Brutal death band Emasculator has launched the first single off their debut EP, The Disfigured And The Divine. The song, "In Resplendent Terror," is the band's first offering since signing with New Standard Elite earlier this year.


The Disfigured and the Divine delves into themes of the Goddess in mythology and legend, womanhood and motherhood, overcoming obstacles, justice, spirituality, the human experience, and growing into power. The title symbolizes the state of the Divine Feminine as experienced in the modern world; highly controlled, often under attack, suppressed but ever-present, potent, important, fierce, and beautiful.


The EP is the product of the band sharing music back and forth online, and feeding off each other’s enthusiasm, ideas, and criticism. The guitars are heavily influenced by early 2000s underground brutal death (such as Disgorge, Deeds of Flesh, Disavowed, and Inveracity) while taking some inspiration from modern death metal. The drums meld together relentless blast beats with bone-jarring grooves. The vocals are aggressive and dynamic, featuring a wide range of techniques and styles.




The cover artwork - painted by vocalist and artist Mallika Sundaramurthy - is a portrait of the Hindu goddess Chhinnamasta.


"She is seen making the ultimate sacrifice for others," says Sundaramurthy of the concept behind her artwork. "She has severed her own head and is feeding her followers with her life force, her own blood. In giving, she is also receiving nourishment. She has overcome death and will soon return her head to its place. She is standing on a love-making couple, meaning she is above the life-procreation-death cycle. She can also be interpreted as a mother figure who sacrifices for her children, as mothers sacrifice and even risk their lives for their babies during childbirth."


New Standard Elite will release The Disfigured and the Divine on physical formats on September 25. Preorder at nserecords.bigcartel.com.


Emasculator will make their live debut at this year’s Texas Domination Fest, scheduled for September 26-28 in Dallas / Ft. Worth, TX. The band is set to tour Europe in May of 2025 around Nice To Eat You Deathfest (Czechia).


"The Unassailable" features a guest appearance by Vishal Singh, with chants by Swathi Kalahasti. Guest vocals on "Age of the Goddess" by Daniela Dahlien Neumanová.


The Disfigured And The Divine was mixed & mastered by Josh Welshman. Guitar and bass were recorded by L.B. at Divine Retribution Studios. Vocals recorded by Tonda Smrčka at Seabeast Production. Drums recorded by Taylor Hahn at Hahn Audio.





Tracklisting:


“Ecstasy In Disseverment (Of Self)”
“In Resplendent Terror”
“Thesmophoric Rites”
“The Unassailable”
“Eradication Of The Asuras”
“Age Of The Goddess”
“Supreme Void Of Acephalous Being”


“In Resplendent Terror”:





Emasculator is:
Mallika Sundaramurthy - Vocals
Teresa Wallace - Guitars
Morgehenna - Guitars
Cierra White - Drums







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PEARL JAM has released a new live music video for the current single "Wreckage", filmed at the band's May 16 Las Vegas show. The single, along with the first release and title track of PEARL JAM's seventh studio album, "Dark Matter", went No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, marking the first time PEARL JAM has accomplished consecutive No. 1s on the chart. Dominating the radio charts, both singles were also Top 5 records at Alt Radio and "Wreckage" was a No. 1 at AAA Radio.

The "Wreckage" video features some of PEARL JAM's unique tour visuals that were created by famed creative and fellow Seattle native Rob Sheridan. The visual concept was a first for the band who generally toured with a more general, stripped back production. Sheridan, who's previously worked with Trent Reznor and NINE INCH NAILS as well as notable director David Fincher, told the Seattle Times: "PEARL JAM isn't a bright, cold LED screen; it's a warm, incandescent light. We talked about, 'What if we did this with a really analog feel?' What if we used a projection screen, and some ways to help bring the visuals into the space with the band but not be fighting for attention with what is one of the greatest live bands, in terms of musical performances, of our generation."

"Dark Matter", which recently crossed 100 million streams, debuted Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and also scored No. 1 on five Billboard charts simultaneously — Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums, and Top Hard Rock. With their latest release, the band has also tied for most No. 1 albums in Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums chart history (eight).

"Dark Matter" was released in April via Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records.

In 2023, PEARL JAM retreated to Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, California where they simply plugged in and played under producer Andrew Watt's watch. Writing and recording in a burst of inspiration, "Dark Matter" was born in just three weeks.

Los Angeles melodic metal outfit, Ninth Circle, have announced the digital rerelease of two albums; 2012’s Legions Of The Brave and 2020’s Echo Black.


“We are proud to announce that two of more most acclaimed and best-selling records, Legions Of The Brave and Echo Black, have come back home under our own label, Ninthcircleworld Records”, explains bassist, Frank Forray.


“For the last 10 years we have had a fantastic relationship with Germany’s Pure Steel Records”, explains Frank. “They did a great job promoting our records and the band all over the world. Now that our agreement has expired, we are pleased to bring these two records home into the fold on our own label, Ninthcircleworld Records. They are now home along with our debut record, the self-titled Ninth Circle and the record that gave us world-wide exposure, 2009’s The Power Of One.”







“Legions Of The Brave and Echo Black”, Frank goes on to say, “are now available on your favorite streaming and digital platforms. I encourage our fans around the world to search for these records as they have become available again for you to enjoy wherever you are and wherever you go!” 


"We've had fans in the past tell us that they discovered us through digital platforms", Dennis adds. "It's a necessary tool, especially right now. I myself have discovered new music this way and we look forward to increasing our fan base with each of our releases!"





“As a great added bonus”, Frank discusses with enthusiasm, “you can now enjoy the cover of the Riot song, Warrior, as it was not available digitally previously. This will be a treat for fans of both Ninth Circle and Riot as we were able to partner with guitarist Mike Flyntz and vocalist Todd Michael Hall, they both contributed to the recording of the song.”


“Dennis had the pleasure of singing duet with Todd and playing dueling guitar solos with Mike. Both, Todd and Mike, were generous with their time to contribute to this recording and I believe the song, Warrior, turned out great and should be a treat for fans!” says Frank.


“Being able to re-release these two records digitally on our label is really about fans and giving them what they want: the ability to hear Ninth Circle music on their favorite streaming and digital services! And hopefully in not too long, we should be adding a new record for fans to enjoy.”







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In a new interview with Finland's Chaoszine, OPETH guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt spoke about his evolution as a singer. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't really see myself as a singer — or a guitar player for that matter. I see myself as a — I am a musician. I like to come to write music. I think that's fun. The singer thing, it's, like, nobody else wanted to do it [in the early days of OPETH]. I guess it has to be me. And I don't compare myself to my peers or my idols, especially my idols. I don't go, like, 'Hey, Ronnie Dio, what's your trick? Mine's this and that. I'm gonna teach you something.' Those guys up there. I'm just like a bum who got lucky, if you know what I mean.

"With our own albums, I wanna listen to the record and not really hear that it's me, so to speak," he explained. "So I like to distance myself from the person singing on the record. And with death metal vocals, that's quite easy, because, of course, I don't sound like that when I'm talking to you now. And with the clean vocals, I'm just kind of trying to get as close to my idols as I can. But everybody's given this particular voice. I don't have any training. I don't know what the hell I'm doing most of the time. The last album that we recorded, I think I tried to sing more clean vocals with a bit more grovelly type of thing."

Mikael added: "I don't think about vocals. It's an instrument like any other. Sometimes it demands a full-on type of singing, sometimes a really laid-back type of singing. Lucky for me, I can produce the sounds that I want to hear. So I'm fairly wide as a singer in that sense. I'm not great, but I can sing softly, I can sing midrange a bit stronger and I can do death metal screams. So in that sense, I'm kind of covering a lot of bases from the music that I wanna do. But I'm not a master in either style, if you know what I mean. It's just kind of… I can achieve the results I want. And also it's hard for me to, like I said, see myself as a singer. With that said, nobody else can take my place, if you know what I mean, after all these years. In this band, I am the singer; it's just how it is. And even for me it's hard sometimes to get that through my head."

Asked if he feels that the clean singing and death metal vocals go like hand in hand, so if he becomes better with the clean singing, it also helps with the screaming, he responded: "Good question. Not necessarily, I think. It's a different type of technique, I guess. Clean singing to me, first and foremost, you wanna try and be in pitch, kind of. Then, if you look at other singers, there's people who sing perfect pitch, but they don't really have a great, a nice voice to listen to, if you know what I mean. For me, I mostly hear the negative aspects of my clean voice, which, what I said before, I don't really like to hear me, meaning the ugly aspects of my own voice, so to speak. So, I try to develop a style that doesn't really sound like me. And over the years, that's the vocal style that's been developed the most while, in a way, the death metal vocals have suffered a little bit for that. But playing live, of course, playing lots of old songs, you do both. Death metal vocals, for me, feel more consistent than the other vocals. But then again, I don't know. It's all perception. What do people think out there in the crowd? 'Oh, he was shit that day,' or 'great that day.' And I thought I was shit both days, if you know what I mean. [Laughs]"

OPETH's new album, "The Last Will And Testament", will arrive on October 11 via Reigning Phoenix Music/Moderbolaget.

OPETH's fourteenth album was written by Åkerfeldt, with lyrics conferred with Klara Rönnqvist Fors (THE HEARD, ex-CRUCIFIED BARBARA). "The Last Will And Testament" was co-produced by Åkerfeldt and Stefan Boman (GHOST, THE HELLACOPTERS),engineered by Boman, Joe Jones (KILLING JOKE, ROBERT PLANT) and OPETH, with Boman, Åkerfeldt and the rest of OPETH mixing at Atlantis and Hammerthorpe Studios in Stockholm. The strings on "The Last Will And Testament" were arranged by Åkerfeldt and returning prog friend Dave Stewart (EGG, KHAN) and conducted by Stewart at Angel Studios in London. Not one to miss a beat, visual artist Travis Smith returns to the fold, crafting his 11th cover, a haunting "photograph" reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's infamous "Overlook Hotel" photograph. Miles Showell (ABBA, QUEEN) also revisits mastering and vinyl lacquer cutting at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Åkerfeldt rolls out the red carpet for storied flautist and JETHRO TULL mainman Ian Anderson. Not only do Anderson's signature notes fly on "§4" and "§7", he narrates on "§1", "§2", "§4", and "§7". Joining Anderson, EUROPE's Joey Tempest lends a backing vocal hand on "§2", while Åkerfeldt's youngest daughter, Mirjam Åkerfeldt, is the disembodied voice in "§1".

"The Last Will And Testament" is a concept album set in the post-World War I era, unfolding the story of a wealthy, conservative patriarch whose last will and testament reveals shocking family secrets. The narrative weaves through the patriarch's confessions, the reactions of his twin children, and the mysterious presence of a polio-ridden girl who the family have taken care of. The album begins with the reading of the father's will in his mansion. Among those in attendance is a young girl, who, despite being an orphan and polio-ridden, has been raised by the family. Her presence at the will reading raises suspicions and questions among the twins.

"The Last Will And Testament" is the darkest and heaviest record OPETH has made in decades, and it is also the band's most fearlessly progressive. A concept album recounting the reading of one recently deceased man's will to an audience of his surviving family members, it brims with haunting melodrama, shocking revelations and some of the wildest and most unpredictable music that Åkerfeldt has ever written.

The follow-up to 2019's widely acclaimed "In Cauda Venenum", "The Last Will And Testament" is set in the shadowy, sepia-stained 1920s. It slowly reveals its secrets like some classic thriller from the distant, cobwebbed past, with each successive song shining more light on the stated machinations of our dead (but definitely not harmless) protagonist. The emotional chaos of the story is perfectly matched by OPETH's vivid but claustrophobic soundtrack, which artfully winds its way towards a crestfallen but sumptuous finale. Masters of their own idiosyncratic musical domain, OPETH have never sounded more unique.

"The Last Will And Testament" is destined to be a milestone in OPETH's illustrious recorded history. The band's first out-and-out concept record, it features guest cameos from JETHRO TULL legend Ian Anderson and Joey Tempest, frontman with Swedish rock gods EUROPE. Only one of the album's eight songs has a title: closing ballad "A Story Never Told". The rest are simply labeled as numbered chapters in this slowly unfolding saga of deceit, recrimination and betrayal. Enigmatic, unsettling and immersive, "The Last Will And Testament" is a turbulent, prog metal tale like no other.

Making his recorded debut alongside OPETH's long-established lineup of Mikael Åkerfeldt, guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, bassist Martin Mendez and keyboard maestro Joakim Svalberg on "The Last Will And Testament" is new drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, who joined the band in 2022.

OPETH will embark on a North American tour this fall. The trek, which will kick off on October 11 in Milwaukee, includes stops in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, Denver and more.

Two months ago, legendary rocker Alice Cooper said that he was gearing up for the 2024 presidential election in the only way he knows how — by running for president, something he has done satirically every four years since releasing the song "Elected" back in 1972.

To accompany the announcement, the Godfather of Shock Rock released a "campaign" video in which he touted his qualifications thusly: "Well, I'm Alice Cooper and I'm a troubled man for troubled times. I have absolutely no idea what to do, so I should fit right in."

Asked in a new interview with the 96.1 KLPX radio station if he is selling "Alice For President" t-shirts at all the shows on his current tour, Cooper said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, yeah. There's all kinds of stuff like that."

He explained: "I am extremely nonpolitical. I would only do this as because the song was a hit — 'Elected' was a huge hit. It was John Lennon's favorite song, 'Elected' was, because it was such a great satire on politics. But you're never gonna see anything political in my show. I just hate politics. But in an election year, yeah, you have to do it — you have to do the satire on the whole situation."

Alice added: "I'm telling you, we're living in such a Kurt Vonnegut world right now, where everything is so absurd. For a person like me or a comedian, it's writing itself."

Elaborating on how his stage show has evolved, Alice said: "It's so funny because it used to be easy to shock an audience in the '70s. Now nobody's really trying — we're not really trying to shock an audience. I don't think anybody is 'shock rock' anymore, but those elements still remain in the show because they're fun to watch. It's still fun to watch the guillotine and the fact that you really buy in to it because of what happens before that. You're really concerned about this character Alice up there, what happens. And that's what I like about it. I want the audience to get involved in the show. We don't do a lot of lasers. We don't do things like that, because I want the emphasis to be on the character Alice, what happens to him and what he what exactly he's doing. But all that happens during all these songs that everybody knows — 'Feed My Frankenstein' and 'Poison' and 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' and, of course, 'School's Out' at the end."

The original 1972 "Elected" music video is when Cooper first announced his "candidacy" and the formation of the Wild Party.

"Elected" was the first single from Cooper's iconic sixth studio album, "Billion Dollar Babies". The record reached No. 1 in the U.S. and U.K. and was certified platinum by the RIAA.

In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Cooper said that he keeps his political opinions to himself. "I don't like to mix politics and rock 'n' roll," he said. "I don't look at Bono, Sting and Bruce Springsteen as political. I look at them as being humanitarian. I'll contribute to anything humanitarian. Helping people who can't help themselves. But when musicians are telling people who to vote for, I think that's an abuse of power. You're telling your fans not to think for themselves, just to think like you. Rock 'n' roll is about freedom — and that's not freedom."

Eight years ago, Cooper said that rock stars offering their political opinions is "the worst idea ever." "First of all, why do people think rock stars know more than they do?" he said. "That is the biggest fallacy in the world — if anything, we're dumber. We're not smarter than anybody else. I mean, why do you think we're rock stars?

"Trust me, we don't read magazines you don't read. Nobody calls us up and gives us as inside information on politics. We know less than you do. If I watch TV, it's 'Family Guy'.

"Rock 'n' roll was built to go as far away from politics as you could get. When my mom and dad talked about who to vote for, I'd go in the other room and put on THE BEATLES or ROLLING STONES — and I'm still like that."

Cooper, who considers himself a humanitarian, said that he had no problem with artists using their platform to highlight global issues if it benefited others. He said: "I think what Bono does and what [Bruce] Springsteen does, Sting and all the people that raise money for others — that's humanitarian, and I'm all for that. But I don't think that's political."

In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Cooper stated about then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump: "He's an interesting character. It seems like he shoots himself in the foot every single day and gets more popular by doing it. It's the weirdest. It's like [Kurt] Vonnegut: Everything that shouldn't happen is happening."

Cooper previously said that he would even go so far as to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing just to make a point. During the 2004 election season, he said: "When I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."

He also mused about sitting between such political rocker icons as John Lennon and Harry Nilsson while they argued politics and thinking, "I don't care."

Photo credit: Jenny Risher

Metallica's Robert Trujillo and Kirk Hammett performed a rendition of Ministry's "Just One Fix" during the band's August 11 show at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.


Ministry approved, sharing fan-filmed video of the performance, captioned: "Thank You Metallica".










Metallica have also shared the official live video below, featuring their performance of "Screaming Suicide", filmed at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on August 4.





To view remaining dates on Metallica's 2024 tour, head here.

Symphonic melodic metal overlords, Rhapsody Of Fire, have shared the live clip below along with the following message:


"Our show at Hellfest was a blast and we wanted to share that incredible moment with our fans all around the world as a thank you for your unfaltering support across so many years. 


From September we will begin our Tour throughout Asia, Australia and Europe. Make sure to check the dates on rhapsodyoffire.com."  







Rhasody Of Fire have announced a European tour in support of their new studio album, Challenge The Wind, available via AFM Records.


The trek, which features support of select dates from Freedom Call, The Unity, Secret Sphere and Xeneris, launches on October 25 in Toulouse, France, and concludes on November 25 in Munich, Germany. Dates are listed below.


Dates:


October
25 - Le Metronum - Toulouse, France
26 - La Rayonne - Villeurbanne, France
27 - La Machine du Moulin Rouge - Paris, France
29 - Le Camji - Niort, France


November
1 - Copérnico - Madrid, Spain
2 - Salamandra - L'hospitalet De Llobregat, Spain
3 - Sala Totem Aretoa - Villava, Spain
5 - Turock - Essen, Germany
6 - Logo - Hamburg, Germany
7 - Plan B - Malmö, Sweden
8 - Surr Arena - Göteborg, Sweden
9 - Fryshuset Klubben - Stockholm, Sweden
10 - Centralteatern - Gävle, Sweden
11 - Vulkan Oslo - Oslo, Norway
12 - Folken - Stavanger, Norway
14 - Gimle - Roskilde, Denmark
15 - DVG Club - Kortrijk, Belgium
16 - De Pul - Uden, Netherlands
17 - Poppodium Nieuwe Nor - Heerlen, Netherlands
18 - Z7 Konzertfabrik - Pratteln, Switzerland
20 - Studio im. Budki Suflera - Lublin, Poland
21 - Randal Club - Bratislava I, Slovakia
22 - Masters of Rock Cafe - Zlín, Czech Republic
23 - Collosseum Club - Košice, Slovakia
24 - Viper Room - Vienna, Austria
25 - Backstage Halle - Munich, Germany










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Thrash titans Testament celebrated their first two records, The Legacy and The New Order, live at Wacken Open Air 2024. Check out pro-shot video of "The Haunting" below.





Testament frontman Chuck Billy recently guested on Metal Zone With Nikki Black and discussed the band's new studio album. It will be the follow-up to Titans Of Creation, released in 2020.




Chuck: "The record is very aggressive. With this one, we have a new drummer, Chris Dovas, who's really putting a fire under Eric (Peterson / guitar) and really, really got some really heavy, fast... I don't know if it's the word 'modern', maybe. I don't know, but… current, how about that? Current-sounding. So, Chris is adding to that."


"There's a song, 'Havana Syndrome', which is about the Havana Syndrome. People, look that up. There's 'Infanticide AI', which is another song going AI direction, and there's actually a slower song. We haven't done a slower song... I'm not gonna say 'ballad', but I'm gonna say a slower song that has a lot of groove and soul, called 'Meant To Be'. It's like a classic Testament-type ballad, I guess, if you wanna use that word. We've got a little bit of everything, but, again, I think it's really sticking to Testament, having to have some melodic stuff, even though there's some really brutal lyrics and real brutal, more of a death voice. I still put the hook in with more of a melodic hook or something. It's still classic Testament. If you listen to it, you'll go, 'That's Testament, but a little more octane to it.'"





This Fall, the Klash Of The Titans makes its triumphant return to North America. Fans will enjoy an epic night of metal with thrash royalty Testament and Kreator co-headlining the run. The 33-date trek will kick off on September 12th in Reno, making its way across the US, and will include seven Canadian dates before concluding in San Francisco on October 27th. Joining the night are special guests Bay Area death metal pioneers and labelmates Possessed. Confirmed dates are as listed:


September
12 - Reno, NV - Grand Sierra Resort
13 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
14 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Union Event Centre
16 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo
17 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre
18 - Vancouver, BC Canada - Vogue
20 - Calgary, AB Canada - MacEwan Hall
21 - Enoch, AB Canada - River Cree Casino
22 - Saskatoon, SK Canada - Coors Event Centre
24 - Winnipeg, MB Canada - Burton Cummings Theatre
26 - Maplewood, MN - Myth Live
27 - Chicago, IL - Radius
28 - Huber Heights, OH - Rose Music Center
29 - Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre


October
1 - Cleveland, OH - The Agora
3 - Toronto, ON Canada - History
4 - Montreal, QC Canada - MTelus
5 - New Haven, CT - College Street
6 - Boston, MA - House of Blues
8 - Silver Spring, MD - The Fillmore
10 - Montclair, NJ - The Wellmont Theatre
11 - Bethlehem, PA - Wind Creek Casino
12 - Raleigh, NC - The Ritz
13 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
15 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
16 - St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Live
18 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall (Lawn)
19 - San Antonio, TX - The Aztec
20 - Dallas, TX - The Factory
22 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
23 - Albuquerque, NM - Albuquerque Convention Center
24 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren
26 - Los Angeles, CA - Palladium
27 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield










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Slipknot’s Here Comes The Pain Tour is here. The tour, which celebrates the heavy titans and cultural phenomenon’s 25th anniversary of seminal debut album, Slipknot kicked off with a sold out performance in Noblesville, Indiana. Fan-filmed video of the entire show - which only featured songs written before and up to 1999 - can be viewed below.


Setlist:


"(sic)" 
"Eyeless" 
"Wait And Bleed"
"Get This" (first time since 2019)
"Eeyore"
"Tattered & Torn" (Sid Wilson remix) 
"Me Inside" (first time since 2015)
"Liberate"
"Frail Limb Nursery"
"Purity"
"Prosthetics"
"No Life" (first time since 2000)
"Only One" (first time since 2012)
"Spit It Out"
"Surfacing"
"Scissors" (first time since 2000)







Slipknot’s Here Comes The Pain Tour, produced by Live Nation, includes arena plays nationwide this summer, followed by global performances across arenas later this year and throughout 2025. Highlights include New York City’s Madison Square Garden, two back to back nights at Los Angeles’ Intuit Dome, Austin’s Moody Center, two nights at London’s O2 Arena, a special homecoming performance at Knotfest Iowa and more. Knocked Loose, Orbit Culture and Vended are confirmed as support on select dates.


Tickets are on sale now. See below for a full list of dates.


2024 dates:


August
10 - Camden, NJ - Freedom Mortgage Pavilion *
12 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *
14 - Gilford, NH - BankNH Pavilion *
15 - Mansfield, MA - Xfinity Center *
17 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena *


September
1 - Pryor, OK - Rocklahoma
7 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre #
8 - Ridgefield, WA - RV Inn Styles Resorts Amphitheater #
11 - Nampa, ID - Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater #
13 - Inglewood, CA - Intuit Dome #
14 - Inglewood, CA - Intuit Dome #
15 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre #
17 - Austin, TX - Moody Center #
18 - Dallas, TX - Dos Equis Pavilion #
21 - Des Moines, IA - Knotfest Iowa at Waterworks Park #
26 - Louisville, KY - Louder Than Life Festival


October
11 - Sacramento, CA - Aftershock Festival
19 - São Paulo, Brazil - Knotfest Brasil


November
8 - Guadalajara, Mexico - Calle 2
9 - Mexico City, Mexico - Parque Bicentenario


December
5 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Ziggo Dome
6 - Dortmund, Germany - Westfalehallen
8 - Stuttgart, Germany - Schleyerhalle
9 - Leipzig, Germany - Quarterback Immobilien Arena
11 - Zürich, Switzerland - Hallenstadion
12 - Paris, France - Accor Arena
14 - Leeds, UK - First Direct Arena
15 - Glasgow, UK - Ovo Hydro
17 - Manchester, UK - Co-op Live
18 - Birmingham, UK - Utilita Arena
20 - London, UK - The O2
21 - London, UK - The O2


* w/ Special Guests Knocked Loose and Orbit Culture
# w/ Special Guests Knocked Loose and Vended


2025 dates:


June
6-8 - Nurburg, Germany - Rock Am Ring
6-8 - Nuremberg, Germany - Rock Im Park
12-14 - Nickelsdorf, Austria - NovaRock







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Wicked Love’s new single “Light It Up” is now available on digital platforms.


Austin Livingston, the band's lead guitarist comments, "I blast this song when I'm making love, the bpms are perfect for nominal thrust advantage."


Brendan Ferriera, vocals adds, "It's easy to write a depressing song nowadays, its hard to put out something happy and positive. We try to make it a point to show people that its okay to be happy and it's okay to have fun. This song is simple party perfection!"




Straight out of Charleston, SC, Wicked Love brings a fresh, hard-hitting sound with a classic twist. Their music is a dynamic fusion of pop, metal, and rock ‘n’ roll, sure to captivate audiences. Having shared stages with the likes of Five Finger Death Punch, Seether, and Hellyeah, Wicked Love is a force to be reckoned with in the rock scene.





Wicked Love is:
Brendan Ferriera - Lead Vox
Austin Livingston - Lead Guitar
Trevor Van Ettan - Drums
Tracy Allen - Bass
Brad Krug - Rhythm Guitar







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INFRARED - "Demon's Blood"




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British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST have shared a professionally filmed video of the song "Panic Attack", recorded during the band's ongoing "Invincible Shield" tour. Check out the clip below.

JUDAS PRIEST recently announced leg two of its "Invincible Shield" tour with special guest SABATON. The all-time greats will take over new markets in North America this fall with an additional 23 performances.

Produced by Live Nation, the tour kicks off on September 13 at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec and makes stops in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Omaha, Nebraska; Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles, California; Phoenix, Arizona and more before wrapping up with three shows in Texas on October 22, 24 and 26.

JUDAS PRIEST kicked off the spring 2024 U.S. leg of the "Invincible Shield" world tour on April 18 at Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut.

"Invincible Shield" entered the U.K. chart at No. 2, just behind Ariana Grande's "Eternal Sunshine".

Prior to "Invincible Shield"'s arrival, PRIEST's highest U.K. chart achievement was with 1980's "British Steel", which reached No. 4.

PRIEST's 2018 album "Firepower" entered the chart at No. 5.

"Invincible Shield" was JUDAS PRIEST's fifth Top 10 album, after the aforementioned "British Steel" and "Firepower", as well as 2014's "Redeemer Of Souls" (No. 6) and the 1979 live album "Unleashed In The East" (No. 10).

"Invincible Shield" landed at No. 1 in Germany, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as No. 5 in France, No. 8 in Italy and No. 16 in Australia.

In a recent interview with Elena Rosberg of Radiocast BG, Rob Halford was asked about the significance of the album title "Invincible Shield" for a band like JUDAS PRIEST. He responded: "JUDAS PRIEST has been defending the faith of heavy metal, not just the music, but everything related to heavy metal, since we began. And as we were making this record, it's my job as the lyricist to find ideas, to find expressions, to find songtitles that convey not only the music that you're making as you create an album, but to give a title, a significant title, that sends a potent message, idea that says, 'This is JUDAS PRIEST, this is our music and this is an invincible shield.' So then, I remember the day when I'm sitting at my home in Phoenix and I'm on my laptop and a pencil, a pencil and some paper writing things down. And I go, I got the word 'invincible'. And then suddenly from nowhere… This is the joy of creativity. Artists will tell you, we don't know where these things come from. You have to grab them quickly, like lightning in a bottle. And then I think of the word 'shield', and I put the two together, 'invincible shield'. Like, 'Wow, this is JUDAS PRIEST. We're an invincible shield in heavy metal, what we've been doing for so long.' And then I go, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute. All of us, every single person on the planet, has an invincible shield inside of them.' And what I mean by that is we all are gifted by God to have this never-ending well of faith, this never-ending well of hope, this never-ending well of preservation, this never-ending well of sustaining ourselves, our families, our friends. Everything that we do together comes in the form of the power of an invincible shield. So that was a bonus. That was not only the title for the music, but it was also a title for everybody."

Halford added: "All of us have an invincible shield. When you think of some of the things that each of us have, in our lives, have had a challenge. We've had a dark moment, whether it's a medical issue, whether it's work, whether it's something very, very potent. But we've survived, we've pushed through. We look back now and we go, 'How did I get through that?' That's your invincible shield. That's the power that humanity has to survive in every aspect of what that word suggests. What does survive mean? It means many, many things. So the joy of having the title of the album be so expansive was just, again, another extra blessing. So there you have it. Invincible shield for JUDAS PRIEST and invincible shield for humanity."

When Rosberg asked Rob if it is "sometimes overwhelming" to have such "a great responsibility" as a person who is conveying certain messages to a large audience, Halford replied: "Yeah, it can be. It can be. You have to find a balance. You have to find a harmony. I love the power of words. Words can do many, many things. The way you choose words, the way you put words together, they can lift you up, they can bring you solace, that can bring you, again, hope, they can bring you all of these things. They can also bring negativity, they can also bring destruction, they can bring war, they can bring political angst and disruption in separating the light from the dark, the truth from the lies, all of these things can be made together by words. I love words. I love putting words together. So when I was writing 'Panic Attack', and I'm talking about the way that social media can be used in a very potent, and sometimes [negative ways through] disinformation, conspiracy theories. All of these attitudes, all of these emotions, all of these ideas come from words. They come from people speaking, they come from people sending instant messages, writing in various forums and quorums on the Internet. So, I think deeply about things like that, and I try to convey those personal feelings and ideas into songs that are still full of joy and power and excitement and energy and good feelings. And that's a tricky thing to do, because JUDAS PRIEST isn't a political band. We're not a socially motivated band. We don't speak out too much on these types of world affairs, world events, but I thought for this record, I'm gonna take a leap of faith, because our fans are smart, our fans are intelligent. They understand this world that we live in when we talk about that side of the social media, that side of the Internet, the double-edged sword of the internet, the good, the bad, the light, the dark, the yin, the yang. And it's turned out that 'Panic Attack' has been the most rewarding song for our fans that we've made.

"So, yes, there is a responsibility," Rob continued. "There's a responsibility from your creativity to do your very best, not to accept anything just for acceptance. Work really hard. We spend an enormous amount of time making these songs because we treasure them. They're gonna be here long after we're gone. So you want to leave something that will have the power to bring joy, have the power to bring passion, excitement, energy, have the power to bring some thinking about the song. What will people think about 'Panic Attack' a hundred years from now? I think about that. [Laughs] I think so deeply about so many aspects of what we're about in JUDAS PRIEST."

Halford added: "So, yes, responsibility. The ultimate responsibility is when you're on that stage. You're on that stage, you're pouring out your heart, you're pouring out your soul in your performance, and you have a responsibility to give every part of yourself at that show."

RATT singer Stephen Pearcy has offered his opinion of the label "hair metal," the pejorative term which was coined in the late 1990s as a way to disparage acts thought to have been all flash and no substance. In an August 8 post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Pearcy wrote: "The term 'Hair Metal'? It doesn't bother me in the least, although it does some of the peers. 'Hair Metal', think about it really. I'll embrace the tag 40 years later. Hey, it identifies you into the 80's genre forever."

One of Stephen's followers disagreed with the singer, writing, "Nah, I would never embrace the term 'hair metal' as it was specifically created to marginalize an entire genre of really talented musicians. It's all about the music, not the hair." This prompted Pearcy to respond: "If you're doing business are you not going to be played on [SiriusXM channel] Hair Nation or do shows with the term Hair because of the term. I'm not bothered because we created Ratt n' Roll, and that is ours regardless of the association. To be clear it's all Rock Music unless you're needing it."

The use of the term "hair metal" became widespread after grunge gained popularity at the expense of 1980s metal.

One musician who has been very vocal about his dislike of being called "hair metal" is Sebastian Bach. In July 2020, the former SKID ROW frontman said that "When I 1st aspired to be a vocalist of a band it was called rock n' roll Heavy metal Heavy Rock Hard Rock Glam metal Nobody in the 80s ever started a hair metal band."

He added: "Being labeled something that I never set out to be labeled gets under my skin. It's a pain when people try to rewrite history. Believe me none of us ever set out to be in a hair metal band that did not exist in the 80s."

That was not the first time Bach reacted negatively to the term "hair metal." In a 2012 interview with The New York Times, he famously said: "I am the man who put the hair in hair metal. I also headlined Broadway musicals. I acted in millions of TV shows. I didn't get to star in 'Jekyll And Hyde' on Broadway because of my haircut. My voice has gotten me everything in my life, not my hair."

In August 2020, TWISTED SISTER's Dee Snider addressed Bach's Twitter tirade in which the former SKID ROW frontman took issue with being called "hair metal". Dee told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk": "[I've been doing my radio show] 'House Of Hair' [for more than two decades], and it resonates with people," Dee said. "For the fans, they don't find it offensive. Whatever it is, it's just a term.

"I didn't name 'House Of Hair'. I got shit about it. But to me, I just say, you know what? You're fighting a losing battle. Sebastian's losing shit. Life's too short.

"I'm the original hair farmer. Whatever. As long as they remember me."

Elsewhere, TESLA bassist Brian Wheat said that he found the term "hair metal' "condescending. What does fucking hair have to do with the music?" he said in an interview with "The Cassius Morris Show". "Should we be called 'cock metal' because we all have big dicks? Seriously, it's, like, 'hair metal' — what does that have to do with [anything music-related]? It's condescending. It's a putdown. It's almost like saying, 'Well, the music's not valid. They just had good hair.' That's what it's like.

"I don't like it," he reiterated. "Just talk about the music, because that's what what matters. Not about the hair. If you wanna call it anything, call it '80s metal — call it 1980s rock. 'Cause that's what it was — it was rock that came out of the '80s and early '90s. THE BLACK CROWES came out a year later than TESLA, and they're not called a hair metal band.

"Why call us a hair metal band when all we were doing was imitating AEROSMITH?" Wheat added. "I think we're very parallel to an AEROSMITH. I think, personally, if you can't go see AEROSMITH and you wanna see a good version of AEROSMITH, go see TESLA. They're very similar. I mean, Jeff Keith looks like Steven Tyler; he sings like Steven Tyler."

In October 2005, British metal mainstays BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE laid solid foundations with their epochal debut album, "The Poison". An unparalleled and enduring career has since followed, and in doing so the group changed the landscape and supercharged the trajectory of alternative music. 2005 saw the Welsh metallers graduate from supporting FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND on their U.K. run in the summer to ending the year headlining the very same venues just months later. That meteoric rise saw the album hit number 21 in the U.K. album charts, becoming a late contender in end of year polls, placing at number seven on Kerrang!'s "Albums Of The Year" list, and since achieving gold status. An album still boasting enduring impact, Metal Hammer listed the album in the top 25 in their recent "The Greatest Metal Albums Of The Century."

"I honestly can't believe it's been 20 years since the release of 'The Poison', and what an incredible 20 years it's been," says BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman Matt Tuck. "I feel so proud of what we've achieved as a band in the last two decades and it all started with that debut album. 'The Poison' is such an important part of our lives musically and personally and we know the massive impact it had on the metal world on a global level."

To celebrate the album's two decades, "The Poison" has been remastered for vinyl and is set to be released on a set of limited and exclusive products. A bespoke and super deluxe box set hosts the complete collector's edition of the album. Housed in a tailored lift-off lid box set, four-LP vinyl discs present the original deluxe album track listing, the "Hand Of Blood" EP, all bonus material, and for the first time on vinyl the band's 2006 "Live At Brixton" performance. Alongside the music, the boxset contains new artwork, with an extensive and premium coffee table style book, a four-piece print set, a fold out poster, an enamel pin badge, a bandana, and a replica AAA laminate pass. A deluxe double CD also hosts the entire extended music collection and comes with artwork booklet, housed in a premium hardbound book. The core album tracks also come on a transparent red LP and a Zoetrope version which displays the new album artwork animations when played on a turntable.

Track listings:

Box set

LP1

A

01. Intro (featuring APOCALYPTICA)
02. Her Voice Resides
03. 4 Words (To Choke Upon)
04. Tears Don't Fall
05. Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (What Can I Do)
06. Hit The Floor
07. All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)

B

01. Hand Of Blood
02. Room 409
03. The Poison
04. 10 Years Today
05. Cries In Vain
06. The End

LP2 - "The Poison" Bonus Material

C

01. Spit You Out
02. Curses
03. Seven Days
04. My Fist Your Mouth Her Scars

D

01. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
02. Tears Don't Fall (acoustic)

LP3 - "Hand Of Blood" EP

E

01. 4 Words (To Choke Upon)
02. Hand Of Blood
03. Cries In Vain

F

01. Curses
02. No Control
03. Just Another Star

LP4 - Live at Brixton

G

01. Intro
02. Her Voice Resides
03. 4 Word (To Choke Upon)
04. Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (What Can I Do)
05. All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)
06. The Poison
07. Spit You Out

H

01. Cries In Vain
02. Just Another Star
03. Tears Don't Fall
04. No Control
05. Hand Of Blood
06. The End

Standard LP

A

01. Intro (featuring APOCALYPTICA)
02. Her Voice Resides
03. 4 Words (To Choke Upon)
04. Tears Don't Fall
05. Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (What Can I Do)
06. Hit The Floor
07. All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)

B

01. Hand Of Blood
02. Room 409
03. The Poison
04. 10 Years Today
05. Cries In Vain
06. The End

2CD

Disc 1 - "The Poison" + Bonus Tracks

01. Intro (featuring APOCALYPTICA)
02. Her Voice Resides
03. 4 Words (To Choke Upon)
04. Tears Don't Fall
05. Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (What Can I Do)
06. Hit The Floor
07. All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)
08. Hand Of Blood
09. Room 409
10. The Poison
11. 10 Years Today
12. Cries In Vain
13. The End
14. Spit You Out
15. Curses (bonus material)
16. Seven Days (bonus material)
17. My Fist Your Mouth Her Scars (bonus material)
18. Welcome Home Sanitarium (bonus material)
19. Tears Don't Fall (Acoustic) (bonus material)

Disc 2 - Live at Brixton

01. Intro
02. Her Voice Resides
03. 4 Word (To Choke Upon)
04. Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow
05. All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)
06. The Poison
07. Spit You Out
08. Cries In Vain
09. Just Another Star
10. Tears Don't Fall
11. No Control
12. Hand Of Blood
13. The End

Digital

1

01. Intro (featuring APOCALYPTICA)
02. Her Voice Resides
03. 4 Words (To Choke Upon)
04. Tears Don't Fall
05. Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (What Can I Do)
06. Hit The Floor
07. All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)
08. Hand Of Blood
09. Room 409
10. The Poison
11. 10 Years Today
12. Cries In Vain
13. The End

2

01. Spit You Out
02. Curses
03. Seven Days (album version)
04. My Fist Your Mouth Her Scars (album version)
05. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
06. Tears Don't Fall (acoustic)
07. No Control
08. Just Another Star

3

01. Intro
02. Her Voice Resides
03. 4 Word (To Choke Upon)
04. Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow
05. All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)
06. The Poison
07. Spit You Out
08. Cries In Vain
09. Just Another Star
10. Tears Don't Fall
11. No Control
12. Hand Of Blood
13. The End

Alongside the album's anniversary campaign, and following much online speculation, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE confirmed a huge arena tour in conjunction with genre mates and the comparably revered TRIVIUM. The tour begins in the U.K., before spreading out into mainland Europe.

During an appearance on the latest episode of the "One Life One Chance With Toby Morse" podcast, SEPULTURA vocalist Derrick Green reflected on the departure of the band's longtime drummer Eloy Casagrande in February, less than a month prior to the start of SEPULTURA's "Celebrating Life Through Death" farewell tour. Eloy has since been replaced by Greyson Nekrutman, who previously played with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.

Derrick said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We had already announced that we're going to do a farewell tour. It was in December that we announced it. And so then I think it was February, we started playing shows. And so it was, like, Andreas [Kisser, SEPULTURA guitarist] calls me was, like, 'Yeah, we're gonna do rehearsals. It's all set. Everybody's in line. You'll come down to Brazil and then we'll rehearse a few days and then we'll start the tour.' And I was, like, 'Great.' [I was] literally waking up, packing my shit. I think I was flying out literally the next day to start rehearsals. Andreas [gets in touch with me and he] is, like, 'Yo…' I was, like, 'What's going on?' He's, like, 'He's out.' I was, like, 'What do you mean? What are you talking about? Who's out?' And then he was just, like, 'Yeah, Eloy's out.' And I was just kind of like falling in a black hole, like, 'What are you talking about?' It was totally surreal. It was like literally in slow motion. I was just trying to get my breath. And he explained everything. [Eloy] wanted a meeting with everybody in the band and with the managers and everything, and I wasn't there. But he came in and it was just, like, 'I'm doing this gig. I signed a contract. And I'm out.' And I was just trying to get my head around it, because it'd been 13 years playing with this guy. And I was just really in shock. I was, like, 'Dude, what are we gonna do?' And we've been in this position where it's just, like, so crazy changes. I'm sure when Max [Cavalera] left [SEPULTURA], [Andreas] was in that position, like, 'What are we gonna do?' And then when Jean [Dolabella] left and Igor [Cavalera] left, like different people: 'What are we gonna do?' It wouldn't be the first time of total chaos… I'm on the phone with [Andreas]. He's, like, 'My son showed me a video of Greyson.' I was, like, 'Greyson, he's in SUICIDAL. Yeah. I just saw the show.' And he's, like, 'I was thinking of maybe calling him.' I was like, yeah. 'Call him up. Call him up and see what's up with him.' I was, like, 'You should call him immediately.' He's, like, 'I am. I'm gonna get his number. I'm gonna call him up, see what's up. Just to see what's up.' I was, like, 'He's playing with SUICIDAL. Maybe he has some off dates.' And we're just, like panicking because we had no clue what to do. We weren't expecting this at all."

Regarding how he got involved with SEPULTURA, Greyson, who turned 22 in June, told "One Life One Chance With Toby Morse": "I'm home, and I get a text from Chloe Trujillo, Robert's [Trujillo, METALLICA bassist] wife, and she says, 'Hey, can Paulo [Xisto Pinto Jr.] from SEPULTURA have your number?' And I said, 'Absolutely.' About five hours after that, I get a DM from Andreas, and it's very nice, and it's very straightforward, and he says, 'Hey, man, I love your stuff,' yada yada. 'Can I call you? I have something I would like to talk to you about.' And I said, 'Hey, man. Absolutely. Here's my WhatsApp.' So I tell my parents. My parents are, like, 'Well, what the hell's going on?' My parents think I'm joking. So then I'm also not getting ahead of myself. 'Cause I'm, like, 'I don't know what it could be,' whatever. So this is where it gets funny. And I actually never told Derrick this… So Andreas says, 'We're gonna talk at 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time. So I wake up, I go to the gym, I'm at the gym and Andreas texts me. He says, 'Hey, man. My meeting at noon got canceled. Can I call you at noon?' So in my head, I'm, like, 'Damn, it's almost like, like an aggressive girlfriend.' So I was, like, 'Shit.' Like, 'All right.' So I was, like, 'Sure.' So he calls me. And I'm in my room. And he just tells me, he says, 'Hey, man, I love your stuff.' He said it exactly like this. He says, 'I'm kind of in a situation.' That's the exact words he said. And I said, 'What's up?' And he says, 'Eloy quit yesterday. And we have this tour planned out for a long time and it starts very soon. And I have the dates.' And I remember sitting in my room, literally, like… It was the weirdest feeling… It was a feeling of, like, 'Oh, no,' but not a bad or not a good. It was like — you know when you're learning to drive and you're on the highway and you know you have to do this. You have to, because you've got 50 years left to live, 90 years left to live, whatever it is. But it's, like, you have to. You have no choice. But, like, 'Damn, I'm gonna really have to do this?' So I was, like, 'Okay.' And again, I still had no clue. I had no clue what he meant, though. I thought he meant maybe do like a show. Because then Andreas was, like, 'I think [Eloy is] going to SLIPKNOT,' kind of thing. He's, like, ''Cause I don't know why else [he would leave on such short notice].' I was, 'Okay.' So I go on my phone, and I remember looked up SLIPKNOT dates while I'm on the phone, and I realized they started in April. So I said, 'Okay, maybe then I'll start doing the [SEPULTURA] shows that are in April, May.' So I was kind of chilling. And he's like, 'If you're interested, let me know.' I was, like, 'Dude, I am interested.' And I said — this is so funny — I said… I think Andreas laughs every time we talk about it. He's, like, 'So you can do it?' I said, 'Yes, I'm gonna do it, but I've gotta go tell my parents.' [Laughs] And Andreas is, like, 'Okay.' [Laughs]"

This past May, Casagrande opened up about his decision to leave SEPULTURA and join SLIPKNOT. The 33-year-old musician, who was a member of the veteran Brazilian/American metal band for 12 years before exiting the group in February in order to hook up with the Iowa-based masked metallers, told Brazil's Veja São Paulo in an interview that he was originally approached about auditioning for SLIPKNOT last December by the band's manager, shortly after SEPULTURA had already announced its 40th-anniversary farewell tour. "They asked me to record and send them some videos from right here in Brazil," he explained in comments that were published in his native Portuguese but translated to English by fans on Reddit. "Initially there were three songs, then they asked me for three more, and asked if I had any plans to go to the United States, and I was scheduled to perform there in January with my instrumental music project, CASAGRANDE & HANYSZ. So they moved my flight up a bit, and I spent five days in Palm Springs, rehearsing with the full band. Then they asked me to extend my stay by another five days, so we could record some things. I think that was also part of the audition. They threw new ideas at me to see what my songwriting was like. They wanted to test me in every way."

Asked when he finally got the confirmation that he was the new drummer of SLIPKNOT, Eloy said: "SLIPKNOT is made up of nine musicians, so there are many spheres and layers, and they needed everyone's approval before they gave me the okay. I think it was on February 5th [or February] 6th that I received confirmation that I had passed the test."

On the topic of his decision to leave SEPULTURA, Eloy said: "I received the invitation to audition [for SLIPKNOT] after the [SEPULTURA farewell] tour was announced. The big thing, the reason I agreed to audition, was the end of SEPULTURA. The band was going to break up, and I didn't want to stop playing drums at the age of 33. I had a chat with SLIPKNOT, asked about their schedule and if it would be possible to juggle the two bands, but they said no, it wouldn't be possible, I'd be exclusive. So it was my decision to leave SEPULTURA. It was complicated. I told [SEPULTURA my decision] when I had closed the deal [with SLIPKNOT] on February 5th or 6th. That very day I called a meeting and explained the situation. That was it, an individual decision."

Casagrande's addition to SLIPKNOT was officially announced on April 30.

SLIPKNOT made its first festival appearance of 2024 on April 27 as one of the headliners of Sick New World in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show marked SLIPKNOT's second performance with Casagrande.

Prior to Sick New World, SLIPKNOT played an intimate show on April 25 at Pappy + Harriet's in Pioneertown, California.

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

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

Weinberg has since joined SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and INFECTIOUS GROOVES.

MEGADETH performed the song "Liar" live for the first time in nearly two decades during the band's August 9 concert at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California. Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

According to Setlist.fm, MEGADETH's setlist for the show was as follows:

01. The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!
02. Dread And The Fugitive Mind
03. Wake Up Dead
04. In My Darkest Hour
05. Hangar 18
06. Sweating Bullets
07. Liar (first time performed since 2006)
08. Skin O' My Teeth
09. Angry Again
10. She-Wolf
11. Countdown To Extinction
12. The Conjuring
13. Trust
14. Tornado Of Souls
15. We'll Be Back
16. Symphony Of Destruction

Encore:

17. Mechanix
18. Peace Sells

Encore 2:

19. Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

Back in February 2022, former MEGADETH guitarist Chris Poland confirmed to Sofa King Cool that the song "Liar" from the band's 1988 album "So Far, So Good... So What?" was written by Dave Mustaine about him. He said: "Oh, yeah. Obviously, Dave was very upset with me when I left the band — when he fired me, basically."

Asked if he was angry when he first heard he was the lyrical inspiration for the song, Poland said: "No, man. It's like the pot calling the kettle black, man. When you point your finger, man, there's three pointing back at you. I just rolled my eyes and was, like, 'Really?'"

Poland was a member of MEGADETH from 1984 to 1987, during which time he performed on the band's classic albums "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" and "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" He is also a featured soloist on the group's 2004 album, "The System Has Failed".

In 2004, Poland and/or his management and attorney filed a lawsuit against Mustaine regarding the use of the three "Rust In Peace" demos on the album's reissue without Chris's permission. According to MEGADETH's webmaster, Mustaine included the demos because he thought Chris would be "thankful for the promotion, the tipping of the hat, and showing the fans how Marty [Friedman, MEGADETH's guitarist during some of the post-Poland years] had actually been influenced by some of Chris's solo selections for those songs." Chris also allegedly tried to sue Dave for defamation of character because Dave called him a "thief," but Chris's attorney "dropped that after he found out that Chris had actually taken the band's gear and sold it for drugs," according to MEGADETH's webmaster. "Remember, there is a confession in the VH1 'Behind the Music' on MEGADETH," the webmaster said. Chris eventually settled for $9,500 and thereby ended a professional relationship with Dave and MEGADETH.

In a September 2020 interview with Darren Paltrowitz (host of the "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" podcast),Mustaine singled out Poland, saying: "Chris Poland, as much as I don't really like the guy, he was a great guitar player, and I wanted to give him a shot when we did the 2004 reissues for 'Peace Sells' and 'Rust In Peace', and I wanted to put that song out on the 'Rust In Peace' reissue. He got involved in a nuisance lawsuit, I think it was, and we just ended our friendship. And I thought, 'God, that was such a waste.'

"There was a little teeny mountain that was right out by where we live, and I said I could have just as soon bought that piece of dirt there than sell Chris's friendship, and I'm so bummed that this happened," Mustaine added. "'Cause I thought it would have been terrific to have him on the record. [When] people say, 'Hey, this sounds like Marty Friedman.' No, Marty Friedman sounded like this, because Chris played it first."

Poland previously discussed the legal issues surrounding the 2004 reissue of "Rust In Peace" in a 2018 interview with the As The Story Grows podcast. He said: "When I did 'The System Has Failed', [Dave] was working on adding the demos to a re-release of 'Rust In Peace'. And I wasn't going to get paid, but I didn't realize that until it came out. I was like, 'Wait a minute — I'm not getting paid for this.' And I tried to call Dave at least a dozen times, and I never heard back from him. Then I called Dave's manager a dozen times, and he wouldn't get back to me. The last time I called him, I said, 'Hey, man. If you don't call me back, I'm going to call [my lawyer], and we're going to have to get into it.' [The manager] calls me back and totally insults me, saying, 'You played a couple solos. So what?' And I'm like, 'What do you mean, 'So what?'' 'Well, Dave thought that you would do it for the fans.' I said, 'Okay. Is everybody else that played on that demo doing it for the fans? Are they getting paid?' He said, 'Chris, that's not the point.' I said, 'Listen, man, we have to do something here. I'm not just going to walk away. I love the fans, but I'm just not going to do it. If everybody else is getting a performance royalty for this, I want one.' I want everybody to know that it wasn't a nuisance suit, it wasn't anything like that. I made every attempt to work it out, and they just ignored me."

For the past couple of decades, Poland's main musical focus has been the fusion band OHM:, which has released several full-length studio albums to date.

MEGADETH kicked off the "Destroy All Enemies" summer 2024 U.S. tour on August 2 at Walmart AMP, Rogers, Arkansas. Produced by Live Nation, the trek, which features MUDVAYNE and ALL THAT REMAINS as support, is hitting 33 cities, including Las Vegas, Boston and St. Louis, before wrapping up on September 28 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Finnish guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari joined MEGADETH last September after the band's longtime axeman Kiko Loureiro, announced earlier that month 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 Mäntysaari would continue to play guitar for MEGADETH for the foreseeable future, with Loureiro seemingly having no plans to return.

The 37-year-old 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.

MEGADETH played its first concert with Mäntysaari on September 6, 2023 at Revel in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Loureiro officially joined MEGADETH in April 2015, about five months after Chris Broderick's exit from the group.

Since its inception in 1983, MEGADETH has ascended from its raw thrash metal roots to become an unstoppable force in the heavy metal world. With founder Dave Mustaine at the helm, MEGADETH's journey has been marked by a penchant for pushing the boundaries of speed, technicality, and complexity in their music. Their groundbreaking album "Rust In Peace", released in 1990, is frequently cited as a seminal work in the thrash metal genre. Along with the critically acclaimed "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?", it cemented MEGADETH's place in the annals of metal history.

Over four decades, the band's discography has earned numerous certifications, including platinum and multi-platinum awards, with albums like "Countdown To Extinction" and "Youthanasia" achieving widespread critical acclaim. 2016's "Dystopia" not only marked a high point with their first Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance" after twelve nominations but also set the stage for their latest triumph, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" in 2022. MEGADETH's status as part of the "Big Four" of thrash metal underscores their trailblazing role in the genre, laying the groundwork for countless bands and musicians who have followed in their wake.

Fan-filmed video of ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist Jerry Cantrell's August 4 solo concert at the Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park in Indianapolis, Indiana can be seen below.

The setlist for the show was as follows:

01. Psychotic Break
02. Them Bones (ALICE IN CHAINS song)
03. Atone
04. Vilified
05. Had To Know
06. Man In The Box (ALICE IN CHAINS song)
07. My Song
08. Cut You In
09. Brighten
10. Would? (ALICE IN CHAINS song)
11. Rooster (ALICE IN CHAINS song)

Cantrell performed his new solo single, "Vilified", live for the first time on July 26 at the opening concert of his tour with BUSH and CANDLEBOX at Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Bend, Oregon.

"Vilified" is taken from Cantrell's upcoming solo album, "I Want Blood", which will arrive on October 18 via Double J Music.

"This record is a serious piece of work. It's a motherfucker," Cantrell said of the collection. "It's hard, no doubt, and completely unlike 'Brighten'. And that's what you want, to end up in a different place. There's a confidence to this album. I think it's some of my best songwriting and playing, and certainly some of my best singing."

Album opener "Vilified" showcases an energy that rivals any of Cantrell's previous work — powerful, nuanced, and electric — setting the tone for the 45-minute album.

"'Vilified" travels a lot of places in just four and a half minutes," Cantrell continued. "It's got a ferocity and really aggressive vibe to it."

"I Want Blood", co-produced by Cantrell and Joe Barresi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MELVINS),was recorded at Barresi's JHOC Studio in Pasadena, California. The album also features contributions from bass heavyweights Duff McKagan (GUNS N' ROSES) and Robert Trujillo (METALLICA),drummers Gil Sharone (TEAM SLEEP, STOLEN BABIES) and Mike Bordin (FAITH NO MORE),and backing vocals from Lola Colette and Greg Puciato (BETTER LOVERS, ex-THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN).

Album pre-orders, which include CD, digital and multiple 2LP variants are available here. Exclusive to the 2LP vinyl versions of "I Want Blood" are atmospheric, spoken-word versions of each song on the album.

Cantrell's latest solo album, "Brighten", came out in October 2021. The LP was Jerry's first project without ALICE IN CHAINS in 19 years. "Brighten" was co-produced by Jerry with film composer Tyler Bates and Cantrell's longtime engineer Paul Figueroa. They welcomed a dynamic cast of supporting players, including drummers Gil Sharone and Abe Laboriel, Jr. (Paul McCartney),pedal steel master Michael Rozon, Vincent Jones on piano, Wurlitzer, and organ. Other rock legends added to the fun of this LP, including Duff McKagan (GUNS N' ROSES) on select bass tracks, Puciato handling all of the background vocals and Barresi overseeing the mixing of "Brighten". Together, they recorded eight originals and the LP closes with an approved-by-Elton John cover of his classic "Goodbye" as the finale.

Cantrell's band for his 2022 "Brighten" solo tour consisted of Tyler Bates (guitar),Greg Puciato (backing vocals),Gil Sharone (drums),George Adrian (bass),Michael Rozon (pedal steel) and Jason Achilles (keyboards). The set included songs from "Brighten", along with favorite hits from Jerry's catalog.

Jerry's career outside of ALICE IN CHAINS has consisted of two other solo albums and contributions to major film soundtracks. Cantrell's first solo album, "Boggy Depot", was released in 1998, followed by his second album, the aforementioned "Degradation Trip". In addition to his solo artist work, Jerry has released music on soundtracks for several films, including "Spider-Man", "The Cable Guy", "John Wick 2", "Last Action Hero" and "The Punisher".

ALICE IN CHAINS regrouped in 2006 with William DuVall joining the band, and released its third LP with DuVall in the lineup, "Rainier Fog", in August 2018.

Last month, it was announced that STONE SOUR and MINISTRY drummer Roy Mayorga would sit behind the kit for Cantrell during the ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist's summer 2024 tour.

The trek, which is headlined by BUSH, will conclude on September 15 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Also appearing on the bill will be CANDLEBOX.

On July 20, former ANTHRAX singer Neil Turbin performed a "Rock & Soul" acoustic set at the Black Dog Studio in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below.

In a recent interview with Almost Human, Turbin addressed the oft-repeated claim by ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian that Turbin "fired" original ANTHRAX bassist Dan Lilker for being "too tall". Neil said in part: "Well, if you believe that, then I can tell you about the Brooklyn Bridge, and I'll tell you about the moon landing. But there's some bullshit that people wanna keep gaslighting and flipping the script.

"Dan Lilker had one fifth of an opinion in that band, and I only had one fifth," Neil explained. "And there was three other guys [in the band who had a vote]. Now, they could have said, 'Fuck you, Neil. We're gonna take Dan and put him right back in the band.' But they didn't want that. They had a different agenda. Charlie [Benante, ANTHRAX drummer] wanted his nephew [future ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello] in the band. Scott wanted to do that for Charlie."

According to Turbin, who was the vocalist on ANTHRAX's 1984 debut album, "Fistful Of Metal", musicianship was also a factor in ANTHRAX's decision to replace Lilker with Bello.

"Let me just make it very clear," Neil said. "I mean, I've made it clear before, but it's not clear enough. So, [Dan] left his bass in rehearsal. He never took it home and practiced. Is that important to a band to have someone that practiced and sounded good? … There was … a lot of noise and there wasn't a lot of accurate playing. To me, Dave Ellefson [former MEGADETH bassist], what a phenomenal bass player that understands thrash metal and understands not making a lot of noise on the bass. He's very accurate; he plays really well."

Asked what he thought about Lilker rejoining ANTHRAX for less than a dozen shows in South America and the U.S. this spring and summer while Bello was sitting out the dates due to personal reasons, Turbin said: "Good for him." Pressed about whether he has spoken to Lilker at all in recent years, Neil said: "Oh, he was never my friend in the first place. Some people, they seem like they're wonderful on the outside until you find out what's on the inside. And he was never nice to me — never a friend. There was never any warm and fuzzes. And I always wondered, why didn't we hang out back in Bayside [Queens, New York, where ANTHRAX was formed]? Why didn't we go hang out, have a few beers, get together and hang out? But that's not who he was. He wasn't interested in that. Actually, in the old days, the very old days, the very beginning, I actually did hang out with Scott. I actually went to Great Adventure amusement park with him and his girlfriend. We hung out a few times. We went to the Village. There was a few times we hung out. I did go with him and we drove to Jonny Z's [founder of '80s metal label Megaforce Records who was also managin ANTHRAX] flea market, which was [the famed record store] Rock N' Roll Heaven in the beginning. So, you know, we did those kinds of things, but then it became more like — it wasn't about fun; it was about business. There was a purpose for it. It wasn't just, like, 'Let's go have some fun.' And then I stopped being included in many of these meetings. So, I was excluded. So that seems to be the M.O. So, that is what some people think like. They're thinking from a place of their ego, and they think, 'Well, how does it make me look? Well, I wanna exclude this guy.'"

Turbin added: "They didn't like the fact that I was a singer. I mean, it sounds strange, but they didn't like the fact that I… I think certain people in the band wanted to be the singer — not for the singing part of it, but they wanted to have control, and they wanted to be the person that gets a pat on the back. But I don't care about a pat on the back. I never did, and I still don't. I'm not there for that. I don't give a shit."

In his 2014 autobiography "I'm The Man: The Story Of That Guy From Anthrax", Ian detailed his tensions with Turbin and the band's split with Lilker, a period of time that Scott describes as "the worst moment for me in the history of ANTHRAX."

"As soon as we started touring to support 'Fistful Of Metal', Neil got ultra-cocky," Scott wrote. "He felt like he was the boss man, and he became inflexible. His attitude was, 'I'm the singer and it's my way or the highway.' He thought we'd be dead without him. The shitty thing is, he was right. We were on the fast track. Jonny Z was managing us, and he was bringing RAVEN back in the summer of 1984 to tour like they did the year before with METALLICA opening, and this time we were scheduled to open all the dates, starting May 30. Everything was already announced and planned, and if we lost our singer, we'd have had to cancel. Jonny wasn't going to wait around for us. There were other bands he was talking to like OVERKILL and LEGACY (which became TESTAMENT). We had to strike while the iron was hot, and that gave Neil the ability to pull all these power plays.

"The biggest dick move Neil ever pulled was when he fired Danny Lilker behind our backs after 'Fistful' came out in January 1984," Scott added. "The main reason he did it, in my opinion, was because Danny is taller than him. He honestly didn't think someone should be taller than the front man onstage. He thought it made him look bad, so he tried to stand as far away from Danny as possible, which was hard when we were playing stages the size of ping pong tables."

In a 2009 interview with VoltageMedia.com.au, Turbin stated about his departure from ANTHRAX: "I was a member of ANTHRAX from August 1982 up until August 1984. I was a member of ANTHRAX for exactly two years. The reason I left… well, there were a number of things, actually. The whole relationship started to deteriorate after a while, there was definitely backstabbing from certain people who chose to hang around with other people instead of focusing in the band. I was into metal… focused on music while Scott Ian and Charlie Benante formed an alliance, and Dan Spitz [guitar] just followed. In a matter of months, it was simply a case of them versus me. It was very difficult to deal with them, because it was obvious that we wouldn't get along and they were also more interested in other things than music… at least back then. We didn't establish a trusted friendship within the band, that's for sure."

ANTHRAX has had a number of vocalists — including Turbin, Joey Belladonna, Dan Nelson and John Bush — over the last 43 years, with Ian and Benante remaining the sole bandmembers who have appeared on every one of the group's studio albums.

Turbin sang on "Fistful Of Metal" before getting booted and being replaced by Belladonna. Belladonna performed on four ANTHRAX albums, including the fan favorite "Among The Living" (1987) before he himself was fired over creative and stylistic differences. Bush fronted ANTHRAX between 1992 and 2005 but was sidelined when the band reunited with Belladonna for a 20th-anniversary tour. When that collapsed, and relationships disintegrated with next frontman Nelson, Bush returned for a time before Belladonna took the job back in 2010.

Turbin performed and recorded with ANTHRAX on the original demo recordings and "Fistful Of Metal". He wrote the lyrics to all songs on that LP with exception of the cover of Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen", and also has writing credits on five of the seven songs on the band's "Armed And Dangerous" EP, as well as two songs on "Spreading The Disease".

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In a new interview with Poland's Soundterror, DEICIDE drummer Steve Asheim once again addressed the controversy surrounding the cover artwork for the band's latest album, "Banished By Sin". Released on April 26 via Reigning Phoenix Music, the LP features art that some people believe was generated by artificial intelligence (A.I.). When the cover artwork was first unveiled in February, speculation over how it was created led to backlash from fans on social media, as well as memes mocking it and DEICIDE.

Asked how he feels about A.I. being used in art, Asheim said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "They're doing it with music and with writing, and A.I.'s getting into everything. How do you stop it? I don't know. Go back to a guy with a paintbrush and a canvas and that kind of thing. Sure, they still exist. A lot of people do their art on computers with the art programs or whatever. I don't know the names of any of them, but I know people are going with the latest technology, and this seems to be it. If there's a backlash — there's usually some kind of backlash against stuff every so often, so we'll see how that plays out and what will really happen for our next record. We'll see what's available then. We'll see, I guess. We're just going with the times. In '92, for 'Legion', we did a computer art. And I don't know if you would — they weren't considering it A.I. at the time, certainly, but it wasn't a guy with a paintbrush or anything. No one had a problem with that then. I don't know what the problem is now."

DEICIDE bassist/vocalist Glen Benton most recently discussed the "Banished By Sin" artwork controversy this past May in an interview with Belgian JasperBenton said: "For me, I'm an artist. I come from a family of artists. I love art. I go to museums. I'm into that. To me, it's more deeper than what's on the surface.

"We live in a day and age of bandwagon years — everybody's just ready to jump on the next bandwagon — and I knew it was gonna disturb people," he continued. "And that's the whole point of it, man. Art is supposed to get you thinking, and that's where I am. I'm not gonna dumb down my artistic creativity just because somebody finds it offensive or I didn't use their cousin who draws anime or whatever. I mean, this is about art, man.

"If you ask an artist to draw a picture of something for you and they do it in a way where it really creates controversy, you've done your job, man. And the fact that I got all these crybabies constantly trying to…

"We gave all the wrong people a voice — that's all I can say," Benton added. "There's some people that really just don't need to be heard from in society, and we gave those people — those unhappy, angry, mean, upset, self-loathing individuals — we gave them all an avenue, and it's just a sad commentary on life right now.

"Me and Steve, every time we do a record, it's, like, 'Okay. How long is it gonna take before they call me this or they say we're this?'

"You know what? Bad press is good press," Glen said. "I learned that on my first album. So if people are talking and people are disturbed, listen, man, you did a good job. And that's how I [see it]. I don't need to read all the shitty comments on YouTube or wherever else to know that I did something [worthwhile]."

Benton previously talked about the "Banished By Sin" artwork in April in an interview with The Brutally Delicious Podcast. At the time, he said: "Well, people don't understand that the album cover that we did, it was done with Photoshop and with some A.I., but it's a more modern version. It's like 'Legion' [DEICIDE's second album, released in 1992] — when I did the 'Legion' album cover, computers were still fucking new. Nobody knew anything about three-dimensional artwork or any shit like that. And I was the first person to even fucking fuck with that when I designed the 'Legion' album cover. Now I've been in the computers and all that shit since they all came about. So I may be ahead of a lot of people when it comes to computers. I have two iMacs and MacBook Pro and iPad Pro. So I'm a little versed with the whole computer age and in Photoshop and all that stuff and that.

"I like to do something different and provocative," Glen explained. "And I know the whole A.I. thing, everybody's [up in arms about it]… But it was meant to stir. People don't understand. It's a modernization of… It's a sign of the time that we're in. People just can't — their first [reaction] is, like, 'Oh, he's trying to put all of us artists out of work. And I'll be stuck drawing penises in men's bathrooms for the rest of my life.' So everybody's up in arms and thinking that this is the end of the fucking world. And it's really ridiculous, man. It's just a form of art and expression. So I think people should just really stop being ridiculous and accept it for what it is, man. It's a sign of the times.

"I don't do the same album artwork over and over and over again, and I don't use these scribble artists to create these logos that you cannot read or make out," Benton added. "I'm just not into that shit. All these wannabe Rembrandts and shit, man. You know what? I design artwork around the whole thing, man. And I don't take other people's feelings or their ideas or I don't sit here and think, 'Well, what's this blue-haired kid in Nebraska gonna think about the album cover?' I do what I do because I like it, and I don't give a shit what anybody else thinks. So if it pisses people off… And it's really more like these bandwagon little shitheads; they all wanna jump on the bandwagon, 'Boohoohoo.' But here's the thing, how hypocritical it is, because my art was being stolen [through illegal downloading] and stepped all over in the '90s. METALLICA had seen it come and they tried to stop it. But all these wannabe mercenaries for artists and all these idiots out there, they were the same people right there stealing my art back then. So where were all you guys at to defend my art being stolen and taken advantage of? So, all I did was just did an album cover, really, that just focused on the whole modernization of the modern time and, really, it's just a reflection of the age that we're in right now. I can't spend my days trying to explain this. I have a saying: I don't try to convince stupid is dumb and I don't try to convince dumb is stupid. So I just let it do its thing and piss people off. I have a great time with it. It's hilarious. Yeah, it is what it is, man. It's meant to stir the shit paddle, and that's what I do."

Asheim previously addressed the "Banished By Sin" artwork controversy in May, telling the Heavy Demons radio show: "Well, from what I understand, the label said, 'Hey, we want to get a cover that is reminiscent of the first record,' some kind of medallion or something like that. So, working with… Glen has a guy in — I think he's from Sweden, and he is a jewelry designer, and he's an artist, because, obviously, he has to craft the jewelry, he has to design the artwork for whatever. Anyway, so he asked this guy, 'Hey, create a medallion for the artwork for the record. And then we can tie it in with jewelry that we're gonna sell also.' And so that was this guy. So when people get all bent out of shape about how it's A.I. generated, I mean, we had a human artist design this thing. An artist, they use computer software to design it, and whether or not he ran it through some program to clean it up, I don't know. I mean, some people who know more about art than I do seem to have a real problem with it."

Steve continued: "Everyone's all up in arms about the whole thing. And I don't really understand why. I mean, I guess I see that point about, 'Hey, an artist who paints could have gotten paid.' Well, you know what? An artist did get paid for this artwork. Our fucking guy. I mean, it's not like he's not an artist. So, I don't know what everyone's all up in arms about. I think people just like to have something to bitch about. That's cool. I get it. I like to bitch, too.

"But anyway, that's my take on it," Asheim added. "And I think that's pretty cool. I've heard plenty of people bitch about it. I've heard plenty of people say, 'I don't see what the fucking problem is.'

"Anyway, we made super-huge banners of the artwork for live. So everyone who hates it is really gonna love that."

This past February, DEICIDE released the second single from "Banished By Sin", a song called "Sever The Tongue". The track was recorded at Smoke & Mirrors with engineer Jeramie Kling, while the mixing and mastering was handed by Josh Wilbur.

DEICIDE collaborated with David Brodsky from My Good Eye: Music Visuals for a visually arresting video for "Sever The Tongue" that complements the track's blasphemous undertones.

To close out 2023, DEICIDE celebrated Christmas with another blasphemous song called "Bury The Cross...With Your Christ".

In August 2022, Benton told "The Garza Podcast" that DEICIDE's new music "is really anthem-style stuff. It's really good, man. There's a lot of prog stuff in there, mixed in there. Steve's our prog guy, man; he's the progressive rock guy. He likes to write those really black metal riffs and the progressive stuff. He's an amazing talent, man. He plays piano. He can play sweeps on guitar. He's a drummer. Yeah, he can do it all."

Benton went on to say that the next DEICIDE album was written in 2021 before he and his bandmates agreed to embark on a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of DEICIDE's sophomore album, "Legion".

DEICIDE played its first show with new guitarist Taylor Nordberg (THE ABSENCE, INHUMAN CONDITION) on May 21, 2022 at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Texan metallers KUBLAI KHAN TX will release their new album, "Exhibition Of Prowess", on September 20 via Rise Records.

With an established reputation for delivering intense, earth-shattering bangers full of punishing breakdowns, vicious vocals and skull-splitting riffs, "Exhibition Of Prowess" is a testament to the band's relentless drive and promises to be their most compelling work yet.

In celebration of the news, KUBLAI KHAN TX has dropped the latest rager, "Supreme Ruler", and the official music video.

The band comments: "'Supreme Ruler' is a metalcore torpedo aimed straight at the world. This song captures the true simplicity and pissed-off essence of KUBLAI KHAN TX in its rawest form. Straight to the point, no bullshit, and built to last.”

KUBLAI KHAN TX has previously released crowd favorite "Theory Of Mind" and most recently "Low Tech" which both can be found on the upcoming full-length. Together, the tracks have amassed a staggering 11.2 million streams on Spotify alone and over 2 million views on YouTube with no signs of stopping.

"Exhibition Of Prowess" track listing:

01. Supreme Ruler
02. Darwinism
03. Cannibal (ft. Dave Peters)
04. X
05. Theory Of Mind
06. Mud
07. 972
08. Low Tech
09. A Hopeless Fate (ft. Jamey Jasta)
10. Antpile 2

North American fans will have their chance to see the band's incendiary live show on the road beginning in September with LORNA SHORE, WHITECHAPEL and SANGUISUGABOGG.

Photo credit: Brad Wyllner

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, JANE'S ADDICTION guitarist Dave Navarro was asked about the possibility of a new full-length album from the reunited classic lineup of the band. He responded: "That's more than likely going to happen. I mean, we have recorded material. I don't know specifically the model, if it's going to be a song at a time, or if we're going to drop a song, and then a record, or I don't really know. I kind of stay out of that stuff. What matters to me most is that this stuff is on vinyl. I don't know anything about streaming or anything like that."

He continued: "I'm 57 years old. I've been in this band since I was 17 or 18, and it's the same band, and we have some of the same hurdles, and we have other obstacles that are no longer there. There's always hurdles in collaborative creative efforts, but overcoming those hurdles is where the solution happens, and the solution, should it reveal itself, can be pretty exciting.

"The songwriting process has really changed thanks to technology," Dave explained. "Everything was on reel-to-reel before, and so all four of us would have to be in the recording studio to get something down. There's something really magical and special about that, because all the tapes are live, and everybody's playing together, and tempos fluctuate, but it's human, and it feels good. But the state of technology now allows us to individually, to work on ideas, away from the room, and then when we come into the room, have a way more concrete concept of where we want to go rather than fishing."

Navarro went on to say that JANE'S ADDICTION fans can expect to hear another new song soon to follow "Imminent Redemption", which came out last month. He said: "There will be another one that's on the stage, and I don't know if I'm giving anything away, but nobody in management has called me and said, 'Don't do this or that,' but 'Imminent Redemption' will be available on vinyl. And it will be backed with another song. So that's exciting to me because I'm a vinyl freak."

As for the the time he spent sidelined from performing with JANE'S ADDICTION due to his battle with long COVID, he said: "The jury's still out on what's the right treatment for long COVID. How do you get rid of it, if you can get rid of it? But I'm in a stronger place, where I can at least get through a 90-minute show, and I can definitely sit in a studio chair for eight hours, because that's not very exhausting."

Asked what his symptoms were, Navarro said: "Just overall fatigue. Really just not feeling like I had recovered, which led to being home quite a bit, which led to isolation, which led to depression, all those kinds of things. And it was just a pretty miserable experience for several years. And going to different doctors, trying different methods, holistic methods, Western methods. Some doctors claim that they're specialists. Others claim that there is no way to test for long COVID, and then there was still a lot of skepticism about it being a real thing, at the time. So I just had to stick it out, man, and I'm in a lot better place right now, with it all. It still rears its head once in a while, but what am I going to do? In fact, last tour, in Europe, I caught a flu or something, and I went and played some shows anyway. So if I can do that…"

"Imminent Redemption", which was recorded with JANE'S ADDICTION's classic lineup consisting of vocalist Perry Farrell, Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery was tracked at Sweetzwerland Studios in Hollywood, California.

Prior to "Imminent Redemption"'s arrival, Avery's last time in the studio with JANE'S ADDICTION was for the classic 1990 album "Ritual De Lo Habitual".

"Imminent Redemption" was first performed live when JANE'S ADDICTION's classic lineup played its first show in 14 years on May 23 at London, United Kingdom's Bush Hall.

At the London gig, Navarro, Farrell, Perkins and Avery – who had left the band in 2010 but returned in 2022 — also played another new track, "True Love", which they had premiered last year. They also opened with "Kettle Whistle", marking JANE'S ADDICTION's first performance of the song with Navarro since 2001.

"True Love" was reportedly written by Farrell, Avery and Perkins, with assistance from touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.

Navarro sat out JANE'S ADDICTION's 2022 and 2023 shows due to his battle with long COVID. He was replaced at last year's gigs by Klinghoffer, a former member of RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS who also records with Eddie Vedder and performs with PEARL JAM. 2022 saw QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's Troy Van Leeuwen step in for Navarro.

The fall 2022 "Spirit On Fire" tour marked the first JANE'S ADDICTION run of shows in more than a decade to feature returning Avery. Prior to that, Avery last played with the band for a short stint in the 2000s before departing again in 2010.

In the fall of 2022, Farrell told Alternative Press that it wasn't easy finding a temporary replacement for Navarro. "At first, there was a lot of weight on my shoulders," he said. "This was our return tour right after COVID, and we didn't have Dave. JANE'S is a unique band, and you can't just grab any guitar player and they'll pick it up. That's Dave Navarro we're talking about — those are big shoes to fill."

When it was first announced that Van Leeuwen would fill in for Navarro for the fall 2022 tour, Dave said in a statement: "He is a great guy and I am honored to have him help make this tour happen. Though I am saddened to not make this tour, I am focused on making a full recovery and rejoining the guys when I am able. I truly wish the band well on this tour and I am confident they will bring everything to make it a fabulous show! Go get 'em, guys!"

JANE'S ADDICTION and LOVE AND ROCKETS will hit the road for their 2024 co-headline tour. Produced by Live Nation, the 23-city trek kicks off on August 9 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas making stops across North America in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, and more before wrapping up in St. Louis at Evolution Festival on September 29.

NINE INCH NAILS has composed the score for "Tron: Ares", the upcoming third film in the sci-fi franchise about a world of virtual reality based inside a computer mainframe.

The Trent Reznor-led band's involvement in the movie, which is set for release in October 2025, was revealed on Friday (August 9) as part of Disney's presentation of its upcoming slate during the D23 Expo fan event in Anaheim, California.

Reznor and his frequent film score collaborator Atticus Ross, who joined NINE INCH NAILS in 2016, have scored more than a dozen films, including 2010's "The Social Network" and this year's "Challengers".

"Tron: Ares", which will be the first score attributed to NINE INCH NAILS, will feature the first new songs from the band since the fifth and sixth installments of the "Ghosts" series, released in 2020.

"Tron: Ares", directed by Joachim Rønning, began production in Vancouver in January. It will be the third installment in the "Tron" franchise, following the 1982 original, which starred a young Jeff Bridges, and the 2010 sequel, "Tron: Legacy".

According to a press release, the film centers around a highly sophisticated program, Ares (Jared Leto),who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind's first encounter with A.I. beings.

Joining Leto in the cast are Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan and Gillian Anderson.

"I'm excited to be part of the 'Tron' franchise and bring this new film to fans around the world," Rønning said in a statement. "'Tron: Ares' builds upon the legacy of cutting-edge design, technology and storytelling. Now more than ever, it feels like the right time to return to the Grid."

The original film was centered on Bridges's video game designer Kevin Flynn who managed to step inside his own game, while "Legacy" followed his son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund),who followed in his old man's footsteps.
The laser reveal of Nine Inch Nails for Tron: Ares #D23pic.twitter.com/ZxOs11ywdi

— IGN (@IGN) August 10, 2024

Eight-time Grammy Award winner Carrie Underwood recently united with rock icons PAPA ROACH on a new recording of their multi-format hit single "Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)". The official music video for the track — directed and filmed by Bryson Roatch and Jeff Johnson — was released last week and can be seen below. Excerpts of the clip were filmed on location at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and East Iris Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.

Asked in a new interview with On With Mario Lopez how the Underwood collaboration came about, PAPA ROACH singer Jacoby Shaddix said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I was listening to SiriusXM Octane and she was doing an interview on Octane with this guy Jose [Mangin], and he's like a metalhead, right? And she was talking about her love for rock and metal music, and she brought up PAPA ROACH. And somebody had texted me, she's, like, 'Did you see this interview?' And I was, like, 'Oh, snap. What's up? Carrie's a fan. That's dope.' And so we had a show in Nashville, and I invited her and her husband out to the show. She came out to the show, loved the show. The wife and I were in Vegas and we checked out one of her residencies, and we rolled after her show and we just hit it off and became friends. And then one thing leads to another, and then we had this song and we hit her up, we're, like, 'Hey, we've got this song.' And we've always envisioned it with a female vocal on it, a duet. And she was all about it. And so it was just such a cool way that it came together and organically. It wasn't set up by the powers that be. And, yeah, she's just such a great vocalist. It was awesome."

As for whether there is a possibility that PAPA ROACH and Underwood will one day perform the song live, Jacoby said: "Oh, man, that would be a dream. It would be cool. We actually sang the song together a few times in the studio. After she got done cutting her vocal, we did some TikToks and stuff like that. And she's, like, 'So what's up? Are we gonna sing this thing together?' And I'm, like, 'All right, here we go.' I'm just this rock dude and she's a super-polished, amazing vocalist. And we started singing live in the room together, and it was a vibe. It was cool, man. And so I would definitely love to put this on stage, for sure."

The dynamic duet between PAPA ROACH and Underwood was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and continues the mission of the Californian band to raise awareness for suicide prevention and mental health awareness, alongside partner organization(s) the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP),who will receive royalties generated from both artists from the song, in perpetuity. The release will also raise awareness for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the United States and Canada.

"We were humbled that Carrie was open to our mission, and hearing the power of Carrie's voice in that recording session we were blown away," Shaddix previously said in a statement. "Not only is her vocal ability unequaled, but the impact of her voice brings a new meaning to our cause and will help people all over the globe. It's an honor to have a 'rock star' bring life to this track with us."

"I'm such a huge fan of Jacoby and PAPA ROACH and was honored to be invited to record 'Leave A Light On' with them," Underwood added. "It's a beautiful song and the message behind it and the band's mission to shine a light on suicide prevention and mental health awareness has never been more important."

"Leave A Light On", a band favorite, was first performed by PAPA ROACH live last year on their tour with SHINEDOWN and SPIRITBOX. In each city, including Nashville where Underwood was in attendance, the song was preceded by an emotional video PSA delivered by Shaddix, who pledged a donation to the AFSP on behalf of each city's attendees, culminating in a $155,000 donation at the end of the tour.

The accomplishment motivated the band to commit even further by re-naming the single as "Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)" , in conjunction with the AFSP's "Talk Away The Dark" campaign, and pledged a perpetual royalty from the song's use, in any manner, to the AFSP, continuing their mission to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide.

The compelling song has connected with audiences globally and became the band's 12th No. 1 and 26th Top 10 hit, reaching No. 1 at rock and Top 10 at Alternative in the U.S. The band's efforts in raising money for the AFSP have not ceased and are now estimated to be over $250,000 — and growing.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention CEO Bob Gebbia said: "PAPA ROACH's 'Leave A Light On/Talk Away The Dark' has tapped into a cultural moment in which people are eager and ready for the message the song contains: that we all go through difficult times and that we can all be there for each other.

"We want to thank Carrie Underwood for joining with PAPA ROACH to record this new, inspiring duet version, which will reach even more fans and connect them to AFSP's Talk Away The Dark campaign. We are also incredibly grateful to PAPA ROACH and Carrie Underwood for their commitment to providing those struggling with their mental health information and resources that can help. These amazing artists are educating the public about the importance of taking care of our mental health, and they are generously supporting the AFSP's mission of saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide."

PAPA ROACH are two-time Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling leaders in alternative hard rock music, who in 2025 will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their iconic album "Infest". PAPA ROACH are not unfamiliar with calling attention to mental health and have been doing so since the seminal release of their first hit-single "Last Resort". Since then, the band has gone on to create 10 studio albums, their most recent, "Ego Trip", on their own label New Noize Records. "Ego Trip" has garnered over 450 million global streams to date and has produced four No. 1 singles bringing the band's total to 26 career Top 10 hits, and 12 career No. 1s. PAPA ROACH recently announced their headline "Rise Of The Roach" arena tour for 2025 in select cities throughout Europe, including London's famed Wembley Arena, where the band will be partnering with the suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) who are fighting to reduce the devastating impact of suicide in the U.K. There will be a £1 donation included on every ticket.

Underwood is a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, film, and as a New York Times bestselling author and successful entrepreneur. Carrie has sold more than 85 million records worldwide, recorded 28 No. 1 singles (14 of which she co-wrote),is the most-awarded female country artist for singles in RIAA history, and has seven albums that are certified multi-platinum or platinum by the RIAA, with over 72 million total RIAA certifications to date, all while continuing to sell out arena tours across North America and the U.K. Carrie has won over 100 major awards including eight Grammy Awards, 16 ACM Awards, including three for Entertainer Of The Year (the first female in history to win twice and the only female ever to win three times),25 CMT Music Awards (holding the record for the most award wins ever for the show),seven CMA Awards, 17 American Music Awards, and 10 People's Choice Awards. She has been a proud member of the Grand Ole Opry since 2008 and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2018. Her ongoing "Reflection: The Las Vegas Residency" continues to play to packed houses and has been extended into 2025. She recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her exclusive year-round SiriusXM channel, Carrie's Country.

Photo credit: Bryson Roatch

Fan-filmed video of Kerry King's entire August 8 performance at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania can be seen below.

The setlist for the concert was as follows:

01. Where I Reign
02. Trophies Of The Tyrant
03. Residue
04. Toxic
05. Idle Hands
06. Shrapnel
07. Raining Blood (SLAYER song)
08. Black Magic (SLAYER song)
09. From Hell I Rise

The SLAYER guitarist's solo band played its first concert as the support act for LAMB OF GOD and MASTODON on July 19 at the Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Last month, LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton told theHeavy Consequence's "Two For The Road" series about the fact that King's new group is serving as the support act for the North American "Ashes Of Leviathan" tour: "It speaks to the character of Kerry King, a legend in this game. [I have the] utmost respect [for him]. [He was] part of some of the greatest metal songs in history. SLAYER [was] absolutely formative in my understanding and my love for metal. And SLAYER has taken LAMB OF GOD out on multiple occasions, MASTODON out on multiple occasions, at some point together. And so now SLAYER is defunct or on hiatus, whatever it is that they're doing, or not doing. I don't know how to characterize that, but they've not been around, they've not been actively working."

Morton continued: "First of all, it speaks to who he is as a musician and as a songwriter and as an artist and as a performer that he doesn't just like kick back and go play with the snakes or whatever he does for fun. He puts a new band together, writes a new album, records a banger of an album, and now he's gonna go out on tour opening for these guys that opened for him. No pretense, no ego, none of the behind-the-scenes stuff, prima donna stuff — none of it. Because that's who he is.

"If there's any question, to the fans that are watching this or hearing this, but understand that that dude is a real one," Mark added. "He's an absolute real one. He's doing this not for the money — it's none of that. He's doing this because that dude is, in the truest, realest, most genuine sense of the concept, a heavy metal guitar player, songwriter. And if he can't do it with that band [SLAYER], he's gonna do it with this band. And if he can't do it headlining, he's gonna open up. It does not fricking matter. 'Cause that's who he is. And out of all the things I could say out of respect and accolades for Kerry King, that, to me, hits the hardest. That is the most impressive thing to me."

The six-week "Ashes Of Leviathan" tour will wrap on August 31 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Joining Kerry in his new band are Mark Osegueda (vocals; DEATH ANGEL),Phil Demmel (guitar; MACHINE HEAD, VIO-LENCE),Kyle Sanders (bass; HELLYEAH) and drummer Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, TESTAMENT, EXODUS).

In early May, the KERRY KING band performed its first live show at Reggies in Chicago. In the days following, the band went from playing an intimate venue to performing at the huge U.S. festivals Welcome To Rockville (Florida) and Sonic Temple (Ohio).

KERRY KING launched a European tour on June 3 — King's 60th birthday – in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The trek combined headline shows in the U.K., The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain but also festival appearances such as Rock Am Ring, Hellfest, Tuska, Download, Sweden Rock Festival and many more.

King's debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise", was released in May. All material for the LP was written by the 60-year-old SLAYER guitarist. Helming the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles last year was producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and BAD RELIGION, among others.

A recreation of MOTÖRHEAD icon Lemmy's dressing room is being available for viewing at this year's Bloodstock Open Air festival, which is taking place from Thursday, August 8 to Sunday, August 11 at Catton Park, Walton-on-Trent, United Kingdom. Fans attending the festival are not only be able to pay their respects at the specially created bust containing Lemmy's ashes, but see a whole host of genuine personal items, including his iconic hat, boots, bass guitar and hand-drawn pictures, as well as handwritten lyrics, dressing room paraphernalia, and a never-seen-before selection of his personal photos.

The bust was unveiled on the main stage at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, August 9 (after HATEBREED) in a special "Lemmy Forever" ceremony with festival management and the band's Phil Campbell, before being placed in Lemmy's dressing room, which adjoins the "Rock & Metal Gallery" (next to the signing tent). The gallery closed temporarily for the ceremony, and reopened shortly afterwards — then including Lemmy's dressing room which was not viewable prior to this.

There are some additional MOTÖRHEAD memorabilia viewable as part of the wider gallery exhibits, and you definitely won't want to miss the magnificent MOTÖRHEAD bomber, which is prominently displayed in the main arena near the entrance from the Midgard campsite. Listen out for the unmistakable MOTÖRHEAD siren, which will sound to mark the opening and closing of Bloodstock this year.

Once the festival is over, the bust of Lemmy will move to Nottingham's Rock City venue, where fans will have access to the ashes; they will return each and every year to their primary home on the hallowed turf of Bloodstock at Catton Park.

This past March, MOTÖRHEAD's manager Todd Singerman said in a statement: "Bloodstock has always been a special place for MOTÖRHEAD and for Lemmy. The people and the energy matched Lemmy's values perfectly. Alan and Vicky were also great friends and basically family of Lemmy, as he was the reason that they originally got together. This is definitely a fitting honor in the continuing series of enshrinements of Lemmy's ashes in his most loved places."

Bloodstock's Vicky Hungerford added: "We were humbled and honored to be approached by MOTÖRHEAD management to have Lemmy's ashes at Bloodstock. Lemmy holds a very special place in everybody's heart, but to myself and my husband he was the reason we met and fell in love. Nothing will mean more to us and the Bloodstock family than to honor his legacy and have Lemmy forever at Bloodstock."

Get full festival information over at bloodstock.uk.com.

Lemmy died on December 28, 2015 at the age of 70 shortly after learning he had been diagnosed with cancer.

MOTÖRHEAD had to cancel a number of shows in 2015 because of Lemmy's poor health, although the band did manage to complete the aforementioned European tour a couple of weeks before his death.

In June 2020, it was announced that Lemmy would get the biopic treatment. The upcoming film, "Lemmy", will be directed by Greg Olliver, who previously helmed the 2010 documentary of the same name, "Lemmy".

A custom-made urn containing Lemmy's ashes is on permanent display in a columbarium at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

In a new interview with Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global, DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess talked about the band's upcoming sixteenth album, which will mark the progressive metal legends' first LP since drummer Mike Portnoy's return to the group last October. Asked about the songwriting process for the new LP, Jordan said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, what I've been saying, which is really important to realize is that although DREAM THEATER, we were absolutely fine for 13 years while Mike Portnoy was on hiatus or whatever, having him come back has been really wonderful because this is his home. He helped to create what people know as DREAM THEATER, and to get back to some of those core values, if you will, of what the music and album should be like with Mike here with us has been really great. And I think that people are gonna feel it from everything — from his drumming style to the kind of contributions that he makes to the way the songs are put together to what I like to say is kind of like his film-director mentality, where he's thinking about, 'Oh, that melody. Oh, we could use that melody in that song. And then we can connect this,' and all these interesting connections."

Jordan continued: "I have a lot of capability to write music. [DREAM THEATER guitarist] John Petrucci is a great producer, great writer. Everybody's got their specialty. But Mike brings in his specialty, which is different than everybody else's, which becomes part of the DREAM THEATER experience. And there's no denying it. And people are gonna love this because it's all over this album, that touch that he has. And I'm just really excited about every level of it — from what we're gonna release on the album to what we're bringing to the tour and the kind of show we're putting together and the setlist that he basically wrote. A lot of good things to say about it. And besides, it's very emotional for me, for us, to have him back because he's always been a good friend and I think this is where he belongs."

Last month, Rudess was asked by Chris Akin Presents how the upcoming DREAM THEATER album compares to the rest of the band's discography. Jordan said: "Well, let's put it this way. There's this undeniable, almost unexplainable or inexplainable, whatever the word is, type of thing that happens with drummers. We survived beautifully in the 13 years that Mike Portnoy was not there. Mike Mangini was a supreme drummer, just incredible. And that said, all the albums with Portnoy, all the albums with Mangini, they have different flavors, because there's something about the back beat, if you will, of a band and the drummer that just gives an energy to the whole thing. And a lot of people speak of that. It's kind of hard to pin down. But you really notice it. Like on this new album, I listen to it and I go, 'Okay, I feel the Portnoy energy back there.'

"I would say what I'm hearing personally is classic kind of DREAM THEATER, whatever that means to anybody that's listening," he continued. "You'll have to wait and see. Think of it this way: the core band is back together again. It's classic DREAM THEATER. I also like to point out that we are a bunch of guys that we take what we do very, very seriously. We put every ounce, every bit of effort, energy into everything we do. We care so much about it, each and every one of us.

"The other day, I was talking to [DREAM THEATER guitarist] John Petrucci in the studio when I was doing my keyboard parts. And we were really deep and working really hard and spending long hours and just getting things to where we feel they're really, really right. And I said to John, I said, 'John, look at what we're doing. We're here late. We're working like crazy. Why? We could have been making pop music. Why are we doing this?' Just to really understand, because a lot of people don't put the kind of effort, I guess, especially these days when there tends to be a different kind of work ethic around, and maybe we're kind of like old school in that way. But to produce a product, to make something that's gonna last, that is gonna be shared with a large number of people, that's just gonna live on, in a way, forever, that, to us, is a really serious thing. And as artists, we're trying to make a statement."

Circling back to Portnoy's influence on the new DREAM THEATER music, Jordan said: "One of the beautiful things is Mike has brought with him all his incredible skills. He's not a guy who just plays the drums really well. He also understands this business. I always like to say that he's got kind of like a film director's mentality, he's looking at everything from a conceptual point of view, and he has skills that the rest of us don't. I mean, yes, we survived fine [without Portnoy], we did really well, we won a Grammy [while he was out of the band] and all that, but there's a magic there that we now have back. It's cool — it's really cool. We're super excited."

On the topic of where the recording process stands right now, Rudess told Chris Akin Presents: "The album's coming along really well. I finished all my keyboard parts. I'm really pleased with them. I got some really beefy, cool tones. And there was a great piano in the studio, which just rocked when I needed it to. It was really melodic when I needed it to. The drums sound amazing. Petrucci's solos are — I don't know; every album, he just seems to outdo himself with all that. The bass sounds great. Jimmy T [James Meslin], our engineer, it's incredible just watching him work. So the team is in a good place. James [LaBrie] is doing his vocals pretty much as we speak. And I got a little taste of that, and they sound great. So, yeah, it's in a good spot."

Rudess previously discussed DREAM THEATER's reunion with Portnoy earlier in July in an interview with Brazil's 89FM A Rádio Rock. Jordan said at the time: "I feel, in a way, like we haven't even missed a beat with this lineup. Having Mike Portnoy come back to us just feels like he's coming home. He was so welcome and we were so happy, we just jumped right into it. From day one, when he walked in the studio and we started to work, literally it was like there was no break. I mean, he just belongs here and he is so engaged, so passionate about what he does, and having that energy come into our group has been a beautiful thing."

Rudess also spoke to 89FM A Rádio Rock about DREAM THEATER's upcoming sixteenth album. Asked if the recording process has changed with Portnoy coming back to the band, Rudess said: "Well, it's definitely changed because he's a very strong musical personality and a strong personality in general. And so he has a lot of thoughts about things. He's a very conceptual thinker, and I think that as fine as we were just doing our own thing when he was gone, having him back, it's just like, wow, this is so great to have your mind and your spirit involved in it. It really does change things. So I think when people hear the new album that we're working on, they'll kind of see that and they'll feel that. I definitely think it's reconnecting with some of the spirit of the magic that we produced in the years that he was in the band."

Regarding whether Portnoy's time away from DREAM THEATER will help Mike bring new things to the group now that he has rejoined his longtime bandmates, Rudess said: "Well, I think everybody grows, everybody changes and we bring what we learn into the mix. So, I think while we're revisiting and kind of enjoying this feeling of connecting with who we were, we're also different people, we've been through all these different experiences, so there's a lot of other things we all bring to the situation — on every level, just musically, personally, everything."

Portnoy co-founded DREAM THEATER in 1985 with guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung. Mike played on 10 DREAM THEATER albums over a 20-year period, from 1989's "When Dream And Day Unite" through 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", before exiting the group in 2010.

Mike Mangini joined DREAM THEATER in late 2010 through a widely publicized audition following the departure of Portnoy. Mangini beat out six other of the world's top drummers — Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer and Derek Roddy — for the gig, a three-day process that was filmed for a documentary-style reality show called "The Spirit Carries On".

Rudess also spoke about Portnoy's return to DREAM THEATER earlier in July in an interview with Serbia's Highwaystar Magazine. Jordan said at the time: "Well, it was so great to have him back. In many ways it feels like we never lost a beat. Because he was one of the ones who started this band, and he loves it so much, the welcoming process was really immediate and we're all so happy to kind of re-establish what we had. I mean, it feels like getting the core band together again."

Jordan went on to talk about DREAM THEATER's upcoming "40th Anniversary Tour 2024 - 2025". The trek — presented as "An Evening With Dream Theater" — is the first outing since Portnoy's return to the band. The European leg of DREAM THEATER's "40th Anniversary Tour 2024 - 2025" consists of stops in 23 cities, including in Zagreb, Croatia, and kicks off on October 20 and runs through November 24. Asked what fans can expect from the Zagreb show, Jordan said: "Well, it's gonna be a very, very exciting concert, as you know, because everybody's so excited about this reunion of all of us. And Mike will also have a lot to do with helping to pick the songs that we play in the setlist. That's one of his great talents, to decide things like that. And it'll be just a celebration. We're gonna play a bunch of songs from our catalog. We'll pick some ones that everybody really wants to hear. And, yeah, I think they can expect probably one of the most exciting DREAM THEATER shows that they've ever been to. I can almost guarantee it."

Asked by Brazil's Marcelo Vieira and Matheus Ribeiro if DREAM THEATER's upcoming LP picks up from where the last DT album he played on, 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", left off or if it's a different thing entirely, Portnoy said: "If I'm being honest, I think it picks up right where 'Black Clouds' left off, to be honest. There's a certain style that the five of us have when we write together. And if you listen to the album with this lineup from 1999, '[Metropolis Pt. 2:] Scenes From A Memory', through 2009's 'Black Clouds & Silver Linings', if you look at that string of five or six albums, that's the sound and style of these five people. So I think that's a good indication of what you can expect with the new DREAM THEATER album. It definitely sounds like classic DREAM THEATER."

In June, Portnoy told The Prog Report about the writing and recording sessions for DREAM THEATER's sixteenth studio album: "It's going great… It's a long process. I haven't spent this much time making an album in a long time, because usually [Mike's other projects] NMB [NEAL MORSE BAND] or FLYING COLORS or whatever, you kind of get together, do the writing and the tracking, and everybody does it at home. But DREAM THEATER is still old school where the band is in the studio the whole time. And it's not like anybody's doing anything at home separately. We do it all together, coming in one at a time to work and record. So, yeah, it's a longer process than I've had in quite some time. But it's great… It's the old way. It's the way I always made records with DREAM THEATER. I just hadn't done it that way in so long, but it is good. And the process is really detailed this way. All these other bands and projects, everyone kind of just does their own thing on their own time at their own place. But this really gives a real unified kind of band vibe. Even a couple of weeks ago, James [LaBrie, DREAM THEATER singer] flew back out, came down from Japan and we spent time collaborating on vocal melodies, so lyrics can be written to those melodies, which is kind of the way the process is in DREAM THEATER. So, yeah, it's nice to just be a part of each one of these steps, like the old days. It's been a while since I made a record this way."

Portnoy went on to say that he "can't give away much details" about DREAM THEATER's next LP, "but we are all just really, really excited about it, really proud of it. And just can't wait to unleash some info, but I can't do that just yet," he added.

In April, DREAM THEATER singer James LaBrie was asked by Rolling Stone magazine why he and his bandmates wanted Portnoy to return. He said: "I think we had to return the band back to its strongest form." Petrucci added: "It wasn't one singular thing; it was sort of a series of life events that caused an organic conclusion. We all talked about it. It was like, 'Yeah, this makes sense right now.'" Keyboardist Jordan Rudess chimed in: "There's so many factors involved, and each of us has our particular relationships. And it was just a moment when everything seemed to come together, and we went, 'You know what? Let's do this. Now's the time.'" Myung concurred, saying: "It was a collective moment of certainty."

Asked if he was surprised when he was invited back into the band, Portnoy said: "Before the Covid pandemic, if you had asked me or any of these guys, 'Was a reunion in the cards?' I probably would've said I doubted that it could happen. I think if the lockdown hadn't happened, you guys probably would've been on tour, and I would've been on tour with one of my 48 bands. But once we were all locked down, John asked me to play on his solo album. Then, from there, Jordan, John, and myself did the LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT album. And then I did John's tour. So there were just these series of events of reconnecting us — not only on a musical level but also on a personal level for many years prior to that.

"All of our families are friends," he continued. "And my daughter and John's daughter shared an apartment together for many, many years. And John Myung lives right down the block from me, and his wife's at my house every night. There was just a series of events both personally and musically that started to feel like, 'Well, maybe this really is in the cards. Maybe this is the right time.'"

Asked if they see this reunion as healing a fractured band, Portnoy said: "I don't want to be over-philosophical about it, but as we're all getting older. Here we are in our 50s and 60s. You start to think of the reality of, 'How much time do we have left?' I would hate it if this were to become a Roger Waters-PINK FLOYD or Peter Gabriel-with-GENESIS situation where the fans want it, but it never happens."

Petrucci added: "When Mike left the band, it was traumatic for all of us. We had to figure out how we were going to move our career forward. And those years that went by, they were also healing years because you don't just have something like that happen, and all of a sudden, you're all best buddies a week later. There's some trauma there that had to heal. Thirteen years was enough time for that to happen and be, like, 'Hey, you know what, man? We love each other like we're brothers.'"

In a new interview with Tom Reardon of the Phoenix New Times, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine, who was a member of METALLICA for less than two years, from 1981 to 1983, before being dismissed and replaced by Kirk Hammett, was asked about his reputation as one of the more "misunderstood" figures in rock and roll. He said: "People get their ya-yas when they see people struggling for some crazy reason. There's the people out there who love you and want you to do good and the people out there, for whatever reason, who don't want you to do good. You ask yourself, 'What did I do to you? Are you that fucking jealous?' There's a lot of people like that. You just have to learn to avoid them."

Referencing his exit from METALLICA, Mustaine added: "Once we broke up with [METALLICA's] James [Hetfield] and Lars [Ulrich] and we went our separate ways, it was really weird with all the animosity from people I didn't even know."

But, he clarified, "I do believe that people are entitled to their opinions. There have been numerous times where people had a right to take exception with something I've done because there have been some things that I did or said that I look back now and I think, 'Wow, that was a little over the top, Dave,' but sometimes things just need to be said. There were no people that had the balls to say anything, but that ain't me. If someone was trying to pull a scam with us, that's not going to happen."

Back in 2012, Mustaine floated the idea that he was misunderstood by the media, telling Noisecreep: "One of the problems about MEGADETH is that we've been severely misinterpreted by the press. I'll say something in an interview, and they'll either take what I said completely out of context or they evaluate it based on one sole statement and not the whole idea."

He repeated those sentiments a year later in an interview with Metal Hammer.

"Probably the biggest thing that has harmed my career is being misunderstood, but is it better to be understood or to understand?" he explained at the time. "I understand much more now, so I'm less inclined to be preaching or complaining about being misquoted now. There are people who love me and people who don't, but everyone's entitled. I have love in my heart for both. I don't get mad about the people who dislike me. You can get obsessed with that. Someone doesn't like me? Tough shit for me."

He added: "I have a terrible reputation. There was a guy who used to manage me, and when we had a falling out, I think he started rumors about me being difficult. But we became friends again and reconciled. And that was all part of a process of reconciliation, including with METALLICA and [former MEGADETH bassist David] Ellefson, too. And do you know what? When that happened, my injured arm and injured thumb started working again. Crazy, huh?"

In 2016, Mustaine was asked by Westword.com why he thinks he is "openly despised" on "a handful of web sites." He responded: "I think a lot of it goes back to the breakup from METALLICA. There are people that have picked up that feud, and they don't even know why they're choosing sides."

He continued: "I have nothing against METALLICA fans. I was in both bands. I like Lars and I like James and, contrary to what people say, I do think Kirk is a good guitar player."

Mustaine added: "In the beginning, when I was bitter, yeah, there was shit going back and forth. They were justifying firing me, and I was telling them that they were wrong. That's just been perpetuated over and over again. It's been put to bed. I've got no beef with those dudes. We're two totally different bands."

In 2019, Dave was asked by the "Elliot In The Morning" radio show whether he is bothered by his reputation as someone who is difficult to deal with. He responded: "No, I don't care about it. I think it's kind of a bummer, though, sometimes when people, for the first time, come up to you. It's such a pregnant pause when people will go… they'll meet you and go, 'God, you know, I heard you were such an a-hole,' and you just kind of look at them, like, 'Uh-huh.' Again, it's like… This reminds me of when I was a kid and my first dance. I went up to a girl and I asked her to dance, and she said 'no,' and I walked away and I thought, 'Screw you! You don't know what you're missing.' And I figured I would commence to destroy her reputation in school. I'm kidding, of course, but that's kind of what we do when we get any kind of rejection; we make the other person out to be really horrible. Evidence of that was when I parted ways with METALLICA. Neither one of us really wanted to tell the absolute truth about what happened; we wanted to make the other party the bad guys. And I think that's what took so long for us to come to the truth that, 'Hey, we still really love each other a lot. And it was never meant to be, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends.'"

Mustaine was not inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with METALLICA during the April 2009 ceremony at Cleveland, Ohio's Public Auditorium.

Ulrich later explained to The Plain Dealer that Mustaine was not included because "you've got to kind of cap it somewhere. Dave Mustaine never played on any METALLICA records. No disrespect to him. But there [were] half a dozen other people that were in the lineup in the early days. We thought . . . the fair thing to do would be to include anybody that played on a METALLICA record."

He added: "Dave Mustaine was in the band for 11 months, predominantly in 1982. . . . I'm not trying to play it down. I have nothing but respect and admiration for his accomplishments since."

MEGADETH kicked off the "Destroy All Enemies" summer 2024 U.S. tour on August 2 at Walmart AMP, Rogers, Arkansas. Produced by Live Nation, the trek, which features MUDVAYNE and ALL THAT REMAINS as support, is hitting 32 more cities, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Boston and St. Louis, before wrapping up on September 28 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Image credit: MEGADETH YouTube channel

In a new interview with The Mistress Carrie Podcast, Zakk Wylde spoke about the decision to tour with a reformed version of PANTERA, also featuring surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass),alongside Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) on drums. The lineup has reportedly been given a green light by the estates of PANTERA's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.

Asked what he would have said a few years ago if somebody had told him that he would one day be the guitarist in PANTERA, Zakk said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, [it's] the PANTERA celebration. It's not PANTERA. PANTERA is Dime, Vinnie, Phil and Rex. So that's PANTERA. But no, it's a beautiful thing honoring the guys every night. Everybody's having a blast. Everyone that comes down to the shows either — you have the PANTERA faithful taking a trip down memory lane, and you've got all the younger, like Phil always calls it, the new blood. And it's amazing every night how many… It's just a testament to what the fellas created. Because we've got so many young people that have never seen PANTERA before."

He continued: "For me, for my situation, I never got a chance to see LED ZEPPELIN. So, if ZEPPELIN got back together, and you had, I mean, right now with Jason [Bonham] playing the drums, 'cause I never got a chance to see it. So, it's that kind of situation. So it's all the younger kids coming up hearing that their older brothers listened to it or their dad or whatever, and now they're at the gig to hear this music live. So, to me, it's truly a beautiful thing every night we play honoring the guys."

Regarding how his opinion of Dimebag as a guitar player has changed as a result of having to dissect his parts, Zakk said: "I already knew my buddy was great. I already knew Dime was great. But then the more I was learning this stuff, I was, like, he's even greater than I ever thought. But, no, learning all the stuff or going through actually learning the songs, it's just, aside of Dime's great technique and his chops and everything like that… I mean, to me, his legacy is — I put it more like Tony Iommi, where what Tony created with [BLACK] SABBATH was basically its own entire genre of music. So PANTERA, they're the gold standard of that genre of music, whether it's 'power groove' or whatever, what Dime called it. The LAMB OF GOD guys are amazing, but they're cut from that cloth, that style of music that PANTERA forged, and all the bands that come after that. I mean, it's just kind of like PANTERA, what PANTERA created in their genre is the same thing as THE BEATLES, THE [ROLLING] STONES, ZEPPELIN and SABBATH, all the bands that we love, where they're the benchmark of that style of music. So, yeah, that's why I always tell everybody, it's not so much how fast Dime was and everything like that; it's what he wrote. And that's his legacy, to me."

Asked what it's like to play the opening riff of the classic PANTERA song "Walk" every night, Wylde said: "It's truly amazing. Phil always says it every night. When we're, doing the shows with METALLICA, he goes, 'I think a lot of people don't know who we are, don't know who PANTERA is, he goes, 'but once that riff starts. They go, 'Oh, yeah, I've heard this song before.' It's an iconic riff, for sure. Totally."

Earlier in the month, Zakk was asked by Joshua Toomey of the Talk Toomey podcast what goes through his mind when the curtain falls down as he and his bandmates launch into the opening riff of "A New Level" every night, Zakk said: "Oh, it's awesome. I love every second of the show — from the beginning to the end, man. Obviously, when we're doing 'Floods', I get pretty choked up doing that one, especially the end bit, the outro of Dime's, 'cause it's just me by myself. I don't see the video screens that are behind me, but, obviously, when I've seen the footage of it, it's just, like, 'Wow.' There's just pretty much not a dry eye in the house on that one. Yeah, I definitely get choked up doing that one, when we do 'Floods'.

"Everybody in the camp, everybody's just all great people," Zakk continued. "I mean, we've all known each other — the fellows in the band, we've known each other, but as far as the whole camp and the crew, we've all known each other from various tours and things. So it's like one gigantic family out there. So, I mean, the whole vibe, it's just a beautiful thing."

Regarding whether there were any PANTERA songs or parts that took him longer to figure out than the rest, Zakk said: "What I just found really awesome was Dime's… I mean, the reason why we're still talking about Dime's greatness and everybody, and all the guys that we love, whether it's King Edward [Eddie Van Halen], St. Rhoads [Randy Rhoads], Jimi Hendrix, I mean, all the guys, it's what they wrote. Aside of Dime's great technique and how amazing he was and how fast he could play and everything like that, it's what he wrote, just like with Randy and Eddie and everybody. I mean, all the guys that we love. But Dime's writing, like his chord choices and everything like that, it's just, like, 'Oh, wow. That's definitely really cool.' So, a lot of unexpected pre-choruses and things like that. It's, like, 'Oh, wow. I wonder what made him go there,' like really interesting chord choices. But, yeah, for sure.

"Going through, learning the whole catalog and learning deeper cuts and everything like that, I was, like, 'Wow. This one's pretty cool,'" he continued. "I mean, even the pre-chorus to 'Walk' or just the opening riff — a lot of a lot of the chord choices would end up becoming… They're dissonant, where that's obviously what Dime's going for, is the dissonance, whereas opposed to something would be like if it was a more ear-pleasing chord choice, but it would sound routine, and you could just tell Dime was going for… 'No, that's what everybody expects us to go. So, let's go here. Everyone expects us to make a left turn. So, let's make a right.' So, it's, like, oh, 'Wow, that's definitely interesting.' So, yeah, that's what I found, learning all the material and everything like that. So, for sure. So that, to me, is what puts Dime in that league with all the guys we love, whether it's Jimi Hendrix, whether it's Eddie and Randy. It's his writing."

This past April, Zakk told Ultimate Guitar about touring with the reformed PANTERA: "I feel [Dimebag] all the time. Even when we were getting ready to do the [PANTERA tour in 2022], [the early] rehearsals, and they were just figuring out how we were gonna do this, there'd be signs all over the place, whether [it was] a license plate that would be, like, '333' [three being Dimebag's favorite number], or I'd run into like a Dimebag license plate in the middle of nowhere. It was just, like, him just pushing this thing along, willing it to happen. So he's just always around. When we were in New York, just like signs, when we just did [a headlining show at] the [Madison Square] Garden [in February 2024], my wife Barbaranne was, like, Check this out.' Something came up and it just reminded us of Dime, and I was like, 'Wow, that's crazy.' Or we would look on our phone and it would be '333'. It's just these signs everywhere. And I could see Dime just doing it, going, 'I hope these idiots realize it's me sending these signs.' [Laughs]"

The reformed PANTERA is headlining a number of major festivals across North America, South America and Europe and staging some of its own headline concerts. They are also supporting METALLICA on a massive stadium tour in 2024.

It was first reported in July 2022 that Anselmo and Brown would unite with Wylde and Benante for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

During a recent appearance on "Drinks With Johnny", the Internet TV show hosted by AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ, Zakk was asked how he, Philip, Rex and Charlie all "came together to decide that this was the right time, the right group to pay homage to the mighty PANTERA". The guitarist said: "Well, BLACK LABEL [SOCIETY] and DOWN, we did some shows together in 2014, we did a tour, and it was great. 'Cause I've known Phil [who also sings for DOWN] and Pepper [Keenan, DOWN guitarist] and all the guys, and Jimmy Bower [DOWN drummer], Father Bower Power, over there for a while. It was just a bunch of friends going out doing shows together. And we did some PANTERA stuff then, and then Father Rex came out and we jammed 'I'm Broken' and stuff like that, and it was a lot of fun. And it's always been rumored for years. I just said that's always on the fellas. Me and Charlie are buds, and we'll be here to support our friends, whatever they wanna do. So when Phil called me up one day, he was, like, 'Zakk, you wanna get together and do this? We're thinking about me, Rex and Charlie and yourself, and we'll go out and pay tribute to Dime and Vinnie.' I was, like, 'Of course. I always said I would be there for you guys when you felt the time was right to do it.'"

He continued: "But, yeah, we just got together and did the rehearsals down in New Orleans and then we've been rolling ever since. We just did the [Madison Square] Garden and everything like that, with LAMB OF GOD and the guys and everything like that. So it was great. So just looking out every night and seeing people taking a trip down memory lane, the people that have seen the original PANTERA… When Phil says every night, he's just, like, 'How many people, this is their first time ever seeing PANTERA?' And all the younger people that never got a chance to see 'em [raise their hands]. It just really is a beautiful thing.

"I always say it every night, when we were playing the Garden, it's just like if Dime and Vinnie were right there on the side of the stage, I'd go, 'Look at what you guys created.' So it's really special. I think it's just a beautiful thing every night paying honor and tribute to Dime and Vinnie every night, Phil and Rex and Dime and Vinnie, this thing that they created that brings so many people joy. So, I just think it's a beautiful thing every night."

Zakk previously discussed his involvement with PANTERA in a February 2024 interview with Chuck Armstrong of Loudwire Nights. At the time, he said: "Everybody in the whole camp, it's all great people. And it's crazy, because we've known each other for years, but you end up knowing, even with the crew and everything like that, all these people you've known for years — I mean, people that I've been with when I started with Ozzy [Osbourne] and everything like that. So, it's just a great time out there, man, for sure. And then, obviously, celebrating Vinnie and Dime every night, it's just awesome.

"The beautiful thing about music is, all the bands that we love, whether it's ZEPPELIN or [BLACK] SABBATH, THE ALLMAN BROTHERS or Elton John or PANTERA or whatever, everybody has their connection to that music," he continued. "That's the most powerful thing about music. I mean, you hear stuff, it just transports you back to when you were 13 years old, 14 years old, where you were and what you were doing when that music was going on. So, for so many people — it's amazing 'cause Phil always does it at like almost every night, he's just, like, 'How many people saw PANTERA back in the day?' And everybody, obviously, you have all the PANTERA faithful. And then he goes, 'How many people, this is their first time seeing PANTERA?' It's mind-blowing. I mean, I'd say it's almost like 60-40, 70-30 sometimes, where it's, like, 'Wow. That is amazing.'

"I never got a chance to see ZEPPELIN back in the day, so to see… When I went and saw the [Jimmy] Page and [Robert] Plant thing with the orchestra and everything, that was just amazing, because I never got a chance to see them back in the day. So, just the power of the music, to see it live was just… I saw 'em at Brendan Byrne Arena [in East Rutherford, New Jersey in April 1995] when we were working on [Ozzy Osbourne's 1995 album] 'Ozzmosis'. I got tickets and we went down to the gig that night, and it was amazing — 'cause I never I never got a chance to see it back in the day. So, it's pretty much the same, 'cause I know I was getting chills when I was watching it. So, yeah, it's a beautiful thing, man."

Zakk was also asked if he would be open to working on new material with PANTERA. He said: "Nah, I don't think so. Whenever Phil says that and all the younger kids are screaming and yelling, when they put the house lights on and everyone's got their fists up in the air 'cause that's the first time [they're seeing PANTERA live], I just look at like Vinnie and Dime, if they were on the side of the stage, and go, 'See what you guys created.' So it's just, like, yeah, it's awesome. It truly is, man. But, no, I don't think [the plan is] to record [as PANTERA]. I mean, it'd be like if [Eric] Clapton was playing with [drummer] Mitch [Mitchell] and [bassist] Noel [Redding], honoring Jimi [Hendrix], they're not gonna go in and record [and call it] THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE with Eric Clapton. [Laughs] I don't think anything like that. Obviously, if we were ever to do anything, it would be under a different name. Like Jimmy Page, if he was playing with Paul Rodgers and everything, it's THE FIRM; they're not going out as LED ZEPPELIN."

Up until his passing in June 2018, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

Vinnie, who was Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo had not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie suggested that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.