Rob Halford joined BABYMETAL Monday night (July 18) for their appearance at the 2016 Alternative Press Music Awards at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio. The JUDAS PRIEST singer performed two classic PRIEST songs with the Japanese teenage girl pop metal band: "Painkiller" and "Breaking The Law".

"Honestly, I am still at a loss of what to feel," BABYMETAL's Su-Metal said about her band's opportunity to share the stage with Halford. "But to be able to perform together with the Metal God, I am in disbelief."

Halford added: "It's really cool to hear and watch such a strong young Japanese metal band make solid growth in the world with such unique conviction and invite me to headbang along with them for this special appearance. Further proof of the continuing power exchange from the roots of metal into the future metalsphere!"

Halford previously posed for a photograph with BABYMETAL backstage at the Rock On The Range festival in 2015. BABYMETAL has taken the world by storm with its infectious brand of pop metal. This year, the band was nominated in the "Best International Band" category. The APMAs marked BABYMETAL's first U.S. award show, as well as their only show confirmed in Ohio for 2016.

Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson announced that his tenth studio album, cleverly titled "Say10", will be released on Valentine's Day 2017.

Speaking with Alternative Press after receiving the Icon Award at this year's Alternative Press Music Awards, Manson said the follow-up to 2015's "The Pale Emperor" will arrive on February 14, 2017. No further details are currently available.

Manson was presented the Icon award by Twiggy Ramirez, a longtime guitar player/partner in crime of the controversial rock star.

"Thank you to all of the fans and all of Alternative Press because this is the only award I will actually put on my shelf," Manson said after receiving the award. "This is the greatest award ever."

Manson has appeared on the cover of Alternative Press magazine four times, starting back in 1996.

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

Fan-filmed video footage of New Orleans sludge metal veterans CROWBAR performing on July 17 at The Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas as the support act for CARCASS can be seen below.

CROWBAR was recently rejoined by its founding bassist Todd "Sexy T" Strange.

Strange made his return to the group sixteen years after his initial departure from CROWBAR.

CROWBAR announced last month that it had parted ways with its bassist of less than three years, Jeff Golden.

CROWBAR frontman Kirk Windstein explained: "Being in a band is like being in a relationship and things don't always work out.

"We want to thank Jeff for his dedication and loyalty and we sincerely wish him and his family all the best in the future."

Golden joined CROWBAR in September 2013. He told House Of Tortured Souls about the circumstances that led to his exit from the band: "It wasn't a surprise at all. I actually knew it was going to happen, and I actually knew that's what that phone call was about. There was a phone call first, then we said it was all going to be worked out, and then I get a text message five minutes later saying I was fired. So, no, it wasn't a surprise at all. I heard rumors about three months ago that the original guy [Todd 'Sexy T' Strange] was back, and when I brought it up, they [CROWBAR] said it was just a rumor and it wouldn't happen and they definitely wouldn't do that to me. But, yeah, I could tell something was up, and it was said in one of the comments that it was told to me, but it was never told to me. I found out through Facebook."

Asked what reason CROWBAR gave him for wanting him out of the band, Golden said: "Ah, they gave me a few reasons, none that really were enough to — that I would think — to be let go, and I'll just leave it at that. I was told a few reasons. I'm still friends with one of the guys in the band. He and I always got along and will keep that friendship going. You know, it's like Kirk [Windstein, CROWBAR frontman] said on his post, 'A band is like being in a relationship. Sometimes it doesn't work out.' It's like sometimes business is business, and friendship is friendship. I just think the way it was handled was poor. I mean, only one of the guys and I remain friends, and that's just the way it is for now. Maybe later everything will be cool, but for now it's... I'm just going to focus on my new music thing. And they've got Todd, so it's going to work out for everyone in the long run."

CROWBAR's follow-up to 2014's "Symmetry In Black" album is due later in the year. The CD was recorded at OCD Recording And Production in Metairie, Louisiana with engineer/producer Duane Simoneaux

PROPHETS OF RAGE, the supergroup featuring members of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, PUBLIC ENEMY's Chuck D and CYPRESS HILL's B-Real, played at the "End Poverty Now: March For Economic Justice" rally on Monday, July 18, the opening day of the Republican Nation Convention, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Four hours later, the PROPHETS OF RAGE played another impromptu concert, this time at the Cleveland Public Square, less than half a mile away from the Quicken Loans Arena, where the Republican National Convention was underway.

After the performance, Morello told reporters: "We're not here to bring Donald Trump a message. We're here to put wind in the sails of the people standing up against his message."

"In this election year where I've heard so many commentators say that Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders are raging against the machine, the architects of the real RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE had to step up and say, 'We're gonna show you how to do it right,'" Morello previously told CNN.

Even though PROPHETS OF RAGE does not feature RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE frontman Zack de la Rocha, the group plays classics like "Bulls On Parade" and "Killing In The Name" along with tunes by PUBLIC ENEMY and CYPRESS HILL.

"I think the music of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE is more relevant today than it was when it was written," Morello told Cleveland.com. "And we give a lot of credit and honor to Zack at every show because his lyrics are brilliant."

Earlier on Monday, PROPHETS OF RAGE released a single, "Prophets Of Rage", through digital download and streaming services. A re-imagination of the original PUBLIC ENEMY song of the same name, with new music and a new original verse from B-Real, the song gave life to the band's name. The single was recorded with legendary producer Brendan O'Brien who has done notable work with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and AUDIOSLAVE.

On Tuesday, PROPHETS OF RAGE will perform a "proper" Cleveland gig at the city's Agora Ballroom. Following that, the group will embark on a national North American tour. The "Make America Rage Again" trek will include stops in Montreal, Brooklyn, Quebec City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Nashville and Atlanta before concluding in San Diego, mere weeks before 2016 Election Day. A portion of the proceeds from each show will benefit a local homeless charity.

Fan-filmed video footage of SLAYER's July 14 performance at the Bang Your Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany can be seen below.

SLAYER's latest album, "Repentless", debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200, having shifted 50,000 equivalent album units in the week ending September 17, 2015.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

In terms of pure album sales, "Repentless" opened with 49,000 copies, marking SLAYER's highest-charting album yet.

"Repentless" now holds the record as the band's career-highest chart debut in Germany (No. 1), Holland (No. 2), Australia (No. 3), New Zealand (No. 8), the U.K. (No. 11) and on the Japanese International Chart (No. 1). It bowed at No. 3 in Finland, No. 4 in Belgium, and No. 5 in both Sweden and Greece. Additionally, the album debuted in the Top 10 in France (No. 7), Italy (No. 8), Hungary (No. 9), and Japan (No. 10).

The follow-up to 2009's critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated "World Painted Blood", "Repentless" was produced by Terry Date, who has previously worked with PANTERA, DEFTONES and SOUNDGARDEN. The artwork was created by Brazilian artist Marcelo Vasco in collaboration with the band's Tom Araya and Kerry King.

As previously reported, SLAYER will join forces with special guests ANTHRAX and DEATH ANGEL this fall for a seven-week North American tour. The dates start in Cleveland on September 9 and will hit both major and secondary markets across the continent.

Fan-filmed video footage of OVERKILL's July 15 performance at the Gefle Metal Festival in Gävle, Sweden can be seen below.

OVERKILL's follow-up to 2014's "White Devil Armory" album is tentatively due in October.

The band will embark on a European headlining tour in November. Support on the trek will come from U.S. sludge metal kings CROWBAR, Israel-based metallers SHREDHEAD and Aussie thrashers DESECRATOR.

OVERKILL played a special anniversary show on April 16 at Turbinenhalle 2 in Oberhausen, Germany. The evening saw the group perform their classic records "Horrorscope" (which is celebrating its 25th anniversary) and "Feel The Fire" (30th anniversary) in their entirety. And if that wasn't enough, the show was professionally filmed and recorded for an upcoming DVD and CD.

OVERKILL utilized a stand-in drummer — their soundman Eddy Garcia, who is also a member of the El Paso, Texas band PISSING RAZORS — for their recent European tour because the band's regular drummer, Ron Lipnicki, was forced to stay home due to undisclosed family issues.

A new trailer has been unveiled for "Ozzy & Jack's World Detour", the new show produced by the History channel starring Ozzy Osbourne and his son Jack. The ten-episode series is set to kick off on July 24 at 10:00 p.m. and will feature the duo traveling the world together, exploring the history behind some of the planet's most storied sites, while checking out some lesser known locations along the way.

During the course of the hour-long, non-scripted series, father and son — self-proclaimed history nerds who have apparently waited years to take this trip — will visit locales like Mount Rushmore, Stonehenge, the Alamo, Roswell, the Jamestown Settlement and Sun Studios. They'll also stop at places like a missile silo, England's famed Bletchley Park and a private museum of working artillery tanks.

Ozzy admitted a while back that doing the show has helped fill some gaps in his own knowledge of history. "Anything past World War II, I'm clueless," he told The Pulse Of Radio. "I'm kind of up on World War II 'cause I was born a couple of years after. So I know quite a lot about World War II and Hitler and the Nazis and all that. But anything from before or after I don't know anything about. So we're going to Mount Rushmore, we're going to the abandoned silos where you guys, America used to have their Minutemen missiles and all that. It's quite educational for me, actually."

Ozzy has not starred in a regularly scheduled TV series since the MTV reality show "The Osbournes" ended a four-season run in 2005. A variety show called "Osbournes Reloaded" ended after one episode on Fox in 2009.

Ozzy and BLACK SABBATH are currently in the midst of the European leg of the band's farewell "The End" tour.

He and wife/manager Sharon Osbourne separated in May over Ozzy's alleged affair with a celebrity hairstylist. Us Weekly reported that Ozzy told Sharon he will "go to any lengths necessary to repair the damage" caused by the alleged tryst.

Dutch radio station Radio Veronica has uploaded a brand new interview with legendary DEEP PURPLE and RAINBOW guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On what made him decide to play the recent RAINBOW comeback shows:

Ritchie: "Besides money, I heard the [new RAINBOW] singer, Ronnie [Romero, who is originally from Chile but now settled in Madrid, Spain], singing on YouTube. Candy [Ritchie's wife, Candice Night] had played it to me. She said, 'What to do you think of this guy?' And I don't go on the computer very much; I'm too old for that stuff. And Candy is often going on YouTube or whatever, and she said, 'He's singing some of your old songs, the RAINBOW songs.' And I heard them, and I went, 'Wow! This guy is really good. He's exciting.' And there had been some talk about reforming RAINBOW with David Coverdale and a few others — Glenn Hughes… Although they are friends of mine, I wasn't urgently involved in it. I was hesitating for probably a good part of a year before I kind of decided I wasn't gonna do it — until I heard this singer. As soon as I heard the singer, he had such a good voice, so much vitality, and that excited me. I thought, 'Wow! He's singing all the old songs, but he's doing it so well — old hard rock.' It was exciting to hear."

On whether he received offers for more than three RAINBOW comeback shows:

Ritchie: "Yes. Many. But I wanted to see how the three went. If they were disastrous and we had accepted more, it was gonna be awkward. We might do a few more shows again."

On whether he enjoyed the three RAINBOW comeback shows so far:

Ritchie: "I enjoyed especially the last one in England. The first two were a little bit intense, because we hadn't played together… we hadn't done a lot of rehearsing, so the first two shows were a bit hectic and chaotic. But the last one in Birmingham was… obviously, we'd played two shows at that point, and that seemed to work, to me. And it was great to see all the old people… I mean, it was so weird how… I think it was twenty thousand people… It sold out in fifteen minutes. And I kind of wondered who they thought was playing, 'cause when I got to the auditorium, it was so vast that I thought, 'Maybe somebody else is playing this show tonight.'"

On whether it was difficult for him to put together a setlist for the first three RAINBOW comeback shows:

Ritchie: "No. [It was] very easy, in a way. We had about fifteen songs that were very obvious songs to play, like 'Catch The Rainbow'. And we incorporated a few DEEP PURPLE songs — 'Black Night', 'Smoke [On The Water]', 'Highway Star' — of which some of the fans said, 'Why did you do those DEEP PURPLE songs?' And I would say, 'Why not?' And they said, 'Well, we thought it was just gonna be RAINBOW. We would prefer to hear [more] RAINBOW songs.' Which I thought was kind of ironic again. I'm thinking, 'Wow! We just threw three songs in by DEEP PURPLE when they wanted more [RAINBOW].' And I noticed when they clapped, they weren't clapping so hard for DEEP PURPLE [songs]. They said, 'We hear that every year,' 'cause [the current lineup of] PURPLE goes around [on tour]. So the next time, if we go out and we do anything, I would do probably ninety-five percent RAINBOW songs; that's what they seem to want to hear. And it didn't occur to me. I just naturally assumed they wanted to hear everything."

The new lineup of RAINBOW made its live debut on June 17 at the Monsters Of Rock festival at Freilichtbühne in Loreley, Germany. Joining Ritchie in the group were Romero, STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson, BLACKMORE'S NIGHT drummer David Keith and bassist Bob Nouveau (a.k.a. Robert "Bob" Curiano, ex-BLACKMORE'S NIGHT).

Interview (audio):

Mind Assassin have officially released "Predetor X" and "Gargantua". The songs can be downloaded via SoundCloud here.

The band’s new music introduces fans to bassist Glenn Sprauge (Radio Age) and drummer Rik Charron (Dark Ministry, Spiral Wheel, Exciter) rounded off by guitarist Glen Reed (Skull Hammer) and vocalist Bob Mitchell (Savior From Anger and formerly of , Attacker)

Mind Assassin will co-headline with Trouble and Helstar. The dates are as follows:

October
21 - JJ Kelly's - Lansing, Il
22 - Q-Bar - Glendale Heights, Il

After the live shows, the band will resume work on their forthcoming full-length album titled Invade.

Rikki Rockett, drummer for the band POISON, got the best news of his life last week: his cancer is gone.

Rockett was diagnosed with oral cancer more than a year ago. Several months ago, he came to Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, where he underwent experimental cancer immunotherapy, which has now eradicated the tumor.

Rockett says he joined the clinical trial not only out of concern about himself, but also about being around for his three-year-old daughter, Lucy, and his seven-year-old son, Jude.

Immunotherapy is a relatively new form of treatment that boosts the body's immune system, better enabling it to attack cancer cells. Under the care of Ezra Cohen, MD, professor of medicine and associate director for Translational Science at Moores Cancer Center, Rockett participated in a clinical trial that is testing a combination of two immunotherapy drugs that remove defenses cancers use against the immune system. This type of treatment is only available at a few specific medical centers around the country.

"We are delighted that Rikki responded so well to immunotherapy. He had already been through a lot with chemotherapy and radiation treatment before he came to us, but his cancer recurred," said Cohen, who also leads the Solid Tumor Therapeutics Program at Moores Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. "That's the advantage of immunotherapy over traditional therapy — there are fewer side effects, we can specifically eradicate cancer cells almost anywhere in the body, and it's effective against tumors that are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation."

Rockett broke the good news last week via his Instagram account, where he posted a photo of himself with Cohen. The drummer wrote in the accompanying caption, "Because of this man, I am cancer free!!!"

Already feeling better for the past few weeks, Rockett is slowly getting back into Brazilian jiu-jitsu, riding his motorcycle and taking care of his kids.

Rockett also wants to get the word out about immunotherapy — to those who have already exhausted other treatments like he did, but also to people newly diagnosed with cancer who might be able to avoid chemo and radiation.

"My hope going forward is that by talking to other cancer patients, I might be able to lessen their pain and suffering," Rockett said. "I know from experience that chemotherapy and radiation are not fun. If I can help anyone else, it would help give reason to what I went through."

About Rockett's treatment:

One of Rockett's immunotherapy drugs is pembrolizumab (Keytruda), an antibody that inhibits the abnormal interaction between the molecule PD-1 on immune cells and the molecule PD-L1 on cancer cells, effectively releasing the "brake" and allowing the immune cells to recognize and attack tumors. Pembrolizumab is FDA-approved for some cancers, such as melanoma, but not Rocket's oral cancer. The other experimental immunotherapy drug he receives in the trial is epacadostat, which inhibits the IDO pathway. This cellular system suppresses immune cell function and allows tumors to evade the immune system. The trial is sponsored by the company Incyte. Rockett will continue therapy in the trial until its completion.

About Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health:

Moores Cancer Center is one of only 45 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country. It is also the first and only San Diego-based member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the world's leading cancer centers, and is certified by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPL), the leading quality program of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

For adults newly diagnosed with cancer, treatment at an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center means superior survival and recovery rates due to the fullness of care, diverse medical, surgical, and radiation oncology sub-specialties, access to breakthrough clinical trials, advanced supportive care and utilization of exacting quality metrics.

Patients have access to therapies, surgeries and clinical trials not offered in community settings. Moores Cancer Center currently operates more than 170 open treatment trials. These investigational therapies include advanced, highly personalized stem cell-based approaches and immunotherapies that leverage the inherent healing powers of the human body.

In late 2016, UC San Diego Health will open Jacobs Medical Center, a 245-bed, 10-story facility where patients with cancer will have access to the Pauline and Stanley Foster Pavilion for Cancer Care, a space dedicated to specialized oncology, and to the A. Vassiliadis Family Pavilion for Advanced Surgery where surgical options include minimally invasive approaches, robotics, transplantation and other combinations of 3D technologies and lifesaving techniques that are only found at UC San Diego Health.

Veteran Danish power metallers Iron Fire have released their new single, "Tornado Of Sickness”, from the forthcoming album, Among The Dead. The single is available from CD Baby and iTunes, and can be found streaming below.

The band will release Among The Dead on September 26th via Crime Records. The album will be available on CD, cassette, and vinyl LP formats. Pre-order the album at this location.

The new offering from Iron Fire is as old school as it gets 16 years into the millennium, according to a press release. The ‘90s spawned a lot of power metal classics, and Among the Dead is made in the spirit of those. Albums like Black in Mind (Rage), The Dark Saga (Iced Earth) and Better Than Raw (Helloween) were all blueprints for the making of Among the Dead.

Recorded in Death Island Studio with engineer Marco Angioni and Mixed in Poland's Hertz Studios, heaviness is guaranteed, along with melodic hooks, blistering guitars and pounding power metal drumming.

Among The Dead tracklisting:
“Intro (The Lost City)”
“Among The Dead”
“Hammer Of The Gods”
“Tornado Of Sickness”
“Higher Ground”
“Iron Eagle”
“Made To Suffer”
“The Last Survivor”
“No Sign Of Life”
“Ghost From The Past”
“When The Lights Go Out”
“For Whom The Bell Tolls” (Metallica cover)

“Tornado Of Sickness”:

Among The Dead preview video:

Seventh Wonder's first live album, Welcome To Atlanta Live 2014, will be released on September 23rd. Pre-orders are available here.

One of the major draws of the fifteenth edition of ProgPower USA, that was the opportunity to get to see Sweden's finest progressive metal band, Seventh Wonder perform their signature album Mercy Falls in its entirety. And judging by the crowd's reaction on that night, it was obvious that the fans had been waiting for this for a long time. Not content, the band played again the following day to a crowd of gold badge-holders and VIPs, including singer Tommy Karevik's mates from his other band Kamelot, and performed a bunch of songs from other albums which were not played the night before.

All in all it was a genuine and raw performance and this live album sums up very well all the best material included in Seventh Wonder's acclaimed first four albums and lets you know what to expect in terms of direction of new material to come. In fact, the band decided to round out this amazing release with two studio tracks. One is the awesome "Inner Enemy", already available on YouTube (streaming below). The other song, "The Promise", is an epic track of almost 10 minutes in length which highlights the multifaceted talents of this band.

Bass player Andreas Blomqvist says, "It has been a dream of mine for many, many years to be able to record and release a solid live product. Fans of music such as ours usually enjoy watching live performances, as the musicianship is often very much in focus. "Mercy Falls" was the perfect album to bring to the live setting, but we just never had a chance to pull it off before. Finally the stars aligned, and we made it happen. As icing on the cake, Frontiers stepped in to release it for us, which we are delighted about. We are very happy with the way it turned out, and the mix is nothing short of amazing! I am thrilled to be able to bring you guys this release and thankful that Frontiers chooses to prioritize this release right away, so that the fans starved for Seventh Wonder releases at last gets something solid to sink their teeth into while waiting for the upcoming studio album!"

This album aptly closes the first chapter of the band's history and works as a tasty appetizer for the new studio album planned for release in early 2017.

Welcome To Atlanta Live 2014 will be available in two physical configurations: a 2 DVD set and a very special, limited edition deluxe digibook containing 2 CDs and 2 DVDs. Final tracklisting below (CD version is only available in the deluxe edition 2CD/2DVD).

DVD1 - Mercy Falls Live
“A New Beginning”
“There And Back” (overture)
“Welcome To Mercy Falls”
“Unbreakable”
“Tears For A Father”
“A Day Away”
“Tears For A Son”
“Paradise”
“Fall In Line”
“Break The Silence”
“Hide And Seek”
“Destiny Calls”
“One Last Goodbye”
“Back In Time”
“The Black Parade”

Encore:
“Inner Enemy”
 
DVD2 - Bonus Tracks
“Taint The Sky”
“Banish The Wicked”
“Alley Cat”
“Walking Tall”
“The Edge Of My Blade”
“King Of Whitewater”
“Seventh Wonder Odyssey”
 
CD1 - Mercy Falls Live (Deluxe Edition only)
“A New Beginning”
“There And Back” (overture)
“Welcome To Mercy Falls”
“Unbreakable”
“Tears For A Father”
“A Day Away”
“Tears For A Son”
“Paradise”
“Fall In Line”
“Break The Silence”
“Hide And Seek”
“Destiny Calls”
“One Last Goodbye”
“Back In Time”
“The Black Parade”
 
CD2 - Bonus Tracks (Deluxe Edition only)
“Taint The Sky”
“Banish The Wicked”
“Alley Cat”
“Walking Tall”
“The Edge Of My Blade”
“King Of Whitewater”
“Seventh Wonder Odyssey”
“Inner Enemy” (new studio track)
“The Promise” (new studio track)

Seventh Wonder lineup:

Vocals: Tommy Karevik
Bass: Andreas Blomqvist
Guitar: Johan Liefvendahl
Keys: Andreas Söderin
Drums: Stefan Norgren

The origins of KISS comic books date almost as far back as the inception as the band itself, having been an integral part of comics culture since their 1977 appearance in Howard the Duck #12 and 1978's Marvel Comics Super Special: KISS. Today, nearly 40 years later, Dynamite Entertainment is pleased to announce the next chapter in the band's legacy, with all-new stories coming to one of the world's leading publishers of licensed comics!

"KISS has had a four decade-long, proud history in comic books, starting with Marvel Comics in the 1970s, and now with Dynamite's KISS comics," says KISS co-founder Gene Simmons. "KISS is America's number one gold record award-winning group of all-time, and we are in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, as well as having our own star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Having our own comic book, I have to say, rekindles the thrill I first had as a young teenager, as I followed the adventures of my favorite superheroes. This is going to be fun."

"In our rich and lengthy tradition of championing KISS in the comic/panel graphic realm, we are proud to announce this partnership and look forward to breaking new ground," says KISS co-founder, Paul Stanley.

"Gene and Paul are rock stars in every sense and are incredible storytellers and showmen. They are living icons. Their genuine love and knowledge of comics is incredible. I couldn't be more pleased to be working with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and KISS on a new line of comics," says Nick Barrucci, CEO and publisher of Dynamite Entertainment. "Over the years, the band has produced so many stories which stand on their own, with characters that belong right alongside even the most well known in the medium. Publishing KISS comics is a dream come true, and we couldn't be more excited to have someone of Amy Chu's caliber to tell the new tales."

"I am beyond thrilled to be working so closely with the icon that is KISS," says Executive Editor Joseph Rybrandt. "Rock solid storytelling and art are going to rock and roll you all night long. You wanted the best? You're going to get the best!"

KISS returns to comics with KISS #1 in October, a futuristic, dark sci-fi adventure written by Amy Chu (Poison Ivy) and illustrated by Kewber Baal (Army of Darkness: Furious Road). In a world without sun and a world without heroes, four young friends embark on a dangerous mission - to uncover the truth about the mysterious Council of Elders and their underground home, the city of Blackwell. But first they need some help from the past…

Read the full story at Newsarama.com.

Ministry mainman Al Jourgensen's new project, Surgical Meth Machine, recently released their self-titled debut album via Nuclear Blast Records. The record was recorded primarily at Jourgensen's home studio in Burbank, California with his longtime engineer Sam D'Ambruoso.

Today, the band has released a lyric video for the song "Rich People Problems", which you can watch below:

Order the album here. Check out BraveWords’ Surgical Meth Machine feature at this location.

“I Don’t Wanna” lyric video:

“I”m Invisible” video:

“Tragic Alert” lyric video:

D.C.-based prog innovators Periphery return this summer with a new album, Periphery III: Select Difficulty, out on July 22nd via Sumerian Records, and a US tour, dubbed the Sonic Unrest tour, which launches on August 4th. The new song, “Prayer Position”, is streaming below.

Periphery III: Select Difficulty tracklisting:

“The Price Is Wrong”
“Motormouth”
“Marigold”
“The Way The News Goes…”
“Remain Indoors”
“Habitual Line-Stepper”
“Flatline”
“Absolomb”
“Catch Fire”
“Prayer Position”
“Lune”

“Prayer Position”:

“The Way The News Goes…”:

“Marigold” video:

“Flatline”:

“The Price Is Wrong”:

“Periphery III: Select Difficulty is finally complete and we’re extremely excited to show everyone,” said guitar player Jake Bowen. “For the past couple of years we’ve been refining our collaborative process as a band and we feel that it’s only getting better with the completion of this album. We spent two months writing songs that are not only representative of the Periphery sound but also reflect where all of us are as musicians, working together has helped us tread new ground musically and creatively. In support of Periphery III you’ll see us hit the road in the States this summer with SikTh, Chon, and Toothgrinder on the Sonic Unrest tour, it’s going to be a blast! See you on the road!”

Periphery’s own Adam “Nolly” Getgood oversaw production for the album as he did with the Juggernaut releases. Nolly will no longer be a touring member of Periphery, as he will be expanding his production work in his native UK. He remains an integral part, and a member, of Periphery. At this time no decision has been made about a touring bassist.

“Touring with Periphery has shown me some of the most incredible experiences I could ever have imagined, to meet amazing people all over the world and to create friendships for life; it has truly been an honour to perform in front of every audience who has watched us play over the years. However the touring life isn’t something that everyone can continue doing indefinitely, and for me, the time has come where I want to settle into a more normal existence, be able to make plans further into the future than the touring life enables, and to be able to focus more on the studio side of my music career,” explained Nolly. “I will, however, be remaining as a band member and contributing in any way that I can while the band is off the road; I love all of my fellow bandmates like brothers and I’m so grateful for the incredible support they’ve shown as I make this huge life change. I know they are going to be taking the music and performances to the next level when they hit the road later this year.”

The Sonic Unrest tour, a month-long outing, sponsored by D’Addario and Guitar Center, includes openers SikTh, Chon and Toothgrinder and kicks off on August 4th in Raleigh, NC. Tickets are on-sale this Friday at 10 AM, local time. VIP packages, which feature a private meet and greet with the band as well as a limited edition, exclusive poster are available simultaneously via periphery.net.

Sonic Unrest Tour dates include:
 
August
4 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
5 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
6 - Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theater
7 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
8 - San Antonio, TX - Alamo City Music Hall
9 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
11 - Phoenix, AZ - The Press Room
12 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
13 - Los Angeles, CA - The Regent
14 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
16 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
17 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox
19 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex
20 - Denver, CO - Summit Music Hall
22 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
24 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom
25 - Grand Rapids, MI - Intersection
26 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrew’s Hall
27 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Small’s Theatre
28 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts
30 - Boston, MA - Paradise
31 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza

September
1 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Sound Stage

Periphery will host a four-day, immersive summer camp dubbed the Periphery Summer Jam on July 25th to 29th at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, New York. Registration and further information can be found here.

“Once in a while in an band’s career comes a special time, a period where you feel it's all finally coming together and that time I'm proud to say is NOW! The new Tygers album is finished, done and dusted and ready to unleash our Tygertastic, audience. You're gonna love this one, it's a MONSTER......”, Robb Weir, founder and guitarist of Tygers Of Pan Tang, July 2016.

Who would have predicted that 2016 would turn out to be the most productively successful year since their early days for a band whose history stretches back to the birth of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal? Much has been written about the role the Tygers played in the establishment of the movement and about the comings and goings within the band, but it is safe to say that the current line up brings a creative stability and a shared camaraderie that will keep them together, playing live and making records for some time to come.

The year began the signing of a new record deal with Scandinavia’s premier rock and metal label Mighty Music giving the band the opportunity to record the material they had written and honed in a burst of activity in late 2015. Whilst the band were happy to produce themselves at The Blast Studio in Newcastle they knew that the mix needed a fresh pair of ears.

Mighty Music CEO Michael H. Andersen recommended Soren Andersen/Medley Studio for the mix of the album. Having heard and been impressed by material recorded and mixed by Soren Andersen (Glenn Hughes, Mike Tramp) the Tygers sought out his services. Soren was only too happy to work with a band whose credentials were so firmly established. For the mastering, Harry Hess of Harem Scarem fame was the perfect man for the job.

Leaving the music in his capable hands, next stop for the band was South America. Having no idea what reception they would receive they were overwhelmed by the fierce dedication of the fans in Brazil and Columbia, who, in many cases, had waited years for an opportunity to witness the live show. From South America to Europe without a breath and then on to North America where they headlined Chicago’s Ragnarokkr festival. To say they aced it is an understatement and in the words of the promoter ‘The Tygers started the first Ragnarokkr riot because people were so pumped up.

And the new material will be road tested with their first extensive UK dates for many a year. And, as we write, plans for worldwide dates in support of the album are already coming to fruition.

In late August first single “Only The Brave” will be released on 7” vinyl EP with exclusive bonus track “What Do You Say” from the album recording session. A music video for “Only The Brave” is being shot as we speak.

The long awaited comeback album, Tygers Of Pan Tang, will be released worldwide on Friday, October 21st on LP, Ltd picture LP, CD and through all digital services.

Tracklisting:

“Only The Brave”
“Dust”
“Glad Rags”
“The Reason Why”
“Never Give In”
“Do It Again”
“I Got The Music In Me”
“Praying For A Miracle”
“Blood Red Sky”
“Angel In Disguise”
“The Devil You Know”
 
Tour dates:

October
8 - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Rotterdam Rocks Festival@ Baroeg
9 - Roeselare, Belgium - Verlichte Geest
21 - Newcastle, UK - The Cluny
22 - Wigan, UK - Old Courts
24 - London, UK The Black Heart
25 - Bilston, UK - Robin 2
26 - Hull, UK – Fruit
27 - Merthyr Tydfil, UK - The New Crown
28 - Barnsley, UK - Rock And Blues Venue
29 - Edinburgh, UK - Bannerman’s

January
7 - Mangualde, Portugal - Hardmetal Festival

March
3 - Hamburg, Germany - Hell Over Hammaburg Festival

May
12 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Nordic Noise Rock Festival

Lineup:

Robb Weir - guitars
Jacopo Meille - vocals
Micky Crystal - guitars
Gav Gray - bass
Craig Ellis - drums & percussion

Anderson / Stolt, the new duo of legendary YES vocalist and singer/songwriter Jon Anderson and progressive rock veteran Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings, Transatlantic), recently released their collaborative album, Invention Of Knowledge, via InsideOut Music. A new video for the track “Knowing” can be found below.

Jon Anderson was also recently announced as this year's recipient of the Prog God accolade at the Progressive Music Awards 2016, set to take place in London on September 1st, 2016. Jon joins illustrious company, with previous winners representing some of the most legendary musicians in progressive rock, including Rick Wakeman, Peter Gabriel, Ian Anderson and Tony Banks.

Invention Of Knowledge charted in several countries upon release and you can find those below:

#61 - US Billboard Top Current Albums Charts
#21 - US Billboard Rock Chart
#18 - German Album Charts
#58 - UK Album Charts
#26 - Swiss Album Charts
#61 - Austrian Album Charts
#67 - Italian Album Charts
#56 - Dutch Album Charts

Tracklisting:

I.  Invention of Knowledge
“Invention”
“We Are Truth”
“Knowledge”
 
II. Knowing
“Knowing”
“Chase And Harmony”
 
III.Everybody Heals
“Everybody Heals”
“Better By Far”
“Golden Light”
“Know...”

“Knowing” video:

Teaser #1:

Teaser #2:

Power/metal opera masterminded Frode Hovd has released the cover art for the upcoming album, Land Of Light. The album is in its finishing stages of recording, before it will be sent to Roland Grapow (Masterplan, Helloween) for mixing and mastering

The album features some stunning performances from big names in heavy metal scene, and the lineup so far is:

Singers:

Fabio Lione (Rhapsody of Fire)
Rick Altzi (Masterplan)
Todd Michael Hall (Riot V)
Yannis Papadopoulos (Wardrum)
Tommy ReinXeed (ReinXeed)
Jonas Heidgert (Dragonland)
Kristoffer Göbel (ex Falconer)
David Åkesson (Qantice)
PelleK (PelleK)
Marit Børresen
Bernt Fjellestad (Guardians Of Time)
Vasilis Georgiou (Sunburst)
Sigfried Samer (Dragony)
Mayo Petranin (Signum Regis)
Konstantin Naumenko (Sunrise)
Mina Giannopoulou

Musicians:
Uli Kusch, Frode Hovd, Mike LePond, Christer Harøy, Jimmy Hedlund, Peter Danielsen, Andreas Nergård, Peter Crowley, Ronnie König, Kenneth Skarsvåg, Rayner Harøy, Filip Andel, Paolo Campitelli, Linus Abrahamson, Robert Myrhaug, Filip Kolus, Mistheria and Gabriels.

Aldaria is now on the lookout for the right label to make this opus reach its full potential. Stay tuned for updates.

Following six successful studio albums, Powerwolf will finally release their first DVD, The Metal Mass - Live, on July 29th. It contains almost seven hours of material and features plenty of songs, old and new. A third video teaser can be found below.

Powerwolf's history of success truly is a metal fairytale: Thanks to lifeblood, passion and talent the band has gathered an enormous amount of followers with until now six albums and uncountable captivating live gigs. Two albums in the Top 3 of the German album charts, sold-out headliner shows, frenetically celebrated festival gigs all over Europe – there is just one thing missing… a DVD / Blu-Ray which brings the glorious metal mass on your TV.

Powerwolf do it again in style and have assembled a truly opulent package for their loyal fans. The Metal Mass Live contains three complete live shows with which you can enjoy the irresistible hook lines and great metal hymns of Powerwolf with live recordings from the Masters Of Rock, the Summer Breeze and the Oberhausen gig from the Wolfsnächte tour.

Apart from that all the previous videoclips and two documentaries are included – fans will surely appreciate to witness the hilariously maverick sense of humour of the band members.

The Metal Mass Live will be presented in a beautiful valuable packaging that will make collectors' hearts beat faster: With about 7 hours material, the first DVD / Blu-Ray release of one of the most successful German metal bands will be coming out on Mediabook with 2-DVD / Blu-ray + Live-CD, Earbook with 2-DVD and 2 Live-CDs, a live CD and as Gatefold-Double-Vinyl.

It's about time to finally enjoy the inimitable live feeling of a Powerwolf gig on your couch. Pre-order The Metal Mass Live here.

Teaser #1:

Teaser #2:

Teaser #3:

Powerwolf  and Dutch symphonic metal stars Epica are teaming up for an European tour in early 2017. This impressive co-headline tour comes in support of the highly awaited new Epica album Holographic Principle, which is scheduled for a September 30th release and Powerwolfs The Metal Mass Live.

Comments Matthew Greywolf of Powerwolf: “In early 2017 we will embark on a special tour, sharing stages throughout Europe with the amazing Epica. Those shows will become Powerwolf’s biggest indoor metal masses to date. Be prepared for an amazing stage set and crazy nights full of metal madness!”

“Woohoow, this fall we're releasing our seventh studio album and the band has exciting times coming up! A new album means a new Epica chapter and obviously a new world tour. Early 2017 we'll join forces with our German friends in Powerwolf and together we'll storm stages allover Europe. If you want to hear our brand new songs come to live, if you want to see our brand new visuals and if you simply want to have a good time with us, we expect you on our biggest tour to date! I really can't wait to be back on the road again and to see the music, the energy and our lovely fans become one. Until then!,” commented Epica frontwoman Simone Simons.

Tour dates:

January
12 - Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachthof
13 - Cologne, Germany - Palladium
14 - Ludwigsburg, Germany - MHP Arena
16. - Geneve, Switzerland - Salle des Fetes de Thonex
17 - Zurich, Switzerland - Volkshaus
20 - Munich, Germany - Tonhalle
21 - Vienna, Austria - Gasometer
24 - Warsaw, Poland - Progresja
25 - Berlin, Germany - Huxleys
27 - Oberhausen, Germany - Turbinenhalle
28 - Prague, Czech Republic - Forum Karlin

February
3 - London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire
4 - Paris, France - Zenith

Further dates of this tour to be announced at a later date. Tickets for all shows can be purchased on the bands’ websites: Powerwolf, Epica.

Italian prog metal masters DGM will release their new album, The Passage, on August 26th. The group are streaming the album’s lead track, “The Secret (Part 1)”. Listen below:

The Passage is DGM’s eighth studio album and is the culmination of almost 20 years of hard work that started back in 1997 with the release of their self-produced mini-album, Random Access Zone. The band went through several incarnations and lineup changes during the years, but since singer Mark Basile joined the group in 2007, DGM evolved and developed their sound into what they have now become.

It was probably the release of Frame (2007) that pushed the band into the top of the league of international prog metal. It was also on the strength of this material that DGM managed to tour for almost four years around the world, taking part in some of the biggest metal festivals, supporting Symphony X on their European tour, and sharing the stage with Pagan's Mind too. In 2013, DGM came back with Momentum, an album which showed the full stylistic maturity of a band which felt fully confident with their abilities, both on the songwriting and the musicianship side. The last album was promoted with more shows and after several gigs in Europe, they performed for the second time at ProgPower USA and started their first Asian tour in November 2014 playing Beijing, Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka as headliners.

The new album, The Passage is another substantial step forward for DGM. Sounding like a hungry, urbanized version of Symphony X, with substantial hard rock influences, the new record is remarkable in several aspects. The compositions are phenomenal, with sweeping choruses, technical passages, lightning fast fretwork, big vocals and bombastic transitions. The playing is simply faultless and the melodies are perfectly woven into the killer guitars, epic keyboards, and pounding drums!

“This album can easily be seen as our most ambitious work to date,” says guitarist and producer Simone Mularoni.

“This time we tried to evolve to an even more personal sound. We took all the elements we developed through all these years and we tried to take them to the limit. Throughout the whole record you will hear a recurrent musical theme. Instead of doing a usual concept album with the lyrics, we decided to do a sort of musical concept with this melody that repeats in every song but every time with different time signatures and keys,” tells drummer Fabio Costantino.

“This album will offer to the listener a key for a positive dimension. A path made of sound vibrations: The Passage to our dreams and hopes,” concludes bassist Andrea Arcangeli.

Evergrey singer Tom Englund and Symphony X guitarist Michael Romeo also appear as special guests tributing the value of this outstanding album. And let's not forget the great job that producer Simone Mularoni did in the studio. The future looks bright for these guys. Check them out live when they come to a town near you.

The Passage tracklisting:

“The Secret (Part 1)”
“The Secret (Part 2)”
“Animal”
“Ghosts Of Insanity”
“Fallen”
“The Passage”
“Disguise”
“Portrait”
“Daydreamer”
“Dogma”
“In Sorrow”

“Animal” video:

EPK:

Teaser:

DGM lineup:

Simone Mularoni – guitars, keyboards
Marco Basile – vocals
Andrea Arcangeli – bass
Fabio Costantino – drums
Emanuele Casali – keyboards

Special guests:
Tom Englund – vocals on “Ghosts Of Insanity”
Michael Romeo – lead guitar on “Dogma”

Alice Cooper has posted this video performing “Elected” live in Biloxi, MS on April 29th.

“Featuring the fight you've always wanted to see, the all out no holds barred match between United States Presidential Candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump!”

Following their wildly successful concerts at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, in front of 100,000 screaming fans at the Rock In Rio festival, and their spectacular worldwide television debut on the 2016 Grammy Awards reaching a global audience of almost 25 million people, fans worldwide demanded more. Hollywood Vampires - Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp – always deliver and arranged their schedules to give their fans what they want.

Joining the Hollywood Vampires on tour are modern day Vampires Matt Sorum (Guns N' Roses/The Cult) on drums, Robert DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots) on bass, Tommy Henriksen (Alice Cooper) on guitar, and Bruce Witkin (The Kids) on piano, percussion and guitar. For tickets, visit this location.

"Here is a gang of friends who came together really by chance and over the last year we were finally able to wrangle our schedules and the energy just fell into place. Playing with this line up is like a dream come true. After seeing the reaction at Rock in Rio in front of 100,000 fans, I know this band is going to tear the house down. Hell, I would want to be in the audience to see us rip it up." – Joe Perry

A super-group comprised of rock royalty and a Hollywood superstar, the Vampires will hit the stage offering fans a non-stop, energetic rock concert like no other, performing their new single "Bad As I Am" from their new deluxe album, as well as renditions of popular classics including "My Generation," "Whole Lotta Love," and a "School's Out"/"Another Brick in the Wall" medley.

Hollywood Vampires released a new digital deluxe version of their self-titled album. This expanded version includes three additional songs, including one original and two rocking covers. The deluxe version includes the scorching new single "Bad As I Am" an original song penned by Johnny Depp, Tommy Henriksen, and Bruce Witkin and features Matt Sorum, Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, and Johnny Depp. Also included is "I'm A Boy," a Who original, that was only available as a Japanese bonus track. "7 and 7 Is" is an unreleased track from the album sessions and is the classic song by the legendary Los Angeles band Love, a Vampires special pick and one that Alice covered on his 1981 solo album, Special Forces.

In 1969 on the Sunset Strip at a club called the Rainbow Bar & Grill, the Hollywood Vampires were born in the upstairs bar. It was a gathering place for the rock stars living in or passing through L.A. "To join the club, one simply had to out drink all of the members," says Alice Cooper, a founding member of the original Vampires.

Cooper and good friend Johnny Depp got together and decided the spirit of the Hollywood Vampires should live again (minus the drinking). Cooper and Depp were joined by Joe Perry, who is an old friend of both, and the recording began: a tribute to the original Hollywood Vampires. An environment was born for great artists to hang, laugh and play together.

Tour dates:

July
18 - Fargo, ND - Scheels Arena
22 - Rohnert Park, CA - Weill Hall
23 - Jacksonville, OR - Britt Pavilion
24 - Saratoga, CA - The Mountain Winery
25 - Paso Robles, CA - Mid State Fair

PROPHETS OF RAGE, the supergroup featuring members of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, PUBLIC ENEMY's Chuck D and CYPRESS HILL's B-Real, has released a song called "Prophets Of Rage". Check it out below.

While the description on PROPHETS OF RAGE's official YouTube channel calls this a "new original song," "Prophets Of Rage" takes quite a few lyrics from the PUBLIC ENEMY's track of the same name which appeared on 1988's "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" album.

The band tweeted a message about the song, saying: "In a year, we won't soon forget, 'Prophets Of Rage' is a song/band for those who feel they no longer have a voice."

In other news, PROPHETS OF RAGE will play a free show at the Republican National Convention today in Cleveland, Ohio. It is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the End Poverty Now! rally at 1416 E. 47th Street. They will also play at The Agora in Cleveland tomorrow as part of their RNC protest.

PROPHETS OF RAGE recently entered the studio to record a brand new song called "The Party's Over", which the band premiered at its recent live shows. Helming the sessions was veteran producer Brendan O'Brien, who has previously worked with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, PEARL JAM, AC/DC and STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, among others.

Morello told Billboard.com that the members of PROPHETS OF RAGE have set a very high bar for the material that they want to release. "The goal is a simple one: The music has to be devastating," he explained. "In all these interviews, we talk a lot about the politics, but the cornerstone is that the music has to be devastating and we have to not just be competitive with our legacies, but in 2016, it has to be something that goes beyond that and is very authentic, unapologetic and contemporary."

The guitarist added that PROPHETS OF RAGE is still finding its direction.

"When we got in the room, it was like, 'Well, hold on, we're getting ahead of ourselves. We have to figure out what this band's chemistry is to be great. How do we win with this team on the field?'" he said. "And that took awhile to figure out. I would say that it really came together a couple days before the Whisky show [May 31], where it was like, 'Oh, shit, that's what PROPHETS OF RAGE is going to sound like!' And it's still a process. I always look at it like it's never done and will continue to be refined as we go along."

PROPHETS OF RAGE made their live debut in May in Los Angeles, playing numbers from all three acts.

The band will embark on a North American tour in August.

Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA will release their seventh studio album, "The Holographic Principle" on September 30 via Nuclear Blast. The CD was produced by Joost van der Broek at Sandlane Recording Facilities and was mixed by Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, DESTRUCTION). The cover artwork was created by Stefan Heilemann.

"The Holographic Principle" track listing:

01. Eidola02. Edge Of The Blade03. A Phantasmic Parade04. Universal Death Squad05. Divide And Conquer06. Beyond The Matrix07. Once Upon A Nightmare08. The Cosmic Algorithm09. Ascension - Dream State Armageddon10. Dancing In A Hurricane11. Tear Down Your Walls12. The Holographic Principle - A Profound Understanding Of Reality

The first part of a studio documentary on the making of "The Holographic Principle" can be seen below.

"Halfway through 2015, EPICA started a new journey: writing and recording the seventh studio album, 'The Holographic Principle'," explains EPICA guitarist Isaac Delahaye. "In between touring, we spent our time in the Sandlane Recording Facilities with producer Joost van den Broek and here's the first part of our studio documentary! It gives you a little insight into the creation of what we see as our most complete album ever. You'll hear rough snippets of new music, and you'll see how we built things up. Enjoy!"

EPICA previously stated about the lyrical inspiration for "The Holographic Principle": "'The Holographic Principle' deals with the near future wherein virtual reality has taken off and allows people to create their own virtual worlds which can't be distinguished from 'reality as we know it.' This raises the question whether our current reality is a kind of virtual reality on itself, a hologram. This implies the existence of a higher reality which we currently do not have access to. The lyrics challenge you to think out of the box, to reconsider everything you thought to know for sure and to be open-minded towards recent revolutions in science. Fasten your seat belts and get ready for a ride as nothing appears to be what it seems in our holographic universe."

Speaking to Spark TV, which is part of the Czech monthly magazine Spark, EPICA singer Simone Simons stated about the follow-up to 2014's "The Quantum Enigma": "It's a huge amount of songs, it's a lot of information, it's a lot to take in, but we put everything in this record and we hope that it will pay off and that the people will feel what we feel when we listen to it."

She added: "Since 'The Quantum Enigma' was received so well, we set the bar so high, but we accepted the challenge to make an even better record. And we've done everything bigger than before — we had more orchestra, a bigger choir. We had so many different instruments — real, live instruments. Vocally, I put everything in the record that I can possibly do, and I'm very pleased with it."

According to Simone, she has once again experimented a bit with her vocal approach on the new album. "With each record, I try to get the best out," she said. "And Joost [van den Broek], our producer, he's also very good at getting everything out of me. And the songs themselves, they just ask for a lot of variation in the vocal style. And I do opera, rock, pop, and in the ballads you hear the really soft voice. And, yeah, I can belt out some high notes as well."

Even though "The Holographic Principle" is one of EPICA's most ambitious offerings to date, the album doesn't sacrifice any of its instant appeal, something which Simone says was intentional. "I think it needs to be all in balance," she said. "We are, in heart, a metal band going in the symphonic direction. The orchestration, the choir is a little bit like the seventh and eighth bandmember of EPICA, and that's something we'll always keep in there. And the choir parts are often very catchy, the choruses are very catchy. But on this record, besides having catchy melodies, we also wanted to have really groovy vocal lines. And that's something that we worked on as well; we changed up some things to make it less predictable."

One of the aspects of EPICA's sound which has been enhanced on "The Holographic Principle" is the growling vocal style of EPICA guitarist and main songwriter Mark Jansen. "Well, it's Mark and it's actually our drummer as well," Simone said. "Mark is the main grunter, and our drummer, Ariën [van Weesenbeek], has a really nice, thick sound. So I don't know if he sang all the grunt parts as well, if he doubled them with Mark, but them together makes a totally new grunt sound, and I like it. Also, it changes it up a bit. Mark can do also really low grunts, he can do screams, and Ariën really has that deep sound to it."

Simone also praised the contributions of Isaac Delahaye, who came into the band in 2009. "The guitars are definitely more brutal," she said. "Also in the mix, the melodies, the grooves, and I think that ever since Isaac joined the band, not only as a songwriter but also the guitars have been lifted to a different level, and have become more interesting to listen to, I find myself. So I'm a big fan of his guitar work and also his songwriting."

SLAYER and its record label, Nuclear Blast, have teamed with comic-book publisher Dark Horse for a three-part title based on the band's revenge-themed music videos "Repentless" and "You Against You", both of which share a story arc devised by director BJ McDonnell ("Hatchet III"). The first issue, "Slayer: Repentless, Vol. 1", will come out later this year.

"I think of the songs I write as stories," SLAYER guitarist Kerry King tells Rolling Stone. "And if nothing else, they are certainly visual. BJ managed to string it all together so it made sense."

The comics were written by Jon Schnepp, a former "Metalocalypse" director who previously helmed AVENGED SEVENFOLD's animated series based around "Hail To The King" and EXODUS' "Downfall" video.

"My philosophy as far as anybody working on anything regarding SLAYER, be it the album cover art or video concepts, is to let the people who do that for a living do it," Kerry said. "That's how we started working with [cover artist] Larry Carroll for 'Reign In Blood', 'South Of Heaven' and 'Seasons In The Abyss'. We gave him songtitles, lyrics, just things to put ideas in his head."

King admitted that he has never been much of a comics fan. "I've got a handful from when I was super young and then a handful from the early nineties when I got back into collecting sports stuff, but certainly not a ton of them," he said. "I love comic-book movies, be it 'X-Men', 'The Avengers', 'Iron Man', 'Thor', since those are always killer."

As previously reported, SLAYER will stage a takeover of San Diego Comic-Con International (SDCC). The occupation will begin on Thursday, July 21 with a special live performance at the intimate-capacity House Of Blues. SLAYER will also execute two very exclusive signings inside the walls of San Diego Comic-Con with Dark Horse Comics. These signings will take place Friday, July 22, booth #2615, and at the Nuclear Blast Records booth, #501.

At Guitare en Scene festival in St Julian, France on July 15th, guitar legend Steve Vai joins Dweezil Zappa on stage for first time in 10 years to jam on a classic piece of the Zappa repertoire, "Muffin Man". Vai even ends up doing a surprise vocal turn. Check out the clip below.

Vai's first-ever interactive video guitar masterclass, Alien Guitar Secrets: Passion and Warfare, is now available at TrueFire. The video masterclass (Windows, Mac, and iOS compatible) features 4+ hours of video lessons, tab, notation, 11 naked tracks and 6 bonus live performance videos.

Learn more at this location and enter the Steve Vai Giveaway for a shot at winning the autographed Steve Vai Carvin Legacy 3 Amp that he used during the filming of the masterclass!

Bonus: use promo code "VAI" at checkout to save 15%.

Vai will giving several Alien Guitar Secrets masterclasses in Italy this September. Classes will fill quickly, reserve your space today. Dates are as follows:

September
18 - Fiorano (Modena), Italy - Teatro Astoria   
19 - San Giovanni alla Vena (Pisa), Italy - Blitz Live Music Pub    
20 - Rome, Italy - Planet Live Club
21 - Cagliari, Italy - venue tba
23 - Foggia, Italy - Teatro Giordano
24 - Martirano Lombardo (Catanzaro) - Sala Cesare Nava
25 - Palermo, Italy - Teatro Santa Cecilia
26 - Verona, Italy - Teatro Astra

Go to this location for ticket information.

Vai has posted an overview of the Modern Primitive / Passion And Warfare 25th Anniversary behind-the-scenes video clip that was released last week:

"Hey folks,

Sterling Ball is a dear friend and has been for many years. I’ve been exclusively using his excellent Ernie Ball strings for decades because for me, they work best. On virtually all my records I have used a Choral sitar on at least one song but was always in search of something with more dimension. As a gift Sterling made me this spectacular and exotic sitar that is unique, and I believe that it will appropriately be used in the future whenever I reach for that sound. Thanks to Sterling and Ernie Ball Music Man for their amazing work here. http://bit.ly/DivyaDora

And I can also be seen in the video using my old Fender Sticker Strat. Strats have a particular sound that I like to blend in recordings at times and it was wonderful to break-out my old Sticker Strat for the recording of a song that I wrote on that guitar. For the recording of Modern Primitive I used my main Ibanez Guitars Jems: EVO, Flo III and 7-string Universe Bruno on the majority of the recordings. I am the Jem. l am even shaped like a Jem! As you may have read, Modern Primitive was written and conceived between Flex-Able and Passion And Warfare— which is right around the time I designed the Jem based on specific idiosyncrasies of my playing. These guitars have been a pivotal part of my recording, writing and live performance for over 30 years.

Lastly, you might be interested to know I employed an 8-string Ibanez on tracks like 'Mighty Messengers', 'The Lost Chord' and 'No Pockets'. I use a plethora of gear in the studio from all sorts of companies to add different colors to the music. For instance, in the video I mention that I used an Orange amp on one song. I occasionally blend various amps into one tone and it’s not uncommon for me to mix 3 or more different amplifiers (via re-amping) to get one color. But I would say that perhaps 75% or more of the audible amp sound on Modern Primitive’s recent guitar recording is my Carvin Legacy. I use the Legacy because for me, nothing sounds like the Legacy. It’s my favorite amp tone. It’s really me and I’m so grateful to have this amp. And Carvin is truly a wonderful company.

I do feel fortunate to receive many gifts of gear from various companies and sometimes that gear can be special and I will put it to the appropriate use that’s dictated soley by my creative manager that abides in the formless dimension within, because he/she/it's really the boss."

Life Of Agony official artisan coffee will be coming soon. The band has partnered up with East Coast Roast, a family-owned and operated small-batch artisan roasting company to produce Red River Roast. 

Each batch is perfectly roasted using 100% Arabica coffee beans. Orders will be available soon.

Life Of Agony recently signed a worldwide record deal with Napalm Records. They are currently hard at work on their new album and Napalm Records debut, A Place Where There's No More Pain, which is due in early-2017.

Life Of Agony returned to the stage and performed on multiple festival dates in Europe over the summer of 2014. The famed River Runs Red lineup of vocalist Mina Caputo, guitarist Joey Z, bassist Alan Robert and drummer Sal Abruscato were excited to take the stage together once again after a three-year hiatus.

Unfortunately last week drummer Sal Abruscato was injured causing LOA to cancel their upcoming European tour dates, but fear not. Sal will be fully recovered soon and the band will be returning to Europe this November. The European jaunt kicks off November 13th in Vienna, Austria and runs through December 10th in Aalborg, Denmark.

Life Of Agony will also be playing two special shows in the Northeast this fall. September 30th sees the band stopping in Clifton Park, NY. Then the band will appear at The Rock Carnival in Lakewood, NJ on October 2nd.

Life Of Agony Northeast dates:

September
30 - Clifton Park, NY - Upstate Concert Hall

October
2 - Lakewood, NJ - Rock Carnival Festival
 
Life Of Agony European tour:

November
13 - Vienna, Austria - Simm City
15 - Gdansk, Poland - Stary Manez
16 - Warsaw, Poland - Progresia Music Zone
18 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Coolste
19 - Eindhoven, Netherlands - Klokgebouw
30 - Saarbrucken, Germany - The Garage

December
1 - Bochum, Germany - Zeche
3 - Augsburg, Germany - Kantine
4 - Herford, Germany - TBD
6 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle
8 - Stockholm, Sweden - Fryshuset Klubben
9 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Sticky Fingers
10 - Aalborg, Denmark - Aalborg Metal Festival
 

Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based melodic death metallers THE AGONIST have posted a second teaser for their forthcoming album — their first since signing a worldwide deal with Napalm Records. The CD was recorded with producer Mike Plotnikoff, who has previously worked with BUCKCHERRY, OTEP, HALESTORM, DROWNING POOL, THEORY OF A DEADMAN, 3 DOORS DOWN, FEAR FACTORY, FLYLEAF and SKILLET, among others. THE AGONIST guitarist Danny Marino stated about the band's new material: "Since recording 'Eye Of Providence', we have been exploding with creativity and are set to record our best record to date. We've been working non-stop on the material on and off the road and now after four albums we have really found ourselves.

"Vicky [Psarakis, vocals] and I seem to operate on a hive mind where we know exactly what the other is going for in the writing before it happens. It can actually be freaky sometimes. We are also very excited to be recording this album with Mike Plotnikoff. His experience and input will really help take our sound to a new level." "Eye Of Providence" was released in February 2015 via Century Media. The band's first CD with Psarakis was recorded at The Grid studio in their hometown with producer Chris Donaldson (CRYPTOPSY).

Vicky joined THE AGONIST as the replacement for Alissa White-Gluz, who left the band to focus on her new gig as the frontwoman of ARCH ENEMY.

Demonic Resurrection frontman Demonstealer released his second solo album This Burden Of Mine featuring George Kollias (Nile) on drums on March 25th. A video has been made for album track “From Rubble And Ruin”.

Demonstealer comments, "I think the video takes a step away from the conventional metal ones and I'll give complete credit to director Guilherme for this vision. I guess it was born from not actually having a full band or even myself to shoot because we are in different countries. So I gave him complete creative freedom and he delivered the goods I think."

Artwork was created by Michal 'Xaay' Loranc (Behemoth, Vader, Nile, Demonic Resurrection).

Album lineup:

Demonstealer - Vocals/Guitars/Keys
Ashwin Shriyan - Bass
George Kollias - Drums