MACHINE HEAD's Robb Flynn and Jared MacEachern held a New Year's Eve "Electric Happy Hour" during which they performed around a dozen and a half songs, including MH tunes "Be Still And Know", "From This Day" and "Halo", plus covers of TEMPLE OF THE DOG's "Hunger Strike" and METALLICA's "Nothing Else Matters". You can now watch the session below.

Featured songs:

3:31 Take My Scars

8:11 Ten Ton Hammer

12:54 From This Day

17:11 Killers & Kings

23:13 Catharsis

29:24 Beautiful Mourning

37:47 Hunger Strike

41:48 Now We Die

49:02 Davidian

54:32 Crashing Around You

57:57 The Trooper (Snippet)

59:48 Happy New Year countdown for Europe!

1:01:57 Aesthetics Of Hate

1:08:19 Old

1:17:27 I Am Hell (Sonata In C#)

1:25:57 Be Still And Know

1:35:25 Nothing Else Matters

1:42:50 Locust

1:50:56 Halo

1:59:48 Happy New Year countdown for the UK/US!

2:01:28 Imperium

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Flynn has been staging "Acoustic Happy Hour" solo sessions every Friday, during which he has performed a number of MH tunes as well as covers of other artists' songs.

Flynn told Kerrang! magazine about "Acoustic Happy Hour": "It's just basically a free show on Facebook. I try to learn two new songs every Friday. I take requests, and I try to play MACHINE HEAD songs that have never been played live acoustic. Last week I covered MUSE, TOOL and LYNYRD SKYNYRD. It's been fucking awesome. The first three or four were horrible — I knew they were — but I knew that if I kept sucking for six weeks I would get past it.

"For the first 20 years of my career, I never took singing lessons," he continued. "Then I did some about 10 years ago. With these acoustic shows, I've been back in contact with my old singing teacher to try and figure out why I can do a three-and-a-half hour MACHINE HEAD show, but this clean singing is kicking my ass. It's been an opportunity to un-learn all the wrong shit and get an opportunity to do things right."

Last month, MACHINE HEAD released a new single, "My Hands Are Empty", via Nuclear Blast. The song marked the first musical collaboration between Flynn and original "Burn My Eyes" guitarist Logan Mader in 24 years.

"My Hands Are Empty" was the latest in a line of singles to be released by MACHINE HEAD, which issued "Do Or Die" in October 2019, "Circle The Drain" in February, and the two-song digital single "Civil Unrest", consisting of "Stop The Bleeding" and "Bulletproof", in June. "Stop The Bleeding" featured guest vocals from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Jesse Leach, and was written and recorded just days after the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

In July, MACHINE HEAD canceled its previously announced rescheduled 2020 tour dates for Europe and Australia due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe.

Each show on MACHINE HEAD's "Burn My Eyes" 25th-anniversary tour consisted of two parts: part one saw Flynn and MacEachern performing alongside new recruits, guitarist Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (DECAPITATED) and British drummer Matt Alston (DEVILMENT, EASTERN FRONT); while part two featured "Burn My Eyes" played in its entirety for the first time ever, with original "Burn My Eyes"-era drummer Chris Kontos and Mader joining in.

Post Malone was joined by RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith and GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash during his performance on Thursday (December 31) as part of "Bud Light Seltzer Sessions Presents: New Years Eve 2021" Facebook livestream. The rapper performed a cover of ALICE IN CHAINS' "Rooster" with Smith, guitarist/producer Andrew Watt and bassist Chris Chaney, before playing BLACK SABBATH's "War Pigs" with the help Slash and the aforementioned trio.

"Bud Light Seltzer Sessions Presents: New Years Eve 2021" was broadcast live from MGM Resorts in Las Vegas. The show was hosted by Lilly Singh and Matt Steffanina, and also featured sets from Saweetie, Steve Aoki and Sebastián Yatra.

BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne was a featured guest on the Post Malone song "Take What You Want", which appeared on the rapper's most recent album, "Hollywood's Bleeding". Post also collaborated with Ozzy on the latter's latest LP, "Ordinary Man".

Speaking to Zane Lowe of Beats 1 about working with Ozzy on "Take What You Want", Post said: "Ozzy Osbourne, baby. I was in Utah because I had just got off tour. It's good, right? Ozzy went over to Watt's house. You've talked a lot before. He's a maniac. I said, 'Hey, you know what? Ozzy Osbourne's coming down. We're going to cut it and I'll FaceTime you. And you let me know what's going on.' We talked and it was like a big deal. Yeah. Ozzy Osbourne. I think he crushed it. I mean he was talking to Watt and Watt was telling me he was like this, 'Yo, this is my favorite that I've done since, you know, SABBATH and since I started my own, own way.' I was like, 'That's huge.' I'm like honored. Thank you very much."

Last April, Post Malone, who is a huge NIRVANA fan, took part in a livestreamed concert on his YouTube channel, performing NIRVANA "hits and fan favorites" while raising money for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Backing Post during the performance were BLINK-182 drummer Travis Barker, guitarist Nick Mack and bassist Brian Lee.

Post Malone previously covered "All Apologies" live. He also has a couple of NIRVANA tattoos, including a portrait of Kurt Cobain on his knuckles and the songtitle "Stay Away" on his forehead.

Former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman was recently interviewed on "Speak N' Destroy", a podcast about all things METALLICA, hosted by longtime journalist and METALLICA fan Ryan J. Downey. During the lengthy chat, Friedman talks about discovering KISS, his formative bands in Hawaii, hearing the METALLICA demo "No Life 'Til Leather", the albums "Kill 'Em All", "Ride The Lightning" and "Master Of Puppets", the behind-the-scenes similarities between MEGADETH and METALLICA, what makes "Enter Sandman" and "Through The Never" so hilarious to the Japanese public.

"When I heard the METALLICA demo, [I thought], 'This is it. These are the guys. It sounds like punk rock, but it sounds like metal, and it just kills. This is it,'" Friedman recalled. "I remember I just loved that demo a lot. I don't remember if I heard the demo before I got involved with [the] 'Metal Massacre [II]' [compilation with my band ALOHA in 1982] or not, but it was probably right around that time. And I just thought they were the shit."

"Nothing was more underground than METALLICA at that time, and they were just doing underground better than anybody else at the time, or at least more in my particular taste," he continued. "So I was just blown away [when METALLICA got a record deal and released 'Kill 'Em All']. I was shocked, I was happy, I was a bit jealous. Because up until that point, we were kind of in the same circles. We'd be in the same little Xeroxed fanzines and stuff, and there'd be a review of a METALLICA demo and then there'd be a review of a VIXEN demo [Marty's pre-ALOHA band] and kind of in the same thing. I did know that I thought they were just so much cooler than the bands I was making, but I didn't see it coming that they were gonna get a record [deal] and have the record sound that good and look that good and just be that cool right at that point. So I was blown away and just stoked that the world was ready to start accepting some heavy metal music, for better or for worse."

Speaking about the differences between "No Life 'Til Leather" and "Kill 'Em All", Marty said: "I just remember sonically, the record sounded a little better, but I thought that I liked the demo a little bit better, for whatever reason. These are intangible things. You live with something, and then you hear a different version. And I was, like, 'Well, I'll go back to the original.' 'Cause I just loved the demo. I thought the album did it justice, and if I had not heard the demo before I heard the album, I would have loved the album just as much. But I wasn't disappointed. I thought it was a great version of it."

Friedman also talked about METALLICA's musical evolution between "Kill 'Em All" and "Ride The Lightning", saying: "[I was] really, really extremely impressed that the album, first of all, a second album came out, third of all, it was on a major label, and fourth of all, it was fucking heavier than 'Kill 'Em All' — let's just fucking call a spade a spade. I mean, the album opens with 'Fight Fire With Fire'. There was nothing heavier than that at the time, so you've gotta allow them a ballad somewhere in there. It was by far the heaviest thing Elektra had ever considered releasing. It was a major, major cool thing. A couple of people were saying, yeah, they sold out, but whatever. The album was fantastic. It was just, like, wow, metal is gonna be in the mainstream, and it's not gonna be shitty metal; it's gonna be great metal. So it was very, very inspiring."

Marty's latest solo album, Tokyo Jukebox 3", was released in October in Japan. According to Billboard, the LP features Marty's cover versions of a wide variety of pop songs, including such contemporary numbers as LiSA's "Gurenge" and OFFICIAL HIGE DANDISM's "Shukumei", along with DA PUMP's dance track "U.S.A.", END OF THE WORLD's ballad "Sazanka", and the vocaloid hit "Senbonzakura Feat. Hatsune Miku". Some throwback J-pop hits from the '90s are included on the set as well, such as ZARD's "Makenaide" and EVERY LITTLE THING's "Time Goes By".

As previously reported, Marty's long-awaited documentary, titled "Spacefox", will tentatively arrive in 2021. The film, which is being directed by Jeremy Frindel, the founder of Substratum Films, follows Friedman's reinvention from lead guitarist in MEGADETH to one of the most famous TV personalities in Japan.

Friedman's latest live record, "One Bad M.F. Live!!", came out in October 2018. The album was recorded in Mexico City on April 14, 2018 during the final concert of Friedman's world tour in support of "Wall Of Sound".

"Wall Of Sound" was released in August 2017 via Prosthetic Records.

This week’s guest on Streaming For Vengeance (December 30th at 3:33 PM EST) is legendary Dimmu Borgir guitarist and longtime BraveWords supporter Silenoz (real name Sven Atle Kopperud), who talks about his death metal supergroup side project, Insidious Disease, who stormed our BravePicks countdown at #5! The band is rounded off by singer Marc Grewe (Morgoth), bassist Shane Embury (Napalm Death), drummer Tony Laureano (Nile, Angelcorpse) and guitarist Cyrus (Susperia).

When asked about how the band are writing new Dimmu Borgir material during COVID 19, Silenoz says that “We are currently taking a break from it, but yes, we have been writing. Right now we have so much material separately between us. But that’s never a problem to come up with enough material. The challenge has always been melting it together in the pot and see what comes out of it, then you do your best to trim off the fat. The last album (2018’s Eonian ) we could’ve easily had done a double album with the amount of material we had that was good. Just like when I’m doing an Insidious album with the other guys quantity is not what we are going to go for. It’s important for you to learn how to produce yourself, because we are our own producers when it comes to that. That’s tricky too… it’s like when I lined up my Top 40 albums this year, I had to stop at some point because I could’ve gone on and on. And sometimes that’s how it can be with a song. That’s when you have to know when to say stop. At the moment we have some really great ideas. People keep asking me, ‘What is it going to sound like?’ But it’s too early to say. It wouldn’t surprise me if it probably sounded more primitive in Dimmu terms. We’ll see. It will be what it will be. And when we send the master to the label, that means we are happy with it and it’s already a success before we go into manufacturing. That’s how I’ve always looked at our music … once we are done in the studio and we’ve sent it off to mastering then it’s a done deal.”

You can watch Streaming For Vengeance on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel. For more on Streaming For Vengeance, visit this location.

Dee Snider has paid tribute to MOUNTAIN's Leslie West, who died December 23 at the age of 75. The iconic guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and storyteller suffered cardiac arrest at his home near Daytona, Florida on December 21 and was rushed to a hospital, where he never regained consciousness.

Earlier this week, the TWISTED SISTER frontman took to his Instagram to share an eight-minute video in which he said in part: "Leslie West was one of the greatest guitarists of all time, and, unfortunately, not everybody knows about him. He is not as renowned as Eric Clapton or [Jimi] Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads, yet he should be, because he inspired so many of them. Not Clapton — I think Clapton was his inspiration.

"It's kind of strange for me to be honoring and paying tribute to a guitar player, 'cause I'm a singer," Dee continued. "And I don't mean any disrespect to guitar players. I certainly love a good guitar solo, and I love a great guitar player. But as a singer, it was always the singers that communicated to me. Yet Leslie West was the first guitarist — when he played a solo, I stood up and paid attention and listened. And I think, as over the years I sort of examined what it was about Leslie that spoke to me so much, it was because he played melodies on a guitar solo. He made that guitar sing, and his leads — most of you know him from 'Mississippi Queen' — but his guitar solos, every one was singable. You could hum it, sing it, repeat it. It had melody to it. It was a song in and of itself.

"Leslie became one of my heroes," Snider added. "As the years went by, I got to meet Leslie, know Leslie, become friends with Leslie, and he did not disappoint."

Weinstein was born in New York City, and first emerged in the scene as a member of THE VAGRANTS. A few years later, he and Felix Pappalardi formed MOUNTAIN, a band that was amongst the first to pioneer the genre later to become known as heavy metal. Hits that include "Mississippi Queen", "Theme From An Imaginary Western" and others established an indelible voice and guitar tone that remains legendary to this day. In 1969, West brought his presence to the stage at Woodstock.

As the decade turned, he formed WEST, BRUCE AND LAING with his bandmate from MOUNTAIN drummer Corky Laing and CREAM's Jack Bruce. In, 1971, West contributed to THE WHO's "Who's Next" sessions in the city, performances which can be heard on the 1995 and 2003 reissues of that cornerstone album.

Alongside his significant contribution to pop culture as the face of MOUNTAIN, West appeared in films that include "Family Honor" (1973) and "The Money Pit" (1986). He was a regular guest on "The Howard Stern Show", and over the course of decades remained a periodic visitor alongside enjoying a decades-long friendship with the talk show host.

West was inducted in to the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame in 2006, and appeared on dozens of other recordings from a vast universe of artists. Samples of his performances lived a secondary life on the masters of a who's who of hip-hop and rap stars.

The guitarist is renowned for helping popularize the Gibson Les Paul Jr. model with P-90 pick-ups to create a tone that is undisputedly his own. More recently, he enjoyed a long relationship with Dean Guitars, releasing several signature models.

West is survived by his wife Jenni — whom he married on stage after MOUNTAIN's performance at the Woodstock 40th-anniversary concert in Bethel, New York on August 15, 2009 — brother Larry and nephew Max.
























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ASKING ALEXANDRIA guitarist Ben Bruce has confirmed to "Whiplash", the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, that the group's sixth outing, "Like A House On Fire", is the first album he and his bandmates have ever written sober.

"I didn't think I was gonna have anything interesting to say," Ben said about not being under the influence during the writing of the LP. "It's so stupid — it sounds ridiculous — but I kind of thought without it, I'd lost my superpowers. And I was really worried that I was gonna go in the studio and not have anything to write about and not have any way to get anything out that people might wanna listen to.

"I was really in a dark place for a very, very long time," he revealed. "And I attributed a lot of those negative feelings to being able to write songs that people can relate to. Because people go through shit; life is hard, no matter what age you are. It's not easy when you're a kid. People go, 'I wish I was a kid again.' It's not easy for kids, and it's not easy for adults, and it's not easy for teens. Life's hard, and so I thought, when I was sad, 'Oh, I'm writing songs they relate to. Everyone's sad.' And I was really scared that, once I stopped doing drugs and everything, I wouldn't be able to write sad songs anymore. And the thing is I realized very quickly when I was in the studio and I was sober and I wasn't taking copious amounts of drugs and stuff is that those experiences that I had that made me sad, they never went away — they're gonna be part of my life forever — but I just have a fresh perspective on them. Now I can kind of, rather than keep myself in that deep, dark hole, I can look back at those times and reflect on them."

Bruce added: "I took a different approach on this record, and I thought, okay, well, maybe I can show people how to get through those dark times, or show people that those dark times are inevitable; they're gonna happen. But as corny as it sounds, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. So once I got in there and started writing and realized, I can still write, and I do still have stuff to say, all my worries kind of went away. But they definitely were there to begin with. It was a scary time, for sure. I kind of put off going to the studio for a while, because I was worried I wouldn't be able to do it anymore."

"Like A House On Fire" was released in May 2019 via Sumerian Records. The LP was once again recorded by producer Matt Good (HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD, FROM FIRST TO LAST), who also helmed 2017's self-titled effort. The disc was recorded throughout 2019 in between a high-profile arena tour supporting SHINEDOWN and a direct support slot on the road with PAPA ROACH.

L.A. GUNS drummer Steve Riley spoke to Diane Webb of YesterdazeNews.com about what the concert industry will look like post-pandemic. He said (hear audio below): "When it does start up in 2021, and it's totally open, everybody is back to normal, I think it's just gonna be a blast. I think because everybody has had a thirst for it and had to wait for seeing live shows, I think that it's just gonna go off and be just a great time out there once everything starts to open up again. We've gotta also kind of worry about how they're gonna play these shows. Is it socially distanced shows? Is it just 25-to-35-percent capacity? We really don't know how they're gonna have to play it. But right now, we'll take anything. As long as it starts getting up and going again, we're all down and we're ready to go."

He continued: "We might release a couple of more singles before we go out in March. And March could be us wondering if that's gonna even happen. It could really be pushed back to May, or even into the summer, with the way this vaccine is going, and how slow it's going, and whether they will be able to get it to the public and everybody feeling comfortable about going out again too. So, there's a couple of things that have to be checked off before everything gets going. And we've just got our fingers crossed. We're hoping everything goes smooth."

Riley's version of L.A. GUNS released its debut album, "Renegades", on November 13 via Golden Robot Records. This version of L.A. GUNS is not to be confused with the band led by guitarist Tracii Guns and vocalist Phil Lewis, which issued two well-received albums, "The Missing Peace" and "The Devil You Know", plus the live release "Made In Milan", under the L.A. GUNS name over the last three years.

Riley is joined in his version of the group by Orlando, Florida-based guitarist/vocalist Kurt Frohlich, bassist Kelly Nickels (a member of L.A. GUNS' "classic" incarnation) and guitarist Scott Griffin (who played bass for the band from 2007 until 2009, and then again from 2011 to 2014).

This past January, Riley was sued by Guns and Lewis in California District Court. Joining Riley as defendants in the case are the three musicians who perform in his recently launched rival version of L.A. GUNS; that group's manager, booking agent and merchandiser; and Golden Robot Records.

The complaint, which requests a trial by jury, alleges that Riley's version of L.A. GUNS (referred to in the case docket as "the infringing L.A. GUNS") is creating "unfair competition" through its unauthorized usage of the L.A. GUNS trademark. In addition, Guns and Lewis are seeking relief from and/or against false advertising, breach of contract and unauthorized usage of their likenesses.

Tiwanaku frontman Ed Mowery contacted BraveWords with the news that the band is making a return in 2021 with former Death / Obituary / Testament guitarist James Murphy as part of the line-up.

"Tiwanaku welcomes lead guitarist James Murphy, formerly of Death, Obituary and Testament. James has joined the band for their debut album Earth Base One. He is recording all the solo work on the album. James will also be making live appearances with the band in 2021/2022 in locations around the globe depending on when things open again. James was already set to be a guest on Earth Base One for one song and the timing worked out just right for him to take the spot. 

The band is scheduled to mix and master the album in mid February and is currently in the studio recording Earth Base One for release in mid-2021. We are all siked to hear what James is going to do. Today he started his journey through all the songs and guitar solos. James and I have been friends for years and we've almost played together a couple times. Now we're finally gonna get the chance."

Tiwanaku is:

Ed Mowery - Vocals, Guitar
James Murphy - Lead Guitar
Chris Scales - Bass
Ryan J ONeill - Keyboards
Ryan Hurka - Drums
Liam Hurka - Drums

Bay Area bashers Death Angel have posted a new behind-the-scenes video clip along with the following message:

"Thilo Fehlinger, our wizard behind the curtain and the sixth member of Death Angel, talks about the D. W. Fearn Professional Audio Products that were used to bring our sound to life during the 7th annual Another Death Angel Xmas Show (broadcasted for the first time). Visit DWFearn.com to learn more about the VLC All Tube microphone preamp (used for Mark’s vocals) and the VDI All Tube Direct Box (used for Damien’s bass) that helped deliver the sonic beatdown that took over living rooms across the globe."

The 7th annual "Another Death Angel Xmas Show" took place over two days (December 19th and 20th) at The Great Northern in San Francisco, CA and was available for streaming. Check out the December 19th show below. It begins at the 7:27 mark.

The setlist was as follows:

"Humanicide"
"Seemingly Endless Time"
"Mistress of Pain"
"Absence of Light"
"The Pack"
"River of Rapture"
"Aggressor" 
"The Dream Calls for Blood"
"I'll Be Home For Christmas"
"Tomorrow Never Knows"
"The Moth"
Band Interview

Death Angel recently released a new animated video, produced by Ben Clarkson, for the song "Aggressor", from the band's latest album, Humanicide. Watch the clip below.

Commenting on the video, guitarist Rob Cavestany says: “The idea started as a visualizer for the song but when we saw the footage we were hooked and knew it had to turn into a complete video. Ben did an incredible job of depicting the 'Aggressor' concept and his artistic style is unique for Death Angel. The timing of this release couldn’t be better given the circumstances that surround us!  See for yourself…"

January 15 will see Voodoo Circle release their highly anticipated new album, Locked & Loaded, via AFM Records. The successor to 2018’s Raised On Rock was mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen (Pretty  Maids, Volbeat, Primal Fear). Guitarist / founder Alex Beyrodt (Primal Fear) has posted an unboxing video for the CD and Vinyl LP versions of the album.

A lyric video for the album's first single, "Devil With An Angel Smile", can be found below.

Locked & Loaded will be available as digipak & ltd. colored vinyl. Pre-order here.

Tracklisting:

"Flesh & Bone"
"Wasting Time"
"Magic Woman Chile"
"Locked & Loaded"
"Devil With An Angel Smile"
"Straight For The Heart"
"Eyes Full Of Tears"
"Devil’s Cross"
"Trouble In The Moonlight"
"This Song Is For You"
"Children Of The Revolution"

"Devil With An Angel Smile" lyric video:

Voodoo Circle is:

Alex Beyrodt - guitar & vocals
David Readmann - vocals
Mat Sinner - bass & vocals
Markus Kullmann - drums

"Last Resort" by PAPA ROACH was a surprise hit given the song's raw and vivid portrayal of mental health and suicide. And although lead singer Jacoby Shaddix wrote "Last Resort" about his friend's struggle, the track took on new personal relevance for Jacoby years later when he was battling his own demons. In the 27-minute video below, VICE learns the full, little-known story behind "Last Resort" and its journey from darkness into light.

"Last Resort" originally appeared on PAPA ROACH's breakthrough album "Infest", which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. The LP peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart and has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) for sales in excess of three million copies in the U.S. alone. It also featured the fan favorites "Broken Home", "Blood Brothers" and "Between Angels & Insects".

Last June, Shaddix told "Offstage With DWP" that he still feels the same way about "Last Resort" as he did when PAPA ROACH first released it. "I feel that that song is a lifeline to a lot of people, and has been," he said. "I've met thousands of kids over the years that have told us, 'Yo, that song saved my life. That song was there for me in my darkest hour.' If I could look back on my career just for that one moment, just that piece, it's, like, 'Wow!' To be able to make a song that impacts people in a positive way, that it has, it's, like, mission accomplished. It wasn't really my intention. It was just, like, 'We're just writing music. We've gotta get this off our chest.' But to look back on it now and see the effect that it's had, the positive effect… And also, man, it's one of those songs that cuts deep and it's at the heart of the matter… Yeah, people have been through some really dark stuff, and 'Last Resort' has brought some people through some feelings of suicide and whatnot. But then on the other hand, it's also become this crazy party anthem. I just saw this dude [on video at] a Walmart the other day and just start singing 'Last Resort' in the middle of everybody pandemic shopping, with a broom. So it's just one of those songs, it's survived the test of time, and I'm just fortunate that it's been such a positive piece of art out there floating around to be a lifeline for people struggling."

PAPA ROACH's latest album, "Who Do You Trust?" , arrived in January 2019. A follow-up LP is tentatively due later this year.

Last month, PAPA ROACH released a five-song EP, "20/20", featuring "new takes on old jams," including "Last Resort" and "Scars".

As previously reported, PAPA ROACH will release its second collection of hit singles, titled "Greatest Hits Vol. 2 - The Better Noise Years", on March 19, 2021. The effort includes 12 of the band's top 10 hits released between 2010 to 2019 as well as three previoulsy unreleased remixes and two unreleased acoustic recordings recorded live at the YouTube Studios in New York City. "Greatest Hits Vol. 2 - The Better Noise Years" also features a guest appearance by Danny Warsnop (vocalist of ASKING ALEXANDRIA) on the track "Broken As Me". The original version of the song was recorded for PAPA ROACH's 2015 album "F.E.A.R."

PAPA ROACH has remained relevant since its debut in 2000. Now 20 years in, the band currently has over eight million monthly listeners on Spotify with total streaming numbers into the billions.

PAPA ROACH has released 21 Top 5 singles over the course of its distinguished career — 12 of which are included in the new greatest-hits collection from the past 10 years. "Help", the band's 2017 release, has just been certified gold by the RIAA, selling over 500,000 copies in the United States alone.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Jesse Leach has posted a new eight-minute video containing some of his thoughts from a walk near his home in the Catskills, the vast expanse of the Appalachian Mountains situated in southeast New York state.

Speaking about how the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent government reactions to it have affected our mental health, Leach said: "I know it's hard with the masks and social distancing and all these things that we're going through, but we're arguing way too much. There's way too much division about this virus, about the state of the world, about a vaccine, about control, and people can't have differences of opinion and have a discussion, it seems like. It seems like you either believe one thing, and you're on that side, or you believe [some other] thing, and you're on that side. For me personally, I'm in the middle — I have beliefs and thoughts on both sides of the spectrum here, and I'm questioning things, and I'm researching things, and I'm not swallowing what I'm told or what somebody tells me to think. And I think there's a lot of that going on — there's a lot of swallowing the information and regurgitating what you've been told without the research. Without common sense, too."

He continued: "Just think about some of the things that are going on. Checks and balances. The power of contemplation, thinking and discussion. Because some people have changed my mind on certain things, from having a respectful discussion. And I think that's also part of adaptation — being willing to change your point of view, change your mind, change your opinion and grow. There's way too much of this 'I think this and that's it, period,' 'You're either black and you're white' when there's a ton of gray. There are shades of gray on so many different levels with what's going on right now. So it's nuances, it's adaptation, it's survival, and it's staying positive — as hard as that is. And trust me — I have my days; I have my days where this is hard. It's really hard. But I'm pushing through, and I'm finding new ways."

While 346,000 Americans have died so far as a result of COVID-19, a number of people have come out against COVID-19 response measures, including lockdowns, physical distancing and mandatory mask policies, saying that they violate constitutional rights.

More than 77,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives in December to COVID-19, while 6.4 million contracted the virus. There are now more than 20 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's latest album, "Atonement", was released in August 2019 via Metal Blade Records in the U.S. and Sony Music Entertainment in the rest of the world. The disc features guest appearances by the band's former lead singer Howard Jones and TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy. It marks the band's third full-length release since the return of Leach, who rejoined the group in 2012.

German thrash metal veterans KREATOR have written 15 songs for their next album, tentatively due in 2021 via Nuclear Blast.

The news of KREATOR's songwriting process was revealed by the band's guitarist/vocalist Mille Petrozza, who took to his Instagram earlier today (Thursday, December 31) to write: "Ok, let's wrap up 2020.

"Maybe one of the most productive years for me. I have 15 songs and counting for the next @kreatorofficial! We released our live album 'London Apocalypticon', plus the new single '666 - World Divided' earlier this year. Apart from this, my personal highlight was connecting with old and new friends on a deeper level. Something touring doesn't allow me to do sometimes, since I am always somewhere.

"I got to read tons of cool books, discovered amazing new music and watched some great movies. Most importantly, I stayed healthy, and I hope you did too!

"Ok, sometimes I was bored, so see my top 10 playlist in the comment section. What's yours?

"What were your highlights and lowlights in 2020?

"See you in 21! The new year will be spectacular! I can feel it."

Last month, KREATOR bassist Frédéric Leclercq confirmed to Moshpit Passion webzine that the band had entered a studio in Essen, Germany to begin writing, arranging and recording demos for its next album. The follow-up to 2017's "Gods Of Violence" will mark KREATOR's first album with Leclercq, who joined the group last year.

This past September, KREATOR guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö described the sessions for the band's new album to Italy's Poisoned Rock as "a lot of fun," adding that the "mood" in the band "is great. And the general vibe and the atmosphere is very good," he said. "[These are] creative times for KREATOR at the moment."

Speaking about the KREATOR songwriting process, Sami said: "The main composer for KREATOR is for sure Mille. And then he likes to send us some demos over. But then we all arrange them together and bring new ideas to it and try to enhance them and sometimes bring our own ideas, of course, as well. That's what we're doing right now, and just try to make the best possible result imaginable, because we really want to work hard on the next album."

On the topic of KREATOR's musical evolution, Yli-Sirniö said: "I like to think that there's a progression all the time and we're always looking for something new. That's always what you become most afraid of, with an older band like us, after doing so many albums together — is to find a new angle and a new perspective for every album. And that is the difficult part, but it's also the challenging part and the part that I like the most. And now that we have a new member in the band, Fred, he brings a lot of new ideas and a different angle, and it's fantastic. He's also an amazing guitar player."

This past March, KREATOR surprise-released a new single, "666 - World Divided". The song was produced by Andy Sneap and Markus Ganter and was recorded at Hansa Tonstudios in Berlin, Germany.

The music video for "666 - World Divided" was created under the direction of Jörn Heitmann, who was responsible for the music videos for "Radio" and "Ausländer" by RAMMSTEIN.

KREATOR played its first show with Leclercq in October 2019 in Santiago, Chile.

Before joining KREATOR, Leclercq rose to fame with U.K.-based extreme power metallers DRAGONFORCE for whom he handled bass duties from 2005 until August 2019.

KREATOR's previously announced "State Of Unrest" European tour with LAMB OF GOD has been rescheduled for 2021 in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

KREATOR released a new live set, "London Apocalypticon - Live At The Roundhouse", in February via Nuclear Blast. The effort was professionally filmed and recorded on December 16, 2018 at the Roundhouse in London, England.
























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SCORPIONS singer Klaus Meine says that the suggestion that the group's classic ballad "Wind Of Change" was written by the CIA "shows how powerful music can be."

Meine and his bandmates have always maintained that they wrote "Wind Of Change" after performing at 1989's Moscow Music Peace Festival in Moscow, where they shared the stage with other hard rock acts like BON JOVI and MÖTLEY CRÜE.

The theory that "Wind Of Change" was actually penned by the CIA as a piece of late Cold War propaganda was first raised in an eight-part podcast series, also called "Wind Of Change", which premiered on Spotify in May.

Produced by Crooked Media and Pineapple Street Studios, the podcast was hosted by New Yorker journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, who said he launched the investigation after hearing a second-hand story from a friend who used to work for the CIA — that "Wind Of Change" was actually written by the CIA to encourage change throughout the Soviet Union.

In a recent interview with "That Jamieson Show", Meine stated about the CIA rumor (see video below): "I would be ashamed if I would bring up a story like this. Everybody would say, 'Klaus, no. No way.' Like, a marketing plan, 30 years of 'Wind Of Change'. It's, like, you never would go that far, because I don't know anybody who believes that kind of story.

"I think the success of the 'Wind Of Change' podcast is because people get into this, they're drawn into this kind of scenario," he continued. "It's, like, 'Hmm, it could be true. It could be true. Or maybe not. Maybe yes.' And I think this is what this whole story is about the CIA and the SCORPIONS. And everybody picks it up around the world, and I go, 'God. The New York Times? Jeez. Rolling Stone? Again? Oh, come on.'

"On the other side, of course it's not true at all," he added. "It shows how powerful music can be. If they think this song was like a tool to help to bring down communism — I mean, Jeez. [Laughs] It just underlines, in a heavy way, if that would be possible, the power of music.

"We live in times where conspiracy theories are all over the place, in many directions," Klaus said. "And a lot of people start to believe what they see, what they hear or what they think what is the truth and what is for real, and in many cases, it's not. It's also a lot of people, they don't wanna go with the mainstream. It's, like, 'You know what? I know the USA was never on the moon. It was all fake.' There are many people who believe that theory… It's the kind of people, they wanna give you the feeling, 'You believe that? I know better.'"

Earlier in the month, Deadline reported that the "Wind Of Change" podcast was being adapted for television at Hulu.

Alex Karpovsky is writing and executive producing the project, along with Jason Winer. 20th Television is the studio and is producing in association with Winer's Small Dog Pictures, Crooked Media, Pineapple Street Studios and Spotify.

Keefe told Deadline about his decision to explore the topic: "It's a story that stretches across musical genres, and across borders and periods of history. So, it was important to me that you hear the music, and the accents and the voices, and judge for yourself who might be lying and who is telling the truth. I've had so much fun pursuing this crazy story over the course of a year, exploring the dark byways of Cold War history and doing nearly a hundred interviews in four countries with rockers and spies."

Tommy Vietor, the co-founder of Crooked Media, added: "We know that the CIA covertly sponsored cultural events during the '50s and '60s. They paid to film George Orwell's '1984' and 'Animal Farm'. They sponsored a European tour for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Why not help a German rock band write a power ballad to shred the iron curtain? And while the CIA closely guards its secrets, Patrick is one of the best investigative journalists and writers of his generation, and no one is better positioned to find out the truth."

Back in 2015, SCORPIONS said "Wind Of Change" was inspired by the sight of thousands of Russians cheering them on in 1988 — when they became the first hard rock band to play in Russia — and in 1989, at the aforementioned Moscow Music Peace Festival, even though they were a German band.

"We wanted to show the people in Russia that here is a new generation of Germans growing up," guitarist Rudolf Schenker said. "They're not coming with tanks and guns and making war — they're coming with guitars and rock 'n' roll and bringing love!"

"There were so many emotional moments in Moscow," Meine added. "I guess it could have been BON JOVI or MÖTLEY CRÜE, any of these guys who had gone home inspired by what they saw, but for them it was like, 'Hey! We rocked the Soviet Union, dudes!' For us, maybe it was different. We saw so many changes from Leningrad in '88 to Moscow in '89. That was the inspiration for 'Wind Of Change'."

Pain / Hypocrisy mastermind / frontman Peter Tägtgren capped off 2020 with the following message, offering some hints as to what he has in store for 2021:

"Happy new year everyone! It’s been a different year for sure; a lot of people lost their jobs or lost close ones. To be honest, it’s been a shit year; only pharmacies and politicians had a good year, working people got buried up to our necks or broke it.

My next year will start of with release of a couple of new songs from Pain (February) and Hypocrisy beginning of summer, new project album somewhere in between. Stay safe and see you soon."

 

It was recently announced that Tägtgren and Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann have decided to end their collaboration on Lindemann. According to the statement announcing Lindemann's parting of ways, a live DVD of their show in Moscow 2020, which will be released in spring 2021. Till Lindemann will be active under the name Lindemann within a new set-up in the future.

 

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

 

Tägtgren launched Hypocrisy in 1991 and has released 12 albums. The band's latest album, End Of Disclosure, was released in 2013 via Nuclear Blast. Pain, which started out as Tägtgren's industrial hobby project in 1997, has released six albums, the latest one being Coming Home from 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

September 25th, 2020 marked 25 years since Rammstein emerged from Berlin with its debut album, Herzeleid. To celebrate the anniversary, the RammWiki page on YouTube continues to roll out rare audio and video material from the band's career. The latest clips are taken guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe's pre-Rammstein band, Orgasm Death Gimmick.

Orgasm Death Gimmick was formed in 1991 in Berlin, Germany. In August 1991 they produced their first demo tape. Ten months later, in June 1992, they produced their second demo tape, which was followed by their third and last demo in 1993. In February '93 the band broke up. Rammstein was formed in 1994 by Kruspe, vocalist Till Lindemann, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, drummer Christoph Schneider, and keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz. The line-up remains unchaged.

Orgasm Death Gimmick is always credited for the riff in the Rammstein song "Sehnsucht", which is taken from the song "Cyber".

To celebrate Rammstein's first indelible impact on global hard rock history, the band and Vertigo/UMe will release limited, remastered editions of the band’s groundbreaking debut on December 4. They have released an official trailer for Herzeleid (XXV Anniversary Edition - Remastered) featuring the CD and vinyl LP versions of the album.

Herzeleid (XXV Anniversary Edition - Remastered) will feature the album’s original tracklist on a single CD, housed in a lavish, cross-shaped digipak with deluxe slipcase, and, for the first time ever, the remastered album with HD sound will be available digitally.

In addition, there will be a 2LP version with a slipcase containing two 180 gram heavyweight black vinyl discs with blue splatter effect. The creator of the original artwork, Dirk Rudolph, is also responsible for the Anniversary Edition packaging. The booklets also contain the original band portraits shot by Praler. Both the CD and vinyl editions are strictly limited.

Tracklisting:

"Wollt Ihr Das Bett in Flammen Sehen"
"Der Meister"
"Weisses Fleisch"
"Asche zu Asche"
"Seemann"
"Du Riechst So Gut"
"Das Alte Leid"
"Heirate Mich"
"Herzeleid"
"Laichzeit"
"Rammstein"

QUEEN's Brian May and Roger Taylor. Along with Sarah Brightman, performed "Endless Rain", a song composed by X JAPAN's Yoshiki, on the biggest TV show in Japan this past New Year's Eve. Yoshiki appeared from Los Angeles.

"Kohaku Uta Gassen", broadcast on Japan's public broadcaster NHK, is an annual music program in Japan for the past 70 years and continues to be the most popular TV program each year, with a viewership of over 40%. It has long been viewed as the true barometer of status for domestic artists with an unrivaled influence on an artist's profile, status, and sales in Japan.

In light of the difficulties faced by people all over the world in 2020 and a pressing desire for togetherness, NHK concluded the broadcast with a special performance featuring the biggest artists from the show to perform the timeless hit song "Endless Rain", composed by Yoshiki, one of the most influential composers in Japanese history.

In 1994, Taylor and Yoshiki co-wrote "Foreign Sand" (lyrics by Taylor, music by Yoshiki), which entered the U.K. chart, and have been friends ever since. Also, Yoshiki opened the Classic Rock Awards (2015, London) with QUEEN's greatest hit "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was praised by May, who attended the event.

Brightman chose Yoshiki's composition "Miracle" to be a single and was featured in her 2018 album. They have joined each other on stage for selected dates during her world tour, Yoshiki's classical tour and at "Kohaku Uta Gassen" in 2018.

Yoshiki also appeared on the TV show. Ever since the impact of COVID-19 in February, Yoshiki has remained in L.A., so he joined remotely for the performance.

The 2020 "Kohaku Uta Gassen" marked Yoshiki's sixth consecutive performances and a total of eleven — eight performances as X JAPAN and three consecutive performances as a solo artist.

Yoshiki said: "I feel honored and grateful to be performing with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and Sarah Brightman and all those Japanese superstars. I hope that through the music, we can give everyone courage."

Hard rock band, Sainted Sinners, have released a music video for "Stone Cold Sober", the song is taken from their new album Unlocked & Reloaded, which was released December 4th, 2020 via El Puerto Records. 

The video was directed and edited by Volker Thiele: "Stone Cold Sober" tells the story of reality and (another) fantasy. "It's about the pub scene, how it has been until this year and how we have to deal with it in recent times. It's the story about real life and a sobering couch-potato existence."

After two albums with David Reece on vocals, the new Sainted Sinners record is the first with new singer Iacopo "Jack" Meille (Tygers Of Pan Tang) on vocals.

Unlocked & Reloaded was mixed by Dick Dropkick at SpitFire Studio and mastered by Harry Hess (Harem Scarem, Danko Jones, Grim Reaper). The cover artwork was designed by Manfred Smietana / MS Art Design.

Tracklisting:

"Same Ol’ Song"
"Standing On Top"
"Early Light Of Day"
"40 Years"
"The Hammer Of The Gods"
"Free To Be"
"I Can’t Wait"
"Stone Cold Sober"
"Call It Love"
"Wall Of Sound"
"Farewell To Kings"

(Photo by Matt Bischof)

 

BEHEMOTH frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski says that he will receive his first shot of the coronavirus vaccine in less than two weeks.

The 43-year-old Polish native, who was diagnosed with a severe case of leukemia a decade ago, revealed his plan to take the vaccine in an end-of-year message on Instagram.

He wrote: "All righty 2020. Nuff of this bullshit! I'm sure I did make the best out of it considering isolation, restrictions and all that physical and mental prison virus put us in. Enough is enough.

"I'm taking vaccine in 10 days. And I DO hope world will start opening up in upcoming months to finally bloom and recover from all those massive damages it did to all of us.

"Let's all do our best do make this transition smoother... coz I'm dying here without social contacts with all of YOU legions! Let's bring music to the stages of venues all across the globe! U r with me here???"

According to Reuters, Poland has bought over 60 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from six producers. The plan is for the country's entire adult population of around 30 million people to be vaccinated across some 8,000 vaccination points.

A recent survey commissioned by Rzeczpospolita and conducted by Warsaw's Institute for Social Research and Market (IBRIS) found that 47% of Poles want to get vaccinated, while 44% refuse, with 9% undecided.

Nergal was diagnosed with leukemia back in 2010 and, via the donation of bone marrow and extensive treatments, has since made a full recovery.

Two years after his diagnosis, he finally got to meet his donor, then-25-year-old Gregory Kite.

In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, Nergal recalled being devastated when he first found out he had leukemia.

"I remember that the doctor handed me the printout with the description and the details about the type of leukemia I had and then he left," he said. "It was just me and my girlfriend in the room and I started crying. I had no idea what I was confronting. I just read the word, read that it may be fatal in many or most cases and it was shocking. I won't play the hero or pretend I'm a tough guy, but it took me maybe five minutes to get over the shock and very soon after' I was shaving my head. It looked like I was going to war and I needed a warlike attitude and a warlike haircut."

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

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
























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American metal torchbearers Pounder have revealed their new track, "Hard City." The song is the second to be revealed from the band's sophomore album, Breaking The World, set for international release on January 29th via Shadow Kingdom Records.

Breaking The World by POUNDER

It was but early 2019 when Pounder dropped their proud 'n' powerful debut album, Uncivilized. Wasting no time keeping that envious momentum going, Pounder return with all guns blazing on Breaking The World. Leaner, meaner, and all-too-accurately titled, Breaking The World sees the band - vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey, bassist Alejandro Corredor, and lead guitarist Tom Draper - getting both heavier and more anthemic, more American in their metal but also more wide-ranging in their reach. Comprising seven songs in a satisfyingly compact 37 minutes, Breaking The World keeps the energy flowing freely across these more concertedly epic songs.

Above all, just like Uncivilized before it, Breaking The World reaffirms what's so invigorating and life-affirming about the art of heavy metal. "We won't live forever / we just get one chance / so let's do it right," Harvey sagely sings in the album's opening moments. And in this state of the world right now, more than ever do we need Pounder to break it and build it back up again. "Give Me Rock"? You shall have it!

Breaking The World artwork and tracklisting:

"Spoils Of War" 
"Breaking The World" 
"Hard Road To Home" 
"Never Forever" 
"Hard City"
"Give Me Rock" 
"Deadly Eyes"

"Hard Road To Home":

 

 

During a December 5-6 Headbangers Con live virtual panel, SOIL vocalist Ryan McCombs spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the long-awaited follow-up to 2013's "Whole" album. He said: "We just started writing here recently with the SOIL guys. So that's been a breath of fresh air for me, 'cause I've been going a little nuts not having something to write for a long time.

"Not having something to write is like an artist not having use of their hands to draw or paint, or whatever their medium is. I've never been able to play an instrument for shit, so I've always been reliant on having a good music writer, instrumentation-wise, a music writer, and I've been blessed with C.J. Pierce [during my days with DROWNING POOL] and Adam Zadel. So not having one of those guys sending me musical ideas to bounce back and forth on, I feel like an artist with no hands. So having, all of a sudden, half a dozen songs in two weeks' time to write with, I feel like a mad scientist. I feel like my legs work again; I've got hands again. It's been awesome."

Ryan also talked about how SOIL might go about releasing new music and whether putting out full-length albums makes sense anymore.

"It's been about 137 years since the last album, so we've talked ad nauseam about what could be a way of working," he said. "I think one of the things that goes against us at times is Tim [King, SOIL bassist] being in the music business on the other side of the fence. Tim's on the label side of things as well, with Pavement, so he sees the problems that the business is having. And so it's hard for him sometimes to separate the fact of the artist and the shirt-and-tie. And so that goes against us sometimes, because, as an artist, we're just going, 'Let's write a new record. Let's write some new songs. Let's get a new record out there.' And he's the same way, but then he's gotta [look at it from the point of view of], 'What are we gonna do?' Because, at the end of the day, nobody is selling anything. Records aren't selling anymore. Hard copies, CDs aren't selling anymore — not at the numbers that they need to to make them worthwhile for printing. So that puts us into bouncing ideas off each other, and that's usually where things end up screeching to a halt. I think, actually, my dumb ass made the comment, 'Well, to begin with, we need material. Until we have material, there's no reason to worry about how you're going to release it. So let's get writing.' And that's when Tim finally [said], 'You're absolutely right.' And that's when he started writing the stuff. And now Adam's on fire about it."

In October 2019, SOIL released a "theatrical interpretation" of its song "One Love". Conceptually, SOIL wanted to do something different and interesting with the song since "One Love" originally appeared on "Whole". Indie filmmakers David Gregory (director) and James Morgan (director of photography) were tapped for the job. Filming was shot in the U.K. during SOIL's tour supporting STATIC-X.

SOIL's latest release was "Scream: The Essentials", which arrived in September 2017 via Pavement Entertainment and AFM Records. The effort celebrated the band's 20-year career and featured early recordings as well as alternate versions and mixes.

MindWars teamed up with video producer Camilo Copat (Warehouse17) to create a lyric video for “Digital Dictatorship”. The song, from the album The Fourth Turning, and the video, are a look into the world of digital control.

The Fourth Turning artwork and tracklisting:

“The Awakening”
“Fall In Line”
“MindWars”
“(Who’ll Stop The) Aryan Race”
“The System”
“Digital Dictatorship”
“Marching Off To War”
“Black Death”
“Blood Red”
“Holy Terror”
“Criminally Insane” (Slayer cover, bonus track)

“MindWars”:

“The System”:

For further details, visit MindWars on Facebook.

 

Michael Sweet of openly Christian rockers STRYPER has shared a list of some of his New Year's resolutions, including that he wants "to pray & play harder" and "to ban CNN" from his life.

The 57-year-old Massachusetts resident posted his list on social media on Thursday (December 31), writing: "Here are a few of my 2021 New Years Resolutions:

1-To live life to the fullest

2-To make more music

3-To get back my 6 pack

4-To ban CNN from my life

5-To pray & play harder

6-To show/give Lisa more love

7-To eat less Taco Bell

8-To buy less gear

To stop pretending my Subaru is an Ferrari

9-To stop and smell the roses

10-To go somewhere I've never been

11-To skydive

12-To talk myself out of skydiving

13-To make the best albums of my life/career

14-To learn a new language

15-To learn a new instrument

16-To go to Mars

17-To kick the [crap] out of 2020

18-To see all of you on tour;-)"

Two months ago, Sweet defended his support of Donald Trump, saying that the real estate mogul "has done a lot of good things for America."

Despite the fact that he is twice divorced and has faced over two dozen accusations of sexual misconduct, Trump was white Christians' preferred candidate for last year's presidential election, with some insisting that the president is a Christian hero who is standing up for religious rights.

Asked in a recent interview with Slabber.net why he voted for Trump in 2016 and why he believes Trump is a Christian, Sweet said: "I have put it out there already that I voted for Donald Trump four years ago. I voted for him because I had really become fed up with politicians. I feel like most, if not all, politicians are there to tell us what we want to hear so they can get into office, and once they get there they don't deliver. So, when Donald Trump came around, I thought, okay, this guy is not a politician and he's going to be different, and that's why I voted for him.

"I don't think his delivery is often good," Sweet continued. "I wish he would stay off Twitter. The way he presents himself, the way he speaks, and some of the things he says get under my skin as much as anyone else. But I do feel Donald Trump has done a lot of good things for America, especially for the economy.

"I think it's very easy to blame someone for the economy tanking due to a pandemic that's not their fault. This pandemic would have come along regardless of who the president is, and the economy would have tanked regardless. No president in the world could stop the coronavirus coming but Donald Trump has been easy to blame. I don't feel that is justifiable and I feel that it's wrong.

"Joe Biden is an example of someone using Trump and this virus to suit his agenda of getting into office," Michael added.

"There's a lot of people out there who don't like their boss, but their boss is in the that position because they do a good job for the company they work for. That's kind of how I view Donald Trump. I don't love everything he says or does, but I voted for him. But by saying all of that, and being Michael Sweet of STRYPER, that opens the door for me to be attacked. I'm okay with that. I'm not gonna run from what I do or say. I'm not afraid to be challenged for my decisions."

Back in November 2016, Sweet drew criticism from some STRYPER fans for posting a picture of Donald Trump and congratulating the real estate mogul for "working his ass off for the presidency of the United States of America."

In March 2019, Sweet praised Trump's actions that served to ramp up the federal government's response to the COVID-19 epidemic — even after Trump was criticized by some parts of the media for downplaying fears about COVID-19 or actively spreading misinformation about its repercussions.

Last May, Sweet said that he would like to see his band represented by Trump's fourth White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.

In October, Sweet praised Amy Coney Barrett, who narrowly won confirmation to fill the vacancy left by the death in September of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for answering questions during confirmation hearings "with poise, grace, patience, humility and intelligence."

Barrett has close ties to People Of Praise, a charismatic Christian religious group which has conservative stances on the role of women in society and other social issues. Former members of the group say it teaches that wives must submit to the will of their husbands.

According to The Washington Post, 65 percent of Republicans are white Christians, but white Christians account for only 38 percent of Democrats.


Here are a few of my 2021 New Years Resolutions:

1-To live life to the fullest

2-To make more music

3-To get back my 6...

Posted by Michael Sweet on Thursday, December 31, 2020

Mystic Prophecy, who signed with Rock Of Angels Records in 2018, have released their new official lyric video for the song "Here Comes The Winter". The track is taken from the band’s highly acclaimed Metal Division albu, which hit #20 on the German charts.

"Mystic Prophecy say goodbye to a once in a lifetime year by sharing their most touching track off their latest album, Metal Division. 'Here Comes The Winter' is an ode to all the people feeling depressed and overwhelmed by sad feelings. This song is an outcry for courage and positive mental attitude!"

Metal Division is available via the digital platforms found here,

For information and updates on Mystic Prophecy go to their offucial Facbook page here

Drum legend Cozy Powell is known for his work with artists including The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, Brian May, Whitesnake, Emerson, Lake & Powell, and Black Sabbath. He died on April 5th, 1998 in a car crash. Former Rainbow bandmate Graham Bonnet has posted the following message on social media celebrating Powell's birthday:

"It's hard to wish Happy Birthday to someone who is gone. Every year on this day (December 29th), I am consumed by sadness and yet can't help remembering Cozy with a smile. He was one of a kind; smart, funny, kind and the greatest drummer with which I've ever played. I remember getting the call from Don Airey saying something like 'It's the old boy. He's gone.' After he explained to me what had happened and when I finally finished crying, I opened up the back door and looked out on to the mountainside where there was the most vivid double rainbow you could imagine. I said to myself 'Is that you, Cozy?' I was filled with a sense of wonder. Nothing would ever be the same and I miss Cozy as much today as I did on that day in 1998, but I am so lucky to have had the time with him that I did. Happy Birthday, CP. You will never be forgotten.

If anyone has any photos of Cozy and me together, please post them here. I would love to see them. Thanks!"

On Saturday, August 16th, 1980 Rainbow took to the stage to headline the first rock festival to be staged at Castle Donington. It was the culmination of the band’s tour in support of the hugely successful Down To Earth album, released in 1979, and would prove to be the last live show featuring this particular line-up of the band: Ritchie Blackmore (guitars), Don Airey (keyboards), Graham Bonnet (vocals), Roger Glover (bass) and Cozy Powell (drums). The set featured tracks from the new album alongside classics from earlier in their career. There were virtuoso solo spots for Blackmore, Airey and Powell which served to highlight the sheer musical prowess in the band.

FOO FIGHTERS have released a new single, "No Son Of Mine". The track, which can be streamed below, will appear on the band's upcoming 10th studio album, "Medicine At Midnight", due on February 5, 2021 via Roswell Records/RCA Records.

"No Son Of Mine" ignites the second half of "Medicine At Midnight" with a lightning strike of a riff that builds into the album’s most full-on barnstormer. Replete with nods to familiar FF influences from QUEEN's "Stone Cold Crazy" to "Ace Of Spades"/"Iron Fist"-era MOTÖRHEAD to METALLICA's "Kill 'Em All", "No Son Of Mine" features a streamlined, minimalist chassis of searing Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett licks atop a steel-trap-tight Taylor Hawkins/Nate Mendel rhythmic frame.

"This is the kind of song that just resides in all of us and if it makes sense at the time, we let it out," Grohl explains, adding, "Lyrically, it's meant to poke at the hypocrisy of self righteous leaders, people that are guilty of committing the crimes they’re supposedly against…"

"Medicine At Midnight" is a nine-song, 37-minute effort which was produced by the FOO FIGHTERS and Greg Kurstin.

The first single from the disc, "Shame Shame", was released in November. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Paola Kudacki and co-stars Grohl and Sofia Boutella. "Shame Shame" renders in stunning black and white an interpretation of a recurring dream that's haunted Grohl since his childhood days.

Grohl told SiriusXM's Alt Nation about the "Medicine At Midnight" musical approach: "It's our 10th album, and it's our 25th anniversary. We're. like, okay, let's look back at all the stuff that we've done before. We've made that loud sort of noisy punk rock fast stuff. We've made the sleepy acoustic kind of gentle acoustic record stuff. We've done the three- or four-minute-long bubblegum rock and roll, pop, single thing before. And it was, like, well, what haven't we done? And we had never really made a groove-oriented sort of party record.

"It's hard to put the words 'dance' or 'funk' or 'disco' in the same sentence as the FOO FIGHTERS; it scares the shit out of me," Dave admitted. "But all of us grew up loving rock and roll records that you could like bounce around to, like THE CARS. Like, oh my God, we love THE CARS. Or David Bowie's 'Let's Dance'. Or POWER STATION. Or THE [ROLLING] STONES' 'Tattoo You' — things like that. We're, like, 'All right. We've never really explored that territory before. Let's do it.

"We're lucky in that everybody in the band has diverse influences and everybody loves different kinds of music, but I honestly think we're capable of doing almost anything," he said. "So if we put our minds to it, we can kind of chameleon and turn into a death metal band, or we could be like THE CARPENTERS. So we just have to come together and make the decision, like, 'All right, which way do we wanna go? Which way are we gonna turn the wheel?' And this time we did it to make this party record."

Photo credit: Danny Clinch






The wait is over.

Listen to No Son of Mine: https://t.co/TzxkFRtBeE

Pre-order/save Medicine At Midnight: https://t.co/8PVlKIpILc #HAPPYNEWYEAR pic.twitter.com/FbeLfDudh3

— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) January 1, 2021

METALLICA's music was streamed 1.1 billion times on Spotify in 2020. This marks the second year in a row that the band's songs were played more than a billion times on the digital music service in a 12-month period.

The heavy metal legends' social media revealed their latest streaming feat on Wednesday (December 30), adding that "We thought last year's numbers were insane… you guys have outdone yourselves! 99.3M hours?! That’s like if someone started listening on October 27, 9318 B.C. and never stopped. Can anyone guess what this year’s most played song was, clocking in at 128.6M streams??

"You remain the most dedicated fans in the world – thank you for spending so much of your year with us!"

Back in December 2012, METALLICA made the first nine of its studio albums, as well as various live material, singles, remixes and collaborations, available for the first time on Spotify. The move was significant because Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster, later sat on the board of Spotify. METALLICA waged a battle with Napster more than a decade earlier over the illegal sharing of the band's music, which resulted in both legal action and a battered public image for the band.

At the press conference in New York announcing the Spotify deal in December 6, 2012 Parker and METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich appeared together and seemingly buried the hatchet. Ulrich said, "When [Parker] and I saw each other a few months ago. We could see that we had been put down as adversaries. We realize we had much more in common and sitting down was long overdue . . . We were younger, maybe somewhat more ignorant. We sat down and had a heart to heart."

In a statement at its web site, METALLICA said, "We are extremely proud to be a part of Spotify, who not only has a proven track record, but is by far the best streaming service."

METALLICA is able to make these deals directly since, as of 2012, the band has complete control over the master tapes of all its audio and video recordings. The band has also launched its own label, Blackened Recordings.
























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Legendary English guitarist John Sykes (TYGERS OF PAN TANG, THIN LIZZY, WHITESNAKE, BLUE MURDER, SYKES) has released the official music video for a new song called "Dawning Of A Brand New Day". The track, which was recorded at least four years ago, is expected to appear on Sykes's long-awaited new solo album, "Sy-Ops", tentatively due later this year.

The "Dawning Of A Brand New Day" video was produced by Parker Thibault, with additional footage courtesy of Natasha Gregory and James Sykes.

Last year, Sykes parted ways with Golden Robot Records without releasing a single record through the label.

Sykes's partnership with the Australian company was first announced in January 2019. At the time, John promised that his his first album in two decades would arrive before the end of 2019. However, things apparently went south shortly after the signing, with Sykes later accusing the label of making "little attempt to move things forward despite our best efforts and patience."

"Sy-Ops" is expected to include such other tracks as "Believe In Yourself", "My Guitar" and "Out Alive".

Speaking to Reality Check TV at the January 2019 Hall Of Heavy Metal History event in Anaheim, California, Sykes stated about his absence from the rock scene: "I'm looking forward to getting out on the road and playing again. I kind of go underground and stay there for a while. I don't know, man. Sometimes I just take off and shut it all down. But I'm getting the itch, I've been having the itch to get back out and play, so I'm looking forward to that."

Asked about the musical direction of his new record, Sykes said: "It's kind of got flavors of old and new. But I think it'll be pleasing to a lot of people to hear it. I think it'll touch a fair few people if they check it out. It's a good, solid album — it's not just a couple of tracks and a load of fillers."

Sykes's band for his upcoming tour is expected to include his onetime BLUE MURDER bandmate Tony Franklin (bass) and Fred Boswell Jr. (drums), both of whom are pictured with John below.

John's best-known work was when he joined WHITESNAKE and co-wrote the band's self-titled seventh studio album, released in 1987. It produced a major power ballad hit, "Is This Love", along with the No. 1 hit "Here I Go Again". The album was a major crossover hit, eventually selling over eight million copies in the U.S. alone.

Sykes announced his departure from THIN LIZZY in July 2009, explaining that "I feel it's time to get back to playing my own music."

In a new interview with Terry "Beez" Bezer of Knotfest.com's "Mosh Talks With Beez", MOTIONLESS IN WHITE frontman Chris "Motionless" Cerulli spoke about how he and his bandmates have been staying busy during the coronavirus pandemic. He said (see video below): "We have done a few projects — just different kind of out there… like, 'Let's try something different.' We did some theatrical versions of some songs we did; we did a cover of a KILLERS song; we did a 'Creatures' anniversary song — all things that just felt like we had the unique time frame to try these things; let's go for it. And all those things have been really cool, 'cause they're just a different extension of what our band can do [and] just hasn't been able to touch on it, and just cool, creative moments."

According to Chris, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE has also been working on music for the follow-up to 2019's "Disguise" album. "But we're not really sure what to do right now," he admitted. "Do we do a record? Do we do singles? Do we hold off for a while? What do we do? That's kind of the scenario we're stuck in and still trying to figure out — what's next? We can do all these projects and all these different alternate versions of songs all we want, but at some point, there's gotta be another record. It's just when do we do that? Do we wait and see what happens with the pandemic? Do we do a record? Do we do a bunch of singles over the course of next year until there's more clarity in what's going on? What do we do? But in the meantime, we've just been writing, and shit's been really cool. I've personally done a bunch of heavy songs, which feels cool to be in touch with that again — like, really heavy songs. But, as I said before, the record will maintain its usual mix of heavy, experimental and whatnot."

Last week, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE released a brand-new standalone single, "Creatures X: To The Grave". The track arrived as the band prepared to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its acclaimed debut album, "Creatures", with a special "deadstream performance" on October 28, which saw the band performing the album in its entirety during the event.

Furthermore, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE has revealed a special 10th-anniversary reissue of "Creatures" — available on vinyl, cassette, and digital formats. The vinyl release features newly reimagined artwork, while the deluxe digital release includes three bonus tracks — "Dragula", "Creatures (Celldweller Beauty Remix)" and "Mallevs Maleficarvm (Tim Skold Remix)". The LP comes pressed on yellow, purple, and black-splattered vinyl, and is available on the band's official store alongside a limited edition run of 1,000 cassette copies.

Just last month, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE surprised fans with a cover of THE KILLERS' "Somebody Told Me" which is available on all streaming platforms with an official visualizer streaming on the band's YouTube channel. The cover followed the arrival of MOTIONLESS IN WHITE's "Another Life / Eternally Yours: Motion Picture Collection" EP, which was produced by Justin Deblieck and mixed by Steve Sopchak. For the EP, the acclaimed Scranton, Pennsylvania band reconstructed, reimagined, and reinvigorated two fan-favorite singles: "Another Life" and "Eternally Yours". Additionally, they included brand new cinematic instrumental tracks for both. For this big screen-worthy interpretation of "Another Life", they recruited dark pop Estonian artist Kerli to contribute an emotionally charged vocal. Over a bed of orchestral strings and sparse piano, frontman Chris Motionless locks into a haunting and hypnotic duet with her. The official music video offers a ghostly counterpoint and alternate view of the original as well.

Meanwhile, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE enlisted Australian vocalist Crystal Joilena to join this nocturnal take of "Eternally Yours". Classically inspired piano cuts through swells of strings as the vocals reach heavenly heights on a solemn promise. Punctuated by lasers and galactic vignettes, the accompanying visual complements the song’s otherworldly energy.

A highlight of the group’s latest album "Disguise", the original "Another Life" ascended to the Top 15 at Active Rock radio, becoming the band's highest-charting single to date. It has notably gathered 11.5 million views on the official music video.

KISS's New Year's Eve performance in Dubai, United Arab Emirates broke Guinness world records for highest flame projection in a music concert and for most flame projections launched simultaneously in a music concert.

"I can reveal that you achieved a grand total of 73," a Guinness representative told the band about the number of projections launched. "You are officially amazing." As for the height of the flame projections, the new benchmark is now "35 meters."

Landmarks Live Presents produced the $10 million spectacular, which was filmed with more than 50 4K cameras and 360-degree views and was held on a massive 250-foot stage at The Royal Beach at Atlantis. The show included "a million dollars' worth of pyro," according to frontman Paul Stanley.

KISS partnered with event company Tixr to beam the "Kiss 2020 Goodbye" show around the world.

Tickets to view the stream are currently on sale on the event's official web site.

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons told The Oakland Press about the band's decision to play the Dubai concert: "We get offers all the time, thank goodness, and we've been saying no to everybody because it's just not safe — for us, for the fans. With this, we happened to be in the right place at the right time, and it all make sense. The folks in Dubai, which is a fascinating place, suggested something crazy and said, 'You can do anything you want here, no restrictions.' And we said, 'Wait a minute. You mean we can put on the biggest pyro show of all time, since Krakatoa and the Big Bang? You mean we're gonna be safe going over there?' They said 'yeah,' so there you are."

Landmarks Live creator, director and executive producer Daniel E. Catullo told KhaleejTimes.com that this wasn't his first time collaborating with the rock legends.

"I worked with KISS back in 2005 and I wanted to have a crack at doing a bigger show with them," he said. "Somehow, I developed a reputation of producing challenging shows, whether doing one with Andrea Bocelli at Palazzo Vecchio, the FOO FIGHTERS at the Acropolis or pulling off the biggest show of the year in the middle of a pandemic. Hosting the KISS show in Dubai was a logical step. The United Arab Emirates is among the world leaders in mitigating the spread of COVID and continues to effectively manage the pandemic given the government’s extraordinary response measures. It [made] sense for us to bring Landmarks Live to the UAE."

Catullo went on to say that working with KISS has been "a dream come true" for him. "To be able to capture them in such an explosive and record-breaking way will certainly be a highlight of my career," he said. "Logistically, this was the largest undertaking I've ever done, and during a pandemic made it all the more challenging. Our crew is comprised of over 400 people, most of whom are based in Dubai. It has been a very complex show to put together: almost five months of planning, hundreds of working crew, coordination with the Dubai government, major coordination with the band; this show will go down in the record books. We're also filming a documentary on how we are pulling this show off. We're doing the biggest production in KISS's history.

"The most arduous task has been developing a safe COVID compliance protocol amid the pandemic to ensure no virus transmission among the crew. The crew will essentially create a bubble for the show setup, particularly the few staffers who will be in direct contact with KISS. American Hospital is conducting daily testing. We have to take beyond-extraordinary measures to keep people safe."








#KISS2020Goodbye broke the #GuinessWorldRecords for highest flame projection in a music concert and for most flame projections launched simultaneously in a music concert! Watch it at https://t.co/ttra65NC7P@ATLANTIS @LandmarksLive @visitdubai @Dubai_Calendar @emirates @AHDubai pic.twitter.com/6PNf9Ioceo

— KISS (@kiss) December 31, 2020