British extreme metallers CRADLE OF FILTH are off to Brno, Czech Republic on Thursday, August 11 for their week-long writing session for the follow-up to 2015's "Hammer Of The Witches" album.

Says the band: "Should be an absolutely killer time just knowing what music is already on offer, slathering in the wings and how much a pint of beer costs in Czechia."

The new CRADLE OF FILTH album is tentatively due in September 2017.

CRADLE OF FILTH vocalist Dani "Filth" Davey told Ireland's Overdrive about the band's return to dual-guitar-based compositions on "Hammer Of The Witches": "Well, that was a necessity that was born from the fact that our previous guitarist [Paul Allender] moved to America and lost interest and our second guitarist James [McIlroy] was forced to leave due to a severe neck injury and he was out of the equation for a big co-headline tour with BEHEMOTH, so we had to get two new guitarists in for that and the band just grew from there writing as a six-piece. Some of the newer members are fans of the band, so they had a vested interest in trying to retain the flavor of some of our previous albums. We get on pretty famously as well, which is great, and with that in mind, the writing process has been quite cordial and fun. For example, we're going to Brno in the Czech Republic after a Slovakian festival later in the year where we will be finishing off a load of ideas that we have and will be a major step in the right direction regarding the bulk of the writing process for the next record."

Regarding whether he looks at "Hammer Of The Witches" as CRADLE OF FILTH's finest effort so far, Dani told RockSverige.se: "That's a little hard to say. We never come out of the studio unless we are a hundred percent happy. We're really proud of this one. Whether it's our finest album? Well, at least for the last ten years, I would say. That seems to be the premise and the opinion of the journalists I've spoken to. Whether it's our best overall, I don't know. It needs to sink in and people need to hear the album with the special-edition tracks as well. Those particular songs didn't even know they were gonna be special-edition songs. The track list wasn't carved in stone 'till close to the end of the mix, actually. It was a band thing and we had to have two songs as bonus material and everybody had good points about all of them, but two didn't make the grade. But somebody might prefer one or both of the songs. Unfortunately, it's the way it is. We actually turned down three songs that were written for the album. We made a conscious decision not to spread ourselves too thinly. One of the tracks was one of my favorites, but that just proves there's democracy in this band. Everybody contributed and that's testament to that the album is killer."

The new Devilment album is now finished and mastered; it will be out via Nuclear Blast Entertainment on November 18th.

The band, led by Cradle Of Filth frontman Dani Filth, recently undertook a photoshoot for the new album at JoLi Studios in Colchester, Essex and as you can see below, "a rollicking good time was had by all."

"Now it's time for finishing up the booklet artwork and organising our customary and much-needed celebratory band piss-up," states Dani. "The next plan of attack is our extensive video shoot for the track 'Hitchcock Blonde’ in three weeks time.

In all the excitement, we forgot to introduce our new drummer Matt Alston (already about to be deceased by Colin and Nick in the picture below) who has played his little black heart out on our latest opus nocturne. Matt replaces former skinsman Aaron Boast, who departed earlier in the year to pursue a different career (though I still see him to play football every Wednesday evening with our 'Metal Gods' seven-a-side team)."

L-R: Matt Alston, Fani Dilth, Lauren Francis, Colin Parks, Nick Johnson in jovial mood.

In live news, Devilment have announced an extensive UK tour which will commence this December; tickets are on sale now, with a support act to be announced shortly. Confirmed dates are as listed:

December
6 – Colchester - Arts Centre
7 – Nottingham - Rock City Basement
9 – Stoke - Sugarmill
10 – London - Boston Music Room
11 – Norwich - Waterfront
13 – Glasgow - Stereo
14 – Newcastle - Think Tank
15 – Wolverhampton - Slade Rooms
16 – Leeds - Key Club
18 – Reading - Sub 89
19 – Southampton - Engine Rooms

"Everybody in Devilment is very excited about the prospect of releasing our latest album, which we have worked extremely hard on (te-he! He said 'hard-on')... The album is definitely a step-up from our debut, featuring a more mature, dissonant presence coupled with a darker edge, yet at the same time utilising our better musical assets to deliver a unique metal hybrid. I don't even know what to classify it! And of course, it's going to be awesome touring this in our home nation just before Xmas. We literally can't wait; the shows are going to be insane!"

Songs slated to appear on the new Devilment album include: "Shine On Sophie Moone", "Life (Is What You Keep From The Reaper)", "Hitchcock Blonde", "JudasStein", "Hell At My Back" and "Plot Spoiler: There Will Be Monsters".

 

Italian Gothic doom metal masters Motus Tenebrae, have released a new video for “Desolation”, a track from their album, Deathrising.

The video, directed and edited by the great surreal artist Andrea Falaschi, also drummer of the band, and Davide Frino, shows the decadent essence of a band celebrating one of the best and absolutely the darkest and gloomiest songs off Deathrising. The final result is a totally dark, dismal and dreary videoclip.

The band recently celebrated their 15th anniversary with a cover of The Cure’s classic, "Burn”, for what is intended to be a new manifesto of heaviness, depth and atmosphere. Listen to the track below:

Young British tech-metallers Fraktions are streaming the new track, “Panic”, featuring Kaan Tasan from No Consequence, from their upcoming EP, Anguish, out August 12th. Listen below:

Anguish is a highly compelling new release from a band equally influenced by classical music, the jazz noodling’s of Tigran Hamasyan and the progressive metal of TesseracT and The Contortionist; Fraktions are an exciting addition to the burgeoning second wave British tech-metal scene.

Having played alongside Drewsif Stalin, No Consequence (whose frontman features on the EP), Kadinja, and Bleed from Within, Anguish is an irresistible new take on technical metal. Inspired by songwriter and pianist Joel Pinder’s classical leanings, the EP presents an impressively mature approach from such a young band.

A concept EP, Anguish is about the final chapter of a schizophrenic woman’s life. The protagonist suffers from aural hallucinations as a result, a condition translated musically into the EP’s frantic and unpredictable style, veering between piano-led dissonance and guitar-led technical off-kilter riffing. The multiple sound-worlds of the EP mark Fraktions out as a band to take notice of – a young group with a promising future ahead of them.

The EP was recorded and mixed by Daniel Reid of No Consequence and mastered by Acle Kahney of TesseracT.

Catch the band's album launch show at Surya, London, on August 14th.

“Freedom Of The Conscious Mind” video:

Italy’s Terrorway have released a lyric video for the track “Torment”, featured on their new album, The Second, out now via Bakerteam Records.

The Second was recorded at V-Studio in Cagliari and once again mixed and mastered by Jacob Olsen. Terrorway comments, "We think that this record sounds very different from the predecessor Blackwaters. We changed a lot of things for what concerns our musical style and experimented a lot more than in the past... to cut it short… it will come as a real surprise for our fans!"

Tracklisting:

“Under The Light of A Broken Down”
“Eye Of The Sun”
“Torment”
“On The Edge”
“T.F.B.T.M. (The Face Behind The Mask)”
“Enter The Columns”
“Columns”
“Trails Of Ashes”
“The Wanderer”
“Lights Turn Black” (bonus track)
“Threshold Of Pain” (bonus track)

“Torment” lyric video:

“T.F.B.T.M. (The Face Behind The Mask)”:

Teaser:

Australian blackened metal force King is the latest addition to the Indie Recordings roster, and their debut album titled Reclaim The Darkness is set for release on August 26th; check out the lyric video for "Night Sky Abyss" below.

“Humans have always looked to the heavens for inspiration, answers and direction," says King guitarist David Hill. "'Night Sky Abyss' talks about a last surviving warrior contemplating human existence and his place in the universe, exhausted after a lifetime of war and endless battles. He turns his head towards the heavens, to the Night Sky Abyss, as mankind has always done and searches for answers, reflects on past and future times."

 

"These themes are fascinating and have been reoccurring concepts throughout human existence. They’re not pinpointed by a certain epoch of time, instead they have always been a part of the nature of humankind, transcending religion, race, empires, politics etc. We worked to create a particularly epic chorus for this song to recreate for the listener the sense of wonder and deep thought touched on by the lyrics.”

 

 

Tracklisitng:

"Cold Winds"
"Reclaim The Darkness"
"All In Black"
"My Destination The Stars"
"Night Sky Abyss"
"Winter Sons"
"Black North"
"The Journey Begins"
"One World One King"

 

 

Alice Cooper says that rock stars offering their political opinions is "the worst idea ever."

The legendary shock rocker recently launched a spoof outsider campaign for public office, complete with the creation of the so-called Wild Party, a hilarious ten-point manifesto and a brand new version of his song "Elected".

But when asked what he really feels about rock stars getting involved in politics, Cooper tells the new "Metal Hammer: In Residence On Spotify" (listen at this location): "I absolutely hate it. It's the worst idea ever.

"First of all, why do people think rock stars know more than they do? That is the biggest fallacy in the world — if anything, we're dumber. We're not smarter than anybody else. I mean, why do you think we're rock stars?

"Trust me, we don't read magazines you don't read. Nobody calls us up and gives us as inside information on politics. We know less than you do. If I watch TV, it's 'Family Guy'.

"Rock 'n' roll was built to go as far away from politics as you could get. When my mom and dad talked about who to vote for, I'd go in the other room and put on THE BEATLES or ROLLING STONES — and I'm still like that."

Cooper, who considers himself a humanitarian, says he has no problem with artists using their platform to highlight global issues if it benefits others.

He says: "I think what Bono does and what [Bruce] Springsteen does, Sting and all the people that raise money for others — that's humanitarian, and I'm all for that. But I don't think that's political."

Cooper previously said that he would even go so far as to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing just to make a point. During the 2004 election season, he said: "When I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."

He also mused about sitting between such political rocker icons as John Lennon and Harry Nilsson while they argued politics and thinking, "I don't care."

Paul Di'Anno has slammed the most recent members of his German band ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ as "traitors" after they announced they would be continuing without him.

The former IRON MAIDEN singer originally formed ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ a couple of years ago with musicians from his longtime German touring backing group THE PHANTOMZ. AOC's debut album, "The League Of Shadows", was subsequently recorded and released in 2015 to mostly positive reviews.

ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ has been largely on hold for the past year as Di'Anno has dealt with a host of health issues, including undergoing an operation to remove a "rugby ball-sized abscess" on his lungs that turned out not to be cancer.

On Wednesday, August 3, the other members of ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ took to their Facebook page to announce their split with Paul, explaining that they wanted to "start a new chapter and find a new singer who can transport the energy."

They wrote: "This is maybe the hardest thing imaginable for us, but we have to tell you that (as painful as it is for us), for his own health and dignity, Paul is no longer part of the band!!!

"With the second album already written, we wanted to enter the studio this October, which turned out to be impossible with Paul!

"Of course, we will release this monster (which by the way will be even stronger than 'The League Of Shadows'!) as soon as possible! This is not the end of AOC! It will start a new chapter!

"During the last year, it became obvious that there is no way to keep the ARCHITECTS alive under these circumstances.

"Many of you have seen Paul suffering on and off stage during our last tours. His health got even worse during the last months and as much as we hoped that there will be a surgery that gets him back on his feet, we had to find out that it is not going to happen! So the five of us decided that it would be the best to part ways!!!!

"Touring was only possible because we know really passionate and lovely people who would do everything possible for us. With their time limited, it gets more and more impossible to tour!

"We would love to tell you we were big enough in business and our tours and income was big enough to pay for two additional people only taking care of Paul. But we are not. We are just the metalheads and punks that we have always been. Everything is DIY!

"Trust us, nobody shed more tears over this than we did, because the five of us have spent the last eleven years together and if there ever were brothers from different mothers, it was us...

"The future will bring great new music!

"We will start a new chapter and find a new singer who can transport the energy!!!

"AOC will rise again!!!!!"

Earlier today (Thursday, August 4), Paul responded via his own Facebook post, claiming that he would prevent his former bandmates from using the name ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ and insisting that he would reform the band with new musicians.

He wrote: "I have just got a message from my so-called German bandmates, who have decided to go on without me. However I will not let them use the name ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ. I hope my new AOC will debut next year with new members and an even heavier sound and energy. I'm looking at my bros in Brazil for this. Goodbye, traitors!!"

Joining Di'Anno in ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ were Joey Siedl (guitar), Andreas Ballnus (guitar), Christoph Lücker (bass) and Dominik Fox (drums).

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Martin Buckwalter (DESTRUCTION, PERZONAL WAR, SUIDAKRA), the songs on "The League Of Shadows" were said to "follow the tradition of classic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), including influences of modern power metal."




IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTI have just got a message from my so called German band mates, who have decided to go on without...

Posted by Paul Di'Anno on Thursday, August 4, 2016



Dear AoC Family,

this is maybe the hardest thing imaginable for us, but we have to tell you that (as painful as it is...

Posted by Architects of Chaoz on Wednesday, August 3, 2016

SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor says that it is impossible to predict the political leanings of heavy metal fans and musicians, but insists that the people that come to his band's shows are "some of the most open-minded, encouraging, embracing, protective, and progressive" individuals he has ever come across.

Speaking to Spin, Taylor said: "Obviously, the majority of guys in bands that I hang out with lean to the progressive side, let's put it that way. We tend to lean more liberal just because it's more inclusive. But I have friends in bands who are [Donald] Trump supporters, and I just choose not to talk about it.

"Everything that I have read about people who support Trump suggests all their reasoning is based upon faulty research. And when you know that someone is basing their reasoning on bad research, or bad poll-taking, or other resources that skew right and drum up their own numbers, there is no way that you will win an argument."

Taylor believes that metalheads actually embody a peaceful nature far removed from general public's stereotype of suicidally depressed people who occasionally listen to music that appeals to racist ideology.

"I think heavy metal and hard rock were the bastion of freedom for misfits and kids who were made to feel [like they're] outside of 'normal' society," Taylor said. "So not only did you have kids of different ethnicities, but you had kids like me who grew up dirt-poor. Metal spoke for me because it wasn't until I was much older that I felt that I had a voice."

He continued: "Here's where people get it wrong: The metal fans that come to our shows are some of the most open-minded, encouraging, embracing, protective, and progressive fans I have ever seen. I never worry that something bad is going to happen at one of our shows. If an accident happens, that's a different thing, but I am never worried about fights or attacks because we look out for each other.

"Trump's message is so anti-SLIPKNOT, it's not even funny, because we have always tried to get people to stand together, and everything he does is so divisive. Trying to get people to equate Muslims with terrorists is just trying to control and manipulate one more group of people. His stances on Muslims and Latinos and his absolute silence on Black Lives Matter prove that he is unprepared to bring people together. He is prepared to tear them apart so he can control them."

Based on his interviews with heavy metal fans in which politics was one of a number of topics discussed, sociologist Jeffrey Arnett concluded: "Generally, their positions on these issues are not best characterized as liberal or conservative, but rather as libertarian, in the sense of wishing to have as few restrictions or sanctions as possible on their behavior." (Source: "Sells Like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, And Social Crisis" by Ryan Moore)

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory last year became the first Republican-leaning rocker to express his views on the 2016 field. Others, such as STAIND's Aaron Lewis and Kid Rock, have also voiced their support for the billionaire mogul.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS bassist Flea has slammed Clint Eastwood in a post on Twitter after the legendary 86-year-old actor and director called out what he described as the "pussy generation" over political correctness in a new interview with Esquire. Asked about the appeal of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Eastwood replied, "He's on to something, because secretly everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. That's the kiss-ass generation we're in right now. We're really in a pussy generation. Everybody's walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist."

Flea responded on Twitter, "Hey Clint Eastwood count me in as a pussy as we aspire to evolve above racism."

Eastwood stopped short of endorsing Trump in the interview, saying, "He's said a lot of dumb things. So have all of them. Both sides. But everybody — the press and everybody's going, 'Oh, well, that's racist,' and they're making a big hoodoo out of it. Just fucking get over it."

The CHILI PEPPERS themselves were confirmed supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders's run for the Democratic nomination, which he lost to Hillary Clinton. The band played at least one fundraider for Sanders.

Trump's supporters on the rock scene include Kid Rock, STAIND's Aaron Lewis and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's Zoltan Bathory.

The CHILI PEPPERS' eleventh studio album, "The Getaway", arrived in June and debuted at No. 1 around the world.

The band will tour Europe for the rest of the summer and fall. North American dates are expected to begin in early 2017.

Legendary bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes (DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION, CALIFORNIA BREED) spoke to Billboard.com about his first solo album in eight years, which was recently completed at a studio in Copenhagen, Denmark for a tentative November release. Joining him during the sessions for the follow-up to 2008's "First Underground Nuclear Kitchen" were Søren Andersen (guitar), Pontus Engborg (drums) and Lachlan "Lachy" Doley (keyboards).

"It's possibly the heaviest record I've ever made," said Hughes. "I don't want to confuse it with horns-up heavy; it's not metal. But it's definitely fucking heavy. It's dense. It's dark. There's some aggression on this record. Every bloody track is begging to be played live."

Songtitles set to appear on Hughes's new album include "Let It Shine", "God Of Money" and "Steady", with RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith, a regular Hughes collaborator, making a guest appearance.

While he was in the studio recording his new album, Hughes talked to Denmark's Metalized magazine about the musical diversity that has been his trademark throughout his four-decade-plus career.

"I never make the same album twice," he said. "Go back to the first TRAPEZE album. The second was different and the third one was different. And then you go to 'Burn', and 'Stormbringer' was different from that, and then 'Come Taste The Band'. You got HUGHES/THRALL and that was different from DEEP PURPLE. And then you go to 'Seventh Star' with Tony Iommi. That was different from HUGHES/THRALL. And then the blues album and then the Glenn solo albums."

He continued: "Although some of [my albums] have been very, very soulful and very, very funky, the key for me — as I am an Englishman that grew up in the West Midlands — is rock. But when I moved to America in the early seventies, I started to listen to what came out of Detroit. And I met Stevie Wonder. He became a very, very close friend and still is. He became my mentor.

"I need people to know that my success has come from the foundation of rock music. As much as I love THE BEATLES, Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder, when you think of Glenn Hughes, you think of the guy who plays bass and sings in any register."

Hughes added: "I am friends with a lot of famous rock stars and they are one genre. I wouldn't say who, but they have a one-genre-dimensional sound. You know it's them. And you know it's me because of my voice.

"I have been cursed and blessed with the ability to switch very quickly from rock to soul to funk to acoustic and almost into jazz — without scaring people. When you mix those ingredients, that's Glenn Hughes.

"This will be an album that is entirely Glenn Hughes music. For that reason, it is an important album."

Hughes previously credited his involvement with the supergroup BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION as the catalyst leading to his return to rock music. "What I will do on the next Glenn album is portray the image of the Glenn Hughes on the BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION albums," he told IHeartGuitarBlog.com in 2011. "Because it's the same Glenn that was in DEEP PURPLE, really. The classic rock iconic Glenn that, let's be clear, the majority of the fans want. The 'F.U.N.K.' album was very well recorded and I love the songs, but that's for a cultured audience and a different kind of audience. It's more of a cult audience, if you will. But my audience now with BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION and a lot of my fans are rockers, man, so it's time to rock. So the next album will be a rock record."

Bobby Blotzer has defended his decision to go out on tour as RATT without any other original members of the band, explaining that fans just want to hear the music performed the way it was recorded on the group's albums.

The drummer has been touring the U.S. for the last few months with his own version of RATT, featuring several new members alongside bassist Robbie Crane, who previously played bass for RATT from 1996 to 2012 and appeared on the band's 1999 self-titled album and "Infestation".

"No matter what, this band plays so good and does such great integrity to the music of RATT," Blotzer told ClassX Radio in a new interview (hear audio below). "That's why everybody's been hired. It's been uncanny. Especially for the age of some of these guys. The lead guitar player, he just turned 22 about, I don't know, a half year ago or something, and he's amazing. He cops Warren's [DeMartini's] stuff amazingly. The singer just blows Stephen Pearcy out of the water at this day and age. And frankly, [he sounds better than Stephen did] even when we started out."

Blotzer also addressed the legal battle that is playing out between him and DeMartini over the rights to the RATT name, with the guitarist filing a lawsuit last fall claiming that the drummer was falsely advertising his "tribute band" as the real thing. That dispute is still pending in California state court.

"God bless Stephen and my other RATT cohorts," Blotzer said. "I mean, we made history; I recognize that, I appreciate it. We all wrote it together, wrote the music, rode the waves. But now, it's, like, okay, guys. There's three rafts left here. You're in or you're out. And it's been going on for five years. And I wanna finish the race. So that's where I'm at."

He continued: "I do not wanna insult anybody in the old-school RATT camp — I call it the class of '84 — but, you know, these guys were our own worst enemies. They're on a five-year strike thing that was going on between Juan Croucier [bass], who came back in after twenty years gone, and got Stephen riled up. And here we sat… last year was five years [that we were away from the road], [and] this would have been number six, and I was not willing to sit, as one of the owners of the name; DeMartini and myself own the name. And I'm, like, 'I've got a great band, Warren. Do you wanna come out and play with this band?' It'll be our band, obviously, but these are great. And he just didn't wanna have any part of it. So I said, 'I'm going out. I'm taking it out.'"

According to Blotzer, it is not unusual for other rock bands with long histories to still be on the road in incarnations that bear little resemblance to the formations that recorded the original albums.

"In this day and age, there's so much of that going on," Bobby said. "We actually made a list at one point. There was thirty-three bands that have one or two [original] members that are still out touring."

He continued: "FOREIGNER, for me, they're friends of mine; Jeff Pilson is a good friend of mine and a neighbor of mine. FOREIGNER has one [original member] and they go out and they deliver a great show and they make the songs sound like the records. And people don't deal with the crap. They wanna hear the songs sounding like the record, they wanna drink their beer and get out of their house on the weekend or whatever, and that's what we do in RATT. And we deliver a great show. We do a lot more stuff than [the classic lineup of] RATT was willing to do. [They would] not move around and not change the songs up in any way. We go the extra distance."

For all his praise for his version of RATT, Blotzer hinted at some disagreements behind the scenes, apparently stemming from the problems RATT encountered while performing at the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma last weekend.

"We are a great band, that's all I can say," he said. "I'm so proud of us, you know. But I also wanna see people having their act together on every level. That includes me, too. Nobody's immune from the… from what we've gotta do out there.

"I'm doing all the work behind the scenes, and these cats, all they've gotta do is show up and do their part," he added.

"They'd better grow up real quick here, because there's a lot of sailors out there that would give their leg to go out on this ship."

Despite the fact that he has not yet reached an agreement with DeMartini over his use of the RATT name, Blotzer predicted that the new version of the band would stay on the road for the foreseeable future. "I think this week we're gonna do four or five dates. That'll top the forty-show mark [for this lineup of the band]," he said. "And on we go. We're booked through December 30 at this point, and they're already booking next year. So RATT is gonna be out there, man. The cast could change; it could stay the same. I don't know. It's like a football team. You want the team to win? You root for the team, 'cause you like the team. And we have a good team, and we have great songs, and we will perform those excellently."

Blotzer's revamped RATT is rounded out by vocalist Josh Alan (ex-SIN CITY SINNERS) and guitarists Doc Ellis (Jizzy Pearl's LOVE/HATE) and Nicholas "Blaze" Baum.

Three members of RATT's classic lineup — Pearcy, Croucier and DeMartini — reunited last week at a Los Angeles birthday party, leading to speculation that they were planning to launch their own version of the band that would not include Blotzer.

ARCH ENEMY held a press conference earlier today (Friday, August 5) at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany. You can now watch the question-and-answer session below.

Asked about ARCH ENEMY's plans for the coming months, guitarist Michael Amott said: "We're gonna release a live release — you know, a live album, a live DVD, live Blu-ray, whatever… all that whole thing. That's gonna be a very elaborate package, with a lot of bonus material and kind of telling the story from our two-year-old 'War Eternal' story. So that's a very exciting project, of course. And then we're also working on new songs. A new album is sort of there, somehow. We have about seven or eight new songs."

He continued: "We've just taken six months off the road, so we used some of that to write new material. I've been writing a lot, as I always have, and, of course, Alissa [White-Gluz, vocals] is still writing lyrics. And I've been writing with Jeff Loomis [guitar, ex-NEVERMORE] as well, our latest addition to the band. [I'm] very excited about that."

Amott also talked in more detail about the ARCH ENEMY songwriting process. He said: "We still do it the old-school way. We do some individual writing, but then it's not really an ARCH ENEMY song until everybody's jammed on it in our rehearsal room.

"We're in a fortunate position where we can still afford to hang out together and write music together in a room. And I think that's important for the true metal spirit. That's how I grew up playing, so I'm not really into only sending files on the Internet. I think we all much prefer to jam."

As previously reported, ARCH ENEMY will put on the biggest stage production of its career at the Wacken Open Air festival on Saturday, August 6 around midnight, making this the pinnacle of a highly successful album campaign. It all started in March 2014 when the band announced the new singer Alissa White-Gluz and the video for the album title track "War Eternal", which became the most successful video in the group's career and reached close to 20 million YouTube views.

The "War Eternal" album reached the highest U.S. and German chart positions in ARCH ENEMY's career and the band played over 200 shows in over 40 countries around the world. In late 2014, Jeff Loomis (ex-NEVERMORE) joined ARCH ENEMY during the world tour with KREATOR and in 2015 they played arenas as direct support of NIGHTWISH. Wacken Open Air won't be the last "War Eternal" show — dates are currently booked through the end of September, including a run of four U.K. headline shows this month — but it's going to be something very special.

In a recent interview with Roppongi Rocks, former ARCH ENEMY singer Angela Gossow, who is still involved in the band's management, ruled out a possible return to the group for some special appearances. She said: "For me personally — and the band — it's too early to consider. We've been asked a couple of times, but for the time being, it's a definite no."

ARCH ENEMY was rejoined by the band's original members Johan Liiva (vocals) and Christopher Amott (guitar) for their appearance at last year's edition of the Loud Park festival in October at Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan.

Liiva and Christopher Amott along with current ARCH ENEMY members Michael Amott (guitar), Daniel Erlandsson (drums) and Sharlee D'Angelo (bass) toured Japan in May under the name BLACK EARTH.




Arch Enemy Wacken Press Conference

Posted by Arch Enemy on Friday, August 5, 2016

ARTE Concert conducted an interview with MINISTRY mainman Al Jourgensen at this year's Wacken Open Air festival, which is being held August 4-6 in Wacken, Germany. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about controversial Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Jourgensen said: "Trump is not frightening; Trump is an idiot. What's scary is that three to four people out of ten people in America think that this would be a good idea to have him run our country and quite possibly the NATO alliance. This is not good. But I see the same pattern in Germany and France and Italy. The right wing makes this comeback because they play on people's fears and we saw this in the 1930s here, and this is history repeating, because people don't learn lessons, and Trump is a lesson that needs to be learned."

Jourgensen recently announced plans to record a new MINISTRY studio album to follow 2013's "From Beer To Eternity", despite previously saying there would be no further MINISTRY records after the death of longtime guitarist Mike Scaccia in 2012.

Jourgensen's new project, SURGICAL METH MACHINE, released its self-titled debut album on April 15 via Nuclear Blast. The CD was recorded primarily at Jourgensen's home studio in Burbank, California with his longtime engineer Sam D'Ambruoso.

Alan Dixon of The Metal Voice conducted an interview with vocalist Joakim Brodén and guitarist Chris Rörland of Swedish metallers SABATON at this year's Heavy Montreal festival, which is being held August 6-7 at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the recent announcement that guitarist Thobbe Englund will play his final gig with SABATON later this month in the band's hometown of Falun, at the group's Sabaton Open Air festival, as part of a release party for SABATON's new album, "The Last Stand", Joakim said: "We wear people out, I think. [Laughs] In a sense, it's part of the reason, actually.

"When we did the most intensive period we had in our career, it was 170 shows from April '14 to April '15 — twelve months there — of course, you don't play every day, so if you 170 shows, that probably means you were on the road, or away from home, for 270 days that year. So I totally understand why, even though most people get into doing this… I've seen it before, and it's gonna happen again, I guess, that people [are like], 'Yeah, of course, I don't wanna do anything else. And then, after a couple of years, [they're like], 'Oh, man. I thought I wanted this.' [Laughs]"

Thobbe stated about his decision to exit SABATON: "I have in recent years become more aware of what would make me feel real happiness and content, and that is to expand my own creativeness in combination with a somewhat stiller life, where I will not tour all year round at the speed of light."

"The Last Stand" will be released on August 19 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2014's "Heroes" was once again produced by Peter Tägtgren (PAIN, LINDEMANN, HYPOCRISY) and it "marks a brand new chapter in SABATON history," according to a press release.