On Friday, January 26th, Inside Out Music will release Wuthering Nights: Live In Birmingham, the new live release from guitar legend Steve Hackett. Wuthering Nights was filmed at the Birmingham Symphony Hall during Hackett’s recent, critically-acclaimed Genesis Revisited & Classic Hackett tour. Available as 2CD/BluRay Jewel Case and Digital Album, this is a must-have for any prog fan.

This tour marked the 40th anniversary of Wind & Wuthering, Hackett’s last album with Genesis which reached #7 in the UK album chart. To celebrate Steve and his band played five of the best-loved tracks from this iconic album: “Eleventh Earl Of Mar”, “One For The Vine”, “Blood On The Rooftops”, “…In That Quiet Earth” and “Afterglow”.

Other fan favorites from Hackett’s Genesis days were ‘revisited’: “Dance On A Volcano”, “Inside & Out”, “Firth Of Fifth”, “The Musical Box” and the classic “Los Endos”. This mesmerizing show marks the first ever live performance by Hackett and his band of the tracks “One For The Vine” and “Inside & Out”, and also includes many of Hackett’s solo fan-favorites as well as material from his latest studio album, The Night Siren.

Steve recalls the Birmingham performance: “I’m excited about the imminent release of Wuthering Nights. It felt special to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Wind & Wuthering, the Genesis album I had the most songwriting involvement with and a favourite among many fans. Songs like “One For The Vine”, “Eleventh Earl Of Mar” and “Blood On The Rooftops” come across powerfully on this release, which also features other Genesis and solo Hackett favourites along with songs from my latest album The Night Siren... Sit back and enjoy!”

The band are: Roger King (keyboards), Gary O’Toole (drums/percussion), Rob Townsend (saxes/flutes), Nick Beggs (bass, stick & twelve string) and Nad Sylvan on vocals plus special guests John Hackett and Amanda Lehmann.

The DVD / Blu-Ray also includes fascinating behind the scenes footage, most of which was filmed on the day in Birmingham. There are also three videos for tracks from The Night Siren: “Behind The Smoke”, “Fifty Miles From The North Pole” and “West To East”.

Steve Hackett is renowned as an immensely talented and innovative rock musician. He was lead guitarist with Genesis as part of their classic line up with Gabriel, Collins, Banks and Rutherford, who produced several of the band’s most acclaimed albums including Selling England By The Pound (a favourite of John Lennon) and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. With Steve's extraordinary versatility in both his electric guitar playing and his composing, he involves influences from many genres, including jazz, world music and blues. He is equally adept in his classical albums that include renditions of pieces by composers from Bach to Satie, his own acoustic guitar compositions that have gained the admiration of many, including Yehudi Menuhin, and ambitious guitar/orchestra albums such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic.

(Photo - Tina Korhonen)

Nestled within the looming embrace of seven mountains, the rugged, rain-swept coastline of Bjoergvin has spawned many extreme bands and musicians over the years, but none quite as iconic as Taake and its formidable founder Hoest, who is now back with a seventh full-length album.

Titled Kong Vinter (King Winter), the album is set for release via Dark Essence Records on November 24th in digipak CD, digital and vinyl formats, with the vinyl available in black, transparent and white versions. All are double, 180 gram LPs in a gatefold cover. Transparent and white are limited to 1000 each. Listen to the track “Inntrenger” below.

Kong Vinter is available for pre-order via the links below:

- Bandcamp
- EU Webshop
- US Webshop

Over the years Hoest has steered his creation with unerring accuracy through the mire of black metal. He has avoided the pitfalls of either stagnation or over-experimentation, and remained true to the spirit of the traditional Black Metal genre, whilst at the same time breathing fresh life into it.

True to form Hoest has spent three years working on Kong Vinter, ensuring that the album is imbued with the unique Taake sound, whilst at the same time taking it even further. It is deceptively familiar to the ear, yet it is unpredictable as it winds its way sinuously through a soundscape that only a mother could love. A soundscape underscored by a nasty groove, that at times can seem devilishly playful.

The result is an album that is both progressive and straight forward, with a touch of the devil's own music - rock’n’roll, making it unmistakably Taake. It is, in fact, an illustration as to why, for over two decades, Hoest has succeeded in remaining relevant and at the forefront of the genre.

Kong Vinter, on which Hoest plays all the instruments himself, was recorded and produced by Bjornar Nilsen (Vulture Industries) at his Conclave and Earshot Studios in Bergen. The album artwork was created by Tom Korsvold of Coverart.

Tracklisting:

“Sverdets Vei”
“Inntrenger”
“Huset i Havet”
“Havet i Huset”
“Jernhaand”
“Maanebrent”
“Fra Bjoergegrend mot Glemselen”
“On Top” (De Press cover, bonus track on the vinyl edition)

“Inntrenger”:

Swedish rockers Europe returned to Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival back in August. Professionally filmed video of the band performing “Sign Of The Times”, “Superstitious”, and “The Final Countdown” can be seen below:

Europe are heading to Australia for the first time ever in May 2018.

Says the band: “The waiting is over - we're going down under. Believe it or not IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN! We are touring Australia for the FIRST TIME! Something we always wanted to do but could just never make the schedules work before. We are really excited to announce these dates and to finally hook up with our friends in Australia!”

Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.com.au, except Sydney at Ticketek.com.au. An announcement video and the tour schedule can be found below.

Dates:

May
16 - Perth Concert Hall, Perth
18 - Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide
19 - Palais Theatre, Melbourne
22 - Enmore Theatre, Sydney
23 - The Tivoli, Brisbane

Europe’s new studio album, Walk The Earth, is out now via the band’s Hell & Back label via Silver Lining Music. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with Grammy winning producer Dave Cobb (Rival Sons, Shooter Jennings, Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton) who also produced the band’s War Of Kings album.

Tracklisting:

“Walk The Earth”
“The Siege”
“Kingdom United”
“Pictures”
“Election Day”
“Wolves”
“GTO”
“Haze”
“Whenever You’re Ready”
“Turn To Dust”

“The Siege”:

“Election Day”:

“Walk The Earth”:

Brazilian female-fronted progressive power metal band VANDROYA has released a music video for "The Path To The Endless Fall", the second single from its new album, "Beyond The Human Mind". The disc is available through Inner Wound Recordings in Europe and North America and through Bickee Music in Japan.

With a more evident progressive influence but without giving up the weight and virtuosity of power metal, the new album brings a more mature band, a more balanced sound and reflects the musicians technical and artistic evolution since the debut album, "One".

The "Beyond The Human Mind" album concept revolves around the journey we all go through in search of fullness and inner peace.

The cover artwork was created by Felipe Machado Franco (BLIND GUARDIAN, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, ICED EARTH).

Led by vocalist Daísa Munhoz, VANDROYA is ready to take the next step and make a mark in the metal scene with "Beyond The Human Mind".

"Beyond The Human Mind" track listing:

01. Columns Of Illusion 02. The Path To The Endless Fall 03. Maya 04. Time After Time 05. Last Breath 06. I'm Alive 07. You'll Know My Name 08. If I Forgive Myself 09. Beyond The Human Mind

Professionally-filmed footage of Metallica performing the Hardwired... To Self-Destruct album track “Dream No More” at Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium on November 3rd can be seen below:

“Join us as we take the stage for a 75-minute set rounding out a night featuring G-Eazy, Rancid, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Dead & Company, and Raphael Saadiq for the Band Together Bay Area benefit concert this Thursday, November 9th starting at 5:45 PM, PST,” says Metallica. “100% of the ticket price will benefit Northern California fire relief and good seats are still available at Ticketmaster.com!

“We’ll also be live streaming the show which you can catch on Metallica.com, our YouTube channel, or our Facebook page. The show will be available to Twitter's logged-in and logged-out audience in the US via @tippingpoint and at this location as well. And let’s not forget why we’re taking the stage! Contribute to fire relief during the live stream by clicking the “donate” button on the stream or texting “TOGETHER” to 20222.

“We are so proud to be a part of Band Together Bay Area and we hope you can join us this Thursday in assisting our friends and neighbours who have lost so much. All funds from ticket sales will benefit Tipping Point Community, who have set up an Emergency Relief Fund for low-income, vulnerable communities impacted by the crisis, including vineyard workers, immigrants, displaced young people, and students.

“If you cannot attend the show and would still like to contribute, you may donate directly to Tipping Point. You may also donate to the Metallica All Within My Hands Foundation through the Foundation's Facebook page. All Within My Hands will be making a donation to Tipping Point Community, and 100% of your contribution will be included.”

For more information on the event, visit bandtogetherbayarea.org.

EVANESCENCE performed at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland on November 8 in support of its fourth album, "Synthesis". Like the disc, "Synthesis Live" features a reimagining of some of EVANESCENCE's best-loved songs with the spotlight on full orchestra, electronics combined with the band and Amy Lee's virtuoso piano and voice.

Fan-filmed video footage of the Baltimore concert can be seen below.

"Synthesis" is due on November 10. The effort features full orchestration in a completely synthetic world of beats and sounds, with help from arranger and composer David Campbell. "Synthesis" contains two new EVANESCENCE songs in addition to fan favorites re-recorded with a live orchestra and electronica.

The "Synthesis Live" tour launched on October 14 on the West Coast.

"This is a total passion project for me. There are so many layers in our music, underneath the huge drums and guitars," explained Lee. "I've always wanted to shine a light on some of the gorgeous David Campbell arrangements and programming elements in our songs, and that idea snowballed into completely re-doing them with full orchestra, not just strings, elaborate programming and experimentation.

"This will be our first time touring with orchestra and I'm so excited to perform this way — really focus on the vocals, and the emotion and the story we've built over the years. I'm also really excited about the new material on the album. Besides the two new songs, there are some really beautiful instrumental in-between moments. The whole thing flows like a big, dynamic soundtrack."

Lee told Graspop.be about "Synthesis": "It's different in a way that it's still coming from the roots of what EVANESCENCE was conceived to be,. It's really a beautiful project. A lot of our old songs are getting a whole new life in a way where we're getting to experience the focus being this beautiful, full orchestra. It's also a lot of electronic, cool elements — parts that have always been part of our music. It hasn't been full orchestra before — it's just been mainly strings — but just taking it to very beautiful, classical and epic and groovy place. Oh, it feels so good. There's some new stuff on it too, but it's mostly old stuff [reimagined]."

Lee also talked in more detail about the making of "Synthesis", explaining: "As far as the conception, basically, you work in demo land first and just create the arrangements of songs. I went through all the master sessions of, say, 'Bring Me To Life', and [I would] pull out all the stuff and listen to it and then chop it up and decide, 'Oh, maybe this part needs to be longer. Maybe this part at the beginning will be just strings and piano.' Just figure out what you're gonna do and build a map. And working with David Campbell, who has done all the string arrangements for EVANESCENCE for all three albums now doing full orchestra, just going back and forth with him and our producer Will and then each other, just throwing ideas in a Dropbox and basically just playing tennis back and forth for months."

Almost five decades ago, the toll of a bell and rolling thunder marked the conception of an ear splittingly monolithic riff. In that moment, BLACK SABBATH and the sound of heavy metal were forged. The band embarked on what vocalist Ozzy Osbourne describes as the most incredible adventure you could think of, a journey that would go on to define a genre.

"The End" is a celebration of BLACK SABBATH's final hometown concert at Birmingham's Genting Arena on February 4, 2017. This unforgettable farewell show from one of the biggest bands in the world will be released by Eagle Vision on November 17, 2017.

With a hit-packed set list including "Iron Man", "Paranoid", "War Pigs" and many more, the high production values, visual effects, and pyrotechnics wowed fans, as the band delivered the most emotionally charged show in their history.

All visual formats feature special bonus material of the band playing a selection of their favorite songs not played on tour. These intimate live sessions at Angelic Studios were recorded in the days after their final live performance.

"The End" captures a once-in-a-career performance, an essential snapshot of musical history, and a fitting farewell to true innovators and original heavy metal icons, BLACK SABBATH.

A performance clip of the song "N.I.B.", taken from "The End", can be seen below.

Track listing:

Live at Birmingham's Genting Arena on February 4, 2017

01. Black Sabbath02. Fairies Wear Boots03. Under The Sun / Every Day Comes And Goes04. After Forever05. Into The Void06. Snowblind07. Band Intros08. War Pigs09. Behind The Wall Of Sleep10. Bassically / N.I.B.11. Hand Of Doom12. Supernaut / Sabbath Bloody Sabbath / Megalomania13. Rat Salad / Drum Solo14. Iron Man15. Dirty Women16. Children Of The Grave17. Paranoid

The Angelic Sessions

01. The Wizard02. Wicked World03. Sweet Leaf04. Tomorrow's Dream05. Changes

Pre-orders are available now via PledgeMusic, where exclusive bundles, such as the deluxe box set, can be found.

Ozzy told The Pulse Of Radio not long ago that he's glad that SABBATH has come full circle. "BLACK SABBATH has been through the mill over the years, but to come back and be friends with my buddies who I started off with all those years ago, it's a closure for me, a chapter of my life which I can say, 'Well, we came, we saw, we had a good time and now it's over,'" he said. "I'm glad we ended up happy. Whatever axes we had to grind between us over the years, we got rid of all that and we're friends again."

Guitarist Tony Iommi said that he wouldn't rule out the possibility of doing one-off shows or even more recording, saying, "I wouldn't write that off, if one day that came about. That's possible. Or even doing an album, 'cause then, again, you're in one place."

The band decided to make this tour its last because Iommi, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and is currently in remission, can no longer travel for extended amounts of time.

The original lineup of SABBATH came together in 1969 with Osbourne, Iommi, Geezer Butler on bass and Bill Ward on drums. That lineup recorded and toured through 1978, and periodically reformed through the '90s and 2000s for live work.

They regrouped again in late 2011 for a new album and tour, although Ward dropped out after a few months over financial issues. SABBATH has used Ozzy's regular touring drummer Tommy Clufetos since then for live work. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's Brad Wilk laid down the drum tracks on the album "13", which came out in June 2013.

Iommi and Butler haven't announced any specific post-SABBATH plans yet, but Osbourne will embark on a two-year "farewell" tour in 2018, after already playing a few solo shows this summer.

Dutch symphonic metal giants EPICA have released a new performance video for the song "Consign To Oblivion". The footage was captured during EPICA's sold-out show at the Zénith in Paris last February where the band closed its most successful European tour to date together with an excited legion of five thousand fans. This video, which was captured and edited by Panda Productions, perfectly mirrors the band's craving for non-stop innovation and for continuously improving its live performance.

This Thursday, EPICA will embark on a headline tour across Europe with support from VUUR and MYRATH.

EPICA lead guitarist Isaac Delahaye comments on the clip: "Hey legion! Here's a live video we still had on the shelf. Glad we can take you into the world of 'Consign To Oblivion', the song that usually marks the end of an EPICA show. It's bombastic and builds towards an epic climax, and it's always fun to play. Enjoy watching, and see you soon during our European tour with VUUR and MYRATH!"

EPICA recently completed "The Ultimate Principle" North American tour with LACUNA COIL as co-headliners. INSOMNIUM and ELANTRIS provided direct support.

EPICA is continuing to tour in support of its latest EP, "The Solace System", which was released on September 1 via Nuclear Blast. The effort contains six brand-new songs which were created during the sessions for the band's latest album, 2016's "The Holographic Principle".

"The Solace System" was recorded, mixed and mastered by Joost van den Broek and Jacob Hansen.

Veteran female rockers VIXEN have recorded recorded a new single as well as an acoustic version of one of the band's classic hits. Guitarist Brittany Denaro (a.k.a. Britt Lightning) told Guitar World: "[The acoustic version] has a bit of a different vibe than the original, but it came together pretty spontaneously as we were jamming on it in the studio."

The new VIXEN recordings are expected to be included as "bonus surprises" on the band's upcoming live album, which was recorded on August 12 at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois. The disc is being mixed by Michael Wagener (METALLICA, MEGADETH, ALICE COOPER, DOKKEN, SKID ROW) at his WireWorld studio outside of Nashville, Tennessee.

Brittany joined VIXEN as the replacement for Gina Stile, who left the band earlier in the year.

Denaro and new keyboardist Tyson Leslie made their live debut with VIXEN on March 25 at the Rock The Arena II festival at Savage Arena in Toledo, Ohio.

Stile originally played with VIXEN in 1997-1998 and returned to the band in 2013 as the replacement for the group's deceased founding guitarist Jan Kuehnemund.

Brittany previously played guitar for LA BANDA DE ALEJANDRO SANZ, CHIX 6 – THE MUSICAL and Rachel Platten.

Asked how she landed the gig with VIXEN, Denaro told Guitar World: "I was playing with an all-female GUNS N' ROSES tribute band at a pre-party for the Monsters Of Rock cruise. Coincidentally, the person who put it on also happened to be VIXEN's manager. He had known that there was some tension in the band and that they were looking for another guitar player. After the show, he spoke to the girls and told them he thought I'd be a perfect fit. Ironically, around the same time Janet [Gardner, vocals/guitar], Share [Ross, bass] and Roxy [Petrucci, drums] had been asking around and my name kept popping up, so they followed up. It was that simple."

Denaro also talked about the first time she played with VIXEN. "I was a bit nervous," she said. "Growing up, I had been in all-girl bands but there weren't many of them to really look up to. I remember the first time I got together with them was without Janet. It was just the music and that took a little bit of the pressure off. Because everyone lived all over the country, the first time I actually met Janet was the night before we did a show together."

Gardner released her debut solo album in August via Pavement Entertainment.

Inner Wound Recordings has announced reissues of the first three releases from the classic U.S. heavy metal band OBSESSION. The "Marshall Law" EP, "Scarred For Life" and "Methods Of Madness" will all be re-released on CD and digital on December 1.

The CD editions come with a 12-page booklet that includes lyrics as well as liner notes from singer Michael Vescera.

Formed in 1982, OBSESSION is famous for launching Vescera's career. The band first came on to the scene via the "Metal Massacre 2" compilation from Metal Blade Records and then the classic EP "Marshall Law" was released 1984 on the same label. After that, OBSESSION released the albums "Scarred For Life" and "Methods of Madness" under the Enigma label before breaking up in 1989. The band reformed in 2004 and released the new albums "Carnival Of Lies" in 2006 and "Order Of Chaos" in 2012.

"Marshall Law" reissue track listing:

01. Only The Strong Will Survive02. Hatred Unto Death03. The Execution04. Marshall Law 05. Marshall Law (Demo Version)

"Scarred For Life" reissue track listing

01. Intro / Scarred For Life 02. Winner Takes All 03. Losing My Mind 04. In The End 05. Bang Em' Till They Bleed 06. Take No Prisoners 07. Taking Your Chances 08. Run Into The Night 09. Tomorrow Hides No Lies 10. Shadows Of Steel (Bonus Track) 11. Evil In Her Eyes (Bonus Track)

"Methods Of Madness" reissue track listing:

01. Four Play / Hard To The Core 02. High Treason 03. For The Love Of Money 04. Killer Elite 05. Desperate To Survive 06. Methods Of Madness 07. Too Wild To Tame 08. Always On The Run 09. Panic In The Streets 10. Missing You (Bonus Track) 11. Waiting For Your Call (Bonus Track)

In an interview, Vescera — who has also spent time in ANIMETAL USA, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and LOUDNESS — described OBSESSION's latest album, "Order of Chaos", as "a cross between 'Carnival Of Lies' [2006] and the early OBSESSION stuff." He added, "I think it's geared more towards the older sound, the straight-tforward metal like the 'Marshall Law' album [1984], but you can hear some of the 'Carnival' sound in there, too."

"Carnival of Lies" was re-released through Mausoleum Records on February 12, 2008. This reissue featured new artwork and the bonus tracks "Panic In The Streets" (previously only available on the Avalon release in Japan) and "Judas". The album's title track featured Swedish guitar sensation Robert Marcello (DANGER DANGER, IRONHORSE) and Boston based neo-classical shred-god Joe Stump (REIGN OF TERROR).

OBSESSION's original lineup featured Michael and Jay Mezias (drums) along with Bruce Vitale, Art Maco (guitar) and Matt Karagus (bass).

Professionally filmed video footage of POSSESSED's performance at this year's Bloodstock Open Air festival, which was held August 11-13 at Catton Hall, Walton-On-Trent, West Midlands, United Kingdom, can be seen below.

POSSESSED frontman Jeff Becerra told Antihero Magazine that the band's upcoming studio album, which will be their first full-length effort since 1986's "Beyond The Gates", will contain "some really fucking good death metal. I'm really happy with a lot of the tracks," he said. "I'm still writing in the process; I'm writing a lot of music, writing all of the lyrics, of course. I'm also collaborating with [new POSSESSED members] Daniel [Gonzalez, guitar] and Claudeous [Creamer, guitar]. We're working together hard to create something that we really like. We're hoping that translates well to other people and beyond. We're hoping people like it. If they don't, then fuck them."

Regarding the musical direction of POSSESSED's new material, Jeff said: "Well, it's me. I'm still me. I would say…it's very POSSESSED-y, but it's not so dated. I think as much as I love the first three albums, they're a little dated, so we're trying to bring it back into this century. We're not going to over-produce it or do anything but straight death metal. It's just what I want to play and what the band wants to play. We're really enjoying ourselves. So far, the demos went over really well."

POSSESSED recently inked a worldwide deal with Nuclear Blast. Fans can expect POSSESSED's first full-length release in over three decades sometime in 2018.

Becerra remains the only member from POSSESSED's classic lineup, which dissolved entirely in 1987 after the "Eyes Of Horror" EP.

SOULFLY mainman Max Cavalera recently spoke to "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" about the band's upcoming follow-up to 2015's "Archangel" album, tentatively due next year via Nuclear Blast.

Max, who is currently taking part in the "Point Blank With Soulfly" tour, where SOULFLY is performing NAILBOMB's lone studio album, 1994's "Point Blank", in full, said: "Next year is a big year for us, because it's the anniversary of the first [SOULFLY] record that came out in '98. And also our new record will come out on Nuclear Blast. They're very behind the record; they're really excited for the new SOULFLY record.

"I'm gonna start working on it when I'm done with the NAILBOMB tour," he continued. "But I already kind of know what I wanna do with the record, which is kind of return a little bit more to some of the tribal sounds that I explored in an earlier phase of SOULFLY; I wanna maybe return to some of those. Some of [it] will be a continuation of what I did on 'Archangel', which a lot of people really like 'Archangel' a lot, so I'm gonna continue some of that kind of stuff. But it will be a really exciting year, because we'll have a new album in a year that commemorates twentieth year of our first record. So all that together should be really cool. So it's gonna be a year of new music and touring, so it should be a lot of fun and I should be pretty busy throughout the whole year."

Cavalera, who exited SEPULTURA in 1996 after the rest of the band fired his wife, Gloria, as the group's manager, went on to say that the "really cool" thing about SOULFLY "is the tribe that we created, because it's the fans, and I see that everywhere. The SOULFLY tattoos, the amount of tattoos that I see is overwhelming — there are so many of them. And there are huge, huge SOULFLY fans that really love SOULFLY a lot, which is great. I didn't really expect that. I always thought I was gonna be connected with SEPULTURA, connected to the past, but that wasn't really the case. They love what I did with SEPULTURA, but they love SOULFLY — they're really a part of this tribe and they are proud of it. So many times during the '[Return To] Roots' tour, a lot of people showed up in SOULFLY t-shirts, just to support SOULFLY."

According to Max, SOULFLY's message has evolved over the years to where it now "deals with tribal things, political things and spiritual things, and a lot of things dealing with tragedies and stuff. So when I hear that my music has helped people through hard times, to me it's the coolest thing that I could have probably done with my music — to actually help somebody else going through a hard time," he said. "And you can't put a price on that. I think that's the coolest thing you can do with the music — give that much power to other people through your music. Sometimes we're not even there — we just make the records and put it out, and we don't really see what happens after the record comes out. But it goes into people's life and it becomes something real big in their life, and I think that's really cool and that's something I'm very proud of."

Max and his brother, former SEPULTURA drummer Igor Cavalera, have spent the last year celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the band's "Roots" album by performing the LP in its entirety all over the world.

Long-running German metallers ATROCITY will release a new album, "Masters Of Darkness", on December 8 via Massacre Records. The EP is the perfect harbinger of the upcoming album "Okkult II", which will be released in 2018 via Massacre. Fans of harder ATROCITY material like the first "Okkult" album and the death metal classics "Hallucinations", "Todessehnsucht", "Blut" and "Atlantis" will surely be delighted with the new EP.

"Masters Of Darkness" will be available as a limited four-track digipak EP as well as a limited two-track seven-inch vinyl single with a different colored artwork. The EP and seven-inch single are already available for pre-order.

"Masters Of Darkness" was produced by Alexander Krull at Mastersound Studio. The artwork was created by Stefan Heilemann of Heilemania (LINDEMANN, EPICA, KAMELOT).

"Masters Of Darkness" track listing:

01. Masters Of Darkness02. Menschenschlachthaus03. Gates To Oblivion04. Devil's Covenant

Part one of what was said to be ATROCITY's album trilogy, "Okkult", was released in May 2013 via Napalm Records.

Germany's leading gothic metal band Crematory are currently working on the new studio album titled Oblivion, which will be released on April 13th, 2018 via SPV / Steamhammer worldwide. According to the motto "Never change a winning team" Crematory have chosen Kristian Bonifer as producer once again and the Kohlekellerstudio for the new album. 

SPV: "Through collaboration with new idea donors and arrangers such as Stefan Glass, Dirk Riegner and Walter Stobbe, as well as the intensive cooperation of the two new guitarists, Rolf and Tosse, and the new bassist Jason, not only massive guitars were given to the new Crematory songs but also interesting influences and elements that makes the band doing a step forward even after 25 years of band history. The hit factory Crematory is in full swing working in three shifts, which makes the new studio album Oblivion an absolute masterpiece."

Crematory recently released a new live video for the song “Everything“, taken from their new live CD+DVD, Live Insurrection. You can watch the video below.

For over 25 years now, Crematory have enthralled their countless fans at home and abroad. Since the band was founded in 1991, they have released twelve studio albums, in addition to a number of live recordings, singles, EPs and compilations. The music is based on brute guitar riffs and hard-as-nails drum grooves, replete with sinister keyboard hooks and that mix of growls and clear vocals - some in English, some in German - that is so typical of this band.

Crematory released Live Insurrection on September 8th. It's the whole show from the prestigious german Bang Your Head Festival 2016 in Germany, also including four videoclips on the DVD from their latest album, Monument.

Tracklisting:

CD
Intro
“Misunderstood”
“Fly”
“Greed”
“Tick Tack”
Instrumental
“Haus mit Garten”
“Ravens Calling”
“Pray”
“Everything”
Instrumental
“Shadowmaker”
“The Fallen”
“Höllenbrand”
“Die So Soon”
“Kommt näher”
“Tears Of Time”

DVD

Live:
Intro
“Misunderstood”
“Fly”
“Greed”
“Tick Tack”
Instrumental
“Haus mit Garten”
“Ravens Calling”
“Pray”
“Everything”
Instrumental
“Shadowmaker”
“The Fallen”
“Höllenbrand”
“Die So Soon”
“Kommt näher”
“Tears Of Time”

Monument videoclips:
“Misunderstood”
“Ravens Calling”
“Haus mit Garten”
“Everything”

“Everything” live video:

Speaking with Ultimate Guitar, Arch Enemy guitarist Jeff Loomis commented on the possibility of a new solo album in the near future:

"It's so hard for me to get the time for that because I'm so busy touring with Arch Enemy. But I am working on my third solo effort for Century Media Records. It's looking more like it'll be an early 2018 release, to be quite honest.

I also still have the project with Keith Merrow going as well, Conquering Dystopia. So I've got all sorts of things going on to showcase what I do as a guitar player, with Arch Enemy being one of them. I'm a pretty lucky guy in that I'm able to showcase my style and tour three different ways."

Read more here.

Arch Enemy are back with another ripping single from their recently released album, Will To Power, with the music video single for "The Race".

Founding member Michael Amott commented: "This was actually the last song written for the Will To Power album. Listening through all the material we had up to that point we agreed that the album needed one more song that would be a relentless and fast paced counterpoint to some of the more epic compositions we already had. We sent Alissa the music and she came up with a thought provoking set of lyrics with an intense vocal arrangement that complemented the music perfectly. We've been having a blast playing this song on the current tour and we had our video director Patric Ullaeus come out to capture the mayhem at our recent show in Helsinki, Finland... Enjoy 'The Race'!"

Will To Power is out now via Century Media Records worldwide. Marking the first recording to feature legendary guitarist Jeff Loomis (Nevermore), Will To Power was co-produced by Amott and drummer Daniel Erlandsson while being sent to Jens Bogren (Opeth, At The Gates, Dimmu Borgir) for mixing and mastering.

Check out the band’s tour itinerary and get tickets for all shows at this location.

American metal band The Element released a video for the song “Dusk”, which is the first single from their upcoming album From Sand – Part II. The album is being produced and mixed by one of the greatest heavy metal producers nowadays, the Swede Jens Bogren, who was in charge of the production of albums from Arch Enemy, Symphony X, Angra, Pain of Salvation, Katatonia, DragonForce, Paradise Lost, James Labrie and Devin Townshend. In charge of mastering will be Tony Lindgren, both from Fascination Street Studios.

 
The band's new video was produced by renowned director Tommy Merry, a specialist in horror movies who brought a tense and dark atmosphere to the video that follow the track's intense and heavy beat, which will please fans of Prog Metal and of bands such as Symphony X, Evergrey and Mastodon, as well as those who enjoy the thrashier side of bands like Megadeth and Metallica.
 
"Dusk" was filmed at the legendary Soundwave Studios in Oakland (California), known for being active since the early days of the Bay Area thrash metal scene, where several prominent bands have been, such as The Cure, Metallica, Testament, Forbidden, Primus, Faith No More, Green Day, Machine Head, Exodus, Death Angel, and others.

 
The CD From Sand - Part II brings the sequel of the plot about characters Jared and Anne, a fiction work where Jared is a regular citizen and goes about life being tormented by a mystical being, not knowing if said being is real or only imaginary. On "Dusk", Jared begins his intense journey to find Anne and uncover the mysteries that surround his mind, and during the track, he does find out she is real and discovers the reason of his quest.

Along with the video, The Element has also released the song “Dusk” on the best digital platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, Beats, Amazon, CD Baby, Spotify, YouTube Music, Pandora and others.

Melted Space has announced the title of the outfit's newly-completed full-length, Darkening Light, which is now confirmed for worldwide release in February through Sensory Records.
 
While remaining in the realm of the symphonic metal opera that defined the band's sound on their 2015-released The Great Lie, Melted Space's Darkening Light delivers ten new movements which culminate into an even more powerful and catchier opus. Mastermind and creator of the group, French composer/musician Pierre Le Pape, pulls the listener into the depths of his imagination where tone and rhythms are envisioned as cascading shadows and light. Darkening Light sees Le Pape once again joined by an extensive cast of guest vocalists and musicians hailing from a wide array of bands and musical entities from across the genres of metal, classical, jazz, and more. The album also sees Melted Space once again collaborating with the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra as heard on The Great Lie.
 
Darkening Light was recorded and mixed in France by François-Maxime Boutault and mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music in New York, with additional contributions recorded abroad in Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Greece, and the United States between June and September 2017, and features immersive artwork by Adrien Bousson.
 
Melted Space's Darkening Light will see release on all digital platforms, on CD, and on an extended double-LP featuring bonus material to be disclosed, through Laser's Edge division Sensory Records, on February 16th, 2018. 
 
Stand by for additional details on Darkening Light to be released alongside album artwork, audio samples, preorders, and more before the end of the year.

(Photo by: Olivier Gobert)

YOB has announced the deluxe reissue of The Great Cessation. Originally released in 2009, the trio's 5th full-length record is a master lesson in cosmic Doom. Epic, crushing, and heavy beyond words, YOB achieved legendary status in recent years due to their unmatched aesthetic and incredible body of work. The Great Cessation is a flawless document of a band ebbing and flowing between thunderous, skull-splitting riffage and rhythm to meditative moments of introspective psychedelia; an essential piece in the pantheon of YOB's illustrious output. This definitive edition has been completely remastered by Heba Kadry (The Mars Volta, Diamanda Galas, Slowdive) and includes stunning new artwork plus two bonus tracks (previously only available on vinyl). The remastered version of “Breathing From The Shallows” is streaming below.

Vocalist / guitarist Mike Scheidt reminisced on the original release of The Great Cessation, saying:

“With The Great Cessation, we were revitalized from our break, we just had Aaron join the ranks with the single best new potential member audition (since Travis) and the album basically wrote itself. When we broke up, we played generally to very small crowds in a very small scene. When we came back, our return was met with a scene that has caught up to what the genre's best had to offer, and we all of a sudden had opportunities we'd never had before. Hell, we did shows with Electric Wizard, Orange Goblin, High On Fire, that were attended by 50-ish people in the early 2000's.”

YOB’s deluxe reissue of The Great Cessation is due out December 8th on CD/2LP/Digital via Relapse Records. Physical packages and digital order are available via Relapse.com and all digital outlets here.

Additionally, YOB has announced a brief run of dates in 2018, including appearances at Modified Ghost Festival in Vancouver and Sabertooth Festival in Portland. A complete listing of dates can be found below.

Tracklisting:

“Burning The Altar”
“The Lie That Is Sin”
“Silence Of Heaven”
“Breathing From The Shallows”
“The Great Cessation”
“Blessed By Nothing” (bonus track)
“Pain Like Sugar” (bonus track)

“Breathing From The Shallows”:

Tour dates:

February
15 – Seattle, WA – Chop Suey
16 – Portland, OR – Sabertooth Festival
23 – Eugene, OR – WOW Hall

May
25 – Vancouver, BC – Modified Ghost Festival

(Photo by: Alyssa Herman)

After 25 years playing music, recording, producing, performing and touring, Bob Katsionis decides to make the next big step in his musical endeavour.

As a musician he is best known as a keyboardist/guitarist of Firewind, with whose he has been touring the world for the past 14 years, has also released multiple albums with Outloud and Serious Black as well as four instrumental solo albums, plus he works with Kamelot as a co-songwriter and has guest performances in more than 50 albums worldwide.

As a producer he started Sound Symmetry Studio back in 1996 helping his guitar and keyboard students record their demos, later evolved as a recording facility for his main bands and now he is producing a large variety of artists and bands spanning from pop/rock to heavy, power and extreme metal.

Also responsible for the image of the artists he worked with, he personally takes care of photoshoots, cover artwork and booklet design and through his own video making company Progressive Vision Group he has directed more than 120 videoclips since 2002.

“Having all this experience in the music making and music business but at the same time being a performing musician myself I always wanted to help the people working with me to achieve their dream. To avoid the common mistakes of a newcomer and make their music heard as much as possible. Recording and finishing an album has become the easiest part of the process. But going out in the “jungle” of the Music Industry and Media seems to be the hardest one. That’s when I decided to found SYMMETRIC RECORDS; to give a helping hand to all of these great people I’m working together in my studio and trust their music on me.”

So, newfound Symmetric Records debuts with the release of Terra IncΩgnita’s full length album, Fragments Of A Ruined Mind.

The quintet from Athens led by the charismatic frontman Billy Vass, delivers a solid, straight, simple and pure heavy metal album where everything sounds so familiar yet so inspired and powerful. On a musical background which combined the straight metal influences of Iced Earth and Black Sabbath and the lyricism of Sanctuary and Fates Warning, Billy Vass sings the story of the main character of Strahd: a story of betrayal, love, loyalty, death and in the end... the eternal damnation.

Terra IncΩgnita’s second album is a milestone both for them and Symmetric Records and producer Bob Katsionis states: “I loved their music from the very first note. I met them at a festival where they grabbed my attention with both their heaviness and their sensitivity. It was a very easy and fun to make album and I think it features something that it’s missing a lot these days: the ability to play for yourself and not to surprise anyone. Really glad I’m debuting my label with them!”

The first official video, for the song “In The Mist”, was shot by  Bob Katsionis for Progressive Vision Group and can be seen here.

Fragments Of A Ruined Mind tracklisting:

“Strahd’s Revenge”
“My Emptiness”
“In The Mist”
“The Word”
“A Day Without Loss”
“Conqueror”
“Life Begins Again”
“The Midnight Lies”
“Covenant”
“Sign With Blood”
“My Ruined Mind”

Recorded and Mixed by Bob Katsionis at Sound Symmetry Studio, Athens,GR. Mastered by Nassos Nomikos at VU Productions.

King Crimson's Earthbound - 40th Anniversary Edition expanded CD & DVD is now available for pre-order and will be released on November 17th.

Earthbound, originally released in 1972, was one of the earliest (if not the first) “official bootleg” released by a major rock band, consisting of a series of deliberately lo-fi live recordings of King Crimson's Islands-era lineup on tour in the US. When issued, because of its mid-price it was excluded from the main album charts in the UK but topped the mid-price charts rubbing shoulders with Jim Reeves & Mantovani. Atlantic in the US didn't even bother to release it. By then, the band had broken up and the label had already been alerted to the likelihood of a new King Crimson line-up promised for later in the year. Like the later live album, USA, Earthbound remained unavailable in the early CD era, with both finally being released in 2002 on CD. Ironically this non-availability served to enhance interest in the album while DGM's live releases made fans aware that there was a larger story to be told of this lineup's history.

When Robert Fripp was asked to guest on the second Grinderman project, Nick Cave noted: “I wanted to work with Robert Fripp because he has done some of the most uniquely unsettling guitar work I have ever heard along with some of the most delicate and finessed. I grew up listening to a lot of the King Crimson stuff. The vinyl copy of the phenomenal live album 'Earthbound,' is one of my most treasured possessions.”

Featuring:

Boz Burrell: Vocals, Bass
Robert Fripp: Guitar, Mellotron
Mel Collins: Saxes, Flute
Ian Wallace: Drums

The new version of Earthbound features an expanded version of the original album on CD & DVD. As a series of stereo only/low-fi recordings, a 5.1 edition was neither possible nor appropriate. However, also included on the DVD of this release is the full performance from Summit Studios, captured on the same US tour in 1972, appearing in both new stereo & quadraphonic mixes, providing the only live surround recordings of this lineup. This release also features 15 minutes of material not included on the original mail order only CD of Summit studios as issued by DGM in 2000. The DVD also features the “Schizoid Men” sequence from the Ladies Of The Road live album and a transfer of a 1972 vinyl edition of the Earthbound LP.

To pre-order King Crimson's Earthbound - 40th Anniversary Edition Expanded CD & DVD, head here.

Black Absinthe's powerful heavy riffs and bass lines are reminiscent of classic thrash and new wave British heavy metal with a range of progressive to classic rock influence. Surfacing from the basement last year, the Toronto, ON heavy metal trio unleashed their debut album Early Signs Of Denial produced by Sum 41's Dave Baksh (Cross Dog, The Mahones) plus was mixed and mastered by Frank Gryner (Rob Zombie- Hillbilly Deluxe). The album was the band's first professional recording to follow their three self-recorded EPs Live At Coalition (2014), Noise Complaint (2014) and Augusta (2012). 

Taking a break from relentless touring of Ontario and Quebec during this summer, the band shot their latest video "The Wild" on the shores of Lake Ontario, inviting friends and fans to join them on a pirate ship where the outcome was rocking the boat, walking the plank and one hell of a party!

BraveWords is premiering the new video – check it out now!

The band comments on the video:

"We are excited to showcase our new video, ‘The Wild’, for fans both new and old. This song is the headbanging party track off our latest album Early Signs Of Denial and we wanted a video to reflect that intensity. So we gathered a crew of our fans and friends from the Toronto music scene, rented a pirate themed boat intended for children, prepared and consumed some pre-sailing cocktails, and played a live show for all on board. The video was shot by Toronto based videographer/photographer Katherine Kwan (IG: kawaiiathy) who did a fantastic job capturing the look and spirit of what we wanted for the song as well as showcasing some great shots of the city skyline. The day, the show, and all the people involved with the video we say thank you! And for the rest of you, turn it up, grab a drink, and enjoy ‘The Wild’!"

Upcoming shows:

November
10 – Toronto, ON – Coalition TO

Album stream:

Bristol, UK-based classic rockers with a modern roll, Tax The Heat, have released a video for “Money In The Bank”, the first single from the forthcoming album Change Your Position, due in 2018 via Nuclear Blast.

Says the band: “As promised, here's a little something we have been working on recently. 'Money In The Bank' is the first single off our forthcoming album, Change Your Position. We hope you enjoy!

Vocalist Alex Veale continues: “We are extremely excited to unveil the first single from our new album. 'Money In The Bank' combines key elements of what we do best: big riffs, big choruses and filthy guitars. We believe that an album should be seen as a snapshot in time of an artist or band, this album has captured us at a particularly exciting moment. On November 8th we hit the road with Black Star Riders and will be playing some material from our forthcoming album."

Almanac, the symphonic metallers led by ex-Rage guitarist Victor Smolski, have released a fourth video trailer for their upcoming sophomore album, Kingslayer, out on November 24th via Nuclear Blast. Watch below.

Kingslayer was recorded with producer Andreas Herr at HeyDay Studios in Wuppertal, Germany. The cover artwork was once again created by Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák (Accept, Destruction).

"Our second strike is complete," reveals Victor Smolski and explains, that "Kingslayer is the logical follow-up to Tsar, just more compact, heavier and faster. The experience now under our belts gained from our many live experiences, including the two tours and festivals, has been fully implemented in the studio. The band have grown closer and stronger, you can feel this unified energy within the new tracks. We took a lot of time and gave our very best. Kingslayer is a crafted metal album with a lively power sound!"

Kingslayer tracklisting:

“Regicide”
“Children Of The Sacred Path”
“Guilty As Charged”
“Hail To The King”
“Losing My Mind”
“Kingslayer”
“Kingdom Of The Blind”
“Headstrong”
“Last Farewell”
“Red Flag”

“Children Of The Sacred Path” video:

“Losing My Mind” video:

Trailer #1:

Trailer #2:

Trailer #3:

Trailer #4:

Professionally-filmed video of Gojira performing the Magma album track, “Silvera”, at the 2016 edition of France’s Hellfest can be seen below:

In a recent interview with 90.3 WMSC-FM’s The Metal Teddy Bear Experience, Gojira’s Joe Duplantier tells Chris Annunziata that the band are still planning on releasing an EP in support of anti-whaling organization, Sea Shepherd.

Says Joe: “So, we released one song (“Of Blood And Salt”) that... the goal of that whole operation was to put the spotlight on Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which I think is important as an artist to put the spotlight on something more important than just being your band and promoting your band always. There are other things to promote and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society are doing an amazing job at protecting the oceans. They're trying their best to save the few whales left alive. There's a few tunas, I think they're still alive in the ocean. Stop eating that please, right now.

“We like to talk about them and somehow, mission accomplished because we brought a lot of people to their cause and brought more attention to them. They told us that too, ‘We noticed we have more metal heads now subscribing and sending money’. They work only with individual donations. No corporations or anything like that. So we like also the way they do things in their etiquette.

“We recorded four songs, one was released with Devin Townsend and Fredrik Thordendal from Meshuggah. The song is called "Of Blood And Salt" and it was released in 2011. There are three other songs that were on a hard drive that crashed at the time and it was a huge pain in the butt to retract all of this. But it was done two years later. We were such on a roll with the band and we were doing an album and going on tour, that it was difficult to go back to that. But right now as we speak, I have an engineer in my studio putting all this all back together and were trying to make this happen finally. I don't want to make a statement, ‘This is the release date’, because I learned my lesson. I'll talk about it when it is ready but I'm still working on it.”

Listen to the full interview below:

The Extended Sessions EP is the follow-up release to The Four Seasons album release by Vivaldi Metal Project, which hit the shelves in Summer 2016 on CD & double vinyl via Pride & Joy Music. The album up to today is one of the label’s best sellers and now being continued with this valuable EP which will shorten the waiting time for the fans until the next full album.

The digital version of the EP will be available at the usual outlets; the physical edition digipack is limited to 300 copies and will only be available at the band’s shows, at the label’s online shop and at selected mailorders.

Created and produced by Mistheria, Vivaldi Metal Project are currently working on bringing the project onto stage with full band, orchestra and choir. During summer/fall 2017, the band played a series of unplugged shows in Finland, in Bulgaria and in Italy in advance which resulted in the idea to put some of the extraordinary material onto this EP. The Extended Sessions includes four tracks which are centred around the group’s performance at Kitee International Music And Art Festival, which took place in Kitee (Finland) on July 13th, 2017. Arranged by Mistheria, the performance at the Sleeping Sun event featured Mistheria himself on piano and Tsena Stefanova on vocals. An epic video for this track will also be available soon online.

The Extended Sessions EP opens with a newly recorded unplugged studio version of “The Four Seasons” medley which again was arranged by Mistheria who performed on this track on piano and was joined by vocalists Tsena Stefanova, Angel Wolf-Black and Dimitar Belchev plus Abigail Stahlschmidt on violin. Additionally to this track, the song “Vita” - one of the album's single - is featured twice on the EP: once as exclusive “original vocal session” as recorded by Dimitar Belchev on the first demo version of this song which impressed Mistheria at the first listening, and once as instrumental “karaoke”. Both versions are delivered with a brand new mix by Ivan Moni Bidin at Artesonika studios.

“Vita” was originally released with different singers on last year’s album. The track was arranged by Zhivko Koev and the line-up here includes Dimitar Belchev on vocals, Srdjan Brankovic on guitars, Chris Caffery (TSO, Savatage) with a guitar solo, Jeffrey Revet on keyboards, Royal Hunt’s Andreas Passmark on bass and Martijn Peters on drums.

Like the Vivaldi Metal Project's full length album The Four Seasons, The Extended Sessions EP was mixed and mastered by Ivan Moni Bidin at Artesonika Studios in Italy and produced by Mistheria. Vivaldi Metal Project is currently booking more unplugged shows over Europe and the US. Dates will be announced soon.

(Photo - Martti Rosendahl)

Gothenburg, Sweden-based rockers HARDCORE SUPERSTAR will release a new single, "Baboon", on December 13. The song is taken from the band's upcoming album, "You Can't Kill My Rock 'N' Roll", which is tentatively due in March or April 2018.

HARDCORE SUPERSTAR singer Joakim "Jocke" Berg told Overdrive that "You Can't Kill My Rock 'N' Roll" was recorded in bassist Martin Sandvik's studio in Gothenburg "so there was no stress at all during the process. Things have been going really well," he said.

Asked if HARDCORE SUPERSTAR's recently released track "Have Mercy On Me" is a good indication of what fans can expect from the forthcoming disc, Jocke said: "If you ask me, I can say that even if 'Have Mercy On Me' is a very catchy song and I like it a lot and it just seemed like the perfect track to give a sort of appetizer to what to expect, I can tell you that there are much stronger songs to come. You won't be disappointed."

"Have Mercy On Me" was released to coincide with the band's co-headline tour of Europe with FOZZY. The song is available on all digital platforms and as an exclusive, limited-edition twelve-inch vinyl single. The B-side on the vinyl single is "Next Please", a demo from the writing sessions for "You Can't Kill My Rock 'N' Roll".

John Petrucci has hinted that DREAM THEATER's next album will be musically inspired by the band's current "Images, Words & Beyond" tour, which sees the pioneering group celebrating the 25th anniversary of its milestone RIAA-gold-certified album "Images And Words".

The guitarist, who will take part in the 2018 installment of the "G3" tour alongside DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen and tour founder Joe Satriani, spoke about DREAM THEATER's future plans during an appearance on the "Trunk Nation" show on SiriusXM channel Volume.

Asked when DREAM THEATER will get around to working on the follow-up to 2016's concept album "The Astonishing", Petrucci said: "Those two 'G3' tours [in Europe and the United States] will take me to the spring of next year, believe it or not, so we won't be able to get something going until some point next year and then we'll have a release the following year. But we kind of already know the direction of what we wanna do. We're really excited. Yeah, but it won't be for a while yet."

Pressed for some "hints" and "nuggets" about a possible musical direction for DREAM THEATER's next album, Petrucci said: "I think that reconnecting with the music from the era that we're playing now and kind of where our headspace was in the early '90s and everything, it's kind of, I guess, for lack of a better word, reconnected us with the musical style of that period of DREAM THEATER. So it's been really interesting talking about how we're gonna approach the next record and everything. So, yeah, we're psyched."

DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess told the Venezuelan chapter of Dream Theater World last year that the band's next record would see him and his bandmates going in a different direction from "The Astonishing", which was criticized by some fans for being too ambitious in scope. "I don't think it's a question of necessarily topping it," Jordan said. "I think that this is a particular creative adventure for us, to write something that was a concept album, very much like a musical or a rock opera. I think that whatever we decide to do next will be something obviously very different. And we'll invest our energies into that when it comes to that. Obviously, it's not gonna be another concept album — I just don't think that would be necessarily the best thing to do — but it will be some creative adventure that we'll feel like we want to put our energies behind."

"The Astonishing" was released in January 2016 via Roadrunner. The CD was recorded at Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove, New York, with Petrucci producing, studio luminary Richard Chycki (AEROSMITH, RUSH) engineering/mixing and legendary arranger, composer and conductor David Campbell orchestrating.

Even the Helsinki Vampires celebrate Christmas! To inject some black magic and gothic vibes into the most beautiful season of the year, Finnish rockers THE 69 EYES will launch their special music video for "Christmas In New York City" on November 24. The clip was filmed and directed by Ville Juurikkala, known from his previous work with THE 69 EYES, HIM, NIGHTWISH and AMORPHIS.

"This is about the last thing we haven't done yet — so it's our time to release a Christmas song!" says THE 69 EYES singer Jyrki 69. "This is also our tribute to the RAMONES and New York which both have been our main influences.

"This is our 'thank you for a great year' for our fans. The next 69 EYES album will be on its way soon!" The Christmas rock hymn will be available for download and streaming on November 24.

The Finns are currently working on the follow-up to their 2016 album "Universal Monsters".

According to The Pulse Of Radio, A PERFECT CIRCLE frontman Maynard James Keenan has issued a brief response to fans following reports that more than 60 concertgoers were ejected from an APC show over the weekend for taking photos in violation of the band's stated policy. After a fan complained about the policy on Instagram, Keenan wrote: "No. Recording. Of. Any. Kind. For. 25. Years. Guided experience. Unplug and enjoy the ride."

Keenan has also enacted a strict ban on photos with his other groups, TOOL and PUSCIFER, but it got renewed scrutiny after the ejections that took place at A PERFECT CIRCLE's show on Saturday night (November 4) in Reading, Pennsylvania.

David Farrar, the general manager of the Santander Arena & Performing Arts Center where the band performed, said on Instagram after a fan revealed he had snapped some photos: "We tossed over 60 people last night for taking pics." He later added, "This was 110 percent the band's policy and has been for Tool, APC, and Puscifer… it's not a new policy."

Stops on the current APC tour have featured printed warning signs posted around the venue, security guards announcing the policy and a video message displayed on the venue's video screens.

A PERFECT CIRCLE continues its fall tour on Wednesday night (November 8) in Boston, Massachusetts.

The band has been playing several new tracks on the road and recently issued a single called "The Doomed". A new studio album is expected out in early 2018.