Fan-filmed video footage of GHOST's April 18 performance at Volkshaus in Zurich, Switzerland can be seen below.

As previously reported, GHOST frontman and founder Tobias Forge, who performs as Papa Emeritus, is being sued by four ex-members of the group. The quartet of former Nameless Ghouls have accused Forge of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the group’s album releases and world tours.

The lawsuit, filed in the district court of Linköping, Sweden, where GHOST was originally based, claims that Forge solely controlled the band's business affairs without input from anyone else in the group, while also carrying out management duties. The four musicians are asking the court to order Forge to disclose GHOST's revenues and expenses for the financial years 2011 to 2016 and reveal the company's assets as of December 31, 2016.

If Forge fails to act as ordered, the musicians are asking the court to force Forge to pay a penalty of approximately $22,000 or an amount that the court considers reasonable.

The lawsuit alleges that Forge has been collecting all revenues from sales of the band's merchandise and recordings since the band was formed in 2010, and has insisted that the "company" was not yet profitable while at the same time refusing to disclose financial statements.

The situation became dire in 2012, when the band members did not receive any compensation at all. Forge was finally pressured to pay them, which he did only sporadically while still claiming that the band was broke.

The four musicians were offered two separate contract proposals by Forge in 2016, which they rejected as "slave agreements." That may have led to Forge's wholesale firing of the band at the end of 2016.

The new lineup of GHOST is rumored to include musicians who have previously played with THE SISTERS OF MERCY, KORN, PENDRAGON and BLOODBATH.

Since the musicians wear masks and are only identified as Nameless Ghouls, personnel changes in the group over its seven-year existence have gone unannounced.

Forge writes almost all of the group's music and does most of the act's interviews disguised as a Nameless Ghoul.

Asked for his reaction to the lawsuit by Swedish outlet Corren, Forge said: "I can't comment on it because it is a legal process. The lawsuit will be answered fairly soon by my legal counsel."

Napalm Records premieres its fourth DVD compilation of their finest metal and rock hymns! The Realm Of Napalm Records, Vol. IV DVD will be released as a 6-page digipack including a bonus audio CD of the most recent Napalm Records hits.

The set includes special material from doom patrons AHAB, hardcore heroes Walls Of Jericho, thrash metal giants Warbringer and street punk's finest Toxpack. The hottest video clips from Napalm Records including a bonus audio CD will be released worldwide (excl. US/Canada) via Napalm Records on May 26th. 26 videos, 16 singles, one package.

Throwback and throw down with this synthesis of senses! You've got Myles Kennedy's Alter Bridge, power metal chart breakers Hammerfall (pictured above) and Powerworlf, heavy Californian groove from DevilDriver, fresh and funky progressive tunes from Jinjer, the reggae rock power pack Skindred, heavy metal titans Civil War, symphonic sweetness of Xandria and Visions Of Atlantis and to top it all off Kamelot’s feature "Liar Liar" with Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz.

DVD tracklisting:

Alter Bridge - “Show Me A Leader”
Hammerfall - “Hammer High”
Powerwolf - “Army Of The Night”
Kamelot - “Liar Liar” (feat. Alissa White-Gluz)
Delain - “Suckerpunch”
Devildriver - “Daybreak”
Otep - “Zero”
W.A.S.P. - “Scream”
The Answer - “Solas”
Grave Digger - “Healed By Metal”
Jinjer - “Words Of Wisdom”
Skindred - “Volume”
Moonspell - “Extinct”
The Agonist - “The Moment”
Serum 114 - “Wilde Zeit”
Civil War - “Tombstone”
John Garcia - “Kylie”
Megaherz - “Einsam”
Monster Magnet - “The Duke Of Supernature”
Alestorm - “Drink”
Xandria - “Nightfall”
Serenity - “Follow Me”
Visions Of Atlantis - “Winternight”
American Head Charge - “Let All The World Believe”
Adept - “Dark Clouds”
Greenleaf - “A Million Fireflies”

Bonus CD tracklisting:

Xandria - “Call Of Destiny”
Walls Of Jericho - “Reign Supreme”
Draconian - “Rivers Between Us” (feat. Daniel Änghede)
Warbringer - “Remain Violent”
The New Roses - “What If It Was You”
Gloryhammer - “Rise Of The Chaos Wizards”
Black Mirrors - “Funky Queen”
AHAB - “Like Red Foam (The Great Storm)”
Skalmöld - “Niðavellir”
Nervosa - “Hostages”
Diabulus in Musica - “Earthly Illusions”
Evil Invaders - “Raising Hell”
Be´lakor - “An Ember’s Arc”
Drescher - “Unten”
8kids - “Blitzschlag”
Toxpack - “Willkommen im Klub”

Get your copy here.

US progressive power metal band MindMaze will release their new album, Resolve, on April 28th in Europe and North America through Inner Wound Recordings. A lyric video for the second single, “One More Moment”, is available for streaming below.

Over the span of 68-minutes of melodic and powerful music ripe with recurring themes, the band takes the listener on a whirlwind journey through the scope of human emotion in hopes they will be able to project their own experiences into these intensely personal lyrics inspired by an amalgam of real-life events.

Resolve reprises the band's ever-present influences from bands like Queensrÿche, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Savatage, and a mixture of contemporary power metal and melodic rock hooks and songwriting while moving the band further into progressive and theatrical territory with more atypical song structures used to best serve the concept of the album.

The band continues to forge their footprint as one of the most promising and unique female-fronted bands to come along in recent times.

Resolve tracklisting:

“Reverie” (Instrumental)
“Fight The Future”
“In This Void” (Instrumental)
“Drown Me”
“Sign Of Life”
“Abandon”
“Sanity's Collapse” (Instrumental)
“One More Moment”
“Twisted Dream”
“True Reflection”
“Shattered Self”
“Release”
“The Path To Perseverance”

“One More Moment” lyric video:

“Sign Of Life” video:

Upcoming MindMaze tour dates:

April
25 - Baltimore Soundstage - Baltimore, MD (Supporting Y&T)
27 - Ralph's - Worcester, MA
28 - Dingbatz - Clifton, NJ
29 - Funhouse - Bethlehem, PA

May (supporting Arkona and Sirenia)
13 - Webster Hall - New York, NY
14 - Firehouse 13 - Providence, RI
15 - L'Anti - Quebec City, QB
16 - L'Astral - Montreal, QB
17 - Mod Club - Toronto, ON
18 - Subterranean - Chicago, IL
19 - Cabooze - Minneapolis, MN
20 - Riot Room - Kansas City, KN
21 - Marquis Theater - Denver, CO
23 - Studio Seven - Seattle, WA
24 - Bossanova Ballroom - Portland, OR
25 - Metro Opera House - Oakland, CA
26 - Echoplex - Los Angeles, CA
27 - Pranksters - Scottsdale, AZ
28 - Rockhouse - El Paso, TX
29 - Curtain Club - Dallas, TX
30 - Grizzly Hall - Austin, TX

June
1 - TBA - Atlanta, GA
2 - The Milestone - Charlotte, NC

Spanish '70s hard and heavy rock band The Wizards recently inked a deal with Fighter Records for the release of their second album, Full Moon In Scorpio, which will see the light on May 16th internationally. Check out the new video for "Calliope (Cosmic Revlations)" below.

Formed in Bilbao (Basque Country) back in 2013, these five outcasts decided to form a band after several intense sessions of drug abuse and hard liquor drinking marathons at backyard parties where the records of Black Sabbath, Danzig, The Cult, Blue Oyster Cult, Pentagram, Deep Purple, Dio, Horisont, and Electric Wizard were played so loud, neighbors would call the police sooner than expected.

In January 2014, The Wizards recorded their first demo, Plagues. With only four songs recorded and a bunch of covers, they were able to win the 26th edition of the local pop/rock contest Villa de Bilbao, and during 2015, they released their self-titled debut album through their own label, Witch Records, in collaboration with French label Geea Music.

The band played live in France, Basque Country, and Spain opening for legendary bands and artists such as The Dictators, Iggy Pop, and Turbonegro, sharing the stage with bands like Horisont, Peter Pan Speed Rock, and Hypnos among others. They were even invited to participate in festivals such as Madrid Stoner Scene Fest, Kriston Fest, and Faan Fest.

During April 2016, The Wizards entered Gaua Studio together with Brooklyn-based produced Dean Rispler, current bass-player for The Dictators. During two weeks, they recorded eight songs that form their upcoming second album, Full Moon in Scorpio, engineered by Asier Zubelbu and mixed & mastered by Jesse Cannon (The Cure, The Misfits, The Dillinger Escape Plan) at Cannon Found Soundation in Union City, New Jersey.

Full Moon In Scorpio contains eight tracks of hard & heavy rock attack, the lyrics dealing with such issues as the destruction of the veils that blind us, the vast concepts of space and time, the search for spiritual enlightenment, and so on. For the band, it truly means a step forward in their quest for world domination. The sound is bigger, the songs are better, and The Wizards are ready to destroy and fuck things up wherever their presence is needed. The western world is collapsing - let's dance over the fires while we howl at the Scorpio Moon. 

The Wizards' Full Moon in Scorpio will be released May 16th through Fighter Records on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Tracklisting:

“Avidya”
“Calliope (Cosmic Revelations)”
“Odinist”
“Stardust”
“Leaving The Past Behind”
“Halftones To Eternity”
“Who Are You, Mr. Gurdjieff?”
“When We Were Gods”

"Calliope (Cosmic Revelations)" video:

“Avidya”:

Swedish rock/metal band The Torch have announced their new album Chasing Light. The album features ten songs was recorded from July to October 2016 in Studio Fonic, Gothenburg. A release date will be revealed soon.

Chasing Light was produced and engineered by Sebation Olsson (Avatar) and mixed and mastered by Dan Laskiewicz in Springfield, MA (The Acacia Strain).

Lineup:

Martin Söderqvist - vocals and guitars
Per Romvall - bass and backing vocals
Peter Derenius – drums

Canada's Mortör have released a lyric video for “Burn Up The Dead”, the title track of their new album, due for release this Friday, April 22nd via CDN Records. Watch the new clip below.

After launching two pulverizing albums back to back, Metal Ride in 2010 and Shoot ‘Em Up in 2012, the war metal household that is Mortör fell back to recharge its line up and compose their third album. In 2016, the band resurfaced, more vicious than ever, with a new secret weapon ready to be dropped upon the face of the world, entitled Burn Up The Dead.

Burn Up The Dead follows in the tank tracks laid by previous Mortör albums, utilizing similar firepower and tongue-in-cheek themes, yet, at the same time, advances considerably on all fronts. Buzzwords such as 'dynamic' and 'organic' fit easily alongside the proven descriptors, such as 'catchy-as-all-fuck' and 'head-crushing brutality'.

Burn Up The Dead pre-orders can be made here.

Cover artwork below created by Daniel Beaudin, Septral Illustrations.

Tracklisting:

“Pleasure Of Hate”
“Cross The Line”
“Burn Up The Dead”
“A Place In Hell”
“Hail Guns”
“The Executioner”
“F.U.B.A.R.”
“Sold To Bleed”
“Parasite”
“Bloody Mess”
“Count The Days”
“Beg For Lead”

“Burn Up The Dead” lyric video:

“Pleasure Of Hate”:

Credits:

Guitar solo on “Cross The Line” by Matt MacIvor
Guitar solo on “Burn Up The Dead” by Antonin Perras-Foisy
Guitar solos on “Executioner”, “Fubar”, “Bloody Mess”, “Parasite” and “Get My Gun” by Adam Pell
Guitar solo on “A Place In Hell” by Christian Donaldson
Guitar solos on “Hail Guns” and “Cattle Ride” by Paul Kelly
Guitars, bass and vocals recorded by Dave Paquette, Ottawa
Drums recorded by Chris Donaldson, The Grid Studio, Montreal
Mixed and mastered by Chris Donaldson, The Grid Studio, Montreal

Band lineup:

Dave Paquette - guitars
Jonathan Boulay - vocals
Jay Cross - drums
Nicolas Miquelon - bass guitar

(Band photo - Brittany Dawn Krause)

The official video for the song "End Of The Road" from THE FERRYMEN, the new project featuring guitarist Magnus Karlsson (MAGNUS KARLSSON'S FREE FALL, PRIMAL FEAR), vocalist Ronnie Romero (LORDS OF BLACK, RAINBOW) and drummer Mike Terrana (TARJA, RAGE, AXEL RUDI PELL, VISION DIVINE), can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's self-titled debut album, which will be released on June 2 via Frontiers Music Srl.

The songs for "The Ferrymen" were written by Karlsson in Sweden during the summer of 2016. Once Romero was sent the music via their main bands' shared label home Frontiers, he immediately wanted to be part of the project. Terrana was the last piece of the puzzle and he recorded his drums in Italy, where he currently resides. The resulting album is a shot of adrenaline for all lovers of melodic metal! Musically, you can expect maximum melodic metal fusing the songwriting and epic structures of the great ALLEN/LANDE records (for which Magnus Karlsson was the main architect of the first three widely praised releases) with the Ronnie James Dio-esque vocal approach of Romero. (Let's not forget that Romero was hand-picked by DEEP PURPLE (1968-1976) and RAINBOW's legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to be the lead vocalist for RAINBOW's recent reunion shows, so the Dio comparison is more than accurate!) Says Magnus: "When I wrote this record, having Ronnie singing, I had no limits in mind with the lyrics. Ronnie could sing everything and I am also very proud of the songs." Adds Romero: "I am used to working with LORDS OF BLACK in a certain straight style, but this record was very different and it was very exciting for me." "Overall, I think it is one of the coolest and grooviest records I've ever done," concludes Terrana, a drummer with more than a hundred records under his belt! With stunning artwork courtesy of Stan W. Decker and an outstanding mix courtesy of Simone Mularoni (of Italian prog metal masters DGM), "The Ferrymen" is an album which will take the metal world by storm in 2017. "The Ferrymen" track listing: 01. End Of The Road02. Ferryman03. Fool You All04. Still Standing Up05. Cry Wolf06. One Heart07. Darkest Hour08. How The Story Ends09. Enter Your Dream10. Eyes On The Sky11. Eternal Night12. Welcome To My Show

Cradle Of Filth's keyboardist / backing vocalist Lindsay Schoolcraft has checked in with the following update:

"Stupidly excited about a new project I'm involved with which is going to consume most of today for me. It's quite brilliant and involves a lot of extraordinary talents. Of course, I've taken on a lot of the organization roles, but it's not a bother because of how much I believe in this project and the people in it. It will be revealed mid year. I just had to say something because it's. So. So. EXCITING!
 
Disclaimer: the new Cradle album is done and sounds glorious thanks to those gents. And the solo material is rapidly forming with a big surprise to be revealed later this year. Yes, you all should be as excited as I am!"

In live news, Cradle Of Filth will be playing a special one-off festival warm-up show in Portsmouth, UK. The show will take place at The Wedgewood Rooms on June 23rd. Tickets are now on sale here.

Joe Bonamassa’s new release, Live At Carnegie Hall - An Acoustic Evening, will be available on  on June 23rd on 2CD, 3LP, 2DVD and Blu-ray via Mascot Label Group. A trailer for the upcoming release can be found below, and pre-orders can be made at this location.

Last year, on January 21st and 22nd, Joe Bonamassa performed two unique all-acoustic shows at the iconic Carnegie Hall in New York City. Both performances were filmed and made into Joe Bonamassa Live At Carnegie Hall - An Acoustic Evening.

An evening of extraordinary music with new arrangements of favourite songs as well as brand new, never-before-heard songs. It will be released on Double CD, Double DVD, Blu-ray and 3 LP Vinyl on June 23rd. The video pieces include 104 minutes of feature film, over 45 minutes bonus features and all are sold in beautifully designed packages that are perfect for a music lover’s collection.

The concert was part of a special all-acoustic tour and featured an all-star ensemble of world-class musicians. Acclaimed Chinese cellist and erhuist Tina Guo, whose repertoire stretches from classical to heavy metal; and Hossam Ramzy, the Egyptian percussionist and composer, who has performed on dozens of film soundtracks and records, including on Jimmy Page and Robert Plant’s No Quarter: Unledded Tour. Reese Wynans (piano), Anton Fig (Drums) Eric Bazilian (mandolin, hurdy-gurdy, saxophone, acoustic guitar, vocals), and three Australian backing vocalists, Mahalia Barnes, Juanita Tippins, and Gary Pinto round out the band.

Says Bonamassa: “Despite being among the most ambitious things I’ve done - I played with a 9 piece acoustic band - It came out great. It was a typical Joe freak show.”

DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen is a guest on tonight's (April 19) episode of Comedy Central's new comedy and music series "The Comedy Jam".

The eight-episode season features celebrities dishing on a cherished memory linked to an iconic song and then performing that song with the Comedy Jam Band in front of a live audience.

This week's episode sees Collen join forces with "Orange Is the New Black" star Taryn Manning to perform the LEPPARD classic "Pour Some Sugar On Me".

You can now watch the performance below.

Also on the April 19 episode, Bert Kreischer and Scott Stapp (CREED) perform "Higher" by CREED and Hal Sparks and Sebastian Bach (SKID ROW) perform "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC.

Taryn previously recorded and toured with a band called BOOMKAT, which she formed with her brother Kellin. The group's debut album, "Boomkatalog. One", was released in 2003, but duo subsequently parted ways.

Hailing from the fringes of the cosmos, ARCADEA will make its arrival known with the release of its self-titled debut album on June 16 via Relapse Records.

ARCADEA was born when drummer-vocalist Brann Dailor of MASTODON teamed up with guitarist and keyboardist Core Atoms (ZRUDA) to create a synth-laden progressive, heavy psych band. Adding guitarist Raheem Amlani (WITHERED) on synth, the three recorded their visionary, ten-song synth odyssey at Orange Peel Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

Unlike their other bands, ARCADEA uses only keyboards in a unique blend of crushing, organic drums and psychedelic synthesizers. The music is at once electronic but not electronica, synthetic but not processed, heavy but not metal.

The album envisions a future five billion years from now, where the impending collision of galaxies creates a new order of planets. Where cold, distant moons pledge alliance to new suns and expanding gas giants implode into black holes. Ancient drones, forever adrift, record toxic tales of love between dying stars. Where lifeforms in suspended animation, dream among the ice rings of Saturn and cosmic war wages among gods and planets. It is in this universe that ARCADEA reign supreme as the last surviving space wizards since the final extinction.

ARCADEA's previously released song, "Gas Giant", can be streamed below.

Florida power metal act, Seven Kingdoms, have released a lyric video for “Stargazer”, the lead track on their forthcoming full-length album and Napalm Records debut, Decennium. The clip can be seen below.

Decennium will be released worldwide via Napalm Records on May 5th. Pre-order here.

Decennium was recorded with Jim Morris (Iced Earth, Savatage, Death) and Phil Pluskota (Abiotic, King Conquer) at North Avenue Studios and Morrisound Recording. Seven Kingdoms mixed the album at Morrisound Recording and was mastered by Jacob Hansen (Avantasia, Evergrey, Volbeat).

Decennium tracklisting:

“Stargazer”
“Undying”
“In The Walls”
“The Tale Of Deathface Ginny”
“Castles In The Snow”
“Kingslayer”
“The Faceless Hero”
“Neverending”
“Hollow”
“Awakened From Nothing”
“In The Walls” (EP Master) (Bonus Track)
“Undying” (EP Master) (Bonus Track)
“The Bloody Meadow” (Re-Recording) (Bonus Track)
“Stormborn” (Re-Recording) (Bonus Track)

“Stargazer” lyric video:

“Neverending” video:

Seven Kingdoms will embark on full length North American tour with Evergrey, Need and Ascendia in May and June 2017 to support the new album. More shows are being added; catch them live at the following confirmed shows:

May
6 - The Haven - Orlando, FL
7 - The Orpheum - Tampa, FL
9 - Scout Bar - Houston, TX
10 - Gas Monkey - Dallas, TX
11 - The Rock Box - San Antonio, TX
13 - Joe's Grotto - Phoenix, AZ
14 - Brick By Brick - San Diego, CA
15 - Adrenaline bar - Las Vegas, NV
17 - The Viper Room - Los Angeles, CA
18 - TBA - San Francisco, CA
19 - TBA - Portland, OR
20 - Studio Seven - Seattle, WA
21 - The Rickshaw Theater - Vancouver, BC
22 - Dickens Pub - Calgary, AB
23 - Exchange - Regina
25 - The Cabooze - Minneapolis, MN
26 - Reggie's - Chicago, IL
27 - The Token Lounge - Detroit, MI
28 - Mod Club - Toronto, ON
30 - L'Anti - Quebec City, QC

TBA - New York, NY
TBA - Philadelphia, PA

More dates will be announced shortly.

Seven Kingdoms lineup:

Sabrina Valentine - Vocals
Camden Cruz - Guitar
Kevin Byrd - Guitar
Keith Byrd - Drums
Aaron Sluss - Bass

Broken Teeth, led by former Dangerous Toys frontman Jason McMaster, have released a video for the title track of their  new album 4 On The Floor, out this Friday, April 21st, via EMP Label Group. Watch the new video below, and pre-order the album at this location.

Twenty years after seizing power in Austin, Texas, rock-roll battering squad Broken Teeth throw it's hardest punch ever after signing with Megadeth bassist David Ellefson and former Corporate Punishment President Thom Hazaert at their powerhouse EMP Label Group.

"I've had my eyes and ears on Broken Teeth for a few years now and have a history with singer Jason McMaster," Ellefson said. "It was only a matter of time until I found a way to partner with them. Given their reputation as a crushing live act, along with their previous string of classic, underground hard-rock albums, I couldn't be more proud to welcome Broken Teeth to the EMP family and help them share their music with an even wider audience."

Once described as "a pissed-off AC/DC," Broken Teeth has evolved into a hard-rock / heavy metal bomb blast built on the swaggering boogie of bad-boy blues. Not surprisingly, 4 On The Floor continues the band's gritty legacy with odes to the rebellious, forbidden love of rock-n-roll (the slow-stomping "Sinful"); standing proud as a loner (the riotous burner, "House Of Damnation"); life on the rock-n-roll highway to hell (the bluesy shuffle of "Borrowed Time"); and the ultimate salute to legendary Motorhead mainman, Lemmy Kilmister (the appropriately rollicking "Never Dead", which was written before Lemmy's passing). "We don't really do tributes, but Lemmy and the kind of rock-n-roll he did is what we're all about," said Broken Teeth guitarist Jared Tuten. "It just felt right for Broken Teeth to immortalize him forever."

Tracklisting:

"4 On The Floor"
"Sinful"
"All Or Nothin'"
"Getcha' Some"
"Borrowed Time (W.O.M.G.)"
"House Of Damnation"
"Let The War Machine Roll"
"Never Dead"
"All Day Sucker"
"Rock Bottom"

"4 On The Floor" video:

Broken Teeth is:

Jason McMaster - vocals
Jared Tuten - guitar
Bruce Rivers - drums
David Beeson - guitar
Robb Lampman - bass

Matt Holt, former singer of NOTHINGFACE, passed away at home in Maryland on April 15. He had been battling a degenerative illness for several years. He is survived by his parents and his younger brother.

While he had not been active musically in recent years, Holt, who toured the world several times over with his band in the early 2000s, is remembered as being an unparalleled talent and as one of most skilled vocalists of his generation, thanks to his incredibly impressive range, which shifted from terrifically brutal to beautifully melodic.

NOTHINGFACE released five studio albums, including 2000's "Violence" and 2003's "Skeletons", before splitting in 2004, citing musical differences, internal turmoil and label troubles. NOTHINGFACE reunited in 2005 and went through a couple of lineups before finally disbanding again in 2009.

Former NOTHNGFACE guitarist Tom Maxwell, who is now a member of HELLYEAH, told the "Talk Toomey" podcast last year that he had no interest in a NOTHINGFACE reunion, largely because of his nonexistent relationship with Holt.

"It was a good time, but, you know, people change and people are different — they're not the same people," he said. "Matt Holt, you know, is doing his thing and we don't get along, we don't talk, I don't want nothing to do with him or his life. It's not gonna happen man. I have dignity."

He added: "There's just nothing anymore. There's no communication, there's no desire. I don't need to do it, I don't have to do it. I'm happy where I'm at and I'm going to leave it right where it is. It's dead."

Tom Araya says that SLAYER is still working out "the business aspects of things" in the aftermath of the passing of the band's co-founding guitarist Jeff Hannemann.

Hanneman died in May 2013 from alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. He is credited for writing many of SLAYER's classic songs, including "Angel Of Death" and "South Of Heaven".

Asked by the Chilean radio station Futuro if there are plans for SLAYER to release a follow-up album to 2015's "Repentless", Araya said: "I don't know. I know that when we recorded the album itself, there was a lot of music [left over that didn't make the final product].

"Once we get done with what we're doing, we'll have to sit down and discuss it and talk it out.

"Me and Kerry [King, SLAYER guitarist] are still trying to put the final touches on the business aspects of things, as far as the band goes. 'Cause of Jeff's passing, we still haven't put closure to all of that, so we're still working on that, and we'll see. We'll see how things go and we'll see if there's a new album."

Araya also spoke findly about his late bandmate, just a couple of weeks before the fourth anniversary of Hanneman's death. "I miss him," he said. "Every now and then, I think about him. We were collaborators; we worked together on… He allowed me to work with him on his ideas. I think about what he probably went though the last two years. I wish he was out here with us. I wish he was here, period. I feel that he was a big part of the band. I wish he was here. It would make what I'm doing a lot easier."

Gary Holt, who is still a member of San Francisco Bay Area thrash icons EXODUS, has been the touring guitarist for SLAYER since January 2011 when Hanneman contracted necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating disease, from a spider bite in his backyard.

Holt did not contribute to the songwriting process on "Repentless", although he did lay down guitar solos on most of the album's twelve tracks.

DEAD CROSS, the Southern California outfit featuring drummer Dave Lombardo (ex-SLAYER, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, MISFITS), and singer Mike Patton (FAITH NO MORE), will release its debut album in late summer via Ipecac Recordings. The effort was helmed by producer Ross Robinson, who has previously worked with KORN, DEFTONES, SEPULTURA and LIMP BIZKIT, among others, and was mastered at Golden Mastering in Ventura, California.

Asked what it has been like working with Patton on the DEAD CROSS album, Lombardo told "Whiplash", the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie (hear audio below): "Well, we haven't really worked together except through e-mails. [Laughs] What we did was… We had all the music recorded... We recorded it early last year, and then, of course, the opportunity came up to look for a new singer. So, we really didn't have to work together. We just sent Patton the music and he recorded [all the vocals] himself. But there was a lot of e-mails going back and forth between us — a lot of communication."

Regarding whether DEAD CROSS will do any touring following the album's release, Lombardo said: "Yes. I am very excited. I didn't know that that was gonna happen. We didn't know if we were gonna do any touring, if it was just an album that we put out, but, no, Mike is into it; he's really excited."

DEAD CROSS, which is rounded out by Justin Pearson (THE LOCUST, RETOX, HEAD WOUND CITY) and Michael Crain (RETOX, FESTIVAL OF DEAD DEER), last year parted ways with singer Gabe Serbian.

Asked how Patton's addition to DEAD CROSS has changed the band's sound, Pearson told the Faith No More Followers web site: "It's hard to explain. The band is still finding its own skin to fit into. No matter whom you bring into a band, the sound becomes who all are part of it. Let's revisit this question after the album comes out, after we play shows with the new lineup, and after we can reflect on things."

Pearson also talked about DEAD CROSS's collaboration with Robinson. He said: "Ross is one of the most amazing people I've worked with. I'm so grateful for his involvement with the things I have been able to do with him. He has certainly helped me grow and opened my eyes and mind to so many things, musical and non-musical. And the non-musical aspects are as important as the musical, if not more. However, he didn't track Patton's vocals. The music was tracked and produced with Ross when we were working with Gabe. Once Gabe left the band, there was a shift and since then, Patton has tracked the vocals on his own."

"Whiplash" airs every Sunday night from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on the Los Angeles radio station 95.5 KLOS. The show can be heard on the KLOS web site at 955klos.com or you can listen in on the KLOS channel on iHeartRadio.

A teaser for "Learn To Live", the first single and video from BAD WOLVES, is available below.

When art can't be pigeonholed or pinned down, it elevates the very medium itself. BAD WOLVES thrives on that sort of unpredictability, standing confidently at a crossroads between anthemic hard rock infectiousness and thought-provoking technically-charged heavy metal. Think a cross between the mind-numbing musical malevolence of MESHUGGAH and SEVENDUST's timeless irresistibility, and you're halfway there… The vision of ex-DEVILDRIVER co-founder and previous driving force John Boecklin (drums, guitars) and vocalist Tommy Vext (SNOT, DIVINE HERESY, WESTFIELD MASSACRE) as well as Doc Coyle (guitar; GOD FORBID), Chris Cain (guitar; BURY YOUR DEAD), and Kyle Konkiel (bass; VIMIC, IN THIS MOMENT), the group's full-length debut represents metallic evolution in its purest form.

The result of a musical journey he kicked off in 2014, Boecklin describes the style best.

"We sound like a heavy-slightly prog rock band that tunes low and cuts off most of the fat," he explains. "Watching FAITH NO MORE on the reunion tour made my thought process change. I was standing there, and it hit me that I don't want to be in a metal band with screaming all the time. We're heavy, yet from track-to-track, things change quite a bit."

"More was revealed, so more was required," adds Vext. "The overall tonality and approach resonated with me as an opportunity to challenge myself and grow as a vocalist. I was given a platform to tap into some musical influences I hadn't yet explored in previous bands. All in all, it was some of the most diverse, original material I've gotten to wrap my hands around."

"In no rush to put together something reminiscent of [his] musical past," Boecklin quietly wrote over the course of 2015. During summer '16, he entered AudioHammer Studios with longtime collaborator Mark Lewis (TRIVIUM, ALL THAT REMAINS) and tracked what would become the group's debut album.

"Starting from scratch is never easy," admits Boecklin. "Many musical roads were traveled before getting to what you hear today — it's trial and error. I kept reminding myself not to do what I've done before. Eventually, we started to hear what we wanted."

Now, the first single, "Learn To Live", snaps from a chugging polyrhythmic riff into a hummable bridge before colliding with an undeniable refrain that's impossible to shake and the final scream, "You'd better learn to fucking live."

"The aim of the song was to basically challenge listeners to ask themselves, 'Am I willing to take personal responsibility for my own happiness?'," says Vext. "It's a concept I use in my day-to-day life as a sober life coach. It's meant to address situational depression, anxiety, and the disconnect from interpersonal relationships as a byproduct of social media addiction."

Album opener "A Toast To The Ghosts" delivers a searing gut-punch punctuated by sharp succinct fretwork, smart-bomb precise percussion, and another searing vocal performance. Everything culminates on the pensive and punishing "Blood And Bones". Vext adds, "It's like an open letter to an abusive relationship partner that no longer serves you or the opposing counterpart. It's left open to interpretation."

Defined by a push-and-pull between incalculable instrumentation and soaring melodies, BAD WOLVES will keep listeners guessing and thinking on their path to hard rock and metal supremacy.

"This is something new for me," Boecklin leaves off. "It's the most unique drumming I've ever done. Tommy has never sounded so good. The songs are much more diverse than anything from our collective past. I'd love for people to take away some sort of connection emotionally. That's what all of the bands who inspire me do. Everything else doesn't really matter."

"World Gone Mad", the new video from reactivated Brooklyn hard rock veterans LIFE OF AGONY, can be streamed below. The track is taken from the band's comeback album, "A Place Where There's No More Pain", which will be released on April 28 via Napalm. The band's fifth studio LP marks LIFE OF AGONY's first release since singer Mina Caputo (formerly known as Keith Caputo) came out as transgender in 2011.

"The message behind 'World Gone Mad' could not be more relevant to what's going on all over this planet right now," says LIFE OF AGONY bassist Alan Robert. "People are more divided than ever, and if we continue to ignore the fact that this world is busting at its seams and just continue to 'stick our heads underground,' like the lyrics suggest, we will see a madness in our lifetime like we've never experienced before."

"A Place Where There's No More Pain" track listing:

01. Meet My Maker 02. Right This Wrong 03. A Place Where There’s No More Pain 04. Dead Speak Kindly 05. A New Low 06. World Gone Mad 07. Bag Of Bones 08. Walking Catastrophe09. Song For The Abused 10. Little Spots Of You

Regarding the recording process for "A Place With No More Pain", Robert told United Rock Nations: "It was a completely different experience for us. First of all, we brought in the producer, Matt Brown, instead of some big name that's recorded METALLICA or anybody else we had in the past. That was a big change to work with someone that we knew, someone that knew us very well, someone that we respected his ears and his skills and abilities to capture sound from a technical standpoint. He's also a great guitar player in his own right. He was kinda the fifth member of the band throughout the whole process. The whole writing process was pushing each other to get the most out of each other and making sure that every part in every song was at its full potential. We had one rule that if someone in the band didn't like a part, we would work on it to make it better or we wouldn't use it. That's why we're so happy with the album because everyone got to voice their opinion on every single part and every single vocal line. I think halfway through the recording process, we had so much faith in each other and confidence in each other, and things just went so smoothly as opposed to records where there was a lot of label pressure to sound a certain way, or concern of 'Do we have enough radio singles?' Things we shouldn't concern ourselves with being creative with more business-minded ideas."

Asked why LIFE OF AGONY reformed in 2014, Alan said: "We stopped playing in 2011, I think that was our last show. Mina had come out [as transgender] and I think we all needed time to process us that. It was a shock to us. We just needed to reassemble our friendships because we needed to get back to a place where we were honest with each other. Once we reconciled, our booking agent had asked us if we'd be interested in playing more shows because the Alcatraz [Hard Rock & Metal] Festival in Belgium had offered the opportunity for us to play with MARILYN MANSON and that interested us. We decided that would be the first show back and that was 2014. It was fantastic. It was a completely positive experience and overwhelmingly positive to the point that we were having so much fun, we didn't want to stop. We just continued to play all over, including Hellfest, which we had a great time. Then we were offered a record deal from Napalm [Records]. We weren't really looking to do a new album. We were just having fun playing live and touring around. They let us record and produce on our own terms. That excited us. They gave us the freedom and respect to do what we do and be the artists that we are. They had a lot of faith in us because they never even heard a demo for the material. The first time they heard the album was when it was completed."

Photo credit: Tania Gomez

Late MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza's long-awaited memoir, "Megalife: Nick Menza - The Book", will finally be released in late 2017. The book, which was written with J. Marshall Craig, was delayed after being drastically reworked in the months following Nick's passing.

Says J. Marshall Craig: "I spent a year living with late, great, heavy metal drummer Nick Menza at his home in Studio City, California, trying to get the enormously private and proud man to open up and let me write his story. A story of the heights of rock and roll stardom, dreams come true and dreams shattered.

"We spent a lot of time talking, listening to music, playing music, and even began filming a drum-clinic video that comprises the final chapter of his book.

"On May 23 of 2016, Nick was preparing to visit me here at my Cape Cod home and publishing offices for the final round of interviews on a project that was nearly four years in the making. Tragically, Nick didn't make it. He died two days before, almost instantly from a massive heart attack, while on stage at the Baked Potato with Chris Poland and Robert Pagliari in their band OHM: "But the book is still coming late 2017.

"A normally extremely private man, Nick decided to hold back nothing in telling his story. He revealed the most exciting moments in his career, taking the reader right on stage with him before more than 100,000 screaming fans. And he humbly revealed the lowest depths of a depression that nearly cost him everything before he earned his career back in his final years.

"It's a book celebrating great times, great music, great friends. It's a book of honesty. It's a book of wit. And it's even a book, sometimes, of wisdom!"

Menza's longtime manager Robert Bolger says the book will reveal how poorly Nick was being treated by MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine and the brutal truth of why there was never a MEGADETH reunion with the band's "Rust In Peace" lineup.

Nick rightfully earned his place as heavy metal's fiercest drummer during MEGADETH's ten-year peak at the top. With "Megalife: Nick Menza - The Book", music fans are going to be thrilled to discover his candor just as fierce as his drumming.

The highlight of his career, Nick said, was playing Rock In Rio before more than 100,000 people. The lowest point was being fired by Mustaine while he was still in a hospital bed after surgery to remove was doctors feared was a cancerous growth.

Excerpt from "Megalife: Nick Menza - The Book":

Nick Menza was still groggy from the anesthesia but elated when the doctors told him the scary growth on his knee was benign and that he'd soon be back at work — as the thunderous drummer for one of the world's greatest thrash metal bands, MEGADETH.

"I was so relieved," he says, "I didn't think I had a worry in the world."

So when band leader Dave Mustaine called two days later, Nick was expecting great news about returning to the Ozzfest '98 tour.

Instead, Mustaine said, "We're letting you go."

Nick thought it was a joke. "Where? Disneyland? Stop fucking around, Dave. Now's not the time."

Mustaine wasn't joking. "I don't think you're hearing me clearly."

A decade and a half later, Nick leans back in his chair in front of the console at his Los Angeles Menzanation Studios and reflects. "That was it," he says with a shrug. "My run with one of heavy metal's top bands at the top of its career was done. It came crashing down and it was bad. Very bad."

Only a few gray hairs gave away the passage of time: Nick was fit as ever — not just from drumming but from his obsessive mountain-biking habit. "Yeah, I admit it, I sank into a pretty dark place. I survived, come out the other side with purpose and spirituality, and I want to make play more than ever now. I have fallen in love with music again.

"Fans ask me all the time if I wish I was still in MEGADETH. It took a long time to realize the answer, which is..." [End of book excerpt]

On May 21, 2016, Nick collapsed after suffering a heart attack during a concert with OHM: at The Baked Potato in Studio City, California and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner said Menza died of natural causes. The cause of Menza's death was listed as hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

REVOLUTION SAINTS heads into the studio next week in Italy to start recording its second album with producer Alessandro Del Vecchio, who also helmed the band's debut album.

Deen Castronovo (JOURNEY, BAD ENGLISH), Doug Aldrich (THE DEAD DAISIES, WHITESNAKE, DIO), and Jack Blades (NIGHT RANGER, DAMN YANKEES) will record a scorching set of songs written by Doug and Alessandro between the end of 2016 and early 2017.

In between recording sessions, REVOLUTION SAINTS will make its official live debut at the Frontiers Rock Festival in Trezzo (Milan, Italy) where it will perform songs from its first album plus a few surprises. The band hopes to do more shows to promote the forthcoming album, which is currently set for a release in early October.

REVOLUTION SAINTS was initially the vision of Frontiers president Serafino Perugino, who for years had hoped to work on a project where Deen would be the lead vocalist. Having previously worked with all three artists on different projects on Frontiers, getting Deen, Jack and Doug together was a dream come true for the president of the label. With production overseen by in-house Frontiers man Del Vecchio, the recording process for REVOLUTION SAINTS' debut happened in Portland, Oregon during the summer of 2014.

Aldrich told CrypticRock.com about REVOLUTION SAINTS: "We definitely have a chemistry together. When we got together to do some videos as well as recording together up in Portland, it was undeniable that we had a chemistry, and it sounds like that on the record. Spending time with those guys is super fun and we all fell into our own zone. For example, Deen is a frontman and the drummer with Jack, but he is like the young kid that has way too much energy, bouncing off the walls. I am kind of the quiet guy; I really do not have much to say. I just want to play. Jack is kind of the general; he took over, and in a good way, because you need somebody to be the boss. You need somebody to organize stuff or else you are wasting time or going down long paths. Jack keeps you focused. Then we all have our creative side, but the energy that Deen has is just infectious. I hope to be able to put it together where we will be able to do some shows."

Alice Cooper will ne rejoined by three members his original band — bassist Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith and guitarist Michael Bruce — for a special performance in Nashville next month. The legendary rocker's May 14 concert at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall will include what's being described as a "mini-set" by the quartet who were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2011. Glenn Buxton, the band's original guitarist, died in 1997.

Dunaway, Smith and Bruce have contributed to and appear on Cooper's forthcoming album, produced again by longtime collaborator Bob Ezrin and due this summer.

"We've recorded much of my last album and my new one in Nashville and it's such a great music town," said Alice Cooper. "With so many musician, songwriter and producer friends here, as well as great rock fans who come to our concerts, it's special to be performing with Neal, Michael and Dennis in Nashville for them."

Tickets are on sale now at TPAC.org, by phone at 615-782-4040, and at the TPAC Box Office, 505 Deaderick St., in downtown Nashville. VIP packages are available through the TPAC Box Office for a limited time.

Cooper last year released a special seven-inch single containing two songs he sang in 2015 with the surviving members of the original ALICE COOPER band. The set, which took place in October 2015 at Dallas music store Good Records, brought Cooper together onstage with Dunaway, Bruce and Smith for the first time since 2011, when they staged a pair of performances coinciding with their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as well as their appearance on Cooper's "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" LP. Guitarist Ryan Roxie, a member of Cooper's current band, stepped in for Buxton.

HUGE NEWS: Original Alice Cooper band members reunite with the legendary shock-rock performer for a special set ONLY IN NASHVILLE May 14th! pic.twitter.com/x0b6WcFzI1

— TPAC (@tpac) April 17, 2017

BLACKFINGER, the band led by former TROUBLE singer Eric Wagner, will release its new album, "When Colors Fade Away", this summer via M-Theory Audio. Renowned and still cherished for the classic material he recorded with Chicago's TROUBLE for over two decades, Wagner has in recent years been focusing on a couple other promising new bands in a similar vein, including BLACKFINGER. Now relocated to Pittsburgh, Eric is joined in the new BLACKFINGER lineup by another respected name in doom metal circles, guitarist Terry Weston of DREAM DEATH/PENANCE.

M-Theory Audio is the new label recently launched by Marco Barbieri, the former president of Century Media Records, whose previous experience includes Nuclear Blast and Metal Blade. Joining Marco in this adventure are colleagues whose past experience includes work for labels like Century Media, Prosthetic, Victory and Epitaph. The label's roster includes Bay Area thrash outfit CULTURAL WARFARE, Las Vegas prog/power metal band SICOCIS, Sacramento headbangers BLESSED CURSE, Southern California's pagan death metallers HELSOTT, nomadic folk metal band TENGGER CAVALRY, female-fronted symphonic metal band GRAVESHADOW and Nor Cal's death/metalcore band APOTHESARY. "I'm extremely excited to announce that BLACKFINGER has signed with M-Theory Audio," says Wagner. "It is an honor and a pleasure to work with Marco Barbieri again after all these years.” "Eric, the pleasure is all mine," responds Barbieri. "Eric Wagner is a true artist, talent and storyteller. I've spent the last 34 years listening to classic tales weaved by this man; and he is truly one of my favorite vocalists. Along the way I've had the pleasure of working with Eric and TROUBLE while at Century Media during their 'Plastic Green Head' album cycle and even had his other band, THE SKULL, headline one of the Doom In June festivals. Now our co-operation and friendship continues and I am fortunate to release the new and phenomenal BLACKFINGER album." Photo credit: Mark Kadzielawa

METALLICA's latest album, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct", was certified platinum on April 12 by the RIAA (Recording Association Of America).

The platinum certification reflects a million equivalent album units, which blends traditional album sales, tracks sold from an album and on-demand audio and video streams.

The recent gain in "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" sales is owed mostly to a concert ticket/album bundle sale redemption promotion with the band's stadium tour that went on sale on February 17. Redemptions of albums included with the purchase of a concert ticket register as a sale in the week the customer redeems/receives the album.

"Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" debuted as expected at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart last November, selling 291,000 copies in its first week of release. Both of the band's previous outings, 2008's "Death Magnetic" and 2003's "St. Anger", sold more copies in shortened sales weeks. "Death Magnetic" moved 490,000 copies in a three-day window, while "St. Anger" shifted 418,000 copies in a similar frame.

"Hardwired... To Self-Destruct" consists of two discs, containing a dozen songs and nearly 80 minutes of music.

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

Tye Trujillo, the 12-year old son of METALLICA's Robert Trujillo and member of NorCal group THE HELMETS, made his live debut with KORN last night (Monday, April 17) at Gran Carpa de las Américas in Bogota, Colombia. Fan-filmd video footage of the concert can be seen below.

Tye is filling in for KORN's regular bassist, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, who is unable to make the band's South American tour due to "unforeseen circumstances."

Said KORN in a statement: "We are bummed Fieldy can't join us on this run but excited to do a few gigs with a young player like Tye. We look forward to welcoming our brother Fieldy back when we return to the States in May."

Remaining KORN shows with Tye Trujillo on bass:

April 19 - Espaço Das Américas - São Paulo, BrazilApril 21 - Live Curitiba - Curitiba, BrazilApril 23 - Pepsi On Stage - Porto Alegre, BrazilApril 25 - Estadio Malvinas Argentinas - Paternal, ArgentinaApril 27 - Teatro Caupolican - Santiago, Chile

Fieldy will rejoin his KORN bandmates at the Carolina Rebellion festival on May 6.

The 52-year-old METALLICA bassist told The Huffington Post about Tye: "My son is an amazing bass player and a really great writer. The bass lines that he's writing and the riffs, I'm like, 'Man, I wish I had written that.' He's coming up with stuff on his own, but he's also been influenced by players like Jaco Pastorius, but also Miles Davis or BLACK SABBATH or LED ZEPPELIN. We even listen to bands like QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and TOOL. He's like a sponge. He loves funk. He loves James Brown, he's this little 12-year-old who's soaking up and embracing all this different music and I can tell that it's helping him creatively in what he's writing with his band."

Tye reportedly started picking up the guitar when he was about six or seven years old. "He's great. He has his own ideas, and if I help him through a song, it's usually with arranging," Robert told Today Online. "It's a beautiful thing to see him confident in what he does... and when he has an exciting idea. It makes me happy. I am always there to advise him, but it's perfect because the strength of the songs he writes are the strength of his ideas."

THE HELMETS cite their influences as TOOL, ALICE IN CHAINS and METALLICA. And they're quite vocal about their hatred of pop music. "We hate pop, we despise it," Tye Trujillo told Billboard last year. "It's all the same sound."

PROJECTED, the project featuring SEVENDUST members John Connolly (guitar) and Vince Hornsby (bass) alongside ALTER BRIDGE/CREED drummer Scott Phillips and guitarist/vocalist Eric Friedman (a.k.a. Erock; TREMONTI), will release its sophomore album later in the year via Rat Pak Records.

A teaser video for the new disc is available below.

PROJECTED's debut album, "Human", was released in September 2012 on Connolly's own Yaya Papu LLC label. At the time, Connolly stated about how the band came together: "The idea behind this project originally started as nothing more than a group of us who were friends already, going into the studio to just record some tunes we had laying around and basically just have a good time with it. No pressure from labels or any pre-conceived notions or expectations. Just making music and having a good time."

Added Phillips: "John, Vinny, Eric, and I have shared many miles and many stages together over previous years. We've always talked about collaborating and now it's finally come to fruition. I might possibly be one of the biggest SEVENDUST fans ever, and to get the opportunity to work with a few of my favorite musicians on the planet, and some of my best friends, means the world to me. We wholeheartedly believe in these songs...believe in John's vision... and couldn't be happier about the future of PROJECTED!"

Asked how difficult of a transition it is to be the frontman of PROJECTED, Connolly told Zoiks! Online in 2012 interview: "You know, it's hard to describe. I think the first thing that you go through is the acceptance that there's no one to hide behind. With SEVENDUST it's, like, let LJ [Witherspoon] do his thing and I'll duck in back there and stay out of the way a little bit. With PROJECTED, all of the sudden, it's, like, 'Wow, the sound of your voice is what is going to carry this whole deal.' Coming to terms with that is an interesting thing. First of all, you have the fact that you've never done it. Then throw in the fact that we're going to record at home, too. Let's do it in probably the worst environment we could possibly be doing it in. [Laughs] It's nice and convenient to be able to do it when you want to do it, but you have the UPS guy unloading stuff, you've got lawnmowers in the background, dogs barking, 'Just Dance 3' blending in a little bit. You throw all those things in the mix and you hang on and ask, is it doable? What do we have here that works? But yeah, it's tricky, it's a lot of different learning processes, but it's definitely a cool experience to actually step out and say where is my voice, what is my voice."

Michigan's Greta Van Fleet have released a music video for their single “Highway Tune”, available for streaming below. The band’s four-song debut EP, Black Smoke Rising, will be released this Friday, April 21st (Lava Records), and the band will hit the road on May 12th with The Struts.

“Highway Tune”, the debut track from Greta Van Fleet, is a tasty slab of rock n' roll the way it was always meant to be - loaded with bravado and flair, a righteous attitude of defiance, of love, and a simultaneous kinship with alienation and belonging.

"Greta Van Fleet is the future of real Rock & Roll," said Jason Flom, President of Lava Records, who personally signed the band. "They've got the chops, the swagger and the songs to make their mark as the band of their generation."

Greta Van Fleet - four young men, two are 18, two are about to turn 21; three are brothers, two of them are twins, and one best friend, all from the idyllic Michigan village of Frankenmuth (pop. 5000). They write all of their own music; influences are varied, much of it rooted in their parents' vast vinyl collections - Jimi Hendrix, Tchaikovsky, Robert Frost, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Who, The Lord Of The Rings. And, in order to play those dates with The Struts, two of the members will have to miss their high school prom.

Upcoming dates with The Struts are as follows:

May
12 - Austin's Fuel Room - Libertyville, IL
15 - Deluxe at Old National Centre - Indianapolis, IN
16 - The Machine Shop - Flint, MI
18 - The Rapids Theatre - Niagara Falls, NY
19 - Rams Head Live - Baltimore, MD
21 - Bottle & Cork - Dewey Beach, DE

(Photo - Ford Fairchild)

Vesperia frontman Morgan Rider has posted an acoustic cover video performing one of his favourite tracks from Katatonia - “Idle Blood” from the Night Is The New Day album.

"I recorded this cover in my home studio and filmed it in the crown lands near my house. I am a big Katatonia fan and have been wanting to record an homage to them with a slightly altered arrangement for awhile now,” comments Rider.

Vesperia are currently completing the recording of their new album to follow to 2015’s The Iron Tempests EP. The album is being recorded at Blue Sound & Music Studios in Toronto, Canada with engineer/ producer Russ Mackay (Mastodon, Iron Maiden, Styx) and will feature an array of famous Canadian guest musicians with the art created by Juno award-winning artist Hugh Syme (Rush, Nevermore, Dream Theater).

Vesperia launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise over $5,000 to record the new album giving fans many special and unique perks for their contributions, including mead made by the band’s front man Morgan Rider, drinking horns, album pre-releases, the bands stage banners and much more. For all details on contributions, head here.

Indian metal veterans, Demonic Resurrection, have released a video for “Narasimha – The Man-Lion”, a track from their fifth full-length album. The video was made Guilherme Henriques Silva.

 

The new album is Dashavatar, which translates to 'the ten avatars of Vishnu', who is the 'the god of preservation' in Hindu mythology. The album released on March 15th independently.

The band's vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Demonstealer comments, "Our previous album, The Demon King, was born from the idea of writing about 'Ravan' who is a demon king from Hindu mythology and while we wrote our own story from scratch it did kind of set the tone of where we want to go from there. My fiancé was the one who told me the rather gruesome tale of Narasimha the 'man-lion' avatar of Vishnu which really made me look at mythology rather differently and it made for a great idea to write a song about each of the avatars of Vishnu, since they were very interesting stories. It was pretty obvious then that the album had to be called Dashavatar."

 

“Kurma - The Tortoise” lyric video:

“Matsya - The Fish” lyric video:

Lineup:

Demonstealer - Vocals/Guitars/Keys
Nishith Hegde - Lead Guitars
Ashwin Shriyan - Bass
Virendra Kaith - Drums

Melodic metal band PYRAMAZE will release its fifth album, "Contingent", on April 28 in Europe and North America through Inner Wound Recordings.

The official video for the song "A World Divided", taken from the new disc, can be seen below.

With "Contingent", PYRAMAZE has grown and matured into a band that is capable of satisfying their fans while simultaneously continuing to break new ground. The incorporation of modern cinematic film score elements mixed with progressive metal riffs and melodies will leave the listener breathless!

Huge, sweeping, hard-hitting, and poignant, "Contingent" is an epic post-apocalyptic conceptual piece inspired by current events, the human spirit to overcome struggle and diversity, and the brotherhood that lies therein.

The album was produced, mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen, who has previously worked with VOLBEAT, AMARANTHE, EPICA and EVERGREY, among others.

"Contingent" track listing;

01. Land Of Information02. Kingdom Of Solace 03. Star Men 04. A World Divided 05. Nemesis 06. Contingent - Part I: The Campaign 07. 20 Second Century 08. Obsession 09. Heir Apparent 10. Contingent - Part II: The Hammer Of Remnant 11. Under Restraint 12. The Tides That Won't Change 13. Symphony Of Tears

PYRAMAZE is: Terje Harøy - Vocals Jacob Hansen - Guitar, Bass Jonah W. - Keyboards Toke Skjønnemand - GuitarMorten Gade Sørensen - Drums

AYREON, the highly acclaimed project from singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Arjen Lucassen, has released the official lyric video for the song "Star Of Sirrah", taken from the upcoming album "The Source". Check it out below.

"The Source" is an exciting new chapter in the AYREON saga, with contributions from renowned vocalists like James LaBrie (DREAM THEATER), Simone Simons (EPICA), Floor Jansen (NIGHTWISH), Hansi Kürsch (BLIND GUARDIAN), Tobias Sammet (EDGUY, AVANTASIA), and Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X). "The Source" will be released on April 28 through AYREON's new label Mascot Label Group/Music Theories Recordings.

While AYREON's "Forever/Planet Y" saga seemed to have reached its conclusion with the album "01011001", it's clear that Lucassen's creative muses had other plans. The new AYREON album "The Source" revisits the "Forever" saga, adding a whole new chapter to Lucassen's impressive body of work. With its top-flight cast of singers and musicians, compelling songs, overwhelming sound, and intriguing story, "The Source" offers everything that has gained Lucassen dedicated fans worldwide since he laid the foundations of AYREON back in the mid-'90s.

The story of "The Source" is set six billion years in the past relative to Earth. It begins on Planet Alpha, a world in the Andromeda system where computer intelligence has far surpassed that of humanity. Alpha is facing a massive global crisis, with ecological and political catastrophes threatening all human life. The Alphans (our human ancestors) try to save their planet by entrusting the global computer mainframe — The 'Frame — to find a solution. Given total control of the planet, the 'Frame reaches the logical conclusion that its creators are the cause of all the trouble. The only way to solve Alpha's problems is to exterminate humanity. This leaves the Alphans no other option than to try and escape their horrific fate. But their escape comes at a terrible price. It's the beginning of a story that contains everything that has made the Ayreon epics so endlessly fascinating all these years.

The international status of AYREON enables Arjen Lucassen to write his characters with some of the most respected singers in rock in mind: James LaBrie (DREAM THEATER), Tommy Giles Rogers (BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME), Simone Simons (EPICA), Mike Mills (TOEHIDER), Floor Jansen (NIGHTWISH), Hansi Kürsch (BLIND GUARDIAN), Michael Eriksen (CIRCUS MAXIMUS), Tobias Sammet (EDGUY, AVANTASIA), Nils K. Rue (PAGAN'S MIND), Zaher Zorgati (MYRATH), Tommy Karevik (KAMELOT) and Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X). Special contributions were offered by guitarists Paul Gilbert (MR. BIG), Guthrie Govan (THE ARISTOCRATS, ASIA, STEVEN WILSON), Marcel Coenen and keyboard player Mark Kelly (MARILLION).

Watch the epic 12-minute video for album opener "The Day That The World Breaks Down" below.

Just as on his previous albums, "The Source" has Arjen Lucassen playing a wide variety of instruments, while the inimitable Ed Warby (ELEGY, GOREFEST, HAIL OF BULLETS) once again masterfully handles the drums.

2017 will be a particularly exciting year for AYREON fans thanks to a unique chance to actually see AYREON live. Limited to three exclusive performances, "The Ayreon Universe" will take place in September in the prestigious 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. This unprecedented live event features the best of twenty years of AYREON music, brought to life by a top cast of musicians such as Floor Jansen (NIGHTWISH), Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X), Damian Wilson (THRESHOLD), Hansi Kürsch (BLIND GUARDIAN), Tommy Karevik (KAMELOT), Jonas Renkse (KATATONIA), Anneke van Giersbergen, and various others. The reclusive Arjen Lucassen himself is also expected to make a rare appearance on stage. The tickets for all concerts — 9000 in total — sold out within a day, proving once again that the AYREON magic is still very much alive and kicking.

"The Source" track listing:

CD1

Chronicle 1: The 'Frame

01. The Day That The World Breaks Down02. Sea Of Machines 03. Everybody Dies

Chronicle 2: The Aligning Of The Ten

04. Star Of Sirrah 05. All That Was 06. Run! Apocalypse! Run! 07. Condemned To Live

CD2

Chronicle 3: The Transmigration

08. Aquatic Race 09. The Dream Dissolves 10. Deathcry Of A Race 11. Into The Ocean

Chronicle 4: The Rebirth

12. Bay Of Dreams 13. Planet Y Is Alive! 14. The Source Will Flow 15. Journey To Forever 16. The Human Compulsion 17. March Of The Machines