While promoting his critically acclaimed Las Vegas Strip residency "Sammy Hagar & Friends", Sammy Hagar spoke to Fox5 KVVU-TV about the inspiration for his classic song "I Can't Drive 55". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Listen, it's stood the test of time. It's been around long enough where it came back around to have a whole new meaning — like all great songs do. [Laughs]

"Originally it was a protest song about that I didn't wanna go — when they lowered the speed limit — and now it's a protest song that I can't get where I'm going; I'm always late," he explained.

"I Can't Drive 55" was the lead single and first track from Hagar's eighth studio album, "VOA", which came out in 1984.

Sammy wrote the song in response to receiving a speeding ticket in New York State for driving 62 miles per hour on a road with a 55 miles-per-hour speed limit, which was the highest permissible speed limit in the United States at the time due to the National Maximum Speed Law enacted in 1974.

In a 1994 interview on the show "In The Studio", Hagar said about how he wrote "I Can't Drive 55": "I was in a rent-a-car that wouldn't go much faster than 55 miles an hour. I was on my way back from Africa. I did a safari for three months throughout Africa. A really great vacation after [1982's] 'Three Lock Box'. I was traveling for 24 hours, I got to New York City, changed planes, Albany, New York. Got in a rent-a-car. Had a place in Lake Placid at the time, a little log cabin. I used to go there and write with my little boy. Aaron, at that time, went to North Country school when I was on tour. I would go there and see him. It was a really cool getaway. But it took two and a half hours to drive there from Albany. And I was driving from Albany, New York at 2:00 in the morning, burnt from all the travel. Cop stopped me for doing 62 on a four-lane road when there was no one else in sight. Then the guy gave me a ticket. I was doing 62. And he said, 'We give tickets around here for over 60.' And I said, 'I can't drive 55.' I grabbed a paper and a pen, and I swear the guy was writing the ticket and I was writing the lyrics. I got to Lake Placid, I had a guitar set-up there. And I wrote that song there on the spot."

The "I Can't Drive 55" music video was directed by Gil Bettman and was shot on location at the Saugus Speedway in Santa Clarita, California.

In a new interview with Jorge Botas of Metal Global, legendary guitarist Steve Vai spoke about the experience of reading reviews of his own work and how it affects — or doesn't affect — the way he approaches making music. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've read a lot of reviews in the past. I've been doing press for 41 years, so I've read just about everything that could be written about. I don't even read my interviews now.

"What I've noticed in my career is that a good critic, a good music writer is a person that really enjoys music and also — and I know some people like this — when they listen to music, they're not criticizing it; they're critiquing it in line with their understanding of the artist, their understanding of the artist's career, their knowledge of when the artist has hit his sweet spots, when he's made his misses and what his potential is and what his focus was — him or her; whenever I say 'he,' it's always him or her — what the artist's focus was and what their potential was," he explained. "So a good critic will listen and keep all those things in mind and give a review based on — not their opinion. On their critique of that artist, it always helps if they like the artist. The critique of the artist's product based on where they're coming from and where they're trying to go. And I've found great guidance in certain reviews by certain critics of my work, because they know what I do, they know when I hit the mark, they know when I'm falling short and they listen to a new piece of work and I'm interested in what they have to say because they're right on usually; they can catch things that I kind of miss. Not that I think they may be correct or not, but a good critic can make an artist think, 'Hmm, okay. That makes sense.' And a bad critic just strings together adjectives to profess their own sense of false superiority by dismantling somebody else's career. So I avoid that. And you can recognize that when you read a critic that is really not a happy person."

A little over a year ago, Vai underwent shoulder surgery to repair an injury. That procedure was successful, enabling him to record his new album, "Inviolate". However, in preparing for a U.S. tour in support of the LP, it became clear that a new injury emerged that requires another surgery prohibiting the tour to be staged as previously announced.

The first U.S. leg of Vai's tour dates will now begin on September 28 in El Cajon, California and wrap the first week of December. The itinerary will now feature performances in 52 markets as opposed to the initial plan of staging 54 shows. All ticket and VIP purchases will be honored for the rescheduled date. Vai's performance in Atlanta, Georgia will now take place at the Variety Playhouse instead of The Eastern and due to scheduling conflicts, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Billings, Montana shows will no longer be a part of the tour.

Last February, Vai revealed that he had undergone shoulder and trigger finger surgeries, explaining that his shoulder had been "screwed up."

During an appearance on Tyler Larson's "Guitar Villains" podcast, Vai said that he sustained the finger injury by holding a tough chord for too long.

"Inviolate" was released on January 28 digitally and on CD via Favored Nations / Mascot Label Group.

Check out Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators rocking the SiriusXM Garage in Los Angeles with a riveting performance of the Elton John classic "Rocket Man", exclusively for The Howard Stern Show.





SMKC also knocked out "The River Is Rising", the first single from their new album, 4.







Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators have just kicked off their US tour in support of their new album, 4. Remaining dates on The River Is Rising Tour are listed in the official poster below. Get your tickets now at this location.





On Friday, February 11 at 11 AM, PT / 2 PM, ET, Gibson will celebrate the release of 4 by hosting Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators: Live At Studios 60 - a special, exclusive livestream performance of the album in its entirety, available only on Facebook and YouTube.


Watch a new video trailer below:





4 is Slash’s fifth solo album and fourth overall with his band featuring Myles Kennedy (Vocals), Brent Fitz (Drums), Todd Kerns (Bass & Vocals) And Frank Sidoris (Guitar & Vocals).


A vibrant rock album fueled by memorable guitar hooks and compelling melodies, big choruses, and even bigger riffs; 4 builds on the legacy of Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators’ prior work. That sensibility comes through immediately on the opening track and first single, “The River Is Rising”. The group has unleashed “The River Is Rising” to radio. Watch the official video for “The River Is Rising”, shot on location in downtown Los Angeles with Gibson TV director Todd Harapiak, below.


Slash describes the creation of the song “The River Is Rising": “There’s two or three songs on the record that were written during the pandemic; everything else was written before. ‘The River Is Rising’ was one of the last songs I wrote before we started pre-production, and because it was so fresh and has a certain groove and energy to it, it was the first thing we really attacked. It’s the newest song on the record, and as for the double-time part, that was something that I came up with and tagged onto the end of the arrangement. Then when we were over at RCA, Dave Cobb suggested we do it right after the breakdown. So, we went straight into the fast part, and I just started doing the guitar solo over it. It was one of those things where we were jamming around, trying to fish out the arrangement, and it just happened.” While Myles Kennedy adds, “The lyric ultimately explores how humans can be brainwashed or indoctrinated by some sort of dangerous idea. Once we shot the demo back and forth a few times, I personally felt confident that we had the album opener. To me, it’s an important track.”


For 4, Slash and the band traveled across the country together to Nashville, TN, and recorded the new album at the historic RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), revealing a stunning new sound and style all captured live in the studio. Cobb shared the band’s desire to lay down the tracks live, in the studio including guitar solos and vocals - a first for the group. The band’s previous albums over the last decade Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire, and Living The Dream have continued on an upward trajectory, all achieving Top 5 Billboard charting debuts in the U.S. and reaching the Top 10 on 12 major charts across the globe. To date, the three SMKC albums have now garnered 10 consecutive Top 5 Radio singles, spawned sold-out world tours, and have earned Slash and the band the best critical acclaim of their career.





The band has launched a DSP and physical pre-order in the following formats for 4, including a Deluxe Vinyl Box Set featuring a vinyl gatefold jacket in four colors (Black, Red, Blue, and Purple), randomly distributed inside a mirrored O-card. Each vinyl is 140g black vinyl and comes with a guitar pick, an Axe Heaven Custom Limited Edition 4 Slash Les Paul Mini-Guitar, CD softpack in one of the four colors above (also random), the O-card and a guitar pick, a Cassette Tape featuring an exclusive 4-song live rehearsal titled “Live Rehearsal Tape 5/28/21,” a 36-page photobook including an SMKC interview and handwritten lyrics, an embroidered sew-on patch, a Signed Lithograph (limited to the first 500 copies) and a pick tin with 4 custom Slash guitar picks. A Deluxe CD Box Set, a full album Cassette Tape, and Standard Vinyl and CD packages are also available. To view the full variety of 4 album packages available, go to Slashonline.com.





Tracklisting:


"The River Is Rising"
"Whatever Gets You By"
"C'est la Vie"
"The Path Less Followed"
"Actions Speak Louder Than Words"
"Spirit Love"
"Fill My World"
"April Fool"
"Call Off The Dogs"
"Fall Back To Earth"


"Call Off The Dogs":





"Fill My World":





"The River Is Rising" lyric video:





"The River Is Rising" official video:





The new album 4 has the added history-making distinction of being the first-ever album to be released on the new Gibson Records label, which is headquartered in the iconic American instrument brand Gibson’s hometown of Music City, Nashville, TN. In light of the 30-year partnership between Gibson and the Grammy Award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Slash, it makes sense the new Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators’ album 4 will be released via Gibson Records - in partnership with BMG.


In another groundbreaking move, Gibson will commemorate Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators’ first studio album with Gibson Records, with a first-ever limited edition Slash Les Paul Standard 4 Album Edition guitar package that will be released on February 11, the same day as the album release. Only 250 Slash Les Paul Standard 4 Album Edition guitars will be made available for global release on Gibson.com and at select authorized Gibson dealers, and the unique guitar package also features the new SMKC album 4 on vinyl with an exclusive case inside that houses the vinyl, a 4 album guitar pick tin containing a variety of pick colors (8-count), a signed SMKC band portrait, and a 4 album decal sticker.






 

“Vicky's Eyes" (2022 Version) is the new video and single by Lars Eric Mattsson.





Taken from the album The Outsider which is out now and features ten different singers, 19 Tracks, 81 Minutes The guest singers: Elisa Pezzuto, Daphne Nisi, Johanna Mattsson, Göran Edman, Markku Kuikka, Conny Lind, Walle Wahlsten, Adrienn Antal, Niko Mattila. Lars is also handing vocals on some songs as well as providing backing vocals to most tracks.




This (double) album is made out of 19 tracks (almost 81 minutes!) of classic melodic hard rock with a progressive touch including a few ballads and three instrumentals. Lars says it’s his most well crafted and probably also most accessible work to date and that no song could be left out as that would make the picture of where he is at this moment in life incomplete. “It was a huge joy to work with these excellent singers and I tried to give everyone material that would be perfect for each individual”. 


Production and recording credits:


Lars Eric Mattsson - Guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals


Lead vocals:
Göran Edman (“Now and Forever”)
Conny Lind (“Gold Digger”)
Adrienn Antal (“Raise My Sword”)
Daphne Nisi (“Where Are We Going?”)
Markku Kuikka (“Stare into the Abyss”)
Niko Mattila (“The Road I've Chosen”)
Johanna Mattsson (“Keep This Flame Alive”)
Walle Wahlsten (“Into the Battle”)
Elisa Pezzuti (“Sometimes I Wonder”)
Lars Eric Mattsson
(“The Sun Coming Down”, “It's Too Late”, “Who Are We Foolin'”, “I've Got the Funk”, “We All Bleed for Love (Vikings)”, “Broken Heart Blues”, “Vicky's Eyes”)


"Raise My Sword":

Wisconsin-based heavy metal outfit Lords Of The Trident have released the second single from their upcoming studio album, The Offering. The new track, "Charlatan", is out today - along with a thrilling new music video. Fans who are already members of the band's Patreon received a week's worth of early access to both the song + video ahead of the public release.


Talking about their new single "Charlatan", Lords of the Trident comment:


"Anyone who's seen a live Lords Of The Trident show knows that we're no stranger to pyrotechnics. This video was shot in complete darkness, with the only source of light coming from the burning cannon fuse! The plant in China that makes this specific type of fuse burned down in 2019, so we only have enough fuse for one take each. ...it took us a few takes (and a lot of coughing) to realize we should've probably opened a window during filming."




The full album (The Offering) is available right now for members of the Lords Of The Trident Patreon who pledge $5 or more. This pledge not only gets you an immediate copy of the new album, but also their three previous albums (Shadows From The Past, Pull The Plug, and Power Outage) as well as 20+ internet-exclusive singles, 25+ full-concert bootlegs, and a mountain of exclusive content for Patreon backers only. The full album will not be released publicly until April, so being a backer is the only way to hear it before it releases. 100% of the money pledged goes directly to the band and helps them play more shows, make more content, and survive the evils of the music industry.


More info here.


The Offering is the fifth full-length album by Lords Of The Trident (and their 10th release overall). This medieval concept album weaves a tragic story of a young boy sold into servitude, his arduous training to become a "Guardian", and the city that betrays him. Mixed and mastered by Grammy-nominated Jacob Hansen (engineer for Avantasia, Unleash the Archers, Volbeat, Amaranthe, and more), this is one of the best-sounding epics you'll hear. Filled with blazing solos, soaring vocals, complex drumming, and multi-layer musical composition, The Offering will take you on a heroic and tragic musical journey that will stay in your mind long after the album has finished.





The Offering tracklisting:


"Legend"
"Acolyte"
"Charlatan"
"Feed The Wolves"
"Carry the Weight"
"Offering To The Void"
"Champion"
"The Invitation"
"Dance Of Control"
"These Tower Walls"
"Power Of Evil"
"The Blade"
"Heart Of Ashes"


"Charlatan" video:





"Power Of Evil" video:

Knucklebonz has announced KISS Dynasty Rock Iconz statues are now available. The statues are taken from the costumes worn during KISS’ Dynasty period in 1979.





A description reads:




“Only 3000 sets are created. These KISS Dynasty era statues are now available for preorder. Ships estimated Late spring/ summer 2022. Exact date TBD.


“These exclusive KISS statues are hand-painted and numbered and come with a certificate of authenticity printed on the base of each collectible statue.


“These are officially licensed products. The KISS statues are created using a team of highly skilled artists. Each statue is sculpted and cast in poly-resin and then hand-painted in fine detail. These limited-edition statues created by KnuckleBonz are highly collectible.”


Find preorders at knucklebonz.com.

22 years ago today - February 9, 2000 - Union played the legendary CBGB in New York for their album launch party for The Blue Room, the band's second studio full-length.


"In celebration, here's the full show from that night," says the band. "It was a short set as this was a promotional appearance and we had a party to get to afterward!"







Deko Entertainment and Blackbird Entertainment, Inc have teamed up with Union and all the original members - John Corabi, Bruce Kulick, James Hunting, and Brent Fitz - to bring you two very special releases. 


Union’s self-titled album and The Blue Room will be available on vinyl with all new artwork and colored variants. All details will be revealed on March 1st. Until then, sign up for the Deko Newsletter to get all the latest updates, and check back regularly as we slowly unveil what’s to come…





Union is comprised of vocalist / guitarist John Corabi (Mötley Crüe, The Scream), guitarist Bruce Kulick (KISS, Grand Funk Railroad), bassist Jamie Hunting (David Lee Roth, Vince Neil), and drummer Brent Fitz (Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, Vince Neil).


Formed in Los Angeles, California in 1997, Union released two studio albums and one live album: Union (1998), Live In The Galaxy (1999), and The Blue Room (2000).


 


 

Ted Nugent has spoken out against the participation of transgender women in female sports, calling it "the work of Satan" and "absolutely unacceptable."

Last summer's Tokyo Olympics were the first to see publicly out transgender athletes compete. According to ESPN, Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, and Chelsea Wolfe, an alternate on the United States BMX team, became the first transgender women to qualify for the Olympics. Canadian soccer player Quinn and American skateboarder Alana Smith became the first out non-binary athletes to compete at the Olympics.

Hubbard's participation as a trans woman in the Summer Olympics was met with controversy, with critics saying her eligibility was a threat to fairness in sport.

Nugent addressed the hot-button issue during a recent episode of "The Nightly Nuge", a news-style clip in which Ted offers his take on the news of our world every night "in a concise, fiery fashion that [is] totally Ted." The outspoken conservative rocker said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "This transgender atrocity is a manifestation of cultural deprivation the likes of which I don't believe mankind has ever experienced, much less the soullessness, the rot, the evil, the mean-spiritedness, the cruelty that could ever support a man beating women's records, much less a biological man entering a woman's locker room or a girls' bathroom at a high school to perpetrate rape or molestation. This is happening. This is absolutely unacceptable. It is the work of Satan. It is the work of evil."

He added: "Conscientious, empathetic, passionate, compassionate, sensible, decent human beings know that this is an atrocity. We have got to eliminate this. This is just a self-inflicted curse of pure rot being unleashed upon the American public. And I'm afraid it's gonna be a global phenomenon."

Ted previously touched upon the decision to allow Hubbard to compete in the Olympics during a May 2021 Facebook Live session. At the time, he said: "I heard the story of the world record holder weight-lifting champion which was born a man was allowed to compete against women. See, there's a manifestation of a cultural abandonment the likes of which I don't think we've ever seen before — where a man gets to go, 'I feel like a woman so I'm gonna compete against the women.' Then they set world records in athletic events because they're a man competing with women. And some dirtbag would go, 'Yeah, that's perfectly legitimate. That makes perfect sense.' Because women can't lift as much as men, so the man who claims he's a woman — he's not a woman; the penis might be an indicator. And he sets world records in athletic competitions where a man is competing against women. And some mindless dirtbag goes, 'Well, that's legitimate. That's good.'

"Woah! You have to literally trade in your soul for a sun-baked turd to believe that a man can compete against women and that that's okay," Ted continued, before adding: "What is wrong with these liberal Democrat Marxist Satanists?"

According to ABC News, experts have said that there is no evidence that trans athletes are disproportionately dominating sports that correlate with their gender identity or that they have an advantage in their sport.

Dr. Eric Vilain, a geneticist who studies sex differences in athletes, told NPR in March 2021 that testosterone affects performance in only a very small number of athletic disciplines and doesn't provide any advantage.

Caitlyn Jenner, who competed in the 1976 Olympics decathlon as Bruce Jenner, had previously declared her opposition to transgender girls competing in girls sports, telling TMZ that it "isn't fair. That's why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls sports in school. It just isn't fair, and we have to protect girls' sports in our schools."


Transgender Athletes And TheIr Impact On Fairness In Sports

As the Olympics put a spotlight on Men’s and Women’s global athletic competition, here in America there is a battle to integrate transgender athletes. Ted makes his position clear and you need to hear why he feels the way he feels. TNN anchor, Keith Mark, wonders aloud where feminists and the NCAA stand in regards to fairness.

Posted by The Nightly Nuge on Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Impure Wilhelmina have released an official live video for "Jasmines", featured on their seventh full-length, Antidote (Season Of Mist).


Says the band: "While waiting to finally get back on stage, we are proud to share with you this intense moment from the Antidote release party last October at Le Rez - Usine in our home town of Geneva. 'Jasmines' is a very special track which we had the chance to play that night accompanied on piano by our brother, friend and former drummer David. This rare and emotional atmosphere was beautifully captured by Steven Blatter / Progressive Pictures in a single sequence shot. We love the result and hope you will too." 🖤







Order the Antidote  album here.





Tracklisting:


“Solitude”
“Midlife Hollow”
“Gravel”
“Dismantling”
“Jasmines”
“Vicious”
“Torrent”
“Unpredicted Sky”
“Antidote”
“Everything Is Vain”


Album stream:





"Midlife Hollow" video:





"Dismantling" lyric video:





(Photo - Mehdi Benkler)

Dianthus has just released their brand new album, Realms” which was produced by Steve Evetts (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Symphony X, Butcher Babies, etc.) and includes 12 new songs including the stand out tracks “Realms” and “A Space In The Silence”. The album recently caught the ear of legendary drummer Carmine Appice who comments, “These Two Females Rock! Love their vocals and their voices. Great look and killer songs, Check them out!!”


Watch a new teaser video:







Jackie and Jessica had this to say about the release, “Realms is our second full-length studio album. The sound on this record can be described as a synergy of elegant and aggressive musicality. Our love of classical piano, modern rock, and progressive metal blend together and serve as the soundtrack to the record’s concept. Realms is also the story of a sisterhood journey through a mystical fantasy world, which is soon to be further explored through various mediums (a comic book and more are in the works). This album is sure to make its mark on the comic book world and music scene alike.”


They had originally previewed the tracks “Realms” and “Creeping In” during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and the lead-off single “Realms” quickly gained the attention of press and fans alike.


Deko Entertainment is also excited as president Bruce Pucciarello explains, “Watching J&J weave their creativity into Realms has been a pandemic highlight for all of us.  Every song is catchy, layered and textured, recorded and mixed by Steve Evetts and mastered by Steve DeAcutis.  Some of the best talent in the industry is invested in making sure Realms delivers a full dose of what the twins are capable of.  It’s all here.”


You can order Realms now and also get the Limited Edition bundle while supplies last.


This bundle Includes:


- One (1) Dianthus - Realms CD (Auotogrpahed)
- One (1) Dianthus – Realms Koozie
- One (1) Dianthus Logo Beanie
- One (1) Dianthus Logo Bracelet





Tracklisting:


"Realms"
"My First Breath"
"Don't Change"
"Creeping In"
"The Quest For Nessie"
"Spines"
"A Space In The Silence"
"The Returning"
"Lonicera"
"Heart's Ease"
"Nora's Finding"
"Secrets & Promises"

Volbeat have released a lyric video for "The Passenger", featured on their new album, Servant Of The Mind, out now via EMI Records. Watch the clip below:





Servant Of The Mind is available in standard/digipack CD, deluxe 2LP vinyl (with various limited-edition variants, more info below), a deluxe digital edition, plus a special box set (including 2CD digipack, 28pg booklet, bandana, and hip flask, housed in a metal box, available from the official Volbeat store). Order the album here.







Tracklisting:


"Temple Of Ekur"
"Wait A Minute My Girl"
"The Sacred Stones"
"Shotgun Blues"
"The Devil Rages On"
"Say No More"
"Heaven’s Descent"
"Dagen Før" (feat. Stine Bramsen)
"The Passenger"
"Step Into Light"
"Becoming"
"Mindlock"
"Lasse’s Birgitta"
 
Deluxe 2 CD/2 LP and Digital Deluxe bonus tracks:


"Return To None" (Wolfbrigade cover)
"Domino" (The Cramps/Roy Orbison cover)
"Shotgun Blues" (feat. Dave Matrise from Jungle Rot)
"Dagen Før" (Michael Vox Version)


"Say No More" lyric video:





"The Devil Rages On" lyric video:





"The Scared Stones" lyric video:





"Temple Of Ekur" lyric video:





"Shotgun Blues" video:





"Becoming" lyric video:





"Shotgun Blues” lyric video:





"Wait A Minute My Girl" video:





"Dagen Før" lyric video:

The second single from Outlanders (Tarja Turunen and Torsten Stenzel), "The Cruellest Goodbye" featuring Al Di Meola, is out now. Order/listen here, and watch a lyric video below:





A message from Tarja states: "The song was written together with Harry Sommerdahl, co-writer of 'I Walk Alone', in 2008. Nevertheless, I didn’t quite feel that the song was having the character nor spirit for one of my rock album releases, but since I loved the song very much, I kept it always present for a later use. 'The Cruellest Goodbye' is a sad story about a forbidden love.




"Even though it was originally composed and arranged as a piano song, I always imagined it with acoustic guitars. Friday Night In San Francisco is a live album by three of the best acoustic guitar players in the world: Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía and it was the main reference and source of inspiration for the sound I was hoping for.


"I was living in Buenos Aires, Argentina back in 2013 when I got the news that Al Di Meola was having a concert in October the 2nd at the Gran Rex Theater. I took a chance to meet him and talk about my song. I visited him at his superb concert, and we had a glass of wine at the backstage after the show was over. Al was very kind and showed immediate interest to take part in our project. It was early stages for the whole idea, so I still didn´t have many references to give him, but one: to be himself.


"It’s amazing how openminded he was about the recordings and the outcome shows you the great effort he put on to the song. He is outstanding, virtuoso musician and made the song feel like there has always been a guitar involved since the birth of it.


"Not only he played several tracks with his acoustic trademark guitar sound, but also delighted us with an additional synthetized guitar that blends totally in synch with the programmed background.


"I am so grateful for Al to trust his talent with us.


"'The Cruellest Goodbye' went through few difficulties during the production process. Torsten’s computer hard drive really crashed several times, so I ended up recording vocals for the song 4 times spread though 13 years! Anyway, every time I did, it felt refreshing and new to me, so I didn’t mind about it and definitely enjoyed the process.


"I am very happy that 'The Cruellest Goodbye' finally find its home with Outlanders.


An official music video for the song will be released soon, and three trailers can be viewed below:











Outlanders was created by Finnish soprano legend Tarja Turunen and EDM pioneer Torsten Stenzel. Both were able to recruit some of the most influential guitar players of our time to feature as guests on their songs.


They previously released the official visualizer for, "Closer To The Sky" featuring guitarist Trevor Rabin, best known as guitarist of prog rock icons YES, as well as a top Hollywood blockbuster movies score composer.





To learn more, visit Outlanders on Facebook, or their official website, tarja-outlanders.com.

Legendary progressive rockers YES — consisting of Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood — have released a video for the song "A Living Island". The clip was created by Wayne Joyner, who has made all of the promotional videos for YES's latest album, "The Quest".

Geoff Downes says: "Very excited to announce the release of the video for the track 'A Living Island' from 'The Quest'. It is a combination of a few ideas I had that Jon developed beautifully, and it is a most fitting end track to the album complete with its majestic finale. Also, very proud that I've contributed another piece of music that has been added into the prestigious YES canon."

Much of the music for "The Quest" was "written in late 2019 with the rest in 2020," says Howe. "We commissioned several orchestrations to augment and enhance the overall sound of these fresh new recordings, hoping that our emphasis on melody, coupled with some expansive instrumental solo breaks, keeps up the momentum for our listeners."

"The Quest" was recorded across the globe. The sessions took place in the U.K. with Howe, Downes and Davison, while White and Sherwood got together in the studio in the U.S. "Billy Sherwood and myself did all the rhythm sections, bass and drum, in America," says White, "down in Los Angeles at Uncle Studios, where he works a lot. It helps when you've got a good place to work," Alan laughs, "and Billy's really good on the recording desk, so we got things down relatively quickly. I spent quite a while studying the music before I went down to L.A. so I was prepared."

The cover artwork was designed and created by the band's longtime collaborator Roger Dean.

"The Quest" 2CD digipak track listing:

CD1:

01. The Ice Bridge 7.01

02. Dare To Know 6.00

03. Minus The Man 5.35

04. Leave Well Alone 8.06

05. The Western Edge 4.26

06. Future Memories 5.08

07. Music To My Ears 4.41

08. A Living Island 6.52

CD2:

01. Sister Sleeping Soul 4.51

02. Mystery Tour 3.33

03. Damaged World 5.20

For half a century, YES has been the definitive band of the progressive music genre, the band by which all others are judged. Their groundbreaking albums of the 1970s set the standard for the genre and influenced countless others who followed in their wake.

The current lineup of YES was completed in 2015 when Sherwood replaced founder member Chris Squire, at Squire's insistence, as he bravely fought a losing battle with leukaemia. Since then, YES has concentrated on touring with their Album Series tours, each featuring a classic YES album in its entirety. During this period, YES has released three live albums, "Topographic Drama - Live Across America" (2017), "Yes Live 50" (2019) and "The Royal Affair Tour: Live In Las Vegas" (2020).

Photo credit: Gottlieb Bros

The original KILLING JOKE lineup has announced the "Lord Of Chaos" EP, marking its first new material in seven years. The effort contains two brand new recordings plus two reworkings of songs from the confrontational U.K. band's last studio album, 2015's "Pylon".

Jaz Coleman states: "I've never known anything like the time we are living in now; not since the Cuban Missile crisis but now in comparison we have multiple flash points. 'Lord Of Chaos' is about complex systems failure, when technology overloads and A.I. misreads the enemies' intentions."

The "Lord Of Chaos" EP will be available on CD, digital, and three vinyl formats.

Watch the video for the title track below.

"Lord Of Chaos" EP track listing:

01. Lord Of Chaos

02. Total

03. Big Buzz (Motorcade Mix)

04. Delete In Dub (Youth's Disco 45 Dystopian Dub)

Tracks 1 and 2 were produced by KILLING JOKE and mixed by Tom Dalgety and they set the tone for the band's next studio album, currently being worked on in Prague. Meanwhile, tracks 3 and 4 give a fresh spin to numbers from the "Pylon" album — "Big Buzz" having been remixed by Dalgety and Nick Evans, and "Delete" getting the full dub treatment courtesy of KILLING JOKE's Youth, who has a longstanding reputation in this area.

KILLING JOKE is very much music as ritual — raw, uncompromising and precisely targeted lyrically; and Coleman, Geordie, Youth and Big Paul, founding fathers of the group and an ongoing influence on both alternative music and (counter) culture in general, show absolutely no signs of mellowing.

10 YEARS will release "Deconstructed" on March 4 via and Mascot Records / Mascot Label Group. The album will include 19 alternate takes of the band's most popular songs from their 20-year career.

Previews of "Wasteland (Alternate Take)" and "The Unknown (Alternate Take)" are available below.

The complete track listing of "Deconstructed" features "Halos", "Lucky You", "Say Goodbye", "The Unknown", "I Wish", "Waking Up", "Patiently", "Seasons To Cycles", "Survivors", "Running In Place", "Knives", "Soma", "Fix Me", "Fault Line", "11AM (Daydreamer)", "Planets I", "Dying Youth", "One More Day" and "Wasteland".

Guitarist Brian Vodinh states: "The idea for 'Deconstructed' started out as just an acoustic performance. Myself and Matt with acoustic guitars, and nothing beyond that in terms of instrumentation. Then, as I was working on adapting some of the songs to an acoustic environment, I started getting these thoughts, like, 'What if this was played on a piano instead?!' Then once we opened the door to further instrumentation things spiraled out of control quickly, and it became one of the most challenging, yet most gratifying projects we have taken on. 'Deconstructed' allows the listener to discover this list of songs all over again, in a new way."

Singer Jesse Hasek adds: "The 'Deconstructed' versions of these songs really hit me in an emotional way. It felt different to sing over the orchestrations that Brian and Matt had created for these. It felt really intimate, and like they had really carved a path for where my voice was to sit on those arrangements. I hope people can listen to these versions and find the spirit in them that we were trying to convey."

The release of "Deconstructed" follows the band's most recent studio album "Violent Allies". The lead single, "The Shift", has been streamed over 9.5 million times on Spotify, with over 16 million collective streams across all platforms. Repertoire from the album has been streamed 15.8 million times on Spotify, while collective streams across all platforms exceeds 30 million.

10 YEARS will return to the road this spring with an extensive tour of the U.S. that will play 33 markets. On April 8, the Official Fan Summit will be staged in Las Vegas at 24 Oxford, where the band will perform their "Feeding The Wolves" album in its entirety, featuring the prior singles "Fix Me" and "Shoot It Out", for the first and likely only time ever.

HIGH ON FIRE's Matt Pike will release his debut solo album, "Pike Vs. The Automaton", on February 18 via MNRK Heavy. The official music video for the LP's latest single, "Land", can be seen below. The track features a guest appearance by MASTODON guitarist Brent Hinds, an old pal of Pike's.

"'Land' was written after I had just come home from a tour," Pike said. "It's like an old blues song. I was thinking of it as like a bunch of old dudes in a subway doing a doo-wop thing. It has the feel of a two-step like my mom used to dance to, like country western. It's totally about depression and leading a hard life. Later I was playing the song for Brent Hinds from MASTODON who had come out to Portland to jam with me and he laid down this smokin'-ass Billy Gibbons kind of solo. I did one solo and then he did his solo and I'm, like, 'You're a dick.' [Laughs] The bass player from Brent's other band WEST END MOTEL, Steve McPeeks, played some stand-up bass — both plucking and with a bow — and it really brought out this depth to the song. I've never written a song like that and recorded it and made it as cool as it is. It's totally different."

Born out of the challenges brought on by a worldwide pandemic, birthed under hellish red-orange skies bred from rampaging west coast wildfires, and built amidst the yearlong political riots and rallies in Portland, Oregon, "Pike Vs. The Automaton" is both a musical and emotional release. The record was written by Pike with drummer Jon Reid, features contributions from a slew of family and friends, and was recorded with longtime conspirator Billy Anderson, the producer who brought the best out of Pike previously on touchstone titles such as "Surrounded By Thieves" and "Sleep's Holy Mountain".

"I was just going bonkers during the pandemic. It was like really, truly miserable. And then all the riots here in Portland and all the political shit. I was trapped in my garage, which was the only place I could go and jam and do anything," confessed Pike. "I was trapped in there 'cause I couldn't go jam with HIGH ON FIRE, I couldn't do this, I couldn't do that, no one could fly. I was going crazy. My friend Jon Reid, who was the original drummer for LORD DYING, had moved to Portland and was babysitting my dog, Crom, and he was drumming for my wife's band, so he had his drums already set up at my place. I finally said, 'Dude, do you want to come over and just start jamming?' So, I just started this thing with my friend Jon. I was like, 'Dude, fuck it. Let's start a side band and we'll just demo this and act like we're starting it as teenagers, you know?'

In December, Pike released the album's first single, the bizarrely titled "Alien Slut Mum".

"Necessity is the mother of invention" is a well-known proverb that has proven itself true time and time again. When the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it. In this true story, the need for Pike was to create and play music with others at a time when that lifelong love was seemingly out of reach.

Other guest musicians on "Pike Vs. The Automaton" include Alyssa Maucere-Pike (LORD DYING, GRIGAX), Chad "Chief" Hartgrave, Josh Greene (EL CERDO), Todd Burdette (TRAGEDY), and HIGH ON FIRE's Jeff Matz, who lays down Turkish electric saz on the album's towering closing track "Leaving The Wars Of Woe".

"Pike Vs. The Automaton" track listing:

01. Abusive

02. Throat Cobra

03. Trapped In A Midcave

04. Epoxia

05. Land

06. Alien Slut Mum

07. Apollyon

08. Acid Test Zone

09. Latin American Geological Formation

10. Leaving The Wars Of Woe

"The album title, 'Pike Vs. The Automaton', wasn't an ego thing for me," said Pike. "Billy and Jon said, 'Dude, you should use your name in this. This is your solo project.' I said, 'I don't want to do that.'

"The Automaton, in Greek mythology, is the big robot that's the guardian of the Gods, basically. It's a soulless, big machine named Talos. The big machine that's working against mankind at this moment. In 'Jason And The Argonauts', Jason and the Argonauts have to battle this big machine guy that protects the island. Basically, what the album title is saying, metaphorically, is 'Pike against the world.'"

"I made a psychedelic rock record that SLEEP and HIGH ON FIRE fans would like," Pike continued when asked for a CliffsNotes description of "Pike Vs. The Automaton". "And maybe if you're not a SLEEP or HIGH ON FIRE fan, you might like it too. I definitely think it's interesting; it has D-Beat punk, two-step. It's got everything and it still works together, it doesn't sound odd. It's just an off-the-wall psychedelic rock record."

GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan joined SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS onstage last night (Wednesday, February 9) at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington to perform a cover version of GUNS N' ROSES' "Nightrain" Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

Seattle, which is McKagan's hometown, was the second stop on SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS' 2022 North American tour, which kicked off on Tuesday (February 8) in Portland, Oregon.

The band's Seattle set included three songs from SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS' upcoming "4" album, as well as covers of Lenny Kravitz's "Always On The Run" and Elton John's "Rocket Man".

Slash originally intended to avoid performing material from GUNS N' ROSES on this tour, telling Ultimate Classic Rock: "I have to admit, I really missed playing the GUNS material when this thing first started, so it was a great outlet for me. But having gotten back with all my buddies in GUNS, after a while I was like, 'I don't really need to do it with Myles and Company,' so we don't have any GUNS songs in the set. That said, I sort of miss the occasional VELVET REVOLVER song. So I haven't put any VELVET songs in the set as of yet, but I might at some point put one, at least, just for the fun of doing it."

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS' tour will hit 26 other major cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and more, before wrapping up March 26 in Orlando, Florida.

Due on February 11 via Gibson Records in partnership with BMG, "4" is Slash's fifth solo album and fourth overall with his band featuring Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums), Todd Kerns (bass, vocals) and Frank Sidoris (guitar, vocals).

In October, SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS released the official music video for the LP's first single, "The River Is Rising", shot on location in downtown Los Angeles with Gibson TV director Todd Harapiak.

For "4", Slash and the band traveled across the country together to Nashville, Tennessee and recorded the new album at the historic RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), revealing a stunning new sound and style all captured live in the studio. Cobb shared the band's desire to lay down the tracks live, in the studio including guitar solos and vocals — a first for the group.

The new album "4" has the added history-making distinction of being the first-ever album to be released on the new Gibson Records label, which is headquartered in the iconic American instrument brand Gibson's hometown of Music City, Nashville. In light of the 30-year partnership between Gibson and the Grammy Award-winning Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Slash, it makes sense the new SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS' album "4" will be released via Gibson Records.

Finnish Rovaniemi-based melodic metal band Hate World Hero have released a new single, "The Beast Has Awoken" via Inverse Records. An official lyric video for the track is available below. 





The band comments: "'The Beast Has Awoken' is about the awakening or waking up of The Beast. The Beast itself can signify anyone or anything, even an object or an experience. In life we face setbacks, doubts and downplay from different directions, but once you find your inner spark and let it burn, it will break all chains and kick-start you on new paths, although others might not always understand. What is The Beast then? That’s for you to decide!




'The Beast Has Awoken' is a powerful, fast-paced, and energetic song that rolls on with rising intensity and enormous power. The song’s pace, melodicity and massive choruses will no doubt make you bang your heads."


Hate World Hero plays powerful, melodic metal with massive choruses and tasty hooks. Members of the band are all long-time professionals in their respective crafts. Their live shows are energetic, compelling, and professionally organized. In 2022, Hate World Hero will release two new singles: "The Beast Has Awoken" and "Crimson Kiss", while continuing to work on new material for the upcoming debut album. 

Toronto’s Depleted Uranium are blasting out a nuclear fallout of grindcore, math-metal, and power-violence with their new music video "Alpha Particles", which is only the start of their two-part animated video story that will continue with "Beta Particles" later this month. The videos are in support of the band's new album "Origins", unleashed on January 28.


The band explains "Alpha Particles" in further detail:


"Alpha Particles was an early abomination from within the first 4 rehearsals as Depleted Uranium, prior to having a bass player. It was the song that defined us at that time and instantly became a favourite to play live and at rehearsal. It was also our first 5/4 time in a song, which aided future songwriting and it evolved our dual vocals, which are existential and abstract. First released on our three song demo in 2006, Alpha Particles was later recorded in Summer 2010 for the Origins recording, 1 take live off the floor."




Watch and listen to the decay of the heaviest metal elements from "Alpha Particles" via its video premiere on BraveWords:





Origins is a fast, aggressive 20-minute journey with existential lyrics delivered with full throttle vocals, coupled with technical melodies and harmonies that bring you to your bad place. It is meant to obliterate negative energy and make life a better place as everyone has something to scream for or about.


"It has been a long time since the recording of Origins. Life, death, and everything in between have blessed and burdened us along our journey. Some say “it is not relevant” or “why not release new material”; for us, this is unreleased material and it’s part of our journey of perspective, and accompanied by the pandemic lockdown. We’ve never been a band to do what people expect, so expect us to do things differently and to not fit in as that’s part of us. That being said, we will always attempt to deliver 100% in music and writing, rehearsing and performing our music, with or without a witness as to us, our time together is sacred, meaningful, and requires sacrifice from all members to exist," adds the band.


Origins is Depleted Uranium's history of who they are and where they come from. It is meant to be listened to in reference to their self-titled, debut release; to give a perspective that will also further be referenced in their future releases. Both lyrics and music hold a high tension and are expressed without hesitation. Both are relevant to their time and space of creation and are embodied with existential yet direct meaning. The album as a whole is a statement of youth being dissatisfied with the existing conditions of reality and channeling our experience into what it is today. “If one cannot withstand the hot glow of anger upon the discovery of a wrong, then time is wasted thinking deeply”. Depleted Uranium's band name, their lyrics, and their music are a product of the system with the right individuals as the recipe. Their message on Origins is to strive from personal freedom and to focus on what you want rather than what you don’t.





Loud, technical, and confident, Origins is recommended for fans of Converge, Charles Bronson, and Dillinger Escape Plan.


The album is available on all digital platforms along with the physical CD including an exclusive bonus track available on Bandcamp.


(Photo – Heather E. Wilson)

TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy spoke to Tucson, Arizona's Rock 102.1 KFMA radio station about the overwhelming success of his Twitch channel, which boasts a follower count of 238,000.

Matt, who streams everything from video games, guitar clinics to TRIVIUM and acoustic song covers, all while he's off the road and awaiting the next TRIVIUM tour, said: "The main consistency is five days a week when I'm off tour, two times a day — 8:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. — is when I do my streams on my channel. And the majority of it — 75 to 90 percent of the time — is me playing TRIVIUM songs by request to TRIVIUM supporters. It's me staying in shape."

He continued: "I never take time off vocally ever; I never take time off. I had COVID last year [and] I had COVID again this year — I still didn't stop singing and screaming and streaming to make sure that if I get the flu on tour, if I get food poisoning on tour, I'm gonna make sure I don't have to cancel shows. So I'll need to train through every single element.

"When my kids were newborns, I was not getting sleep, still making sure I'm here, providing entertainment, providing community, providing all that stuff, and still keeping myself in shape year round — more like an athlete than a musician, is the way I treat it."

Last fall, Heafy told HardDrive Radio that he and his bandmates, as well as their "entire crew," were fully vaccinated the 2021 leg of their U.S. tour with MEGADETH, LAMB OF GOD and HATEBREED. "The Metal Tour Of The Year" marked the four groups' first run of concerts since the start of the pandemic.

"I had breakthrough COVID as well, so I was about as immune as you can possibly get and I was still adhering to every single rule," he said. "And I know that maybe some people, unfortunately, are rolling their eyes when they hear about this stuff, but the way I think about it, I don't think anything other than this is a virus; it's a sickness. I've had tons of freakin' shots. Every time you go to South America, you have to get boosters and immunity, if you're gonna be near the jungle. My kids are almost three. When they were little, they got polio and smallpox and measles vaccinations, hepatitis vaccinations. That's the only way I thought of this: 'You know what? I wanna play shows, and I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure not one person misses our set for one freakin' show.' So, we had the vaccine, still wore masks everywhere except for dressing room, stage and bus. You know how much I love food. We made sure every single meal we had on every single day off was outdoors — outdoors, no friends. 'Cause we wanted the shows to happen."

In October, TRIVIUM bassist Paolo Gregoletto told Mankato, Minnesota's "Midwest Beatdown" radio show that the band's tour manager was diagnosed with COVID-19 after the third show of "The Metal Tour Of The Year". "We had a bunch of [COVID-19] tests with us," he said. "We got a couple of extras. Everyone tested. No one else was positive. We caught up our manager. We caught up the tour. We pretty much said, 'Look, we're not gonna cancel a show. Everyone's good. We're all isolated from our tour manager. We'll test tomorrow and as many days in a row as you want.' And no one ever got sick on our bus except for our tour manager. And we kept going. That was basically it.

"There was really no rule kind of set up how that was gonna work," Paolo continued. "But what we've been seeing people do is, okay, someone on a [tour] package will get sick, and they'll be, like, 'well, everyone's gonna take 10 days' or something to quarantine — whatever people are doing. And we were, like, it's not possible. There's too much at stake for a tour this size, or any tour, really. 'Cause if you start canceling shows, the margin is very, very thin with that kind of stuff; it's not sustainable. So we were just, like, 'Look, if no one is sick, the show must go on.' So that's what we did. HATEBREED's sound guy helped us out big time by filling in on monitors. Our assistant tour manager picked up the slack for the shows, and then our tour manager was just e-mailing — Zooming in; [sending] e-mails, doing all the stuff he had to do. And he came back when he was fine, and that was it. And we kept rolling."

Gregoletto added: "It was scary, obviously, but I was also kind of relieved to have that happen right away, 'cause it's, like, once you kind of know what it could be once it happens… It's kind of like Matt when he got sick [with COVID-19] way before the tour, it's scary 'cause you've been trying to avoid it the whole time, but then, when you get through it, you're, like, 'All right. I felt bad for a few days and now I'm good.' It felt good to just have that happen, and we dealt with it, and the show went on. And we didn't publicize it 'cause we didn't wanna [create] any sort of doubt that the tour was gonna get canceled, that shows would get canceled. 'Cause it's crazy times right now. I'm sure a lot of people have seen bands are dropping from tours and stuff, and we just didn't wanna do that. So we chose this way instead."

TRIVIUM's tenth album, "In The Court Of The Dragon", was released in October via longtime label Roadrunner Records. The record was produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur and recorded in the fall of 2020 at Full Sail University in Orlando. The album cover is an original oil painting by French artist Mathieu Nozieres.

LAST IN LINE has inked a deal with earMUSIC, the recorded music label of German entertainment group Edel AG which boasts a roster of global artists including DEEP PURPLE, Alice Cooper, BABYMETAL, THUNDER, STATUS QUO and many more. A new EP from LAST IN LINE will tentatively arrive later this year, following by the band's third full-length album.

The news of LAST IN LINE's partnership with earMUSIC was shared by the band's drummer, Vinny Appice, during a recent appearance on "Waste Some Time With Jason Green". Vinny also revealed that LAST IN LINE completed recording six more new songs in late January at Danny "Count" Koker's Desert Moon studios in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Formed in 2012 by Appice, bassist Jimmy Bain and guitarist Vivian Campbell — Ronnie James Dio's co-conspirators and co-writers on the "Holy Diver", "Last In Line" and "Sacred Heart" albums — LAST IN LINE's initial intent was to celebrate Ronnie James Dio's early work by reuniting the members of the original DIO lineup. After playing shows that featured a setlist composed exclusively of material from the first three DIO albums, the band decided to move forward and create new music in a similar vein.

LAST IN LINE's debut album, "Heavy Crown", was released in February 2016 via Frontiers Music Srl, landing at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Initially, the release had been preceded by tragedy when Bain unexpectedly died at the age of 68 on January 23, 2016. LAST IN LINE, honoring what they knew would be Bain's wish to keep the band moving, brought in Phil Soussan and committed to sustained touring in support of the album before beginning work on the follow-up release, 2019's "II", which was also made available through Frontiers Music Srl.

Last June, Soussan spoke to Metal-Net.com about the progress of the writing and recording sessions for LAST IN LINE's third album.

"I've been quite motivational with the band," Phil said. "I'm trying to keep things happening. We wanted to work on a few different aspects [during the pandemic]. And we also had to go about getting a new record deal — we were changing labels — so that's something we're in the process of doing, and we're getting pretty close now. But part of that was writing a third record. So we've been hard at work trying to write a third record and even record that third record while we've been in different locations around the world. And, obviously, this band works as a unit in every sense of the word, so it's a real handicap not being able to be in the same room as everybody and trying to make it happen."

In February 2021, Appice told Metal From The Inside that former DOKKEN and current FOREIGNER bassist Jeff Pilson, who produced both "II" and "Heavy Crown", is not involved with the upcoming LAST IN LINE album. "We made a change," he said. "Actually, the guy who mixed the last record, Chris Collier — he's great; he's working with KORN — he recorded this record. And we're kind of producing it ourselves, between all of us.

"Jeff is great — Jeff's a great producer, and [he has] great ideas and stuff, but we just felt that we could probably do what we wanna do now that we're a band, we've been on the road, and we know what we wanna hear," he explained. "But it's coming out great. The stuff sounds fantastic.

"And yeah, I've been through a lot with Jeff Pilson. I've known him for years. He's a great guy. He's like my brother."

Also in February, Soussan told the "Pat's Soundbytes Unplugged" podcast about the musical direction of the new LAST IN LINE material: "The songs are another progression from the last album — the difference between 'Heavy Crown' and 'II', and now 'II' and whatever this next album is gonna be called; we don't know yet, by the way. But it's definitely evolved even more; it's gone into even more of an evolution, but we are always trying to keep the characteristics of LAST IN LINE there. I mean, you can't shake those things — you can't shake Vinny's drumming, you can't shake Vivian's playing. And I'd like to say the same thing about myself, and, of course, Andrew."

Some of the early recording sessions for LAST IN LINE's third album took place in January 2020 at Steakhouse studio in North Hollywood, California.


























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KORN's Ray Luzier has reflected on the passing of Joey Jordison, saying the founding SLIPKNOT drummer "had such good music in him."

Joey's family confirmed that he died "peacefully in his sleep" last July of an unspecified cause.

KORN recruited Jordison in 2007 to join them on tour when drummer David Silveria went on hiatus from the band. Joey also appeared in the music video for KORN's single "Evolution".

Speaking to Gigwise, Luzier said that Jordison's death was difficult to process. "He had some demons, like a lot of people do, and I lost quite a few band friends, and people who I was quite close to in the music industry across the past two, three years," the KORN drummer said. "It's never easy. It's hard. You feel even worse when it's not a natural death.

"I know Joey had a lot of health problems too, so it wasn't just abuse, but no one wants anyone to go off that early if they could've been around longer," he continued. "It's much harder when something like that happens. Especially such a good dude like Joey. He had such good music in him.

"I say the word 'lifer' a lot, because that's what we are — till death it's in our blood; we eat, sleep, breathe music every day — and he was definitely that," Ray added. "That guy would wake up and pick up a guitar because he had an idea. I love those kinds of people; I'm very attracted to that energy and mentality."

Last July, just hours after the news of Jordison's death was made public, KORN guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer told TMZ: "I'm in shock. I can't believe it. That guy is such a fucking warrior. He loved drums, loved music, loved playing. He would jump in and play with anybody if he felt like it was a passion. He just loved heavy music. He loved playing his instrument. It's very sad — it's very sad that he's gone so young."

Asked what legacy Joey leaves behind, Munky said: "What an amazing fucking drummer! What amazing drummer. The most energy I've seen any drummer have ever.

"I have so many good memories about this guy," he added. "We did a tour back in, I think, 2005. And he had his own bus with another backing singer of the band; his name is Kalen. They became really close. Their bus was called the 'Dragon Bus' and our bus was called the 'Pirate Bus.' And it was always, like, 'Who partied harder? The pirates or the dragons?' And they'd be, like, 'Dragons.' And then we'd go, 'Pirates.' It was an inside kind of thing that we did on tour.

"He'll always be remembered by me as somebody that's caring, compassionate and an amazing musician."

As for what message he had for Joey's family, Munky said: "I would like to tell his family and his bandmates that I'm truly sorry that we've lost him. And I'm in shock. I can't believe it. And I just wanna send them all my love."

SLIPKNOT announced its split with Jordison in December 2013 but did not disclose the reasons for his exit. The drummer subsequently issued a statement saying that he did not quit the group.

Several years ago, Jordison overcame the neurological condition acute transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord which damages nerve fibers, which ultimately led to the drummer temporarily losing the use of his legs.

Seven months ago, Joey's SINSAENUM bandmate Frédéric Leclercq blasted TMZ for sharing the audio of the 911 call placed by the former SLIPKNOT drummer's ex-girlfriend after she found him dead. On July 29, 2021, the tabloid site posted the two-and-a-half-minute phone call in which the ex-girlfriend — who continued taking care of Joey's bills and maintaining his house in Iowa even after their split — could be heard getting very emotional when she went to his home to check on him after he hadn't returned her messages. During the call, she indicated that Joey was "a really bad alcoholic" with "health issues," and she revealed that the motion sensors on the house hadn't detected any activity in days.

The same year that he exited SLIPKNOT, Jordison launched the band SCAR THE MARTYR and later VIMIC

PAINTED SHIELD has returned with a music video for its new song "Dead Man's Dream", the first single from its upcoming sophomore album. The group, which features PEARL JAM guitarist Stone Gossard, acclaimed songwriter Mason Jennings, Matt Chamberlain and Seattle soul prodigy Brittany Davis, will release "Painted Shield 2" on April 22 via Loosegroove Records.

"This one started as a classic Stone Gossard riff," says Jennings of "Dead Man's Dream". "Matt and Brit ripped into it with a vengeance. The lyrics were originally from a folk song I had been working on for a few years. I wondered how it would work to lay the folk lyrics against that heavy rock bed. Felt good. Then we all sang in the choruses and channeled our love for VAN HALEN."

PAINTED SHIELD released its self-titled debut album in 2020 to wide acclaim from outlets, including Rolling Stone, Consequence Of Sound, Spin, The Seattle Times, and NPR's "All Songs Considered". The album was noted for its wide array of sonic textures, frenetic energy, and eclectic approach to songwriting, all of which is elevated to a new level on "Painted Shield 2".

"It's the assassination of genre," says Davis, pointing to a track list that includes full-throttle guitar rock ("Dead Man's Dream"), nocturnal funk-pop ("Til God Turns the Lights On"), and percussive, synth-driven atmospherics ("Alien"). "We kill the idea that there's a formula you're supposed to follow," Davis continues. "We make things our own. It's like saying a word in another language, when the word in English doesn't exist. Even if you can't always translate it, you can still feel it."

The four musicians, several of whom hadn't even played together in person, tracked "Painted Shield 2" at their respective home studios across America. Chamberlain, his tour dates as a member of Bob Dylan's band brought to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic, found himself at home in Los Angeles, creating beats, instrumental beds, and looped soundscapes using drums and modular synthesizers. A thousand miles to the north, Gossard — still fresh from the upper reaches of the Billboard Top 200, where PEARL JAM's eleventh album, "Gigaton", had climbed to No. 5 in 2020 — was generating ideas of his own in a Seattle studio. Jennings added melodies and lyrics. Brittany Davis did the same, tossing funky bass parts and synthesized guitar solos into the mix. They both sang, too — sometimes separately, sometimes blending their voices into lockstep harmonies.

The result is an album that takes aim at the head, the heart, and the hips. It's a mix of the electronic and the organic — a moody rock album that genuinely moves, from the funky fire and industrialized guitar strut that gives "Til God Turns the Lights On" its unique swagger to the garage-rock abandon that supercharges "Falling Out Of The Sky". That sense of movement can be soft and deliberate, too. "Life in Rewind" is a fever dream of a slow-simmering soul song — equal parts gospel grace, 1960s R&B spirit, and dreamy reverb — and "White" is a leisurely piece of left-field folk, laced with watercolor streaks of digital noise.

"I'm so inspired by working with such inspiring, creative people," says Jennings. "I've been releasing albums for nearly 25 years, but I haven't done anything like this before. It's very much an active project, too. We're halfway through 'Album Three' already."

"Painted Shield 2" track listing:

01. Drink The Ocean

02. Alien

03. Til God Turns The Lights On

04. Bird's Nest

05. Fourth of July

06. Dead Man's Dream

07. Life In Rewind

08. Fallin' Out Of The Sky

09. White

10. Full Moon In Daylight

Video footage of Dave Mustaine (MEGADETH) and John Moyer (DISTURBED) performing the MEGADETH classic "Angry Again" with several campers at last month's Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp in Deerfield Beach, Florida can be seen below.

Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp was created 26 years ago to provide real people the once-in-a-lifetime experience of connecting and jamming with their musical heroes. The Camp has provided unforgettable memories, advice and feedback for attendees worldwide. Camp events span over four jam packed days where campers join a band mentored by today's top touring musicians, and work up to final performances with the headliner rock stars at legendary venues from Abbey Road Studios in London, to Hollywood's Whisky A Go Go, to the Atlantic resort in The Bahamas.

Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp was the focus of the tremendously successful 2021 documentary "Rock Camp: The Movie". "Entertaining", "inspiring" and "moving" are how critics, audiences and industry leaders described the documentary. The film follows four real people who attend Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp and how it transforms their lives. These "rock campers" share the stage with superstar counselors including Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Nancy Wilson, Joe Perry, JUDAS PRIEST, Sammy Hagar and many more. "Rock Camp" was directed by Doug Blush, who has worked on over a hundred documentaries (including Oscar winners "20 Feet from Stardom", "Icarus" and "Period. End Of Sentence.").

"Rock Camp: The Movie" has generated great word of mouth and buzz, scoring a 94% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has been featured on "The Today Show", "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon" and on ABC News. The Washington Post called "Rock Camp" "an eye-opening treat," and The Chicago Sun-Times described it as "infectiously upbeat." Music industry critic and influencer Bob Lefsetz raves, "I couldn't turn it off. Rock and roll is a religion."

David Fishof, Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp founder, has had a successful career as a sports agent, producer, promoter, and manager and is the founder and CEO of Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp. Fishof produced the "Happy Together" tours, the MONKEES 20th-anniversary reunion tour, "Dirty Dancing Live" tours and "Classic Superfest" and others. He also created and produced RINGO STARR & HIS ALL-STARR BAND tours for 15 years.

KROKUS frontman Marc Storace has shared audio samples of the songs that appear on his first-ever solo album, "Live And Let Live". The effort was made available in Switzerland in December and was released in North America earlier this month.

"Live And Let Live" track listing:

01. Live And Let Live (3:41)

02. High On Love (3:57)

03. Lady Of The Night (4:44)

04. Carry The Burden (3:16)

05. Broken Wings (3:41)

06. No Place To Hide (3:22)

07. Don't Wanna Go (4:40)

08. Love Over Money (3:53)

09. Time Waits For No One (4:14)

10. Paradise (2:59)

The official music video for the "Live And Let Live" can be seen below.

In a recent interview with Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon from Canada's The Metal Voice, Storace said about how his solo album came about (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Twenty years ago, I wrote the title song of the album, 'Live And Let Live'. 'Live And Let Live' was written with this guitar player who was a neighbor of mine. I used to go over to his place, a little studio, on cold or rainy days and icy days. We spent hours writing songs, and we came out with about 20 of 'em. And this is one of 'em which fits for the album. And it's the opener. It's a great song.

"Anyway, so many years later, we did the [KROKUS] reunion, and I've been busy with KROKUS," he continued. "And as soon as lockdown started, I first did some stuff which I put on YouTube and Facebook, some karaoke stuff which I found. I did duets with my daughter, Giuliana. After that phase with Giuliana, I kind of fell in a hole of the lockdown boredom, and I thought, 'No way. I'm gonna get creative.' I opened my drawer [and out came] a pile of lyrics — bits and pieces, leftovers, new stuff. And I thought, 'Well, I've got enough material. And I need a guitar player.'

"This guy I got in touch with, he's in Newcastle, in England," Marc added. "We started communicating about ideas — he'd send me ideas, and I'd send him feedback, and I'd fit lyrics and build songs and stuff. So we built quite a few. And then I already went in contact with a couple of musicians whom I got to know when I was doing this big event, film series for television in 2019. And this thing came out during lockdown. But while we were filming this, I also started thinking, 'Well, we're on a farewell tour, and I don't really wanna stop.' And this thing came out during lockdown, which helped reduce the boredom, and in between I was writing songs. And then I got to know these two other guys — a drummer and rhythm guitarist — and they also produced the whole music side of [the TV series]. And they asked me during the filming stuff, in between, 'You should do a solo album now. It's gonna be over with KROKUS. What are you gonna do?' I said, 'I don't know yet. It's not over until it's over. And I'm still enjoying it. So I'm not thinking that far. I'm taking it — carpe diem. Day by day.' Cause you never know what tomorrow brings. And too much planning sometimes you're doing for nothing. Overthinking is unhealthy anyway.

"So, anyway, I came to that point. And then I called them. I said, 'Guys, you wanna do it? 'Cause I really enjoyed working with you.' … So we started. And at the end of last year, they already sent me two ideas, and at the beginning of this year, they sent me some more. And I got busy working, working, and we did demos and stuff. And here we are — it's ready. It's all recorded, and it's in the mix."

Asked about the musical direction of his solo album, Marc said: "It's energetic, heavy, melodic hard rock. And there's also a couple of ballads. I'm a singer — we love ballads. And then there's something out of the ordinary — it's a blues song, which is not the typical blues song. It's something I saw as a challenge. When they sent me that music, I thought, 'What? It doesn't really fit.' But then I thought blues is always inside the rock family — a body of rock always has blues in there, as opposed to jazz maybe, although that's also integrated sometimes. And then there's this one song — I think it's gonna be the last one on the album — which is quite acoustical and more light-hearted.

"I'm saying it's great, because I've worked for it and I'm emotionally involved with it," he continued. "But people around us and around me have been telling me I'm on the right track, and the results are good. So, now I'm nervous and excited for the release date."

KROKUS released a new CD/DVD, "Adios Amigos Live @ Wacken", in February 2021.

Back in April 2020, KROKUS was forced to postpone its last-ever concerts in USA and Canada due to the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping the globe. The 13-date trek was originally scheduled to kick off at Canton Hall in Dallas, Texas on September 18, 2020 and conclude at Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California on October 10, 2020.

In September 2018, KROKUS announced that it was going to embark on a farewell tour dubbed "Adios Amigos" before calling it a day. At the time, they said their final show would take place on December 7, 2019 at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland. However, in June 2019, Storace posted a message on Facebook indicating that the band would play additional concerts beyond the Zurich date.

When KROKUS first announced its decision to embark on a farewell tour, the band explained in a statement: "KROKUS shows have always been special and should stay that way. That's why we decided to stop when it's still really good. That's how the fans should remember us."