HALESTORM has released the official music video for "Wicked Ways", the latest single from the band's fifth studio album album, "Back From The Dead".
HALESTORM's Lzzy Hale stated about the song and the video: "In this eerie confessional…. I'm confronting the darkness inside of me, but this isn't my first time... Thanks to the vision of Dustin Haney, who is also responsible for our 'Back From The Dead' video, I return to light that darkness that I will never betray."
"Back From The Dead" was released on May 6 via Atlantic. The follow-up to 2018's "Vicious" was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, MASTODON, ALICE IN CHAINS) with co-production by Scott Stevens (SHINEDOWN, DAUGHTRY, NEW YEARS DAY).
According to a press release, "Back From The Dead" quickly evolved from songwriting exercises into a matter of survival for HALESTORM. Lzzy said: "We started writing this album about three months B.C. (Before COVID). Once we went into lockdown and were unable to perform and tour, I fell into a dark place and something of an identity crisis. This album is the story of me carving myself out of that abyss. It is a journey of navigating mental health, debauchery, survival, redemption, rediscovery, and still maintaining faith in humanity."
Last November, Lzzy told the 105.7 The Point radio station about the musical direction of the new HALESTORM material: "This album is absolutely a banger. It's on eleven. We have really just kind of exceeded all of the energy that has come before on these albums, both technically, music-wise, vocally, drum, lyric-wise. I think because of the roller-coaster ride when we were making this record, and just through the pandemic and all the different phases of that, we just kind of looked at each other, like, if the future is unknown and we don't know whether we're actually going to be out and playing these things, everything has to be, like I said, at eleven. It's HALESTORM elevated."
According to Lzzy, she and her bandmates recorded the new HALESTORM album in a different way. "This is the first time that we've ever had dual producers," she explained. "We went back with Nick Raskulinecz [who helmed 'Vicious']. And then I ended up doing my vocals with Scott Stevens from THE EXIES. He's like a brother from another mother with me. We've written together before, and we've known each other for probably just shy of a decade now. He and I, we produced and did all the vocals for [HALESTORM's recently released single] 'Back From The Dead' with each other, because I went out to L.A. And then we ended up sending it to Nick, and Nick's, like, 'This is just absolutely amazing. We have to do every song this way.' So we kind of did it differently. We ended up with the bare bones of a demo. I ended up finishing all of my vocals — like dunzo — before we ended up building the track musically. So it's kind of like building a pyramid upside down. But it ended up really just having this different energy, because what we were able to do with the lyrics and melody and all the vocals being done would really accentuate all of that — matching the theme to whatever I was singing about, but also just kind of really supporting the vocals musically when we went in to do the guitars and drums and bass. It's so crazy — it definitely has this very forward, very aggressive nature to it because of the way that we did that."
Lzzy and her brother Arejay (drums) formed the band in 1998 while in middle school. Guitarist Joe Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by bassist Josh Smith in 2004.
In December 2018, HALESTORM was nominated for a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy Award for its song "Uncomfortable". Six years earlier, the band won its first Grammy in the category of "Best Hard Rock/ Metal Performance" for "Love Bites (So Do I)".
Former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson played bass on "Let It Go", a new song from SERPENT FROM EDEN, the project spearheaded by John Goodwin. The accompanying music video for the "Ronnie Montrose/Michael Schenker-inspired rocker," which was written and produced by Goodwin, features Ellefson on guitar alongside Pauli Infantino on vocals, Mike Wright on drums and James Yates on bass.
Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH a little over a year ago after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.
David was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.
As previously reported, Ellefson and former MEGADETH guitarist Jeff Young reunited on stage on May 10 at Ultimate Jam Night, the long-running community-oriented show in residency at the famed Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California, as part of a special tribute to the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX. The event marked the first time David and Jeff had played MEGADETH songs together on stage since the U.K.'s Monsters Of Rock festival on August 20, 1988.
The Whisky A Go Go concert came four months after Ellefson and Young reunited in Los Angeles for interviews to be included in the upcoming feature-length documentary "This Was My Life: The Story Of Nick Menza". Ellefson has signed on as a co-producer of the film, and also will provide narration to guide the viewer through the exploration of the late MEGADETH drummer's life.
Last month, Ellefson told The Neurotic Guitarist that he and Young "have been working on a couple of new songs."
Ellefson, Young and another former MEGADETH guitarist, Chris Poland, will perform "a very special set of thrash classics" at the fall 2022 edition of the Days Of The Dead horror and pop culture convention, set to take place November 18-20 at Crowne Plaza O'Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. The "Days Of The Deth" performance on Saturday, November 19 will be open to anyone with a Days Of The Dead ticket. V.I.P. pass holders will have early entrance to the event.
In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Dave Mustaine, alleging the MEGADETH leader shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.
Modern Drummer magazine has uploaded multi-video of Jay Weinberg's performance of SLIPKNOT's latest single "The Chapeltown Rag" during the band's recent U.S. tour. Check it out below.
The studio version of "The Chapeltown Rag", which was released on November 5, 2021, was produced by Joe Barresi, who has previously worked with AVENGED SEVENFOLD, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and CHEVELLE, among many others.
SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor described the song to Knotfest.com as "a punisher," saying it documents what happens when the distortions of mass media circulate within the echo chambers of social media.
"It's classic SLIPKNOT," said Corey about the track, which is inspired by a Netflix documentary he watched about the Yorkshire Ripper serial killer who murdered multiple women in the West Yorkshire, United Kingdom suburb Chapeltown in the late 1970s. "And it's frenetic. But lyrically, it's coming from a point of talking about the various manipulations that can happen when social media meets media itself. And the different ways that these manipulations can try to pull us in different directions, in the fact that we're all becoming addicts to it, which is very, very dangerous."
Recorded during recent sessions for a yet-to-be-announced new album, "The Chapeltown Rag" barrels forward with the speed of a freight train derailing and incisively eviscerates Internet culture from the inside out with the scream, "When everything is god online…nothing is."
"I wasn't even sure if that part was going to be the chorus, to be honest," Corey said. "But I just love the way that the chord progression lent itself this weird, chromatic, minor vibe to it, which I had never really done before. I played with it on 'Vermilion' years ago, but I had never really given it a little more aggression. The harmony that I created for it was just so fucking weird as well that it just gives it that slight dissonant vibe, but it's also very, very melodic and hummable. Writing and pulling yourself out of trying to keep it in some sort of structure allows you to just fucking rip the scab off and let the wound be what it is. Then obviously, the big breakdown at the end where it just fucking goes off the rails is is so heavy, dude."
Earlier this week, SLIPKNOT announced the fall leg of the "Knotfest Roadshow 2022" tour. Produced by Live Nation, the run — featuring support from horror-themed metal maestros ICE NINE KILLS and metalcore titans CROWN THE EMPIRE — will kick off on September 20 in Nashville, Tennessee and hit an additional eight cities before culminating in Irvine, California on October 7.
2021 marked a banner year for SLIPKNOT. Making a triumphant return to the road, "Knotfest Roadshow 2021" tour sold out amphitheaters across the country, bookended with the record-breaking Knotfest Iowa and the biggest headline show of SLIPKNOT's career, Knotfest Los Angeles at Banc of California Stadium, where they debuted their first new music in two years — the aforementioned "The Chapeltown Rag". In addition, they topped the bills of multiple, internationally renowned festivals, including Riot Fest, Rocklahoma, Inkcarceration, Welcome To Rockville and more.
In February, Taylor told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about the musical direction of the new SLIPKNOT material: "It's really killer, man. It's darker than 'We Are Not Your Kind', but there's a ton of melody. I've been telling everybody that it's like a heavier version of 'Vol. 3[: (The Subliminal Verses)]'. It's got so many textures and layers. The heavy stuff has attack but the melodic stuff you can just sink your teeth in; there's a lot of great melodies and hooks. I'm really, really excited for people to hear it."
"We Are Not Your Kind" was released in August 2019. The LP sold 118,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Furthermore, the album made an impact worldwide with No. 1 debuts in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and Finland, as well as Top 5 debuts in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and New Zealand.
Lacuna Coil have released a music video for the new version of "Tight Rope", to be featured on Comalies XX, out on October 14 via Century Media Records. The Trilathera-directed clip can be viewed below,.
Back in 2002, Lacuna Coil released an album which is now undeniably an anthem laden millennial classic that established them as a band with the stamina to go the distance and much of the climbing that still lay ahead back then. Now, 20 years later, Lacunca Coil decided to revisit the songs, but not to just re-record the songs as they were, but deconstruct and transport them into 2022.
“This is not a reboot or a spin-off or anything like that,’ says vocalist Cristina Scabbia. “We just wanted to give these songs a 2022 dress and see how this guy or girl who was born 20 years ago would still look fucking slick in 2022.”
Florida/Georgia-based rockers Voodoo Moonshine - a “bluesy groove rock band” - are back with a new single and video from their latest album, Bottom Of The Barrel. The song, “Give It To Me”, came about when Jeff Losawyer (the founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist of Voodoo Moonshine) was traveling from Oklahoma to Memphis, TN to write and record for the album that became Bottom Of The Barrel. Losawyer was sitting in his hotel room with his dog Daisy eating Taco Bell, and the thought of one-night stands came to mind and became the song’s lyrical inspiration.
“We were in search of a location to shoot the video,” recalls Losawyer about the song’s video clip. “We were having a hard time finding the perfect spot. We were looking for an old abandoned building or warehouse. We were about a week out when The Barn in Sanford was referred to us. Our first thought was ‘A country bar to shoot a rock video?!’ We checked out the photo's online, and we thought it would be a pretty neat place to do a shoot. When we got to Florida, the day before the shoot we went to check out the location and that's when everything started to fall into place. Who would have thought you could actually line dance to our rock song, ‘Give It to Me’?”
The video for the song (which the guitarist describes as “a more radio friendly danceable song, and pop rock compared to the others”) can be viewed below:
Voodoo Moonshine was formed in Memphis, TN in 2003 by Losawyer. The debut album, Decade Of Decay, was released in March 2005, and was well received throughout Europe. A tour was booked, including shows in England, Ireland, and Scotland. Due to the album’s success they were voted “Number One Band” seven times in England, and six times in Japan. In mid 2005, Voodoo Moonshine was introduced in Dublin, Ireland and quickly became one of the top three requested bands there.
Their debut received rave reviews in many music publications. 2006 saw the band’s popularity continue to rise, and rock radio around the world stood up and took notice. Voodoo Moonshine could be heard in Portugal, Greece, Canada and of course, at home in America. Many times during the year, the band’s songs charted ahead of some of rock's so-called heavy hitters, like Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Guns N Roses and the Scorpions. The album Decade of Decay continued to do extremely well deep into 2007, more than two full years after its release. As the year wound down, the band took some much needed, and well deserved, time off. This eventually led to Losawyer working on a solo album. Jeff continued to write music during this time, and never gave up his passion to play.
Fast forward, and suddenly 12 years had passed. Interestingly enough, he heard Pedro Espada singing in a YouTube video and really liked what he heard. He took a chance and reached out to Pedro to see if he would be interested in singing some of his songs. Initially he didn’t receive a very warm response. As a matter of fact, he was mostly ignored, but he knew he had found the right man for the job, so he was persistent. His persistence paid off and Jeff was invited to Daytona Beach Bike Week 2018 to jam with Pedro and his bandmates of Rockit Fly. Needless to say, things went well with Pedro, former Nova Rex member Eddie Cruise and Hector Acevedo, merging together to bring back Voodoo Moonshine.
And it turns out Voodoo Moonshine already have plans to support their new single/video. “Future plans...shows, shows and shows. Fans can expect a set of big energy versatile songs that everyone should like. Working on songs for the next album already and continued growth of the band and fan base.”
Voodoo Moonshine lineup:
Pedro Espada - vocals
Jeff Losawyer - guitar
Hector Acevedo - bass
Eddie Cruise - drums
Dead Cross, the four-headed Hydra featuring Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, Justin Pearson and Michael Crain, return with the abrasive 9-song album, II, on October 28 via Ipecac Recordings.
The album, while both a raucous hardcore collection, and at times, a politically-charged opus, has its roots in friendship, with the band rallying together after Crain received a surprise cancer diagnosis.
"Words can’t even begin to describe how much this album means to me. It’s birthed of pain and uncertainty,” explains Crain. “The slow, excruciatingly painful, and nauseating recovery from cancer treatments were the catalyst for every riff and note on this album. However, my will to live and be with my brothers Justin, Dave, Mike, and co-producer Ross Robinson, got me out of bed and running into the studio every day to get it all on tape.”
The news of II’s impending arrival is accompanied by the release of “Reign Of Error,” and its Displaced/Replaced-created video (see below).
“’Reign Of Error’ was recorded almost as quickly as it was written and I believe there’s a very good explanation for it,” adds Crain. “I haven’t told anybody this before, least of all the rest of the band or Ross, but I honestly felt a strong presence in the studio that day. Those riffs flew out of me and when Dave sat down at his kit it was almost as if we’d played that song a thousand times before. It literally just happened so fast. Bam! One take. I’m not trying to paint a dark or fantasy-like story either. Having just escaped death and still healing from my cancer treatments I was incredibly sensitive to energy and the other side. There was someone else there. Not evil but benevolent and inspiring. I honestly believe it was Dave’s old bandmate and friend Jeff. I think he just wanted to jam with his friend again and perhaps did so through me. There I said it. Whether people believe it or not I really don’t care. I’m just grateful that I had that experience.”
II will be available in several limited-edition physical formats:
· CD digipak
· Counterfeit Gold vinyl
· Indie retail exclusive Glass Coffin vinyl
· Ipecac webstore exclusive Pee Tape vinyl (limited to 500)
· Three One G webstore exclusive Ash Wednesday vinyl (limited to 500)
· Revolver exclusive Upper Crust vinyl (limited to 300)
· Black cassette (limited to 400)
· Gold cassette (limited to 100)
Lonely Robot, the project masterminded by vocalist, guitarist & producer John Mitchell, recently announced the release of their fifth studio album A Model Life on August 26, 2022. Today, sees the launch of the second track taken from the album, accompanied by a unique video conceptualised by John himself.
Watch the clip for “The Island Of Misfit Toys” below.
John comments: “This song was in part inspired by all the broken and initially terrifying mutilated toys in the Toy Story film. It’s an ode to misfits the world over. We’re never going to be cool or fit in, so best give us our own island. Somewhere in the Caribbean would be nice!”
An album that brims with frustration at the state of things, while tugging remorselessly at the heart strings, A Model Life is plainly the most honest and vulnerable Lonely Robot record to date. From opener Recalibrating, which muses on the aftermath of a broken relationship, and Digital God Machine – a sardonic tribute to keyboard warriors everywhere, to the boys-don’t-cry pathos of Rain Kings and the absurdly moving, adoption-themed Duty Of Care, these new songs provide a scattershot but profoundly emotional soundtrack to a restless and uncertain world.
John comments: “Making A Model Life was very much a lifeline and indeed wake up call at the end of a particularly personally challenging couple of years. Creating it made me realise that ultimately, life is impermanent and the one true thing that gives me a focus and anchor is and has always been music. Long may that be the case.”
The album will be available as Limited CD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP+CD & as Digital Album. Pre-order here.
Tracklisting:
"Recalibrating"
"Digital God Machine"
"Species In Transition"
"Starlit Stardust"
"The Island Of Misfit Toys"
"A Model Life"
"Mandalay"
"Rain Kings"
"Duty Of Care"
"In Memoriam"
"The Island Of Misfit Toys" video:
"Recalibrating" lyric video:
A lone soldier on the frontlines of creativity, John Mitchell has been at the forefront of forward-thinking and progressive rock for decades now. As a member of such revered prog ensembles as It Bites, Arena, Frost* and his own projects Kino and The Urbane, he has become a uniquely vital contributor to the modern scene, while his credentials as a producer for countless contemporary rock acts are unquestionable. But since 2015, John has been operating under name Lonely Robot: a solo project in all but name, it has enabled him to fully express his own musical vision, via some of the most vivid and fascinating music of his career to date.
Frontiers announces the release of Lunarian's debut album, Burn The Beauty, on September 9. Lunarian is a new musical endeavour centred around vocalist/songwriter, Ailyn.
Burn The Beauty is a showcase for the immense voice of Ailyn, which she has displayed in her work with Trail Of Tears, Sirenia, Her Chariot Awaits (her project with Mike Orlando of Adrenaline Mob), Heart Healer (Magnus Karlsson's rock-metal opera), and more.
A new single and music video, "Dream Catcher" is out today. Pre-order/save Burn The Beauty here, and watch the music video below.
For Lunarian, Ailyn teamed up with producer Aldo Lonobile (Secret Sphere, Archon Angel, Sweet Oblivion) to write songs for an engaging, mesmerizing symphonic metal album. And that is exactly what you get with Burn The Beauty.
Spanish singer/songwriter Ailyn has been performing professionally since the early '00s. She started off as a solo artist before becoming the lead vocalist of the popular Norwegian symphonic metal act Sirenia. Ailyn was a member of Sirenia until 2016, releasing four albums with them. She then took a short hiatus from her musical career before announcing her return with Her Chariot Awaits, a collaboration with Adrenaline Mob guitarist Mike Orlando. The band released one album, a self-titled debut via Frontiers Music Srl. Since 2020, she has also been working with Norwegian gothic/symphonic black metal band Trail Of Tears as well, handling soprano vocals for the band.
In working with Frontiers on Her Chariot Awaits, Ailyn and the label developed a good working relationship and eventually brought her together with producer Aldo Lonobile to discuss the possibility of making a more symphonic metal sounding album compared to the contemporary hard rock sound of Her Chariot Awaits. AIlyn headed to Italy to work with Aldo and record her vocals and thus Burn The Beauty by Lunarian came to life.
DEF LEPPARD has released the sixth in a series of behind-the-scenes episodes from "The Stadium Tour", which kicked off on June 16 in Atlanta, Georgia. Episode 6 takes you to the stages at Detroit and Hershey, and shares more guitar stories, a new song on the setlist, singer Joe Elliott's performance of "Pour Some Sugar With Me" with Billy Joel, and more.
In the five-minute clip, which can be seen below, bassist Rick Savage — known to all simply as Sav — reflected on the Detroit gig, saying: "Wow, Detroit. What a show. The crowd was fantastic. There was just a great energy about the set. Just within the stadium, from the get-go, right from the start, it was, like, bang! And we were with the crowd. The crowd with us all the way. And it just kept going like that — it just kept going up and up and up and up."
He continued: "It was just a great night — absolute great night. It's one of those nights where it reminds you what a great job I've got — it reminds me what a great job I've got.
"Playing in a band like this is just fantastic. And every so often you have a night like tonight that just jogs your memory and [you] go, 'I've got the best job in the world.' And it was because it was fantastic."
The veteran British rockers are co-headlining "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, with support from POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS.
DEF LEPPARD's set on the tour includes some of the band's biggest hits, such as "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Photograph" and "Rock Of Ages" — as well as songs from the group's latest album, "Diamond Star Halos", among them "Kick" and "Fire It Up".
DEF LEPPARD's long-delayed North American trek was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022. "The Stadium Tour" will conclude on September 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"The Stadium Tour" marks the CRÜE's first live dates since wrapping its 2014/2015 farewell tour. CRÜE toured with POISON back in 2011 and DEF LEPPARD teamed up with POISON for a string of road dates in 2017, but this jaunt marks the first time all four acts have hit the road together for an extended tour.
In May 2021, DEF LEPPARD drummer Rick Allen told "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that promoters "made the right decision" by postponing "The Stadium Tour" for a second time. "I think the primary focus has gotta be people's health and well-being," he said. "So I understand why they made that decision. I think if we had gone out [in 2021], it may have been a bit more of a patchwork of a tour as opposed to being able to play the whole thing from start to finish. So, it's a bummer, but here we are."
Allen went on to say that he and his DEF LEPPARD bandmates were disappointed that they wouldn't be able to perform live again in the U.S. until 2022. "We're really bummed, 'cause, obviously, we wanted to get out there," he said. "It's been a long time. And I know — our fans are so loyal. It's incredible. The fact that we got the largest vote for the [Rock And Roll] Hall Of Fame — the fan vote. So our fans are just particularly special; I mean, they've always been a rock. So I feel for them. And I feel for us. But I just want people to come out and be safe."
In July 2021, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx told the 95.5 KLOS radio station that his band and DEF LEPPARD "might even drag" the same tour "to Europe, South America, Japan," but he cautioned, "We don't know yet. Right now it's a little far off. But us and DEF LEPPARD are super close; that's great. And we'll just see what version of 'The Stadium Tour' might fit for other countries, if we decide to go. Maybe it'll be the same lineup. I know people are super stoked for the lineup. It's a good outdoor fun party evening."
SLIPKNOT will release its new album, "The End, So Far", on September 30 via Roadrunner. The official music video for the LP's new single, "The Dying Song (Time To Sing)", can be seen below. Directed by the band's own M. Shawn "Clown" Crahan, the clip sees one of the world's most popular and deeply enigmatic bands relentlessly charting new ground as they continue to redefine, revitalize, and reimagine the scope of rock music.
Speaking about the forthcoming album, Crahan asserted: "New Music, new art, and new beginnings. Get ready for the end."
Produced by SLIPKNOT and Joe Barresi, "The End, So Far" is available for pre-order today with several vinyl variants available at Slipknot1.com. "The End, So Far" includes the band’s 2021 surprise single "The Chapeltown Rag" and follows their widely celebrated 2019 album "We Are Not Your Kind", which marked SLIPKNOT's third consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The release made a massive global impact with No. 1 debuts in the official album charts of twelve countries around the world, including the U.K., Australia, Canada and Mexico, with Top 5 debuts in an additional twelve countries including Germany, France and Sweden.
In February, singer Corey Taylor told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about the musical direction of the new SLIPKNOT material: "It's really killer, man. It's darker than 'We Are Not Your Kind', but there's a ton of melody. I've been telling everybody that it's like a heavier version of 'Vol. 3[: (The Subliminal Verses)]'. It's got so many textures and layers. The heavy stuff has attack but the melodic stuff you can just sink your teeth in; there's a lot of great melodies and hooks. I'm really, really excited for people to hear it."
In March, SLIPKNOT drummer Jay Weinberg told Wisconsin's WZOR (Razor 94.7/104.7) radio station about the musical direction of the band's next LP.: "I would say we kind of turned up the dials on experimentation. And there's some new things happening that are really exciting, really interesting, stuff that maybe I wouldn't have even expected us to pull out of our hat. We've got a song that's like the heaviest blues song on earth, and stuff like that that's super exciting to hear what the guys are doing. Then, once we're working on the instrumental for a while, then we get to hear what Corey brings to the table and how that elevates things and turns things into newer and better and whatever… It's very exciting to hear that kind of taking shape. But, man, there's so much in it that is trademark SLIPKNOT. We're not gonna get away from that; we can't escape that even if we wanted to. There are certain things that are just touchstones of what we are, and I think we're really happy with that. And the fact that we can try to find new ways of presenting those elements — the loud, the fast, the abrasive, the discordant, all that is there for sure. And that's really exciting. I think [last year's single] 'The Chapeltown Rag' is a great example of that. I think that's a song that's us kind of at peak energy and chaos. But what also really excites me is the way that we push things in experimental ways without questioning it. It's just kind of, like, 'This is what we wanna do. And people can take it or leave it. We don't really care.' Like on our last record, 'Spiders' was a great example of a song that is totally out of no playbook of SLIPKNOT's, but we make it SLIPKNOT. I think now that we're kind of in this final stage of mixing this album, I think I'm confident in saying that we just kind of turned up the dials on all that experimentation. And there's some really, really new stuff that's super exciting. And I hope it makes its way onto the stage soon. It's gonna be exciting to share."
Asked how songs come together during the SLIPKNOT writing process, Jay said: "In a myriad of ways. There's really no one set formula for anything that happens. I think the one thing that we can all expect when we embark on making a new album — 'cause it takes so much, it takes so much time and energy and thought — the one thing, I think, that we try to maintain is that each process is pretty different. We wanna push ourselves, and the only way you're gonna push yourself is to change it up, make yourself uncomfortable in situations so you can become comfortable in those situations. And so I think pushing what we do to the extreme — you wanna kind of level up, for lack of a better term, each time you kind of go back to the drawing table."
He continued: "Now, after [making] three records [with SLIPKNOT], I know there are certain patterns of the way that we work together and our musical chemistry and the trust that's there. 'Cause we're all kind of trusting each other to make the greatest thing possible. So that could start with a lyric, it could start with a guitar riff, it could start with a drum beat, it could start with something that Sid [Wilson, turntablist] pulls from outer space. There's a million different ways to go about it.
"My first record with the band, '[.5:] The Gray Chapter' [2014], was very much like… I'm very proud of it, but I can tell in it, it was a lot of getting up to speed and really feeling out my new bandmates. 'Cause I joined the band and literally the next day we were working on demos for that record. Then so much of it is informed by our live show. I find that when we went in to make 'We Are Not Your Kind', so much of what we were doing was informed by how our natural musical chemistry is and how we are on stage, really, I feel, made it into that record. And then making this record, I think, was kind of just following more down that wormhole. And working with new people. This time around, we were able to work with [producer] Joe Barresi, which was an exciting time. I loved working with Greg Fidelman, who did our last two records, but working with Joe this time was different and a lot of fun. And yeah, the creation is just so thorough and it takes so much of all of us. It's so much more than I could have ever expected, being an outsider of the band and now having made three records. It's a gnarly experience that tests everybody, but I think the music, at the end of the day, kind of speaks for itself. And we're very happy with it."
"The End, So Far" track listing:
01. Adderall
02. The Dying Song (Time To Sing)
03. The Chapeltown Rag
04. Yen
05. Hivemind
06. Warranty
07. Medicine For The Dead
08. Acidic
09. Heirloom
10. H377
11. De Sade
12. Finale
Sumerlands have returned from the astral plane with another powerful collection of timeless, hooked filled hits: Dreamkiller. In the driver’s seat is renowned producer and guitarist Arthur Rizk who polished these eight metallic gems at Philadelphia’s Redwood Studios with his brothers in Sumerlands. Coming off of recent production credits with Kreator, Soulfly, and Show Me The Body, Rizk needs no introduction. His past work and expertise behind the boards with Power Trip, Ghostemane, Code Orange’s Grammy nominated album, Forever, Sacred Reich and many others have blown minds for over a decade. But it’s Sumerlands that truly fulfills his dream of melancholic chug.
The Sabbath-inspired haze of their 2016 S/T debut has been turbocharged with bigger riffs, distinct, Jan Hammer worthy synths, and forays into Badlands gone doom. But although doom crackles at the edges of Dreamkiller, this is classic, melodic metal forged with the melodrama of the Scorpions, the emotional heft of Foreigner, with an extra dose of depression.
The album’s galloping lead single and title track “Dreamkiller”, available now, is an uptempo tour de force with an instrumental break and a festival-worthy chorus.
Rizk elaborates: “The ‘Dreamkiller’ instrumental section was inspired by Elton John’s ‘Funeral For A Friend’ which has the most evil sounding Bach-like guitar harmonies. I was drawing from the epicness of that song, as well as Judas Priest’s ‘Stained Class’ and Billy Joel’s ‘Movin’ Out’ which to me all typify that big 70s sound.”
Watch the "Dreamkiller" music video below.
The band’s alchemy is on full display throughout Dreamkiller as bassist Brad Raub (Eternal Champion) smirks behind his P-Bass while drummer Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms, Dream Unending) stares you dead in the face, swinging. New vocalist Brendan Radigan (Pagan Altar, Magic Circle) sings strikingly of lost souls in a world gone mad. Rizk and guitarist John Powers (Eternal Champion) keep their “Strats only” policy intact while wheeling in the full Marshall stacks to douse the record in glorious solos (witness the album closing duel of “Death to Mercy”).
Make no mistake, Dreamkiller is full of traditional metal fuel. After an amicable split with original vocalist Phil Swanson, Sumerlands have dug deeper into their secret well of cathartic riffage to soundtrack a planet “Running in circles as the bells, they chime.” Sing along, dream along, Dreamkiller kills ‘em all!
Dreamkiller sees its release on September 16 via Relapse Records. The physical pre-order is available here, and to pre-save or listen on digital platforms, go here.
Tracklisting:
"Twilight Points The Way"
"Heavens Above"
"Dreamkiller"
"Night Ride"
"Edge Of The Knife"
"Force Of A Storm"
"The Savior’s Lie"
"Death To Mercy"
"Dreamkiller" video:
Sumerlands is:
Brendan Radigan (Vocals)
Justin DeTore (Drums)
John Powers (Guitar)
Brad Raub (Bass)
Arthur Rizk (Guitar/Synth)
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