SHINEDOWN has completed recording and mixing its seventh studio album for an early 2022 release. The follow-up to 2018's "Attention Attention" was recorded in part at a new studio in Charleston, South Carolina spearheaded by the group's bassist and producer Eric Bass.

SHINEDOWN frontman Brent Smith offered an update on the new LP's recording sessions in an interview with Rock Titan TV. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I can tell everybody right now, 'cause people have been asking about it. So SHINEDOWN 7 is completed. We're finishing up a couple of things as far as the mastering is concerned with our boy Ted Jensen, who's a mastering engineer in Nashville. So we've got a couple of tweaks here and there, but you're gonna get a new SHINEDOWN record [in] early 2022.

This past August, Smith said that the first single from SHINEDOWN's seventh studio album would arrive in January 2022.

In September 2020, Smith told the KLOS radio show "Whiplash" that he and Bass were looking to make a more organic-sounding album this time around. "We've kind of proven that we can make these very large records, these very cinematic, orchestrated records with this wall of sound," he said. "What we wanna try to do with this album is we do want to hone it back down to drums, bass, guitar and vocals and the best songs that we can write and the freshest songs we can write with the most tenacity and the most ferociousness that we can express. So I don't think this time around we're going to necessarily look at the handbook of, 'Let's layer this record like we've layered other records, and let's keep adding to it so that it grows.' I think more the idea of big mono on this album, it's more about stereo and putting all of the sonics down the middle. But you don't have a hundred tracks on a song; you don't take a 22-piece orchestra and bring it in there. We've done that, and we've done those kinds of records, and we love those records, and we love that sound, but I think what we wanna do with this next record is we really want to focus on being a four-piece band, and let's see if we can peel the paint off of the walls with just the fury of the four of us in a room."

Last month, SHINEDOWN announced its 2022 North American tour, "Shinedown Live In Concert". Kicking off in San Francisco on January 26, the upcoming 22-date outing will see the acclaimed quartet travel throughout the West Coast, Canada, and more, with stops in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, Seattle, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. POP EVIL and AYRON JONES will support on select dates.

SHINEDOWN's film "Attention Attention", a cinematic experience of the band's 2018 studio album of the same name, premiered worldwide in September.

Fan-filmed video footage of STONE TEMPLE PILOTS' November 7 performance at Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania can be seen below.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS features three original members — guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz.

Singer Jeff Gutt, a 45-year-old Michigan native who spent time in the early-2000s nu-metal act DRY CELL, among other bands, and was a contestant on "The X Factor", joined STONE TEMPLE PILOTS after beating out roughly 15,000 hopefuls during an extended search that began more than a year earlier.

Original STONE TEMPLE PILOTS singer Scott Weiland, who reunited with the group in 2010 after an eight-year hiatus but was dismissed in 2013, died in December 2015 of a drug overdose.

Chester Bennington, who joined STP in early 2013, departed nearly three years later to spend more time with his main band LINKIN PARK. Bennington committed suicide in July 2017.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS released their first all-acoustic album, titled "Perdida", in February 2020. The disc was Gutt's second with STP. His recording debut with the group was on its self-titled seventh album, which arrived in March 2018.

THE HALO EFFECT, the new project featuring five former members of the Swedish metal band IN FLAMES — Jesper Strömblad (guitar), Daniel Svensson (drums), Peter Iwers (bass), Niclas Engelin (guitar) and Mikael Stanne (vocals) — has released its debut single, "Shadowminds". The track, which can be streamed below, will appear on THE HALO EFFECT's first album, due in 2022 via Nuclear Blast.

THE HALO EFFECT said in a statement: "Having grown up alongside Nuclear Blast in the early days of extreme metal, it just makes perfect sense for THE HALO EFFECT to partner with this prestigous label. Our music holds true to our roots and what made us who we are today while trusting our shared experiences to move forward. Joining our old and new friends at Nuclear Blast Records is an honour and a privilege and we look forward to to releasing this labor of love for metal together!"

Jens Prüter, head of A&R at Nuclear Blast Europe, adds: "In 2009, I was going to Gothenburg to produce the 'Where Death Is Most Alive' documentary for a DARK TRANQUILLITY DVD. Getting deeper into the Gothenburg scene, going through hours of archive footage and listening to all the interviews, I though it was a jungle of incest. In the early '90s, a bunch of guys moved between IN FLAMES, DARK TRANQUILLITY, CEREMONIAL OATH, HAMMERFALL and many more. We shouldn't forget that most of the protagonists were still teenagers when they released their first 'Desecrator' or 'Septic Broiler' demo tapes. What looked like incest was just a group of friends who shared a deep passion for metal. You could call it an all-star band but it's basically just an all-family band. Listening to THE HALO EFFECT is like going to a New Year's dinner enjoying the best food and drinks of the year. And it's a pleasure to be invited and share the joy with the rest of the world. Cheers!"

The initial thought behind THE HALO EFFECT was to go back to the roots and explore the classic Gothenburg Sound. The band delivers the goods in a brutally efficient display of heart pounding beats, melodic mayhem and furious growling at its best and the result is an exceptional sound to fans of melodeath, where the echoes of the Gothenburg Sound are evident.

To celebrate the signing, THE HALO EFFECT has also announced its first-ever tour, accompanying the Swedish death metal giants AMON AMARTH and U.S. metallers MACHINE HEAD on 31 dates throughout Europe.

The band comments: "We could not be more excited to partner with Cobra Agency for our first tour of Europe together with metal giants AMON AMARTH and MACHINE HEAD. Working together with people who are passionate about the road, the crews, the bands and the fans means a lot to us and doing this together is something we very much look forward to. See you in September/October!"

A founding member of IN FLAMES, Strömblad quit the band in February 2010 in order to continue receiving treatment for his alcohol addiction.

Five years ago, Jesper slammed his former bandmates, calling the group a "sinking ship" and saying IN FLAMES singer Anders Fridén has "never been a songwriter."

Svensson, who joined IN FLAMES in 1998, announced in 2015 that he was leaving the group to focus on his family life.

A member of IN FLAMES since 1997, Iwers issued a statement in November 2016 saying that he was exiting the band "to pursue other endeavors."

Engelin has been sitting out IN FLAMES' tour dates for the past two and a half years but has never officially confirmed his departure from the band. Engelin's replacement for IN FLAMES' live shows for most of 2019 and early 2020 has been former MEGADETH and current ACT OF DEFIANCE guitarist Chris Broderick.

When Engelin was asked in an August 2020 interview with the "MetalBreak" podcast what his "future" with IN FLAMES was, he responded, "I choose to pass on that [question]," before quickly adding, "I'm still in the band."

As of last year, Engelin was not listed as a member of IN FLAMES on the band's Facebook page (Broderick was), and he is not featured in any of IN FLAMES' current promotional photos from the group's record label, Nuclear Blast.

Shortly after leaving IN FLAMES, Iwers joined CYHRA, the band featuring vocalist Jake E (ex-AMARANTHE) and Strömblad. He announced his departure from that band in May 2018.

During a January 2021 appearance on the "Vox&Hops" podcast, Iwers was asked if he ever misses being on the road. The bassist replied: "Yeah, absolutely. Well, 'miss' is kind of the wrong word. I loved being on the road for most of the years that I was with [IN FLAMES], and I miss the good times. I have no regrets as far as leaving, but, of course, sometimes I really miss just being free and out and playing shows and traveling to new places every day. But I have plans. Maybe this will happen again in the future — not with IN FLAMES, though, but, yeah, we'll see."

He continued: "I'm kind of not missing spending time thinking about stuff like that. I'm kind of more living where I am now, where I'm actually free to do whatever I can with my own time. I own my own time, as I like to say; I can plan it however I like it. And I'm kind of focusing on enjoying that rather than missing the past.

"It's fun to reminisce, but at the same time, it can take you down a dangerous road as well," Peter added.

In a 2017 interview with Ireland's Overdrive, IN FLAMES guitarist Björn Gelotte said that he wasn't surprised by Peter's departure from the band. "It wasn't a 'shock,' so to speak, as we kind of knew that it was coming," he said. "I think he was just done with it all and not happy. No, 'happy' is the wrong word. He just wanted to pursue other things. Peter is a very, very busy guy. He has his own brewery with Daniel called Odd Island Brewing and he's also got four or five different musical projects happening, so he's really got his hands full at the moment."

A year ago, DARK TRANQUILITY vocalist Mikael Stanne, who sang on IN FLAMES' debut album, 1994's "Lunar Strain", dismissed comparisons between the two bands, telling the "BREWtally Speaking Podcast": "We are kind of forever linked, just because of our connection early on. I sang on the first IN FLAMES album, and Anders sang on the first DARK TRANQUILLITY album, and this is still a cause of great confusion for some reason. But, yeah, we toured together, we are friends and we grew up together in the same area outside of town [in Gothenburg, Sweden]. So, of course, it's obvious. And I'm okay with that — that's fine. It just becomes a little bit old, because there's not much to say about it anymore, because we've gone in very different directions. So it's not relevant, but, of course, you do make comparisons — that's how people work, how you go, 'I like this band better than that band.' And if there is a link somehow, and there are many between the two of us, then you use that as some kind of reference or, 'This is better than that,' or, 'The guitar player is better in that band' — that kind of stuff. So I'm okay with it. It doesn't change anything. And sometimes questions about it tend to be uninspired. It's just like, 'Oh, what do you think of the other band's albums?' It's, like, 'It doesn't matter, but I'm a huge fan. I love it.' And it's the same with, of course, AT THE GATES as well, even though we haven't shared any members together, but we still kind of grew up together, so, obviously, there's a huge connection there as well. And I don't mind talking about my friends and the awesome bands that are from this town — it's fine — but sometimes the direct comparisons seem… Maybe they meant something in the '90s, but they really don't anymore."

THE HALO EFFECT 2022 European tour supporting AMON AMARTH and MACHINE HEAD:

Sep. 08 - UK - Nottingham - Arena

Sep. 09 - UK - Cardiff - Arena

Sep. 10 - UK - London - Wembley Arena

Sep. 12 - UK - Manchester - Arena

Sep. 13 - IE - Dublin - 3 Arena -

Sep. 16 - CH - Zurich - Hallenstadion

Sep. 17 - AT - Vienna - Stadthalle

Sep. 18 - PL - Krakow - Tauron Arena

Sep. 20 - EST - Tallinn - Saku Arena

Sep. 21 - FIN - Helsinki - Ice Hall

Sep. 23 - N - Oslo - Spektrum

Sep. 24 - S - Stockholm - Hovet

Sep. 26 - DK - Copenhagen - Forum Black Box

Sep. 27 - DE - Hamburg - Barclays Arena

Sep. 28 - DE - Frankfurt - Festhalle

Sep. 30 - DE - Oberhausen - König Pilsener Arena

Oct. 01 - DE - Berlin - Velodrom

Oct. 02 - NL - Amsterdam - Afas Live

Oct. 04 - IT - Milano - Lorenzini District

Oct. 06 - ES - Barcelona - Sant Jordi

Oct. 07 - ES - Madrid - Vistalegre

Oct. 08 - ES - La Coruna - Coliseum

Oct. 09 - P - Lisbon - Campo Pequeno

Oct. 12 - FR - Paris - Zenith

Oct. 14 - DE - Munich - Olympiahalle

Oct. 15 - DE - Leipzig - Arena

Oct. 16 - CZ - Prague - Tipsport Arena

Oct. 18 - HU - Budapest - Barba Negra

Oct. 20 - LUX - Esch zur Alzette - Rockhal

Oct. 21 - BE - Brussels - Forest National

Oct. 22 - DE - Stuttgart - Schleyerhalle

In a new interview with "The Jeremy White Podcast", David Ellefson once again opened up about his dismissal from MEGADETH six months ago, just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter. At the time, Ellefson released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of him by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual "masturbating encounters" without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) Ellefson, who lives in Scottsdale, first became aware of the video on May 9, when the claim "David Ellefson of MEGADETH is a pedophile" appeared on Instagram. Ellefson told police he was notified on May 14 by MEGADETH that the band would be parting ways with him. Three days later, he was fired.

Speaking about the fact that he wanted to immediately come clean about the aforementioned virtual encounters and shoot down any inaccuracies about the exact nature of his relationship with the woman in question, Ellefson said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That's why I addressed it the night it came out. Even though one side said not to," apparently referring to the MEGADETH camp, "my legal said, 'I think you should. I think you should just run toward the bullets, take the sword, deal with it, just address it,' which I did. And it was done and it was over. And then the next day when the other side started putting their announcements out, that's when it fanned the flames… The very thing they didn't want to happen is exactly what happened. And then I paid the penalty. Now I'm not in the band. So, go figure."

After host Jeremy White said that he blames MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine for giving the story "legs" in the media by releasing a statement in which he said "there are clearly aspects of David's private life that he has kept to himself," Ellefson concurred, saying: "A hundred percent. It was all based on fear. It wasn't based on reality. They said all sides would be heard, and, quite honestly, no sides were heard. Because within two weeks, I went through the process that I told them I was gonna go through, to just walk through it and say, 'Hey, this is a bunch of bullshit,' and I did — I did my part. And I confessed my… [Laughs] Look, I was caught on 'Candid Camera'; there was no hiding from it. So you just address it. You take the sword. You deal with it. It was embarrassing. Sorry about that. Move on. And that's it. I pushed back against [the accusations]. [I said] 'This is bullshit.' And that's when I said [to the MEGADETH camp], 'Look, they threw a Molotov cocktail — proverbial — at my house and burned my house down. Would you please help me? Would you please support me? I could use some help right now.' And quite honestly, I was just kicked to the side of the road to just deal with it on my own. So it's, like, all right. Well, then now we know where the loyalties lie. And now we move on."

Asked why he thinks the MEGADETH camp did that to him, Ellefson replied: "I don't know for sure 'cause I've had no further conversations with anyone since then. But I can only go back to maybe the lawsuit I filed [against Mustaine] 20 years ago, me not being agreeable to just remix the catalog — those things, for sure. I'm sure this was a longstanding resentment toward me, and this was an opportunity to settle the score. And it is what it is.

"The truth of it is when you're in a band, when you're in any relationship — brotherhood, marriages, whatever — you have to agree to disagree, 'cause you're not always gonna agree on anything. And I think when things were reset 20 years ago — this was no longer gonna be a band; it was no longer a partnership; it was his [Dave's] way or no way. That was very clear. That's why I wasn't in the band 20 years ago when this happened. [Mustaine basically said] 'This is the way we're doing it. There is no negotiation. It's my way or the highway.'"

Pressed about whether he was "Mustaine's employee in a way" in the decade after he rejoined MEGADETH, Ellefson said: "For the last 10 years, I was an employee. And it's funny — to say that I was fired… I mean, I hadn't picked up a paycheck from MEGADETH since September 2020 when we did the photo shoot for the [new MEGADETH] album. So to say I was fired, I think, is a bit… Again, it's not like on the payroll getting a paycheck every week. Not rehired for the tour? Yeah, sure. I'll go with that. 'We're not rehiring you for the tour.' Okay. Fair enough. I wasn't getting a weekly paycheck from the group. When we worked, I got paid. When we didn't, I didn't. And then hence why I did a coffee company and a record company and all the other things to fill in the blanks and support myself and build up my own legacy for my family and to have things like that. Certainly those things, I think, were supported by management; I think they saw that if I wasn't gonna be… You can't expect for someone to be beholden to a company when you're not getting paid by that company in the 'off' time. I don't think Dave liked it. But it's, like, royalties buy loyalties, man. When you're all in and you're getting paid for everything, then, hey…"

He continued: "Look, for the first 20 years of the band, I never did anything [on the side]. I wrote a book and I co-wrote one song on a FLOTSAM AND JETSAM record. I didn't do anything 'cause when you're all in, you're all in. But when the group disbanded, and it disbanded in 2002 — it was not a hiatus; it was not taking time off; it was very clearly a disbanding — and when that happened, we were all left to our own. And it's that way to this day. It's kind of, everybody fends for themselves. When I came back 10 years ago, I was glad to be there, agreeable to be there, happy to be there for the fans, play the songs, to be part of the legacy. And look, clearly I put in another 10 years of gas in the tank. So it was a good thing. And that was always my attitude: do it for the love of the music, the love of just being there for all of it. And I was looking forward to that continuing, obviously. But I guess it's not what they want now."

Ellefson also addressed the fact that most fans incorrectly assume that hired musicians in bands at MEGADETH's level of popularity collect a paycheck even when they are not actively touring or recording.

"In Nashville, it's common when tours end, people file unemployment; it's just common," he said. "And over in rock and roll, that's not the common thing. Look, on some level, you're kind of like the handyman — you're called in to fix the pipe and clean the sink, and then when the job is done, you're out. For the last 10 years, when I worked, I got paid. When I didn't, I didn't. That's why, again, you see why I was so busy doing other things."

Two days after Mustaine announced Ellefson's latest departure from MEGADETH, the bassist released a follow-up statement in which he vowed to file a "defamation lawsuit" against the person who "illegally posted a very private video" of the bassist and made "false allegations" against him. He also said he was working with the police in Scottsdale "in their investigation into charges regarding revenge pornography to be filed against the person who posted the video. This person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Ellefson wrote. He went on to say that he was "taking this time to be with my family" and wished his "bandmates" the best with their tour.

Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH's sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee.

In July, Mustaine announced during an episode of his Gimme Radio program "The Dave Mustaine Show" that Ellefson's bass tracks would not be used on the new MEGADETH LP.

In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Mustaine, alleging the frontman shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.

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

In a brand new interview with Brazil's Heavy Culture, former EXODUS guitarist Rick Hunolt was asked about the band's decision to re-record its classic 1985 debut album, "Bonded By Blood", in 2008 and release the new version under the title "Let There Be Blood".

"To be completely honest, I think it sounds all right, but I think it was an absolute waste of time and I don't know why they did it," Rick, who played on "Bonded By Blood" but did not appear on the re-recorded version, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I just don't know. I never really talked to Gary [Holt, EXODUS guitarist and main songwriter] about it because, to me, it's kind of, like, why? A lot of people like it. It's not bad. [Then-EXODUS singer] Rob Dukes is badass — I love Rob Dukes. And it was interesting hearing him sing those songs, that's for sure."

"Let There Be Blood" was recorded by the then-EXODUS lineup of Dukes, Holt, guitarist Lee Altus, bassist Jack Gibson and drummer Tom Hunting.

Back in 2014, Dukes was asked by the "Talking Metal" podcast if, looking back, he thought it was the right decision to re-record "Bonded By Blood". "I mean, not really," he responded, "but I thought that… Our original plan was to do it live — record a live concert and have it as kind of just a live concert and have those songs part of it. 'Cause Gary was, like, 'Well, we play [the songs] differently. I want the fans to hear how we play them now.' And whatever. But it's always about money, dude. You know what I mean?! They were gonna make money, so they re-did it. So that's the way it went."

Shortly after the "Let There Be Blood" release, Holt told About.com Heavy Metal about EXODUS' decision to make the album: "It's something we've talked about for a long time. Ever since we did the first live album ['Another Lesson In Violence'], we always thought how cool it would be to give the album the benefits of modern technology. 'Bonded By Blood' is a classic, it's always going to be the greatest album we do, but we just wanted to record these songs, put this out on our own and share how relevant these songs still sound today. If you listen to the re-recording, they sound as up to date and current as anything anybody is putting out there now. That's a testament to how great the songs are."

Asked if EXODUS was pretty faithful to the original arrangements of the songs on the re-recording, Holt said: "Yes. I went off subject on the leads a little bit, but we recorded the songs the way we play them now. Arrangement-wise, everything's the same. We didn't change anything. We tune lower now, but we have since 1993. Everything's faithful to the original, it's just updated in the production."

In a separate interview with Metal-Rules.com, Holt stated about "Let There Be Blood": "We talked about it a long time ago. Paul [Baloff, EXODUS' singer at the time of the 'Bonded By Blood' recording] even wanted to go in a redo some of the songs he wasn't on. He's like, 'We should do 'Pleasures Of The Flesh' and 'Seeds Of Hate' and 'Brain Dead' too.'

"I think it all started when we worked on the live album, which was our first time with Andy as well, Mr. Sneap. It sounded so huge, even for, like, a one-gig live record. Paul was like the bandwagon leader of doing that [re-recording 'Bonded By Blood']; he would be, like, 'Oh we could make it so much heavier now!'

"We weren't out to reinvent the wheel on this and we did not want to do like a disservice to the original. I love the original, that's why I'm doing this.

"There is always going to be purists that will be like, 'Oh you can't do that.' But it's funny, a lot of the people who say that are, like, 19, and weren't even around when the original came out. But I don't look at it as a bad thing when people get defensive about it. That means they love the original, and they love it so much that they don't think we should touch it. But I always tell them 'Look, this doesn't make your copy of 'Bonded By Blood' burst into flames and disappear; it's always going to be there.' I hope it's always going to be there. This here is a companion record and homage record and it's a tribute to the times.

"I love 'Bonded By Blood' and will always listen to it. It's, like, one of the only albums of ours I listen to, because I am, like, the king of once something is done I put it behind me. I'll listen to 'Bonded' and listen to Paul because there is, you know, a lifelong connection there."

EXODUS parted ways with Dukes in June 2014 and replaced him with his predecessor, Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

Dukes joined EXODUS in January 2005 and appeared on four of the band's studio albums — "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" (2005), "The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A" (2007), "Let There Be Blood" (2008, a re-recording of EXODUS' classic 1985 LP, "Bonded By Blood") and "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (2010).

EXODUS will release its new album, "Persona Non Grata", on November 19 via Nuclear Blast.

Swedish metallers SABATON have announced a 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.

"The 20th Anniversary Show" 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 9000 copies each, will be available as individual purchases or bundled together as "The Great Show Stage Collector's Edition" box set (limited to 5000 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 cello rockers APOCALYPTICA, who provided a fiery orchestral backing to several of SABATON's songs.

In support of SABATON's most recent album "The Great War", "The Great Tour" saw the band setting the bar 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.

Track listing for "The 20th Anniversary Show" (Wacken)

01. Ghost Division

02. Winged Hussars

03. Resist And Bite

04. Fields Of Verdun (with Thobbe Englund)

05. Shiroyama (with Thobbe Englund)

06. The Red Baron

07. The Price Of A Mile

08. Bismarck

09. The Lion From The North

10. Carolus Rex

11. 40:1

12. The Last Stand

13. The Lost Battalion

14. Drum Battle (Hannes Van Dahl vs. Daniel Mullback)

15. Far From The Flame

16. Panzerkampf

17. Night Witches

18. The Art of War

19. 82nd All The Way

20. Great War

21. Attero Dominatus

Encore:

22. Primo Victoria

23. Swedish Pagans (with Tina Guo)

24. To Hell And Back (with Tina Guo)

Track listing for "The Great Show" (Prague)

01. Ghost Division

02. Great War

03. The Attack Of The Dead Men

04. Seven Pillars of Wisdom

05. The Los Battalion

06. The Red Baron

07. The Last Stand

08. Far from the Flame

09. Night Witches

10. Angels Calling (with APOCALYPTICA)

11. The Price Of A Mile (with APOCALYPTICA)

12. The Lion From The North (with APOCALYPTICA)

13. Carolus Rex (with APOCALYPTICA)

Encore:

14. Primo Victoria

15. Bismarck

16. Swedish Pagans

17. To Hell And Back

Acclaimed British rock group ASKING ALEXANDRIA is celebrating its first-ever No. 1 at U.S. active rock radio with hit single "Alone Again", taken from its new seventh full-length studio album "See What's On The Inside". The song officially appears at the top of Mediabase's chart for the format, dated November 6, 2021. The album is the band's first official release since the news of their new global deal with Better Noise Music earlier this year, when they were signed by label president Dan Waite out of the company's London office. The song was released in August to critical acclaim from the likes of Forbes, NME, Loudwire and more, and it immediately became the band's fastest rise to the top 10 at U.S radio in their career. It also had the biggest first streaming day and week in the band's history and was a fitting first offering from the new album, which is a passion project from a band who very much fell back in love with making music and with being bandmates while writing and recording in Nashville earlier this year. "Alone Again" not only started a new chapter for the band musically, it has also translated to global success where international streaming has grown to now 66% of their listenership, according to Spotify. "See What's On The Inside" made a top 10 Spotify debut in both the U.S. and the U.K. upon release.

The band's lead guitarist Ben Bruce said: "We are so excited and so proud to have achieved our first-ever No. 1 single at active rock radio. We've worked so hard to finally get here and to have the number one rock song in America truly is a momentous occasion for us! Thank you to rock radio and everyone else for cranking 'Alone Again' with us, and thank you to our team at Better Noise for helping us achieve this goal."

The band's manager Diony Sepulveda, veteran talent executive, added: "ASKING ALEXANDRIA signed to Better Noise to work with Allen Kovac and his team in international markets and to reach new heights at both radio and streaming. A big thank you to Allen, Jackie Kajzer [SVP/head of radio promotions], and the rest of the Better Noise team for the band's first No. 1 at active rock radio."

Alongside the release of the album last month, the band premiered the official music video for second single "Never Gonna Learn". As they recorded this album together during quarantine, the visual, directed by Wombat Fire, showcases the band performing the song in an intimate setting interspersed with polaroid images of the session. The song will impact U.S. radio in January as the official second single from the album.

The band is fresh off their tour with A DAY TO REMEMBER, which wrapped this past Saturday, November 6 in St. Augustine, Florida, after over 25 stops in North America since September. Earlier this month, they announced that label mates ALL GOOD THINGS and rock band POP EVIL will join them on their headlining European tour in spring 2022, with tour dates set from March 30 to April 15.

Just recently, Germany's medieval folk rockers Feuerschwanz announced their upcoming studio album, Memento Mori. Now, Feuerschwanz present a true ode to life with "Memento Mori", accompanied with a great audio-visual, which reveals the secret about the title track of the upcoming full-length.
 
With singing guitars, "Memento Mori" starts its heroic journey through epic soundscapes. The song emerges as a melodic rock anthem with familiar medieval character full of blazing guitar riffs and violin solos. Lyrically, Feuerschwanz encourage self-reflection on one's own existence in "Memento Mori" and confront with human transience, following the motto of living your life to the fullest - right here and right now.


Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Prinz Hodenherz on the new song: "The title track of the new album is the logical continuation of our previous album Das Elfte Gebot. The saying "Memento Mori" (Latin for "Be aware of mortality") originates from ancient Rome and was one of the main ideas in the poetry of the High Middle Ages as well as the Vanitas movement of German Romanticism. It is still a frequently quoted motif in the visual arts world today. In the song, the Gregorian chant "Dies Irae" (Latin for "Day of Wrath") is quoted with bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and Hans’ heavy guitars.


Nerdfact: If you listen closely, you will also find the central motif of world-famous film scores, including the soundtrack of "The Lord of the Rings"!
What does all this have to do with  Feuerschwanz? Since the band was founded, it has always been about living in the here and now and celebrating existence. In ancient Rome there was a ritual where a slave stood or walked behind the victorious commander during the triumphal procession. He held a gold or laurel wreath over the head of the victorious and continuously admonished them with the waits "Memento Mori". To us this means: Even if you have something to celebrate - everything could be over at any moment! That's kind of what happened to us when we played by far our biggest headlining shows shortly before the pandemic began and our most successful album, Das Elfte Gebot, was released. For us as a band, it was a formative experience that united us even more and allowed us to look forward creatively.
We are looking forward to experiencing, enjoying and capturing all the great concert moments again together with our fans on Memento Mori... as if the ferryman was already standing by.




We invite everyone who, like us, thirsts for life."





Memento Mori, the follow-up to the successful album Das Elfte Gebot (#3 German charts), sings about great adventures, past battles and outstanding heroic deeds in typicalFeuerschwanz fashion. Feuerschwanz manage to stay true to their trademarks, and at the same time, venture musically into new realms.


Feuerschwanz on the new album: “You take nothing with you to your grave, except your coffin... Memento Mori is the direct successor to Die Letzte Schlacht! The world of Hauptmann Feuerschwanz is in flames, overrun by the living dead and scourged by religious zealots... All of this sounds frighteningly real, even in Anno Domini 2021, so it's time to defy the storm once again and celebrate life. Let's live here, let's live now - until death sharpens his knife!”


As a special highlight, some versions of Memento Mori will feature a bonus CD with seven cover songs by Manowar, Amon Amarth, but also O-Zone, among others.


Memento Mori will be available in the following formats:


- 2CD Mediabook + 40 pages booklet
- 1CD Jewel Case + 20 pages booklet
- Digital Album
- Digital Deluxe Album


Pre-order here.





2CD tracklsiting:


Disc 1:
"Memento Mori"
"Untot im Drachenboot"
"Ultima Nocte"
"Rausch der Barbarei"
"Krampus"
"Feuer & Schwert"
"Das Herz eines Drachen"
"Rohirrim"
"Am Galgen"
"Hannibal"
"Skaldenmet"


Disc 2:
"Blinding Lights"
"Warriors of the World United"
"Twilight of the Thunder God"
"The Bad Touch"
"Dragostea Din Tei"
"Square Hammer"
"Der Graf"


“Untot im Drachenboot” video:





A few days after album release, Feuerschwanz will go on an extended tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They will be accompanied by fearless heavy metal kings Warkings.


Feuerschwanz are:


Hauptmann Feuerschwanz - vocals, guitar
Johanna von der Vögelweide - violin, hurdy-gurdy
Rollo - drums
Jarne Hodinsson - bass
Prinz Hodenherz - flutes, bagpipe, vocals, guitar
Hans der Aufrechte – guitar


(Photo - Nikolaj Georgiew)

Toundra have released the second part of their 22-minute-long piece, “El Odio”, the first track on the new album Hex, which is due out on January 14 via InsideOutMusic. The song is conceived, written and produced as a single song, which was then divided into three parts on the album. It represents the band’s various musical influences: post rock, psychedelia, crust, progressive rock, celtic folk or stoner all have a place in it.


The band comments: “There’s Tool, there’s The Who, The Mars Volta and John Lennon. We’ve been inspired in so many ways by so many artists: from Fugazi to Scott Walter, from Paco de Lucía to Schostakovich and Fucked Up.”


"Odio" translates to "hatred" in English.




Guitarist Esteban Girón comments on the song title: "Since birth, human beings are struck by innumerable impulses that lead them to hate instead of love. Hate is not in the nature of any animal, not even in the nature of a human being. Life in this world of screens, numbers, and false justifications of mathematics, theories even more perverse than social Darwinism, denature the human being and lead them to hate whoever is next to them. I have never seen an animal hate and I have grown up among them."


For the video of “El Odio. Parte II”, which is a continuation of the first video that has been released so far (“El Odio. Parte I”), the band collaborated with Asturian director Jorge Carbajales again. Watch both videos below.


Hex is available as Ltd. Edition CD, 180g Gatefold LP (incl. the album on CD) and as Digital Album. Click here to pre-order the album now.





Hex tracklisting:


"El Odio. Parte I"
"El Odio. Parte II"
"El Odio. Parte III"
"Ruinas"
"La Larga Marcha"
"Watt"
"FIN"


"El Odio. Parte I" video:





"El Odio. Parte II" video:

Power metal newcomers Northtale recently announced their new album, Eternal Flame, which is set to be released on November 12 via Nuclear Blast. Produced by Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, Unisonic), the album features 12 brand new tracks and a whole range of new influences, from thrash metal, classical citations, and Brazilian traditional music, all fused into Northtale's own brand of melodic power metal.


Eternal Flame features guest appearances from legendary icon Kai Hansen (Helloween/Gamma Ray), his son Tim Kanoa Hansen (Induction), Jonas Heidgert (Dragonland), and Mary Zimmer (Helion Prime).


Hansen has submitted a video reflecting on his experience recording the song "Future Calls".










Tracklisting:


“Only Human”
“Wings Of Salvation”
“Future Calls” (feat. Tim and Kai Hansen)
“The Land Of Mystic Rites”
“Midnight Bells”
“Eternal Flame”
“In The Name Of God”
“Ride The Storm”
“King Of Your Illusion”
“Judas Be My Guide” (Iron Maiden cover feat. Jonas Heidgert)
“Nature’s Revenge”
“Ivy (Outro)”


“Only Human” lyric video:





The album artwork was created by Gustavo Sazes (Machine Head, Amaranthe, Kamelot) Find pre-orders here.

Dymytry and AFM Records have announced that they will team up for future releases. With this collaboration, the “Psy-Core” act takes the next big step towards expansion. Together with their new singer Alen "A.L." Ljubic, the boys from the Czech Republic are ready to conquer Europe and the rest of the world. 


"We’re happy to have joined the AFM family and we are looking forward to releasing our first international album Revolt, on the 14th of January, featuring our new English-speaking singer Alen "A.L." Ljubic on vocals," says Dymytry.  


With more than 1000 concerts performed, five successful studio albums, and a platinum award for their current album Revolt, Dymytry is already very successful and well-known in the Czech Republic. 




For their next big move, the band installed a second front singer Jan “Protheus” Macků, with the newest member Alen on board, who re-recorded the album Revolt, originally sung in Czech, into English. The result: Dymytry will continue to work with “Protheus” in the Czech Republic, but also with Alen on the international market. 


The brand-new English version of the successful Revolt album will be released on January 14th, 2022 via AFM Records and marks the beginning of a new time period for a band that achieved so much, and will achieve so much more in the future. 


"Four years ago we came up with the idea of expanding our musical operating radius beyond the Czech Republic. We probably wanted to get out of our comfort zone and try something new and different. After translating a few of our tracks into English, we started to look at the option of playing some shows abroad," explains bassist Artur “R2R” Mikhaylov.


After a joint single with German act Hämatom in September 2018, both bands went on tour together in October 2018; these were Dymytry’s first shows outside their home country. Mikhaylov: “The tour proved to us that our music also works for an international audience, and in English.” So the band decided to take this remarkable step. 

Warmen, featuring and launched by former Children Of Bodom keyboardist Janne Wirman in 2000, has checked in with the following update:


"Hello friends! We are back at the cabin writing songs! Super exited as we are back in business and planning on releasing a new album next year. Working on other releases too. We will get more active and keep you posted. Have a great fall and stay metal!"


Warmen have released five albums since 2000: Unknown Soldier (2000), Beyond Abilities (2001), Accept the Fact (2005), Japanese Hospitality (2009), and First of the Five Elements (2014).




Warmen was launched as an interumental project that features guest singers on a few tracks from album to album. Vocalists in the past have included Alexi Laiho (Children Of Bodom, Bodom After Midnight), Kimberly Goss (Sinergy), Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius), Pasi Nykänen (Throne of Chaos), Jonna Kosonen, and Pasi Rantanen (ex-Thunderstone).

Last Temptation has launched their new single "Stronger Than Fate". A fast paced, Ozzy Osbourne-style track with a chanting chorus and shredding guitars, the song describes people who feel they can do anything, be stronger than anyone and seem to forget that they can’t beat death. These people do or say stupid things, and believe nothing can reach them until their day comes to face the music.





The first important step has been mastered effortlessly; now Last Temptation are going whole hog. Following up their successful debut album, shows with Dream Theater, plus festivals such as Hellfest, the band surrounding guitarist Peter Scheithauer (Killing Machine, Belladonna, Temple Of Brutality) and vocalist Butcho Vukovic (Watcha) is all set to embark on the second stage of its career. Last Temptation have signed a new record deal with Crusader Records / Golden Robot Records and are presenting several new singles, followed by their brand-new album Ashes ’N’ Fire in February 2022. 




“You can feel that we’ve made a major step forward, both as a live band and as songwriters, all thanks to the shows we’ve played so far.” - Peter Scheithauer


Talking of the new lineup: In bassist Julien Rimaire (Los Dissidentes Del Sucio Motel) and drummer Vince Brisach (Mitch Ryder), along with Scheithauer and Vukovic, the band have a whole new rhythm section supporting them on Ashes ’N’ Fire. While Last Temptation’s self-titled debut still boasted a number of international guests, such as Bob Daisley, Vinny Appice, Stet Howland, James Lomenzo, Don Airey, Steve Unger and Rudy Sarzo, the band now consists exclusively of European musicians. “This step was necessary to make Last Temptation more flexible when it comes to the organizational side,” explains Scheithauer. “The new lineup makes it so much easier to rehearse spontaneously, play gigs at short notice and prepare album productions.”


No doubt about it: Last Temptation have grown into an even tighter unit, musically as well as logistically, and are positively bursting with enthusiasm. The songwriting team consisting of Scheithauer and Vukovic, together coming up with 16 tracks for Ashes ’N’ Fire, eleven of which have made it onto the album. They range from up-tempo numbers such as “Stronger Than Fate” and “Free Strong And Loud” to the Black Sabbath-esque “Going Crazy” and the ballad “In The Mirror”.