Instrumental tech metal architects Invoking The Abstract will release their debut full-length, Aural Kaleidoscopes, via Unique Leader on September 30th. Pre-Orders are now live at this location.

The album track “Requiem” is streaming below:

Aural Kaleidoscopes by Invoking the Abstract

Invoking The Abstract is a four-piece unit hailing from Columbia, South Carolina. Formed in 2010, guitarists Tyler Ivey and Evan Garner started composing music for their new project. After the release of their first EP in 2012, they joined forces with percussionist Ryan Meadows and bassist Joseph Carrabotta. The band recorded Aural Kaleidoscopes at The Basement Recording Studios with Jamie King (Between The Buried And Me, The Contortionist, Scale The Summit). Priding themselves on utilizing various approaches to rhythm, phrasing, and playing styles that conveys a sound that traverses genres, Invoking The Abstract's broad style, containing both soaring guitar solos and groovy mixed meters, creates a blend of catchy hooks accompanied by churning technical metal.

Comments the band, "Aural Kaleidoscopes is a diverse and precise album written to challenge us as musicians and composers. Each song is composed in a different key, none of which are repeated until the final track that transforms the keys into a serialist scale. Some songs are composed to freely flow from one to the next, as others stand alone as achievements in their own right, creating a partial concept album. This album is also our first experiment with completely instrumental arrangements leaving the interpretation of each piece to the listener."

 

 

Aural Kaleidoscopes tracklisting:

"Locus"
"Requiem"
"Sensory Substitution"
"Aural Kaleidoscopes"
"The Summit"
"Voiles"
"Mandatory Metamorphasis"
"Necropolis"
"Afterglow Eclipse"
"Celestial Born"
"Disharmonic Design"

Check out the band's play-through video for "Necropolis", as well as "Locus":

Multi-camera, semi-professionally filmed video footage of STUCK MOJO's December 26, 2014 reunion concert at the Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia can be seen below. The rap/metal pioneers' lineup for the show included Rich "The Duke" Ward on guitar, Bonz on vocals, Corey Lowery on bass and Frank Fontsere on drums. This marked the first time Rich, Bonz, Corey and Frank had shared the stage since 1998.

Speaking about why the reunion of STUCK MOJO's classic lineup fell apart less than a year after the Masquerade concert, Ward told "Talk Toomey": "We did the reunion show the day after Christmas [2014], which was kind of the homecoming, hometown Atlanta show, and then we did two shows in April [2015] — one in Charlotte, and then we did a festival in Virginia. The Charlotte and Virginia show were together, and it wasn't really until after the Charlotte show, I was, like, 'Ugh.' And all of us were the same way; we all kind of had the same [feeling about it]."

He continued: "There is a sense that people would like to frame this as a 'Rich-versus-Bonz' or 'Bonz-versus-Rich' thing, which it never has been. It's always been [that] we're a band and we make decisions as a band. Part of it was, too, that after the third show, which was the festival, Corey and I had spoken… Corey actually filled in on bass for us for FOZZY on a European run that we did, and it was great; we were getting along really good. And then Corey obviously got this offer to go play for SAINT ASONIA, and he says, 'Man, I don't really know what's going on schedule-wise now, because I'm the new guy, but I am in the band, and I'm kind of waiting on confirmation of what the touring schedule is gonna be looking like and stuff, but this is pretty much looking like my deal, my gig.' 'Cause we had asked him to do more FOZZY shows as well, 'cause it was a really cool thing, for he and I and Frank to be on stage again together. But he knew, I knew, everyone knew, with that lineup, the SAINT ASONIA thing was going to take off; there was no doubt that that thing was going to be one of the bigger releases, certainly of the year, and possibly it could be one of the bigger bands of the genre. So the idea that we were going to carry on with Corey was obviously not going to happen."

Ward added: "When Bonz leaves the band, as he has a few times, it isn't like we splinter off and it's, like, two guys go one way and the manager follows this guy. It's always [that] everybody else stays intact and then Bonz leaves. And the reason is… It's not because we don't like Bonz. Bonz is a great guy. As a matter of fact, he stayed at my house many times. My wife loves him, I love him, my dad loves him. He's a sweet man, and he's a great entertainer. I like being onstage with him, 'cause he's crazy, right? I mean, he's the real deal. And that's what makes him such a powerful frontman — that it's real. There's none of this performance that he's putting on, the show… What you see is what you get. And when I was in my 20s, dealing with that energy was… For me, I was crazy too. I mean, we were fighting all the time, and I don't even mean within the band; of course we did. I mean, all four of us, we were in a van for three hundred days a year, so we fought like cats and dogs, but we also fought as a gang against other bands and against fans. We were just living like wild dogs for years on the road, which was great, which is what made us a great live band, and at some point, when we started getting into our 30s, I think we all just started saying, 'Man, this kind of energy is going to get one of us killed.' And the joy was gone. Now, we'd walk off stage feeling like we were doing something special and unique, but the joy of making music was gone, because the relationships were so splintered and so fractured. And this was right when we were making the 'Declaration Of A Headhunter' record in 2000. And I just told the guys, I said, 'Man, I just don't wanna do this anymore,' and everybody else said, 'Dude, me either.' So Frank and I, and Dan Dryden, who was the bass player at the time, and the manager and the booking agent and all the crew guys decided that we were gonna do this SICK SPEED band, which basically was just STUCK MOJO but with a singer. And then we were also doing FOZZY, and it was the same guys in that band, same crew, same manager, except for Chris Jericho was singing. So we stayed together as a unit. Now, obviously, we had a couple of lineup changes over the sixteen years since 'Declaration Of A Headhunter', but the one commonality has always been that nobody ever left this organization to go play with Bonz and his solo band.

"For folks who are wanting to make this an issue of 'Rich versus Bonz,' it's, like, listen, everybody else was free to go play with Bonz, the same way I was free to go do another project with Bonz, or do STUCK MOJO with just Bonz and I. Like I said, it all came down to, we just couldn't do business together anymore. And it was all of those things that make him such a special and unique artist is the things that made us decide we just didn't wanna do it with him anymore. It just became difficult, it became strenuous. And again, there are some things that I don't wanna share because it's just stupid and I don't wanna throw anybody under the bus, but there were some legal things that were keeping us from being able to do certain tours and stuff. And it was at a place where we had to make a decision: Is this band wanting to move forward? 'Cause if it's going to move forward, we're gonna have to make a change."

Rich went on to say: "It was the same thing that happened to [2007's] 'Southern Born Killers', where I had written most of the album with the idea of Bonz being the vocalist. The same thing I did with 'Here Come The Infidels'. I had already written three or four songs, and we were already into the process. So I was married [to the idea of making a new STUCK MOJO album]… Once I'm sitting there on the side of the river with a pole in the water, I'm gonna fish. We're gonna make the record. And that's when we had a band meeting, and everyone sat together, including management and our agents, record company. 'What are we gonna do?' And we made a decision to move forward and just see what happens, and see if there's another guy out there. And I met Robby J, who is now the vocalist of the band, I met him online. The timing was just… it wasn't an accident. The day after we split with Bonz, I saw a video of him online. And it wasn't like I was on YouTube searching."

Ward added that while he still has tremendous respect for Bonz as a frontman and entertainer, they can simply no longer be in a band together. "The problem is that the great frontmen who can tap into that moment, into the burst, it's the same thing as… I mean, you see these frontmen throughout history, the ones who can't turn it off and have a real hard time leaving that on the stage are the ones where there's problems," he explained. "And I don't even have to bring the guys up; you can name the ten or fifteen frontmen or guitar players who you read about in the news all the time, because they can't leave that energy on stage. You've got guys like [Ronnie James] Dio and Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie, who are absolute maniacs on stage, who are just great — they have this thing — and when they come off stage, it's not like they're a different person, they just know how to bottle it. It's the same thing as a race car driver who gets in his car and drives 90 miles per hour to get a soda. It's, like, 'No, no. Wait until you're on the track.' It doesn't mean you can't drive fast, but you have to be able to…"

He continued: "If you want to be an artist, and being an artist means that you have to work — at least in a rock band — it means you have to work with other people. It's the same thing as there are people who can play on baseball teams, who can play in group sports, and then there's people who just need to play golf and tennis, because it's hard to play in a group environment because of what they carry. And I'm sure there are other guys who will be a great fit for Bonz."

STUCK MOJO's new album, "Here Come The Infidels", was released on June 24. The CD was once again produced by Andy Sneap, who has previously worked with MEGADETH, EXODUS, TESTAMENT, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and ACCEPT, among others.

In addition to Ward and Fontsere, "Here Come The Infidels" features STUCK MOJO's latest additions, vocalist Robby J and bassist Len Sonnier.


STUCK MOJO classic lineup reunion (2014):

It's been 15 years since the initial release of Brainstorm's milestone album Metus Mortis. The vinyl edition includes four bonus tracks and will be released as a gatefold 2-LP in 180 g, olive/black marbled (ltd. 200) and white/black marbled (ltd. 100; available only on tour, dates below). The album features a gatefold-sleeve, printed inner sleeves and a poster.

Metus Mortis tracklist:
“Metus Mortis”
“Blind Suffering”
“Shadowland”
“Checkmate in Red”
“Hollow Hideaway”
“Weakness Sows Its Seed”
“Into the Never”
“Under Lights”
“Cycles”
“Behind”
“Meet Me in the Dark”
“Strength of Will”
“Face Down” (Bonus)
“(E.O.C.) Cross Gods Face’ (Bonus)
‘Don't Wait for Me” (Bonus)
“Savage” (Bonus)

METALLICA has finally completed work on its tenth studio album, "Hardwired...To Self-Destruct", for a November 18 release via Blackened Recordings. The long-awaited follow-up to 2008's "Death Magnetic" consists of two discs, containing a dozen songs and nearly 80 minutes of music.

"Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" was produced by Greg Fidelman with frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. The band recorded the disc at its own studio.

Says METALLICA in a new post on its web site: "Guess what?!? It's DONE! We have put the finishing touches on our next album, 'Hardwired…To Self-Destruct', and are looking forward to the next phase of unleashing it to the world, waking the monster that is METALLICA and hitting the road.

"As we were in the 11th hour of wrapping it up, it dawned on us that we have never shared with you in any sort of cohesive 'official' manner the extensive covers we have worked on since 'Death Magnetic'. While digging into the bonus options to complement the 12-song album with additional material, we realized that none of our versions of these songs from some of our favorite and most respected artists have been readily available on our very own Blackened Recordings. So with that said, we're here to tell you about some changes we've made to the deluxe versions of 'Hardwired...' in place of the previously announced 'Riff Origins'.

"The 2016 version of 'Lords Of Summer' from the studio in its full glory, as originally promised, is still included, but now we've added the 'Ronnie Rising Medley', originally only available only on the 'Ronnie James Dio - This Is Your Life' tribute album, along with the IRON MAIDEN cover of 'Remember Tomorrow' rounded out by DEEP PURPLE's 'When A Blind Man Cries'. And, by the way, all of these tracks have been recently remastered for optimum 2016 sound quality. Just for fun (and because there was room!) the special set we did at Rasputin's in Berkeley, California on Record Store Day 2016 to celebrate the reissues of 'Kill 'Em All' and 'Ride The Lightning' is here all remixed and mastered.

"Lastly we had such an amazing time being a part of the first weekend of events ever held at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis last month. It was an honor and a thrill to test out 'Hardwired' live there and we just had to commemorate the debut by including the recording from that night here."

Updated "Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" track listing:

Deluxe Edition (Digital Download & CD)

Disc One

01. Hardwired
02. Atlas, Rise!
03. Now That We're Dead
04. Moth Into Flame
05. Dream No More
06. Halo On Fire

Disc Two

01. Confusion
02. ManUNkind
03. Here Comes Revenge
04. Am I Savage?
05. Murder One
06. Spit Out the Bone

Disc Three (Bonus)

01. Lords of Summer
02. Ronnie Rising Medley
03. When a Blind Man Cries
04. Remember Tomorrow
05. Helpless (Live at Rasputin Music)
06. Hit the Lights (Live at Rasputin Music)
07. The Four Horsemen (Live at Rasputin Music)
08. Ride the Lightning (Live at Rasputin Music)
09. Fade to Black (Live at Rasputin Music)
10. Jump in the Fire (Live at Rasputin Music)
11. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Live at Rasputin Music)
12. Creeping Death (Live at Rasputin Music)
13. Metal Militia (Live at Rasputin Music)
14. Hardwired (Live in Minneapolis)

Deluxe Box Set (3LP + 1CD)

Disc One Side A

01. Hardwired
02. Atlas, Rise!
03. Now That We're Dead

Disc One Side B

01. Moth Into Flame
02. Am I Savage?
03. Halo On Fire

Disc Two Side C

01. Confusion
02. Dream No More
03. ManUNkind

Disc Two Side D

01. Here Comes Revenge
02. Murder One
03. Spit Out the Bone

Disc Three Side E (Bonus)

01. Lords of Summer

Disc Three Side F (Bonus)

01. Hardwired (Live in Minneapolis)

Bonus CD

01. Ronnie Rising Medley
02. When a Blind Man Cries
03. Remember Tomorrow
04. Helpless (Live at Rasputin Music)
05. Hit the Lights (Live at Rasputin Music)
06. The Four Horsemen (Live at Rasputin Music)
07. Ride the Lightning (Live at Rasputin Music)
08. Fade to Black (Live at Rasputin Music)
09. Jump in the Fire (Live at Rasputin Music)
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Live at Rasputin Music)
11. Creeping Death (Live at Rasputin Music)
12. Metal Militia (Live at Rasputin Music)

MR. BIG is currently putting together ideas for the follow-up to 2014's "...The Stories We Could Tell" album, tentatively due next year.

The band's drummer, Pat Torpey, told California Rock News on Tuesday (September 13): "Eric [Martin, MR. BIG singer] is always working on [new music]. He's always got some songs. But they have to go through the MR. BIG machine. And we also all are… I mean, Billy's [Sheehan, MR. BIG bassist] always got ideas. I'm always thinking about some concept or an idea. And we get together and throw it together and see how it works out, the same way we always do it. We haven't really started that process yet. But I know we're all doing it. We're cooking up the ingredients right now."

Torpey has had limited involvement with MR. BIG on the road since he was told he had Parkinson's disease in 2014. The band hired Matt Starr to fill in, but Torpey still sang on some tracks and added percussion on others.

The 56-year-old drummer told CrypticRock.com about his diagnosis: "What was really great about it is that I found out how many people really care about me and the great support system I have around me with the guys in the band, our management, and especially my wife. My wife is my guardian angel; she basically saved me. It was tough, but I am doing much better. I found a way, and I'm trying to do it every day."

MR. BIG has three shows scheduled for the end of this month:

Sep. 28 - Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CASep. 29 - The Rose - Pasadena, CAOct. 1-5 - Monsters Of Rock - Los Angeles, CA (cruise)

"…Stories We Could Tell" was produced by Pat Regan, known for his work with DEEP PURPLE, WARRANT and KEEL. Formed in 1988, MR. BIG forged its place in hard rock history by combining trademark "shredding" musicianship with awesome vocal harmonies. The original lineup produced numerous hit songs that ranged across a wide array of rock genres, be it ballads, heavy metal, or blues rock. Their hits included "To Be With You" (Billboard Hot 100 number one single in 15 countries for weeks, in 1991, propelling the band the band to huge international success and record sales in the multi-millions), "Wild World", "Green-Tinted Sixties Mind" and "Just Take My Heart".

According to The Pulse Of Radio, SOUNDGARDEN singer Chris Cornell has composed the title track for an upcoming movie called "The Promise". The film, a love triangle drama set against the Armenian genocide, stars Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale and French-Canadian actress Charlotte Le Bon. It premiered this week at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Cornell discussed his approach to writing songs for movies at the film's premiere, saying: "I've done enough of them now. I know there's going to be difficult moments and there will be some moments where everything seems to come together . And then I realize 'That was awful,' and I'll start over from scratch. You know the problem I run into the most is, 'Am I the right guy for this? Is there a different guy who could tell this story better? And then I get the determination."

Cornell's most high-profile musical contribution to a movie was "You Know My Name", his theme to the 2006 James Bond film "Casino Royale". Cornell told The Pulse Of Radio at the time that he was initially surprised to even land the gig. "Normally with something like that, with a movie that big, they just go for a person that's, like, an international superstar at the time and it's sort of more of a convenient marketing thing," he said. "And with me, that's obviously not the case. You know, I do well here as a singer in a rock band, but not an international superstar. I'm not the next Madonna."

Other films that Cornell has contributed songs or title themes to have included "Great Expectations", "Machine Gun Preacher" and "12 Years A Slave".

Cornell is getting ready for a tour with TEMPLE OF THE DOG, the legendary Seattle supergroup featuring members of SOUNDGARDEN and PEARL JAM. The five-city trek begins on November 4 in Philadelphia.

The outfit is hitting the road to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its self-titled 1991 album. A deluxe reissue of the disc arrives on September 30.

STATUS QUO has announced that guitarist Rick Parfitt has been ordered to rest for the remainder of the year at the very least following on from his heart attack and associated complications following a QUO show in Turkey on June 14. This means, of course, that he will be unable to take part in the forthcoming "Last Night Of The Electrics" European tour, which commences in Vienna, Austria on October 12. Simon Porter, the band's manager, comments: "Although Rick is recovering well and is now able to lead a relatively normal day to day life, he is far from being fit enough to undertake the rigors of QUO's touring schedule. Perhaps now is the time to reveal that Rick 'died' for several minutes directly following his heart attack which resulted in mild cognitive impairments for which he continues to receive neuropsychological support.

"His medical team continue to be confident of a full recovery, but Rick's absolute priorities for the foreseeable future are for his health and well-being and to be able to see his eight-year-old twin children Tommy and Lily grow up.

"To this end, Rick may well have performed his last show with QUO, but no final decision will be made until next year. Regardless, it is his wish that the band continue to tour as planned and he will always be a part of QUO's numerous other off-stage activities. "Rick has given his full blessing for the band to continue to honor their touring schedule in order to not let down the fans. Until the end of 2016, STATUS QUO will continue to utilize guest musicians. Irish guitarist Richie Malone, who is currently playing with the band, will continue in this role at least until the end of QUO's European schedule which concludes in Paris on December 4th. Freddie Edwards, son of QUO bass player John 'Rhino' Edwards also stepped in for Rick during some of the summer shows." Rick will also use his convalescence period to compose songs for a long-overdue solo album which he plans to record early next year. In the meantime, both Rick and the band would like to thank the fans for their continued understanding and support.

Vocalist Amanda Somerville (Trillium, Avantasia) has checked in with the following update:

"After years of collaborating and two album releases, Sander Gommans and I have been asked quite a bit when we'll do something live with HDK. Well, we can finally give a definitive answer and it's one you'll probably like because of the now-familiarity with who's fronting it. I proudly introduce Phantom Elite Band - based on my lyric in 'Eternal Journey' from our last album, Serenades Of The Netherworld - with Marina La Torraca, who will be the live band for HDK, and they just released a brand new song. Check it out below."

Phantom Elite features intense and powerful vocals by Marina La Torraca (Avantasia live), in-your-face guitars by Ted Wouters and Goof Veelen, unique keys and orchestration by Erik van Ittersum (The Theater Equation), and furious groove-heavy drums by Eelco van der Meer (Stream Of Passion live). These young, talented, and experienced musicians present the lyric video for their debut track, "Siren’s Call"; watch it now.

Released in 2014, HDK's Serenades Of The Netherworld is the follow-up to the band's  2009 debut, System Overload. The tracklist is as follows:

"Revelation"
"Electric Soul"
"Mortal Zombie"
"Serenade Of The Netherworld"
"Return From Tomorrow"
"Let Life Be Done"
"Eternal Journey"
"Witness"
"Book Of Lies"
"Omega"

Audio samples and a studio report are available below:

HDK is:

Sander Gommans - guitars, bass
Amanda Somerville - vocals
Geert Kroes - vocals (Dead Man's Curse)
Koen Herfst - drums (Dew Scented)
Uri Dijk - keyboards (Textures)
Erik van Ittersum - keyboards

Guests:
Mark Burnash - bass (Trillium)
Paul Owsinski - guitar (Trillium)
Stephen Pursey - guest solo

FEAR FACTORY frontman Burton C. Bell has once again weighed in on the 2016 presidential election, saying that the American people should "do the right thing" by not letting controversial Republican candidate Donald Trump win the White House.

Bell told Metal Hammer magazine: "American politics is a pathetic disaster. It is worrying, as there's a lot of stupid Americans.

"Trump is like P.T. Barnum [American politician, showman, and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus], he's selling outrageousness: racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and people are buying it. It's the same reason people in the U.K. voted for Brexit, and we need to prevent that from happening in the U.S.

"People are going to have to wise up."

He continued: "I get it that people want to vote for their conscience, but what people forget about is that there's more to an election than who becomes President. There's the steps after that: appointing supreme court justices, senate and house elections, there's caveats being made to dictate what's going to happen in our lives, and that's going to be reflective of who becomes President. So if you want to vote for your conscience and vote for an independent, who is not going to win, I get it, but try doing the right thing by not letting Trump win.

"Hilary's [Clinton] no angel, but what politician is?

"Being an American is not enviable right now. It's a beautiful country with a lot of beautiful people, but there'a lot of ignorance and stupidity, and, unfortunately, they're the loudest people."

FEAR FACTORY's latest album, "Genexus", was released on August 7, 2015 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.

The band recently completed a U.S. headlining tour on which it performed its classic second album, "Demanufacture", in its entirety.

Former SEPULTURA and current SOULFLY/CAVALERA CONSPIRACY frontman Max Cavalera will make a guest appearance on "Bloodlust", the upcoming album from BODY COUNT, the metal band fronted by hip-hop legend, actor and director Ice-T. Max's vocals will be heard in a song called "All Love Is Lost", according to a new tweet from Ice-T.

Due in 2017 via Century Media Records, "Bloodlust" is being recorded with producer Will Putney (MISS MAY I, UPON A BURNING BODY), who also helmed BODY COUNT's last effort, "Manslaughter".

Ice-T said: "With our last album, 'Manslaughter', we tested the waters and got a great response from the fans and critics. Now it's time to go kill it and make a more aggressive album and keep the BODY COUNT style intact.

"Will Putney is like a member of the band and has an excellent ear. He's a great producer because he captures the true essence of our band's sound. Once we are done writing the song, it's his job to step in and make it sound better. He helps move the record in the right direction.

"Once the record's done, we're going to shoot a lot of music videos and perform spot-dates on certain tests, etc."

"Manslaughter" sold around 3,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 102 on The Billboard 200 chart. The record arrived in stores on June 10, 2014 via Sumerian.

BODY COUNT's current lineup includes guitarist Juan Garcia (a.k.a. Juan Of The Dead; AGENT STEEL, EVILDEAD), who made his live debut with the group in November 2013 at the Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas.

Max just laid his Vocals on a new BC song ‘All Love Is Lost’ CRAZY! Bloodlust 2017 pic.twitter.com/Ttsz0qj7It

— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) September 15, 2016

Glenn Hughes has told Classic Rock magazine that he isn't sure BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION will tour in support of the band's upcoming fourth album.

The supergroup, which features Hughes alongside drummer Jason Bonham (LED ZEPPELIN, FOREIGNER), keyboardist Derek Sherinian (DREAM THEATER, ALICE COOPER, BILLY IDOL) and blues-rock guitarist/vocalist Joe Bonamassa, is working on the follow-up to 2012's "Afterglow" effort after a near-four-year split that was caused by tensions between Bonamassa and Hughes.

But Glenn says that he will spend most of 2017 touring in support of his upcoming solo album, "Resonate", with no guarantee that there will be any live shows to promote BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION's new disc.

Hughes tells Classic Rock: "[The new BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION album is] due to be recorded in January and will come out in May, but I'm not worried that 'Resonate' will get lost in the shuffle — not at all. It's more than strong enough to stand up in its own right."

He continues: "I have no idea whether there will be a tour from BCC. There may well be a chance of that, but, at this point, I'm not going to speculate as, being the mouthpiece of BCC, last time it was me that took a beating from the trolls when it didn't happen."

The war of words between Hughes and Bonamassa goes back to September 2012, when Hughes began telling journalists that Bonamassa's solo touring schedule was preventing BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION from touring and fulfilling its potential. He stated that if the situation didn't change, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION's third album, "Afterglow", could be the group's last recording project.

"There were no handbags — all that happened was that Joe and I wanted different things," Hughes now tells Classic Rock, adding that "Joe and I have worked together on this forthcoming record more than any of the others. For the past week we've been inseparable."

Hughes' first solo album in eight years, "Resonate" will be released on November 4 via Frontiers Music Srl.

He tells Classic Rock: "I'm so proud of 'Resonate' and it certainly has legs. I'm going to spend a year touring it around the world. It's looking like I will play three tours of America in 2017. I'm going everywhere."

"Afterglow" sold 8,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 48 on The Billboard 200 chart.

2012's "2" CD from BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION opened with 8,000 units to land at No. 71.

BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION's self-titled debut album registered a first-week tally of 7,100 copies to enter the chart at No. 54.

LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler has weighed in on the 2016 presidential election, offering criticism of both major party nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and saying that the decision is likely to come down to what some consider the lesser of two evils.

During a brand new interview with Chile's Radio Futuro, Adler stated (see video below): "The history of the tie-ins that Hillary has, I think that's a very scary thing. It seems like the Clintons and the Bushes have been running the United States into the ground for the last thirty years. But the [other] option is another North Korea option. [Editor's note: Adler is presumably referring to comparisons between Trump and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un.] So it seems like you can't really win."

LAMB OF GOD's latest album, "VII: Sturm Und Drang", was released in July 2015 via Epic in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Entertainment in all territories outside of North America. The CD was once again produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur with engineering by Wilbur, Nick Rowe and Kyle McAulay, and was recorded at NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood, California and Suburban Soul Studios in Torrance, California.

Metal Wani's Jake Patton recently conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Ross Dolan of New York death metal veterans IMMOLATION. You can now listen to the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the progress of the recording sessions for IMMOLATION's follow-up to 2013's "Kingdom Of Conspiracy" album:

Ross: "The new album is done. We're just finalizing the mixes right now. We're about seven rounds in, and we're expecting a couple more tonight, but we should be winding down, we should be tweaking just about everything we need to tweak right now. So that's just about done. The artwork is done. We're just waiting for a couple of the inside pieces to get finished up. So, yeah, we're just about there, and it's gonna be out at the end of January. So we're totally excited about that. It's gonna have eleven new songs, and, I guess, lyrically [and] conceptually, it carries on in a similar vein as 'Kingdom' and the 'Providence' EP [2011], and even a little bit of 'Majesty And Decay' [2010], so thematically, it's gonna be kind of similar to the last couple of releases. And musically, it's definitely IMMOLATION. I think it's a strong album. I'm really happy with it. Bob's [Robert Vigna, guitar] really happy with it. The songs are very cool, very solid. And I think very song is very different. Every song has all the IMMOLATION elements that our fans like so much — the multi-layered parts, the big, epic sections, the slow, dirgy stuff, the very fast, intense stuff — so it's all there. Every song kind of has a little bit of everything in it. I think the fans are gonna like this one. I'm happy with it; I like it."

On whether the songwriting process for IMMOLATION's new album was any different:

Ross: "It was a much longer process this time. We actually started this record last April — last March or April. And I remember when we… I got to Maryland Deathfest every year, and when we were in Maryland last year, just hanging out, we had about three songs done back then. And Bob was on a roll at that point, and then, you know, he kind of hit a wall — he had some writer's block — so it took us a lot longer. We had actually planned for this record to be out at the end of last year, and it just didn't pan out like that. So here we are, a year later, and it looks like it's gonna be out early year. It's fine. We couldn't rush it, and the label wasn't rushing us at all. They were, like, 'Listen, take your time. Make it good. Make it as good as you can. You can't rush this stuff.' So they understand. If we say we're gonna deliver, we're gonna deliver, but if we're having problems, we'd like to hold back and make sure we deliver something that we're proud of. So it did take a little normal than longer, but the end result was definitely worth it."

IMMOLATION's ninth full-length album, "Kingdom Of Conspiracy", was released in May 2013 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2010's "Majesty And Decay" was recorded at Sound Studios in Millbrook, New York with longtime producer Paul Orofino, and mixed and mastered once again by Zack Ohren (ALL SHALL PERISH, DECREPIT BIRTH, SUFFOCATION).

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Jimmy Page took part in a live video chat on Facebook yesterday (September 14) to promote tomorrow's release of LED ZEPPELIN's "The Complete BBC Sessions". Page, who answered questions by BBC DJ Johnnie Walker, compiled and produced the BBC set featuring songs taped by ZEPPELIN in 1969 and 1971 for British radio. Page told Rolling Stone that the band's appearances on British radio were an indispensable form of promotion. "Because we spent so much time in the States in the beginning, we weren't able to do so much in England," he said. "It was slower catching up. And we didn't have radio here like what was called underground radio over there. So we got these little slots on the BBC."

In addition to such tried-and-true ZEPPELIN live classics as "Black Dog", "Communication Breakdown", "Dazed And Confused" and "Stairway To Heaven", the new collection boast three songs never officially recorded by the band.

"There was usually three, maybe even four songs that were recorded on the session, and we started making up numbers as well," Page said. "And across the package here, there are three numbers that are made up in the studio. And it's literally, 'Well, here's the riff — 1,2,3,4, let's go.' And there's the one called 'Sunshine Woman' and there's another one called 'The Girl I Love Has Long Black Wavy Hair', then there's one which is probably a little more familiar to people, which is the 'Traveling Riverside Blues'."

Page explained the short shelf life of the three tracks unique to "The Complete BBC Sessions". "They were literally made up in the studio and people were curious as to 'Well, how come you didn't record those afterwards, y'know, in the studio? Like here, or wherever?'" he said. "The simple reason is because we were creating music so freely, I guess. Y'know, it was just sort of pouring out. But those things were just for that moment and then we'd be moving on to something else. That was very much like LED ZEPPELIN's sort of ethos, really."

Marilyn Manson spoke to Rolling Stone about his upcoming album, "SAY10", which is tentatively due in February 2017. According to the shock-rocker, the material for the follow-up to 2015's "The Pale Emperor" was once again written with composer Tyler Bates while the latter worked on the score for "Salem".

"It's not very much in any way like 'The Pale Emperor'," Manson said. "The people who have heard the new songs said it reminded them of their favorite parts of 'Antichrist Superstar' and 'Mechanical Animals' — but with a new, different approach.

"It's pretty violent in its nature for some reason," he continued. "And it's not emotional in the same way. It's got a chip on its shoulder. I enjoyed doing it. I can't wait for people to hear it. I think they're going to be quite surprised."

During an interview at the Alternative Press Music Awards in July, Manson stated about the "SAY10" album title: "It's not even a pun. It's worse than a pun. It's wordplay."

"The Pale Emperor" was released via the singer's own label — Hell, etc. — in a joint venture with Cooking Vinyl and Loma Vista Recordings.

Eagle Rock Entertainment will release Iggy Pop's "Post Pop Depression: Live At The Royal Albert Hall" on DVD+2CD and digital formats on October 28. This film captures a critically acclaimed concert that is a much-anticipated release for Iggy Pop fans; at the time the NME called it "one of the most memorable gigs of the year…that was the performance of a lifetime."

"Post Pop Depression: Live At The Royal Albert Hall" features tracks primarily from "The Idiot", "Lust For Life" and "Post Pop Depression". The setlist includes: "The Passenger", "Lust For Life", "Sister Midnight", "Gardenia", "China Girl", "Nightclubbing", "Success", "Tonight" and more.

The "Post Pop Depression" album, a collaboration with co-writer and producer Joshua Homme from QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, is one of Iggy's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful album for many years.

On May 13, 2016, Iggy Pop brought his "Post Pop Depression" live show to London's revered Royal Albert Hall and almost tore the roof off! As reviewed by the Telegraph, "I have been going to gigs for a very long time and that was one of the best I have ever seen."

With a backing band including Joshua Homme, Dean Fertita, and Troy Van Leeuwen from QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, Matt Helders from the ARCTIC MONKEYS, and guitarist Matt Sweeney, Iggy delivered a set focused almost entirely on the new album plus his two classic David Bowie collaboration albums from 1977, "The Idiot" and "Lust For Life".

"Post Pop Depression: Live At The Royal Albert Hall" will definitely be remembered as one of Iggy Pop's finest concerts.

Track listing:

01. Lust For Life 02. Sister Midnight 03. American Valhalla 04. Sixteen 05. In The Lobby 06. Some Weird Sin 07. Funtime 08. Tonight 09. Sunday 10. German Days 11. Mass Production 12. Nightclubbing 13. Gardenia 14. The Passenger 15. China Girl 16. Break Into Your Heart 17. Fall In Love With Me 18. Repo Man 19. Baby 20. Chocolate Drops 21. Paraguay 22. Success

Drummer Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad of Norwegian black metallers SATYRICON spoke to VirtualFestivals.com at this year's edition of the Bloodstock Open Air festival about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's next album, tentatively due in late 2017. He said: "We have come very far. I mean, we make so much material. I can safely say we have probably made more than three hundred themes for this album but now we have concentrated all the material into actual songs, and narrowing things down is really what we are doing now. We are deciding what songs will end up on the album."

He continued: "The music we have made and things that have been difficult to work with, we will leave it at that, because it didn't fit into songs that we were crystallizing in that period. So now we have like ten, twelve pieces of music that are more or less in the stages of becoming finished, and they feel like really good songs. We will record the album probably in January, and release it next year."

Asked if there is a specific theme that runs through the songs that have been written for SATYRICON's next album, Frost said: "No. It feels more creative than anything we have done before. I think that we managed to open quite a few doors, creatively, than with previous albums at least. This dynamic element was important. What I have been feeling is all those doors lead somewhere, and we have been exploring them and the result is what you will hear on that next album. It will go much further than previous albums, and I think it will be a very loaded album. Intense, very very diverse. An album impossible to sum up in a few words, which is a good thing."

SATYRICON celebrated the 20th anniversary of its seminal album "Nemesis Divina" with a never-to-be-repeated series of exclusive European shows, wherein the Norwegian trailblazers performed the album in its entirety for the first and last time.

To herald the 20th anniversary of this most illustrious piece of dark art, "Nemesis Divina" was re-released in spring 2016, newly remastered by Satyr himself and boasting upgraded and revamped packaging worthy of an album that has had a huge and enduring impact on both the black metal scene and underground heavy music in general.

According to The Star, a collection of BLACK SABBATH-related memorabilia recently unearthed in London has been bought by Ozzy Osbourne's family just days before it was due to go on sale. Dating from the period 1968-1973, the collection includes a number of postcards from Ozzy to his mother in Birmingham written while on tour. Also in the collection on offer from Sheffield Auction Gallery, were publicity posters, flyers, handwritten song lyrics and photographs from EARTH, BLACK SABBATH's original name.

The items were scheduled to be auctioned on September 30. But they were withdrawn from sale, with Stephen Flintoft, specialist music valuer and auctioneer at the Sheffield auction house, revealing that every item had been bought by the Osbourne family.

"The items have been sold by private treaty, for an undisclosed sum, to the Osbourne family, ensuring that this important piece of hard rock musical history remains intact," he said.

Flintoft previously said about the collection: "Perhaps the most interesting item, among so many, is the handwritten lyrics headed by EARTH to the song 'Changing Phases', a title later changed to 'Solitude', which featured on the 1971 double platinum BLACK SABBATH album 'Master Of Reality'."

EARTH (shortened from EARTH BLUES COMPANY) was formed in 1968 after Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward got their start in such psychedelic outfits as the RARE BREED and MYTHOLOGY.

Everything changed when Butler came to the band with an idea for a song inspired by a disturbing apparition. A fan of horror films and the black magic-themed novels of Dennis Wheatley, he flirted briefly with the black arts. But when he saw what he believed to be a figure from the dark side at the foot of his bed one night, he ceased his dabblings in the goth world. With lyrics by Osbourne, the group composed a song about the visitation, titling it "Black Sabbath" (after the 1963 Boris Karloff film). It provoked a reaction in audiences unlike anything else in their repertoire, and they knew they'd stumbled onto something powerful and unique. Forced to change their name because there was already another band named EARTH, they made an obvious choice: BLACK SABBATH.

"That's when it all started to happen," Iommi told writer Mick Wall. "The name sounded mysterious, it gave people something to think about, and it gave us a direction to follow."




Early and Pre Black Sabbath Rock Memorabilia

A unique collection of early and pre Black Sabbath rock memorabilia...

Posted by Sheffield Auction Gallery on Thursday, August 4, 2016

Garden State death metal faction Cognitive will release their new full-length next month via Unique Leader Records. Entitled Deformity, Cognitive's sophomore full-length was recorded at Full Force Studio by Joe Cincotta (Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, Dehumanized) and mastered at West West Side Studios by Alan Douches (Cannibal Corpse, Converge, Black Breath, Mastodon), and boasts nine tracks of unrepentant heaviness.

A new video for the track "Birthing The Deformity”, shot deep within New Jersey's sprawling Pine Barrens, can be seen below.

Says vocalist Jorel Hart, "'Birthing The Deformity' describes the nightmare that is the beginning of existence for the great and terrible horror that dwells in the vast and desolate Barrens. We agreed that the best way for us to portray the abominable actions that may have taken place that night was to film in the fabled forest itself."

Deformity will see release on Unique Leader Records on October 28th.

Deformity tracklisting:

"Awakening The Miscreation"
"Birthing The Deformity"
"Haunted Justice"
"Beneath The Floorboards"
"The Forgotten"
"Dead Soil"
"The Cull"
"Wraiths"
"Merciless Forest"

Hailing from South Jersey, Cognitive was born in 2011 with the sole intent to create heavy, intensely technical music, while maintaining an edge of creativity that separates them from the over-produced sea of subgenres. Combining technicality, guitar solos, grooves, and abstract ideas within their song writing, Cognitive is continually pushing itself to think outside of the proverbial box while maintaining an organic and unapologetically brutal edge. Cognitive seeks only to advance itself musically and export New Jersey's undying hatred globally.

Pink Floyd will release The Early Years 1965-1972 on Friday, November 11th. A comprehensive 27-disc boxed set, it pulls together material from the Pink Floyd archive, as well as licensed Radio and TV recordings, to comprise a deluxe package that includes seven individual book-style volumes, (six of which are dedicated to particular years), featuring much previously unreleased material, as well as bonus content, reproduction memorabilia, and the band's first recording from 1965, released on CD for the first time.

Check out an unboxing video below:

The packages contain more than 100 photographs of Pink Floyd, the majority of which are previously unseen, as well as more than 40 items of memorabilia in special wallets. In addition, Pink Floyd's first five UK singles have been included in the box, on 7" vinyl with replica sleeves.

The Early Years 1965-1972 box set contains unreleased tracks, BBC Radio Sessions, remixes, outtakes and alternative versions. Ten CDs, nine DVDs and eight Blu-ray discs contain more than 130 audio tracks, as well as more than 14 hours of audio-visual material. There are more than 20 unreleased songs, plus previously unreleased live audio, rare concert footage, feature films and new sound mixes. Previously unreleased tracks include 1967's Vegetable Man and In The Beechwoods, both mixed especially for this release.

The six individual year-specific book-style packages will be released separately early in 2017, although the bonus volume, Continu/ation, will be exclusive to the box set, as will the larger memorabilia items, which are reproduced in actual size for the box.

Pink Floyd’s “Grantchester Meadows” (taken from The Early Years 1965 – 1972) is a Roger Waters song, originally performed solo on the Ummagumma album, that celebrates the English countryside, as in other compositions such as “Time”. This special group performance, taped for the BBC, with acoustic guitars and vocals from Roger Waters and David Gilmour, plus additional piano from Richard Wright and taped songbirds, successfully evokes a summer’s day in Grantchester, a small village close to Cambridge, England.

Grantchester’s famous former residents include the Edwardian poet Rupert Brooke, who moved there and subsequently wrote a poem of homesickness entitled The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.

Creative Director: Aubrey Powell, Hipgnosis. 2016 footage directed and edited by Nick Edwards. Performance footage director: John Coney for KQED, San Francisco 1970. Audio recorded for BBC Radio, 12 May 1969.

Also released on Friday, November 11th will be a companion edition, Cre/ation – The Early Years 1967-1972, a 2CD collection of some of the highlights of the box set, focussing on the band's material from 1967 to 1972.

2CD tracklisting here. Full tracklisting here.

 

 

 

 

On September 23rd, Pink Floyd Records will continue the reintroduction of the Pink Floyd catalogue on vinyl with Atom Heart Mother, Meddle and Obscured By Clouds, all remastered from the original analogue master tapes. The Wall and The Division Bell are also back in stock on vinyl from August 26th.

Pink Floyd followed their 60s albums with their fifth studio album, 1970‘s Atom Heart Mother. Featuring the classic lineup of Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason, the LP went on to become the band‘s first UK No.1 record.

In a short break from touring Atom Heart Mother, in 1971 Pink Floyd released the experimental album, Meddle. The LP saw the band move musical direction away from their original psychedelic sound, especially highlighted by the 23-minute track Echoes which occupied the entirety of the b-side of the record.

Pink Floyd‘s seventh album, Obscured By Clouds was originally recorded as the soundtrack to the French film ‘La Vallée’ but released as a stand alone album in 1972.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, A Saucerful Of Secrets, More, Ummagumma, are also available through Pink Floyd Records. For more information, head here.

Iberian extreme metal act Noctem are streaming "Pactum With The Indomitable Darkness", a track from their new album Haeresis, due out September 30th via Prosthetic Records in North America, The UK and Europe, and through Art Gates Records in Spain.

Haeresis consists of ten brutally punishing tracks which conceptually delve into the dark history of Noctem's home country of Spain. Complimenting cover artwork, as seen below, was completed by Seth Siro Anton (Septicflesh, Moonspell, Behemoth) and depicts an epic and grotesque display of obscene torture extracted from the Spanish inquisition (1.500 A.C.).

Haeresis tracklisting:

"Through The Black Temples Of Disaster"
"Auto-Da-Fé"
"The Submission Discipline"
"Blind Devotion"
"The Dark One"
"Haeresis"
"Whispers Of The Ancient Gods"
"Conjuring Degradation And Morbidity"
"The Paths Of The Lustful Abandon"
"Pactum With The Indomitable Darkness"

"Pactum With The Indomitable Darkness”:

“The Submission Discipline” video:

"Through The Black Temples Of Disaster”:

Noctem, consisting of Beleth (vocals), Exo (lead guitars), Ethell (rhythm guitars), Varu (bass) and Voor (drums), self-recorded and produced Haerisis earlier this year at Firework Studios in Valencia before sending it to Sweden's Necromorbus Studio for mixing and mastering by Tore Stjerna (Watain, Valkyrja).

The band collectively proclaimed; "This record is proof that a band like us can keep evolving with time. It looks, sounds, smells and tastes different from anything we've ever done while keeping our original essence in every track. We're sure that any fan of extreme metal will be satisfied with this new opus."

Catch Noctem live:

October
27 - Salamanca, Spain - Nave Bunker (with Negura Bunget, Antagonist Zero)
28 - Madrid, Spain - Sala Silikona (with Negura Bunget, Antagonist Zero)
29 - Zaragoza, Spain - CC Vadefierro (with Negura Bunget, Antagonist Zero)
30 - Barcelona, Spain - Sala Monasterio (with Negura Bunget, Antagonist Zero)

Italian rockers Be The Wolf will release their new album, Rouge, on November 18th via Scarlet Records.

Formed in 2011 in Turin, Italy, Be The Wolf had one goal: to write and play rock music, plain and simple, with no masterplans and with no need to conform to any genre, definition or label. Since then they released a bunch of singles, videos and an EP that were very well received worldwide, and played countless shows in their home country and beyond.

Scarlet Records saw their enormous potential and signed them in June 2015. Their debut album Imago was released shortly after, to critical acclaim and commercial success. The band was received tremendous support by the most important music media outlets, including MTV, Virgin Radio and Rolling Stone, and were invited to perform in Japan, where they received the prestigious “Brightest Hope Award” by influential music magazine Burrn!.

Be The Wolf's music is an addictive mix of contemporary but Seventies-inspired rock and a touch of blues-filled atmospheres. Groovy anthems alternate with slow paced tracks and folkish ballads, with wide range vocals delivering catchy refrains and haunting melodies, enhanced by gospel-infused choirs. Rouge, the band’s new album, was recorded, mixed and mastered by Andrea Fusini (Upon This Dawning, MSWhite, Ready,Set,Fall!) and sets new standards for the band: longer than the debut yet straight to the point, the record is a concept about blood, fire and faith, a raw analysis of modern society, with its French title to be seen as an homage to the Bataclan victims.

Tracklisting:

“Phenomenons”
“Down To The River”
“Animals”
“Blah Blah Blah”
“Shibuya”
“Gold Diggers”
“Peeps”
“Rise Up Together”
“The Game”
“Freedom”

More details will be revealed soon.

Red Fang, the beer-loving Portland-based rock band re-emerge with their greatest and latest full-length album, Only Ghosts, due in October. David Sullivan offers a guitar tutorial for the album’s lead track, “Flies”, in the video below:

Produced by the legendary Ross Robinson (At The Drive In, The Cure, Slipknot, and many more) and mixed by Joe Baressi (Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss, Melvins), Only Ghosts consists of 10 new tracks of the band's signature, high-impact, hook-filled, hard rock.

Red Fang prove once again they are top-notch songwriters who have mastered the heavy anthem without taking themselves too seriously. Only Ghosts is a rock album of incredible magnitude that demands to be played at maximum volume!

Only Ghosts was recorded earlier this year at Robinson’s Venice, CA studio. The album is set for release this October 14th on CD/LP/Digital via Relapse Records. Physical pre-orders are available via Relapse.com here, and digital pre-orders can be found at the band's Bandcamp page at this location.

Only Ghosts tracklisting:

“Flies”
“Cut It Short”
“Flames”
“No Air”
“Shadows”
“Not For You”
“The Smell of the Sound”
“The Deep”
“I Am a Ghost”
“Living in Lye”

"Shadows" video:

“Flies”:

In-studio videos:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

"I Am A Ghost" tutorial video:

 

In support of their upcoming European tour dates, the band band have launched this new trailer video (tour schedule listed below):

Red Fang live:

September
22 - Portland, OR - Northwest Hesh Fest

September (with Torche)
26 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2
27 - London, UK - Koko
28 - Bristol, UK - Bierkeller
29 - Leeds, UK - Leeds Stylus
30 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Academy 2

October (with Torche)
2 - Birmingham, UK - Institute2
3 - Glasgow, UK - Garage
4 - Newcastle, UK - Riverside
5 - Southampton, UK - Engine Rooms
7 - Athens, Greece - Desert Fest
9 - Paris, France - Trabendo
10 - Munich, Germany - Strom
11 - Vienna, Austria - Szene Wien
12 - Berlin, Germany - Huxleys
13 - Cologne, Germany - Essigfabrik
15 - Leipzig, Germany - Conne Island
16 - Hamburg, Germany - Markethalle
18 - Odense, Denmark - Posten
19 - Oslo, Norway - John Dee
20 - Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Medis
21 - Malmo, Sweden - KB
22 - Munster, Germany - Skater’s Place
23 - Karlsruhe, Germany - Substage
24 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg (OZ)

November
18 - San Francisco, CA - Slim’s
19 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
20 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom
22 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
23 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge
25 - Austin, TX - Mohawk
26 - Dallas, TX - Three Links
27 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Studio
29 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade (Hell)
30 - Durham, NC - Motorco

December
1 - Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
2 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
4 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair
5 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
7 - Pittsburgh, PA - Spirit Lounge
8 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
9 - Detroit, MI - El Club
10 - Chicago, IL - Metro
11 - Bloomington, IL - Castle Theater
13 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
14 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
15 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
16 - Seattle, WA - Showbox

Red Fang is:

John Sherman - Drums
Aaron Beam - Bass, Vocals
David Sullivan - Guitar
Maurice Bryan Giles - Guitar, Vocals

Illinois-based symphonic melodeath group, Starkill, have released a video for “Burn Your World”, a track from the band’s upcoming third album, Shadow Sleep,  to be released via Prosthetic Records worldwide on November 4th. The new clip can be found below.

Recorded and mixed at Electrowerks Studio with Chuck Macak (Fall Of Troy, Oceano Letlive) while being sent for mastering by Troy Glessner (August Burns Red, Devin Townsend, Death Cab For Cutie), Shadow Sleep presents 13 tracks of melodic, majestic death metal reinforced by Jameson’s over-the-top shredding paired with one of the tightest rhythm sections in the scene.

"This album was the culmination of many tours, new experiences and knowledge, and in our opinion, marks the starting point of where the true Starkill sound begins" exclaimed ead guitarist and vocalist, Parker Jameson. "We've finally found ourselves, our musical style and finally have access to all the musical tools we've ever wanted: two screamers, two male singers, and newly featured on this record, the addition of a female vocalist. This album marks a critical turning point for Starkill, and we are excited to be with Prosthetic Records for this new chapter."

Shadow Sleep tracklisting:

“Walk Through Fire”
“Burn Your World”
“Through The Darkness”
“Shadow Sleep”
“Cloudless”
“Piece Of Paradise”
“Ruin”
“Into The Grey”
“Razors Edge”
“No Savior”
“Erase Me”
“Farewell”
“Captive Of The Night”

“Burn Your World” video:

Signing announcement with audio clips:

Starkill have won fans over throughout the country with their solid live performances on stages alongside bands including Epica, Moonspell, Arch Enemy and Ne Obliviscaris. In addition to the release of Shadow Sleep on November 4th, the band will also kickstart an extensive jaunt across North America with Gothenburg melodic death legends Dark Tranquility, Finland doom metallists' Swallow The Sun and Swedish heavy metal outfit Enforcer. Prior to this, the band will be seen at Illinois' Full Terror Assault with Dying Fetus, Belphegor and more.

A full list of their upcoming appearances can be found here.

Starkill is:

Parker Jameson - lead guitar, vocals, keyboards
Spencer Weidner - drums
Tony Keathley - guitar, backing vocals
Shaun Andruchuk - bass guitar

Taken from the forthcoming Something Else; Something Rotten EP, Hertfordshire, UK extreme metallers Aghast! have released a lyric video for the title track, produced by Andy Pilkington of Very Metal Art.

"We're are not a political band," vocalist James Anson states, "but we always write about what effects us, or things that we feel strongly about in our daily lives. “Something Else, Something Rotten” is a song about ordinary people struggling to make a living in a world which is weighted in favour of faceless corporations. It is a call to action that is perfectly visualised by Andy Pilkington from Very Metal Art. Andy took our idea and ran with it and we couldn't be happier with the results. Learn those words!"

Aghast! have been making waves of late, first with the announcement of Something Else; Something Rotten EP, which is also a collaboration with US based dubstep and D&B label Abducted Records and more recently with a UK tour in support of the new record.

With the band's upward trajectory Aghast! have gotten the attention of the New York based Extreme Management Group, a deal has been signed and this new found partnership has given the band a home on a roster with well known acts such as Suffocation, Cattle Decapitation, Cryptopsy, Origin, Decrepit Birth, Atheist, Rings of Saturn, Internal Bleeding and more.

Bassist Daniel Henderson comments, "We are delighted to be welcomed into the Extreme Management Group family! We look forward to grabbing this opportunity with both hands. It is an honour and a privilege to share a roster alongside many of the bands that inspired us to make music in our early years as well as some of our new favourites."

EMG's Matt Young adds, "We are excited to welcome Aghast! to the EMG roster. The band have proven in since their existence they are force to be reckoned with having already achieved great things. Aghast! joining the EMG roster will ensure their place in the international scene is solidified as they justly deserve. Exciting times ahead for both the band and management and you can be sure you'll be seeing much more of Aghast! in the future."

The band have also revealed the first in a series of teasers for the forthcoming EP where the viewer is taken behind the scenes in the recording of Something Else; Something Rotten.

Something Else; Something Rotten is out October 3rd via Abducted Records. Catch the band live across the UK. Dates on the flyer below:

Canadian progressive metal band, Auras, are streaming the track “Infinite Influence”, featured on their debut album, Heliospectrum, to be released on September 30th via Good Fight Music. Pre-order options can be found at this location.

Tracklisting:

“Waterstone”
“The Ripple Effect”
“Eloquence”
“Stars Abound”
“Cosmic Black”
“Dream Elixir”
“Chronos Fear”
“Spiral”
“Infinite Influence”
“Solar Pulse”

“Infinite Influence”:

"Dream Elixir" video:

“Spiral”:

“Waterstone”:

Greek thrash metal tank, Suicidal Angels, released their new album, Division Of Blood, on May 27th via NoiseArt Records. Today, the band presents the official video clip for the track "Image Of The Serpent".

The clip was created by students at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Bachelor of Design (Animation & Interactive Media) program.

Directors: Brandon Chung & Aonghas Shearer-Boyd

Animators: Veronika Aifeld, Laura Battista, Constance Boyce, Sean Carter, Kangsun Cho, Brandon Chung, Bonita Colles, Toby Garrow, Skye Henwood, Dylan Langmaid, Saskia Milledge, Thomas Murray, Madison Palmieri, Jaidon Powell, Aonghas Shearer-Boyd

Producers Aaron McLoughlin & Simon Norton spent around 3,000 working hours with their team to create the vdeo.

The band states: "What an honor it is, when a piece of your music becomes the project of work from some students, obviously really talented, in the other side of the world! An absolutely killer animated video for the song “Image Of The Serpent”, from the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia which gives another view and different approach to the world of animation. Thank you very much guys, best of success to anything you do in the future!"

Division Of Blood’s cover artwork was created by acclaimed artist Ed Repka (Megadeth, Death, Municipal Waste).

Tracklisting:

“Capital Of War”
“Division Of Blood”
“Eternally To Suffer”
“Image Of The Serpent”
“Set The Cities On Fire”
“Frontgate”
“Bullet In A Chamber”
“Cold Blood Murder”
“Of Thy Shall Bring The Light”

"Division Of Blood" video:

“Capital Of War” lyric video:

"Divide & Conquer" live video:

“Image Of The Serpent” lyric video:

There’s a buzz in Central and South America and Costa Rican act Advent Of Bedlam is the cause with their ripping death metal sounds. The band has caught the attention of Philip Anselmo and also VH1 Classic's That Metal Show. BraveWords brings listeners their new lyric video for “Creatures Of Yore”, a massive sonic journey through an ancient place called Tassili N’ajjer which is part of UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Dive into the legend now!

The Tassili N’ajjer caves contain ancient tales about the climatic changes, the animal migrations and the evolution of human life, told by rupestrian art, drawings and engravings in a place dated 12,000 years old, where representations of ancient gods, giants and powerful visitors are also present. Is the “Great Martian God” drawing found on one wall an outer powerful beings or is it just a representation of ordinary humans in ritual masks and costumes? Which is the real history?

Advent Of Bedlam released the “Creatures Of Yore” single at a listening party where they also debuted their locally brewed beer, Castigo. The event was a resounding success and the band’s new beer proved to be a great way to release the single. “Creatures Of Yore” is available on digital outlets like iTunes, Spotify, and also the band’s Bandcamp page.

Sweden's Civil War will release their new album, The Last Full Measure, on November 4th via Napalm Records. Check out an announcement video below.

Tracklisting:

“Road To Victory”
“Deliverance”
“Savannah”
“Tombstone”
“America”
“A Tale That Never Should Be Told”
“Gangs Of New York”
“Gladiator”
“People Of The Abyss”
“The Last Full Measure”
“Strike Hard Strike Sure”
“Aftermath”

Order The Last Full Measure in various formats at this location.

(Photo - Civil War Facebook)