"Here’s Lisa and I with our 2018 Holiday Greeting for you all to enjoy. 'The Christmas Waltz', one of my faves done BK style," says former KISS, and current Grand Funk Railroad guitarist Bruce Kulick. "Happy Holidays from our house to yours."

Earlier this year, Bruce Kulick and his solo band, featuring Todd Kerns on lead vocals and guitar, Zach Throne on bass / vocals and Brent Fitz on drums / vocals, performed aboard the KISS Kruise VIII. Fan-filmed video of the group doing "Jungle" and "Heart Of Chrome" can be seen below:

 

(Photo by TourBusLive.com)

 

Arizona-based blackened death thrashers, Autumn’s End, have just released their new video for the title track of their latest EP, Burn The Earth. Watch the clip below.

Filmed in multiple locations including a lava field in Northern AZ, by Jason Wyatt and Jason Cakebread of Fatcake media, Autumn’s End show off their darker and more aggressive side with this blast beat entwined single. A perfect precursor to their new album, slated for a March 2019 arrival on Combat Records (recently obtained and launched by David Ellefson of Megadeth).

Stream Autumn’s End music on all active streaming sights like iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp, etc.

Guitarist Richie Kotzen (THE WINERY DOGS, POISON, MR. BIG) recently spoke with Ryan Witting of the "Rockin' You All Night" podcast. The full conversation can be streamed below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his plans from now until late April, when THE WINERY DOGS will reunite for an American tour:

Richie: "I want to stay home and fiddle around with my new house, and see if I can electrocute myself. Hopefully, in that downtime, I'll come up with some new ideas and write an album. My goal would be to put a record out sometime in June next year, because I know that I'm already being booked on a few festivals in Europe, so that would be a perfect way to kick off the new album cycle. That's kind of in the back of my mind, but I can't really control that, because the songs come when the songs come. I'm not in a hurry, and I'm not really worried about it."

On his international success:

Richie: "It's a weird thing. Something happened where a lot of guys couldn't get record deals in the '90s, so they were getting record deals from other territories. What they would do is do licensing deals. I was one of them. I was signed to two major labels — I was signed to Interscope, and then I went to Geffen — and then right around that time, everything changed in the music business, and it was very difficult for me to find another major label. I had a name for myself, so I started making my own records — producing them, recording them — and I would do licensing deals to foreign territories to get the record out. Japan was one of them, and back then, Japan would actually fork over major-label money for these records for a lot of us, a lot of people. I did well in Japan — I would go over and play in front of a thousand people; two nights in Tokyo, I could sell out a thousand a night — but I wasn't big. MR. BIG was big. MR. BIG would go there and play three, four nights in Budokan, sell it out. They're big in Japan. I was like a lot of the other guys that were just kind of trying to find their footing, who had a name, but who were kind of going through it with the record companies in America, and then what happened is when the Internet really got to the level that it is, guys like us were able to get our records out without a record company. That was really, really cool, because now I can make the music I want; people that are interested in me can get it, they can hear it; and so then, things start to really open up, so I was able to go all over and tour. South America became a big market for me; Europe became a strong market; and then, the United States is going really, really well, finally. I think THE WINERY DOGS really helped that a lot, because a lot of people knew my name, but they didn't know what it was that I really did.... It was kind of shocking. It was great. My career's actually gone — if you can call it a career — it's actually been going up as I get older, which is good."

On his music's accessibility:

Richie: "I think I have many, many, many songs that could have done very, very well commercially had I been a part of the machine. There's a machine — there's a gatekeepers, and there's a machine in the music business, and that's really how it works... The people that decide are the people, they're gatekeepers in the business, and they can't force you to like something, but what they can do is present you with something and sell it to you and make you aware of it. You need that machine. Otherwise, you're just kind of out there. Thankfully, I've been able to make this career by just doing the same thing over and over — writing songs, making records, touring — and it's been working for me, and it's great. I don't feel like I'm really missing much."

On when he decided to not be a part of the "machine":

Richie: "I would love to be a part of the machine. The machine didn't like me. I was a part of the machine when I was very young. I got signed to Interscope. I was moved from Reading, Pennsylvania to L.A. by Interscope. I was playing football with Bruce Springsteen in Malibu on Jimmy Iovine's front lawn... I was in the machine, but the problem then was, I was very, very young, and there was a huge gap between why the record label signed me and what they thought I could do, and who I was really was... After that, I got signed to Geffen, and it was more shenanigans there. The A&R people said some of the dumbest things I've ever heard in my life. On my original demo that got me signed to Geffen — and this is in '94 — I had my at-the-time-wife sing background vocals on the demos, because I wanted that kind of gospel-y, Bob Seger-y, BLACK CROWES and kind of ROLLING STONES [vibe]. All the bands I love have female background vocals. I wanted to produce my own record, but they wouldn't let me, so I had a meeting with Mike Clink, who produced 'Appetite For Destruction'. He said to me, 'Those background vocals sound very gospel-y. Do you want that?' I'm like, 'Obviously — I recorded it that way'... I go into a meeting with my A&R guy, and he goes, 'You didn't tell me that your wife was signing background vocals on your demo. I'll tell you something — there will be no female singers on your record. You're making a rock record. There's no female singers that matter in rock.' At that moment, I'm like, 'I'm fucked,' because every band I thought was cool had those kind of background vocals. I was constantly in the machine, but in the wrong side of it."

Kotzen released two singles in 2018 — "The Damned" and "Riot". The songs feature his longtime bassist Dylan Wilson and drummer Mike Bennett.

Kotzen's most recent solo album, "Salting Earth", was made available in April 2017 via his own custom label, Headroom-Inc.

Kotzen will re-team with Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy for a month-long American tour with THE WINERY DOGS next spring.

W.A.S.P. guitarist, Douglas Blair, is offering a free download of "The First Noel 1988 To 2018", featuring former KISS guitarist, Bruce Kulick. The popular traditional Cornish Christmas carol gets an 80's power ballad instrumental makeover.

According to the CD notes: In 1988 Blair, then the lead guitarist for East Coast rock trio Run 21, recorded and mixed “The First Noel” at Courtlen Studios in Hanson, MA - Extreme’s home base studio. The recording utilized cassette, 2” and 1/4” analog tape - along with early computer-automated mixing - yet was never officially released.

Thirty years later, Blair, now the longest-tenured lead guitarist for W.A.S.P., teams up with Kulick, arguably KISS’s consummate former lead guitarist, who recently recorded an “unplugged-style” magical counter-melody to Blair’s long-lost analog masterpiece. Kulick’s acoustic session was done at Robby Krieger’s (The Doors) studio in Glendale, CA, and engineered by Brian Virtue (Jane’s Addiction).

Get the song now at CD Baby.

Dark Star Records has announced that they have just signed a licensing deal with Underground Power Records for the release of Prophecy by Chicago-based metal band Rival, on vinyl and CD in Europe and Asia. Also, to be released on vinyl is the Rival EP, and the Modern World album.

The album is currently available on CD here, and digitally via iTunes, GooglePlay, and Amazon. The single, "Black Widow", is available for streaming below.

Tracklisting:

"Retaliation"
"Vigilante"
"Black Widow"
"Prophecy"
"Paralyzed"
"Blind Fury"
"About You"
"Crash And Burn"

"Black Widow":

Catch Rival at their CD Release Party, at Reggie’s in Chicago, Illinois on December 29th. Click here for tickets and more info.

On December 22nd, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx joined Chevy Metal during an outdoor charity concert at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank where they performed "Looks That Kill" and "Live Wire".  

Chevy Metal is the cover band led by Taylor Hawkins and Wiley Hodgen of Foo Fighters. Fan-filmed video can be seen below:

In other Crüe news, Vince Neil recently posted the following brief message on Twitter that is sure to please the band's diehard fans:

Wow!!! Just left Netflix offices. Just saw “The Dirt” movie!! Fuckin awesome!! Can’t wait for everyone to see it! Released March 22!! Yea!!!— Vince Neil (@thevinceneil) December 2, 2018

In a recent interview with Billboard, producer Howard Benson discusses working on music for the biopic The Dirt, the film adaptation of the Mötley Crüe biography The Dirt: Confessions Of The World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Neil Strauss.

"I had the greatest time ever doing that," says Benson. "I haven’t done that many films but I loved the process. You had to be on your A-game the whole time. You’re constantly going back and forth between the music supervisors, the director, the producers; you have to make changes on the fly. I would do it again in a second.

"The secret weapon we found was this kid named Timmy [Craven], he was the lead singer of a band called Motley Inc., which is a Mötley Crüe cover band. I think the supervisors found him. He’s an LAPD underwater rescue guy. He’s like six-four; he could break you into pieces. And then he opens his mouth and he’s Vince Neil."

Asked if he's ever crossed paths with Mötley Crüe, Benson responds: "I did once because I was in a really bad band in L.A. when I first got out here. We used to play across the street at the Viper Room [then called the Central] and they were playing at The Whisky. I remember we had nobody at our shows, and they had people around the block. I remember looking at them all dressed up in their stuff and I remember saying to my guitar player, “Ah, that stuff’s so of-the-moment. It’ll never last. We’re real musicians over here!"

Read more at Billboard.

Mötley Crüe have been working on four new songs with producer Bob Rock for The Dirt. Nikki Sixx recently took to Twitter, posting the following: "Fück can I just say it? I’m listening to the roughs of the new Mötley Crüe and it feels real and raw. Everybody is playing like mad and the songs crush. Bob Rock brought the sounds. Plus we have a surprise that will confirm that we’re outta our minds."

In response to a question on how the new songs will fit in, since the film is based on the band's past, Nikki Sixx responded: "You can trust us these are ball busters. Everybody can relax. We're soon gonna smack you upside the head with some killer new tracks. Bob Rock is producing. Its our movie. We know what we're doing."

Horror-punk stalwart Wednesday 13 spoke to Music Interview Corner about the status of his next studio album, "Necrophaze", tentatively due in early 2019 via Nuclear Blast.

"It's going to be really cool," he said (see video below). "I'm doing something totally different. All my records are different. It's still a little too early to say — I don't want to give it all out — but I think the fans are gonna love it. I think it's gonna be the ultimate horror record that I've ever done. And it's something different. I can't explain it yet. It's not a concept record, but it's something no one's ever [done] before that I know of, and it's gonna be cool… It's all coming together… We'll be making an announcement about it soon. And it's gonna be awesome. There's so much cool stuff beyond the music, if that makes sense. We've got some cool stuff going on with it. I'm excited."

According to Wednesday 13, the "Necrophaze" artwork and packaging will be designed to appeal to old-school fans who appreciate the physical product and its specific traits.

"If I get my way, there's gonna be two different album covers — one for vinyl, one for the CDs," he said. "Totally different artwork. CDs are dying. I still like CDs. I like vinyl. I still prefer CDs. I love to look at vinyl, and I like listening to vinyl sometimes. But CDs are kind of dying — a lot of people don't care about CDs anymore — so I'm putting extra work into the package, so our fans will care about it. 'Cause our fans do — they appreciate the packaging. And I'm one of those guys that used to buy a record and I wanted to open it up and see what this band was about. That was awesome to me. Some bands don't care. So, this is gonna tell the story, and I'm doing it in two different formats. And it's gonna be cool."

b>Wednesday 13 also talked about the songwriting for "Necrophaze", saying that it was a more collaborative effort than in the past.

"My band's very involved with the writing and the recording part, especially with this new one and the last record," he said. "They've written more of the music than I have, as far as when I used to write the guitar parts. But, of course, I still do all the vocals and give ideas. I wrote a few songs on the record, and our drummer wrote a few songs, Roman [Surman, guitar] wrote a few songs. So it's a collective thing, just like 'Condolences' was — same people. But I brought in Jack [Tankersley, guitar] and Troy [Doebbler, bass] this time, so they got a few songs. So this is really a collective thing this time. And it's different — it's different, but it's the same, if that makes sense. Old fans will like it, the newer fans will like it, and the fans that don't even know who we are yet — the unknown ones — will love it; we'll be their favorite new band."

Wednesday 13's latest album, "Condolences", was released in June 2017 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. The follow-up to 2015's "Monsters Of The Universe" was produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris, who previously worked with Wednesday 13 and guitarist Roman Surman on the 2010 MURDERDOLLS album "Women & Children Last". The artwork was created by Travis Smith (OPETH, KATATONIA, NEVERMORE).

As it nears the end of a successful two-year tour in support of "The Missing Peace" — the first L.A. GUNS album since 2002's "Waking The Dead" to feature founding guitarist Tracii Guns and vocalist Phil Lewis — the group has announced that it has finished recording a follow-up effort, apparently titled "The Devil You Know", to be released in 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl.

According to a December 22 Instagram post by Guns, the new album was completed earlier this week. "It's finished. It's pissed off. It's nasty and pure L.A. GUNS," he wrote. Those comments echo what Lewis recently told Midlands Metalheads Radio, to whom he described the new album as "like [BLACK] SABBATH, but blacker."

When "The Missing Peace" was released in October of 2017, it added a new and unexpected chapter to the long and often confusing history of L.A. GUNS, who, along with W.A.S.P., are the longest-running, continuously active group of the 1980s Sunset Strip scene.

Since being founded by guitarist Guns and drummer Rob Gardner in 1983, more than 50 musicians have performed under the L.A. GUNS moniker, including Axl Rose (who fronted the group prior to forming HOLLYWOOD ROSE, and then again for a brief period after that band's breakup), Ralph Saenz (better known as Michael Starr of STEEL PANTHER), Jizzy Pearl (LOVE/HATE, QUIET RIOT), Chuck Garric (ALICE COOPER), Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.) and Keri Kelli (NIGHT RANGER, RATT).

In 1987 — two years after Guns left the original lineup of GUNS N' ROSES to restart L.A. GUNS with a group of musicians, including Mick Cripps — the band 's "classic lineup" was solidified with the additions of vocalist Lewis (GIRL), bassist Kelly Nickels and drummer Steve Riley (W.A.S.P.). Those five members appeared on the group's first three albums — its eponymous 1988 debut, 1989's "Cocked & Loaded" and 1991's "Hollywood Vampires".

When Riley left the band in 1992, it began a rotating door lineup that continues in full force in 2018, a year in which four guitarists have performed alongside Guns. The group's current lineup officially features Guns, Lewis, drummer Shane Fitzgibbon, bassist Johnny Martin and bassist-turned-guitarist Adam Hamilton, who played with the band from 2001 to 2007 and rejoined earlier this year after the departure of Johnny Monaco (ENUFF Z'NUFF). Because Hamilton is unable to tour extensively, however, the group recently announced that FASTER PUSSYCAT guitarist Ace Von Johnson will join them on longer tours.

For a number of years after Guns left the band in 2002 to focus on BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION — a group that also featured MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx — there were two competing versions of L.A. GUNS: one featuring Lewis and Riley, and another featuring Guns. After the latter incarnation disbanded in 2012, Guns and Lewis gradually began making amends, performing a full set of L.A. GUNS material together at a Las Vegas concert in 2015 before officially joining forces (while initially being billed as L.A. GUNS' PHIL LEWIS & TRACII GUNS) for a handful of concerts the following year. For the past two years, the group has toured and recorded simply as L.A. GUNS.

In 2019, however, there will once again be competing incarnations of L.A. GUNS, as Riley — who was in the group for a total of 27 years and is said to own 50 percent of the band's name — will perform at the M3 Rock Festival in Columbia, Maryland in May under the L.A. GUNS moniker with a lineup that will include Nickels, guitarist Scott Griffin (who played bass for the band from 2007 until 2009, and then again from 2011 to 2014) and vocalist Jacob Bunton (ADLER, LYNAM).

Since the M3 performance was announced, Guns and Riley have traded barbs on social media. "Some guys would rather headline a sports bar than play on a great bill like M3," Riley wrote on December 6. "L.A. GUNS is back to being a fantastic band and Steve Riley is still a drummer," Guns responded. He subsequently added, "What would you have done without my name [for] the last 15 years, you ungrateful punk?"

The original six-piece lineup of Syracuse, New York-based heavy rockers BRAND NEW SIN will reunite for a sold-out hometown concert at the Lost Horizon on May 4, 2019.

BRAND NEW SIN was formed in the early 2000s after members of the metalcore band GODBELOW joined forces with vocalist Joe Altier. The group's self-titled debut album — their only release to feature the six-member lineup that included three guitarists — was originally released in 2002 by Now Or Never Records.

In 2004, the band signed with Century Media Records, which released BRAND NEW SIN's sophomore album, "Recipe For Disaster", the following year. Their third album, "Tequila" — which was produced by Joey Z (LIFE OF AGONY) and featured a guest appearance by late TYPE O NEGATIVE vocalist Peter Steele — followed in 2006.

That same year, the group recorded a rendition of "Crank It Up", the entrance theme music of the World Wrestling Entertainment professional wrestler known as The Big Show. The song continues to be used by WWE a dozen years later.

In 2008, Altier left BRAND NEW SIN to begin a successful career as an in-demand "piano man" who performs regularly in upstate New York under the moniker JUST JOE. The group carried on, self-releasing their fourth album, "Distilled" — which featured guitarist Kris Wiechmann (ex-EARTH CRISIS) taking over on lead vocals — in 2009. A fifth album, "United State", arrived in 2011 via Goomba Music.

According to a post on the band's Facebook page, the Lost Horizon concert will see the group perform "a huge set featuring songs from the entire BRAND NEW SIN catalog." A subsequent post made on December 15 following the reunited group's first rehearsal noted that they "cranked through 15 songs, including the entire first album."

"It felt great, sounded good and brought back a lot of great memories," the band wrote. "We can't wait for May!"

BRAND NEW SIN 2019 is:

Joe Altier - vocals
Kris Wiechmann - guitar
Brian "Slider" Azzoto - guitar
Kenny Dunham - guitar
Chuck Kahl - bass
Mike Rafferty - drums

Jake E. Lee has clarified his recent comments about Yngwie Malmsteen, insisting that he has never questioned the legendary Swedish axeman's ability as a guitar player.

This past October, Jake made headlines when he said in an interview that Malmsteen is "an arrogant fucking asshole" who is "only really good at one minute aspect of the art of playing guitar."

The former OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist made his comments during an appearance on the "Talk Toomey" podcast, where he was promoting the second album from his RED DRAGON CARTEL project, "Patina".

Asked by "The Eddie Trunk Podcast" to clear up his statement that Yngwie was, in host Eddie Trunk's words, a "shit guitar player," Jake said: "I never said he was a shit guitar player… I don't remember how it came up. As you know, doing interviews, you get the same questions over and over… and, for some reason, Yngwie came up. And it was a left turn that I relished, because it wasn't your standard question. And I won't say I regret it — I stand by everything I said. And I never questioned his ability as a guitar player, really. He's a phenomenal guitar player. I question his person, his being.

"Like I said, I kind of wish I never said it, but he's an arrogant asshole," Jake continued. "He is. Everybody in the industry knows it. Nobody really says anything. And I brought it up and I shouldn't have. 'Cause it's a personal opinion and it probably should have stayed personal.

"I love sloppy rock 'n' roll guitar players," he added. "Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Ace Frehley — yeah, they're a little sloppy, but that's a part of their charm; that speaks to me. It's passionate and it moves me. And then you have your technical players, and they're cool too. And then, occasionally, you have the rare guy that has the fire of a Johnny Winter and the technical proficiency all in one — my ultimate example being Uli Roth. He's amazing. His technical abilities are amazing, and he still plays with such fire and passion. And I put Yngwie in that category.

"I'm not backtracking here," Jake insisted. "I never said he sucked as a guitar player. I don't think his rhythm playing is all that great, but his soloing is… No. There's no question there. He's a phenomenal guitar player."

While reiterating that he never questioned Yngwie's musical proficiency, Jake doubled down on his belief that Malmsteen is "an asshole." He said: "On behalf of all the people that have played with him, that I've spoken to, and all the technicians and crew that I personally know and have heard all these stories about him — that's where I'm coming from.

"And I'll tell you, 'cause my wife Amy, she works as a bartender in a bar. A couple of days after that interview came out, I went to her bar. And there's a lot of people in [Jake's hometown of Las] Vegas that work as technicians — riggers, lighting, sound... I didn't have to buy a drink all night, because they were buying me drinks, because they loved what I said about him. And it's about his person, not about his abilities."

Asked by Trunk if he had any personal experiences with Yngwie that might have shaped his opinion of the Swedish musician, Jake said: "Yeah. It was a very brief encounter. I think it was pretty soon after I had joined Ozzy. I think it was in L.A. He was backstage. There was some band playing at a club, and we were introduced. I mean, it wasn't bad, but he looked at me and said, 'Oh, I saw you play in Sweden,' which was maybe the second show I had played with Ozzy… And the first show was a disaster. I've gone into that in other interviews, where it was not my fault, but I could see where people thought I was the worst guitar player in the world, because of other things that happened for that first show. The second show, I think, was in Sweden, and I was just getting my footing. Anyway, he said he saw the show in Sweden. I said, 'Oh. Well, I hope it didn't piss you off too much. Do you want a refund?' And he looked at me and cocked an eyebrow and said, 'Eh, it's okay...' That's my personal experience with him. It wasn't that bad. But just from all the people that I know that have worked with him… I've heard stories. And I remember reading an interview where he said the reason that he is not considered the giant musical genius that he is is because his music is too sophisticated and it goes over people's heads. Now that right there — right there — gives me pause."

Jake added: "Anyway, I think I've expressed what I think about Yngwie. And, like I said, it's nothing about his guitar playing; it's about his being. And maybe he's a nicer guy now. I don't know… But even then, I kind of wonder whether it's for his image or if it's a true change of heart."

After Trunk said that Yngwie has definitely toned down what many people have perceived to be his openly arrogant and pompous attitude in recent years, Jake offered: "People can change. And I apologize if I've judged him on his past and not his present."

"Patina" was released on November 9 via Frontiers Music Srl. The follow-up to RED DRAGON CARTEL's eponymous 2014 debut marks the group's first release with drummer Phil Varone (SAIGON KICK, SKID ROW) and bassist Anthony Esposito. The band's current lineup is rounded out by singer Darren James Smith.

KISS frontman Paul Stanley has checked in from the production rehearsals for the band's "End Of The Road" tour, which is scheduled to kick off at the end of January. In a short video message (see below), Stanley said: "Okay, so I'm standing here on the new 'End Of The Road' KISS stage, and all I can tell you is it's freakin' phenomenal. Is it anything like anything we've done? No. This is brand new from the ground up.

"I've gotta tell you," he continued. "People say is this bittersweet? No. If the tour is anything like this stage, it's totally sweet. We always try to raise the bar — that's just for us — but when other bands would see us, they would feel they had to up their game. Let me tell you something: everybody better start working out, because we're upping the game that much more. This is absolutely mind-bogglingly good. It's totally KISS. And I'll be looking for you on the 'End Of The Road' tour."

KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer recently told Australia's Hysteria Magazine that the group's farewell tour will be "the biggest" one the band has ever done "in terms of production." It will be "a whole new thing for KISS," the guitarist said. "It's just gonna be the bombastic show KISS has always been famed for."

In September, KISS announced its "End Of The Road" farewell tour on NBC's "America's Got Talent", and a month later, the band revealed the first set of dates and cities in North America, produced by Live Nation. International markets were announced simultaneously.

The first North American leg of "End Of The Road" will launch January 31 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at Rogers Arena and will hit an additional 43 cities.

"One thing for sure is that this is the last tour," Stanley told Billboard. "What goes beyond that is really hard to say. The tour may go three years, but once we play your city, it is done. That is our big thank you."

The lineup features the current version of the band — Stanley, Thayer, Gene Simmons and Eric Singer. But Stanley has hinted that former members like Ace Frehley and Peter Criss could make appearances.

Professionally-filmed footage of Queensrÿche performing their classic, "Queen Of The Reich", at the 2015 edition of Germany's Wacken Open Air festival can be seen below:

Queensrÿche recently released the track "Man The Machine", off of their forthcoming album, The Verdict, which is available for pre-order here. Watch the lyric video below.

"We are excited to reveal the first full song 'Man the Machine' from our upcoming album, The Verdict. This is just a small taste of what is to come, and we look forward to unveiling more tracks and videos as we approach the official album release date of March 1st, 2019 via Century Media," states Queensrÿche singer Todd La Torre about the new single and album.

The Verdict was produced, mixed, and mastered by Zeuss (Rob Zombie, Iced Earth, Hatebreed) at Uberbeatz in Lynwood, WA, Planet-Z in Wilbraham, MA and Watershed Studio in Seattle, WA.

2CD edition tracklisting:

Disc 1
"Blood Of The Levant"
"Man The Machine"
"Light-Years"
"Inside Out "
"Propaganda Fashion"
"Dark Reverie"
"Bent"
"Inner Unrest"
"Launder The Conscience"
"Portrait"

Disc 2
"I Dream In Infrared" (Acoustic)
"Open Road" (Acoustic)
"46° North"
"Mercury Rising"
"Espiritu Muerto"
"Queen Of The Reich" (live) (Live 2012)
"En Force" (live) (Live 2012)
"Prophecy" (live) (Live 2012)
"Eyes Of A Stranger" (Live 2012)

"Man The Machine" lyric video:

Queensrÿche will hit the road early 2019 for their headline tour featuring supporting slots from Fates Warning, with The Cringe joining both bands on select dates. The tour will kick off on March 2nd in Orlando, making stops in major markets such as New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and will wrap on April 3rd in Seattle.

Tour dates:

March
2 - Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live
3 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
5 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
7 - Baltimore - Sound Stage*
8 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun^
9 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza*
10 - Worcester, MA - Palladium*
12 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogarts
13 - Detroit, MI - Diesel
14 - Chicago, IL - Concord
15 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave
16 - Medina, MN - Medina Entertainment Center
17 - Davenport, IA - Rhythm City Casino Resort^
20 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
21 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
22 - San Antonio, TX - Aztec
23 - Albuquerque, NM - El Rey
26 - Tempe, AZ - The Marquee
27 - San Diego - Observatory
28 - Los Angeles, CA- Fonda
29 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
30 - Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades

April
2 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
3 - Seattle, WA - Neptune

* with support from The Cringe
^ Queensrÿche only

In 2016, Within Temptation performed at the 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands, as part of their annual Black X-mas show.

A message from the band: "Since we are not doing a Black X-Mas show this year, we do want to give you a Black X-Mas treat: we are wrapping up this year with 12 live videos each day until X-Mas! But that’s not all. We will also look back on all our highlights of 2018! Want to join our feast?"

Watch the band perform "Covered By Roses" live at Black X-Mas 2016, below:

"All I Need":

"Mother Earth":

"Stairway To The Skies":

Watch more footage from Black X-Mas 2016:

"The Other Half (Of Me)":

"Poison":

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath":

"Frozen":

"Stand My Ground":

Within Temptation recently announced their 2019 North American tour plans. The band will embark on a tour of the US and Canada this coming winter. The tour kicks off February 28th in Baltimore and runs through March 19th in Los Angeles. The trek makes several stops in Canada.

Special guests will be In Flames and Smash Into Pieces. All confirmed tour dates are below.

February
28 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live

March
1 - Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore
2 - New York, NY - Playstation Theater
3 - Boston, MA - House of Blues
5 - Montreal, QC - Olympia
6 - Toronto, ON - Rebel
8 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
9 - Minneapolis, MN - Skyway Theater
11 - Denver, CO - The Summit
12 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex
14 - Portland, OR - Roseland Ballroom
15 - Vancouver, BC - The Vogue Theater
16 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SODO
18 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield
19 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern Theater

The band will now release its new album, Resist, on February 1st via Spinefarm/Universal Music in North America. Pre-order the album here.

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"

"Firelight" (feat. Jasper Steverlinck):

"Raise Your Banner" (feat. Anders Fridén) lyric video:

"The Reckoning" video "making of":

"The Reckoning" video:

"The Reckoning" lyric video:

According to a recent tweet by drummer/vocalist Deen Castronovo (THE DEAD DAISIES, ex-JOURNEY), REVOLUTION SAINTS — the melodic hard rock supergroup that also features bassist Jack Blades (NIGHT RANGER, DAMN YANKEES) and guitarist Doug Aldrich (THE DEAD DAISIES, BURNING RAIN, ex-WHITESNAKE) — will record their third album in 2019.

"Doug, Jack and I are gearing up for a new record with drum tracks being laid down end of March," Castronovo wrote on December 14.

REVOLUTION SAINTS was conceptualized by Frontiers Music Srl president Serafino Perugino, a longtime JOURNEY fan who wanted to find a vehicle for Castronovo — a long-established drummer who has performed with artists as varied as OZZY OSBOURNE, SOCIAL DISTORTION and BAD ENGLISH — to display his vocal prowess. The label released the group's self-titled debut album, which featured guest appearances by JOURNEY members Arnel Pineda and Neal Schon, in 2015.

In 2017, the group made their live debut (and to date, their sole concert performance) in Milan, Italy at the Frontiers Rock Festival IV. Later that year, they released their second album, "Light In The Dark", which — like their debut — was produced by Alessandro Del Vecchio (HARDLINE, JORN). Most of the album was recorded at Del Vecchio's studios in Somma Lombardo, Italy, with additional recording taking place at Blades's studio in Washington, Aldrich's CasaDala studio in Los Angeles and in other countries all over the world while Aldrich was on tour with THE DEAD DAISIES.

REVOLUTION SAINTS is:

Deen Castronovo - drums, vocals
Jack Blades - bass, vocals
Doug Aldrich - guitar

Kevan Kenney of Build Series recently conducted an interview with KORN guitarist Brian "Head" Welch and Brian's daughter Jennea. The discussion focused mostly on "Loud Krazy Love", the new documentary that details Brian and Jennea's relationship and Welch's time away from KORN. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On what inspired him to create a documentary about when he left KORN:

Brian: "It goes way back to 2005. When I left KORN, MTV actually came to me and they were starting a new spiritual show and they wanted to film my journey, so I was, like, 'Sure.' We went to Israel and they followed me to New York and different places where I was doing things. The show fell through and so I got all the footage. Fast-forward to about five years ago, 2012, 2013, I was going back to KORN and I Am Second, the producers of the film, along with [co-director] Scott Mayo, just thought it would be a great story — me going back to KORN. The first edit was two hours and 15 minutes. The story is about me going back to KORN, the first few moments. Then we watched it and we all had a 'a-ha' moment where it's, like, 'That's not the story. The story is the father and daughter.' They did another edit, took out almost an hour of the movie and made it about me and her. So we had to go find all old footage of her, like the swim meet and her being born. That stuff I didn't even know we had, 25 terabytes of footage and they found priceless footage."

On what the most unexpected challenge in becoming a parent was for Welch:

Brian: "Relationship with the marriage. It's hard, because you have different ways that you are brought up. And so you take that. We've got hard drives in our souls and our brains, and our parents — god help 'em; god help us — they do their best, but we're fragmented hard drives. So I think that, trying to work it out with her, how to be the best parents we could, but at the same time, we kept falling back into addiction, so that was really hard. She was easy, but when you throw my career into it, being gone. Like, we didn't have FaceTime. I couldn't look at my daughter [and say], 'I love you' every day. I couldn't even talk to her. She was a baby; she didn't know what a phone was. And so it was just extremely difficult to come off of tour. I remember [the] 'Family Values' [tour]… 'Follow The Leader' album came out with KORN, and it just blew up. [We were on] MTV every day; we were just bona-fide rock stars — mega rock stars. And so we were gone, and I would come back home, and I would try to hug her and she just ran to mom. She's, like, 'Who are you?' And so that broke my heart. A lot of that was very hard. But the diapers and all that stuff, taking her to the parks and dance class, that was great. She was a perfect little angel kid. She was just the sweetest thing ever."

On Jennea's memories of touring with KORN as a toddler:

Jennea: "I think a lot of them are bittersweet. A lot of the times, it felt like a playground every day. They took me everywhere. I have this memory of… we were somewhere in Europe and there was this giant playground — like, hundreds of kids, and it was amazing. It stuck with me forever. And so there was a lot of those memories. Even being at shows, it felt like a giant playground. There was a lot of 'dark.' I think when you're a kid — this may sound weird — you're a little more spiritually sensitive, I guess. I felt like some people, even if they didn't look like him — it's my dad; he looks normal to me — people felt dark sometimes and depressed or angry, and that would scare me or I would see women or parties and stuff."

Brian: "To that, you heard on the trailer, she said, 'There's naked chicks walking around.' And I'm, like, 'Where?' Wouldn't that be my luck? My kid's on tour. 'Cause there wasn't naked chicks around all the time. If there was something going on in the bus with one of the guys, but it was a thing where if the kids were around, there was even respect back then. So I'm, like, 'How could that happen?' But there was a lot of partying going on. So they might have transferred from one bus to the next, or from the dressing room to the bus or something. Oh, god help us. [Laughs] But everything worked out. That's rock and roll for you. But we're all mature now and it's different."

Jennea: "It made me who I am."

On the status of KORN's next studio album:

Brian: "The drums are done for the songs we have written. I bet you we're gonna write more, because the producer, he just does that. He's, like, 'We don't have enough. I don't think we have enough.' So, drums are done. We're working on guitars. I don't know how much we have left. But the bass is far from done. Vocals, we've been on for a little bit. But we have some surprises coming on this record that we're stoked [about]. I can't say nothing, man — I wish I could give you a hint — but [there are] some cool, fun surprises that I guarantee everyone will love."

"Loud Krazy Love" premiered December 14 on Showtime. Featuring exclusive access on tour and at home, as well as in-depth interviews with Brian, his family and his KORN bandmates, "Loud Krazy Love" subverts the standard sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll narrative to explore his identity as a father and the complicated relationship he shares with Jennea.

KORN's latest studio album, "The Serenity Of Suffering", was released in 2016.

SATYRICON frontman Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven says that his EIBON project ultimately disintegrated as a result of Philip Anselmo's severe drug addiction.

The short-lived black metal supergroup, which featured Satyr alongside the PANTERA singer, DARKTHRONE's Fenriz and NECROPHAGIA's Kiljoy, contributed one song to Moonfog Records' (Satyr's label) "A Different Perspective" sampler nearly two decades ago and was working on a debut album, only to be shelved, never to be heard from again.

During a recent interview with Landry.Audio, Satyr was asked if he thinks there is any chance that EIBON could eventually be revived. "Every time when my brother Philip and I meet, we talk about it," he laughed (hear audio below). "So that's surely something that we would love to do. But it is hard to make that happen. I'm not really in touch with Fenriz, and nor is Philip. I guess Killjoy of NECROPHAGIA didn't necessarily… I don't know if he… In terms of lyrics, that was pretty much Philip, for the most part, and in terms of music, that was 95 percent me, if not more.

"Being brutally honest, Philip and I could do EIBON without Fenriz and without our late brother Killjoy, but I think that we should have finished it when we were working on this back in the late '90s [and] early 2000s," he continued. "But, frankly speaking, it was Philip's addiction at the time that ruined this whole project. That's all there is to it. [We] can talk about this and that, but that's what it comes down to. At the time, he was beyond fucked up. Yeah, but he really was. We were in the studio trying to do things. I'd come out from the recording room, [and] I'd find him lying, passed out on pills, heroin, whatever, on the floor, with his entourage surrounding him, not wanting to interfere or do anything that could offend him, because he was the big guy. And then I'd be thinking to myself, 'What the hell is this? I love this guy and he's a great musician, but I'm a black metal guy; I'm not a PANTERA fan. And when I travel from the other side of the world to come work, I'm here to work, not to do drugs.' So, for me, that was a deeply frustrating period that really upset me. But I consider Philip one of my very best friends and an outstanding musician, so, in one way or another, I would love to do more music with Philip at some point, that's for sure."

Asked if he knew Anselmo for a long time before they decided to collaborate on an album, Satyr said: "No, I didn't. And perhaps if I would have, maybe things would have been a little bit easier. I can't remember if it was '98 or '99 where I got to know him. It might have been '98, I suppose. And then we were on tour with [PANTERA] in 2000. I have to say this, though, about their music: in hindsight, I like it. I didn't like the music back then when we were actually on tour with them and had a lot to do with them, but in hindsight, I've grown to like their music. I think the [Abbott] brothers [Vinnie and Darrell], the way they interact musically, it's very intriguing. There's nothing quite like it. This rhythmical understanding that the Abbott brothers had is unique. And Dime's guitar playing is phenomenal, of course, but it's also… he [was] very creative from a rhythmical point of view. And I think Vince's way of playing drums and taking all the awkard timing of Dime's riffs and making it a little bit more powerful and straightforward with his drum arrangements was a unique quality that Vince had. And Rex [Brown] providing a strong backbone with his playing, and then Philip being just one of the most unique frontmen and singers in modern heavy metal history, I suppose."

Earlier this year, Anselmo admitted to Bardo Methodology that he "was still a pill-popping, druggard idiot who'd nod off mid-sentence" while he and Satyr were trying to work on EIBON in the studio. "But Satyr was always a hard worker; he was the guy who led," Philip said. "I found it interesting from a musician's standpoint. We played primitive black metal, so, in my opinion, the listener would consider what we were playing extremely simple… and it was — but I was made to play by the Norge rule of strumming with the wrist instead of down-picking on half-time parts, which is totally crazy in my mind. I tried explaining to a very willful Satyr that the downward chop sounds heavier than halftime-picking, but, alas, he was having none of it. [Laughs] So, despite the music's simplicity, it was a fresh, unexpected challenge within the genre. I fucking loved it! Damned cool experiences."

Asked what ultimately became of the project, Anselmo said: "There was a slight Norge fallout between the natives, and I didn't wanna get stuck in the middle of that particular fight. So, the band never materialized. All I have left is three poorly mummified-sounding songs, recorded and mixed terribly raw, with one song featuring place-keeper-style vocals. Hardly impressive."

Philip went on to say that he still keeps in touch with Satyr, although he hinted that he and the SATYRICON frontman weren't necessarily musically aligned. "Satyr kinda freaked me out back in the late 1990s to early 2000s with the type of bands he liked — especially U.S. acts who were popular at the time," Anselmo said. "I'll just leave it at that. I couldn't believe it. Terrible music taste, in my opinion, but music is subjective. Satyr always had big things on his mind, and there's a palpable hunger within him. I couldn't have predicted the direction they'd go in, but, truth be told, I played no role in the scribing of any SATYRICON record. That's all on them."

Philip Labonte says that ALL THAT REMAINS has not yet decided on a permanent replacement for guitarist Oli Herbert.

After Herbert died two months ago, the surviving ALL THAT REMAINS members recruited guitar virtuoso and YouTube personality Jason Richardson (ALL SHALL PERISH, CHELSEA GRIN, BORN OF OSIRIS) to join them on their just-completed European tour.

Asked by Metalshop TV if it's difficult for ALL THAT REMAINS to play shows in support of its latest album, "Victim Of The New Disease", without Oli or if they are treating each live performance as a celebration of the guitarist's life, Labonte said (see video below): "I think it's a mix of both. It is hard. Oli was in the band for 20 years. He was the only original member left that wasn't me. He was the first guy to play that position. We were only a four-piece before Oli joined the band. So it's weird. And it's hard. But it was important to us to keep going. For a little while, we had to kind of figure out what was best for us, and then we figured Oli lived and breathed metal and he loved playing shows and he loved writing and loved being creative, and he would have wanted people to hear the record, for sure. So we kind of felt like we had to — whether we felt comfortable with it or not. We were, like, 'Well, you really need to go ahead and buckle down and get out there and get used to the idea, because he would have wanted you to play these shows and he would have wanted you to go out there and keep going.'"

Philip was also asked if Jason is just a temporary replacement for Oli or if he will join ALL THAT REMAINS full time: "Right now he's just playing the [European] tour," the singer responded. "We haven't really discussed at length what is gonna happen after the tour and moving forward with ALL THAT REMAINS. So, for right now, he's filling in. It's possible that people will see him next year doing some stuff with us in the U.S. and stuff. So we'll probably discuss a significant future with Jason or what the band wants to do about a permanent replacement probably after the beginning of the year."

According to TMZ, police were dispatched to Herbert's Stafford Springs, Connecticut residence on October 16 after someone reported him missing. Cops searched the area and found the 44-year-old musician in a nearby pond. Sources told the Hartford Courant investigators are treating the death as suspicious.

Labonte said last month that he was "shocked" by Oli's death. "He was 44 years old, and he wasn't really a big partier," Labonte told Meltdown Of Detroit's WRIF radio station. "He would go hang out with people and stuff, but he didn't really do a lot of drinking… He didn't do drugs, he didn't really drink a lot. He would smoke pot once in a while, but that was the extent of it."

Herbert began playing guitar at 14. He co-founded ALL THAT REMAINS with Labonte in 1998.

ALL THAT REMAINS has released nine studio albums, a live CD/DVD, and has sold more than one million records worldwide.

Tommy Lee has once again slammed President Donald Trump, saying the former host of NBC's reality show "The Apprentice" is an "asshole" whose supporters are "dumbasses."

The MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer's comments came as an apparent reaction to the partial federal government shutdown which began late Friday night. The third government shutdown of the year happened after the president issued an ultimatum to Congress to fund construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall, the primary point of contention for Democrats.

Lee took to his Twitter account earlier today (Saturday, December 22) to write: "Hey @realDonaldTrump our beautiful country is not a reality show! Go back to hosting the Apprentice!!! Gtfoh"

After one apparent Trump supporter responded, "Got beat your drums or your meat. Make good choices.", Lee fired back, tweeting: "That's the problem ....all you Dumbasses who can't spell love this asshole"

This is not the first time Lee has been critical of Trump. A year ago, he called the president "a fucking idiot" and said the people who voted for him are "dickheads."

After Trump was elected president in November 2016, Lee expressed his disbelief on Twitter, writing: "What the actual fuck is happening?"

Just last month, Tommy lambasted Trump for blaming California's recent wildfires on poor forest management. "Can you be anymore insensitive you fucking moron" Lee tweeted.

Lee admitted in a 2008 interview with CNN that he was not a political junkie and he rarely watched television or listened to news reports. "Man, tell you the truth, I only listen to music," he said.

Tommy and his MÖTLEY CRÜE bandmates recently recorded four new songs for the film adaptation of the band's biography, "The Dirt - Confessions Of The World's Most Notorious Rock Band", which will be reportedly be released in March. The movie, which is being helmed by "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa" director Jeff Tremaine, was picked up by Netflix after being previously developed at Focus Features and before that at Paramount.

Fan-filmed video footage of OPERATION: MINDCRIME, the band led by former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, performing on December 19 at Cacaofabriek in Helmond, The Netherlands can be seen below.

For most of 2018, Tate has celebrated the 30th anniversary of QUEENSRŸCHE's "Operation: Mindcrime" by playing the iconic concept album live in its entirety.

The "Mindcrime" live set covers all 15 songs from the album including such fan favorites as "Revolution Calling", "Operation: Mindcrime", "I Don't Believe In Love" and the closing track, "Eyes Of A Stranger".

His current touring band features Kieran Robertson from Scotland on guitar, Bruno Sa from Brazil on keyboards, Jack Ross from Scotland on bass, Scott Moughton from Canada on guitar, Josh Watts from England on drums and Geoff Tate's daughter Emily, who is singing the parts of Sister Mary.

Geoff told the Reno, Nevada radio station 105.7 KOZZ about performing "Operation: Mindcrime" in full on tour to commemorate its 30th anniversary: "I have to say, this tour especially has been really an interesting time for me, because I kind of got to take a step back from the album, looking at it with different eyes. I've got a really young band of musicians who are playing with such enthusiasm and passion, and I'm listening to all the stories from the audience members and people who have been affected by the album over the years, and really hearing a cross-section of what the album has meant to people. It's very humbling, and I'm very grateful for all the attention the album has and how strongly people feel about it. It's fantastic."

OPERATION: MINDCRIME has released three albums over three years as part of a trilogy: "The Key" (September 2015), "Resurrection" (September 2016) and "The New Reality" (December 2017).

On December 22nd, Helloween capped off their wildly successful Pumpkins United tour - which saw vocalist Michael Kiske and founding guitarist Kai Hansen rejoin the band, making them a seven-piece outfit - in their home town of Hamburg, Germany at the Sporthalle. Fan-filmed video is available below.

Back in August, Helloween made the following announcement:

"Among the massive Pumpkins United World Tour’s absolute open air highlights were, of course, the headliner slots at Wacken, Barcelona’s Rock Fest and Masters of Rock - but also the mega gigs with Iron Maiden at Sweden Rock Festival and Florence’s Firenze Rocks in June definitely were shows for all eternity.

"For those who mysteriously missed the tour, goosebumps footage of the Pumpkins United World Tour will be released as a live CD as well as on DVD and Blu-ray beginning of 2019! As of now, the wait until the release can be shortened with a stream of the full Wacken show at Magenta Music 360 right here.

"As we are still indulging in the Wacken encore or preparing for the show in Las Vegas/ USA, those maniacs are already launching the next sensation: For starters, Nuclear Blast has insisted to keep the band on their roster for a few more years, and - double bass drum roll - there’ll actually be a brand-new studio album with (vocalist Michael) Kiske and (guitarist Kai) Hansen. When the band around songwriting trio (Michael) Weikath, Hansen and (Andy) Deris will be retreating to the studio together with these two exceptional singers in 2019, it’s clear that the album scheduled for 2020 will be no less than EPIC. If this news doesn’t make you go all dewy, your proper rock baptism might not have happened yet - the rest of us are way over the moon as of now, because: THE PUMPKINS UNITED DREAM CONTINUES!

"Thanks to everyone who has been with us until now!"

German metalcore crushers Callejon will release their new album, Hartgeld Im Club, through Century Media On January 4th, 2019. They have released an official lyric video for "Porn From Spain 3" featuring a guest appearance by Body Count frontman Ice-T. Check it out below.

For information and updates on Callejon go to their official Facebook page here.

Body Count released a video for their track "All Love Is Lost" earlier this year featuring Max Cavalera, which is featured on the band's 2017 full-length, Bloodlust.

Co-written by Max Cavalera (Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy), "All Love Is Lost" delves into the intense feelings one has after a betrayal of trust by a loved one. Commingling his acting and music career, Ice-T enlisted his Law And Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC) co-star Kelly Giddish to play the vindictive lead.

The new video, directed by Jay Rodriguez, can be seen below.

Previously posted Body Count videos, for the Bloodlust tracks "This Is Why We Ride", “Raining In Blood / Postmortem”, and “Here I Go Again”, are available below:

Find Body Count's live itinerary here.

GHOST has just wrapped up its hugely successful "A Pale Tour Named Death" North American tour. A video for the song "Faith", directed by Bill Yukich, with photography by Ryan Chang, was shot at various stops along the way and can be seen below.

The North American trek visited nearly 40 cities, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.

GHOST has been touring in support of its latest album, "Prequelle", which came out in June.

GHOST leader Tobias Forge performed as a "new" Papa Emeritus on each of the band's first three albums, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of "Prequelle".

"Prequelle" debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and features the chart-topping rock single "Rats". The disc was tracked last year at Artery studios in Stockholm with producer Tom Dalgety (OPETH, ROYAL BLOOD) and mixed in January at Westlake Studios in West Hollywood, California with Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, SLAYER).

Earlier this month, GHOST nabbed two new Grammy nominations, "Best Rock Album" for "Prequelle" and Best Rock Song for "Rats". The latest nods took place nearly three years after GHOST became the first Swedish rock band ever to win a Grammy Award — 2016's "Best Metal Performance" for the song "Cirice".

Danish/American rock 'n' rollers VOLBEAT have entered the studio to begin recording their new album for a tentative early 2019 release. Guitarist Rob Caggiano told Loudwire about the follow-up to 2016's "Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie": "It's definitely not going to be the same thing as the last record or the record before it. It'll be slightly different. Obviously, we're right smack in the middle of it right now, so it's hard to say, but [it] definitely has a big rock feel to it, which I think is a cool thing."

According to Caggiano, VOLBEAT still has "tons of stuff to do" in the studio for the upcoming album. "We're right in the middle of it right now," he repeated.

This past summer, VOLBEAT frontman Michael Poulsen was asked by Greece's "TV War" if the new song "The Everlasting", which the band has been performing at some of its recent live shows, is indicative of the direction of the group's next studio album. He responded: "The last album turned out to be more like a rock album. And you can have certain ideas when you sit down and write your songs, and going through the material that what kind of direction you're going, but at the end of the day, when I write, everything changes every day.

"When we go to the rehearsal room, you can have a certain feeling about, 'This is a keeper. This is a song that's gonna end up on the album,'" he continued. "And then five or six rehearsals later, it goes, 'Oh, that doesn't work.' So we skip a lot of material to get to the right songs, where we feel, 'This seems right.' Because, at the end of the day, it has to be fun to play in the rehearsal room, and it has to be fun playing it two hundred times. And it has to be fun to record it, and it has to be fun to go on the road and play it live.

"The new song, 'The Everlasting', definitely has a heavy touch, but it's impossible for me to say if that's the direction for the next album.

"Lemmy actually said it the best way. There was a guy interviewing Lemmy from MOTÖRHEAD. [The interviewer] said, 'So you released a new album. It pretty much sounds like all the other MOTÖRHEAD albums.' And he said, 'Well, thank you very much. Because the last time I checked, I was still in MOTÖRHEAD.'

"When you have that signature sound, it's so much in your DNA how to write songs and how you sound like. But we're still in the process where we can develop the VOLBEAT style and progress the VOLBEAT style."

Asked if VOLBEAT has plans to invite guest musicians to appear on its next album, Poulsen said: "When it comes to guests, it's always about when we write the songs that when you keep on playing them in the rehearsal room, sometimes you hear different singers or guitar players or musicians being on top of that. [You think] 'Wow, this could be amazing with Danko Jones,' or, 'This could be amazing with Mille from KREATOR,' or something like that, or Barney from NAPALM DEATH. So we've never really been writing stuff where we sit down and say, 'Who are we gonna bring to this album?' and then we write the song. We always write the material and then listen to the songs and see if it could fit other artists out there. But we do have plans for certain guests that we're flirting with a little bit right now. Some of them are already installed; others we just have to wait and see. I can't say anything, because it can change. So who knows?"

VOLBEAT bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen confirmed to France's Loud TV that the band's upcoming LP is once again being produced by the group's longtime collaborator Jacob Hansen.

"Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie" arrived in June 2016 and featured the chart-topping "Black Rose" and "The Devil's Bleeding Crown", in addition to the Top Five title track.