Guitar legend Paul Gilbert will release his newest record, I Can Destroy, on May 27th via earMUSIC on CD Jewel and digital. A snippet of the new song “Knocking On A Locked Door" is streaming below.

From platinum album sales and number one chart success as a founding member of Mr. Big, to frightening the guitar community with new levels of ferocious picking technique with shred-pioneers Racer X, to exploring punk, pop, classical, blues, jazz, and progressive instrumental styles in his solo career, Paul Gilbert has recorded a massive amount of stunning guitar music, all while circling the globe to play sold-out arenas from Japan to Jakarta.

Gilbert’s style stands out for its rare combination of accuracy, creativity, and power – all which are balanced with Paul’s sense of humour and pure love of music.

Although Paul is best known for his work with Mr. Big and Racer X, he has also toured with Joe Satriani’s G3, played in a host of tribute concerts with legendary drummer Mike Portnoy, and been integral in the design of his signature Ibanez PGM and Fireman guitars.

Paul’s legacy as a guitar instructor began when he was eighteen, when he was hired to teach at Hollywood’s Guitar Institute of Technology. His groundbreaking “Intense Rock” videos and DVDs have inspired legions of guitarists to improve their accuracy, speed, and phrasing. Years as a columnist for Guitar Player magazine, and most recently, Premier Guitar magazine, along with giving countless clinics, private lessons, and serving for five years as the dean of MI Japan, have given Paul Gilbert deep experience in the art of communicating music to all levels of guitarists.

Over 25 years in the music business have only increased Paul’s passion to explore the possibilities of music and the art of playing the guitar. Whether he’s playing to 10,000 fans or jamming one-on-one with a student, Paul Gilbert is living his childhood dream of taking the sounds in his head and bringing them into reality – on the electric guitar.

I Can Destroy is Paul’s next solo-masterpiece and will be his 18th solo album. The album features 13 very diverse rock-tunes. With Kevin Shirley producing, and an amazing band of Freddie Nelson and Tony Spinner on guitars and vocals, Kevin Chown on bass, and Thomas Lang on drums, Paul rocks with more power and emotion than ever before.

Tracklisting:

“Everybody Use Your Goddamn Turn Signal”
“I Can Destroy”
“Knocking On A Locked Door”
“One Woman Too Many”
“Woman Stop"
“Gonna Make You Love Me”
“I Am Not The One (Who Wants To Be With You)”
“Blues Just Saving My Life”
“Make It (If We Try)”
“Love We Had”
“I Will Be Remembered”
“Adventure And Trouble”
“Great White Buffalo” (Bonus Track)

Pre-roll video:

“One Woman Too Many" snippet:

"Blues Just Saving My Life" snippet:

"I Will Be Remembered" snippet:

“Gonna Make You Love Me” snippet:

“Make It (If We Try)” snippet:

"Everybody Use Your Goddamn Turn Signal" video:

“I Can Destroy”:

Southern Welsh rockers Buffalo Summer have released a lyric video for “Make You Mine”, a track from their brand new album, Second Sun, a bubbling-fresh selection of songs produced by Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees, REM, Queens of The Stone Age, Walking Papers), out now via UDR Music.

Buffalo Summer are the latest 'future legends' to sign with the home of legends, UDR Music. Proudly proclaiming that they 'bring the soul from the coal', Buffalo Summer bristle with the warm, rich old-school tones of groups such as Led Zeppelin, The Black Crowes, Jack White and Deep Purple, and their reputation as one of the most electric new live rock bands in Europe has seen them share gigs with the likes of Duff McKagan, Ugly Kid Joe, Soundgarden and Black Sabbath.

Tracklisting:

“Money”
“Heartbreakin' Floorshakin'”
“Make You Mine”
“Neverend”
“As High As The Pines”
“Light Of The Sun”
“Levitate”
“Into Your Head”
“Little Charles”
“Priscilla”
“Bird On A Wire”
“Water To Wine”

EPK:

Buffalo Summer is:

Andrew Hunt: Vocals
Johnny Williams: Guitar
Darren King: Bass
Gareth Hunt: Drums

(Photo - Buffalo Summer Facebook)

Ben Shepherd returned to his garage rock roots and assembled a group of musicians that became Hater, in Seattle, playing guitar alongside Soundgarden band mate, drummer Matt Cameron, as well as ex-Monster Magnet guitarist John McBain, Devilhead vocalist Brian Wood, brother of the late pre-grunge outfit Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, and fellow Devilhead bassist John Waterman. Their self-titled debut album was recorded in between Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger,1991, and, their Grammy Award winning album Superunknown,1994. Hater was released on A&M Records on September 21st, 1993, and is now being reissued on CD, and for the first time digitally and on vinyl, by UMe on July 15th.

Two singles, “Who Do I Kill?” and “Circles,” were released from the album, which also included a cover of Cat Stevens’ “Mona Bona Jakon”. Shepherd, McBain and Wood wrote the majority of the songs, with Cameron co-writing “Sad McBain” with Waterman. The album also features country songwriter Billy “Edd” Wheeler’s 1963 single, “Blistered”. Wheeler was most known for penning “Jackson”, a Grammy Award winner for Johnny Cash and June Carter.

The band contributed a song to the 1995 compilation album, Hempilation: Freedom Is NORML, to support marijuana legalization, with bassist Alan Davis joining Shepherd, Cameron and McBain. Hater recorded their second album, The 2nd, that same year following Soundgarden’s tour for Superunknown, but its release was delayed until 2005.

Hater disbanded in 1997, with Shepherd and McBain going on to play in the Desert Sessions with Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, and Cameron becoming Pearl Jam’s drummer.

Hater’s second album, The 2nd, was released in April, 2005, through indie label Burn Burn Burn. Shepherd recruited Broadcast Oblivion/Droo Church bassist Andrew Church, Void guitarist Bubba Dupree and Zen Guerilla drummer Andy Duvall to play shows supporting the album.

Tracklisting:

“Mona Bona Jakon”
“Who Do I Kill?”
“Tot Finder”
“Lion And Lamb”
“Roadside”
“Down Undershoe”
“Circles”
“Putrid”
“Blistered”
“Sad McBain”

 

 

Last year, A&M Records sued Rajan Parashar, co-founder of London Bridge Studios, claiming he wouldn't return the master tapes of the self-titled 1991 TEMPLE OF THE DOG album, which SOUNDGARDEN frontman Chris Cornell and drummer Matt Cameron recorded with members of PEARL JAM in 1990. Cornell sided with A&M Records, which said it bought the tapes in 1993, against Rajan Parashar, whose brother Rick produced the disc.

A&M and Rajan Parashar have finally come to an agreement, with Cornell tweeting a picture of the master tapes today along with the caption: "TEMPLE OF THE DOG masters returned today. History made a whole 25 years later!"

A&M reportedly intends to remaster the record for a 25th-anniversary deluxe reissue later this year.

The TEMPLE OF THE DOG album was recorded in 15 days as a tribute to late MOTHER LOVE BONE singer Andrew Wood. Cornell and Wood were roommates, while surviving MOTHER LOVE BONE members Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard formed the nucleus of PEARL JAM.

When A&M's lawsuit against Rajan Parashar was first filed, Cornell told the Associated Press, "A&M Records paid for the recordings and the use of the studio," and added that for Parashar "to pretend he has a right to keep the recordings makes no more sense than the owner of a laundromat claiming he owns the clothes you washed in his washing machine."

The former studio owner's attorney insisted the tapes belonged to Rajan, who said he was not a participant in the 1993 deal between his brother and the label. Rick Parashar died in 2014.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS will release their eleventh studio album, "The Getaway", on June 17 via Warner Bros. Records. The CD's title track can now be streamed below.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS frontman Anthony Kiedis said that the band scrapped at least two albums worth of songs and wrote new ones when it began working with producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton on "The Getaway". Speaking with Los Angeles radio station KROQ, Kiedis explained: "We had an unusually difficult experience making this record where we wrote 20 to 30 songs and it was all ready to go and we thought it was happening, and then Flea went snowboarding and broke his arm real bad."

Kiedis continued: "So we rethought everything and then we didn't have a producer and we were just sort of lost in space with all these songs… When all the dust settled, Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse, emerged and said, 'Let's go make a record.' We were, like, 'Great! We have all these songs,' and he was, like, 'Leave those there. Let's go write new songs in the studio.' So the process began over again."

Kiedis said that although Burton had listened to all the songs the band had already prepped, "He just wanted to see what would happen when we went into the studio and started something fresh." The singer admitted that there was "pushback" at the first to the idea, but added, "The only way we saw this working was to have trust in him and get rid of our old ideas and our old way of doing things."

"The Getaway" track listing:

01. The Getaway02. Dark Necessities03. We Turn Red04. The Longest Wave05. Goodbye Angels06. Sick Love07. Go Robot08. Feasting On The Flowers09. Detroit10. This Ticonderoga11. Encore12. The Hunter13. Dreams Of A Samurai

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS will perform at a variety of music festivals around the world this summer, including headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago on July 30.

Fan-filmed video footage of LACUNA COIL's May 25 performance at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, New York can be seen below.

LACUNA COIL's new album, "Delirium", will be released on May 27 through Century Media. The CD was recorded at BRX Studio in Milan between December 2015 and February 2016. The effort was produced by LACUNA COIL bassist and main songwriter Marco "Maki" Coti-Zelati, with engineering by Marco Barusso and additional assistance from Dario Valentini. Coti-Zelati also created the artwork for "Delirium", which is based on an atmospheric session captured by Italian photographer Alessandro Olgiati.

Speaking about the heavier musical direction of"Delirium" compared to some of the recent LACUNA COIL records, vocalist Cristina Scabbia told Planetmosh: "We already had the feeling that this would be a much heavier record, just because we… You see it, when you start to write music, to put down the new compositions, you kind of see the general direction. Of course, everything can change, but at the very beginning, we started to work on something more heavy. And plus, we just realized that even during the live shows, we were enjoying much more to perform the most energetic songs out of the LACUNA COIL catalog. So we definitely wanted to do something different, not only compared to the previous records we did — at least the last ones — but we wanted to do something pretty different from the bands that, in our genre, were doing, in a way, because maybe fans and press, whatever, people were expecting us to go softer and maybe more into a rock direction while we went the other way around and made it heavy. I'm happy that this record is surprising a lot of people — really happy — 'cause that's kind of the reaction that we were hoping for."

Added singer Andrea Ferro: "That's also one of the reasons why we opened the record with a song like 'The House Of Shame', which is one of the heaviest songs of the record. We really wanted people to say, 'What is this? Is it LACUNA COIL really?' That's exactly the effect that we wanted. We wanted this record to be just another record, just because we have to put it out. We wanted it to be something that said, 'Okay, this is LACUNA COIL in 2016, opening a new chapter in their career and just showing that they're still interested in experimenting with their music,' and going places we haven't been so far."

On the topic of the "Delirium" album title, Cristina said: "The title came from… It actually came out while we were working on the 'Delirium' song; there's a song on the record that has the same title. And while we were working on music and lyrics at the same time, this word popped out and came out and opened a lot of doors, and we started to think about the whole Universe. We thought about the overall idea, we thought about the location, we imagined this asylum, this fictional asylum based on a real abandoned asylum that we visited. So it really came out during the songwriting. It's something that came out in such a weird way, because it really, really let it all start."

Added Andrea: "Basically, once we found the word, we thought about connecting the concept of the record, the concept of the mental illness with the smaller topic of everyday craziness — the craziness you experience personally every day in real life. Some of us went through some depression, some other people had some family problem that forced them to experience a different moment in their life. And so we played with the symptoms and we did a bit of research about the characteristics of each mental illness and then drag it into this concept, which is we imagined a sanitorium, a LACUNA COIL sanitorium, like the record, basically, and every song is like a room of the sanitorium where a patient is facing a different kind of illness. So, for example, in the song 'You Love Me 'Cause I Hate You', we took inspiration from the Stockholm Syndrome, which is when you fall in love with a person that is keeping you prisoner. But, of course, we've never been kept prisoners, so the real story is about a love story, a relationship where you are imprisoned, and even if you know it's very toxic for you, you can't get out of it, because you think it's the right thing, so you try everything possible to save it, to make it work, although you know it's not gonna happen. So this is the kind of metaphors we've been using once we found the concept, basically."

LACUNA COIL has recruited Diego Cavallotti as a fill-in guitarist for the band following the recent departure of Marco "Maus" Biazzi.

Biazzi left LACUNA COIL in January, explaining in a statement: "I felt I couldn't add more in this project any longer so I decided to leave my second family, LACUNA COIL, to take a different path for a new challenge in my life.

Fan-filmed video footage of DEVILDRIVER's May 25 performance at Warehouse Live in Houston, Texas can be seen below.

DEVILDRIVER's seventh studio album, "Trust No One", entered The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 43 with first-week sales of just over 12,000 units — nearly all from pure album sales. The set follows the No. 32-peaking "Winter Kills", which was released in August 2013 and opened with 11,000 copies.

"Trust No One" was released on May 13 via Napalm Records. The CD was once again produced by Mark Lewis (ARSIS, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, WHITECHAPEL, DEVILDRIVER, DEICIDE, SIX FEET UNDER) with assistance from Jason Suecof (AUGUST BURNS RED, DEICIDE, DEATH ANGEL). The new effort marks the group's first release since the departures of guitarist Jeff Kendrick and drummer John Boecklin and addition of axeman Neal Tiemann and former CHIMAIRA sticksman Austin D'Amond. Said frontman Dez Fafara: "'Trust No One' is a vicious record filled with huge grooves and big hooks, guitar bass assery and thundering drums! Lyrically it goes to a realistic space exploring a ton of different emotion and headspaces regarding being human and what it means to exist. The band worked long hours writing as well as in the studio along with our producer to forge 'Trust No One'! I hope you turn it the fuck up and enjoy this record from start to finish!"

Added Spreitzer: "'Trust No One' is the record that I’ve been wanting to write for twelve years."

DEVILDRIVER has tapped former WAYNE STATIC guitarist Diego Ibarra (a.k.a. Ashes) to play bass on its tour in support of "Trust No One".

Ibarra joined DEVILDRIVER as the replacement for former BURY YOUR DEAD guitarist Chris Towning, who appeared on "Winter Kills".

Boecklin and Kendrick played their last show with DEVILDRIVER as part of the 2014 Knotfest in Devore, California.

Finnish cult black metal outfit Baptism are streaming "The Sacrament Of Blood and Ash", the first track taken from their forthcoming full-length, V: The Devil's Fire.

Regarding the track, Lord Sargofagian comments on behalf of Baptism: "Simply put, in order to rise above we must overcome our lesser and mundane self. If we succeed in this act, time and time again, the blood of this offering will water the roots of the tree which is known as our spiritual development. The lyrics for this song were written based on my ideas by Gorath Moonthorn. Three more long-time friends are featured on this album as well and we are joined for this first preview by our brother Mikko Kotamäki from Swallow The Sun, whose voice fits the chorus perfectly."

Baptism have also revealed the artwork and tracklisting for V: The Devil's Fire. The details can be found below:

"Natus Ex Ignis"
"Satananda"
"The Sacrament Of Blood And Ash"
"Devil’s Fire"
"Abyss"
"Cold Eternity"
"Malignant Shadows"
"Buried With Him"

Norwegian extreme metal titans Ancient will blast the mainstage of UTBS (Under The Black Sun) Festival in Börnicke, Germany, on July 2nd. Due to touring commitments with Brujeria, the band's drummer, Nick Barker, is unable to play the festival. Ancient has announced that he will be replaced by drummer Jonathan Garofoli (pictured below), known from his performances with Melechesh, Naer Mataron and many others.

Ancient frontman Zel comments: "We are very lucky to have found Jonathan to play with us, not many can dare to try filling in the shoes of Nick Barker, but this guy kicks some serious ass!"

Jonathan comments: "Sometimes life is sweetly tricky, one day you're listening to an album of a band you like and after years you're playing with that band! Should sound kinda crazy but it's not, actually is what happened to me right now since I got the proposal from Ancient to get the role to step behind the kit to play at Under The Black Sun Festival 2016! To me it's a true honor to have been recruited by such a respectful and historical ensemble like Ancient, I'm pretty sure our collaboration will create and establish some real musical magic!"

 

 

Sliptrick Records has announced the signing of death/thrash metallers, Chugan.

Chugun was forged in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2010. The word "Chugun" means Cast Iron in Russian, which describes exactly the blunt aggression of their music, combining the speed of old school thrash/death metal with the grooves of modern metal.

The band released their debut album, entitled Virus, in 2015 and it got a warm reception and positive reviews from bloggers and webzines worldwide.

Current lineup:

Denise Jani Sizov (Vocals)
Timur Sizov (Guitar)
Yahel Goldshtein (Drums)
Alexey “Hobbit” Saprikin (Bass)

Blistering anarchist black metal unit, Iskra, has teamed up with Southern Lord for the CD release of their latest LP, Ruins. Approaching the most fearsome of all genres from a foundation in filthy metallic crust, Iskra has skillfully created an old school orthodox epic that their extensive back catalog has always been working towards, and in Ruins is executed in sublime, scathing style.

The Canadian collective, almost two decades into their journey as Iskra, stands out as staunch advocates of anarchism, and reject all forms of oppressive mainstream ideologies such as communism, fascism and democracy. To underline this, they coined their unification of extreme punk anger and black metal sonics "anarchist metal," separating themselves from other acts deemed as "extreme" or "radical" but lacking conviction or real menace. It is certainly evident in their vitriolic offensives that they mean business, but most impressive is the sharp, refined songcraft that makes Ruins a compelling black metal record regardless of your political (dis)orientation. The constantly shifting tremolo riffs and blasting drums are some of the most devastating and aggressive you will hear, and fans of Absu and early Immortal will find plenty to enjoy - Iskra exerts overwhelming levels of energy and brutality in Ruins, outpacing and outwitting the vast majority.

Iskra have toured across scores of countries with countless acts operating in various subsects of underground punk and metal, and have built up a fearsome international reputation, demonstrated by their heavy patch presence on the battle jackets of the true. A wealth of DIY and independent label releases trails behind them, with numerous albums, splits and demos all available to download for free from their website in accordance with their principles.

Southern Lord will issue Iskra's Ruins on digipak CD including a twenty-page booklet with lyrics and liner notes on July 1st.

Ruins tracklisting:

“Lawless”
“Ruins”
“Predator Drone MQ-1”
“Traume”
“Nihil”
“Illegal”
“Aegis Of The Victor”
“Der Einzige”
“Lebensraum”
“Battle Of One Hundred Slain”
“Masqueraders Of Fraud”
“Thieves Of Life”
“Privileged Morality”

Iskra also proudly announces the Anarchy Attack... Canadian Destruction (Storming The Atlantic) Summer Tour of Canada, their first major tour of Canada since 2004. This tour will mark the band's first coast to coast tour of the country and includes five days in the maritime provinces. The tour also features appearances at the legendary Spider Fest (formerly Spider Acres) in Meyersburg, Ontario and Evil Fest in Sainte-Angele-de-Merici, Quebec. The band's full live itinerary will be announced in the days ahead.

Mondoscuro will be the title of the new EP featuring Cadaveria and Necrodeath, currently in the studio together to complete the mix of what promises to be the most diabolically unusual release of 2016.

The title refers to the cinematographic genre “mondo film" of explicit documentaries, born in the 60s and depicting sensational, bloody and shocking scenes. Mondoscuro also clearly recalls Mondocane project, the legendary collaboration of Necrodeath and Schizo from which the album Mondocane: Project One was born in 1989.

Mondoscuro will not be a normal split, but a joint partnership that will see the two bands interacting strongly, through a tracklisting that alternates new songs to covers and that will include many identity exchanges. The EP will be released in a few months via Black Tears Of Death. Stay tuned for more details/

 

Formed in early-2015 by members of Endstille and Dysangelium, Germany's Kommando have scheduled June 13th as the official release date for their self-released record, Distroyer/Iron Goat Triumph.

Mixing elements of d-beat and crust punk with the harsh sound of black and death metal, Kommando’s mission is to bring violence back to today's music and to bend the borders of the aforementioned genres in a way nobody did before, while calling it machinegun punk.

Tracklisting:

“Machinegvn Pvnk”
“Vntitled”
“IndoctriNation”
“Old And In The Way”
“Crvsh Them To Death”
“Iron Goat Triumph”
“Bitching Hour”
“Kommandojugend”
“Alle Gegen Alle”

The official MEGADETH webstore is now selling "Mustaine For President" t-shirts along with "Making Metal Great Again" hats.

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was asked by Vanyaland if he thinks someone like controversial Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump actually has a chance at becoming president. He responded: "Of course — anybody does." He added: "I'm not going to go on record and say that I support anybody, because I don't, but first off, I think it's sad that whatever choice you make that you're gonna be ostracized and perhaps even worse. But even if I did pick somebody, it shouldn't matter; it should matter what a person decides. They should have their own truth."

He continued: "I think personally, make all politicians work for free, and then you'll really see who loves America. Because these dudes get paid for the rest of their lives, who's not gonna say whatever the hell they have to say to get a job there? And the sad thing is there's these beautiful young minds that are out there doing caucusing and rallying for these guys, and they don't understand the whole delegate thing yet. I remember when I was young and dumb and I thought that it was really, really gonna be down to the popular vote. Then somebody explained to me about the delegates and it was, like, 'What are you talking about?'"

Mustaine made headlines in early 2012 when he voiced his support for ultraconservative Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. He explained at the time that the Pennsylvania politician looked "like he could be a really cool president… kind of like a JFK kind of guy." That same year, he drew ire on social media when he suggested onstage at a concert in Singapore that President Obama was behind the mass shootings in Aurora and at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

Mustaine later blamed media outlets for taking his statements out of context, explaining that never said he officially "endorsed" Santorum. As for the Singapore concert, he claimed to have been repeating the theories of Larry Pratt, a pro-gun activist who runs the organization Gun Owners Of America.

Also in 2012, Mustaine revealed his "birther" opinions on a talk show, saying he doubted President Obama was born in the United States. He told radio host Alex Jones: "With all of the proof about his birth certificate being fake… And you see the signs in Kenya that say 'the birthplace of Barack Obama.' Hello?! C'mon, guys. How stupid are we right now?"

Mustaine has consistently denied that he is a Republican, telling Artisan News in a 2012 interview: "I'm an independent, not a Republican — I've never been a Republican. I've always said that. I don't belong to any party — I'm non-partisan. And for me, the sad thing is, instead of voting for the best man, I have to vote for the lesser of two evils."

Former MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza's death was caused by cardiovascular disease, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner said.

Nick collapsed after suffering a heart attack during the third song of OHM:'s set on May 21 at The Baked Potato in Studio City, California and was pronounced dead upon arrival at hospital. He was 51 years old.

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

Menza had reportedly dabbled with drugs in the earlier part of his career but had been completely sober for eight years.

One person who was present at The Baked Potato Saturday night told BLABBERMOUTH.NET: "It appeared to be a seizure but [Nick] stopped breathing. Two patrons took over and began CPR until EMS arrived. EMS worked on him for 25-plus minutes, including adrenaline shots, three shocks and non-stop compressions."

Menza joined MEGADETH for the 1989 recording "Rust In Peace" and for the next nine years became associated with the band's "classic" and most profitable era.

In addition to Menza, OHM: featured another ex-MEGADETH member, guitarist Chris Poland.

Menza hooked up with OHM: last year after the passing of the band's previous drummer, David Eagle, who suffered a heart attack and had open-heart surgery in May 2015.

Last week, it was announced that Nick would unveil an art collection crafted from the new medium of "rhythm-on-canvas" on June 16. That unveiling has now been postponed to an as-yet-undetermined date.

Menza had been working with art team and publisher SceneFour on the collection titled "Rhythm Hits The Wall".

DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci recently took part in The Rock Reel's "Stronger Than All" challenge. He was asked to hold a five-kilogram solid steel hammer with his arm stretched out to the fullest and hold it as long as he could. You can now watch the results below.

Petrucci has in the past compared weight lifting to playing guitar. He has said: "When it comes to the discipline of practicing, there isn't a better parallel to the guitar than working out with weights. In both cases, you have to embark on a systemic, consistent practice regimen over a fairly long period of time in order to see any progress. There's a lot of mindless, repetitive work that initially doesn't seem to lead to anywhere. But then, when you least expect it (or are ready to throw in the towel), you make a breakthrough and reach the next plateau; only to have to start the painful process all over again. The bottom line is, you have to be mentally tough and really see yourself achieving your objectives to go through all the physical discomfort and mental tedium."

DREAM THEATER's latest concept album, "The Astonishing", was released on January 29 via Roadrunner. The CD was recorded at Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove, New York, with John Petrucci producing, studio luminary Richard Chycki (AEROSMITH, RUSH) engineering/mixing and legendary arranger, composer and conductor David Campbell orchestrating.

Legendary heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne returned to his native Birmingham, England earlier today (Thursday, May 26) to launch a new tram named after him.

The BLACK SABBATH frontman was on hand for the official ceremony at the new tram stop on Corporation Street in Birmingham, where he was born and raised.

He told the crowd: "It's great to be here. Thank you very much.

"We never thought when we started in 1968 that we'd be here. It's been an incredible journey."

Asked how he felt to return to his home city, he said: "Once a Brummie, always a Brummie."

Trams returned to Birmingham last December after a 60-year absence.

The tram-naming ceremony was organized by Centro, the delivery arm of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority (ITA).

Ozzy and BLACK SABBATH, which formed in Birmingham, resume their farewell tour on June 1 in Budapest, Hungary.

AC/DC guitarist Angus Young says that no decisions have been made yet regarding the band's future after the completion of its current tour featuring Axl Rose on vocals.

The legendary Australian rock band postponed the last ten dates of its recent North American tour after doctors told singer Brian Johnson he faced "total hearing loss." AC/DC has since announced that it will use the GUNS N' ROSES frontman as a "guest vocalist" for all remaining shows this year, with Johnson apparently not returning to the band at all.

Speaking to Germany's NDR.de earlier this week, Angus stated about Axl's performance with AC/DC thus far: "He's doing very well, and it's very good that… I mean, under the situation that we had, it was very good that he volunteered and said, 'Hey, if I can help, let me try.' So he's been very good. And he had to learn a lot of songs very quickly, and he's done a great job."

Rose made his live debut with AC/DC on May 7 in Lisbon, Portugal, and by all accounts delivered a triumphant vocal performance as fill-in for Johnson even if he was still confined to a chair onstage due to the broken foot he suffered during a GUNS show last month.

AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams told NDR.de: "[Axl has] done a fabulous job. And he's almost out of his chair now. He's mobile, and he's enjoying himself. It's been really good."

Added Angus: "His leg's repairing, so each show we've been doing he's been getting up and moving around a lot more. So it adds more to the show."

Asked about AC/DC's future plans beyond the current European tour and the upcoming North American dates, Angus said: "We were committed to finishing this tour, so that's been our main goal, and Axl helping us. I know he's very excited; he keeps saying, can he do more? But we don't really know at the end how we will [go from here]. But we wanna get this tour, which we were committed to doing, we wanna finish it."

During an interview with BBC 6 Music's Matt Everitt, Rose stated about his plans with AC/DC after the European shows: "There's makeup dates in the States, and if I don't get throw out before then, I'm looking forward to doing [them]. I think after that, it's about what they wanna do. I'm in if they want me in, and we'll sort it out, but right now that's getting ahead of ourselves with everything else that's on the table."

According to a Billboard.com source, Rose initially met with AC/DC members in Miami and Atlanta back in March. It was then that the decision was made to have Rose join AC/DC on tour. There was also talk of having other singers alternate with Rose, including ex-SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach and Nic Cester of the Australian band JET.

Swedish occult rockers GHOST have completed work on a new EP for a fall release via Loma Vista. The effort, which consists primarily of covers, was helmed by English producer Tom Dalgety, who has previously worked with ROYAL BLOOD and KILLING JOKE, among others.

Asked why GHOST chose to release another EP instead of returning to the studio to begin work on a full-length follow-up to last year's "Meliora", A Nameless Ghould told the KATT Rock 100.5 podcast "No Brown M&Ms" (hear audio below): "Because when we do a new record, we need a new Papa [Editor's note: In a parody of the Catholic Church's tradition of papal succession, GHOST singer Papa Emeritus is purportedly replaced by a new Papa for each GHOST album.] and then we're gonna change eras. We needed more time to… Because this era, especially visually, I think that… I'm not gonna throw stones at the show that we're doing right now, but this was definitely a baby format of what I had in mind. On an ideal night, at a big theater, it looks okay; I mean, it's cool [and] it maximizes the thing that we're doing. But I felt that we really need another chance to show what we can do if we have a bigger production on this cycle."

He continued: "Obviously, we're still a band [that is] growing… Fortunately, sometimes it's a growing pain of not… As far as we know, we haven't really peaked yet, and this tour is bigger than the previous tour in many ways, and the tour that we're gonna do in the fall that we haven't announced, so we can't say it yet, but it's gonna be even bigger — bigger venues, more dates and all over the place. So it's useful when you're growing during an album cycle to sort of put in an extra gear into it, with a new EP and sort of revamp the whole thing, still being thematically the same thing."

Regarding why GHOST wanted to record another EP of covers after releasing "If You Have Ghost" in 2013, the Nameless Ghoul said: "It's just a good way to… It's a little bit recreational in a way. It's also a good way for us to incorporate elements… I think it was, in a way, more important when we did 'If You Have Ghost', because at that point we just had almost two albums done, and we wanted more different types of seasoning to be put into our dish in order to make it interesting. It's also now… It sort of serves a little bit like… Yeah, if you hear the EP, don't think that, 'Oh, the next album is gonna sound exactly like this,' but that is a good way for us to sneak in elements that are, like, you might hear a synth sound like this on the next record, but not as evident. So where 'If You Have Ghosts' [the Roky Erickson cover which was included on 'If You have Ghost'] was definitely a new dimension of pop-rock that we hadn't really done before. I mean, it's sort of closer to R.E.M. than it is BLACK SABBATH. We're not doing the same thing this time, but we're doing something else in order to get people to feel comfortable with [the direction of the next album]."

In addition to the Roky Erickson cover "If You Have Ghosts", "If You Have Ghost" featured versions of songs that were originally recorded by ABBA, ARMY OF LOVERS and DEPECHE MODE.

GHOST won the Grammy for "Best Metal Performance" during the pre-telecast ceremony at the 58th annual Grammy Awards. GHOST was nominated for the song "Cirice" from "Meliora".

"Cirice" recently reached the Top 10 at rock radio, the first song from the band to get significant airplay in the U.S.

Sensory Records has locked the summer release date for Machina Viva, the vast fifth studio album from leading Swedish progressive metal outfit, Wolverine. The band has released a video for the track “Our Last Goodbye“, which can be seen below.

Recorded and produced by Wolverine in various locations throughout Sweden during the fall and winter months of late 2015 and early 2016, Machina Viva was mixed at Spacelab Studio in Germany by Christian "Moschus" Moos (Everon, Haken, Delain, Cloverseeds), and mastered by Grammy Award winning audio engineer Bob Katz.

A natural progression from the band's previous album, Communication Lost, released in 2011 via Candlelight Records, Machina Viva invites the listener into the harmonious yet portentous and sullen musical dimensions of Wolverine with perhaps their most dynamic album to date. From the fourteen-minute epic and powerful "The Bedlam Overture" and the dark electronic landscapes of "Machina," to the naked and organic nature of "Pile Of Ash" and "Sheds," Machina Viva is the next step in Wolverine's explorations in the progressive field. The layout features microbiological photos by Arturo Agostino and cover art by drummer Marcus Losbjer. Additionally, the CD edition will bear an additional bonus cello version of "Pile Of Ash”.

Wolverine's first title for the Sensory Records division of US progressive powerhouse Laser's Edge, Machina Viva will see worldwide release on July 8th. Additional video and audio samples of the album will be issued over the weeks ahead.

Tracklisting:

“The Bedlam Overture”
“Machina”
“Pile Of Ash” (ES335 version)
“Our Last Goodbye”
“Pledge”
“When The Night Comes”
“Nemesis”
“Sheds”
“Pile Of Ash” (cello version) *

* bonus track

“Our Last Goodbye” video:

"Machina" video:

Trailer:

(Photo - Mattias Wigforss)

Decapitated have released an official live video for “Blood Mantra”, the title track of their latest album. The footage was shot during the band’s March UK tour with Sylosis. Watch below:

Decapitated played an exclusive session for Last.fm when they were in the UK recently, and you can watch “The Blasphemous Psalm To The Dummy God Creation” from that session below”

In support of their recent European tour with Heart Of A Coward, Decapitated released an official video for their track “Veins”. The unique animated video was created by Polish based animator / concept artist Łukasz Rusinek and depicts an apocalyptic universe featuring droids and feuding superpowers. Watch the video below.

Łukasz commented on the video: "Animation is an area extremely time-consuming and the fact that I work alone only adds to the sad fact that, especially during complex productions such as the video for the song 'Veins' by Decapitated, my little ones await their father to come back home in the evenings in vain and my newlywed wife withers at the window longing to see me. Despite these minor inconveniences, I do not complain because I love to combine sound with vision.  On most occasions I prepare scripts myself.  And so it was this time. I came up with a short story with the apocalypse in the background, set in a slightly imaginary universe in which droids fight on battlefields instead of humans, intelligence cells of feuding superpowers plot their rise to power, and the relics of the Cold War keep waiting for someone to finally press that 'damn button'. Enjoy."