Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and JOURNEY bandmember Jonathan Cain has just released his first solo single of 2021, "Oh Lord Lead Us", via Identity Records with The Fuel Music distribution. The single and companion video that premieres today are from Cain's upcoming and sixth solo album in as many years (release date to be announced), and continues this iconic artist's offerings of faith-inspired new music.

Produced by Cain, mixed by David Kalmusky (Justin Bieber, THE FRAY, Keith Urban), mastered by Grammy Award-winning Adam Ayan (Paul McCartney, Carrie Underwood, FOO FIGHTERS), and featuring JOURNEY background vocalist Jason Derlatka lifting the chorus into the stratosphere, "Oh Lord Lead Us" was recorded at Cain's state-of-the-art Addiction Sound Studios in Nashville, with select parts done remotely due to the pandemic.

Leading worship weekly at his church, City Of Destiny, where his wife, Paula White-Cain, is the senior pastor, Cain was looking for a song to engage the congregation in the New Year. Taking a cue from 1 Chronicles 16:11, he began crafting the prayerful new single.

"Coming out of the COVID lockdown, I wanted to make a statement musically," says Cain. "Being beaten down, closed up, and with churches shuttered by the quarantine lockdowns, it seemed to me that we needed to make ourselves brand new again. We needed something with a little joy in it... COVID was mentally really tough for a lot of people."

With more solo music to be announced in the near future, Cain also ramps up 2021 with new music and a tour with his JOURNEY bandmates, including a headline slot at Lollapalooza in Chicago July 31. He is also host of the "Anchored" podcast, sharing his heart on topics of faith, family, marriage, manhood and music, and is featured on his wife's television shows "Paula Today" and "Faithfully", seen on the Life Network For Women and Daystar Television.

Along with the new music, Cain has released five solo albums over the last several years, including his 2019, Billboard-featured "More Like Jesus" that Parade called "triumphant." The solo recordings follow a long line of hits that bear this iconic artist's signature. As a member of JOURNEY, Cain has written or co-written such massive radio hits as the best-selling catalog rock song in iTunes' history, "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Who's Crying Now", "Open Arms", "Faithfully" and many more.

Ronnie James Dio's former wife and longtime manager Wendy Dio has revealed in a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock that the hologram of the legendary metal singer has been put on the backburner.

"The hologram is on hold," she said. "I don't know if we're going to do that again or not. We went out, and we tried it — we did it.

"There's still talk about doing the hologram," she continued. "I don't know. I think that there's so much more that's come along developing-wise [as far as technology]. I just think that the fans would prefer to see Ronnie as being really Ronnie instead of a hologram."

Dio died in 2010 at the age of 67 from stomach cancer. The singer's hologram was created by a company called Eyeillusion and made its debut at the Wacken Open Air festival in August 2016 in front of more than 75,000 fans.

The Dio hologram production uses audio of Ronnie's live performances from throughout his career, with the DIO band playing live, consisting of Craig Goldy on guitar, Simon Wright on drums and Scott Warren on keyboards, along with Bjorn Englen on bass. Also appearing with them are Owens and LYNCH MOB frontman Oni Logan.

Two former DIO guitarists have publicly expressed their doubts about the Ronnie James Dio hologram. In December 2019, Tracy "G" Grijalva, who played for DIO from 1993 through 1999, said that the hologram "looks creepy" and resembles "a puppet." Nine months earlier, Doug Aldrich, who was in DIO between 2002 and 2006, told XS Rock that "Ronnie would probably not" like the hologram. "He would probably be, like, 'This is not what I signed up for.' A hologram? It's not really what he would want to be. I'm just guessing, you know, that it's something that Wendy thought about and she decided that Ronnie would be fine with it. But I knew Ronnie well enough to know that he was very particular and he would prefer for them to let him just die and be in peace."

After the "Dio Returns" tour's initial seven-date run was completed in December 2017, Ronnie's hologram underwent some changes before the launch of the 2019 leg of the trek, which took place in May and June of that year.

The "Dio Returns" 17-song set consisted of seven tunes sung by the Dio hologram — the rest featured Owens and Logan separately or together — and encompassed material from Dio's lengthy career, including his earlier days in RAINBOW and BLACK SABBATH.

A few years ago, Wendy told Patch.com that critics of the Dio hologram were "entitled to their opinion. I just ask that people come and see the show first before criticizing," she said. "We got a lot of flak in the beginning but I think more and more people are getting used to it. It's for the fans. It's for the fans who would love to see Ronnie back up on the stage and the ones that never got a chance to see him. I think Ronnie would approve. If anybody saw the 'Sacred Heart' tour in 1986 we tried to make a hologram then. We had Ronnie in a crystal ball hanging from the stage talking through it. Also he was an innovator in music, so why not be an innovator in technology."

Last year, TESTAMENT guitarist Alex Skolnick, who toured with Ronnie on two separate occasions a decade and a half apart — in 1992 when Dio fronted BLACK SABBATH and again in 2008 when Ronnie was the singer of SABBATH offshoot band HEAVEN & HELL — offered his opinion on the Dio hologram on Twitter, writing: "I don't believe in those hologram shows. It would be one thing if the artist was still alive, chose not to tour for whatever reason, gave his or her approval & maybe even had a hand in the process. But Dio had no say." Skolnick also added a thumbs-down emoji as a way of voicing his disapproval.

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman said in a 2016 interview that he had mixed feelings about concerts featuring the Dio hologram. He said about the prospect of seeing a holographic version of Ronnie: "It makes me sad. I'm always happy to hear any music from anybody that's left us, that we've lost. But I don't know… The hologram thing, to me, it almost isn't letting the dead be dead." He added, "It just seems weird... Is there a difference between a hologram and a guy dressing up like Ronnie James and doing it?"

Legendary rockers Styx - James “JY” Young (lead vocals, guitars), Tommy Shaw (lead vocals, guitars), Chuck Panozzo (bass, vocals), Todd Sucherman (drums, percussion), Lawrence Gowan (lead vocals, keyboards) and Ricky Phillips (bass, guitar, vocals) - released their 17th album, Crash Of The Crown, on June 18 via the band’s label, Alpha Dog 2T/UMe.

Watch Todd Sucherman perform the album track "Fight Of Our Lives" below:

The new album is available as clear vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and on digital platforms. Order here and at Styxworld.com.

Styx’s holy mission for cutting Crash Of The Crown was crystal-clear to its co-creator from the get-go. “Absolutely no obstacles were going to get in the way of how we approached creating this album,” Shaw concludes about the herculean recording efforts of his fellow COTC makers. “And everything came out exactly the way we wanted to hear it.”

Tracklisting:

"The Fight Of Our Lives"
" A Monster"
"Reveries"
"Hold Back The Darkness"
"Save Us From Ourselves"
"Crash Of The Crown"
"Our Wonderful Lives"
"Common Ground"
"Sound The Alarm"
"Long Live The King"
"Lost At Sea"
"Coming Out The Other Side"
"To Those"
"Another Farewell"
"Stream"

“Reveries” lyric video:

"Crash Of The Crown" lyric video:

(Crash Of The Crown band photo - Todd Gallopo and Styx)




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In the clip below, watch Rutger van Noordenbvrg of Dutch death metal legends Pestilence play along the band's song "Deifivs", taken from the new album Exitivm. 

Exitivm, the ninth studio album from death metal legends Pestilence, has landed on several Billboard charts, including the top 200 bestselling albums. The album charted at number 188 on Billboard 200, number 23 on Current Hard Music Albums and number 37 on New Artist Albums, in its first week of release in the United States. Exitivm is out now on Agonia Records.

A new album, on a new label armed with a whole new lineup and a new dynamic: no matter what, Pestilence - or more specifically their maestro Patrizio Mameli - is like the phoenix, rising from the ashes, over and over again. An official website has been launched for Exitivm, providing access to all relevant information surrounding the new album, here.

Back in 1986, in the small town of Enschede in the Netherlands, nearby the German border, a true metal phenomenon was born. More than three decades later, not only is Pestilence alive and well, but about to once again reaffirm their place in the extreme metal pantheon, with their ninth studio album entitled Exitivm, which is Latin for "total destruction".

As controversial as he can be to some, nobody will ever deny the band’s undisputable driving force, Patrizio Mameli, and his constant ability to reinvent himself. Unlike most of the bands in the scene, Pestilence just keeps evolving. From the raging thrash leanings of their cult 1988 debut Malleus Maleficarum to the jazz-infused versatility of 1993’s Spheres or 2009’s Resurrection Macabre frontal assault, not to mention the fans’ favorite and Scott Burns-produced Testimony Of The Ancients from 1991, he never did the same record twice. No matter who playes with him on any Pestilence album, Mameli always gets the best out of the musicians he is working with. But first and foremost, the man has a one-of-a-kind vision, instantly recognizable style and yet always stretching musical boundaries. And it’s never more true than on Exitivm.  

After a vast reissue campaign in between 2015 and 2018 and an acclaimed new album Hadeon, the band got seemingly stopped in their mission to conquer the death metal scene in early 2020, like everybody else, by the global pandemic, going as far as forcing some of the band’s Hadeon line-up members to drop the towel. But what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger and instead of letting that whole situation drag him down, Mameli chose to do the exact opposite and write the best and darkest album possible to date. And he just did that. With its ambitious lyrical concept about "global domination", "induced mental illness", "inner and outer demons" and  malicious external entities, Exitivm is propelling the band one again to the forefront of the death metal movement with yet another original and brilliant artistic overhaul.

Mind you, as soon as you’re past the very cinematic introduction "In Omnibvs", you’re instantly caught up by "Morbvs Propagationem" whose intense riffing will take back to the Testimony days. Except that their core sound has been revived, with now extra layers of ominous soundscapes ingeniously suggesting an atmosphere of suspence and horror, boosted by Mameli’s jazz-fusion impressive solo works and a renewed sense of urgency. This rejuvenation, with emphasis on "new musical landscapes but also sick and twisted riffs" as stated by Mameli himself, is no accident though. Not only has Mameli been extremely inspired by the turmoil humanity had to face since March 2020 but with a line-up once again, entirely based in the Netherlands and made up of only super-seasoned players – besides former Dew Scented and Creepmime Joost van der Graaf on bass and Bleeding Gods’ Rutger van Noordenburg on lead guitar, former God Dethroned Michiel van der Plicht joined on drums last year – Pestilence is more than ever a BAND where everybody feeds off of each other's musical talent. And it definitely shows.

With the exception of the drums - tracked down by van der Plicht himself at his home studio - the album was recorded over a period of two months in between June and August 2020 at Pitchnote Productions. The album has been produced, like all Pestilence albums, by Mameli and is co produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Jory Hogeveen (Shinigami and Ancient Rites). Last March, the band filmed their second ever official video – three decades after Land Of Tears – for the song "Morbvs Propagationem". Exitivm will be available in various formats, including supra-limited picture, pin-wheel, "firebreath" and clear vinyl versions. The cover artwork once again brought the band’s iconic sphere and was done by Michal "Xaay" Loranc, known for his various cover for Nile, God Detheroned or Evocation and who had already worked on "Hadeon".

Both a reinvention and a confirmation of everything the band has been standing for since 1986, thirty-five years later Pestilence are more than ever breaking new grounds and exploring the further outposts of the extreme metal sound on Exitivm.

Formats:

- Jewelcase CD
- Digi CD
- Box CD
- Black LP
- Ultra Clear LP
- Blood Vanilla LP*
- Picture LP**
- Pinwheel LP***
- Firebreath LP***
- Digital

* Bandcamp exclusive
** With antistatic all-print slipmat only at Agonia Webshop
*** Agonia Webshop exclusive

Tracklisting:

"In Omnibvs" (Intro)
"Morbvs Propagationem"
"Deificvs"
"Sempiternvs"
"Internicionem"
"Mortifervm"
"Dominatvi Svbmissa"
"Pericvlvm Externvm"
"Inficiat"
"Exitivm"
"Immortvos"
"Personatvs Mortem" (Outro)

Album stream:

"Sempiternvs" video:

"Deificvs" video:

"Morbvs Propagationem" video:

Lineup:

Patrizio Mameli - vocals, lead guitars
Rvtger van Noordenbvrg - lead guitars
Joost van den Berg - bass
Michiel van der Plicht - drums

(Photo - Marc van Peski)




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Swedish bashers Sabaton were one of the headline acts for Wacken World Wide, the biggest streaming event on the globe in the pandemic summer of 2020. Check out "The Last Stand", "The Red Baron" and "Bismarck" from the stream below.

After several years of fans' posts asking, “Why isn’t this on Spotify?”, “Where can I buy this?”, “Please release this song!”, today the multi Gold and Platinum-selling Sabaton heeds the call and announces the long-awaited audio release of its cover of Manowar’s “Kingdom Come".  The track, paired with Sabaton's “Metal Trilogy”, a medley of the band's “Metal Ripper”, “Metal Crue”, and “Metal Machine”, is now available digitally on all streaming platforms, and the song can be heard here.

Sabaton recently announced on its socials a pre-order for a limited edition, Black/Red Spot 12” vinyl disc that includes “Kingdom Come” and the three-song medley “Metal Trilogy", set for an August 27 release date - copies sold out immediately.

Sabaton debuted a stunning 3D motion graphics animated lyric video for “Kingdom Come”, which can be viewed below.

The Sabaton cover of Manowar’s “Kingdom Come” was originally released in 2016 as a track on Decades Of Destruction, Metal Hammer's special compilation covers CD that accompanied the magazine’s 30th-anniversary edition. A few months later, Sabaton and the Czech Republic video game developer, Warhorse Studios, collaborated on a music video for the track, incorporating scenes from the actual game to produce a story-driven, epic adventure - “Kingdom Come:  Deliverance”.  But, until today, the song has never been available as a stand-alone audio single.

Pär Sundtröm, co-founder of Sabaton and its bass player, states, “Our fans have spoken. YOU requested the release of this song everywhere, so this is for all of you. This recording was meant to be a tribute to Manowar and a collaboration with a video game bearing the same name when we recorded it a few years ago. We are happy to see that you appreciate the song so much, and we have paid attention to your wishes and requests. You asked for it, you got it.”

A week ago, on July 9, Sabaton played its first concert in more than a year, headlining the Exit Festival in Serbia. Winner of multiple “Best European Major Festival“ awards, 2021’s Exit Festival was Europe's first major music festival since COVID hit in early 2020, and Sabaton performed in front of more than 40,000 fans from some 70 countries. On September 8 in Reading, PA, Sabaton will launch its first North American tour since Fall 2019 as main support on Judas Priest’s 35-city, 50 Years Of Metal North American tour. Sabaton is also confirmed to perform at Virginia's Blue Ridge Rock Festival and at Louder Than Life in Louisville. The complete itinerary is below; for all ticket purchasing info, visit this location.

September (with Judas Priest)
8 - Reading,  PA - Santander Arena
11 - Orlando, FL - Central Florida Fairgrounds^#
13 - Charlotte, NC - PNC Music Pavilion
14 - Raleigh, NC - Red Hat Amphitheater
16 - Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena
17 - Youngstown, OH - Covelli Centre
19 - Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre
20 - Rosemont, IL - Rosemont Theatre
22 - Milwaukee, WI - Miller High Life Theatre
23 - Minneapolis, MN - The Armory
25 - Maryland Heights, MO - Saint Louis Music Park
26 - Louisville, KY - Louder Than Life Festival
29 - Denver, CO - The Mission Ballroom
30 - West Valley City, UT - Maverik Center

October (with Judas Priest)
2 - Everett, WA - Angel Of The Winds Arena
3 - Portland, OR - Moda Center
5 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
6 - Los Angeles, CA - Microsoft Theater
8 - Las Vegas, NV - Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood
9 - Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Federal Theatre
12 - San Antonio, TX - Freeman Coliseum
13 - Cedar Park, TX - HEB Center Cedar Park
15 - Irving, TX - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
16 - Oklahoma City OK - The Zoo Amphitheatre
19 - Independence,, MO - Cable Dahmer Arena
21 - Nashville, TN - Nashville Municipal Auditorium
22 - Alpharetta, GA - Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
24 - Charleston, WV - Charleston Civic Center Coliseum
25 - Philadelphia, PA - The Met
27 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
28 - Oxon Hill, MD - The Theater at MGM National Harbor
30 - Mashantucket, CT - Foxwoods Resort Casino - Grand Theater
31 - Lowell, MA - Tsongas Center At UMass Lowell

November (with Judas Priest)
2 - Halifax, NS - Scotiabank Centre
4 - Laval, QC - Place Bell
5 - Hamilton, ON - First Ontario Centre




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Scorpions have uploaded new classic footage, this time of the Love At First Sting track "Big City Nights" live from Mexico City on March 23, 1994.

Scorpions have offered fans a first glance at their new music. The currently untitled effort will be the band's 19th studio album; a release date has not yet been announced.

Scorpions singer Klaus Meine, along with guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs uploaded the following video to social media from Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany.

According to Klaus: "We're in the studio right now, as you can see — Peppermint Park in Hannover — and this morning, we decided to give you guys a little snippet. We're here for a year. We spent so much time in here working with the recording sessions. And right now it's so very exciting to finally listen to the mixes coming in from Berlin the other day. And we just wanted to share this moment with all of you out there. And believe me, we can't wait — not only to give you a little snippet but to play you the whole damn album. All right? And we'll see you out there."

 

 
New Album Snippet

Dear Fans, here comes a little snippet for you... we can‘t wait to play you the whole album! 🤘 🦂 🤘 - Scorpions

Posted by Scorpions on Monday, 7 June 2021




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Post-grunge alternative band Tantric have released their new album The Sum Of All Things today on all platforms and formats. The album is a passionate, emotional rollercoaster that is chock full of memorable hooks, heavy riffs and some of the band’s best songs to date. 

To celebrate the release of the album, the band is proud to share a new performance video filmed earlier this year for one of the album’s standout tracks, the heavy rocker “Walk That Way.” The video features vocalist and frontman Hugo Ferreira alongside guitarist Sebastian LaBar, bassist Jaron Gulino and drummer Jason Hartless. Together this quartet kicks up enough rock charisma and technical prowess to power six bands.

Special bonus tracks include newly supercharged recordings of the band's massive hit singles "Breakdown" and "Down And Out". The album is svailable as a digipak CD or in a special 2 part vinyl package with the full album on colored vinyl PLUS a bonus 12" single. Order the CD and LP at Cleopatra Records. Save here.

Tracklisting:

“Alone”
“Walk That Way”
“Twisting And Turning”
“Can’t Find This”
“Living Here Without You”
“Take Me I’m Broken”
“The Words To Say”
“Compound”
“Pushover”
“Ten Years”
“The Sum Of All Things”
“Breakdown” (Bonus Track)
“Down And Out” (Bonus Track)
"Whiskey & You" (Bonus Track)




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The band has shared their new music video for their second single "Horizons", which features clips from the band's 2019 Japan tour. The song itself is for everyone who has struggled with the covid-isolation.

"The music for this song tells the story about traveling and seeing the world and all the great places. It's about the longing we all carry inside - of experiencing something new and visiting unfamiliar places. It is a pure rock 'n roll track fueled with the frustration of everyday BS and the desire to cut free from it," adds the band.

Founded in 2017, the band made their first entry on the Finnish scene with their 2019 independently released self-titled EP. The record's lead single "The Round" reached over 110K streams on Spotify and added to the EP's overall praise that gave the group the opportunity to tour Japan in 2019 with Beast In Black and Swallow The Sun.

Ready to follow up the success of that EP, Thy Row's first full-length offers up a fresh mix of the finest heavy metal with modern hard rock that every metalhead can bang their heads to. With ten tracks plus a bonus cover of X Japan's "Blue Blood" for its Japanese release, there are lots of great melodies spiced up with shakin’ riffs that are sure to encourage fans to turn up their stereo knobs all the way to eleven and enjoy.

“Our fans have waited for this album since we released our EP. We showed everyone that we are a force to be reckoned with and this record is going to prove that to everyone.” comments bassist Juho Jokimies.

Unchained features guest artists Ben Varon (Oceanhoarse, ex-Amoral), Ilja Jalkanen (Raskasta Joulua, Kiuas), and Teemu Mäntysaari (Wintersun, Smackbound) plus was mixed by Jussi Kraft (Starkraft Studio) and partly by Nino Laurenne (Sonic Pump Studios). Mastering was handled by Grammy-nominated Svante Forsbäck of Chartmakers Mastering (Rammstein, Volbeat).

The story behind the record is the telling of Thy Row becoming a band and the tale of their collective brotherhood as they grow and learn from one another. Many of the tracks deal with personal matters from each member. 

"Creating this album was a long and a hard process, but it was also a road we wanted to walk to be able to present this music to the people. With a guitar case in hand, not knowing each other originally, we became friends and we made this album with pure innocent passion and love for the music. Every song, every story is connected to our lives and our friendship, and we hold this piece very close to our hearts! Each one of us gave our best and more, developing as musicians and people in the process. None of us wanted to compromise in any area, and that made the creation process extremely long and difficult. However, we feel that our debut album is a victory of not giving up, supporting your team members when the going gets tough, and crossing the finishing line with pride and determination. The story, the sound and the process are the epitome of our lives, thoughts and experiences from those times we were making this album, and we hope that people will enjoy this ride we have to offer!"

Preorder at the Rockshots Records webshop.

Tracklisting:

“Road Goes On”
“The Round”
“Unchained”
“Horizons”
“Hidebound”
“Just Fine”
“Down On My Knees”
“The Downfall, Part 1: Killing All Inside”
“The Downfall, Part 2: Beyond Reason”
“The Downfall, Part 3: Fragments of Memory”
“Blue Blood” (X Japan cover – Japanese bonus track)

"Horizon" video:

“Road Goes On” video:




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The Indian old school metal institution Kryptos returns with the sixth studio album, Force Of Danger, out October 1 via AFM Records. Blistering new track that goes straght for the throat, "Raging Steel", is streaming below. Preorder at the AFM webshop.

Kryptos stay true to their roots in old school metal: It's old school or no school. Prepare for termination because this metal juggernaut is coming in for the kill.

Tracklisting:

“Raging Steel”
“Hot Wired”
“Dawnbreakers”
“Thunderchild”
“Nighthawk”
“Omega Point”
“Force Of Danger”
“Shadowmancer”

"Raging Steel" video:

“Force Of Danger” video:




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One of The Big Four turns the Big 4-0 this year and is celebrating with a number of special activities and events to honor the landmark anniversary. Formed by guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker in Queens, NY on July 18, 1981, Anthrax was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast and quickly became regarded as a leader in the genre alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth.

Active over the past five decades, Anthrax has released 11 studio albums, been awarded multiple Gold and Platinum certifications, received six Grammy nominations, toured the world since 1984 playing thousands of shows, including headlining Madison Square Garden and playing Yankee Stadium with The Big 4. The band has built a strong reputation with fans as well as the record industry. With the lineup including Ian, bassist Frank Bello, drummer Charlie Benante, singer Joey Belladonna, and guitarist Jon Donais, the band is being feted on their 40th anniversary by a wide range of friends and music contemporaries.

Each week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and wrapping on the band's official founding anniversary of July 18, Anthrax's social media accounts will offer a series of video testimonials sent in by former band members, fellow musicians, colleagues, and industry veterans sharing behind-the-scenes stories of working with the band and what Anthrax's legacy has meant all these years on. These videos will honor each album in chronological order beginning with the original release, Fistful of Metal. Go here for the full schedule, and watch Episode #23: Worship Music below. The episode talks about Joey Belladonna's return to the band, the Big 4 shows with Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth, and the background of Worship Music.

The 11-week series will include video contributions from Chuck D, Corey Taylor, Dave Grohl, Dave Mustaine, Gary Holt, Gene Simmons, Henry Rollins, John Carpenter, Kerry King, Mike Patton, Nergal, Norman Reedus, Michael Poulsen, Rob Zombie, Robert Trujillo, Roger Miret, Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC), Slash, Tom Morello and more. There will also be video clips from former Anthrax band members Dan Lilker, Dan Spitz, John Bush, Neil Turbin, and Rob Caggiano.

The finale came with a very special Livestream performance from Anthrax on Friday, July 16, featuring a deep cuts set that will pull from the band's entire career-spanning catalog.




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Calgary hard rockers, In/Vertigo, have released a video for "Chains", featured on their debut EP, Sex, Love & Chaos, available via Rockshots Records.  Watch below:

The four-song Sex, Love & Chaos EP portrays In/Vertigo's intensity, drive, and relentless ear drilling musical expressions. It's a result of their sound, says the band, "Sexy, passionate and chaotic. All the songs represent these three things in one or more ways. We want to get their hearts pumping, and veins throbbing. We want to be the soundtrack to your sex life, social life, your highs, your lows, and your deepest introspective moments."

In/Vertigo is the quintessential rock n' roll act, who comes in with a sonic molotov cocktail of sound, aimed at the music world who unapologetically thirsts for classic/hard rock.

Get your copy of Sex, Love & Chaos now at this location.

Tracklisting:

"Chains"
"Bad Enemy"
"The Night"
"Take It"

"Take It" video:

"The Night":

"Bad Enemy":




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Los Angeles-based quintet, Budderside, bridge the gap between the sexy swagger of the Sunset Strip and the soulful depths of Seattle on their forthcoming sophomore release, Spiritual Violence, out now via Motörhead Music/Silver Lining Music.

The band have shared an evocative animated lyric video for the deeply personal track “Things We Do”, which features MUSYCA Children’s Choir and covers the trials and tribulations of dealing with addiction. Watch below.

Vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stone shares: “‘Things We Do’ is a firsthand walk through addiction, the loss of a dear friend and the hypocritical, empty promise of getting high.”

Spiritual Violence was recorded with legendary producer Jay Baumgardner (Bush, Godsmack, Papa Roach) and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage). It's 10 spiritually evocative and meticulously crafted songs are thoughtfully designed to resonate, both musically and lyrically, across the world.

Order Spiritual Violence here.

Tracklisting:

"Wide Awake"
"Zen"
"Amber Alert" (feat. Carla Harvey of Butcher Babies)
"Pardon Me" (feat. Phil Campbell of Motörhead)
"I’m A Man"
"Folsom Prison Blues" (Johnny Cash cover)
"Things We Do" (feat. Musyca Children’s Choir)
"Feels So Good"
"Soul Searches"
"Daygobah"

“Amber Alert" video:

"Wide Awake" video:

"Pardon Me":

"Zen" video:

(Photo - Mathias Fau)




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British rock legends, Thunder, have announced the release of the expanded edition of their 13th studio album, All The Right Noises, on September 24 via BMG. It follows on from the album’s original release earlier this year, which saw the band maintain their incredible chart run by achieving a #3 Album; as well as rave reviews.

The brand new expanded edition will feature a DVD of the Thunder TV Special, which is extended here to include extra songs not broadcast when it was streamed back in March. Recorded in February and originally broadcast as a streamed event, the TV Special was in answer to the postponement of their arena tour from 2021 to 2022. Well known for their energetic live shows, the concept of playing a mock live show with no audience didn't sit well with Thunder, as the fans are always such a huge part of the energy in their shows. The solution was to film a TV style performance, in the mood of the Old Grey Whistle Test or Later… With Jools Holland, with an audience joining them in real time via Zoom. And so the Thunder TV Special was born.

Filmed at Siyan Studios in High Wycombe, the webcast of this unique performance was streamed for 48 hours on the weekend of the album’s release. The show was comprised of a set list of almost all the tunes from the new album, plus some of their biggest hits, a Zoom Q&A with fan club members, and set changes from plugged in electric to sit down acoustic. The 90-minute set was a runaway hit with Thunder fans all over the globe.

Listen to "Firebird" below, and pre-order the new release here.

Tracklisting

CD1
"Last One Out Turn Off The Lights"
"Destruction"
"The Smoking Gun"
"Going To Sin City"
"Don’t Forget To Live Before You Die"
"I’ll Be The One"
"Young Man"
"You’re Gonna Be My Girl"
"St George’s Day"
"Force Of Nature"
"She’s A Millionairess"

CD2
"Firebird"
"Hero"
"The Fires That Roar"
"Pariah"
"You’re Gonna Be My Girl" (Live)
"Destruction" (Live)
"Last One Out Turn Off The Lights" (Live)
"Don’t Forget To Live Before You Die" (Live)
"Going To Sin City" (Live)
"I’ll Be The One" (Live)
"She’s A Millionairess" (Live)
"Young Man" (Live)

DVD

Thunder TV Special:

Intro
"Last One Out Turn Off the Lights"
"Destruction"
"She's A Millionairess"
"St George's Day" *
"The Devil Made Me Do It"
"Going to Sin City"
"Don't Forget to Live Before You Die"
"I'll Be the One"
"Serpentine"
"A Better Man"
"The Smoking Gun"
"Force of Nature" *
"Love Walked In"
"You're Gonna Be My Girl"
"Young Man"
"Dirty Love"

* Not included in the original stream

Plus:

- Behind The Scenes & Bloopers
- Question Time

Promo Videos:

"Last One Out Turn Off the Lights"
"Going to Sin City"
"You're Gonna Be My Girl"
"I'll Be the One"

Audio Tracks:

"Last One Out Turn Off the Lights" (Single Edit)
"You're Gonna Be My Girl" (Single Edit)
"Destruction" (Single Edit)
"I'll Be the One" (Single Edit)
"The Smoking Gun" (Radio Session)

Thunder founders Danny Bowes and Luke Morley will also embark on a UK Tour in November 2021. The shows will be based around the bandmates’ new book Danny & Luke – The First 50 Years (1971-2021), which is released in September, and tell their story from when they first met at secondary school to achieving success with Thunder, and right up to present day.

The Thunder arena shows will begin in May 2022, culminating on 28th May at the SSE Wembley Arena in London.




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Bullet For My Valentine will release their self-titled, seventh album, Bullet For My Valentine, on October 22 via Spinefarm /Search & Destroy. The band have released "Parasite", the second single from the album. Watch the video below.

"For 'Parasite', we just wanted to let the song rip," says director Fiona Garden. "The intensity and fury of the track tears along, pure performance and vitality. Along the way, in a world defined by blinding light and the phenomenal graphic work of artist Carl Addy, we see this new infinite incarnation of the avatar aM cuts being ritualistically infected and drawn further into limitless oblivion. No locusts were harmed in the making of this video."

The band comments, "'Parasite' is an absolute RAGER from start to finish!!! Easily one of the gnarliest tracks we've ever written - we couldn't be more stoked to finally get it out there."

Bullet For My Valentine follows the success of their last album, 2018's Gravity, which saw the metal juggernauts’ catalogue surpass 1 Billion (yes, with a B!) streams in the US. That accomplishment solidifies Bullet's hard-earned status as one of the most elite bands in the hard rock scene.

On the last cycle, Bullet For My Valentine played their biggest shows to date, including a UK arena tour and a massive show at London's Alexandra Palace. But this time around, the band has taken things back to basics. Bullet For My Valentine is stacked with squealing solos and monstrous riffs that will delight fans - both new and old.

"I think it's the most ferocious side of Bullet For My Valentine that I've ever known," says lead guitarist Michael "Padge" Paget. "It's time for us to put out a really angry, heavy, aggressive record. I just can't wait to grimace on stage!"

Matt Tuck began writing the album in September 2019 before the Coronavirus pandemic brought things screeching to a halt in early 2020. But in June 2020, Tuck and long-time producer, Carl Bown, who co-produced the band's 2015 album, Venom, and produced and mixed Gravity, picked up the pace again. Together, they hunkered down at Treehouse Studio in Chesterfield, where the remainder of the album was written.

Aptly self-titled, the band has triumphed, creating an album that will cements its place in the metal pantheon.

Pre-orders for Bullet For My Valentine's seventh studio album are now live, with an instant download of both "Parasite" and first single, "Knives," and special bundle options, including a unique clipping from the backdrop used on the bands Venom world tour from 2015 – 2017, t-shirts, hoodies, gold & silver cassettes, and limited vinyl. Order here.

Tracklisting:

"Parasite"
"Knives"
"My Reverie"
"No Happy Ever After"
"Can't Escape The Waves"
"Bastards"
"Rainbow Veins"
"Shatter"
"Paralysed"
"Death By a Thousand Cuts"

"Knives" video:

Lineup:

Matt Tuck - Vocals + Rhythm Guitar
Michael "Padge" Paget - Lead Guitar
Jamie Mathias - Bass
Jason Bowld - Drums




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On September 17, the The Last Viking - Midsummer Edition 3 CD + BluRay will be released including tons of bonus material. It will feature the documentary "Viking Spirit", now available as BluRay, plus bonus material in a bundle with The Last Viking. One new chapter, Viking Weapons, about weaponry and weapon expertise of the Viking age added to the documentary. Now also with subtitles in French, Spanish, German and English.

Get the The Last Viking - Midsummer Edition released exclusively in a digipak set with the original album, the instrumentals and the soundtrack to the documentary, and the documentary, on Blu-Ray here. Watch the video for "Blazing Waters" below.

Tracklist:

BluRay "Viking Spirit" Documentary (Playing time over 100 minutes)

Viking Lifestyle
Living History
Vikings Of The World
Alex The Viking
Norse Mythology & Music
Viking Family
Fighting Styles
Værjaborg Training
Weststorm Training
Northstorm Training
Ulflag Warhost
Viking Events
Slawentage
Wikingertage
Wolin
Hikg
Viking Workshop
Viking Art
Leaves' Eyes Viking Crew
Viking Weapons (Bonus Chapter)

Videoclips:

"Chain Of The Golden Horn"
"Dark Love Empress"
"War Of Kings"
"Blazing Waters" (Bonus)

CD1 - The Last Viking (Original album)

"Death Of A King"
"Chain Of The Golden Horn"
"Dark Love Empress"
"Serpents And Dragons"
"Black Butterfly" (feat. Clémentine Delauney)
"War Of Kings"
"For Victory"
"Two Kings One Realm"
"Flames In The Sky"
"Serkland"
"Varangians"
"Night Of The Ravens"
"The Last Viking"
"Break Into The Sky Of Aeon"

CD 2 - The Last Viking (Instrumentals)

"Death Of A King"
"Chain Of The Golden Horn"
"Dark Love Empress"
"Serpents And Dragons"
"Black Butterfly" (feat. Clémentine Delauney)
"War Of Kings"
"For Victory"
"Two Kings One Realm"
"Flames In The Sky"
"Serkland"
"Varangians"
"Night Of The Ravens"
"The Last Viking"
"Break Into The Sky Of Aeon"

CD 3 - Viking Spirit Soundtrack

"Await Orre's Storm"
"Galeids Of The Væringjar"
"Dread Hand's Fame"
"Into The Depths Of Hell"
"Chain Of The Golden Horn" (Soundtrack Version)
"Land Of The Rus"
"The Golden Secret"
"Past Wide Plains"
"Death Of A King" (Soundtrack Version)
"Blazing Waters" (2020 Version)




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A GoFundMe campaign has been launched in support of Curtis Beeson, former drummer for Florida-based thrash band Nasty Savage, who is battling a brain tumor.

Obituary bassist Terry Butler has sent out the following message: "We at Obituary are turning to you guys… our Metal family, worldwide to help us help a brother in real need of support. Curtis Beeson, drummer for Nasty Savage and friend of 35 years, needs our help with his Brain Tumor Battle so please help us help him. We set up a GoFundMe to raise much needed money for his medical and life expenses as he puts up a strong fight in this ongoing battle. Please donate what you can, when you can and share this link to help spread the word. Any amount helps him tremendously and is appreciated more than words can describe!"

Visit the GoFundMe page here.




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Carnifex have returned to ignite sonic memories of albums past with the scorch of old-school sound. On September 3, the band will release their eighth studio album via Nuclear Blast Records. Today, they release the music video for the track "Graveside Confessions". Check out the video, directed by Jim Louvau and Tony Aguilera, below.

Carnifex comments, "This is an immensely personal album to all four of us. We poured our hearts with all the love, fear, and pain we know into this album. Please take the journey with us."

Carnifex’s Graveside Confessions is no stranger to the harsh world in which it was created. While all of humanity experiences the turmoil of pain, weakness, and betrayal, it is also deeply ingrained in our nature to keep these notions closely protected; to keep them secret. Often as we approach death, we feel an insatiable need to reveal these things to one another; to confess.

The album arose just in time to aid in celebrating the 15 year anniversary of the debut Carnifex album, Dead In My Arms. The band revisited their first album to re-record three songs, but now with huge advancements in production technology. A return to their roots, these songs act as the completion of a circle; a return to where things first began.

Graveside Confessions will be available in the following formats:

- CD Jewelcase
- Red Cassette
- Vinyl
- Red & Pink Swirl W/ Black Splatter
- Clear W/ Red & Black Splatter

Pre-order your copy here. Pre-save the album here.

With the engineering of the record completed in-house by drummer Shawn Cameron, the band recorded the album at Back Lounge Studios in San Diego, CA almost entirely themselves with the help of Mick Kenney for the mixing and mastering. This process especially compared to Carnifex albums of the past developed a far more satisfying and concentrated artistic vision for the band. Carnifex enlisted English artist Godmachine, who has worked on the two previous albums, to create the next instalment of visual art for Graveside Confessions.

Graveside Confessions tracklisting:

"Graveside Confessions"
"Pray For Peace"
"Seven Souls"
"Cursed"
"Carry Us Away"
"Talk To The Dead"
"January Nights"
"Cemetery Wander"
"Countess Of Perpetual Torment"
"Dead Bodies Everywhere"
"Cold Dead Summer"
"Alive For The Last Time"
"Collaborating Like Killers" (Graveside Edition)
"My Heart In Atrophy" (Graveside Edition)
"Slit Wrist Savior" (Graveside Edition)

"Graveside Confessions" video:

"Pray For Peace" video:

Lineup:

Scott Ian Lewis | Vocals
Shawn Cameron | Drums
Cory Arford | Guitar
Fred Calderon | Bass

(Photo - Jim Louvau)




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The Night Flight Orchestra is back! Sweden's most famous cabin crew is proud to announce the second part of the "Aeromantic" saga today, seing the light of the day on September 3. Aeromantic II is another thrilling journey to the band's core and their passion for traveling and being in motion - accompanied by the balance act of bittersweet sadness and pure joy of life.

You can pre-order and pre-save the album here.

The band states: "Aeromantic II is about circling around the globe in the stratosphere, never wanting to land. A continuation of the journey we started all these years ago. The Swedish melancholy and the simultaneous love of life, creating a new alternative world for all the restless souls out there. We know that you are there. We feel you. And The Night Flight Orchestra will guide you into a better place. Where the nights are made of Chardonnay and every day is burning. Just take our hands and flounce about with us in the twilight zone, where everything is possible."

To celebrate the good news, your very own airline crew of The Night Flight Orchestra suggests you a good bottle of fine white wine - best served with the new track from the band, "Chardonnay Nights". Stream "Chardonnay Nights" here and below.

But The Night Flight Orchestra wouldn't be the best hosts up in the sky, if they didn't take care of good party games. Click here to steer the airplane yourself through the beautiful lit sky.

The band about "Chardonnay Nights": "This song tells the story of endless summer nights and a young man’s desperate fight to push his tomorrows away. To immerse himself or herself in the emergency of the present tense. The way the secrecies of the night reveal unknown truths, and you don't have to see things too clear, you just have to see them."

Tracklisting:

"Violent Indigo"
"Midnight Marvelous"
"How Long"
"Burn For Me"
"Chardonnay Nights"
"Change"
"Amber Through A Window"
"I Will Try"
"You Belong To The Night"
"Zodiac"
"White Jeans"
"Moonlit Skies"
"Reach Out"

"Chardonnay Nights":

"Burn For Me" video:

"White Jeans" video:

The Night Flight Orchestra is:

Björn Strid – Lead and Backing vocals
David Andersson – Guitars
Sharlee D’Angelo – Bass
Sebastian Forslund – Guitars, percussion
Jonas Källsbäck – Drums
John Manhattan Lönnmyr – Keyboards
Anna Brygård – Backing Vocals
AnnaMia Bonde – Backing Vocals




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KORN guitarist Brian "Head" Welch's LOVE AND DEATH side project has released the official music video for "Let Me Love You", a fan-favorite cover of DJ Snake and Justin Bieber's smash hit, featuring powerhouse vocalist Lacey Sturm, formerly of FLYLEAF. Watch the clip below.

Welch commented: "'Let Me Love You' has been one of my favorite tracks to cover. It's so enjoyable to me making a pop song super heavy! Having three vocalists perform on the track was unique as well and I love the way mine, Lacey and JR's voices blend together.

"When I asked Lacey to do the song with us, I had no idea what the lyrics would mean to her at that particular time. After discovering what she was going through, my main hope with the song was that Lacey would find healing, and that healing might extend to anyone struggling in life who heard the track. The 'never give up' message that directors Sebastien Paquet and Alison Roberto worked hard to convey in the music video profoundly mirrored some of the conversations Lacey and I were having behind the scenes, without either director having prior knowledge of the conversations, so we were very blown away by that and we're so proud of what we achieved here with this song and video. Art is so much more powerful than we think."

Sturm adds: "Working with LOVE AND DEATH on 'Let Me Love You' was sort of a supernatural experience. I was mourning the loss of a loved one when I recorded the song. Mourning is a multifaceted process and sort of comes in waves. They asked me to do the song at a very dark moment in that process. When I went to sing in the studio, the lyrics were everything I wanted to sing and scream in response to this death; which felt like such a theft.

"Sometimes death is beautiful and sometimes it is a thief. I know people who have died from overdose, alcoholism, suicide — yes — but I also know so many people who have overcome these things and are making that story their own ripple effect of hope and life. Brian and I both have lived stories like that, overcoming suicide and addiction. For Bieber to sing 'Let Me Love You' is inspiring in one way maybe, but for Brian to scream it and to get to scream it alongside him over so many people who are struggling — it's like I got to believe for people to overcome right in the face of the hopelessness I was tempted to embrace. The same thing happened when I did the video. I needed it. Right at that moment. It was like the author of life loved me while death was trying to suffocate me. I got to let God love me through this sacred echo of a song. I'm so thankful."

"Let Me Love You" is taken LOVE AND DEATH's latest album, "Perfectly Preserved", which arrived in February via Earache Records.

"Perfectly Preserved" is described in a press release as "a blistering but accessible full-length follow-up, driven by the spiritual resilience inherent in the first record, combined with an even starker depiction of real-life struggle." Anger, broken relationships, lowered self-worth, and the collision of optimistic values with oppressive systems are all on display, from the arresting refrains of "Tragedy", "Death Of Us" and "Affliction" to the bold, conqueror driven anthem of "White Flag".

The band began with similar raw, authentic emotional honesty to what drove Welch to multiplatinum and Grammy Award-winning heights as a co-founder of genre trailblazers KORN. Forged as an outlet for recovery and redemption in a season of change, the creation of LOVE AND DEATH resulted in the powerful and dynamic 2013 debut "Between Here & Lost". The album spoke plainly to the hearts of similarly disenfranchised fans all across the world.

"Perfectly Preserved" marks the introduction of guitarist, bassist and co-songwriter Jasen Rauch as a full-fledged member of the band, as well as second time producer for LOVE AND DEATH (co-produced by Joe Rickard). Jasen, best known as an integral part of chart-topping rockers BREAKING BENJAMIN, produced LOVE AND DEATH's first album in 2013. The duo first met a year or two after the release of Head's solo album, "Save Me From Myself" (2008). As Head experimented with synthesizers, it was Rauch who encouraged him to pick up his guitar and churn out new riffs.

LOVE AND DEATH charge into this new chapter with a definitive lineup, which sees Head and Jasen side by side with the band's original guitarist, JR Bareis, also on vocals and guitar, and powerhouse drummer Isaiah Perez. It was a perfect storm of friendship and creativity, as they all worked on the album in Nashville, Los Angeles, and Chicago, over several years.

AFM Records will release KREATOR's "Endorama - Ultimate Edition" on December 17. A lyric video for the remastered version of "Golden Age" is available below.

KREATOR surely needs no introduction to anyone at this point. The Germans were among the distinctive bands who helped to shape and fashion the emerging thrash style in the 1980s. And through such landmark albums as "Pleasure To Kill" (1986), "Terrible Certainty" (1987) and "Coma Of Souls" (1990), they had stamped their own hallmark of quality, passion and aggression, in the process proving here was a special group of musicians.

But not content to merely rest on their laurels and repeat what had already worked, they were now ready to take things to a new level with a record that pushed more into new territory — with the most gothic album KREATOR has ever done, as frontman Mille Petrozza himself acknowledges.

Released in April 1999, "Endorama" is invaluable proof that KREATOR were, and remain, metal icons with welcomingly broad and emboldened horizons. Now, over 22 years later, the bold statement that is "Endorama" gets the ultimate makeover — released as a completely overhauled remaster that adds a whole lot of punch to the sound and shows that this album still stands strong even against modern standards.

"Endorama - Ultimate Edition" track listing:

CD1:

01. Golden Age (Remastered)

02. Endorama (Remastered)

03. Shadowland (Remastered)

04. Chosen Few (Remastered)

05. Everlasting Flame (Remastered)

06. Passage To Babylon (Remastered)

07. Future King (Remastered)

08. Entry (Instrumental) (Remastered)

09. Soul Eraser (Remastered

10. Willing Spirit (Remastered)

11. Pandemonium (Remastered)

12. Tyranny (Remastered)

13. Children Of A Lesser God (Remastered)

CD2:

01. Golden Age

02. Endorama

03. Shadowland

04. Chosen Few

05. Everlasting Flame

06. Passage To Babylon

07. Future King

08. Entry (Instrumental)

09. Soul Eraser

10. Willing Spirit

11. Pandemonium

12. Tyranny

CD3: (Bonus CD)

01. Golden Age (Demo Version)

02. Shadowland (Demo Version)

03. Only A Sleeper Considers Life Real (Previously Unreleased Demo)

04. Children Of A Lesser God (Demo Version)

05. Everlasting Flame (Demo Version)

06. Soul Eraser (Demo Version)

07. From A Thousand Thrones (Previously Unreleased Demo)

Vinyl:

Side A:

01. Golden Age (Remastered)

02. Endorama (Remastered)

03. Shadowland (Remastered)

Side B:

04. Chosen Few (Remastered)

05. Everlasting Flame (Remastered)

06. Passage To Babylon (Remastered)

Side C:

07. Future King (Remastered)

08. Entry (Instrumental) (Remastered)

09. Soul Eraser (Remastered)

10. Willing Spirit (Remastered)

Side D:

11. Pandemonium (Remastered)

12. Tyranny (Remastered)

13. Children Of A Lesser God (Remastered)

Dave Mustaine has confirmed that the new MEGADETH album will be titled "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead".

Mustaine touched upon the name of the new disc while filming a new video message on Cameo, which lets users hire celebrities to record brief, personalized video messages about virtually any topic.

Addressing a fan named Joe from the recording studio where the new MEGADETH album is being mixed, Mustaine said: "If you listen real closely, you can hear in the background… There's the Pro Tools rig with the new album, doing a rough mix. And you're getting to hear a little bit of it in the background… This is the beginning of the song 'The Sick, The Dying And The Dead', which is our title track."

Mustaine previously floated "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead" as a "tentative" title for the new MEGADETH disc during a January 2021 Zoom chat with fans.

Mustaine has yet to reveal who played bass on the new MEGADETH album after David Ellefson's tracks were removed from the LP following his dismissal from the band in late May.

Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH's sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee. A short time later, he raved about his performance on the record, telling the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program "Wired In The Empire" that his musical chemistry with MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren was comparable to the interplay between Geddy Lee and Neil Peart on classic RUSH albums. "I feel like on the new MEGADETH record, me and Dirk have those same moments," he said. "It's MEGADETH — it's not RUSH, obviously — but in the field of what we do, there were these moments that I was just going, 'Oh, my God.' This is me as a kid going, 'This is my Geddy/Neil moment right here.'"

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

"I just wanna thank you for all the kinds words and support as we get ready for this next tour and continue to hunt for a new bass player," the MEGADETH leader said. "We are making progress. The record's being completed, and we're gonna have someone coming in in a couple of weeks to replace the bass tracks that we had. Which should be relatively quick because the person we're talking to is a stellar bass player. And hopefully this will be an ongoing thing after the recording. Or we will find someone prior to the recording that will be our permanent guy going forward."

In early May, on the same day that sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving Ellefson were posted on Twitter, he released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of Ellefson by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual "masturbating encounters" without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) The 56-year-old Ellefson, who lives in Scottsdale, first became aware of the video on May 9, when the claim "David Ellefson of MEGADETH is a pedophile" appeared on Instagram. Ellefson told police he was notified on May 14 by MEGADETH that the band would be parting ways with him. Three days later, he was fired.

On May 24, Mustaine — who formed MEGADETH with Ellefson in 1983 — announced the bassist's departure from the band, saying, "We do not take this decision lightly. While we do not know every detail of what occurred, with an already strained relationship, what has already been revealed now is enough to make working together impossible moving forward," Mustaine wrote. Two days later, Ellefson released a follow-up statement in which he vowed to file a "defamation lawsuit" against the person who "illegally posted a very private video" of the bassist and made "false allegations" against him. He also said he was working with the police in Scottsdale "in their investigation into charges regarding revenge pornography to be filed against the person who posted the video. This person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Ellefson wrote. He went on to say that he was "taking this time to be with my family" and wished his "bandmates" the best with their upcoming tour.

MEGADETH is currently scheduled to take part in "The Metal Tour Of The Year" with LAMB OF GOD, beginning on August 20 in Austin.

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









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METALLICA has announced details of its massive 40th birthday celebration: The band will mark this milestone by inviting the worldwide METALLICA family to join them in their hometown of San Francisco for two unique live shows featuring two different setlists December 17 and 19 at Chase Center. Tickets for these shows will be available only to registered members of METALLICA's Fifth Member fan club (more details below).

The 40th-anniversary shows see METALLICA return to Chase Center for the first time since the September 2019 "S&M²" concerts that also served as the venue's grand opening. It was impossible not to notice that fans from more than 60 countries traveled to the City by the Bay and completely took over San Francisco for "S&M²" weekend. That outpouring of positive vibes from around the world inspired METALLICA to invite those Fifth Members back — and this time, in addition to the two shows at Chase Center, METALLICA will be curating other live music and comedy events, Blackened Whiskey tastings, and so much more all around the city during the long four-day weekend of celebrations starting on Thursday, December 16. Details and ticketing information for these various events will be announced as they are confirmed.

Tickets for the December 17 and 19 Chase Center shows will be available only to registered Fifth Members. In an effort to make it as fair as possible for every member who would like to attend, Fifth Members are invited to enter to win a reservation code that will guarantee them the opportunity to purchase tickets. Reservation winners will be chosen randomly and e-mailed additional information and directions to proceed with purchase.

Winners will have the option to choose from two-day tickets to gain entry to both METALLICA shows at the Chase Center or single day tickets for the show on either December 17 or December 19. Travel packages that include both tickets and hotel accommodations will also be available at MetallicaTravel.com. All members will be limited to a maximum purchase of two show tickets or one hotel/ticket package (package options include either two or four tickets).

METALLICA explained in a statement: "As hard as it is to believe, the band will be turning the big 4 – 0 this October. It's a wild thing to wrap our heads around… it feels like just yesterday that we were hitting the stage playing our first show at Radio City in Anaheim, CA, in the spring of 1982! Okay, fair enough maybe that wasn't just yesterday; so many things have happened since Lars [Ulrich] and James [Hetfield] got together in the fall of '81… almost 2,000 live shows across seven continents, mind-blowing successes and crazy off-road adventures. It's been a nutty ride and even though most of the time it feels like we're just getting started, we're excited to celebrate the past four decades with you. What better way to mark this milestone than to invite the worldwide METALLICA Family to join us in our hometown of San Francisco, CA, where we will be performing two different live sets at Chase Center on December 17 and 19 for Fifth Members only!!

"We were so in awe of the love, support, and dedication that came our way during the 'S&M²' concerts when fans from over 60 countries around the globe traveled to the City by the Bay for the weekend in September of 2019. You guys completely took over San Francisco and the unbelievably good vibes and sense of family inspired us to invite all of you to come back! In addition to our two shows at Chase Center, we will be curating other live music and comedy events, Blackened Whiskey tastings, and so much more all around the city during the long four-day weekend of celebrations starting on Thursday, December 16. Details and ticketing information for these various events will be announced as they are confirmed.

"So… we bet you want to know how to get tickets, don't you? Tickets will be available only to registered Fifth Members and, in an effort to make it as fair as possible for every member who would like to attend, members are invited to enter to win a reservation code that will guarantee them the opportunity to purchase tickets in a private sale closed to the public. Reservation winners will be chosen randomly and e-mailed additional information and directions to proceed with their purchase.

"Winners will have the option to choose from two-day tickets to gain entry to both METALLICA shows at Chase Center or single-day tickets for the show on either December 17 or December 19. Travel packages that include both tickets and hotel accommodations will also be available courtesy of MetallicaTravel.com. All members will be limited to a maximum purchase of two show tickets or one hotel/ticket package (package options include either two or four tickets).

"We will have so much more to tell you about in the coming months, but for now, we hope that you'll open those calendars and make plans to come hang with us for one unforgettable long weekend in San Francisco.

"A word about COVID-19: We do not know what local ordinances regarding vaccine and/or testing status will be in December of 2021. Because these rules and guidelines are ever evolving, we will update Metallica.com and send all ticket buyers an update 30 days in advance of the shows as to what will be required, if anything, for entry into the show. However in the meantime, we strongly recommend that you get fully vaccinated prior to the concert date as this will be the best way to keep everyone safe and healthy and to keep this show on the road! Visit Vaccines.gov for more information or to book your appointment. Our friends outside the U.S. should consult with their local pharmacy or government website.

"Stay safe and we will see you in December in San Francisco!"

Formed in 1981 by drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield, METALLICA has become one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history, having sold nearly 120 million albums worldwide and generating more than 2.5 billion streams while playing to millions of fans on literally all seven continents. The band's several multi-platinum albums include "Kill 'Em All", "Ride The Lightning", "Master Of Puppets", "… And Justice For All", "Metallica" (commonly referred to as The Black Album), "Load", "Reload", "St. Anger", "Death Magnetic" and "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct", released in November 2016 and charting at No. 1 in 32 countries.

METALLICA's awards and accolades include nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and its 2009 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In June of 2018, the band was awarded one of the most prestigious musical honors in the world: Sweden's Polar Music Prize. METALLICA's newest release, the "S&M²" album and film, arrived last August on the band's own Blackened Recordings label. "S&M²" chronicles METALLICA and San Francisco Symphony's September 6 and September 8, 2019 "S&M²" concerts that served as the grand opening of San Francisco's Chase Center and reunited the band and Symphony for the first time in 20 years. "S&M²" brings those historic shows back to life, capturing more than two and a half hours of James, Lars, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo joining forces with the nearly 80-strong San Francisco Symphony, legendary music director of the orchestra Michael Tilson Thomas and conductor Edwin Outwater.

In a new interview with A&P Reacts, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser was asked if anything has changed within him, professionally or personally, as a result of the pandemic that's going to be completely different for him going forward. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Basically, a lot of stuff. I changed a lot, and I think for the better. I quit alcohol right before the pandemic hit. It's a year and a half almost now that I don't drink alcohol. It was one of the best decisions I made in my life. Not that I was a fucking out-of-control alcoholic, but alcohol was a part of my life, of everything I did. In certain degrees less and more, but it was there. It was taking control of my life, of my choices, of how I dealt with people or with a special occasion or something. Alcohol was involved in everything. And I don't need that. And I proved now that I don't, because I'm having a better life. I'm doing exercises. I have the routine I never had touring."

He continued: "[When you are on the road], every time you're in a different place, in a different time period. Or you go to a bathroom and you don't shower and you have to travel, et cetera. That was our life. And with the pandemic, I had finally a routine. I kind of complained before because I couldn't do exercises, I couldn't have my diet, I couldn't study classical guitar. Now I have all that, and I appreciate that a lot.

"The stuff that I have with my wife and my kids, that I'm never home [when SEPULTURA is in the middle of an album cycle], I'm always here now. It was a difficult time, but we recreated ourselves kind of. We are a better family now — a much better family now. And that's very special. And I have to be thankful for that somehow, that I was able really to make the best out of something so terrible."

According to Kisser, "it was very easy" for him to give up the bottle. "Once you have a clear idea in your mind, there's no discussion," he explained. "I didn't put the responsibility on a saint or, let's say, in a church, or 'I will stop for a year' or 'I promise you, my wife, I don't drink anymore.' No. It's not for them. It's a very personal attitude. It's me with me — not more. I don't have to put the responsibility away from myself, in a time period or in a certain religious belief or my family. They don't deserve that. This is my problem, and I resolve it with myself. So I'm in peace with myself with that. It's not something that bothers me. I can be around alcohol, I can be around parties, I can be around backstage, as I did with my KISSER CLAN band here and stuff. People drink around [me], [and] I don't care. I don't even feel the wish to drink, which is great. So I don't have a battle, let's put it that way. I'm not running away from anything. I just decided to stop. That's it."

Kisser is not the only member of SEPULTURA's classic lineup to have gotten sober. Back in 2016, former SEPULTURA frontman Max Cavalera told Metal Insider that he had been "straight edge" at that point for a decade. "I was kind of a mess 10 years ago, drinking and doing a lot of drugs, and it was affecting some of my touring," he stated at the time. "I'm a very extreme guy, so when I do something, I do it all the way. I quit drinking and doing drugs entirely, and when I did it, I realized my passion for metal grew even more. I became more into metal, into new bands and stuff."

Cavalera reflected on his 16-year battle with drug and alcohol addiction in a 2016 interview with Metal Hammer. He told the magazine that he became hooked on prescription drugs not long after his father's death. "I was taking too many of them on a daily basis and then drinking on top of it," he said. "It's a lethal combination, and then I added sleep medicines on top of all that.

"It's a miracle I am still alive.

"There's a lot of pressure that comes with fame. Record label pressure, fans pressure, and we don’t have a manual or a guide to surviving this shit."

Max continued: "I think for some musicians the pressure of fame gets to them. For me, it started with the death of my father. I became very sad and drinking was one way to deal with my sadness. The drugs — I just liked them. I liked the buzz of a painkiller. The energy it gave me."

Last year, SEPULTURA launched "SepulQuarta", a weekly event where the band gave insight into its colorful history, took part in question-and-answer sessions with fans and performed music while in quarantine. Some of the musical collaborations, including those with members of MEGADETH, TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, TRIVIUM and SACRED REICH, will be released as a full-length album, also titled "SepulQuarta", on August 13.

Ted Nugent has declared Joe Biden a "dumbass" and railed against Democrats for never telling the "truth."

The outspoken conservative rocker, who is an avid supporter of former U.S. president Donald Trump, discussed Biden's performance during a July 19 YouTube livestream.

He said in part: "Every word out of this freako president's mouth and his freako treasonous vice president and pretty much every Democrat, most of the media — almost all the media, except for Fox News, One America News and most of Newsmax… Take whatever the leftists, whatever the liberals and the Democrats say, I mean, the evidence is irrefutable. This is not a Ted Nugent opinion. Every word out of their mouth is the exact opposite of the truth."

He later went on to praise Trump, falsely saying he "won" last year's presidential election and calling him "a great man. Smartass, and it got in his way a few times," he said. "But I'd rather have a smartass benefiting America in everything he did than a dumbass ruining America in everything he does.

"Joe Biden, with your gangbanger, felony, drug repository punkass son Hunter Biden. Ah, how embarrassing.

"You know, Hunter Biden committed firearms felony by lying on a federal form," Nugent added. "And then — word has it, allegedly — that the Secret Service and the FBI covered for him. You try that. Let us try that."

This past June, Ted told "The Wild Initiative" podcast that "if you are on the side of Joe Biden, you're just plain a rotten human being. You support a man with a liberal agenda that renegotiated all the contracts with the globe that Trump finally negotiated on behalf of our country. That's not my hunch; that's not a guess; that's not an opinion. Trump renegotiated global contracts for the first time in my lifetime to actually benefit America, and Joe Biden reversed them to hurt America. So if you're a liberal and a Democrat, you're the enemy of freedom. And if you don't believe in those ugly, ugly policies, then you have to quit."

He continued: "If you don't agree with forcing Americans to get vaccination passports, but people are flooding in through the borders without any vetting whatsoever, then you have no soul, and you can't be on that team. If you disagree with these toxic, dangerous, tyrannical policies, you've gotta quit that gang. That gang is the Democrats. Their agenda is extreme liberal Marxism. And if you're part of that team, you're as rotten as that man who's searching for a syllable in the White House."

Nugent has repeatedly said that last year's presidential election was a fraud, insisting that "hundreds of thousands of dead people" voted and claiming that machines were "rigged" to give a Trump vote to Biden.

A board member of the National Rifle Association, Nugent has drawn intense criticism for his controversial past remarks, including telling then-president Barack Obama to "suck on my machine gun." He also made inflammatory remarks about Hillary Clinton, calling her a "devilbitch" who "hates everything good about America."

In a lengthy Facebook post in 2016, Nugent said Obama and Clinton should be tried for treason and hanged over their handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

In 2019, Nugent defended Trump after the then-U.S. president was accused of making racist remarks about Democratic congresswomen from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

New York City post-hardcore band QUICKSAND will release its fourth studio album, "Distant Populations", digitally on August 13 and on vinyl September 24 via Epitaph Records. The LP's second single, "Brushed", can be streamed below.

Recorded at Studio 4 Recording in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, "Distant Populations" was produced and engineered by Will Yip (THE MENZINGERS, CODE ORANGE, DEFEATER), and mixed by Josh Wilbur (LAMB OF GOD, MEGADETH, AVENGED SEVENFOLD). The album is the follow-up to the critically lauded 2017 release "Interiors". Sonically it has a punchier, more up-tempo sound than its predecessor, with its 11 songs being concise, carved sonic jewels boasting not a single wasted note. Its gripping lyricism and raw power leap out from the very first listening.

Throughout the album's 11 tracks, QUICKSAND explores the duality of our simultaneous existence in individual relationships and as part of a mass society, while also examining the alienation and loneliness of it all.

"Everyone is on the one hand so connected with each other, and on the other hand, is so far apart," says frontman Walter Schreifels. "We're checking out each other's social media and we know what everybody's doing. But when we're sitting in the same room together, we're looking at our phones," he adds point out the sad irony of it all.

Last month, the band shared "Missile Command", a song that emerged from a QUICKSAND rehearsal jam, recalls Schreifels. "It really kind of focuses on Sergio's [Vega] whole motif in a very simple way. He and Alan [Cage] just have this really kind of trademark groove, and I think that really sings on this one to me. I just felt like it's a kind of song that is very us, but we hadn't written it yet."

"Distant Populations" track listing:

01. Inversion

02. Lightning Field

03. Colossus

04. Brushed

05. Katakana

06. Missile Command

07. Phase 90

08. The Philosopher

09. Compacted Reality

10. EMDR

11. Rodan

In support of "Distant Populations", QUICKSAND will be hitting the road this fall. The headlining run will begin September 28 in Boston and wrap on October 31 in Philadelphia.

Formed in 1990, QUICKSAND made its full-length debut with "Slip" — a 1993 release praised by The A.V. Club as "a nearly flawless record that combines the irony and heaviness of HELMET with FUGAZI's penchant to dismantle sound in the most energetic ways." Arriving in 1995, their sophomore album, "Manic Compression", appeared at No. 1 on the Top Five Best Post-Hardcore Records list from LA Weekly (which noted that "if there were any justice in the world, QUICKSAND would have been the biggest underground band of the '90s").

Throughout the early '90s, QUICKSAND toured with bands like HELMET, FUGAZI, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and ANTHRAX. After disbanding in late 1995, they reunited for a one-night performance in June 2012. They've since appeared at festivals like FYF Fest and Pukkelpop, and in 2013 embarked on their first North American tour in 15 years. In 2017, the band released their long-awaited third-studio album "Interiors", which saw Consequence Of Sound praise the band for their sound "that nobody else has been able to replicate in all the time they've been gone."

QUICKSAND is frontman/guitarist Walter Schreifels, bassist Sergio Vega and drummer Alan Cage.

TWISTED SISTER singer Dee Snider recently announced his triumphant fifth full-length solo album, "Leave A Scar", out July 30 via Napalm Records. To commemorate the LP's release, Snider has announced a streaming event for his fans on Thursday, July 29. The concert stream features a very special concert from Snider performing live at Stereo Garden in Patchogue, New York on June 11. All ticket buyers will gain access to the concert stream, as well as on-demand access to any and all content from the event for a 30-day period.

Tickets for the stream are available now at www.metaldepartment.tv.

Snider was joined by his TWISTED SISTER bandmate Mark "The Animal" Mendoza on stage during the Patchogue concert for a performance of the band's classic song "Under The Blade".

According to Dee, the capacity for the show was limited to 200 vaccinated or tested people due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Once again produced by Jasta with co-production, mixing and mastering by drummer Nick Bellmore, "Leave A Scar" sees Snider & Co. continuing in the invigorated direction of 2018's "For The Love Of Metal".

Snider said about "Leave A Scar": "By the end of 2020, I knew I not only had to get back into the studio, but for the first time since the '90s, I wanted — no, needed — to be a part of the writing process. I reached out to my producer Jamey Jasta and told him I was ready to make another record. 'Leave A Scar' is filled with messages to and for the silent voices in the world who need someone to speak out on their behalf. This is my purpose."

In 2016, TWISTED SISTER embarked on one final trek, titled "Forty And Fuck It", in celebration of its 40th anniversary. These shows featured the band's "core lineup" of Snider, guitarists Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda and bassist Mendoza, along with drummer Mike Portnoy. The band's last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of TWISTED's longtime drummer A.J. Pero.

TWISTED SISTER's original run ended in the late '80s. After more than a decade, the band publicly reunited in November 2001 to top the bill of New York Steel, a hard-rock benefit concert to raise money for the New York Police And Fire Widows' And Children's Benefit Fund.

Los Angeles alternative metal band GEMINI SYNDROME will release its new studio album, "3rd Degree - The Raising", on October 15 via Century Media. Special pre-order album configurations (limited edition vinyl, deluxe CD sets, etc) along with special merchandise bundles are available now via the band's official web site, www.GeminiSyndrome.com.

In celebration of this announcement, a brand new digital single, "Abandoned", taken from the forthcoming album has been released today to all major digital retailers and streaming services.

"3rd Degree - The Raising" is the long-awaited, mind-bending final chapter of GEMINI SYNDROME's debut trilogy of albums; the first being 2013's "Lux", and the second being 2016's "Memento Mori" (which hit No. 1 on Billboard Heatseakers album chart and spawned five singles). But whereas those first two albums dealt with the painful struggles of life and death, "3rd Degree - The Raising" celebrates the extreme rituals of rebirth. Produced by Matt Good (ASKING ALEXANDRIA, MEMPHIS MAY FIRE, HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD), this is undeniably the heaviest, and darkest album of the band's career, featuring the singles "Die With Me", "IDK", "Abandoned" and "Reintegration".

GEMINI SYNDROME vocalist Aaron Nordstrom states: "The album is about death and rebirth. Finding your true self and fostering its growth so as to help build the world better than we inherited it. In the process of this record, I made some major life choices. Mainly to stop killing myself slowly with alcohol. Two years without a drink and a couple near-death experiences later, I think I have ample experience to talk about a subject as elusive as death.'

Drummer Brian Steele Medina adds: "The twist to the 3rd and 'final' degree, is that it's not the end at all. Rather, it's a rebirth contingent upon our growth and lessons learned from the suffering of our past mistakes. A spiritual growth that can only be attained through baptism by fire. A metaphorical, yet very real resurrection — the raising."

Nordstrom continues: "Our hope is that through sharing our experiences, lessons learned, and battles overcome, that we can help others to examine their own consciousness. Their role in the world in its almost infinite capacity, and to help remind each other that we are ALL in this together. We are a family, and when we are United in our commonality, we can achieve things worthy of the attention of the GODS. If you want to change the world, quietly go to work on yourself."

GEMINI SYNDROME spent the better part of 2018-2019 writing "3rd Degree – The Raising". They retreated to Medina's Las Vegas home studio, where they meticulously crafted song after song, relentlessly reworking and rearranging the musical arrangements until they were fully satisfied. After an exhaustive writing process, GEMINI SYNDROME relocated to Good Sounds Studio in Tempe, Arizona, where producer Matt Good would help realize the collection of songs.

Medina recalls: "We absolutely loved working with Matt and he completely understood where we wanted to take this album creatively and what it was going to take to bring the third chapter of this trilogy to light. Our actual collective blood, sweat and tears went into its creation."

"It was a long, treacherous road to get here," continues Nordstrom. "First working out an insane amount of songs before arriving in Arizona to record with Matt Good, and then writing a slew more while in the actual recording process, we approached this album with high intentions to evolve musically and internally as people. But then, once we had finally finished everything, and were ready to start releasing new music… everything was put on hold due to the global pandemic."

Medina adds: "These past few years have definitely been an exercise in patience and acceptance. We had everything mixed and mastered and ready to go in early 2020 before everything shut down. We're just stoked to FINALLY put this album out and get this post plague show on the road."

"3rd Degree - The Raising" is the first album to feature guitarist "Meegs" Rascón (formerly of COAL CHAMBER).

On the brand new single "Abandoned" which has just been released today, Medina says: "This was always one of my favorite heavy riffs that we had in the bank for a while. When the music was finally done, Aaron already had a concept in mind he had wanted to tackle for a while."

Nordstrom elaborates: "At one point when I was working through some of my traumas, my kung fu teacher made me promise to write a song about my adoption and the rejection from my birth mother. This heavy beast of a song was the result. An anthem if you will that I control me. Not anyone or anything else."

To date, four singles have been released from "3rd Degree - The Raising": "Abandoned", "Reintegration", "IDK" and the currently Top 30 active rock radio hit "Die With Me". All four singles feature visually stunning videos created by director Brian Cox (BRING ME THE HORIZON, THE STRUTS, STARSET).

"3rd Degree - The Raising" track listing:

01. Reintegration

02. IDK

03. Die With Me

04. Baptized In Fire

05. Children Of The Sun

06. Abandoned

07. Broken Reflection

08. Sum Quod Eris

09. Best Of Me

10. Absolution

11. Hold The Line

12. Where We Started From

13. Fiat Lux

SLIPKNOT bassist Alessandro "VMan" Venturella recently chatted with Daniel DeKay on the latest episode of "Defender Of The Riff" on the Knotfest Twitch channel. Venturella discussed his musical upbringing, starting with clarinet into piano and eventually progressing to classical guitar at age 11. It's around this time Vman discovered GUNS N' ROSES' "Use Your Illusion II" album, which acted as his gateway into heavy metal. He revealed that his first concert was Ozzfest '98 at Milton Keynes Bowl, and spoke about how he started CRY FOR SILENCE, played shows with KNUCKLEDUST and STAMPIN' GROUND at an early age and more.

Regarding how he got into heavy metal, Alessandro said: "[In] secondary school, [I] started noticing there was little groups, and everyone had their little pockets of stuff that they listen to. And I think I kind of stumbled across people that were listening to metal from the older years. I always kind of looked older than the age I was, so I always hung around with people [who were] three or four years older than me. So I kind of got into heavy metal pretty [early]. [When I was] 13 or 14, I was listening to GUNS N' ROSES. I know it's not heavy metal, but it led to other things. It was a stepping stone."

He continued: "For me, I think it was [GUNS N' ROSES'] 'Use Your Illusion II' [album that my introduction to heavy music]. There's some serious work going on on that record, I think… So I think 'Appetite [For Destruction]' actually came afterwards for me, just because no one was, like, 'You've gotta listen to this one now.' There was none of that when you were, like, 13 or 14. It was, like, 'Here's a fucking bunch of shit. Listen to it.' It was kind of a process of elimination of what you wanna listen to and agree on. So, my brain went that way."

Venturella began working with SLIPKNOT during the recording of 2014's ".5: The Gray Chapter" album, contributing bass tracks along with guitarists Jim Root and Mick Thomson and former touring bassist Donnie Steele. He made his live debut with the band in 2014 at the first annual Knotfest.

In 2019, Alessandro told Bass Guitar Magazine that he landed in SLIPKNOT after getting a phone call from Root while working with MASTODON as guitarist Brent Hinds's tech.

"Me and Jim became friends while I was teching," Venturella said. "He was asking if I knew any bass players. When I found out what for, I put my hand up right away. He pointed out, 'But you don't play bass?' and I said something to the effect that I could do whatever he needed from me. Then I just had to make sure it was true."

According to Venturella, his role early on in SLIPKNOT was to "fill a great man's shoes and do him justice," referring to original bassist Paul Gray, who passed away in 2010. "My approach isn't the same as Paul's. I can't be him and never will be; every player is ultimately born different. That said, if you listen to Paul's note choices on 'Vermilion', he was all over the shop and it sounded great. I wanted to try things like that.

"After listening to his stems, I honestly looked at bass in a different light and understood how to support everything as the backbone," he continued. "Take the bass out of the mix and everything will fall flat on its arse — and equally, if you mix too bass-heavy, you're not going to get your point across either. Lead guitarists, on the other hand, always need to cut through because that's what the job entails. As the rhythm section, we're there to hold the fort."

Gray passed away in May 2010 from an accidental overdose of drugs.

SLIPKNOT spent much of 2019 and early 2020 touring in support of its latest album, "We Are Not Your Kind", which came out in August 2019.

Rising from the depths of the capital of Canada, Ottawa’s Deformatory has played countless shows across Ontario and Quebec as a headlining act to be reckoned with. Known for being tight and brutal, Deformatory now exists as a duo and they are releasing a new album this year, Inversion Of The Unseen Horizon. 

With this album, and the previous (Malediction), Deformatory has been exploring an inter-dimensional civilization that has a unilateral mission to consume all light throughout the cosmos. Their latest single “Impaled Upon The Carrionspire” features Jon Levasseur (ex-Cryptopsy) and details the frenzy and mayhem as these cosmic devourers descend upon a life-star, as the band shares:

“The horde is unleashed, devouring all forms of life. The display is macabre, and the Cenaxors feed off the fear and energy of a slow, painful death. This describes the scene through the eyes of one who is hiding in the rubble, hoping not to be found…”

Deformatory explains further: “Initially, there were so many different ideas and flavours trying to get crammed into Deformatory that it never felt locked in. It’s safe to say that the new songs, especially for this album, are the closest Deformatory have ever been to truly sounding like itself.”

When asked what fans can expect from Deformatory, they reply: “No frills. No bullshit. Just straight-up death metal. The goal is to leave people wondering what the hell just happened. A maniacal frenzy.”

The lyrics for this album are partly inspired by The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker’s and guitarist and vocalist Charlie Leduc’s own interpretation and expansion of the Hellraiser mythos. This is the foundation block that helped to propel the entire concept, which was uniquely crafted and independently developed.  The single and final track on the record, “Beyond The Abhorrence” starts to draw a conclusion to the predicament of an evil race of inter-dimensional light devourers find themselves in.

A sonically relentless death metal experience, Deformatory is recommended for fans of Morbid Angel, Origin, and Hate Eternal.

Inversion Of The Unseen Horizon will be released on September 3. Pre-order on Bandcamp.

Tracklisting:

Chapter I – Inception: The Cyru’xilean Nexus
“Within The Astral Abscess”
“Behold, The Apex Of Decay”
“Engineering The Wvrmhorde”

Chapter II – Incursion: The Prototypal Eschaton
“Summoning The Cosmic Devourer”
“Masticated By An Infinite Shadow”
“In The Embervoid Where Dead Stars Reign”

Chapter III – Inversion: The Horizontal Reflection
“Deciphering The Archetype”
“Impaled Upon The Carrionspire”
“Beyond The Abhorrence”

"Impaled Upon The Carrionsphere" video:

“In The Embervoid Where Dead Stars Reign”:




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Torn Between Two Worlds, featuring former Angtoria bandmates Sarah Jezebel Deva and Chris Rehn, have released their latest single, a cover of the Adele hit "Hello". The offcial video for the track can be viewed below, premiered exclusively through BraveWords.

Video footage shot in Cornwall, United Kingdom, July 2021.

Sarah recently checked in with the following update:

"There are two people in this world that make me so proud and reduce me to tears on a regular basis.... my beautiful son and.... Chris Rehn.

If Chris and I had started Torn Between Two Worlds 10 years ago, maybe I wouldn't have lost so much faith in the music scene. I am so proud of 'Hello', so proud that yet again, I was reduced to tears, but proud tears. We love what we have done with it and yet again I can't praise Chris Rehn enough for his composing and vision.

I also wished my dad was still alive to hear this, he would have been so proud.

It's extremely likely we will do an EP..... for you..... and for us!

More news will follow, but 'Hello' will be released on all streaming platforms and Youtube July 21st, 2021. None of this would have been possible without your support and of course so many close friends pushing us. Thank you.

BraveWords has already heard the track, and we can say with full confidence that if you're a fan of Torn Between Two Worlds and Angtoria, "Hello" will become an instant favourite.

"The Beauty Of Deception"

"All Eyes On Me"

Photos used with kind permission of Sarah Jezebel Deva and Chris Rehn




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