Frontiers Music Srl recently welcomed Zelbo to the label's roster. Zelbo is a new melodic rock band/project masterminded by Norwegian keyboard player Dag Selboskar. Their debut album, In My Dreams will be released on December 10.


Listen to the song "Phoenix Rising" below, and pre-order/save In My Dreams here.


Dag is an experienced musician who debuted with the band Da Vinci, with whom he recorded and released two acclaimed albums, Da Vinci (1987) and Back In Business (1989) for Polygram Records. In 1992, the band stopped touring and went on a prolonged hiatus, which ended in 2017 with the release of their comeback album Ambition Rocks. Over the years, Dag kept busy working with Trine Rein, Street Legal, and Eidsivating before deciding to take up a solo project, Zelbo.




Dag enlisted the services of his longtime friend Ken Ingwersen, a guitar player who started his career in the mid 80’s working for Evenrude and later on played with Rags and Street Legal, before joining on a more permanent basis Ken Hensley's (Uriah Heep) band. Vocalist Frode Vassel on vocals and drummer Sturla Nostvik, who are both extremely gifted and experienced musicians, round out the line-up.


Zelbo's debut album is Scandinavian AOR of the highest order, which will certainly make all Da Vinci, Work Of Art, classic Europe, and the like fans extremely happy.





Tracklisting:


"In My Dreams"
"Fortune & Fame"
"Phoenix Rising"
"Head’s Down"
"Wild Young And Free"
"Get Up Get Over It"
"Beautiful Flyaway"
"Next Flight To Venus"
"Small Town Girl"
"Waiting For The End"
"Every Little Thing"


"Phoenix Rising":





"Fortune And Fame" video:





Lineup:


Dag Selboskar - Keys
Ken Ingwersen - Guitars
Frode Vassel - Vocals
Sturla Nøstvik - Drums


Special guest:
Aslak Johan Johnsen - Bass

Robert Mason has once again said that Jani Lane was "in a very dark place" before his final exit from WARRANT.

Lane recorded several albums with WARRANT in late 1980s and early 1990s but left the group several times. The band's seventh studio LP, "Born Again", was released in 2006 and featured Jaime St. James as the lead singer. In 2008, Lane returned to WARRANT temporarily and toured with the group. In September that year, WARRANT announced that Jani had left again. The band replaced him with Mason and released its eighth studio album, "Rockaholic", in 2011.

Speaking to Wasting Time With Jason Green about how Jani's last split from WARRANT came about, Mason said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "They told Jani he was better off probably staying off the road, because they were having a hard time keeping him sober. They hired a very expensive per-day sober coach that couldn't do it.

"It's a horrible thing," he continued. "He succumbed to all of that… He was in a very, very dark place, and the worst place for him was to be on the road. And my guys were deathly afraid of finding him not making lobby call one day and expired in a hotel on the road, and how that would look and how that would feel for them.

"So, yes, they told, 'No more WARRANT for you. Please go home and make yourself better. And maybe we'll talk about it someday. But make yourself better.'

"[After I joined WARRANT] Jani was alive and did Jani Lane solo shows for a little bit. He put a band together with a lot of the usual suspects, guys he would use, and really great players. But he was just not the same guy and not in the same place."

Lane died in August 2011 at age 47. Paramedics found his body in a Comfort Inn motel room in Woodland Hills, California, which is near Los Angeles. Lane had battled alcohol abuse for years.

Reflecting on how he found out about Jani's death, Robert said: "I think it was us and the SLAUGHTER guys, we were all having dinner at a steak joint somewhere in the middle of the country doing a gig, and everybody's phone just buzzed — it seemed [like it happened] all at once. It was kind of rare for us — all band and crew; everybody — after flying in, we were all sitting around the table, with appetizers, waiting for entrees to show up, and all of sudden, everybody's phones just blew up. And it was that horrible look. I remember somebody looking and going [opens his eyes wide]. And I know they thought to themselves, 'This is what this is,' and they were dead right. We all picked up the phone, and we were, like, 'Did you just hear…?' 'Yeah, I just got a text from so-and-so.' 'I just missed a phone call from six people.'"

According to Mason, Lani's passing didn't come completely unexpectedly to him and the rest of WARRANT. "Clearly, it's not anything that anybody wanted to happen, but it was less of a surprise, I think," he said. "It wasn't as huge a shock. And that's a terrible thing to admit."

WARRANT's latest album, "Louder Harder Faster", was released in 2017 via Frontiers Music Srl. The disc was recorded with producer Jeff Pilson — a veteran bassist who has played with DIO, FOREIGNER and DOKKEN, among others — and was mixed by Pat Regan, except for the song "I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink", which was mixed by Chris "The Wizard" Collier (FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, PRONG, LAST IN LINE).

METALLICA's "performance coach" Phil Towle, a former psychotherapist who was brought into the picture in January 2001 to help James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich repair their relationship with Jason Newsted, was recently interviewed on "Speak N' Destroy", a podcast about all things METALLICA, hosted by longtime journalist and METALLICA fan Ryan J. Downey. You can now listen to the lengthy chat below.

Asked what the "common" thing is that METALLICA fans say to him when they approach him after recognizing him in public, Towle said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's really hard to say. The people that don't come up to me that are pissed off at the way that I am in the movie, there are probably a lot of those people. Nobody's trashed me directly that I can remember. But the people that ask the questions, pretty much the thing they say is they thank me for being a part of the process.

"I have such deep love and respect for the band, the guys and their families. I mean, they're just amazing human beings — every bit as sharp and as wonderful as you would imagine them to be, with their own personalities. So I love them dearly, and their families and stuff. So the memories of that experience, when somebody asks me, I know how important it is for the fans who are so dedicated, because they've been so moved by METALLICA. Just to be in a concert and watch on side stage and see people respond to them, there's a kind of loving devotion that is not… How should I say it? Sometimes you see a crowd like that being able to be grateful for its capacity to be angry, or the capacity to just say, 'Fuck it.' Whatever. And I get that. But there's such a loving admiration for them. That just reinforces the force of love and how important that is.

"To see them at end of a concert, arms around each other, that's what it's all about. So the fans feel that. The music lives on because of the relationship between the fans and the passion about what METALLICA does with them and for them and METALLICA's appreciation for the fans. They're very devoted to their fans; they care deeply about their fans. And that's the kind of thing that comes up for me when somebody comes to me. It's, like, 'Wow. I'm honored that you came up to me to thank me for my participation with a revolution with some people who have changed the world.' They've drained a puss for a lot of people, given an outlet for a lot of people with their anger and frustration, but they've also spread the love."

Newsted's exit from METALLICA was documented in the band's 2004 documentary, "Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster", which followed the members of the group through the three most turbulent years of their long career, during which they battled through addiction, lineup changes, fan backlash, personal turmoil and the near-disintegration of the group while making their "St. Anger" album.

While initially helping METALLICA towards restoring band harmony, the film shows Towle attempting to increasingly insert himself into the band's creative process, submitting lyrics for the album and even attempting to join them on the road. "Some Kind Of Monster" also documented Hetfield's spiral into alcoholism and decision to check himself into a rehab facility. Hetfield's re-emergence from rehab is when the film really gets into gear, with the chief worry in his mind whether or not he could do METALLICA sober.

Last year, Ulrich told Rolling Stone magazine that METALLICA might not be around today if it weren't for Towle. "It was a difficult time with Phil," he said. "And as easy of a target as he is to make fun of, whenever I get asked about it now, I find myself defending him. He did save the band. I think you and I wouldn't be sitting here talking to each other if it wasn't for him."

He continued: "It was a very transitional, experimental time. We'd been a band for 20 years, and we realized we never had a fucking conversation about how we're feeling, what being in METALLICA is doing to everybody. It was just this fucking machine. And then Hetfield had to go away and deal with some of his issues, and then that opened up this whole thing."

In a 2004 interview with The Kansas City Star, Towle spoke about the scene toward the end of "Some Kind Of Monster" documentary where he and James and Lars get into it over Phil's continued role with the band. Asked what happened there, Towle said: "The band was going through a moment of indecision about whether to continue with me and on what terms. I needed an answer. I said I gotta know because I'm thinking about moving out here. Off camera we had talks about continuing. So I really felt a little ambushed. I felt I'd had one understanding where I'd do it part time to resolve some issues. But it was also difficult for me to think about leaving. … I was with this one client every day for almost two and a half years. We started with two- and three-hour sessions, and then when things heated up as they made the album, I was in the studio every day. I just didn't want to leave the process, the intimacy. And I thought we had a deal in place. But, you know, the thing to come out of that was Lars coming to James's support. That really cemented things between them."

John Cooper, the frontman and bassist for the Grammy-nominated Christian rock band SKILLET, has offered a surprisingly strong defense of Dave Chappelle amid the uproar over the comedian's Netflix special.

Critics have decried "The Closer" as "dangerously transphobic" over several of Chappelle's jokes, specifically around the "thin skin" of trans people and the effects of so-called "cancel culture." Transgender writer-producer Jaclyn Moore said she would no longer work for Netflix while the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights group dedicated to the empowerment of the black LGBTQ community, asked the streaming service to remove the special from the platform.

Cooper addressed the controversy surrounding "The Closer" during a brand new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station. After confirming that he has seen Chappelle's special, John said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I have thought for a decade Dave Chappelle is the funniest man alive. And I don't say that because he never offends me. [Laughs] I'm guessing that me and Dave Chappelle don't agree on a whole lot of stuff. He says plenty of offensive things about Christianity or about every race — white, black, Asian; anything you want — Dave Chappelle goes after 'em. I think that's why he's funny. I just think he's outrageously hilarious. That's not to say that I'm not offended. But he's hysterical.

"I've gotta be honest, and I know that we're in a time that everything that you say is going to make somebody hate your guys," he continued. "I don't wanna make anybody hate me, but I personally love — I love what he's saying. I should say I love what he's standing up for. And this is coming from somebody… Like I say, I'm a Christian. There are things that I will not watch because I find them offensive. But I have never called for someone to not have the platform, to be censored or something of that nature. Now, talking about actual violence is a whole another… that's a whole another thing, okay? I'm talking about actual violent talk. But in terms of things that we just say that's too offensive to say, that is not going to make for a freer country. That is going to make for a tyrranical… It's very puritanical. And we've also had puritan tyranny, as we saw in the Salem witch trials where you had this psychotic madness coming, all these Christian people to start going out hunting for witches. We don't want that. And that's kind of my own people, if you will. When I say 'my own people,' I don't mean that I am a witchhunter, but I hope that makes sense. Those were Christians doing things they shouldn't be doing. We don't want that. But we also don't want this new puritanism that says that you can't say something from an ideological perspective, from a political perspective, from a religious perspective. We don't want that. That is gonna create a culture where people are afraid to talk."

Cooper added: "And so I actually am very supportive of Dave Chappelle. Whether he offends me or not, I'm supportive of what he's saying. I'll tell you someone else I support that says a lot of things I agree with who also hates — I don't mean he hates Christians, but he hates Christianity, is [comedian and television host] Bill Maher. I agree with Bill Maher all the time, and I have for a decade. He says tons of things I disagree with, but he says lots of things that I think are poignant and interesting, and I don't want him canceled. No matter how much he thinks religion is stupid, I like hearing what he has to say, and I appreciate that I think that he thinks that I should have the ability to say what I wanna say."

SKILLET will release its new studio album, "Dominion", on January 14, 2022 via Atlantic.

In various interviews over the years, Cooper has said that he "always had faith in God" and that his mother was a "Jesus fanatic." He also claimed that he was willing to put his career on the line to take a stand for Christ.

KROKUS frontman Marc Storace will release his first-ever solo album, "Live And Let Live", next month. To coincide with the LP's arrival, Marc and his solo band, dubbed simply STORACE, will embark on a three-date tour of his home country of Switzerland, where he will perform songs from the album as well as classic tracks spanning his entire career.

In a new interview with Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon from Canada's The Metal Voice, Storace said about how his solo album came about (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Twenty years ago, I wrote the title song of the album, 'Live And Let Live'. 'Live And Let Live' was written with this guitar player who was a neighbor of mine. I used to go over to his place, a little studio, on cold or rainy days and icy days. We spent hours writing songs, and we came out with about 20 of 'em. And this is one of 'em which fits for the album. And it's the opener; it's gonna be the live opener. It's a great song.

"Anyway, so many years later, we did the [KROKUS] reunion, and I've been busy with KROKUS," he continued. "And as soon as lockdown started, I first did some stuff which I put on YouTube and Facebook, some karaoke stuff which I found. I did duets with my daughter, Giuliana. After that phase with Giuliana, I kind of fell in a hole of the lockdown boredom, and I thought, 'No way. I'm gonna get creative.' I opened my drawer [and out came] a pile of lyrics — bits and pieces, leftovers, new stuff. And I thought, 'Well, I've got enough material. And I need a guitar player.'

"This guy I got in touch with, he's in Newcastle, in England," Marc added. "We started communicating about ideas — he'd send me ideas, and I'd send him feedback, and I'd fit lyrics and build songs and stuff. So we built quite a few. And then I already went in contact with a couple of musicians whom I got to know when I was doing this big event, film series for television in 2019. And this thing came out during lockdown. But while we were filming this, I also started thinking, 'Well, we're on a farewell tour, and I don't really wanna stop.' And this thing came out during lockdown, which helped reduce the boredom, and in between I was writing songs. And then I got to know these two other guys — a drummer and rhythm guitarist — and they also produced the whole music side of [the TV series]. And they asked me during the filming stuff, in between, 'You should do a solo album now. It's gonna be over with KROKUS. What are you gonna do?' I said, 'I don't know yet. It's not over until it's over. And I'm still enjoying it. So I'm not thinking that far. I'm taking it — carpe diem. Day by day.' Cause you never know what tomorrow brings. And too much planning sometimes you're doing for nothing. Overthinking is unhealthy anyway.

"So, anyway, I came to that point. And then I called them. I said, 'Guys, you wanna do it? 'Cause I really enjoyed working with you.' … So we started. And at the end of last year, they already sent me two ideas, and at the beginning of this year, they sent me some more. And I got busy working, working, and we did demos and stuff. And here we are — it's ready. It's all recorded, and it's in the mix."

Asked about the musical direction of his solo album, Marc said: "It's energetic, heavy, melodic hard rock. And there's also a couple of ballads. I'm a singer — we love ballads. And then there's something out of the ordinary — it's a blues song, which is not the typical blues song. It's something I saw as a challenge. When they sent me that music, I thought, 'What? It doesn't really fit.' But then I thought blues is always inside the rock family — a body of rock always has blues in there, as opposed to jazz maybe, although that's also integrated sometimes. And then there's this one song — I think it's gonna be the last one on the album — which is quite acoustical and more light-hearted.

"I'm saying it's great, because I've worked for it and I'm emotionally involved with it," he continued. "But people around us and around me have been telling me I'm on the right track, and the results are good. So, now I'm nervous and excited for the release date."

KROKUS released a new CD/DVD, "Adios Amigos Live @ Wacken", this past February.

Back in April 2020, KROKUS was forced to postpone its last-ever concerts in USA and Canada due to the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping the globe. The 13-date trek was originally scheduled to kick off at Canton Hall in Dallas, Texas on September 18, 2020 and conclude at Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California on October 10, 2020.

Back in September 2018, KROKUS announced that it was going to embark on a farewell tour dubbed "Adios Amigos" before calling it a day. At the time, they said their final show would take place on December 7, 2019 at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland. However, in June 2019, Storace posted a message on Facebook indicating that the band would play additional concerts beyond the Zurich date.

When KROKUS first announced its decision to embark on a farewell tour, the band explained in a statement: "KROKUS shows have always been special and should stay that way. That's why we decided to stop when it's still really good. That's how the fans should remember us."

Drum legend Mike Portnoy (NMB, The Winery Dogs, ex-Dream Theater) recently guested on 22 Now, hosted by Twisted Sister bassist Mark Mendoza. During the livestream chat, Portnoy looked back on his musical influences growing up


Portnoy: "What made me want to be the type of drummer that I became - I saw The Who's The Kids Are Alright (1979); hey put out the movie right after Keith had died. I had already been listening to The Who for 10 years, I grew up listening to 'Tommy' and 'Who's Next,' and all that stuff, but back then, as you know, we didn't have VHSs and DVDs, so I hadn't seen Keith with my own eyes until The Kids Are Alright came out.


I went to the movie theater to see it, and from the very opening number when they come out and do 'My Generation' and Keith blows up his drum kit, and Pete (Townshend) smashes his guitar. I couldn't take my eyes off of Keith. I was like, 'Not only do I want to be a drummer, but I want to be a drummer like that...' where you can't take your eyes off of him. Like he's playing lead drums, and so that was that moment for me where I was like 'I want to do that, I want to be a drummer like that.' I love Ringo (Starr / The Beatles), I love Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones), I love John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), but Keith had that personality. He was captivating and he did everything like a lead instrument. Sadly, that's why we lost him so young and so early.




"I was motivated by that, and then later on, Lars Ulrich had a big influence on me. Not for drumming, but because he was the drummer in the band that was also the leader of the band. You could tell that he had a lot to do with their creative direction, and the songwriting, and obviously the fan club and the merchandise, so he inspired me as well.


Seeing a drummer play the lead role, and that was kind of what my role in Dream Theater was for all those years - 25 years with Dream Theater. So I kind of was modeling myself between Keith Moon, Neil Peart, and Lars Ulrich, and somewhere in between is what came out like me."


Watch the complete livestream via Facebook here.

GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge spoke to Matt Pinfield of 95.5 KLOS's "New & Approved" show about the influence of punk rock on his band's musical and lyrical approach. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "If you get the best of punk rock 1977 to 1980, a lot of those 'hits' are the sort of music that I grew up listening to with my brother. He was also a very, very big fan of most things. He would also rave about how cool THE DAMNED were at the time, and then he would put on the EURYTHMICS and then he would put on a RAINBOW record. And that definitely rubbed off on me. I guess everything is sort of within the rock genre — just rock and pop.

"One band that actually I like a lot that I don't think people mention a lot but that also was a big influence on me and I feel close to in terms of wittiness as well as the sort of melodic language and humor was THE DICKIES," he continued. "'Dawn Of The Dickies' is one fucking bomb of a record; that's so good. In my old band, we used to play 'Infidel Zombie', a cover of that. I don't think people notice, but 'Dawn Of The Dickies', you can hear a lot of GHOST in there — or the other way around; you can a lot of DICKIES in GHOST. But people don't notice it for some reason. But the melodic language…

"Another melodic band that I also take a lot of influence off of — people don't seem to pay attention to that either — is BAD RELIGION. Musically, lyrically, but also the vocal harmonizing and all that is also very… the latter part of the '80s and early '90s BAD RELIGION. So, a lot of my singing sort of comes off of singing their songs.

"I think that a lot of the punk elements of my writing and my background might not be in super focus when I speak about music because it's not that apparent," Forge added. "But I think a lot of the humoristic element of writing — if that makes sense — comes from the punkish attitude. And also my way of singing that is, obviously, debated if it's metal or not. No — it's punk. I sing like a lot of punk bands. I sing a lot like a lot of the punk bands that I like."

In September, GHOST released a new single titled "Hunter's Moon" which is featured in the latest blockbuster installment of the legendary film franchise "Halloween Kills". The "Halloween Kills" soundtrack arrived on October 15 via Sacred Bones, with the film hitting theaters (and Peacock) the same day as well.

Produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace, GHOST's "Hunter's Moon" plays as the "Halloween Kills" end credits roll, and will be released January 21, 2022 as a collectible seven-inch single by Loma Vista Recordings. "Hunter's Moon" can be streamed, purchased, and/or pre-ordered in its vinyl incarnation. The retail version of the seven-inch will feature the special B-side "Halloween Kills (Main Title)", performed, produced and engineered by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

"Hunter's Moon" features OPETH's Fredrik Åkesson on guitar and THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES founder Martin Hederos on the piano. Producer Max Grahn and "A Ghoul Writer" are listed as the song's composers and lyricists.

The official music video for the infectious first new track from GHOST since 2019's "Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic" was directed by Amanda Demme.

Also two months ago, GHOST announced a 26-date co-headlining U.S. arena tour with VOLBEAT and special guests TWIN TEMPLE, coming to cities including Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix.

In March 2020, at final show of GHOST's "Prequelle" tour in Mexico City, Mexico, the band officially introduced Papa Emeritus IV, the new character who will front the act for its next LP phase.

Forge performed as a "new" Papa Emeritus on each of the band's first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of 2018's "Prequelle".

In a new interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, DJ Ashba was asked what his favorite memory is from his time with GUNS N' ROSES. The guitarist responded: "There are so many memories from that six, seven years. I think the biggest memory, when I think back on those days, it's just how probably misunderstood Axl [Rose, GUNS N' ROSES singer] is. He's just — to me; I can't speak for other people — but he's just one of the fucking coolest guys to hang out with. When he's your friend — he has a very tight circle, but when you kind of gain his trust and are in that circle — you couldn't find a better fucking dude. He's just a cool fucking dude. And we had a ton of fun — on stage and even more fun off stage."

Asked if he still keeps in touch with Rose, Ashba said: "Not too much, but the minute we see each other, I'm sure there's gonna be big hugs thrown. We have so much respect for each other, I believe. I miss him. I miss him to death as my buddy. But they've been on tour. They've been nonstop busy, and I've been slammed busy, and that's kind of how this industry is. Your paths will cross one day, and it's just how it is. It's like a traveling circus. [Laughs]"

Ashba, who joined GUNS N' ROSES in March 2009 following the departure of Robin Finck, issued a statement in July 2015 saying that he was leaving GUNS N' ROSES "to dedicate myself to my band SIXX:A.M., my adoring wife and family, and to the many new adventures that the future holds for me." He later claimed that he was approached about being part of GN'R's "Not In This Lifetime" tour, but that he declined, citing his desire to pursue SIXX:A.M. full time.

Ashba previously discussed his departure from GUNS N' ROSES in a November 2016 interview with SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". He stated at the time: "Well, there [were] multiple reasons [why I left GN'R] — a couple that I won't go into — but the biggest reason was I needed to get back to my roots, back to what I really truly believed in, and that was playing songs I helped write with [SIXX:A.M. bandmates] James [Michael] and Nikki [Sixx]. We [SIXX:A.M.] have five albums out [and] we have a ten-year career together. So we did a tour, 'Modern Vintage' tour, where it was, like, nineteen shows, and that tour really changed my life and put my career back into perspective — you know, being out on the stage and connecting with the fanbase."

Ashba also once again claimed that he was asked to stay in GN'R for the "Not In This Lifetime" tour, but that he decided against it, preferring instead to pursue his own career path.

"Axl called me and he really wanted me a part of the reunion, and I turned it down," Ashba said. "I felt if Slash is coming back, that's great — that's what the fans want, and I can go off and do what I really wanna do now… And we left [off on good terms]; everything is good. And I couldn't be happier for the fans out there. I'm a fan. Half of the band reunited, which excites me, but at the same time, it's the best of both worlds — I get to do what I really love to do, and that's play in SIXX:A.M."

Only Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan from GN'R's "Appetite For Destruction"-era lineup are taking part in the band's current reunion. They are being joined by keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus and drummer Frank Ferrer. Also appearing with them is second keyboardist Melissa Reese.

Four years ago, former GUNS N' ROSES bassist Tommy Stinson said that he found it "funny" that Ashba "made such a big deal about" quitting the band at a time when "there wasn't really anything going on" with the group. Stinson, who was in GUNS N' ROSES from 1998 until 2014, told HardrockHaven.net: "[DJ] called me up on the phone and told me that he was gonna quit, you know, and this that and the other thing… [It] seemed like it was kind of inevitable that there was going to be a reunion happening, so I think he… I don't know if he [laughs] tried to get in front of the curve to, you know, drum up some extra fucking press for himself. I don't really know what the deal was, but I thought it odd. I thought it an odd time to make a big stink about quitting, you know?"

Last fall, Ashba released a couple of singles from his ASHBA project, which mixes his rock guitar with electronic music in what he previously described as the "perfect blend of rock and EDM."

L.A. GUNS' Phil Lewis has weighed in on Vince Neil's disastrous comeback performance at an Iowa festival six months ago.

On May 29, the MÖTLEY CRÜE singer struggled to complete his solo concert at the Boone Iowa River Valley Festival in Boone. Based on fan-filmed video footage of the gig posted on YouTube, the 60-year-old rocker, who hadn't performed in more than a year and a half due to the COVID-19 pandemic, began losing his voice several songs into his set, which consisted exclusively of CRÜE classics and cover songs previously recorded by the band.

14 songs into the performance, Vince attempted to sing CRÜE's smash hit "Girls, Girls, Girls" but gave up mid-song, explaining to the crowd: "Hey, guys… I'm sorry, you guys. It's been a long time playin'. My fuckin' voice is gone… Eh… We love you, and we'll hopefully see you next time, man. Take care."

After Neil walked off the stage, his backing band — which still consists of bassist Dana Strum and guitarist Jeff "Blando" Bland from SLAUGHTER, along with drummer Zoltan Chaney — continued to play the song, singing along to what appeared to be pre-recorded backing vocals.

Lewis discussed Neil's return to the stage during a brand new interview with "The Bay Ragni Show". Speaking about how he has been staying in shape while off the road during the pandemic, Phil said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've got lungs — I've got lungs for days. I'm a runner, so I've always had a big lung capacity and a loud, annoying voice. So, those things have really, really served me well. And [I am regularly] on the rowing machine, getting the stamina going, because — I wouldn't say I'm in training, but not doing anything for two years, I don't wanna get shocked. I don't wanna get… Like a couple of guys who'd come out and they're halfway through their set, and they're, like, 'Oh, fuck. I'm completely out of shape. I haven't done this in so long.' Well… You saw… You know who I'm talking about. And it was pitiful to see the lead vocalist of 'The Stadium [Tour]' headliner not able to make it through fucking four songs. C'mon! As a frontman, as a singer, you have a fucking responsibility to step it up, especially if you're that fucking big. So, no fucking sympathy from me whatsoever. It takes work. It takes discipline."

This is not the first time Lewis has bashed Neil. After CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee said in a 2020 interview that he and his bandmates tried — without success — to get Vince to sing some of the John Corabi-era MÖTLEY CRÜE material, Lewis chimed in on social media, saying that Vince "has trouble singing his own songs" and calling Neil a "total hack." The L.A. GUNS singer went on to write that he he "seen Vince live so many times" and insisted that he hates "to see people getting ripped off."

A short time later, Metal Sludge published an article headlined "L.A. Guns singer on Vince Neil's singing ability: 'Vince has Trouble Singing his Own Songs – Total Hack'", prompting Lewis to elaborate on his original comments. He wrote: "Just to be clear and in context. The subject was why doesn't Vince sing the Corabi era songs? Simple. He couldn't, doesn't have the range, power or motivation but thanks for pointing out [Vince] has sold more albums and tickets than me, Has a much bigger bank account and a gorgeous trophy wife so yes given those facts Vince must be a much better singer than I could ever be. Darn! There goes another MÖTLEY tour."

He added, "While we're on the subject. Somber Anniversary VN. Fuck you for killing my friend", apparently referring to the fact that Neil caused the tragic car accident in December 1984 that killed his passenger, HANOI ROCKS drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley.

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

Two months ago, Vince revealed that he was trying out a new toning machine in an apparent effort to get in shape for "The Stadium Tour". The singer said he was using Emsculpt Neo, a revolutionary new treatment which supposedly builds muscle and reduces fat using both radio frequency and high-intensity electromagnetic energies.

In December 2019, CRÜE manager Allen Kovac told Fox Business that "some of" the bandmembers had enlisted outside help to get in shape for the trek. Kovac was referring to criticism of Neil for his supposed diminished singing ability and weight gain, as well as the health status of guitarist Mick Mars, who has been dealing with a chronic form of arthritis that led him to undergo a hip replacement.

Kovac explained: "Some of them are working with a trainer, some of them are working with a nutritionist to make themselves the best they can be. The greatest insecurity for an artist is: Is anyone going to care about my music? Is anyone going to buy a ticket? We were in November [2019] when the discussions were happening, and these guys were already into regimens of how they get ready for a tour."

Speaking specifically about Neil, Kovac added: "Let's see what Vince sings like and looks like when the tour goes out." MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx also said last year that Vince was "killing it" while working with "trainers" and "nutritionists" in preparation for "The Stadium Tour".

During a recent appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation L.A. Invasion", Nikki Sixx discussed the fact that GUNS N' ROSES apparently once considered recording a cover version of the early MÖTLEY CRÜE song "Stick To Your Guns". The CRÜE bassist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "After we took them out on tour, and they first put out 'Welcome To The Jungle', or was it 'Sweet Child O' Mine', I remember going to the Rainbow [in West Hollywood], and I saw Axl [Rose, GN'R singer] there. And he jumped up and he said 'hi' and 'thanks for the tour. Thanks for the tour because now MTV is gonna play 'Sweet Child O' Mine'.' It really gave 'em a shot. And I was super stoked for those guys. And then he kind of told me he always loved that song 'Stick To Your Guns' and had thought about covering it in GN'R. That's pretty cool to hear, that those guys thought that was cool. And that song's got its own little life, so to speak."

Back in 2016, Sixx told Neon Sunsets that he didn't know Rose "that well. I mean, I knew him a bit in the '80s when [GUNS N' ROSES] opened for MÖTLEY CRÜE," he said. "He was always sweet to me. He was always kind of shy and respectful. And I'm happy for him [now that he is reunited with Slash and Duff McKagan]. He looks happy. He looks healthy. He missed doing what he's doing right now, and I'm sure having Slash and Duff by his side feels really good. So it's badass. Good for him. And good for Slash and Duff too. Good for the fans."

In his "The Heroin Diaries" memoir, Sixx wrote that Tom Zutaut, the former Geffen Records executive who signed GUNS N' ROSES to a record deal in 1986, told him in 1987 that he was "being considered" to produce GN'R's debut album, "Appetite For Destruction". Sixx added: "I went to see them play at the Roxy, but I didn't think they were all that great. The truth is that I was so out of it that I had no idea who was any good and who wasn't. Fuck, at the time the most I would have been able to do as producer would have been pressing 'play' on the tape machine."

A few years ago, Sixx said that GUNS N' ROSES' "Welcome To The Jungle" was one of his top five favorite 1980s tracks. "I always loved that song because the energy of it," he said. "I like the way the vocal lays in and it has this nice swagger to it. But I think really was a defining moment for GUNS N' ROSES.

"We love GUNS N’ ROSES," he added. "The guys would come hang out at my house in Los Angeles. We took them out on tour and they opened for us for a leg of the tour. It was really great because they were really green and they were really raw and they had just finished recording their first record. I felt good for us for turn our audience on to a new band."

"Stick To Your Guns" was the A side of MÖTLEY CRÜE's debut single, which was released in May 1981 via the band's own label Leathür Records.

Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) and The Players Club / Mascot Label Group recently announced the release of a new seasonal offering titled 'TWAS. Gilbert’s 17th solo album features a dozen recordings, two of which are new, original compositions.


Paul talks about the new album in an interview with MyGlobalMind's Robert Cavuoto, where he also talks about the late, great Eddie Van Halen.


Robert Cavuoto: You came up with the idea of using a drill on the guitar, and then Eddie Van Halen borrowed from it. What were your feelings about that?

Paul Gilbert: "I thought I was dreaming. It was so odd. Any contact with Eddie was odd as he was such a hero of mind. He was a kind of superhuman to me as a kid. I saw every Van Halen show from 1979 to 1984 in Pennsylvania.  I was the kid in the audience with the binoculars watching his fingers. He was such a star. So having any kind of association was like speaking to a spirit from another world. I don’t think I was on his radar. I don’t think he was reading a guitar magazine and said, “Paul is using a drill; I’ll use it too!” I think he just had one in his studio and decided to make pretty some noise. I think it was sort of a coincidence but an unusual one. I was shocked and wonderful that I can be associated with the guy in any way."


Read the full interview at MyGlobalMind.


The global release date for 'TWAS on digital and CD is November 26. The LP will follow on December 10th. Pre-order here.


Gilbert shares: "Many will agree that in recent times, challenging events have been pouring down upon our heads like an Exploding Waterfall of Molasses. At least it sometimes feels like that to me.  But while I was jamming Christmas songs with my friends, playing an assortment of red, green, and white Ibanez electric guitars, I felt like life was THE BEST.  I hope that this music can put a smile on your face as well.  


"Ten of the songs are classics. I was inspired by the Christmas recordings of Nat King Cole, Loretta Lynn, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Ella Fitzgerald, and The Ventures. And of course, inspiration came from my guitar heroes, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Lifeson, Johnny Winter, Robin Trower, Frank Marino, Pat Travers, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page, to name a few. I also wrote some of my own new Christmas songs. As I have been doing recently, I begin with lyrics and a melody. Then I let my guitar take over, as it sings better than I do."


He continues. "'Three Strings For Christmas' refers to the 3-string guitar that I used on my double-neck. I tune the strings in octaves, which allows me to play ridiculously fast arpeggios, and very little else (which is why I have a normally strung guitar for the other neck.) 'Every Christmas Has Love' was written quickly, inspired by my panic-driven mental state of album making. When I know that the recording sessions are coming, my brain shifts into survival mode, and melodies start popping out. Then I take all the chords I learned by listening to 70s AM radio, and build a song. The lyrics are nice too. I'll be printing those in the liner notes of the album. Merry Christmas to all. And to all, a good night."


Gilbert formed a band of Portland, Oregon's finest jazz and blues musicians for these sessions. The players are Dan Balmer (guitar), Clay Giberson (keyboards), Timmer Blakely (bass), and Jimi Bott (drums). He reflects, “All brought supreme musical goodness to these arrangements and performances. They certainly steered me to make wiser musical choices than I would have made on my own. And as you will hear, my metal guitar instincts still breathe fire when they get the chance.” The album was recorded in Jimi Bott's studio, who also engineered and mixed the recordings. The approach was to record two songs every day, for six days, delivering the collected body of work.  


Gilbert: "All songs were recorded live, although I think Jimi snuck some cowbell overdubs in. If anything should be added to a live track, I believe cowbell is the right choice."





Tracklist:


"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"
"Frosty the Snowman"
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
"The Christmas Song"
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
"I Saw Three Ships"
"Every Christmas Has Love"
"Three Strings for Christmas"
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas"
"Silver Bells"
"Winter Wonderland"


“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” video:





(Top photo - Jennifer Bartram-Schmitt)

Atmospheric black metallers, Ghost Bath, have released their fourth full-length album, Self Loather, via Nuclear Blast Records. With the album, the band closes out the trilogy - tragedy, ecstasy, and dread/hatred - and hosts their most devastating and dark music to date.


Today, the band releases a drum playthrough for "Flickering Wicks Of Black". Watch below:







Order your copy of Self Loather here. Save the album here.





Self Loather tracklisting:


"Convince Me To Bleed"
"Hide From The Sun"  (Feat. CJ McMahon Of Thy Art Is Murder)
"Shrines Of Bone"
"Sanguine Mask"
"Crystal Lattice"
"Sinew And Vein" (Feat. Graf Of Psychonaut 4)
"I Hope Death Finds Me Well"
"For It Is A Veil"
"Unbearable"
"Flickering Wicks Of Black"


"A Crystal Lattice" visualizer:





"Hide From The Sun" visualizer:





"Convince Me To Bleed" video:





Ghost Bath is:


Dennis Mikula - Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Synths, Lyrics
Tim Church - Guitar
John Olivier - Guitar
Josh Jaye - Bass
Jason Hirt - Drums

TRIVIUM opened for METALLICA at the heavy metal giants' "intimate" concert on November 4 at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Tickets for the 7,000-seat-theater show went on sale on July 30 and quickly sold out. Speaking to El Cuartel Del Metal about how the Orlando metallers landed the opening slot at the METALLICA gig, TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy said: "It was Sunday afternoon [four days before the show]. I think we were just about to watch a movie with the kids. And I got an e-mail from our manager. He's, like, 'METALLICA asked if you can be available for this Thursday.' We were, like, 'Yes. Yes, we can. Let's do everything we can.' But we had to keep it quiet 'cause it wasn't fully confirmed yet. It didn't get confirmed until, I think, 30 minutes before we started driving down to South Florida. So we had to get our crew back down to Florida, get our gear back together, rehearse again. Luckily, we all rehearse so much individually, it's not like we're ever sloppy; it's not like we take time off. So we were ready to go. And we made it happen. We got down there. We weren't able to say 'hey' [to the guys METALLICA], but METALLICA left us an amazing handwritten letter and gave us a box of [METALLICA's] Blackened [whiskey]."

He continued: "To be able to see them at a quote[-unquote] small show; I mean, a small show for them is seven thousand people. That's more people than we can do on a big show. So, to be able to watch them that close — I was able to be on the floor and watch them — it was incredible. They're all amazing, but [James] Hetfield's [METALLICA frontman] voice sounds better than ever. I don't know how the hell that happened, but he sounds like a better singer now than he's ever been. And it's just so amazing. The vibe was great."

Heafy added: "They're truly the greatest band in the world and [have] always been the greatest band in the world. And it's awesome that they thought of us. They were, like, 'Hey, let's get TRIVIUM down here.' For METALLICA to have an opening band, that's usually just their decision; it's whatever they wanna do. And the fact that they picked us was really cool."

Asked if TRIVIUM has ever gotten feedback from any members of METALLICA about their music, Heafy said: "Way back in 2006, we did festivals with them. I remember we'd never met them before. Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] pops his head in the dressing room. We were, like, 'Holy crap.' He starts talking to us. He said how they really liked the 'Master Of Puppets' cover we did for Kerrang! [magazine]. They obviously liked the band 'cause they brought us out. I remember they brought us, AVENGED [SEVENFOLD] and BULLET [FOR MY VALENTINE] out for a couple of off dates and they kind of looked at the three of us as the next generation of metal bands, which was really cool. They've always been complimentary. I've been able to hang out with Kirk [Hammett, METALLICA guitarist] a couple of times. Kirk took us out to an incredible sushi dinner on that tour. Kirk has taken us out to an incredible Chinese place in San Francisco years and years and years later. We've always kept good casual contact with them, and they're the kings. They've always been nothing but truly wonderful, welcoming, amazing people."

Back in April, TRIVIUM bassist Paolo Gregoletto reflected on what it was like to meet his heroes in METALLICA. Recalling the night in 2006 when he and his bandmates ended up having dinner with Kirk Hammett in Amsterdam, he told Epic Footnote Productions' "There Goes My Hero" podcast: "It was at the hotel they were staying at. It was in Amsterdam. It was at a really fancy place, and they had a fancy sushi restaurant. Kirk really loved [TRIVIUM's] 'Ascendancy' [album], and he just wanted to come out and hang out with us. So we went to dinner at that place in the hotel and pretty much just ordered everything on the menu — like, every single thing… I don't know how long we were there, but it was quite awhile. It was crazy. And then at the end, he kind of jokingly handed me the bill, like, 'Here you go.'

"It was pretty wild to just hang out with this dude," Paolo continued. "I don't even remember what we talked about; that's the craziest thing. It's almost like one of those experiences [where] you know it happened, but you don't really remember. It was like waking up from a dream and being, like, 'Wow, that was wild. What happened?' You don't remember all the details, but you know something happened."

Asked how old he was when he first discovered METALLICA's music, Paolo said: "I think it was '96 — I'm pretty sure that's when I found METALLICA. So I was probably about 11 or 12 when I discovered them. It was right when I started playing bass. I saw [METALLICA's] 'King Nothing' [video] on MTV, and I was just, like, 'That's the band. That's the coolest thing ever. And these dudes are playing in the snow, and they look cool.' At that point, all I knew was pop-punk and whatever was popular on MTV. So they were very different. And, of course, metal in the '90s — this is before I discovered PANTERA and anything like that — metal is not on MTV anymore at that point; it was starting to slowly filter out. And I wasn't watching 'Headbangers Ball', if it was even around in '96. So that was it. METALLICA was kind of flying the flag in the mainstream world, and thank God I found them, 'cause I don't know if I would've gotten into music the way I did. To me, that was what made me serious about it, like, 'Okay, I wanna play this type of music. I wanna do what these guys are doing.' And pretty much after that, that was my homework after school — was to just watch METALLICA videos and watch [METALLICA's] 'Live Shit: Binge & Purge' [concert videos] and all that stuff, and just try to emulate them with my own local band and trying to figure out how to make it work."


























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Udo Dirkschneider, the 69-year-old former ACCEPT and currrent U.D.O. vocalist, says he has no plans to retire. In a recent interview with Dead Rhetoric 's Matt Coe in support of U.D.O.'s 17th studio album, "Game Over", the legendary German frontman was asked how he sees heavy metal evolving and what improvements can be made to the genre.

"I'm still enjoying the whole thing," he said. "Thank god I was quite busy during the pandemic. I did a lot of work — the 'We Are One' album with the orchestra, the live album for the Bulgaria show, DIRKSCHNEIDER & THE OLD GANG with that EP, and the 'Game Over' album. I still enjoy what I am doing. I have a lot of people asking me when I am thinking about retiring. No, come on — this is nothing for me. As long as I'm healthy and my voice is working, we can tour worldwide and there is no reason to stop."

In early 2019, Udo ignored his doctor's advice and performed live with U.D.O. According to a statement from the band, Udo had pain in his left knee and couldn't walk "at all" for a longer period. Udo was seen using a walking cane during the ensuing dates.

"Game Over" was released on October 22 via AFM Records.

Last year, U.D.O. collaborated with Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr, the military band of the German federal armed forces, on an album called "We Are One", which was released in July 2020 via AFM Records/Soulfood Music.

U.D.O.'s current lineup includes Udo's son and drummer Sven Dirkschneider, bassist Tilen Hudrap and guitarists Andrey Smirnov and Dee Dammers.

Udo's DIRKSCHNEIDER & THE OLD GANG project, in which he is joined be fellow former ACCEPT members Peter Baltes (bass) and Stefan Kaufmann (guitar), recently released a new single and video, "Every Heart Is Burning".

DIRKSCHNEIDER & THE OLD GANG, which is rounded out by Udo's son Sven Dirkschneider (drums), Manuela Bibert (vocals) and Mathias Dieth (guitar), issued its debut single, "Where The Angels Fly", in September 2020. A second single, "Face Of A Stranger", followed in April. On August 27, all three songs were released as the "Arising" CD, a 12-inch vinyl and a downl

Power metallers Gaia Epicus have revealed the cover art for their final album, Illumination, due to be released in 2022. The cover painting was done by Adam Brown, the same artist who did the cover for their Seventh Rising album.


Here are the four of the song titles that will be featured on the album: “Fly With The Eagles”, “Afterlife”, “IllumiNation”, “Soul Eater”.







As stated earlier this year, The Migthy Wizard will be retiring from his duties as SATRAP (Guardian Of The Land) in 2023.


Gaia Epicus released their first album back in 2003 and this final album will be studio album number 8.

George Lynch rejoined DOKKEN on stage on October 30 at Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois to perform three of the band's classic songs. Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

Lynch previously performed with DOKKEN in July in Ashland, Virginia and in Moline, Illinois as well as in early June at the Live United Live Music Festival in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

This past March, Lynch was asked in an interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com if there has been any talk of more shows featuring the reunited classic lineup of DOKKEN. He responded: "I've actually been talking to Don [Dokken] a little bit, and we're both in agreement that that should probably happen — meaning some kind of a meaningful reunion done in the right way, carefully and with proper preparation and time and rehearsals and not just throwing it out there like we did last time." George went on to say that "the obvious choice" to replace DOKKEN's recently retired drummer "Wild" Mick Brown would be Mick's brother Steve, who can be heard playing alongside Lynch and ex-DOKKEN bassist Jeff Pilson on the latest THE END MACHINE album, "Phase2".

In a separate interview with Alamo True Metal, Lynch reflected on the last time DOKKEN's classic lineup — Dokken, Lynch, Pilson and Mick Brown — reunited for a short Japanese tour in the fall of 2016. The trek marked the first time in 21 years the four musicians had hit the road together.

"I think I was slightly disappointed in it — not overwhelmingly disappointed, but I have some regrets," he said. "I wish we had prepared more. And I know we all feel that way. 'Cause of the logistics, we all had things we had to do right after the time we had allotted and beforehand. So we just were barely able to even pull it off with everybody else's pre-existing commitments. The fact that we got to do it at all was… you know, we were fortunate for even being able to pull it off. So we were a little underprepared, I feel. And yes, we were offered a good amount of money to go to Japan and do some other things, so it made it just kind of a no-brainer."

A DOKKEN concert DVD focusing on the band's reunion tour, "Return To The East Live (2016)", was made available in 2018. In addition to the Japanese performance, the set included footage from the classic lineup's only U.S. show in September 2016 at Badlands in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as well as newly recorded acoustic reworkings of "Heaven Sent" and "Will The Sun Rise". Also featured on "Return To The East Live (2016)" was "It's Just Another Day", the first DOKKEN track featuring the group's classic lineup since 1997's "Shadowlife".

Since completing the Japanese reunion dates, DOKKEN has continued to perform with the group's current lineup — including bassist Chris McCarvill, guitarist Jon Levin and drummer BJ Zampa (HOUSE OF LORDS).

DOKKEN is currently working on material on a new studio album, tentatively due next year via Silver Lining Music, the label owned by Thomas Jensen, one of the founders of Germany's Wacken Open Air festival. It will mark the group's first disc since 2012's "Broken Bones".

Over the past four years, Lynch has appeared on recordings by THE END MACHINE, KXM, ULTRAPHONIX and SWEET & LYNCH. He released his first-ever full-length instrumental album, "Seamless", in August via Rat Pak Records.

David Coverdale has offered an update on the proposed 30th-anniversary re-release of his collaboration with Jimmy Page. The well-received COVERDALE PAGE set was recorded in several studios on both sides of the Atlantic over the winter of 1991-92 before it was finally released in March 1993.

Coverdale discussed a possible reissue of COVERDALE PAGE's eponymously titled LP in a new interview with 107.7 The Bone's "Lamont & Tonelli". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I was very excited. Jimmy and I worked very well creatively, as you can hear, and we had another four or five songs which were unmixed. And I said, 'Jimmy, I've got all these other ideas. Let's just do a COVERDALE PAGE '2' or let's make a double album.' And sadly, his manager at the time talked him out of it, which was infuriating. However, some of those songs that I had to present to Jimmy are on [David Coverdale & WHITESNAKE's 1997] 'Restless Heart' record — two of 'em. It was 'Take Me Back Again' and 'Woman Trouble Blues'. Those were originally ideas for Jimmy and I, had we made a second album. But in 2023, it's the 30th anniversary, so look for something special. It's gonna be a lot of fun."

Coverdale previously spoke about his collaboration with Page during a February 2021 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". At the time, he said that he and Jimmy were planning a "very big, luxurious, complete box set [for] the [LP's] 30th anniversary in 2023."

As for what extra material might surface on the expanded "Coverdale Page" set, the WHITESNAKE singer said: "We've got four unreleased tracks, which just need to be mixed. But since we reconnected, I've been messing around, writing at home. And I have two ideas which could make really fun tracks — just to throw at him and 'see what you can do with this.' The way we did it before — we wrote really very potent music together.

"The other thing that I recommended to him was, 'Let's remaster the original, but I'd love you, in England, with a mixer of your choice, to do the Jimmy Page mix of the album, and I'll do the David Coverdale mix as bonus stuff,'" he continued. "And I think that'd be great. He trusts me, I trust him, and I think it would be great for the fans to get Jimmy's take on it, 'cause we did everything 50/50 on the project. It was an amazing three years together. I loved it. So, yeah, that's definitely in the pipeline."

Upon its release, "Coverdale Page" sold strongly, peaking at No. 4 on the U.K. album chart and No. 5 in the U.S. The album eventually went platinum in the U.S., despite the fact that the project as a whole was marred by the "LED ZEPPELIN clone" tag, including from ZEPPELIN frontman Robert Plant, who openly expressed his disdain for Coverdale, referring to him as "David Cover-version." Coverdale was equally vitriolic in his response, saying about the LED ZEPPELIN singer, "There's certainly no love lost between myself and Robert… I wouldn't send him cat food if he was starving."

Coverdale later apologized to Plant, saying in a 2013 interview with TeamRock Radio's "Classic Rock Magazine Show": "I hold [Plant] in the highest esteem as a human being, and as an artist, and I really would like to, you know, sit down, buy him a drink, shake hands and say: 'I'm really sorry," you know, "Can we be friends again?' I don't hold any animosity, just disappointment in myself that I took the bait and ran with some ugly things. Because it's not appropriate for somebody I respect so much."

After wrapping up a highly successful tour supporting Bullet For My Valentine and Tesseract throughout the UK, one of the best current live bands is getting ready for their own Fracture UK Tour with support coming from Ingested and Kill The Lights.


Dates:


November
23 - The Fleece - Bristol
24 - Mama Roux's - Birmingham (Low Tickets)
25 - Rebellion - Manchester (Sold Out)
26 - The Dome - London (Low Tickets)
27 - The Garage - Glasgow (Sold Out)







The band recently released their live album, Viral Hysteria, on all digital platforms. Viral Hysteria was captured during a very special production that the band set up as a virtual support slot opening up for Lamb Of God in the fall of 2020.


The band comments: “We give you, Viral Hysteria (live in 2020). It is with no shortage of excitement that we finally announce the release of our first live album, ‘Viral Hysteria’. In a year that took so much from all of us, this became one of our biggest and proudest moments as a band. Seeing the sheer number of people who tuned in worldwide to watch the show was incredible – and a reminder, just when we needed it, of exactly why we do this. We are so excited to now share the entire shows with you and see it immortalized on all platforms for everyone to enjoy.”





Viral Hysteria offers a full production headline show including the following songs:


"Night Crossing" (Live in 2020)
"Pathfinder" (Live in 2020)
"Uprising" (Live in 2020)
"Into Nothing" (Live in 2020 - Album Version)
"Afterlife" (Live in 2020)
"Cast Down" (Live in 2020)
"Fracture" (Live in 2020)
"Crown Of Misery" (Live in 2020)
"Ascend" (Live in 2020)
"Ruina" (Live in 2020)
"Alive" (Live in 2020)
"The End Of All We Know" (Live in 2020)


Check out a new video for “Pathfinder" (Live in 2020) taken from Viral Hysteria:

All Hail The Yeti have revealed a new single and video, "Headless Valley", taken from their 7-track EP, Within The Hollow Earth, set for release this coming Friday, November 12 via minusHead Records.


All Hail The Yeti frontman Connor Garrity tells us; "It’s been a long time coming and we have almost finally arrived at the date to release Within The Hollow Earth. Like so many others, Covid took so much from us and we had to push the release back 4 times. But now, with this amazing [US] tour we're on, with Jinjer and Suicide Silence, it’s the perfect moment to unleash this demon on the listeners of the metal world. This is the perfect storm! Beware!"


Watch the tripped out video for "Headless Valley", shot by director Brian Cox (Bring Me The Horizon, Hollywood Undead), below.




Garrity elaborates, “We're very excited for the release of Headless Valley, another campfire tale in the book of All Hail The Yeti. The video was a blast to shoot and turned out exactly how we wanted. Brian is a genius and totally nailed our vision!”


Within the Hollow Earth was recorded with veteran hardcore-punk producer Steve Evetts, known for the visceral and vibrant performances he wrenches out of heavy bands, such as Suicide Silence, DevilDriver, Incite, Every Time I Die and The Dillinger Escape Plan. The resulting near-album-length EP is a meditative trip into the brain.


"Within the Hollow Earth has been hiding in the shadows for almost two years, and now it is peeking through the darkness to shed light on a dim music scene,” says Garrity. “We cannot wait to unleash this on the world. The past couple years have been difficult for all of us and the excitement of releasing this has been taken away more times than I can remember. Within the Hollow Earth will offer blue skies for this bleak world. We are very proud of the work and feel very confident that it paints a perfectly beautiful picture of how horrific life can be.”


The musical terrain of All Hail The Yeti is littered with animalized urgency and menacing ire. Dig deep Within the Hollow Earth and summon the sacred spirits with All Hail The Yeti.


Pre-order/pre-save Within the Hollow Earth here.





Within the Hollow Earth tracklisting:


"Bury Your Memory"
"Headless Valley"
"Funeral Heart"
"Nidavellir"
"Cold Dead Leaves"
"Cry of the Waheela"
"The Great Dying"
"Sex Type Thing" (bonus track, limited edition CD only)


"Headless Valley" video:





"Bury Your Memory" video:





All Hail The Yeti brings together postmodern heavy metal thunder with groove-soaked visions of riff-driven power. A smattering of hardcore angst, the passion of '90s rock radio, and the classic majesty of '70s AOR. This is music that aligns with the heavy hooks of Pantera, the steady pulse of early Crowbar and the stoner grind of Acid Bath. All Hail The Yeti makes music at the extra-dimensional crossroads, where demons and myth dwell. The undying spirits of the New Jersey Devil, El Chupacabra, Sasquatch, and all lurkers of lore, stalking the night, are conjured by the band's songs. All Hail The Yeti is a unique rock group with a strong identity and sense of purpose, clawing at the blackened hearts of the strange.


All Hail The Yeti will be back in Europe in the Summer of '22. They play Wacken Open Air in August. Stay tuned for further dates in due course.


Lineup:


Connor Garritty - Vocals
Dave Vanderlinde - Guitars
Nicholas Diltz - Bass/Vocals
Ryan 'Junior' Kittlitz - Drums

Frontiers Music Srl has announced the release of Live At Sharpener's House, a special live release from Sweden's Perfect Plan on December 10. The performance was previously released in full as a video performance on YouTube, but this will be the first time it is available on streaming services and CD format.


Watch a performance of "Don't Leave Me Here Alone" below, and pre-order/save Live At Sharpener's House here.


Swedish AOR/melodic rock up-and-comers Perfect Plan have seen their star rapidly rise in the genre since they released their debut single, ‘In And Out Of Love’ in 2018. Over the course of two studio albums and one covers EP, the band has proved themselves to be musicians and songwriters of the highest quality, leaving fans with an insatiable thirst for more material. And thus it seems the ‘perfect’ time for the band to give the fans a special release to whet their appetites while they wait for more new music. Based on fan requests for a proper physical and digital release of the band’s 2020 live from the studio performance that was posted on YouTube, the band and the label decided it was time to give the full performance a proper release as a live album, so please enjoy Live At Sharpener's House.




During the pandemic lockdown of 2020, Perfect Plan got together a “live in studio” performance, which their label Frontiers released on YouTube at the end of 2020. A fun, fully plugged in performance that also includes acoustic performances of four songs, including a cover of Giant’s "Stay".


With two studio albums released thus far, Perfect Plan have established themselves as one of the very finest new wave of AOR bands currently operating, not just in Sweden, but in the world at large.


The band debuted in 2018 with their first single “In And Out Of Love,” the video for which has since gained more than one million views on YouTube. The debut album that followed, All Rise, immediately put the band on the radar of the melodic rock faithful and classified Perfect Plan as a band to “watch out for”. Their sophomore album, Time For A Miracle, was another juggernaut of AOR infused melodic hard rock that thrilled and delighted fans and showed the band easily casting off any concerns of a ‘sophomore slump’.


Perfect Plan embodies the best parts of the melodic rock genre: exceptional songwriting and skilled musicianship which highlights melody, harmony, and groove. Incredibly strong vocals and vocal arrangements, synth embellishment, killer guitar solos, and catchy refrains complete the recipe for success.





Tracklisting:


"Time For A Miracle"
"Every Time We Cry"
"Heart To Stone"
"That Was Yesterday"
"What About Love"
"Fighting To Win"
"Better Walk Alone"
"Never Surrender"
"In And Out Of Love"
"Stay" (Acoustic Version)
"Heaven In Your Eyes" (Acoustic Version)
"Nobody's Fool" (Acoustic Version)
"Don't Leave Me Here Alone" (Acoustic Version)





Lineup:


Kent Hilli - Lead Vocals
Rolf Nordström - Guitar
Leif Ehlin - Keyboards
Fredrik Forsberg - Drums
Mats Byström - Bass

Thrashing from the depths of the hot, Australian wasteland rise this molten inferno with an angry, brutal blend of heavy metal played with furious veracity and an uncompromising attack...


Killrazer have long been a fixture of the Australian metal scene and with the new album, their latest assault The Burial Begins, they return with 10 tracks of pure anger and energy and what the band thinks will appease fans of brutal thrash/ death metal. The album is out this Friday, November 12.


About the album, vocalist/guitarist Doug has this to say: “This is perfect timing for Killrazer to have released The Burial Begins! This world we live in at the moment has really put us all to the test. Killrazer feel this album suits the current climate of despair, desolation, division, mistrust and downtrodden spirits. As we all emerge from this slumber, we need to remember our energy, our spirit, our anger and our own thoughts and beliefs that we had before the world turned to chaos… it already was chaos, but just a different era! We believe this album will allow that sleeping aggression to find its’ place.”




With tracks like “Salt in the Wound”, “The Legions”, “Unleash Hell”, “Silence Your Insolence” and of course the Voivod-ish intro to the title track “The Burial Begins”, this album will suit all the old school thrashers and fans of bands like Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, alongside the Floridian brutality of early Morbid Angel, Deicide and the like. Old school thrash with some blast beats thrown in never hurt anyone, much.


Pre-order here.





Tracklisting:


"Stations Of The Cross"
"Salt In The Wound"
"Suicide Command"
"The Legions"
"Sunken"
"Seven Years"
"Unleash Hell"
"Silence Your Insolence"
"Burn In Hell" (featuring Tim Ripper Owens)
"The Burial Begins"


Teaser:

Voraath, the brutal horror-inspired extreme metal band featuring members from Nile, Xael, Rapheumets Well, Implosive Disgorgence, and Sweet Blood are unleashing their debut single, "Siren Head", with a haunting music video directed by drummer Joshua Nassaru Ward.





The track is just a preview from the otherworldly and experimental metal act based out of the Carolinas as they work on recording their forthcoming full length.




Joshua Nassaru Ward explains further: “Though most of the concept of our debut album follows a group of  “survivors” who are tasked with hunting down an inter-dimensional deity who has ravaged the earth, for this song (Siren Head) we wanted to do something “less” otherworldly and a bit more of a horror. My seven-year-old son loves watching scary stories about this creature called “Siren Head.” Come to find out that so many kids his age are infatuated by the monster, so we wanted to write our interpretation of Siren Head based on the artist Trevor Henderson. This also allowed for us some family metal/horror time!”


The music video can be viewed below. Single download and stream available here.





Coming together only this past September, Voraath features Brad Parris (Nile) on vocals and guitar, Joshua Nassaru Ward (Xael, Rapheumets Well) on drums, vocals and keys, along with Paul McBride (Implosive Disgorgence, Sweet Blood) on bass, and guitarists Daniel Presnell and Tylor Kohl. The band first began as a vessel for them as musicians to continue touring and writing.


"We wanted to explore even further integrating science fantasy, soundscapes, and metal. This will be something new bringing together emotional yet brutal music and science fantasy so we hope to appeal to both metal enthusiasts as well as those who appreciate the lore of the music." adds the band.


Transporting fans to a different world, Voraath plans to offer up both escapism and music that relates to them on a personal level. For their live performance, the band has lots of on-stage theatrics and costuming to bring the storytelling to life. It will be both intense and immersive.


Voraath is recommended for fans of death metal, black metal, and 80’s movie soundtracks.


Lineup:


Brad Parris - Vocalist, Guitarist
Joshua Nassaru Ward - Drummer/Vocals/ Keys
Tylor Kohl - Guitarist
Daniel Presnell - Guitarist, accompany instruments
Paul McBride - Bassist

Earlier today, Sabaton announced the limited-edition, live-in-concert, double-DVD/Blu-Ray, The Great Show, and The 20th Anniversary Show, both set for release on November 19 (Nuclear Blast). Both titles were filmed during the band’s 2019-2020 The Great Tour world trek, and both feature special guest performers. Tracklistings are below; pre-orders begin today and can be placed here.


The band have since premiered the official live video for "Great War", filmed at the 20th Anniversary Show at Germany's Wacken Open Air festival in 2019. Watch below:







The 20th Anniversary Show (see trailer below) is comprised of Sabaton’s jaw-dropping, two-hour headline concert filmed in front of 75,000 fans at Germany’s Wacken Open Air Festival - coincidentally, celebrating its 30th anniversary - on August 1, 2019. The Great Show, with a running time of about 90-minutes, was recorded at Sabaton’s sold-out performance at the O2 Arena in Prague on January 26, 2020. With two varied setlists chosen from the band’s extensive catalog, The Great Show and the 20th Anniversary Show, limited to 9,000 copies each, will be available as individual purchases or bundled together as The Great Show Stage Collector's Edition box set (limited to 5,000 copies), that includes a building bricks version of the Sabaton stage so fans can build their own stages.





For the greater part of the Wacken concert, Sabaton commandeered the festival’s two main stages, the side-by-side-and-connected Faster and Harder Stages, becoming the first artist in Wacken's 30-year history to utilize both stages simultaneously in this way. Vocalist Joakim Brodén, guitarists Chris Rörland and Tommy Johansson, drummer Hannes Van Dahl, and the 20-voice Great War Choir, fitted out in a variety of military uniforms, performed on the Faster Stage. At the same time on the Harder Stage, bassist Pär Sundström welcomed back previous Sabaton members Thobbe Englund and Rikard Sundén/guitars, Daniel Mÿhr/keyboards and Daniel Mulback/drums - all nine musicians, plus the choir, giving an intense and impassioned en masse performance. Sabaton was also joined by the internationally acclaimed Grammy-nominated virtuoso cellist Tina Guo for the encore. Prague’s The Great Show reunited Sabaton with Finland’s multi-Platinum cello-rockers, Apocalyptica, who provided a fiery orchestral backing to several of Sabaton’s songs.


In support of Sabaton’s most recent chart-topping album, The Great War, The Great Tour saw the band setting the barre sky-high for live rock’n’roll stage production. Both sets of discs effectively capture the visually electrifying in-concert experience that is a Sabaton show. Sabaton’s cinematic songs transport fans onto the battlefield, encountering the horrors of war as well as acts of heroism and bravery, based on historical fact and told as if through the eyes and minds of soldiers in the line of fire. For “The Great Tour,” and as seen on both of these DVD/Blu-Ray sets, Sabaton’s live stage production was forged as a battlefield, with barbed-wire stretched across the front of the stage, stacks of sandbag barricades, mic stands fashioned after the period’s rifles and trench guns, a two-ton military tank complete with a battery of rocket launchers and flame jets that doubles as a drum riser, a keyboard built into the body of The Red Baron’s iconic blood-red tri-plane, and Brodén armed with a giant bazooka. Live rock’n’roll at its finest.





The 20th Anniversary Show (Wacken) tracklisting:


"Ghost Division"
"Winged Hussars"
"Resist And Bite"
"Fields Of Verdun" (with Thobbe Englund)
"Shiroyama" (with Thobbe Englund)
"The Red Baron"
"The Price Of A Mile"
"Bismarck"
"The Lion From The North"
"Carolus Rex"
"40:1"
"The Last Stand"
"The Lost Battalion"
Drum Battle (Hannes Van Dahl vs. Daniel Mullback)
"Far From The Flame"
"Panzerkampf"
"Night Witches"
"The Art Of War"
"82nd All The Way"
"Great War"
"Attero Dominatus"


Encore:
"Primo Victoria"
"Swedish Pagans" (with Tina Guo)
"To Hell And Back" (with Tina Guo)





The Great Show (Prague) tracklisting:


"Ghost Division"
"Great War"
"The Attack Of The Dead Men"
"Seven Pillars Of Wisdom"
"The Los Battalion"
"The Red Baron"
"The Last Stand"
"Far From The Flame"
"Night Witches"
"Angels Calling" (with Apocalyptica)
"The Price Of A Mile" (with Apocalyptica)
"The Lion From The North" (with Apocalyptica)
"Carolus Rex" (with Apocalyptica)


Encore:
"Primo Victoria"
"Bismarck"
"Swedish Pagans"
"To Hell And Back"

Frontiers Music Srl recently announced the release of Swedish band The Murder Of My Sweet's new album, A Gentleman's Legacy, on December 10. Today, the band gives fans another look at the album with the release of the song, "Kill Your Darlings". Listen below, and pre-order/save A Gentleman’s Legacy here.


A Gentleman's Legacy is a concept album that, interestingly enough, picks up where the last album from Mind’s Eye, TMOMS drummer/producer Daniel Flores' prog rock band, left off with their 2007 release, A Gentleman’s Hurricane.


Joining TMOMS on guitar for this record is none other than Mike Palace, who is a big fan of the Mind’s Eye album, and on bass, Patrick Janson, who is very familiar with the prog genre having played with Platitude for several years.




"The album took about three months to write and about five months to record from start to end and is probably the longest time I have ever taken in a studio,” says Daniel Flores. "I was afraid of the time I had to take to make a worthy record not only for Mind's Eye fans, but for our amazing TMOMS fans, the fans that actually made this whole thing possible!”





As stated above, the connection between The Murder Of My Sweet and Mind's Eye is drummer, producer, and songwriter Daniel Flores. Daniel started TMOMS after Mind’s Eye released A Gentleman's Hurricane. The aforementioned record was a concept album about Adam Evangelista, a former CIA agent and hired gun who had gone rogue. Adam's story was told throughout the album via confessions to a priest, the priest that had actually raised Adam and had done him wrong with severe punishments, probably causing Adam to become the ice cold murderer he was. In the song “Ashes to Ashes (In Land Lullaby)”, Adam gets to see his daughter Pandora for the first time, a young Mexican/American who is desperately trying to find her father.


And here is where we pick up the story with the new The Murder Of My Sweet album, A Gentlemans Legacy. Pandora is now a grown woman and is going down the same road as her father, taking revenge on the ones who were giving her father Adam his orders, the infamous Illuminati, our antagonist on this new album. The album tells the story of Pandora Evangelista and her journey, facing the challenges her father had to endure and suffering the ultimate punishment: remorse, the one thing no one can escape from.


The protagonist is played by TMOMS vocalist Angelica Rylin, whose lyrics show a woman's intuition and what she would go through in such a situation, giving the character a woman's touch while collaborating with the original creator of the story, Daniel Flores. Flores was challenged to go back to his progressive roots for this album and the sound is influenced by Queensrÿche and Genesis, but with his own personal touches highlighting strong melodies and letting the music stay in line with the development of the story.


Enjoy this magnificent, and unexpected, work of art for both the music and the storytelling!





Tracklisting:


“Six Feet Under”
“A Ghost Of A Chance”
“Damnation”
“The Wheels Of Time”
“Winged”
“Kill Your Darlings”
“Fathers Eyes”
“Rise Above”
“Trick Of The Devil”
“Heads Or Tails”
“Please, Don’t Wait Up”
“Finding Closure”


“Kill Your Darlings”:





“A Ghost Of A Chance” video:

Heavy metal is a way of life that is shaped by dedication and passion. Founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger, it was exactly that passion paired with a flair for talented artists that cemented Nuclear Blast at the top of independent metal labels for over three decades.


A new chapter starts now: Under the new name Atomic Fire, the following bands will be released by Markus Staiger and serviced by a team of metal experts who share their love for heavy metal - effective immediately: Helloween (most recently ranked # 1 in the German charts), Opeth, Meshuggah, Amorphis, Michael Schenker Group, Primal Fear, Sonata Arctica, Agnostic Front, Rise Of The Northstar, as well as respective projects Silver Lake by Esa Holopainen and White Stones.


In addition to the already announced studio albums by Sonata Arctica (Acoustic Adventures - Volume One, released January 21) and Amorphis (Halo, released February 11), the first half of 2022 will also see the releases of new works by Meshuggah, the Michael Schenker Group and Rise Of The Northstar. Markus Staiger is owner and CEO of Atomic Fire GmbH.




Simultaneously, the two former Nuclear Blast employees Florian Milz and Markus Wosgien founded the label Atomic Fire Records GmbH, where they will share CEO / label management duties. Not only will they be developing new artists, but also enlisting a variety of established acts.


Collaborating under the mutual banner Atomic Fire, the goal of all parties is to strengthen the physical product, as well as drive the digital sector forward with innovative ideas and attention to detail. Atomic Fire partners with major sales experts Warner Music (GAS) and ADA (rest of the world), with the exception of Japan, where the company is licensed to Ward Records.


Additionally, the label will operate its own mail order shops in Germany/Europe, UK, Australia and North America with immediate effect. Furthermore, Atomic Fire will look after the roster of the label Reaper Entertainment, led by Florian Milz and Gregor Rothermel, featuring acts such as Tankard, Memoriam and Metal Church.


The Atomic Fire headquarters are located  in the South German town of Donzdorf, where a new record shop, and thus, a meeting point for metal fans will also be launched in the spring of 2022.


International offices and representatives are located in England (director: Dan Tobin), the USA (director: Liz Ciavarella-Brenner), Sweden (director: Darren Edwards), France (director: Olivier Garnier), Italy (director: Barbara Francone) and Spain (director: Sergi Ramos).


The new company’s staff contains the following positions: Ute Linhart (sales & merchandise), Patrick Walch and Sarah Wohlfahrt (digital), Philipp Adelsberger (press promotion & publicity), Gregor Rothermel (graphic design & product management), Timo Beisel (publishing), Thomas “Zwini” Zwirner (mailorder & wholesale), Markus Wielandt (IT & new media), Siggi Popp (accounting) and Heiko Heike/Zimmermann & Decker (legal affairs). Mat Sinner (senior consultant), Achim Köhler (A&R) and Iris Bernotat (product management & promotion) are providing consulting support.


Atomic Fire Records announces its first signings today: The young Icelandic power metal force Power Paladin, whose anthemic debut album With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel has already taken the media by storm. In addition, the Scandinavian all-star formation At The Movies was brought on board. Their line-up features musicians from established acts such as Pretty Maids, HammerFall, King Diamond, The Night Flight Orchestra and Therion, whose collaboration has immortalized well-known film hits of the 80s and 90s in a unique hard rock outfit on the two albums The Soundtrack Of Your Life - Vol. 1 (80s) and The Soundtrack Of Your Life - Vol. 2 (90s). All three aforementioned works will be released on January 7, 2022, marking the first releases of the new label. 

Billy F Gibbons, apart from his five decades-long role fronting ZZ TOP, has in recent years recorded three much-lauded solo albums for Concord Records, including "Hardware", released this past June. To cap off the year, Concord is releasing a singular single, "Jingle Bell Blues", on November 9. It's Billy's reworking of the eternal "Jingle Bells" with some significant modifications or "Kustom" touches. "Bells on hot rods ring" is one such and mention is made of a "drop-top" sleigh. While the song exudes holiday cheer, the gut- bucket vocal approach that Billy applies to the repertoire is nothing short of extraordinary. Billy's guitar solos can best be described as "epic" and should heat up virtually any holiday get-together whether indoors or out. Also of literal note is the harmonica solo that renders the recording something of an homage to Jimmy Reed in a sonically up-to-date context.

Recorded in Nashville this past June by Gibbons and Michael Fiorentino, the track is available digitally as well as a lavishly packaged 45 RPM single, pressed on red translucent vinyl. The cover art depicts multiple Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams stacked to reflect the shape of a traditional Christmas tree while the obverse is adorned by a swanky stylized wire wheel.

The use of "singular" is intentional as only one track, "Jingle Bell Blues", is offered. The "flip side" of the record is an etched surface that replicates the sidewall of a bias ply tire with raised letters spelling out the song title and Billy's name. Lastly, and of special note, is the fact that the red vinyl version comes with a Billy F Gibbons center hole adapter making it easy to play on any standard turntable.

"It dawned on us that everybody loves Christmas music," says Billy of the new single, "and everybody loves the Jimmy Reed blues vibe, so we figured we'd combine them. We threw in some hot rod references for good measure because our preferred sleigh is the horsepower-propelled kind.

"I suppose it could have been produced with a small hole and we wouldn’t have had to deal with the adapter, but this is, at its essence, a juke box record. It was even mixed with that in mind," he added.

"Around Christmas, it always seems that there are five to ten holiday selections listed in the lower right corner of a typical juke box in a typical juke joint, the song titles and artist names printed on wreath-bedecked title strips. Our hope is for 'Jingle Bell Blues' to be one of those records. Bing Crosby, David Bowie, Elvis, Brenda Lee, Jose Feliciano, Otis Redding, Mariah Carey, Nat King Cole, Gene Autry, and not forgetting Adam Sandler, need some company and we'd be thrilled to provide it in the spirit of the season."

Florida metal titans Trivium - Matt Heafy [vocals, guitar], Corey Beaulieu [guitar], Paolo Gregoletto [bass], and Alex Bent [drums] - have released a performance video for "In The Court Of The Dragon", the title track of the band's new album. Watch below:





Trivium's tenth album, In The Court Of The Dragon, is out now via Roadrunner Records. The record was produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur and recorded in autumn 2020 at Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida. Order In The Court Of The Dragon here.




The album cover is an original oil painting by French artist Mathieu Nozieres (@mathieunozieres on Instagram).





In The Court Of The Dragon tracklisting:


"X"
"In The Court Of The Dragon"
"Like A Sword Over Damocles"
"Feast Of Fire"
"A Crisis Of Revelation"
"The Shadow Of The Abattoir"  
"No Way Back Just Through"  
"Fall Into Your Hands"  
"From Dawn To Decadence"  
"The Phalanx"


"The Phalanx" video:





"Feast Of Fire" video:





"In The Court Of The Dragon" video:

Symphonic metal outfit, Ad Infinitum, recently released their bewitching second offering, Chapter II - Legacy, via Napalm Records. In this new video, drummer Niklas Müller plays through the track "Your Enemy":





Guitarist Adrian Thessenvitz plays through the track "Inferno" in the clip below:







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





Chapter II - Legacy is available in the following formats:


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


Order here.





Tracklisting:


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


"Animals" video:





“Afterlife” video:





"Unstoppable" video:





Ad Infinitum are:


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


(Photo - Nat Enemede - Fine Art)

English extreme metal legends, Carcass, recently released their new album, Torn Arteries, via Nuclear Blast Records. The band have released a drum playthrough video for the title track. Watch as the band's beastly drummer Daniel Wilding rips through the pummelling track below.


Wilding says: “This is the big one. 'Torn Arteries'! Starting with the drum fill was an idea I had after we were struggling to find a way to begin the song. I came up with the fill after just messing around with some basic ideas at home. When we eventually tried it all together it just worked. I never expected it to the be the start of the album though haha! Another one of my favourites! Very intense, drums are all over the place in this one. A lot of fast stuff, tempo changes and a lot of fills! Exhausting to play but so much fun! I feel it’s a great mixture of intensity and musicality!”







Torn Arteries can be ordered in a variety of bundles and formats, including CD, Box Set and limited edition vinyl pressings. Order here.





Tracklisting:


"Torn Arteries"
"Dance Of IXTAB (Psychopomp & Circumstances March No. 1 In B)"
"Eleanor Rigor Mortis"
"Under The Scalpel Blade"
"The Devil Rides Out"
"Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited"
"Kelly's Meat Emporium"
"In God We Trust"
"Wake Up And Smell The Carcass / Caveat Emptor"
"The Scythe's Remorseless Swing"


"The Scythe's Remorseless Swing" video:





"Dance Of IXTAB (Psychopomp & Circumstance March No. 1 In B)" video:





"Kelly's Meat Emporium" visualizer:





Lineup:


Bill Steer - Guitars
Jeff Walker - Bass/Vocals
Daniel Wilding - Drums
Tom Draper - Guitars


(Photo - Ester Segarra)

Guitarist Toby Knapp has announced the November release of a surprise EP, Psychic Contagion, via Shredguy Records.


States the guitarist: "I felt really inspired and recorded four instrumental tunes that I might have tried to add to my forthcoming coming Moribund Records solo album, From The Aether. It's too late to do that, that album is in production. Shredguy Records agreed to release the EP and it's kind of a companion to the Moribund album coming in January."







The guitarist continues regarding live dates: "I have a whole show with pre-recorded bass and drum tracks to accompany my guitar playing. I play everything from Johnny Winter to Yngwie Malmsteen and my own material. It's kind of a tribute show to my favorite guitarists.


"Getting booked regionally was a bit difficult because this is neither a cover band gig nor some local thrash band, it's totally eclectic. I have been having some luck though, I've found some great venues to play in Sheridan, WY, Casper, WY, and Billings, MT. The clubs that are hosting me "get it" and are very supportive"


Dates will be added and exact venues will be announced soon.