JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner has recorded a guest solo on DEMON HUNTER's upcoming album, "Exile", to be released next year.

Faulkner tracked his parts last night (Tuesday, December 14) at his home studio, The Falcon's Nest, in Nashville, Tennessee with the help of DEMON HUNTER guitarist Jeremiah Scott, who is producing the LP.

A short video of Richie laying down his guitar lead can be seen below.

Most of "Exile" is being recorded at Jeremiah's studio in Nashville, The Southern Oracle.

Scott is an experienced producer, audio engineer and musician who built The Falcon's Nest for Richie after the PRIEST guitarist moved to Tennessee in 2019.

In addition to producing the last few DEMON HUNTER albums, Jeremiah has helmed various recordings from THE TONY DANZA TAP DANCE EXTRAVAGANZA, LIVING SACRIFICE and PROJECT 86, among others.

Faulkner's guest appearance on the new DEMON HUNTER album is believed to be his first recording since he suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection during PRIEST's performance at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky in late September. Faulkner was rushed to the UofL Health - Jewish Hospital where the cardiothoracic surgery team needed approximately 10 hours to complete a life-saving surgery.

After Louder Than Life, JUDAS PRIEST postponed the remainder of the U.S. dates on its 50th-anniversary tour, dubbed "50 Heavy Metal Years". The shows have since been rescheduled for March and April 2022.

DEMON HUNTER's latest release was "Songs Of Death And Resurrection", a mostly acoustic and stripped-down effort which came out in March via Solid State Records. Scott produced and mixed the LP in Atlanta, Georgia, and Nashville. He also produced the band's "War" (2019), "Peace" (2019), "Outlive" (2017) and "Extremist" (2014) records.
























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PAPA ROACH singer Jacoby Shaddix spoke to Dammy Wimmer Presents about the band's upcoming follow-up to 2019's "Who Do You Trust?" album, tentatively due in early 2022.

"We're always trying to push the bar," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "We're always trying to raise the bar. We're always trying to bring rock into the future. We're always trying to be ahead of the game and come original with it. And sometimes we hit the mark and sometimes we miss it. But I'm telling you, this time I think we nailed it, man. I'm just over the moon. I'll say it, if we ever made a Grammy-worthy rock album, this is it — straight up.

"I think the process of making this record, we kicked it off the right way," he continued. "We were locked up in quarantine, and we just kept FaceTiming with each other, calling each other, like, 'Dude, I'm going crazy.' Tobin [Esperance, PAPA ROACH bassist] hits me up, 'Bro, what are we gonna do, man? We've gotta do something. We've gotta get creative.' And so we all locked up in this house down south in a place called Temecula and stayed there for a month and just started writing music. And it was like a floodgate opened. And it was, like, 24-7 — literally there was music happening for the better part of 24 hours a day, whether it's editing or engineering or writing or recording or tracking. And by the time we got done with this process at this house, we all left like we were just destroyed. We had no energy left. Everybody needed to just get home and recharge. But it was such a great bonding experience for the boys and our producers and our engineers and just a really special time in our lives. And a lot of walls came down emotionally between us and it really made for great music. And we aired some grievances in the process and really got through some stuff together and came out on the other side of the process of this record feeling like, 'Man, we just went through hell and heaven to make this record. We've got something special.' And it's just really exciting."

PAPA ROACH capped another fruitful year in 2021, after celebrating the 20th anniversary of its landmark album "Infest" last year. Throughout the year, the band teased three new tracks from its forthcoming LP. The first track released to radio, "Kill The Noise", just completed a four-week run at no. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. This follows "The Ending", which peaked at no. 1 earlier this year (giving PAPA ROACH their ninth no. 1 single and mind-blowing 20th Top 5 single to date). 2021 also marks the band's third Grammy nomination for the remix of "Born For Greatness" by Spencer Bastian a.k.a. CYMEK and the relaunch of the band's own label, New Noize Records, in partnership with ADA Worldwide (WMG's independent label and artist services arm). Capping the year off, the partnership has already achieved 100 million streams to date.

This past October, PAPA ROACH released a new single called "Dying To Believe". The track, produced by WZRD BLD a.k.a. Drew Fulk (ICE NINE KILLS, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE), is a call for human unity and harmony, despite any differences people have.

"Dying To Believe" arrived weeks after the release of PAPA ROACH's previous two singles: "Swerve", which was a collaboration with FEVER 333 frontman Jason Aalon Butler and Los Angeles rapper Sueco; and "Kill The Noise". All three tracks are expected to appear on PAPA ROACH's upcoming eleventh studio album, due via the band's own record company, New Noize Records, Inc., under exclusive license to ADA.

In January 2021, a snippet of a brand new PAPA ROACH song called "Stand Up" was included in commercial for Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) partnership with ESPN.

PAPA ROACH's second greatest-hits collection, "Greatest Hits Vol. 2: The Better Noise Years", was released in March on Better Noise Music. "Greatest Hits Vol. 2 - The Better Noise Years" includes 12 of the band's top 10 hits released between 2010 to 2019 as well as three previously unreleased remixes and two unreleased acoustic recordings recorded live at the YouTube Studios in New York City.

"Who Do You Trust?" was released in January 2019. The disc was produced by Nick "RAS" Furlong and Colin Cunningham except for the song "Top Of The World", which was helmed by Jason Evigan.

In December 2020, PAPA ROACH released a five-song EP, "20/20", featuring "new takes on old jams," including "Last Resort" and "Scars".

German thrash metal veterans DESTRUCTION will celebrate their 40th anniversary by releasing a new studio album, "Diabolical", on April 8, 2022 via Napalm Records.

As one of the most legendary thrash metal bands in existence, DESTRUCTION graces the wall of fame alongside fellow German acts KREATOR, SODOM and TANKARD. On their 15th studio record, DESTRUCTION brings out heavy artillery full of honest and uncompromising thrash metal, catapulting you straight into the seventh heaven of metallic bliss and causing a massacre of razor-sharp sound no fan of the genre should miss. The title track "Diabolical", the music video for which can be seen below, shows no mercy, showing us a glimpse of what DESTRUCTION have in store for the new LP.

DESTRUCTION singer/bassist Schmier states about the video: "I love the title track of the new record, it represents the album, pure old-school and in-your-face thrash metal! We wanted a video that shows our trademarks, so the Mad Butcher had to be there! It is only his second appearance in a DESTRUCTION video ever but his most remarkable one so far for sure."

After the charging start of opener "Under The Spell", DESTRUCTION shows no mercy on the "Diabolical" title track, with fiery drums, bloodthirsty riffs and hellish vocals that sink deep down into your bones. "No Faith In Humanity" relentlessly rages on with non-stop headbanging action, while DESTRUCTION continues to smash eardrums on "Hope Dies Last" — providing unbeatable brutality with unstoppable speed, destructive verses and screeching voices. "Tormented Soul", on the other hand, is loaded with proper heavy metal and explosive drums. The grand finale of the 47-minute parade of devastation is provided by cover track "City Baby Attacked By Rats", originally by GBH, guaranteeing whiplash by combining rough hardcore punk with brute thrash metal.

DESTRUCTION guitarist Martin Furia states about the new record: "'Diabolical' is an album of extremes. Everything is more brutal and more technical but at the same time more melodic and to the point. It's a pure and devastating DESTRUCTION album with no gimmicks, full of power and adrenaline. I'm excited for what the future is bringing and can't wait to play the new songs live."

"Diabolical" will be available in various formats in different territories, including a digital album and CD (bundled with a t-shirt and an exclusive "Mad Butcher" bust), 1LP gatefold editions in black, crystal clear, marbled yellow/red and silver.

This past August, DESTRUCTION officially parted ways with founding guitarist Michael "Mike" Sifringer and replaced him with Furia. The Argentinian-born, Belgian-based Furia is best known for his work as sound engineer and producer for such bands as NERVOSA and EVIL INVADERS.

Sifringer was the only member of DESTRUCTION to have remained constant throughout the band's career. Schmier appeared on DESTRUCTION's first three albums before exiting the band and being replaced by POLTERGEIST vocalist André Grieder. André's sole recorded appearance with DESTRUCTION was on the "Cracked Brain" album, which came out in 1990. Schmier rejoined DESTRUCTION in 1999.

DESTRUCTION's last studio album, "Born To Perish", was released in August 2019 via Nuclear Blast. The disc was DESTRUCTION's first to feature Randy Black on drums and second guitarist Damir Eskić.

Damir is a Swiss guitar player of Bosnian decent who works as a guitar teacher, himself being a former pupil of Tommy Vetterli (CORONER). He also plays in a heavy metal band called GOMORRA and previously contributed three solos to DESTRUCTION's 2016 album "Under Attack".

DESTRUCTION 2021 is:

Schmier - Bass, Vocals

Martin Furia - Guitars

Randy Black - Drums

Damir Eskić - Guitars

Photo credit: Gyula Havancsák

During an appearance on "The Chuck Shute Podcast", vocalist Biff Byford of British heavy metal legends SAXON was asked to recount a "good story" involving the members of METALLICA. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Back in the day, METALLICA, they supported us. [We played at] the Whisky [A Go Go] club [in West Hollywood in March 1982]. On that night, Ozzy [Osbourne] came to see us. I think we were out having dinner or something before the gig or doing something. And METALLICA was setting up on stage. And I wasn't there. I was there later for their show, but I wasn't there [when they were setting up]. And I had a huge electric fan there in front of me, and I think METALLICA asked if they could use it, and our tour manager said 'No.' So they didn't use it. They didn't talk to us for a long, long time because of that. [Laughs]"

He continued: "I wrote a book, an autobiography, a few years ago, and in the book, I said, 'Look, if you wanna use the fan anytime in the future, it's no problem. You can use it guys.' And they got in touch with me after that. They must have realized that it was a bit stupid. And we got on [and became] big friends after that. So, that was pretty cool."

Back in December 2011, Byford joined METALLICA on stage for the first of four intimate shows at the 1,200-capacity Fillmore in San Francisco as part of the week-long celebration of its 30th anniversary as a band for fan club members only. The iconic metal vocalist performed the SAXON classic "Motorcycle Man" with METALLICA.

It wasn't the first time Biff and METALLICA had surprised their fans with a live rendition of the song: in 2009, Byford joined the San Francisco heavy metal giants in Paris, at Palais Omnisport de Bercy.

METALLICA's second-ever gig was opening for SAXON, and Biff has been a longtime friend of the California band; like many other seminal bands of the genre, METALLICA always recognized SAXON as one of their main influences.

When METALLICA played Sheffield Arena on February 28, 2009, they invited as VIP guests former SAXON members Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson.

"In 1982 SAXON played the Whisky a Go-Go on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood," Graham explained to SouthYorkshireTimes.co.uk. "It was sold out and Steve and me were asked if we would pick out a support band from a pile of cassettes sent in by young metal bands. METALLICA were far and away the best and even though it was only their second-ever gig; we saw their potential and picked them out to play. We have been friends ever since. They have always had a soft spot for us. Over the years, they have cited us as a big influence and we are always welcomed at their gigs around the world. METALLICA have played Sheffield three times and they always treat us as VIPs. At Rock Am Ring — Germany's biggest rock festival — they played part of our song 'Princess Of The Night'. I wrote that riff in a council house in Dryden Road. Back then we were just some kids from Mexborough who once had a dream. To be supported by the band which became one of the biggest in the world, I think that is pretty special. We were sat in the auditorium at Sheffield and they played the old SAXON track 'Heavy Metal Thunder' as their intro track. Kirk Hammett [METALLICA guitarist] told me he loves the solo in that. They played in the round and it was very loud but it was a very pure sound.

"James Hetfield [METALLICA frontman] is a lovely bloke, but their drummer Lars Ulrich is probably the biggest SAXON fan of them all," he continued. "He told us that our 1980 album 'Wheels Of Steel' is his favorite and said it was a benchmark for them. It is hard for someone of my generation to see that. When I meet someone who played at the Woodstock festival, I am enthusiastic about it. I suppose it is the same for them. We were one of the bands to play in the first Donington Festival and METALLICA were a bit in awe and asked us what those days were like."

Kristin Hayter, who records music as Lingua Ignota, has shared a statement detailing alleged sexual and emotional abuse by her former partner, Daughters frontman Alexis Marshall.

Hayter initially accused Marshall of abuse in a tweet on October 13. She then elaborated on those accusations in an interview with Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop, and has since released a written statement detailing abusive behaviour she allegedly experienced from Marshall during their relationship, between July 2019 and June 2021.

In her statement, Hayter claims to have “endured mental and emotional abuse and sexual abuse resulting in bodily harm” from Marshall. Hayter goes on to say she was sexually assaulted by Marshall multiple times while sleeping, and that Marshall “obtained consent through deception, manipulation and coercion”.

She claims that during one “incident of objectifying, violent sex”, Marshall caused Hayter to suffer a severe spinal injury and did not stop when she said she was hurt. “This injury resulted in debilitating pain and physical incapacitation for months,” Hayter continues, adding that she needed surgery to treat the injury, and is still in physical therapy.

“He always denied his behavior, and gaslit me when confronted with irrefutable proof,” Hayter added. “Alexis sustained patterns of lying and manipulation to excuse his behavior; he blame-shifted, minimized, denied, and provoked me so that he could call me aggressive and crazy.

“He used my past of domestic violence against me to claim what he was doing wasn’t that bad because it was not physical battering. He was jealous and resentful of my professional relationships and isolated me from friends. He took advantage of me financially. He blamed me for everything that was wrong in his life.”

Hayter goes on to say that she attempted to take her own life in December of 2020 as a result of Marshall’s alleged abusive behaviour, and that his response was “cold and unfeeling”. She claims Marshall used “threats of suicide and self-harm to manipulate” her, such as when she told him she needed to cut contact with him.

Marshall has denied the allegations in a statement to Pitchfork, saying he “absolutely did not engage in any form of abusive behavior” towards Hayter.

“Kristin is a person that I loved and cared deeply for, however, our relationship was unhealthy for both of us. I can assure anyone reading this that I absolutely did not abuse her, mentally or physically. I am investigating legal options,” he concluded.

Hayter’s label Sargent House, who released her latest album ‘SINNER GET READY’ in August, also released Marshall’s debut solo album ‘House Of Lull . House Of When’ in July. In a statement on Twitter, the label said they ceased working with Marshall in August.

“We made no public statement at that time because we wanted to respect Kristin’s privacy and her timeline for when she felt ready to come forward,” reads a tweet from the label’s official account. “She has now and we continue to stand in solidarity with her.”

TOOL drummer Danny Carey is slated to appear in court on January 12 in connection arrest for an alleged assault at the Kansas City airport.

Law enforcement sources say Carey allegedly assaulted an employee working security at the airport on Sunday, December 12. A police report states that Carey allegedly "did intentionally cause and unlawful, offensive contact upon [the worker] by yelling at the complaintant 'you're a fucking f****t' repeatedly and jabbed the complainant in the chest repeatedly."

Earlier in the week, TMZ posted video of Carey's arrest after police responded to a report of a "disturbance between two males at an airport terminal." In the clip, which was filmed around 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, Carey can be heard berating the officers and telling the person filming him to "videotape all of this." The musician, who can be seen wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey, keeps asking one of the officers, "Who did I assault?" and exclaiming, "I just want to get the fuck out of here." At the end of the video, two officers can be seen pushing Carey against a glass wall outside the airport, with one officer ordering Carey not to get too close to them. The officers then slap cuffs around Carey's wrists, with one of them telling the drummer to "quit resisting now."

The 60-year-old musician was booked for misdemeanor assault and was released on bond. The police report is being forwarded to prosecutors for review, and potential charges will follow. He could be hit with a fine for the incident up to $13,900.

A spokesperson for the Kansas City Aviation Department told Rolling Stone: "Regarding the request for body and dash cam video, our police force does not have this technology. The police report has been forwarded to the prosecutor's office for review."

Carey's arrest came one day after he performed the Jimi Hendrix song "Fire" at the University of Kansas vs. the University of Missouri men's basketball game in Lawrence, Kansas.

TOOL formed in 1990 and has released five studio albums thus far: "Undertow" (1993), "Ænima" (1996), "Lateralus" (2001), "10,000 Days" (2006) and "Fear Inoculum" (2019); two EPs: "72826" (1991) and "Opiate" (1992); and the limited-edition boxset, "Salival" (2000). The band has won four Grammy Awards: Best Metal Performance (1998, "Ænima"), "Best Metal Performance" (2002, "Schism"), "Best Recording Package" (2007, "10,000 Days") and "Best Metal Performance" (2020, "7empest").

During an appearance on "Talking Bollocks", the monthly metal podcast hosted by ACID REIGN frontman-turned-stand-up-comedian Howard H. Smith, EXODUS's Gary Holt once again opened up about his decision to quit drinking alcohol. The 57-year-old musician, who resides in Northern California, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Like millions of people worldwide, I was a victim of the pandemic. On tour, I always maintained and never hit the hangover stage. Maybe once in a five-week tour I'd wake up with a little bit of a headache, and that's one night when we decided to have a disco party and started cranking some funk music and drink a few extra beers. But then I'd come home and I'd only drink when I was watching some sports or having some people over — a couple of beers. I'd go out to a show and have two beers. And then I found myself with nothing but idle time. I live kind of in the woods now, and I'd sit outside — it's beautiful, it's summer, I'm surrounded by oak trees, and I'd just start drinking. [I was] drinking, like, 12, 13 beers, and I was drinking these double, triple IPAs [with] 10, 11 percent alcohol. 'Cause I was always a beer snob; I'd get out my proper glass for whatever beer I was drinking. And it just got to the point where I was getting depressed when I got drink; I wasn't happy anymore. 'Cause my whole livelihood had been taken away from me. I'm feeling the same stress and strain as everybody else. So I figured, man, I quit smoking, I quit doing drugs years ago — almost 20 years ago — [so] I could live without the alcohol. It's no big deal. I mean, I still drink non-alcohol beers, and there are some really good ones out there. It's the taste of beer that I would miss; I don't miss the buzz. And it also has a strong placebo effect."

Asked if he thinks it will be harder for him to stay sober once he gets back on tour, Holt said: "No, not at all. It doesn't mean I have a more solid willpower than anyone else, but I don't crave or feel any desire for alcohol. I'm a guy, when he quits something, he just quits it and he's just done with it. I'm hanging out with the other bandmates, I had dinner twice over the weekend, and Lee [Altus, EXODUS guitarist] is having real beers and I'm having Heineken 0.0s. I never [think], 'Hmm, I want what he's got.' It doesn't appeal to me anymore."

Holt's announcement that he had given up alcohol came seven months after his wife Lisa revealed that she had quit drinking in 2012 after using alcohol since she was 13 years old. She also thanked her husband and credited him for making her "want to be a better person. I definitely wouldn't have him or anything kick-ass in my life today if I hadn't made this choice [to quit drinking] 8 years ago," she wrote.

In Wiederhorn's book "Raising Hell (Backstage Tales From The Lives Of Metal Legends)", Holt reminisced about the lengths he and his onetime EXODUS bandmate Kirk Hammett (now in METALLICA) would go to nearly 40 years ago in order to get free alcohol.

"Near where we lived, we had a local liquor store called the Wagon Wheel that burned down," Holt recalled. "We had nothing to do with that, but we waded through the burnt rubble of this condemned building, risking life and limb to get to the alcohol. The bottles with plastic caps were all melted. Kirk had this old Buick Skylark. We called it the Skymobile. And we filled his trunk with gallons of whiskey bottles with these black melted caps on them. We were scavengers. It's part of what made EXODUS great, that hunger and ambition."

EXODUS's new studio album, "Persona Non Grata", was released on November 19 via Nuclear Blast Records. It is the follow-up to 2014's "Blood In Blood Out", which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers' first release since the departure of the group's lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

"Persona Non Grata" was recorded at a studio in Lake Almanor, California and was engineered by Steve Lagudi and EXODUS. It was produced by EXODUS and was mixed by Andy Sneap.

During appearance on "Guitar Autopsy", the video podcast hosted by Rusty Cooley, ALICE COOPER guitarist Nita Strauss spoke about how she managed to lose 50 pounds and get sober while on tour back in 2015.

"My whole approach to sobriety and health and fitness is to educate but not ever force," she said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I wouldn't ever want it to be, like, 'You have to stop drinking. You have to do cardio every day,' or whatever. All I can share is really what worked for me, and that was alcohol was extremely, extremely detrimental in my personal life.

"I got sober in 2015 and I basically just decided to make the most of it and said, 'If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it right,'" she continued. "And I switched from going to the bar after the show to going to the Barbell in the morning, for lack of a better term. [Laughs] I hooked up with great bodybuilding coaches that [helped] me [with] my diet and my workout while I'm on the road. I use the right supplements, I eat the right food. I have dieticians at RP Strength, I have a workout coach, I take all the right supplements, I drink my green drinks, I take all my vitamins and I stay on track. And the more I did it, people in our community — the rock and metal community — were starting to ask how I did it. And I was writing these long captions on my phone: 'First things first, you drink a lot of water…' da da da. And so I thought why not inspire people to do more. So I created 'Body Shred'. And 'Body Shred' is the first fitness challenge that I know of that is aimed at the music community."

Nita celebrated the sixth anniversary of her getting sober this past September.

A year ago, Strauss credited her longtime boyfriend and manager Josh Villalta with helping her live her life without alcohol. At the time, she wrote: "I thought I needed a drink for just about everything. To be confident on stage. To be social after shows. To celebrate. To mourn. To take the edge off frustration or the sting out of a bad day. To relax and laugh at lunch with girlfriends, or watch football with the guys on Sundays. I was terrified that my life was going to change, that without alcohol I wouldn't be ME anymore, that I would lose my circle of friends, and my onstage charisma, and become someone else. ALL those things happened... but not in the way I thought they would.

"Change came first in my relationship, in the form of less fighting and drama, and more productivity, peace and love. Thank you @thejoshv for being the catalyst to the best thing I ever did for myself. I love you.

"The ME that I was before would have stayed up until 6 am at the bar or in the bus front lounge. The ME that I became would rather get up at 6 and get to the gym before starting the day.

"My busy circle of friends was almost immediately reduced to a core 3. I've learned that when it comes to friendships, quality is ALWAYS better than quantity. If your friends have no interest in spending time with you after you make a change for the better, they weren't your real friends.

"My first show without alcohol was in front of 15,000 people. I felt like a scarecrow someone had propped up on stage to scare birds. Nothing felt natural. I was going through the motions, with this absurd idea running through my head 'everyone is looking at me. Everyone knows.'

"I went out by the bus to talk to fans afterward, and do you know what they said? 'Wow you were so great! Where do you get all that energy? You add so much to Alice's band!'

"ALL of that insecurity, ALL the fears, ALL the doubt was in my head. Those are your demons that make you think you need them.

"I'm content to sit at the bar, order a soda water with lime and watch the game now. I wouldn't trade back to my old life for anything."

Back in 2018, Nita spoke openly about how she got finally sober in September 2015, saying that her boyfriend has always been "a tough-love type" in the way she approached her sobriety. "He's, like, 'Look, you're on this path, and I support you, but I'm not changing the way I do things at all," she explained in an interview with "Chasing Glory With Lilian Garcia". "And I'm kind of glad, in retrospect, that he did that, because it threw me into the fire and showed me, like, 'Hey, you can be [around people who are drinking] and not drink.' He has continued to drink throughout [this entire period], but he didn't want me to drink, because when I would drink, I would start fights and I would get emotional and I would overreact to stupid things, like you do when you drink — it's part of drinking; it heightens all your emotions and everything." Nita also revealed that she has never participated in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to help her stay sober.

Strauss has been playing with Alice Cooper since 2014 when she replaced Australian musician and former Michael Jackson player Orianthi. She joined Alice in time for a mammoth MÖTLEY CRÜE tour. She was recommended to Cooper by the legendary rocker's former bass player and WINGER frontman Kip Winger.

Nita's debut solo album, "Controlled Chaos", was released in 2018 via Sumerian Records. A follow-up effort will arrive next year.

Bassist Kenny Kweens (Beautiful Creatures, L.A. Guns) has announced the release of new Villains Of Vaudeville music.


The new VOV four-song EP titled Sex, Drugs & The Devil's Music, was produced by Lonny Paul & mastered by Anthony Focx. These recordings will be released world wide on New Year's Eve December 31, 2021 on all digital platforms. A teaser video was issued earlier today:







For further details, follow Villains Of Vaudeville on Facebook.


 

"Everything starts somewhere, though many physicists disagree. But people have always been dimly aware of the problem with the start of things. They wonder how the snowplow driver gets to work, or how the makers of dictionaries look up the spelling of words." - Terry Pratchett


Dissolution Wave is a universe created by Cloakroom guitarist/vocalist Doyle Martin as a way of processing the last few years. “We lost a couple of close friends over the course of writing this record,” he says. “Dreaming up another world felt easier to digest than the real nitty-gritty we’re immersed in every day.”


Within Cloakroom’s space western, an act of theoretical physics - the dissolution wave - wipes out all of humanity’s existing art and abstract thought. In order to keep the world spinning on its axis, songsmiths must fill the ether with their compositions. Meanwhile, the Spire and Ward of Song act as a filter for human imagination: Only the best material can pass through the filter and keep the world turning.




Dissolution Wave’s grandiose opener, “Lost Meaning”, is “the beginning of our traveler's expedition” Doyle explains. “It's the first step out of your comfort zone into unfamiliar territory. When you cross that threshold what do you take with you to maintain some sense of the Self? If anything, leaving for a ‘land of silver gilt’ is referring to a gilded age, an egocentric near-future our protagonist is tasked to meander around which of course mirrors our own. Our humble songsmith is singing to the Spire and the Ward of Song, the great filter, the barometer of creative thought in this universe. With any luck, they'll be acknowledged and their voice won't get lost in the discordance of meaningless creativity for the wrong reasons.”


With lyrics based on an imagined cosmology, Dissolution Wave also marks a grand expansion of Cloakroom’s dynamic space-rock palette and lands for Cloakroom’s tenth anniversary as a band. It’s their third studio album, and first with drummer Tim Remis who joined Doyle and bassist Bobby Markos in 2019. Recorded at Earth Analog in Tolono, IL, the album features loops and piano on “Doubts'' by Matt Talbott (HUM), exterior percussion on “Lost Meaning” by Jason Gagovski (Sweet Cobra) and was engineered and mixed by Cloakroom’s longtime soundman (and childhood friend), Zac Montez.


Listen/share/add “Lost Meaning” on digital stores here. A lyric video for the song can be found below.


Cloakroom’s Dissolution Wave is out January 28 on Relapse Records. Pre-order / pre-save here.





Tracklisting:


“Lost Meaning”
“Dissolution Wave”
“A Force At Play”
“Dottie Back Thrash”
“Fear Of Being Fixed”
“Lambspring”
“Doubts”
“Dissembler”


“Lost Meaning” lyric video:





“A Force At Play” video:





(Photo – Vin Romero)

Canada's thrash metal machine Wreck-Defy, featuring guitarist Matt Hanchuck alongside former Archetype singer Greg "Wags" Wagner, former Testament bass player Greg Christian and drummer Dave O'Neal, have released a lyric video for their new single, "I'd Share Your Grave".


The track is is featured on the new album, The World Enslaved, available at all digital retailers and providers. Watch the video below.


Order the new album in digital format at the SubLevel Bandcamp site or anywhere digital music is sold.







Tracklisting:


"Bring It All Down"
"Fashionably Offended"
"Obey"
"Crushing The Coward"
"Tow The Line"
"I'd Share Your Grave"
"Death By War"
"Moment Of Clarity"
"Form Of Release"
"Kill The Pain"


"I'd Share Your Grave" lyric video:





"Fashionably Offended" lyric video:





Wreck-Defy is:


Greg “Wags” Wagner - Vocals
Matt Hanchuck - Guitar
Greg Christian - Bass
Dave O’Neal - Drums

In a new interview with Germany's Rock Antenne, SABATON singer Joakim Brodén spoke about what it has been like for him and his bandmates to play their first pandemic-era shows. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "One thing we've learned here is all countries handle this differently — very differently. In America [where we toured with JUDAS PRIEST], it worked fine, both from the audience perspective, I would say, and the touring-side perspective. JUDAS PRIEST did usually two shows after each other and then we had a day off; that was the normal thing. And every first show after a day off, we'd get tested — everyone in the touring party — before entering the venue. The people who came to the shows had to be vaccinated or have a test that's less than 24 hours or something like that. And pretty much it was very relaxed. We didn't go everywhere, but we were in, like, six or seven or eight states walking around, and it was a pretty relaxed situation. As soon as you go inside, mask up — regular mask — and then everything else was sort of normal and open."

Asked if he is afraid that SABATON's upcoming European tour, which is scheduled to kick off in March, might get canceled, Joakim said: "Nah, I don't think so. I'm not that worried at all. I mean, it might — I can't make any promises. You'll have to ask people higher up in the German government than I am. [Laughs] Unfortunately, I have not managed to become chancellor yet.

"It's a different situation for every country as well," he continued. "That's what's worrying more, I think. Because if we're touring America, it's one nation. Okay, different states, different rules, in a sense. But we're having a tour in Sweden in January, and I'm not worried at all, because that's one country — one government gets a say. The trick for bands today, and this is a real problem, especially now in these times, is that planning a tour, booking a tour, there is no centralized agreement. I'm not saying the European Union should do anything like that; I'm not here to talk politics at all. But the worry for any promoter or band or booking agent is, like, yeah, we can book a whole tour and then, let's say, France and Germany decide to lock down. That makes the whole tour impossible to do, because then the band would be losing money, and everybody would be losing money. And at this time, trust me, not many booking agents, promoters and bands can afford to lose any money. So that's the worry about doing… Those who've done tours now and sometimes had to cancel the whole tour — actually, technically, they could have gone to one country but they couldn't put on the tour because of other stuff."

SABATON's tenth studio album, "The War To End All Wars", will be released on March 4, 2022 via Nuclear Blast Records. Written and recorded during the COVID-19 global pandemic, the concept album of 11 brand-new songs once again dives deep into the atrocities, miracles, and events tied to the early 20th century’s World War I. The tenth album of the Falun, Sweden-based five-piece will be available in an impressive variety of exclusive formats, including CD, vinyl, and cassette, with most available in limited editions.

SABATON is considered to be one the most important bands to emerge from the Swedish modern metal scene, having been honored with five Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards (including "Best Live Band" three different years) and nominated several times for the Swedish equivalent of the Grammy Awards, the Grammis. In 2016, SABATON's "The Last Stand" album debuted at No. 1 in three different European countries and cracked the Top 3 in four others. Joakim Brodén (vocals), Pär Sundström (bass), Chris Rörland (guitar), Hannes Van Dahl (drums) and Tommy Johansson (guitar) curate a festival of their own, Sabaton Open Air, that started back in 2008, as well as their own forward-thinking Sabaton Cruise which has been held since 2009.

THE ROLLING STONES had the highest-grossing tour in the world this year, according to Pollstar, the trade publication dedicated to covering the worldwide concert industry. The "No Filter" trek generated a total of $115.5 million from just 12 concerts. Other artists whose tours landed in the top 100 include GUNS N' ROSES, KISS, SLIPKNOT and MEGADETH / LAMB OF GOD.

The touring industry was one of the first sectors hit by the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, and it may be one of the last to recover. One problem has been the inability to get foreign artists into the United States because of a long backlog of visa applications at American embassies and consulates.

Returning to the road after the touring industry shut down due to COVID has proven to be particularly gratifying for someone like GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash, who is notorious for spending most of his time playing live shows.

"GUNS just did a U.S. tour, which was a lot of fun," he told Germany's Radio Bob! in October. "It was great because you had all these crowds that were super hungry for live gigs. And so it was a very energetic tour. At the same time, [we] also had a lot of intense restrictions. We didn't have any kind of aftershow guests — no guests whatsoever — and we never left the hotel pretty much the entire time. And everybody just had to really keep it together so that we didn't have somebody get sick and have to postpone the tour and all that kind of stuff. But we made it through unscathed. So it was good."

These are some of the rock/metal artists who have made Pollstar's "2021 Year-End Top 100 Worldwide Tours" list:

01. THE ROLLING STONES ($115.5 million)

03. GREEN DAY, WEEZER, FALL OUT BOY ($67.3 million)

07. GUNS N' ROSES ($47.3 million)

30. KISS ($16.9 million)

42. SLIPKNOT's "Knotfest Roadshow" ($12.3 million)

48. KORN ($10.3 million)

53. ZZ TOP ($9.4 million)

61. MEGADETH, LAMB OF GOD ($7.9 million)

63. SHINEDOWN ($7.5 million)

64. THE BLACK CROWES ($7.4 million)

69. PRIMUS ($7.0 million)

76. FOREIGNER ($6 million)

85. FOO FIGHTERS ($4.5 million)

See the complete list at Pollstar

Cleveland masked metallers MUSHROOMHEAD have returned with a holiday gift for fans in the form of an eerie, cinematic and brutally blasphemous new music video for the "A Wonderful Life" favorite "A Requiem For Tomorrow", featuring the haunting contributions of the Cleveland Chamber Choir. Their hair-raising vocal backdrop combined with the band's trademark gruesome aesthetic, punishing sound, intricate costumes and detailed SFX makeup make for a chilling surprise to cap 2021.

MUSHROOMHEAD mastermind and drummer/percussionist Steve "Skinny" Felton states about the video: "Dr. F (Ryan Farrell) and the Cleveland Chamber Choir did such an amazing job that I felt compelled to bring it to life a little further.

"Some of the elements and characters in the video are roughly based on a short story that I've been working on for Sk1industries.

"Working under Covid conditions and restrictions certainly has put limitations on things, so I would personally like to thank the band, all of the crew and extras that believed and busted their asses to help me make this happen. Music and art is a privilege after all, and I don't take any of this for granted…"

MUSHROOMHEAD's eighth album, "A Wonderful Life", was released in June 2020 via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2014's "The Righteous & The Butterfly" is accented by the sharp production of Felton, as well as the standout mixing prowess of Matt Wallace (FAITH NO MORE, 3 DOORS DOWN), also recognized for his work on the band's classic offering "XIII".

"A Wonderful Life" was MUSHROOMHEAD's first album since the March 2018 departures of longtime vocalist Jeff "Jeffrey Nothing" Hatrix and guitarist Tommy Church.

MUSHROOMHEAD is:

Mr. Rauckhorst - Vocals

J Mann - Vocals

Ms. Jackie - Vocals

Dr. F - Keyboards & Bass guitar

Tankx - Guitar

Stitch - Keyboards & Samples

Diablo - Drums/Percussion

Skinny - Drums/Percussion

Tye Trujillo, the 17-year-old son of METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo, played bass with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES this past Saturday (December 11) at Amplified Live in Dallas, Texas. He was filling in for regular SUICIDAL TENDENCIES bassist Roberto "Ra" Díaz, who spent the last few months playing bass for KORN on the Jonathan Davis-fronted band's U.S. tour.

Tye shared a short video of the Dallas concert on his social media and wrote in an accompanying message: "Dallas was dope last weekend!".

This is not the first time Tye has played bass for SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. He previously joined the group in September at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Danville, Virginia and in October 2019 at the SoCal Hoedown in San Pedro, California.

When the younger Trujillo first performed with Mike Muir and his bandmates two years ago, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES praised the musician for "showing what a badass he already is on bass. His youthful enthusiasm was contagious, his bass skills undeniable," the group wrote on social media.

When he was just 12 years old, Tye Trujillo filled in for bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu for KORN's South American tour after Fieldy was unable to make the shows due to "unforeseen circumstances."

Robert Trujillo was first invited to join SUICIDAL TENDENCIES for a European tour in 1989 supporting East Coast thrashers ANTHRAX. While with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, Robert appeared on some of the band's most successful albums: "Lights, Camera, Action" (1990), "The Art Of Rebellion" (1992) and "Still Cyco After All These Years" (1993). During Trujillo's years with SUICIDAL, Muir heard some of Robert's homemade demos and they collaborated on a funkier, more progressive sound under the name INFECTIOUS GROOVES. They produced a number of albums such as "The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move..." (1991), "Sarsippius' Ark" (1993) and "Groove Family Cyco" (1994).






























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