Slash says that GUNS N' ROSES has yet to begin writing new material after recently releasing two reworked songs from the "Chinese Democracy"-era sessions.

Last month, the guitarist and his bandmates dropped "Hard Skool", which came more than a month after their performance and subsequent official release of "Absurd", a reworking of GUNS N' ROSES previously unreleased "Silkworms".

Slash, who is promoting the upcoming "4" album from his solo band SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS, discussed the status of new GUNS N' ROSES music while speaking to Audacy Check In host Remy Maxwell.

"As far as new GUNS is concerned, we haven't even gotten to that point of really in earnest sitting down and writing," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "We've been doing a lot of material that's been sort of sitting around for a while. So that will be a whole focused endeavor unto itself."

As for how "Hard Skool" and "Absurd" came about, Slash said: "They both have a lot of history. What happened was Axl [Rose, GUNS singer] has all these songs that he recorded at some point along the way. And so Duff [McKagan, GUNS bassist] and I went in and re-did them, basically… Like, I wrote my own kind of parts to what else is going on, and [we] just sort of took the drums and re-did everything else."

Written by Rose and co-produced by Rose and Caram Costanzo, "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.

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" came out on August 6, three days after GUNS N' ROSES 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.

If and when it happens, the new GUNS N' ROSES studio album will be the first under the GUNS banner since "Chinese Democracy" and the first to feature Rose, Slash and McKagan since 1993.

In a new interview with Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X, FOO FIGHTERS mainman Dave Grohl was asked how he knows when a song he is working on is "done" and ready for release. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "When you get sick of it. Well, in a way. I don't like spending too much time on anything in the studio. It's, like, usually the first few takes, that's got the thing that you want — even if it's imperfect. It's, like, you get in there and the energy of it, and it's fresh and it's new and you hit 'record' and you go blast through something. I like working on things until it's powerful and it's worth other people hearing. But, dude, I'll get to the point sometimes with songs where I'm, like, 'All right. I'm out of love. That's it. I'm out of love with this song. We're done. That's it.'"

Grohl's memoir "The Storyteller: Tales Of Life And Music", was released on October 5 via Dey Street Books and Simon & Schuster. In the book, Grohl shares what it was like growing up as a kid with big dreams in Springfield, Virginia, and how he lived out those dreams making music on the world stage. The book features anecdotes about David Bowie, Joan Jett, Iggy Pop and Paul McCartney, as well as stories about the time he played drums for Tom Petty, went swing dancing with AC/DC, and performed at the White House.

Regarding how he chose what to include in "The Storyteller", Grohl said in a recent trailer for the book: "I could write an entire book about the band SCREAM. I could write an entire book about my time in NIRVANA. The idea was to choose the stories that best described what it's like to be behind the curtain and on the inside of the music, from the drum stool looking out. To play music, have this beautiful family, travel the world, meet people from all walks of life, I never take any of this for granted, believe me."

In a recent interview with Austin American-Statesman, Grohl said that "The Storyteller" might just be the first of many volumes. "It was so much fun, and I can't wait to do more," he said. "When I hit send on that last story in the book, I was sad. I thought, oh no, it's over? I guess that is the tip of the iceberg. I want to keep going."

In a brand new interview with the "Breaking Absolutes With Peter Orullian" podcast, KING'S X frontman Doug "dUg" Pinnick spoke about the tension and polarization in the news and in social media and how people consume what they want to hear and reject what they don't like.

"A lot that goes on in my mind all the time when it comes to my relationships with people is always to understand where they're coming from so I can understsand what they're doing instead of getting mad or upset and we can articulate how we feel so that we can learn to live with each other in a way that doesn't have conflict," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "And I'm always searching for new ways to make peace — find out a friendship, I call it; I wrote a song about it a long time ago. And my whole life has been that, is how do you become good friends with people? You get to know 'em, you get to understand 'em, you get to love 'em."

He continued: "I was comfortable being able to get with people and agree and disagree and everybody's fine, and I felt like I was happy about it; I was having lots less drama and stuff. And all of a sudden, algorithm comes in, and all of a sudden all of us are watching our YouTube or our phones or whatever, and Big Brother, he's watching everything that we do and then he feeds us everything that we keep looking at. And this is how many years — 10 years or so since all this started happening. So we got people to a point where there is not one person who is on the phone that has the same reality as you — not one person. And anything that you think of, you can find a community that will embrace you and ask you to come live with them and embrace their belief until you're consumed with it. And then, all of a sudden, you don't trust anyone and we've gone back to tribes. That's what the Internet has done — it's created tribes like when we were cavemen."

Pinnick went on to say that the problem with social media — which amp up moral and emotional messages while organizing people into digital communities based on tribal conflicts — is unlikely to improve any time soon.

"I don't know any way out," he said. "At this point, I don't see any way out. Even if they shut all our computers off, we've already got our tribes. And none of them are ever gonna be open to an outside influence. Let's start with religion all the way down. It's over. The only thing I believe that can change is a flood or an alien invasion, where we all drop our guard and go fight for humanity — some unifying crisis."

Pinnick released his fifth solo album, "Joy Bomb", on October 15 via Rat Pak Records.

Doug is known first and foremost as the soulful singer and bassist for hard rockers KING'S X. Throughout the band's lengthy and legendary career, KING'S X released twelve albums and influenced the likes of PEARL JAM, SOUNDGARDEN, DREAM THEATER, PANTERA, and many more. Throughout the early 21st century, Pinnick remained the "go-to singer" of rock — as evidenced by his appearance on recordings by first-rate rockers including Jeff Ament, Eric Gales, George Lynch, Ray Luzier, and many more. Doug has issued other solo albums under his own name, including 2005's "Emotional Animal", 2006's "Songs From The Closet", 2007's "Strum Sum Up", and 2013's "Naked".

In a new interview with Australia's Heavy, ALICE IN CHAINS co-founder Jerry Cantrell, who is promoting the upcoming release of his solo album "Brighten", was asked if songwriting gets easier or harder over time. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think it's always hard. Some things [come relatively easy] — it's really rare, actually, and it happens. There's a couple of records on this record that are like that, and you'll have a few of those per project that happen pretty quickly and really spontaneously. Most of the time, it's a grind, and it's a grind with looking at an abyss, like, 'What the hell am I gonna come up with now?' [Laughs] And that's kind of the challenge. I think that's what I like about it — because you're not sure if you can pull it off again. It's just a very human look at it.

"I've always operated, and the guys in ALICE have always kind of come at it in a way, and I think it's a really healthy way, and we've heard this expressed by other artists, and we've taken that leap: you cannot rely on previous success; you cannot re-write a song or re-write a record," he continued. "So it is done. So every time you start, it's gotta be from an absolute zero. You have to trust in the fact that you're gonna be you and you're gonna come through, and if you're lucky enough to have some sort of identifiable sound that people have enjoyed in the past, you can trust in the fact that that's gonna be there. So what it really comes down to is what it's always been about for us, which is pleasing ourselves — like, is this something we're excited about? Are we making something that if we weren't in this band we would listen to and go, 'That's fucking good.' That's who we're trying to please. Obviously, we want people to listen to it and want it to connect to a larger audience than just ourselves. But it's gotta start there first; it's gotta cross that bridge before it gets to anybody else."

"Brighten" will be made available on October 29. The LP was co-produced by Jerry over the past year with film composer Tyler Bates and Cantrell's longtime engineer Paul Figueroa. They welcomed a dynamic cast of supporting players, including drummers Gil Sharone and Abe Laboriel, Jr. (Paul McCartney), pedal steel master Michael Rozon, Vincent Jones on piano, Wurlitzer, and organ. Other rock legends added to the fun of this LP, including Duff McKagan (GUNS N' ROSES) on select bass tracks, Greg Puciato (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN) handling all of the background vocals and Joe Barresi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) overseeing the mixing of "Brighten". Together, they recorded eight originals and the LP closes with an approved-by-Elton John cover of his classic "Goodbye" as the finale.

Jerry recently told Kerrang! magazine that "Brighten" contains "a lot of influence from the stuff I grew up listening to, like classic rock and singer-songwriter stuff of the '60s, '70s and even some of the '80s. I also used a lot of voices and instruments that I don't traditionally use in a heavy way and it's really fucking cool," he said.

Airforce guitarist Chop Pitman and drummer Doug Sampson, who sat behind the kit for Iron Maiden from 1977-1979, were recently interviewed by Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice. 


The two spoke about their upcoming U.K. tour supporting Steve Harris' British Lion, their new live album Live Locked N' Loaded, and re-recording the Iron Maiden classic "Strange World" for their upcoming new album, also as a charity single to assist former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno. An excerpt has been transcribed as follows:


"We are working on a version of 'Strange World' that is something in the pipeline. It's all in the early stages, we got demo ideas for it. So probably after we come back from Steve's British Lion tour we will start thinking about getting some work done on it and start laying down some tracks on it," revealed Doug Sampson.




"The re-recording of 'Strange World' will be on the upcoming new Airforce album. We are also trying to  re-release it (as a single) to help Paul (Di'Anno) with the operation, as a download. It would be nice if we could get Stave Harris to sanction it, to say I endorse it.  Whatever we could do, we will do. We will play for free for Paul just to get him up and about. We are going to take out time and make sure we do it right. First thing I have done was to phone up Steve and I tell him I am doing a version of 'Strange World', it's a track that Iron Maiden does not do any more and it's a track people associate with Paul Di'Anno. And he went, yeah yeah great. I said I will do a version and send it to you. listen to it and let me know what you think  and Steve liked it, which is good. Dave Sullivan (Iron Maiden guitarist 1975-76) got involved, he phoned me up, quite excited about it and then Terry Rance (Iron Maiden guitarist 1975-76) phoned me up and he got quite excited about it. So we are planning to have Doug Sampson, Dave Sullivan, Terry Rance and Paul (Di'Anno) on it, that is a big thing. It's a different version of the track, nothing like the original and more up to date," said Chop Pitman.





 

Originally released in March 1992, Slik Toxik's Juno Award winning debut album, Doin' The Nasty, will see an official digital release through Universal Music on November 5th. Details will be made available in the coming week. Stay tuned.





Doin' The Nasty reached #61 in Canada and was certified gold by the CRIA. "Helluvatime", "By The Fireside", "White Lies, Black Truth", and "Sweet Asylum" were released as singles and they all had accompanying music videos. The album won the 1993 Juno Award for Best Rock Album Of The Year. At the 1992 MuchMusic Video Awards, the "Helluvatime" video won the People's Choice Award for Best Video of the Year and Best Metal Video Award.

Toronto's Scarlet Sins, who called it quits in 2009 after several years together and only one album (released in 2008), reunited in 2019 for two shows. They also hinted at the possibility of new music in the future. Now, they have checked in with the following update:


"After many of you reached out to us to make our songs available for streaming, we are super excited to let you know that our first album is finally available on Spotify, Apple, iTunes, Amazon, Pandora and more! We now have a place to distribute new music!


You can also now add our music to your Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook stories! Please remember to tag us if you do!" 




Scarlet Sins performed two reunion shows in late 2019, on October 19th and November 2nd in Ottawa and Toronto respectively. Video of the band performing "Let Go", "Own Truth", "Reborn" and Scarlet Sins' cover of Depeche Mode's "Strangelove" at the Toronto show is available below.

















Photo by: Laura Collins Photography

METALLICA has given away a rare autographed copy of "The Black Album" remastered deluxe box set. This rare band-autographed copy of the black album remastered deluxe box set is raising funds for the METALLICA's All Within My Hands foundation as it works to create sustainable communities by supporting workforce education, the fight against hunger, and other critical local services.

Fandiem is a digital fundraising platform that harnesses the power of the fan community to do good in the world. With their donation to a selected nonprofit, fans are entered to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences with their favorite artists, festivals, athletes, and creators. These are the opportunities that were previously available only to a select few but through fandiem are awarded to the everyday fan at the heart of the community.

The Fandiem foundation is a project of the giving back fund, a national 501c3 organization that encourages and facilitates charitable giving. the giving back fund grants donation proceeds to each campaign's partner nonprofit.

Says Fandiem: "Where were you when you first heard one of rock's greatest albums of all time? probably headbanging to songs like 'Enter Sandman' and 'Sad But True'. Now you can do it again with an extremely rare METALLICA autographed copy of the limited-edition Black Album remastered deluxe box set. the set is signed by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo. This epic collector's item includes previously unreleased content, behind-the-scenes photos in a hardcover book, cool merch, and more! One superfan will get a chance to keep this signed memento forever. We know. It's awesome.

"What's just as awesome? Supporting causes that make lives better around the world. that's why each entry to win is also a donation toward METALLICA's own All Within My Hands foundation. The organization was started by members of the band and is dedicated to creating sustainable communities by supporting workforce education, the fight against hunger, and other critical services.

"Enter here to win a piece of METALLICA history and support lives nationwide.

This exclusive fundraiser ends on Monday, November 1, 2021.

CANDLEBOX frontman Kevin Martin had the audience at the Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, Arizona on its feet Thursday night (October 21) when he welcomed 12-year-old TikTok star Vedder Gabriel on stage to perform the band's hit song "Far Behind".

Martin and Gabriel had met previously on Instagram, which later led to a rockin' TikTok duet that caught the attention of thousands of fans. Martin quickly invited Gabriel on stage to perform the song, which led to a standing ovation.

Gabriel, who was named for Eddie Vedder, was only seven years old when he was plucked from the audience by Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto to join him on "Night Of The Hunter" at 30 SECONDS TO MARS's inaugural Camp Mars music festival in Malibu, California. He has since sung "Tennessee Whiskey" with Chris Stapleton, "Know Your Enemy" with GREEN DAY, "Dead And Bloated" with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and "Last Time For Everything" with Brad Paisley, among others.

Asked in a 2018 interview with the Arizona Republic how Vedder manages to find himself on stage as often as he does, his father said: "He's fortunate. He's crawling up me higher to see and every cell in his body is screaming every word to every song."

His mother concurred, saying: "Even when he was that little, if he knew he was going to a concert, he would find the set list somehow and master the songs. He would listen to them and try to remember them."

Vedder himself explained it: "I learn all their music and all their songs and if they need me, I'm ready."

Gabriel is actually Vedder's middle name but it's become his stage name.

CANDLEBOX is currently wrapping up its fall tour in support of its latest album, "Wolves".


























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Halloween couldn't kick-off properly this year without a Halloween Sock Puppet Parody video; This year, Alice Cooper gets the sock puppet treatment with a spin-off of the track "Feed My Frankenstein" from the 1991 album "Hey Stoopid". The video features a "Frankensock" rocking the lead guitar, fashioned from what we assume is the body parts of other clothing garments. The video stylizes Cooper from wardrobe down to signature stage stunts, such as a guillotine cutting the sock puppet's head off.

Director Brady Tulk and producer Johnny Zero-Forever teamed up with musical talent RIVETHEAD to knock it out and this video certainly does not sock.

Sock Puppet Parody has created many tributes to bands such as METALLICA, SLIPKNOT, and more. The outfit is currently in pre-production for a long-awaited season three which will begin filming early 2021 and includes a dozen new parody acts.

Back in 2019, Tulk told VoyageDallas about Sock Puppet Parody: "It's a YouTube series that takes iconic bands and turns them into sock puppets. Our team does not cut corners. We not only create the music from the ground up, but we strive to stay true to the last detail. We research the band thoroughly to pay a tribute to the artists and we film it with the best production value we can. We take the concept of the song and apply sock related lyrics.

"We have caught the attention of the bands theirselves, from SLAYER posting our video, to PANTERA's Vinnie Paul making a cameo, to getting a seal of approval from SLIPKNOT's Corey Taylor."

Regarding how Sock Puppet Parody was conceived, Tulk said: "I met a producer named Johnny Zero on the RIVETHEAD set. We eventually went to a concert together and saw the iconic band STATIC-X and the frontman, Wayne Static, had his hair in foot-long spikes and his long beard braided. Johnny and I knew STATIC-X would make for a fantastic sock puppet re-creation. We teamed up and decided to not just do one video, but do six episodes to see if they catch on. We knew there was something special about the concept, and we wanted to see how people would react.

"The pivotal moment for Sock Puppet Parody was when we uploaded a SLAYER parody to our YouTube channel. That day we were posted by numerous metal magazines with thousands of fans leading up to the band posting our video to their Facebook. In one day, over one hundred thousand people saw our video. It was an unbelievable experience.

"Since then, Johnny and I have been cultivating our audience and growing the brand."

TikTok announced today that the music of LED ZEPPELIN is now available to its community. The band has also launched their own official TikTok account (@ledzeppelin) that will feature LED ZEPPELIN artwork and graphics, classic live performances, and other video content.

TikTok users can now create videos soundtracked to any song from LED ZEPPELIN's full discography, encompassing over 100 total songs across their landmark studio and live albums, including some of their most legendary tracks such as "Whole Lotta Love", "Stairway To Heaven", "Immigrant Song", "Rock And Roll", "Black Dog", "Ramble On" and "Kashmir".

LED ZEPPELIN remains one of the most groundbreaking and popular groups in modern music, having sold more than 300 million albums worldwide. The band was founded in 1968 by Jimmy Page. Along with Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones, they began a 12-year reign during which the group was widely considered to be the biggest and most innovative rock band in the world. November 8 marks the 50th anniversary of their milestone fourth album "Led Zeppelin IV", produced by Page, which continues to be one of the most artistically influential and commercially successful albums in the history of music and the sixth best-selling album of all time in the U.S. LED ZEPPELIN continues to be honored for its pivotal role in music history, counting a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Polar Music Prize among its many accolades.

LED ZEPPELIN released only eight studio albums and no singles over the course of its 12-year career, but to date there are more than 1,000 singles and 2,000 LPs in the market.

LED ZEPPELIN's December 10, 2007 performance during the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert was chronicled on the band's 2012 "Celebration Day" CD and DVD. The set, which featured Jason Bonham subbing for his late father John Bonham on drums, marked Plant, Page and Jones's first full-scale show together since John Bonham's 1980 death.

Check out LED ZEPPELIN on TikTok here

SCORPIONS have unveiled the cover artwork for their new single, "Peacemaker". The track, which was originally scheduled for release on October 21, will now arrive on November 4.

The band said: "Here it is: the Peacemaker Cover Artwork! This photo captures perfectly how we feel as a band. So excited for you all to hear the new single. Pre-save it now to hear an exclusive snippet of the song!"

"Peacemaker" is the first single from SCORPIONS' 19th studio album, "Rock Believer", which will be issued on February 11, 2022.

During the pandemic the band retreated to the studio in their German hometown in Hanover and started working on new songs.

"The album was written and recorded in the SCORPIONS DNA with core [Rudolf] Schenker/[Klaus] Meine compositions," said singer Klaus Meine. "We recorded the album as a band live in one room, like we did in the '80s."

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

SCORPIONS' new album will mark their first release since 2017's "Born To Touch Your Feelings - Best Of Rock Ballads", which was an anthology of new and classic material.

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

Meine previously told Talking Metal that the goal with using Fidelman to produce "Rock Believer" was to bring "the old vibe from albums like 'Blackout', 'Love At First Sting' or even 'Lovedrive'. We try to focus on those albums and this attitude," he said. "If we get there, who knows — it's so many years later. But it's the spirit and it's the whole vibe around this album. This time, the focus is on the harder songs."

According to Meine, SCORPIONS' new LP features "no outside writers at all," unlike 2015's "Return To Forever", which was largely co-written by the album's producers, Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen.

SCORPIONS will kick off their "Rock Believer" world tour in March 2022 in Las Vegas where the band will play nine shows as part of their residency at Planet Hollywood Hotel. Afterwards they will cross the Atlantic to Europe where they will play six concerts in France and six shows In Germany supported by Wolfgang Van Halen's new band MAMMOTH WVH.

SCORPIONS' last full-length collection of new recordings was the aforementioned "Return To Forever", partially comprising songs the band had in the vault from the '80s. It was the final recorded appearance of SCORPIONS' longtime drummer James Kottak, who was dismissed from the band in September 2016. He has since been replaced by Mikkey Dee, formerly of MOTÖRHEAD.
























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New supergroup CORRODED SPIRAL — comprised of SEPULTURA co-founder Igor "Iggor" Cavalera, Venezuelan electronic producer Cardopusher, and Dwid Hellion, founder of hardcore punk trailblazers INTEGRITY — will release its debut EP, "Ancient Nocturnal Summoning", digitally on December 3 through Phantom Limb.

The trio's debut release crosses the boundaries of new wave, black metal, hardcore, industrial and EBM, a sum of decades of experience and powerful musicality from bona fide giants of their respective fields. Its three members contribute not just stylistic influence but three unique voices and a boundless ocean of abilities.

"CORRODED SPIRAL is a collaborative creation of different ideas, pushing the limits of our outputs, puzzled together during this doomed time of isolation,” explains Cavalera. "An aural assault."

Listen to "Forgotten Ether", the first taster from the EP, below. The uncompromising track evolves from air raid wails and inhuman screaming to tribal percussion and piercing squeals, its merciless pressure always threatening to detonate deep within the brain...

"Ancient Nocturnal Summoning" captures the intensity, horror and supernatural dread of its title. Its darkness is more creative and more demanding than distorted riffs or blast beats; instead, it is raw, spiritual, apocalyptic, and occasionally illuminated with sparks of melody that shimmer within a suffocating blackness. A seething tension that excavates deep, dark fissures of the soul. Title track "Ancient Nocturnal Summoning" haunts such recesses, its ghostly vocal lines drowning beneath howling sirens of broken synthesis and a relentless industrial beat. "Through The Eyes of Madness" invokes insanity with billowing ash clouds of noise and static, a crushing, doom-laden descent into terror destined to annihilate speaker systems. While "Resulting Fragments Splinter Existence" runs like a destroyed new wave piece, a departure from the sonic obliteration of the previous track but an intense experience in a very different way. Hellish growls underline mutated synth arps, over a beat that could be danceable if it were not so claustrophobic.

"Ancient Nocturnal Summoning" track listing:

01. Ancient Nocturnal Summoning

02. Through The Eyes Of Madness

03. Resulting Fragments Splinter Existence

04. Forgotten Ether

Listen to track "Forgotten Ether" below.

Igor left SEPULTURA in June 2006 due to "artistic differences." His departure from the band came five months after he announced that he was taking a break from SEPULTURA's touring activities to spend time with his second wife and their son (who was born in January 2006).

In 1996, Igor's brother, frontman Max Cavalera, exited SEPULTURA after the rest of the band split with Max's wife Gloria as their manager.

For a decade and a half, Igor has been part of the MIXHELL DJ/hip-hop/electro project with his wife Laima Leyton.

Two years ago, Igor teamed up with Wayne Adams (BIG LAD, DEATH PEDALS, JOHNNY BROKE) to form the PETBRICK project. The band's debut album, "I", was released in October 2019 via Closed Casket Activities in the U.S.

Igor's other current musical projects include CAVALERA CONSPIRACY (alongside Max) and SOULWAX.

Venezuela's Cardopusher (producer Luis Garban) is a collaborator of Arca, Boys Noize and Rosalía, among others. His pursuit of uncompromising production and pounding rhythms stems from a background in rave culture and an early immersion in Caracas's underground electronic scene.

Belgium-based U.S. musician Dwid Hellion is known for his work with peerless early hardcore / metal sonic explorers INTEGRITY, paving a path for generations of bands to follow in entwining their battery with elements of noise, industrial and experimental music. Dwid also produces "apocalyptic harsh noise" under his Psywarfare solo alias since the 1990s.

Ancient Nocturnal Summoning by Corroded Spiral

Till Lindemann, industrial metal genius, frontman and voice of RAMMSTEIN, and three-time ECHO Award winner, will embark on a solo European tour, dubbed "Ich Hasse Kinder" (English translation: "I Hate Kids"), in January.

So far, the following shows have been announced:

Jan. 18 - Kiev, Ukraine @ Stereo Plaza

Jan. 20 - Bratislava, Slovakia @ EXPO-Aréna

Jan. 22 - Prague, Czech Republic @ Tipsport Arena

Jan. 23 - Tallinn, Estonia @ Tondiraba Ice Hall

Jan. 26 - Novossibirsk, Russia @ Mvk "Novosibirsk Ekspotsentr"

Jan. 28 - Moscow, Russia @ Adrenaline Stadium

This past June, Lindemann released a short movie titled "Ich Hasse Kinder". The film, which was directed by Serghey Grey and produced by Lindemann and Anar Reiband, can be seen below.

The "Ich Hasse Kinder" short movie arrived a month after the release of Till's single of the same name. In May, Lindemann also issued a music video for the orchestral version of his "Lubimiy Gorod" solo single, sung entirely in Russian, for the original motion picture "Devyatayev", which came out in late April. Translated as "Beloved Town", the piano-led ballad was composed by Yevgeniy Dolmatovsky (lyrics) and Nikita Bogoslovsky. It was originally performed by Mark Bernes in 1939.

"Devyatayev", directed by Timur Bekmambetov, is about the Soviet pilot Mikhail Devyatayev, who was captured by Germany during World War II. He leads an escape from a concentration camp on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea by hijacking an aircraft.

LINDEMANN, the project featuring vocalist Till and Swedish producer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Tägtgren (HYPOCRISY, PAIN), released a concert film, "Live In Moscow", on May 21 on Blu-ray. The set includes professionally filmed video footage of LINDEMANN's March 15, 2020 performance at Moscow, Russia's VTB Arena.

Last November, Lindemann and Tägtgren confirmed that they were ending their collaboration on the LINDEMANN project.

LINDEMANN's second album, "F & M", was released in November 2019. The follow-up to 2015's "Skills In Pills" was once again produced and mixed by Tägtgren.

"Skills In Pills" reached gold status in Germany and was entirely in English. On the second opus, Lindemann went back to singing exclusively in German.

LINDEMANN had received some criticism due to its use of pornography during its second album cycle, with the music video for "Platz Eins" described by one site as "full-on art porn — slick and stylish, weird and experimental, and definitely X-rated."

This past February, RAMMSTEIN keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz confirmed that the band recorded a new studio album during the coronavirus pandemic.

Last October, RAMMSTEIN revealed that it had returned to La Fabrique studios in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, in the south of France. At the time, the band wrote in a social media post: "Sadly no tour this year - but it's great to be back in the studio!"

RAMMSTEIN's seventh, untitled album came out in May 2019 via UME/Spinefarm in Europe and Caroline Records in the U.S. The band's first studio disc since 2009's "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" debuted at No. 1 on the album charts in 14 countries and was the band's tenth No. 1 in Germany.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH has announced its first European tour since early 2020. Kicking off at Nova Rock festival in Austria in June, the Las Vegas-based metallers will perform throughout the continent, bringing their incendiary shows to festivals and arenas in 19 cities in 16 countries.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH European tour dates 2022:

Jun. 12 - Nova Rock, Nickelsdorf, Austria

Jun. 14 - Sparkassenpark, Moenchengladbach, Germany

Jun. 15 - Wuhlheide, Berlin, Germany

Jun. 17 - Hellfest, Clisson, France

Jun. 18 - Graspop Metal Meeting, Dessel, Belgium

Jun. 20 - Ahoy, Rotterdam, Holland

Jun. 22 - Prague Rocks, Prague, Czech Republic

Jun. 24 - Download, Hockenheim Ring, Germany

Jun. 25 - Tons Of Rock, Halden, Norway

Jun. 27 - Goransson Arena, Sandviken, Sweden

Jun. 28 - Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark

Jun. 29 - Frauenfeld Rocks, Frauenfeld, Switzerland

Jul. 02 - Tasmajdan, Belgrade, Serbia

Jul. 05 - Budapest Arena, Budapest, Hungary

Jul. 11 - Saku Arena, Tallinn, Estonia

Jul. 12 - A2, St. Petersburg, Russia

Jul. 08 - 26th - Parklive Festival, Moscow, Russia

Jul. 16 - U Park Festival, Kiev, Ukraine

MEGADETH, which previously joined FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH as special guest on the latter band's headlining tour across Europe in early 2020, will again provide support in Berlin, Moenchengladbach and Rotterdam.

VIP packages are available now and general onsale will take place at 10 a.m. local time on Friday, October 29.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH performed for the first time in a year and a half on August 20 at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa.

The band recently entered the Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada to begin recording its new album for a 2022 release. In addition, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH has commenced re-recording its debut LP, 2007's "The Way Of The Fist", for its 15th anniversary.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's upcoming album will be the group's first with its latest addition, renowned British virtuoso Andy James, who replaced Jason Hook last year. James was previously featured on "Broken World", a song that was included on the second installment of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's greatest-hits collection, "A Decade Of Destruction - Volume 2", which came out last fall.

Each of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's first six albums — "The Way of the Fist", 2009's "War Is The Answer", 2011's "American Capitalist", 2013's "The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1" and "Volume 2", and 2015's "Got Your Six" — has gone either gold or platinum in the U.S.

The band has had two dozen songs hit the Top 10 on the Mainstream Rock or Hard Rock Digital charts, starting with "The Bleeding". FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's 2010 cover of BAD COMPANY's "Bad Company" was certified platinum for accumulating a million certified units.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's No. 1 hits include "Coming Down", "Lift Me Up", "Battle Born", "Wash It All Away", "Sham Pain", "When The Seasons Change" and "Blue On Black".

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's most recent album, 2020's "F8", debuted at No. 1 on rock charts around the world, with Top 10 mainstream chart debuts in the U.S., Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and more. "F8" features No. 1 hit singles "Inside Out", "A Little Bit Off", "Living The Dream" and "Darkness Settles In".

With a strong sense of vintage country, Aaron Lewis has spent the last ten years committed to making the kind of country he was raised on. Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, David Allen Coe and early Hank Williams Jr. inform the Springfield, Vermont star's take on the genre that started with the No. 1 Billboard Country Albums debut with 2011's "Town Line".

That same passion for the unseen and the unrecognized drives the guitar-playing songwriter. Having spent the last year focused on writing, often with friends he's made over the decade he's spent making country music, he's putting the finishing touches on "Frayed At Both Ends".

"There's so much great music in Nashville, which I think everybody knows. But until you really live here, get to know people, you don't realize how deep it runs," Lewis says of the dozen songs on his upcoming record. "It's inspiring to be around people who are drawn to that same hard kind of country, the stuff that digs down and looks at life with some of the paint knocked off it."

"Frayed At Both Ends" also strips back Lewis's sound, taking it to the bare minimum. With guitarists Tom Bukovac, Biff Watson and Seth Taylor, dobroist Ben Kitterman, acoustic slide and baritone from Sturgill Simpson veteran Laur Joamets, keyboards from Jim Moose Brown, acoustic guitar and mandolin from Dan Tyminski, some of Nashville's best players make less do more.

"Goodbye Town", an acoustic guitar shuffle that looks at a love that's gone, and the echoes that linger after it's over, is the first advance track. With Mickey Raphael's harmonica and a dobro rising from the mix, Lewis's weathered delivery more than carries the enduring ache.

"Big heartache is part of it," says the man cited for "his mournful baritone" by the Los Angeles Times. "Country music takes on the tough stuff, the doubts and the working harder to just stay where you are. Writing with guys like Dan Tyminski, who's sung on some of my earlier records, Jeffrey Steele, Ira Dean, David Lee Murphy and Chris Wallin all have the same sense of what this is, so I can't wait for people to get to hear this record."

Slated for January 28 release, fans can pre-order the album now and receive "Goodbye Town", the project's first teaser track. They will also receive "Am I The Only One", Lewis's anthem of frustration that spent the 4th of July at No. 1 on iTunes all-genre chart, as well as being only the ninth song since 1958 to debut at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

"This is an album of saying things that need to be said about how people actually live," Lewis explains. "Life isn't easy. Most people drink to forget, or drive for hours trying to get away from what they can't let go of or leave behind. Work takes it out of you. Love falls short or destroys you. Disappointments stack up. But still you have to keep going — and how you do that says everything about the man that you are."

The 12 songs are joined by a bonus: the previously released CreatiVets-penned "They Call Me Doc". The bare witness of a triage soldier who holds people together at their darkest moments honors the fighting men and women who've been injured and those who care for them. With just an acoustic guitar, Lewis is joined by Tyminiski and Vince Gill for the homage.

"I've never wanted to be the face of a song, or a time," Lewis offers. "I'm a lucky man. I survived my first record deal, and I can make music on my terms. One of those terms is singing for other people, the things they need to say or the heroism they've lived and no one ever really noticed. If I can put the light in those places, then the music is doing its best work."

Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, the five-time Grammy-winning engineer burnished the warmth of the playing and found the depth in the room. For a largely unplugged project, its presence is undeniable.

"I played an acoustic show at the Ryman Auditorium," STAIND's founder/frontman remembers, "and Scott Borchetta, the head of my label, had never seen me like that. When we were done, he came backstage and said, 'You need to do a record like that.' I'd never really thought about it, but once he planted the seed..."

"I didn't have a master plan, just these songs that I'd been writing with friends. I'd never really co-written in all my years of being an artist. Sometimes writing with somebody else dials you even more into yourself, or more the reality that's all of us. And with the world being such a mess, I figured 'frayed at both ends' sounds about right. No matter who you are or what you believe, I think we all feel like the knot's coming undone."

"Frayed At Both Ends" track listing:

01. Again (Aaron Lewis, Ira Dean, David Lee Murphy)

02. Goodbye Town (Aaron Lewis, Randy Montana)

03. Everybody Talks To God (Craig Monday, Chris Wallin)

04. Am I The Only One (Aaron Lewis, Ira Dean, Jeffrey Steele)

05. Kill Me Like You Love Me (Aaron Lewis, Ira Dean, Dan Tyminiski, Chris Wallin)

06. Pull Me Under (Aaron Lewis)

07. Life Behind Bars (Aaron Lewis, Josh Hogue, Matt McGinn)

08. Waiting There For Me (Aaron Lewis, Ira Dean, Dan Tyminiski, Chris Wallin)

09. They Call Me Doc (featuring CreatiVets, Vince Gill, Dan Tyminiski) (Shaun Bott, Richard Casper, Brian Carper, Jourdan Walker, Johnny McGuire)

10. Get What You Get (Aaron Lewis, Ira Dean, Dan Tyminiski)

11. Sticks And Stones (Aaron Lewis, Paul Barber, Matt McGinn)

12. One In The Same (Aaron Lewis, Trent Tomlinson)

13. Someone (Aaron Lewis, Paul Barber, Matt McGinn)

June 6, 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most infamous, notorious, controversial heavy metal bands in the world… W.A.S.P. So join W.A.S.P. for this very special 40th-anniversary world tour that kicks off in Milan, Italy on March 18, 2022. This first leg of dates will see the band hit Italy, Spain, Ireland, North Ireland, United Kingdom, Scotland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Romania and Bulgaria. More dates and a U.S. tour will be announced.

W.A.S.P. leader Blackie Lawless states about the tour: "For the W.A.S.P. 40th-anniversary world tour, we're going back to the beginning. We're taking the show back to where it all started. Complete with all the fire and all the blood that shocked the world the first time. We only did this type of show on the first world tour and never did it again…until now! I'm gonna scream and I'm gonna bleed, 'cause I wanna be somebody! We're taking everybody back…back to the beginning!"

W.A.S.P. "40 Years Live" world tour 2022:

Mar. 18 - Milan, Live Club

Mar. 19 - Padova, Padova Hall

Mar. 23 - Bilbao, Santana 27

Mar. 24 - Murcia, Sala Gamma 3

Mar. 25 - Barcelona, Razzmatazz 1

Mar. 26 - Madrid, La Riviera

Mar. 30 - Dublin, Vicar St.

Mar. 31 - Belfast, Ulster Hall

Apr. 01 - Wolverhampton, KK's Steel Mill

Apr. 02 - Manchester, Academy

Apr. 03 - Nottingham, Rock City

Apr. 05 - Glasgow, O2 Academy

Apr. 06 - Newcastlee, O2 City Hall

Apr. 07 - Bristol, O2 Academy

Apr. 08 - London, Rou-House

Apr. 09 - Eindhoven, Effenaar

Apr. 10 - Copenhagen, Amager Bio

Apr. 12 - Malmö, Moriskan

Apr. 13 - Huskvarna, Folkets Park

Apr. 14 - Sundsvall, Sporthallen

Apr. 15 - Umeå, Idun

Apr. 16 - Oulu, Teatria

Apr. 17 - Tampere, Pakkahuone

Apr. 18 - Helsinki, Kulttuuritalo

Apr. 20 - Gävle, Gasklockan

Apr. 21 - Eskilstuna, Lokomotivet

Apr. 22 - Örebro, Conventum

Apr. 23 - Karlstad, Nöjesfabriken

Apr. 25 - Oslo, Rockefeller

Apr. 28 - Stockholm, Stora Fållan

Apr. 29 - Norrköping, Arbis

Apr. 30 - Gothenburg, Trädgårn

May 01 - Bremen, Aladin

May 02 - Mannheim, Capitol

May 04 - Saarbrücken, Garage

May 05 - Oberhausen, Turbinenhalle

May 07 - Geiselwind, Music Halle

May 08 - Munich, Backstage Werk

May 17 - Bucharest, Arenele Romane

May 18 - Sofia, Universidada Sports Hall

Few bands in the history of rock 'n' roll have ever incited the love, the hate, the raw emotional effect this band has had on the world. From the very beginning, in the small venues of Los Angeles, California, and later to the numerous countries worldwide that banned these winged assassins from performing live, the band's unique style of shock and rock caused religious organizations, local city councils, parlaments, and the Washington D.C. Senate to hold hearings in an effort to bar this group from selling records and trashing stages everywhere they played.

The band's founding member, Blackie Lawless, has led the group as its lead vocalist and primary songwriter since its beginning. His unique brand of visual, social and political comment took the group to worldwide heights and sold millions of records alongside a legacy of sold out shows across the globe for four decades.

Joined by bassist Mike Duda and guitarist Doug Blair, whose tenures in the band span 26 and 18 years respectively, along with drummer extraordinaire Aquiles Priester, Lawless will take the band and the fans back to where it all started. Complete with the stage show extravaganza that many fans never saw live.

German power metal kings Orden Ogan have released an epic orchestral version of the band's classic song, "Fields Of Sorrow". The track is available on all digital platforms now.


"We were asked about this very version a lot, as it was our live outro on all our shows since the release of our 'Gunmen' album," Orden Ogan singer Seeb states. "So far it was only available as bonus track on the Japanese edition of Gunmen and we're happy to make it available to a bigger audience now."


"Fields Of Sorrow (Orchestral Version)" will also be part of AFM Records' upcoming 25th anniversary label  compilation, 25 Years Metal Addiction, which includes 30 rare or previously unreleased songs.










Despite tough competition (the entire top ten consisted of new entries), power metal masters Orden Ogan prevailed and secured a sensational #3 in the official German album chart back in March. This was the best result the band ever had. BraveWords caught up with frontman Sebastian "Seeb" Levermann to discuss the achievement.


"Hitting #3 on the charts was amazing considering who was behind us: Rob Zombie at #4, Blackmore's Night at #7, Eisbrecher was #1... and then there were acts like Selena Gomez that didn't even make it into the Top 20. I think it says something about the strength of the metal scene in Germany. But, I'm not a super competitive guy. It's much more important to me that I can work on my art - it sounds cheesy when I say that - so my main goal in life has already been achieved. I do what I love to do and make my living from it, so a chart number like that is great and I'm very happy about it, but I don't feel like I'm the greatest musician in the world."





Final Days was preceded by the four singles: "Let The Fire Rain", "In The Dawn Of The AI", "Heart Of The Android" and "Inferno". It also features guest appearances by Brothers Of Metal vocalist Ylva Eriksson (on the song "Alone In The Dark") and Firewind guitarist Gus G. (who contributed a solo for the track "Interstellar").


"Let The Fire Rain" video:





"In The Dawn Of The AI" video:





"Heart Of The Android" lyric video:





"Inferno" video:

Cleopatra Records has announced the signing of synthwave act PRIEST featuring former members of Grammy Award-winning Swedish rock act GHOST. Hailing from the same icy darkness of the Scandinavian inland that birthed GHOST, PRIEST consists of a trio of musicians — vocalist Mercury, who was known as Water when he played bass for GHOST, keyboardist Salt, formerly known as GHOST keyboardist Air, and programmer/ keyboardist Sulfur — who came together in 2017 and started releasing their own unique brew of electronic music that bears little sonic resemblance to their former band yet still shares the same creative DNA. But whereas GHOST borrowed their theatrics from old school horror and '80s rock, PRIEST comes steeped in cyberpunk and industrial music.

Cleopatra owner Brian Perera states: "We've been living in this genre since the '90s so we have a pretty good feel for when bands do it right, and as soon as we heard PRIEST, we knew they were something special. We see an extremely bright future ahead for the band and are thrilled to be partnering with them to make that happen."

PRIEST concurs, saying: "Signing with such a legendary label like Cleopatra will probably be the biggest step in our career. With great knowledge of the genre we're in, we can't think of a better match for PRIEST. Our next album is by far the best yet and we can't wait to unleash it to a wider and more diverse audience."

Watch for PRIEST's new full-length album, produced by another GHOST alumni Simon Söderberg (GHOST guitarist and producer/engineer of debut album "Opus Eponymous") as well as a full-scale U.S. tour in summer 2022.

Last year, PRIEST released a new album called "Cyberhead", the follow-up to its debut, "New Flesh". "Cyberhead" was the first album since original singer Tom Åsberg (also known as Ginger Khan) left the band to pursue other projects. PRIEST mastermind Linton Rubino has taken over on vocals, which are performed by a masked character they call Mercury.

Back in 2017, GHOST leader Tobias Forge was sued by four former members of the band after being dismissed by the group's founder the previous December. They accused the singer of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the band's album releases and world tours. The lawsuit was filed in the district court of Linköping, Sweden, where GHOST was originally based. It claimed that a partnership agreement existed between Forge and the four former members, all of whom performed anonymously in the band as Nameless Ghouls. As a result of the lawsuit, Forge was forced to reveal his identity after years of performing in a mask as Papa Emeritus. He has maintained that "no legal partnership" ever existed between him and the other members.

In May 2018, Linton, who played bass live in GHOST from 2013 to 2014 in the role of the Nameless Ghoul Water, blasted the band's latest album, "Prequelle", saying he was "ashamed to have been part of that" and calling the music "a joke" and "mainstream shit."

Fan-filmed video footage of LAST IN LINE's October 22 performance at Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania can be seen below.

Formed in 2012 by drummer Vinny Appice, guitarist Vivian Campbell and bassist Jimmy Bain — Ronnie James Dio's co-conspirators and co-writers on the "Holy Diver", "Last In Line" and "Sacred Heart" albums — LAST IN LINE's initial intent was to celebrate Ronnie James Dio's early work by reuniting the members of the original DIO lineup. After playing shows that featured a setlist composed exclusively of material from the first three DIO albums, the band decided to move forward and create new music in a similar vein.

LAST IN LINE's debut album, "Heavy Crown", was released in February 2016, landing at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Initially, the release had been preceded by tragedy when Bain unexpectedly passed away at the age of 68 on January 23, 2016. LAST IN LINE, honoring what they knew would be Bain's wish to keep the band moving, brought in Phil Soussan and committed to sustained touring in support of the album before beginning work on the follow-up release, 2019's "II".

This past June, Soussan spoke to Metal-Net.com about the progress of the writing and recording sessions for LAST IN LINE's third album. The LP is tentatively due in 2022 via an as-yet-undisclosed record label.

"I've been quite motivational with the band," Phil said. "I'm trying to keep things happening. We wanted to work on a few different aspects [during the pandemic]. I find things that we could do… We had some considerations with LAST IN LINE. I was trying to plan a streaming show. We were not able to do it because Vivian [Campbell, LAST IN LINE and DEF LEPPARD guitarist] has some preexisting health issues and he's not really able to travel until we have some assurance that he's going to be healthy and able to do so. So, out of respect, we tried to do some other things. We have a TV show, which was like a Zoom chat show that we would do occasionally, and that was fun. And we also had to go about getting a new record deal — we were changing labels — so that's something we're in the process of doing, and we're getting pretty close now. But part of that was writing a third record. So we've been hard at work trying to write a third record and even record that third record while we've been in different locations around the world. And, obviously, this band works as a unit in every sense of the word, so it's a real handicap not being able to be in the same room as everybody and trying to make it happen."

In February, Appice told Metal From The Inside that former DOKKEN and current FOREIGNER bassist Jeff Pilson, who produced both "II" and 2016's "Heavy Crown", is not involved with the upcoming LAST IN LINE album. "We made a change," he said. "Actually, the guy who mixed the last record, Chris Collier — he's great; he's working with KORN — he recorded this record. And we're kind of producing it ourselves, between all of us.

"Jeff is great — Jeff's a great producer, and [he has] great ideas and stuff, but we just felt that we could probably do what we wanna do now that we're a band, we've been on the road, and we know what we wanna hear," he explained. "But it's coming out great. The stuff sounds fantastic.

"And yeah, I've been through a lot with Jeff Pilson. I've known him for years. He's a great guy. He's like my brother."

Also in February, Soussan told the "Pat's Soundbytes Unplugged" podcast that the band was working on "a very, very special song that we're gonna be putting out fairly soon. I can't tell you any more than that, but it is something in the interim between us coming out with a new album, or releasing a new album, and now," he said. "So we'll do this as a video single."

As for the musical direction of the new LAST IN LINE material, Phil said: "The songs are another progression from the last album — the difference between 'Heavy Crown' and 'II', and now 'II' and whatever this next album is gonna be called; we don't know yet, by the way. But it's definitely evolved even more; it's gone into even more of an evolution, but we are always trying to keep the characteristics of LAST IN LINE there. I mean, you can't shake those things — you can't shake Vinny's drumming, you can't shake Vivian's playing. And I'd like to say the same thing about myself, and, of course, Andrew."

Some of the early recording sessions for LAST IN LINE's third album took place in January 2020 at Steakhouse studio in North Hollywood, California.

Germany's WDR Rockpalast has shared Thundermother's August 26th livestream show from the  Ausbesserungswerk in Wedau. Check out the entire show below.


Setlist:


"Whatever"
"Dog From Hell"
"Into The Mud"
"Back In 76"
"Hellevator"
"Heat Wave"
"Deal With The Devil"
"Rock'n'roll Heaven"
"Shoot To Kill"
"Revival"
"Mexico"
"Give Me Some Lights"
"Thunderous"
"Driving In Style"
"We Fight For Rock'n'roll"







Thundermother recently made the following announcement:


 


 


"After two years and one album we have now together with Majsan decided to go our separate ways. She has done an incredible job and really made a mark in the TM history, and for that we are forever grateful. We wish her nothing but the best in her future projects. Love Emlee, Filippa, and Guernica."


 


 


Personally from Majsan: "I wish to see a Thundermother world domination and I can't wait to get a ticket and see them from a crowd position. All my love to the girls!"


 


 





 

Sweden's symphonic extreme metallers Zornheym have just released their sophomore album, The Zornheim Sleep Experiment, via Noble Demon. The band celebrates the record's arrival with the debut of a brand new lyric video for the track "The Revelation", which band mastermind Zorn (Dark Funeral, Devian) describes as, "The heaviest Zornheym track to date. A mesmerizing horror theme of epic proportion!"





With ten new tracks of powerful, cinematic and mesmerizing symphonic extreme metal, The Zornheim Sleep Experiment is a musical as well as dramatic and storytelling work of art that revolves around the horrors of a mental institution and its prisoners. Once again, Zornheym create their very own wall of sound by using a real choir and a string quartet and bring the album's story to life in a graphic novel that accompanies and expands upon the stories behind the record. So get lost in the world of Zornheym and join the band on their distracting journey straight into the depths of the asylum!




The Zornheim Sleep Experiment is out now on Noble Demon and available to purchase physically and digitally at this location.





Tracklisting:


"Corpus Vile"
"An Evil Within"
"Dead Silence"
"Keep The Devil Away"
"Slumber Comes In Time"
"Black Nine"
"The Veiling Of Bettelheims Eye"
"The Revelation"
"Keep Cutting"
"The Madness That Lurks Within" (Epilogue)








 

Vancouver, British Columbia technical death metal outfit Atrae Bilis presents an official video for “Open The Effigy”. The song is found on the band’s debut LP, Apexapien, which saw release earlier this month through 20 Buck Spin.


Directed by RZ Cinema (Archspire, Comeback Kid), the new video showcases Atrae Bilis in a high-energy performance setting. “Open The Effigy” captures the band at its vehement core. In this chapter of the Apexapien story, a ceremonial trepanation shifts the terrestrial unto morbid clairvoyance. Tune in and writhe, as “skull and steel bathe in herbs, initiate the opening of the gold leaf effigy.”







Atrae Bilis’ Apexapien was recorded by Matt Roach at Rain City Recorders, engineered by Matt Roach and Christian Donaldson with assistant engineering by Emily Ryan and Jonathan Mazzeo and drum technician Alex Glassford. The record was mixed and mastered by Christian Donaldson (Cryptopsy, Despised Icon, Beneath The Massacre) and completed with stunning cover art by Eliran Kantor (Atheist, Bloodbath, Hate Eternal, Sodom, Kreator), layout and design by Dan Fried, and photography by Rob Zawistowski. 





Apexapien is available now on CD and cassette at the 20 Buck Spin webshop and through all digital providers. The vinyl version will see release on December 3rd.


The band also announces the departure of bassist Brendan Campbell, and now encourages interested applicants to connect with them: “Brendan is no longer handling bass duties and the Atrae Bilis circle is now open. To be clear, the band is firing on all cylinders and this transmogrification has not impeded songwriting or bookings. Positive, proactive and professional initiates are encouraged to contact the triumvirate's management at atraebilis@gmail.com."


On Apexapien, the follow-up to the 2020 Divinihility EP, angular, blackened dissonance, exhilarating experimental progressivism, and crushing guttural savagery merge into a cacophony of violently discordant death metal, all held together with a strict focus, discipline, and astonishing percussive momentum. Thoroughly modern in scope and mercilessly severe in execution, the heinous battering inflicted on Apexapien establishes Atrae Bilis at the vanguard of a new breed of forward-looking death metal bands not content to simply pay tribute to or completely abandon the genre’s towering progenitors.


 

American-Canadian alternative metal outfit, Set The Sun, have released the second single from their soon-to-be-announced debut EP. The track, titled "New Condition" features guest vocals from Michael Lessard of The Contortionist, and explores familiar territory to the ideas expressed in the band's first single, "Invisible".


Speaking about Lessard's contributions to "New Condition", the band says: "We have always admired Michael's voice and unique style, and we felt that he would be a perfect complement to the song. He added the perfect emotion to the song, and we're thrilled to have him on it."


The creative duo at the heart of Set The Sun, known only as Arc & Eris, wrote and recorded the upcoming record during last year's COVID-19 lockdown, which would inspire them to delve into subjects ranging from isolation, division amongst communities, misinformation, and unspoken conflict. On "New Condition", the band seeks to confront the uncomfortable truths of how much pain and confusion can be inflicted through the constant distortion we often subject ourselves to through our own technology.




Expressing the onus behind "New Condition", Set The Sun comments, “All of us are surrounded by information and disinformation at all times. It can be overwhelming and maddening, and we wanted this video to embody what that feels like."


On "New Condition", Set The Sun once again welcomes Thomas Freckleton of Silent Planet into The Collective, with Freckleton playing bass on the track. The band is also grateful to have collaborated with Clint Lowery of Sevendust, who co-wrote "New Condition" with Arc & Eris.





Watch the video for the first single "Invisible" (feat. Ryan Clark):

Japanese thrash metal combo, Shady Glimpse, have signed a licensing deal with Wormholedeath for the reissue of their album, Supreme Gift, which is due for re-release on December 17 via Wormholedeath worldwide.


Shady Glimpse' music is based on the 80's Bay Area: digests and absorbs punk, funk, disco, hard rock, and death metal. As the name Shady Glimpse suggests, it will be a light that gives color to the underground.







Tracklisting:


"The New World"
"DIOVig-C"
"S.S.D -System Shakedown-"
"Solar & Green"
"Killing After Midnight"
"Shocking!"
"Silver & Gold"
"Route 56"
"Liar's Desire"
"Stairway To Stupid"
"One Night Magician"
"H8! I'm D1"
"G.G Blues"


"DIOVig-C" video:





Shady Glimpse are:


Shinya Sakai - Guitar
Yuichi Takei - Vocals
Tomohide Shimizu - Bass
Yasuhiro Nishiyama - Drums

Negură Bunget have released a product presentation video for the black vinyl edition of the Romanian black metal pioneers' final album and conclusion of their Transylvanian trilogy, Zău ("Old God"), slated for release on November 26. Watch below:





Zău is the legacy of drummer and mastermind "Gabriel "Negru" Mafa, who tragically passed far too early at the age of 42 years on March 21, 2017. This album has been completed and respectfully created upon Negru's original drum-track recordings by the last lineup of Negură Bunget.




"After the tragic passing of Gabriel 'Negru' Mafa we all felt compelled to fulfil his legacy according to his ideas and wishes, which meant that we had to complete the Transylvanian trilogy", writes the band collectively. "Working on this album, we all felt Gabriel's guiding presence among us. We all knew the details directly from him, because as the very organised person that Gabriel was, he had written everything down. The drums that you hear on Zău are played by Gabriel as he had already recorded the pilot for the album before his passing. The rest of us just contributed with our parts as usual, although it was a difficult time and process for all of us. We missed the musical and philosophical debates with Gabriel. In the end, we succeeded to complete his work. The title of the third part of the Transylvanian Trilogy Zău means 'Old God' in Romanian but it also designates a wonder. This album focuses on Transylvanian landscapes, mythology, and spirituality. 'Brad', which translates as 'fir tree' represents the most cinematic track of this album. The symbolism of the fir tree in Romanian traditional culture is vast and complex. For example, it can represent immortality and the circle of life as it accompanies all the important stages: birth, marriage, and death. Our friend, the artist Daniel Dorobantu created the stunning video for this song."


Martin Koller adds: "In many ways, Zău is unlike most other albums", writes the label's founder. "We felt it important that this record would be released in the 25th anniversary year of Prophecy Productions as it somehow felt that this would add to the special tribute we intended it to be to the late Gabriel 'Negru' Mafa. He spoke so many times about the Transylvanian trilogy and how much it meant to him that we knew, we had to get it right. It was so very important to Gabriel, it had become very important to us, his label family. We want to honour all those years of friendship and fruitful collaboration with this posthumous release. We are therefore beyond grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the band to be able to finish what they had started with Gabriel: A stunning testimony of the innovative power and musical creativity of Negură Bunget. We also want to express our deep gratitude towards everybody else, not at least Gabriel's wife Alina, who helped in the making of this amazing record and its artwork. We are glad that we will make it happen before this year is over and we sincerely hope, you will come to love Zău as much as we do."





Zău will be available as a hardcover 36-page CD/DVD artbook, gatefold white vinyl LP, gatefold black vinyl LP, and on Digipak CD. Pre-order here.





Tracklisting:


"Brad"
"Iarba Fiarelor"
"Obrăzar"
"Tinerețe Fără Bătrânețe"
"Toacă Din Cer"


"Brad" video:





Lineup:


Gabriel "Negru" Mafa - drums, percussion
Tibor Kati - vocals
Adrian "OQ" Neagoe - guitars, keyboards
Petrică Ionuţescu - kaval (flute), nai (pan flute), tulnic (alphorn), duduk


Guest musicians:


Manuela Marchiș - vocals on "Brad"

Michael Schinkel's Eternal Flame present their official video for the single, "Rage”. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming album, Gravitation, out on October 29 via ROAR! Rock of Angels Records. Watch the clip below.


Gravitation will be released as trifold digipack CD and digital streaming and download formats. Order the album here







Tracklisting:


"Awakening"
"Rage"
"Hard Times For Dreamers"
"Love Returns"
"Damien"
"No Way To Hide"
"I’m Gonna Miss You Tonight"
"Strange Game Called Love"
"Stay In The Middle Of The Night"
"Higher Fire"
"Fallin"
"Hungarian Dance #5"


"Rage" video:





Michael Schinkel's Eternal Flame lineup:


Michael Schinkel – All Guitars and Vocals
Helmut Kohlpaintner – All Keyboards and Backing Vocals
Thomas Keller – Bass & Vocals
Tommy Wagner – Drums & Vocals

Supreme Unbeing is a mysterious 5-piece metal band led by vocalist/prophet Zac Red, with his fellow prophets D.Vine (Lead Guitar), D.Sciple (Rhythm Guitar), Unknown (Bass) and Al Mytee (Drums). Although the band just recently transformed from animated characters into real flesh and blood entities, their impact has been felt in the physical domain since the release (October 2020) of their debut full-length album Enter Reality.


Highly demanded, Supreme Unbeing have released the first, daunting and ominously sounding, single, "Face Of Evil", from their upcoming, second, full-length album, Enduring Physicality (to be released 5.5.22). Supreme Unbeing sees their songs as important messages to the people of the Earth, and yet again has an important message to share through the song.







“This song is about self-proclaimed kings, tyrants, societal leaders… and your friends. Whether you have your own life-agenda or not, they’ll manipulate and rob you of your free will to get what they want with their – as the song goes – ever-changing Face Of Evil. Humans are dual in nature, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, we all have a good side and an evil side, which side, and face, you decide to show at any given moment is yours to balance carefully on this grand stage. How do you want to be remembered?,” says Zac Red.


Not much is known about the people behind the band, but their animated videos for singles "You’ll Never Make It" and "Animals" have been wildly successful leaving the bands following to expect the same type of visual presence in their new music video for Face Of Evil, which also released today, staring Swedish actor Dragomir Mrsic (known from “Snabba Cash”, and “Edge Of Tomorrow” where co-starred along Tom Cruise).


“When the band asked me to play the leading role in their video, I immediately accepted, the bands messages are too important to ignore. Besides, my naturally looking evil eyebrows made me feel at home with the character in the video," says Dragomir Mrsic.


Mixed and mastered by Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann, singer/guitarist of German metal outfit Orden Ogan, the track is available today on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and all major streaming services.


“A smile is always there to greet us. A smile will always hide the truth,” concludes Zac Red of Supreme Unbeing.


Listen here, and watch the video below:

Red Fang have done it again. Celebrating the spooky season, the four band members mark their “demise” the only way they know how, via one of the year’s cleverest music videos. Watch “Rabbit in Hives” below.


“When I showed up at the funeral shoot I had no idea that all of these rock luminaries from the Pacific Northwest would be lavishing such heartfelt praise on the corpse of our band. It was an honor to say the least. It’s nice to know that when our number is up we will be missed!,” said Bryan Giles of the Ansel Wallenfang directed clip. Wallenfang also directed the band’s “Why” video, documenting the sad story of pizza parlor mascot Arnie Von Party.


Portland’s heavy music community comes out in force in the five-minute clip. Guests include members of High On Fire, Yob, Ils, Gaytheist, Lord Dying, and Danger Ehren. Bend, Ore.’s Boneyard Beer provide the magical, re-animating brew that insures Red Fang’s future into the new year.







Arrows, the Portland-based band’s first album in five years and fifth album overall, arrived in June. Physical orders are available via Relapse’s webstore here, while digital downloads and streaming links can be found here.


Arrows album cover, artwork by Orion Landau.





Tracklisting:


"Take It Back"
"Unreal Estate"
"Arrows"
"My Disaster"
"Two High"
"Anodyne"
"Interop-Mod"
"Fonzi Scheme"
"Days Collide"
"Rabbits In Hive"
"Why"
"Dr. Owl"
"Funeral Coach"


"Why":





"Funeral Coach":





"Arrows" video:





Red Fang is:


Aaron Beam (bass/vocals/guitar/keyboards)
Bryan Giles (guitar/vocals),
John Sherman (drums)
David Sullivan (guitars)


(Photo - James Rexroad)

Robby Steinhardt and Solar Studios announce Robby's first and only solo recording, Not In Kansas Anymore.


You know him as the legendary violinist, vocalist and frontman for the band Kansas, recording nine albums which reached gold, platinum and double platinum status, and is now making another mark on the world with his first and only solo album.


The new album, Not In Kansas Anymore is a powerful, well thought-out offering of prog rock magic. Timely songs with incredible arrangements and virtuoso performances. Robby’s vocals and signature electric violin come through on this continuous work labeled a “Prog Opera”.







In his only interview for the project, he spoke with Bill Shafer of PBS. Steinhardt was asked what the meaning behind the title Not In Kansas Anymore was. Steinhardt responded, “It’s no slight against the band, no never! My time with Kansas defined a big part of my life, of which I am very proud of. Ever since The Wizard of OZ, those words have become an American axiom for moving forward, you can never go back etc.” Robby laughed, “I guess it has a special meaning when it is fixed to me.”


The album, produced by Michael Thomas Franklin, is his latest production since the highly acclaimed Jon Anderson 1000 Hands Chapter One. Franklin used a similar approach using a large cast of renown musicians to lend their talents. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Steve Morse of Deep Purple/Dixie Dregs, Billy Cobham of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bobby Kimball of Toto, Chuck Leavell of The Rolling Stones, Liberty Devitto (Drummer on Billy Joel’s hits), Jim Gentry, Pat Travers, Billy Ashbaugh (Moody Blues/Pat Benatar), Lisa Fischer (longtime vocalist for The Rolling Stones), 1000 Hands members Michael Franklin, Tommy Calton, Tim Franklin, Jocelyn Hsu, Rayford Griffin and Benoit Lajeunesse and many others including Orchestra and Choir.


The songs provide powerful lyrics, hard to forget choruses, combined with crafty playing. All this combined with Franklin’s lavish and complicated arrangements makes listening to Not In Kansas Anymore a wonderful hour well spent. The stunning album artwork created by Tom Lupo of Magnificent Pictures and subliminal song quotes from the Wizard of OZ, are another added feature to this complex Prog Opera. Currently four videos are in the works.


Steinhardt was in a reborn state of mind in the months prior to finishing the record. He and wife Cindy were looking forward to a new chapter in their lives. He had started rehearsals and was preparing to hit the road in August when he became ill in May. Robby’s musical vision, voice and violin lives on with his first and only solo album, Not In Kansas Anymore! Release was delayed due to Steinhardt’s passing July 17, 2021.


Order Not In Kansas Anymore on digital download, CD and LP with free digital download (available in December) can be ordered here, and/or here.