|
| |
 |
  |
28 ìàé 2025
AVATAR Releases New Song 'Captain Goat', Announces November/December 2025 U.S. Tour
 Swedish metallers AVATAR — vocalist Johannes Eckerström, guitarists Jonas Jarlsby and Tim Öhrström, bassist Henrik Sandelin, and drummer John Alfredsson — have released a new song, "Captain Goat". The track's accompanying music video can be seen below.
"I think it will be very clear to people hearing 'Captain Goat' that the rules once again have changed," states Eckerström. "It will always be metal. It will always be AVATAR. We will never do the same song twice and we will always find ways to reinvent ourselves. It's the only way we know how to do this, and the only way to give ourselves a shot at being the best we have ever been. 'Captain Goat' uses the motif of Satan and the spirit's journey through the underworld as a meditation. It is a negotiation with the harsh state of being and finding acceptance as you navigate the ruthless darkness of life."
Regarding the accompanying visual, he furthers: "In the video, we find a way to play with that, shamelessly lending imagery from various myths, folklore, and legends. Besides, any day I get to see the boys undress for a part is a good day for all of us."
On the upcoming tour, AVATAR said: "Everything we have done is impossible. We set unattainable goals against insurmountable odds. We aren't supposed to be here, we just keep getting away with it.
"The past few years have been a dream. What we have done on stage and how many we have done it in front of, goes beyond anything we have the right to ask for. Any sensible person would submit to the fact that there is nowhere to go from here but down.
"We are not sensible people.
"What we have in store for you, what we are committing to achieve in this new era of AVATAR will put everything that has happened up until this point to shame. We have been given so much and we are only just starting to be able to return the favor. We don't deserve you, but when we are done with you this time, we will. The flame burns brighter than ever. When you come out and see us, you will understand. Don't miss it.
"This new era on U.S. soil will be joined by our friends ALIEN WEAPONRY and SPIRITWORLD. These incredible bands bring thunderous energy, raw power, and unforgettable performances every night. Let's be sure to give them the grand circus welcoming and show them exactly why YOU are the best of the best."
A special BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale will begin on Wednesday, May 28 at 2:00 p.m. ET and end on Thursday, May 29 at 10:00 p.m. local time. When prompted, type in the presale code "CAPTAIN" to access tickets before the general public. Check back here on Wednesday for ticketing links to individual shows. General on-sale will be Friday, May 30 at 10 a.m. local time.
Additionally, there are forthcoming tours supporting IRON MAIDEN and METALLICA, along with the band's biggest show ever in Mexico City.
AVATAR 2025 U.S. headline tour:
Nov. 05 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren
Nov. 06 - San Diego, CA - The Observatory San Diego
Nov. 07 - Riverside, CA - Riverside Municipal Auditorium
Nov. 08 - Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl
Nov. 10 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theater
Nov. 11 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre
Nov. 12 - Boise, ID - Revolution
Nov. 14 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Union
Nov. 15 - Denver, CO - Fillmore
Nov. 17 - Minneapolis, MN - Fillmore
Nov. 18 - Madison, WI - The Sylvee
Nov. 20 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore Detroit
Nov. 21 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE
Nov. 22 - Columbus, OH - KEMBA Live!
Nov. 23 - Silver Spring, MD - The Fillmore Silver Spring
Nov. 25 - Huntington, NY - Paramount
Nov. 26 - Boston, MA - House of Blues
Nov. 28 - Allentown, PA - Archer Music Hall
Nov. 29 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore Charlotte
Nov. 30 - Louisville, KY - Old Forester's Paristown Hall
Dec. 02 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater
Dec. 04 - Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works
Dec. 06 - Tulsa, OK - Tulsa Theater
Dec. 07 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
Photo credit: Johan Carlén  | +1 |  |
|  |
28 ìàé 2025
Legendary Rock Guitarist RICK DERRINGER Dies At 77
 Renowned guitarist and entertainer Rick Derringer died earlier this week at the age of 77, according to TMZ. Derringer's close friend and caretaker Tony Wilson revealed the news on Facebook that Rick passed away at 8:09 p.m. on Monday, May 26 at AdventHealth ICU in Ormond Beach, Florida surrounded by Rick's loving wife Jenda Derringer and Wilson.
Jenda told TMZ Rick died "peacefully" after being taken off life support Monday night. According to the site, Tony said Rick "underwent triple bypass surgery just two months ago but was doing well." Last night, as "he was getting ready for bed and reaching for his favorite pillow, he went into what he described as some sort of shock and later died at the hospital."
Former BLUE ÖYSTER CULT member Joe Bouchard took to his Facebook page to mourn Derringer's death, writing: "So sad to hear the passing of legend Rick Derringer. In our early days BLUE ÖYSTER CULT opened for Edgar Winter's WHITE TRASH with Rick on the lead. They taught us to really warm up before your set, because when they hit the stage they EXPLODED with tight high energy! Many decades later I was invited to sit in with Rick at Foxwoods. I played 'Hang On Sloopy' with Rick. I was in heaven. (ps: Rick wrote a great guitar book called 'Rick Derringer's Guitar Secrets'. I used that book in warm ups for years.)"
Legendary rock drummer Vinny Appice (BLACK SABBATH, DIO, HEAVEN & HELL) wrote: " I woke up this morning to some sad news. My mentor and friend Rick Derringer has passed, DERRINGER was the first professional band I played in in 1976. Rick was a great guitarist and even more a teacher to me, recording, playing clubs and arenas. I went into the band with eyes wide open, ready to learn from a seasoned professional Rick. We recorded 3 albums together and played many tours, opening for AEROSMITH, BOSTON, FOGHAT and more. We even co headlined with JOURNEY on some gigs, we also had Tom Petty, THE RUNAWAYS open for us, it was an amazing experience working together with Rick. I will never forget him, he was a amazing songwriter, guitarists and friend, may he rest in peace."
Vinny's brother, VANILLA FUDGE's Carmine Appice wrote: "RIP. my good friend Rick Derringer. I will miss our talks. We made great music together. Jender i am so sorry. But he is with his lord and savior. He will be missed."
POISON's Rikki Rockett took to his Facebook page to write: "I didn't want to believe it, but it's true. Rick Derringer has passed away. [My band] ROCKETT MAFIA has recently added a cover of 'Rock 'N' Roll Hoochie Koo' that Rick popularized. I saw Johnny Winter perform it first. Love the drumming from none other than the amazing Bobby Caldwell (CAPTAIN BEYOND). RIP Rick. Thank you for your contribution to Rock 'N' Roll history!"
Dennis Dunaway, the original bass player from the ALICE COOPER group, wrote: "The ALICE COOPER group's very first gig in New York City was 6 nights with THE MCCOYS at Steve Paul's The Scene. Rick Derringer and his brother showed us around Times Square. Rick lived near our manager's Alive Enterprises office and he hung out there quite often. Rick played lead guitar on 'Under My Wheels'. Here's [a photo of] Neal Smith and I with Joe Bouchard and Rick at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Connecticut early 2000's. Rick will be remembered for his trail-blazing talent and his great stories."
Onesti Entertainment president and CEO Ron Onesti, who runs Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, wrote: "We lost another hero. My good buddy Rick Derringer got his wings on Memorial Day. He called me from his bed a few days ago - we planned on his return to The Arcada. He said, 'I want nothing more.' I can't believe it. He is now in Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo Heaven. God bless him."
Derringer was just 17 when his band THE MCCOYS recorded the No. 1 hit "Hang On Sloopy" in the summer of 1965, knocking "Yesterday" by THE BEATLES out of the top spot. THE MCCOYS had enjoyed four years of successful touring, when Rick merged his talents with Johnny Winter in 1969 forming JOHNNY WINTER AND….
Following success with Winter, Rick produced Edgar Winter's platinum-selling album "They Only Come Out At Night". The LP featured the No. 1 Grammy-nominated hit "Frankenstein" and the perennial favorite "Free Ride". Rick and Edgar went on to become bandmates in the WHITE TRASH.
In 1976, Rick created the DERRINGER band. He released four albums and in 1983 returned to his solo career with the LP "Good Dirty Fun". Derringer continued to tour globally and opened for LED ZEPPELIN on the last two dates ZEPPELIN would ever play with the original members of the band.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Derringer appeared on numerous albums with such artists as Alice Cooper, Richie Havens, Todd Rundgren and STEELY DAN. Rick also recorded with Barbra Streisand, KISS, Bonnie Tyler and AIR SUPPLY. He co-wrote music and toured with Cyndi Lauper. Derringer discovered Weird Al Yankovic and won two Grammy Awards while producing six Weird Al albums. Derringer's productions (and guitar solos) of the Michael Jackson parodies, on the No. 1 hit "Eat It" and "Who's Fat", remain Yankovic's most successful recordings.
Derringer released over 25 albums, including several blues and jazz LPs.
So sad to hear the passing of legend Rick Derringer. In our early days Blue Öyster Cult opened for Edgar Winter's White...
Posted by Joe Bouchard on Tuesday, May 27, 2025
I didn't want to believe it, but it's true. Rick Derringer has passed away. Rockett Mafia has recently added a cover of ...
Posted by Rikki Rockett on Tuesday, May 27, 2025
I woke up this morning to some sad news. My mentor and friend Rick Derringer has passed, Derringer was the first...
Posted by Vinny Appice on Tuesday, May 27, 2025
The Alice Cooper group's very first gig in New York City was 6 nights with The McCoys at Steve Paul's The Scene. Rick...
Posted by Dennis Dunaway on Tuesday, May 27, 2025
| 0 | |
| |
28 ìàé 2025
IN FLAMES Parts Ways With Drummer TANNER WAYNE
 Swedish metallers IN FLAMES have announced the departure of drummer Tanner Wayne.
Wayne, who was previously best known for his work with UNDERMINDED, SCARY KIDS SCARING KIDS and CHIODOS, joined IN FLAMES in time for the band's summer 2018 tour.
Wayne stepped into IN FLAMES following the departure of Joe Rickard, who played on the band's 2016 album "Battles".
Earlier today, IN FLAMES released the following statement via social media: "It is with profound gratitude and appreciation that we announce our creative decision to part ways with Tanner Wayne. His dedication and musicianship over the past several years has left, and will continue to leave, a lasting mark on this band. We wish him nothing but the best.
"We appreciate your support and understanding at this time and hope to see you all on tour this summer."
IN FLAMES has not yet announced a replacement for Wayne.
Tanner made his live debut with IN FLAMES on July 4, 2018 in Brno, Czech Republic.
IN FLAMES is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, "Foregone", which was released in February 2023 via Nuclear Blast. According to a press release, the LP "combines the greatest aggressive, metallic, and melodic strengths of their landmark records with the seasoned songwriting of their postmodern era."
"Foregone" was the second IN FLAMES album with bassist Bryce Paul and Wayne, the first with ex-MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick, and the third with Grammy-winning producer Howard Benson (MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, THREE DAYS GRACE). Mike Plotnikoff (ALL THAT REMAINS, WARBRINGER) engineered at Benson's West Valley Recording Studios. Joe Rickard (10 YEARS, STARSET, DIAMANTE),who played drums for IN FLAMES from 2016 through 2019, handled mixing duties.
In 2023, IN FLAMES parted ways with Paul and replaced him with Liam Wilson (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN).
Wilson made his live debut with IN FLAMES on June 7, 2023 at the Release Athens festival in Athens, Greece.
Press photo courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by In Flames (@inflames)
| 0 | |
| |
![=]](/img/news-bord-shr.gif) |
|
  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
28 ìàé 2025
Watch: IRON MAIDEN Launches 'Run For Your Lives' Tour, Plays First Concert With New Drummer SIMON DAWSON
 British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN kicked off their "Run For Your Lives" world tour earlier tonight (Tuesday, May 27) at Papp László Sportaréna in Budapest, Hungary. The show marked MAIDEN's first live appearance with new drummer Simon Dawson, who replaced longtime drummer Nicko McBrain last December.
The "Run For Your Lives" world tour marks 50 years since bassist Steve Harris formed MAIDEN in late 1975 and to celebrate this, fans are promised a very special setlist spanning the nine studio albums from "Iron Maiden" to "Fear Of The Dark", with the band's most spectacular and elaborate show ever.
The setlist for the Budapest concert was as follows:
01. Murders In The Rue Morgue (first performance since September 2, 2005)
02. Wrathchild (first performance since July 2, 2017)
03. Killers (first performance since October 1, 1999)
04. Phantom Of The Opera (first performance since July 5, 2014)
05. The Number Of The Beast
06. The Clairvoyant (first performance since October 2, 2013)
07. Powerslave (first performance since July 22, 2017)
08. 2 Minutes To Midnight (first performance since October 15, 2019)
09. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (first performance since April 2, 2009)
10. Run To The Hills
11. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (first performance since July 5, 2014)
12. The Trooper
13. Hallowed Be Thy Name
14. Iron Maiden
Encore:
15. Aces High
16. Fear Of The Dark
17. Wasted Years
Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below.
The Budapest concert will be followed by 31 further stadium, festival and arena shows around Europe. With over a million tickets already sold, and most shows sold out, fans are advised that additional tickets will be made available closer to the show — and on the day — with the release of venue and production holds.
Earlier this month, MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood took to the band's web site to share a post titled "Put away your phones and get ready to Run For Your Lives!" in which he urged fans to experience the shows "in the moment" rather than on smaller screens at a later date.
"We really want fans to enjoy the shows first hand, rather than on their small screens," Smallwood wrote. "The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are on stage looking out at rows of phones, but also for other concertgoers.
"We feel that the passion and involvement of our fans at shows really makes them special, but the phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting especially to the band. I hope fans understand this and will be sensible in severely limiting the use of their phone cameras out of respect for the band and their fellow fans."
"Run For Your Lives" world tour is one part of IRON MAIDEN's 50th-anniversary celebrations and will feature many fan "meet-up" events in the cities the band is playing. As was debuted successfully in Australia on the last tour, these will include Eddie's official pop-up dive bar which will be open for pre-show and post-show gatherings in 20 cities on the tour. They will be serving Trooper beer and Darkest Red wine, with food, exclusive merch and further entertainment. Details are available on ironmaiden.com. But please note the band will not be at these events. Additionally, there is both a feature-length documentary film coming to cinemas worldwide later this year, via Universal Pictures Content Group, and an official hardback book providing a magnificent visual celebration of 50 years of IRON MAIDEN, being published by Thames & Hudson. More details on both of these exciting releases will be announced soon.
Dawson previously played with Harris as a member of his BRITISH LION project.
McBrain played his last-ever gig with MAIDEN five months ago in São Paulo, Brazil.
The 72-year-old British musician, whose real name is Michael Henry McBrain, announced his retirement on December 7, 2024 in a statement on MAIDEN's web site and social media. He also said that night's concert at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil would mark his final show with the iconic heavy metal act.
Despite the fact that he was stepping away from touring, McBrain said that he would remain closely connected to IRON MAIDEN and continue to be involved in "a variety of projects" with the band, while also focusing on personal ventures and his existing businesses.
On December 8, 2024, IRON MAIDEN announced Dawson as its new touring drummer.
Budapest… we are here!
#IronMaiden #RunForYourLivesWorldTour #Budapest
Posted by Iron Maiden on Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Right at this very moment Iron Maiden are about to kick off their Run For Your Lives tour in Budapest. Lights are...
Posted by Metal Pilgrim on Tuesday, May 27, 2025
| +7 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
W.A.S.P.'s BLACKIE LAWLESS Hopes To Release His Autobiography In 2026
 In a brand new interview with Eonmusic, W.A.S.P. leader Blackie Lawless has said that new music is "on the back burner", but that his autobiography will surface soon. Lawless made his comments while speaking ahead of the shock rockers' 40th-anniversary "Album ONE Alive" tour, which hits Europe in June.
In the deep dive chat, the creative behind W.A.S.P. also talked about how grunge and Napster changed the face of music, how 1997's controversial "Kill Fuck Die" (also stylized as "Kill.Fuck.Die." and abbreviated as "KFD") album was one of the most creative periods of his career, and how follow-up "Helldorado" was the necessary detox to the darkness of its predecessor.
Speaking about the change in the musical landscape and how it affected the commercial success of "The Crimson Idol" (1992),Lawless said: " Well, the timing is everything, right? I remember from the time I started recording that record to the time I had done the promo and done, literally, two world tours to support it, I came home, and it was early '93, and I remember I picked up Billboard magazine, and I was looking at the Hot 100 singles, and in that list there was myself with 'Hold On To Your Heart', Sammy Hagar had a song, and MÖTLEY [CRÜE] had a song. The other 97 artists, I did not recognize one of the names, not a single one, and that stunned me because I thought there's been some sort of seismic shift that has happened in the time since I started making that record."
On how he now views the controversial "KFD", and his attempt to "out-[Marilyn] Manson Manson'; "I would say throughout the history of my career, that's the most creative record I've ever made. The imagery of that record is pretty remarkable. I can talk about it now as it's been so long, I can look at it with a more objective perspective, and I see it as if it was someone else; like some other artists that had done it, and I listened to it, and, like I said, I look at the lyrical imagery of it, and it's pretty it's pretty amazing. I mean, like I said, I think it's far and away the most creative record I was ever part of."
When Eonmusic interviewer Eamon O'Neill suggested follow-up "Helldorado" (1999) was seen in some quarters as an "overcorrection" and asked if it was a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't", Blackie replied: "Well, you are correct in that sense. What you do is you make records that reflect who you are at the moment, and if you capture that. They're little snapshots in your life. So if the world sees it as an overcorrection, okay, fine, but you know, 'KFD' was a very, very dark record, and if that's what it takes to create that kind of artistry, I don't want to do it again, because to = have to go to that space and live there for the year that it takes to make that record? No, I don't want to go back there again. So 'Helldorado' was a rebellion, if you like, against what we had just gone through. It's like we don't want to go back to that place, we don't want to go back inside that pit, it's, like, "We're out. We're going to have a celebration.' And so that's really what 'Helldorado' was — it was a celebration of getting your freedom back, getting your life back..
On the possibility of new W.A.S.P. music, Blackie said: "Well, we were working on stuff a couple of years ago during COVID and then we did the European tour two years ago, and the whole thing happened where I broke my back. It was just one catastrophe after another, so the whole idea of recording at that point just got pushed way on the back burner, and we've been touring ever since. So yes, there are ideas rattling around, but you know, when you could suspect to see it, I really couldn't say."
It was then that he offered an update on his long-in-the-works autobiography, saying: "I'm working on a book too, so it's, like, you know, I've been kind of busy. It's about halfway done now, and I'm hoping [to put it out] sometime next year."
Back in October 2022, Lawless told Rockin' Metal Revival about the process of writing his autobiography: "When I sat down to start writing the book, it just poured out of me. And that was an interesting process, too, because, never having done that before, you always think of the… the first thing that comes to anybody's head is the things that stand out. But what I found that more than anything is it was a process of self-discovery, because if you look at any given event that may happen in your life that's significant — we all have those; those signposts that point us in one direction or another — it's one thing to write about it, but to get to the root of it, what you have to do is go back and do some real self-examination and say, 'Okay, what led me to this? And then what led me to that?' And so forth. And when you do that…
"It reminds me. I've heard stories of psychiatrists, when they tell people, if they've gone through something that's intense in their life or they've lost a loved one or something like that, write them a letter," he continued. "And I found that doing this is very much like that. Because I've never done the thing that the psychiatrists have said — fortunately, I've never been put in that position — but it reminded me of hearing what they were saying, because it ends up being a letter to yourself. And you discover some interesting stuff — the good, the bad, the ugly and all that. And it's quite a revealing process, because the person you are now is not the person you were when you were doing some of those idiotic things, or when something intense happened in your life that wasn't idiotic. But again, what led you from point A to point B to become that person, and you look back on it now and you go, 'Wow, look how I've changed.'
"Writing, whether it's lyrics or anything like that, you try to write them as multi-dimensional as you can because the listener, when they listen to it today, you want them in five years to be able to look at those same lyrics and see something totally different, because who they are in five years is not who they are right now," Lawless added. "So that's really what you're trying to do."
Lawless previously talked about his autobiography in May 2022 in an interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station. At the time, he said: "It's taken a whole lot longer than I thought it would, but it's been one of the most fun things I've ever done in my life. It's a tremendous amount of work because there's so many things, over the course of a lifetime, that you forget about, especially when you do what we do for a living. Anybody that does what we do, it's not like the average person out there where you go to work and you do your thing and you get into a routine. And there's nothing wrong with that; it's different.
"I've often said that I've already… because of the schedule and the way that any band has to do things — you're here today; you're somewhere else tomorrow — it's like you've already lived four or five of somebody else's lifetimes," he explained. "And because of the amount of intensity that goes into the same amount of space that everybody has. Twenty-four hours for somebody that does this is not the same as twenty-four hours for somebody that's in a routine. And it can get a little on the insane side.
"The first thing I did was interview everybody that I could think of and said, 'What are your memories of this?'" Blackie revealed. "So I got those. But then where I got the majority of it from was really going back in my own head. And the deeper I got into it, the more things I had totally forgotten about. Because, like I said, there's so many things that will happen in a given day that the only thing you remember is the most intense thing. But maybe the two or three other things that were just under it were just as intense, but you don't remember it. You remember being on the flight the time the guys got angry with a stewardess and stuffed her in the overhead bin, but you don't remember the two or three things that happened under that. That's a true story, by the way."
Asked what he has learned about himself from digging into his life while writing his book, Blackie said: "In the preface of the book, I write that this has been a process of discovery — both good and bad. I would say, after it's all said and done, that it's been far, far more good than bad, because what it's done for me, it's been like writing a script to a movie. And again, like I said, there's a lot of stuff you forget about. But also at the same time, what it does is it helps you connect the dots of your own life, of maybe things that you didn't really think about were connected, and you go back and you look at it and you go, 'This is as plain as the nose on my face. Why couldn't I have seen this before?' And there's been a number of incidences like that — just things that are personal that might not be something that you could share with anybody else, because it wouldn't make sense to them. But then again there may be things that are. So I'm hoping that when people read this, they'll see a lot of themselves in it."
As for whether fans can expect to see Blackie's book and a new W.A.S.P. album released simultaneously, Lawless said: "That was the plan to begin with, but the book is taking way much longer than I thought. We were talking about doing records and trying to get 'em right. Well, it's the same with this — I'm gonna do it once, and I want it to be right."
W.A.S.P. kicked off the North American leg of the "Album ONE Alive" tour on October 26, 2024 at Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California. The 39-city run made stops across North America in Vancouver, British Columbia; Toronto, Ontario; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Dallas, Texas; New York City; Orlando, Florida; and more before wrapping up on December 14, 2024 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California.
Along with bassist Mike Duda and lead guitarist Doug Blair, whose tenures in the band are 30 and 19 years respectively, W.A.S.P. is joined by longtime drummer extraordinaire Aquiles Priester.
Because of the extensive back injuries Lawless suffered during the European leg of W.A.S.P.'s 40th-anniversary tour, the band's previously announced 2023 U.S. tour was canceled.
W.A.S.P.'s massive European leg of the 40th-anniversary world tour wrapped on May 18, 2023 in Sofia, Bulgaria at Universidada Sports Hall.
W.A.S.P. wrapped up its first U.S. tour in 10 years with a sold-out show on December 11, 2022 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. This marked the 18th sold-out shows for the U.S. tour, which kicked off in late October 2022. W.A.S.P.'s performances included the return of the band's classic song "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", which hadn't been played live in over 15 years.
W.A.S.P.'s latest release was "ReIdolized (The Soundtrack To The Crimson Idol)", which came out in February 2018. It was a new version of the band's classic 1992 album "The Crimson Idol", which was re-recorded to accompany the movie of the same name to mark the 25th anniversary of the original LP's release. The re-recorded version also features four songs missing from the original album.
W.A.S.P.'s most recent studio album of all-new original material was 2015's "Golgotha". | +4 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
PAPA ROACH Shares Music Video For Acoustic Version Of 'Even If It Kills Me'
 California rockers PAPA ROACH have released a brand-new music video for an acoustic version of their global hit lead track "Even If It Kills Me" via their own label, New Noize Records/ADA. The original single reached No. 1 at U.S. Rock Radio, marking PAPA ROACH's 13th appearance at the top of the charts.
In a recent interview with the I-Rock 93.5 radio station, PAPA ROACH frontman frontman Jacoby Shaddix spoke about the lyrical inspiration for "Even If It Kills Me", which was released in late January. He said: "This one was started about two years ago, the music part of it, and I heard it first from the first musical just vibe with the strings. I was, like, 'It sounds cinematic. This sounds like it's about to be a journey we're taking the fans on.' So I hit the boys up instantly. I'm, like, 'Dude, I can't wait to get in the studio on this one.' Then life happens, and some stuff goes down. My older son went through this really traumatic heartbreak breakup. Just his whole world was leveled, and I watched my son just crumble. And that was a tough one. But to also have to go, 'Hey, man, there's some hard truths about life, and sometimes people aren't what they show themselves as, and there's two sides to people sometimes. And you got one, and then eventually discovered that other dark side of them and you were hurt.' And that was really hard for me to watch my son just fall to pieces. And that song was born from that moment of going, 'I wanna be able to help you, but I also know that you kind of gotta walk through the fire.' And knowing that, 'I'm not gonna leave you. I'm here for you, but I'm also gonna stand in that fire with you.' And I wanted to shoulder the pain. I wish I could, but sometimes we have to go through those moments in life that build character. Who are you? Can you get back up? Well, my son got back up."
In March, PAPA ROACH released a "reimagined" version of "Even If It Kills Me". The band and Joshua Landry again produced the track. "Even If It Kills Me (Reimagined)" was a fresh take on its heavier counterpart, showcasing the hit song in a new light, with a melodic arrangement and signature vocals delivered by Shaddix.
PAPA ROACH recently completed the European leg of the "Rise Of The Roach" tour. The trek saw PAPA ROACH bring its biggest-ever production and journey deep through their vast music catalogue, including a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the band's iconic breakthrough album "Infest". Special guests for the global tour were WAGE WAR in Europe and will include RISE AGAINST and UNDEROATH in the U.S.
In a separate interview with Germany's Rock Antenne, Shaddix was asked if fans can expect to see a new studio album from him and his PAPA ROACH bandmates in 2025. He responded: "Definitely. At some point [in 2025], there will be a new record. Probably not — it won't be till the end of the year at the soonest. But we're really proud of the stuff that we've done. And I think the fans will be surprised. The fans that are coming to the shows are gonna be surprised at what we're doing too. And so it's gonna be a good time.
"As we evolve the music and push things forward, you never know what's gonna happen in the studio," he added. "And I've gotta tell you, what happened in the studio this time around has been just exciting.
"We've had a really good run with our [last] album, [2022's] 'Ego Trip', and a lot of successes, especially here in America as well, as well as Germany, we've had some great successes on that record, and it's just been one of those records that our fanbase has been really excited about. And so we're taking that momentum and going back into the studio and creating again, it's been a really good feeling."
PAPA ROACH are two-time Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling leaders in alternative hard rock music. PAPA ROACH are not unfamiliar with calling attention to mental health and have been doing so since the seminal release of their first hit single "Last Resort". Since then, the band has gone on to create 10 studio albums, their most recent, "Ego Trip", on their own label New Noize Records.
| +2 | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 ìàé 2025
FIREHOUSE Releases First Song With New Singer NATE PECK, 'Mighty Fine Lady'; Promises More Fresh Music
 FIREHOUSE has just released a new single called "Mighty Fine Lady". The song marks the band's first release with FIREHOUSE's new lead vocalist Nate Peck, 2023 "American Idol" golden ticket recipient from Season 21, who officially joined the group last May. He replaced late FIREHOUSE frontman C.J. Snare, who died on April 5, 2024 at the age of 64 following a lengthy battle with cancer.
In a new interview with The Hair Metal Guru, FIREHOUSE guitarist Bill Leverty reflected on Snare's illness and Peck's eventual addition to the band. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was about two and a half years before [his death that] C.J. was fine. Then he had some stomach pain. And we were playing at a gig in Milwaukee. And he walks over to me, kind of like when I'm starting the intro to 'Love Of A Lifetime' or something, and he's just, like, 'Man, I've never felt this bad.' And I'm going, 'You wanna stop and take a break?' And he said, 'No, I'll get through it.' Because he had the 'show must go on' vibe. Man, that guy was tough. So we finished the show and, and I'm, like, 'Man, maybe go get that looked at. And he said, 'Yeah, it'll probably go away.' We didn't know what it was. And then it didn't get any better. We had a little time off. So he went to the doctor — actually, he went to the emergency room. And they said, 'Yeah, you've got an obstruction, a bowel obstruction, so we've gotta remove that.' So [after] surgically removing it, he was back two weeks later singing. You'd never know that he had a scar from having that taken out — and he had gotten some really bad news with it, lab results and stuff like that. And he's, like, 'Look, I wanna keep this private. I don't wanna talk about it.' Let's not mention this. But it was very bad news. And biopsy lab results were not good at all. So that was his first surgery to have it removed. He had another major surgery that was a 12-hour procedure, and he was back singing in six weeks. And you would never know it. He had a scar [about 10 inches] long… And you would never know it with this guy. That's how tough he was. And then, that was about two years that he was doing great, and then he started getting sick again. And so he went in for a third surgery. And that's about the time when Robby Lochner [JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE] said, 'Yeah, I know you guys have a lot of shows on the books and you might need a substitute. And you've gotta check this guy out.' And I'd never heard of him. And I don't watch 'American Idol'. I shouldn't. I should now because… But I checked out Nate's Instagram and he's got all these songs that he sings from the greatest singers of all time, in my opinion. And he just knocks 'em outta the park. And he's just singing live. He got a camera here, and he's just singing into his microphone, and it's just awesome. And so I called him and I said, 'Hey, I'm Bill from FIREHOUSE. We've got a couple of shows coming up. Would you be interested in filling in for C.J.? C.J. should be back around July.' And he said, 'Oh, I would love to.' I sent him the song list. I said, 'Do you know any of our songs?' He says, 'No. I've heard 'Love Of A Lifetime' before, but I don't know any of the songs.' So I'm, like, 'Well, I'll send you the songs. And we'll be talking on the phone. And you can get ready by kind of practicing or whatnot.'"
Bill continued: "We didn't have any rehearsals with the guy. We had a long soundcheck that day of the New England Rock Fest, which was his first gig, and he just crushed it. I mean, he was really nervous, but he just nailed it. And I sent some video over to C.J., and I was talking to [C.J.] on the phone. He was, like, 'Man, that guy's good.' He goes, 'Bill, that's your guy.' And I was, like, 'Wow.' So the plan was for C.J. to come back in July. C.J. was feeling rough. He had lost a lot of weight. He was really weak. And we were, like, 'Look, man, when you're ready, come on out. We'll have Nate there too. And then you can get out, sing the first song or two, say 'Hey', introduce Nate and you guys sing a couple songs together. You go take a break, come back out, do an encore or whatever, and whatever you feel will do.' But unfortunately, C.J. had a sudden cardiac arrest. And I talked to him the day before. He said, 'Things are looking good, man. I'm, I'm gaining weight. Things are looking up,' is what he said. I said, 'Great.' And the next day he passed… I remember I got the phone call. We were in Texas, and we were connecting. And I said, 'Everybody, come on over here,' 'cause I had just gotten a phone call, and I told everybody that C.J. passed away last night. And we were just sitting in that airport going… We were not at all expecting that, ready for that. It was brutal. It really was."
According to Leverty, Snare gave FIREHOUSE his blessing to continue with Peck as the frontman. "The thing about him is he never wanted us to cancel a show," Bill said. "Even after he got sick, he didn't want us to cancel a show. Especially once we got Nate. Once we got Nate, he's, like, 'Okay, that guy can sound like FIREHOUSE. So, that's your guy.'
Asked if C.J. and Nate ever had a chance to speak to each other, Bill said: "Oh, yeah. All the time. They talked almost daily. C.J. gave him a lot of advice. And one of the things that he would tell Nate is that you're running a marathon, not a sprint. So keep that in mind. Don't come out and blow your voice out in the first song, 'cause you've gotta control yourself, hold it back a little bit, and take care of yourself. And Nate's followed his advice really well."
Regarding how "Mighty Fine Lady" came about, Bill said: "Well, Nate started it. He was, like, 'Send me a riff.' And I was, like, 'Well, okay.' So I'm down here [in my studio], and I dug up a riff or I came up with a riff that would be, I think, something cool that we could maybe do live and maybe turn into a song. And I sent it to him, and he sang on his little iPhone rig, and sent it back to me in a voice memo with the verse, what is the verse now. And I was, like, 'Man, that is so good and sounds so cool. Let me write some music that would be more fitting for a verse, because what you got is a melody and the lyrics are perfect.' So I sent him back something that was more like a verse. 'Cause he sang over the intro riff, and that intro riff on that song, that's the only time you hear that riff, which is kind of what started the song. The only time you hear it in that song is just right the intro. So I sent him back that verse, and he sang on that, and he's, like, 'Oh, yeah. I like that a lot better.' And I said, 'Okay. Now what you're singing about here is the hot chick. So we've gotta come up with something kind of a little classy to make it the hook or what the topic is about.' And we bounced a bunch of stuff back and forth and we came up with 'Mighty Fine Lady'. And we got a chorus together. And so then after the chorus, you kind of have a song, but you've gotta get little pieces to get from the verse to the chorus and little pieces to get from the chorus back to the second verse, and then a solo, and then a little bridge maybe, which we wrote. And he just came up with all these creative ideas and all these great melodies. So then I was, like, 'Well, the song's written,' and [drummer] Michael [Foster] lives an hour away, so he's coming over here playing drums as it's being done. He's putting in his cool stuff, that intro and everything. And so then, we're, like, 'Well, Nate, let's fly you here to Virginia to record it.' And I had him scheduled — he was gonna fly in on a Friday night. We were gonna record Saturday. He was gonna fly out Sunday. And Friday night we went to dinner and we're just hanging out. And I'm, like, 'All right, well, let's go back. You wanna just sing it through to get the rough idea together?' And he sang it through, and it was perfect. So I'm, like, 'Let's not mess with that.' The next day we went through it with kind of a fine-tooth comb and couldn't really find anything to nitpick about. We tried some other options on stuff and kind of fiddled with it a little bit. But it was done that first night, that first take he did. And the guy's just got all these really cool ideas and everything, and the natural way that he sings without even trying just has that bright tone that C.J. was kind of known for. And Nate's got it. To me, it's magic. And we're super fortunate to work with him."
Asked if there are plans for FIREHOUSE to write and record more new music, Bill said: "We would love to. And we're going to. We'll figure out what the next one is, and we'll crank it out. We won't let it out until it's done. It might take a little bit. But in the meantime, that's where you can get 'Mighty Fine Lady' is at firehousemusic.com. We don't have it on any of the streaming stuff as of right now. It'll eventually be up there. But, right now, if you support the band directly, there aren't a bunch of middlemen in there. And it's way better for us."
According to Leverty, completing "Mighty Fine Lady" "was a lot of work. But it was labor of love in putting it together," he said. "A lot of hours mixing it. I think I spent more time mixing it than I did recording everybody else put together, just because I'm not a mix engineer, but I want it to compete with our old stuff, I want it to compete with our third record too, which was mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, the greatest mix engineer out there — one of the greatest. And you want it to compete with the stuff that's out there now and to sound not too far removed, but we also want it to sound like our classic kind of vibe. So there was a lot of experimentation and a lot of work to get it to sound the way it sounds, and we're real happy with the way it turned out."
Peck performed an outstanding audition for "American Idol" judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. Richie praised Nate's performance, saying: "That was brilliant... The best rock singer EVER that we've had. You've got it!" Perry looked to the sky and said: "Actually, he's SO good!" High praises from all three judges got him unanimous consent to move onto the next level of the competition. Peck ultimately decided to leave the show to pursue his career in music his own way: playing live music in Nashville's booming rock scene and guest singing with national artists like JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE.
Peck has been singing with FIREHOUSE since October of 2023.
Snare died was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in 2020 and took a hiatus from the band in 2023 to undergo abdominal surgery. However, his daughter is reported to have stated the official cause of death was cardiac arrest, according to TMZ.
In a statement on FIREHOUSE's social media, Snare's bandmates said he died "unexpectedly" despite his long illness.
They shared their "great sorrow" at losing their "brother… the rock and roll warrior.
"We are all in complete shock with CJ's untimely passing," they wrote.
"CJ was was arguably one of the best vocal talents of a generation, touring the world with FIREHOUSE non stop the past 34 years.
"Our heartfelt condolences go out to the entire Snare family, Katherine Little, friends, and all our beloved fans all over the world."
FIREHOUSE hasn't released a studio album since 2011's "Full Circle", which featured re-recorded versions of some of the band's older songs. The group's last collection of new material, "Prime Time", came out in 2003.
FIREHOUSE reached stardom during the early '90s with hits like "Reach For The Sky", "Don't Treat Me Bad" and "All She Wrote", as well as its signature power ballads "I Live My Life For You", "Love Of A Lifetime" and "When I Look Into Your Eyes".
At the 1992 American Music Awards, FIREHOUSE won the award for "Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock New Artist". They were chosen over NIRVANA and ALICE IN CHAINS.
Formed nearly four decades ago, FIREHOUSE's classic lineup consisted of Snare, Leverty, Foster and bassist Perry Richardson. Richardson left in 2000 and was replaced by Allen McKenzie in 2003.
Image credit: Melvin Zoopers
| +2 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
See PANTERA's Entire Performance In Philadelphia As Support Act For METALLICA
 The Jim Powers channel on YouTube has uploaded video of PANTERA's entire May 25 performance at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the support act for METALLICA. Check out the footage below.
Featured songs:
03:11 - A New Level
08:21 - Mouth For War
13:28 - Strength Beyond Strength
18:45 - Becoming
22:57 - I'm Broken
27:27 - Cemetery Gates (intro only)
28:18 - 5 Minutes Alone
34:27 - This Love
42:34 - Fucking Hostile
46:25 - Walk
52:35 - Domination / Hollow
56:20 - Cowboys From Hell
PANTERA recently announced a summer 2025 U.S. amphitheater tour. Produced by Live Nation, the journey will commence on July 15 in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania and wind its way through over two dozen cities, coming to a close on September 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Support will be provided by Swedish heavy metal icons AMON AMARTH.
Featuring classic members, vocalist Philip H. Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, alongside guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante, PANTERA's latest stretch of live dates continues the celebration of the lives of late founding members, drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. The tour follows PANTERA's spring run of stadium shows with METALLICA and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES as well as a very special U.K. performance as part of BLACK SABBATH's and Ozzy Osbourne's historic final show alongside METALLICA, SLAYER, GOJIRA, HALESTORM, ALICE IN CHAINS, LAMB OF GOD, ANTHRAX, MASTODON and more.
PANTERA kicked off its 2025 European headlining tour on January 21 at Helsingin Jäähalli (Ice Hall) in Helsinki, Finland.
In a recent interview with Sweetwater, Brown spoke about the decision to tour with a reformed version of PANTERA. The lineup has reportedly been given a green light by the estates of PANTERA's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. Rex said: "The last show, man, I had a creepy, like a cold — something came by me. It felt like there was a cold feeling. And I've gotten this a couple of times before. When we were down recording with Charlie — me and Charlie just went down [in late 2022], put up eighty to a hundred hours of tape before Zakk [started rehearsing with us]. Zakk was still on the road. So we wanted to get the bass and the drum real tight, and we had this scratch guitar player. I felt that same chill. And, to me, they're angels. And I think you know who they are. Those guys, I think they're looking down, or they're looking around us, with us, and I think they're digging what they're seeing, man. I really do. And that's the only kind of way I can look at it, and get as close as we can with Charlie and Zakk. And God, it's getting really, really good. And there's so much more potential to get even tighter."
Speaking about the opportunity to perform PANTERA's music to new generations of fans who never saw the band before, Rex said: "There's a lot of memories in this band that are hard to put down. And losing the brothers, I just never in a million years thought that something like that would happen. Here we are 22 years later, and to see these new fans' faces. You've got one kid sitting there, or man, woman or child crying, and you have this other guy just going, 'You did it right.' It's just amazing."
In April 2024, Rex spoke to American Musical Supply about how touring with PANTERA in 2024 is different from how it was in the band's heyday. He said: "This is a completely different thing, man. We have Charlie and Zakk now, and they're just — number one, they've been great friends of ours for all these years. We get along extra super cool. Charlie and I went down, probably put about eighty, hundred hours on tape of all the songs we were gonna do for the set, and others that we would want to do. Charlie and I worked on this for six months before we ever got into a rehearsal room. That's just how good friends we are. Charlie has been one of my best friends for years. So, this is another band. It's hard to fill the shoes of the brothers. At the same time, this has become a really tight unit. And Zakk just puts the extra… Dime was a very unique guitar player, and he was my best friend, and it's good to see those boys up on the screens and with us. And that's what this is about tonight, for me."
Regarding how he and the rest of the current PANTERA lineup have balanced honoring the band's legacy with any new creative goals they might have, Rex said: "There's many ways that we wanna keep this legacy alive, 'cause the music is still played all over. We have a whole new generation of fans that, they probably wouldn't have heard this stuff if we weren't playing out here playing these shows. And so, that generation of fans — let's say the 15-to-18-year-old kids that come out — they'll shortly have children, and that keeps that new generation alive. And Phillip even says it in the set, the parents of the '90s, which I'm a parent of the '90s, it's a very important statement in the set because it's about the gratitude.
"We're not doing this for ourselves; we're doing it for the name and the brand PANTERA," he continued. "And by God, this music needs to be heard again. It does. It needed to for a long fucking time. And that's what we're here doing tonight… It's just wonderful to be able to do this and pay homage to my music, the riffs that I wrote, or the riffs that Dime wrote, or the patterns that Vinnie played, and for what Phil came up with — tremendous impact on this music."
Also in April 2024, Rex told Rolling Stone Australia about performing with PANTERA in 2024: "Two of our beloved brothers that just aren't here anymore man, that's life, you know? They're just not with us man. That's just fate; it's the way the ball rolls, dude."
He added: "This is no tribute band — Philip and I get to play these songs of ours that we haven't played in 23 years. And to be able to do that and connect with the enormity of what's happened is just extraordinarily fucking insane, you know?"
Regarding PANTERA's latest additions, Rex said: "We knew who would fit and who wouldn't. We knew what the obstacles were in front of us, and we knew after… I'll put it this way — Charlie and I came down in September [2022] before we played that [first] show in December [2022], and we have probably one hundred hours of tape of us playing every fucking PANTERA song that I could remember. And so, you know, me and Charlie lockin' in like that… the drummer and the bass player, that's your foundation. So when Zakk came in, there were certain things we had to go over and over and over, to get tight. And today, this band is about as tight and about as badass as I fucking want. You know what I mean, and that's all I'm gonna say on that."
"But, man, this band is on fuckin' fire, and I couldn't be happier, man," he added. "I just can't explain that as much as I need to, I could not be happier."
Rex previously told AndrewHaug.com that he was "absolutely" open to writing new music with the reformed version of PANTERA. "Yeah, I could tell you more but I'm not going to," he teased.
Earlier in the chat, Brown talked about what is has been like to go out and perform as PANTERA to a whole new generation of fans.
"You can't see it on the YouTube. You can't feel that vibe until you actually come to the show," he explained. "And we haven't been doing interviews just for the fact we want people just to come to the show. It's not about anything prior past or present that I wanna talk about today — just the show tonight.
"We're pinching ourselves over these new fans that have never seen this before, and it's a whole another generation that we either didn't know a) that were out there, b) that were still listening to us, and the turnout has just been unbelievable," Rex continued. "Of course, at first you had the naysayers and all that stuff, and as we played gig by gig, it's made us tighter. And I've been trying to rehearse this band as much as I can within schedules, and we'll just go down for no fucking reason and just jam. That's what makes a band tight."
It was first reported in July 2022 that Anselmo and Brown would unite with Wylde and Benante for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.
Asked how it feels playing those "timeless" songs again, Rex told AndrewHaug.com: "You just said it — they're timeless. So getting to play them again is a… These were a big part of Philip and I's songs too. Of course, respect to the brothers. I think that looking down on us and giving us a big — and they're with us. It's just uncanny. That's the glue. Those guys are hanging around with us.
"Look, I'm not some crazy old man, man. I know that we're here for reasons," Rex added. "And this time he gave us a heavy load, and we have come through in spades. And I'm very proud of Charlie and Zakk and Phillip for stepping up… All of us [were very close back in the day]. We were intertwined. There was a close-knit family of friends — Jerry Cantrell and all those guys, ALICE IN CHAINS. We were all brothers and we all had each other's backs — even as fucked up as we got. We're fine now, I'll put it that way. But it's just such a different time and we're older men and can appreciate this more. And I feel 25 years younger, man. It's just insane."
Addressing complaints from some fans that Brown and Anselmo are going out and touring under the PANTERA name even though Dimebag and Vinnie Paul are not involved, Rex said: "I don't call it anything. I call it PANTERA. The show itself is a celebration of the lives of all four of us. Two are sadly not with us, and we cannot bring them back. God, do I want them back. But that's just not possible. So we're doing the best thing that we can to keep our music alive. And I think they're smiling down and saying, 'You guys are doing all right, man.' And they're with us. And I'm not shittin' you."
Asked what his initial thoughts were when he was first approached about relaunching PANTERA as a touring act, Rex said: "Philip and I talked for several months before. He got on the phone and said, 'Hey, man, you wanna do it? I didn't have — maybe a six-second… not a hesitation, but just to wrap my head around the full gravity of the enormity of it. I went, 'Okay, I've got a couple of questions.' And, man, ever since that call we've worked really, really hard to get this thing going. And we've jumped over a lot of mountains."
Up until his passing in June 2018, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.
Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.
Vinnie, who was Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo had not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie suggested that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.
| +1 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
MICHAEL SWEET Is 'So Excited' About STRYPER's Upcoming Christmas Album: 'It's Gonna Be Awesome'
 Christian rockers STRYPER enter the studio in late April to begin recording their first-ever full-length Christmas album. The 10-song effort will include five original Christmas tracks and five traditional Christmas cuts, including remakes of "Reason For The Season" and "Winter Wonderland", both of which originally appeared on a 1985 single and were also made available on the 1986 re-release of STRYPER's debut EP, "The Yellow And Black Attack".
In a new interview with Jorge Pozo of LotsOfMuzik, STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet stated about the upcoming LP (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We just finished the music, all the tracking. The music is complete and the background vocals. Now I have to sing it. My plan was to start singing today. That didn't work out, so most likely tomorrow. And I'll sing a song a day and it'll be done within the next few weeks. And then I go to Sweden and we perform [at the Sweden Rock Festival in early June]. And then when I get home, we will mix it and finish mixing. But I can tell you this: it is awesome. Oh my gosh. We're so excited about this one."
Asked which songs will be included on the record, Michael said: "We've got five traditional Christmas songs on it. We did a remake of 'Winter Wonderland' and then we did a version of 'Silent Night', a version of 'The Little Drummer Boy', 'Go Tell It On The Mountain', which is not one that's been covered a lot, which is cool, and it is considered a Christmas hymn. And then also 'Joy To The World'. So we've got those five songs, and then we did a remake of 'Reason For The Season', made it sound more today. It's still the same arrangement, but obviously with new tones. It sounds bigger and thicker and heavier. And then we did four new original Christmas songs: 'Greatest Gift Of All', 'On This Holy Night', 'Still The Light' and — what's the other one? I'm trying to think. It's slipping my mind right now. It'll come to me. Anyway, we're really, really, really pleased with how this one turned out, man. It's really cool. It's gonna be a great album."
Regarding which of the songs on the Christmas album he feels "most connected to", Sweet said: "Probably the new stuff. I love the traditional stuff and it was awesome and fun doing that, but I always feel a little more connected with new material 'cause it's a little more exciting and hasn't been done before. So it's new territory."
Asked what he meant when he wrote in a social media post that the STRYPER Christmas album has "a unique signature", Michael said: "Well, I mean it definitely has a very unique signature. We didn't really plan it this way, but it has this really great merge of classic — it's got that undeniable classic sound to it, STRYPER classic sound, but yet at the same time it's got that undeniable modern-era STRYPER sound too, because we're tuned down to D now. So the guitars are a little thicker and things sound a little bigger and heavier. So it's got the perfect merge in combination of classic and modern. Something else we did — for example, we did every single solo in harmony. So every solo, every note is in harmony, which is a first. We've never done that on any album. But the minute you hear those harmony guitar solos, that's a very STRYPER signature sound. So you get lots of that on this album. It's really cool, man. It's exciting, and I can't wait for people to hear it. We have a new song called 'On This Holy Night'. It's very heavy musically — dark. It sounds almost like [BLACK] SABBATH. And it's got this cool vibe to it and such a great message about how we worldwide really more often make Christmas about everything but Jesus. So that's the message, and it's a cool message. And then we've got an uptempo song called 'The Greatest Gift Of All'. It's almost kind of a little GREEN DAY-slash-BLINK-182 sounding, and it's just this power-pop metal, slightly punk vibe to it. It's really cool. So it's got some new flavors to it that I think people are gonna like and appreciate."
On the topic of whether there were any challenges balancing the STRYPER sound with the traditional sound of the songs on the Christmas record, Michael said: "No. Not at all. It just all came together so naturally. As you know, we did remakes, re-recordings of 'Winter Wonderland' and 'Reason For The Season'. So we tried to stay true to the original form. The only difference is they'll both be tuned down a half a step, and 'Winter Wonderland', we didn't do the joking around in the beginning. Because we felt like that was something that you shouldn't touch. That was with Tim [Gaines, original STRYPER bassist] and that was a spontaneous, fun thing. And we didn't wanna go down that road and try to mimic that; that could have been real corny. But other than that, it's the same arrangements. And the other traditional songs sound killer. 'The Little Drummer Boy' is powerful. It's a really good album, and we're excited. We've been talking about a Christmas album since 1985, believe it or not."
As for when fans can expect the STRYPER Christmas album to come out, Michael said: "Definitely this year. I would say the first song would probably come out — could be September, that the first song comes out for this album. And then we'll release another song after that. And then the album itself may come out in October, certainly by November… Frontiers [Music Srl] will be releasing it worldwide. It will be available for all. And it's gonna be awesome, man. It's such a cool thing."
He continued: "Like I said, [it's] very exciting for us, 'cause we've been seriously talking about this for a long time. The reason why it hasn't happened is because of our schedules. It's just there hasn't been a good time to do it. So this time I brought it up to the label in a Zoom meeting. They agreed it would be a good idea, and we just made it happen. We're, like, 'Let's go. Let's go do it right now.' And we got in the studio quickly, and we're gonna release it this year. And from now on, it's not talk — it's actually going to be reality."
Asked which of the songs will be released as the first single from the Christmas album, Michael said: "We'll probably release one of the original songs first. I could see us releasing maybe 'The Greatest Gift Of All'. That's probably gonna start the album — a great, up-tempo high-energy song. Or 'On This Holy Night'. That's a powerful song too. Or 'Heaven Came On Christmas Day'. That's another one that's really cool. I don't know, man. That's gonna be tough."
STRYPER's latest studio album, "When We Were Kings", came out in September 2024.
The band recently completed the U.S. leg of its 40th-anniversary tour, which was described as "a celebration of both classic hits and new-era fan favorites, including outfit changes and an exciting new show production."
In December 2023, Michael underwent partial thyroidectomy, the surgery to remove part of his thyroid gland. It is the most common surgery for thyroid cancer.
Formed 41 years ago, STRYPER's name comes from Isaiah 53:5, which states: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
STRYPER's other albums include "To Hell With The Devil", "Second Coming", "No More Hell To Pay", "Fallen", "God Damn Evil", "Even The Devil Believes" and "The Final Battle". | 0 | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 ìàé 2025
SODOM's TOM ANGELRIPPER Didn't Want To Describe Late Drummer WITCHHUNTER As A 'Hero' In Tribute Song
 In a new interview with Terry Palamara of Loud And Proud Italy, SODOM frontman Thomas "Angelripper" Such spoke about German thrashers' music video for their new song "Witchhunter". The track, which will appear on the band's upcoming studio album "The Arsonist", is SODOM's homage to the group's late drummer Christian Dudek (a.k.a. Witchhunter). The "Witchhunter" clip was created by ex-SODOM guitarist Andy Brings. Asked how the idea for this tribute came about, Tom said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Witchhunter, this guy's always present, and especially when we recorded the '40 Years' album [2022's '40 Years At War - The Greatest Hell Of Sodom']; we re-recorded all the stuff. We get more into the old material. We listened to the complete 'Obsessed By Cruelty' album [in order to decide] which song [to re-record]. And [current SODOM drummer] Toni [Merkel] always taught me, he said, 'Witchhunter was a great drummer.' He was more chaotic. And Toni also tried to get the chaotic Witchhunter style with accurate modern drumming nowadays. And he's always present. When we play live, we play songs from Witchhunter.
"You have to realize Witchhunter was my best friend in this times," he continued. "He was my drinking buddy in the beginning of the '80s — '82 — and Witchhunter and me, we ran the band. So he's always present. And when I start writing lyrics about him, I don't wanna describe him as a big hero. He had a big impact in the drummer scene, in the metal scene — I know — but his life went so tragic in the end."
Tom added: "Witchhunter was always a very funny person. We were always laughing about everything, but I know his inner conflicts he was fighting with. He [had] problems with his girlfriend, he [had] problems with alcohol abuse, he [had] problems with his mother, family problems. But he never told me. He never spoke about it. He was always a funny guy… [But] Witchhunter was a completely different person than you realized he was. The people say, 'Oh, Witchhunter's always funny.' Yeah, because he's always drunk. That is the reason why he's always funny. And I know him. I don't wanna tell the truth about Witchhunter, because of the alcohol abuse was over the last decades. And so I never said Witchhunter was the best drummer, he was the best drinker, he was the best lover. He was always a man full of problems."
Tom confirmed that he had a troubled relationship with Witchhunter shortly before the drummer's death. "Yeah, we recorded 'The Final Sign Of Evil' [album together]," he said. "That was the last thing we did. And that was a mess. He was not able to play the drums in one take, like Toni or whatever. He was completely drunk. And then after recording this album, he dropped [out of] complete contact to me and all the others in the scene. That was the last time I saw him. And then a couple of years later I got a message. We were in South America on tour, [and I was told] Witchhunter died. That's it. And I know where he's buried. Sometimes I visit him.
"In the end, he was full of aggression, because I kicked him out of the band," Tom continued. "And that was a big problem. I kicked him out of the band, or we — that was Andy Brings and me — and then he starts drinking more and more. And he always had a dream to form [his] own band, WITCHHUNTER, and he never got it, because he couldn't play anymore. He was drunk completely the whole day, so he [could] never find any other musicians who wanted to work with him. Very tragic.
"What I can tell you don't take drugs and don't drink so much," Angelripper added. "I [lost] so many friends. I [lost] a lot of other guitarists and friends around the music scene by alcohol."
"The Arsonist" will arrive on June 27, 2025 worldwide through SPV/Steamhammer.
All four SODOM musicians — Such, Frank Blackfire (guitar),York Segatz (guitar) and Merkel were involved in the development of the material on "The Arsonist".
The first single and lyric video, "Trigger Discipline", was released in early April.
In November 2023, SODOM released an EP, "1982", via SPV/Steamhammer.
SODOM's 40th-anniversary album, "40 Years At War - The Greatest Hell Of Sodom", arrived in October 2022 through Steamhammer/SPV. The LP included one song from each of the previous studio albums receiving a re-recorded treatment from SODOM's current lineup. The CD and vinyl double LP with their martial cover artwork penned by Eliran Kantor (KREATOR, TESTAMENT, GWAR, among others) contain 17 tracks, all newly recorded by Such, Blackfire, Segatz and Merkel.
SODOM's last studio album, "Genesis XIX", came out in November 2020 via Entertainment One (eOne) in North America and Steamhammer/SPV in Europe. The disc was recorded by Siggi Bemm and mastered by Patrick W. Engel and comes shrouded in the cover art of Joe Petagno of MOTÖRHEAD fame.
| +9 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
BEN WEINMAN On THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN Reunion Shows: 'We're Just Having A Great Time'
 Founding THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN guitarist Ben Weinman spoke to Australia's Metal-Roos about the band's return to the stage for the first time since 2017 for special reunion shows celebrating the 25th anniversary of THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's 1999 debut, "Calculating Infinity".
The first THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN comeback gig took place in June 2024 in Brooklyn, New York and saw the band play "Calculating Infinity" in its entirety for the first time, with original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis joining Weinman, bassist Liam Wilson and drummer Billy Rymer.
Regarding how THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN reunion shows came about, Ben said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, we hadn't had any thoughts of doing any kind of shows since the last shows. And then we had gotten an offer to do a special festival [appearance] doing our first album with our original singer. And it just wasn't really the right time. We could never be ready in time. And it was, like, 'Yeah, we never really thought about it. But, yeah, that was a cool thought.' And then I was talking to our booking agent. I was just letting him know. I was, like, 'Yeah, my buddy reached out to me about headlining their festival doing this thing. That's pretty funny.' And then he's, like, 'Well, next year is the 25th anniversary of that album. So if you were gonna do something, that would definitely be cool.' I was, like, 'Hmm, it'd be cool.' And I definitely wanted to do some stuff with our old singer. He's still one of my best friends, and he never really got to really see the band in its full success and stuff like that. So, yeah, it just ended up making sense."
Regarding the setlist for the reunion shows, Ben said: "We're doing these shows with our original singer, who wasn't on the majority of our catalog. He did our first two EPs and our first ful-length. So we're really just doing the entire first album — we're doing 'Calculating Infinity' in its entirety — and then the EP before that in its entirety and then cuts from the first EP plus maybe a cover. It's really just kind of old stuff, but it still feels fresh. It definitely still feels fresh."
Asked what the vibe has been like within the reunited band, Ben said: "We didn't break up because we were fighting, but it was, like, we definitely were tired and we definitely felt like we saw it through. And then we left and didn't hang out too much or talk too much. Dimitri and I continued to always be friends and talk and hang out and stuff. And then when we started getting together to rehearse, it was just so positive and fun.
"I think when you're doing something after many years that you don't feel like you have to do it and you've just grown and matured and moved on in life and we've had kids and we've had all kinds of things happen that just really shape you, which a lot of band guys don't get to do for a very long time 'cause they're just stuck in this cycle of a teenager forever," he explained. "So I think just still feeling hungry and fresh and excited by this music, but having a little more maturity to just really appreciate each other and appreciate the opportunities has made it super fun and enjoyable. Really, really cool. Really fun. We're just having a great time."
This past March, Ben told Australia's Heavy about THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's comeback: "It's been a lot of years [since we last played together], and it was kind of a tough decision to make [to return to the live stage], but we're really glad we did it because we've been having a really good time.
"[In addition to playing all of 'Calculate Infinity'], we've been playing an EP that we put out with the original singer before that called 'Under The Running Board' and then also cuts from our very first early, early stuff that we did when we first started the band. And then we try to do some covers — a different cover every night — and we're just having a good time up there, man. But it is definitely the first time we've done all that kind of early material all back to back like that. So it's been interesting and challenging."
Asked if it was challenging performing some of the early THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN material after so much time had passed, Ben said: "Honestly, when I was writing that stuff, I couldn't play any of it. I just was', like, 'Let me write songs I can't play and then I'd better get good enough to play 'em.' The later incarnation of the band did play some older songs from those albums, but there are a lot of them that we hadn't played in a very, very long time, if ever," he explained. "So those ones were definitely more challenging because we just didn't even have the muscle memory."
On the topic of THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's future plans, Ben said: "Well, we put the first [Brooklyn] show on sale, and it was really quickly that we decided — it wasn't even that much time between agreeing to do this and actually announcing it. And we knew we might do two nights if it did well, but it ended up selling out three nights in, like, an hour or something — just instantly. And that was super surprising, because it ended up doing far better than even our final DILLINGER shows. So the fact that there were so many people who wanted to see this, even in this form of the band, and there was so much more movement… I mean, the final shows were exciting and the tickets sold quick and it was amazing, but to see that there was even more interest now than there was when we fully announced, 'This is it. This is your last chance to see us,' that felt pretty crazy. And so I think the additional shows we've been playing is definitely because of the fans and the fact that we're having a good time. We're just having a good time together as friends and enjoying it. We're hanging out together and we're enjoying it and we're playing music that was important to our youth and there's a lot of people who still wanna see it. So it's kind of like we're playing it by ear — if there's a real need for it and people really want it, we entertain it. There's no plan — we don't have a plan with it — but we're definitely not closing the door to playing shows here and there."
Minakakis originally exited THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN in 2001 and was replaced by Greg Puciato, who is now a solo artist also known as a member of Jerry Cantrell's backing band, as well as his involvement with the groups BETTER LOVERS, KILLER BE KILLED and THE BLACK QUEEN. Minakakis joined THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN onstage in December 2017 during that lineup's three final performances at Terminal 5 in New York City.
In May 2024, Puciato was asked how he felt about the announcement that Minakakis was reuniting with Weinman, the group's lone consistent member over the years, along with fellow alumni Wilson and Rymer, for shows celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Calculating Infinity". He responded: "It doesn't bother me at all. When people ask me that, as if I'm gonna be bummed, I'm, like, why would I be bummed? I'm not on the record. To me, if the band was still a band, and some of those guys, obviously [original members Brian] Benoit [rhythm guitar], [Chris] Pennie [drums] and Adam [Doll, bass] aren't [part of the reunion shows], but if, if Dimitri and Ben were, like, 'Hey, we wanna do some 'Calculating Infinity' shows, what am I gonna do? Be, like, 'No!' That doesn't make any sense. I wasn't on the record."
Greg continued: "So, I hope they're wildly successful with it, and I hope that it does a lot of good for them — I hope it makes them feel good personally, those two. 'Cause, obviously, Liam and Billy were not on that record, but the ending of them before I joined, I don't think it was — it wasn't fulfilling. It wasn't a fulfilling closure. It wasn't exactly on everybody's terms involved. So I think them being able to go back and do this and celebrate what is non-arguably a fucking genre-changing milestone record that many bands would not exist if it wasn't for. They should play everywhere. They should come to London, they should go play festivals, they should do everything. Like I said, I'm all for it, man."
Puciato then quipped, "Don't play 'Miss Machine'," referencing THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's second studio album, which marked his first recorded appearance with the band.
"Calculating Infinity" stands as a genre-defining masterpiece, marking a pivotal moment not only for THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN but for the entire genre. It landed on countless "Best Of The Year" lists the year it dropped including Best Metal Album of the Year by Revolver magazine. It was later listed among the Top 10 Metal Albums of All Time by Metal Injection. Loudwire has since placed the record third on their list of "25 Best Metalcore Albums Of All-Time" with writer Stephen Hill stating that "the influence of THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN is present at every major rock festival in the shape of any forward-thinking, heavy band and even in the current metalcore or tech-metal production line (who have aped elements of their sound in the most piss-weak and desperate way). But the fact that these bands are here at all and able to appeal to a wider audience is in no small part due to the trail blazed by 'Calculating Infinity' and its utter contempt for compromise and uniformity." In 2017 Rolling Stone called the LP "one of the greatest metal albums of all time" and despite disbanding that same year, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's legacy continues to inspire musicians and fans alike. | +1 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 ìàé 2025
MARTY FRIEDMAN's Santiago Concert To Be Professionally Filmed For Future DVD Release
 Former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman's June 13 concert at Teatro Cariola in Santiago, Chile will be professionally recorded and filmed for a future live album and DVD.
Earlier today (Monday, May 26),Friedman shared a video message in which he said: "Santiago, Chile, I have a wonderful, wonderful announcement to make to you guys. We're gonna be recording a live DVD and a live album in your wonderful country and wonderful city of Santiago on June 13th. We're so honored and excited to be doing this. It's gonna be me, of course, and [drummer] Chargeee, of course, [bassist] Wakazaemon, of course, and [guitarist] Naoki [Morioka], of course. Can't wait to see you there."
In a 2019 interview with Australia's Amnplify, Friedman stated about performing live: "I like to do real, human, raw, sweaty [shows], just exploding and going crazy and having fun, but I still also enjoy some artists that use a lot of technology in their concerts. Sometimes, they even use backing synthesizers and other things and supplement their live sound. I'm not against that at all, depending on the project that it's used in. For example, there's a three-girl singing group called PERFUME in Japan, and they don't sing anything, but in the context of their concert, it's really a non-issue, because their concert is so incredibly exciting, and the visuals that they give you and the formations that they do and the amazing, imaginative stage sets and dance performances and vocal performances that match with the actual recorded vocals, it's so exciting. It's not about a person actually performing and singing. I really kind of don't like when people get hung up on, 'Well, it's not really being sung, so I can't enjoy myself.' It's a new age right now. There's a lot of different ways to enjoy yourself. It just depends on which artist you're watching. If you watch a guy like Elton John, it's a different kind of atmosphere altogether. That guy is a human god. He sits down there — one man, one piano — and just does everything himself. It's not an atmosphere that would require supplemental things, but there are other things [where] it's not just about music — it's about the whole world that's created inside that concert hall, and music might just be a part of it. Sometimes, you have to be modern and adjust things to make the whole world inside that concert hall perfect. I'm open to anything — as long as I get entertained at the end of the thing, I'm happy. It all depends on what you enjoy. For me, my concert, it's really very, very old-school. It's just four people really playing their asses off. That's pretty much all you're going to get, and that's the way I like it for my music... the whole concept is to be entertaining without having a singer. It's not a guitar clinic — it's a concert. It's not about showing off; it's not about, 'Look at this guitar lick.' It's about entertaining people, and having people walk away from that concert energized and feeling like they received something. My favorite compliment when people say it to me is, 'I had no idea instrumental music could be this fun. I didn't miss a singer at all.'"
As previously reported, Marty will follow the print release of his compelling autobiography last December, "Dreaming Japanese", with an audiobook version via Recorded Books on June 24. The audiobook release is available to pre-order now across all digital platforms via Amazon.
Written with veteran music journalist Jon Wiederhorn ("Louder Than Hell", "Raising Hell"),"Dreaming Japanese" debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's Heavy Metal Books chart and has received praise from major outlets including Rolling Stone, Guitar World, Decibel and Publishers Marketplace. The autobiography shares Friedman's inspiring journey from landing a gig as the lead guitarist for legendary thrash metal outfit MEGADETH during their peak years to his emigration from the U.S. to Japan, where he became a prominent television figure and Japanese pop culture household name as well as being appointed an official Ambassador Of Japan Heritage.
"I hope people can take away that there's never a 'right' way to live your life," said Friedman. "If you feel that pull to do something completely insane, something that everyone tells you is impossible, maybe you should listen to it. The normal tendency is to paint yourself in a good light, but what I find most interesting is when artists don't do that. The humble beginnings, the failures, the total insanity — those are the moments that stick with people."
"The book is really a journey that reveals Marty's unwavering dedication, unwillingness to compromise, and continual triumph in the face of adversity," said co-author Jon Wiederhorn. "From his greatest fantasies to his worst nightmares, It's a testament to the resilience and determination of a multi-dimensional guitar hero who ranks right up there with the very best."
The "Dreaming Japanese" audiobook delivers Friedman's story with verve with a riveting narrative that captures his relentless perseverance as he struggled to start again from nothing. After spontaneously leaving his home in the U.S., to feeling lost in the middle of Tokyo with few connections or concrete plans, the story traces his journey to acclimate and assimilate into the inner core of an alien society, language and culture. In fascinating detail and clarity, Friedman shares how he gradually made inroads into the Japanese entertainment industry, becoming a household name and fixture on mainstream television and earning respect as a highly influential solo artist. "Dreaming Japanese" follows the wildly entertaining, inspiring, and above all, unprecedented path of a rock and roll guitar player who took the biggest risk: leaving worldwide success to start over from scratch in a country, culture and society far from his own and ultimately becoming an official ambassador of Japan.
From the adrenaline-soaked years touring the world with MEGADETH — where he co-wrote some of the band's most iconic albums like "Rust In Peace" and "Countdown To Extinction" — to his surreal reinvention as a lead guitarist in J-Pop acts and host of over 800 Japanese television shows, "Dreaming Japanese" reveals the wildly entertaining, deeply human, and often hilarious story of a man who risked everything to chase a new dream halfway across the globe.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Marty Friedman Official (@martyfriedman)
🎸 TRASLADO A MARTY FRIEDMAN - SANTIAGO 🎸
¡No te pierdas este show legendario! Te llevamos desde la Quinta Región directo...
Posted by VAN al Concierto on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 | 0 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
GENE HOGLAN On Upcoming DARK ANGEL Album: 'We Just Tried To Write A Kick-A** Metal Record'
 Drummer Gene Hoglan of California thrash metal pioneers DARK ANGEL spoke to "The David Ellefson Show" about "Extinction Level Event", the band's first new album in 34 years, due later in 2025 via Reversed Records. The LP's first single, the "Extinction Level Event" title track, was written by DARK ANGEL guitarist Jim 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.
Regarding the fact that it has taken so long to release new DARK ANGEL music, Gene said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I know I've been promising this for the last decade or so, since we started getting back together and doing shows. And it's been an arduous process, but I'm really excited about the record. I'm stoked about the first single, I'm stoked about the next single. We're gonna be releasing another single before we hit the road in June. And so I just suggest everybody pay attention to the socials to see what's gonna happen with that."
On the topic of the musical direction of the new DARK ANGEL material, Gene said: "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 the month, 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
| +2 | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 ìàé 2025
| +8 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
STYX's TODD SUCHERMAN Says 'There's A Litany Of Bad' Habits That Drummers Bring To The Table
 In a new interview with The UK Drum Show Official Podcast, STYX drummer Todd Sucherman was asked if he thinks there are any "bad habits" that most aspiring drummers bring to the table and what the best way is to tackle them. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, sadly, there's a litany of bad things that drummers bring to the table here, physically and mentally, and both of them are generally in tandem with each other.
"A big part of what my main primary masterclass is about is we do some sort of experiments that I shan't talk about because it will give some of the things away because the penny has to drop when they realize that they've been making themselves nervous and uneasy with something that they chose to do and love. Very often this is our first love. And so what's wrong with the human condition that we can go from being head over heels in love — you fall in over the drums, music, the role drums play in music, and you immediately turn it into a minefield of judgment and comparison and a whole lack of confidence. And so you're tight and uneasy in your mind. You're not thinking of the right things. Because when you're relaxed, you're gonna do your job better. When you're relaxed, you hear the music better, you hear the time bigger. You can hear a bass player or guitarist are gonna do this, and you can see it coming around the bend. It's like time slows down, and you're breathing normally and your brain isn't full of all these, 'Oh my God. Oh, this guy. Oh, I hope they like me,' all these things that you get in your own way mentally. And then that very often goes into with a very tight grip."
Todd continued: "I found [that] 90% of my dear drumming brothers and sisters all across the planet — it doesn't matter what country, city, whatever — 90% of drummers are making their brains tight and they're making their bodies tight. And if you're loose and relaxed, you're gonna do your job better no matter what your job is — a musician, an architect, a mechanic, a doctor. If you're relaxed, you're gonna do the job better… So everything about this instrument is about looseness and relaxation. And though that might not sound like the most interesting, fascinating thing to go to a masterclass about, it'll change your life, 'cause you won't have carpal tunnel or tendonitis or tennis elbow, whatever. So all these things, once you realize that we're our own worst enemies, then you can start to become who you're truly supposed to be on this instrument."
Sucherman took over drumming duties in STYX a year before the death of John Panozzo in 1996. Sucherman joined STYX as a full-time member after Panozzo died of cirrhosis.
Todd continues to be one of the world's most in-demand drummers and educators. While recording and touring the world with the multi-platinum rock band STYX for the last 29 years, he's managed to balance a schedule of recording sessions, masterclasses, clinics, and creating the enormously successful "Rock Drumming Masterclass" for Drumeo. Todd has been recognized by his peers winning many Modern Drummer magazine Readers' Poll awards through the years, taking top honors in the categories of "Rock Drummer", "Progressive Rock Drummer", "Classic Rock Drummer", "Live Drummer", "Clinician", "Educational DVD", "Recorded Performance" and multiple placements in other categories. In 2020, after playing drums for 49 years, he released his first solo record, "Last Flight Home".
| +2 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| +1 | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 ìàé 2025
JIM ROOT Says He Has Six Song Ideas For Next SLIPKNOT Studio Album And 'Four More' That He Is Working On
 In a new appearance on the Turning Wrenches podcast, SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root was asked if there are plans for the band to do a lot more touring later this year and going into 2026. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No, man. We have been doing a lot of touring, and we've kind of had to do it because of our drummer swap situation. And once we got Eloy [Casagrande, current SLIPKNOT drummer] in the band, we needed to get out there and get in front of people and show people why Eloy is part of SLIPKNOT. And that was extremely important to us. And that leads to now that Eloy is in the band, we need to write a record."
He continued: "It's really hard for me personally to be creative when you know you have a tour looming over your shoulder. I need to know that I've got some time off so that I can, like… This is my desk [at my home studio] behind here. I've got my reference monitors and the computer I record on. And I need time just to sit here and come up with ideas and layer and make arrangements that I can send off to Corey [Taylor, SLIPKNOT singer] and Clown [SLIPKNOT percussionist] and all that stuff. So, after this European run — I told our manager, I'm, like, 'Stop booking tours, dude. Stop it.' I get it. It's SLIPKNOT, so there's always offers coming in. And it's hard to say no, because there's guys in the band that in some ways… We always love playing shows, love playing live shows, but there's some guys in the band, some of the newer guys, that they need the money 'cause they're family guys and they have families. And they're hired members of the band, and we don't wanna have to have them go back to work when we get off tour. We wanna be able to make enough money that we can still pay them so that we can work on music and get them out to the studio that Clown likes to use and just be creative and work. And you can't do that unless you have revenue to do that. But I kind of put my foot down and was, like, 'We need to stop, man. We just need to stop.' 'Cause I wanna write a record, and we owe it to Eloy to write a record. We need to get Eloy in a room and start jamming and getting creative and get all the rest of the guys in the band and start riffing out and then building them into songs. Plus I need the time for myself just to sit here at this desk and be creative. And it's coming back."
Root added: "I know I saw a little bit of a viral post about me. The press always takes your shit out of context, and it was, like, 'Don't expect the record anytime soon,' type of thing. And that was done a few months ago [last December] on the last tour when I was [in London at the end of SLIPKNOT's fall 2024 European tour and] very tour weary. Well, that's not the case anymore. I've got, like, six new arrangements that I think are worthy of giving to the rest of the guys. I won't give the guys stuff that I don't think is worthy of being on a SLIPKNOT record and there's enough room there that everybody can put their input on and we can take it to that level. And right now I'm looking at six [songs] and I have four more that I'm working on. And I'd like to have 20 or 25 before we actually start doing pre-production and rewriting and rearranging and Corey putting lyrics on everything. So, no tours coming up. It's probably gonna be a while before we do another U.S. run or a European run. The last thing we did was — we did South America and Mexico, and then we did Australia and New Zealand. And that kind of kicked my ass a little bit. It took me almost about a month to recover from that — my sleep. Just the jet lag. You cross the international dateline, so you get home before you left, and it's 30 hours of being in the air and traveling."
Asked if there are plans for SLIPKNOT to release a new single in the coming months, Jim said: "Earlier I said I've got, like, six finished arrangements that so far nobody else has heard yet. They're about ready to go to Clown and Corey and then filter out into the rest of the band. I would really like to release something before we start working on a [full] record, 'cause it's gonna take us… I think we need to be able to take our time to write and do pre-production, and that's gonna take a while. So I would like to get something out sooner to kind of satisfy… I don't know if it would show a direction or not. It depends on what arrangement it is. But of these six [songs] that I have done now, I'm willing to throw those out to the rest of the guys and see if any of them grab their attention. And we could very easily, after we get back from Europe, get out to Clown's studio and then start working on one and put one out. I'd like to do one, two, maybe even three in the meantime, as long as that affords me the time to keep writing and still have 25 separate from those three that we could work on before.
"You always wanna have way more material than what you're gonna need because you might be working on something that you think is absolutely amazing, but then once you actually start recording it, it kind of loses the vibe," he explained. "And then there's always that one weird song that you don't think is great, and all of a sudden that turns into the song that's, like, 'Whoa. Where did this come from? This thing's a banger.' 'Devil In I' is one of those songs. I wrote that song and I thought it was really repetitive and I hated it, and it was just gonna be kind of a filler idea. And all of a sudden that's one that we always throw in live sets, and the record label wanted to make it a single. And I'm just, like, 'Really?' I'm, like, it's almost the same two riffs over and over again. Literally, as long as it took to play that song is as long as it took me to write the arrangement for it. So, I don't know. Things surprise you. So, yeah, it would be cool to throw something out there as sort of a single or whatever, or an EP."
A year ago, SLIPKNOT revealed that a new song "Long May You Die" was recorded during some of the early sessions with Casagrande.
In an interview with Brazil's Veja São Paulo, Eloy hinted that he and his new bandmates had worked on new material together, saying: "I think that was also part of the audition. They threw new ideas at me to see what my songwriting was like," he said. "They wanted to test me in every way."
However, Casagrande clarified that "I'm still trying to understand how the dynamics of the band work. It's not so clear yet how things work in terms of records and new songs. We've written a few things, and they're shelved for the time being.
"I don't think there’s any pressure to record new material," he added. "But I'm sure they want to, I don't know when, because right now the band is focused on celebrating its 25th anniversary."
For of the band's gigs in 2024, SLIPKNOT adopted a classic look, bringing back the 1999 red jumpsuits and elements of their early masks into their modern versions, tying into the fact that SLIPKNOT was celebrating its 25th anniversary last year.
After parting ways with Jay Weinberg in November 2023, SLIPKNOT teased fans with a hint about a new drummer in March 2024, posting a photo of a single broken drumstick online with the caption "Rehearsal."
The band explained in a statement that the split with Weinberg was a creative decision. Jay followed up with a statement of his own, saying that he was "heartbroken and blindsided" by his dismissal.
Weinberg has since joined SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and INFECTIOUS GROOVES.
Casagrande abruptly quit SEPULTURA in February 2024, shortly before he was supposed to begin rehearsals for the band's 40th-anniversary farewell tour.
Casagrande joined SEPULTURA more than 13 years ago as the replacement for Jean Dolabella.
SLIPKNOT's latest album, "The End, So Far", arrived in August 2022. It marked the band's the last full-length LP before the departure of both keyboardist Craig Jones, who left the group in June 2023, and Weinberg.
| +2 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| +1 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 ìàé 2025
| 0 | |
| |
27 ìàé 2025
HELLOWEEN's HANSEN And DERIS Explain 'Giants & Monsters' Album Title, Say They Are 'More Connected Now' As A Band
 In a new interview with Hakos Pervanidis of the Metal Hammer Greece TV program TV War, HELLOWEEN singer Andi Deris and guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen spoke about the band's upcoming album, "Giants & Monsters", which is due on August 29 via Reigning Phoenix Music (RPM). Asked if they would agree that "Giants & Monsters" sounds "more focused and direct" than 2021's self-titled effort, Hansen said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, I would agree. I mean, we have diversity, but we've grown together as HELLOWEEN and the individual members, so you could hear the differences between the songs and the songwriters still, but there's a straight red line. And we're more connected now."
Deris chimed in: "So far I'm happy to say that there were lots of little things being put into your song by the other guys, which was much easier this time. Honestly, we had so much more time, actually, so everybody had tons of time to listen to each and everybody's tracks and come up with own ideas. Kai, for example, he added I would say a whole new song into my song. 'Giants On The Run', the whole middle part is a new song which Kai put in, and it's just perfect; it fits. That's something I love and I always wanted to have, but, honestly, back in the day, like [on] the [previous] album, everybody was minding his own business. You have to write super songs for the new upcoming album and the expectations are so high because Michael [Kiske, HELLOWEEN singer] and Kai are back. And so there was no mindset to actually put your shit into the other songs and vice versa. And this time it just played out easily because the pressure was gone. I think when you just had such a successful album, it takes away so much pressure because you know you were on the right track. So play with it. Don't stress it. Just play with it. And that was a lot of fun."
Regarding the "Giants & Monsters" album title, Deris said: "The first title says it all. It's 'Giants On The Run', and it talks about us as mankind. We are actually giants. We are gods inside. But then you could come up with a conspiracy theory. Are we on purpose, purposely put down that the god side, that giant thing that we all have inside, is not allowed to express itself or to come out? But at the end of the day, everybody, each and every individual I know, they are much bigger inside with their dreams, with their possibilities they would like to have, than they're actually allowed to have or allowed to be in our society. And there you could come up with that conspiracy theory. Are we held down on purpose? I personally think when I listen to my inside, I know everybody from the band and all my friends I know, they're so much bigger inside. They're great, great people. And they have great ideas, but in our world, you're not allowed to express it."
Kai added: "It takes all efforts. You have to fight the monsters. That's the point. And I think the title leaves a lot room a for interpretation. You could say the giants is your great ideas that you might have, your aims, your goals. But then here come the monsters, the demons you have to fight and everyday struggle. Then you could go to the Anunnaki, the return of the gods from outer space, giant people and so on. There's a lot of room for fantasy, I think."
Andi continued: "But I just went back also to the Bible. I said, 'Okay, look, it's even written in the Bible.' There were giants walking on earth, and who says that the giants are not still here in ourselves? I mean, we are still the giants, and as Kai said, you constantly have to fight the demons, the monsters in your life. And I thought that's a super metaphor. And I think everybody knows what I'm talking about because sometimes when you're with yourself thinking about yourself, your own life, you realize you would be much more if only you are allowed to be."
Asked if HELLOWEEN purposely approached songwriting this time around in a way where the vocals and the first chorus come in very early in each song, Andi said: "Yes and no. I mean, honestly, if it would destroy the song, I'd rather not, me personally. I think everybody in the band would agree, because if the song yells for it and shouts for it — keep it short; otherwise it's getting boring — then I keep it short.
Hansen added: "It's good to have that on the commercial tracks, all the — how do you say it? — the hit singles. It's very hard. Personally, I don't mind if it takes longer to go into the chorus if it makes sense for a song. So there is no general thought or rule when you approach songwriting to say, 'Oh, no, the chorus has to come after one minute or so.'"
Deris continued: "If we talk about looking what the commercial side would be, and back in the days, I remember you've been forced by the record company to put it short into maximum three-minute songs because otherwise it couldn't be a single. Fuck it. I mean, honestly, no. If I have to keep it short, then probably, because I'm a stubborn asshole, I would do the opposite. But nobody tells me what to do, so I just personally write the way I feel. But then again, it's very important, when we have guys in the band who say, 'This is a great song, and I could hear it even better when we not keep it that short.' For example, 'Giants On The Run'. [Kai's] part is at least three minutes and stretches the song to eight minutes something, which used to be something like round five minutes, and it's totally worth it. But if it's not worth it, why would you? That was another question: 'Do you always have to write these long songs?' And Kai said, 'No.' It's just what it is. When you're in the process of songwriting and it yells for another part and here's an idea, and yeah, I could do this lyrics, so I need another part, otherwise the story is not round, and maybe you end up with 10 or 12 minutes."
Hansen added: "And it's fun to do those long songs. To me, it's fun. It's a kind of challenge, but I don't do it on purpose to say, 'I need a long song.' It's just if the song gives it to you, then you do it."
Deris explained: "And if the story is two sheets of paper. You can't possibly put all the lyrics in a three-minute song; that's not possible. So then you've got different feelings depending on the lyrics itself. Suddenly there's a romantic section, for example. Ah, yeah, definitely you have to go down and do something romantic around it arrangement-wise. You probably cannot go all metally with that romantic thing. And so it cries, it, it yells, it shouts for another part."
On the topic of how they balance fans' expectations with being creative and trying new things with their music, Hansen said: "It's a challenge and it's always like a walk on the edge. Because if you consider that you want people to be pleased with what you're doing, but on the other hand, when you do your thing, you should not consider that. You should not write with that purpose in mind, because, first of all, you have to be a fan of what you're doing. To me, it's a very egoistic process. I write for myself, and I want to be a fan of what I'm doing. And then I'm glad if other people think so too."
Deris added: "Yeah, that's my way too. I don't wanna say I don't give a fuck, but when you are writing, there should be nothing in the back of your mind. It's just you and your music. And as Kai said, if you goosebump goes up, it's great for yourself, first of all. And then when you finish the song, on the second thought or second guess would be, 'Would they like it out there?' But during the songwriting process, it's not important. You are important because you have to actually give your thoughts, your feelings into whatever you do in the very moment. And yes, sometimes it's not good enough that the people would say, 'Yeah, I love it.' But I always say that the possibility that I am completely happy with my song and my goosebump goes up, considering myself a super-normal guy, so when I say I love it, my goosebumps go up, because I consider myself a mediocre guy, I would say the normal person out there would feel the same [as] I do. That's what I always hope."
Hansen continued: "You develop a feeling. I mean, when you write a song, and you trust yourself, if you like it, then there will be a lot of others that would like it too."
Deris concurred, saying: "No guarantee, but that's the way to work."
"Giants & Monsters" track listing:
01. Giants On The Run
02. Savior Of The World
03. A Little Is A Little Too Much
04. We Can Be Gods
05. Into The Sun
06. This Is Tokyo
07. Universe (Gravity For Hearts)
08. Hand Of God
09. Under The Moonlight
10. Majestic
"Helloween" was the first HELLOWEEN album to feature the band's expanded lineup, consisting of returning singer Michael Kiske and Hansen along with Deris, guitarists Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner, bassist Markus Grosskopf and drummer Daniel Löble.
Last December, Deris told Spain's MariskalRockTV about the musical direction of the new HELLOWEEN material: "I love two or three songs from Kai. [They're] super crazy, and I love 'em to death. Weiki [guitarist Michael Weikath] has a great song as well. My songs are certainly always good. [Laughs] [That's a] joke, joke, joke. But I think we have lots of great songs, definitely. Super-nice hooks, lots of positive sing-alongs. So, yeah, I think this is something that we probably may need in the times to come. [Laughs] Very positive, I have to say. So I would say 80 percent of the album is super positive. Sometimes very fast and heavy, but positive. Good, good mood. And we have a ballad. Finally, we have a ballad."
Earlier in December, Deris was asked by The Metal Command how the material for HELLOWEEN's next album compares to that on "Helloween". He said: "I'd say it's much more easy listening, because there's less constructed stuff on it. It's more flowing with the wind, so to say. It's very, very positive, so I would rather say it's more happy, happy HELLOWEEN than the other album. I think it's a bit more… yeah, the flow is, for my taste, not as edgy as the last album, which was cool — I like edgy stuff — but we should have more or less some counterpart to edgy, more exhausting things. The last album, for me, was great to listen through — it was edgy, it was heavy, it was complicated here and there — but after listening to it, then I needed a pause. It was exhausting. After [listening to 'Helloween'], I needed some break, put it that way. I loved it, and I still love it, but it's demanding. I think the next album will be much more easy listening, I think much more enjoyable to sing along [to]; there are lots of parts in there. So I would rather describe it as a more happy, happy HELLOWEEN album. That would be the best description."
Andi continued: "It's hard to describe, because there are lots of speedy and heavy things on it. But when I listen through it, I feel good. I mean, that's a good sign. Not that I felt bad when I listened to the last album — that's not what I mean. It's fun. I listen to it, and it's fun. Definitely."
Regarding what he and his HELLOWEEN bandmates learned from the making of "Helloween" that they improved upon this time around, Andi said: "Yeah, I think the main keyword would be confidence. The last album, we had to get to know each other in that new setup, lineup, how to work with [each other], how to work here and blah, blah, blah, and this time we just realized, okay, actually everybody has such great ideas; just don't control each other. We don't need to actually stick in a studio for pre-production for two months because everybody did it for himself. Let's just listen to it and say, 'Wow, cool.' So this time we've been some lazy backs, actually, and just said, you know, pre-production we just do ourselves back at home, everybody in his own studio, and we just take the technique we are given. Internet is great, and you can have live sessions online, and that made life so much easier because everybody is just relieved that you [are] still at home. You still work hard, but you're at home. And as we all know, when you're at home, work doesn't hurt that much as being back in the studio again somewhere in the world, but not with your family. And nowadays you can actually have your family life, you have your eight, nine hours per day in the studio, you yourself decide when you make a break or when you go and have a meal with your lady or go down to the beach, in my case. That makes life so much easier and much more enjoyable than sitting in a fricking studio again and again and again, each and every day for two months, just for a pre-production, which you could easily do at home together. So this time, I have to say there's confidence that we earned for each other that helped a lot to make things even more easygoing. And I think that's exactly what you listen, when you go through the songs and you listen to them — you feel that easiness: 'Wow. Wow. Okay, cool.' I love it. So that's the way to go."
Upon its release in June 2021, "Helloween" landed in the Top 10 in more than 10 countries, including Germany, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria. The cover artwork for the LP was painted by artist Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with HATEBREED, SOULFLY, TESTAMENT, ICED EARTH and SODOM, among others.
Produced by Charlie Bauerfeind and Dennis Ward, the last HELLOWEEN LP was recorded in part at the H.O.M.E. Studios in Hamburg (where everything started in 1984). The same recording console used for such HELLOWEEN albums as "Master Of The Rings", "Time Of The Oath" and "Better Than Raw" was utilized to record the band's new material. The effort was mixed at the Valhalla Studios of Ronald Prent (IRON MAIDEN, DEF LEPPARD, RAMMSTEIN).
"Helloween" saw the legendary German power metallers going "back to the roots," with the band recording fully analog and Löble playing the drum kit previously used by HELLOWEEN's original drummer, the late Ingo Schwichtenberg, on the legendary "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" recordings.
HELLOWEEN released a new live album, "Live At Budokan", on December 13, 2024 via Reigning Phoenix Music (RPM). The colossal effort immortalized HELLOWEEN's September 16, 2023 performance at Tokyo's legendary Nippon Budokan.
"Live At Budokan" was made available in a plethora of formats: 2CD-digipak and 3LP vinyl in trifold with the first print run of both coming as "deluxe edition" including embossed cover artwork, as well as Blu-ray, DVD and digital. Each version is meticulously crafted to suit the metal community's diverse tastes, ensuring every fan can relive the raw, unfiltered energy of HELLOWEEN in their preferred medium.
This release celebrated the grand finale of HELLOWEEN's epic world tour from 2022 to 2023. Spanning over 30 countries on three continents, the tour was nothing short of a triumph, drawing massive crowds and showcasing the band's undying appeal, the sold-out concert in Tokyo is the crowning glory of the cycle.
| +2 | |
| |
26 ìàé 2025
ANDREAS KISSER Responds To MAX CAVALERA's Comment That SEPULTURA Is 'Not The Same' Band Anymore
 In a new interview with Cassius Morris, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser was once again asked about the possibility of reuniting with original frontman Max Cavalera and drummer Igor "Iggor" Cavalera for a final show to cap off the band's ongoing farewell tour. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, the final show, for sure. The idea is to invite everyone that were a part of SEPULTURA, as a musician — everybody, roadies and stuff, people that were so important in specific times in our career and history that make this band be here today. And, of course, this includes the Cavalera brothers, which will be amazing if we have them to jam."
Acknowledging the fact that SEPULTURA had an acrimonious split with Max Cavalera nearly 30 years ago, Andreas explained: "I'm not interested in discussing who is right, who is wrong about history and all the bullshit that we went through and et cetera, the politics behind [everything]. That's totally irrelevant. It'd be great just to go on stage, jam to ourselves, to our families and to our fans especially and celebrate one last gig all together. And that's it. Hopefully that will happen. And not only Cavalera brothers, but [other former SEPULTURA members] Jairo [Guedz] and Jean Dolabella, Eloy Casagrande and Roy Mayorga, and so many different musicians that were so important in our history. So, regardless of the participation of A or B, we're gonna celebrate ourselves. If they wanna be a part of the party, they're welcome."
Kisser added: "We're not gonna get to a point of agreement. And it doesn't matter. It's totally unnecessary, this point of agreement. It's just, like, let's respect what we have together. It's a beautiful history. We built something so special and so powerful. And it'd be amazing to have this chance to jam one last time for the sake of music. All the rest is just irrelevant."
Asked about Max's recent comment that even though the current SEPULTURA band is still using the name, "everybody knows that it's not the same and it's never gonna be the same", Andreas said: "I hope so. [Laughs] Who is the same? Tell me somebody that is the same 10 years ago or yesterday… And who cares? Who cares what he says [about] us? … It's just not a part of what I am or of what I live or what I do. Opinions are out there. You have an opinion. It's the same as he has an opinion, or my son has an opinion. Whatever. If you have an opinion, speak up. You're free to speak up. So enjoy. [Laughs]"
Andreas also talked about his relationship with bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Junior, who has been a member of SEPULTURA since 1984. Kisser said: "Oh, it's great. Paulo is my brother, since day one. He was the first one that I really met in Belo Horizonte. He opened the doors from his house. And since then, we lived together for a few years. And he's the godfather for my first child. And we know each other for all this time that I've been in SEPULTURA, since 1987. And we went through so many different things together. And our friendship and brotherhood is stronger than ever. And he's a much better musician today. He went through so many different personal things to improve and to be confident.
"Alcohol was kind of a big problem inside our families and business, all the stuff that happens, alcohol was a big problem," Andreas explained. "And now we don't drink. I'm five years without alcohol. Paulo is around three or four years. Derrick [Green, SEPULTURA singer] doesn't drink for six years. It's amazing, man. It's the best. He's playing better than ever. He's a better person, a little more focused, more into everything. We wake up without a fucking hangover, and we saved a lot of money, not spending it on fucking alcohol. So, yeah, we help each other. We are family. He is basically the main reason we're still here. [We've had] so many different changes throughout SEPULTURA's career, and he's the only one who is still here since the very beginning. It's fantastic."
SEPULTURA is putting together a live album commemorating their last run of shows. The band is recording 40 songs in 40 different cities for what will be a "massive compilation of our best, most energetic moments on stage," according to a statement released by SEPULTURA in December 2023.
SEPULTURA kicked off its farewell tour on March 1, 2024 at Arena Hall in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The sold-out show marked the band's debut performance with drummer Greyson Nekrutman, who previously played with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.
SEPULTURA announced drummer Eloy Casagrande's departure on February 27, 2024, explaining in a statement that he was leaving to join "another project", with Eloy later confirming that he is the new drummer of SLIPKNOT.
The news of Eloy's exit from SEPULTURA came just two months after the band announced it would celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024 by embarking on a "farewell tour" which will cover the entire globe.
SEPULTURA fell apart in 1996 with the exit of Max after the rest of the Brazilian four-piece split with the vocalist/guitarist's wife Gloria as their manager. Max's brother, drummer Igor stuck around with the group for another ten years before leaving SEPULTURA and re-teaming with Max in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY.
Although SEPULTURA has maintained a diehard fanbase in all parts of the world throughout the band's nearly four-decade history, Max-era albums "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.
In December 2023, SEPULTURA announced that it would celebrate its 40th anniversary this year by embarking on a "farewell tour" which will cover the entire globe.
| +12 | |
| |
|
|
  |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Avatar
