MASTODON and LAMB OF GOD are among the artists who appear on the soundtrack of the third installment of the famed "Bill & Ted" film franchise. Both the soundtrack and the film are being released today (Friday, August 28).

"Bill & Ted Face The Music" reunites Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in the title roles for the first time since 1991's "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey". It was produced by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh and directed by Dean Parisot ("Galaxy Quest").

"Bill & Ted Face The Music: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" track listing:

01. BIG BLACK DELTA - "Lost in Time"

02. ALEC WIGDAHL - "Big Red Balloon"

03. WEEZER - "Beginning Of The End (Wyld Stallyns Edit)"

04. COLD WAR KIDS - "Story Of Our Lives"

05. MASTODON - "Rufus Lives"

06. BIG BLACK DELTA - "Circuits Of Time"

07. POORSTACY - "Darkest Night"

08. LAMB OF GOD - "The Death Of Us"

09. FIDLAR - "Breaker"

10. CULTURE WARS - "Leave Me Alone"

11. BLAME MY YOUTH - "Right Where You Belong"

12. WYLD STALLYNS (feat. Animals As Leaders, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah) - "Face The Music"

13. WYLD STALLYNS - "That Which Binds Us Through Time: The Chemical, Physical and Biological Nature of Love; an Exploration of The Meaning of Meaning, Part 1"

MASTODON drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor spoke to Rock Sound about "Rufus Lives". Regarding how the track came together, he said: "The song was something that was sort of in the works, you know? It was pretty recent, maybe six months ago. I was going over to Bill's [Kelliher, guitar], and I'd had probably more than a pot of coffee already, and was just amped up, ready to rock. He started playing guitar, we put this thing together, it wasn't even 10 o clock in the morning and we already had this fast, crazy thing going on. It just sounded cool. That was the beginning of it. From there we wrote the song pretty quickly, and then when 'Bill & Ted' came around, they wanted something very specific for a specific scene in the movie. They sent us the scene, and it needed to be like party rock 'n' roll. We sent them a couple things, but they were a little doomy. It's hard for us not to be doomy, you know? They were, like, 'It needed to be at a party, not a funeral!' And we were like, 'Okay, we're sorry!' The notes that we all gravitate towards are all minor, spooky notes, BLACK SABBATH. That's where we live, spooky! But I think we were able to maintain our aesthetic and our musical personalities, and give a party rockin' song. It's basically, like, 'You're at a party, you're in the woods, everybody is having fun, what's on the stereo?' That's the song we needed to write, and what we tried to do. Then we took the situation that 'Bill & Ted' were in, and we applied it to the lyrical content. So I'm singing in it, and Troy's singing."

The official "Face The Music" plot synopsis: "Yet to fulfill their rock and roll destiny, the now middle-aged best friends set out on a new adventure when a visitor from the future warns them that only their song can save life as we know it. Along the way, they will be helped by their daughters, a new batch of historical figures, and a few music legends — to seek the song that will set their world right and bring harmony in the universe."

"Blood From A Stone", the new single from SEVENDUST, can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's 13th studio album, "Blood & Stone", which will be released on October 23 via Rise Records. The follow-up to 2018's "All I See Is War" was once again tracked at Studio Barbarosa in Gotha, Florida with producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who has previously worked with ALTER BRIDGE and SLASH, among others.

From the pulsating intro of opener "Dying To Live" to the album-closing cover of SOUNDGARDEN's "The Day I Tried To Live", SEVENDUST continues to push the sound it has made their own for more than 25 years. Tracks like "Love", "Blood From A Stone", "Kill Me" and "Against The World" showcases why the band has been adored by fans and critics alike. Lajon Witherspoon, Clint Lowery, John Connolly, Vince Hornsby and Morgan Rose have raised the bar with "Blood & Stone". The new music fits perfectly alongside with the bands most seminal tracks that have become the cornerstone of the band's live performances.

Lowery spoke about the new SEVENDUST LP in an interview with Front Row Entertainment Live. The guitarist/vocalist said: "I think this is one of our strongest records in a while. I'm proud of all the music we do. Every band likes to say, 'Oh, yeah, the new record is the best one we've ever done.' I think it's a very reflective record for where we're at musically, where we're at as a band. So that's always a goal. I think we just wanna be genuine. We don't wanna put out a dud record. Not everyone's gonna like it; we understand that. We just try to do what we do best. We're not the heaviest band in the world; we're not a pop-rock band at all either. We're just this aggressive band that has our own thing, and we stay true to that."

"Blood & Stone" track listing:

01. Dying To Live

02. Love

03. Blood From A Stone

04. Feel Like Going On

05. What You've Become

06. Kill Me

07. Nothing Left To See Here Anymore

08. Desperation

09. Criminal

10. Against The World

11. Alone

12. Wish You Well

13. The Day I Tried To Live

"All I See Is War" was released in May 2018. It marked the group's first album for Rise Records, the Oregon-based metal and hard rock label which was purchased by BMG in 2015.

SEVENDUST released four singles and videos from "All I See Is War": "Dirty", "Not Original", "Medicated" and "Risen".

In 2016, SEVENDUST received its first-ever Grammy nomination after two decades together as a band. "Thank You", the debut single from 2015's "Kill The Flaw", got the nod for "Best Metal Performance".

Photo credit: Travis Shinn / Chuck Brueckmann

SMASHING PUMPKINS have released two new songs, "Cyr" and "The Colour of Love". The tracks are expected to appear on the band's upcoming follow-up to 2018's "Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.", due later in the year via Sumerian. "Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun." was SMASHING PUMPKINS' first in over 18 years to feature founding members Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha, along with longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder.

"'Cyr' is dystopic folly," Corgan said in a statement, "one soul against the world sort of stuff, set against a backdrop of shifting loyalties and sped up time. To me it stands as both hopeful and dismissive of what is and isn’t possible with faith."

Regarding the quarantine performance video for "Cyr", director Linda Strawberry said: "This is a goth fever dream of pent up emotion — an artistic visual release attempting to create a momentary escape from the emotional black cloud hanging over all of us this year. A dark seduction filmed in quarantine at a social distance."

Earlier this year, Corgan told Tennessean about SMASHING PUMPKINS' upcoming studio album: "When we got back together with James, we went in with Rick Rubin and did eight songs. It was put out as a formal album, but I said at the time — and I did mean it — in my eyes, it wasn't an album. We didn't approach it like we've approached every other album we'd ever done, which is more like making a movie.

"In many ways, this is the first real album [since the reunion] where we've hunkered down and made a classic, 'Let's throw it all at the wall and see what happens' type of PUMPKINS record. I've been working on it for over a year.

"This is the first album since the album that came out in 2000, 'Machina', where me, James and Jimmy worked on something for a very long time," he added. "It's got a greater conceptual base, and it's probably a wider swath of music. The last one was kind of like, 'Let's just jump in, record some stuff real fast, and let it be what it is,' ... so I'm excited about this, because we're kind of back in the lane of taking a risk, and trying to bring something new to the table, as opposed to just aping what we're known for."

PUMPKINS' 2018 "Shiny And Oh So Bright Tour" reportedly sold over 300,000 tickets across North America and saw them playing sold-out arena shows at venues, including The Forum, United Center and Madison Square Garden. The tour was the band's first in nearly two decades to feature Corgan, Chamberlin and Iha, alongside Schroeder, bassist Jack Bates and keyboardist Katie Cole.

Jason Momoa, the hulking star of the superhero film "Aquaman" and diehard metalhead, got his hands on an early copy of the upcoming "Metallica And San Francisco Symphony: S&M²" release. His short video review of the set can be seen below.

The Hawaiian-born actor, who is perhaps best-known for his role as Khal Drogo in HBO fantasy epic "Game Of Thrones", is a huge heavy metal fan, having previously said that he listened to a lot of PANTERA, METALLICA and MUDVAYNE to get himself into the right frame of mind for playing a warrior like Conan in Marcus Nispel's remake of the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger action adventure "Conan The Barbarian". More recently, he tapped vocalist Oli Peters of the Canadian death metal band ARCHSPIRE to coach him on how to mimic his distinct vocal style for the early troop rallying scene in the Apple TV+ sci-fi series "See".

"Metallica And San Francisco Symphony: S&M²" documents METALLICA's September 2019 sold-out shows with the San Francisco Symphony. The package will be available in various formats, ranging in price from $17 to $300, on Friday, August 28.

The "S&M²" concerts were historic on multiple levels: They served as the grand opening of San Francisco's Chase Center, reunited the band and Symphony for the first time since the 1999 performances captured on the Grammy-winning "S&M" album, and featured the first-ever symphonic renditions of songs written and released since those original "S&M" shows.

The sold-out concerts were rapturously received by the 40,000 fans who traveled from nearly 70 countries, as well as the media: Rolling Stone raved "the group proved that anything was possible," Variety noted an atmosphere "buzzing with excitement," while the Mercury News witnessed "a concert that fans will be talking about for decades to come," and Consequence Of Sound hailed "a true celebration of METALLICA and their musical prowess."

"Metallica And San Francisco Symphony: S&M²". "S&M²" will be available in a staggering array of formats, ranging from a digital album on all leading streaming outlets, to 4LP vinyl, 2CD, DVD and Blu-ray versions, to a limited edition color vinyl 4LP + 2CD + Blu-ray Deluxe Box featuring sheet music, guitar picks, poster and more, all the way up to a Metallica.com exclusive Super Deluxe Box, limited to 500 copies, each featuring actual sheet music used by the Symphony during the shows and hand-signed by all four band members (in addition to including everything in the Deluxe Box). With this long-awaited Blackened Recordings release, "S&M²" can be fully experienced by others beyond those who squeezed into the Chase Center over those two unforgettable evenings.

"S&M²" is a landmark release in the METALLICA catalog, both sonically and visually. Produced by Greg Fidelman with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, the "S&M²" live album captures more than two and a half hours of James, Lars, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo joining forces with the nearly 80-strong San Francisco Symphony, legendary music director of the orchestra Michael Tilson Thomas, and conductor Edwin Outwater. The concert film is a brand-new edit done by Joe Hutching ("Through The Never") and both the audio and visuals have been taken to the next level from the October 2019 theatrical version that played in over 3,700 cinemas worldwide.

The three-hour concerts were split into two parts and included a rendition of "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" from METALLICA's debut album, "Kill 'Em All", performed as a solo by the Symphony bassist Scott Pingel in tribute to METALLICA's late bassist Cliff Burton.


Wait a minute... who sent an early copy of S&M2 to this dude??? Heads are gonna roll! ? ?

Glad you diggit, bro! We hope everyone out there digs it too!

Posted by Metallica on Thursday, August 27, 2020

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT will release their first-ever live album, "Live Around The World" on October 2 in CD, CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray and vinyl formats. The set presents a compilation of concert highlights captured the world over personally selected by Roger Taylor, Brian May and Adam Lambert from over 200 shows they have performed with several featured here becoming available for the very first time. These cover concerts from Rock In Rio, Lisbon, to the U.K.'s Isle Of Wight festival, Summer Sonic, Japan, selected U.K. and North America tour dates, and — from one of their very last performances before lockdown — the Fire Fight Australia benefit show. All formats include the band's entire 22-minute Fire Fight Australia appearance in which they performed QUEEN's original history-making 1985 Live Aid set in full: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Ga Ga", "Hammer To Fall", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions".

The 20 tracks featured include firm QUEEN fan favorites like "Don't Stop Me Now" and "I Want To Break Free" as well as rarities such as their versions of the Freddie Mercury-penned "Love Kills" and "I Was Born To Love You". The live album comes in CD, CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray and vinyl versions, with the DVD and Blu-ray featuring extra performance footage which include a Roger Taylor "Drum Battle" with drummer son Rufus Taylor, and Brian May "Last Horizon" guitar solo.

A preview of "Live Around The World" in the form of "The Show Must Go On", recorded at London's 02 Arena on July 4, 2018, can be seen below.

Since their first appearance together in 2009 when QUEEN members May and Taylor appeared as guests on the finale of the eighth season of "American Idol" on which Lambert was a contestant, the combination of QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT has gone from strength to strength becoming one of the world's biggest drawing touring bands. Their most recent tour of Oceania saw them selling out to massive audiences, with a single show at Sydney's ANZ stadium drawing a record crowd of over 60,000. To date the band has played to a worldwide audience approaching four million.

Had this been different times, Brian, Roger and Adam would have just ended a further tour with a colossal run of 27 shows across nine European countries. However, the arrival of COVID-19 forced their imminent European summer tour to be postponed until next year. With this in mind, QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT looked to other ways to console the almost half a million disappointed fans already holding tickets. This is when they turned first to YouTube. No strangers to the platform with 12.5 million subscribers already following them, the band presented a special QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT "Tour Watch Party", an hour-long show of live highlights from previous tours across the world. The positive engagement from fans worldwide showed that despite the global blackout of live shows, the show could still go on. But it wasn't just the 500,000+ viewing fans who were impressed, so were the band themselves.

"We hadn't really watched those clips before; we were always too busy touring," Taylor said. "We weren't aware of how good the band sounded. So we thought, well, maybe there's a live album of highlights of concerts that we've done over the last eight years with Adam Lambert to be made."

May said of the historic live album: "As we all grapple with the challenge of creating live shows in a world dominated by a formidable viral enemy, it seemed the perfect time for us to create a collection of hand-picked live highlights from our QUEEN shows over the last seven years with our brother Adam Lambert.

"It's a first! As you watch and listen to these tracks you'll be journeying all around the world with us, and experiencing a complete virtual live set. The collection climaxes in Sydney earlier this year when, in support Fire Fight Australia, we recreated the complete QUEEN Live Aid set. It was a historic event for a great cause — with perhaps the highest adrenaline level since the original Live Aid in 1985. It makes me particularly happy that we can now share this unique moment with the whole world."

Lambert added: "When we couldn't tour this year, we wanted to give the fans something in place of that, and a live album just felt right. It's the first time we have released an album together, and we have had a lot of fun putting it together, picking out favorite performances over the past seven years."

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT's only previously released track, their lockdown version of "You Are The Champions", with all the proceeds going towards the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization, was viewed close to four million times in its first month on YouTube.

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT's postponed 27-date European "Rhapsody" tour is now rescheduled to begin May 23, 2021, in Bologna, Italy, with its final date to be played in Madrid, Spain, on July 7. The full set of dates includes a 10-day residency at London's The O2 Arena in June.

"Live Around The World" CD / vinyl track listing

* "Tear It Up" (May) The O2, London, UK, 02/07/2018

* "Now I'm Here" (May) Summer Sonic, Tokyo, Japan, 2014

* "Another One Bites The Dust" (Deacon) Summer Sonic, Tokyo, Japan, 2014

* "Fat Bottomed Girls" ft. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (May) American Airlines Center, Dallas, USA, 2019

* "Don't Stop Me Now" (Mercury) Rock In Rio, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016

* "I Want To Break Free" (Deacon) Rock In Rio, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016

* "Somebody To Love" (Mercury) Isle of Wight Festival, UK, 2016

* "Love Kills" (The Ballad) (Mercury/Moroder) iHeart Radio Theater, Los Angeles, USA, 2014

* "I Was Born To Love You" (Mercury) Summer Sonic, Tokyo, Japan, 2014

* "Under Pressure" (Queen/Bowie) Global Citizen Festival, New York, USA, 2019

* "Who Wants To Live Forever" (May) Isle of Wight Festival, UK, 2016

* "The Show Must Go On" (Queen) The O2, London, UK, 04/07/2018

* "Love Of My Life" (Mercury) The O2, London, UK, 02/07/2018

* "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Mercury) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "Radio Ga Ga" (Taylor) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "Ay-Ohs" (Mercury) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "Hammer To Fall" (May) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (Mercury) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "We Will Rock You" (May) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "We Are The Champions" (Mercury) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

DVD / Blu-ray track listing:

* "Tear It Up" (May) The O2, London, UK, 02/07/2018

* "Now I'm Here" (May) Summer Sonic, Tokyo, Japan, 2014

* "Another One Bites The Dust" (Deacon) Summer Sonic, Tokyo, Japan, 2014

* "Fat Bottomed Girls" ft. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (May) American Airlines Center, Dallas, USA, 2019

* "Don't Stop Me Now" (Mercury) Rock In Rio, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016

* "I Want To Break Free" (Deacon) Rock In Rio, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016

* "Somebody To Love" (Mercury) Isle of Wight Festival, UK, 2016

* "Love Kills" (The Ballad) (Mercury/Moroder) iHeart Radio Theater, Los Angeles, USA, 2014

* "I Was Born To Love You" (Mercury) Summer Sonic, Tokyo, Japan, 2014

* "Drum Battle" (Taylor) Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia, 2014

* "Under Pressure" (Queen/Bowie) Global Citizen Festival, New York, USA, 2019

* "Who Wants To Live Forever" (May) Isle of Wight Festival, UK, 2016

* "The Guitar Solo" (Last Horizon) (May) The O2, London, UK, 2018

* "The Show Must Go On" (Queen) The O2, London, UK, 04/07/2018

* "Love Of My Life" (Mercury) The O2, London, UK, 02/07/2018

* "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Mercury) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "Radio Ga Ga" (Taylor) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "Ay-Ohs" (Mercury) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "Hammer To Fall" (May) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (Mercury) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "We Will Rock You" (May) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

* "We Are The Champions" (Mercury) Fire Fight Australia, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, 2020

Enslaved are set to release their 15th studio album, Utgard, on October 2 via Nuclear Blast. They have released the third single from the album, entitled  'Urjotun'. It is one of their most experimental songs yet, accompanied by a psychedelic video detailing dark visions and a journey to the outer reaches of the subconscious.

Vocalist Grutle Kjellson comments: "The lyrical idea for Urjotun had been spinning around in the chaos in the back of my head for quite a while, when Ivar sent me the riff-demo last autumn. I knew instantly that this was it, the very soundtrack of the rise of the primeval giant, the Urjotun! Our mutual love and fascination for that early krautrock scene and for bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, finally fully ascended in an Enslaved song, almost 30 years after we picked up those legendary kraut-albums. It’s funny, that in Germany they referred to this kind of music as 'Kosmische Musik', cosmic music! And, that is exactly what this song is about; cosmic chaos. On top of this, director David Hall, made a perfect projection and visualization of our troubled minds.”

In the trailer below, guitarist Ivar Bjørnson discusses the current band lineup and the recording of the new album.

Utgard will be available in these formats:

- CD jewel case (available with signed insert from Recordstore.co.uk)
- Limited Edition Black Vinyl (available with signed insert from Recordstore.co.uk)
- Limited Edition Grey Vinyl (300 copies)
- Limited Edition Blue Vinyl (300 copies)
- Limited Edition UK Exclusive Transparent Green Vinyl (300 copies + available with signed insert from Recordstore.co.uk)

Pre-order here.

Utgard tracklisting:

"Fires In The Dark"
"Jettegryta"
"Sequence"
"Homebound"
"Utgardr"
"Urjotun"
"Flight Of Thought And Memory"
"Storms Of Utgard"
"Distant Seasons"

"Jettegryta" video:

"Homebound" video:

Enslaved are:

Ivar Bjørnson - guitars
Grutle Kjellson - vocals
Arve 'Ice Dale' Isdal - guitar
Håkon Vinje - Keyboards, Clean Vocals
Iver Sandøy - Drums

(Photo - Roy Bjørg)




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EVILDEAD will release a new studio album, "United $tate$ Of Anarchy", on October 30 via SPV/Steamhammer.

EVILDEAD was formed in 1987 with the intention to create heavy music in the thrash metal vein. The EVILDEAD sound was unique, highlighting a blend of speed and thrash metal guitar riffs along with hyper drumming locked in with an over-the-top thundering bass with punk overtones and lyrical themes that explored political, thought-provoking social ideas, mixed with horror and nuclear war themes.

In 1988, EVILDEAD signed a worldwide recording contract with SPV/Steamhammer and released the "Rise Above" EP featuring two original tracks, along with a cover version of the BLACK FLAG anthem "Rise Above". In the summer of 1988, EVILDEAD entered Music Grinder recording studios with producer/engineer Cacey McMakin (NUCLEAR ASSAULT, KREATOR) to record the classic full-length album "Annihilation Of Civilization".

In 1989, the band had some lineup changes along the way before their first successful European tour with co-headliners LAAZ ROCKIT. In 1990, EVILDEAD returned to the recording studio with producer Warren Croyle to track its second studio album titled "The Underworld", released in 1991 to rave reviews. After releasing its follow-up effort, "Live…From The Depths Of The Underworld", EVILDEAD disbanded in 1992, with members pursuing other projects.

In 2019, EVILDEAD secured a new recording deal with SPV/Steamhammer for "United $tate$ Of Anarchy". It will feature nine studio tracks plus a metalized cover version of the B-52'S' "Planet Claire" as a bonus track all produced by Bill Metoyer. Seminal artist Edward J. Repka has once again illustrated the cover of the new album.

EVILDEAD 2020 is:

Albert Gonzales - Rhythm/Lead Guitars

Juan Garcia - Rhythm/Lead Guitars

Rob Alaniz - Drums

Phil Flores - Lead Vocals

Karlos Medina - Bass

Photo credit: Alex Solca

Cyhra guitarist Euge Valovirta has launched a new band, Red Wolf. Their first video, "Crossing The Line" can be viewed below. The song will be released on all digital platforms on September 2nd. The album Sessions Vol. 1 will be released on October 14th featuring 10 songs of riff based, groovy kickass metal.

It all started in Spring 2020, during the COVID – 19 lockdown, when Euge Valovirta (Cyhra) had received compliments and questions about the songs he had used on his YouTube channel’s videos which were just 1-2 minute clips of cool riffs basically written for a particular video about a certain amp, effect pedal, etc.

Around the same time Adde Larsson, with whom Euge had played several Cyhra shows since he had filled in for Alex Landenburg, called Euge that he really likes Euge’s solo album, Easy Does It, and if he ever plans to record another he’d like to be the drummer on that.

Since all of their main band’s tours were cancelled, they had plenty of time so they decided that Euge will complete the aforementioned clips into full songs at his home studio in Helsinki, Finland and Adde will then record drums on them in his hometown Gothenburg, Sweden. When the demos of the songs were finished Euge decided that the songs require vocals and someone to finish the writing process with him and the first guy he thought who’d be perfect for the job was Samy Elbanna (Lost Society) and Samy replied immediately, without hearing a single song, that he is in.

Around the same time, Euge thought that he wants his old bandmate from Suburban Tribe Janne Joutsenniemi (Stone, Suburban Tribe) to play bass on the songs and Janne also replied immediately that he is in. Janne also growls on the album which he hasn’t done since Stone’s last album Emotional Playground (1991).

After the drums were done Euge, Samy and Janne recorded their parts at their home studios and by early July the recordings were finished, without the guys meeting once during this time, and the mixing started at IYP studios in Gothenburg, Sweden by Matthias Törngren.

Euge Valovirta: “All of this happened very naturally & effortlessly and this has been probably the easiest album writing & recording process that I’ve ever been a part of and I’m really happy how everything turned out. 'Crossing The Line' was the first song we completed and it set the direction for the rest of the album. It’s working title was 'JCM800' ‘cos it was written for my YouTube channels’ – video about my all time favourite amp; Marshall JCM800 2203 which I used on the album, naturally."

Samy Elbanna: "As a person who always has enjoyed creating and doing as much as possible, this was an absolute dream to be a part of! This has been without a doubt one of the funniest and most organic projects I’ve ever had the honor to participate! Great songs and a great group of guys, what could be better?!"

Janne Joutsenniemi: "I haven’t played or sung for a while so this was a nice change for me to rock out with the guys, even from a distance since everybody played their parts on their own for obvious reasons. I haven’t even met or talked with Adde but it was really fun to play the bass on top of his drums and my playing fitted naturally to his playing. I can hear hear the fresh and enthusiastic touch in everyone’s playing and everything was done in the spur of moment since we had no time or need to analyze and rehearse things any further. It was straight forward full speed ahead, trusting your own intuition and that’s what music is all about."

Adde Larsson: "Having been working together with Euge as a stand in drummer for Alex Landenburg in Cyhra for about 2 years and with a bunch of shows and tours under the belt together, me and Euge have really hit it off and he has become a very good and dear friend of mine. When this opportunity rose to do this project together there was absolutely nothing that would stop me in my tracks to take the change and join! To also be playing with Samy and Janne in the same band was a massive extra privilege and a surprise to say, especially knowing what they have achieved in their individual careers! It makes me very humble and excited to be a part of this machine and it’s just simply awesome and honouring to be a part of this all."

Red Wolf is:

Euge Valovirta – guitar
Samy Elbanna – vocals & guitar
Janne Joutsenniemi – bass & vocals
Adde Larsson - drums

Check out the band's official Facebook page here.




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Today, Escape The Fate releases their new song and music video for "Walk On". The song will be on their forthcoming album, due out in 2021. The song is a rock anthem that builds on the classic Escape The Fate sound, with catchy vocal melodies, huge guitars, and driving drums.

"Lyrically, the new single is a message of positivity,” lead singer Craig Mabbitt says. "'Walk On' is a song about recovery, about not giving up when things seem impossible to overcome, it’s always darkest before the dawn and you just need to hold on until the sun rises. Walk on." 

The video for "Walk On" draws on footage of Escape The Fate's past live performances, along with movie footage from the upcoming Better Noise Films debut feature film release, Sno Babies. The film's message mirrors that of the track, portraying how easy it is to fall into a pattern of substance use.

The new single is Escape The Fate's first release in over two years since 2018’s I Am Human.

Over a decade into their young career, Craig Mabbitt, Kevin Thrasher, TJ Bell, and Robert Ortiz have been making music and out on the road since before they were old enough to drive. An authentic, visceral, and electric connection with the audience is the heart of what Escape The Fate is about, whether they are playing at a major rock festival, the legendary Vans Warped Tour or out on the road with Five Finger Death Punch.

The band understands what it means to be broken, from childhood trauma, to the tumultuousness of the music biz, and they know how music can heal. It’s still about a good time, but with a deeper meaning, the kind that empowers listeners to overcome all obstacles. It may be the same lineup, but it’s a brand-new Escape The Fate.

Produced by A-list producer John Feldmann (5 Seconds Of Summer, The Used) and their own Thrasher who has been producing, working with the likes of Travis Barker and Machine Gun Kelly, the new album delivers an arsenal of driving bangers and melodic ballads that are among the best of the hard rock world.  Feldmann explains "It was awesome working again with Escape The Fate! Craig is family and incredible in the studio and Thrasher… What a talent! Him coproducing this song with me was a real treat and a real joy…"

Stream of buy "Walk On" from any of the platforms found here. Watch the video below.

About Sno Babies:

A gripping and emotive tale, Sno Babies depicts the grim realities of addiction and its effects on a middle-class suburban town. Kristen and Hannah are best friends--smart, likable and college-bound– and also addicted to heroin. The pair of seemingly unlikely addicts spiral down a path of destruction, hiding their secret from well-meaning but busy parents, behind pink bedrooms and school uniforms. Sno Babies shows how easy it can be to both miss and hide the signs of addiction behind the guise of “good” neighborhoods and pleasant, busy communities. Available on Demand 9/29/2020 

Photo by Adam Elmakias




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Nightwish vocalist Floor Jansen recently launched a new online series called Floor Finds, featuring conversation with a guest that does not necessarily center on music. Check out the new episode below.

Floor: "Together with Alissa White-Gluz, we talk about how we see our role on this world when it comes to the well-being of the earth. We touch upon many topics: plastic use, up-cycling, recycling, raspberries (not strawberries), diet and much more! It was absolutely lovely catching up with Alissa again!"

Jansen has released an English-language version of her recently recorded solo song, "The Fight Goes On". The original Dutch-language version of the track, "De Beelden Blijven", was written by Han Kooreneef and recorded for the documentary Kinderen In Oorlog: 75 Jaar Later in cooperation with War Child.

War Child is an organization that provides education and psychological care for children in conflict zones across the world.

Says Jansen: "War Child is providing aid in Beirut as we speak and that makes this song extra important. Because the fight goes on. In so many places on this beautiful green earth help and support is vital for the future of children hurt by war and other forms of terror.

"War Child helps children worldwide who suffer from the traumas of war. They want to help them with their invisible scars, to break the silence about their experiences on a child-friendly way through music, play and interaction with other children. So called psycho-social help."




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Primal Fear bassist Mat Sinner, who is a member of bandmate Alex Beyrodt's Voodoo Circle, has checked in with the following update:

Recording some bass for my friend Magnus Karlsson today and finishing the backing vocals for the new Voodoo Circle album, maybe later the champ Tom Naumann will visit me for some song writing. The first new mixes came in today and yes, Alexander Beyrodt and me both have a big smile on our faces! Great work by my friend Jacob Hansen - crushing!"

Voodoo Circle released their Raised On Rock album on February 9th, 2018. Founder / guitarist Alex Beyrodt posted the following update shortly after the release:

"Top 50 chart entry! Raised On Rock hit the Official German Album Charts on #43. This is the biggest success in the band's history and the band's most succesfull album so far. Thanks for making this happen to all our supporters, fans and partners. At the end, loyalty and hard work pays back! Personally, this means a lot more to me than you may think. I also want to thank Maybach Guitars, Marshall Amps, Richter Straps, Pyramid Strings, Eternal Rock Music Agency and AFM Records. And of course to my babygirl who always has my back, no matter what happens!"

If you consider the songs on Raised On Rock to be an indicator of the current emotional condition their most important protagonists find themselves in, there seems to be no reason to worry about band founder, guitarist and main composer Alex Beyrodt in particular. Thanks to Beyrodt’s excellent songwriting - as usual inspired by renowned sources such as Whitesnake, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix - and his outstanding guitar performance which brings to mind icons from Ritchie Blackmore through Jimmy Page to John Sykes, this recording oozes pure, unadulterated fervour.

This exuberant energy, however, isn’t the merit of Beyrodt alone but, without doubt, also that of his colleagues Mat Sinner (bass), Francesco Jovino (drums) and - last but not least - new vocalist Herbie Langhans (Avantasia). Beyrodt and Langhans met in 2015 at the Wacken Open Air, when they belted out the Wacken anthem together from the gigantic Black Stage.

Beyrodt: “The amazing thing about this story is that Herbie and I had never met before but talked to each other in person for the very first time after we’d rocked only minutes earlier the 100,000 people in front of the stage and around four million viewers in front of their TV sets.”

With Langhans as the group’s new frontman, the stylistic direction of the Voodoo Circle compositions hasn’t significantly changed - unlike the general flair of the material: “I feel that the band sounds even more autonomous, a little less bluesy and much meatier with Herbie at the mic,” Beyrodt enthuses. “This allowed me to work on ideas which would probably not really have suited his predecessor David Readman but are absolutely perfect for Herbie’s powerful voice.”

The Voodoo Circle boss is referring to numbers such as "Running Away From Love", with its anthemic vocal melody and the subsequent mid-tempo rock track "Higher Love", which went down a treat with the audience at its official live debut.

Beyrodt: “In the beginning, the song caused me a number of sleepless nights because I felt that there was still one small, all-important element missing. Then I came up with the idea of the talk box, which lends it a different, very interesting note. To me, 'Higher Love' in its current form is one of the best Voodoo Circle numbers of all time.”

The almost six-and-a-half-minute "Dreamchaser", with its Blackmore references dates back to the very early days of the group. Beyrodt had originally composed it for the 2008 Voodoo Circle debut album but wasn’t entirely satisfied with the result at the time.

“The arrangement of the number was changed and overhauled repeatedly over the years, now it’s matured to the point where it was ready for recording.”

"You Promised Me Heaven" sees Beyrodt delve deep into the Page/Sykes bag of tricks, a veritable guitar festival featuring Telecaster, Strat and Les Paul sounds which support the bluesy feel of the track, adding even greater depth.

Talking of the sound: Raised On Rock was mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, U.D.O.), whose unerring instinct for dynamics and frequencies lends the recording its modern touch. And another musician contributed significantly to the tight overall impression of Raised On Rock: the keyboards were manned by Corvin Bahn (Saxon, Uli Jon Roth). So all in all, we can say that the new Voodoo Circle album truly lives up to its programmatic title.

Raised On Rock tracklisting:

"Running Away From Love"
"Higher Love"
"Walk On The Line"
"You Promised Me Heaven"
"Just Take My Heart"
"Where Is The World We Love"
"Ultimate Sin"
"Chase Me Away"
"Unknown Stranger"
"Dreamchaser"
"Love Is An Ocean"
"Time For The Innocent" (Bonus track on Digipak)
"There's More To See" (Bonus track on Digipak)

EPK:

"Higher Love" video:

"Running Away From Love":




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Finnish progressive death metal veterans Convulse will unleash their new full-length, Deathstar, October 30th via Transcending Records.

A near 41-minute masterwork, Deathstar delivers nine tracks that transcend the boundaries of standard death metal. Fusing the prime tenets of death metal, heavy rock, and prog into something innovative and enticing, the record arguably picks up where the band's underrated 1994 gem Reflections full-length left off adopting a similar genre-bending approach and modernizing it.

Deathstar was recorded and mixed in analog at JJ-studio with Juuso Nordlund and comes swathed in the art of Jan Yrlund, based on the painting Strangled by Minna Mead. Elaborates guitarist / vocalist Rami Jämsä of the offering, "Deathstar will be an interesting experience for those who listen to music with an open mind. We've not forgotten our roots of old-school death metal, but for me, it's very natural to evolve musically and write music free of any boundaries. You can perhaps hear some echoes from the Reflections album. We recorded Deathstar during the Summer / Fall of 2019 in the same 24-track reel-to-reel analog studio with the same producer as the Evil Prevails album back in 2013 (JJ-studio/Juuso Nordlund). The sound of the album is timeless. It will be difficult to figure out which decade it has been written and recorded. We wrote and rehearsed the album material for almost three years."

Of first single, "The Summoning", Jämsä continues, "'The Summoning' is a story about our craving to fulfill our life. Between our birth and death, we have to make innumerable amounts of choices. There is a line in the song, 'We have an obligation to fulfill our empty souls,' and, 'Which one you think you are? One who regrets or standing tall?' I think it's an important question for every one of us. The song composed itself quite quickly. At first, I made the haunting synth melody and the rest of the song is composed together with the band in our rehearsal studio. In the end of the song, you can hear some influences from the one of my favorite bands, Rush."

Deathstar will be released on CD, limited-edition deluxe CD, digital, cassette, and vinyl formats. For physical pre-orders, visit this location. For digital orders, go here.

Behold the Deathstar artwork and tracklisting:

“Extreme Dark Light”
“Whirlwind”
“The Summoning”
“Chernobyl”
“We Sold Our Soul For Rock'n Roll”
“Deathstar”
“Make Humanica Great Again”
“Light My Day”
“The End”

(Band photo by Okko Sorma)




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Devin Townsend will release Order Of Magnitude - Empath Live Volume 1 on October 23, a document of his Winter 2019 European tour that saw him taking on possibly his most ambitious live show to date.

Today (Augusst 28th) sees the launch of the first clip from the release, and you can watch Devin and the Empath Volume 1 live band performing the track "Genesis"  below. 

Devin comments: “Here is the first song we’ve chosen to release from the upcoming DVD concert, Order Of Magnitude, which was the first volume of my Empath touring band cycle. 
 
This particular band consisted of ten people onstage, all without click tracks or backing tracks, with the aim of reproducing my work in a new and creative way. A lot of what I’ve done in the past has been very structured, and the opportunity to interpret the music with high degrees of improvisation and flow was a fantastic experience. 
 
This song, 'Genesis' from my latest album Empath seemed an appropriate way to introduce this concert to the audience. It’s kind of an example of ‘musical anarchy’ in some ways- as the song is all over the place structurally to begin with.  But to have a chaotic piece of music, played by these extraordinary musicians I had the honour of being with, in a no-holds-barred production, was really cathartic. It was about being free to do whatever we wanted in a time where rigid ideas of what is acceptable or not are stronger than ever. 
 
I hope you enjoy it. Volume 2 is next, and is in a lot of ways the polar opposite to this, but on my journey of musical exploration, I am grateful for all of it, so thanks again for the support."

Recorded in December 2019 in London, UK on the penultimate night of the tour in support of his latest album Empath, this run of shows saw Devin joined by an incredible lineup of musicians. The band was made up of guitarists Mike Kenneally (ex-Frank Zappa) and Markus Reuter (Stick Men, The Crimson Project), drummer Morgen Agren (Kaipa, Mats & Morgan, Frank Zappa), bassist Nathan Navarro, Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida, and guitarist/vocalist Ché Aimee Dorval, as well as vocalists Samantha & Anne Preis and Arabella Packford.

Devin’s plan for the Empath touring cycle was to divide it up into three ‘Volumes’, and this was Volume 1. The idea behind the shows was a simple one: none of the backing tapes or click tracks that had long been necessary to bring the kaleidoscopic cacophony in his head and on his records to life in the flesh. This would just be Devin Townsend and a band of genius-level musicians getting up there and trying to keep it from spinning off into outer space. Or maybe just letting it spin-off into outer space for the sheer hell of it.

“The whole objective was that I wanted to make that statement: This is by the seat our pants,” he says. “Because it's important to me to represent this hyper anal-retentive music that I've made over the years, but in a human way. Rather than it just being, ‘Well, here it is, perfectly done.’”

“I was overwhelmed by the fact that all these brilliant people that I have so much respect for were willing to come together and play this weird shit with me,” says Devin. “I had these unique players and this interesting instrumentation that allowed us to interpret the music in different ways. It was clear to me that I could just have fun and be me and know that they would be effortlessly be able to follow that.”

That sense of fun and freedom was evident to anyone who was there on the night. Visually, it was an assault on the senses in the best possible way. A digital screen projected vivid images throughout the show. A giant gleaming mirrorball hung from the ceiling. There were multiple costume changes and a tiki bar onstage (a tiki bar!).

Order Of Magnitude - Empath Live Volume 1 will be released as a Limited Deluxe 2CD+Blu-Ray+DVD Artbook (including expanded artwork & photos), Limited 2CD+DVD Digipak, Standalone Blu-Ray, Gatefold 3LP+2CD vinyl box-set & as a Digital Album. The Blu-Ray disc includes a bonus behind the scenes documentary, and both DVD & Blu-Ray feature a 5.1 surround sound mix.

Look out for the first clip and pre-order start on August 28.

Tracklisting:

"Borderlands"
"Evermore"
"War"
"Sprite"
"Gigpig Jam"
"Coast"
"Gato"
"Heavens End"
"Ain’t Never Gonna Win"
"Deadhead"
"Why?"
"Lucky Animals"
"Castaway/Genesis"
"Spirits Will Collide"
"Disco Inferno"
"Kingdom"

Townsend recently checked in with the following announcement:

"So, I was thrilled to announce my headlining of Bloodstock this year, and with an eye on doing my first 'by request' set that included my entire career, (including SYL and all the DTP albums), I know there were a lot of people that were really excited as well.

But then, as we all know, circumstances prevented that from happening, and that was disappointing as the show was meant to be a pivotal moment in my creative career. But every roadblock is an opportunity for something different so we have come up with a plan to bring you the show in a way I believe will be kind of revolutionary and damned exciting. We have been working tirelessly to bring you a ‘virtual’ concert of the by request set, with musicians playing together, yet all in different parts of the world.

However, I wanted to do something different, not the 'Brady Bunch' type split screen visuals filmed on smartphones (they are cool, but also not really exciting in my opinion). Instead, we have opted to make a full production, filming ourselves separately, playing our instruments live, on greenscreens, with 8 cameras each (all at the same heights and distances for each of our remote shoots) and then combine these elements on a crazy virtual stage. It's ambitious, but I think the closest to a monster concert as can be achieved this summer. Considering everyone is scattered throughout the land yet not wanting to 'let the dream die' we have stumbled upon something rather amazing I think.

The players are Samus on drums, Wes Hauch on guitar, and Liam Wilson on bass... they have been going crazy learning the material, and we are putting it all together on September 5th, for the most ambitious live stream I think I've heard of thus far. We have been dealing with StageIt to avoid any hiccups, and it's poised to be rather awesome.

I will be live with it, and you, at this show, answering questions and talking to you throughout, to make it a totally interactive experience that acts not only as a cool way to spend a Saturday, but also as a potentially new way to do concerts entirely. The players I have hired have worked their butts off learning the material, and its going to be one of the coolest things Ive done in recent memory.

So please consider coming to this, StageIt has allowed the show to be the full 85 minutes, so it will be the full Bloodstock set. I can't actually believe we’re managing to pull off something like this, and theres a lot involved with it, but it's worth it to me. Its not just any quarantine concert; this one is a quantum leap of sound and visuals. I cant wait for you to see this, hopefully you’ll consider it."




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Reaper Entertainment announces the signing of southern German pagan metal band, Wolfchant.

Since 2003 Wolfchant has successfully set out to prove that the proverbial "metal hammer" does not only hang in Scandinavia. Extreme metal mixed with timeless melodies, driving riffs followed by epic parts and aggressive screams paired with choral singing are what awaits the listener.

Now, the band signed a world wide record deal with the up-and-coming label, Reaper Entertainment Europe.

The band states: "We are very happy about the future cooperation with Reaper Entertainment, as we appreciate their professional work very much. Together we want to take Wolfchant to the next level."

Greg (Reaper Entertainment) states: "Its an honour to welcome such pagan metal veterans as Wolfchant on board! Back in 2007 when I was attending the (not longer existing) Ultima Ratio Festival I unfortunately missed them ;-) Back then I never would have imagined that in 2020 we are signing them! Stay tuned for some Wolfchant at its best!"

Wolfchant are recording their new studio album at the moment and are planning a tour for this autumn. More Info about the new album soon.




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Atheist are widely regarded by those in the know as the pioneers of technical death metal, influencing many of today’s top technical extreme metal bands. Atheist was set to return to Europe and the UK for the first time since 2011 with the Enthralled In Europe Tour in September of 2020. Due to the pandemic the tour has been rescheduled for February/March 2021. The lineup remains as Atheist with support from Cadaver, Svart Crown and From Hell.

During quarantine, members Daniel Martinez, Chris Martin, Yoav-Ruiz Feingold and Anthony Medaglia kept their chops and produced a series of playthrough videos. The first was for the track "Mother Man" from Atheist second album, Unquestionable Presence. The latest instalment brings up "And The Psychic Saw", also from the Unquestionable Presence. Both videos can be viewed below.

Vocalist Kelly Shaefer comments on the new video: “This is the second of our playthrough videos - ‘And The Psychic Saw’! We wanted to lay this on you metalheads from the new band. It is a notoriously difficult song to play so when the new guys wanted to add this to the set I was reluctant. It is one of my favorite songs, even my co-founder Steve Flynn was always cautious about pulling this song off live so we rarely tried it...and along came these young monsters who just crushed it. So of course I said fuck yes, let's add it to the set. We performed this on several of the dates on our last tour with Cattle Decapitation. These guys just nailed it!!! I couldn’t be more proud to introduce you to Atheist 2020. Enjoy!!!”

“And The Psychic Saw” playthrough video:

"Mother Man" playthrough video:

Don’t miss Atheist as they team up with powerhouses Cadaver and Svart Crown for a terrifying tour through Europe and the UK in February/March 2021!

The Norwegian Cadaver, founded by Anders Odden (Satyricon, Order) is a prime example of a true Nordic mindset when it comes to death metal. One of the first Norwegian extreme metal bands, re-gathered for the first time since 2004, is coming back to life with Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth, ex-Soilwork) on drums. The band will present its new digital EP titled DGAF, just released through Nuclear Blast.

The French blackened death metal monsters Svart Crown will join this powerful lineup with their brand new fifth studio album Wolves Among The Ashes, released earlier this year through Century Media. Five albums and over ten years of heavy touring made Svart Crown one of the French bands a true lover of death metal should see anytime they come by.

A heavy metal horror concept band From Hell, each recording of which is intended to be its own horror story, will complement this tour. On this leg, the US-based metallers will present their new concept album Rats & Ravens.

The tour will be complemented by opening acts such as Critical Mess (Germany), Typhus (Greece), and one more band to be announced soon.

Carefully flex your neck and keep yourself hydrated so that your body is in good shape when this lineup comes to your town and slams your face with a pristine death metal wall of sound.

Tour dates:

February
16.02 - TBA
17.02 - Kassel, Germany - Goldgrube *
18.02 - Cottbus, Germany - Gladhouse *
19.02 - Prague, Czech Republic - Nova Chmelnice *
20.02 - Bratislava, Slovakia - Randall *
21.02 - Brasov, Romania - Club Rockstadt *
22.02 - Bucharest, Romania - Quantic Club *
23.02 - Sofia, Bulgaria - MIxtape 5 *
24.02 - Budapest, Hungary - Barba Negra *
25.02 - TBA *
26.02 - Venice, Italy - Revolver Club +
27.02 - Rome, Italy - Orion Club +
28.02 - Milan, Italy - Slaughter Club +

March
1.03 - Marseille, France - Jas Rod +
2.03 - Barcelona, Spain - Sala Upload +
3.03 - Madrid, Spain - Sala Caracol +
4.03 - Lisbon, Portugal - RCA Club +
5.03 - Porto, Portugal - Metalpoint +
6.03 - Zaragoza, Spain - C.C. Valdefierro +
7.03 - Toulouse, France - L’usine A Musique º
8.03 - Paris, France - Petit Bain º
9.03 - Mannheim, Germany - MS Connexion º
10.03 - Oberhausen, Germany - Kulttempel º
11.03 - Apeldoorn, Netherlands - Gigant º
12.03 - TBD º
13.03 - London, England - Underworld º

* With Critical Mess
º With Typhus
+Opening act TBA

Atheist lineup:

Kelly Shaefer - vocals (founding member)
Steven Flynn - drums (founding member)
Daniel Martinez - guitars
Yoav Ruiz Feingold - bass
Anthony Medaglia - drums
Chris Martin - guitars




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DED has shared the brand new song "Parasite". It serves as another taste of what's to come on the band's upcoming sophomore effort, the details of which will be revealed soon.

"This is a straight-up DED track," says frontman Joe Cotela. "I think this will be a live fan favorite in the future once concerts start happening again. It's also one of the heavier tracks from the new batch of songs that we're working on."

He offered some insight into the song's deeper meaning, saying, "Lyrically, 'Parasite' is written from the point of view of a human sickness — whether it be anxiety, addiction, depression, or something else. It's an invisible monster inside us that torments and feed off of us. It is empowering and cathartic to me to be in those shoes — it brings me closer to understanding my demons. Educating and confronting ourselves is imperative to personal growth, healing, and positive change."

DED continues to work on new material with powerhouse rock producer Kevin Churko (FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, OZZY OSBOURNE, DISTURBED). The Phoenix-based band's new music takes on the fury of its debut and deepens the emotions with a compassion for humanity and a thought-provoking consciousness that we can all be and do better, not only for ourselves but each other.

After taking the rock world by storm with its 2017 debut album "Mis-An-Thrope", which spawned two Top 20 rock radio singles, DED toured with KORN, IN THIS MOMENT and STONE SOUR, and lit up festival stages, including Aftershock, Louder Than Life, Rocklahoma, Carolina Rebellion, Rock On The Range and ShipRocked. Quickly becoming one of rock's most exciting torchbearers, DED embodies elements of rock, alternative and metal, with pop melodies, cloaked in some of the most histrionic, headbanging music on the planet. But when you dig beneath the surface, DED's unexpectedly soulful music is building a community by offering comfort in times of despair, clarity through suffering, and positivity by exposing negativity, proving that there's a way to live through the struggle and come out stronger, happier and more united on the other side.

DED's forthcoming album will be the first release under Suretone Records' renewed multiple-year deal with ADA Worldwide for exclusive distribution.

DED is managed by Jordan Schur for Suretone Entertainment.

Photo credit: Travis Shinn

Bay Area thrash legends, Heathen, will release their fourth studio album, Empire Of The Blind, on September 18 via Nuclear Blast Records. Today, the band releases their fourth album trailer and discuss the recording process. Watch below:

Empire Of The Blind was for the most part engineered, produced, mixed, and mastered by Christopher “Zeuss” Harris at Planet Z Studios. Additional details - rhythm guitars, etc. - were put to digital “tape” by Kragen Lum at SubLevel Studio in Little Rock, AR. The album features guest appearances by Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer), Rick Hunolt (ex-Exodus) and Doug Piercy (ex-Heathen).

The cover art for Empire Of The Blind was once again handled by renowned artist Travis Smith (Overkill, Exhorder).

Empire Of The Blind will be available in the following formats:

- CD Jewel Case
- Vinyl
  Red with Black Splatter (US exclusive)
  Red with Black Swirl (US exclusive)
  Black
  Red
  Yellow with Red Splatter
- Red Cassette (US exclusive)
- T-Shirt
- T-Shirt + CD Bundle (US exclusive)
- T-Shirt + Red with Black Splatter Vinyl Bundle (US exclusive)
- CD + Patch Bundle

Pre-order your copy of in the format of your choice here. Pre-save the album to Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer here.

Empire Of The Blind tracklisting:

"This Rotting Sphere"
"The Blight"
"Empire Of The Blind"
"Dead And Gone"
"Sun In My Hand"
"Blood To Be Let"
"In Black"
"Shrine Of Apathy"
"Devour"
"A Fine Red Mist"
"The Gods Divide"
"Monument To Ruin"

"Empire Of The Blind" lyric video:

"The Blight" lyric video:

Heathen is:

David White - Vocals
Lee Altus - Guitar
Kragen Lum - Guitar
Jason Mirza - Bass
Jim DeMaria - Drums




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A long list of metal musicians joined forces for the “99 Bottles Of Beer” release on International Dog Day (August 26). The "99 Bottles Of Beer" track is available for purchase and streaming on all streaming platforms. Get the single here.

Gruesome bassist Robin Mazen, Derek & John gathered a long list of musicians, comedians, record label executives, and DJ’s to help raise funds for Old Dog Haven and The Heartlands Foundation. The list of varied acts and artists is long (see the full list below).

Old Dog Haven is a great organization that helps older dogs find foster homes, and is committed to the belief that all senior dogs should live peacefully in their final years as members of a caring family.

A GoFundMe page to help fund Heartlands Foundation contribution to Old Dog Haven can be found here.

Guest Bottles:

99. Mike “XCIX” Williams - EyeHateGod
98. Chris Copp - The Soiled Doves
97. Mark “Barney” Greenway - Napalm Death
96. Obie Flett - Pathology / Inherit Disease
95. Matt McGachy - Cryptopsy
94. John Gallagher - Dying Fetus
93. Alex Cha - Ampallang Infection
92. Fredrick Söderberg - Soreption
91. Yngve “Bolt” Christiansen - Blood Red Throne
90. Nader Sadek
89. Colin Clive - Mustard Plug / The War Between
88. Mike Majewski - Formerly of Devourment / Kill Everything
87. Chris “Whiskey” Wilson - Gornography / Introvert Perversions
86. Sherwood Webber - Skinless
85. John McEntee - Incantation
84. Jeremy Wagner - Broken Hope
83. Heljarmadr - Dark Funeral
82. Steve “Zetro” Souza - Exodus
81. Brian Slagel - Metal Blade Records
80. Tim Goergen - Within The Ruins
80. Taylor - Massacre
79. Lenzig Leal - Cephalic Carnage
78. Liam Wilson - Dillinger Escape Plan
77. Tony Sekthdamon - Emperor / Myrkskog
76. Carla Harvey - Butcher Babies
75. Ally Levine - Beekeeper
74. L.Z. - Voice Actress
73. Jessica Pimmentel - Alekhine’s Gun / Star of Orange is the New Black
72. Heidi Shepherd - Butcher Babies
71. Jeremy Kling - Venom Inc.
70. Stu Block - Iced Earth
69. Matt Heafy - Trivium
68. Madison - Cloud Rat
67. Shawn Knight - Child Bite
67. Phil Demmel - Vio-lence / ex-Machine Head
66. Paul Ryan - Origin
65. John Jarvis - Nest
64. Carlos - Gloryhole Guillotine
63. “Necro” Tom Quach - Harkonin
62.  Chuck Billy - Testament
61. Jarvis Leatherby - Night Demon
60. Kate Richardson-Anselmo - Housecore Records
59. Mike D’Salvo - Akurion, Ex-Cryptopsy
58. Anthony Trapini - Odious Mortem
57. Alissa White-Gluz - Arch Enemy
56. Matt Harvey - Exhumed
55. Dan Potthast - Mu330
54. Dave Hill - Witch Taint
53. Don Jamieson - That Metal Show
52. Cody Souza - Hatriot
51. Slasher Dave - Acid Witch
50. Mike De Leon - Philip H Anselmo And The Illegals
49. Jason Asberry - Stormruler
48. Ben Marotta - Eukaryst
47. B.C. Brian Craig - Don’t Mind Dying / Slugtrail
46. Torin Ridgeway - Liquid Death
45. The Doc - The Boozehoundz
44. Zach Gibson - Shit Life
44. Joshua Riley - Unmerciful
43. Kyle Thomas - Exhorder
42. Alexandre Leblanc - Neuraxis / Heavy Metal Chaos
41. Gene Meyer - Bandit
40. Shawn the Butcher - Sirius XM
39. Tommy “Death Metal God” Dahlstöm - Aeon
38. Tony Reust - formerly of Unmerciful
37. Tony Foresta - Municipal Waste
36. “Captain” Chris Andrews - Devourment
35. Nick Moreno - Flesh Hoarder
34. Ryan “Loop Man” Vincent M - Legend / Apollo Audio Alternative
33. James Lee - formerly of Origin
32. Ross Dolan - Immolation
31. Andrew Ortega - Oracle
30. Shaun LaCanne- Putrid Pile
29. David White - Heathen
28. Steve Brogden - Nukem
27. Dennis Sanders - Spirit in the Room
26. Derek Engemann - Scour
25. Courtney Cox - The Iron Maidens
24. Toshihiko Takahashi - Palm
23. Kelly Shaefer - Athiest
22. Danko Jones
21. Jeff Becerra - Possessed
21. Paul McGuire - Cerebral Bore
20. Mallika Sundaramurthy - Abnormality
19. Mark Osegueda - Death Angel
18. Brian Kingsland - Nile
17. Alex Carmago - Krisiun
16. Nasty - Crackwhore
15. Robin Mazen - Gruesome / Derketa / Castrator
14. Matt Young - King Parrot
13. Leon Del Muerte - Nails / Murder Construct
12. Mark Kloeppel - Misery Index / Cast the Stone
11. Jason Netherton - Misery Index
10. Brendon Small - Dethklok / Galaktikon
9. Johnny Kelly - Type O Negative
8. Burton C Bell - Fear Factory
7. Gary Holt - Slayer / Exodus
6. Bill Kelliher - Mastodon
5. Matt Byrne - Hatebreed
4. Derrick Green - Sepultura
3. Andrew Huskey - Cast the Stone
2. Kirk Windstein - Crowbar / Down
1. Philip H Anselmo - Pantera




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On October 9, Motörhead's 1979 album, On Parole, is being reissued for National Album Day (October 10). The new version of the album, On Parole - Expanded & Remastered, includes six bonus tracks (four of which were made available on the 1997 reissue of the album).

The new release features the album's original Canadian artwork, and includes new sleeve notes from original Motörhead drummer, Lucas Fox.

Tracklisting:

"Motorhead" (2020 Remaster)
"On Parole" (2020 Remaster)
"Vibrator" (2020 Remaster)
"Iron Horse / Born To Lose" (2020 Remaster)
"City Kids" (2020 Remaster)
"Fools" (2020 Remaster)
"The Watcher" (2020 Remaster)
"Leaving Here" (2020 Remaster)
"Lost Johnny" (2020 Remaster)

Bonus tracks:
"On Parole" (Original Take)
"City Kids" (Original Take)
"Iron Horse / Born To Lose" (Original Take)
"Motorhead" (Original Take)
"Leaving Here" (Original Take)
"Fools" (Demo Version)




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On August 25th, Brighton Rock vocalist Gerald Damian "Gerry" McGhee - who found more worldwide success with Isotope Music Canada, Isotope Music UK, and the recent major resurgence of vinyl, launching Precision Record Pressing - passed away due to cancer. McGhee's Brighton Rock bandmate, guitarist Greg Fraser, has just honoured his fallen friend with the following words:

"To my brother Gerald McGhee

It was an honour & privilege to be your friend & band mate. Your voice & songs touched the world & will live on forever. You are a true legend & will never ever be forgotten.

You came to rock - mission accomplished.

My heart goes out to Carla, Anjalee, Kaila & the whole McGhee family. May my condolences bring you comfort and may my prayers ease the pain of this loss.

Love you forever brother.
Godspeed"

Brighton Rock released four albums throughout their career including: Brighton Rock (1985), Young, Wild and Free (1986), Take a Deep Breath (1988), Love Machine (1991) and hits including “Can’t Wait For The Night” and "One More Try”.

Everyone at BraveWords sends their condolences to Gerry McGhee's family, bandmates, friends and fans. R.I.P.

 

 

 

 




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Dark folk project, The Devil's Trade, will be releasing the sophomore full-length, The Call Of The Iron Peak, tomorrow, Friday, August 28, via Season Of Mist, marking its debut to the label. The project is the brainchild of singer/musician Dávid Makó. An advanced album stream can be found below.

The Call Of The Iron Peak formats:

- Digipak
- LP in various colours
- Digital

Pre-order here.

Tracklisting:

"The Iron Peak"
"Dead Sister"
"III"
"No Arrival"
"Expelling Of The Crafty Ape"
"IIIIIIIIIIII"
"Három Árva"
"Eyes In The Fire"
"IIIIII"
"Dreams From The Rot"
"The Call Of The Iron Peak"

Album stream:




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Dee Snider has defended his right to speak out on political issues, saying that he "should be allowed to express" himself publicly.

The TWISTED SISTER frontman, who got to know President Donald Trump personally after appearing more than once on "The Celebrity Apprentice", has been an outspoken critic of America's 45th president, tweeting incessantly against Trump's administration and blasting the billionaire real estate mogul as "a commie-loving traitor" who is prostituting our democracy.

Snider talked to the "Appetite For Distortion" podcast about the fact that many believe celebrities are too far removed from the real world of ordinary people and that they should keep their mouths shut when it comes to politics.

He said (hear audio below): "It's mind-numbing, actually — the 'stay-in-your-lane,' 'know-your-place' mentality. I mean, they are plumbers or lawyers or doctors — they're speaking their political minds. Why shouldn't an actor or a musician be allowed to speak theirs? I think the thing that is the rub is that we have a greater outlet to more people to express it to. But after having a B-movie actor as president and a reality-show star as president, shouldn't ['stay in your lane'] have been said to Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump? 'Stay in your lane. You're not a politician.' So, it's wholly offensive. It goes against everything democracy has ever stood for. And music has been political forever. Politics has been expressed through music since… Before rock and roll, since the beginning of time, it's been one way of getting your message out there, has been through music.

"Someone said the other day, 'You're losing half your audience, Dee.' And then somebody said, 'Well, CROSBY, STILLS, NASH [& YOUNG] sang 'Four Dead In Ohio', and it didn't seem to kill their career.'

"We should be allowed to express ourselves," he added. "And then, of course, don't get me going. I mean, [the 1984 TWISTED SISTER anthem] 'We're Not Gonna Take It' was all about that. I just never thought that I'd have to be turning my guns on fellow rockers. That was a 'fuck you' to parents and teachers and bosses and 'The Man,' and now, all of a sudden, I've got my fellow rockers behind me going, 'Hey, you can't say that. You can't do…' What the fuck? And now I'm sticking guns on them. I'm sticking it at the people that I wrote it for in the first place.

"So, I haven't changed my stripes one iota — same belief system, same person. I mean, I've grown, I've matured, I'm a better person, I will say that. But as far as beliefs and the things I stand for, nothing's changed. And if you expect them to, you've got the wrong rock star, okay?"

Back in November 2017, Snider said that he could no longer be friends with Trump because he did not share the president's views on important issues, including the Trump administration's harsh immigration policy.

Snider found himself in the middle of controversy in 2016 when he asked Trump to stop using "We're Not Gonna Take It" in his campaign. The singer said at the time that Trump was very gracious about the request.

On the latest episode of the 80’s Glam Metalcast, BullerBoys vocalist Marq Torien talks about the reunion of the original line-up, the classic albums, what Torien learned from Ted Templeman, and he looks back on the BulletBoys' 1988 tour with Winger and Cinderella.

On the new BulletBoys material

Torien: "I've been doing a lot of writing and recording. Trying to rise to the occasion and keep a good perspective on everything. It's going amazing in the studio, but it's not easy to do it under quarantine. You ever seen Fight Club? Our band is kinda like Fight Club, we don't talk about Fight Club! I will share that there is a lot of stuff being thrown around musically. We have a big surprise coming for people in the next few months. We've been cooking some stuff in the BulletBoys kitchen. It's sounding amazing. It's going to be produced by some of the family that worked on our first record. Not to give away too much. When the four of us get together, it just has that sound man. We are working on a new video too. Hopefully it will be out by the end of the summer."

On reuniting the original line up

Torien: "It's better than the old days because we've have grown as people and as musicians. We definitely have the chemistry, it never left. It was really about finding a way to be loving each other in the now. Not focusing on things that did or didn't happen in the past."

On their debut album being 32 years ago

Torien: "No man, it doesn't feel like it's been that long at all. It's very trippy. We get older, but we are still young in spirit. I love our first record. It holds up to this day and it is remarkable what we did at that time. It's one of those classics."

On their first big tour with Cinderella

Torien: "There's a lot of things I can't talk about on the grounds. We were out of control in the BulletBoys. We were partying day and night. We were so blessed because it was an amazing tour. Especially being out with Tom (Keifer). Tom was so meticulous. Every night he was on, sweating from head to toe. We would get a little crazy partying and Tom would put a saddle on us and say 'Guys, we have to talk! We have a long tour, you guys gotta get some rest.' We would listen to him. He was always teaching us really cool things. I have so much respect for him."




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MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn was interviewed on the latest episode of Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show. You can now listen to the chat below.

Speaking about what the touring circuit might look like post-pandemic, Flynn said: "A MACHINE HEAD show is like a religious experience. It's so much of a community — the crowd singing along and thrashing along is such a big part of the show.

"I talk to people in the industry, and many of the venues are talking about opening up, and they're only gonna be able to be 25 percent capacity. And I'm, like, 25 percent? That sucks. It's the whole everybody mashed up against each other and arm-to-arm and sweating on each other and singing along, that connection of people, that makes it so much fun.

"I've been saying this for a while, and I said it back in March, and it didn't get a very welcome response from the people at large, but I know a lot of people appreciate my honesty about it now," he continued. "I think this thing's gonna go on for two [to] probably four years. I don't think it's gonna be back to 'normal,' whatever that is, for at least four years. I think it's gonna be very much like the Spanish flu of 1918, where it went on for a couple of years, and it's gonna come in waves, and then it's gonna die down, and another wave's gonna come. By the time everybody's done with it, we're all gonna be so shell-shocked and probably financially devastated that it's gonna take what happened in 1918, where it took another two years for people to just feel safe to go back out, to not feel, like, 'Oh my God. Is it truly gone?' And, 'Do I have enough money to do this?'

"I think we're in for a long haul. I know that that's not what people wanna hear — people wanna hear that it's gonna be back to normal by March of next year.

"If anything, for me, just the way that my mind works, knowing that touring is off the table for that long actually puts me more at ease — it puts my mind more at ease, like, 'Okay, I've gotta really figure out something to navigate this as a band and as a bandleader.' Me and my guys have got to figure out ways to get around this, because there's just no way that people are gonna be able to coagulate in groups that makes sense for promoters to make money, for venues to make money, for bands to make money.

"It is expensive to tour," Robb added. 'Nobody realizes how expensive to tour it is. And tickets for metal shows have been relatively unchanged for almost 15 years.

"I don't know what the answer is, but it's certainly not gonna be raising the prices on what is traditionally a very blue-collar, working-class fanbase.

"So, I don't know. I think there's a lot to figure out still, and we're just gonna have to get through it and see where we end up."

Last month, MACHINE HEAD canceled its previously announced rescheduled 2020 tour dates for Europe and Australia due to the coronavirus crisis.

The second run of European dates was originally scheduled to kick off in Zaragoza, Spain on April 19, continuing across Portugal, Eastern Europe, Russia, Scandinavia, wrapping in the U.K. with a Birmingham show at the Academy on June 6. After being postponed once, the shows were slated to kick off on October 8 in Pamplona, Spain and conclude on November 23 in London, England.

On June 17, MACHINE HEAD released "Civil Unrest", a two-song digital single featuring A-side "Stop The Bleeding" and B-side "Bulletproof". This pair of fierce protest anthems were both written days after the back-to-back murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. "Stop The Bleeding" features a guest appearance from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Jesse Leach, with Flynn and Leach trading lyrical lines that spit anger and frustration at current events.

MACHINE HEAD is donating a significant portion of the streaming proceeds from "Stop The Bleeding" to Grassroots Law Project, the organization representing George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.

SEETHER frontman Shaun Morgan spoke to Ernie Ball's "Striking A Chord" podcast about how he is dealing with the coronavirus crisis. He said (hear audio below). "It's forced us to look at things very differently, and it's shining a very big spotlight on a bunch of interesting things. The first thing, obviously, that we're looking at is we're looking at how can we still play music for fans and how can we still earn a living. So we're looking towards streaming platforms and how we can set up shows. We're setting up production here in Nashville which we can use with full-on video walls and lights and the whole deal — so kind of like it would be at a live show. So it's a new thing to look at.

"You see bands that are doing geolocating shows, where it's kind of locked to a certain area or a certain grid, and then they'll do a show in that town, so to speak," he continued. "So a virtual show in, let's say, Cincinnati, Ohio, and then the next night, you do a virtual show in Dayton, Ohio. I'm in Nashville, [so] I can't watch the Cincinnati show. That's one approach that some guys have taken. And then what we are looking at doing is we're gonna do a show right around the time, within a week or two of [the new SEETHER] album dropping, and just do an hour-and-a-half-long set and charge people, I think, 10 bucks to buy a ticket, or whatever it is, and we're gonna open it up to the world and kind of make it so there's no limit. Some other guys have also limited the shows to, say, a thousand people. So there's all these different approaches to it.

"None of us know how to navigate these stormy waters," Shaun admitted. "I think it's quite an interesting time. And then the other part is, you kind of feel a bit like a scumbag… I think I have too much empathy sometimes, but you don't really wanna take money from people in a time when they may be slightly short on money. But by the same token, we're not just half-assing the show. And we will be doing concerts on a regular basis. In fact, all the band guys are coming up to Nashville from their various geographic locations and we're gonna do a whole bunch of content in a very short amount of time. We're looking at stuff like maybe doing albums from front to back and then having that be a show. And then we're gonna maybe be looking at doing possibly a second 'One Cold Night'-type show where it's all acoustic, and it's a completely different set and a completely different vibe.

"What the spotlight has shone for me the brightest is most of my eggs are in one basket at this point, man, and most of my income, if not in fact all of it at this point, is directly from this band and this music," he added. "So if you take away the largest driver of revenue for us, which is live shows and merch sales, that really has an impact on, 'Oh, wow.' How am I prepared? What are my safety plans? Are my nets all in place? If this continues for another year, is everything gonna be good?

"You take it for granted that the cycle's just gonna repeat itself. And that for me has shown me that I haven't really… I've done some things to diversify the portfolio, so to speak, but for the most part, I haven't been very clever in creating new business opportunities up until this pandemic started. So now I've got my irons in a bunch of different little fires and I'm stoking it to see which ones will grow into flames. But that was out of sheer necessity for my own mental well-being, because I stress about everything. And when you add something this big onto the top of it for me, yeah, it's been crazy."

SEETHER will celebrate the release of its eighth studio album, "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" — its first in three years — with a global livestream event to be held Sunday, August 30 at 3 p.m. ET in an exclusive partnership with Veeps and Elite Multimedia.

Ticket packages are on sale now at Seether.Veeps.com.

"Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" was produced by Morgan and engineered and mixed by Matt Hyde (DEFTONES, AFI) in Nashville from December 2019 through January 2020.

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King says that he has "more than two records' worth of music" for his upcoming project.

King is working on material for his first album since SLAYER's "Repentless", which came out in 2015.

"I've been very, very lucky with riffs in 2020," Kerry told the Dean Guitars YouTube channel in a new interview (see video below). "Maybe because I can't go anywhere — I don't know — but riffs have certainly not been a problem. And looking forward into the future, what that means for me is I'm gonna be able to cherrypick the best stuff. And it's good stuff. I've got more than two records' worth of music, but to be able to go through that and cherrypick the best 11 or 12 [songs]… That first record should be smoking."

According to Kerry, who recently partnered with Dean Guitars as a signature artist, most of the songwriting for his next project so far has been a solitary effort.

"Right now, I'm the only lyricist, because I'm the only one writing music, because I'm not positive who everybody is that's gonna be playing with me," he said. "So it's all on me at the moment. So, actually, I've actually gotta cherrypick those songs, pick my 10 or 12 favorites and actually start trying to put lyrics on them, just to move the process forward."

SLAYER played the final show of its farewell tour last November at the Forum in Los Angeles. One day later, Kerry's wife, Ayesha King, said that there is "not a chance in hell" that the thrash metal icons will reunite for more live appearances.

When SLAYER first announced that it was embarking on its final tour back in January 2018, Ayesha assured fans that they would "always get music" from her husband.

King has said in previous interviews that his post-SLAYER musical efforts would not be much different from the sound fans have grown accustomed to hearing from him.

"If someone quit, I'm not going to go around with a made-up SLAYER," he told AZCentral.com back in 2010. "But my next band would sound like SLAYER, that's all I know."

King told Rolling Stone in 2015 that he had entertained the idea of working on a solo project. "There's plenty of people that I considered doing [one] with ... but I have to have SLAYER covered before I consider anything like that," he said at the time.

Ozzy Osbourne recently sat down with co-host Billy Morrison for another episode of "Ozzy Speaks" on SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard. During the episode, Ozzy discussed music, talking about the story behind his "No More Tears" album, how THE BEATLES "always had great melodies" and more. Additionally, Ozzy and Billy spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic, reminding listeners to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

Ozzy said (hear audio below): "Whether you like the government or whether you don't, whatever, Dr. Fauci, all these virologist people, they [tell] us what we should do: wear a mask, wash hands, social distance… I don't go anywhere. If the president says something, I do the opposite. 'Cause he changes his mind every hour. I mean, literally. I'm going, 'What?'"

Ozzy also talked about the importance of opening up to someone close to you, especially while remaining at home amid the coronavirus crisis.

"People have gotta learn to start sharing their feelings with someone they trust, because people who are locked up and worried about this pandemic and whatever need to unload, because if you don't unload, you're gonna get depressed," he said. "And if you get depressed, who knows what's gonna happen?

"If you've got a best friend or you've got someone who you trust, don't be afraid to share. Because you know what? We are all in the shithole right now. We are all in an environment that we don't wanna be in. When I'm in a room in my head on my own, it's a bad fucking place. 'Cause my head never tells me anything fucking good."

The "Ozzy Speaks" episode which aired on SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard is available on demand on the SiriusXM app.

Last week, Ozzy has blasted Donald Trump's coronavirus response, saying that America's 45th president is "acting like a fool." In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said: "In my lifetime, I've never known anything like this. It's getting worse, not better. And this guy's acting like a fool. I don't really like to talk politics that much, but I've got to say what I feel with this guy. There's not much hope left. Maybe he's got a trick up his sleeve and he's going to surprise us all, and I hope he has. [Recently], over a thousand more people died in one day [in America]. That's fucking crazy. People got to get with this social distancing and mask-wearing or else it's never gonna go away."

Former MEGADETH, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY and WHITE LION bassist James LoMenzo is the latest musician to take issue with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek's suggestion that artists need to be more prolific in the streaming age.

For years, Spotify has been criticized for offering paltry payouts to musicians and songwriters, with some claiming that the service gives major-label artists an unfair advantage via playlist placement and other promotional avenues.

In an interview published last month, Ek told Music Ally: "Even today on our marketplace, there's literally millions and millions of artists. What tends to be reported are the people that are unhappy, but we very rarely see anyone who's talking about… In the entire existence [of Spotify], I don't think I've ever seen a single artist saying, 'I'm happy with all the money I'm getting from streaming,' stating that publicly. In private, they have done that many times, but in public, they have no incentive to do it. But unequivocally, from the data, there are more and more artists that are able to live off streaming income in itself.

"There is a narrative fallacy here, combined with the fact that, obviously, some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can't record music once every three to four years and think that's going to be enough," he continued.

"The artists today that are making it realize that it's about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans.

"I feel, really, that the ones that aren't doing well in streaming are predominantly people who want to release music the way it used to be released," he added.

A number of notable artists have since fired back at Ek over his suggestion that artists need to churn out more content if they want to the same money they used to, with many in the music community — including TWISTED SISTER singer Dee Snider, former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach, ex-DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy and STRYPER's Michael Sweet — saying that's just not how the creative process works.

Asked in a new interview with "That Jamieson Show With Don Jamieson" for his take on Ek's comments, LoMenzo said (hear audio below): "Fuck him! Right away. God, if he gets into a room with any one of us, man, he's not gonna be very happy about it. This is gluttonous. He should be in jail with [infamous financier and Ponzi swindler] Bernard Madoff. He's robbing us all blind. And you know what? There was no way out of it."

He continued: "I know everybody enjoys the convenience of MP3s — I do — but the point is that we used to be able to take months and months, if not a year or two years, and if it took five years, we could sit there and make a piece of art for people that would last forever. You wonder why music is turning so disposable. It's part of this consciousness of just, you know, music's just… it's for the moment.

"You and I grew up in a time where we would have an album and that would be our life for a month," James added. "And then we'd carry that with us for the rest of our lives. This kind of business model is cheating people out of that experience, and it's propelling people past the art of it, which is, sadly, where we're ending up.

"You can only rebel so much — I mean, if popular taste wants that, that's fine — but exacerbating it through greed, I don't really think that's a noble pursuit, unless you're greedy."

Last month, Spotify announced its financial results for the second quarter of this year, indicating €1.9 billion ($2.2 billion) in revenues, up 13% year-over-year. Out of the €1.9 billion, €131 million ($154 million) came from advertising while the rest came from subscriptions. Despite increasing revenues, Spotify, however, recorded a sizeable loss of €356 million ($419 million) during the quarter. In the last quarter, Spotify hit a high of 299 million monthly active users, 138 million of whom are paying subscribers via Spotify's premium tier.

Visions Of Atlantis’ long cherished dream came true: An unforgettable journey through the maritime depths of their history accompanied by the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague!

This autumn, Visions Of Atlantis will continue their entrancing symphonic journey through the maritime depths by presenting fans with their very first live album/Blu-ray/DVD, A Symphonic Journey To Remember. Recorded live at the 2019 Bang Your Head!!! Festival with the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague, the multi-format live offering is set to be released via Napalm Records on October 30.

The audiovisual voyage through the long and successful history of the band showcases their strong, manifold identity and cements their standing at the top of the scene. Alongside their bandmates, the heart-wrenching duets of Clémentine Delauney and Michele Guaitoli are underlined by the outstanding musical power of the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague.

The highly energetic, enchanting live music video “Heroes Of The Dawn” catches a first visual spark of the palpable live atmosphere of the festival, and the band’s breathtaking musical delivery.

Following the release of their latest chart-breaking studio album, Wanderers (#17 UK, #30 US, #39 DE), symphonic metal alliance Visions Of Atlantis are now ready to conquer your eyes and ears with this unique, first-class live appearance.

Clémentine Delauney on A Symphonic Journey To Remember: “We are absolutely thrilled with finally releasing our very first live blu-ray/DVD, A Symphonic Journey to Remember. Our show at Bang Your Head!!! Festival in 2019 with the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague gave us the perfect point in space and time to make the dream of playing with an orchestra come true. We hope you will enjoy this audiovisual experience as much as the memory of this show is still vivid and precious to us!”

Enter the maritime depths with Visions Of Atlantis and watch the live video for “Heroes Of The Dawn” below.

In 2019, Visions Of Atlantis realized their dream of captioning their symphonic experience at the highest level. Supported by the orchestral accompaniment of the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague for the very first time, the quintet captivated the audience once again with their impressive headliner set at last year’s Bang Your Head!!! festival. This unique experience is captured on Blu-ray/DVD and audio formats - 17 atmospheric tracks guide listeners and viewers through the unparalleled, powerful discography of Visions Of Atlantis. The outstanding symbiosis of Clémentine Delauney’s and Michele Guaitoli’s vocals, accompanied by the band’s breathtaking soundscapes and impressive scenery, will guide fans through the deep valleys of the untamed seas.   

This unforgettable live experience will be available as a special Blu-ray/DVD/Audio CD bundle as well as a double vinyl Gatefold, as an exclusive deluxe edition and via all audio streaming services.

This unique experience will be available in the following formats:

- Blu-ray / DVD / CD Digipak, vertical format
- Blu-ray / DVD / CD Digipak, vertical format + Shirt Bundle
- 2 LP Vinyl Gatefold Black (incl. DVD)
- 2 LP Vinyl Gatefold Splatter Blue/White (incl. DVD)
- Deluxe Fan Gym Bag (incl. Flag, blu-ray/DVD/CD Digipak Bundle + signed Booklet, VIP Pass & Laynard)
- digital via all audio platforms

Pre-order here.

Tracklisting:

Intro
"The Deep & The Dark"
"New Dawn"
"Ritual Night"
"Lost"
"The Last Home"
"Memento"
"Release My Symphony"
"Words Of War"
"Heroes Of The Dawn"
"Wanderers"
"Seven Seas"
"A Journey To Remember"
"The Grand Illusion"
"Nothing Lasts Forever"
"Passing Dead End"
"Return To Lemuria"

"Heroes Of The Dawn" live video:

(Photo - Emilie Garcin)




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Eagle Rock Entertainment presents the first in-depth film biography of iconic musician Ronnie Wood with the release of Somebody Up There Likes Me. An official selection at both the Tribeca Film Festival 2020 and the BFI London Film Festival 2019, the film (by acclaimed director Mike Figgis) will be available in North America as a Virtual Cinema release starting September 18 at ronniewoodmovie.com, running through October. This will be followed by a DVD, Blu-ray and deluxe hardback book release on October 9.Those who purchase a ticket ($11) will also be treated to a Q&A with Wood and Figgis.

As an artist, musician, producer and author, Ronnie Wood has made countless contributions to the cultural zeitgeist. Yet, there is so much more to know about the man himself. This intimate portrait traces the many lives and careers of one of the most important guitarists in music, capturing what it means to be a rock ‘n’ roll icon.

Somebody Up There Likes Me traces Wood’s 50-year musical history, from The Birds, The Jeff Beck Group, The Faces (with Rod Stewart), and The New Barbarians, to becoming a permanent member of The Rolling Stones. Additionally, Mike Figgis captures Wood’s charismatic warmth, energy and honesty as he speaks openly about his battles with drink and drugs. The film takes its title from a conversation with Wood about surviving his chronic smoking habit: “When they operated on my cancer, they took away my emphysema. They said my lungs were as if I’d never smoked. I thought: ‘How’s that for a Get Out Of Jail Free card?’ Somebody up there likes me, and somebody down here likes me too.”

The documentary features brand new interviews with Wood’s Rolling Stones bandmates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, as well as his Faces bandmate, Rod Stewart. Other interviewees include Wood’s wife Sally Wood, singer Imelda May and artist Damien Hirst, alongside both present-day performances and archive footage from Wood's stellar multi-band career.

These interviews and performance segments blend with footage of Wood playing guitar and harmonica (a reminder of his talents as a versatile instrumentalist), as well as quiet, personal moments while he paints in his studio. It climaxes with Wood giving a beautiful, intimate performance of “Breathe On Me” from his 1975 solo album New Look.

Somebody Up There Likes Me is a fresh look at Ronnie Wood - a rewarding and compelling insight into one of music’s most likable, successful and complex key players.

Ronnie describes the film as summing up “the essence of survival” in a life he continues to live to the fullest, without regrets, “I wouldn’t change anything except I’d do it with my eyes open a bit more,” he says, “I was in the hands of destiny all my life…and being in the right place at the right time”.




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