Sony Pictures Classics' "Becoming Led Zeppelin", the first-ever sanctioned film on the band in the almost 57 years since the formation of the notoriously private group, has been nominated for "Best Music Documentary" at the 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

The winners of tenth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards will be revealed at a gala event on Sunday, November 9, 2025 at The Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. Hosted by award-winning actor, writer, and producer Aasif Mandvi, the milestone event will bring together leading filmmakers, industry professionals, and special guests for an evening celebrating excellence in documentary filmmaking.

The Critics Choice Association honors the year's finest achievements in documentaries released in theaters, on TV, and on major digital platforms, as determined by the voting of qualified CCA members. Nominations are determined by the voting of qualified CCA members with expertise in the documentary field. The tenth annual awards ceremony is produced by Bob Bain of Bob Bain Productions and Joey Berlin of Berlin Entertainment.

"The nominated films and series this year remind us how documentary storytelling can illuminate truth, inspire empathy, and deepen our understanding of the world," said Christopher Campbell, Critics Choice Association's VP, Documentary. "We're thrilled to recognize the filmmakers whose vision and dedication keep the art form evolving."

This past February, "Becoming Led Zeppelin" gave a record-breaking performance for its first weekend at the box office as it opened to an impressive $3 million IMAX debut across 16 countries and territories. Domestically, the film's $2.6 million start ($7,000 per-screen average) represented the biggest opening weekend ever for an IMAX-exclusive music release.

"Becoming Led Zeppelin" explores the origins of this iconic group and their meteoric rise in just one year against all the odds, providing an unparalleled look at the how the rock band came together as audiences witness firsthand the formation of their first two official tours and the creation of their history-making, self-titled debut and sophomore albums.

Powered by awe-inspiring, psychedelic, never-before-seen footage, interviews, performances and music, Bernard MacMahon's experiential cinematic odyssey explores LED ZEPPELIN's creative, musical, and personal origin story, with unprecedented access to the group and their archives that solidifies the film as the definitive LED ZEPPELIN documentary.

The hybrid docu-concert film also unveils a huge amount of rare and unseen LED ZEPPELIN performance footage. The result is a visceral musical experience that will transport audiences into the concert halls and musical lives of LED ZEPPELIN during their earliest tours, accompanied by intimate, exclusive commentary from the famously private band.

"Becoming Led Zeppelin" is a movie that almost didn't come to fruition — the filmmakers were up against epic challenges, including the fact that hardly any footage from the band's early period existed. MacMahon and producer Allison McGourty embarked on a global detective search for material to illustrate the band's story.

"Becoming Led Zeppelin" is directed by the award-winning, Emmy- and BAFTA-nominated Bernard MacMahon ("American Epic"),and written by MacMahon and BAFTA-nominated producer Allison McGourty. It is produced by McGourty and Paradise Pictures in association with Big Beach, alongside executive producers Michael B Clark, Alex Turtletaub, Cynthia Heusing, David Kistenbroker, Duke Erikson, Simon Moran, and Ged Doherty. Editing is by Dan Gitlin, sound supervision is by Nick Bergh, sound restoration is by Grammy Award winner Peter Henderson, with archival research from Kate Griffiths and Rich Remsberg.

In a new interview with the "Music And We" podcast, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich was asked to name a song that he remembers hearing early on in his life that helped him "fall in love with music". He responded in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The first one that comes to mind… So I've told the story many, many times about my dad taking me to see DEEP PURPLE in Copenhagen [Denmark] in 1973. And that began the musical journey. Everything that was coming to Denmark at that time that was rock music was coming out of England; it was not so much coming out of America. So it was a lot of English pop music and English pop rock music. So, T. REX and SWEET and SLADE and a lot of that stuff. DEEP PURPLE was the beginning of me expanding that musical horizon. And so when I think back to those very formative years, the DEEP PURPLE song 'Child In Time', which I first heard on the 'Made In Japan' album that literally just like two months ago celebrated its 50th anniversary. And that song, it sort of had an epic feel and a different kind of feel than some of the other songs, and had these dynamics and felt more like a journey. And so that felt like a journey, like a story. When you were listening to that song, that was a sort of an experience that kept evolving as you were listening to it. And what I then subsequently sort of started to understand is that unlike some other shorter rock songs that pretty much were — and I don't wanna mention names, 'cause I don't wanna say it as a bad thing — but here's a three-minute pop-rock song that's always just this three-minute pop-rock song or whatever. But as I've started understanding more about DEEP PURPLE particularly, every time they played this song, it was different. And so circling back to the 50th-anniversary release of 'Made In Japan', for instance, on that… So, 'Made In Japan' was three concerts — two in Osaka and one in Tokyo in the August of 1972 — and then the best version of each of these songs were put out on 'Made In Japan'. But in the reissue, they have all three concerts in their entirety. So if you hear 'Child In Time' from three nights in a row — they played those three concerts in a row; 15, 16, 17th of August — they're completely different in length, they're completely different in their sort of dynamics and it's completely just mood based. What sort of mood are they in? What mood is particularly [then-DEEP PURPLE guitarist] Ritchie Blackmore in as he's taking the solo and all that? And that song was sort of the first understanding that I had of that type of stuff, where you started off so eloquently to talk about jazz and whether it's Miles [Davis] or [John] Coltrane or Sonny Rollins or Dexter Gordon or any of these wonderful artists that would often take — and maybe later guys like Ornette Coleman and so on — who would be very avantgarde and freeform, and it would make a lot of it up in the moment, depending on what mood they were in and all that type of stuff. But DEEP PURPLE's 'Child In Time' was the first time I was exposed to music that lived and breathed depending on what mood the players were in. And that has left a mark on me… But all these wonderful artists that do that type of stuff, where the music lives and breathes depending on the moods of the performance, which, as you know, increasingly, certainly in today's age, is rare and rare. [It happens] less and less."

Back in April 20216, Ulrich spoke to Radio.com about his love for DEEP PURPLE, the band that he inducted that month during the 2016 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony at Brooklyn, New York's Barclays Center. Ulrich said: "When I grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark in the '70s, DEEP PURPLE was the biggest rock band. They were three big bands at the time: LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH and DEEP PURPLE. And DEEP PURPLE, in Scandinavia and Germany and so on, were the biggest; people were just more aware of them. LED ZEPPELIN had a tendency, or were probably more appreciated in the United States. And BLACK SABBATH, obviously, were super heavy, but I just didn't get to them until a few years later."

He continued: "DEEP PURPLE were an incredible live force. They were known for their instrumental… I mean, they were really, really technically efficient, and every night when they would play a show, it would be different than the night before and the night following. They had all these three- or four or five-minute songs on their records that would turn into ten-, fifteen-, twenty-minute songs live. You never quite knew what was gonna happen. Ritchie Blackmore, the lead guitar player and this kind of legendary, impulsive, unpredictable character would always take the band in different directions and there was a lot of kind of interesting push and pull between the players. I mean, there were nights when they would almost get into a jazz place. I mean, it was like a totally different thing."

Ulrich added: "ZEPPELIN was a little bit more blues based. SABBATH was also… it had kind of a heavier, blues type of thing. DEEP PURPLE just came from some place else, and there was a technical efficiency that was just unparalleled at that time. And then, obviously, a string of singles — from 'Smoke On The Water' to 'Strange Kind Of Woman' to 'Woman From Tokyo' to 'Space Truckin'' and then 'Highway Star' and all the rest of them that were huge, huge hits… And their musical legacy, what they spawned, between the members of DEEP PURPLE to RAINBOW to WHITESNAKE to all these bands that… Ian Gillan's solo band… I mean, their legacy just continued to sort of grow and grow over the last thirty years. And they're actually still playing… different lineup and so on. But the DEEP PURPLE family tree is spreading far and wide all over the world still."

Ulrich played tennis professionally as a teenager and could have gone on to a career as a tennis star, but chose music instead.

METALLICA was formed when Ulrich, who had moved to Los Angeles, placed an ad in a local paper called the Recycler looking for other musicians to play with. The ad was answered by guitarists James Hetfield and Hugh Tanner of the band LEATHER CHARM.

METALLICA officially formed in October 1981 and the band's first recording was "Hit The Lights" for the compilation "Metal Massacre".

Bay Area DJ Ron Quintana came up with the group's name: he was debating between using "Metallica" and "Metal Mania" for the name of his radio show and Ulrich encouraged him to use "Metal Mania" so that he could use "Metallica" for his new band.

METALLICA's first full lineup — featuring Hetfield, Ulrich, guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist Ron McGovney — played its first gig on March 14, 1982 at Radio City in Anaheim, California.

Fan-filmed video of JUDAS PRIEST's October 18 concert at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, California can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. All Guns Blazing
02. Hell Patrol
03. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
04. Freewheel Burning
05. Breaking The Law
06. A Touch Of Evil
07. Night Crawler
08. Solar Angels
09. Gates Of Hell
10. The Hellion / Electric Eye
11. Giants In The Sky
12. Painkiller
13. Hell Bent For Leather
14. Living After Midnight

Produced by Live Nation, PRIEST's 22-city tour with Alice Cooper kicked off September 16 at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi, with stops in Toronto, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and more before wrapping October 26 at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas.

In a recent interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill was asked about the possibility of a follow-up to the band's latest album, "Invincible Shield", which came out in March 2024. He said: "There's plans to go back into the studio in the new year. So when it'll be released, I don't know. It's a long process. We're in no rush either, so it'll be a while. But the recording is gonna happen, it looks like, next year."

Asked if he and the other members of PRIEST have started writing new music at all on the road, Ian said: "I know Richie [Faulkner, PRIEST guitarist] has. He's got quite a few ideas together, yeah. So we've got a head start there."

As for PRIEST's touring plans in support of the next studio album, Hill said: "Well, that'll happen as well. Obviously, if you have an album, you have to go out and tour with it. So, yeah, that'll happen too."

"Invincible Shield" entered the U.K. chart at No. 2, just behind Ariana Grande's "Eternal Sunshine".

Prior to "Invincible Shield"'s arrival, PRIEST's highest U.K. chart achievement was with 1980's "British Steel", which reached No. 4.

PRIEST's 2018 album "Firepower" entered the chart at No. 5.

"Invincible Shield" was JUDAS PRIEST's fifth Top 10 album, after the aforementioned "British Steel" and "Firepower", as well as 2014's "Redeemer Of Souls" (No. 6) and the 1979 live album "Unleashed In The East" (No. 10).

"Invincible Shield" landed at No. 1 in Germany, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as No. 5 in France, No. 8 in Italy and No. 16 in Australia

During the European leg of JUDAS PRIEST's "Shield Of Pain" tour, the band's setlist included seven tracks from PRIEST's 1990 album "Painkiller", which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

In addition to performing the "Painkiller" title track, PRIEST played "All Guns Blazing", "Hell Patrol", "A Touch Of Evil", "Night Crawler", "One Shot At Glory" and "Between The Hammer And The Anvil" from the same LP.

When PRIEST first announced the "Shield Of Pain" tour last fall, the band promised a "rare" and "unique set" which would include "beloved classics" and would "be defending the metal faith in a truly memorable experience throughout Europe".

During this past Friday's (October 17) "Tribute To Ace Frehley" episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", ANTHRAX and PANTERA drummer Charlie Benante reflected on his KISS fandom, particularly as it relates to the latter band's original guitarist Ace Frehley who died on October 16 at the age of 74. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Ace, for me, was, of course, the guitar player in KISS that when it came time for the light to go on him, he just shined so much. I always equated Ace to [THE BEATLES'] George Harrison. Once George Harrison had a chance to do a solo album — oh my god, what a solo album that was. It's the same thing with Ace. When they all released their solo albums. Ace is the one that, for me, originally was, like, 'Wow, this one is exactly what I thought it would be and more.'"

Charlie continued: "When I was in Vegas, I went to see 'The Wizard Of Oz'. And I equate certain things to 'The Wizard Of Oz' with KISS for myself. Dorothy's three uncles, the way she looks at them, and then how they were the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. That's how I always thought of KISS. Those guys are like our four uncles that, yes, we weren't related, but God, they had such a vibe with us that it was like family."

Referencing the fact that KISS bassist and co-lead singer Gene Simmons officiated the wedding ceremony of Benante and his longtime girlfriend, former BUTCHER BABIES and current THE VIOLENT HOUR vocalist Carla Harvey, on October 12 at The Secret Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada, Charlie said: "It was the strangest thing because we just saw Gene at the wedding. And as I'm sitting with Gene, it's hard for the 13-year-old in me not to come out. It's impossible. And I think we all can understand that and we all can relate to it. So when one of them passes, it's a profound thing that happens to all of us because a part of our childhood is gone as well.

"Ace, to me, was the clumsy one in the band that we all kind of thought was the fucking coolest," Benante explained. "And just the way he played and his moves — it was magic.

"I never loved [just] one of them; I loved all four of them. I couldn't buy one of something of theirs; I had to buy all four of them, because that's how much each one of them meant to me."

Circling back to Ace's death, Charlie concluded: "This is a big thing, man. This is a big thing for all of us."

Back in 2005, Benante named KISS's "Alive!" as an album that changed his life, telling Greg Prato of Classic Rock magazine: "The first time I ever heard KISS' 'Alive!', I was at a party at a friend's house. The only thing I'd head prior to that as far as KISS was concerned was 'Dressed to Kill'. I was already a fan because of that, but when 'Alive!' came out, it was a totally different thing.

"The thing that I remember most about it was just staring at the package — it opened out to a gatefold, and there was a huge booklet in it. I remember staring at it and being like, 'What the hell?!' Because you would listen to the record and you would visualize in your own mind how it was. You had all these different things.

"I remember early on, when I first heard KISS, I used to think that Paul Stanley's voice was Gene Simmons' voice," he continued. "It was very weird when I saw them on a TV show called 'The Midnight Special', and I was like, 'Wait a minute... he's not supposed to be singing that!'

"I don't think I could say that any of [the songs] was my least favorite, because I loved every single one on that record. I remember just playing it continuously, over and over again. I loved the way side one would kick in — it was like the introduction was the beginning of the show. Then you get to the middle portions — sides two and three — and side four was the big ending; I'll never forget listening to 'Black Diamond' and being like, 'What the hell is going on? The explosions and everything. [The tracklist] is a little out of sequence — actually it's not even a live show; they totally re-recorded it. But who cares? It fooled me back then.

"I loved [Peter Criss'] drumming on 'Alive!'," Charlie added. "I think he was one of the biggest influences as far as having a huge drum kit goes. It was like, 'Look at all these drums. What is he doing with all these?' Because at the time, you had like the 'five-piece-kit drummers out there, like John Bonham (LED ZEPPELIN) and Joey Kramer (AEROSMITH). After Peter, Neil Peart (RUSH) had the big kit also.

"The end of '76 was when I saw them for the first time — 'Alive!' prepared me. I was like, 'Dude this is fucking crazy!' I just couldn't believe it. Everything was going on. I couldn't focus on just one thing. It was just an assault on my senses. Because most of the bands at the time really didn't put on that type of a show the way KISS were doing; it was more or less getting up on stage and playing. It wasn't, y'know... KISS.

"KISS made me realize that this is what I'm going to do with my life. And the mindset just stayed with me; it never left. Before that, I wasn't really taking it as seriously as 'I'm going to make a living doing this.'

"I absolutely still listen to 'Alive!' I listen to it sometimes right before we play — it pumps me up. It puts me in a different state of mind."

The news of Ace's passing came just hours after TMZ reported that Ace was hospitalized on life support after he suffered a brain bleed when he took a fall in his studio a couple of weeks earlier.

Frehley, whose real name was Paul Daniel Frehley, passed away peacefully surrounded by family in Morristown, New Jersey.

TMZ reported earlier on Thursday that Frehley was on life support. He had to cancel his tour dates and his condition had not improved after suffering from a brain bleed from the fall.

Ace co-founded KISS with Paul, Gene and Peter in New York City in 1973. Frehley appeared on KISS's first nine albums, and returned for the band's 1998 reunion album, "Psycho Circus", only to leave again. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the rest of KISS's original lineup in 2014.

Frehley first left KISS in 1982. He rejoined in 1996 and parted ways with the band once again in 2002 after the conclusion of KISS's first "farewell tour." Since his departure, guitarist Tommy Thayer had assumed the role of the Spaceman.

Charlie Benante photo credit: Jimmy Hubbard / Ace Frehley photo credit: Jayme Thornton

Swedish metallers DARK TRANQUILLITY paid tribute to late AT THE GATES vocalist Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg by playing the AT THE GATES classic "Blinded By Fear" during their October 18 concert at Filmstudion in Gothenburg, Sweden. Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

In a recent interview with Chile's PowerOfMetal.cl, DARK TRANQUILLITY and THE HALO EFECT frontman Mikael Stanne was asked what Lindberg meant to the metal scene in Gothenburg. Stanne said: "More than you could explain, actually. I met him when I was 14. I went with a friend to their rehearsal room in the basement of Kristian Wåhlin, [also known as] Necrolord, who's the cover painter for [DARK TRANQUILLITY's] 'The Gallery' [album], for instance. And they were rehearsing with GROTESQUE that later became [AT THE GATES], or before [they formed] AT THE GATES. And it blew me away. I saw a band that played music live in a basement. And I'd never seen that before. And it was crazy, insane black metal stuff. And I was so inspired by it and kind of awestruck by it. And so we started hanging out, and Tomas showed me tons of music that he had found through his fanzine and through his kind of tape-trading and record collecting. And yeah, we became instant friends, and [we'd been friends] since then."

Mikael continued: "More than anything, I think Tompa really inspired the scene, because he was kind of that central figure for everything that kind of went on in Gothenburg at the time. He was so passionate about it, and he was so into it, and he knew every band, and he knew about everything that was going on in the scene. So, if you needed anything, if you had any questions or you wanted to know something, or you wanted to kind of be inspired, you just go to him. And he was always there. So without him, there would be no Gothenburg death metal scene; that's just a fact. [With] his kind of integrity, he took this music very incredibly serious. And when I kind of discovered extreme metal through bands like KREATOR and CANNIBAL CORPSE, whatever it was, I was kind of, like, 'I don't know what this is. I love it, but I don't know if it's serious or not.' But he showed me that, 'No. Come on. This is serious.' There are some bands that take this very seriously, and there are lyrics that matter. It's not just horror movie stuff. And so when I started writing, I wanted it to matter and be serious and with serious issues or problems or what have you. And it's because of how he showed me what music could and should be. So, yeah, without him there would be no [Gothenburg] death metal scene. So we're eternally grateful. And I miss him like crazy."

Referencing the fact that Tomas died after being diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC),a rare, slow-growing but aggressive cancer that typically develops in the salivary glands, particularly the minor salivary glands of the head and neck, Mikael said: "It's been a horrible two years knowing that he was struggling and kind of battling this disease. And everybody thought, of course, 'Yeah, it's gonna be fine. [He's] gonna power through [it].' But a couple months ago we realized that it's worse than we thought. And now this happened. And, yeah, it's devastating."

Lindberg received the diagnosis in December 2023, which led to a major surgery that removed a large portion of the roof of his mouth. He had also undergone radiation treatment and had been on a path to recovery, but then doctors found traces of the cancer in early 2025. In May 2025, an undisclosed "setback" placed Tomas in long-term care.

AT THE GATES released its definitive album, "Slaughter Of The Soul" — often regarded as one of the all-time greatest metal albums — on Earache in 1995, before touring the world and abruptly disbanding. Members of the band went on to play major roles in other notorious metal acts such as THE HAUNTED and CRADLE OF FILTH, before reforming in 2008, with Lindberg juggling his day job as a teacher with being a death metal frontman.

AT THE GATES' latest studio album, "The Nightmare Of Being", came out in 2021.

Lindberg revealed in a statement earlier this year that AT THE GATES recorded a new album before he underwent mouth surgery.

"The last version of the vocals, the ones that will end up on the album, were recorded in ONE day, mostly one takes, the DAY before the surgery, just to make sure we HAD the album, so to speak," the statement said. "So the vocals were actually recorded BEFORE the rest of the album.... a bit different, but it felt good to have it done."

Biljetterna till våra höstgig i Sverige är släppta!
Skaffa din biljett här: darktranquillity.com/tour

14.10 - Lund,...

Posted by Dark Tranquillity on Monday, May 26, 2025

LIMP BIZKIT frontman Fred Durst has shared a video message in which he paid tribute to the band's bassist Sam Rivers, who died on Saturday (October 18) at the age of 48. Rivers, who was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1977, was one third of the original LIMP BIZKIT lineup in 1994, alongside vocalist Durst and drummer John Otto. (Guitarist Wes Borland and DJ Lethal joined in 1996.)

In his video message, which can be seen below, Durst said  (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Sam Rivers, the legend. Truly. Such a gifted, unbelievably sweet and wonderful person.

"How I met Sam is I put a couple of iterations of an idea of a band I was trying to make happen in Jacksonville, Florida," Fred continued. "I had this idea and vision for this particular type of style and sound, and I just couldn't get it together right. And so I decided, 'I'm gonna go out and find the right players to do this and bring this thing together.' And I'd gone into this little tiny bar/pub where this band was playing at Jax Beach called Pier 7. And there Sam was on the stage with his band, killing it on the bass. And I went, 'Oh my gosh, this guy's amazing.' In my mind, you had to start with the rhythm section, the bass and the drums. And I didn't know who I was gonna meet first to put this idea together — I didn't know if it'd be the drummer or the bass player — but it was the bass player. I saw Sam play and I was blown away. He was playing a five-string bass too. I'd never really seen someone using a five-string bass. And he was so smooth and good and he stood out, and I could hear nothing else but Sam. Everything disappeared besides his gift. And I went up to Sam after the show and I said, 'Hey, man, you're unbelievable. I got this idea for this band I wanna do' and kind of threw it out there and told him what I wanted it to be. And he looked at me and he says, 'Killer. I'm in. Let's do it.' I was, like, 'Oh my God. Well, let's do it.' And uh, you know, that's kind of how things started to come together. I had a bass player."

Durst added: "After me and Sam had been jamming around and messing around for a bit, I started looking around for other players and things, and Sam said, 'Well, my cousin John's a killer drummer. He's a jazz drummer, and he should jam with us.' And I said, 'Well, jazz would be great because it'll give us that kind of beat we want, that swag.' And so I met John through Sam and saw that John had the thing — he had it. So me, John and Sam are jamming in Sam's garage. I'm playing the guitar at the time and kind of rapping and singing, and I can't really play guitar well, so it's tuned to Drop D and I'm one-finger-noodling it and Sam's filling it in and holding it up, 'cause clearly I couldn't. And John and Sam, it was a magical thing, the two of them. And I felt like, 'This is it. This is it. This is what I've been looking for.'"

Reflecting on his musical chemistry with Rivers, Durst said: "Sam had this thing about him where anything I could spit out of my mouth — 'try this', 'try this', 'do this' or 'this' — Sam could do it and do it a thousand times better than I could hear it in my head. And also Sam and I shared an affinity, a love for grunge music. That's something that we were both really on the same page about. Sam really loved MOTHER LOVE BONE and ALICE IN CHAINS and STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and the whole Seattle grunge movement. And he had this kind of ability to pull this beautiful sadness out of the bass that I'd never heard. I mean, he would play chords. He was just so talented. I can't explain it. I know I'm all over the place here.

"Just thinking about him, it's so tragic that he's not here right now," Fred added. "And I've gone through gallons and gallons of tears since yesterday, and I'm thinking, 'My god, Sam's a legend.' He did it. He lived it.

"With LIMP BIZKIT, we've just been on such a journey," Durst said. "It's been a massive rollercoaster. Here we are just having this incredible moment, man, and it's going so, so beautifully smooth. And Sam was just really, really happy about it. We've rocked stadiums together, been around the world together, shared so many moments together. And I know that wherever Sam is right now, he's smiling and feeling, like, 'Man, I did it. I did it.' And man, did he do it. What he's left us behind is priceless. He was such a special person. And Sam was a very private person too. So the few people that were able to be close with him and around him know what I'm saying to be true. He was a very, very special, genuine person. And when he got on that stage, just that Sam-I-Am, that Sam Rivers came out and he was a beast. [He was] just an amazing, amazing person. And when I think back to how I met him and how all this kind of came together, Sam was the first guy that really came in and helped make this dream come true. And he didn't think twice about it. He was just, like, 'Yeah, let's go. Sounds great to me. Let's do it.' And I was 25 years old and he was 18 years old and young and just had all that fire in him and all that talent. And I just knew that I was very, very, very fortunate, very fortunate to have him in my life. And I'm so grateful, so incredibly grateful to have shared part of this journey with Sam Rivers — a huge part of this journey, a huge part of my journey. I'm super, super grateful and I miss him terribly already. And all the support and love out there I've seen online, it's overwhelming. He really did have an impact on the world, and his music and his gift is the one that's gonna keep on giving. And I just love him so much."

On Saturday, LIMP BIZKIT shared a post on Instagram announcing that Rivers had passed away earlier in the day. No cause of death was revealed.

"Today we lost our brother. Our bandmate. Our heartbeat," the band wrote in the caption, alongside a photo of Rivers performing onstage.

"Sam Rivers wasn't just our bass player — he was pure magic. The pulse beneath every song, the calm in the chaos, the soul in the sound," the band continued. "From the first note we ever played together, Sam brought a light and a rhythm that could never be replaced. His talent was effortless, his presence unforgettable, his heart enormous.

"We shared so many moments — wild ones, quiet ones, beautiful ones — and every one of them meant more because Sam was there," LIMP BIZKIT continued. "He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of human. A true legend of legends. And his spirit will live forever in every groove, every stage, every memory."

"We love you, Sam. We'll carry you with us, always. Rest easy, brother. Your music never ends," the post concluded, signed by Durst, drummer John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland and turntablist DJ Lethal.

In a comment underneath the post, Lethal asked the LIMP BIZKIT fans to respect Rivers's family's privacy.

"Give Sam his flowers and play Sam Rivers basslines all day!" the DJ wrote. "We are in shock. Rest in power my brother! You will live on through your music and the lives you helped save with your music, charity work and friendships. We are heartbroken. Enjoy every millisecond of life. It's not guaranteed."

Rivers left the band in 2015 for health reasons that he later revealed were liver ailments due to alcohol abuse.

"I got liver disease from excessive drinking … I had to leave LIMP BIZKIT in 2015 because I felt so horrible, and a few months after that I realized I had to change everything because I had really bad liver disease," Rivers revealed in Jon Wiederhorn's book "Raising Hell (Backstage Tales From The Lives Of Metal Legends)". "I quit drinking and did everything the doctors told me. I got treatment for the alcohol and got a liver transplant, which was a perfect match."

Rivers recalled doctors warning him that he would die without quitting alcohol. "It got so bad I had to go to UCLA Hospital, and the doctor said, 'If you don't stop, you're going to die. And right now, you're looking like you need a new liver.'"

Sam rejoined LIMP BIZKIT in 2018 and remained in the group until his death.

KISS will release 50th-anniversary editions of the band's classic 1975 studio album "Dressed To Kill" on October 24. Various editions of the release, as well as select merchandise, are available to pre-order for KISS Army members.

The original album is newly remastered by Bernie Grundman from the 1975 stereo analog tapes on LP 1. LP 2 and LP 3 showcases 23 demos, alternate mixes and instrumental outtakes from the Larrabee Sound and Electric Lady Studios sessions, including the previously unreleased tracks "Mistake" and "Burning Up With Fever".

From the 1975 "Dressed To Kill" tour come two full concerts on LP 4 through 8 — Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on May 16 and RKO Orpheum Theatre in Davenport, Iowa on July 20 — both newly mixed by legendary producer and engineer Eddie Kramer from the original multi-track analog tapes as KISS performed in 1975, with no overdubs.

The Blu-ray Audio disc features "Dressed To Kill" newly mixed by David Frangioni from the original multi-track analog tapes in Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Surround along with the newly remastered 1975 stereo mix in 192kHz 24-bit and 96kHz 24-bit PCM stereo, plus two 1975 promo videos for "C'mon And Love Me" and "Rock And Roll All Nite", newly transferred from the 16mm film reel in HD.

Released March 19, 1975, "Dressed To Kill" provided KISStory with essential songs like "She", "C'mon And Love Me" and "Rock And Roll All Nite" — as well as one of the most legendary album covers in rock history.

KISS played its two final shows ever in December 2023 at New York City's Madison Square Garden.

The last show, held on December 2, 2023, streamed live on pay-per-view.

KISS launched its farewell trek in January 2019 but was forced to put it on hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"End Of The Road" was originally scheduled to conclude on July 17, 2021 in New York City. The trek was announced in September 2018 following a KISS performance of the band's classic song "Detroit Rock City" on "America's Got Talent".

Early last year, KISS sold its entire music catalog, likeness and brand name to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, which is behind "ABBA Voyage". A biopic, an avatar show, and a KISS-themed experience are already in the works, with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley playing key roles in the development of all these projects, working closely with Pophouse.

Using cutting-edge technology, Pophouse Entertainment Group, which was founded by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus, will create digital versions of KISS. The project was previewed at the final KISS show.

Former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent has paid tribute to the band's original axeman Ace Frehley, who died this past Thursday at the age of 74.

Vincent, who replaced Frehley in KISS in 1982 but was dismissed early in 1984 over creative and personal differences, shared his thoughts on Frehley's passing in a post on his official Facebook page. He wrote: "Ace Frehley gone too soon. The loss of a loved one.

"I wanted to say the right words that could describe the loss of a loved one but nothing I could muster would begin to comfort the millions of fans who idolized worshiped and adored Ace, the man and the legend, and make their pain go away.

"Ace's passing brought me back many long miles away to the beginning of my own journey, strangely replacing Ace in KISS, a band whose music I knew little about, aside from a few radio singles, and had no fan interest in, aside from the magnitude of their massive success, yet I wanted it more than life itself.

"My religion as a 12-year-old were THE BEATLES.... which was ten years earlier than the KISS beginning of 1974. My addiction grew from THE BEATLES to [LED] ZEPPELIN.. Jeff Beck to MAHAVISHNU [ORCHESTRA] jazz rock fusion of the 70's. So I was a decade early in sharing the nostalgia with the KISS fan base, who as adults will forever embrace KISS through their own childhood memories. Yet in the strangest twist of irony, I found myself replacing Ace, as KISS guitarist in an 'odd couple gone berserk sitcom' like setting, writing songs and rehearsing with the revamped KISS with Eric Carr on drums and being served contracts to sign as Ace's replacement..... wondering in disbelief, how the hell in the world did this happen? Here I was, stepping into the bigger than life legend Ace Frehley's boots (literally) which was similar to learning to walking on stilts. Once I got used to them it became as normal as playing my guitar.

"Oddly, my one and only encounter with Ace was in 1982 at the video shoot for 'I Love It Loud'," he continued. "In utter disbelief, the band whose records I was unfamiliar with were recording a song Gene [Simmons, KISS bassist/vocalist] and I wrote and here I was, the new kid watching the magical persona Ace on stage rocking out to a song I wrote??? Surreal? Way past that. I remember knocking on Ace's door to his dressing room to introduce myself and say hi. I was nervous meeting the bigger than life legend himself. I was green, lost for words and overwhelmed by Ace's presence and the magnitude of fame Ace achieved in his amazing career. Yet in my one and only fleeting encounter with him I read a person who lost their heart. His only words to me were 'hey kid. good luck. you're gonna need it.' He was more right than he could have imagined. We shook hands and wished each other luck and said goodbye.

"Those are the only words I ever shared with Ace from 1982 until we met again in 2022 for a memorable music performance weekend in Nashville," Vincent added. "During those years I never heard from Ace, we never crossed paths. Not unusual for me as I'm not a social person. But suddenly it all changed in 2022. Ace and I shared a belated moment of bonding that felt good. Real good. No pretense. We liked each other!!! We came full circle from our beginning handshake in 1982 to meeting up for a very special KISS legacy show in Nashville. It was a weekend I will forever remember fondly shared with [former KISS guitarist] Bruce Kulick, Ace, [original KISS drummer] Peter Criss and myself as band members coming together for the first time in support of our individual legacy as we gave tribute to the band we were historically intertwined: the greatest band in the world, known as KISS. The band whose sum was greater than its parts.

"Could words adequately eulogize the 'legend' of Ace Frehley? I think not," Vinnie said. "To me a legend is all encompassing and all consuming, embracing the heart soul and mind of their individual audience. A legend is everlasting, emoting the same fan pride, well being and warmth to the person they have touched thru their artistry thru the passage of time. Thru light and dark, the effect of that artist remains steadfast in the fans he touched. Ace was all of that and much more.

"Ace Frehley possessed that special something.... a magic that touched his fans, and they loved him deeply. And they are crying for him now. Those are the qualities of a legend that are indescribable. Even during Ace's more difficult moments, his legion of fans did not abandon him. They stood with him and cheered him on to let Ace know they had his back and to show Ace he was loved no matter what. You can't buy that. Ace brought the gift of everlasting childhood to all the fans who loved him. Everyone felt that way about Ace from rockstars music gear companies and fans alike. Everyone loved him. Ace was the every man rock star. That's what a legend is. That's Ace Frehley.

"Ace's journey here is complete. He has walked through the portal into eternity. A door we all walk thru at some point. But what he leaves for all of us here are the images, the recordings, the performances, the happy memories of Ace the person, the man, the musical works and a magic character persona that was loved by everyone, young and old alike and a stage presence that will live forever. I'm forever proud and grateful to have shared the same KISS 'forever legacy' as Ace....we were one fucking hell of a great band.

"Cheers, my friend. You will be sorely missed by everyone and by me. I will hurt tomorrow and always as I am hurting now.

"Love light and peace, Vinnie Vincent".

In a December 2023 interview with Greg Prato of Ultimate Guitar, Ace was asked about his May 2022 live performance with fellow former KISS guitarists Vinnie and Bruce at that year's Creatures Fest, which took place at Nashville's Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel. He said: "It was real interesting. Very few people believe that all these years, I had never met Vinnie Vincent. And it wasn't because I was trying to avoid him or vice versa. It's just somehow, somehow, our paths never crossed. But we got along famously. I didn't realize he was a lot shorter than me. But other than that, he got there and played some nice guitar licks. We jammed together, and it was a fun night. I was there with Vinnie… and I think Peter Criss was there, and Bruce Kulick. I'm really good friends with Bruce."

He continued: "It's really funny — I'm friends with all the guys in KISS. Even Eric Singer is a dear friend of mine. And now I'm friends with Vinnie. I never had a problem with any of these people. But for some reason, Paul [Stanley] had a problem with a lot of them. And Gene [Simmons]. But I'd rather not even talk about those guys since they're retired and their career is winding down while mine is taking off. So, that's kind of nice."

In a separate interview with Guitar Player magazine, Ace stated about Vinnie: "Vinnie Vincent played too fast. I never paid much attention to him as far as anything else. I know that Paul used to complain to me about Vinnie. He said that he was like a loose cannon, and that he doubled the length of the guitar solo, and that he played things too fast, and they couldn't control him, you know? … But the problem with shredding is that it's not memorable, you know? When you put 64 notes in a bar or two bars, you don't know what the guy is playing. I mean… not everybody can do that, but I'm more into melody."

Vincent — who was a member of KISS when the band publicly "unmasked" in 1983 — made several public appearances in 2018 after spending the past two decades out of the public eye.

In 1983, KISS wrote and released "Lick It Up" — their first album without makeup — a recording on which Vincent co-wrote eight of 10 songs, including the title track, which remains a staple of the group's live performances to this day.

Despite the album's success, Vincent was fired by KISS after the "Lick It Up" touring cycle came to an end, allegedly due to a dispute over both the terms of his employment contract with the band and royalties. From there, Vincent founded VINNIE VINCENT INVASION, which recorded two albums.

In 1992, Vincent re-teamed with Simmons and Stanley to write three songs for their acclaimed album "Revenge", including the record's first two singles, "Unholy" and "I Just Wanna". Their relationship quickly soured once again, however. Four years later, Vincent released a solo EP, "Euphoria", which featured vocals by former VVI singer Robert Fleischman and included material from sessions recorded around 1990. Soon after that, Vincent vanished from the public eye and remained off the grid for more than two decades.

In April 2018, Vincent joined Simmons at the KISS bassist/vocalist's "Vault" event in Nashville, Tennessee. He later said in an interview that he felt that got "a cold reception" and was "treated very indifferently" by Gene at the event.

Ace Frehley photo credit: Jayme Thornton

During this past Friday's (October 17) "Tribute To Ace Frehley" episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist John 5 reflected on his KISS fandom and his personal relationship with the latter band's original guitarist Ace Frehley who died on October 16 at the age of 74. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Just like everybody, just like millions of people around the world, I first discovered KISS in '77 when I was seven years old. So he has been in all of our lives for our whole life — our whole life he has been a part of all of these people's lives since they got into them as kids, got into KISS. And I became very close with Ace. I would talk to him just all the time on the phone. We hung out, we went to the movies, went to pawn shops, we did everything. And it was such a magical time and he had just such a kind heart and he was a a kind soul. He really was. He was just such a good person and caring person."

Referencing the fact that Ace is slated to receive a Kennedy Center Honor at a December 7 ceremony which will air on December 23 on CBS, John added: "Everybody's very sad [about Ace's passing], but then you think back of all the fun stories and all the funny stories, but one of the very last times I talked to him — it was right before his first fall. And we were talking, and what he said — he was so happy, he was so excited about the Kennedy Center Honors. He was just so over the moon about this. And what he told me is he was so excited that the president said his name and said it correctly. At this point of his life, he was over the moon. He was so happy. And that's, I think, something really, really important."

According to Billboard, Frehley will become only the third person to receive a Kennedy Center Honor posthumously, following two other group members who likewise died after the groups' awards were first announced: Glenn Frey of EAGLES and Phil Lesh of GRATEFUL DEAD.

The day of Frehley's passing, Ace's former bandmate in KISS, Gene Simmons, shared a touching statement reflecting on the guitarist's impact and the upcoming Kennedy Center Honor.

"Our hearts are broken. Ace has passed on," Gene wrote. "No one can touch Ace's legacy. I know he loved the fans. He told me many times. Sadder still, Ace didn't live long enough to be honored at the Kennedy Ctr Honors event in Dec. Ace was the eternal rock soldier. Long may his legacy live on!"

U.S. president Donald Trump announced the honorees in August during a press conference at the performing arts center. Trump will also host and produce the show, which recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to American culture through performing arts.

When KISS's Kennedy Center Honor was first announced in August, Simmons told TMZ: "KISS is the embodiment of the American Dream. We are deeply honored to receive the Kennedy Center Honor."

KISS frontman Paul Stanley added: "From our earliest days, KISS has embodied the American ideal that all things are possible and that hard work pays off. The prestige of the Kennedy Center Honors cannot be overstated and I accept this on behalf of the long legacy of kiss and all of the band members who helped create our iconic band."

Frehley, meanwhile, called the Kennedy Center Honor "a dream come true that I never thought would materialize."

Original KISS drummer Peter Criss kept his statement simple, saying: "I feel so blessed. This is the greatest honor of our career."

During his first term, Trump seemingly paid no attention to the Kennedy Center, often skipping the honors ceremony. He has since vowed to transform the marquee arts center, first ousting its leadership board, then filling the board of trustees with his loyalists.

In September 2020, Frehley called Trump "the strongest leader that we've got." Two years earlier, the original KISS guitarist also expressed his support for America's 45th president during an appearance on the "Juliet: Unexpected" podcast. At the time, he said about Trump: "Whether you love him or hate him, if you're an American and you're a patriot, you should get behind your president. He was elected. We live under the Constitution of the United States, and you're supposed to support your president. Love him or hate him, you're supposed to support him, or go move to another country.

"Being American, we have the right to free speech, and I'm all for everybody putting their two cents in on everything," he added. "But when musicians or actors get really verbal and jump on a bandwagon against our government, I don't agree with that."

Throughout its 47-year history, the annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala has become the highlight of the Washington cultural and society calendar. On Sunday, December 7, in a star-studded celebration on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, the 48th class of Kennedy Center honorees will be saluted by today's leading performers from New York, Hollywood and the arts capitals of the world. Seated in the Box Tier of the iconic Kennedy Center Opera House, the honorees will accept the recognition and gratitude of their peers through performances and tributes. The 48th Kennedy Center Honors Gala concludes with a post-performance party in the Grand Foyer.

The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes and celebrates individuals whose unique artistic contributions have shaped our world. Recipients have each had an impact on the rich tapestry of American life and culture through the performing arts. Whether in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures, or television, each Kennedy Center honoree has a unique place in the fabric of our nation and their influence has inspired audiences from all walks of life.

The honoree selection process includes solicitation of recommendations from former honorees, the artistic community, the Kennedy Center board of trustees, and the general public. This year's selected honorees were chosen based on the recommendation of the Center's special honors advisory committee.

In an interview with Popdust, MUDVAYNE frontman Chad Gray spoke about the band's first two new singles in 16 years, "Hurt People Hurt People" and "Sticks And Stones", which were made available via Alchemy Recordings. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm gonna be straight with you, man. This is the only reason I came back to this band. I was in HELLYEAH, and my drummer died; Vinnie Paul [Abbott] died. And I was a bit lost there. I was grieving. And [the surviving members of HELLYEAH] went back out and we did a 'celebration of life' couple tours that we did to celebrate his life, with a great friend of ours who was a drummer, Roy Mayorga. And I got done with that, and I was really just kind of lost. I didn't know what to do. And I was talking to my buddy who's now my lawyer for this band. And he's just, like, 'What do you wanna do now?' I'm, like, 'I don't know, dude.' And he's, like, 'You can go back to MUDVAYNE.' And I'm, like, 'Man, I really don't wanna go back to MUDVAYNE.' I was just really not that excited about it. And he's, like, 'Okay, okay.' We talked again. He's, like, 'Dude, you guys went away before people were ready for you to go away.' He's, like, 'This gives you an opportunity to continue the MUDVAYNE legacy. 'Cause you guys just went away, and people weren't excited about that.' He's, like, 'You could totally come back, continue the legacy, create new music.' And that was the first thing that kind of perked my ears up. I was, like, 'That sounds cool. Maybe I will do that.'"

Reflecting on how the MUDVAYNE reunion came together, Chad continued: "[We] had those initial conversations and stuff, which were kind of hard conversations, putting it all back together and stuff. And then that was always my plan, was to keep creating. And then it just turned into this thing where it's just, like, we toured. That first tour back, I think with [Rob] Zombie or whatever, and then the next year we toured again, and then the next year we toured again. And this past year, I'm just, like, 'This is not why I came back to this… So, I was, like, 'We have to do this. We have to do this.' And [acclaimed American rock festival producer] Danny Wimmer, obviously the king Danny Wimmer that had brought Europe to America with the festivals and done such a great job with those, he has his label, Alchemy, and he just showed a lot of interest. So, we did a deal with him — not a full record deal; just a four-song deal with him. [And then] we got in a room, and did it. We tried to do it about a year ago, or whatever, maybe two years ago, and it just didn't work out. And I was questioning, like, 'Do we still want the same things?' Which is fine if you don't. We hadn't been together for 12 years. It's, like, you can get in a room and go, 'I don't wanna fucking do that.' So, 'Do we still wanna do the same thing?' Or, 'Can we come to a common ground to continue on as artists?' And it took us a minute, but we got back in and we got it done."

Regarding why MUDVAYNE took so long to complete the first two songs, Chad said: "The thing we were missing the first time was a producer. I mean, that makes everything just a lot better, because they manage the egos, they manage the personalities, they keep this person away when that person's… It's weird. It's a weird dynamic, 'cause you're creating together. You're fucking creating. You have a very, very distinct vision of maybe what you want and there has got to be compromise. And the producer is the guy that will make that compromise happen. 'Cause you're inviting an outside person into your band — literally. So you use them a lot as a sounding board. So [we used] Nick Raskulinecz, who's done all the new ALICE IN CHAINS stuff. He's done two FOO FIGHTERS records. He's done some of the DEFTONES stuff. He's phenomenal. He got his start working at Sound City [studios], which I don't know if you guys remember Sound City or not in L.A. They did a whole documentary on Sound City. You're talking Stevie Nicks and FLEETWOOD MAC and THE BEATLES — crazy-ass bands worked there. And he kind of started there as a runner and then became an engineer and then became the first engineer and stuff like this. So he's got a great pedigree. And his laundry list of bands he's worked with is phenomenal. And he really came in and got us focused on what we needed to do."

On the topic of the musical direction of the new MUDVAYNE material, Gray said: "I'm really proud of how these songs turned out. I knew how we had to do it. 'Cause we're MUDVAYNE. We're a heavy band. I wasn't gonna come back with [a radio] single first. I wanted to come back, like, 'Here we are, motherfucker. Wham!' And we did 'Hurt People'. That's what we did. And then, obviously, 'Sticks And Stones'. But the content of everything, how it works out, how it played out musically, I've heard a lot of people say, man, it's been a long time, it's been 16 years since we released anything, and they're just, like… The apprehension that people have, like, 'MUDVAYNE, new music. Ugh. What's it gonna sound like? And what's it gonna be?' And they're, like, 'This is exactly what I've been expecting to hear for the last 16 years.' We kind of did exactly, I think, what people are expecting, and that's a cool feather in the cap. Like, cool. We came back and we did it."

He added: "We're a legacy band and people know what we're about. People know that we're not easy and we're a little smarter than the average bear. It's a little more difficult music. So there's a level of the extremity of MUDVAYNE, but there's also a level of subtlety that's the best parts of MUDVAYNE too."

As previously reported, MUDVAYNE guitarist Greg Tribbett is sitting out the band's ongoing "L.D. 50 25th Anniversary" tour after his wife reportedly lost her year-and-a-half-long battle with cancer.

The "L.D. 50 25th Anniversary" tour kicked off on September 11 in Dubuque, Iowa and will conclude on October 26 in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Last year, Greg sat out the remaining shows on MUDVAYNE's "Destroy All Enemies" tour with MEGADETH due to what at the time was described as a "family issue". Filling in for him was MUDVAYNE's touring guitarist Marcus Rafferty, who has served as a guitar tech for several metal bands over the years, including LAMB OF GOD and HATEBREED. He also worked for HELLYEAH, which originally featured both Tribbett and MUDVAYNE vocalist Chad Gray.

"L.D. 50" was MUDVAYNE's debut studio album, arriving in August 2000 via Epic, and established the band as a new yet major player in the hard rock scene. It eventually went on to achieve a gold certification. Years after its release, both Revolver and Metal Hammer deemed the album an essential of the '00s metal class, rightfully so. The tour will feature support from STATIC-X, while VENDED will open.

"Sticks And Stones" and "Hurt People Hurt People" were released through Alchemy Recordings, a record label created in partnership between Dino Paredes, former American Recordings vice president of A&R, and Danny Wimmer, the founder of Danny Wimmer Presents, the premier production company for rock music festivals in the United States. Other Alchemy artists include STAIND and CHEVELLE.

Prior to the arrival of "Hurt People Hurt People", the reunited metallers hadn't put out any new material since 2009, which means more than a decade and a half had gone by without a single fresh MUDVAYNE song.

MUDVAYNE formed in 1996 and has sold over six million records worldwide, earning gold certification for three albums ("L.D. 50", "The End Of All Things To Come", "Lost And Found"). The band is known for its sonic experimentation, innovative album art, face and body paint, masks and uniforms.

Gray spent 15 years fronting HELLYEAH, which released its sixth studio album, "Welcome Home", in September 2019 via Eleven Seven Music. The disc marked the group's final effort with drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, who passed away seven years ago.

MUDVAYNE did not tour behind its fifth album, which was barely promoted and sold weakly upon release.

Released in 2000 via Epic, "L.D. 50" produced three singles — Dig", "Death Blooms" and "Nothing To Gein". "L.D. 50" peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and No. 85 on the Billboard 200. It was certified gold by the RIAA for shipment in excess of half a million copies in the U.S. alone.

MUDVAYNE completed its first headlining tour in over 14 years, "The Psychotherapy Sessions", in the summer of 2023. Support on the 26-city trek, which was produced by Live Nation, came from COAL CHAMBER, along with GWAR, NONPOINT and BUTCHER BABIES.

Previously, MUDVAYNE made waves in 2022 when they embarked on the "Freaks On Parade" tour co-headlined with ROB ZOMBIE. The 2023 tour, however, marked MUDVAYNE's first headlining endeavor since 2009.

This past Friday, October 17, former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate performed at Center For The Arts Of Homer in Homer, New York as part of his "Operation Mindcrime: The Final Chapter" tour. Fan-filmed video of the entire concert can be seen below.

"The Final Chapter" tour features a complete performance of QUEENSRŸCHE's iconic 1988 concept album "Operation: Mindcrime", along with Geoff's solo works that showcase his enduring influence on the genre. With over 20 million albums sold and global tours under his belt, Tate remains a cornerstone of progressive rock, blending intricate melodies with thought-provoking themes. Fans get to experience the album in its entirety, marking the end of a musical journey that began over three decades ago.

Tate is best known for his 30-plus years as the creative and driving force behind the progressive metal band QUEENSRŸCHE. Since its inception with Geoff at the helm, QUEENSRŸCHE has sold over 20 million albums worldwide and has performed in upwards of fifty countries. Geoff is regarded as one of the most skilled vocalists in the genre with hundreds of modern, popular artists citing him and his former band as a major influence. Combining social consciousness and expertly crafted lyrics with high-energy, melodically complex music, QUEENSRŸCHE with Geoff Tate at the forefront became internationally recognized as the thinking man's rock band.

"Operation Mindcrime: The Final Chapter" is a must-see live event featuring Tate, the legendary voice behind one of progressive metal's most iconic albums. In this special tour, Tate is performing the entire "Operation: Mindcrime" album from start to finish, bringing the epic tale of revolution, betrayal, and redemption to life one last time. Fans get to experience the full power and emotion of this groundbreaking concept album in an electrifying performance that captures the essence of the original recordings.

In a recent interview with Marko Syrjala of Metal-Rules.com, Tate spoke about his upcoming third and final chapter in QUEENSRŸCHE's classic "Operation: Mindcrime" album series. Regarding how the idea for the LP came together, Geoff said: "Well, I don't know. I just started writing, and it sort of happened. [Laughs] Really, there wasn't anything more to it than that. But over the last couple of years, while preparing for this upcoming ['Operation: Mindcrime - The Final Chapter'] tour, we've written quite a few songs for the album. We have enough material for a full album, and it's all ready to go. We're planning to release it in segments — like two songs here, then another two songs, then three songs — and kind of release it in parts."

As for the musical direction of the material that will appear on "Operation: Mindcrime III", Geoff said: "It definitely has a strong early QUEENSRŸCHE vibe, with some tracks being super heavy and technical. The album is also deeply emotional, marking the final chapter in the 'Mindcrime' saga. It continues the story of Dr. X, Nikki and Sister Mary, focusing on a specific point in their journey. I'm thrilled with how it's turning out and can't wait for people to hear it."

Geoff went on to say that he wrote the songs for "Operation: Mindcrime III" mostly with his guitarists Kieran Robertson from Scotland and Alex Hart from Boston. "I think that's it — the three of us primarily wrote the whole thing," he said.

Tate also addressed the risks of creating sequels to classic albums like the original "Operation: Mindcrime", saying: "Am I worried about people's expectations? No, I've never been worried about that. [Laughs] Never. I didn't worry about it with the first or second one. Why would I start worrying about the third? … Honestly, I don't care. [Laughs] I don't write records to make people happy or to impress them. I make them simply to make records. Whether people like them or not doesn't matter to me. You can't try to please everyone's musical tastes because we're all affected by music differently. And if it's a matter of sales, well, that's a whole different can of worms, as they say. That depends entirely on the company's expertise in trying to sell it and who they've hired for promotion — it's all up in the air, you know? I mean, Jesus, look at GUNS N' ROSES. They built a massive 30-year career out of just three albums. [Laughs] It's crazy. They must've had a great promo team, I guess."

Originally released in May 1988, QUEENSRŸCHE's third studio album, "Operation: Mindcrime" took the quintet to an entirely new level. The concept, revealed through the songs, revolves around the character of Nikki, a recovering drug addict disillusioned with a corrupt society. Drawn into a cult-like revolutionary group headed by Dr. X (voiced by the late and beloved British actor Anthony Valentine),Nikki is manipulated to assassinate political leaders until his friendship with nun Sister Mary finally opens his eyes to the truth. Regarded as one of the greatest concept metal albums of all time, "Operation: Mindcrime" was certified platinum in 1991 in the U.S. and was ranked in the "Top 100 Metal Albums Of All Time" by both Kerrang! and Billboard magazines. Rolling Stone included it on a similar list, noting that "nearly 30 years after its initial release, 'Mindcrime' feels eerily relevant."

The original "Operation: Mindcrime" album weaved themes of religion, drug abuse and underground, radical politics. By contrast, 2006's "Operation: Mindcrime II" was regarded as an unnecessary sequel that many felt cheapened the original album, despite being a decent record in its own right.

In January, Geoff told 96.1 KLPX afternoon jock Larry Mac about the upcoming third and final chapter in the classic "Operation: Mindcrime" album series: "Well, I wouldn't call it a sequel. I'd call it a continuation of the story. We're doing it in kind of an interesting way. We're not gonna release an album, so to speak, right off the bat. We're going to release the album once all the songs are released, if that makes sense. We're gonna release a song a month or every quarter, and then when it's all finished, we're gonna do a special presentation with all the songs included."

Regarding how he comes up with the musical and lyrical ideas for his albums, Geoff said: "It's all different, really. Sometimes it's a musical figure that you're fiddling around with in the studio that leads to a complete song or a few songs. And sometimes it's the lyrical idea. Sometimes it's a sentence that just sparks your imagination and gets you rolling on something. With the 'Operation: Mindcrime' albums, it was a story that came about really quickly, actually — I wrote it very quickly — and then expanded on it over the years to explain a little bit more in depth as to what was happening within the story. 'Cause the first album is a little bit vague in what it's talking about in it. The second album explains even more as to what the characters are going through. And the third album, again, will be even more explanation, but taken from a number of different viewpoints, which kind of is interesting, I think."

Tate previously discussed his plans for "Operation: Mindcrime III" in a November 2024 interview with "Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern". Speaking about the musical direction of his new solo material, Geoff said: "I would say it has more of an early QUEENSRŸCHE feel. [The new songs are] super heavy, and some of 'em are incredibly technical. They're like algebra. [Laughs] You need a calculator when you're listening to the song. [Laughs] And, of course, some of them are very emotional. It's the last chapter in the 'Mindcrime' series. So it's following the exploits of Dr. X and Nikki and Sister Mary, and picks up at a particular point in their story and kind of does the microscope of what is happening at that particular time with them. And I am just in love with it. I am so happy with everything so far, and I can't wait for people to hear it."

Asked if there will once again be "some of those political interplays" within the lyrical themes on "Operation: Mindcrime III", Tate said: "Oh, I think so. Yeah, I think that people will be able to detect little bits of what's happening around them. And it's an interesting time right now — very interesting. Especially next week [after the 2024 U.S. presidential election], it's gonna be really interesting [laughs] what happens. So, we'll see."

Pressed about whether "a familiar voice" will play Dr. X on "Operation: Mindcrime III", Geoff said: "I can't tell you, actually. But thanks for asking. [Laughs]"

In a 2016 interview with East Valley Tribune, Tate said that he looked back fondly on "Operation: Mindcrime II". "I haven't listened to that album since I recorded it," he admitted. "However, it was a new story. Overall, it went down well live with the audience. I have no complaints or regrets about it."

During QUEENSRŸCHE's 2012 legal battle with Tate over the rights to the band's name, guitarist Michael Wilton submitted a sworn declaration in which he said the idea to make "Operation: Mindcrime II" was first brought to the table by Geoff's wife and QUEENSRŸCHE's then-manager Susan Tate. "The band was hesitant and did not want to lessen the original," the guitarist claimed. "But Susan Tate and Geoff Tate hired a budget producer and took control without really any other input. Scott Rockenfield [drums], Eddie Jackson [bass] and I were squeezed out of having any input in the musical direction or business decisions, thus the project suffered. During the initial writing phase, I would show up to bring my input to the creative process only to find that the producer, the new guitar player (who were both staying with the Tates at the time),along with Geoff Tate had been up late the night before or up early that morning and had written the songs without me. I was then told my ideas were not needed as the songs were now done. I could, however, 'bring my own style' in during the recording after learning to play what they wrote for me. In frustration, I gave up on the writing process knowing that I would at least get to make changes in the studio to bring back the QUEENSRŸCHE sound into these songs that we were known for. The final straw was when they refused to let me to be a part of the final recordings and mixes. I was shut out and they had the nerve to replace some of my parts on my songs. They denied me flying to San Francisco to be a part of my band, telling me that everything was ready to go and I was not needed. Had the communication been better, and had I been aware that parts needed to be recorded or rewritten, I would have been there. It was not until years later that I even became aware of the issues during the final recording and mixing of 'Operation: Mindcrime II'. It was all under the control of Geoff and Susan Tate. Call it delusions of grandeur, but they were convinced that this was going to sell three times more than the original, and to date (six years later) this album has sold fewer than 150,000 copies. The original album sold over 500,000 copies within a year."

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

Tate's replacement, Todd La Torre, has released four albums thus far with QUEENSRŸCHE: 2013's "Queensrÿche", 2015's "Condition Hüman", 2019's "The Verdict" and 2022's "Digital Noise Alliance".

The tour continues! More dates added!! Which show will we see you at?

Posted by Geoff Tate on Wednesday, May 7, 2025

On Friday, October 17, W.A.S.P. performed at Tullisali in Oulu, Finland as part of the band's "Album ONE Alive!" European tour. Fan-filmed video of the entire concert can be seen below.

Featured songs:

01. I Wanna Be Somebody 00:00
02. L.O.V.E. Machine 04:05
03. The Flame 8:12
04. B.A.D. 14:02
05. School Daze 17:52
06. Hellion 21:42
07. Sleeping In The Fire 25:26
08. On Your Knees 33:09
09. Tormentor 36:50
10. The Torture Never Stops 40:44
11. Inside The Electric Circus 48:15
12. I Dont Need No Doctor 50:03
13. Scream Until You Like It 52:02
14. The Real Me 53:46
15. Forever Free 57:02
16. The Headless Children 1:00:32
17. Wild Child 1:03:39
18. Blind In Texas 1:13:11

"Album ONE Alive!" marks the 40th anniversary of the release of W.A.S.P.'s first album. To celebrate this classic metal LP, W.A.S.P. is, for the first time in 40 years, playing the entire album from top to bottom, start to finish, at headline shows across Europe. In addition, W.A.S.P. is appearing at a number of European festivals, performing its greatest hits.

During a "VIP Experience" question-and-answer session before W.A.S.P.'s September 28, 2025 concert at Eventim Apollo in London, United Kingdom, W.A.S.P. mainman Blackie Lawless was asked how he managed to get back in physical shape, two years after he underwent a successful surgery to treat two herniated discs and a broken vertebra. Lawless said:"[I had] some great people working with me and about nine months of some really painful rehab. Rehab is a lonely business. And nobody can help you because — well, you're with them two hours a day. And I was working with 'em five and six days a week. And they don't want you doing anything else when you go home 'cause they want you to rest in rehab for the next day. And those other 22 hours a day, it's just you… I mean, we talk to ourselves more than anybody else. And you, especially if you're doing anything that's athletic, you listen to any athlete talk, the internal dialogue that starts in your head when you're going through that: 'Am I ever gonna be able to' da, da, da da? And that's the thing keeps dogging you over and over and over."

Blackie continued: "What I didn't know until a week before we started the tour last year, the doctors told me, they said, 'Well, we didn't wanna say anything to you before, but with everything you went through, the average person will not recover from this.' But they don't like saying anything because there's that one in a million that can make it, so they don't wanna prejudice them. But I think a lot of it too is how bad do you want it, because, to me, the idea of not being able to… Yeah, could I sit in a chair and sing? Yeah, I guess I could, but I don't wanna. I mean, I wanna do what I wanna do. And I wanted my body back. It's the only one you got. But I'm just saying this for your own benefit. It's how bad you want it."

Lawless spoke in more detail about his recovery process during a May 2024 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Lawless said at the time: "It's been a long road. Anytime you go through rehab, and we've done it for 35, 40 years, every time you have an injury, you've gotta go through rehab. And any athlete will tell you that it's a lonely walk. Nobody can help you when you do it. You're with your trainers two hours a day. That leaves you 22 hours of every day to just sit and think in rehab. And a lot of funny things go through your head when you're doing that. And, like I said, it's a lonely walk. And it's incremental, the healing process — you don't see it all overnight. And when you start with the trainers, they tell you, 'Just be patient, just be patient,' because, as any warrior will tell you, your natural instinct is to run, and you just cannot do that when you've gone through something that's pretty serious like that. But we're getting there. And we're pretty much up to speed now."

Elaborating on what the rehab process entailed, Blackie said: "What those guys do to you, that's a torture chamber. It really is. And they're making sure that I'm up and running because… I mean, the guys that I'm working with here are also part of the U.S. Olympic team, the doctors. And the best way to put it is they're quite thorough with what they have you do, but I would strongly suggest to anybody that's had any kind of physical injuries like this, don't try to do rehab on your own. You really need some professionals to work with, because you can go online and look at those exercises all you want, but until you've got somebody with you monitoring you, correcting you, keeping you in line, it's natural for the body to cheat, especially if it's had an injury. And these guys will stand there and they will not let you cheat. And that's really for your own good, because they'll tell you that they have people that will come to them three, four months after that person's had an injury and has been in the gym the whole time and wasted their time for that three to four months because they weren't doing the exercises right and they weren't seeing any results. So it's really important that you get some pros next to you that… I mean, I know everybody's not gonna be able to get Olympic doctors to look after 'em, but still, there's qualified folks out there. You've gotta really get somebody that knows what they're doing."

Regarding how he sustained his injuries in 2023, Lawless told Canada's The Metal Voice in a 2024 interview: "What I had was pretty serious. And when it first started [in 2023], they told me that if we didn't stop… We were [on tour] in Europe, and I had a chiropractor come in to one of the shows to do an adjustment on me. And we were in Madrid. But the night before we had been in Barcelona. I did what I thought was the best show on the whole tour at that point, and I was doing well. This guy comes in. He doesn't speak any English, and this kid is strong as a gorilla. And we tried to, through the interpreter, explain to him what we wanted to do. This kid got a hold of me and he tweaked me, and I felt it immediately when he did it. And, yeah, he literally twisted my upper torso. We find out later he ruptures a disc in my back. And I had heard of those before, dealing with nerve pain and things like that, but I'd never experienced it. And until you've experienced nerve pain, you can't imagine what that feels like. I mean, it's constantly on 10 and you can't stop it.

"So, we leave Spain and we go to Berlin, and fortunately we had some contacts there and we were able to get in to see the doctors from the German Olympic team," Lawless added. "And so they did a series of tests on me and did MRIs and things like that. They came back and they said, 'You've got extensive damage. If you don't stop this tour, it's gonna get worse.' And I'm thinking to myself, 'Well, what are we talking about? How much worse can it get?' And so I told them, I says, 'Basically what I need you to do for me is to get me through this. What can you do for me that can help me get along?' So, over a series of five weeks, we do eight epidurals, which, for those that don't know what that is, they inject a needle in next to your spinal cord and basically try to put anti-inflammatory medication in there to get you through it. But eight is an extreme amount. I mean, it's a lot. Usually an average person might get one or two of those, but that's a lot. But what happened is, yes, it was helping me get through it, but now I have one of the discs that's no longer functioning the way it should. Now the vertebrae are starting to rub on each other. It creates a chain reaction where a second disc gets ruptured and then one of the vertebrae cracks because it's bone rubbing on bone. And so, like I said, it literally became a domino effect. And we didn't know any of this until the tour was done. And I get back to California and we do another battery of tests and we could see what's going on and it was not good. So dealing with that, I had to have two different surgeries. They go in, they clean out the debris because when the bone broke, it starts to create fragments and shards and so they've gotta go in and clean all that out because all that is now trying to create complications around spinal cord. It's creating nerve damage and things like that. And then on top of that, it starts to form scar tissue, so it's a tedious, tedious process."

Because of the extensive back injuries Lawless suffered during the European leg of W.A.S.P.'s 40th-anniversary tour, the band's previously announced 2023 U.S. tour was canceled.

W.A.S.P.'s massive European leg of the 40th-anniversary world tour wrapped on May 18, 2023 in Sofia, Bulgaria at Universidada Sports Hall.

W.A.S.P. wrapped up its first U.S. tour in 10 years with a sold-out show on December 11, 2022 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. This marked the 18th sold-out shows for the U.S. tour, which kicked off in late October 2022. W.A.S.P.'s performances included the return of the band's classic song "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", which hadn't been played live in over 15 years.

W.A.S.P.'s latest release was "ReIdolized (The Soundtrack To The Crimson Idol)", which came out in February 2018. It was a new version of the band's classic 1992 album "The Crimson Idol", which was re-recorded to accompany the movie of the same name to mark the 25th anniversary of the original LP's release. The re-recorded version also features four songs missing from the original album.

W.A.S.P.'s most recent studio album of all-new original material was 2015's "Golgotha".

This past Friday, October 17, the reunited classic lineup of BIOHAZARD celebrated the release of "Divided We Fall", the band's first studio album in over a decade, by performing live at the Rough Trade NYC record store, nestled in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, only steps away from the iconic Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below.

"Divided We Fall" arrived on October 17 via BLKIIBLK. Regarding why it took so long to get the LP out, BIOHAZARD drummer Danny Schuler told the Talkin' Bout Rock podcast: " Well, the album was a long time coming because the band wasn't really doing anything for a long time. The band got back together in 2023. We started doing some shows, we started touring, and everybody started talking about, 'Hey, why don't we do a record?', our managers and everybody. And that was it. It was just we started talking about it. We started getting together with the purpose of writing songs and seeing how that went. After a while, we kind of hit our stride and the songs just kind of came quick. And, yeah, boom — next thing you know, we're making a new BIOHAZARD album, 'Divided We Fall'. Here we are."

Danny also talked about the recording sessions for "Divided We Fall", which took place at Shorefire Recording Studios in Long Branch, New Jersey and The Hydeaway in Van Nuys, California, with engineering by Joseph DeMaio and additional recording from Matt Hyde. Guitar and production tech duties were handled by Phil Caivano.

"I live on the East Coast, so it was easier to kind of just do everything at Long Branch," Danny explained. "It's a great studio, Shorefire, and our friend Joe runs that place. We've worked there before. And the reason I love that place, aside from having all the great gear, is that it's like one big room and it gives a band like us — we like to record as live as possible — so it gives us the room to set up live in the room and record that way. So that's what we did."

Reflecting on the first reunion show from the reunited classic lineup of BIOHAZARD — Schuler, guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei, guitarist Bobby Hambel and bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld — which took place in May 2023 at the Milwaukee Metal Fest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Danny said: "Yeah, that was in 2023, so it was eight or nine years since we had played a show together, and it was even longer than that, that we had played a show with Evan. That was our first show back with Evan in a very long time — probably 12 years or something, or 13 years. And, yeah, it was just a trip. I was really looking forward to it, and when it happened, it's amazing how it kind of went right back into the way we used to do things. It was so natural and easy. The rehearsals for that show, it was so simple to just be with everybody and play all the songs; it was easy. And, yeah, getting back together and doing that one show, it was, like, 'Wow.' It just totally blew my mind. It was such a trip to do it again. And now we get to do it some more. It's great. I love it. I never take it for granted."

Elaborating on BIOHAZARD's mindset when it comes to performing live, Danny said: "We definitely are the type of band that puts all our energy and effort and everything into the show. We're not phoning it in. Some bands maybe do that. For us it takes all our energy and everything to do the show, and we put everything we've got into it. So it is an experience; it's not just a show, it's an experience. And the audience is a big part of what we do, for sure."

In a separate interview with In Effect Hardcore, Danny stated about "Divided We Fall": "I think 'Divided We Fall' is BIOHAZARD doing what we do best. I didn't want to make a new-school record to compete with all these new bands… They all have their sound and I love it, but what we do is unique to us, and I really think when we are firing on all cylinders we can hang with anybody… especially live. So I would say this new record is right up there with the best stuff we've ever done. Can't wait for everyone to hear it."

Regarding the role of producer Matt Hyde during the making of "Divided We Fall", Danny said: "Matt Hyde was a big part of this record, for sure. When he came in, we had a lot of songs written but we hadn't yet started to focus on which ones would be the best ones for the new record. One of the first things Matt did was listen to everything and we asked him to pick which songs he thought would work best. His list of songs was exactly my list, which surprised me. I had no idea he was so familiar with what we do. It was great working with Matt Hyde… he's a madman in the studio."

As previously reported, BIOHAZARD will team up with the American hip-hop group ONYX for a North American tour this fall.

MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren has released the official drum playthrough video for the band's latest single, "Tipping Point". Check it out below.

In a short interview with the Instagram account of MEGADETH's mascot Vic Rattlehead, the band's leader Dave Mustaine spoke about MEGADETH's decision to play "Tipping Point" live for the first time on October 14 at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, The Netherlands during the band's European tour as the support act for DISTURBED. He said: "I was a little nervous about playing it because we hadn't played it live yet. And I always get a little nervous whenever we play a song for the first time. But it went off without a hitch and the fans really liked it."

Mustaine continued: "I thought we were going to save it until we got to England [a week later], but we were so excited because of the fans, their approval of the song and how many people are really responding in a positive way for 'Tipping Point'. So we just couldn't wait anymore."

Prior to launching into "Tipping Point" at the Amsterdam show, Mustaine told the crowd: "So, we have a new record coming out. And we have a new single that's out right now. And we're gonna play that song the first time ever right now."

"Tipping Point" is the first single from MEGADETH's upcoming self-titled album, due on January 23, 2026. The follow-up to 2022's "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!" will be released via Mustaine's Tradecraft imprint on Frontiers Label Group's new BLKIIBLK label.

The sonically explosive and lyrically unflinching "Tipping Point" kicks off with a thunderous guitar solo before Dave's iconic voice hauntingly kicks in. In the desolate but hopeful accompanying video, directed by Leonardo Liberti, Dave is locked up in a prison being tortured in extreme fashion, while the band performs in the same lock-up. In the end Dave perseveres evil and walks away into a new day.

"We all have different 'tipping points' and they may vary from day to day," Mustaine previously said about the track. "I think we’re all being pushed to the edge right now, and it's easy to lean into that feeling. But it's important not to let things get you down."

On August 14, MEGADETH announced that its upcoming LP will be the band's last. The Mustaine-led outfit will also embark on a farewell tour in 2026.

In a press release announcing MEGADETH's final album and farewell tour, Mustaine thanked fans for their commitment and love while celebrating the band's impact on the music world.

"There's so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional," Mustaine said. "Most of them don't get to go out on their own terms on top, and that's where I'm at in my life right now. I have traveled the world and have made millions upon millions of fans and the hardest part of all of this is saying goodbye to them."

He continued. "We can't wait for you to hear this album and see us on tour. If there was ever a perfect time for us to put out a new album, it's now. If there was ever a perfect time to tour the world, it's now. This is also a perfect time for us to tell you that it's our last studio album. We've made a lot of friends over the years and I hope to see all of you on our global farewell tour.

"Don't be mad, don't be sad, be happy for us all, come celebrate with me these next few years. We have done something together that's truly wonderful and will probably never happen again. We started a musical style, we started a revolution, we changed the guitar world and how it's played, and we changed the world. The bands I played in have influenced the world. I love you all for it. Thank you for everything."

For its final album, MEGADETH once again worked with Chris Rakestraw, a producer, mixer and engineer who previously worked on MEGADETH's last two LPs, the aforementioned "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" and 2016's "Dystopia".

Guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari joined MEGADETH two years ago. He stepped in as the replacement for Brazilian-born guitarist Kiko Loureiro, who announced in September 2023 that he would sit out the next leg of MEGADETH's "Crush The World" tour in order to stay home with his children back in Finland. It was later revealed that the now-38-year-old Finnish musician would continue to play guitar for MEGADETH for the foreseeable future, with Loureiro seemingly having no plans to return.

Mäntysaari was born in Tampere, Finland and began playing guitar at the age of 12. In 2004, he joined the band WINTERSUN. He has also been a member of SMACKBOUND since 2015.

Released in September 2022, MEGADETH's latest album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked MEGADETH's eighth top 10-charting album.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown To Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

In addition to Verbeuren, Mustaine and Mäntysaari, MEGADETH's current lineup includes bassist James LoMenzo.

According to Domain Name Wire, SLIPKNOT has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Slipknot.com domain for cybersquatting under the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and trademark infringement.

The lawsuit claims that Slipknot.com was registered in 2001, several years after the band's formation in the mid-1990s. SLIPKNOT has since used Slipknot1.com as its official web site, explaining that the lawsuit was necessitated by the fact that the Slipknot.com domain name — whose owner is unknown to SLIPKNOT — is being used to profit from the band's name by providing pay-per-click ad links for "concert tickets", "SLIPKNOT merchandise" and "concert VIP packages".

"The domain name was registered in an effort to profit off of plaintiff’s goodwill and to trick unsuspecting visitors — under the impression they are visiting a website owned, operated or affiliated with plaintiff — into clicking on web searches and other sponsored links," the band's lawyer wrote in the lawsuit.

"A fan of plaintiff or someone who otherwise wanted to purchase authorized SLIPKNOT merchandise would undoubtedly visit the slipknot.com website assuming it belonged to plaintiff and then purchase the SLIPKNOT merchandise linked to on the site, causing damages to plaintiff."

According to SLIPKNOT's attorney, "The name of the registrant of the Slipknot.com domain is not identified in WHOIS or ICANN records, but these records list a post office box address for registrant in the Cayman Islands. Elsewhere in these records, 'technical' and 'administrative' contact information is given. Here, an organization named 'Slipknot Online Services, Ltd' is listed along with the same address in the Cayman Islands. A search for this organization name however shows that it is not registered in any state in the United States."

The federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act allows individuals and companies to assume control of domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to their own, as long as they can prove that the domain name holder acted in bad faith.

The lawsuit comes two months after Billboard reported that SLIPKNOT was close to completing a deal to sell its music catalog for approximately $120 million. The deal between members of the long-running metal band and HarbourView Equity Partners includes the rights to SLIPKNOT's publishing and recording masters royalties. It reportedly covers the band's archival catalog but does not extend to future releases.

Since releasing its debut album in 1999, SLIPKNOT has captured a Grammy Award alongside 11 nominations, scored a number of platinum and gold album certifications around the world, and logged billions of global streams and video views to date. Rolling Stone cited the seminal platinum-selling 2001 album "Iowa" among "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time," while The Ringer attested, "They're the most important heavy band of their era."

SLIPKNOT's latest full-length album, "The End, So Far", landed at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart and at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, marking their sixth Top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200. A new album from SLIPKNOT is a global event, and "The End, So Far" continued the band’s global chart rise, with No. 1 debuts in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Mexico, as well as Top 3 debuts in Canada, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Japan, and Belgium. SLIPKNOT's previous album, 2019's "We Are Not Your Kind", marked SLIPKNOT's third consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200, along with No. 1 debuts in the official album charts of twelve countries around the world, including the U.K., Australia, Canada and Mexico, with Top 5 debuts in an additional twelve countries. including Germany, France and Sweden.

Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner

In a new interview with New Zealand's Stuff, longtime AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd addressed the fact that he laid down the drum tracks on the band's latest album, 2020's "Power Up", but is not part of the accompanying tour.

"There was a time when I thought it was the end of my world," he told Stuff. "I only knew life with AC/DC. Those people I thought loved me like a brother, they haven't even picked up the phone."

Referencing AC/DC's late frontman Bon Scott, who died in 1980 from alcohol poisoning, Rudd added: "But to me AC/DC was always Bon. My favorite album is 'Highway To Hell'. My favorite song — his song 'Touch Too Much'."

"When Bon died, even in AC/DC I felt alone," Phil explained. "But I was never alone. The people who like the music, it always humbles me, but makes me happy too.

"People always ask me if I will play with AC/DC again," he continued. "The only people I would do it for would be the fans. And for Bon. I would do it for Bon."

This past July, Rudd appeared at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, performing live as part of the "Full Metal Orchestra" — a massive rock-meets-classical show featuring members of the Auckland Philharmonic, conducted by Sarah-Grace Williams. Together with Jon Toogood (SHIHAD) and a stellar lineup of rock vocalists, Phil delivered versions of AC/DC classics like "Thunderstruck", "Back In Black" and "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Want To Rock 'N' Roll)".

"Full Metal Orchestra" marked Rudd's first public performance since last November when he played AC/DC's classic song "T.N.T." with a local party act in New Zealand.

In a November 2023 interview with New Zealand's Stuff, Rudd said that he was unable to join his AC/DC bandmates at the Power Trip festival in California that year, but that he was "look[ing] forward to playing with them again in the future."

Sitting behind the drum kit for AC/DC's appearance at Power Trip in October 2023, on the spring/summer 2024 European tour, the spring 2025 North American tour and the summer 2025 European tour was Matt Laug. The 57-year-old Laug is an American drummer who has played with many bands/artists such as Alanis Morissette, Alice Cooper, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT and Vasco Rossi. Matt moved to Los Angeles after graduating from South Florence High School in 1986 and after attending college in L.A., Matt became a sought-after studio drummer. In 2001, Laug supported AC/DC as part of SLASH'S SNAKEPIT on the North American and European legs of the "Stiff Upper Lip" tour.

When AC/DC announced in September 2023 that Laug would play drums for the band at Power Trip, it offered no explanation for the absence of Rudd, who rejoined AC/DC for the recording of the group's comeback album, "Power Up", which came out in November 2020.

Rudd was ousted from AC/DC when he was sentenced to eight months of home detention by a New Zealand court in 2015 after pleading guilty to charges of threatening to kill and drug possession. He was replaced on the band's "Rock Or Bust" tour by Chris Slade, who had previously served as AC/DC's drummer between 1989 and 1994, playing on the album "The Razor's Edge".

Rudd, who appeared on all but three of AC/DC's 18 previous studio albums, toured in support of his 2014 solo debut, "Head Job". It was the release of that album that led indirectly to Rudd's arrest, with the drummer allegedly so angry at a personal assistant over the way the record was promoted that he threatened to have the man and his daughter killed.

During an appearance on a November 2020 episode of Dean Delray's "Let There Be Talk" podcast, Rudd confirmed that the seed for his return to AC/DC was planted at the funeral of AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young in 2017. Rudd, singer Brian Johnson and bassist Cliff Williams all attended the ceremony. At the time, the three musicians were considered former members of AC/DC, with Johnson and Williams both having left in 2016 for health reasons, while Rudd was sidelined in 2015 with various legal issues.

"Angus and I had a good chat at Mal's funeral and caught up," Rudd recalled. "[After I played on the 'Rock Or Bust' record] there was crazy shit going on, but since then, I'd got my shit together and put a little band together, I went to Europe and was doing a bit of playing and stuff and did [a solo] album. The guys knew I was still playing, so when I caught up with Angus at the funeral, we were sort of chatting away and somehow, he just sort of [asked me] if I was up for [doing a new AC/DC] album. And he started writing the next day. He went in the studio and started writing straight away."

Angus told Rolling Stone that it was indeed Malcolm's funeral that helped heal old wounds.

"[Phil] was there and in good shape," the guitarist said. "He was keeping himself well together. He was getting therapy and sorting himself out. It was really good."

Johnson added that he and the rest of AC/DC welcomed Rudd with open arms. "I speak for all the boys with Phil," he said. "We defend Phil to the hilt. What happened up there, that's not the Phil we know. That was just something else. He's really looking brilliant now and doing everything great."

Phil Rudd 2020 press photo credit: Josh Cheuse

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke about the passing of KISS legend Ace Frehley. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, [that was] a sad moment, for sure. Ace Frehley passing is on the level of Eddie Van Halen passing. He was that influential — a different guitar player, of course. AceandEddie, they not only made us wanna become musicians, they made us wanna become rock stars. And I think that's the difference. KISS made you wanna go to the next level, and KISS, with their manager Bill Aucoin in those early days, they created something that was just unreachable, and, to some degree, still is."

He continued: "Now we've got GHOST, we've got SLEEP TOKEN, we've got TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, so there's artists out there kind of doing what KISS has done, of course, but when you're the first one doing it, and even KISS when they ended it, it was still the biggest thing out there. They were still doing stuff that it's, like, God, only KISS would [have] three guys come down from the ceiling on their platforms. And they've still got the boots and the whole thing. I mean, there's just no replacing what they have done for all of us in our lives."

Circling back to Ace's passing later in the interview, David said:  "It's sad news. You think about it, though. He was — what? — 74, I think. So 74 Ace Frehley years, that's like 77 Ozzy Osbourne years. These are guys that were true rock and rollers in every sense. So the fact that our beloved heroes have been with us this long is something, I think, we all should be thankful for as well, 'cause they certainly gave us a lot."

Reflecting on his friendship with Frehley, Ellefson said: "Ace and I became friends — not close friends. We had each other's cell phone [numbers]. I'd usually text him every year for his birthday, and me and Frank Bello [ANTHRAX] would text him because [Ace] played a solo [on the song 'Late'] on our ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE record, which we were super grateful for. [He was] clearly our hero. KISS is the reason I'm even here talking to you. For me, 'Destroyer' was the first record I bought; I bought it on cassette. And KISS 'Alive!' right after that. And then I went back and I listened to 'Dressed To Kill', 'Hotter Than Hell', the first album, et cetera. And I remained a diehard KISS fan pretty much through KISS 'Alive II'. And then I did not buy 'Dynasty', of all things. And then I kind of moved on. VAN HALEN came into my life, and then BOSTON and then I kind of started getting into STYX, 'The Grand Illusion', the RAMONES' 'Rocket To Russia', I started getting into some other stuff. But those formative years — I mean, KISS were my BEATLES, in the same way THE BEATLES were THE BEATLES for KISS. And I love Gene Simmons's bass playing. In fact, just today I was listening to 'Cold Gin' and some stuff off of KISS 'Alive!' and thinking, 'God, this guy's just a masterful bass player, man' — while spitting blood and breathing fire and doing all the rest of it."

Last year, Ellefson told Ultimate Guitar that he thought Frehley's latest solo album, "10,000 Volts", was exceptional. "Ace stepped up; he really delivered," David said. "That's the best thing I've heard from Ace since his solo album in 1978, when they still had the make-up on."

"I always thought that [Ace] had the best solo record [of the original solo albums from the KISS members]," Ellefson added. "Paul's [Stanley] was probably the next right behind it with some good stuff. But Paul was so prolific that anything he did sounded like KISS. Because in a lot of ways, he is the sound of KISS. His voice, his style of writing. And obviously, Gene has his flavor. But I always felt there was this whole other world of Ace that finally once his solo album came out, we heard it. We heard it on 'Shock Me', 'Rocket Ride', and the solo album. So, '10,000 Volts', I was so happy to hear what a great record that is."

Ace died on Thursday (October 16) at the age of 74. The news of his passing came just hours after TMZ reported that Ace was hospitalized on life support after he suffered a brain bleed when he took a fall in his studio a couple of weeks earlier.

Frehley, whose real name was Paul Daniel Frehley, passed away peacefully surrounded by family in Morristown, New Jersey.

TMZ reported earlier on Thursday that Frehley was on life support. He had to cancel his tour dates and his condition had not improved after suffering from a brain bleed from the fall.

Frehley's family confirmed his death, writing in a statement: "We are completely devastated and heartbroken. In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth.

"We cherish all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his strengths and kindness that he bestowed upon others. The magnitude of his passing is of epic proportions, and beyond comprehension. Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements, Ace's memory will continue to live on forever!"

Ace co-founded KISS with guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley, bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss in New York City in 1973. Frehley appeared on KISS's first nine albums, and returned for the band's 1998 reunion album, "Psycho Circus", only to leave again. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the rest of KISS's original lineup in 2014.

Frehley first left KISS in 1982. He rejoined in 1996 and parted ways with the band once again in 2002 after the conclusion of KISS's first "farewell tour." Since his departure, guitarist Tommy Thayer had assumed the role of the Spaceman.

Photo credit: Maciej Pieloch (courtesy of Napalm Records)

In a new interview with "Bolling!", the Real America's Voice show hosted by Eric Bolling, legendary rocker Ted Nugent was asked if he can still hit the high notes in some of his classic songs. He responded in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "If I play 'Wango Tango', which is the greatest white guy's attempt at Little Richard — I'm the only white guy that ever got close to Little Richard — yeah, I can still hit those high notes because I'm a man that is influenced by the greatest philosopher of all time, Dirty Harry, when he said, 'A good man knows his limitations.' So if I start out with the high screaming songs like Sammy Hagar does every song, then I can hit those high notes. But again, I'm 77 this year. This is outrageous, and this is my hunting beard, so I look older than I really feel. But the music is so inspiring."

He continued: "I'm telling you, Eric, when we hit the stage every night, it's out of body. It's like a martial arts, like a Bruce Lee musicianship thing. It literally takes over your entire being, if you really believe in the music. And what you're talking about THE WHO in 2025, Roger [Daltrey] and Pete [Townshend], they still believe in the music. They're so proud of those musical statements. So when we get up on stage, it's literally the mountain top of the human experience. It's like being the greatest welder in the world — which is more important than music. The greatest welder in the world, his welds will last forever. What a great testament to work ethic and dreams."

Regarding his mindset when performing live, Ted said in part: " I love my music. I love my music more than anybody loves my music. [I've got] Jason Hartless on drums. Johnny 'Big' [Schoen] on bass guitar. It's out of body, soulful, just so intense, so irreverent, so defiant, so grooved, so Motown, so James Brown. So it doesn't matter what songs I play, where I play them, they all have a life of their own… It's all about letting it rip, when you're gonna play rock and roll. We consider every concert an audition to be James Brown's band. My musicians are so gifted, so dedicated. They have indefatigable, Herculean work ethic and they love rhythm and blues, soul music, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, my hero. So every night is the most important concert of our lives, and I've done 7,007 of them and I can't wait for 7,008."

Ted recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of his iconic rock anthem "Stranglehold" with several exclusive "SpeakEzy Rockout" gigs.

In 2023, Ted completed his "Adios Mofo '23" farewell tour. The trek saw him backed by his most recent solo band consisting of drummer Jason Hartless and bassist Johnny "Big" Schoen.

In an interview with "THAT Rocks!", the now-76-year-old Ted spoke about his decision to embark on what was billed as his last-ever tour. Regarding why he doesn't want to spend time on the road anymore, Ted said in part: "Hotels are jail. I hate jail… I will always play music. The music still has fire. I still crave it. I've got new songs. I'm gonna go in the studio with these killer musicians that are always at my side. But traveling, I tell you… A hotel room is jail… The travel and the hotels… And I don't even have to go to TSA [Transportation Security Administration]; I mean, I gave the finger to them in 2009. If somebody doesn't send a jet, I don't go anywhere. My friends are better than your friends, 'cause my friends have jets. So, I'm not TSA and I'm not gonna let somebody fondle my Glock [gun] and ask me questions about gun laws. And hotels are so painful for me."

Ted went on to clarify that he is not retiring from playing live. "The fire, the music, it will always go on," he said. "I play my guitar every day… And I get to collaborate with the best musicians in the world. So it's always a challenge, it's always intriguing, it's always stimulating. I'm an old man, but the stimuli factor… I hope that somebody else in this world is as stimulated by the music as I am, because it's still very much alive and well."

Asked if he will miss the audience and the live interaction on stage, Ted said: "Yes. Of course I will. But again, I won't miss it because I'll still do it… I'm not going out for months or even weeks. I'll do the occasional special events. I do a lot of corporate stuff… Yeah, I'm an energized son of a bitch, but I am 7[6], and I'm not swinging from ropes and I'm not wearing a loincloth and I'm not jumping off the amplifiers with my new knees. So I will miss it, but, again, I've got 12 grandkids and I don't wanna go away someday and not make an imprint on them, teach them about the important things in life. In a world that's really gone really stupid, I think my grandparenting responsibilities are more important now than ever."

Nugent's self-titled debut album in 1975 was certified double platinum in the United States, while "Free-for-All", "Cat Scratch Fever", "Weekend Warriors" and "State Of Shock" all reached the Top 30 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Nugent has reportedly sold over 40 million albums and was named Detroit's greatest guitar player of all time by readers of MLive.

The conservative rocker, who has been eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a solo artist since 2000, has enjoyed a remarkably successful and eventful musical career over the past five decades, but his music is increasingly overshadowed by his political outbursts.

Nugent's latest album, "Detroit Muscle", was released in April 2022 via Pavement Music. The follow-up to 2018's "The Music Made Me Do It" was recorded with Ted's previous touring band, which included bassist Greg Smith and Hartless.

Former JETHRO TULL guitarist Martin Barre will release his autobiography, "A Trick Of Memory: The Autobiography Of Jethro Tull's Guitarist", on November 6 via McNidder & Grace.

Martin started his music journey playing the flute and saxophone before he switched to the guitar. He spent his early career performing in different bands, which helped him refine his skills and create his own distinctive style. A major turning point came in 1968 when Barre joined JETHRO TULL, launching an illustrious career. His iconic riff in "Aqualung" is widely recognized as one of the best guitar riffs in rock history and was also voted as one of the top rock guitar solos of all time by Guitar Player magazine readers.

He was a key member of JETHRO TULL from their second album in 1969 until 2014. His guitar work defined much of the band's sound, contributing to their success and enduring popularity. Martin played on all of JETHRO TULL's studio albums from their 1969 album "Stand Up" to their 2003 album "The Jethro Tull Christmas Album".

Beyond his time with JETHRO TULL, Barre has pursued a successful solo career, releasing albums that showcase his versatility across rock, blues, and acoustic music genres.

Barre's contributions to music have been recognized with numerous accolades, including a Grammy Award for "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" in 1989. His innovative guitar playing has inspired countless musicians across various genres, cementing his influence in the music industry.

Monday 17 November - Martin Barre, renowned guitarist best known for his long-standing role (43 years) as lead guitarist...

Posted by British Music Experience on Tuesday, August 19, 2025

SABATON guitarist Thobbe Englund says that "everything is in harmony now", less than two years after he rejoined the band.

In early February 2024, the Swedish metallers announced that they had welcomed back Englund. This news came a month after Tommy Johansson revealed his departure from the group.

Thobbe originally joined SABATON in April 2012 and amicably parted ways with the band in July 2016 to focus on his personal life and expand his creativity. Eight years later, he came back and accompanied his bandmates on the road once again.

Englund recorded two studio albums with SABATON, namely "Heroes" (2014) and "The Last Stand" (2016),and assisted with the songwriting of some very popular songs including "Shiroyama" and "Fields Of Verdun", among others.

In a new interview with Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece, Thobbe stated about his return to SABATON (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "It was perfect timing, as so many things are, weirdly enough, in my life. In '16 we toured all the time — '12, '13, '14, '15, and '16. Very tough. We were out there on the road all the time. And I remember once we were on a tour in the U.S. together with NIGHTWISH, and I was lying awake at night in the tour bus, and I was like asking myself, 'Why am I not a hundred percent happy, even though I reached this childhood dream, being an international rock-star musician, whatnot, traveling the world, playing my guitar and living the dream with my best friends?' And I realized there's a kid missing in my life. And combining the intense touring we went through all those years with that realization, I kind of knew that there's another time coming. So Tommy replaced me. He was the perfect replace[ment]. In August '16, he made his first show at Sabaton Open Air. And then he stayed with the band up until — was it January 2024? And the guys asked me, 'Would you like to put on the camo pants again?' And I was, like, 'Yeah.'"

Thobbe continued: "My kid, his favorite band now is SABATON. And he is old enough now to realize that Dad is coming back home after a couple of weeks, months. And we have these conversations, video conversations, when we're on tour and all that. So it's working perfectly. So everything is in harmony now."

Englund added: "I heard this once, there was somebody saying that — I think it's an old saying — if you find a job that you love, then you don't have to work another day in your life, because you do what you love. And combining that with family life is now perfectly… As I said, everything is in harmony. It's wonderful."

This past April, Thobbe told Brazil's Porque! Metal about how he ended up rejoining SABATON:  "I stayed in very close contact with the guys during all these years, since I left back in '16. We even wrote some songs together, and we always made sure to stay in touch, barbecuing, having beers, visiting each other's family and stuff like that. So when I got the question [about coming back to the band], it was, like, 'Oh, so Tommy's leaving. 'Whoa. Yeah, yeah, of course.' Because it was the perfect timing for me, because when I quit in '16, I was a bit worn out and I wanted to slow down a bit, and focus a little bit on my own music and stuff like that, but also have a kid, buy a house and all that. Now when the guys asked me if I would like to rejoin, it was a no-brainer for me. It was, like, yes, the circle is absolutely complete. So it was the best that could ever happen. And my son is six years old now and his favorite band is SABATON. So there you go."

According to Englund, his first rehearsal back with SABATON went better than expected. "I remember one song in particular, 'The Art Of War', I just put my guitar on, and [it was] spotless — from the beginning to the end," he recalled. "And I was, like, 'Yeah, I'm back.' Yeah, it was great."

Regarding how his return to SABATON came about, Thobbe told Brutal Planet Magazine in a March 2024 interview: "It was quite funny, actually, because me and my wife and, of course, my son, we celebrated New Year's Eve [on December 31, 2023] together with [SABATON bassist and manager] Pär [Sundström] and his wife. They came here [to my house] like three minutes before midnight, so we were, like, 'Will they make it? Yeah. All right. Happy New Year.' Then we had had a couple of beers, and a couple of beers became a couple of more beers, and we kept on going like until five, six in the morning. Luckily, we had a babysitter. And it was in the air. I said this somewhere that we were listening to this song by SCORPIONS, 'The Best Is Yet To Come'. And the chorus goes something like… Well, I don't remember exactly, but I remember the line. We were kind of drunk, and it went something like this: 'How can I live without you?' And we were like looking into each other's eyes, and we knew."

He continued: "I didn't have to think about it that much, because my son is [six] now. His favorite band is SABATON. When I left the band, it looked completely different for me privately. It was, like, we wanted to have a kid. And then, you know how it is with kids when they're toddlers and all that. You wanna be home, you wanna be there. And during all these years, for me being home, being together with [my son] and the family, the band has grown immensely for eight years, which means that we won't be away that much anymore like we used to. One year — I think it was in '14 or '15 — we were away 270 days that year. I went to the wrong building when I came home from a tour, and [my wife] was standing on the balcony on the other one, 'Hey, this is where we live.' 'Ah, okay.' So, I mean, now it's a completely different thing, and everybody in the band has their own family. So, yeah, it's, like, let's do this until we're 85 years old now. It's just an open road."

Reflecting on when he was officially asked to rejoin SABATON, Thobbe said: "[New Year's Eve] was the moment when I realized that something inside of me has told me that if the question comes, yes, of course. I belong to SABATON. That's my family, that's my best friends. So it was just, everything kind of dawned on me. 'Of course, yes. If the question comes, I'll say yes.' And I think it was a week later, we had a birthday party for [my son], and me and Joakim [Brodén, SABATON singer] had been writing a song that's gonna be on this new album. And he just texted me a couple of days before. And he was, like, 'Are you gonna be at home Sunday? Because, yeah, I'm just coming by.' I was, 'Yeah, yeah, of course. Just come by. I'll put on some coffee,' and like that. I thought it was that we were going to go through some details in that song and just to [decide], do we change this or that? Because he usually always kind of writes or tells me what's gonna happen when he comes, if it's just, 'Let's drink coffee and talk bullshit' or if it's something [else]. And I was, like, 'Hmm, why didn't he say what his plans are? That's a little odd, for being him.' But I didn't think more about that. And then he came, and we sat there drinking coffee, and we talked about something. And then he was, like, 'By the way, how do you feel about putting those camo pants back on?' And I was, like, 'All right. So here is the question. It actually came, like one week later.'"

Englund admitted that he was "a little bit shocked" at being asked to return to SABATON. "I didn't think take anything for granted," he explained. "I mean, maybe they had somebody else, because I stepped away almost eight years ago. So I never took anything for granted that they would even ask me. I was, like, if they ask me, I'm gonna be super happy and I will say yes.' So but then the question came, and for me it was, like… We had a long talk about how things are today compared to back in '16, and all that. Where SABATON is today — a lot of stuff has happened during the eight years I've been away. So, yeah, I was, like… I told him, 'Let me think about it and I'll call you.' I just talked to my wife for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and I called him [and I told him], 'Hey, man. I'm in.' And that was it. And it was really emotional. And then Chris [Rörland, SABATON guitarist] and Hannes [Van Dahl, SABATON drummer] called. We were [giddy] like school girls."

When Thobbe's return to SABATON was first announced, Pär said in a statement: "This is a full-circle moment for SABATON and we are beyond excited to have Thobbe rejoin the band. He's a talented guitarist, songwriter and a kind guy who we have a lot of fun with. We didn't even need to hold auditions with other guitar players. All that was needed was to spend New Year's Eve together to know that the time was right for Thobbe's return."

Echoing Pär's sentiments, Joakim stated: "This decision was a no-brainer for us as a band and for Thobbe. He knows the drill and is the perfect fit. This is a great outcome, and we think everyone is going to be psyched about the news! The time is right. Welcome back, brother!"

Meanwhile, Van Dahl added: "Who? Thobbe f***ng Englund, that's who! The man is back! I'm happy to once again share the stage with one of my best friends! Welcome back, brother!"

And finally, Rörland said: "I'm beyond excited and happy for the return of the king! We've had so many good times together, both on stage and off stage. It's gonna be great to share the stage again. Welcome back and welcome home my brother! Love ya!"

Last month, SABATON announced a massive 31-date North American tour set for early 2026. The announcement followed the band's extensive 2025 international run and coincided with rising anticipation for "Legends", SABATON's upcoming album, due October 17 via Better Noise Music.

Kicking off February 9 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the tour will hit venues across the U.S. and Canada, including major stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston before wrapping April 20 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Support on the trek will come from POP EVIL and WINGS OF STEEL.

SABATON recently released its latest single, "Crossing The Rubicon", featuring singer Jonny Hawkins and guitarist Mark Vollelunga of NOTHING MORE. This special collaborative version of the track hit the radio airwaves on September 12, while the original version will be available as part of SABATON's upcoming "Legends" album.

"Legends" will be available across various physical formats and retailer exclusives including CD, two-CD digibook, two-CD earbook (both including the exclusive Storyteller Edition),11 unique vinyl editions (including a special vinyl color and exclusive artwork each),additional exclusive vinyl colors, and a limited box set (including another exclusive vinyl color, the two-CD earbook, and a colored cassette as an exclusive format).

METALLICA performed last night (Wednesday, October 15) at San Francisco, California's Chase Center as part of Salesforce's annual Dreamfest fundraising event for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.

Tickets for the concert, which also included the pop sensation Benson Boone, started at $1,500 at www.theconcertforkids.org.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Dreamfest began inside San Francisco's Chase Center with a VIP cocktail reception.

METALLICA took the stage as a buffet, interactive experiences and more were set up throughout the venue.

"We're here to have some fun, so join us," METALLICA frontman James Hetfield said following opening track, "Creeping Death".

"Welcome to the Dreamfest party. Where did you all come from?" Hetfield asked,. "Whether you came from far away or down the street, we're happy you're here."

The band's setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. Creeping Death
02. For Whom The Bell Tolls
03. Fuel
04. The Memory Remains
05. The Unforgiven
06. Sad But True
07. Wherever I May Roam
08. Nothing Else Matters
09. Seek & Destroy
10. One
11. Master Of Puppets
12. Enter Sandman

Fan-filmed video can be seen below.

When the concert was first announced in August, METALLICA said in a statement: "We're honored to announce that we've once again been asked to play at Dreamfest, the concert benefiting UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals in San Francisco. Held in conjunction with Dreamforce, Salesforce's annual technology conference, the show will take place at Chase Center on October 15, 2025.

"We look forward to welcoming visitors from around the world to the Bay Area for the conference and the show!"

When METALLICA played the ninth annual Dreamfest fundraising event in 2018 at Civic Center Plaza, some of the neighbors in San Francisco were angered because of the noise, which traveled a considerable distance across the city. People reported hearing the concert from as far away as Dogpatch, Cole Valley and the Mission.

The annual benefit concert has previously hosted the likes of FLEETWOOD MAC, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, FOO FIGHTERS, U2 and GREEN DAY, among others.

The Dreamfest benefit concerts have raised $120 million for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals since launching in 2010.
We’re excited to return to the Dreamfest stage on October 15, 2025, at San Francisco’s Chase Center to benefit @ucsfchildrens!

Now through September 3, Fifth Members can enter to win tickets to this unforgettable event! Only at #DF25.

Enter the Contest ➡️… pic.twitter.com/2j0fFygED5

— Metallica (@Metallica) August 21, 2025

The official lyric for RANCID's cover of MOTÖRHEAD's "Sex & Death" can be seen below. The song is taken from titled "Killed By Deaf - A Punk Tribute To Motörhead", due on October 31 via BMG.

RANCID's Lars Frederiksen (guitar/vocals) comments on "Sex & Death": "It's like it's the perfect MOTÖRHEAD song for me. You know as well as I do how much of a big RAMONES fan Lem [MOTÖRHEAD leader Lemmy] was. And it sounds to me like his take, MOTÖRHEAD doing the RAMONES. But there's that little itty bitty guitar solo there. And it was the most RANCID-style song that MOTÖRHEAD did that I thought it's close enough to like a song we would write."

In a separate video below, Lars talks about RANCID's "Sex & Death"cover, along with discussing MOTÖRHEAD's influence on heavy music and why MOTÖRHEAD was both a punk and a metal band.

Heavy metal and punk rock — it's fair to say that these two noisy tribes now have a great deal in common, often melding together, almost indistinguishable, to produce bastard offspring of their own. But it wasn't always this way. Indeed, there was a time when fists were more likely to be thrown than bumped, and beers more likely to be hurled than shared — except when it came to MOTÖRHEAD. That was the one band all could agree on. The one band that was truly ours!

But while MOTÖRHEAD's impact on metal has long been acknowledged, their influence on punk, particularly the post-SEX PISTOLS second wave shouldn't be underestimated. Cause and effect: It's that simple. And such is the case with hundreds, thousands, of other bands, all made faster, dirtier, louder, better, by MOTÖRHEAD. None more so than in punk rock. And that's because MOTÖRHEAD were, in essence, a punk rock band.

Lemmy once said: "The punks loved us. The only reason we weren't in that lot was because we had long hair, so obviously we must be heavy metal. That was the thinking. But a lot of kids heard us without seeing a picture, so they thought we were a punk band."

Across the fourteen tracks on the cunningly titled "Killed By Deaf - A Punk Tribute To Motörhead", you'll hear a loving tribute to MOTÖRHEAD from some of punk rock's biggest and most respected bands. Luminaries like RANCID, PENNYWISE, LAGWAGON, GBH, THE BRONX and FEAR all contribute raucous versions of their favorite MOTÖRHEAD tracks… and also up-and-coming upstarts like SLAUGHTERHOUSE contribute, because, let's face it MOTÖRHEAD always loved and championed the underdogs.

Lemmy and MOTÖRHEAD aren't honored with their own space in the Punk Rock Museum for nothing. Long before they covered the SEX PISTOLS' "God Save The Queen" on "We Are Motörhead" and long before writing "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." for the "1916" album in tribute to New York's finest, MOTÖRHEAD were sharing stages with the likes of THE DAMNED, as they would continue to do many times over the years. Hell, Lemmy even joined THE DAMNED (when they were THE DOOMED),albeit briefly, and playing some now infamous shows, and playing bass on a couple of studio tracks. It's only fitting then, that the only non- MOTÖRHEAD song on this album is from when he teamed up with them again in 2002 for a previously unheard and blistering version of THE DAMNED's classic "Neat Neat Neat".

"Killed By Deaf - A Punk Tribute To Motörhead" will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-orders are available now at this location.

"Killed By Deaf - A Punk Tribute To Motörhead" track listing:

01. PENNYWISE - Ace of Spades
02. RANCID - Sex & Death
03. THE BRONX - Over The Top
04. LAGWAGON - Rock ‘N' Roll
05. FEAR - The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
06. GBH - Bomber
07. MURPHY'S LAW - Stay Clean
08. SLAUGHTERHOUSE - Love Me Like A Reptile
09. THE CASUALTIES - The Hammer
10. ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE - Born To Raise Hell
11. LOVE CANAL - Voices In The Sky
12. SOLDIERS OF DESTRUCTION - Overkill
13. WISDOM IN CHAINS - Iron Fist
14. MOTÖRHEAD & THE DAMNED - Neat Neat Neat

Photo courtesy of RANCID / Speakeasy PR

Legendary rockers TESLA kicked off their latest Las Vegas residency Friday night (October 17) at the House Of Blues Las Vegas inside Mandalay Bay Resort And Casino.

During this exclusive five-day run of shows, TESLA is touching all sides of its unique discography, including the heavier edge of electric songs like "Modern Day Cowboy", "Hang Tough" and "Edison's Medicine", as well as the band's acoustic-driven songs such as "Signs" and "Love Song" (two Top 10 Billboard-charting hits).

The Tom deBlonk channel on YouTube has uploaded video of Friday night's entire concert. Check it out below.

Featured songs:

00:48 Modern Day Cowboy
06:15 Hang Tough
10:58 Edison's Medicine
17:09 All About Love
21:59 I Love You (CLIMAX BLUES BAND cover)
26:54 Give A Little Bit (SUPERTRAMP cover)
31:30 Forever More
36:44 Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)
42:20 Frank Hannon Solo intro
44:05 Miles Away
50:25 Changes
55:41 Paradise ("Five Man Acoustical Jam" version)
1:01:35.89 Call It What You Want
1:06:37.42 What You Give
1:14:16.40 Love Song
1:21:59.45 Little Suzi (PH.D cover)
1:27:57.15 Signs (FIVE MAN ELECTRIC JAM cover)

"Tesla: The Las Vegas Residency" will run for four more shows, taking place on October 18, 22, 24 and 25, 2025 at 8:30 p.m.

TESLA previously held a residency at the House Of Blues in April 2024.

When "Tesla: The Las Vegas Residency" was first announced, TESLA bassist Brian Wheat said in a statement: "We're very excited to be coming back to Las Vegas. We'll be playing some new songs and keep it real!!!"

TESLA's latest six-song EP, "All About Love", was released last November. The EP includes four versions of "All About Love" (acoustic, electric, hybrid, live); a live version of "Walk Away", a concert favorite from "Reel To Real, Vol. 1"; and another new song, "From The Heart", an instrumental track by guitarist Frank Hannon.

Some fans criticized TESLA for adopting a 1980s-style polished production for its latest album, 2019's "Shock". The follow-up to June 2014's "Simplicity" was helmed by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen, whose own group is no stranger to slicked-up, glossy-sounding recordings.

In September 2023, TESLA released the official music video for its cover of AEROSMITH's "S.O.S. (Too Bad)". The song is a bonus track on TESLA's live album, "Full Throttle Live!", which arrived in May 2023. The LP included the band's "Time To Rock!" single, plus other songs, all recorded in August 2022 at Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, South Dakota.

In September 2021, original TESLA drummer Troy Luccketta announced that he would "take a little time from the road" to spend with family and friends. He has since been replaced at TESLA's gigs and in the recording studio by Steve Brown, the younger brother of former DOKKEN drummer Mick Brown.

TESLA's debut album, 1986's "Mechanical Resonance", went platinum on the strength of the hits "Modern Day Cowboy" and "Little Suzi". The 1989 follow-up album, "The Great Radio Controversy", produced five hits, including "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)" and "Love Song", which hit the pop Top Ten.

German hard rock legends SCORPIONS have uploaded a new "track-by-track" video in which singer Klaus Meine opens up about what the band's power ballad "Wind Of Change" has meant over the years — from its first notes to its enduring legacy.

Klaus said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it was the end of the '80s when we played for the very first time in Leningrad [now Saint Petersburg] in the USSR, and it was amazing after all the success we enjoyed throughout the '80s, especially in the United States. But it was always part of our dream to go east. And since we never played in the former DDR [Deutsche Demokratische Republik, German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East Germany], we never had a chance to play there, we never had a chance to go behind the wall. So this was in the spring — I think it was April '88 when we played 10 shows in Leningrad. And it was amazing, because we said, 'Our parents came with tanks. Here's a new generation. We come with guitars. We bring love, we bring music. We don't shoot each other. We wanna sing together.' And it was a very inspiring moment. And only one year later we finally played Moscow at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, and it was obvious. There was a man in the Kremlin, Mikhail Gorbachev. There was a big change in the air, and when we played at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, we stormed out like crazy playing 'Blackout' and all those songs. The Russian audience, the fans were singing along. The security, which were mostly soldiers from the Red Army, they were throwing their caps in the air. They were going totally crazy and they enjoyed the music like the fans. They were supposed to be there being security, but they turned around, they wanted to see the show, they didn't wanna miss a thing. And it was so inspiring. It was like the whole world was changing in front of our eyes. And when I came back home, I think I reflected [on] this moment in time and I reflected [on] the changes I saw between '88 in Leningrad and one year later when we played in Moscow. And it was really like it was a new moment, a new time, a new future, a more peaceful future was in the air. And this was all what the song was all about. And it became something like a peace anthem. And after all these years, after 30 years and even more, this song has a billion clicks on YouTube. And it seems like, especially in those very difficult times we are now, the song is very relevant, especially with the young audience, with the young kids who sing this song in every show with so much emotions coming out. And people are crying. And it really shows that after all in very difficult times, this song is still a very strong peace message, and we hope the window for a peaceful world will be open soon again, and the wind hopefully will change one more time."

Meine and his bandmates wrote "Wind Of Change" after performing at the aforementioned Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989 in Moscow, where they shared the stage with other hard rock acts like BON JOVI and MÖTLEY CRÜE. The song was inspired by the sight of thousands of Russians cheering them on in 1988 — when they became the first hard rock band to play in Russia — and in 1989 in Moscow, even though they were a German band.

In March 2022, at the opening concert of SCORPIONS' "Sin City Nights" residency at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino In Las Vegas, Nevada, Meine told the crowd before launching into "Wind Of Change": "This song is calling for peace, and tonight, I think, we shall sing it even louder. We dedicate this to the brave people in the Ukraine."

In an interview with Scorpions Brazil, Klaus explained the thought process behind changing the song's lyrics to acknowledge Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

"I thought it's not the time to romanticize Russia with lyrics like 'I follow the Moskva down to Gorky Park'," he said. "When I wrote that song, 'Wind Of Change' was something like a peace promise, going together into a peaceful future. And so many years later now, this peace promise was broken up last year. So I had the feeling I wanted to show our solidarity with Ukraine. That's why I changed a few lines."

Back in 2015, SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker stated about the inspiration for the original version of "Wind Of Change" "We wanted to show the people in Russia that here is a new generation of Germans growing up. They're not coming with tanks and guns and making war — they're coming with guitars and rock 'n' roll and bringing love!"

"There were so many emotional moments in Moscow," Meine added. "I guess it could have been BON JOVI or MÖTLEY CRÜE, any of these guys who had gone home inspired by what they saw, but for them it was like, 'Hey! We rocked the Soviet Union, dudes!' For us, maybe it was different. We saw so many changes from Leningrad in '88 to Moscow in '89. That was the inspiration for 'Wind Of Change'."

SCORPIONS' latest album, "Rock Believer", was released in February 2022. The album was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SCORPIONS originally intended to record the new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose previous credits include SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. However, because of the pandemic, some of the initial work was done with Greg remotely, after which SCORPIONS opted to helm the recordings themselves with the help of their engineer Hans-Martin Buff.

During an appearance on this past Tuesday's (October 14) episode of Loudwire Nights, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge was asked by host Chuck Armstrong if he is "getting tired" of explaining why the band's current world tour is mandating a no-phones policy. Fans entering venues for GHOST's "Skeletour" shows have to place their mobile phone into what is called a Yondr pouch. The bag is then magnetically sealed, with fans having to approach venue staff situated outside of the main auditorium if they wish for it to be unlocked. Forge said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think that not a whole lot of people have understood what the meaning is and how it makes them feel and how it makes us all feel better. And [there are] a few exceptions here and there, people who just somehow have a problem with it, but overall I think that… Yeah, I think that the show is great, but I think that the show is definitely enhanced by this fact, because people see a show for the first time in 10 years, whereas they've sort of not, for the last five, 10 years. So it's a little bit of a trick. But no, I can talk myself slack-jawed about why I think this is a great thing. And I believe that more bands will start doing this."

Regarding why more artists haven't followed suit by declaring phones off-limits at their shows, Forge said: "I think that just right now, it's just an economic disincentive, if that makes sense. But the negative here, when bands contemplate using this, is just the cost, because it's a cost. And as of right now, it's an infrastructure that you have to carry as an artist. And I think that hopefully more artists will start using this so there will be this incentive for local halls, promoters, all these buildings… They have, obviously, five hundred to a thousand chairs that they can put out on the rink ice, and they have a little stage, if a band comes, and they should have this function. And I'm sure if that was something that you can just cross a box in order to get locally, a whole lot more artists would do it."

Forge also talked about the fact that the final two shows on this year's "Skeletour" were filmed for future release. After's GHOST's September 23 concert in Mexico City was canceled due to Tobias having food poisoning, the band's two performances at the 20,000-capacity Palacio De Los Deportes on September 24 and September 25 were shot on 16mm film "for the rest of the world to see at some point". Forge said: "We did film it with old-fashioned reel, film roll, which, in turn, obviously you have to process them and you have to put together an edit, which is time consuming. Right now we're currently in a sort of a little break, and even though I'm doing other things as well, we're gonna start looking at the edit. But once you start to piece together the actual order of clips, basically, there's this whole slew of production that needs to be done in order for it just to look normal. So, what I learned with the process of making [GHOST's 2024 concert film] 'Rite Here Rite Now' was that it takes a lot longer than you think."

Forge continued: "We ended up fluffing the filming slightly because originally we had three nights in Mexico and one fell through, which essentially meant that we lost 33% of the material that we hoped to get, which, obviously, it was a great shame that the show didn't happen, but for us, since the film project, it was very, very annoying that we lost a third of the shoot. So once we put together an edit towards the end of the year, something like that, we're gonna try to watch the whole thing as objectively as we can and then try to figure out, like, do we need something else in it? Because, to me, it's very important that we don't end up making 'Rite Here Rite Now 2'. It's another film and it's not the same thing. It's not an extension of that. It's a different thing. So I need to be wary of how do we make this feel different yet capturing, obviously, the show and the tour and what people saw or didn't see. But anyway, we're doing stuff in 2026 as well. So, I'm assuming, and I'm gonna be realistic saying that [it will] probably [be released in] '27."

This past August, GHOST completed the U.S. leg of the "Skeletour" in support of the group's sixth studio album, "Skeletá", which came out in April. Marking a bold evolution in GHOST's live performances, the tour was the band's most theatrical and cinematic production yet. Designed by creative director Tobias Rylander and Forge, the tour embraced a grander and more ambitious scale than ever before.

The set design was a striking blend of gothic symbolism and brutalist architecture, melding the ornate drama of cathedrals with the stark lines of modernist concrete forms. Inspired by brutalist cathedrals across Europe, the stage transformed into a sanctum of dark majesty: part sacred temple and part rock coliseum.

At the core of the design was the "Grucifix" — GHOST's reimagined crucifix inspired by their iconic logo. Suspended above the band, this colossal structure functioned as both a visual centerpiece and a dynamic lighting rig, casting an ethereal glow over the stage.

Rylander's design included sculptural scenic facades on the lighting pods, echoing the textures and verticality of cathedral interiors, further reinforcing the ecclesiastical themes central to GHOST's identity.

The lighting leans into a retro-rock aesthetic, with visual nods to classical QUEEN and VAN HALEN. The tour also represented a milestone for the band as it's the first time a full-scale video production led by Rylander and video director Amir Chamdin. With video content by Green Wall Designs, the creative direction transcended the physical stage, evolving into a fully immersive multimedia experience.

In keeping with the show's theatricality, the stage itself had been engineered to perform as much as the artist. Multiple elevated performance platforms, mechanical lifts, and concealed entrances are strategically placed to accommodate dramatic reveals and character transitions. A living, breathing cathedral of performance, "Skeletour" redefined the GHOST live experience, where sacred architecture collides with the raw energy of rock and roll.

Renowned for his work across live music world tours, fashion, theatre and art installations, Rylander has collaborated with artists such as Beyoncé, THE 1975, Childish Gambino, Chappell Roan, The XX and FKA Twigs. "Skeletour" marks his first creative partnership with the Grammy Award-winning band, bringing a new dimension to GHOST's already-iconic stage presence.

The European leg of GHOST's 2025 world tour kicked off on April 15 in Manchester, United Kingdom and concluded on May 24 in Oslo, Norway. The North American leg of GHOST's 2025 tour launched on July 9 in Baltimore, Maryland and wrapped up on August 16 in Houston, Texas.

Through the use of technology like Yondr, fans are able to place their phones in a pouch that unlocks only after they leave the no-cell-phone zone. The pouch can also be unlocked at specific cell phone stations inside the venue.

Phones, Apple watches and other communication devices are placed in the pouch and sealed using a magnetized lock, which can be opened with an unlocking base.

This past May, "Skeletá" landed at position No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 86,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the LP's first week of release. According to Billboard, 89% of that figure (77,000) consisted of traditional album sales, with vinyl purchases accounting for over 44,000 copies. Notably, "Skeletá" was the first hard rock album to reach the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 since AC/DC's "Power Up" in 2020.

The music video for the LP's first single, "Satanized", introduced the new character who is fronting GHOST for its 2025 touring cycle: Papa V Perpetua.

Forge performed as a "new" Papa Emeritus on each of the band's first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of 2018's "Prequelle". In March 2020, at final show of GHOST's "Prequelle" tour in Mexico City, Mexico, the band officially introduced Papa Emeritus IV, the character who fronted the act for its "Impera" (2022) album phase.