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10 èþí 2025
SPIRITBOX – Pro-Shot Video Of Entire Rock Am Ring 2025 Show Streaming
 German techno metallers, Electric Callboy, performed at the Rock Am Ring festival in Nürburg, Germany on June 6th. Pro-shot video of their entire set can be viewed below.
Setlist:
“Pump It”
“MC Thunder II”
“Elevator Operator”
“Spaceman”
“Still Waiting” (Sum 41)
“Hypa Hypa”
“Revery”
“Everytime We Touch” (Maggie Reilly)
“Crawling” (Linkin Park)
“Hurrikan”
“MC Thunder”
“Mindreader”
“Ratatata”
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10 èþí 2025
SLIPKNOT – Pro-Shot Video Of Entire Rock Am Ring 2025 Show Streaming
 Slipknot performed at the Rock Am Ring festival in Nürburg, Germany on June 6th. Pro-shot video of their entire set can be viewed below.
Setlist:
“(sic)”
“People = Shit”
“Gematria (The Killing Name)”
“Wait And Bleed”
“Nero Forte”
“Yen”
“Psychosocial”
“Tattered & Torn”
“The Heretic Anthem”
“The Devil In I”
“Unsainted”
“Duality”
“Spit It Out”
“Surfacing”
“Scissors”
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10 èþí 2025
DROWNING POOL To Release Deluxe, Expanded Version Of 'Sinner' Album In 2026 For 25th Anniversary
 In a new interview with My Weekly Mixtape host Brian Colburn, DROWNING POOL guitarist C.J. Pierce spoke about the upcoming 25th anniversary of the band's debut album, "Sinner", which was certified platinum within six weeks of its release in 2001, while the CD's first single, "Bodies", was one of the most frequently aired videos on MTV by a new band. Asked if DROWNING POOL has anything in the works to mark the occasion, Pierce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have a lot of stuff in the works and a lot of things that we're working towards now, things that we're still putting together — a lot of amazing ideas. We wanna do everything and anything, first and foremost [as a] hats off to [original DROWNING POOL singer] Dave Williams, who was a part of the making of the 'Sinner' record and kind of the foundation of our sound that you know with 'Bodies'. So, we have a lot of stuff, man.
"I went to storage when I had some time off, cleaned out some stuff, and I have a lot of music and cassette tapes and stuff we did that we didn't finish," Pierce revealed. "We have a lot of songs with Dave that just were not recorded professionally, if you will. So, we've been talks about maybe getting some of those songs to put 'em out there, 'cause you can get his voice off the cassette tape now with all this cool, fun technology — still his voice, not this A.I. stuff. But we have songs, a few of them that we would like to finish. There's songs that we haven't played live. I don't think we played 'The Game'. 'Break You' is another one that we did. So all things Dave Williams, man. We wanna make the show all about that. And again, it's just fun. I haven't gone through everything yet, but I found a lot of video and a lot of music that we just never got around to putting out yet. We were in super writing mode before we even did the 'Sinner' record."
Asked if there is any chance of a 25th-anniversary deluxe version of "Sinner" being made available in 2026, C.J. said: "Yeah, definitely, man. There's definitely gonna be that, with all this stuff on it. We're just kind of narrowing it down to what we wanna put on it. I wanna put everything out, especially the video. I had so much video back then. The Hi8 cameras came out. And we did a lot of stuff locally — right before we got signed, we did some touring. Actually, with (HED) P.E. — we got to open up for them here locally. Same thing with SEVENDUST. And with KITTIE — [I] love KITTIE, love that band. And so I have a lot of stuff, as long as they're cool with it, just to get it out there, just us raw, all that stuff. Kind of pre-'Sinner' days, if you will, on the local scene… So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff that we have to put out there… There's definitely video that I have that we haven't released, and [drummer] Mike [Luce] and [bassist] Stevie [Benton] as well. So I wanna get all that out, have a big package with that. But the fun, exciting stuff is just a handful of songs that I think we could probably either just clean off, keep it how it is on a cassette tape, or we can — us three, Mike, Stevie and myself — can redo the music and put the vocal on top to kind of polish it up. I'm cool either way. We did a handful of cover songs too. We did 'Day Tripper' from THE BEATLES, and I have that as well recorded that nobody's ever heard. That was fun just hearing Dave do it… I forgot we even did it until I heard the tape. And there's also earlier versions of 'Bodies' and 'Tear Away' that are a little different. I think some of that might be out there, some of the old demo versions, but if not, I still have those. Just stuff for the hardcore fans, man. We have stuff that's still signed from Dave Williams in storage, a handful of things. It's gonna sit in storage and collect dust, man. I'd like to get that out to the hardcore fans. So we have a bunch of posters that are still signed and some of the older CDs and stuff too, man."
DROWNING POOL has released two singles in the past year, "Madness", which came out in April, and "Revolution (The Final Amen)", which arrived in September 2024. "Revolution (The Final Amen)" was the first piece of music PierceLuce and Benton completed with singer Ryan McCombs in 13 years.
In a recent interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series, Pierce confirmed that DROWNING POOL is planning to tour in 2026 in celebration of the 25th anniversary of "Sinner". "We definitely wanna start [touring] here in the States and do all next year, promoting a lot of that," the guitarist said. "And hats off to Dave Williams and do him right and do a lot of things that we haven't done that fans haven't heard. We have a lot of stuff we're putting together for the package and a lot of material that we still have with Dave Williams — and, again, respect to him — to get to the hardcore fans that like to hear it, just all that stuff out. So we're putting that together now. The solid plans haven't been laid out yet, but we will be doing the anniversary tour next year in the States, and then probably the following year go back to Europe and do it there as well."
Asked if DROWNING POOL would consider playing the entire "Sinner" album for the 25th-anniversary tour, C.J. said: "We're definitely gonna be doing that, and then more songs on top of that. The last song that we wrote with Dave was a song called 'Heroes Sleeping'. We've been talking about playing that live. We have a song called 'Break You', that song on 'The Scorpion King' soundtrack and stuff. So there's different things. We did [a cover of] 'The Game' for Triple H, MOTÖRHEAD's 'The Game', and it's something else we hadn't played live. So things like that that we haven't been able to do, all Dave Williams-oriented.
"I've been going through storage lately and there's a bunch of songs that we have that were finished demo-wise, but we never like got to like record 'em for real," Pierce revealed. "So I have a lot more material than I thought I had. So it's also gonna be fun to get out… We're gonna go through — Mike, Steve and myself — and pick out some choice songs that we think would be worthy to get out to the hardcore fans and maybe even possibly play those live. So, again, this is my dream list of what I'd like to do. We're gonna get together as a band, and we'll see all what works best for us for the tour."
The release of "Madness" came on the heels of DROWNING POOL's European tour with GODSMACK. The trek included stops in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Germany, the U.K. and more.
DROWNING POOL will play Inkcarceration festival 2025 on Friday, July 18 and Alcatraz festival in Kortrijk, Belgium in August. In addition, DROWNING POOL has announced a U.K. and Ireland tour with SPINESHANK and special guests (HED) P.E. in November.
McCombs played his first shows back with DROWNING POOL in March 2023 at Club L.A. in Destin, Florida and at the inaugural Throwdown At The Campground festival in Fruitland Park, Florida.
The longtime SOIL frontman, who has lived in Swindon, England since 2018, originally joined DROWNING POOL in 2005 and appeared on two of the band's studio albums, "Full Circle" (2007) and "Drowning Pool" (2010),as well as a live album, 2009's "Loudest Common Denominator". He rejoined SOIL after exiting DROWNING POOL in 2011.
McCombs is continuing to front SOIL and will carry on recording and performing with both bands.
After the release of "Sinner", DROWNING POOL reached out to an ever-greater audience with dynamic performances at Wrestlemania XVIII and Ozzfest during the summers of 2001 and 2002. Unfortunately, their streak of success was not to last. Shortly after rousing the crowd at Ozzfest in Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 3, 2002, vocalist Dave "Stage" Williams was found dead of natural causes on the tour bus.
Photo courtesy of O'Donnell Media Group | +1 | |
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10 èþí 2025
AVATAR's Upcoming Tenth Album Will Contain Some Of Band's 'Most Clearly Progressive Parts Ever'
 In a new interview with Nic and Big J of the Boise, Idaho radio station 100.3 The X Rocks, vocalist Johannes Eckerström of Swedish metallers AVATAR spoke about the band's upcoming tenth studio album, which will be released later in the year. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's our tenth album. That's a high number, and I don't think many bands on purpose would phone it in at this point. But I think certainly there's a risk of taking things for granted. And maybe just looking at the trip that we had to make to make this album and to have it make sense making an album, it can be harder and therefore more important than ever the further you go to find a reason, why is this important to us right now? Why does this one matter to us? Why does it matter to us to get to do another one? What do we wanna put on there that we are really passionate about right here right now? And I think we nailed that.
"I'm trying to think about the different songs and different directions it goes," Johannes continued. "There are all these things that we haven't done before. I get to pretend that I'm Elton John, meaning that I've been playing a bit of piano. But now I get to do it while drums are being played, so I feel I'm in the band — finally, after all these years, I'm in the band. So that's something. And work with outside musicians for stuff, orchestral things and all that, taking that to the next level. I don't think this is a prog album, really, but some of our most clearly progressive parts ever are probably on this album.
"An ethos I had for a while, a mantra almost going around was when writing to make the choices and also about what to write and stuff is just trust what's beautiful," he explained. "'Cause I believe the subconscious speaks whatever needs to actually say that might not make sense at the given moment when you're doing it, but if you find it beautiful as you create it, once upon revisiting, it's very likely to mean exactly what it needed to mean. So there's a dream factor to this album, letting the subconscious speak through imagery that I picked up in dreams. There's a surrealness to it, therefore. And all these groovy, lofty words being said on something that is between 40 and 45 minutes of kick-ass heavy metal and hopefully always with ambition forever and ever and ever when it's AVATAR that it's songs that you haven't heard yet."
Earlier this month, Eckerström told Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station about the lyrical inspiration for the first single from AVATAR's upcoming LP, "Captain Goat", which came out in May: "Well, that's the weird 'twilight zone' in which AVATAR exists. AVATAR, as far as a heavy metal band, we really intend to be first and foremost a good time. But at the same time, the writing comes from the whole concept of finding dark rooms in your soul, in your brain, in your mind and open the doors into those forbidden places and kind of air it out, and hopefully by keep on doing this and try to force yourself to be honest with who you are and where you're at with each album, maybe get closer and closer to some kind of sense of truth. And that side of it, yeah, it's a dark endeavor, but then I also believe… I don't know. I believe it's healthy… It's that duality of what AVATAR is as a band."
Asked why "Captain Goat" was chosen to be the first single from AVATAR's upcoming album and how it relates to the rest of the LP, Johannes said: "It relates poorly to the whole album because AVATAR doesn't write the same song twice. So that's by design, but it just shows that a lot of things are different this time, as they should be and as they always are. [As for] how we choose [the first single from an album]… Well, it kind of reveals itself over time. You just kind of circle back to the people in the demo stage of things while writing and doing the pre-production, what you get excited about then. And already at that stage, there was a lot of excitement about this song as a potential single, as a standout track in that kind of way. 'Cause it's a balance."
He continued: "We always, obviously, try to only put good songs on an album and they're all there for a reason. And then it's just a fact of life that some of them are good in a more direct way, I guess. And this, I think, is a very direct song. And whatever people felt at the demo stage of the song comes back when rehearsing it and it comes alive where we really start playing it together — real drums and everything in the room. 'Cause while writing, we use a lot of drum machines so you can just boom, boom, boom. Everybody can sit and do ideas in their own little corner. So therefore rehearsing is the first time you get to really feel what it feels like being people playing this song before entering the studio and doing it properly there. And in each and every step of this, there's been something — just one of those songs that were something to it. And, again, I think it stands out in what we usually do, but it's at the same time built on billing blocks that is part of the way we do our heavy metal."
Eckerström declined to reveal the title of AVATAR's upcoming album, but he said: "It's a beautiful title. It really ties it together. It invokes mystique and tempting you to break taboos. It lures you into a forbidden place because you see a little light in the dark there, somewhere in the middle between the trees, and that is what the title is all about. And when you see the title, you're gonna go, like, 'Ah.'"
AVATAR will embark on a U.S. tour this fall with support from ALIEN WEAPONRY and SPIRITWORLD. Additionally, there are forthcoming tours supporting IRON MAIDEN and METALLICA, along with the band's biggest show ever in Mexico City.
Photo credit: Johan Carlén | 0 | |
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10 èþí 2025
PROSTHETIC RECORDS Acquired By MNRK MUSIC GROUP
 MNRK Music Group has announced the acquisition of metal label Prosthetic Records, along with its extensive catalog of groundbreaking releases. This strategic move marks a bold expansion of MNRK's commitment to heavy music, as Prosthetic Records will now operate under the esteemed MNRK Heavy umbrella.
The acquisition kicks off an exciting new chapter with upcoming releases from chaotic hardcore/mathcore band PUPIL SLICER and the genre-defying experimental math/noise rock outfit GOD ALONE.
Scott Givens, MNRK's SVP of rock and metal, says: "Prosthetic Records has been a trailblazer in the metal scene. This acquisition is a strategic step in MNRK's continued investment in heavy music and aligns perfectly with our vision for MNRK Heavy."
MNRK Heavy plans to amplify the legacy of Prosthetic Records through a dynamic strategy that encompasses digital platforms, physical formats, and special releases. Fans can look forward to anniversary reissues, meticulously remastered editions, and curated collections that celebrate the label's storied history.
As part of the integration, select artists will transition within the MNRK family, while new talent will join the expanding roster — ushering in an era of bold creativity and sonic exploration.
Founded in 1998 by friends and metalheads E.J. Johantgen and Dan Fitzgerald, Prosthetic Records has been a driving force in the metal world, with landmark releases from influential acts including LAMB OF GOD, THE ACACIA STRAIN, SEPTICFLESH, VENOM PRISON and many more.
Prosthetic released the first two albums by LAMB OF GOD, the first two albums from ANIMALS AS LEADERS, numerous albums by Active Rock mainstays ALL THAT REMAINS and introduced the world to THE ACACIA STRAIN and North America to GOJIRA. | 0 | |
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9 èþí 2025
GENE HOGLAN On DARK ANGEL's 'Extinction Level Event': 'We Approached This Record's Production In A Totally Different Manner'
 In a new interview with Oran O'Beirne of Ireland's Overdrive, DARK ANGEL drummer Gene Hoglan spoke about the reunited California thrash metal pioneers' upcoming first new album in 34 years, "Extinction Level Event", which is due later in 2025 via Reversed Records. Asked if he ever thought DARK ANGEL would release another full-length record after 1991's "Time Does Not Heal", Gene said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I will be honest: I did not expect DARK ANGEL to ever be returning. And then about a little over a decade or so ago, when the talks came around [about a DARK ANGEL reunion], I had some free time in my schedule, and the talks were coming around, like, 'Hey, what does everybody think about maybe doing some shows?' I always got offers. When I'm over in Europe, or anywhere, with STRAPPING YOUNG LAD or TESTAMENT or whoever, all the promoters would come up to me and say, 'Hey, man, if you ever wanna put DARK ANGEL back together, man, we're here for it.' And so I'm, like, 'Duly noted.' And then, when the time in the schedule was freed up in order to do so, we reached out and started doing that.
"I've mentioned it in a number of interviews where [late DARK ANGEL guitarist] Jim Durkin and myself, we got together and he let me in on a few ideas and songs and riffs and demos and things that he had put together in case DARK ANGEL was ever gonna record ever again," Gene continued. "And I got so excited with it that I was, like, 'Oh my God. DARK ANGEL, we're writing new stuff. We're gonna record a new record real soon. It's gonna come out.' And it took a decade. So, I take full responsibility for blabbing way too early about it. But now we are at the point where the album is complete, and we've kept it real cloak and dagger over the years; we've been working on it for some time. And we wanted to be able to have it way closer to its 'releasability', I suppose, rather than just… 'Cause I knew it was gonna take us a while to get it started and then completed. I knew that was gonna be a lot of time in between the inception and completion. So we just took our time with getting the album to this point where it's at, to where we could announce it."
Hoglan added: "Yes, later this year, in 2025, we're gonna have a new DARK ANGEL record, unless something goes tragically wrong, but everything's moving according to plan. So we're at that point. I'm really excited about the new record. I dig it. I'm really happy with it. We're all really happy with it. And from every aspect of the album — the music, the lyrics, the performances. Ron's [Rinehart] vocals are crushing on it. The artwork is killer. Myself and my artist, Cain Gillis, we took a lot of time getting this artwork together. It's a pretty special release, and we're really excited for it, man. I'm stoked to be able to release it."
Regarding the musical direction of the new DARK ANGEL material, Gene said: "This is gonna be a very DARK ANGEL-esque record. And a lot of people are asking me, like, 'Hey, is this gonna sound like 'Darkness Darkness'? Is it gonna sound like 'Leave Scars' or 'Time Does Not Heal' or 'We Have Arrived'?' Which album is it gonna sound like?' And I'm, like, man, it's gonna sound like DARK ANGEL. No DARK ANGEL album has ever sounded like another one. So in keeping in that spirit, that mode of evolution, this is an evolution in progress. So this is where DARK ANGEL is gonna sound like DARK ANGEL. But I feel, in my opinion, I know what's good metal and I also know what's like kind of generic and just kind of, 'Oh, man. Nice try, guys.'
"We approached this record's production in a totally different manner than any production of these days," Gene revealed. "This is not a gridded, heavily edited and sterile-sounding record. We tried to make this just as lively and just like a band jamming as much as possible. So it will not sound like every other album that is just… There's no sound replacement on the drums. This is room tones. This is real — just the way we did it back in the day. It's real. All we tried to do is we tried to make it sound better than any other DARK ANGEL album. And that's the only thing I really feel like any band can compare itself to.
"I love all the metal bands — all the EXODUSes and KREATORs and SODOMs and POSSESSEDs and everybody, but I can't go listen to their stuff and go, 'Hey, we've gotta compare our stuff to them and make sure that [we sound similar to them].' I won't do that," Hoglan added. "We are DARK ANGEL and we stand on our own. And I will stand behind everything that we ever do, definitely. So, there you go."
DARK ANGEL has released two new singles so far, "Circular Firing Squad" and the "Extinction Level Event" title track.
The "Extinction Level Event" title track was written by Durkin a decade ago, long before he suffered from severe liver disease, and, to the surprise of everyone, passed away in 2023. It was recorded and mixed at the Armoury Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, executive produced by Hoglan, produced and engineered by Rob Shallcross and mixed by Mike Fraser.
On the topic of the musical direction of the new DARK ANGEL material, Gene told "The David Ellefson Show": "We just tried to write a kick-ass metal record. We tried to write a kick-ass DARK ANGEL record. For it to sound like any of our other records was not important. We just tried to kind of focus on, like, 'Hey, what kind of DARK ANGEL record would be coming out if DARK ANGEL never stopped putting out albums this whole time? Where would DARK ANGEL be at right now in 2025?' And so this pretty much encapsulates where we're at. It's a pretty aggressive record. It's pretty ferocious. I'm really into the record, and I'm into the artwork. I think the artwork is killer. We got great artwork for it. And if people disagree with me, then that is your opinion. Absolutely, you have the freedom to do that. I have the freedom to work this band however we want. We get to do whatever we like with this band. And we tried to make a real ferocious record."
Durkin died on March 8, 2023 at the age of 58. An original member of DARK ANGEL, Durkin played on the band's first three albums — 1985's "We Have Arrived", 1986's "Darkness Descends" and 1989's "Leave Scars" — before departing the group in 1989. He was part of DARK ANGEL's lineup when the band reformed in 2013, and had been playing with them, on and off, ever since.
Prior to his death, Durkin had been sitting out some of DARK ANGEL's gigs. He was replaced at the shows by Hoglan's wife Laura Christine, who has since joined DARK ANGEL as a permanent member.
Hoglan told "The David Ellefson Show" that "Extinction Level Event" is "in a lot of ways a huge tribute to Jim Durkin. His style is all over it," he explained. "Laura Christine, our new guitarist, her style is all over it. She's becoming the new writing partner. I've always written a vast majority of the material, and Laura's influence is massive on it. And she writes the coolest riffs I know… And so there you go there. And we're just really excited to be able to have a new release to talk about. And I figured the next new big pile of touring cycle is gonna involve this new record. And we're really excited about it. And we hope people dig it. There you go."
Earlier in May, Gene told "The Zach Moonshine Show" about the "Extinction Level Event" title track: "About a decade ago or so, when we got back together and we started playing some shows and the vibe was so cool and everybody was just having a great time and we had all kind of grown up into men, as it were, we were just having a great time together, and Jim took me aside one time, he was, like, 'Hey, man, I have this song that I wrote pretty recently.' And it was just, like, 'If we ever get a chance to do any kind of recording with DARK ANGEL or do any kind of DARK ANGEL stuff, this is my most DARK ANGEL-esque song that I've got.' And I was, like, 'Hey, man, lay it on me.' And I was just so blown away by it. It was just so killer, so catchy, so Jim Durkin-like. So that song there, as well as another one that he had in the works, just got me so pumped that I just happened to do an interview pretty recently after that, and I was, like, 'Yeah, man. We're gonna record a new record. Yeah, it's gonna be coming really soon.' And like I said, it's taken over a decade. But here we are, and our first track, 'Extinction Level Event', is out there."
As for why "Extinction Level Event" was chosen to be the first single from the upcoming LP, Gene said: "All the tracks on the album, any one of them could have been our first release, but this is one of the more… well, we have a lot of savagely blistering tracks on this record. This is one of them, and it was just so kick-ass DARK ANGEL, such a DARK ANGEL-type song that we didn't release this first one because Jim wrote it and this was kind of his last, final entire song that he left with us. It just kind of worked out that way. It's, like, this is a really kick-ass track and it's got a cool title and all the artwork that goes along with the album goes along with this. So there you go."
The "Extinction Level Event" artwork and layout was designed by Cain Gillis, with concepts by Hoglan.
DARK ANGEL was originally scheduled to play new music for the first time since 1991 during its January 29 concert at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California. However, that show ended up getting postponed due to the wildfires in the state.
In July 2024, DARK ANGEL officially entered the studio to begin recording its new LP. Two months earlier, Hoglan was asked by Rocking With Jam Man what it has been like making new DARK ANGEL music more than 30 years after the release of the band's last album, 1991's "Time Does Not Heal". Gene responded: "Well, that's one thing. It's like we had a choice. I had an entire DARK ANGEL album written that was ready to start getting recorded after the 'Time Does Not Heal' record, and circumstances occurred where the band just had to dissolve. So, I had a bunch of material written. And when Jim Durkin and myself — Jim is no longer with us, but when we put DARK ANGEL back together and we started talking about, like, 'What do we wanna do for the future? Do we wanna write some new material?' And 'I've got some ideas, Gene, and you probably have some ideas.' And I have a number of songs that I sent to Jim. And when Jim heard that — I sent it to him on a CD — he freaked out and he was, like, 'My God, here's our new album. This is gonna be our next record. Hell yeah.' And he got really excited about that material. But I was, like, 'Hey, Jim, tell you what. I feel really strongly about my writing chops, and the songs I'm hearing from you right now are crushing. So how about we just write new stuff, get together and start writing new material?' And so we kind of went that route."
He continued: "For my elements of what I wanted DARK ANGEL to sound like, Jim Durkin is a huge influence on my writing style. So I wanted this to have a lot of the Jim Durkin influence on it. In terms of riffs, there's not as many from Jim as we were hoping for, but Jim's entire presence is all over the new DARK ANGEL material that I've been working on. And he's a huge guitar influence on me, as well as a lot of people. So, there's definitely gonna be a pretty hardy Jim Durkin influence. So what I've tried to do is not go back 35 years or 37 years or whatever, 'Darkness Descends' or even 'We Have Arrived', those early albums, or 'Leave Scars' or 'Time Does Not Heal', I've not tried to duplicate anything from any of those albums, but I tried to put myself in the mindset of what if DARK ANGEL just kept writing albums for the last 30-whatever years, 32, 33 years, where would we be at now? And so that has been my approach on the new DARK ANGEL material."
DARK ANGEL released two albums with Don Doty on vocals — the aforementioned "We Have Arrived" and "Darkness Descends" — before he exited the group and was replaced by Ron Rinehart (after a brief stint with Jim Drabos in 1987). The band issued two more studio LPs — "Leave Scars" and "Time Does Not Heal" — before calling it quits in 1992.
Photo by Alex Solca
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9 èþí 2025
Watch: METALLICA's ROBERT TRUJILLO And KIRK HAMMETT Cover DEATH's 'Pull The Plug' During Tampa Concert
 Robert Trujillo and Kirk Hammett performed a rendition of "Pull The Plug" by Florida death metal pioneers DEATH during METALLICA's June 8 concert at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
Earlier today, bassist Terry Butler, who was a member of DEATH when the original version of "Pull The Plug" was recorded for the band's "Leprosy" album (1988),took to his Facebook page to share a video of Hammett and Trujillo's rendition, and he included the following message: "Last night Rob & Kirk played a snippet of Pull the Plug !! Glad to see them give props !! It's the thought that counts !! Pretty damn cool ! #death #chucklives".
"Pull The Plug" was part of the fun and unusual feature METALLICA added to its shows on the band's recent tours: at each stop, Hammett and Trujillo have been covering songs from some of their musical heroes — often choosing songs that are far removed from the band's traditional metal sound. The "doodles," as the band refers to them in their setlists, are pared-down interpretations — just bass and guitar and sometimes Trujillo singing.
In a November 2021 interview with MMA Junkie, Trujillo spoke about his doodles with Hammett. The METALLICA bassist said: "Some of my proudest moments were with Kirk on the last European tour, playing in these massive soccer stadiums and playing songs that were sort of native to those cities or even those countries. So we would take a song and learn it by an artist from that country. I'll just give you one example. In Paris, France, [at] Stade De France, we played a song by an artist known as Johnny Hallyday. Eighty-five thousand people. Nobody knows what we're gonna play — kind of like street musicians. Lars [Ulrich] and James [Hetfield] are taking a break. We walk out there. He's got his guitar; I've got my bass. It's almost like, 'Where's the hat?' Where do they put the money? Literally like that — stripped down, naked. And we get out there and we start playing a song called 'Ma Gueule' by Johnny Hallyday. I'm telling you — people were in shock, but in a good way. And it was tears and smiles, and it made the news. But there was a lot of this that happened through all the different countries and cities throughout Europe where we would choose an artist, cover that artist and play that song — sometimes two and a half minutes to three minutes. I'm singing in the [native] language, so it gets real challenging. We're talking about Romania, we're talking Poland, we're talking Spain and Portugal and Sweden — I sang in Swedish. That, to me, was one of the highlight moments of my entire existence as a musician, especially in METALLICA, because I don't even know if I could ever do that again. Sometimes I think about it and I go, 'Man, you were crazy. Kirk and I were crazy.' That happened just before the pandemic. We were doing that in these football stadiums. Those were called the duets — these were the duets. The duet moments overseas — huge for me personally."
During a June 2020 appearance on "Drinks With Johnny", the Internet TV show hosted by AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ, Trujillo stated about how the idea for the "doodle" came about: "We were in Europe — this wasn't the last European tour, but the tour before that. We were in Amsterdam, and we had tried a couple of... There was a duet moment, where we were supposed to play a METALLICA song that's maybe, like, a deep cut, so we'd play 'I Disappear' or something, and we started noticing that we weren't getting the result we wanted. It was, like, we'd go up there and we'd start playing, like, 'Eye Of The Beholder' or something, and then the crowd's expecting James [Hetfield, METALLICA frontman] to come out and sing, and it's, like, 'Man, this ain't working.' They were feeling like it was a prelude moment, and I started thinking, 'We've gotta do something different.' So Kirk came out this one night, and he started playing that song by CHIC ['Le Freak'], and it totally caught me off guard. And I'm, like, 'Oh, damn. Okay, I see where he's going.' He's walking out to the front of the snake pit playing this funk jam. He got me the first night, 'cause I didn't exactly know the bass line, so I improvised it. And then the second night, I got it."
He continued: "So it kind of started there for a split second, though we were still doing the METALLICA deep cuts. And then we got to Europe, and we were in Amsterdam, and one of our management team members suggested, 'Why don't you play [a song by the Dutch rock band] GOLDEN EARRING, 'Radar Love'? Check that out.' And we were, like, 'Really?' So I started played the bass line, and then the crowd started singing, and it was, like, 'Hold on a minute. There's something here.' So then we started to kind of formulate some local bands from each city. Like, one of the highlight moments was in Prague [Czech Republic — we played a country song called 'Jožin Z Bažin' [by Ivan Mládek], which was huge. And then we played, in Barcelona, a gypsy kind of flamenco acoustic song, by an artist called Peret — it's called 'El Muerto Vivo', And I'm singing in Spanish, I'm doing my best, and the people went nuts. And we go, 'Hold on. We've got something here.' So what we ended up doing… We came out of that tour — we scraped through it; it wasn't perfect, but we scraped through it. And then when we got home, we did some U.S. dates, we did all that, but we knew we were going back to Europe where it really worked. I said, 'I'm going deep.' So I did a bunch of research, and I researched every single city, even Estonia, and I found out what cool either punk, alternative, country — it didn't matter the style — and I learned the fucking language, and I did the phonetic with the lyric, and we went out and did full arrangements. I'm talking about if there was an accordion solo, Kirk was playing it. So we did our homework, and we really, really went into it. I was going to [Kirk's house in] Hawaii to work with him on the arrangements. I spent, like, five days there strictly on the [songs]. We weren't even surfing, we were just 'boom.' So we put a lot of hard work in it. I mean, we were surfing a little bit, but that wasn't the priority. We were actually really spending time on this.
"So I would say on that last tour run, 'cause we were in these massive stadiums, sold-out shows… And every night was great, but there was a handful of grand slams where people were crying and it was this heavy… Like, you're paying tribute to somebody in, like, Moscow, who is like the David Bowie of Moscow, and people are just, like, 'Oh my god.' They don't know what they're gonna get. All of a sudden, we surprise them, and they get what they didn't expect. [Playing a song by] Johnny Hallyday in Paris, at Stade De France, [in front of] 85,000 people. So to be up there and to feel that energy and emotionally connect with the crowd on that level was special. But it was such hard work. I don't know how we [pulled it off].
"I was meeting with people, like, I would even sometimes do it by phone, and I'd be there for two hours getting the language pronunciation right. So it was a lot of work… And sometimes you'll take some beatings," he admitted. "I remember a couple of the shows when we first started doing it, man — beatings, bro; beatings… I remember, there was a couple of 'em, but there was one… It was in Pennsylvania. It was like college — it was over where Penn State is. And holy cow, man. I thought we would play like the fight song for Penn State. Man, we got, like, 10 seconds into that thing, and nobody cared. It was, like, 'Oh my god.' And I stopped playing — I literally stopped playing. I was so embarrassed. And Kirk kept playing. And then, luckily, we kind of went into a METALLICA… Like, in the U.S., we would parlay it with a local song — these are U.S songs — and then we would always kind of justify it by going into a METALLICA [track], like 'Dyers Eve' or something. Just like, 'Okay, we screwed that up, but we got this.' So it was kind of our savior in the States."
In 2019, Hammett told Cosmo Music about his live "doodles" with Trujillo: "We never really know what the response is going to be. You have to understand, we're going into a country; we're picking some song that's seemingly random and abstract to us, and we're learning this song that we've never heard before from this artist that we've never heard before, and we're taking a chance and playing it in a stadium in front of 60,000 people, and we're hoping that we make the right choice. The last, I would say, three legs [of the tour], we've been hitting it out of the park, but before that, there were some growing pains. There have been a few times we've picked the wrong song and played it and people go, 'Huh?' We'll go into a place like Indianapolis, and we'll play a song by an obscure punk band called THE ZERO BOYS, because we think they're cool... We played the hell out of it, and it was really cool, but we looked out at the audience, and they were just like, 'Huh?' Rob and I always tell each other and people don't recognize it, it's not the end of the world as long as we play it well, and they're entertaining in the way we play it, so we have that to fall back on... We were in Nashville, and we played a Loretta Lynn song... The next day, we got a message from Loretta Lynn, who said she was actually at the show with her family and was so tickled when we broke into her song. She said she might think about covering one of our songs sometime, but in the meantime, we should do more of her songs."
Not every artist that has been spotlighted in the "doodle" has been flattered by the Trujillo/Hammett version of their music. Former CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom G. Warrior) was not impressed with the rendition of the group's "The Usurper" that Hammett and Trujillo performed during METALLICA's May 2019 concert in Zurich, Switzerland. "They butchered it, and it was humiliating," Fischer told Rolling Stone. "Why don't they leave their millionaire fingers off it? They've long lost the ability to play true metal in my opinion. Maybe I should go onstage and do a really miserable version of [METALLICA's] 'Hit The Lights' with, like, 200 mistakes to set the balance."
Last night Rob & Kirk played a snippet of Pull the Plug !!
Glad to see them give props !!
It's the thought that counts !!
Pretty damn cool ! 🤘🏻🤘🏻
#death
#chucklives
Posted by Terry Butler on Monday, June 9, 2025
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9 èþí 2025
SPINESHANK Is Bringing Back 'Electronic Aspect' On Upcoming New Song: 'It's Gotta Be Heavy' And 'Have A Hook'
 SPINESHANK vocalist Jonny Santos has confirmed to Rock Feed that a new song from the reunited band will arrive in the coming weeks. "We're literally in the studio trying to finish right now," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "The song has been recorded. Right now it's in the final process of being edited. We're gonna actually start listening to roughs this week."
Santos also addressed the reason he and the rest of SPINESHANK's 2025 lineup — drummer Tommy Decker and bassist/vocalist Robert Garcia and new recruits Tommy Decker, Jr. (Tommy Decker's son) and Jason Hager (ex-CHIMAIRA) on guitar — have decided to release one track as opposed to focusing on making a full-length record. "People are, like, well, why are we only doing one song?' Jonny said. "'Cause we don't know. We haven't put a record out in 12 years. "Cause let's face it, the SHINESHANK thing right now, [the upcoming tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of SPINESHANK's sophomore studio album] 'The Height Of Callousness', this is nostalgic. We're not out there pumping a new record. We're celebrating one of our best records. That's what we're doing. So what we decided to do is… Do we wanna do a new record? 'Cause now we have little Tommy playing guitar, which is fucking awesome; he shreds. And we've got Jason Hager; everybody knows Jason. He's from CHIMAIRA. So we get these two new guys, and they obviously wanna do a new record. But five months ago, we didn't even know people even cared about SPINESHANK. So let's hold on here a second before we start putting new records out. I said, 'Let's do one song. Let's put this song out there. We'll get it out to the masses, and let's see how it's received.' That's gonna tell us right there — I feel it'll tell us if we are just a nostalgic act, that people just wanna come hear the hits and feel like they're 18 again, or we put this new song out. Does it trend? Does it fucking blow up? Then that will indicate right there, 'Okay, guys, let's go do a new record and start putting new songs out.' And I think that's a fair way to look at it instead of just assuming that since we're doing well and shows are selling out right now, that we're just gonna put an album and everybody's gonna love it."
Regarding the musical direction of the new SPINESHANK song, Jonny said: "Well, I will tell you this much. It's got all the elements that is what is SPINESHANK. One of the biggest complaints we had on the last SPINESHANK record was fans were, like, 'It's not electronic enough.' And I saw that. I felt that in a way. There was a lot of programming on that album; we were just using organic sounds as the loops and stuff. But I understand what the fans meant. So this time around, the SPINESHANK recipe, if you will — the song's gotta have energy. It's gotta be heavy. It's gotta be catchy. It's gotta have a hook. I don't care. I fucking love singing in fucking metal songs. All those people out there [who say], 'That's lame that you sing' — fuck you. You've gotta bring girls to the show too. So you've gotta have energy. It's gotta be heavy. You've gotta have a hook. And with SPINESHANK, it's gotta have that electronic aspect and that dirty, nasty, electronic aspect. Very industrial — 'Antichrist Superstar' [MARILYN MANSON] industrial. I love when you have a cool loop. Distort that motherfucker. So it's that whole ATARI TEENAGE RIOT dirtiness to it."
As previously reported, SPINESHANK will team up with THE UNION UNDERGROUND for the "25 Years Of Rebellion & Callousness" tour this summer.
This commemorative, co-headline trek, with special guests ADEMA and SICKSENSE, will celebrate the 25th anniversaries of "The Height Of Callousness" and THE UNION UNDERGROUND sole studio LP, "…An Education In Rebellion".
The first leg of the tour will launch on July 10 in Austin and will see the two bands perform their respective album in full, with a few extra surprises.
When SPINESHANK's return was first announced, Decker said in a statement: "We are beyond excited to be able to celebrate 25 years of 'The Height Of Callousness'. This is the record that defined us as a band and changed our lives. We can't wait to play all of these songs and share the memories with all of you who lived it with us."
Santos stated: "We are extremely excited to celebrate the return of SPINESHANK for the 25th anniversary of 'The Height Of Callousness' tour and get to share this milestone with the people who were there back then, and the new fans that never got the chance to see us play. Truly an honor!!!"
Garcia said: "It's amazing that 25 years later people still react to 'The Height Of Callousness' the way they do. We're excited to get out and play these songs again, see old friends, and threw down for all the new fans who never got to see SPINESHANK the first time around!"
Decker, Jr. said: "I've been on tour with these guys since I was a little kid, watching them perform every night from the side of the stage. I can't believe it's come full circle and I get to share the stage with my dad and the rest of the guys who I consider my family. I was 4 years old when this album came out and seeing all the fans still show love to this album is crazy!"
Hager stated: "I am beyond excited and honored to be a part of the return of SPINESHANK, for the 25th anniversary of 'The Height Of Callousness' tour. They're not just one of my favorite bands, but have been great friends, ever since they generously, and selflessly helped us (CHIMAIRA) out, during our early days. I'm looking forward to seeing you all, out on the road, and excited about what the future may hold."
After releasing three successful albums ("Strictly Diesel", "The Height Of Callousness" and "Self-Destructive Pattern"),performing on countless world tours (including appearances on Ozzfest and the Download festival) and a Grammy nomination in 2004, the band went on a hiatus.
SPINESHANK's fourth album, "Anger Denial Acceptance", was released in June 2012 via Century Media Records. The CD was produced by SPINESHANK guitarist Mike Sarkisyan and drummer Tommy Decker and mixed by Mike Plotnikoff (PAPA ROACH, BUCKCHERRY).
SPINESHANK's third LP, "Self-Destructive Pattern", was released in September 2003. The album's lead single, "Smothered", was nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Metal Performance".
This past April, Jonny told the "Talk Toomey" podcast about the possibility of SPINESHANK releasing new music to coincide with the upcoming tour: "We never got a chance to really go out on a high note. And so when we first started getting ready to do all this, doing another record wasn't really even talked about. It was more of just, like, 'Hey, let's just go out and do ['The Height Of Callousness'] in its entirety' and give the band its warrior's death, if you will — going out on a strong note instead of just falling into obscurity.
"Now it's gotten to the point… So right now I'm in the studio finishing up some edits and mixing the first SPINESHANK song since 2012," Santos explained. "So we have one new song coming out. Because I think the way that we feel that we'll know is, let's see how this SPINESHANK song does. If it's accepted well and people are excited about it, if it does well, then maybe there could be another album in the works. Or if anything, maybe even an EP. Who knows?"
Referencing the resurgence of "nu metal" in recent years, Jonny continued: "It's kind of weird how — it's uncharted territory. It's, like, is this here to stay? Is this gonna be a staple in heavy music or is this just a fashion fad for kids today? So I think once we release this new song and tour for the better part of this year, then I think we'll know if we're gonna put a new record out next year or not. I would like to, but I only wanna put a record out if it's gonna matter. I don't wanna put a record out if nobody's gonna give a shit."
Elaborating on his reluctance to release a full-length collection of new material, Jonny said: "Not comparing us to the size of THE ROLLING STONES or anything, but if I was gonna go see THE ROLLING STONES, I'm not too concerned with anything that they've done post 1979. You know what I'm saying?
"I think you hit a certain point in your career as a band when you have a legitimate and constant following that people just wanna go hear the hits.
"I've noticed, I'll put music out or whatever, and people are, like, 'Oh, man, it doesn't sound like 'The Height Of Callousness'.' It's just, like, dude, me putting out the same record twice is not gonna make you young again," he said. "Because that's how it is.
"Very few bands can get away with putting the same record out. AC/DC's done it. SLAYER's done it. But it works — that works for them, and it's fucking awesome. But for me, it doesn't.
"The thought of putting a new SPINESHANK record out there, it's exciting. But at the same time, we're gonna see how this goes.
"We're going into this with no expectations. This is really fun for us to do, and I think it's a chance for a lot of people that have become SPINESHANK fans in the last decade or so that have never seen us to get to see us. And being that 'The Height Of Callousness' was by far our best-received album, I can't think of a better record to do in its entirety out of our catalog." | +1 | |
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9 èþí 2025
DEEP PURPLE's 'Rapture Of The Deep' 20th-Anniversary Remix To Be Released In August
 DEEP PURPLE's "Rapture Of The Deep" turns 20 — and it's celebrated on August 29 with a complete remix and remaster, striking new artwork, plus a bonus CD/LP featuring never-before-released recordings via earMUSIC.
It's no secret that "Rapture Of The Deep" isn't the first album that comes to mind when listing DEEP PURPLE's classics — and while it was met with interest at the time, it gradually faded from view. Despite solid sales, the album arrived during a period when there was little spotlight on the world of classic rock, and over the years, "Rapture Of The Deep" developed into an overlooked chapter in DEEP PURPLE's rich discography.
It's equally true that this record, and the story behind it, marked a turning point — the quiet beginning of a run that would eventually lead to four consecutive No. 1 albums (2013, 2017, 2020, 2024) and the kind of success few bands experience even once, let alone decades into their career.
New insights by Kerrang! founder and Classic Rock magazine writer Geoff Barton pull back the curtain on a time when DEEP PURPLE were navigating an uncertain era in the music industry that saw the downfall of many once-great artist careers — and unravel the strange chemistry that gave birth to DEEP PURPLE's 18th studio album.
As bassist Roger Glover reflects: "We were going through a bit of a hard time when we started the songwriting and production of 'Rapture Of The Deep' and, strangely enough, we didn't have a record company at that point. Let's face it, we were a bit lost."
But from that uncertain moment emerged an album bursting with sharp songwriting, masterful playing, and pure DEEP PURPLE grit.
Now, newly mixed with the supervision of Glover, analog-mastered at renowned Chameleon Studios in Hamburg, and presented with bold new artwork, "Rapture Of The Deep" finally shines with clarity and color. "It's a new album now to me," says Roger Glover. Fans will hear it blooming for the first time.
This new edition also includes a bonus CD/LP featuring previously unreleased instrumental takes and studio rehearsals recorded during the songwriting process — providing a rare, unfiltered insight into the band's creative work in the studio. Captured on multi-track in 2005 and mixed for the first time in 2025, it's one of those rare instances where recordings resurface decades later from archives long thought lost.
Among the highlights is the track "Closing Note", a never-before-heard piece by then-guitarist Steve Morse — recorded during the album sessions and now officially released for the first time.
These tracks are available exclusively on all three physical formats — CD digipak, 3LP vinyl (black, 180g),and the strictly limited 3LP transparent sky-blue vinyl.
With DEEP PURPLE riding high on the success of their latest No. 1 record "=1", the time is right to (re)discover the album that set the path for DEEP PURPLE in the 21st century.
"Rapture Of The Deep" 20th-anniversary remix track listing:
CD + LP:
01. Money Talks
02. Things I Never Said*
03. Rapture Of The Deep
04. Clearly Quite Absurd
05. MTV*
06. Back to Back
07. Wrong Man
08. Girls Like That
09. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
10. Don't Let Go
11. Junkyard Blues
12. Before Time Again
* Not on original studio album
Bonus LP+CD
2005 Studio Jams & Rehearsals:
01. MTV
02. Money Talks
03. Back To Back
04. Before Time Began
05. Closing Note**
** Unreleased instrumental track by Steve Morse
DEEP PURPLE 2005 photo credit: Bruce Payne (courtesy of Atom Splitter PR / earMUSIC) | +2 | |
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9 èþí 2025
MAX And IGOR CAVALERA To Perform SEPULTURA's Entire 'Chaos A.D.' Album On Fall 2025 U.S. Tour; FEAR FACTORY To Support
 Former SEPULTURA members Max Cavalera (guitar, vocals) and Igor "Iggor" Cavalera (drums) will perform the band's landmark fifth album, 1993's "Chaos A.D.", in its entirety on a U.S. tour this fall. Support on the trek will come from FEAR FACTORY.
Tickets will go on sale this Friday, June 13 at 10:00 a.m. local time. An artist presale will be available using the presale code "BIOTECH".
Tour dates:
Sep. 18 - Louisville, KY @ Louder Than Life Festival
Sep. 20 - Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium w/ Slayer*
Sep. 21 - Liverpool, NY @ Sharkey's
Sep. 23 - Norwalk, CT @ District Music Hall
Sep. 25 - Ft Wayne, IN @ Piere's Entertainment Center
Sep. 26 - Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom
Sep. 27 - Hammond, IN @ Horseshoe w/ Lamb Of God*
Sep. 28 - St Louis, MO @ Red Flag
Oct. 01 - Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater
Oct. 02 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
Oct. 05 - Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival*
Oct. 07 - Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues
Oct. 10 - Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
Oct. 11 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Marquee
Oct. 12 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
Oct. 16 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Oct. 17 - Austin, TX @ Come & Take It Live
Oct. 18 - Dallas, TX @ Ferris Wheelers
* No FEAR FACTORY
Back in February 2023, Max spoke to Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", about the 30th anniversary of "Chaos A.D." The 55-year-old Brazilian-born musician, who spent much of the last decade celebrating the 20th anniversary of SEPULTURA's "Roots" and 30th anniversary of "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise", respectively, on tour all over the world, said: "Those albums, to me, they're kind of like kids. I like to celebrate their birthdays. I almost feel like I need to buy a cake and have a real birthday party on the day that the thing came out.
"Nah, I think we celebrate through the music, 'cause we're doing all these cool tours of celebrating the music," he continued. "Of course I'm not saying we're gonna do a 'Chaos A.D.' one, but if it happens, it'll be really cool… 'Chaos A.D.' opens with [my son] Zyon's heartbeat. It's a very special record. It's almost like a defining moment in metal, one of those records that kind of broke the mold, how metal can be. Because before 'Chaos A.D.' everything was super fast and aggressive, and I think with 'Chaos A.D.' we showed there's another way to make aggressive music, that's a little bit slower and more groove oriented, with stuff like 'Territory' and 'Slave New World' and 'Refuse/Resist'."
SEPULTURA was founded in 1983 by the brothers Max and Igor with Wagner Lamounier and Jairo Guedes Braga (known professionally as Jairo Guedz). Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. joined just a few short months later and in 1987, with the departure of Jairo and addition of guitarist Andreas Kisser, the solid lineup of SEPULTURA was final. The band quickly became an influential force in heavy metal music thanks to its dynamic studio recordings and intense live performances.
The band was in the midst of a creative and commercial peak in 1993 when it released "Chaos A.D." with Max on vocals and guitar, Andreas on guitar, Paulo on bass, and Igor on drums. The record sonically sees the band transcend from their thrashing death metal aesthetic into a more eclectic output, showcasing groove-oriented paces, incorporating moody riffs, industrial soundscapes and even introducing hardcore punk elements throughout the record. With protest songs like "Refuse/ Resist" and the Jello Biafra-penned "Biotech Is Godzilla" spouting conspiracy theories, the politically charged lyrics aided in "Chaos A.D." becoming a breakthrough album for the band worldwide.
Although SEPULTURA has maintained a diehard fanbase in all parts of the world throughout the band's four-decade history, "Roots" and "Chaos A.D." were by far SEPULTURA's most commercially successful, having both been certified gold in the U.S. for sales in excess of five hundred thousand copies.
Regarding "Chaos A.D."'s visual representation, Max previously described its conception thusly: "'Chaos A.D.' was commissioned through Michael Whelan [whom] we already used on two albums before — 'Beneath The Remains' and 'Arise' — but 'Beneath The Remains' and 'Arise' were already existing paintings, and 'Chaos A.D.' was a brand new painting that was commissioned by us to Michael Whelan to create based on the name of the album. We gave it to him, and he came up with the body bag with the money upside down and all the electronic stuff going through the body bag and I think it was really cool."
CAVALERA performing CHAOS A.D. in its entirety this fall in the U.S. Special guest Fear Factory.
ARTIST PRE-SALE CODE:...
Posted by Cavalera Conspiracy on Monday, June 9, 2025
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9 èþí 2025
Watch: LACUNA COIL's CRISTINA SCABBIA Celebrates 53rd Birthday Onstage With SHARON DEN ADEL, SIMONE SIMONS
 During LACUNA COIL's concert at Metalfest in Plzeň, Czech Republic on Friday (June 6),Sharon Den Adel of WITHIN TEMPTATION and Simone Simons of EPICA came on stage to surprise their colleague and friend Cristina Scabbia for her 53rd birthday by presenting her with a birthday cake. They also led the audience in a spirited "Happy Birthday" sing-along to mark the LACUNA COIL frontwoman's latest trip around the sun. Video of their appearance can be seen below.
Earlier this year, Scabbia was asked by Belgian Jasper how she initially felt about being featured on the cover of the February 2006 issue of Revolver where she was also included in the magazine's "The Hottest Chicks In Metal" article. She said: "The thing is that I never saw the malice in it. I always thought that it's actually a very powerful thing for a woman to be feminine. I love women power. I love to be empowered by who I am, and I don't want to hide myself because I'm a woman and if I show my legs that means I'm worth less. That's not my problem. So when I actually went on that cover of Revolver magazine, because I was the very first woman to to actually appear on that cover, for me, it was just the biggest honor because it was the first time that a magazine, an American magazine, would give a woman the pleasure of being on a cover. So for me, it was something that blew my mind back then."
Cristina continued: "I was just happy if more women could come on board of this women-fronted, the female-fronted band [movement], stuff like that, even if that's a definition that I never liked. Maybe because I was coming from a different world before LACUNA COIL — I was listening to a lot of dance and R&B music, so, for me, it was already normal to see women playing music and singing. It was nothing new. Metal was predominantly followed by guys because it was a more aggressive and heavy sound, but I never looked at myself as the different element or I am different or I'm worth less because I'm a woman. So it was never my personal problem. It is true that perception of people — you have to deal with it. You have to expect a reaction. Everything you do, everything you say, you have to expect a reaction. And I would never go over the line, showing myself, but that's because I don't want to do it. But I don't care about what other persons want to do, other women want to do with their body — it's up to them, and I'm not going to judge them, but for sure you have to prepare to a reaction as soon as you do something. It's discouraging that they only see the look of it, but I'm also sure that every woman included in those Revolver magazine 'Hottest Chicks In Metal' were talented as well. So at least we got attention back then. And I mean, it happened to ladies as well to look at a singer because he was hot or considered sexy a singer. So whatever. If you can use it as a tool to get attention and you're okay with it, as long as it's your decision, you can do whatever you want."
Two years ago, Cristina was asked as part of Jonathan Montenegro's "My 3 Questions To" series if she believes that women are being taken more seriously in the metal scene than they were three decades ago when her band was first formed. She responded: "Do I feel that things changed? Absolutely, yes. When I started, there were not so many bands with a female in the lineup. Metal was still a no-no for females, because it was a very male-dominated scene. Which it still is, but of course there are many more bands with a female in the lineup, which makes me happy even though we are still seen differently. I don't think that it will ever happen that we are going to be seen equally, and partially it is okay like this because we're different. I think that we are sort of a different world.
"What I don't like about being a female in a male-dominated world is the fact that very often we are judged by our looks, which I get it; many guys get the same," she continued. "But for women, it's kind of like… Let's say for the guys, if they have the look, it's a plus. For women, if they have the look, it's a plus in terms of media attention; it's a plus in terms of — I don't know — people drooling with you; but it doesn't necessarily add up to the potential you already have. And that is a shame, because people should not be judged by their looks. I understand that the look is first thing that you see, but it will cool if it will be possible to go beyond that, especially in music, where the instrument you play, the voice you're pushing out of your body and the feelings you're trying to convey with your music are the most important things."
LACUNA COIL's latest album, "Sleepless Empire", was released in February via Century Media Records.
Last October, Italian guitarist/producer Daniele Salomone confirmed that he has joined LACUNA COIL as the replacement for the band's longtime guitarist Diego Cavallotti.
Salomone made his live debut with LACUNA COIL on August 4, 2024 at the Rockstadt Extreme Fest in Râșnov, Romania.
In June 2024, LACUNA COIL announced Cavallotti's departure. Diego, who joined LACUNA COIL in 2016, initially as a fill-in guitarist following the exit of Marco "Maus" Biazzi, later said in a social media post that "this decision is not the result of my dissatisfaction or desire to explore new opportunities."
Cavallotti and Salomone played together in the Italian metal band INVERNO, which released its debut album, "Stasis", in December 2023.
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9 èþí 2025
ICE NINE KILLS' SPENCER CHARNAS: 'We Started To See Success' When 'We Stopped Worrying About What Everyone Else Was Doing'
 ICE NINE KILLS frontman Spencer Charnas is featured in the first episode of Fire With Fire, a new video series where Ryan J. Downey sits down with artists in the heavy music space for wide-ranging, in-depth conversations, where the importance of freedom of expression is the anchor. Created by Downey, the series is made in partnership with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and directed by Gus Black.
Asked what kind of advice he would give to people who feel like maybe they can't express who they are, they can't get the things out of themselves that they need to let out, Spencer said: "I've been doing this for — God — since 2000, really. So, 25 years. And I think what I've learned over that course of time, and when the band started to really kind of take that turn of becoming the successful entity where, 'Hey, this can be my job and I can make a living from it,' was when I stopped worrying about what was trendy.
"I think back in the day when the band started, we were too concerned about, 'This kind of label is hot right now, so we should sound more like 'Band X', or, 'Is this breakdown heavy enough? Because this band is exploding,'" he admitted. "And I think as soon as we stopped worrying about what everyone else was doing and just did what I love and what's authentic to me, which is the punk inspiration, the metal inspiration, Broadway influences from shows like 'The Phantom [Of The Opera]' and 'Les Mis[érables]', and then incorporating, bringing in my other love, which was horror and kind of making sort of a melting pot of all those things, and again, just not really caring about what was popular at the time, that's when we started to see success. And that, combined with believing in yourself and having a do-it-yourself kind of mentality, not waiting around for the phone to call from a record label and just going out there and doing it and hustling and not being afraid to put in the work.
"Before we played concerts and tours like the Warped Tour, we were out there breaking into the tour with fake-made laminates and selling CDs to anyone who had a shirt of a band that we thought was comparable to us.
"So, yeah, you've gotta believe in yourself and be ready for a lot of rejection," he added. "But I always go back to when you're discouraged about whatever business you're in, you think about that when METALLICA started, no label would wanna sign them because they were too metal for the punk kids. And I think the first label that signed them was Megaforce, which was a very small label. And we all saw what happened with METALLICA. And then you think about [American film director, screenwriter and producer] Wes Craven. When he was sort of down and out, he had this idea for this film where a killer kills people in their dreams [the 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' franchise]. And he brought it to every major studio — Paramount, Universal, all the big dogs — and they all told Wes, 'It's an interesting script, but no one's interested in movies about dreams.' So this very small company at the time called New Line Cinema took a chance on Wes, and I think we all saw what happened there."
Spencer also discussed YouTube's censorship policy as it relates to horror-related content, especially as some of ICE NINE KILLS' music videos are homages to movies like "The Crow" and "Pet Cemetary". He said: "The censorship thing, especially with YouTube, is a big bummer, because if you do anything that's somewhat subversive or extremely violent, you get censored.
"The video like we did for 'A Work Of Art' and 'Terrifier', which is, in my opinion, now one of the greatest slasher franchises of all time, and we were so lucky to be able to be involved in it, to make the official video, it gets extremely restricted. So it kind of takes it out of being in the algorithms. It doesn't show up on certain searches. If you're trying to search for that particular video, you have to prove you're 18. So YouTube has sort of become the new MPAA [Motion Picture Association of America, which also runs the film rating system according to the Motion Picture Association]."
Asked if YouTube has offered a list of specific content which isn't allowed to be shown on the platform, Spencer said: "I think it's still a little bit that sort of vague thing. Certainly killing an infant, I believe, is in the bylaws. But we've done certain things like showing everything except those parts where you put a censored bar over. But, yeah, it's really difficult to be able to express what we want and not have it restricted. But with 'Terrifier', this is one of the glorious films of all time. I mean, to the point where when I was at the premiere, Tom Savini was sitting next to me, who's a special effects guru. He was considered and called for many years the 'sultan of splatter', he said, ''Terrifier' makes my 'Dawn Of The Dead' look like 'Bambi'.' So, with that particular video, we just had to let it all hang out. We wouldn't care if we're restricted. The video still has gotten millions of views, but obviously would be a lot more if it wasn't restricted. But, yeah, that was one of the most fun, entertaining videos I've ever had the pleasure of making. And having Chris Nelson, one of the greatest special effects makeup guys of our day, do the effects —this is the guy that did the 'Kill Bill' movies."
Ryan J. Downey is a longtime journalist whose credits include work with Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Marvel. He has written books, graphic novels, and liner notes for BLACK VEIL BRIDES, FALLING IN REVERSE, ICE NINE KILLS, ALICE IN CHAINS, PANTERA, TYPE O NEGATIVE, and more. He is the host of the MI Conversation Series at Hollywood's Musicians Institute, a former MTV News reporter, and served as senior editor for Alternative Press.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization whose mission is to defend and sustain individual rights to free speech, expression, and thought through a unique mix of public education campaigns, individual case advocacy, and policy reform efforts.
Charnas is the creative architect and front man of ICE NINE KILLS and one of modern metal's most visionary and recognizable figures. A lifelong horror obsessive and pop culture alchemist, Charnas has transformed ICE NINE KILLS into a multi-dimensional empire where music, cinema, and theatrical storytelling collide.
Under his leadership, the band's horror-themed concept albums "The Silver Scream" and "The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood" redefined the genre, earning Top 20 Billboard chart placements, global streaming success, and cult-like fan devotion. As a songwriter, performer, and strategist, Charnas has elevated ICE NINE KILLS beyond the stage, launching the Silver Scream Convention, immersive fan clubs, graphic novels, and now the Pretty Evil cosmetics line.
Known for collaborations with horror icons like Ari Lehman and Tony Todd, and for bringing theatricality back to live performance, Charnas has become a mainstay in both the metal and horror communities. Whether fronting the band on tour with METALLICA or creating blood-soaked beauty campaigns, he continues to push the boundaries of what a modern frontman can be.
Photo credit: Gus Black
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9 èþí 2025
SHARON OSBOURNE Reveals Two Artists She 'Would Have Loved' To See At OZZY's Final Concert: JUDAS PRIEST And AC/DC's ANGUS YOUNG
 In a new interview with Music Business Worldwide, Ozzy Osbourne's wife and manager Sharon spoke about the upcoming "Back To The Beginning" charity event on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The concert will mark the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH's last-ever performance and Ozzy's final appearance as a solo artist. Asked how the idea for "Back To The Beginning" came about, Sharon said: "Since Ozzy's illness, which has been six years, he's said his one regret is that he never got the chance to say goodbye to his fans and everybody that he's ever worked with. And then it was, like, 'Okay, how do we do this without Ozzy just performing for two and a half hours?', because Ozzy can't perform for two and a half hours anymore. So then I thought of having all the bands he's ever had relationships with perform and maybe do SABBATH songs and Ozzy songs. I started to ask really close friends, and they were, like, 'Sure, yeah.'"
She continued: "It became a celebration of the music. All the generations are going to be there that SABBATH and Ozzy have passed the torch down to. The only place that we could do it would have been Aston, because that's where Ozzy was born and grew up, which is right where the Villa ground is.
"There are two bands that we would have loved to have been there, but they couldn't because they're working that day," Sharon revealed. "And that was JUDAS PRIEST, a local band, and Angus [Young] from AC/DC, because he's always been a huge supporter of Ozzy's."
For "Back To The Beginning", BLACK SABBATH's original lineup — Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward — will reunite for the first time in 20 years to headline the sold-out event. They'll be joined by metal's most iconic and influential acts — METALLICA, GUNS N' ROSES, TOOL, SLAYER, PANTERA, GOJIRA, HALESTORM, ALICE IN CHAINS, LAMB OF GOD, ANTHRAX, MASTODON and RIVAL SONS — all performing as part of this monumental moment.
After fans snapped up tickets to "Back To The Beginning" in just 16 minutes, it was announced that the event will be streamed worldwide. Fans will have access to the raw livestream from 3:00 p.m. on July 5, and will also have exclusive access to rewatch the concert in its entirety for another 48 hours.
For more information, visit www.backtothebeginning.com.
"Back To The Beginning" will be captured, produced and distributed by Mercury Studios ("One To One: John & Yoko", "American Symphony", "Metallica Saved My Life"),who are pioneering the way for premium, music-driven storytelling across film, television, podcasts and immersive formats. Mercury has partnered with Kiswe — the global D2C streaming partner behind the record-breaking BTS concert livestream — to deliver this moment of music history to fans across the globe.
The all-day event at Villa Park, produced by Live Nation, will be hosted and compered by American actor Jason Momoa, and feature a supergroup of musicians.
This past February, Sharon told The Sun that her husband is struggling to walk amid his battle with Parkinsons disease, but that his singing voice is "as good as ever". She said: "[Ozzy's] very happy to be coming back and very emotional about this.
"Parkinson's is a progressive disease. It's not something you can stabilize. It affects different parts of the body and it's affected his legs. But his voice is as good as it's ever been."
Proceeds from the "Back To The Beginning" show will support Cure Parkinson's, the Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice, a Children's Hospice supported by Aston Villa.
According to Sharon, Ozzy, who paused touring "for now" in 2023 after extensive spinal surgery and rescheduled his "No More Tours 2" shows from going ahead several times because of illness, the pandemic and logistical issues, will not play any more shows after the Villa Park event.
"Ozzy didn't have a chance to say goodbye to his friends, to his fans, and he feels there's no been no full stop," she explained. "This is his full stop."
In addition, there will be a performance by a "supergroup of musicians" including Duff McKagan and Slash (GUNS 'N' ROSES),Billy Corgan (THE SMASHING PUMPKINS),Fred Durst (LIMP BIZKIT),K.K. Downing (JUDAS PRIEST),Jake E. Lee (OZZY OSBOURNE),Wolfgang Van Halen (VAN HALEN, MAMMOTH) and Tom Morello (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE).
"It's an endless amount of people," said Sharon. "They're going to be doing some SABBATH songs, some Ozzy songs, and they'll all mix together. Different little groups will be coming on, but they're all icons."
The original lineup of BLACK SABBATH last performed in 2005. Since then, SABBATH has played in partial reunions but never in its original lineup.
"For Ozzy right now, it's definitely: 'I love you and good night'," Sharon told Reuters.
She added that Ozzy was doing well and excited about the gig. "It's stimulated him," she said. "He's very, very excited and very thankful that he can do it."
The legendary BLACK SABBATH frontman was diagnosed in 2003 with Parkin 2 — a very rare genetic form of Parkinson's. During a TV appearance in January 2020, the singer disclosed that he was 'stricken" with the disease which occurs when the nerve cells of the body degenerate and levels of dopamine are reduced. Dopamine is an essential chemical that is produced by these nerve cells which send signals to different parts of the brain to control movements of the body.
Ozzy's health issues, including suffering a nasty fall and dislodging metal rods placed in his spine following a quad-bike accident in 2003, as well as catching COVID-19 three years ago, forced him to cancel some of his previously announced tours.
While Osbourne's health issues forced him to scrap most of his live appearances, the musician said he would return if his condition improved.
Osbourne's previously announced European tour with guests JUDAS PRIEST, originally set for 2019 and then rescheduled three times, was officially canceled in early February 2023.
Despite his health problems, Osbourne has performed a couple of times in the last three years, including at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August 2022 and at the NFL halftime show at the season opener Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills game in September 2022.
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9 èþí 2025
Watch: VOLBEAT Kicks Off 'Greatest Of All Tours Worldwide' In Vancouver
 Danish rock and rollers VOLBEAT kicked off their "Greatest Of All Tours Worldwide" last night (Saturday, June 7) at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
According to Setlist.fm, the setlist for the show was as follows:
01. Seal The Deal
02. Lola Montez
03. Devils Are Awake (live debut)
04. The Devil's Bleeding Crown
05. Sad Man's Tongue
06. Demonic Depression (live debut)
07. Fallen
08. Shotgun Blues
09. In The Barn Of The Goat Giving Birth To Satan's Spawn In A Dying World Of Doom (live debut)
10. By A Monster's Hand (live debut)
11. Black Rose
12. Wait A Minute My Girl
13. Better Be Fueled Than Tamed (live debut)
14. The Devil Rages On
15. For Evigt
16. Still Counting
Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.
VOLBEAT's "Greatest Of All Tours Worldwide" is launching with a co-headline Canadian run with THREE DAYS GRACE and special guests WAGE WAR, which will be followed by headline treks in the U.S. with special guests HALESTORM and THE GHOST INSIDE, and Europe with special guests BUSH and WITCH FEVER, including a second show at Copenhagen's Royal Arena on September 20.
VOLBEAT is touring in support of its ninth album, "God Of Angels Trust", which was released on June 6 via the band's longtime label Vertigo/Universal.
With "God Of Angels Trust", the Danish band — which has scored ten No. 1 songs on the Billboard Mainstream Rock airplay chart, the most ever for a band based outside North America — has thrown caution to the wind, ignored comfort zones, and paid little heed to traditional songwriting in the search for something more immediate and surprising. The end result will thrill VOLBEAT's dedicated legion of fans.
"In the past, I've taken a long time to write and obsessed over so many elements of the songs before finishing them," says VOLBEAT guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Michael Poulsen. "This time, I wanted to make a VOLBEAT record without thinking too much about it. Instead of following any kind of structure I said, 'Okay, there are no rules. I can do anything I want. I can start with a chorus or do songs that are just a bunch of verses stacked on top of each other. Anything goes.' That was freeing for me and made it exciting to write this album."
Poulsen's excitement to thwart convention is palpable throughout "God Of Angels Trust", a punchy, crunchy album that's undeniably VOLBEAT, yet marches to a fresh new metallic and melodic energy.
Poulsen started working on songs for the follow-up to 2021's "Servant Of The Mind" in the summer of 2024. VOLBEAT was taking a year-long break from touring to give Michael a chance to recover from throat surgery and to tour with his death metal band ASINHELL. Driven equally by his excitement to record a new VOLBEAT album and by his determination not to follow convention, Poulsen worked on songs for a mere three weeks with bandmates drummer Jon Larsen and bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen. Amazingly, they worked on a new song at every rehearsal. Three weeks into the process, VOLBEAT had arranged half of "God Of Angels Trust". That's when Poulsen decided that having no rules meant he could follow his muse wherever it took him, and he veered off on a different path. He and the band still wrote and rehearsed two songs a week, but they started composing more familiar rock songs that drew from traditional elements.
The band entered the studio with their longtime producer Jacob Hansen in the fall of 2024. As with the songwriting, Poulsen wanted to work quickly and rely on instinct, so they just plugged in and started to play. To keep the music sounding urgent and immediate, VOLBEAT recorded live in the studio, playing as few takes as possible before moving from one song to the next.
When it came time to add lead guitar, there was no question that VOLBEAT would tap Flemming C. Lund, who currently tours with the band and worked with Michael in ASINHELL. A mere 13 days after they started working with Hansen, VOLBEAT were finished.
As impressive as it is that VOLBEAT wrote and recorded an entire album in about five weeks, what's more incredible is that "God Of Angels Trust" sounds as fleshed out, eclectic, and fulfilling as albums that have taken 10 times longer (or more) to create. In the end, creating such a strong album so quickly was a tremendous challenge that demanded Zen-like calm, a joy for exploration, maximal creativity, and razor-sharp concentration to pull off.
"In some ways, it feels like we've come full circle," Poulsen explains. "If you start drawing a circle over an extended period of time, eventually you've going to get back where you started, and that's how I feel now. I've dealt with medical operations, lineup changes, and all these things, and now it feels like a rebirth. It doesn't feel like we're doing our ninth studio album, it feels like we're on our first album again and there's something really refreshing about that."
Living The Good Life because the Three Days Grace and Volbeat concert is TODAY!
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🎫TICKETS | bit.ly/41tcmp3
Posted by Rogers Arena on Saturday, June 7, 2025 | 0 | |
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9 èþí 2025
GLENN HUGHES On His Upcoming Solo Album 'Chosen': 'It's Another Extension Of Who I Am'
 In a new interview with Sweden Rock Festival, rock legend and Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Glenn Hughes spoke about his upcoming studio album, "Chosen", which is set for release on September 5, 2025 via Frontiers Music Srl. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Every artist you talk to, [they say] 'it's the greatest thing I've ever done.' It's another extension of who I am. It's another chapter of who Glenn is. And I'm happy to announce that I'm really happy with the album."
Asked how he keeps his singing voice in such great shape at the age of 73, Hughes said: "People ask me every day. It's a big thing. All those years ago, maybe I was thinking about the next note I was gonna sing, and about 10 years ago I started meditating deeply, working with someone far away. And I learned about acceptance, letting go of the feelings and embracing fear and naming the fear. 'Hello, Bill. You are the fear. And today I'm gonna embrace you, and Bill, we're gonna be okay.' So now when I perform, I don't think of Bill. I think about no notes. I perform in the moment, never thinking about anything but this present moment."
As for his pre-show rituals, Hughes said: "Well, I've been doing press all day today [at the Sweden Rock Festival, where Hughes performed on Saturday, June 7 with BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION], which is quite unusual for me on show day. But I normally, at soundcheck, do a big soundcheck, but there's no soundcheck at festivals, as you know. So I'll just go do some meditation and do some vocal warmups. I need to do that. I think everybody that is a singer has to warm their voice up. So, for me, I step into a room and do my thing."
He added: "It's all mental. My mind is not my friend. So I tell my mind, 'No, no, no, no. I'm gonna be fine. Just leave me alone. I'm full of gratitude. Just let me be, let me be.' My voice tells me all kinds of things which aren't real. And we have them all the time. You do and I do. So, to me, I tell the mind, 'I don't hear you. Let me get up.' And every day of my life, I'm very grateful to have been given this gift to accept what is happening."
This past Friday (June 6),Hughes released the official music video for the "Chosen" title track.
Commenting on the new album, Glenn previously stated: "Songwriting is deeply personal to me, and l generally write and record when I have something to say.
"It's been nine years since I recorded my last solo album, 'Resonate'. There have been recordings and collaborations with other artists since 2016"
"When writing 'Chosen', I went back to my life drawing board, writing about the human condition, love, hope, faith and acceptance.
"I write about how I feel on the inside and not externally. My life is lived from within, in the present moment.
"It's an album of soul food, and I've never been so grateful, right here, on planet earth. Music is the healer."
This year will also see Hughes busy touring across Europe and South America, with "The Chosen Years" tour starting in Zoetermeer, Netherlands, on September 2 and ending on November 29 in Bogota, Colombia.
Hughes is a true original. No other rock musician has carved such a distinctive style blending the finest elements of hard rock, soul and funk. That astonishing voice is his calling card. He's known as a singer's singer. Stevie Wonder once called Glenn Hughes his favorite white singer.
After a nine-year hiatus as a solo artist, Hughes is back with "Chosen", his brand-new solo record: an album which presents Glenn in his most hard rockin' fashion. An explosive record that offers Glenn at his absolute best with a state-of-the-art album, both from a songwriting and production standpoint.
Glenn, a native of Cannock, England, absorbed all kinds of influences, including early British hard rock, THE BEATLES and, most importantly, American soul and R&B. The sleek Motown sound from Detroit and the gritty Stax/Volt sound from Memphis left their mark on him.
Hughes first found success in the early '70s with the band TRAPEZE before joining DEEP PURPLE in 1973 during a pivotal lineup change that introduced him and David Coverdale to the group. Despite initial skepticism, the revamped band silenced critics with the release of "Burn" (1974),a powerful album that revitalized PURPLE's sound and remains a classic. During this era, the band headlined the iconic California Jam in front of over 300,000 fans, toured the world aboard their private jet The Starship, and released two more studio albums, "Stormbringer" and "Come Taste The Band", before disbanding in 1976.
Glenn's first solo album "Play Me Out" was released in 1977. He joined former Pat Travers guitarist Pat Thrall to form HUGHES/THRALL, which released an acclaimed self-titled album in 1982. Throughout the '80s and '90s, Glenn Hughes made countless guest appearances (both credited and un-credited) as a vocalist, bass guitarist or songwriter on other artists' albums. The endless list includes — among others — Gary Moore, John Norum and Tony Iommi of BLACK SABBATH.
Since 1992, Glenn has started a prolific solo career with a dozen studio albums where he explored all the different sides of his songwriting and influences: from hard rock to funk and more contemporary sounds. He collaborated — among others — with such musicians as Chad Smith (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS),Dave Navarro, John Frusciante and many others. He also founded or took part in some amazing musical alliances such as CALIFORNIA BREED (with Jason Bonham and Andrew Watt),BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION (with Joe Bonamassa and Jason Bonham) and THE DEAD DAISIES.
Glenn has collaborated with Robbie Williams on his new single "Rocket", which was released on May 22, 2025. The track also features a collaboration from Iommi and will be the first time Glenn has been featured on a record with Tony since 2005, when they released "Fused" together.
Glenn also recently joined forces with SATCHVAI, a new collaboration by legendary guitar icons Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, by writing and singing on their new single "I Wanna Play My Guitar".
"Chosen" track listing:
01. Voice In My Head
02. My Alibi
03. Chosen
04. Heal
05. In The Golden
06. The Lost Parade
07. Hot Damn Thing
08. Black Cat Moan
09. Come And Go
10. Into The Fade
Recording lineup:
Glenn Hughes – Vocals
Søren Andersen - Guitar
Ash Sheehan - Drums
Bob Fridzema - Keys
Image credit: unuce | 0 | |
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9 èþí 2025
Watch: CRUCIFIED BARBARA Plays First Concert In More Than Nine Years
 Swedish hard rockers CRUCIFIED BARBARA played their first concert in more than nine years on Saturday, June 7 at the 2025 edition of the Sweden Rock Festival on Thursday, June 5 in Sölvesborg, Sweden.
According to Setlist.fm, the setlist for the show was as follows:
01. The Crucifier
02. Play Me Hard
03. Rock Me Like The Devil
04. Shadows
05. Sex Action
06. Feels Like Death
07. Into The Fire
08. Electric Sky
09. To Kill A Man
10. Everything We Need
11. Blackened Bones
12. My Heart Is Black
13. Killed By Death (MOTÖRHEAD cover)
14. In Distortion We Trust
Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.
CRUCIFIED BARBARA's 2025 lineup consists of vocalist/guitarist Mia "Coldheart" Karlsson, guitarist Klara "Force" Rönnqvist Fors, bassist Ida "Evileye" Stenbacka and drummer Jannicke "Nicki Wicked" Lindström.
CRUCIFIED BARBARA will appear at around half a dozen more European festivals this year, including Resurrection Fest in Spain, Skogsröjet festival in Sweden and La Guerre Du Son festival in France.
From the release of their debut album "In Distortion We Trust" (2005) up until their split in 2016, CRUCIFIED BARBARA became known as one of Sweden's hardest-working hard rock bands, with countless touring miles across the globe. Whether playing in gritty rock clubs on four continents, under the spotlight of Melodifestivalen or on numerous festival stages, they consistently showed how hard rock should be done.
CRUCIFIED BARBARA is a band that has always walked its own path. A group unafraid of exploring both dark metal and heartfelt ballads, blending the soft and the heavy to create their own unique hard rock brew. Now, they're back to once again deliver that brew live, in a celebration showcasing the best from their four albums: "In Distortion We Trust" (2005),"'Til Death Do Us Party" (2009),"The Midnight Chase" (2012) and "In The Red" (2014).
In a recent interview with the Apex Lifestyles podcast, Karlsson stated about CRUCIFIED BARBARA's decision to reunite for its first live performances in nearly 10 years: "Actually we didn't talk for a couple of years after we split up, The break was mostly because of me; the other three [girls] kept playing in the band THE HEARD. And yeah, I just was hiding under a stone for a few years. And when I started to play again, I thought I was only gonna play the acoustic stuff because that's what I felt like. And then I was introduced to a process to come back to the stage and play first the guitar with DONNA CANNONE and then the bass with THE GEMS. And all of a sudden I found myself on these rock stages again. And then two years ago, we actually reached out and met, just had a beer and talked, and it felt really, really good to meet everybody. And it just was like a big relief to finally meet them again and talk. But we didn't talk about like playing or anything back then. We just wanted to hang out then. Now it was maybe [last] summer when I realized, like, I love playing music again, and there's nothing in the way. We felt like, why don't we just meet and rehearse and see how it feels and just play some songs together? And we did. And it just felt like coming home. Yeah. It was amazing."
She continued: "I love the girls and I missed them so much during these years. It's just been so much to process and now so much to work through. And, yeah, to get this chance was amazing. So we just felt like, yeah, why not do a reunion now when we all want to play together again? And I'm really happy. And people are surprised. [They ask], 'Are you the original lineup?' It's, like, yeah, of course. There is no other way to do CRUCIFIED BARBARA."
Regarding what CRUCIFIED BARBARA's plans are for the coming months, Mia said: "We wanna do shows and just have fun with it. And as long as it's fun, we're gonna keep playing."
In a January 2019 interview with France's Loud TV, Klara said that CRUCIFIED BARBARA's 2016 split had been a long time coming. "It had been kind of a hard time for a while, so it was time for us to move forward," she said. "It was just the next step in life — to quit the old and start fresh."
After CRUCIFIED BARBARA's breakup, Klara , Ida and Nicki joined forces with DEATHSTARS bassist Jonas "Skinny Disco" Kangur (on lead guitar) and burlesque performer, model and singer Pepper Potemkin in a new group, the aforementioned THE HEARD. THE HEARD's debut album, "The Island", was released in November 2018 via Despotz Records.
CRUCIFIED BARBARA announced its breakup in June 2016, two years after the release of the band's fourth album, "In The Red". The group explained at the time that "our lives have parted and we need to move on. The last years have taken its toll on all of us and the joy of playing together got lost somewhere along the way."
More recently, Karlsson has been the touring bassist for THE GEMS, the new band featuring former THUNDERMOTHER members Guernica Mancini, Emlee Johansson and Mona Lindgren. She has also pursued a solo career. | 0 | |
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9 èþí 2025
FEAR FACTORY's First Album With MILO SILVESTRO Is Coming Together Really Well: 'It's A Badass Team At Work Right Now'
 In a new interview with "Reckless" Rexx Ruger of Pod Scum, FEAR FACTORY's new singer Milo Silvestro was asked what the experience has been spending most of the last couple of years on the road with such an internationally acclaimed metal act. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, it's going great. It's been an interesting, crazy journey and [I'm] so stoked to be here still. It's been two years and a half almost. We toured the world. We [had] crazy experiences, had the privilege of playing with a lot of favorite bands of mine, and it's crazy."
Asked if it is correct to say that FEAR FACTORY is working on a new album right now, the band's first with Silvestro on vocals, Milo said: "Yes, correct. So we are currently working. I'm here at Dino's [Cazares, FEAR FACTORY guitarist and main songwriter] to record the vocals for the new album. So, we're currently working on it."
Describing his involvement in the songwriting process for the new FEAR FACTORY material, Milo said: "Well, fortunately enough, I'm so thankful to Dino for the fact that he has given me a lot of creative space into the album. So, not just vocally, but instrumentally speaking. I'm laying down a lot of ideas for keyboards and synths, which is part of my background. I have a background of like electronic music composer, soundtrack composer, so I'm using a little bit of that skill of mine. And vocally, yeah, of course, I'm writing all my lyrics and stuff, and of course we discuss concepts with Dino, because, of course, he also has a lot of ideas about concepts and stuff. So watch a lot of movies and we talk about, 'We should talk about this. We should talk about that.' So it's a really cool collaboration of different minds. Pete [Webber], our drummer, he's recorded two tracks on drums so far, and he is laid down some cool flavors and fills here and there. Tony's [Campos] playing bass on the album as well, so it's a badass team at work right now."
Regarding what the reception has been like so far from fans to the fact that he replaced original FEAR FACTORY singer Burton C. Bell, Milo said: "Well, fortunately enough, the very majority of the fans are loving this new lineup of FEAR FACTORY. And I'm so thankful to all the fans for being this supportive, because it's not something you take for granted for sure, because you are replacing not just an iconic singer, but an iconic lineup in general. Every member in the classic FEAR FACTORY lineup [was] iconic in their own way. So, it's kind of like trying to — I don't wanna say rebrand, but literally giving different faces to an established brand. So, it's definitely not easy.
"The comments that make me the most happy are the ones from the skeptical people, people going, like, 'I used to be skeptical, like, who the fuck is this new guy? But then I heard him and I'm, like, oh, I'm all in,'" Milo continued. "So, that makes me so happy, 'cause it means that they didn't accept you just because it's FEAR FACTORY. They listened to it, they maybe went to the show and they liked it and we changed their minds. So I feel really accomplished [when they say stuff like that]. Of course, the hating is always gonna be there, but we are lucky that we have like a very minimum part. It's literally, like, 30, 40 people in the whole world, and mostly on Facebook. We rarely get hate on Instagram. For some reason, Facebook, it's becoming a platform of hating."
Silvestro also talked in more detail about how FEAR FACTORY songs come together, particularly as it relates to his vocal approach. He said: "Dino is very musical. He has really musical ideas. The rhythms he has in his mind, rhythmic patterns, they're really inspiring for not just drums, of course, that are typically locked with the guitars, but a lot of other things. Sometimes his riffs can inspire my vocal rhythmic patterns. And being myself primarily a percussionist and a drummer, I love to write syncopated, groovy vocal patterns for screaming vocals. I wouldn't say 'rap', but because, of course it's not the FEAR FACTORY style, but still groovy, heavy vocals. Even PANTERA and bands like that, they're called groove metal because there is some groove aspect in the vocals. So, I feel like I added a little bit of that in the new album, which is definitely the style I always [gravitated toward]. If you listen to [my previous band] DEAD CHANNEL, there's a lot of that. I grew up also with singers like Dez [Fafara] from COAL CHAMBER and Corey Taylor from SLIPKNOT. They have crazy flows when they do heavy vocals. So, there's definitely a little bit of that, without straying too much from Burton C. Bell's style rhythmically. But most of it, it came out from my ideas, most of it came out from inspiration from Dino's riffs. So, yeah, most of it starts from Dino's riffs. So, when he writes the chorus, I start writing melody to it. Sometimes I even pick up the guitar and I'm, like, 'Oh, I have this chorus in mind that could fit this melody that I have in mind.' So it can start from everything."
Last June, Cazares told Primordial Radio about the chemistry of the musicians in FEAR FACTORY's current lineup: " At the moment, [it's all] smooth sailing. And it's been great. Everybody's on point. Pete Webber's on drums. He's sick. He came from a thrash metal band called HAVOK. Killer drummer. We call him Pete The Feet. Milo Silvestro — new kid on the block. He came straight from Rome, Italy. He sounds like a young Burton, you know what I mean? [He sounds like Burton did] back in the day. He sounds amazing. He's probably the most musically talented in the band. And then Tony Campos, my old friend. He's been with the band since, like, 2015. He comes from a band called STATIC-X. He's been my mate for 30-plus years, and it's always good to play with him, and I'm glad he's with us."
Dino continued: "It's a great place right now. We are trying to avoid any of that drama. And luckily we have for the past year and a half since we came back."
Asked what is left for FEAR FACTORY to do, Dino said: "New record with Milo Silvestro. That's what we're gonna do next. New record. And then conquer the world again."
Silvestro's addition to FEAR FACTORY was officially announced in February 2023.
In a separate interview with Brutal Planet Magazine, Dino was asked whether Milo is a "good lyricist". Cazares responded: "Oh, yeah. He's got some other little projects that he works on and the lyrics are really good. So we're not gonna have any issues with that. That was one of the main things that a lot of people have been complaining — not complaining, but the Internet type of bitching. It was, like, 'Okay. Yeah, he could sing great live. He could do all the songs great live. But what's it gonna be like when he does the record? How's his lyrics gonna be? How's this gonna be?' Relax. It's all gonna be good. Don't worry."
In the fall of 2023, Dino told Nyva Zarbano that Milo "brings obviously a freshness that FEAR FACTORY needed. The last singer that we had [Burton C. Bell], obviously he had a lot of vocal issues and he really couldn't sing or do any of this kind of heavy touring," he explained. "It just was a big setback for us. So bringing Milo into the band, obviously he's got a great voice, he's very talented, he's a multi-instrumentalist. He could play more than one instrument. The kid's very talented. Of course, the story is I found him on the Internet. He was releasing videos of him doing FEAR FACTORY covers and he was posting them on all the FEAR FACTORY fan sites. And I saw him there, and I was, like, 'Okay, that's really got my attention.' But we had many people audition, but he was the one that really stood out. And he's a huge fan of FEAR FACTORY. And he pretty much learned from listening to our older vocalist. So he learned a lot of his stuff. And so, I mean, if you close your eyes, you think it's the original singer."
Speaking to Australia's "Everblack" podcast, Cazares was asked if Silvestro was "getting more comfortable" with his position as the frontman of the long-running California metal act. Dino responded: "Oh, yeah. I mean, from the first day, we talked about a lot of stuff. Before the tour started, we rehearsed, and we were, like, 'Okay, these are the kind of things that we've done before. And I think you need to do this, this, this.' And he goes, 'Okay.' So then the first day [of the tour] comes, he just goes wild. And I'm, like, 'Oh, shit.' I was, like, 'Calm down.' I go, 'You don't need to go insane everywhere. Just focus on singing, focus on getting everything, giving the crowd all equal attention,' blah, blah. There's certain things you just gotta teach him a little bit, right? And so he pretty much nailed it the first day."
FEAR FACTORY played its first headlining concert with Silvestro and touring drummer Pete Webber on May 5, 2023 at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California.
Earlier in 2023, FEAR FACTORY completed the "Rise Of The Machine" U.S. tour as the support act for STATIC-X marked the Cazares-led outfit's first run of shows with Silvestro and Webber.
Prior to being named an official member of FEAR FACTORY, Webber had been filling in for FEAR FACTORY's longtime drummer Mike Heller who was unable to play with the band due to "scheduling conflicts."
FEAR FACTORY's latest album, "Aggression Continuum", was released in June 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP, which was recorded primarily in 2017, featured Cazares, Bell and Heller.
In September 2020, Bell issued a statement officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY, saying that he "cannot align" himself with someone whom he does not trust or respect, apparently referring to Cazares.
Bell later told Kerrang! magazine that his split with FEAR FACTORY had been a long time coming. "It's been on my mind for a while," he said. "These lawsuits [over the rights to the FEAR FACTORY name] just drained me. The egos. The greed. Not just from bandmembers, but from the attorneys involved. I just lost my love for it.
Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral
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9 èþí 2025
Watch: QUEENSRŸCHE Performs Early Classics In Albany
 The squintyt4e_2 channel on YouTube has uploaded video of QUEENSRŸCHE's entire June 5 concert at the Corning Preserve at Riverfront Park in Albany, New York. You can now watch the clips in the YouTube playlist below. (Note: After each song, the YouTube player automatically jumps to the next song in the playlist.)
According to Setlist.fm, the setlist for the show was as follows:
01. Queen Of The Reich
02. Operation: Mindcrime
03. Walk In The Shadows
04. The Lady Wore Black
05. Breaking The Silence
06. I Don't Believe In Love
07. The Mission
08. Warning
09. Behind The Walls
10. Take Hold Of The Flame
11. Silent Lucidity
12. Jet City Woman
13. Screaming In Digital
Encore:
14. Empire
15. Eyes Of A Stranger
In a recent interview with Sonoridades Inc., QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton spoke about the band's lead singer Todd La Torre, who joined the group in 2012 as the replacement for QUEENSRŸCHE's original vocalist Geoff Tate. Michael said: "[Todd has] helped keep us relevant. He's a great songwriter, but he's not just a vocalist and a lyric writer. He's a drummer. He can play guitar. He can speak to you and communicate to you as a musician, not just a singer. I mean, he grew up in Florida in the metal era, and he's got a lot of that influence, but he's very melodic as well. And he's got a killer voice. So I think it's just something that in the evolution of post-QUEENSRŸCHE, it's, like, we are still doing it and kicking ass. And hopefully we'll have something new out in the future."
Regarding the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for the follow-up to 2022's "Digital Noise Alliance", Michael said: "Right now we're writing. We're doing so much touring right now, it's hard to figure out where we will have a block of time to make an album. But before we went to Europe, we brought Zeuss [Chris Harris], our producer, down to Florida, and we worked on some ideas. We just started writing. And that's where we're at right now."
Wilton also talked about QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Casey Grillo, who joined the band in 2017 as the replacement for the original QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield. He said: "[Casey is] an amazing player and he brings so much to QUEENSRŸCHE. He respects the songs, but he's such a dynamic player. He's very talented, and he helps in the writing process as well. So, yeah, he's been in the band over five years, six years, or whatever it is, seven, and, yeah, he's great."
In October 2021, Rockenfield filed a lawsuit against Wilton and bassist Eddie Jackson, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge. A few months later, Wilton and Jackson filed a countersuit against Rockenfield, accusing him of abandoning his position as a member of the band and misappropriating the group's assets to his own personal benefit. That dispute has since been settled out of court.
This past April, La Torre was asked by Chile's iRock.cl how QUEENSRYCHE's sound has changed since he joined the group 13 years ago as the replacement for Tate. He responded: "I think that the band kind of got its sound back, more of the roots, the heavier kind of sound that QUEENSRYCHE was known for early on. There was a long period of time where the music got more adult contemporary and less hard rock and heavy metal and progressive and all of the different elements that QUEENSRŸCHE was kind of known for. So I think me being in the band — I mean, it could have been any other singer — has allowed these guys to completely write whatever they wanna write without it being turned down as being too heavy, for example, 'cause that had happened."
He continued: "I love the old classic stuff. We perform all the songs in the standard tunings like they were recorded, so there's nothing downtuned that changes the way they sound. I think that's helped contribute to kind of the resurgence of the band. But we just write songs, and sometimes I think, 'Oh, I wanna write a masterpiece of a song like 'Roads To Madness'' or a great song like 'Take Hold Of The Flame' or — I don't know — songs off of '[Operation:] Mindcrime', for example. But we all have a great time and the chemistry in the band is perfect. We all are super, super close. We all get along off the stage so well that it really kind of… I think that the contribution that I bring in is the jokes, the laughter, the creativity with music and art idea, artistic ideas with album covers and video concepts and that kind of thing. I don't know. That's the best way I could answer it, is I'm just one fifth of QUEENSRŸCHE. But the band is in a very healthy state."
Regarding how he sees the future of QUEENSRŸCHE, Todd said: "Oh, man. I kind of see the future as kind of what we're doing still. A lot of bands have retired, and we're still out there. There's nothing in the future that I see of the band retiring. I mean, we play about a hundred shows a year. So probably more of the same — just performing live shows, writing new songs and making new records and promoting our art that way. But, I mean, really it boils down to the live concert. That's really what we are now."
In a separate interview with Brazil's Monsters Of Rock, Todd was asked which "unexplored musical directions" he would like to see QUEENSRŸCHE go in on the band's upcoming follow-up to "Digital Noise Alliance". He said: "[We're] kind of [doing] the same thing as what we've been doing. I mean, we don't go in writing a record with a preconceived idea. We just get in a room and [go], 'Hey, show me your guitar parts. What do you have in your mind?' And we kind of all get together in a room and just see what happens in real time. So as far as unexplored musical directions… Personally, I'd love to hear more clean guitar on the next record, maybe some more spacious stuff, some more clean guitar. Orchestration is always fun to work with. It's very huge and cinematic sounding. So those are fun things to play with. Maybe some different percussion things would be interesting to play around with again.
"But, gosh, after 40-plus years, I think without completely changing the band, the band's style of music, I don't know that there's really any too much unexplored musical directions," he continued. "I mean, QUEENSRŸCHE's kind of done a lot within the large space that QUEENSRŸCHE has to run around in. I mean, if we were to do something — we wouldn't write a hip-hop song, we wouldn't write a death metal song. So within the confines of what QUEENSRŸCHE kind of is, as diverse as it as it is, I don't know what kind of unexplored musical directions there would be. On the next one, I mean, I would love to, like I say, play around with some other clean guitar sounds, maybe some more interesting percussion things — like the song 'I Am I' had some really neat percussion things going on."
Guitarist Mike Stone, who rejoined QUEENSRŸCHE in 2021, contributed guitar solos to the band's latest studio album.
Since late May 2021, Stone has been handling second-guitar duties in QUEENSRŸCHE, which announced in July 2021 that longtime guitarist Parker Lundgren was exiting the group to focus on "other business ventures."
Stone originally joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album "Tribe" and stayed with the band for six years before leaving the group.
📢 NEW DATE ANNOUNCEMENT!! June 5th from 5pm-8pm at Albany Events in Albany, NY!! This is a FREE concert and ALL AGES...
Posted by Queensrÿche on Monday, April 28, 2025 | 0 | |
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Philosophobia
