Swedish extreme tech-metal pioneers MESHUGGAH have released "The Abysmal Eye", the first single from their upcoming ninth studio album, "Immutable". You can now listen to the song below.

Due on April 1 via Atomic Fire, the follow-up to 2016's "The Violent Sleep Of Reason" was recorded at Sweetspot Studios in Halmstad, Sweden; mixed by Rickard Bengtsson and Staffan Karlsson; and mastered by multiple Grammy Award winner Vlado Meller (METALLICA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SYSTEM OF A DOWN). Visionary artist Luminokaya once again created the stunning cover artwork.

Full of surprises and yet instantly recognizable as the work of metal's most idiosyncratic force, "Immutable" redefines and redesigns the MESHUGGAH sound across more than an hour of the most stimulating and absorbing music the band has ever made. Despite the challenges of the last couple of years, the progressive principles that have always informed their artistic efforts remain as cherished as ever. As we spiral towards a dystopian future, MESHUGGAH still stand alone.

For guitarist Mårten Hagström, the task of embarking on another unprecedented tech-metal odyssey was impossible to resist. "For us, it wasn't all that clear that we were making a new album," he said. "We knew we could do it, but did we want to do it? We had to decide, are we doing this or what else are we doing? After a long, long discussion, we agreed on certain things. We would make an album with as few restraints as possible. We would go in and try to make as cool an album as possible, have no anxiety about it and see it as an opportunity. How do we make this a challenge that we feel like accepting and rising up to? Pretty quickly we had a starting point. Everybody started to write, the ball started rolling and suddenly we were sitting there, discussing how many songs we were going to have to cut."

Regarding the "Immutable" title, Hagström said: "The title fits perfectly for where we are as a band. We're older now. Most of us are in our fifties now, and we've settled into who we are. Even though we've been experimenting all along, I also think we've been the same since day one. The way we approach things and why we still make new albums, and why we still sound the way we do, it's immutable. Humanity is immutable, too. We commit the same mistakes over and over. And we are immutable. We do what we do, and we don't change."

The most inventive and creative metal band of the last 30 years and one of the most widely revered, MESHUGGAH has been standard bearers for forward-thinking creativity in heavy music throughout their illustrious careers. Over the course of more than 30 years and eight studio albums, Sweden's widely worshipped progressive mavens have consistently redefined what it means to be heavy, while exhibiting a ferocious intelligence that belies the crushing weight of their riffs. From the ground-breaking savagery of 1995's "Destroy Erase Improve" to the psychedelic tech-splorations of "CatchyThirtyThree", and on to the streamlined grotesquery of "ObZen" and "Koloss", MESHUGGAH has always been way ahead of the game and plainly without peer.

In October 2020, MESHUGGAH drummer Tomas Haake confirmed to Knotfest.com's "Mosh Talks With Beez" that the band had spent much of the downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic working on fresh material.

Regarding the musical direction of the new MESHUGGAH songs, Tomas said: "Of course, we have a certain framework that we still wanna sound like MESHUGGAH, we wanna have that signature sound, we want people to be able to — even if they haven't heard the song [before] — in the best-case scenario, it's, like, 'Oh, that's gotta be MESHUGGAH,' even if it's a brand new thing. So hopefully that's something we're aiming at. But with that said, as far as the music goes, we try to [do] kind of the opposite of what AC/DC has been doing for 40 years. So we're not trying to write the same album over and over. And whether we succeed with that or not, that's more up to our fans and other people, but that's definitely the aim. We try our best to kind of find new grips within the framework of what we're supposed to be, I guess. 'Cause we don't wanna really step out of that either. We're not looking to be another band all of a sudden or something that we haven't been or that is not true to kind of what we're doing."

"Immutable" track listing:

01. Broken Cog

02. The Abysmal Eye

03. Light The Shortening Fuse

04. Phantoms

05. Ligature Marks

06. God He Sees In Mirrors

07. They Move Below

08. Kaleidoscope

09. Black Cathedral

10. I Am That Thirst

11. The Faultless

12. Armies Of The Preposterous

13. Past Tense

MESHUGGAH is:

Jens Kidman - Vocals

Mårten Hagström - Guitars

Dick Lövgren - Bass

Fredrik Thordendal - Guitars

Tomas Haake - Drums

Dave Mustaine says that MEGADETH's sixteenth studio album, "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead", will finally arrive this summer.

The MEGADETH leader, who turned 60 in September, touched upon a possible release date for the band's new record while promoting the next U.S. leg of MEGADETH's "The Metal Tour Of The Year" with LAMB OF GOD, which will kick off on April 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada and run through May 15 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Asked by Forbes if fans can expect this second leg of the tour to be the first tour in support of the new MEGADETH LP, Dave said: "No. This is wrapping up the remainder of last year, but I know that our actual official record release date had gotten moved back again with all of the distribution stuff, and all of these issues with getting product from one place to the next with record plants making vinyl. We're not reliant on vinyl so much but just the whole process has been delayed, so it's just gotten moved back again. We're going to be doing, I believe at the time I'm not sure, but I believe at the time when the record comes out this summer we'll be on a tour that we're going to be announcing, but I can't really get into that right now because I don't know for sure the dates."

Last month, Mustaine debuted a snippet of the song "Life In Hell" from "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead" while filming a video message on Cameo, which lets users hire celebrities to record brief, personalized video messages about virtually any topic. Earlier in December, Mustaine revealed that the follow-up to 2016's "Dystopia" had been mastered and was "super close" to being released.

In a recent interview with American Songwriter magazine, Mustaine said "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead" title track is about the plague, but not solely centered around the current pandemic. A broader, more historical scope of the diseases that have plagued humankind throughout time, "The Sick The Dying And The Dead" covers the current virus, swine flu, and other epidemics from centuries past.

"The song itself was a historical journey of how the plague started and where it went, starting with rats on ships carrying the disease, coming ashore in Sicily," Mustaine said.

According to Mustaine, the music for "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead" was assembled from riffs and music he has had archived for years, some as far back as his teens. "A lot of the riffs have been saved over time," he said. "A brand new song can be made up of something I wrote when I was 15 or 55. If It's a good riff, I'll save it."

Mustaine added that guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren were both involved in piecing together the songs on the album, which was recorded mostly in Nashville, with Loureiro working on his parts from his home in Finland.

Mustaine has yet to reveal who played bass on the new MEGADETH album after David Ellefson's tracks were removed from the LP following his dismissal from the band last May.

Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.

For the first leg of "The Metal Tour Of The Year", which took place in August and September, MEGADETH was rejoined by bassist James LoMenzo for the first time in nearly 12 years.

LoMenzo joined MEGADETH in 2006 and appeared on two of the group's studio albums, 2007's "United Abominations" and 2009's "Endgame". He was fired from the band in 2010 and replaced with a returning Ellefson.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest departure.









https://starboard-media.s3.amazonaws.com/video/61c7cf49684fd0e8c69a0e53-processed.mp4

A MetOnTour video edit of METALLICA performing the song "Trapped Under Ice" on December 17, 2021 at Chase Center in San Francisco, California can be seen below. The show was the first of METALLICA's two 40th-anniversary concerts which featured different setlists. They were part of METALLICA's "San Francisco Takeover", a four-day citywide celebration of the band's 40th anniversary that also included a film festival, photo exhibit and curated lineup of smaller venue shows featuring other acts.

The 40th-anniversary shows marked METALLICA's return to Chase Center for the first time since the September 2019 "S&M²" concerts that also served as the venue's grand opening. Those two shows grossed more than $4.1 million over the course of its two nights, according to reports submitted to Pollstar's Boxoffice, and the band ranked at No. 4 on Pollstar's worldwide touring chart that same year with a global gross of $175 million.

Formed in 1981 by drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield, METALLICA has become one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history, having sold nearly 120 million albums worldwide and generating more than 2.5 billion streams while playing to millions of fans on literally all seven continents. The band's several multi-platinum albums include "Kill 'Em All", "Ride The Lightning", "Master Of Puppets", "… And Justice For All", "Metallica" (commonly referred to as The Black Album), "Load", "Reload", "St. Anger", "Death Magnetic" and "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct", released in November 2016 and charting at No. 1 in 32 countries.

METALLICA's awards and accolades include nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and its 2009 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In June of 2018, the band was awarded one of the most prestigious musical honors in the world: Sweden's Polar Music Prize.

On December 16, San Francisco mayor London Breed presented Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo with a special declaration marking the day as "Metallica Day" in the city.

"When you talk about San Francisco," Breed said at the news conference, "you talk about cable cars and then you talk about METALLICA."

DISTURBED singer David Draiman has praised Spotify's announcement that it is in the process of removing Neil Young's music two days after Young demanded that his catalog be removed in response to "fake information about vaccines" on the platform.

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."

On Wednesday (January 26), a Spotify spokesperson issued a statement saying: "We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and we've removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon."

A short time later, Draiman weighed in on Spotify's move, tagging the company's chief executive Daniel Ek on Twitter and writing: "@eldsjal I applaud you and @Spotify for making the RIGHT call, preserving #FreeSpeech and not capitulating to the mob. I may not agree with everything @joerogan or his guests say, but they're entitled to have the forum to say it."

THE OFFSPRING guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman also chimed in, writing: "I wouldn't depend on either Joe Rogan or Neil Young for medical advice. Only Neil young seems to understand why. Even Spotify doesn't understand why. But that's not really their job is it? The job is yours, and some of you are really falling down on it."

Young, who sold 50 percent of his catalog to Hipgnosis Song Fund for a reported $150 million last year, responded to Spotify's announcement that the removal of his music was taking place, writing on his web site: "I want to thank my partners for standing with me. My deal with Merck Mercuriadis and Hipgnosis began on Jan. 1, 2021. The company Hipgnosis now has part of my publishing, and I am very happy with their support. I want to personally thank Merck and Hipgnosis for standing with me. Losing 60 percent of worldwide streaming income by leaving Spotify is a very big deal, a costly move, but worth it for our integrity and beliefs.

He added that "misinformation about COVID cannot be accepted. I sincerely hope that other artists can make a move, but I can't really expect that to happen. I did this because I had no choice in my heart. It is who I am. I am not censoring anyone. I am speaking my own truth. I know Daniel Ek, who owns Spotify, a private business. I like Daniel. I wish he had not taken the steps he has taken, because it stopped my music from being shared on his Spotify platform. It stopped us from working together to spread the music. But we are still friends."

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

Ek has defended Rogan in the past, including after an episode that featured the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in 2020.

"We want creators to create," Ek told The Financial Times at the time. "It's what they do best. We're not looking to play a role in what they should say."




@eldsjal I applaud you and @Spotify for making the RIGHT call, preserving #FreeSpeech and not capitulating to the mob. I may not agree with everything @joerogan or his guests say, but they’re entitled to have the forum to say it.

— David Draiman (@davidmdraiman) January 27, 2022








I wouldn’t depend on either Joe Rogan or Neil Young for medical advice. Only Neil young seems to understand why. Even Spotify doesn’t understand why. But that’s not really their job is it? The job is yours, and some of you are really falling down on it.

— Gnudz fears democracy is in decline. ? (@TheGnudz) January 27, 2022








Yes, I hate Spotify… They are stealing from Artists, while making millions… https://t.co/9m3foF8jpF

— Phil Varone (@REALPHILVARONE) January 27, 2022








“Hey hey, my my, take my songs off Spotify....” - Neil Young ?

— Cristian Machado (@therealcmachado) January 26, 2022








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

Annihilator frontman / founder Jeff Waters has checked in with the following message:


"Okay fans... super quick treat, but better be quick! Only 250 copies! Annihilator Fun Palace - The Re-Recordings 12" single yellow vinyl + bonus poster.


Specially mastered re-recorded versions of four Annihilator classics for the first time released on vinyl. This limited edition version of just 250 copies is 100% exclusive to Metal Department, comes pressed on marbled yellow vinyl, and comes packaged with a stunning color poster in size 70 cm x 50 cm. Order here.




This is NOT part of the upcoming Edel Records catalogue release. This is a cool limited editiion of early Annihilator stuff. A treat provided by the company that makes the cool Annihilator online gambling game, as well as many other cool metal games from bands we know and love!"


These re-recordings were made in 2012 and features the line-up of:


David Padden - vocals
Jeff Waters - guitar, backing vocals
Mike Harshaw - drums
Alberto Campuzano - bass





Tracklisting:


Side A
"Fun Palace"
"Set The World On Fire"


Side B
"Alison Hell"
"Never, Neverland"

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.
























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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".