Karl Sanders, the driving force behind South Carolina's Egyptian-themed death metal titans NILE, has signed with Napalm Records for the release of the new album from his solo project.

Following the first two "Saurian" project albums — "Saurian Meditation" (2004) and "Saurian Exorcisms" (2009) — Karl is ready to unleash more musical musings from inside his eclectically influenced mind. To date, each "Saurian" release has explored unique, original compositions of haunting, primarily Middle Eastern inspired music in a cinematic, ambient and mostly instrumental format — similar to the quiet, exotic interludes found on NILE albums. Providing a diverse escape for both fans of NILE and those otherwise intrigued by its world music aura, "Saurian" proves that Sanders's universe is anything but one-dimensional.

In addition to releasing new "Saurian" music, Napalm will reissue both "Saurian Meditation" and "Saurian Exorcisms", with more details to come.

Sanders says about the signing: "I am just thrilled to death that we have signed up with Napalm Records for the new Karl Sanders 'Saurian' album. I am really happy that we have found such a good home for both NILE and my 'Saurian' side project, as they are a great company with some sincere people. I am looking forward in earnest to working together with everyone at Napalm to bring fans the new 'Saurian' music, as well as re-releasing the first two 'Saurian' records."

Besides Sanders, the only other musician appearing on "Saurian Exorcisms" was Mike Breazeale, who contributed chants and some vocals.

At the time of "Saurian Exorcisms"'s release, Sanders said that his influences were more varied and far-reaching than NILE fans may suspect. "What I've been trying to do is move away from strict Egyptian kind of influences and incorporate a broader range of inspiration," he said. "The music I'm making is not strictly traditional Egyptian music. I borrow and steal from the traditional music of many different cultures. There's some Tibetan stuff, some Indian stuff, some Arabic stuff, and so forth."

NILE's ninth studio album, "Vile Nilotic Rites", was released in November 2019 via Nuclear Blast

During a recent appearance on AXS TV's "At Home And Social With…", BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's Zakk Wylde spoke about his long-standing friendship and working relationship with legendary BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I always said, with Ozz, it's a miracle any work ever gets done just because we're constantly… All's you gotta do is hang out with him for, like, five minutes, you'll be on the floor crying. 'Cause he's always taking the piss out of himself or whatever else is going on in the world. He's the best. I was thinking if he wasn't this legendary frontman and singer and everything like that, he'd have to do stand-up [comedy]. He's the best. He's hilarious."

Asked if Ozzy has had a chance to listen to the new BLACK LABEL SOCIETY album, "Doom Crew Inc.", Zakk said: "He tried. He goes, 'Zakk, I really enjoy the new album.' I was, like, 'Ozz, what song do you like the best?' He goes, 'I like the part before you put it on and when it ends, and I also like the parts in between the songs when it's just silence.' I go, 'Thanks, Ozz.' And he goes, 'Carry on. Good luck with the record.' I'd expect nothing less. [Laughs]"

It was announced in April 2017 that guitarist Wylde would be rejoining Ozzy's backing group for all his future solo show dates. Osbourne's touring lineup also includes Rob "Blasko" Nicholson on bass, Tommy Clufetos on drums and Adam Wakeman on keyboards.

Wylde originally joined Osbourne's band more three decades ago and backed the legendary frontman from 1987 to 1995, then again in 1998, from 2001 to 2004 and also from 2006 to 2009.

Although Zakk does not appear on the legendary heavy metal singer's latest LP, "Ordinary Man", he has already laid down his guitar tracks on Ozzy's upcoming follow-up effort, tentatively due in early 2022.

"Doom Crew Inc." was released on November 26 via MNRK Heavy (formerly eOne Music).

In a brand new interview with MMA Junkie, Robert Trujillo spoke about the so-called "doodle," the fun and unusual feature METALLICA added to its shows on the band's last few tours. At each stop, Trujillo and METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett have been covering songs from some of the local artists — often choosing tracks that are far removed from the band's traditional metal sound. The "doodles" have been showing up right before Trujillo's solo on "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth". The songs are pared-down interpretations — just bass and guitar and sometimes Trujillo singing in front of music stands.

The METALLICA bassist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Some of my proudest moments were with Kirk on the last European tour, playing in these massive soccer stadiums and playing songs that were sort of native to those cities or even those countries. So we would take a song and learn it by an artist from that country. I'll just give you one example. In Paris, France, [at] Stade De France, we played a song by an artist known as Johnny Hallyday. Eighty-five thousand people. Nobody knows what we're gonna play — kind of like street musicians. Lars [Ulrich] and James [Hetfield] are taking a break. We walk out there. He's got his guitar; I've got my bass. It's almost like, 'Where's the hat?' Where do they put the money? Literally like that — stripped down, naked. And we get out there and we start playing a song called 'Ma Gueule' by Johnny Hallyday. I'm telling you — people were in shock, but in a good way. And it was tears and smiles, and it made the news. But there was a lot of this that happened through all the different countries and cities throughout Europe where we would choose an artist, cover that artist and play that song — sometimes two and a half minutes to three minutes. I'm singing in the [native] language, so it gets real challenging. We're talking about Romania, we're talking Poland, we're talking Spain and Portugal and Sweden — I sang in Swedish. That, to me, was one of the highlight moments of my entire existence as a musician, especially in METALLICA, because I don't even know if I could ever do that again. Sometimes I think about it and I go, 'Man, you were crazy. Kirk and I were crazy.' That happened just before the pandemic. We were doing that in these football stadiums. Those were called the duets — these were the duets. The duet moments overseas — huge for me personally."

During a June 2020 appearance on "Drinks With Johnny", the Internet TV show hosted by AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ, Trujillo stated about how the idea for the "doodle" came about: "We were in Europe — this wasn't the last European tour, but the tour before that. We were in Amsterdam, and we had tried a couple of... There was a duet moment, where we were supposed to play a METALLICA song that's maybe, like, a deep cut, so we'd play 'I Disappear' or something, and we started noticing that we weren't getting the result we wanted. It was, like, we'd go up there and we'd start playing, like, 'Eye Of The Beholder' or something, and then the crowd's expecting James [Hetfield, METALLICA frontman] to come out and sing, and it's, like, 'Man, this ain't working.' They were feeling like it was a prelude moment, and I started thinking, 'We've gotta do something different.' So Kirk came out this one night, and he started playing that song by CHIC ['Le Freak'], and it totally caught me off guard. And I'm, like, 'Oh, damn. Okay, I see where he's going.' He's walking out to the front of the snake pit playing this funk jam. He got me the first night, 'cause I didn't exactly know the bass line, so I improvised it. And then the second night, I got it."

He continued: "So it kind of started there for a split second, though we were still doing the METALLICA deep cuts. And then we got to Europe, and we were in Amsterdam, and one of our management team members suggested, 'Why don't you play [a song by the Dutch rock band] GOLDEN EARRING, 'Radar Love'? Check that out.' And we were, like, 'Really?' So I started played the bass line, and then the crowd started singing, and it was, like, 'Hold on a minute. There's something here.' So then we started to kind of formulate some local bands from each city. Like, one of the highlight moments was in Prague [Czech Republic — we played a country song called 'Jožin Z Bažin' [by Ivan Mládek], which was huge. And then we played, in Barcelona, a gypsy kind of flamenco acoustic song, by an artist called Peret — it's called 'El Muerto Vivo', And I'm singing in Spanish, I'm doing my best, and the people went nuts. And we go, 'Hold on. We've got something here.' So what we ended up doing… We came out of that tour — we scraped through it; it wasn't perfect, but we scraped through it. And then when we got home, we did some U.S. dates, we did all that, but we knew we were going back to Europe where it really worked. I said, 'I'm going deep.' So I did a bunch of research, and I researched every single city, even Estonia, and I found out what cool either punk, alternative, country — it didn't matter the style — and I learned the fucking language, and I did the phonetic with the lyric, and we went out and did full arrangements. I'm talking about if there was an accordion solo, Kirk was playing it. So we did our homework, and we really, really went into it. I was going to [Kirk's house in] Hawaii to work with him on the arrangements. I spent, like, five days there strictly on the [songs]. We weren't even surfing, we were just 'boom.' So we put a lot of hard work in it. I mean, we were surfing a little bit, but that wasn't the priority. We were actually really spending time on this.

"So I would say on that last tour run, 'cause we were in these massive stadiums, sold-out shows… And every night was great, but there was a handful of grand slams where people were crying and it was this heavy… Like, you're paying tribute to somebody in, like, Moscow, who is like the David Bowie of Moscow, and people are just, like, 'Oh my god.' They don't know what they're gonna get. All of a sudden, we surprise them, and they get what they didn't expect. [Playing a song by] Johnny Hallyday in Paris, at Stade De France, [in front of] 85,000 people. So to be up there and to feel that energy and emotionally connect with the crowd on that level was special. But it was such hard work. I don't know how we [pulled it off].

"I was meeting with people, like, I would even sometimes do it by phone, and I'd be there for two hours getting the language pronunciation right. So it was a lot of work… And sometimes you'll take some beatings," he admitted. "I remember a couple of the shows when we first started doing it, man — beatings, bro; beatings… I remember, there was a couple of 'em, but there was one… It was in Pennsylvania. It was like college — it was over where Penn State is. And holy cow, man. I thought we would play like the fight song for Penn State. Man, we got, like, 10 seconds into that thing, and nobody cared. It was, like, 'Oh my god.' And I stopped playing — I literally stopped playing. I was so embarrassed. And Kirk kept playing. And then, luckily, we kind of went into a METALLICA… Like, in the U.S., we would parlay it with a local song — these are U.S songs — and then we would always kind of justify it by going into a METALLICA [track], like 'Dyers Eve' or something. Just like, 'Okay, we screwed that up, but we got this.' So it was kind of our savior in the States."

In 2019, Hammett told Cosmo Music about his live "doodles" with Trujillo: "We never really know what the response is going to be. You have to understand, we're going into a country; we're picking some song that's seemingly random and abstract to us, and we're learning this song that we've never heard before from this artist that we've never heard before, and we're taking a chance and playing it in a stadium in front of 60,000 people, and we're hoping that we make the right choice. The last, I would say, three legs [of the tour], we've been hitting it out of the park, but before that, there were some growing pains. There have been a few times we've picked the wrong song and played it and people go, 'Huh?' We'll go into a place like Indianapolis, and we'll play a song by an obscure punk band called THE ZERO BOYS, because we think they're cool... We played the hell out of it, and it was really cool, but we looked out at the audience, and they were just like, 'Huh?' Rob and I always tell each other and people don't recognize it, it's not the end of the world as long as we play it well, and they're entertaining in the way we play it, so we have that to fall back on... We were in Nashville, and we played a Loretta Lynn song... The next day, we got a message from Loretta Lynn, who said she was actually at the show with her family and was so tickled when we broke into her song. She said she might think about covering one of our songs sometime, but in the meantime, we should do more of her songs."

Not every artist that has been spotlighted in the "doodle" has been flattered by the Trujillo/Hammett version of their music. Former CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom G. Warrior) was not impressed with the rendition of the group's "The Usurper" that Hammett and Trujillo performed during METALLICA's May 2019 concert in Zurich, Switzerland. "They butchered it, and it was humiliating," Fischer told Rolling Stone. "Why don't they leave their millionaire fingers off it? They've long lost the ability to play true metal in my opinion. Maybe I should go onstage and do a really miserable version of [METALLICA's] 'Hit The Lights' with, like, 200 mistakes to set the balance."

As previously reported, METALLICA will perform tonight (Saturday, November 27) during Triller Fight Club's highly anticipated debut of "Triad Combat" on at Globe Life Field, home of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas and live on pay-per-view

The "Triad Combat" PPV event will be carried in North America across all PPV platforms, including cable, satellite, telco, and streaming.

Among the fighters featured in separate fights on the debut of "Triad Combat" are two-time UFC heavyweight world champion Frank Mir, two-time boxing heavyweight world title challenger Kubrat "The Cobra" Pulev and former UFC superstar "Platinum" Mike Perry.

Legendary rocker Ted Nugent has once again criticized Gene Simmons for calling unvaccinated people the "enemy," saying the KISS bassist/vocalist's comments are "not truth, logic and common sense."

In an appearance on Talkshoplive's Rock 'N' Roll channel two weeks ago, Simmons said that many people were turned away from the band's recently completed Kiss Kruise because they were not vaccinated. All guests on the cruise, which was on a Norwegian Cruise Line boat, were required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

"If you're willing to walk among us unvaccinated, you are an enemy," the 72-year-old Simmons said on November 10.

"This whole idea, this delusional, evil idea that you get to do whatever you want and the rest of the world be damned, is really terrible," he added. "We've got to identify those people and bring them out into the open so you know who they are."

Nugent, an outspoken conspiracy theorist who has refused to take the vaccine, addressed Simmons's comments while condemning the progressive culture of "political correctness" and slamming Democrats for supposedly enacting policies that produce recidivism.

Earlier today, Ted took to his Twitter to write: "Political correctness is the abandonment of humanity

"The left own hypocrisy, and their hypocrisy knows no ends! Truth, logic, and commonsense will set them free! Unarmed and helpless = unarmed and helpless.

"Toxic criminals endanger the good and law abiding among us every time one of these scumbags get released back out into the world. Get involved with your community and ensure someone with truth, logic, and common sense is in the decision making position.

"Recently on the Joe Pags show, I respond to Gene Simmons comments on the unvaccinated. I love Gene, and he is great man and rock solid in the asset column, but those statements are not truth, logic, and common sense."

During the above-mentioned appearance on the "Joe Pags Show", Nugent stated about Simmons: "I think [Gene has] been so bombarded. Remember, he lives in Los Angeles. Number one, I love Gene Simmons — he is a great man, rock solid in the asset column. But my own brother, who also spent most of his life in New York and L.A., they are so overwhelmed with lies and hate and misinformation. And when the people on the coast — and I mean overall; only the guilty need to feel guilty — but when they called someone a racist, they are the racist; when they call someone a child molester, it's usually coming from a child molester. So you've gotta give 'em the benefit of the doubt. But the real shocker, I think, and you will agree, is that here's Gene that speaks truth, logic and common sense most of the time — I really respect the man's overview — but here's a man who constantly references, and rightly so, that his mother survived the Holocaust where power-abusing monsters were forcing people to succumb. And then the Nuremberg trials [a series of military tribunals held after World War II to convict Nazis of their war crimes, including six million Jews and other minorities for medical trials] proved that no man, no human has a right to force any unwanted medicine or experiments, like this experimental drug, on people ever again. And here's Gene Simmons, who is so powerfully educating people about the horrors of demonic Nazism and the Holocaust, and then he compartmentalizes it and literally falls into the chasm of power abuse. It's much like a lot of my Jewish friends that are anti-gun and think that guns should be banned, which was what Joseph Goebbels and Hitler did.

"Joe, on an honest, intellectual level, I cannot explain it," Ted told host Joe Pags about why Gene made his comments. "I just know that I love Gene Simmons, and I'm gonna call him and try to fix him."

According to the nonpartisan, nonprofit web site Fact Check, while vaccines reduce the probability of getting infected, they are not 100% effective, so there is a chance that an unvaccinated person could infect a vaccinated person — particularly the vulnerable, such as elderly and immunocompromised individuals. And, despite vaccination providing excellent protection against severe disease, a small proportion of vaccinated people still require ICU care.

More than 59% of the nation's population are currently fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, while more than 69% have received at least one shot, according to data from the CDC.

More than 776,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the U.S.

Last month, Nugent appeared on "Off The Record" where he once again said that he won't take the COVID-19 vaccine because the shots that are available in the United States were developed in less than a year are probably fake.

"It's not a vaccine," he said. "It's an experimental shot. Now the FDA was forced to authorize it recently, but they were jabbing people with an experimental shot right up until that fake authorization.

"I don't believe it's a vaccine," he reiterated. "Most of America doesn't believe it's a vaccine. The only ones that are taking it are either gullible or being forced because they're gonna lose their job, lose their life and lose their livelihood."

Asked what he would say to the people who believe it's a worthwhile vaccine and it's saving lives, Ted — who spoke openly about his battle with COVID-19 seven months ago — said: "I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the people that went ahead and got the jab. I speak their language. I will speak to them thusly: Baaaaaah," he said, imitating a sheep. "Baaaaaah. Baaaaaah. Baaaaaah. They understand that."

When senior Capitol correspondent Tim Skubick asked Nugent point blank if he believes that the millions of people who got the shot are "just stupid," Ted replied: "Yup."

In April, Nugent talked about the darkest days of his battle with COVID-19, saying that he had "never been so scared" in his entire life. The 72-year-old pro-gun activist, who had previously claimed the virus was "not a real pandemic," said: "It was really scary. I didn't think I was gonna make it. I literally couldn't function for about 20 hours, and then they came and they rescued me… The six-foot-two, 225-pound headache [this time] was like nothing I have ever experienced. I mean, from my tip of my toes to the top of my hair, I literally was dizzy and weak and struggled to get up to go to the bathroom. And I would lay in the bathtub a couple of times a day with the water as hot as I could take it just to divert."

Ted also said that he was being treated for COVID-19 by a group of doctors who made a video last year calling for the use of hydroxychloroquine to battle the novel coronavirus, despite warnings from public health experts. Nugent went on to detail his clinical management of COVID-19, saying he was taking hydroxychloroquine, "a proven drug for 65 years," as well as ivermectin, "another proven drug."

In the past, Nugent, a staunch Donald Trump supporter, had referred to the virus as a "leftist scam to destroy" America's 45th president. He had also repeated a narrative pushed by conservative media and disputed by health experts that suggests the official death count from the coronavirus is inflated.




Political correctness is the abandonment of humanity

— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) November 28, 2021








The left own hypocrisy, and their hypocrisy knows no ends! Truth, logic, and commonsense will set them free! Unarmed and helpless = unarmed and helpless.

— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) November 28, 2021








Toxic criminals endanger the good and law abiding among us every time one of these scumbags get released back out into the world. Get involved with your community and ensure someone with truth, logic, and common sense is in the decision making position.

— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) November 28, 2021








Recently on the Joe Pags show, I respond to Gene Simmons comments on the unvaccinated. I love Gene, and he is great man and rock solid in the asset column, but those statements are not truth, logic, and common sense.

— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) November 28, 2021

In a new interview with Finland's Chaoszine, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt spoke about the band's new song "Clickbait" which decries the fact that the 24-hour entertainment news cycle has forced clickbait journalists to come up with sensationalized headlines for stories that are often misleading.

"Everything you read, just about, nowadays, it's clickbait," Gary said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "It's very seldom that a headline is actually what is said. Or at least it's wildly taken out of context. Especially in politics — everything is designed to make you hit that click, because that's how they're generating their income and their money. They don't care if you read it; they just want you to click the link. And sometimes they have to lure you in — it's like baiting a trap."

Asked if the clickbait culture has changed the way he approaches interviews and whether he gives more consideration to what he says to the press nowadays, Gary said: "I try; the funny thing is I try. But one thing that gets lost in a print interview is the human factor. You and I can talk right now and I can say something and then there's a big laugh at the end of it. But you read it without the laugh, without the smile, without the human reaction, and it comes off just very static and very straight. It comes out totally different. If everybody watched every interview as a video, you'd have a completely different impression sometimes of what was said."

Holt went on to say that he doesn't necessarily see the clickbait culture as a problem. "It's just an annoyance," he explained. "Everywhere you look, there's some headline that has stolen a little fragment of truth from whatever was said, and then it's completely magnified and thrown out of all context to lure the viewer in, to click it and generate the income. Politics, everything's fucking clickbait. And I'm not a fake-news guy. I'm a centrist liberal. And you look at the fucking headlines. Especially now, any time [U.S. president Joe] Biden stumbles on a word, they make him out to be senile. And I spent four years watching a man stumble on every fucking word he said," Gary added, apparently referring to former U.S. president Donald Trump who was frequently lambasted by the mainstream media for giving incoherent speeches laced with baseless conspiracy theories.

"Clickbait" appears on EXODUS's new album, "Persona Non Grata", which was released on November 19 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP 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. For the third time in the band's history, they returned to Swedish artist Pär Olofsson to create the album artwork.

In a new interview with the "Tales From A Gemini" podcast, SKID ROW's Rob Hammersmith was asked to name his top five drummers and biggest influences. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm gonna start with a couple of obvious ones… John Bonham [LED ZEPPELIN]. Obviously, for a reason… Cozy Powell [RAINBOW, BLACK SABBATH]. Any metal guy knows who Cozy Powell is. The list of albums and iconic bands that he played in, it's out of control. Phil Rudd [AC/DC] — for me, he's been the blueprint by which I approach music, the way I approach drums. I know there's a lot of debate out there; some guys aren't impressed with him. That's fine. They're missing out. For me, he's kind of the blueprint; that's what I go by. Mickey Curry is another guy. [He] may not be a household name, but when I talk about… It's startling when you start doing research how many… We were talking about THE CULT earlier; he's the guy that played drums on those iconic CULT records. The list of albums and groups and artists that he's played with, to say it's impressive is kind of an understatement. I've gotta say for that fifth one, it kind of ebbs and flows a little bit. For what I do in the hard rock world, you've gotta mention Tommy Lee [MÖTLEY CRÜE]. I mean, there's a reason why his name comes up as much as it does. He's just another guy — talk about kind of laying out a blueprint for guys in the hard rock world. Maybe not so much the heavy metal world, but in the hard rock genre, man, that was a game changer for a lot of us. So he's probably in my list of top five as well."

Rob's musical journey began at an early age in a small town outside of Buffalo, New York. Starting out in the cover scene, Rob quickly developed an appreciation for a solid back beat and playing for the song — an approach to drumming that he still considers the foundation for his style today. Later settling in Atlanta, Georgia, Rob's drumming quickly gained attention in the rock underground.

Prior to joining SKID ROW in 2010, Rob spent many years touring and recording with Atlanta-based rockers ROCKETS TO RUIN and has performed with GUNFIRE 76, the band featuring onetime MURDERDOLLS frontman Wednesday 13.

When he first hooked up with SKID ROW, Hammersmith stated about his then-new gig: "Having always been a fan, it is an honor to be asked to join the band. The band's music and history holds a special place in both my life and the lives of so many loyal fans. To be a part of that history is the chance of a lifetime."

In a new interview with the "Musicians On Couches Drinking Coffee" podcast, legendary drummer Carmine Appice once again repeated the claim that one of John Bonham's licks, a triplet bass drum motif used most prominently on "Good Times, Bad Times", the opening track on the first LED ZEPPELIN album, was inspired by something Carmine did on either the first VANILLA FUDGE LP or the "Renaissance" record.

Carmine said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What it was I heard [LED ZEPPELIN's debut] album. [LED ZEPPELIN and VANILLA FUDGE] had the same attorney, and they were on the same label. And my manager was connected to their manager, Peter Grant; they were both heavyweights. So when that album came out — before it came out — they gave us a copy and they said, 'We wanna put Jimmy Page's new band on with you guys.' We knew Jimmy Page; we used to do gigs with THE YARDBIRDS. So when I heard the record and I heard the triplet on 'Good Times, Bad Times', I said, 'Woah! What a foot on this guy. It's pretty amazing.' So on the very first gig that they played with us, I said to John, before the gig, I said, 'I love your foot on the record. It's unbelievable.' And he said, 'Thanks. I got that from you.' I said, 'You did. I don't remember doing that.' He said, 'Yeah, it's right on your VANILLA FUDGE record.' I said, 'Where is that?' Because in those days — still today, I don't play what I rehearse; I play whatever comes to me when I'm doing it. So I had done it somewhere on a record, so he pointed it out — I think it was on the 'Renaissance' record… And he said, 'So I just got that concept from what you did and then did what I did.' And I said, 'Wow.'"

Appice went on to say that he didn't feel comfortable bringing up his influence on Bonham in interviews for a long time due to the way the LED ZEPPELIN legend is credited with being an innovator who brought an unprecedented level of power, speed, and control to rock music, thereby setting the bar for all drummers coming after him.

"There was a time I couldn't really talk about this because ZEPPELIN was so big and people envisioned John Bonham like he was 'it,' he was God, and you can't talk about that he got something from you, 'cause he was God — God doesn't get anything from anybody," Carmine said. "And when I said it, people would say that I was crazy, I was egoing out, this and that. Then there was a book that came out called '[John Bonham:] A Thunder Of Drums'. When that came out, it told these stories and it told about when John Bonham came back from playing with VANILLA FUDGE, how gaga he was about meeting me. And he was hanging out with Cozy Powell, telling him the stories about hanging out with me. And they were both gaga about hanging out with me. I didn't know anything about that until this book came out. After that book came out, it told, with that being said, that he actually did listen to me and that I was an influence on him."

A 2017 blog post by Rain City Drummer, a blog dedicated to the art of drumming, attempted to get to the bottom of Appice's claim that Bonham lifted the lick from Carmine, apparently without any success.

Carmine previously said that Bonham took the bass drum triplets from the VANILLA FUDGE song "Ticket To Ride", telling Classic Rock Revisited in a 2006 interview: "When I first heard John Bonham do that triplet thing on the bass drum, I went up to him and said, 'John, that is amazing. I have to admit that I took that from you.' He looked at me and said, 'What are you talking about? I took that from you!' I replied, 'I don't do that. You couldn't have taken it from me.' He proceeded to tell me where I did actually do that on the first VANILLA FUDGE record and he was right. I only did it for a moment on that album and he took it and made something bigger and better out of it."

Back in 2014, Carmine said that he would love to play with a reunited LED ZEPPELIN, claiming that he is a better fit to replace Bonham than John's son Jason.

"Everybody in that band there is legendary… They're old school and legendary. Jason isn't legendary, and he's not old school," Appice explained to the "Totally Driven Radio" podcast. "He's John Bonham's son, but he don't play like John Bonham. He plays more… He plays like him. He's not John. He's got that name, but he's not John Bonham. I'm not John Bonham either, but I think my style might be close, 'cause I came first, and John listened to stuff I did and did it his own way. And we took 'em on their first tour. It's very close-sounding stuff in feel."

In recent months, VANILLA FUDGE has released remastered versions of its covers of two LED ZEPPELIN classics, "Immigrant Song" and "Rock And Roll", via Golden Robot Records. A third cover, "Ramble On", will arrive on November 30. All three tracks come from the soon-to-be-released album "Vanilla Zeppelin".

In a new interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello was asked what the glue is that has kept him and his bandmates together for 40 years. He responded: "Booze. No. I'm kidding. [Laughs] You know what it is? We are brothers. As much as brothers have their things — and look, we're no angels; we have our brawls. We're like brothers, and we have arguments about writing and stuff like that. But we all know we've been through a lot together. Look, I've known these guys, God, since I was 16, 17 years old, and I've been in the same band. I got in ANTHRAX when I was 17 years old. So, these guys — I spent more time with the guys in my band than I have with my family at this point. So we all know each other pretty well, I would say. And it doesn't make sense to rock the boat, because we write what we feel is great music for ourselves. We are so into what we do and the live shows. And connecting with the fans out there that like this band, there's nothing like that.

"We played our first show a couple of weeks ago for the first time since this whole thing went on, this whole COVID thing, our first real live show, in Wisconsin, and we all had butterflies after all the time we've done this — we all had the butterflies going on," he continued. "I saw that as that's a good sign for the band, 'cause we are still so into it and hungry to do this. I'm glad we all have butterflies, and we had a raging time on that stage. And I can't think of not doing this. I'm looking forward to the future. After the 40 years, I think it sets it up perfectly now for a new record, a new tour, for everything in the future. So, it's been a great ride, man."

Formed by guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker in Queens, New York on July 18, 1981, ANTHRAX was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast and quickly became regarded as a leader in the genre alongside METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH.

Active over the past five decades, ANTHRAX has released 11 studio albums, been awarded multiple gold and platinum certifications, received six Grammy nominations, toured the world since 1984 playing thousands of shows, including headlining Madison Square Garden and playing Yankee Stadium with the "Big Four".

The arrival of ANTHRAX's latest album, 2016's "For All Kings", followed a five-year period during which the group experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX's inclusion on the "Big Four" tour, and continuing with the 2011 release of comeback LP "Worship Music".

Bello is currently promoting his memoir, "Fathers, Brothers, And Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, And Anthrax", which was released on November 2 via Rare Bird. The foreword was written by KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons.

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman says that he is "still devastated" by the recent Astroworld concert tragedy.

Ten people, including a 9-year-old and two teenagers, died while many more were injured after a crowd surge during Travis Scott's performance at the Houston music festival. Since then, dozens of lawsuits have been filed and a slew of questions remain unanswered about what went wrong.

Draiman addressed the deadly event in a recent interview with Chad "Chumley" Kerch of Jacksonville, Florida's WPLA radio station. He said: "I think that we've spent too much time over the course of the past number of years being separated from one another and being divided and being so concerned about ourselves as individuals that we've forgotten how to come together — that we've forgotten what it means to be there for the same reason and the same cause and to feel the same feelings that everyone is on that same song and place and that strikes a chord in everyone.

"The whole mentality, this predatory mentality, this mentality of only caring for yourself, of trying to take what you can get whenever the opportunity presents itself, to not specifically look out for others, to not specifically look out to try and shelter those who are weaker than you, to look out for those who aren't as strong as you are, it's contrary to the fiber of my being and I can't believe how prevalent the mentality has become," he continued.

"I just think that concerts, big events like that, in particular, are supposed to be our opportunity to show the world what we're capable of when we come together as one, in safety, in unity and in strength and in joy. And for that to be perverted and for that to be bastardized is unforgivable — absolutely unforgivable. People need to remember that we are all family, we are all connected, and to cherish life.

"I'm still devastated by the events that had happened. My heart goes out to the families who are mourning and to those who are injured. Look, my heart goes out to even the people who were at the forefront.

"You cannot expect somebody to control chaos if they have no experience controlling it; it's not an easy thing to do. Maybe at the very least this will be a learning experience for everyone involved. But I think we're kind of fatigued of learning experiences, of having people needing to lose their lives for us to finally wake up."

DISTURBED performed live for the first time in nearly two years on September 25 as one of the headliners of the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky. The band also played earlier this month at the Welcome To Rockville festival at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

In March, DISTURBED's "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" was officially canceled. The amphitheater tour, with very special guest STAIND and BAD WOLVES, was originally slated to take place in the summer of 2020 but was rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was eventually scrapped altogether.

"The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" was supposed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of DISTURBED's seminal album "The Sickness". On this tour, the band was expected to perform songs off the album, as well as tracks from "Evolution" and DISTURBED's extensive catalog.

In September 2020, DISTURBED released a cover version of Sting's 1993 single "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You".

TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy believes that more could have been done to prevent the recent Astroworld concert tragedy.

Ten people, including a 9-year-old and two teenagers, died while many more were injured after a crowd surge during Travis Scott's performance at the Houston music festival. The rapper has since been critized for appearing to keep the show going despite pleas of help from the crowd. Although he paused a few times, many are saying this response was not enough. In the weeks the incident, dozens of lawsuits have been filed and a slew of questions remain unanswered about what went wrong.

Heafy addressed the deadly event in a recent interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've seen some conversations about, 'When it's a festival, you can't tell [from the stage what's going on in the crowd].' My thing is, the vantage point from the [stage] at a festival, you can see pretty much every single thing that's happening [in the crowd].

"You've gotta do what you've gotta do, man. If I ever see a pocket of people looking down, you just have to assume the worst. If someone passed out, you need to stop before people trample that person.

"I can't speak to what happened at [Astroworld], but reading accounts, reading the fact that this thing went on for a long time with people being… I don't know if they knew that they were dead or that they knew at least that they were injured. But if you see something going on, just stop — don't walk offstage," he continued. "You have so much control.

"I remember seeing accounts, like, 'Hey, if they would have stopped, it could have gotten worse.' But what I would have done… If you see that happen, you stop. You say into the mic, 'Let's sort this out. Everybody, clear a hole. I'm still right here. I'm not stopping the show. But let's figure it out. Let's save our people here. Let's save our friends and make sure everyone's safe first.' 'Cause safety is first and foremost. These are the people that allow us to do what we do, allow us to stay alive, allow us to pay our bills, keep our families going.

"Metal shows have more intensity than anything in the world that I've ever seen, and I can tell what's happening at a nighttime festival," Heafy added. "So, I don't know, man. I didn't wanna watch anything or see anything — I've only read accounts — but I'm proud of the fact that we've been able to stop things and do right by our supporters or do right by people that aren't even our supporters yet. It's always the safety of the people that are coming out to the show; that is the job of the front person. You can't put it all on security because they're only ground level of the ground-level team. But if you can see what's going on up here [from the stage], you have a lot of power with the microphone."

Crowd safety experts have said that a "whole bunch of failures" led to the devastating events at Astroworld and that the blame cannot solely be placed on Travis Scott.

"There's a whole bunch of failures that might be involved," Professor Keith Still, an expert in crowd science from the University of Suffolk, told Newsweek. "More often than not, the people that check the plans [for large-scale festivals and concerts], the people that grant the licenses may not have the knowledge to assess the risks."

Concert safety consultant Paul Wertheimer told the Los Angeles Times about the Astroworld tragedy: "This was preventable. The crowd was allowed to get too dense and was not managed properly. The fans were the victims of an environment in which they could not control.

"It doesn't matter how many police officers and security were there if they're not in the proper location and they're not trained in crowd management," Wertheimer added. "None of those people were in the crowd. Not enough of them were near the front barriers."

Drummer Simon Wright, currently of DIO DISCIPLES and also known for his work in DIO, RHINO BUCKET and UFO, has reflected upon landing the AC/DC drum spot in 1983 in place of Phil Rudd. Wright, a then-unknown drummer whose first credits included Manchester, England metal outfit A II Z, joined AC/DC in time for the touring cycle for "Flick Of The Switch" and played with the Australian rockers throughout the '80s before leaving to join DIO in 1989.

In a recent interview with RadioactiveMike Z, host of the Riverside, California-based radio station 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire" (hear audio below), Wright was asked how he came to land the coveted AC/DC gig and what it did for his career. "I was in London," he said. "I really wasn't doing much. I was in a band in London, but we weren't doing much. Somebody saw an ad in a music paper: 'Drummer wanted. If you don't hit hard, don't apply.' My friend told me, 'You hit hard, don't you? Why don't you apply?' So, I applied and I went for the audition. The audition was with the drum tech and I played three songs and at the end he said, 'Great, we'll let you know.' So, I thought 'Oh, okay.' The audition was in a really high-class rehearsal place, so I thought 'There may be something in this.' I go home and the phone rings about two hours later and it's him and he says, 'Can you come down tomorrow?' I said, 'I can't, I don't have any money.' He said, 'Don't worry about that. Get yourself in a cab and we'll sort it out.' I thought, 'That's good. They must have liked what I played.' I go back down and he meets me in the lobby and we're walking down the corridor and there are all these flight cases with AC/DC on them and I stopped him and said, 'You're kidding, right?' He gave me this smile and said, 'No.' I went 'Oh, Jesus Christ.' So, we carry on and the door opens and I go in and meet them and stuff. It was all very low key; there was no fanfare as the door opens — they're ready to work. I go in and introduced myself and they said hello and stuff and everything. They asked me what songs I know and I told them a couple and we got to playing and we finished up playing for a little while and they sat down and started talking between themselves and their manager about the upcoming tour and stuff. I leaned over to Mal [Malcolm Young, guitar] and asked, 'Does this mean I'm in the band?' He said, 'Yeah. I guess it is, isn't it?' I couldn't wait to get out of there and tell my family what happened. My whole life changed after that."

Wright was also asked if he had any stories to share about Malcolm Young, who passed away last November due to complications with dementia. "There's so many," he said. "With Malcolm, and I'm sure there's a lot of people who will attest to it, but he had a really quiet, firm way about him. He was definitely in control of things. He could change situations around with a couple of words and couple of suggestions. He was quite a leader and such a fantastic guitar player, too. Such a shame, it really is. It's such a horrible, debilitating disease what he got and I could only imagine what his family went through, Angus [Young, guitar] and stuff as well and everybody. It's bloody awful."

AC/DC members Brian Johnson, Phil Rudd, Angus Young and Stevie Young were all photographed outside Vancouver's Warehouse Studios in August. Based on the pictures, the assumption is that AC/DC is in the midst of making — or at least planning — another album, with Rudd and Johnson both back in the lineup. Online reports have also indicated Angus Young will dedicate the new AC/DC album to his late brother.

b>DIO DISCIPLES is reportedly collaborating with former DIO bass player Jeff Pilson on their debut studio album, tentatively due next year. The band, which pays tribute to Ronnie James Dio, is fully supported by Dio's widow/manager Wendy and is comprised of former DIO members and vocalists Tim "Ripper" Owens (ex-JUDAS PRIEST) and Oni Logan.

Legendary rock band QUEEN has partnered with Hatton Garden-based jewelry designer Johnny Hoxton to create two limited-edition, bespoke pieces. A 9-carat gold ring and a solid sterling silver chain and "Q" pendant will be available to purchase exclusive to the pop-up store Queen - The Greatest on Carnaby Street, which celebrates the band's historic five decades of music.

Renowned jeweler Johnny Hoxton is known for his cool, fresh and disruptive designs. Drawing inspiration from underground pop culture iconography, his jewelry effortlessly blends genuine craftsmanship and nods to street culture, so partnering with one of the world's most visually iconic bands seemed a perfect fit.

This limited-edition Johnny Hoxton collaboration is the latest Queen - The Greatest drop as part of November's Art & Design Month in store. Merging well-recognized QUEEN iconography with Hoxton's craftsmanship and aesthetic, each of the made to order pieces in the collection are true statement pieces. Made up of a solid sterling silver chain and "Q" pendant of the Queen - The Greatest emblem and a solid 9-carat gold ring engraved with the word "QUEEN" — the pieces retail at £145 and £245, respectively, and will be available from Thursday, November 25.

Keith Taperell, vice president of retail and sales at Bravado, said: "We are thrilled to be working with Johnny Hoxton on this exciting opportunity which partners with QUEEN who are celebrating their historic five decades of music and offers customers exclusive pieces of bespoke and hand-crafted rock and roll jewelry."

Johnny Hoxton said: "Very privileged to have had the opportunity to be involved as a creative contributor to the celebration of one of the most influential bands of my generation. I can only hope that my humble input does some justice to this beautiful legacy."

Open until January 2022, Queen - The Greatest was launched to celebrate the band's historic five decades of music. Created in partnership with Bravado, Universal Music Group's merchandise and brand management company, this pop-up store is designed to take you on a visual journey through one of the world's most iconic bands' contributions to music, culture, and fashion. The shop features limited-edition music releases, new product drops and exciting fashion collaborations, with each month of its three-month stint having a different theme — Music, Art & Design and Magic.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH singer Ivan Moody has shared a snippet of music from the band's upcoming ninth studio album.

Earlier today, Moody took to his Instagram to post a short video filmed at the Hideout Recording Studio, the Las Vegas, Nevada facility owned and operated by Kevin Churko, the Canadian record producer/engineer and songwriter who has worked on all of FIVE FINGER's albums beginning with the band's sophomore release, 2009's "War Is The Answer". Ivan included a series of emojis along with the hashtags "#feelinjustF9" and

"#andhellscomingwithme".

In addition to recording an all-new album, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH recently commenced re-recording its debut LP, 2007's "The Way Of The Fist", for its 15th anniversary.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's upcoming album will be the group's first with its latest addition, renowned British virtuoso Andy James, who replaced Jason Hook last year. James was previously featured on "Broken World", a song that was included on the second installment of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's greatest-hits collection, "A Decade Of Destruction - Volume 2", which came out in the fall of 2020.

Each of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's first six albums — "The Way of the Fist", 2009's "War Is The Answer", 2011's "American Capitalist", 2013's "The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1" and "Volume 2", and 2015's "Got Your Six" — has gone either gold or platinum in the U.S.

The band has had two dozen songs hit the Top 10 on the Mainstream Rock or Hard Rock Digital charts, starting with "The Bleeding". FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's 2010 cover of BAD COMPANY's "Bad Company" was certified platinum for accumulating a million certified units.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's No. 1 hits include "Coming Down", "Lift Me Up", "Battle Born", "Wash It All Away", "Sham Pain", "When The Seasons Change" and "Blue On Black".

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's most recent album, 2020's "F8", debuted at No. 1 on rock charts around the world, with Top 10 mainstream chart debuts in the U.S., Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and more. "F8" features No. 1 hit singles "Inside Out", "A Little Bit Off" and "Living The Dream".
























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A post shared by Ivan L. Moody (@ivanmoody)

Vocalist Erik Grönwall and songwriter/producer/multi-multi-instrumentalist Jona Tee, former bandmates in H.E.A.T., recently announced that they are continuing their musical partnership by unleashing New Horizon, their new power metal brainchild.


Their debut single, "We Unite" is out now, debut album coming in 2022. Listen to the song below, or via your preferred streaming service here.







Guest musicians/contributors who will appear on the debut album include Robban Bäck (Mustasch), Sam Totman (DragonForce), Love Magnusson (Dynazty), Dave Dalone (H.E.A.T), Niko Vuorela (Temple Balls), and Laucha Figueroa.


The seeds of New Horizon were planted in Jona’s youth given that he grew up listening to (and still loves) Iron Maiden, Helloween, Hammerfall, Manowar, Edguy, and the like. Heavy metal is in his blood and New Horizon is something that is flowing through his veins and extremely close to his heart. He always dreamed of releasing his own power metal anthems one day. When asked about the sound of New Horizon, Jona Tee describes it as "a mix between classic power and heavy metal, with a touch of the 21st century.”


“It felt so natural to continue working together. We have toured together pretty much all over the world and released music together for a decade. Jona is truly like my brother, by blood, and New Horizon will be the catalyst for us to release great metal together and just have fun,” says Grönwall.


Watch an introduction video:





(Photo - Gustaf Sandholm Andersson)

Lucifer’s Friend original founding guitarist, Peter Hesslein, announces the release of his second solo album, Night Drive 2, following the success of his first Night Drive solo album.


The first album surprised and enchanted rock fans and guitarists alike with both its musicianship and concept – music to drive home to, after a concert…


When lockdown started to lift, a number of musicians, road crew and fans contacted Peter Hesslein via Facebook to say they’d remembered the concept and just driven home to the music. Given the concept had been taken to heart, by so many, Peter Hesslein returned to the studio for a follow-up.




Peter Hesslein said of the new album: “I was surprised and so pleased by the success of my first Night Drive album. When music places started to re-open, I had many musicians write to me saying they listen to it on long drives, which is why I recorded the album. So now I’ve recorded a second Night Drive album, a little faster this time, maybe for the Autobahn!”





Night Drive 2 is now available via the band’s own record label, Lucifer’s Records, via Cherry Red.


- Amazon CD
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- HDtracks


(Photo - Peter Hesslein Facebook)

Norway’s avant-garde black metal innovators, Borknagar, have released a special 25th Anniversary reissue of their pioneering self-titled debut album Borknagar, out for the first time ever worldwide via the band’s longtime label partner Century Media Records.


Audio samples from the release are available below:







Øystein G. Brun previously commented on this special re-release: “Throughout the years I have received countless requests for a re-release of this album…but because this album represents such a personal and treacherous part of my life, I wanted it to be done with dignity. And here we are: This is the definitive re-release of the debut album of Borknagar. This release contains a genuine re-master of the debut album, based on the original mix tapes. This has been done with the uttermost care and love by yours sincerely to maintain the original sound and flavour of the album, and solely to improve the listening experience. Working on this re-release has been an emotional ride. While always maintaining a good feeling about the project it has been times of frustration and technical obstacles. Hours has been spent finding and compiling old pictures, dealing with tapes and equipment that has not been played or used in over 25 years. But now it is done, and I hope you all enjoy and appreciate this release as much as I do.”


Initially released in 1996, "Borknagar" saw Øystein G. Brun recruiting a phenomenal cast of like-minded musicians such as Garm (Ulver, ex Arcturus) doing the vocals, drummer Grim (ex-Immortal, Gorgoroth and Ancient), Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) on keyboards and bassist Infernus (who played in Gorgoroth) to enter the notorious halls of Grieghallen Studios with the goal of rupturing the peripheries of what was then deemed “traditional” black metal.


The new deluxe edition of the album, now entitled Borknagar (25th Anniversary Reissue 2021) marks the definitive version of this pioneering Norwegian metal classic, as it includes a careful remaster of the 10 album songs courtesy of Øystein G. Brun himself, a makeover for the original artwork, profound liner notes, exclusive photos and a bonus disc full of previously unheard material from the band vaults.


The limited Digipak 2CD (with 12 bonus tracks / 60 min.) and the limited Gatefold 2LP on 180g black vinyl (with 8 bonus tracks / 37 min.) can be ordered here.


Below are the tracklistings of the Anniversary release.





2CD Digipak & Digital Album:


CD1 – Borknagar (Remaster 2021):
"Vintervredets Sjelesagn" (Remaster 2021) (06:47)
"Tanker mot Tind - Kvelding" (Remaster 2021) (03:43)
"Svartskogs Gilde" (Remaster 2021) (05:52)
"Ved Steingard" (Remaster 2021) (02:18)
"Krigsstev" (Remaster 2021) (02:02)
"Dauden" (Remaster 2021) (05:49)
"Grimskalle Trell" (Remaster 2021) (05:39)
"Nord Naagauk" (Remaster 2021) (03:07)
"Fandens Allheim" (Remaster 2021) (06:22)
"Tanker mot Tind - Gryning" (Remaster 2021) (03:01)


CD2 – Borknagar (25th Anniversary Bonus Material):
"Vintervredets Sjelesagn" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (06:46)
"Svartskogs Gilde" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (05:51)
"Krigsstev" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (02:02)
"Dauden" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (05:51)
"Grimskalle Trell" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (05:45)
"Fandens Allheim" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (05:53)
"Ved Steingard" (Alternate Mix) (02:13)
"Nord Naagauk" (Alternate Mix) (03:28)
"Vintervredets Sjelesagn" (Rehearsal 1994) (06:59)
"Grimskalle Trell" (Rehearsal 1994) (06:14)
"Ved Steingard" (First ever recording 1994) (02:18)
"Vintervredets Sjelesagn" (Alternate Mix) (06:49)


Gatefold 2LP:


LP 1 – Borknagar (Remaster 2021):


Side A:
"Vintervredets Sjelesagn" (Remaster 2021) (06:47)
"Tanker mot Tind - Kvelding "(Remaster 2021) (03:43)
"Svartskogs Gilde" (Remaster 2021) (05:52)
"Ved Steingard" (Remaster 2021) (02:18)
"Krigsstev" (Remaster 2021) (02:02)


Side B:
"Dauden" (Remaster 2021) (05:49)
"Grimskalle Trell" (Remaster 2021) (05:39)
"Nord Naagauk" (Remaster 2021) (03:07)
"Fandens Allheim" (Remaster 2021) (06:22)
"Tanker mot Tind - Gryning" (Remaster 2021) (03:01)


LP 2 – Borknagar (25th Anniversary Bonus Material):


Side C:
"Vintervredets Sjelesagn" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (06:46)
"Svartskogs Gilde" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (05:51)
"Krigsstev" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (02:02)
"Dauden" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (05:51)


Side D:
"Grimskalle Trell" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (05:45)
"Fandens Allheim" (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995) (05:53)
"Ved Steingard" (Alternate Mix) (02:13)
"Nord Naagauk" (Alternate Mix) (03:10)


“Dauden" (Remaster 2021) visualizer:





Borknagar will be joining the Devastation On The Nation North America Tour 2022. The band will be direct support to Rotting Christ and will be joined by Wolfheart, Abigail Williams starting April 21 in Berkeley, CA and wrapping on May 22 in Los Angeles. Tickets are available to purchase, here.





Tour dates:


April
21 - Berkeley, CA - Cornerstone
22 - Portland, OR - Bossanova Ballroom
23 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre
24 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
26 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall
27 - Denver, CO - The Roxy Theater
29 - Minneapolis, MN - Skyway Theatre
30 - Chicago, IL - Reggies


May
1 - Detroit, MI - Sanctuary
3 - Toronto, ON - Lees Palace
4 - Montreal, QC - Foufounes Electriques
5 - Quebec City, QC - Imperial
6 - Manchester, NH - Jewel
7 - Brooklyn, NY - Saint Vitus Bar
8 - Baltimore, MD - Soundstage
10 - Greensboro, NC - Blind Tiger
11 - Nashville, TN - Exit/In
12 - Birmingham, AL - Zydeco
13 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade (Hell)
14 - Tampa, FL - The Orpheum
16 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall
17 - Fort Worth, TX - Haltom Theater
18 - Austin, TX - Come and Take It Live
19 - El Paso, TX - Rockhouse Bar
20 - Phoenix, AZ - Nile Theater
21 - San Diego, CA - Brick By Brick
22 - Los Angeles, CA -1720


(Photo - Jørn Veberg)

Swedish band, Mad Invasion, combines classic 70’s hard rock influences with a modern approach and soundscape. The vast experience of the band members as musicians, songwriters and performing artists - includes numerous album releases and tours over the years.


In September, Mad Invasion released their long-awaited debut album, Edge Of The World, an album that offers a wide range of heavy songs with bone crushing guitars, airy keyboards, and a dynamic rhythm section - adding the final touches to the very distinct Mad Invasion sound.


Mad Invasion get wild and crazy on their new single and video, "Scream’n Shout". Watch below.




"Inspired by of a girlfriend’s Son and his friends, who are scateboarders – the song and video is a tribute to young generation, the wild and free kids who are ready to take on the world and have fun doing it. The world needs that energy in order to evolve – the progressive in connection with the more traditional. This is our tribute to next generation, who will take over after us..."





Stream the Edge Of The World album on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Amazon Music. Order the CD/LP here.





Tracklisting:


"Edge Of The World"
"Scream'n Shout"
"Crazy & Wild"
"Devil's Calling"
"Destruction"
"Until The End"
"Fallen Angel"
"Walking In The Shadows"
"Trial By Fire"
"Cry Mercy"














Mad Invasion lineup:


Pete Sandberg - Vocals
Björn Dahlberg - Guitar
Hal Marabel - Guitar / Keyboards
Mats Jeppsson - Bass
Mats Bergentz - Drums

Symphonic metal outfit, Ad Infinitum, recently released their bewitching second offering, Chapter II - Legacy, via Napalm Records. Today, the band deliver another breathtaking music video, for the song "Inferno", keeping their fans pumped for even more to come.


"Inferno" starts its journey with a passionate introduction guided by the stunning voice of vocalist Melissa Bonny. Accompanied by a bittersweet amalgamation of piano, violins and echoing choirs, "Inferno" ignites a firestorm of howling riffs, sharply flinching chords and awe-inspiring solos, accented by Victorian harmonies. Visually, Ad Infinitum once again operate at the highest level and promise pure musical entertainment amid amazing scenic images.


Ad Infinitum on the new single: “One month since the release of Chapter II - Legacy and the positive feedbacks received went straight to our heart. We decided to keep the party going a little longer with one more video featuring one of the band’s favorite tracks on this second album."







Chapter II - Legacy once again showcases the indispensable creativity of Ad Infinitum - featuring twelve complex, tracks highlighting their sonic development and undeniable symphonic strength. Such talent can be witnessed with opener “Reinvented”, lurking with lovely piano tunes and erupting in intense riffage in the blink of an eye. Right away, the music reflects the extremely multifaceted voice of Melissa Bonny - ranging from crystal clear vocals to impressively powerful screams and menacing growls. Hailing from hell, hard-hitting “Afterlife” features the vocal power of Nils Molin (Amaranthe, Dynazty), merging in perfect harmony with Melissa’s incredibly haunting delivery. Songs like “Your Enemy” and cinematic grand finale “Lullaby” leave no scope for weakness and unveil the heaviest side of Ad Infinitum to date. This grasping hymn is far from lulling you to sleep, as the eclectically versatile sonic world of Ad Infinitum immediately induces you to listen to Chapter II - Legacy again, right from the beginning.





Chapter II - Legacy is available in the following formats:


- 1 CD Digipak
- 1 LP Gatefold BLACK
- 1 CD Digipak + Patch (limited to 200 copies worldwide)
- Digital Album


Order here.





Tracklisting:


"Reinvented"
"Unstoppable"
"Inferno"
"Your Enemy"
"Afterlife" (feat. Nils Molin)
"Breathe"
"Animals"
"Into The Night"
"Son Of Wallachia"
"My Justice, Your Pain"
"Haunted"
"Lullaby"


"Animals" video:





“Afterlife” video:





"Unstoppable" video:





Ad Infinitum are:


Melissa Bonny - Vocals
Adrian Thessenvitz - Guitars
Korbinian Benedict - Bass
Niklas Müller – Drums


(Photo - Nat Enemede - Fine Art)

On November 26, the newest addition to the Hypocrisy catalog, Worship, was released via Nuclear Blast Records. That evening, the band presented their fans with a special listening session that featured a video of vinyl being sent up to the stratosphere.


The journey was completed on a bespoke launch vehicle that carried and supported the record through the atmosphere. The craft was lifted by a large hydrogen-filled balloon reaching a maximum altitude of over 120,000 feet/36.57 km above the Earth. It fell back down to Earth reaching speeds over 200mph until it re-entered the troposphere (where we all live) where the onboard parachute slowed the craft to a gentle walking pace by the time it touched down.


Watch the full video of this historical launch:







It has been eight long years since the last record, and Hypocrisy fans can feel the itch. Worship is 11 tracks of precise, ferocious musicianship. Commonly inspired by the fusion of the modern and the ancient, Hypocrisy has once more found a way to combine innovative ideas with classic sound in order to deliver something metalheads can enjoyably consume with awe and brutal vigor. As usual, all recording and mixing took place at Tägtgren’s Abyss Studio AB in Sweden while mastering was completed by Svante Forsbäck at Chartmakers Audio Mastering. Designed by artist Blake Armstrong (Kataklysm, In Flames, Carnifex), Worship’s artwork speaks to the history of the relationship between humanity and extraterrestrials.





Worship is available in the following formats:


- CD Jewel
- LP
 * Crystal Clear W/ Silver & Black Splatter (Exclusive to USA) (Limited to 600)
 * Blue/White Marbled (Exclusive to USA) (Limited to 500)
 * Transparent Blue/Black/White Marbled (Limited to 600)
 * Transparent Violet/Black Marbled (Limited to 400)
 * Black
 * Purple (Exclusive to Europe) (Limited to 100)
 * Crystal Clear (Exclusive to Europe) (Limited to 100)
- Purple Tint Cassette (Limited to 250)
- Box Set (Limited to 900)
 * Light Blue W/ Black Splatter
 * Cassette


Order/save here.





Worship tracklisting:


"Worship"
"Chemical Whore"
"Greedy Bastards"
"Dead World"
"We're The Walking Dead"
"Brotherhood Of The Serpent"
"Children Of The Gray"
"Another Day"
"They Will Arrive"
"Bug In The Net"
"Gods Of The Underground"


"Worship" video:





"Children Of The Gray" video:





"Dead World" video:





"Chemical Whore" video:





Hypocrisy is:


Peter Tägtgren - Vocals, Guitars
Mikael Hedlund - Bass
Reidar Horghagen - Drums
Thomas Elofsson - Session Guitarist

Joetown has released his new single, "Freightrain", available on all streamable & downloadable platforms via Mindsnap Music / Von Artist Inc. and distributed by The Orchard / Sony. Get it here, and watch a music video below.





The single features special guests Matt Starr (Ace Frehley, Mr. Big) on drums, Jimi Bell (Autograph, Geezer Butler, House Of Lords) on lead guitar and Mike Duda (W.A.S.P., Hookers And Blow) on bass. The song was produced & mixed by Joe Delaney and mastered by Steve Turnridge. In addition, he also released the official music video for the single that was shot and edited by Joe Delaney.




With Joetown generally pissed-off about the state of affairs in America, “Freightrain” is an angry, boisterous rant that takes aim at those who pull the strings of power and influence. 2020 was, in his own words, a "fucked-up year" and with everything shut down, "Freightrain" was the first Joetown recording to be done remotely.


”As a guy who has always just assembled a bunch of great players in a big live room and hit record, this process was entirely different, but it worked out thanks to the players involved. Since I’ve done records with all of these cats before, it still felt natural and exciting. These guys are all old friends that happen to be world-renowned players,” says Mr. Town.


Matt Starr, drummer for Ace Frehley, Mr. Big and others, recorded often at the original Joetown Studios in the mid-late 90’s and is the drummer on the classic track “Curbside Sleeper” that appears on Joetown’s album Rock’n’Roll Man.


Matt says, “I learned long ago to always expect the unexpected when playing with Joe. 'Freightrain' was no exception. The twists and turns are fucking awesome and it’s a great song that I’m grateful to be a part of.”


Jimi Bell is the ultimate shredder and currently the guitarist in Autograph, but he also has a history with Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, House of Lords and others. Jimi was actually Joe’s guitar teacher as a teenager. Previously, Jimi and Joe made a popular version of "Paradise City"by Guns N Roses that is on multiple G’n’R compilations.


“I’m truly honored that Joe asked me to play a solo on this track. We’ve been friends since the 80's and I have always had the utmost respect for him as a guitarist, singer, song writer, engineer and producer. We’ve worked together before on a couple of records and it’s always been an incredible experience," says Jimi.


Mike Duda is best known as the bassist from W.A.S.P. since the early 90’s, along with being in Dizzy Reed’s Hookers And Blow. He has been close friends with Joe since high school and also appears on the album Rock’n’Roll Man.


"Joe is one of my oldest and dearest friends! I have the utmost respect for him as a musician, songwriter, producer, engineer and as a person! Every time he asks me to do a session I don’t walk, I run! 'Freightrain' is just another example of Joe's awesome catalogue of work. Some of the most enjoyable moments of my career are working with Joe because I understand where he’s coming from and he understands where I’m coming from. Every time is an amazing creative journey," adds Duda.


Joe’s other recent releases have been singing on Bomber Alley’s new single “We Get By” as well as vocals, lyrics and lead guitar on the album “Phoenix Rising” by the popular doom metal band Curse the Son.

Dutch power / death metal ensemble Spartan has revealed the first single from their upcoming new album, Of Gods And Kings. Here's what the band had to say about "Prometheus": "For the first song on the new album, we tried to take a step outside of our comfort zone, and embrace a more modern sound. We've got zero regrets, because the final mix by Jacob Hansen literally blew us way!"





Of Gods And Kings, Spartan's second studio album, recorded at the Top Floor Studios in Sweden and then mixed & mastered at Hansen Studios by Jacob Hansen, is set to be released via Pest Records on January 14th, 2022 in jewel-case CD and limited edition digipak CD versions.







An album teaser video can be seen below.





 

Canadian rockers THREE DAYS GRACE will release their seventh studio album, "Explosions", on May 6 via RCA Records. The official Jon Vulpine-directed music video for the LP's first single, "So Called Life", can be seen below. The song is the first new original music from THREE DAYS GRACE since the Juno Award-nominated "Outsider" album came out in 2018.

THREE DAYS GRACE singer Matt Walst states: "In these crazy and divided times, everyone needs something to take the edge off."

Vulpine adds: "I wanted to make this video really raw and stripped down. Something high energy with extreme angles and fast movements. A bunch of old analog gear in this '70s apartment that looked like some hoarder died in it 20 years ago and the guys just came in and recorded. I didn't want to go for a clean and super polished look, so Justin Jones, my DP, suggested these rehoused 1960s Japanese lenses for a grittier more contrasty feel. That, along with different lens distortions and attachments, just added to the diversity of shots."

THREE DAYS GRACE bassist Brad Walst told Jave Patterson of Two Doods Reviews about "So Called Life" (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's a little different. It's a pretty heavy song and definitely full of emotions and frustrations of everyday life. It was actually the first song we wrote on this record, going back almost pre-pandemic. We started jamming, actually, beside Neil's [Sanderson, drums] pool and it turned out really angry. [Laughs] I think it's a great tune. I think the fans are gonna relate to it. And it's gonna be a fun one live, I know that."

Asked how much of THREE DAYS GRACE's upcoming album, which is tentatively due in the spring of 2022, was inspired by the pandemic, Brad said: "We didn't really direct the songs towards there, but we're a pretty honest band and we like to write about our true emotions and what we're going through. So, naturally, being stuck at home and stuck on Zoom with each other, some pretty emotional songs came out of it. We wrote the first half of the record remotely. We recorded it remotely, which we'd never done. And then we just got back together a couple of months ago and did the rest. But it was interesting, man, and definitely a different vibe. And I think some great songs came out of it."

Earlier in the month, THREE DAYS GRACE announced more than a dozen U.S. dates for April and May 2022, including a number of headlining concerts and radio shows as the support act for GODSMACK.

THREE DAYS GRACE's most recent release was a cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know", which came out in July 2020. The official music video for THREE DAYS GRACE's version of the track was directed by Mike Filsinger.

In 2019, THREE DAYS GRACE extended its record for the most No. 1s in the 38-year history of Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart, with "Right Left Wrong" its 15th No. 1 single on the tally.

"Right Left Wrong" is featured on "Outsider", THREE DAYS GRACE's sixth full-length album and fifth consecutive Top 40-charting LP on the Billboard Top 200.

THREE DAYS GRACE's other No. 1 singles include "Misery Loves My Company", "Chalk Outline", "World So Cold", "Never Too Late", "Just Like You", "Animal", "Pain", "Home" and "Infra-Red".

QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre spoke to Canada's The Metal Voice about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2019's "The Verdict" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have all the songs that we're gonna be recording. We're gonna press record at the very beginning of January."

Regarding the musical direction of the new QUEENSRŸCHE material, Todd said: "It doesn't sound like 'The Verdict'. It's its own new kind of thing. We really kind of just focused more on melodic hooks. I don't think we went in thinking, like, 'Oh, we need to sound old school or new or this.'"

He continued: "You know what we did on this record… Every other time, each guy would kind of submit their own song ideas and then we would kind of work on that. But what we did on this record was, other than Eddie [Jackson, bass] — Eddie has a couple of songs that are really cool that he wrote and then showed us kind of when they were pretty much done. And then Michael [Wilton, guitar] kind of wrote some interesting chords — still staying within the keys and everything. But we all got in a room with our producer [Chris 'Zeuss' Harris] here [in Florida], and we literally started from scratch. Like, 'Michael, what do you got?' [And he would] come up with a riff. And Casey [Grillo, drums] would sit on the drums, or I would sit on the drums. We were all actually in a room and just tried it like the good old days. So this record was totally like that — the whole thing pretty much, minus one or two songs. And even that changed a little bit.

"I just burned a CD of all the demos to play in my car when I'm out driving around," La Torre added. "And it's cool. I hope people will like it. I think they're really good songs."

In early 2021, Wilton told The Metal Voice about the new QUEENSRŸCHE material: "Our producer, Zeuss, if this is any indication, he says it sounds like QUEENSRŸCHE … I think we're just going with our gut right now. You don't wanna take too many drastic chances in this day and age. So I think it's more of a continuation of 'The Verdict', maybe, in some sense. We're riding that wave. It's been good to us. [Laughs]"

Last month, Wilton confirmed that returning guitarist Mike Stone will likely contribute guitar solos to the band's next studio album.

Since late May, Stone has been handling second-guitar duties in QUEENSRŸCHE, which announced in July that longtime guitarist Parker Lundgren was exiting the group to focus on "other business ventures."

Stone originally joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album "Tribe" and stayed with the band for six years before leaving the group.

For the past four and a half years, Grillo has been filling in for QUEENSRŸCHE's original drummer Scott Rockenfield, who stepped away from the band's touring activities in early 2017 to spend time with his young son.

In early October, Rockenfield filed a lawsuit against the band's fellow original members Wilton and Jackson, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge.

QUEENSRŸCHE recently pulled out of SCORPIONS' rescheduled "Sin City Nights" Las Vegas residency in order to support JUDAS PRIEST on the "50 Heavy Metal Years" North American tour dates in March-April 2022. The tour will kick off on March 6 in Denver, Colorado and conclude on April 13 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

FORIGNER performed its classic song "I Want to Know What Love Is" during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 25 in New York City. The iconic band appeared on the "Toy House of Marvelous Milestones" float, which featured all of life's proudest accomplishments and goals through a larger-than-life doll house with paper dolls.

Since FOREIGNER chose to play one of its own tunes instead of a Christmas song during the parade, many viewers apparently took to social media to comment on how bizarre they felt the move was, with one person writing: "Not sure what was weirder, FOREIGNER's performance or the Macy's Parade NFT promo." "Someone else chimed in: "It doesn't feel like the holidays have started until FOREIGNER appears in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade... in [a] dollhouse." Another person quipped: "Sincerely enjoy the time-honored tradition of lip-syncing performances in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I ABSOLUTELY want to see FOREIGNER 'sing' a snippet of 'I Wanna Know What Love Is' at 10am."

FOREIGNER is a British-American rock band formed in 1976. One of the defining classic rock acts of the 1970s and 1980s, FOREIGNER has scored 10 multiplatinum albums and 16 Top 30 hits over more than four decades. The band's hard-charging, guitar-fueled anthems include "Juke Box Hero", "Cold As Ice", "Hot Blooded", "Feels Like The First Time" and monster ballads such as "Waiting For A Girl Like You" and the worldwide No. 1 hit, the aforementioned "I Want To Know What Love Is". Founded in 1976, the group's lineup has changed through the years with its visionary maestro and Songwriters Hall Of Famer Mick Jones being the only original member. Lead singer Kelly Hansen now reinterprets the hits that once featured Lou Gramm's vocals. With DOKKEN bassist Jeff Pilson, Michael Bluestein on keyboards, guitarist Bruce Watson, Chris Frazier on drums and guitarist Luis Carlos Maldonado, FOREIGNER's enduring popularity continues to attract a new generation of fans.




3 days away! What're your Thanksgiving Day plans? We will be rockin' our way through Manhattan. Catch us on NBC at 10:27AM Eastern Time.

Posted by Foreigner on Monday, November 22, 2021

During a new appearance on "The Jeremy White Show", DEF LEPPARD drummer Rick Allen spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's next studio album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Here's the thing: there's always new music on the go with DEF LEPPARD. It's just whether it makes it to a collection. But songs are being produced all the time, particularly with the age of technology and not necessarily having to be in the same room as the other person. Obviously, there's stuff that I can't talk about, but in the not-too-distant future, I'm sure people are gonna get to her new music."

Asked if it's still important for DEF LEPPARD to release full-length albums or there's a possibility the band will release a few songs at a time, Rick said: "We go back and forth as a band all the time, where we're, like, 'Maybe we should just release a few [songs] and at least get things moving.' But then the old school in us will be, like, 'Ah. We've always done it that way, so why change now?' I guess it depends how old you are. I think some music lovers would be happy just to cherrypick everything, and not necessarily from the same band."

This past June, DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott confirmed to Cleveland.com that he and his bandmates have been trading ideas virtually during the pandemic and are "ahead of the game" with respect to the new LP's progress.

In May, Joe told Download festival host Kylie Olsson that "there's a lot of work to be done" before the completion of the new DEF LEPPARD album. "But we have not let the year go to waste," he said.

Addressing the fact that it's been nearly six years since DEF LEPPARD last released album, 2015's self-titled effort, Joe told Download: "The industry being what it is, we're all aware of the fact that there's an element of the media that can't let go of the fact that records aren't that important anymore. And I know that's a sad thing to say, but it's a fact of life. Touring is massively important — way more than it was when you went out promoting records when they were important. Especially for legacy bands or whatever you wanna call 'em. Listen, I went to see THE ROLLING STONES in 1989 in case one of them died. That's 1989. They haven't had a death since the 1960s.

"I'm aware of the fact that when you've got a history — whether it be THE EAGLES or FLEETWOOD MAC or any of the bands from the '80s, like us and [IRON] MAIDEN and whoever else, we've got this legacy audience as well that wanna see us continue the journey, if you like. And that's become way more important.

"When we finished that [2015] album, we never really thought about making another record until we just felt the timing was right," Elliott explained. "And we always just fall into place. We're constantly writing songs, so when it comes to piecing songs together, it's not like they're all absolutely brand spanking new, just written, hot-off-the-press stuff. Some of them are ideas that have been percolating for a year or two with a piece missing. And you wait and you wait and you wait, and then you have this epiphany, or one of the other guys goes, 'Why didn't you ask? I've got a bit that would fit in there perfect.' So there's been a lot of that going on. But that's a constant; that's nothing to do with coronavirus. We've been doing it since the 'Def Leppard' album came out, and we will continue to do it, whether we release an album or not. We've got songs in our heads."

DEF LEPPARD's "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

METALLICA performed during Triller Fight Club's highly anticipated debut of "Triad Combat" on Saturday, November 27 at Globe Life Field, home of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas and live on pay-per-view. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

Opening Set

01. Fuel

02. Ride The Lightning

Pre-Main Event

03. Master Of Puppets

04. Nothing Else Matters

05. Enter Sandman

Closing Set

06. Whiplash

07. The Memory Remains

08. Wherever I May Roam

09. Sad But True

10. Creeping Death

11. The Unforgiven

12. For Whom The Bell Tolls

13. Whiskey In The Jar

14. Fade To Black

15. Battery

16. Seek & Destroy

Triad Combat is a revolutionary, new combat team sport which incorporates boxing and MMA rules in an aggressive, fast-paced manner with the fighters competing in a specially designed triangular ring over two-minute rounds featuring professional boxers competing against professional mixed martial arts fighters. The specific motto of leveling the playing field between the two sports utilizing crossover gloves and with holding allowed is meant to offer boxing and MMA fighters an even battleground where neither opponent has a greater advantage.

Regarding METALLICA's involvement with the event, bassist Robert Trujillo told MMA Junki: "It's pretty exciting because I almost feel like the type of music that we do, that METALLICA does, kind of warrants itself into the combat sports world. I'm a big fan of MMA and actually boxing because I grew up watching a lot of the classic matches through the '70s and the '80s and I actually watched early MMA. I could always relate the two universes between edgy music and just edgy sporting events. I think it's a perfect fit.

"This is the first time something like this specifically has landed on our plate," Trujillo added. "One of the things about METALLICA is that we like a challenge, we like something new. This is something that hasn't really been done, at least in our universe. We're pretty excited. It's a unique experience. Everything about it is pretty unique. The way the set is set up — in terms of the setlist and how it's sort of sprawled out over the course of the evening — is pretty special and unique. I think all and all, between the fights and the performance, it's going to balance out into a pretty exciting experience."

The "Triad Combat" PPV event was carried in North America across all PPV platforms, including cable, satellite, telco, and streaming.

Among the fighters featured in separate fights on the debut of "Triad Combat" were two-time UFC heavyweight world champion Frank Mir, two-time boxing heavyweight world title challenger Kubrat "The Cobra" Pulev and former UFC superstar "Platinum" Mike Perry.

"Triad Combat" was produced by the award-winning Nigel Lythgoe, the Triller Fight Club visionary in addition to the producer and creative force behind "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance".

"Triad Combat" was broadcast globally on FITE, iNDemand and through all leading cable, satellite and telco providers in the U.S. and Canada.