Machine Head performed at the Graspop Metal Meeting 2024 in Dessel, Belgium on June 23rd. Pro-shot video of the band's entire show can be viewed below.


Setlist:


"Imperium"
"Ten Ton Hammer"
"Choke On The Ashes Of Your Hate"
"Now We Die"
"Is There Anybody Out There?"
"Locust"
"The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears"
"No Gos, No Masters"
- guitar solo -
"Darkness Within"
"Bulldozer"
"From This Day"
"Davidian"
"Halo"







Machine Head's European summer festival schedule is as follows: 


June
26 – Viveiro, Spain – Resurrection Festival
28 – Clisson, France – Hellfest
29 – Lisbon, Portugal – Evil Live Festival


July
4 – Athens, Greece – Rockwave Nights


Find additional information and tickets at machinehead1.com.

Québec black metal horde, Spectral Wound, is pleased to reveal that their fourth studio album, Songs Of Blood And Mire, will be released on August 23 via Profound Lore Records.


To celebrate this revelation, the band is now unleashing the visceral first single from the offering, "Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal". Listen to the track below.


Pre-orders are now live, here. The cover artwork was created by Spectral Wound and can be found below along with the tracklisting.







Songs Of Blood And Mire tracklisting:


"Fevers And Suffering"
"At Wine-Dark Midnight In Mouldering Halls"
"Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal"
"The Horn Marauding"
"Less And Less Human, O Savage Spirit"
"A Coin Upon The Tongue"
"Twelve Moons In Hell"


"Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal":





Spectral Wound play black metal. Furious and visceral, untrammelled by esoteric posture or grasping idealism. It is music for the poisoned, the futile, the debauched and profane. The blooming of a flower of corruption, torn by cold winds.


Following the raw early offering of Terra Nullius (Arcane Angels/Out of Season 2015) Spectral Wound continued their path of creeping, opulent decay and searing melody, weaving strands of Métal noir Québécois with the weft of the Scandinavian canon. Refining its sound over Infernal Decadence (Vendetta, 2018) and the towering, exultant melancholy of A Diabolic Thirst (Profound Lore, 2021), with Songs Of Blood and Mire (Profound Lore 2024) the band delivers an elegy of the void, seething with the venom and clamour of an ever-emptying world.


The album was recorded and mixed by Patrick McDowall (Guitarist in Spectral Wound) at his studio Black Gate and mastered by James Plotkin.


Lineup:


Jonah - vocals
Illusory - drums
Patrick - guitars
Sam - bass
A.A. - guitars


(Photo - Ben Zodiazepin)

SLIPKNOT's new drummer Eloy Casagrande has shared a drum-cam video of him performing the song "The Heretic Anthem" with his bandmates during one of their recent festival appearances. Check it out below.

In a recent interview with Tone-Talk, SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root spoke about how Casagrande came to join SLIPKNOT and his impact on the band's overall sound. He said: "We didn't even try anybody else. Eloy's name came up. He contacted us, actually, about wanting to be a part of it and started sending a bunch of videos in. I think him and our bass player [Alessandro 'Vman' Venturella] might've had a little bit of a relationship before. I think they knew each other. They had mutual friends. And Vman's really in tune with a lot of really great, proggy, heavy musicians that are passionate about their instruments. And it just seemed like a no-brainer. And he's really respectful of the legacy of [SLIPKNOT's original drummer, the late] Joey [Jordison], and Joey was a huge influence on him. And he's so humble. The dude has so much humility. And you could tell he just lives and breathes his craft, to the point where I see his passion and it ignites my passion for my instrument. And Brazilians, South Americans in general, are so passionate about what they do. Our manager told me, he was out to dinner with four or five promoters from South America, and they were all really stoked. They're all, like, 'It's so good you've got a Brazilian drummer in SLIPKNOT now. We kind of feel like we've won the World Cup.' It's a cool feeling. And God, he just fits in so well. I don't know, man. I mean, there's a lot of things I can say about it. I'm just glad it happened when it did. And we're lucky to have him — we are really lucky to have that dude."

For its 2024 gigs so far, SLIPKNOT adopted a classic look, bringing back the 1999 red jumpsuits and elements of their early masks into their modern versions, tying into the fact that SLIPKNOT is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

After parting ways with Jay Weinberg last November, SLIPKNOT teased fans with a hint about a new drummer more than two months ago, posting a photo of a single broken drumstick online with the caption "Rehearsal."

The band explained in a statement that the split with Weinberg was a creative decision. Jay followed up with a statement of his own, saying that he was "heartbroken and blindsided" by his dismissal.

Weinberg has since joined SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and INFECTIOUS GROOVES.

Casagrande abruptly quit SEPULTURA three and a half months ago, shortly before he was supposed to begin rehearsals for the band's recently launched 40th-anniversary farewell tour.

"February 6th, a few days prior to the first rehearsal, drummer Eloy Casagrande informed the band that he was leaving SEPULTURA to pursue a career in another project," the band said in a statement.

Casagrande joined SEPULTURA nearly 13 years ago as the replacement for Jean Dolabella.

SLIPKNOT's latest album "The End, So Far", arrived in August 2022. It marked the band's the last full-length LP before the departure of both keyboardist Craig Jones, who left the group in June 2023, and Weinberg.

SLIPKNOT recently announced the North American portion of the "Here Comes The Pain" tour. The band is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its seminal debut album, "Slipknot", which catapulted the band back in 1999.

In addition to recently announced dates across the globe, the "Here Comes The Pain" tour, produced by Live Nation, includes arena plays nationwide this summer. Highlights include New York City's Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles's Intuit Dome, Austin's Moody Center and more with direct support from Kentucky's young and vibrant hardcore/metal forerunners KNOCKED LOOSE. ORBIT CULTURE and VENDED are confirmed as support on select dates.

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A post shared by Eloy Casagrande (@eloycasagrande)

Fan-filmed video of AC/DC's June 23 concert at Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna, Austria can be seen below.

The setlist for the show was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
02. Back In Black
03. Demon Fire
04. Shot Down In Flames
05. Thunderstruck
06. Have A Drink On Me
07. Hells Bells
08. Shot In The Dark
09. Stiff Upper Lip
10. Shoot To Thrill
11. Sin City
12. Rock 'N' Roll Train
13. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
14. High Voltage
15. Riff Raff
16. You Shook Me All Night Long
17. Highway To Hell
18. Whole Lotta Rosie
19. Let There Be Rock

Encore:

20. T.N.T.
21. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

The "Power Up" European tour marks AC/DC's first with the band's new touring lineup consisting of singer Brian Johnson, guitarists Angus and Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and the latest addition to the group's touring lineup, bassist Chris Chaney.

The 24-date trek will run through August. The trek will hit Germany, Austria and Switzerland before landing at London's Wembley Stadium for a pair of shows on July 3 and 7, then moving on to Germany, Slovakia and Paris and winding down at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland. The European tour is the first run of gigs since AC/DC's return to the stage at last year's rock Power Trip festival in Indio, California.

AC/DC's last tour took place in 2015 and 2016 and had a $180 million gross, with 2,310,061 sold tickets reported to the Pollstar box office.

Laug is an American drummer who has played with many bands/artists such as Alanis Morissette, Alice Cooper, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT and Vasco Rossi. Matt moved to Los Angeles after graduating from South Florence High School in 1986 and after attending college in L.A., Matt became a sought-after studio drummer.

In 2001, Laug supported AC/DC as part of SLASH'S SNAKEPIT on the North American and European legs of the "Stiff Upper Lip" tour.

In its announcement about Laug's addition to the band's Power Trip lineup, AC/DC offered no explanation for the absence of the band's longtime drummer Phil Rudd, who rejoined AC/DC for the recording of the group's comeback album, "Power Up", which came out in November 2020.

Rudd was ousted from AC/DC when he was sentenced to eight months of home detention by a New Zealand court in 2015 after pleading guilty to charges of threatening to kill and drug possession. He was replaced on the band's "Rock Or Bust" tour by Chris Slade, who had previously served as AC/DC's drummer between 1989 and 1994, playing on the album "The Razor's Edge".

Rudd, who appeared on all but three of AC/DC's 18 previous studio albums, toured in support of his 2014 solo debut, "Head Job". It was the release of that album that led indirectly to Rudd's arrest, with the drummer allegedly so angry at a personal assistant over the way the record was promoted that he threatened to have the man and his daughter killed.

AC/DC postponed the last 10 dates of its spring 2016 North American trek after Johnson was advised to stop playing live or "risk total hearing loss." The band went on to complete the European and North American legs of its "Rock Or Bust" tour with GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose as a "guest vocalist." At the time, Johnson had been AC/DC's singer for 36 years, ever since replacing the late Bon Scott in 1980 and making his debut on the classic "Back In Black" album.

To enable him to perform live with AC/DC again, the now-76-year-old Johnson worked with audio expert Stephen Ambrose, who said he could help resolve the singer's hearing problems.

Ambrose, who invented the wireless in-ear monitors that are widely used by touring artists today, claimed to have invented a new type of ear-bud that would allow Johnson to perform without causing further damage to his eardrums. After three years of experimenting and "miniaturizing" the equipment, Johnson previously said the technology could allow him to tour again.

Chaney is best known as the bassist of JANE'S ADDICTION and as a member of Alanis Morissette's touring and recording band. Chaney was also a member of TAYLOR HAWKINS AND THE COATTAIL RIDERS and CAMP FREDDY, as well as being a prolific and versatile session musician, having played with artists including Joe Cocker, Shakira, Slash and Avril Lavigne to Sara Bareilles, Gavin Degraw, Cher, SHINEDOWN and Celine Dion. Chaney is also a founding member and partner in the all-star supergroup ROYAL MACHINES along with Dave Navarro (JANE'S ADDICTION),Mark McGrath (SUGAR RAY),Josh Freese (FOO FIGHTERS) and Billy Morrison (BILLY IDOL).

Bassist Cliff Williams announced his retirement at the end of AC/DC's 2015-2016 "Rock Or Bust" tour, which also saw Johnson leaving. However, Williams — and Johnson — took part in the recording sessions that resulted in "Power Up". Both of them were also part of the AC/DC lineup that performed at Power Trip.

During an October 2020 interview with Dean Delray's "Let There Be Talk" podcast, Cliff was asked if Johnson's departure from the road was what led to his desire to stop touring. Cliff responded: "It was before then. I spoke to Angus about it initially. I was at a point — and this is at the beginning of the 'Rock Or Bust' tour — that I just felt, for me, it was time to hang it up. I knew that I didn't wanna keep doing these two-year tours, and I didn't wanna hold them back, so I made them aware of the fact that this was gonna be my last go-round. It was a tough tour to finish. God bless Axl for coming in and helping us out, finish it up. He did a great job. And at the end of that, I was definitely — that was it for me. Done — just done. That compounded the whole thing."

According to Williams, he wanted to take part in the recording sessions for "Power Up" as a tribute to Angus's late brother, founding AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, who died in 2017 from effects of dementia at age 64. Malcolm is credited as a writer on all 12 tracks on "Power Up".

"If 'Back In Black' has [late AC/DC singer] Bon Scott all over it, for me, 'Power Up' has got Malcolm Young," Cliff said. "This is for him. And it's the band that we played together with for 40-plus years. And I wanted to do that — I wanted to come back and do that.

"We did some rehearsals earlier [in 2020] before this darn COVID thing popped up, and we had great rehearsals," he continued. "The band was playing really well. So [they asked me], 'Do you wanna do a few shows? 'Sure'. A few shows. We were planning on doing that. Everyone goes home to their respective homes, and bang, we've been here ever since [because of the coronavirus-related shutdown]."

Cliff went on to confirm that his commitment to AC/DC was only for "a few" dates in support of "Power Up".

"For both [my mental and physical] health," he said. "I definitely have some physical issues, which I won't bore you with the details of. But, yeah, it's tough. I'm very grateful for everything. It's been fantastic. But I just don't wanna do that anymore."

Williams previously revealed that a "terrible" bout with vertigo contributed to his 2016 retirement. He also admitted the return of both Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd convinced him to rejoin the group. "It was like the old band back together," he told Rolling Stone. "It was not like starting over again, but as close to the band that's been together for 40-plus years as we can possibly make it. I didn't want to miss that."

The follow-up to 2014's "Rock Or Bust", "Power Up" was recorded over a six-week period in August and September 2018 at Warehouse Studios in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien, who also worked 2008's "Black Ice" and "Rock Or Bust".

DOWN played the second of two Louisiana "pop-up" shows last Friday night (June 21) at Varsity Theatre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Fan-filmed video of the concert is available below (courtesy of Adam Lancaster YouTube channel)

The band's setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. Eyes Of The South
02. Pillars Of Eternity
03. Lifer
04. Hail The Leaf
05. Temptation's Wings
06. Underneath Everything
07. There's Something On My Side
08. Losing All
09. Rehab
10. Swan Song
11. New Orleans Is A Dying Whore
12. Stone The Crow
13. Bury Me In Smoke

DOWN announced two pop-up shows for last week in Louisiana after the band's previously announced concert in Mescalero, New Mexico was postponed due to a pair of rapidly growing wildfires which are converging on a village inside a tribal reservation in the state.

The long-running heavy metal supergroup, which features vocalist Philip H. Anselmo, guitarists Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein, drummer Jimmy Bower and bassist Pat Bruders, was supposed to perform on Thursday, June 20 at Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort And Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico. But the show was called off after thousands of residents in southern New Mexico were ordered to evacuate their homes and the fires prompted the partial closure of U.S. Highway 70 south of the village of Ruidoso.

The South Fork Fire started Monday on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, where president Thora Walsh Padilla declared a state of emergency.

$5 per ticket from each of the DOWN pop-up shows will go to Mescalero Apache Nation - South Fork Fire relief fund.

In a video message announced the pop-shows, Keenan said: "Hey, guys, this is DOWN. We're in a strange predicament right now and we were adapting by the minute as we talk here. But our show at the Inn Of The Mountain Gods clearly has been canceled because there's a horrific wildfire that is raging through the entire Apache reservation, the South Fork fire. So we have had to adapt and jump ship and try and figure another way to not only to not — postpone the show, but now we're trying to also help out as what we can. And being from Louisiana, we know how evil Mother Nature can be sometimes. So we are going to do two pop-up shows. One of them is on [June] 20th, Thursday, at Southport Music Hall in New Orleans. The second one will be on the 21st at the Varsity Theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana."

When DOWN's concert at Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort And Casino was first announced in April, the band said that Windstein would sit out the show due to his commitments with CROWBAR. Filling in for him at this week's gigs is former DOWN guitarist Bobby Landgraf.

Prior to the June 20 Southport Hall concert in New Orleans, DOWN's last concert took place in September 2022 at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Alton, Virginia.

DOWN made a handful of rare live appearances in the spring and summer of 2022. The band launched a three-date U.S. run of shows in May 2022 at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. After playing in Atlanta and Dallas immediately after Rockville, DOWN took a three-week break before regrouping for three European festival appearances in June. The aforementioned appearance at that year's Blue Ridge Rock Festival followed in September 2022.

In August 2021, DOWN took part in a very special in-person live and virtual experience. "NOLA Town Throwdown" was held at the Fillmore in New Orleans, Louisiana and featured fans attending the show in person as well as watching it in real time from the comfort of their living room.

In August 2020, DOWN celebrated the 25th anniversary of "NOLA" with a special livestreamed event. Dubbed "The Quarter Century Throwdown", the high-production, multi-camera event took place using cutting-edge streaming technology to create a one-of-a-kind virtual concert experience.

A founding member of DOWN, Windstein left the band in 2013 in order to focus on CROWBAR and his family life. He was replaced by Bobby Landgraf, DOWN's former guitar tech who was previously in GAHDZILLA MOTOR COMPANY, a 1990s outfit also featuring Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, WATCHTOWER),and HONKY.

Windstein announced his return to DOWN in 2019, with the band confirming a number of festival appearances for 2020 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "NOLA", all of which were later canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic which swept the globe.

Prior to the August 2020 livestream, DOWN's last live appearance took place in August 2016 at the Psycho Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas.

The supergroup hasn't issued anything since the arrival of the "Down IV – Part Two" EP in May 2014.

"Down IV – Part Two" sold around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release in May 2014 to debut at position No. 23 on The Billboard 200 chart.

The band's previous EP, "Down IV Part I – The Purple EP", opened with around 12,000 units in September 2012 to land at No. 35.

"Down IV – Part Two" was recorded at Nodferatu's Lair — Anselmo's home studio — and produced by Michael Thompson. It was released via Down Records/ADA Music.

DOWN pop up shows THIS week!!! $5 per ticket goes to Mescalero Apache Nation - South Fork Fire relief fund
Thursday June 20th - @southportmusichall NOLA
Friday June 21st - Varsity Theatre - Baton Rouge, LA

Posted by Down on Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Orianthi has released her new single, "Ghost", via Woodward Avenue Records. Listen to the track below.


With an all-star history that includes an almost historic run of shows with Michael Jackson and extensive collabs with icons like Alice Cooper, Dave Stewart and Richie Sambora, there’s no way Orianthi will ever outrun her glorious reputation as a shredder who takes the electric guitar to otherworldly levels. Longtime fans will always want to hear her work her emotionally charged magic, and those who have only casually heard about her history will want to hear what the fuss is all about. The point of her signing with Woodward Avenue Records was not to put those accolades behind her but to find a way to integrate her legendary talents on the guitar with her continued emergence as a heartfelt and soulful singer/songwriter sharing her longtime passion for organic, 60’s-70’s blues-rock sound.


On her debut label single, “First Time Blues” (which featured her in a dual firepower match with fellow guitar great Joe Bonamassa; video below) and even more now on her second release “Ghost”, Orianthi is making her mark as a multi-faceted artist who can create and inspire as much raw emotion as a singer and storyteller as she does with her axe. Her lyrics and vocal on the heartbreaking, soul-searing song are so compelling that listeners may not even notice that she doesn’t even introduce the electric guitar until a little over a minute in – and then only as subtle enhancement for the searing heartbreak she’s expressing vocally. It’s a slow building power ballad about the ongoing, painful, spiritual presence of a lost romantic partner.




As she posted on her Facebook page, “My new single #Ghost is about a love that didn’t last long, but the memories haunt every time you feel love again…thinking it will leave you out of nowhere. I guess we have all felt that…when you look back you realize all the signs were there but didn’t pay attention to intuition, which is our strongest life compass.”





Orianthi is not a gospel performer, but “Ghost” finds her taking us to church from the start so convincingly that we wouldn’t be surprised to see her incorporate more of that style into her future music. Using the seductive piano and slow simmering organ sounds of Michael Bearden’s keyboards as a foundation, she shares pure vulnerability as she brilliantly and poetically paints the sorrowful internal scene: “There’s love on my mind/But a war in my heart/Every thought of you tears me apart.” Rather than the guitar, on the first iteration of the incisive chorus (“Did you hold me hold me hold me/Like you’d never leave me leave me leave me”), she enhances her vocals with the small yet powerful choir of Sharlotte Gibson, Luke Edgemon and Maiya Sykes. It comes across like a painful prayer, addressing the lover who abandoned her but also crying out to God/The Universe with an eternal “Why?”


After a subtle guitar interlude, Orianthi eases into the second verse where she partially takes blame (“dug our own graves/broke each other’s hearts”) for the split but continues to suffer the consequences and literally cries out “God help me with what I’m gonna do.” On this verse, she enhances her sensually cool vocal with an undercurrent of electric guitar crackle – like she’s trying to hold it together before the feelings in her heart literally explode in a burst of fiery rage – some aimed at herself, some at the lover/leaver.


The second run of the chorus features the great gospel-style background vocals, this time underscored with more vibrant guitar expressions. Once she declares her need for closure “’cause I’m still living with your ghost,” all hell breaks loose and Orianthi unleashes the full power of her guitarisma. Perfectly reflecting the dynamics of the song, the last part has her quietly resigned to enduring lonely nights dreaming she’s still lying with him, followed by a final emphatic run through the hard questions of the chorus.


Considering the trademark blistering excitement that happens every time she picks up her guitar, it’s doubtful that Orianthi will ever record a full song without incorporating it. But the other elements of “Ghost” – the lyrics, keyboards, her raw voice, the gospel vibe and backing vocals– are so powerful here that, believe it or not, the song would impact us just as much even without that element.








(Single photo by Alex Brown, Artwork by James Silvera)

At the world premiere of GHOST's debut film, "Rite Here Rite Now", on June 18 at London, United Kingdom's Picturehouse Central, GHOST leader Tobias Forge spoke to The Upcoming about his expectations for the movie. He said (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I hope that people are happy with what they're seeing and not perplexed or disgusted. There are elements in this film that might come off as, I guess, unorthodox if you're super traditional. And I'm not making that as traditional as in 50 years ago or 60 years ago, like old school that way. I really set out to make like an unreal fictional live concert film that was gonna be unlike anything else you've ever seen. That doesn't mean that it's better than anything you've ever seen, but it is not gonna be reminiscent of exactly something else that you've seen previously before seeing this, and I think I've done that. But that is one thing. Another thing is to see… Obviously, people are excited, but we just know that people are excited about seeing the film that they still have not seen. So, right now I just want all these people who have believed in the film coming out [of the theaters] and saying, 'It was better than I thought.' That would be amazing."

Referencing the fact that "Rite Here Rite Now" contains a narrative that picks up plot threads from GHOST's long-running webisode series, Tobias said: "Had people reacted poorly to the episodes once we started doing them, of course, we might not be standing here today, or we might have looked at a completely different film. I don't know. But people have been engaging throughout the years that we've been telling these episodal stories, and that has become part of, what I guess, uh, a lot of fans think is, is like the totality of GHOST. Obviously there are a lot of people who like a song or two, or like our music, but [don't] give a toss about the story or the lore and have never really gone into that. So, of course, there's a duality between those who are in the know and those who are not. And those who have never heard about this and would expect just a normal show, a lot of this might come complete news and complete weirdo territory. There you go. You can't please everyone, so if people think it's wack… It's kind of a goofy film, so that's correct. But, of course, you want as many [people] as possible to think it's a great wack. [Laughs]"

In a separate chat with Rock Sound, Tobias said about the making of the movie: "As any semi-gargantuan task, as fun as it is, it's also draining. I'm used to working towards deadlines, but filmmaking is definitely a lot… You can release records into the society and people will buy it or not, whereas tickets you have to sell too, but cinemas are a little bit like venues. So you can't just release a film or move it like a week. If you don't deliver on time, it would be delayed, like, months. So we've been sort of zoning in on this date, basically today, for the last nine months. So it feels like a giant relief because at points during the making of the film, there was definitely a sense of urgency, especially for everyone who had to answer to someone, which I guess I had to too, but I also understood the urgency of things having to be delivered on time. But now we're finally here, against all odds."

Director Alex Ross Perry stated about working with Forge and GHOST: "I am a fan. I was first and foremost a fan. If anything keeps me humble and honest about working with him several times on various different projects, I'm just happy to be there. I'm not there to make a name for myself or build up my resume as a great rock/metal filmmaker, get other jobs. It's really just, I'm a fan. If I can be of service here, I am ready to be of service. I think that's a good attitude to bring to something that there's room for a lot of other voices and a lot of collaboration, but you don't need two bosses in that. You just need one boss, and then someone who's happy to be there. It's just about translating what he wants, because what he wants is vast, visual, creative but not always practical or possible. He's the first one to admit that, and he knows that. So it's never, 'Here's what I want. Do it.' It's, 'Here's what I want,' and then me saying, 'Well, here's a version of that we can do. If we had all the time and money in the world, we could do exactly what you just said, but we don't.' And I'm here to say, 'Well, if we did it this way, is that good enough? Is that basically correct?' And, 'Yeah, yeah, we can do that.' And then sometimes there's ideas that were in place from our first conversation, moments that never changed, and then there's things in the movie that we thought of five minutes before we started filming, or I thought of 20 minutes before we started filming and said, 'Something like this?' 'Yeah, let's do that. Let's try that this time.' So it's just being there to sort of be open and say, 'Tell me exactly what you want and tell me where there's room to be flexible.' If you had an ego about it, that would be very difficult, but I'm just happy to help out."

Directed by Forge and Perry ("Her Smell"),"Rite Here Rite Now" combines never-before-seen 2023 concert footage of GHOST with a narrative story that picks up plot threads from the band's long-running "Chapters" series.

Shot over the course of GHOST's two sold-out shows at Los Angeles's hallowed Kia Forum, "Rite Here Rite Now" fully immerses viewers in the technicolor melodrama of the vaunted live ritual that has helped to propel Sweden's foremost theatrical rock export to Grammy-winning, chart-topping, arena-headlining status the world over.

"Rite Here Rite Now" is, however, so much more than a concert movie. GHOST's debut feature film combines live performance from the two-night finale of the band's "Re-Imperatour" U.S.A. 2023 with a narrative story that picks up plot threads from the band's long-running "Chapters" series. The result is an utterly unique phantasmagorical blend: Flesh and bone renditions of favorites from all five of GHOST's albums as well as the RIAA platinum-certified "Mary On A Cross" and more are interwoven with the silver screen debuts of a few faces familiar to the band's legions of fans — all interacting behind the scenes with GHOST's Papa Emeritus IV, as his future and fate lay in the hands of the Ministry.

Whether you're a devoted disciple looking to relive treasured memories of the GHOST live spectacle or among the curious uninitiated, "Rite Here Rite Now" will put you right there: putting your phones down and living in the moment — as a shadow of uncertainty looms — completely spellbound and in the thrall of this bombastic yet intimate cinematic portrait of GHOST.

The original motion picture soundtrack to "Rite Here Rite Now" will be released on July 26 via Loma Vista Recordings. A fitting 18-song complement to GHOST's debut feature film, the band's first-ever original soundtrack will be available on all formats (digital, CD, 2xLP). Pre-orders are live now, and include the soundtrack's live version of "Absolution", captured at that now-legendary two-night stand at the Forum, as an instant grat track available on YouTube.

"Rite Here Rite Now" is produced by Popecorn Cinematic Pictures. Producers include Kristen Mulderig, Rick Sales, Craig Butta and Jonas Åkerlund.

Last October, Forge confirmed that footage from the band's September 2023 two shows at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California would be used as part of the film.

"When I first started putting it together, I was, like, 'Oh my god, I'm going to faint because there's so much to think about,'" Forge told Metal Hammer magazine. "Then it was, like, 'No, no, just don't think about it at all.'"

Both GHOST shows at the Forum were device-free experiences. Use of phones and smart watches was not permitted in the performance space. Upon arrival at the venue, devices were secured in individual Yondr pouches that were opened at the end of the event.

"I have never seen a crowd interact the way that they did since I was in a club band," Forge said. "They were the best shows I've ever done with GHOST, just because I didn't have to see those fucking mobile phones."

Tobias was also asked if the GHOST film will be similar to METALLICA's "Through The Never", which starred members of the iconic rock band and Dane DeHaan ("Chronicle", "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"). DeHaan played a young band crew member who is sent out on an urgent mission while the band is playing a rousing live set in front of a sold-out crowd and unexpectedly finds his world turned completely upside down. Forge replied: "In the sense that it's a concert with something else combined."

At the Forum shows, GHOST performed the song "Twenties" live for the very first time live. They also played their cover of Roky Erikson's "If You Have Ghosts", which was originally reimagined by GHOST for their 2013 EP "If You Have Ghost". The band's version of the track at the Forum featured two cellists with a piano playing, and it was performed on a separate stage from the rest of the set.

During an appearance on the June 20 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen spoke about the band's latest single, "Just Like 73". The track, which features a guest guitar solo from Tom Morello, can be heard below.

"We started it when we were doing [2022's] 'Diamond Star Halos' [album], and anyone who doesn't know, that's a line from a Marc Bolan song [from] T. REX," Phil said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "He says 'hubcap diamond star halo'. And me and Joe [Elliott, DEF LEPPARD singer] have always used that phrase to describe the time that we got really baptized into music. I remember seeing [David] Bowie on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' and 'Top Of The Pops' and was, like, 'Oh my God. This is my guy.' I was, like, 14 or 15. I'd already seen DEEP PURPLE; it my first concert, which was amazing. So, then all of a sudden this glam stuff came out. So we would always describe that as 'Diamond Star Halos'."

Phil continued: "I was writing a song with Dave Bassett, who I wrote 'Kick' with. And the same deal — I really want to put a SLADE slant on the backing vocals and just make it very much about '72 or '73. And Joe heard the demo and he's, like, 'Why can't you have both?' So we did, and then Joe started writing some lyrics because he's obviously really tapped into that, and all the verse lyrics and all the imagery from exactly that 'Diamond Star Halos' period ends up on this song. We actually hadn't finished it, so the rest of the band hadn't even heard the demo, and we played it to everyone and they all loved it. They all put their stuff on it. Viv [guitarist Vivian Campbell] played guitar, Sav [Rick Savage] did [his bass tracks], Rick [Allen, DEF LEPPARD drummer] put his part on and then we had some vocals — everyone had sung on it — and before you know it, it came out like this. So, we're really thrilled. It actually sounds better than the stuff on 'Diamond Star Halos', to my ears. So I'm really excited about that. And it seems that everyone really digs it as well."

Asked if this is a one-off single or the seed of another DEF LEPPARD full-length album, Phil said: "Oh, it's absolutely the seed of another DEF LEPPARD record. I mean, it was a leftover from the album before, but it was also the start of a new album. So, without a doubt. [Joe and I] write all the time. We send each other things. Sav gets in on there. Just between the three of us, there's just a lot of stuff floating around already. So we've, yeah, got a bunch of stuff. It's really exciting. And it's a great place to be. It's never that thing where, 'Well, we've got to sit down and write an album.' It's, like, 'Wow, I can't wait to play this to the guys and see what the reaction is.' And we keep pushing the boat out even further."

Regarding whether he envisions a new DEF LEPPARD full-length album coming out this year, Phil said: "This year would be pushing it, I think this year. But once we kind of get into the groove, I think — yeah. Who knows? Next year [or] early the year after. But you know how these things go. We have these tours and everything, but we've got a new song. So that's really exciting. So that'll be on the go pretty soon."

"Just Like 73" will arrive on seven-inch vinyl on August 2, 2024 and will be available in a special color variant only through the band's D2C store and in black at all retailers.

"Just Like 73" notably marks the first collaboration between the iconic rock titans and the legendary guitarist, sonic innovator and co-founder of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and AUDIOSLAVE. The single revolves around a classic DEF LEPPARD stomp fueled by a robust stadium-size beat, thick riffing, and a signature chant, "Rock with me, just like 73!" Meanwhile, a knockout gang vocal gives way to a signature fret-scorching solo from Morello. The instantly recognizable whammy bar wheezes as he shreds at lightspeed into one last head-nodding hook.

Of the collaboration, Elliott previously shared: "It encapsulates a time that burned deep into our DNA. We wanted to celebrate that very important and glorious time."

Morello said: "I had a blast rocking a solo on 'Just Like 73'. I played 'Rock Of Ages' in my college cover band almost 40 years ago and here DEF LEPPARD are still killing it in stadiums with a brand new tune that's one of their best."

DEF LEPPARD teased "Just Like 73" on social media earlier this month, sharing an image with two different phone numbers for U.S. and U.K. fans to call.

"Light up the fuel. Just Like 73. Hotline Now Open," the band wrote in an accompanying caption.

Fans who called the phone numbers were able to hear Elliott singing lyrics from the song, which marks the band's first new original music since 2022's "Diamond Star Halos" album.

DEF LEPPARD's 23-city trek with JOURNEY is scheduled to begin on July 6 in St. Louis, Missouri and continue through September 8 in Denver, Colorado. Along the way, the two Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees will bring their show to stadiums in major cities like Chicago, Nashville, Boston, Toronto, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and more. CHEAP TRICK will play two shows at the beginning of the tour and two concerts at the end of the trek, while STEVE MILLER BAND will join the bill for the majority of shows and HEART will appear on three dates.

Elliott previously shared that DEF LEPPARD's set on the 2024 tour will celebrate specific parts of the rockers' history. "We may even have a surprise or two up our sleeves," he said in a statement.

JOURNEY recently completed a number of dates as part of its 50th-anniversary "Freedom" tour.

The DEF LEPPARD/JOURNEY tour is being promoted by AEG Entertainment.

Both bands are offering VIP packages through their respective web sites.

DEF LEPPARD's VIP experiences include a premium seat, personal photo with the band, exclusive merchandise and more.

DEF LEPPARD's 12th studio album, "Diamond Star Halos", came out in 2022. A year later, the band followed it up with "Drastic Symphonies", a collection of reimagining of some of DEF LEPPARD's greatest hits with London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road. The album spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Current Classical chart.

DEF LEPPARD's 2022 stadium tour across North America with MÖTLEY CRÜE reportedly sold more than 1.3 million tickets.

Photo credit: Ross Halfin

In a new interview with Graspop Metal Meeting, FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares spoke about how A.I. (artificial intelligence) has changed the way we work and improved our lives by making it easier to do business. "Well, we kind of knew that things like that were gonna eventually change," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "And I hope that I'm alive long enough to actually see androids alongside us and to see how that works. Because we've been using technology forever to better our lives. I think the next thing would be these little nanobots that they would actually inject into your blood and they would be able to fight cancer and help you clean your liver and things like that. That, I think, would be the next breakthrough that would be really helpful for us humans. But how A.I. and how that's changing a lot of stuff, it could get really scary. There's gonna be a lot of changes coming up and people need to be prepared for it."

Last year, Dino said that the next FEAR FACTORY studio album — which will mark the band's debut release with singer Milo Silvestro, whose addition to FEAR FACTORY was officially announced in February 2023 — "will continue the theme of what FEAR FACTORY is about: the relationship between man and technology and where that's gonna take us. 'Cause now we have a whole new influx of A.I. and how much A.I. is effecting change in our day-to-day life. I mean, you [saw] all the strikes over here in Los Angeles — the writers' strike… So it's gonna get crazy because A.I. is definitely changing where we are headed as people."

He continued: "Ever since our 'Obsolete' record, we've always been talking about change, we've always been talking about how certain things, because of technology, is gonna become obsolete. So it's very interesting to see what's gonna happen with the movie industry and the video game industry, to see where that's gonna go. And that's kind of what we're gonna be singing about in our new record — just where AI is gonna take us and how it's gonna affect us in our day-to-day lives. So, we'll see. We'll see where this goes."

At this month's Download festival in the United Kingdom, Cazares spoke to Primordial Radio about how things are going with FEAR FACTORY's current lineup, also featuring Silvestro, Tony Campos on bass, and Pete Webber on drums. He said: " At the moment, smooth sailing. And it's been great. Everybody's on point. Pete Webber's on drums. He's sick. He came from a thrash metal band called HAVOK. Killer drummer. We call him Pete The Feet. Milo Silvestro — new kid on the block. He came straight from Rome, Italy. He sounds like a young Burton [C. Bell, original FEAR FACTORY singer], you know what I mean? [He sounds like Burton did] back in the day. He sounds amazing. He's probably the most musically talented in the band. And then Tony Campos, my old friend. He's been with the band since, like, 2015. He comes from a band called STATIC-X. He's been my mate for 30-plus years, and it's always good to play with him, and I'm glad he's with us."

Dino continued: "It's a great place right now. We are trying to avoid any of that drama. And luckily we have for the past year and a half since we came back."

Asked what is left for FEAR FACTORY to do, Dino said: "New record with Milo Silvestro. That's what we're gonna do next. New record. And then conquer the world again."

FEAR FACTORY played its first headlining concert with Silvestro and Webber on May 5, 2023 at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California.

Earlier last year, FEAR FACTORY completed the "Rise Of The Machine" U.S. tour as the support act for STATIC-X marked the Cazares-led outfit's first run of shows with Silvestro and Webber.

Webber had been filling in for FEAR FACTORY's longtime drummer Mike Heller who was unable to play with the band due to "scheduling conflicts."

During an appearance on the June 18 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Chris Daughtry spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the follow-up to DAUGHTRY's latest album, 2021's "Dearly Beloved". He said: "We have the first half done, and I don't have the exact date, but we're looking at sometime in September to drop the first half of the record. So we're dropping it in two parts. The first part will come out sometime in September. And then we're still currently working on the second half right now. And the first half, I'm just — man, I am so happy with it. I'm so stoked, and I can't wait for everybody to hear all of it. I can't wait to play some of these songs live. And yeah, so it's coming along great. It's just that we've been really, really deliberate and taking our time with this to get it right."

Asked if DAUGHTRY is planning to release the new music as two separate EPs, Chris said: "Yeah, I think it's two EPs that kind of come together as one when it all comes out."

This past April, DAUGHTRY released the official music video for its latest single, "Pieces". The song is the second track to be made available from the band's upcoming EP, due later this year on Big Machine Label Group.

Fronted by Chris Daughtry, DAUGHTRY has been winning fans around the globe since he burst on the scene in 2006. The new single "Pieces" is a deeply personal song for Chris as it was written shortly after the loss of his mother and daughter. The evocative lyrics "I'll never get over it. It's hard to move on, but I'm learning to live with the pieces of me" are delivered with passion and is sure to be another chart-topping hit for the band.

"At some point in our lives, we will all experience trauma of some kind," explained Chris Daughtry. "Something that chips away at the essence of who we are. Sometimes it's an event so devastating that it shatters our reality and rips a hole through our soul. This is about finding the strength to pick up those broken pieces, face the darkness head on, and fight your way toward the light."

DAUGHTRY had previously reached No. 1 over the years on other Billboard airplay charts, including four on Adult Pop Airplay ("It's Not Over", "Home", "Feels Like Tonight" and "No Surprise"),one on Pop Airplay ("It's Not Over") and one on Adult Contemporary ("Home").

DAUGHTRY's debut album, the self-titled "Daughtry", was the top-selling album of 2007 and was the fastest-selling rock debut album in SoundScan history. It was also nominated for four Grammy Awards and won four American Music Awards and seven Billboard Music Awards, including "Album Of The Year". Subsequent albums "Leave This Town" (2009),"Break The Spell" (2011) and "Baptized" (2013) have all gone platinum, with "Cage To Rattle" (2018) certified gold.

"Dearly Beloved" marked a return to DAUGHTRY's rock roots and a return to the top of the rock charts with their singles "World On Fire", "Heavy Is The Crown" and "Changes Are Coming", each reaching the Top 10 on Billboard's Rock Airplay chart.

Photo credit: Darren Craig

CRAZY TOWN frontman Shifty Shellshock has died at the age of 49.

According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's web site, Shellshock — whose birth name was Seth Binzer — died at his home on Monday, June 24. A cause of death was not disclosed.

CRAZY TOWN's biggest hit was the 1999 single "Butterfly", which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song sampled RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' 1989 instrumental track "Pretty Little Ditty". CRAZY TOWN's debut album, "The Gift Of Game", sold 1.6 million units.

CRAZY TOWN split up up in 2003 but reformed in 2007 and released its third album, "The Brimstone Sluggers", in 2015.

Binzer had long struggled with substance abuse issues and appeared on various reality shows focusing on his efforts to beat his addiction, including "Celebrity Rehab" and "Sober House". In 2012, he was admitted to the hospital after losing consciousness and fell into a coma before recovering. Two years ago, he was arrested for a DUI.

In a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone, Binzer admitted that he had been arrested for shoplifting.

Seth is survived by his three children, Halo, Gage and Phoenix.

SHINEDOWN frontman Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers recently stopped by the 99.7 The Blitz radio station to perform a short acoustic set consisting of the songs "A Symptom Of Being Human" and "Second Chance". Check out video of their appearance below.

In a recent interview with "The Mistress Carrie Podcast", SHINEDOWN drummer Barry Kerch said that he has laid down "six songs of drums" for the band's follow-up to 2022's "Planet Zero" album. "We're actually further along than I thought we'd be this early in the year," he added. "So I think new SHINEDOWN music will probably be by the end of the year, early next year. So, it's kind of exciting."

In a separate interview with WMMR's Brent Porche, Kerch spoke about the musical direction of the new SHINEDOWN material. He said: "It's gonna be what SHINEDOWN does, which every record is completely different than the last one. It still sounds like SHINEDOWN. You're never going to change Brent Smith's voice, but I can't make 'Leave A Whisper' again. I can't make 'Planet Zero' again. I can't make 'Sound Of Madness' again. That was then, that was that snapshot of time… We definitely try to grow and evolve and do something different because at the same time, we're artists, we're musicians. We want to create what we hear in our heads, and that's what we do. So it's coming soon, and it's going to be cool."

Kerch also noted that bassist and producer Eric Bass, who helmed SHINEDOWN's last two albums, is on board to produce the next LP.

SHINEDOWN's "A Symptom Of Being Human" single, taken from "Planet Zero", recently landed at No. 1 at Active Rock. This marked SHINEDOWN's record-breaking 21st No. 1 song on the Mediabase Active Rock chart and extended the band's record for the most No. 1s in the history of Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with 19 total. The "Planet Zero" album also featured the pop-rock anthem and No. 1 rock hit "Daylight", which People called one of "the most powerful of pop-rock songs created to remind us that we are truly all in this together."

SHINEDOWN, who recently appeared at this year’s iHeartRadio Music Awards where they were nominated for multiple awards including "Rock Artist Of The Year" and presented/introduced their good friend Jelly Roll on the live broadcast, will play select tour dates this summer.

In a new interview with Graspop Metal Meeting, BODY COUNT frontman, hip-hop legend, actor and director Ice-T was asked how important it is for him to be surrounded by friends and family on tour these days. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I really wouldn't do this if I couldn't do it with my family at this point. It's different. I'll keep it real. When you're young, you're out here fucking everything that moves, just running around. A young artist, this is a different world. But once you get older and you've got your family, it gets boring out here if you're by yourself. You're going away from home for a couple of months, you're missing your kids, your family, so being able to bring your wife, being able to bring your kids, being able to incorporate your family into the show, that gives it another meaning. It's more fun. I remember them old days where I didn't give a fuck. I was out here trying to put some pipe down. [Laughs]"

Ice-T's BODY COUNT bandmate, guitarist Ernie "C" Cunnigan chimed in: "And being that we don't do drugs or don't drink or anything, so we have a lot of time."

Ice-T continued: "We have two tour buses. We have a family tour bus with the wives and kids, and we have a — we call it the 'jail bus,' the other bus with all the crew and all the guys."

BODY COUNT recently released the official music video for "Psychopath", its first new single since 2020's "Bum-Rush", which won a Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance". The new track, which features FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY vocalist Joe Badolato, shows Ice-T and crew on maximum killing overdrive and primed for the next chapter of the legendary Los Angeles-based band's 35-plus-year career. Longtime collaborator Will Putney (KNOCKED LOOSE, THE GHOST INSIDE) produced the song, which was released via Century Media Records.

Directed by Jay Scorsese, the "Psychopath" video pulls inspiration from fictional and real-life horrors, with references spanning from Jason Voorhees to Ted Bundy. Check it out below.

"Psychopath" is taken from BODY COUNT's upcoming album, "Merciless", the follow-up to "Carnivore", which was released to critical acclaim in March 2020, just a week before COVID shut the entire world down.

BODY COUNT's European "Merciless" tour kicked off on June 5 at Mystic festival in Poland and will bring the band to some of the world's biggest festivals and venues, across more than a dozen countries. After returning to the States, they will perform at Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky and Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California.

For BODY COUNT, it's been a history of being both respected and feared — a barbed-wire thread that stretches back to the band's origins as a project between Ice-T and Crenshaw High friend Ernie C. Their first shot fired, the song "Body Count", was a mission statement on Ice-T's 1991 "O.G. - Original Gangster". That's the blueprint they've been running on for more than 35 years.

They touched a nerve with their first, self-titled 1991 album and its divisive track "Cop Killer", which inspired hatred, fear, and paranoia, but also inspired generations of bands to follow. What they took from growing up with BLACK SABBATH and being inspired by fellow L.A. legends like SLAYER and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES has only upped the ante for generations of homies and hardcore fans.

BODY COUNT's current line-up includes surviving O.G.s Ice-T, Ernie C. and Sean E. Sean joined by bassist Vincent Price, drummer Will "Ill Will" Dorsey, Juan "Juan Of The Dead" Garcia and backing vocalist Little Ice.

"Carnivore" continued the path of its uncompromising and critically acclaimed predecessors, "Bloodlust" and "Manslaugther", in pairing Ice-T's impassioned and socio-critical lyrics with thick guitar riffs and nods to metal and hardcore greats like SLAYER, METALLICA, PANTERA, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Guest musicians on the LP included Amy Lee (EVANESCENCE),Dave Lombardo (ex-SLAYER),Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Riley Gale (POWER TRIP).

BODY COUNT was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, which was held in March 2021 in Los Angeles. BODY COUNT was nominated for "Bum-Rush", a track from "Carnivore".

In the video below, new TESTAMENT drummer Chris Dovas offers a breakdown of all the cymbals in his all-Byzance Meinl setup. He also runs through a performance of the TESTAMENT song "Native Blood".

Last August, Dovas was asked by Pod Scum if it was "unnerving" to step into a group whose list of previous drummers includes such heavyweights as Dave Lombardo and Gene Hoglan. He responded: "It was, especially at first because I knew that a lot of eyes were on me, and also I looked up to the band since I was a kid. Especially Lombardo and Gene — those are two of my favorite drummers right there. So to be put in that situation of taking over for them, I felt like I had a lot of responsibility and a lot of… I felt like I had something to prove a little bit, and I'm still practicing a lot and I just wanna do the best that I can do. Right now I'm not really nervous anymore because I've done two full tours with them now and we're working on the [new TESTAMENT] album and the friendship has been developing now and we all get along super well. They've welcomed me with open arms and it's been great and the fans have been great. I've been putting hours and hours of practice into it to make sure that I can do the best that I could do. And I look up to Dave and I look up to Gene as well, so, yeah, I just wanna play the songs well live and keep making the band sound good."

Asked what his role has been so far in the creative process for TESTAMENT's next album, Chris said: "I don't know exactly what I'm allowed and what I'm not allowed to share yet, but what you've seen publicly, though, right now is that Eric [Peterson, TESTAMENT guitarist] and I have been working on a lot of stuff together. And so it's been really cool to get into their brains, in a way, and how they write stuff. I'm used to people sending me tracks with scratch MIDI drums or programmed drums or something, and I've gotta put my drums to them and then hop on a Zoom call and we can edit things and move stuff around. But with them, Eric and I, he set a timer at one point for, like, 20 minutes and we would just jam random ideas. And then sometimes we'd make mistakes and stuff and that would be cool, and we could take that… It's very organic, though, and it's very involved, I guess. It's a different way of writing and I'm super excited to be a part of that method of writing. And I could see why they're so successful for all these years, now finally being a part of this current writing cycle, I guess."

Lombardo, who was the guest drummer on TESTAMENT's 1999 studio album "The Gathering", formally joined the long-running San Francisco Bay Area act in 2022. The former SLAYER drummer is currently a member of the MISFITS, MR. BUNGLE, EMPIRE STATE BASTARD and SATANIC PLANET, among others. He also played with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES from 2016 up until 2020.

Prior to joining TESTAMENT as a full-time member, Dovas previously filled in for Lombardo on the first six dates of TESTAMENT's summer/fall 2022 leg of "The Bay Strikes Back Tour". Lombardo was unable to make those gigs due to a scheduling conflict with the MISFITS.

Peterson told Loud TV about Dovas: "When we were auditioning for new drummers, his video tape was the number one for me. And then, of course, Dave Lombardo called us, so we just kind of pushed everything aside; we said, 'Okay, we'll try Dave.' And when Dave was, like, 'Oh, I've got this show coming up. I've got this show coming up,' I went back to my [videos], [and I said], 'Oh, yeah, this guy.' I remember the other guys going, 'Let's call Paul Bostaph.' 'Let's call John Tempesta.' And, of course, they would probably do it, but with the stipulation of, like, 'I can only do this date,' 'I can only do this date.' I called Chris. He was, like, 'I'm in. I'll do everything.' And so we tried him, and were just, like, 'What?!' Perfect tempo. Everything correct — bam, bam. Very polite. Really nice guy. I can't say enough good things about him. He's just a really good drummer. He's 24; he's my son's age. Young blood back in TESTAMENT. For me, too, he loves black metal, so he was, like, [into] blast beats. But he also graduated from a school called Berklee. So jazz… He's very fluent. He's not, like, 'Oh, I only know blast beats.' He knows blues… TESTAMENT's really diverse — we have ballads, we have rock songs, we have blast beats. That's just it — when he came to visit me before this tour, we were rehearsing for the tour but we would go back to my house at night, do some Jager really late at night and just start jamming at my house. And the next morning we were, like, 'Woah!' Really cool shit. So I'm excited for the next record. It's gonna be killer."

At this month's Download festival in the United Kingdom, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello spoke to Guitar Interactive Magazine about his upcoming solo single, "Soldier In The Army Of Love". Due on June 28, the song, which was co-written with his "guitar wizard son" Roman Morello, was described by Tom as "a generational rock anthem from the Morellos." "Soldier In The Army Of Love" is the first single from Tom's first-ever full-length solo rock album, due later in the year.

"That's a shredding guitar solo on ['Soldier In The Army Of Love']," Tom said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I wish I could say it was me. During lockdown, when everybody else was baking bread, [my son Roman] was putting in his eight hours a day. So I've been relegated to be the rhythm guitar player in the family now. But no, one day I was walking by his bedroom and he was playing these awesome Drop D heavy riffs. I'm, like, 'What is that?' And he's, like, 'I just came up with 'em.' He's, like, 'Dad, do you think these riffs go together?' I'm, like, 'Yeah, I think those riffs go together.' And so we did this song, 'Soldier In The Army Of Love', he wrote the riffs. I produced it and kind of played on it. But the guitar solo is him as well. And so with Father's Day around the corner, I'm very, very proud to be making probably the heaviest song I've released in some time, [and it's] with my 13-year-old."

Speaking about the overall feel of his upcoming album, Tom said: "I've made a bunch of solo records, but this is the one that really has a pure rock [flavor to it]. I made alternative collaborations and electronic collaborations and folk music records. But this is a Tom Morello solo rock record, and ['Soldier In The Army Of Love' is] a very fitting first single for it."

Regarding the musical direction of the upcoming LP, Tom said: "On the one hand, it's gonna lean very heavy into like the Morellian riffs of RAGE and AUDIOSLAVE ilk, but there's also a [Bruce Springsteen's 1978 album] 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' component to it as well. There likely will be some collaborations, but it's not collaboration dependent."

As for when fans can expect to get the album, Morello said: "I have a summer tour that interrupted the recording process. So I really wanted to get this song out, 'Soldier In The Army Of Love'. We open the set with it every night. It's been just crushing. And so I wanted to have like a big summer rock jam to play. I think the second single's gonna be ready probably early fall and then finish the record then, hopefully before the end of the year."

Last year, Tom Morello shared footage to Instagram of Roman playing RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's "Killing In The Name" with Tom's RAGE bandmates Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk while the band was on tour in 2022.

"Upon our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction I'd like to say thank you to all the RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE fans who over the course of 30+ years have been the heart and soul of the music," Morello wrote in the clip's accompanying caption.

"One of my favorite memories is my son Roman (who became a fan on tour) rocking Killing In The Name with Tim & Brad at a soundcheck in 2022."

In March 2023, Tom told Rolling Stone magazine that Roman could already outplay him when it came to lead guitar, despite the fact that he was only 11 at the time.

"I've been very inspired by my 11-year-old son," Tom told the magazine. "I've been relegated to being the rhythm guitar player in my family now because my 11-year-old can shred circles around me. I've been inspired by him. He's been writing some riffs, and I've been writing some riffs. It's been fun."

Roman Morello previously recorded a solo on fellow child prodigy Nandi Bushell's 2021 single "The Children Will Rise Up". The pair worked with the elder Morello to write the original anthem on which a swell of children's voices promised that they would not be silenced when it came to shouting from the rooftops about environmental injustice.

Tom was the sole member of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE who attended the band's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony last November at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's Rock Hall induction came after the band appeared on six ballots.

In October 2022, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE canceled its North American tour, three months after singer Zack De La Rocha severed his left Achilles tendon, leaving a mere eight inches of the tendon intact.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's comeback tour, which was first announced in 2019 and then delayed several times due to the pandemic, marked the first time the reunited rap-metal quartet had hit the road together since 2011.

In a new interview with Jim Monaghan of the WDHA radio station, original FOREIGNER singer Lou Gramm was asked why it has taken so long for him and his bandmates to finally get inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I knew we had the credentials to be part of the Hall, and I felt that our standing with our singles and our albums… I think we had 19 Top 20 singles; I think it was one or two less than THE BEATLES, and our sales were, were always exemplary. We had everything that the Hall required to get in, and for over 20 years, we weren't even nominated. Now, what, what I do know, and I'm not going to belabor this, is that Jann Wenner was the head honcho at the Hall Of Fame too. And he and Mick [Jones, FOREIGNER guitarist and main songwriter] were very good friends. They started their friendship working out together, and having coffee afterwards, and talking music. And then they went out to dinner and Broadway shows with their wives. They were, I would call them good friends. But increasingly Mick and FOREIGNER's management couldn't understand why other bands that came out around the same time as us, also very good bands, but lacking the exemplary credentials that we had were not only nominated, but they were in already, and we hadn't even been nominated. And so Mick and our manager went to see Jann at his office at the Hall Of Fame and just wanted some answers as to why things are the way they are. And I was told that he either wasn't willing to elaborate on it or just just more or less pretended that's the way things are. So Mick and FOREIGNER's manager kind of abruptly got off the chairs and walk out of the room without saying anything. Needless to say, that was the end of the friendship between Mick and Jann. And another [few] years went by. However, I think FOREIGNER's manager went to someone higher up than Jann even on the board of directors and kind of [inquired about it], and they looked into it very deeply and found that we weren't the only band that that had happened to, that periodically he just had a personal thing against certain artists and made sure that they would not get into the Hall. [Jann has since] been relieved of his services [when it comes to the Rock Hall]. And that was last year. Now this year, we're nominated and set to be inducted."

This past April, it was revealed that FOREIGNER is among the 2024 inductees into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

The induction ceremony will be held on October 19 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. It will air live on Disney+. An edited version will run on ABC at a later date, and will be available on Hulu the day after.

In an interview with News 8 WROC, Gramm stated about learning that he will be one of Rock Hall class of 2024 inductees: "It was a relief, because we have been eligible for a good long time. And we were wondering if we'd ever be in the Rock Hall Of Fame. We've aspired to be part of it, and it's very satisfying now that we're voted in. And I don't think I don't think we could be any happier."

Shortly after FOREIGNER's Rock Hall induction was first announced, Jones told Billboard that he will have no problems reuniting at the induction ceremony with Gramm, with whom he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame with in 2013.

"On a personal level, I have no hard feelings toward Lou," Jones said. "We did perform together at the 40th-anniversary concert. It has been so many years now since Lou left FOREIGNER; I like to think that those ill feelings are in the past. There is power in letting go of hard feelings and getting on with your life. Why carry the burden of hard feelings? It serves nothing in the long run.

When FOREIGNER was first nominated for the Rock Hall in February, Gramm released a video message expressing his gratitude. In the one-minute clip, which was posted to Lou's social media, the 74-year-old singer said: "I'd like to thank the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame for the honor of nomination. And I'd like to acknowledge Mick Jones for his courage as he faces Parkinson's. I'd like to thank my friends in the music and the acting industry for their support, especially over the last two or three weeks in helping us to receive the nomination. Now I've seen a lot of the videos and I've definitely been feeling the buzz. It's really exciting and it means a lot. It means a lot to me and all the guys in the band. Now [multi-instrumentalist] Ian McDonald and [bassist] Ed Gagliardi were vital contributing members of the early FOREIGNER, and I know they're somewhere in the hereafter fist pumping and cheering for this nomination."

Earlier that same month, Jones's stepson, Oscar-nominated producer/songwriter Mark Ronson enlisted Dave Grohl, Jack Black, Slash, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith and QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE frontman Josh Homme (along with Ronson himself) to create a video campaigning for FOREIGNER's Rock Hall bid.

"Yes, Mick is my stepdad and I love him more than anything," Ronson wrote in a message accompanying the video. "But I'm also a MEGA fan just like Dave, Jack, Slash, Chad and Josh… Enjoy this video and VOTE BABY VOTE!"

In the clip, Homme said: "You want to know what love is? Love is putting FOREIGNER in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame." Smith added: "I can't believe they’re not in already — oh my God."

"I've loved FOREIGNER since I got their debut record," Grohl said. "There's one drum riff that I have used in more than a few songs."

Black sang parts of FOREIGNER's "I Want To Know What Love Is" before pleading, "Hey, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, open the door! FOREIGNER's waiting outside. Let 'em in."

In his Instagram message, Ronson shared a brief history of FOREIGNER's influence, writing: "Everything that made me want to be a record producer came from being in the studio watching FOREIGNER make records. I'm still completely in awe of the sound of those first five albums. Guitars with swagger and bite. Heavy drums that groove like a mutha with the bass. Wide layers of synths. And then there’s that voice. And those songs. It's really crazy. It's also kind of crazy that this is the first time they've ever been on the ballot for the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame — after 20 years of eligibility."

He added: "Fun Facts: FOREIGNER are the most played band on classic rock radio to not be in the hall of fame. They've been sung by our fave characters from the Simpsons, The Office, I, Tonya, Stranger Things and Wet Hot American Summer. They've been covered by Diana Ross and Mariah Carey (what the rock band can boast that??). They were sampled and turned into HOT FIRE by M.O.P. (remember that Cold As Ice joint?) and Tone-Loc who used them to concoct some Funky Cold Medina."

To be eligible for this year's ballot, each nominee's first single or album had to have been released in 1999 or earlier.

Eligible since 2002, FOREIGNER has had a huge number of rock hits, including "Cold As Ice", "Double Vision", "Hot Blooded", "I Want To Know What Love Is", "Juke Box Hero" and "Urgent", and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, with no wins.

According to the Hall Of Fame, the FOREIGNER members that will get inducted include only the classic-era musicians Jones, Gramm, Dennis Elliott, Gagliardi, Al Greenwood, McDonald and Rick Wills. McDonald and Gagliardi died in 2022 and 2014, respectively.

The Eclipse YouTube channel has uploaded video of Gilby Clarke's June 19 concert at the House Of Blues in San Diego, California as the support act for THE DEAD DAISIES. Check out the clips below.

Clarke rose to acclaim in the hard rock scene, starting his career in the '80s as a guitarist in the Polygram Records band CANDY. Gilby then went on to form KILL FOR THRILLS, for which he was the main songwriter, singer, and guitarist. In 1991, during the "Use Your Illusion" tour, Clarke started playing live with GUNS N' ROSES after Izzy Stradlin left the band.

GUNS N' ROSES led into the beginning of a long, fruitful solo career that has still been peppered with excellent collaborations — SLASH'S SNAKEPIT, HEART and Nancy Sinatra are just some of the names that Clarke has also played with.

Clarke replaced Stradlin in the GUNS lineup in 1991, during the "Use Your Illusion" tour, and stayed with the band for three years. After exiting GUNS N' ROSES, Clarke continued as a producer and solo artist, while also playing in SLASH'S SNAKEPIT, ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA, HEART and other acts.

Clarke, along with fellow GUNS N' ROSES members Slash, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler and Matt Sorum, played three "Appetite For Destruction" songs with Myles Kennedy at the band's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in April 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio, although Gilby himself was not inducted as part of the group. Kennedy, who handles lead vocals in Slash's solo band and ALTER BRIDGE, sang "Mr. Brownstone", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City", with "Use Your Illusion"-era member Sorum sitting behind the drum kit on "Brownstone" and the man he replaced in GN'R, Adler, pounding the skins for the other two songs.

In 2021, Clarke addressed his non-participation in GUNS N' ROSES' reunion tour, which features three-fifths of the group's classic lineup — singer Axl Rose, Slash and McKagan — during an interview with "The SDR Show". He said: "They didn't ask me to join the band; they asked me to come out and do [a guest appearance] with the band. And it just happened to be the day that I was in Chicago with my daughter. Her band was playing Lollapalooza [in July 2016]. And I'm actually her roadie. I don't think anybody would know how to tune the guitar if I wasn't there. Just kidding. But, yeah, it was just bad timing. I just said, 'Look, I think it's a great idea. I'm up for it. I just can't do it today.' And they literally asked me that day. And I never heard back from them after I said that."

Gilby also confirmed that he only had a week to learn the entire GUNS catalog when he first joined the band three and a half decades ago. "That's true," he said. "They told me on a Monday, that 'You have the gig,' and the next week we were flying to Boston for our first show. And I literally had a week. And remember, this is before YouTube. I was glued to their records with the headphones on, trying to learn the catalog. And the last song I learned was a song called 'Estranged', which was a really long ballad piece. And if you listen to it, it's kind of one-dimensional guitar-wise — it really just features Slash. So I was listening to it, and I really couldn't figure out what I should do in that song. So I went to Dizzy [Reed, GUNS keyboardist]. I go, 'Hey, man, can you sit down with me, and let's work on 'Estranged'.' I go, 'I just wanna kind of figure it out.' And he goes, 'Oh, well, here's the music book.' And he handed me the music book. And I went, 'There's a music book? I just spent a week learning every note by ear when I could have just grabbed the freakin' music book…' I mean, I read charts — it would have taken me an hour. I was a little pissed off that I didn't ask. They could have offered it to me."

Clarke's latest solo album, "The Gospel Truth", was released in April 2021 via Golden Robot Records.

SOLO SHOWS
w/ Troy Patrick Farrell EJ Curse
JUNE 19 House of Blues San Diego
w/ The Dead Daisies
JUNE 20 The 44 Sports Grill and Nightlife
JUNE 21 Backstage Bar & Billiards

Posted by Gilby Clarke on Monday, June 3, 2024

Montréal-based death metal studio project, Krokmitën, has just released its fifth album, Theta, along with a full-featured lyric video for the whole album. Find that below.


Theta welcomes new drummer John Longstreth (Origin, Hate Eternal, Malefic Throne, Neurectomy) behind the kit. Theta was recorded, mixed and mastered by Simlev at the Krokmitën Studio on the island of Montreal, Canada. The drums were engineered and recorded by John Longstreth at his Brooklyn studio in the US.







Simlev, the driving force behind Krokmitën, shared this insight on the album release: “I’m extremely pumped to be releasing Theta today. That monstrosity has spawned from the pandemic, it is very instinctive, primal, and raw: some parts are literal improvisations or first takes. The lyrics reflect and mock the pervasive doomsday ambiance of our era, propelled by the increasing absurdity of a world rife with religious extremists, tyrannical dictators, and extreme political ideologies. Once again, this opus is also a single-song album. I still enjoy writing in this lengthy format so far.“


Regarding the lyric video for the entire album, Simlev commented, “I always strive to push boundaries with each release. As someone deeply invested in graphic design and video editing, I found crafting an ominous artistic piece for this lyric video to be a satisfying challenge. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the result. I recommend viewers take 34 minutes of their time, sit down in front of their TV, and experience the full intensity of Theta.'“


Theta is currently available on Krokmitën's website, here, as free download and on Youtube. The album will be added progressively to all major digital music platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon in the upcoming week.

In a new interview with TMZ, Dee Snider touched upon SKID ROW's reluctance to reunite with singer Sebastian Bach, despite constant calls from fans for the band's classic lineup to come back together for the first time in three decades. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I am close friends with Sebastian and I'm close friends with Snake [SKID ROW guitarist Dave Sabo] — both sides, close friends. I actually counseled them to get them through the 'Slave To The Grind' record. I was literally talking to both parties, just trying to keep it together. I'm a friend to them."

Dee continued: "Sebastian's a very intense dude, and I love him, but just like my band, TWISTED SISTER, they came to hate me, and they wanted nothing to do with me. And I changed. I had an epiphany — I went through a lot of stuff in the '90s and 2000s, and I'm a different person than I was back in the '80s. I was a real a-hole back then. And so the band has reunited with me and we are friends."

Circling back to the SKID ROW situation, Snider added: "Until people just sort of get over themselves — all parties — it's never gonna happen. It's never gonna happen."

Last month, Sabo ruled out a reunion with Bach telling The Hook Rocks podcast: "It's not gonna happen. And I say the same thing every time. I'm thankful that people have such an interest in wanting to see that happen, but I also have to reiterate that this is about being happy in the situation that you're in. So I'll speak for myself personally.

"First of all, I do need to say something too, is that the reason that this isn't happening is because there's three of us — myself, Scotti [Hill, SKID ROW guitarist] and Rachel [Bolan, SKID ROW bassist] — who've had conversations about this, and we've all been on the same page that we don't wanna go down that road again. We just — we don't.

"Rachel has taken a beating over this through the years," Sabo continued. "He's the one who's been blamed for this. 'Oh, it's Rachel's ego.' 'It's this and that.' No, that's a load of bullshit. That is not true. And I feel bad because he's really, really had to shoulder that blame and has never said anything derogatory or anything like that. But you know what? The truth of the matter is that Rachel, Scotti and myself have continually felt the same way, that we enjoy being happy in this band and we're really happy.

"It's been such a great experience for the last however, 35 years, everything, all the ups, all the downs, everything, but we just don't wanna revisit that particular aspect of our history," he explained. "I love the songs, [I] love a lot of the memories, [I am] not fond of some of the memories, but just as individuals and as a collective, that's just how we feel. So this is not on Rachel. And this has nothing to do with anyone's ego or anything like that. So that's just gotta be clear. Again, for anyone to sit there and make assumptions that this is Rachel Bolan saying 'nope,' it's not. It's the three of us, and we've all collectively sat there and just said that we don't wanna do it. We just don't wanna do it. And we wish everybody all the best."

Snake added: "We've been just ripped apart by ex-members of the band and stuff — ripped apart. Some really shitty stuff [has been] said about all of us. And we just choose not to [respond]. It's not who I am. It's not who we are. We won't go down that road. We just wanna play music and be happy. This has really never been about a monetary aspect of things because it's known that we've been offered a good amount of money to do shows together and to reunite [with Sebastian] and whatever, but it's just never been about the money, man. I choose my happiness, my willingness to continue to be a really good friend to my best friends and a really good husband and a really good dad and bandmate and person. And I don't wanna endanger that in any way. So the people that we choose to play with, those choices are made in order to keep those particular things in line for all of us."

Three months ago, singer Erik Grönwall quit SKID ROW to focus on his health.

Erik, who was SKID ROW's fourth frontman since Bach's departure, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021. As a result, he is immunocompromised, which made touring difficult.

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY. In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Dave "Snake" Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger. SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I. Theart was fired from SKID ROW in February 2022 and was replaced by Grönwall, who was previously a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T.

Four years ago, Bolan confirmed that he and his bandmates "were entertaining the idea" of reuniting with Bach following Harnell's departure. But Rachel shot down the possibility of a rekindling of his friendship with Sebastian, explaining: "Well… Here's the soundbite for Blabbermouth. I wouldn't say we were friends [when we were in a band together]. We were bandmates. You know what I mean? We're two very different people." Bolan added that he hadn't seen Bach "in years."

Five years ago, Bach was asked by Rolling Stone what it would take for SKID ROW to be reunited. He responded: "It would take those guys to realize that I have a lifetime manager. His name is Rick Sales. I've been with him since 2006. They don't want to deal with a guy like that. They want to give some singer who doesn't have a manager $700 to $800 bucks a week. I've got a team that's worked with me and don't allow me to get fucked around. I didn't have that team when I was 19 years old."

In response to Bach's statements about the earnings of SKID ROW's singer, Sabo told Rolling Stone in an e-mail: "I guess fact-checking isn't in his skill set… The five of us go on that stage as a band and we all get paid equally. We're in this together. There's no egos."

Sebastian went on to say that SKID ROW was "close to reuniting, but then it didn't happen. The fact that it didn't happen obviously makes me somewhat bitter, because life is only getting shorter, as the song says," he added.

"I wouldn't say 'came close,'" Bolan told Rolling Stone in an e-mail response to Bach's account of the reunion talks. "We entertained the idea. Snake and I went as far as talking with agents and promoters about money. But we quickly learned after a few text conversations, why we fired him in the first place. Nothing is worth your happiness and peace of mind."

Sabo added: "It was already a miserable experience, and we didn't even get on the phone."

Dive into Totengott’s dark and genre-defying sound in Beyond The Veil. A heavy, melodic journey that shatters expectations and redefines extreme metal. It is set for a release on July 12th via Hammerheart Records. Pre-order here.


They have released an official video for new single, "The Architect", which can be viewed below.







Tracklisting:


“Inner Flame”
“Sons Of The Serpent”
“Marrow Of The Soul”
“The Architect”
“Beyond The Veil Part I: Mirrors Of Doom”
“Beyond The Veil Part II: Necromancer”
“The Golden Crest (The Ritual, The Curse, The Path, The Light)


"The Architect" Appearing in the middle of the currently predictable and monochrome metal scene, Totengott is formed by three experienced musicians with the aim to release the darkest songs that they are able to write and to claim the importance of evil and morbidity of compositions above technique and rawness above demonstration. Being a difficult band to be “tagged”, Totengott can be introduced as an Occult Metal trio with Doom/Death Metal influences but without leaving other genres aside such as Thrash, Gothic or Ambient. From a musical and philosophical perspective, the band drinks from sources like the heaviest side of Celtic Frost, the raw and epic side of Bathory, the atonality of Kryzstof Penderecki, the sonic gravity of Conan and the texture experimentation of early Pink Floyd. Beyond The Veil takes the best elements and lessons learnt from their first two albums and push them to the limit, Beyond The Veil is ambitious, dark and heavy.

"Fire Will Reign" has been unleashed into the world. It’s the second single from Thermality’s upcoming album, The Final Hours. The single captures the essence of melodic death metal and is a testament to the songwriting abilities of this young band. With one foot firmly rooted in the '90s Gothenburg sound and the other stepping into the future, "Fire Will Reign" is the perfect blend of past, present, and future.


Ludvig Sommar of Thermality comments: "The song was written with the idea of combining an old-school sound with some modern elements, making it familiar for both older and younger listeners. The song takes a leap backward into the mid-'90s in terms of the sound while keeping a rather modern approach to a very iconic concept, aiming for a more aggressive song and at the same time keeping it true to what we like and enjoy listening to ourselves."







Hailing from the heart of Sweden, Thermality brings a fresh and innovative approach to the genre, blending nostalgic elements with a contemporary edge.


Since their inception in 2020, Thermality has ascended swiftly, garnering plenty of acclaim for their debut album, Before I Get To Rest, released in February 2023. Building upon this success, in June of 2023 the band unveiled their first EP, Tales From The North, which received widespread praise from fans and critics alike.


With their upcoming album The Final Hours, set to be released August 16, Thermality invites metal enthusiasts worldwide to embark on a journey of old-school aggression and modern innovation. Recorded at the esteemed Studio Fredman and expertly mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström, this album represents a pinnacle of the band's creative prowess.





The Final Hours tracklisting:


"MMXXIV"
"Weeping Angels"
"Thorns Of Salem"
"Fire Will Reign"
"Stranger"
"Windigo"
"Clones"
"Forsaken"
"Nightfall"
"The Hunter & The Nightmare"
"The Guardian"
"Divinity Pt.1"
"Divinity Pt.2"


"Stranger" lyric video:





Thermality are:


Hampus Sätterlund - Drums
Ludvig Sommar - Vocals
Noel Hoflund Jonsson - Guitar
Ture Skärfstad Stål - Bass
Walter Hamilton - Guitar


(Photo - Anna Synnerö)


 

SickSense / ex-The Agonist vocalist Vicky Psarakis has shared a new video along with the following message:


"Zombies! My cover of 'Abracadavre' is finally out! Big thanks to Kevin Sherwood for writing this incredible song and for also lending me his own instrumental to record over! This is hands down my favorite song... creepy, emotional, and catchy. Just how I like my music!


I put a lot into this cover. I engineered and mixed my own vocals into the track, focusing on all the details I wanted to accentuate. Really proud of how it turned out ' cause I have no idea what I'm doing.




If you're still reading, thank you for being here and supporting me all these years. I have much more cool music coming soon. I promise." 


"Abracadavre" was originally performed by Elena Siegman.





Hard-hitting and melodic; pissed off and groovy; energetic and catchy: upon first listen, it is clear that Sicksense is all of these things. The band - comprised of vocalists Killer V (Vicky Psarakis) and Rob The Ripper (Robby J. Fonts), guitarist Breakdown Bran (Bran Panic), drummer The True Cody Taylor (Cody Taylor) and bassist Spot-On Sam/SOS (Samuel Bedard) – have released their new EP, Fools Tomorrow. It is now available here.





Fools Tomorrow tracklisting:


"Feed Them To The Wolves"
"Fools Tomorrow" (ft. Billy Grey)
"Invitation"
"Run And Hide"
"Erase, Rewind"


"Feed Them To The Wolves"





"Fools Tomorow"





Having both performed a range of styles in numerous heavy bands, Killer V and Rob The Ripper (who are married) wanted to return to a genre that’s close to their hearts, but also make music that is specifically written for two vocalists. Written with dual vocal interplay from a male / female perspective, their performance reflects a personal and fun side of them as people, but also tackles social and societal issues in the world today. Backed by guitarist Breakdown Bran (Bran Panic), drummer The Trve Cody Taylor (Cody Taylor) and bassist Spot-On Sam/SOS (Samuel Bedard), Sicksense would be born out of the band’s desire to share their upbeat and fun message with the world. Sicksense chooses musical inspiration from various bands and those influences shine through in their debut EP, Kings Today.   


Sicksense is:


Killer V – Vocals/Keys
Rob The Ripper – Vocals
Breakdown Bran – Guitars
Spot-On Sam/SOS – Bass
The Trve Cody Taylor – Drums

Megadeth performed at the Graspop Metal Meeting 2024 in Dessel, Belgium on June 20th. Pro-shot video of the .band's entire show can be viewed below.


Setlist:


"The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!"
"Dread and the Fugitive Mind"
"Rattlehead"
"Hangar 18"
"Countdown to Extinction"
"This Was My Life"
"Take No Prisoners" (tour debut)
"Skin O' My Teeth"
"Sweating Bullets"
"Tornado of Souls"
"We'll Be Back"
"Symphony of Destruction"
"Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?"
"Holy Wars... The Punishment Due"







Following successful runs in Latin America (Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and México) and Europe (Sweden, Italy, France, Germany, and more), multi-platinum-selling and Grammy Award-winning rockers, Megadeth, will return to the North America this summer for their 34-date "Destroy All Enemies" trek.


The Live Nation-produced tour, with special guests Mudvayne and All That Remains, kicks off August 2 in Rogers, Arkansas before wrapping in Nashville, Tennessee on September 28. Additional tour stops include Los Angeles (two shows), Las Vegas, Boston, St. Louis and many more (the full itinerary is below). Tickets and additional information for all the dates is available here.


For the live shows, Megadeth founder and frontman Dave Mustaine and his bandmates will perform classic hits from Rust In Peace, Countdown To Extinction, and more from the band’s extensive catalog, along with material from their latest studio album The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! featuring some of Mustaine’s strongest-ever songwriting.


“We are all playing tight, and that has made it possible for me to really focus on solos and singing, we are playing more songs than ever before, and we are closer to each other, onstage AND off,” shares Mustaine. “I'm excited to see Mudvayne, and All That Remains. Join us as we DESTROY ALL ENEMIES."


Megadeth are renowned for their unparalleled energy and mastery on stage. In 2023, the band dominated arenas and festivals, reaffirming its status as one of heavy metal’s most formidable live acts. Megadeth enjoyed sold-out shows and critical acclaim on the latest run of the “Crush The World” Tour captivating audiences and showcasing the latest and greatest hits.





Tour dates:


August
2 - Rogers, AR - Walmart AMP
3 - Houston, TX - 713 Music Hall
5 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheatre
6 - Denver, CO - Ball Arena
8 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
9 - Los Angeles, CA - YouTube Theater
10 - Concord, CA - Toyota Pavilion at Concord
12 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre
13 - Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater
15 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theater
16 - Las Vegas, NV - Bakkt Theatre at Planet Hollywood
17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Maverick Arena*
20 - Irving, TX - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
21 - Austin, TX - Germania Insurance Amphitheater
23 - Macon, GA - Atrium Health Macon Amphitheater*
24 - West Palm Beach, FL - IThink Financial Amphitheatre


September
3 - Tinley Park, IL - Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
5 - Huntington, WV - Marshall Health Network Arena*
6 - Charlotte, NC - PNC Music Pavilion
7 - Raleigh, NC - Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
9 - Reading, PA - Santander Arena*
10 - Albany, NY - MVP Arena*
11 - Boston, MA - Leader Bank
13 - Bethel, MY - Bethel Woods Center For The Arts
14 - Wantagh, NY - Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
15 - Richmond, VA - Virginia Credit Union Live!*
17 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
18 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE
20 - Noblesville, IN - Ruoff Music Center
21 - Clarkston, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre
24 - Minneapolis, MN - The Armory
26 - St Louis, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre STL
27 - Southaven, MS - Bankplus Amphitheater at Snowden Grove*
28 - Nashville, TN - Nashville Municipal Auditorium


*non-Live Nation Dates