Dragonbreed is a collabaration of current and past Suidakra members with longtime friend and Graveworm vocalist Stefan Fiori. Following is an update from MDD Records:


"The guys of the Suidakra / Graveworm melodic death metal mash-up Dragonbreed have finished work on their debut longplayer. The stylistic and also personal journey back in time to the early days of the genre will be titled Necrohedron, and will be released on April 22nd via MDD Records. 


Raw, wild and inspired by the spirit of the early years, the quintet around Graveworm singer Stefano Fiori and Suidakra's Arkadius Antonik will play eight songs with a playing time of 38 minutes. Also on board: cover artist Kris Verwimp, who is not only responsible for the artwork, but also for the lyrical content, which is a concept story that has been lying untold in his drawer for a long time and now fits Dragonbreed like a glove. A first sample and further information will be available soon."







Check out Dragonbreed on social media here

In a new interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, Ted Nugent said that when it comes to musicians, they don't make them like they used to. "Musicians aren't as dedicated today," he said. 'I know there's a bunch of great ones. I mean, Joe Bonamassa is a young guy, and Kid Rock is not a young guy, but he's now. And I love what BIG & RICH do. I love the sincerity of Blake Shelton and Toby Keith, though I can't stand most country music. And GRETA VAN FLEET does a great job, and everything the FOO FIGHTERS do is awesome. But, it's not like Ted Nugent or Bob Seger or the AMBOY DUKES or ZZ TOP or CHEAP TRICK or MONTROSE or VAN HALEN. You know what I mean? Those bands, we just practiced more; we loved it more.

"So, that's why 'Detroit Muscle' is gonna be really significant to people who love that fire and that defiance and fun," he continued, referencing his upcoming album. "Music is supposed to be fun. Even when you articulate corruption and 'Dog Eat Dog' sabotage on the downtown streets and police cars overturned — yeah, I'm identifying social conditions, but I also am a master at escaping social outrageousness and replacing it with fun, defiant, 'We The People,' middle-finger-on-fire, grinding Motown funk brother outrageousness."

This past November, Nugent released the official lyric video for his new song "Come And Take It". The track will appear on "Detroit Muscle", which is due on April 29 via Pavement Music. The follow-up to 2018's "The Music Made Me Do It" was recorded with Ted's current band, which includes bassist Greg Smith and drummer Jason Hartless.

Nugent, who is the national spokesman for pro-hunting lobbying group Hunter Nation, told Florida's 99 Rock WKSM radio station that "Come And Take It" is "a love song to the punks in our government who think that they have the right to infringe on our constitutionally guaranteed, God-given individual freedoms… I think it really represents the heartbeat, the pulse, the heartbreak, really, of thoughtful, critical-thinking Americans. Which, by the way, if you're not a critical thinker, you should probably move to Cuba where you're not allowed to be. Critical-thinking Americans that are rock solid in the asset column love this song — they love me, they love freedom, they love defiance, they love my middle finger on fire."

For The Metal Voice, Jimmy Kay and former Anthrax singer Neil Turbin interviewed singer Andreas "Gerre" Geremia from legendary German thrashers, Tankard. In the chat Gerre spoke about the bands upcoming 40 year anniversary box set from the Noise Record years, gave details of the bands upcoming studio album and spoke about the possibility of  The Big Teutonic 4 touring. Watch below:





The story of Tankard’s rise to one of the most revered thrash metal bands from their humble beginnings in Frankfurt Germany, began under their first name of Avenger in the early 1982. It was their Heavy Metal Vanguard and Alcoholic Metal demos changing hands in the era’s bustling underground tape-trading network that exposed them to the international metal community.




Positive word of mouth soon attracted the attention of Germany’s own metal start-up, Noise Records, which signed the newly re-christened Tankard (beer mug) to a deal. Tankard’s tenure at the label spawned seven studio albums, one live record, a live video and a compilation and established them as one of the most enduring on the thrash scene. One they still tour globally to this day, to their hordes of maniac forces fans.


Never taking themselves too seriously and fuelled by a love of beer, their unique take on ‘fast thrash-punk’ is pure anarchy with lots of fun. Their ’86 debut Zombie Attack was fast, furious and chaotic fun which set the table of what was to come. Following hot on the heels of their debut, 1987’s Chemical Invasion sealed their thrash chops, with 1988’s The Morning After cementing the band on the global scene. The Alien EP kept momentum in ’89 until the 1990’s dawned with the reflective, The Meaning Of Life. 1991 saw their live fury documented in Fat, Ugly & Live and also a legendary thrash fest in East Berlin was committed to film in the form of Open All Night. Tankard remained prolific through the tough times for thrash of the 1990’s, keeping the faith with the introspective Stone Cold Sober (1992), Two-Faced (1993) saw them bare their teeth against social injustice and The Tankard’(1995) took them back to the familiar surroundings of the pub.





For A Thousand Beers is a deluxe 40th anniversary celebration of Tankard’s Noise Records discography and is the definitive collection of their decade of recorded work and contains :


- Zombie Attack (splatter vinyl)
- Chemical Invasion (swirl vinyl)
- The Morning After (including Alien EP) (splatter vinyl)
- The Meaning Of Life (paint drop vinyl)
- Stone Cold Sober (splatter vinyl)
- Two-Faced (half/half colour vinyl)
- The Tankard (including Tankwart EP) (splatter vinyl)
- Fat, Ugly & Live DVD – containing ‘Open All Night’ concert film, ‘Fat, Ugly & Live’ album plus previously unreleased video concert from the Dynamo, Eindhoven 1987 and audio concert from Frankfurt 1988.
- 12” x 12”, 40 page hardback book of photography, quotes and lyrics from the first decade of the band’s existence. Contains rare and previously unseen photos from the era.


All housed in a case of beer box.





For A Thousand Beers will also be available as a 7xCDs and DVD clamshell box set containing all the studio albums, EP’s and the DVD with all the live concert bonus material.


Available on February 25, you can pre-order here, and watch a new video for "(Empty) Tankard" below.





(Photo - Axel Jusseits)

Longtime VIXEN bassist Share Ross has announced that she is "taking a hiatus" from the band. Her replacement is Julia Lage, formerly of the Latin Grammy-nominated Brazilian rock group BARRA DE SAIA and wife of Richie Kotzen, who recently completed a run of West Coast dates with her husband's SMITH/KOTZEN project.

Ross made the news of her departure public last night (Tuesday, February 8) during VIXEN's pre-Monsters Of Rock cruise concert at Magic City Casino in Miami, Florida. After playing the first few songs of the set with her bandmates, Ross told the crowd that "life got a little complicated" and that "something has to give," resulting to her decision to "step away from VIXEN for a while." She then introduced her "amazing" replacement and urged the VIXEN fans to "graciously" open their arms and welcome Lage to the group. At that point, Julia and her new bandmates launched into the track "Streets In Paradise" and played the last couple of songs of the set with Ross watching the proceedings from the side of the stage.

The only remaining member of VIXEN's "classic" lineup is drummer Roxy Petrucci, who is also joined in the group by guitarist Britt Lightning (a.k.a. Brittany Denaro) and singer Lorraine Lewis.

In January 2019, VIXEN recruited Lewis as its new lead singer following the departure of Janet Gardner.

Lewis had already performed with VIXEN in March 2018 in Durant, Oklahoma while Gardner was recovering from surgery.

Prior to Lewis's addition to VIXEN, Petrucci, Ross and Denaro vowed to "expand upon the VIXEN legacy while remaining true to our musical roots."

Gardner, Petrucci and Ross are considered to be part of VIXEN's classic lineup, along with founding guitarist Jan Kuehnemund, who died of cancer in October 2013.

Gardner contributed lead vocals to VIXEN's most commercially successful studio albums — "Vixen" (1988), "Rev It Up" (1990) and "Tangerine" (1998) — as well as the group's latest release, 2018's live album "Live Fire".






It was announced at the start of the pre-party that Vixen had a big surprise during their show.

I've been to thousands...

Posted by Gary Allen on Tuesday, February 8, 2022





Vixen with NEW bassist.. Julia Lage-Oficial

Posted by Will To Rock on Tuesday, February 8, 2022



Vixen with their new bass player, Julia Lage! ?

Posted by Melissa Corcino Petersen on Tuesday, February 8, 2022





Good night ladies! @OfficialVixen at @MonstersCruise pre cruise party! #monstersofrockcruise pic.twitter.com/aP7BgwQ9Nl

— monstersofrockcruise (@MonstersCruise) February 9, 2022

First Signal, a musical union between Canadian vocalist Harry Hess (Harem Scarem) and Swedish drummer/producer Daniel Flores (The Murder Of My Sweet, Find Me), have announced the forthcoming release of their new album, Closer To The Edge, on April 8.


The new record, their fourth overall, offers up another outstanding collection of songs that continues the fine tradition they've now established over the course of their discography. The first single and video from the album, "Don't Let It End", is out today. Watch the video below, and pre-order/save Closer To The Edge on CD/digital here.


Hess is, as always, on fire here and this is another outstanding production job by Flores. As with previous releases, this will be another must hear for fans of the AOR/melodic rock genre as, in 2022, it does not get any better than this. Pete Alpenborg (Arctic Rain), Guillermo Del Medio (Inner Stream), Alessandro Del Vecchio, Kristian Fyhr (Seventh Crystal), Herman Nori, and others have contributed their songwriting talents to this latest opus with spectacular results. “Closer to the Edge” is once again a total delight for AOR and melodic rock fans and an easy contender for AOR album of the year.




Started in 2010, First Signal started as a musical partnership between vocalist Harry Hess (Harem Scarem) and German producer Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, Khymera). The seeds of this union were planted that same year when Frontiers President and Head of A&R, Serafino Perugino presented Hess some melodic rock songs which had the same vibe and magic as Harem Scarem, whom, at the time, were on a hiatus. The self-titled debut album was greeted with excellent reviews from the Melodic Rock faithful, so even when Harem Scarem rebooted to record an excellent comeback album, Thirteen, Hess was still keen to record some more excellent melodic rock songs that he had gathered from various songwriters under the First Signal banner.


So, the idea of another First Signal album continued to float around and with the help of Swedish producer/drummer Daniel Flores now stepping in for Ward, the second record, One Step Over The Line (2016), started to take shape. Once again, the inspiration behind the songs were the first two Harem Scarem albums, two absolute Melodic Rock classics, but, as with the debut, some new twists were thrown in the mix with the songs covering everything from AOR to Arena Hard Rock. The album was also greeted with much excitement from the Melodic Rock / AOR fanbase, especially in Europe. With that kind of reception, recording a third album, Line Of Fire (2019), was a no-brainer. With songs provided by Stan Meissner, Harry Hess, Henrik Hedström, Lars Edvall, Anderz Wrethov, Andreas Johansson, Carl Dixon, Bruce Turgon, Sören Kronqvist, Morgan Jensen, Hal Marabel, Daniel Palmqvist, Ulrick Lönnqvist, Nigel Bailey, and production duties handled again by Daniel Flores, “Line of Fire” was another awesome slab of great AOR/melodic rock for the 21st century.


And now, in 2022, the band continues the traditions they've established with their previous three releases on the fourth entry into their catalog, Closer To The Edge.





Tracklisting:


"Don't Let It End"
"I Don't Wanna Feel The Night Is Over"
"Show Me The Way"
"Don't Look Away"
"Irreplaceable"
"One More Time"
"Closer To The Edge"
"Angel With A Rose"
"Mystery"
"The Hurting One"
"Got To Believe"


"Don't Let It End" video:





Lineup:


Harry Hess - Vocals
Daniel Flores  - Drums
Andi Kravljaca - Guitars
Jonny Trobro - Bass

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS kicked off their 2022 North American tour last night (Tuesday, February 8) at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon.

The band's 21-song set included material from all four SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS albums, including four songs from the upcoming "4": "The River Is Rising", "Fill My World", "Call Off The Dogs" and "Whatever Gets You By". Also aired during the show were the SLASH'S SNAKEPIT song "Speed Parade" as well as covers of Lenny Kravitz's "Always On The Run" and Elton John's "Rocket Man".

The setlist was as follows:

01. Driving Rain

02. Shots Fired

03. My Antidote

04. Serve You Right

05. The River Is Rising

06. Bad Rain

07. Back From Cali

08. Withered Delilah

09. Always On The Run (Lenny Kravitz cover)

10. No More Heroes

11. Whatever Gets You By

12. Speed Parade (SLASH'S SNAKEPIT Cover)

13. Fill My World

14. The One You Loved Is Gone

15. Call Off The Dogs

16. Doctor Alibi

17. Rocket Man (Elton John Cover)

18. Nothing To Say

19. You're A Lie

20. World On Fire

Encore

21. Anastasia

Slash explained his decision 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 27 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.

Nita Strauss, the Los Angeles-based guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, spoke to Toronto's 94.9 The Rock radio station about what it has been like to work with legendary Canadian producer Bob Ezrin on Alice's upcoming follow-up to last year's "Detroit Stories" album. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Bob definitely has his own style of working, his own personality, and as long as you understand that and that rapport, I think Bob is an amazing, amazing person. He's an amazing person to work with regardless, but I definitely think you have to understand his production style and his critique style and understand where he's going with everything in his specific vision. We had a great time making the record."

According to Nita, Bob gave her and her bandmates plenty of room to showcase their own styles during the recording process. "Who are any of us to tell Bob Ezrin how to make an Alice Cooper record?" she said. "He has a vision, he has it how he wants it, and it was our job to come in and execute it. And I think we did that to the very best of our ability and absolutely retained our personalities and our own style. He gave us a ton of freedom to express ourselves. He gave us a lot of notes, of course. I think Alice wanted us to make a record that sounds like his band, sounds like the live band, and I was really grateful that Bob and Alice gave us the opportunity to do exactly that."

Strauss also talked about the experience of sharing the stage with two other guitar players during Alice's live shows.

"I feel fortunate to be in a band with three great guitar players — myself and Ryan [Roxie] and Tommy Henriksen on guitar," she said. "And I feel like those two make me better every single day. I think Ryan is the best guitar player in the band. Tommy is by far the best musician and songwriter in the band; he writes a ton of the Alice stuff, even before this last record. So I just learn so much from both of them each and every time we step on stage together, and they've both made me a much better guitar player and a much better musician."

Last month, Alice revealed during an appearance on an episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he is working on two albums right now. "All I can say is that one is written — totally written — and we'll be doing bed tracks for that one pretty soon," he said. "And then the other one is just a touch in the future, but that's being written right now too. They're two entirely different kinds of albums, but they're Alice Cooper pure rock and roll albums. The two albums will really be hard rock albums."

Also last month, Nita told Detroit's WRIF radio station that she and her Cooper bandmates "recorded quite a bit of music" for his upcoming album. "The band did also have a huge part in the writing this time, which is the first time that's happened in the eight years that I've been in the band," she said. "So it was really, really fun — really exciting for us to get to work with a legend like Bob Ezrin. [It was] a huge, huge honor to be in the studio with him and Alice creating what we hope will be some more Alice Cooper music to just add to his legacy."

She added: "I'm on the [Alice Cooper] live DVD. I'm on the live album releases, the live tracks that are bonus tracks and stuff, but [this is my] first studio album with Alice. I'm actually the only person in the [current lineup of Alice's] band that hasn't recorded anything with Alice before, so this is huge for me. [I'm] very, very honored."

Released in February 2021, "Detroit Stories" was recorded with Ezrin, mostly in Royal Oak with Detroit musicians and featuring a mix of original material alongside covers of songs by Bob Seger, the MC5, Mitch Ryder's DETROIT and OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY.

In 2018, Cooper issued "A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris", a recording of his December 7, 2017 concert at the world-renowned Olympia venue in France. The effort captured Cooper and his current bandmates performing a choice selection of classic Cooper hits, in addition to some highlights from 2017's "Paranormal" album. Alice later said that he wanted to release a document of his band's onstage prowess because they "deserved a live album."

Fan-filmed video of GHOST's February 8 concert at Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania can be seen below.

GHOST kicked off its co-headlining tour with VOLBEAT on January 25 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada. During its 16-song set, GHOST performed the recently released single "Hunter's Moon", a cover of METALLICA's "Enter Sandman" and debuted another song from its upcoming "Impera" album, called "Kaisarion".

GHOST's 26-date co-headlining U.S. arena tour with VOLBEAT and special guests TWIN TEMPLE will conclude on March 3 in Anaheim, California.

GHOST will release its fifth album, "Impera", on March 11 via Loma Vista/Concord. The official music video for the LP's latest single, "Call Me Little Sunshine", was lensed by iconic director Matt Mahurin and stars Ruby Modine.

According to a press release, "Impera" "finds GHOST transported literally hundreds of years forward from the 14th century Europe Black Plague era" of its previous album, 2018's "Prequelle". "The result is the most ambitious and lyrically incisive entry in the GHOST canon: Over the course of 'Impera''s 12-song cycle, empires rise and fall, would-be messiahs ply their hype (financial and spiritual alike), prophecies are foretold as the skies fill with celestial bodies divine and man-made… All in all, the most current and topical GHOST subject matter to date is set against a hypnotic and darkly colorful melodic backdrop making 'Impera' a listen like no other — yet unmistakably, quintessentially GHOST."

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

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

Video footage of Dave Mustaine performing the MEGADETH classic "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" with several campers at last month's Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp in Deerfield Beach, Florida can be seen below.

Toby Guidry, who uploaded the video to YouTube, wrote in a message accompanying the clip: "My RRFC band jamming with Dave Mustaine on Holy Wars. This was the second take since some of us were a little too excited on the first run, so he wasn't happy with it. He graciously asked to do it again."

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.

A professionally filmed video of MANOWAR performing the song "Hand Of Doom" on April 5, 2019 at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany can be seen below.

According to the band, the clip, which was shot during MANOWAR's "The Final Battle" world 2019/2020 tour, "captures the passion and energy of the German Manowarriors and their fellow brothers and sisters who joined them from all over the world."

Last November, MANOWAR announced that it had recorded a song titled "The Revenge Of Odysseus" for the band's upcoming studio album. Bassist Joey DeMaio also traveled to Athens to record a narration with father-and-son team Kostas and Konstantinos Kazakos. Kostas, hailed in Greece for his participation in many movies and as an accomplished theater actor and writer, and his son Kostantinos, who is also a talented actor, narrated a touching dialogue between Odysseus and his son Telemachus. And to honor the historic source material, they did so in Ancient Greek, translated from English by Sakis Tolis of Greek metal band ROTTING CHRIST.

Asked in a recent interview with Metal Hammer Greece's TV show "TV War" if the next MANOWAR release will be a full-length album or if it will be the previously planned follow-up to 2019's "The Final Battle I" EP, Joey said: "That's a very good question. You're the first person to ask that. And right now, I truly don't know what is coming next, because we had the inspiration to write this song, which I was thinking could be a very long normal song — like maybe 10 minutes — 'The Revenge Of Odysseus'. And it just got out of hand — it just kept growing and growing. It started out with, 'Maybe it'll just be in English.' Then it was, 'Maybe it'll be in Greek.' And then it became not just Greek — ancient Greek. And then something like famous narrators. And then it became, 'No, we're gonna take one of the most famous, if not the most famous actor in Greece.' And then his son is gonna play the part of Telemachus. And it just got bigger and bigger and bigger. And now, when they came into the studio here in Athens and recorded, it just turned out so amazing. And now I'm stuck with a big problem — there's so much incredible stuff that these guys performed… So the reality, just hearing words has given me the challenge, now how can I match this great performance with music that's gonna be worthy of these beautiful, beautiful performances? So, it's a big fucking problem. So I'm looking forward to getting back into the studio and trying to serve this in the best way that I can."

As metal fans will know, 2022 marks the 30th year since the release of "The Triumph Of Steel". With this album, MANOWAR surprised its fans with the over-28-minute-long track "Achilles, Agony And Ecstasy In Eight Parts", inspired by Homer's ancient Greek poem "The Iliad". In celebration of this memorable anniversary and as a "thank you" for the steadfast and passionate support of the Greek Manowarriors, MANOWAR has now taken on "The Odyssey", Homer's tale of the great hero Odysseus and his long and perilous quest to return to his wife and son.

"The Final Battle I" came out in March 2019. At the time of its release, it was announced that parts II and III of the trilogy would arrive at a later date, inspired by MANOWAR's adventures on the remainder of "The Final Battle".

Later this year, MANOWAR will embark on the "Crushing The Enemies Of Metal Anniversary Tour '22", which will be packed with fan favorites from the band's career and will pay special tribute to six signature MANOWAR albums and their anniversaries: 40th anniversary of "Battle Hymns", 35th anniversary of "Fighting The World", 30th anniversary of "The Triumph Of Steel", 20th anniversary of "Warriors Of The World", 15th anniversary of "Gods Of War", and 10th anniversary of "The Lord Of Steel".

In 2019, MANOWAR recruited Anders Johansson as the band's new drummer.

The Swedish musician made his live debut with MANOWAR in March 2019 in Brno, Czech Republic.

Johansson can be heard on "The Final Battle I", which was initially made available in an exclusive pre-sale at the merchandise booth of the band's "The Final Battle" world tour.

Former MANOWAR guitarist Karl Logan was arrested in August 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina and charged with six counts of third-degree exploitation of a minor. He was jailed after pleading guilty to two child-pornography counts.

A few days after Karl's arrest was made public, MANOWAR issued a statement saying that he would no longer perform with the group. He has since been replaced by E.V. Martel, who previously played in a MANOWAR tribute band.

Professionally filmed video footage of JUDAS PRIEST performing the song "Metal Gods" on August 15, 2021 at the Bloodstock Open Air festival, which took place at Catton Park, Walton-on-Trent, United Kingdom, can be seen below.

The British heavy metal legends, who are celebrating their 50th anniversary, were rejoined by guitarist Glenn Tipton during their first concert in more than two years. The band also pulled out a number of surprises in its set, including first-ever performances of "One Shot At Glory" and "Invader", as well as several tracks that hadn't been played in a long time, such as "Rocka Rolla (performed for the first time since 1976), "Exciter" (first time since 2005), "Hell Patrol" (first time since 2009), "A Touch Of Evil" (first time since 2005), "Dissident Aggressor" (first time since 2009) and "Blood Red Skies" (first time since 2012).

Tipton was diagnosed with Parkinson's eight years ago — after being stricken by the condition at least half a decade earlier — but announced in early 2018 he was going to sit out touring activities in support of JUDAS PRIEST's latest studio album, "Firepower". He was replaced by "Firepower" album producer Andy Sneap, who is also known for his work in NWOBHM revivalists HELL and cult thrash outfit SABBAT.

As he has done a number of other times over the course of the last three and a half years, Tipton joined PRIEST onstage on Bloodstock for the encore, performing "Metal Gods", "Breaking The Law" and "Living After Midnight".

PRIEST singer Rob Halford recently told Metal Pilgrim that Glenn is "still actively involved with JUDAS PRIEST, a hundred percent. Andy is still standing in that spot for Glenn with Glenn's blessing… And my gratitude to Andy. It couldn't have happened in a better way, if you wanna try and make something good out of it. It was a really important day when Glenn said, 'I think it's probably best if I step to the side and maybe we should let Andy come in.' That was just a really beautiful act of selflessness. That's Glenn treasuring PRIEST and PRIEST's reputation, particularly in live concert more than anything else. So bless Glenn for that. And as a result, Andy stepped in and did amazing work on the 'Firepower' tour, and we're looking forward to doing the same thing with him on this 50th-anniversary [tour]. And don't discount the fact that Glenn can show up. He plays the guitar differently, but there's no reason why Glenn can't show up and do some work. I mean, I've said to Glenn, 'Just walk out on stage and do that to everybody [flashes devil horns], and the people will just go fucking crazy, 'cause you are loved so much.' But I've got a feeling that Glenn's gonna be making the occasional appearance on this 50th-anniversary [tour]."

Bassist Ian Hill is the sole remaining original member of PRIEST, which formed in 1969. Halford joined the group in 1973 and Tipton signed on in 1974. Rob left PRIEST in the early 1990s to form his own band, then came back to PRIEST in 2003. Founding guitarist K.K. Downing parted ways with the band in 2011, and was replaced by Richie Faulkner.

Last November, JUDAS PRIEST announced the rescheduled "50 Heavy Metal Years" North American tour dates for March-April 2022. Support on the trek will come from QUEENSRŸCHE.

Former QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate spoke to the 100 FM The Pike radio station about how he keeps his voice strong and stays in shape for his rigorous touring pace of the last few years. "It's tough," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "It really is — trying to achieve some sort of balance, lifestyle that kind of tends towards excess. [Laughs] All the traveling and the different hours of the day or night that you're awake, time zone changes, living in airports and trains and actually eating in different places to go around the world. Your diet changes all the time, so, yeah, it's really difficult to sort of gauge all that. I just kind of try to keep it down to something simple, which is portion control. [Laughs] And I have a big appetite — I love food and I love dining and all the different kind of restaurants you can go to throughout the world; I love that. And then wine — I'm a wine fan so I always have to have wine with every meal. So that takes its toll too. So, yeah, it's just moderation — trying to keep all that in check. It's a full-time job. [Laughs]"

Tate went on to say that the stereotypical "rock and roll lifestyle" has never been an issue for him. "I've never been a real drug user or that kind of thing, so it's never really been a problem for me," he explained. "Other people have struggled with it. For me, it's mostly about food and wine. [Laughs] I love to drink. [Laughs]

"When you go out and eat at a restaurant, they're not designing their food to be healthy for you; they're designing it to taste good so you'll wanna eat more," he added. "So they put all the bad stuff in there that they should keep in check. But that's not what restaurants are about. And personally, I travel two hundred-plus days a year, and that's where I'm eating — at restaurants — all the time."

Tate's current tour is celebrating the 30th anniversary of QUEENSRŸCHE's "Empire" and "Rage For Order" albums.

In April 2014, Tate and QUEENSRŸCHE announced that a settlement had been reached after a nearly two-year legal battle where the singer sued over the rights to the QUEENSRŸCHE name after being fired in 2012. Original QUEENSRŸCHE members Michael Wilton (guitar), Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Eddie Jackson (bass) responded with a countersuit. The settlement included an agreement that Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson would continue as QUEENSRŸCHE, while Tate would have the sole right to perform the albums "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Operation: Mindcrime II" in their entirety live.

Tate was replaced in QUEENSRŸCHE by former CRIMSON GLORY singer Todd La Torre.

Geoff recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of "Operation: Mindcrime" on European and U.S. tours.

Sabaton guitarist / Majestica frontman Tommy Johansson has shared his Disney rendition of Sabaton's epic "82nd All The Way". Check it out below.


Johansson: "Let’s continue with the mighty mix between Sabaton and Disney with the lyrics from the heavy Sabaton song '82nd All The Way' to the epic 'Make A Man Out Of You" from Mulan - 1998."













Johansson previously shared his Disney rendition of Sabaton's epic "Swedish Pagans".


Johansson: "I started to sing Sabaton lyrics over Disney songs on the piano back in 2017 just because Sabaton has such great lyrics and Disney has the best music - perfect match! And now for the first time - a full length recorded song! With the lyrics from my all time favorite Sabaton song 'Swedish Pagans' to the epic 'Go The Distance' from Hercules - 1995."

On  January 23rd, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson brought his spoken word show to The Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA. Below is a clip of Dickinson singing the Maiden classic "Revelations" a capella. 










Dickinson launched the North American leg of his spoken word tour, An Evening With Bruce Dickinson, earlier this month in Florida. Split into two parts, the first section of the show sees Bruce taking a humorous and often satirical look at the world from his own very personal perspective, treating the audience to private insights into his drive and ambition, peppered with plenty of Maiden anecdotes, and a myriad of other experiences encompassing not just the giddy heights but also the extreme lows, told first-hand in his inimitable anarchic style, punctuated with photographs and sometimes even erupting into song a-capella, to illustrate a point.


The final section of the evening is devoted entirely to a Q&A session, with the opportunity to pose questions on any subject whatsoever. As Bruce’s answers will all be completely improvised – the more left-field and quirky the question, the more interesting and compelling the response is likely to be!





Remaining Dates:


February
7 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The Fillmore
8 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
10 - Cleveland, Ohio - MGM Northfield Park
11 - Chicago, Illinois - Vic Theatre
13 - Minneapolis, Minnesota - Pantages Theatre
14 - Milwaukee-Racine, Wisconsin - Pabst Theater
16 - Des Moines, Iowa - Hoyt Sherman Place Theatre
17 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Rose State College Hudiberg Chevrolet Center
19 - Kansas City, Kansas - Uptown Theater
20 - Denver, Colorado - Paramount Theatre
22 - Dallas, Texas - Majestic Theatre
23 - Houston, Texas - Stafford Centre
24 - Austin, Texas - Paramount Theatre
26 - Phoenix, Arizona - Mesa Arts Center
28 - San Diego, California - Balboa Theatre


March
1 - Los Angeles, California - Orpheum Theatre
3 - San Francisco, California - Palace of Fine Arts
4 - Portland, Oregon - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
6 - Seattle, Washington - The Moore Theatre
12 - Las Vegas, Nevada - House Of Blues
14 - Vancouver (New Westminster), British Columbia - Massey Theatre
16 - Victoria, British Columbia - Royal Theatre
18 - Edmonton, Alberta - Winspear Centre
20 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - Burton Cummings Theatre
21 - Calgary, Alberta - Jack Singer Concert Hall
23 - Montreal, Quebec - MTELUS
26 - Ottawa, Ontario - Algonquin Commons Theatre
27 - Quebec City, Quebec - Palais Montcalm
29 - Hamilton, Ontario - FirstOntario Concert Hall
30 - Kitchener, Ontario - Centre in the Square


On January 15, BraveWords presented a very special episode of Streaming For Vengeance, in which Bruce Dickinson joined "Metal" Tim Henderson to talk about his spoken word tour. During the 30-minute video interview, Bruce also revealed that Iron Maiden are officially getting ready behind-the-scenes to hit the road later this year in support of their latest album, Senjutsu. As well, Bruce updates us on his forthcoming solo effort that he's working on with long-time partner Roy Z, and cracks open the Trooper beer plans for 2022! Watch below:

In a brand new interview with CNN Indonesia, Slash was asked what piece of advice he would give to young musicians who are just starting out. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The music industry has changed so much since I got into it. It's hard to sort of give anybody any kind of real advice because I'm still trying to learn how to navigate the sort of new terrain. But I think the most important thing is to stick to the music that you really love — don't let anybody try and tell you different — and then go and try and figure out how you can connect with an audience and the best way to make that possible and do what you have to do and be prepared to work really, really hard and to sacrifice everything in order to do what you love to do."

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS' new album, titled "4", will be released 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). 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.

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS will kick off a North American headlining tour on February 8, in Portland, Oregon and hit 28 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.

This year's ShipRocked cruise set sail from Galveston, Texas on January 22nd, making stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico before returning home on January 27th. 


Check out the clip below featuring Michael Starr (vocals / Steel Panther), Jason Hook (guitars / ex-Five Finger Death Punch), Sahaj Ticotin (bass / RA) and RJ Shankle (drums / Strung Out) performing the Van Halen classics "Unchained" and "Panama". 







Ultimate Jam Night, the long-running community-oriented music show, presented its night to honour Eddie Van Halen on Tuesday, February 1. The evening was held at its long time residency location, The Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California.





The star-studded lineup included Michael Starr from Steel Panther, Marq Torien of The Bulletboys, several members of David Lee Roth’s bands including Jamie Hunting, Jake Faun, and Frankie Lindia (also a member of Ratt), ex-Megadeth member Jeff Young, Matt Starr of Ace Frehley’s band, Ira Black of Gods and Monsters, and many others. It was hosted by Paulie Z., frontman of The Sweet.


Video footage, courtesy of Jessica Chase, can be viewed below.


Eddie Van Halen died in 2020 after a lengthy illness. Recognized as one of the all-time greatest guitar players his influence is felt around the world. His genius also extended into invention as he was the recipient of three patents related to guitars, and the development the now iconic 5150 amplifiers.


For more information about the show, please visit ultimatejamnight.com.


Founded in 2015 by long-time Quiet Riot bassist Chuck Wright, Ultimate Jam Night is a live unrehearsed performance of familiar songs by some of music’s greatest talent. Now in it’s 6th year of residency, the show is currently presented every other week at The Whisky A Go Go.

During an appearance on the latest episode of "The MetalSucks Podcast", vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway of British grindcore pioneers NAPALM DEATH spoke about what it was like for him and his bandmates to complete their first pandemic-era U.S. tour last fall as the support act for GWAR. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The tour itself was great, but you had to be kind of a little bit vigilant to try as best you could to not be mixing with too many people who you didn't know — for obvious reasons at this point in time. Which is completely alien to my way of doing things usually, but, of course, we completely understood why that needed to be the case. Unfortunately, it didn't stop all of us from getting COVID right at the end of the tour, so that was rough [laughs], to say the least."

Greenway clarified that he and other members of the NAPALM DEATH touring party tested positive for COVID-19 "right at the end of the tour after we finished, actually. [That was] good in some ways but not in others," he said. "I mean, I had to stay over for 10 days in the States when I didn't want to. And it was a big old financial hit for the band on top of everything else. The COVID tests that we had to do while in the States, the cost was eye-watering. We'd already got that, and then we had to pay for accommodation [at the end of the tour], and that was the financial hit. But on the other side of things, we got travel insurance, so we made sure that everybody got travel insurance, just in case they became hospitalized. Nobody did in the end, but we were covered for the hospitalization but not for the accommodation, so we still had to pay for that."

NAPALM DEATH will return to the U.S. this spring as part of "The North American Siege 2022" tour with ARCH ENEMY and BEHEMOTH. Set to kick off in April, the trek will also feature heavy gothic rockers UNTO OTHERS as special guests.

"It's really strange, man, because America is actually the easiest place to tour right now," Barney told "The MetalSucks Podcast". "We had a European tour that just got canceled, or postponed till next year, because of the varying COVID restrictions at this point from different countries. Logistically, it was just not doable right now. So the States is actually the easiest place so far to be able to tour. And obviously this tour [with BEHEMOTH and ARCH ENEMY] came up unexpectedly, then we may as well — we may as well do it.

"If you know anything about us as a band, you know it would really be to the nth degree that something wasn't possible for us to pull it, especially at this short notice," Greenway said, referencing the postponed European tour. "I was gutted, to be honest. One of the bands on the tour was DOOM, and the drummer is one of my oldest friends, and I really wanted to do it — I was really looking forward to it — and it just all fell apart at very short notice. We hung on in there as long as we could but it just became clear that, because of the different regulations in each European country, it was just too prohibitive. And there is a chance in Europe, I think — people will correct me if I'm wrong — but the restrictions might even change for some countries, so it could get more severe while we're out there. And if we can't get into a country because of that, well, for the logistics of the tour and stuff, that's gonna be really difficult. So we kind of took the unfortunate but necessary decision at this point to just not chance it. It would be too much of a risk for us for the tour."

As previously reported, NAPALM DEATH will release a new mini-album, "Resentment Is Always Seismic - A Final Throw Of Throes", on February 11 via Century Media Records.

"Resentment Is Always Seismic - A Final Throw Of Throes" is a partner recording to NAPALM DEATH's latest album, "Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism", concluding matters through vital, tumultuous grindcore and shockwave ambience.

"Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism" came out in September 2020 via Century Media Records. The band's 16th studio LP was recorded with longtime producer Russ Russell and features artwork by Frode Sylthe.

The independent publishing powerhouse Primary Wave Music has announced its acquisition of music rights from the estates of Layne Staley and Mike Starr of the legendary grunge group and Grammy-nominated band ALICE IN CHAINS. The deal will see the publisher acquire a stake in Staley's and Starr's music publishing catalog, as well as master royalty income stream. Many of ALICE IN CHAINS' biggest and most memorable hits are included, songs that defined an era. Just some of the royalties acquired include "Man In The Box", "Rooster" and "No Excuses", as well as their hit recording "Would?" which was released in 1992 and not only appeared in the film "Singles" but was also included on the critically acclaimed soundtrack. Rolling Stone called the song "timeless" saying it's "the work of a band which understands that life gets way out of hand but that first-rate rock recordings can't." A number of additional songs in the catalog include several Grammy-nominated singles, number one hits, and many platinum and multi-platinum tracks.

Additional deal terms will now see members of both estates gain access to Primary Wave's entire marketing team, digital team, branding team and publishing infrastructure which includes licensing and synch opportunities.

Primary Wave's David Weitzman said in a statement: "Primary Wave is pleased to partner with the estates of Layne Staley and Mike Starr to honor their musical legacies as part of the classic era lineup of ALICE IN CHAINS, who created the amazing songs and records that comprise the albums 'Dirt' and 'Facelift', and the acoustic EPs 'Jar Of Flies' and 'Sap'. These projects represent the greatest works from one of the best artists of the iconic Nineties Seattle-based grunge era."

Staley's well-publicized battles with drug addiction brought ALICE IN CHAINS' career to a virtual standstill in 1996, with his death seemingly putting an end to the band as well. But ALICE IN CHAINS regrouped in 2006 with vocalist William DuVall, who had been part of guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell's solo backing band. ALICE IN CHAINS has since cut three studio albums.

Cantrell told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that Staley, who died in 2002, was a singular talent. "Layne was a very unique, one-of-a-kind guy," he said. "There's, like, a handful of those guys in music, for every generation, that are that unique and that hard to cop, but a lot of people try. [Laughs] But there's a lot of people that feel the weight of what that guy brought to music and have been influenced by it."

Mike was found dead in a house in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 8, 2011. Starr, who was a founding member of ALICE IN CHAINS and played on its first two albums, was 44 years old. Police who were called to the scene said that foul play was not suspected, but that drugs were found near the body.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Starr had struggled with drug problems for years and was dismissed from ALICE IN CHAINS in 1993 due to his addiction. He had been arrested numerous times over the years for DUI, reckless driving, and various drug charges in Los Angeles, Seattle and Salt Lake City. Just a month prior to his death, he was arrested for felony possession of a controlled substance in the latter city.

Starr was featured as a cast member of the third season of the VH1 reality series "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew" in 2009. Hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky, the season consisted of eight episodes that followed the real-life experiences of celebrity patients undergoing detoxification and treatment at the Pasadena Recovery Center. However, like fellow rocker participant Steven Adler of GUNS N' ROSES fame, Starr seemed to struggle once his season on the show was finis