In a recent interview with Artisan News, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King was asked for his opinion of the Swedish occult rockers GHOST, who share management with SLAYER and have toured with King's band in the past.

"Dude, I love the imagery… I love it," King responded (see video below). "I just hate the fucking music. I like them [as people]. You know, they've been on many tours with us. I just… I can't [get into their music]. And I tried. I wanna like 'em, and I can't. I got their CD from Brian Slagel from Metal Blade. It was when Gary Holt [EXODUS guitarist] first started playing with us, and I picked up Gary. And I'm, like, 'Brian said this is awesome, man.' So we put it in, going to practice. It wasn't awesome. It wasn't awesome for me. It wasn't awesome for [Gary] either. I'm, like, 'Well, maybe the first song sucks.' [Laughs] And we went to the next one. It's just not for me. I know GHOST is hugely popular, and I'm very happy for their popularity. And, like I said, [they're] the nicest guys you'll ever meet. It's just not my music. And I've tried so hard. [Laughs]"

GHOST's third album, "Meliora", will be released on August 21 via Loma Vista Recordings. The follow-up to 2013's "Infestissumam" 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).

GHOST's June 3 show at at Doom in Linköping, Sweden served as the group's live debut with "new" singer Papa Emeritus III, the three-month-younger brother of GHOST's previous frontman, Papa Emeritus II.

GHOST will embark on the "Black To The Future" North American headlining tour in the fall. The procession will begin at The Fillmore in Washington, D.C. on September 22.

Due on September 11, SLAYER's new CD, "Repentless", will mark the band's first effort without both co-founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who passed away in 2013, and original drummer Dave Lombardo, who was fired from the group earlier that same year.

For the past few years, "American Idol" finalist Adam Lambert has been singing for QUEEN on their tours, filling in for his idol Freddie Mercury. In the Radio.com interview below, he talks about when he finally got comfortable with the role.

Said Adam: "It's interesting, though, because I've heard people say, 'Oh, you're the new lead singer for QUEEN.' And it's, like, well, essentially, yeah. But it's not a permanent position, I don't look at it as. It was billed as QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT, 'cause I feel like it's a collaboration; it's a live collaboration. It's something that we decided to do for three months and… I guess over the course of five months… and we had a great time together. And the audiences ate it up, which was great. And we sold out, which was great. But it's a collaboration."

He continued: "The first time we went around and did this in Eastern Europe and the three shows we did in London, they went over well and we did them, but I don't think I was totally comfortable with the idea. I think I was still, really, in my head, kind of, intimidated by the whole concept of singing lead for this amazing band. The second time around, this world tour we just did, something had shifted. And I don't really know why or how, but something had shifted and I felt a lot more… I accepted the responsibility at that point, and it was more a I-can-do-this attitude than I ever had with it. So... confidence makes a big difference."

Lambert, May and drummer Roger Taylor first shared the stage during "American Idol" in May 2009 for a performance of "We Are The Champions". They teamed up again in 2011 at the MTV European Music Awards in Belfast, Ireland for an electrifying eight-minute finale of "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" and in the summer of 2012, Lambert performed a series of shows with QUEEN across Europe as well as dates in Russia, Ukraine and Poland. They also performed three sold-out gigs at London's Hammersmith Apollo.

QUEEN guitarist Brian May recently said that there are no plans at the moment for the band to record new music with Lambert.

Speaking to Gigwise at this past May's Ivor Novello Awards in London, England, QUEEN guitarist Brian May said that there are no plans at the moment for the band to record new music with Lambert. He said: "No, we're not doing that. Not at the moment anyway. We might do [at some point]. But, at the moment, we're watching with interest while Adam pursues his solo career, and it seems to be going very well. I mean, he's an amazing, amazing artist — there's no getting away from that — so it's very interesting to watch him develop. And I think we're conscious that he doesn't wnna be with us all the time, you know?! That would be so wrong, for us to just, sort of, envelop him and never let him go off and do anything else. It's very important that his own career is progressing now. And we're looking forward to being back together in September to do Rock In Rio [in Brazil], and some dates in Argentina and Venezuela, I believe."

After completing QUEEN's most recent European tour in January, May described Lambert as the only singer the band had found capable of filling the shoes of iconic frontman Freddie Mercury. "Adam is the first person we've encountered who can do all the QUEEN catalogue without blinking," said May. "He is a gift from God." Taylor echoed the guitarist's sentiments, adding: "[Adam's] incredibly musical, and we certainly take anything he says quite seriously."

Lambert, for his part, downplayed the Mercury comparisons, saying: "There's never going to be another, and I'm not replacing him. That's not what I'm doing. I'm trying to keep the memory alive, and remind people how amazing he was, without imitating him. I'm trying to share with the audience how much he inspired me."

Lambert released his third studio album, "The Original High", on June 16 through Warner Bros. Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden and Los Angeles, California with Max Martin and Shellback as executive producers, the CD displays a fresh sound for Lambert, and includes collaborations with Tove Lo and May.

Austrian power metallers Dragony has released ‘80s Metal Tribute cover version of David Hasselhoff's video clip "True Survivor". Original version of the song and video clip, which promote the Kung Fury movie, became a recent Internet sensation, with more than 16 million views within around 8 weeks.

 

Dragony recently announced the title of their second album, and revealed its front cover artwork. The follow-up to their debut will be titled Shadowplay, and will be released in September via Limb Music. Album's cover artwork was designed by the Hungarian artist Péter Sallai, known from cooperation with acts such as Sabaton, Crematory or Satyricon:

 
"We have been working very hard on this new album for the better part of one year in the studio now, and we feel that all the hard work has finally paid off. We love the new material, and we are very much looking forward to share more details like collaborations, guest performances, and of course also the first audio snippets with you in the weeks to come!" says the band.

In other news, Dragony has confirmed the following live dates:

July
13 – Wien, Austria - Szene (supporting Sonata Arctica)

November
14 – Graz, Austria – Explosiv (Metal For Breathing charity show)

December
4 – Wien, Austria – Szene (album release party)

French atmospheric doom metallers Angellore inked a deal with Shunu Records earlier this year for the release of their sophomore album, La Litanie Des Cendres, which will be released at the end of August 2015. The band has checked in with the following update:

"After months of hard work and dedication, we proudly present you the cover of our sophomore album. This oil on canvas has been created by Florent Castellani exclusively for our album. The digipack will be completed by more of his astonishing artworks, making La Litanie Des Cendres a very special item.

And finally, here comes La Litanie Des Cendres tracklisting:

"A Shrine Of Clouds" (13:46)
"Still Glowing Ashes" (10:25)
"Twilight’s Embrace" (9:28)
"Inertia" (6:24)
"Moonflower" (18:29)

A lyric-video for 'Inertia' will be presented before the release of the album, still planned for August 24th.

At the moment, Angellore is also working on a very special bonus-track which will only appear on the vinyl edition of the album, to be released later this year.

And apart from our dear Cathy, who already enlightened Errances with her bewitching violin playing and gladly accepted to participate on this new album, we welcomed another very special guest. More on that later!"

Just like their debut, Errances, this five-song album was recorded and mixed between July 2012 and April 2014 by Florent Krist (bass player in Cynic's side project Aeon Spoke) at EverTone Studio in France. It was mastered by Markus Skroch (Hel, Nattsol, Elane).

Commenting on the album’s production, the band said: “Creating La Litanie Des Cendres (French for Litany Of Ashes) was a very demanding process, but we can assure you that the result is worth all the efforts we put into it. And it definitely feels great to start anew with a young and welcoming home like Shunu Records. With their help, we will make sure we take Angellore to the next level. We can’t wait to take you on our new musical journey. The best is yet to come!”

Matteo Coppola Neri, founder of Shunu Records has issued the following statement:

“When La Litanie Des Cendres arrived on my desk I was immediately surprised by how these guys could, with absolute nonchalance, extend their music from the early-'90s doom to today’s most psychedelic post-rock, passing through the emotional gothic rock. Within Shunu Records we have a wide range of musical tastes, some of us prefer post-rock, some indie-rock, others progressive, but when we listened to the album we all agreed on one thing: Angellore’s language is universal and their music speaks to everybody, because it goes straight to the heart. We have rarely found records of such beauty.”

For information and updates on Angellore go to this location.

Black .44 has been busy in the studio this spring. Their very first album is now ready and will be released on August 28 by Inverse Records. The album is called No Blanks. It contains nine songs, which take the listener on a journey to the Black .44 world of strong riffs and feisty melodies. It's spiced up with a pinch of southern metal and stoner vibes.

One of the songs, “The Outlaw”, will be available on July 24t as a digital download on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.

No Blanks tracklisting:

“Overcome”
“Hometown Murder”
“The Red Saint”
“Into The Grace”
“Born Wrong”
“The Outlaw”
“The Eyes Above”
“Shit Hits The Fan”
“From Right To Wrong”

With a release date set for September 11, Dark Essence Records have revealed details for the upcoming sophomore full-length album from Norwegian black metallers Orkan.  Titled Livlaus, the seven-track album was recorded live in the studio, with no editing of the basic tracks, whilst vocals and effects were added later. Hoest (Taake) and V'gandr (Helheim) perform guest vocals on two of the tracks. 
 
Livlaus promises to be an uncompromising album, whose black metal influenced sound features elements from thrash and other extreme genres, and creates atmospheric melodies with haunting vocals and intense blastbeats. With Norwegian lyrics, the whole album is loosely based on the concept of a lost soul trying to find peace in the Kingdom of the Dead, and was inspired  by the forests and old Sulphur mines in the area around drummer Rune Nesse's hometown of Stord, on the west coast of Norway. 
 
Artwork for the album is by Tom Korsvold:

Livlaus tracklisting:

“Fanden På Veggen”
“Brende Bruer, Svart Metall”
“Livlaus Del 1: Evig”
“Livlaus Del 2: Dødens Dal”
“Livlaus Del 3: Tusen Sjeler”
“Uforgjengeleg”
“Skodde”

Knight Area, a progressive-rock band from Holland, has revealed the title and artwork of their first live DVD. Hyperlive was recorded in April in Katowice, Poland, where the band supported British band Arena. The band’s first live DVD is scheduled for a worldwide release on November, 13 via Metal Mind Productions.

Front cover illustration of the album was done by Gustavo Sazes, known for his work for  Kamelot, Morbid Engel Amaranthe and Gus G:

 
Pieter Von Hoorn commented the DVD on one of the social networking sites: “We had a preview of the Knight Area Hyperlive DVD yesterday evening. We were amazed, it is far beyond expectations. The guys of Metal Mind Productions did an excellent job! Sound and vision are superb.”
 
Knight Area is a Dutch progressive rock band which was formed in 2004 by brothers Joop and Gerben Klazinga. The band play rock music, with roots in symphonic and neo-progressive rock. The music blends a variety of styles using very melodic keyboards and guitars and the dynamic songs vary from ballads to more rock and metal kind of music. In October 2014, the band released their fifth studio album Hyperdrive. The album was mixed by Joost van den Broek (After Forever, Ayreon, Star One) and Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One) contributed to the album by playing guitar on one track. In April, the band played in Poland for the first time as support for Arena. One of the shows was recorded by Metal Mind Productions.
 
Knight Area line-up:
Mark Smit – vocals
Gerben Klazinga – keyboards
Mark Bogert – guitars
Peter Vink – bass guitar
Pieter Van Hoorn - drums

LAMB OF GOD and MEGADETH drummer Chris Adler was interviewed on the latest installment of HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta's official podcast, "The Jasta Show". You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the songwriting sessions for the new MEGADETH album:

"Most of the material that I got [from MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine]… We were on tour… LAMB OF GOD was on tour in Australia, and he sent me ten demos and wanted me to come from the tour right into the writing and recording process. So I didn't really have any time to rehearse, which turned out to be good, because I didn't really wanna learn [the songs] the way that they were; I didn't really necessarily love everything that was going on there. And I told him upfront, even before we left Australia... I said, 'First of all, I don't have a way to really rehearse these, 'cause, as you know, on tour, you don't have much time with your instrument, unless you're playing a show. So I'll rehearse backstage with my practice kit as much as I can, but I'm not gonna 'em straight through. We're not gonna be able to run through a set. And, to be honest with you, there's a couple of things here that I'm not really that big of a fan of. And I know that you're calling me because I am the biggest MEGADETH fan in the world, and I hope that me telling you that isn't a super bumout.' And he was super open to it. He's, like,' Man, if you don't like it, let's figure it out. Let's cut it off. Let's make it faster. Let's change the length of it. Let's do whatever.' So, the process… It was great. I was there for two months, actually, and we were doing, like, 10-14-hour days every day, and it was a long process of trying things out, changing things around, making 'em longer, making 'em faster, making 'em shorter, doing all this kind of stuff. And people were coming and going throughout the process, but it was, basically, really, just me and him."

"When I first heard the demos, it was well played and it was drum machine, drum samples and stuff, and it wasn't really, kind of, my style of playing. It felt like, kind of, what had been going on before, where it was just [hums a basic beat]. And I really wanted to not have to do that. And so, right away, I brought that up. I said, 'Listen, I'm thankful that you're calling me. But are you calling me because somebody is telling you to call me, or are you calling me because you've heard what I've done and you want me to do some of that — at least some of that — on your record. Because this stuff that's on here is not… that's not cool.'"

On whether Dave Mustaine was open to suggestions during the songwriting process:

"When you're working with somebody like him, or, really, anybody that has a career that long, they know what they want, and they're very focused. And he, in particular, has always had a very clear vision of what MEGADETH is. And there's nobody… no one in the world's gonna tell Dave Mustaine what MEGADETH is. But he was open to it. For example, we did a [cover of a] song called 'Foreign Policy' by FEAR — and old punk rock tune — and it was fun. And it's a punk rock tune. But as we soon as we learned it… We learned it and played it in one day. And I'm throwing in a ton of double bass. And he stops the song in the middle. He's, like, 'Woah woah woah. What's with the double bass? It's a punk rock song. What are you doing?' I was, like, 'Yeah, it's a punk rock song. But FEAR was a punk rock band. MEGADETH is a metal band. This is MEGADETH. Let's do this the MEGADETH way.' And we kind of moved on to other things. And the next day he came back in. He said, 'You know what?! I was thinking about that last night. You're right, man.' He was, like, 'Let's do this. Let's make it MEGADETH.'"

On how he told his LAMB OF GOD bandmates that he got the offer to play with MEGADETH:

"The first thing I did after I had that [initial] conversation with Dave [Mustaine] was to get in touch with the [other LAMB OF GOD] guys and just see, 'How does everybody feel about this? I don't want it to come across as a threat. I don't want this to feel like I'm leaving [LAMB OF GOD] or anything. If ever it came to a point where there was a question of 'this or that,' it's gonna be LAMB OF GOD. LAMB OF GOD is my baby. Being in MEGADETH is kind of like I'm helping babysit somebody else's kid. I love being there, but it's not… that's not where home is, for me. So it's not gonna be, for me… Again, if ever a question came up, I'm staying with you guys. I don't want you to think of it that way. So, does anybody have any objections, as far as, does this make anybody feel weird or does it… whatever?' And everybody was stoked. 'Cause they know. They just know. I mean, I'm up 'till four in the morning every day listening to MEGADETH. So, they were, like, 'Dude, it's amazing. Good for you.'"

On his plans to tour with MEGADETH:

"We kind of all have that in common, in that we're not… None of us are getting younger, and we're both fairly successful, so we have the ability to, kind of, do… hit different spots at different times and keep everybody happy — other than maybe my kid. [Laughs] If it does come to a conflict, I would say to Dave, 'Hey, I know some [other] great [drummers I can recommend], if you wanna do something.' And there's already been one conflict. There's a show in Japan, where I can't make it, because I've promised for two years that I would be art a family reunion with Willie [Adler, Chris's brother and LAMB OF GOD guitarist]. So LAMB OF GOD is taking this one weekend off. For, like, two years, it's been on the calendar. And, of course, they're playing that day [at the Loud Park festival] in Japan. MEGADETH is."

On who might sit behind the drum kit for MEGADETH at the shows Chris is not able to make:

"Their drum tech, Tony [Laureano], is a fantastic drummer. He played in DIMMU [BORGIR] for a while. [He's] a super-talented guy. So I think they are pretty flexible and able to, kind of, work around me a little bit, and Dave's willing to. That's what Dave told me from the beginning. I said, 'I'm gonna be busy as shit for the next twelve to eighteen months with LAMB OF GOD, and I will do everything I can to play as many shows with you as I possibly can, but there may be a point where I have to ask you to wait.' And he said, 'I'll wait for you.' So I think he enjoyed working with me, and we'll just kind of see where it goes."

On the failed attempt at a reunion of MEGADETH's "Rust In Peace" lineup, featuring Nick Menza on drums and Marty Friedman on guitar:

"I can't say too much about it. I know that there were multiple reasons why it couldn't work. And I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Nick. I know he's been vocal in the press about wishing me good luck, and I know he and Dave have, kind of, gone back and forth with some stuff. But, you know, my favorite records are some of the stuff that Nick did. I think he's an amazing drummer. I'm learning the setlist now and trying to learn his parts, and it's not easy. He's fantastic. And even when Dave… After that first phone call, when Dave called me and asked me to join, once I got my head together and we talked again the next week about doing it. I said, 'I'm not a business manager here, but you are aware that everybody wants Nick and Marty in the band, right? I would love to be in MEGADETH, but, as a fan, I wanna make sure you know that that's what people want.' And he's, like, 'Chris, I know. I know. Fuck, I know.'"

In addition to Mustaine and Ader, the recording lineup for the new MEGADETH album included founding bassist David Ellefson and Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known for his work with ANGRA.

Songtitles set to appear on MEGADETH's new album, which is being produced by Mustaine and Toby Wright (ALICE IN CHAINS, KORN), include "The Emperor Has No Clothes", "Tyranocide" and "Poisonous Shadows". The latter track features piano playing from Kiko as well as orchestration from famed Nashville arranger Ronn Huff, the father of former MEGADETH producer Dann Huff. MEGADETH also recorded two cover versions during the sessions for the new CD: "Melt The Ice Away" by BUDGIE and the aforementioned "Foreign Policy" by FEAR.

British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN were awarded the prestigious O2 Silver Clef by Nordoff Robbins last night (Friday, July 3) in London in recognition of "outstanding contribution to U.K. music." Previous winners include THE ROLLING STONES, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, PINK FLOYD, GENESIS and QUEEN; last year's Silver Clef winner was Jimmy Page. The very first Silver Clef was presented to THE WHO, by Twiggy, on June 29, 1976. In its 40-year history, the Awards have raised more than £8.5 million to fund Nordoff Robbins's groundbreaking work with music therapy.

Speaking of their win, IRON MAIDEN said: "Nordoff Robbins is an exceptional charity and their dedication to changing people's lives through music therapy is something we all very much support. We're extremely proud to receive the O2 Silver Clef Award and be part of the 40th-anniversary event celebrating this wonderful achievement."

Several photos from last night's event can be seen below.

IRON MAIDEN's 16th studio album, "The Book Of Souls", will be released globally on September 4 through Parlophone Records (Sanctuary Copyrights/BMG in the U.S.A.). It was recorded in Paris with the band's longtime producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley in late 2014, with the finishing touches added earlier this year. However, the band decided to delay its release so that vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who was recently given the all-clear from a tumor, would have time to recuperate sufficiently to join in the preparations for the album's launch.

Power Prog has announced the signing of Grönholm, one of Finland's most respected hard rock/melodic rock/AOR acts of the last years. The first common goal is the release of their upcoming third album Relativity Code For Love worldwide on September 18 on CD, download card, as digital download and as stream.

Already in the early eighties, Mika Grönholm showed his first deeper interest for the world of music by listening to bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Yes and Van Halen (to name a few) ... so inspired, he began to play guitar himself. Over the next decades and with a lot of studio and live experiences, he formed his own band Grönholm to realize all his musical and lyrical ideas. With drummer Tom Rask and singer Markku Kuikka the right comrades were quickly found and the impressive results of this combination are recorded in the two albums Eyewitness Of Life (2010) and Silent Out Loud (2011), both decorated with strong encouragement out of the whole melodic/progressive rock scene.

The upcoming third album Relativity Code For Love is an appreciation, study and musical journey about love, all told in the language of melodic rock. With British exceptional singer Lee Small, rock fans worldwide best known as the voice of Shy, Tom Galley's Phenomena, Skyscaper and many other, one of the most appropriate artists was taken on board to give this mission the right refinement. The result is a concise and entertaining piece of hard rock/melodic rock/AOR with fine progressive influences and resounding catchy melodies which will grab the audience with a unique style  and higher musical claims. The fresh dynamic mixing and mastering of Janne Tolsa (Nightwish, Tarot, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow) has completed the whole release to one of the forthcoming rock highlights this year.

Front cover art by Tomasz Alen Kopera:

Relativity Code For Love tracklisting:

“Reasons”
“Home In Our Hearts”
“Like An Angel”
“Mystery”
“Strangers”
“Once”
“Serenity”
“Gravity”

Single “Home In Our Hearts”:

Canadian underlords of nihilistic warrior cult death metal Adversarial have crawled up from the depths to unleash Death, Endless Nothing And The Black Knife Of Nihilism. The band's first full-length since 2010's All Idols Fall Before the Hammer offers nine tracks of hellishly twisted aural blasphemy.

Album track "Eonik Spiritual Warfare", which is featured on the Dark Descent Records New Release Sampler 3 is streaming below:

New Release Sampler #3 by Dark Descent Records

Dark Descent Records has announced an August 21 release date for Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism on CD, vinyl and digital formats.

Tracklisting:

“Dissenting The Waking Shell”
“Intro”
“Immersion Void Paragon”
“Eonik Spiritual Warfare”
“Interlude”
“Cursed Blades Cast Upon The Slavescum”
“Old Ruins Slumber In A Crushing Hatred Of Man”
“Lone Wresting Hymns To The Warmoon Of Chaos”
“Death, Endless Nothing And The Black Knife Of Nihilism”

Japan's conquering sons X Japan are gearing up for the release of their first album in 20 years. The as-yet-untitled record will be unleashed on March 11th, 2016 and a documentary charting the band's career will be issued the day after the album launch.

Drummer Yoshiki has confirmed reports that X Japan will debut the film at London's SSE Wembley Arena as part of their #XDAY celebrations on March 12th.

The film chronicles the evolution and groundbreaking history of Japan’s most iconic rock band, from their start to their current projects – including 2014’s magnificent Madison Square Garden concert, the band’s first US show in 4 years.

The documentary is directed by Stephen Kijak who was commissioned by The Rolling Stones to direct their 2010 documentary Stones in Exile chronicling the making of their 1972 album Exile on Main St. which premiered in Cannes and on BBC1. He is also well known in the UK for his earlier work Scott Walker – 30 Century Man, which was executive produced by David Bowie and earned great critical acclaim.

Tickets for #XDAY go on sale via LiveNation this afternoon (July 4th) after founder and drummer Yoshiki makes a personal appearance at Paris’s Japan Expo at Paris-Nord Vilepinte Exhibition Center.

Yoshiki will be joined by X Japan’s lead vocalist Toshi next Saturday, July 11th at Hyper Japan at London's O2. The duo will perform a song from the new album as part of a special unplugged performance at 3:30pm. Tickets are available here.

The album will be the follow-up to their fifth record, 1996's Dahlia, while the The film is produced by Passion Pictures’ John Battsek, producer of the 2013 BAFTA and Academy Award-winning feature documentary, Searching For Sugar Man.

X Japan drummer/founder Yoshiki spoke with TeamRock.com earlier this year for Metal Hammer. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Q: You’ve spoken before about how KISS were the first Western rock band you fell in love with: what was it about that band that so captivated you?

Yoshiki: "I first discovered KISS with the Love Gun single, and then I bought the live album, Alive. Then I got the chance to see their show, and I was like 'What the hell is going on?' At the time I was studying classical music, so to see KISS play was a big shock. I encountered the band first by accident. I was in a record shop and saw this record with crazy make-up and four people standing and I thought 'What is this?' so I asked the people in the shop to play it. And it was like 'Wow!'"

Q: Did discovering this new world offer an escape from your reality at the time?

Yoshiki: "I think so. My father committed suicide, so at the time I was very sad, crying every day and angry. When someone takes their own life there are lots of thoughts: 'How about my mother? My brother? Our family?' You think about those things. But rock music absorbed my anger, especially. And KISS was my entrance to that world. I remember listening to Led Zeppelin, and when I first heard Stairway To Heaven that really affected me too. It was rock music, but it was so beautiful. And then another real big turning point for me was Iron Maiden: I bought the first album and Killers, with Paul Di’Anno, and then of course Number Of The Beast when Bruce Dickinson joined the band. Those three albums changed me: they had beautiful melodies but were still very heavy. And when we started our own band we wanted to be even faster and heavier!"

Click here for more.

German atmospheric black deathsters Kadavrik have filmed a video for the song “Wither Away”.

Grimm I & II, the band’s new and fourth full-length album was released on June 26 on gatefold LP and CD. A full album stream is available on Bandcamp and the album can be ordered at this location.

Tracklisting:

Grimm I: The Armless Maiden

“Wither Away”
“All The World But One”
“Ruins”
“7 Years”
“Queen Of Sylvan Lands”

Grimm II: Thoughts Of The Sore

“Lords”
“Voids”
“Shuttered”
“Helix”

“Lords”:

KadavriK - Lords by KadavriK

"Fallen", the new album from STRYPER, will be released worldwide on Friday, October 16 via Frontiers. The CD was tracked at SpiritHouse Recording Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts and will include a cover version of the BLACK SABBATH classic "After Forever".

30-second audio samples of all the tracks that are set to appear on "Fallen" have been posted on Amazon and can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

"Fallen" track listing:

01. Yahweh02. Fallen03. Pride04. Big Screen Lies05. Heaven06. Love You Like I Do07. All Over Again08. After Forever (BLACK SABBATH cover)09. Till I Get What I Need10. Let There Be Light11. The Calling12. King Of Kings

The first song from "Fallen", "Yahweh", which was co-written by SEVENDUST guitarist Clint Lowery, will be made available the week of July 6.

The cover artwork for "Fallen", which can be seen below, was designed by Stanis Decker, who worked with STRYPER on 2013's "No More Hell To Pay". STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet says: "We sent Stanis the concept about Lucifer being cast out of heaven and he sent us this amazing illustration, capturing the original idea perfectly. We're excited to be able to finally show all of you!"

Sweet recently stated about the musical direction of "Fallen": "It's gonna be… I don't wanna scare any fans away or anything, but it's gonna be the heaviest album we've done. Not in the sense that it's gonna be thrash metal or anything like that. It's definitely got a little bit of a darker vibe to it lyrically and musically. Some of the songs are tuned down — not like the modern Drop B stuff; I'm talking like the E dropped to D, 'Unchained' VAN HALEN kind of stuff. And it's just got a heavy sound to it. And I think when people hear it, in a good way, they're gonna go, 'That's STRYPER? What?' I think they're gonna be shocked."

He added: "The album was written and arranged very quickly (9-10 days, actually). This by no means reflects on the quality of the album. It's some of our best material to date and so far those who have heard it have said the very same. Chris Jericho [FOZZY singer and WWE wrestling superstar] texted me and said that 'Yahweh' may be the best song since reuniting.

"There are songs on this album that coincide with sitting down and reading the bible.

"The music is heavy and the lyrics are bold and powerful, some taken right from scriptures.

"Sonically, I think this is our best-sounding album to date! Everything is crystal clear. The highs are crisp and the lows are tight and punchy. The more I listen, the more excited I am for all of you to hear it!!!"

ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ, the new band featuring former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di'Anno alongside members of Paul's longtime German touring backing group THE PHANTOMZ, was interviewed by Germany's WDR "Rockpalast" prior to ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ's May 22 performance at the Rock Hard Festival in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. You can now watch the chat below.

Asked why he changed his mind after he announced that he was retiring from the road in 2013, Di'Anno responded: "No, I didn't retire. Everyone got that wrong. I was gonna take some time and I was gonna get my knee fixed, which soon will happen, obviously and unfortunately. I wasn't gonna retire. I wanted to retire the MAIDEN stuff and do what I am now doing [with ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ]. But now, I'm, like, 'Ah, fuck it! I'll do both.'"

He continued: "We still play as THE PHANTOMZ every now and again, and around the world, I still do the covers stuff. And then we wanna try the ARCHITECTS out around the world, which it deserves to be there. Let's be honest, you know what I mean?! I haven't heard anything… I'm not being big-headed, but we're different. We're metal, we're hardcore, we're punk… We've got so many different ways we can go. Especially for a German band, outside of RAMMSTEIN, I don't think there's been anything good from Germany… So there you go."

ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ will release its debut album, "The League Of Shadows", in North America on July 24 via Metalville Records.

Joining Di'Anno in ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ are Joey Siedl (guitar), Andreas Ballnus (guitar), Christoph Lücker (bass) and Dominik Fox (drums).

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Martin Buckwalter (DESTRUCTION, PERZONAL WAR, SUIDAKRA), the songs on "The League Of Shadows" follow the tradition of classic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), including influences of modern power metal.

"The League Of Shadows" track listing:

01. Rejected02. How Many Times03. Horsemen04. Switched Off05. Erase The World06. Dead Eyes07. Architects Of Chaoz08. When Murder Comes To Town09. Obsidian Black10. Angel Of Death †11. Apache Falls12. Soldier Of Fortune †

† Limited-edition bonus tracks

ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ is scheduled to perform at the Wacken Open Air festival on July 30.

Di'Anno recorded two classic albums with IRON MAIDEN before being fired and replaced by Bruce Dickinson. He went on to front a number of other bands, including KILLERS and BATTLEZONE, and released several solo records.

JOURNEY drummer Deen Castronovo was high on an overdose of methamphetamine at the time of his June 14 arrest on charges that he assaulted a woman, it was revealed during a bail hearing.

According to the Statesman Journal, an Oregon judge has denied bail for Castronovo, who was arrested again on June 29 on a grand jury indictment which charged him with five counts of fourth-degree assault, one count of first-degree rape, two counts of menacing, one count of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of second-degree assault, one count of second-degree sex abuse, one count of coercion, one count of second-degree criminal mischief, and three counts of contempt of court.

Marion County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gardiner said during Wednesday's hearing that Castronovo threw the woman into a wall 14 times, pulled her hair and forced her to have sex with him.

After being released on $20,000 bail on June 15, Castronovo called the victim 35 times and sent her 122 text messages, despite being under a court order to have no contact with her.

As the details were being read, Castronovo "talked to himself and sometimes looked toward the ceiling," according to the Statesman Journal. "He appeared weary and took deep breaths and seemed to shake. At one point Castronovo wobbled and nearly fell over. Three deputies helped him to sit in a chair as he closed his eyes."

Two of Castronovo's voice mails were played during the hearing. On one of them, he said, "I'm sorry, [victim's name]. You should call me. On Friday you will be forcibly removed from my house. My life is ruined. You didn't have to call the cops. I've suffered and now you're going to suffer. I love you." On the other, he threatened to kill himself and begged the police for "some [expletive] help. You think this is a joke? I'm sick and I need help!"

It was also revealed that, upon Castronovo's arrest on June 14, he was first taken to Salem Hospital because he had overdosed on methamphetamine.

Castonovo's attorney, Jeffrey Jones, brought in two of the drummer's ex-wives, both of whom said there had been no reports of domestic abuse while they were involved in relationships with him. Jones also mentioned his history of community involvement, including donating $10,000 to help rebuild a local school's band room following a fire a few months ago.

Read the full report at StatesmanJournal.com.

In a brand new interview with Alibi.com, SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph was asked why decided to rejoin the band again in 2013 after previously leaving the group twice. He responded: "Why wouldn't I? I missed it. I love this style of music. I played with some other great bands, but this particular band and the way we perform together is relentless."

He continued: "SLAYER appeals to me on a physical level, on a musical level. I crave the sweat. I wanna feel like — when it's all done, that there's nothing left in the tank. I hate getting off stage and feeling like, 'What's next?' I wanna play until there's nothing left. That's what SLAYER is all about."

Bostaph added: "With us, there's something about the energy of performance. It's not just energy we're creating, it's energy that's floating around. It's a conductive atmosphere. We're passing this jolt of power among ourselves and through the audience. It elevates me; it elevates our playing and the audience's response. It's a lot like surfing, waiting for the perfect wave. It's a blast, dude."

Asked how he approaches drumming for one of the heaviest units in modern music, Bostaph said: "I try to keep as physically fit as possible. I'm no spring chicken. I'm not an old man either. When I was 23, I could just sit down and I was ready. Now I swim, I bike, I try to do things to keep my body moving, to keep my cardiovascular health good. I watch what I eat and take care of myself. I've always kinda done that anyway, but mostly, I've realized you've got to stay hungry. There's a certain attitude that comes with wanting to do this well. You can't just show up and be SLAYER, you have to live it. It's a mindset; it's always on ... it's not like flipping a switch, but you gotta stay hungry."

Due on September 11, SLAYER's new CD, "Repentless", will mark the band's first effort without both co-founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who passed away in 2013, and original drummer Dave Lombardo, who was fired from the group earlier that same year.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, RUSH drummer Neil Peart told Rolling Stone that he's surprised no one has approached the band about making a film version of their 2012 concept album, "Clockwork Angels". Peart said, "To me, it would make an amazing movie and I thought it would happen organically — that by now somebody would've been at my door with a big bushel of dollars saying, 'Let's make this happen!' And it hasn't."

The album's lyrics chronicle a young man's journey across a steampunk world filled with pirates, anarchists and exotic carnival performers. Peart has already collaborated with sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson on a novel and comic book version of the story.

But he admitted that the lack of movie interest was "astonishing," adding, "I thought, 'What a great semi-retirement project for the three of us,' because Geddy [Lee, bassist] loves cinema, Alex [Lifeson, guitarist] for the soundtrack, and me for the story. But I was hoping that's a project that the three of us would undertake at some point."

"Clockwork Angels" was RUSH's first concept album since 1978's "Hemispheres", and Alex Lifeson told The Pulse Of Radio at the time it was fun to make that kind of record again. "All our records really are thematic, and there is a connection and a fluidity that runs through them," he said. "But this one is a little more overt and there's a little more of a story to it, and I think it gave Neil an opportunity to express himself on a wider platform."

RUSH is currently in the midst of what the band claims will be its final major tour, although they have left the door open for selected performances and limited runs in the future.

Their recent hometown concerts in Toronto were filmed for a future release.

Kaaos TV conducted an interview with guitarist Michael Amott of Swedish / Canadian / American metallers ARCH ENEMY before the band's June 19 performance at the Nummirock festival in Nummijärvi, Finland. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the songwriting process for ARCH ENEMY's follow-up to last year's "War Eternal" album:

"A new album is kind of far away for us still, at this point. We're booked all this year for touring, and we're already booking stuff for next year as well. So, realistically, we'll be working on a new album next year somtime, but we don't really know how and when and so forth."

"It's more like the writing really never stops. It's always bits and pieces, small musical cells that are created backstage and in hotel rooms, on the bus, in the bathroom… wherever. And you just kind of… My phone is already full of little fragments of ideas, little melodic things or riffs… And I think we're all doing that. Me and Jeff [Loomis, guitar] jam backstage — we have little practice amps and sort of warm up and jam — and some ideas will come out of that as well, and we record that a little bit. But there's nothing really serious yet. I did do a little demo session with Daniel [Erlandsson, drums] a couple of months ago, where I had song ideas, more like song proper song ideas, so we recorded demos of those, just me and him. But we haven't worked on something collectively as a band yet. And I think that's difficult to do on the road. Touring is pretty tough. It takes a lot of energy and focus to be good at doing that and doing good shows. But there's definitely some new ideas happening. But, you know, I really want the next album to be very, very strong, so we're taking our time. The album will be done when we've written the music. We're kind of beyond the… For a few years there, we were releasing albums every two years and touring, and it was a crazy schedule. We're touring a lot more, actually, now — longer tours. We tour for over two years on an album now, so we can't really keep that pace of releasing albums. But it seems like the band is kind of stepping up; we're becoming more of a successful live act than we've ever been before — new territories — so it just takes longer to get around the world. But that's a great thing; we love playing live. So, I think the next album has to be really good, so it'll be done when it's done. Next year, I think, is more of a time where we'll be spending more focused periods of writing and demoing and so forth, and eventually recording as well."

On whether ARCH ENEMY's new guitarist Jeff Loomis (ex-NEVERMORE) will be involved in the writing process for the next album:

"He's not in any other band at the moment, I believe. So, I mean, ARCH ENEMY is a pretty full-on thing, and it's a big commitment, time-wise, to get into. But he really loves the touring. And, you know, we've talked about writing a bit, and we will write a bit. We have done a little bit, and we're gonna do a little bit more as well, of course. We're taking it step by step. But, obviously, I'd love to have him involved in the next record. There's also Daniel that writes with me. He writes great music as well. We all kind of collaborate on music, but I've always written the lion's share of the music for the band. But, you know, I always say it's not an ARCH ENEMY song until everybody has put their touch to it; that's what makes the sound of the band. I could take my songs and play them with a totally different cast of musicians and they'd probably sound way different. So I'm very fortunate to [be able to play] with these guys. We're very much a band."

On whether he was happy with the reaction to "War Eternal":

"Absolutely. It was a much better reaction than we could ever have hoped for, I think. When an iconic lead singer [such as Angela Gossow] steps down from a band and you try to do something new, with a new singer [Alissa White-Gluz]. I mean, I was expecting a lot worse reaction — even though I knew, in my heart, that the music was really, really good and very strong, and we had a great album. But I think… you never know how people are gonna react to something. It's easy to dislike something that's changed, it's easy to not like it immediately. But I thought the initial reaction was gonna be worse, but that we were gonna win people over as time went by. But instead, actually, the band has just kind of gone straight up to the next level, it seems. I don't really know how to explain that, I don't really know why that happened, but it did, and we're very grateful for that, of course."

Check out this special reveal of the Shockwave Supernova album packaging that art director Todd Gallopo from meat and potatoes gives to Joe Satriani, showing off all of the cool aspects of the design.

Satriani has announced plans to release his 15th solo studio album, Shockwave Supernova, on Friday, July 24th, making him one of the first to utilize the new “Friday, Global Release Day” for music. The album will be released on CD, download and 2 LP vinyl.

It would be easy to call Shockwave Supernova a “masterpiece” or “the last word on guitar” from the world’s most commercially successful solo guitar performer. Satch, however, sees it much more personally. He has consistently advanced the artistry of the instrument; an effort he dedicated himself to on September 18th, 1970, the day his idol Jimi Hendrix died.  

Recorded late last year at Skywalker Sound in Lucas Valley, California, Satriani assembled the dynamic trio of world-class musicians who had recently been part of his global tour; renowned keyboardist and guitarist Mike Keneally, a veteran of several Satch outings and recordings; along with drumming whiz Marco Minnemann and bass extraordinaire Bryan Beller.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better band to help bring these songs to life,” says Satriani.

The album also sees Satriani once again joining forces co-producer and engineer John Cuniberti. Satch and Cuniberti share production on Shockwave Supernova, as they have on numerous albums - their shared history dates back to the guitar star’s 1986 debut album, Not Of This Earth and its follow-up, the platinum-selling, critically acclaimed, Surfing With The Alien.  

Minnemann and Beller handle the bulk of Shockwave Supernova’s rhythmic duties, with the exception of four cuts - the driving “Keep On Movin’”, full of wondrous Satch guitar wizardry and Keneally’s playful piano, “In My Pocket”, a deliciously greasy, souped-up take on Swing, along with “Crazy Joey” (a deliriously effervescent romp) and “Scarborough Stomp” (a relentless upbeat rocker) - find Satriani joined by another powerhouse rhythm section: the esteemed drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (whose work includes the likes of Frank Zappa, Sting, Paul Simon, among others) and Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney (whose resume includes Alanis Morrisette, Celine Dion and Rob Zombie, to name a few).

Recently, during the final performance of his two-year Unstoppable Momentum tour, Satriani had an epiphany; he found himself, “playing the guitar with my teeth an awful lot. I thought, ‘Why are you doing this?’ It’s as if something else, or somebody else, was driving me to do it.” Satriani seized upon this moment of self-realization as the springboard and creative center for his alter ego “Shockwave Supernova”, the outlandish and extroverted ‘performance side’ of the normally shy and reserved guitar virtuoso. With this new persona as partner, Satriani launched his wildly ambitious 15th solo album, Shockwave Supernova.

In a creative and engaging alternative venture, Satriani, a lifelong science fiction fan, has reached out to the future, through the medium of animation. Finally recognizing the on-stage symmetry with his alter ego allowed Satriani to also take a risk on this particular style of storytelling. He says, “Guitarist Ned Evett and I have created an animated series called Crystal Planet. The actual Crystal Planet is our very own Earth, set billions of years in the future. The hero of the show uses music generated by a unique electric guitar to travel through time while the show’s characters struggle to preserve the future and past of humankind.”  

More information on Crystal Planet and how and where fans will view the series will be coming shortly.

Tracklisting:
“Shockwave Supernova”
“Lost In A Memory”
“Crazy Joey”
“In My Pocket”
“On Peregrine Wings”
“Cataclysmic”
“San Francisco Blue”
“Keep On Movin’”
“All Of My Life”
“A Phase I’m Going Through”
“Scarborough Stomp”
“Butterfly And Zebra”
“If There Is No Heaven”
“Stars Race Across The Sky”
“Goodbye Supernova”

Satriani recently announced The Shockwave UK Tour, which will take in nine dates from November 1st. The tour promotes Joe’s upcoming new studio album , and will also be the first time since he last toured the UK with his Unstoppable Momentum album in 2013. Joe’s touring band will include Bryan Beller (bass), Mike Keneally (keyboards, guitars) and Marco Minnemann (drums).

 

 

 

 

Kaaos TV conducted an interview with PAPA ROACH guitarist Jerry Horton before the band's June 23 performance at at The Circus in Helsinki, Finland. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the fan response to PAPA ROACH's eighth studio album, "F.E.A.R." (Face Everything And Rise), which was released on January 27:

"[We've had] lots of good feedback, which is… You know, it's a little bit surprising, because [the album] is different, and it sounds different from the last record. But even people that are not die-hard PAPA ROACH fans — like on the festivals that we've been doing — people are jumping up and down. Just at the end of the song, they're showing that they like that one. And it's good. We're excited about it."

On having IN THIS MOMENT's Maria Brink as a guest on "F.E.A.R.":

"It seems like with every record that we do, when we talk about doing it and what our goals are, the idea of having a collaboration comes up. And we've talked about having a female vocalist for quite a few years, but we could never agree on anything… on anyone between us. And then we were on tour with SHINEDOWN and IN THIS MOMENT a couple of years ago, and decided that we were gonna work with the producer [Kevin Churko] that did IN THIS MOMENT's previous albums and learned that we would be in the studio at the same time. So we said, 'Okay, are you down for this? Do you wanna do a song with us?' And she said, 'Of course.' So immediately we all said, 'Okay. Cool. We just have to find the right song for her to sing on.'"

PAPA ROACH singer Jacoby Shaddix said that "F.E.A.R." was "probably the most positive record we've written" and described it as a "very guitar-heavy record."

"F.E.A.R." followed up 2012's "The Connection", which was made as Shaddix was going through personal turmoil, including problems in his marriage and a struggle to stay sober.

THE WINERY DOGS, the power trio featuring drummer Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ADRENALINE MOB), legendary bassist Billy Sheehan (MR. BIG, TALAS, DAVID LEE ROTH) and guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen (MR. BIG, POISON), is putting the finishing touches on its sophomore album for a fall release in North America on Loud & Proud via RED (a division of Sony Music Entertainment) and in the rest of the world via earMUSIC.

In a brand new interview with Metal Wani, Portnoy said about the upcoming CD (hear audio below): "We're almost done with the new album. Richie's finishing up his tracks at the moment. And the album, the mixing begins [in July], so we'll deliver the record to the label [very soon]. And the tour is already scheduled to begin at the beginning of October in America. So the plan is to have the album out in time for the tour starting in October. So that's the plan right now. And then once it comes out, we'll begin the tour cycle, which will likely go well through 2016, and we wanna just play as many places as we can."

Kotzen was asked by GetYourRockOut whether he felt any pressure trying to follow up the success of THE WINERY DOGS' self-titled debut album as the group prepared to begin work on its sophomore CD. "Personally, no," Richie said. "With music, I'm one of those people that, like… I don't think about anything other that doing what feels right to me. I mean, I probably could have put myself in situations where a lot more people would know about me, but I don't, because I don't wanna play music that I don't wanna play. I learned that in the past. And so either, personally, I'll play music that I wanna play, that I believe in, or I won't play music at all. And I've done that; that's me. And I think the other guys [in THE WINERY DOGS], I won't speak for them, but making a record with them, and knowing them as well as I do now, I don't think THE WINERY DOGS would make a record that the three of us would put out that we all didn't love."

He continued: "Once you start looking at music like a math equation and you start making choices that are outside the realm of creativity, you put yourself in a situation for a lot of emotional failure. And when you are there, then the music is meaningless and everything suffers and then things fall apart. So, I think, whatever we do, we'll do what feels natural and what the three of us can get behind. Even in the decision-making process, if I make a suggestion and one of the other guys loves it, but the other guy doesn't, we don't do it. We don't move unless all three of us agree to move. And then that way, once you're in a position, at least you know all three of us decided to go here; it's not like we were drug here by… you know what I'm trying to say?! By someone that didn't wanna go there."

Fan-filmed video footage of EXTREME's June 6 performance at this year's edition of the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg can be seen below.

During an appearance on the May 11 edition of Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM satellite radio show, "Eddie Trunk Live", EXTREME vocalist Gary Cherone spoke about the band's plans to write and record the follow-up to 2008's "Saudades de Rock". He said: "Right now, we're all feeling the pressure of putting out something new. [Celebrating the 25th anniversary of EXTREME's 1990 album] 'Pornograffitti' is great. We're enjoying it. We're playing to new audiences the past couple of years. We're hitting Russia for the first time and China. We're going to South America in June for the first time in 23 years. So all that's great. But for me, and Nuno and the guys, we're writing, we're doing demos… Now it's like… Now we've gotta get… Let's get busy. Let's get some new music out."

He continued: "We're writing and demoing now, and, obviously, this summer, you take advantage of the touring season with the festivals… It's about all of us getting in a room together to record, and that's the fall. We'll find time to do it. But we'll be ready; the songs will be there."

EXTREME's first studio album in thirteen years, "Saudades de Rock" (pronounced "sow-dodge") was released in the U.S. on August 12, 2008 on Open E Records and distributed by Fontana. The European version of the CD, which came out on August 1, 2008, included a bonus track, the "Americocaine" demo from 1985, the very first studio recording of EXTREME.

EXTREME's "Take Us Alive" live CD and DVD came out on May 4, 2010 in the U.S. via Frontiers Records. This performance was recorded on the last night of their tour at the House of Blues on August 8, 2009 in EXTREME's hometown of Boston.

On-the-road footage from LACUNA COIL's Italian shows in L'Acquila (May 30) and Salerno (June 4) can be seen below.

In a recent interview with Kerrang! magazine, LACUNA COIL vocalist Cristina Scabbia stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to last year's "Broken Crown Halo" album: "We are writing new material. We wrote a lot of music. [We're] still working on vocal lines, and then we're gonna [work] on the lyrics, because we have a lot of material that we already collected. But we just wanna hear the final results of the music so we can get more inspired and write some more."

Cristina also talked about whether LACUNA COIL's next album will once again take influence classic Italian horror movies. She said: "We always love that stuff, but, yeah, there's gonna be a little bit of that, and probably going a little bit more into darker stuff. But, I mean, it's definitely early to talk about it, because we are very known for changing everything up until the very last day in the studio, so it might come out as a techno record… No, not really… But it will be different. The very last day of the recording, we'll be, like, 'Okay, we've got it. We know how it's gonna sound.'"

"Broken Crown Halo" sold around 13,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 27 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores on April 1, 2014 via Century Media.

"Broken Crown Halo" was recorded Italy by producer Jay Baumgardner (P.O.D., SEVENDUST, EVANESCENCE, PAPA ROACH) and engineer Kyle Hoffmann (P.O.D., BUSH, ZEBRAHEAD). The effort was mastered by Howie Weinberg, whose credits include RAMMSTEIN, SOUNDGARDEN, NIRVANA, DEFTONES and SHERYL CROW.

IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson has told the BBC he is on the mend after his treatment for tumors on his tongue.

The 56-year-old told entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson although his head had been "cooked," he was feeling ready to celebrate and expects to be singing again soon.

He was speaking earlier today (Friday, July 3) at the O2 Silver Clef Awards in London, where IRON MAIDEN picked up the award for outstanding contribution to music.

On the topic of what he has gone through in the past six months, Dickinson said: "Well, I've just been through what, actually, a load of people go through every day. I mean, 'cause it's thousands of people in the U.K. and around the world who have treatment for this kind of thing. So, in that respect, the only thing that's special about it is that I'm a quite well-known person, so… But I've been fortunate. I had a really good bounceback. And everybody says, 'Hey, it's gone.' So I'm just getting better now, really — healing up."

Asked how big the tumor was, Dickinson said: "I had two, actually. One was three and a half centimeters — the size of a golf ball. And the other one was two and a half centimeters, and getting a bit bigger. And that was the only symptom — I had a lump in my neck, and that was the second one. So I went to the doc, and they went, 'Oh, that's a bit weird.' [They] took a scan of it, had a look, had a poke around, and went, 'You have head and neck cancer.' So I went, 'That's a bit of a blow' But you get on with it. You crack on and you get on with it. So… that was it."

He continued: "Funnily enough, since I was treated for it, I've met half a dozen people my age who all had exactly the same type of tumor, the same location, all had similar treatments, and they varied in age from 40 to late 60s."

Asked how the treatment has affected his voice, Dickinson said: "Well, I mean, speaking voice-wise, everything is fine. I mean, the whole thing is still healing up, so, you can imagine, to get rid of that with radiation has given it… The inside of my head has been cooked, pretty effectively. So, you know, that will all take a while to heal up and it's coming back. But, I mean, I've got… I can sing, I can talk… I haven't gone out and done the equivalent of trying to run a hundred meters in the same way that I used to sing before. 'Cause let it all calm down. I only finished coming out of treatment two months ago, for God's sake, and the doctor said, 'It'll take a year for you to be better.' Well, we've beaten that by about six months so far, but I'm not gonna try and push things to prove a point. We've got loads of time."

You can watch video footage of Dickinson's chat with the BBC at BBC.com.

Due globally on September 4 through Parlophone Records (Sanctuary Copyrights/BMG in the U.S.), IRON MAIDEN's new album, "The Book Of Souls", was recorded in Paris, France with producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley in late 2014, with the finishing touches added earlier this year. However, the band decided to delay its release so that Dickinson would have time to recuperate sufficiently to join in the preparations for the album's launch.

Asked by U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine if Dickinson's cancer diagnosis affected the recording of "The Book Of Souls", IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris said: "Well, it didn't at all, because Bruce didn't know and none of us knew anything about… There was no inkling of any of it. He'd finished all his vocal bits completely anyway, and then there were some other bits and pieces we were doing. Really, we didn't know anything — he didn't show any signs at all. I mean, his singing, when you hear it… He's singing better than ever."

He continued: "It didn't cause any problems in that department at all. He wasn't showing any signs of being ill. I didn't even know until a few weeks afterwards, when he got his results back. It was such a shock to him and everybody else, because it just wasn't expected at all."

Harris declined to discuss how the rest of MAIDEN coped with Dickinson's diagnosis, telling the magazine: "It's such a personal matter for Bruce and the band that I don't think now is the time to talk about it. It's Bruce's story to tell when he feels the time is right. The one thing I can say is that Bruce is a trooper and more than ready for the next chapter of IRON MAIDEN. What matters now is that we've got an album coming out that I think our fans are going to love and we're all excited to share with them."

Century Media will release the first four studio albums from Iced Earth this month. Iced Earth and Night Of The Stormrider will be released on July 10th, Burnt Offerings and The Dark Saga will be released on July 17th.

All four albums will come in gatefold sleeves featuring the original LP artwork. Layouts have been kept close to the layouts of the original vinyl versions as well. Each LP includes a 60x60 artwork poster and 180 g vinyl. The LP sound has been kept in its original form, with a special vinyl mastering of Patrick Engel, known from his careful mastering works for bands as Jag Panzer, Exodus, Trouble, Tokyo Blade or Candlemass, delivering you the best vinyl listening experience of these US power metal classics.

While The Dark Saga has already seen one vinyl re-issue in 2010 (which is a rare edition by now), the first three Iced Earth albums have never seen an LP re-issue since their initial release. As prices have reached ridiculous heights lately, it’s time to offer you these outstanding and influential albums for a regular price. The albums Days Of Purgatory, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Horror Show will follow in the first quarter of 2016.

Here is the info on the vinyl color splits:

Iced Earth LP:

Clear vinyl – 100 copies (exclusively available at CM Distro Europe)
Turquoise vinyl – 200 copies (exclusively available at CM Distro US)
Green vinyl – 400 copies (available at various mailorder stores)
Black vinyl – unlimited

Night Of The Stormrider LP:

Clear vinyl – 100 copies (exclusively available at CM Distro Europe)
Silver vinyl – 200 copies (exclusively available at CM Distro US)
Blue vinyl – 400 copies (available at various mailorder stores)
Black vinyl – unlimited

Burnt Offerings 2LP:

Clear vinyl – 100 copies (exclusively available at CM Distro Europe)
Orange vinyl – 200 copies (exclusively available at CM Distro US)
Red vinyl – 400 copies (available at various mailorder stores)
Black vinyl – unlimited

The Dark Saga LP:

Clear vinyl – 100 copies (exclusively available at CM Distro Europe)
Lilac vinyl – 200 copies (exclusively available at CM Distro US)
Yellow vinyl – 400 copies (available at various mailorder stores)
Black vinyl – unlimited

Pre-order your copy at CM Distro here.

Over 11 minutes of crushing and monolithic doom in the vein of early Tiamat and Paradise Lost, the new track, "The Brick, The Concrete”, from Majestic Downfall’s upcoming third album, ...When Dead, can be heard streaming below. Pulverised Records will release ...When Dead on August 14th.  

Further stretching the boundaries of the blackened doom / death genre beyond what is deemed as traditional, Mexican doom-sayer Majestic Downfall unleashes what is probably the most tormenting album in the group's discography to date with ...When Dead.

 
Ensorcelled by the mournful bliss of doom and yet raising their chalice for black metal dissonance, ...When Dead is a celebration of the two seemingly unbendable genres enwreathe as one, and the result is an iniquitous atmosphere marred with sublime melodic doom passages and the caustic nature of black metal scowl. ...When Dead was mixed and mastered by Tore Stjerna at Necromorbus Studio, Sweden (Watain, Demonical, etc.).

Slovenian thrashers Panikk, whose debut album Unbearable Conditions was released by Xtreem Music in November 2014, are currently working on their second album planned for 2016, but in the meantime they have recorded two new songs in studio and added a live track to conform the Pass The Time EP, which is released for free download via the band's own Bandcamp site.

A very limited physical edition of 60 copies has been released by the band themselves and only available through their own Bandcamp.

Pass The Time EP tracklisting:

“Under Pretence”
“Rotten Cell”
“Messiah Of Decay” (live)

Pass the Time by PANIKK