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2 ñåí 2024
ONE MACHINE Feat. Ex-TESTAMENT, FORBIDDEN Guitarist STEVE SMYTH Streaming New Single "A New Plane Of Existence"; Audio
 One Machine’s first single release in nearly nine years, “A New Plane Of Existence”, drops today available on all digital platforms for sale and streaming. A video release date for the single has been announced for Friday September 6. Listen to the single below.
Steve Smyth describes the meaning of the lyrics: “The song reflects my current perception of humanity, and the highly immersive digital world we find ourselves in, in 2024, as compared to when the song was written a few years ago. It feels much more dystopian by the day to me. Everywhere we go, we find many people stuck into their phone, tablet, laptop screen, TV screen, and now, visor screens. We are now more immersed than ever, locked into a digital world, where it seems that human contact has taken on a new role, in the form of video recordings, texted words, a new distal human interaction. Connected to the One Machine a bit more, day by day, and perhaps not even realizing it. Not all of this is a bad thing, mind you, if it’s being used for positive reasons.
"I decided to take a bit of a different turn with the lyrics for this song, reflecting on how the screens are the new dictator of humankind, and we are merely followers, ones left without a voice, while someone behind the screens leads us. Where or what are they leading us to? Stay tuned for the video to find out!
"It was a very long road to get this far! Our REAL fans, the ones who have stuck around through all of our challenges, with finding a new lead vocalist, the loss of my wife to cancer after a hard fought three year battle, Covid, not being able to tour, can now enjoy our very first bit of new music in nearly 9 years! Enjoy! And I know you’ll stream it first! But it’s my hope that you’ll like it enough to support One Machine and buy the single!"
One Machine embark on a European Tour, returning to the live stage for the first time since 2018, with Overkill and Angelus Apatrida September 1 with new lead vocalist Tasos Lazaris.
One Machine is:
Steve Smyth - Guitar
Jamie Hunt - Guitar
Stefano Selvatico - Bass
Matt “Spike” Cherry - Drums
Tasos Lazaris - Lead Vocalist
One Machine is the brainchild of critically acclaimed guitarist/songwriter Steve Smyth (Nevermore, Forbidden, Testament, Dragonlord, Vicious Rumors). One Machine is an international metal band with classic and modern influences, featuring members carefully selected by Smyth: Jamie Hunt (Biomechanical) sharing guitar duties, augmented heavily by a powerhouse rhythm section with Stefano Selvatico (Savage Messiah) on bass guitar and Matt “Spike”Cherry (Biomechanical, Matt Mitchell and The Coldhearts) on drums, and welcoming new vocalist Ronny Munroe (Metal Church/Trans Siberian Orchestra) to it’s ranks.
The band’s debut album, The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth was released world-wide February 2014 through Scarlet Records/eOne to great critical acclaim, and the band immediately hit the road, winning several high profile support slots in the UK and abroad with such luminaries and newcomers alike, as Nile, Vicious Rumors, Onslaught, Artillery, The Agonist, as well as headlining shows of their own.
The band also made several festival appearances, sharing the stage alongside bands such as Dani Filth’s Devilment, Pretty Maids, Illdispo
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2 ñåí 2024
JORDAN RUDESS Says 'Everybody Will Love' New DREAM THEATER Album: 'I Can Pretty Much Guarantee It'
 In a new interview with Lots Of Muzik, DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess was asked if his work on his latest solo album, "Permission To Fly", has in any way influenced the upcoming DREAM THEATER LP. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think that as a musician, always evolving and working on my craft, in that sense, yes. I probably had a lot of different harmonic ideas and rhythmic ideas in my head just from the time I spent focusing on my solo album. And I bring those in to DREAM THEATER.
"DREAM THEATER is a very different situation," he explained. "First of all, picture me in front of my speakers as a keyboardist and just creating this thing almost like I'm in a bubble. So that's that. And then imagine now I'm in the studio with all the guys of DREAM THEATER in a rehearsal room and we're just writing music together and wearing headphones, just kind of developing our own parts and everything like that. So my role is so different. But, yeah, certainly I would bring in wherever I was at musically to this role to work with all these amazingly talented guys.
"The DREAM THEATER thing is very unique, especially now because [original DREAM THEATER drummer] Mike Portnoy is back, and that's been a major thing in so many different ways for the band. Just having him back, it's deep because it was 13 years that he was gone. Then he comes back, so all the musical things that he brings, his drumming, his creativity, his mindset about music… I've been thinking about it a lot and I like to point out that he has kind of like a film director's mentality with the way that he looks at producing a work, like an album, and that talent all is going into this new album. And we're really a team. And John Petrucci [DREAM THEATER guitarist], not only is he one of the world's greatest guitar players, but he's also an excellent producer and really has a great way to work with everybody."
Rudess added: "I think everybody's gonna love this [new album]. I can pretty much guarantee it. We don't mess around. We're not people who take what we do lightly. We're really serious. We stay there and we work on things until they're absolutely right and until everybody thinks that, 'Okay, this is really great.' So I have a feeling that all the DREAM THEATER fans around the world, they're in for a really big treat. And, of course, you know, they're gonna have something to listen to, 'cause on September 6th, 'Permission To Fly' comes out. And they'll have that to listen to while they wait for the DREAM THEATER album. And there's no official announced release date yet, but they will have a little time to wait and sink their heads into some good prog and go on the Jordan ride while they wait for this what I think is forming to be an exceptional DREAM THEATER album."
"Permission To Fly" will be released via InsideOut Music.
While some previous releases were true solo pursuits, this time, Rudess assembled a core group of musicians to support and elevate his vision. The album features Jordan alongside That Joe Payne on vocals, Darby Todd (DEVIN TOWNSEND) on drums and Steve Dadaian on guitar, as well as guest guitar solos from Bastian Martinez.
With the music in capable hands, Rudess wanted to make sure to give the lyrics their proper attention. For that, he turned to a source close to home, his daughter.
Last month, Rudess was asked by Chris Akin Presents how the upcoming DREAM THEATER album compares to the rest of the band's discography. Jordan said: "Well, let's put it this way. There's this undeniable, almost unexplainable or inexplainable, whatever the word is, type of thing that happens with drummers. We survived beautifully in the 13 years that Mike Portnoy was not there. Mike Mangini was a supreme drummer, just incredible. And that said, all the albums with Portnoy, all the albums with Mangini, they have different flavors, because there's something about the back beat, if you will, of a band and the drummer that just gives an energy to the whole thing. And a lot of people speak of that. It's kind of hard to pin down. But you really notice it. Like on this new album, I listen to it and I go, 'Okay, I feel the Portnoy energy back there.'
"I would say what I'm hearing personally is classic kind of DREAM THEATER, whatever that means to anybody that's listening," he continued. "You'll have to wait and see. Think of it this way: the core band is back together again. It's classic DREAM THEATER. I also like to point out that we are a bunch of guys that we take what we do very, very seriously. We put every ounce, every bit of effort, energy into everything we do. We care so much about it, each and every one of us.
"The other day, I was talking to John Petrucci in the studio when I was doing my keyboard parts. And we were really deep and working really hard and spending long hours and just getting things to where we feel they're really, really right. And I said to John, I said, 'John, look at what we're doing. We're here late. We're working like crazy. Why? We could have been making pop music. Why are we doing this?' Just to really understand, because a lot of people don't put the kind of effort, I guess, especially these days when there tends to be a different kind of work ethic around, and maybe we're kind of like old school in that way. But to produce a product, to make something that's gonna last, that is gonna be shared with a large number of people, that's just gonna live on, in a way, forever, that, to us, is a really serious thing. And as artists, we're trying to make a statement."
Circling back to Portnoy's influence on the new DREAM THEATER music, Jordan said: "One of the beautiful things is Mike has brought with him all his incredible skills. He's not a guy who just plays the drums really well. He also understands this business. I always like to say that he's got kind of like a film director's mentality, he's looking at everything from a conceptual point of view, and he has skills that the rest of us don't. I mean, yes, we survived fine [without Portnoy], we did really well, we won a Grammy [while he was out of the band] and all that, but there's a magic there that we now have back. It's cool — it's really cool. We're super excited."
Portnoy co-founded DREAM THEATER in 1985 with guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung. Mike played on 10 DREAM THEATER albums over a 20-year period, from 1989's "When Dream And Day Unite" through 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", before exiting the group in 2010.
Mike Mangini joined DREAM THEATER in late 2010 through a widely publicized audition following the departure of Portnoy. Mangini beat out six other of the world's top drummers — Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer and Derek Roddy — for the gig, a three-day process that was filmed for a documentary-style reality show called "The Spirit Carries On".
Asked by Brazil's Marcelo Vieira and Matheus Ribeiro if DREAM THEATER's upcoming LP picks up from where the last DT album he played on, 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", left off or if it's a different thing entirely, Portnoy said: "If I'm being honest, I think it picks up right where 'Black Clouds' left off, to be honest. There's a certain style that the five of us have when we write together. And if you listen to the album with this lineup from 1999, '[Metropolis Pt. 2:] Scenes From A Memory', through 2009's 'Black Clouds & Silver Linings', if you look at that string of five or six albums, that's the sound and style of these five people. So I think that's a good indication of what you can expect with the new DREAM THEATER album. It definitely sounds like classic DREAM THEATER."
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2 ñåí 2024
See Multi-Camera Video Of DOWN Performing 'The Seed' In New Orleans In June 2024
 DOWN played the first of two Louisiana "pop-up" shows on June 20 at Southport Hall in New Orleans. Multi-camera video of "The Seed" performance from the concert is available below. The video was shot by Steven W. Richardson, Emily Blanke and Metal Dave Gonzales and was edited and produced by Mike Holderbeast.
The band's setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:
01. Lysergik Funeral Procession
02. Hail The Leaf
03. Lifer
04. The Seed
05. Ghosts Along The Mississippi
06. Rehab
07. Losing All
08. New Orleans Is A Dying Whore
09. Pillars Of Eternity
10. Swan Song
11. Eyes Of The South
12. Stone The Crow
13. Bury Me In Smoke
DOWN announced two pop-up shows in Louisiana after the band's previously announced concert in Mescalero, New Mexico was postponed due to a pair of rapidly growing wildfires which were converging on a village inside a tribal reservation in the state.
The long-running heavy metal supergroup, which features vocalist Philip H. Anselmo, guitarists Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein, drummer Jimmy Bower and bassist Pat Bruders, was supposed to perform on Thursday, June 20 at Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort And Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico. But the show was called off after thousands of residents in southern New Mexico were ordered to evacuate their homes and the fires prompted the partial closure of U.S. Highway 70 south of the village of Ruidoso. The concert has since been rescheduled for September 27.
DOWN also performed on June 21 at Varsity Theatre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
$5 per ticket from each of the DOWN pop-up shows went to Mescalero Apache Nation - South Fork Fire relief fund.
When DOWN's concert at Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort And Casino was first announced in April, the band said that Windstein would sit out the show due to his commitments with CROWBAR. Filling in for him at the June gigs was former DOWN guitarist Bobby Landgraf.
Prior to Southport Hall, DOWN's last concert took place in September 2022 at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Alton, Virginia.
DOWN made a handful of rare live appearances in the spring and summer of 2022. The band launched a three-date U.S. run of shows in May 2022 at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. After playing in Atlanta and Dallas immediately after Rockville, DOWN took a three-week break before regrouping for three European festival appearances in June. The aforementioned appearance at that year's Blue Ridge Rock Festival followed in September 2022.
In August 2021, DOWN took part in a very special in-person live and virtual experience. "NOLA Town Throwdown" was held at the Fillmore in New Orleans, Louisiana and featured fans attending the show in person as well as watching it in real time from the comfort of their living room.
In August 2020, DOWN celebrated the 25th anniversary of "NOLA" with a special livestreamed event. Dubbed "The Quarter Century Throwdown", the high-production, multi-camera event took place using cutting-edge streaming technology to create a one-of-a-kind virtual concert experience.
A founding member of DOWN, Windstein left the band in 2013 in order to focus on CROWBAR and his family life. He was replaced by Bobby Landgraf, DOWN's former guitar tech who was previously in GAHDZILLA MOTOR COMPANY, a 1990s outfit also featuring Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, WATCHTOWER),and HONKY.
Windstein announced his return to DOWN in 2019, with the band confirming a number of festival appearances for 2020 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "NOLA", all of which were later canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic which swept the globe.
Prior to the August 2020 livestream, DOWN's last live appearance took place in August 2016 at the Psycho Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas.
The supergroup hasn't issued anything since the arrival of the "Down IV – Part Two" EP in May 2014.
"Down IV – Part Two" sold around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release in May 2014 to debut at position No. 23 on The Billboard 200 chart.
The band's previous EP, "Down IV Part I – The Purple EP", opened with around 12,000 units in September 2012 to land at No. 35.
"Down IV – Part Two" was recorded at Nodferatu's Lair — Anselmo's home studio — and produced by Michael Thompson. It was released via Down Records/ADA Music. | 0 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
AC/DC Land Three Top 10 Hits On The Same UK Chart At The Same Time
 AC/DC claims a trio of Top 10 hits on the same chart in the UK this week, reports Forbes. They easily fill the most spaces inside the highest tier on the Official Rock & Metal Singles tally this time around, as fans in the United Kingdom are still loving the tracks that made the outfit a household name years ago.
"Thunderstruck" holds as AC/DC’s loftiest win on the Official Rock & Metal Singles chart this frame. That tune, which has turned out to be the band’s most successful in many respects, is steady at #6.
Two spots further down, "You Shook Me All Night Long" advances slightly. The tune was present inside the Top 10 on the Official Rock & Metal Singles chart last frame, and now, it’s climbed again. This period, it pushes from #10 to #8.
AC/DC rounds out their trio of winners with "Back In Black", which finds its way back into the top region on the Official Rock & Metal Singles list. The smash improves its standing from #11 to #10, re-entering the space once more.
Read more at Forbes.
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2 ñåí 2024
JANE'S ADDICTION's STEPHEN PERKINS Offers Advice To Young Musicians
 In a recent interview with Paul Salfen of AMFM Magazine, JANE'S ADDICTION drummer Stephen Perkins was asked what advice he would give to young musicians who are just starting out. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, as far as when I started, I wanted to replicate my heroes. And there became a moment where I knew I had to find my own sound. And I think that's the moment we're looking for, because technically we're all learning from the same book, how to fundamentally bounce a stick. Of course your record collection has a lot to do with it. When I was young, I played to records that I loved, and as I grew a little, maybe in my mid-teens, I started buying records that I wasn't familiar with, almost a cold-call record, and see what it would do to my drumming. And if it was a Latin record, or a hip-hop record, or if it was an Eastern Indian record with tabla drumming, try to perform to something that's kind of like out of your normal zone. I think that really helps. And then, of course, finding great musicians to play with. Then usually, it's a musician that's better than you that I think can help. 'Cause if you have a tennis match and the guy's just beneath you, it won't be a good game. If you have equal players, it's a great game. If someone's a little better, you're gonna have to try harder. So I love that experience of being surrounded by great musicians and having them pull me in directions that may be not comfortable, but that growth experience is part of learning your craft. So, surround yourself with some great players, challenge yourself with music that's not quite familiar and put yourself in that position and see if you can accomplish something with it. And then again, of course, that simple dedication to you and your craft where no one else is in the room and you have to spend a lot of time alone with your instrument. If it's a harmonica, it's a bongo, if it's an upright bass, saxophone, you have to do it — you have to spend time alone with it and have this relationship with your instrument. So I think those things are important. And I still use those tools to move forward."
Last month, JANE'S ADDICTION's classic lineup consisting of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, Perkins and bassist Eric Avery released a new studio single, "Imminent Redemption". The track was recorded at Sweetzwerland Studios in Hollywood, California.
Prior to "Imminent Redemption"'s arrival, Avery's last time in the studio with JANE'S ADDICTION was for the classic 1990 album "Ritual De Lo Habitual".
"Imminent Redemption" was first performed live when JANE'S ADDICTION's classic lineup played its first show in 14 years on May 23 at London, United Kingdom's Bush Hall.
At the London gig, Navarro, Farrell, Perkins and Avery – who had left the band in 2010 but returned in 2022 — also played another new track, "True Love", which they had premiered last year. They also opened with "Kettle Whistle", marking JANE'S ADDICTION's first performance of the song with Navarro since 2001.
"True Love" was reportedly written by Farrell, Avery and Perkins, with assistance from touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.
Navarro sat out JANE'S ADDICTION's 2022 and 2023 shows due to his battle with long COVID. He was replaced at last year's gigs by Klinghoffer, a former member of RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS who also records with Eddie Vedder and performs with PEARL JAM. 2022 saw QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's Troy Van Leeuwen step in for Navarro.
The fall 2022 "Spirit On Fire" tour marked the first JANE'S ADDICTION run of shows in more than a decade to feature returning Avery. Prior to that, Avery last played with the band for a short stint in the 2000s before departing again in 2010.
JANE'S ADDICTION and LOVE AND ROCKETS recently hit the road for their 2024 co-headline tour. | +2 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
ERIC PETERSON Says Next TESTAMENT Album Will Be Mixed By Swedish Producer JENS BOGREN
 San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT have tapped Swedish producer Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with OPETH, KREATOR, PARADISE LOST, SOILWORK and AMON AMARTH, among others, to mix their upcoming studio album. The LP will mark TESTAMENT's follow-up to 2020's "Titans Of Creation", which was co-produced by Juan Urteaga, who previously worked with TESTAMENT on "Dark Roots Of Earth" (2012) and "Brotherhood Of The Snake" (2016).
TESTAMENT guitarist and main songwriter Eric Peterson discussed the band's upcoming album in a new interview with Brutal Planet Magazine. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's, like, 90 percent done. And it's gonna get mixed in December by Jens Bogren. He's a producer from Sweden, and he's done — God, he's done KREATOR, he's doing the new BEHEMOTH right now, he's done IN FLAMES, ARCH ENEMY. A lot of European bands. We usually work with Andy Sneap, but he's [the touring guitarist] in JUDAS PRIEST and he's just, like, 'Bro, I need some time off.' It's a good switch, though. I think Jens will do a good job. And yeah, there's a lot of crazy stuff on this record. I'm excited for everybody to hear it."
Last month, TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy told Oran O'Beirne of Overdrive.ie about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's follow-up to "Titans Of Creation": "Eric and Chris [Dovas, TESTAMENT drummer] have been working together since around November. And we had a few shows thrown in there early in the year. We got into the studio, I believe, maybe end of April, beginning of May, we started recording 'em, about 11 tracks ready to go. All the music was done and [we] started the recording process. I still needed to go write some lyrics. We really wanted to get the record done before we came over to Europe [in early July]. I have seven tracks finished. Eric has a bunch of guitar tracks. The drums are finished. The only thing left is the bass and Alex [Skolnick, TESTAMENT guitarist], lead-guitar stuff. Between this tour, when we get home in two weeks, we'll go back in the studio and finish up, continue on, and then we start the American leg with KREATOR and POSSESSED. And then between that break, we'll try to get everything finished up. Then we go back to Europe, again with KREATOR and ANTHRAX. We plan to, I think, start mixing in December, January. That's the goal."
Regarding the musical direction of the new TESTAMENT material, Chuck said: "We always try to outdo ourselves or make a better record or write better songs. It's always a challenge for ourselves, and I think this time we really took a long time to create the record. We kind of got everybody in the same room to really go through the songs and kind of put their two cents in to the arrangements. I think by having Chris — he's a younger drummer, a really great drummer — but I think he brought you know a new fire to Eric in the writing process. And I believe because we're going on 37 years of making records, it's kind of full circle right now. We're kind of inspired by new generation, I guess, of music and metal. And Chris is a big part of that. He's a big fan of that. So I think he inspired Eric just to write some really aggressive, fast, creative riffs. And it really inspired me to really push myself to try to do a little more screaming, death vocals, melodic stuff. We even went as far as writing — I don't wanna say 'ballad', but it's something really catchy that's really slow that's something we haven't done in over 30 years. So I think just the overall songs and the confidence in the writing this time really is gonna stand out on this record."
When O'Beirne noted that TESTAMENT continues to "raise the bar" with each successive release, Billy concurred. "It's true," he said. "I think since 2000, 'The Gathering' record is where I think TESTAMENT kind of had a new life, I'd say the second life TESTAMENT. And then I became ill. And then after that, I didn't think I was actually gonna be playing music anymore. I just wasn't the same person. I'd look in the mirror and I didn't see the same guy. And after I beat it and survived it, I kind of thought, 'Okay, now it's time to continue on with life.' And then shortly after that we had the original[-lineup] reunion. And I think that's kind of what really set off the new life of TESTAMENT, because we were writing music, jamming with the guys who started it from the beginning and kind of taking the attitude, like, 'We're gonna finish this together, what we started.' But over time, Louie [Clemente, former TESTAMENT drummer] had to drop out 'cause of health reasons; he couldn't hold the sticks like he used to. So he had to drop out. And then shortly after that Greg [Christian, former TESTAMENT bassist] dropped out. But from then on, I think we've just kind of been writing for ourselves, maybe not really caring what necessarily the press thought. You always wanna impress the fans, but we were really writing to make us happy."
Earlier last month, Skolnick told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about TESTAMENT's upcoming LP: "Well, I think everybody knows we went through a couple different drummers the past couple years, I know it's very 'Spinal Tap'… Life imitating art. There were scheduling conflicts with Gene Hoglan. Then we got Dave Lombardo, who was amazing, but when it came to going all in on a next record, Dave was overbooked. And we needed somebody [who could step in]. And we've got a new drummer. His name's Chris Dovas. He wasn't even born when the first TESTAMENT record came out. But I've gotta say he is lighting fires. He's lit a fire under everybody and just great to play with. He nails everybody's parts from before, but he has his own style. And I'm excited about the next record. It's actually gonna come out next year. The drum tracks are done. Just rhythm guitars, bass, leads and some vocals need to be done. But it is in progress. It'll be turned in before the end of the year, and it will be listenable next year."
This past June, Chuck told Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 The Bone that TESTAMENT's next LP will likely contain 11 tracks along with "some covers".
On the topic of the songwriting process for the new TESTAMENT record, Chuck said: "Chris has been coming out since probably December, maybe a little before that, and going to Eric's house; he's got an electric drum set there. So they've been working, writing, putting all this stuff together. And at the beginning of May, once Eric started tracking, we decided that, let's bring Alex and everybody in' except for Steve [DiGiorgio, TESTAMENT bassist], 'cause he's on tour, let's bring Alex and everybody here to the studio and let's just go through all the music, all the songs and make sure we're all happy with the arrangements. And every song got changed as well. Once Alex got here, we all started putting our heads together till we were all happy with the arrangements. And then he left and we said, 'Okay, Chris, now here's the new stuff. Let's do it and track it.' And he knocked it out, and now it's the rest of us that [are tracking our parts]. So we've been a little more thoughtful on this record. We have the time to do it. So I think it's gonna be a killer record."
Speaking about Dovas's involvement in the songwriting process with Eric, Chuck said: "A lot of it is Eric's riffs, but they're put in the proper places or cut out if we don't need it. And it's good for me because I didn't really get to sit with Eric. I just let them guys jam and just come up with as much as you can and we'll sort it out later, which that's what they did. But once Chris came out, then we knew, okay, it has to change or we're gonna just have the same record, and maybe we wouldn't be happy when it was all done. And also Eric's actually been going to New York — he actually went to work with Alex out there, which he hasn't done that in the past. And I think having Chris be available because like Gene [Hoglan] or whoever we worked with didn't have the time to come up as much as Chris has. Chris has spent a lot of time here, which has been good and really pushing Eric to make music. And we're at a point now to where Eric's, like, 'You know what? This has been fun. I think I'm just going to keep bringing Chris out. Let's just keep writing songs. Even after this record's done, let's just keep making songs,' which I think is great because that means we can get a jump on the next record. 'Cause not spring chickens. It's, like, let's get it done now while we can."
As for the lyrical themes covered in the new TESTAMENT songs, Chuck said: "[It's] not as focused [on], like, the aliens, creating mankind and that kind of stuff, but there is some of that. There's a lot. Each song definitely has its own identity lyrically. And again, we're writing stuff that is real, that happens with the environment; we're singing about that again. A.I., we're singing stuff about that. That's a big thing. So, there's always an inspiration for songs. I think it's a little easier. There's so much going on in our world to write about now. It's a crazy world today, so there's a lot of stuff to talk about. And I like singing about what's real and what's going on instead of some fantasy lyrics, because, for me, I think when I sing 'em, I have more conviction, I believe in 'em a little more. And maybe it's easier for me to remember the lyrics live. [Laughs]"
Naming specific tracks, Chuck said: "There's a song, 'Havana Syndrome', which is about the Havana Syndrome. People, look that up. There's 'Infanticide A.I.', which is another song going A.I. direction. And there's actually a slower song. We haven't done a slower song. I'm not gonna say 'ballad', but I'm gonna say a slower song that has a lot of groove and soul, called 'Meant To Be'. And it's like a classic TESTAMENT-type ballad, I guess, if you wanna use that word. But we've got a little bit of everything, but, again, I think it's really sticking to TESTAMENT, having to have some melodic stuff, even though there's some really brutal lyrics and real brutal, more of a death voice. I still put the hook in with more of a melodic hook or something. It's still classic TESTAMENT. If you listen to it, you'll go, 'That's TESTAMENT, but a little more octane to it.'"
Also in June, Chuck told Canada's The Metal Voice that he writes most of TESTAMENT's lyrics with Del James. "Del, he works with GUNS N' ROSES," Chuck said. "He's been working with them and wrote with them a long time ago. I think he had big hits like 'November Rain' with them. And we've been working [together] for over 20 years. So I always go down and work with him because I come up with a lot of the ideas and concepts, but he really interprets and gets the right words, how to say what I'm thinking. And we work fast. When we get together, we'll knock out like two songs in a day. So we don't mess around. We get there, say hello to each other, we sit down and we go right to work. It's about what we do."
Chuck also talked about how TESTAMENT's songwriting approach has evolved in the last couple of decades. He said: "I honestly have to say after I beat cancer [more than two decades ago] and we had the original lineup back together, everything kind of changed because… We've always been in a friendly competition with other artists, watching what's going on and who's doing what. And I think around that point, once we got together and I felt like… I didn't think I was gonna play music anymore, first of all, and once I had the chance to get back with the original band, I felt very blessed, like, 'Wow, I'm getting an opportunity to do what I love to do again, but also with the guys I started with. It's kind of odd that we're gonna go back at this now, maybe try to finish something that we all started together.' And once we did that, it was enjoying our company. We never fight. We never argue. It was just, like, relaxing. And the critics, we didn't care what the press thought or a lot of people. I mean, we wrote for ourselves. So a lot of those records were just making us happy. The songs we were writing, we weren't thinking about, 'Okay, this has to be, for this,' and 'where's our radio song?' and 'What's the fans gonna think if we went and did a ballad?' All that went out the door. And I think over the time, it's really just about making good music, having fun at this point. And every record is a challenge 'cause you always wanna do better and make the next record sound better, have better songs. And I think where we're at today, once again, especially having Chris, the new drummer, we are progressing. Me and Eric actually said, like, I don't know, about three weeks ago, we were hanging out and like I said, the music's pretty aggressive and we're doing some heavy stuff, and he said, 'Did you ever think, in our sixties, we're gonna be playing thrash metal music, writing songs like this?' And I'm, like, 'Actually, no,' but that's a good thing that we still feel young at heart and young in our minds and still we're not struggling to do it."
In August 2023, Dovas was asked by Pod Scum if it was "unnerving" to step into a group whose list of previous drummers includes such heavyweights as Lombardo and Gene Hoglan. He responded: "It was, especially at first because I knew that a lot of eyes were on me, and also I looked up to the band since I was a kid. Especially Lombardo and Gene — those are two of my favorite drummers right there. So to be put in that situation of taking over for them, I felt like I had a lot of responsibility and a lot of… I felt like I had something to prove a little bit, and I'm still practicing a lot and I just wanna do the best that I can do. Right now I'm not really nervous anymore because I've done two full tours with them now and we're working on the [new TESTAMENT] album and the friendship has been developing now and we all get along super well. They've welcomed me with open arms and it's been great and the fans have been great. I've been putting hours and hours of practice into it to make sure that I can do the best that I could do. And I look up to Dave and I look up to Gene as well, so, yeah, I just wanna play the songs well live and keep making the band sound good."
Prior to joining TESTAMENT as a full-time member, Dovas filled in for Lombardo on the first six dates of TESTAMENT's summer/fall 2022 leg of "The Bay Strikes Back Tour".
Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral (courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records)
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2 ñåí 2024
KERRY KING Is 'Not Against' Playing More SLAYER Reunion Shows
 In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kerry King, who has spent the last few months touring with his solo band, spoke about SLAYER's upcoming reunion shows at three festivals in September and October. The concerts will come five years after the completion of what was being billed as the band's final tour
"I wasn't ready to hang it up, but there's really no point in going on with someone that doesn't want to do it anymore, because then you've got a half-hearted person onstage," Kerry said, referencing SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, who was the bandmember most anxious to retire from the stage. "We won the Super Bowl and we left. That's pretty cool. Now we've got these three anniversary shows. Will there be more? I don't know. Will we ever record again? Definitely not. Will we ever tour again? Definitely not. But a show here and there to make some people happy, I'm not against that."
Drummer Paul Bostaph, who was part of the most recent SLAYER touring lineup and will play alongside King, Araya and guitarist Gary Holt at the upcoming festivals, said he was surprised when the reunion dates were lined up.
"I'm, like, 'You're kidding, right?' I really put that to bed," Bostaph told the Los Angeles Times. "When something like that ends, I'm not going to do that to myself: Gee, someday it'd be great to get back together again. Life is life and this is how it is, and I'm moving on to whatever the next thing is. I put that to bed and then all of a sudden the call comes.”
Last month, Kerry was asked by Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio if he is looking forward to playing with SLAYER again. He responded: "I haven't seen — I've texted Gary off and on and Paul's with me all the time, so I'm looking forward to playing with Holt 'cause we were together, like, 10 years. But me and Phil [Demmel, KERRY KING guitarist] on this run are holding down the fort every bit as well as Gary and I did in SLAYER. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to the largeness of the stage. I'm looking forward to burning everything."
Regarding the fact that SLAYER is playing shows again five years after the completion of the band's final tour, Kerry said: "Yeah, at the end of the day, it wasn't bad blood. Tom was just done. And when Tom told me he was done, I went, 'Okay, well, I'm not gonna try to talk you into it,' because if you're trying to talk somebody into it, their heart's not in it. So it was over for me. And, of course, a month after we were done, offers come in because people think you're done. So what we retired from was touring. We never said we were done playing. We said, 'This is our final tour', and I don't think three shows constitute a tour. So if you wanna get technical, I think we're in the ballpark of being truthful."
In July, King told Metal Injection about the fact that SLAYER's upcoming reunion shows were announced just weeks after he told Rolling Stone magazine that a SLAYER comeback was unlikely. He said: "I turned [SLAYER reunion offers] down for the longest time. You can imagine we've been turning down offers since December 1st, 2019. And at that point, I thought, 'No, we're never gonna play again.' Tom retired. So it's written. And then offers keep coming, offers keep coming, the money goes up. And this one came around and it was when we were booking shows from my [solo] band, and I go to my manager. I'm, like, 'Are we talking about my band or SLAYER? What are we talking about here?' He's, like, 'SLAYER.' And I'm, like, 'Yeah, but that's done. We hung that shit up. I dropped the chains. Done.' But then it started getting to where this is really gonna be the five-year anniversary of [SLAYER's] last tour. And I went, 'That's kind of cool. Three shows, five-year anniversary. Okay.' That's about all I thought about it."
King continued: "The funny thing about this story is I didn't tell anybody in my [solo] band [that the SLAYER reunion shows were happening]. I'd never been in that situation. And the news dropped that we were doing three shows and everybody blows me up. I'm, like, 'Goddamn it.' 'It never occurred to me to tell you guys.' Never fucking occurred to me. It wasn't a secret. They can keep secrets. I know that. And I felt so bad. It never occurred to me. Paul knew, of course. But poor Phil and Kyle [Sanders, bassist in Kerry's solo band] and Mark [Osegueda, vocalist in Kerry's solo band], they all texted me and blew me up. I'm, like, 'I'm so sorry, man. It never occurred to me. This is what's up. This is what's gonna happen. If it happens again, it's gonna be the same thing. We're never gonna fucking make a record. We're never gonna fucking tour. This is my band.'"
Kerry went on to say that he doesn't rule out more SLAYER shows in the future beyond the three festival appearances this summer and fall. "I'm trying to be real and definitely say, hey, we're not gonna tour again," he explained. "And we're certainly not gonna record again, 'cause I have a means of doing that now with my band. [We're doing] three shows for now. And I say 'for now' because I know Europe's gonna come knocking, 'Hey, man, you guys played America. Come see us.' So it wouldn't surprise me if something like that happened, but it's certainly not on my books right now."
Earlier in July, Kerry told Guitar World magazine that he "was very surprised" when Araya agreed to play three SLAYER shows this year. "I made my comments [about SLAYER being finished] based on [Tom] not wanting to play anymore. As far as I was concerned, we were done and never going to play again. To be honest, I don't know what switched.
"We've been turning down offers to play shows for at least three years. So, one came up that, I guess, enticed Tom to the point where he wanted to roll the dice and try a couple. I don't know, but that's all it is."
Kerry added that he would be open to more SLAYER gigs in the future.
"There could be an instance where there's another one-off,” he said. "It just has to be the right offer at the right time, maybe someplace everybody loves to go. But touring, no, I don't see touring. But, you know, who's to say a one-off can't happen again?"
King previously told Total Guitar magazine about SLAYER's reunion shows: "It caught me off guard too. Do I wish the timing was different? Absolutely, but that's completely out of my hands."
King went on to say that fans shouldn't get their hopes up about a full-scale SLAYER reunion.
"Everyone thinks SLAYER are getting back together, but that couldn't be further from the truth," he explained. "We've been turning down gigs ever since we stopped. This one came and I thought, 'If we're ever going to do one, this could be cool because it's the five-year anniversary of our final tour.'
"We're not going to record anymore," he added. "That final tour was definitely our final tour. This is just a reason to have some fun the guys, play a few shows and then jump back in the coffin…"
In June, King was asked by Jonathan Clarke, host of "Out Of The Box" on Q104.3, New York's classic rock station, about how SLAYER's upcoming reunion shows came about. He responded: "I'll put it in the perspective everybody can understand. We've been turning down offers since beginning of 2020, pandemic and all. And then it started getting near the five-year anniversary of us stopping playing, so I'm, like, 'You know what? This is a three-show package. I think it would be fun to do.' It's kind of a five-year anniversary of our last tour. We're never gonna tour again — it ain't gonna happen. We're never gonna record again; that's not gonna happen either. But to do commemorative shows, I think that's kind of fun. I don't have to be married to it for a long time. Kids don't have to worry about it coming around on tour because we said we wouldn't. There's not a whole lot of weird diabolical shit going on here. I think people have just gotta say, 'Hey, it's anniversary celebration shows.' That's gonna be the end of it."
Kerry also discussed the SLAYER comeback in May in an interview with Andrew Daly of ClassicRockHistory.com. Asked for about his outlook on the reunion shows, he said: "It's not really much different at all. It's the same heads, same cabs, same pedals, same guitars. You know, there will be a lot of fire when SLAYER plays, and I think, yeah, those shows will just be fun. It'll be fun to play with Gary Holt for a few gigs; I haven't seen him in almost five years, so that will be cool. And it'll be cool to get together with Tom Araya and spit some hate out at people, but don't get used to this being a yearly event."
Earlier in May, King was asked by SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" if he thinks SLAYER's upcoming dates will have a positive or negative impact on the promotional efforts for his debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise", which arrived on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music. He responded: "I see it both ways. We've [SLAYER] been turning down [reunion] offers for the last four years. Unfortunately, when the right offer came around, this one, it was right as my project was releasing. So there's certainly people, like my management and booking agents, who say, 'Oh, that's great. It's gonna boost your solo thing.' And I'm, like, 'Well, I don't know the business side of it, but it is what it is.' And every time I talk about it to journalists and magazines and stuff, I say, 'Listen, SLAYER is not gonna make another record. SLAYER is never gonna tour again.' May SLAYER do a one-off here or there? Maybe. I told my [solo] band when [the SLAYER reunion shows] came up, I'm, like, 'Listen, this is a blip on the radar to me. This isn't a solo project that's gonna recycle musicians every record cycle. You guys are with me till you don't wanna be.'"
Asked if he envisions SLAYER as the type of thing where the band will do one or two shows a year when a great opportunity comes up, Kerry said: "I'm not even talking yearly. I'm, like, every two years, every three years, every five years. I don't know. 'Cause I'm gonna be super busy with [my solo band] once 2025 rolls around."
On the topic of whether he has spoken to Araya since SLAYER's reunion shows were announced, Kerry said: "I'll tell you the truth, 'cause you know that's how I roll. No, we haven't. But you know what's weird about that? It's not weird. [Laughs]"
He continued: "We'll go probably rehearse off and on for a couple weeks [before the first show], 'cause even though me and Paul [who is also in Kerry's solo band] will be sharp from playing, playing with different people, you've gotta get sharp together."
Elaborating on his belief that SLAYER's comeback shows will not lead into a full-fledged reunion for the legendary thrash metal act, Kerry said: "The way I look at it, and when I tell you this, it puts it into perspective for a lot of people, I see it as three five-year anniversary shows of our last tour."
Five years after SLAYER played the last concert of what was being billed as the band's farewell tour and just weeks after the SLAYER guitarist unveiled the details of his solo project, Kerry and his longtime bandmates announced that they will play at the Aftershock, Riot Fest and Louder Than Life festivals in September and October.
King also talked about the SLAYER reunion while speaking to Revolver magazine about "From Hell I Rise". Asked if he had known about these shows well before they were officially announced, King said: "If you ask promoters, they're going to have another answer. If you ask booking agents, they'll probably have a third answer. But to me, it kind of came out of nowhere. Have we been getting offers the past few years? Yeah, we turn down offers every year, probably every month of every year. These three festivals are right around the five-year anniversary of our last tour, which I thought was kind of cool. So, I thought this might be the right time to test the water. It will be great to play for the fans again."
Regarding whether the upcoming SLAYER shows will steal some of the thunder away from the touring his solo band will do in support of "From Hell I Rise", Kerry said: "Well, time will tell, and my answer would be, 'hopefully not'. The funny thing is, it never occurred to me until the day the SLAYER announcement came, but Demmel said, 'Dude, is this real?' And I'm, like, 'It's just a few weekends and that's it.' Of course, Paul knew. But I didn't tell Phil, I didn't tell Kyle and didn't tell Mark — and I said to the guys, 'There's no master plan here.' I didn't want anybody to start getting cold feet. I said, 'This is a little moment in time, and yeah, KERRY KING is going to be touring, you know, hopefully later in the year, as well. But SLAYER is an entity and I'm just a person.' But hopefully, we drive on with the solo project."
King also spoke about the SLAYER reunion in an interview with U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine. Admitting that the announcement of SLAYER's comeback "was not my favorite timing", Kerry said that the SLAYER reunion "is not going to translate into recording and it's not going to translate into touring. For me, it's three shows marking five years since our final shows, a fun, 'Hey, remember us from before the pandemic?' celebration."
Kerry also explained in more detail why he still has not spoken to Tom since the news of SLAYER's reunion was announced. "It's not like I'm angry with him or anything," King clarified. "We're very different people, and we evolved into business partners at the end of the day. He has very different interests from me, and very different outlooks. Does that make me hate him? No. But I don't need to talk to him every day… We just don't have much in common. When it comes time to rehearse, I'll have no problem showing up. We're professionals, and that's what we do."
When Kerry's solo project was first announced, King told Rolling Stone that he was almost positive he and Tom would never resurrect the band. "I can pretty much a hundred percent say no because I have a new outlet, and it's not SLAYER, but it sounds like SLAYER," King said of a potential SLAYER reunion.
The lineup for SLAYER's comeback will be the same as the one which last toured in 2019: Araya and King, along with Holt (also of EXODUS) and Bostaph.
Days after SLAYER's reunion was announced, Tom Araya's wife wrote on social media that she "harassed him for over a year" before he "agreed finally" to play more shows with the band. "We shared that news with SLAYER's awesome managers and they did the rest!" she explained. "So yes without Tom it wouldn't have happened.. without me BUGGING HIM it wouldn't have happened."
Both Gary and his wife Lisa Holt were among the hundreds of people who "liked" Sandra's Instagram post, with Lisa sharing three heart emojis in response to Sandra's message.
In a statement confirming SLAYER's return, Tom said: "Nothing compares to the 90 minutes when we're on stage playing live, sharing that intense energy with our fans, and to be honest, we have missed that." King added: "Have I missed playing live? Absolutely. SLAYER means a lot to our fans; they mean a lot to us. It will be five years since we have seen them."
The same day that SLAYER's comeback was announced, Holt's wife Lisa Holt took to her social media to write: "Yes, it's true..and an exciting adventure for the band and fans !
"To all the people saying 'they are liars' 'they must have ran out of money' 'its not SLAYER without so and so' ..I have an idea for you all...DON'T GO.. and for all the people who did go to the final tour dates and enjoyed it...awesome!!
"This isn't a 'TOUR' it's some dates..and GREAT NEWS!!!" she added. "And everyone that thinks they know all the inside info..you can't possibly know. so just enjoy the fact that this amazing band will play some amazing shows this year...go or don't..nobody cares!!!!!"
Three weeks before SLAYER's reunion was announced, Kerry told Rolling Stone that he didn't foresee SLAYER coming back together for the foreseeable future.
"Will SLAYER tour again? I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. Could SLAYER play a show again? I'm sure there's a scenario," King said, adding that he hadn't spoken to Araya since that final show. "Am I looking for it? No, I'm just getting ready to start my [solo] career. So if that happens, it happens. But I'm going to be doing this for the next 10 years at least."
SLAYER played the final show of its farewell tour in November 2019 at the Forum in Los Angeles. One day later, Kerry's wife Ayesha said that there is "not a chance in hell" that the thrash metal icons will reunite for more live appearances.
SLAYER's final world tour began on May 10, 2018 with the band's intention to play as many places as possible, to make it easy for the fans to see one last SLAYER show and say goodbye. By the time the 18-month trek wrapped at the Forum, the band had completed seven tour legs plus a series of one-off major summer festivals, performing more than 140 shows in 30 countries and 40 U.S. states.
All material for Kerry's debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise", was written by King, who was accompanied during the recording sessions by Bostaph, Demmel, Sanders and Osegueda. Helming the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles last year was producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and BAD RELIGION, among others.
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2 ñåí 2024
GOD DETHRONED Share Lyric Video For New Song "The Hanged Man"
 Dutch black/death metal icons, God Dethroned, have released a lyric video for "The Hanged Man", from the upcoming album, The Judas Paradox, out September 6 via Reigning Phoenix Music (RPM).
Frontman Henri "The Serpent King" Sattler: "An extremely catchy song which lyrics are based on the tarot card 'The Hanged Man'. The reason I decided to use tarot cards as a basis to write lyrics is because I like tarot cards and their meanings and it gave me the opportunity to write a different type of lyrics that I hadn’t used before. The Hanged Man tarot card is about sacrifice. Musically it's a groovy death metal banger with a middle part that shows Dave Meester's skills as a virtuoso on lead guitar. Especially in this song you get the feeling that the death metal version of Dave Murray is present in his utmost glory.
Eleven songs strong, The Judas Paradox was produced by the band themselves, with mixing being handled by their very own singer/guitarist Henri. Tony Lindgren took over mastering duties at Fascination Street Studios, rounding off the grandly sinister sound of The Judas Paradox.
The Judas Paradox will be available in the following formats:
- CD-digipak
- jewelcase-CD
- coloured 1-LP ("blasphemous purity," "divine heresy," & "hailing death")
- flexible bundle (choose from t-shirt, CD-digipak, vinyl & cassette)
- digital
Pre-order here.
The Judas Paradox tracklisting:
"The Judas Paradox"
"Rat Kingdom"
"The Hanged Man"
"Black Heart"
"Asmodeus"
"Kashmir Princess"
"Hubris Anorexia"
"The Eye Of Providence"
"Hailing Death"
"Broken Bloodlines"
"War Machine"
"The Judas Paradox" video:
"Rat Kingdom" video: | +1 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS - Long After Dark Deluxe Edition Due In October; New "Straight Into Darkness" Video Posted
 Over four decades after its debut, a deluxe edition of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers’ groundbreaking but often overlooked 1982 album, Long After Dark, will be released via Geffen/UMe/Universal Music Canada on October 18. Pre-order/pre-save here.
The Petty Legacy archives will share previously unseen newly remastered film and audio from 1982 to 1983 this year, beginning with a new video for the French TV version of “Straight Into Darkness” featuring footage of the band performing at the Record Plant by award-winning director Alan Bibby - watch the video below, and listen here.
“There was some music recorded for Long After Dark that didn’t get on the record, that I thought would’ve made it a better album,” said Tom Petty. “I left off…four things that I liked quite a bit. And probably a few more written that never even got in the door.”
Looking back on their third and final album together, legendary rock music producer Jimmy Iovine reflects, “Long After Dark, we thought we had it. Sounded like Positively Fourth Street, sounded like one of those records, you know. By the way, I think it is!”
Despite it being a golden era of The Heartbreakers playing at the height of their powers, it is widely known as the band’s most misunderstood and underrated success. The album features an edgy collection of rock ballads and guitar anthems backed by the unmistakable sound of The Heartbreakers, including founding members Mike Campbell (lead guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), Stan Lynch (drums), plus the new addition of Howie Epstein on bass and backing vocals.
Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) will feature the songs that were lost in the debate over the album’s original direction. Notable highlights include finding Petty’s version of “Never Be You”—which was a #1 country hit for Rosanne Cash—pop anomaly “Don’t Make Me Walk The Line,” and an up-tempo version of “Ways To Be Wicked,” which was previously covered by Lone Justice, recorded at Applewood Studios in Denver, Colorado.
Many of the additional tracks are taken from the French TV sessions, including acoustic gems, “Turning Point” and the Everly Brothers influenced “Keeping Me Alive.”
Long After Dark was a smash by the usual standards—Top 10 in Billboard, certified gold—and spawned three fan favorites, “You Got Lucky,” “Change Of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness.” Though it remains an unsung gem amongst its predecessors, Damn The Torpedoes and Hard Promises. “It’s a good little rock & roll record” but also “a tough record because I never knew if we were making the right decisions about songs,” Petty shared in Paul Zollo’s interview anthology, Conversations With Tom Petty.
Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) features the newly remastered original album from the original analog master tapes, plus 12 rediscovered bonus tracks newly mixed by Petty’s longtime engineer Ryan Ulyate and boasts packaging designed by Grammy Award-winning designer Jeri Heiden, liner notes by legendary rock journalist and Tom Petty Radio host David Fricke, with commentary from Jimmy Iovine and Cameron Crowe and iconic archival photographs by Dennis Callahan, Neal Preston and Aaron Rapoport. The set will be released in a variety of configurations, highlighted by a limited edition TomPetty.com 2LP pressing on 180-gram red with black splatter color vinyl, housed in a numbered foil tip-on jacket with an exclusive lithograph; a 3-disc set featuring 2 CDs, and a Blu-ray audio disc with additional hi-res stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes of the album and bonus tracks, also mixed by Ulyate; a variety of additional vinyl options includes a 2LP on 180-gram black vinyl; a limited edition 1LP 180-gram turquoise color vinyl pressing (main album only) with double-sided lithograph of Blaze Brooks’ illustrations (available exclusively at indie record stores).
The album will also be available at all streaming, download and HD audio download partners.
For more info, complete tracklisting and to pre-order 2 LP versions and 3 disc set visit the official Tom Petty store, here. | 0 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
IAN HILL Says Remixed Version Of JUDAS PRIEST's 'Rocka Rolla' Is On The Way: 'It's Finally Got The Production It's Always Needed'
 In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill confirmed that there are plans to reissue the band's debut album, 1974's "Rocka Rolla", to celebrate the LP's 50th anniversary. Ian said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's just been re-engineered by [longtime PRIEST producer] Tom Allom after all of these years. The multi-tracks were in remarkably good condition, and he's changed some of the sounds, made it more modern and obviously remixed it. And he's done a great job. It's just coming out shortly, I believe. It's only a few weeks away, I'm sure it is. Yeah, but he's redone it. It's gonna be re-released, which is great news. It's finally got the production it's always needed."
Back in April 2023, it was reported that Reach Music Publishing had acquired both the master and publishing rights of both "Rocka Rolla" and JUDAS PRIEST's "Sad Wings Of Destiny" albums from Gull Entertainments.
Reach has been working in partnership with JUDAS PRIEST on these two albums and is planning a variety of projects, including special releases for the 50th anniversary of "Rocka Rolla".
"Rocka Rolla" and "Sad Wings Of Destiny" are JUDAS PRIEST's first two albums, released by Gull Records in 1974 and 1976, respectively. They are seen as important albums in the development of heavy metal music, beginning the band's 50-year history and containing classic songs such as "Victim Of Changes", "The Ripper" and "Rocka Rolla".
JUDAS PRIEST subsequently signed to CBS Records (now Sony) to release their third album in 1977, but the ownership rights of both masters and publishing to the first two JUDAS PRIEST albums remained with Gull for almost 50 years — until their sale to Reach.
Prior to this deal with Gull, Reach already had an existing relationship with JUDAS PRIEST as the co-publisher of band member Glenn Tipton.
In 2021, Reach Music announced the acquisition of a 50% copyright interest in, as well as worldwide administration rights to, the Glenn Tipton song catalog, beginning with songs released in 1977, and including iconic tracks such as "Breaking The Law", "Living After Midnight" and "You've Got Another Thing Coming". The current acquisition from Gull reunites the full catalogue with Tipton and Reach, to include compositions from the 1974 and 1976 JUDAS PRIEST album releases.
Furthermore, in addition to Glenn Tipton, the acquisition of the first two JUDAS PRIEST albums saw Reach enter into deals with the other members of JUDAS PRIEST from that time period — Rob Halford, Ian Hill and K.K. Downing — as Reach is representing the compositions co-written by them from those two albums.
Michael Closter, president and owner of Reach Music, said: "The acquisition of the masters and publishing for the albums 'Rocka Rolla' and 'Sad Wings Of Destiny' was a monumental opportunity for Reach Music, coming not long after JUDAS PRIEST's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. This deal happened with the approval of JUDAS PRIEST and their manager Jayne Andrews, and I'm so excited to begin working closely with them on a variety of special projects, including releasing high-quality reissues."
He added: "I want to thank David Howells, owner of Gull, who signed JUDAS PRIEST in 1974 and released their first two albums. He has had, and continues to have, a remarkable career spanning 65 years in the music industry. Thank you for your trust in doing this sale for these essential and historically important JUDAS PRIEST albums."
Howells said: "I'm very happy to have met Michael Closter and to pass the mantle on to Reach Music after Gull Records first released these JUDAS PRIEST albums almost 50 years ago. I'm looking forward to seeing what projects Reach and JUDAS PRIEST do together in the future with these iconic recordings."
In a November 2020 interview with "That Jamieson Show", Halford spoke about the fact that PRIEST still did not own the rights to "Rocka Rolla" and "Sad Wings Of Destiny", even though it had been four and a half decades since they were released.
"We've gone back and forth with the owners of those records," he said. "And it's a shame. I hope one day we can bring them back into the PRIEST fold, because they're valuable — they're like treasures, really. And I think that's probably why the people that still own them understand that, because they're keeping [the albums] rehashed and so forth.
"Like any band that's been privileged enough to have a long life like PRIEST — 50 years now — some extraordinary things happen in your first one, two, three albums. Especially the difference between 'Rocka Rolla' and 'Sad Wings Of Destiny' — it's just like this Grand Canyon effect in the way that the band really grew exponentially in such a short space of time.
"And yeah, we would love to get them back. We never say never. We keep going back to 'em every so often and say, 'Look, what's it gonna take?' Because they're important to us. And I'd like to feel that one day we'll own those masters again."
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2 ñåí 2024
HORRENDOUS Share Official Music Video For "Preterition Hymn"
 Progressive death metal entity, Horrendous, released their new album, Ontological Mysterium, last August via Season of Mist. In celebration of the album anniversary, the band have released an official music video for "Preterition Hymn". Check it out below.
With Ontological Mysterium, Horrendous have built a towering death-metal thrill ride. The sheer size and scope of their new album is massive. Riffs twist and turn through labyrinthine arrangements, busting out into soaring melodic leads. Ontological Mysterium captures the true spirit of the halcyon days of extreme metal. It sounds timeless but marks a bold step forward for this rising band.
Tracklisting:
“The Blaze”
“Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology Of Dawn)”
“Neon Leviathan”
“Aurora Neoterica”
“Preterition Hymn”
“Cult Of Shaad’oah”
“Exen(en)esis”
“Ontological Mysterium”
“The Death Knell Ringeth”
“Cult Of Shaad’oah” lyric video:
“Ontological Mysterium” visualizer:
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INFRARED - "Demon's Blood"
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2 ñåí 2024
SVEN GALI Set International Release Date For Explosive Comeback Album, Bombs And Battlescars
 Sven Gali's trademark blend of heavy riffs, gritty vocals, and anthemic melodies span decades. Cutting their teeth in the bar circuit of Southern Ontario, Canada in the late 80’s, Sven Gali’s live show was a full on circus of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.
Emerging with a record deal with BMG, Sven Gali released their debut self-titled release in 1992. From the first chord of “Under The Influence” Sven Gali made their mark. Follow up singles “Tie Dyed Skies” and “In My Garden” paved the way for the ballad number 6 CanCon song of 1993 that also went Top 10 nationwide, “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.”
As the album went Gold, Sven Gali won the MuchMusic Best Metal Video Award in 1993 for “Under The Influence” and was nominated for two Junos. With a worldwide release, Sven Gali toured with the likes of Def Leppard, Foreigner and April Wine.
Sven Gali’s follow-up, Inwire, was partly recorded in in Seattle with producer Kelly Gray and saw the band take on a more alternative experimental tone. The band broke up soon after the album’s release and played sporadic shows before solidifying a new lineup with original members Dave Wanless (vocals), Andy Frank (guitar) and TT (bass) bringing in guitarist Sean Williamson and drummer Dan Fila from former BMG labelmates Varga.
Sven Gali’s new release, Bombs And Battlescars, through Canadian label, Music In Motion Ent, combines the best of both Sven Gali eras. The album contains five new originals. “One Gun” is a relentless driver that sets the battlefield ablaze with its blistering guitar work and commanding vocals. The massive groove of “Coming Home” and fierce anthem “Monster” showcase Sven Gali's unapologetic attitude while the sonic prowess of “Life Inside” stands side by side with any current alternative metal peers. Closer “Nothing New” showcases the melodic side of the band with a catchy acoustic groove.
Bombs And Battlescars also brings the band full circle with a cover of Triumph’s “Spellbound.” Recorded at Toronto’s Metalworks studio where many of Sven Gali’s early songs were recorded and demoed, acclaimed Coney Hatch frontman Andy Curran produced the track bringing the song into the modern age. Triumph drummer Gil Moore also appears in the video. The album is filled out with three remastered unreleased tracks from the band’s 90’s recording vault.
Sven Gali celebrates the US and European releases of Bombs And Battlescars on Friday, September 13, for both physical and streaming. The band’s latest single, “Life Inside”, along with the video for the song is set to come out with the release.
Bombs And Battlescars on CD and limited edition army green vinyl are available through retail. Signed CDs and LPs are available here.
Tracklisting:
"One Gun"
"Coming Home"
"Spellbound"
"Life Inside"
"Monster"
"Hang Me Out"
"Hogs"
"All"
"Nothing New"
"Coming Home" video:
"One Gun" video:
"Monster" video:
On September 13, Sven Gali will play the legendary El Mocambo in Toronto, Ontario, where they will record the show for a live album release. Go to this location for details and ticket information.
Sven Gali lineup:
Dave Wanless - Vocals
Andy Frank - Guitars
Shawn Minden - Bass
Sean Williamson - Guitars
Dan Fila - Drums
(Photo - Al Piazza)
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INFRARED - "Demon's Blood"
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2 ñåí 2024
ZOLTAN BATHORY: How FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Came Up With Band Name
 In a new interview with June Archer, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist and founder Zoltan Bathory spoke about the origins of the band's name. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Basically, I'm a martial artist since I was a little kid. So all the Bruce Lee movies and all the martial arts movies were my favorites. I loved underground Hong Kong cinema, those old, old movies. And there was a movie of 'Five Fingers Of Death', so that was a a classic. And then when 'Kill Bill' came out, they had this five-finger exploding heart, whatever, technique. And so we were sitting in movie theater, I'm, like, 'Man, that sounds so stupid, that should be a band name.' And then pretty much here we go today. And, basically, we shortened this, because five-finger exploding lotus technique wouldn't be a good-sounding name. So I ended up picking FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH. It's sort of like an ode to kung fu and martial arts and this old-school Hong Kong martial arts cinema, basically."
Asked if he and his bandmates had to go through a myriad of different names before they found FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, Zoltan said: "So, basically, I started this project. I mean, all of us in the band were in various bands before, so we had a musical history before this particular band. And I started this band in 2005, and I started to record the first material that became our first album. And when you work on a new project — everybody can do it their way, but I always thought that don't name it yet because I think what you're saying, the musical content and your lyrics and how the band or the artist looks like and all those things together has to be a complete picture. So there [was] a list of names, and then this name, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, got on this list. And as the band was developing, our sound was developing, this was probably the closest [to what we sounded like]. And all the other good names were already taken. So you have to look at the dot com, [if it's] available. But you have to pick a name that sticks out, a name that when you say to somebody, people take a second and look, like, 'What?' If it's too average or it's too simple, it's really difficult to remember."
He added: "The world is really, really noisy — a lot of information coming at you — so you have to have a band name that both makes sense with who you are, so the look, the message, whatever you're saying fits this, and also it has to stick out somewhat. It has to make you feel some kind of a way."
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH recently announced a headlining U.S. tour this summer with support from MARILYN MANSON and SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL. The trek will kick off on August 2 in Hershey, Pennsylvania and run through September 19 when it will conclude in Houston, Texas.
Prior to the U.S. run, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH will embark on a tour of Europe in the spring for more stadium dates with METALLICA on the latter act's "M72" world tour in addition to headlining shows with special guest ICE NINE KILLS and select appearances at major festivals.
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is continuing to tour in support of its ninth album, "AfterLife" which was released in August 2022 via Better Noise.
On April 5, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH released the digital deluxe edition of "AfterLife", featuring the original 12 tracks recorded with the band's longtime producer Kevin Churko (OZZY OSBOURNE) in addition to four bonus tracks: three acoustic versions of the album's songs "The End", "Judgement Day" and "Thanks For Asking" plus a brand new song, "This Is The Way", featuring the late rapper DMX.
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2 ñåí 2024
AARON STAINTHORPE On MY DYING BRIDE's Concert Cancelations: 'We Needed A Break Before We Blew Our Heads Off'
 In a recent interview with U.K.'s Devolution magazine, vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe of English doom metal pioneers MY DYING BRIDE was asked about the recent revelation that he and his bandmates were canceling all of their previously announced 2024 tour dates, including an appearance at this year's Maryland Deathfest. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We've worked relentlessly in MY DYING BRIDE — without a manager. Me and [guitarist] Andrew [Craighan] managed the band as best we could over the years. We've had people interested in managing, but it's never really [panned out]. And sometimes when you're doing the admin, it really takes away from the artistic side of things. You've got tax men to deal with and politics and blah, blah, blah. And me and Andy, we've argued the toss like a married couple for years and years and years — artwork, lyrics. I normally pretty much get away with lyrics, but artwork particularly. And I think we're both becoming grumpy old men. We've just got a bit loggerheaded like that. We said, 'Let's take a break before we have a massive bust-up.' Even though it's a rubbish time to take a break because the album is just coming out. But everyone just thought, 'You two just take your breather. Take some time away. It happens to loads of bands. And then come back.'"
He continued: "It's a bad time to take [a break]. We'd had gigs booked and everything. And I apologize profusely to people who bought tickets and were coming to see us. But we just needed a break before we blew our heads off. So we're taking a breather."
Aaron went on to deny that his involvement with his HIGH PARASITE side project had anything to do with MY DYING BRIDE's decision to take a break.
"I know some people are going to say, 'Oh, is it because of HIGH PARASITE?' Well, HIGH PARASITE has been going for three years. So how can it be HIGH PARASITE? It's not HIGH PARASITE," he said. "MY DYING BRIDE have huge gaps in the things that we do — three years between albums, 12 shows a year. I can fit three or four more bands in those spaces, no problem whatsoever. So HIGH PARASITE's got nothing to do with it whatsoever. We're just taking a breather because if we don't, MDB will be over. When we come back — we don't know yet. We will be coming back. I just don't know when. But weirdly, the timing is almost perfect for me because HIGH PARASITE, it's like one door closes, another one opens. And it's just, like, this is amazing. I've got more breathing room than I expected I would have."
Aaron acknowledged that "it's a shame" that MY DYING BRIDE was unable to tour in support of its latest album, "A Mortal Binding". "As I say, we had live gigs booked for MY DYING BRIDE," he said. "That's not fair on the fans, but I'm afraid it was either save the band or lose the band. So we decided to save the band. So I've now got some breathing space, so I'm shoving HIGH PARASITE in and the poetry reading. And this could be an exclusive — myself and Mark Deeks, the songwriter from [U.K. doom band] ARÐ [pronounced 'Arth'], myself and Mark are looking at forming a band between us. So I'm gonna be very busy in the next couple of years. And when MY DYING BRIDE comes back into it, MY DYING BRIDE will always get priority. You can't dismiss 33 years of — they're so well established, they're so legendary, you can't say, 'Oh, this is more important than that.' And so I suspect the next maybe 10 years are gonna be the busiest years of my entire career, which I think is really exciting — slightly nerve-racking, but super exciting. And it's allowing me to do things… As I say, I didn't realize I wanted to do them until someone's given me the opportunity. 'Why don't you have a go at this?' 'Oh, I'm not really sure.' And then friends and family have said, 'Do it, because you'll kick yourself if you don't do this later on.' So I'm now open to other ideas and I'm doing these things and thoroughly enjoying it."
In a recent interview with Brazil's Headbangers News, Craighan was asked when MY DYING BRIDE fans can expect to see him and his bandmates on tour in support of "A Mortal Binding". He responded: "I'm sorry. I really, really don't have a real answer for that. To try and give you some understanding that MY DYING BRIDE is not a full-time band. We all have very much normal jobs and sadly that drags on our time, as you can imagine. And, obviously, it means we have to ask permission to leave work and all those kind of things. So that's one difficulty. And also the distance, because we would need more than one gig for the promoters to make it make sense and all those kinds of things. So the sad and real answer is I don't have an answer. But on the plus side on this, if there is a light at the end of this well, we do think about it. We do try, and our agent does listen to various promoters and tries to get things going. But like everybody else, we're at the mercy of how it all works and how our professional jobs keep us sort of — not necessarily held back, but it's all got to align."
He added: "I mean, we have some problems to sort out. Some people have some personal problems that we need to sort of overcome. It's not insurmountable… I know people are concerned because obviously people, they care for the band in ways that we didn't expect. But I reckon we'll be okay. Everything's a little bit messy right now. We have some things that we have to organize and iron out, let's say, but it's not insurmountable."
This past April, MY DYING BRIDE issued an official statement regarding cancelation of all of their previously announced 2024 tour dates. The band said: "The production of this latest album was arduous and challenging to such an extent that it has revealed fractures within the band. These tensions had already been observed during the creation of the previous 2 albums and were only exacerbated during the Covid period. Over the past few months, they have intensified, causing a profound sense of discontent among the band members. The resulting stress and the pervasive feeling of burnout, along with the physical and mental malaise it creates, necessitated a period of time off which unfortunately impacts on live shows.
"The reason for the lack of an official statement until now is because the band has truly hoped to resolve these internal issues and perform some shows this year while trying find a resolution in time to satisfy all parties involved. Sadly, this resolution is yet to be found.
"Regrettably, a lack of understanding and poor communication from our professional partners has resulted in an untimely and chaotic mess from which a recovery is challenging. However, the promoters have now been officially contacted and it is hoped that steps can be taken to minimise the impact on you all.
"We apologise for keeping you in the dark, but these are indeed challenging times."
The follow-up to 2019's "The Ghost Of Orion", "A Mortal Binding" came out on April 19 via Nuclear Blast Records.
MY DYING BRIDE hired "The Ghost Of Orion" studio wizard Mark Mynett to produce, mix, and master "A Mortal Binding". The group holed up at Mynett's Mynetaur Productions (PARADISE LOST, ROTTING CHRIST) in Manchester, U.K., where they tracked the album consecutively from July to September 2023.
MY DYING BRIDE is:
Aaron Stainthorpe - vocals
Andrew Craighan - guitars
Lena Abé - bass
Shaun MacGowan - keyboards, violin
Neil Blanchett - guitars
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2 ñåí 2024
LZZY HALE Shares Cover Of LINKIN PARK's 'Crawling'
 Lzzy Hale has shared a cover of LINKIN PARK's "Crawling". The 40-year-old HALESTORM frontwoman posted a video of her piano-led rendition on Instagram on Wednesday (August 28),the same day that LINKIN PARK's mysterious 100-hour countdown came to an end.
Although Lzzy did not include any information about the timing of her post, she liked several comments that speculated that she might be involved in some capacity in LINKIN PARK's rumored reunion.
LINKIN PARK launched the 100-hour countdown timer on its web site and official social media accounts on Saturday, August 24. The same countdown timer was shared by the Instagram account of Welcome To Rockville, fueling speculation that some of the band's surviving members will perform at next year's edition of the Danny Wimmer Presents-produced festival, set to take place May 15-18, 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
LINKIN PARK has since announced that it will hold a special event on Thursday, September 5, and members of the band's official fan club, Linkin Park Underground (commonly referred to as the LPU),have reportedly been e-mailed about the same event, which will take place in Los Angeles. The event is only open to LPU members, with tickets being randomly assigned. It will reportedly take place between 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. local time.
This past May, Billboard reported that LINKIN PARK was considering a possible 2025 reunion tour with a female vocalist stepping in for late lead singer Chester Bennington.
LINKIN PARK's booking agency WME was reportedly taking offers for a potential tour along with headlining festival dates that would feature Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Dave Farrell, Billboard's sources said.
One of the sources told Billboard that LINKIN PARK was hoping to find a female vocalist to front the reunited band, a rumor which was first started in April by ORGY frontman Jay Gordon who mentioned during a radio interview that he had "heard" that LINKIN PARK was working with a "girl singer now". When pressed, Gordon continued by saying: "Don't quote me on that. I'm not sure who the singer is going to be, but I heard it was gonna be female. They might just try to move on like that. That ought to be interesting." Jay later seemingly walked back his comments, writing in a Facebook post that he knew "nothing about any of that" and accused "people" of taking his words "out of context.".
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by LZZY HALE (@officiallzzyhale) | +1 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
SAXON's BIFF BYFORD Undergoes Procedure To Treat Atrial Flutter
 SAXON frontman Biff Byford has undergone a "procedure" to treat atrial flutter, a type of heart rhythm abnormality, or arrhythmia, that causes the heart's upper chambers (atria) to beat too quickly. The operation was performed by Dr. Jane Caldwell, a consultant cardiologist at Spire Hull And East Riding Hospital, a private hospital in Hull, East Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Earlier today (Friday, August 30),Biff took to his social media to write: "Hi. Big thanks to spire hull hospital and doctor Jane Caldwell and her team I just had a procedure done to stop arterial flutter of my heart I feel a bit like a train hit me but home now and resting".
Back in December 2021, Biff told Full In Bloom in an interview that he had made modest dietary changes in the two years after he suffered a heart attack and underwent an emergency triple bypass surgery. "A little bit," he said. "I don't eat dairy anymore. I suppose I'll eat an occasional piece of cheese, but I don't eat dairy anymore because of the cholesterol level thing. But pretty much [everything] else, I haven't really changed. We'll have a veggie week some weeks where my wife will just put vegetarian food all week, which is a bit of a change, really, and it gets rid of toxic things in your body. But I haven't really changed that much, to tell you the truth."
The now-73-year-old singer went on to say that he has added 16:8 intermittent fasting to his lifestyle, a type of dieting where people fast during a portion of the week and then eat on the other days. The 16:8 type of intermittent fasting involves eating only during a specific right-hour period each day.
"I will do that," Biff said. "I mean, I did do that today, actually. I didn't have lunch until 2 o'clock and I'll eat dinner at 7:30 and then I try not to have anything else until the next day. So most of your fasting is done while you're asleep; that's how it's supposed to work. What you try and do is eat all your meals in the eight hours. Don't go stupid. And then if you go to bed at, say, 11 o'clock and get up at eight or seven, then you had nearly eight hours in bed. A lot of people do it. It's quite positive. I think it's a bit easier than some diets.
"If you don't eat until the morning until quite late, you definitely feel a hit of energy," he explained. "And you're also quite hungry, so you appreciate the food [that you are eating]. Keeping to it is difficult sometimes, obviously. You want a glass of wine or you want a beer or something; you're always being tempted with these things."
According to Biff, he still drinks alcohol occasionally. "Oh, yeah," he said. "A couple of glasses of wine some nights, it's no problem. As long as you're not drinking two bottles of wine, it's fine."
More than four years ago, Byford described his heart attack to Planet Rock, saying "it wasn't like a Hollywood heart attack, [where] you drop on the floor with your legs up in the air. I was biking, I was on my bike — I do a lot of biking and walking. And I was getting a bit breathless. And I went to the doctor. They sent me in to the hospital straight away. One of my arteries was getting blocked. They couldn't get to it easily; it was risky. So they gave me a heart bypass. And so while they were in there, they did all three… So, yeah, they did all three. And then I came to, and that was it. I was really ill."
A heart bypass surgery, or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, is used to improve blood flow to the heart. A surgeon uses blood vessels taken from another area of the body to bypass the damaged arteries.
The term triple bypass refers to the number of coronary arteries bypassed in the procedure. In other words, a triple bypass means three coronary arteries are bypassed.
Hi
Big thanks to spire hull hospital and doctor Jane Caldwell and her team I just had a procedure done to stop arterial flutter of my heart I feel a bit like a train hit me but home now
And resting
Bx
Posted by The Real Biff Byford on Friday, August 30, 2024 | +2 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
NASTY SAVAGE Announces New Album 'Jeopardy Room'
 U.S. metal legends NASTY SAVAGE have premiered "Brain Washer", the first single from their upcoming album, "Jeopardy Room", coming on October 10, 2024 via FHM Records. Check it out below.
NASTY SAVAGE rose to popularity in the mid-1980s primarily due to vocalist "Nasty" Ronnie Galletti's over-the-top stage performances (in early shows Ronnie would smash television sets over his head). After landing a deal with Metal Blade Records, the band released three full-length albums and an EP between 1985 and 1989. NASTY SAVAGE split up a short time later and played some reunion shows in the late 1990s.
NASTY SAVAGE's "comeback" album, "Psycho Psycho", was released in Europe in March 2004 through Metal Blade Records. The CD contained 12 songs in total, including a new version of the demo classic "Savage Desire". The group played occasional live shows before disbanding for the second time in 2012. They once again reformed in January 2016 and have been active ever since.
"Jeopardy Room" was recorded in the legendary Morrisound Recording Studio in Tampa, Florida and was produced by Jim Morris who also worked with bands like SAVATAGE and CRIMSON GLORY in the past. It features special guests on the track "Witches Sabbath": Donald Tardy (drums) and John Tardy (vocals) of OBITUARY.
Track listing:
01. Invocations
02. Jeopardy Room
03. Brain Washer
04. Southern Fried Homicide
05. Witches Sabbath
06. Schizoid Platform
07. Aztec Elegance
08. Operation Annihilate
09. Blood Syndicate
10. The 6th Finger
11. Sainted Devil
Recording lineup:
"Nasty" Ron Galletti - Vocals
Jim Coker - Drums
Dave Orman - Guitars
Pete Sykes - Guitars
Kyle Sokol - Bass
In February 2017, NASTY SAVAGE's self-titled debut album as well as its follow-up effort, "Indulgence", were reissued. Both albums were made available on vinyl as well as on digi-CDs. The "Indulgence" CD featured the four songs of the "Abstract Reality" mini-album as a bonus.
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2 ñåí 2024
DRACONICON Release New Single "La Caduta"; Audio
 Italian power metal band, Draconicon, proudly presents their new single, "La Caduta", a hauntingly beautiful power metal ballad that showcases the band's mastery of soaring melodies and heartfelt lyrics.
Vocalist Arkanfel delivers a powerful performance, bringing emotional depth to the song's poignant lyrics. The fact that the lyrics are in Italian brings another dimension to the song as well.
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2 ñåí 2024
Polish Blackened Death Newcomers EPHIALTES Unleash "Homo Deus" Single; Debut Album To Be Released In November
 Ephialtes’ debut album, Melas Oneiros - out November 1st via Black Lion Records - is aggressive, anthem-laden melodic blackened death metal with a traditional heavy metal feel to it. A peculiar, explosive blend that the band itself decided to call heavy metal of death.
The name of the band derives from the ancient Greek word "ephiáltēs", meaning "nightmare", which in turn derives from the "ephàllomai", composed of two elements: "epí" (upon, on) plus “állomai” (assault, climb, uphill, jumping, jump) because, in reference to a popular belief, the nightmares were nicknamed "one who climbed over the body of the dormant."
The history of Ephialtes started over the course of the global pandemic. During that period the band's driving force Przemysław Tomasz Olbryt, alias Quazarre, had been hard at work on what would later turn out to be their debut album, Melas Oneiros.
Check out the debut single, "Homo Deus", below.
The band states: "'Homo Deus' indirectly references a story akin the one we saw im Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - a creature created from body parts coming from numerous corpses, sewn back together and artificialy brought to life. Frankenstein's monster was powerful being, and while being physically repulsive, he possessed remarkable sensibillity, intelligence and depth. He wanted to be loved and live with humans in peace, but he was cast out as a freak, an outsider. Here we have a story not only about well know human desire to be as powerful as God himself and create anything on his image but also - or first and foremost - a warning tale about lack of acceptance for otherness, about reasons that drive societies all over the world to reject anything 'different' and ostracize such units. No wonder that in the end, the creature unleashes his vengeful rampage on mankind. After all, isn't it what we deserve?" | 0 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
AMON AMARTH Is Starting To Talk About A New Album: 'It's In Its Infancy'
 In a new interview with Germany's Rock Antenne, AMON AMARTH frontman Johan Hegg was asked if he and his bandmates have commenced work on the follow-up to 2022's "The Great Heathen Army" LP. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "To be honest, we've been starting to talk about a new album, but we haven't started working on it yet. So we don't really know. That's the simple answer."
He added: "I've been working on some lyrical ideas. I know the [other] guys have some musical ideas, but we haven't started putting anything together yet. So it's just really in its infancy. So there's really nothing to say."
"The Great Heathen Army" was released in August 2022 via Metal Blade Records. The LP was recorded with acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap, who previously worked with the band on 2013's "Deceiver Of The Gods" and 2016's "Jomsviking" albums.
This past spring, AMON AMARTH returned to U.S. and Canadian stages on the "Metal Crushes All Tour 2024" produced by Live Nation. The 24-date journey included a raid at the historic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver as well as arena stops in Portland, Vancouver, Quebec City, Asheville, Tampa, and Anaheim. Support was provided by special guests CANNIBAL CORPSE along with OBITUARY and FROZEN SOUL.
Hegg previously stated about "The Great Heathen Army": "Overall 'The Great Heathen Army' is one of the heavier albums we've made. There are some dark and heavy songs that are really powerful and in your face, but we obviously have some trademark melodic AMON AMARTH songs on there as well and a few surprises too. It's a really well-balanced album. It sounds great. Andy Sneap is awesome. It was great to be able to work with him again."
Guitarist Olavi Mikkonen added: "We've been away making new music and we're back with new darker, more death metal-sounding album. If 'Berserker' was our 'heavy metal' album, then 'The Great Heathen Army' is our 'death metal' album. But with that said, it's still very much contemporary AMON AMARTH, but perhaps style-wise we have gone back to our roots a little bit."
Formed in 1992, AMON AMARTH became modern metal greats the hard way. Ruthlessly dedicated to creating new music and taking it out on the road, the Swedes steadily built a formidable reputation as a ferocious live band and, as the years passed, were increasingly recognized for their recorded achievements too. Since the dawn of the millennium, AMON AMARTH has been unstoppable.
Breakthrough releases like 2006's "With Oden On Our Side" and its now-legendary follow-up, 2008's "Twilight Of The Thunder God" further cemented their popularity throughout the metal world, while the band's stage show evolved with each successive tour, transforming into one of modern metal's truly great spectacles. 2019's "Berserker" brought with it an epic, history-making trek across North America with fellow Swedes ARCH ENEMY, AT THE GATES and GRAND MAGUS and saw multiple sell-outs.
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2 ñåí 2024
LIFE OF AGONY Pays Homage To 'The Crow' Actor BRANDON LEE With New Song
 LIFE OF AGONY has released a new song, "The Crow (In Memory Of B.L.)" . The track's accompanying music video, which was directed by Derek Soto/Sinestra Studios, with motion graphics by The Dor Brothers, can be seen below.
LIFE OF AGONY has a long history of paying homage to the films that helped shape their teenage years. Back in 1995, the band covered SIMPLE MINDS' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" on the group's "Ugly" album; the song was made famous by the movie "The Breakfast Club". In 1997, on their album "Soul Searching Sun", a music video for the song "Desire" incorporated visuals reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining". That tradition continues with "The Crow (In Memory Of B.L.)", which pays tribute to the fallen star Brandon Lee, who tragically lost his life during the filming of the cult classic "The Crow", released 30 years ago.
"The Crow (In Memory Of B.L.)" was recorded in New York City at the legendary Sear Sound studio, best known for hit albums by David Bowie and John Lennon, as well as at The Nest Studio in Long Island, New York. The song was recorded, produced, and mixed by LIFE OF AGONY guitarist Joey "Z" Zampella (who also co-produced the group's last album "The Sound Of Scars"). The song was mastered by Grammy Award winner Howie Weinberg (NIRVANA, SMASHING PUMPKINS, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS).
With 2024 marking the 30th anniversary of Brandon Lee's "The Crow" film, and all of the controversy surrounding the new Bill Skarsgård remake, LIFE OF AGONY felt inspired to go back and give respect to the '94 film that made such a huge impact on them during their early years.
"There's something very special about the original 'Crow' that made it timeless, and there's a reason that it resonated with us as kids," explained LIFE OF AGONY bassist Alan Robert. "It was an absolute tragedy… Brandon Lee was killed the year we did our first album 'River Runs Red', and by the time 'The Crow' came out in '94, he was already a legend. Brandon completely embodied the role, made it iconic, and lost his life in the process. It was just so incredibly sad and affected us deeply. He was such a charismatic character and in the very beginning stages of his career. Director Alex Proyas captured lightning in a bottle."
Photo credit: Marissa Ann/Scryer | +1 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
Former SABATON Guitarist TOMMY JOHANSSON Shares Cover Of AEROSMITH Classic "Dream On" (Video)
 Former Sabaton guitarist / Majestica frontman Tommy Johansson has shared his weekly cover, this time performing the Aerosnmith classic, "Dream On".
The song is taken from Aerosmith's selt-titled album, released in 1973.
Majestica are back with their first new music of 2024. The Swedish power metal quartet proudly presents their latest single, "A New Beginning", which is the band's first release since 2021. Therefore, the song name not only fits in relation to this, but also speaks about a new beginning and letting things come to an end. Paired with musical elements reminiscent of the 80s, Majestica unleashes a new catchy tune upon their fans that puts the band back on the radar. | 0 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
BEARDFISH To Release Songs For Beating Hearts Album In November; "In The Autumn" Single And Video Out Now
 Cult Swedish progressive rockers, Beardfish, began playing their first live shows together this year since breaking up in 2016, and now they are very pleased to announce the release of a brand new studio album, titled Songs For Beating Hearts, on November 1.
Coinciding with this announcement is the launch of a brand new single, "In The Autumn", a piece of music that some may recognize from their recent live dates. This song is a duet between Rikard Sjöblom & guest vocalist Amanda Örtenhag. Watch the video below.
“I think the reunion became an idea in 2021, a few years ago,” explains Rikard Sjöblom. “We started talking about doing something. People had made amends, and I guess everyone started missing being in a band together, and missing each other! We all kept in touch, and things ended up on the right foot in many aspects, and then we started talking about maybe meeting up and trying to play something. I had a couple of new songs written, and they really sounded like Beardfish, and I had some instrumental doodles that I was working on. So we met up and tried to play. The first thing we played was Without Saying Anything from Mammoth, and we started jamming and it felt like home, even after many years. I felt like, ‘These are my brothers!’
With strong echoes of past glories but a whole new vibe of wistful wonderment, Songs For Beating Hearts is a glowing testament to the magic that happens when these four musicians join forces. From the dreamy melancholy of the opening "Ecotone" and the intricate opulence of five-part sprawl "Out In The Open", to the prog-friendly pastoralism of bittersweet 11-minute epic "Beating Hearts", and the sobering prog-noir of the closing "Torrential Downpour", Beardfish have not just made their strongest work to date, but also their most emotionally resonant.
Loosely held together by thoughts of love, loss, friendship and finality, Songs For Beating Hearts is the sound of four kindred spirits laying their hearts bare.
Songs For Beating Hearts will be available as a Limited CD Digipak (including one bonus track), Gatefold LP and as Digital Album, all featuring artwork from longtime collaborator Spencer Keala Bowden. Pre-order | +1 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
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2 ñåí 2024
TERAMAZE Release "Her Halo" (Acoustic Version); Visualizer
 One of Melbourne's most intriguing progressive metal bands, Teramaze, have released a visualizer for "Her Halo" (Acoustic Version), featured on their upcoming release, Teracoustic Sessions / Volume 1. Watch the clip below.
Announcing Teracoustic Sessions / Volume 1, the band stated: "Introducing Teracoustic Sessions Volume 1, the brand-new acoustic album from Teramaze that promises a fresh and intimate listening experience. In this special release, Dean and Nathan have carefully selected nine standout tracks from our extensive catalogue and reimagined them in their purest form. Stripped down to just acoustic guitar and vocals, this collection offers a raw and unembellished take on our music—no frills, no effects, just the essence of Teramaze.
"The result is a collection that’s not only a testament to the strength of our songwriting but also something you can enjoy with family and friends who may not be familiar with our usual sound. We're thrilled with how these tracks have come together, and we believe you will be too. Teracoustic Sessions Volume 1 invites you to experience Teramaze like never before, in an intimate and personal way that highlights the beauty and emotion of our music."
Due for release on September 27, you can pre-order Teracoustic Sessions / Volume 1 here. | 0 | |
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2 ñåí 2024
MYSTIC BLADE Signs with Wormholedeath for Upcoming Album “The Master Is Inside”
 Innovative French heavy metal project Mystyc Blade is thrilled to announce its signing with Wormholedeath. This exciting partnership paves the way for the release of the highly anticipated album, “The Master Is Inside,” set to drop on October 18th, 2024.
“I am excited to announce that Mystyc Blade has signed with Wormholedeath This partnership marks a significant milestone in my musical journey, and I am eager to share my vision and passion for innovative heavy metal with a broader audience. Working with Wormholedeath will allow me to bring my music to new heights, and I am thrilled about the opportunities ahead.”
A Masterpiece Forged in Fire: The Making of “The Master Is Inside”
The development of ‘The Master Is Inside’ was a meticulous and intense process. From the initial concept to the final production, every aspect of the music was carefully managed. The songwriting and composition phases aimed to blend power and finesse, creating tracks that lead the forefront of innovative heavy metal. Every note was carefully thought out, ensuring that the final album is both cohesive and impactful.
Beyond the Shred: Experimentation Breeds Innovation
Experimentation played an important role in shaping the album’s sound. A bottleneck guitar was used, synths were incorporated for atmospheric depth, and choirs were added to give the songs an epic feel. Unconventional sounds like wind, trains, spaceships, and cannons, and other surprises were included to create vivid imagery and enhance the storytelling. Each detail was chosen with care to make the music rich and immersive.
“The Master Is Inside” delves deep, exploring themes of self-discovery and societal critique through powerful storytelling. Danjon’s introspective lyrics resonate with raw honesty, urging listeners to confront their inner demons and the complexities of the world around them.
Mystyc Blade: A One-Man Metal Machine
Christophe Danjon is the creative force behind Mystyc Blade. A self-taught musician, Christophe developed his distinctive style early on, focusing on instrumental music. His pursuit of excellence led him to the Music Academy International (MAI) in Nancy, where he honed his skills further. After graduating, Christophe seized notable opportunities, including opening for Angra and Calvin Russell.
As a guitar and vocal instructor, Christophe shared his expertise while perfecting his craft and composing two orchestral pieces, showcasing his versatility. Taking full control of his career, he composes all the music for Mystyc Blade, blending power and finesse to create ambitious and memorable compositions. His music delves into emotional and psychological depths, enriching his powerful performances.
01 Don’t Forget to Live
02 Feel Invincible
03 Stay Away… Last Warning
04 Pyramids and Mystery
05 My Shield
06 Lies
07 Later Is Too Late
08 Song of Butterflies
09 Turn the Page
10 Forever Alone
11 The Master Is Inside | 0 | |
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1 ñåí 2024
JOHN CORABI Wants To Make A Blues Album With MICK MARS
 In a new interview with Robert Cavuoto of Sonic Perspectives, former MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi explained why the songs he recorded back in 2016 with MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars — apparently called "Gimme Blood" and "Shake The Cage" — are not included on Mick's recently released debut solo album, "The Other Side Of Mars". Corabi said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "To be honest with you, that all came about because Mick… And I don't get the [trademark] laws or whatever. But Mick started a — I think he's got his own record label. It's called 1313 Records or whatever, and he trademarked it. And when you trademark something, you can trademark it, but you have to do business as within a certain amount of time. He had written those songs prior. Except — I think there's a song called 'Shake The Cage'. I did write some lyrics for that. But Mick just said to me, 'Hey, Crab, I did these two songs. Not really crazy about the way they came out. I re-recorded them. Would you sing 'em? I wanna put 'em out,' or just snippets of them so that it kind of locked his trademark in. And I go, 'Yeah, dude. Whatever.' Well, it's funny. He did a video, or his wife actually filmed us, took some photos and they put 'em out there, and everybody went batshit crazy thinking Mick and I were working together. Now we have talked about doing some writing and recording, but my schedule with THE [DEAD] DAISIES, his schedule with MÖTLEY at the time, we couldn't put two and two together. So he put those songs out and then he went about his business and started writing with Paul Taylor and Jacob Bunton and just all these great cats. And I love the new stuff that he did. I'm just happy that his fucking record finally came out."
Corabi went on to say that he still holds out hope that he could work with Mars on a new project. "I told Mick, I said, 'Dude, if you ever wanna write, man, fucking count me in,'" he said. "I've been trying to talk him into doing something a little left of what he did, which is… Anybody that knows Mick Mars knows that he's a blues guy. He grew up on Jeff Beck, John Mayall, Leslie West, Jimmy Page, all this cool shit. So I was trying to get him to just, 'Let's sit down and write a record of riffs, like, for example, 'Never In My Life' by MOUNTAIN.' I go, 'Dude, your tone, those kind of riffs, and I'll sing on it and we'll just do a really heavy blues record.' And he seemed like he was into it. But who knows? We'll see [if we get] to it. I'm just happy that Mick put his record out. I'm sorry he's going through all this shit with the band. But hopefully they'll figure it all out."
Last October, Mars was asked during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" why the songs he recorded with Corabi eight years ago were not included on "The Other Side Of Mars". Mick said: "I felt the songs were just a little — not strong enough. And there is a certain person that kind of interfered with that. And I'm not gonna say his name, but he kind of like messed some things up. The songs were wrong, parts in there that shouldn't be there and blah blah blah. It isn't a long story, but it was kind of like, 'That ain't gonna fly.' So I shelved it."
Asked by host Eddie Trunk to clarify that it was a third party who was involved in the project — not Corabi — who "kind of mucked it up," Mick said: "[I was] kind of duped — that's all I have to say — by a third party. And that's it. That's all. I got rid of him and went on and searched for other people. I mean, look, I found [producer] Michael Wagener after a while. He lives just down the street."
Back in 2016, Mars released snippets of the aforementioned two solo songs. The tracks, which were recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, where Mars has lived for more than a decade, featured Corabi, who appeared on CRÜE's 1994 self-titled album. Corabi later said that he didn't contribute to the writing process for the two songs, but that he was open to collaborating with Mars on some brand new material.
Birmingham, Alabama rocker Jacob Bunton collaborated extensively with Mars on "The Other Side Of Mars", which arrived in February 2024 via Mick's own label 1313, LLC, in partnership with MRI.
Bunton had previously collaborated with former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Steven Adler and CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer, and has songwriting credits with Mariah Carey, Steven Tyler and Smokey Robinson, among others.
Bunton sings lead on all but two of the 12 songs on "The Other Side Of Mars".
Other guests on the LP include WINGER/ALICE COOPER keyboardist Paul Taylor, KORN drummer Ray Luzier, and Brion Gamboa, who handled lead vocals on the songs "Undone" and "Killing Breed".
Bunton previously fronted the Alabama bands MARS ELECTRIC and LYNAM. | +1 | |
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1 ñåí 2024
DOUG ALDRICH Says NUNO BETTENCOURT's 'Rise' Guitar Solo Was 'Mind-Blowing'
 In a new interview with Ken Vantour of Let's Rock, former WHITESNAKE/DIO and current THE DEAD DAISIES guitarist Doug Aldrich was asked if hearing the guitar solo in EXTREME's song "Rise", which has been described by Guitar World magazine as "one of the 21st century's finest", makes him try harder to try to do something equally jaw-dropping. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No, it doesn't make me work harder, but it makes me proud of being a guitar player. Thanks to Nuno [Bettencourt, EXTREME guitarist] for doing that.
"THE DEAD DAISIES is a different kind of band," Doug continued. "Everybody knows my playing. I have certain things that I do well. I have certain things that I lean on a lot, and I can play technically. But THE DEAD DAISIES, especially with this album [the upcoming 'Light 'Em Up'], it was more about the melodies and the vibe. There really wasn't a need for trying to go in that sort of direction. But I'm proud of Nuno for doing that.
"Nuno is a brilliant guitar player — always has been," Aldrich added. "I've known Nuno. We're not close or anything, but I know Nuno, and he's always super nice. He's pretty shy. I used to be close with Pat Badger, the [EXTREME] bass player, and he introduced me to Nuno back in 1990. And me and Pat had some girls that we were dating; those girls were friends. That's how we met. And then cut to… I met Nuno back then and then I'd see him just once in a while, every few years. I didn't see him for 10 years, maybe. But last year we did some shows with EXTREME, and they sounded amazing. We did a festival with them in Germany the last time, and their dressing room was right next to ours. And I didn't mean any harm by it. I just said, 'Hey, is Pat in there?' Somebody goes, 'Yeah, he's in. Just go in.' And I walk in, and Nuno goes, 'Hey, Doug. Just let yourself in. No problem.' And I'm, like, 'Hey, bro. What's up?' He was joking, but he's just that kind of guy. He's just joking in a dry way.
"I think that solo was mind-blowing what he did on it. It was really cool. It was classic Nuno.
"But, yeah, with THE DEAD DAISIES we are doing something a little different. It's not based as much around the solo as it is about the vibe of the song and the groove. That's definitely this album."
"Rise" was the first single to be shared from EXTREME's latest studio album, "Six", which arrived in June 2023 via earMUSIC.
Nuno played "Rise" live with his bandmates for the first time on May 1, 2023 during EXTREME's concert aboard the Monsters Of Rock cruise.
"Rise" has seen unprecedented success following its debut on March 1, 2023 alongside a fiery music video which has received nearly five million views to date. The critically acclaimed song has earned praise from international top tier media outlets, including Consequence, Classic Rock, Music Radar and Guitar World, in addition to accolades from such fellow musical peers as Brian May (QUEEN) and radio personality Howard Stern while peaking at No. 3 on the classic rock charts.
"Light 'Em Up" will be released on September 6 via Germany's SPV and Japan's Ward Records. The LP was produced by helmed by producer and songwriter-for-hire Marti Frederiksen, who has previously collaborated with AEROSMITH, DEF LEPPARD, Jonny Lang and Sheryl Crow, among many others, in Nashville.
THE DEAD DAISIES recently lit up the US on the first leg of the "Light 'Em Up" tour to rave reviews from both fans and media alike.
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1 ñåí 2024
ANDY SCOTT Blasts Other Version Of SWEET Band Which 'Has Nothing That Ties Them To The Original' Group
 In a new interview with Metal Express Radio 's Bryce Van Patten, guitarist Andy Scott of the legendary rock band SWEET was asked about the existence of another touring and recording act called THE SWEET which contains no members from the original SWEET lineup. Andy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Steve [Priest, late SWEET bassist] was an original member. Brian [Connolly, late SWEET singer] was an original member… Well, it's not something I would've liked, but when Mick [Tucker, original SWEET drummer] and I were together from the mid-'80s — '84, '85 — if Brian could have still sung, which being the singer that he was, we would've had him back in the band. But he couldn't sing. And that's what a singer needs to do. And to be frank, you just didn't know what you were gonna get. Every time I met Brian in the '80s and the '90s, he looked different and he didn't look well. And it's a difficult thing. If he'd have looked like that and was still able to sing, it would've been different because everybody ages. But you can't go back into a situation made you move away from that in the first stage. Steve did not want to rejoin Mick and I, I found out later. He turned around to me and he said, 'I hated it by the end. So why would you think I would want to come back in and do it all again?' And I went, 'Well, I thought you were doing nothing, mate.' That would have been a good enough starting point. Come back and be with your mates. But he didn't. So we had Brian, Brian on his own going to Germany to do these oldie shows, as they were called. We had 10 lead singers and had one backing band and they'd all go up and do two or three of their hits and it was like a show for oldies. And then he found a band that would back him properly, and he was going on tour with Les Gray from MUD. But Les Graywas MUD, but Brian wasn't SWEET. So he had to go on as THE NEW SWEET, and all of a sudden I'm thinking, 'Oh, we're going down this road, are we?'"
Andy continued: "In the '90s, when [Brian] was really unwell, he said, 'I don't wanna be doing this anymore.' He said, 'I'd rather just get rid of them.' I said, 'Well, it's your band. Get rid of them.' And then I suggested to him, 'If you do that, why don't we try and work something out whereby you come and do some gigs with my band. And as a bit of a surprise — it won't be a surprise after we've done it a couple of times — you come on stage for the last half an hour and you knock the audience out.' I said, 'You don't have to be the main singer, but as long as you're doing some of it, they would love it.' And I'm afraid while we were doing this, he fell really ill and died. His latest musicians that were with him went off when he was really ill and couldn't do any gigs, they were off doing gigs that were being booked. And I remember saying, 'We have to stop that.' And luckily his family dived in and they did manage to stop that. But it's a very similar thing that's happening with Steve's band. Now, Steve came back on the road, which really surprised me, in 2010, I think it was. And we only found out because somebody from the gig that he was gonna do contacted my agent in London and said, 'We need a few more details.' And he phoned me up and he said, 'You'll never believe this, but I've had a contract through from a band called SWEET doing a gig in America.' And at the end of it, that was Steve's guitar player. He'd written his name in. And so I phoned Steve and Steve said, 'Well, yeah, we are doing a gig.' And I said, 'Well, they've sent the contract to us.' And it all went a bit quiet. And I said, 'Look, if you were trying to do it on the quiet, you'll never do it because the music business isn't like that. Somebody hears something, they'll tell somebody else.' I said, 'And I'm surprised that you didn't call me so that if you wanted to do some gigs, come and do 'em with me.' Anyway, it carried on. And I now realize that there was something else going on because it's his ex-wife or his wife, should we say — I'm not sure whether their relationship was secure while he was alive, how good it was — but she's given the rights or the okay for this backing band to carry on as THE SWEET. It's a business thing. I've even heard that the drummer talks interviews as if he was the drummer on 'The Ballroom Blitz'. So, it's a Walter Mitty thing going on," he said, referencing a fictional character in James Thurber's first short story "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty".
Elaborating on how he feels about THE SWEET — consisting of singer Patrick Alan Stone, guitarist Jimmy Burkard, bassist Stevie Stewart, keyboardist Dave Schulz and drummer Richie Onori — going out and actively touring and recording in 2024, Andy said: "If they need money, and I can't see why they would need money because they've earned as much as I have from all the recordings and everything, if that's the reason for them to still do it, I'm not sure whether it is, because I can't see that band earning the kind of money that they would need to be earning. They're not on these big tours of casinos and stuff like that. They're kind of scrabbling about. And why would anybody wanna book a band called SWEET that has nothing that ties them to the original band?"
The Scott-led version of SWEET will release its new studio album, "Full Circle", on September 20, 2024 via Metalville Records. According to a press release, the LP will be SWEET's final studio album ever.
Andy Scott (guitars/vocals) is joined in his version of SWEET by Paul Manzi (lead vocals),Lee Small (bass guitar/vocals),Tom Cory (guitars/keys/vocals) and Adam Booth (drums/percussion).
Before he died, Priest had the right to use the SWEET name in the U.S. and Canada, whereas Scott toured a version of the group in the U.K. The pair were estranged for decades, but resumed contact in the 2010s.
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1 ñåí 2024
MEGADETH's DIRK VERBEUREN On His Exercise Routine: 'I Do A Lot Of Stretching And Yoga'
 In a new interview with Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz, MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren was asked if he has any "routines and stretches and wellness things" that he has to do to prepare for a tour. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "These days, yes, I do. I do a lot of stretching and yoga, and not every day, but almost every day I do some fitness, some workouts. It's mostly just so that I'm gonna be in shape for the show and that I can give it my all without hurting myself or without getting too exhausted. That being said, the beginning of a tour is always gonna be a little bit brutal because you always need that first week to kind of acclimatize and get used to playing the whole show again, get used to playing 90 minutes of pretty much uninterrupted metal at a hundred percent. So it's always a little bit of adapting, but once you're kind of in the water, it starts getting easier over time. Like now, we're three weeks in, my body's used to it now, so now it's just about keeping it up. But, of course, when I was younger, I was, like everybody on tour, partying, drinking. Nowadays I haven't been drinking for almost 20 years now. I live pretty clean, just because I feel better that way — my body feels better, my mind feels better. I can be present every day and just give every show the best I can."
When host Darren Paltrowitz noted that "the happiest clean-living people play the angriest music", Dirk said: "I think the thing with metal music, the anger or the aggressiveness of it, it resonated with me as a teenager, because we all go through that kind of angsty phase, figuring out the world. So it really resonated with me. And not only metal, also rap and hip-hop and electronic music. There's all kinds of different things I listened to that kind of got me through that phase of kind of figuring things out. But I think that ultimately it sticks with you for the love of the music because of the musicianship and just the sheer power and energy of it. So I don't see it so much as necessarily aggression in the sense of it's aggressive towards anyone. It's more like we're expressing this energy that's in all of us because in the end, we're all the same."
MEGADETH's latest album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked MEGADETH's eighth top 10-charting album. Of "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!"'s 48,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprised 45,000, SEA units comprised 3,000 and TEA units comprised a negligible sum.
MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown to Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).
MEGADETH recently launched the North American "Destroy All Enemies" tour, produced by Live Nation. Support on the 33-city trek, which includes stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Boston and St. Louis, is coming from MUDVAYNE and ALL THAT REMAINS. The tour will run throughout the month before wrapping in Nashville, Tennessee on September 28.
Photo credit: Gornoss (courtesy of Season Of Mist) | +1 | |
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One Machine
