Puscifer, the multi-dimensional rock troupe featuring Maynard James Keenan, Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round, have released In Case You Were Napping (Puscifer Entertainment/Alchemy Recordings/BMG), a 15-song digital-only collection celebrating the band’s nearly two decade recorded legacy of boundary-pushing music. Stream/download the collection here.

Pulling from the band’s albums and EPs, In Case You Were Napping serves as both a primer for new listeners and a curated journey for longtime fans. The tracklist highlights favorites such as “The Humbling River, “ “Momma Sed,” and “Conditions Of My Parole,” alongside standout tracks including “The Mission – M Is For Milla Mix” (featuring vocals from Milla Jovovich), the prescient 2020 single, “Apocalyptical,” and Sessanta tour closer, “Grand Canyon.”

The collection arrives as Puscifer has publicly confirmed their fifth studio album will arrive in 2026. Fans won’t have to wait long for a preview, on August 11, the band will perform the as-of-yet untitled record in its entirety over two performances at Exchange L.A.. The 8 PM set is sold out but a limited number of tickets remain for the 5 PM set. Get tickets here.



In Case You Were Napping tracklisting:

“Queen B”
“Momma Sed”
“Indigo Children”
“The Humbling River”
“The Mission” – M Is For Milla Mix
“Conditions Of My Parole”
“Horizons”
“Man Overboard”
“The Remedy”
“Grand Canyon”
“The Arsonist”
“Apocalyptical”
“Bullet Train To Iowa”
“The Underwhelming”
“Breathe” (Versatile Mix)

In a new interview with Matt Bingham of the Z93 radio station, GREAT WHITE rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Michael Lardie confirmed that the band is working on new music with Brett Carlisle, who was officially named the band's new vocalist in October 2022. Brett joined the group as the replacement for Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE),who sang for GREAT WHITE for only five months. Regarding what it has been like "adding fresh blood to a band that's been doing it for 40-plus years", Michael said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, it's great. [Brett's] got a great energy. He's a totally sweet dude. I mean, he's just one of those kids that gets 'it'. You would think that because of his age being — I don't know; I think he's 28 now — that does infuse us with a certain amount of new energy, which is very cool. But he's very interested in recording some new material with us because he would like to put his stamp on the GREAT WHITE history. And we are working on tunes all the time. I think that it shouldn't be difficult at all for him to, to find his voice within the framework of what [GREAT WHITE guitarist] Mark [Kendall] and I are coming up with. So we're looking forward to that.

"I think what we're gonna try and do this time around is instead of doing an entire album, do two or three songs at a time, put 'em out there, maybe do a video, and then when we're close to 12 to 15, we'll slap them all together and make them available as an entire album," he explained. "But because of social media, the attention span, as you know, is somewhat diminished from what it was. I mean, think about when you were a kid, putting on a [LED] ZEPPELIN record or an AEROSMITH record, you wanted to listen to the whole record. And that's the thing that is different about the way people consume music now. So we wanna make sure that we are true to our fans that have been with us forever, but also understand that life is so busy that we want them to ingest new material. It's just the way society is now. It's just they need to take it in smaller doses."

Lardie went on to say that he misses making full-length albums. "I've been doing records — I've been an engineer since 1979, which is, in fact, when I met GREAT WHITE in the studio in '83 and worked on their very first record when they were on EMI," he added. "That's when they were definitely more in the realm of, say a JUDAS PRIEST — the sound was more like that. And I think when Mark found himself as a blues player, it really kind of clicked as to what our signature sound was going to be. But I miss doing records — I mean, in their entirety. You're talking two, three months block out of time, every day you're going to the studio, you're doing the thing… So I do miss doing entire records, but one has to stay with the times."

This past May, Kendall confirmed to Rev. Tom Brice of Sportzwire Radio that e and his GREAT WHITE bandmates were working on material for the follow-up to 2017's "Full Circle" album. He said: "We made a lot of demos. It shouldn't be too long. I've been saying it for so long, but it's just hard to put it together, man. But literally I've flown Brett out here [to California] multiple times, and we're just going in and presenting the band with ideas. It's also a case of we don't know exactly how we're gonna do it, with today's world."

He continued: "To bombard people with, like, 13 songs, it almost doesn't make sense. With all the medium stripped away, except for downloading, I'd rather get the full attention of maybe one song and a video. Let them trip on that, and then we'll come with another one and another one, and maybe then hit 'em with eight songs or whatever. Because it's not like when we were teenagers where we knew everybody's name in every band and we'd sit there and read the liner notes and trip on an album all day long and go out and buy it and take it home and it'd be a 10-hour project. Now they just download a couple of songs from this guy and that guy. It's not the human connection that we used to have, so we have to conform to that. Our thing is we just want to get the music to the people. We want you to hear it 'cause we want feedback. We want you to say 'it sucks' or 'it's great' — tell me something, man.

Back in April 2024, Kendall told George Dionne of KNAC.COM about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the next GREAT WHITE LP: "I've been having [Brett] out recording new stuff. Because I want him to be inspired and just not singing our [old] songs perfect but put his name on some new stuff. So we've been recording. I got a friend, his studio is a little bit more upgraded than mine. This guy Tracy G [Grijalva], he's like a teenage friend of mine who was in DIO. He just has a better studio. So I go down there and lay down ideas and then I have Brett out and go, 'Check this out,' and we sit together. And it's coming out amazing."

Regarding how GREAT WHITE is planning to release its new music, Mark said: "We're not sure how we're gonna put it out, with this day and age. We're talking to a lot of people about it. 'Cause we don't want the music to kind of get lost, with this downloading world. It's not like when we were growing up, we'd buy a record and sit there and listen to [LED ZEPPELIN's] 'Physical Graffiti' all day. Now they just download a couple of songs from this [album], a couple of songs [from that record]. So we're thinking maybe the idea could be [to] just put two or three songs out, maybe a video, and just keep coming with three at a time or something. That way, the music isn't wasted; it actually gets to the people. That's all we're concerned about. We know it's gonna be free on the Internet immediately."

He continued: "Even in our heyday, I was always more interested in the feedback. I want people to tell me, 'Man, I really like this song' or, 'I hate it,' or whatever. I used to go straight to a friend of mine, as soon as we were done, before it was out or anything, because you've gotta wait about four months. So I'd ask him, I go, 'Man, please tell me I'm great. Tell me something good.' He would always pick the singles. And the guy can't — he can't hold a tune in a bucket. I mean, he's so tone deaf, it's insane. But he can listen and he could always pick the singles. I'm going, 'What are you judging by? Is it the beat?' He goes, 'I don't know.' So there's no answer there. But I always like to get the feedback 'cause I wanna know… You have to wait this waiting period after you finish a record to find out if you're good or not, or if people are gonna be accepting. So it is a frustrating time. So I always race all my friends and play it for 'em. So that's what I'm more interested in than the dollars, really, is what people think. And maybe we have a chance to create some more memories."

Asked if he and his bandmates were "a little bit apprehensive" about the fact that Carlisle is only 28 years old while GREAT WHITE, as a group, has been in existence more than four decades, Mark said: "He's in his late 20s, but, believe it or not, he's kind of an old soul in a way. Nothing overwhelms the guy. He just goes out and just totally handles it every night, engages the crowd. He's real good with the interaction. He sings perfect all the time. And he's got really good song sense for a young man. I'm used to feeding people melody ideas when I write a song because that's the way I do it. Everybody has their own way to do it, but I always know that there's a lot of melody available, and he sometimes comes up with something way better than I had. So that's a good sign. And the way he delivers the new stuff, he really has a good handle on the music. And I don't know — I think he was born in the wrong time or something. In other words, we can stand together. It's not like he's standing next to his grandpa or something. It's not like we're CROSBY, STILLS & NASH, and, 'What's that 13-year-old doing there?' When we stand together, it just looks like a band. It doesn't look like we're with a little kid or anything. He's a little better-looking than us, but apart from that…"

Carlisle was officially named GREAT WHITE's new vocalist in October 2022. Brett joined the group as the replacement for Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE),who sang for GREAT WHITE for only five months.

Regarding what it has been like working with a singer who wasn't even born when some of GREAT WHITE's classic songs were written, Lardie told Robert Miguel of Uvalde Radio Rocks: "Well, I think he gets what we're trying to do. It's been a godsend to have someone with his youth, but at the same time he has what a lot of people would deem as an older soul. His parents did a great job bringing him up on '70s and '80s rock, so he's pretty well versed in that. And he comes from the South, so he's got a little bit of that blues and gospel edge to him."

Michael went on to say that he is "really looking forward" working on the new GREAT WHITE album with Carlisle. "In fact, before we were going on the other night, I was playing him a little bit of a thing that he and I are working on, and he's going, 'Oh, yeah, I got this idea,'" Lardie said. "So he's really psyched about working with us. And it's a joy to be onstage with him. He's turned into a great little performer, and when he's offstage, he's the most down-to-earth, righteous young man that I've come across in a while. And it's been a joy."

Michael added that Carlisle has the singing ability to handle anything from GREAT WHITE's catalog. "With his energy and his vocal range, we can do pretty much anything," he said. "If somebody throws out a tune, no matter how obscure it might be or how high it might be in terms of range, he's, like, 'Yeah, I can do that.' Like one of the songs we are doing from the very, very first record is 'Stick It'. And he hits every one of those notes spot-on every night. So it's awesome."

Regarding the musical direction of the new GREAT WHITE material, Lardie said: "It's hard to say. I would love the album to be kind of an amalgam of '...Twice Shy' [1989], 'Hooked' [1991] and 'Psycho City' [1992]. I mean, that, to me, would be a great combination of things."

In March 2024, Kendall told The Logan Show about Carlisle: "Even though he's younger than us, he's kind of, like… Nothing overwhelms the guy. He's respectful and everything, but he's not, like, 'Oh, my god. Look at this. Oh, my god. [Look at] that.' He just goes out and just totally handles it every night. Yeah, he's younger than us and whatnot, and, like you said, he wasn't even born in our heyday or whatever, probably, but he just goes out, he really brings the crowd into the show. He's really good and natural at… He doesn't have a script when he goes out there; he just kind of whatever he's feeling, and he sings like perfect, no matter what. It's pretty incredible, really. We're looking forward to doing an album with him, I can tell you that much."

After interviewer Logan Crosland noted that "quite a few people online" have commented that Brett is "probably the closest-sounding singer to Jack Russell," GREAT WHITE's original vocalist, and asked if that was a criteria when hiring Brett to front the band, Mark said: "Not necessarily. What it was is he just sang the songs correctly and he has the range to sing 'em. I don't think his voice sounds that much like Jack, but he has the range of Jack in his heyday. And so we're able to play anything we want, and we really haven't been able to do that in the past. Like we're playing 'Stick It' off the first album, which is up in the astral planes with the vocal range, and he's hitting all those notes full power. I mean, it's not like a falsetto, weak high notes. He's like straight from the gut just like screaming these notes, like full power from A to Z. There's not a song in our catalog that he can't totally handle. And I've been writing with him."

Regarding whether he has any songs already completed, Mark said: "Oh, yeah. I probably have seven complete songs on tape right now. [They're] just absolutely killer. But we haven't collaborated. The way we do it is we get together and we sit in a circle and say, 'What do you got? Let's hear it. What do you got?' And if a riff kind of pokes out, we say, 'Let's work on that. That's badass, dude. That's killer.' And that way it's more of a group effort."

Carlisle made his live debut with GREAT WHITE on September 24, 2022 at the Cannery Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to Brett, he felt welcomed by his new bandmates and the GREAT WHITE fans from the get-go.

"After meeting [the GREAT WHITE guys], they're all super-cool dudes," he told Kevin McKay of the 99 Rock WKSM FM radio station. "In Vegas, we had a rehearsal the day before, and I already knew half the songs well enough to be able to do it. So I wanted to do the best that I could on 'em. But after we hung out, everybody was cool and stuff. I mean, it's a big crowd. I love big crowds; they're fun."

Carlisle has been playing guitar and singing since the age of eight and counts bands like VAN HALEN, SKID ROW and METALLICA as his main influences.

In May 2022, GREAT WHITE announced that it had parted ways with singer Mitch Malloy and had replaced him with Freeman. Malloy had been in GREAT WHITE for nearly four years, having joined the group in 2018 following the departure of Terry Ilous.

Ilous, frontman of '80s L.A. hard rockers XYZ, joined GREAT WHITE in 2010 after stepping in for touring vocalist Jani Lane (WARRANT).

The Ilous-led GREAT WHITE released two albums, 2012's "Elation" and 2017's "Full Circle", before Terry was dismissed from the group.

In January 2023, Kendall told the "Mark 2.0" podcast that he was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to Carlisle's addition to GREAT WHITE. "It was world news," he said. "I'm seeing stuff on the Internet from Italy, Germany, the U.K. And even some of the more online dirt-seeking-type entities that normally are just huntin' for the headline to say, 'He said his singer sucks'. That's the article. That's the way it starts. These guys actually said good things and posted some of the [fan-filmed videos]. They're cellphone cameras, so the quality probably isn't… But you can hear it. You need to sing great."

In October 2022, Carlisle was asked in an interview with AL.com about his approach to singing GREAT WHITE's classic songs. He said: "I just want to do the songs justice, because that's what people expect to hear. They want to go to the shows and hear the songs the way they remember them, the way they know them. It's not about me and how many high notes I can hit or anything like that. I just want to do the give the people, and the band, what they want."

Brett went on to say that he is honored to be singing for a band whose songs — including "Save Your Love", "Rock Me" and "Lady Red Light" — he had previously covered with his other band ALL OR NOTHING.

"I just want to learn from them," Carlisle said of his new bandmates "It's just really cool to be included in what I've grown up listening to, like looking at the CDs and everything. And then now people are coming up after the shows asking me to sign like original GREAT WHITE cassettes and stuff. And I'm sitting here feeling like I'm not worthy. Because I didn't record that. But I'm, like, 'I just sang with them, so, sure, if you want me to.'"

GREAT WHITE press photo courtesy of Jeff Klein / Atomic City PR

In a new interview with the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3, bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld and guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei of the reunited classic lineup of BIOHAZARD spoke about "Divided We Fall", the band's first studio album in over a decade, which will arrive on October 17 via BLKIIBLK. Asked if it was weird getting back in the studio after so long, Billy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I would say no, because we didn't get together… We put the band back together. We're the only band from the '90s that has original guys, and we didn't realize that until three years later. But we got back together. We had two shows booked, three shows, and we pretty much all just kind of went with the flow. We really didn't make much plans. If we would've sat down and said, 'Hey, let's put the band back together. Let's have go on tour for a couple of years, have some amazing shows, and let's do a record.' Any time we kind of planned things in our career, it never worked out. When we let things kind of just stick on the wall and just go with it, it worked. So BIOHAZARD was never like a big business entity that planned all these things with this huge marketing plan and this business proposal that works to the tee. We're the underdog. So, being the underdog, our back's against the wall, we come out swinging, and we make it up as we go along. And it works."

Asked what it was like working with producer Matt Hyde (SLAYER, HATEBREED, DEFTONES) on "Divided We Fall", Evan said: "Matt's awesome. We're all very experienced in recording music, obviously. And some of the guys — Billy has his own studio — everyone in this band's prolific and can make an album. The role of the producer is to bring it together into like a common unified vision. And Matt shot us down, like, day one. I think we were all kind of overthinking, what's gonna be the progression? What's the next step for BIOHAZARD? And he was, like, 'Hey, man. You guys are BIOHAZARD. You've gotta just make a BIOHAZARD record like it's 1993, bro.' And we were, like, 'Wait. Wait a second. You mean like what we naturally just kind of sound, you think that's what people want?' And he was, like, 'Yeah, 'cause only you guys can do that.' And we looked at each other, like, 'Aha.' And next thing we know, album's done and we're all psyched and we're on the phone with you on the radio."

Billy also talked about the themes covered on "Divided We Fall" and the importance of having lyrics that are "incredibly relatable". He said: "One of the things that I think that everyone gravitated to BIOHAZARD for when we started was the realism. We always wrote, and we only write, about things that are real to us, things that we experience, things that we go through. And when that resonates with somebody else… That's why we all love BLACK SABBATH, we all love Ozzy [Osbourne], we all love TOOL and all the other bands that we love because there's a certain symbiotic kind of connection that we have. With BIOHAZARD, our lyrics are straight up in your face and they're honest. And I think that, if you go look at the comments… We dropped two singles [so far from the upcoming album], but those lyrics… Look at the comments on the video. Everyone's, like, 'They're back. I feel 16 again.' And if you're 16, you're gonna relate to it like someone who's 29 was relating to it when they were 16. So it's great to be relevant and doing what we do. We're proud of what we have. The record 'Divided We Fall' is the BIOHAZARD record of all BIOHAZARD records. In our opinion, this is gonna go up there with 'Urban Discipline' and 'State Of The World Address'. And we can't wait to bring it to your part of the world."

BIOHAZARD has released two singles so far from "Divided We Fall": "Forsaken" and "F**k the System".

Graziadei commented: "'F**k the System' is BIOHAZARD calling it like it is. The powers that be have us at odds and beefin' with each other while they sit back and cash in. It's no accident the world's burnin' in front of our eyes. It's all divide and control — while they keep us divided by politics, class, race, all of it, and have us out here fighting each other, they're pulling the strings. 'F**k the System' is our war cry about the state of the world with no sugarcoated bullshit."

Produced, mixed, and mastered by Matt Hyde (SLAYER, HATEBREED, DEFTONES),"Divided We Fall" captures BIOHAZARD at their most raw, relentless, and unifying. The album blends the band's unmistakable fusion of hardcore, metal, and streetwise groove with a sharpened edge for a fractured modern world delivering a powerful reminder of why BIOHAZARD remains one of the most vital and influential bands in heavy music.

Recording sessions took place at Shorefire Recording Studios in Long Branch, New Jersey and The Hydeaway in Van Nuys, California, with engineering by Joseph DeMaio and additional recording from Matt Hyde. Guitar and production tech duties were handled by Phil Caivano.

"Divided We Fall" track listing:

01. F**k The System
02. Forsaken
03. Eyes On Six
04. Death of Me
05. Word To The Wise
06. Fight To Be Free
07. War Inside Me
08. S.I.T.F.O.A.
09. Tear Down The Walls
10. I Will Overcome
11. Warriors

In a recent interview with Chicago's Rebel Radio 92.5 FM as part of the station's 31st-anniversary celebration, Graziadei stated about "Forsaken": "The song 'Forsaken' is a killer BIOHAZARD track. It's the first one off the new record that we started playing live.

"We were on tour in Europe with LIFE OF AGONY and a band called LYLVC," he continued. "We had a great tour. Most of it was sold out. So we started playing new songs during soundcheck, and one night we threw 'Forsaken' into the set. Because once social media started happening and everybody had a cell phone, we didn't like playing new songs because it was up on YouTube the next day. So we were, like, 'Screw it. Let's just play it. Who cares?' And then we played it. And, bro, it was like 1992 again, the way the kids and the audience was reacting. We kept playing it every night. And then the [fan-filmed live] videos started coming out [on YouTube]. And it's funny, because we weren't tight with the song. And it's always like that — a new song, it takes a little while to get tight. But after, like, a week of play that every night, there was another video of us playing it, and it got better and better. So then we were like, 'Yo, the kids like this new song. Let's do a [proper] video.' So I talked to the label, and the record wasn't even done yet. But I was, like, 'Let's just do a video. Let's film this. If something comes cool of it…'"

Billy added: "People have been seeing the [reunited] original [lineup] BIOHAZARD playing live for [the last] three years. We've been talking about doing a [new] record, we've been teasing it and we finally did it late last year and finished it during the winter and then went on tour. So it just came together. I hired some dudes I knew from England [to make the 'Forsaken' video]. They flew over to Amsterdam and Belgium, filmed a couple shows, and then we put together this… It's a real video. It's not a live video, but it captures all the energy. The new record is like that."

Touching upon BIOHAZARD's approach to making the new album, Billy said: "One of the things about BIOHAZARD was we always were better live than we were on records. So that was a goal of mine, is to try to capture that live energy and sound. And I never was able to do it. With BILLYBIO and my solo stuff, I figured it out. BIOHAZARD, this record we worked with this producer named Matt Hyde, and he brought a whole different element and realization to the table with me. 'Cause I have POWERFLO with Sen Dog and Christian from FEAR FACTORY, I have my solo stuff, BILLYBIO. He said, 'You grew as an artist, as a writer.' He goes, 'And I love it. It's great. But you can't be that dude. You gotta be Billy BIOHAZARD from 1994. That's when people fucking loved you guys. You've gotta be Billy BIOHAZARD from the early '90s when everybody loved you. That was when you guys made music and you didn't care about structure. It was real and raw and right in your face.' And that realization, that was the resonating theme of this record. And we went back — every band says, 'We're going back to the roots.' Guys, you heard it on 'Forsaken'. We're dropping something new next. You'll hear it."

Elaborating on the musical direction of the new BIOHAZARD material, Billy said: "The record — it's not a rerun, but it's kind of like we really found the heart and soul of the band that we… I guess it's just the formula of the four of us being together. And being on the road for three years playing like all the classic BIOHAZARD songs, it reignited the same passion that we had back then. And it's all there on the new record. So I can't wait for you guys to get another track to play. The next track won't let you down."

As previously reported, BIOHAZARD will team up with the American hip-hop group ONYX for a North American tour this fall. Additional support on the "Divided We Fall" trek will come from BAYWAY and SWOLLEN TEETH.

BIOHAZARD was joined by ONYX on stage on February 23 at the Academy in Dublin, Ireland to perform the 1993 ONYX song "Slam".

"Slam" was originally released in May 1993 as the second single from ONYX's debut album, "Bacdafucup". An official remix, "Slam (Bionyx Remix)", was a collaboration with BIOHAZARD and was made available as a maxi-single titled "Slam: The Alternatives" in June 1993.

BIOHAZARD and ONYX also worked together on the song "Judgment Night" for the soundtrack to the 1993 film of the same name.

BIOHAZARD, renowned for their aggressive style and socially conscious lyrics, has been a seminal force in the hardcore and metal scenes since their formation in the late 1980s. Their unique blend of hardcore punk, heavy metal, and hip-hop elements has garnered them a dedicated fan base and critical acclaim.

Musical pioneers in every sense of the word, BIOHAZARD were one of the first bands to seamlessly blend hardcore, heavy metal, punk, and hip hop into an intoxicating genre all their own. After more than a decade away, the Brooklyn, New York band's OG lineup reunited in 2023 to both fan fervor and critical acclaim, headlining the opening night of the legendary Milwaukee Metal Fest for their first show back. Ghost Cult magazine said they "explosively unleashed their fury with fortitude and force" with "a superhuman set and an awe-inspiring show."

The band followed with two sold-out hometown shows in New York City, a late-summer festival run in Europe, and a fall direct support slot with MEGADETH across North America. That was just the start. They returned to Europe in 2024 for the early summer festival season and made their triumphant return to South America in spring, then returned home to blow out America's exploding festival circuit.

Photo credit: Istvan Bruggen

In a recent interview with Randy Hulsey of Backstage Pass Radio, POISON drummer Rikki Rockett offered an update on his health, more than 10 years after he was diagnosed with oral cancer. The 63-year-old Rikki, whose real name is Richard Allan Ream, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I am coming up on nine years in remission. And it was pretty miraculous, really, 'cause I only really had about a 10 percent chance of making it, because I was stage four. It didn't get better. I did chemo, radiation, and it didn't get better. And I wound up down at Moores Cancer Center, which is part of UCSD [University of California, San Diego] in San Diego, and Dr. Ezra Cohen took me on as a patient and got me on a clinical trial. And in about nine to 12 weeks, it was gone. It was amazing."

Asked if this was "an alternative type treatment to radiation and chemotherapy", Rikki said: "Yeah, it is. And a lot of people are receiving it now. It got approval shortly after my trial ended. And so my trial was a big part of that. I mean, I wasn't the only one on the trial, of course, but, yeah, they pushed it into high gear once they saw my response."

Regarding whether there were any "warning signs" prior to him being diagnosed with oral cancer, Rikki said: "The thing that was odd about it is the whole family had a sore throat, including me. We all had sore throats… So we went to the doc, got meds. My wife got better, the kids got better. I didn't. So I went back and I'm, like, 'I didn't get better. They're good.' He said, 'Well, maybe you have a secondary infection. Let's go ahead and scope you. Have you ever had that?' And I went, 'No.' He goes, 'Well, we go up your nose and look down your throat and I can see if there's anything else going on.' And when he did, there was something else going on. And it was a lump on the base of my tongue. The thing that tipped them off was I had a lymph node that was swollen, like really bad. You can feel 'em sometimes if you're sick, a little bit, but this was, you could see it in the mirror. And so that was another big tip-off too. So then I went through getting biopsies and all that stuff and then went into treatment."

On the topic of when he found out that his cancer was stage four, Rikki said: "Yeah, head and neck cancers are actually staged higher, for some reason. So if it's a two, they call it a three. I don't know why; I don't remember the answer. And I think they may have changed that now. But the reason I was stage four is because we did the chemo and radiation and we did all that and it didn't work. So now it jumped to the other side, there's other lymph nodes involved, and that's why it became stage four. So now I can't do radiation, 'cause I've already done it. The chemo may keep it at bay, if I try something else. Surgery is an option, but they wanted to take my whole tongue out. So the other option was immunotherapy, but if it didn't start to respond, I could get to the point of no return. So it was a roll of the dice. And I was just, like, 'I don't know if I wanna live with no tongue and a bag and all this stuff. I don't know. What I know I do wanna try is this immunotherapy. So when I went to the doc, he goes, 'You know what? I think we do have time. I have a way of getting around some of this. If it seems like it's going the wrong direction, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve.' So, we did it, and the first imaging they did, it was a tiny little bit left — tiny. And a couple of weeks later, that was gone too. And it's never come back."

In June 2015, Rikki visited his primary care doctor with a sore throat. His doctor found a small tumor at the base of his tongue, and Rikki learned he had human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oral cancer. He endured nine rounds of chemotherapy and 37 sessions of radiation therapy. The tumor initially responded, but returned three months later, spreading to his lymph nodes. Rikki then saw Cohen at UCSD Moores Cancer Center, who helped him enroll in a clinical trial of pembrolizumab (Keytruda). Rikki's tumor responded immediately. Just over two months into the trial, a scan revealed that his tumor had shrunk over 90 percent.

Regarding the fact that his cancer diagnosis was caused by HPV, the human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted infection, Rikki told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk": "There's a lot of HPV out there, and HPV is the one — two of the strains, I think 16 and one other strain is the main ones that are causing cancer. In girls, uterus cancer, uterine cancer, a lot of oral cancer is coming down the pike. And this is because of stuff we would never have thought about years ago. We would have never thought that you get cancer from having oral sex with some girl. You would have never thought that, but that's how a lot of this has gotten spread. But we're gonna beat it, I think, with the next generation as long as people don't hold back on these vaccines because the HPV vaccine… I don't wanna get into politics at all, but I'm telling you the HPV vaccine is the thing that will keep people from getting HPV in the first place. And so my son had it, my daughter just got her first dose. So when they go out into the cruel world and — I don't even wanna think about it, but when they do, they're not gonna get HPV and get cancer from HPV, because we should be able to wipe it out."

Rikki also addressed the fact that regular screenings, such as colonoscopies, mammograms and wellness exams, can lead to early detection and even save your life. He explained: "Yeah, there's this really delicate line of having health anxiety or being just really on top of your health. And so it's a fine line to walk, honestly. But I think, go in once a year and get a physical and if something comes up and it doesn't go away… For me, I did have symptoms. Everybody in my family actually got a sore throat the month that I was diagnosed. The only thing is my sore throat didn't go away and everybody else's did. So when I went back in, the doctor said, 'We'd better take another look and see if there's a different infection or something else going on.' And that's when he said, 'Yeah, there's something down there that shouldn't be down there. We've gotta get you a little more imaging.' And that's when my life changed forever. It will forever be different now. But I'm going on eight and a half years now that I've been in remission, and I'm in great shape. I'm able to ride motorcycles and go to Brazilian jiu-jitsu and go and train, work out and keep up with my kids, which is the most challenging one of all, by the way. And play. You used to hear that — if you have your health, you have just about everything. Honestly, you can have 99 problems. If you have a health problem, you've got one problem, 'cause it'll take you down. So, yeah, everybody stay on top of it, just do the best you can. Some of us have better genes than others."

In 2020, Rockett told "Trunk Nation" that he was afflicted with the same type of cancer as what IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson and MEGADETH's Dave Mustaine had.

"It was base of tongue with an associated lymph node, which is pretty common as far as head and neck cancers these days," he said. "HPV-related head and neck cancers usually are base of tongue. There's a few people that I've sort of mentored or helped out, and many of 'em are musicians. And HPV is pretty rampant — it really is. If you have a kid, get 'em inoculated."

Asked what his symptoms were, Rikki said: "I had a sore throat that wouldn't go away. That was the main thing. And then I had a lymph node that was kind of sticking out. First, they tried antibiotics, and they didn't work at all — they didn't even touch it. So it was, like, 'Okay, we need to do a biopsy. We're gonna go down and scope and take a look.' And there was a lump down there. Then, after a few weeks, it started to get hard to swallow, 'cause the lump was getting bigger — the tumor was getting bigger. So I went and did the typical treatment for it, which is chemo and radiation, and it did not work. And by the way, it's a fairly curable cancer, especially with HPV — there's a high percentage rate of success with it, of cure. But in my case, it didn't cure, so my options were a whole lot less. My doctor told me recently — he didn't tell me this before — but he told me recently that I had about a 10 percent chance if I would have went down the regular path. But we didn't — we used immunotherapy, and it put it in remission in about 10 weeks. When it works, it is amazing."

Rockett first revealed that his tongue cancer diagnosis was caused by HPV — the most common sexually transmitted infection — in a 2015 interview. He said: "It is the number one leading cause of oral cancer these days. There's less and less of the truck drivers that chew tobacco for thirty years getting it, because people are more aware that that kind of stuff isn't good. So we are getting marathon runners and all these elite athletes with this. I have a friend that's a therapist, and five years ago, it was five percent of the people she treated, and now it's close to ninety percent."

He continued: "It can be spread sexually, but now they're saying that it can spread [through] deep-kissing and actually hand to mouth. I mean, if you see the Olympic swimmers, they swim and they smack their hand on the side of the pool for each lap, and their hands are full of warts and stuff from HPV. Now the wart kind of HPV is not the same as the strain that causes cancer, but it is spread almost identically. For men, you can't tell if you have it. For women, you can get a papsmear. But the doctor estimated probably it was 15 [or] 20 years ago [when I contracted it], and my body probably got rid of it, but it mutated itself and my body would probably see that again and get rid of it. But there's no way to tell who got it. I mean, I know a couple that's been married for 15 years and they've never cheated on each other, and they're pointing their finger at each other [after one of them was diagnosed with oral cancer], and it turned into a thing until the doctor sat 'em down and went, 'Look, you can get this so many ways.'"

Rockett's memoir, "Ghost Notes", is due this fall via Rare Bird Books. The book was written with writer duo Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson.

Rikki is the co-founder and drummer for the band POISON, which exploded into the highly competitive Los Angeles music scene in the 1980s, making a name for themselves in the clubs on the Sunset Strip.

POISON's reunited original lineup — Rockett, singer Bret Michaels, bassist Bobby Dall and guitarist C.C. DeVille — completed "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS in 2022. The trek was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In April 2022, Rockett married his longtime girlfriend TC Smith at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara, California.

Rikki was previously married to singer/songwriter Melanie Martel. They share joint custody of their two kids — son Jude Aaron Rockett and daughter Lucy Sky Rockett.

In September 2024, Rikki announced the launch of a new band called THE ROCKETT MAFIA. Joining him in the group are Brandon Gibbs (DEVIL CITY ANGELS) on vocals and guitar, Mick Sweda (BULLETBOYS) on guitar and backing vocals, and Bryan Kimes on bass and backing vocals.

“Brave Force” is the new single from Bravelord, the solo project of Chilean musician Rodrigo Bravo, who has been turning heads with a style that harks back to the best of late 90s power metal. This single serves as the final preview of The Power From The End Of The World, the debut album set for release this November.



The song, produced by Nicolás Arce at AST Studios, is part of a conceptual album that tells an epic story set in the south of Chile.

“The album tells the story of Bravelord, the guardian of the end of the world, who must defend the earth from evil forces. In this particular song, Bravelord questions his role as the hero of the earth, leading the forces of nature to come to his aid and form the Brave Force, an army that will confront The Evil and its destructive machines. While it’s a fantasy story, it’s a metaphor for how humanity is destroying nature. It’s a call to unite as a society to defend our planet”, says Bravo.

“Brave Force” features the vocal talents of Jaime Salva (Valkiria, Husar, Concerto, Rising Angel) on backing vocals and Paulo Domic (Inquisición, Witchblade, Queen Milk, Domic), who personifies the “Timeless Forces of Nature”.

Stream the single here, and listen below:



The album, The Power From The End Of The World, also includes guest appearances from YouTuber Nico Borie and Caterina Nix (Chaos Magic), who portray The Evil and the Angel Of Light, respectively.

The Power From The End Of The World tracklisting:

“Threatened World” (Intro)
“The Power From The End Of The World”
“Destruction Is Coming”
“The Awakening of Bravelord”
Interlude I
“Legendary War”
“Sometimes”
Interlude II
“Brave Force”
“To The Victory”
Interlude III
“The Power Of Darkness”
“The Answer Will Be In The Sky”

Slipknot drummer, Eloy Casagrande (ex-Sepultura), has shared drum-cam video from the band’s performance of “Duality”, filmed at Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium on June 20. Watch below:



Slipknot recently announced Slipknot (25th Anniversary Edition) – a deluxe reissue celebrating the release of their iconic eponymous debut album which catapulted the band in 1999. This special release immortalizes the band’s creative process at the time when the Iowa nine went from a newly-signed fledgling metal act, to an unexpected and unstoppable cultural force that redefined heavy music for a new generation.

Slipknot (25th Anniversary Edition) will be available in stores and across digital retailers on September 5 via Roadrunner Records.

Slipknot released a special edition of the box set directly to fans. Limited to 100 blood-filled vinyl copies via their secret site 742617000027.net, the edition sold out in seconds, crashing the website in the process.

Available for pre-order now are a 6LP Box Set with blood splattered vinyl (limited to 1899 copies), red/black 2LP, and 2CD in addition to digital on streaming services. An exclusive orange 2LP will be available via Knotfest. Depending on the format (see a full list and packshots below), this release includes the original Ross Robinson produced album, plus recordings which only the band and their inner circle heard at the time of the production. All collected from the original sources, these include unreleased takes, alternate versions, and mixes from SR Audio, Indigo Ranch and more, as well as ‘test mixes’ from alternate mixers. Not only are these recordings the full story behind the recording of this now-iconic album, they also chart the course of choices made and paths taken, and how the Slipknot the world knows today came to be.

Slipknot shared their unreleased demo of “Prosthetics” which was recorded before the band entered Indigo Ranch with Ross Robinson. The demo was then refined in the studio, ultimately landing on their debut album. Listen below:

Finnish thrash metal juggernauts, Bloodride, return with the lyric video for “King Of Pain”, the latest offering from their new album, Deafening, out now worldwide through Wormholedeath.

“King of Pain” is a vicious psychological purge — a relentless dive into numbness, rage, and the unbearable weight of existence. With razor-edged riffs and raw, unfiltered lyrics, the track explores a protagonist trapped in a cycle of self-loathing and emotional torment, ruled by a need to feel something — even if it’s pain. It’s not just a song; it’s a scream from the void, a twisted anthem for those who’ve ever stared into the abyss and dared it to stare back.

Formed in Helsinki in 2000, Bloodride have spent over two decades perfecting their signature cocktail of razor-sharp thrash, death metal menace, and hardcore aggression. The band’s previous album, Idiocracy (2021), was praised across international metal media for its unrelenting energy and cutting social commentary — a tradition that Deafening carries forward with even greater ferocity.

Stream/download Deafening here.



Tracklisting:

“Sardonic Grin” (Intro)
“Kill Without Hate”
“Come In Peace”
“Hindsight Einstein”
“Ashes Remain”
“Holy Simplicity”
“King Of Pain”
“The Dark Triad”
“Simply Complicated”
“Death Sentinel”
“Erase And Replace”

7 Mater / Sevan Mater will release the first-ever single vinyl editions of two iconic live performances from gothic metal legends, The Gathering: Live At Dynamo Open Air and Katowice. These historic recordings will be out on October 21 and are now available for pre-order in limited quantities.



Live At Dynamo Open Air is a historic live performance reborn on vinyl with raw energy, soaring emotion and pure 1990s magic. With their bold blend of doom metal roots, atmospheric rock, and ethereal vocals, The Gathering were already reshaping heavy music in the mid-90s. Few recordings capture that electric live energy better than their iconic set at Dynamo Open Air, and now, for the very first time available on a single edition vinyl, this legendary moment finally arrives.

Expertly released by 7 Mater / Sevan Mater, the deluxe edition of Live At Dynamo Open Air is limited to 500 copies each on black and purple vinyl, with a custom cover artwork designed by Sevan Mater that honours the spirit of the era while bringing new visual depth. It’s not just a reissue, it’s a resurrection. Recorded during a time when the band was ascending into cult status, the Dynamo performance showcases the perfect fusion of Anneke van Giersbergen’s soaring vocals with the band’s dynamic instrumental interplay. Songs like “Eleanor” and “Leaves” ring out with clarity and emotion, capturing both the power and subtlety that defined their live presence.



Katowice will also be available for the first time in a single vinyl edition. A breathtaking live moment finally pressed on wax: intimate, ethereal and long overdue. For decades, fans of The Gathering have cherished the band’s dynamic evolution, from doom-tinged gothic metal to ethereal rock explorations, but few live recordings capture that transformation as poignantly as Katowice.

Katowice was originally recorded in Poland in 2003 and was previously only available as part of the “Sleepy Buildings” sessions. 7 Mater / Sevan Mater delivers a deluxe edition that’s both elegant and essential, with new cover artwork. Pressed in two limited runs of 500 copies (Black and Marbled Red vinyl), housed in a gorgeous sleeve, this reissue is a testament to timeless beauty in sound.

From the haunting melodies of “Adrenaline” to the atmospheric sweep of “Sand & Mercury”, and the slow-burning emotional power of “The May Song”, this album is a masterclass in restraint, atmosphere and vocal grace. Anneke van Giersbergen’s performance is, as ever, spellbinding: delicate yet powerful, understated yet unforgettable.

August 29 will see Swedish metal vikings, Månegarm, release their new studio album, Edsvuren, via Napalm Records. The limited wooden box and deluxe vinyl editions of the album are unboxed in the new video below:



Known for weaving Norse mythology, ancient rites, and folkloric wisdom into an unrelenting metal tapestry, Månegarm celebrate their 30-year career with the release of their most evocative album to date. As one of the leading bands in the genre, they once again bring their inimitable style and the blood oath of viking, black and folk metal back together for an unforgettable and diverse sonic journey. Pensive and dreamy atmospheric monsters meet songs for a proper mead binge – this mixture has brought the band a loyal international fan base and highly acclaimed appearances at prestigious festivals such as Ragnarök and Summer Breeze Open Air.

On their forthcoming studio offering, Edsvuren, Månegarm offer necessary authenticity with the use of traditional Nordic instruments. Guest vocalists Ellinor Videfors and Lea Grawsiö Lindström, who have also supported the band on previous albums, once again provide the perfect contrast between harshness and beauty. On title track “Edsvuren”, singer Liv Hope Lenard joins the wolf pack for the first time and provides one of the album’s most breathtaking highlights. On violin, the acoustic master Martin Björklund is back again, especially shining on pieces like “Rodhins hav”. Edsvuren was recorded and mixed by Pelle Saether at Studio Underground, and was mastered by Sverker Widgren at Wing Studios. The epic cover artwork was created by Kris Verwimp.

Melding raw aggression, ancient beauty and hypnotic black metal influences, Norse mythology, rites and folkloric wisdom in a relentless frenzy of orchestral finesse – on the battlefield of viking metal, only Swedish legends Månegarm can emerge victorious with their thunderous anthems. With over 30 years of battle-tested heritage, Månegarm continue to assert themselves as torchbearers of the genre with Edsvuren!



Edsvuren will be available in the following formats:

– 4 Page Digipack
– 1LP Gatefold Black
– Wooden Box
– 2LP Gatefold Marbled Orange, White, Blue, Verde
– 1LP Gatefold Marbled Black Smoke
– Ynglingaättens Öde Wooden Box & Edsvuren Wooden Box
– Digital Album

Pre-order here.



Edsvuren tracklisting:

“I skogsfruns famn” (feat. Lea Grawsiö Lindström)
“Lögrinns värn”
“En blodvittneskrans”
“Rodhins hav” (feat. Ellinor Videfors)
“Till gudars följe”
“En nidings dåd”
“Hör mitt kall”
“I runor ristades orden” (feat. Ellinor Videfors)
“Skild från hugen” (feat. Ellinor Videfors)
“Likgökens fest”
“Edsvuren” (feat. Liv Hope Lenard)
“Ofredsfylgjor”
“As Long As Winds Will Blow” – Falkenback Cover (Wooden Box + Deluxe Vinyl Edition Bonus Track)
“Flight Of Icarus” – Iron Maiden Cover (Wooden Box + Deluxe Vinyl Edition Bonus Track)
“Hear My Call” – English version of “Hör mitt kall” (Wooden Box + Deluxe Vinyl Edition Bonus Track)
“Ulvhjärtat” – Exclusive piano Version (Wooden Box + Deluxe Vinyl Edition Bonus Track)

Today, Swedish supergroup, Crowne, is pleased to share a new single, “Heaven Tonight,” taken from their upcoming studio album Wonderland, set for release on August 22 via Frontiers Music Srl. The new track comes accompanied by a visualizer, available to view below.

Vocalist Alexander Strandell commented on the new record by saying: “It feels incredible to share this third chapter with all of you. Working alongside the amazing team at Frontiers and my brothers Jona, Kicken, John, and Love has been an absolute honour. If you’re a fan of Art Nation, The Poodles, H.E.A.T., Dynazty, or Europe – this one’s for you.”

Watch the visualizer for “Heaven Tonight” below:



Crowne are back with their third studio album, Wonderland. Continuing their musical evolution, the band builds on their signature blend of melodic rock infused with powerful, metal-tinged soundscapes.

Wonderland delivers an unforgettable listening experience filled with epic atmospheres, anthemic choruses, and technical brilliance that showcase the band’s top-tier musicianship.

At the helm is Alexander Strandell, renowned for his soaring vocals with Art Nation, Lionville, and Nitrate. His impassioned delivery adds intensity and depth throughout the album. Guitarist Love Magnusson (Dynazty) provides electrifying riffs and solos, while Jona Tee (H.E.A.T) crafts lush keyboard textures that elevate the album’s cinematic feel. Legendary bassist John Leven (Europe) offers a thunderous low end, and drummer Christian Lundqvist (ex-The Poodles) drives each track with precision and force.

One of the standout moments on the record is “Warlords Of The North,” a powerful anthem featuring a songwriting contribution from Biff Byford, the iconic frontman of Saxon. This collaboration adds majesty and weight to an already monumental track.

With Wonderland, Crowne continues to push the boundaries of melodic heavy rock, delivering a collection of songs that are as emotionally compelling as they are technically impressive. It’s an essential release for fans of melodic metal and arena-ready anthems.

Pre-order Wonderland here.



Tracklisting:

“Wonderland”
“Waiting For You”
“Eye Of The Oracle”
“Heaven Tonight”
“Warlords Of The North”
“Timing Is Right”
“Goodbye”
“Love Thy Enemy”
“Legacy”
“Hearts Collide”
“The Fall”

All Hail The Goat! Century Media Records has forged a pact with Aberdeen, Scotland’s ibex-obsessed blackened thrash bastards of Hades, otherwise known as Hellripper.

The brainchild of guitarist/vocalist/solitary force, James McBain, Hellripper has been running like a denim-vested, backpatch-encrusted William Wallace, brave-hearting his way through metal’s bloodiest battlefields since first coagulating his personal darkness in 2014. Taking armaments from Kill ‘Em All-era Hetfield and Welcome To Hell-era Mantas, McBain has immersed his fascination with darkness and speed with Scottish history and come with bloody masterpieces like 2023’s Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags.

“I’m very pleased to announce that Hellripper is now working with Century Media Records!” comments McBain. “It’s a label that I’ve followed for a long time now and am honoured to become a part of such a great legacy. We share a common vision for the future of the band, and together, we vow to spread the word of the Goat Kvlt! I’m excited to embark on this new chapter of the band’s journey and I can’t wait to share it with you all! All Hail the Goat!”

McBain is presently sharpening his blades and casting new spells that will transmogrify into Hellripper’s Century Media debut, due around the vernal equinox of 2026. In the meantime, McBain and his trusted roundtable of sonic knights have taken to battle on European soil, leaving the likes of Norway’s Beyond the Gates, Czech’s Brutal Assault, and Germany’s Summer Breeze bloodied and staggering in their wake. In March 2025, Hellripper played their first US show at Houston’s Hell’s Heroes festival to a similarly stunned crowd of fans who were left beaten, bruised and beer-soaked by a crowd-swimming McBain by the set’s epic conclusion.

“Hellripper is the high-bar for thrash”, states Century Media, Vice President of A&R, Mike Gitter. “Like an angry billy goat, with his beard washed in blood, James McBain is a feral force that brings together the best elements of metal, black metal, crusty, d-beat punk and speed metal. James’ sonic evil knows no boundaries and isn’t afraid to push the extremes of earslaughtering noise or unexpected guitar melodies. Century Media is proud to be a refuge for the Goat Horde!”

Enter the GOAT KVLT and check out a glimpse of what’s to come below:

WITHERING SCORN, the new band featuring former MEGADETH drummer Shawn Drover and his brother, and fellow ex-MEGADETH member, Glen Drover, along with former FATES WARNING bassist Joe DiBiase and German singer Henning Basse, who has previously played with FIREWIND, METALIUM and MAYAN, is mixing its second album, "Sanctum Of The Depraved". The effort will be the follow-up to WITHERING SCORN's debut, "Prophets Of Demise", which came out in July 2023 via Frontiers Music Srl.

On Thursday (August 14),WITHERING SCORN shared the following message via social media: "Hello WITHERING SCORN fans. It's been a while, but we've been busy navigating our way through the process of releasing our new album 'Sanctum Of The Depraved', which is being mixed as we speak.

"As you know, being in this industry is really a struggle for bands right now. We've come to the conclusion that the best way to get this new album out is release it independently That being said , we're in the unenviable position of having to ask for donations to accomplish this. We hate it. But we feel really good about the new record and we want you guys to hear it.

"Thank you all in advance because we can't do this without your help."

"Sanctum Of The Depraved" will be released independently on vinyl, CD, and digital. To make this happen, WITHERING SCORN has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover the costs of manufacturing, artwork and promotion.

WITHERING SCORN was formed in 2020 by Glen and Shawn, who previously played together in MEGADETH, as well as in EIDOLON. The pair teamed up once again for their latest musical offering and are joined by DiBiase, who played with FATES WARNING for 14 years on multiple records and world tours, and Basse.

In a July 2023 interview with Sleaze Roxx, Shawn stated about how WITHERING SCORN came together: "It really started with the pandemic. Since the music industry was basically shut down in terms of touring, Glen and I started to write some new songs and possibly put a new record together, so we asked our friend Joe DiBiase if he was interested, to which he was and we did the same with our singer Henning Basse. So the four of us, over the course of the next three years on and off, put ['Prophets Of Demise'] together which was released worldwide via Frontiers Records. We are really proud of the work we put into this record."

In a separate interview with Antichrist Magazine, Glen described "Prophets Of Demise" as "an old-school heavy metal album with lots of dynamics." He added: "Musically, we have never really strayed away from writing heavy metal music, so this wasn’t anything difficult to do, really."

Regarding the lineup for WITHERING SCORN, Glen said: "Well, in this situation, it worked out very well. Sometimes the chemistry is off when you put a certain lineup together, whereas in this situation, we all get along and work very well together. [I] could not be happier."

Asked how the new band is different and similar to his previous collaborations with Glen, Shawn told the "Nothing Shocking" podcast: "It's been really similar to the first band that Glen and I did years ago, which was a band called EIDOLON. We released, actually, five records on Metal Blade in the early 2000s, right before we both got into MEGADETH. And the dynamic of that was that I write most of the material. Although Glen does contribute to some of it, I usually have the main germ of ideas, and, of course, he records all that stuff. So he's kind of a studio guy. He's the guitar player, but he handles all of the studio recording affairs, and I just kind of take on the job of creating most of the music. And we finetune it — he tweaks it and kind of makes it his own in a way. But that's kind of the working relationship we have with that. Because if Glen wrote all the music, I'd basically be doing nothing, and he would have to tackle all the work on his own. So we made a decision years ago — that was back in the mid-'90s, actually, when we put out our first bit of music, before we got signed to Metal Blade — that's always been the working dynamic, is I create most of the material, and he handles all the recording affairs with that. And it's worked out quite well. So that's what we're doing this time as well."

Shawn joined MEGADETH in 2004 as the replacement for Nick Menza, who had only just rejoined the group. Drover performed on four MEGADETH studio records: 2007's "United Abominations", 2009's "Endgame", 2011's "TH1RT3EN" and 2013's "Super Collider".

Glen Drover left MEGADETH at the end of 2007 and was replaced by Chris Broderick, who previously played with NEVERMORE and JAG PANZER.

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TOMMY'S ROCKTRIP, drummer Tommy Clufetos's (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK SABBATH) hard rock outfit where he offers his take on the rock 'n roll influences that made him one of the most sought-after drummers in the current hard rock scene, has released a new single, "My Wild Child".

Tommy says in a press release that the song will "pummel out of your speakers while you spill your love out on overflow and overload your electric magnetic flow."

Performing with Clufetos in TOMMY'S ROCKTRIP's current touring and recording lineup are three members of the band LOST HEARTS: Max Frye on vocals and guitar, JT Shea on bass, and Victor Adriel on guitar.

TOMMY'S ROCKTRIP has scheduled five shows in August as the support act for Ted Nugent. The band will also play a headlining concert on September 12 at The End in Nashville, Tennessee.

Prior to TOMMY'S ROCKTRIP's March 2024 run of shows, Clufetos told The Detroit News about his latest touring and recording project: "I'm going on tour as a little experiment, to get out some pent-up rock 'n' roll energy. It's a melding of the styles I enjoy, updated with a youthful rock 'n' roll attitude. It is pile-driving hard rock 'n' roll. My own tunes are hard rock with a little more blues than what's going on with modern rock radio.

"It has that raw and real in-your-face feel," he added. "We're just four musicians playing together, which is a dying thing. We have guitars, bass, drums, vocals, no filters, no click tracks, no pre-recorded anything. We're just four guys, for better or for worse. It could be great, or it could be a train wreck. We'll see what happens."

At the time, Ozzy Osbourne told The Detroit News: "I'm really proud that Tommy is going out and doing his own shows. Not only is he one of the best drummers I've ever played with in my life, but I consider him a friend. I understand he'll be playing 'War Pigs' [by BLACK SABBATH] in his set. Believe me, I would love to be up there singing it, with him playing drums."

In May 2021, TOMMY'S ROCKTRIP released its debut album, "Beat Up By Rock 'N' Roll", via Frontiers Music Srl. Eric Dover, known for singing and playing guitar with JELLYFISH, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT and Alice Cooper, handled lead vocals on the LP (though Tommy grabbed the mic for three tracks). Eliot Lorengo (bass),Hank Schneekluth (guitar) and Nao Nakashima (guitar) rounded out the supporting cast.

Clufetos worked with such rock icons as Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie before joining Ozzy Osbourne in 2010. That led to a spot as the drummer on BLACK SABBATH's last two world tours.

In a 2021 interview with Jason Saulnier, Clufetos was asked if he ever finds himself looking back on the fact that he played drums for BLACK SABBATH on the legendary heavy metal band's final tour. "I always feel blessed that I was lucky, I was honored to play with those guys 'cause they're a great musicians," he said. "But I don't look at it as — I was never a member. Once a gig's over, a gig's over. So I don't really live in the past concerning that; I always have to plow forward — as does everybody. I can't look back. I can appreciate it — that's not saying I don't appreciate it — but I'm also not gonna dwell on I played with BLACK SABBATH one time, because then you're living in the past. I've got many more years to move forward to continue my career and pay my bills. It doesn't mean that I don't love what I do, but it is my job, and it's my craft, and it's an ongoing thing to me. So that was that gig, and that ended, and now it's, what do you do next? It's always that."

He continued: "Every tour ends; every band ends eventually… To me, it's work. To, that works to me. And I'm working to be better, and I'm working to get better. Hopefully I'm a better drummer than [I was] then. And it's always been the process; I'm always chipping away at the stone. And my drums are right there. And after I get done with these interviews, I will go right there and play and see what else comes out of me going right there and playing. 'Cause everything has come out of me sitting at the drums trying to be the best that I can be."

Clufetos did not play on the SABBATH reunion album, "13", a role that was filled by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE drummer Brad Wilk. Ozzy Osbourne told The Pulse Of Radio at the time that Clufetos was gong to play on the record until producer Rick Rubin stepped in.

Although original BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward was initially announced as part of the reunion in late 2011, he dropped out within a couple of months, saying he was offered an "unsignable" contract.

The members of SABBATH were reportedly concerned that Ward's health would not hold up on the road and allegedly asked him to accept the use of a second drummer on tour, which he refused.

Image credit: George s Pogacich

Looking forward to getting on stage on these select dates in Michigan with the man himself Ted Nugent !! Also our Sept 12 show in Nashville at The End

Posted by Tommy’s RockTrip on Monday, August 4, 2025

During an appearance on the August 14 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson addressed the band's request for fans to put their phones away while attending concerts on the British heavy metal legends' recently launched "Run For Your Lives" world tour. Other acts, such as TOOL, have also employed a similar approach, requesting fans stay off their phones until the final song of their set. Meanwhile, Swedish metallers GHOST have made their entire 2025 tour a phone-free experience — with attendees maintaining possession of their phones at all times, secured in Yondr pouches — after playing a pair of phone-free shows in Los Angeles in 2023 for the filming of the "Rite Here Rite Now" concert film.

Dickinson told "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I can only speak from my personal point of view. I've witnessed the GHOST thing [where no phones were allowed] now two or three times, and it is a totally different experience. People talk to each other. They behave like human beings with each other. They're not jumping over seats, trying to take selfies and stuff like that. They're concentrating on each other and the joy of being with a band and the experience and in the moment. It's what music should be, of bringing people together, not having somebody just like focused on 'me and my little narcissistic two-inch screen.' And also, they don't take the phone off you. You keep it with you in your little baggie. They're not stealing your phone. But I think there are, in truth, some practical limitations to it. "

Bruce continued, referencing GHOST's approach of requiring attendees to seal their phones in Yondr pouches, purpose-built phone-locking pouches designed to unlock when a concert or experience is over: "It's relatively — relatively — easy to do in an arena setting, 'cause people all come in and out through entrances and exits and things like that. So it's relatively easy to do. Where it gets difficult is when you start going to football stadiums and things like that. The quantity of people moving in and out, the number of little phone baggage you get, I think — and I was talking to Tobias [Forge, GHOST mastermind] about this the other night [when Bruce saw GHOST's concert in San Diego on August 10], and he acknowledges that as soon as GHOST start… You go to a festival. As soon as you end up in a festival situation, there's no way on on God's green Earth you're gonna be able to put a hundred thousand or fifty thousand people, who are coming in and going out and sleeping in tents and stuff like that. How are you gonna police that? You can't. So there are, I think, some limitations on it."

Dickinson added: "Again, if you're gonna do that… Everybody knows if you go to see a GHOST show, you put your phone in a baggie at the moment. So that's clear from the get-go. But I think that as far as MAIDEN is concerned, we didn't advance that upfront with people. So it's not fair if people have bought a ticket expecting they're gonna be able to use their phones to try and then say, 'Oh no, you have to put your phone in the baggie.' 'Nobody told me about that,' yada, yada, yada. So the other thing as well is we're doing a lot of outdoor shows now. So that kind of knocks that whole thing into touch. So our thing was a polite request: 'Look, just try not sitting there having the stupid phone in front of your face.' And the annoying ones are the semi-professional guys that they've got a web site and they just think, 'Oh, yeah, well, I paid the ticket. Therefore I own the right to do a full-length video of X, Y, and Z.' Well, actually, no, you don't. And that's one good thing now is that YouTube people will take that stuff down [when they are asked to do so]. But if somebody wants to put up a video of them bouncing up and down, 'This is me having fun at a show,' it's kind of harmless."

Asked by "Trunk Nation" host Eddie Trunk if Bruce has noticed, during the recently completed European leg of the "Run For Your Lives" tour, that most MAIDEN fans respected the band's request to put away their phones during the shows, Dickinson said: "Yeah. It depends on different places, different attitudes and things like that. In general, I'd say that the real diehard fans, who are basically all the people who are down the front, respected it and they got it. So, yeah, most of them respected it. And it was blindingly obvious when there was one person or something in the middle of a whole bunch of people and he was having his phone [out and filming], and you could see people going, 'Hey, hey, hey. What are you doing? Come on. Put it away. We're trying to have fun here. It's not all about you.'

"So, yeah, it's one of those things that will go on and on and on, but I think at a certain point, a band becomes too big that it's very difficult to make it work physically," Bruce explained. "You've got fifty thousand people — that's tough to make it work. Fifty thousand people outdoors, it's, like, come on. You don't wanna get to the point where you're feeling like there's some sort of guards at some concentration camp looking to see if the guy's got his phone out. There's that fine line."

Last month, Bruce was asked by Charlie Kendall of Charlie Kendall's Metalshop if putting away the phone is "a requirement now to attend" an IRON MAIDEN show. Bruce clarified: "It's not a requirement. It's a request. It's a polite request.  What is the point in paying all this money and turning up and staring at a tiny little box for, like — I don't know — however long. I mean, first of all, MAIDEN's show is two and a bit hours long, so your arm's gonna get real tired."

This past May, MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood took to the band's web site to share a post titled "Put away your phones and get ready to Run For Your Lives!" in which he urged fans to experience the shows "in the moment" rather than on smaller screens at a later date.

"We really want fans to enjoy the shows first hand, rather than on their small screens," Smallwood wrote. "The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are on stage looking out at rows of phones, but also for other concertgoers.

"We feel that the passion and involvement of our fans at shows really makes them special, but the phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting especially to the band. I hope fans understand this and will be sensible in severely limiting the use of their phone cameras out of respect for the band and their fellow fans."

Less than two weeks later, Smallwood called out fans for their concert phone etiquette, thanking those who "kept their phones down" and respecting "the band and their fellow fans" and shading those who didn't obey during the opening show of the European leg of MAIDEN's "Run for Your Lives" tour.

"It is so much better when they can see you unencumbered and that drives them on without that distraction," he wrote of the band. "For the selfish few that didn't and just had to keep videoing... I wish you nothing but a very sore arm!"

Smallwood clarified that the concerts don't need to be completely phone-free. "As I said before, by all means take the odd quick pic as a memento of a great night," he added, "but otherwise please keep your phone in your pocket."

In the same statement, Rod thanked fans for the "amazing welcome" they've given MAIDEN's new touring drummer Simon Dawson, who "felt your support from the start — and asks me to thank you all."

MAIDEN's request for fans to put away their phones came just months after GHOST enacted a phone ban for anyone attending shows on their ongoing "Skeletour".

Back in 2012, Dickinson blasted a fan at a MAIDEN concert in Indianapolis, Indiana for paying more attention to his cell phone than to the band's performance. "You've been texting for the last fucking three songs," Bruce said. "You're a wanker."

In a brand new interview with the Iron City Rocks podcast, Candice Night, who has been married to Ritchie Blackmore for 17 years but has been together with the legendary DEEP PURPLE and RAINBOW guitarist for 36, discussed the health status of her husband and BLACKMORE'S NIGHT bandmate. The conversation took place while Night was promoting her new solo album, "Sea Glass". Asked about the possibility of BLACKMORE'S NIGHT returning to the road in the coming months, Candice said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "One of the things that's so great about Ritchie is he can recognize — he's very in tune with his own body, and he stays on top of everything. Thank goodness. And when he doesn't, I nag him to stay on top of it, which he hates, but at least somebody's doing it — you know, like eating well and things like that.

"There's the three main issues with him that are going on," she explained. "He has a heart issue. He had a heart attack a couple of years ago, so we stay on top of that. He's got gout, so that's difficult. It's affecting his feet really badly. And it's starting in his forefinger, so it's hurting the mobility in that, so he just had an injection for that. And his back, of course, which has always been an issue. He hasn't taken any back injections since he had the heart issue. So everything kind of is working together. So, it's hard — it is hard for him. But he's at the point now where — he's very smart when it comes to things like that."

Elaborating on what makes touring so challenging for someone like Ritchie at this point in his life, Candice said: "It's not so much the travel on a plane. Honestly, it's the aggravation before you even get into the plane and after you get into the plane and it's all the sitting of traveling. So that'll affect his back and all the rest of it. And the jet lag that stresses your heart. All of these things. Waiting on those lines when you have to get to JFK [New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport] and you have to go transatlantic, and then coming off and going back through the security lines and the customs lines and all the rest of that stuff, and all of that stuff, it really does take a toll on a human — on a healthy human, so forget about someone who's 80 years old and going through these issues. But he did just say to me yesterday, which I wait for his… With Ritchie, if you try to pressure him to do something, he instantly says no. He's like a teenager. And so now I've got three of them. But learning how to deal with that a little bit better. So I wait for him to come to the realization, or I drop little seeds here and there and try to wait for him to be ready to talk about it. And he did just say, 'What about doing some BLACKMORE'S NIGHT dates in the fall?' So, of course, I got greatly excited about that. So now I've gotta contact the agent. But he would rather do places that he can drive to. He takes the night off the next day. Gone are the days where you do five shows in a row, including travel. That's just way too much. For anybody, it's difficult to do that. And we don't have a tour bus and we don't have private planes. If we go someplace, I'm driving. So it's like a mini road trip, but not really because we have to just get to the place, rest that night. Hopefully it's close enough to the venue. You get to the venue, you go back, you get a good night's sleep that night. Hopefully they're not doing construction or maintenance in the hotel or the maids don't wake you up at seven o'clock in the morning. and then you move on to the next place and have a day of travel. So it's a very slowed down way of doing it. But honestly, I'd much rather take something than nothing at all."

Earlier this year, Candice confirmed to Eonmusic that Ritchie had a heart attack in 2023 which resulted in six stents being implanted. "He's still got his back problem that he's had, so travel is difficult for him because of all that sitting," she explained. "And standing on stage, even standing with the guitar is tricky, although I do see a lot of people even younger than him at this point in the industry, showing up in wheelchairs. I don't think he wants to be thought of like that or remembered like that. I think it's great that people still get to see those people; I would still go hear them, just to be under the same roof and hear what they sound like, but we'll see. Maybe if we can get some of these medical issues under control, maybe I can get him back on a plane, but as for right now, they actually warned him a couple days ago not to fly. So, who knows? You know, put positive energy, out there in the universe, and]hope that maybe we can get him back on there."

Coronary stents are primarily used to treat coronary artery disease, a condition where plaque buildup narrows or blocks the arteries supplying blood to the heart. By inserting stents for the heart, doctors can effectively restore blood flow and alleviate symptoms.

BLACKMORE'S NIGHT plays "Renaissance music," or "medieval music," with most of the tunes featuring lyrics conjured by Night and melodies crafted by Blackmore.

Ritchie, Candice and their two children reside on Long Island, New York, near Port Jefferson.

Blackmore is a co-founder of DEEP PURPLE and wrote many of their most memorable riffs, including "Smoke On The Water", but he has not played with the group since his 1993 departure.

DEEP PURPLE drummer Ian Paice said in a 2017 interview that there was "no point" for the band to consider a reunion with Blackmore, explaining that he wouldn't be able to guarantee that every day with the notoriously moody guitarist would be fun.

Blackmore is a co-founder of DEEP PURPLE and wrote many of their most memorable riffs, including "Smoke On The Water", but he has not played with the group since his 1993 departure.

During his time away from PURPLE, Blackmore established the neo-classical band called RAINBOW, which fused baroque music influences elements with hard rock before gradually progressing to catchy pop-style hard rock.

Blackmore stepped away from his Renaissance-inspired brand of music with BLACKMORE'S NIGHT in 2016 to perform a handful of shows with a brand-new lineup of RAINBOW.

In addition to Blackmore and Night (backing vocals),the most recent incarnation of RAINBOW included singer Ronnie Romero, STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson, BLACKMORE'S NIGHT drummer David Keith, bassist Bob Nouveau (a.k.a. Robert "Bob" Curiano, ex-BLACKMORE'S NIGHT) and backing singer Lady Lynn.

The two shows RAINBOW played in Germany in June 2016 were caught on camera to produce "Memories In Rock - Live In Germany", which was released in November 2016 via Eagle Rock Entertainment on DVD+2CD, Blu-ray+2CD, and digital formats.

After Ritchie left DEEP PURPLE for the final time in 1993, he reformed RAINBOW for one album (1995's "Stranger In Us All") and one tour, ending things in Denmark in 1997.

Blackmore didn't join his former DEEP PURPLE bandmates at the group's 2016 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.

Blackmore previously suggested that PURPLE's manager had blocked him from attending the Rock Hall induction ceremony, and he used that as an excuse for not attending the event.

Despite Blackmore being a no-show at Rock Hall, he was given several shoutouts during the induction speeches of the DEEP PURPLE members in attendance. In addition, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich, who inducted DEEP PURPLE into the institution, praised "Ritchie fucking Blackmore" for one of the most memorable guitar riffs of all time on "Smoke On The Water".

New Haven, Connecticut’s hard blues rockers Bone Church share a raucous first single taken from their sophomore album, Deliverance, to be released on October 24th through Californian label Ripple Music.

Feel the grit and fire of “Bone Boys Ride Out”, which can be streamed here, and enjoyed below.



Their forthcoming sophomore album, Deliverance, is Bone Church’s boldest step yet into the heart of classic and hard rock: an album built on big hooks, anthemic songcraft, and the kind of radio-ready swagger that would’ve ruled the airwaves in 1977. Written primarily in 2019 and 2020, this record trades their debut’s doom-laden expectations for soaring, blues-soaked riffs and sing-along choruses. “You’ll still hear the Sabbath influence, but you’ll also hear ZZ Top, the Allman Brothers, Santana, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, to name a few. These songs are meant to be sung along to,” says lead guitarist Dan Sefcik.

Lyrically, Bone Church remains steeped in their signature themes — apocalyptic visions, Luciferian power struggles, and the eternal battle between light and dark — but this time, they balance the weight with raucous tales of life on the road and the pure, uncomplicated joy of rock ‘n’ roll. “We’ve juxtaposed those heavy themes with lighthearted fun as well. We didn’t want this record to be all doom and gloom. Overall, we think it’s our best work yet,” he adds.

Deliverance is a thunderous exorcism, a Molotov cocktail hurled at the gates of genre. Bone Church never bowed to the rules, and now? They’re torching the rulebook entirely. Crank it. Howl along. This is their reckoning and it’s coming this fall on Ripple Music.



Tracklisting:

Electric Execution
Lucifer Rising
The Sin Of 1000 Heathens
Goin To Texas
Muchachos Muchachin
Bone Boys Ride Out
Deliverance

DEMON HUNTER will release "There Was A Light Here" on September 12, 2025. Like 2022's "Exile", the band's twelfth studio album will arrive via DEMON HUNTER's own Weapons MFG label. CDs, several limited vinyl formats, and cassettes are now available for preorder.

In recent weeks, the band has released three singles and corresponding music videos from the album: "I'm Done", "Light Bends" and "Sorrow Light The Way", which cracked YouTube Music's Top 50 Metal Videos, entering the chart among the top 20 of current song releases.

"There Was A Light Here" is a powerful tribute to love and loss, dedicated to the late mother of frontman Ryan Clark. It explores the theme of light in both its presence and its absence.

DEMON HUNTER showcases its signature blend of brutality and beauty across 12 emotionally resonant tracks. The record was produced by Clark and guitarist Jeremiah Scott, mixed and mastered by Chris "Zeuss" Harris (ROB ZOMBIE, HATEBREED, SUFFOCATION),except for the title track, which was mixed by Eric Stenman (AWOLNATION, THRICE, DEFTONES).

DEMON HUNTER's "There Was A Light Here" U.S. tour will run through September and October 2025, with support from WAR OF AGES, CONVICTIONS and CULTIST. DEMON HUNTER will also appear at this year's Louder Than Life (Louisville) and Aftershock (Sacramento) festivals.

DEMON HUNTER has been a defining force in heavy music since emerging in 2002, helping lay the groundwork for modern metalcore. They've released nine Billboard 200-charting albums, including two No. 1 Independent Albums, and six Top 5 Hard Rock Albums. They currently boast a YouTube audience of well over 600,000 listeners per month.

"Exile" debuted at No. 3 on the Current Hard Music and Independent Albums charts, No. 4 on the Current Rock Albums charts, and No. 9 on the overall Album Sales chart.

Four hard-to-find DEMON HUNTER songs ("I Align", "The Brink", "Some Of Us" and "Worlds Apart") will make their way to 7" vinyl for the first time later this year as part of Z2 Comics' deluxe coffee table graphic novel edition of DEMON HUNTER's four-issue "Exile" series.

"There Was A Light Here" track listing:

01. My Place In The Dirt
02. Sorrow Light The Way
03. Light Bends
04. The Pain In Me Is Gone
05. By A Thread
06. I'm Done
07. Ouroboros
08. Breaking Through Me
09. Overwhelming Closure
10. Hang The Fire
11. Reflected
12. There Was A Light Here

DEMON HUNTER is an American metal institution. The band embraces brazenly transcendent melodies, without apology, while maintaining a defiant heaviness reminiscent of the most timeless of metal music. For over two decades, DEMON HUNTER has weathered the changing tides of rock subculture, proving ever resistant to trends, and ever resilient, making music as determined and resolute as the men within the band. DEMON HUNTER's body of work is born from unwavering commitment, uncompromising creative determination, and stark recognition of the reality of an often-cold world, tempered in defiant hope. It's made up of smartly constructed, confessional lyrics; heady and catchy melody; monster riffs; bottom heavy grooves; the collision of meticulous production and urgent raw power; bold imagery and bolder themes.

DEMON HUNTER is:

Ryan Clark - Vocals
Patrick Judge - Lead Guitar
Jeremiah Scott - Guitar
Jonathan Dunn - Bass
Tim "Yogi" Watts - Drums

Photo credit: Tyler Byars

lasya will release the new album Fear on October 24 through Scarlet Records.

Lead by the magnificent voice and imposing presence of Eduarda Soeiro (officially part of the current Moonspell live band), Glasya keeps marrying cinematic heavy metal and a bright storytelling vein.

Three years after the Attarghan concept album, Fear displays a more modern symphonic metal sound with strong grooves, catchy chorus and several honorable special guests (Moonspell’s Fernando Ribeiro, Vision Of Atlantis’ Michele Guaitoli, Dark Oath’s Sarah Leitão).

Fear tells the quest of a woman who finds herself confronted with her own fears and gains the courage to overcome them. The listener will be walking in the shoes of the protagonist and feel her trepidation, her convictions, her achievements and the confidence that she develops in herself to help a close one.

During the course of the compelling story, she will fully reveal her weaknesses and how they can finally become her strengths – a real triumph over adversity.

Produced by Fernando Matias at The Pentagon Audio Manufacturers (Sinistro), and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studios (Ghost, Behemoth, Paradise Lost), Fear will be released in the following formats:

– jewel case CD
– digital

Artwork by Phobos Anomaly Design:



Tracklisting:

“Fear” (feat. Fernando Ribeiro)
“Hunt Of The Haunted”
“In Debris” (feat. Fernando Ribeiro)
“Stuck In A Cobweb”
“Glimpse Of Memory” (feat. Michele Guaitoli)
“Rising Wildfire” (feat. Sarah Leitão)
“In A Flooding Room”
“The Cold Of Dark”
“Rescue”
“The Confrontation”
“In Your Haven”
“The Ultimate Challenge”
“Overcoming”
“No Teu Abrigo”

Glasya:
Eduarda Soeiro – vocals
Davon Van Dave – keyboards
Hugo Esteves – guitar
Bruno Prates – guitar
Ivan Santos – bass
Pedro Correia – drums

U.K. thrash metal pioneers ONSLAUGHT have announced the return of their legendary vocalist Sy Keeler.

After a six-year hiatus, Keeler will hit the ground running at the BEC Arena in Manchester on November 9 for an explosive show at the U.K.'s Damnation Festival. Following this, ONSLAUGHT will be heading Down Under for the band's long-awaited Australian debut, before kicking off their freshly announced 2026 "The Force From Hell" European run.

ONSLAUGHT guitarist Nige Rockett comments: "Wow, this is truly incredible having Sy back in the ONSLAUGHT camp. He has always been seen as 'the' ONSLAUGHT vocalist and we know the fans are gonna be blown away for sure. The band are in a truly great place right now after the success of the 'Origins Of Aggression' release and this will be seen as amazing news, I'm sure."

Sy states: "Well, that came out of nowhere! 'Sy, would you consider rejoining the band?' 'Ugh! Yes, of course, I've really missed it.' So almost six years on from my last gig, I'm very excited to be embarking on the third chapter.

"[I am] looking forward to meeting old friends and, of course, making new ones, and, of course, having a few beers with my band mates.

"See you on the road very soon, metalheads!"

Continuing the explosive success of ONSLAUGHT's ongoing "Power From Hell" tour and the band's career-defining double-album "Origins Of Aggression" (released on May 22, 2025 via Reigning Phoenix Music),ONSLAUGHT is ready to turn the pit into chaos once more with its "The Force From Hell" tour. In early 2026, they'll be bringing the ultimate thrash assault to 22 cities all over the European continent — a full-on fusion of their iconic debut "Power From Hell" and the 40th-anniversary celebration of "The Force".

ONSLAUGHT comments on their upcoming tour: "So looking forward to this one following on from the great success of the 'Power From Hell' tour earlier this year: it's gonna be a full-on combination of the best of 'Power From Hell' with 'The Force' [40th anniversary] to create a totally monstrous set for those who we missed out last time... Let there be thrash — see you in the pit!"

"The Force From Hell" 2026 European tour dates:

Jan. 28 - NL Haarlem - Patronaat
Jan. 29 - NL Arnhem - Willemeen
Jan. 30 - DE Dusseldorf - Pitcher
Jan. 31 - BE Kortrijk - DVG Club
Feb. 01 - FR Paris - Petit Bain
Feb. 03 - ES Madrid - ReviLive
Feb. 04 - ES Barcelona - Sala Wolf
Feb. 05 - FR Lyon - Rock n’Eat
Feb. 06 - CH Lucerne - Musikzentrum Sedel
Feb. 07 - DE Weinheim - Café Central
Feb. 08 - DE Munich - Backstage
Feb. 10 - CZ Prague - MusicClub Modrá Vopice
Feb. 11 - PL Warsaw - VooDoo Club
Feb. 12 - DE Berlin - Cassiopeia
Feb. 13 - DE Hamburg - Logo
Feb. 14 - DK Copenhagen - Spillestedet Stengade
Feb. 15 - SE Gothenburg - Monument 031
Feb. 17 - NO Oslo - John Dee
Feb. 18 - SE Stockholm (Johanneshov) - Hus 7
Feb. 20 - FI Helsinki - Kult
Feb. 21 - FI Tampere - Kotelo

ONSLAUGHT announced Keeler's latest departure in April 2020, explaining in a statement that "some things simply aren't sustainable year after year due to the nature of the modern-day music industry."

ONSLAUGHT replaced Keeler with Dave Garnett, who appeared on the band's last two albums, 2020's "Generation Antichrist" and the aforementioned "Origins Of Aggression".

Five years ago, Rockett told "The Metal Command" podcast about the band's singer switch from Keeler to Garnett: "Sy's kind of struggled with tours for the last couple of years. And he's got a new job which he's [dived] head first into and he's really enjoying the kind of work he's doing. He was unable to take lots of time off, and, as I said, he wasn't really enjoying the whole touring thing like the rest of us. So we kind of made a mutual decision that he was gonna go — as sad as it is, obviously, for us, [because] he's been with us a long time, and he's a fucking great vocalist. At first, it was a kind of worry, what was gonna happen, but then we found Dave Garnett."

He continued: "I've known Dave for many years, and his vocal style in previous bands was really kind of very 'un-ONSLAUGHT,' if you like. But he said, 'I'd really love to have a crack at it. I think I can do it.' So Sy was unable to make a show back in February [2020], I think — kind of a late-notice cancelation — so we really didn't wanna pull the show, so we asked Dave to stand in and see what he can do. And he was amazing — absolutely incredible. He nailed everything. Some of the guys in the crowd, die-hard ONSLAUGHT fans, were saying they didn't even realize it wasn't Sy when they closed their eyes — it still sounded perfectly ONSLAUGHT. So that's what we did. Dave pretty much learned all the new material for the album very quickly, and our live set as well. And we put him in the studio with a very old-school producer who he knows also very well, a guy called Pete Hinton who actually produced the first two SAXON albums. Pete knows all about the band and he's very good to work with under pressure. 'Cause Dave's also gonna feel a lot of pressure during that. But Pete really got it out of him and did an absolutely fantastic job, I must say. So the transition between Sy and Dave has been really smooth and it isn't anything too drastic in the overall sound of the band. Obviously, Dave is his own character and he's not Sy, but it still sounds like ONSLAUGHT."

Sy Keeler is back!

2026 “The Force From Hell” European tour announced

Onslaught are super stoked to announce the...

Posted by Onslaught official on Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Legendary German rockers SCORPIONS have recruited ALICE COOPER bassist Chuck Garric to play bass for them for five-show residency at PH Live at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada. Garric is filling in for longtime SCORPIONS bassist Paweł Mąciwoda, who is unable to make the shows due to an unspecified scheduling conflict.

SCORPIONS' performances at PH Live kicked off last night (Thursday, August 14) and will run through August 23. The band previously enjoyed sold-out residencies in 2002 and 2024.

In a recent interview with Waste Some Time With Jason Green, Chuck spoke about how he landed the SCORPIONS gig, explaining (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Dude, I love it. It was one of those things, I got a phone call from [SCORPIONS drummer] Mikkey Dee — he's a really close friend of mine — and management from the SCORPIONS. And they'd said, 'Hey, we need a bass player for August. Paweł can't play. He's got some very minor thing that he has to take care of that he just can't reschedule. And would you be willing to do it?' And I immediately said 'yes', not realizing that Alice Cooper dates were booked [for the same month] as well. But that old theory 'say yes to everything and figure it out later.' I called Shep [Gordon, Alice's longtime manager] and Alice, and they immediately gave me their blessing. They thought, 'You should definitely do this. This is a great opportunity for you.' And I have a wonderful sub, with Chris Wyse from the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES taking over for me [for the Alice shows] in August."

Garric went on to say that he "had about three days to learn about 25 SCORPIONS songs. And they flew me to Hannover to go rehearse with them in April, and it went amazing," he recalled. "The guys are incredible, and just playing those songs with those guys was insane. I mean, you know the SCORPIONS songs. I grew up on 'em; we all did. They're amazingly written songs and they're a lot of fun to play. And I remember just having that moment of, 'Hell yeah,' when we're playing 'The Zoo' and Mathias [Jabs, SCORPIONS guitarist] is over there with the talk box. And it was really, really special moment. And the guys were very welcoming."

According to Chuck, he "played with everything" he had for those rehearsals. "I didn't know what was gonna come out of it, but I knew I wanted to really show them that they called the right guy," he explained. "And I played very well for them, and I hope to do the same in August."

In January, SCORPIONS postponed their 2025 Las Vegas residency due to Dee's recovery from his recent hospitalization. Promoted by Live Nation and Caesars Entertainment, "Scorpions - Coming Home To Las Vegas 60th Anniversary Las Vegas Residency" was originally scheduled to kick off on February 27, 2025 at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. SCORPIONS.

The new dates are as follows: August 14, August 16, August 19, August 21 and August 23.

BUCKCHERRY is still providing support for the new SCORPIONS Las Vegas residency dates.

In celebration of SCORPIONS' 60th anniversary, the new show follows the band's two previous sold-out residencies at the venue — "Scorpions - Love at First Sting Las Vegas" in 2024 and "Sin City Nights" in 2022.

In a new interview with Ernest Skinner of Canada's Border City Rock Talk, HELLOWEEN singer Andi Deris spoke about the recent passing of legendary BLACK SABBATH vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, we've all been sad. He's been most probably the idol back in the days for everybody. BLACK SABBATH was always on the 'A list'.

"I remember back in the days, at the age of 13, 14, banging my head in the rock disco. Back in the days we had rock discos all over Germany, and yeah, BLACK SABBATH was a [big] part of [my musical upbringing] with DEEP PURPLE and everything."

Referencing Ozzy's death, Andi continued: "Sad story, but fortunately I got to know him back in 1999 when we had a chance to do a few festivals and concerts with BLACK SABBATH reunited with Ozzy. And he was a nice guy. He was always passing me backstage, 'Hey, Andi,' and going on and small-talk shit. But you could see it's a nice guy. Nothing demonic or something like that about it; [he was] just a nice guy. But back in the days, I remember I was really worried about him because they always carried him off stage and they carried him on stage. He had his tent, like, five, six meters backstage, where he had oxygen and stuff like that. And he laid down during the shows to relax a little bit and go on. Back in the days, 1999, I already thought, 'Well, he doesn't make it any longer, I think, because he is, like, health-wise a wreck.' But he made it another 25, 26 years. So I'm happy."

Ozzy died the morning of July 22, his family announced in a statement.

"It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time," the family said.

No cause of death was given, but Osbourne had battled a number of health issues over the past several years, including Parkinson's disease and injuries he sustained from a late-night fall in 2019.

Ozzy's death came a little more than two weeks after he took the stage for his final performance with BLACK SABBATH at Villa Park in the band's original hometown of Birmingham, United Kingdom. They performed four songs for more than 40,000 people in the stadium and 5.8 million more on a livestream. Ozzy also played a five-song solo set while seated in a bat-adorned throne.

Formed in Birmingham in 1968, BLACK SABBATH is widely recognized as one of the most influential heavy metal bands of all time, with a career spanning decades and over 75 million albums sold worldwide. Their impact on the genre remains as significant today as it was in the early 1970s, with their music shaping generations of metal musicians.

Ozzy's family reality television show "The Osbournes" won a 2002 Primetime Emmy.

In 2006, Osbourne and the other members of the original BLACK SABBATH were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Ozzy was also inducted into the Rock Hall as a solo artist in 2024.

Osbourne won several Grammys, including one in 1993 for his solo song "I Don't Want To Change The World".

Ozzy and Sharon started their annual tour — Ozzfest — in 1996 after he was rejected from the lineup of what at the time was the top touring music festival, Lollapalooza. The first traveling version of Ozzfest in 1997 included MARILYN MANSON and PANTERA as part of the lineup.

Osbourne leaves behind his wife, three children from his first marriage (including an adopted son from his first wife's previous relationship),and three with Sharon: Jack, Kelly and Aimee.

In an interview with Magenta TV conducted at this past weekend's Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, PAPA ROACH frontman Jacoby Shaddix was asked if the band's material for the upcoming album follows an "anthemic and catchy" vibe, similar to the "Even If It Kills Me" single, which arrived earlier this year. Jacoby said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "So far, kind of that's where we're resting. It's always an adventure when we're making a record. We just dropped a brand new [song] called 'Braindead' that's, like — it's almost got like an old-school 'Infest'-era feel of PAPA ROACH. And so we're really kind of dipping into both worlds where some of it's modern and anthemic and then some of it is just stripped down and raw and classic. And I think that both of those worlds are something that I love about our band, that we can progress, but then we can also embrace some of the core of who we were and where we came from."

Shaddix continued: "We've got another track we just finished up called 'Clickbait', and it's the most 'nu metal' song we've ever written in our career, even from back in 2000. It's got this vibe about it that's just — it's on another level, man. I'm excited for the fans to hear that one."

Asked when the next PAPA ROACH album will come out, Jacoby said: "Next year sometime. Probably later next year. I think we're gonna take our time to release it, but we are gonna continue to release new music. And we have another song coming later this year."

Last week, PAPA ROACH released the official music video for "Braindead", featuring Toby Morse, frontman of H2O. The clip was directed by Jesse Davey and Ed Shiers and produced by Joanna DeLane of Proper Pictures.

In July, PAPA ROACH released a music video for an acoustic version of "Even If It Kills Me". The original single reached No. 1 at U.S. Rock Radio, marking PAPA ROACH's 13th appearance at the top of the charts.

In March, PAPA ROACH released a "reimagined" version of "Even If It Kills Me". The band and Joshua Landry again produced the track. "Even If It Kills Me (Reimagined)" was a fresh take on its heavier counterpart, showcasing the hit song in a new light, with a melodic arrangement and signature vocals delivered by Shaddix.

PAPA ROACH are two-time Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling leaders in alternative hard rock music. 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, including "Ego Trip".

Photo credit: Bryson Roatch

Wheel Of Time is the brainchild of Beijing-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Jimmie Hong, who launched the project in 2022 while participating in the mentorship program of ex-Megadeth guitarist Kiko Loureiro. Inspired by the collaborative spirit of projects like Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Jimmie envisioned a progressive power metal project that would bring together top musicians from around the world, working remotely across continents and time zones.

Named after one of his favorite fantasy novels, Wheel Of Time blends the technical precision of progressive metal with the melodic sweep of power metal, symphonic grandeur, and subtle Eastern melodic elements. The band draws from influences such as Metallica, Dream Theater, Stratovarius, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Liquid Tension Experiment, Opeth, and Symphony X, while forging a sound uniquely its own.

After releasing the single “Grand Cosmos” in 2023 and the EP The Enlightenment later that year, Wheel Of Time now unveils its debut full-length album Asymmetry on November 12, 2025. The album was composed entirely by Jimmie Hong, produced and engineered by Tom MacLean (ex-Haken), and recorded in collaboration with an international lineup of musicians.

The opening track “Grand Cosmos” is a cosmic-philosophical elegy inspired by Dream Theater’s “The Alien,” exploring humanity’s search for meaning in the vastness of the universe. Are we alone in the asterism, or just a dust in a lost dream? asks the song, with Craig Cairns on vocals and Derek Sherinian delivering a breathtaking keyboard performance.

“Freedom Day” follows with a tension-filled anthem of inner conflict and release. Featuring Michele Luppi (Whitesnake) on vocals and Derek Sherinian on keyboards, the song builds to a cathartic guitar solo that expresses the breaking free from personal imprisonment.

“Blind Sight,” the first song written for the album, explores themes of illusion, self-discovery, and liberation. The song opens with lapsteel guitar textures influenced by David Gilmour, and features Ignacio Rodríguez on vocals, Alexandre Aposan on drums, and Ricardo Pinto on keyboards. “Blind Sight” is about the confusion between rationality and emotion, the illusion of the world we see, explains Jimmie.



The high-energy “Addicted!…” channels the spirit of Stratovarius, with Timo Tolkki contributing an iconic guitar solo alongside Derek Sherinian’s keys. Originally demoed during Jimmie’s mentorship with Kiko Loureiro, the song combines melodic power metal with dark, introspective lyrics influenced by Nick Cave. A unique moment came during mixing when Jimmie decided to reverse parts of Derek and Timo’s solos, resulting in a more dynamic and unexpected interplay.

“… To the Awakening” serves as a cinematic second chapter to “Addicted!…”, featuring orchestration by Argentine composer Marcos Barilari and bass by Tom MacLean. “I wanted a different structure, tempo, and atmosphere for this track,” says Jimmie, whose lyrics evoke the transition from darkness to inner peace.

“The Night Of Eternity” was the first track where Jimmie reached out to Derek Sherinian. A meditation on impermanence and self-realization, the song draws from Buddhist concepts and ksana, the smallest unit of time. Vocals by Farhad Hossain convey the emotional intensity of standing on the brink of transformation.

Encouraged by Kiko Loureiro to explore national characteristics, Jimmie composed “China Moon,” originally written in the style of Song Dynasty lyric poetry. Featuring Chinese Guzheng by Ariel Tsao, orchestration by Marcos Barilari, and vocals by Eszter Vegvari, the song paints a portrait of an ancient poet drifting on a river under a moonlit sky. “It was inspired in part by the animated film 30,000 Miles from Chang’an,” adds Jimmie.

The instrumental closer “2063” draws inspiration from the Star Trek universe and humanity’s imagined first contact with extraterrestrial life. The song echoes “Grand Cosmos” with recurring riffs and features performances by Tony MacAlpine on guitar and Clark McMenemy on drums. “I wanted someone who could handle both metal and jazz fusion, and we found that in Tony MacAlpine,” says Jimmie. The track also includes a recorded voiceover simulating an astronaut conversation, enhancing its cinematic quality.

Asymmetry was created through a truly global collaboration. Jimmie Hong worked with musicians across five continents and more than ten time zones, while independently writing, arranging, and producing the entire album from his home studio in Beijing. Notably, Wheel Of Time will be used as a case study at the Institute of Popular Music at the University of Liverpool in 2025, highlighting new models of high-quality independent album production.

Throughout the process, Jimmie was guided by a philosophy of narrative-driven songwriting, using technical mastery and emotional depth to explore themes of time, destiny, and the self. As he concludes, the album is called Asymmetry because life, music, and creation are rarely symmetrical. That is where their beauty lies.

With Asymmetry, Wheel Of Time delivers one of the year’s most ambitious and emotionally resonant progressive metal releases. This is a sonic journey that transcends borders, genres, and expectations.



Tracklisting:

“Grand Cosmos” (feat. Derek Sherinian)
“Freedom Day” (feat. Derek Sherinian and Michele Luppi)
“Blind Sight” (feat. Alexandre Aposan)
“Addicted!…” (feat. Derek Sherinian and Timmo Tolkki)
“…To The Awakening” (feat. Tom MacLean)
“The Night Of Eternity” (feat. Derek Sherinian)
“China Moon”
“2063” (feat. Tony MacAlpine)