New Jersey death metallers, Fit For An Autopsy, have released a new lyric video, for the track “Saltwound”. The new song is the second track the band has released from their forthcoming new LP, due out this fall.

The band recently released their music video for the song "Absolute Hope Absolute Hell”, the title track from their forthcoming new LP. "Being able to bring a visual representation of our art to the fans is a big deal to us," says guitarist and producer Will Putney.

Directed by Max Moore, this is the first music video the band has ever done. Putney continues, "Working with Max Moore allowed us to do that easily. We couldn’t be happier with the outcome and are really excited to finally release Fit For An Autopsy’s first ever music video."

Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell will be released Friday, October 2nd via eOne / Good Fight Music. The new effort will be the follow-up to Hellbound, released in 2013.

Guitarist and producer Will Putney summed up the new album best, saying, "It's our new and fresh approach to aggressive music, not a half-hour of blast beats and breakdowns."

While some heavy music fans love cliche, there has to be something more to add depth, breadth, scope, and staying power, and Fit For An Autopsy used that as a guiding principle for Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell. During the writing process, the band expanded their musical horizons and had the confidence to know that they possessed the skills to do something both different and inspired. That may sound very conceptual and esoteric, but once you turn the knobs as far to the right as they will go for Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell, which was self-produced at The Machine Shop, it will all become clearer.

Tracklisting:

“Absolute Hope Absolute Hell”
“Wither”
“Saltwound”
“Murder In The First”
“Storm Drains”
“Ghosts In The River”
“Mask Maker”
“Hollow Shell”
“Out To Sea”
“False Positive”
“Swing The Axe”

Teaser:

The band is gearing up for quite a touring cycle through the end of the year into 2016. The first batch will be with label-mates Unearth in Canada. Click here for all tour dates.

(Photo: Bobby Bates)

 

Twin Cities, Minnesota based metal act, Reflections, have debuted a lyric video for The Color Clear album track, “Shadow Self” (see below).

Reflections will release The Color Clear on Friday, September 18th via eOne / Good Fight Music. Both digital and physical pre orders are available today, and anyone who pre-orders the LP on iTunes will receive the video track "Actias Luna" right away as an iTunes Instant Gratification Track. Various pre-order bundles are now available as well. The all new LP will be the follow up to Exi(s)t released by the band in 2013. That release debuted on the Billboard charts for the first time in the band’s history, most notably cracking the top 10 on the Heatseekers chart at #6.

Tracklisting:

“Autumns”
“Limbo”
“Shadow Self”
“Translucence”
“Transparence”
“Actias Luna”
“Sadist”
“Amulet”
“Butterfly Effect”
“Pseudo”

“Shadow Self” lyric video:

“Actias Luna” video:

Reflections have announced all new tour dates for the fall after recently wrapping up production on their yet to be titled all new LP due out this fall.

"We could not be more excited to have our first headlining tour coming up with us being able to play all of these songs," says Jake. "It will be very refreshing after a couple years of touring to finally be able to play new music and we hope that it will mean as much to you as it does to us."

Support will come from Toothgrinder, Yüth Forever and Exalt.

Treviso, Italy power metallers Burning Black haven’t halted their activity this summer. Relying on the new permanent members Richard Holmes (bass) and Jack  Allen (drums), the band decided to reissue songs from their last release, Remission Of Sin, published by German Limb Music.

Singer and frontman Dan commented as follows: “Burning Black never were in such good shape as right now, new life-blood brought by Richard and Jack created a unique alchemy in the band, this is the truth. With new found enthusiasm we decided to work on new material, but of course it takes time and dedication. Anyway we were anxious to let everybody listen to the quality and power of the new lineup and we decided to re-record our latest album's tracks “ex novo”. I recommend everybody stay tuned on the band's channels, you'll see!”

“Far Away” lyric video:

About the new release, to order CDs or official merchandise, mp3s, to find live dates, news and all about Burning Black, head to this location.

The official video for QUEENSRŸCHE's new song "Guardian" can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's new album, "Condition Hüman", which will be released on October 2 via Century Media. The CD was recorded in part at at Uberbeatz Studio in Washington with producer Chris "Zeuss" Harris, who has previously worked with ROB ZOMBIE, HATEBREED, SOULFLY and SHADOWS FALL. Pre-Orders are available now at PledgeMusic.com.

"Guardian" "touches on the empowering qualities of strength in numbers, and how people can rise up to create real change," QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre tells Billboard.com. "Movements are evident across the globe in varying degrees, ranging from ideological perspectives and how they relate to cultures, socioeconomic differences and its effects, human rights, etc. It is an anthem that supports people standing up for rights and values that may be infringed upon on the micro and macro level. It's a single thread that surrounds a multifaceted topic of being human, human relationships relating to others and the world that surrounds us. Good, bad or indifferent, change is possible, but is only as strong as its relativity to perception, which perhaps is the very foundation and basis for the initiation of change."

"Condition Hüman" track listing:

01. Arrow Of Time02. Guardian03. Hellfire04. Toxic Remedy05. Selfish Lives06. Eye907. Bulletproof08. Hourglass09. Just Us10. All There Was11. The Aftermath12. Condition Hüman

The "Condition Hüman" cover artwork can be seen below.

Todd La Torre states: "The artwork depicts a beautiful innocence surrounded by the darkness of a jaded unpredictable world."

The "Condition Hüman" opening track, "Arrow Of Time", can be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below.

In a recent interview with "Hard Time Radio" on KNON 89.3 FM in Dallas, Texas, La Torre stated about QUEENSRŸCHE's follow-up to 2013's "Queensrÿche": "We're really excited about the songs. We put a lot of into it, and hopefully the fans really dig it. You never know. It's so subjective, but there's such a diversity, I think, of material that, surely, there's something for everyone — kind of like on the last record… There's some stuff that sounds like it would be from the 'Mindcrime' era, there is a couple of songs that sound like they could have been from 'Empire'. There's also some tunes that could have been from the 'Rage' and 'Warning'…"

He continued: "Honestly, I know it sounds typical or cliché to say, but I really feel that there's material on this record that spans from the first record that the band did up to 'Empire' and maybe even 'Promised Land'. There's a lot of diversity, but there's a complexity to these songs… It's a different animal to the last record. The last record was awesome and we're very proud of it. This one is a lot more involved, [with] a lot more layers. And I think, vocally speaking, I was able to do some things on this record that I didn't get to do on the last one, just because the material maybe didn't call for it, but this stuff does. There's some really dark and slow and haunting, creepy stuff on here. There's just a lot of… I don't know… It's hard to compare it to anything. So that's why I think that the best thing I can say is I think that there's something for everyone on this album; I really believe that… The drumming on this is so good, the bass… the rhythm section, the bass playing of Eddie [Jackson] locks in with Scottie's [Rockenfield] kick drum. I mean, the guitar work that Parker [Lundgren] and Michael [Wilton] did really shines. And a lot of great harmony guitar work that was so evident in the QUEENSRŸCHE sound is very vibrant on this record in certain places. Everything was microscoped to every single, tiny little detail that… no expense was spared. We didn't wanna overdo everything."

Todd added: "Sometimes you can go a little crazy, and you have to learn when to say 'enough is enough.' And Chris 'Zeuss', our producer, who also engineered the record, he was very mindful of the QUEENSRŸCHE style and sound, and he was a huge fan of the band, so he definitely wanted to capture those pure QUEENSRŸCHE elements, but also make the band sound like it should sound in 2015. It doesn't sound dated, but there's still that QUEENSRŸCHE sound. It is a different lineup, and there's a new energy, and there's a drive that this record has that, I think, is really refreshing. And sonically speaking, it just sounds… it sound killer. It sounds killer. I'm super excited for this record to come out. I think it's definitely a great step."

Regarding QUEENSRŸCHE's collaboration with Chris "Zeuss" Harris, La Torre said: "He was right at the forefront of the metal scene that was happening up in the New England area, with the style of SHADOWS FALL and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, and that kind of stuff. So he was immersed into that genre of metal for a long, long time. And he did the new SANCTUARY record, which sounds really great. And so he was super excited to get it to the territory of music that QUEENSRŸCHE does, and he handled it with extreme respect and care, but he wasn't afraid to say 'no.' If he didn't think it was the best, he had no problem respectfully saying, 'No. That's too happy.' Or, 'That sounds kind of corny.' Or, 'You can do better'… to all of us. And he really pushed us to do the best that we could respective to each song. So, yeah, he was very eager and enthusiastic and honored to work with QUEENSRŸCHE, and we were equally… felt the same way to have him do this record."

"Queensrÿche" sold around 13,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 23 on The Billboard 200 chart.

Joe Bonamassa has just issued a new video for the song “Trouble Town”, taken from his upcoming live album Live At Radio City Music Hall, to be released on October 2nd via Provogue/Mascot Label Group. The live concert will be released on DVD+CD, Blu-ray+CD, and 180 gram 2LP vinyl with free MP3 download code.

The live release was filmed over his two sold out shows on January 23rd and 24th, 2015 at the iconic Radio City Music Hall  in the heart of New York City. It’s the largest and most iconic music theatre in the world. Joe’s father would take Joe to Radio City as a boy to see shows in the city, and it had forever been his dream venue to play as a musician.

CD tracklisting:

“I Can't Be Satisfied”
“One Less Cross To Bear”
“Living On The Moon”
“I Gave Up Everything For You, 'Cept The Blues”
“Dust Bowl”
“Trouble Town”
“Still Water”
“Different Shades Of Blue”
“Happier Times”
“Never Give All Your Heart”
“Hidden Charms ”
“Love Ain't A Love Song”
“So, What Would I Do?”

Video tracklisting:

“Bite The Big Apple (titles)  
“Dust Bowl”
“Trouble Town”
“Still Water    ”
“Different Shades Of Blue”
The Huckleberries - Introducing the acoustic band
“Black Lung Heartache”
“Happier Times”
“Never Give All Your Heart”
“Hidden Charms”
“Living On The Moon”
“I Can't Be Satisfied”
“Double Trouble”
“One Less Cross To Bear”    
“Love Ain't A Love Song”
Introducing the Electric Band
"Happy Birthday Mom!"
“I Gave Up Everything For You, 'Cept The Blues”
“So, What Would I Do?”

Bonus Featurette:
Bite The Big Apple - (behind-the-scenes) 45 minutes

“Trouble Town”:

 

Fan-filmed video footage of EVERGREY's September 3 performance at Marlin Room at Webster Hall in New York City can be seen below.

EVERGREY's latest album, "Hymns For The Broken", was released in September 2014 via AFM Records. The CD was recorded at a few different studios and mixed at Hansen studios in Ribe, Denmark by Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, AMARANTHE, EPYSODE, PRETTY MAIDS, DORO).

EVERGREY's current lineup includes guitarist Henrik Danhage and drummer Jonas Ekdahl, who have rejoined the band four years after leaving the group in 2010.

Not too long ago EVERGREY was almost dead. It wasn't a decision Englund had spent hours or weeks brooding over, but as time passed following the band's "Glorious Collision" album from 2011 he felt less and less inspired to continue. Perhaps it was the splintering of the band lineup in 2010 — which saw Henrik Danhage (guitars), Jonas Ekdahl (drums), and Jari Kainulainen (bass) leave on friendly terms — or maybe it was the business side of the music that had worn him down, but Englund had seriously considered throwing in the towel. Fate had other plans, however, and he found himself working alongside his former bandmates due to circumstances beyond his control. The end result of that unplanned collaboration, which was meant to be temporary, resulted in a re-energized EVERGREY creating "Hymns For The Broken", arguably the strongest album in the band's 20-year career. "We needed a stand-in drummer for a few shows that had already been booked," Englund explains, "because Hannes [Van Dahl] had been offered the chance to join SABATON, so I naturally called Jonas to see if he was available. We also needed a second guitarist, so I asked Henrik and he was fine with it. While we were doing those shows, we realized that we were having a lot of fun with the music again." "I'd say that the guys coming back saved EVERGREY because I wasn't 100% set on doing an album," Englund admits. "And I'm amazed. The band sounds hungry, the album sounds awesome, and I can say there's not a weak song on it. I like it a lot, which is strange because usually I'm so tired of the music after working on an album for such a long time. Honestly, I've never felt I've been as close to the music as I am with 'Hymns For The Broken' because all the bits and pieces are in there. It's exactly what my vision for the album was. Usually you get about 80% of it right, but this is 100% what we wanted." EVERGREY is:

Tom S. Englund - Guitar, VocalsRikard Zander - KeyboardsJohan Niemann - BassHenrik Danhage - GuitarJonas Ekdahl - Drums

IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson, who was given the all-clear in May after being diagnosed with tongue cancer in December 2014, was interviewed on August 31 edition of the "Opie Radio" talk show. A 19-minute clip of his appearance on the program, where he discusses his cancer battle, can be seen below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On how he found out he had tongue cancer:

"I actually diagnosed myself with exactly what it was six weeks before I went to the doctor, and I ignored what I thought I had, or what I thought I possibly might have, 'cause I was still finishing the [new IRON MAIDEN] album ['The Book Of Souls']. I thought, 'I'll get the album done and then I'll go see the doctor.' I had a lump in the side of my neck — kind of like when you get a cold."

On the cause of his cancer:

"The interesting thing is that there's an epidemic in tongue and throat cancers in guys over forty. There's a five hundred percent increase in this particular type of tumor. It's the human papillomavirus tumor, so it's the same as cervical cancer, it's the same virus that causes it, and the diagnosis is the same, but in guys there are no symptoms. So the first thing you figure out is that you get a lump in the side of your neck, usually, and that's actually usually a secondary tumor. And you go on to the doc, and [you say], 'I think I've got tonsillitis.' And the doc says, 'Ahh… Ooh, no, you don't. 'Oops. Who knew?' And since I've had the treatment, I've met, probably, half a dozen guys my age or younger, non-smoking, not abusing themselves or anything else like that, who all have this cancer. So it is really a men's health issue."

On whether HPV, which roughly 80 percent of people will contract in their lifetime without consequence and , is transmitted by oral sex:

"In actual fact, the thing about the HPV virus is that people don't know a great deal about it. Yes, of course, it can be transmitted sexually and things like that. But, for example, and I don't mean to be flippant or anything, but you would expect therefore that lesbians would have an equally high incidence of it. No — their incidence is 25 percent less than men. It seems to be something that affects a certain number of men. HPV is a virus which the body… I mean, there's a 150, or something, strains of it, but there's only a couple that, really, you're interested in. And most of humanity has been exposed to it — eighty percent of us have all been exposed to an HPV virus — and we get rid of it. It comes, it goes; it comes, it goes. But, for some reason, and nobody knows why, in blokes, guys over forty, it can persist. And as it persists, that's when it does its little… And it's a cunning little beast. There's no test for it until you actually get a… The only test is doing a biopsy, and even then, the virus is not present. It's the remains of the virus that it leaves behind a little present that starts off… It leaves a little genetic code in there to start the thing, start off the cancer. But it also goes into the cell and switches off a gene called the TP53 gene, which is protective… It's basically the cell's self-destruct mechanism. So it's a clever little bugger."

On whether he was optimistic about his chances of beating the cancer when he first found out he had it:

"I went in and did all the research and had a look and said, 'Well…' All the information on it, it's all public domain, so all the medical papers are all out there, so you can have a quick peek. And you say, well, give yourself the best shot you can get. I've got a great set of doctors, and they were very confident. They said, 'We'll get rid of this for you.' And I went, 'Surgery?' And they went, 'Ooh, no. Radiation and then chemotherapy.' So I did both at the same time. [I did] nine weeks of chemo and three three-week cycles. So you just go along and sit there on a Monday morning and just get an armful of about… Lots of fluid and lots of water, and then they put the chemotherapy drugs in and everything else. And that'll last you for three weeks. And then I was doing five days a week radiation… If you're into measuring radiation, 66 grays, which is about 13 times lethal full-body dose if you've got it distributed through all of you. But the machinery they use now, [it's] very modern, highly accurate, very metered dosage to exactly all the bits that you need and hopefully sparing a lot of the other bits that in days gone by, maybe even ten years ago, would have been fried, like, permanently. So things like saliva glands and stuff like that, now [they are] all coming back and working and they all return to normal. But back in the day, you would have lost those forever, which is horrific."

On what stage cancer he had:

"I was a stage three. But my doctor said to me, 'Look, don't worry about the staging, because I'd rather have stage three of your cancer than stage-one lung cancer.' Staging is more of an academic way of definining what it is. So as soon as any cancer moves to an adjacent site, like a lymph node, it's automatically stage three. So you can get bent out of shape about stage three and all the rest of it. And even stage four of this particular type of cancer can be got rid of. I think [actor] Michael Douglas was stage four. I've met so many guys… And the whole sort of… You imagine that this is… The thought of all these guys going down on thousands of multiple sex partners. No. these are ordinary, ordinary guys."

IRON MAIDEN's new album, "The Book Of Souls", will be released on September 4 through BMG in the U.S.A. (Parlophone Records in the rest of world).

The band announced in May that touring plans to support the album wouldn't happen until 2016 to allow Dickinson time to fully recuperate after his successful cancer treatment.

Swedish death metal veterans GRAVE will release their new album, "Out Of Respect For The Dead", on October 16 via Century Media. The CD's eerie artwork, which can be seen below, was again created by Costin Chioreanu, who has been responsible for the band's last three albums as well as the "Morbid Ascent" EP. Chioreanu is also known for his collaborations with such acts as AT THE GATES, PARADISE LOST and ARCH ENEMY.

"Out Of Respect For The Dead" will be released as a standard CD, deluxe LP, deluxe 2CD box set and digital download/stream.

Three years have passed since the release of GRAVE's last opus, "Endless Procession Of Souls", that was followed by a European headlining tour together with SONNE ADAM, the release of the vinyl-only "Morbid Ascent" EP and another tour with labelmates ENTOMBED A.D.

Since fall 2014, GRAVE has been working on the follow-up to "Endless Procession Of Souls". And it has turned out to be one of the angriest and most evil albums of the band's career.

A track from the new CD, "Redeemed Through Hate", can be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below.

GRAVE is:

Ola Lindgren - guitar, vocalsMika Lagrén - guitarTobias Cristiansson - bass, vocalsRonnie Bergerstål - drums

Dave Wyndorf and his MONSTER MAGNET henchmen seemingly had the time of their lives when they completely rearranged and boosted "Last Patrol" in 2014 and christened it "Milking The Stars: A Re-Imagining Of Last Patrol". Now MONSTER MAGNET go back even further to 2010 and their "Mastermind" album. Even if you know the LP inside and out, you won't be prepared in the slightest for the trip that is "Cobras And Fire (The Mastermind Redux)": just think of the beast "Apocalypse Now" turned into in its Redux form. Familiar elements drift by and are swallowed whole by thundering psych orgies — Wyndorf often focuses on a singular song fragment and turns it into his ride to total Nirvana. Go look for your daily dose of average rock elsewhere: this is the mindfuck of the year!

The lyric video for the song "Watch Me Fade" from "Cobras and Fire (The Mastermind Redux)" can be seen below.

Wyndorf comments: "'Watch Me Fade' features one of my favorite musical combinations: heavy, old-school organ and fuzz guitar. When I hear that sound, I want to sing like some mad preacher.

"The lyrics started out as a love song, but wound up being a paranoid rant about living in the 21st century. I'm sure somebody out there can relate, and ... it's only 3 minutes and 6 seconds, which has to be some kind of record for MONSTER MAGNET."

"Cobras And Fire (The Mastermind Redux)" will be released on October 9 via Napalm Records.

"Cobras and Fire (The Mastermind Redux)" track listing:

01. She Digs That Hole02. Watch Me Fade03. Mastermind '6904. Hallucination Bomb05. Gods And Punks06. The Titan07. When The Planes Fall From The Sky08. Ball Of Confusion09. Time Machine10. I Live Behind The Paradise Machine Evil Joe Barresi's Magnet Mash Vol.1

Wyndorf stated about the new album: "Hey, hey! I'm pleased to announce the release of 'Cobras And Fire: The Mastermind Redux'. It's a re-imagining of material from 2010's 'Mastermind' album as an alternative listening experience that I think stands on its own.

"With 'Cobras And Fire', I wanted to present these songs in a much stranger and dirtier atmosphere. Less 'classic rock' and more… well, I'd guess I'd call it a deranged fusion of garage-psych, fuzz punk and movie soundtrack music. It's almost completely re-recorded (with the bulk of the guitar and bass playing by co-producer Phil Caivano), and, as in 'Milking The Stars', I've added organ, piano, sitars and more to flesh out a completely new sound for these tunes. There's also a HAWKWIND/PINK FAIRIES-inspired cover version of THE TEMPTATIONS 1969 classic 'Ball Of Confusion' with background vocals by MONSTER MAGNET co-founder and RIB EYE BROS. frontman Tim Cronin. Plus an eight-minute, tripped-out sonic adventure entitled 'I Live Behind The Paradise Machine' specially created by mixer extraordinaire Evil Joe Barresi. Joe is at his best here, seamlessly integrating elements from several MAGNET songs into a new, standalone composition.

"All in all, I call this the weirdest MONSTER MAGNET yet, and that's a good thing! I hope you like it!"

Joel Hoekstra will release "Dying To Live", the new melodic hard rock studio album from his electrifying new side project JOEL HOEKSTRA'S 13, on October 16 via Frontiers Srl. The currrent guitarist for WHITESNAKE, Hoekstra is best known for his work with NIGHT RANGER, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA and the show "Rock Of Ages".

The official video for the song "Until I Left You", taken from "Dying To Live", can be seen below. The track features a guest appearance by former YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and JOURNEY singer Jeff Scott Soto and ex-BLACK SABBATH/DIO drummer Vinny Appice. Hoekstra took charge of the creative process by handling the production, songwriting and arranging (music and lyrics). The end result could best be described as hard, melodic, classic rock that is DIO-ish at its heaviest and FOREIGNER-ish at its lightest. "Years ago, I released three solo albums that were mainly instrumental guitar music. I wanted to put something out that showcased my production, writing and playing in the genre that I'm known for, which is melodic, hard rock," explains Hoekstra. "That's when I decided to start what I consider to be my rock side project, JOEL HOEKSTRA'S 13."

"Dying To Live" focuses on struggles, potential pitfalls and the art of overcoming obstacles in life to finally arrive where we are meant to be. The CD was conceived before Hoekstra joined WHITESNAKE, whose lead singer, David Coverdale, gave the album his full blessing.

"David wants his players to spread their wings and fly, and, of course, be ready to rock when WHITESNAKE needs them, which obviously won't be an issue," says Hoekstra. Excited how the new album turned out, Hoekstra is looking forward to the overall reaction from fans and media. "I hope everyone will give it a listen," he says. "I feel it showcases my production, writing and playing in essentially the same genre. The lineup of musicians is stellar! I want to thank everyone for any support in advance. Life is good!" "Dying To Live" track listing: 01. Say Goodbye To The Sun02. Anymore03. Until I Left You04. Long For The Days05. Scream06. Never Say Never07. Changes08. The Only Way To Go09. Dying To Live10. Start Again11. What We Believe12. Kill or Be Killed (bonus track digital download)

An EPK (Electronic Press Kit) for the album is available below. The musicians:

* Joel Hoekstra (WHITESNAKE) - Guitar, Backing Vocals* Jeff Scott Soto (JOURNEY, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) - Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals* Russell Allen (ADRENALINE MOB, SYMPHONY X) - Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals* Vinny Appice (Black SABBATH, DIO) - Drums* Tony Franklin (THE FIRM, BLUE MURDER) - Bass Special Guest Musicians:

* Derek Sherinian (DREAM THEATER, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION) - Keyboards* Chloe Lowery (TRANS SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA) - Vocals* Toby Hitchcock (PRIDE OF LIONS) - Additional Backing Vocals* Charlie Zeleny (JOE LYNN TURNER) - Percussion* Dave Eggar (AMY LEE, COLDPLAY) – Cello

LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe has slammed Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, saying that the real estate magnate and former reality TV star "has no clue what the average working person goes through in order to pay their bills."

Asked about the recent polls which show Trump having a commanding led over other candidates in the GOP presidential primary field, Blythe told the "Metal Shop" radio show at the August 23 99.9 KISW Pain In The Grass event in Auburn, Washington (hear audio below): "Fuck that dude!"

He continued: "All right, look. I've been in LAMB OF GOD twenty years, right? I've had a job since I was 14. For ten of the twenty years when I was in LAMB OF GOD, I was a roofer and a restaurant worker at the same time; I didn't hatch out of a rock-star egg.

"Donald Trump does not know what the common man does. He has no clue what the average working person goes through in order to pay their bills. He does not give a fuck about you; he gives a fuck about protecting big business and the lobbies. You know what I mean? So fuck that guy, and fuck his hair. He has no need to be the president of the United States. Just 'cause you're rich doesn't mean you should be president of the United States."

Blythe went on to say: "Let's take away the campaign funding, right? Let's take it all out. The Internet is free, okay? Why don't you speak about real issues. Take away the money. You know what I mean? They don't need a bazillion dollars to run a presidential campaign; I'm sorry, it's just not true. Go to YouTube, you know?

"Not just the presidency, but our Congress has been a disgrace. Bipartisan politics, fighting over party lines. Why don't they care about the American people instead of whether you're a Democrat or a Republican. You know what I mean? Let's deal with some issues."

"Metal Shop", hosted by Kevin and Ian, airs every Saturday night on 99.9 FM KISW in Seattle. It can be heard at www.kisw.com.

Blythe's memoir, "Dark Days: A Memoir" was released on July 14 via Da Capo Press. Random House purchased the foreign rights to the book and is acting as publisher in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

LAMB OF GOD's seventh full-length album, "VII: Sturm Und Drang", was released on July 24 via Epic in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Entertainment in all territories outside of North America. The CD was once again produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur with engineering by Wilbur, Nick Rowe and Kyle McAulay, and was recorded at NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood, California and Suburban Soul Studios in Torrance, California.

SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya's 55-year-old sister Jeanette Araya is working with a Chilean production company, VFI Producciones, to turn her recently released book, "Bloodline", into a movie. The film, which is tentatively due before the end of 2016, will be made available under the story's original title, "The Minister And His Son". Jeanette tells BLABBERMOUTH.NET the movie will contain dalogue in both English and Spanish (with subtitles), with some filming set to take place in the States as well.

According to Jeanette, "Bloodline" "isn't based on my brother's fame. It's based on Dad's life and what he gave of himself for us to have a better future. But what makes it interesting is the fact that it was my brother Tom who suggested that I write a book and helped me get started."

Official description of the 122-page book: "In 2002, Jeanette Araya unexpectedly lost her father. As her world crumbled and the darkness of grief surrounded her, Jeanette found solace in writing and sharing family stories with her siblings. Years later, Jeanette shares a touching, occasionally edgy, memoir that reflects back on her father, Javier Araya, and her family life growing up.

"Through a chronological retelling, Araya returns to her father's origins and early life in Chile and continues through the family's eventual emigration from Chile to a new life in Los Angeles. Araya's anecdotes reveal her father's mid-life challenges as he began an internal struggle that soon led him to a different purpose of serving God. While her father battled to support his family by any means necessary, Araya details how her brother ventured into the heavy-metal music scene, causing new tensions in the family as her father grappled between honoring his faith and feeling proud of his son's success.

"'Bloodline' shares a heartwarming, emotionally-charged remembrance of a Chilean man's journey and the family who loved him as his life comes full circle from his upbringing to his final moments on Earth."

"Bloodline" was made available on August 28 through Archway Publishing and can be purchased via Amazon.com.

Back in 2008, Jeanette sent the following overview of her story to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"The story begins with the ending of my father's religious life and the climax of my brother's career as the lead singer for the controversial band SLAYER. Then I take you back to the 1930s to central Chile to the beginning of my father's life to understand the struggles that a man faces during a lifetime to overcome poverty. The controversy he faces in his later years with money and Satan as a young boy from a poor family whose struggles for survival were traumatic and inspirational.

"Being one of the youngest of seven children of an abusive alcoholic father and a nurturing, soft-spoken mother, religion was the only safe and consoling gift that guided his life and his dreams. He loved school and math was his favorite subject, but had to quit school and go to work to help his family when he was only eight years old. As a child, he loved to play soccer with a team of friends, he loved bright colors, music and he always dreamed of flying; flying made him feel closer to heaven. He married at twenty years of age, and by the time he was thirty, he had five small children and had began reliving his father's drinking pattern and infidelity. He decided to make a major change in his life. In 1965 he headed for the States where money grew on trees and everyone lived trouble-free.

"With little money in his pocket, no knowledge of the English language, little education and a dark complexion in the 1960s, he landed at LAX California and within six months he sent for his family. He worked for a dollar an hour. Later he took on another job and began working 16-hour shifts. Within a matter of two years, he purchased his first home in the U.S. and two more children were born; now we were seven. He ran a tight ship — religion, respect and the belt to insure the two. We didn't have much money, so during those long hot summer vacations we entertained ourselves by doing backyard shows for the neighborhood kids, something like 'The Little Rascals'. We would lip-sync to pop songs and played makeshift instruments. As time went on, the shows got more elaborate and my brother's interest in music became a passion and religion became Dad's.

"In the late '70s, my brother Tom joined a heavy metal band and disrupted the quiet harmony of our 'normal lives.' Dad was unaware of the aggression and the message in the lyrics of the band and was very supportive and proud of my brother. But when the visual images of the nature of the songs began to surface, he was crushed. He had become a minister at the local church and belonged to many healing and prayer groups. He gave communion on Sundays he assisted in all baptismal [services] and funerals; church had become his life.

"One day, after a prayer group meeting, this lady approached my father with tears in her eyes and asked him for help. She began explaining to him about the difficulties she was having with her teenage son, that he had become satanic and pleaded with my father to come to her house and do a healing prayer session, So my father agreed and took my mother along. When they entered the house, the boy was sitting there and was very upset at his mother for doing this. My father thought he would be more comfortable if they prayed with him in private so he asked the boy if it would be better if they prayed in his room. When they walked into the boy's room, my father's face became pale and my mother was very nervous. The first thing the saw was a poster of SLAYER on the wall with my brother's picture dead center. So SLAYER was one of my father's biggest challenges in life because of the love he had for his son and the financial support that he needed from him at the time."

Pictured above: Jeanette Araya with SLAYER guitarist Kerry King

FAITH NO MORE was the musical guest on last night's (Thursday, September 3) episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The band played several songs on the show's outdoor stage in front of a standing-room-only crowd.

Video footage of the "Sunny Side Up" and "Separation Anxiety" performances can be seen below.

"Sol Invictus", FAITH NO MORE's long-awaited follow-up to 1997's "Album Of The Year", sold around 31,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 14 on The Billboard 200 chart (which includes stream activity). The CD was released on May 19 via the band's newly formed imprint Reclamation Recordings, which is distributed by Ipecac Recordings.

Regarding FAITH NO MORE's musical approach on "Sol Invictus", bassist Billy Gould said: "What I can say is that I think through our experience as musicians over the years, I think what we're doing reflects where we've gone since we made our last record as FAITH NO MORE. I think this kicks things up a notch. And I think there's parts that are very powerful and there's parts that have a lot of 'space.' Everything we do, with our chemistry, the way we play; it's always going to sound like us. It's just what we do, that makes us feel good."

Gould added: "When we split up, we explored what we could do on our own. During that time, we each developed what was a natural part of ourselves. Now, coming back, we have a wider perspective so we can do things we didn't even think of back in the day. If we were to decide to do country-western music, it would still sound like a FAITH NO MORE album. Together we have a strong collective identity, and when we work together it makes its own animal."

Asked if FAITH NO MORE wanted to retain creative control by deciding not to align itself with a major label for the release of the band's comeback album, "Sol Invictus", Gould said: "Well, yes, kind of. We were free. We didn't have to go to a major, and we could kind of call our own shots and do it how we wanted to. And I think it just took all the edge off these other things and these details that we had to do that, when you add other people into the mix, you're getting pressured, you're getting asked to do things you don't wanna do. Also, one of the things it took us so long to think about making a new record is because it's not just making a record; it means you're gonna have to tour, it means you're gonna have to start doing press, it means you've gotta start doing all this. There's a lot of shit that comes with that. And when you do it with a major, there's nobody that you can talk to about accountability as far as... I don't know… something simple, like, 'You want us to do a video? Who wants us to do a video?' 'Well, the guy down in that office down there.' I never met him before. In this kind of situation we have here, we know everybody, we can talk to everybody. And it's, like, 'We need this video. We need it for this.' 'Okay. Let's make it happen.' And we know that the content that comes out of is our content, how we want it, and not some guy in an office who thinks they know who we are who's giving this in front of all these people and embarrassing us, for example. Which happened a lot, actually. Even though we had a great label back in the day, but it's an office of people who are not in our band, who [don't] know us as well as we know ourselves."

On November 6th, legendary German rockers Scorpions will release 50th Anniversary Deluxe Editions of their seminal albums Blackout, and Love At First Sting; a new promotional video can be seen below.

In addition to unheard studio tracks and live recordings, the CD releases are equipped with extended booklets featuring rare photos and, single covers, backstage passes and additional liner notes by Edgar Klüsener, a former editor-in-chief of Metal Hammer who has followed the band‘s career closely over several decades. The albums are accompanied with a DVD that contains live concert footage from the respective period, together with TV-performances and in-depth interviews with the band. In these interviews they talk about the background history and the creative process of the respective albums.

Blackout tracklisting (CD+DVD):

Disc 1:
“Blackout”
“Can’t Live Without You”
“No One Like You”
“You Give Me All I Need”
“Now!”
“Dynamite”
“Arizona”
“China White”
“When The Smoke Is Going Down”
“Blackout” (Unreleased demo)
“Running For The Plane” (Unreleased demo song)
“Sugar Man” (Unreleased demo song)
“All My Love” (Unreleased demo song)
“Searching For The Rainbow” (Unreleased demo song)

Disc 2:
“No One Like You” (Video clip)
“Arizona” (Video clip)
“Blackout” (Rock Pop In Concert)
“Loving You Sunday Morning” (Rock Pop In Concert)
“Coming Home” (Rock Pop In Concert)
“Always Somewhere” (Rock Pop In Concert)
“Holiday” (Rock Pop In Concert)
“Can’t Live Without You” (Rock Pop In Concert)
“Dynamite” (Rock Pop In Concert)
“Can’t Get Enough” (Rock Pop In Concert)
“Make It Real” (Not broadcasted/ Rock Pop In Concert)
“The Zoo” (Not broadcasted/ Rock Pop In Concert)
Interview special with R. Schenker, K. Meine, M. Jabs, H. Rarebell

Love At First Sting tracklisting (2CD+DVD)

Disc 1:
“Bad Boys Running Wild”
“Rock You Like A Hurricane”
“I’m Leaving You”
“Coming Home”
“The Same Thrill”
“Big City Nights”
“As Soon As The Good Times Roll”
“Crossfire”
“Still Loving You”
“Coming Home” (Unreleased demo)
“Living At Night” (Unreleased demo song)
“First Sting Jam No. 1” (Unreleased demo)
“Anytime (You Want It)” (Unreleased demo song)
“Still Loving You” (Unreleased demo)

Disc 2 (Live At Madison Square Garden, New York City (June 7th, 1984)
“Intro”
“Coming Home”
“Blackout”
“Bad Boys Running Wild”
“Loving You Sunday Morning”
“Big City Nights”
“Holiday (Acoustic)”
“Still Loving You”
“Rock You Like A Hurricane”
“The Zoo”
“Dynamite”

Disc 3:
“Rock You Live A Hurricane” (Video clip)
“I’m Leaving You” (Video clip)
“Big City Nights” (Video clip)
“Rock You Like A Hurricane” (TV Show Germany 1985)
“Still Loving You” (TV Show Germany 1985)
“Still Loving You” (TV Show Germany 1984)
“Big City Nights” (Monsters Of Rock Germnay 1986)
Interview special with R. Schenker, K. Meine, M. Jabs, H. Rarebell

In other news, Scorpions, have partnered with Yahoo for their first global live stream performance on Saturday, September 12th, from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.  Fans can tune in at 9:10 PM, ET, to witness the Scorpions Brooklyn debut and enjoy a career-spanning set list of Scorpions' hits, anthems, ballads and vintage classics. The live stream will be available on desktop at this location, or through the Yahoo Screen App on mobile devices (iOS & Android) or connected devices (Apple TV, Roku, Xbox).

Scorpions are celebrating 50 years of rock with the release of their 19th studio album, Return To Forever (Sony Music/Legacy Recordings), on September 11th in North America. The album was released in Europe back in February.

Produced by their two favorite Swedes, Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen (Sting In The Tail, MTV Unplugged), the 19-song collection will be available in various formats including digital, Deluxe CD, and vinyl. The North American configuration boasts three exclusive tracks alongside four bonus tracks previously available only in specific territories, full tracklisting below.

The first single, "We Built This House" was released digitally on July 3rd, and is available to fans as an instant-grat for the album pre-order, available at Amazon and iTunes. A new lyric video for the track can be seen below:

Scorpions embark on a 16-city North America tour this fall (dates follow), more information on the dates and new release can be found at the-scorpions.com.

"We have been overwhelmed with the amazing response to our new album across the globe and can't wait to finally release Return To Forever in North America" said Klaus Meine. "We have always had such a special connection with our incredible fans and are so excited to get them the new album and return to play live this fall."

Scorpions have also launched an official D2C store with exciting offerings for fans featuring brand new t-shirt and sweatshirt designs coupled with the CD and Vinyl versions of Return To Forever. Visit this location for more details.

Return To Forever celebrates a spectacular global return for Scorpions as the album is already available in many parts of the world breaking and remaining in the Top 10 in multiple markets including Finland, France, Germany, Greece (#1), Hungary, Japan and Switzerland, with continued chart activity in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Holland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

When Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitar) and Matthias Jabs (lead guitar) conceived this record, the idea was to revisit their past, recording updated outtakes and unfinished song ideas from their most famous 80's sessions. Mathias Jabs explains, "There had been quite a few unused songs over the years that were really good, but in the end didn't make the cut back then due to the limited space on vinyl. We focused on eight songs, which were partly finished which we then recorded from scratch. During the work, new song ideas were added. We were having so much fun we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the songwriting process once again. And in the end, it turned out to be a brand-new Scorpions album after all."

Return To Forever includes first single, "We Built This House," - capturing all the elements that make for the signature Scorpions sound, luring verses with an anthemic chorus - purists will be thrilled! Additional selections include the sweeping "House Of Cards," "Eye Of The Storm" - a track, that transports a notion of the unbelievable dynamic and joy of playing, characterizing Scorpions' stage performances, and "We Built This House" where the band reflects the past fifty years - their philosophy and the lessons their unusual life taught them.

"In the end, it tells our story" said Klaus Meine. "We've built this house called Scorpions brick by brick and often quite arduously. From the first days in Hannover, the first concerts abroad, until this very day. We've weathered severe storms, but the house withstood everything, turned out to be weatherproof and stable. However, building the house was never just cumbersome, but joyful as well. The joy of music, the joy of having experienced and still experiencing it all, the joy of - and the thankfulness for - the fan's affection."

Tracklisting:

“Going Out With A Bang”
“We Built This House”
“Rock My Car”
“House Of Cards”
“All For One”
“Rock 'N' Roll Band”
“Catch Your Luck And Play”
“Rollin' Home”
“Hard Rockin' The Place”
“Eye Of The Storm”
“The Scratch”
“Gypsy Life”
“The World We Used to Know”
“Dancing With The Moonlight”
“When The Truth Is A Lie”
“Who We Are”
“Crazy Ride” (exclusive)
“One And One Is Three” (exclusive)
“Delirious” (exclusive)

The fact that the 50th band anniversary was coming up, hit Rudolf Schenker rather accidentally: "Not long ago I found an old cash account book of my mom's, in which she meticulously recorded the earnings and expenses of the band from fifty years ago. My parents had lent me the money for the first equipment back then, so they kept a of record of my earnings so I could pay them back in installments. Fifty years is a long time for a working band. Apart from us, only the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and The Who have managed to do it. So the timing for the new album is perfect; We're celebrating half a century of Scorpions with the record and the upcoming tour."

Scorpions remain a band able to attract masses of new fans at any given time. A fact that surprises even the musicians themselves, as they gladly admit. "It's really remarkable", says Rudolf Schenker, for example, "how well and mostly unharmed we've survived those years, in which our kind of music seemed to have gotten out of style completely. When the grunge wave hit the shore, we simply went to Asia to tap new markets and gain new fans. We were able to continue playing and keep on winning new friends for our music."

Founded in Hannover, West Germany in 1965, Scorpions were part of the first wave of metal in the 1970's with their debut album, Lonesome Crow, released in 1972. The band rose to arena status with seminal releases Lovedrive, Virgin Killer and Animal Magnetism. In the 80s, Scorpions amassed a string of Billboard chart toppers from Love at First Sting and Blackout, including multiple Top 10 singles "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and "No One Like You," as well a string of successful singles such as "Send Me an Angel," "Still Loving You" and "Winds of Change." The band was also ranked #46 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and their hit "Rock You Like a Hurricane" also landed as #18 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs. Celebrated across the globe, the iconic rock act have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, and have received multiple honors including World Music Award winners, a postage stamp in Brazil, their Star on Hollywood Rock Walk, Echo honors, most recently they were honored with the Lower Saxon State Award.

Scorpions Return to Forever 50th Anniversary Tour, featuring longtime members Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, alongside James Kottak (drums) and Paweł Mąciwoda (bass), kicked off in May 2015 with dates in four continents. For these milestone shows, Scorpions have built a career-spanning setlist of hits, anthems, ballads and vintage classics. North American dates also feature special guests Queensryche; confirmed shows are as listed.

September
10 - Blue Hills Bank Pavilion - Boston, MA
12 - Barclays Center - Brooklyn, NY
13 - Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion - Gilford, NH
16 - Moncton Coliseum - Moncton, NB
18 - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre - Toronto, ON
19 - Bell Centre - Montreal, QC
22 - Lifestyle Communities Pavilion - Columbus, OH
23 - Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica - Cleveland, OH
25 - Caesar's Windsor - Windsor, ON
26 - Allstate Arena - Rosemont, IL
29 - Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre - Greenwood Village, CO     

October
1 - SAP Center - San Jose, CA
3 - The Forum - Inglewood, CA    
6 - Santa Barbara Bowl - Santa Barbara, CA
7 - The Joint, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV
9 - ShoWare Center - Kent, WA

 

 

 

  

Quebec-based doom / death metal band Norilsk has released a new music video for their track "Nature Morte". The clip was directed by Nick Richer for Heavy One Productions, and colour-edited by Petr Maur. This is the second video from Norilsk's debut album, The Idea Of North.

An unorthodox folk-inspired deconstruction, the spooky "Nature Morte" (Still Life) represents Norilsk's atmospheric side. The dark and melancholic images of the video were shot in the haunted woods north of the Ottawa River, on the spur of the moment, at the end of a gloomy summer day.

 

 

 

 

Eindhoven, Netherlands-based rockers and recent ​Steamhammer Records signing Black-Bonehave unveiled the first video from their second album, Blessing In Disguise, which was produced by Peter van Elderen - better known as guitarslinger and frontman of Peter Pan Speedrock. The new album will be released September 18th via Steamhammer/SPV.

Check out "Nothing But History" below:

Blessing In Disguise teaser:

Black-Bone recently announced a European tour as the main support for Valient Thorr. The tour starts October 2nd in Switzerland, followed by shows in Italy, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium (Desertfest), UK, France and ends October 23rd in Denmark.

Find Black-Bone’s complete live itinerary at this location.

 

 

New York City rockers The Cringe have officially announced the release of their new studio album, Blind Spot, on October 16th. The band is now giving fans their first look and listen of the debut single “Anything You Say” with the following lyric video.

Fans pre-ordering the new album at iTunes will receive an instant download of the song. View the band performing a stripped down live version of the track, courtesy of Guitar World Acoustic Nation. 

This summer, The Cringe has been on the road supporting Mötley Crüe on “The Final Tour,” alongside very special guest Alice Cooper. Reprising their support slot from the fall/winter leg of the Mötley Crüe tour, the band is wrapping their epic 27-date summer outing on September 6th, before embarking on their next round of tour dates this fall and winter. For up-to-date information, please visit TheCringe.com.

Over the last decade, the Lower Manhattan-based band has developed a well-earned reputation for their explosive live performances while opening for bands like The New York Dolls, Steel Panther, Trapt, Alter Bridge, and Fuel. For their fifth full-length release, the highly anticipated follow up to Hiding In Plain Sight, the band took a decidedly fresh new approach working with legendary producer Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Trapt, Bullet For My Valentine, Hollywood Undead).

“Working with Don was a real eye opening experience,” says The Cringe frontman John Cusimano. “In large part because of him, this is really our most cohesive sounding record lyrically as well as musically. He's such a great engineer to begin so we have those great drum and guitar sounds, and the result was just big arena rock with lots of hooks and melody. He was really able to help us capture everything we’ve always wanted to do.”

While honing the live sound of the new record on tour this summer, the debut single is beginning to impact at radio with early adopters spinning the track across the country. “’Anything You Say’ is a bit of a twisted love song, wherein one party in a relationship is doing whatever they can to keep the relationship going regardless of its potential toxicity,” says Cusimano of the album’s single. “We typically open our live show with that song because it’s so much fun for us to play. It’s a good distillation of the elements for which the Cringe strives – big, heavy rock, with a slight punk edge.”

The Cringe are fronted by singer and songwriter Cusimano, and rounded out with a cast of A-listers including lead guitarist James Rotondi (Air, Mr. Bungle), bassist Jonny Blaze (Crash Moderns, Alice Smith) and drummer Shawn Pelton (Sheryl Crow, SNL Band, Bruce Springsteen).

The Cringe - Blind Spot tracklisting:

"Anything You Say"
"Whole Lotta Nothin’"
"A Little More Sleep"
"Lake Michigan"
"Blind Spot"
"Bricklayer"
"Don’t Know Where I Belong"
"You’ve Changed"
"Big Trouble"
"Gravity’s Pull"
"Good Man Down"
"Give Me Some Time"
"Kind Of Dead"

 

 

 

 

Formed in March 2014, Germany-based bashers Skythen come tearing out of the gate with a 7-song debut EP, entitled Silverowls, guaranteed to garner attention as soon as unsuspecting metal community gets wind of it. Categories be damned, but if you have to stamp a label on the band's sound call Skythen a no bullshit metal band with Black Sabbath-flavoured stoner-rock tendencies.

Former Dad Maria members Benjamin Kapidzic (vocals, guitars) and Frederic Twisterling (bass) have teamed up with Jakob Ehmke (drums / [soon]) to create a short but heavy rollercoaster built without brakes. Skythen is heavily reminiscent of Norwegian crushers Susperia, as Kapidzic is a dead ringer for singer Athera when he doesn't sound like Faith No More's Mike Patton in a shouting match. 

Musically, the trio channel everything from the aformentioned Sabbath to Susperia, Down, classic Metallica, and Turbonegro over the course of Silverowls, capping things off with a stoner-tweaked cover of Metallica's "Motorbreath".

For information on Skythen go to this location.

Photo by Gerhard Kühne

Multi-national death metal wizards Serocs are back! And When The Sky Was Opened is a technical opus that explores the psychology of war and what world conflicts do to the human mind, both as an invader and as the invaded. Following the positive feedback from their previous album, The Next, Serocs has perfected those elements to create this extreme masterpiece of controlled chaos.

Not only is And When The Sky Was Opened bound together by lyrical concepts, the album features a cohesive musical theme that sees all eight tracks coalesce to create a singular musical experience. Described by the band as a much more varied experience than its predecessors, the album is a double-edged sword that features some of Serocs' most technical and brutal material alongside their slowest and most crushing sections to date. And When The Sky Was Opened was mixed by Neil Kernon (Nile) and mastered by Alan Douches.

Check out the album track "Itami" via the SoundCloud audio player below.

And When The Sky Was Opened tracklisting:

"And So It Begins"
"Solitude"
"Itami"
"When The Ground Swallows Us..."
"(...)"
"...And When The Sky Was Opened"
"Them"
"For Nothing"

And When The Sky Was Opened sees the return of vocalist Josh Smith (Slaughtered Remains), who appeared on Serocs' 2012 debut full-length, Oneirology. Smith reclaimed his throne during the album's production and was able to breathe new life into the songs with his intense vocal performance. Serocs mastermind Antonia Freyre comments on the vocalist's return, "During the production of 'AWTSWO', we found ourselves trying different vocalists, but Josh really came through and blew us away with his performance. His catchy patterns and deep vocals really brought the songs to life."

While writing the album, Freyre brought guitarist Philippe Tougas in as a full-fledged member and co-songwriter. Having appeared as a guest soloist on previous Serocs releases, And When The Sky Was Opened gave the Canadian guitarist an opportunity to inject his own vision into Serocs' sound. The collaborative efforts of Freyre and Tougas resulted in Serocs' most diverse and intense effort to date. Comatose Music will release And When The Sky Was Opened on November 27th. 

 

 

 

 

After more than 40 years and 16 studio albums, the members of Cheap Trick have a clear vision of where their band fits in the rock ’n’ roll spectrum. “We’re a working band,” bassist Tom Petersson, who co-founded the group during 1974 in Rockville, IL, told Gary Graff of Macomb Daily.

“It’s like having a small business,” says Tom. “We honestly have to keep going to survive, and that’s what pushes us forward. It’s our livelihood. And we like it. It’s fun, so we wouldn’t want to stop even if we could.”

This year Cheap Trick has already toured with Peter Frampton and has a new album — its first since 2009’s The Latest — ready for release in 2016. Petersson, 65, describes it as “vintage Cheap Trick” and says the group is also “halfway to another record already,” with a determined mission to remain prolific in the coming years.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Catch Cheap Trick live in concert:

September
4 - Arts, Beats & Eats Festival - Royal Oak, MI  
6 - Walworth County Fair - Elkhorn, WI  
11 - Eastern ID State Fair - Blackfoot, ID  
12 - Madera District Fair - Madera, CA  
17 - Spokane County Interstate Fair - Spokane, WA  
19 - Spyglass Ridge Winery - Sunbury, PA   
20 - The Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD   
22 - Keswick Theatre - Glenside, PA   
23 - Count Basie - Red Bank, NJ  
25 - St. George Theatre - Staten Island, NY  
26 - The Capitol Theatre - Port Chester, NY   

October
22 - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Hollywood, FL 
23 - Capitol Theatre - Clearwater, FL   

November
6 - Fun Fun Fun Fest - Austin, TX  
7 - Bomb Factory - Dallas, TX  
20 - Baxter Arena - Omaha, NE  
21 - Coronado Performing Arts Center - Rockford, IL   
22 - ISU Hulman Center - Terre Haute, IN  
27 - Majestic Theatre - San Antonio, TX  
28 - Cypress Bayou Pavilion - Charenton, LA   
29 - House Of Blues - Houston, TX

 

 

 

 

MOTÖRHEAD has been forced to cancel its Dallas and Houston appearances, originally scheduled for September 4 and September 5, due to continued health issues experienced by the band's frontman, Lemmy Kilmister. British metallers SAXON, who were slated to support MOTÖRHEAD, will still play in each city (please check local media for up-to-date venue information).

According to an official statement from MOTÖRHEAD, "Lemmy fully intends to resume touring duties as, and when, his doctors give him the all-clear."

The Dallas and Houston cancelations follow the scapping of MOTÖRHEAD's September 2 show in San Antonio, Texas.

On September 1, MOTÖRHEAD delivered only three songs — "Damage Case", "Stay Clean" and "We Are Motörhead" — in Austin before Lemmy told the crowd, "I can't do it."

The latest MOTÖRHEAD walk-off follows a similarly abbreviated performance last week in Salt Lake City, where the band cited the high altitude as the reason behind Lemmy's inability to breathe. A show in Denver, at an even higher altitude, was scrapped the following day before MOTÖRHEAD ever took the stage.

MOTÖRHEAD's 22nd studio album, "Bad Magic", was released on August 28. The CD was recorded at NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood with longtime producer Cameron Webb.

Levi Seth of Sticks For Stones recently conducted an interview with keyboardist Janne Wirman of Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

Sticks For Stones: Do you see revenue from streaming services such as Spotify? Janne: No, no, no. There's no money at all in Spotify. No. It's shit. Sticks For Stones: Do you like your songs being on Spotify? Janne: If it was up for me, personally, I would not put it up on Spotify. Personally, I don't even use Spotify, I don't have an account. I just dislike it just due to the fact that I know that the artists are not getting nothing out of it.

Sticks For Stones: Do you still collect physical records and CDs? Janne: Yeah, actually, that's a bit of a problem for me too. 'Cause, you know, I don't use Spotify, I don't use streaming services. At some point, I used to buy a lot of stuff off iTunes, but now I kind of dislike the new iTunes too. So, it's, like, I don't have a lot of ways to get music anymore nowadays. And then what I really, really wanna get, I need to get it as a CD. But then your house is full of CDs and, you know, it's just... whatever. And record stores do not exist anymore, so then if you really want a CD of something, you need to order it or something. I don't know… It's just... It's sad. The whole state of music business is kind of weird right now. Sticks For Stones: It's sad to see artists getting the raw end of the deal… Janne: Yeah, definitely, 'cause, you know, a huge part of our income is now totally gone. Album sales just don't exist anymore. It's a really, really fucked up situation, I think. Sticks For Stones: It's sad kids these days are missing out on collecting albums and reading the lyrics and the album art… Janne: That's how I am too — old school — but then, at the same time, I do understand how the kids nowadays don't wanna collect all those CDs. But, I don't know... I was just amazed that the format… Like, there's nothing... I don't know... It's difficult to even imagine. But, like, the CD... nobody was even interested in re-inventing the CD, like coming out with a format that would still be appealing as a collectible… But I don't know... I guess the MP3 is just so much easier for the kids nowadays.

Read the entire interview at Sticks For Stones.

Texas-based Dead To A Dying World has completed their immense sophomore album, Litany, and plans to release the record this October alongside a Western US tour. In advance of its release, "Beneath The Loam”, the first single from the record, is streaming below.
 
Dead To A Dying World return with the long-awaited follow-up to their 2011 self-titled debut album with the defining opus entitled Litany, an endeavor that emboldens the septet's tremendous creative spirit. Litany is increasingly ambitious with each of its six triumphant musical movements, demanding hope and despair in its deliberate parade of the sours of humanity. This musical ensemble has crafted an aural landscape that thrives somewhere between apocalyptic doom, blackened crust, and dark post-rock. Their compositional skill is wonderful to behold as their works flow seamlessly from solemn string arrangement into tremendous dooming resolution.
 
Invited into the collaborative fold for guest appearances on this album are some of the creative minds behind Pallbearer, Sabbath Assembly, and Pinkish Black, whose contributions bring the entrancing narrative within Litany an unapologetic authenticity. With celebrated producer Billy Anderson at the helm, the band's sound reaches brilliant new heights. Litany is a statement, a mantra, an epilogue, yet it gives just a hint to the musical manuscript underwritten by Dead To A Dying World.
 
See the incredible trailer for Litany created by Chariot of Black Moth including the cover art, performance footage, audio and more below.

Litany tracklisting:

“The Hunt Eternal”
“Cicatrix”
“Eventide”
“Beneath The Loam”
“Sick & Sunder”
“Narcissus”

Trailer:

“Beneath The Loam”:

 
Litany will be presented in multiple formats, the digital and gatefold CD on October 16th, and a deluxe 2xLP shortly afterward. Gilead Media will handle the CD release, and combine forces with Alerta Antifascista Records and Tofu Carnage Records for the 2xLP release. This album is for those who truly appreciate the aesthetic value of deluxe packaging and heavyweight color vinyl, pressed on 200-gram vinyl with both Gold with Black Splatter and Black pressings for North America and Gold inside Milky Clear with Bone Splatter and Black pressings for Europe, and features heavyweight spot-varnish printed jackets with foil-embossed graphics.
 
(Photo - Kathleen Kennedy)

 

Danish/Swedish squad Down Among The Dead Men will unleash their second full-length, Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!, on November 6th via Cyclone Empire Records.

The D-beat/crust-laden death metal outfit, featuring Dave Ingram (ex-Benediction, Bolt Thrower, Downlord) and axemaster Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, The Grotesquery, Ribspreader) have recorded 14 “heads down, no nonsense” tracks, amongst them two covers by Discharge and Anvil.

The cover artwork is again dragged from the filthy mind of Turkka Rantanen, whose past work has included Archgoat, Adramelech, The Grotesquery, Demilich, Demigod and more.

Tracklisting:

“Pyramids Of Mars”
“Warriors Of The Deep”
“The Oncoming Storm”
“The Ambassadors Of Death”
“Forged In Fire” (Anvil cover featuring vocals by Kam Lee)
“Arc Of Infinity”
“Death Seed”
“War Machines”
“Unearthly Child”
“Tooth And Claw”
“Armageddon Factor”
“Protest And Survive” (Discharge cover featuring vocals by Bob Thunder & Donovan Spenceley)
“Deadly Assassin”
“Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!”

Prepare to be Exterminated, Annihilated and thoroughly Destroyed.

Producing technical groovy death metal rooted in musical duality and lyricism, Winnipeg, MB's Inverted Serenityare streaming their new single, “Elemental Abyss”, off their upcoming album Integral, due out on October 9th to follow up their 2013 debut Manifestation Of Eternity In A World Of Time.

The band comments about the track: "Perhaps our most mature and technically structured songwriting on the record can be found in “Elemental Abyss”. This song comes out of the gate with a full speed technical thrash pace that unfolds itself into larger layered riffs all while maintaining a mid-paced headbanging groove underlying the majority of the song. Heavy and polyrhythmic riffs are explored akin to the sounds of bands like Decapitated and Meshuggah. A 7/4 time signature is played while Marcos vocals push the thickness of the song along. Tomas' massive sounding screams lead you into the auditory abyss we specifically placed as the final stretch of the album. The themes explored lyrically are tied into the unknowing of our oceans on Earth, which can be paralleled to the unknown depths of our emotions inside of us. While we are immersed in this material world structured by the elements, through discernment and letting go of the weight of physical reality, we are immersed in the fractal nature of reality and its infinite depth."

Integral tracklisting:

“Yugen”
“Everscending”
“Grasp Of Impermanence”
“Coeur”
“Integral”
“Under One Sky”
“Breath Of Life”
“Volatile Thirst”
“Wrought (Rot)”
“Elemental Abyss”

“Elemental Abyss”:

(Photo - Brandon Bollen)

Power Prog has annonced the signing of one of Germany's premier voices of rock, Carsten 'Lizard' Schulz. Now the common goal is the release of his first solo album The Day The Earth Stopped Turning under the flag of Carsten Lizard Schulz Syndicate on November 20th as double CD, download card, digital download and stream.

Carsten 'Lizard' Schulz is certainly no stranger to the international rock and metal scene and he can look back on a more than 20 years lasting and successful career. As lead singer and formative element of well known acts like Domain, Evidence One, Code Of Perfection and Midnite Club in the first decade of the 2000s, he has influenced the German hard rock scene like only a few other artists. His lead singing skills can be also enjoyed on more recent albums by Dead End Heroes, Lavalle, Rik Priem's Prime, Frozen Rain and many others and as a guest singer he can be heard on countless other releases. But Carsten is also a highly sought-after songwriter. You can listen the works out of his pen on albums by Russell Allen / Mat Sinner, Vengeance, Gary John Barden, etc.... a real musical workaholic.

A real labor of love is the realization of his first solo album The Day The Earth Stopped Turning. A process that took many years to complete - on the one hand for reasons of time, to the other hand to present the best possible and identifiable result. As a die-hard fan of the good old 70s, Carsten's clear intention was to create an adult and classical hard rock album with the special old-school flair. Under the decisive participation of his congenial partner Steffen Seeger and with the help and support by dozens of well-known artists from the last four decades (such as Axel Rudi Pell, Mat Sinner, Neil Murray, Erik Norlander and lots of others), a classic rock album has emerged that seeks of his peers in the current world of music and which is much more than a tribute to the good old days. A man, his friends and their mission give us an over 80 minutes lasting listening pleasure which brings us back to the past and to greats like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Kansas, Manfred Mann... but hey, definitely no reheated brew, this is how straight sophisticated classic hard rock should sound today.

The Day The Earth Stopped Turning tracklisting:

CD1
“The Prize Is Shame”
“Head's Blowing A Fuse”
“Black Water Soul”
“Dogs”
“Perfect To Me”
“Into The Blue”
“Soulburn”
“Man In Flames”

CD2
“Last Train To Babylon”
“Lucky Star”
“Song Like Rain”
“Close Your Eyes And Count To Ten”
“Brand New Fire”
“Nothing Left To Give”
“Postcards From Hell”
“The Teacher”

Album details:

• Produced & engineered by Steffen Seeger & CLS
• Mixed & mastered by Rolf Munkes
• Main recordings at Seegewerk Studios, Mannheim/Germany
• Artwork design by Stan W. Decker
• Artwork concept by CLS
• Logo design & CD layout by Götz Morgenschweis
• CLS pix by Ralf Mack

Pre-order the album as Double CD and as high quality digital download in MP3, lossless FLAC, ALAC and more in Power Prog's Digital Audio Store here.
 
Carsten Lizard Schulz Syndicate is:

Lead and backing vocals:
Carsten 'Lizard' Schulz

Drums:
Ramy Ali (Freedom Call / Iron Mask)
Markus Kullmann (Fox / Hartmann /Glenn Hughes / ex-Voodoo Circle)

Bass:
Thomas "Hutch" Bauer (Mad Max / ex-Evidence One / Frontline)
Alex Jansen (Fox)
Henning Saleschke (The Brights)
Ilker Ersin (Freedom Call / Powerworld)
Michael "Muelli" Mueller (Jadded Heart)
Mat Sinner (Primal Fear / Voodoo Circle / Sinner)
Neil Murray (ex-Whitesnake / -Black Sabbath / -Garry Moore etc.)
Paul Logue (Eden's Curse / Dead End Heroes)
Volker Krawczak (Axel Rudi Pell)

Keyboards:
Holger Seeger (Dead End Heroes)
Alessandro Del Vecchio (Voodoo Circle / Glenn Hughes / Hardline etc.)
Erik Norlander (Solo artist / Lana Lane / Rocket Scientists)

Guitars:
Joerg Wartmann (ex-Evidence One / Unheilig)
Oliver Hartmann (Hartmann / Avantasia)
Axel Rudi Pell (Solo artist)
Stefan Kahne (The Brights)
Guido Stoecker (Bodyguerra)
Matti Filippini (Moonstone Project / Glenn Hughes / Ian Paice)
Kelly Simonz (Solo artist)
Rolf Munkes (Empire / Tony Martin / Dead End Heroes)
Tommy Vitaly (Solo artist)
Steffen Seeger (Midnite Club)
Oliver "O.G." Guettinger (ex-Czakan / -Backbone Slide)
Cede Dupont (Silent Circus / Downspirit / ex-Freedom Call / ex-Symphorce)
Helge Engelke (Fair Warning)
Chris Lyne (Mother Road / ex-Soul Doctor)
Ferdy Doernberg (Axel Rudi Pell / ex-Uli Jon Roth)
Thorsten Koehne (Eden's Curse / ex-Hardline)
Pete Ahonen (Burning Point / Stargazery / Ghost Machine)

Additional backing vocals:
Pete Newdeck (Tainted Nation / ex-Eden's Curse / ex-Grim Reaper)

2015 has been a pretty intense year for Germany's Finsterforst. The release of their latest album Mach Dich Frei, many breathtaking club and festival shows and an almost unbearable hot summer certainly kept them busy and sweating. Today the band has unveiled new details about an upcoming release.

“We want to inform you that we do not intend to sit on our lazy asses and do nothing creative. After all, we have to work at least a bit for our big salary, don't we? Therefore, we will enter the Iguana Studios around the end of the year and beginning of 2016 to record a next... thing! It ain't gonna be a usual full-length album, but an EP! I can't deliver you the complete details now, because we are still in the writing process and think about what weird stuff we want to present to you guys.

“One thing is for sure: musically this next release will NOT be on the same tracks as Mach Dich Frei is! Please, that is no reason to whine and fall into deep holes of depressions - you will still recognize our Black Forest Metal sound and style! We simply feel like trying something in addition that fits to our quite weird personalities before creating a next full-length album. Be sure, you will be delighted with a heavy and intense sounding party, which will include together with a couple of new own compositions also some cover songs!”

More info and news coming soon.

 

Transatlantic progressive metal conglomerate Zierler have announced the long awaited release of their debut album, ESC, via US-based Vanity Music Group. Masterminded by Danish songwriter and keyboardist Finn Zierler (ex-Beyond Twilight), who has assembled some of the world’s most well respected metal musicians for his latest venture, ESC is set for an October 16th release worldwide.
 
His first new album in a decade, ESC is Finn’s most mature as well as his most daring musical work to date. Drawing from a wide array of influences that bring to mind everything from the unabashed pomp of classic Queen and the madness of Devin Townsend, to the virtuosity of Dream Theater and the eclectic stylings of Hollywood’s Danny Elfman, Zierler masterfully walk the fine line between genius and insanity, combining a powerful, multi-layered progressive metal foundation with an often dark, majestic orchestral feel. The result is an intricate musical tour-de-force that took the better part of two years to complete.
 
“I set different goals for myself in making this new album. I wanted to accomplish doing an album that was 100% uncompromising in every way. I wanted to break through new creative areas. And I wanted to show compositions, structures and techniques that no one has ever heard or seen before”, reflects Finn on the making of ESC.
 
“This is by far the most time consuming, complex and detail oriented album I've ever worked on. I took the time necessary to record this beast out of respect for the players, the compositions, and the music itself. I put a lot of emphasis on not taking the easy way out, not using technology to do edits to save time or whatever. The musicians involved are all so talented - there's no cheating, no copy/paste anywhere. Everything on the album is recorded as organically as possible. Personally, I'm sick of listening to “plastic” albums that sound more like machines than humans!"

 
Joining Finn on ESC are Swedish guitarist Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry, Kaipa), the first to come aboard, and Norwegian bassist/vocalist Truls Haugen (Intense, Circus Maximus) on the Scandinavian side. Finn also reached out across the pond to a pair of Texas standouts, drum veteran Bobby Jarzombek, whose stellar resume includes the likes of Fates Warning, Halford, Riot, and Spastic Ink, and vocal powerhouse Kelly Sundown Carpenter, who sang on Beyond Twilight’s 2005 album, Section X and was last seen with Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G's band, Firewind, as well as Darkology.
 
The album's stellar mix comes courtesy of another Beyond Twilight alum and long-time friend, noted studio whiz Jacob Hansen, best known for his affiliation with Danish superstars Volbeat as well as his work with Amaranthe and Destruction, amongst others. Last but not least, acclaimed London-based graphic artist Rob Sindermann has been tapped to create the stunning visuals for the ESC album packaging which includes an elaborate deluxe booklet.

ESC tracklisting:
 
“A New Beginning”
“Aggrezzor”
“Darkness Delight”
“Dark To The Bone”
“Evil Spirit”
“Married To The Cause”
“No Chorus”
“Rainheart”
“You Can't Fix Me No More”
“Water”
“Whispers”