Sebastian Bach (SKID ROW) and Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) have weighed in on Neil Young's decision to issue a letter to his management team demanding Spotify to remove his music from the streaming service over vaccine misinformation on Joe Rogan's podcast.

In a now-deleted post on his web site, Young said the music and podcast platform is "spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe this disinformation spread by them." "I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform," he wrote, according to Rolling Stone. "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."

"With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE ['The Joe Rogan Experience'] which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world's largest podcast and has tremendous influence," Young continued.

"Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy."

Earlier on Tuesday (January 25), Jasta shared a tweet from the right-wing outlet The Blaze about Neil's request, and he included the following comment: "Spotify doesn't care Neil. Rogan is not your problem. Start your own streaming service where you pay bands more than what Spotify pays, then they'll care."

A few hours later, Bach chimed in, retweeting Jasta's comment and writing: "Misinformation about the vaccines is everybody's problem. Neil Young is doing this because he wants rock and roll to exist and his fans to live. This other guy is a complete jackass who doesn't give a shit about anybody or anything except himself".

Frank Gironda, Young's manager, confirmed to the Daily Beast that the two had discussed Young's concerns and were "trying to figure this out right now." He added that Young was "very upset about this disinformation."

"The Joe Rogan Experience" became a Spotify exclusive in 2020, when Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with the streaming giant.




Misinformation about the vaccines is everybody's problem. Neil Young is doing this because he wants rock and roll to exist and his fans to live. This other guy is a complete jackass who doesn't give a shit about anybody or anything except himself https://t.co/SgzVBnIwqM

— Sebastian Bach (@sebastianbach) January 25, 2022

Canadian rock icon, Aldo Nova, is streaming his new song, "Free Your Mind". Listen below.


Says Aldo: "Hi, this is 'Free Your Mind', a new song from my 10-song preview E.P. of my Rock Opera, The Life And Times Of Eddie Gage, which comes out on April 1st, 2022, the 40th anniversary to the day of the release of my 1st album that came out on April 1st, 1982. It's available on all your streaming formats as of today. Check it out, it rocks pretty hard. Enjoy."







On January 11, Aldo Nova issued the following update:


"It's been a while since I posted, but I've been busy getting all my artwork ready for my 2 albums that are coming out in April of 2022. The 1st is a 10-song Preview E.P. of my The Life And Times of Eddie Gage, which is coming out on April 1st, 2022, with the 2nd one, Aldo Nova 2.0 Reloaded coming out on April 19th, 2022. The 10-song EP has amazing artwork and contains a 16-page booklet with probably some of the best liner notes on an album. The notes are extremely detailed and there's a section in it called, "The Making of" which tells you exactly what gear I use and what recording technique was used to record the album.


"Reloaded also comes with incredible artwork and is a 3 CD set which contains 1 disc with all the complete songs on it, a 2nd disc that has all the songs with no lead vocals on it, and the 3rd has versions with no lead guitar on it. It also comes with a booklet with all the lyrics on it so that you can sing along, but with the right lyrics that I wrote, because I noticed that on the online sites, they usually don't have the words right.
Keep your eyes and ears out for it starting on April 1st, 2022."

Vancouver's Dead Asylum has issued the following update, in regard to the departure of drummer Samantha Landa:


"Attention Inmates!


Samantha has come to the decision to part ways with Dead Asylum.




Sam founded the group with Mike (Lister - vocalist / guitarist) over ten years ago and through several North American / Canadian tours, two albums, hundreds of shows, and a couple of broken down RVs, we know she will always be a part of the Asylum, but now must focus 100% on her other project.


We will always cherish the time that Sam spent in Dead Asylum, and we wish her nothing but the best in her new journey.


This by no means is the end of Dead Asylum, we are fully committed to putting out new music this year and when possible play f*ckin live!


Join us in wishing the best for Sam."


Samantha issued her own statement, which reads:


"I've decided to leave Dead Asylum to focus 100% on Conquer Divide. With a new label and a busy year coming up, it's not fair to my other bandmates or the teams behind them for me to not be able to give them my all. With that:


Dead Asylum: This one cuts pretty deep because of the history. Mike Lister and I founded the band back in 2011, over 10 years ago, and we combined our diverse interests with Mike's thrash and my melodic death metal to try and do something a bit different. We've been through a lot, including North American tours, broken down RVs (multiple times), sketchy San Francisco massages, a cheese grated leg, two albums and a demo, shows with hundreds of people and shows with nobody there. This band has taught me a ton and when I moved across the country in 2017, I knew it would be difficult to stick with the band, but I tried my best. Then I got involved in the other two bands, and it was becoming harder and harder to find time to write and make commitments to DA. I put my heart and soul into this band for years and because I love it I need to say goodbye. I know Mike will carry on the band and keep kicking ass, and I'm grateful to him for always being a loyal bandmate and friend. Huge huge thanks to all the Dead Asylum fans who have been extremely supportive - love you all!


If you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking with me through all of this! Lots of fun stuff to come."


Check out Dead Asylum's lyric video for "Death Always Wins", as well as their official video for "Forgotten Sacrifice":











 


 

Icelandic tech death battalion, Ophidian I, have released a drum playthrough video for “Dominion Eyes”, featured on their new album, Desolate. Watch below:





Desolate was released in July 2021, making it their debut to Season Of Mist. Order Desolate at the Season Of Mist webshop.




Artwork by Eliran Kantor.





Tracklisting:


“Diamonds”
“Spiral To Oblivion”
“Storm Aglow”
“Unfurling The Crescent Moon”
“Sequential Descent”
“Captive Infinity”
“Enslaved In A Desolate Swarm”
“Dominion Eyes”
“Jupiter”
“Wither On The Vine”


Album stream:





“Storm Aglow” video:





“Spiral To Oblivion” video:





“Diamonds” video:

On July 29, Swedish/Canadian/American melodic death metallers ARCH ENEMY will release their 11th studio album, "Deceivers", via Century Media Records. A collection of 11 tracks that are ruthlessly catchy and mercilessly violent, "Deceivers" stands toe to toe with the highlights of the band's storied catalog. Fans can expect the new single "Handshake With Hell" to drop next week (Friday, February 4) along with the album pre-order start.

Before "Handshake With Hell" launches next week, fans can also check out the previously released album tracks, "Deceiver, Deceiver" and "House Of Mirrors".

ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott comments: "Having just celebrated our 25th anniversary as a group and now releasing our 11th studio album, one could easily assume that we would be cruising along and going through the motions at this point. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to ARCH ENEMY and our new album, 'Deceivers'.

"It is, without a doubt, always a challenge to raise the bar each time in both the songwriting and production side of things, and it can feel a bit daunting before we get into it. But once we do get started and fully immerse ourselves in the creative process, it's really like there is nothing else in the world and we are very focused. And believe it or not, for the most part, we have a ton of fun making this music! Creating 'Deceivers' was no different. Once again we shut out the outside world and went deep into the artistic zone. I believe we pulled out some really interesting musical and lyrical themes this time, a few things might even raise an eyebrow or two — while retaining all the signature elements of the band. In the end, it's ARCH ENEMY at full speed and power."

"Deceivers" track listing:

01. Handshake With Hell

02. Deceiver, Deceiver

03. In The Eye Of The Storm

04. The Watcher

05. Poisoned Arrow

06. Sunset Over The Empire

07. House Of Mirrors

08. Spreading Black Wings

09. Mourning Star

10. One Last Time

11. Exiled From Earth

This spring, ARCH ENEMY and BEHEMOTH will return to the states to co-headline "The North American Siege 2022" tour with NAPALM DEATH and UNTO OTHERS as special guests, before ARCH ENEMY appears at select summer festivals; the rescheduled "European Siege 2022" tour (with ARCH ENEMY, BEHEMOTH, CARCASS, UNTO OTHERS) will kick off in the fall.

"Despite the obvious uncertainties everyone is currently facing in the world, we have got quite a few concerts booked for this year!" says Amott. "We're delighted to be returning to the live stage in North America this spring and hitting select European festivals in the summer, as well as a huge European tour at the end of 2022. It's time; let's do this!"

Last month, ARCH ENEMY released another new song, "House Of Mirrors". Mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen, an accompanying music video for the track was directed by Grupa13.

"House Of Mirrors" marked the second new ARCH ENEMY track to be made available in four years, following the October 2021 arrival of "Deceiver, Deceiver".

In the fall of 2018, Amott revealed that he had commenced the songwriting process for the follow-up to the "Will To Power" album. Released in 2017, that disc marked the second ARCH ENEMY LP since the departure of longtime singer Angela Gossow and addition of ex-THE AGONIST frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz. It was also the first ARCH ENEMY disc to feature former NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis, who joined the band in late 2014.

Jeff, who was the main songwriter in his previous group, NEVERMORE, was not involved in the writing for "Will To Power".

Album artwork by: Alex Reisfar

Industrial metal pioneers MINISTRY have released the official music video for their song "Believe Me". The track is taken from the band's 15th studio album, "Moral Hygiene", which was released last October via Nuclear Blast Records.

The "Believe Me" video is a departure from the two previously released professional clip from the album and became a total DIY effort, with each of the bandmembers — drummer Roy Mayorga, guitarists Cesar Soto and Monte Pittman, bassist Paul D'Amour and keyboardist John Bechdel — gearing up for the upcoming tour at home and purchasing an inexpensive green screen to contribute their parts to the performance footage that was then melded together. MINISTRY hopes to encourage other artists to do the same during these difficult times when budgets are tight and still have fun with the creative process.

In a recent interview with Australia's Heavy, MINISTRY frontman Al Jourgensen stated about the new LP's musical direction: "Same old stuff. Just a progression of the MINISTRY sound that's been refined for the last 30 [or] 40 years. And I think we hit a good one this time. There's a couple that I wish I could have back, and there's a couple that I'm really gung-ho about. But this one's in the 'gung-ho' category. This one makes a lot of sense for the times that we're living in."

As for the lyrical themes covered on "Moral Hygiene", Jourgensen said: "We cover everything — from the actual pandemic to climate change to the political climate now. And I don't mean so much the politicians as much as the rise of fascist tendencies all over the world and in various countries. And a lot of life topics like that."

"Moral Hygiene" was recorded with engineer Michael Rozon (also behind the boards on "AmeriKKKant") at Scheisse Dog Studio, Jourgensen's self-built home studio and creative lab. As with all MINISTRY albums, all songs are written and performed by Jourgensen.

MINISTRY will debut new songs from "Moral Hygiene" on the upcoming "Industrial Strength Tour", kicking off March 2, alongside celebrating the 30th anniversary of seminal album "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste". Special guests THE MELVINS and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY will share the stage nightly as the tour's special guests. Due to overwhelming demand, MINISTRY added 13 new dates with the tour now running through April 18.

LAST IN LINE has returned to the studio to resume recording its third album for a tentative last 2022 release via an as-yet-undisclosed label.

On Wednesday (January 26), LAST IN LINE shared a new photo from the recording studio and captioned it: "Right now, in studio #recording #lastinline #newmusic #recordingstudio".

Formed in 2012 by bassist Jimmy Bain, drummer Vinny Appice 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, 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".

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.
























View this post on Instagram









































A post shared by LAST IN LINE (@lastinlineofficial)

GHOST kicked off its co-headlining tour with VOLBEAT this past Tuesday night (January 25) at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada. During its 16-song set, GHOST debuted another song from its upcoming "Impera" album, called "Kaisarion". Multi-camera fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

GHOST leader Tobias Forge told Kerrang! magazine that "Kaisarion" — which features the line "We're building our empire from the ashes of an old" — has to do with intolerance, and replacing the old by force.

"There was a building called Caesareum in ancient Alexandria," Forge explained. "Roughly what happened was that the teacher and philosopher, Hypatia, was murdered by Christians. She was molested and murdered inside the building, because of her pagan beliefs, because she was a believer in science and real things. This was in the beginning stages of Christianity, when it was just an insane cult, before it got the mandate of a book put together by Romans in 325 to harness that shit. This was like an underground group of terrorists, basically, who couldn't stand to see some female smartass preaching or telling people that the world wasn't flat. And it didn't happen at the same time, but they also burned down the big library in Alexandria, which must have been an enormous, enormous loss for mankind in terms of knowledge and historic accounts. There you go — for the greater good.

"I think that's a nice symbol for what you can see now," he said. "You can see likenesses of it in public book burnings and stoning and killing everything that doesn't match with a sort of a flat Earth reality that some people live in. Or storming the Capitol and wanting to hang people. It's a symbol for those sorts of movements that are always targeting smartness and enlightenment, and thinking."

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.

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".

Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing spoke to "The Rock Show With Lee Graham" about how he came up with the idea of adding a second guitarist to the band's early lineup, thereby creating the legendary twin-guitar sound that is synonymous with the Rob Halford-fronted outfit. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We were just a four-piece for quite a long time, really. And that particular period kind of set a precedent, I think, for everything that I thought was in my mind as best as I could do it, really. The goal was to be heavy, whatever that meant. And what it really meant was to be emotional with attitude and to be different to what other people were doing, because what other people were doing had a different target audience. So kind of that's what it was about. And then, as time went on, the idea came about… We managed to get a record deal but they said, 'Look, there's too many bands who have the same lineup — FREE, LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH, whatever. What about you guys having a saxophone player?' And I go, 'No way. You can keep your record deal.' 'A keyboard player?' 'No. Sorry.' So I sat and thought about it. I thought, 'Can we get a record deal and appease these guys?' And I'm thinking maybe a second guitar player. And I really thought that was a good idea, for lots of reasons. It would fill out the sound when I'm doing a solo. And I'm thinking if we can get another guitar player that can write, and he's a lead guitar player as well, we'll be two lead guitar players, two strong songwriters, it will fortify the band. And musically, we can venture into worlds that people haven't gone into yet. I had this crazy idea we can create heavy harmonies. And we did have a go at that. Because usually harmonies… 'Cause at the time you heard bands like THE ALLMAN BROTHERS and the JAMES GANG and the great WISHBONE ASH, and I wasn't a great fan because it kind of sounded a bit too light. 'Cause that's what harmonies do — when you start to build harmonies, they start to sound like chord structures, which they inevitably will, 'cause harmonizing with one note will build a chord. So I'm thinking we'll create… And we ventured out. And we eventually did. There is such a thing as diminished harmonies. You can stack minor thirds together — fine. It will sound not too pleasing to a lot of people, but to me it sounded great; it was dissonant."

He continued: "We got together [with Glenn Tipton]. And obviously, musically, what Glenn and myself brought together maybe didn't always agree, but I had a great appreciation, and I think Glenn did as well, is the fact that a band, it's a combination of people. And so some of the more melodic stuff, the slightly more commercial stuff that Glenn would come up with, I was in acceptance of that because I'm thinking that if we wanna really be successful with our music, then we really do need to broaden our horizons. And obviously, the combination worked incredibly well."

On January 10, JUDAS PRIEST revealed that it would perform as a four-piece when it returns to the road in early March. A few hours later, the band's touring guitarist Andy Sneap, who co-produced the group's 2018 album "Firepower", released a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET in which he said that he was "incredibly disappointed" by PRIEST's decision to carry on as a quartet and thanked the iconic outfit for the "mind-blowing" opportunity to share the stage with one of his favorite bands. Meanwhile, PRIEST fans were understandably upset about the band's decision to forgo its classic twin-guitar attack sound and made their feelings known on social media. Some even called for the return of Downing, who joined PRIEST in 1970 and remained in the group until 2011. On January 15, JUDAS PRIEST released a statement announcing that it was reversing its decision to tour as a four-piece, explaining that the bandmembers "decided unanimously" to continue their live shows "unchanged" with Rob, Ian Hill (bass), Richie Faulkner (guitar), Scott Travis (drums) and Andy.

Last week, Downing said in an interview that it was "very, very strange" for PRIEST "to even think about" the possibility of going out as a quartet. "I'm like everybody else. I'm totally bemused," he told the "Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen" classic rock show. It was just so extreme and insulting in a way, I guess, and insulting to Glenn as well. It was kind of a slap in the face, saying, 'Okay, you two guys did it, but we think just one guy could do what…' It kind of made us and everything that we've done and created, saying it was all superfluous, really, and didn't really have the value that… I'm sure Glenn will agree with me that it does have a value."

Ted Nugent has blasted a former top speechwriter for George W. Bush for criticizing Donald Trump Jr. over a recent speech in which the former first son lamented that conservatives had "ceded ground in every major institution in our country."

Last month, Peter Wehner penned an op-ed for The Atlantic in which he took issue with Trump Jr.'s December 19 remarks at the America Fest Conference hosted by Turning Point USA. Wehner wrote: "Throughout his speech, Don Jr. painted a scenario in which Trump supporters — Americans living in red America — are under relentless attack from a wicked and brutal enemy. He portrayed it as an existential battle between good and evil. One side must prevail; the other must be crushed. This in turn justifies any necessary means to win." He also slammed Trump Jr.'s character, which he called riddled with "corruption, ineptitude, and banality." He went on to lambaste the 45th president's oldest son as "intensely unappealing and uninteresting" and "a crude, one-dimensional figure who has done a remarkably good job of keeping from public view any redeeming qualities he might have."

Nugent weighed in on Wehner's comments 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: "I would like to just make sure I remind everybody that George W. Bush and the entire Bush gang are the 'Deep State,'" referencing a term that describes a group of people who are believed to control the levers of power irrespective of who is in government. "They manifest wokeism; they genuflect at the altar of denial. Donald Trump Jr., on the other hand, is a truth-logic-and-common-sense, Constitution, Bill Of Rights, Ten Commandments, Golden Rule, Declaration Of Independence, be-the-best-that-you-can-be, law-and-order American, which is why there's a division. Because Donald Trump Jr. and the Nugent family and all my friends and neighbors, all my hunting buddies, fishing buddies, all my Second Amendment and First Amendment ralliers across America, we stand with Donald Trump Jr. and Donald Trump Sr. and good families who genuflect at the altar of the American Dream, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

"George W. Bush and his speechwriter were scam artists," Ted continued. "They aren't to be trusted. They represent a Deep State of criminal abuse of power.

"So God bless Don Jr. and not so much anybody associated with the Bushes."

Last April, George W. Bush described the modern-day GOP as "isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent, nativist." "It's not exactly my vision" for the party, Bush told NBC's "Today" show. "But, you know, I'm just an old guy they put out to pasture."

Nugent, who recently resigned from the board of the National Rifle Association (NRA) after 26 years, has called Donald Trump "the greatest president in our lifetime." He also said the billionaire real estate mogul represents "the heart and soul of the best American families out there."

Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Nugent teamed up with Donald Trump Jr. on the campaign trail.

Frontiers Music Srl have released progressive metal act Lalu's new album, Paint The Sky. Watch a lyric video for the title track below, and order/save Paint The Sky here.


Lalu is a musical project originally founded in 2004 by the French composer and producer Vivien Lalu, son of Noelle and Michel Lalu (members of the ‘70s French progressive act Polène). Paint The Sky is the first album, and third album overall from the band, released under the new partnership between Vivien and Frontiers.


Paint The Sky is easily the most accomplished and mature album put together by Vivien thus far in his career. Being the son of two progressive musicians from the '70s and growing up surrounded by progressive music, Vivien always wanted to craft a true-to-its-roots progressive rock album. He spent a lot of time laying down the basics for the new effort and along with this new album comes a change in vocalist specifically designed for this more progressive version of Lalu. In May 2020, Vivien announced Damian Wilson (Arena, Headspace, Threshold) as the lead vocalist for Paint The Sky. Lalu's lineup on the album is rounded out by Jelly Cardarelli (on drums) and Joop Wolters (guitars and bass).




Guests on Paint The Sky include Alessandro Del Vecchio, Alex Argento, Gary Wehrkamp, Jens Johansson, Jordan Rudess, Marco Sfogli, Simon Phillips, Simone Mularoni, Steve Walsh, Tony Franklin, and Vikram Shankar. See tracklisting below for details on which tracks they appear on.


Lalu's first full-length album, Oniric Metal (2005) garnered critical acclaim upon its release, and marked a new chapter for Vivien and his insatiable need to create mind-expanding, cinematic music. Lalu's second opus, Atomic Ark (2013) featured vocalist Martin LeMar, bassist Mike LePond (Symphony X), guitarist Simone Mularoni (DGM), and world class drummer Virgil Donati (Planet X, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth). Additional contributions came from Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), Joop Wolters, Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie), Mike Andersson (Cloudscape) and Peter Wildoer (James LaBrie).


Spring 2014 saw Vivien venturing out on a unique live tour, hosting only a few select shows featuring the all-star Atomic Ark line-up of Martin LeMar, Mike LePond, Simone Mularoni, and Virgil Donati, adding Joop Wolters as a second guitarist on stage. After a few weeks’ practice, the tour culminated in the live recording of their set during the final stop. Produced by Vivien and mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni at Domination Studio, the digital-only Live At P60 was released in June 2015.


Paint The Sky now marks the latest installment in the ever evolving musical odyssey that is Lalu. Come join the journey!





Tracklisting:


"Reset To Preset
"Won’t Rest Until The Heat Of The Earth Burns The Soles Of Our Feet Down To The Bone" (ft. Jens Johansson)
"Emotionalised"
"Paint The Sky" (ft. Steve Walsh, Tony Franklin, Alessandro Del Vecchio, Jens Johansson, Gary Wehrkamp)
"Witness To The World" (ft. Marco Sfogli)
"Lost In Conversation" (ft. Jens Johansson)
"Standing At The Gates Of Hell"
"The Chosen Ones" (ft. Jordan Rudess, Simone Mularoni)
"Sweet Asylum"
"We Are Strong"
"All Of The Lights" (ft. Vikram Shankar)
"Paint The Sky" [Instrumental] (ft. Tony Franklin, Simon Phillips, Alex Argento)


"Paint The Sky" lyric video:





"The Chosen Ones" video:





Lineup:


Damian Wilson - Vocals
Jelly Cardarelli - Drums
Joop Wolters - Guitars & bass
Vivien Lalu - Keyboards

During an appearance on the latest episode of the "Sing For Science" podcast, LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe joined Georgia state social psychologist Dr. Tony Lemieux for a conversation about identity politics, intergroup conflict in America, pathways to radicalization, mob psychology and more.

Speaking about the fact that social media's "alternative facts" are creating our alternative realities, Blythe said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Everyone's interpretation of reality is subjective, but there is an objective reality. And that appears to have been thrown out the window. And I think when people are presented with facts that go against the system of beliefs they've constructed around this identity around their political beliefs, they don't stop and go, 'Hmm, maybe I'm wrong.' I think they experience extreme cognitive dissonance. And the way that they deal with that is just to ignore the facts. And we've seen that a lot lately: 'That didn't happen'; 'I never said that'; blah blah blah. It's, like, yes, you did. These are easily provable things. Veracity is important. It does exist. But lately it seems to have been thrown out the window. And I certainly think social media has helped push that forward."

Blythe also addressed the fact that there is a surge in science denial at a time when we need to follow science-based practices if we want to find our way out of this pandemic. He said: "I think one thing we've seen with the coronavirus pandemic that has been problematic is that because the science on this is new and it's imperfect, and science is a process — it grows… When you get additional knowledge, additional data to analyze, you gain more understanding. Science doesn't have all the answers at all the times; it's a process. So that being said, I never thought I'd see the demonization of science that I'm seeing right now. But it's a growing thing. So I think it's hard for people to accept, when they look to people in positions of leadership, for them to say, people in positions of leadership saying, 'I don't know. We have to do more research.' And I think that has led to a lot of the conspiracy theory stuff, because people just don't wanna accept, 'Hey, we don't have all the answers right now. I know this sucks. But we have to hang in there and wait.'"

When asked what he thinks needs to be done to help deliver us from the current state of affairs, Blythe said: "I've come to the conclusion that there's questions that aren't being asked. And part of it, personally, on my part, I have to watch for my biases and my judgmental nature, as it were. But when people think very, very differently about reality than you do, in certain things, I think it's important, if you have the chance, to ask these people, 'What makes you think that way? Why do you feel this way?' instead of just saying, 'You're a fucking idiot' or writing them off. Because there's a myriad of factors that have brought people to this system of belief. It's not just like one day they woke up and decided, 'I'm going to totally distrust science.' Something has brought them to this point. So, for me, I think that is achievable on an individual level only.

"We were talking about crowd psychology or group psychology," he continued. "My job is to be in front of large crowds, and also I've been in large crowds in some rather contentious situations where the group mentality has taken over. It's impossible to change the mind of a mob. If there's a riot going on, you can't walk into the middle of a riot and say, 'Hey, everybody, what are you rioting about? This isn't right. You shouldn't do this.' You can't change the mind of that mass organism which is what it becomes. But if you can talk to an individual and say, 'Why are you angry? What are you upset about? What is causing you to express yourself in this manner?' and have an open conversation and maybe present your viewpoint, an alternate view to what's going on, maybe you can meet in the middle somewhere. And that can only really happen on an individual basis. I can get up and spew my ideas of reality in front of a crowd, and it will either be sort of people that already agree with the kind of things that I believe in, and thus I'll be preaching to the converted, or it's gonna be a bunch of people throwing bags of dogshit at me or whatever. It's impossible to alter the mentality of a crowd, but you can engage with an individual. So I think it's important for people to have individual conversations, one on one, and that gets harder and harder, I think, as people retreat more and more into their phones and their use of phones to communicate."

LAMB OF GOD's latest, self-titled album was released in June 2020 via Epic Records in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Records in Europe. The follow-up to "VII: Sturm Und Drang" marked LAMB OF GOD's first recordings with Art Cruz, who joined the band in July 2019 as the replacement for the group's founding drummer, Chris Adler.

"Lamb Of God" was recorded with longtime producer Josh Wilbur (KORN, MEGADETH, GOJIRA, TRIVIUM) and includes special guest appearances by Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT).

Progressive rock and roll legend Ian Anderson, founding member of JETHRO TULL, spoke to Canada's "The Rockman Power Hour" about the inspiration for the title track of the British band's first studio album of new material in over 18 years, "The Zealot Gene". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It would be easy to say, 'Oh, he's talking about Donald Trump here.' I mean, too easy. In fact, it's a compendium of characters. I can easily name at least six or eight people in the world today — political leaders or national leaders whose populist policies are frighteningly dangerous. It's all about dividing people.

"In a democracy — in a true democracy, like in your country or mine, or a pseudo-democracy, like in some other countries — winning by a small margin is the reality of today, and so dividing people is way of winning affiliation. So you'll find in those countries led by populist leaders, people love them or hate them in pretty much equal measure, but it usually tilts towards right-wing, traditional, conservative values. Even those who perhaps think, 'This guy is really not a good leader, but he's all we've got.' There are the ardent Trump supporters, and then there are those who are dyed-in-the-wool ideological Republicans. They wouldn't necessarily be comfortable voting for Donald Trump but they want to maintain their Republican origins and so in the USA, that would be the case. Canada is a much more liberal country altogether, and there are many countries in Europe where coalition governments are the norm. But in my country and in the USA, it tends to be pretty much divided."

"The Zealot Gene" will see a January 28 release on InsideOut Music. A record that began to take shape as early as 2017, "The Zealot Gene", in many ways, seeks to defy convention during a time when the business of being a touring and recording artist has never faced more uncertainties.

With more than 30 albums to their credit and sales totaling more than 50 million, JETHRO TULL is one of the most successful rock bands of all time with a catalog that contains classics that still resonate today.

The band currently consists of:

Ian Anderson - Flute, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals

Joe Parrish-James - Guitar

Florian Opahle - Guitar (album only)

Scott Hammond - Drums.

John O'Hara - Piano, Keyboards, Accordion

David Goodier - Bass