The official visualizer for PENNYWISE's cover of MOTÖRHEAD's timeless anthem "Ace Of Spades" can be seen below. The song is taken from titled "Killed By Deaf - A Punk Tribute To Motörhead", due on October 31 via BMG.

PENNYWISE guitarist Fletcher Dragge comments: "Getting into punk rock around 1980, basically the only metal band that was allowed to be part of the punk rock scene was MOTÖRHEAD, as far as I was concerned. If you saw somebody show up in a jean vest with the MOTÖRHEAD patch on the back, it was, like, 'There's a metaller, but he can hang with us!' 'Ace Of Spades' was the track where you heard that and went, 'That's not metal. That's punk rock!'"

Heavy metal and punk rock — it's fair to say that these two noisy tribes now have a great deal in common, often melding together, almost indistinguishable, to produce bastard offspring of their own. But it wasn't always this way. Indeed, there was a time when fists were more likely to be thrown than bumped, and beers more likely to be hurled than shared — except when it came to MOTÖRHEAD. That was the one band all could agree on. The one band that was truly ours!

But while MOTÖRHEAD's impact on metal has long been acknowledged, their influence on punk, particularly the post-SEX PISTOLS second wave shouldn't be underestimated. Cause and effect: It's that simple. And such is the case with hundreds, thousands, of other bands, all made faster, dirtier, louder, better, by MOTÖRHEAD. None more so than in punk rock. And that's because MOTÖRHEAD were, in essence, a punk rock band.

Lemmy once said: "The punks loved us. The only reason we weren't in that lot was because we had long hair, so obviously we must be heavy metal. That was the thinking. But a lot of kids heard us without seeing a picture, so they thought we were a punk band."

Across the fourteen tracks on the cunningly titled "Killed By Deaf - A Punk Tribute To Motörhead", due on October 31 via BMG, you'll hear a loving tribute to MOTÖRHEAD from some of punk rock's biggest and most respected bands. Luminaries like RANCID, PENNYWISE, LAGWAGON, GBH, THE BRONX and FEAR all contribute raucous versions of their favorite MOTÖRHEAD tracks… and also up-and-coming upstarts like SLAUGHTERHOUSE contribute, because, let's face it MOTÖRHEAD always loved and championed the underdogs.

Lemmy and MOTÖRHEAD aren't honored with their own space in the Punk Rock Museum for nothing. Long before they covered the SEX PISTOLS' "God Save The Queen" on "We Are Motörhead" and long before writing "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." for the "1916" album in tribute to New York's finest, MOTÖRHEAD were sharing stages with the likes of THE DAMNED, as they would continue to do many times over the years. Hell, Lemmy even joined THE DAMNED (when they were THE DOOMED),albeit briefly, and playing some now infamous shows, and playing bass on a couple of studio tracks. It's only fitting then, that the only non- MOTÖRHEAD song on this album is from when he teamed up with them again in 2002 for a previously unheard and blistering version of THE DAMNED's classic "Neat Neat Neat".

"Killed By Deaf - A Punk Tribute To Motörhead" will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-orders are available now at this location.

"Killed By Deaf - A Punk Tribute To Motörhead" track listing:

01. PENNYWISE - Ace of Spades
02. RANCID - Sex & Death
03. THE BRONX - Over The Top
04. LAGWAGON - Rock ‘N' Roll
05. FEAR - The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
06. GBH - Bomber
07. MURPHY'S LAW - Stay Clean
08. SLAUGHTERHOUSE - Love Me Like A Reptile
09. THE CASUALTIES - The Hammer
10. ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE - Born To Raise Hell
11. LOVE CANAL - Voices In The Sky
12. SOLDIERS OF DESTRUCTION - Overkill
13. WISDOM IN CHAINS - Iron Fist
14. MOTÖRHEAD & THE DAMNED - Neat Neat Neat

In a new interview with Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Jesse Leach was asked for his opinion of the negative effects of political polarization and the state of our world in the post-pandemic era. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I feel like all of the [dystopian] science-fiction movies I loved as a kid, we're living them right now. We're living through this Orwellian '1984', 'Idiocracy'… All those movies were maybe meant to be funny or, whatever, science fiction, but we're seeing it happen in real time. And I think the problem is two-sided. One, you don't care at all, or two, you care too much and you take everything seriously.

"I think there's a lot of misinformation," he continued. "I think there's a lot of things that are going on that mislead people to sort of continue the divide. I think it's all rigged. I could get really deep into this, but my opinion, my honest, humble opinion is, don't believe everything you've see and hear. Some of it's meant to trigger your emotions, to make you angry and to hate somebody who doesn't agree with you.

"I think what we need to do as people is look at the much bigger picture, and the bigger picture to me is poor people, the working class, we're being stomped on by these very wealthy oligarchs, these people who have all the power, the one-percenters," he added. "That is the divide. It's actually a war of classism. It has nothing to do with left and right. Left and right is a distraction to what is actually happening. And we need to focus on that, to take care of each other as a community, to unite against the real enemy. And the real enemy are these multi-billionaires that are pulling the strings. It's puppetry. It's bred and circus. It's what's been going on since the dawn of kingdoms and empires, the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire didn't die and go away; it just transformed into a different style of world government, and we're living through that right now. So, to me, I pay attention to it, but I don't get super hyped up and emotional and lash out against people who don't agree with me. I'm trying to find a bigger solution. And to me, that's class war. We're witnessing class war, but it's written so well, the propaganda is so good that we think each other is the problem. That's the big picture to me."

Leach went on to blast the plutocrats wielding their wealth and power at the expense of the rest of us. He said: "Things are getting more and more expensive, from food to gas to whatever. So they're crushing the working class. The poor are gonna stay poor and get more poor while the rich reap all these benefits. It's so obvious to me what the reality is. The same thing with celebrity worship. Pay attention to this celebrity and this scandal. Who cares? I could care what my president is doing right now as far as you his opinions or his mouthing off. I'm looking at policies, I'm looking at laws being passed, I'm looking behind the scenes. I'm not watching the puppet dangling in front of me. I'm trying to figure out what's going on behind the puppet. Who's pulling those strings and why? That's what we need to be focusing on. But again, the propaganda is so incredible that we're gonna just bicker over the fact that, 'Oh, I like this guy.' 'I don't like this guy.' Or, 'This guy's political opinion, he deserved to die.' 'Oh, no. He didn't deserve to die.' That's not the main issue. The main issue is behind all of that. Read between the lines. And I've been urging people to do that through my lyrics for years — for years — pre-pandemic, everything. So for me, I get frustrated, but I kind of have to take a sort of Buddhist, zen-like approach to it. Be calm, don't get over-emotional, and just continue to drive the message home and direct people — not force them. There's the term 'leading a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink.' Constantly trying to lead people to the waters of life to see that there's wisdom, there's knowledge, there's a higher frequency you can operate on where you can protect your heart and yourself and not be stressed and not spew hate, but still find a way to create change and be a positive force in the world. There's a way to do it. You just have to back away from the bickering and the arguing because, at the end of the day, how much is your bickering and arguing on the Internet making real change? Because you're reposting something, because you're screaming at your screen — is that really creating change or should you be careful of where you're spending your money?'

Leach added: "Money is everything, from the groceries you buy to the farmers that you support. I could go off on this too. If you're talking about politicians, go local. Look at what's happening in your neighborhood, your governor. Go to the state level, go to the small-town level. That's where the real change is happening, on a small level, the way you interact with your neighbors. Start looking at things differently, and I urge people to do it all the time."

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE released its latest album, "This Consequence", in February via Metal Blade. The LP arrived alongside a hugely successful winter/spring 2025 tour, yielded a Top 10 single with "I Believe" and landed the band on the covers of Revolver and Outburn.

This past summer, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE completed the massive "Summer Of Loud" tour, co-headlining alongside BEARTOOTH, I PREVAIL and PARKWAY DRIVE.

Fans got their first taste of "This Consequence" with pulverizing track "Forever Aligned", swiftly followed by "I Believe". More recently, the group shared videos for "Collusion" and "Aftermath".

Fan-filmed video of MEGADETH's entire October 1 performance at PSD Bank Dome in Düsseldorf, Germany as the support act for DISTURBED can be seen below.

Featured songs:

00:01 Symphony Of Destruction
03:44 Mechanix
08:15 Peace Sells
12:55 We'll Be Back
17:35 Tornado Of Souls
22:51 Sweating Bullets
27:43 Wake Up Dead
31:15 In My Darkest Hour
36:51 Hangar 18
42:01 Holy Wars…The Punishment Due

As previously reported, MEGADETH will release a new single, "Tipping Point", on Friday, October 3.

On August 14, MEGADETH announced that its upcoming LP will be the band's last. The Dave Mustaine-led outfit will also embark on a farewell tour in 2026.

Mustaine and the rest of MEGADETH have yet to reveal the final album's title, release date or the band's remaining tour dates.

In a press release announcing MEGADETH's final album and farewell tour, Mustaine thanked fans for their commitment and love while celebrating the band's impact on the music world.

"There's so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional," Mustaine said. "Most of them don't get to go out on their own terms on top, and that's where I'm at in my life right now. I have traveled the world and have made millions upon millions of fans and the hardest part of all of this is saying goodbye to them."

He continued. "We can't wait for you to hear this album and see us on tour. If there was ever a perfect time for us to put out a new album, it's now. If there was ever a perfect time to tour the world, it's now. This is also a perfect time for us to tell you that it's our last studio album. We've made a lot of friends over the years and I hope to see all of you on our global farewell tour.

"Don't be mad, don't be sad, be happy for us all, come celebrate with me these next few years. We have done something together that's truly wonderful and will probably never happen again. We started a musical style, we started a revolution, we changed the guitar world and how it's played, and we changed the world. The bands I played in have influenced the world. I love you all for it. Thank you for everything."

The follow-up to 2022's "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!" will be released via Mustaine's Tradecraft imprint on Frontiers Label Group's new BLKIIBLK label, and is expected next year.

Fans can register for early access to exclusive information and offers surrounding the upcoming final album on MEGADETH's web site. The initial run of farewell tour dates will also be announced later this year.

For its final album, MEGADETH is once again working with Chris Rakestraw, a producer, mixer and engineer who previously worked on MEGADETH's last two LPs, the aforementioned "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" and 2016's "Dystopia".

Guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari joined MEGADETH two years ago. He stepped in as the replacement for Brazilian-born guitarist Kiko Loureiro, who announced in September 2023 that he would sit out the next leg of MEGADETH's "Crush The World" tour in order to stay home with his children back in Finland. It was later revealed that the now-38-year-old Finnish musician would continue to play guitar for MEGADETH for the foreseeable future, with Loureiro seemingly having no plans to return.

Mäntysaari was born in Tampere, Finland and began playing guitar at the age of 12. In 2004, he joined the band WINTERSUN. He has also been a member of SMACKBOUND since 2015.

Released in September 2022, MEGADETH's latest album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked MEGADETH's eighth top 10-charting album.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown To Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

Led by the growled vocals and razor-wire riffing of Mustaine, MEGADETH are one of the "Big Four" thrash titans. Shortly after being kicked out of METALLICA in 1983, Mustaine met bassist David Ellefson, and the pair bonded quickly, forming the core of MEGADETH. Drummer Gar Samuelson and guitarist Chris Poland later joined, and MEGADETH released their underground-hit debut "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" in 1985. Its follow-up, "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?", solidified the band's status with sprawling yet tightly wound songs like the uneasy opener "Wake Up Dead" and the fiery title track.

"So Far, So Good... So What!", released in 1988, featured a new lineup as well as a thrashy cover of the SEX PISTOLS' "Anarchy In The U.K." and the anti-PMRC broadside "Hook In Mouth". In 1990 they released "Rust In Peace", with Nick Menza on drums and technical wizard Marty Friedman on guitar; songs such as "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Hangar 18" blended pummeling riffs and suspicion-fueled lyrics with a stadium-rock ambition that matched the era's metal-embracing tendencies.

"Countdown To Extinction", released in 1992, and "Youthanasia", released in 1994, continued the band's dominance of metal and emergence in rock's mainstream, with the latter album's "À Tout Le Monde" being a rare thrash ballad. After a brief breakup in the early 2000s, MEGADETH returned as a de facto Mustaine solo project with 2004's "The System Has Failed". Ellefson rejoined in 2010 prior to the album "Th1rt3en" and remained in the MEGADETH lineup until 2021, when he was fired.

In addition to Mustaine and Mäntysaari, MEGADETH's current lineup includes drummer Dirk Verbeuren and bassist James LoMenzo.

In episode 112 of "The Metallica Report", the podcast offering weekly insider updates on all things METALLICA, METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo spoke about his participation in the "Back To The Beginning" event, which marked Ozzy Osbourne and BLACK SABBATH's final performance. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was definitely a true celebration. And it's safe to say that with SABBATH's music, they were the seed. And we've all became the creators of the music that we've created because of them, and they paved the way for us. Because that music, what they created, was so unique."

He continued: "I remember Sharon [Ozzy's wife and manager] saying it was alternative — it was an alternative form of music style [when SABBATH first came out in the late 1960s]. It was so different from anything that was happening back then. And there's a lot of reasons for that. Take [SABBATH drummer] Bill Ward, for instance, as a drummer. He's so unique in his style of playing and that swing that he has, it reminds me of big band music or in a big band style. There was a lot of that in him. Ozzy, with his very bluesy, soulful style of singing. Tony [Iommi, SABBATH guitarist], his chords were — [METALLICA guitarist] Kirk [Hammett] calls 'em smart chords, which are basically jazz chords, and incorporating that into the riffs. Even just the fact that his fingers are different. He has that, which, believe it or not, will create a certain sound, will create a certain riff. So a lot of the stuff that was coming out of that band, it's just very unique, very soulful."

Trujillo also reflected on watching BLACK SABBATH soundcheck for "Back To The Beginning" on Thursday, July 3, two days before the big event. He said: "They were soundchecking, and Ozzy wasn't on stage yet. And even just hearing them warm up on their instruments, this is a whole another level. This is like [watching] Muhammad Ali shadow box or hit the speed bag — it's that intense. It's crazy, because SABBATH warming up to play, obviously, loud music in a stadium and they're just warming up, man — drum fills, some tribal beats Bill was doing, and you hear Geezer [Butler, SABBATH bassist] kind of noodling a bit. And then Tony — I even remember him playing some kind of sort of little bit of jazz, some jazz chords here and there, and then they went into, yeah, 'Into The Void'. And it was really slow and super heavy, but they just went into it. And everybody that was watching — there was a few of us — just started headbanging, and we were all smiling. And some people were crying, some people were crying. It was so beautiful, and it was a powerful moment that anybody that witnessed it, that was something that they'll probably remember for the rest of their lives. But it was a special day. And to see the command that [those] songs and just the feel of that music has on all of us is really something special."

Ozzy died on July 22 of a heart attack, his death certificate revealed. The certificate also reportedly said the 76-year-old musician suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease.

A private funeral service for Ozzy was held on July 31 on the 250-acre grounds of the house the legendary BLACK SABBATH singer and Sharon bought in 1993 in Buckinghamshire, England. Only 110 of the singer's friends and family members attended the service, including his SABBATH bandmates, Trujillo, Rob Zombie, Zakk Wylde, Marilyn Manson and Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT).

Trujillo reflected on the service during an August 7 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was a small group of people, but it was very, very beautiful. And in the end, the speeches were actually… I mean, it was very sad, but at the same time some of the speeches were — as you could imagine — pretty funny. And there were a lot of tears. [The members of] SABBATH kind of ended with their speech, especially with [bassist] Geezer [Butler]. Geezer broke down into tears. He had a hard time, obviously, speaking, and then he came back up and he delivered an amazing eulogy."

Trujillo continued: "It had been raining at the beginning of the service, about an hour — I don't know — longer than an hour before. And then as it sort of progressed through the service, the weather would change and different things would happen. When Kelly [Osbourne, Ozzy and Sharon's daughter] was singing, her lyrics flew — the wind blew her lyrics away. It was almost like Ozzy was having fun with her. And then when Geezer spoke, actually spoke, the sun came out. I'm not kidding. The sun actually came out, and then it was beautiful from that moment on — a very magical moment.

"And again, it's sad, but at the same time, people [were] sharing stories," Robert added. "And all of a sudden, there was laughter, and 'I remember this', 'I remember that'. There were so many stories. I mean, we'd be on the phone forever on this interview. So, it felt like there was a closure from this. And I'm glad that we went — my wife Chloe and I went — and shared that and were able to have that moment with the family and everything. So it was very beautiful. And again, heartfelt words from so many people and kind of reconnecting with different musicians and bandmates, crew members, all that."

The day before the private funeral, thousands of fans gathered in the streets of Birmingham to pay tribute to Ozzy. His wife and manager Sharon, along with their children Aimée, Kelly and Jack, joined mourners for the emotional tribute.

Ozzy's final concert saw him and his fellow original SABBATH bandmates Tony, Geezer and Bill perform four songs for more than 40,000 people in the stadium and 5.8 million more on a livestream. "Back To The Beginning" served as a tribute to the legendary heavy metal act, including additional performances from such other groups as METALLICA, GUNS N' ROSES, SLAYER, TOOL, PANTERA and ALICE IN CHAINS. Ozzy also played a five-song solo set while seated in a bat-adorned throne.

Reactivated San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans FORBIDDEN have released the official Mike Sloat-directed music video for their second new song in over 15 years, "Mutually Assured Dysfunction". "Mutually Assured Dysfunction" and "Divided By Zero", which was made available in late June, mark the band's first recordings with FORBIDDEN's current lineup, consisting of founding guitarist Craig Locicero, alongside longtime bassist Matt Camacho and the group's latest additions, singer Norman Skinner and drummer Chris Kontos, plus VOIVOD guitarist Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain, who stepped in as a replacement for Steve Smyth in July 2024.

At this past summer's Motocultor Festival in France, Locicero was asked by Loud TV what it's like for him and his FORBIDDEN bandmates to play thrash metal in 2025, since the music industry has changed a lot in the past four decades. He responded: "Yeah, yeah. Well, like that's ever mattered to us. Yeah, it's never really mattered to us. There was a time in the early '90s where it killed everything. I think now thrash has a very permanent home because kids keep rediscovering it. And it goes along with my philosophy of the way I record music now, too. If you go back and you look at the history of thrash records, people wanna listen to the old stuff, and there's a reason for that, because it wasn't too perfect, it wasn't too clean, it wasn't manipulated by digital. Everything was so natural. So with the way we recorded, even though we recorded digitally, we didn't fix everything. We laid a good drum track down, we laid a quick guitar track, quick guitar track, quick bass track — bang, bang, bang, bang. And so when you do things like that, the result is people feel that there's more energy coming from that because there's — I call it hair. There's hair in it. I like hair. I like albums that sound perfect, I like really clinical metal records that are supposedly industry standard, but I don't think they last as long in the fans' hearts and minds. And that is being proven over the years, 'cause people just wanna go back and listen to old shit. You've gotta have the balls to do it, and we're doing it."

Craig continued: "Another thing we did, too, is we recorded everything in [the standard guitar tuning of] E — not the whole album, but most of it tuned up, the way we used to tune. And you'll probably find two or three bands in this whole festival that are tuned high like [that]. You can play Chuck Berry and Elvis [Presley] and FORBIDDEN — and old SLAYER. We all used to be in E. If you can't write heavy shit in E, then I don't know what to tell you."

Locicero was also asked how the ripple effects from rising production expenses and shifting consumer spending have affected promoters, venue operators, agents and touring artists like FORBIDDEN in 2025. He said: "You know what? I'm a realist… And to me, what I wanted to do is write the greatest record we could possibly write. And that's why we got Chewy in the band. That's why this lineup's so fire, with Norman and everybody. And I always say — there's an old thing from a movie, 'A Field Of Dreams': build it and they will come. So if you build something good enough, if people want it, you'll find a way to do it. If you can't afford to go everywhere and play, that's okay too. I mean, you don't have to fucking — sorry, Wichita, Kansas, but I don't have to play there if it's not gonna be worth… If it costs too much to get there and you're only paying X amount of money, we can't play there. So that's just a realistic part of the machine now, and you have to live with it and go with it. And people that really suffer under that idea get jaded and they just give up. I'm not that guy. I just adjust. I care about the music and the performances we do, and if we don't go everywhere, I'm okay with that."

When "Divided By Zero" was first released, FORBIDDEN commented in a statement: "The opening riff for 'Divided By Zero' was the first thing Craig brought to the table as a new FORBIDDEN song. The lyrics address the erosion of civility and society through divisive control of institutions, cultures, religion, and government. Without picking sides, 'Divided By Zero' points to anyone and everyone that partakes in this mass manipulation, willingly or unwittingly."

The band added: "The video for 'Divided By Zero' is the stuff of dystopian nightmares, depicting how influential words and propaganda of the few have power to sway the many. Robots and monsters — how most of us unwittingly end up being one or the other through the multiple institutions' relentless brainwashing and beating us down. All of the disturbing imagery, created by Ethan Renoe at Crumb Hill, visually captures the story perfectly, haunting, powerful, and poignant."

"Mutually Assured Dysfunction" and "Divided By Zero" represent the bridge between classic and modern FORBIDDEN. They were recorded similarly to FORBIDDEN's debut album, 1988's "Forbidden Evil", in approach: no samples, no triggers and no over-editing.

In a recent interview with The Metal Command podcast, Skinner, who has previously fronted such acts as NIVIANE and IMAGIKA, stated about how his vocal approach is different from that of former FORBIDDEN singer Russ Anderson: "I kept in mind, I'm, like, 'I've gotta throw a little bit of Russ in there on some of this. I can't just be, like, 'Okay, well, now here's a new song done completely in the style of Norm now.' So, yeah, it's a balancing act with some of these songs. It's a little different and there's a bit of a learning curve for me because I'm so used to singing a certain way and recording a certain way and everything, and now with this group of guys, it's, like, 'Well, we don't do it that way. We do it this way,'" he explained.

"I just finished a powwow with our guitar player Daniel Mongrain and found out that I sing a lot of 'happy chords', a lot of majors, he says. So we're going on ways to — I don't know — maybe make it sound a little more evil. But then when you've been singing power metal for 10 years, that tends to happen.

"But I'm definitely keeping it in the back of my mind that, as we roll out these new tunes, to make sure I still stay true to what I think the FORBIDDEN fans will like while staying true to myself at the same time," Norm added.

On the topic of the musical direction of the new FORBIDDEN music compared to that of the band's previous efforts, Norm said: "The music itself, I've heard Craig [say] that it's very a mixture of [2010's] 'Omega Wave' and [1990's] 'Twisted Into Form'. That's the cross where vocally I'm doing the more modern-sounding singing like I do — I'm throwing in my harsh screams and growls sprinkled throughout, which Russ really didn't do until 'Omega Wave'. 'Omega Wave', all of a sudden it's, like, 'Oh, wow.' I mean, [1997's] 'Green' was an angry album, and Russ was just more just like raw scream and just anger. 'Omega Wave' was a more polished, some more death vocal stuff thrown in and stuff. So I'm bringing a lot of that in these songs here and there, because that's something I like to do. But then at the same time I'm taking a lot of the kind of phrasing that Russ would do on those old thrash songs. And, of course, I'm keeping the high notes in there, here and there. Not overdoing it, just placing them where they need to be. So you get that little, 'Yeah, there it is.' We're just trying to really balance these songs as best. And, for me, those are my two favorite FORBIDDEN albums: 'Twisted Into Form' and 'Omega Wave'."

FORBIDDEN's new songs were recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer/co-producer Zack Ohren.

FORBIDDEN summer 2025 "40 Years Of Twisted Evil" European tour celebrated the 40th anniversary of the band's formation and the 35th anniversary of the release of FORBIDDEN's second album, "Twisted Into Form", which originally came out in March 1990 via Combat Records.

In August 2024, Locicero spoke to Bloodstock TV's Oran O'Beirne about FORBIDDEN's decision to remain independent, at least for the time being. He said: "We don't have a record label. I don't want a record label yet. I have an opportunity to finally do this with no monkey. And we're a better band than we were at any point recently because of all the things that have kind of brought us together. It feels different, and that's no knock on anyone. But from the top down, with Russ going through what he went through, that's kind of the stigma that stayed on us for a while. He wasn't feeling a hundred percent. So now you have Norm who's up there, he's, like, 'Yeah.' He's not trying to be anybody, and there's just a whole positive groundswell."

Elaborating on why FORBIDDEN has no interest in aligning itself with a record label right now, Craig said: "It's important to say that we have no delusions of grandeur either. I think that we understand more than anybody how much the industry has changed.

"I don't wanna get caught in the machine, and the machine can chew you up before you get creative," he explained. "You can get stunted creatively if you agree too quickly. 'Cause we've been approached already. And I'm, like, 'Not yet.' We're not gonna go there yet.

"It's important for us to feel like we got our album done and artistically put together, lyrically," Craig added. "No one needs to fucking tell us how to do it. And I feel good about our chances of at least reigniting and kind of reforging our path again. 'Cause there's a spot for us. 'Cause we've got all our Bay Area brothers, but we're that band, we're a little more heavy metal, a little more melodic. We do things a little differently. So we have our own little spot. And I hope to have it all land where it's supposed to be."

Smyth exited FORBIDDEN in July 2024, saying in a statement that he "decided it's time to part ways with FORBIDDEN, and return to my band ONE MACHINE as priority, along with other projects on the horizon, and of course session work, and teaching music as always."

The resurrected FORBIDDEN lineup made its live debut at a "secret" show in July 2023 at Baltic Kiss in Richmond, California under the TWISTED INTO EVIL banner.

Originally founded in 1985 as FORBIDDEN EVIL by Anderson, guitarists Locicero and Robb Flynn, bassist John Tegio and drummer Jim Pittman, the quintet started playing house parties and Bay Area clubs such as the legendary Ruthie's Inn soon after. After a couple of lineup changes (Paul Bostaph on drums and Matt Camacho on bass) in '86, the band quickly rose through the ranks of Bay Area thrash to gain a massive following and worldwide notoriety. In 1986, the band added Glen Alvelais as the second guitarist. It was this lineup that cemented itself into the Bay Area scene and soon after recorded 1988 release "Forbidden Evil" for Combat Records, changing the band's name to simply FORBIDDEN. In May of '89 while on a European tour with SACRED REICH, FORBIDDEN made their first appearance at the legendary Dynamo Open Air in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It was here that FORBIDDEN made their European mark and recorded the "Raw Evil" EP. The band returned Stateside and replaced Alvelais with Tim Calvert. Calvert was a missing ingredient that brought the band closer together as a team. They continued to tour the U.S. first with EXODUS and then again with SACRED REICH with Calvert on second guitar. The band went on to release "Twisted Into Form" in 1990, "Distortion" in 1994 and "Green" in 1996. However, the band, having gone though many lineup changes, disbanded in 1997.

In 2008 Craig being inspired at a screening of the movie "Get Thrashed", called the other members of the band and suggested getting back on stage to see if they could reignite the FORBIDDEN machine. With Anderson, Locicero, Camacho back in the mix along with new additions Glen Alvelais and Gene Hoglan they played two sold-out DEATH ANGEL shows in San Francisco. Steve Smyth came into the mix in place of Alvelais and Mark Hernandez took Hoglan's place. The band then released "Omega Wave", the fifth in the catalog and went on a U.S. tour with OVERKILL. European festivals were next but afterwards Hernandez had to walk away due to personal reasons leading to a tour cancelation. Sasha Horn was the answer to fill the drummer's spot.

After playing "Bonded By Baloff" with EXODUS and one Bay Area show, FORBIDDEN embarked for Chile to play the Metal Fest in Santiago. It was on this flight back home that Russ informed the band that he couldn't tour anymore because of the physical toll it was taking on him. With that, the band dissolved once again for 11 years.

When FORBIDDEN's "rebirth" was first announced in April 2023, Locicero said in a statement: "First off, I did NOT see this coming. When FORBIDDEN quietly disbanded the second time in 2012, I figured it was over. While I always apply the 'never say never' mantra to my life, Russ made it clear that he was completely finished with touring. My wingman and main dude from the conception of FORBIDDEN EVIL, Russ was my mentor and the guy who bought me beer when I was 15! I couldn't imagine FORBIDDEN without him, so I had little hope of a future with FORBIDDEN. Today Russ is happily retired and living the sober life. I have nothing but love for that and him. Everyone needs to respect his wishes like we do.

"So then ….. fast forward 11 years after our last show, Bay Area vocal talent Norman Skinner walks in to help us rehearse and sing a few thrash classics for the BAY AREA INTERTHRASHIONAL set at Dynamo MetalFest 2022. WHAMMO! That's when it all happened by accident. Truly. Then it happens AGAIN when Norman sings 'Chalice Of Blood' onstage alongside WARBRINGER at the one Bay Area show of BAY AREA INTERTHRASHIONAL. Holy fuck!"

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA — Mike Hranica (vocals),Jeremy DePoyster (guitar, clean vocals),Kyle Sipress (guitar),Jonathan Gering (keys, synths, programming, percussion) and Giuseppe Capolupo (drums) — will unleash its ninth album, "Flowers", on November 14 via Solid State Records. Today, they share the video for new single "Eyes". Watch it below.

The "Eyes" video finds the members of PRADA as puppets navigating a maze. Watch and find out where the puppet master pulling the strings leads them.

"'Eyes' is about coming to a point in life where you start to question the reality of what you once believed," states Gering. "It captures the feeling of wanting to break away from something that has only worked against you and the struggle to find a new way to move forward."

DePoyster weighs in, saying, "'Eyes' is a song about desperately yearning for answers, wondering why you keep ending up in the same place without a clear path forward. When you're caught in a wave of anxiety and the things you've been taught are of little help, you're desperate for clarity and hope."

He finishes, "Sonically, this song is a journey, contrasting between tight melodic verses and fuzzed out riffs. It's an anthem for when you need the validation that no one has the answers. We're all just doing our best."

"Flowers" marks the start of an incredibly epic cycle and phase for THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. The global touring scheduling finds the band playing some of the biggest shows of its career. They just wrapped the "Summer Of Loud" tour, which packed amphitheaters through the summer. Additionally, the single "For You" is the band's first-ever track to chart on both the Mediabase and Billboard Active Rock charts.

"Flowers" track listing:

01. That Same Place
02. Where The Flowers Never Grow
03. Everybody Knows
04. So Low
05. For You
06. All Out
07. Ritual
08. When You're Gone
09. The Sky Behind The Rain
10. The Silence
11. Eyes
12. Cure Me
13. Wave
14. My Paradise

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA has a slew of international tour dates on deck, including dates in Australia with BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE; headline shows in South Africa; and a trek across Europe with ICE NINE KILLS and CREEPER. The band will also appear at Warped Tour in Orlando on November 15-16. The band will embark on the Emo's Not Dead cruise in January as well.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA have always explored life's extremes in their music. They've never shied away from staring down darkness, dealing with depression, making sense of confusion, soothing anxiety, or grappling with faith, existence, and death. At the same time, they've mirrored life's ups and downs by alternating between crushing heaviness and heart-wrenching melodies. After over two decades of making music, their union as bandmates — but more importantly as friends — is stronger than ever. All of this time and experience ultimately empowered the group to make a statement on their ninth full-length offering, "Flowers" (Solid State). Matching bold themes with equally bold songs, they process grief, weather struggle, and not only heal together, but creatively blossom like never before.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA have always been there for audiences. Among a string of seminal releases, Revolver readers named "With Roots Above And Branches Below" (2009) one of the "Five Greatest Metalcore Albums", the "Zombie" EP (2010) and "Dead Throne" (2011) each debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, and 2021's "ZII" marked their sixth straight Top 5 entry on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums chart. They have also tallied nearly a half a billion streams — unprecedented for most acts this heavy. The group elevated to another stratosphere with "Color Decay" (2022),selling out their biggest shows worldwide and receiving some of the highest praise of its career.

During 2024, the musicians decamped to a VRBO in Rodgers, Arkansas for three weeks where they constructed the foundation for the LP, with Jonathan Gering (keys, synths, programming, percussion) again at the helm as producer. Following their time "in this heavenly corner of Arkansas," Jon, Jeremy and Mike Hranica (vocals) took a handful of trips to Los Angeles. Putting the finishing touches on recording, the guys collaborated with Tyler Smyth (I PREVAIL, FALLING IN REVERSE),Austin Coupe (LØ SPIRIT, MOODRING),Colin Brittain (LINKIN PARK, PAPA ROACH),FIT FOR A KING's Bobby Lynge, and Marshall Gallagher of TEENAGE WRIST. They also enlisted "Color Decay" collaborator Sam Guaiana as an engineer and tapped Zakk Cervini (BRING ME THE HORIZON, SPIRITBOX) for mixing and mastering.

Photo credit: Wyatt Clough

Richmond, Virginia metallers LAMB OF GOD return with "Sepsis", a visceral, menacing new single out now via Epic. It marks the Grammy Award-nominated band's first new original music since 2022's critically acclaimed album "Omens".

Produced by longtime collaborator Josh Wilbur, the three-and-a-half minute track arrives alongside a grainy, lo-fi performance video that offers a moody, unfiltered look at Richmond's underbelly. Directed by Gianfranco Svagelj, the video captures the song's slow-burning tension.

"'Sepsis' is a celebration of the very underground local bands here in Richmond that we really admired when we were just forming [the pre-LAMB OF GOD band] BURN THE PRIEST," LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton said. "Bands like BREADWINNER, SLIANG LAOS and LADYFINGER — though they never got widespread attention outside of Richmond, those were the bands we listened to all the time. The song references that stuff in a way that's a direct line to where we were coming from when we were in the basement writing our earliest material together."

"Sepsis" arrives during a milestone year for LAMB OF GOD. In 2025, the band celebrated the 25th anniversary of its discography, performed at the historic "Back To The Beginning" concert and subsequently released their thunderous take on BLACK SABBATH's "Children Of The Grave", along with appearances at several festivals, including Inkcarceration and Louder Than Life, and a headlining show at Richmond's new 7500-seat outdoor venue Allianz Amphitheater during its opening season.

As the year closes, LAMB OF GOD has several performances ahead of them, including outings at Aftershock, AMMA Championship Fest, and the band's Headbangers Boat cruise (Oct. 31 to Nov. 4) — a four-day floating festival departing from Miami with a stop in Cozumel, Mexico.

LAMB OF GOD is Randy Blythe (vocals),John Campbell (bass),Mark Morton (guitar),Willie Adler (guitar) and Art Cruz (drums). Formed in 1994, the Richmond, Virginia-based band has released nine critically acclaimed albums, received five Grammy Award nominations, sold over three million albums, packed arenas around the world, and tallied over one billion streams and counting. Widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative forces in modern heavy music LAMB OF GOD's most recent collection, "Omens", arrived in late 2022 , marking their sixth consecutive album to debut in the Top 15 of on the Billboard 200. Kerrang! noted that the album finds the band "as reliably heavy, violent, and pissed off as ever," and Consequence said the "album will break you down to nihilistic pieces."

Photo credit: Travis Shinn

In a new interview with Rock Music, Man, SPINESHANK vocalist Jonny Santos spoke about the reunion of the Los Angeles-based nu metal/industrial metal band. Joining Santos, drummer Tommy Decker and bassist/vocalist Robert Garcia in SPINESHANK's 2025 lineup are new recruits Tommy Decker, Jr. (Tommy Decker's son) and Jason Hager (ex-CHIMAIRA) on guitar. Santos said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "It's unreal. The last time we toured, it was a very bad climate for new metal bands of our era, and it was almost demoralizing. When we went out on tour, bands like us, we were like a fucking pariah. And so we came off that last tour, and the morale was just low — low ticket sales, and just we were struggling out there. And that's when we kind of thought that it was over. So when they asked us to get back together to do this [reunion], we were, like, 'Are you guys crazy? Do you know what happened on our last tour?' And now we're coming out, and the fucking shows — it's insane. The people are coming out in droves. Our U.K. tour is half sold out already. We just sold out fucking London the other night, and it's, like, 'What the fuck is going on?' So we are extremely blown away."

Looking ahead to SPINESHANK's future, Santos said: "If we decide to go forward and maybe do some new music, that'd be one thing, but if we decide not to, at least we get to give the band a warrior's death. I would like to see the band go forward with a couple songs and see how they do. But I think that at this point, this tour has shown me so far is we've solidified our place in this community. And so I think we could still continue to tour once a year or every now and then. And it's just very vindicating, because a lot of bands like us got thrown away during that whole 'fuck nu metal' era. So it's really vindicating. I see you people out there, the motherfuckers, you were talking shit, and now I see you out there going, 'Oh, SPINESHANK's back.' I fucking see you. [Laughs]"

Earlier this month, Decker spoke to Discoveringbands by Michael Nagy < spoke about the possibility of new SPINESHANK music. He said at the time: "There's some stuff [in the works]. There's some stuff. It might be a little while [before it's released]. We've gotta Tommy Junior and Hager, the new additions to the band, [on it]. So we got a few songs. We'll see what happens. [It will arrive] probably sometime next year."

Asked about the musical direction of the new SPINESHANK material, Decker said: "It's more SPINESHANK. We like to have the heaviness. We like to have the melody. Everyone wants the electronics. So it's just SPINESHANK 13 years later. It's always gonna be heavy. It's always gonna be a nice hook and there's always gonna be electronics. So it's who we are."

SPINESHANK played its first show in nearly 13 years on July 9 at Jake's Sports Cafe & Backroom in Lubbock, Texas.

SPINESHANK teamed up with THE UNION UNDERGROUND for the "25 Years Of Rebellion & Callousness" tour this summer. This commemorative, co-headline trek, with special guests ADEMA and SICKSENSE, is celebrating the 25th anniversaries of SPINESHANK's sophomore studio album "The Height Of Callousness" and THE UNION UNDERGROUND sole studio LP, "…An Education In Rebellion".

This past June, Santos confirmed to Rock Feed that a new song from SPINESHANK would arrive in the coming weeks. "We're literally in the studio trying to finish right now," he said. "The song has been recorded. Right now it's in the final process of being edited. We're gonna actually start listening to roughs this week."

Santos also addressed the reason he and the rest of SPINESHANK's 2025 lineup have decided to release one track as opposed to focusing on making a full-length record. "People are, like, well, why are we only doing one song?' Jonny said. "'Cause we don't know. We haven't put a record out in 12 years. "Cause let's face it, the SHINESHANK thing right now, [the upcoming tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of] 'The Height Of Callousness', this is nostalgic. We're not out there pumping a new record. We're celebrating one of our best records. That's what we're doing. So what we decided to do is… Do we wanna do a new record? 'Cause now we have little Tommy playing guitar, which is fucking awesome; he shreds. And we've got Jason Hager; everybody knows Jason. He's from CHIMAIRA. So we get these two new guys, and they obviously wanna do a new record. But five months ago, we didn't even know people even cared about SPINESHANK. So let's hold on here a second before we start putting new records out. I said, 'Let's do one song. Let's put this song out there. We'll get it out to the masses, and let's see how it's received.' That's gonna tell us right there — I feel it'll tell us if we are just a nostalgic act, that people just wanna come hear the hits and feel like they're 18 again, or we put this new song out. Does it trend? Does it fucking blow up? Then that will indicate right there, 'Okay, guys, let's go do a new record and start putting new songs out.' And I think that's a fair way to look at it instead of just assuming that since we're doing well and shows are selling out right now, that we're just gonna put an album and everybody's gonna love it."

Regarding the musical direction of the new SPINESHANK song, Jonny said: "Well, I will tell you this much. It's got all the elements that is what is SPINESHANK. One of the biggest complaints we had on the last SPINESHANK record was fans were, like, 'It's not electronic enough.' And I saw that. I felt that in a way. There was a lot of programming on that album; we were just using organic sounds as the loops and stuff. But I understand what the fans meant. So this time around, the SPINESHANK recipe, if you will — the song's gotta have energy. It's gotta be heavy. It's gotta be catchy. It's gotta have a hook. I don't care. I fucking love singing in fucking metal songs. All those people out there [who say], 'That's lame that you sing' — fuck you. You've gotta bring girls to the show too. So you've gotta have energy. It's gotta be heavy. You've gotta have a hook. And with SPINESHANK, it's gotta have that electronic aspect and that dirty, nasty, electronic aspect. Very industrial — 'Antichrist Superstar' [MARILYN MANSON] industrial. I love when you have a cool loop. Distort that motherfucker. So it's that whole ATARI TEENAGE RIOT dirtiness to it."

After releasing three successful albums ("Strictly Diesel", "The Height Of Callousness" and "Self-Destructive Pattern"),performing on countless world tours (including appearances on Ozzfest and the Download festival) and a Grammy nomination in 2004, SPINESHANK went on a hiatus.

SPINESHANK's fourth album, "Anger Denial Acceptance", was released in June 2012 via Century Media Records. The CD was produced by SPINESHANK guitarist Mike Sarkisyan and drummer Tommy Decker and mixed by Mike Plotnikoff (PAPA ROACH, BUCKCHERRY).

SPINESHANK's third LP, "Self-Destructive Pattern", was released in September 2003. The album's lead single, "Smothered", was nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Metal Performance".

This past April, Jonny told the "Talk Toomey" podcast about the possibility of SPINESHANK releasing new music to coincide with the current tour:  "We never got a chance to really go out on a high note. And so when we first started getting ready to do all this, doing another record wasn't really even talked about. It was more of just, like, 'Hey, let's just go out and do ['The Height Of Callousness'] in its entirety' and give the band its warrior's death, if you will — going out on a strong note instead of just falling into obscurity.

"Now it's gotten to the point… So right now I'm in the studio finishing up some edits and mixing the first SPINESHANK song since 2012," Santos explained. "So we have one new song coming out. Because I think the way that we feel that we'll know is, let's see how this SPINESHANK song does. If it's accepted well and people are excited about it, if it does well, then maybe there could be another album in the works. Or if anything, maybe even an EP. Who knows?"

Referencing the resurgence of "nu metal" in recent years, Jonny continued: "It's kind of weird how — it's uncharted territory. It's, like, is this here to stay? Is this gonna be a staple in heavy music or is this just a fashion fad for kids today? So I think once we release this new song and tour for the better part of this year, then I think we'll know if we're gonna put a new record out next year or not. I would like to, but I only wanna put a record out if it's gonna matter. I don't wanna put a record out if nobody's gonna give a shit."

Elaborating on his reluctance to release a full-length collection of new material, Jonny said: "Not comparing us to the size of THE ROLLING STONES or anything, but if I was gonna go see THE ROLLING STONES, I'm not too concerned with anything that they've done post 1979. You know what I'm saying? I think you hit a certain point in your career as a band when you have a legitimate and constant following that people just wanna go hear the hits.

"I've noticed, I'll put music out or whatever, and people are, like, 'Oh, man, it doesn't sound like 'The Height Of Callousness'.' It's just, like, dude, me putting out the same record twice is not gonna make you young again," he said. "Because that's how it is.

"Very few bands can get away with putting the same record out. AC/DC's done it. SLAYER's done it. But it works — that works for them, and it's fucking awesome. But for me, it doesn't.

"The thought of putting a new SPINESHANK record out there, it's exciting. But at the same time, we're gonna see how this goes.

"We're going into this with no expectations. This is really fun for us to do, and I think it's a chance for a lot of people that have become SPINESHANK fans in the last decade or so that have never seen us to get to see us. And being that 'The Height Of Callousness' was by far our best-received album, I can't think of a better record to do in its entirety out of our catalog."

Image credit: RyanNinja

Hammerheart Records has announced the reissue of the self-titled Pungent Stench album, available on November 28 on CD, LP and MC. Pre-order here.

Hammerheart Records reissues the infamous Pungent Stench side of their split with Disharmonic Orchestra. Raw and filthy death metal, recorded in 1989 and still standing as a milestone of underground brutality. This release also includes the “The Pleasures In Life” compilation songs from the same studio session, plus crushing live recordings as bonus. These tracks show Pungent Stench at their most primitive and unhinged.



Tracklisting:

Studio Recordings 1989
“Pulsating Protoplasma”
“Dead Body Love”
“Miscarriage”
“In the Vault”
“Rip You Without Care”
“Festered Offals”
“Pungent Stench”

Live At Rockhaus 1989
“In the Vault / Mucous Secretion” *
“Festered Offals” *
“Hypnos” *
“Pulsating Protoplasma” *
“Rip You Without Care” *
“For God Your Soul”
“Bonesawer”
“Pungent Stench”
“Miscarriage”
“Extreme Deformity”

* CD bonus tracks

According to Billboard, HATEBREED has responded to founding bassist Chris Beattie's (pictured above) lawsuit, claiming that he has no legal basis to sue over his dismissal from the veteran Connecticut hardcore/metal band last year.

In his original complaint, which was filed this past July at Connecticut Superior Court in New Haven, Beattie insisted that he was the "driving force behind [HATEBREED's] sound and identity until his sudden and baseless expulsion" from the group last November. He also accused HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta (real name: James Shanahan) of displaying "increasingly erratic" behavior in the months leading up to Chris's "abrupt termination", "culminating in a unilateral decision to cut Beattie off from his career, fans, touring, and substantial expected revenue."

On September 25, HATEBREED and Jasta filed a motion to strike some of Beattie's claims, calling the split between the parties a "garden variety band break-up case" and referring to Beattie as "a disgruntled former band member" who "erroneously asserts a right to remain a permanent member" of HATEBREED "in perpetuity despite the fact that the underlying relationship between the parties was terminable at-will."

According to the motion, which has been obtained by BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Beattie, Jasta and HATEBREED drummer Matthew Byrne "entered into a Band merchandise agreement on or about September 25, 2015, which provided the three would each be entitled to 25% of the sales revenue from Band merchandise and two other Band members would each receive 12.5% of the remaining sales revenue."

Beattie "was terminated from his role in the Band on November 15, 2024," according to the motion, which adds that "[Beattie] wholly fails to allege that any agreement was concluded with HATEBREED, or HATEBREED's members, or that [Beattie] has an ownership interest in the Band's name. Nor does [Beattie] allege that he has not received record or publishing royalties in connection with recording projects that he worked on. [Beattie] claims [Jasta] and [Beattie] maintained an 'implied agreement' from the Band's inception that [Beattie] would be an 'equal co-owner' and share in the Band's profits, royalties and rights. [Beattie's] complaint is devoid of any allegation HATEBREED maintained an agreement with [Beattie] concerning his status with the Band or his entitlement to Band revenues. Without a written agreement with a term, [Beattie's] relationship with the Band was terminable at-will."

HATEBREED's motion also addressed Beattie's claim that Jasta fired Beattie after citing "an alleged incident that occurred on or around November 9, 2024 just prior to a HATEBREED concert at the Toyota Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Connecticut." In Beattie's complaint, he said that "a Live Nation security guard at the venue falsely reported that Beattie had harassed her upon entering the theater prior to his performance. These allegations were patently untrue. Beattie never harassed any Live Nation employee and more likely, she mistook him for someone else."

In HATEBREED's motion, the band's attorney wrote: "[Beattie] does not allege [HATEBREED and Jasta] committed any wrongful conduct during the process of terminating [Beattie's] participation in the Band. [Beattie] merely alleges [HATEBREED and Jasta] 'abruptly terminated' [Beattie] from his role in the Band 'based on unsupported and false allegations' connected to the Live Nation incident which resulted in his 'emotional distress.' Even if the Live Nation incident was 'cited' as a 'false narrative' for his termination, [Beattie's] allegations do not amount to a cognizable claim because the incident merely preceded his termination — it was not connected with the termination process itself."

The motion adds: "[Beattie] claims he provided 'decades-long contributions' to the Band, and his share of the Band's revenue is now being inequitably withheld by [HATEBREED and Jasta] following his termination. [Beattie's] unjust enrichment claim is insufficiently pled because [Beattie] fails to allege he is entitled to Band revenue in perpetuity after termination based simply on his prior contributions to the Band."

In his lawsuit, Beattie claimed that he "contributed significant labor, musical talent, recording and management duties, promotion, and financial resources, without which HATEBREED would not and could not have achieved its current level of recognition and profitability." He added that "the band functioned pursuant to a longstanding, implied agreement and understanding that Shanahan and Beattie were equal co-owners in the band and entitled to their designated share of profits, royalties, and intellectual property rights."

According to Beattie, he and other band members "had no insight into how the money" from HATEBREED merchandise sales "was managed, and most often received payment via wire transfers. Those transfers often came with no explanation or breakdown of the amount being transferred."

The complaint went on to say that "HATEBREED continued to operate in accordance with the longstanding implied agreement and understanding the primary members, including Shanahan, Beattie, and Byrne, were co-equal owners in the band. In addition, the three, along with band manager Steve Ross, played a critical role in all major decision-making on behalf of the band. For example, each of Shanahan, Beattie, Byrne and Ross were responsible for and often discussed managerial decisions such as how much other band members were paid for certain shows, booking and scheduling, distribution, and the band's public image and branding, among other things. Despite this understanding and practice that the three primary band members be involved in such decision-making and entitled to equal shares in profits, at some point Shanahan became more secretive with respect to decision-making and the band's finances."

Prior to his termination, Beattie claims that he "began to notice that there were substantial delays in receiving his share of merchandise sales following HATEBREED performances. When Beattie did receive payments purporting to reflect his share of merchandise sales, those payments were substantially lower than what he anticipated under the merchandise agreement. Because of this, Beattie began requesting financial information about the band from Shanahan. Despite his repeated requests in 2023 and 2024, Beattie never received any financial information confirming that the portion of the proceeds he received constituted 25% of sales as promised."

Beattie went on to say that the fallout from his "termination has had a significant negative impact on his career, reputation, and health and well-being." He also accused HATEBREED of continuing "to sell merchandise using Beattie's likeness in its online store. HATEBREED and Shanahan also continue to promote the band using Beattie's likeness."

This past May, Chris opened up about his departure from HATEBREED, telling Drew Stone of The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!: "Obviously, the last year was the 30th anniversary of the band, so we had big stuff going on for that, which was all completely amazing. We had a great year. Tours, shows were successful, and then we jump to right now where I'm not in the band anymore."

Chris went on to say that his exit from HATEBREED was "completely unexpected. We had just celebrated 30 years," he explained. "It was awesome. Successful tour. Left on a high note. We did great stuff. And like I said before publicly, it was not my decision to leave the band. Someone saw an opportunity to get me out of the picture, and that's where I am now."

Beattie continued: "Everything went really well that year, but there was stuff going on behind the scenes, and it became a chore to get in touch with anyone. And I was the middle man, basically, for bandmembers and crew members, and that became a chore for me. And I had started asking a lot of questions, and it became problematic. I became a problem within the [organization]."

Regarding where he stood with HATEBREED right now, Chris said: "We're trying to work it out. There's attorneys involved now. They're spending a lot of time having to deal with that and all the details of that. And I've gone back and forth.

"Obviously, when something like that happens, you're upset," he continued. "You go through all these crazy emotions. You put 30 years into something like that. But I don't wanna shit on the legacy of what I did. And I could be that guy. I could come out here and I could talk all kinds of shit, but I don't want [to]… I don't wanna be that guy. We made good music. We had great times together. Things changed. Dynamics changed.

"It's hard to be away from your family when you're touring. Everyone understands that. And the feedback from people when you play, you inspire them, you touch their life, you have a positive, lasting impact on someone, that always kept me in the game. And when shit wasn't going right in the band and whatnot, you look at that man that's the realest shit you could possibly get. People would come up to us all the time and be, like, 'Man, I was ready to kill myself. And your music changed me.' How do you respond to that? It's real deep shit.

"So I'm just hoping for the best," Chris added. "Hopefully we'll be able to sort this out. I don't want us to go down some shitty road. We've all seen bands do that, so hopefully it could end on decent terms and be able to move ahead."

Asked if he thought there was any chance of him being able to work things out with HATEBREED and return to the band, Beattie said: "My time is done with HATEBREED… It's done. My family comes first. I'll leave it at that. I can't go back to that. But there is a legacy. With all the time that I haven't been in the band now, which, it's weird to say, but people know me from that band everywhere I go. You can't shake that kind of shit. The identity is still there. So it's good. It's hard to talk about too, but here we are. New doors open."

When Beattie went public with his departure from HATEBREED seven months ago, he wrote in a statement: "I just want to take the time to let everyone know that I am doing just fine and I sincerely appreciate everyone who has reached out.

"I was under the impression a joint announcement would be agreed upon in advance, but since that was not the case I wanted to address your concerns in my own post.

"At this time I am unable to discuss the specifics surrounding my departure from HATEBREED on November 13, 2024. However, I want to clarify that the decision to leave the band was not mine and that my departure was uncalled for and based on misleading and wrongful statements that will be subject to future actions."

This past July, HATEBREED released its first new music in nearly five years, "Make The Demons Obey". The track was the first taste of new HATEBREED material after the group's "Weight Of The False Self" album which came out in 2020.

Photo credit: Jeremy Saffer

In a new interview with Audacy's Remy Maxwell, BAD COMPANY drummer Simon Kirke spoke about the British supergroup's upcoming Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction, which was announced in April 2025 after decades of eligibility. Asked if fans can expect to see him and BAD COMPANY singer Paul Rodgers perform a song or two at the induction ceremony, which will be held on November 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, Simon said: "Everyone asks me. What's that saying? I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. I honestly don't know. The pendulum is swinging one way and then the next. I really don't know if we will. I sincerely hope we can. And that's really all I can say about it."

This past August, Kirke told Defenders Of The Faith about finally being inducted into the Rock Hall: "We're very pleased. We're very honored. Quite honestly, I think it's about time [laughs], but I don't want to appear ungrateful.

"BAD COMPANY, as you know, have been around 50 years. We influenced a couple of generations of bands, so it's about time and we're very happy," he continued. "I'm also happy, because dear old Mick Ralphs, our guitarist who passed away a couple of months ago, learned that BAD COMPANY was going to be inducted just a couple of weeks before he finally passed away. That made us very, very happy indeed."

Regarding the possibility of him and Rodgers performing at the ceremony, Simon said: "I don't know. I know that we've been approached to play a couple of songs. I've spoken with Paul. Paul's health, as you know, is not good, but I think…I'm crossing my fingers that we will be able to play at least one song. I don't know what it is yet. I know they have a house band and they're learning, I guess, a handful of BAD COMPANY songs just in case. Cyndi Lauper's gonna be inducted. There's a whole bunch of other acts that are gonna perform. I think the odds of us performing are very good."

Back in September 2023, Rodgers revealed for the first time that years earlier he suffered 11 minor strokes and two major strokes, which nearly ended his career. The now-75-year-old singer-songwriter suffered his first major stroke in 2016 and a second in October 2019, which required him to undergo a major surgery to recover from. At the time, Rodgers underwent a carotid endarterectomy, a procedure to remove plaque from the arteries running through your neck to your brain, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

This past June, Ralphs died at the age of 81 due to complications from a stroke he suffered in 2016.

Other inductees in the Performer category are SOUNDGARDEN, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast and THE WHITE STRIPES.

BAD COMPANY has been eligible for induction since 1999 and received its first nomination this year.

The induction ceremony will once again stream live on Disney+, and an edited version will air on ABC at a later date.

Asked by U.K. radio veteran Paul Stephenson of VRP Rocks if he ever got a reason why BAD COMPANY hadn't been nominated earlier, Simon said: "No. Well… Hmm. There are several reasons. One of them being, I think because BAD COMPANY had three lineups, it kind of diluted our currency, if you will. If you can imagine a band like CREAM and they change Ginger Baker or they change Jack [Bruce] or Eric [Clapton], God forbid, a couple of times, it would kind of dilute and muddy the waters of the committee. So as I'm told by this insider, they wanted to do a FREE-BAD COMPANY doubleheader, as it were, like [when] THE FACES and THE SMALL FACES were inducted, but for some reason it didn't show up. There was also a political thing that I can't really go into without getting kind of into hot water, but it was a combination. I think the main thing was the triple lineup… It just wasn't a clear-cut 'Let's induct BAD COMPANY.' There were factors that now have dissipated."

Back in November 2023, Kirke was asked by "The Bob Lefsetz Podcast" how he felt about BAD COMPANY not having been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He responded: "I think it's such a travesty, quite honestly. And not just that, but FREE — FREE certainly should be [in the Hall], because FREE has been around since 1968, and the two bands have been responsible for influencing a lot of bands who are already in the Hall. So I feel pretty bad about it. But I'm not gonna go on too much about it. It's just I think we should be in. Certainly FREE. And I think Paul Rodgers should be in on his own merits, as one of the great rock vocalists of all time. If Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck can be inducted as solo artists, then certainly Paul Rodgers should be in there. That's my two cents."

Later in the chat, Kirke offered one possible explanation for why BAD COMPANY had been overlooked by the Rock Hall.

"I think because of BAD COMPANY's changing lineups over the 50 years that we'd been together, it kind of devalued our currency a little bit," he said. "You had the Brian Howe era, you had the Paul Rodgers era, one and two, when Paul rejoined the band, we had Robert Hart. So I honestly don't know why we have not been nominated — not even inducted; you have to be nominated first, as you know."

In September 2023, Rodgers told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he wasn't bothered by his absence from the Rock Hall. "Well, it doesn't affect my daily life. It doesn't affect what I do in any way at all," he said. "It's one of those things. But I remember years and years ago, Ahmet Ertegun, who was the head of Atlantic Records [and a co-founder of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame], said to me, 'Paul, we're making this museum of rock and roll. Do you guys wanna be part of it?' And I said, 'What, a museum of rock and roll? What's it called?' He said, 'Well, it's called the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.' I said, 'Well, I don't think rock and roll belongs in a museum.' So it's my bad, I guess. And he asked me a couple of times, and I kind of like refused, I guess, basically. So, you know, there you go. Onwards and upwards."

During a "VIP Experience" question-and-answer session before W.A.S.P.'s September 28, 2025 concert at Eventim Apollo in London, United Kingdom, W.A.S.P. mainman Blackie Lawless was asked how he managed to get back in physical shape, two years after he underwent a successful surgery to treat two herniated discs and a broken vertebra. Lawless said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):"[I had] some great people working with me and about nine months of some really painful rehab. Rehab is a lonely business. And nobody can help you because — well, you're with them two hours a day. And I was working with 'em five and six days a week. And they don't want you doing anything else when you go home 'cause they want you to rest in rehab for the next day. And those other 22 hours a day, it's just you… I mean, we talk to ourselves more than anybody else. And you, especially if you're doing anything that's athletic, you listen to any athlete talk, the internal dialogue that starts in your head when you're going through that: 'Am I ever gonna be able to' da, da, da da? And that's the thing keeps dogging you over and over and over."

Blackie continied: "What I didn't know until a week before we started the tour last year, the doctors told me, they said, 'Well, we didn't wanna say anything to you before, but with everything you went through, the average person will not recover from this.' But they don't like saying anything because there's that one in a million that can make it, so they don't wanna prejudice them. But I think a lot of it too is how bad do you want it, because, to me, the idea of not being able to… Yeah, could I sit in a chair and sing? Yeah, I guess I could, but I don't wanna. I mean, I wanna do what I wanna do. And I wanted my body back. It's the only one you got. But I'm just saying this for your own benefit. It's how bad you want it."

Lawless spoke in more detail about his recovery process during a May 2024 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Lawless said at the time: "It's been a long road. Anytime you go through rehab, and we've done it for 35, 40 years, every time you have an injury, you've gotta go through rehab. And any athlete will tell you that it's a lonely walk. Nobody can help you when you do it. You're with your trainers two hours a day. That leaves you 22 hours of every day to just sit and think in rehab. And a lot of funny things go through your head when you're doing that. And, like I said, it's a lonely walk. And it's incremental, the healing process — you don't see it all overnight. And when you start with the trainers, they tell you, 'Just be patient, just be patient,' because, as any warrior will tell you, your natural instinct is to run, and you just cannot do that when you've gone through something that's pretty serious like that. But we're getting there. And we're pretty much up to speed now."

Elaborating on what the rehab process entailed, Blackie said: "What those guys do to you, that's a torture chamber. It really is. And they're making sure that I'm up and running because… I mean, the guys that I'm working with here are also part of the U.S. Olympic team, the doctors. And the best way to put it is they're quite thorough with what they have you do, but I would strongly suggest to anybody that's had any kind of physical injuries like this, don't try to do rehab on your own. You really need some professionals to work with, because you can go online and look at those exercises all you want, but until you've got somebody with you monitoring you, correcting you, keeping you in line, it's natural for the body to cheat, especially if it's had an injury. And these guys will stand there and they will not let you cheat. And that's really for your own good, because they'll tell you that they have people that will come to them three, four months after that person's had an injury and has been in the gym the whole time and wasted their time for that three to four months because they weren't doing the exercises right and they weren't seeing any results. So it's really important that you get some pros next to you that… I mean, I know everybody's not gonna be able to get Olympic doctors to look after 'em, but still, there's qualified folks out there. You've gotta really get somebody that knows what they're doing."

Regarding how he sustained his injuries in 2023, Lawless told Canada's The Metal Voice in a 2024 interview: "What I had was pretty serious. And when it first started [in 2023], they told me that if we didn't stop… We were [on tour] in Europe, and I had a chiropractor come in to one of the shows to do an adjustment on me. And we were in Madrid. But the night before we had been in Barcelona. I did what I thought was the best show on the whole tour at that point, and I was doing well. This guy comes in. He doesn't speak any English, and this kid is strong as a gorilla. And we tried to, through the interpreter, explain to him what we wanted to do. This kid got a hold of me and he tweaked me, and I felt it immediately when he did it. And, yeah, he literally twisted my upper torso. We find out later he ruptures a disc in my back. And I had heard of those before, dealing with nerve pain and things like that, but I'd never experienced it. And until you've experienced nerve pain, you can't imagine what that feels like. I mean, it's constantly on 10 and you can't stop it.

"So, we leave Spain and we go to Berlin, and fortunately we had some contacts there and we were able to get in to see the doctors from the German Olympic team," Lawless added. "And so they did a series of tests on me and did MRIs and things like that. They came back and they said, 'You've got extensive damage. If you don't stop this tour, it's gonna get worse.' And I'm thinking to myself, 'Well, what are we talking about? How much worse can it get?' And so I told them, I says, 'Basically what I need you to do for me is to get me through this. What can you do for me that can help me get along?' So, over a series of five weeks, we do eight epidurals, which, for those that don't know what that is, they inject a needle in next to your spinal cord and basically try to put anti-inflammatory medication in there to get you through it. But eight is an extreme amount. I mean, it's a lot. Usually an average person might get one or two of those, but that's a lot. But what happened is, yes, it was helping me get through it, but now I have one of the discs that's no longer functioning the way it should. Now the vertebrae are starting to rub on each other. It creates a chain reaction where a second disc gets ruptured and then one of the vertebrae cracks because it's bone rubbing on bone. And so, like I said, it literally became a domino effect. And we didn't know any of this until the tour was done. And I get back to California and we do another battery of tests and we could see what's going on and it was not good. So dealing with that, I had to have two different surgeries. They go in, they clean out the debris because when the bone broke, it starts to create fragments and shards and so they've gotta go in and clean all that out because all that is now trying to create complications around spinal cord. It's creating nerve damage and things like that. And then on top of that, it starts to form scar tissue, so it's a tedious, tedious process."

Because of the extensive back injuries Lawless suffered during the European leg of W.A.S.P.'s 40th-anniversary tour, the band's previously announced 2023 U.S. tour was canceled.

W.A.S.P.'s massive European leg of the 40th-anniversary world tour wrapped on May 18, 2023 in Sofia, Bulgaria at Universidada Sports Hall.

W.A.S.P. wrapped up its first U.S. tour in 10 years with a sold-out show on December 11, 2022 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. This marked the 18th sold-out shows for the U.S. tour, which kicked off in late October 2022. W.A.S.P.'s performances included the return of the band's classic song "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", which hadn't been played live in over 15 years.

W.A.S.P.'s latest release was "ReIdolized (The Soundtrack To The Crimson Idol)", which came out in February 2018. It was a new version of the band's classic 1992 album "The Crimson Idol", which was re-recorded to accompany the movie of the same name to mark the 25th anniversary of the original LP's release. The re-recorded version also features four songs missing from the original album.

W.A.S.P.'s most recent studio album of all-new original material was 2015's "Golgotha".

On August 31, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner joined the Tennessee "epic viking metal" band DESTROY DESTROY DESTROY on stage at The End in Nashville to perform a cover of the IRON MAIDEN classic "Fear Of The Dark". Fan-filmed video of his appearance can be seen below.

Back in 2015, Faulkner, who was once the guitarist in the backing group for Lauren Harris, daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris, was asked in an interview with GigsAndFestivals.com if he was "on the subs bench for IRON MAIDEN" prior to joining JUDAS PRIEST as the replacement for K.K. Downing. He responded: "Yeah, you never know! I worked with Steve and Lauren, and [Steve] was one of the first ones that I told when I got the PRIEST gig. I said I've been approached by another band, and he was over the moon when I told him it was PRIEST. He's one of these guys who's really supportive, and he said: 'I would have had you in my band. If anything would have happened to any of my guys, you were the guy that was going to do it.'"

Faulkner continued: "[Steve is] a great guy, and like the guys in PRIEST, he's an idol and he's a teacher. He wished me all the best and sent me on my way. We saw him at Download [festival] a couple of months ago. He loves the music; he loves the vibe, and he's a genuine fan of all things heavy. So, it was great to get his endorsement right from the beginning."

In a 2023 interview with Darren Paltrowitz, host of the "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz", Faulkner revealed that Steve Harris was the inspiration for his energetic and engaging stage presence. He said: "I was out with Lauren Harris, who's Steve Harris from IRON MAIDEN's daughter, and we were out with MAIDEN quite a bit. And I always used to watch Steve and take notice of the way Steve was always at the front and he was always at the people in their face and he was singing with them — the eye contact; he was pointing at 'em. And I always thought in this day and age of YouTube and videos and stuff like that, you can't recreate that interaction. I always kind of took that onboard. And I think that's kind of — partly at least — where it comes from. Just that interaction that you, as a fan, you walk out of the concert hall and you can't recreate that. That interaction with the artist on stage, whether it's a guitar player or a singer or a drummer — whatever it may be — you can't recreate that interaction that you share at that moment in time. I think that's a valuable thing. So I think that's partly to do with it — Steve Harris and the way that interacted with the audience."

In 2011, Faulkner came in to replace Downing, who had left in 2010. The move seemed to have reinvigorated the band as evidenced by a show-stealing performance on the "American Idol" finale that also served as Faulkner's debut performance with the band.

JUDAS PRIEST and Alice Cooper kicked off their summer/fall 2025 co-headlining tour on September 16 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Support on the trek is coming from CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. The tour is making its way through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, winding down on October 16 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston.

PRIEST last toured the U.S. in the fall of 2024 as part of the second leg of its "Invincible Shield" tour and the release of the band's celebrated 19th studio album, which debuted at No. 18 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Earlier this year, PRIEST completed a run of South American and European dates.

During the European leg of JUDAS PRIEST's "Shield Of Pain" tour, the band's setlist included seven tracks from PRIEST's 1990 album "Painkiller", which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

In addition to performing the "Painkiller" title track, PRIEST played "All Guns Blazing", "Hell Patrol", "A Touch Of Evil", "Night Crawler", "One Shot At Glory" and "Between The Hammer And The Anvil" from the same LP.

In a recent interview with Black Shadows Media, FEAR FACTORY's founding guitarist Dino Cazares spoke about the influence his band's music has had on some of the younger metal groups. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "Well, I definitely feel that back in the '90s when FEAR FACTORY first came out, that we definitely did have an influence in this genre we call metal. And I say metal as a whole, not the subgenres. But definitely we influenced a lot of bands like STATIC-X and many other bands after that. But I also feel that we've influenced a lot of bands to add melodic vocals, 'cause at the time when we first came out in 1990, there wasn't really a lot of bands doing that. In fact, I can't think of any band that was doing that. So to combine the heavy vocals and the melodic vocals, even death growls and melodic vocals, there wasn't anybody doing that. I feel that FEAR FACTORY definitely influenced that to a lot of different genres of metal."

Dino continued: "Also, the syncopated guitars with the kick drums, that was something that I heard way back when METALLICA did it in the song 'One'. They only did it for a second. I decided to start a whole theory about that with my band. I brought that whole thing into my band to make it the band. Everything that we did was all syncopated — almost everything. So that was something that we wanted to create and keep in our band, which was able to influence a lot of people to do that as well."

Cazares previously talked about METALLICA's early influence on FEAR FACTORY's sound during a February 2017 question-and-answer session at the California College Of Music in Pasadena, California. He said at the time: "[METALLICA] had a song called 'One', and in the song 'One', [there was a syncopated riff in the middle]. I [thought], 'Okay, that can actually be done if you play it.' That's the only time they've ever done that. I was, like, 'Wow! I wish they would do it more.' So me wanting them to do it more made me do it, and that's how I wanted to start my band, and that's how I wanted my band to be. I'm not saying like METALLICA. Just that one little snippet of music really inspired me to go out and do guitars and drums syncopated the whole time, a whole record where it's like that. So every snare hit, every kick hit, every tom hit was the exact same picking as my guitar. So every time I hit a downstroke, upstroke, doubles, triples, the same thing would be with the kick drums and the snares. So it was all syncopated together, and that was the first time some people ever heard that done that way."

Asked if he ever took the advice of a record company with regard to FEAR FACTORY's sound, Dino said: "The first time somebody heard our stuff, they were, like, 'This is not original.' I'm, like, 'Okay. Why?' I was asking myself why. So we went back to the drawing board. The thing about the band when we first started was, like, 'Okay. We've gotta make music. We've gotta just keep recording and just keep stuff going.' So the first demo we did was three songs, the second one was seven songs, the third one was sixteen songs. That's a lot of songs. So we just went back to the drawing board and just kept recording and recording and recording and trying to perfect our sound and trying to create something original. It wasn't until that one lucky break that we got that somebody actually said, 'Yes.' The guy felt like… The reason why he signed us is 'cause he felt that we were doing something different. In our genre, at the time in the '90s, a lot of the music was pretty aggressive, for our genre. The death metal and grindcore scene was massive. Bands that you probably never heard of, like NAPALM DEATH and MORBID ANGEL, were really big. So we were trying to come up in that scene, but stand out at the same time. So our vocals were very aggressive, heavy stuff, and all of a sudden, we had these beautiful, melodic vocals, [and] a lot of record companies were, like, 'What the…?' Even record company guys were saying, 'What the fuck is this? We don't want this. We don't look at this as a product we could sell.' So it took that one guy, the one A&R guy, to really believe in what we were doing and saw the future of the band. And it took him to go back to the owner of his record company and say, 'Look, this is the future right here. This band is the future.' And, of course, the rest is history."

In a 2023 interview with Heavy New York, Dino spoke about how FEAR FACTORY's unique sound sometimes worked against them as they battled to find their spot in the "nu metal"-driven scene of the mid-1990s. "It could be a good thing and a bad thing," Dino reflected. "The good thing is that we could branch out and play with a bunch of different bands. That was good. But the bad thing is that we never belonged to one genre… If we were a part of the nu metal genre, maybe we would've been as big as some of those nu metal bands. It almost seemed like sometimes we were too heavy for the nu metal fans and then maybe not nu metal enough, but maybe we were too nu metal for the heavier fans. So, I don't know. We kind of sat in between — we were like a snake in between all those bands and all those different genres. So we were kind of like right there, even though what we created later on — not even just later on — but what we created over the years was something that would inspire all those different bands. Mainly in the syncopated kick-and-guitar music and then obviously the vocals inspiring all those different types of genres. Maybe some of those genres don't even know where it came from, because they might have been listening to KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, even though KILLSWITCH ENGAGE was kind of more — the formula of the vocals was very much inspired by FEAR FACTORY. Because sometimes a new generation of fans emerge and a new style of music emerges and people don't really know the history of where it all started. But if you go back, some of that stuff stems from FEAR FACTORY and going into bands later on, like KILLSWITCH and ALL THAT REMAINS and so on and so on; there's a million bands like that. So it was kind of like PANTERA with the groove and then FEAR FACTORY with the vocals."

Cazares added: "We kind of had our foot in the door in all these different genres, and in some ways I almost felt like it hurt us 'cause we weren't just one thing. 'Cause right now there's like a resurgence of death metal, a resurgence of nu metal, but there's no resurgence of [the kind of] metal we do. So it's kind of weird that we're not part of the resurgence of death metal or nu metal because we weren't just those type of things… I'm just saying that we were a part of all of it in a way — like I said, we had our foot in door in all those different genres, but we didn't particularly fit into one genre. And that to me could have been part of the reason why we're not part of a resurgence of certain genres."

FEAR FACTORY recently completed recording its first album with the band's latest additions, singer Milo Silvestro and drummer Pete Webber. An early 2026 release is expected.

FEAR FACTORY's current lineup features Cazares, Silvestro, Webber and Tony Campos on bass.

Ricky Bonazza (BUTCHER BABIES) played bass for FEAR FACTORY this past summer on the road in Europe while Campos was busy touring with STATIC-X.

Silvestro's addition to FEAR FACTORY was officially announced in February 2023.

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

In early 2023, FEAR FACTORY completed the "Rise Of The Machine" U.S. tour as the support act for STATIC-X. It marked the Cazares-led outfit's first run of shows with Silvestro and Webber.

FEAR FACTORY's latest album, "Aggression Continuum", was released in June 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP, which was recorded primarily in 2017, featured Cazares, Heller and FEAR FACTORY's original singer Burton C. Bell.

In a new interview with Liv Maddix of the 105.7 The Point radio station, HALESTORM guitarist/vocalist Lzzy Hale and guitarist Joe Hottinger reflected on playing the "Back To The Beginning" event in Birmingham, United Kingdom, which marked Ozzy Osbourne and BLACK SABBATH's performance.  Lzzy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think as sad as we all are that we are without our Ozzy, he is someone who will live on forever through his music and his legacy."

Added Joe: "I was, like, what a way to go. He raised hundreds of millions for charity, hung out with all his friends. He got to do his favorite thing in the world — be on stage one last time — and he got to do it next to the stadium where he grew up, in his hometown. And mama, he went home, and it was awesome.

"That was the most intense musical thing I've ever experienced, just being out in that crowd," Joe continued. "Playing it was awesome — that ruled; that was fun — but being out in the crowd… There's an emotional amplification when you're around 50,000 people all there for the right reasons, because we love you, Ozzy. And then he goes into 'Mama, I'm Coming Home'. And everybody was crying — the whole place. But being around that many people on that wavelength, it was everything amplified. It was a wild experience. And I hope we get to feel something like that again.

"Music is so cool and so magical and it can bring that many people together," Hottinger added. "It's music, it's magic, and it was so cool that Ozzy got to create that one last time. I loved it."

Hottinger previously discussed HALESTORM's appearance at "Back To The Beginning" during an August 2025 chat with Side Jams With Bryan Reesman. He said at the time: "We were so excited just to be asked to play that show. We're, like, 'Oh my God, all right!' And the vibe was so awesome. Everyone was so happy, such a together thing celebrating Ozzy and SABBATH's music. None of these bands would exist if it wasn't for them, and everyone, I think, felt the gravity of it. We were talking to Adam Jones from TOOL, and he was, like, 'Yeah, sometimes you get bucket list things that you didn't even know were on the list.' That's what's fun about playing rock and roll. And just metalheads in general, hard rockers, it's such a great community. These bands and all the fans that are lifers for the genre, everyone was so just together and on a great vibe. I've never felt anything like it at a show."

The guitarist photographed HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale with many of the rockers that were there, and he took some live shots as well. "I got so annoying," he joked. "Anytime we were hanging out with somebody, I was, like, 'Can I get your picture with Lzzy?' 'I want to get your picture.' I really liked the one of Lzzy and Arejay [Hale, HALESTORM drummer]. I had my tech give me my camera when I gave him my guitar, and they were walking up to the front to wave goodbye. I have some of Lzzy and Arejay both, posing, like, 'Yeah, we did it!' We just went through it, we didn't know if it was good, and it was such an intense experience. You had 15 minutes, like Live Aid sets, and it went by so fast. It was awesome."

During a July 23 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Lzzy paid tribute to Ozzy, who died earlier that week at the age of 76. She said in part:  "It's sad to see Ozzy go. Obviously, we just saw him [at the 'Back To The Beginning' concert in Birmingham, United Kingdom on July 5], and [he was] hungry till the end. I mean, the guy was just ready to be on that stage and clapping. There was such joy in his face even then. But we just didn't think it was gonna be that fast. So I don't know. There's so many emotions. We're so grateful to have been there, but at the same time it's so sad to see one of the greats go. I mean, it's Ozzy. He's supposed to always be here."

Reflecting on HALESTORM's three-song performance at "Back To The Beginning", which included a rendition of Ozzy's "Perry Mason", Lzzy said: "We had such a wonderful time at 'Back To The Beginning'. It was just such a mix of emotions. We were so grateful to be there and to celebrate these men, obviously with BLACK SABBATH and then Ozzy, and really kind of sitting with all of the feelings of how deeply ingrained what they gave to the world is in what we do. And then to kind of look around at all of these rock titans — Steven Tyler [AEROSMITH] and METALLICA [were] there — and everybody had the same feeling, that same childlike wonder and really just kind of looking around and saying, 'Look, none of us would've existed in a band if not for these men.' So it was really wonderful to be a part of that.

"We didn't get a whole lot of interaction with Ozzy," Lzzy admitted. "He was kind of getting wheeled in and out and doing the thing. And I spent some time with [Ozzy's wife and manager] Sharon. She's so incredibly sweet. And then [BLACK SABBATH guitarist] Tony Iommi and everybody. One of our regrets that we had said right after the show is, like, man, we should have spent more time with Ozzy. But again, this is how life goes, and we were just absolutely grateful to be there and to experience all of it."

Ozzy died on July 22 of a heart attack, his death certificate revealed. The certificate also reportedly said the legendary heavy metal musician suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease.

A one-off world-exclusive CANDLEMASS concert featuring the band's former vocalist Messiah Marcolin took place on September 13 at this year's edition of the Rock Hard Festival Greece in Athens, Greece. It marked Marcolin's first performance with CANDLEMASS in nearly 20 years.

Speaking to Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece, Messiah stated about the concert (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That was some fantastic show with CANDLEMASS at the Rock Hard Festival Greece. I wanna thank all the fans from all around the world who traveled from 40 different countries — big, big thanks from the heart. And also all the Greek fans, who traveled all across Greece to come there. It was, like — I don't know — 4,500 people [going] crazy and everyone was singing and it was so much fun — singing, screaming, doom dancing, just the way it should be. So I'm very happy about it. And a big thank you."

Asked how it felt to be back on stage with CANDLEMASS after almost two decades, Messiah said: "It felt like it was yesterday [that we had last played together]. It was 20 years [earlier], but it felt like yesterday. It was the same thing when we did… I was with CANDLEMASS from 1987 till 1991. Then I quit the band the first time. And then we did a reunion again in 2002, and I quit again in 2006. So in total I've been with them for eight years, but those, I think, I guess 12 years in between, it felt like time hadn't passed. When we start playing, it's just, like — I don't know — it's magic. Some bands, they have that when they play together; there's something special that comes with it. And CANDLEMASS always had that. Even since the first gig back in 1987 in Jönköping in Sweden — it was our very first concert, and we start the show with 'Crystal Ball' and all of a sudden punk rockers and everyone starts jumping on the stage, getting crazy. There's something special about when the five of us play together. So that's very cool. It's always been like that. It just works. I don't know how to describe it. It just works. It works really well. Off stage is another thing."

Asked if he was nervous before the Rock Hard Festival Greece show, Messiah said: "No, I don't get nervous. Of course, you get a little excited before the show, but I don't get nervous. I'm more excited. I want to kill. [Laughs] I don't want to kill, but I feel like I wanna kill. You want to do the best. Then, of course, your body doesn't act the same way as 20 years ago. I fell on my ass. What are you gonna do? The balance is not the same. All I can do is practice tai chi or something and try to get a better balance.

"With me and CANDLEMASS, it's like the family Addams," he explained. "If Uncle Fester goes away for 20 years and then he comes back and he's all weird — that's what it was like."

Regarding how he prepared for the Rock Hard Festival Greece performance, Messiah said: "People would say to me, 'Oh, good luck in Athens, good luck.' And I said, 'No, there's no luck. It's hard work.' I'd been practicing singing for almost every day for five months. So it all comes down to determination and hard work, 'cause you need that. 'Cause when you fall on the stage, like I did, or some technical thing, you can't hear yourself or whatever, then you need the muscle memory. So you must be prepared. And also I'm lazy. I don't sing all the time. I only sing when I have to. But I really got in shape for this one gig — five months, that's a lot of work. But it was all worth it in the end because the fans got a great show. And it was really fun."

Marcolin also talked about the possibility of more performances with CANDLEMASS in the future, saying: "I never said this is the only one show we're gonna do — Leif [Edling, CANDLEMASS bassist and main songwriter] said that. But I would tell all the promoters of the world, get in contact with CANDLEMASS's manager, Mr. Olé Bang, and try to book CANDLEMASS featuring Messiah Marcolin, because I just think it's such a shame for all the CANDLEMASS fans in the world not to be able to see [us play], the ones who couldn't be there [in Greece]. That's how I feel. I don't know how they feel. They're probably tired of me already, but I just think it would be great. If they can treat us as well, these promoters and the big festivals in Europe and all around the world, in Japan — I don't know — everywhere, if they can treat us as well as Rock Hard Festival Greece did, I see no problem with playing any more shows. 'Cause we're all getting old, and I'm the youngest — I'm 57. I'll always be the youngest. But anyway, what I'm saying is I don't see a reason for it not to happen again. For me, it's kind of like the vintage CANDLEMASS."

Asked if he has discussed with the members of CANDLEMASS the possibility of him playing more shows with the band, Messiah said: "No, because Leif went out and said 'no more shows' and this and that. But maybe they'll change their mind if we get some really good offers from around the world, treating us as well as Rock Hard Festival Greece did, maybe they'll change their minds. I would think now is the time to book the big festivals of 2026, next summer. So I think they should give it a try, even if it's just one or two. Who knows? At least it's something."

CANDLEMASS's setlist for the Rock Hard Festival Greece show was as follows:

01. The Well Of Souls
02. Dark Are The Veils Of Death
03. Mirror Mirror
04. Darkness In Paradise
05. Bewitched
06. Samarithan
07. Black Dwarf
08. Crystal Ball
09. A Sorcerer's Pledge

Encore:

10. At The Gallows End
11. Solitude

Fan-filmed video of the gig can be seen below.

Back in May, Edling reiterated that the band's reunion concert with Marcolin would be a one-off event, with no chance of further dates being added. In an interview with Rock Hard Greece, Edling stated about CANDLEMASS's concert with Messiah: "Well, it feels great. And we [are celebrating CANDLEMASS's] 40-year anniversary with many happenings, so this is one of the happenings that we have. So we have a special EP out with a couple of tracks, and we will have a special line of merchandise out. And we will do special shows in Sweden, and we will also do the thing with Messiah Marcolin in Athens. So there's several ways we can celebrate. We put a lot of old photos up on social media right now, for example, and I think there's a documentary about CANDLEMASS being filmed during the year as well. So, we celebrate in many ways."

Regarding the possibility of more concerts with Messiah being added, Leif said: "Yeah, it will be a one-off show. Absolutely. And we have no recording plans, we have no reunion plans. There are no plans whatsoever but just one show and one show only. So that's the entire thought behind it. Go down to Greece where we have a lot of true fans, loyal fans, and have a blast. Play a great show and enjoy ourselves for the 40-year anniversary's sake. Not many bands survive to have a 40-year anniversary. So we feel very lucky that we have managed to survive this long."

Asked if he saw the concert in Athens as "the perfect closure" of CANDLEMASS's chapter with Messiah, Leif said: "I think we had a closure, like, 20 years ago, actually. [Laughs] I mean, we didn't know that we would survive one year after Messiah left. And we didn't know that we would be playing 20 years after. So this is a bonus. And it's a bonus for all the people that would like to see us live with Messiah. So why not? Let's do it. Let's have fun for an evening in Athens."

During the chat, Leif also reflected on some of the "biggest challenges" CANDLEMASS's career, particularly in the first couple of decades of the band's existence. He said: "Well, difficult times — I guess it was when Messiah left the first time, and also the second time. It's not easy for a band to recover after that. We had quite a few changes of singers, and every time you make a singer replacement, you go through a difficult time. But it's been 40 years, so I think it's also kind of a natural thing, when you have such a long career. So, I don't think of it as we have a band with a lot of problems or anything. I mean, if you change a singer every eight years or whatever, I think that's quite natural that some members come and go. If it's not the singer, maybe it's the guitar player or the bass player or the drummer. So this happens in every band on the planet — they change the personnel. But we have four people playing for 40 years together — me, Jan [Lindh, drums], Mats [Björkman, guitar] and Lars [Johansson, guitar]. And now we have Johan [Längqvist, vocals] back in the band, and it's fucking fantastic. So I think we are very lucky to have survived these 40 years, and we are lucky enough to still be regarded as a headliner band or co-headliner band. And we play great shows for a lot of people. And every gig we play, we have all the hands in the air and people are cheering. So it makes me feel fucking fantastic every time, because you still attract people, you still make people happy with your music. That's absolutely fantastic."

In an interview with Finland's Chaoszine, Längqvist (a.k.a. Johan Langquist) was asked if he would be a part of CANDLEMASS's performance featuring Messiah. He responded: "No, I'm not a part of that performance, because the Greeks, they loved CANDLEMASS from the very beginning, and we are very popular in Greece. And I think the reason is because [Messiah] has a part of their history, the music listeners in Greece. So I do respect they wanted us to do a gig with Messiah."

Johan continued: "What can I say? I wish him the best. And he was a character in the band and we've actually met two nights together, partying together. And I wish him the best. I hope they're gonna make a great show down there. Yeah, that's it."

As the godfathers of epic doom metal, CANDLEMASS defined the genre with releases such as "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" (1986) and "Nightfall" (1987). Through their evil riffs, crushing rhythmic attack and dramatic vocals, they changed the landscape of metal worldwide. Led by Edling, CANDLEMASS reunited with Längqvist in 2018, 32 years after the singer performed on "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus".

Längqvist originally exited CANDLEMASS after "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" and was replaced by Marcolin.

Marcolin left CANDLEMASS for the presumably final time in 2006, one year after the release of the band's self-titled album. He was later replaced by Robert Lowe (SOLITUDE AETURNUS),who sang on the band's "King Of The Grey Islands" (2007),"Death Magic Doom" (2009) and "Psalms For The Dead" (2012) LPs. CANDLEMASS's frontman between 2012 and 2018 was Mats Levén, who previously recorded and toured with YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and THERION. Seven years ago, CANDLEMASS fired Levén and rehired Längqvist.

Back in October 2022, Messiah and longtime CANDLEMASS guitarist Mats "Mappe" Björkman joined Canadian metallers ANVIL on stage at the Slaktkyrkan venue in Stockholm, Sweden to perform the classic ANVIL song "Metal On Metal". The event marked the first time in 16 years that the two musicians performed together.

CANDLEMASS's latest EP, "Black Star", came out in May via Napalm Records.

Johan's solo project JOHAN LANGQUIST THE CASTLE released its self-titled debut album on CD and vinyl on June 27 via I Hate Records. The record was initially made available digitally without a label in 2024.

CANDLEMASS's mark on the genre and their legacy can be heard in bands such as OPETH, GHOST and PARADISE LOST. In 2019 CANDLEMASS were nominated for a U.S. Grammy Award with the album "The Door To Doom". One could say that CANDLEMASS reached a full-circle moment when BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi played a solo on one of the tracks on the record.

CANDLEMASS was formed in 1984 in Upplands Väsby, Sweden, by bassist and main songwriter Edling. The band quickly became pioneers of a slower, heavier, and darker style of metal that came to be known as doom metal — a direct sonic descendant of BLACK SABBATH, but with its own epic and gothic twist. Their debut album, "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" (1986),is today considered a genre-defining classic, but at the time it flew under the radar. Ironically, the album's status grew over the years, making it one of the most celebrated and influential doom metal albums of all time. In 1987, the band recruited Marcolin, whose operatic, vibrato-rich singing style and monk-like stage persona became an identifiable part of CANDLEMASS's visual and sonic identity. With Messiah on board, CANDLEMASS released the albums "Nightfall" (1987),"Ancient Dreams" (1988) and "Tales Of Creation" (1989) — a trilogy that cemented their legacy and built a loyal international fanbase.

In a new interview with Anthony Bryant of The Hair Metal Guru, EUROPE drummer Ian Haugland spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the Swedish band's long-awaited next LP. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "It's been a while now since we recorded the last album; 2017 [is when] 'Walk The Earth' came out. And it doesn't feel like it's — whatever — seven years or eight years since it was released, because — I don't know — the older you get, the faster time spins, I guess. But we now finally are gonna release a new album next year, and we're gonna record it starting in October this year."

Asked if all the songs for EUROPE's new album have already been written, Ian said: "Yeah, most of it is done, I would say. I think we have more than that covers an album. And you know what?! The great thing with having seven years between the albums is that we had time to really collect great material. So there's no sense of rushing around these songs. And the good thing with not having Sony Records dictating is that we can pick exactly the songs we want to, we own the recordings. We just bring them — like LED ZEPPELIN did in the '60s; they'd bring the master and say, 'This is it. Take it or leave it.' So we're living after that formula these days."

Regarding whether EUROPE has already decided on a title for the upcoming album, Ian said: "No. Well, we've been kind of feeling it out a little. There are some titles that might be suitable for album titles. But we also have the feeling that the album title usually presents itself during the process. Once you get into the studio and you start recording, you get that, 'Oh, wow. This is a good album name.' But I have to say, and it's not trying to sell the new album, but I have to say at this stage I never heard this many awesome song ideas or finished songs as we have for this forthcoming album. It's gonna be really a case of 'kill your darlings' when we start recording it. At this early stage still, they feel like very well thought-through creations with compositions within composition, if you know what I mean. Solo parts that are composed as a totally new part. It's really inspiring. Yeah, I think this is gonna be the fucking greatest album ever. [Laughs]"

Elaborating on the musical direction of the new EUROPE material, Ian said: "I have to say this album is more of a sort of an homage to the '80s in the sense of, I would say, a lot more, a lot more melodic ideas and, as I said, melodic — not solos, but melodies that carry the song. So, yeah, it's more of an homage to the '80s, I would say. It's really exciting."

This past April, EUROPE singer Joey Tempest told Colombia's Radioacktiva about the fact that it's been eight years since he and his bandmates released their last studio album: "Honestly, we've never had this long break — ever. I mean, when we did 'Bag Of Bones' [2012], 'War Of Kings' [2015] and 'Walk The Earth', those three albums, they were, like, boom, boom, boom, touring all the way. And then all of a sudden COVID hit and we had some extra time. And then it kind of felt okay to leave it a bit and to live with the ideas, to write new stuff. And that's why this [upcoming EUROPE] album's gonna be special. These songs we lived with for a while — they're strong and there's some strong melodies. And it's gonna make this album special, that it has this extra time. But we've been touring ever since, as you know. So we're always on the road, but we haven't been in the studio, and we're going in this autumn, and that's gonna be a big moment."

Earlier that same month, Haugland was asked by Brazil's Marcelo Vieira how EUROPE's longtime fans have reacted to the band's recent studio output, which has followed a more blues/classic rock direction instead of the poppy hard rock from the group's most commercially successful years. Ian responded: "Some of the more sort of '80s lovers, they have some — I shouldn't say 'negative' thoughts, but they miss the old EUROPE, as they say. [They tell us], 'You should write more melodic songs' or whatever. But I think our thoughts [have] always been [that] the most important thing for the band to move on is to not only move on and play the old songs, but to give ourselves the space to develop as musicians, as a band, with trying different sounds out. And I think we've been on a musical journey.'

He continued: "The last couple of albums have been more towards the bluesier hard rock. And now the latest one, which actually came eight years ago, 'Walk The Earth', is a lot inspired by our roots, like RAINBOW and [LED] ZEPELIN and DEEP PURPLE. So it's more of that. And right now we're writing songs for a new album that is gonna be recorded later this year. And I think that now we're maybe more back to the melodic EUROPE, sort of. So we're on the journey swaying from different styles and angles. And I think it's important for us to be able to develop all the time. But I would say most of our fans are positive to our development."

Also in April, Tempest confirmed to Brazilian music journalist Igor Miranda that he and his EUROPE bandmates were working on new material. "It's been a long while," he said. "We've never had this long of a break before — ever. We always move from tour into the studio, tour into the studio. I mean, 'Bag Of Bones', 'War Of Kings' and 'Walk The Earth', it was a period in our lives, a very energetic period. But we've been touring ever since, though, ever since 'Walk The Earth'. But we haven't been in the studio. I mean, it started a bit with the, the period of COVID, that made us sort of start over again. In a way, it was good for writing because I could start from scratch. There was more time all of a sudden. There was not, like, 'Let's record an album because we've gotta get back on the road.' We had time all of a sudden. So this is what makes the new album interesting. In a way, it feels like a debut album because it has had life. We had to live with ideas for years. And that's how debut albums are with bands, 'cause bands are out touring and they have written the songs and they live with them, they play them. And it feels a bit like that. It feels fresh, this new EUROPE album."

In March, Joey told El Expreso Del Rock that the musical direction of the upcoming EUROPE LP won't be similar to that of "Walk The Earth" and "War Of Kings". He said: "No, it'll move on. It'll be a new adventure. But I realize, hearing some of the demos we make now, that it's really strong, [with] great melodies. Some of it's really heavy as well. But there's also some connection to the past.

"I'm writing with everyone," he revealed. "I'm writing with John [Norum, guitar], I'm writing with John [Levén, bass] and Mic [Michaeli, keyboards]. And there's beautiful melodies there as well. I'm really excited. There's some great songs coming on. And it's been a while, so we've had time to live with the music, almost like a debut album, almost like the first album, because we have years to live with the songs. We know some of them are really strong because they have staying power; they've stayed for years now. So yeah, this could be an interesting album.

"Yeah, we just like to go on our own adventure, but always carry your past with you," he explained. "That's the thing."

In September 2023, EUROPE released a new song titled "Hold Your Head Up". The track, which was described by the band as "a punchy uptempo rocker with reminiscent elements of early EUROPE," was recorded in August 2023 at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm with producer Klas Åhlund (GHOST, ROBYN) and was mixed by Stefan Glaumann (RAMMSTEIN, DEF LEPPARD),who also mixed EUROPE's "Secret Society" album.

In an interview with Metal Global, Tempest was asked why he and his EUROPE bandmates decided to record and release just one song at this time. Tempest said: "We wanted to get this ready before the [fall 2023 European] tour and the [upcoming EUROPE] documentary. So we focused on this song so we could have something out together with the tour and the documentary. That's why we released one song now. But we have a handful of songs — great ideas."

Regarding the experience of working with Åhlund this time around, Joey said: "It was a great experience. We all liked it. The whole band would like to do more stuff with him. We don't know whether he's gonna be the producer of the [upcoming EUROPE] album yet, but... No, we don't know yet. I mean, it would be an interesting idea, actually. But we haven't decided yet. But we were very happy finding him and working with him. He's very professional, and he's also listened to EUROPE when he was younger and so he knows how we think. And the procedure with him was amazing. It went really smooth, and he's a very talented, very talented man. He's a guitar player as well."

Joey also talked about the musical direction of "Hold Your Head Up", which Botas noted is a combination of the classic EUROPE sound and the band's more recent, bluesier approach. The singer said: "I think it's a good mixture in the song. We never really set out to do that. It was an idea I had, and I sent it to the guys and everybody was, like, 'Yeah, that's great. Let's do that.' So, it's a natural progression, but I think you're right. I think it's a little bit of some melodies, especially in the verses, in the end of the verses there, there's melodies that remind you of some of the earlier stuff. But maybe the chorus and the riff a little bit, it's also quite fresh and more modern, I suppose. So yeah, it's got a bit of everything, but it still sounds like EUROPE, which is really cool."

"Hold Your Head Up" was made available to stream and download on September 29, 2023 across all reputable digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, Pandora and YouTube Music.

"Walk The Earth" was released in October 2017 via Hell & Back Recordings (Silver Lining Music). It was recorded at famed Abbey Road Studios in London with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb (RIVAL SONS, Shooter Jennings, Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton).

Photo credit: Fredrik Etoall