February 8th sees Downfall Of Gaia release their anticipated new album, Ethic Of Radical Finitude. In anticipation of this release, Downfall Of Gaia have now launched a video for the second single, "We Pursue The Serpent Of Time", which can be viewed below.

The band comments: "Today we're excited to share the music video for our song 'We Pursue The Serpent Of Time', the second new song of our upcoming album, Ethic Of Radical Finitude! This time we're joined by our friend Nikita Kamprad from Der Weg einer Freiheit for some guest vocals, and we hope you enjoy this collaboration as much as we do! Thanks for listening!"

Ethic Of Radical Finitude is the international quartet's most melodic, most structured and most dynamic release to-date, once more building upon the epic and unique sludgy, crusty, exploratory metallic sound that has organically evolved with every release. "It combines elements from our earlier releases with the path we took on Atrophy (2016)," states guitarist/vocalist Dominik Goncalves dos Reis. "There are long atmospheric parts with enough time to breathe, enough time to unfold, and on the other side there are harsh and melodic blastbeats. Each song is some kind of journey, with emotional ups and downs."

Find pre-orders at MetalBlade.com.

Tracking for the album was handled at Hidden Planet Studio, Berlin by Jan Oberg, and Backroom Studios in New Jersey by Kevin Antreassian of Dillinger Escape Plan, and proved an entirely drama-free process, with everyone on the same page. A handful of guests also contributed their time, including some faces familiar to longtime followers of the band - rejoined by guitarist Peter Wolff, one of the founding members of Downfall Of Gaia, on "Seduced By..." and the drones on the songs "The Grotesque Illusion Of Being" and "We Pursue The Serpent Of Time" come courtesy of their former drummer Johannes Stoltenburg, aka Hidehidehide. "Working together and creating something new with former bandmates is a very special thing. Even if our ways had to split at some point, it's a true pleasure to get together again, with everyone bringing in their own new influences," Goncalves dos Reis enthuses. Furthermore, they collaborated with Nikita Kamprad from Der Weg Einer Freiheit, who added vocals to "We Pursue The Serpent Of Time", and spoken words for the song "Guided Through A Starless Night" were supplied by their friend Mers Sumida of Black Table.

Unlike its predecessors, Ethic Of Radical Finitude is not a concept album per se, but there is a core theme that unites the songs: discontented minds and the never-ending pursuit for more. "I guess everyone in life is trying to find this special 'warm' and safe place, their special place. To feel 'home', to feel 'safe', to feel satisfied. But maybe at some point you need to accept that it may never come, that you will never 'arrive'," Goncalves dos Reis asserts.

When the band hits the road next year, fans can expect to hear most of the tracks, marking the beginning of an exciting new phase in the life of Downfall Of Gaia. "Everyone was absolutely focused on this record, and I think this is something you can really hear in every song. All of us are more than satisfied with the result, and we're extremely looking forward to playing these songs live, and sharing it with the audience."

Album formats:

- Hardcover Digipak-CD
- 180 g black vinyl
- Dead gold marbled vinyl (ltd. 300 - EU-exclusive)
- Grey marbled vinyl (ltd. 200 - EU-exclusive)
- Pic-LP (ltd. 200 - EU-exclusive)
- White/Black split vinyl (ltd. 100 - Evil Greed exclusive)
- Red/black marbled vinyl (ltd. 200 - US-exclusive)
- Clear vinyl (ltd. 100 - US-exclusive)

Tracklisting:

“Seduced By…”
“The Grotesque Illusion Of Being”
“We Pursue The Serpent Of Time”
“Guided Through A Starless Night”
“As Our Bones Break To The Dance”
“Of Withering Violet Leaves”-

“As Our Bones Break To The Dance”:

(Photo by: Florian Fassbinder)

UK melodic rockersm, Vega, are streaming the song "Mess You Made", featured on the band's fifth studio album, Only Human, out now via Frontiers Music Srl. Listen below.

The band self-produced Only Human, but teamed up with legendary Canadian musician and producer Harry Hess (Harem Scarem) for the mixing and mastering to bring their fans another gem of a release.

If you're very lucky, there may be occasions in your life when you find a band and you realize you’ve discovered something a bit special. We've all heard groups who release 'great' albums, but Vega certainly make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and provide butterflies in the stomach excitement when all fans of modern melodic rock listen to their new records for the first time. The 12 songs that comprise Only Human truly see Vega take their songwriting and musicianship to the next level.

Tracklisting:

"Let’s Have Fun Tonight"
"Worth Dying For"
"Last Man Standing"
"Come Back Again"
"All Over Now"
"Mess You Made"
"Only Human"
"Standing Still"
"Gravity"
"Turning Pages"
"Fade Away"
"Go To War"

"Let’s Have Fun Tonight" lyric video:

"All Over Now":

"Worth Dying For" video:

"Last Man Standing":

"We wear our love of 80's rock music on our sleeves, but we also have injected our love of modern rock music to it. We aren't trying to rehash anything: the sound we have achieved is 100% Vega. We didn't want to try and guess what people expect and get it wrong," says singer Nick Workman.

Lineup:

Nick Workman: lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Tom Martin: bass guitar
Marcus Thurston: lead guitar
James Martin: keyboards
Mikey Kew: guitar, backing vocals
Martin ‘Hutch' Hutchinson: drums

SYSTEM OF A DOWN's Serj Tankian, AVENGED SEVENFOLD's M. Shadows and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's Tom Morello are among the guest musicians who will appear on the upcoming album from SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer John Dolmayan's THESE GREY MEN project.

Dolmayan first announced the formation of THESE GREY MEN in 2014, promising at the time that the project would produce a star-studded covers album and tour.

In a new interview with SOAD Mexico, Dolmayan offered an update on the disc's progress, saying (see video below): "I'm still working on it. It will be released within the next four months. All the songs are finished, but we're in the process of adding strings… And then, we're actually starting to mix some of the songs that have already been done. And there's some cool artists on it. Serj sang two songs, and the AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer, Matt, he sang a song. And then I have a bunch of other friends that came. Tom Morello played guitar on a song.

"So, I know it's been forever, but it will be released. I also had two kids between it, so when I had my kids, I stopped doing everything else and just concentrated on being a father. So, it takes time, but hopefully people will enjoy it."

THESE GREY MEN's debut album was originally supposed to include new renditions of songs by artists such as RADIOHEAD, OUTKAST, DAVID BOWIE and many more, recorded by a band of all-star players led by Dolmayan and his collaborator James Hazley, formerly of the band COCKEYED GHOST.

Dolmayan previously said that he got the idea to record a covers album because he often rearranges melodies in his head and thinks about how much fun it would have been to play on some of his favorite songs. "As for what it's going to sound like, it'll definitely have a rock feel, but not limited by any genre restrictions," he said. "Listeners are going to hear a plethora of sounds and styles."

The official lyric video for the song "Fear Is An Illusion" from IMPERIA — fronted by Norwegian singer Helena Iren Michaelsen (the original vocalist of the Dutch band SAHARA DUST, which later changed its name to EPICA) — can be seen below. The track is taken from IMPERIA's fifth studio album, "Flames Of Eternity", which will be released on February 22 via Massacre Records. It will be available as CD digipak, limited-edition vinyl LP, stream and download.

The mix and mastering was once again put into the magical hands of Jacob Hansen, while Jan Yrlund himself is responsible for the album's artwork.

Guest musicians on the album include Oliver Philipps (EVERON), original bandmember John Stam as well as the Finnish violin virtuoso Henrik Perelló.

"Flames Of Eternity" is a strong album, whose songs will take you on an intense ride through all different kinds of human emotions.

"Flames Of Eternity" digipak track listing:

01. The Scarred Soul

02. Fear Is An Illusion

03. Unspoken Words

04. Book Of Love

05. Blinded

06. Invisible Tears

07. Otherside

08. Beauty Within

09. My Guardian Angel

10. The Ocean

11. A Crying Heart

12. Mother (Piano Version)

Infernal TV has uploaded video footage of MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson's December 15 appearance in Lakeland, Florida. The gig was part of Ellefson's "Basstory" tour, which combines solo bass performance with David's celebrated brand of storytelling, as he recounts intimate details of his struggles and triumphs in the name of rock 'n' roll. "Basstory" also includes special VIP meet-and-greets, exclusive merchandise, and more.

Prior to the start of the tour, Ellefson said: "I have always done clinics, and a few years ago did an amazing spoken-word tour in Australia to support my book 'My Life With Deth', and have always welcomed the opportunity to be able to meet and connect with fans on a more intimate level. These important parts of my professional life converged to create 'Basstory'. Not only will fans get to hear some of their favorite bass riffs, but the stories behind them. It's not often I get to get into small, intimate rock clubs, the way this all started, and I'm excited for fans to get to experience this show."

Asked what he wished someone had told him before he embarked on a career in music, Ellefson told ACM: "How difficult people are gonna be. Being around artists is not always easy, and I think, as a bass player, I get to do a little bit of both — I get to be an artist myself in certain situations, and then, other times, I'm there to just play bass for the song someone else wrote. So I think probably, as a bass player, and it speaks probably well to my personality, which is why I think the bass chose me — I didn't choose the bass; somehow the bass found me in the universe and said, 'You're gonna do this, young man' — is oftentimes my role in a band and in a musical setting is to sort of be the cohesive one to bring things together and make thing fit. From the very beginning, roles were cast, and because I was there in the beginning with Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader], I understood those roles. And I think that's probably why I've been there all these years — 35 years of MEGADETH."

Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH have released a music video for the song "Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica". The clip was directed by BEHEMOTH's longtime visual collaborators Grupa 13.

"Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica" is taken from BEHEMOTH's latest album, "I Loved You At Your Darkest", which was released in October via Metal Blade Records in North America and Nuclear Blast in Europe.

Unlike "The Satanist", which was primarily recorded in one studio, "I Loved You At Your Darkest" saw its production spread across Poland and the United States. It was produced by the bandmembers themselves, with drum co-production by Daniel Bergstrand (MESHUGGAH, IN FLAMES), mixing by Matt Hyde (SLAYER, CHILDREN OF BODOM) and mastering by Tom Baker (NINE INCH NAILS, MARILYN MANSON). Which is to say nothing of the 17-piece Polish orchestra arranged by Jan Stoklosa and engineered by Tomasz Budkiewicz.

Commented BEHEMOTH bassist Orion: "BEHEMOTH legions! As this 'I Loved You At Your Darkest' adventure continues onwards, we want to share a new video with you!

"Since we began the writing process, 'Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica' was a stand-out contender to be featured as a single and music video. As the song evolved during rehearsal and recording, it gained this lively, furious vibe... which you hear now — thus it includes live performance elements which we've not done in quite some time.

"We are happy to work with Grupa 13 once again — and once again, they showed their super-professional approach at every step of the shooting and video production. Two separate locations, hours of preparation, but it was all worth it. In absentia dei, we evangelize! Enjoy!"

Swiss industrial black metallers SAMAEL have released a music video for the song "Samael". The track is taken from the band's latest album, "Hegemony", which was released in October 2017 via Napalm Records.

Says the band: "The video was shot last summer in Poland and Switzerland. It was filmed and edited by Sergey Ulyanov already responsable for the 'Rite Of Renewal' video. We tried to restitute the energy of our live performance from which our crowd is a big part. Some of the shots were actually sent by fans and integrated in the final video. It's all about you, enjoy!"

SAMAEL will embark on a tour of Germany, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland in May.

Says the band: "We are thrilled to announce the 'Hegemony' tour in May 2019! This is our first European tour since the 'Lux Mundi' tour in 2011 and we are looking forward to being back on the road. We are excited to present our new material live alongside 'classic' SAMAEL songs and we will make sure that these shows will be remembered for a long time!”

Last July, SAMAEL recruited Pierre "Zorrac" Carroz (SCARS DIVIDE, HEROD) as its new bassist.

Longtime SAMAEL guitarist Marco "Makro" Rivao left the group in April 2018 "to do something different." Bassist Thomas "Drop" Betrisey has since taken over guitar duties in the band.

SAMAEL's 2011 album "Lux Mundi" (which translates as "Light of the World") will be reissued later this year.

Professionally filmed video footage of SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer Corey Taylor performing an acoustic version of the SLIPKNOT song "Snuff" on December 14 at Fremont Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen below (courtesy of Backstage Bar And Billiards). He was joined during the show by CHERRY BOMBS, the all-girl dance group led by Taylor's girlfriend Alicia Dove. The event was a fundraising benefit for Star Treatments, a charity founded by Matt DiRito of the band POP EVIL.

Prior to the concert, Taylor and Dove stopped by KTNV's "Julie's Rock Block" to discuss Star Treatments, which covers the costs of transportation for children who are battling health issues to their medical appointments in a more comfortable way, such as in a limo or bus. The children and their families get the "rock-star treatment" all the way to the hospital and back, so they can be as pleasant and calm as possible during such a stressful time.

Dove said: "Star Treatments is, basically, an organization that covers transportation costs for children and their families to and from the hospital. It's not necessarily for terminally ill children, but it's also for just children that need to go there on a regular basis. So I think a cost that's overlooked often is the cost of gas, the time, the wear and tear in vehicles, and this organization covers all of those things. And not just that, but they create an experience for these children. So they find out what the child likes — favorite snacks, sports teams, if any, music, movies — and they give them this 'rock-star treatment,' where they fill either this mini-tour bus or a black car service of some kind, and they fill it with all their favorite things. So it's an enjoyable experience for the child to go back and forth to these appointments."

Taylor added: "The thing that people don't realize is that there's the mental trauma that goes on with these children. Even though they know they're receiving medicine that will certainly help them, the pain, the depression that kind of comes with it is so hard to take, and the fact that most of the time, the parents aren't really able to comfort the child on the way home, because they're driving and they're trying to concentrate on everything that's going on. This is a great way for the parent to be there for the child, for them to be able to relax, maybe take a nap — just put more positivity into the fact that they're trying to help these children. It actually was something that I'd never really even thought about until [Alicia] told me about Matt was doing. So it's a great cause."

For more information on Star Treatments, visit www.startreatments.org.

Michael "Moose" Thomas has seen it all. As a founding member of Welsh metal titans Bullet For My Valentine, he lived a rock’n’roll dream that few ever get to see with their own eyes – winning awards, selling millions of albums, touring with his idols, and playing numerous sold-out headline shows, becoming one of the biggest metal exports in UK history. After parting ways with the band he formed to focus on his family three years ago, 2019 sees the drummer extraordinaire back where he belongs in international new band, Kill The Lights.

“I’m super grateful and excited to be back. I can’t wait for everyone to hear this,” grins Moose, of the new project completed by singer James Clark (Throw The Fight), guitarists Jordan Whelan (Still Remains) and Travis Montgomery (Threat Signal), and bassist Davey Richmond (Glamour Of The Kill).

“When I parted company with the old band, musically I was just sitting around doing fuck all and realised I had worked too hard and come too far to turn around,” continues Moose. “I thought I’d get in touch with Jordan and sent him a text asking, ‘Got any riffs or what?!’ Before I knew it, he had sent me 30 or 40 songs. I was like, ‘Erm, okay!’ I couldn’t believe it.”

“I’m a hobby songwriter,” explains Jordan, “which means I’m writing every day, whether it’s for a band or not. I’ve known Moose since I was a 19 year-old kid. Funnily enough, his first tour in the States was opening up for my band, then he said we should jump on a tour with them through the UK – which ended up being the Kerrang! Tour of 2006. The chemistry was there right off the bat and I knew right away this could be something that takes over the world.”

Frontman James Clark joined after auditioning on a demo of what would become the group’s debut single, "The Faceless". 

“We all want to do something fresh, and for me it was about exploring some of the throwback metal more like Maiden or Priest that I felt had gotten lost over the years, but in a new way, ” says the singer. “'The Faceless' is a song for those that have spent their lives in the shadows, never felt good enough, or just struggled to fit in or feel a part of something. The song is a message to the broken... it's time to be seen, it’s time to be heard. From darkness to light we are all the same - we are the faceless.”

The track was recorded in Blackpool with esteemed producer/mixer Colin Richardson (Slipknot, Trivium, Machine Head). Directed by Video Ink, watch the official video for "The Faceless" below.

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METALLICA frontman James Hetfield makes his dramatic acting debut as part of the cast of the thriller "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, And Vile", which will receive its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26. The film follows the relationship between notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, played by Zac Efron, and his longtime girlfriend, played by Lily Collins, who at the time had no knowledge of the crimes.


The Grammy and multi-platinum- and gold-award-winning artist plays officer Bob Hayward, a no-nonsense Utah highway patrol veteran who was the first law enforcement officer to arrest Bundy in 1975 after pulling the killer over and discovering burglary tools in his car but wisely suspecting much worse. While Hetfield has played himself in other films and television productions, this is his first dramatic role taking on a different character.


Academy Award nominee Joe Berlinger ("Paradise Lost") directed. Hetfield and Berlinger have crossed paths before when the latter directed and produced the seminal rock-doc "Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster" along with the late Bruce Sinofsky. Berlinger also penned a book about his experiences with the band, "Metallica: This Monster Lives".


"Having spent hundreds of hours behind the scenes with James and the rest of METALLICA, I have experienced his charisma and powerful presence close up," says Berlinger. "It seemed only natural that he would bring that same power and magnetism to a dramatic role, so when he agreed to my pitch that he be in the movie, I was thrilled."


The original screenplay, written by Michael Werwie, won the Nicholl Fellowship first prize and was featured on the Black List.


Golden Globe and multiple Emmy Award winner Jim Parsons and Academy Award nominees Haley Joel Osment and John Malkovich are also part of the cast along with Kaya Scodelario, Angela Sarafyan, Jeffrey Donovan, Terry Kinney and Dylan Baker.


Efron appeared in James Franco's critically acclaimed comedy "The Disaster Artist" as well as "The Greatest Showman", "Baywatch", "Neighbors" and "Neighbors 2".

"It's very interesting. I think the movie itself is really deep," said Efron to ET last March. "It doesn't really glorify Ted Bundy. He wasn't a person to be glorified. It simply tells a story and sort of how the world was able to be charmed over by this guy who was notoriously evil and the vexing position that so many people were put in, the world was put in."

He added: "It was fun to go and experiment in that realm of reality. I didn't go full method and I didn't have to like do any weird stuff to anybody to get into character."


Collins starred in the critically acclaimed dramas "To The Bone" and "Okja", the latter of which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Collins was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Comedy) for her starring role in "Rules Don't Apply". She appears in the mini-series "Les Miserables".


The project was announced by Voltage Pictures at Cannes 2017.

A #special #day on #set of our little #bundy #movie starring @zacefron and @lilyjcollins ... @metallica is in the house as @james.hetfield @papa_het_ plays Officer Bob Hayward in the #metal #god 's #first #dramatic #role #cleancut Having one of my #musical #heroes in our #film is #pretty #damn #awesome Photo by @brian_douglas_stills A post shared by Joe Berlinger (@joeberlingerfilms) on Feb 13, 2018 at 8:26am PST

According to Kelowna Now, a Canadian driver has blamed a MÖTLEY CRÜE song for his recent speeding ticket.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Manitoba pulled over a driver for this week who claimed he was driving above the speed limit because "Kickstart My Heart" was on the radio.

"Funny enough, our officer knew he was telling the truth, since he was also listening to it — just at a much slower and safer speed," said a social media post from the RCMP.

Because the driver was ticketed for going 145 kilometers per hour — well over the speed limit — he was fined CAD $639 CAD (approximately $481).

English psychologist and professor Dr. Simon Moore, who has studied the impact of music on driving with the 40 most popular tracks on Spotify during 2017, has said that the ideal driving music matches a person's resting heart rate (between 60 and 80 beats a minute). At this tempo, a driver's adrenaline is not affected by the music, and their mood is not altered in a way that affects their driving. Hard-rocking dance and hip-hop songs — including GUNS N' ROSES' "Paradise City" and NICKELBACK's "How You Remind Me" — were on the list of most dangerous tracks to listen to while driving. Songs that promoted the safest driving behaviors included Elton John's "Tiny Dancer", Nora Jones's "Come Away With Me", COLDPLAY's "The Scientist", Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" and RADIOHEAD's "Karma Police".

In the experiment, four male and four female motorists drove 250 miles each, while their driving skills were measured. They then drove a further 250 miles listening to different playlists each.

Listening to heavy metal music caused male participants to drive much faster and one female participant drove much more aggressively when listening to hip-hop songs.

"Music that is noisy, upbeat and increases your heart rate is a deadly mix. Fast beats can cause excitement and arousal that can lead people to concentrate more on the music than on the road," Moore said after reviewing the footage of the drivers. "In addition, a fast tempo can cause people to subconsciously speed up to match the beat of the song."


This driver’s excuse for going 145kmh? Kickstart my Heart by Mötley Crüe was on the radio. Funny enough, our officer...Posted by Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Manitoba on Monday, January 7, 2019

During a recent appearance on "The Jasta Show", TESTAMENT guitarist Alex Skolnick discussed the fact that there are very few openly homosexual musicians in the heavy metal scene. Saying that "the idea of a singer in a metal band being gay" was "shocking" prior to JUDAS PRIEST's Rob Halford coming out as homosexual during a 1998 appearance on MTV, Skolnick noted that "it's so cool that it's not a big deal" anymore.

Asked by host Jamey Jasta why he thinks there haven't been more musicians coming out as gay in the past two decades, Alex said: "I think there's sort of a silent agreement. It's like a 'don't ask, don't tell' thing," referencing the repealed United States policy on military service whereby gay Americans were permitted to serve in the military as long as they remained closeted. "I think people are cool with it — even the most conservative metal fans. And there are conservative metal fans. I hear from them sometimes. But they have a seat at the table too. And I think they're cool with it, but they don't wanna hear too much about it. It's almost like identity politics in a way. It's, like, 'Okay, you can do that, but just give us the music and don't make it…' And I can see that side of it as well. But I think it's a good thing that it's not an issue."

Skolnick went on to say that he and LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe interviewed Danica Roem — the heavy metal singer who in 2017 became the first openly transgender woman to be elected to the Virginia state legislature — for the last issue of their magazine Unbuilt. "She's amazing," Alex said. "She's part of the Virginia house of delegates, so it's the equivalent of the state senate in New York. She won a lot of people over — people that normally would never have supported somebody like that. She won 'em over, and it was a great thing."

He added: "So I think there's definitely more diversity, but there's still probably a ways to go."

Other heavy metal musicians who are part of the LBGT community include Doug Pinnick (KING'S X), Gaahl (GORGOROTH), Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert (CYNIC, DEATH), and Otep Shamaya (OTEP).

In 2017, Halford told Fox Sports 910 AM's "The Freaks With Kenny And Crash" radio show in Phoenix, Arizona that he thinks his position as the frontman of JUDAS PRIEST has opened the door in positivity for some. He explained: "[After I came out during the MTV interview], I went back to the hotel, and I thought, 'Oh, what have I done? There's gonna be a fallout.' [But] I'd never seen such an outpouring of love from people in all my life — the letters, the faxes, the phone calls from everybody in the metal community: 'Rob, we just don't care. We want you to be who you are. We want you to sing those songs. We wanna come see you.' And that was a tremendously uplifting moment for me. And it was also a tremendously uplifting moment for metal. Because, for the longest time, metal was the underdog in rock and roll, metal was never getting any respect, metal was always at the back of the line. And so I thought, 'Well, isn't this great?' This just goes to show you that we in the metal community, as we call ourselves — probably because of the pushback that we felt because of the music that we love — we are the most tolerant, if you wanna say, the most open-minded, the most loving, the most accepting of all the kinds of music that we know in rock and roll. So it was a great moment."

TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy spoke to Consequence Of Sound about the band's first-ever Grammy nomination. The Florida-based act is up for the "Best Metal Performance" award for the song "Betrayer", off its eighth studio album, 2017's "The Sin And The Sentence".

"To hear we were getting not only a Grammy nomination but a nomination for that song makes me so proud, because it has screaming and key changes and is so extreme," Heafy said. "We're an intense band, 75% to 80% of the time, so it was such an honor to see that."

Heafy said that he was surprised to learn that TRIVIUM got a nod from The Recording Academy.

"We've always been the band that's never gotten awards," he said. "When you go to a venue backstage, you see posters and pictures up of every band that has played there. We're the band that never has their photos up there and never has the magazine covers and has never been credited as the greatest band ever. That's with the exception of in the U.K. when 'Ascendency' came out, and we were on every magazine cover and got tons of press. So, when the Grammy nominations were coming out, we weren't even thinking about anything happening for us. I got an email from our manager saying, 'You're getting a Grammy nomination for 'Betrayer'.' That song has so much to it and is the epitome of what TRIVIUM is really about, so to get a nomination for that song means even more."

Asked why he thinks the Grammy committee finally recognized TRIVIUM, Heafy said: "Maybe it's that we're finally being recognized for the work we've put in, because it's been a difficult, uphill battle for us, as it is for all bands. We came out so young. This year marks our 20th together, and I'm 32. I think when we first came out, we were so young, and we were saying that we wanted to be the biggest metal band in the world, and that got fans hyped up, but I think other bands didn't like that. That's the weird thing about metal. In hip-hop and pop and rap, it's cool to be big and flashy and say, 'We want to be the biggest band we can be,' but in metal, it's frowned upon. I don't think anybody should hold back. I think everyone should be the best at what they do. Why is that something you should hide from? If you've wanted to be the biggest metal band since you were 12 years old, you should strive for that."

The 61st annual Grammy Awards will be held on on February 10 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and will broadcast live on the CBS television network at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Also vying for the "Best Metal Performance" trophy are BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, DEAFHEAVEN, HIGH ON FIRE and UNDEROATH.

QUIET RIOT's performance at Frontiers Rock Festival 2018 marked the band's first-ever concert in Italy and what a hell of a show it was! This special event is now being released on CD/DVD and Blu-ray. Titled "One Night In Milan", this once-in-a-lifetime performance will be released January 25, 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl.

A performance clip of the song "Condition Critical", taken from "One Night In Milan", can be seen below.

With the entire club shouting and singing along and calling the band back on stage at the end of the show for an unplanned encore, QUIET RIOT took no prisoners, offering the crowd a superb selection of its greatest hits plus a very special surprise in "Thunderbird", a song from the multi-platinum album "Metal Health" that the band had never performed on stage before with piano accompaniment.

Drummer Frankie Banali had this say about the upcoming release: "'One Night In Milan' documents QUIET RIOT in real time as it was recorded in Milan, Italy in April of 2018.

"For anyone interested in the long and storied history of QUIET RIOT, this performance chronicles the progression of a band that continues to bring its brand of music to our longtime fans and new fans as well.

"The performance was historic as it was the first time that QUIET RIOT has played in Italy since the band's inception 35 years ago. The set included a performance of 'Thunderbird' with live piano as it was originally recorded in 1983 with help from maestro Alessandro Del Vecchio. The fan response was nothing short of phenomenal and heartwarming, with not just the incredible Italian fans, but also the many longtime fans from all over Europe, many of whom, like the Italian fans, had never seen QUIET RIOT live before."

Track listing:

01. Run For Cover

02. Slick Black Cadillac

03. Mama Weer All Crazee Now

04. Whatever It Takes

05. Terrified

06. Love's A Bitch

07. Condition Critical

08. Thunderbird

09. Party All Night

10. Freak Flag

11. I Can't Get Enough

12. Wild & The Young

13. Let's Get Crazy

14. Cum On Feel The Noize

15. Metal Health (Bang Your Head)

Banali recently said that James Durbin "has proved to be the best singer" QUIET RIOT has had since it was resurrected nine years ago.

Durbin, who became known as the "metal guy" on 2011's season of "American Idol" after performing "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking The Law" with JUDAS PRIEST, hooked up with QUIET RIOT after the dismissal of Seann Nicols (a.k.a. Sheldon Tarsha; formerly of ADLER'S APPETITE). Nicols was with QUIET RIOT for just a few months, but long enough to record the vocals for an early version of the band's latest album, 2017's "Road Rage".

In an interview with The Tribune-Democrat, Banali praised QUIET RIOT's latest addition, saying: "When I decided to restart QUIET RIOT in 2010, I knew it was going to be very difficult — both professionally and personally — because Kevin [DuBrow, original QUIET RIOT singer] and I were best friends for 27 years.

"There was never a thought to replace the late, great Kevin DuBrow. That is impossible. Kevin was an amazing singer with a vocal range second to none. And as a performer, no one comes even close.

"My thought was to try to preserve the music and sound of QUIET RIOT as best I could. We went through four different singers over roughly a six-year period.

"In 2017, we brought on James Durbin, who — without a doubt — has proved to be the best singer we've had since revving up the engines in 2010. He's a really great vocalist, performer and — equally as important — a very nice person.

"I'm used to change in QUIET RIOT, not just the trials and tribulations with singers since Kevin's passing, but during the entire 35-plus-year history. I'm very happy to have James involved with us as long as he wants to be with QUIET RIOT."

In addition to Banali and Durbin, QUIET RIOT's current lineup includes bassist Chuck Wright (who has been in and out of the group since 1982) and guitarist Alex Grossi.

Banali revived QUIET RIOT in 2010, three years after DuBrow's death, along with Grossi and Wright. The group went through two vocalists — Mark Huff and Scott Vokoun — before settling on Jizzy Pearl in 2013. Pearl announced his exit from QUIET RIOT in October 2016.

A performance clip of "Arrival (Live At Graspop)", taken from the forthcoming KING DIAMOND DVD/Blu-ray, "Songs For The Dead Live", can be viewed below. The set will be released on January 25 via Metal Blade Records.

There is only one King Diamond, and for more than thirty years the great Dane has been dropping classic albums and putting on shows fans remember for the rest of their lives. Perhaps the only downside to having such a formidable catalogue is that there are just too many great songs to fit into a single set. However, you would be hard-pressed to find a fan who wouldn't want to hear 1987's seminal "Abigail" in its entirety, and "Songs For The Dead Live" captures this, twice, and in very different locales. Boasting eighteen songs per set, each of the two shows — Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting in June 2016 and Philadelphia's Fillmore in November 2015 — features a brace of classic KING DIAMOND and MERCYFUL FATE tracks, including "Welcome Home", "Halloween" and "Eye Of The Witch" before launching into "Abigail". The performances of the all-star lineup of musicians, comprising of guitarists Andy LaRocque and Mike Wead, bassist Pontus Egberg and drummer Matt Thompson, are absolutely ferocious, hammering home every single moment.

"Songs For The Dead Live" can be pre-ordered in the following formats:

* 2DVD/CD 6-Panel Digipak

* Blu-ray (includes audio digital download of Philadelphia Show)

* special edition box set with 5 discs (2DVD, 2CD, 1 Blu-ray) plus poster, flier, laminate, setlist, ticket, sticker, and guitar pick (limited to 3000 copies)

* opaque blue with white splatter vinyl (U.S. retail exclusive - limited to 600 copies)

* opaque red with black splatter vinyl (U.S. webstore exclusive - limited to 200 copies)

* opaque white with black splatter vinyl (U.S. webstore exclusive - limited to 200 copies)

* 180g black vinyl (EU exclusive)

* transparent amber marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 700 copies)

* clear ghost white vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 500 copies)

* orange-brown/black marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 300 copies)

* black/purple melt vinyl (Nuclear Blast exclusive - limited to 200 copies)

* orange/red marbled vinyl (Napalm exclusive - limited to 300 copies)

* clear lavender marbled vinyl (EMP exclusive - limited to 200 copies)

* clear ash grey marbled vinyl (Bengan exclusive - limited to 200 copies)

* pink blue marbled vinyl (Ebay exclusive - limited to 200 copies)

Captured on film by director Denise Korycki for Wild Wind Studios, she worked closely with King on every aspect of filming, and throughout the viewer finds themselves front and center as the shows unfold. This includes some inventive camera placement, such as riding in on the back of the wheelchair as it is wheeled out to "Out From The Asylum" at the start of the show, or looking up from the coffin at the commencement of "Abigail" opener "Funeral", which adds an extra dimension to proceedings. Naturally, the theatricality that has become synonymous with KING DIAMOND is there in full force, making for an even more immersive experience. The gothic stage set and the participation of actors playing out certain scenes tying into the songs definitely increases the drama and the sense of complete disconnect from the trappings of reality, ensuring that the shows remain riveting from start to finish.

While the setlists are virtually identical, the drastic difference in the two venues make for distinctly different atmospheres. The sweeping, epic scale of Graspop and the virtual sea of baying metalheads makes for a particularly thrilling spectacle, King holding them all in the palm of his hand. The Fillmore show is immediately more intimate, and rather than a mixed bag of metal lovers drunk on a weekend of the heavy stuff, the audience is comprised entirely of the KING DIAMOND devout, screaming back every word, their love for their hero bleeding from every frame. "Songs For The Dead Live" gives those who missed out on seeing these shows in the flesh a chance to vividly experience them, offering so much deeper an experience than your run of the mill live DVD.

Graspop Metal Meeting track listing

01. Out From The Asylum

02. Welcome Home

03. Sleepless Nights

04. Halloween

05. Eye Of The Witch

06. Melissa

07. Come To The Sabbath

08. Them

09. Funeral

10. Arrival

11. A Mansion In Darkness

12. The Family Ghost

13. The 7th Day Of July 1777

14. Omens

15. The Possession

16. Abigail

17. Black Horsemen

18. Insanity

The Fillmore track listing

01. Out From The Asylum

02. Welcome Home

03. Sleepless Nights

04. Eye Of The Witch

05. Halloween

06. Melissa

07. Come To The Sabbath

08. Them

09. Funeral

10. Arrival

11. A Mansion In Darkness

12. The Family Ghost

13. The 7th Day Of July 1777

14. Omens

15. The Possession

16. Abigail

17. Black Horsemen

18. Insanity

Philadelphia’s Devil Master have released a video for "Desperate Shadow", a track from their upcoming debut album, Satan Spits On Children Of Light, due for release on March 1st on CD/LP/CS/Digital via Relapse Records. Watch below.

Devil Master stake their claim as one of the most venomous, twisted entities in the underground with their hellish debut, Satan Spits On Children Of Light. The album, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Mammoth Grinder) rattles the very gates of hell with a vile dose of black metal-infused punk mayhem. Commanding the steel of Venom, the fury of Bathory's earliest years, and the raw, uncompromising nature of the notorious Gism, Satan Spits On Children Of Light sees Devil Master emerge from the grave and reach new blasphemous heights. Give in to the Satanic panic and obey your Devil Master.

Satan Spits On Children Of Light will be available on CD/LP/CS/Digital. Physical pre-orders are available via Relapse.com here and Digital Downloads / Streaming Services here.

Tracklisting:

"Listen, Sweet Demons..."
"Nightmares in the Human Collapse"
"Black Flame Candle"
"Devil Is Your Master"
"Christ's Last Hiss"
"Skeleton Hand"
"Nuit"
"Gaunt Immortality"
"Desperate Shadow"
"Her Thirsty Whip"
"Dance of Fullmoon Specter"
"Webs of Sorrow"
"XIII"

"Desperate Shadow" video:

(Photo - Shang Whaley)

Canadian bashers Striker have posted the following update on Facebook:

"We have decided to part ways with our bass player William Wallace. A good friend, we wish him the best in his future endeavours."

No further details are availabel at this time.

Wallace played on the band's four studio albums to date: City Of Gold (2014), Stand In The Fire (2016), Striker (2017) and Play To Win (2018).

BravePicks 2018

4) STRIKER – Play To Win (Record Breaking)

 

No doubt the most pleasant surprise of the year. After a lackluster, paint-by-the-numbers album in 2017, the Canadian bashers Striker quickly returned with Play To Win, and what a breath of fresh air it was for these heavy metal maniacs. Taking some chances with their songwriting, Play To Win showcases a synth-back ballad “Standing Alone” and a track that could belong to an ‘80s movie (“Hands Of Time”). Nevertheless, there are scorchers like “Summoner”, the sleek “Heart Of Lies”, and the catchy “On The Run”. This album establishes Dan Cleary as one of the best metal vocalists of the past decade and if you’ve slept on these guys before, now is the time to jump aboard the Striker speed wagon. Play To Win is energetic, outstanding heavy metal that proudly wears their influences and rightfully earns its spot at #4.

“We wanted to try some new things with this album”, explains Tim Brown to BW scribe Nick Balazs in a feature. “We write a ton of music so it sort of gets boring to work on the same types of songs over and over and over. We felt as though we kind of reached the limit of what we could do with sort of those sounds that we'd been relying on like, and it was like well, let's try some new stuff and see what happens. I mean, we're huge fans of all kinds of bands that have those kinds of songs. I mean, if you look at bands like Metallica or Scorpions, Skid Row, whatever, their biggest songs are always the ballads. Metallica, ‘Nothing Else Matters’, just a monster song, a huge song. You have to be dynamic in your writing. You have to have the soft, you have to have the hard and have the heavy with the light. And so it's all about balance.”

“We’re stuck in a van for way too long (laughs), for thousands of hours and there's no better way to kill time by just putting on some tunes,” he says. We were on tour with Dark Tranquillity and for whatever reason on that tour we got super big into Toto. So there's a lot of those sort of influences on the album. But like I said, at the same time we're also listening to, you know, put on the Toto and then after the Toto is done put on some like super brutal death metal and just rock out to that. We wanted to have an album that sort of had a song from every kind of influence that we have, which is kind of hard to limit yourself, but try to make each song sort of unique.”

Mark Morton, the prolific guitarist of LAMB OF GOD, has released the second single from his debut solo album, "Anesthetic", which is due out March 1. The official lyric video for "Cross Off", featuring late LINKIN PARK singer Chester Bennington, can be seen below.

"Cross Off" was recorded in April 2017 and written by Morton, Bennington, Jake Oni and producer Josh Wilbur. Morton recorded all guitars with Paolo Gregoletto and Alex Bent (TRIVIUM) handling bass and drums. The composition of the song began between Morton, Wilbur and Oni before the three approached Bennington about singing vocals. Bennington loved the song and came to the studio with additional ideas and lyrics that, together with his unique and incredible vocal style, shaped the song to be what it is today.

Morton told Metal Hammer magazine about his experience working on "Cross Off" with Bennington: "[Chester] just had a lot of creative input at the ready when he came into the studio," Mark said. "That was my initial, like, wow. He had told me he really liked the song, and we had communicated, but I'd never really hung out with Chester until when we started tracking. I was really impressed for a guy at his level, at the place in the career he was at, someone of his stature and celebrity, to have that level of humility and commitment to come in there and treat this like it would be a LINKIN PARK song, or his own song, or whatever. I was pretty blown away by that. And it was immediate. Fifteen minutes after we met, we were standing over a table, one on either side, each with scraps of paper and pencil, crossing off words and trying different rhyme schemes and stuff. And then after the track was laid out, then we took a breath and started talking about more personal stuff — real-life shit. And yeah… he surprised me the most."

Asked how they connected in the first place, Mark said: "I had my people call his people. It was one of those things where we were listening to the song, like, who in our world would we have singing this? And Chester was the name that came out. So we almost didn't try, because it's Chester Bennington; he's such a superstar. We were kind of, like, come on, we can't get him. But if we hadn't tried, we wouldn't have got him, so we tried, we got his ear, I was surprised to find I was on his radar and all, but through LAMB I was. He heard the song and he was in. It is a really good song. I'm sorry; I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but it's a good goddamn song, right? We had to iron out a couple of things legally and all that kind of stuff, but on the creative side, he was in from the jump. And I didn't realize how in he really was, but when he showed up, I did, and that was humbling for me."

Joining forces with WPP Records and Spinefarm Records on a worldwide basis, Morton will release the 10-track album that sees him further explore his creative drive for writing and collaboration. CD and vinyl pre-order and merch bundles are now available here.

The full track listing, complete with the list of guest artists is below. The album was made alongside a dream team of highly respected musicians from a multitude of musical worlds; some friends and some who would never be expected to collaborate with metal genre leaders LAMB OF GOD.

Morton had been writing some of this debut for years. "This album wasn't a concerted effort to start something outside LAMB OF GOD," he explains. "Music is always in my head, and until I write and record it, it's stuck there. But once I record it, it's out. It's a catharsis, more for my own sanity."

Other singers on the album include Randy Blythe (LAMB OF GOD), Jacoby Shaddix (PAPA ROACH), Myles Kennedy (SLASH, ALTER BRIDGE), Alissa White-Gluz (ARCH ENEMY), Mark Lanegan, Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Jake Oni, Josh Todd (BUCKCHERRY), Mark Morales, and Naeemah Maddox. Musically, Morton performs all guitars, with Roy Mayorga (STONE SOUR), David Ellefson (MEGADETH), Ray Luzier (KORN), Paolo Gregoletto (TRIVIUM) and Alex Bent (TRIVIUM), Mike Inez (ALICE IN CHAINS), Jean-Paul Gaster (CLUTCH), Steve Gorman and Marc Paul rounding out the band.

"Anesthetic" track listing:

01. Cross Off (feat. Chester Bennington)

02. Sworn Apart (feat. Jacoby Shaddix)

03. Axis (feat. Mark Lanegan)

04. The Never (feat. Chuck Billy + Jake Oni)

05. Save Defiance (feat. Myles Kennedy)

06. Blur (feat. Mark Morales)

07. Back From The Dead (feat. Josh Todd)

08. Reveal (feat. Naeemah Maddox)

09. Imaginary Days

10. Truth Is Dead (feat. Randy Blythe + Alissa White-Gluz)

A side-by-side clip of the "We Will Rock You" performance as part of the Live Aid re-enactment from QUEEN's biopic, "Bohemian Rhapsody", can be seen below.

As previously reported, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is coming to digital platforms later this month, with the 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray/DVD release set for February.

According to 20th Century Fox, "Bohemian Rhapsody" will be available on digital HD on January 22, with the physical release scheduled for February 12. All of the releases will feature the full Live Aid performance, featuring Rami Malek (as singer Freddie Mercury), Ben Hardy (as drummer Roger Taylor), Gwilym Lee (as guitarist Brian May), and Joseph Mazzello (as bassist John Deacon) recreating the original 22-minute 1985 Wembley Stadium show. The home video release will include two never-before-seen songs, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Will Rock You", as part of the Live Aid re-enactment. The 4K and Blu-ray releases will also feature several featurettes, including "Rami Malek: Becoming Freddie", "The Look And Sound Of Queen" and "Recreating Live Aid."

"Bohemian Rhapsody" director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel told Film School Rejects that he was determined to put his audience on the stage with Rami Malek while recreating QUEEN's iconic Live Aid set.

"Live Aid was recorded and was broadcast on 13 satellites by the BBC, so the actual performance exists out there, and you can watch it on YouTube," he said. "You can see the exact choreography and dressing of the stage and the set and the lighting that was used. So, it's all there to be seen, which is both a great resource and also a real challenge because there's no point making a movie just to recreate what you can watch on YouTube… So for us, the challenge was only partially real, like how high was the stage? And where was the piano exactly? And how many Pepsi cups were there? That was a challenge, but a fairly straightforward one. The real challenge was how we tell a different story than you saw by watching the concert on TV. And for me at least, that was very much about putting the audience in with Freddie, right inside on the stage, almost as a fifth band member where you're, as much as possible, watching the concert from the inside out.

"While there were too many handheld cameras on the stage from the BBC performance, the broadcast was predominantly sort of more objective, traditional camera coverage," he continued. "We wanted to put the audience right in the middle of the band as if they were a part of the band to tell the emotional side of the story from the inside out. And also, of course, we are leading up to Live Aid with understanding some things that are going on in Freddie's life and in the band's life. And, in doing so, you know, we already have the advantage that there's more of an emotional resonance right from the beginning. At the end of the day, Rami Malek's sensational performance just really carried it to a level that is hard to get from the TV experience."

Because Wembley had been extensively remodeled since Live Aid, the filmmakers ended up shooting the sequences at Bovingdon Airfield outside London, where "Top Gear" is filmed. "We built an identical replica of the original stage, down to the scaffolding towers and all the banners and signs and musical equipment," Sigel told Variety. "But it wasn't that fancy or ostentatious in terms of today's stages and lighting rigs, as the whole idea of Live Aid was to raise money, not spend tons on spectacular staging. So that put more of a focus on the band and the music."

"Bohemian Rhapsody" has already become the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time, bringing in a huge $700 million at the worldwide box office. This was despite a lukewarm reaction from critics upon release.

"Nothing", a new song from the Swedish skate-punk band MILLENCOLIN, can be streamed below. The track is taken from the group's ninth studio album, "SOS", which will be released on February 15 via Epitaph. The follow-up to 2015's "True Brew" was recorded at the group's own Soundlab Studios in Örebro, Sweden and was mixed by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios. It was produced by vocalist/bassist Nikola Sarcevic and guitarist Mathias Färm, with all artwork and photography created by Ohlsson.

Says Sarcevic: "We're a band truly formed from respect and understanding for each other and our passion for rock music. If you ask us, this is the best job in the world."


"SOS" track listing:

01. SOS

02. For Yesterday

03. Nothing

04. Sour Days

05. Yanny & Laurel

06. Reach You

07. Do You Want War

08. Trumpets & Poutine

09. Let It Be

10. Dramatic Planet

11. Caveman's Land

12. Carry On

The video for the "SOS" title track can be seen below. The clip was directed and edited by guitarist Erik Ohlsson at Eckhouse Design.

MILLENCOLIN will embark on an extensive European tour this spring, with stops lined up in Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy during April. They've also confirmed an appearance at Slam Dunk in the U.K.

Japan's leading traditional heavy metal band, Anthem, recently signed to Nuclear Blast Records (for the European territory) to break into the worldwide market. The first release, Nucleus, will be their greatest hits album, completely re-recorded with English lyrics.

The ban have released this official video trailer for the upcoming release. Album pre-orders will begin on January 18th.

Anthem have released an official video for new single "Black Empire". Check it out below.

Mixing and mastering were done by established producer and engineer Jens Bogren, known for his work with a multitude of big name artists. Jens' work is based on elaborate theories and an abundance of knowledge, which has helped guide the careers of many bands, Anthem's case is no exception. This album which features Jens' fat sound with rich low-end is more than up to par with the worldwide heavy metal standard.

A remarkable point worth noting about this release is that all of the songs except "Venom Strike" were written after their reunion in 2001 - proving that Anthem have always has been a 'today band' that does not have to rely on their past.

This re-recorded greatest hits, Nucleus, which includes a variety of their classics is a monumental work, perfectly demonstrating the musical quality of Anthem and proving that they can be ranked as a top-notch band even in the international market.

Naoto Shibata (bass): "Our re-recorded greatest hits album with English lyrics, Nucleus will be released internationally on March 29th, 2019. The title represents the fact that this work is Anthem's nucleus. I am proud that we can internationally release this album right before our 35th anniversary with this current great lineup, and I am also honoured from the bottom of my heart that we can present this to our fans. Anthem will keep doing our best to move forward, always heading towards the future. I hope you will all enjoy Nucleus."

Akio Shimizu (guitar): "Finally our re-recorded greatest hits album with English lyrics, Nucleus is set to be released internationally! I tackled these recordings head on, putting all of my pride into it. Those 13 songs were not easy at all, however I believe they’ve fully captured the sound and the expression of today's Anthem while being true to the originals at the same time. I am really happy that our music is now flying into the internatinal market, hoping for new possibilities. Please give it a listen and feel all of the details of the album with the fresh mixing by Jens Bogren."

Yukio Morikawa (vocals): "4 years have already passed since I re-joined Anthem. I can say that my musical activities have been very busy and fulfilling, containing 2 full-length albums, some video works and a lot of live concerts. And I must say, I am so excited that in 2019, at last Anthem will internationally release an album, the re-recorded greatest hits. Singing all the songs in English was not at all easy for me, but I hope that this album will show the world that Japan has a band like us who loves metal so much. I hope you enjoy Nucleus."

Isama Tamaru (drums): "I am glad and excited that we can internationally release our re-recorded greatest hits album, Nucleus, at this point in time, and we have the opportunity to present Anthem's current music and our way of living not only to Japan but also to the rest of the world. I would like you to listen carefully to the sound by Jens Bogren, who we worked with for the first time. With the current lineup, we have been going through a lot of changes by tackling a lot of new things, which has made the bond between the members and the crew much stronger. I would like to say thank you to all the fans who have been supporting us."

Avantasia frontman / mastermind Tobias Sammet has checked in with the following update:

"February 15th, 2019 - new album Moonglow! And the Heavy Rocking All Star Epic Super Extravaganza is gonna hit the road for the world tour of world tours.

And: 2019 also marks the 20th anniversary of Avantasia. When I started the project I hadn't heard of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I was a little kid with a dream and his love for Iron Maiden, KISS, the Scorpions, Braveheart, Meat Loaf, Phantom Of The Opera and Richard Wagner. Now we are facing a tour with many sold outs!

And another anniversary: this month nine years ago we shot the 'Dying For An Angel' video with Klaus Meine. Who would have thought this 20 years ago? Even though Klaus won't join the tour, who thinks we should play that song?"

A lyric video for the first single from Moonglow, "The Raven Child", can be found below.

More than 11 minutes long and featuring vocals of Tobias, Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian and Jorn Lande, "The Raven Child" is quite an unusual choice for a first single.

Tobias comments: "We have never been a typical radio band with two-and-a-half-minutes hit singles, so even though some music industry friends thought we are nuts, it’s not a weird move to go with 'Raven Child‘ if you ask me. The song showcases the variety of Avantasia, many aspects of what defines my sound, songwriting and musical journey. It’s a trip to a dark and fantastic world, with Celtic elements, heavy elements, anthemic vocal lines, Gregorian chants, a canon type choir and I am sure, many of our fan understand and appreciate the song. Yes, it may be a Heavy Radio song and not a Commercial Radio song, but at this point it’s a good start to give long-time Avantasia fans an idea of what to expect if they get the new Avantasia album."

Moonglow will be available in the following formats:

- CD
- Digibook (36 pages)
- 2CD-Artbook (64 pages)
- 2LP (different colours) in gatefold
- BOX * (Digibook + CD in Sleeve + 2LP (ice blue + dark blue marble) in gatefold + bonus 10" (black) im sleeve + signed photo card + certificate + poster)

* NB-Mailorder exclusive

Pre-order the album here.

Comments Tobias Sammet: "I really can’t wait to unleash Moonglow. First reactions by press and friends are the most enthusiastic comments I have ever gotten in my whole career of 27 years. No bullshit, it’s the truth, Sascha and I are overwhelmed!

In order to avoid boredom, in the middle of promotion and tour preparations I was getting myself involved in every detail of the album sleeves, booklets and packaging, to make sure the album drags the listener into a different world. I wanted Moonglow to be an overall experience for escapists like myself. My favourite edition is the giant super strictly limited art book edition with bonus track and a bonus CD. A massive coffee table book with photos, interview, liner notes and illustrations of Victorian painter Grimshaw, who has been very inspirational to me. This book edition is everything it takes to invite the listener into the world of Moonglow and its productional process.

There is also a smaller digibook version that features one bonus track and that is limited and beautiful as well. And of course there are also vinyl editions to hug, feel, watch, smell and caress. I am extremely proud of all these little treasures and can’t wait to unleash them!"

Comprising 11 tracks, the new opus once again features several guest vocalists. This time round, Tobias worked not only with well-known faces such as Ronnie Atkins, Jørn Lande, Eric Martin, Geoff Tate, Michael Kiske and Bob Catley, but also with new singers like Candice Night, Hansi Kürsch as well as Mille Petrozza who help to vitalize the new Avantasia record. Its cover artwork was created by Alexander Jansson.

Comments Tobias Sammet, "It's alive! After more than two years of hard work - and what felt like 71 overnight shifts back to back recently - we're ready to unleash Moonglow upon the universe. I believe it's the most adorned and detailed album we've ever produced. Not over ambitious, but there is a lot of love for detail in there. Avantasia is the ultimate playground for a musician's wildest fantasies to come true: Celtic elements, world music elements, big choirs, atmopsheric stuff, amazing guest vocal performances and of course all that wrapped up in what I consider to be the typical Avantasia sound. Someone in the music business just told me that the embellished nature of the sound makes it hard to market it, it doesn't fit in the contemporary musical landscape and "if you take a look around, no one really sounds like that." - EXACTLY! THANK YOU! I can't wait to release Moonglow, take my friends of the Avantasia family and hit the road for the big Moonglow World Tour."

Moonglow tracklisting:

"Ghost In The Moon"
"Book Of Shallows"
"Moonglow"
"The Raven Child"
"Starlight"
"Invincible"
"Alchemy"
"The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn"
"Lavender"
"Requiem For A Dream"
"Maniac"

Bonus Track:
"Heart"

Trailer:

On October 13th, BraveWords attended a listening session for the record in Munich, Germany at MSM Studios. An interview with masterminds Tobias Sammet (vocals) and Sascha Paeth (guitars) will be published soon, but for now BraveWords scribe Carl Begai offers some insight on Moonglow:

"Simply put, Moonglow is the most diverse Avantasia record since The Scarecrow (released in 2008). The ebb and flow of the album is captivating in that you have no idea where the songs are going to go. In fact, the only predictable moment is 'Requiem For A Dream', which is Tobi's expected high- speed Helloween fanboy entry trading vocals with Michael Kiske (who does what he does best at a level nobody can touch). Other than that... the way Sammet and Paeth shaped the songs using Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Candice Night (Blackmore's Night), Mille Petrozza (Kreator) and Geoff Tate (ex-Queensryche) is pure ear candy and not what you're expecting of the singers. For example.... no, Ms. Night does not go Celtic or sappy ballad on Moonglow. And Tate... he should put Operation: Mindcrime on ice and join Avantasia full time, as the material lets his voice shine. He hasn't sounded this good in 20 years. No small wonder he appears on three tracks on Moonglow.

Lead track 'Ghost In The Moon' is Avantasia's gradiose Meatloaf-esque moment, clocking in around 10 minutes, in contrast to the crushing metal of 'Book Of Shallows' featuring Sammet, Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids), Kürsch, Petrozza and Jorn Lande. 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' is an equally rousing metal assault, while 'Invincible' and 'Alchemy' feature two sides of Tate back-to-back. Bets are on 'The Raven Child' becoming THE fan favourite on the record, which is Avantasia rock opera brilliance coupled with a Savatage-esque stomp that goes for miles. It doesn't feel like 11 minutes. As for the cover of 'Maniac'... yeah, well, to each his own."

Watch for the exclusive Avantasia listening session interview coming soon.

Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON have recorded a "heavy" new song which they plan to release soon. The track was recorded last month at the band's new studio and marks MASTODON's first new material since 2017's "Emperor Of Sand".

Speaking to U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine, MASTODON guitarist Brent Hinds described the tune as "a fun listen," while fellow axeman Bill Kelliher said that it was "a basher" and "brutal." Drummer Brann Dailor concurred, telling the publication: "It's as heavy as I've heard us in a while."

MASTODON's new song, which will feature a guest appearance by NEUROSIS's Scott Kelly, is scheduled to receive a digital release ahead of the band's upcoming U.K. shows, which will kick off next week.

Last August, Dailor told Consequence Of Sound that MASTODON will begin work on the follow-up to "Emperor Of Sand" in earnest this year.

"We're always a work in progress, trying to figure out what we're going to do next," he said. "We're letting the ideas just come and setting them to the side for future work, and once in a while just sort of saying out loud what those ideas might be — whether they're collected onstage when we're doing soundcheck or if they are something that gets worked on backstage. You hear somebody noodling, and you're, like, 'Oh, what's that?' Whenever the ears perk up to either Brent or Bill doing something backstage, that's always a nice little surprise."

He added: "Once we get home, and we decompress from the 'Emperor Of Sand' tour cycle, sometime early next year, we'll start dumping out the riffs and seeing what's new and seeing what's fresh and what we're digging on, and then we'll just start working — do what we normally do."

MASTODON won a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category at the 60th annual Grammy Awards in January 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. MASTODON got the nod for the song "Sultan's Curse" from "Emperor Of Sand", with the latter also being nominated for "Best Rock Album." It was the fourth and fifth time MASTODON had received Grammy nominations, having missed out on the three previous occasions — "Colony Of Birchmen" (2007), "Curl Of The Burl" (2012) and "High Road" (2015) — it had been up for the "Best Metal Performance" award.

German metal wizard Axel Rudi Pell will celebrate his 30th anniversary as a solo artist in 2019, and he has also been with SPV / Steamhammer for 30. In May 2019, the label will release a special album before he starts his 30th Anniversary tour in June. More details will be revealed soon.

Axel Rudi Pell released a digital single and lyric video for the song "The Wild And The Young" in September 2018. The song is taken from the current studio album, Knights Call.

Says Axel: "'The Wild And The Young' is, after the intro, the opening number of our latest longplayer Knights Call and also the concert opener of our recent tour. Highly acclaimed by the fans, we will also open the second leg of our upcoming tour, which will last from October 18th till November 4th, with that track. I personally think, that this song is one of the strongest I wrote so far, very powerful and well equipped with a catchy chorus. We're looking forward to the tour and can't wait!"

Knights Call was released worldwide through Steamhammer/SPV in March 2018 as limited box set, CD digipak version, CD jewel case version,  2LP coloured version, download and stream. Get it here.

The album entered the charts in Germany at #9, in Switzerland at #15 and in Austria at #26. It also charted in Sweden, Belgium, UK and the US.

Italy's Scala Mercalli have announced their new album, Independence, will be out in January 2019 via Alpha Omega Records. They have released an official video for the track "Be Strong".

"The song is an incitement to try to find in every circumstance the strenght to fight and pursue our dreams and ideals, without letting everyday troubles get us down, however hard and heavy they may be. Being strong does not mean never falling down, but finding the strenght to get back up. May this song be helpful to all you metalheads!"

The band comments on the new album:

“This project is about some events we consider of great importance in our country’s history, because they remind us of how important it has been, for a people dominated for years by foreign powers, to fight for ideals of unity and freedom, and reminds also that freedom, in every form, is never a gift but has always to be conquered fighting together. Yesterday as today! This example applies to every people or nation that wants to be truly free!"

More details will be revealed soon.

For information on Scala Mercalli go to their official website here and check out their official Facebook page.

Less than two weeks to go until Gloryful release their new album, Cult Of Sedna, on
January 18th via Massacre Records. The band has released a third single, "Void Of Tomorrow", which is accompanied by a lyric video that can be seen below:

The cover art and tracklisting for Cult Of Sedna are as follows:

“Cult Of Sedna”
“The Oath”
“Brothers In Arms”
“Void Of Tomorrow”
“The Hunt”
“True ‘Til Death”
“When The Union Calls On Me”
“Desert Stranger”
“My Sacrifice”
“Sinners & Saints”
“Into The Next Chapter”

"Brothers In Arms":

“The Hunt”:

Dutch doom rockers, Dool, featuring former members of The Devil's Blood and singer Ryanne van Dorst, performed inside the Bullhead City Circus at the 2018 edition of Germany's Wacken Open Air festival. Pro-shot video of the band's full set can be found below.

Setlist:

"Intro"
"The Alpha"
"Golden Serpents"
"She Goat"
"In Her Darkest Hour"
"Vantablack"
"Oweynagat"

In a brand new interview with U.K.'s This Is Money, DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott was asked if he has ever been paid silly money. "No," he responded. "Once the band became successful, there was a lot of money going through the system. It was never like winning the lottery, though. It was fair and reasonable for what we, as a band, put in.

"We did not see a great deal of money until the autumn of 1983 when we got a check for the 'Pyromania' album and tour," he continued. "By then, even though we had sold six million records, we had a seven-year debt with the record label to clear. Of course, when we did get that check, it was the biggest I had ever seen. I cannot remember exactly how much it was for but it was more than £20,000 — the equivalent of £65,000 today. But because of our debts, we did not see any real money until 1988 when 'Hysteria' shifted 12 million copies worldwide."

Elliott went on to say that he does not invest in the stock market, calling it "a roulette wheel I do not want to play. I would rather buy a house and rent it out," he said. "I prefer bricks and mortar. I do have a pension. When we signed our first record deal when I was 18, we had a lawyer who made sure we started a pension that same day. We had our feet up on the boardroom table, drinking whisky, smoking cigars and I remember saying: 'What, a pension? Hang on, we are not even 20 years old.' Personally, I forgot all about it until told I could take it out at 55. But I have not touched it because I do not need it."

Asked what the best year of his financial life was, Elliott said: "Possibly 1998, maybe 1992 when we released 'Adrenalize', but, actually, I expect it will be last year. We did 50 shows in the United States and blasted through Japan, Australia and New Zealand — all sell-outs. I am not going to brag about how much I earned last year, but I am not penniless."

DEF LEPPARD and JOURNEY's 2018 North American co-headline tour grossed $97.1 million from 1,003,198 tickets sold, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. The trek included 56 dates across the United States, plus two shows in Canada.

The official lyric video for the song "Control" from Arizona metal veterans FLOTSAM AND JETSAM can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's upcoming 14th album, "The End Of Chaos", which will be released on January 18 via AFM Records.

The album will be available as a digipak, on clear orange, gatefold vinyl (limited to 450 units), black gatefold vinyl (limited to 450 units), limited picture vinyl (limited to 500 units), gold black splatter gatefold vinyl and limited boxsets with T-shirts.

Vocalist Eric "A.K." Knutson told Capital Chaos TV about the new disc: "There's 12 songs on the record. This was [whittling] down from 40-something songs these guys wrote for me to put lyrics on, and we had to quickly go through all of them and go, 'Which ones capture our attention the most?' Those are the ones we concentrated on. There was just great song after great song after great song coming to my house every other day, and I'm like, 'Wow, how am I going to keep up with this?' It worked out pretty good."

Added guitarist Michael Gilbert: "We used to have a certain template that we'd write. Now, we're writing more for this guy to sing a heavier, more memorable chorus for people. You're always learning as a songwriter, trying to achieve the perfect chorus that someone's going to remember after the song's over. If you've got that going, then you've [written] a successful song."

Continued Eric: "Things have evolved a little more catchy with our songwriting, but not really on purpose too much. It was just as we evolve and our tastes and our loves in music evolve, so does our writing. I really like the direction we're going now."


FLOTSAM AND JETSAM recently officially welcomed Ken Mary (ALICE COOPER, ACCEPT) as the band's permanent drummer. Mary began touring with the group in 2017 after Jason Bittner was invited to join OVERKILL.

"This album kills! It's all five guys with the gas pedal pushed to the floor for the entire album!" stated Mary.

Added bassist Michael Spencer: "It was cool to have a new element of influence on this album with having Ken's drum parts to partner with and play in and around his playing that also do with the guitars and vocals. Glad to have had Jacob Hansen bringing this album to the overall sound and energy it has. Jacob really highlights A.K.'s vocal melodies, as well as Steve and Michael's songwriting, while the power of the rhythm section drives the songs."

"The End Of Chaos" track listing:

01. Prisoner Of Time

02. Control

03. Recover

04. Prepare For Chaos

05. Slowly Insane

06. Architects Of Hate

07. Demolition Man

08. Unwelcome Surprise

09. Snake Eye

10. Survive

11. Good Or Bad

12. The End

After a successful North American tour last year in support of Swedish power metal giants HAMMERFALL, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM will return to the road for a trek across North America, continuing its "Tour Of Chaos 2019".

Professionally filmed video footage of METALLICA performing the song "Leper Messiah" on October 27, 2018 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York can be seen below.

The second North American leg of METALLICA's "WorldWired" features in-the-round production and a few firsts, including a "Light It Up" pre-show party hosted by the band's friend, comedian Jim Breuer; and a "Wherever I May Roam Black Ticket" that gives a limited number of fans floor access to any show on the tour.

The "WorldWired" set and stage design, designed by the show's director, Dan Braun, features an immersive concert experience with a 44' x 44' square main-stage equipped with several prop lifts located in the center of the arena.

The "WorldWired" show features the touring industry's first autonomous indoor drone swarm, with 99 micro drones dancing like fireflies for the song "Moth Into Flame".

METALLICA kicked off the 2018/2019 U.S. leg of the "WorldWired" arena tour back in September in Madison, Wisconsin. The trek will resume on January 18 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.