Nuclear Blast Entertainment has announced the release of the new album from Tax The Heat, Change Your Position, on March 9th, 2018. The album will be available as CD and digital.

The guys took time out of their current tour with Black Star Riders and Blues Pills to record a message for fans:

Change Your Position is the follow up to the 2016 critically-acclaimed debut album Fed To The Lions. The new album sees the band take a huge step forward as both songwriters and performers. The band's unique blend of fuzz-driven rock with a modern alternative twist has won them a legion of fans. The album stamps its authority right from the off with the taut "Money In The Bank" (also the first single). From the staccato stomp of "Playing With Fire" to the huge riffs of "Cut Your Chains," from the garage rock of "On The Run" to the slow groove and instant lyrical hit of "All That Medicine". Change Your Position is a lean, focused album loaded with an energy that is set to propel the band to headline status.

The driving rhythms of Jack Taylor (drums) and Antonio Angotti (bass) are overlaid with the powerful riffs of JP Jacyshyn (guitars) and distinctive melodies of Alex Veale (vocals, guitars).

"If an album is about capturing a band or artist at a certain point, Change Your Position might have happened at the perfect time. As a band we toured, found our sound, found our place and took inspiration from a world in utter chaos. With Change Your Position we pushed ourselves creatively as hard as we could and it took us further into ourselves than we expected - we hope it's apparent to the listener." - Alex Veale

Tracklisting:

“Money In The Bank”
“Change Your Position”
“Playing With Fire”
“All That Medicine”
“On The Run”
“The Last Time”
“Taking The Hit”
“My Headspace”
“We Are Consumers”
“Cut Your Chains”
“Wearing A Disguise”
“The Symphony Has Begun”

“Money In The Bank” video:

Currently on the road in Europe with Death Angel supporting Testament, Annihilator's kick-off show on November 12th at Muziekcentrum TRIX in Antwerp, Belgium is available below in its entirety.

The setlist was as follows:

"One to Kill"
"King of the Kill"
"No Way Out"
"Set the World on Fire"
"Phantasmagoria"
"Twisted Lobotomy"
"Alison Hell"
"Human Insecticide"

Tour dates are as follows:

November
18 - Budapest, Hungary - Barba Negra *
19 - Brno, Czech Republic - Sono Centrum *
20 - Vienna, Austria - Arena *
22 - Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachthof *
23 - München, Germany - Backstage *
24 - Saarbrücken, Germany - Garage *
25 - Stuttgart, Germany - LKA/Longhorn *
26 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Kino Siska *
27 - Nürnberg, Germany - Löwensaal *
28 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7 *
30 - Bologna, Italy - Estragon *

December
1 - Milano, Italy - Live Club *
2 - Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-Son *
3 - Toulouse, France - Bikini *
4 - Madrid, Spain - Riviera *
6 - Lyon, France - Transbordeur *
7 - Nantes, France - Stereolux *
8 - Paris, France - Bataclan *
9 - Oberhausen, Germany - Ruhrpott Metal Meeting *
10 - Haarlem, Netherlands - Patronaat *

* with Testament & Death Angel
** with Death Angel

Check out BraveWords' latest Annihilator featur focusing on the band's new album, For The Demented, here.

Annihilator is:

Jeff Waters - vox, guitar
Fabio Alessandrini - drums
Rich Hinks - bass
Aaron Homma - guitar

German thrash titans Kreator partnered with Record Store Day to release a Black Friday exclusive. On November 24th, a limited edition (1,000 copies) of “Hail To The Hordes” on picture disc vinyl will be available exclusively at your local indie record stores.

To find a participating retailer in your area, check out the following websites:

- US
- Canada

"Hail To The Hordes" is off the bands highly-acclaimed 14th album, Gods Of Violence. It was recorded under the watchful eyes of producer Jens Bogren, who also mixed the record at renowned Fascination Street Studios. Mastering was also completed at Fascination Street Studios by Tony Lindgren.

Almanac, the symphonic metallers led by ex-Rage guitarist Victor Smolski, have released a lyric video for "Hail To The King", featured on their upcoming sophomore album, Kingslayer, out on November 24th via Nuclear Blast. Watch below.

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

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

Kingslayer tracklisting:

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

“Hail To The King” lyric video:

“Children Of The Sacred Path” video:

“Losing My Mind” video:

Trailer #1:

Trailer #2:

Trailer #3:

Trailer #4:

Babylon A.D. are one of the few hard rock bands from the late '80s/early '90s that are still operating with all of their original members: Derek Davis, vocalist/songwriter, guitarists and songwriters, John Matthews and Ron Freschi, drummer Jamey Pacheco and bassist Robb Reid. The band formed in 1987 and to celebrate their 30th anniversary, will release their new album, Revelation Highway, on November 10th.

A music video for the album track “One Million Miles” is available for streaming below.

Vocalist Derek Davis comments on the song and video, "The song, 'One Million Miles', from our Revelation Highway release is a very special song to me. I wrote the song about my wife and I shared the demo with the band and they immediately wanted to put it on the record.  It's a very emotional song and kind of reminds me of floating. The pace of the song, harmony guitar work and lyrics all tie the song together extremely well. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.
 
"The video treatment fits the songs lyrics like hand in glove. It was so awesome to be at the beach near San Francisco. The day was beautiful and the ocean view was stunning, It, really was a magical day and one of the best times we as a band ever had shooting a video. I really hope our fans will see what we see in the video and song because it is very special to us."

Derek Davis on the new album: "This record kicks ass, from the opening track 'Crash And Burn' to the last track 'Saturday Night'. The band had a blast making the album and a lot had to do with original founding member lead-guitarist John Matthews rejoining the band. He really lit the fire that got the bands blood pumping to make a new record. For me it was awesome to produce and mix such a cool record. It's very hard hitting yet melodic, with some great lyrical story telling and great stand out tracks like, 'One Million Miles', 'Tears', 'Rags To Riches, and 'She Likes To Give It'. The songs are so catchy and memorable on the first listen I know our fans are gonna love it! And of course there are some burning guitar leads to keep the metal heads happy. The band is very grateful that Frontiers Music Srl listened to the tracks and felt the same way about them as we do and offered us the opportunity to get this record out. We can't wait to hit the road and play the material live."

Featuring 10 tracks of the energetic classic hard rock the band is known for, Revelation Highway is sure to please fans of the band's classic early material. The band will play shows in the UK and Germany this August/September to kick off promotion for the album with more touring planned both in the US and UK/Europe.

Tracklisting:

“Crash And Burn”
“Fool On Fire”
“One Million Miles”
“Tears”
“She Likes To Give It”
“Rags To Riches”
“Last Time For Love”
“I'm No Good For You”
“Saturday Night”
“Don't Tell Me Tonight”

“I’m No Good For You” video:

“Rags To Riches”:

“Crash And Burn” video:

Babylon A.D. lineup:

Derek Davis - Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Acoustic Guitar
Ron Freschi - Guitars & Vocals
John Mathews - Guitars & Keyboards
Robb Reid - Bass & Vocals
James Pacheco - Drums & Percussion

Dutch symphonic metallers, Epica, kicked off their European headline tour on November 9th in Krakow, Poland. The band have now released this aftermovie from their show on November 14th in Cologne, Germany:

Find Epica's live itinerary here.

Epica will celebrate their 1,000th show anniversary on April 14th at Poppodium 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands, “the exact same venue where it all started for us 16 years ago!” Special guests for the event are Myrkur and Oceans Of Slumber.

The band recently released an official live video for “Consign To Oblivion”, filmed at the band’s sold out show in Le Zénith, Paris earlier this year.

Back in 2008, Alestorm were mere newcomers and beginners - and yet they created a modern metal classic and a completely new subgenre. Captain Morgan's Revenge marks the birth of Pirate Metal as we know it today and turned a couple of young Scotsmen into the hottest band the modern metal scene has to offer. Ten years later and sold-out shows all over the world, their boozy debut gets its well-deserved anniversary treatment and will be re-released on January 26th via Napalm Records. Watch a lyric video below for the title track, "Captain Morgan's Revenge".

Captain Morgan's Revenge - 10th Anniversary Edition has received a fresh remix and remastering by original producer Lasse Lammert at his LSD studios and will be coming with a rejuvenated artwork. Alongside the Live At Summer Breeze bonus disc, this re-release will be a true gem for all collectors, new fans and nostalgics alike!

The pirates about their upcoming Anniversary Edition: "Oh wow! Can't believe it's been 10 years already since we made this record. We were all terrible musicians back then, and it was only thanks to the immense skill of our producer Lasse Lammert that we managed to salvage a passable bunch of songs. But anyway, it seems a bunch of you people seemed to like this album, so we decided to give it a bit of spit and polish for the 10th anniversary. NO, this is not one of those shitty 'brickwall' remasters that some bands do, and NO, this is not a re-recording by a bunch of disinterested and jaded old musicians. We've taken the original multitrack source material from 10 years ago (bad playing, cheap keyboards, awful vocals and everything), and just re-mixed the whole album to be punchier, tighter, more dynamic, and more sonically delightful than before. You probably won't even notice the difference! But it's there. And it'll sound awesome on vinyl, for the first time ever!"

Captain Morgan's Revenge - 10th Anniversary Edition, coming as CD digi pack, LP gatefold and digital download, is now available for pre-order here.

Tracklisting:

CD1
“Over The Seas”
“Captain Morgan's Revenge”
“The Huntmaster”
“Nancy The Tavern Wench”
“Death Before The Mast”
“Terror On The High Seas”
“Set Sail And Conquer”
“Of Treasure”
“Wenches & Mead”
“Flower Of Scotland”

CD2 (Bonus Disc)
“Actual Human Intro” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“Walk The Plank” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“The Sunk'n Norwegian” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“Shipwrecked” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“Magnetic North” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“That Famous Ol' Spiced” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“Nancy The Tavern Wench” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“Keelhauled” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“Rumpelkombo” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“Drink” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)
“Captain Morgan's Revenge” (Live at Summer Breeze 2015)

"Captain Morgan's Revenge" lyric video:

Swedish death metallers, Entrails,have just released a digital single entitled "Death Is The Right Path" The single features two exclusive tracks that are only digitally available.

Entrails comments: "If World Inferno wasn't enough and your necks haven't turned loose after massive headbanging, Entrails will now fulfill that with two new songs to make the World Inferno complete!"

Death Is The Right Path tracklisting:

"Death Is The Right Path"
"Blood Burst"

Check them out at this location.

GUNS N' ROSES paid tribute to AC/DC's Malcolm Young during a concert in California, dedicating covers of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "Whole Lotta Rosie" to the iconic guitarist who died this weekend.

Singer Axl Rose introduced the Bob Dylan classic by telling the audience last night at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento: "We're gonna dedicate this to Mr. Malcolm Young, who will be sorely missed by none more than his brother Angus."

GUNS N' ROSES followed up "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" with a version of the AC/DC classic that has been a regular part of GN'R concerts for the past few months.

Malcolm's brother, fellow AC/DC legend Angus Young, joined GUNS N' ROSES on stage several times during the "Not In This Lifetime" tour, including at the Coachella festival in April 2016.

Malcolm Young died on Saturday (November 18) surrounded by family after a long battle with dementia.

He was replaced in AC/DC by Stevie Young, nephew of Malcolm and Angus Young.

Axl Rose did a string of European and North American concerts with AC/DC in 2016, mostly to fan and critical acclaim.

It is unknown whether Rose will continue singing with AC/DC. The band's future remains in doubt after the band completed its world tour in support of 2014's "Rock Or Bust", a cycle that saw a massive turnover in the group's personnel. Sole original member Angus Young has not yet indicated whether the group will continue recording and touring.

In March 2016, AC/DC's singer of 35 years, Brian Johnson, had to leave the band's North American tour after doctors told him he might lose his hearing, while 40-year bassist Cliff Williams announced his retirement at the rescheduled trek's conclusion.

The lineup that completed the tour consisted of Williams, Angus Young, Rose, Chris Slade on drums and Angus's nephew Stevie Young on guitar.

Photo credit: Katarina Benzova

German metallers MYSTIC PROPHECY will release a covers album, "Monuments Uncovered", on January 12, 2018 via Massacre Records.

Singer Roberto Dimitri Liapakis comments: "This album is like a love letter to the music that accompanied so many of us, myself included, in the '70s, '80s and '90s — and believe me, you have not heard the songs like this before! I'm also really excited to show you a new and different side of MYSTIC PROPHECY!"

The album was produced by Liapakis and MYSTIC PROPHECY at the Prophecy Studios, and mixed and mastered by Henrik Udd at Udd Recording Studios (ARCHITECTS, HAMMERFALL, BRING ME THE HORIZON, AT THE GATES, DELAIN). Dušan Markovic created the album's cover artwork.

MYSTIC PROPHECY's "Monuments Uncovered" will also be available as a limited-edition digipak with an exclusive bonus track as well as limited vinyl LP.

"Monuments Uncovered" track listing:

01. You Keep Me Hangin' On (KIM WILDE/THE SUPREMES cover)02. Hot Stuff (DONNA SUMMER cover)03. Shadow On The Wall (MIKE OLDFIELD cover)04. Are You Gonna Go My Way (LENNY KRAVITZ cover)05. I'm Still Standing (ELTON JOHN cover)06. Because The Night (PATTI SMITH cover)07. Space Lord (MONSTER MAGNET cover)08. Get It On (T.REX cover)09. Toyko (TOKYO cover)10. Proud Mary (CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL cover)11. The Stroke (BILLY SQUIER cover) (digipak bonus track)

MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson returned to his former hometown of Jackson, Minnesota on Saturday, November 18 for a special end-of-the-year/birthday celebration at Kat's Hog Heaven, the newest Ellefson Coffee Co. retail location. Located at 608 2nd St, Kat's is the pride of Jackson, serving a full BBQ dining menu, and now serving and selling Ellefson Coffee Co. coffee and merchandise. Additionally, Kat's is displaying various items from Ellefson's Museum Of Deth, featuring memorabilia from Ellefson's life and career.

Also appearing was legendary rocker Ron Keel, whose RON KEEL BAND has signed a deal with EMP Outlaw, the new southern rock/outlaw country imprint of Ellefson's EMP Label Group. Keel performed and took part in a special meet-and-greet with Ellefson.

The event also marked the release of Ellefson Coffee Co.'s Jackson House Blend, a conservatively priced entry-level addition to the ECC coffee lineup.

Video footage of Ellefson and RON KEEL BAND performing an acoustic cover version of MEGADETH's "Symphony Of Destruction" at yesterday's celebration can be seen below.

"You miss a lot of what a town really is when you just drive by on a four-lane interstate," Ellefson told WCCO about the importance of bringing the Ellefson Coffee Co. brand back to his hometown. "So part of what our venture is here is to partner with the local businesses so we can bring people off the local freeway to bring them in to really get and feel the heart and soul of the people."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH was joined by an elderly lady on stage during the band's concert in Oslo, Norway.

The American heavy metal outfit was performing the song "Jekyll and Hyde" at the Oslo Spektrum last night (Saturday, November 18) when singer Ivan Moody motioned for a special guest on the side of the stage to step out and stand alongside him and his bandmates.

After enthusiastically accepting the invitation, the woman ended up spending three minutes on stage with the members of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, dancing and playing air guitar to the track. She closed out her appearance by having her arms raised by bassist Chris Kael in appreciation of her efforts before getting a warm hug from Moody.

The band later tweeted a video of the joint performance, writing in an accompanying caption: "Highlight of the night... Special Guest 'Heavy Metal Grandma' - we found this 70 years old lady rocking out in the first row ... She is more metal than you"

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is currently taking part in the biggest European arena rock tour of the fall. They are on the road co-headlining with IN FLAMES and special guests OF MICE & MEN.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's follow-up to 2015's "Got Your Six" album is tentatively due in April or May of next year.

Prior to the arrival of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's new full-length disc, the band will release a greatest-hits collection, "A Decade Of Destruction", including two new tracks, "Trouble" and "Gone Away".

The hits collection and the already-completed new studio album are part of a deal to settle a legal dispute and close out the band's contract with its record company, Prospect Park.

Multi-platinum rock theater experience TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA (a.k.a. TSO) kicked off its fall 2017 U.S. tour this past Thursday night (November 16).

Fan-filmed video footage of the West Coast version of the tour performing at Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa can be seen below.

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA is on the road for the first time since the death of its creator, Paul O'Neill, who passed away on April 5 of an accidental prescription drug overdose. An official statement from O'Neill's family reported that the multi-instrumentalist died as a result of an "unexpected reaction" to prescription medication for his various ailments. And in July, TSO's longtime bassist David Zablidowsky died in a highway accident in Florida.

Al Pitrelli, the current West Coast musical director, told Deseret News: "On a professional note, we're out there and we're doing our job. It's better than it was last year, it's bigger than it was last year and last year was pretty good. So the trajectory is the same. I mean, on a personal level, oh gosh, every note that I play means a little bit more to me. 'Cause I'll be playing a song and it'll take me back to when we recorded it or when Paul would throw a pencil at me," Pitrelli said with a laugh. "There's a lot of history and a lot of memories that are running through my brain, but Paul taught me to compartmentalize things. I don't want to bring anything on stage that isn't going to make the show better. It'll be on the side of the stage waiting for me when I leave the stage. But while I'm on that stage, every note that I play will be a tribute to my best friend and the man who created this."

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA formed in 1996 out of the ashes of the Florida power metal band SAVATAGE and started touring three years later, connecting with fans by releasing a series of rock operas, such as 1996's "Christmas Eve And Other Stories", 1998's "The Christmas Attic" and 2004's "The Lost Christmas Eve". Over the past 20 years, it has become a critically acclaimed, multi-platinum, musical powerhouse. The progressive rock group's record-setting "rock theater" tours sell out venues year after year and they have cemented their status as a must attend, multi-generational, holiday tradition.

2016 was another record-breaking year for TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA (TSO). Proving that it is more popular on the road than ever before, TSO's winter tour 2016 sold the most tickets per show in the group's history, with a total in excess of 927,000. The tour also set a record gross for TSO with a total of more than $56.9 million.

20 years since the band's first album, and since its historic touring debut, TSO has played in excess of 1,800 shows for more than 14 million fans, with tour grosses of over $625 million, and sold in excess of 12 million albums and DVDs. In 2009, Billboard magazine placed TSO at #25 on its "Top Touring Artists Of The Decade."

For a list of tour dates, visit Trans-Siberian.com.

Classic NWOBHM outfit TRESPASS has released a new music video for the song "Momentum". A hard-rocking British metal song with an old-school '80s JUDAS PRIEST vibe, it is taken from TRESPASS's upcoming comeback album, "Footprints In The Rock", which will be released on January 12, 2018 via Mighty Music.

TRESPASS was formed in Sudbury, Suffolk, England in April 1979 by brothers Mark (guitar, vocals) and Paul Sutcliffe (drums), Dave Crawte (guitar) and Richard Penny (bass). Around this time, they started gigging around East Anglia, playing a mix of rock covers and original songs including early versions of "One Of These Days" and "Lightsmith".

Despite their fairly short-lived time on the metal scene, TRESPASS made a lasting impact. Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield of METALLICA remained fans since the very beginning and "One Of These Days" was featured on NWOBHM compilation "New Wave of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisited" put together by Ulrich and Geoff Barton in 1990.

TRESPASS played festivals in Europe in 2015 and 2016 and will be touring in 2018 in support of the upcoming album.

TRESPASS is:

Mark Sutcliffe - Guitar, Lead VocalsJason Roberts - DrumsDanny B - Bass Joe Fawcett - Guitar

"Make Them Bleed", the title track of the full-length debut from TERROR UNIVERSAL, the "horror metal" band featuring ILL NIÑO drummer Dave Chavarri (who also previously played with SOULFLY), can be streamed below. Due on January 19, 2018 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". Vocalist Plague says: "We hope everyone enjoys the title track from our new album, 'Make Them Bleed'. We chose to release this track first because it really captures the totally dark, heavy vibe that makes up TERROR UNIVERSAL and the entire album. It's a great taste of what's to come on the rest of the record, and we think you'll really like this track and it'll become part of your daily soundtrack. We're stoked to roll out this record for everyone leading up to the release date — we're really proud of it. Enjoy." You can pre-order "Make Them Bleed" right now via Bandcamp or via the band's 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 played 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

KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy La Rocque spoke to Canada's The Metal Voice about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's long-awaited follow-up to 2007's "Give Me Your Soul … Please" album. "Well, we have some ideas, and we're gonna start seriously sitting down and start with new riffs and starting to write songs as soon as possible, I would say starting around New Year's with writing songs and stuff," he said. "That's the only thing I can say. And there will be a new album, of course. It's just that since 2012, we've been really busy doing the live shows, which has been really important for us, since before 2012, we didn't really do any festivals at all — I mean, maybe one or two in our whole career — so that was a new thing for us, doing festivals. And we've been really busy doing that. Planing that and practicing, rehearsing for all those shows we did in the last five, six years has taken a lot of time, of course, so we really haven't had time to sit down and just make a good album," he continued. "Plus, all the other things we've been doing, like remasters and now the DVD and all that stuff. So as soon as things get less hectic, we're gonna start writing a new album."

Andy said that he was "pretty sure" KING DIAMOND's next album would once again be a concept record. As for the disc's musical direction, the guitarist said: "I don't really know yet, because we don't really have the songs yet. Whatever comes to mind, I believe. It's probably gonna be a good mix of everything. Probably, I would say, a classic KING DIAMOND album, with a good sound."

According to Andy, he and KING DIAMOND's frontman and namesake will jointly produce the band's next album. "And then we'll see what's happening, depending on what way we're gonna go with it," he said. "But King's got his own home studio set up, so he's gonna record all the vocals back him, in his cellar — black and dark, of course, with spiders and bones and skulls."

Regarding a possible release date for KING DIAMOND's new disc, Andy said: "It's really hard to say. I mean, we have to write the songs first and record everything and take it from there. I don't really know. I can't say anything about that. Whenever it's done, it's gonna be released. It's really hard to say. But we've got some great ideas for it; that's all I can say right now."

La Rocque also talked about KING DIAMOND's much-anticipated DVD, which was filmed during the band's "Abigail In Concert" tour a couple of years ago. "I can't really say too much about it, because I'm not the only guy in charge here," he said. "We've got the video producer and I'm working with other stuff once in a while but as soon as I get the chance, I'm working on this and get the right mix. And we also have our live engineer in charge, who's been setting everything up to get a real live feel of everything. Then I've been working on some details there. And the video producers sent me some files we have to check out, make sure everything is in sync, back and forth, and we're still working on it. But I see the light in the tunnel kind of thing, because we're getting close with the first show, which is gonna be from Chile. So we're getting close there with that one. And then there are a few other things to go through. I mean, the only thing we can do is work, work, work on it until it gets good, because this is our first DVD ever released, and we wanna have it good — we want it to be representable for what we're doing.'

According to Andy, KING DIAMOND is "not gonna use any" early video footage on the upcoming DVD. "We're gonna use, from the last years, live shows. And there's gonna be some side footage too, I believe, but I'm not sure exactly what. But mainly from live shows from the 'Abigail' performances we did the last couple of years."

Andy added that the KING DIAMOND DVD should be released "next spring — if everything goes the way we want it."

The "Abigail In Concert 2015" tour saw KING DIAMOND performing the classic 1987 album "Abigail" in its entirety.

KING DIAMOND in 2002 released an album called "Abigail II: The Revenge", which was said to feature a storyline that was the sequel to the original "Abigail" LP.

The Los Angeles Committee of Human Rights Watch had their most successful fundraising dinner to date, raising more than every year prior.

The event, which took place Tuesday night (November 14) at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, had an immense amount of celebrities and influential people in attendance, including Eric Esrailian, Serj Tankian, Angela Sarafyan, Kimberly Marteau Emerson, Mike Medavoy, David Foster, Katherine McPhee and Linda Ramone. Tuesday night also introduced the inaugural Promise Award, followed by a very special performance by Ryan Tedder and Drew Brown of ONEREPUBLIC.

Inspired by the film and song that powerfully depicted the atrocities committed against the Armenian people; the award recognizes an outstanding song, television show, or film that advances the values of equity and justice in an original and powerful way. Fittingly, the inaugural honor was awarded to the late legendary singer and songwriter Chris Cornell in recognition of his song "The Promise". The award was presented by producers of "The Promise" Eric Esrailian, Mike Medavoy, writer/director Terry George, and singer/songwriter, human rights activist and composer Serj Tankian. Chris's wife, Vicky Cornell, accepted the award on his behalf and was accompanied by Cornell's bandmates, Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron of SOUNDGARDEN. Pioneering recording artist Chris Cornell, who sadly passed away in May, wrote the title song for the film, "The Promise", the first major film about the Armenian Genocide. The song and its video compellingly weave the Genocide with humanitarian crises of today. The song focuses on courage, perseverance, and hope — connecting us to emotions that characterize and amplify the worldwide struggle for human rights. Cornell donated all proceeds from the song to benefit refugees and children, and his song continues to inspire millions as an anthem for the human rights movement. "We are proud to name this award after 'The Promise', and present the inaugural award to Chris Cornell's inspiring song," stated Justin Connolly, director of Human Rights Watch's Los Angeles Committee.

Following the award, songwriter, Grammy Award-winning record producer and ONEREPUBLIC front man Ryan Tedder graced the stage and honored the late SOUNDGARDEN lead by performing an acoustic version of "The Promise" with bandmate Drew Brown to a standing ovation.

You can find photos from the event here.

Photos courtesy of BB Gun Press

FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl has paid touching tribute to Malcolm Young.

The AC/DC co-founder died earlier today (Saturday, November 18) surrounded by family after a long battle with dementia.

In a note posted on the FOO FIGHTERS Facebook page, the former NIRVANA drummer wrote: "37 years ago, my friend Larry Hinkle and I went to see a midnight movie on a Friday night at the Uptown Theater in Washington D.C. It was 1980. We were 11 years old. The movie was 'Let There Be Rock'. And it changed my life.

"That film, a live AC/DC performance from Paris [in] 1979, is everything that live [rock] and roll should be. Sweaty. Loose. Loud. A relentless performance from the perfect band. It was the first time I lost control to music. The first time I wanted to be in a band. I didn't want to play my guitar anymore, I wanted to smash it.

"Thank you, Malcolm, for the songs, and the feel, and the cool, and the years of losing control to your rock and roll. I will do just that tonight, for you.

"Malcolm Young RIP."

Malcolm Young struggled with the onset of dementia for a period of time prior to being admitted to full-time nursing care in Sydney, Australia beginning in 2014.

He was replaced in AC/DC by Stevie Young, nephew of Malcolm and AC/DC guitarist Angus Young.

Malcolm Young last performed live with AC/DC on tour in June 2010 at a concert in Bilbao, Spain.

Malcolm's death comes just weeks after his brother George Young, guitarist for THE EASYBEATS and AC/DC producer, died at age 70.

Malcolm is survived by his wife, two children and three grandchildren.

STRYPER finished recording all the basic tracks for its new album (everything except lead vocals and lead guitar solos) a few days ago. According to frontman Michael Sweet, "it went much faster than expected and it sounds absolutely killer! We were all just having fun making music again with a new spirit and attitude. It felt like 1985 all over again. There's a new groove to the music that has to be experienced, not described."

He continued: "We're all incredibly excited and feel that this may very well be the best album we've ever recorded. It's very special and has an energy unlike any other. We can't wait for you to hear it. April can't come soon enough."

Sweet recently told ListenIowa that both the title and the lyrics of the title track of STRYPER's follow-up to 2015's "Fallen" album will be "shocking" to STRYPER fans — "moreso than with 'To Hell With The Devil'. When people hear it, they're going to go, 'What? Can you tell me that again?'" he said. "A lot of the lyrics on the album have been kind of therapeutic, coming from the last two or three years." As for the music, he described it as "straight-up STRYPER and a little AC/DC and a little [JUDAS] PRIEST in a blender… It's an anthem with a straight-ahead, memorable, sing-along chorus, and people will be like, 'Yes!'"

STRYPER's upcoming album will be the band's first since the addition of former FIREHOUSE bassist Perry Richardson. Perry joined the band as the replacement for STRYPER's longtime bassist Tim Gaines, who was fired from the group earlier this year.

Gaines's exit from STRYPER had been rumored for months, ever since guitarist Oz Fox revealed that Tim was going through a divorce, forcing the group to take a hiatus and possibly consider a future without the bassist.

Gaines told KNAC.COM in August that "all hell broke loose" after he split up with his previous wife, "which is taboo as far as Christianity, I guess." He added: "I'm not the only guy in STRYPER to have gotten a divorce. Everybody in the band is married to divorced people. And I'm the bad guy, but everybody else has done it too, so? Whatever. Live in glass houses and everything will be exposed at some point or another."

A few days later, the remaining members of STRYPER released a statement denying that Gaines's divorce was a factor in their decision to part ways with the bassist and blaming Tim's "erratic and hostile behavior" for his dismissal from the group.

Jay Nanda of Alamo True Metal conducted an interview with members of industrial metal pioneers MINISTRY prior to the band's November 12 show at the Aztec Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the band's forthcoming "AmeriKKKant" studio album:

Sin Quirin (guitar): "It's been done for several months. It was originally supposed to be out in October, but we recently signed to Nuclear Blast, and so now it's been pushed to first week of March. We're playing a couple of songs tonight off the new record. We're playing 'Antifa', which is going to be the first single off the record and we're playing a song called 'Wargasm' as well."

On working with MINISTRY leader Al Jourgensen:

Cesar Soto (guitar): "For me, it's pretty mind-blowing just to be on the stage with these dudes. It's a really tight unit. You'll be able to see tonight how tight the band has gotten. It's pretty mind-blowing; it's fucking awesome. What else can I say? Aside from being able to play with the best musicians you could possibly play with and come together as a unit and deliver every night, really, that's rewarding for me."

Tony Campos (bass, FEAR FACTORY, ex-STATIC-X): "Back in the STATIC days, the two bands we ripped off the most was MINISTRY and PRONG. To get to play in both of those bands is really cool. To get invited back and to do this again is really special. Just jamming with these guys, to get to do it again, is really fucking cool."

Sin: "It's funny because Tony and I go way back to the early Hollywood, L.A. scene where we were just local musicians before anybody had a record deal. We used to go to each other's shows and play with each other's bands. It would literally be like five people, counting the band members, watching each other play. This was the early '90s. The early-to-mid-'90s when we first started in the scene together. It's a trip to now be here and play with a band we both looked up to. Just being able to do this, it's still a trip."

On the challenges playing in MINISTRY provides:

John Bechdel (keyboards): "It is a real challenge. I've been doing live samples since the mid-'80s with bands. MINISTRY was the first time we had actually used a metronome or a click because all of the songs have these long samples that are timed out specifically, so if you're playing it at the wrong tempo, they won't line up. That was the first challenge. I started in '06 on the 'Rio Grande [Blood]' tour with [drummer] Joey Jordison [ex-SLIPKNOT]. He and I quickly had to learn how to work together and work with the click. That was a big challenge, learning all of the material all at once. I go back to being a MINISTRY fan. Like a lot of us, I heard 'I'm Falling' on the radio in 1983 and I bought the twelve-inch single which I still have. I met MINISTRY back in '91 when I was with KILLING JOKE and I got to know most of the guys. I met Al and I didn't get to know him too good until I joined the band. Working with him, I realized how much we had in common with our influences from the early '80s electronic music scene. We had to go through all the old MINISTRY archives, they were transferring all the original masters over in Pro Tools. It was a one-time process where the tape was destroyed in the process and being a part of that, also REVCO [REVOLTING COCKS] was on that '06 tour and I got to know those guys. We were digging through old boxes of DAT tapes and zip drives, just trying to find everything we could to make this all happen. It was a big undertaking."

On Jourgensen's decision to continue touring and making new albums with MINISTRY despite saying there would be no further albums after the death of longtime guitarist Mike Scaccia in 2012:

Sin: "After the last tour last year is when he was talking about wanting to do another record. The process, it changes from record to record. Sometimes we show up with ideas already kind of formed, but for this record, it was a lot of writing on the spot. He was pretty open to just different ideas. He didn't really have any 'Okay, I want it to be like this. I want it to be like that.' We definitely brought slower ideas, if that makes any sense, as opposed to just playing a thousand miles an hour like some of our early records. It was a bit more experimental and we brought different instruments into this record that I don't think people will be expecting to hear from us. It's definitely stuff that I don't think people are going to be expecting from a MINISTRY record, but it was pretty organic in that sense that we would show up and bring ideas and start tracking and see what we ended up with at the end of the day. We brought a couple of ideas that were in very basic forms and then just jumped from there. It was something that we might have worked on months earlier. It starts off one way and then by the time you're done with the song, it's completely different, but it started from an initial idea. That was the way we went about doing this record. It wasn't, 'Okay, I want you to write like this. I want you to write like that.' It was, 'Let's see what you got. Bring what you have to the table.' It was pretty cool. For me, it was really cool that we got so many people involved in this album. Other times, it would be just a couple of people that were doing things in the studio. For this, Cesar is on it, JB [John Bechdel] is on it, I'm on it, Al's over it. JB was saying there's a bunch of different things and other guest people that are on it as well. For me, Tony's on it as well, it felt more like a band effort, which was really cool."

"AmeriKKKant" will feature guest appearances by DJ Swamp (Beck), Burton C. Bell (FEAR FACTORY), Arabian Prince (N.W.A.) and Lord Of The Cello.

MINISTRY recently completed a North American tour with DEATH GRIPS as support.

Jorge Fretes of Spain's Goetia Media recently conducted an interview with AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Zacky Vengeance. You can listen to the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether he pays attention to what the "haters" say about AVENGED SEVENFOLD:

Zacky: "To be honest, none of it has ever bothered me. We've been getting it since day one. The first review our band ever got when I was 17 years old and we had just released our first EP, and this tiny little magazine wrote a review on it and for that month, we were the best album of the month and we were also the worst album of the month. We won best and worst album of the month in the same magazine. Right then and there, I was so happy and thrilled because if people hate what you're doing, it means you're doing it right. It means you're in front of them, it means they have an opinion. Not everyone is going to love you. Not everyone is going to like what you do and you see a lot of people don't want to let go of the bands that they love. They don't want to move forward. They don't want to let new things come in; they're scared of change. They're scared of new bands taking over their genre. They're just scared of change. Those are the people that are the most vocal online and they bitch the most: 'Oh, this band sucks. They'll never be as good as so-and-so.' But the reality is we're headlining a lot of these festivals around the entire world and we're selling out concerts everywhere we go. We put out a surprise-release album [2016's 'The Stage'] that was considered one of our worst-selling albums and it was still one of the biggest rock albums of the entire year in the entire world and that was our worst album. I think as long as people have a strong opinion, whether they love or hate us, I think we're doing something right."

On whether he thinks AVENGED SEVENFOLD can replace the likes of BLACK SABBATH and SCORPIONS as festival headliners:

Zacky: "It's hard to say. We're very, very fortunate to be able to play these shows that we are playing. But it's important for a band like us to go out there and put on the best show that we can. That means blow stuff up and play loud and give the fans their money's worth. It really needs to be a show. It's taken a lot of these bands their careers to get to the level that they're at. IRON MAIDEN and METALLICA are bigger now than they ever were. They're playing stadiums across the entire planet. Even though it seems like their heyday was back when MTV and the radio played their songs all the time, the truth is that they've gotten bigger now because they play all the time and people know they're going to get a great show. You get different generations. You have dads bringing their dads and people bringing their own sons and entire families coming to the concerts. That's why there's so many people. For us, we're still young. We need to go out there and give it everything we have and play the best we can. I believe that if we're able to persevere and have the longevity of some of these classic bands, then hopefully someday we'll have the same sort of legacy that they do."

On whether he ever writes music that isn't suitable for AVENGED SEVENFOLD:

Zacky: "Absolutely. All the time. The one great thing about AVENGED SEVENFOLD is that our style is so unique. We can always add or incorporate different crazy music. It's not just thrash metal or just hard rock. We're able to incorporate all sorts of styles of music and that's great for me. But on top of it, I love punk rock and when I go and see a band like BAD RELIGION, I think to myself, 'Wow, that would be so fun to start a punk band just for fun.' Or, I've always loved really mellow, almost sad music, just acoustic guitar, and I always write songs like that at home just for fun. Maybe someday I'll put some of it out. But it's hard because when you're known for being in a band like AVENGED SEVENFOLD and having some success, you're instantly judged. Whereas if I was just 18 years old and no one ever heard of me, I could write these songs and put them out to the world and no one would have any expectation. But now because of who I am and where our band is at, it's really hard to release music without everyone judging it for something that it's not."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD will release a "deluxe edition" of "The Stage" on December 15.

The band's 2018 North American arena headlining tour will kick off January 12 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville with special guests BREAKING BENJAMIN and BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE. The trek will be North America's introduction to the electrifying "Stage" spectacle that drew rave reviews in Europe.

Members of SLIPKNOT, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX, WHITESNAKE, POISON, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, STRYPER, KORN, OVERKILL, KREATOR, SEPULTURA and VOLBEAT are among the rock musicians and scores of other artists who reacted on social media to the passing of Malcolm Young.

The 64-year-old guitarist and co-founder of the legendary Australian hard rock band AC/DC had been suffering from dementia for at least the past three years.

Malcolm died peacefully on Saturday with his family by his bedside, a statement said.

Malcolm Young struggled with the onset of dementia for a period of time prior to being admitted to full-time nursing care in Sydney, Australia beginning in 2014.

Malcolm was replaced in AC/DC by Stevie Young, nephew of Malcolm and AC/DC guitarist Angus Young.

Malcolm did not participate in the recording sessions for AC/DC's latest studio album, "Rock Or Bust", which arrived in December 2014.

Malcolm Young was faced with two other massive health scares after the conclusion of the group's marathon 20-month tour in support of 2008's "Black Ice" album. First, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which was detected early, enabling surgeons to operate on the guitarist successfully. Then he discovered he had a heart condition.

Malcolm's death came just weeks after his brother George Young, guitarist for THE EASYBEATS and AC/DC producer, died at age 70.

Malcolm is survived by his wife, two children and three grandchildren.

Professionally filmed video footage of PROPHETS OF RAGE's entire November 10 performance at Le Zénith in Paris, France can be seen below.

PROPHETS OF RAGE is the supergroup featuring Chuck D, Tom Morello and other members of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE alongside CYPRESS HILL's B-Real.

PROPHETS OF RAGE's self-titled debut album was released on September 15. The disc was recorded with legendary producer Brendan O'Brien who has done notable work with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and AUDIOSLAVE.

"Prophets Of Rage" scored top chart entries in multiple countries across the globe in its first week. The album sold more than 21,000 copies in the U.S., entering Billboard's Top 200 Album chart at No. 16. The set's strong international chart showings include a No. 6 debut in the U.K., No. 8 in France, No. 14 in Germany, No. 4 in New Zealand and NO. 11 in Australia.

Formed amid 2016's tumultuous election, PROPHETS OF RAGE have toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe and coalesced into an explosive unit capable of playing with equal parts precision, passion and muscle. The new album, with bold cover art created for the band by renowned street artist, Shepard Fairey, fuses the diverse styles, sonic firepower and hard-hitting social consciousness of their previous work into an inventive, compelling and timely new musical statement. Michael Moore, who directed the blistering, politically charged video for the track "Unfuck The World" declared: "PROPHETS OF RAGE is the right band, saying the right shit, at this very critical moment."

"When we put this band together a year ago, I don't think any of us knew what to expect or how it would be received by the people," stated B-Real. "From that time to now, it's been amazing to see the growth of this new amazing band and to see the effect it has had on the fans we've played for. I feel blessed to be a part of it. Our chemistry is undeniable when we are on stage, and to finally bring forth a new album with that same powerful chemistry is exciting and we can't wait to see what the future brings."

At its core, PROPHETS OF RAGE functions not only on a love of music, but a deep belief in its power as a tool and a weapon. Woven into the band's DNA are influences as varied as THE CLASH, KRS-One and Johnny Cash, as well as the undeniable ideals and aesthetics of its predecessors: PUBLIC ENEMY's frenzied, racing textures, RAGE's jaw-melting riffs, and CYPRESS HILL's manically playful party energy.

The official video for the song "My Indigo" from WITHIN TEMPTATION frontwoman Sharon Den Adel's solo project, also called MY INDIGO, can be seen below.

The singer announced the new project's existence via a video message on Facebook in which she described the MY INDIGO material as "very personal" and revealed that composing the songs was a therapeutic experience that helped he deal with an undisclosed family "crisis."

She said in a statement: "For many years, we've been touring and every time we came home, I used to start writing songs almost immediately and was happy to do so. After the last tour, I tried to do the same, but it wasn't the same. Eventually I found myself in a crisis which was bigger than just not being able to write songs. The years of touring and working under a certain pressure took its toll and besides that there were things in my personal life I had to deal with.

"I really took time off, but when I started writing again, it was something totally different than WT, but this was what I needed and I embraced it. One song led to another and it turned into a whole album. I gave it a name and it's called MY INDIGO. MY INDIGO is about my journey these last few years and I would like to share it with you.

"Besides all of this, I'm happy to tell you that my journey has led me back to WITHIN TEMPTATION. There will be a new album and a tour but more about that in the near future.

"My first single [has just been] released and this song is the core of my album and has the same name: 'My Indigo'.

"'My Indigo' is not at all like WITHIN TEMPTATION and it wasn't meant to be that at all. I wrote it first of all for myself, but nevertheless I hope you'll enjoy it as well!"

WITHIN TEMPTATION's last studio album, "Hydra", came out in January 2014. The follow-up to 2011's "The Unforgiving" debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 chart, marking WITHIN TEMPTATION's first appearance in the Billboard Top 20.

Professionally filmed video footage of EXIT EDEN, the all-female four-piece ensemble featuring Amanda Somerville, Clémentine Delauney, Marina La Torraca and Anna Brunner, performing a cover version of "Impossible", originally recorded by Shontelle (and later covered by James Arthur), on September 22 at the Hamburg Metal Dayz festival in Hamburg, Germany can be seen below.

EXIT EDEN unites all attributes ascribed to the new millennium: cosmopolitan, self-confident-independent and ready to do their very own thing. Despite their diversity, the four singers blend together personally as superbly as they do vocally with their very diverse vocal tones and techniques that go from opera style to raspy rock. This constellation created extraordinary and powerful ideas and finally became their unique plan to raise EXIT EDEN's very own edge: to show the world that almost every classic song can be transformed into a solid metal-rock song. EXIT EDEN's debut, "Rhapsodies In Black", which was released on August 4 via Napalm Records (worldwide excluding Germany, Switzerland and Austria, where it was made available via Starwatch), is home to a colorful mix of international super hits from Rihanna to Madonna, from DEPECHE MODE to Adele, and many more. Still and all, it's miles away from being just a cover album. Who the musicians are: Amanda Somerville: Amanda is a rock-solid authority of the music scene, both as a solo artist and sharing success and the stage with bands like AVANTASIA, EPICA and KAMELOT. Though her American roots are based in pop and rock, she fell in love with the metal scene and made it her home. She has toured with Alice Cooper, Ian Gillan and many more legends with her commanding voice and fronts the projects TRILLIUM and KISKE SOMERVILLE (with HELLOWEEN icon Michael Kiske). All of this, combined with her wide range of experience, grants her a unique edge and a permanent address in the metal world. Anna Brunner: A natural talent, Anna began singing at a very young age. As a daughter of a German father and an American mother, she grew up bilingual and founded her first rock band as a teenager. Due to a music study that lead her through different parts of the world, she garnered a multitude of experience and it became crystal clear to her: music has to rock — and vocals need to be emotional — just like a passionate scream. Marina La Torraca: Hailing from Brazil, Marina was born with rhythm in her blood. As the auspicious frontwoman of several metal bands since the age of 15, her path led her to Europe, where she got to perform with AVANTASIA and to found her up-and-coming band PHANTOM ELITE. Since having studied musical theater in New York, the versatile singer and actress can also be seen internationally in musical productions, including the upcoming German tour of the Broadway hit "Rent". For her, being close to the crowd is what counts — no problem for her and her natural convincing character. Clémentine Delauney: Clémentine was born near Paris 30 years ago. She has been a multi talent since her childhood days — no matter if she was dancing, playing the piano or singing, she enchanted her audience. At the age of 16, she joined her first metal band. She is currently fronting symphonic metal outfit VISIONS OF ATLANTIS and also worked with SERENITY and MELTED SPACE. Another one of her career highlights is her participation on Kai Hansen's (HELLOWEEN, GAMMA RAY) first solo album, released in 2016. Thus, Clémentine has carved her way into being one of the great performers of the scene.

"Rhapsodies In Black" track listing: 01. A Question Of Time02. Unfaithful03. Incomplete04. Impossible05. Frozen06. Heaven07. Firework08. Skyfall09. Total Eclipse Of The Heart10. Paparazzi11. Fade To Grey

Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen is bringing the festive season early with the release of her brand new Christmas album, "From Spirits And Ghosts (Score For A Dark Christmas)", on November 17.

The album includes eleven Christmas classics and brings them to a never-before-seen level, uniquely blending Tarja's classically trained voice with darker gothic influences.

Utilizing the sound of a grand orchestra, the successful Finnish solo artist puts a sinister spin on traditional songs like "O Tannenbaum", "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and "Feliz Navidad", reminding the listener of a dark movie score.

The official video for "O Tannenbaum" can now be seen below.

Besides covering classic carols, "From Spirits And Ghosts" features a twelfth track, the brand new original song "Together". This song is aligned with the dark sound of the album and embodies the theme of ghosts and mysticism throughout, in a brilliant, Tarja-styled manner. "Producing a dark Christmas album in the middle of the summer is a very interesting process, especially if you are doing it by the turquoise Caribbean Sea," Tarja said. "It's significantly different from the snowy Christmas that I am used to in my home country Finland — another proof that the darkness comes from deep within.

"On this album, I explored the other side of Christmas — the Christmas of the lonely people and the missing ones, the Christmas for those that do not find joy in the blinking lights and the jingle bells." "From Spirits And Ghosts (Score For A Dark Christmas)" will be released on November 17 on earMUSIC as 1CD digipak, 1LP Gatefold (180g, black) and digital. There will also be a wide variety of exclusive, limited fan items and bundles. The album is produced by Tarja, the American Emmy Award-winning film score composer Jim Dooley and British producer Tim Palmer, known for his work with PEARL JAM, U2, David Bowie, Lang Lang and THE CURE, among others, who also mixed the album at 62' Studio in Texas. The album was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City. "From Spirits And Ghosts (Score For A Dark Christmas)" track listing:

01. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel02. Together03. We Three Kings04. Deck The Halls05. Pie Jesu06. Amazing Grace07. O Tannenbaum08. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas09. God Rest Ye10. Feliz Navidad11. What Child Is This12. We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Just in time for World Vegan Month this November — and smack dab in the middle of promoting his band's latest album, "Pinewood Smile" — THE DARKNESS's lead singer and vocal vegan proponent, Justin Hawkins, sat down with PETA at Los Angeles's iconic Fonda Theatre for an exclusive video interview about animal-free eating.

"It's good for your voice, good for your body, good for your circulation, good for your skin, good for your eyes, good for your nails, good for your teeth, good for your hair. It's probably good for your nose. It's good for everything," he says. Hawkins credits his wife with educating him about the cruelty inflicted on animals in today's meat, egg, and dairy industries — and he proudly reveals that his entire family has gone vegan. "There's a lot of substitutes that do simulate meat, but there's also some brilliant vegetables that mother nature has invented, so I don't think there are any excuses, really," he says. PETA — whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to eat" — notes that in addition to saving more than 100 animals a year from prolonged suffering and a terrifying death, those who go vegan also reduce their risk of suffering from diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer — and a United Nations report revealed that a global transition toward vegan eating is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change. Hawkins is part of a long list of celebrities — including Travis Barker, Davey Havok, Paul McCartney, Moby, Rob Zombie, RZA and Jona Weinhofen — who have teamed up with PETA or one of its affiliates to promote healthy and humane vegan meals. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

"Spectral War", the new video from CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, the band led by brothers and founding SEPULTURA members Max (also of SOULFLY) and Igor Cavalera, can be seen below. The track is taken from CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's fourth album, "Psychosis", which is being released today (Friday, November 17) via Napalm Records. The disc, which was produced by longtime friend Arthur Rizk, was recorded primarily at a studio in Phoenix, Arizona.

Max Cavalera said: "Our new video, 'Spectral War', was directed by the great tattoo artist Paul Booth. It focuses on the idea of manipulating war through the ages!

"I'm very excited for the release of 'Psychosis'! Death/thrash metal is back to set the world on fire!!!"

The cover artwork for "Psychosis" can be seen below.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Insane02. Terror Tactics03. Impalement Execution04. Spectral War05. Crom06. Hellfire07. Judas Pariah08. Psychosis09. Excruciating

Speaking to Metal Wani's Jake Patton, Max stated about the follow-up to 2014's "Pandemonium": "The album was produced by Arthur Rizk, our friend and a great producer — an upcoming, underground producer. And he did a great job. I love the record. There are nine songs. We've got one song with Justin [Broadrick] from GODFLESH — just a great NAILBOMB, GODFLESH, CAVALERA kind of song. The rest is all pure thrash madness. And we had it mastered a couple of days ago by Joel Grind from TOXIC HOLOCAUST; he mastered the album. And it's great, man. It's a beast of an album. I think a lot of people are are gonna be surprised when they hear it. It's, for me, the best of all the CAVALERA albums, my favorite one. And it's got the same intensity and energy of the old stuff like [SEPULTURA's] 'Beneath The Remains' and 'Arise'. So a lot of people are gonna be happy to hear that."

Max also talked in more detail about the lyrical themes covered on the new CAVALERA CONSPIRACY disc. He said: "It's a bit… kind of like a mix. There's some stuff about what's going on right now, so there's some terrorist stuff in songs like 'Impalement Execution' and 'Terror Tactics' and 'Excruciating'. And there's some kind of fantasy stuff, like 'Crom', which is the father of Conan. That was a really fun song to make. We have a song called 'Insane' — it's about the state of the world, with Donald Trump and the bombings in England and France. And then, of course, there's an instrumental called 'Psychosis', which is the name of the album, which I think is cool, because I think it also reflects the state of mankind right now, the state of the world right now. It's pretty much psycho — we're living in a psycho age, with madness everywhere we go. The GODFLESH song is called 'Hellfire' — it's about drones. It was inspired by a movie called 'Eye In The Sky' and a movie called 'Good Kill', which is about drones and how people just sit in an air-conditioned office in Nevada and bomb people in Afghanistan and Pakistan with those crazy drones. It was a really cool song built around that, and I really love Justin from GODFLESH's vocals. He sings more in the line of the 'Streetcleaner' vocals from the early GODFLESH, so that came out really nice."

Asked if Max and Igor's recent tour on which they celebrated the twentieth anniversary of SEPULTURA's classic album "Roots" by performing the LP in its entirety influenced the musical content of the new CAVALERA CONSPIRACY material, Max said: "The 'Psychosis' song is very tribal. Some of the recordings were done with Igor in Uganda, in Africa. Igor went there for a thing he did with his wife, like helping people from Uganda, a humanitarian kind of thing. And he recorded a bunch of cool sounds when he was in Africa. So we created this kind of… almost like a voodoo, ambient kind of real tribal… It could have been on [SEPULTURA's] 'Roots'; this song could be on the 'Roots' album. It's got a really great buildup with the drums, and then it has real cool melodic guitars on it — almost like prog rock a little bit. It's kind of like the one 'off' song of the album that really is not like the rest of the record. But it's very cool, it's very tribal and definitely influenced by 'Roots'."

Igor told HeavyMetal.dk that it was "good" for him and Max to have Rizk involved with the new CAVALERA CONSPIRACY album because Arthur "is super passionate about music, the same way we are. So to have someone like him coming in and helping us with ideas and things like that, I think it's gonna surprise a lot of people, 'cause he understands a lot about what's going on today in music, and that's pretty cool — that exchange with us, with the old-school ideas with also someone that understands music right now. I'm far more excited than I've been in many years to put out a record like this. So I have to say I'm quite into it, what we're doing right now."

Max concurred, telling HeavyMetal.dk: "[Arthur] captured the classic Max and Igor in a way that's never really quite been captured before. It was always his objective from the beginning — he wanted to capture the soul of the brothers, and I think he did. I think it's quite amazing, looking back, that somebody can get that out of you after twenty-five years, man. That's awesome. But, like Igor said, there's a lot of noise also — between songs we're gonna hear all this kind of crazy just pure noise and heaviness, which is unheard of. So I'm very excited."

This year marks the 25th anniversary of "The Crimson Idol" — the legendary story of Jonathan Aaron Steele, which was originally intended to be accompanied by a movie, with several hundred hours of film that were shot to create approximately 60 minutes of movie footage. The album is still considered to be the best of W.A.S.P.'s career, and one of the greatest concept albums of all time. It undoubtedly belongs in every metalhead's record collection.

Napalm Records now proudly presents "ReIdolized (The Soundtrack To The Crimson Idol)" , the 25th anniversary of the iconic hit album plus the original "The Crimson Idol" movie on DVD and Blu-ray. For the first time ever as originally intended — film and soundtrack united and released as one special product. The product will also feature four missing songs that were originally intended to be part of the original "The Crimson Idol".

"ReIdolized (The Soundtrack To The Crimson Idol)" will be released worldwide on February 2, 2018 via Napalm Records.

CD1 track listing:

01. The Titanic Overture02. The Invisible Boy03. Arena Of Pleasure04. Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)05. The Gypsy Meets The Boy06. Michael's Song07. Miss You08. Doctor Rockter

CD2 track listing:

01. I Am One02. The Idol03. Hold On To My Heart04. Hey Mama05. The Lost Boy06. The Peace07. Show Time08. The Great Misconceptions Of Me

"The Crimson Idol" tells the twisted tale of a suicidal rock and roll icon and the perils that come with fame. With guitarist Chris Holmes no longer a member of W.A.S.P., Blackie Lawless recorded "The Crimson Idol" with guitarist Bob Kulick and drummers Stet Howland and Frankie Banali. Voted one of the Top 20 conceptual albums of all-time by Metal Hammer magazine, "The Crimson Idol" is obviously more of a soundtrack than, say, a straight rock 'n' roll album.

Issued internationally in 1992, "The Crimson Idol" was not made available in the United States until 1993 and it gave W.A.S.P. the band's first U.S. radio hit single with "Hold On To My Heart". Ironcally enough, it was the way Capitol Records handled the push (or lack thereof) on "Hold On To My Heart" that made Blackie decide to leave the label.

"The main theme of 'The Crimson Idol' which is a haunting acoustic guitar riff was in a [pre-W.A.S.P. band] SISTER song called 'What I Am'," Blackie said. "I've always been very economical with my songwriting. If something wasn't working out I'd scrap it. But if something was a good idea but not ready, or didn't quite fit what we were doing at the time, I'd go back to it later and re-work it."

During an interview with RIP magazine, Lawless had this to say about the album: "'The Crimson Idol' is an enormously complicated story. There are ten songs on it and each one is a euphemism for something else. Nothing on this album is really what it appears to be at first glance. Everything is a symbol for something else. The story was written from a satirical point of view. That means that wherever a person is at their life and whoever's viewpoint they're listening to in the story are going to determine the story they're going to get. If you're 18 and you listen to it, you're going to see one thing. If you go back and listen to it five or ten years later, you're going to get a completely different story. I didn't want to create fast food for the ears. I wanted something that I thought was going to have longevity."

Blackie also spoke about "The Crimson Idol" in a 2010 chat with Metal Asylum. He stated at the time: "'The Crimson Idol' was about a kid who was a musician and gets famous and all this stuff, and he finds out fame really isn't what he is looking for, but, really, 'Crimson Idol' is about love. It's a real simple story, and at the time when I did it, I thought it was more complex than it was. But looking back on it, you can see what it really boils down to, and I'm not diminishing the value of the album because it is real powerful. Part of the reason it worked is because its something everyone can relate to. Especially that whole idea of not getting what you want from your parents, or being loved in general; that's what struck a nerve in people. And at the time, I was almost writing it as a footnote, but when I look back, it was much bigger in the story than I gave it credit for."

Brazilian drummer Aquiles Priester made his live debut with W.A.S.P. at the opening show of the band's "Re-Idolized - The Crimson Idol 25th Anniversary World Tour" on September 25 at Trädgår'n in Gothenburg, Sweden.