KK'S PRIEST, the new band featuring former JUDAS PRIEST members K.K. Downing (guitar) and Tim "Ripper" Owens (vocals), along with guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE), bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX) and drummer Sean Elg (DEATHRIDERS, CAGE), will release its debut album, "Sermons Of The Sinner", on October 1 (postponed from the previously announced August 20) via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records.

KK'S PRIEST has also announced a limited collector's piece, a scroll that chronicles the lyrical content of "Sermons Of The Sinner". The scroll features lyrics of all 10 tracks on the forthcoming album; spanning 14X50" on parchment paper rolled on metal pole ends. Also included is a certificate of authenticity signed by Downing. It can be found here.

Fans are able to pre-order the debut album in various configurations including an exclusive limited-edition autographed metal vinyl (silver disc) with bonus CD album, via the band's online store. The album can be pre-saved via all global digital streaming partners as well.

The album cover features a mysterious figure robed in a monk's habit, whom Downing slyly states may or may not be him, holding a book of sermons. He says the "sinner" in the title refers to his famous solo in that classic song of the same name and also reflects his sense of alienation from the groundbreaking group that he helped create. "The whole concept is the fact that I continue proudly to be who I am and what I am and do what I do," declares Downing. "It's been nearly 10 years. I'm back making music."

And his disciples are ready to receive his sermons. He's brought a former bandmate along for the ride, and they have unleashed an album with a modern sound that hearkens back to what fans have always loved about Downing and his music and which still sounds fresh. "All of my life, people always wanted an album that we've made in the past," muses Downing. "'What's the new album like? Will it be anything like 'British Steel'? Will it be anything like 'Sad Wings'?' People hoping you're going to make a record that you've already made. So in a way this record just sounds like something that has already been made or should have been be made. It does have a lot of things that are connected to the past. For example, 'Brothers Of The Road'. If you take all the lyrics off and just listen to the music, maybe you could be listening to 'You've Got Another Thing Comin''."

After years of quietly enjoying life away from the rigors of the road and intense studio recording, Downing emerged again on stage in August 2019. From there, the conversation led to Downing performing a few songs with Ross The Boss at Bloodstock Open Air. The performance electrified the crowd and reinvigorated Downing. In November of that year, he put on a show in Wolverhampton, U.K. with Owens, Binks, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson and HOSTILE guitarist A.J. Mills. Downing had produced two albums for the latter band. Spanning JUDAS PRIEST's catalog, this superb and successful show sent shockwaves throughout the metal world: K.K. was back and the fans were clearly hungry for more.

Rather than simply rely on his past successes and go on the road performing classic JUDAS PRIEST songs, the renowned guitarist did what he has always done — make new music. And songs that fans would want to hear and sing along to in concert. Downing assembled Owens, Mills, Newton and Elg to create "Sermons Of The Sinner", an album that celebrates his classic metal roots and encourages us to cherish those iconic pioneers whom we still have with us. He jokes that KK'S PRIEST is "like a new old band. Or an old new band."

"The ultimate message is we've moved away from this music that we loved for so long and we're so dedicated to, and now we're in a situation where lots of people are actually passing away," explains Downing. "We've lost a lot of great people — [Ronnie James] Dio, Lemmy, I could go on — and that's gonna be accelerated over the coming years. Basically, enjoy everything that's left of this brand of metal including from me. It's not going to last forever."

Downing spent four months writing and recording "Sermons Of The Sinner" and, along with new ideas, he even resurrected a few archived riffs from the '80s. (Can you pick them out?) After partnering with Explorer1 Music Group, the album was originally intended for release a year ago, but with the COVID-19 pandemic curtailing everyone's release and touring plans, Downing pulled back and spent two more months tweaking the album to how he wanted it. The extra time paid off.

High-speed album opener "Hellfire Thunderbolt" offers a fictitious take on how metal arrived before the masses were ready for it, so it gestated in the late '60s before exploding in the '70s and '80s. Rousing rockers like "Raise Your Fists" and "Wild And Free" revel in the passion and excess that metal fans embrace. The guitar interplay is intense and inspiring, and the band is firing on all cylinders.

"The Return Of The Sentinel" is a bold choice to close the album. Not only is it a sequel to the classic track from JUDAS PRIEST's 1984's platinum-selling "Defenders Of The Faith" album, it's a nine-minute epic that doesn't play by the rules. The first half is stirring metal, and the latter half is somber and subdued, which reflects the tale of a being who, once a dispenser of justice and death, now faces his own mortality.

Conversely, KK'S PRIEST is alive and vital. They have plans to tour later this year with some Ripper-era JUDAS PRIEST songs tossed into the mix, and Binks hopes to make appearances at shows.

"Les was able to do the short set at the Steel Mill," says Downing. "But he had a wrist injury after that and wasn't able to do the album. Les wants to jump on the stage and a play a couple of songs, although he is not going to be able to play a full set. He will be our special guest."

Downing is hoping to reach as many headbangers as he can worldwide — from Europe to North and South America. "Sermons Of The Sinner" is a love letter to the music he helped create and evolve and to the devoted followers who have supported it. "I'm talking about the diehard fans that are not going anywhere," says Downing. "They're not certainly going to jump on a different genre of music just because a lot of their heroes are unfortunately passing away. And that sentiment is in this album where we said in the title track, 'time is running out for us, things may never be the same, but the sermons of the sinner center can help us rise again.' Because you never know when the last gig is going to be the last gig, so to speak. I'm pretty optimistic. I'm working on material for the second album."

"Sermons Of The Sinner" track listing:

01. Incarnation

02. Hellfire Thunderbolt

03. Sermons Of The Sinner

04. Sacerdote Y Diablo

05. Raise Your Fists

06. Brothers Of The Road

07. Metal Through And Through

08. Wild And Free

09. Hail For The Priest

10. Return Of The Sentinel

KK'S PRIEST, which pays homage to Downing's past, will play select shows to mark the 50th anniversary of PRIEST and Downing's career as a founding member. KK'S PRIEST's setlist will consist of PRIEST classics and new songs.

Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — before PRIEST reunited with Rob Halford in 2003.

Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance. He was replaced by Richie Faulkner, nearly three decades his junior.

In 2019, Downing said that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST about taking part in the band's upcoming 50th-anniversary tour but that their response was that they were not interested in including him in the celebrations.

In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as "a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music," while the second was "angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties."

Downing later said that he believed the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST after Glenn Tipton's decision to retire from touring.

In a new interview with Australia's Heavy magazine, SEETHER frontman Shaun Morgan was asked to name his "top three commandments of rock." He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I would say there are a few things that I think are important. The first commandment would be you've gotta be true to yourself. And by that I mean don't follow a trend. Don't try to be part of a movement. Just write music that makes you happy; write music for music's sake. So, the first one is just stay true to yourself. The second one is write from the heart lyrically, 'cause it's easy to write lyrics that allude to this party-type lifestyle. I guess there's a time and place for that, so, really, whatever. If that's what you wanna do [lyrically], then go back to rule one. And then the third one is that they have fun. There's so many people that take themselves so seriously, and they drink their own Kool-Aid, so to speak, and they allow themselves to believe the hype and then they become different people. And we've had many friends along the way become not friends anymore, because, in my mind, when you start out and you're wide-eyed and bushy-tailed and this whole thing is all so overwhelming and exciting and fun, you understand that it's this amazing opportunity and you've got to take this opportunity and you're out there playing and living the dream. And then, all too often, a lot of these guys and girls, they'll have people tell 'em how great they are for long enough, and then they start believing that they're super great, and they think they're better than everybody else because they're in a band. I think the third could be have fun, but also don't take your stuff too seriously. I have opinions and stuff — I don't really try and express them to everybody, 'cause I don't think that they're important unless somebody asks me for an opinion. But there's a lot of people that'll give you their opinion regardless. I think there's some [musicians] that need to learn how to listen instead of talk about themselves."

SEETHER will release "Wasteland - The Purgatory" EP digitally and on CD July 30 and on vinyl October 22 via Fantasy Records. The five-track set includes the fan favorite "Wasteland", from the band's most recent album, and features three never-before-heard songs, and an alternate/stripped down version of "Wasteland". Written and produced by Shaun Morgan, engineered by the band's newest member Corey Lowery, and mixed by Matt Hyde, "Wasteland - The Purgatory" EP follows the August 2020 release of SEETHER's eighth album, the acclaimed "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" ("If You Want Peace, Prepare For War.") The first two singles from the album both hit No. 1 on the Active Rock and Rock charts: the anthemic "Dangerous" and hard-hitting "Bruised And Bloodied".

"Wasteland - The Purgatory" EP special vinyl edition will be released on 45rpm 12-inch vinyl on October 22. The band's online store will have a 500-unit super limited-edition custom Smoke and Translucent Red split color vinyl and a limited-edition Custom Clear with Smoky White Swirls color vinyl, while record stores will carry Custom Mixed Translucent Red with Smoky Black Swirls color vinyl.

Last month, SEETHER announced they will join 3 DOORS DOWN on the latter band's "The Better Life" 20th-anniversary tour as special guests on select dates throughout the summer. Additionally, this fall will see SEETHER play several festivals, including Louder Than Life 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky and the sold-out Aftershock festival 2021 in Sacramento, California.

Photo credit: Laura E. Partain

THE ROLLING STONES have announced the make-up dates for their postponed 2020 tour. The 13-date trek will kick off on September 26 at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and will conclude on November 20 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Also included are shows in Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Minneapolis, Tampa, Dallas, Atlanta and Detroit, as well as three new dates, at the New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival on October 13, in Los Angeles on October 17 at SoFi Stadium, and in Las Vegas on November 6 at Allegiant Stadium.

Previously scheduled dates for Vancouver, Louisville, Cleveland and Buffalo could not be rescheduled. Fans with tickets to canceled shows will be contacted by Ticketmaster with information about refunds, and they will also be given a possible "priority offer" to tickets in nearby cities.

All previously purchased tickets will be honored at the rescheduled performances.

Tickets for the new shows will go on sale July 30.

"I'm so excited to get back on the stage again," singer Mick Jagger said in a statement, "and want to thank everyone for their patience. See you soon!"

"We're back on the road!" added guitarist Keith Richards. "See you there!"

THE ROLLING STONES' U.S. tour was originally slated to take place between May and July last year but was postponed due to the pandemic.

"We're hugely disappointed to have to postpone the tour," the band said at the time. "We are sorry to all the fans who were looking forward to it as much as we were, but the health and safety of everyone has to take priority. We will all get through this together — and we'll see you very soon."

THE ROLLING STONES "No Filter" USA 2021 tour dates:

Sep. 26 - St. Louis, MO @ The Dome at America’s Center

Sep. 30 - Charlotte, NC @ Bank Of America Stadium

Oct. 04 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Heinz Field

Oct. 09 - Nashville, TN @ Nissan Stadium

Oct. 13 - New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Oct. 17 - Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium

Oct. 24 - Minneapolis, MN @ U.S. Bank Stadium

Oct. 29 - Tampa, FL @ Raymond James Stadium

Nov. 02 - Dallas, TX @ Cotton Bowl Stadium

Nov. 06 - Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium

Nov. 11 - Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Nov. 15 - Detroit, MI @ Ford Field

Nov. 20 - Austin, TX @ Circuit of The Americas


The Rolling Stones - US Tour Announcement (Rescheduled Dates + New Shows)

THE NEWS YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!

We are thrilled to be able to announce the rescheduled dates for the Rolling Stones 2020 US tour, which will now go ahead this Fall!

Tickets are on sale now at rollingstones.com/tour

We want to thank you all for your patience during this very difficult and unprecedented time.

All previously purchased tickets will be honoured at the rescheduled dates, unfortunately there are a few dates that we were unable to reschedule - Ticketmaster will communicate directly with all purchasers of these tickets with more information. Where feasible, a priority offer for ticketholders will be available for nearby shows.

We also have some new dates added! The pre-sale for the Stones mailing list for New Orleans, Los Angeles & Las Vegas shows will commence on Wednesday 28 July at 12pm (local) to Thursday 29 July at 10pm (local). General sale commences Friday 30th July 10am (local).

Sign up to the mailing list now to access the pre-sale: https://the-rolling-stones.lnk.to/PreSaleSignUpSo

2021 TOUR DATES

Sep 26 - The Dome - ST. LOUIS, MO

Sep 30 - Bank of America Stadium - CHARLOTTE, NC

Oct 04 - Heinz Field - PITTSBURGH, PA

Oct 09 - Nissan Stadium - NASHVILLE, TN

Oct 13 - New Orleans Jazz Fest - *NEW ORLEANS, LA

Oct 17 - SoFi Stadium - *LOS ANGELES, CA

Oct 24 - U.S. Bank Stadium - MINNEAPOLIS, MN

Oct 29 - Raymond James Stadium - TAMPA, FL

Nov 02 - Cotton Bowl - DALLAS, TX

Nov 06 - Allegiant Stadium - *LAS VEGAS, NV

Nov 11 - Mercedes-Benz Stadium - ATLANTA, GA

Nov 15 - Ford Field - DETROIT, MI

Nov 20 - Circuit of The Americas - AUSTIN, TX

*New Dates

Posted by The Rolling Stones on Wednesday, July 21, 2021

HELLOWEEN singer Michael Kiske recently spoke to Planet Rock's "My Planet Rocks" about the lessons he learned by exiting the band in 1993, only to return 24 years later. "It was very important for me," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "As difficult as it was in the beginning to be suddenly completely on your own, it was really good for me. It shaped my personality. I was figuring out ideals; I was figuring out why I wanna do what and how. And this whole process of getting into these fights and arguments with my former bandmates and being massively disappointed about how it went down, about the industry, about the business, about the scenes and all that, and going through all that over the years and actually coming out of it again more mature and making peace with them again, on a human level, that's what really matters.

"When we live, we always look at things from an ego point of view, and, of course, out of our egos, we want certain things — we always just want the sugar pies: we want success, we wanna be beautiful, we wanna be healthy, we wanna get the prettiest women, we just want the stuff that feeds the ego," he continued. "But we're really growing out of the suffering we go through. As long as it doesn't destroy us, we get stronger out of the challenges, and this whole negative experience that I've been through, especially during the '90s, I don't wanna miss it. It was very, very important for me. It was very necessary. And I'm very happy that we were able to make peace again and to forgive and forget and do something like this together now."

Last month, the new LP from the reunited expanded classic lineup of HELLOWEEN entered the official album chart in the band's home country of Germany at position No. 1.

The "Pumpkins United" lineup of HELLOWEEN features Kiske and returning guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen alongside singer Andi Deris, guitarists Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner, bassist Markus Grosskopf and drummer Daniel Löble.

Produced by Charlie Bauerfeind and Dennis Ward, the new HELLOWEEN LP was recorded in part at the H.O.M.E. Studios in Hamburg (where everything started in 1984). The same recording console used for such HELLOWEEN albums as "Master Of The Rings", "Time Of The Oath" and "Better Than Raw" was utilized to record the band's new material. The effort was mixed at the Valhalla Studios of Ronald Prent (IRON MAIDEN, DEF LEPPARD, RAMMSTEIN).

HELLOWEEN's new album saw the legendary German power metallers going "back to the roots," with the band recording fully analog and Löble playing the drum kit previously used by HELLOWEEN's original drummer, the late Ingo Schwichtenberg, on the legendary "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" recordings.

The "Pumpkins United" tour marked the first time Kiske had played live with HELLOWEEN since 1993. Hansen, who departed HELLOWEEN in 1988, had been joining the band onstage on various tours and festival appearances throughout the years. The set featured several duets with Kiske and his replacement, Deris, along with many rarely played songs, including "Kids Of The Century", "Rise And Fall" and "Livin' Ain't No Crime". Hansen — who fronted HELLOWEEN until late 1986 — sang a medley of several early HELLOWEEN classics, including "Ride The Sky", "Judas", "Starlight" and "Heavy Metal (Is The Law)".

HELLOWEEN's European "United Alive World Tour Part II", which was originally scheduled to take place in September and October will now take place next y

On July 15, 2021, progressive rock project exo-X-xeno launches its anticipated second single filled with fluid proggy riffs and elevated harmonic vocals that break through the stratosphere, called “Reaching For Beyond”.

This epic song release, along with a companion conceptual promo video, continues the band’s musical journey with a polychromatic tapestry of celestial rock sounds.  

“Being part of the collaborative exo-X-xeno project, along with Craig Maher, Billy Sherwood, and Jay Schellen, is an ongoing musically uplifting and inspiring experience for me,” says Moraz.  

About exo-X-xeno:

The exo-X-xeno band, which launched at the beginning of 2021, pushes the prog rock boundaries of space and time with expansive, melodious vocals and sonic instrumental layering - all accomplished with a star-studded roster of musical greats.  

Founded by composer, vocalist and guitarist Craig Maher, exo-X-xeno is a musical constellation consisting of bassist and backing vocalist Billy Sherwood (YES, Toto and Conspiracy with Chris Squire), drummer Jay Schellen (Hurricane, YES and Asia), and legendary keyboardist Patrick Moraz (Refugee, YES and The Moody Blues). The group’s release of several singles this year will be fused into the final conceptual album (designed by Maher), entitled, Luminous Voyage.  

The band’s first single, “Onward, Love,” successfully debuted on January 15, 2021 to an enthusiastic global prog rock audience.  

About Craig Maher, Founder of exo-X-xeno:

Craig Maher’s musical journey as a composer, guitarist, vocalist, and recording and visual artist is sprinkled with celestial eclecticism. Throughout his 30 years of playing, studying and composing guitar-based music, he released two records, Through the Garden of Temptation, and Propel (2009). He composed the music score for the film Brooklyn Lobster, with Danny Aiello and Jane Curtin (2005). Maher has performed in a plethora of venues spanning from the U.S. to Europe and is looking forward to touring with exo-X-xeno in the near future.

“Craig’s exceptional talent for composing, authoring, guitar playing and singing are at the highest level of an amazing creativity,” says Moraz.  

What’s Ahead:  

Stay tuned for the upcoming release of another exo-X-xeno single entitled, “Vitruvian Man”, featuring the Maher/Schellan/Moraz lineup, to be accompanied by another video launch. The single “Reaching For Beyond” will be available for digital download on the official exo-X-xeno website and on Bandcamp on July 15, with limited CD printed versions released on Shine-ON Records.




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FOO FIGHTERS have teamed up with MSG Entertainment to release a mini-documentary chronicling the band's concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City following 466 days without live music.

The official description for the nine-minute documentary, which can be seen below, reads as follows: "On June 20, 2021, after 466 days without live music, FOO FIGHTERS reopened Madison Square Garden to a sold-out crowd, marking the first full capacity concert in a New York arena since the start of the pandemic."

Dubbed "The Day The Music Came Back", the featurette includes a mix of live footage and backstage testimonials from the crew of the iconic venue, which asked all audience members to show proof of vaccination to enter.

To warm up for the MSG gig, FOO FIGHTERS performed five days earlier at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California. Canyon Club also required ticket buyers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend.

Last November, FOO FIGHTERS played a livestreamed concert for fans at The Roxy in West Hollywood, California. Six months later, they participated in the televised "Live Vax" concert at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

FOO FIGHTERS will next perform at the Forum in Los Angeles on July 17.

The band is continuing to promote its latest album, "Medicine At Midnight", which landed at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart with first-week sales of 64,000 copies in the U.S.

FOO FIGHTERS previously topped the chart with 2017's "Concrete And Gold" and 2011's "Wasting Light".

23,000 of "Medicine At Midnight"'s first-week sales came from vinyl LP sales, with CDs and digital albums registering 20,000 each.

"Medicine At Midnight" came out on February 5 via Roswell Records/RCA Records. The LP is a nine-song, 37-minute effort which was produced by the FOO FIGHTERS and Greg Kurstin.

FIREHOUSE singer CJ Snare was forced to miss the band's concert Friday night (July 9) in Moline, Illinois after coming down with an undisclosed illness. Filling in for him was LAST IN LINE frontman Andrew Freeman.

Earlier on Friday, Snare took to his Facebook page to write: "So, I woke up this morning and was sick in my stomach. Headed to the doctor. Don't need prayers, thoughts, or hugs. I just need people to understand that I won't be in Moline or Ashland to do the FIREHOUSE shows. My apologies to everyone involved. Our good friend, Andrew Freeman will be singing in my place for the weekend and I hope that you all welcome him at these shows. Please, have fun. I'll be back next week singing in Ohio. Big love to my band and all of our listeners. RAWK ON !!! See ya next week."

In addition to playing with LAST IN LINE, Freeman has performed with three of BULLETBOYS' original members (guitarist Mick Sweda, bassist Lonnie Vencent and drummer Jimmy D'Anda) in LIES, DECEIT & TREACHERY and famously filled in for Joe Elliott when DEF LEPPARD played on the "Hysteria On The High Seas" cruise in January 2016.

FIREHOUSE hasn't released a studio album since 2011's "Full Circle", which featured re-recorded versions of some of the band's older songs. The group's last collection of new material, "Prime Time", came out in 2003.

FIREHOUSE reached stardom during the early '90s with hits like "Reach For The Sky", "Don't Treat Me Bad" and "All She Wrote", as well as its signature power ballads "I Live My Life For You", "Love Of A Lifetime" and "When I Look Into Your Eyes".


So, I woke up this morning and was sick in my stomach. Headed to the doctor. Don’t need prayers, thoughts, or hugs. I...

Posted by Cj Snare on Friday, July 9, 2021

Frontiers Music Srl recently released the debut album, Kings In The North, from Crowne, the new Swedish melodic hard rock supergroup. The band is comprised of vocalist Alexander Strandell (Art Nation), guitarist/keyboardist/producer Jona Tee (H.E.A.T.), bassist John Levén (Europe) and drummer Christian Lundqvist (The Poodles).

Watch a lyric video for "Save Me From Myself" below, and order the CD and Limited Edition Color LP versions of the album and save the digital version here.

Crowne is hands-down the most exciting, thrilling supergroup ever created out of the Swedish melodic hard rock scene. This stellar cast of some of the most outstanding musicians from the scene have been gathered together to create this absolute beast of a debut album, the title of which will be revealed in the coming weeks. Crowne's music is the result of these amazing talents coming together and realizing a musical vision under the passionate and watchful guidance of Serafino Perugino, President of Frontiers Records. This is a melodic hard rock barnburner with enormous melodies, delivering rock 'n' roll like there is no tomorrow. Quite simply, this is going to blow you away, so prepare yourself for what's to come.

Tracklisting:

"Kings In The North"
"Perceval"
"Sharoline"
"Unbreakable"
"Mad World"
"One In A Million"
"Sum Of All Fears"
"Set Me Free"
"Make A Stand"
"Cross To Bear"
"Save Me From Myself"

"Save Me From Myself" lyric video:

"Kings In The North" lyric video:

"Unbreakable" lyric video:

"Perceval" video:

"Sharoline" video:

"Mad World":

Lineup:

Alexander Strandell – Lead Vocals
Jona Tee – Guitar/Keyboards/Backing Vocals
John Levén - Bass
Christian “Kicken” Lundqvist – Drums

Additional Musicians:

Love Magnusson – Guest Guitar Solos




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LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe has welcomed the removal of the statue that sparked the deadly "Unite The Right" rally four years ago in Charlottesville, Virginia, saying that the the point of the statue coming down is not to "erase history" but to provide a more accurate representation of it.

The statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee was removed Saturday, as was the statue of another Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson, that sat nearby, though the stone bases of both statues will remain for now.

Both Lee and Jackson were slave owners who fought against the abolition of slavery in the U.S. Civil War. Their statues will now be placed in storage.

On Sunday (July 11), Blythe took to his Instagram to write: "Yesterday morning I went to Charlottesville, VA with a friend to shoot photos of the removal of the statues of Robert E. Lee & Stonewall Jackson, but when we got there Lee was already gone, & we just barely caught Jackson being wheeled away. I stood there looking at the empty plinth Lee stood on & thought back to 2017, when a 20 year old neo-Nazi came all the way here from Ohio to join a bunch of other hate-filled people, people who marched with torches through this sleepy town chanting 'Jews will not replace us!' shouting the language of the Reich, of fascism, of the Führer, of the mechanized killing machines of Auschwitz. This deluded young man was so filled with hatred that he drove his car full speed into a crowd of people, injuring 35 people & killing a 32 year old Virginia girl. That man will never leave prison, sentenced to life + 419 years. Heather Heyer is dead & gone, & she will never feel the sunshine on her face again. For what? A stupid hunk of metal & stone? Because other people don't have the same skin color? I will never understand that way of thinking.

"People say 'You can't erase history by taking those statues down.' They are right, but that's not the point of those statues coming down- no one is trying to forget history at all- they are striving for an accurate recounting of it. And a much better instructional source than statues are actual letters from the time period we are studying. We can & should learn from those writings, so here's a couple of quotes from the letters of a man who was very much opposed such monuments, categorically refusing to have anything to do with them after the Civil War ended:

"'As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated, my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt ... would have the effect of ... continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour.' - Robert E. Lee

"'I think it wiser not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.' - Robert E. Lee

"Pay attention to history."

The debate regarding Confederate monuments has been polarizing in cities across the country for many years. Randy's hometown of Richmond and communities across the nation are confronting the crisis of racism which has afflicted our country for generations.

The most recent removal push focused on the Lee monument began in 2016 and led to the aforementioned violent "Unite The Right" rally when white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups descended on Charlottesville to protest efforts to remove monuments to the infamous 19th-century military leaders.

At least 160 symbols honoring the Confederacy were removed in 2020, including 94 monuments.
























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In a brand new interview with Pierre Gutierrez, former ANTHRAX and current ARMORED SAINT frontman John Bush was once again asked whether he is still open to the idea of embarking on a special tour during which he would perform material from his time as the singer of ANTHRAX. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Some ideas are being explored right now regarding doing it in some capacity. So we're just trying to figure out the right scenario to make it happen. But it's becoming a very good possibility."

Bush also once again said he wanted former ANTHRAX guitarist Paul Crook to be involved in the hypothetical ANTHRAX tour featuring material from his era of the band. "I love Paul," he said. "And we have been talking about some things. Once again, it's just whether or not all the situations kind of merge together and make it work. You've gotta kind of deal with all that logistics and stuff."

John continued: "For me, it would be a little bit [difficult to put together], only because I'm just really lazy. All I wanna do is kind of do the singing, and I don't wanna do all the nuts-and-bolts things about putting the band together and getting rehearsals and doing some of the business. That's the daunting part. If I could just go on stage and, like, 'Okay.' I have to learn those songs again too, if I do it. But there's all that stuff that is just a little bit different than just going out and singing. So, we'll see."

Last September, Bush told Canada's The Metal Voice that he first talked to his booking agent about the ANTHRAX tour idea "several years ago." He said: "We talked about it, and I think he sniffed around for some feelers to see what people would think. And I don't think we got the response that we really wanted to. It wasn't like we were looking for millions of dollars or anything, but we wanted to make it worthwhile to do it, and do the proper shows. It's not like something I wanna go out and do six months of touring with. It'd be fun to do some sporadic shows. I'd have to put a band together to do it. I'm probably a little lazy about that, quite honestly. But that's what would be involved in doing it. And I don't think we were pleased enough with the response that we tried to push it ahead and make it happen."

Bush went on to say that he was "caught by surprise" by ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian's comment that was not opposed to taking part in a special concert featuring most of the singers that have fronted the band over the course of its nearly four-decade existence. "I was, like, 'Wow. Okay.' And I thought that's a great idea. That would be really cool," Bush said. "I think that would be an amazing thing for the fanbase. But what I keep saying is that Joey Belladonna is the singer of ANTHRAX, and Joey should be the singer of ANTHRAX, as far as I'm concerned. And if this happens, it needs to have his approval, really, quite honestly. Because I wouldn't want him to feel like, 'Well, this is not my idea, and I don't wanna do this,' because he is the singer who'd be sharing the stage [with the rest of us], quite honestly. So I think it would be something that Joey would have to give endorsement to, for that to happen, if that's an idea. And again, I think it would be a fun thing to do a couple of handful of shows, sporadic stuff."

ANTHRAX has had a number of vocalists — including Bush, Belladonna, Neil Turbin and Dan Nelson — over the last 39 years, with Ian and drummer Charlie Benante remaining the sole bandmembers who have appeared on every one of the group's studio albums.

Turbin sang on ANTHRAX's debut LP, 1984's "Fistful Of Metal", before getting booted and being replaced by Belladonna. Belladonna performed on four ANTHRAX albums, including the fan favorite "Among The Living" (1987) before he himself was fired over creative and stylistic differences. Bush fronted ANTHRAX between 1992 and 2005 but was sidelined when the band reunited with Belladonna for a 20th-anniversary tour. When that collapsed, and relationships disintegrated with next frontman Nelson, Bush returned for a time before Belladonna took the job back in 2010.

Blues-rock hero Joe Bonamassa is partnering with Heritage Auction House to announce a game-changing NFT collection that stands to reshape the music industry forever by tokenizing the original master and publishing rights to a brand-new song titled "Broken Record". This lot is truly unprecedented as the chart-topping guitarist is the first artist in music to sell his publishing in an NFT as part of this digital an d physical collection, which also features his own "Holy Grail" 1959 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst guitar and 1963 Fender Vibroverb amp that was used to record the song.

The auction is set for July 31.

Bonamassa calls this lot "the one-song record company" because it totally transforms the way musicians can make a business from their intellectual property. Joe's business partner Roy Weisman elaborates: "That is what this NFT concept gives artists — the opportunity to raise capital on an independent basis that will allow them to overstep the so-called gatekeepers of the music industry."

"One of the things that I like about being an independent artist is that Roy and I came up with this idea," Bonamassa says. "We didn't have to run it up any sort of chain of command. It was like, let's do this because it feels right. And it's the next logical step in how independent artists are going to be on equal footing with major labels."

Weisman says: "We're now truly in a unique time in the music business where it is completely just supply and demand. People can find artists online anytime, people can buy their music, investors can invest in them with an artist having to go through that typical major label or even large independent label system that is heavily weighted against artists from the start."

This history-making auction from the music-business revolutionary is far from routine; then, nothing Bonamassa does is ever ordinary.

Joe is breaking new ground in the music industry and playing by his own rules with this lot featuring highly collectible items, including not only some of the most prized musical instruments on the planet, but pairing them with a series of certificates of authenticity as cutting-edge non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The type of guitar has been used by rock royalty such as Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield. The instrument with the "unmatched deep, throaty sound," as David Schiller writes in his book "Guitar", was the ax that built rock and roll.

Non-fungible tokens are changing the business world and Bonamassa's clever use of the new technology is now allowing other artists to build what is their own business. Bonamassa's auction is unique and stands to reshape how musicians make and sell their art. This incredible lot includes 13 items individually tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain. Each physical item will have a digital NFT component. This lot is a dream come true for any serious collector of vintage gear or NFT investor looking to diversify their portfolio.

It should surprise no one who follows Bonamassa's career that he's leading this revolution. No guitarist has ever received as much coverage in the music and business media as the two-time Grammy Award nominee who has topped Billboard's Blues chart 24 times — at only the age of 44, no less. Only last year, in fact, Forbes heralded the guitarist for "taking control of his business, building a brand and investing in himself."

Bonamassa, a wunderkind who opened for B.B. King when he was just 12 years old, learned early on never to trust the industry: His 2000 debut "A New Day Yesterday", released on a Sony subsidiary, was a critical smash, with Billboard hailing the comer as "a bold talent who rises above narrow radio formatics." Problem was that major labels have no time for bold talents who don't get played on the radio. Bonamassa and Sony parted ways.

For many musicians, that would have been the end of the story. For Bonamassa, it was only the beginning of the beginning: In 2002, the guitarist and his longtime manager and business partner Roy Weisman created J&R Adventures — a self-contained label, management, marketing, and concert promotion company. Which has meant that for the last 20 years, they haven't had anyone looking over their shoulder, anyone telling them what to do or where to go, anyone telling them no.

"We go against the grain by nature, and that's how we've been successful," Weisman says. "I'm not really looking to get the input of the industry because quite frankly, I think the mainstream industry won't like independence. And with this auction, we're going to show the world how to merge their copyrights, their intellectual property and sell it directly to an investor without a middleman like a major record company taking a major piece of the money and leaving them without any core assets. Now with the NFT, artists have an opportunity to build capital for themselves to then build what is their own business. And that is a beautiful thing. It's a game changer."

The way both men tell it, the idea of selling the guitar and amp and the song in a single auction lot was an easy one, just another inevitable next step in the evolution of their revolution. It took Weisman and Bonamassa all of 20 minutes to settle on the concept and its eventual execution, which resulted in a full-blown studio session during which the guitarist recorded something of which he's extraordinarily proud … which no one, outside of the winner, might ever hear.

Joe explains: "If three people hear the song and that's it, I'm still proud of the work. If it's licensed for film or TV and everybody hears the song, even better. But the fact of the matter is, I'm proud of the song whether three people hear it or 30 million hear it. It doesn't matter. My approach would not have changed. And in the end, we came to the conclusion that if we're going to do this, let's make a splash. This is going to be really cool."

Orange Amplification has launched the limited-edition Glenn Hughes Signature Crush Bass 50 — and its color is deep purple, not orange.

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Glenn Hughes has been an Orange ambassador for over a decade. For many years, he was the bass player and vocalist with DEEP PURPLE, which recently celebrated fifty years of definitive classic hard rock. Hughes is also known as the bassist and vocalist for TRAPEZE, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION with Joe Bonamassa, CALIFORNIA BREED and more recently THE DEAD DAISIES.

The Crush Bass 50 compact combo, inspired by Orange's flagship AD200 and OB1 bass amplifiers, perfectly blends some of the most defining elements of each. It has the essentials of a recording amp and delivers warm, clean bass tones, vintage growl with fat low end and blendable overdrive. Plus, the limited edition is finished in a distinctive tough purple textured vinyl with a silver-colored plaque "Glenn Hughes Limited Edition."

Talking about the Crush Bass 50, Hughes said: "You can go in the studio, take that bass combo and make your album with something like that. It's truly outstanding. It's gritty, it's punchy: sustain is so important and its certainly got all that." He added: "Orange all the way……..it's the future, it's the way to go. You heard it from me."

Cliff Cooper, Orange Amplification CEO and founder, added: "We feel privileged to honour Glenn with this affordable limited-edition bass combo. He has played such a big part in British music history. To make a purple combo is a fitting way to pay a tribute to him."

To find out more about the Glenn Hughes Signature Crush Bass 50 and other Orange products, please go to orangeamps.com.

Formed in 2015, Votov is a three piece death metal band based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Fans describe their music as old school death metal, with thrash undertones. Their first self-titled album was released independently in 2017 and was hailed by fans worldwide as a brutal dark symphony of primeval dark grooves, bursting with aggression. 

Votov’s writing style and execution is like a tank rolling through a battlefield. This is metal in its purest form, unwavering and unforgiving. Votov released their second album titled I.X.X.I. on CDN Records, March 20, 2020. The band promoted the album with music and lyric videos. The group has stayed busy on the recording front due to the absence of live shows in 2020. 

They have announced the worldwide release of a classic Twisted Sister song taken from the Stay Hungry record entitled “The Beast”. The official music video was filmed by Dylan Ballie, and Drue Langlois (The Priest). Drue and George Ellis (The Archbishop) did an incredible job as actors. The Beast was directed by Dylan Ballie as well as Chuck Labossiere (who came up with the storyline and edited all footage). Votov are poised to continue working on their follow up to I.X.X.I., pushing their sound even further into the fathomless depths.




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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

Pre-order here.

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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Melodic metal tribute band, Union Black, is the newest project from current Gruesome and former Malevolent Creation drummer Gus Rios. Yesterday, the band released their first single, covering the hit track from American new-wave icons Information Society, "What's On Your Mind". The music video for the song can be found below.

Speaking about the band's cover of "What's On Your Mind", Gus Rios shares: "I've had this idea floating around for over fifteen years. Insert a global pandemic, over a year off from practically any musical activity, almost dying from COVID...and I finally made it happen! For our cover of 'What's On Your Mind' by Information Society, I was simply humming the verse melody in my head one day and couldn't remember what song it was! Then it hit me and I thought 'man, this would make such a killer metal tune!'"

Rios goes on to add: "I went into my studio and tracked the whole thing myself. Hector (Rios) added synths and I sent it off to Matt Laplant (Skindred, Nonpoint, Sikth) to mix and master. We couldn't be happier with the end result! The video was shot and directed by Ileana Frey of Blind Beast Productions. My concept was to have a visual contrast which to me is similar to what we do musically. One part brutal metal and one part beautiful melody."

Union Black is the brainchild of current Gruesome and former Malevolent Creation drummer Gus Rios. Gus was a guitar player first before focusing on the drums so he's going back to his roots as the guitar player and singer for Union Black. The band is rounded out by his brother Hector Rios on lead guitar, Sondra Hemmerick on bass and Ruston Grosse from death metal legends Master on drums. Union Black takes songs from artists such as Depeche Mode, NIN, Information Society, and Type O Negative and reimagines them with all of their collective influences. Traces of thrash, Florida death metal, and goth metal are all melded with the darker melodies and creates new much heavier versions of these already amazing songs.

Union Black is:

Gus Rios - Guitar, Vocals
Hector Rios - Guitar
Sondra Hemmerick - Bass
Ruston Grosse - Drums




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Dead Man’s Whiskey have released their brand-new single and title track "Breakout", from their upcoming new EP. The EP by the same name will be released on Friday, October 1. The single is accompanied by a music video, which can be found below.

After a year of lockdowns, writing and recording, the 5-piece London hard rock band are back with a 5-track EP, expertly produced by John Mitchell, also known for his work with Alter Bridge, Architects, Enter Shikari and Inglorious.

With so much change and uncertainty in the world, creating this EP provided many unique challenges for the boys, as frontman Nico Rogers talks about the development of the single: "This one has been on a bit of a journey! We had this song mostly written before lockdown started, it was ironically about the drudgery of being stuck in the office, which we’ve all ended up so far away from it started to lose relevance. The feeling of being trapped somewhere though, and especially that longing for a night of live rock and roll, has intensified. This is where this track lives, it’s all about the hunger we have to get back up there and play, how much we want to see our friends out there playing, too. There’s some anger in there, but twinned with desperation and after the last year a little sadness, too."

Stream "Breakout" here, and watch the video below:




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IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson has admitted to U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine that he drew inspiration from German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN for the animated video for MAIDEN's new single "The Writing On The Wall".

"I said to Rod [Smallwood, MAIDEN manager], 'Have you seen the video for 'Deutschland' by RAMMSTEIN?'" he explained. "That, to me, is a groundbreaking video. That's astonishing. Now, I'm not suggesting we do that, because we're not RAMMSTEIN. But think of what we could do that would have the equivalent impact for us. So, I wrote storyboard for the vid, tweaked it a little bit, and gave it a happy ending. Well, kind of a happy ending — Adam and Eve start again, but with Eddie going, 'I'll still get you in the end.'"

"The Writing On The Wall" will appear on MAIDEN's 17th studio album, "Senjutsu", which will arrive on September 3 via BMG. The band's first LP in six years was recorded in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Steve Harris.

"The Writing On The Wall" video was made by BlinkInk based on a concept by Dickinson with two former Pixar executives. It followed a month-long teaser campaign and global "treasure hunt" for clues about the track title and concept.

For "Senjutsu" — loosely translated as "tactics and strategy" — the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai themed cover artwork, based on an idea by bassist Steve Harris. With a running time of a little under 82 minutes, "Senjutsu", like their previous record "The Book Of Souls", will be a double CD/Triple vinyl album.

Steve said: "We chose to record at Guillaume Tell Studio in France again as the place has such a relaxed vibe. The setup there is perfect for our needs; the building used to be a cinema and has a really high ceiling so there's a great acoustic sound. We recorded this album in the same way we did 'The Book Of Souls' in that we'd write a song, rehearse it and then put it down together straight away while it was all fresh in our minds. There's some very complex songs on this album which took a lot of hard work to get them exactly as we wanted them to sound, so the process was at times very challenging, but Kevin is great at capturing the essence of the band and I think it was worth the effort! I'm very proud of the result and can't wait for fans to hear it."

Dickinson added: "We're all really excited about this album. We recorded it back in early 2019 during a break in the 'Legacy' tour so we could maximize our touring yet still have a long set up period before release to prepare great album art and something special as a video. Of course, the pandemic delayed things more — so much for the best-laid plans — or should that be 'strategies'!? The songs are very varied, and some of them are quite long. There's also one or two songs which sound pretty different to our usual style, and I think MAIDEN fans will be surprised — in a good way, I hope!"

The full track listing is:

01. Senjutsu (8:20) (Smith/Harris)

02. Stratego (4:59) (Gers/Harris)

03. The Writing On The Wall (6:13) (Smith/Dickinson)

04. Lost In A Lost World (9:31) (Harris)

05. Days Of Future Past (4:03) (Smith/Dickinson)

06. The Time Machine (7:09) (Gers/Harris)

07. Darkest Hour (7:20) (Smith/Dickinson)

08. Death Of The Celts (10:20) (Harris)

09. The Parchment (12:39) (Harris)

10. Hell On Earth (11:19) (Harris)

"Senjutsu" will be released on the following formats and available to pre-order/pre-save from Wednesday, July 21 at www.ironmaiden.com:

* Standard 2CD Digipak

* Deluxe 2CD Book Format

* Deluxe heavyweight 180G Triple Black Vinyl

* Special Edition Triple Silver And Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)

* Special Edition Triple Red and Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)

* Super Deluxe Boxset featuring CD, Blu Ray and Exclusive Memorabilia

* Digital album [streaming and download]

"Senjutsu" marks MAIDEN's sixth album to be produced by Shirley, who has worked with MAIDEN for the past two decades.

In addition to MAIDEN, Shirley has collaborated with dozens of notable acts, including Joe Bonamassa, JOURNEY, DREAM THEATER and LED ZEPPELIN.

During the making of "The Book Of Souls", Dickinson was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor at the back of his tongue. He recorded all the vocals for the album with the tumor before undergoing treatment and making a full recovery in time for the LP's release in September 2015.

The dynamic and explorative California-based rock band THRICE will release its 11th studio album, "Horizons/East", on September 17 via Epitaph Records. The album exemplifies art as a work of recognition — the human task of perceiving oneself amid details, disasters, and blessings as a relentlessly relational phenomenon among others. In this, "Horizons/East" is the rare rock album on which interrelatedness is a theme, painting an adventurous and lush landscape mixed by Scott Evans that the band produced and recorded at its own New Grass Studio.

The powerful new single, "Scavengers" is out now. Over a dark and intricate braiding of guitar and drum grooves, the lyrics challenge us to discern the issues and information that bonds us versus what disintegrates and destroys. For vocalist Dustin Kensrue, the song is — but also kind of isn't — a thing of the past. Whether lost in a media diet that is essentially a disinformation pipeline or, relatedly, trapped in fear of a future of eternal conscious pain, Kensrue speaks of "toxic worldviews I once inhabited," and in truth, "a lot of people that I love are still in that place."

To emerge from a global pandemic with a renewed sense of situational awareness, hard won insight, and a new album is the kind of move we've come to expect from THRICE over the last twenty years. With "Horizons/East", Kensrue and his bandmates address, with candor and courage, the fragile and awkward arrangements that pass for civilization, while inviting us to dwell more knowingly within our own lives. Without surrendering any of the energy and hard edge of their previous albums, they've given us a profoundly meditative work, which serves as a musical summons to everyday attentiveness.

Some of the writing even began with open-ended challenges that the band laid on themselves like building a song using the quartal chords they found in much of the jazz they loved, or taking the Fibonacci sequence and turning it into a guitar riff.

THRICE seems ever eager to step out into these spaces unknown to them, unsure of where their feet will land, and this new record is no exception. "Horizons/East" is a soundtrack for deeper dreaming.

All physical copies of "Horizons/East" will be available on October 8.

"Horizons/East" track listing:

01. The Color Of The Sky

02. Scavengers

03. Buried In The Sun

04. Northern Lights

05. Summer Set Fire To The Rain

06. Still Life

07. The Dreamer

08. Robot Soft Exorcism

09. Dandelion Wine

10. Unitive/East

THRICE features frontman Dustin Kensrue, guitarist Teppei Teranishi, bassist Eddie Breckenridge, and drummer Riley Breckenridge.

Photo credit: Matt Vogel

HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS have announced their eighth full-length album, "The Rain Just Follows Me", which will be released digitally on September 10, 2021 via Pure Noise Records. The LP will also be released in stores with limited edition vinyl variants on October 22, 2021.

"The most unbelievable part of this story is that this entire album was written and recorded before the pandemic," singer JT Woodruff shares. "All of this darkness and turmoil is basically a summation of the coldest and loneliest nights I've tried to reconcile for the past 17 years."

The 11-track record, produced by Grammy Award winner Cameron Webb (ALKALINE TRIO, NOFX, MEGADETH), stands as some of Woodruff's most resonant writing to date, as he unravels themes of both physical and emotional distance from his wife and daughter in Ohio as well as personal identity as the front man of as one of the most iconic emo acts of the new millennium.

Eager to hit the studio again as soon as possible after their 2018 release "Bad Frequencies" — and probably a bit naïve about how much they could physically take — the writing sessions for LP8 took place in unusual places: in sound checks and dressing rooms, in far-flung rehearsal studios after marathon overnight drives. HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS weren't just burning the candle at both ends; they were splitting it in two, then letting the flames engulf the smaller pieces completely.

Singing lyrics like "I can feel my body breaking down, California sun. I can see the colors spiral out, nowhere left to run," Woodruff tapped into the feeling of searching for something positive to cling to for lead single "Constant Dread" featuring labelmate Brendan Murphy of COUNTERPARTS.

"When writing, I tend to dig through memories, both good and bad. In, 'Constant Dread', I was searching through one of my favorite tour memories. Warped Tour 2017, in the tour bus village. One of our favorite hardcore bands, COUNTERPARTS, was hosting karaoke. As I was standing there, Brendan hit play on Niki FM, and then threw me the microphone, and as I was singing my own song to a jury of my peers, I realized that I need to loosen up. This should be fun, not agony. When I thought about that moment, while laying bed in the throes of the terror-filled gaze of the moonlight, I knew we needed to put Brendan in this song. And I'm so glad he said yes, because absolutely crushes it. "

"The Rain Just Follows Me" track listing:

01. Constant Dread

02. The Rain Just Follows Me

03. Holy Coast

04. Tired And Alone

05. Thunder In Our Hearts

06. Spray Paint It Black

07. Dull Headlights

08. Palm Canyon Drive

09. Seafoam

10. Words Can't Hurt

11. Bambarra Beach (The End)

Most of all, this upcoming release is quintessentially HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS. It's who they've always been – they just needed to push down the heartache and strife long enough to rediscover those intangible characteristics.

"We want to create the best songs that are accurate depictions of our lives and connect to other people through our songs," Woodruff says. "I hope this record helps people understand that others out there are thinking like them — and thinking about them. Everyone gets poured on in life; we just want to provide an umbrella."

HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS is composed of JT Woodruff (vocals, guitar), Mark McMillon (guitar, backing vocals), Matt Ridenour (bass, backing vocals), Chris Popadak (drums).

Throughout their long and storied career as one of the most iconic emo acts of the new millennium, the quartet have overcome obstacles at every turn — but these roadblocks always seemed to come from external forces, from unscrupulous record labels and the shifting whims of fickle audiences to unimaginable personal tragedy threatening to derail them.

Despite the odds, HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS have overcome it all: earning two gold albums (2004's "The Silence In Black And White" and 2006's "If Only You Were Lonely"), penning some of the genre's most well-known songs ("Ohio Is For Lovers", "Saying Sorry"), and remaining a hard-touring act nearly two decades after forming in Dayton, Ohio.

Photo credit: Courtney Kiara

On Tuesday night, THE BLACK CROWES kicked off their highly anticipated "Shake Your Money Maker" tour to a sold-out crowd at the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville, Tennessee, marking one of the first major rock-tours to return since the start of the pandemic.

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut, multiplatinum album ("Shake Your Money Maker", 1990), THE BLACK CROWES took to the stage as the sun set over Nashville and thrilled the crowd by playing their iconic record in full. The juke-joint inspired set, complete with a jukebox and full-bar, set the scene as the first cords of "Twice As Hard" rang throughout the southern, summer air as lead singer Chris Robinson and guitarist Rich Robinson took the stage with longtime bassist Sven Pipien. The band delivered a blistering two-hour set packed with hits, including "Jealous Again", "Sister Luck", "Hard To Handle" and "She Talks To Angels" before closing the show with a roaring encore of their chart-topping ballad "Remedy".

The setlist was as follows:

01. Twice As Hard

02. Jealous Again

03. Sister Luck

04. Could I've Been So Blind

05. Seeing Things

06. Hard To Handle

07. Thick N' Thin

08. She Talks To Angels

09. Struttin Blues

10. Stare It Cold

11. No Speak

12. Go Faster

13. Hotel Illness

14. Hi-Head Blues

15. Good Friday

16. Wiser Time

17. Thorn In My Pride

18. Sting Me

19. Soul Singing

Encore:

20. Remedy

Produced by Live Nation, THE BLACK CROWES' "Shake Your Money Maker" tour will be playing 37-dates across the country before ending the tour at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, New York on September 25. Most recently announced, the band is also set to perform at the legendary New Orleans Jazz Fest on Friday, October 8 and Stagecoach on May 1, 2022.

Joining Chris and Rich in the new BLACK CROWES lineup are Pipien, who played with the band live from 1997 up until the band's hiatus in 2015, along with Brian Griffin on drums, Joel Robinow on keyboards and Isaiah Mitchell on guitar, plus backup singers Mackenzie Adams and Leslie Grant.

Asked what was behind the decision to reform THE BLACK CROWES without founding member/drummer Steve Gorman, who penned 2019's memoir "Hard To Handle: The Life And Death Of The Black Crowes", Rich told to Long Island Weekly: "Steve was one of the incredibly negative and manipulative forces in the band that we really didn't want to deal with. In order to get back, we really had to do this very specific purge where we focus on the two of us and let this be something that will be positive. We can be in charge of our own triggers, but if you have other people around that have an agenda, which a lot of the older people around did, it’s just going to crash and burn. We didn’t look at this as a one-time thing. We want to focus and do it right for ourselves as human beings. For ourselves as brothers. For ourselves as writing and creative partners as well as the other reasons."

In a February 2020 interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, Gorman said that he was not surprised to see Chris and Rich teaming up with new musicians for a tour. "To me, it's been an inevitability for years," Steve said."I think they both made serious efforts to establish themselves in solo careers that could sustain them, that could provide a living, and I guess that neither one of those really worked out. And so they were always gonna need to be THE BLACK CROWES again. And this tour is an indication of the fact that, to them, they always were THE BLACK CROWES. And to me, THE BLACK CROWES was a band. It wasn't about their band; it was our band. It was six people, or it was five people, or it was four people, depending on the year, but it was always a much greater thing than two brothers who wrote the songs. The success of that band had a lot to do with a lot more than just them, is my point. And the thing that was most special about that band, as I said before, was what six people were able to do when we were on the same page."

Gorman went on to say that he doesn't necessarily fault the Robinson brothers for wanting to keep THE BLACK CROWES brand alive.

"This tour has nothing to do with me — it never did; it never would have," he explained. "THE BLACK CROWES are my past. Now, the music is still around. And if anybody goes to see this tour and decides that they love THE BLACK CROWES now, I think that's fantastic. I'm all for preserving the legacy of the band I was in. I think this tour has nothing to do with that. I think this tour is the two of them needing money. And to that I say — and that's fine. I know what it's like to be concerned about my finances; everybody does. And if you're in your 50s and you can make a living playing music, then, by God, you should be playing music, if that's what you wanna do. So, they're fully within their rights to do it — legally and ethically and morally; whatever. It's fine. It's got nothing to do with me. So, live and let live."

"Shake Your Money Maker" was re-released in multi-formats sets in February through UMe/American Recordings. The album, fueled by singles "Jealous Again", "Twice As Hard", "She Talks To Angels" and a cover of fellow Georgian Otis Redding's "Hard To Handle", has sold over five million copies.

KK'S PRIEST, the new band featuring former JUDAS PRIEST members K.K. Downing (guitar) and Tim "Ripper" Owens (vocals), along with guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE), bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX) and drummer Sean Elg (DEATHRIDERS, CAGE), will release its debut album, "Sermons Of The Sinner", on August 20 via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records. Original KK'S PRIEST drummer Les Binks (ex-JUDAS PRIEST), unfortunately, sustained a wrist injury, but will make special guest live appearances when the band tours.

The third single from "Sermons Of The Sinner", a song called "Brothers Of The Road", is available today and can be streamed below.

The album cover features a mysterious figure robed in a monk's habit, whom Downing slyly states may or may not be him, holding a book of sermons. He says the "sinner" in the title refers to his famous solo in that classic song of the same name and also reflects his sense of alienation from the groundbreaking group that he helped create. "The whole concept is the fact that I continue proudly to be who I am and what I am and do what I do," declares Downing. "It's been nearly 10 years. I'm back making music."

And his disciples are ready to receive his sermons. He's brought a former bandmate along for the ride, and they have unleashed an album with a modern sound that hearkens back to what fans have always loved about Downing and his music and which still sounds fresh. "All of my life, people always wanted an album that we've made in the past," muses Downing. "'What's the new album like? Will it be anything like 'British Steel'? Will it be anything like 'Sad Wings'?' People hoping you're going to make a record that you've already made. So in a way this record just sounds like something that has already been made or should have been be made. It does have a lot of things that are connected to the past. For example, 'Brothers Of The Road'. If you take all the lyrics off and just listen to the music, maybe you could be listening to 'You've Got Another Thing Comin''."

After years of quietly enjoying life away from the rigors of the road and intense studio recording, Downing emerged again on stage in August 2019. From there, the conversation led to Downing performing a few songs with Ross The Boss at Bloodstock Open Air. The performance electrified the crowd and reinvigorated Downing. In November of that year, he put on a show in Wolverhampton, U.K. with Owens, Binks, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson and HOSTILE guitarist A.J. Mills. Downing had produced two albums for the latter band. Spanning JUDAS PRIEST's catalog, this superb and successful show sent shockwaves throughout the metal world: K.K. was back and the fans were clearly hungry for more.

Rather than simply rely on his past successes and go on the road performing classic JUDAS PRIEST songs, the renowned guitarist did what he has always done — make new music. And songs that fans would want to hear and sing along to in concert. Downing assembled Owens, Mills, Newton and Elg to create "Sermons Of The Sinner", an album that celebrates his classic metal roots and encourages us to cherish those iconic pioneers whom we still have with us. He jokes that KK'S PRIEST is "like a new old band. Or an old new band."

"The ultimate message is we've moved away from this music that we loved for so long and we're so dedicated to, and now we're in a situation where lots of people are actually passing away," explains Downing. "We've lost a lot of great people — [Ronnie James] Dio, Lemmy, I could go on — and that's gonna be accelerated over the coming years. Basically, enjoy everything that's left of this brand of metal including from me. It's not going to last forever."

Downing spent four months writing and recording "Sermons Of The Sinner" and, along with new ideas, he even resurrected a few archived riffs from the '80s. (Can you pick them out?) After partnering with Explorer1 Music Group, the album was originally intended for release a year ago, but with the COVID-19 pandemic curtailing everyone's release and touring plans, Downing pulled back and spent two more months tweaking the album to how he wanted it. The extra time paid off.

High-speed album opener "Hellfire Thunderbolt" offers a fictitious take on how metal arrived before the masses were ready for it, so it gestated in the late '60s before exploding in the '70s and '80s. Rousing rockers like "Raise Your Fists" and "Wild And Free" revel in the passion and excess that metal fans embrace. The guitar interplay is intense and inspiring, and the band is firing on all cylinders.

"The Return Of The Sentinel" is a bold choice to close the album. Not only is it a sequel to the classic track from JUDAS PRIEST's 1984's platinum-selling "Defenders Of The Faith" album, it's a nine-minute epic that doesn't play by the rules. The first half is stirring metal, and the latter half is somber and subdued, which reflects the tale of a being who, once a dispenser of justice and death, now faces his own mortality.

Conversely, KK'S PRIEST is alive and vital. They have plans to tour later this year with some Ripper-era JUDAS PRIEST songs tossed into the mix, and Binks hopes to make appearances at shows.

"Les was able to do the short set at the Steel Mill," says Downing. "But he had a wrist injury after that and wasn't able to do the album. Les wants to jump on the stage and a play a couple of songs, although he is not going to be able to play a full set. He will be our special guest."

Downing is hoping to reach as many headbangers as he can worldwide — from Europe to North and South America. "Sermons Of The Sinner" is a love letter to the music he helped create and evolve and to the devoted followers who have supported it. "I'm talking about the diehard fans that are not going anywhere," says Downing. "They're not certainly going to jump on a different genre of music just because a lot of their heroes are unfortunately passing away. And that sentiment is in this album where we said in the title track, 'time is running out for us, things may never be the same, but the sermons of the sinner center can help us rise again.' Because you never know when the last gig is going to be the last gig, so to speak. I'm pretty optimistic. I'm working on material for the second album."

"Sermons Of The Sinner" track listing:

01. Incarnation

02. Hellfire Thunderbolt

03. Sermons Of The Sinner

04. Sacerdote Y Diablo

05. Raise Your Fists

06. Brothers Of The Road

07. Metal Through And Through

08. Wild And Free

09. Hail For The Priest

10. Return Of The Sentinel

KK'S PRIEST, which pays homage to Downing's past, will play select shows to mark the 50th anniversary of PRIEST and Downing's career as a founding member. KK'S PRIEST's setlist will consist of PRIEST classics and new songs.

Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — before PRIEST reunited with Rob Halford in 2003.

Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance. He was replaced by Richie Faulkner, nearly three decades his junior.

In 2019, Downing said that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST about taking part in the band's upcoming 50th-anniversary tour but that their response was that they were not interested in including him in the celebrations.

In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as "a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music," while the second was "angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties."

Downing later said that he believed the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST after Glenn Tipton's decision to retire from touring.

Keyboard legend Tony Kaye will release his debut solo album, "End Of Innocence", on September 10 via Spirit Of Unicorn Music (distributed via Cherry Red Records) to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Having retired from music in 1996, Kaye was moved by the events of September 11, 2001 to commit his thoughts and feelings to a heartfelt personal musical interpretation.

"End Of Innocence" is a requiem for those who lost their lives and all those touched by the horrific events of 9/11. Primarily orchestral, "End Of Innocence" is a powerful and emotional suite that is both beautiful and sinister, reflecting the dark forces at work that day. It guides the listener through the day and touches on the response, to reach a hope that peace and calm may prevail.

As did many millions, Kaye watched the horrors of 9/11 unfold on his TV screen. "The next day I unpacked my keyboards for the first time in a long time," he recalls. "I didn't know what I was going to do. It was one of those things that happened, inspiration on a musical level."

The suite begins the night before 9/11 but, as Kaye's wife Dani Torchia sings an innocent lullaby, menacing storms are gathering. The beautiful "9/11 Overture" was the first piece Kaye composed, the following day. "I had no recording equipment, just an 8-track cassette recorder and some of those recordings became what you hear now."

Kaye continues to create vivid images of New York City life and a vibrancy around The World Trade Center ("285 Fulton Street") before the terror begins and captures the fears of those on the planes, "Flight 11" depicting the conversations stewardesses had with the tower. The track includes a powerful drum solo by Kaye's friend Jay Schellen (CIRCA, YES) reflecting the struggles onboard.

Following the collapse of the towers, Dani Torchia sings her lament "Sweetest Dreams" and the album looks at the "Aftermath" and the "Heroes" before focusing on the response. "I wanted it, musically, to be about that day," Kaye says, "but I felt compelled to extend it to deal with the repercussions of what happened. Musically, it was quite challenging to do the battle scene and then the 'Hope And Triumph', a patriotic anthem and the consequences of war. 'Ground Zero' is the hope for the future, the rebuilding."

The artwork for the album has been created by Roger Dean, known for his work with YES and ASIA, powerful imagery reflecting the journey the music takes.

"End Of Innocence" track listing:

01. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/Twilight Time

02. 911 Overture

03. NYC Blues

04. Battle Cry

05. 285 Fulton Street

06. Let's Roll

07. Tug Of War

08. Flight 11

09. Towers Fall

10. Sweetest Dreams

11. Aftermath

12. Heroes

13. The Battle

14. Hope And Triumph

15. Homecoming

16. Ground Zero

Produced by Tony Kaye

All tracks composed by Tony Kaye except "Sweetest Dreams" by Dani Torchia.

Tony Kaye, Spirit Of Unicorn Music and Cherry Red Records are donating 10% of all profits from "End Of Innocence" to Gary Sinise Foundation. The charity supports veterans, defenders and first responders in times of hardship.

Kaye is best known as the original keyboard player with prog legends YES, his Hammond organ giving their groundbreaking "The Yes Album" it's most distinctive sound within the YES catalogue. Following his departure from YES in 1971, Kaye was involved with a number of other bands, including David Bowie, BADGER, FLASH and BADFINGER before returning to YES for their greatest commercial success, "90125", in 1983. Kaye remained with YES for several albums and tours before retiring from the music business in 1996.

Following the re-awakening of his musical inspiration in 2001, Kaye accepted an invitation from current YES bassist Billy Sherwood to work on projects which led to the formation of CIRCA, in 2007, and has yielded four albums to date.

In a new interview with Nikki of the FM99 WNOR radio station, THE PRETTY RECKLESS frontwoman Taylor Momsen was asked if she has given any thought to writing a book at some point. The 27-year-old singer, who was an actress before she became a musician, responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, it's something that I've actually kind of been working on. Not working on working on, but I would certainly like to — at some point; not now, but later down the line… I just kind of write down stories and things that have happened, 'cause I would like to put out an autobiography at some point, because there's a lot you don't know. [Laughs] I keep a journal of things that I would maybe put in that at some point. But I haven't officially made that jump or whatever… I haven't had the full-on talks with people or anything. Because I don't think the story's complete yet. So, I've gotta wait a little longer… And then you put out one, and the story's still not complete, so you have to put out another one. As long as life's going, it's ongoing."

Momsen started acting at the age of two, though her breakout role came in 2000, at the age of seven, when she played Cindy Lou Who in the live action adaptation of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", starring Jim Carrey. Seven years later, she rose to fame as Jenny Humphrey in the CW's hit teen drama "Gossip Girl". She ended up leaving the show for good after the fourth season, insisting she was taking a break from Hollywood. She later told various media outlets that she was "not pursuing" acting at all, saying that "it feels like a past life."

THE PRETTY RECKLESS's latest album, "Death By Rock And Roll", was made available in February via Fearless Records in the U.S. and Century Media Records in the rest of the world.

Upon release, "Death By Rock And Roll" topped multiple sales charts — including Billboard's Top Albums, Rock, Hard Music, and Digital Charts. The record also yielded two back-to-back No. 1 singles — "Death By Rock And Roll" and "And So It Went" (featuring Tom Morello). The band has tallied six No. 1 singles at the rock format throughout its career.

"Death By Rock And Roll" is THE PRETTY RECKLESS's first album to be made without longtime producer Kato Khandwala, who died in April 2018 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

Deeper Graves – the solo project of Jeff Wilson (Chrome Waves, ex-Nachtmystium, ex-Wolvhammer) – has completed its second LP and is finalizing the as-yet-unnamed record for release this fall. The album is being scheduled to coincide with the outfit’s newly confirmed set of tour dates which have just been announced.

Far removed from the metal output he is known for releasing over the past two decades or more, with Deeper Graves, Wilson creates lush soundscapes and slow-paced rock movements that venture further into the realms of his post-punk, shoegaze, and alternative influences, with elements tracing to foundational acts like Bauhaus and Joy Division.

The debut Deeper Graves album, Open Roads, was recorded at Wilson’s Disorder Recordings label headquarters during last year’s Covid lockdowns and released in July 2020. The record saw Wilson handling all writing, instrumentation, production, and more, with guest contributions from Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Corrections House, Brain Tentacles), actress/musician Darja Vaarsi (California Widow), and composer/musician Chris Brown (Kakophonix).

While the follow-up to the debut is being finalized, Deeper Graves announces the outfit’s first tour dates. The Open Roads tour will originate in Indianapolis on November 5 and will slither across the country in a winding path, ending in Cleveland on December 18. Additional info on the Deeper Graves set, additional acts on the shows, and more will be issued over the weeks ahead alongside details for the act’s new album.

Deeper Graves Open Roads Tour 2021:

November
5 - Black Circle Brewing - Indianapolis, IN
6 - Sanctuary - Detroit, MI
7 - Subterranean - Chicago, IL

December
3 - Black Forge Coffee - Pittsburgh, PA
4 - Mag Bar - Louisville, KY
6 - Lost Lake - Denver, CO
7 - Aces High Saloon - Salt Lake City, UT
8 - Funhouse - Seattle, WA
9 - Hawthorne Lounge - Portland, OR
10 - Elbo Room - Oakland, CA
11 - TBA - San Diego, CA
12 - Supply And Demand - Long Beach, CA
13 - Club Congress - Tucson - AZ
14 - Rebel Lounge - Phoenix, AZ
16 - Whittier Bar - Tulsa, OK
18  - The Foundry - Cleveland, OH

(Photo - Jeff Wilson)




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COHEED AND CAMBRIA has released the official visualizer for its first new single in three years, "Shoulders". Check it out below.

For the last 20 years, COHEED AND CAMBRIA have continuously broken the mould of what a rock band can be, forging their own path and building a universe around their music unlike any other. Whether it is in the way their genre-spanning approach to songwriting has allowed them to bridge worlds without being contained to one, or the multifaceted story arc of their albums and comic book series which mark the longest running concept story in music, COHEED AND CAMBRIA have consistently shaped new standards, never conformed.

"Shoulders" touches on the highs and lows of this journey, and how at times it can be frustrating to be an outsider to trendy circles, but in the end, doing it your own way has the biggest rewards.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA vocalist/guitarist Claudio Sanchez commented on "Shoulders" noting: "In art, in your career, in relationships... no matter how much you give of yourself or try, you have to accept that not everything in life can be a perfect fit."

Earlier this week, Sanchez confirmed to Consequence Of Sound that he and his bandmates have been working on new music during the coronavirus downtime. Regarding what fans can expect, he said: "I'll be honest. A lot of times, with bands who've been around and built a strong fanbase like we have, I think there might be a tendency, intentionally or unintentionally, to try to give the fans what they want and not take too many risks. But after making music for so long and entering a pandemic, we didn't want limitations to the creative process. The [next] record is going to be what I hope people perceive this band to be in 2021/2022."

He added: "It's a modern record. It's a COHEED AND CAMBRIA record, but it's looking forward, not backwards."

As for what is influencing COHEED AND CAMBRIA's new music, Claudio said: "I think the biggest influence of the record is my son and navigating parenthood within this strange new world we all found ourselves in."

It's been over two years since COHEED AND CAMBRIA's 2018 album, "Vaxis I: The Unheavenly Creatures", was released as the band's "return to concept" album. After stepping away with a more introspective album in 2015, Sanchez and the band returned to the sci-fi universe of "The Amory Wars" in what was said to be the first of a five-part series of albums. With 2021 upon us, and a major summer tour now announced, the volume of fans' chatter for "Vaxis 2" and what and when that will entail are loading up the band's social media pages.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA is a rare band whose music can transcend "scenes" and effortlessly cross genres of rock — from indie to progressive, to metal and pop-punk to classic rock. The band is frequently compared to progressive, operatic rock bands of the '70s, ala QUEEN, SUPERTRAMP or RUSH, due to their thrilling concept albums that take you on a grand journey of sounds and often clock-in around 110 mins, but still somehow include sugary pop-laden hooks.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA will embark on a co-headlining tour with THE USED in August. Support one the trek will come from MEET ME @ THE ALTAR.

KORN guitarist Brian "Head" Welch spoke to Tommy Carroll from 97.9 GRD about the curent status of the band's bassist, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu. Fieldy announced last month that he would sit out KORN's current tour in order to "heal" after "falling back" on some of his "bad habits."

Speaking last Friday (July 16) at the Upheaval festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Welch said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Fieldy is good, man. He's at home, and he's with his kids. I wanna say that Fieldy's a good dad. He's a good dude, and he has his life structured. The bad habits he talked about in the press — everyone has their issues in life. But those he'll work on in his own way. But that dude is — I look up to him as a dad, actually. He's had five kids. He always says, 'I've got two thousand kids,' 'cause it feels like it some days. But he's a good dad. He's gone through a lot, man, personally, and he just needs some time off to reflect on himself and his family. That's it."

Welch went on to say that everybody in the KORN camp is still on good terms with Fieldy and they are all looking forward to him returning to the band in the not-too-distant future.

"Dude, no judgment at all to anyone," he said. "I was the worst with addiction. So, it's nothing like that. It's all good vibes. There's no negative vibes as far as no hard feelings on either side. So it's all good, man.

"I think [Fieldy] and Jonathan [Davis, vocals] and Munky [James Shaffer, guitar] have gone 26 years with hardly any breaks, man — with a record cycle and a tour. I got eight years off, so I'm rested. And I come back. I'm hopefully looking at Fieldy like he's just gonna take a break, man, and get recharged. So we'll see."

Regarding how KORN ended up recruiting Roberto "Ra" Díaz (SUICIDAL TENDENCIES) to fill in for Fieldy, Welch said: "Well, there's COVID and everything, so when we started talking about it, it was a thing where we wanted to be careful still and whatnot. 'Cause it was a couple, a few months ago or whatever. So we just started brainstorming and hitting up friends and whatnot. We need the slap — we need the slap bass, we need the finger playing, we need someone, 'cause Fieldy is unique — very unique. So it just kind of happened that way, man, where Ra, he was open because SUICIDAL is not going out until next year. I think Mike Muir has a back surgery or something this year. So it just worked out, man. He came down, we jammed. He's a really humble guy, and just very talented. He can play anything — from jazz to slap to anything. He played all the songs with, like, three mistakes out of 10 songs or something — little mistakes. I mean, not even mistakes — it was just, like, 'I thought I heard it that way.' They weren't even mistakes. So we were, like, 'Okay. You got it down.'"

On June 21, Fieldy broke the news of his absence from the trek, writing in a social media update: "To all KORN fans worldwide. The past 6 years I've been dealing with some personal issues that at times have caused me to fall back on some of my bad habits and has caused some tension with the people around me. It's been suggested to me to take some time off to heal. I'm going to respect what was asked of me and take that time. Unfortunately you will not see me on stage with my band. I will be working towards getting the bad habits out of my system. In the meantime I will be staying creative to keep my mind & soul in a good place.

"I'm thankful for all of your support, patience & understanding as we all have something that we deal with.

"Jonathan, Munky, Ray and Head, I love you and I don't want to bring any tension or bad vibes to the circle."

A short time later, KORN's official social media shared Fieldy's statement, along with the following message: "We love and support our brother, Fieldy. Health and family always comes first."

In May, KORN announced a U.S. summer tour featuring special guests STAIND on all dates. Produced by Live Nation, the coast-to-coast 28-city outing will kick off August 5 in West Palm Beach, Florida and make stops in Long Island, Detroit, Irvine, Phoenix, Austin and more, before wrapping up with a performance at Dallas' Dos Equis Pavilion on September 21. Furthermore, both bands will perform at Louisville, Kentucky's Louder Than Life festival on September 23.

Back in 2017, METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo's then-12-year-old son Tye Trujillo filled in on bass for KORN's South American tour after Fieldy was unable to make the shows due to "unforeseen circumstances."

Fieldy's 2009 memoir, "Got The Life: My Journey Of Addiction, Faith, Recovery And Korn", detailed his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction during KORN's early years and how he became a born-again Christian to help get his life together and get sober.

Fieldy's STILLWELL side project released its third album, "Supernatural Miracle", last September.

KORN's latest LP, "The Nothing", arrived in September 2019 via Roadrunner/Elektra. The follow-up to 2016's "The Serenity Of Suffering" was once again produced by Nick Raskulinecz.

During an appearance on the latest episode of the "In The Trenches with Ryan Roxie" video podcast, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan discussed the recent passing of CINDERELLA guitarist Jeff LaBar. Jeff was found dead by his wife, Debinique Salazar-LaBar, on July 14 inside his apartment in Nashville. He was 58 years old.

"The first few times I saw CINDERELLA was at a club called the Galaxy, a little bar in New Jersey, and he wasn't even in the band yet," Rachel said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET. "And then eventually there was changes [in the lineup] made, and then Jeff was in the band. And the whole makeup and the energy on stage. Eric [Brittingham, bass] and Tom [Keifer, guitar/vocals] were there from the beginning, and they had their thing. But, man, when Jeff joined the band, it just took on a whole new energy. And the playing was, obviously, different; he had a different style. And just his stage presence, man — it was really cool. And then eventually getting to know him, just from the few shows we did together."

He continued: "I think both of [SKID ROW and CINDERELLA] were in Japan at the same time for our first tours [there], and we were kind of crisscrossing, and they came out to a show. He was always just a really genuine guy and, obviously, a very good player. He actually filled in for Snake [SKID ROW guitarist Dave Sabo]. Snake had an issue with his arm. It wasn't carpal tunnel, but it was kind of like carpal tunnel; I'm not sure exactly what it was called. But he was, like, 'Dude, I can't even pick. I can't even hold on to a pick.' So we called Jeff and he came in and filled in for two shows. And it was fun — road dog stories. It was great."

Bolan added: "Yeah, he's gonna be missed, man. Everybody was sad to hear about that."

LaBar joined CINDERELLA in time to record the band's debut album, 1986's "Night Songs", which peaked at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart and was eventually certified triple platinum. It included CINDERELLA's biggest hit, "Nobody's Fool", which reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. CINDERELLA's second album, 1988's "Long Cold Winter", was also certified triple platinum. The band's third LP, 1990's "Heartbreak Station", went platinum before the rise of the grunge movement effectively killed glam and hair metal, resulting in drastically lower sales for the band's final release, 1994's "Still Climbing".

LaBar released a solo album, "One For The Road", in 2014.

Cruzh are back with a new vocalist, Alex Waghorn, and a new album, Tropical Thunder, out on August. Waghorn was first introduced to Cruzh fans in 2019 with the release of an acoustic version of the song “Aim For The Head”. Now, Waghorn, along with Dennis Butabi Borg, Anton Joensson, and Matt Silver, are at long last ready to unleash the band’s long-awaited second album.

Melodic rock fans will not be disappointed with the cavalcade of melodies, hooks, and catchy songs on display on Tropical Thunder. Watch a lyric video for the title track below, and pre-order/pre-save the album here.

Cruzh was put together after the demise of Swedish glam rockers TrashQueen, in which both Anton Joensson and Dennis Butabi Borg played. They shared a love for melodic rock and AOR and joined forces with Tony Andersson, who previously worked as a studio musician on the never released TrashQueen record.

In March 2013, Cruzh was officially announced. An image of the silhouette of the three band members, the debut song "In A Blink Of An Eye," information that the band was Swedish, and the text "Get ready for the Cruzh" was all that was revealed. The song quickly spread and in May of that year came the sequel, "Stay". Meanwhile, the band, still ‘incognito’, shared various clues on social media regarding their identity and location. In the fall of 2013, Cruzh “unmasked” and released the Hard To Get EP, the first of two very well-received self-produced demos.

Hard To Get and its successor, the darker Aim For The Head got great reviews and by late spring of 2015, just when Cruzh was about to release a new EP, they were approached by Frontiers Music Srl who wanted to sign the band to a deal. Cruzh started the album recording process by the end of summer 2015 and their self-titled debut was released in 2016 to rave reviews from the melodic rock community.

After introducing new vocalist Alex Waghorn to the public via an acoustic version of their track “Aim For The Head” in 2019, the band spent 2020 working on their second album, Tropical Thunder. Now, in 2021, the long wait for a follow-up album from Cruzh is over.

Tracklisting:

“Tropical Thunder”
“We Go Together”
“Turn Back Time”
“Are You Ready?”
“Cady”
“New York Nights”
“All You Need”
“Line In The Sand”
“Moonshine Bayou”
“Paralyzed”
“R.J.C.”

“Tropical Thunder” lyric video:

“Turn Back Time”:




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Robert Plant played his first pandemic-era concert, appearing with his band SAVING GRACE on Monday (July 19) in Worthington, England. Joining the former LED ZEPPELIN lead singer on stage were vocalist Suzy Dian, mandolinist and guitar player Tony Kelsey, banjo and guitar player Matt Worley, and percussionist Oli Jefferson. Fan-filmed video footage of the show can be seen below.

SAVING GRACE made its debut in early 2019 with a series of surprise gigs in small venues across England, Wales, and Ireland and later, a trio of U.K. dates supporting FAIRPORT CONVENTION. The intimate performances saw the band drawing from a repertoire of "music inspired by the dreamscape of the Welsh Marches," songs that span Plant's diverse tastes and influences, notably his lifelong passion for British and American folk, spirituals, and traditional blues, including a number of beloved standards and longtime favorites by Doc Watson, Donovan, Moby Grape and Low, among others.

Two months ago, Plant launched the fourth season of his hugely popular podcast, "Digging Deep: The Robert Plant Podcast".

Last October, Plant released "Digging Deep: Subterranea", a journey through his solo recordings, from "Pictures At Eleven" in 1982 through to three previously unreleased, exclusive tracks.

Plant has spent the last two decades exploring different sounds, from "Raising Sand" to 2017's world music-influenced "Carry Fire".

In a new interview with "The Chuck Shute Podcast", TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider, who was famously called to testify before the U.S. Senate against the proposition to have warning labels be placed on albums deemed "offensive" to listeners, once again spoke about the rise of political correctness in the social media era. Asked for his opinion of the current state of "censorship," including the cancel culture, which is the idea that someone, usually a celebrity or a public figure, whose ideas or comments are considered offensive should be boycotted, Dee said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Censorship has always existed. People have gotta understand that. It's never gone away. The first time somebody said or did something, somebody else said, 'You can't do that.' Trust me. Throughout time, creatives, artists — people that push back on censorship and try to push the boundaries — and the people who were behind censorship used to be very puritanical; they would give an inch and they'd go, 'You can't go here,' and then the creatives kept pushing, kept pushing, kept pushing. That's our job, as creatives, is to push, and the censors, their job, apparently, is to push back. And they keep drawing lines and we keep stepping over the line. It goes on and on and on and on. The odd thing is the censorship never went away. The pendulum has swung, and it's gone from being a right wing conservative, puritanical thing to a liberal, hypersensitive social consciousness. And not that I'm not. And you can't say that because that hurts a feeling. This makes people feel put upon, and this is insulting. It's coming very much from the left now, which is very odd… In an effort to be kinder and gentler, we've become just [makes puking sound]. So, it never went away. The odd change is that it's coming more from the left than it is from the right now."

Last year, Dee told Canada's The Metal Voice that a movie like "Blazing Saddles", the 1974 American satirical Western black comedy film directed by Mel Brooks "could not be made today — it literally could not be made, because it would offend too many people.

"I remember seeing that movie the first time in a theater full of African-Americans in a black neighborhood in a black theater; me and my brother were the only two white people," he continued. "And I was laughing my ass off. And my friend said, 'Stop laughing. We're gonna get our asses kicked.' And I looked around the theater, and everybody was laughing. I said, 'Everybody's laughing.' It's funny. Funny is funny.

"It's odd, because conservatism was ultra-right back in the '80s. Now it's shifted toward the left, where you've got the liberals saying, 'Oh, you can't say that, and you can't say that, and you can't say that.'

"So, yeah, [censorship] still around, it's still an issue. But we've just gotta continue to push back and fight."

In 1985, the Parents' Music Resource Center (PMRC), led by Tipper Gore, was trying to introduce a parental warning system that would label all albums containing "offensive material." The system was to include letters identifying the type of objectionable content to be found in each album (e.g. O for occult themes, S for sex, D for drugs, V for violence, etc.), which resulted in the "Parental Advisory" sticker now found on new album releases with "questionable content." The incongruous trio of Snider, Frank Zappa and John Denver were called before Congress to testify in defense of music.

In 2015, Snider wrote an Op-Ed story for HuffingtonPost.com about his experience, saying: "Thirty years later, everything and nothing has changed. The ultra-conservatives still want to dictate to the masses what they deem acceptable for the general public to see and hear. The record industry is a mere shadow of its former self (apt punishment for its cowardice), and CDs and vinyl albums have almost become 'novelties’ in a world driven by downloads. Yet, the warning labels still adorn individual track listings and albums online.

"While initially my appearance at those Senate hearings was damaging to my career and reputation, long term it was beneficial, showing people for the first time that I was much more than a screaming 'Raggedy Ann on acid' and a fairly intelligent, sentient human being. Fortunately, I have gone on to better things."

TWISTED SISTER called it quits in 2016 after completing a farewell 40th-anniversary tour.