Gene Simmons and his solo band performed last night (Wednesday, July 3) at Rock & Brews restaurant at Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Milwaukee. The concert was open to the public with first-come-first-served seating.

According to Setlist.fm, the setlist was as follows:

01. Deuce (KISS song)
02. Shout It Out Loud (KISS song)
03. I Love It Loud (KISS song)
04. Are You Ready (Gene Simmons song)
05. Communication Breakdown (LED ZEPPELIN cover)
06. House Of Pain (VAN HALEN cover) (Gene Simmons Demo Version [1976])
07. Parasite (KISS song)
08. Weapons Of Mass Destruction (Gene Simmons song)
09. War Machine (KISS song)
10. Ace Of Spades (MOTÖRHEAD cover)
11. Calling Dr. Love (KISS song)
12. Cold Gin (KISS song)
13. Rock And Roll All Nite (KISS song)

Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below (courtesy of YouTube user gappvembe).

Simmons produced VAN HALEN's original 1976 recording of "House Of Pain", a song that would eventually end up on the band's sixth studio album, "1984".

Gene later said about the 1976 recording of "House Of Pain": "The original version is like a locomotive that doesn't stop. Your jaw would drop."

A day earlier, Simmons was in attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Rock & Brews restaurant at the Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Carter.

This is the second Rock & Brews location in Wisconsin. Last August, the first opened at the Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Milwaukee.

The 3,000-square foot Rock & Brews restaurant is equipped with a stage to allow for performances from local bands. It also features an art installation honoring the Forest County Potawatomi Community.

The rock music-themed restaurant was founded by Simmons and fellow KISS founder Paul Stanley.

The GENE SIMMONS BAND played its second concert of 2024 on April 26 at the Summer Breeze festival at Memorial Da América Latina in São Paulo, Brazil. The setlist included a number of KISS classics alongside covers of MOTÖRHEAD's "Ace Of Spades" and LED ZEPPELIN's "Communication Breakdown".

Three days earlier, the GENE SIMMONS BAND performed at the grand opening of the Rock & Brews restaurant at the Ilani dining and entertainment destination in Ridgefield, Washington. It marked the KISS bassist/vocalist's first live appearance since the legendary rock act concluded its "End Of The Road" farewell tour at New York's Madison Square Garden in December.

GENE SIMMONS BAND will next launch a European tour on July 27 in Kuopio, Finland.

Back in 2017 and 2018, the GENE SIMMONS BAND played a number of shows with a lineup that consisted of Simmons alongside guitarist/bassist Jeremy Asbrock, guitarist Ryan Cook, guitarist Phil Shouse and drummer Brent Fitz.

Six years ago, Simmons stated about his solo shows: "Doing these smaller concert halls, which hold a thousand to three thousand people, means they get filled up by real diehard fans. They don't want to hear the 'same old, same old.' They want to hear nuggets, as they say. It's a hoot for me because I've never really had a chance to do this stuff live. It's been a lot of fun." Gene told the Chicago Sun-Times: "By the end, I get the chance to bring as many people from the audience as we can fit on the stage to sing with me."

Regarding how the idea for a solo tour came about, Simmons told Australia's Advertiser in a 2018 interview: "The GENE SIMMONS BAND was not a plan or anything. About a year ago, a corporate event asked me to be keynote speaker … then they said, 'Won't you get up and sing a few tunes?' I explained that you can't just do that, you've got to have a band and rehearse and all that. They said, 'Well, we'll pay you X dollars more,' and I said, 'I like you!' "So I put together a band from Nashville — these guys back up Kid Rock and lots of other people — and without a single rehearsal, I just told them which songs I wanted to do and they learned them. It just sounded natural — there is such a thing called chemistry. They don't teach that anywhere — I mean, they do teach 'chemistry' but not the kind I'm talking about. It felt right and as soon as the videos went on YouTube and such, people were calling. This little GENE SIMMONS BAND never tried to be KISS… It was just a little bit of fun and stuff. Now all of a sudden, we're headlining festivals in the Czech Republic, Canada, Germany… It's crazy."

KISS played the final concert of its "End Of The Road" farewell tour on December 2, 2023 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Video of Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Jason Bonham rehearsing the VAN HALEN song "Poundcake" for their upcoming summer 2024 tour can be seen below.

Produced by Live Nation, the 28-date "The Best Of All Worlds" tour will commence on July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida and will conclude on August 31 in St. Louis, Missouri.

This past January, Satriani spoke to Australian Musician about how he plans to play Eddie Van Halen's parts on the tour that will focus largely on the music of VAN HALEN. Asked about how he plans to approach the concerts from a "tonal" standpoint, Joe said: "Yeah, there's a couple of things that you can zero in on. This is one of the guitars I used during 'The Howard Stern Show' [when Joe, Sammy, Michael and Jason first announced the tour and performed on the early-morning program]. It's tuned to a D standard, which is really low, and the strings were 11. That was my first two big mistakes. [Laughs] 'Cause I can't play 11s. And tuned down to D, I just wasn't used to it. Sammy and the guys, they've been doing it for years, but it was foreign to me. So a lot of things don't happen.

"Eddie played at 440 and then E flat, and he played light strings. He played nines and even sometimes the lower strings were lighter," Joe explained. "Every time I talk about Eddie, I finish it by saying 'besides the fact that he was a genius.' You always have to add that in, 'cause he was just amazing — period. 'Cause every time he picked up a guitar, no matter what it was, it was amazing. He had the hands and the heart, everything. I'm just catching up.

"What I learned from 'The Howard Stern Show', besides it's still important to rehearse and you can't do gigs without rehearsals… But what, what it confirmed was a couple of things I was thinking about, which was that Eddie had specific gear — he really did," Satriani continued. "He didn't play with the gear I used or Steve Vai or Slash or Tom Morello or any of his contemporaries. He actually had a very specific setup. And you ask yourself, 'Well, why?' Well, it's because, besides he was a genius, as we know, he knew that in order for him to play those parts, he had to have his gear tweaked a certain way; otherwise it wouldn't work. So, like when you go to play the beginning of 'Mean Street', if your setup is not allowing those harmonics to jump out, it's gonna sound like you're not hitting them. You've gotta get the setup right.

"If you refer to the first… Let's say, if you go to [VAN HALEN's 1986 concert video] 'Live Without A Net' or any of those things, even the early period, '5150' period, from [David Lee] Roth to the early Hagar period where he's still using Marshalls, when he goes to do things like that, it's a success. Every time he goes to hit a harmonic, boom, there it is. And it's low noise, big round fidelity, still sounds organic. You fast forward to live at the Tokyo Dome [2015's 'Tokyo Dome Live in Concert'], it's a totally different thing. He's playing an entirely different amp. When he goes to do those things, he's getting an overt amount of harmonic information, but he's also getting a ton of noise and none of the body that was part of the earlier sound.

"Now I learned that because of those two [EVH] amps right there. I got those back when Alex [Van Halen] and Dave called and asked me to do the [seemingly abandoned] Eddie tribute tour, and I thought, 'Well, I've gotta figure this out.' So the first thing I did was I got a couple of those and I thought, 'Well, this is great. You get all the harmonics, but, man, this is really small sounding. This is like for modern…' If I was 20 years old and I was playing modern rock, those would be the best amps ever. But I'm not, and I still wanna hear sort of the body of the guitar and I wanna hear a more dynamic mix. So I started to think, 'Well, what's my favorite VAN HALEN section?' And I did find that period in '86. I talked to Sam quite a bit about it and he said, yeah, that first 5150, he was still using Marshalls. In Sammy's view, his favorite sound that Eddie ever made. It wasn't small and then stereoized. So I reached out to Dylana Scott at 3rd Power amplifiers, and she is building me what we believe is going to be the amp that does it…"

Joe added: "This goes back to what I said earlier about how the gear is so important for the performer. I know that when we step out on stage and whether I'm playing 'Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love' or '5150', I'm gonna need to feel and hear that sound to convince myself to keep going. And if it's not working, then I'm just gonna say, 'Well, let me just have my solo rig.' But my solo rig is designed — it probably has a little too much gain, and is designed to make the high strings really fat sounding, because I play all the melodies. I play very little rhythm guitar all night long. It's just solo melody, solo melody. And I can't play the Hagar set like that. It's just the wrong sound. CHICKENFOOT, it kind of worked. But for the for the VAN HALEN stuff to really pop, and then we're doing MONTROSE, we're doing Sammy Hagar solo stuff, we're doing my stuff, we're doing CHICKENFOOT. It's a really fun setlist. Great setlist. But I know, in my heart, that I wanna hear that sound in my head, that mythical Eddie Van Halen sound that we all sort of hear in our mind, and I wanna be able to feel it. And so I've been getting these clips from Dylana every week, and the stuff that she's building is really amazing."

Last December, Satriani spoke to Ultimate Guitar's Justin Beckner about how he plans to play Eddie Van Halen's parts on the upcoming tour. Asked if there are some VAN HALEN songs that he found most challenging to perform, Joe replied: "The main thing is that for the last five decades I've tried so hard to be myself and to be me and not copy anybody. I've been lucky, since the late '80s, to have a solo career, so I really had a job that forced me to be myself as much as possible. So I made a point not to play like anybody. But it happens eventually when you're having fun, you're at a party and someone says, 'Oh, can you play this song?' and you realize, 'I have no idea how to play that song. I love that song. I've listened to it a million times. I don't know what the guy's doing.' And then you go to learn it and you go, 'Wow, that's really weird. It feels so awkward for me to be like this.' And it's not the parts, 'cause I can hear the chords and I know what everything is when I hear it. It's just the sensibility of timing, vibrato, picking. If you're so deep into your own thing, it's really hard to get out of it and try to properly emulate somebody else's playing. It would almost be like if you gave a guitar to Eddie and you said, 'Okay, Eddie, we want you to play 'Summer Song' note for note.' He'd be, like, 'What? I don't play like that. I don't do that. I just kind of do this, this and this.' Of course we'd love it no matter how he did it — it would be fun — but it wouldn't be exactly the same."

Joe continued: "When I was young and I was in cover bands, I knew what it was like to try to get as close as possible when you were playing — for me, it was [LED] ZEPPELIN and [BLACK] SABBATH and THE [ROLLING] STONES and stuff like that; that's what we played. But eventually, you'd have to go, 'I don't play like that. That's not my vibrato.' If I go to play AC/DC, there's no way I can do Angus's [Young] vibrato. He just has his own vibrato. If you're gonna try to play like Jeff Beck — he's so personal. You can play the notes and remind people of this part he did and that part, but it's not gonna sound quite the same.

"If we heard Eric Clapton trying to play 'Since I've Been Loving You' by LED ZEPPELIN, there's no way it would sound the same. It would be great, but it wouldn't sound the same. So, what I noticed right away, when I realized, 'I really have to figure out these songs,' [I asked myself] what is Eddie — what's he operating on?

"So here are a couple of things I've noticed," Satriani added. "Number one, he plays so on the beat and makes it feel like he's pushing the beat, but he's actually not. It's really amazing how he does it. And I realized, when I went back and I listened to my stuff back to back, I thought, 'Oh, that's me, sitting on the backbeat as much as I can,' because I'm playing the melody. When you play the melody, you don't wanna be on top. Actually, you want the band to be pushing, and you're sitting back here, like a singer, playing. I like the way Robert Plant sings in 'Since I've Been Loving You'. He's so behind. Or listen to any hip-hop song — the vocals are way in the pocket; they're just late on purpose. So that's something I've worked on my whole life is 'sit back, sit back, sot back,' and all of a sudden you go to play a song like 'I'm The One', and it's like, 'No, you have to be the guy way in front.' And Alex [Van Halen] is gonna be going, 'No, no. Sit back here.' And that's a difficult sensibility when every nerve ending in your body is saying, 'Sit back.' But to make the song work, you've gotta sit forward. That's the first thing I noticed, like the difference between Eddie's sensibility in timing and mine in terms of timing.

"Our vibratos aren't that different," Joe said. "He holds hick pick [with his thumb and middle finger], so he's always got [his index] finger for tapping, and I don't. So I always have to do something. And what I started to do early on was to use my pick for a lot of hammer-ons because I just wanted to be different, and I thought I'd get a better sound, I'd be able to do some different things that other players weren't doing. And I saw guys using their fingers back in the early '70s, when Eddie was my age, just a young teenager. There were other guys doing tapping for decades before, but as my generation started to figure out how to do tapping, I saw the thing was a split. There's tapping for effect, tapping for riff, and then there's tapping to create an entire musical piece. And Eddie did all of it. The way that he would do the tapping, when he would use it, [was] totally opposite of the way that I had forced myself to go with it.

"The third thing is… Again, we're talking about someone who was just an incredible virtuoso in several areas. One of the things that Eddie had was this super-tight swing that was ultrafast with his right hand. And that is something, again, that once… I remember hearing for the first time and thinking, 'Well, I'm gonna have to work on that.' That's gonna take me, I thought, I bet, three months of 45 minutes a day just working with a metronome to work that into my bag of tricks.' 'Cause that's kind of like what it is."

Satriani went on to say: "I think when you're getting ready for a tour and you're gonna play a song that you haven't played in 20 years, you remember it but you go, 'Ah, I don't do that anymore,' and it physically feels odd. So you say, 'Okay, I've got six weeks before the tour. I'm gonna play this thing ten times a day and I'm just gonna keep working, and start slow and figure out all the different ways of doing it so that when I hit the stage, I can relax and play it the way it should be played.'"

Hagar and Anthony previously worked with Satriani in the supergroup CHICKENFOOT. They recorded two albums between 2009 and 2011 and toured across America but never performed any VAN HALEN material. More recently, Hagar and Anthony have played some of the VAN HALEN catalog with guitarist Vic Johnson and Bonham in SAMMY HAGAR AND THE CIRCLE.

Hagar mended his relationship with Eddie Van Halen months prior to the legendary VAN HALEN guitarist's October 2020 passing.

Sammy, Eddie, Alex Van Halen and Michael last teamed up in 2004 for a U.S. summer tour. In exchange for taking part in the tour, Anthony reportedly had to agree to take a pay cut and sign away his rights to the band name and logo.

Although Hagar and Anthony normally play five or six VAN HALEN songs" on the road with THE CIRCLE, Sammy told Stern they are planning to only play "five or six of my songs" alongside VAN HALEN classics and deep cuts.

"When we go out next year in July, it will be almost exactly 20 years since Mike and I did a reunion with Ed and Al in '04," Hagar said. "Mike and I just said, 'We can't wait another 20 years. How long can I even sing these songs? How long can I do this stuff? I just thought it's time to serve the fans."

"There's stuff we're going to do on this next tour that we haven't played since that tour in 2004," Anthony added.

Regarding the challenge of learning legendary VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen's parts, Satriani said: "There are things that are so iconic, you have to nail it. But if you go deep with what he did live, he never played the same thing twice. He kept evolving; he kept pushing. He'd do the recorded version a little bit, but then he moved on.

"It's a daunting task when you do the deep dive into what he did," he continued. "But it's good to start at the beginning, and then you just learn all his little improvs and you get the idea of what he was trying to do. It's thrilling; it's fun."

Eddie died in October 2020 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. The iconic VAN HALEN axeman passed away from complications due to cancer, his son confirmed.

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In a new interview with Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show, legendary BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler was asked for his opinion on the music he created during the Tony Martin era of the band. He said: "There was just one album that I did with Tony Martin. That was — God, I can't even remember it — it's called 'Cross Purposes'. Tony Martin's a great singer, and he was good to work with. There was no big egos or anything. He got down to it when he needed to. And that was a good album for me because half of it was probably written by me, the music side of it. I went around to Tony's [Iommi, BLACK SABBATH guitarist] one day and played him all this, 'cause I was doing a solo thing at the time. And I'd got tons of material. And I went around to Tony's house and played him some of the stuff that I'd been writing and he really liked a lot of it. So I think about half of it ended up on the album."

"Cross Purposes" is included in the "Anno Domini 1989-1995" box set of the Martin-era BLACK SABBATH recordings, which was made available on on May 31 via Rhino.

"Cross Purposes" was BLACK SABBATH's seventeenth studio album, released through I.R.S. Records in January 1994. The album marked the return of Martin as the band's lead vocalist, after the second departure of Ronnie James Dio.

BLACK SABBATH released six albums with Martin on vocals: "The Eternal Idol" (1987),"Headless Cross" (1989),"Tyr" (1990),"Cross Purposes" (1994),"Cross Purposes Live" (1995) and "Forbidden" (1995). Eventually, Martin and his "Forbidden"-era bandmates were ousted when Iommi reunited with SABBATH's fellow original members.

Seven years ago, Iommi told I Heart Guitar that "it's a shame" that "it took a lot for people to accept" Martin as SABBATH's vocalist. "It's taken all these years later for people to say, 'Oh blimey, that was a good band with good singing.' So it took a long time to get people to really realize how good it was."

In a new interview with "The Dark", an active rock music program that airs nightly from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. on 94 Rocks KFML, SALIVA vocalist Bobby Amaru confirmed that there are plans for the band to release an expanded version of 2023's "Revelation" album in September to mark the LP's first anniversary. "We're gonna put some more songs on it," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have kind of an idea of we'll probably do three or four new songs added, and then we may actually take one of the songs and redo it with maybe a feature or something. We're just kind of working through it now."

"Revelation" came out last September. It marked the band's first release since the passing of SALIVA's founding guitarist Wayne Swinny, who died six months earlier while on tour with the group. The "Come Back Stronger" video was notably filmed on March 16, 2023 — just five days before Swinny's death — and was dedicated to the fallen guitarist.

Asked by "The Dark" how the fan reaction has been to SALIVA's live shows since Wayne's passing, Bobby said: "Everyone has been super supportive. All the shows have been great. We did this tour with DROWNING POOL — we did a September/October [run] last year, and then we carried it over into this year, and did another month-long run in May and did festivals like the DWP [Danny Wimmer Presents] stuff. And all the shows have been great, man. I mean, honestly, I can't complain one bit. [I'm] grateful that we're doing it and just continuing to do stuff."

Amaru and and bassist Brad Stewart previously discussed plans for new SALIVA music this past May in an interview with Richmond Register Music.

After the interviewer brought up the prospect of SALIVA dropping singles as opposed to full-length albums going forward, Bobby said: "That's probably the next move, is to do something like that. Just kind of maybe focus on a single or two and then lead it up to [a full-length album]. That's what we did with this one ['Revelation'], though. We started working on this record in 2020, and then we were, like, 'Oh, we'll put it out in 2021.' 'No, we'll put it out in 2022.' [It ended up being] 2023, but we were working singles all up until that."

Brad chimed in: "[People have] such a short attention span, though, in the TikTok world. Afull album? People are, like, 'What am I gonna do with that?' You'd be lucky to get three and a half minutes of their time."

Bobby added: "We do that for the core fans and the hardcore fans that really love full-lengths. I can't imagine a band that I really like giving me one song every six months… And I love doing the vinyl — all that stuff's great."

On March 22, 2023, SALIVA shared a statement on Facebook in which the band said that Swinny had been found that morning "in medical distress." Paramedics were called and the musician was transported to hospital "where he was diagnosed with a Spontaneous Hemorrhage in his brain."

SALIVA was on the road in the U.S. as part of the "Spring Mayhem" tour with THROUGH FIRE and ANY GIVEN SIN and had played in Warrendale, Pennsylvania on March 21, 2023.

When "Revelation" was first announced in July 2023, Amaru said in a statement: "We started working on this record in 2020 during the pandemic shutdown. I felt like we had to get outside of the box with this one.

"I've been sober almost five years now and there are many songs on this record that are a reflection of it. I just wanted to connect with the listener and pull them into what I was dealing with but also shed some light on overcoming personal adversity.

"With the passing of Wayne in March [2023], I felt lost. Where do I go? I knew we had this record we were all stoked about. Wayne's influence is all over these songs and, in my opinion, his playing on this album is next level. It's the only right thing to do to honor him and all our hard work and release it. I just want to share with the world what we have worked on the last three-plus years."

SALIVA's current lineup consists of Amaru and Stewart alongside Sammi Jo Bishop (drums),Sebastian LaBar (guitar) and Josh Kulack (guitar).

SALIVA launched its career in 2001 with the release of "Every Six Seconds", a double-platinum selling album with hits that include "Click Click Boom" and "Your Disease".

The band has toured the U.S. with SEVENDUST, AEROSMITH and KISS.

SALIVA reunited with original singer Josey Scott for a one-off appearance at the 2022 edition of the Blue Ridge Rock Festival at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia.

Scott left SALIVA at the end of 2011 after 15 years with the group, reportedly to pursue a solo Christian music career. He was quickly replaced by Amaru, who can be heard on SALIVA's last five releases: "In It To Win It" (2013),"Rise Up" (2014),"Love, Lies & Therapy" (2016),"10 Lives" (2018) and "Revelation" (2023).

SALIVA released six albums with Scott and tasted platinum success and a Grammy nomination for its first big hit, "Your Disease".

In May 2021, SALIVA celebrated the 20th anniversary of its breakthrough major label debut, "Every Six Seconds", with a special project called "Every Twenty Years", an EP of classic songs re-recorded with Amaru.

David Lee Roth is back with another of his videos, this time doing a dance routine to the Steppenwolf classic, "Born To Be Wild". Roth captioned the video "National Anthem".





The Van Halen legend previously shared the clip below, captioned, "The trouble with Cuban coffee is a week later, I'm drowsy again..."







Roth recently released the song “J.A.F.D.I.P. (Just Another Fu**in’ Day In Paradise)”. A visualizer accompanying the track is available below:

In a new interview with Los Angeles-based music journalist Lyndsey Parker, JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon was asked about how he and keyboardist Jonathan Cain have managed to mend fences after publicly feuding over several issues, including Neal allegedly causing over $1 million in personal expenses to be charged to the band's shared American Express card and Schon demanding that Cain stop playing events for former U.S. president Donald Trump. Neal said: "We just decided that the music is the music. We worked really hard and diligently on keeping this thing alive all these years and just not let the other stuff get in the way and kind of keep it separate. It's all right for us to have separate beliefs on everything. It was actually a rule that way before Jonathan was in the band, that our manager made with us all, that we would never have politics involved in our music, or any one religion, because [JOURNEY's music] is for everyone. Anytime you [get political] and you segregate, you're going to lose fans. And why would you want to do that? Just keep it open for everyone to be able to enjoy your music as music."

Asked how he feels when certain JOURNEY songs get used for a cause or a candidate, at a rally or whatever, that is not in line with his personal beliefs, Neal said: "I'm not a fan of it. No, I'm not a fan of it. But it doesn't matter. It's not one way or the other. It's not the left side, not the right side. It's just I'm in the middle and I don't want it to go one way or the other. I think we should remain neutral and let everybody enjoy what they want to enjoy, and I think it's nobody's business. I've never appreciated music [with] politics. I don't think they go hand-in-hand. I think that music is the greatest communicator of the world and that it shouldn't have a label on it to be one way or another. It should be to be conveyed by everyone in their own way."

Cain is a devout born-again Christian whose minister wife Paula White-Cain delivered the invocation at Donald Trump's 2017 presidential inauguration.

Back in December 2022, JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon blasted Cain as a "hypocrite" after the JOURNEY keyboardist performed the band's 1981 hit song "Don't Stop Believin'" at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property. Cain played the track with a backup chorus of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle and former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

In the past, Schon has also publicly voiced his opposition to having JOURNEY's music associated with political or religious causes. Back in 2017, he derided Cain on social media after the keyboardist, singer Arnel Pineda and then-bassist Ross Valory were photographed with Trump in the White House.

In a 2017 video interview conducted in the studios of the radio station ONE FM 91.3, Cain could be heard saying: "We're not political; we don't get into politics. We try to stay in our lane, and I just think that's the best answer we can give you."

David Reece has just been confirmed as the headliner of Pirates Metal Night - 10 Years El Puerto Records. Reason enough to give an impression of his live concerts with a new video.


"Tomorrow Don't Matter Today" uses live footage from his release tour through the USAand Scandinavia, which took place directly after the release of his latest album, Baptized By Fire, on March 1. Watch below:







Not much more needs to be said about David Reece. Since the late 80s, his charismatic voice has enhanced successful albums by Accept, Bangalore Choir, Bonfire and the Sainted Sinners, among others. In addition to this, however, he also continued to focus on his solo career.


As the cover and title Baptized By Fire already suggests, his latest album is significantly "heavier" than its two predecessors. Twelve new songs full of power, mature and varied. One reason for this is certainly his new band lineup. In his adopted home of Italy, he found three highly talented, creative collaborators with whom he was able to work on the songs around the clock. A paradise for a "thoroughbred" musician like Reece.


Baptized By Fire is available via via El Puerto Records. The artwork was created by Newton Artworxx.





Tracklisting:


"Enemy Is Me"
"We've Lost The Fight"
"Wrong Move"
"Payback's A Bitch"
"No Rest For The Wicked"
"Twilight of the Gods"
"Seasons Of A Man"
"Closer To God"
"Archbishop Of Anarchy"
"My Heart Burns"
"Acceptance Of Denial"
"Tomorrow Don't Matter Today"


"Enemy Is Me" video:





Lineup:


David Reece – Vocals
Riccardo Demarosi – Bass
Niccolò Savinelli – Guitars
Giovanni Savinelli - Drums

Swedish prog rock/metal legends, Opeth, performed at the Tuska Festival in Helsinki, Finland on June 30th. Fan-filmed video of the entire show, courtesy of The Cinescapader's Music Channel, can be viewed below.


Setlist:


"The Grand Conjuration"
"Demon of the Fall"
"The Drapery Falls"
"Heir Apparent"
"Ghost of Perdition"
"Deliverance"







Opeth recently announced that Swedish heavy metal masters, Tribulation, will be their special guests on their upcoming North American tour.


Says Tribulation: "We’re honored and very glad to announce that we’ll be joining our good friends in Opeth on their upcoming tour across North America this fall, finishing everything off nicely on Halloween. It’s been far, far too long since we last made a proper run across the pond and we couldn’t be happier that we’re doing it with Opeth. We hope to see a lot of old friends and new ones, we can’t wait!"


The video below from Opeth features a special message from Frederik Åkesson about Montreal, the North American Tour 2024, and to announce that Tribulation will be joining as special guests."





Tickets for the tour are on sale now. Get them here.





Tour dates:


October
11 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave / Eagles Club
12 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theater & Ballroom
14 - Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
15 - Montréal, QC - L'Olympia
16 - Worcester, MA - Palladium
18 - Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre
19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE
20 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
22 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
23 - New Orleans, LA - Fillmore New Orleans
24 - Austin, TX - Emo’s Austin
25 - Dallas, TX - Majestic Theatre
27 - Denver, CO - Mission Ballroom
29 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren
30 - Los Angeles, CA - YouTube Theater
31 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield

Puny action figures step aside! Super7 is unleashing 5.5” scale Misfits Vintage figures of Skeleton Danzig, Jerry Only, and The Fiend. Inspired by the musclebound action figures made popular in the 1980s, these figures positively ripple with muscle and malice, and are sure to be the "3 Hits from Hell" that your collection has been missing!


Skeleton Danzig, Jerry Only and The Fiend figures are available for pre-order here. Shipping is slated for January 2025.













On June 8th, The Original Misfits - featuring vocalist Glenn Danzig, bassist Jerry Only, and guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein - headlined No Values in Pomona, California at The Fairplex.


Their setlist consisted of the following 26 songs. Amateur video is available to enjoy below.


"Death Comes Ripping"
"I Turned Into A Martian"
"Horror Business"
"Vampira"
"Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?"
"Some Kinda Hate"
"London Dungeon"
"Where Eagles Dare"
"Teenagers From Mars"
"Children In Heat"
"Earth A.D."
"Green Hell"
"Hollywood Babylon"
"Violent World"
"Night Of The Living Dead"
"Hybrid Moments"
"Bullet"
"Who Killed Marilyn"
"Skulls"
"Attitude"
"All Hell Breaks Loose"
"Astro Zombies"
"Halloween"
"Last Caress"
"20 Eyes"
"Die, Die My Darling"

During an appearance on a recent episode of "The Metallica Report", the podcast offering weekly insider updates on all things METALLICA, METALLICA frontman James Hetfield was asked if he would agree that Lars Ulrich is "probably playing some of the best gigs he's played in well over a decade, if not 20 years," on the ongoing "M72" tour. James responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'd say this tour in general, the last two years, we've been building up to it. Absolutely. Absolutely playing great.

"I hope he's having fun and [is] not too worried about his playing, 'cause he would let his emotions just take him," Hetfield continued. "Now he's a little more concerned about the click track and playing along with it, being solid.

"But, yeah, I think as a group, we are all playing really, really great, really tight," James added. "And it doesn't scare me, but I don't mind fucking things up. It's fun. There's still mistakes — or not mistakes, but there's still unique moments that happen, and it's good. We don't want to be that frickin' polished machine up there at all, so no matter how practiced, no matter how good we think we're doing, there's still stuff that happens."

Three years ago, Lars told METALLICA's So What! fan-club magazine that he is no longer bothered by people's criticism of his drumming abilities. At the time, the Danish-born musician said: "Unlike years ago, I basically don't read any of the interviews that the other guys [in METALLICA] do. 20 or 30 years ago, we would all sit and fucking read every page of Kerrang! and every page of Circus magazine, see what so-and-so's saying and what the other band members were saying, what James [Hetfield, METALLICA guitarist/vocalist] was saying about this and that. Now there's just none of that. I also don't really read what people say about METALLICA.

"I'll say that occasionally, once every six months or something like that, it's kind of fun to go through the trolling section just because of the ridiculousness of all of it, but it's not something that I do regularly anymore," he revealed. "20 years ago, it would've been, 'Oh, my God, somebody said something bad,' or, 'That person said a nasty comment in the comments section,' or whatever. Now, none of that really means anything to me."

Back in 2016, Ulrich, who has gotten a lot of flak over the years from people who accused him of being a poor drummer, told the "Talk Is Jericho" podcast that he went through a period in the mid-1980s "that probably culminated in the 'Justice' album where I felt sort of compelled to try to show ability."

According to Lars, part of the reason for him feeling insecure about his abilities was the increased competition from some of his peers.

"Listen, when you've got Dave Lombardo and Charlie Benante breathing down your back, it was, like, 'Okay, I've gotta…' I tried to step it up a little bit and tried to do my own thing and do all this crazy shit," he said. "I was trying really hard to push the drums kind of into the foreground. And then, after like a year or two of that, I was, like, 'Okay. Seriously? Just do your thing. Chill out. Support the riffs. Do what's best for the song.' So since around I guess the late '80s — so I guess it's been, like, 25 years now — the only thing that's really interested me is just doing the best thing for the song."

Asked in a 2008 interview with U.K.'s Rhythm magazine if he was troubled by the fact that he's gotten a lot of flak over the years from people who accused him of being a poor drummer, Lars said: "It used to, back in the day — and I spent a lot of time overcompensating for that on the early records. But then you wake up one day and you're like, whatever. It hasn't bothered me for [many] years. I'm no Joey Jordison, I'm no Mike Portnoy, and I have nothing but love and respect and admiration for all those guys. When I hear some of the young dudes, they blow my mind with what they can do with their feet and stuff — but it's not something that makes me go, 'I need to feel better about myself so I'm gonna learn how to do what they do with my feet.' I'm not a particularly accomplished drummer but I am very, very, very good at understanding the role of the drums next to James Hetfield's rhythm guitar. I guarantee you I'm the best guy in the world for that, and that's enough for me."

Ulrich stated about his playing ability in a 2012 interview with DRUM! magazine: "I usually feel like I've regressed. [Laughs] I'm like, 'Why can't I do that anymore?'" He continued: "I can't say that I necessarily sit down to practice, like, 'I'm going to play and practice so I can get better.' What happens is that I just sit down and kind of play to just more stay in shape."

Ulrich added: "You know, METALLICA was up to two or three months off [in 2011], and I would sit down, I have an iPod next to my drums so I can play along to all kind of crazy stuff, and try to see if I can land in the same zip code of some of that stuff occasionally. But I can't say that I sit down to necessarily practice to sort of get better. For most of my stuff, it's about listening and about interpreting stuff that I'm listening to. So all the kind of sitting down and, you know, 'Now I'm going to do thirty-second-note paradiddles standing on my head — you know what I mean? I don't do that kind of stuff so much. For me it's more about the regimen of staying in shape, running every day, eating healthy, you know, being on top of that side of it."

Japanese metal band Bridear released their new album, Born Again, on June 28 via Psychomanteum Records. A vinyl release is planned for later in the year. A CD and merchandise bundle is available to order now at psychoshop.net.


To celebrate, they have unveiled the spectacular video for their new single, "Cult", one of the highlights of the album. The video, which sees two witches waging war for the soul of a willing victim, was created using a mixture of real world and AI technology, and is the perfect accompaniment to the fast-paced, high-energy track, full of guitar pyrotechnics and pummelling rhythms alongside lead singer Kimi’s impassioned vocals.







The quintet from Fukuoka, Japan jetted out to Gothenburg, Sweden to record their sixth studio album with the legendary metal producer Fredrik Nordström (In Flames, At the Gates, HammerFall, Bring me the Horizon) at Studio Fredman.


Lead singer Kimi comments, “We are very honoured to work with Fredrik Nordström on ‘Born Again’. He has worked with the top names in metal and we are proud he wanted to produce the album! Working with Patric Ullaeus on the video was also a great privilege. I think it shows us moving up to the next level. It captures the energy of this album and presents us in such a powerful way!”


Fredrik Nordström adds, “I really enjoyed working with Bridear. ‘Born Again’ is for sure in my Top 5 albums of my career! They are an amazing band and this is a world-class album.”


Bridear deliver a mission statement of raw and unapologetic heavy metal on Born Again. It is the ultimate showcase of their unique blend of captivating melodies and intense atmosphere alongside unforgiving no-holds-barred walls of mighty riffs, epic solos and bone crushing drums. The album also features the band’s first ever guest with Dream Evil’s Nick Night providing his high-flying vocals on “Die Like This” which closes the record.





Tracklisting:


“Still Burning”
“Braver Worlds”
“Born Again”
“Cult”
“Empty Mind”
“Scar Of Reunion”
“Real Is Real”
“Fight It Down”
“No Angels”
“Die Like This”


“Still Burning” video:

Slugging their way through the underground with unrelenting force, Oklahoma's slamming brutal death metal titans, Peeling Flesh, announce their new album, The G Code, set to be released on September 6 via Unique Leader Records.


Alongside this announcement, the band has unleashed a bone-crushing new double A-side single “Shoot 2 Kill" and "Perc 3000”, accompanied by a visceral performance video of "Shoot 2 Kill" with the live audio mixed by Buster Odeholm of Humanity's Last Breath.


Stream “Shoot 2 Kill" & "Perc 3000” here and watch the live performance video of "Shoot 2 Kill" below. Pre-orders for 'The G Code' are available now, here




Peeling Flesh, known for their relentless, slamming sonic assault, have crafted The G Code as a definitive statement of their sound. The album pushes the boundaries of slamming brutal death metal with intensified slams and innovative new elements, enriched further by some incredible guest appearances.


Commenting on the album, Peeling Flesh share: “With this new record we feel we’ve really cracked our sound as a band. We wanted to put out something that embodies PF to its fullest but with a fresh angle and we’ve definitely done that… We’ve had some great tours recently that have given us the opportunity to really see what works in the live setting, so we’ve put that into the album’s writing approach too. The slams are the heaviest they’ve EVER been but we’ve tried a few new things. On top of this we’ve brought in some insane guest appearances to add to the mix. We can’t wait to play these jams live! See y’all on the road.”


Peeling Flesh has built a reputation for intense live performances and has amassed a dedicated following in the world of extreme metal. The upcoming release of The G Code'marks a new pinnacle in their discography, promising fans and newcomers alike an onslaught of ferocious brutality.





Tracklisting:


Intro
"Shoot 2 Kill"
"Perc 3000" (feat. DJ MRD)
"Concrete Curb Enforcement" (feat.Tim Louth of Cold Hard Truth)
"Full Of Lead "
"Skin Blunt "
"Barbarianism"
"The Fuckening" (feat. Cerebral Incubation)
"The G Code" (feat. Alex Erian & Steve Marois of Despised Icon)
"Creepin’ Out The Cut" (feat. Matti Way Ex - Disgorge/Liturgy/ Abominable Putridity)
Outro


"Shoot 2 Kill" live video:





Catch Peeling Flesh bringing their explosive energy to stages across the US on their Get Rich Die Hard headline run kicking off in August and hitting 25 cities across the country.

Accomplished southern rock/Americana artist, Jason Charles Miller, is proud to announce his signing to One Opportunity Records, where he will release his new album, Knives In The Dark, on August 16. The release will be followed by a North American tour with Steel Panther that launches August  in Buffalo, NY.


“This is the first album I’ve written where my only goal was to write the best songs I can, and not worry about where they might be categorized,” says Miller. “By not going out of my way to write for a specific genre, I’ve made what is, hands down, the best – and most representative – album of my career.”


‘Knives’ will be Miller’s fifth full-length solo album, alongside multiple EPs and singles and a host of high-profile soundtrack and theme music work for shows and games including Critical Role, Metal Gear Rising, Cyberpunk 2077, Legends of the Multiverse and AEW professional wrestler Brandon Cutler.







Miller’s music contributions to the Final Fantasy video game franchise have made him a fan favorite to players of the game, and he is featured regularly at Final Fantasy Fan Fest events worldwide, including upcoming officially sanctioned tour stops in China, Japan and South Korea this fall, where he will perform Final Fantasy XIV music alongside all-star ensembles and orchestras.


Widely recognized as the frontman and founder of the rock band Godhead, where he toured the world with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Rammstein, Disturbed, Linkin Park, Slipknot and Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, Miller transitioned to a solo artist with the release of his Last To Go Home EP in 2009.


Seamlessly blending the worlds of Americana, rock and country, his solo career has seen him share stages with greats including Billy Ray Cyrus, Alan Jackson, Eric Church, Toby Keith, Ashley McBryde, .38 Special, Allman Betts Band and more.


Find Miller's tour itinerary here.


(Photo - Joshua Thomas)

In a new interview with Janne Innanfors of the Swedish radio station Rockklassiker, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx was asked for his opinion on Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley's announcement that KISS will "live on eternally" as digital avatars created by the "ABBA Voyage" team. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I love technology. I think as long as it's coming from an artist that says, 'I have something I wanna do and this technology is gonna help.' Like with [MÖTLEY CRÜE's latest] video 'Dogs Of War'. When I think of our first video, I don't know how much… The video maybe cost a thousand dollars. There was no MTV at the time, so it was, like, how can we shoot a video that when they talk about us on the news when we tour…? [We] used to have a lot of local news stations that would promote artists coming through town — comedians, country, rock, whatever — so we wanted to have a calling card. Andwe were lighting me on fire on stage at the time and Mick [Mars, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist] puked up some blood. And it was just, like, 'Fuck it. Let's just throw everything in there.' And that was what we did to get fans to see what we wanna be represented as. The same as 'Dogs Of War'."

Sixx continued: "I don't know what the future holds. We did some stuff with holograms years ago before the technology was really fleshed out. At some point, we're not gonna be here anymore. I mean, not to be a Debbie Downer, but it's just not gonna happen. And how great for your band, or whatever it is that you do, to be able to go forward for generations and generations. So I think when the time is right, put us in a coffin and fire up those avatars."

MÖTLEY CRÜE's latest single, "Dogs Of War", was made available on April 26 via the band's new deal with Nashville's Big Machine Records

The "Dogs Of War" music video is an animated, all-CGI affair directed by Nick DenBoer.

In addition to "Dogs Of War", MÖTLEY CRÜE recorded a new song called "Canceled" and a cover of BEASTIE BOYS' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)", the latter two of which have not yet been released.

MÖTLEY CRÜE's deal with Big Machine sees the band and the label working together again after making the 2014 project "Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute To Mötley Crüe", which featured CRÜE tracks covered by country stars RASCAL FLATTS, FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE, Darius Rucker and more. Big Machine also partnered with MÖTLEY CRÜE's new guitarist John 5 for the release of his 2021 album "Sinner".

MÖTLEY CRÜE's last studio album was 2008's "Saints Of Los Angeles", which was followed by a 2009 "Greatest Hits" compilation.

In 2018, MÖTLEY CRÜE recorded four new songs for "The Dirt" movie, including the single "The Dirt (Est. 1981) (Feat. Machine Gun Kelly)", "Ride With The Devil", "Crash And Burn" and the band's own spin on Madonna's "Like A Virgin".

John 5 joined MÖTLEY CRÜE in the fall of 2022 as the replacement for the band's co-founding guitarist Mick Mars. Mick announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE in October 2022 as a result of worsening health issues.

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King has launched the third in a series of interview videos to promote his recently released debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise". Check it out below.

Asked about the response to "From Hell I Rise" so far, Kerry said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've heard from not only friends, journalists, people I'm doing interviews with that they like this better as a whole than any single record I've done in my career. It's hard for me to say that, because I've been a part of all that stuff. But good friends are really fired up about this record that wouldn't blow sunshine up my ass. And journalists I've known for a long, long time, but we're not just acquaintances; they're friends of mine that I don't get to see because of the pandemic. And now things are getting fired up. I'm gonna see all my journalist friends again. But people are talking this record up really big. And they've all heard the whole thing, of course, 'cause they're doing interviews about it, so they have backup to their story. But I've heard people are really stoked about this record. I like this record a lot. I like [SLAYER's final album, 2015's] 'Repentless' a lot. But I think the performance of everybody is better on this one."

Regarding the decision to name his band KERRY KING, Kerry said: "Well, first and foremost, it was never supposed to bear my name. [Laughs] It just kind of fell into place. We worked for months, we worked for years trying to come up with a fucking name that worked that wasn't taken, wasn't used by some other company that made a trademark, a conflict of interest. And it was time for some of our first shows to be announced and we had to roll with something. So we had this logo. Somebody said, just call it KERRY KING. Everybody knows who you are, everybody knows what you're about. That being said, the pressure didn't really hit because everything was done and recorded before we ever got to KERRY KING. It was an afterthought, and we had nowhere to go. And everybody loved the logo, so, you know — insert my name."

Kerry also talked about the rest of the KERRY KING lineup, which consists of Mark Osegueda (vocals; DEATH ANGEL),Phil Demmel (guitar; MACHINE HEAD, VIO-LENCE),Kyle Sanders (bass; HELLYEAH) and drummer Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, TESTAMENT, EXODUS). He said: "I've already had questions about somebody asking me, 'Is this gonna be a touring band for this album, and then the next album you put another band together?' which I thought was the oddest question I've been asked in a long time. And I'm, like, 'No, I want this to be a band from day one. I want it to be a band.' We're allnabout the same age and hopefully we all decide when time is to retire that we all agree on it. So, we can stick together for three records, four records, five records. Depends how fast we put stuff together, depends how fast touring cycles go. But my intention is for this to be the band from now until the day this band's done."

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).

The 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.

All material for "From Hell I Rise" 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.

KERRY KING will be special guest on the upcoming LAMB OF GOD/MASTODON North American "Ashes Of Leviathan" co-headline tour. The six-week run will launch on July 19 in Grand Prairie, Texas and will wrap on August 31 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Following on from their electrifying performances at Download Festival in the UK and Vainstream Rockfest in Germany and their US tour with Vukovi, Calva Louise have shared the video for new single, "La Corriente", out now on Mascot Records. Watch below.





"'La Corriente' is about escaping prefabricated opinions and judgments, affecting our perception of self," the band's Jess Allanic explains. Translated to "the current" in Spanish it can mean the river current but also figuratively it can mean following someone's flow. Allanic adds, "By trying to be agreeable and trying to fit in, I let someone's current drag me away from my own self in the past, undermining my opinions, and eventually feeling trapped in expressing myself. This song for me is regaining that power back."




The music video for "La Corriente" is indirectly part of the sequel of "Under The Skin," as the beginning of the prequel takes place in 1994: the day a young Jonnie had to agree to become an apprentice to a commander coming from the Fractalworld. "'La Corriente' takes place at the show where his fate is sealed, setting the tone of the story that will be unfolding in the next video," the band says. 'We are very grateful to everyone who took part in the video, especially Sunbird Records bar in Darwen that allowed us to shoot those two music videos in four days at their venue. It was a hard but fulfilling experience especially for Allanic as she is directing and editing the videos."





Last month, the band finished a 5-week tour of the US with Vukovi as well as playing Sonic Temple and Welcome To Rockville festivals in the US. Talking about the tour the band says, "Touring with Vukovi was one of the best experiences we've had! They are a wonderful band and amazing people! We also got to see so many great places and meet wonderful new people who travelled all over the U.S. to come to the shows! We had a great time and hope we get to do it again soon!"


They recently released their explosive single "Under The Skin". Watch a video for the song below.


"Under the Skin" was co-written by Allanic and Pendulum's Gareth McGrillen and is a mesmerizing blend of raging metal riffs, swirling electronica, and Allanic's extraordinary ability to flit between ethereal vocals and demonic howls. It swoons in and out of a stunning narrative, with melodic twists along the way that are penetrated by an attack of hypnotic aggression. The song and video follows a complex Sci-Fi narrative and is the introduction of a conceptual storyline about the characters and their counterparts, The video is an incredible feast for the eye and was directed and edited with VFX by Allanic.





The British based band is truly International with its members hailing from across the globe and has been ripping through the UK underground for the past few years, driven by the creative vision of Venezuelan born Jess Allanic (Vocals/Guitar/Keyboard) along with French born Alizon Taho (Bass/Backing Vocals - France) and New Zealander Ben Parker (Drums/Backing Vocals).


Calva Louise are a captivating live band that has seen their recent live performances take them to another level. 2024 will prove to be the year of Calva Louise.

The Black Dahlia Murder have released a playthrough video for "Aftermath", the first single from their tenth studio album, Servitude, out September 27 via Metal Blade Records. Watch below:





"Before the tragedy, no one ever thought this band was going to exist without Trevor."




That's The Black Dahlia Murder's co-founder Brian Eschbach telling it like it is. With the tragic passing of the band's frontman and co-founder Trevor Strnad in 2022, Eschbach, bassist Max Lavelle, drummer Alan Cassidy, and producer/guitarist Brandon Ellis were faced with a decision: Close the door on one of the most beloved death metal bands of the last twenty years, or carry on in their fallen brother's charismatic spirit?


"Everyone that's in the band now is someone that Trevor and I searched for," Eschbach says. "We spent so much time on the road together that everyone understands the mission statement. We don't really need to talk about it. We just need to make great music and try to make people happy playing it."


After a period of profound grief and deep soul-searching, Eschbach moved from guitar to vocals, setting aside his lifelong identity as a live guitarist for the survival of the band. Former The Black Dahlia Murder member Ryan Knight returned to the fold to take Eschbach's place on guitar. The new lineup made their debut in TBDM's hometown of Detroit in late October 2022 for a tribute show for Strnad.


Fast forward to right about now: The Black Dahlia Murder's new album is the one that many would have thought impossible. Servitude marks Eschbach's recorded debut as The Black Dahlia Murder's lead vocalist and lyricist - and their first with Knight on guitar since 2015's Abysmal.


"I just had to lean into it hard," Eschbach says of approaching Servitude in a completely new role. "Honestly, writing the lyrics for this album was easier for me than writing the music for the three songs that I wrote music for. I'd pick a subject, research it, and just kinda dive in. Even though it's not something I'd really ever done before, there was a natural flow to it once I started."


You can hear the thrilling results on "Aftermath," the ripping lead single, which envisions a post-apocalyptic cannibal scenario. "We wanted that one to be heard first because it's one of the faster songs on the album, if not the fastest," Eschbach says. "We wanted that very aggressive Black Dahlia melodic death metal feel coming right at you. Lyrically, it's about a meteor that fucks up the whole planet, but there's still people living. Kind of like The Walking Dead, but with no zombies-so you get right to how people deal with it. And by the end, they're eating each other."


Watch The Black Dahlia Murder's video for "Aftermath," created by My Good Eye: Music Visuals, below.


The members of The Black Dahlia Murder know that some will be skeptical of an album without Trevor's inimitable presence. But many fans have already embraced the band's decision to move forward.


"More than pressures or expectations from the fanbase, I feel their trust and support," Ellis says. "We've always done what we do for them, and they've appreciated our consistency over the years. The global outcry following Trevor's passing has shown us how important the band's music has been to so many people, and how important it is that we continue in his honor. Under all that weight, I think we all knew what needed to be done."


"We put in everything we had, and this is the album that felt right to make," he adds. "I'm proud of it and proud of the five of us. You can never please everybody, but I know that this music will be a healing and positive force for those who embrace it!"


The guitars, bass and vocals for Servitude were recorded at Ellis' home studio in New Jersey. The drums were recorded by Mark Lewis in Nashville, Tennessee where the album was also mixed. Servitude was mastered by Ted Jensen.





Servitude will be released on digipak CD, cassette, and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants and special editions:


- Electromagnetic (US)
- Rising Smoke (US)
- Transcosmic Blue (US)
- Endless Tide (US)
- Utopian Black (US)
- Cursed Creation (US - Exclusive Band Tour Variant)
- Limited Edition Box Set *(with Ephemeral vinyl variant and a bonus LP that Includes 3 Live Tracks (US - Ltd. 400 / EU - Ltd. 600)
- 180g Black (EU)
- Bloody Pulp (EU - Ltd. 1000)
- Nature's Grain (Impericon Exclusive - Ltd. 300)
- Blood Spray (EMP Exclusive - Ltd. 200)
- Stone Cold (EU - Ltd. 200)
- Lost Nobility (UK - Ltd. 300)


Find pre-orders here.





Servitude tracklisting:


"Evening Ephemeral"
"Panic Hysteric"
"Aftermath"
"Cursed Creator"
"An Intermission"
"Asserting Dominion"
"Servitude"
"Mammoth's Hand"
"Transcosmic Blueprint"
"Utopia Black"


"Aftermath" video:





Tour dates:


June
14 - Z! Live Rock Fest - Zamora, ES
16 - Download Donington - Park, UK
17 - Limelight - Belfast, UK
18 - Opium - Dublin, IE
20 - Arch Club - Athens, GR
21 - Block 33 - Thessaloniki, GR
23 - Graspop - Dessel, BE
24 - Hirsch - Nuremberg, DE (with Suffocation)
25 - The Black Lab - Lille, FR (with Suffocation)
26 - Im Wizemann - Stuttgart, DE (with Shadow Of Intent)
27 - Mergener - Hof Trier, DE
28 - Club Vaudeville - Lindau, DE (with Suffocation)
29 - Jera On Air - Ysselsteyn, NL
30 - Hellfest - Clisson, FR


July
31 - Rockstadt Extreme Fest - Brasov, RO


August
2 - Dortmund Deathfest - Dortmund, DE
3 - Wacken Open Air - Wacken, DE
4 - Full Rewind - Roitzschjora, DE
6 - Lifestyle Café - Cham, DE
7 - Brutal Assault - Jaromer, CZ
8 - Party San Open Air - Schlotheim, DE
9 - Szene - Wien, AT
10 - Menza Pri Koritu - Ljubljana, SI
11 - Slaughter Club - Milano, IT
13 - Rockhouse - Salzburg, AT
14 - Kiff - Aarau, CH
15 - Summer Breeze - Dinkelsbuhl, DE
16 - Reload Festival - Sulingen, DE
17 - Chinasstraat - Gent, BE (with Decapitated)
18 - Motocultor - Carhaix, FR





The Black Dahlia Murder will join Dying Fetus for a North American co-headlining tour this fall. See all confirmed dates below:


October
3 - Agora Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
4 - Egyptian Room - Indianapolis, IN
5 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
6 - Fillmore - Minneapolis, MN
8 - Summit Music Hall - Denver, CO
10 - The Depot - Salt Lake City, UT
11 - Knitting Factory - Boise, ID
13 - Neptune - Seattle, WA ^
14 - Rickshaw - Vancouver, BC ^
15 - Roseland Ballroom - Portland, OR
17 - UC Theatre - Berkeley, CA
18 - The Catalyst - Santa Cruz, CA
19 - Observatory North Park - San Diego, CA *
20 - The Novo - Los Angeles, CA *
21 - The Marquee - Tempe, AZ
23 - The Factory at Deep Ellum - Dallas, TX
24 - Vibes Event Center - San Antonio, TX
25 - Warehouse Live Midtown - Houston, TX
27 - The Ritz Ybor - Tampa, FL
28 - Buckhead Theatre - Atlanta, GA
30 - The Fillmore - Charlotte, NC
31 - Fillmore Silver Spring - Silver Spring, MD


November
1 - Fillmore - Philadelphia, PA
2 - Palladium - Worcester, MA
3 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
5 - M-Telus - Montreal, QC
6 - The Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto, ON
9 - Royal Oak Music Hall - Detroit, MI
10 - Concord Music Hall - Chicago, IL


^ no AngelMaker
* no Spite





The Black Dahlia Murder:


Brian Eschbach - lead vocals
Max Lavelle - bass
Alan Cassidy - drums
Brandon Ellis - lead guitar, backing vocals
Ryan Knight - rhythm guitar, backing vocals


(Photo - Marshall Wieczorek)

German stadium rockers, Kissin' Dynamite, have released the title track of their upcoming new studio album, Back With A Bang, out this Friday, July 5 via Napalm Records. Listen to the song below:





Kissin' Dynamite on the new album: “We're back - 'Back With A Bang'. As we are not a band of overly intellectual concepts we much rather cut through the shit. Our mission? Bring Back Stadium Rock. Our fans are rewarded with Kissin' Dynamite in it's purest form: matured, straight and intense.”







Back With A Bang will be available in the following formats:


- 3CD/1DVD/1BD Earbook 60pp Earbook incl. CD, Documentary (DVD/BD), Live CD (6 Tracks), Karaoke CD (12 Tracks) - strictly limited to 300 worldwide
- 1CD/1DVD/1BD Deluxe Box Digipak, Documentary (DVD/BD), Bumbag, Dynamite Patch, Golden Ticket Tourpass Laminate, Beer Coasters (cardboard) 6 pcs, packed in folding box - strictly limited to 700 worldwide
- 1LP Gatefold Marbled Colour incl. 24pp booklet, record butler - strictly limited to 150 worldwide
- 1LP Gatefold Vinyl Yellow - strictly limited to 200 worldwide
- 1LP Gatefold Red - strictly limited to 1000 worldwide
- CD Digipak + Shirt Bundle
- 1CD Digipak 24pp booklet             
- 1MC Colour Tape - strictly limited to 150 worldwide
- Digital Album


Pre-order here.   





Back With A Bang tracklisting:


"Back With A Bang"
"My Monster"
"Raise Your Glass"
"Queen Of The Night"
"The Devil Is A Woman"
"The Best Is Yet To Come"
"I Do It My Way"
"More Is More"
"Iconic"
"Learn To Fly"
"When The Lights Go Out"
"Not A Wise Man"


"The Devil Is A Woman" video:





"My Monster" video:





"Raise Your Glass" video:





Founded as a teenage school band in 2007 and equipped with an authentic 80s stadium rock attitude, Kissin' Dynamite have performed at countless major festivals internationally, opened for acts such as L.A. rockstars Mötley Crüe and played massive sold-out headline tours.


Find the band's current live itinerary here.


Kissin' Dynamite are:


Hannes Braun - vocals
Ande Braun - guitar
Jim Müller - guitar
Steffen Haile - bass
Sebastian Berg - drums


(Photo - Holger Fichtner)

Megadeth have released a video recap for their recent appearance at Viveiro, Spain's Resurrection Fest. Watch below.


Says Megadeth, "Thanks for making our last show on the tour so memorable! You ruled Resurrection Fest." 👊







Following successful runs in Latin America (Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and México) and Europe (Sweden, Italy, France, Germany, and more), Megadeth will return to the North America this summer for their 34-date "Destroy All Enemies" trek.


The Live Nation-produced tour, with special guests Mudvayne and All That Remains, kicks off August 2 in Rogers, Arkansas before wrapping in Nashville, Tennessee on September 28. Additional tour stops include Los Angeles (two shows), Las Vegas, Boston, St. Louis and many more (the full itinerary is below). Tickets and additional information for all the dates is available here.


For the live shows, Megadeth founder and frontman Dave Mustaine and his bandmates will perform classic hits from Rust In Peace, Countdown To Extinction, and more from the band’s extensive catalog, along with material from their latest studio album The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! featuring some of Mustaine’s strongest-ever songwriting.


“We are all playing tight, and that has made it possible for me to really focus on solos and singing, we are playing more songs than ever before, and we are closer to each other, onstage AND off,” shares Mustaine. “I'm excited to see Mudvayne, and All That Remains. Join us as we DESTROY ALL ENEMIES."


Megadeth are renowned for their unparalleled energy and mastery on stage. In 2023, the band dominated arenas and festivals, reaffirming its status as one of heavy metal’s most formidable live acts. Megadeth enjoyed sold-out shows and critical acclaim on the latest run of the “Crush The World” Tour captivating audiences and showcasing the latest and greatest hits.





Tour dates:


August
2 - Rogers, AR - Walmart AMP
3 - Houston, TX - 713 Music Hall
5 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheatre
6 - Denver, CO - Ball Arena
8 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
9 - Los Angeles, CA - YouTube Theater
10 - Concord, CA - Toyota Pavilion at Concord
12 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre
13 - Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater
15 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theater
16 - Las Vegas, NV - Bakkt Theatre at Planet Hollywood
17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Maverick Arena*
20 - Irving, TX - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
21 - Austin, TX - Germania Insurance Amphitheater
23 - Macon, GA - Atrium Health Macon Amphitheater*
24 - West Palm Beach, FL - IThink Financial Amphitheatre


September
3 - Tinley Park, IL - Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
5 - Huntington, WV - Marshall Health Network Arena*
6 - Charlotte, NC - PNC Music Pavilion
7 - Raleigh, NC - Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
9 - Reading, PA - Santander Arena*
10 - Albany, NY - MVP Arena*
11 - Boston, MA - Leader Bank
13 - Bethel, MY - Bethel Woods Center For The Arts
14 - Wantagh, NY - Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
15 - Richmond, VA - Virginia Credit Union Live!*
17 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
18 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE
20 - Noblesville, IN - Ruoff Music Center
21 - Clarkston, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre
24 - Minneapolis, MN - The Armory
26 - St Louis, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre STL
27 - Southaven, MS - Bankplus Amphitheater at Snowden Grove*
28 - Nashville, TN - Nashville Municipal Auditorium


*non-Live Nation Dates

VOLBEAT frontman Michael Poulsen, who just completed a European tour with his death metal project ASINHELL, has released a new video message in which he addressed the progress of the songwriting sessions for the ninth studio album from his main band. The follow-up to 2021's "Servant Of The Mind" is tentatively due in 2025. Michael said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm home. I'm dusting off the new VOLBEAT songs. All the songs have been written for the next album. I'm almost done with the lyrics. VOLBEAT's gonna enter the studio later this year. There's gonna be a new VOLBEAT record out next year. We're gonna tour Europe, the U.S. — big tour. So [I] can't wait to go out with my VOLBEAT brothers again and see the VOLBEAT fans out there."

Last October, Poulsen underwent a throat surgery. A month earlier, he told "Paltrocast" host Darren Paltrowitz about the procedure: "It's an operation I've been through before. This one is just a little bit bigger and it's gonna take some time to get back in vocal shape. So, VOLBEAT is not playing [in 2024]. I'll use a lot of time to get my voice back after the operation. But at the same time, I will actually be writing a new VOLBEAT album. So hopefully later [in 2024], I can put down the vocals for the next VOLBEAT album. But in the meantime, I will go out and play shows with ASINHELL."

Asked if this means that he might have to change his singing approach to where he will start doing the vocal warmdowns after each show, Michael said: "I do warm up before a show, but there's no way I'm gonna use my voice after a show. I'm very optimistic about the whole thing. As I said, I tried before and I got good people around me. I've got a great coach in Melissa Cross who has been helping out a lot of singers. She will help me out again to get my voice back in shape after the operation. So I like to stay positive, and I'm pretty sure everything's going to be all right."

Back in January 2021, Poulsen told Denmark's BT.dk that he underwent an operation during the coronavirus pandemic to remove a large polyp. He added: "I have managed to retrain my voice so much that there has been time to record a new album," referencing "Servant Of The Mind", which came out in December 2021.

VOLBEAT parted ways with longtime guitarist Rob Caggiano in June 2023 and replaced him for the band's latest tour with Flemming C. Lund of the Danish extreme metal outfit THE ARCANE ORDER.

VOLBEAT played its first concert with Lund on June 10, 2023 at the Rockfest festival in Hyvinkää, Finland.

Just five days earlier, VOLBEAT announced that it had officially parted ways with Caggiano. No reason was given for the split, but the remaining bandmembers said that they wished their "brother Rob all the best with everything he does in the future." They went on to thank Rob "for ten amazing years."

Caggiano played on VOLBEAT's last four studio albums: 2013's "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", 2016's "Seal the Deal & Let's Boogie", 2019's "Rewind, Replay, Rebound" and "Servant Of The Mind".

ASINHELL's debut album, "Impii Hora" (Latin for "Ungodly Hour"),arrived last September via Metal Blade. Poulsen is joined in the project by ex-MORGOTH singer Marc Grewe (also of INSIDIOUS DISEASE) and RAUNCHY drummer Morten Toft Hansen.

Photo credit: Ross Halfin (courtesy of Q Prime)

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