On December 15th, Metallica played an intimate gig at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. The show audio is now available for download via LiveMetallica.com here.

The setlist on the night was as follows:

"Breadfan"
"Creeping Death"
"Metal Militia"
"Sad But True"
- Kirk solo -
"Fade to Black"
"Atlas, Rise!"
"Harvester Of Sorrow"
"Moth Into Flame"
- bass solo -
"One"
"Master Of Puppets"
"For Whom The Bell Tolls"
"Enter Sandman"
"Whiskey in the Jar"
"Hardwired"
"Seek and Destroy"

Pro-shot footage of the band performing the Kill 'Em All album track, “Metal Militia”, at The Fonda Theatre is streaming below.

Following is a recent update from Metallica:

"As you may know, Metallica just wrapped up a string of Fifth Member shows with proceeds going directly to local charities. Not only did our fans contribute to five great organizations, but we had a blast too!! We managed to wrangle up the unsold event t-shirts from Toronto, LA and Oakland and brought them back to the Met Store. So whether you couldn’t make it to the gig or you forgot to pick up your official tee, your second chance is here! And what’s the shirt without the music? The Live Metallica CDs and Digital Downloads are also available to pre-order in the Met Store and on LiveMetallica.com.

All of us here at HQ would like to wish you a very happy holiday season and thank you for the incredible support you’ve shown to the Metallica family. We can’t wait to get back out there and see you next year!"

Go to the Met Store here to pick up your new Metallica shirt

Metal Wani editor in chief Owais "Vitek" Nabi conducted an interview with former NEVERMORE and current ARCH ENEMY guitarist Jeff Loomis on December 11 in Bangalore, India. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about his contributions to ARCH ENEMY's upcoming follow-up to 2014's "War Eternal" album, Jeff said: "I'll probably just be doing solos on this, because, I mean, if you look at it, ARCH ENEMY is [guitarist] Michael Amott — it's his band, it's his baby, and he is the main songwriter in the band. I did submit a few songs, and I don't know if they'll make it or not. But I definitely will be playing solos on it."

He continued: "I love being in the band. I am fan of the band. I love the music, and I love playing in front of thousands of people with that band. But we'll see what happens. It's kind of the same thing if you can think the same way with NEVERMORE; me and Warrel [Dane, vocals] were the main writers in that band, and we had a revolving door of guitar players. But pretty much, it was me and Warrel that did a lot of it. Steve Smyth wrote a little bit, Tim Calvert wrote for 'Dreaming Neon Black', but most of it, eighty percent, was me and Warrel. So each band has their own chemistry and their way of doing things."

Loomis also confirmed that he is working on his third full-lentgth solo album, which he expects to deliver by April 2017 for a summer release via Century Media. He said: "The thing about my solo albums is that it's just kind of a way for me to showcase another side of myself, really. I've always been a fan of instrumental music — always. I grew up listening to artists like Jason Becker and Marty Friedman in CACOPHONY, and Tony MacAlpine… I love that shred stuff."

He continued: "I think that I'm gonna really try to focus more on melody on this new one — rememberable melodies. 'Cause I was always trying to just play as fast as I could or whatever. I'm really gonna try to just approach it more where you can really remember a lot of the melodies that are going on."

ARCH ENEMY's full performance at this year's Wacken Open Air — billed as the band's largest stage production to date — will be included on their new live DVD, "As The Stages Burn!", due on March 31, 2017 via Century Media.

ARCH ENEMY will celebrate the release of "As The Stages Burn!" with a number of European shows with special support from LACUNA COIL and THE HAUNTED.

ARCH ENEMY's next studio album is tentatively due in September 2017.

German epic metal band, Equilibrium, have released an official live video for the track “Rise Again”, filmed over several shows on the band’s Armageddon Tour. The song is featured on the band’s new album, Armageddon, out now via Nuclear Blast. Find the new video below.

Armageddon tracklisting:

“Sehnsucht”
“Erwachen”
“Katharsis”
“Heimat”
“Born To Be Epic”
“Zum Horizont”
“Rise Again”
“Prey”
“Helden”
“Koyaaniskatsi”
“Eternal Destination”

“Rise Again” live video:

“Eternal Destination” video:

“Born To Be Epic” lyric video:

“Prey” lyric video:

The limited Digipak Edition includes a bonus CD with the instrumental versions of the entire album. Album orders at this location.

German epic death metal newcomers, Kambrium, have released a video for “Abyssal Streams”, the lead track from their new studio album, The Elders' Realm, out now via NoiseArt Records. Find the new clip below.

The atmospheric artwork for The Elders' Realm was created by Colombian artist Felipe Machado, who is already known for his work with great bands such as Blind Guardian, Rhapsody Of Fire, Xandria.

Tracklisting:

“Abyssal Streams”
“Through Shades And Despair”
“Conjure The Lost”
“The Elders’ Realm”
“Shattered Illusions”
“Colossus Of The Seas”
“Reckoning Of The Great”
“Season Of The Sea Witch”
“Layer Of Spores”
“Furious Decay Of A Dying World”

“Abyssal Streams” video:

“Season Of The Sea Witch” video:

“Shattered Illusions” lyric video:

(Photo: Philigran Studio)

Having raised over £64,000 in just over two days for the 73 former employees of music publisher, Team Rock, British metallers Orange Goblin have announced an intimate fundraising gig at The Black Heart in Camden for Thursday, January 5th, with support coming from Steak.

Vocalist Ben Ward states: “A few days ago when I heard the news that my good friends at Team Rock were being made redundant with no pay during Christmas week I just felt that I had to do something. That night my girlfriend and I set up the Just Giving page and within 2 days we had raised almost £60,000 and we were blown away by the response and generosity of people all over the world. To help raise even more, Orange Goblin will play a very special show at the Black Heart in Camden on January 5th.

“This will be a minimum £10 donation to get in and admission will be on a first come, first served basis as the venue only holds 120 people! All proceeds for the night will go to the Just Giving page in hope that we can give something back to the journalists that have supported our band and our scene for many, many years.”

The fundraiser, set up by Ward and his partner Sandie Soriano on Monday evening, has raised over £64,000 since its launch and comes following the company’s liquidation and the announcement that 73 members of staff were laid off with no severance pay six days before Christmas. The campaign initially only aimed to raise £20,000, which was met around 5 PM Tuesday afternoon.

The campaign has received donations from rock fans around the world, including high profile names like Avenged Sevenfold, Black Stone Cherry, Asking Alexandra, Tesseract, Earache Records and many more. British singer-songwriter Frank Turner has set up an auction in the hope of raising money for the 73 affected.

People can donate to the campaign here.

73 people were laid off following the company’s collapse. Administrators were called in after the firm got into financial difficulties, and 27 members of staff in Scotland and a further 46 in London have been made redundant. Seven staff members will be retained "in the short term" to assist the administrators. Team Rock ran a stable of rock music magazines, including Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Classic Rock Presents Prog, and featured regular content on its website.

Administrators at FRP Advisory are now seeking buyers for the business's magazine titles and other assets. Joint administrator Tom MacLennan said Team Rock had traded at a loss "for a significant period of time". Adding: "The company explored every option to secure the long-term future of the business, however the constraints on the cash position of the business were such that administration was the only viable option. The administration presents an excellent opportunity to acquire high profile rock music titles, products and brands that have a substantial global following. "

Team Rock was founded in 2012, and bought the Classic Rock, Classic Rock Presents Prog and Metal Hammer magazines from Future Publishing in 2013. FRP have stated the company's website attracted more than three million hits per month, and the company owns an extensive archive of video, radio, images and magazines.

Danish symphonic metal outfit Akoma will release its debut album Revangels on January 27th via Massacre Records. The album was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Alexander Krull at Mastersound Entertainment. The artwork, created by Stefan Heilemann, and tracklisting look like this:

"Enticing Desire"
"Revangels" (featuring Liv Kristine)
"Change Of Propensity"
"Mesopotamia"
"Hands Of Greed"
"Vira"
"Humanity"
"Heartless Deceiver"
"Bittersweet Memories" (bonus track)

“Revangels” features a guest vocal appearance from former Leaves' Eyes frontwoman Liv Kristine, who exited the band earlier this year.

For further details, visit the official Akoma Facebook page.

 

A few weeks ago, Aeternitas posted the acoustic version of their song "House Of Usher". Now the second and final video recorded at the band's acoustic session is available too. Enjoy the acoustic version of "Open Your Eyes". The video features Jenny Sanden, who was acting in the live video of the band's Rappacinis Tochter album.

The band comments: "As gift for the beginning Christmas season we have released this acoustic version of the title track from our current album House Of Usher. Enjoy the big emotions and intimate performance of the acoustic version of this song!"

House Of Usher is a concept album based on the famous short story, The Fall Of The House Of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. It was produced, recorded and mixed by Alexander Hunzinger at Serpina Studio, and mastered by Götz Kretschmann at Wonderlandstudio. Henning Basse produced the vocals at Vocalbase. The artwork was created by Kurt Wörsdorfer (aka Headcrime Artwork).

“Madeline” lyric video:

Portuguese gothic / dark metal masters Heavenwood will perform its 1996 debut album Diva (released by Massacre Records) in its entirety in two very special commemorative shows on Thursday, December 29th at RCA Club in Lisbon and Friday, December 30th at Hard Club, Oporto, to celebrate the record’s 20th anniversary.

Also to celebrate the anniversary and to be offered to whom will attend the shows will be released by Avantegarde MNGT/ Raising Legends a very special limited edition of the album containing the original CD tracklist plus Heavenwood’s 1995 second demo Emotional Wound as bonus, when the band was known as Disgorged.

Diva was recorded in June 1996 at Commusication Studio, Germany, and produced and mixed by Gerhard Magin and conducted Heavenwood in successful European tours with bands such as Atrocity and In Flames.

Diva tracklisting:

"Frozen Images"
"Emotional Wound"
"Flames Of Vanity"
"Since The First Smile"
"Tears Of Grief"
"Moonlight Girl"
"Judith Heavenwood"
"Weeping Heart"
"Frithiof’s Saga"
"Lament"
"Judith Heavenwod" (bonus – demo 95)
"Emotional Wound" (bonus – demo 95)
"Frithiof’s Saga" (bonus – demo 95)

Vancouver, BC's Terrifier has been setting their scene ablaze sharing the stage with the likes of Havok, Destruction, Exmortus, Holy Grail, and Crowbar among many others. Signing to Test Your Metal Records, these thrashers will be releasing their third recording and second album, Weapons Of Thrash Destruction, on January 20th to follow their 2013 EP Metal Or Death and 2012 full-length Destroyers Of The Faith.

Terrifier have premiered their second single from Weapons Of Thrash Destruction, "Skitzoid Embolism".

Catch Terrifier live in concert when they open for Entombed A.D., along with Full Of Hell and Turbid North on January 22nd in Vancouver, BC at Rickshaw Theatre.

Tracklisting:

“Reanimator”
“Deceiver”
“Nuclear Demolisher”
“Skitzoid Embolism”
“Drunk As Fuck”
“Bestial Tyranny”
“Riders Of Doom”
“Sect Of The Serpent”

“Reanimator”:

Teaser:

There’s no denying the impact Bay Area thrash has had on heavy metal. While that recognized glorious time has passed, that doesn’t mean the soil is no longer fertile as the region still produces some of the best talent and Cultural Warfare joins the list of noteworthy artists from the area.

Hailing from Oakland’s East Bay, Cultural Warfare is made up of four seasoned musicians with one common goal, who understand the rich history and lineage that their forefathers built and want to continue that legacy. Recently joined by former Taunted / Annihilation vocalist Jacques Serrano, the band has elevated their potential bringing in a singer of his quality, thereby opening up the ability of the band to cross over and appeal to a wider audience of metalheads, effectively splicing the past with the present to create something that blends aggression with melody perfectly.

M-Theory Audio recognized this immediately when the group debuted a new track, “Defy The Blade”, from the forthcoming Future Kill five-song EP and worked out a deal to assist the band in getting their music heard.

“We are very excited to announce our new partnership between M-Theory Audio / Salem Rose Music and Cultural Warfare,” explains drummer Kevin Doughty. “Marco Barbieri has been an integral part of the metal scene, music business, and community for many years. He has a vast knowledge of this business and specializes in nurturing bands to get the best out of them to achieve their goals. This is exactly what we were looking for, so when Marco heard our song ‘Defy The Blade’ that we put out on YouTube, he reached out to our singer wanting to hear more of our new EP. We were completely blown away by his interest. Once Marco heard the entire EP he offered us a contract under his new label M-Theory Audio. We were beside ourselves to say the least! We believe this is a partnership that will blossom into something very special, and are very much looking forward to working with M-Theory Audio and Marco in the upcoming year 2017.”

Produced by Juan Urteaga (Machine Head, Exodus, Testament) at Trident Studios in Martinez, California and mastered by Maor Appelbaum (Sepultura, Halford, Faith No More) in Los Angeles, the five songs sound large and impactful capturing Cultural Warfare perfectly.

The awesome cover art, by Stone Design, brings the band’s concept of Future Kill to life tremendously. The EP is set for a January 27th release date on M-Theory Audio, via CD and digital distribution. Pre-order copies now at the M-Theory shop for the special price of $5. 

 

 

Century Media has announced the release of Abreaction, the new studio album by Svart Crown, France’s trailblazing death/black metal export and true preservers of the black flame.

Today Svart Crown released the cover artwork for Abreaction. The artwork was done by Stefan Thanneur and perfectly captures the vibe of Abreaction with its Voodoo-like atmosphere and eldritch inscrutability.

Abreaction will be released as a limited deluxe Digipak that folds out to a cross (EU version), limited Digipak (US version), limited gatefold LP+CD with a 12-page LP-booklet and as digital download/stream. The album will be available on March 3rd in Europe, and March 17th in North America.

On January 13th 2017 the track, “Transsubstantiation”, will be launched as a static YouTube video and instant grat on Amazon and iTunes.

Abreaction tracklisting:

“Golden Sacrament”
“Carcosa”
“The Pact: To The Devil His Due”
“Upon This Intimate Madness”
“Khimba Rites”
“Tentacion”
“Orgasmic Spiritual Ecstasy”
“Transsubstantiation”
“Emphatic Illusion”
“Lwas”
“Nganda”

As a warm up to the release of Abreaction, Svart Crown have just been confirmed for the US tour of Marduk and Incantation.

Tour dates:

February (with Marduk and Incantation)
7 - Tampa, FL - The Orpheum
8 - Atlanta, GA - Heaven @ Masquerade
9 - Dayton, OH - Oddbody's
10 - Chicago, IL - Reggie's
11 - Kansas City, MO - Riot Room
12 - Fort Worth, TX - Rail Club
13 - Austin, TX - Grizzly Hall
14 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
15 - Phoenix, AZ - Joe's Grotto
16 - Las Vegas, NV - TBC
17 - Los Angeles, CA - Regent Theater
18 - Oakland, CA - Metro Opera House
19 - Portland, OR - Bossanova Ballroom
20 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven

More tour dates:

February
21 - Le Ferraileur - Nantes, France
22 - Le Temps Machine - Tours, France
23 - Le Petit Bain - Paris, France
25 - Le 106 - Rouen, France

March
3 - Le Metronum - Toulouse, France

More dates to be announced soon.

Svart Crown lineup:

JB Le Bail - vocals, guitars
Ludovic Veyssière - bass
Kévin Paradis - drums
Kevin Verlay - guitars

Last week, Swedish horror death metal outfit Vampire digitally released the brand new track “Skull Prayer” (Rough Mix), taken from the band’s forthcoming and yet-untitled new studio album, which is planned for release in late spring 2017. Now the song is available for streaming.

The cover artwork was done by Jonathan Hultén of Tribulation.

Purchase “Skull Prayer” on iTunes, Spotify, or via the Amazon widget below.

The recording of the new album is now finished. The band is currently mixing and mastering the new songs.

Vampire lineup:

Hand of Doom: vocals
Black String: guitars
Command: Electric bass
Sepulchral Condor: guitars
Abysmal Condor: battery

(Photo by: Anders Bergstedt)

A revamped version of Swedish metal veterans ENTOMBED played the band's groundbreaking 1991 album, "Clandestine", in its entirety at Malmö Live in Malmö, Sweden on November 12. Sitting in first with conductor Josef Rhedin and the hundred-plus-member Malmö Symphony Orchestra for Thomas Von Wachenfeldt's arrangement of "Clandestine", the band performed "Clandestine" from front to back for the very first time.

Joining original ENTOMBED members Alex Hellid, Ulf "Uffe" Cederlund (guitar) and Nicke Andersson (drums) at the show were Robert Andersson (vocals) and Nicke's half brother Edvin Aftonfalk (bass), both formerly of the Swedish death metal band MORBUS CHRON.

Two weeks earlier, the new lineup of ENTOMBED made its live debut on the Close-Up Båten cruise.

Asked if there are any plans for ENTOMBED to play more shows or even embark on a European tour, Uffe told Tough Riffs magazine: "We have no plans whatsoever. I'm not sure if we ever will do something again. It depends what turns up. I'm not sure if we're a band or not. I mean, me, Nicke and Alex are somehow ENTOMBED in my eyes. If we do something again, I really hope that Edvin and Robert are interested again because it worked out so good. I can't see us on the road again. We'll see. Right now we have other things to take care of."

Regarding the possibility of new music from ENTOMBED, Uffe said: "We have talked about it but I'm not sure if it's going to happen. Maybe someday if we have spare time and a lot of ideas for songs. It would be interesting to do it one day. All of us are super busy with other stuff in life, bands, children, work and so on."

He continued: "I don't think it's that important to do another ENTOMBED album. I would be happy to keep on playing the 'Clandestine' album forever, if we do shows."

Uffe also confirmed that ENTOMBED recently re-recorded some of its early songs, but said there are no plans to release the material. "I guess it was a reason to get together and hang out, to see if we enjoyed hanging out, etcetera," he explained.

Earlier this year, Cederlund launched a solo project dubbed ULF CEDERLUND AND THE SWARM OF SOULS and released three songs via Bandcamp: "Alone Again", "Incinerator" and "Decisions". He told Tough Riffs about the project: "I realized how hard it is to get together with friends, find the time to have bands. It's work, families, dogs, laundry and so on.

"I always write music and I saw on my music files that 'the new song' was, like, three years old, I hate that. I want things to happen fast when I write. That's why I decided to 'go solo.'"

He added: "I play everything. I used to play the drums back in the '80s, [and] have not played drums since, but I thought, 'Fuck it! I can do whatever I want to.' I don't care if it sounds lame; it's honest.

"My friend Jocke (WOLFBRIGADE) has a studio and we like to hang out. It's real fun.

"I have no rules. I do what I want to. Any kind of music influences me, and I want to be creative.

"I want my music to be free, [but] some people pay anyway.

"I write all music in my head and I start building them in the studio. That makes it interesting for me. I never know what will happen."

The ENTOMBED band that performed on the Close-Up Båten cruise and at Malmö Live is not to be confused with ENTOMBED A.D., which features ENTOMBED vocalist Lars Göran Petrov alongside Olle Dahlstedt (drums), Nico Elgstrand (guitar) and Victor Brandt (bass).

After ten successful years with the label Nuclear Blast, British, progressive protagonists Threshold have signed a new contract and extended their partnership with the label in July 2016. Furthermore, they have also announced plans for their next release: Threshold are currently recording their 11th masterpiece at Thin Ice Studios in England, a new concept album that will be called Legends Of The Shires. It is being produced by Karl Groom and Richard West and it's scheduled to be released in 2017. More information will be revealed soon.

The band has announced the dates for the Legends Of The Shires Tour 2017. Keyboardist Richard West comments: "It's great to be announcing these tour dates so soon, we can't wait to get on the road and perform for you. Our new album is coming together perfectly, we've got a lot of strong material so it might be our longest one yet."

Tour dates are as follows:

November
28 - Bosuil, Netherlands - Weert
29 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle
30 - Berlin, Germany - Lido

December
1 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Colos Saal
2 - München, Germany - Feierwerk
3 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7
5 - Stuttgart, Germany - Club Cann
6 - Hannover, Germany - Musikzentrum
7 - Kortrijk, Belgium - De Kreun
8 - Essen, Germany - Turock
9 - Zoetermeer, Netherlands - Boerderij
10 - London, England - O2 Islington Academy

From the sick minds of members from bands like Mistweaver and Mass Burial comes a new band called Nasty Surgeons, a gore death/ grind combo devoted to the heaviest side of bands like old Carcass, Necrony, Exhumed, and others, but with a more death metal feel.

 Nasty Surgeons have inked a deal with Xtreem Music for the immediate release of their debut album Exhumation Requiem, a killer opus including ten songs with catchy, fresh and heavy compositions that will for sure appeal to any lover of the aforementioned bands. 

Cover artwork for this debut has been done by cult artist Juanjo Castellano:

Tracklisting:

“The Resurrectionists”
“The Creation Of The Monstrosity”
“Human Flesh Is Also Food”
“Antemortem Dissection”
“Autopsy’s Protocol”
“Nasty Surgeons”
“Ode To Bad Taste”
“Burnt With Sulfuric Acid”
“Devoured Alive”
“Exhumation Requiem” 

“Autopsy’s Protocol”:

DECADENCE — the Sweden-based thrash metal quintet fronted by Kitty Saric (a.k.a. Metallic Kitty) — has reformed and will release its fifth full-length album, "Undergrounder", in January. Joining Kitty and her songwriting partner of over fifteen years, Kenneth Lantz, on the new effort is drummer Lawrence Dinamarca (NIGHTRAGE, LOCH VOSTOK, CARNAL FORGE).

Says Kitty: "Sharing these news with you today is something I've been waiting for five years to do.

"Kenneth and I have created something that I didn't think was possible. We've taken all we've learnt and gathered through the many years we had with early DECADENCE and lifted it to create an album for you that reveals everything about who we are as musicians due to it.

"DECADENCE is such a huge part of our lives and it always will be. We didn't leave a bit behind. It's all there for you.

"We give Joakim Antman (bass) and Erik Röjås (drums) our biggest gratitude for the years we played together."

According to a press release, "DECADENCE has an inspiring resume to show for the past decade with four full-length albums, two of which were released within one year.

"DECADENCE has always been a promoter of the underground music scene. Pushing for the DIY, licensed their top selling release to three different labels simultaneously while running it through the own label HTI Records (now re-named Heavy Dose after the band's first single), pushed for other bands to do the same, and had all promotion pushed by fans for fans through street teams, fan clubs and metalheads from all over the world.

"In addition to amazing fan-driven concerts, they most recently visited Venezuela that became the summing up of the ten years together.

"DECADENCE never stopped, it evolved. And now they are back to continue spreading the message."

THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM, the new solo project from CANDLEMASS bassist and songwriter Leif Edling,will release its self-titled debut album on March 31, 2017 via Nuclear Blast. The disc will contain eight epic doom tracks with a pinch of NWOBHM and haunting catchy melodies. Joining Edling on the effort are WOLF singer Niklas Stålvind, guitarist Marcus Jidell (AVATARIUM, SOEN, ex-EVERGREY), drummer Andreas "Habo" Johansson (NARNIA), as well as several guest artists.

"I'm extremely happy that THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM album is finally finished and ready to be released!", states Leif. "It's been a long windy road, to say the least, and many things and circumstances have been leading up to it. It is an album that I'm extremely proud of, from the cover artwork to the songs and sound. One of the best things I've done in my life!"

THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM will make its live debut at the Roadburn festival in April 2017.

"The Doomsday Kingdom" track listing:

01. Silent Kingdom02. Never Machine03. A Spoonful Of Darkness04. See You Tomorrow05. The Sceptre06. Hand Of Hell07. The Silence08. The God Particle

The lyric video for the demo version of "The Sceptre" can be seen below. Edling stated about the song: "On the album version, 'The Sceptre' is a bit re-arranged. There's a couple of more harmony guitars added on it as well. We also have some people guesting: In the mid 'classical' solo part, we included a mellotron that is played by one of this country's best mello-players, whose name I will disclose later on... Same thing with the long end solo. One of my all-time heroes and musical influences was kind enough to put his guitar and stamp on here to make this song very special! Lovely solo, lovely bloke!"

Regarding the track "Never Machine", Edling said: "'Never Machine' is the very first song that I wrote for THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM. It starts with a riff à la BLACK SABBATH and takes off into doomier territories with the haunting chorus and the extra-heavy outro."

THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM's debut EP, "Never Machine", was released on November 25 via Nuclear Blast.

Edling stated about THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM: "THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM was created two years ago. I was in pretty bad shape. I couldn't go out, I couldn't work, I wasn't allowed to read, I couldn't watch telly and I wasn't allowed to work in front of the computer, so all I had was the music. And I created THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM, metal from the catacombs."

THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM is:

Niklas Stålvind - vocalsMarcus Jidell - guitarsLeif Edling - bassAndreas (Habo) Johansson - drums

Fan-filmed video footage of MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil performing with his solo band on December 19 at Waverly Beach in Menasha, Wisconsin as part of 105.7 WAPL's Xmas Bash can be seen below.

Neil recently explained to GreeleyTribune.com why he continues to play MÖTLEY CRÜE's hit songs during his solo live performances.

"I could play a lot of my solo stuff, and I'd get a lot of people in the crowd saying, 'What is he doing that for?' Neil said. "They'd be saying, 'Play [swear word] 'Dr. Feelgood', you [swear word].

"But I don't want to be that guy," he continued. "I want to be someone who shows appreciation for all our fans. Those people have all the love for the CRÜE stuff, and I was the guy singing those songs. That gave me a great life for 30 years."

Neil was also full of praise for his solo band, which continues to include Dana Strum and Jeff Blando from SLAUGHTER and drummer Zoltan Chaney.

"They're really energetic, and we're friends," Neil said. "There's none of the [bad] blood and the crazy ups and downs with MÖTLEY. We all get along really good."

MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx told RiffYou.com last year that his new band, SIXX:A.M., "[doesn't] play MÖTLEY CRÜE music" and will "never play MÖTLEY CRÜE music, explaining that he wanted to make a clean break from touring with CRÜE out of the deep respect he had for all he had accomplished with his bandmates.

Switzerland's industrial/symphonic black metal bashers Samael have posted the following update:

"Samael is celebrating 30th anniversary next year and is releasing a new album. On April 22, the band will headline the return of the mighty MetalMania Festival in Katowice, Poland. The band will perform a special set featuring material from the first four albums, and present new songs from the upcoming album. Get ready for a very special show! Tickets are available now."

Samael's previous album, Lux Mundi, was released in April 2011 through Nuclear Blast. Go to this location for updates.

Currently in the studio working on a new Cradle Of Filth album, frontman Dani Filth has checked in with the following update:

"The album is sounding very elaborate, even now with just the drum arsenal and four guitar tracks laid down, calling to mind the bastard lovechild betwixt 2015’s Hammer Of The Witches and 1998’s Cruelty And The Beast. Prepare to be bedazzled, pummelled, bedazzled and pummelled once again when this leviathan rises. Also includes a Cradle-lized cover of Annihilator’s classic title track 'Alice In Hell', as personally endorsed by Jeff Waters."

Metal Hammer recently picked Cradle Of Filth / Devilment frontman Dani Filth's brain for his experiences with drugs, booze, violence, occult practices and... prosthetic limbs. An excerpt from the rundown is available below

Q: What is the worst idea you have ever had?

Filth: "That would imply regret, and life is too short – and I’m too short – for any kind of regret. But if I did regret anything, it would be starting the night with Red Bull and vodka. Or anything involving Red Bull and vodka actually."

Q: What's the strangest experience you've had with a fan?

Filth: "We did an album called  Cruelty And The Beast about Elizabeth Bathory, and this one fan was convinced she’d been Elizabeth Bathory in a previous life and that I was, of all things, this prince, her consort. Later we played in America and this guy organising the show was supposed to drive us to the Walmart but instead he went past it... then he started talking and I realised with horror that this was the girl’s ex-boyfriend and she’d obviously dumped him, believing I was her prince. I thought, 'Right, we’re going to some sort of field now with a shallow grave, aren’t we?'"

Q: What was your strangest experience during your black metal years?

Filth: “We were at a party in 1993 with Emperor and the drummer put his arm around me and confessed to killing this guy. It was a really friendly gesture – he’d obviously had a lot to drink – and he said he’d never told anyone else, and I didn’t know how to take it. A few months later he was caught so it was very strange. There were a lot of things in black metal like that – it was exhilarating but also revolting.”

Read more at this location.

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

Merry Christmas Schoolcraftians! Thanks to producer Tyler Williams of Monolithic Productions you can get a free remastered download of my Madonna’s “Frozen” cover. This also includes a free download of the entire The Dead Of Winter EP until Boxing Day. Go to this link now to get it. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday."

The Dead of Winter by Schoolcraft

Lindsay Schoolcraft attended this year's installment of the Metal Female Voices Festival in Wieze, Belgium back in October. Fan-filmed video of her performandce of COF's "Nymphetamine" accompanied by Rainover's Andrea Casanova can be viewed below

The clip below, also shot at the Metal Female Voices Festival 2016, features Mercy Isle performing "Come To Me" from the album Undying Fire with Lindsay as a special guest:

Sylvain Rouvière’s Kaktus Project have covered Iron Maiden’s “Wasting Love”, featured on Maiden’s ninth studio album, Fear Of The Dark, released in 1992.

Says Rouvière: “These last years, as you already know, the sales of music albums fell a lot, so I decided not to take out a second Kaktus Project. Nevertheless I still remain passionate for music and will regularly propose new titles (compositions or covers) freely accessible by internet (YouTube). Today I have the pleasure to present a cover of Iron Maiden’s “Wasting Love”.”

On the track, Rouvière is accompanied by Céline Lacroix (vocals), Glauco Alves (vocals) and Mr Belette (David Rousseau, drums).

Late drummer extraordinaire Nick Menza’s art, music and musings are coming on strong in 2017 - but fans can get in on the action early by signing up to Menza Jamz- where they can download for free Nick’s cover version of Metallica's “Creeping Death” / Creeping Deth 2.0 featuring James Lomenzo (bass) ex-Megadeth and guitarist/vocalist Davor Garasic from the Croatian thrash metal band Sufosia. This is first in series of songs recorded in the months before his tragic death in May 2016.
 
A special collection of Menza’s first and, sadly, only series of artwork was unveiled July 23rd, 2016, on which would have been his 52nd birthday. The collection is available through the art team and publisher SceneFour’s dedicated website, NickMenzaArt.com.
 
Into the New Year, casual and intimate drum-clinic footage of Nick will become available for fans. Directed and produced by author/filmmaker J. Marshall Craig, more than an hour of Nick’s drum lessons were recorded as part of the research into the book on Nick’s life, written by Craig.
 
MegaLife: Nick Menza – The Book will be published in October of 2017, having been delayed and drastically rewritten in light of Nick’s passing and, it will come as no surprise to fans, how poorly Nick was being treated by Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine and the brutal truth of why there was never a Megadeth reunion with the most-successful lineup of the thrash-metal band.
 
“Give yourself an early Christmas present,” Craig says, “and join menzajamz.com! Get in on some astounding musical performances by Nick for free. Fans who sign up will also be the first to be notified of the book’s exact release date.”
 
Fans who sign up will also be the first to hear of any established plans for a tribute concert to the late, great drummer in Los Angeles in 2017.
 
Menza was the longest-serving drummer for Megadeth and for the next ten years became associated with the band's "classic" and most profitable era.

 

The first official release from Swedish band Source, formed upon guitarist Richard Lagergren's departure from Portrait in 2012 and featuring Ram vocalist Oscar Carlquist and drummer Patrick Dagland, is available for streaming below.

The self-titled release was recorded at the Black Path Studio (Ram, Ensnared, Portrait, Kill) in the haunted facilities of former Los Angered (Göteborg). Initially released in cassette form through new Swedish label, Pearls For Swine, the set is slso available as a digital download. Order your copy at this location.

From blossoms in the individualist's daring footsteps into the dark, to a rotten apple eaten from inwards by actors building from and never upon it. A road any art form seems bound to wander, as if dying from the moment its last rule is dictated and the first work is based upon it. Once all terms appear reduced to imply gimmick ridden emulations of things past, the newborn will better define itself through negation.

Source, upon forming in the year of the Lord 2012, thus could quickly establish it was not heavy metal written for the sake of being heavy metal, that it shunned the word "community" and found "by fans for fans" to be the most detestable slogan ever. And many, many other things.

With this first official demonstration of power, spanning three songs recorded during 2016, begins a life long process of defining what Source in fact is, aside a musical ejaculation in celebration of the eternal Adversary.

Tracklisting:

“Crossroads Calling”
“Let Him In”
“Wither”

Source by Source

In the new video below, Dream Theater keyboardist, Jordan Rudess, performs the traditional English folk song, “Greensleeves”, on GeoShred (an iPad instrument by Wizdom Music).

Rudess has issued an update for Keyfest 2017, now scheduled for June 19th - 23rd at Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, New York. Registrations are now open.

Jordan Rudess, best known as a member of the platinum-selling Grammy- nominated progressive metal/rock band, Dream Theater, is the virtuoso keyboardist, composer, music app developer and champion of new keyboard technologies, KeyFest welcomes keyboardists of all skill levels to gather together from June 26th - 30th, 2017 at the elegantly rustic Full Moon Resort, in the Catskill Forest Preserve in Upstate New York.

KeyFest enrolment is open to keyboardists of all levels. Participants will enjoy a fully immersive learning experience organized by Jordan Rudess. KeyFest will include master classes, learning sessions, a technology room to try the latest technology, live performances and jams, and all-inclusive meal options and lodging accommodations.

Says Jordan: “I’m excited for the opportunity to hang out with fellow keyboardists in a relaxed environment and have the chance to share some of the skills and knowledge that I’ve gathered through the years. Our keyboard world is constantly evolving as technology keeps throwing us new possibilities. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time in a beautiful location, eating good food, playing some music, teaching and jamming with all of you!”

For complete details, head here.

Legendary Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, Bruce Springsteen, and actor Robert De Niro are among the 200 celebrities in a video, “We Are Not Afraid”, which is raising funds for victims of religious and political violence around the world. The clip was directed by photographer Bob Gruen, and it was because of him that Yoko Ono, who is the first face to appear in the video, became involved and got the ball rolling.

"My long-time friend Bob Gruen who was a very early supporter of this project and brought it to Yoko Ono's attention, resulting in her becoming the campaign's very first participant, immediately offered to put together the long form “We Are Not Afraid” video when told of our plan. And for that we are deeply grateful,” said creator-organizer Steve Weitzman in a statement.

Weitzman says the eight-minute video was expanded from its original planned four-minute length because so many notables signed on.

Also featured in the video include Ritchie Blackmore, Queen’s Brian May, Steve Vai, Peter Frampton, Heart, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, Keith Richards (Rolling Stones), Ringo Starr (Beatles) and many more. Check it out below, and read more at Billboard.com.

Australian death metal quintet, In Death, have released an official music video for "Godzilla”, a track from their forthcoming debut album, The Devil Speaks, targeted for a February release. The video was filmed and edited by Wilson Bambrick. Watch below.

Vigorously honing their craft as a live act since August 2008, two crucial elements have developed within the band that now form part of the unofficial band ethos: Tight performances packaged with energetic delivery. The result can only be described as a whirlwind of energy punctuated by an intensely accurate technical punch.

In Death combine overwhelming power and groove with subtle technicality and some unexpected twists to deliver a package that can not only cause frenzy among seasoned metal-heads, but also bring new fans to the metal genre with horns held high and banging heads.

Tracklisting:

“Malignancy Eradicated”
“The Pitfalls Of Immortality”
“Bow To Your Master”
“Every Burial”
“Godzilla”
“Fuck Your Kind”
“The Devil Speaks”
“King Of The Deadpool”

“Godzilla” video:

“Malignancy Eradicated” lyric video: