BMG has announced that two of rock's most admired musicians have joined forces for an exciting new side-project. SMITH/KOTZEN is the electrifying collaboration between guitarists and vocalists Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen. Part-time Los Angeles neighbors, full time friends with a healthy mutual respect. Both artists are seasoned performers on the global stage, having honed their skills throughout their careers to create their own unique musical sound.

Debut track "Taking My Chances" sets the tone for this brand new partnership between two rock music trail-blazers. Recorded in Turks & Caicos at the start of 2020, the song is evocative of the classic rock bands of the 1970s, brought bang up to date with punchy hooks, harmonies and sheer guitar virtuosity.

Smith is best known as one of IRON MAIDEN's principal guitarists, having also enjoyed success as a solo artist. Kotzen is the frontman for THE WINERY DOGS as well as having been the guitarist for both MR. BIG and POISON during his long and acclaimed career, which has to date seen him release more than 20 solo albums. Both artists are also prolific songwriters.

Adrian comments, "I think Richie and I complement each other really well. He's a virtuoso guitarist but he's got a great sense of melody — the whole thing just felt very natural."

Richie adds: "We found common ground in classic and blues-based rock — we both come from that mentality. We've been writing and recording together for the past year and I'm ecstatic with the results."

As the gloriously heavy and brilliantly catchy "Taking My Chances" shows, rock fans around the globe will be delighted at the first taste of this marriage-made-in-guitar-and-vocal heaven.

Stay tuned for more news to come from SMITH/KOTZEN early in 2021.

Kotzen alluded to his project with Smith during a February 2020 interview with the "Another FN Podcast". At the time, he said: "I don't like talking about things until they're finished, but if you look at the photographs [on my Instagram] and who I'm with, and that sort of thing, you could assume that there may be a collaboration in the works."

He added: "It's very surreal, because it's a band that I grew up with; it was one of my favorite bands forever, and one of my first hard rock concerts. So it's very surreal. Very cool. [I'm] very excited."

Smith is currently promoting his memoir, "Monsters Of River & Rock", which was released on September 3 via Virgin Books.

This past February, Kotzen released his 22nd solo album, "50 For 50", via his own custom label, Headroom-Inc. The three-disc collection is just what the title implies: a collection of 50 previously unreleased compositions produced, performed and written by Kotzen in honor of his birthday. It's the follow-up to his critically acclaimed "Salting Earth" album, which came out in April 2017 via Headroom-Inc.




























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Nice Times!

A post shared by Richie Kotzen (@richie_kotzen) on Feb 17, 2020 at 6:01am PST






























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@misteradriansmith and I discussing the magic of writing songs in C-sharp minor.

A post shared by Richie Kotzen (@richie_kotzen) on Feb 18, 2020 at 9:26am PST

Frontiers Music Srl announces the release of Arc Of Life's self-titled debut album on February 12. Arc Of Life is a new progressive rock supergroup featuring three members of the current YES lineup, vocalist/guitarist Jon Davison, bassist/vocalist Billy Sherwood, and additional drummer Jay Schellen, one of the most interesting talents in the “new” progressive rock scene in the US, Dave Kerzner (Sound Of Contact) on keyboards, and Jimmy Haun (also featured on YES albums in the past) on guitar.

Fans can get their first taste of the band's forthcoming debut with the new single and video, "You Make It Real". Watch the clip below, and pre-order/save Arc Of Life here.

The concept behind Arc Of Life is, in keeping with the progressive rock philosophy, to craft creative, challenging, and ear-pleasing music that pushes boundaries. Billy Sherwood describes the music as, “interesting, with well crafted songs, performed with precision and grace. All songs feature memorable melodies and lyrics that take the listener on a sonic adventure. Dynamic arrangements with peaks and valleys... it's all there.”

The other idea behind the band is that YES would be a clear point of influence. But while YES is clearly the main point of comparison, a lot of musical similarities can be drawn to describe Arc Of Life’s grandiose and epic approach to music. In Jon Davison’s words, “Each YES member understands and supports when others may desire to explore and thrive along new artistic avenues. We then each find further inspiration to bring back to the YES fold.”

But all the descriptions are best left to the listeners to discern for themselves as repeat listens will reveal more layers.

Arc Of Life is a true garden of delight for progressive rock fans and the band is looking forward to performing live. “Once the world gets over the COVID hump, Arc Of Life will be planning as much touring as we can fit in between YES and our other projects. Quite honestly, we’re all chomping at the bit to be out performing again!” concludes Jon Davison.

Tracklisting:

"Life Has A Way"
"Talking With Siri"
"You Make It Real"
"Until Further Notice"
"The Magic Of It All"
"Just In Sight"
7"I Want To Know You Better"
"Locked Down"
"Therefore We Are"
"The End Game"

"You Make It Real" video:

Lineup:

Billy Sherwood - Bass and vocals
Jon Davison - Vocals
Jay Schellen - Drums
Jimmy Haun - Guitars
Dave Kerzner - Keyboards

Brian Wheat says that there is "tons" of unreleased material from TESLA that he would like to make available to the fans. The bassist, who is promoting his upcoming autobiography, "Son Of A Milkman: My Crazy Life With Tesla", told LiveSigning earlier today (Wednesday, December 9): "We've been trying to put out a box set for several years. But there's a question as to who has the ownership of it, whether is us or Universal. So we came close to trying to put something out for the 25th anniversary, which was gonna be a box set, and it kind of stalled. Now, when this COVID thing goes over, or whatever, we'll maybe go back to them and try to come up with a deal that's good for both parties — the band and [the label]. But yeah, there's tons of stuff. There's a whole box set, yeah. And it's one of my personal missions — I want it to come out one day."

"Son Of A Milkman: My Crazy Life With Tesla" will arrive on December 15 via Post Hill Press. In this 304-page hardcover book, Wheat lifts the lid on living the rock 'n' roll life while struggling with anxiety, depression and other issues seldom discussed by musicians.

"Son Of A Milkman" features a foreword by DEF LEPPARD vocalist Joe Elliott, and was co-written with award-winning journalist and author Chris Epting, whose titles include "Adrenalized" (co-written with DEF LEPPARD's Phil Collen) and "Change Of Seasons" (co-written with John Oates).

Wheat co-founded TESLA, which became one of the biggest bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Brian owns a recording studio by the name of J Street Recorders in Sacramento, California. PAPA ROACH, TESLA, PAT TRAVERS, DEFTONES, KODIAK JACK, FLASHFIRES and many others have recorded there.

TESLA spent most of last year touring in support of its latest album, "Shock", which was released in March 2019 via UMe. The follow-up to 2014's "Simplicity" was produced by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen.

On Tuesday, December 8, former NIGHTWISH vocalist Tarja Turunen took part in an Instagram Live chat with current NIGHTWISH singer Floor Jansen. You can now watch th entire 48-minute discussion below.

Speaking about how she has been spending her coronavirus downtime, Floor said: "I'm writing new music. I would like to release a solo record at some point. It's super exciting, and time demanding to build up something from scratch, You need to get a whole new ball rolling."

Regarding the musical direction of her solo material, Jansen said: "That's what I've been doing this year — trying to give that some kind of form. I could only say it's not metal and it's not rock. But then there's so much more you can do. And there are still certain flavors to my sound. I have a hang for dark music and melodramatic stuff, and I'm surely not a pop queen; I'll never be that. So I'm kind of looking into what it is then. And that's a slow, slow process."

According to Floor, her 2019 appearance on the Dutch reality TV show "Beste Zangers" ("Best Singers") was the impetus that she needed to pursue her own musical path in her home country.

"That changed a lot of things, and it kickstarted a solo career I sort of never envisioned, because I feel very fulfilled with what I've been doing with NIGHTWISH in the last couple of years," she said. "My first question to myself was, 'Is it not enough? You have a band. You have a family. Maybe that's plenty.' But it's funny how things just start to itch, because creativity wants to flow. And I got more interested in writing myself again, and all the ups and downs when it comes to that, because when it comes to singing, I've been progressing more than songwriting-wise. So it's, like, am I good enough? And who do I wanna write with? And who do I wanna team up with? But it's such an extraordinary ride that I'm so happy that I've had a chance to do it. Exploring is vital, and it's great. And if any time in the world would be good for it, it's now."

Turunen and Jansen previously performed a duet together at the 2013 edition of the Metal Female Voices Fest at Oktoberhallen in Wieze, Belgium. The women joined forces on a cover version of "Over The Hills And Far Away", originally written and recorded by the Northern Irish singer and guitarist Gary Moore and previously covered by NIGHTWISH on the 2001 EP of the same name.

Jansen made her live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon.

Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013 and made her recording debut with the group on 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" album.

NIGHTWISH's ninth studio album, "Human. :II: Nature." , was released in April via Nuclear Blast. The effort is a double album containing nine tracks on the main CD and one long track, divided into eight chapters on CD 2.

Last year, Turunen dismissed Internet chatter about her possible return to NIGHTWISH after her December 2017 onstage reunion with the band's bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala during a "Raskasta Joulua" concert in Hämeenlinna, Finland.

"I know a lot of fans would love to see something happen, but it's a very long distance away," she told Kerrang! magazine. "Personally, I don't see anything happening with me and them, to be perfectly honest. Marco came a little later into the band; he wasn't there since the beginning. He was always a guy I was close to. Me and [NIGHTWISH keyboardist/leader] Tuomas Holopainen, however, haven't seen each other in a long time… but we have been in touch. It's not bad. The past is what it is; we can't change that. We can only change the future."

Turunen was fired from NIGHTWISH at the end of the band's 2005 tour by being presented with an open letter which was published on the NIGHTWISH web site at the same time. In the letter, the other members of NIGHTWISH wrote: "To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with emotions have become much more important."

Holopainen later called the decision to part ways with Turunen "the most difficult thing I ever had to do." For her part, Tarja said the way she was kicked out of the group proved that her former bandmates were not her friends. "Maybe one day I'll forgive, but I will never forget," she said.

Tarja's new live album "Christmas Together: Live At Olomouc And Hradec Králové 2019", was released on November 6 via earMUSIC. Her latest studio LP, "In The Raw", arrived in August 2019 via earMUSIC.

After announcing a collaboration to the world at the end of October, the metal debut of TV icon David Hasselhoff with two-man metal project CueStack, “Through The Night,” is available today.

Check out the Baywatch and Knight Rider star's very first metal performance in the official music video for “Through The Night”, available below. “Through the Night” is also available digitally on Spotify, Amazon Music, iTunes Music and Apple Music.

Fans of this unique collaboration can also get the extended “Through The Night” box set, a digipak CD featuring a retro synthwave remix by Beartooth singer and mastermind Caleb Shomo, as well as an unplugged version and two additional CueStack songs. The box set also contains a unique poster, gym bag, autograph card and baseball cap. “Through The Night” is available for physical purchase at the official CueStack webshop, here.

The collaboration between the Austrian duo and the TV idol started in 2018 and what seemed like an impossible idea slowly turned into a reality. The ultimate goal was to create a metal project with the most-watched man on TV, showing the world his heavy side. Hasselhoff recorded the track with CueStack in 2019 in Vienna, where they also shot this epic music video together. CueStack conjured up a dystopian Sci-Fi world in the music video for “Through The Night,” continuing the cinematic style that was established with this year's first single “Transhuman Generation”.

The full CueStack/David Hasselhoff collaboration background story:

“Through The Night” is a project that came to fruition after David Hasselhoff openly expressed his interest in heavy music and big appreciation for his fanbase within that genre. His legendary performance at the Austrian Nova Rock festival showed the promise of something very special happening when these two worlds would finally collide.

As life-long Hasselhoff fans, CueStack (Martin Kames, Bernth Brodträger) developed the vision for this unique project in 2018. After months of planning, meetings, songwriting and sketching out different ideas, they invited Hasselhoff to join them for a music and video recording session in Vienna.

After CueStack’s Martin Kames contacted and briefed Hasselhoff, they worked tirelessly to create an efficient schedule to pull all of this off on just one day. Meanwhile, CueStack’s Bernth Brodträger got to work on different demos and ideas for the song itself. “Through the Night” was an idea written on the very first day of gathering material for the project. It already resembled the final result quite a bit but in regular CueStack fashion, many additional songs were created, exploring different artistic possibilities. Kames and Brodträger eventually settled on the very first idea and demo and showed it to Hasselhoff.

Hasselhoff liked the song right away but wasn't fond of the first set of lyrics. The song originally told the story of a lone wanderer in a dystopian future scenario, with intentions of capturing the entire journey in the music video, turning it into an epic short film. Without the images and story of the video in mind, the lyrics were too abstract for Hasselhoff 's taste. So Brodträger started from scratch to create the final lyrics, keeping only the original chorus. ‘Through The Night” is now about pushing through dark times with hope and courage, fighting your way towards the light at the ending of the tunnel. This resonated with Hasselhoff immediately and still made it possible to work themes of darkness and struggle into the lyrics, while keeping the focus on a positive message.

Both the song and music video were recorded in April 2019 and Hasselhoff went back to California as CueStack and their team put together this vision during the following months. Due to the very limited timeframe of the music video shooting, CueStack turned the multiple basic sets into impressive, surreal and dystopian digital worlds afterwards. Brodträger 's background and previous experience as a graphic designer came in very handy for creating the digital sets, while Kames handled the extensive cutting process, editing and post-production of the final music video. With this quickly evolving workflow, they could turn those basic two-dimensional sets into vivid images and futuristic landscapes that further express the atmosphere and sound of the song.

(Photo - Maximilian Lottmann)

In April 2020, Finnish melodic death metal unit Wolfheart were one of the very first international metal bands to present a full-scale, professional-grade virtual concert livestream just weeks after the entire world went into lockdown. Now, resilient as ever, the band optimistically enters 2021 with another exciting presentation: a brand new, streaming studio performance event, set to take place on January 20 at 12 PM, PST / 3 PM, EST / 9 PM, CET.

Tickets are available now for just $9 USD via TicketSpice.com. The stream will be available to view for 72 hours after its initial stream time. More details on the stream itself are also available at the same location.

During this event, Wolfheart will perform their debut studio album, Winterborn, in its entirety, plus favorites and rarities scarcely ever performed live, in celebration of Winterborn reaching over 10 million streams via Spotify and YouTube combined. This is an absolute must-see for any diehard Wolfheart supporter! The stream will also include bonus footage such as fan-chosen multi-instrumental tutorials and exclusive band Q&As.

That's not all - January 20 will also bring more exciting news for hardcore Wolfheart fans - stay tuned on this day to learn details about upcoming new music from the band!

Frontman Tuomas Saukkonen says: "After hitting the brick wall of 2020, we had some unexpected free time to look into the past while diving into writing mode and getting ready to kickstart 2021 with a new release. Our dear debut album 'Winterborn' has reached 10 million Spotify+YouTube plays and we wanted to celebrate that by making a special studio live experience and play the whole album through, adding a few selected gems into the setlist."
 
Wolfheart's newest full-length crusher, Wolves Of Karelia, is available via Napalm Records. Order the new album here.

Wolves Of Karelia tracklisting:

"Hail Of Steel"
"Horizon On Fire"
"Reaper"
"The Hammer"
"Eye Of The Storm"
"Born From Fire"
"Arrows Of Chaos"
"Ashes"

"Horizon On Fire" lyric video:

“Reaper” video:

"The Hammer" video:

"Hail Of Steel" video:

"Ashes" lyric video:

Wolfheart is:

Tuomas Saukkonen: Guitar, Vocals
Joonas Kauppinen: Drums
Lauri Silvonen: Bass, Backing Vocals
Vagelis Karzis: Session Guitar

(Photo - Valtteri Hirvonen)

Waylon Reavis, former frontman of Mushroomhead and the current singer of A Killer's Confession, has been diagnosed with colon cancer. Reavis revealed his condition on Headbangers Con live stream on Sunday, December 6. Reavis also talked about his time in Mushroomhead and his departure from the band and why. He talked about his four-year sobriety as well.

Reavis went into detail about his cocaine addiction for years and how he used drugs to cope with how unhappy he was. He just never fit in. A man from North Carolina coming to Cleveland.

“We are from two different backgrounds,” states Reavis. “Living most of my life on the road stuck in a full bus and miserable, then I would go home and be miserable there too. I was being paid very, very little money, and I could barely feed my family. I just was not happy, so the drugs would help me cope, and all it did was make things worse for myself. I was like a ticking time bomb. When you’re given fame like that, you just hold on for the wrong reasons.”

He then was asked how he got sober. “Well, I met my wife Julie in 2017, and we became very close friends. I wanted a change. I needed to change. I moved to Philly with Julie and just fell in love. She helped me through getting sober. I hid in my house for six months and created my live TV screen show for the stage. I bring the arena to the clubs. I just love my life now. I’m truly happy.”

“Unfortunately, two months ago, I was diagnosed with colon cancer, and my heart crashed,” states Reavis. “My father passed away from this at 58 years old, and my mother passed at 39 from breast cancer. I was just waiting for my time. Luckily they caught it early, and they were able to cut it all out. I have had four removed, but they keep growing fast. I have changed my entire diet, thanks to my wife and taking medications. I may have to battle this the rest of my life, but I am going to live my life happy and FIGHT!”

Reavis is now living with his wife Julie and Children in Florida. He Is also the Head of A&R for Wake Up! Music Rocks record label. He runs the label alongside his wife and owner, Pepper Gomez.

“I truly enjoy my life,” Reavis says. “I love my wife, I love my job, and I love my band! My Step-Son Morgan is the drummer, and my best friends are my bassist JP, and my guitarist Tommy Church (formerly of Mushroomhead). I love traveling the world with them!  

A Killer’s Confession is managed by Jeromy Jerome at FM Music Management. “Jerome has changed the course for AKC, and I’m so thankful for him coming into our lives,” says Reavis. “I have an amazing team now, and I enjoy being myself, writing the way I want!”

Waylon Reavis is releasing a cover of the A Perfect Circle song “Gravity” this week.

A Killer’s Confession’s new album is set to be released in 2021. The first single, “Remember,” will be released on January 27. “A couple of songs are about my cancer and about my father,” says Reavis. “Those songs mean a lot to me. I cannot wait for everyone to hear them! I’m really excited about this one. Every album I write is different and will never be the same as the others. This one is both heavy and melodic. I took myself back to my roots. It’s what the fans want, so I always like to give them what they have been waiting to hear."

Founding KISS guitarist and Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame member, Ace Frehley, has released an animated video for "I'm Down", the cover of The Beatles classic taken from his new album, Origins Vol. 2. Check it out below.

Origins Vol. 2 continues Frehley’s reflections on a lifetime in music and inspiration. No stranger to cover versions throughout his musical history - having recorded, rebranded, and repossessed such notable nuggets as "New York Groove", "Do Ya" and "I Wanna Go Back" throughout his eight previous studio efforts - this new collection presents a thoughtful and exciting selection of songs that inspired and helped shape the legendary guitarist. That spirit of fun is carried through with exquisite execution, and guitar aficionados will enjoy Frehley's fresh interpretations of these classic songs.

Origins Vol. 2 features some extraordinary guests, including Robin Zander of Cheap Trick on Humble Pie's "30 Days In The Hole," and former KISS comrade Bruce Kulick on Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression." Origins Vol. 1 alumnus John5 also returns, playing on Cream's "Politician," and The Beatles' "I'm Down." Finally, the exquisite Lita Ford returns on vocals, this time on The Rolling Stones' 1968 hit "Jumpin' Jack Flash".

Origins Vol. 2 is the follow-up to 2016’s Origins Vol. 1, which hit #23 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, and was his second highest-charting solo album and his 4th Top 40 album.

Origins Vol. 2 tracklisting:

"Good Times Bad Times" (Led Zeppelin)
"Never In My Life" (Mountain)
"Space Truckin'" (Deep Purple)
"I'm Down" (The Beatles)
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" (The Rolling Stones)
"Politician" (Cream)
"Lola" (The Kinks)
"30 Days In The Hole" (Humble Pie)
"Manic Depression" (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
"Kicks" (Paul Revere & The Raiders)
"We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" (The Animals)

Bonus track:
"She" (KISS)

"Space Truckin'" video:

Legendary Finnish melodic metal band Dark The Suns have released a new single, "Everywhere". The track is the third single taken from the upcoming fourth studio album due to be released in 2021 via Inverse Records. 

Inka Ojala comments: "This is one of my favourite songs in the new album. 'Everywhere' includes melancholic and at the same time catchy melodies, beautiful and emotional piano themes and heavy guitars – the elements that are essential in our music."

Mikko: "'Everywhere' single includes lots of beautiful piano melodies and heavy guitar riffs. I like very much the beautiful and melancholic atmosphere in the song."

Check out the official video below.

Dark The Suns was formed in 2005 by Mikko Ojala. Later, the band had a full line-up and they recorded three studio albums: In Darkness Comes Beauty, All Ends In Silence, and Sleepwalking In A Nightmare, all of which were released by Firebox Records.

Check out the previously released single / video "Suru Raivosi Sydämeni Pimeydessä" below.

Go to the official Dark The Suns Facebook page here.

Photo by Inka Ojala

Extreme Management Group (EMG), home to bands like Suffocation, Cattle Decapitation, Rings of Saturn, and more, has announced their partnership with industrial death metal band Noctiferia. Noctiferia has been spreading its unique style of Slovenian extreme metal since the late ‘90s, touring worldwide with bands like Marduk, Immolation and In Flames; while also performing at Wacken, Bloodstock Festivals and more.

The band had the following to say about partnering with Extreme Management Group: "Noctiferia took a big step up and signed a management deal with Extreme Management Group from New York. We’re stoked and honored to work with such a professional team and to be part of this exclusive family of artists with our new album ready to be released! See you on tour!"

EMG said, "Noctiferia has put in a ton of work in the studio and have been part of some great tours.  We intend to make that hard work count.  Expect big things to come from Noctiferia and Extreme Management Group."

(Photo by: Alan Orlic)

CYNIC's longtime bassist Sean Malone has passed away. He was 50 years old. No cause of death has yet been revealed.

The news of Malone's passing was broken by his CYNIC bandmate, guitarist/vocalist Paul Masvidal, who took to his social media earlier tonight (Wednesday, December 9) to write: "I learned today that Sean Malone has died. I am numb and grief stricken. He had a brilliant mind, a gracious heart and was one of the greatest musicians I've ever encountered.

"I know that this is a shocking loss for so many fans whose lives he touched with his artistry, as it is for me," Paul added. "Please keep him in your thoughts and listen to his playing to celebrate his life."

Malone joined CYNIC just in time to play on the band's classic debut album, 1993's "Focus". Malone proved to have quite a good musical chemistry with the rest of the band, and ended up hitting the road with CYNIC on the "Focus" tour.

After the band's initial break-up, Malone continued to work as a session bassist, performing on over 50 records. He also authored four books — "Music Theory For Bassists", "Dictionary Of Bass Grooves", "Rock Bass", and "A Portrait of Jaco: The Solos Collection" (a book of transcriptions of Jaco Pastorius's bass solos) for the Hal Leonard Corporation. In the academic field, Malone had papers on theory and music cognition published and gave presentations at conferences such as the Society for Music Theory, The International Conference of Music and Gesture, and The Glenn Gould Conference, and taught at the University of Central Missouri and Carnegie Mellon University as assistant professor of music theory.

Malone made one album under his own name, "Cortlandt", which was released in 1996 and reissued in 2007. He also assembled and recorded GORDIAN KNOT's self-titled debut, released in 1999. He rejoined CYNIC in May 2008 and played with the band for most of the past decade.

Malone is the second member of CYNIC's classic lineup to die in 2020. This past January, the band's founding drummer Sean Reinert was found unresponsive at his California home. He was only 48 years old. At the time, Malone issued a statement praising his former bandmate, saying Reinert "offered his trust during every rehearsal, every recording, and every performance we ever did, and it's likely that I'll never experience the same again. The truth is that we're all lucky — lucky to have been alive while Sean Reinert was making music."

In 1991, Reinert and Masvidal joined the legendary Florida band DEATH to record the "Human" album. After touring with DEATH, they returned to CYNIC.


I learned today that Sean Malone has died. I am numb and grief stricken. He had a brilliant mind, a gracious heart and...

Posted by Masvidal on Wednesday, December 9, 2020





Totally shocked and sad to hear of Sean Malone’s passing...he was a tremendous bass and stick player that I had the pleasure of working with many times through the years. He was my Geddy in Cygnus & The Sea Monsters, he played on the 1st OSI album w me...(cont.) pic.twitter.com/QKzt8VuhYN

— Mike Portnoy ? (@MikePortnoy) December 10, 2020








...and we last toured together in 2014 when he was playing Bass in John Wesley’s band opening for Flying Colors. This is just another shocking loss in 2020...sadly the same year we also lost Sean Reinert, his rhythm section partner in Cynic. #RIPSeanMalone ?

— Mike Portnoy ? (@MikePortnoy) December 10, 2020








Sad news, indeed. I’d only met #SeanMalone once or twice but respected him as a serious musician, underrated & with uncommon diversity. It’s unfortunate #Cynic is so overlooked, occupying a space that’s like a subgenre within subgenres (the prog/alt side of 90s death metal) RIP https://t.co/D3W88kyKgY

— Alex Skolnick (@AlexSkolnick) December 10, 2020

Ektomorf  have released the second official single, “And The Dead Will Walk”, off their upcoming album, Reborn, out January 22 via Napalm Records. After hitting things off with the raging title track “Reborn”, Ektomorf display their crushing heaviness once more on their second single. “And The Dead Will Walk” is another glimpse into the uncompromised, hard-hitting thrash metal that Ektomorf will deliver on Reborn.

Frontman Zoli Farkas about “And The Dead Will Walk”: "'And The Dead Will Walk’ is the darkest and heaviest number on the new album Reborn, slow and evil, and the video is just what I always wanted to make! It’s like an old school horror movie with a foggy scenery at a real graveyard. This creepy setting gives you the chills - can’t wait to play it live!“

Watch the video below:

Since their debut, Hangok (1994), the four-piece around singer/guitarist Zoltán “Zoli” Farkas has regularly delivered new power to their devotees. Only three years after the release of their chart-breaking full-length, Fury (2018), Reborn ignites a blazing fire with its heavy sound and harsh lyrics that will burn any genre limitations to the ground. Their 15th studio album breathes the spirit of the “Big Four” - Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth - while at the same time, beginning a completely independent new chapter of Ektomorf.

Reborn will be released worldwide on January 22 as a bundle digipak CD along with a patch and shirt, as well as an exclusive red/black splatter gatefold LP with a slipmat and signed poster, limited to 200. Pre-order here.

Be prepared for this thunderous onslaught! With Reborn, Ektomorf confidently kicks off a new chapter, taking along anyone who crosses the path of this thrash metal bullet with them.

Tracklisting:

"Ebullition"
"Reborn"
"And The Dead Will Walk"
"Fear Me"
"Where The Hate Conceives"
"The Worst Is Yet To Come"
"Forsaken"
"Smashing The Past"

"Reborn" video:

Ektomorf is:

Zoltán Farkas - Vocals, Guitars
Szebasztián Simon - Guitars
Csaba Zahorán - Bass
Kàlmàn Olàh – Drums

Lost Symphony has revealed a bonus clip of guitarists Kelly Kereliuk and Jeff Loomis shredding through parts of the track “The World is Over”, which also features fellow axe-slinger Marty Friedman, from their sophomore album, Chapter II, released Friday.

“Either one of these guys alone could melt your face off with a guitar in their hands,” the band teases. “Put them together on the same track and they are 100% guaranteed to leave some damage in their wake!”

“Having been an admirer of both players for many years, their impact on my playing is immeasurable,” says Lost Symphony guitarist Kereliuk. “To share a track with EITHER is an honor... to have BOTH on this track is like the ultimate birthday present!”

Chapter II orders are available here.

Chapter II tracklisting:

"The World Is Over" (feat. Marty Friedman & Jeff Loomis)
"Leave Well Enough Alone" (feat. Jason Costa & Conrad Simon)
"Negation Delirium" (feat. Oli Herbert, Joey Concepcion & Jimi Bell)
"No Exit" (feat. David Ellefson, Jeff Loomis & Jimi Bell)
"The Garden Of Earthly Delights" (feat. Oli Herbert, David Abbruzzese, Rusty Cooley, Jimi Bell, Joey Concepcion, Matt LaPierre & Conrad Simon)
"Conflagration" (feat. Oli Herbert, Matt LaPierre & Conrad Simon)
"A Murder Of Crows" (feat. Jon Donias, Matt Bachand & Jimi Bell)
"The Long Wait For The End" (feat. Oli Herbert, Conrad Simon & Matt LaPierre)

“A Murder Of Crows” video:

"No Exit" video:

"Conflagration":

(Photo - Eric Snyder)




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In a new interview with the "Talking With Mark Strigl" podcast, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann was asked if he had any memories of working with former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach on the song "Rock 'N' Roll" for Bach's debut solo album, 1999's "Bring 'Em Bach Alive!" He responded (hear audio below): "Yup, I do have some memories. He's a crazy motherfucker. [Laughs] No, I mean, he's a fun guy, but at the same time, he's high maintenance. He's really a very intense guy to be around, and it wears you out after a day or two. But I always liked his enthusiasm. I'm not sure I could take it 24 hours a day; it wears you out a little bit. But we had a good time. The thing only lasted only like a day and a half, or whatever, to record one track. But he's intense. He was all, 'Hey, man…' and he yells at you the whole time. I'm not used to that. My mentality and his maybe don't necessarily match very well. But it was fun."

Back in November 2005, Hoffmann agreed to join Bach's solo band for a one-time-only appearance at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. Hoffmann accepted the offer to play the show during Sebastian's live appearance on Eddie Trunk's "Friday Night Rocks" radio program on New York's Q104.3 FM. Bach's then-regular guitarist, "Metal" Mike Chlasciak, was unable to make the Poughkeepsie performance, and being that Sebastian was in a pinch to find a guitar player fill-in, he brainstormed with Trunk live on the air over who could possibly be available to take over on guitar on such short notice. The always-resourceful Trunk drummed up and produced Hoffmann's phone number and they spoke live on the air. Wolf was at home in Tennessee practicing his guitar when his phone rang and played some classic ACCEPT riffs live on-air while Bach sang Udo Dirkschneider's vocal parts. In addition to Bach, the Mid-Hudson Civic Center show featured performances by TWISTED SISTER, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and GEORGE LYNCH.

The following month, Hoffmann told Full In Bloom Music that it was "cool" and "fun to play with somebody else, because I had never really done that. It was weird because I have never played with anybody else in all my life. I joined ACCEPT when I was a little kid and ACCEPT has always been my only band."

Asked what it was like working with Sebastian, Wolf said: "Different, but a lot of fun." He elaborated: "I mean, everybody goes about things differently, the way they plan a show, the way they do a set, how they put songs together and all that. I used to different things and they just do it in their own way and I was happy to learn how they do it and jumped on that train."

He added: "Sebastian is a great singer, has a great voice and is a frontman all the way. Plus, it was fun to look at a singer at eye level."

ACCEPT's new studio album, "Too Mean To Die", will be released on January 15, 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The LP will be the group's first without bassist Peter Baltes, who exited ACCEPT in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT's lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during last year's "Symphonic Terror" tour, before being asked to join the band permanently.

"Too Mean To Die" was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with British producer Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, MEGADETH), who has been responsible for the magnificent studio sound of ACCEPT since 2010.

According to TMZ, former THIRD BLIND EYE bassist Jason Slater has died. His daughter, Alyssa Carlson, told the site the 49-year-old musician and produced passed away earlier today (Wednesday, December 9) from liver failure at a hospital in Maui, Hawaii. He reportedly kept his condition a secret from Alyssa, who only found out about his it last month when she got a call he had landed in the hospital.

A rep for THIRD EYE BLIND told TMZ that it "is always a sad time… when a spirited member of the music scene is taken too soon."

After his departure from THIRD BLIND EYE, Slater went on to work with a number of rock bands as a producer, including QUEENSRŸCHE, with whom he collaborated on four albums: 2005's "Operation: Mindcrime II", 2009's "American Soldier", 2011's "Dedicated To Chaos" and 2013's "Frequency Unknown", the latter of which was made by Geoff Tate's version of QUEENSRŸCHE.

Former FORBIDDEN guitarist Craig Locicero took to his social media to write: "I'm heartbroken. This hits me right in the gut.

"From the first day I met Jason at the Music Annex when FORBIDDEN was recording 'Distortion' in 1994, we hit it off. Madden and music was our bond. As time went on, Jason did some pretty amazing things in his allotted slot of life. Jason was a successful producer, engineer, record label mogul, songwriter, musician, manager and partying animal all the while. Dude lived the life of 100 men. Much of it on the edge. However, Jason's greatest strength and trait was his heart. He was full of love. Loved his family. Loved his daughter. Loved his friends. Loved us all like crazy.

"I loved him. Dearly. We spent a lot of time together over the last few years. Starting with when he pulled me in to recording the guitars on Geoff Tate's QUEENSRŸCHE record. Jason challenged me to rewrite everything that was already there on the spot. To put as much myself as I could into it. Because that's all the time we had.

"Challenge accepted. That experience made me stronger. Jason made me better. As a person and a musician. I owe him so much. He was a Brother to me.

"I will always carry some of Jason's spirit with me. I can't think of more fitting tribute than that.

"Jason... Fly upwards into the blue out of 2020. This year just got even shittier without you in it."




The world lost a force of human nature today. Jason Slater has left the building.

I’m heartbroken. This hits me right...

Posted by Craig Locicero on Wednesday, December 9, 2020





Sad to hear about the passing of one of my musical mentors, Jason Slater. I interned for Jason for about a year. During our time working together we composed music for TV, produced albums, and wrote tons of songs together. He will be missed. pic.twitter.com/U15WhzOMkS

— Danny Codella (@mrcodella) December 9, 2020

In a new interview with the "Aftershocks" podcast, German metal queen Doro Pesch was asked about her understated sex appeal and her decision to never flaunt her sexuality the way many of her female musician counterparts have over the course of the last four decades.

"I always followed my heart," the 56-year-old singer said (see video below). "I always did what I felt was right. And I thought that being too sexy, that's not me — I like it natural, I like it tougher, like a more natural sex appeal. I like the black leather, which now it's not anymore real leather, because I love animals, so it's all fake leather, but it looks good. And actually, a couple of times, I really had to fight for staying the way I wanna stay, like my look.

"I remember when I first came to America, the record company said, 'Yeah, you need to be a little bit more sexy and stuff and more mainstream and more commercial. It shouldn't be so heavy; it shouldn't be so metal.' And I thought, 'Oh, no, no.' To me, metal was freedom to do whatever you feel and be yourself.

"One time, it was an agency, years ago, and it was when I was younger, and Playboy called, and they said, 'Yeah, we wanna do a nice photo session,'" she revealed. "And I immediately said, 'No.' And then everybody's jaws dropped because they thought it's probably a lot of money and stuff, and everybody always wanted to get their share. So I said, 'No, no. I never wanna do that.' Other people do it much better, and that's great, but I'm not that type. I love the fans, I love metal, I love music, and I love more real stuff.

"But sometimes it was hard because wanted to change the image or sound; that was another thing," Doro added. "So you have to always fight for what you believe in. And sometimes it was tough. One time, I did one record, which I love so much — I know you know the record, [1998's] 'Love Me In Black' — and then they said, 'Okay, when you wanna name it 'Love Me In Black', you have to cut your hair and dye it black.' And I said, 'What? No. No.' I like to stay the way I am. I feel good. I'm not like a fashion clown. And they said, 'Yeah, but you need to change something; it's something new.' And I thought, 'No. No way.' And the consequence was this record never came out in the States, and I was so sad about it. But the die-hard fans, they got every record and they got the expensive imports.

"But, yeah, sometimes you have to decide what you wanna do, but you have to take the consequences as well. And that's all right. As long as I can live with myself. Then I can always say, I love the fans and I would never do something to bring that deep, great connection in danger."

Doro is currently working on the follow-up to 2018's "Forever Warriors, Forever United" studio album.

Pesch played three drive-in concerts in her home country this past summer. The shows complied with Germany's social distancing regulations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Doro released a video for her new single, "Brickwall", in June. The track was made available digitally via Nuclear Blast and on vinyl on July 31.

Photo credit: David Havlena

In a new interview with Barbara Caserta of Italy's Linea Rock, Tarja Turunen was asked if she takes it as a compliment when fans still bring up her work with NIGHTWISH and whether she feels restricted by fans' expectations when it comes to her solo work. She responded (see video below): "Actually, not. I don't feel [any musical limitations], because I feel completely free. I am free to express myself nowadays better than ever, actually, before.

"I carry those years with NIGHTWISH with pride," she continued. "I'm very proud of my work and what we did together. The music will always remain there in the books of history, and I don't feel at all bothered by the fact that [NIGHTWISH still gets brought up by fans in connection with my career].

"I'm very proud of my beginning in rock, and it gave me the [tools] to continue on my own, and also gave me the freedom to express myself and open my arms to fly, and to try other things.

"I don't feel that pressure from my audience at all," Tarja reiterated. "I know that I am challenging them with my music every time I'm releasing my records, because they are not the most common kind of rock records you could think of. If you listen to my last record, there are songs without any drums, guitar and bass. There are songs with a symphonic orchestra and my voice. And yes, I do different kinds of things, because that's who I am. But the fans that really know me, they are very open-minded people, and they have embraced me.

"And so, yeah, I don't have any boundaries or frontiers in music, and I don't give a [mouths the word 'fuck'] about it. [Laughs]"

Turunen was fired from NIGHTWISH at the end of the band's 2005 tour by being presented with an open letter which was published on the NIGHTWISH web site at the same time. In the letter, the other members of NIGHTWISH wrote: "To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with emotions have become much more important."

NIGHTWISH keyboardist/leader Tuomas Holopainen later called the decision to part ways with Turunen "the most difficult thing I ever had to do." For her part, Tarja said the way she was kicked out of the group proved that her former bandmates were not her friends. "Maybe one day I'll forgive, but I will never forget," she said.

Last year, Turunen dismissed Internet chatter about her possible return to NIGHTWISH after her December 2017 onstage reunion with the band's bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala during a "Raskasta Joulua" concert in Hämeenlinna, Finland.

"I know a lot of fans would love to see something happen, but it's a very long distance away," she told Kerrang! magazine. "Personally, I don't see anything happening with me and them, to be perfectly honest. Marco came a little later into the band; he wasn't there since the beginning. He was always a guy I was close to. Me and Tuomas Holopainen, however, haven't seen each other in a long time… but we have been in touch. It's not bad. The past is what it is; we can't change that. We can only change the future."

Tarja's new live album "Christmas Together: Live At Olomouc And Hradec Králové 2019", was released on November 6 via earMUSIC. Her latest studio LP, "In The Raw", arrived in August 2019 via earMUSIC.

In a new interview with Annalee Hudson of Ladies In Rock webzine, WITHIN TEMPTATION singer Sharon Den Adel spoke about what the touring circuit might look like post-pandemic. She said (hear audio below): "What I'm a bit afraid of is that it's not just the bands that are struggling, of course; it's also the crews, it's the bus companies, it's the venues. Not everyone has a difficult time, but there's so many people involved in this music industry, and when we finally can go on tour again, it's still the question, like, is there still a bus company? And everybody's gonna tour at the same time. How are we gonna manage this?"

She continued: "It's gonna be an interesting time. And hopefully everyone will survive this period of not working. But it will be very difficult for some. And some will stop with their company and they will do something else, and I'm not sure if they will be coming back again. So it's gonna be a challenging and interesting time when the pandemic has stopped and we have finally a vaccine so we can tour again, and what the conditions will be, because there will be so many different rules maybe also to be able to [stage live concerts]. It's gonna be a very interesting time. And also maybe you need to be tested before you go to the show, and afterwards maybe. There's a lot of extra organizing, and we'll see how it goes."

Sharon added: "That's the big question — how will everyone survive this pandemic after the pandemic, and are we able to go on as we were planning, or do we have to find different ways to be able to do what we wanna do?"

Earlier this month, WITHIN TEMPTATION released the official music video or its brand new single "The Purge", the follow-up to "Entertain You".

"The Purge" is a high-energy rock song that shows the diversity of WITHIN TEMPTATION's musical progression. Now that all 2020 shows have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band remains productive by focusing on writing and releasing new songs. Therefore, more singles are to come.

Den Adel told Germany's Rock Antenne about the track: "'The Purge' is about self-reflection; that's the main theme of the song. It's about the choices in life everone makes. And sometimes when you make the big choices in life — what kind of life you're gonna lead; how you're gonna lead it; what political choices you make — everything you do in life, all these big choices, they have a certain effect also, of course, on people around you. We take one road, and you exclude a lot of other roads. And that also has an impact on other people's lives sometimes, and you have to deal with that when you get to a certain point in your life."

She continued: "I think probably most people can relate to that, because the whole world has come to a stop, all of a sudden, in this roller coaster we're all living in. So maybe people will be able to relate to that, because I think a lot of people had time for self-reflection. It's more a mental cleansing than it's actually a physical one."

Speaking to Kerrang! about WITHIN TEMPTATION's plans to release three standalone singles in 2020, Sharon said: "It's something we've wanted to try for a long time already: to be able to share new music in a quicker way, instead of having wait two or three more years before an album comes out. Something sometimes feels better in the moment rather than having to wait a few years until the album comes out.”

When asked about the streaming world and if albums have perhaps lost a bit of impact these days, she said: "I think albums and streaming services are two different things; they serve a different purpose. One is more physical of course — you can read the lyrics and look at the artwork — and the other one is more direct, an easier way to access music. It doesn't have to stand in the way of each other, as it serves a different purpose in my opinion."

"Entertain You" kicked off of a series of digital single releases and exceeded all expectations. "Entertain You" was No. 1 most added on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator chart, with airplay on at least 40 radio stations, including Music Choice, SiriusXM Octane, WZOR and KQXR, No. 5 in the Contraband Metal chart, and at No. 18 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator chart in USA.

WITHIN TEMPTATION released the official music video for "Entertain You" in May. The song was a surprisingly quick follow-up to WITHIN TEMPTATION's seventh studio album, "Resist", which came out in February 2019.

"Resist" debuted in several Top 10 charts worldwide and was the first WITHIN TEMPTATION album to ever reach a No. 1 position on the official German chart.

"Entertain You" arrived one week after the last show of the "Worlds Collide" tour was supposed to happen. The co-headline trek with American rock band EVANESCENCE was originally planned for April, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has now been postponed to September 2021. The trek, for which an impressive 150,000 tickets were sold in eight countries, is slated to take place across venues such as the O2 Arena in London, AccorHotels Arena in Paris, Velodrom in Berlin, and Palais 12 in Brussels.

DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll has once again spoken out about his battle with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The musician, who spent almost two weeks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital, first got sick when he and the rest of DEATH ANGEL spent more than a month on the road in Europe with TESTAMENT and EXODUS as part of "The Bay Strikes Back 2020" tour.

Carroll discussed his experience of testing positive for the life-threatening illness during an interview with Germany's "Rockpalast". Asked what he thinks about people who claim that the coronavirus is "just a flu" and that the impact of the virus has been vastly exaggerated, Carroll said (see video below): "I've had the flu before, and just from experience, this was a thousand times worse. Just struggling to breathe is really the scariest thing I've ever experienced — fighting to stay alive, it felt like. And since then, I've gone to the doctor regularly, and I've taken two or three COVID tests since I've gotten out of the hospital. I've been very cautious — always wearing my mask when I go outside and doing what I can to stay on the positive side of things."

Carroll was also asked for his opinion on how Donald Trump has been handling the coronavirus crisis, with America's 45th president downplaying ongoing spikes by attributing a rise in cases to increased testing.

"I try not to get too involved, 'cause I'll just lose my mind," Will said. "Whenever I do see what he's up to and the words he has to say about the coronavirus, it's very frustrating; I get very angry. So, like I said, I don't look at it daily. I would be a mess. So I try to avoid it as much as I can."

During the chat, which was recorded days before this year's U.S. presidential election, Carroll also touched upon the fact that failures in political leadership have created a polarized atmosphere that makes it harder to contain the pandemic.

"Things are very tense over here," he said. "And unfortunately, a lot of people I've known for many, many years, I'm starting to see an ugly side to some of these people I've known for years and years and years. It's definitely polarizing, and it's bringing out the worst in some people, unfortunately. And I don't know what to do about it. I mean, there's nothing I can do about it — except for vote properly. [Laughs]"

Carroll woke up from a medically induced coma on March 30 after spending nearly two weeks on a ventilator. His doctors at the California Pacific Medical Center told the San Francisco Chronicle he was in critical condition and came close to dying. They said that the hospital "tried every treatment they had heard about, from hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to the experimental drug remdesivir."

"He still was near the limits of what we could do with our supportive care, and we were very worried about him," said Dr. George Horng, a pulmonologist.

"He wasn't getting worse, but if he were to get worse, there wasn't much more that we could have done."

On March 22, TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Several days later, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt also said that he was infected with the new coronavirus. Both had spent more than a month on the road with DEATH ANGEL as part of "The Bay Strikes Back 2020" European tour in February and March.

DEATH ANGEL had been touring in support of its ninth album, "Humanicide", which came out in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast.

Carroll joined DEATH ANGEL in 2009 as the replacement for the band's original drummer, Andy Galeon.

Will can be heard on the last four DEATH ANGEL studio albums: "Relentless Retribution" (2010), "The Dream Calls for Blood" (2013), "The Evil Divide" (2016) and the aforementioned "Humanicide".

In a new interview with Tom Power, host of "Q" on Canada's CBC Radio One, SMASHING PUMPKINS frontman Billy Corgan was asked why he interacts so much with his fans on Instagram. He responded (see video below): "Well, on a very kind of simple level, as someone who's been portrayed by the media in a particular way, what I heard over and over through the years was, 'Wow! You're not the person that I read about.'"

Pressed about how he has been portrayed, Billy said: "I don't know… Pick your… Crazy, insane, tyrant — a lot of things. Now, are some of those things aspects of my character? I can say so. But I don't think you can be a successful artist for 30 years if you're insane. Clickbait articles — a lot of stuff like that. So I found that by doing my own media and talking to those people that are engaged with me every day, they kind of surreptitiously become part of the story and correcting the record and creating a narrative, which we live in a world of narratives. You only have to look at the political sphere to understand how narratives are incredibly important to how people come to their decisions. By creating a more positive narrative around myself in communion with those people who really support me on a daily basis, we can tell a different story.

"I grew up in a time where you had to talk to The New York Times, you had to talk to Spin or whoever, and if they hit you upside the head, you had to take it, because you needed those people to tell people that you had a new record out," he continued. "Now we live in a time where you don't really those people, and the rules around that type of engagement is changing. And so I think by doing your own media and commincating directly and being willing to be an imperfect person, which I am — 'cause I can be petty and I can be silly in equal parts — people come to their own decision about who you are and they come to their own decision about whether or not they wanna be loyal to your cause. It doesn't always work — I would say it only works eight times out of 10. But the eight times out of 10 it works, I think it's been a positive boon to what we're trying to accomplish here.

"It's a musical business here — we run a musical business," Corgan added. "We don't run a drama business, we don't run a clickbait business — we run a music business. We write songs and we produce records and we do concerts. And as long as people are supportive of that, we get to do more of that. That's all we've ever asked for."

SMASHING PUMPKINS' new album, "Cyr", was released on November 27 via Sumerian Records. The 20-song follow-up to 2018's "Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun." was produced by Corgan. It features founding members Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha, along with longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder.

The "Cyr" title track premiered in late August. A second single, "The Colour Of Love", came out at the same time. Variety said the two tracks are "effortlessly taking their place alongside a catalog of cherished SMASHING PUMPKINS classics."

In a new interview with "Talking With Mark Strigl", MOTÖRHEAD guitarist Phil Campbell was asked if he had any plans to take his current project, PHIL CAMPBELL AND THE BASTARD SONS, out on the road in support of its upcoming album, "We're The Bastards". He responded (hear audio below): "We've got plans. We've got festivals booked. Whether they're gonna happen or not is in the lap of the gods. Actually, we had our busiest year ever booked this year, and everything got canceled [because of the coronavirus pandemic]. The only time I'd been on stage, I jammed with HAWKWIND twice. I did a couple of songs at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and a couple of songs in Cardiff with them. That was in January. So, we've got festivals booked for next year. And we've got a British and European tour booked for later on next year."

He continued: "I'm kind of optimistic. I like to think some small miracle will happen and everyone can be safer… It's not just a touch of flu going about. Healthy people are getting knocked out with this thing. But the other way to think of it as well, when things do get back to normal, it's gonna put such a smile on everyone's faces — the fans, the artists, the road crews. There's gonna be severe partying going on for a good few months, I should imagine then. So we'll wait and see. But yeah, we're trying to book up stuff."

Campbell also confirmed that he has been in contact with his longtime MOTÖRHEAD bandmate Mikkey Dee after the Swedish drummer recently tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"I spoke to him the other night," Phil said. "Him and his wife did get COVID, and he was pretty flat on his back. Luckily, I don't think it affected their lungs. But he said he felt the worst that he's ever been in his life. And Mikkey is really strong — he gets through anything — so it must have been pretty bad to put him down. Luckily, they pulled through."

This past July, Dee said that he was "sick for about one month" and he lost lost 15 pounds after testing positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

"We're The Bastards" will arrive on November 13 via Nuclear Blast.

Michael Sweet of openly Christian rockers STRYPER has blasted artists who "continue to disrespect their fans and alienate themselves from their fan base" because of their political beliefs.

Sweet made his comments a day after FILTER released a music video for its new single, "Murica", in which Richard Patrick portrays what the FILTER frontman calls a "Trump-supporting nutbag" who "only listens to Fox News and Breitbart" and believes "every fucking thing that the Rush Limbaughs, the Alex Joneses" say.

Earlier today, Sweet posted the following message on his social media: "Maybe I'm just built a little different. Everyone knows where I stand and I have no regrets for the choices that I make. What's interesting to me are the artists that time and time again disrespect their fans because they 'vote' differently than they do.

"Probably at least half of the fans of most hard rock/metal bands are republicans and the other half are democrats. Yet some musicians continue to disrespect their fans and alienate themselves from their fan base. From those who put them where they are today. Good luck packing those venues after Covid and then telling half of your fan base that they're 'nutbags'.

"I applaud those who stand for what they believe in. I don't however respect any artist that does so with the same hate that they supposedly speak against."

When asked by Alternative Press if he thinks "Murica" is going to piss people off or it's going to be a rallying point, Patrick said: "I just wanted to show this surreal, crazy side of what America looks like. I literally am doing it just so the record shows that someone was willing to fuckin' say something about the right. Something about how crazy they are.

"A lot of my fans are from the right, and they're, like, 'Man, I like 'Hey Man, Nice Shot'. Why are you fucking talking about politics?' Because it has to be done. Someone has to say it. I'm not hearing a lot of hip-hop guys sayin' it. Country music represents the right. I'm not hearing anyone from the left say anything. Let the public record show that I tried something during this time period that at least maybe 100,000 fans are going to see on YouTube. At least I know that I said something, and I tried, and that's it."

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 early March, 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.

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

Earlier this month, Sweet praised Amy Coney Barrett, who narrowly won confirmation to fill the vacancy left by the death last month 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.

In August, Trump said that if Joe Biden, the Democrat challenger for the White House, was elected president, he would "hurt God."

"He's following the radical left agenda — take away your guns, destroy your Second Amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God … He's against God," Trump told supporters during a trip to Ohio.


Maybe I’m just built a little different. Everyone knows where I stand and I have no regrets for the choices that I make....

Posted by Michael Sweet on Thursday, October 29, 2020

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser says that he has more than a dozen songs demoed for a possible second solo album but that he simply doesn't have the time to work on the follow-up to "Hubris I & II".

A two-disc set, "Hubris I & II" was released in June 2009 via Holland's Mascot Records and was nominated in the "Best Brazilian Rock Album" category at the 2010 Latin Grammys.

Speaking to "Talking Bollocks", the monthly metal podcast hosted by ACID REIGN frontman-turned-stand-up-comedian Howard H. Smith, Kisser confirmed that he has been collecting ideas for another solo effort, but that his busy schedule, which includes touring activity with other projects, has prevented him from being able to take the LP through to its completion.

"I don't have plans, but I have a demo with around 12 to 15 songs for a next solo album," he said (hear audio below). "The only thing I really need to have time to go and really work on it and choose the songs and work on the stuff. But so far, no plans. But for sure, sooner than later, I wanna start working on it to put out something new. It would be cool."

Kisser went on to say that he really enjoyed making "Hubris I & II", which was recorded during a transitional period in SEPULTURA's career.

"It took a long time for me, because it was between changing drummers — Igor [Cavalera] was leaving the band, and two albums and stuff — but I managed to put it out," he said. "I do a lot of acoustic [playing on it]. I sing Portuguese and English, [with] many guests and stuff."

Kisser previously described the making of "Hubris I & II" as "a long process, a learning process and a great experience. It's a musical journey through the influences I had for 15 years of my life and at the same time it [was] very different from everything I did [prior to its release]."

"Hubris" comes from Greek word "hybris," which means "excessive pride, wanton violence."

SEPULTURA's latest LP, "Quadra", was released in February via Nuclear Blast Records. It is a concept effort created at Sweden's Fascination Street Studios with renowned producer Jens Bogren.

SEPULTURA comprises Kisser, vocalist Derrick Green, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr., and drummer Eloy Casagrande.

SEPULTURA was formed in Belo Horizonte by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, who are no longer with the band.

"Quadra" is the follow-up to "Machine Messiah", which was SEPULTURA's fourteenth studio album and the eighth since Green joined the ranks.

Former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman will host a special livestream experience on New Year’s Day (January 1, 2021) at 9:00 p.m. local time from Tokyo, Japan where he has resided for the past 17 years. The live concert will take place in a daring new multi-dimensional visual atmosphere designed specifically for this show by cutting-edge Japanese motion graphics creator Nobuyuki Hanabusa.

Alongside his notorious Japanese band — which consists of drummer Chargeee, bassist Toshiki Oomomo and up-and-coming guitar wunderkind Naoki Morioka — Marty will roar through his most fiery material, including concert staples to explosive tunes taken from his latest album, "Tokyo Jukebox 3". Tickets are on sale now at this location.

"This year I've been locked down in the studio recording 'Tokyo Jukebox 3'," shares Marty. "Recording an album like this one requires an abnormal amount of being sequestered anyway, so if anything, the pandemic kept me focused a bit more than usual. The goal was to come up with music that would be aggressively cathartic to those who were hit harder by the pandemic than I was. Having that in the back of my mind gave me one more layer of inspiration and energy, and hopefully it shows in the music."

Marty's presence in the world of music, the world of guitar and Japanese pop culture is mystifying, bizarre, and nothing short of inspiring. His first major impact in music was in the game-changing guitar duo CACOPHONY, which he founded with equally enigmatic and now-legendary guitarist Jason Becker. He then spent 10 years as lead guitarist in the genre-defining thrash metal act MEGADETH before moving to Tokyo due to his love for Japanese music, language, and culture.

Following his move, he landed a starring role for a new TV comedy "Hebimeta-san" ("Mr. Heavy Metal") and its spinoff, "Rock Fujiyama", which ran for six seasons and propelled him into the living rooms of Japan's mainstream. He has since appeared in over 800 TV shows, movies and commercials, including a two-year campaign with Coca-Cola for Fanta, authored two best-selling novels and was the first-ever foreigner to be appointed as an ambassador of Japan heritage and perform at the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Marathon in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

At the same time, Marty has continued his career in music with several solo albums in addition to writing and performing with the top artists in Japanese music, racking up countless chart hits, including a No. 1 with SMAP, two No. 2 songs with MOMOIRO CLOVER, a No. 2 with SOUND HORIZON — just to name a few. His most recent release was 2018's "One Bad M.F. Live!", his 14th solo album, which was recorded live in Mexico City during his latest North American tour in support of 2017's full-length album "Wall Of Sound" via Prosthetic Records. The LP debuted on Billboard's Heatseekers chart at No. 12 and was recorded in part at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in California with engineer Paul Fig (ALICE IN CHAINS, RUSH, DEFTONES) and mixed by Jens Bogren (KREATOR, OPETH, SEPULTURA). Marty produced the majority of "Wall Of Sound", bringing on legendary producer Reinhold Mack (QUEEN) for two tracks.

Tokyo Jukebox 3" was released in Japan in October. 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".

Photo credit: Susumu Miyawaki

In a new interview with Sweden's RockSverige, ACCEPT's Wolf Hoffmann opened up about his relationship with the band's lead singer of the past 11 years, Mark Tornillo. He said: "Well, we've found a way to accept each other and work together, but, to be totally honest, we're not the biggest buddies in the world and probably never will be. I don't know. There's something… He grew up in New Jersey and I grew up in Germany, and maybe that has something to do with it. At least we work together really well and we respect each other, and he's a fucking brilliant singer, so it seems to work whatever recipe we've found. I'm not trying to really analyze it too much, but I can definitely say that we have different views on a lot of things, and that's okay. It seems to be working and the common ground is our music and the metal we make."

Illustrating the differences between him and Tornillo when it comes to their personal views, Wolf discussed the lyrical themes covered in the new ACCEPT song "Sucks To Be You", which will be featured on the band's upcoming album, "Too Mean To Die".

"That's actually a song that was written by our new bass player, Martin Motnik, and I'm very proud of him, because he just recently joined the band and he contributed a lot of good stuff for this album and that's one of them," Wolf said. "He actually wrote that riff and came up with the chorus idea. Even though it sounds very typical ACCEPT, I love it. It's easygoing and fresh and in your face. I think lyrically he was originally talking about [Donald] Trump [laughs], but I think secretly Mark changed it around so it's not obvious that it's about Trump, and there you have it. Even within the band, we have political opposing views, I believe, but we try to stay neutral as much as we can."

Tornillo joined ACCEPT in 2009 as the replacement for the band's original lead singer, Udo Dirkscheider. He can be heard on ACCEPT's last four studio albums, "Blood Of The Nations" (2010), "Stalingrad" (2012), "Blind Rage" (2014) and "The Rise Of Chaos" (2017).

In a 2018 interview with Metal Shock Finland, Tornillo stated about what it was like to first join ACCEPT: "It was frightening. When we first announced what was going to happen, there was really not many people on board with it. Online, there was a lot of naysayers, a lot of badmouthing. It was very disheartening. We all sat down and said, 'Look, we have to make an amazing record, or else we're gonna die here. This is going to be a swansong. We have to make an amazing record.' And that's what we did. We spent a lot of time writing 'Blood Of The Nations' and a lot of time recording it, and I think in retrospect, it paid off. If that album wasn't what it was, we wouldn't be here."

Asked about fans who have yet to "accept" him, Mark said: "Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I'm a purist too with certain things. I get it. But I think we've moved on. We're almost a different band at this point. We really are a different band at this point. We still pay tribute to the old ACCEPT by playing the old songs — I mean, we have the two people that wrote most of the songs, [so] we have to. That's always going to be part of ACCEPT's history. You can't change it. All we can change is the future. But everyone's entitled to their opinion, and I get it. I wish them all well, and I wish Udo well, and his band, you know. No hard feelings on my part, that's for sure."

"Too Mean To Die" will be released on January 15, 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The LP will be the group's first without bassist Peter Baltes, who exited ACCEPT in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT's lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during last year's "Symphonic Terror" tour, before being asked to join the band permanently.

"Too Mean To Die" was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with British producer Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, MEGADETH), who has been responsible for the magnificent studio sound of ACCEPT since 2010.

ACCEPT's last album, 2017's "The Rise Of Chaos", marked the band's first release with guitarist Uwe Lulis and drummer Christopher Williams, replacing Herman Frank and Stefan Schwarzmann, respectively.

Photo credit: Scott Duissa

Tortured blackened death metal outfit Withered has announced a virtual concert stream! The online show will take place on Friday, December 18 at 8:00 PM EST in support of Atlanta music venue The Earl, which is raising funds to help keep the doors open during these troubling times. Tickets can be purchased here.

Lineup:
Beau Brandon: drums
Colin Marston: bass
Ethan McCarthy: guitar, vocals
Mike Thompson: guitar, vocals

Back with a vengeance and hell-bent on destruction, Norwegian death metallers, Cadaver, are back in business and ready to reign. Two weeks ago, Edder & Bile, the first full-length from this band’s new incarnation of Anders Odden’s original, extreme metal vision, was unleashed unto the world via Nuclear Blast Records. Today, the band has released the guitar playthrough for the single "Let Me Burn":

"'Let Me Burn' came to me at night, after one of our intense studio days in January 2019." comments Anders Odden.  "I just got the opening riff and it led me out on this path that became the song. It was raining in North Hollywood that night and the whole feel of doom and gloom was shining through. I had with me a recording of my fireplace in Norway and knew this would make an awesome ending to the album. The song is about how we all will end up as ashes no matter who we are and what we do. It's a nihilistic theme that means even more to me now after facing death with my cancer battle. When I was close to dying this winter, I always thought of having this song played super loud at my funeral with all the people having to read the lyrics during the ceremony. As I am not quite dead yet. I use it to tell you I cheated death, for now. Let Me Burn. I have no fear!"

Edder & Bile was produced by the band as well as Adair Daufembach who also handled the engineering. The album was recorded and mixed at Northwood Sound Studios in Hollywood, CA. The album features vocal cameos from death metal icons Kam Lee (Massacre) and Jeff Becerra (Possessed) ensuring that this crushing rebirth has underground credentials to spare. The photo for the artwork was taken by Hannah Verbeuren and the layout was created by Justin Bartlett.

Order your copy of Edder & Bile in the format of your choice here. Save the album to Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer here.

Edder & Bile tracklisting:

"Morgue Ritual"
"Circle Of Morbidity"
"Feed The Pigs"
"Final Fight"
"Deathmachine"
"Reborn"
"The Pestilence"
"Edder & Bile"
"Years Of Nothing"
"Let Me Burn"

"Let Me Burn" lyric video:

"Reborn" video:

"Morgue Ritual" video:

Cadaver is:

Anders Odden - Guitar, Bass & Vocals
Dirk Verbeuren - Drums & Backing Vocals

On February 5, Cult of Luna will release a new EP, entitled The Raging River, via Red Creek - the band's newly created record label, which will be physically distributed by Metal Blade Records (in North America) and Season of Mist (in Europe). For a first preview of The Raging River, the new single "Three Bridges" can be heard below.

Preorder The Raging River at Metal Blade (North American ltd edition pre-order; vinyl and CD) and Red Creek (limited editions, band merch and more).

The Raging River is a seamless continuation of the writing process and the creative mindset that has guided Cult of Luna for the last couple of years. "'The Raging River' feels more like a bridge. A midpoint that needs to be crossed so we can finish what we started with 2019's A Dawn to Fear," the band adds. "It's been an interesting, as well as an introspective, way of working, having our instinct leading the way and then having to figure out where it takes us. But not only has it been a linear journey; some aspects of it are also clearly circular. For example, we have been a fan of Mark Lanegan for many years. So in 2005, when we wrote the song 'And With Her Came the Birds', we had his voice in mind, and the working title was 'The Lanegan Song'. But we were not many years over 20, and our lack of self-confidence prevented us from even daring to ask. It took fifteen years for us to get the guts to ask him. Hearing his voice on 'Inside Of A Dream' is nothing more than feeling that we're inside of a dream."

Tracklisting:

“Three Bridges”
“What I Leave Behind”
“Inside Of A Dream” (feat. Mark Lanegan)
“I Remember”
“Wave After Wave”

“Three Bridges”:

Ken Hensley, former URIAH HEEP vocalist songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, had completed work on his new album, "My Book Of Answers", shortly before his untimely death on November 4. "My Book Of Answers" will now released on March 5, 2021 as a CD/DVD and vinyl album with lyric book package through Cherry Red Records. You can pre-order the album here.

For half a century, Hensley was a major influence in the rock world. An original member of URIAH HEEP, Hensley was keyboard player, guitarist, vocalist and principal song writer with URIAH HEEP for ten years. His subsequent solo career saw Hensley work with leading artists across the globe and he became known as an inspiration for encouraging other talented artists.

"My Book Of Answers" is a wonderful tribute to this rock legend. The album is the intriguing result of a collaboration with one of Hensley's fans, following a chance meeting at an airport, as he turns dreams into a reality. Over a two-year period, the collaboration with Russian fan Vladimir Emelin has seen Hensley turn Emelin's poems into an album's worth of songs, a series of videos, a concert and an illustrated lyric book charting the progress of each piece from Russian poem to English rock song. And all of this has been produced in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.

Hensley was clearly excited when speaking shortly before his death. "It's been fascinating since day one," he said. "It's somewhat miraculous how it all came together and how it's continued to grow and develop, even through the crisis, to where it's at today and where it's going tomorrow."

This unique project came about following Hensley's chance meeting with Emelin at Alicante airport in early 2018, as he explained. "Vladimir has a home up on the Costa Blanca and he's here as often as visas will permit," Hensley said. "I was flying to Moscow, he was on his way home and he saw me at the airport. I guess I'm his idol and he's been a fan since he was a kid. Well, he asked me for an autograph and a picture, which I was happy to give him, and for an e-mail address."

At a meeting in Alicante later in the year, Emelin asked if Hensley could turn a couple of his poems into songs. "I tried a couple of songs, although I didn't know if I could do it because I've never done it before," Hensley recalled. "He loved it and he wanted me to do more and more until we finally ended up with an album's worth of songs.

"I made most of the album under lockdown, coronavirus restrictions, which was easy because it was just file-sharing over the Internet with the musicians, the singers and my engineer and it was relatively easy. What we had to do was make sure we didn't compromise any quality. I popped it over to my manager Steve Weltman and typically, before I know it, he's got the guys at Cherry Red interested in it! The whole thing takes on another dimension."

Emelin also suggested a video and they would, eventually, make a video for each track together with a concert of all of the songs which was filmed, with social distancing, close to Hensley's home in Spain.

"I've never done anything like this before and, to the best of my knowledge, I don't recall anybody else who has," Hensley added. "I'm also developing a lyric book which will be a beautiful piece. Each song features the original Russian lyric, the translation by Vladimir's friend in Siberia and my notated stuff where I changed the words of the poem into a song and created verses, bridges and choruses. The fans can see all the changes I made, and understand why I made them, and then there's the final lyric that appears on the album. Alisia Vaselieva, a wonderful illustrator and friend of Vladimir's, has done an illustration for each song, so five pages for each song and it will be a deluxe hard-back package — a collectors' item.

"To begin with, it was hard to find the time to really concentrate on the project because 2019 was one of the busiest years of my career, but, as it happens, the coronavirus actually solved the problem for me, at the same time as it created terrible problems for so many others. I was forced to stay home and spend all my time on this project with Vladimir, the restrictions of the virus meant I was able to do that.

"I'm really happy with it and I have a huge yardstick to measure it by! It seems as though it was meant to happen."

Track listing:

01. Lost

02. Right Here Right Now

03. Cold Sacrifice

04. The Silent Scream

05. Cover Girl

06. Light The Fire In My Heart

07. Stand

08. The Darkest Hour

09. Suddenly

10. The Darkest Hour (Acoustic)

Hensley was URIAH HEEP's keyboard player and principal songwriter, responsible for such classics as "Lady In Black", "Easy Livin'" and "Look At Yourself", and providing them with much of their musical direction. Leaving the band in 1980 to pursue a solo career, he also collaborated with Florida-based hard rock band BLACKFOOT, L.A. heavy metal band W.A.S.P. and CINDERELLA. "Ken Hensley wrote the rule book for heavy metal keyboards as far as I'm concerned," W.A.S.P.'s frontman Blackie Lawless is quoted as saying.

Following his departure from URIAH HEEP, Hensley lived in America where he met his wife-to-be Monica. Speaking just days before his death, Hensley said: "I lived in America for 20 years after I left URIAH HEEP and I really needed time to rediscover myself, get rid of my drug habit and see if there was anything left of a human being in there after my life had been buried in URIAH HEEP for ten and a half years. It took a long time to get there but I got there in the end. I met Monica and we lived together for a couple of years. I wanted to move back to Europe to be closer to my family."

The Hensleys settled on a farm near Alicante, Spain, and married in 2004. A very spiritual person, Hensley became an inspiration to many and known for encouraging talented artists and enjoyed the love and respect of fans the world over. "It's enduring and I'm happy that most of them are still alive," he said. "I love to meet them when I go out on the road but at the moment that's not possible."

Reflecting on 50-plus years in the music business, he added: "It's been a great career. I can't look through the (URIAH HEEP) box set without having a huge smile on my face! To be celebrating my music 50 years on is quite something. We weren't a hit with the critics but we listened to the people who bought tickets and albums and, unfortunately, the critics ignored them. It just went on and on and on. We pulled together and achieved everything we set out to do. It was a wonderful life and career. My life has been fantastic, but it's not been easy. It was a lot of hard work, but when you do what you love best it doesn't seem like hard work."