After the 2020 monumental work "The Last Viking" by LEAVES' EYES, in 2021 we focus our attention specifically on the documentary "VIKING SPIRIT", which is now released exclusively in a bundle with the album, the instrumentals and the soundtrack to the documentary on Blu-Ray!

LEAVES’ EYES singer Alexander Krull is a real force in Viking reenactment and does important pioneering work with his documentary about the Viking scene, which is becoming more and more popular and about his life as a sword fighter.

In an over 100 minutes long documentary (incl. a new bonus chapter „Viking Weapons“) you will learn everything about the focus and the diversity of Viking lifestyle. With subtitles in German, English, French and Spanish, all Vikings, and those who want to become one, can experience for themselves how incredibly international the scene is nowadays!
Filmed worldwide, the growing Viking re-enactment scene will be visually praised here. Fronter Alex and the band became part of this community, long ago. With this film, historical facts merge with Nordic mythology, Viking-lifestyle and the sounds of LEAVES’ EYES, featuring friends and companions of the Viking scene.

The documentary shows with a surprising ease the diversity of Viking reenactment and gives you the desire to plunge into this hobby yourself!

All the 14 instrumental tracks individually impress with their unique build-up, rhythm and atmosphere. Mighty drums, Mediaeval instruments like nyckelharpa and fiddle and Celtic horns add spice to the diversified sound. The mystic elegy “Two Kings One Realm” surprises with yet unheard facets. The new versions of the immediately sold out EP “Night Of The Ravens“, “Serkland“ und “Black Butterfly“ make these tracks an all new adventure.

With “The Last Viking” LEAVES’ EYES set up their own musical monument that is just as captivating and strong as the saga of the last Viking King itself. To make this release day even more epic, LEAVES’ EYES also releasing a new video to „Black Butterfly“.

Tracklisting:
CD1: „The Last Viking“ (Original album)
01 Death Of A King
02 Chain Of The Golden Horn
03 Dark Love Empress
04 Serpents And Dragons
05 Black Butterfly (feat. Clémentine Delauney)
06 War Of Kings
07 For Victory
08 Two Kings One Realm
09 Flames In The Sky
10 Serkland
11 Varangians
12 Night Of The Ravens
13 The Last Viking
14 Break Into The Sky Of Aeon

CD2: „The Last Viking - Instrumentals“
01 Death Of A King (Instrumental)
02 Chain Of The Golden Horn (Instrumental)
03 Dark Love Empress (Instrumental)
04 Serpents And Dragons (Instrumental)
05 Black Butterfly (Instrumental)
06 War Of Kings (Instrumental)
07 For Victory (Instrumental)
08 Two Kings One Realm (Instrumental)
09 Flames In The Sky (Instrumental)
10 Serkland (Instrumental)
11 Varangians (Instrumental)
12 Night Of The Ravens (Instrumental)
13 The Last Viking (Instrumental)
14 Break Into The Sky Of Aeon (Instrumental)


CD3: „Viking Spirit - Soundtrack“
01 Await Orre's Storm
02 Galeids Of The Væringjar
03 Dread Hand's Fame
04 Into The Depths Of Hell
05 Chain Of The Golden Horn (Soundtrack Version)
06 Land Of The Rus
07 The Golden Secret
08 Past Wide Plains
09 Death Of A King (Soundtrack Version)
10 Blazing Waters (2020 Version)

BluRay: „Viking Spirit“ Documentary
01 Viking Lifestyle
02 Living History
03 Vikings Of The World
04 Alex The Viking
05 Norse Mythology & Music
06 Viking Family
07 Fighting Styles
08 Værjaborg Training
09 Weststorm Training
10 Northstorm Training
11 Ulflag Warhost
12 Viking Events
13 Slawentage
14 Wikingertage
15 Wolin
16 Hikg
17 Viking Workshop
18 Viking Art
19 Leaves' Eyes Viking Crew
20. Viking Weapons (Bonus Chapter)
(Playing time over 90 minutes)

Videoclips:
21 Chain Of The Golden Horn (Videoclip)
22 Dark Love Empress (Videoclip)
23 War Of Kings (Videoclip)
24 Blazing Waters (Bonus)

LEAVES’ EYES are:
Elina Siirala (Vocals)
Alexander Krull (Vocals)
Thorsten Bauer (Guitar, Bass)
Micki Richter (Guitar)
Joris Nijenhuis (Drums)

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS will release their new album titled "4" on February 11, 2022, via Gibson Records in partnership with BMG. "4" is Slash's fifth solo album and fourth overall with his band featuring Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums), Todd Kerns (bass, vocals) and Frank Sidoris (guitar, vocals).

Speaking about the making of "4", Slash told Germany's Radio Regenbogen (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The funniest story about this record was the COVID story, because we took a tour bus to Nashville to keep ourselves safe — to get there and not travel commercially. And then we went and recorded the whole record, and then I got a phone call from Myles in the studio when I was about to do overdubs, and he goes, 'Man, I tested positive.' And subsequently, two of the other guys tested positive, so they all had to go into quarantine. And we still had to do percussion and background vocals, and so we sort of stalled. So we mixed what we had, which was a lot. And then we recorded the background vocals in the guest house of the house that we were all quarantined in. And then those guys got better. I tested positive finally. And so I had to quarantine. But I just got vaccinated, so I only had to quarantine for a few days. And so I came out, and then we did the percussion and mixed [the rest of] the record and drove home. So that was the funny experience about this particular record, was everybody having to navigate the whole COVID experience."

Two weeks ago, SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS released the opening track and first single from "4", "The River Is Rising". The accompanying music video was shot on location in downtown Los Angeles with Gibson TV director Todd Harapiak.

For "4", Slash and the band traveled across the country together to Nashville, Tennessee and recorded the new album at the historic RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile). Cobb shared the band's desire to lay down the tracks live, in the studio including guitar solos and vocals — a first for the group.

The band's previous albums over the last decade — "Apocalyptic Love", "World On Fire" and "Living The Dream" — have continued on an upward trajectory, all achieving Top 5 Billboard charting debuts in the U.S. and reaching the Top 10 on 12 major charts across the globe. To date, the three SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS albums have now garnered 10 consecutive Top 5 Radio singles, spawned sold-out world tours, and have earned Slash and the band the best critical acclaim of their career with their latest album "Living The Dream" (2018) singled out by the Los Angeles Times, Classic Rock, Guitar World, Loudwire, LA Weekly, and more, as their best songs to date.

The new album "4" has the added history-making distinction of being the first-ever album to be released on the new Gibson Records label, which is headquartered in the iconic American instrument brand Gibson's hometown of Music City, Nashville. In light of the 30-year partnership between Gibson and the Grammy Award-winning Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Slash, it makes sense the new SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS' album "4" will be released via Gibson Records.

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS will kick off a North American headlining tour on February 8, in Portland, Oregon and hit 28 major cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and more, before wrapping up March 26 in Orlando, Florida.

PRETTY MAIDS singer Ronnie Atkins, who is battling stage four cancer, offered an update on his condition during a recent interview with France's Duke TV. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I just decided to be open about it because my family had cancer. Back in the day when my mother had it — she died from it 33 years ago — it was something you didn't talk about back then.

"When I was diagnosed with stage four cancer, I just kind of refused to say that… I don't want this to run my life," he continued. "I still have things on my bucket list. I still wanna live. I still have a lot to give, a lot of music to sing. And I still wanna be around. And I'm in the same place now. I'm still here after a year and a half, and if you asked me a year and a half ago, I wasn't so sure. So it's been up and down. But I decided to be open about it. And I had so much love from the social media — from the fans and stuff like that — so I'm just trying to pay back a little and continue to be open about it.

"I'm not telling people everything. I try not to let it run my life — or at least not ruin my life. The diagnosis hasn't changed, but I feel good. And as long as I feel good… I'm pretty much living day by day — or month by month, so to speak."

Atkins previously discussed his cancer battle in an interview this past March with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com. At the time, he said: "I'm going to need these scans every third month, and every time is very nerve-racking for me and my wife and kids. You never know what you'll get told, 'cause last time when I had that serious stage four diagnosis when it spread, I didn't actually feel any pain. You never know what awaits you.

"Dealing with this disease is like a mental thing — it's there in the subconscious 24/7. But it's something you've gotta learn to live with. I can't change what it is — it is what it is. So let's get the best out of it."

The 56-year-old Atkins was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019 and underwent at least 33 radiation and four chemotherapy treatments in the fall of that year before being declared cancer-free. In October 2020, he announced that his cancer had returned.

In a 2013 interview with Myglobalmind, Atkins joked that the secret to keeping his voice in shape was "twenty cigarettes a day and little drink now and then."

Formed in early 1982 by Atkins and guitarist Ken Hammer, PRETTY MAIDS' third album, 1987's "Future World", is still today regarded as a "classic."

During the ensuing years, PRETTY MAIDS continued to release albums usually followed by European and Japanese tours.

PRETTY MAIDS' latest album, "Undress Your Madness", came out in November 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl.

Earlire this year, Atkins released a solo album, "One Shot", via Frontiers Music Srl.

In a recent interview with RadioactiveMike Z, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program "Wired In The Empire", RIVAL SONS guitarist Scott Holiday spoke about the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for the follow-up to 2019's "Feral Roots" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have a record almost in the can right now. We're pretty much done. It's just really difficult. Our dear friend Dave Cobb, our longtime producer, is a busy man, and he's only gotten busier and harder to nail down. So with everything, between all the protocol and COVID stuff and finding time with him, and now he's out on tour with Chris Stapleton where he plays acoustic guitar part time, we're just looking for our window to jump back in and wrap it up. And I'm hoping we can do that in January. One more session we're gonna have and we're gonna put a bow on it and get that out to everybody. I think we have a really great record kind of just about there."

According to Holiday, RIVAL SONS recorded the upcoming album "really similarly" to the way they made some of the previous efforts. "The only difference was that me and Jay [Buchanan, vocals] spent more time writing back and forth, 'cause we were trapped at home with this pandemic," he said. "But when it came to recording, we really didn't spend much more time than that still. We didn't share too much with the [other] guys, so that meant when we went in to record, it kept things really off the cuff. So don't worry, everyone, you're still getting a normal, true-to-heart RIVAL SONS record."

As for the musical direction of the new RIVAL SONS material, Scott said: "You can see the big wheel turning from record to record — they sound different; they sound really different. That's why it's so weird to come back to 'Pressure And Time' [for the ongoing 10th-annviersary tour] and go, 'Woah! We're in a really different headspace right now,' where we're making he new record. Or with 'Feral Roots' compared to 'Pressure And Time'. Yikes! That's trippy. Like, how are we gonna get these to translate as well as these other songs? You can really tell where we are in our trajectory. So, like that, this record has moved along from 'Feral Roots'. I can't really say [it's] more melodic. I think we're always sharpening the sword, we're always trying to become better songwriters and always trying to be more melodic. And not trying to necessarily reinvent the wheel but just do something that we know is different and new and maintaining a level of quality with our songwriting as we work. And I think this new record, it's gotta feel like that. It feels like that right now.

"We've kind of gone from 'Pressure And Time' being very concise, and the next record we made, with [2012's] 'Head Down', being a much more broad record, stylistically and musically," he continued. "And then we kind of bounced back and forth — concise and kind of opened it up. And there was a real middle ground with 'Feral Roots'. It wasn't so concise — there were some big songs on that record, longer songs, wider. I feel like this record is a broader record. It's possibly our longest record and our biggest record. So I think this might be slightly more majestic. [Laughs] Remember I always said 'Pressure And Time' wasn't 'The Wall'. This might be 'The Wall'. [Laughs]"

Holiday went on to say that "there is a little loose concept happening" with the new RIVAL SONS album, but he declined to elaborate. "I don't wanna say too much," he explained.

In June, RIVAL SONS held a two-night livestream event, "Pair Of Aces", from the historic Catalina Casino on Santa Catalina Island. They performed their debut LP, "Before The Fire" (2009), in its entirety on the first night and their self-titled EP, "Rival Sons" (2010), on the second.

Earlier this year, RIVAL SONS launched their very own label, Sacred Tongue Recordings, with distribution through Thirty Tigers. The band recently regained the master rights to several of their early releases and are reintroducing them to the world by first remastering their independent full-length debut LP and self-titled EP on all DSPS, CD, and vinyl for the first time.

"Feral Roots" not only garnered a 2020 Grammy Award nomination in the category of "Best Rock Album," but also yielded a Grammy nomination for "Best Rock Performance" for the top 10 rock track "Too Bad". The effort was produced by Cobb at Nashville's famed RCA Studio A, and the equally legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.