BEHEMOTH set the world on fire when the Polish masters of black metal took an abandoned church in rural Poland to perform a worldwide stream event in the heart of the pandemic lockdown. After over a year since the show's premiere, "In Absentia Dei" returns on to a range of deluxe formats for fans to relive the danger and drama that took place on that fateful night in 2020. The live release will hit the shelves on December 17.

BEHEMOTH frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski states: "'In Absentia Dei' was a massive challenge and a huge risk, but it was a great artistic and commercial success. The response was absolutely brilliant — we made a statement with this performance and set the bar high. I hope that we can continue to raise the bar with the projects to come!"

A performance clip of another track from "In Absentia Dei", "Bartzabel", can be seen below.

"In Absentia Dei" will be available as digital album, digibook and 3LP vinyl in various colours. All Nuclear Blast triple LPs come with a premium 20-page booklet and a cut-out, build-at-home model of the actual church that BEHEMOTH performed in.

The event was said to set a new standard for streaming events in the future and this was something BEHEMOTH set out to achieve from the start. Produced by Grupa 13, "In Absentia Dei" was presented as a show of four parts, woven with high-production theatrics and even hellish flames emanating from all parts of the sacred building.

BEHEMOTH released its latest full-length, "I Loved You At Your Darkest", in 2018 to vast critical acclaim. "I Loved You At Your Darkest" marked a milestone in the history of the band, being not only their most successful album, but also an audiovisual masterpiece: from its detailed, blasphemous artwork to the highly vicious yet deeply emotional tracks.

BEHEMOTH's latest EP, "A Forest", came out in May 2020 via Metal Blade. The EP's title track was a cover of THE CURE classic, and it featured a guest appearance by SHINING frontman Niklas Kvarforth. The "A Forest" EP also included a live version of the title track as well as two songs from the "I Loved You At Your Darkest" sessions.

BEHEMOTH supported SLIPKNOT on an arena tour of Europe in January and February 2020.

In a new interview with Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge spoke about how he spent the downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Obviously, most of this year has been working in the studio with a [new GHOST] record that we're not talking about [right now]. But the year before, which forced most people [to stay home], staying domestic was actually a quite nice recuperation for me. I'd been on tour for pretty much a decade, [so] just being home and just being with my family and all that, which I feel very invigored by."

He added: "[Touring] is great. It's fun as hell, and I miss that as well. But sometimes you need to go back to harbor and just remember why you're out there pirateering. [Laughs]"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Having recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of his "No More Tears" album with an expanded digital audio release, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Ozzy Osbourne will mark another album anniversary this month. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of 2001's "Down To Earth", three rare Ozzy tracks — "No Place For Angels", "Dreamer" (Acoustic Version) and "Gets Me Through" (Single Version) — will be released on October 15 on digital platforms as part of a 20th anniversary expanded digital edition.

The platinum-selling "Down To Earth" was Ozzy's eighth album and reached #4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart in the U.S and #19 on the U.K. Albums chart. It produced two Top 10 singles on the U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart: "Gets Me Through" and "Dreamer". Recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Tim Palmer, who co-wrote some of the album's songs with Ozzy, the album's players include Ozzy's longtime collaborator and guitarist Zakk Wylde along with bassist Robert Trujillo (METALLICA) and drummer Mike Bordin (FAITH NO MORE).

Rolling Stone said of the album: "Ozzy Osbourne is the most sentimental man in metal — and tough enough to let it show in 'Gets Me Through' and 'Dreamer', the two best songs on 'Down To Earth'. The first is a thumping thanksgiving, Osbourne's admission that he is nothing like you think and would be even less without his fans… 'Dreamer' is Osbourne imagining himself as John Lennon: pleading for calm and sense over piano, strings and, at the end, an ELO-style choir… He writes and sings about looking into the abyss — so you know which way to run. He's never done it better." Elsewhere, Amazon.com said: "'Down To Earth' displays enough eccentricity to keep one entertained and brimming with respect."

As previously announced, last month, Ozzy's sixth solo album — the Top 10 (No. 7) and quadruple platinum "No More Tears" (Sony) — was celebrated with an expanded digital audio album and two special editions — a 2LP black vinyl version and a special yellow and red 2LP vinyl version with a specially created booklet (exclusively at www.towerrecords.com).

The expanded "Down To Earth" track listing is as follows:

01. Gets Me Through

02. Facing Hell

03. Dreamer

04. No Easy Way Out

05. That I Never Had

06. You Know... (Pt. 1)

07. Junkie

08. Running Out Of Time

09. Black Illusion

10. Alive

11. Can You Hear Them?

12. No Place For Angels **

13. Dreamer (Acoustic Version) **

14. Gets Me Through (Single Version) **

** Previously unavailable for streaming

Photo credit: Nitin Vadukul

TRIVIUM guitarist Corey Beaulieu spoke to Finland's Chaoszine about the band's recently completed U.S. tour with MEGADETH, LAMB OF GOD and HATEBREED. The trek marked the four groups' first run of shows since the start of the pandemic.

"Before the tour, all the bands and management and stuff were… With every tour that's going out, they can be as strict or unstrict [as they want to be] — whatever protocols the headliner deems how they wanna roll — and everyone wanted to make sure that we got through the tour," Corey explained (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "So we had pretty strict [protocols] — not super strict, but it was basically no one was doing in-person meet-and-greets, we weren't doing any guests or anything backstage. And basically, backstage was if you were indoors going to your dressing room or catering or something, it was, like, 'Make sure you wear a mask.' We'd go into catering, grab our food and then we would go eat outside. It was kind of bubbling up where each band and crew kind of stayed to themselves, so there wasn't a lot of cross-band mingling or something like that. And when the crew guys were onstage working and stuff, everyone was masked up. And then we would wear masks to stage and go onstage and play and mask up as we walked away. So everyone just stayed away from each other's camp as much as possible. And if you do talk or hang out or something, everyone was out in the backstage parking lot or something. We just wore masks and there was sanitizer everywhere and everything like that. And then we tested a lot as well. It was kind of a pain in the ass to test that much, but the payoff of playing shows and playing big shows like that was definitely worth the hassle."

Corey went on to say that all musicians and crew members complied with all applicable local health and safety regulations as well as requirements from the venues in which "The Metal Tour Of The Year" played.

"They did some mandatory testing some places where it was, like, everyone on the tour had to test before… As soon as you got off the bus, you'd go test, and then as soon as you got a negative test, you got a wristband and you were able to go backstage and stuff like that," he said. "We had someone in our crew that the first weekend of the tour ended up testing positive. So we got tested every day before we were allowed to be in — just to make sure no one else got sick from being on the bus. But everyone on our bus is vaccinated, so no one caught it from them. So we just kind of left him at a hotel for two weeks and he came back when he was better. We're all vaccinated, so no one caught it. He was vaccinated, so he was pretty much fine. He felt a little shitty for a couple of days, but he just had to stay away for a while till he… He obviously was, like, 'I feel fine, but I'm still not testing negative.' Just shit like that, where you just had to take a little extra precaution — 'cause there's so many people involved on the tour, and if someone in the band… Luckily, no one on any of the bands got sick or anything, but you don't wanna… There's a lot of money on the line when you have to cancel shows. So, we soldiered on, and it was a successful tour. So we were happy to show people that you can make it through and it's not all doomsday out there for touring acts."

The last three shows of "The Metal Tour Of The Year" — in Toronto, Laval and Quebec City — were postponed to spring 2022 due to restrictions in the Quebec province and international logistical issues.

TRIVIUM's tenth album, "In The Court Of The Dragon", was released on October 8 via longtime label Roadrunner Records. The record was produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur and recorded in the fall of 2020 at Full Sail University in Orlando. The album cover is an original oil painting by French artist Mathieu Nozieres.

Last month, TRIVIUM shared the album's title track, "In The Court Of The Dragon", which featured an epic intro composed and orchestrated by Ihsahn (EMPEROR) and was accompanied by an official short film music video directed by Ryan Mackfall. Loudwire called out the song as "a skillful blend of dynamics. And blast beats just sound really, really good beneath Matt Heafy's soothing clean singing" while Revolver labeled it "epic." Guitar World christened second single "Feast Of Fire" as "pummeling" and "quintessentially TRIVIUM," as Metal Injection declared it "really, really catchy."

Cruz Del Sur Music will release legendary former TROUBLE singer Eric Wagner's posthumous solo album, "In The Lonely Light Of Mourning", in March 2022.

Recorded at Alpha Sound Services and Aardvark Recording, "In The Lonely Light Of Mourning" was completed and delivered to Cruz Del Sur Music a month before Eric's untimely passing. Initially scheduled for a November 2021 release, Cruz Del Sur Music — in cooperation with Eric's manager, Mike Smith — agreed to move the release date to March 2022 to give it the attention it deserves.

"It has been a great honor to have the chance to work with Eric," says Cruz Del Sur Music owner Enrico Leccese. "He has been a reference in my life since, as a fan, I bought his TROUBLE albums back in the 1980s. I must give WHILE HEAVEN WEPT's Tom Phillips 100 percent credit for Cruz Del Sur Music being able to release Eric's solo album. Eric really put all himself, his passion, his deepest emotions and his skills into this release. I must also thank Mike and Ron Holzner for the extremely mature talk we had after Eric's passing. His loss has been a tragic event and we hope that this album gives justice to his career."

The solo endeavor — a longtime goal of Eric's — serves as a fitting testament to one of doom metal's most respected voices. Eric tapped former TROUBLE/current BLACKFINGER drummer David Snyder to help him assemble the album's eight cuts. Along the way, Eric brought in some of his favorite musicians as guests — including past and present members of TROUBLE, BLACKFINGER, THE SKULL, LID, PENTAGRAM, DEATH ROW and PLACE OF SKULLS.

"In The Lonely Light Of Mourning" travels down Eric's hallowed, familiar doom roads, flanked by melancholic acoustic guitar arrangements. It makes for an album of color, depth and heaviness that will please fans of Eric's work. "I'd say this album is an amalgamation of TROUBLE, BLACKFINGER, LID and THE SKULL," says Phillips. "There's a little bit of each all swirled together. Basically, there's a little something for everyone!"

"He was excited about the songs," adds Snyder. "He and I worked on this project for a little over four years. It took that long, mostly because we did it over the phone. Either he would be in Chicago or New Mexico, and I'm in West Virginia, so I'd send him demo riffs, and if he liked something, he'd give me arrangement ideas, and I'd re-demo to fit his vision to place the lyrics. I already miss the process of working with him! Before Eric left for the last THE SKULL tour this summer, he told me about the record and said, 'It jams. I'm turning it into Cruz.'"

Smith says that if Eric was ever going to do a solo record, it would need to involve the people he's worked with — and some he hasn't. The wealth of guest musicians explains why he was particularly excited about having a "family reunion" that tapped into nearly every era of his storied career.

"We have guests representing every band Eric has worked with over the years, and even extended family member Victor Griffin, which really brings things full circle," says Smith. "This was not the original plan by any means, but as the process started to unfold, it became apparent that this was exactly how it should be. How it was meant to be."

Eric's THE SKULL and former TROUBLE bandmate Ron Holzner, guests on the album. Ron says "In The Lonely Light Of Mourning" was "more personal" to him than his BLACKFINGER and LID output, two albums that enabled the frontman to work outside of the boundaries of TROUBLE.

"The LID record [1997's 'In The Mushroom'] was a break from TROUBLE and his first tastes of freedom. The BLACKFINGER records were more of a sideband to express himself differently than THE SKULL. It's been a long journey lyrically for Eric and his story was coming towards the end. He sensed his time was short. The new record was his career coming full circle, in a sense. He included musicians from all his records and never intended this record to be a band. It was more a solo record than anything he ever did before. He needed to share his journey since this record was to be the end — he was contemplating retirement. The new THE SKULL record would be the epitaph to his story."

Eric's untimely passing this past August left behind a musical legacy that has influenced countless bands while providing comfort and solace for those impacted by his lyrics. Alongside CANDLEMASS, TROUBLE is arguably the most impactful post-BLACK SABBATH doom band. Their first four albums are undisputed classics, making Eric the solitary voice for the downtrodden and disaffected.

"There's no doubt that he will be rightly remembered as one of the most iconic voices of metal — not just doom metal considering he had the power to traverse anything he sang over from psychedelic to somber, from acoustic tenderness to bone-crushing metal," says Phillips. "Of course, he'll always be tied to the legacy of TROUBLE and thus, considered by nearly everyone — including myself — as one of the founding fathers of the doom metal genre. But for those who knew him, we'll also never forget his laid-back personality, sense of humor and 'Eric-isms.' It's a staggering and totally unnecessary loss, but he lived by his own rules and spent 2021 doing all of the things he loved doing the most, so there's some solace in that."

"He did what he wanted, said what he wanted, lived like he wanted and wrote what he wanted…his way," says Holzner. "He touched a lot of souls with his life and death."

"He was a friend to everyone he met," adds Snyder. "He always would hang out with fans and, through his music, helped a lot of people through tough times, including myself. His lyrics were always thought-provoking and his voice was one of a kind. When you heard it, you knew it was Eric Wagner! Ultimately, his legacy to me is his work with TROUBLE. I am eternally grateful to have been close to him at times, to have finished this record and to have worked with what many call the 'Godfather of Doom.'"

"Eric was a dear friend, and I miss him immensely," closes Smith. "This solo album became so much more than we initially expected, and I hope fans will be able to listen with open hearts and realize how lucky we all were to have Eric in our lives.

When Eric and I signed off on the album back in July and delivered it to Cruz Del Sur Music, Eric said something I will never forget: 'If this were to be my last one, it's a perfect final chapter to the story.'"

"In The Lonely Light Of Mourning" track listing:

01. Rest In Place

02. Maybe Tomorrow

03. Isolation

04. If You Lost It All

05. Strain Theory

06. Walk With Me To The Sun

07. In The Lonely Light Of Mourning

08. Wish You Well

"The Edge of Spring" is a collection of 17 songs by Sally Doherty, a Sheffield / UK based artist that worked in the past with Sieben, Sol Invictus and Planet Funk amongst others. She's also very close to Richard Hawley, who's musicians are also Sally's live-band in Sheffield.

Finally available now - the CD comes as a deluxe digipack, and each order will contain a numberous copy of a lovely mini postcard with a picture of the artist

"With her warm and intimate voice, soaring and operatic at times, and accompanied by a variety of instruments from gentle piano to baroque string ensembles to Spanish guitar and percussion, Sally Doherty is one of the most outstanding singer / songwriters and will appeal to anybody who enjoys the music of Kate Bush, Lhasa or Antony and the Johnsons."

tracklist :
1. This is what she said
2. The Shore
3. La Llorona
4. Gold
5. The mourning I
6. Oh Camino
7. Our senses
8. Lowlands of Holland
9. The endless night
10. Some never know
11. Lagan love
12. I am a river
13. An open boat
14. Silver
15. Black is the colour
16. Voice
17. One voice I

THE OFFSPRING guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman says that the band canceled its concerts in Denver and Salt Lake City earlier this month after he tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

On Saturday (October 9), Noodles took to his Twitter to write: "I tested positive for Covid on the 27th of last month. I was in Philly with my wife & we were supposed to travel to NYC for a couple of days. I had a slight cold & thought I better get tested before traveling. My wife tested negative, but not me.

"I immediately reached out to management, the band, & crew," he continued. "We canceled the Denver & SLC shows at that time out of an abundance of caution. My positive test led to others getting tested. I'm not going to divulge who got what. So don't ask me for any information about anyone else. If anyone else wants to talk about their health it is up to them. The important thing is everyone isolated until we were safe to be around. Earlier this week everyone on our tour tested negative.

"Most of our tour party never got sick," Noodles said. "My wife who slept next to me while I had it never caught it. I was sick for 2-3 days at most. Runny nose & sore throat. By Wednesday the 29th I was fever free and my symptoms were almost entirely gone.

"Everyone on our tour is vaccinated, thankfully, but I still managed to get it. There's always that risk, especially with the Delta variant. Because I am vaxxed I got over it very quickly and was less likely to spread it to someone else.

"I'm sorry that we had to cancel a couple of shows but we have to do what we can to minimize the risks," he added.

"Stay safe, take care of each other, & get vaccinated. The vaccine might've just saved my life. It certainly made it easier."

Two months ago, longtime THE OFFSPRING drummer Pete Parada announced that was being dropped from the band's current tour after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine for medical reasons.

Pete said a doctor had advised him not to get the shot because he has a rare autoimmune disorder. The musician said he first experienced Guillain-Barré syndrome, where a person's immune system damages their nerves, in childhood and the effects had got "progressively worse over my lifetime". He also revealed that he contracted COVID-19 over a year ago and only had mild symptoms, "so I am confident I'd be able to handle it again", he wrote.

Parada wrote on social media that he's "unable to comply with what is increasingly becoming an industry mandate". As a result, "it has recently been decided that I am unsafe to be around, in the studio and on tour", he said.

Parada added that he had "no negative feelings towards my band". He wrote: "They're doing what they believe is best for them, while I am doing the same."

It is not clear if Parada, who joined the group in 2007, has now left THE OFFSPRING permanently.

Earlier this year, THE OFFSPRING encouraged fans to receive their COVID-19 vaccines by reworking the chorus of its 1994 classic "Come Out And Play" to say "you gotta go get vaccinated." The new version of the song was shared in March on THE OFFSPRING's Instagram, featuring a snippet from the song's music video with the reworked lyrics.

THE OFFSPRING singer Bryan "Dexter" Holland has a Ph.D. in molecular biology and wrote his thesis on microRNA in HIV genomes. The 175-page research paper, titled "Identification of Human MicroRNA-Like Sequences Embedded within the Protein-Encoding Genes of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus", had been published in PLoS One. Holland had received his Ph.D. from University of Southern California in 2017.

THE OFFSPRING's tenth studio album, "Let The Bad Times Roll", arrived in April via Concord Records.




I tested positive for Covid on the 27th of last month. I was in Philly with my wife & we were supposed to travel to NYC for a couple of days. I had a slight cold & thought I better get tested before traveling. My wife tested negative, but not me.

— Noodsferatu (@TheGnudz) October 9, 2021








I immediately reached out to management, the band, & crew. We canceled the Denver & SLC shows at that time out of an abundance of caution. My positive test led to others getting tested. I’m not going to divulge who got what.

— Noodsferatu (@TheGnudz) October 9, 2021








So don’t ask me for any information about anyone else. If anyone else wants to talk about their health it is up to them. The important thing is everyone isolated until we were safe to be around. Earlier this week everyone on our tour tested negative.

— Noodsferatu (@TheGnudz) October 9, 2021








Most of our tour party never got sick. My wife who slept next to me while I had it never caught it. I was sick for 2-3 days at most. Runny nose & sore throat. By Wednesday the 29th I was fever free and my symptoms were almost entirely gone.

— Noodsferatu (@TheGnudz) October 9, 2021








Everyone on our tour is vaccinated, thankfully, but I still managed to get it. There’s always that risk, especially with the Delta variant. Because I am vaxxed I got over it very quickly and was less likely to spread it to someone else.

— Noodsferatu (@TheGnudz) October 9, 2021








I’m sorry that we had to cancel a couple of shows but we have to do what we can to minimize the risks. Stay safe, take care of each other, & get vaccinated. The vaccine might’ve just saved my life. It certainly made it easier.

— Noodsferatu (@TheGnudz) October 9, 2021

Legendary punk rock band MISFITS headlined the Aftershock festival last night (Saturday, October 9) in Sacramento, California. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

The initial comeback performance by MISFITS members Glenn Danzig, Jerry Only and Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein took place at the 2016 Riot Fest. The estranged bandmates played together for the first time since 1983 and were backed by former SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo and guitarist Acey Slade.

Since then, the original lineup of the MISFITS has reunited for scattered dates, with the most recent pre-Aftershock one taking place in December 2019 at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Prior to the Riot Fest concerts, Glenn, Jerry and Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein last performed together on October 29, 1983.

A year and a half ago, Danzig told Rolling Stone magazine that he was happy with the way the MISFITS shows have been going. "Shit, we sold out Madison Square Garden," he said. "As a matter of fact, we oversold it. Back in the day, all the bigwig promoters and record label people were, like, 'A punk band will never headline Madison Square Garden.' And, of course, we're the first punk band to headline there. And not only did we sell it out, we oversold it. So a big fuck you to all those assholes, who are probably selling hotdogs on Sixth Avenue."

The original MISFITS band broke up in 1983, and Only brought forth a new version of the MISFITS in 1995. Various members have come and gone, but Only, along with BLACK FLAG's Dez Cadena, has kept some form of the MISFITS in the recording studio and on the road for most of the last two and half decades.

In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Only said about working with Danzig again: "Glenn is Glenn. We dealt with Glenn in the beginning and it's the same dealing with Glenn now. It doesn't change. It's just a different perspective. If we let Glenn be Glenn and do what we're supposed to do, it's gonna work. You don't argue with each other. I think we're over that. I think we're old enough now."

Asked what it was like keeping the MISFITS going for 20 years without Glenn, Only said: "There was always that hole. When Glenn split, there was always that feeling we were missing a component of what makes us what we are. And I'm sure the same goes on for him. In the other bands he was in, he's changed people left and right. When we play together, it's just us."

MUDVAYNE played its second reunion show last night (Saturday, October 9) at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

MUDVAYNE canceled its appearance at last month's Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky after the band's singer Chad Gray and "a few staff members" tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

MUDVAYNE played its first show in 12 years on September 11 at the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival in Mansfield, Ohio.

The band is still scheduled to appear at one more festival this fall: Welcome To Rockville (November 11-14 in Daytona Beach, Florida).

MUDVAYNE formed in 1996 and has sold over six million records worldwide, earning gold certification for three albums ("L.D. 50", "The End Of All Things To Come", "Lost And Found"). The band is known for its sonic experimentation, innovative album art, face and body paint, masks and uniforms. MUDVAYNE is Chad Gray (vocals), Greg Tribbett (guitar, backing vocals), Matthew McDonough (drums, synthesizer) and Ryan Martinie (bass).

It's been more than a decade since MUDVAYNE released its self-titled fifth album and little had been heard about the group during that time.

Gray has spent the past 15 years fronting HELLYEAH, which released its sixth studio album, "Welcome Home", in September 2019 via Eleven Seven Music. The disc marked the group's final effort with drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, who passed away more than three years ago.

In 2018, Tribbett said that fans who are calling for a MUDVAYNE reunion "just need a little more patience." He explained: "We're all flattered that everybody still wants MUDVAYNE to tour and do a new record and come out and do all that stuff. The thing is is that everybody is in three different bands and kind of doing their own projects, and there's no time for that right now."

Tribbett's most recent focus was AUDIOTOPSY, which released its second full-length album, "The Real Now", in November 2018 via Megaforce Records. He is joined in that band by MUDVAYNE drummer Matt McDonough, SKRAPE vocalist Billy Keeton and bassist Perry Stern.

MUDVAYNE did not tour behind its fifth album, which was barely promoted and sold weakly upon release.

Gray previously expressed skepticism about the possibility of a MUDVAYNE reunion, noting in a 2015 interview that "the only way I personally would want to do MUDVAYNE is if everybody licked their wounds and got over it."

Tribbett was also part of HELLYEAH with Gray but was fired from that band in 2013.

Asked in Revolver magazine if Greg's exit from HELLYEAH hit him especially hard, seeing as the two of them started off playing together in MUDVAYNE, Chad said: "Yeah, man. He has always been my right-hand man. He's been the back I look at when I'm writing songs and the sounding board for my ideas. When everything went sideways, it was like losing a great friend. I was filled with fear and I had mixed emotions. At first, I was, like, 'Goddamn, I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to do this without him.'"

YouTube user Greg Perry has uploaded front-row video of Ace Frehley's October 9 performance at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida as the support act for Alice Cooper. Check out the footage below.

Ace's setlist was as follows:

01. Rocket Ride (KISS song)

02. Parasite (KISS song)

03. Strutter (KISS song)

04. Rip It Out

05. Never In My Life (MOUNTAIN cover)

06. Good Times Bad Times (LED ZEPPELIN cover)

07. Detroit Rock City (KISS song)

08. New York Groove (Russ Ballard cover)

09. Shock Me (KISS song)

10. Ace Frehley Guitar Solo

11. Cold Gin / Black Diamond (KISS song)

12. Deuce (KISS song)

Frehley's band features guitarists Ryan Cook and Jeremy Asbock, bassist Philip Shouse and drummer Matt Starr.

When Ace's tour with Alice was first announced in May, Frehley said in a statement: "I've known Alice for over 30 years. We're good friends, and we've toured together numerous times and always had a blast. Our musical roots are very similar, and the combination of our two bands make for a great event that nobody is gonna want to miss. Being off the road for more than a year because of the pandemic has been tough on everyone in the music industry, and I'm really looking forward to seeing all of the fans happy, healthy, and ready to rock."

Last December, Frehley told Talking Metal Live that he would begin recording his next all-original album "after the New Year." The record will be the follow-up to "Spaceman", which was released in October 2018 via eOne. Ace is laying down the effort at the newly built studio at his new house in New Jersey.

Earlier last year, Frehley told Canada's iHeart Radio that he has "only written about three songs" for his next LP, and he added they were "not finished." He said: "Now that I'm [living] on the East Coast [after moving to New Jersey from Southern California], my engineer only lives an hour from me, Alex Salzman, who worked with me extensively on this last record, and he played a lot of bass guitar as well, So it's gonna be even easier, 'Origins Vol. 3' and the next [original] record."

Frehley's latest release was "Origins Vol. 2", the sequel to his 2016 collection of cover songs that inspired the former KISS guitarist.

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons co-wrote two tracks on "Spaceman", "Without You I'm Nothing" and "Your Wish Is My Command", the latter of which also features Simmons's bass playing.

In a new interview with The Guardian, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello was asked how he felt about the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He responded: "We came within a baby's breath of a fascist coup in this country. Interestingly, one of my dreams has always been to storm the Capitol, but not with a bunch of all-white, rightwing terrorists, you know? The ugliest part about it is how they have co-opted the idea of standing against the Man, at least in the U.S. There can be no nuanced thinking, like: 'Yes, Big Pharma is horrible, but getting a vaccine to save your grandma is good.' It's a dumbed-down version of resistance. But I grew up in Trump country [in suburban Illinois], I know people from there. They're decent people. It's not their fault for being fucked over by the oligarchy for decades. Now what do we do to find a way to really resist the stuff that is destroying the planet, that's causing working people's lives to be worse than their parents' were? Poverty and hunger kill more people than anything else on the planet and they are human-made problems. Those are the things that we need to be digging into, rather than being sidetracked by this carnival barker bullshit."

Morello, who is a member one of the most militant left-wing rap/rock/metal bands of all time, also mocked a pair of pro-Trump "Stop The Count" protesters — draped in pro-cop Blue Lives Matter flags and MAGA hats and waving a Trump flag — who were videotaped last November dancing to the group's "Killing In The Name" song in Philadelphia.

"First of all, there's no accounting for stupidity," Tom said. "There's a long list of radical left anthems that are misunderstood by bozos who sing them at events like that, from Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land' to Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The USA' to John Lennon's 'Imagine' — those people have really no idea what the hell they're singing about. The one thing that I speak to in all of those instances is that there's a power to the music that casts a wide net, and that's a good thing, not a bad thing. In that net, there will be the far-right bozos, but there will also be people that have never considered the ideas put forward in those songs and are forced to consider those ideas because the rock 'n' roll is great. You can either put a beat to a Noam Chomsky lecture — no one wants that, but there's going to be no mistaking what the content is — or you can make music that’s compelling."

Morello has made no secret of his distaste for Donald Trump, taping the message "Fuck Trump" to the back of his guitar for live shows and calling him an "orange-faced demagogue" in an interview with NME.

In the past, Morello had called out other Republicans for listening to RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's music, most notably in 2012 when Paul Ryan, a former vice presidential candidate and leading Republican, said he was a fan. Morello responded with an op-ed in Rolling Stone which read in part: "Paul Ryan's love for RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."
























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Last month, METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo played "Worth The Hype" with SiriusXM to rate his career firsts, including his first red carpet, first stadium tour, first time being recognized in public and more. Check out the clip below.

Speaking about his first stadium tour, Trujillo said: "Opening for ANTHRAX in Germany with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, I could not believe the energy. I had never experienced anything like that to the point where I started laughing, kind of thinking to myself, 'This is a very surreal moment.' Because you grow up playing air guitar, and then all of a sudden you're standing in front of thousands of people and they're loving your music. Like for instance, Munich, Germany — I remember being on that stage and seeing the same stadium that I saw on TV for the Olympics."

Trujillo, who was born on October 23, 1964 in Santa Monica, California, tasted success as the bassist in punk-funk pioneers SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and Ozzy Osbourne's band. But in 2003, he successfully auditioned to replace Jason Newsted in METALLICA, a process chronicled in the warts-and-all documentary "Some Kind of Monster".

METALLICA's much-loved former bassist Cliff Burton died in 1986 when the band's tour bus crashed travelling through Sweden on the "Damage Inc. Tour" in support of "Master Of Puppets".

Trujillo told Exclaim! in a 2016 interview that he feels no pressure when compared to his low-end predecessors. "Whether it's Jason or myself or Cliff, we're all different types of players coming from a different place, but delivering what is best for the band," he said. "That's all I ever do, just try and do the best I can and cater to the song, cater to the music."

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield praised Trujillo during a 2017 interview with the 94.5 The Buzz radio station, saying: "Who else could [have come in and done the job]? I mean, there were a few people we auditioned, I know. It might have worked out with other people, but it's hard to find people that are, say, your age; kind of your upbringing, musically, obviously; ability-wise; they've been on the road. It's not like you're bringing some kid out for his first time, and it's, 'Oh my God!' He's going through all the stuff that you did twenty-five years ago. He's got kids. He's married. It just jelled, and it's still jelling. And his personality is probably one of the best contributions, I think, to the band, 'cause he's so chill, he's so up for anything, he's always in there rehearsing. So he does fit in."

During a recent appearance on the "Reinvented With Jen Eckhart", FOZZY singer and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho was asked if any of the other rock musicians he is friends with have offered him any helpful words of advice as his band was making its name in the business. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think there's been a lot of guys that I was fans of that I've become friends with — someone like Paul Stanley [KISS], who's always cool. I talk to Lars [Ulrich] from METALLICA; he's a very good friend of mine.

"I don't really ask any advice from these guys, but you kind of follow in their footsteps.

"When you've been in show business as long as I have — 31 years coming up this week, next week, whenever it may be — you pick and choose the qualities and the ideas from the different guys that you admire," he explained. "As a frontman, for example, I was a big [fan of] Paul Stanley, David Lee Roth [VAN HALEN], Mick Jagger [THE ROLLING STONES], Freddie Mercury [QUEEN] — those type of guys. Bruce Dickinson [IRON MAIDEN]… You watch how these guys perform and how they captivate a crowd, and there's a real art form to it. And it's not easy. It's like being a podcast host. It's not easy being a podcast host. And people think it is, because there's literally a million podcasts, and a lot of 'em come and go so fast. So there's a real art form to it, and there's an art form to being a frontman of a rock and roll band. Yes, it's important to sing. Yes, it's important to have that power. But you also have to be the party host, the ring leader, get people involved in the show. That's what people want. That's what I always wanted as a fan, and I still do.

"Like I said, it's the same thing when I first started wrestling — you take the inspiration and you add it to your own little blender and put a lot of yourself in it and kind of shake it all up and that's what you get. And Chris Jericho the wrestler is different from Chris Jericho the singer, but there are qualities that kind of interact and blend in both.

"Being a live performer, whether you're a comedian, a wrestler, a singer, a Shakespearean actor, there is a real element that you have to connect to the audience," Jericho added. "If you can connect to the audience, you'll always have them as fans. If you can elicit that emotion from them where they're excited to see you, then you'll always have them the next time you come to town."

Last month, FOZZY guitarist Rich Ward was was forced to sit out several of the band's shows for personal medical reasons. FOZZY still performed in his absence as a four-piece.

In May, FOZZY dropped a video for its first new song in two years, "Sane", which hit one million views in its first two weeks. This first-of-its-kind video was filmed on the longest wooden roller coaster on the planet today.

This past February, Jericho told Detroit's WRIF radio station that FOZZY's follow-up to 2017's "Judas" album would "continue with the momentum that [the] 'Judas' [title track] started for us [four] years ago."

Last summer, Chris revealed that FOZZY's next LP will contain 12 songs, including one cover.

Ward and producer Johnny Andrews once again did "the lion's share" of the songwriting for the new LP, which was recorded primarily in Atlanta, Georgia.

In addition to producing "Judas", Andrews previously co-wrote FOZZY's "Lights Go Out" track back in 2014. He has also written songs with the likes of ALL THAT REMAINS, THREE DAYS GRACE and HALESTORM.

In November, FOZZY appeared in its first global live streaming event from Madison Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

FOZZY is Chris Jericho (vocals), Rich Ward (guitars, vocals), Frank Fontsere (drums), Billy Grey (guitars) and P.J. Farley (bass).

Nikki Sixx spoke to Yahoo! Entertainment about MÖTLEY CRÜE's "The Stadium Tour" with DEF LEPPARD which was originally scheduled to take place last summer but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus crisis.

"We thought we were gonna tour this year," the CRÜE bassist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "Then the delta variant came. And some of my friends went out and did it, and some have had no problems, some have had big problems.

"On a business level, you can't get COVID insurance. So if you've got a big show — MÖTLEY, DEF LEPPARD, POISON and JOAN JETT — that's generating a lot of… If that show goes down because somebody whatever, you just lose money, and you can only lose so many shows and then you're basically on tour for free. So we chose to stay back, waiting to see how AEGs and Live Nations and how other bands were gonna handle it. And I think we made the right decision.

"We restart designing the show in April," Nikki continued. "It's basically designed, but there's some new technology that happened in the last few years we might wanna involve. And then we've already got our set — it's done — so it's not like we have to have that meeting where it's, like, 'I wanna play this song' or 'I wanna play this song.' Everybody agreed on these songs, and it's a really cool set, and there's some medleys in it.

"We start band rehearsals in May," Sixx added. "I don't know what that looks like. We like to rehearse for three or four weeks. Even if we have four weeks and we're pretty tight at three weeks, sometimes you lose a day here and there — a guy gets sick or someone's car breaks down — so we always [give ourselves] four weeks. And then we go to Atlanta where the tour opens and we do pre-production with everybody on the bill and we set the show up and tear the show down so it all fits. And then June 19th, I think, the tour starts. And I can't wait."

This past July, Sixx told Marci Wiser of the 95.5 KLOS radio station that MÖTLEY CRÜE "really did wanna go" on the road "this year. It's a little scary to go out there and have the tour maybe get canceled half way," he said. "And I know a lot of bands are out there and they're testing the water and it looks really positive; I'm super excited.

"We have 30-some stadiums in America [booked for the tour]," he continued. "And we'll see. Maybe we might even drag it to Europe, South America, Japan — we don't know yet. Right now it's a little far off. But us and DEF LEPPARD are super close; that's great. And we'll just see what version of 'The Stadium Tour' might fit for other countries, if we decide to go. Maybe it'll be the same lineup. I know people are super stoked for the lineup. It's a good outdoor fun party evening."

As of January 30, 2020, "The Stadium Tour" had already grossed $130 million from one million tickets sold, plus another $5 million worth of VIP seats, according to Billboard.

Tickets ranged from $150 to $400, not counting some varied pricing that reflected demand as part of "dynamic pricing."

When it happens, "The Stadium Tour" will mark the CRÜE's first live dates since wrapping its 2014/2015 farewell tour. CRÜE toured with POISON back in 2011 and DEF LEPPARD teamed up with POISON for a string of road dates in 2017 — but the upcoming jaunt marks the first time all four acts have hit the road together for an extended tour.

KING'S X frontman Doug Pinnick spoke to Talking Metal about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's follow-up to 2008's "XV" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's been mastered. It's at the record company, and they're starting the campaign. We're taking it slow 'cause we're trying to figure out with this whole COVID thing and all the things that are happening. We wanna put the record out without a lot of distractions and getting sick on the road or just all the controversy. We just wanna wait a little bit longer and do this right."

Regarding the musical direction of the new KING'S X material, Pinnick said: "Every song is completely different than the other — mixed and sonically; everything. We took every song and tried to do like THE BEATLES 'White' album and just sit down with a song and go, 'Let's give it what it needs.' I don't have to have my Doug Pinnick gravelly tone if I need a Paul McCartney-type sound. Ty [Tabor], he would fix his guitars to make… 'This is like a whatever song. Let's make it what it is but still be KING'S X.' So I think that it sounds like KING'S X but hopefully everyone will feel that we took another step forward. The whole point is just to try to push forward [while] still looking back. There's a lot of things on this record that are reminiscent of KING'S X totally, but then there's this new KING'S X, I think. Sonically, we're really excited because it's a complete analog record except with Pro Tools. It was laid down with analog — everything — and it was mastered on analog tape and even EQed with analog tube EQs to saturate the tape to get compression instead of digits. So there's no digits on this record. So when you hear it, it's gonna take you back a little bit. It sounds like you put a real record on in the '70s, sonically. It's, like, things jump out at you, and then they don't. It's, like, you go, 'Wow, the bass is huge, but I can hear everything else,' 'cause you can put your hands in it, almost. [Producer and engineer] Michael Parnin just did an amazing job — a painstaking job — to get it to sound like a record that you can put on and play forever."

As for a possible release date for the new KING'S X album, Doug said: "2022. That's all we can really say at this point. Because we don't wanna commit to something 'cause we just don't know what's going on. People have waited [laughs] so long. It's terrible, but hopefully good things come to those who wait. 'Cause we haven't put a KING'S X record out in 13 or 14 or 15 years — I lost count."

The new KING'S X LP was mastered in June at the Bernie Grundman Mastering facility in Hollywood, California,

This past April, Pinnick told Shawn Ratches of Laughingmonkeymusic about the new KING'S X material: "I had some pretty crazy songs, time-change-wise, 'cause I've been listening to a lot of MESHUGGAH and shit like that. It's not KING'S X, but that flavor comes in. Imagine John Bonham playing with MESHUGGAH… But Ty and Jerry [Gaskill, drums] are singing a lot too. I tell people, it's like from [THE BEATLES' classic song] 'Penny Lane' to the heaviest MESHUGGAH — it's a blend of something in between there. And one song to another almost sounds different, almost to the point where they're individual pieces themselves, like PINK FLOYD used to do. We've got violins and other things in it. I've got some keyboards and all kinds of things to enhance things — piano. Nothing overboard, but just like [Jimi] Hendrix did and people like that — big things coming in and out that gives it that longevity, I would say. Things that you hear and go, 'Oh, wow. That's cool.' That little thing over there. So it's taken Michael a long time to mix it, 'cause he's got a lot of tracks."

KING'S X was sidelined by several health scares in recent years, including Pinnick's two hernia operations and two near-fatal heart attacks suffered by Gaskill.

In October 2019, KING'S X canceled all of its previously announced tour dates for the year so that Gaskill could undergo undisclosed heart "procedures."

"XV" was KING'S X's highest-charting album since 1996's "Ear Candy".

In 2005, VH1 included KING'S X in its list of "100 Greatest Artists In Hard Rock."

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach, who recently kicked off a U.S. tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the band's double-platinum album "Slave To The Grind", was asked in a new interview with Rockin' Metal Revival if he ever regrets writing such high vocal parts that he now has to reproduce live on stage three decades later. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "All I can tell you is that I've been singing so much in the last four or months. I can't tell you exactly what I was doing yet, but I will be able to. My voice is the same it's always been.

"I've gotta say just a couple of things answering your question — a couple of things come to mind," he continued. "For a guy like me or a guy like Bono [U2] or a guy like — I don't know, Geddy Lee [RUSH] or somebody like that, making a record is not the same as doing a show; it's not the same thing; it's a different thing. Making a record is you standing in an air-conditioned room with water next to you and coffee and you've got the lights perfect. And you're standing as still as you can, and you get to sing it as many times as you want until it's perfect. [Laughs] Nothing can be more different than a show — unless you're using [backing] tapes. But I'm proud to tell your audience that we will not be using any tapes anytime soon, so it's a real rock show. But doing a show is more like communicating the spirit of the song and the music to the audience, and everybody gets into it. And I'm not just gonna stand there and try to be perfect. I'm gonna run all over the place and I'm gonna put on a show.

"As singers get older, I don't like changing the key of the song because, to me, that makes it sound like a different tune, and I'm not interested in that," Sebastian explained. "If I'm gonna change a little vocal part in the same key, to me that's a cooler way of doing it instead of making it into the key of KORN. That works great for KORN.

"I have to sing every day properly and do it for many weeks in order to get my voice to the top of its abilities, and that's what I've been doing. I just played and I had no problems doing all those tunes. I've got no problems — knock on wood."

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 bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarists Dave "Snake" Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob 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.

This week, Michigan rockers POP EVIL celebrate their seventh career No. 1 single at rock radio with "Survivor", which topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, marking a historic milestone. "Survivor" joins the previous Top 10 single "Work" and No. 1 single "Breathe Again" from their new album "Versatile", out now via MNRK Heavy.

In other news, POP EVIL has announced a string of headlining dates in the U.S. next month alongside supporting dates with DISTURBED, and a February 2022 Canadian tour supporting SHINEDOWN.

The quartet will headline three shows — on November 3 in Lexington, Ketucky; November 5 in Columbus, Ohio; and November 7 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, alongside supporting DISTURBED in Gary, Indiana; Evansville, Indiana; and concluding November 9 in State College, Pennsylvania.

The 2022 Canadian tour supporting SHINEDOWN kicks off February 10 in Abbotsford, British Columbia and runs east across the country, concluding February 27 in Montreal.

"We won't bore people with the same song over and over," says POP EVIL frontman Leigh Kakaty, who started the band in Grand Rapids. "When you come to our live show, we feel like there should be an ebb and flow, peaks and valleys, that are similar to real life. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. We like to take people on a journey when they listen to our music or come to see us live."

2021 tour dates:

Nov. 03 - Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall*

Nov. 04 - Gary, IN @ Hard Rock Casino & Hotel^

Nov. 05 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall*

Nov. 06 - Evansville, IN @ Ford Center^

Nov. 07 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Intersection*

Nov. 09 - State College, PA @ Stage West*

* Headlining

^ Supporting DISTURBED

2022 Canadian tour dates:

Feb. 10 - Abbotsford, BC @ Abbotsford Center

Feb. 11 - Penticton, BC @ Okanagan Event Centre

Feb. 12 - Calgary, AB @ Grey Eagle Casino

Feb. 14 - Edmonton, AB @ Convention Centre

Feb. 15 - Saskatoon, SK @ TCU Place

Feb. 17 - Moose Jaw, SK @ Mosaic Place

Feb. 18 - Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theaters

Feb. 23 - Windsor, ON @ Cesar's Windsor Colosseum

Feb. 25 - Toronto, ON @ History

Feb. 26 - Quebec City, QC @ Videotron Centre

Feb. 27 - Montreal, QC @ Mtelus

All dates supporting SHINEDOWN

In July, POP EVIL's longtime bassist Matt DiRito announced his exit from the band, saying in a statement that "the details surrounding my departure are only known by a few people, and respectfully it will remain that way."

"Walking away from something I've helped build is not easy — but it is the best thing for the band, myself and our respective futures," he said. "POP EVIL will continue on and so will I, just not together."

POP EVIL drummer Hayley Cramer was forced to miss the first couple of weeks of the band's U.S. tour this past summer because of COVID-19 travel restrictions. She has since flown to the U.S. and joined her bandmates on the r

Nita Strauss, the guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, has unleashed her brand new single, "Dead Inside", today, her first new music since the release of her critically acclaimed debut solo album "Controlled Chaos" in 2018. But this time, Nita isn't coming alone. "Dead Inside" features her first-ever solo collaboration with a vocalist and not just any vocalist, none other than David Draiman, frontman of Grammy-nominated rock icons DISTURBED.

"Dead Inside" is the kind of rare musical alchemy that can only be conjured by the serendipitous collaboration of two iconic hard rock powerhouses such as Strauss and Draiman. It kicks off with Nita's inimitably intricate lead guitar work and, as the intro builds, begins to snake its way around the ground-shaking, headbanging lead riff as Josh Villalta's technical and bombastic drums kick in. Then comes the unmistakable vocal prowess of Draiman as he delivers his unique signature brand of enormously catchy vocal melody and a stadium-conquering chorus. The song ebbs and flows through sonic and emotional dynamics and culminates with a brutally heavy beatdown into a final rendition of the chorus, ensuring that the lead hook will be replaying over and over in the listener's head for days.

Speaking about the collaboration, Strauss says: "This is my first time releasing my own music with a vocalist, and I am so honored to take this step alongside a legend like David Draiman. David's voice and powerful lyrics took this song to a level I could never have imagined! And we are so excited to unleash this song on the world."

Draiman adds: "Serendipity can be really cool. We've been friends for years. Nita sent me the track… I didn't have time to work on it right away… then, in literally a couple of days, while killing time in Santa Monica, the whole thing just came together. Incredibly proud of how it turned out and honored to be a part of it."

Through obsession, dedication and sheer hard work, Nita has not only been firmly established as one of the best guitarists in the world, she is also a role model, a trail blazer, a fitness fanatic, a phenomenal performer and a total badass. Her skill, exuberant stage presence and love for all things guitar have seen Nita become a truly unstoppable, limitless force, blazing a previously untrodden trail.

As well as writing, producing and playing all the guitar and bass parts on her solo output, Nita is known for wowing fans all over the world as Cooper's touring guitarist, gracing the covers of Guitar World and Guitar Player, performing for millions upon millions of WWE fans worldwide at record-setting pay-per-views and becoming the first female to have a signature Ibanez guitar (which now hangs in the entrance to the legendary Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd).

When the pandemic hit, being the force of nature that she is, Nita took the adversity of no touring and being at home and turned it in to a positive. During the past 18 months, Nita launched her online guitar learning course, "Rock Guitar Fundamentals", which takes the learner through everything from picking up the guitar for the first time all the way through to learning songs and playing solos. Taking her passion for health and fitness to the next level, Nita also launched her Body Shred Fitness Challenge, a three-month fitness challenge that pairs a love of music with passion for getting healthier in your body and mind! Participants have the chance to win prize packages valued at over $2,500 while becoming a part of a fun, supportive worldwide fitness community.

And, as if that wasn't enough, Nita launched her Patreon which gives fans access to weekly livestreams, lessons, signed photos and behind-the-scenes looks at the album recording process.

On top of these digital initiatives, Nita also became the official in-house guitarist of the Los Angeles Rams, playing every home game at the brand new SoFi Stadium, performed the national anthem at WWE's "NXT Takeover: Stand And Deliver" event, released two new signature Ibanez guitars, JIVA Jr and JIVA X, was featured on the cover of Guitar World's "Guitarists Of The Decade" issue and performed with Cooper at the Fire Fight Australia benefit for the bush fires that ravaged Australia in 2020.

Nita released "Controlled Chaos" in 2018 to mass acclaim from fans and media alike, with Metal Injection calling it "a great debut that — as its creator intended — leaves no doubt", and Guitar World stating "'Controlled Chaos' is a panoramic view of Nita Strauss's many strengths". To date the album has clocked up 6.7 million streams worldwide, with music videos for singles "Our Most Desperate Hour", "Pandemonium", "Alegria" and "Mariana Trench" generating over 3 million YouTube views.

As well as performing with Cooper, Nita has also played with R&B star Jermaine Jackson, early MTV darlings FEMME FATALE, video game supergroup CRITICAL HIT and popular tribute band THE IRON MAIDENS.

BLINK-182 singer and bassist Mark Hoppus is undergoing a surgery to remove his chemo port, a device that provided chemotherapy treatments during his battle with cancer.

According to Medical News Today, a chemo port is a small, implantable device that attaches to a vein. Doctors typically insert these devices beneath the skin in the chest. They reduce the need for doctors to keep finding a vein to deliver medications, take blood samples, or carry out other procedures.

Earlier today, Hoppus took to his social media to share a photo of him at a doctor's office, and he included the following message: "In the waiting room for the surgery to remove my chemo port!"

Three months ago, Hoppus confirmed that he was battling a blood disorder called stage 4-A diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the same type of cancer his mother previously beat. Hoppus completed chemotherapy treatment last month and he said that his oncologist told him he was now "cancer free".

The 49-year-old Hoppus is BLINK-182's bassist, co-vocalist and sole remaining founding member.

BLINK-182's latest album, "Nine", was released in September 2019 via Columbia Records and includes singles "I Really Wish I Hated You", "Darkside", "Happy Days", "Generational Divide" and "Blame It On My Youth".

Since its humble beginnings in 1992 in San Diego, BLINK-182 has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and rocked audiences around the globe, becoming one of the defining and inspirational rock bands of its generation.

BLINK-182 is Hoppus, Travis Barker (drums) and Matt Skiba (vocals/guitar). A guitarist and singer with ALKALINE TRIO, Skiba replaced original BLINK-182 singer Tom DeLonge in 2016.

BLINK-182 released its first post-DeLonge album, "California", in 2016.




In the waiting room for the surgery to remove my chemo port! pic.twitter.com/6PVyC4NEcZ

— ϻ?Ⓡ? ??Ƥ?ย? (@markhoppus) October 14, 2021

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, outpoken conservative rocker and avid hunter Ted Nugent joined Wisconsin Republicans on Wednesday to promote the recent unveiling of their package of 13 bills that would declare open hunting season on sandhill cranes and allow anyone age 18 or older to carry concealed firearms without a permit.

Nugent, who is also the national spokesman for pro-hunting lobbying group Hunter Nation, and lives in neighboring Michigan, stopped by the state Capitol in Madison where he appeared with more than 20 Republican lawmakers. He said Wisconsin should be managing wildlife differently and removing restrictions placed on hunting, fishing and trapping.

"My dad took his kids hunting, so he didn't have to hunt for his kids," he said. "And now I take my kids and my grandkids hunting, because the stimuli factor, the excitement factor, the challenge of being the very best that you can be, tuning in to your stewardship responsibilities, your conservation, hands-on participation in the natural, renewable season of harvest, so that when you celebrate Thanksgiving, you know where that turkey came from, you know where that venison came from, you know where that trout came from. And I'm here, not representing any Ted Nugent opinions — I'm not that cocky. I'm adequately cocky, but not cocky enough to think that I might have an opinion on God's renewable creation. I'm speaking for those millions and millions of American families who pursue this lifestyle of hands-on conservation that literally is God's work. When they're overregulated, people quit. People don't participate. We're going to cleanse the arbitrary, punitive, capricious, overregulation."

Nugent also addressed the constitutional carry portion of the package of bills and said he was born with the right to carry a gun.

"I have a right to keep and bear arms on the ground in the United States of America; it's a God-given right," he said. "This Second Amendment consideration is on par with science-based hunting regulations to allow us to perform our conservation responsibilities, as well as our self-defense responsibilities."

The package of bills, dubbed the Wisconsin Sporting Freedom Package, was released earlier in the month. The bills range in topics from adding more pheasants and brook trout, to simplifying turkey hunting seasons, to reducing Department of Natural Resources regulations.

BRITISH LION, the side project of IRON MAIDEN bassist and founder Steve Harris, has withdrawn from the previously announced U.K. tour with THE DARKNESS, citing "completely unacceptable" tour "protocols."

THE DARKNESS' U.K. tour is scheduled to kick off on November 17 in Brighton and conclude on December 17 in London.

Earlier today, BRITISH LION released the following statement via social media: "Due to circumstances beyond our control BRITISH LION are really sad and disappointed to announce that we will not be able to participate in the tour with THE DARKNESS. Very recently we received their own protocols that are not Government protocols which are completely unacceptable to us. Therefore, we have no alternative but to withdraw from the tour."

BRITISH LION's second album, "The Burning", came out last year. Although a summer European tour in support of the LP couldn't go ahead last year as planned, BRITISH LION has now confirmed nine new European shows next summer. The band will appear at Finland's Rockfest, U.K.'s Download and Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting festivals, and will make additional stops in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland and Portugal.

BRITISH LION completed its first U.S. tour in January and February 2020.

"The Burning" was released on January 17, 2020 in digipack CD, double gatefold vinyl and digital download formats via Explorer1 Music (E1). The LP was recorded, engineered and mixed at Barnyard Studios by Tony Newton and produced by Steve Harris.

BRITISH LION comprises singer Richard Taylor, guitarists David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie, Harris on bass and keyboards, and drummer Simon Dawson.

Asked by the Tampa Bay Times what the itch is that BRITISH LION scratches that he doesn't get in his job with MAIDEN, Harris said: "I suppose playing small clubs and being close and personal with the audience. I love playing big places as well. I enjoy them all, and I'm very lucky that I can do them all. But also, it's clubs that I never played with MAIDEN, even in Europe. There's a famous club called the Milky Way in Amsterdam, which I managed to play with BRITISH LION, but I never did that with MAIDEN. There's places now that I'm going to be playing on this [U.S.] tour that I've never played before. So it's all new ground. It's a challenge. It's nice. I like a challenge."


Due to circumstances beyond our control British Lion are really sad and disappointed to announce that we will not be...

Posted by British Lion on Thursday, October 14, 2021

Sadly, news reached us that after the coloured vinyl and the box sets, the CD / BD digipaks for Devin Townsend's next release, The Puzzle, are also delayed. The blame apparently lies with people putting up nice and shiny PVC flooring and new cable tubes in their homes, causing more shortages of plastics around the world. Devin explains a bit more about it in the video below.


Pre-orders have been extended and can be found here: 


- European store
- UK store
- North American store
- Finnish store


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Check out the audio teasers for The Puzzle and Suggles below.


Townsend: "So what is The Puzzle? ... well, its not technically my new record, it's more a collaborative, multimedia art project that acts as a stopgap between Empath and the next record, Lightwork (due out in March of next year on Inside Out Records). The Puzzle includes two 'soundtracks' of sorts (the highly orchestrated 'Puzzle' and the very chill 'Snuggles') along with a film, graphic novel, novel, and a huge amount of multimedia. It includes many artists (upwards of 50) that participated via Zoom during the pandemic and the experience gave me a chance to purge and be completely creatively free. As such, it is a stream of conscious, and very abstract collection of music that includes a narrative (in the form of a film) and is meant to be a documentation of what the pandemic felt like to me.


I'm very proud of it, and I will be uploading some of Snuggles next. Note: it is *not* meant to be considered a normal album, it is truly a sprawling, complex, multimedia cathartic release that was inspired by the events of the last year and a half. Lightwork is much more in line with what I've done in the past (Transcendence, Empath, Addicted, Ocean Machine, etc) but Puzzle is very near to my heart. It includes so many of my friends and peers, and it has zero limits on it... it's almost like Puzzle and Snuggle are like a modern day Devlab and Hummer (two old albums of mine) but the difference being the levels of complexity this project included. Mixing it alone was a nightmare, let alone the film, the books, the box sets, etc. (the box set is a hand numbered and signed piece of work that is limited to 1000 pieces).


I'm sure this won't be everybody's cup of tea, and I would imagine the listeners who are more interested in 'Kingdom' or 'Deadhead' would be better suited to wait for Lightwork (and I can appreciate that very much...) however, The Puzzle has been my soundtrack for the last year and a half, and in keeping with the idea of making sure that what I am writing is authentic to what Im feeling, The Puzzle is essentially my documentation of the pandemic and the world around it. It has been a very intense time, as I'm sure you'd agree...


The other record, Snuggles, is meant to be something you listen to in order to feel better. Puzzle is chaos, Snuggles is calm. The whole project is meant to express that I think there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel we've been through. Keeping ourselves and our loved ones together during it all became the whole point.


Thank you for allowing me to continue to make uncompromised work during a time that may be arg

The Austrian-South German metal commando Infected Chaos holds a giant mirror right in front of the rotten, perverted part of humanity. Yes, the truth, it is painful.


Creatively, these hard steel enthusiasts are just as ruthless, and that hits like a forge hammer on an anvil.


The delightfully rough riffed, and at the same time colossally rhythmic death metal of the perfectly co-ordinated shock troop shows itself on their new and third long-player, Dead Aesthetics.


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Just released is a lyric video for the track, "When Yonder Calls My Name". The band comments:


"The song contains the first lyrics written for Dead Aesthetics. Thematically, it's about that very special moment when you realize that this existence is now over and a new journey begins. The call of the afterlife becomes louder and louder and the spirit dives into completely alien spheres."

On Desember, 10th 2021 the Göttingen NDH/German rock formation STAHLMANN will release their latest studio album "Quarz". As announced, it is the band`s most varied and sophisticated work to date. With his bandmates Mario Sobotka (guitar) and Dimitrios ‘Tacki’ Gatsios (drums), frontman Martin ‘Mart’ Soer (vocals, programming) has recorded ten powerful and multi-layered songs that skillfully bring the typical Stahlmann style into focus. Mart: “We’ve deliberately returned to our roots this time to revive the old-school NDH directives of our first three albums. Naturally, these influences have been combined with current, contemporary ideas. The result is a balanced, well-rounded album, catchy but still with all the raw edges Stahlmann is known for.”

Martin Soer is referring to songs like ‘Gegen den Strom’, ‘Tobsucht’ or their current club focus single ‘Wollust’, but also to their dance-style song ‘Herz und Tränen’, their pre-release track ‘Gottmaschine’ mentioned above, or their brashly powerful ‘Willst Du’. And then, there is their groovy ‘Sonnenreich’ with a skillful mixture of NDH influences and German rock, as well as their ballad ‘Der Sturm’, that comes with its own symphonic string accompaniment and a decidedly sensual love story.

By the way: "Quarz", too, is bursting with eloquent lyrics, the underlying meaning of which Martin Soer has deliberately laced with double entendres. He says: “As diverse as our topics are – from the ever-popular sex and eroticism in ‘Der Sturm’ or ‘Willst Du’, to the critical evaluation of the glorification of alleged deities in ‘Sonnenreich’, to our appeal in ‘Krähen der Nacht’ to boldly keep taking on new challenges, without forgetting your own roots – it’s basically an ironic wink, along with our wish to our fans to not rack their brains too much over seemingly heavy subjects.”

The audio-video for the brand-single “Wollust” can be watched below.

Former NIGHTWISH frontwoman Anette Olzon spoke to CNN about balancing her singing career with her day job.

"I always wanted to help people and work with something that gives me something on the inside," she said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I'm a registered nurse. So I started studying and got a bachelor's degree. It took me some years. And I've been working with that for three years now. And I feel that it's a good complement — it's a good complement to do music and to do another work. I believe it's good for us to see other things. I'm working with newborn babies at the maternity ward, so it's really a very nice job."

The Swedish-born singer originally joined NIGHTWISH in 2007 and recorded two studio LPs with the band before being dismissed in 2012 in the middle of the group's North American tour. She was replaced by former AFTER FOREVER frontwoman Floor Jansen.

Not long after Olzon was fired from NIGHTWISH eight years ago, she claimed that an argument arose between her and NIGHTWISH when she asked for an Australian tour to be postponed during her pregnancy. Keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen suggested that Jansen should front the band on a temporary basis, but Olzon said no.

Anette explained in a 2014 interview: "I would have been too pregnant to go to Australia, so I wanted to push the dates back, but Tuomas didn't want that. Discussions about a substitute came up, and at first, I was, like, 'Yeah, well, okay.' But when they mentioned Floor, it was an automatic 'no' from me. I didn't think it was a good idea, because I knew what would happen — I knew the fans would love Floor, because she's a metal singer and I'm a pop singer, and I wanted to keep my job."

A year after NIGHTWISH fired Olzon, the band released a statement denying that she was dismissed because of pregnancy or illness. "We discovered her personality didn't fit this work community, and was even detrimental to it," the group said. NIGHTWISH went on to say that Anette was initially receptive to the idea of hiring a temporary replacement if she couldn't "manage everything," but that she later "took back her decision, and the difficulties really started. Fear of losing money and position seemed obvious." The band also insisted that "Anette and her company" were "paid a fifth of everything that was done during her time" with NIGHTWISH.

Anette's second solo album, "Strong", was released on September 10 via Frontiers Music Srl. The follow-up to 2014's "Shine" is a harder and faster musical offering than the debut.

The music for "Strong" was written and composed together with acclaimed Swedish guitarist and producer Magnus Karlsson.

Since the end of her stint with NIGHTWISH, Olzon also formed THE DARK ELEMENT with former SONATA ARCTICA guitarist Jani Liimatainen. The group's self-titled debut album was released in 2017; a follow-up, "Songs The Night Sings", came out in November 2019.

Olzon and noted progressive metal vocalist Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X, ADRENALINE MOB) released a collaborative album titled "Worlds Apart" in March 2020 via Frontiers Music Srl. The project was issued under the moniker ALLEN/OLZON.

YouTube user FrontRowOrBust has uploaded video footage of SLIPKNOT's entire October 10 concert at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey.

Featured songs:

01. Unsainted 0:50

02. Disasterpiece 4:36

03. Nero Forte 11:09

04. Before I Forget 16:07

05. The Heretic Anthem 20:24

06. Psychosocial 23:54

07. The Devil In I 28:20

08. Solway Firth 34:20

09. Wait And Bleed 39:32

10. Vermilion 42:03

11. All Out Life 47:15

12. Duality 52:47

13. Spit It Out 56:56

Encore:

14. People=Shit 1:02:58

15. (sic) 1:06:27

16. Surfacing 1:11:00

Late last month, SLIPKNOT launched the 2021 incarnation of the "Knotfest Roadshow" with support from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, FEVER 333 and CODE ORANGE. The 28-date run, produced by Live Nation, kicked off following the band's Knotfest Iowa hometown show in Des Moines on September 25, and will wrap up in Arizona in early November.

SLIPKNOT has spent the last few months working on a new studio album, tentatively due in 2022. Singer Corey Taylor stated about the musical direction of the follow-up to 2019's "We Are Not Your Kind": "I actually like this one better than the last one. I loved the last one. It's really good. There's some darker, heavier shit on it. There's some tunes that are actually really outside the realm of what we've done before. But it all fucking coheses together — it all works together. And there's some fucking savage heavy shit, which I'm really stoked on. So it's gonna be rad."

In July, Corey told Consequence Of Sound about SLIPKNOT's next LP: "I think I talked about it somewhere else where this is the first time in a long time on a SLIPKNOT album where I'm not just talking about things from my point of view; I'm trying to look at things from other people's point of view and tell different stories again. I'm kind of getting back to that, and it feels very freeing. It's very liberating, man. And it's gonna be rad. There's a couple of songs on here that people are gonna be, like… There's definitely some pit openers that are gonna fucking freak people out. It's gonna be rad."

"We Are Not Your Kind" came out in August 2019. The disc sold 118,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Furthermore, the album made an impact worldwide with No. 1 debuts in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and Finland, as well as Top 5 debuts in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and New Zealand.

"We Are Not Your Kind"'s sales in the U.S. were boosted by a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with SLIPKNOT's summer 2019 tour.

Japanese pop-metal band BABYMETAL, which announced that it will "seal" its commemorative 10-year legend of live performances as of Sunday, October 10, has released a video, "The One - Stairway To Living Legend", to wrap up its 10th-anniversary year.

In the video, while BABYMETAL's key song "The One" plays, Su-Metal and Moametal climb up a long stairway from a sea of clouds, portraying their 10-year journey on earth as they now become a Living Legend.

Last October 10, BABYMETAL started its 10th commemorative year and it celebrated the release of its greatest-hits album, "10 Babymetal Years". Following this release, they successfully finished a series of 10 performances at the prestigious Nippon Budokan between January to April of this year, hold an exhibition at hmv museum commemorating their release of their first live history book "10 Babymetal Legends" which summarizes all activities of their 10-year journey, and ended with an exhibition at Tower Record Shibuya in which they showcased several stage items from their performance at the Nippon Budokan, simultaneously celebrating the release of their live album and live footage called "10 Babymetal Budokan".

With the end of BABYMETAL's 10th-anniversary year, BABYMETAL will be "sealed" from the world and only the Fox God knows when that seal will be broken.

BABYMETAL was formed in 2010. Their mission was to unify the world through heavy metal by creating a fusion of heavy metal and the Japanese pop genre. Their music contains a stunning mix of electronic pop, a pinch of alternative and industrial rock, and is leveled up by fast-driven heavy metal. Their live shows are ground-breaking and epic visual as well as sound performances. BABYMETAL continued to travel the path of metal with the international release of their three albums, telling the story of the mighty Fox God and his brave metal warriors.

A book about the first ten years of BABYMETAL, "Bessatsu Kadokawa Souryoku Tokushuu", was released in Japan in October 2020. It contains a long interview with Su-metal and Moametal as well as never-before-heard stories from band producer Kobametal from BABYMETAL's decade-long history, photos taken from live shows, a discussion between Demon Kakka and Kobametal, and much more.

BABYMETAL's third studio album, "Metal Galaxy", came out in October 2019 via earMUSIC/Edel. The follow-up to 2016's "Metal Resistance" is based on the concept of "The Odyssey Of Metal Galaxy".

In 2018, BABYMETAL announced the departure of Yuimetal, who was formerly one of the members of the Japanese group's core trio. She exited the band, explaining in a statement that she would go on to pursue a solo career as Mizuno Yu.

In a recent interview with Rockin' Metal Revival, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Ian Hill was asked if he has any plans to write a book in the not-too-distant future. He responded: "We'll see. If I do, it'll probably be about my early life, I should imagine. Probably up until [singer] Rob [Halford] joined. Everything else has been cataloged by Rob and Ken [founding guitarist K.K. Downing], in slightly different ways. But all that's already been said, really. But the lead-up to all of that. I mean, there's some great instances, some funny instances — how I came to play bass guitar for starters; that's funny in itself."

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 came back to PRIEST in 2003. Downing parted ways with the band in 2011, and was replaced by Richie Faulkner.

PRIEST's current touring lineup consists of Hill, Halford, guitarists Andy Sneap and Faulkner, and drummer Scott Travis.

Halford's autobiography, "Confess", was released in September 2020 via Hachette Books. It was written with Ian Gittins, co-writer of "The Heroin Diaries" by Nikki Sixx. In the book, Halford discusses in detail what it was like becoming the first metal icon to announce he is gay in 1998 during an MTV interview, despite knowing about his sexuality since he was 10. Although his bandmates and their management knew he was gay and were accepting, he was advised to be discreet given the macho hetero nature of the metal world. He also opens up about surviving sexual abuse, as well as his struggles with depression, substance abuse, sobriety, and the suicide of one of his former partners. He also talks about how his own suicide attempt in 1986 led him to the rehab program that saved his life.

Downing's own autobiography, "Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest", arrived in September 2018 via Da Capo Press. The book was co-written by the Scottish author and journalist Mark Eglinton, whose previous collaborations include "Official Truth, 101 Proof" with Rex Brown of PANTERA and "Confessions Of A Heretic" with BEHEMOTH's Adam "Nergal" Darski.

Asked by VintageRock.com if writing his autobiography provided him with a sense of closure concerning his time in JUDAS PRIEST, Downing replied: "Yeah, I think so. I guess it's the same with any long-term relationship — whether it's a husband or wife, or father or son or whatever — you spend enough time together, and idiosyncrasies show up. I guess there was no particular right or wrong — some people have more tolerance than others, and it takes a bloody miracle really to stay together for 40 years. Someone has to give. And it has to be give-and-take. But inevitably, it becomes a bit of an imbalance, and I like to think that democracy is always the best policy. And there wasn't enough of it there, I don't think."

Last year, Halford was asked by Sea Of Tranquility about the reason for Downing's relative absence from "Confess". He replied: "We did not steer of any avoidance, per se. We just talked about every aspect that we felt was important and useful to the book itself. So there was never, 'Oh, we won't talk about that person.' There was never any kind of dismissiveness for whatever reasons. So I think there's my answer."

JUDAS PRIEST's latest album, "Firepower", was released in March 2018 via Epic.

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield takes control of SiriusXM's Mandatory Metallica, hosting his own show, highlighting his "Road Dog Brothers".

Listeners can expect to hear James intro songs from bands that he toured with over the years, such as ARMORED SAINT, MASTODON, VENOM, GOJIRA, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, METAL CHURCH and more, beginning today at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET.

"Road Dog Brothers" can be heard on SiriusXM's Mandatory Metallica at the following times:

Thursday, October 14 @ 5 p.m. ET & 9 p.m. ET

Friday, October 15 @ 10 a.m. ET & 4 p.m. ET

Saturday, October 16 @ 8 a.m. ET & 11 p.m. ET

Sunday, October 17 @ 11 a.m. ET & 8 p.m. ET

Monday, October 18 @ 9 a.m. ET

Tuesday, October 19 @ 2 p.m. ET

Listen to a sneak peek below in which Hetfield reveals that he wasn't METALLICA's first choice for lead singer.

Other singers who were being considered for the frontman position in METALLICA included Jess Cox of Newcastle, England's TYGERS OF PAN TANG and John Bush of ARMORED SAINT (and later ANTHRAX), who actually turned the offer down.

Bush later said in an interview: "METALLICA did ask me to join, but I said no for all the right reasons. People must think that's crazy, but you have to remember the scene then. METALLICA was nobody. ARMORED SAINT was hot; you have to remember that. Also, I was very tight with the [ARMORED SAINT] guys, back to elementary school in fact. ARMORED SAINT was getting interest from all kinds of places, and we had a lot of people starting to turn up at shows."

He continued: "METALLICA came to see SAINT at a gig in Anaheim, at The Woodstock in 1982. I heard they were interested in asking me to join, which they did later. The thing was that METALLICA was this new kind of thing, and nobody back then. I don't care what they say now; nobody could have predicted what would happen. I didn't know the guys either, so there was no real interest. It was great to be asked — in fact, a lot of people asked — but ARMORED SAINT was really strong.

"Some time after 'Kill 'Em All' had come out, I heard the same thing again, but I never understood that because James was singing great then and he was doing a great job. I understood the lack of confidence back in '82 but not for 'Ride The Lightning'. James owns that record."

In a 1989 interview with Metal Forces, drummer Lars Ulrich talked about what METALLICA could have sounded like had Bush ended up fronting the group. He said: "Only a couple of days ago, we were actually sitting around talking about how it would be now if John Bush had joined the band. Obviously, it's impossible to know how different it would have been, but I can't imagine METALLICA without James Hetfield up there growling into the microphone, fucking curved over and everything. It's really weird to think about it. I mean, nothing against John Bush — I think he's a great vocalist — but ... Well, thank God it didn't happen."

Bush performed with METALLICA as a guest singer at one of the band's special 30th-anniversary shows in San Francisco in 2011. Video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS are "almost done" recording their first new album with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006's "Stadium Arcadium".

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, drummer Chad Smith said that the four members of the band "getting along great", and are "really listening to each other in a new way".

"All of our records are just real good snapshots of where we're at that time," he says. "You can't really go, 'Oh, gee, I hope it's as good as...' Then you're starting to have preconceived notions about what you want to write.

"Look, John hasn't been in our group in 10 years. That's a long time. So of course it's going to sound different, but it's going to sound like the four of us because we do have this special chemistry together. It sounds like RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, but it's different and new, and to me that's great.

"We really like it and we're proud of it and it has to start there. If other people like it, great. If people compare it to this or [say] it doesn't sound like that, we have no control over that. But yeah, we're all really happy with the record."

Regarding the return of Frusciante, Smith said: "He is so dedicated. He's so into it. He's working so hard. We're all working hard, but he's in there with all the overdubs and the magic that he brings."

According to Chad, most of the new album was written after the start of the pandemic, with the actual studio sessions taking place earlier this year.

"We could just plow through and write, and that's what we did," he adds. "It was kind of a blessing, because we want to come out with new music and play some new songs. It's going to be great when we finally go out next year and have a record to play, and a bunch of other stuff, obviously."

As previously reported, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS will embark on a world tour next spring. The 32-city global stadium trek kicks off on Saturday, June 4 at Estadio La Cartuja in Seville, Spain with stops in London, Paris, Dublin, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and many more before wrapping up in Arlington at Globe Life Field on September 18. The tour is produced by Live Nation.

Frusciante originally joined RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS following the death of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak in 1988. This lineup recorded two highly successful albums that brought the group mainstream popularity: "Mother's Milk" and "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". Sadly, Frusciante fell into a deep heroin addiction that caused him to leave the band while touring to support "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". Frusciante rejoined CHILI PEPPERS six years later, playing on 1999 album "Californication", 2002's "By The Way" and 2006's "Stadium Arcadium" before quitting the band again in September 2009.

In October 2020, Frusciante told the Australian digital radio station Double J that playing with his RHCP bandmates Anthony Kiedis, Flea and Smith once again was like "returning to family. I'm extremely comfortable with those people. It was as if no time had gone by at all when we started playing, pretty much, with a couple of minor exceptions, like how Chad and I gradually got our communication together in a new way. Basically, we're all just as comfortable with each other as we ever were, and it just felt like that right off the b