"Black Hearted Soul", the new video from Brazilian metallers ANGRA, can be seen below. The song is taken from the band's latest album, "Secret Garden", which was released on January 16 via earMUSIC. The CD, which was pre-produced by Roy Z (JUDAS PRIEST, BRUCE DICKINSON, HALFORD) and recorded and produced in Sweden by Jens Bogren (KREATOR, ARCH ENEMY, OPETH, DRAGONFORCE), was the band's first to feature Italian vocalist Fabio Lione following the 2012 departure of Eduardo "Edu" Falaschi.

ANGRA guitarist and co-founder Rafael Bittencourt recently revealed that the band will eventually have to "find a substitute" for their guitarist Kiko Loureiro (pictured), who was recently named the new axeman in MEGADETH. He told Revolver magazine: "As a brother-in-life and friend, we're proud of/for [Kiko]. I think he's worked his way into something bigger from the beginning. He deserves it. He earned it with his hard work."

He continued: "At this moment, [Kiko] is managing to finish the 'Secret Garden' world tour with us, coupled with the first touring with MEGADETH. Soon, that won't be possible, so he will be taking MEGADETH as a priority, most probably as his exclusive band. So, since we won't be able to count on having him with us very soon, the solution will be to find a substitute for him."

"Secret Garden" "brings together everything that has established ANGRA as one of biggest bands in its style: contemporary sound combined with inspired compositions," according to a press release. It shows the maturity of a band that, after 23 years on the road, continues with the same motivation and passion for music that drove the glorious beginning of the group. The compositions mend together elements that made the band known around the world, foregrounding the unity of seemingly distinct styles and combining in a unique way styles such as rock — in its various forms, classical music and Brazilian music.

One of the great strengths of the album is the variety of great guest musicians: Simone Simons from the Dutch band EPICA divinely interprets the song "Secret Garden" while the great metal diva Doro Pesch sings an exciting vocal duet with Rafael Bittencourt on "Crushing Room". Actually, the various appearances of Rafael's lead vocals make for some of the strongest moments on this album, causing a contrast in tone and interpretation in comparison to Fabio. This also becomes evident in the cover that the band chose to record, "Synchronicity II" by THE POLICE.

Each episode of Digital Tour Bus's "Dream Tour" features a touring act discussing who they would put on their ideal tour if there was no limits. In this episode, which was filmed on April 11 in Joliet, Illinois, Chuck Billy, vocalist for the legendary thrash metal band TESTAMENT, reveals his dream tour lineup.

TESTAMENT guitarist Eric Peterson recently told Lithium Magazine about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2012's "Dark Roots Of Earth" album: "We're still working on it. I would say, probably, realistically, we're about halfway done. It depends on how it could just come to us and be done when I get home, or if you hit certain obstacles and different shows come up and tours. But I think the juices are starting to flow now… 'cause it's been so long, and we've been busting our balls and trying to get this record done, and I think we're getting it back into the whole vibe of what we really wanna do. 'Cause, I mean, we're on our eleventh record, and we're into this, like, 25, 30 years now. It's kind of, like, there's so many bands doing what we do, our style of music, and, I think, a band like us, when you've been around this long, you don't wanna just put out the same thing; you don't wanna do the cookie-cutter kind of thing, where you're just, like, 'Let's just copy what we did before.' For me, it's gotta come from the heart. So that's why it's taking so long. I think everybody will be stoked when it comes out."

Regarding the musical direction of the new TESTAMENT material, Eric said: "When you're beginning [as a band], you're just evolving — you're not thinking about it — but once you get to a certain plateau, you start going, 'Okay, do we wanna sound like our older stuff, or are we gonna do something like the new bands are doing now?' Like, 'You guys have gotta sound like this,' or, 'You're gonna do this. You're gonna do that.' So, I think where we're at, we're kind of choosing what record we wanna sound like, and then when I go to write songs, they don't sound like that. 'Cause it's just, like, you can't do that. Who knows what I was doing or what I was thinking when I wrote that? So, I mean, it's gonna come out. You do your best of what you're into at the time, and I really like what I'm creating right now. The stuff that I've written so far is a lot more thrashy. And Chuck is on the edge of whether he wants to do 'death' vocals or clean vocals. I prefer when he's more of a singing style and using the 'death' stuff to throw it over the fence."

TESTAMENT bassist Steve DiGiorgio and drummer Gene Hoglan were forced to miss the band's appearance at the Heavy Montreal festival in early August due to their touring commitments in Europe with DEATH TO ALL (DTA). Replacing them at the show were Tilen Hudrap from VICIOUS RUMOURS on bass and Alex Bent from BATTLECROSS on drums.

With a release date of September 25th for The Wiccan, the debut full-length from Lucifer’s Child, the project of George Emmanuel (Rotting Christ, ex-Chaostar) and Stathis Ridis (Nightfall), via Norway's Dark Essence Records, a video for the track “Lucifer’s Child” is released. The video was directed and produced by the band, and can be seen below:

With artwork by Stathis Ridis' AmazeMe Design company, tracklisting for the eight-track album, which was recorded in Athens, Greece, in 2014, can be found below.

Tracklisting:
 
“Hors de Combat”
“A True Mayhem”
“Spirits Of Amenta”
“He, Who Punishes And Slays”
“King Ov Hell”
“The Wiccan”
“Lucifer’s Child”
“Doom”

Together with Marios Dupont on vocals and Nick Vell on drums, Emmanuel (guitars) and Stathis (bass),  have taken the classic Greek black metal sound and given it a dimension that is entirely their own, with songs ranging from the epic and monumental to pure aggression. Formed with the intention of performing the kind of music that would serve as a spiritual introduction to the atmospheric world of a Summoning, the band seeks to create a unity between the spiritual ideas behind each song and the immensely heavy and mid-paced music itself, thereby presenting the audience not only with a taste of their electrifying black metal, but also a sense of ritualistic energy.
 
Lucifer's Child three-part studio video diaries can be seen below:

 

Just in time for the start of their North America tour, Negura Bunget unveil a music video for "La Hotaru Cu Cinci Culmi", one of the strongest tracks off their latest album, Tau.

"We'll be promoting the new album Tau all over US and Canada alongside Icelandic atmospheric black metal sensation Dynfari, and Romanian emotional metal troupe Grimegod," says the band. The complete routing is as listed:

September
2 - Boston, MA - East Club
3 - Albany, NY - The Low Beat
4 - Brooklyn, NY - Black Bear Bar
5 - Baltimore, MD - The Windup Space
6 - Charlotte, NC - Tremont Music Hall
7 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
8 - Orlando, FL - The Haven
9 - New Orleans, LO - Siberia
10 - Houston, TX - The White Swan
11 - Austin, TX - Lost Well
12 - Dallas, TX - Reno's Chop Shop
13 - Albuquerque, NM - The Compound 2
17 - Tempe, AZ - Club Red
18 - San Diego, CA - The Merrow
19 - Santa Ana, CA - Malones
25 - Denver, CO - 7th Circle
26 - Colorado Springs, CO - Flux Capacitor
27 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Bar
29 - San Francisco, CA - Elbo Room

October
1 - Elko, NV - Silver Dollar Club
2 - Portland, OR - Panic Room
3 - Seattle, WA - Highline Bar
4 - Victoria, BC - Logan's Pub
5 - Vancouver, BC - Red Room
6 - Edmonton, AB - Mercury Room
7 - Calgary, AB - Dickens Pub
8 - Winnipeg, MA - Handsome Daughter
9 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
10 - Chicago, IL - Livewire
11 - Milwaukee, WI - Quarters
12 - Kansas City, MO - The Riot Room
15 - Ottawa, ON - Maveriks
16 - Toronto, ON - Hard Luck Bar
17 - Montreal, QC - L'Alize
18 - Quebec, QC - Le Cercle
20 - Halifax, NS - Gus' Pub
21 - Moncton, NB - Esquire Tavern
23 - Sudbury, ON - Sudbury Metal Fest
25 - Wilmington, DE - Mojo 13

 

 

To read BraveWords scribe David Perri's review of the new Negura Bunget album, Tau, click here.

 

 

 

The official lyric video for the song "The Stranger" from OPERATION: MINDCRIME, the new band led by former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, can be seen below. The track is taken from OPERATION: MINDCRIME's debut album, "The Key", which will be released on September 18 via Frontiers Music Srl.

Perhaps one of Tate's most ambitious recordings to date, "The Key" examines what one might do if they discovered "the key" to changing the way we view the world, the way we look at time, the way we travel, and could essentially change the human condition... for better or for worse. Fresh from the creative mind of Geoff Tate, "The Key" features a dozen songs (see entire track listing below) and marks part one of an epic musical trilogy that initiates that very question within a web of international politics, the world economy and social ethos. A trailer featuring snippets of four songs from the album ("Burn", "Re-Inventing the Future", "Life Or Death?" and "The Fall") is available below. OPERATION: MINDCRIME is described as a creative platform that continues in the spirit of the historic album of the same name, spawning concepts as grand as the music, and intertwining the intensity of the former QUEENSRŸCHE vocalist's iconic past with the provocative, progressive mindset that has made him one of music's most resolute forces and frontmen. "Musically, this album is quite adventurous," says Tate of "The Key". "Of course there are key elements in the music, melody and phrasings that are really identifiable, but throughout my career I've opened my eyes and ears to new standards and arrangements, and that's what keeps things fresh and exciting as an artist — we've thrown out the rules for this record, and it's been really liberating. I'm a fan of old prog, and that music didn't stick to rules. It's inspiring and enjoyable to be able to explore, and it's great being in a position to write without constraints." The results are a series of albums that don't languish in nostalgia, instead offering listeners an opportunity to delve into a world of ideas and inspiration that Tate has been nurturing for the better portion of the last decade. Instead of asking, "Who killed Mary?", OPERATION: MINDCRIME now asks, "What are the implications of changing the world?" "Like every album I've ever done, people will hear and experience it differently, and that is something that I look forward to," continues Tate. "Music is an intimate experience — your inspirations are unique to you, and will be heard differently through every set of ears and experiences - but isn't that really what makes art exciting? It inspires us all in different ways and for different reasons, and this album is no different. There are quite a few sections of this album that help propel the story with segues and dialogue, but the lyrics don't lay out a breadcrumb trail and tell the story in a linear fashion, there's a puzzle. We have several characters, and three other people singing lead vocals on the first album. That made it even more fun for me and helps give the album its own special character. "Musically, there's quite a smorgasbord, we've played with sound and established a sound palate — heavy guitar, obviously, cool drumming... all the music is very sophisticated, and there are interesting time changes, the band is playing with different countings and we switch throughout each piece. We can perform the verse in one feel, the bridge in another, and transition to a new chorus, very challenging stuff and lots of different sounds that people probably haven't heard on one of my albums before - new and different guitar sounds and vocal treatments, very dynamic stuff." Joining Tate on "The Key" are a hard-hitting cast of familiar faces and new collaborators: bass players David Ellefson (MEGADETH) and John Moyer (DISTURBED, ADRENALINE MOB), drummers Simon Wright (AC/DC), Scott Mercado (CANDLEBOX) and Brian Tichy (BILLY IDOL, OZZY OSBOURNE), guitarists Kelly Gray (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Scott Moughton (Geoff Tate's solo band), keyboardist Randy Gane (MYTH) and vocalist Mark Daly (THE VOODOOS). Tate makes one point exceptionally clear — OPERATION: MINDCRIME isn't a band, it is a musical project of like-minded people uniting to achieve a common goal. While the songwriting rests predominantly on the shoulders of Tate, Gray and Gane, it's up to every contributor to add their influence and help color the landscape. "The songs on these records tell a story, and each song is a scene or chapter — every scene is different," Tate says. "The words tell the story, the musical bed, the chord progressions and melodies, they set the pace. That's how I envisioned this album in total, very theatrical and definitely cinematic. "How do we describe passion?" Tate asks in conclusion, cautiously answering his own question: "Music is a personal journey, and all you can do is write what moves you. That's what passion is - it's so difficult, yet it's such an important human emotion. There are moments on this record that really impact me, the questions raised and the music those questions are set to... I don't know if it will have that same effect on everyone else, but that's where my passion and their passion meet. I do this because I love doing it. I love touring and I love playing live, performing with like-minded people in front of like-minded audiences, and being there in the moment together when all of our passions collide." "The Key" track listing:

01. Choices02. Burn03. Re-Inventing The Future04. Ready To Fly05. Discussions In A Smoke Filled Room06. Life or Death?07. The Stranger08. Hearing Voice09. On Queue10. An Ambush Of Sadness11. Kicking In The Door12. The Fall

The videos for the songs "Burn" and "Re-Inventing The Future" were produced and directed by Seattle filmmaker and documentarian Jamie Burton Chamberlin (of Black Dahlia Films), who previously worked with DUFF MACKAGAN'S LOADED on "The Taking" series.

Get folding hostile in the sock pit with Hamptera as they tell the story of a disgruntled sock that has lost its grip.
 
Lead singer, Footup In-Sock-Mo, bursts at the seams with foot-chaffing lyrics such as: “With each step I slip off of your heel” and “Is there no elastic anymore?”
Setting the mood for a cowboy from smell that rises only to fall and cause a vulgar display of discomfort to its wearer. You better walk on toes, boy.
 
The video features a small army of puppeteers as well as a cameo from Vinnie Paul himself. This will be Sock Puppet Parody’s 14th release.
 

Israel-based thrash metallers, Hammercult, have released a lyric video for “I Live For This Shit” (below), from their brand new studio album, Built For War, out via Steamhammer / SPV now in Europe / Germany, and available in the US / Canada on September 4th.

Built For War is available in three different physical formats (tracklistings below):

1. Jewelcase CD
2. Ltd. Edition digipac CD + DVD (live in Tel Aviv)
3.) Ltd. Edition LP version - coloured 180gr. vinyl (red), printed inner sleeve, 1 vinyl only bonus track, CD in paper sleeve included (Ltd. to 500 copies worldwide!)

Vocalist Yakir Von Hammer states: “Every song on the album is the kind of pumping anthem which Hammercult are known for – but this time we’ve taken the songs to different places, with a more melodic and more original approach which really stands out. The vocals on Built For War are very unique and range from screams to growls, hardcore shouts to clean vocals – which I honestly believe has never been done before by a single performer. If I had to summarize Built For War in a single sentence it would be ‘Destruction meets Manowar in an explosive mix of extreme music and true metal’.”

Digi tracklisting:

CD
“From Parts Unknown (Intro)”
“Rise Of The Hammer”
“I Live For This Shit”
“Spoils Of War”
“Ready To Roll”
“Raise Some Hell”
“Blackened Blade”
“Let It Roar”
“Ode To Ares (Interlude)”
“Altar Of Pain”
“Blood And Fire”
“Saturday Night Circle Pit Fight”
“Road To Hell”

DVD (live in Tel Aviv 2014)
“Hymn To The Steel”
“Steelcrusher”
“Diabolic Overkill”
“Metal Rules Tonight”
“Into Hell”
“Black Horseman”
“We Are Hammercult”
“Let The Angels Burn”
“Stealer Of Souls”

CD tracklisting:
“From Parts Unknown (Intro)”
“Rise Of The Hammer”
“I Live For This Shit”
“Spoils Of War”
“Ready To Roll”
“Raise Some Hell”
“Blackened Blade”
“Let It Roar”
“Ode To Ares (Interlude)”
“Altar Of Pain”
“Blood And Fire”
“Saturday Night Circle Pit Fight”
“Road To Hell”

LP tracklisting:

Side 1
“From Parts Unknown (Intro)”
“Rise Of The Hammer”
“I Live For This Shit”
“Spoils Of War”
“Ready To Roll”
“Raise Some Hell”
“Blackened Blade”

Side 2
“Let It Roar”
“Ode To Ares (Interlude)”
“Altar Of Pain”
“Blood And Fire”
“Saturday Night Circle Pit Fight”
“Road To Hell”
“Evil Has No Boundaries” (Vinyl only bonus track, Original by Slayer)

“I Live For This Shit” lyric video:

“Spoils Of War”:

Teaser video:

The official video for "Archangel", the title track of the tenth studio album from SOULFLY, can be seen below. The clip was directed by Robert Sexton, who has previously worked with HELLYEAH, DEATH ANGEL, THE DWARVES and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, among others.

Released on August 14 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment, "Archangel" was produced and mixed by Matt Hyde (SLAYER, BEHEMOTH, CHILDREN OF BODOM), and features stunning cover artwork by artist Eliran Kantor (TESTAMENT, HATEBREED, ICED EARTH, SODOM).

"Archangel" first-week chart positions:

Austria: #31Australia: #41Belgium: #29Canada: #60Czech Republic: #17Germany: #19Finland: #22France: #40Netherlands: #33Spain: #19Switzerland: #11UK: #57USA: #130World Chart: #23

Commented SOULFLY mainman Max Cavalera: "I woke up this morning and I saw the charts for 'Archangel' worldwide and I was very happy. I want to thank all of the tribe and everyone at Nuclear Blast for supporting this record, and making all the hard work meaningful. I would also like to thank Matt Hyde for the great production and Eliran Kantor for the killer artwork. Can't wait to see the tribe on tour!"

SOULFLY will embark on a North American headlining tour at the end of September. Joining them on this epic campaign are Swedish melodic death metal visionaries SOILWORK, Polish technical death metallers DECAPITATED, and hot newcomers SHATTERED SUN.

Former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman will release a digital-only deluxe version of his 2014 acclaimed solo album, "Inferno", on September 4 via Prosthetic. The set will feature two exclusive bonus tracks, "Ballad Of The Barbie Bandits" and "Jasmine Cyanide", the latter of which features a guest appearance by Canadian rocker Danko Jones.

Regarding the "Jasmine Cyanide" song, Friedman said: "This was a big collaborative effort with the band SKYHARBOR, Danko Jones and myself. It was also the first song written for 'Inferno'."

He continued: "By the time things started cooking with the overall songwriting, the bar just kept getting higher, and it all started with this.

"Dan Tompkins came up with the brilliant lyrics and melody line. Danko Jones heard Dan's amazing vocal tracks in the L.A. studio where I was working, because I had enlisted Danko to sing backups to Dan's lead vocals. Once we got started with that, Danko had a few vocal ideas and lyrical that really liked and I couldn't ignore, so Danko and I did a rewrite on the spot."

Friedman added: "I love the song, but it didn't fit anywhere in the sequencing of the album nicely, so it didn't make it to the final album, and it found its way to the Japan bonus tracks."

"Inferno" deluxe version track listing:

01. Inferno02. Resin03. Wicked Panacea (feat. Rodrigo y Gabriela)04. Steroidhead (feat. Keshav Dhar) 05. I Can't Relax (feat. Danko Jones)06. Meat Hook (feat. Jørgen Munkeby) 07. Hyper Doom 08. Sociopaths (feat. David Davidson) 09. Lycanthrope (feat. Alexi Laiho & Danko Jones)10. Undertow11. Horrors (co-written by Jason Becker)12. Inferno -reprise-13. Jasmine Cyanide (feat. Danko Jones, Daniel Tompkins & Keshav Dhar) (bonus track)14. Ballad Of The Barbie Bandits (bonus track)

The official lyric video for "Jasmine Cyanide" can be seen below.

Friedman recently announced his first tour of North America since 2003 — a 21-date headlining run that will kick off September 9. The trek marks the latest leg of Friedman's ongoing world tour in support of "Inferno", his solo album that so far has seen him complete a record-breaking tour across South America; perform extensively in Europe with acts such as Gus G. (FIREWIND, OZZY OSBOURNE), ARCH ENEMY and KREATOR; and play multiple high-profile gigs in his current home country of Japan, including a set at the country's largest heavy metal festival, Loud Park.

Friedman commented on his imminent return to his home continent: "On the rare occasion that I stop and think I about it, I realize I've done an insane thing: I left a successful international band to concentrate my efforts on the domestic music scene of a country thousands of miles from my home. Different culture, different language, different planet. Since I went to Japan, so many Americans have supported me, and while many doubted I would ever play live in my homeland again, now it's happening. Choosing the setlist and doing prep for this tour has been a blast. Words can not describe how excited I am about finally touring North America!"

The upcoming North American leg of the "Inferno" tour will start in Friedman's former hometown of Baltimore and wrap up on the West Coast on October 3. Support will be provided by the Los Angeles-based extreme shred outfit EXMORTUS.

The dates are as follows:

Sep. 09 - Baltimore, MD - SoundstageSep. 10 – New York, NY - Gramercy TheatreSep. 11 - Pittsburgh, PA - Altar BarSep. 12 - Philadelphia, PA - Northstar BarSep. 13 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music HallSep. 15 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland BallroomSep. 16 - Toronto, ON - Virgin Mobile Mod ClubSep. 17 - Detroit, MI - Token LoungeSep. 18 - Chicago, IL - Reggie's Rock ClubSep. 19 - St. Louis, MO - FubarSep. 20 - Kansas City, MO - Riot RoomSep. 22 - Denver, CO - MarquisSep. 23 - Salt Lake City, UT - Liquid JoesSep. 25 - Seattle, WA - El CorazonSep. 26 - Vancouver, BC - RickshawSep. 27 - Portland, OR - AladdinSep. 29 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music HallSep. 30 - Hollywood, CA - Whisky-a-Go-GoOct. 01 - Anaheim, CA - House of BluesOct. 02 - Las Vegas, NV - Backstage BarOct. 03 - Ramona, CA - Mainstage

"Inferno" sold around 2,100 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 186 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on May 26, 2014 via Prosthetic Records (except in Japan, where the album was made available through Universal Music). The CD was the 52-year-old musician's first collection of material recorded for the U.S. market since 2003's "Music For Speeding". Among the guest collaborators that appear on the effort are CHILDREN OF BODOM's Alexi Laiho, REVOCATION's Dave Davidson, acoustic flamenco-metal hybridists RODRIGO Y GABRIELA and Friedman's pre-MEGADETH bandmate in CACOPHONY, Jason Becker.

Speaking to Guitar World magazine, Friedman said: Each of the guests on this record took a song from scratch — they would write it and then I would arrange it and add my parts to it. That way we were both invested in it and it's a little bit of a deeper experience."

Friedman described the new album as the most "Marty" record has has done in years. "I figured if I was going to come back to America, I was going to come back big and give people something they want out of me," he told the magazine. "And I know that what they want is not some avant-garde thing. What they want is just the most intense writing and playing I can do."

The official lyric video for the song "Scream" from W.A.S.P. can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's fifteenth studio album, titled "Golgotha", which will be released on October 2 via Austria's Napalm Records.

Commented W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless: "'Scream' was the track we felt really opened the album with the kick we were looking for. The animation on the video is outstanding and truly takes you on a trip. 'You're gonna cry if you want me, You're gonna lie if you love me!' It's enough to make you wanna scream!"

"Golgotha" track listing:

01. Scream02. Last Runaway03. Shotgun04. Miss You05. Fallen Under06. Slaves Of The New World Order07. Eyes Of My Maker08. Hero Of The World09. Golgotha

Lawless previously stated about the making of the "Golgotha" CD: "The rehearsals for this album started in the spring of 2011. A lot of time was spent just talking about the direction of the songs and really trying to turn the songs inside out to see exactly where they wanted to go.

"One thing you learn over the years in the songwriting process is that after the songs begin to take shape, they will eventually start to talk back to you and they will tell you where they wanna go. The trick is learning to listen when they speak.

"This process of writing and arranging and the demos went on for several months before we even began to record the album for real.

"One of the first tracks we recorded was 'Miss You'. It's interesting because, ironically, it was the first song ever written for [1992's] 'The Crimson Idol' [album].

"There were three songs that were originally supposed to be on the 'Idol' [CD] but never made it and 'Miss You' was one of them. When you see the lyrics, you'll understand that Jonathan is clearly talking to his brother Michael, as he kneels at his graveside."

Regarding the previously released song "Last Runaway", Lawless said: "Forty years ago I came to Hollywood as a teenager. Terrified and scared out of my mind, I had no idea what waited there for me. The song 'Last Runaway' is an intensely personal account of what happened to me, not only then but over the years and the success that followed after. Be it a kid looking for success in the music business or any life-challenging endeavor that someone would 'run away' from in life, I'm certain that everyone can relate to this story one way or another. It's another kid 'chasing the dream' and trying to survive it in the process. We've all been there."

At the 2014 edition of the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden, Lawless stated about the lyrical inspiration for the new W.A.S.P. CD: "'Golgotha' is Hebrew for place of the skull, and it's the hill where Christ was crucified. And it's interesting, when you see a lot of bands going around using Satanic images or images of death and things like that, and I'm thinking, all they need to do is look at the source, 'cause it's right there. I mean, if you want death, there's enough to go around there."

Drummer Mike Dupke recently left W.A.S.P. after a nine-year stint with the band. He has since been replaced on the road by YNGWIE MALMSTEEN drummer Patrick Johansson.

On August 30th, Evergrey performed live at Café Campus in Montreal, Quebec in support of their new album, Hymns For The Broken. Check out the fan-filmed video from the gig below:

Remaining tour dates are as follows:

September
1 - Le Circle - Quebec City, QC
3 - The Marlin Room - New York, NY 
4 - Mr. Smalls - Pittsburgh, PA
5 - Soundstage - Baltimore, MD 
6 - Empire - Springfield, VA 
8 - The Casbah - Charlotte, NC 
9 - Midweek Mayhem - Atlanta, GA (ProgPower USA) **

** Evergrey and Voyager only

Everygrey recently released their new video, for the track "The Grand Collapse", lifted from their the new album Hymns For The Broken. The video, directed by Patric Ullaeus (Revolver Productions), can be seen below:

Hymns For The Broken was released on September 26th, 2014 via AFM Records.

Hymns For The Broken tracklisting:

"The Awakening"
"King Of Errors"
"A New Dawn"
"Wake A Change"
"Archaic Rage"
"Barricades"
"Black Undertow"
"The Fire"
"Hymns For The Broken"
"Missing You"
"A Grand Collapse"
"The Aftermath"

"King Of Errors" video:

EPK (Electronic Press Kit):

Union was truly a band that never received the recognition they deserved. Vocalist John Corabi (Mötley Crüe), guitarist Bruce Kulick (KISS), drummer Brent Fitz (Slash), and bassist James Hunting (David Lee Roth), collectively issued three albums in the span of three years: Union (1998), Live In The Galaxy (1999), and The Blue Room (2000).

15 years later, movie-maker Brad Bailey is helming a documentary titled: Union "It's Complicated", detailing the complete story of this sorely under-rated outift. Expected to be released next year, a very brief preview can be seen below.

 

 

The Medusa is a new stoner rock / metal band from Richmond, VA featuring original Alabama Thunderpussy vocalist Johnny Throckmorton. The rest of the group is comprised of former Immortal Avenger axeman, Tommy Gunn, and Mensrea shredder, Nathan Krishna, alongside bassist Crystal Cleghorn, and drummer Robley Ball.

Earlier this summer, the quintet released a pre-production demo of the track "Crooked Smile". Eager to appease their growing legion of fans, The Medusa has shared another pre-production demo, this time for the song "Death Of Another Day"; check out both tunes below.

The Medusa hopes to release an EP or 7-inch in the Fall. In the very near future, the band will be making their first live appearance on September 5th, in their hometown of Richmond, VA at Wonderland with local riffers Dirt Merchant and The Tall Boys.

For more information, visit The Medusa on Facebook.

 

 

  

 

 

Fan-filmed video footage of GHOST's entire August 29 performance at the United Kingdom's Leeds Festival can be seen below.

GHOST's third album, "Meliora", has entered The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 8 with first-week sales of just over 29,000 units — nearly all from pure album sales. The set follows the No. 28-peaking "Infestissumam", which was released in 2013 and has sold 66,000 copes in the U.S. to date.

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

"Meliora" was released on August 21 via Loma Vista Recordings. The CD was helmed by Klas Åhlund, a prolific songwriter, producer and guitarist who is also a member of the Swedish rock band TEDDYBEARS, and was mixed by Andy Wallace (SLAYER, NIRVANA, SEPULTURA, LINKIN PARK, GUNS N' ROSES).

Asked if there was a particular direction GHOST was looking to go in on "Meliora", one of the Nameless Ghouls told Guitar World magazine: "Yes. There were a few guidelines we were working off of. The main one was that we felt on 'Infestissumam', there was definitely a shortage of… I don't know what the word is… let's say riffage. Whereas that was not the case on the first one ['Opus Eponymous']. So we wanted to make a record that had more riffs on it, because the guitar took a bit of a backseat on 'Infestissumam'. And the main reason for that was the production. The guitars were just put in the back. If we were to take all the tapes from that album and go into a different studio and remix the whole thing, I'm sure it would sound very different. So this time we wanted to focus on the guitar aspect from the start. Secondly, from a thematic standpoint, we wanted the whole record to have something of a futuristic feel. So there are organs and things like that, but there are also other things that we excluded, because this is not, you know, our medieval record. This is our futuristic, urban-dystopia-metropolis record. So we knew it had to possess a certain sort of flair. Because if you want to make a futuristic record that is sort of '80s-sounding, you would do that by using a lot of chorus everywhere. But that's not what we were trying to do. Or you could make a JUDAS PRIEST or IRON MAIDEN–style record that sounds very futuristic. But that's not what we were trying to do either. Sometimes you have to know what to leave out."

Regarding GHOST's sound, a Nameless Ghoul told Rolling Stone magazine: "We sort of came up with this mixture where we could combine basically all our favorite childhood and adolescent music styles. And we grew up listening to a lot of different music. A lot of Swedish music, and also a lot of '60s and '70s bands — AOR things like KANSAS and YES and CHICAGO and BOSTON. JOURNEY. TOTO. Professional-sounding music. And with all of that we found a way, for us at least, to make sense of having an extreme-metal riff and then throwing a pop melody over it. So that was the initial thing. After that it was, 'Oh, shit! Maybe we could turn it into a horror-rock band, and we could throw in this very childish sort of fascination of horror films! And also ALICE COOPER! And KISS!"

The official video for "Shitting Mud", a re-imagining of SLAYER's classic song "Raining Blood" performed by STATE OF THE FART, the musical project brought about by the world's most impressive handfart architect, Guy First from Israel, can be seen below. The track was recorded by Ran Yerushalmi and mixed by Yoni Menner of the band WALKWAYS.

Written by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King for SLAYER's 1986 studio album "Reign In Blood", "Raining Blood" is one of only three tracks on the LP that is longer than three minutes, having a running time of four minutes and seventeen seconds. The song closes out "Reign In Blood" with a minute of rain sound effects.

Eccentric singer, songwriter and pianist Tori Amos covered "Raining Blood" on her 2001 album "Strange Little Girls". SLAYER guitarist Kerry King later admitted that he thought the singer's version of the track was odd. "It took me a minute and a half to find a spot in the song where I knew where she was," he said. "It's so weird. If she had never told us, we would have never known. You could have played it for us and we'd have been like, 'What's that?' Like a minute and a half through I heard a line and was like, 'I know where she's at!'"

Motörhead's Mikkey Dee guests on episode 145 of One On One With Mitch Lafon. Mikkey discusses the band's new Bad Magic album, covering The Rolling Stones hit "Sympathy For The Devil", having Queen's Brian May guest on the new album, the 40th anniversary tour, Lemmy's health, the band Nordic Beast (with John Norum and Åge Sten Nilsen), the story behind King Diamond's Abigail album, his love for and playing hockey, Motörhead's Motörboat Cruise, being a contestant on the Kändisdjungeln TV show and much more.

This episode is co-hosted by drummer Johnny Dee (Britny Fox, Doro).

On working with Don Dokken: "I was looking forward to playing some more mainstream straight ahead rock n' roll. After a few years with that, I felt that I really do belong in the heavier division and Motörhead asked me to join. Finally, it was time to hook up with the boys and here we are."

Why make a new Motörhead album: "We don't have to do it, but we all love to write new songs and it's a challenge to do it. It's very important for us to move forward. We can't just play all the old stuff."

On working with King Diamond: "With King Diamond, I felt that I was a very very narrow drummer."

On King Diamond's Abigail album: "We became a really tight family on that record."

On working with Europe's John Norum: "We will probably try to get a band together and write some cool stuff. John wants to go a little heavier and I'd like to go more melodic. I think it would be a good mix actually."

On Lemmy's health: "You never know with health, but he's fighting."

 

Motörhead canceled their show in Denver, CO on August 28 as part of Riot Fest, just a day after the band cut short a Utah show when mainman Lemmy Kilmister fell ill.

Motörhead released the following statement explaining the cancelation: “The Rocky Mountain High has affected Lemmy like the high altitude of Salt Lake City. It's been quite a while since Lemmy was this 'high' in the US, and thus having got a burst of altitude sickness (which made it hard for him to breathe and sing properly), he has very reluctantly decided not perform in Denver. Lemmy is really sorry and wants to thank the fans for their support and trust. He looks forward to the next-up Texas shows…at low elevations."

UDR Music seek Motörhead fans help in creating the very first official “I’ve Got My Bad Magic” wallpaper.

“Take a (crazy) selfie with your copy of Bad Magic and submit it in this post. The coolest pix will be featured on the wallpaper, available for free download within the next couple of weeks. The most awesome pix will also be featured in the 40th anniversary Motörhead scrapbook.”

Motörhead was forced to cut their August 27th show in Salt Lake City short when frontman Lemmy Kilmister, who has been dealing with health problems, wasn't feeling well. The band left the stage after only three or four songs. The following message was posted on the band's official Facebook page a few hours later:

"The people are great, but the air is just too thin. The high altitude makes it difficult for breathing, and that’s what happened with Lemmy tonight in Salt Lake City. He feels very bad to have cut the show short, but being that high up, he had some trouble breathing well. Lemmy appreciates everyone’s concern. The fans always rally round!"

At this point the band's tour is expected to go ahead as planned. Dates are as follows:

September
1 - Austin, TX - Cedar Park Center
2 - San Antonio, TX - Aztec
4 - Dallas, TX - Bomb Factory
5 - Houston, TX - House Of Blues
8 - St Louis, MO - Pageant
9 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat
11 - Chicago, IL - Riotfest
12 - Detroit, MI - Fillmore
15 - Wallingford, CT - Oakdale
16 - Wantagh, NY - Jones Beach
19 - Toronto, ONT - Riotfest
22 - Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre
23 - Charlotte, NC - Fillmore
25 - Orlando, FL - House Of Blues

Stay tuned for updates.

Motörhead were honoured by the Los Angeles City Council on August 26th in celebration of their 40 year anniversary and the release of their new album, Bad Magic. Council member José Huizar conducted the honour. Video footage can be seen below:

Motörhead are streaming their cover of the Rolling Stones classic “Sympathy For The Devil”, featured on the band’s Bad Magic album. Bad Magic is the band’s 22nd studio album and is out now via UDR Music / Motörhead Music. The album was recorded at NRG Studios in Los Angeles, CA with long-time producer Cameron Webb. Bad Magic is the follow up to the band’s highly successful album Aftershock which saw Motörhead enjoy their most successful year yet, including a fourth Grammy nomination.

“Sympathy For The Devil”:

After 40 years rattling teeth, bones and ears with their legendary rock’n’roll, you might excuse Motörhead if they wanted to ease off. Put their feet up. Relax a little. But that’s just it… this is Motörhead.

And instead, Motörhead gleefully say a loud and hearty ‘bollocks’ to that sort of feeble-minded thinking with their 22nd studio album, Bad Magic. Bristling with thunderous attitude, pioneering spirit and some of the fiercest rhythms and riffs that’ll beat your ears into submission this year, Bad Magic is a massive kick in the teeth for anyone who dared believe it might be otherwise. Indeed, if those people still remain, they would do well to grab some big fat earplugs, fall to their knees and pray like buggery, because big-rig head crushers like “Thunder & Lightning” (streaming below) and the especially l-o-u-d “Teach ‘Em How To Bleed” show that Motörhead are as strong, mean, loud, relentless, uncompromising and goddam heavy as ever.

Drawing on their own vast catalogue of road-warrior freewheeling rock’n’roll spirit, Bad Magic also strides confidently into some of the earlier attitudes of Motörmusic. Written and recorded in the studio together, for the first time in the Kilmister/Campbell/Dee era, the more ‘live’ approach to creating Bad Magic has obviously paid dividends in this regard. There is the driving malevolence of “Choking On Your Screams”, with Lemmy in magnificently omnipotent vocal mood, “Electricity” carries a hefty chunk of punk attitude married with some of Phil Campbell’s best lead work in years, while “Shoot Out All Of Your Lights” is all devilish, greasy biker-borne-screw-you-and yours, Mikkey Dee’s tribal drums pounding out a great path for more Kilmister proclamations. The boys even enjoyed a guest appearance from Queen’s Brian May on “The Devil”, adding a scintillating solo on this thunderous Motörstomper.

Produced at NRG Studios with long-time producer Cameron Webb, Bad Magic came together after a couple of years which saw Motörhead enjoy their most successful international era in over two decades off the back of their last release Aftershock. Lemmy also finally decided to face the fact he is flesh, blood and mortal like all of us, adjusting his lifestyle to kick the ass of health-issues and re-emerging stronger, leaner and meaner than ever. His own personal performances on Bad Magic rank as some of the most wide-ranging and unique he has delivered in years, and on the ballad “Until The End”, Lemmy opens up with equal levels explanation and intent on the simple but important matters which life conjures for us all. Add to all of this a wonderfully executed, gritty delivery of The Rolling Stones classic “Sympathy For The Devil”, and it will be clear to anyone with a pair of ears that Bad Magic is Motörhead’s finest work in over two decades.

Tracklisting:

“Victory Or Die”
“Thunder & Lightning”
“Fire Storm Hotel”
“Shoot Out All Of Your Lights”
“The Devil”
“Electricity”
“Evil Eye”
“Teach Them How To Bleed”
“Till The End”
“Tell Me Who To Kill”
“Choking On Your Screams”
“When The Sky Comes Looking For You”
“Sympathy For The Devil” (Rolling Stones cover)

“Electricity” lyric video:

“Thunder & Lightning”:

Order at the following links:

- Standard Jewel Case
- Limited Box
- Digi Pack
- Vinyl
- iTunes

Fan-filmed video footage of BOBBY BLOTZER'S RATT EXPERIENCE, the new band led by RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer, performing on August 1 at Buffalo Rose in Golden, Colorado can be seen below.

BOBBY BLOTZER'S RATT EXPERIENCE is rounded out by Josh Alan (SIN CITY SINNERS), Scotty Griffin (ex-L.A. GUNS), Doc Ellis (Jizzy Pearl's LOVE/HATE) and 21-year-old guitar hero Blaze.

Each RATT EXPERIENCE show includes (depending on venue and time slot)

* A performance of RATT's "Invasion Of Your Privacy" album in its entirety to commemorate the record's 30th anniversary

* A never-before-seen video history introduction

* A tribute to late RATT guitarist Robbin "King" Crosby

* Over 20 songs, including some that have never been played live before

* Exclusive VIP meet-and-greet packages and opportunities to hang out with The Blotz!

For more information, visit Facebook.com/TheRattExperience.

Blotzer recently said that he decided to go out on the road and perform RATT's hits with the RATT EXPERIENCE after a disagreement over the ownership of the RATT name made it impossible for the original members of the group to work together.

During an appearance on the April 6 edition of Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM satellite radio show, "Eddie Trunk Live", Blotzer stated about RATT's split with singer Stephen Pearcy: "The problem that lies in RATT really is not just our lead singer. It's the fact that him and the bass player, Mr. Juan Croucier, they wanna own part of [the RATT] name. So, to me, it's just like going round and round… I'm not trying to pun on that, but it's just insane that we're still at this point now that we're five years [after the release of the 'Infestation' album]… We went out in 2013 and did about thirty dates… They were all huge… Festivals that we headlined, festivals that we opened for VAN HALEN, AEROSMITH, GUNS N' ROSES, etc. And then headlined arenas and that kind of thing."

Blotzer also talked about the dispute over the ownership of the RATT name which has caused a rift between the founding members of the band.

"Warren [DeMartini, guitar] and I… The reality of it is a corporation that we own owns [the RATT] name. WBS Inc., which we started out — Warren, Bobby and Stephen," he said. "That was WBS Inc. We did all the business for RATT through the corp… That was before [Stephen] sued us in 2000. In 2000, he left the band three days before the third leg of a tour. In doing that and then suing us as went out as RATT with a new singer [he ended up losing control over the RATT name]. He said, 'You know what?! I'm out. Go get a new singer.' And we did everything accordingly to corporate standards and corporate law. He lost the name in federal court. And I know he's out there slandering Warren and I, trying to suggest that we did something shady to get the name. I read that, and I'm, like, does this guy really not understand that he was in federal court for three weeks when he lost any ownership or ties to the name? But the bottom line is, the corporation that Warren and I own, that's who governs that name, so technically, him and I own the name."

According to Blotzer, he is willing to give up the rights to the RATT name in order to get the band back out on the road, but DeMartini is less willing to budge.

"I actually offered my name up. 'Take my ownership in this name. I don't care," Blotzer said. "I just wanna rock. I wanna work. I wanna play.'"

He continued: "The truth is really I've been trying very hard with the likes of Stephen… You know, I'm talking to these guys indivudally and nobody… It's just like a stalemate that nobody will bend on except me. And I'm not trying to slap myself on the back, but it's… It's kind of a scenario where I wanna play and I don't wanna go put some new original band together and go out where nobody knows who it is."

Blotzer added: "Warren has made it impossible to work, because he won't tour with a new singer. Let's just say, his position is he wants the original band to be the RATT out there. And I get it; I do too. You know?! But it's, like, well, dude, if they're not coming, then let's move ahead here. I wanna play. We can play big gigs, we can earn well, financially, with another singer. But I think he's playing this waiting game. He's waiting for Stephen and Juan to cave. I don't know… It's at a five-year standstill. And I'm, like, Pearcy's 58, I'm 56, Warren's four years younger than me, Croucier is a year and a half younger… Whatever. You know, it's, like, I don't wanna fuck around anymore. I wanna go and play for the fans, go and play for my family and my own just fun of working and earning the way I do with RATT.

"I think it's just not cool that these two guys… Well, actually, it's three, because Juan has cornered Stephen into this brainwashing thing that: 'Don't do it, dude. Don't do it. I know what's going on with this.'

"And if anybody thinks I'm out here spilling dirty laundry, I'm sorry you feel that way, but it you were in my shoes, maybe you'd feel a little different, 'cause it's kind of frustrating to have this much time and success and not be able to ride it out for the last lap, so to say, which Stephen always says. We're ten to twelve on the RATT clock here. Let's play the last ten years, or whatever we have."

Regarding his decision to go out with the RATT EXPERIENCE, Blotzer said: "You know, I thought about it across the board, and I just came to the reality that I am in RATT, I've been in RATT for 33 years, and that's who I am, and people would really, probably rather come and see me play RATT music. I wrote it with them — we all wrote it together… Depending on who you talk to, but the reality is we all wrote that music together, from bare riffs and built it on up."

He continued: "What I'm doing is playing our music, A, [and] B, playing stuff that these guys won't [play]. I don't mean that mean or anything, but the guys in the band were so closed-minded to playing so much of the great material that's between track 1 and 10. We've always done just the video songs, primarily. And trying to get Warren and Stephen to do this stuff has been monumentally hard. And when we would do it… Like playing the song 'Closer To My Heart', people love it. If Warren or Stephen thinks that the audience isn't responding to their Richter scale of sound and movement, then it's out. And it would just be usually about three days into a tour. So here I am with my vote, which is shot down the crapper. "

Blotzer added: "Everybody that's RATT fans out there, you all know that there are so many great tunes that we have that are not even really B-sides; they're just songs that are on the record that kick ass. And there are so many that I wanna play, and that's what… My idea's to go out and play those. Of course, play the obligatory songs that you have to play… And I don't mind playing them. I love 'em all. On the ones that are shorter sets, like if we get put on a festival and we have forty minutes or forty-five minutes. I wanna do… The fact that [RATT] missed going out for the thirty-year anniversary for 'Out Of The Cellar', and not doing that really bothered me. So here we are now on the thirty-year anniversary this year of when 'Invasion Of Your Privacy' came out and that tour, and I wanna go out and play that record from beginning to end. And if we have more time on headlining shows, then we're gonna frontload it and backload it… I don't wanna really give the ideas away, but that will be played in its entirety no matter what our time thing is."

Asked how he feels about the fact that Blotzer has assembled the RATT EXPERIENCE band which performs not only the RATT hits, but also several deep album cuts, including many songs that have never been played live, Pearcy told "The Classic Metal Show": "The remaining members really don't understand… You know, anybody can go out and play RATT music in cover bands or however they [wish], but if you're out there taking advantage of…. You know, 'I'm doing a tribute to this guy in the band who's no longer with us.' Or, 'I'm gonna do this…,' you know. And then we hear an ad [for the RATT EXPERIENCE] and they're playing just RATT music with my voice. You know, it's like… Well, you can't do that either. So, in a nutshell, it's not cool. But the guy, he can make a living — that's not a problem — but don't take advantage of the situation and mislead people and be out there saying fictitious things. And other than that, it doesn't bother me. I still get paid."

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of AEROSMITH have contributed music to the original score of "The SpongeBob Musical", which will have its premiere in Chicago next summer. It will begin performances on Tuesday, June 7, 2016 at Broadway in Chicago's Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph Street, Chicago, IL). This is a limited engagement through Sunday, July 3, 2016.

"The SpongeBob Musical" is co-conceived and directed by Tina Landau with a book by Kyle Jarrow, music supervision by Tom Kitt.

"The SpongeBob Musical" will be a one-of-a-kind musical event with additional original songs by Jonathan Coulton, DIRTY PROJECTORS, THE FLAMING LIPS, John Legend, LADY ANTEBELLUM, Cyndi Lauper, PANIC! AT THE DISCO, PLAIN WHITE T'S, THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS and T.I., with an additional song by David Bowie and additional lyrics by Jonathan Coulton.

The design team includes scenic and costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by Kevin Adams, projection design by Peter Nigriniand sound design by Walter Trarbach.

Following its engagement in Chicago, the musical will open on Broadway in the 2016-2017 season.

"The SpongeBob Musical" is a rousing tale of a simple sea sponge who faces the unfathomable. It's a celebration of unbridled hope, unexpected heroes, and pure theatrical invention.

"The SpongeBob Musical" will be produced by Nickelodeon.

"I was drawn to this project not only for its wild theatrical possibility, but also because I felt SpongeBob, at its core, is a layered and hilarious ensemble comedy," said Landau. "SpongeBob himself is of course its center and beating heart — the eternal innocent in a sea of cynics. He's also the classic underdog hero, and so our production sets him on a hero's journey with real stakes, all the while retaining the show's trippy humor and irreverence. We're taking our leads from the TV show but this is an original story, with an original design approach, and original songs written just for the occasion by an amazing array of songwriters. We will present the world of Bikini Bottom and its characters in a whole new way that can only be achieved in the live medium of the theatre. We're bringing the show's fabled characters to life through actors-not prosthetics or costumes that hide them-and we're deploying some unconventional stage craft that will prove that anything can happen in Bikini Bottom."

"SpongeBob long ago transcended the TV screen to become a pop culture icon inspiring everyone from kids and families to artists and musicians, pro athletes, movie stars, fashion designers, social media mavens and even the President," said Cyma Zarghami, president, Viacom Kids And Family Group. "This character has achieved a level of global popularity that we could never have imagined, and bringing him to Broadway is a way to give him a new platform, literally, to reach audiences of all ages who are looking for an engaging, funny and innovative musical theatre experience."

Added Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon's president of content development and production, "We decided early on that we would only bring SpongeBob to Broadway if we could find someone with a wholly unique take on these beloved characters. When we met Tina, we immediately understood that her vision would not only live up to the expectations of both fans and new audiences, but also to the high level of artistry and professionalism that are the hallmarks of Broadway. The innovation she is bringing to the staging is matched with an equally fun and surprising set of original songs we've culled from a dream team of SpongeBob fans who happen to be top-flight musical artists, like David Bowie, John Legend, Cyndi Lauper, LADY ANTEBELLUM and T.I."

Since premiering on Nickelodeon in July 1999, "SpongeBob SquarePants" has emerged as a pop culture phenomenon. The series has been the most-watched animated program with kids for more than 13 consecutive years, and over the past several years, it has averaged more than 1 million total viewers every quarter across all Nickelodeon networks. As the most widely distributed property in Viacom history, SpongeBob is seen in over 185 countries and translated in more than 50 languages. The Paramount Pictures feature film "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" premiered Feb. 6, 2015, landing at #1 opening weekend and going on to be a major hit globally. The character-driven cartoon chronicles the nautical and sometimes nonsensical adventures of SpongeBob, an incurably optimist and earnest sea sponge, and his undersea friends.

Queen on vinyl: This is how listeners first heard the now legendary Queen in the 1970’s when vinyl was the predominant format for recorded music. This September Queen will hit the crest of an already massive wave – a world-wide renaissance of vinyl and record players – with the ultimate set of vinyl LPs, the complete collection of Queen studio albums, re-mastered to the highest standards of quality in both audio and artwork.

The band and their label Universal Music, will release Queen: The Studio Collection, an 18 disc theme-coloured vinyl LP collection, on September 25th. This unique package will be complimented with a fully customised limited edition Queen branded turntable made by Rega.

Four new teaser videos can be seen below:

15 albums. 18 discs? What’s the story? Queen always had a special fondness for vinyl, the medium in which they first began to create, around 1970. As a matter of principle, every Queen studio album was offered at the time of original release on vinyl, even well into the era when CD’s had taken over as the medium of choice for most of the public. However, the final two albums, ‘Innuendo’ and ‘Made In Heaven’ were actually formatted primarily with the CD in mind, with a longer running time, so the contents had to be edited down to fit them on to the two sides of a vinyl album. Now, specially for this edition, for the first time, these two albums have been cut at full length as double vinyl LP’s - four sides each – making up a vinyl set that is complete in every way.

The box-set offers many other special features. Most noticeable is the coloured vinyl: designed for collectors, each album has been given a different colour, in keeping with its original artwork, giving a unique record-deck experience. The colour discs have been custom-produced especially for this set, using new material technology which ensures the sound quality is uncompromised.  

There are more surprises in the box set;  Queen II originally never had a designated ‘A side’ or ‘B side’ - but ‘Side White’ and ‘Side Black’. For this new edition, the album has been cut on two separate discs, black and white, each with a custom etching on the reverse side, a nice bonus for collectors.  

The collection has been five years in the making. Throughout this time Queen’s production team has worked extensively on all stages of this painstaking mastering process. The first step was the tape research; locating and confirming the correct versions and best sources for all tracks. Most notably, Under Pressure, plus five tracks on the Innuendo album, were improved hugely after the discovery of better sources during this period. Particular attention was paid to the original releases to ensure that nothing was lost or changed for the worse by reverting to earlier sources.

Mastering: To ensure optimum quality in mastering the music, the Queen team asked a number of world-renowned mastering engineers to deliver their best efforts on the same three songs; after double-blind comparison tests, Bob Ludwig’s work was a clear winner, and he was asked to master the entire catalogue for this project. Ludwig is probably the best-known mastering engineer in the world. His skills, combined with a perfect acoustic environment and the some of the world’s finest analogue and digital equipment at Gateway Mastering in Portland, USA, allow him to produce matchless quality in the final result. The Queen team were pleased to confirm his reputation, as well as fulfilling their own exacting demands.

The original plan was to master everything straight from the analogue mix tapes, where available. But in fact most of those tapes, having suffered from the effects of time, were in need of some restoration. The problems encountered included speed errors, missing audio, newly developing clicks and other unwanted noise.  So the decision was made to create new super-high quality digital masters, using 24 bit samples and a sampling rate of 96 kHz. All the restoration was then performed in the digital domain, and the vinyl was cut from these perfected files.  All restoration was carried out with the lightest of touches, with a profound respect for the originals, and the resulting masters are undoubtedly the finest ever.

The Cut: Of course, with the vinyl process, everything depends on the final stage – the physical cut – one continuous modulated spiral groove on each side, carrying all the sound information which will eventually reach our ears.  

For this process, there was only one man in the frame: Miles Showell at famed Abbey Road Studios, London, has perfected the technique of cutting at half speed. Showell runs the source file and the cutting lathe at 50% of the normal speed, which means double the accuracy in the cutting of the groove, resulting in superior reproduction of the music via the stylus in your record player. Showell uses a beautifully maintained Neumann VMS80 lathe boasting cutter-head amplifiers fitted with custom designed RIAA filters. These filters have been optimised for the very cleanest sound. Showell started by cutting the albums onto acetate discs to check the process for every track, and only after he’d fixed any sibilance or other vinyl-specific problems did he cut the lacquers to be sent to the manufacturing plant.

More trials were carried out before eventually deciding to manufacture at Optimal in Germany. Optimal have an enviable reputation for audiophile-quality pressings, plus unparalleled capability for the printing and manufacture of all the elements to be contained in the box set. The Queen team worked closely with the technicians at Optimal in an exhaustive quality control program where test-pressings of every disc, in black and coloured vinyl, were checked to minimise unwanted noise. Finally, the finished results were compared with original pressings of the LPs, on a top quality modern record player, to answer the question: “Was it all worth it?”  

True to the final words of the song: “Yes, it was a worthwhile experience!!!”

The 18 vinyl LP box set comes with a lavishly illustrated 12 x 12 inch 108 page hardback book which features introductions to each album, quotes from Queen themselves, hand-written lyrics, rare photographs, memorabilia, and information on singles and videos - all made possible with unlimited access to Queen’s own archive plus the personal archives of Brian May, Roger Taylor and some generous fans. Thanks to all.

The Queen Studio Collection:

Queen
Queen II *
Sheer Heart Attack
A Night at the Opera
A Day at the Races
News of the World
Jazz
The Game
Flash Gordon
Hot Space
The Works
A Kind of Magic
The Miracle
Innuendo
Made in Heaven

* 2 disc special edition exclusive to the box set. 1 disc standard edition available separately.

Trailer:

To complete the package, Queen have teamed up with one of the worlds most recognised and respected turntable manufacturers, Rega.

Queen and Rega are proud to announce a brand new limited edition official turntable to coincide with the release of the re-mastered vinyl multi disc box set. The design of this unique custom deck includes reproductions of classic Queen logos, and incorporates the tone arm technology of the multi-award-winning ‘plug and play’ Rega turntables. Both brand and band are quintessentially English and the combination of engineering and musical achievements make for a perfect match.

Features:

A custom designed high gloss acrylic laminated plinth silk screened with ‘Queen by Rega’ logo
Hand built RB101 tone arm
Factory fitted Rega Carbon moving magnet cartridge
New low noise low vibration 24v synchronous high performance motor
Silk screen printed ‘Queen crest’ platter after Freddie’s original art work
Queen dustcover lid badge

An optional upgrade is available to a handmade high performance (weight matched) moving magnet Rega Bias 2 cartridge. This cartridge is designed specifically for the ‘plug and play’ RB101 tone arm mounted on the Queen by Rega turntable.

For list of Rega distributors head here. Find the official Studio Collection website here.

After a year of honing their malefic craft, North Carolina blackened thrashers, All Hell, will release a volatile offering entitled The Red Sect on October 16th via Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. The new track "Venomous" is streaming below.

The Red Sect marks a crossroads for the band; the straightforward aggression of their debut blends with a seething, menacing atmosphere-further enhanced by the mixing and mastering skills of Toxic Holocaust main man Joel Grind, creating an album that is dark, vicious, and compelling. The record's ten tracks weave a frightful narrative of ritual possession, vengeance, and revolt. The band has further explored and defined their sound, once again drawing influences from a wide array of genres such as thrash, black metal, deathrock, and punk.

 
“Crossroads”
“Mass Possession”
“Venomous”
“Blood For The Baron”
“Graveyard Dust”
“In My Command”
“Blackshape”
“The Unseen”
“Funeral Feast”
“The Red Sect”

“Venomous”:

Formed in Asheville, North Carolina in 2013, blackened thrash fiends All Hell began carving a name for themselves through their early performances and released their debut record, The Devil's Work, in 2014.

Since their 2014 debut release, All Hell have been busy sowing chaos through live performances while crafting their sophomore record. Playing and touring throughout the Southeast, the band has quickly developed a following and earned a reputation as one of the most intense and lethal live acts in the region, having shared the stage with bands like 1349, Black Tusk, Ghoul, Skeletonwitch, and Toxic Holocaust.
 
With their relentless drive, growing support, and two albums under their belt, All Hell pushes forward, intent on spreading their hellish music and intense live experience to as many people as possible

All Hell is currently booking dates for winter and spring tours in support of The Red Sect.

All Hell is:

Jacob Curwen - Guitar and Vocals
Kurt Henderson - Drums
Erik Ballantyne - Bass Guitar

Perth, Australia’s death-metal group, Sanzu, recently completed the recording and mixing process for their new album and follow up to their Painless EP.

Titled Heavy Over The Home, this new album was recorded by Sanzu in Perth, Australia, and mixed and mastered by G1 Productions in Somerset, UK and is set for release later this year, on December 3rd followed by a full Australian tour.
 
“Ever since the release of the Painless EP we have been working around the clock writing, recording and preparing for the album,” commented vocalist Zachary Andrews.
 
“Our debut EP Painless’came from a place of spiritual and musical naivety. The title was chosen to almost make fun of ourselves for thinking “yeah this will be easy, piece of cake, painless!” when in fact, Sanzu almost didn't make it through the production phase and it’s possible we wouldn't still be here today. It wasn’t intentional but Heavy Over the Home is significantly darker in theme and sound. Although we still very much have retained the Sanzu sound, this record feels like a different place entirely. This is a concept we hope to continue with each album if possible, exploring the different realms of music and art within the vessel of this band, without sacrificing what is loved in our sound.”
 
The album artwork for Heavy Over The Home was created by Andrews, who said the following about its concept: “The artwork we chose is the antidote to the harmonic character of Painless EP. Far more chaotic and violent in nature, the spirit has been disturbed and has taken it upon itself to tamper with the limits of reality. Now a more primal energy is tearing it’s way through matter in the midst of a cosmic tantrum, looking for answers. Finding itself dissatisfied and uncomfortable within any space. It brings unto the world all that which it brings unto itself.”

Heavy Over The Home tracklisting:

“Old Orchard Floor”
“Phenomena”
“Ubiety”
“Tailor”
“Those Who Sleep In The East”
“Heavy Over The Home”
“Arrival”
“The Chill”
“Loss”
“Colorblind”
 
Founded in early 2013 by two former members of Malignant Monster, drummer Ben Stanley and guitarist Century along with guitarist Mikey Hart, Sanzu is new death-metal band from Perth, Western Australia merging the raw ferocity of Morbid Angel with the powerful dynamics of someone like Gojira. With the line-up completed by Zachary Andrews on vocals and Fatima Curley on bass, the group quickly started gigging in their local scene and testing new material along the way.

In 2014 the group entered G1 Productions studios to record a five-song EP with producer George Lever, which is now ready to be unleashed. Painless is nothing short of a jaw-dropping release, fusing together the unbridled fury and aggression of old-school death-metal with the powerful groove and technicality of modern metal.

With their debut full-length album already in the works and scheduled for release later this year, which according to them will follow the vein of Painless but more developed, we can definitely expect greater things from this promising young band.

 

The Carburetors from Oslo, Norway just signed a worldwide deal with Steamhammer / SPV in Hamburg. Their new studio album will be released later this year. More news on this to follow soon.

Georg Schröder A+R Steamhammer comments: "The Carburetors are the proto type of a true rock n roll band. Straight ahead rock songs and always a great live performance including all the nice stuff that makes rock n roll so attractive to so many of us, simply make a perfect package! I'm very proud to work with these guys for the next albums!"

The Carburetors: "We signed a record deal with SPV in Hamburg. The location was not a difficult choice. The picture (below) is taken outside legendary Lehmitz with Georg Schröder from SPV. The circle has ended. LET THERE BE ROCK! We are proud to be part of the SPV family now and looking forward to work with them.”

Pictured above, left to right: Kai Kidd (guitar) - Eddie Guz (vocals) - Georg Schröder (SPV) - Chris Nitro (drums) - Stian Krogh (guitar) - King O Men (bass)

 

Ulterium Records announce the signing of the all-star progressive metal band Waken Eyes to the label. Their debut album, Exodus, will be released on October 30th in Europe and North America.

Exodus”is a very impressive and diverse album that will surely appeal to fans of progressive metal, progrock and melodic metal. The album has a great mix of catchy melodies, challenging instrumental parts and epic cinematic movements that will surely capture the attention of the musical community. Everything comes together perfectly in the title track that ends the album with its 18 minutes long epic filled with melodies, progressive parts and a good dose of feeling.

Exodus was mixed and mastered at Fascination Street Studios (Opeth, Symphony X, Kreator) in Sweden and the layout was made by Jan Yrlund (Delain, Korpiklaani, Apocalyptica). Check out an album teaser below.

Tracklisting:

“Cognition”
“Aberration”
“Deafening Thoughts”
“Back To Life”
“Palisades”
“Cornerstone Away”
“Still Life”
“Arise”
“Across The Horizon”
“Exodus”

Album teaser:

Exodus can be pre-ordered at the Ulterium Records Store, here.

Waken Eyes is:

Henrik Båth (Darkwater) – Vocals
Mike Lepond (Symphony X) – Bass
Tom Frelek – Guitars/Keyboards/Orchestration
Marco Minnemann (The Aristocrats, Steven Wilson, Joe Satriani) - Drums

Swedish thrash/death metal outfit, Dethrone, will release their new album via Massacre Records.

The hard-hitting quintet was formed in the summer of 2011 and released their first EP in October 2011. They aim to serve intense and straightforward Swedish metal, inspired by bands such as Defleshed, The Crown or the early The Haunted.

 
Being hand-picked by Sweden's Close-up Magazine as the best unsigned band in Sweden, Dethrone were invited to play at Gothenburg's Metaltown Festival in June 2012. The band's debut album, Humanity, was released in March 2013 and received great reviews, just like the EP.

In 2014, Dethrone played at the Mörkaste Småland Festival with bands such as Aura Noir, Triptykon or Primordial and started working on the debut's follow-up. Dethrone’s new album, entitled Incinerate All, is expected to be released in early 2016 via Massacre Records.

 

Corrections House will unleash their sophomore full-length, Know How To Carry A Whip, this October via Neurot Recordings. Darker, denser, and more despairing than their 2013-issued Last City Zero predecessor, the nine-track, forty-five-minute audio apocalypse was captured by the band's own Sanford Parker (Minsk) and recently institutionalized minister of propaganda, Seward Fairbury, in Vietnam. The record boasts a guest appearance by Negative Soldier and finds Corrections House - which features the fiery lineup of Parker, Fairbury, Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) and Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod) - at their most punishing, painting electronic mosaics of deviance and decadence with brushes made of bristles of the damned.
 
Immersed in experiences of longing and loneliness from the depths of their collectively decaying hearts, each movement contained within Corrections House's Know How To Carry A Whip reveals a new, unsettling sentiment of danger, paranoia and looming defeat. An underlying theme of confinement and release bridges each track. Atmospheric and haunting; hypnotic and pulsing, songs writhe and wither, decay and peel. Distorted, doomed and oft static sodden, discordant and tribal, twined around Williams' unassailable manic street preacher prose and intermittently juxtaposed by the smooth, cradling sounds of Lamont's lingering saxophone, Know How To Carry A Whip is at once bleak, grey, glacially devastating and metaphysically cathartic.

"The music is simultaneously suffocating and freeing," expounds Kelly, "but it also has the energy of a whirling dervish."
 
In a rare, lucid skype transmission from the mental facility in which he currently resides. Fairbury further elaborates of the production, "the songs typically originate from the loops and beats that are generated from Sanford, then the skeleton of riffs are built by Scott and Bruce. Mike IX adds his profound observations and I do the final production. These new songs are far more developed and fluid then the first record. There is a prevailing groove that dominates." (Fairbury, who was missing briefly last year, obsessed with seeking clarity and understanding beyond Who, What and Why we are to ultimately expose The Truth, continues his downward spiral towards madness and despair. Allegedly plotting an elaborate escape, Fairbury plans to rejoin Corrections House in their systematic propagation of auditory abuse later this year.)

 
Know How To Carry A Whip tracklisting:

“Crossing My One Good Finger”     
“Superglued Tooth”                      
“White Man's Gonna Lose”            
“Hopeless Moronic”                         
“Visions Divide”                           
“The Hall Of Cost”                         
“When Push Comes To Shank”       
“I Was Never Good At Meth”           
“Burn The Witness”
                     
Corrections House methodically creates and destroy through sonic disease and transcendent musical deconstruction. All things in all ways. There is nothing else. Know How To Carry A Whip will be released worldwide on October 23rd via Neurot Recordings.

Hungarian neo thrash masters Ektomorf are one of the most consistent forces in the heavy music scene. A band that never disappointed their fans and stood true to what they are: a powerful, unstoppable groove machine.

Following their Retribution album (which was released in early 2014), another successful headliner tour and numerous festival gigs, the band around charismatic frontman Zoli Farkas now presents its new album. Continuing their no-nonsense philosophy, the title Aggressor is not misleading at all - in fact this new piece of work definitely is the band’s heaviest and most energetic to date. Also, Aggressor is a return to some old Ektomorf marks from earlier days, like the Eastern European gypsy harmonies and grooves, which give a special dark and unique atmosphere to the album.

Once again Ektomorf of course worked with highly-acclaimed Danish producer Tue Madsen, who is a stable part of the team and perfectly understands the musical visions of Ektomorf.

The band is proud to present legendary Cannibal Corpse vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher with a guest appearance on Aggressor. Zoli comments: “We are friends with the Cannibal Corpse guys since a long time. Last year in November I spoke to George (Fisher) about doing a song together. The recent Budapest show of Cannibal Corpse then was the perfect opportunity to meet and record his parts. So I took small home recording studio gear with me and recorded vocals with George in the dressing room before their show. It was fun and turned out killer! The song's title is "Evil By Nature" and you can be sure that it will smash your face!”

Aggressor tracklisting:

“Intro”
“I”
“Aggressor”
“Holocaust”
“Move On”
“Evil By Nature” (feat. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher)
“You Can’t Get More”
“Emotionless World”
“Eastside”
“Scars”
“Damned Nation”
“You Lost”
“You’re Not For Me”
“Memento”

Crucial Blast has confirmed the upcoming November CD release of Psychogenic Atrophy, the debut full-length release by Oakland's avant-garde thrash assassins, Dimesland.
 
Appearing at the end of 2014 as a digital-only, self-released title, Dimesland's Psychogenic Atrophy was met with little fanfare, yet made an immediate and powerful impression upon those who heard it. Landing on numerous end-of-year best-of lists, Psychogenic Atrophy flattened just about everyone who encountered it.
 
With members of art rock legends The Residents' touring band and blackened prog-doom ensemble Wild Hunt amongst their ranks, Dimesland released the promising Creepmoon EP a couple of years prior on Vendlus, but even that only hinted at just how maniacal the band's sound was to become. The eight songs featured here combine dizzying musical complexity and fearsome dissonance with a sort of off-kilter thrash. The confounding and complicated arrangements and demented riffing recall the likes of Watchtower, Coroner and Atheist, but this is darker, weightier, more sinister stuff, the band hurtling through the jagged arrangements of songs like "Institutional Gears" and "Xenolith" with an almost No Wave-informed abrasiveness, but also frequently sprawling out into well-crafted sequences of abstract, unearthly ambience and forbidding, hallucinatory industrial noisescapes.

Frantically barked vocals are employed judiciously, allowing the band to weave long stretches of instrumental mayhem. Violent, discordant riffs are folded around psychotic time signature changes, and then suddenly expand into passages of moody, doom-laden darkness. Cyclical rhythms churn beneath waves of dense, alien sound, and spastic skronk-assaults suddenly swerve into vicious angular thrash. And these guys have some serious chops. Psychogenic Atrophy's brutality is sharpened by their technical precision and prowess and driven by utterly frenetic drumming. But it's also a heavily layered album, each listen revealing added details and degrees of delirium. Intense stuff for sure, with an unsettling, nightmarish atmosphere that makes this album stand out further amongst the progressive metal horde. There is a surreal, ever-present malevolence lurking under the surface of these songs.

An in-house favorite release of 2014, Crucial Blast was so blown away by this album that the label wanted to make it available as a physical release, reissuing Psychogenic Atrophy on CD in digipack packaging that features subtly unnerving cover art from Swiss photographer and performance artist Chantal Michel. It cannot be recommend enough if you're a fan of avant-garde death metal and progressive thrash, as Dimesland have produced a work of challenging, terrifying extreme metal which stands amongst the more unconventional likes of Gorguts, Cynic, Confessor, and Voivod.
 
Unfortunately, shortly after the initial digital release of Psychogenic Atrophy in November as Dimesland was preparing to tour heavily on the new album, guitarist Drew Cook tragically passed away. While this leaves the future of the band uncertain for the time being, the remaining members - Drew's brother, guitarist Nolan Cook, drummer Harland Burkhart, and bassist/vocalist Greg Brace - continue to honor their fallen comrade's memory, and this new physical version of Psychogenic Atrophy is meant to do exactly that.
 
Crucial Blast will issue the CD version of Dimesland's Psychogenic Atrophy on November 11th.

(Photo - Shannon Corr)

After an explosive run on the famed New Orleans metal scene in 2014, Cretus is releasing their debut EP, Dux Mea Lux, September 4th on Pavement Music. The group’s new video for “Price Of Immortality” can be seen in censored and unrated versions below.

Rock vet Pepper Keenan (Down, Corrosion Of Conformity) has been singing the mysterious group's praises, stating: "Cretus is a killer band with ripping guitar work and clear vocal hooks. For sure a future global outfit. They wear masks and slaughter virgins on stage. Need I say more?"  

Cretus' music is hard-hitting thrash metal at its core; mathematically-precise riffs, dive-bombing guitar solos, and thundering drums pummel the listener, but their compelling melodies and bizarre pop sensibility make each song from forthcoming EP, Dux Mea Lux, subtly addictive. Pre-orders are now being taken at this location.

Dux Mea Lux tracklisting:

“Price Of Immortality”
“Darkness Bites”
“What I Will”
“The Leader”
“Little Children”

“Price Of Immortality” censored video:

“Price Of Immortality” unrated video:

While it is unknown exactly when or where Cretus formed, they began publicly spreading their message through music in 2014, with the group rapidly gaining strong support after their first show opening for legendary metal band Down in New Orleans.

Devout followers of Cretus pack into shows wearing the group's signature black masks and cloaks, bobbing their heads in support as hypnotic lights pulse and dense fog surrounds them, becoming a raving heavy metal congregation unable and unwilling to escape the dark energy emanating from the speakers. Multi-sensory performance rituals such as sacrificial demonstrations and strange pagan rites add an even more ominous tone to the already frightening spectacle of the four masked figures destroying the stage.

Heavily symbolic imagery, esoteric subject matter, and poetic lyrics give listeners something deeper to latch onto with Cretus, and Pavement Records is proud to be releasing their debut EP Dux Mea Lux, worldwide on September 4th.

Australian melodic thrash metallers, Envenomed, have revealed the tracklisting for their new studio album, Evil Unseen, out later this year via Italian label Punishment 18 Records.

Tracklisting:

“Evil Unseen”
“Will Of Man”
“Spoils Of Victory”
“Burn The Sun”
“Falling”
“Within Me”
“Disobey The Beast”
“Mechanical Enemy”
“The Shadowland”
“Spirit Machine”
“Demonocracy”
“Global Deception”

“Within Me” video:

Envenomed lineup:

Anthony Mavrikis - Guitars & Vocals
Brendan Farrugia - Guitars
Liam Wagener - Bass
Chris Sheppard - Drums