arizona-based deathgaze outfit, Kardashev, will release their sophomore full-length, Liminal Rite, on June 10 via Metal Blade Records, today unveiling the record's first single and pre-orders.


Forged in 2012, Kardashev's mission statement could best be described as, "Attempting to create the most beautiful, heavy music through themes of love, loss, and altruism in the metal spectrum." The band dropped their debut full-length Peripety in 2015 and has since focused on short form concept records, most recently 2021's stirring The Baring Of Shadows. Rarely approaching the creation of a record with any preconceptions or plans as to what form it will take, they work until what they generally envisaged manifests itself. The result is this year's Liminal Rite featuring eleven deeply rousing, poignant, and musically grandiose tracks.


Opening with the gorgeous drones of "The Approaching Of Atonement" before launching into the densely layered, surging "Silvered Shadows," an air of tragedy looms over much of the record's proceedings demanding an emotional response at every musical turn. Liminal Rite is lyrically deep and complex, focusing on mood above all else. Guitarist Nico Mirolla aptly describes the songs as musically bearing resemblance to freeform jazz or a progressive record, because, "The story is the focus. There is an overtly important narrative taking place that is facilitated by the sonic textures and qualities intentionally designed for it."




The record follows a narrative laid out by drummer Sean Lang's spoken word parts. Elaborates Mirolla, "Liminal Rite explores how the past can both wound and seduce, leading us down a path of self-destruction. It's an anecdotal tale from a fictional man's perspective late in life on how perception and reality do not always coalesce. His experience tells a larger message of how our minds often create a false view of the past. Sean's narration is him expressing the man's perception and recollection of life. The failure of his memory, the nature of dementia, and how it plays into his experience are all encapsulated by the narrative sections."


While Lang simply speaks his parts, vocalist Mark Garrett possesses a phenomenal vocal range, branching from the heavenly and frail to multiple different extreme metal styles, and he follows his gut instincts when it comes to deciding which to employ. "Nico, [bassist] Alex [Reith], and Sean write music that is heavily focused on emotional storytelling, Garrett notes. Because of this, and since I write vocals once the rest of the song is complete, I find myself both swept away in the emotion of the song and wanting to help further the cathartic experience of the listener even more."


In advance of the record's release, today Kardashev unveils a vocal playthrough for the album's first single, "Compost Grave-Song." Notes Mirolla of the track, "'Compost Grave-Song' illuminates the point of no return in The Lost Man's descent into regret, anger, and madness. He is lucid. He is awake. The Lost Man finds himself standing in the spot where his father knelt so many years ago. Guilt masked by anger grabs him by the chest and he curses the earth beneath him. The death of his brother rises to the surface of his mind as a cloud of locusts swarms a field, ripping and tearing until all hunger is satiated. He clutches a stone and sees the ghostly effigy of his father's hand doing the same. Images of the tragedy that took his brother away flood The Lost Man, and he remembers the fury of his father as the truth was laid bare. But… what was it, that grave mistake that manifested by his own actions? The memory is too far in the ground, buried under broken glass and isolation. But this time will be different. This time he will not be cast aside. He is home, and he would rather die than suffer the loss of his past for a second time."


View Kardashev's "Compost Grave-Song" video below.


With drums tracked in Lang's home studio, Kardashev returned to Endless Gate Audio in Arizona to track guitar, bass, and vocals. They then gathered at The Sound Lair in Tennessee - the first time this lineup has ever been in the same room together - to work with producer/mixer Miah Lajeunesse. The album was mastered by Ryan Williams. The band also brought in Bohren & Der Club Of Gore's saxophonist Christoph Clöser -- which was a life goal checked off for Mirolla - to add an extra flavor to haunting, epic closer "Beyond The Passage Of Embers," and Christopher Blaney added some piano parts alongside those of Rieth. The members also pushed themselves into new territory: Garrett recorded his own vocal harmonies rather than relying on a vocoder as on previous releases, Rieth recorded some piano parts, and Lang penned and recorded the spoken word story that haunts the record. The album comes cloaked in the cover art of Faith Veloro.





Liminal Rite be available on CD, digitally, and LP on the following color variants:


• Misty Rose Marble (US exclusive)
• Light Gray Marbled (US exclusive)
• Pale Blue Grey Marbled (EU exclusive)
• Crimson Marbled Marbled (EU exclusive - ltd to 300 copies)
• Clear Ochre Brown Marbled (EU exclusive - ltd to 200 copies)
• Pastel Blue Marbled (EU exclusive - ltd to 200 copies)
• Clear Lilac Marbled (EU exclusive - ltd to 200 copies)


Find pre-order options here.





Liminal Rite tracklisting:


"The Approaching Of Atonement"
"Silvered Shadows"
"Apparitions In Candlelight"
"Dissever"
"Lavender Calligraphy"
"The Blinding Threshold"
"Compost Grave-Song"
"Cellar Of Ghosts"
"Glass Phantoms"
"A Vagabond's Lament"
"Beyond The Passage Of Embers"


"Compost Grave-Song" video:





Kardashev lineup:


Nico Mirolla - guitars
Mark Garrett - vocals
Alex Rieth - bass
Sean Lang - drums

Time to grab those wayfarers, fire up the flux capacitor, jump in the DeLorean and revisit the fun and sunshine of the 1980s with White Spirit.


"Runaway" is the first single from the new album, Right Or Wrong, and is accompanied by a lyric video that reflects the carefree, good time vibes of 1981, when Brian Howe’s stunning vocal was originally recorded.


"Runaway" is a time capsule. A pure slice of joyous, melodic rock layered with luscious keyboards, driving guitars, a powerhouse rhythm and a barnstorming vocal from a young Brian Howe that showed he was destined for stardom.




After their debut single, "Backs To The Grind" was released on the legendary NEAT Records in 1980, White Spirit were hot property and their debut album was loved by critics and the public. After line up changes, the new and improved White Spirit entered the studio to work on their second album, but the album was never fully completed, the band broke up and musicians went their separate ways.


Singer Brian Howe crossed the Atlantic and became frontman for Ted Nugent, before achieving mega platinum success as the replacement for Paul Rodgers in Bad Company. So White Spirit were seemingly consigned to music history, with former members proceeding to forge impressive careers built on this promising foundation. Four decades on, the location of these 2nd album sessions remained a mystery.


The day following Brian Howe’s tragic death from a heart attack in May 2020, guitarist, Mick Tucker and keysman, Mal Pearson were on the phone reflecting on those heady White Spirit days. The missing tapes were once more discussed, but still neither had any idea where to find them. Fate stepped in, and during a house move, Mal Pearson was looking through his furniture in storage when he found a dusty old bedside cabinet. Inside were four sets of tapes. One labelled Chiswick Studios – White Spirit. This was it. The one they’d all thought was lost forever.


The tape was handed over to Conquest Music boss and Tank guitarist, Cliff Evans who arranged for the delicate process of restoring the tapes to retrieve the old recordings. Successful as the process was, the sound quality of some elements of the tracks were just not good enough for today’s ears so Tucker & Pearson decided to replace all of the musical accompaniment with a stellar line up of players. Neil Murray (Whitesnake) and Russell Gilbrook (Uriah Heep) made up the rhythm section, with the guitars and keyboards replaced by Mick and Mal.


Pontus Norgren (Hammerfall) was chosen to mix the album in Sweden, and the result is an incredibly fresh body of work with power, finesse, great songs, and amazing vocals. Ten tracks with a nod to the past, but fresh and vibrant arrangements fit for 21st Century ears. One can only wonder what may have been if the album was released as originally planned in 1981.


So the wheel of fate that saw White Spirit disband 40 years ago, turned once more, unveiling the lost tapes that finally reveal the first album recorded by Brian Howe, sounding as fine as he ever did.


The album Right Or Wrong will be released in July 2022 on Conquest Music. Be prepared for some surprise guest stars and a body of work that, had it come out when it was originally written, could have placed White Spirit amongst the giants of melodic rock.


White Spirit are planning live shows, with Tucker & Pearson already writing the next album. We can be sure it won’t be another 40 years before that is released.


The first single, "Runaway" features an exclusive radio edit, alongside the full, album version of "Runaway". Find "Runaway" on digital services here.

For the last two years, the thousands of Swedish metal fans who would gather once a year in Tyrolen to celebrate their heroes on stage at the annual Muskelrock festival have fallen silent. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the venue was forced to cancel their event in both 2020 and 2021.


It was in this dark time when the mighty metal legend, Thor, released his ode to the festival “This Is Musclerock” as the lead-off track on his album, Alliance. The track featured a stellar, unmistakable vocal from fellow metal behemoth John Gallagher of the groundbreaking metal act Raven. Together, these twin suns of classic metal united with one voice to call for a revival of the Muskelrock festival as well as the Musclerock genre that Thor himself helped to pioneer. And now the two appear in a brand new video for the track.


Thor shares these thoughts, “Some call me The King of Musclerock. As the proponent of the genre Musclerock, a precursor to Heavy Metal, I am happy that Cleopatra Records in coordination with Fistful Of Metal are releasing the new video for the song ‘We Need Musclerock.’ I am excited to be joined by the legendary John Gallagher of Raven on this one. This anthem is a tribute to the famous Muskelrock Festival held each year in the mountains of Tyrolen in Alvesta, Sweden. I was happy to help launch the Muskelrock festival with promoter Jacob Hector in 2009. Now it has become one of the greatest Metal festivals in the Universe. Thousands of Muscular Metal fans will gather from all over the world to herald the name of Thor and be entertained by feats of strength and a large roster of top bands. Thanks to Ted Jedlicki for directing/editing this exciting video and John Leibel for writing a great tune. So I say to all of you... SKAAL!”







Be sure to check out Alliance, which features stellar guest appearances from the likes of W.A.S.P.'s Chris Holmes, Raven vocalist John Gallagher, Danko Jones, Anthrax's Neil Turbin, Ross “The Boss” Friedman and many more.


Order the CD and vinyl here. Order/save the digital edition here.





Tracklisting:


“We Need Musclerock” feat. John Gallagher (Raven)
“Niflhel (Realm Of The Dead)” feat. Björn Strid (Soilwork)
“The Ultimate Alliance” feat. Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.), Ross “The Boss” Friedman (Manowar), Nina Osegueda (A Sound Of Thunder) & Fang VonWrathenstein (Lords Of The Trident)
“Ode To Odin” feat. Dan Cleary (Striker)
“We Will Fight Forever” feat. Neil Turbin (Anthrax)
“Because We Are Strong”
“Rock Around The World” feat. Danko Jones
“Queen Of The Spiders” feat. Frank Soda (The Imps)
“Power Hungry”
“Bounty Hunter” feat. Frank Meyer (The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs) & Dennis Post (Warrior Soul)
“Battlements” feat. Trevor William Church (Haunt)
“Thor vs. The Juggernaut (War Of The Gods)” feat. Sean Peck (Death Dealer)
“Generation Now” feat. Joey Killingsworth (Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre)
“After The Laughter” feat. Martin Gummesson (Thundermaker)
“Good Stuff” feat. Al Harlow (Prism)
“Congregate” feat. Joey Roads & Sheldon Byer (Roadrash)


"Good Stuff" video:



“We Will Fight Forever” (Reprise)


"Ode To Odin" lyric video:





"Queen Of The Spiders" video:





“Because We Are Strong” video:





Niflhel (Realm Of The Dead)":





“The Ultimate Alliance” video:

In a new interview with "The Mistress Carrie Podcast", DISTURBED drummer Mike Wengren spoke about the progress of the writing and recording sessions for the band's upcoming studio album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I can't divulge too many details just yet, but we're definitely in the middle of the process. We have been writing, we have been recording. I'm very excited about everything that we're coming up with right now. It's feeling great, it's sounding great."

He continued: "We don't necessarily have a definitive time frame right now [for the album's release]. Coming off two years of a pandemic, we just have been taking our time in trying to put out the best record of our careers and top everything that we've ever done before.

"I think people are gonna be pleasantly surprised when they finally get a chance to hear this," Mike added.

Wengren's comments come just days after DISTURBED singer David Draiman confirmed that the band has completed recording a new album. Prior to that, Draiman shared a since-deleted Instagram photo of a whiteboard — which appeared to have been taken in a recording studio — charting DISTURBED's progress with recording. On the board, 10 songs were listed, featuring such titles as "Hey You", "Love To Hate" and "Part Of Me". David captioned the picture: "And that's a wrap people. #HolyShitIsThisGood #epic @disturbed". Also included on the whiteboard was the guitar tuning for each track, with most of them using "Standard C#", "Drop C#" or "Drop C" tuning. One track was also recorded in "Drop A#" tuning, while another is in "Drop B".

Draiman spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for DISTURBED's follow-up to 2018's "Evolution" album during a recent appearance on "Whiplash", the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie. Regarding what it has been like for him and his bandmates to regroup in person after such a long time apart and once again launch the creative process, he said: "There's really nothing that replaces it. It was a continuing theme of conversation over the course of the week that we had together between our couple of shows we played in Indiana [in early November] and our performance over in Daytona for [the] Welcome To Rockville [festival]. There really is no substitute. There isn't. The energy and that realization when you've got something. Compare it to fishing, and you finally land a big one. [Laughs] It's incredibly, incredibly exciting. And we were on fire."

As for the musical direction of the new DISTURBED songs, Draiman said: "The material is somewhere between 'The Sickness' and 'Ten Thousand Fists' as far as where I would identify it as sonically. It's rhythmic, it's pummeling, it's anthemic, it's polysyncopated. It's meat-and-potatoes DISTURBED."

David also discussed DISTURBED's apparent decision to pursue a more aggressive musical approach on its next LP compared to "Evolution", on which nearly half the songs were either acoustic or semi-acoustic.

"It's a different sort of itch you're scratching," he said. "You can have the satisfaction that comes with, let's say, playing with your children peacefully somewhere and you can have a different sort of satisfaction in engaging in full-contact football with your buddies. It's just a different feel. They're both equally as gratifying but sometimes you just get a little taste more for one than the other. And right now we are definitely — we've got our teeth dug in to that style. We were dying to do the more aggressive stuff. We wanted to go back home. We wanted to go back to the 'groove so hard that you can't stop bobbing your head' kind of stuff. So, we're there, and we're loving it."

Prior to DISTURBED's appearance at Welcome To Rockville, Draiman told Lou Brutus of HardDrive Radio that the band will likely do things slightly differently with the upcoming release. "The way that I see it happening is we're probably not gonna put out something in the traditional full-length; we're probably gonna be doing two separate releases," he explained. "So we'll probably have one geared for release — if everything works as planned — by the fall, and then maybe something the following year as well." When Brutus asked Draiman to clarify if that means that the next DISTURBED release will be an EP, David said: "Define it what you want, but it would like five or six songs at a pop — something like that.

"We live in an environment right now and in an age where people's consumption of music has been very soundbitish and very track-driven and very single-driven," he continued. "And there's definitely some beauty towards continuing to try and [make] things like concept records and telling a long story over the duration of a series of songs — there's huge merit to that — but I think that when you write 10 songs and three of them actually get worked at radio and maybe, if you're lucky, the fans are really familiar with half the record and the rest ends up sitting on a shelf, and if you do end up pulling it out one day, it's like an obscure, weird moment during the set, and it's almost like gratuitous for yourself. I don't wanna do that anymore. I wanna make everything count. I wanna make sure that we get the biggest bang for everything we're putting out there. I think that that should be easily attainable. It seems to be where the environment is going, and it seems to be — whether we like it or not — what the digital age has funneled us into."

DISTURBED performed live for the first time in nearly two years in late September as one of the headliners of the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

In March 2021, DISTURBED's "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" was officially canceled. The amphitheater tour, with very special guest STAIND and BAD WOLVES, was originally slated to take place in the summer of 2020 but was rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was eventually scrapped altogether.

"The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" was supposed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of DISTURBED's seminal album "The Sickness". On this tour, the band was expected to perform songs off the album, as well as tracks from "Evolution" and DISTURBED's extensive catalog.

In September 2020, DISTURBED released a cover version of Sting's 1993 single "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You".

PUDDLE OF MUDD frontman Wes Scantlin has confirmed to Montana radio DJ Willy Tyler that he and his bandmates have been working on the material for the follow-up to 2019's "Welcome To Galvania" album. "I wrote basically every day [during the pandemic], and I'm still doing that," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "It was kind of, like, 'Wow, this really sucks, but it's really kind of cool almost that I get this much time to express my artistic [creativity].' It was a double-edged sword."

According to Scantlin, he has "plenty" of new music ready to be recorded. "And I've been working in the studio for the last month, month and a half," he said. "And I'm getting ready to get back in there and start doing it again. I've taken little breaks — just little weekends."

Scantlin's latest comments come five months after he made headlines when he walked offstage midconcert at the EPIC Event Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin after complaining about the venue's lights.

Wes had almost non-stop problems with the law, alcohol, finances and other issues, before claiming to have gotten sober in 2017. Scantlin said that he ended up going back to rehab and receiving treatment "because there's really nowhere else to go." He also credited his family and fans for giving him the strength to try to get better.

Scantlin was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in September 2017 after he attempted to board a plane with a BB gun. He pleaded no contest and was banned from LAX unless it involved traveling for work.

Before that, there have been a few tumultuous years for the singer and guitarist. In January of 2016, he was arrested on suspicion of breaking into his former home and vandalizing some of the property.

He skipped two court dates related to the charges later that spring, which led to another arrest.

Prior to that, Scantlin was arrested in December 2015 for possession of a controlled substance and had several previous busts that same year for driving under the influence.

Additionally, he was arrested at a Denver airport in 2015 for taking a joyride on a baggage carousel and taken into custody as far back as 2012 for an altercation with a flight attendant.

He also ended a number of PUDDLE OF MUDD shows in 2016 early with various meltdowns, including one in which he accused a fan of stealing his house

PUDDLE OF MUDD was formed in 1991 in Kansas City by Scantlin, the only original member still with the band. The group into the mainstream with 2001's "Come Clean", which yielded three hits — "Control", "Blurry" and "She Hates Me".

"Welcome To Galvania" was released via Pavement Entertainment.