US black metal band Imperialist are all set to release their debut full-length album on Transcending Obscurity Records. Their brand of black metal is inspired by the Swedish black metal scene and is furthermore worked upon to exude a thrash vibe. Listen to new track "Splendor Beneath An Ancient Permafrost" below.

Imperialist have conjured up a brilliant sci-fi themed album that stands out both conceptually as well as musically. Rooted in the early Swedish black metal sound of luminaries like Necrophobic, Dissection and Sacramentum, Imperialist hone it up further to suit their futuristic theme by adding touches of thrash metal without diluting the rich aura. Cipher is backed by a visually stunning artwork by Adam Burke (Vektor, Lurk) that extends into a continuous two-panel work depicting the grand theme. It's rare to find bands that have a bold vision and at the same time creating the perfect blend for music that is at once atavistic and forward-thinking. This is one of the finest examples of meticulously written black metal counterbalancing aggression with melodies and thrashy sections.

Cipher release formats:
-LP box set
-Gatefold LP
-Digipak CD box set
-8-Panel digipak CD
-Digital

Tracklisting:

“Continuum”
“The Singularity”
“Advent Anathema”
“Splendor Beneath An Ancient Permafrost”
“Umbra Tempest”
“Chronoclasm”
“Binary Coalescence”
“The Dark Below”
“Mercurian Dusk”

"Splendor Beneath An Ancient Permafrost":

“The Singularity”:

The kings of comedy rock Psychostick are hitting the road this coming October and November for The Socks, Sandals & PJ Pants Tour with Downtown Brown and Danimal Cannon (dates listed below) in support of their new album DO. But before they hit the road, they want fans to know the comfort of Socks, Sandals and Pajama Pants with their new music video.

"Being the cutting-edge connoisseurs of fashion that we are, we decided to theme our fall tour after our new music video and undeniable style, ‘Socks, Sandals, and PJ Pants’. We encourage all to come to the show in comfort, and forget about overrated things like ‘dignity’ and ‘self-respect’. And we want to see a pajama pants pit." says guitarist Josh 'The J" Key.

Vocalist Rob Kersey is also challenging fans to come to all the Psychostick shows dressed in Pajamas! and take tons of pictures with the hashtag #SSPJ:

Dates:

Tour dates:

October
24 - St. Louis, MO - Fubar *
25 - Omaha, NE - Lookout Lounge *
26 - Colorado Springs, CO - Sunshine Studios
27 - Denver, CO - The Roxy Theater
28 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall
30 - Boise, ID - The Shredder
31 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon

November
1 - Portland, OR - Paris Theatre
2 - Placerville, CA - PJ's Roadhouse #
3 - Cupertino, CA - The X Bar #
4 - Fullerton, CA - The Slide Bar #
6 - Fresno, CA - Full Circle Brewery #
7 - San Diego - Brick By Brick #
8 - Mesa, AZ - Club Red #
12 - Merriam, KS - Aftershock *#

* Does not include Downtown Brown
# Does not include Danimal Cannon

Do is available on CD and download exclusively here, and is also available on iTunes and Spotify.

"Do" video:

"You Can (Maybe) Do It!" lyric video:

"Adulting" video:

 
"From The Heart" video:

The legendary compilation Death Is Just The Beginning is back, But there’s more, a fantastic live package including Kataklysm, Hypocrisy and The Spirit hit the road last week under the banner of the same name. All three bands are represented in this amazing collection. Canadian death metallers Kataklysm have participated with a re-recording of their classic track “The Awakener“. Hypocrisy offered up a cover version of “They Lie“ (The Exploited) and The Spirit have provided a track from their Nuclear Blast label debut Sounds From The Vortex.

Today, Nailed To Obscurity present the trailer to their new song “King Delusion” which is featured on the compilation:

Nuclear Blast’s involvement with death metal harkens back to the late ‘80s and early ‘90s explosion of this heavy and deadly genre. The Death ...Is Just The Beginning compilations paved the way to the introduction of many soon to become legendary acts such as Pungent Stench, Dismember, Hypocrisy, Kataklysm. While the scene suffered a bit of stagnation somewhere in the mid-to-late ‘90s, the genre as a whole never went away and Nuclear Blast continued to release quality death metal in the form of bands such as Hypocrisy, Kataklysm, Decapitated, etc.

…And just like the undead, they always come back! Nuclear Blast is proud to announce the unearthing of this legendary series simply titled MMXVIII. Brace yourselves as death metal has never been this deadly. And remember, Death ...Is Just the Beginning.

Highlights for this latest instalment include some re-recordings of classic tracks, Nuclear Blast bands performing covers of classic songs from other Nuclear Blast artists, demos and rarities of previously released and unreleased songs, original cover artwork by Blake Armstrong and layout by Marcelo Vasco (Slayer, Kreator).

Out on October 19th, Death …Is Just The Beginning MMXVII will be available as a CD jewel, limited cassette, colored vinyl, long sleeve shirt, T-shirt + CD bundle & mail-order edition boxset. Pre-order the compilation here.

Death ...Is Just The Beginning MMXVII tracklisting:

Benediction - "Tear Off These Fucking Wings" (unreleased demo of new song)
Kataklysm - "The Awakener" (re-recorded)
Hypocrisy - "They Lie" (The Exploited cover)
The Spirit - "Illuminate The Night Sky"
Memoriam - "The War Rages On" (demo)
Insidious Disease - "Soul Excavation" (unreleased new song)
Possessed - "Abandoned" (unreleased demo of new song)
Thy Art Is Murder - "The Son Of Misery"
Immolation - "Morbid Visions" (feat. Max Cavalera) (Sepultura cover)
Nailed To Obscurity - "King Delusion" (unreleased new song)
Bleeding Gods - "Beloved By Artemis"
Decapitated - "Sane" (Meshuggah cover)
Aenimus - "Before The Eons" (unreleased new song)
Paradise Lost - "Frozen Illusion" (previously released Japanese only b-side)
Carcass - "A Wraith In The Apparatus"
Brujeria - "Viva Presidente Trump!" (previously only available digitally and on vinyl)

Therion singer Linnea Vikstrom's solo project QFT (Quantum Field Theory), also featuring members of the Swedish band Dynazty have released the third and final single from their debut album, Live In Space, released May 4th via Despotz Records. 

The lead off track on Live in Space, "End Of The Universe" is an epic, doomy and spacey tune about how Vikstrom views the actual end of the universe - "the victory of gravity over dark energy. The universe will be a singularity again, and the wish that a new universe will rise from it," says Linnea.  

The single can be purchased on iTunes and streamed on  Spotify .

SLIPKNOT will embark a month-long tour of Europe next summer. The band will perform at a number of festivals across the continent, including Download, Rock Am Ring, Graspop Metal Meeting and Resurrection.

Speaking to Kerrang! about headlining Download alongside TOOL and DEF LEPPARD, SLIPKNOT's Shawn "Clown" Crahan stated: "If someone chooses to come and see us, they're going to get us. I don't care about the day before, and I don't care about the day after! One thing I know about SLIPKNOT is that it's impossible to not talk about us, so I really don't get caught up in competition — I'm here to kick you in the face and make you remember it. End of story. I don't know what TOOL is doing, and I don't fucking care. I wanna hear their new album, but if I'm out playing, I don't care what they're doing, and they don't care what I'm doing. But I'm gonna kick you in the face."

Crahan added about the progress of the recording sessions for SLIPKNOT's new album: "We've been writing for the last two years. We went to L.A. seven or eight times for two, three, four weeks at a time, and wrote — seriously wrote. It's a wonderful thing, and we're not left with that stress of getting together when Corey's [Taylor, vocals] ready. We just decided to take that pressure off us. We've been doing this for 20 years, and if everyone just shuts the fuck up and lets us do what we do best — which is SLIPKNOT — then we will come through. There's, like, 20 categories of things that need to be taken care of in order to make a SLIPKNOT album, and I'm talking to you today, on October-fucking-whatever, about headlining Download festival 2019. If that isn't enough to make everybody wake the fuck up that we're back, then I don't know what the fuck else is. This is real."

SLIPKNOT tour dates:

un. 07-08 - Hyvinkää, Rockfest, Finland

Jun. 07-09 - Nuremburg, Rock Im Park, Germany

Jun. 07-09 - Nürburg, Rock Am Ring, Germany

Jun. 13-15 - Nickelsdorf, Novarock, Austria

Jun. 13-16 - Interlaken, Greenfield, Switzerland

Jun. 14-16 - Derby, Download Festival, UK

Jun. 17 - Leipzig, Arena, Germany

Jun. 18 - Hannover, TUI Arena, Germany

Jun. 19-22 - Copenhagen, Copenhell, Denmark

Jun. 21-23 - Dessel, Graspop, Belgium

Jun. 25-26 - Kraków, Mystic Festival, Poland

Jun. 27 - Bologna, Sonic Park, Italy

Jun. 28-30 - Madrid, Download Festival, Spain

Jul. 01 - Nîmes, Amphitheatre Nîmes, France

Jul. 03-06 - Lisbon, VOA, Portugal

Jul. 04-05 - Viveiro, Resurrection Festival, Spain

As previously reported, SLIPKNOT will perform at the Iowa State Fair Grandstand for the first time ever on August 10, 2019. Tickets for the concert go on sale November 2 at 10 a.m. via IowaStateFair.org, costing $43, $53 or $60 before fees and fair admission. An opening act is yet to be announced.

The Iowa State Fair runs August 8-18, 2019.

Taylor recently told Spain's Resurrection Fest TV that SLIPKNOT's follow-up to 2014's ".5: The Gray Chapter" album will likely arrive next summer.

".5: The Gray Chapter" was released following a six-year hiatus during which founding SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray died and drummer Joey Jordison was dismissed.

".5: The Gray Chapter" sold around 132,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 1 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores in October 2014 via Roadrunner.

Gray died in 2010 from a drug overdose, while Jordison was let go in December 2013, just before SLIPKNOT began recording the last album.

More than a month before JUDAS PRIEST's scheduled concert in Singapore with BABYMETAL, singer Rob Halford praised the Japanese pop-metal act, telling Bandwagon in a new interview: "I think BABYMETAL are one of the most unique metal experiences in the world right now. Not only their appearances, and their style and everything that surrounds them visually but they're an incredible band as well. I met the band a couple of years ago in America and they're so passionate about metal, they know everything about metal music and they've created a very special feeling and experience within the entire world of metal. They work extremely hard to create something unique and I think it's paying off and they're doing such an amazing job. In fact, I was watching the new music video for 'Starlight' and even with one member leaving, they still sound great."

Halford's latest comments come more than two years after he joined BABYMETAL for their appearance at the 2016 Alternative Press Music Awards in Columbus, Ohio. The singer performed two classic PRIEST songs with the Japanese outfit: "Painkiller" and "Breaking The Law".

"That was really intense; BABYMETAL give a thousand percent just like PRIEST," Halford said in a statement after the performance. "They're leading the charge into the new frontier of heavy metal."

"It was really amazing and fantastic," BABYMETAL's Su-Metal said. "A collaboration with Rob Halford, the 'Metal God,' has always been my dream. I never imagined that dream would come true!"

b>Halford previously posed for a photograph with BABYMETAL backstage at the Rock On The Range festival in 2015.

Many heavy metal fans have been reluctant to embrace BABYMETAL — which also includes producer Kobametal and a backing band of corpse-painted virtuosos — with some Internet forums calling them "the definition of a gimmick", "awful" and "metal for hipsters."

JUDAS PRIEST is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, "Firepower", which came out in March.

Hungarian metallers EKTOMORF have just released a brand new two-track digital single. The single, which was recorded in one day in early September at No Silence Studio in Hungary, features a new EKTOMORF song, "Eternal Mayhem", as well as a cover version of METALLICA's "Hardwired". You can now listen to both tracks below.

EKTOMORF's latest album, "Fury", came out in February via AFM. The effort marked the band's first release since the departures of Tamás Schrottner (guitar), Szabolcs Murvai (bass) and Róbert Jaksa (drums) and addition of Simon Szebasztián, Csaba Zahorán and Dániel Szabó, respectively.

EKTOMORF was founded in 1993 in Mezökovacsháza, Hungary by Zoltán "Zoli" Farkas. The band's breakthrough came when EKTOMORF started its collaboration with Danish producer Tue Madsen in 2003. Madsen helped the group to find a modern and powerful sound that EKTOMORF has expanded upon since the release of 2004's "Destroy".



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MetallicaTV has uploaded footage of Metallica performing "Leper Messiah" at The O2 Arena in London, England on October 24th, 2017. Watch below:

Footage of the band performing "Halo On Fire" at the same venue on October 22nd, 2017 can be seen below:

Metallica performs next on Thursday, October 25th, at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Find the band's complete tour itinerary here.

Footage from Metallica's performances at the Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park in Austin, TX (October 6th and 13th) can be seen below:

On November 2nd, Swedish progressive metal legends Opeth will release their new live album Garden Of The Titans: Live At Red Rocks Amphitheatre via Moderbolaget Records / Nuclear Blast Entertainment. A fourth video trailer for the upcoming release can be found below.

Captured for DVD, Blu-Ray and Vinyl formats during their performance on May 11th, 2017 at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, CO, this concert showcases the unique beauty of both classic and new Opeth tracks.

To celebrate, Opeth is offering a one-time screening of the concert at The Motalbán Theater (1615 Vine Street) in Los Angeles. On November 1st, fans can gather to view the historic concert on the big-screen with incredible surround sound. Doors will take place at 8:30 pm and tickets are now available  here .

Video footage for Garden Of The Titans was overseen by The Deka Brothers (carpenter Brut, The Prodigy) and audio was mixed by David Castillo (Katatonia, Bloodbath). All versions feature the masterful artwork of revered artist Travis Smith (Nevermore, Testament).

Fans can now pre-order various formats at this location .

The tracklist is as follows:

"Sorceress"
"Ghost Of Perdition"
"Demon Of The Fall"
"The Wilde Flowers"
"In My Time Of Need"
"The Devil's Orchard"
"Cusp Of Eternity"
"Heir Apparent"
"Era"
"Deliverance"

Trailer #1:

Trailer #2:

Trailer #3:

Trailer #4:

"Demon Of The Fall" video:

"Sorceress" video:

         

Always an unstoppable force for uniqueness amid a sea of generic swill, Opeth has been setting the rulebook ablaze, and ploughing a uniquely progressive and exploratory furrow for over 25 years now. Neither conforming nor exhibiting any desire to be restricted to a single genre, Opeth, quite simply, has a time honored tradition of blowing our minds with both class and forward thinking. All these years later, nothing and everything has changed once again with their most recent album, Sorceress.

Sorceress was released in September 2016. For the band's first effort for Nuclear Blast via Opeth's imprint label Moderbolaget Records, the group returned to Rockfield Studios in Wales, also home to pivotal releases from Queen, Rush and Judas Priest, where the Swedes had tracked Pale Communion in 2014 with Tom Dalgety.

(Photo - Steve Thrasher)

Continuing with the lead up to their new album, Germany's The Ocean Collective are unveiling the absolutely explosive visuals for their unreleased single, "Cambrian II: Eternal Recurrence" the third preview of Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic

As The Ocean Collective are known for their mammoth melodies, ebbing from crushing climaxes to gorgeously intricate interludes, so the video matches their prehistoric, theatrical leanings. Using makeup and hand-molded masks, director Craig Murray transforms vocalist Loic Rossetti into a Cambrian-age lichen-creature, weaving molds of the band into a rocky prehistoric landscape, taking hours to meticulously shoot the video frame-by-frame.

Explains Murray, "This is a practical effects film which leans towards multiple single frame captures to creature the sequences. Everything is built from scratch. There's long exposure animation, stop frame, miniatures and cloud tanks. If the thing I'm working with can't be physically picked up and held in my hand, I struggle to understand how to use it; I prefer this long, messy and exhausting process."

Adds The Ocean Collective mastermind Robin Staps, "Craig has created a unique aesthetic visualization of our music, which is different from anything I've ever seen. He's spent 6 sleepless weeks working on this basically non-stop, all by himself. He plastered tons of clay and lichens over Loic's face and head, and really managed to turn him into an imaginary 'Cambrian creature‘. It’s incredible to see the final result now, and how the whole thing has evolved."

What results is a nearly eight-minute epic journey through space and time, fusing art, special effects, science, and absolutely mind-melting rock - which can be seen below.

Phanerozoic I, which will be available November 2nd via Metal Blade Records (CD / digital) and Pelagic Records (vinyl), can be pre-ordered here.

Tracklisting:

“The Cambrian Explosion”
“Cambrian II: Eternal Recurrence”
“Ordovicium: The Glaciation Of Gondwana”
“Silurian: Age Of Sea Scorpions”
“Devonian: Nascent”
“The Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse”
“Permian: The Great Dying”

“Cambrian II: Eternal Recurrence” video:

“Devonian: Nascent”:

“Permian: The Great Dying”:

Dutch symphonic metallers Within Temptation performed in Moscow, Russia on October 18th. Fan-filmed video of the full show is available below.

The setlist on the night was as follows:

"Intro / Raise Your Banner"
"The Reckoning"
"Endless War"
"In the Middle of the Night"
"Stand My Ground"
"All I Need"
"Supernova"
"Shot in the Dark"
"The Promise"
"Faster"
"Mercy Mirror"
"Paradise (What About Us?)"
"The Heart of Everything"
"Forgiven"
"Mother Earth"
"What Have You Done"
"Stairway to the Skies"

Within Temptation will release their seventh album, Resist, on December 14th via Spinefarm Records/Universal Music. Pre-order the album here.

The band have released "making of" footage from the shoot for the music video for the first single, "The Reckoning", featuring Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix. Watch the new footage, as well as the official video, below.

"The Reckoning" video "making of":

"The Reckoning" video:

Resist marks a departure from the Within Temptation's past. The record is armed with 10 anthemic tracks, driven by grand melodies and dark hooks. It brings a futuristic take on metal to the table - both instrumentally and thematically.

"Resist is a true milestone for us. If it wasn't for Resist, Within Temptation wouldn't be here anymore," the band stated.

"With this record, we've taken inspiration from modern music and gave it a face - a very dark one," said singer Sharon den Adel. "Sometimes, it feels that today's pop music lacks a rebellious edge. Our main goal was to collect pieces from sounds we did like and roughen it up as much as we could, resulting in a surprisingly new musical world that is heavier, dirtier and more futuristic than we’ve ever created before. Resist is our take on metal in a new way: to give modern music its rebellious edge.”

Resist tracklisting:

"The Reckoning" (feat. Jacoby Shaddix)
"Endless War"
"Raise Your Banner" (feat. Anders Fridén)
"Supernova"
"Holy Ground"
"In Vain"
"Firelight" (feat. Jasper Steverlinck)
"Mad World"
"Mercy Mirror"
"Trophy Hunter"

"The Reckoning" lyric video:

"Eyes Without A Face" (Tropkillaz Remix), from Billy Idol’s Vital Idol: Revitalized, is available for streaming below. Order Vital Idol: Revitalized digitally here. CD and vinyl editions will be available on November 16th.

More than 30 years after his groundbreaking Vital Idol compilation cemented the vibrancy of the dance-rock remix genre in the second half of the 1980s, Billy Idol’s Vital Idol: Revitalized collection features 11 brand-new remixes of Billy’s most classic and enduring hits. Lending their hands to the Revitalized proceedings are electronic dance luminaries Moby, The Crystal Method and Paul Oakenfold as well as current innovators including RAC, Tropkillaz, Shiba San, Juan Maclean and CRAY.

Vital Idol, initially released in Britain in 1985 and subsequently issued in the United States in 1987, was the first remix record released by a rock superstar. Besides being certified platinum, Vital Idol was accompanied by a version of “Mony Mony” that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, as well as hitting the Top 10 on the UK Singles chart.

Highlights found within the grooves of Revitalized include The Crystal Method’s percussive, explosive stab at “Rebel Yell,” CRAY’s bass-and-keyboard-blessed “White Wedding,” Tropkillaz’s trop-house framing of “Eyes Without A Face,” St. Francis Hotel’s shimmering stop/start caress of “Flesh For Fantasy,” and RAC’s retro-harmonic, fist-pumping “Dancing With Myself.”

The digital version of Revitalized features four additional exclusive remixes, namely the brand new Billy Idol/Steve Stevens Remix of “Mony Mony,” Paul Oakenfold’s Extended Remix of “One Breath Away,” Moby’s “Half Time Version” of his take on “(Do Not) Stand In The Shadows” and “Save Me Now” (Lost Dog Remix), reworked by Billy Idol’s son, Willem Wolfe Broad and Eddie B.

Tracklisting:

"White Wedding" (CRAY Remix)
"Dancing With Myself" (RAC Remix)
"Eyes Without A Face" (Tropkillaz Remix)
"Rebel Yell" (The Crystal Method Remix)
"(Do Not) Stand In The Shadows" (Moby Remix)
"Flesh For Fantasy" (St Francis Hotel Remix)
"Catch My Fall" (Juan Maclean Remix)
"One Breath Away" (Paul Oakenfold Remix)
"To Be A Lover" (DJDS Remix)
"Don't Need A Gun" (Shiba San Remix)
"Hot In The City" (Shotgun Mike Remix)

Bonus tracks (Digital version only):

"Mony Mony" (Idol/Stevens Remix)
"One Breath Away" (Paul Oakenfold Remix / Extended Version)
"(Do Not) Stand In The Shadows" (Moby Remix / Half Speed Version)
"Save Me Now" (Lost Dog Remix)

"Eyes Without A Face" (Tropkillaz Remix):

"Dancing With Myself" (RAC Remix):

Nita Strauss, the guitarist who has rocked out on stage with ALICE COOPER, FEMME FATALE, Jermaine Jackson, THE IRON MAIDENS and more, joined Steve Vai on stage on September 28 at "The Big Mama Jama Jam-A-Thon" event at Musicians Institute's LiveHouse in Los Angeles, California. The "improvisational music/art event" benefited Extraordinary Families and featured 52 consecutive hours of music.

Vai served as musical director alongside fellow performers Dweezil Zappa, Al Di Meola, Dave Navarro, Moby, Steve Morse, Lee Ritenour, Andy Vargas, Souleros and others. The event started at 12 p.m. PT on September 28 and continued non-stop until 4 p.m. on September 30.

Nita will release her debut solo album, "Controlled Chaos", on November 16 via Sumerian Records.

Strauss has been fighting to make a name for herself in the guitar world for years. She is one of the most sought-after clinicians in the industry and has done extensive clinic tours across multiple continents. Her consistent touring schedule has shown her to play in front of over a million audience members per year for the past several years. 2018 has already proven to be a banner year for Nita with her being named as the first-ever female Ibanez signature artist in the company's 60-year history. She played WWE suprstar Shinsuke Nakamura's entrance music at "WrestleMania" in New Orleans in front of an audience of 78,000 fans and millions streaming worldwide just before surpassing her Kickstarter campaign eight times over, allowing her to self-produce and record "Controlled Chaos".


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RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee has confirmed that the band is unlikely to play any more shows or make new music. "I can't really tell you much other than that there are zero plans to tour again," he told Rolling Stone when asked about RUSH's current state. "We're very close and talk all the time, but we don't talk about work. We're friends, and we talk about life as friends. I can't really tell you more than that, I'm afraid. I would say there's no chance of seeing RUSH on tour again as Alex [Lifeson, guitar], Geddy, Neil [Peart, drums]. But would you see one of us or two of us or three of us? That's possible."

Lee went on to say that it's possible he will work on another solo album one of these years. "I do think about it, and I think once the dust settles from this project, I'll probably find myself bored and wandering down to the studio to try to enliven my own life, and if something of a positive nature happens down there, I'll take it to the next step," he said. "But beyond that, I could only guess."

Asked if it's fair to say that he has ideas he has built up over time, Geddy said: "I have bits and bobs, but I don't have any finished material in the can, so to speak. If I pick up a bass, I just start playing something, and sooner or later I start writing a riff or this or that. So for my own peace of mind, I stash it somewhere. Chances are I'll come back to it, and it's crap, so I just trash it. But at least it makes me feel good for the moment. [Laughs]."

The chronic tendinitis-suffering Peart hinted during a 2015 interview with Drumhead magazine that he would no longer tour with RUSH, revealing his daughter had already started referring to dad as "a retired drummer."

short time later, Lee played down Peart's comments, blaming the media for making too much of his bandmate's remarks.

Geddy said in a 2016 interview that he had "accepted" that RUSH's last batch of live shows was "probably the last one as a tour."

The 66-year-old Peart revealed in RUSH's documentary "Time Stand Still" that he initially had no intention of going on a tour in 2015. "In November [of 2014], we all got together in Toronto and I was quite prepared to say, 'Sorry, I'm done,'" he said in the film. "I realized I was kind of a solitary misfit in that context of being the one that wanted to pull that plug. I left one little window in my mind that if somebody wanted to do it one more time and didn't know if they'd be able to, [I would do it]."

Lifeson and Lee confirmed that the band will never do a show unless all three musicians agree to take part. "It's not like you just get new members of a band and just go for it," said Lifeson. "RUSH has never been a band like that. We'd never, ever do something like that." Lee added: "We always said that if the three of us aren't on board, we don't do a thing. There have been other decisions in our career where the three of us weren't on board and we didn't do it. Nothing as profound as ending our touring life, but fair enough. So one guy doesn't want to do that thing anymore that I love to do. That hurts. But there's nothing I can do about it and that's part of the agreement."

On November 16, UMe/Anthem/ole label group will continue its extensive RUSH 40th-anniversary album series with a new, expanded edition of the band's groundbreaking 1978 release "Hemispheres".


"Hemispheres", RUSH's sixth studio album, was originally released in October 1978, and it built upon the adventurous sonic template the band established on its acclaimed 1977 effort "A Farewell To Kings".

Universal Music MENA has signed  heavy metal band ZiX and released their single "Rise From Your Ashes Your Grave" featuring Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kürssch.

"Rise From Your Ashes Your Grave" is a crossover inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s "A Dream Within A Dream" and the modern age of misinformation. Both concepts were carefully blended to showcase that in this modern age where people think they know everything, they don’t know anything at all. Everything they see or seem is only but a dream within a dream; it is a call to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix, and face the great illusion they are living in.

The biggest highlight of the song is definitely the duet performed by ZiX's lead singer Maria Danos and Hans Kürsch from Blind Guardian. The song was written by Ziad Bardawil and Juan Carrizo and recorded and mixed with the help of Karim Sinno at the Audio Loft Studio in Beirut, Lebanon.

ZiX, an acclaimed female-fronted cross-cultural heavy metal band founded in Beirut in 2010  released their debut album, Tides Of The Final War with 7x Grammy-winning producer and mixer Steve Thompson (Metallica,Yngwie Malmsteen, KISS, Anthrax, Madonna, Guns 'N Roses name a few) through German label, Puresteel records. The drummer on that album was Kenny Earl Rhino from Manowar and the album included the song "Metal Strike", which featured an all star cast composed of metal legends from Iron Maiden, Manowar, Black Sabbath and many others. The album was voted among the best top ten albums of 2016!

In 2012, ZiX completed the self-produced demo, The War Whore, and right away, the single impacted metal musicians and fans throughout the world. On the strength of that single song and ZiX’s mission in perilous territory, the great Metal Hammer Magazine voted and embraced ZiX as "one of the top 100 defenders of the faith."
 

Shadow Records - distributed and marketed by Regain Records - has set November 26th as the international release date for Voodus' debut album, Into The Wild, on CD, LP, and cassette tape formats.
 
Although a seemingly new name, Voodus' history stretches back to 2004 when the band was known as Jormundgang. Under this banner, the band first released a few demos and then an album for the Christhunt label in 2014. Sensing the need for a fresh outlook, they changed their moniker to Voodus and began sharpening their knives. And carved from these blades emerged the 2015 EP, NightQueen, subsequently followed by the Serpent Seducer Saviour 10" in 2017.
 
Infused with the same spirit as the preceding EPs, with Into The Wild Voodus has honed their craft to its fiercest and most finessed essence. This record is indeed a wild and winding ride through the murky depths of starkly melodic yet crypt-pure black metal. Their sound is staunchly rooted in the 1990s - with ice-cold melodies racing across the searing surge of black metal - but breathes a refreshing sense of dynamics and pacing. Voodus does not engage with the blast-a-thons of old, the indiscernible blur of one song protracted over 30-plus minutes. Instead, the quartet unloads expert compositional variety here, with memorable melodicism constantly at the forefront - all of it framed in a clear and cutting production courtesy of the esteemed Necromorbus Studio. And it's a truly epic experience clocking in at 61 minutes, allowing the listener's wanderlust to truly run wild.

Join the hunt and go Into The Wild with Voodus! Begin hunting with the new video for "Gnothi Seauton". Pre-order info can be found here. The album cover and tracklisting can be found below.

Tracklisting:

"The Awakening And The Ascension"
"The Golden"
"Gnothi Seauton"
"Into The Wild"
"Communion Amid The Graves"
"Dreams From An Ancient Mind Pt 1"
"Dreams From An Ancient Mind Pt 2"
"The Terrain Of Moloch"

For further details, visit Voodus on Facebook.

 

Active since 2015, Sacremento, California-based progressive melodic death metal outfit The Odious Construct are a young band relatively speaking. Yet in their brief existence, they've moved at blinding speeds to continually refine their craft live and in the studio in order to reach the next level. After hashing out two single song demos in 2015, the band quickly released their well-received self-titled EP in July of 2016. 

Now in 2018, The Odious Construct have evolved as musicians and songwriters and are primed to release their strongest music to date on Shrine of the Obscene. Recently signed to The Artisan Era, Shrine of the Obscene will be The Odious Construct's first effort on the label and is set for release on Friday, October 12th through The Artisan Era. The title track is streaming below in the form of a lyric video.

Throughout the five swift and deadly songs on Shrine Of The Obscene, The Odious Construct carves out a path beyond the typical "complex for complexities sake" approach with a focus built upon catchy guitar melodies, straightforward brutality, and enhanced by orchestral flair to ensure the songs remain stuck in your head.

The Odious Construct had the following to say about the upcoming release of Shrine of the Obscene

"This upcoming EP is a progression from the previous self-titled EP.  While still melodic, there is more speed and technicality involved, and there is more experimentation with orchestra instruments. Thematically, the writing is still dark. The lyrics revolve around psychological disorders, horror, suicide, etc. The goal of this EP was to include more dynamics musically and more diverse instrumentation. We are still a melodic death metal band but we are incorporating more modern elements to the music stylistically."

Tracklisting:

“Vortex Of Self”
“Descension”
“They Came Through The Mirrors”
“Cyanide Eyes”
“Shrine Of The Obscene”

"Shrine Of The Obscene" lyric video:

Teaser:

Battlegrave is the result of two life long metalheads and great friends putting their minds together to create an aggressive thrash sound!

Battlegrave already have an EP release, To Hell With War, under their belt. Now Clint Patzel and Rohan Buntine share "Betray Your Beliefs" - the first single off their upcoming new album, Relics Of A Dead Earth - set to be independently released on November 28th.

Drumming duties on "Betray Your Beliefs" were handled by the master Kevin Talley (Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Suffocation, Hate Eternal, Chimaira) and the track features a guest guitar solo from Jake Weber of Harlott.

For further details, visit Battlegrave on Facebook.

 

The Brew will release their new album, Art Of Persuasion, on October 5th via Napalm Records. The album cut, "Naked As I Stand", is available for streaming below.

After six fine and varied studio albums and zero lineup changes, the trio presents Art Of Persuasion, their seventh masterpiece. While proudly displaying the band’s influences - from Led Zeppelin to Wolfmother - the record easily avoids schlocky retro clichés.

The Brew says about the recordings: “While making this record, we fell into the grooves of the tunes and we’re still trying to climb our way out.”

Art Of Persuasion will be available in the following formats:

- 1 CD Digipack
- 1 LP Vinyl (Black)
- 1 LP Vinyl (Gold) (Napalm Mailorder exclusive)
- 1 LP Vinyl (Purple) (Napalm Mailorder exclusive)
- Digital Album

Pre-order here.

Art Of Persuasion tracklisting:

"Seven Days Too Long"
"One Line Crimes"
"Boomerang Fool"
"Gin Soaked Loving Queen"
"Naked As I Stand"
"Shaking The Room"
"Pointless Pain"
"Excess"
"Carry The News"
"Ghost Of The Nation"
"Pink Noise King"

"Naked As I Stand":

"Gin Soaked Loving Queen" video:

"Seven Days Too Long" lyric video:

Tour dates:

October
19 - Trier, Germany - Exhaus *
20 - Köln, Germany - Kantine *
21 - Middelburg, Netherlands - De Spot
24 - Bern, Switzerland - Reitschule-Rössli Bar
25 - Basel, Switzerland - Atlantis *
26 - Karlsruhe, Germany - Substage *
27 - Freiburg, Germany - Jazzhaus *
29 - Nürnberg, Germany - Hirsch *
30 - Dessau, Germany - Marienkirche

November
1 - Frankfurt, Germany - Das Bett *
2 - Münster, Germany - Jovel *
3 - Hannover, Germany - Musikzentrum *
4 - Huissen, Netherlands - De Buitenpoort
6 - München, Germany - Backstage *
7 - Stuttgart, Germany - Universum *
8 - Bochum, Germany - Zeche *
9 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle *
10 - Berlin, Germany - Columbia Theater *

* The Hydden support

Lineup:

Jason Barwick: Vocals, Guitar
Tim Smith: Bass, Vocals
Kurtis Smith: Drums

Australian true metal brigade, Road Warrior, will release their debut full-length album, Power, on October 12th via Gates Of Hell Records. The album track "Sweating Out The Poison" is available for streaming below.

Featuring eight tracks of "diverse, fist-clenching, manly and classic metal," Power was recorded at Against The Grain Studios in Adelaide, South Australia with Andy Kite at the helm.

Comments bassist/vocalist Denimal Blake: "It is a statement of our intent: To inject 'Power' back into a heavy metal scene that has been somewhat bereft of it. Whether if it truly is an objective case or not, that is our summary and the crux of the band. When heavy metal first gained a foothold it was the personification of musical power, a very special time that is finally coming back to strength, regardless of trends, due to its dominance."

Road Warrior (who are rounded out by guitarist Overdryve and drummer Villon) are said to have recorded Power with "gusto, the gnashing teeth and thrusting of loins," meaning, the album's cuts are leaning heavily on the band's '80s influences as well as the proto-metal scene from the latter part of the '70s.

Says Blake: "Our influences are in a blender this time, laced with the flavor of Road Warrior, Metal Church, Blackout, early Iron Maiden, Savatage, Judas Priest, Loudness, Riot, Twisted Sister and Hexx."

Accordingly, Blake says the album's lyrical themes are quite varied: "Sex, sex and more sex, along with a bit of historical conspiracy, power, pre-diluvial civilization and hotter sex." Tongue-and-cheek aside, Blake and his Road Warrior bandmates remain steadfast in their conviction to true heavy metal.

"We have an acute awareness of the NWOTHM [New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal] and know that we stand out in many ways, whether it's due to influence, locality or pedigree. Either way, I cannot speak for the ears of others, but we are supremely confident the album will live up to the album cover and title and help usher in a new age of classic rock and metal as the trends dissolve."

Tracklisting:

"Don't Fight Fate"
"On Iron Wing"
"Devils In Waiting"
"I Am The Hunger"
"Tease n' Torture"
"Sweating Out The Poison"
"Back Alley Tokyo Woman"
"The Future Is Passed"

"Sweating Out The Poison":

Winston-Salem, NC-based quartet Stellar Circuits have been churning out massive soundscapes of rock and metal - chock full of the elements of progressive/experimental rock and metal that fans of the genre love with none of the tired fluff in between.

Following up on the release of their first single, "Go With Your Ghost", Stellar Circuits have revealed a second new single, the dynamic new opus "Nocturnal Visitor".

Drummer Tyler Menon says about the track: "This was one of the first songs we wrote for the album. It opens up the record on a chaotic note. Following the concept of the album, it symbolizes the cycle from the light back into darkness. This song pairs with ‘The Polar Dream’, the second to last track on the record, which symbolizes ‘waking up’, or the return to the light. It was just by chance that we wrote these songs around the same time, so sonically they are similar, but we wouldn't find until the end of the writing process that they ended up representing opposite ends of the story."

Hair-raising melodies, otherworldly interludes, intricate solos, grooving riffs, soaring, gripping vocals and an overall electric aura define the energy of Stellar Circuits on their upcoming full-length album, Ways We Haunt, out November 9th. Produced by renowned producer Jamie King (Between The Buried And Me, Scale The Summit, The Contortionist), Ways We Haunt scratches all the progressive itches while incorporating elements from the outer-sphere of metal and rock, past and present. The album reflects influence from out-of-the-box artists like A Perfect Circle, Karnivool, Between The Buried And Me, The Contortionist and beyond.

Vocalist Ben Beddick adds about Ways We Haunt as a whole: "The concept behind the record was something that developed as we continued to write songs. I remember being really into the series 'True Detective' at the time. There was an idea surrounding one episode about your mind being like a locked room. The concept was taken further into the idea of our minds being like a house with many rooms. I was really inspired by this and the metaphor of a haunted house. After stepping back from the songs and the sequence it was so clear that there was a theme that progressed throughout. It's similar to the cycle that we go through in our minds when we can't let things go. We can compartmentalize regret and loss as well as our insecurities when we hold onto them. There's a light at the end of the tunnel though - where we can finally come to terms with our lives and who we are, even if it's just for a moment. That's what music and art has always done for me."

Stellar Circuits express that working with acclaimed producer Jamie King on Ways We Haunt was a stress-free experience, allowing them to flourish. Drummer Tyler Menon says about the recording process: "I felt completely at home the entire time we were working with Jamie - he is super easy to work with. He's a wizard behind his rig too. Jamie really helped bring our vision to life and I couldn't be happier with the whole experience of working with him."

Jesse Olsen adds: "This album encompasses a variety of different moods and soundscapes from track to track. We're all constantly experimenting with different sounds and vibes so we never really know where we'll end up at the end of the process."

Stellar Circuits formed in 2015 with the idea of creating progressively-minded music that resonates with the masses. The name "Stellar Circuits" is derived from the eight-circuit model of consciousness, a theory proposed in the 1970's about expanding consciousness and understanding the process of our mind as it pertains to existentialism. Although the music revolves heavily around introspection and self-reflection, this is also coupled with the importance of aesthetics and groove.

Creating music both intellectual and visceral, Stellar Circuits is nothing short of a vehicle - transporting the listener to places both chaotic and cathartic.

Stellar Circuits will perform at their album release show on November 2nd at The RamKat in Winston-Salem, NC. Doors open at 7 PM, show begins at 8 PM, and the show costs $10 at the door. Support will come from Shun The Raven, Raimee, and Norm.

Ways We Haunt tracklisting:

"Nocturnal Visitor"
"Skylights"
"Fell Under A Spell"
"Sleepless Goddess"
"Lose The Forest For The Trees"
"Rorschach"
"Go With Your Ghost"
"Matrioshka"
"Goblin Valley"
"The Polar Dream"
"Ways We Haunt"

"Nocturnal Visitor":

"Go With Your Ghost" video:

Stellar Circuits is:

Ben Beddick - Vocals
Jesse Olsen - Bass
Andrew Mericle - Guitar
Tyler Menon - Drums

The melodic rock band from Czech Republic present the first single from their upcoming self-titled debut album set to be released next week on October 12th.

The video was shot at the Bounty Rock Café, a live club located in Olomouc, Czech Republic; it was directed by Vojta Malik and Michal Plos (CUTS Production). The video shows Black Tiger playing on stage and preparing for their concert surrounded by friends and fans. “Don’t Leave Me” and the whole record have been produced by Mario Percudani (Hardline,Hungryheart) and recorded at Tanzan Music studio.

The album offers a mix of AOR and melodic hard rock with the emphasis on strong melodies, big choruses, rich guitars, interesting arrangements, and clear and powerful sound.

The album contains ten original songs with the guest appearance of well-known names in the melodic rock world as Dan Reed (Dan Reed Network), Mario Percudani and Josh Zighetti (Hungryheart) and Giulio Garghentini.

Detroit-based instrumental progressive death metallers Thoren, featuring current and former members of Imperial Triumphant and Pyrrhon, recently announced the forthcoming release of their second full-length album, Gwarth I. Gwarth I will see release on November 9th via Drylands Records. It is the follow up to the band's 2016 debut full-length Brennenberg which featured a wealth of top-shelf talent and impressive guest spots, ranging from appearances by ex-Obscura fretless genius Fountainhead to a solo from Coma Cluster Void guitarist John Strieder to mesmerizing drums from member Christopher Burrows (Coma Cluster Void).

Gwarth I is the culmination of several years spent crafting and recording 19 new songs of uncompromising darkness and instrumental mastery split up into two albums with the second half, Gwarth II, coming later in 2019. Gwarth I also marks the group's first effort with contributions from ex-Pyrrhon, live for Malignancy drummer Alex Cohen and Imperial Triumphant and Secret Chief 3 drummer Kenny Grohowski, with each drummer splitting drum duties on different songs. 

Chaotic yet meticulously arranged, Gwarth I is instrumental metal for the dissonant black metal and progressive death metal scene.  If a deranged hybrid between Dysrhythmia and Behold The Arctopus were to exist, the end result would be Thoren - Gwarth I. The album is strongly recommended for fans of Blotted Science, Behold The Arctopus, Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, Deathspell Omega, Martyr, Defeated Sanity, Electro Quarterstaff, and Penderecki.

The band has launched “Galvorn”, the second single to air from Gwarth I, and one of the album's tracks that Imperial Triumphant and Secret Chiefs 3 drummer Kenny Grohowski performs on.

Thoren had the following to say about the upcoming release of Gwarth I:

"Gwarth I is the culmination of years of hard work writing, practicing, and searching for a sound that combines all of our influences into a cohesive package. We feel that we have achieved our initial vision to make an album that uniquely expresses us and the inclusion of the extraordinarily talented Alex Cohen and Kenny Grohowski as session drummers took the Thoren sound further than ever. We cannot wait to drown you in the dissonance! \m/"

Drummer Alex Cohen adds:

"Easily some of the most thought-provoking, complex, and unique music I’ve played on."

Tracklisting:

“Firith”
“Agarwaen”
“Galvorn”
“Scatha”
“Daleb Dath’
“Angos”
“Ebrietas”
“Kos”
“Tyranny”

"Galvorn":

“Tyranny”:

Thoren - Gwarth I Lineup:

Anthony Lipari - Guitars (Evilyn, Vihaan)
Joseph Paquette - Bass (Evilyn)
Alex Cohen (Live for Malignancy, ex-Pyrrhon, Epistasis, Involuntary Convulsion)
Session Drums (Tracks 1, 2, 4, & 6-8)
Kenny Grohowski (Imperial Triumphant, Secret Chiefs3) - Session Drums (Tracks 3, 5, & 9)
Maggie Cocco - Session vocals (Track 8: "Kos")

Racetraitor has released another new track from their upcoming full-length titled, "Cataclysm".

The band offers the following:  

Mani: "We wanted to play off of the classic hardcore metal video of a band in the basement and use it to tell a pressing story. No one in Racetraitor is in the video. Instead, it is an underground band representing our community which for us is inclusive of women, immigrants, Latinos, Muslims, Asians, queer people, and white men who reject what the far right has to offer them.

"We were thinking about child separations at the border, ICE deportations and even all these sexual assaulters occupying the most powerful positions in this land. The powers that be are trying to disappear our community and its diversity.

"Sometimes in punk, hardcore and metal scenes we think these threats are about other people but they are about us. It is personal. If this Muslim ban were in place when my parents were trying to immigrate to the US I never would have been here and never done this band. Think about it -- from Los Crudos to Baroness to Sick of It All -- many bands we love have been populated by immigrants and children of immigrants from countries that today some people want to close the borders to."

Directed by James Wightman at Lesser James Flims, this is the third and final track the band has released before its release next week. 

Brent: "Making the video was amazing. We put the call out to friends in Chicago and the Midwest with only a week's notice and they really came through. We had people from La Armada, Decline, Through N Through, Turnspit, Malinche. Folks from Redbait and Lifes drove in from St. Louis and Wisconsin. They all just wanted to help push the message. Reminds us that we are not in this alone and that there is a community of like-minded bands and people trying to fight racism, sexism, queerphobia, classism, and fascism. It was an inspiring experience making the video for us and a lot of the people in it."

"This has been Racetraitor's experience since we got back together. People are backing us because they want to react to all the crazy shit happening in this country and elsewhere the last few years. Like with Good Fight. We are not a band that is going to make them any kind of money but they have been leaning into our record and supporting us fully. To us, they clearly just want to support music with a message that speaks to the world today."

Racetraitor will release 2042 on October 12th, 2018, via Good Fight Music. This will only be the band's second official full length in 20 years, with the first being the release of now cult classic Burn The Idol of the White Messiah in 1998 which the band is now rereleasing. It is available both digitally and on vinyl with three additional tracks not found on the original version. 

Mostofi addresses the thought process behind the album name: "the name of the record refers to the date the US is predicted to become a majority-minority country.' 2042' explores different sides of the racist fear and the far right attack on the concept of a majority-minority America. It hits on everything from Trump, the far right media, to xenophobia and Islamophobia."

2042 features the full lineup that recorded Burn The Idol of the White Messiah, (Mani Mostofi, R. Brent Decker, Dan Binaei and Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy and Sect). It also includes the addition of Andrea Black from the now defunct metal act Howl.

Tracklisting:

“Three Minutes Of Hate”
“The Lion And The Lamb”
“Black Xmas”
“By The Time I Get To Pennsylvania…”
“Aylanoor”
“Cataclysm”
“The Cult Of Eschatology”
“Unhinged”
“The Universal Collective Map…”
“Rooz Va Aftab”

“Cataclysm”:

Guitar icon, Joe Satriani, has announced the release of his limited edition box set which includes a DVD version of the critically acclaimed documentary film Beyond The Supernova, which was filmed, edited, directed and produced by ZZ Satriani, while on tour in 2016 and 2017.  The film received high praise from fans and critics alike when it debuted last October at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

The collection, named Beyond The Supernova Box Set, is packaged in a beautiful custom-designed acrylic box suitable for display and includes:
-DVD version of the film
-2 CDs featuring 32 songs of previously unreleased music (film soundtrack plus 10 bonus tracks)
-A custom USB stick (shaped like Joe Satriani signature Ibanez!) loaded with the music and an HD version of the film
-Five collectable guitar picks with original Joe Satriani art
-Custom set of Joe Satriani "Shockwave Supernova" .010 to .046 guitar strings with extra 1st and 2nd strings included
-Each set will include a certificate of authenticity signed by Joe and the film's director, ZZ Satriani
-This set will be a one-time limited edition of 1,000. Each box set will be numbered and, once sold out, will not be offered again.
-As part of the presale promotion, this high value box set is being offered for $180.00 plus shipping and handling. After October 31st, 2018 the price increases to $200.00 plus shipping and handling. Place your order now to insure supply and receive the discounted price. Orders will ship on January 23rd, 2019.

For two decades, the guitar icon has traveled the world, playing to sold-out crowds as both a headliner and as founder of the all-star “G3” guitar extravaganza.  Satriani’s studio and live recordings have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide to date and of his many solo albums, two have gone platinum and four others went gold, with 15 Grammy nominations between them.  His side project, Chickenfoot, featuring former Van Halen front man Sammy Hagar, former bassist Michael Anthony, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith saw their debut album certified gold and their second studio album debuted at #9. Satriani is set to end his 2018 World Tour in celebration of his 16th solo album, What Happens Next, in December.  The tour launched on January 11th in Seattle, WA and will wrap up December 9th in India, shortly after visiting sold-out shows in Australia and New Zealand next month.

Satriani comments: “I'm thrilled to be able to bring to you Beyond The Supernova on DVD. ZZ's stunning film is more than a documentary, it is an artform unto itself and it tells a unique story that only he could have discovered. It's a raw and revealing, behind the scenes look at a musician's cathartic, artistic process while on a world tour. The film combines beautiful, evocative imagery and music with a backstage pass to a rock band's romp through Europe and Asia. In addition to the DVD we've included the film's soundtrack with new original music from ZZ and myself, extended live tracks from the film, as well as ten bonus tracks. This has been a fantastic project to work on. Thanks to my team, crew and family for their great work and support. Enjoy!”

Tracklisting:

CD1 – Film Music and Bonus Tracks
“Project 4 ZZ Keys Only” (ZZ)
“Industrial Starstomper 1 With Guitar” (Joe)
“Project 4 Mix With Guitar” (ZZ)
“Travel Song 1 Asia” (Joe)
“Industrial Groove 1” (Joe)
“Travel Song 2” (Joe)
“Sagittarius (Live)” (Mike Keneally)
“Birthday Drone” (ZZ)
“Flying On Earth – Memory Song” (Joe)
“Surf Intro” (ZZ)
“Part Three Banger” (ZZ)
“Texas India – Celebration” (Joe)
“Crazy Joey Intro” (ZZ)
“Opening Song 1” (ZZ)
“Komat Ekomat” (Joe)
“ART 2016 Theme Song” (Joe)

CD2 – Live Film Music and Bonus Tracks
“Shockwave Supernova Live In Seoul”
“Crazy Joey Live In Seoul”
“Surfing With The Alien Live At Hellfest”
“Singapore Soundcheck”
“Oslo Encore”
“Beijing Blues”
“Singapore Blues Jam”
“Lost In A Memory Remix” by John Cuniberti
“Cataclysmic Remix” by Keith More
“In My Pocket Remix” by Keith More
“Stars Race Across The Sky Remix” by John Cuniberti with Eric Caudieux
“Goodbye Supernova Remix” by John Cuniberti with Eric Caudieux
“BBW DDL Jam Mix”
“BBW #2 Mix”
“BBW #3 Mix”
“Music Without Words”

Playing heavy, yet catchy music with prime influences including Lamb Of God, Soilwork, Tool and Slipknot, Canadian anthemic metal band Atria will be unleashing their debut EP New World Nightmare on November 16th.

The debut release for the band is just a teaser of what is to be expected from them. Not just sticking with the usual heavy formula of the genre, they also add plenty of synth and orchestral parts and experiment with varying degrees of technicality over four introductory tracks.

Vocalist Tom Emmans expands on his vision for the band’s direction: “I’ve always been a fan of catchy choruses. I like when bands can bring something dark and heavy, but also give me something to sing along to. We’ve tried to do that with our new single and I think we’ve accomplished that. Also the lyrics have a great deal of depth and personal meaning to them. The rest of the album is much heavier but there are still plenty of good hooks worked in there.”

Their new music video for that single "Someone With Me" can be viewed below:

Even as a relatively new band, Atria is finding their place in the Canadian underground scene and making their name known among a wide variety of metal fans. The New World Nightmare cover art and tracklisting are as follows:

"New World Nightmare"
"Someone With Me"
"Less Than Equal"
"Follow You Home"

For further details, visit Atria on Facebook.

 

Croatia's rock power trio Side Effects have just unleashed the brand new video "Don't Turn Away" to celebrate the release of the new album Descending Rabbit Holes. The album was released on September 28th via Rockshots Records.

"Don't Turn Away" is the first video featuring the new bass player Petar Stojko, who joined the band earlier this year.

Tracklisting:

"Don’t Contradict The Fates"
"In The Shadow Of A Crumbled Fort"
"Scratch The Surface"
"Colorblind"
"Don’t Turn Away"
"Diversion"
"The Siren Song"
"Hideout"
"Obituary Of Common Sense"
"Lint"
"Recoil"

"In The Shadow Of A Crumbled Fort" video:

Former members of QUIET RIOT and ROUGH CUTT have joined forces in a "supergroup" called ROUGH RIOT. The new band consists of lead vocalist Paul Shortino (ROUGH CUTT, QUIET RIOT), guitarists Chris Hager (MICKEY RATT, ROUGH CUTT, STEPHEN PEARCY) and Carlos Cavazo (QUIET RIOT, RATT), bassist Sean McNabb (QUIET RIOT, LYNCH MOB, DOKKEN, ROUGH CUTT) and drummer Dave Alford (ROUGH CUTT).

Hager revealed the new project's existence on his Facebook page, writing: "For too many reasons to list, a few of [us] old friends and bandmates have decided to unite and form something unique for you (and us)! Our aim is to bring you the very best of two worlds!! So if you’re a fan of the music of one or both the bands, QUIET RIOT or ROUGH CUTT, you win!"

ROUGH RIOT is scheduled to perform on November 2 at Count's Vamp'd in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In a 2017 interview with Roppingi Rocks, Shortino stated about his time with QUIET RIOT: "That was a great band. It's too bad we didn’t do another record. We spent a year working together on the 'QR' record. We all got really close working everyday together. We toured South America and Japan and then the band came to a halt. I only wish we would have toured more and would have done another record. However, the band got derailed somewhere along the way and we parted ways."

n a separate interview with Rock Net Webzine, Shortino talked about ROUGH CUTT's failure to attain the kind of commercial success achieved by some of the band's counterparts. "We came out about the same time as QUIET RIOT," he said. "In fact, at that time they were touring as DUBROW. QUIET RIOT hadn't gotten back together, actually, because Randy [Rhoads] had left the band and joined Ozzy [Osbourne], so at that time it was BLACK 'N BLUE, ROUGH CUTT, RATT, QUIET RIOT. We were all playing all the same clubs, the Whisky and Troubadour. We got signed to Warner Brothers and we waited over a year to try to get Teddy Templeman to produce the album, and we didn't get Teddy because he was working with Eric Clapton and Lindsey Buckingham on their records. We got pushed back and we were looking for a producer, and we ended up using Tom Allom for the first record; he'd done JUDAS PRIEST and also KROKUS's ['Headhunter'] album. He did the first ROUGH CUTT album, and, unfortunately, what had happened was when the record came out, we missed the door. The PMRC took the lower side of things and started labeling records by what the outside looked like and not what was on the inside. Because we had a heart on the outside of the album with a knife going through it and some mechanical spider crawling on it, I guess nobody really wanted to listen to what was inside, so they didn't even give it a shot, even though we were on the largest tours at that time when the record came out. It was ideal. We were touring arenas, but we were finding out while we were out there that our records weren't in the record stores. We were doing a big tour, and if nobody can get your product, they forget about you two days after a show. We lost our A&R guy at Warner Brothers; Tom Whalley moved on to Capitol and eventually went to Interscope Records. That put a real big nail in the coffin for ROUGH CUTT because once you lose your A&R guy, you got nobody running around the record label making sure everything goes well, even though we had really good management with Wendy Dio. We were touring with Ronnie [James Dio], ACCEPT, and KROKUS and quite a few other acts. We did two big festivals. Even did some gigs with James Brown and FOREIGNER and some other stuff like that, but, unfortunately, we just missed that '80s thing."


HEY, HEY MY FRIENDS: WANTED TO SHARE THE LATEST WITH YOU!! FOR TOO MANY REASONS TO LIST, A FEW OF WE OLD FRIENDS &...Posted by Chris Hager on Sunday, September 30, 2018

Former Tygers Of Pan Tang members Fred Purser and Jon Deverill get together in a new project, sign to Mighty Music and release their debut album, Square One, on December 14th on CD, vinyl and digital. Find a teaser for the album below.

Fred Purser (ex-Penetration and Tygers Of Pan Tang) punches a button on the mixing console in the studio he has run for 30 years and muses (to no-one in particular), "Well that took rather longer than I expected...".  "Yes, about 30 years longer" laughs bandmate Jon Deverill. Master of the understatement, Fred is referring to the album he has finally completed together with Jon.

An album that has been over 30 years in the making. But let’s rewind. Jon, a native of Cardiff, had made the transition from amateur to professional when he answered an advert in the now-defunct Melody Maker placed by the Tygers Of Pan Tang. The Tygers, determined to move away from their punk metal beginnings, were looking for a singer with power and authority. That man was Jon. Running roughshod over the other auditionees he was the first choice of everyone concerned. The album that followed was the highly rated Spellbound, where the thrilling combination of Jon’s power vocals and John Sykes’ acclaimed guitar playing elevated the Tygers to City Hall headliner status.

One more album together and Sykes was gone and the Tygers were left looking for a guitar player on the eve of a tour of France. Step forward Fred Purser. Fred, born in County Durham, in the tough North East of England, began his musical career proper with lauded New Wave band Penetration. Brought in to beef up their sound he contributed to two albums for Virgin Records until the band felt that they had said everything they could, and Fred went on to start work on a solo project. With no time to audition a new guitarist Fred seemed an obvious choice. "Can you learn the set in a week?" Fred was asked. Seven days later he answered that question in style. Long curly hair, trademark ripped t-shirt, every bit the quintessential rock star he stood on the stage in Paris and replicated the finger knotting solos that Sykes had contributed to the band.

One album later (the bestselling The Cage), successful tours of Europe and Japan under their belts and the band imploded. That would have been the end of the story had not Fred already begun writing material for bands next album. Undeterred by the mess that was left behind in the wake of the Tygers dissolution, Fred enlisted his now friend, Tygers singer Jon Deverill, to work on the songs he had begun to write. And here, some 30 odd years later, the two friends have finally finished that album and, with an interesting twist of fate, signed to the Tygers current record company Might Music.

And you might wonder what kind of music is produced by two. Yes, Pink Floyd, Queen and Zeppelin-loving musicians, one of whom has run his own recording studio for 30 years and the other who has carved out a career as a successful actor?  "It’s kind of proggy really I suppose" says Fred. "With a good helping of rock" adds Jon.

Square One was produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Fred Purser and will be released on December 14th via Mighty Music on black LP, CD and digital.

Ozzy Osbourne has told Rolling Stone in a new interview that he initially postponed four shows on his current tour after he learned he had contracted a potentially deadly staph infection.

"I didn't feel sick, so I was cracking jokes," Ozzy recalled about his trip to the emergency room. "The doctor said, 'I don't know if you realize, Mr. Osbourne, this is a very serious problem you have.' Sharon said, 'Would you stop fucking making jokes?'" He laughed. "So I said, 'Well, it's my hand.' The thing was, nobody was laughing. They're all extremely, deadly serious about it," he said. "I judge it based on the expression and the body language of the doctor. If he comes in with a really solemn face, I go, 'Oh, okay. My time to go is up.'"

After examining Ozzy, the doctors realized he didn't have just one staph infection but three individual ones in his thumb — and one had spread to his middle finger.

At one point, Ozzy asked how he could have gotten it. "The doctor said to me, 'Can you remember talking to someone and shaking hands?'" Osbourne recalled. "Well, I do that meet-and greet at the gig and I must shake fucking 200 hands a day. He said, 'That explains it.'"

s a result of his surgery, Ozzy hasn't "been able to do anything" since he got home. "I'm right-handed," he explained. "You can't wipe your own ass. And I didn't have many fucking volunteers who would do it for me."

Osbourne, who is visiting with his specialist once a week, is excited about returning to the stage. "I was really looking forward to doing the Hollywood Bowl," he said. "I'm going to make those shows up next year. It could have been a lot worse. I could have been dead."

The four scrapped shows were originally scheduled as follows: Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California (October 6), Mattress Firm Amphitheatre in Chula Vista (October 9), the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (October 11) and MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (October 13). The three California shows had previously been rescheduled following his initial prognosis from doctors. All four shows have now been rescheduled for July 2019.

Ticketholders for the four shows should hold on to their tickets, as they will be honored for the rescheduled dates. Refunds are also available at point of purchase.