"Make Them Bleed", the full-length debut from TERROR UNIVERSAL, the "horror metal" band featuring ILL NIÑO drummer Dave Chavarri (who also previously played with SOULFLY), has had its release date pushed back to January 19, 2018 from the previously announced October 2017 (via Minus Head Records). The disc will feature guest appearances by bassists John Moyer (DISTURBED, ART OF ANARCHY, ex-ADRENALINE MOB) and Tony Campos (FEAR FACTORY, MINISTRY, SOULFLY, STATIC-X). Campos appears on the track "Dead On Arrival", and Moyer can be heard on "Spines". Moyer says: "My thanks to TERROR UNIVERSAL for allowing me to play bass on their stellar song 'Spines'. Great song from a great band!" Campos adds: "Had a blast playing on the track 'Dead On Arrival'. Really cool tune. Heavy, grooving riffs. Great hook. Looking forward to what else TERROR UNIVERSAL does." Chavarri states: "I am beyond fucking excited to be releasing our debut full-length, 'Make Them Bleed', to all you sick fucks! This album is full of metal crushing grooves!" You can pre-order "Make Them Bleed" right now via Bandcamp or via the band's brand new PledgeMusic campaign. PledgeMusic pre-order incentives include digital download cards, signed CDs, limited-edition posters, t-shirts, stickers, limited edition blood-splatter vinyl, signed gear (including a guitar, drumhead and drum sticks), one-on-one music lessons, and more.

"Make Them Bleed" track listing:

01. Passage Of Pain02. Welcome To Hell03. Spines (feat. John Moyer)04. Make Them Bleed05. Through The Mirrors06. Dig You A Hole07. Dead On Arrival (feat. Tony Campos)08. Into Darkness09. Your Time Has Come10. Piece By Piece

Guitarist Ahrue Luster (ILL NIÑO; formerly of MACHINE HEAD), who was involved with TERROR UNIVERSAL in the early stages of the band, has not been involved with the group for over a year. TERROR UNIVERSAL is:

Vocals: PlagueDrums: MassacreGuitars: ThraxBass: Diabolus

Audio samples of all the songs that are set to appear on "Darkness Of Eternity", the eighth album from Finnish symphonic metallers AMBERIAN DAWN, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. The disc will be released on November 10 via Napalm Records.

"Darkness Of Eternity" track listing:

01. I'm The One02. Sky Is Falling03. Dragonflies04. Maybe05. Golden Coins06. Luna My Darling07. Abyss08. Ghostwoman09. Breathe Again10. Symphony Nr. 1, Part 2 - Darkness Of Eternity11. Anyone (bonus track)

The official lyric video for the album's first single, "Maybe", can be seen below.

Commented AMBERIAN DAWN keyboardist and mastermind Tuomas Seppälä: "This song represents the poppier side of the album.

"Most songs on this album are heavier and I'm glad that there was still room for a couple of softer songs too.

"So far I haven't put a side project band together for these different kinds of songs. Instead of that, I've wanted to make all those experiments with AMBERIAN DAWN.

"I was happy to produce this song as a tribute to ABBA's Benny Andersson. Most of the keyboards on this song was recorded at his studio in Stockholm and with his legendary keyboard 'Great White Elephant,' a Yamaha GX-1 which is often heard on ABBA songs in late '70's and early '80s.

"Lead vocal melody is actually based on a keyboard riff I composed at the age of 15 or something. That melody came back to me from somewhere and it became eventually the cornerstone of the whole song! After I got the main melody working in its final form, rest of the song kind of wrote itself.

"Those 16-beats with hi-hats which run through the whole song were there from the very first demo of mine and our drummer Joonas and bassist Jukka insisted keeping that style in the final version too."

Seppälä says: "'Darkness Of Eternity' is one of the most emotional AMBERIAN DAWN albums so far. It's got some really bombastic songs in mood of dark and symphonic melodic metal and in contrast to that also some really poppy songs too.

"For me, it's really hard to stick in one genre only and I constantly want to compose different kinds of songs!"

Tuomas adds: "The song 'Symphony Nr.1, Part 1 - The Witchcraft' told the story on the last record, 'Innuendo', before the time of 'Magic Forest'. The little girl is a healer and village elders buried her alive in a coffin. The track 'Symphony Nr.1, Part 2 - Darkness Of Eternity' on our upcoming record 'Darkness Of Eternity' tells the story of the girl lying in the coffin trying to get out. Darkness is asking her to dance the waltz of eternity. The story will continue in Part 3 and we will tell you how she became the Magic Forest's evil witch!" Regarding the "Darkness Of Eternity" recording process, Tuomas says: "We did a lot of production at legendary Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland: drum recordings, mixing by Mikko Karmila and mastering by Mika Jussila. We also used a live string section on orchestral parts and that added nice color on the sound.

"It's easy for me to say that this album is without any doubt the best sounding AMBERIAN DAWN album ever! It's a kind of monument for me and it introduces the many sides of me as composer.

"I still feel very lucky that I've got Capri [Päivi Virkkunen] on this band because she's probably the only singer capable singing all of those different styles with superior sound and feeling."

AMBERIAN DAWN released a compilation album of songs that originally appeared on their first four albums — "Circus Black" (2012), "End Of Eden" (2010), "The Clouds Of Northland Thunder" (2009) and "River Of Tuoni" (2008) — to showcase Virkkunen after the departure of Heidi Parviainen. "Re-Evolution" was made available on June 14, 2013 in Finland, distributed by Suomen Musiikki.

AMBERIAN DAWN parted ways with vocalist Heidi Parviainen in November 2012. Her final appearance with the band was at the Metal Female Voices Fest at the end of October 2012 in Belgium. AMBERIAN DAWN is:

Tuomas Seppälä – Keyboards, GuitarPäivi "Capri" Virkkunen - VocalsEmil Pohjalainen - GuitarJukka Hoffren - BassJoonas Pykälä-aho - Drums

Dey Street Books (formerly It Books), an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, will publish IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson's autobiography, "What Does This Button Do?", in the U.S. on October 31.

A one-minute promotional video for the audiobook version of "What Does This Button Do?" can be seen below.

Heavy metal pioneers since their formation in 1975, IRON MAIDEN have sold over ninety million albums and played over two thousand shows in sixty-three countries, making them one of the most successful and globally influential bands of all time. One of the world's most storied musicians, Dickinson has been the band's internationally acclaimed lead singer for more than thirty years, and quite aside from the decades spent delivering high-octane performances with his larger-than-life persona, Bruce has lived an extraordinary off-stage existence too. A true polymath, Bruce is, or has been, an airline pilot and captain, an aviation entrepreneur, a beer brewer, motivational speaker, film scriptwriter, twice-published novelist, radio presenter, TV actor and a world-class fencer.

Over the last couple of years, and throughout MAIDEN's "The Book Of Souls" world tour, which has covered thirty-nine countries and one hundred and seventeen shows since February 2016, Bruce has turned his unbridled creativity to writing his memoirs, longhand (in seven A4 notebooks no less).

In "What Does This Button Do?", Bruce (a man who famously never gives interviews about his personal life) shares, for the first time, the most fascinating recollections, including his thirty years with MAIDEN, the early days, his childhood within the eccentric British school system, going solo, realising his dream of flying jumbo jets and his recent battle with tongue cancer. Dickinson is so much more than the frontman of one of the biggest bands on the planet. A rock icon, a true renaissance man, Bruce has been, and remains, a man of legend.

Bold, honest, intelligent and very entertaining, "What Does This Button Do?" is the long-awaited window into the life, heart and mind of one of our most adventurous and multifaceted sons. The global publication on October 19 will be accompanied with a commensurate international book tour. More details to come soon.

Bruce said: "It was flattering to be approached to write a book about my experiences and it seems an appropriate time to do this."

Publishing director Jack Fogg negotiated world rights with Adrian Sington at Kruger Cowne, Dave Daniel at Celebrity Speakers and MAIDEN's management, Phantom Music Management, and will publish in conjunction with Denise Oswald, senior editor at Dey Street in HarperCollins U.S.

Fogg said: "There's no one like Bruce. Which other rock musician can fly a 747, or fence at an international level? He's a total one-off; engaging, funny, warm, self-deprecating — a British eccentric in its very best form. His book will be outstanding and I am so delighted we get to publish it and work with him."

Oswald said: "Bruce Dickinson might quite literally be the world's most interesting man. He's a true Renaissance man, and being one of the greatest rock singers of all time is merely the beginning. His memoir, like his voice, is sure to set a new gold standard and we're thrilled to be working with him on it."

Anette Ekström, MD HarperCollins Nordic, said: "We are so very pleased to be the publishing house for this exciting book! The Nordic countries have a steady fan base for heavy metal, and IRON MAIDEN in particular. Our aim is to publish the memoir in all four Nordic languages, as close to the English release as possible as we understand the fans will be anxious for it."

An excerpt from the book, in which we pick up the story at the tail end of Bruce's time in SAMSON, heading into a rather important meeting at Reading festival, can be found at IronMaiden.com.

Dickinson will read from "What Does This Button Do?", talk about the experience of writing it and answer questions from the audience at half a dozen U.S. appearances in late October and early November:

Oct. 30 - Huntington, NY @ Book Revue at 7 p.m.Oct. 31 - New York City, NY @ Hudson Union Society at 12 p.m.Oct. 31 - Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar (hosted by Word bookstore) at 7:30 p.m.Nov. 01 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater (hosted by Book Soup) at 7 p.m.Nov. 02 - Menlo Park, CA @ Kepler's Books at 7:30 p.m.Nov. 03 - New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre (hosted by the Strand bookstore) at 6 p.m.Nov. 04 - Ridgewood, NJ @ Bookends bookstore at 1 p.m.

Chris Annunziata of the 90.3 WMSC-FM radio station recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Joseph Duplantier of French progressive metallers GOJIRA. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below.

Asked if there are still plans for GOJIRA to release the long-in-the-works "Sea Shepherd" EP, Joseph said: "The goal of that whole [project] was to put the spotlight on Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Which I think is important, as an artist, to put the spotlights on something more important than just being a band and promoting our band always; there's 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. And there's a few tunas, I think, they're still alive in the ocean."

He continued: "So we like to talk about them, and somehow, mission accomplished, because we brought a lot of people to their cause and we brought more attention to them. And they told us that too. [They said] 'We noticed that we have more metalheads now subscribing and sending money.' 'Cause they work only with individual donations; they don't work with any corporations or anything like that. So we like also the way they do things and their ethics."

Joseph added: "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's three other songs that were on a hard drive that crashed at the time, and it was a huge pain in the butt to retrack all of this. But it was done, like, three years later. But 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 of this back together and we're trying to make this happen finally. But I don't wanna make a statement, 'Oh, this is the release date,' 'cause I learned my lesson. I'll talk about it when it's ready, but I'm still working on it."

Duplantier was also asked if GOJIRA will commemorate the tenth anniversary of the band's "The Way Of All Flesh" album next year by performing the LP live in its entirety. He said: "No. We're not into that whole anniversary thing. Maybe we'll release something, you know, like a special edition [of the record], but I don't think we'll play a gig where we play the whole album or something like that. I like when bands do that, but I don't feel like we're capable of doing that. There's always that one song [on] the record that we'll never play, 'cause it's just too challenging. [Laughs]

Pressed about which song on "The Way Of All Flesh" would be difficult for GOJIRA to reproduce live, Joseph said: "'Esoteric Surgery'. There's these few seconds that are super challenging. As a guitar player, I can play the whole song easily. As a singer, I can sing the whole song. But doing both together is a bit challenging. I could do it, but I'm just super lazy. Sorry."

Last year, GOJIRA's "Magma" staked its claim amongst the best albums of 2016, earning Metal Hammer's coveted "Album Of The Year" title while also landing on Rolling Stone's "Top 20 Metal Albums of 2016," Consequence Of Sound's "Top 50 Albums of 2016" / "Top 10 Metal Albums of 2016" lists, and Pop Matters's "Best Metal of 2016" recap. Additionally, "Stranded", the lead single off "Magma", was named one of Stereogum's "100 Favorite Songs Of 2016." "Magma" also earned GOJIRA their first-ever Grammy nominations for "Best Metal Performance" and "Best Rock Album." GOJIRA's crushing track "Silvera" received a nomination for "Best Metal Performance", while "Magma" was nominated for "Best Rock Album" at the awards. "Magma" took the #1 spot on Billboard's Hard Rock Albums chart upon debut, making GOJIRA the first French band to hold the #1 spot on the chart in its nine-year existence. The release of "Magma" marked the highest chart debuts of GOJIRA's career, landing them at #4 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart, #6 on Billboard's Tastemaker Albums chart and Top 25 on the Billboard 200. Furthermore, GOJIRA earned career-high chart positions around the globe, including Top 10s in France, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Finland and Norway, with Top 15 debuts in Australia and Germany.

Los Angeles metal titans WINDS OF PLAGUE have debuted an all-new music video today for their brand new track "Kings Of Carnage". This is the second bit of music we're hearing from the band's upcoming LP, "Blood Of My Enemy", which will be released on October 27 via Entertainment One Music (eOne) / Good Fight Music.

"Blood Of My Enemy" is the follow-up to the "Resistance" LP, which was released in 2013.

"Never Alone" and "Kings Of Carnage" are available as iTunes instant-gratification tracks. Fans who pre-order the LP on iTunes will get the tracks as instant downloads. "Never Alone" and "Kings Of Carnage" also available on all streaming platforms.

Vocalist Johnny Plague states: "Over a year ago, I started making weekly trips up to a small apartment in North Hollywood on my days off to work on music for WINDS OF PLAGUE with Noah Sebastian from BAD OMENS. It was strange at first since past WINDS OF PLAGUE records were worked on in larger recording studios or rehearsal spaces and now here I am sitting on the floor of this bedroom working on record number six."

He continues: "Although it was different and humbling, it proved to be the unedited creative environment we needed for this record. We had no time limits, no 'suits' giving their input. It was just a few friends sitting in a room together, having a good time creating music. Something I haven't been able to experience in a very long time.

"Sometimes to move forward you have to take a few steps back.

"I can confidently say this is the most satisfied I have been with a WINDS OF PLAGUE record. I feel producers Noah Sebastian and Joakim Karlsson have helped us to further develop our unique approach to symphonic deathcore with distinct epic orchestral-backed choruses walking the fine line of brutal and melodic."

WINDS OF PLAGUE teamed up with artist Pär Olofsson to create the stunning cover art seen below.

Says Johnny: "'Blood Of My Enemy" takes us back to the iconic samurai theme. The imagery is inspired by a lyric from the title track, "I will give my life on the battlefield, drowning in the blood of my enemy," which represents to me a 'I will fight to the end' state of mind. Pär Olofsson brilliantly portrays the aftermath of an epic war showing an almost celestial spark of life amongst the carnage."

WINDS OF PLAGUE will support SUICIDE SILENCE on the "10 Year Anniversary of The Cleansing" tour for a handful of dates in December.

"Blood Of My Enemy" track listing: 01. A New Day02. Nameless Walker03. Kings Of Carnage04. Soul Eater05. From Failure, Comes Clarity06. Blood Of My Enemy07. Snakeskin08. Never Alone09. 515010. Either Way You Lose11. A Walk Among The Dead12. Dark Waters

On September 11, 2017, Virgil Howe — the youngest son of YES guitarist Steve Howe — passed away unexpectedly at the age of 41. As a result, YES announced the immediate cancellation of the remaining dates of its "Yestival" tour.

Steve and Virgil's collaborative album, "Nexus", was completed before the tour started and was due out this year. Steve has decided to continue with these plans.

"Virgil and I had only recently completed recording 'Nexus', which contains eleven of his tunes to which I added a guitar to suit each one," Steve said. "We delivered it to InsideOut Music in August for release on 17th November.

"We started to work together in 2016 by selecting about nine tunes from his 'stockpile' of piano-based music that he'd periodically sent Jan and I each time he'd written and recorded a new idea. I began adding guitars to them, then I'd play them to Virgil. He'd then surprise me by bringing up other channels of instrumentation which I'd never heard. The tunes went from straightforward 'duets' to something bigger and better, more of a complete picture than a mere shape. 'Free Fall' and 'Nick's Star' were added from earlier sessions, the latter being his tribute to the passing of his best friend Nick Hirsch. "'Nexus' explores a completely different side of Virgil's ability, as a writer and keyboard player — 'in his own right.' His talents were multi-diverse, so sitting at a keyboard and computer or in the middle of his drum kit, at all his regular DJ-ing gigs or on the radio, he always gave his best.

"We hope that the music just completed will stand as a fitting tribute to his life and legacy."

Thomas Waber, label manager/A&R international, and Stefan Franke, product manager at InsideOut Music, said in a statement: "The sudden passing of Virgil Howe deeply shocked the entire InsideOut Music team as it happened just a few hours after he had approved the first press release about 'Nexus'. It was supposed to be a new beginning for an exciting musical collaboration, but now it has become one of the saddest albums we have ever worked on.

"We left the decision over the release of 'Nexus' up to Steve and respect his wish to continue as originally discussed. Being fathers too, we can only guess how hard it must be to deal with such a loss and we sincerely hope you will all enjoy 'Nexus' despite the circumstances under which it is coming out. Our thoughts are with the Howe family during this difficult time." From first hitting the keys of his father's Moog synthesizer at the age of four to playing in front of two hundred thousand people behind the drum kit for FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON's AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS, Virgil leaves behind a prolific output that covered a wide range of genres from electronica to psychedelic sounds, from rock to synth and beyond. With his band LITTLE BARRIE he also was part of the score for the AMC TV series "Better Call Saul".

On "Nexus", Steve handled acoustic, electric and steel guitars whereas Virgil took care of bass, drums and all keys. The results are beautiful, diverse compositions varying between neoclassical elements, dreamy jazz, straightforward grooves and cinematic, spacey themes. "Nexus" is an instrumental album that impresses with its feeling and moods and unites two musician's individual biographies and styles as a fascinating whole.

"Nexus" will be released on November 17 as a special edition CD digipak (international version), jewelcase CD (USA, Canada, Mexico), black 180-gram LP plus CD and digital download. The artwork was created by Virgil's five-year old daughter Zuni.

"Nexus" track listing:

01. Nexus (04:57)02. Hidden Planet (03:27)03. Leaving Aurura (03:40)04. Nick's Star (03:41)05. Night Hawk (03:35)06. Moon Rising (03:31)07. Passing Titan (04:06)08. Dawn Mission (05:07)09. Astral Plane (03:37)10. Infinite Space (02:08)11. Freefall (02:09)

Fan-filmed video footage of GUNS N' ROSES' October 8 concert at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania can be seen below.

The 2017 North American leg of GUNS N' ROSES' "Not In This Lifetime" tour kicked off July 27 in St. Louis, Missouri.

The trek features classic GUNS members Slash on guitar, Duff McKagan on bass and Axl Rose on vocals, backed by drummer Frank Ferrer, guitarist Richard Fortus, keyboardist Dizzy Reed and second keyboardist Melissa Reese.

According to ticket sales data reported to Billboard Boxscore, box-office grosses from fifteen shows during the summer 2017 North American leg of the "Not In This Lifetime" tour added $53 million in sold ticket revenue to the trek's overall gross that is now believed to have passed the $300 million mark since its April 2016 launch.

Pollstar reported earlier in the year that "Not In This Lifetime" tour was the most popular and highest-grossing global tour of 2017.

About seventy people travel with the show in addition to the truck drivers; that number goes upwards of fie hundred, including the local workers, by show date once catering, security, etc. are factored in, according to the tour's production manager, Dale "Opie" Skjerseth.

GUNS kicked off its long-rumored and long-awaited reunion trek in a year and a half ago with a club show in Hollywood and appearances in Las Vegas and at California's Coachella festival.

The 2016 North American leg, which featured twenty-five stadium shows in twenty-one cities, grossed a whopping $116.8 million with over one million tickets sold.

Original FOREIGNER members Lou Gramm (vocals), Dennis Elliott (drums), Al Greenwood (keyboards), Ian McDonald (multi-instrumentalist) and FOREIGNER's second bassist, Rick Wills, rejoined the band's founder Mick Jones (guitar) on stage for a two-night special event on October 6 and October 7 at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Michigan for the ultimate toast to forty years of rock and roll. This special event was recorded for a forthcoming 2018 TV special, DVD and accompanying album release.

Jones, Gramm, Greenwood, Elliott, McDonald and Wills ran through a five-song mini set consisting of "Feels Like the First Time" — which Jones dedicated to late original bassist Ed Gagliardi — "Double Vision", "Blue Morning, Blue Day", "Long Long Way From Home" and "Dirty White Boy". The musicians later joined FOREIGNER's current lineup to play "I Want to Know What Love Is" and "Hot Blooded".

Fan-filmed video footage of the October 7 performance can be seen below (recorded by Ronald Mark).

Although there have been previous partial FOREIGNER reunions earlier this year — in Florida, Spain and at Jones Beach in New York — the Michigan concerts marked the first time all of the musicians were together onstage at the same time.

Prior to the October 6 concert, Jones said: "Playing alongside Lou, Dennis, Al, Ian and Rick again certainly brought back some special memories and we decided it would be the ultimate celebration to join together on one stage, and give the fans the best possible farewell to our fortieth anniversary."

Gramm told Billboard that FOREIGNER's current linup is "great." He added: "They made us feel very welcome and no attitudes or anything. It really felt like we all belonged onstage." Gramm and Jones's June 2013 performance of "I Want To Know What Love Is" and "Juke Box Hero" at the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in New York City marked the first time the pair performed together in a decade after Gramm left FOREIGNER for a second time. Kelly Hansen has fronted the group since 2005. Jones is the sole remaining founding member in FOREIGNER's current lineup.

FOREIGNER recently completed a fortieth-anniversary U.S. tour with support from CHEAP TRICK and JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE.

OPERATION: MINDCRIME, the band led by former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, will release "The New Reality", the third and final of a concept album trilogy exploring international politics, the world economy and social ethos, on December 1 via Frontiers Music Srl.

"The New Reality" track listing:

01. A Head Long Jump02. Wake Me Up03. It Was Always You04. The Fear05. Under Control06. The New Reality07. My Eyes08. A Guitar In Church?09. All For What?10. The Wave11. Tidal Change12. The Same Old Story

The cover artwork can be seen below.

"The whole OPERATION: MINDCRIME project was really a group effort," Tate told the Chicago Tribune.

"I wanted to have an open-door policy where really great players could come in, contribute and also do other projects. I just called all the people I really respect that I've met over the years, asked them to be part of it and gave them all the material I've written.

"We did one really massive session and recorded everything. I've just been finishing it over the years."

OPERATION: MINDCRIME recorded and released the first part of the trilogy, "The Key" in 2015 and followed it a year later with "Resurrection".

"Resurrection" continued to track Tate's protagonist, H, as he plowed ahead in his quest to bring a project called The New Reality to fruition. "I wanted it to be what happens next, of course," Tate explained to Billboard. "The first part was kind of set up where you see a little bit about what's going on with the characters; the second one is what actually happened, then how do the characters get out of it."

Among the musicians who have contributed to the OPERATION: MINDCRIME project are keyboardist Randy Gane; guitarists Kelly Gray and Scott Moughton; DISTURBED bassist John Moyer; and drummers Brian Tichy (OZZY OSBOURNE, WHITESNAKE) and Simon Wright (AC/DC, DIO).

"I love storytelling. I like telling stories with music," Tate told the Chicago Tribune. "It's something that I just grew up with, listening to the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT's 'Tales Of Mystery And Imagination' and PINK FLOYD's 'The Wall' and 'The Dark Side Of The Moon'.

"They were fantastic albums that told stories that really got under my skin and influenced me. It's what I enjoy."

PÄNZER, the heavy metal "supergroup" featuring DESTRUCTION frontman Schmier alongside Pontus Norgren (HAMMERFALL) and V.O. Pulver (G.U.R.D., POLTERGEIST) on guitar and Stefan Schwarzmann (ACCEPT, ex-RUNNING WILD) on drums, released its second album, "Fatal Command", on October 6 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2014's "Send Them All To Hell" marks PÄNZER's first release since the departure of guitarist Herman Frank (ACCEPT, VICTORY), who left the group to focus on his solo project.

The official lyric video for the song "I'll Bring You The Night", taken from "Fatal Command", can be seen below.

Schmier comments on the song: "We all have a bad day sometimes. This song might help you through this! Sometimes the animal in you needs to get tamed; people with a high temper like me will understand… hahaha! But I think this is the most groovy track on the record, melodic but still dirty and in your face with a tight and driving right-hand picking. It is the most German-sounding track on the record. You gotta play it loud!!!"

"Fatal Command" track listing:

01. Satan's Hollow02. Fatal Command03. We Can Not Be Silenced04. I'll Bring You The Night05. Scorn And Hate06. Afflicted07. Skullbreaker08. Bleeding Allies09. The Decline (…And The Downfall)10. Mistaken11. Promised Land

Bonus (digipak and 2LP only!)

12. Wheels Of Steel

"Fatal Command" lives and breathes heavy metal like a few other albums of recent years do. It is a monolith of a record on which the tempestuous music, the provocative artwork and Schmier's social criticism come together under a metallic and indestructible hide, courtesy of Little Creek Studio in Basel, Switzerland. One thing, however, is setting "Fatal Command" apart from the perfect heavy metal record: "There's no ballad! But as the singer, I wanted to spare mankind," Schmier laughs. Consequently, PÄNZER prefer to hit the throttle and concentrate on kicking as much ass as possible. "Fatal Command" proudly wears the insignia that so many current bands are lacking, a bold statement against wimps and posers. PÄNZER swear a solemn oath on "Fatal Command": They will be true to heavy metal in good as well as in bad times, in sickness and in health. They will love it and honor it all the days of their lives until death does them part. Amen!

In a recent interview with Metal Master Kingdom, Schmier said about PÄNZER: "Lineup changes are always a little difficult, but, basically, the backbone of the band didn't change at all; we kept everything rolling. And it's great fun. To me, it's a great alternative to play heavy metal — just straight metal and maybe very German also. And there's no limits; we just do what we want. There's no high expectations that we have to sound like this or that; we just praise the good old fucking metal."

Regarding the musical direction of "Fatal Command", Schmier said: "It's a lot of JUDAS PRIEST, ACCEPT… but there's also a lot of fast-forward music. There's no ballads… I think the new one is even more melodic [than the first one]. There's some really catchy choruses and nice hooklines, a lot of great lead guitars, double harmonies everywhere and stuff."

Pulver and Norgren officially joined PÄNZER in December. At the time, V.O. stated about his decision to hook up with Schmier and Stefan: "After producing the debut with PÄNZER, the guys asked me to help them out live to help provide the double axe-attack on stage. Of course I took the opportunity to rock out with my buddies. And when the chance came up to join them permanently, I didn't hesitate to accept and now I can't wait to play the sound of my youth!"

Norgren was just as excited to join the heavy metal war machine. "It was not a hard decision when I got asked to join the PÄNZER project; it was a straight-up YES!" he said. "To be able to create music with good friends is the most important thing in my world and in this band, having fun when making music, is number one. I'm looking forward to all of the craziness that the future is going to bring with these guys. So let's kick some serious...!"

THE OFFSPRING is planning to release a new studio album in 2018.

Singer Dexter Holland and guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman spoke about the band's long-awaited follow-up to 2012's "Days Go By" during an interview at last month's Rock In Rio festival in Brazil.

Asked if it's true that THE OFFSPRING will make new music available in the not-too-distant future, Dexter said (see video below): "It is true! We're working on it." Noodles added: "We have been, yeah, for a while. We've got a few songs already done. We wanna do a couple more, and we definitely wanna get something out soon. Our fans have waited long enough, I think, so we wanna get something in their hands that they can listen to and hold and put in their ears."

As for a possible release date for the next THE OFFSPRING record, Dexter said: "2018, for sure!"

THE OFFSPRING issued its ninth album, "Days Gone By", five years ago. It spent 2014 on the road promoting the twentieth anniversary of its breakout album, "Smash", by performing the disc in its entirety at a number of shows.

In April, THE OFFSPRING played its 1992 album "Ignition" in full at a benefit show in Berkeley, California, to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of 924 Gilman, a nonprofit music and art community space.

Earlier in the year, Noodles told the Phoenix New Times that THE OFFSPRING has "been really lucky" in that the band has "had a bunch of success" and is able to do what they love to do despite a steep decline in recorded-music sales in the last few years. He said: "We don't have to get day jobs. [Laughs] I hate when I see one of my fave bands, like someone that's super-influential and consistently making good music, and they have to get day jobs and can’t just do their music. And that's unfortunate. So when bands that are heroes of mine… to see them struggle and deal with the Internet and piracy, it's a problem. We personally benefit from the Internet being relatively a free exchange of ideas. It's mixed feelings; gotta take good with the bad. I love I can get on Twitter and get feedback from fans immediately and share ideas. It's more positive for us."

Photo credit: Sam Jones / MSO PR

Thanks: DyingScene.com

Five years ago, New Hampshire-based groove-thrash band Death Rattle self-released their debut album, Man's Ruin, which served as a striking introduction to the fist-in-face outfit that channeled the musical styles of their favorite bands into sharp-taloned songs that sunk deep. Back, refreshed and heavier than ever, Death Rattle return with their sophomore full-length album, Volition, set for independent release on October 20th. The album is available for pre-order now via Big Cartel - more pre-order options are coming soon. A new video for “Love And War”, directed by Emvision Productions, is streaming below.

After charging out the gates with the release of their music video for "Love and War" last week, Death Rattle is following up with another blistering new track, "Adrenalize".The band describes the track as, "a musical description of adrenaline pumping through your veins as a major battle approaches!"

Death Rattle perform thrash with a purpose - music that emphasizes groove and lethal riffage over speed and interchangeable guitar parts. It's a sound bred from the attitude and angst of New England, a region that has faced economic and social strife and frustration time and again. Yet every time it lowers its head and pushes forward, obstacles be damned.
 
"Volition is the act of using free will to accomplish something," says guitarist and main songwriter Ryan VanderWolk. "It's taken a lot of work, but we've been able to overcome a lot of obstacles as a band, so the name has meaning that's very relevant to our experience."
 
With more time to work on and fine-tune the songs on their second album, Death Rattle were able to approach each cut from various musical directions to see what worked best. The band recorded the final tracks appearing on Volition at Brick Hithouse studio in Cape Cod, MA with engineer Sean Fitzpatrick over the course of several months.

Tracklisting:

“Internal Determination”
“Love And War”
“Sentenced To Hell”
“Snake In The Grass”
“Adrenalize”
“Sociopath”
“Order Within Chaos”
“Unfinished Business”
“Doomsday”
“From Blood To Black”

"Adrenalize":

“Love And War” video:

In addition to featuring stronger, more original songs, Volition features a high-energy performance that effectively captures the frenzied excitement of the band's high-impact concerts. "We live for playing live and that's one thing that we spent a lot of time working at as a band," says VanderWolk. "We love bands that bring their albums to the stage and come alive. We've always tried to do that and now we finally have an album that's worthy of our live show."

Death Rattle will support the release of Volition on their upcoming tour supporting The Convalescence, Wings Denied and Shaping The Legacy. Death Rattle will appear on dates running from October 21 in Placerville, CA through November 18 in Englewood, OH. See below for a full list of tour dates featuring Death Rattle.

Following is a message from Saigon Kick guitarist Jason Bieler about his ongoing side-project, Owl Stretching:

"New music hot off the presses! Today I learned that mp3's don't get better by heating or pressing them. Who knew?"

Listen to and purchase the new EP using the widget below.

Birds Of Prey EP by Owl Stretching

The tracklist is as follows:

"Birds Of Prey"
"Disarmed & Disowned"
"Wonderwall"
"Don't Bring Me Down"
"Lion's Head"

Bieler recently checked in with an update on Owl Stretching:

"I'm so proud that with no label, no press, no radio, no crowdfunding and without even a single live show we just passed 100k plays on our Bandcamp site! So a huge thanks to all of you for the support and continuing to make it grow! Amazing things can happen when you only think about creating music! Please keep spreading the word!"

Denver’s nihilistic trio, Primitive Man, return with Caustic, their second full-length offering of soul-crushing blackened doom and noise-ridden claustrophobia. A full album stream is available below.

Recorded and produced at Flatline Audio by Dave Otero (Cobalt, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation), Caustic is 12 songs and 75+ minutes of bloodcurdling howls, abysmal tones and dense, unsettling feedback spewing forth a cesspool of utter misery. With lyrical themes ranging from political corruption, personal struggle and the crumbling social climate facing the world today, Caustic serves as a cataclysmic soundtrack for a world gone awry.

Caustic is available now on CD/2xLP/CS/Digital via Relapse Records. Physical packages and digital orders are available via Relapse.com here and Bandcamp here.

Caustic tracklisting:

“My Will”
“Victim”
“Caustic”
“Commerce”
“Tepid”
“Ash”
“Sterility”
“Sugar Hole”
“The Weight”
“Disfigured”
“Inevitable”
“Absolutes”

Album stream:

“Victim” video:

“Commerce” visualizer:

(Photo - Alvino Salcedo)

The release of the self-titled debut from British hard rockers, Bigfoot, is scheduled for October 13th. A lyric video for the album’s opening song, “Karma”, is available for streaming below.

With a wide range of influences from The Eagles through to Pantera, the group boasts the powerful vocals of Antony Ellis, dual lead guitars from Sam Millar and Mick McCullagh, plus the thunderous rhythm section of bassist Matt Avery and drummer Tom Aspinall.

The self-titled debut album was co-produced by the band with Justin Richards (who also mixed the record), and consists of eleven songs.

Tracklisting:

“Karma”
“The Fear”
“Tell Me A Lie”
“Forever Alone”
“Eat Your Words”
“Prisoner Of War”
“Freak Show”
“I Dare You”
“The Devil In Me”
“Uninvited”
“Yours”

“Karma” lyric video:

“Forever Alone”:

“The Fear” video:

 
Bigfoot is:

Antony Ellis - vocals
Sam Millar - guitar
Mick McCullagh - guitar
Matt Avery - bass
Tom Aspinall - drums

Narcotic Wasteland, the full-time project of former Nile frontman Dallas Toler-Wade, is set to release a brand new, full-length album, entitled Delirium Tremens, on October 13th via Megaforce Records/MRI. Delirium Tremens is now available for pre-order here, with more options coming soon.

A few weeks ago, the band surprised fans with a brand new track, "Faces Of Meth", to great acclaim. Today, you can watch a guitar playthrough of the track.

Dallas says, "When writing this song, I was tapping into some of the musical ideas I had in the early 90s. I have always loved the toxic tri-tone sound. So, years ago I figured out a way to play them using my index and middle, then kind of hammering on the next strings over with my middle and pinky. This is all over the two albums in one form or another, and it is something I have quite enjoyed experimenting with over the years."

Check out an official Gear Gods "Rigged" video detailing the guitar gear used on Delirium Tremens:

Delirium Tremens shines a spotlight on negative human behavior, again inspired by - but not entirely based on - our country's addiction epidemic. Loosely inspired by the unstable drug culture present in the band's stomping grounds of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Delirium Tremens traverses an atmosphere of instability and toxicity that audibly manifests as a gritty, unrelenting, pulverizing extreme metal storm. On Delirium Tremens, Narcotic Wasteland manages to create challenging music without losing a sense of meaning and vital emotional connection with the listener.

"The topic of drug use and death is still present, but we are also branching off a bit to talk about venomous human behavior, self-reflection, and big pharmaceutical companies ruining lives for big profits," continues Dallas."I'm very excited for our fans, and fans of metal to hear this album. I feel in many ways it's our best work, yet I feel we are only skimming the surface of what is possible with this band."

Delirium Tremens was produced and mixed by Narcotic Wasteland at Vegas View Recording and Dallas' home studio. For recording and mixing, the band tapped Grammy award winning producer Neil Kernon at Auslander, with mastering by metal producer-elite Alan Douches at West West Side Music.

Dallas adds: "I have worked with Neil Kernon on many albums at this point. He has always inspired me and pushed me to be better than I thought I could be. He is a great producer and a great friend. He is brutally honest. That's one of the things I love about him the most."

Delirium Tremens tracklisting:

“Introspective Nightmares”
“Faces Of Meth”
“Return To The Underground”
“We Agnostics”
“In Memoriam” (intro)
“Bleed And Swell”
“Delirium Tremens”
“Self Immolation”
“Life Revolted”
“You Will Die Alone”
“Husk”
“Pharma Culture”

“Faces Of Meth” lyric video:

In support of the new album, Narcotic Wasteland will head out on a 20+ city North American tour, beginning October 21st in Greenville, SC and hitting several states and provinces, coming to an end in Orlando, FL on December 9th. Select dates will feature support from Dreaming Dead and Extinction Level Event. See below for a full listing of tour dates and get tickets via individual venues as they become available.

Tour dates:

October
21 - Greenville, SC - The Radio Room
24 - Houston, TX - Walter's Downtown
25 - Fort Worth, TX - The Rail Club
26 - OKC, OK - Thunder Alley
27 - Wichita, KS - The Elbow Room
29 - Las Vegas, NV - The Dive Bar
30 - San Diego, CA - Brick by Brick
31 - Anaheim, CA - Doll Hut

November
3 - Bend, OR - The Third Street Pub
4 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
5 - Vancouver, BC - Astoria
7 - Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room (BRIXX)
8 - Calgary, AB - Dickens Pub
22 - Akron, OH - The Empire
24 - Joliet, IL - The Forge
26 - Westland, MI - The Token
28 - Montreal, QC - Piranha Bar
29 - Quebec City, QC - l'anti bar & spectacles
30 - Manchester, NH - The Jewel

December
1 - Amityville, NY - Revolution Room
3 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie
6 - Chesapeake, VA - Riffhouse
8 - Charleston, SC - The Sparrow
9 - Orlando, FL - Bombshells Tavern

Support bands: 10/30-11/5 Dreaming Dead, 11/30-12/6 Extinction Level Event

Narcotic Wasteland is:

Dallas Toler-Wade - Guitar, Vocals
Ed Rhone - Guitar Vocals
Chris "Lutachrist" Dupre - Bass, Vocals
Phil Cancilla - Drums

Spanish goregrind stalwarts, Haemorrhage, have released their seventh studio album, We Are The Gore, via Relapse Records. The album is available on CD/LP/Digital. Physical packages and digital orders are available via Relapse.com here and Bandcamp here. A full album stream is available below.

Embalmed at Mpire Studio in Madrid by Alfredo and Javi Ustara and mastered by Brad Boatright (Obituary, Nails, Skinless), We Are The Gore embodies 14 tracks and 35 blood-soaked minutes of pathological gore, ideal for listening to in mortuaries and mausoleums.

With numerous guest appearances from current and former members of Carcass, Impaled, Dead Infection, Ghoul and others, Haemorrhage take their nauseating blend of scalpel-sharp riffs, triple threat guttural vocals, and bone-scraping rhythms to a new extreme. One listen to We Are The Gore will leave you soaked in buckets of bile and feeling like a freshly made cadaver.

Tracklisting:

“Nauseating Employments”
“Gore Gourmet”
“We Are The Gore”
“Transporting Cadavers”
“Bathed In Bile”
“The Cremator’s Song”
“Medical Maniacs”
“Forensick Squad”
“Gynecrologist”
“Miss Phlebotomy”
“C.S.C. (Crime Scene Cleaners)”
“Prosector’s Revenge”
“Organ Trader”
“Intravenous Molestation Of The Obstructionist Arteries (O-Pus Vii)”
“Artifacts Of The Autopsy” (Bonus Track)

Album stream:

“We Are The Gore” video:

“Transporting Cadavers” in-studio video:

“Nauseating Employments” lyric video:

Haemorrhage lineup:

Luisma - Guitar/Vocals
Ana - Guitar
Lugubrious - Vocals
Ramon - Bass
Erik - Drums

(Photos- Miguel Angel Galindo)

Akercocke, the celebrated masters of dark and twisted British extreme metal, have released a video for “One Chapter Closing For Another To Begin”, featured on their new studio album, Renaissance In Extremis, out now via Peaceville. Check out the video below, and order the new album in various formats at this location.

Towering above the vast majority of nefarious contemporary noisemakers, London’s Akercocke erupted across the consciousness of the UK metal scene in the late ‘90s, wielding a fiendishly inventive blend of death, black and progressive metal. Their distinctive, smartly-dressed demeanour and eloquent preoccupation with all things dark and Satanic marked them out both as ferociously individual artists and enlightened students of the pitch-black sonic code. Immediately embraced by the British faithful upon the release of debut album Rape Of The Bastard Nazarene, Akercocke spent the following decade leading the creative charge for their entire native scene.

Collectively buoyed by a renewed sense of purpose, the band reunited with former home Peaceville Records, to unleash their sixth full-length release - Renaissance In Extremis. Mixed by legendary studio guru Neil Kernon (Nile, Deicide, Thin Lizzy) and mastered in NYC by Alan Douches (Death, Misfits, Cro-Mags) at West West Side Music, Renaissance In Extremis is nothing short of a new dawn for these most eccentric of extremists.

A comprehensive reinvention and expansion of the band’s multifarious sound, Renaissance In Extremis delivers euphoric force and mind-boggling weirdness. There are scything thrash and death metal riffs in abundance, plus warped but elegant melodies and clouds of ugly dissonance; moments of unsettling calm and quiet. Renaissance In Extremis is a bold, bullish and belligerent statement of creative intent: metal’s dark spirit reborn in an explosion of bright ideas and inspirational fury.

Standard CD tracklisting:

“Disappear”
“Unbound By Sin”
“Insentience”
“First To Leave The Funeral”
“Familiar Ghosts”
“A Final Glance Back Before Departing”
“One Chapter Closing For Another To Begin”
“Inner Sanctum”
“A Particularly Cold September”

“One Chapter Closing For Another To Begin” video:

“Disappear”:

Akercocke have confirmed they will be heading out on a headline tour of the UK in support of the release of Renaissance In Extremis. Hecate Enthroned will be in support.

Inner Sanctum tour:

October
13 - Glasgow, Scotland - Audio
14 - Sheffield, England - Corporation
15 - Milton Keynes, England - The Crauford Arms
20 - Belfast, Ireland - Voodoo
21 - Dublin, Ireland - Voodoo lounge
22 - Nuneaton, England - Queens Hall
27 - Manchester, England - Rebellion
28 - London, England - Underworld
29 - Colchester, England - The Arts Centre

Ticket details at this location.

Norway’s Communic have released a lyric video for “Where Echoes Gather (Part 2 - The Underground Swine)”, featured on their new album, Where Echoes Gather, due for release via AFM Records on October 27th. Watch the clip below.

Communic’s first album for AFM is nothing short of another dark and atmospheric masterpiece, created by the very same three guys who founded the band back then. Communic’s characteristic mixture of prog, power and thrash sounds as fresh and relevant as ever and will amaze the band’s countless fans to the fullest.

Where Echoes Gather will be available as Digipak and limited colored vinyl (250 units gold, 250 red/marbled). The cover artwork created by artist Eliran Kantor (Testament, Sodom, Iced Earth):

Tracklisting:

Digipak
“The Pulse Of The Earth (Part 1 - The Magnetic Center)”
“The Pulse Of The Earth (Part 2 - Impact Of The Wave)”
“Where Echoes Gather (Part 1 - Beneath The Giant)”
“Where Echoes Gather (Part 2 - The Underground Swine)”
“Moondance”
“Where History Lives”
“Black Flag Of Hate”
“The Claws Of The Sea (Part 1 - Journey Into The Source)”
“The Claws Of The Sea (Part 2 - The Underground Swine)”

Bonus Tracks
“Watching It All Disappear” (Live In Studio 2017)
“At Dewy Prime (Live In Studio 2017)
“Waves Of Visual Decay” (Acoustic Live Version - 10th Anniversary Concert)

Vinyl

Side A
“The Pulse Of The Earth (Part 1 - The Magnetic Center)”
“The Pulse Of The Earth (Part 2 - Impact Of The Wave)”
“Where Echoes Gather (Part 1 - Beneath The Giant)”
“Where Echoes Gather (Part 2 - The Underground Swine)”
“Moondance”

Side B
“Where History Lives”
“Black Flag Of Hate”
“The Claws Of The Sea (Part 1 - Journey Into The Source)”
“The Claws Of The Sea (Part 2 - The Underground Swine)”

“Where Echoes Gather (Part 1 - Beneath The Giant)” lyric video:

“Where Echoes Gather (Part 2 - The Underground Swine)” lyric video:

Jeff Lynne’s ELO will release a live CD/DVD of their concert at Wembley Stadium in June. Titled Wembley Or Bust and directed by Paul Dugdale, the release will be available in multiple formats on November 17th via Sony Music. Watch a video trailer below.

In Wembley Or Bust, we see Jeff and his remarkable musical ensemble filling Wembley Stadium with one of the greatest rock & roll spectacles of all time, complete with bells, whistles and spaceships in front of a 60,000 capacity crowd. As Jeff says himself, “It’s the best time I ever had in music… It is beyond anything I could have imagined.”

Most importantly the film includes performances of many of the most beloved songs of our lifetime, from vintage ELO classics like "Mr. Blue Sky," "Livin' Thing" and "Evil Woman" to "Do Ya" from his days with The Move, "Handle With Care" which he recorded with the Traveling Wilburys, right through "When I Was A Boy" from his latest ELO masterpiece, Alone In The Universe.

More popular than ever, Jeff Lynne’s ELO have always been known for their epic live shows and with a distinct style that seamlessly and innovatively blends rock, pop and classical, ELO has had more than 20 Top 40 hits across the US and the UK, making Lynne's sweeping productions some of the most recognizable music of the last forty years and helping sell over 50 million records worldwide.

Widely agreed upon as one of the greatest record producers in music history, Lynne was a co-founder and member of The Travelling Wilburys together with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Tom Petty as well as a producer and collaborator with some of the biggest names in music including The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, and most recently, Bryan Adams.

Wembley Or Bust is available for pre-order here in the following formats:

- 2 CD
- 2 CD/DVD
- 2 CD/Blu Ray
- Vinyl (3 Discs)



Tracklisting:

“Standin' In The Rain”
“Evil Woman”
“All Over The World”
“Showdown”
“Livin' Thing”
“Do Ya”
“When I Was A Boy”
“Handle With Care”
“Last Train To London”
“Xanadu”
“Rockaria!”
“Can't Get It Out Of My Head”
“10538 Overture”
“Twilight”
“Ma-Ma-Ma Belle”
“Shine A Little Love”
“Wild West Hero”
“Sweet Talkin' Woman”
“Telephone Line”
“Turn To Stone”
“Don't Bring Me Down”
“Mr. Blue Sky”
“Roll Over Beethoven”

Trailer:

The Black Dahlia Murder have released their eighth full-length, Nightbringers, via Metal Blade Records. A full album stream is available below. Nightbringers can be ordered in various formats at this location:

Nightbringers tracklisting:

“Widowmaker”
“Of God And Serpent, Of Spectre And Snake”
“Matriarch”
“Nightbringers”
“Jars”
“Kings Of The Nightworld”
“Catacomb Hecatomb”
“As Good As Dead”
“The Lonely Deceased”

Album stream:

“Nightbringers” video:

The Black Dahlia Murder have embarked on a North American trek in support of the new album. Suffocation, Decrepit Birth, Necrot, and Wormwitch join them on this run, with select dates to include Exhumed.

October
6 - Rochester, NY - Montage Music Hall
7 - Lowell, MA - Mill City Ballroom
8 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Chance Theater
10 - New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
11 - Teaneck, NJ - Debonair Music Hall
12 - Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head Live
13 - Easton, PA - One Center Square
14 - Lancaster, PA - The Chameleon
16 - Montreal, QC - Les Foufounes Electriques
17 - Ottawa, ON - Bronson Center
18 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
20 - Joliet, IL - The Forge
21 - Ft. Wayne, IN - Piere's
22 - St Louis, MO - Delmar Hall
23 - Omaha, NE - The Slowdown
25 - Ringle, WI - Q & Z Expo Center
26 - Winnipeg, MB - Pyramid Cabaret
27 - Regina, SK - The Exchange
28 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite
29 - Calgary, AB - Marquee
31 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theater

November
1 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven (with Exhumed)
2 - Eugene, OR - WOW Hall (with Exhumed)
3 - Lake Tahoe, NV - Vinyl @ Hard Rock (with Exhumed)
4 - Petaluma, CA - Phoenix Theater * (with Exhumed)
5 - San Bernardino, CA - KnotFest ** (with Exhumed)
6 - Mesa, AZ - Club Red (with Exhumed)
7 - Las Vegas, NV - Hard Rock Cafe
9 - Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom
10 - Birmingham, AL - Zydeco
11 - Louisville, KY - Diamond Pub Concert Hall

* no Suffocation
** no Necrot, Wormwitch

Dead Quiet's new album Grand Rites will be released on November 3rd. Preorders for Grand Rites start today on Bandcamp and iTunes. When you preorder from iTunes you'll be able to own the song “Spiritual Abuse” or you can listen to it on Apple Music or Spotify.
 
With influences ranging from doom metal to classic rock, Dead Quiet seeks to meld melody with catastrophe as they weave through a dissonant landscape of crushing metallic riffs and somber choral musings. While remaining loyal to crucial heavy metal foundations, the band is successful at pronouncing that heaviness with depth and honesty.
 
Having the addition of full time keyboard player Justin Hagberg (3 Inches Of Blood) to the creative process, the songs have seen a richer dynamic and further broadened their already ‘70s rock and early heavy metal characteristic.

 
With the release of Grand Rites on the horizon, Dead Quiet hope to continue traversing the globe, playing what has become well known as an ultra-energetic, charismatic and ear splitting live performance.
 
After just finishing a cross-country Canadian tour, supporting Season Of Mist recording artist Anciients, Dead Quiet will be playing a CD release party in Vancouver, BC on November 17th at Rickshaw Theatre.

 

The Swedish melodic metal band Metalite have released a lyric video for "Nightmare", the second single from their debut album Heroes In Time.

Metalite was formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 2015 when Edwin Premberg (guitar) met Emma Bensing (vocals). The goal was to write and record melodic and memorable metal songs with a modern and fresh sound.

Edwin and Emma started to co-operate with the Danish producer Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Evergrey, Amaranthe) and songs started to take shape. During 2016, Metalite found three experienced musicians that agreed to join the band: Lea Larsson (drums), Robert Örnesved (guitar) and Robert Majd (bass).

Heroes In Time is an impressive debut album filled with melodic and memorable songs, crowned with the strong and emotional vocals by vocalist Emma Bensing as well as a powerful production by Jacob Hansen. The album should be perfect for fans of bands like Beyond The Black, Dynazty and Amaranthe.

The artwork was created by Jan Yrlund (Apocalyptica, Leah, Korpiklaani) and guest appearances on the album includes Fraser Edwards (Ascension) and Jakob Svensson (Wigelius).

Heroes In Time tracklisting:

“Afterlife”
“Purpose Of Life”
“Nightmare”
“The Hunter”
“Heroes In Time”
“Power Of Metal”
“Over And Done”
“The Light Of Orion”
“In The Middle Of The Night”
“Black Horse Rider”
“The Great Force Within Us”

"Nightmare" lyric video:

“Afterlife” video:

PAPA ROACH drummer Tony Palermo spoke to Germany's Metal-Heads.de earlier this week about the group's brand new song "Geronimo", which he and his bandmates have been previewing on their current European tour.

"Well, it's so new that it's not even finished yet in the studio," Tony said (see video below). "But we're just playing a little verse-chorus-type thing. It's definitely its own little vibe.

"I think the lyrics are basically [about PAPA ROACH singer] Jacoby [Shaddix] growing up and looking for stuff to do in a small town.

"Like I said, it's not really finished yet, but we just play a little bit of it. I don't even know if he has all the lyrics written, but he has enough of 'em just to do what we're doing."

Palermo also confirmed that PAPA ROACH has already been in the studio writing and recording material for the follow-up to this year's "Crooked Teeth" album.

"We basically finished 'Crooked Teeth', and at the beginning of the year, we had a tour cancel on us, so we had to… We couldn't just go out and book a tour; it takes time," he explained. "So we thought, 'What better time to continue the creative process with our producers, Nick [Nicholas 'Ras' Furlong] and Colin ['Doc' Brittain].' So we went back in the studio right after we finished the last record, 'Crooked Teeth', and got about five or six songs down, demoed out."

Regarding the musical direction of the brand new PAPA ROACH songs, Palermo said: "They're definitely more in the bouncy, riffy era of PAPA ROACH.

"It's a great start to creating some new music again, even though ['Crooked Teeth'] is still new," he continued. "So it feels good that we have somewhat half a record already written. But that's not to say that those are gonna all make the record, because that's determined at a later time. But we've already had fun writing some of the newer stuff — like, new-new."

"Crooked Teeth" was released on May 19 via Eleven Seven Music.

Issue No. 4 of the newly launched Rock Candy magazine features an exclusive candid interview with former IRON MAIDEN guitarist Dennis Stratton in which he reveals how the band's debut could have ended up sounding like QUEEN.

Stratton told Rock Candy that the first IRON MAIDEN album could easily have been a much more sophisticated recording than the warts-and-all, New Wave Of British Heavy Metal classic we all know and love. And Stratton also reveals that it was only the band's manager, Rod Smallwood, who put a stop to the plan.

Released in April of 1980, "Iron Maiden" became a benchmark recording for a new style of metal that was harder, leaner and faster than the music being made by the stadium filling rockers of the '70s. Songs like "Phantom Of The Opera", "Running Free" and the title track have since achieved legendary status. But Stratton, now performing with LIONHEART, told Rock Candy that it could all have been very different.

"I took 'Phantom of The Opera', which was always a great song at its core, and added a load of harmony guitars and falsetto vocals to our basic recording," he explains. "The engineer helped me layer the sounds, adding track after track, and when we played it back it sounded like QUEEN. I thought it was fantastic. But when we were listening back to the track Rod Smallwood came up behind me in the control room. I didn't know he was there and at the end of the song he said, 'You can get rid of all that. It sounds like fucking QUEEN.' So it never made the cut. I'd still love to do a big, massive production of that song one day. I know it would be great."

Stratton was a member of MAIDEN for less than a year, but he nonetheless made a vital contribution to that classic first album.

"Rod didn't like the music I was listening to," says Stratton. "I'd be in my hotel room on tour listening to some David Coverdale or a bit of EAGLES or some George Benson and Rod would go potty. He said, 'If anyone heard you listening to that kind of music…' But how can you listen to MOTÖRHEAD twenty-four hours a day? You'd be deaf!"

Read the whole of this revealing article in Issue 4 of Rock Candy, available for purchase online at this location.

MANOWAR singer Eric Adams says that he "will miss the big stage" after the band completes its upcoming farewell tour.

The New York-based veteran metal act announced in May 2016 that it would call it quits after one last tour, explaining that its most recent trek — "Gods And Kings" — was a groundbreaking moment in the band's career and the group aimed to go out on a high.

Adams, whose real name is Lou Marullo, spoke about MANOWAR's final trek in a recent interview with "Outdoor Adventures With Jayson". He said: "This is it. We've got one last tour coming up. As far as I know, it starts in November in Scandinavia. And then we head down to Germany in December. I fly home for Christmas around December 18, somewhere in there. And then I don't know where we go after that. But it will continue for a little while after that; I just don't know where yet. So I'm looking forward to that."

The 63-year-old singer admitted that it was "kind of a Catch-22 thing" knowing that he would never perform with MANOWAR again. "I'm gonna miss the big stage — of course I am — but all good things have to come to an end at some point," he said.

As for his future plans, Adams said: "MANOWAR has decided to call it a day, and who knows what's gonna happen after that? I might continue to sing. I might just grab my bow and get out in the woods a little more often than I did before. But we'll see. The future's still yet to be told."

Eric, who describes himself as "a big-time bow hunter," has been a hunting-safety instructor for the state of New York where he teaches new hunters about the game laws in New York. He is also the hunting editor for Texas Fish & Game magazine.

MANOWAR's most recent studio effort was 2014's re-recording of the band's 1988 album "Kings Of Metal".

Rob Halford says that JUDAS PRIEST's long-awaited new album is "sounding monumental."

The British heavy metal legends have spent the last few months in the studio recording the follow-up to 2014's "Redeemer Of Souls" with the band's longtime collaborator Tom Allom, acclaimed British knob-twiddler Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, TESTAMENT, ACCEPT) and engineer Mike Exeter (BLACK SABBATH).

During an October 5 appearance on the "Trunk Nation" show on SiriusXM channel Volume, Halford stated about the progress of the recording sessions for PRIEST's new disc: "We're almost done. We're in that final hurdle before we get to the finishing line. It is sounding monumental. It's gonna blow your socks off. We're thrilled. We've got this big metal monster looming in the background, about to drop early next year, with a world tour to coincide."

Asked what it has been like collaborating again with Allom, who produced every PRIEST release from "Unleashed In The East" (1979) through "Ram It Down" (1988), along with several live records since then, Halford said: "Brilliant. Absolutely fantastic. Tom has a rich history with PRIEST, particularly those great moments with 'Screaming For Vengeance', 'Defenders Of The Faith' [and] 'British Steel'. My God — he's the man in that respect. So I thought it was really great for Andy Sneap and Mike Exeter to accept that this was gonna be like a three-man job, with Andy mostly holding the reins, but with Tom by his side and Mike there [as well].

"It's an unusual way to make this kind of record for PRIEST, because it's generally the producer and the band," Halford admitted. "We just had so much faith in Andy and in Tom and Mike that we said, 'Guys, you go for it. You tell us what to do.' And if Andy Sneap said, 'Do another take, Rob. Do another take, Rob. Do another take, Rob. '… I've never sung so much in the studio behind a mic in all my life. But he got the results that we needed, and I think I can say the same for Glenn [Tipton, guitar] and for Richie [Faulkner, guitar] and for Scott [Travis, drums] and for Ian [Hill, bass]. So he got something out of us — they all did — but they got something out of us truly remarkable, and you're gonna be hearing it very soon."

Sneap, who plays guitar in the reactivated British occult metal act HELL, recently told Serbia's Hardwired magazine that PRIEST had "about twenty-six ideas" in the early stage of the production process for the new album. "We've whittled [that] down to fourteen or fifteen," he said, adding that "we haven't decided on which songs [will make the final cut] or a running order for the album yet."

Andy went on to say that PRIEST's new album will contain "a really good energy and some real classic moments." He said "Rob did great" during the album's final recording sessions. "I'll tell you what: for someone who's got that much experience, there's no ego there at all," he said. "We'd do, like, six or seven passes, and I'd ask him to try something a bit [different] on this part, and he was, like, 'No problem.' And he'd give me another four takes with a slightly different vibe. And then me and Tom Allom would sit there and we'd comp it, and we pretty much agreed on everything."

It was announced on Wednesday (October 4) that PRIEST was nominated for induction into the 2018 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, part of a list of nineteen potential candidates.

Inductees into the 2018 Rock Hall will be voted on by a group of more than nine hundred artists, historians and music-industry professionals.

Speaking to "Trunk Nation", Halford stated about PRIEST's nomination: "No matter what your opinions and feelings about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, it's a great institution. It's in the same caliber as the Baseball Hall Of Fame and Basketball and NFL, the Grammy [Awards], the [Oscars]. Some people might think it's superfluous; it’s not, really. What it is for the musicians, or the artists, whatever you wanna call us, it's just a recognition of the work that you have been making in your years in the music world, and for PRIEST, it's been over forty years of blood, sweat and tears. And we've been slugging away — and I don't mean that in a bad way; I mean in a loving way. You know how much we love heavy metal music. We've had the great joy and pleasure of almost now making our eighteenth studio album over four decades and loving every minute of it. So [for this] to come along now, it's a boost, it's a real boost, it makes you feel good — within the band, within the fans that look after PRIEST around the world, and for heavy metal music more than anything else."

He added: "The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is more than rock and roll. It kind of ventured off into other language besides rock and roll — which, in my opinion, I think it should because it's the only body that represents music in this broad spectrum. So to have another heavy metal act potentially inducted is important."

The 2018 inductees will be announced in December and the induction ceremony will be held at Cleveland's Public Auditorium on April 14, 2018.

Sebastian Bach has once again slammed Christian rockers STRYPER, saying that their music "sucks."

The feud beween the former SKID ROW singer and STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet began in November 2016 when Sweet shared a video on Facebook of 16-year-old emerging artist Moriah Formica perfoming the SKID ROW track "I Remember You", along with the caption: "Moriah Formica kills this and in my humble opinion, smokes the original singer." He also proceeded to call Bach a "tool" in the comments section after being questioned about the caption by a fan.

After being alerted to Sweet's post by a fan, Sebastian fired back, writing in a tweet: "Michael Sweet has a big fucking mouth. Behind a keyboard that is. Can't wait to see this pussy in person again someday."

While speaking to "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show" at last Friday's (October 6) "Bowl For Ronnie" event in Studio City, California, Bach was asked about his war or words with Sweet. He said (see video below): "All I know is that when I see a headline on Blabbermouth and it says, 'Bach Slams 'Pussy' Sweet,' you've just kind of gotta do a double take on that one."

Pressed about whether he likes Sweet on a personal level, Sebastian said: "I don't, actually. I think STRYPER sucks. I've always thought that — since I was a little kid. I think their songs suck, I think their fucking clothes suck. Should I go on? What are they gonna [do] — whip a Bible at me? [Laughs]"

After clarifying that his opinion of STRYPER doesn't have anything to do with the Christian messages in the band's lyrics, Bach said: "I think they just make bad records. And I don't think they ever did make good records."

Sweet last November released a statement in response to Bach's "pussy" comment, saying that "anyone who knows me knows that I express my opinion and I'm more than willing to back it up. I do my best to be honest yet not to be mean-spirited or destructive. I'm also no pussy. Obviously, Sebastian doesn't know me, because if he did, he'd know that as fact."

He added: "Unfortunately, I think because I'm a Christian, some people think that I'm supposed to 'turn the other cheek' and let people say and do whatever they want. I guess the 'pussy' in me won't let me do that."

Formica is featured on Sweet's latest solo album "One Sided War", singing a duet with Michael on a different version of the song "Can't Take This Life".

In a brand new interview with the Long Island Pulse, Tom Keifer was asked if he would ever consider reactivating CINDERELLA again. "There's really no talk of that at all at this point," he responded. "I'm really happy with what I'm doing and I think everyone else is, too. Everyone else is off doing their own thing. I have put a lot of time into this new project, and it's been going really well. I'm really enjoying it. I'm happy where I am."

Although CINDERELLA hasn't released a new studio album since 1994's "Still Climbing", the band started playing sporadic shows again in 2010 but has been largely inactive for the last few years while Keifer focuses on his solo career.

Keifer told RockRevolt Magazine that "some issues" within CINDERELLA — "going back decades" — have effectively sidelined the group for the past four years. He explained: "We took some pretty extreme measures to right the ship and fix things, and we made a pact as a band in 2012 that we would not do anything as a band until the issues were resolved. That's how much it came to a head. The issues are unresolved, so that's all I can say about that."

CINDERELLA guitarist Jeff LaBar last year accepted blame for the group's prolonged period of inactivity, explaining that his "drinking problem" caused a rift between him and his bandmates. He told "Another FN Podcast With Izzy Presley": "I can only speculate, but I believe it's all my fault. It's no secret that I've had a drinking problem. And it showed its ugly face on one of those [cruises that CINDERELLA played]. I guess that's what caused a rift… When I fell out on one of those cruise ships in front of everybody — like, basically O.D.'d — that's when the band, and mostly Tom, took notice and was, like, 'What the fuck?'"

Asked if he is sober now, LaBar said: "No, I'm not. Which is the problem. Which is probably the problem. Like I said, I can only speculate, because I don't talk to the other guys anymore. I talk to Fred [Coury drums] every now and then. Eric [Brittingham, bass] lives twenty minutes from me. We haven't talked lately, but Eric and I have been the most consistent of all my bandmates throughout the past thirty-two years. It's just Tom and I that don't talk anymore. And I can only speculate that he's very disappointed and doesn't wanna see me die. He doesn't wanna witness me dying."

"The Way Life Goes - Deluxe Edition", an expanded compilation of Keifer's critically acclaimed solo debut album, "The Way Life Goes", will be made available on October 20 via Cleopatra Records.

Photo credit: Tammy Vega