THE LUCID, the four-piece hard rock band featuring bassist David Ellefson (ex-MEGADETH), vocalist Vinnie Dombroski (SPONGE), guitarist Drew Fortier and drummer Mike Heller (RAVEN, FEAR FACTORY), will release its self-titled debut album on October 15 via SpoilerHead Records . The LP features nine heavy-hitting and emotionally charged tracks showcasing this eclectic quartet's unique sonic approach.

THE LUCID has just released "Damned", the second single from the upcoming album, which was produced by Heller and mixed/mastered by Lasse Lammert. Check it out below.

"The Lucid" track listing:

01. Maggot Wind

02. Deaths Of Despair

03. Spoiler Head

04. Hair

05. Maskronaut

06. Damned

07. Breech Boy

08. Pigs And Sons

09. Parade Of Spit

Ellefson states: "It's been a real blast making a record with these guys and I must say that it’s refreshing to explore some new musical avenues… to step out a bit from what each of us have done stylistically in our own careers. There was an effortless synergy that came with creating these songs together which is always amazing when working with new people. I'm looking forward to everyone checking it out!"

During a November 2020 appearance on "The Chuck Schute Podcast", Ellefson stated about how he got involved with THE LUCID: "Drew sent me a track and said, 'Hey, can you throw a bass on here?' And I was writing a new ELLEFSON solo record at the time, so my studio ears were on. I was plugged in and ready to go. He sent it over and I was, like, 'Yeah, this is freaking cool, man.' I'd seen Drew play, I know his BANG TANGO history and the other stuff he's done. But this was really cool stuff that spoke to me. And then he called me up and he said, 'Hey, Vinnie is gonna come in and write some vocals and lyrics and lay down some tracks.' And it turned into a thing."

"I love [Vinnie]. I love SPONGE," David continued. "He's such a rock star. He's just a cool guy. And he writes such great lyrics — very trippy lyrics. He's the type of lyricist I'd never worked with before, so it's fun with that. And Drew is a great guitar player. Mike Heller — he's good friends with [MEGADETH drummer] Dirk Verbeuren. And Dirk's, like, 'Mike's awesome.' They're good friends. We all met in L.A. We got the songs together and we all met in L.A. in mid-July. I plugged in and banged out 10 songs in two days. And it was fun. Mike was very good in the studio; he really knows his way around."

As for THE LUCID's musical direction, Ellefson said: "It's cool stuff, and it's very different. It's, obviously, not thrash metal, hence the name LUCID. [The name] kind of feels like what the music sounds like."

Ellefson and Fortier have also announced the pre-order for their award-winning found-footage horror film "Dwellers", which will be released October 12 on Blu-ray and digital streaming services and is available now in various limited edition pre-order bundles at www.dwellersfilm.com.

Ellefson and Fortier will promote the film at the following events:

* Crypticon, Minneapolis, MN - Sept. 10-12

* Dead Conventions, Fort Wayne, IN – Oct. 15-17

* Chiller Theater, Parsippany, NJ – Oct. 29-31

Ellefson was dismissed from MEGADETH in late May, just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving him were posted on Twitter. A short time later, he 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.

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

In July, MEGADETH leader Dave 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.

On May 24, Mustaine — who formed MEGADETH with Ellefson in 1983 — announced the bassist's departure from the band.

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

Photo credit: Tharasa DiMeo

"Nothing To Lose - A Stephen Pearcy Rockumentary" is available now on ASY TV on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Firestick or at ASYTV.com. Follow RATT singer Stephen Pearcy's story from his childhood home in San Diego to the world-famous Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, eventually finding platinum success and playing to sold-out arenas around the world.

Check out three separate "sneak peek" clips from "Nothing To Lose - A Stephen Pearcy Rockumentary" — totaling just under 45 minutes — below.

This past June, Pearcy spoke to Vintage Rock Pod about his upcoming follow-up to 2018's "View To A Thrill" solo album. He said: "So much time has passed since we started writing, Erik [Ferentinos] and I — my guitar player and co-writer guy [for] most of my solo [stuff]. It was so long ago. And the record was done; we had the songs written, like, six months ago. And that was a year process. Since then, I've been writing like a fool and writing with him, and all these new songs [came out]. So I figure let's do a double record and give it all you've got — just go in there and lay it down and say, 'Here. This is what happens in two years when you write tunes.' 'Cause they're way different. It goes all over the place, this record. Our new bass player, Jerry Montano, he did time in HELLYEAH; he's more of an aggressive writer/player. So these songs could be real heavy, heavy or they could be RATT sounding, obviously, if I write 'em. I'm trying to take 'em outside. I'm trying to do a lot of different things. And it's gonna be interesting, because it's gonna go all over the place, so good luck."

According to Pearcy, fans shouldn't expect to see his new solo LP until sometime in 2022. "It's been put off," he explained. "We're gonna try to get through this year. I've got some things to take care of with what the band RATT's gonna do… And once I get in the studio, I don't mess around. That's one thing I learned from [producer] Beau Hill, is you make shit happen. Don't waste time. And we don't. I crack a whip."

Five months ago, the 65-year-old founding RATT vocalist, who has been focusing mostly on his solo career while the band has been off the road, dropped the official music video for a previously unreleased solo song called "Don't Wanna Talk About It". The track was written "circa 2000s" entirely by Pearcy and features Stephen on vocals and guitar, Ferentinos on lead guitar, Mike Duda on bass and Greg D'Angelo on drums.

"Don't Wanna Talk About It" arrived two months after the release of Pearcy's cover version of DURAN DURAN's 1981 hit "Girls On Film". Prior to that, Pearcy issued another new solo single, "Night Flight", a collaboration between Pearcy and Ferentinos, which is expected to appear on Stephen's upcoming LP.

Pearcy's fifth solo LP, "View To A Thrill", came out in November 2018 via Frontiers Music Srl. The follow-up to 2017's "Smash" was produced by Matt Thorne and Pearcy and was mixed and mastered by Thorne and Ferentinos.

Pearcy and bassist Juan Croucier are the sole remaining original members in RATT's current lineup, which made its live debut in July 2018 in Mulvane, Kansas. Joining them in the band are drummer Pete Holmes (BLACK 'N BLUE, RATT'S JUAN CROUCIER) and guitarists Jordan Ziff (RAZER) and Frankie Lindia.

In January, Pearcy told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he was open to the idea of making a new RATT album with all the surviving members of the band's classic lineup.

RATT hasn't released any new music since 2010's "Infestation" LP.






























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According to Billboard, Funko and the Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) have partnered to release a collection of Digital Pop! NFTs of IRON MAIDEN's mascot, Eddie.

The first musical artist who is receiving the company's Digital Pop! treatment, MAIDEN's mascot will be available in 44 different versions as digital "Pops!" beginning September 30.

"We are huge IRON MAIDEN fans here at Funko and couldn't be more excited to have our inaugural music Digital Pop! NFT be music icon Eddie," Funko CEO Brian Mariotti said. "IRON MAIDEN and Funko fans alike appreciate creative genius in music and pop culture. Now, they can celebrate both in digital form."

The Eddie NFTs will be available in packs containing five digital "Pops!" and 15 digital "Pops!", with prices starting at $9.99. A total of 24,000 packs will be available, and a maximum limit of $30 is allowed per transaction. A Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) wallet will be required to purchase the NFTs.

Last month, Funko launched its initial collectible NFT offerings using WAX's powerful blockchain platform, which ensures verifiable authenticity for all NFT purchases. WAX's unique vIRLTM technology enables Funko's physical collectibles to be owned and traded as digital items with added value.

At a starting price point of $9.99, pop culture fans are able to purchase packs of NFTs featuring Funko's unique stylizations. Collectors who score ultra-rare Funko NFTs are also able to redeem those NFTs for exclusive, corresponding physical Funko figures. Collectors can look forward to a new unique Funko property to be released on the WAX platform each week.

When his company's partnership with Funko was first announced in April, William E. Quigley, co-founder of WAX, said in a statement: "We are excited that Funko plans to utilize the WAX blockchain and WAX vIRLsTM with NFTs that are directly linked to physical products. WAX offers the safest and most convenient way for Funko to enter the NFT market and for collectors to expand their assortments with digital assets."

Headquartered in Everett, Washington, Funko is a leading pop culture consumer products company. Funko designs, sources and distributes licensed pop culture products across multiple categories, including vinyl figures, toys, plush, apparel, board games, housewares and accessories for consumers who seek tangible ways to connect with their favorite pop culture brands and characters.

Frontiers Music Srl will release French melodic metal band Devoid's second album, Lonely Eye Movement, on October 15. Listen to the song "Martial Hearts" below, and pre-order/save the Lonely Eye Movement album here.


Devoid's second album overall, Lonely Eye Movement is a huge step forward for the band and the perfect vehicle to introduce them to a larger international audience. Coming four years after their debut album, Cup Of Tears, musically, the band develops the melodic and slightly progressive sound of the debut and makes Lonely Eye Movement perfectly suited for fans of hard hitting, but very melodic metal.


Devoid is the brainchild of French guitarist extraordinaire Shad Mae. Combining technical finesse and outstanding arrangements with extremely memorable choruses and hooks, Devoid is rounded out by powerhouse German vocalist Carsten 'Lizard' Schulz (Evidence One, Book of Reflections), guitarist Gwen Kerjan, keyboardist Jorris Guilbaud, bassist Geoffrey Shob Neau, and drummer Benjamin Lesous.  


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Tracklisting:


"Lonely Eye Movement"
"Man Without Fear"
"Impostor"
"Destination Heaven"
"Waiting For The Storm"
"In The Absence Of Holiness"
"Mirror Maze"
"Hands Of Salvation"
"Stroboscope Life"
"Martial Hearts"
"Wood And Wind"


"Martial Hearts":





"Hands Of Salvation" lyric video:

Danish/American rock and rollers VOLBEAT will release their eighth studio album, "Servant Of The Mind", on December 3 via Republic Records. The effort will be available in standard CD, deluxe 2LP vinyl (in various limited-edition variants) and a deluxe digital edition.

For "Servant Of The Mind", the band, which consists of Michael Poulsen (guitars/vocals), Jon Larsen (drums), Rob Caggiano (guitars) and Kaspar Boye Larsen (bass) took their signature heavy metal, psychobilly and punk 'n' roll sound up a notch while showcasing Poulsen's keen ability for songwriting and storytelling.

"I wrote the whole album in three months," recalls Poulsen, "I was in a good place and mood while at home, and had a captive audience of myself… There are a lot of VOLBEAT signatures in it. If you go back to the first record and compare it to where we are now, you can hear how the band has developed its style, while keeping the signature sound."

To coincide with the album announcement, the band has released the new single "Shotgun Blues", an anthemic track in which Poulsen explores the ghostly events he recently experienced upon moving into a new home.

"Every time you move into a house, you bring dead people with you," he explains. "Weird stuff happens when I move into a [new] house… it's very otherworldly." Watch the lyric video below.

The album also includes the "double barrel" of summer songs the band released this past June: "Wait A Minute My Girl" and "Dagen Før" (featuring Stine Bramsen), the former of which became the band's ninth number one single on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

Other songs on the album weave intricate and fascinating tales. "The Sacred Stones" tells the story of "an earthly being who has committed himself to the dark side. He is on a mission, speaking to darker forces and fallen angels." Meanwhile, "The Devil Rages On" looks at the idea of the devil taking human form. Album opener "Temple Of Ekur" returns to the ancient themes explored in past songs such as "The Gates Of Babylon", while the epic album closer "Lasse's Birgita" explores the story of the first witch burnings to occur in Sweden in 1471.

"Servant Of The Mind" standard edition track listing:

01. Temple Of Ekur

02. Wait A Minute My Girl

03. The Sacred Stones

04. Shotgun Blues

05. The Devil Rages On

06. Say No More

07. Heaven's Descent

08. Dagen Før (feat. Stine Bramsen)

09. The Passenger

10. Step Into Light

11. Becoming

12. Mindlock

13. Lasse's Birgitta

Deluxe 2 CD/2 LP and digital deluxe bonus tracks:

14. Return To None (WOLFBRIGADE cover)

15. Domino (THE CRAMPS/ROY ORBISON cover)

16. Shotgun Blues (feat. Dave Matrise from JUNGLE ROT)

17. Dagen Før (Michael Vox Version)

Vinyl variants (North America)

* Standard 180g black vinyl 2LP

* Translucent Rust 2 LP – Volbeat.dk exclusive, limited to 550

* Transparent Yellow 2 LP – Revolver magazine exclusive, limited to 400

* Mystery Color LP2 – indie retail exclusive, limited to 100

Vinyl variants (Europe)

* Standard 180g black vinyl 2 LP

* Crystal Clear 2 LP, volbeat.dk exclusive, limited to 2,000

* Glow In The Dark 2 LP, EMP exclusive, limited to 2,000

* Orange and Blue 2 LP, UMG exclusive, limited to 3,100

* Danish Red and White 2 LP – only available in Denmark, limited to 2,000

VOLBEAT is two decades deep into a career that has found them sharing stages with genre legends like BLACK SABBATH, METALLICA, MOTÖRHEAD, SLIPKNOT, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX and more. They have racked up nearly three billion cumulative streams over the course of their career, notched a "Best Metal Performance" Grammy nomination for "Room 24" (featuring King Diamond) from 2014's acclaimed (and gold-selling) "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", and have grabbed multiple Danish Music Awards. Not ones to rest on their laurels, their forthcoming album "Servant Of The Mind", which was written and recorded during the shutdown and quarantine necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is introspective but pulls no punches and is no less raucous or driving than their previous efforts.

Tomorrow, the band kicks off their "Wait A Minute… Let's Tour" run, their first U.S. tour in two years, at Atlanta's The Tabernacle with shows in cities including Oklahoma City, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Special guests THE HU, TWIN TEMPLE and MUNICIPAL WASTE will be joining them for select dates. Earlier this week, the band also announced their 2022 co-headlining arena tour with GHOST and special guests TWIN TEMPLE, coming to cities including Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix.

Since forming in 2001, VOLBEAT has gone from the clubs of Copenhagen to headlining stages around the world, including the famed Telia Parken stadium in Denmark (becoming the only domestic artist to ever sell out the venue). Over the course of seven record-breaking albums the band has picked up number one songs (including nine No. 1s on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart and counting, the most of any band based outside of North America), multi-platinum certifications, awards and accolades all over the planet. Their latest album, "Rewind, Replay, Rebound", was released in August 2019 and has spawned the hit singles "Last Day Under The Sun", "Die To Live" (featuring Neil Fallon) and "Leviathan". A live album featuring songs recorded during the subsequent world tour, "Rewind, Replay, Rebound: Live In Deutschland", was released digitally in November 2020. Most recently, they contributed a cover of "Don't Tread On Me" to "The Metallica Blacklist", with all proceeds from the track benefiting METALLICA's All Within My Hands foundation and the Børne Cancer Fonden of Denmark.

American-Canadian alternative metal outfit, Set The Sun, have released the first single from their upcoming debut EP. The duo, known as Arc & Eris, wrote and recorded the record during last year's lockdown, which inspired them to delve into themes of isolation, division, and unspoken conflict on their first studio offering. The first taste of the new record comes via the new single "Invisible", which boasts guest vocals from Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter, as well as Thomas Freckleton from Silent Planet playing bass on the track.


Listeners can expect to see plenty of familiar guest artists on upcoming music from Set The Sun, as the group will often collaborate with a group of fellow musicians that they refer to as The Collective.





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Speaking about his involvement with the single "Invisible", Ryan Clark states: "I believe collaboration at its best stems from mutual appreciation. When I first spoke with - and listened to - Set The Sun in the summer of 2020, it was clear that our collective interests and influence

SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor has called the recent passing of Joey Jordison "a damn tragedy."

The founding SLIPKNOT drummer's family confirmed that Jordinson died "peacefully in his sleep" on July 26 of an unspecified cause. He was 46 years old.

Taylor addressed Jordison's death publicly for the first time during an appearance this past Tuesday (September 21) on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Asked how he has dealt with the loss of his longtime bandmate, Corey said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's been tough, man. Our first concern was obviously his family, so we reached out immediately to make sure that they were okay, to let them know if they needed anything from us, they could absolutely ask.

"It's a damn tragedy," Taylor continued. "He was way too young, and he was way too talented to lose him like this.

"I know a lot of people wonder about the circumstances that led to him not being in the band anymore, and it's, like, we're not gonna talk about that, because I'd rather talk about his legacy, which is that he helped create this band that we all have fought to keep out there and keep going.

"Just the fact that he's not here now, it's still — I still can't believe it," Corey added.

SLIPKNOT announced its split with Jordison in December 2013 but did not disclose the reasons for his exit. The drummer subsequently issued a statement saying that he did not quit the group.

Several years ago, Jordison overcame the neurological condition acute transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord which damages nerve fibers, which ultimately led to the drummer temporarily losing the use of his legs.

Jordison and the members of SLIPKNOT had been silent and evasive about the reasons for his dismissal from the band, but Joey finally spoke about it in 2016 while accepting an award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in London, England.

At the time, Joey claimed that he was fired from SLIPKNOT without a band meeting or "anything from management." He said: "All I got was a stupid fucking e-mail saying I was out of the band that I busted my ass my whole life to fucking create. That's exactly what happened and it was hurtful. I didn't deserve that shit after what I'd done and everything I'd been through.

"They got confused about my health issues and obviously even I didn't know what it was at first," he continued. "They thought I was fucked up on drugs, which I wasn't at all.

"I've been through so many things with those guys and I love them very much. What's hurtful is the way it went down was not fucking right. That's all I want to say. The way they did it was fucking cowardly. It was fucked up."

Back in 2014, Taylor told Metal Hammer that firing Jordison after 18 years was "one of the hardest decisions" the group ever made, adding that Joey is "in a place in his life" which is "not where we are."

Taylor said he could not get into specifics for legal reasons, but admitted, "It's when a relationship hits that T-section and one person's going one way and you're going the other. And try as you might to either get them to go your way or try and go their way, at some point you've got to go in the direction that works for you. This is me speaking in the broadest terms, with respect to Joey. I guess to sum it up, it was one of the hardest decisions we ever made."

Taylor said that the band is "happy right now and we hope that he is . . . he's just in a place in his life, right now, that's not where we are."

The singer would not answer whether drug use played a role in Jordison's dismissal, and confessed that he had not been in touch with his former bandmate. Taylor said, "I haven't talked to Joey in a while, to be honest. That's how different we are. It's not because I don't love him and I don't miss him. And it is painful; we talk about him all the time, but at the same time, do we miss him or do we miss the old him? That's what it really comes down to."

Three years ago, Joey revealed that he was working on his first-ever book.

In 2018, Jordison completed a European tour with the international death metal supergroup SINSAENUM.

Two months ago, Joey's SINSAENUM bandmate Frédéric Leclercq blasted TMZ for sharing the audio of the 911 call placed by the former SLIPKNOT drummer's ex-girlfriend after she found him dead. On July 29, the tabloid site posted the two-and-a-half-minute phone call in which the ex-girlfriend — who continued taking care of Joey's bills and maintaining his house in Iowa even after their split — could be heard getting very emotional when she went to his home to check on him after he hadn't returned her messages. During the call, she indicated that Joey was "a really bad alcoholic" with "health issues," and she revealed that the motion sensors on the house hadn't detected any activity in days.

The same year that he exited SLIPKNOT, Jordison launched the band SCAR THE MARTYR and later, VIMIC

British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST have postponed the remainder of their U.S. tour due to "major medical heart condition issues" suffered by guitarist Richie Faulkner.

Produced by Live Nation, the rescheduled "50 Heavy Metal Years" trek kicked off on September 8 in Reading, Pennsylvania and was slated to run through October before concluding on November 5 in Hamilton, Ontario.

PRIEST's most recent show took place Sunday night (September 26) at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky. The band's next date was originally set for Wednesday (September 29) at the Mission Ballroom in Denver, Colorado.

Earlier today (Monday, September 27), PRIEST released the following statement via longtime publicists Chipster PR: "it is with deep regret that we have to postpone the rest of our U.S. tour. Richie Faulkner has major medical heart condition issues which have landed him in the hospital where he is being treated. In the meantime, we are all sending love to our Falcon to wish him a speedy recovery…

"As soon as we have any updates from his doctors on when we can reschedule the dates, we will of course announce them — tickets will be valid..."

Faulkner joined PRIEST in 2011 as the replacement for original guitarist K.K. Downing.

Richie was once the guitarist in the backing group for Lauren Harris, daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris.

During a 2019 online video chat, Faulkner was asked what his "biggest insecurity" was when joining PRIEST 10 years ago. He replied: "I think it was the fact that it's a global audience and it's a band that means so much to millions of people around the world, and you're, all of a sudden, thrust into the public eye with that band. And, of course, that brings some insecurity. But you've just gotta get on and do it and do your best, and that's what I did, and that's what you've gotta do."

In a 2016 interview with 103GBF, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford stated about Faulkner: "We can't say enough about Richie. I mean, you know, it's hard to condense it, but if you [see PRIEST in concert] and just look at Richie's charisma and energy and all of the great stuff that's coming out of his hands, it's wonderful; it really is. And, yeah, I mean, he's infectious; the fans will tell you that. Once the show kicks off, he's at the edge of the stage connecting, and that's a really cool thing to be having happen with PRIEST."

Faulkner and his girlfriend Mariah Lynch, daughter of former DOKKEN guitarist George Lynch, welcomed their first child, a baby girl, in July 2020.

PRIEST's longtime guitarist Glenn Tipton was diagnosed with Parkinson's seven years ago — after being stricken by the condition at least half a decade earlier — but announced in early 2018 he was going to sit out touring activities in support of "Firepower". He was replaced by "Firepower" album producer Andy Sneap, who is also known for his work in NWOBHM revivalists HELL and cult thrash outfit SABBAT. Tipton occasionally joins PRIEST onstage for its encores, performing "Metal Gods", "Breaking The Law" and "Living After Midnight".




A MESSAGE FROM @judaspriest IT IS WITH DEEP REGRET THAT WE HAVE TO POSTPONE THE REST OF OUR US TOUR. RICHIE FAULKNER HAS MAJOR MEDICAL HEART CONDITION ISSUES WHICH HAVE LANDED HIM IN THE HOSPITAL WHERE HE IS BEING TREATED. VISIT https://t.co/xfeYhoEpUZ FOR FULL STATEMENT

— Chipster PR & Consulting, Inc. (@chipsterpr) September 27, 2021

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Sammy Hagar played a rooftop concert on Wednesday (September 22) above the Strip at Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show started at 6:30 p.m. and ran about 30 minutes. 200 invited guests and contest winners were in attendance on the Beer Park deck. The show also played to the pedestrian traffic across the Strip.

Fan-filmed video footage of the show can be seen below.

When the event was first announced, Hagar said in a statement: "I'm so looking forward to doing this crazy thing, which I've never done before. It's inspired by THE BEATLES, who were one of the first ones to do it."

For the Beer Park show, Hagar was joined by his THE CIRCLE bandmates, ex-VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Vic Johnson and drummer Jason Bonham (son of the late LED ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham).

As previousy reported, Hagar will take part in a Las Vegas residency at The STRAT later this fall. "Sammy Hagar And Friends" will see Sammy performing with a rotating circle of other musicians.

"I've been searching the Las Vegas Strip trying to find the right room, ambience and partners to create a very special Cabo Wabo birthday bash type environment for my band members and musician friends to create the ultimate party residency," Hagar said in a press release.

The STRAT Theater has a capacity of about 800 people. The theater will be designed to capture the beach vibe Hagar's synonymous with, including elements of his famed Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, home to his epic annual birthday bash.

Shows are scheduled on October 29 and October 30, November 5, November 6, November 12 and November 13, all at 9 p.m.

Fans will take in the experience of a lifetime seeing the legendary artist performing some of his greatest hits, which include some of the most iconic rock anthems ever written, like "I Can't Drive 55", "There's Only One Way To Rock", "Right Now", "Heavy Metal", "Mas Tequila", "Why Can't This Be Love" and many more in an intimate venue. "Sammy & Friends" will celebrate Hagar's career, spanning four decades, from his solo career, MONTROSE, VAN HALEN, CHICKENFOOT, THE CIRCLE, and surprise additions to the setlist depending on which of his musician friends take the stage with him. Produced by industry leader SPI Entertainment and Hagar's manager, Tom Consolo, of TC Management, the show will transport the audience to Baja, where you never know who will join Hagar on stage.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Hagar has invited such guest stars as Toby Keith, Rick Springfield, Kenny Chesney, Vince Neil (MÖTLEY CRÜE) and Jerry Cantrell (ALICE IN CHAINS) to the party. As for the setlist, Hagar said: "THE CIRCLE has the best setlist in the world, and the WABOS play a lot more of my old, deeper tracks, and my old vintage catalog from the rocker area, from the '70s, '80s — it's a mosh-up. We'll start with six, seven VAN HALEN songs, a couple of MONTROSE tracks, a LED ZEPPELIN song, six CIRCLE songs. We'll mix it up pretty good."






Vegas Rocks!!! Sammy Hagar on the rooftop

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Sammy Hagar Live Las vegas

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Sammy Hagar

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Right now… Sammy Hagar

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Sammy Hagar free show! Have a rockin evening.

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Omg Sammy Hagar live

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Sammy Hagar LIVE Beer Park Las Vegas !!

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Swedish symphonic metal act Emetropia have released their new single “That Fateful Night” is on every major digital platform. The song is the starting point for the road to their debut album titled Equinox and gives listeners a hint of what lies ahead.


Their keyboardist and main song-writer Liam Strand believes that the new single best represents Emetropia. “It demonstrates the dynamic nature of the band. It has everything from intimate verses, where vocalist Lisa Wallenberg gets to shine together with our progressive drummer Oscar Heikkinen, to bombastic choir sections that pay homage to the pioneers of the genre.”


Lisa explains that “That Fateful Night” is the song where the album’s “tale within a tale” begins. She says that “listeners of our debut EP have already heard of the kings and their never-ending fight. Now we meet a young boy who is determined to help the kings make peace. With the confidence and naivety that comes with childhood, he sneaks ou

Finnish Seinäjoki-based doom metal band Funeral For Two released their second EP named II on September 23rd via Inverse Records.


The band comments: "The second coming of a Finnish doom/stoner band, Funeral For Two. Enjoy the low tuned, slow, heavy fuzz riffed melodies. Dead silence from the dark echoes. May the Fuzz be with you.


This EP was made under the dark shadow of a 'well known' pandemic.. With a little help from our fri

The rise of American black metal is a cult movement whose vast influence and growth cannot be ignored. Houston’s Necrofier carries this torch, embodying the hallmarks of melodic black metal while embracing their Texas roots. 


The band is emerging from the darkness of 2021, ready to fan the unholy flames and finally release their devastating debut full-length, Prophecies Of Eternal Darkness, out October 22 via Season Of Mist. Find preorders at the Season Of Mist webshop.


Necrofier features Oceans Of Slumber members Mat Aleman (bass) and Dobber Beverly (drums) along with Church Of Disgust’s Joshua Bokemeyer (guitar) and Graven Rite’s Christian Larson (vocals, guitar).


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Despite spending a big part of 2020-2021 locked inside, writing and recording new material, Stockholm-based Mass Worship did complete a highly successful tour in support of Polish death metal legends Vader.


Meanwhile, Mass Worship are primed and ready to unleash their second full-length assault. Due for release on February 4, 2022, Portal Tombs is a terrifying but electrifying exploration of the gloomy depths of human nature: a monolithic manifestation of the musical force that is Mass Worship.





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Drawing inspiration from bands such as At The Gates, Mastodon and Meshuggah, Mass Worship could be likened to many bands, but somehow forge their musical identity into something exceptionally distinctive and transcendent, and with enough confidence and conviction to win over even the most orthodox fans of the genre.


Enter the “Portal Tombs” and check out the first track and video below. The clip was dire

Mortiis will release the new book, Zombie Anal Sex Terror: Zine Anthology 1990-1992, in October via Cult Never Dies.

The fifth book in the Underground Archives series is the official reprint of both issues of Z.A.S.T. – standing for the delicate title of Zombie Anal Sex Terror - which was created by Mortiis between 1990 and 1992. Created at a time when the international underground metal scene was fast-expanding, and the medium of the metal fanzine was becoming increasingly important in spreading the word of the more extreme end of the genre, Z.A.S.T. boasted the chaotic hand-drawn / cut-and-paste aesthetic and irreverent editorial voice that epitomized the era.

Collecting both issues this book acts as a snapshot of that brief period when black metal was just beginning to emerge from Scandinavia and death metal still dominated the listening habits of most underground metal devotees. In these pages bands such as Carcass, Nocturnus, Mortician, Grave and Bolt Thrower sit comfortably alongside the likes of Beherit, Varathron, Necromantia, Samael and Abruptum – not to mention doomier bands like Disembowelment, Paradise Lost and Cathedral, and even grind legends Agathocles.

Also included are reviews and articles, unpublished images and a new interview with Mortiis himself, to give context to these early works.



Features: Grave, Blood, Samael, Carcass, Beherit, Masacre, Abruptum, Mortician, Cathedral, Varathron, Sarcófago, Unleashed, Carbonized, Agothocles, Phlegathon, Old Funeral, Nocturnus, Thyabhorrent, Bolt Thrower, Shub Niggurath, Cannibal Corpse, Disembowelment, Necromantia, Sadistik Exekution, Paradise Lost, Necrophiliac, Pungent Stench, Cemetary, Necrofist and many more.

Fan-filmed video footage of SOULFLY's entire September 23 concert at Alex's Bar in Long Beach, California can be seen below.

FEAR FACTORY's Dino Cazares is playing guitar for SOULFLY on the Max Cavalera-fronted band's current U.S. tour which kicked off on August 20 at Launchpad in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The 33-date trek will conclude tonight (Saturday, September 25) in Tempe, Arizona. The final date will be a family celebration as it will include performances by INCITE, GO AHEAD AND DIE and HEALING MAGIC. Joining the band for select dates are NIVIANE and SUICIDE PUPPETS.

Max recently told Heavy New York about Dino's addition to SOULFLY's touring lineup: "I'm hugely inspired and excited and happy that Dino is doing this with us. Dino is an old friend. Our friendship goes back to the early days of SEPULTURA coming to America. I believe we met on the 'Beneath The Remains' tour. For sure by the 'Arise' tour we were friends. He tells the story better, but he had to wrestle me [over] the [FEAR FACTORY] demo tape that had 'Big God' on it. I loved it. I was listening to it on his Walkman. I didn't wanna give it back to him. And it was his only copy. And we had to wrestle. He finally got it out of me. But I ended up bugging [then-Roadrunner Records A&R executive] Monte Conner at that time and saying, 'You're a fool if you don't sign this band.' I think I even called them 'the future of metal' at that time. I was, like, 'This is the future of metal.' If you pass on it, you're a fool. And then Monte signed them, and the rest is history, as they say."

He continued: "That's why this link, this possibility, the situation that happened and we needed somebody to fill in, I couldn't think of a better person than Dino — musically and as a friend. 'Cause we're still very hurt, mostly from the stuff that [former SOULFLY guitarist Marc] Rizzo has been saying [in the press] — it hurts us a lot. And it's good to have a friend that you could talk about it. And then musically I think it's insane. To think of songs, especially the songs that have crunchy guitars, I close my eyes and I imagine Dino's sound on some of those songs, like 'Downstroy' and 'Babylon'… 'Cause there's a lot of chugging — SOULFLY always had chugging. But Dino is a whole another level of chugging. [Laughs]"

When his addition to SOULFLY's touring lineup was first announced, Cazares said in a statement: "The first time I met Max in 1991, I knew we were going to be longtime friends. I was standing at the bar, he grabbed my arm and yelled 'Papa Capado.' I was like 'who the [email protected]#% are you? He said 'I'm Max' and from there we just hit it off. That same night I played him the FEAR FACTORY demo tape on his cassette Walkman in his hotel room while we were attending a music convention in Los Angeles. He liked it so much that he wouldn't give it back, so I had to wrestle him and take it out of his Walkman, haha. It was my only copy. Max told Monte Conner, the A&R director from Roadrunner Records, that we had a new demo that he needed to check out, so our manager at the time sent our demo to Monte after many labels turned us down. The rest is history.

"Over the past 30 years, I've guested on a few of Max's projects and jumped on stage whenever and wherever I could. Now it's a great honor to be doing this tour alongside Max as the second guitarist. It's going to be amazing for all the fans to see the two of us playing a selection of SOULFLY songs and a few familiar extras.

"Much respect to Max and his family — thank you for always making me feel at home with the SOULFLY Tribe. Let's do this!!!! Um Dois Três Quatro".

Although Rizzo's departure from SOULFLY wasn't officially announced until August 7, it was widely speculated that he was out of the group two days earlier when it was revealed that Dino would play guitar for SOULFLY on the current tour.

Last month, Max told Metal Kaoz that Marc has been spewing out "lies and bullshit" in some of his recent interviews regarding his exit from SOULFLY. "All these accusations — it hurts," he said. "It hurts to hear. After everything that we did for him, which was a lot — we put him on all the records and always took really good care of him, always really, really gave good treatment to him. To hear him backstabbing us like that, it's just not nice. He's obviously trying to get fans to be against me and make him the victim… It just sucks to hear all that. It definitely hurts me when I hear all these accusations that I know are lies and bullshit; it's all fabricated by his crazy mind. I don't know. It's a strange situation."

He added: "I don't want to turn this into an ugly thing. I don't wanna talk bad about him; I really don't. Of course I don't like those accusations, and it's bullshit, but he has the right to say whatever. But I think we treated him really good through all those years. We put him on the map pretty much. When he joined the band, not many people knew him. Just a little bit of gratitude would have been nice. Because even on 'Max Trax' [Cavalera's a twice-weekly Internet video series in which he discusses the inspiration for many of the songs spanning his nearly 40-year music career], when I mentioned that I fired him, I thanked him for the 18 years of SOULFLY, and I said good luck on his projects. I'm not bitter. I don't wanna be a bitter guy."

GUNS N' ROSES will release a new four-song EP, "Hard Skool", on February 25, 2022. The effort, which is exclusive to the GUNS N' ROSES official store, contains the two new songs the band released in the last two months — the title track and "Absurd" (stylized as "ABSUЯD") — as well as live versions of "Don't Cry" and "You're Crazy".

"Hard Skool" EP track listing:

01. Hard Skool

02. ABSUЯD

03. Don't Cry (Live)

04. You're Crazy (Live)

Written by singer Axl Rose and co-produced by Rose and Caram Costanzo, the track "Hard Skool", which had the working title "Jackie Chan", was originally recorded during GN'R's "Chinese Democracy" era but was eventually omitted from that album. Short clips of the song were later posted online and a full version was leaked in August 2019.

More recently, the partially reunited classic lineup of GUNS N' ROSES rehearsed the track during soundcheck at several concerts on the band's summer 2021 tour but has yet to perform it live.

Rumors of the new song's imminent release began to circulate earlier in the month after a fan was reportedly told about it by Rose when they met backstage at a recent show in Atlantic City.

On "Hard Skool", Axl sings: "But you had to play it cool, had to do it your way/Had to be a fool, had to throw it all away/Too hard school and you thought you were here to stay/ If that were true, it wouldn't matter anyway."

"Absurd", a reworked version of a previously unreleased track called "Silkworms", came out on August 6, three days after the band performed the tune live for the first time during its concert at Boston's Fenway Park.

GUNS N' ROSES last performed "Silkworms", which was also reportedly written during the "Chinese Democracy" sessions, in 2001.

The band is now said to be working on a new studio album — the first under the GUNS banner since "Chinese Democracy" and the first to feature Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan since 1993.

Photo credit: Katarina Benzova

Motörhead have released the new video below, stating: "Who remembers the video for ‘Brave New World’ from Hammered? We’ve found a copy of it in the archive and had upscaled to HD so all you Motörfans can enjoy it once more!"





The band previously released a "lost" video for "Whorehouse Blues" from Inferno, upgraded to 4K HD. Watch below:


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BMG recently announced the October 29 release of a new career-spanning Motörhead set, entitled Everything Louder Forever - The Very Best Of. The collection will be available on 2CD, 2LP and 4LP. The 2CD digipak and 4LP fold out sets will feature 42 tracks. The 2LP set will include 22 tracks in a gatefold package. Pre-orders and exclusive bundles available here.






Motörhead... a life force, an energy, an attitude and the loudest, meanest, dirtiest music to smash the 20th and 21st centuries. With a bastard sound comprising an unholy synergy of rock, punk and heavy metal, Motörhead comes coated in relentless, ear-curdling power. They were life-changing for millions, carrying a spirit and approach to life and music which proudly said, “Honey, we’re hoo-oome and don’t bother cleaning because we’re here to enjoy ourselves!” The ‘off’ switch was never employed in the Motörhead lust for life, and they became legends as a result.


Leading the charge for their entire 40 year career was the cultural icon Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, who swashbuckled around stages, streets and overseas like a glorious Mad Max pirate truthsayer, roaring for the good and screaming at the wankers. With his propulsive sound and lyrical might leading the charge, Motörhead released 22 studio albums over those four decades, amassing chart topping records worldwide, a Grammy award and racking up around 20 million sales. Their hit song “Ace Of Spades” became Motörhead’s anthem, perfectly capturing their attitude for millions, and punching giant holes in stereos worldwide to this day. Nothing was harder, nothing was faster, nothing packed more raw attitude and certainly nothing was louder, making Motörhead a cultural elixer that was regularly imbibed across all genre lines. Don’t take our word for it, look around any heavy metal, punk or alternative gig, and you’ll see the indomitable warpig logo and Motörhead gothic script on a t-shirt, a jacket, even an arm or leg or back (Motörhead tattoos are everywhere), all sitting on the bodies of rockers, metalheads, punks, bikers, rebels, outcasts, freethinkers and even athletes all around the world. Yeah, that’s right, Motörhead's cultural reach remains virtually peerless to this very day (the one you’re living right now as you read this), and it continues to span fans young and old, igniting their adrenaline and giving them both entertainment and identity.


This collection is the definitive assembly of Motörhead songs which have created this cultural phenomenon, and represents the first time all eras of the band’s recorded history have been represented in one place. And we feel that if in this mad, mad world we’re living in, some aliens decide to drop by your house for tea and demand an explanation as to, “what the fuck is this ‘Motörhead’ is that we keep hearing and feeling bits of in our extra-terrestrial houses millions of miles away,” you could happily play Everything Louder Forever and know that the question will be thoroughly answered. Buy two copies though, because you know they won’t leave without taking one themselves! Or something like that anyway…





Deluxe 4LP Vinyl tracklisting:


Side A:


"Overkill"
"We Are Motörhead"
"Snaggletooth"
"Rock It"
"Orgasmatron"


Side B:


"Brotherhood Of Man"
"In the Name of Tragedy"
"Bomber"
"Sacrifice"
"The Thousand Names of God"


Side C:


"Love for Sale"
"Killed by Death"
"I'm so Bad (Baby I Don't Care)"
"Smiling Like a Killer"
"Sharpshooter"


Side D:


"Queen Of The Damned"
"Keys to the Kingdom"
"Cradle to the Grave"
"Lost Johnny"
"The Game"


Side E:


"Ace of Spades" (40th Anniversary Master)
"Burner"
"Stone Dead Forever"
"Bad Woman"
"Just Cos' You Got the Power" (Eat the Rich 12" B-Side)


Side F:


"Stay Out of Jail"
"No Class"
"I Am the Sword"
"The Chase Is Better Than the Catch" (40th Anniv

Norwegian extreme metal formation, Gaahls WYRD - fronted by renowned vocalist Gaahl (Gorgoroth, Wardruna, God Seed) - will release their new EP, The Humming Mountain, on November 5 via Season Of Mist. Watch a visualizer for the title track below, and pre-order the EP here.


Gaahls WYRD, the eponymous brainchild of one of black metal’s most iconic and enigmatic figures, has returned with a hypnotic new EP. The Humming Mountain follows the band’s debut album, GastiR - Ghosts Invited, and sees the latest evolution of the esoteric dark metal project’s sound.


The five song offe

METALLICA played its classic self-titled album, commonly known as "The Black Album," in its entirety during its headline set last night (Sunday, September 26) at Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

METALLICA performed the LP as part of its second headline set of the weekend at Louder Than Life, which hosted tens of thousands of people at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

After opening with three non-"Black Album" songs — "Hardwired", "The Four Horsemen" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" — METALLICA performed the album's closing track, "The Struggle Within", and went through the entire LP in reverse order, finishing the main set with album opener "Enter Sandman". The band then returned for a two-song encore consisting of "Blackened" and "Creeping Death".

For its first show on Friday (September 24), METALLICA played a 16-song set that spanned its entire catalog, including "Whiplash", "Harvester Of Sorrow", "The Memory Remains", "Master Of Puppets", "Battery", "Fuel" and "Seek & Destroy".

METALLICA's setlist for Sunday, September 26 at Louder Than Life festival at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky:

01. Hardwired

02. The Four Horsemen

03. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

04. The Struggle Within

05. My Friend Of Misery

06. The God That Failed

07. Of Wolf And Man

08. Nothing Else Matters

09. Through The Never

10. Don't Tread On Me

11. Wherever I May Roam

12. The Unforgiven

13. Holier Than Thou

14. Sad But True

15. Enter Sandman

Encore:

16. Blackened

17. Creeping Death

The Black Album is one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed records of all time. Its 1991 release not only gave METALLICA its first No. 1 album in no fewer than 10 countries, including a four-week run at No. 1 in the U.S., its unrelenting series of singles — "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters", "Wherever I May Roam" and "Sad But True" — fueled the band's rise to stadium headlining, radio and MTV dominating household name status. The album's reception from the press was similarly charged, building over the years from the top 10 of the 1991 Village Voice Pazz & Jop national critics poll to becoming a constant presence in the likes of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. The album's impact and relevance continue to grow — as proven by one indisputable fact: The Black Album remains unchallenged as the best-selling album in the history of Nielsen SoundScan, outselling every release in every genre over the past 30 years.

To commemorate its 30th anniversary, the Grammy-winning, 16-times-platinum-certified Black Album received its definitive re-release on September 10 via the band's own Blackened Recordings.

METALLICA's self-titled LP in 2014 became the first album to sell 16 million copies since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991.

"Metallica" was the first of four collaborations with producer Bob Rock, with whom the band clashed throughout the recording of the disc.

METALLICA previously performed The Black Album in its entirety at a number of European festivals in 2012.

GUNS N' ROSES played its new song "Hard Skool" live for the first time during last night's (Sunday, September 26) concert at Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.

"This is something about lower education," frontman Axl Rose told the audience before launching into the track.

Written by Rose and co-produced by Rose and Caram Costanzo, the track "Hard Skool", which had the working title "Jackie Chan", was originally recorded during GN'R's "Chinese Democracy" era but was eventually omitted from that album. Short clips of the song were later posted online and a full version was leaked in August 2019.

More recently, the partially reunited classic lineup of GUNS N' ROSES rehearsed the track during soundcheck at several concerts on the band's summer 2021 tour but has yet to perform it live.

Rumors of the new song's imminent release began to circulate earlier in the month after a fan was reportedly told about it by Rose when they met backstage at a recent show in Atlantic City.

On "Hard Skool", Axl sings: "But you had to play it cool, had to do it your way/Had to be a fool, had to throw it all away/Too hard school and you thought you were here to stay/ If that were true, it wouldn't matter anyway."

"Hard Skool" is the title track of a new GUNS N' ROSES four-song EP which will be released on February 25, 2022. The effort, which is exclusive to the GUNS N' ROSES official store, contains the two new songs the band released in the last two months — "Hard Skool" and "Absurd" (stylized as "ABSUЯD") — as well as live versions of "Don't Cry" and "You're Crazy".

"Hard Skool" EP track listing:

01. Hard Skool

02. ABSUЯD

03. Don't Cry (Live)

04. You're Crazy (Live)

"Absurd", a reworked version of a previously unreleased track called "Silkworms", came out on August 6, three days after the band performed the tune live for the first time during its concert at Boston's Fenway Park.

GUNS N' ROSES last performed "Silkworms", which was also reportedly written during the "Chinese Democracy" sessions, in 2001.

The band is now said to be working on a new studio album — the first under the GUNS banner since "Chinese Democracy" and the first to feature Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan since 1993.

METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett joined JUDAS PRIEST on stage last night (Sunday, September 26) at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky to perform "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)", a song written by Peter Green and recorded by FLEETWOOD MAC. For the performance, Kirk used his Gibson 1959 Les Paul Standard that once belonged to the immortal genius of both Green and Gary Moore — affectionately known and celebrated worldwide as "Greeny."

Fan-filmed video footage of Kirk's appearance can be seen below. Also available is a backstage photo courtesy of PRIEST's guitar tech Robb Philpotts.

Back in May 2013, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford joined METALLICA on stage at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods award show at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California to perform the PRIEST classic "Rapid Fire".

Halford previously played "Rapid Fire" with METALLICA at one of the band's four intimate shows in December 2011 at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of the week-long celebration of METALLICA's 30th anniversary as a band for fan club members only.

In 2019, METALLICA played a snippet of PRIEST's version of "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)" while rehearsing for its concert in Bucharest, Romania.

Last year, Halford told Revolver magazine that METALLICA was the last concert he went to see as a fan before the pandemic hit. "I [saw them] play in Glendale, in Arizona," he said. "That was a blast. I've known those guys forever. I went with my other half, Thomas, and a good friend of ours who's a police lieutenant, James.

"It was great to see the band because if you, by the grace of God and good luck and fortune and hard work and slugging at it, you get to all these different levels, and METALLICA went about as far as you can, and still are at.

"Their shows are gigantic. If you've seen 'em — they're big production. And it must be a nightmare for them, like it is for us, to try and pick a setlist. But their setlist was a combination of the ones that we wanna hear, plus the new stuff that you do. It was a great show."


























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LAMB OF GOD's Randy Blythe joined French progressive metallers GOJIRA on stage on Saturday (September 25) at Knotfest Iowa at the National Balloon Classic Field in Indianola, Iowa to perform the song "Backbone". Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

The first Knotfest Iowa since the SLIPKNOT-curated event's inaugural year in 2012 was reportedly attended by 30,000 fans.

Earlier this year, Blythe praised GOJIRA's seventh studio LP, "Fortitude", to Metal Hammer magazine, saying that is "succeeds in achieving what very few metal albums do: without sacrificing a single ounce of earth-shattering heaviness." He added that GOJIRA has once again "raised the bar that defines this genre."

Blythe, who has previously said that he has has "publicly supported [GOJIRA] from the second I first heard them," co-wrote and appeared on the track "Adoration For None" on GOJIRA's 2008 album "The Way Of All Flesh".

"Fortitude" entered Billboard's Top Albums chart at No. 1, while also claiming the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top Current Albums, Current Rock Albums and Current Hard Music Albums tallies. The release also marked a career high debut on the Billboard 200 for GOJIRA, arriving at No. 12, with several career-high chart positions and Top 10 debuts in countries around the globe including: France (No. 2), United Kingdom (No. 6), Australia (No. 3), Germany (No. 8), Belgium (No. 2), Netherlands (No. 4), Denmark (No. 3), Portugal (No. 4), Finland (No. 2) and Norway (No. 10).

According to The Sacramento Bee, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist has sold his Westlake Village, California house for $5.18 million.

The 62-year-old rocker and his 36-year-old wife and How2Girl founder, Courtney Sixx, spent $4.125 million on the home in 2014.

According to The Agency, which had the listing, the property has 10,300 square feet of living space, sits on a 1.2-acre lot and was built in 1996. There are five "delightful bedrooms, including a towering master suite on the first level equipped with a formal entry, private living room with fireplace, luxurious master spa, a grand walk-in closet and direct access to the grounds," the official description reads. "The second level features an incredible private theater and lounge set in a stylish narrative energized with epic honors."

Photos of the property are available in the YouTube clip below.

Last October, Sixx confirmed to the 95.5 KLOS radio station that he and his wife and their two-year-old daughter Ruby moved to Wyoming. Nikki said that the least populous U.S. state is filled with "no-B.S. type of people." He explained: "Everybody is extremely outdoors-driven — fishing, hunting, hiking, going on the river, going up the lake. Everyone's extremely healthy. And there's no entertainment business here, so you're not dealing with any of that kind of stuff — you're just dealing with blue-collar people. I relate to it 'cause I came from Idaho in the '70s, which it's 40 minutes to Idaho from where we live. And it's a lot of the same environment. I go back, I go on the road, I still see these beautiful cities, but as far as being a musician and a painter and a person who writes books, I felt it was maybe time, and a better place to raise my daughter."

Sixx's comments echoed those he made a month earlier when he told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about what it has been like to live away from Los Angeles for the first time in decades: "It's great for the creativity. I feel like all kinds of ideas are just floating around the air. Kind of like Keith Richards said — he said he's never written a song; he just plays guitar all the time, and then the song just shows up. And that's kind of what it's like for me up here in Wyoming. I'm just writing, and stuff's turning into a book and stuff's turning into songs. And you don't know where it's going, and that's really exciting."

He continued: "I feel like being back in Los Angeles, everything is about business: When is the deadline? When do the rehearsals start? When does the tour start? When? When? When? And I'm, like, that's great — I understand — but I kind of need to step back and just let some creative juices flow. I don't know. Maybe I don't have any more songs in me; maybe I do. [There's] only one way to find out, and that's to be in a place that's not so chaotic."

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 which is sweeping the globe.

JUDAS PRIEST's first pandemic-era tour, the rescheduled "50 Heavy Metal Years" North American trek, kicked off on September 8 in Reading, Pennsylvania and will conclude on November 5 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Asked in a new interview with LifeMinute what fans can expect to see at each concert on the tour, PRIEST singer Rob Halford said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, this is unique. JUDAS PRIEST became famous not only for our music but for the show, the spectacle that we've been putting on for decades… We give you an indelible metal memory, so when you've seen or witnessed a JUDAS PRIEST show, that lives in your heart and your mind forever. So this is an opportunity for us to really do those things but on a new dimension. We've created this really cool set — it's like a factory.

"When I was a kid, when we were kids growing up in the Midlands [part of the U.K.], we were surrounded by heavy industry, the steel mills, the iron factories and everything like that," he continued. "So we're kind of taking you into what we call the JUDAS PRIEST metal works, where the metal is made. And so that's what we surround ourselves with. We have a spectacular lighting show that we've always put an emphasis on, great things happening on the video screens, what we wear… And a couple of crazy things, like this gigantic, huge, inflatable bull that is half the size of the stage, because where we're from in Birmingham, it's famous for this bullring, as it was called. And the bulls that used to be sold there as part of trade and commerce and so forth, they're kind of synonymous with that. So we've got this thing happening at the end of the show, and people [are, like,] 'Oh my God! Is that real?'

"It's just a great, great night out and a celebration of everything that you know and love JUDAS PRIEST," Halford added. "But the music leads the way. We've always said that you can't build all these things around songs that don't match it. So we've done that — we've done that over and over again. So we have a great setlist, a really cool setlist. It's like a time machine. We're taking you with us through as far back as we can go, our very first album, 'Rocka Rolla'; we brought that song back to the stage for the first time. So there are some surprises musically as well as everything else.

"I know we hear people go, 'You can't miss this show.' Well, it's true — you can't miss this show. 'Cause you only do a 50th anniversary once in your life. So come and check it out. It's gonna be beautiful."

Bassist Ian Hill is the sole remaining original member of PRIEST, which formed in 1969. Halford joined the group in 1973 and guitarist Glenn Tipton signed on in 1974. Rob left PRIEST in the early 1990s to form his own band, then returned to PRIEST in 2003. Founding guitarist K.K. Downing parted ways with the band in 2011, and was replaced by Richie Faulkner.

On October 15, JUDAS PRIEST will release "50 Heavy Metal Years Of Music", a mammoth limited-edition box set which will include every official live and studio album to date plus 13 unreleased discs. This is the most extensive release of previously unreleased music the band has made from its vast archives. Restored and mixed by Tom Allom at La Cucina W8 and mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios, this special release will be made available via Sony Music.

80's Metal Recycle Bin has uploaded an interview with Eddie Jackson in which the QUEENSRŸCHE bassist reflects on the departure of original vocalist Geoff Tate in 2012 and the addition of Geoff's replacement, former CRIMSON GLORY frontman Todd La Torre.

"We were sort of at a crossroads," Eddie said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "Things weren't really working out too well for the four original members, and a decision had to be made. That decision was made. So here we are.

"You would think that you'd have all your ducks lined up in a row, but we were right there at that crossroad wondering, 'Okay, well, some decisions need to be made. What's our backup plan?'

"Michael [Wilton, QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist] was working on a side project. And he had told us he was gonna take some time to write his own little solo CD. He was working with this singer, who's actually a drummer first and foremost, and a really good drummer, named Todd La Torre. He was able to hire him to work on his solo project. And at the time, when we made that decision to move on from our former singer, that's when Mike approached us and said, 'Listen, guys, I'm kind of working with this singer on my solo project. He's aware of the band. In fact, after working with him for several weeks, this guy can really hit a lot of those notes that Geoff was able to hit. So if we wanna get together and audition him, just let me know.' And at the time also, Geoff was working on his solo project — he was way well in advance with his solo project; I think it was already released and he was gonna put together a tour. So we were in limbo for a while. And then that's when Mike approached us and suggested [Todd] as a singer for us to sort of perform some cover-band songs as well as QUEENSRŸCHE songs.

"We got together," he continued. "And it was one of those… Without realizing and knowing too much about someone… He was well aware of he band. When Michael brought him over to rehearsals, we just sat down and started talking, 'Hey, what do you listen to?' We just started chatting and talking, obviously, about QUEENSRŸCHE and himself as a musician and all. So we just got together this one rehearsal afternoon and got everything set up. And he asked, 'Hey, what do you wanna start with?' [And we said], 'You tell us, because if you wanna rehearse on any QUEENSRŸCHE songs, just let us know which one, because I'm sure Michael gave you a list of songs that we could kind of run through.' And he goes, 'How about 'Queen Of The Reich'?' 'Okay. Fine. Perfect.' So we started the intro, and here he is singing that intro where the voice sort of ramps right up with that long, screaming, piercing tone, and I'm playing my bass and I'm hearing this and I'm looking over and I'm looking at Scott [Rockenfield, then-QUEENSRŸCHE drummer], and I go, 'Wow!' And I'm just playing and stuff. So we got through the song, and I go, 'Sure. I'm sold. Let's work together.' And it was pretty much the consensus for everyone. It took just pretty much one song."

Two weeks before announcing that QUEENSRŸCHE was parting ways with Tate in June 2012, Jackson, Wilton, Rockenfield, La Torre and and guitarist Parker Lundgren played two shows in their hometown of Seattle under the name RISING WEST. Fan-filmed video footage of one of the gigs can be seen below.

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

Wilton and Jackson are the sole remaining original members of QUEENSRŸCHE, which has released three albums thus far with La Torre on vocals — 2013's "Queensrÿche", 2015's "Condition Hüman" and 2019's "The Verdict".

Rockenfield hasn't performed with QUEENSRŸCHE in more than four years. The band has used former KAMELOT drummer Casey Grillo for touring purposes since April 2017.

The drum tracks on "The Verdict" were laid down by La Torre.

In June 2022, DEAF RAT will be opening up as the support act for Heavy Metal Icons Judas Priest, in the world famous outdoor arena Dalhalla in Sweden. While waiting for the world to open up for live shows to happen again, the band is releasing a cover version of the classic Madonna hit “Like A Prayer”.

Vocalist Frankie Rich states: “To make the decision to record a classic hit song that sold millions of copies all over the world may sound like a great idea at first, but it sure comes with a lot of challenges. When you take on a song that has touched so many hearts and souls during so many years, there will be just as many opinions as there will be listeners.”

“Like A Prayer”, which has been released 1989, is one of Madonna’s bestsellers and most popular songs to date. Furthermore at time of release it entered single charts in various countries on #1 (e.g. US, UK) and #2 ( e.g. DE, NL) and similar positions in a lot of other countries worldwide and has been part of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Top 500 – best songs of all times”.

Most important was to understand the song. “I always treat other artists' creations and work with great respect”, Frankie continues. “It’s important to understand the song and understand the work behind it before you start taking things apart. On a well produced song like this, all details on the recording are there for a reason, and they are all played in a certain way for a reason. The biggest challenge for us was to find a way to create something that sounded like Deaf Rat, while keeping much of the parts that the vocals and instruments play on the original track.

Three years ago, we had somewhat of a dead period with a lot of setbacks during 10 months. The spirit inside the band was not the best. I saw that we needed to focus on something together so I did some demos of cover songs on my own and brought it forward to the rest of the band. Luckily, the rest of the guys grasped on to it and we were able to turn our built up frustration into fuel for creativity in the studio instead. If we had not entered the studio and worked on this song together, chances are big the band would not be around today.”

DEAF RAT released the album “Ban The Light” in late 2019 through AFM Records which received great reviews from the metal press and followed with their latest single “Within The Dead Souls” in October 2020. Just before Covid struck the world, the band confirmed not only the support show with Judas Priest, but also a 15 show European tour together with Swedish fellow classic rock act H.E.A.T.

DEAF RAT is, in the truest sense of the word, one of Sweden's most explosive live acts. The many years of touring and studio experience have taught the band to harness that fire and transfer it to tape.
The band hails from Dalarna in Sweden, a small region with long traditions of mining, steel industry, music and a healthy dose of DIY attitude. Dalarna is the home of bands such as PAIN, Sabaton, Scar Symmetry & Twilight Force.

DEAF RAT is band that fills up the cracks in the ageing concrete between old school and modern hard rock. Lead vocalist Frankie Rich and guitarists Pat Kramer and Max Lander spent the last eight years together touring Europe in minivans without air condition, sleeping on the floors of fans' apartments and sometimes even living in their recording studio to afford production costs for tours and albums.

Grab yourself a shield, a horn full of mead and get prepared for the final battle with BROTHERS OF METAL! Fans waited a long time for a new release of the Swedish power metal band - now the time has finally arrived: The extraordinary 8-piece enchants its fans with the new music video "Kaunaz Dagaz". The powerful track was released on the Sweden’s' second album "Emblas Saga" in January 2020. Now they are finally doing it justice with an epic and fitting music video.

In addition to the very entertaining video, BROTHERS OF METAL have even more highlights for their fan: LIMITED PICTURE VINYL of both albums!

One must have lived under a rock to not hear of this amazing new band from Sweden.
They already mixed up the Power Metal scene with their debut album "Prophecy Of Ragnarök" and have become an indispensable part of the it.

Exceeding the hit album has certainly not been an easy task. But BROTHERS OF METAL showed the willpower, fighting spirit and talent of a Viking who made it to Valhalla. In January 2020 they publish the masterful epic album 'Emblas Saga'.

The songs were even more creative, interesting, and varied - and were in no way inferior to the highly acclaimed debut album in terms of anthemic character.

They finally made themselves legends through triumphant appearances at the Sweden Rock Festival, the German Rockharz or Rock Am Stück festivals.

Corey Taylor said that his breakthrough case of COVID-19 produced symptoms that made him "the sickest" he had ever been in his life, and he credited the vaccine for keeping him out of the hospital.

The 47-year-old SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer, who is fully vaccinated, was forced to call off his appearance at a Michigan pop culture convention last month after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Taylor discussed his COVID-19 battle during an appearance this past Tuesday (September 21) on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Asked for an update on his health, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I feel fine. I've been saying this since day one: thank God for vaxxes. Because it not only shortened it incredibly, but my recovery was nothing. I mean, I was sick [for a couple of] days — the sickest I've ever been in my life — and then, by the third night, I felt fine. And honestly, by the fourth day, had I not been testing positive, I would have gone back to the gym; I felt that good. And luckily, there was no lung issues, which would have screwed me, obviously. But, yeah, I'm doing great, man.

"To anybody who has any doubts: don't listen to the [Nicki] Minajes of the world. The vaxx works. Okay? It worked for me, [and] it will work for you."

Corey also talked about what it was like to return to the live stage with SLIPKNOT for the first time in 18 months on September 4 at the Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma. The gig marked the debut of Taylor's new mask, which he had been working on for the past few months.

Speaking about how he prepared for the Rocklahoma gig, Corey said: "I basically just kind of went back to my normal workout. My cardio is anywhere from uphill for at least two miles or running for three miles. And then I weight train on top of that. But here's the reality of it, man: there's no way to properly train yourself for a SLIPKNOT show. We all were, like, 'Yeah, we're feeling great.' And then we got through that first show, and we were putty; we were just broken. Me and Jim [Root, SLIPKNOT guitarist] both looked at each other, and we were, like, 'God, what were we thinking? Oh my God.' 'Cause it's such a different energy… 'Cause you get on that stage with just absolutely all abandon, and we just went for it as hard as we could. We came offstage and none of us could move our necks. It was complete bedlam.

"All you can do is just try to be as healthy as you can and then try to get as many shows under your belt as you can to get back into that mechanism, that muscle, basically," he added.

Taylor, who spent a few days quarantining at a Denver hotel after his diagnosis, previously told Consequence Of Sound that he had no patience for people who knowingly expose others to the virus.

"If you're going to put people at risk of getting sick, you shouldn't want to go to a show. That's common sense," he said. "And if you do put people at risk, then you're a fuckin' asshole. And you shouldn't be let in anyway."

Corey completed the latest leg of his solo tour in support of his 2020 album "CMFT" on August 19 in Denver.

Rapper Nicki Minaj sparked controversy earlier this month for suggesting the COVID-19 vaccine could cause reproductive issues. She tweeted that she wants to do more research before getting vaccinated and claimed that a friend of her cousin's had experienced adverse effects from it, which health officials have refu

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach will return to the stage this fall for a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the band's double-platinum, acclaimed album "Slave To The Grind". The trek will kick off September 25 in Waterloo, New York and will wrap in San Diego, California on December 17.

During an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" on Thursday (September 23), Bach stated about the upcoming tour (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're doing [the 'Slave To The Grind' album] in its entirety. We've already done it once. We did it at the Whisky [A Go Go in West Hollywood, California] back in 2018 one time. And it was really funny because we did the first SKID ROW album on the first night and 'Slave' on the second. The first night's crowd was wall-to-wall chicks. [Laughs] I'm just being honest. The second night was wall-to-wall dudes. It couldn't have been a more different crowd — dudes with hooks in their noses and long earlobes with weird stuff.

"When I read back-and-forth in the press, which we all do whether we want to admit it or not, Rachel [Bolan, SKID ROW bassist] once had a comment that when we put out 'Slave', we lost half of our female audience," he continued. "And my immediate response to that was, 'Dude, do you not remember the GUNS N' ROSES tour?', because there was a lot of females coming out to that one. But in retrospect, having performed the first album on a full tour, he is right — the appeal on songs like 'Can't Stand The Heartache' and 'Rattlesnake Shake', chicks love those songs. And dudes love 'Monkey Business' and 'Get The Fuck Out' — dudes love it. So, hey, man, me and Rachel just agreed on something."

According to Bach, he will perform the "Slave To The Grind" LP "in sequence except for one song. We are doing half of the song 'Get The Fuck Out' because half of the song, the lyrics are not acceptable in this day and age," he explained. "Even though I argued, when I was recording that song, about the words in that song [being] extreme. But we're doing half of it."

Asked what the most challenging part of performing all of "Slave To The Grind" will be for him, Sebastian said: "I'll tell you, honestly — the ending of 'Quicksand Jesus'. That is me pushing my voice and my melodies, my licks, that's pushing it to the max. That's really hard to do.

"I have to say this, that sometimes fans lose sight of the fact that making a record is not playing a show," he continued. "Making a record, you're standing completely still. You're in an air-conditioned studio, and you can try as many times as you want to get the ultimate take that you want. That's not the same thing as going out there and you get one shot, and that's it. And if you're not using tapes, too bad for you. If you mess up, everyone's gonna know it.

"I'm not interested in going to a karaoke show; that doesn't have any interest to me. So that's just the way it is.

"I use effects sometimes, but I don't use Auto-Tune or nothing."

Last summer, Bolan told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he and his SKID ROW bandmates would embark on a "Slave To The Grind" 30th-anniversary tour in 2021. "We'll do the album in its entirety, and then we're gonna do a bunch of stuff to coincide with it," he said. "We're pretty psyched, and the shows are booked. We're keeping our fingers crossed that everything is gonna come to pass… It'll be cool, to go out there and do 'Slave To The Grind' top to the bottom. That'll be fun."

According to Bolan, SKID ROW didn't celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band's self-titled debut album in 2019 because "the timing didn't really work out. We had so much other stuff planned, and then all of a sudden, boom, it was here," he explained. "Maybe down the road [we'll celebrate it]. Maybe [for the] 40th [anniversary]. [Laughs]"

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY.

In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of Bolan and guitarists Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger.

SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I.