Italian doom metallers Crimson Dawn will release their second full-length album, Chronicles Of An Undead Hunter, via Punishment 18 Records on March 31st. A new album teaser video is available for streaming below.

The album artwork was created by artist Mattia Stancioiu.

Tracklisting:

“Twilight Of The Wandering Souls”
“Eternal Is The Dark”
“Neverending Rain”
“The Suffering”
“The Skeleton Key”
“Gaze Of The Scarecrow”
“Dark Ride”
“Checkmate In Red”
“To Live Is To Grieve”

Teaser:

Crimson Dawn lineup:

Dario Beretta - Guitar, Background Vocals
Luca Lucchini - Drums
Antonio Pecere - Lead Vocals
Alessandro Reggiani Romagnoli - Bass
Emanuele Laghi - Keyboards
Marco Rusconi - Guitar

Earache Records will issue a Full Dynamic Range (FDR) vinyl repress of Napalm Death’s classic album, Altars Of Madness, on March 17th. A video trailer can be found below. Pre-orders at this location.

Scum tracklisting:

"Multinational Corporations"
"Instinct of Survival"
"The Kill"
"Scum"
"Caught... in a Dream"
"Polluted Minds"
"Sacrificed"
"Siege of Power"
"Control"
"Born on Your Knees"
"Human Garbage"
"You Suffer"
"Life?"
"Prison Without Walls"
"Point of No Return"
"Negative Approach"
"Success?"
"Deceiver"
"C.S."
"Parasites"
"Pseudo Youth"
"Divine Death"
"As the Machine Rolls On"
"Common Enemy"
"Moral Crusade"
"Stigmatized"
"M.A.D."
"Dragnet"

Trailer:

Napalm Death never slow down and recently announced a next headlining run across Europe, together with Brujeria and Power Trip, for April/May under the very suitable banner, Campaign For Musical Destruction.

Napalm Death’s Mark 'Barney' Greenway checked in with the following comment: “It's been absurdly long since we did anything resembling a proper European tour. To make up for it, it's nice then that we can bring along a box of crazies like Brujeria - certainly not run-of-the-mill. And Power Trip are, like, the good bits of that crossover thing from back in the day. And for our part we'll be digging out a few sweet treats from the annals of Napalm Death. We are officially as excited as small children.”

Campaign For Music Destruction dates:

April
25 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio
26 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Pustervik
27 - Stockholm, Sweden - Kraken STHLM
28 - Flensburg, Germany - Roxy
29 - Magdeburg, Germany - Factory
30 - Haarlem, The Netherlands - Patronaat

May
1 - Köln, Germany - Underground
2 - Berlin, Germany - SO36
4 - Krakow, Poland - Kwadrat Klub
5 - Brno, Czech Republic - Klub Fléda
6 - Kassel, Germany - K19
7 - Saarbrücken, Germany - Garage
9 - Birmingham, UK - O2 Institute
10 - Glasgow, UK - Classic Grand
11 - Manchester, UK - Rebellion
12 - London, UK - The Electric Ballroom
13 - Paris, France - Le Glazart
14 - Antwerpen, Belgium - Zappa
16 - Six-Fours-Les-Plages, France - Espace André Malraux
17 - Geneva, Switzerland - L'Usine
18 - Bologna, Italy - Zona Roveri
19 - Karlsruhe, Germany - NCO Club
20 - München, Germany - Backstage
21 - Eindhoven, The Netherlands - Effenaar
 
Other Napalm Death tour dates:

March
17 - Limerick, Ireland - Dolans Warehouse
18 - Dublin, Ireland - Voodoo Lounge
19 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Limelight 2
24 - Haven, UK - Hammerfest
31 - Moita/Lisboa, Portugal - Moita Metal Fest

April
8 - Erica, The Netherlands - Pitfest
10 - Kiev, Ukraine - Monte Ray
11 - Vilnius, Lithuania - Legendos Club
12 - Riga, Latvia - Melna Piektdiena
13 - Tallin, Estonia - Club Tapper
14 - St. Petersburg, Russia - Opera Club
15 - Kaliningrad, Russia - Yalta Club
16 - Moscow, Russia - Volta Club
17 - Yekaterinburg, Russia - TeleClub
19 - Tbilisi, Georgia - Night Office
20 - Erevan, Armenia - Vitamin Club

July
7 - Viveiro, Spain - Resurrection Fest

August
3 - Wacken, Germany - Wacken Open Air

More dates to be announced soon.

This coming Friday (February 24th), German avantgarge black metal act Fjoergyn, will release their new album, Lvcifer Es. A music video for the album's title track is now available for streaming below.

Originally intended to be a purely orchestral solo work, Fjoergyn was founded in 2003 by musical visionary Stephan L. His approach until today (with now having a full band lineup): to combine opulent orchestral, and classical sounds with heavy guitars, and a metal aesthetic. Following this path, Stephan L. achieves oppressive, yet tremendous compositions. Due to its challenging basis, and the unconventional direction of action, the result of his creative work has to be described as epic and forward thinking.

Through the time of its existence, Fjoergyn evolved to an insider tip for listeners of epic metal looking for a different approach to varicolored, neo-classical heavy music. Under constant accusations, the band declared the human kind to parasite and tells stories of a self-fulfilling prophecy about the end of all days and the final reckoning between nature and mankind. So far, Fjoergyn released four albums of thoughtful gloomy music with careful arrangements and exceptional moods. The Thuringians toured across Europe supporting progressive colleagues such as The Vision Bleak, and Alcest.

2017 sees the release of bands fifth full length, Lucifer Es, the first one for Lifeforce Records. Conceptually the album - again - stands for relentless social criticism and a disillusioning view on humanity. Individuality has no meaning in the anonymous system of populism and opportunism. Nothing is of value or importance. Even Lucifer was created to keep man submissive. Fjoergyn’s album marks a ruthless and harsh view on society and human marionettes.

Gene Simmons says that he is not interested in producing another KISS studio album "unless and if there's a financial model that works" to make it worthwhile for the band to write and record new music.

KISS's last studio effort, 2012's "Monster", sold 56,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on The Billboard 200 chart.

The band's previous disc, "Sonic Boom", opened with 108,000 units back in October 2009 to enter the chart at No. 2. This marked the KISS's highest-charting LP ever.

During a recent appearance on "The SDR Show", Simmons was asked what keeps KISS motivated to continue making new records after more than four decades in the business. He responded (hear audio below): "That's less of an incentive, because downloading and filesharing… People have convinced themselves they don't wanna pay for stuff. And last time I checked, KISS is not a charity. We're philanthropic, but I'll be the one that decides how much I give and where. I don't want some college kid to decide, 'You have enough money. I don't wanna pay for your record.' Okay, then go download and RADIOHEAD record and see what happ… No, I ain't about that."

He added: "Make a distinction between commerce and philanthropy. So the idea of doing another KISS record, unless and if there's a financial model that works, personally I'm not interested in it."

Asked if there has ever been talk about KISS finally hanging it up once and for all, Simmons said: "Yes. A few times. When Ace [Frehley] and Peter [Criss], our beloved original members and brothers and all that stuff, we started the band together, when they succumbed to the cliché of clichés — drugs and alcohol. I mean, I can almost understand it if it was unique, but it's, like, really? Hasn't it been done by everybody yet? At least when [Kurt] Cobain [NIRVANA] blew his head off, you go, 'Ah, cool.' You know, fast, thank you, bye. You're not gonna torture anybody else. And he was not a happy camper by all indications, so…"

Simmons's comments were echoed by KISS frontman Paul Stanley, who last year said about the prospect of the band making a new album: "Well, it's a very conflicted subject. In one sense, there's no reason to put out any new music. Because the delivery systems that are available don't pay. We're in a situation now where artists have to take what they can get, as opposed to what they deserve. For me, it's more of a moral issue than anything else, because I don't have to worry about paying the rent, but what about new bands?"

Stanley previously that "it's only worth [making a new studio album] if, artistically, you wanna do it. Every time we finish an album, I kind of go, 'Well, that's it.' Whenever we've done an album… When we did 'Sonic Boom', it was because the band was so good that I just thought to not capture the band and do new material would be a shame. But once we did 'Sonic Boom', I said, 'Well, we've made the point.' And then, a few years later, it was, like, 'Wow, why don't we dig deeper and get a little closer to the roots and the people that we loved and kind of do something else,' so we did that, and then I said, 'We're done.' But lately I've been thinking, yeah, we should do another."

France's Clique recently conducted an interview with METALLICA frontman James Hetfield. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether he believes in God:

James: "I believe in a higher power, yes. I don't know… he, she, it… whatever… I see it everywhere. It is everything to me. And if I choose to see it, it makes me feel better. If I think I can do better [laughs], it never works. [Laughs]"

On whether this "higher power" has saved him in his life:

James: "I believe so. I believe that a higher power, whatever it may be… Sometimes I think it's… 'Oh, it's my father coming back to help me,' or my mother, or somebody, or Cliff [Burton, late METALLICA bassist]. It's all one anyway. So if I choose to see it… It shows up in my wife a lot. She will say, 'What are you doing? Don't do that.' That used to make me angry. 'Don't tell me what to do.' But, okay, I understand that something is here helping me. Something is saying… If I choose to hear it, then I choose to hear it. Sometimes I don't. But it's everywhere."

On dealing with the negative aspects of fame:

James: "For me, I never… I don't understand gossip. It's never been important to me. My wife loves looking at the People magazine. 'Oooh, look who's dating who.' And I don't care. But to some people, it's important, and I don't know why. I think they just see themselves in other people, or wish, or they're dreaming, or they're mentors or something. I don't know. For me, I think when people follow me down the street or something, I understand what they might be looking for, but I'm not it. I mean, I'm just someone who gets to play music and has found my path. What I think is they expect something — they expect something, whether it's an autograph or a picture or something. It's like they want something. And I wanna shake their hand, I wanna say hello, I wanna talk with them, and it's not good enough for them. I don't understand that. Gosh, METALLICA, we've been together since we were nineteen years old, so I don't remember so much what it was like to just go to a concert and sit on the grass and enjoy it and not have someone come up and ask for something. So it's a part of my life, and I see that people want, they're in need of something. They look up to you, or they invest — they invest a part of themselves in you, and when you disappoint them, they don't know what to do. It's difficult. So alls I can do is be me. I can't be everything for everyone. It's not fair to myself."

As previously reported, METALLICA will perform at the 59th annual Grammy Awards, set to take place on February 12 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony will be televised at 8:00 p.m. on CBS. The band is nominated this year in the "Best Rock Song" category for the track "Hardwired", from its latest album, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct".

METALLICA's nomination for "Best Rock Song" this year was a surprise since the band is not included in the "Best Metal Performance" category.

Guitarist Kirk Hammett told Billboard: "We've had such a crazy relationship with the Grammys, so when the Grammys do something like this we kind of like throw our arms in the air — 'Whatever. Whatever!' But it's still an honor. It's still great to be recognized by the academy, and it's still fun to play the Grammys when we're asked."

In a brand new interview with Entertainment Weekly, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich spoke about how the band's Grammy performance with Lady Gaga came about. He said: "[The Grammys] always encourage you to do cool, crazy collaborations. We thought some of the songs on the new album lent themselves well to a female co-conspirator. I was at a dinner party at my buddy's house a couple months ago and she was there. We ended up sitting and talking about her old metal days in Jersey and the Lower East Side. I knew she was a metal chick at heart, but I didn't know how deep her metal roots were. Her relationship with METALLICA goes way back — like deep album cuts on the early couple records. We're sitting there and I took a shot. I said, 'Listen, we've been invited to do the Grammys again. Come sing with us. It would be so much fun. I think this is the right fit.' She just said, 'Yes.' She didn't have to, like, 'Oh let me just check with my team,' or 'Let me call my 17 managers.' There was none of that stuff. She's so open and so authentic. She makes all the decisions herself and she's so talented and she's so eager. And she blew up the fucking Super Bowl!"

Ulrich also talked about the technical mishap that left METALLICA frontman James Hetfield without a working microphone for the Grammy performance with Gaga. He said: "When I couldn't hear his vocals in the first verse, I knew there was an issue. But in the heat of the moment, you don't quite know where the issue is — it's very difficult to troubleshoot. We just had to battle through it and keep going, which is what we did. It's live television, this stuff happens. This year it happened to us, last year it happened to Adele. In the context of the bigger issues that face humanity, I think we'll all be okay. I think, in some ways, the fact that James and her were singing out of her mic, there was another level of intimacy that was created. I'm totally happy."

Despite the problems with the Grammy performance, Ulrich told Rolling Stone earlier this week that Gaga was the "quintessential perfect fifth member of this band," adding that he would like to work with her again.

The North American leg of METALLICA's "WorldWired" 2017 tour kicks off on May 10 in Baltimore, Maryland and will hit stadiums in 25 cities before winding down in mid-August. Support on the quartet's first North American trek since 2009 will come mainly from AVENGED SEVENFOLD and VOLBEAT, with GOJIRA taking over for the latter group for the last six shows.

General ticket sales start Friday (February 17) at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Each ticket purchased will come with a copy of METALLICA's new album, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct", available as a physical CD or a digital download. Various VIP packages are up for sale as well.

METALLICA has also announced the formation of its All Within My Hands Foundation, which will raise funds through ticket sales to support national, local and Bay Area charities selected by the band members, while continuing to donate to music education programs and local food banks.

The official video for "Bringer Of Pain", the title track of the fourth album from Finnish metallers BATTLE BEAST, can be seen below. Released on February 17 via Nuclear Blast Records, the ten-track disc was recorded and produced at JKB Studios by keyboardist Janne Björkroth, was mixed by Björkroth alongside Viktor Gullichsen and Mikko Karmila, and was mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios. The cover artwork was crafted by Jan Yrlund.

"Bringer Of Pain" is BATTLE BEAST's first album to feature guitarist Joona Björkroth, who joined the band in 2015.

BATTLE BEAST in February 2015 parted ways with lead guitarist and main songwriter Anton Kabanen due to "insurmountable disagreements" with the other members of the band.

Speaking to Metalholic, BATTLE BEAST vocalist Noora Louhimo stated about the writing process for "Bringer Of Pain": "You always have the pressure on to write good music and do a good album, but now we had extra pressure because people had their suspicions. People were already judging us that, 'They're not going to make it. They're not going to make as good music.' But as you can hear, yes we can! [Laughs] So, yes, it was a nerve-breaking, but still a very rewarding process to do this new album. For me personally, this was such a great experience. I learned so much about the other guys; the other band members. We got Joona to be part of this BATTLE BEAST family and now I'm just full of excitement. I can't wait to get on the road and bring the pain!"

Asked how she thinks having six songwriters instead of one impacts the sound and dynamic of the band, Noora said: "We all learned a lot from each other, how we want to work together. There are so many different ways to write songs. For example, Janne likes to write songs by himself and bring them to the table when they are almost final. I like to do solo also, but I like co-writing also. With Joona, we have a similar wave we are on, and we have a really good work ethic, and a good friendship also. So it's very easy to work with him. I did write some demos with Eero, our bass player, and our other guitar player Jusso, and it was fun also. I think through these next years, we are going to find new ways, and the best ways, for BATTLE BEAST to produce music."

"Bringer Of Pain" track listing:

Digi / CD

01. Straight To The Heart02. Bringer Of Pain03. King For A Day04. Beyond The Burning Skies05. Familiar Hell06. Lost In Wars07. Bastard Son Of Odin08. We Will Fight09. Dancing With The Beast10. Far From Heaven

Bonus (digi only)

11. God Of War12. The Eclipse13. Rock Trash

2LP

Side A

01. Straight To The Heart02. Bringer Of Pain03. King For A Day04. Beyond The Burning Skies

Side B

01. Familiar Hell02. Lost In Wars03. Bastard Son Of Odin

Side C

01. We Will Fight02. Dancing With The Beast03. Far From Heaven

Side D (Bonus)

01. God Of War02. The Eclipse03. Rock Trash

BATTLE BEAST's third studio album, "Unholy Savior", entered the Finnish chart at position No. 1. The CD was released in January 2015 via Nuclear Blast.

Louhimo joined the band in 2012 as the replacement for Nitte Vänskä.

Gory Blister filmed their recent concert at Centrale Rock Pub in Erba, Italy as DVD extra content, to be included on the band's forthcoming album. The songs "Thresholds" and "Toxamine", taken from the band's 2014 album The Fifth Fury, are posted below with real audio (no overdubs or editing).

Says guitarist Raff Sangiorgio: "For us,  to play live, it's a very important dimension.
Making a live video with real audio, without any kind of post-production, means to prove to those who do not know us or never watched us live, how the band genuinely performs, without any engineering, just like on our albums, from the studio to the stage"

After the great audience approval and sales achieved by The Fifth Fury, Gory Blister's fifth album released in 2014 via Sliptrick Records, the band has started work begun on a new album, which will be released by the end of 2017.

The sound of this new album (yet untitled) will be deeply rooted in the main influences of the band, including Death, Carcass, Kreator, Cannibal Corpse, but it is going to evolve forward focusing on some melodies and atmospheres from the most modern metal sound, without distorting  the band's style and personality.

Recently, Gory Blister welcomed bassist Fabiano Andreacchio to the fold. Along with working on new material, Gory Blister are preparing to hit the stage again with two new live gigs in Italy, scheduled for the beginning of 2017.

April       
20 - Legend Club – Milan, Italy

A show is also planned for March at Il Postaccio in Rome. Details to follow.

Rebirth is the first solo-album ever by Gory Blister guitarist Raff Sangiorgio, out now Sliptrick Records. He peforms the title track in a new video below:

In a previous video, Sangiorgio performs the album track “Magic River” in the new video streaming below:

In another clip, Sangiorgio performs the album track “Quick Trigger”:

It is a one-man studio project, focusing on instrumental metal-rock songs with blues influences, in which Raff Sangiorgio wrote, produced, arranged and performed every single instrument, with particular focus, on the guitar work. This new album consists of nine original songs.

“Back To Glory”:

“Quick Trigger”:

On April 21st, Profanity are returning with a new full-length: The Art Of Sickness on Apostasy Records. The first taste of the record can be heard below. The band state: "The album is more technical as well as more progressive at the same time and 'Who Leaves Stays' is the perfect example for that. It’s not the typical pre-release single because it is the longest song on the whole album (7:43 min running-time). Nonetheless, this is also the reason why it’s able to present all the album’s elements: unleashed drum-frenzy, complex structures, but also memorable guitar-melodies and a nearly pompous middle section."

Recorded at Iguana Studios (Spheron, Imperium Dekadenz, Necrophagist) with producer Christoph Brandes the new songs will bring all tech death gourmets to the scene. To make the album even more diverse, the band invited guests like Terrance Hobbs (Suffocation), Adrie Kloosterwaard (Sinister), Ricky Myers (Disgorge, Suffocation), Christian Münzner (Alkaloid, ex-Obscura) as well as their ex-bassist Martl Bauer. 

The artwork was done by Pär Olofsson:

Tracklisting:

“The Great Obstacle”
“Who Leaves Stays”
“Mouth Of Nepotism”
“Recreating Bliss”
“Specific Souls”
“Better Left Alone”

Canuck hard rock legends Helix have posted rare video footage of their 1990 European tour opening up for the Ian Gillan Band in Stockholm. The clip features guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen jamming the Little Richard classic “Lucille”. It also features late Helix guitarist Paul Hackman interviewing Yngwie.

Helix singer comments: “This was at our Swedish show with Ian Gillan when we toured Europe in 1990. Yngwie came out in the afternoon and we met him. That night he got up on stage with Ian Gillan and his band and played four songs, one of which is included here (‘Lucille’). Later he came back to our dressing room.”

On February 17th, YouTube user AmericanJackassI continued his efforts to make the internet a better place, uploading bootleg footage of Sebastian Bach performing in Hartford, CT at the Webster Theater in 2002. At the time, Bach's band featured former Anthrax guitarist Paul Crook, Savatage / ex-Megadeth guitarist Al Pitrelli, bassist Larry Fisher, and Bach's Madam X bandmate Mark McConnell on drums. Check out the complete show below.

 

The setlist on the night was as follows:

"Slave To The Grind
"Here I Am" 
"Frozen" 
"Piece of Me" 
"18 & Life" 
"The Threat" 
"Livin' On A Chain Gang" 
"This Is The Moment"
"Sweet Little Sister" 
"Done Bleeding" 
"In A Darkened Room" 
"Monkey Business" 
"Time Warp"
"I Remember You" 
"Youth Gone Wild"

Sadly, on May 24th, 2012 McConnell died from liver and kidney failure. Bach posted the following message online for McConnell's birthday on August 27th, 2012:

"Happy Birthday, Mark 'Bam Bam' McConnell.

Sure do wish you were around to read this. For so many years on this planet, you were my best buddy and musical partner. For so many years, you looked out for me. Like a brother. A best friend.

For so many years, we created music together. We paid our dues together. When times were hard, when we had nothing to eat, we made Dorito sandwiches at the truckstop together. We made our music because it was our dream come true. For us, it was actually fun to split on $1.25 for a loaf of white bread and one pack of Cheese Doritos. We made a feast of it. After driving all night in a van packed with six people and all of our gear, eating a Dorito sandwich can only be described as pure heaven.

Wow, your van. How many miles did we log in your green van, dude? With the brown leather couches in the back. How many times did we drive across the country, from Detroit to Phoenix to Florida to New York to Baltimore to Toronto to New Jersey? I saw this country for the first time with you, man. I saw so much with you. We lived, laughed, loved, fought and rocked together. We lived hard & we played hard. We rocked the only way we knew how. Hard.

Writing this is hard too. I cannot believe you are gone. We had so much fun. Some might say, too much fun. But we never knew, or could fathom, that we weren't supposed to be having as much fun as possible.

The stage was our home, where we felt the most alive. You were my backbone every night. You taught me so much about playing in concert. About giving 100%. You taught me to leave it all on the stage. All the energy, sweat, passion you had, you put it up on the boards. It was so much fun playing with you because I knew we would always blow 'em all away. Your playing and expertise behind the kit was amazing to behold and to make music with you was like driving a Ferrari. You were fast, precise, and showed everyone how to play the drums every time you sat behind the kit.

At no time did your face light up more than when you talked about your son. You would get the biggest smile on your face when you described to everyone how proud you were of your boy. You would brag about him to everyone who would listen, like it helped you when we had to spend months away from our loved ones doing what we were put here to do. You would always talk about plans, dreams you had, about spending time with him someday. He was your pride and joy and I'll never forget how excited you were when he came to our show in New York City.

You were so strong. You seemed invincible to me. It really is a wake-up call to no longer have you here. Life is so precious. Everything, and anything, can and will change at any moment & there is nothing we can do to change that. All we can do is try and realize how lucky we are to be alive. Having you gone makes me appreciate how fortunate we all are to even be here. I wish you still were!

Just before you left us, you posted on my Facebook Page. What you wrote to me is still there. Days before you were gone, you left words of encouragement to myself and others. Some sage words of advice. Like a best buddy. A musical partner. You were still looking out for me. Like a brother.

I guess you always were, and always will be... a best friend.

Happy Birthday Mark! We all love you and miss you."

Your Buddy Forever

Sebastian

Mark "Bam Bam" McConnell passed away on the morning of Thursday, May 24th in a Gainesville, Florida hospital.

The McConnell family issued the following statement regarding his passing:

"On May 24th, we all lost an amazing, incredibly talented and dedicated musician, Mark “Bam Bam” McConnell. Mark’s passing came as a complete shock to us all. The past few days have been intensely overwhelming in every respect. As his family, our focus has been directed at making sure we keep Mark’s best interests in mind and to follow his wishes. We would like to thank everyone for respecting our privacy and giving us the time we need.

Mark was taken from us too soon, but he lived life to the fullest and on his own terms. To all of us, Mark leaves behind his love and kindness, along with the humor and passion for music that he shared with everyone – family, friends and fans alike. He will never be forgotten.

For the music industry, Mark leaves behind a legacy. He was and will always be one of the most gifted drummers in the world. His passion and madness behind the drum kit were unmatched. He played with some of the biggest names in the music industry, and everyone who had the opportunity to make music with him will tell you what an honor it was. Mark’s spirit will live on forever in the hearts of many and through his music.

We would like to send out our deepest appreciation to everyone for all the support, prayers and shared memories of Mark. This has helped us through our darkest time and even made us smile, along with filling our hearts with so much warmth. The response has been overwhelming, and if Mark could see the outpour of love on his behalf, he too would be in awe. We know that all of Mark’s friends and fans are grieving and heartbroken by this loss. Know that Mark loved all of you, and you are all in our hearts and prayers."

When MEGADETH was honored with its first-ever Grammy last Sunday night (February 12), the band's walk up to the stage was inexplicably accompanied by the sound of the house ensemble playing the song "Master Of Puppets" from MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine's former band METALLICA.

Mustaine was fired from METALLICA in 1983 — some three years before "Master Of Puppets" was released — over substance abuse and anger issues. Although he later conceded that he was "bitter" for a period of time after being dismissed, he insisted that any perceived feud with his former bandmates was an illusion.

Asked by Radio.com what he thought when the house band started playing METALLICA, Mustaine said: "You know what? I didn't even notice it. It just sounded like some music in the background. The funny thing is that when I went back and listened to my acceptance speech, and I heard the song, I was, like, 'Wow!' Everyone was asking me, 'What about the METALLICA thing?' And I said, 'I didn't hear it, I just saw it.' 'How could you not have heard it?' I didn't know what they were talking about. I thought that they were talking about METALLICA's performance. Because we split [after the pre-televised awards]. By the time they did their thing with Lady Gaga, we were across the street eating dinner. So I went back and listened to my acceptance speech and I went, 'Wow!'"

He continued: "I didn't mind them playing it at all, it's a house band, and they're doing cover songs. They were probably saying, 'We don't know any MEGADETH songs. How about if we do a METALLICA song?' But when I went back and listened to it, I was, like, 'Oh my God! That's the worst version of 'Master Of Puppets' I've ever heard in my life!'"

When the interviewer pointed out to Mustaine that the house "house band seemed to be playing pretty random songs," Mustaine agreed: "They could've done a Cyndi Lauper song! [Laughs] I was just happy to be up there. It's about being recognized."

He added: "We all want so badly, when we pick our careers as kids, to be the best at what we do, and when you choose to be a musician, the stakes are much different. The way they 'grade' us, the way they hold us in esteem, how you tell who is better than who."

Mustaine also once again reiterated his desire to see MEGADETH one day be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but he stressed that it's not "a be-all, end-all thing." He explained: "You work hard, there are certain awards that are achievable, why not strive to achieve them? It's not like if I don't win, my life is incomplete. With METALLICA being in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame already, in a way, I'm in [the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame]. But I would like to get my band in there so that it's all of us, and I can stand there with my bandmates and we can high-five and hug and all that kind of stuff. Last weekend at the Grammys, it was fun to say, 'We did it!'"

He added: "We just recently got this CLIO Award for creative marketing [for the 'Dystopia' Virtual Reality Experience], and there's another award called the Genesis Awards from the Humane Society Of The United States and they presented us with the Doris Day Award [for producing work which raises public awareness of animal issues]. We've got some awards that other bands will never get!"

The members of METALLICA have been mostly respectful while discussing their onetime member, with guitarist Kirk Hammett saying on a podcast last fall: "I've always seen Dave as someone who was just really, really sad, really angry, really frustrated about his situation with METALLICA, and he never could let that go. And, you know, I've always shown a lot of empathy for him, understanding that he was just pissed off. It's the equivalent of the woman of your life leaving you."

MEGADETH recently completed a month-long U.S. tour with AMON AMARTH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, METAL CHURCH and BUTCHER BABIES.

Maggie Meadows of the Banana 101.5 radio station in Flint, Michigan, conducted an interview with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson about the band's first-ever Grammy Award. On February 12, MEGADETH was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category for its 2016 album, "Dystopia". You can listen to the full chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On MEGADETH winning their first Grammy Award after being nominated twelve times:

David: "It's a nice change. I've been Grammy-nominated for a lot of years, which is also awesome, but it's nice to be Grammy Award-winning, that's for sure. It's twelve times nicer to know we're now Grammy Award-winning."

On whether he expected MEGADETH to win:

David: "You always go knowing there's a chance. I think the fact you get invited, that's huge, because out of all the people who put out music, they narrow it down pretty selectively to four, five, six people/artists that even get invited. I think probably the biggest thing, there's this moment when you're sitting in your seat and they go, 'And the Grammy goes to…' That moment right there, which is very euphoric, and you go, 'Oh my God. They may actually call our name right now.' In past years, which I've gone four times now, and they say 'And the Grammy goes to… not you.' [Laughs] It's a moment that you go 'Wow! All of that build-up and coming here and the excitement, and the press releases and the travel, getting the suit, tux, and the limo… it's all gone in that moment.' This is one where it was nice where it just got better when they said 'And the Grammy goes to ''Dystopia': MEGADETH.' We are over the moon about this."

On what MEGADETH would normally do after a different winner than them was announced:

David: "It's funny, this year, yeah, we all stayed around. There was a lot of press, obviously, Universal, our record company had a party that they wanted us to come to, and walk the red carpet. The night went on forever, which was wonderful. It was like, 'Please don't let this night end.' It was awesome. It was like Cinderella at the ball. 'Just don't let this end.' In past years, I've always stayed, except for the very first year in 1993, we went. We'd been nominated a couple of times before, starting as far back as 1991, but we were on tour, so we couldn't go. Finally in 1993, 'Countdown To Extinction', our biggest record, all over MTV, people congratulating us on the way in, 'You got this. So proud of you guys. This is great.' We sit down, and it was pre-televised that year, the first year they did it pre-televised. They make the announcements, I'll never forget Mary Chapin Carpenter and Lyle Lovett opening the envelope and 'The Grammy goes to: NINE INCH NAILS.' We're like 'What?!' We love NINE INCH NAILS, they were a cool, hip new band out of Hollywood. We love Trent's [Reznor] work; he even remixed one of the tracks we may have been nominated for, 'Symphony Of Destruction'. He was certainly deserving, but it was that moment, and I remember [former MEGADETH lead guitarist] Marty Friedman, and it was me and my wife, and Marty and his girlfriend at the time, Marty was so upset and said, 'That's it. We're out of here.' We're like 'Really? You don't want to stay?' 'No, we're out of here.' The limo hadn't even parked and we're calling the guy, 'Hey, pick us up.' He goes 'What happened?' We left and went up the street and had dinner. That was a regret, to not go to the Grammys that year. Every year since then I've gone, three more times now, I made a point, 'I'm staying. This is the biggest music party in the world. We got invited. You can't go unless you are a nominee. We're still in the exclusive club, man. I'm going to take this in.' I've always loved the Grammys. They do it very well; it's awesome. You're part of the biggest club in the world. It's awesome to go."

On whether he heard the Grammy house band playing METALLICA's "Master Of Puppets" as they were walking to the stage to accept their award:

David: "We could. [Laughs] We're sitting there together, and it's funny, we're number 69, ironically in this list of 75 awards, and we get in there around 58, 59, and sat down, and a few more were ahead of us and it's moving pretty quick at this point. We're sitting there and it comes up 'Best Metal.' They read them off, and they just listed the names: BARONESS, KORN, MEGADETH, PERIPHERY, GOJIRA, and then when they said 'The Grammy goes to…' They initially, they didn't say just 'MEGADETH,' they said ''Dystopia': MEGADETH.' We looked at each other like, 'Did we not win? Who's this 'D-word' they just mentioned?' Not realizing they said 'Dystopia'. That split second, the thoughts that race through your mind at the moment are incredible, then they start playing a METALLICA song. I wondered, 'Did Dave [Mustaine] hear that?' But he didn't care, we didn't care, it was just the obligatory heavy metal backing track. We came down and it was so funny, I was talking to Brian 'Head' Welch from KORN a few days before. I said, 'Hey, are you going to go to the Grammys?' He said, 'Yeah, I'll be there.' He said, 'By the way, it's okay if you win.' I thought, 'What a wonderful soul he is.' He was the first one to jump up out of his seat and run up and hug us, and congratulate us. [KORN bassist] Fieldy came up right after him, and [KORN drummer] Ray Luzier was right after. Those guys are so kind. We took them out on their first big tour. It's great they were there to high-five us and celebrate. Even later that night, Dan Donegan and David Draiman from DISTURBED who are on tour over in Germany, said 'Congratulations. We put it up on our Facebook congratulating you guys.' [MÖTLEY CRÜE and SIXX:A.M. bassist] Nikki Sixx hit me and Dave up and said 'Congratulations. Thank you for making the Grammys rock again.' The accolades from all of our friends from so many genres all around the world was just incredible."

MEGADETH recently completed a month-long U.S. tour with AMON AMARTH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, METAL CHURCH and BUTCHER BABIES.

DISTURBED is hoping to enter the studio by early next year to begin recording the follow-up to 2015's "Immortalized". Speaking to a German media outlet on February 15 before DISTURBED's concert in Berlin, guitarist Dan Donegan stated about the band's plans for the coming months (see video below): "Once we're done [touring], I think everybody is gonna unwind a bit. We're all gonna get home and spend some time with our families. And we'll just let it come naturally."

He continued: "I have a bunch of ideas that I'll record on my phone or in the dressing room, and I'll just save some riff ideas and readdress them later at another time, once we're all in the right headspace for it. But anytime we've written, it always has to just come naturally, when we all feel that we're ready. There's never any pressure of saying, 'We have to start writing right now.' We don't like to put any kind of time frame on things."

DISTURBED brought its nearly four-year hiatus to a close with the August 2015 release of "Immortalized", the heavy rock quartet's sixth studio album overall and first of new material since "Asylum" in 2010. The effort became became DISTURBED's fifth album to enter The Billboard 200 chart at No. 1 — a feat shared only with METALLICA and DAVE MATTHEWS BAND. The band's success was bolstered by several chart-topping singles from "Immortalized", including its massive hit cover of SIMON & GARFUNKEL's classic "The Sound Of Silence".

"There is still a lot of excitement within the band because of the success of this album, because of us returning after a four-year break, and because of the fans' reaction, because of the success of 'The Sound Of Silence', so it's definitely got us in the mindset of still feeling pumped up," Dan said. "I definitely don't anticipate us taking a long break. But there might be a little bit of time — it won't be nothing like a four-year hiatus. I think hopefully by at least, if not this year, by early next year, hopefully, we'll be in the studio again."

"The Sound Of Silence" was certified platinum last June for sales or downloads of more than one million copies, while "Immortalized", DISTURBED's fifth No. 1 album in a row, hit gold in September for 500,000 copies sold.

Geoff Tate says that a reunion of QUEENSRŸCHE's classic lineup woud only happen if all the members of the band "really needed money."

In April 2014, Tate and QUEENSRŸCHE announced that a settlement had been reached after a nearly two-year legal battle where the singer sued over the rights to the QUEENSRŸCHE name after being fired in 2012. Original QUEENSRŸCHE members Michael Wilton (guitar), Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Eddie Jackson (bass) responded with a countersuit. The settlement included an agreement that Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson would continue as QUEENSRŸCHE, while Tate would have the sole right to perform the albums "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Operation: Mindcrime II" in their entirety live.

Speaking to the syndicated radio show "Noize In The Attic", Tate was asked if he could envision himself one day playing with his former bandmates again. He said: "I suppose so. I suppose that if everybody got in a room… The only reason to get together is for the money. That's the only reason. So, if everybody really needed money and wanted to get together and bury the hatchet, so to speak, and sit in one room and say, [adopts faux tearful tone] 'Gosh, I'm really sorry I treated you that way.' You know, maybe then we could work toward some sort of resolution, but I haven't seen any attempt by anybody to do that, so I'm not holding out… holding my breath. [But] I'd never say never. I might get to a point where I really need the money. It's nice to have that little back-up plan. [Laughs]"

You can listen to the full Tate interview below.

Tate previously described his time in QUEENSRŸCHE as "a strange, strange sort of relationship." He told The Metal Gods Meltdown: "We weren't really friends, you know — we were business associates. We had a wonderful entity that we shared called QUEENSRŸCHE, but it wasn't an equal sort of partnership as far as involvement goes. You know, so there wasn't a real camaraderie amongst everybody in the band… From my perspective and my involvement, it wasn't an emotional sort of brotherhood kind of thing that some people might think existed. That wasn't my reality with them."

Tate's replacement, Todd La Torre, told Metal Wani last September that QUEENSRŸCHE is "sounding better than it did for over ten years" now that he is fronting the band. He added: "The fans have certainly voiced that opinion. That's my opinion, and that's a lot of opinions we hear every night. And the energy of the other members of the band is way healthier, way happier with [Geoff] gone and me in the band. And that's just the facts. There's no stifled creativity, and there's no kind of leader and followers, if you will, in the band. We all talk and try to make decisions the same, and it's very democratic. I'm never gonna tell Michael Wilton that his guitar riff is too heavy, for example, and that had happened in the past. The band is way happier, and I think that it's evident when you watch a live show — not [a clip on] YouTube, but really go to a show and feel what's happening and see what's happening. These guys are happy again and they feel like it's a rebirth of the band and that those dark clouds are well behind them."

QUEENSRŸCHE has released two albums thus far with the ex-CRIMSON GLORY frontman — 2013's "Queensrÿche" and 2015's "Condition Hüman".

Tonight's (Saturday, February 18) MARDUK concert at the Oakland Metro Operahouse in Oakland, California has been canceled amid security concerns. The venue released a statement from the local police on Friday explaining that "there are groups that believe MARDUK profits off glorifying Nazi imagery and songs about Nazi SS officers and anti-Semitism." Therefore, "based on the riot that occurred in Berkeley in regards to Milo Yiannopoulos [a British journalist, author and senior editor for Breitbart News, a far-right news and opinion web site] speaking at the University [Of California], it is reasonable to believe that there would be a threat to public safety if these groups showed up to protest MARDUK."

The Oakland Metro Operahouse also released its own statement saying that "in the last week, we have read interview after interview with MARDUK spanning over the last 20 years and found no statements indicating the band are white supremacists, nationalists, or anti-immigrant. That being said, we don't want to subject our security staff, venue staff or the public to violence. Our staff is almost exclusively POC and/or LBGTQ and they have all expressed the desire to work, but as we are getting threats, we just can't risk it. So, in the interest of safety, and because the Oakland Police Department would have insisted anyway, we have canceled the MARDUK performance on February 18."

The venue added: "The Oakland Police Department has decided in the interest of public safety that the MARDUK show on Saturday, February 18 at the Oakland Metro Operahouse be cancelled. Refunds at point of purchase. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Several days earlier, a small Facebook group called Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area which claims to "relay info about the struggle against fascism and white supremacy in the Bay Area," posted a message in which it called MARDUK "a black metal band with known white supremacist ties from Sweden that profits off of glorifying Nazi imagery and songs about Nazi SS officers and anti-semitism." It also claimed that MARDUK's latest album, "Frontschwein", was written "entirely about the Third Reich. The term 'Frontschwein' (meaning Frontline Pig) refers to the nickname given to Nazi field marshal Walther Model because he preferred to lead from the front and was known for his abuse and crudity." Furthermore, the group wrote, "One of MARDUK's album is called 'Panzer Division Marduk' (referring to the Nazi armored tank division in WWII)," while "another MARDUK album, 'Warschau' (the site of a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust), uses photos of Nazi tanks rolling through the rubble of Poland as cover and booklet artwork. The album sleeve of 'Iron Dawn' and album cover of 'Here's No Peace' also show pictures of Nazi tanks. The title on the cover of 'Here's No Peace' is arranged in such fashion as to resemble an honorific cuff band, a type of distinction badge which the German Wehrmacht allowed individuals who were serving (or had served) in some elite units (Grossdeutschland division, named Waffen-SS divisions) or who took part of renowned campaigns to wear (North African campaign, assault on Crete).

"MARDUK's entire discography is full of songs like 'The Hangman Of Prague', 'Night Of The Long Knives', 'Deathmarch', 'To The Death's Head True'...etc. The song 'The Hangman Of Prague' is about Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking SS officer and Holocaust architect ('The Hangman Of Prague' was a moniker of Reinhard Heydrich — second in command of the SS — in his capacity as the de-facto Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia). They also have a song called 'The Blonde Beast' which is also a reference to Reinhard Heydrich, the infamous Hangman of Prague. The term 'Blond Beast' is often implied as referring to the Aryan race stemming from the intentional misreading of Nietzsche instantiated by the Nazis. Their song 'Afrika' is about a high-ranking Nazi general Erwin Rommel aka 'the Desert Fox' who was in charge of the Afrika Korps."

Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area also pointed to an interview MARDUK founder and guitarist Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson gave in early 2014 in which he was asked to comment on the fact that Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes was convicted of hate speech against Jews and Muslims in France in 2014. "It's strange that it's illegal to dislike a religion. I find it really strange that you can't have certain views," he reportedly said.

In a 2013 interview with Metal Blast, Håkansson spoke about the accusations of associations with national socialism which have been leveled at MARDUK. "I was not shocked because I'm not shocked by anything, but I was more surprised by the stupidity," he said. "It's strange that you can sing about certain historical topics but not about others. Some big magazines tried to boycott us and were sending faxes, back in those days, to promoters telling them avoid us, but that only made us stronger."

He added: "I'm fascinated by certain historical aspects and we will continue to write about them as long as it is inspiring to write lyrics about it, and if it's World War II, it's fine with me, and if somebody has a problem with it, they can fuck off. SLAYER, MOTÖRHEAD, they have done it before and I don't see a reason why not to do it."




Heads up: The Oakland Metro Operahouse has scheduled to host Marduk, a black metal band with known white supremacist...

Posted by Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area on Friday, February 10, 2017

Dann of the "Mike James Rock Show" conducted an interview with vocalist Anders Fridén of Swedish metallers IN FLAMES during the band's recent U.K. tour as the support act for DISTURBED and AVENGED SEVENFOLD. You can watch the full chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On opening for DISTURBED and AVENGED SEVENFOLD in the U.K.:

Anders: "They asked us. We said, 'Yes.' This is a good opportunity for us to play to bigger audiences. We released an album quite recently, for us to wait too long to get here, we didn't want to do that. They are two cool bands, good guys. It's been an easy tour. We've been taken care of."

On how crowds are reacting to the band's new "Battles" album:

Anders: "We only play two new songs. We want to ease them in. I think it's going to be a long cycle, so eventually I hope we're going to play all of the songs, not all at once. But yeah, it works really well. We are enjoying them, at least. I feel when we write music, we really think how the songs will sound live."

On the band's "progression":

Anders: "We've had a long career. We never want to stand still. We want to move forward all the time. We don't sound exactly the same as we did in the early days, but we still have the same mentality. It's still about melodies, really. We're still a melodic metal band, it's just shaped in slightly different ways. Today, we can do melodies on vocals, guitars, keyboards, and so on, and in the early days, it was mainly guitars, and me screaming on top of it."

On his development as a singer:

Anders: "That's all I knew. I think I even had some sense of melody in my screaming anyway. It wasn't this death-metal-growl type of singing. It did fit our guitars, the way we wanted to have the guitars in the early days. It's really different when you play live versus the studio. Live, I tend to scream more, but it's because I have an audience in front of me that gives me that energy and brings it out. When you're in the studio, you have a microphone. It doesn't give you the same energy. Therefore, it's slightly different. I always listen to the music first, then do my part on top like it's finishing the painting. Sometimes screaming works really well, sometimes a singing type of voice is better for the song. I still like to scream my ass off."

On how much IN FLAMES will dip into their classic back catalog when playing live:

Anders: "We play more songs from the [recent] material, but we do go back, both to 'The Jester Race', 'Whoracle' and 'Colony' here and there, but it's usually just a song. When we do those songs, it feels really good. Sometimes they're the best that night. It really depends on your mood or the reaction of the audience and so on. It was a long time ago since we played something from [the band's 1994 debut] 'Lunar Strain'."

On whether there are any older songs he'd like to play live:

Anders: "'The Jester Race', since that was the first IN FLAMES [album] for me, it always plays a big part for me. Then again, I like to play newer stuff because it's new. [Laughs] It's something that feels a bit fresher, but as I said, some nights, that song from that album, the earlier albums, they are the best that night. Unfortunately, on this tour, we only have a little bit of time, so we don't go too far back into our catalog."

On whether IN FLAMES will ever do an "anniversary tour" and play one of their albums in full:

Anders: "No, because everyone else is doing it. I love where we come from. I love the days of what we had. It's not like I'm going to go back and celebrate it. It's more like 'Last year was 20 years since 'The Jester Race', cheers, and we'll continue.' Maybe one day, who knows? We have fans that tend to feel, I shouldn't say 'think,' they feel 'The Jester Race', 'Colony' and 'Whoracle', that's 'their' period, that's when they found IN FLAMES and that's what they like. Back then, we were not that big, we were doing smaller tours. In later years, we've got to reach out to wider audiences that maybe heard 'Come Clarity' first, or 'Soundtrack [To Your Escape]' first, or something else. Even with 'Siren Charms' and now 'Battles', we get new people in. We try to play for everyone, not a selective audience. We try to give them a little bit of everything."

"Battles", IN FLAMES' twelfth studio album, was released on November 11 via Nuclear Blast/b> in all territories excluding North America and Scandinavia and Eleven Seven Music Group in the U.S.

Meltdown of the WRIF radio station in Detroit, Michigan recently conducted an interview with METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Speaking about METALLICA's upcoming tour in support of the band's latest album, 2016's "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct", Trujillo said: "We're doing what we've been doing. We're celebrating the energy of the new music and working up the new songs, seeing what works.

"It's an exciting time. We feel there's great momentum. This album has been embraced by the world. We didn't expect… I mean, we love that to happen; I don't know that we expected all this. And it's something that is always exciting for us.

"We enjoy playing small shows, big shows, whatever. There's the energy of the visual production, and all that stuff starts to happen, so when you see it come to life, it's pretty exciting.

"We're gonna go to some really great places on this trip. Last tour, we went to Antarctica. And hopefully we'll get to the Moon this time. [Laughs] I don't know."

METALLICA made history when it became the first and only band to perform a concert on all seven of Earth's continents after entertaining 120 scientists and competition winners at Carlini Station in Antarctica on December 8, 2013. The hour-long show, appropriately dubbed "Freeze 'Em All", saw the rock band perform ten tracks. With a Hall Of Fame-caliber career spanning more than three decades, the band earned a spot in the 60th-anniversary edition of the "Guinness World Records" book after a whirlwind year in 2013 performing concerts in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and Antarctica.

The North American leg of METALLICA's "WorldWired" 2017 tour kicks off on May 10 in Baltimore, Maryland and will hit stadiums in 25 cities before winding down in mid-August. Support on the quartet's first North American trek since 2009 will come mainly from AVENGED SEVENFOLD and VOLBEAT, with GOJIRA taking over for the latter group for the last six shows.

Each ticket purchased for the tour will come with a copy of METALLICA's new album, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct", available as a physical CD or a digital download. Various VIP packages are up for sale as well.

METALLICA has also announced the formation of its All Within My Hands Foundation, which will raise funds through ticket sales to support national, local and Bay Area charities selected by the band members, while continuing to donate to music education programs and local food banks.

Interview (audio):

The third trailer for "Rammstein: Paris", the new documentary from German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN, is available below.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Rammstein: Paris" will screen in around 350 cinemas internationally, including in the U.S., on March 23. The film was shot in March 2012 at the then-named Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris (now AccorHotels Arena) during RAMMSTEIN's "Made In Germany" tour, and was helmed by the band's longtime collaborator, Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund.

"Rammstein: Paris" has been picked up for worldwide rights (excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland) by Picturehouse Entertainment, the distribution arm of the U.K.'s Picturehouse Cinemas chain.

"Concert films are always a big challenge," said Åkerlund, who has also worked with METALLICA, SATYRICON, MADONNA and THE PRODIGY, among others. "I compare it to shooting fireworks. The way I approach it is to try to translate the energy that you get in the room onto film, using every trick in the book to make as much of an impression as I can on the audience."

"Rammstein: Paris" was shot over two nights, using 30 cameras.

"That gives you a massive amount of footage," Åkerlund added."This is a two-hour-twenty-minute show, and I take the footage and cut it with the same precision that I would a three- or four-minute music video. Even with a big crew of editors, it took us over a year to nail down the edit."

RAMMSTEIN last year played a number of concerts where the band opened each show with a brand new song, presently only known as "Ramm 4". The track contains lyrics that seem to be a combination of various titles of previous RAMMSTEIN songs.

RAMMSTEIN in 2015 released a 21st-anniversary box set, a numbered, career-wide collection titled "XXI". The set included the band's six studio albums, produced by Jacob Hellner and remastered onto 180-gram heavyweight double vinyl by Svante Forsbäck, as well as a separate rarities double LP, "Raritäten", including a previously unreleased version of the track "Los".

RAMMSTEIN hasn't made a new CD since 2009's "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da".

The band's frontman Till Lindemann in 2015 released a debut album with his side project LINDEMANN.

RAMMSTEIN guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe's EMIGRATE project issued its sophomore album, "Silent So Long", in November 2014 via Spinefarm.

Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA kicked off 2017 with their most successful European tour to date. Along with POWERWOLF and BEYOND THE BLACK, EPICA played to thousands of fans every night and ended the tour with their biggest show so far: a sold-out concert at Zenith in Paris, France where the band performed in front of nearly five thousand fans.

Commented EPICA keyboardist Coen Janssen: "We had the most amazing time on our 'European Principle' run. Together with our new friends from POWERWOLF and BEYOND THE BLACK, we played the biggest venues — in front of the craziest crowds — ever!! You gave all the energy you got every night and that radiated onto the band, for sure! Fortunately, we shot some very cool images of a few of those nights, crafted into another awesome after-movie for you and us to relive this EPIC tour!"

On this tour, EPICA was joined by the video production team Panda Productions, which made a tour after-movie over multiple shows. You can now check out this stunning video below.

Later this month, the band will hit the road again and will perform full headline shows in Russia, Scandinavia, Finland, Asia and Latin America.

EPICA's latest album, "The Holographic Principle", was released on September 30, 2015 via Nuclear Blast.

EPICA singer Simone Simons recently told Metal-Rules.com about the lyrical themes covered on "The Holographic Principle": "It isn't a concept CD as the story is not in a chronological order of events from beginning to the end. Some songs deviate from the idea.

"'The Holographic Principle' is, basically, that we are living in a hologram. With the new technology and virtual reality glasses we realize reality is generated so perfectly that you can no longer tell the difference, so can reality also be a hologram?"

Simone also talked about the production on "The Holographic Principle" and how important it is get the right sound when it comes to symphonic metal. She said: "I think the sonics would be equally important to any band, not just a symphonic metal band like us. Every band wants to songs to sound the best they possibly can on the CD. That is why you have to record parts a million times in order for them to come as perfect as possible.

"When it came time for recording my vocals, our producer said that he doesn't want to overdo it as we don't want to lose the emotion in my vocals. That is something you cannot fix in editing.

"Overall, production-wise, we went bigger, because we recorded with more instruments as we had a good budget to finance it. We were in the studio for about five months recording. The writing took about a year; we had 27 songs to choose from when we were done. Then we had to narrow it down to 18 songs, which we recorded and mixed. Twelve went to the CD and the remaining six are in the corner waiting patiently to be released."

Former FLYLEAF singer Lacey Sturm recently took part in an interview and acoustic performance at the studios of the 95 WIIL Rock radio station in Kenosha, Wisconsin. You can now watch video footage of her appearance below.

Sturm's debut solo album, "Life Screams", was released in February 2016 via Followspot Records with The Fuel Music distribution.

Writing alone, as well as with husband/guitarist Josh Sturm, SKILLET's Korey Cooper and Grammy Award-winning writer and producer David Hodges, Lacey created a record that is the sonic successor to FLYLEAF's celebrated self-titled debut (which spent a staggering 133 weeks on The Billboard 200 chart).

When she's not onstage or in the studio, Sturm leads a busy post-FLYLEAF life as an author, motivational speaker and happily married mother of two.

Lacey has earned legions of fans worldwide not only through her astoundingly emotive voice and chart-topping songwriting, but also for the sheer sincerity of the uplifting messages pervading her work. Whether fronting FLYLEAF or now as a solo artist, she remains uncommonly true to herself while inspiring others to strive for better ways to live and love. "In the beginning, FLYLEAF really centered around my story and vision," Lacey explained. "This new project continues that narrative in a cohesive way."

FLYLEAF recruited singer Kristen May as Sturm's replacement and released its fourth album, "Between The Stars", in September 2014. May has since left the group.

On February 12, French daily current affairs show "Quotidien", which is broadcast on the TMC channel (part of prominent media group TF1), spent a day with GOJIRA when the band was in Los Angeles to attend this year's Grammy Awards. The group was nominated in two categories at the event: "Best Metal Performance" for the song "Silvera", and "Best Rock Album" for "Magma".

You can now watch the "Quotidien" report below (with French subtitles).

GOJIRA frontman Joseph Duplantier told the AFP news agency about being nominated for a Grammy: "We started playing pretty intense thrash and death metal and I've been mostly growling for the last twenty years, so I wasn't expecting any kind of award. I never even thought of the concept of being nominated for the Grammys."

He added that the Grammy nods would not affect GOJIRA's musical and lyrical approach on the eventual follow-up to "Magma", which was a more commercially viable effort than the band's previous releases.

"We're super excited and surprised, but it's not like God telling you you're good and the others are not good," he said. "It's the Grammys."

METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett recently praised GOJIRA, saying that they were "the best thing I've heard in a long time. I love their new album," he said. "I think it's an incredible piece of art. It's heavy, it's vibey, it's moody. It has all the things you want to hear — great complex rhythms, great drumming, great riffs, great songs."

"Magma" was released last June via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2012's "L'Enfant Sauvage" was recorded at Joseph's Silver Cord Studio in Queens, New York.

Asked what the title of GOJIRA's new album, "Magma", means to him, Joseph told Kerrang!: "To me, 'magma' is the primal energy. It's the blood of the earth. It's hot. It's dangerous. It is the guts. It's this music. It's the music we play. It's fusion. It's fire. It's electricity. It's… everything that we're trying to express with this music. That's what it means to me, 'magma.'"

Joseph also talked about how he comes up with all those heavy GOJIRA riffs. He said: "I don't know if we have a formula or a secret to write some of our riffs. But I wanna say that we connect ourselves to a certain energy, we put ourselves in a certain state of mind naturally. The kind of music we wanna hear, the kind of riffs we wanna hear are intricate and heavy and spiritual and there's a part of mystery in it. So we put ourselves in this kind of state of mind. But, really, we have visions when we play. When I've got my guitar, I'm already in a certain mood, and then everything that comes out will be in that specific mood. Yeah, I guess we're really connected to all… everything that's nature… Ideas like infinity, outer space, black holes [are] very inspiring for heavy riffs."

Photo courtesy of GOJIRA's Facebook page

After Dutch symphonic metallers STREAM OF PASSION ended their eleven-year career in late 2016 with one final show, guitar player Eric Hazebroek decided to transform his plans for a possible solo album into a full-blown band. Together with Marjan Welman (vocals; also of AUTUMN), Douwe De Wilde (bass; ex-THE SATURNINE), and Jim Van De Kerkhof (drums; ex-ALL FOR NOTHING), he formed the melancholic metal band VETRAR DRAUGURINN.

VETRAR DRAUGURINN is the vehicle of Hazebroek's songwriting. On March 30, the band will release a four-song EP, titled "I", as a form of introduction. The material showcases the diversity and melancholy of the band, featuring everything from heavy, doomy and eight-string-guitar-driven tracks to fragile and delicate sorrow-drenched atmospheric songs.

VETRAR DRAUGURINN already has a full-length worth of material ready to go and hopes to be able to release its debut album at the end of 2017 or in early 2018.

A teaser video for one of the EP tracks, "Mother Of Northern Skies", can be seen below.

The EP can be pre-ordered at this location.

After a seven year hiatus, Labÿrinth, the legendary Italian Metal band, will return with a brand new studio album, Architecture Of A God on April 21st.

In the spring of 2016, the band’s founding members, Andrea Cantarelli and Olaf Thorsen received a call from Frontiers asking them to discuss with vocalist Roberto Tiranti the possibilities of a reunion with a return to their classic sound to mount a comeback for the band. After much discussion, the guys agreed to make an album and also to make a very special appearance at the the first annual Frontiers Metal Festival, where they performed their signature album, Return To Heaven Denied, in it’s entirety [said performance is being prepared for a future home video release.]

Olaf says: “This has been easily the most difficult and challenging album I ever worked on. To be honest, when Frontiers contacted me, insisting to make this reunion happen, I was skeptical and worried. We couldn't simply make a new album, it wouldn't have been honest to the fans, to ourselves. Of course, this is as easy to say as also unbelievably tough to make real: we have so many good albums out there, looking at us from their past and which people still keep in their minds and hearts. That's why we decided to strengthen our line-up, joining with nobody else but the best musicians we believed they would have fitted perfectly into our perspective of the music we were about to write.”

Andrea adds: “The making of this album has been a fantastic journey. We brought back a lot of classic elements of our music, mixing it with something new and I'm so enthusiastic about the final result.”

Roberto Tiranti makes it short: “Just when you thought you already gave everything you could, expressing every possible musical aspect of your way of intending music for a band like Labÿrinth, then comes Architecture Of A God, to remind you that nothing is impossible!”

With a new lineup rounded out by drummer extraordinaire John Macaluso (TNT, Riot, Ark etc.), Oleg Smirnoff (Vision Divine, Edritch) on keyboards, and Nik Mazzucconi on bass, Labÿrinth are truly coming back stronger than ever and have offered up a superb self-produced album. Architecture Of A God (mixed by DGM’s Simone Mularoni) is a record that encompasses all the elements the band is known for: fast power metal songs with unforgettable hooks, epic prog infused metal songs, and some great melodic numbers that compose a record which is easily going to be another milestone for the Italian metal masters!

“What we have in our hands, now, it's Architecture Of A God: by far, the most mature and complete album we ever wrote,” concludes Thorsen. “There's no will to challenge our glorious past, but I'm really confident that, once released, this album will set a new standard for our music!”

Architecture Of A God tracklisting:

“Bullets”
“Still Alive”
“Take On My Legacy”
“A New Dream”
“Someone Says”
“Random Logic”
“Architecture Of A God”
“Children”
“Those Days”
“We Belong To Yesterday”
“Stardust And Ashes”
“Diamond”

Labÿrinth lineup:

Roberto Tiranti - lead vocals
Olaf Thorsen - lead guitars
Andrea Cantarelli - lead guitars
Nik Mazzucconi - bass guitar
Oleg Smirnoff - keyboards
John Macaluso - drums

Helix has released another vintage video this time from 1990 on the Ian Gillan European tour. This video features then new guitar player Denny Blake.

Says the band, “When we finished recording Back For Another Taste in 1989 at River Studios in Fort Erie, Ontario, we then had to take it on tour. Longtime Helix guitarist Brent Doerner, who had been in the band since 1976 had left the band just after Wild In The Streets touring ended, and his shoes were big ones left to fill...Enter Denny Blake, the first and only American member of the band. We had met Denny when we toured with his band Maniacs a few years before through the eastern U.S. He turned out to be a great addition to the band with his keen sense of humor and his superior playing abilities. Eventually the touring for Back For Another Taste ended and Denny returned to the U.S., where he joined a Broadway musical featuring Billy Joel songs.

Rare video footage of Helix performing “Good To The Last Drop” in 1993 is available for streaming below.

Says leader Brian Vollmer: “This video was shot at our show in Kitchener, Ontario in 1993 at a club called Stages. On guitars are Mark Chichkan (SL) and Greg Fraser (SR). Dary is on bass, Fritz on drums, I'm singing. The song is “Good To The Last Drop”, a tune I wrote with Mark Ribler in Brooklyn, New York around 1989. The song eventually ended up on the Back For Another Taste album and became a big hit for us in Canada. I believe Phil Kates did the video for this song.”

US/Irish hard rockers Black Star Riders finally released their third album Heavy Fire on February 3rd via Nuclear Blast. This new masterpiece directly entered the charts worldwide and got the best chart results ever in the history of the Black Star Riders.
 
The band states: "We owe a massive 'thank you' to the Black Star Riders fans around the world for making this happen. Heavy Fire is a powerful expression for us and we look forward to taking it on the road for all of 2017 and beyond!"

Chart positions:
#6 UK
#11 Germany
#60 Ireland
#91 Top Current Albums US

2016 saw Black Star Riders return to the studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, The Foo Fighters, Mastodon), at his studio just outside Nashville. The resultant album is Black Star Riders most accomplished work to date. From the immediate riffs of album opener “Heavy Fire” to the instant hooks of first single “When The Night Comes In”, from the dirty bass groove of “Thinking About You Could Get Me Killed” to the familiar and trademark dual guitars of Gorham and Johnson on “Testify Or Say Goodbye”, this is an album that will further cement BSR’s reputation as one of the world premiere rock acts.

"Angst, passion, power, glory, love, truth, lies, loyalty, questions that begged to be answered. There's a guitar army coming…and it's bringing the Heavy Fire.” – Ricky Warwick (vocals)

"Not many new bands get to record three albums these days. Without doubt this is BSR'S best album so far. We had a great time recording it and can't wait to play the new songs live on tour in March." – Scott Gorham (guitars)

Following on from their critically acclaimed albums All Hell Breaks Loose and The Killer Instinct, which have paved the way for Black Star Riders to be recognized as a power force in the modern day of rock n’ roll, Heavy Fire will be once again released by Nuclear Blast Entertainment. The band have also brought in Pledgemusic, one of the most innovative and successful platforms of the modern music world, to give fans extra special product and experiences to go along with the album’s release.

Formats: Limited Edition Digibook CD (including bonus track), CD, Vinyl, Vinyl Picture Disc, Digital Album

Mail order: Limited Orange & Clear Vinyl (Order)

Tracklisting:

“Heavy Fire”
“When The Night Comes In”
“Dancing With The Wrong Girl”
“Who Rides The Tiger”
“Cold War Love”
“Testify Or Say Goodbye”
“Thinking About You Could Get Me Killed”
“True Blue Kid”
“Ticket To Rise”
“Letting Go Of Me”

The Limited Edition Digibook CD will include the above tracklisting plus the bonus track “Fade”.

“Testify Or Say Goodbye” video:

“When The Night Comes In” lyric video:

Trailers:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Norwegian black metal documentary "Blackhearts" will be released on DVD, digital and VOD on April 11 via Soundview Media Partners.

"Blackhearts" is a documentary that tells the compelling story of three die-hard fans of black metal. The hard rock sub-genre gained worldwide notoriety because of its links to Satanism, church burnings, and murders 25 years ago in Norway.

We follow Sina from Iran, Hector from Colombia and Kaiadas from Greece on their journey to Norway — the Mecca of the music that has formed their lives. What makes someone risk their life, get thrown in jail or sell their soul to Satan to make this dream come true?

Sina is the only active black metal artist in Iran, and faces a potentially life-threatening situation if he chooses to follow his dream and travel to Norway. Hector is a devoted Satanist and organizes a satanic ritual to sell his soul to the Devil in order to help his visa application. Kaiadas represents the extreme right-wing party Golden Dawn in the Greek Parliament by day, and is the frontman of the black metallers in NAER MATARON by night. He faces up to 20 years in prison after being arrested for association with a criminal organization.

Many films have documented the history and development of black metal, but "Blackhearts" looks at this infamous genre from a fresh new angle. The film recounts three very different personal stories of dedication, ambition and expectations following the journey of the main characters.

"Blackhearts" was awarded "Best International Documentary" at the Sound On Screen Film Festival 2016, and has been given much praise for its unconventional and observational approach to its subject matter. This is an unfiltered view behind the veil of imagery and myth that surrounds this genre. The scenes are at times funny and surprising, and at other times surreal and disturbing. They show the extent to which humans are willing to go in pursuit of what they believe in.

The film was awarded the Grand Jury Honorable Mention at Nordic/Docs 2016 in Fredrikstad, Norway, and also received favorable feedback after screening at IFFR - International Film Festival Rotterdam, Nordisk Panorama, Buffalo International Film Festival, Kosmorama International Film Festival, CIMMfest and Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre, just to name a few.

Bonus Materials

* "White Metal Ministry", a short documentary on Christian black metal (17 minutes)* Colombian Satanic Ritual (extended scene) (26 minutes)- "He Fought With A Bear And Lost", interview with Nocturno Culto of DARKTHRONE (9 minutes)* "It's About Looking Good On Stage", an interview with Obsidian C of KEEP OF KALESSIN (7 minutes)* Music Video: FROM THE VASTLAND - "Blackhearts" (6 minutes)* Music Video: KHONSU - "Visions Of Nehaya" (3 minutes)

To order the DVD, visit the MVD Shop or Amazon.

Fan-filmed video footage of DREAM THEATER's February 17 performance at Partille Arena in Partille, Sweden can be seen below.

DREAM THEATER is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its milestone RIAA-gold-certified album "Images And Words" on a European tour, which kicked off on January 30 in Rome, Italy. Each performance sees the iconic progressive rock band delivering an unparalleled live set of "Images And Words" in its entirety along with fan favorites from their renowned catalogue.

Asked if he had any idea — prior to the "Images And Words" release — of the success the album would eventually become, DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci told Metal Insider: "Not at all. The whole situation was very uncertain. We had put out our first album, 'When Day And Dream Unite', and we didn't do any touring or anything for that. We did some press. People seemed to like it but it just ended. We decided to switch lead singers, and we went on this very long singer hunt for like a year and a half. We weren't really crazy about the label, so we were singerless, labelless, and holding jobs down teaching guitar and doing other things. We started to wonder if we would have an opportunity to do this again as a band. When Derek Oliver from Atco expressed interest, the very first thing they did was more of a development deal. We recorded a few songs from 'Images And Words' as a demo. By the time we went to actually do the album and got James [LaBrie] as a singer, we were just ecstatic to be able to do it again. We didn't even think it was going to amount to anything, we were just incredibly grateful to be back in the studio."

Regarding how DREAM THEATER approached "Images And Words" as opposed to "When Day And Dream Unite", Petrucci said: "With 'When Day And Dream Unite', we were really young and we had just got signed, we had a very short period of time to record it. We went as a band to live together in Pennsylvania and then we would go in and record. We really didn't have any experience. 'Images' was a bit later and we had more experience, some more gear, and some more ideas about what we wanted to do. The studio we were in was beautiful. It felt like we had more time to do it. Things like that. It was still a situation where we had a producer (David Prater) who was directing the whole ship, but yeah. The experience was very wide-eyed and exciting, and it was like a whirlwind. 'Images' was more of a conscious experience when we had more time and were a little bit more grounded at that point."

Petrucci also talked about DREAM THEATER's biggest hit to date, "Pull Me Under", which was included on "Images And Words". Asked if he ever thought the song would get played on the radio or that it would have MTV success, Petrucci said: "No, we didn't think that way at all. We were into writing progressive metal. We were all big fans of YES and RUSH, but we also liked METALLICA and other bands. We came out with this stuff that didn't have the normal pop structure, the songs were long. 'Pull Me Under' was at least eight minutes. Originally, 'A Change Of Seasons' was supposed to be on 'Images', but the label voted against that. The whole nature of the album wasn't really geared towards commercial standards. After we went on tour, that song started to gain legs from requests. We had no idea what was happening. We had to quickly film a video on tour at a club because we didn't have a video and it just grew from there. It was unintentional."

DREAM THEATER recently completed the second leg of its extensive North American headline tour which found the group performing its widely acclaimed double concept album "The Astonishing" in immersive and interactive settings for a unique and unmatched live experience.

Finland's Ember Falls released a video for the track "Rising Tide" to coincide with the release of their new album on February 17th. Check it out below.

 

Former Amaranthe vocalist Jake E. recently checked in with the following update:

"In the beginning of 2017 the young and up and coming Finnish band Ember Falls will release their debut album through Spinefarm/Universal Music. I had the honor and the great privilege to produce the album as well co-write a lot of the songs. The album was mixed by no other then the Danish master producer Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Amaranthe, Epica), and it was fun to work side by side with him once again, but in a completely different role this time."

The album tracklist is as follows:

"The Cost of Doing Business"
"Falling Rain"
"Of Letting Go"
"The Enemy You Need"
"Freedom"
"COE"
"Rising Tide"
"Open Your Eyes"
"One More Time"
"Shut Down with Me"
"The Lamb Lies Down in Sacrifice"