Musicians Institute College of Contemporary Music (MI) has announced legendary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame artist Alice Cooper as the keynote speaker for its commencement ceremony on March 17 at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, California.
"Alice Cooper is a rock and roll icon and we are thrilled to have him as our keynote speaker," said Tom Engfer, Senior Director of Education at Musicians Institute. "His years of experience as a groundbreaking, innovative musician will provide our students with invaluable insight into the music industry."
Musicians Institute has established itself as a world leader in contemporary music education, providing cutting-edge resources in its state of the art facilities located right in the heart of Hollywood, the capital of the world music industry. Its dynamic curriculum is current, comprehensive and compatible with the needs of students who not only desire to study music, but also build a career in the music industry with the knowledge they learn on-campus.
"Alice Cooper is a rock and roll icon and we are thrilled to have him as our keynote speaker," said Tom Engfer, Senior Director of Education at Musicians Institute. "His years of experience as a groundbreaking, innovative musician will provide our students with invaluable insight into the music industry."
Musicians Institute has established itself as a world leader in contemporary music education, providing cutting-edge resources in its state of the art facilities located right in the heart of Hollywood, the capital of the world music industry. Its dynamic curriculum is current, comprehensive and compatible with the needs of students who not only desire to study music, but also build a career in the music industry with the knowledge they learn on-campus.
MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil has revealed to Robin Leach of the Las Vegas Sun that the band will be co-headlining a massive U.S. tour with KISS from July through September. Expect the official announcement from Los Angeles next week.
"It's going to be really cool because KISS is bringing their full stage show, and MÖTLEY will be bringing our full stage show, so you are going to see two huge headliners at the same time," Vince said. "It's going to be one of the biggest tours of the summer, if not the biggest."
MÖTLEY CRÜE recently entered drummer Tommy Lee's studio called The Atrium in Calabasas, California to begin recording a new song that will be released to coincide with the band's upcoming tour.
MÖTLEY CRÜE's latest studio album, "Saints of Los Angeles", sold 99,000 copies in the United States during its first week of release. The CD was CRÜE's first studio album since 2000's "New Tattoo", which has sold over 200,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The band's previous studio effort with all of its original members was 1997's "Generation Swine", which debuted and peaked at No. 4 on The Billboard 200, and has sold more than 300,000 units.
KISS has completed recording its new album, "Monster", for a late spring release. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "It's A Long Way Down", "Back To The Stone Age", "Shout Mercy", "Out Of This World", "Wall Of Sound" and "Hell Or Hallelujah".
KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley recently admitted that he's never surprised by how deep KISS' fan devotion continues to run worldwide. "It really for me, resoundingly once again, I guess validates for me why this band exists," he told The Pulse Of Radio. "It's not a tepid recreation of the past, it's really an ageless beast that dominates at will. It's timeless."
"It's going to be really cool because KISS is bringing their full stage show, and MÖTLEY will be bringing our full stage show, so you are going to see two huge headliners at the same time," Vince said. "It's going to be one of the biggest tours of the summer, if not the biggest."
MÖTLEY CRÜE recently entered drummer Tommy Lee's studio called The Atrium in Calabasas, California to begin recording a new song that will be released to coincide with the band's upcoming tour.
MÖTLEY CRÜE's latest studio album, "Saints of Los Angeles", sold 99,000 copies in the United States during its first week of release. The CD was CRÜE's first studio album since 2000's "New Tattoo", which has sold over 200,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The band's previous studio effort with all of its original members was 1997's "Generation Swine", which debuted and peaked at No. 4 on The Billboard 200, and has sold more than 300,000 units.
KISS has completed recording its new album, "Monster", for a late spring release. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "It's A Long Way Down", "Back To The Stone Age", "Shout Mercy", "Out Of This World", "Wall Of Sound" and "Hell Or Hallelujah".
KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley recently admitted that he's never surprised by how deep KISS' fan devotion continues to run worldwide. "It really for me, resoundingly once again, I guess validates for me why this band exists," he told The Pulse Of Radio. "It's not a tepid recreation of the past, it's really an ageless beast that dominates at will. It's timeless."
Orion Custom Car + Motorcycle Show, curated by METALLICA frontman James Hetfield, will be part of Orion Music + More, the two-day festival created by METALLICA, set to take place June 23-24 at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Over 300 of the best customs, hot rods, muscle cars and custom motorcycles will be on display at the Orion Custom Car + Motorcycle Show inside the festival grounds throughout the weekend. Orion ticket holders can check out incredible machines from across the world, including celebrity cars in the Primo Palace like James Hetfield's 1936 Auburn Roadster Slow Burn Kustom and 1937 Lincoln Zephyr Voodoo Priest Kustom by styler and builder Rick Dore.
Awards will be given out for Best in Show for each category: Customs, Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, and Custom Motorcycles. Plus, festival goers can cast their votes for the Fan Favorite.
For more information, go to this location.
An entire stage devoted to punk and thrash music — Damage Inc. Stage — will be headlined by SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and SEPULTURA, and will feature up-and-comers TORCHE, RED FANG, KYNG, LANDMINE MARATHON, BLACK TUSK, THY WILL BE DONE, and more.
Orion Music + More will feature multiple live music stages plus a lifestyle element that reflects each of METALLICA's bandmembers' many personal interests. METALLICA will headline both nights of Orion Music + More and play "The Black Album" in its entirety one night and "Ride The Lightning" in its entirety the other. This will be the only time the band will perform these albums in North America in 2012.
Orion Music + More has also just launched a complete web site where fans are able to explore the full Orion Music + More lineup by clicking any band name for a bio, video, streaming music and more. They will also be able to use the Custom Scheduler to make their own personalized lineup.
Tickets for Orion Music + More are currently on sale for $150 for a two-day pass including all fees. Visit www.orionmusicandmore.com to buy tickets.
Orion Music + More scheduled performers:
METALLICA
ARCTIC MONKEYS
AVENGED SEVENFOLD
MODEST MOUSE
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
ERIC CHURCH
CAGE THE ELEPHANT
FUCKED UP
THE JIM BREUER HEAVY METAL COMEDY TOUR
BEST COAST
HOT SNAKES TITUS ANDRONICUS
GARY CLARK JR.
LUCERO
ROKY ERICKSON
THE BLACK ANGELS
THE SWORD
WOODEN SHJIPS
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
LITURGY
SOUL REBELS
Damage Inc. Stage
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
SEPULTURA
TORCHE
RED FANG
KYNG
LANDMINE MARATHON
BLACK TUSK
THY WILL BE DONE
Over 300 of the best customs, hot rods, muscle cars and custom motorcycles will be on display at the Orion Custom Car + Motorcycle Show inside the festival grounds throughout the weekend. Orion ticket holders can check out incredible machines from across the world, including celebrity cars in the Primo Palace like James Hetfield's 1936 Auburn Roadster Slow Burn Kustom and 1937 Lincoln Zephyr Voodoo Priest Kustom by styler and builder Rick Dore.
Awards will be given out for Best in Show for each category: Customs, Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, and Custom Motorcycles. Plus, festival goers can cast their votes for the Fan Favorite.
For more information, go to this location.
An entire stage devoted to punk and thrash music — Damage Inc. Stage — will be headlined by SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and SEPULTURA, and will feature up-and-comers TORCHE, RED FANG, KYNG, LANDMINE MARATHON, BLACK TUSK, THY WILL BE DONE, and more.
Orion Music + More will feature multiple live music stages plus a lifestyle element that reflects each of METALLICA's bandmembers' many personal interests. METALLICA will headline both nights of Orion Music + More and play "The Black Album" in its entirety one night and "Ride The Lightning" in its entirety the other. This will be the only time the band will perform these albums in North America in 2012.
Orion Music + More has also just launched a complete web site where fans are able to explore the full Orion Music + More lineup by clicking any band name for a bio, video, streaming music and more. They will also be able to use the Custom Scheduler to make their own personalized lineup.
Tickets for Orion Music + More are currently on sale for $150 for a two-day pass including all fees. Visit www.orionmusicandmore.com to buy tickets.
Orion Music + More scheduled performers:
METALLICA
ARCTIC MONKEYS
AVENGED SEVENFOLD
MODEST MOUSE
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
ERIC CHURCH
CAGE THE ELEPHANT
FUCKED UP
THE JIM BREUER HEAVY METAL COMEDY TOUR
BEST COAST
HOT SNAKES TITUS ANDRONICUS
GARY CLARK JR.
LUCERO
ROKY ERICKSON
THE BLACK ANGELS
THE SWORD
WOODEN SHJIPS
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
LITURGY
SOUL REBELS
Damage Inc. Stage
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
SEPULTURA
TORCHE
RED FANG
KYNG
LANDMINE MARATHON
BLACK TUSK
THY WILL BE DONE
"They had me looking at things differently than I usually would. Ideas started to untangle and we got into areas of writing that seemed fresh and exciting," Nikki Sixx wrote in his photography book This Is Gonna Hurt, referring to his collaboration with Sixx:AM bandmates Dj Ashba and James Michael. "Their talent inspired me like nothing else had in years". Those are strong words coming from someone who helped bring Motley Crue out of the Sunset Strip gutter and into the hierarchy of Arena rock super-stardom. But his belief in his songwriting partners propelled this little band that was only supposed to create a soundtrack to Sixx's drug addiction into a formidable entity all their own and Dj Ashba was a major ingredient to its individual sound.
Raised by a religious mother who played piano helped spark Ashba's creativity despite the obstacles that type of upbringing caused. He started playing piano, then drums, then guitar and eventually moved out to the devil's playground of LA where he joined the Bulletboys and impressed Nikki Sixx, who was starting up a sideband of his own. Now one of hard rock's premier talents, Ashba is a busy man. On top of all the music he creates, he has his own line of clothing, Ashba Swag, and a media company he is building into an empire. Dj Ashba is more than a name. It's a freaky, exciting way of life.
Last month, Ashba took the time to talk with Glide about his early days growing up in small-town America, egging his principal's house, decorating for prom and gearing up for more touring and recording with not only Guns N Roses but Sixx:AM as well.
What have you been doing today?
(laughs) Well, I just bought a house in Vegas and we just finished wiring up the studio here. So now the house is finally done and it's kind of back to work for me.
So what are you going to do in that shiny new house with all that new wiring and everything?
Make a lot of music (laughs)
Does this include new music with Sixx:AM?
We're writing around the clock right now for that so I'm all set up and working on new songs for Guns and yeah, everything's good.
You came from kind of a religious family. How did you discover rock & roll?
You know what's weird? My mom is a classical piano teacher so before I could even reach the pedals on it from the piano bench I was playing piano. I started when I was about three. So even though it was a very religious family, I grew up without TVs and stuff, my mom was a big music influence on me. She was huge into Elvis so I grew up kind of cutting my teeth on all the old Elvis songs.So I guess that's where it kind of started.
You've mentioned that you started playing piano when you were really young and you played drums when you were really young also. But what else did you like to do? You're pretty mischievous now so I can only imagine what you were like then.
(laughs) Yeah, I was always in trouble. I was the kid that was always kind of the neighborhood terror, just always in trouble.Cops were always over at the house. I was just ornery, I guess. I was probably more bored of being in a little tiny town than anything so to keep my mind busy I was always just a menace, I guess (laughs)
So what would you say was the most mischievous thing you did?
One thing I can remember is I was out in the garage, my dad was an amazing builder, he was a cabinet maker, and I saw him working on the car one day.And he had this little tool that popped out like the inner stem of the tire and it flattened it right away. So I watched where he put it away and I thought that would be great to go flatten a bunch of neighbors' tires that night (laughs). Evidently, one of the neighbors saw me doing it and I spent the whole summer delivering papers to buy everybody tires. I kind of learned a hard lesson.
When did piano and drums turn into guitars?
Well, my mom made me practice piano so I never liked playing piano when I was young cause it was something I had to do. Then I started playing drums when I was probably six and I was just banging on everything. I'd set up like garbage cans and buckets and anything I could beat on. Then I was in the little high school pep band, I think it was called, and I would always break my sticks at home on garbage cans and come back and I'd have no sticks for the class. So they ended up basically letting me go from that class cause I never had drumsticks to play (laughs).
Then that got frustrating so I detasseled corn all summer and I was turned on to people like Eddie Van Halen and people like that and it just kind of changed my life when I heard guitar. It was just something that my mom was kind of against. Nobody really was for me playing guitar so it was one of those things where it was kind of cool. This is something my mom will never make me practice so it made me want to play it more, you know. So I first started playing guitar when I was about nine.
What was your first guitar?
It was a white Flying V. It was a Harmony and I bought it out of the Sears catalog for like $189. I detasseled corn all summer long to be able to afford it. I remember for the first probably three years I didn't know what a chord was. But I would look forward to going to detassel corn every morning. I'd get on the bus and there was a little tiny local band in Indiana that I always looked up to cause they could play guitars and it was just so cool. I remember my buddy, who was a guitar player in that little band, he used to take a pocket knife and carve a fretboard on the back of the seat and he'd poke three holes in it and he'd go, "That's an A chord. Go home and practice that". And I couldn't wait to get home. I hit the A chord and I remember going "Holy shit". And I couldn't wait to get back to work the next day to learn another chord. That was kind of the way I learned the basic chords and then just kind of took it from there.
What was the first rock song you learned to play?
I think it was "Peter Gunn",dadumdadumdadum, whatever that was. I think that was pretty much the first riff that I ever played. And then I think "Smoke On The Water" was a close second. Cause those were really easy for beginner guitarists to play.
Raised by a religious mother who played piano helped spark Ashba's creativity despite the obstacles that type of upbringing caused. He started playing piano, then drums, then guitar and eventually moved out to the devil's playground of LA where he joined the Bulletboys and impressed Nikki Sixx, who was starting up a sideband of his own. Now one of hard rock's premier talents, Ashba is a busy man. On top of all the music he creates, he has his own line of clothing, Ashba Swag, and a media company he is building into an empire. Dj Ashba is more than a name. It's a freaky, exciting way of life.
Last month, Ashba took the time to talk with Glide about his early days growing up in small-town America, egging his principal's house, decorating for prom and gearing up for more touring and recording with not only Guns N Roses but Sixx:AM as well.
What have you been doing today?
(laughs) Well, I just bought a house in Vegas and we just finished wiring up the studio here. So now the house is finally done and it's kind of back to work for me.
So what are you going to do in that shiny new house with all that new wiring and everything?
Make a lot of music (laughs)
Does this include new music with Sixx:AM?
We're writing around the clock right now for that so I'm all set up and working on new songs for Guns and yeah, everything's good.
You came from kind of a religious family. How did you discover rock & roll?
You know what's weird? My mom is a classical piano teacher so before I could even reach the pedals on it from the piano bench I was playing piano. I started when I was about three. So even though it was a very religious family, I grew up without TVs and stuff, my mom was a big music influence on me. She was huge into Elvis so I grew up kind of cutting my teeth on all the old Elvis songs.So I guess that's where it kind of started.
You've mentioned that you started playing piano when you were really young and you played drums when you were really young also. But what else did you like to do? You're pretty mischievous now so I can only imagine what you were like then.
(laughs) Yeah, I was always in trouble. I was the kid that was always kind of the neighborhood terror, just always in trouble.Cops were always over at the house. I was just ornery, I guess. I was probably more bored of being in a little tiny town than anything so to keep my mind busy I was always just a menace, I guess (laughs)
So what would you say was the most mischievous thing you did?
One thing I can remember is I was out in the garage, my dad was an amazing builder, he was a cabinet maker, and I saw him working on the car one day.And he had this little tool that popped out like the inner stem of the tire and it flattened it right away. So I watched where he put it away and I thought that would be great to go flatten a bunch of neighbors' tires that night (laughs). Evidently, one of the neighbors saw me doing it and I spent the whole summer delivering papers to buy everybody tires. I kind of learned a hard lesson.
When did piano and drums turn into guitars?
Well, my mom made me practice piano so I never liked playing piano when I was young cause it was something I had to do. Then I started playing drums when I was probably six and I was just banging on everything. I'd set up like garbage cans and buckets and anything I could beat on. Then I was in the little high school pep band, I think it was called, and I would always break my sticks at home on garbage cans and come back and I'd have no sticks for the class. So they ended up basically letting me go from that class cause I never had drumsticks to play (laughs).
Then that got frustrating so I detasseled corn all summer and I was turned on to people like Eddie Van Halen and people like that and it just kind of changed my life when I heard guitar. It was just something that my mom was kind of against. Nobody really was for me playing guitar so it was one of those things where it was kind of cool. This is something my mom will never make me practice so it made me want to play it more, you know. So I first started playing guitar when I was about nine.
What was your first guitar?
It was a white Flying V. It was a Harmony and I bought it out of the Sears catalog for like $189. I detasseled corn all summer long to be able to afford it. I remember for the first probably three years I didn't know what a chord was. But I would look forward to going to detassel corn every morning. I'd get on the bus and there was a little tiny local band in Indiana that I always looked up to cause they could play guitars and it was just so cool. I remember my buddy, who was a guitar player in that little band, he used to take a pocket knife and carve a fretboard on the back of the seat and he'd poke three holes in it and he'd go, "That's an A chord. Go home and practice that". And I couldn't wait to get home. I hit the A chord and I remember going "Holy shit". And I couldn't wait to get back to work the next day to learn another chord. That was kind of the way I learned the basic chords and then just kind of took it from there.
What was the first rock song you learned to play?
I think it was "Peter Gunn",dadumdadumdadum, whatever that was. I think that was pretty much the first riff that I ever played. And then I think "Smoke On The Water" was a close second. Cause those were really easy for beginner guitarists to play.
Whatever happened to that first guitar?
I traded it in for a guitar with a whammy bar (laughs) cause I thought, I couldn't do dive bombs on it so I traded it in for, I believe it was called a Series 10 and it was more of a cool rock guitar. But I liked the white Flying V because of Randy Rhoads but the guitar was just horrible. I couldn't play on it very well so I ended up getting this purple Series 10. I remember just waking up every morning going, "Wow, it is here in my room. It's not a dream". I just loved the thing and I was watching MTV cause I was actually staying with my dad at the time and he had a TV. And he took me to my first concert, which was Motley Crue. At the time on MTV, all the guys were spinning guitars around their back and I thought that was the coolest thing. So the second day I had this guitar, I spun it around, or tried to spin it around my neck (laughs), and it came around and the headstock broke off cause it hit the bed. I was so bummed but my dad glued it back together but it was never quite the same.
Who was the first real rock star you ever met?
I remember just getting to LA and I remember walking into Tower Records on Sunset and I was in there just shopping and a big black limo pulls up and Elton John jumps out with like ten people with him. He grabs a little cart and he's just flying through the CD store and he's just filling up this thing and he said "Hi" to me.He was really cool and nice. I think he was probably the first rock star I ever met, thinking back. Yeah, he was really cool. He was in the store for probably five minutes flat and it was all timed and the car pulled back up and he jetted right out and I was like, "Wow, how cool" (laughs)
Did you really do your school's Prom background?
I did. I designed the yearbooks, I designed the Prom. I was the kid they took out of regular classes and my principal was actually my neighbor, who I would always egg his house and stuff but he never found out it was me (laughs) – now he knows I guess, sorry about that (laughs) – but he would take me out of classes and they actually put me on payroll.They would pay me to paint the school cause they had just done a big remodel. So I would paint the logos on the gym floors and the weight room and paint the logos in the hallways and anything they needed painted. When I was in Advanced Art in ninth and tenth grade, I had a cartoon in the newspaper, the local newspaper, so they had me kind of co-teach the class.So it was kind of a neat thing cause they let me out of a lot of bullshit classes like Biology and shit I never really was into.
What did the Prom background look like?
I don't even remember now, to be honest. I believe it had some kind of rock & roll theme to it and I just painted these big backdrops for the kids to stand in front of to take the photos. Thinking back, I think it was a big massive sunset. It's been awhile but I believe it was this big orange and red cool like sunset type thing.
So what do you have going on this year? What is 2012 looking like for you?
Really good, you know. There's some stuff coming up definitely for Sixx:AM and Guns N Roses. We're heading out, actually tomorrow, back out on tour, which I'm excited about. We're going to be playing fashion week in New York and am really excited to get back out there and get on stage with all the guys again. And, obviously, one of our main focuses is putting together what we feel is going to be the next best Guns N Roses record and that'll come when the time is right for it. Right now we got a bunch of touring coming up, which we're excited about.
I think my main focus, obviously, with Guns N Roses, we've got a bunch more touring.And we have some special stuff planned for Sixx:AM. I just moved to Vegas and not only did I move but I moved my whole corporation out here: my graphic design agency, Ashba Media, and my clothing line called Ashba Swag. We're doing a lot of big things coming up with all of that stuff. We've got a ton of new designs and clothes and a bunch of new stuff coming out. It's a really exciting time right now.
Stepping in to replace a dominant member of a popular band is not always easy but Lawrence Gowan made the transition into Styx quite smoothly. Next week, join us to learn about his youth, his earliest forays into music and his popularity in Canada prior to replacing Dennis DeYoung.
"Unsung", the brand new book by MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, featuring original lyrics and images never before published, is available now for purchase through Blurb.com in a deluxe hardcover "Gift" edition, softcover high-gloss version and instant downloadable version through the iBooks app for iPad and iPhone.
Dark, light, inquisitive and inspirational, "Unsung" expresses a uniquely diverse side to David's creativity. He enthuses that "as a musician, my past lyrical work has always been set to music. But, with this new book I set out to explore a new medium using both words and images as the canvas for an exciting new mosaic of storytelling."
"Unsung" is also David's first venture into the realm of self-publishing. As a result, he encourages the reader to utilize these original lyrics under license from him for their own songs. In this manner, song-writers of all levels can actually become a co-writer with David. This is truly an innovative way for fans and musicians to co-create with one of metal music's most iconic and inspirational artists!
As a co-founder the rock group MEGADETH, David has been a regular contributor to one of metal music's most enduring legacies. Followers of David's work will be delighted that "Unsung" proves to be yet another unique narrative from a man who is known for creating fresh and innovative ways to inspire and connect with his fans.
For more information, visit DavidEllefson.com.
Dark, light, inquisitive and inspirational, "Unsung" expresses a uniquely diverse side to David's creativity. He enthuses that "as a musician, my past lyrical work has always been set to music. But, with this new book I set out to explore a new medium using both words and images as the canvas for an exciting new mosaic of storytelling."
"Unsung" is also David's first venture into the realm of self-publishing. As a result, he encourages the reader to utilize these original lyrics under license from him for their own songs. In this manner, song-writers of all levels can actually become a co-writer with David. This is truly an innovative way for fans and musicians to co-create with one of metal music's most iconic and inspirational artists!
As a co-founder the rock group MEGADETH, David has been a regular contributor to one of metal music's most enduring legacies. Followers of David's work will be delighted that "Unsung" proves to be yet another unique narrative from a man who is known for creating fresh and innovative ways to inspire and connect with his fans.
For more information, visit DavidEllefson.com.
Glenn Danzig will perform his "Legacy" career-spanning set featuring songs from DANZIG, SAMHAIN and MISFITS on May 26 at the Irvine Meadows Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, California.
Tickets will go on sale this Friday. There will be a limited number of tickets available for only $13.13.
As previously reported, Danzig will also perform his "Legacy" set at the 2012 Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7-10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. Also scheduled to appear are ALICE COOPER, BAD BRAINS, PUSCIFER and KVELERTAK, among others. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.
QUIET RIOT has recruited Scott Vokoun as its new lead singer. The band is scheduled to play in Scottsdale, Arizona at the end of the month before embarking on a short tour in mid-April.
QUIET RIOT played several shows in early February with ex-MONTROSE vocalist Keith St. John following the departure of Mark Huff.
Commented QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali: "I spoke several weeks ago with my friend and vocalist Keith St. John to once again thank him for lending his talents to QUIET RIOT during our time of need. Keith stepped in on very short notice so that QUIET RIOT could meet our live dates in February. Keith knocked it out of the park with great vocals and performances and we are forever in his debt."
Upcoming QUIET RIOT shows:
Mar. 28 - Scottsdale, AZ - Westworld Scottsdale
Apr. 14 - Lyons, TX - Carts Bikers And Babes
Apr. 15 - Chicago, IL - Mayne Stage
Apr. 20 - Boca Raton, FL - Sunset Cove Amphitheater
Apr. 21 - Cape Coral, FL - Legends Of Rock
May 11 - Peterburg, VA - Old Towne Civic Center
May 12 - Columbia, MD - M3 Festival
Jun. 23 - Idaho Falls, ID - Sandy Downes Race Track
Sep. 08 - Las Vegas, NV - Sunset Station Casino
QUIET RIOT released a statement on January 12 announcing that it had split with Mark Huff. A short time later, Mark posted a message on his Facebook page, stating, "As I sit in hospital… wait for my brain surgery… I have been let go from QUIET RIOT. And nobody's had balls to tell it to my face. Interesting … the rock 'n' roll business. I have to read the news in a post that's not even directed to me?… WTF?"
He continued, "Let me tell all my friends… don't count me out… Watch what happens. It's obvious what I ever meant to this situation… I deserve better treatment… Don't worry about me… Worry about your own bad selves. And I am gonna take the high road… I have so much shit I could speak… Stay tuned, my friends."
This was followed by a Facebook post from Banali, who wrote, "With regards to Mark Huff: My policy has always been not to air out the dirty laundry in public. That policy remains the same even in light of those who chose to make accusations. The fact is that Mr. Huff's medical condition had nothing to do with the decision that was made, though it is unfortunate that it comes at such a time. His wife assured me that Mark would be home this week, and as legal protocol dictated, a certified letter was sent informing Mark of the decision that was made and why it was made. This was days ago. The content of that letter is a private matter unless Mr. Huff decides to make the reason for his dismissal made public, which I believe would be counterproductive for him. I will not go tit for tat with this issue. If certain persons wish to villainize me, that is their prerogative."
QUIET RIOT's current touring lineup is as follows:
Scott Vokoun - Vocals
Frankie Banali - Drums
Chuck Wright - Bass
Alex Grossi - Guitar
QUIET RIOT singer Kevin DuBrow died in November 2007 of an accidental cocaine overdose. He was 52 years old.
QUIET RIOT was perhaps best known for its 1983 cover of "Cum On Feel The Noize". The song, featuring DuBrow's powerful, gravelly voice, appeared on the band's album "Metal Health" — which was the first by a metal band to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
QUIET RIOT played several shows in early February with ex-MONTROSE vocalist Keith St. John following the departure of Mark Huff.
Commented QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali: "I spoke several weeks ago with my friend and vocalist Keith St. John to once again thank him for lending his talents to QUIET RIOT during our time of need. Keith stepped in on very short notice so that QUIET RIOT could meet our live dates in February. Keith knocked it out of the park with great vocals and performances and we are forever in his debt."
Upcoming QUIET RIOT shows:
Mar. 28 - Scottsdale, AZ - Westworld Scottsdale
Apr. 14 - Lyons, TX - Carts Bikers And Babes
Apr. 15 - Chicago, IL - Mayne Stage
Apr. 20 - Boca Raton, FL - Sunset Cove Amphitheater
Apr. 21 - Cape Coral, FL - Legends Of Rock
May 11 - Peterburg, VA - Old Towne Civic Center
May 12 - Columbia, MD - M3 Festival
Jun. 23 - Idaho Falls, ID - Sandy Downes Race Track
Sep. 08 - Las Vegas, NV - Sunset Station Casino
QUIET RIOT released a statement on January 12 announcing that it had split with Mark Huff. A short time later, Mark posted a message on his Facebook page, stating, "As I sit in hospital… wait for my brain surgery… I have been let go from QUIET RIOT. And nobody's had balls to tell it to my face. Interesting … the rock 'n' roll business. I have to read the news in a post that's not even directed to me?… WTF?"
He continued, "Let me tell all my friends… don't count me out… Watch what happens. It's obvious what I ever meant to this situation… I deserve better treatment… Don't worry about me… Worry about your own bad selves. And I am gonna take the high road… I have so much shit I could speak… Stay tuned, my friends."
This was followed by a Facebook post from Banali, who wrote, "With regards to Mark Huff: My policy has always been not to air out the dirty laundry in public. That policy remains the same even in light of those who chose to make accusations. The fact is that Mr. Huff's medical condition had nothing to do with the decision that was made, though it is unfortunate that it comes at such a time. His wife assured me that Mark would be home this week, and as legal protocol dictated, a certified letter was sent informing Mark of the decision that was made and why it was made. This was days ago. The content of that letter is a private matter unless Mr. Huff decides to make the reason for his dismissal made public, which I believe would be counterproductive for him. I will not go tit for tat with this issue. If certain persons wish to villainize me, that is their prerogative."
QUIET RIOT's current touring lineup is as follows:
Scott Vokoun - Vocals
Frankie Banali - Drums
Chuck Wright - Bass
Alex Grossi - Guitar
QUIET RIOT singer Kevin DuBrow died in November 2007 of an accidental cocaine overdose. He was 52 years old.
QUIET RIOT was perhaps best known for its 1983 cover of "Cum On Feel The Noize". The song, featuring DuBrow's powerful, gravelly voice, appeared on the band's album "Metal Health" — which was the first by a metal band to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
British power metal mercenaries TANK — featuring Mick Tucker and Cliff Evans on guitar alongside ex-RAINBOW/YNGWIE MALMSTEEN frontman Doogie White and ex-BRUCE DICKINSON bassist Chris Dale and drummer Steve Hopgood — are putting the finishing touches on their new album, "War Nation", for a June 5 release via MVD (one day earlier in Europe through Metal Mind Productions). The follow-up to 2010's "War Machine" is being helmed by new hotshot producer Phil Kinman at his west London studios.
Commented Evans: "The [cover] painting was done by infamous London graffiti artist Jay Bryce exclusively for TANK. We've always admired his work and it's an honor to be the first band to feature his artwork on an album cover."
"War Nation" track listing:
01. War Nation
02. Song For The Dead
03. Justice For All
04. Don't Dream In The Dark
05. Grace Of God
06. Wings Of Heaven
07. Hammer And Nails
08. One Good Reason
09. State Of The Union
10. W.M.L.A.
TANK's March 9 concert at Stodola in Warsaw, Poland was professionally recorded and filmed for the band's fist official live DVD, to be released later in the year via Metal Mind Productions. Apart from the material recorded in Warsaw, the DVD will also contain footage of TANK's appearance at Metal Hammer Festival (August 10, 2011 in Katowice, Poland), a warm-up gig in Chorzów (March 8, 2012), along with interviews with bandmembers and other bonus material.
TANK's most recent album, "War Machine", was released on October 25, 2010 in Europe via Metal Mind Productions (December 7, 2010 in the U.S. through MVD). The production was handled by Pedro Ferreira (THE DARKNESS, THERAPY?, MEAT LOAF) and the bulk of the recording was done at Pedrock Studios in London. Drums were laid down by Tony Newton at Steve Harris' (IRON MAIDEN) Barnyard Studios.
Commented Evans: "The [cover] painting was done by infamous London graffiti artist Jay Bryce exclusively for TANK. We've always admired his work and it's an honor to be the first band to feature his artwork on an album cover."
"War Nation" track listing:
01. War Nation
02. Song For The Dead
03. Justice For All
04. Don't Dream In The Dark
05. Grace Of God
06. Wings Of Heaven
07. Hammer And Nails
08. One Good Reason
09. State Of The Union
10. W.M.L.A.
TANK's March 9 concert at Stodola in Warsaw, Poland was professionally recorded and filmed for the band's fist official live DVD, to be released later in the year via Metal Mind Productions. Apart from the material recorded in Warsaw, the DVD will also contain footage of TANK's appearance at Metal Hammer Festival (August 10, 2011 in Katowice, Poland), a warm-up gig in Chorzów (March 8, 2012), along with interviews with bandmembers and other bonus material.
TANK's most recent album, "War Machine", was released on October 25, 2010 in Europe via Metal Mind Productions (December 7, 2010 in the U.S. through MVD). The production was handled by Pedro Ferreira (THE DARKNESS, THERAPY?, MEAT LOAF) and the bulk of the recording was done at Pedrock Studios in London. Drums were laid down by Tony Newton at Steve Harris' (IRON MAIDEN) Barnyard Studios.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/soulflypremiere/tankwarnation.jpg
British progressive metallers THRESHOLD are in the final stages of recording their ninth studio album, "March of Progress", for a late 2012 release via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD is being produced by Karl Groom and Richard West at Thin Ice Studios (DRAGONFORCE, PENDRAGON), with additional production at Eightspace Studio (LEAGUE OF LIGHTS, THE MORNING AFTER).
Vocal duties on "March of Progress" were performed by THRESHOLD's original frontman Damian Wilson (STAR ONE, HEADSPACE), who's been back touring with the band since the release of their previous studio album, "Dead Reckoning", in 2007.
Commented Wilson: "I've really enjoyed being back in the studio with Rich and Karl. It feels like the good old days, wailing away at Thin Ice Studios again! My voice has been strong and powerful; it feels like my best work."
Provisional songtitles set to appear on the CD include:
* Ashes
* Return of the Thought Police
* Colophon
* Staring at the Sun
* Liberty Complacency Dependency
* Divinity
* The Hours
* Don't Look Down
* That's Why we Came
* The Rubicon
* Coda
"Dead Reckoning" was released in 2007 and featured vocals by Andrew McDermott, who sadly passed away last year. The album entered the charts at position No. 64 in Germany, No. 95 in The Netherlands and No. 37 in the U.K. rock chart.
THRESHOLD's most recent output was the 2009 limited-edition box set "Paradox: The Singles Collection", a 24-song collection including a number of unreleased songs and recordings with vocals by Wilson, Glynn Morgan and McDermott.
THRESHOLD is:
Damian Wilson - Vocals
Karl Groom - Guitar
Richard West - Keyboards
Johanne James - Drums
Steve Anderson - Bass
Pete Morten – Guitar
Vocal duties on "March of Progress" were performed by THRESHOLD's original frontman Damian Wilson (STAR ONE, HEADSPACE), who's been back touring with the band since the release of their previous studio album, "Dead Reckoning", in 2007.
Commented Wilson: "I've really enjoyed being back in the studio with Rich and Karl. It feels like the good old days, wailing away at Thin Ice Studios again! My voice has been strong and powerful; it feels like my best work."
Provisional songtitles set to appear on the CD include:
* Ashes
* Return of the Thought Police
* Colophon
* Staring at the Sun
* Liberty Complacency Dependency
* Divinity
* The Hours
* Don't Look Down
* That's Why we Came
* The Rubicon
* Coda
"Dead Reckoning" was released in 2007 and featured vocals by Andrew McDermott, who sadly passed away last year. The album entered the charts at position No. 64 in Germany, No. 95 in The Netherlands and No. 37 in the U.K. rock chart.
THRESHOLD's most recent output was the 2009 limited-edition box set "Paradox: The Singles Collection", a 24-song collection including a number of unreleased songs and recordings with vocals by Wilson, Glynn Morgan and McDermott.
THRESHOLD is:
Damian Wilson - Vocals
Karl Groom - Guitar
Richard West - Keyboards
Johanne James - Drums
Steve Anderson - Bass
Pete Morten – Guitar
"Alive In The Night", the first live album from multinational metallers POWERWOLF, was recorded exclusively for Metal Hammer, Germany's leading metal magazine. The CD is only available with the April 2012 issue of Metal Hammer, which hit newsstands on March 14.
"Alive In The Night" track listing:
01. Lupus Daemonis
02. Sanctified With Dynamite
03. Prayer In The Dark
04. Raise Your Fist, Evangelist
05. We Drink Your Blood
06. Werewolves Of Armenia
07. Dead Boys Don't Cry
08. Resurrection By Erection
09. Saturday Satan
10. Lupus Dei
Check out audio samples below.
POWERWOLF will embark on a headlining tour at the end of March with support from MYSTIC PROPHECY, STORMWARRIOR and LONEWOLF.
POWERWOLFs' "We Drink Your Blood" video can be seen below (courtesy of Metal Hammer magazine). The clip was filmed in an ancient monastery church.
"We Drink Your Blood" comes off POWERWOLF's fourth album, "Blood Of The Saints", which was released last August via Metal Blade Records. The CD was made available as a regular CD, a limited-edition digibook 2-CD and on vinyl. The cover art was created by POWERWOLF guitarist Matthew Greywolf.
"Alive In The Night" track listing:
01. Lupus Daemonis
02. Sanctified With Dynamite
03. Prayer In The Dark
04. Raise Your Fist, Evangelist
05. We Drink Your Blood
06. Werewolves Of Armenia
07. Dead Boys Don't Cry
08. Resurrection By Erection
09. Saturday Satan
10. Lupus Dei
Check out audio samples below.
POWERWOLF will embark on a headlining tour at the end of March with support from MYSTIC PROPHECY, STORMWARRIOR and LONEWOLF.
POWERWOLFs' "We Drink Your Blood" video can be seen below (courtesy of Metal Hammer magazine). The clip was filmed in an ancient monastery church.
"We Drink Your Blood" comes off POWERWOLF's fourth album, "Blood Of The Saints", which was released last August via Metal Blade Records. The CD was made available as a regular CD, a limited-edition digibook 2-CD and on vinyl. The cover art was created by POWERWOLF guitarist Matthew Greywolf.
ANNIHILATOR mainman Jeff Waters has decided to retire his old overdrive he'd been using since the 1980s and has partnered up with Quebec, Canada's SolidGoldFX to create the first signature pedal, the Jeff Waters Devil Drive.
According to a press release, "the Devil Drive draws its roots from the legendary OD-1 overdrive that Jeff has used since the very beginning to achieve the tight, articulate metal tones he is known for. The Devil Drive is not your typical, obnoxious sounding metal pedal; it doesn't boast extremely high levels of gain, scooped mids or insane bass. Instead it is designed to be layered and textured with heavy-hitting, hard rock amps to deliver its scorching tone or used on its own for some bluesy bite. It features a simple two-mode, three-knob layout, true bypass switching and low-noise design. The tone is clear and focused with excellent string definition and no loose, flabby low end or ear piercing highs. Its drive ranges from clean boost to a hot overdrive. The Mode switch allows you to select either Vintage or Modern modes. In Vintage mode, only the Volume and Drive controls are active, the Tone circuit is bypassed. This mode is what Jeff's signature sound is all about. The Modern mode is a bonus setting we added for him. In this mode, the Tone control is active and output gain is increased for a hotter signal. From blues to rock to heavy to thrash metal, the Devil Drive will be an irreplaceable addition to your arsenal as it has been for Jeff Waters."
For more information, visit SolidGoldFX.com.
According to a press release, "the Devil Drive draws its roots from the legendary OD-1 overdrive that Jeff has used since the very beginning to achieve the tight, articulate metal tones he is known for. The Devil Drive is not your typical, obnoxious sounding metal pedal; it doesn't boast extremely high levels of gain, scooped mids or insane bass. Instead it is designed to be layered and textured with heavy-hitting, hard rock amps to deliver its scorching tone or used on its own for some bluesy bite. It features a simple two-mode, three-knob layout, true bypass switching and low-noise design. The tone is clear and focused with excellent string definition and no loose, flabby low end or ear piercing highs. Its drive ranges from clean boost to a hot overdrive. The Mode switch allows you to select either Vintage or Modern modes. In Vintage mode, only the Volume and Drive controls are active, the Tone circuit is bypassed. This mode is what Jeff's signature sound is all about. The Modern mode is a bonus setting we added for him. In this mode, the Tone control is active and output gain is increased for a hotter signal. From blues to rock to heavy to thrash metal, the Devil Drive will be an irreplaceable addition to your arsenal as it has been for Jeff Waters."
For more information, visit SolidGoldFX.com.
U.K. modern hard rock band TAINTED NATION has signed a worldwide management deal with Germany's Rock N Growl Management.
TAINTED NATION is:
* Pete Newdeck (EDEN'S CURSE, GRIM REAPER, KILLERS, STEVE GRIMMETT) - Vocals
* Pontus Egberg (THE POODLES, LION'S SHARE, ZAN CLAN) - Bass
* Ian Nash (STEVE GRIMMETT, LIONSHEART) - Guitar
* Mark Cross (FIREWIND, OUTLOUD, HELLOWEEN, KINGDOM COME) - Drums
Rock N Growl and TAINTED NATION are currently shopping the band's debut album, "F.E.A.R.", produced by Pete Newdeck and mixed/mastered by Dennis Ward, in hopes of securing a record deal very soon.
Newdeck, who is mostly known for his work with EDEN'S CURSE and bands like GRIM REAPER, KILLERS and Steve Grimmett, started writing songs with bandmate and friend Ian Nash, who also played guitar for Grimmett, in 2009.
While with EDEN'S CURSE and supporting STRATOVARIOUS and FIREWIND in May 2009 on their U.K. tour, Pete and then-FIREWIND drummer Mark Cross became close friends and discussed the idea of forming a new band, only this time with Newdeck as the lead singer.
Newdeck's vocal abilities were truly convincing and in the spring of 2010, Pontus Egberg, bass player for Swedish hard rockers THE POODLES, completed the lineup.
Newdeck, Nash, Cross and Egberg recorded the TAINTED NATION debut album in the U.K. and mixed and mastered it in Germany under the supervision of Dennis Ward, producer of many successful international artists.
TAINTED NATION's music is described in a press release as "a commercial, modern and powerful-sounding rock mix."
TAINTED NATION is:
* Pete Newdeck (EDEN'S CURSE, GRIM REAPER, KILLERS, STEVE GRIMMETT) - Vocals
* Pontus Egberg (THE POODLES, LION'S SHARE, ZAN CLAN) - Bass
* Ian Nash (STEVE GRIMMETT, LIONSHEART) - Guitar
* Mark Cross (FIREWIND, OUTLOUD, HELLOWEEN, KINGDOM COME) - Drums
Rock N Growl and TAINTED NATION are currently shopping the band's debut album, "F.E.A.R.", produced by Pete Newdeck and mixed/mastered by Dennis Ward, in hopes of securing a record deal very soon.
Newdeck, who is mostly known for his work with EDEN'S CURSE and bands like GRIM REAPER, KILLERS and Steve Grimmett, started writing songs with bandmate and friend Ian Nash, who also played guitar for Grimmett, in 2009.
While with EDEN'S CURSE and supporting STRATOVARIOUS and FIREWIND in May 2009 on their U.K. tour, Pete and then-FIREWIND drummer Mark Cross became close friends and discussed the idea of forming a new band, only this time with Newdeck as the lead singer.
Newdeck's vocal abilities were truly convincing and in the spring of 2010, Pontus Egberg, bass player for Swedish hard rockers THE POODLES, completed the lineup.
Newdeck, Nash, Cross and Egberg recorded the TAINTED NATION debut album in the U.K. and mixed and mastered it in Germany under the supervision of Dennis Ward, producer of many successful international artists.
TAINTED NATION's music is described in a press release as "a commercial, modern and powerful-sounding rock mix."
"Ex Lives", the highly anticipated new album from magnificently brutal rockers EVERY TIME I DIE, sold around 14,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 25 on The Billboard 200 chart.
EVERY TIME I DIE's previous CD, "New Junk Aesthetic", opened with around 12,000 units back in September 2009 to land at No. 46.
"Ex Lives" was helmed by renowned heavy rock producer Joe Barresi (THE MELVINS, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, PARKWAY DRIVE) and offers an unrelenting onslaught of ingeniously composed and furiously executed cathartic hardcore. This is the band's highly anticipated follow up to their 2009's raging masterwork "New Junk Aesthetic", which Absolute Punk heralded as a musical "weapon of mass destruction."
"Ex Lives" track listing:
01. Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space (02:43)
02. Holy Book Of Dilemma (01:49)
03. A Wild, Shameless Plain (01:49)
04. Typical Miracle (02:25)
05. I Suck (Blood) (02:55)
06. Partying Is Such Sweet Sorrow (03:12)
07. The Low Road Has No Exits (02:51)
08. Revival Mode (03:46)
09. Drag King (04:11)
10. Touch Yourself (02:17)
11. Indian Giver (04:09)
12. Grudge Music (bonus) (02:24)
13. Business Casualty (bonus) (02:45)
14. Starve An Artist, Cover Your Trash (bonus) (02:53)
EVERY TIME I DIE is currently on tour and will spend the summer adding their patented punk-infused metal to the annual Vans Warped Tour.
EVERY TIME I DIE's previous CD, "New Junk Aesthetic", opened with around 12,000 units back in September 2009 to land at No. 46.
"Ex Lives" was helmed by renowned heavy rock producer Joe Barresi (THE MELVINS, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, PARKWAY DRIVE) and offers an unrelenting onslaught of ingeniously composed and furiously executed cathartic hardcore. This is the band's highly anticipated follow up to their 2009's raging masterwork "New Junk Aesthetic", which Absolute Punk heralded as a musical "weapon of mass destruction."
"Ex Lives" track listing:
01. Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space (02:43)
02. Holy Book Of Dilemma (01:49)
03. A Wild, Shameless Plain (01:49)
04. Typical Miracle (02:25)
05. I Suck (Blood) (02:55)
06. Partying Is Such Sweet Sorrow (03:12)
07. The Low Road Has No Exits (02:51)
08. Revival Mode (03:46)
09. Drag King (04:11)
10. Touch Yourself (02:17)
11. Indian Giver (04:09)
12. Grudge Music (bonus) (02:24)
13. Business Casualty (bonus) (02:45)
14. Starve An Artist, Cover Your Trash (bonus) (02:53)
EVERY TIME I DIE is currently on tour and will spend the summer adding their patented punk-infused metal to the annual Vans Warped Tour.
Portuguese gothic metallers MOONSPELL will release their new album, "Alpha Noir", on April 27 via the band's new label home, Napalm Records.
The cover artwork for the CD — an intricate, marvellous and symbolic creation by Seth Siro Anton, the Greek artist who collaborated with the band on "Night Eternal" — can be seen below. Also available is a preview image of the strictly limited edition "Alpha Noir" deluxe box set containing the limited-edition double album mediabook, including two album covers, and "Alpha Noir"'s counterpart "Omega White" and an exclusive MOONSPELL logo pendant.
"Alpha Noir" deluxe box set track listing:
CD 1
01. Axis Mundi
02. Lickanthrope
03. Versus
04. Alpha Noir
05. En Nome Do Medo
06. Opera Carne
07. Love is Blasphemy
08. Grand Stand
09. Sine Missione
CD 2
01. White Omega
02. White Skies
03. Fireseason
04. New Tears Eve
05. Herodisiac
06. Incantatrix
07. Sacrificial
08. A Greater Darkness
Commented MOONSPELL frontman Fernando Ribeiro: "A true band has to have to a glorious past, a solid present and a bright future. More than that, a true band has to know how to live throughout all these seasons, dealing with their ghosts, their shadows, their aim at the light, moulding darkness with personality, with the impulse to be better, to do better while getting close to theirselves. Their true heart, soul and flesh.
"Never a MOONSPELL album came so close to be absolute like the new opus magna (masterpiece) 'Alpha Noir', scheduled to be proudly released by Napalm Records on April 27th, when spring racks through the wastes of winter, bursting new colours over familiar sights, once silent and white, now fiery under the blackest of suns.
"The concept of this new record, painstakingly composed by the Portuguese gothic metal knights over the past three years, after the public and critically acclaimed 'Night Eternal', is bulletproof. The band managed to split their heart and soul in half and the result is that they came even closer to themselves, the ambitious band they always were, with a undying wish not to claim any throne but to build their own ships that would take them and their fans to 'give new worlds to the world,' like in the age of discovery where the Portuguese were a leading force in the world.
"With their country drowned in a corrosive crisis, MOONSPELL filled their lungs with pride and created an incendiary album, with nine outbursts of their rockiest and thrashier riffs made superiorly dimensioned by the reindivictative lyrical content and songs structure that take you by storm from the first listen on. MOONSPELL has tapped a notch into their energy filled gothic metal by adding a guitar wall forjed by timeless artists like BATHORY, KING DIAMOND or in a twist ofthe knive to old thrash metal legends like ONSLAUGHT, METALLICA early works or even TESTAMENT and ARTILLERY, making 'Alpha Noir' a truly surpring and fresh record where all the songs have a climax effect about them, an high tension charm that will for sure electricize audiences when played on a stage.
"Songs like the title track ('Alpha Noir'), the infectious 'Versus', the wolf hymn 'Lickanthrope' or the Portuguese sung 'Em Nome Do Medo' (In The Name Of Fear) and the closing epic 'Grandstand', might get you a welcoming chilling of the past but make no mistake: 'Alpha Noir' is a leap of faith and belief in their writing skills and progressive musicianship.
"Together with 'Alpha Noir' packed in a deluxe and special edition on digipack, MOONSPELL and Napalm offers no live DVD, making-of or any kind of filler. Instead they put in the table another offerend: 'Ómega White', the musical twin of 'Alpha Noir', a collection of eight songs of pure atmosphere and shadow, close to their breakthrough album 'Irreligious', in a just homage to their TYPE O NEGATIVE and SISTERS OF MERCY roots. Tracks like the erotic 'Herodisiac', the catchy 'White Skies' or the heartbreaking 'Whiteomega' will for sure keep you in dark company through a night of fear and loss, both soothing and provoking.
"Both masterpieces were produced and mixed by Tue Madsen, pre-produced by Benny Richter.
"Each song a jewel, each song a stronghold!
"Keep your watch and do not miss this new MOONSPELL record, for it is a true mortal sin to stay away from these eighty minutes of music, beautifully and violently craved by one of the most legendary and imaginative bands ever to surface the European scene. Do not forget to get your hands on this masterpiece and to watch the band live in the summer festivals around Europe. 'Alpha Noir'/'Ómega White' will also be played in their entirety in Lisbon's Campo Pequeno, that holds 5,000 fans, in their homeland Portugal in the most daring stage set and visuals the band has ever tried."
MOONSPELL released a DVD, "Lusitanian Metal", in December 2008 in Europe via Century Media Records.
The band's latest album, "Night Eternal", entered the national chart in Portugal at No. 3 and in Germany at No. 62. The follow-up to 2006's "Memorial" was recorded at Antfarm studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, DARK TRANQUILLITY, HALFORD).
The cover artwork for the CD — an intricate, marvellous and symbolic creation by Seth Siro Anton, the Greek artist who collaborated with the band on "Night Eternal" — can be seen below. Also available is a preview image of the strictly limited edition "Alpha Noir" deluxe box set containing the limited-edition double album mediabook, including two album covers, and "Alpha Noir"'s counterpart "Omega White" and an exclusive MOONSPELL logo pendant.
"Alpha Noir" deluxe box set track listing:
CD 1
01. Axis Mundi
02. Lickanthrope
03. Versus
04. Alpha Noir
05. En Nome Do Medo
06. Opera Carne
07. Love is Blasphemy
08. Grand Stand
09. Sine Missione
CD 2
01. White Omega
02. White Skies
03. Fireseason
04. New Tears Eve
05. Herodisiac
06. Incantatrix
07. Sacrificial
08. A Greater Darkness
Commented MOONSPELL frontman Fernando Ribeiro: "A true band has to have to a glorious past, a solid present and a bright future. More than that, a true band has to know how to live throughout all these seasons, dealing with their ghosts, their shadows, their aim at the light, moulding darkness with personality, with the impulse to be better, to do better while getting close to theirselves. Their true heart, soul and flesh.
"Never a MOONSPELL album came so close to be absolute like the new opus magna (masterpiece) 'Alpha Noir', scheduled to be proudly released by Napalm Records on April 27th, when spring racks through the wastes of winter, bursting new colours over familiar sights, once silent and white, now fiery under the blackest of suns.
"The concept of this new record, painstakingly composed by the Portuguese gothic metal knights over the past three years, after the public and critically acclaimed 'Night Eternal', is bulletproof. The band managed to split their heart and soul in half and the result is that they came even closer to themselves, the ambitious band they always were, with a undying wish not to claim any throne but to build their own ships that would take them and their fans to 'give new worlds to the world,' like in the age of discovery where the Portuguese were a leading force in the world.
"With their country drowned in a corrosive crisis, MOONSPELL filled their lungs with pride and created an incendiary album, with nine outbursts of their rockiest and thrashier riffs made superiorly dimensioned by the reindivictative lyrical content and songs structure that take you by storm from the first listen on. MOONSPELL has tapped a notch into their energy filled gothic metal by adding a guitar wall forjed by timeless artists like BATHORY, KING DIAMOND or in a twist ofthe knive to old thrash metal legends like ONSLAUGHT, METALLICA early works or even TESTAMENT and ARTILLERY, making 'Alpha Noir' a truly surpring and fresh record where all the songs have a climax effect about them, an high tension charm that will for sure electricize audiences when played on a stage.
"Songs like the title track ('Alpha Noir'), the infectious 'Versus', the wolf hymn 'Lickanthrope' or the Portuguese sung 'Em Nome Do Medo' (In The Name Of Fear) and the closing epic 'Grandstand', might get you a welcoming chilling of the past but make no mistake: 'Alpha Noir' is a leap of faith and belief in their writing skills and progressive musicianship.
"Together with 'Alpha Noir' packed in a deluxe and special edition on digipack, MOONSPELL and Napalm offers no live DVD, making-of or any kind of filler. Instead they put in the table another offerend: 'Ómega White', the musical twin of 'Alpha Noir', a collection of eight songs of pure atmosphere and shadow, close to their breakthrough album 'Irreligious', in a just homage to their TYPE O NEGATIVE and SISTERS OF MERCY roots. Tracks like the erotic 'Herodisiac', the catchy 'White Skies' or the heartbreaking 'Whiteomega' will for sure keep you in dark company through a night of fear and loss, both soothing and provoking.
"Both masterpieces were produced and mixed by Tue Madsen, pre-produced by Benny Richter.
"Each song a jewel, each song a stronghold!
"Keep your watch and do not miss this new MOONSPELL record, for it is a true mortal sin to stay away from these eighty minutes of music, beautifully and violently craved by one of the most legendary and imaginative bands ever to surface the European scene. Do not forget to get your hands on this masterpiece and to watch the band live in the summer festivals around Europe. 'Alpha Noir'/'Ómega White' will also be played in their entirety in Lisbon's Campo Pequeno, that holds 5,000 fans, in their homeland Portugal in the most daring stage set and visuals the band has ever tried."
MOONSPELL released a DVD, "Lusitanian Metal", in December 2008 in Europe via Century Media Records.
The band's latest album, "Night Eternal", entered the national chart in Portugal at No. 3 and in Germany at No. 62. The follow-up to 2006's "Memorial" was recorded at Antfarm studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, DARK TRANQUILLITY, HALFORD).
"Land Of The Crimson Dawn", the new album from German melodic metallers FREEDOM CALL, has registered the following first-week chart positions:
Germany: #59
Switzerland: #67
Finland: #74
Sweden: #89
This marked FREEDOM CALL's highest entry in Germany since the group's 2002 CD, "Eternity", which debuted at No. 55.
"Land Of The Crimson Dawn" was released on February 24 in Germany, February 27 in the rest of Europe and February 28 in the USA/Canada via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort was made available in three versions: as a jewel case featuring 14 songs; as a limited double CD digipak including six additional bonus tracks (versions of popular FREEDOM CALL numbers by POWERWORLD, SECRET SPHERE, DOWNSPIRIT, MANIMAL, NEONFLY and Hannes Braun [KISSIN' DYNAMITE]); and on double colored vinyl LP.
Commented FREEDOM CALL vocalist/guitarist Chris Bay: "The new tracks simply have more of that rock 'n' roll feel. Everything sounds much rawer, there's more focus on the guitars than before, and the musicians had more freedom during the recordings than they used to have."
Digipak track listing:
CD 1
01. Age Of The Phoenix (3:37)
02. Rockstars (5:08)
03. Crimson Dawn (6:29)
04. 66 Warriors (5:20)
05. Back Into The Land Of Light (5:39)
06. Sun In The Dark (4:49)
07. Hero On Video (3:50)
08. Valley Of Kingdom (4:32)
09. Killer Gear (4:42)
10. Rockin' Radio (4:13)
11. Terra Liberty (4:09)
12. Eternity (4:23)
13. Space Legends (4:04)
14. Power & Glory (3:30)
CD 2
01. Flame In The Night (performed by POWERWORLD)
02. Hunting High And Low (performed by DOWNSPIRIT)
03. Fairyland (performed by SECRET SPHERE)
04. Palace Of Fantasy (performed by MANIMAL)
05. Land Of The Light (performed by NEONFLY)
06. Warriors (performed by Hannes Braun of KISSIN' DYNAMITE)
Jewel case track listing:
01. Age Of The Phoenix (3:37)
02. Rockstars (5:08)
03. Crimson Dawn (6:29)
04. 66 Warriors (5:20)
05. Back Into The Land Of Light (5:39)
06. Sun In The Dark (4:49)
07. Hero On Video (3:50)
08. Valley Of Kingdom (4:32)
09. Killer Gear (4:42)
10. Rockin' Radio (4:13)
11. Terra Liberty (4:09)
12. Eternity (4:23)
13. Space Legends (4:04)
14. Power & Glory (3:30)
LP track listing:
LP 1
Side A
01. Age Of The Phoenix (3:37
02. Rockstars (5:08)
03. Crimson Dawn (6:29)
Side B
01. 66 Warriors (5:20)
02. Back Into The Land Of Light (5:39)
03. Sun In The Dark (4:49)
LP 2
Side A
01. Hero On Video (3:50)
02. Valley Of Kingdom (4:32)
03. Killer Gear (4:42)
04. Rockin' Radio (4:13)
Side B
01. Terra Liberty (4:09)
02. Eternity (4:23)
03. Space Legends (4:04)
04. Power & Glory (3:30)
FREEDOM CALL's current lineup:
Chris Bay - Vocals & Guitar
Lars Rettkowitz - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Samy Saemann - Bass, Backing Vocals
Klaus Sperling - Drums, Backing Vocals
Germany: #59
Switzerland: #67
Finland: #74
Sweden: #89
This marked FREEDOM CALL's highest entry in Germany since the group's 2002 CD, "Eternity", which debuted at No. 55.
"Land Of The Crimson Dawn" was released on February 24 in Germany, February 27 in the rest of Europe and February 28 in the USA/Canada via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort was made available in three versions: as a jewel case featuring 14 songs; as a limited double CD digipak including six additional bonus tracks (versions of popular FREEDOM CALL numbers by POWERWORLD, SECRET SPHERE, DOWNSPIRIT, MANIMAL, NEONFLY and Hannes Braun [KISSIN' DYNAMITE]); and on double colored vinyl LP.
Commented FREEDOM CALL vocalist/guitarist Chris Bay: "The new tracks simply have more of that rock 'n' roll feel. Everything sounds much rawer, there's more focus on the guitars than before, and the musicians had more freedom during the recordings than they used to have."
Digipak track listing:
CD 1
01. Age Of The Phoenix (3:37)
02. Rockstars (5:08)
03. Crimson Dawn (6:29)
04. 66 Warriors (5:20)
05. Back Into The Land Of Light (5:39)
06. Sun In The Dark (4:49)
07. Hero On Video (3:50)
08. Valley Of Kingdom (4:32)
09. Killer Gear (4:42)
10. Rockin' Radio (4:13)
11. Terra Liberty (4:09)
12. Eternity (4:23)
13. Space Legends (4:04)
14. Power & Glory (3:30)
CD 2
01. Flame In The Night (performed by POWERWORLD)
02. Hunting High And Low (performed by DOWNSPIRIT)
03. Fairyland (performed by SECRET SPHERE)
04. Palace Of Fantasy (performed by MANIMAL)
05. Land Of The Light (performed by NEONFLY)
06. Warriors (performed by Hannes Braun of KISSIN' DYNAMITE)
Jewel case track listing:
01. Age Of The Phoenix (3:37)
02. Rockstars (5:08)
03. Crimson Dawn (6:29)
04. 66 Warriors (5:20)
05. Back Into The Land Of Light (5:39)
06. Sun In The Dark (4:49)
07. Hero On Video (3:50)
08. Valley Of Kingdom (4:32)
09. Killer Gear (4:42)
10. Rockin' Radio (4:13)
11. Terra Liberty (4:09)
12. Eternity (4:23)
13. Space Legends (4:04)
14. Power & Glory (3:30)
LP track listing:
LP 1
Side A
01. Age Of The Phoenix (3:37
02. Rockstars (5:08)
03. Crimson Dawn (6:29)
Side B
01. 66 Warriors (5:20)
02. Back Into The Land Of Light (5:39)
03. Sun In The Dark (4:49)
LP 2
Side A
01. Hero On Video (3:50)
02. Valley Of Kingdom (4:32)
03. Killer Gear (4:42)
04. Rockin' Radio (4:13)
Side B
01. Terra Liberty (4:09)
02. Eternity (4:23)
03. Space Legends (4:04)
04. Power & Glory (3:30)
FREEDOM CALL's current lineup:
Chris Bay - Vocals & Guitar
Lars Rettkowitz - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Samy Saemann - Bass, Backing Vocals
Klaus Sperling - Drums, Backing Vocals
Cyclone Empire has announced the signing of the Swedish thrash metal band WARFECT. The group is currently writing material for its second album, tentatively due before the end of the year.
Commented the group: "We are very excited about starting a collaboration with Cyclone Empire Records. Martin and the people on the label are true believers of the metal scene and have made us feel like home right from the start. We're hoping to enter the studio in late summer/early fall this year. So far nine songs have been written and are currently being worked on. Look out for WARFECT in 2012!"
WARFECT's debut album, "Depicting The Macabre", was released in November 2009 through My Kingdom Music.
According to a press release, WARFECT's music will "appeal to all fans of SLAYER, KREATOR, LEGION OF THE DAMNED, SODOM and even DEFLESHED!"
WARFECT is:
Fredrik Wester - Vocals and guitar
Kristian Martinsson - Bass
Mattias Kern – Drums
Commented the group: "We are very excited about starting a collaboration with Cyclone Empire Records. Martin and the people on the label are true believers of the metal scene and have made us feel like home right from the start. We're hoping to enter the studio in late summer/early fall this year. So far nine songs have been written and are currently being worked on. Look out for WARFECT in 2012!"
WARFECT's debut album, "Depicting The Macabre", was released in November 2009 through My Kingdom Music.
According to a press release, WARFECT's music will "appeal to all fans of SLAYER, KREATOR, LEGION OF THE DAMNED, SODOM and even DEFLESHED!"
WARFECT is:
Fredrik Wester - Vocals and guitar
Kristian Martinsson - Bass
Mattias Kern – Drums
Ulterium Records has announce the signing of the Swedish female-fronted melodic metallers END OF SEPTEMBER. The band's self-titled debut album will be released on May 11 in Europe and on May 22 in North America.
According to a press release, "END OF SEPTEMBER is definitely one of the most promising bands from Scandinavia at the moment. This young band shows with their debut album that they know how to create fantastic, memorable songs, and perform them to perfection. They have also been able to successfully create a mix between melodic metal and more modern metal that not many bands have.
"With the well-crafted and intelligent song-writing of Erik Tordsson and the smooth and emotional vocals of Elin Redin, END OF SEPTEMBER is a force to be reckoned with during the coming years. The band is hungry to hit the stages around the world, and are destined to make it."
"End of September" track listing:
01. Isolated
02. Fallen
03. A Place To Go
04. Exile
05. Inner Voice
06. Left In This World
07. Waiting For The Rain
08. Silence
09. Autumn Breaks
END OF SEPTEMBER is:
Elin Redin - Vocals
Erik Tordsson - Guitar, Vocals
Johan Nöjd - Bass
Johan Svensson - Drums
According to a press release, "END OF SEPTEMBER is definitely one of the most promising bands from Scandinavia at the moment. This young band shows with their debut album that they know how to create fantastic, memorable songs, and perform them to perfection. They have also been able to successfully create a mix between melodic metal and more modern metal that not many bands have.
"With the well-crafted and intelligent song-writing of Erik Tordsson and the smooth and emotional vocals of Elin Redin, END OF SEPTEMBER is a force to be reckoned with during the coming years. The band is hungry to hit the stages around the world, and are destined to make it."
"End of September" track listing:
01. Isolated
02. Fallen
03. A Place To Go
04. Exile
05. Inner Voice
06. Left In This World
07. Waiting For The Rain
08. Silence
09. Autumn Breaks
END OF SEPTEMBER is:
Elin Redin - Vocals
Erik Tordsson - Guitar, Vocals
Johan Nöjd - Bass
Johan Svensson - Drums
Los Angeles-based rock trio SMILE EMPTY SOUL has signed a worldwide deal with eOne Music. The band's follow-up to 2010's "More Anxiety", entitled "3's", is scheduled for release on May 22.
"We are very excited to be working with eOne on this record," says SMILE EMPTY SOUL lead guitarist and vocalist Sean Danielsen. "They're a label that truly backs their artists, and that's exactly what we need."
He continues, "'3's' is the best record we've made. It's more musical and mature, yet still has the 'SMILE' sound that our fans are looking for."
Formed in 1998, SMILE EMPTY SOUL has certainly seen the inside of the music business. With a Top 10 hit single, "Bottom Of A Bottle", countless tours and a gold-certified album under their belts, the band shows no signs of stopping now.
SMILE EMPTY SOUL is:
Sean Danielsen (lead vocals, guitar)
Ryan Martin (bass)
Jake Kilmer (drums, backing vocals)
It was announced last year that a "Danzig Legacy" TV special was being filmed in Los Angeles with director Mark Brooks (Adult Swim's "Metalocalypse").
"We are very excited to be working with eOne on this record," says SMILE EMPTY SOUL lead guitarist and vocalist Sean Danielsen. "They're a label that truly backs their artists, and that's exactly what we need."
He continues, "'3's' is the best record we've made. It's more musical and mature, yet still has the 'SMILE' sound that our fans are looking for."
Formed in 1998, SMILE EMPTY SOUL has certainly seen the inside of the music business. With a Top 10 hit single, "Bottom Of A Bottle", countless tours and a gold-certified album under their belts, the band shows no signs of stopping now.
SMILE EMPTY SOUL is:
Sean Danielsen (lead vocals, guitar)
Ryan Martin (bass)
Jake Kilmer (drums, backing vocals)
It was announced last year that a "Danzig Legacy" TV special was being filmed in Los Angeles with director Mark Brooks (Adult Swim's "Metalocalypse").
Zach Shaw of Metal Insider recently conducted an interview with SYMPHONY X/ADRENALINE MOB vocalist Russell Allen. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Metal Insider: "Iconoclast" marks [SYMPHONY X's] first album via Nuclear Blast Records. Looking back almost a year after the album's release, has Nuclear Blast met up to SYMPHONY X's expectations?
Russell: Yes and no. I think they've done a really good job. They're really enthusiastic, they love the record. I think we need a little more time to answer that question. But to this point, they're very enthusiastic and very supportive, and I have no bad things to say. I think they're doing a great job. I don't know what's really going on in Europe, but I haven't really gotten any information about that. But here in America, I love the people here. Loana at the label is a great rep. She really does a lot to help all their bands. So I like them, I like working with them, but I think time is going to tell and see whether or not the impact has been made. The jury is still out.
Metal Insider: Fair enough. What were some of the deciding factors for signing with Nuclear Blast in the first place?
Russell: We wanted to grow the band, and get out there and get more exposure. Just trying to increase our exposure to the world, and get more people into the music. That was the whole goal, to go with a label like that. We had bigger offers from other companies, but it wasn't really about the money. It was about a company that really believed in our band and wanted to grow the band. So that's the decision we went with. And we're still waiting for that whole thing to pan out. It takes a full album cycle to really see how it goes.
Metal Insider: You've been sitting on music from both ADRENALINE MOB and SYMPHONY X for a while now. As a musician, was that hard for you to do?
Russell: No. I've got a solo album I've been working on for four fucking years now. Talk about sitting on music! [laughs]. And it's killing me because it's good, but I've learned my lesson now. I've sat on it for too long, and I let it change too much. If you sit on something too long, it starts to lose that initial magic that you had when you composed it. And you start to change it and tweak it to the point where it's not even recognizable anymore. I made some mistakes, but then on the flip side to that there's some other gems that I found that took me a long time to get. So certain songs suffered, but other ones have come along real nicely. The ones that suffered, I might just cut, go back to the original. It can be frustrating, but I'm used to it. This is what I do for a living. I sing on stuff, and it doesn't sometimes get released until a year or two later. It is what it is.
Metal Insider: Do you see a release date in the future for your solo stuff?
Russell: No [laughs], not at all.
Metal Insider: You were saying how style-wise it's changed so much, but would you say your solo material sounds similar to your two current bands or something completely different?
Russell: Completely different. It's more of a classic metal/rock sounding thing. I have a lot of classic influences. My stuff is retro, I guess you could say. We're talking about like '70s, early '80s. I mean, I love Dio, I loved him in RAINBOW, I love DEEP PURPLE, VAN HALEN, LED ZEPPELIN, all of the bands that were before my time. So I have a lot of that in my solo work. Very soulful, groove-based music, but it has a little more of a metal feel, I guess, a little more epic. It's just different from anything else that I do. It's me.
Metal Insider: "Iconoclast" marks [SYMPHONY X's] first album via Nuclear Blast Records. Looking back almost a year after the album's release, has Nuclear Blast met up to SYMPHONY X's expectations?
Russell: Yes and no. I think they've done a really good job. They're really enthusiastic, they love the record. I think we need a little more time to answer that question. But to this point, they're very enthusiastic and very supportive, and I have no bad things to say. I think they're doing a great job. I don't know what's really going on in Europe, but I haven't really gotten any information about that. But here in America, I love the people here. Loana at the label is a great rep. She really does a lot to help all their bands. So I like them, I like working with them, but I think time is going to tell and see whether or not the impact has been made. The jury is still out.
Metal Insider: Fair enough. What were some of the deciding factors for signing with Nuclear Blast in the first place?
Russell: We wanted to grow the band, and get out there and get more exposure. Just trying to increase our exposure to the world, and get more people into the music. That was the whole goal, to go with a label like that. We had bigger offers from other companies, but it wasn't really about the money. It was about a company that really believed in our band and wanted to grow the band. So that's the decision we went with. And we're still waiting for that whole thing to pan out. It takes a full album cycle to really see how it goes.
Metal Insider: You've been sitting on music from both ADRENALINE MOB and SYMPHONY X for a while now. As a musician, was that hard for you to do?
Russell: No. I've got a solo album I've been working on for four fucking years now. Talk about sitting on music! [laughs]. And it's killing me because it's good, but I've learned my lesson now. I've sat on it for too long, and I let it change too much. If you sit on something too long, it starts to lose that initial magic that you had when you composed it. And you start to change it and tweak it to the point where it's not even recognizable anymore. I made some mistakes, but then on the flip side to that there's some other gems that I found that took me a long time to get. So certain songs suffered, but other ones have come along real nicely. The ones that suffered, I might just cut, go back to the original. It can be frustrating, but I'm used to it. This is what I do for a living. I sing on stuff, and it doesn't sometimes get released until a year or two later. It is what it is.
Metal Insider: Do you see a release date in the future for your solo stuff?
Russell: No [laughs], not at all.
Metal Insider: You were saying how style-wise it's changed so much, but would you say your solo material sounds similar to your two current bands or something completely different?
Russell: Completely different. It's more of a classic metal/rock sounding thing. I have a lot of classic influences. My stuff is retro, I guess you could say. We're talking about like '70s, early '80s. I mean, I love Dio, I loved him in RAINBOW, I love DEEP PURPLE, VAN HALEN, LED ZEPPELIN, all of the bands that were before my time. So I have a lot of that in my solo work. Very soulful, groove-based music, but it has a little more of a metal feel, I guess, a little more epic. It's just different from anything else that I do. It's me.
Mike Bax of Lithium Magazine recently conducted an interview with Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, ex-SEPULTURA). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Lithium Magazine: You've been recording some of the heaviest music around for a long time now. Do you worry your fans ever think that your best material came twenty-plus years ago?
Max: I don't really worry about that at all. For me, it's just about being happy with what I do. I don't really compare the stuff. What was done back then is different from now. I'm proud of what I did years ago, but I'm also proud of what I'm doing right now. I think's its dependent on how you feel. What's important is to keep going and keep motivated and keep making records, until you get old and you can't do it anymore.
Lithium Magazine: Do you ever listen to your old stuff then?
Max: I do sometimes to research songs to play live. We are thinking about playing stuff from the first [SEPULTURA] EP right now. "Bestial Devastation" was done, I don't even know how many years ago now, and we are thinking about doing a song from that EP on our new upcoming tour. So I'll go back for fun, put it on my iPod and just listen to the songs again. I get to remember the recording and the times we had making those old records. It was pretty fun. Normally, I'll just listen to other people's music.
Lithium Magazine: Did you have a game plan for "Enslaved" — something you wanted to try and achieve to make it stand out compared to the past seven SOULFLY albums?
Max: I just really wanted to make a really extreme record. I have a really good new band giving me the chance to work with Tony [Campos, bass] and David [Kinkade, drums]. David is a death metal drummer and he can play some really cool double bass and blast beats. He brought a real death metal sound to the record. I remodeled the album around this idea that I had to make a death metal-sounding record without being satanic. It has enslavery lyrics and political lyrics, and it's cool because of that. I think it's quite original right now to have this kind of record. It's pretty extreme; I think it's SOULFLY's most extreme record to date. Out of the eight SOULFLY albums this is the most extreme and most brutal one. I'm happy about that. I think it's cool to have this kind of a record right now, with it being the eighth record and this being fifteen years for SOULFLY's career we are commemorating it. This is a great time for us, and "Enslaved" is a great record for us to be touring now.
Lithium Magazine: How would you compare the creation and recording process of this album compared to past SOULFLY releases? Was it a quicker process creating "Enslaved"?
Max: It was a little bit different. I was working Zeuss, who is a different producer for me. Every producer is different. I've worked with Logan Mader in the past — Ross Robinson, Andy Wallace and Scott Burns — all of these guys are different from each other. Zeuss had a system which was really interesting. Once we'd get a song done, like completely finished, he only needed one person to play guitar in order to record the drums. That's all that was needed, so most of the time Marc [Rizzo, guitar] would stay in the studio and play rhythm. Dave would record the drums through Marc's rhythm and then we built everything on top of that. It was cool to record this way — it was really clear and clean sounding drums. You can hear every little nuance in the drumming on "Enslaved". If you made one little mistake on the double bass you could really hear it. That meant that Dave really had to be on his toes recording this album. He needed to be perfect on this album, and he really did meet the challenge on "Enslaved". The drums sound amazing on the record; he really did a great job. I really like the guitar work on the album as well. Me and Marc really wanted the crunchy thrash sound in our guitars, like early EXODUS and the old METALLICA stuff — really heavy and crunchy. You can hear the chugging of the guitar work on this album, with all of that, and the death metal riffs… this record is full of really cool sounds that I dug out of my metal roots. Its stuff that I have listened to for so long now, I feel I came up with some really death metal-styled riffs and they are all over the record. So it was really fun to create this record. I really enjoyed the process. I think it's a good way to make records like this. I think Zeuss has really got a good technique and I really enjoyed working with him.
Lithium Magazine: You've been recording some of the heaviest music around for a long time now. Do you worry your fans ever think that your best material came twenty-plus years ago?
Max: I don't really worry about that at all. For me, it's just about being happy with what I do. I don't really compare the stuff. What was done back then is different from now. I'm proud of what I did years ago, but I'm also proud of what I'm doing right now. I think's its dependent on how you feel. What's important is to keep going and keep motivated and keep making records, until you get old and you can't do it anymore.
Lithium Magazine: Do you ever listen to your old stuff then?
Max: I do sometimes to research songs to play live. We are thinking about playing stuff from the first [SEPULTURA] EP right now. "Bestial Devastation" was done, I don't even know how many years ago now, and we are thinking about doing a song from that EP on our new upcoming tour. So I'll go back for fun, put it on my iPod and just listen to the songs again. I get to remember the recording and the times we had making those old records. It was pretty fun. Normally, I'll just listen to other people's music.
Lithium Magazine: Did you have a game plan for "Enslaved" — something you wanted to try and achieve to make it stand out compared to the past seven SOULFLY albums?
Max: I just really wanted to make a really extreme record. I have a really good new band giving me the chance to work with Tony [Campos, bass] and David [Kinkade, drums]. David is a death metal drummer and he can play some really cool double bass and blast beats. He brought a real death metal sound to the record. I remodeled the album around this idea that I had to make a death metal-sounding record without being satanic. It has enslavery lyrics and political lyrics, and it's cool because of that. I think it's quite original right now to have this kind of record. It's pretty extreme; I think it's SOULFLY's most extreme record to date. Out of the eight SOULFLY albums this is the most extreme and most brutal one. I'm happy about that. I think it's cool to have this kind of a record right now, with it being the eighth record and this being fifteen years for SOULFLY's career we are commemorating it. This is a great time for us, and "Enslaved" is a great record for us to be touring now.
Lithium Magazine: How would you compare the creation and recording process of this album compared to past SOULFLY releases? Was it a quicker process creating "Enslaved"?
Max: It was a little bit different. I was working Zeuss, who is a different producer for me. Every producer is different. I've worked with Logan Mader in the past — Ross Robinson, Andy Wallace and Scott Burns — all of these guys are different from each other. Zeuss had a system which was really interesting. Once we'd get a song done, like completely finished, he only needed one person to play guitar in order to record the drums. That's all that was needed, so most of the time Marc [Rizzo, guitar] would stay in the studio and play rhythm. Dave would record the drums through Marc's rhythm and then we built everything on top of that. It was cool to record this way — it was really clear and clean sounding drums. You can hear every little nuance in the drumming on "Enslaved". If you made one little mistake on the double bass you could really hear it. That meant that Dave really had to be on his toes recording this album. He needed to be perfect on this album, and he really did meet the challenge on "Enslaved". The drums sound amazing on the record; he really did a great job. I really like the guitar work on the album as well. Me and Marc really wanted the crunchy thrash sound in our guitars, like early EXODUS and the old METALLICA stuff — really heavy and crunchy. You can hear the chugging of the guitar work on this album, with all of that, and the death metal riffs… this record is full of really cool sounds that I dug out of my metal roots. Its stuff that I have listened to for so long now, I feel I came up with some really death metal-styled riffs and they are all over the record. So it was really fun to create this record. I really enjoyed the process. I think it's a good way to make records like this. I think Zeuss has really got a good technique and I really enjoyed working with him.
CALL ME NO ONE, the new project featuring SEVENDUST members Clint Lowery (guitar) and Morgan Rose (drums), will release its debut album, "Last Parade", on June 5. The CD's first single, "Biggest Fan", will arrive next month.
In a recent interview with Zoiks! Online, Clint stated about CALL ME NO ONE's upcoming debut, "It's not really a heavy record, but it's not a light record like the HDMS (HELLO DEMONS MEET SKELETONS) stuff I do. It's somewhere in the middle. Some of the songs are pretty progressive, some of the songs are just rock. It all has a dark spooky twist to it; kind of NINE INCH NAILS meets FOO FIGHTERS."
When asked how the project came about, Clint said, "Morgan and I just, for years, loved talking about different directions and things we couldn't do in SEVENDUST. I hate to say it like this, but there is a ceiling with what we can do as SEVENDUST. We've done so many records; with that particular formula, there is only a certain amount you can do, musically. There is nothing wrong with that. There is a lot fulfillment within SEVENDUST and that whole process. We all love each other, the guys are great, the music is fun and the energy is really good. We felt like it was time to explore a little bit beyond SEVENDUST. I've always wanted to go and do a record and Morgan showed a lot of interest in helping me. We just decided to partner up. We're going to try and make a band out of it and make a go at it while we have some down time in SEVENDUST. We're not trying to set any expectations; we're just trying to make a good record."
During the same interview, Clint also spoke about the inspiration behind CALL ME NO ONE's name. "It's about humility," he said. "I've always been the kind of guy that's in the background on things. There's always been a Lajon [Witherspoon, SEVENDUST vocalist] or a Brett [Hestla, DARK NEW DAYS] or singers like that. I see myself as a pretty regular person and that is basically what the name is, CALL ME NO ONE. At the end of the day, it's about the humility of it and the mystery of it. I'm a very human singer."
In a recent interview with Zoiks! Online, Clint stated about CALL ME NO ONE's upcoming debut, "It's not really a heavy record, but it's not a light record like the HDMS (HELLO DEMONS MEET SKELETONS) stuff I do. It's somewhere in the middle. Some of the songs are pretty progressive, some of the songs are just rock. It all has a dark spooky twist to it; kind of NINE INCH NAILS meets FOO FIGHTERS."
When asked how the project came about, Clint said, "Morgan and I just, for years, loved talking about different directions and things we couldn't do in SEVENDUST. I hate to say it like this, but there is a ceiling with what we can do as SEVENDUST. We've done so many records; with that particular formula, there is only a certain amount you can do, musically. There is nothing wrong with that. There is a lot fulfillment within SEVENDUST and that whole process. We all love each other, the guys are great, the music is fun and the energy is really good. We felt like it was time to explore a little bit beyond SEVENDUST. I've always wanted to go and do a record and Morgan showed a lot of interest in helping me. We just decided to partner up. We're going to try and make a band out of it and make a go at it while we have some down time in SEVENDUST. We're not trying to set any expectations; we're just trying to make a good record."
During the same interview, Clint also spoke about the inspiration behind CALL ME NO ONE's name. "It's about humility," he said. "I've always been the kind of guy that's in the background on things. There's always been a Lajon [Witherspoon, SEVENDUST vocalist] or a Brett [Hestla, DARK NEW DAYS] or singers like that. I see myself as a pretty regular person and that is basically what the name is, CALL ME NO ONE. At the end of the day, it's about the humility of it and the mystery of it. I'm a very human singer."
Dutch female-fronted symphonic metallers EPICA are offering their song
"Serenade Of Self-Destruction""Requiem For The Indifferent", which was released on March 9 in Europe and four days later in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded at Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany under the watchful eye of Sascha Paeth.
Commented the band: "We're very happy that our album, 'Requiem For The Indifferent', is out in the open, as a result of 2.5 years of passionate and hard work. However, as you may have noticed, 'Serenade Of Self-Destruction', the last song of the album, is missing some vocals. Somehow the instrumental version of the song ended up on the master of the full album and this didn't get noticed before the actual release. Everybody involved in making and producing the album has given everything to get the best possible result, so we can't blame anyone for this. We know that this is a mistake which wasn't made on purpose. As we don't want to disappoint any of our beloved fans, we are trying everything in our power to solve this issue.
"To get all the songs in their complete form and enjoy the new album fully, Nuclear Blast has released the full version of 'Serenade Of Self-Destruction' as a digital download. You can get the full song here.
"Seen from the bright side, everybody who gets the current CD will have a unique first pressing, which might end up being a collector's item."
"Requiem For The Indifferent" track listing:
01. Karma
02. Monopoly On Truth
03. Storm The Sorrow
04. Delirium
05. Internal Warfare
06. Requiem For The Indifferent
07. Anima
08. Guilty Demeanor
09. Deep Water Horizon
10. Stay The Course
11. Deter The Tyrant
12. Avalanche
13. Serenade Of Self-Destruction
North American bonus tracks:
14. Twin Flames (Soundtrack Version)
15. Nostalgia
A video for "Storm The Sorrow" was filmed last month and it "will show the band in a way you have never seen before," according to a press release.
The artwork for the CD was created by Stephan Heilemann and can be seen below.
Regarding the "Requiem For The Indifferent" album title, the band previously said, "This title refers to the end of an era. Mankind can no longer stick their head in the sand for the things that are happening around us. We are facing many challenges. There is an enormous tension between different religions and cultures, wars, natural disasters and a huge financial crisis, which is getting out of control. More than ever we will need each other to overcome these problems. As we are all connected; the universe, earth, nature, animals and human beings, this period in time will be the prelude to the end for those who still don't want to, or simply won't see it. 'A Requiem For The Indifferent', but also a possibility for a new beginning with great new chances!"
"Serenade Of Self-Destruction""Requiem For The Indifferent", which was released on March 9 in Europe and four days later in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded at Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany under the watchful eye of Sascha Paeth.
Commented the band: "We're very happy that our album, 'Requiem For The Indifferent', is out in the open, as a result of 2.5 years of passionate and hard work. However, as you may have noticed, 'Serenade Of Self-Destruction', the last song of the album, is missing some vocals. Somehow the instrumental version of the song ended up on the master of the full album and this didn't get noticed before the actual release. Everybody involved in making and producing the album has given everything to get the best possible result, so we can't blame anyone for this. We know that this is a mistake which wasn't made on purpose. As we don't want to disappoint any of our beloved fans, we are trying everything in our power to solve this issue.
"To get all the songs in their complete form and enjoy the new album fully, Nuclear Blast has released the full version of 'Serenade Of Self-Destruction' as a digital download. You can get the full song here.
"Seen from the bright side, everybody who gets the current CD will have a unique first pressing, which might end up being a collector's item."
"Requiem For The Indifferent" track listing:
01. Karma
02. Monopoly On Truth
03. Storm The Sorrow
04. Delirium
05. Internal Warfare
06. Requiem For The Indifferent
07. Anima
08. Guilty Demeanor
09. Deep Water Horizon
10. Stay The Course
11. Deter The Tyrant
12. Avalanche
13. Serenade Of Self-Destruction
North American bonus tracks:
14. Twin Flames (Soundtrack Version)
15. Nostalgia
A video for "Storm The Sorrow" was filmed last month and it "will show the band in a way you have never seen before," according to a press release.
The artwork for the CD was created by Stephan Heilemann and can be seen below.
Regarding the "Requiem For The Indifferent" album title, the band previously said, "This title refers to the end of an era. Mankind can no longer stick their head in the sand for the things that are happening around us. We are facing many challenges. There is an enormous tension between different religions and cultures, wars, natural disasters and a huge financial crisis, which is getting out of control. More than ever we will need each other to overcome these problems. As we are all connected; the universe, earth, nature, animals and human beings, this period in time will be the prelude to the end for those who still don't want to, or simply won't see it. 'A Requiem For The Indifferent', but also a possibility for a new beginning with great new chances!"
Jerry Gaskill, drummer for legendary rockers KING'S X, suffered a heart attack on February 26 and was rushed to the hospital. After undergoing an emergency operation, Jerry was placed in intensive care.
According to a new posting on KING'S X's Facebook page, "Jerry Gaskill has [now] been moved out of the ICU to a normal room. He has expressed that he wants food and something to drink."
Meanwhile, comedian Don Jamieson, who co-hosts "That Metal Show" on VH1 Classic, tweeted yesterday (Tuesday, March 13) that he "spoke to Jerry Gaskill on the phone from hospital." Don added, "He's doing amazing and will be back better than ever!"
To help Gaskill pay his medical bills, KING'S X is offering a special MP3 download-only title, "Burning Down Boston: Live at The Channel 6.12.91". This release was edited and mastered from a stereo FOH (front-of-house) recording. While the audio is far from perfect sonically, the performance documents yet another magical night on tour while supporting the "Faith Hope Love" album. The band expands many of the cuts featured here, including performances that are blistering ("Moanjam"), heavy and funk-laden ("We Are Finding Who We Are"), beautiful ("The Burning Down"), and truly transcendental ("Over My Head"). A few songs from the show were omitted due to tape damage. However, three bonus tracks have been included (an additional 15 minutes) from the same show that were not presented in the main track listing.
In addition to the gift with this download, anyone who wants to further make a personal gift to Jerry to help him with his medical bills can send a check made out to Jerry Gaskill. Mail it to: Jerry Gaskill, c/o World Entertainment Inc., P.O. Box 3095, Sea Bright, NJ 07760. One hundred percent of your gift goes to Jerry Gaskill to help him defray his medical expenses. Jerry Gaskill is an individual and not a charity. Any funds given to him would be a gift and no further tax deduction for charitable contributions would be coming from him.
For more information, visit www.molkenmusic.com.
According to a new posting on KING'S X's Facebook page, "Jerry Gaskill has [now] been moved out of the ICU to a normal room. He has expressed that he wants food and something to drink."
Meanwhile, comedian Don Jamieson, who co-hosts "That Metal Show" on VH1 Classic, tweeted yesterday (Tuesday, March 13) that he "spoke to Jerry Gaskill on the phone from hospital." Don added, "He's doing amazing and will be back better than ever!"
To help Gaskill pay his medical bills, KING'S X is offering a special MP3 download-only title, "Burning Down Boston: Live at The Channel 6.12.91". This release was edited and mastered from a stereo FOH (front-of-house) recording. While the audio is far from perfect sonically, the performance documents yet another magical night on tour while supporting the "Faith Hope Love" album. The band expands many of the cuts featured here, including performances that are blistering ("Moanjam"), heavy and funk-laden ("We Are Finding Who We Are"), beautiful ("The Burning Down"), and truly transcendental ("Over My Head"). A few songs from the show were omitted due to tape damage. However, three bonus tracks have been included (an additional 15 minutes) from the same show that were not presented in the main track listing.
In addition to the gift with this download, anyone who wants to further make a personal gift to Jerry to help him with his medical bills can send a check made out to Jerry Gaskill. Mail it to: Jerry Gaskill, c/o World Entertainment Inc., P.O. Box 3095, Sea Bright, NJ 07760. One hundred percent of your gift goes to Jerry Gaskill to help him defray his medical expenses. Jerry Gaskill is an individual and not a charity. Any funds given to him would be a gift and no further tax deduction for charitable contributions would be coming from him.
For more information, visit www.molkenmusic.com.
Inner Wound Recordings has announce the signing of the Brazilian female-fronted metallers SHADOWSIDE. The band's third album, "Inner Monster Out", will be released on May 11 in Europe and May 22 in North America. The CD was produced, mixed and mastered at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden by Fredrik Nordström, who has previously worked with AT THE GATES, IN FLAMES, DARK TRANQUILLITY, ARCH ENEMY, SOILWORK and BRING ME THE HORIZON, among others. It features guest vocals from Björn "Speed" Strid (SOILWORK), Mikael Stanne (DARK TRANQUILLITY), and Niklas Isfeldt (DREAM EVIL).
Commented SHADOWSIDE vocalist Dani Nolden: "We are very excited about the worldwide release of 'Inner Monster Out' and extremely proud to work with Inner Wound Recordings! As if by fate, even the label name and our album title fit. A hardworking, artist-friendly company, and it's safe to say it's the best place SHADOWSIDE has ever been! We can't wait to have you all listening to the album, it's the heaviest and surely the best one we've done so far. Play it loud!"
"Inner Monster Out" track listing:
01. Gag Order
02. Angel with Horns
03. Habitchual
04. In the Name of Love
05. Inner Monster Out (feat. Björn "Speed" Strid, Mikael Stanne, Niklas Isfeldt)
06. I'm Your Mind
07. My Disrupted Reality
08. A Smile Upon Death
09. Whatever Our Fortune
10. A.D.D.
11. Waste Of Life
12. Ace Of Spades (bonus track)
The "Angel With Horns" video can be seen below. The clip was filmed in Campinas, Brazil with director Thiago Pinheiro of Studio Kaiowas.
"The song is about someone trying to escape their own boring reality by putting their hopes in one disturbing and mysterious person that's pure evil, though innocent as an angel at the same time," said Dani Nolden.
"I believe it's safe to say this is our best material to date," Nolden stated about the 11 new tracks on "Inner Monster Out". "It's very heavy and angry, but also very musical. We worked a lot on the melodies to make them catchy, yet elaborate, just to the right extent."
She added, "Working with Fredrik was fantastic and everything went smoothly. He is a perfectionist, and really helped push ourselves to our best. We were pretty much living in the studio for a month, so the whole band was completely focused on the album and on nothing else.
"I can't wait to have this album out and play these songs live. That's what they were written for!"
Nolden previously stated about SHADOWSIDE's new CD, "'Inner Monster Out' is about letting your hidden persona show through, and about everything we always classify as not normal in human beings. The lyrics deal with everyone's fears, reactions, perversions, personality disorders and although it can be seen as a dark album, it also makes it clear that we all have a little bit of crazy and disturbed in a certain way. It's a musically intense album, with lots of angry guitars, bringing together the best of 'Dare To Dream' and 'Theatre Of Shadows', but with new and better things that we didn't try before. I'm especially proud and happy about the result we achieved on this album... we wrote and recorded songs that we like to hear and play and it's by far our best material so far."
Commented SHADOWSIDE vocalist Dani Nolden: "We are very excited about the worldwide release of 'Inner Monster Out' and extremely proud to work with Inner Wound Recordings! As if by fate, even the label name and our album title fit. A hardworking, artist-friendly company, and it's safe to say it's the best place SHADOWSIDE has ever been! We can't wait to have you all listening to the album, it's the heaviest and surely the best one we've done so far. Play it loud!"
"Inner Monster Out" track listing:
01. Gag Order
02. Angel with Horns
03. Habitchual
04. In the Name of Love
05. Inner Monster Out (feat. Björn "Speed" Strid, Mikael Stanne, Niklas Isfeldt)
06. I'm Your Mind
07. My Disrupted Reality
08. A Smile Upon Death
09. Whatever Our Fortune
10. A.D.D.
11. Waste Of Life
12. Ace Of Spades (bonus track)
The "Angel With Horns" video can be seen below. The clip was filmed in Campinas, Brazil with director Thiago Pinheiro of Studio Kaiowas.
"The song is about someone trying to escape their own boring reality by putting their hopes in one disturbing and mysterious person that's pure evil, though innocent as an angel at the same time," said Dani Nolden.
"I believe it's safe to say this is our best material to date," Nolden stated about the 11 new tracks on "Inner Monster Out". "It's very heavy and angry, but also very musical. We worked a lot on the melodies to make them catchy, yet elaborate, just to the right extent."
She added, "Working with Fredrik was fantastic and everything went smoothly. He is a perfectionist, and really helped push ourselves to our best. We were pretty much living in the studio for a month, so the whole band was completely focused on the album and on nothing else.
"I can't wait to have this album out and play these songs live. That's what they were written for!"
Nolden previously stated about SHADOWSIDE's new CD, "'Inner Monster Out' is about letting your hidden persona show through, and about everything we always classify as not normal in human beings. The lyrics deal with everyone's fears, reactions, perversions, personality disorders and although it can be seen as a dark album, it also makes it clear that we all have a little bit of crazy and disturbed in a certain way. It's a musically intense album, with lots of angry guitars, bringing together the best of 'Dare To Dream' and 'Theatre Of Shadows', but with new and better things that we didn't try before. I'm especially proud and happy about the result we achieved on this album... we wrote and recorded songs that we like to hear and play and it's by far our best material so far."
BENEDICTUM has announced the addition of drummer Rikard Stjernquist to the group's ranks.
Rikard, who started his career with Stockholm-based BRONZE PUPPET, brings a multitude of talent from his longevity as the drummer for power metal legends JAG PANZER of 25 years and nine records to his studio production capabilities.
States Rikard: "I have been very fortunate in my long career to have recorded and performed with some exceptional people/musicians, and BENEDICTUM is no exception. I'm very excited about the future with BENEDICTUM and having the opportunity to perform for their amazing fans all over the world. Thank you, Veronica Freeman, Pete Wells, and Chris Shrum, for this amazing opportunity."
BENEDICTUM played select U.S. dates on the East Coast in late November 2011 in support of their current release, "Dominion".
"Dominion", was released in February 2011 in Europe and in March 2011 in North America via Frontiers Records.
BENEDICTUM is:
Veronica Freeman (lead vocals)
Pete Wells (lead guitar)
Chris Shrum (bass)
Rikard Stjernquist (drums/percussion)
Rikard, who started his career with Stockholm-based BRONZE PUPPET, brings a multitude of talent from his longevity as the drummer for power metal legends JAG PANZER of 25 years and nine records to his studio production capabilities.
States Rikard: "I have been very fortunate in my long career to have recorded and performed with some exceptional people/musicians, and BENEDICTUM is no exception. I'm very excited about the future with BENEDICTUM and having the opportunity to perform for their amazing fans all over the world. Thank you, Veronica Freeman, Pete Wells, and Chris Shrum, for this amazing opportunity."
BENEDICTUM played select U.S. dates on the East Coast in late November 2011 in support of their current release, "Dominion".
"Dominion", was released in February 2011 in Europe and in March 2011 in North America via Frontiers Records.
BENEDICTUM is:
Veronica Freeman (lead vocals)
Pete Wells (lead guitar)
Chris Shrum (bass)
Rikard Stjernquist (drums/percussion)
Finnish progressive metallers MALPRACTICE have entered Astia Studios in Lappeenranta, Finland to begin recording their fourth album.
The band's deal with Spinefarm ended in early 2011, at which point the musicians already had over an album's worth of material ready to lay down.
"We decided not to just sit on this gem we have written," says guitarist Joonas Koto. "This kind of an album totally deserves to be released."
Currently unsigned, MALPRACTICE's new album will once again be produced by Koto and drummer Toni Paananen.
"We don't know when or who will release the album yet, but it will come out eventually one way or another," adds Koto.
MALPRACTICE is:
Joonas Koto - Guitar
Toni Paananen - Drums
Aleksi Parviainen - Vocals
Markus Vanhala - Guitar
Jonas Mäki – Bass
The band's deal with Spinefarm ended in early 2011, at which point the musicians already had over an album's worth of material ready to lay down.
"We decided not to just sit on this gem we have written," says guitarist Joonas Koto. "This kind of an album totally deserves to be released."
Currently unsigned, MALPRACTICE's new album will once again be produced by Koto and drummer Toni Paananen.
"We don't know when or who will release the album yet, but it will come out eventually one way or another," adds Koto.
MALPRACTICE is:
Joonas Koto - Guitar
Toni Paananen - Drums
Aleksi Parviainen - Vocals
Markus Vanhala - Guitar
Jonas Mäki – Bass
THE DARK PARTY, the band led by notorious rock musician Acey Slade (JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS, ex-DOPE, MURDERDOLLS, WEDNESDAY 13), has inked a deal with French label Deadlight Entertainment. The group's self-titled album will be released later in the year.
A song from the upcoming CD, "She Brings Down the Moon", is available for streaming at www.deadlight.fr.
Commented Acey: "I'm very excited to finally have THE DARK PARTY album properly released in mainland Europe though the crew at Deadlight. We had a taste of mainland European fans last fall, now with Deadlight, we can follow though and really give Europe the attention it deserves!"
THE DARK PARTY is:
Acey Slade – Vocals, Guitar
Andee - Guitar
Matt Kepler - Drums
PerC – Bass, Keyboards
A song from the upcoming CD, "She Brings Down the Moon", is available for streaming at www.deadlight.fr.
Commented Acey: "I'm very excited to finally have THE DARK PARTY album properly released in mainland Europe though the crew at Deadlight. We had a taste of mainland European fans last fall, now with Deadlight, we can follow though and really give Europe the attention it deserves!"
THE DARK PARTY is:
Acey Slade – Vocals, Guitar
Andee - Guitar
Matt Kepler - Drums
PerC – Bass, Keyboards
Atlantic recording group HALESTORM will release its new album. "The Strange Case Of…", on April 10.
Produced by Howard Benson (who previously collaborated with the Pennsylvania-based hard rock band on their self-titled 2009 debut), "The Strange Case Of…" was recently named among Revolver's "Most Anticipated Albums of the Year." "Led by one of our favorite rocker babes, singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale, (HALESTORM) promise a more personal album for their follow-up," the magazine noted. "But don't expect them to get all sappy on us. There should still be more than enough of the band's now signature raucous attitude and righteous riffs for any headbanger to get off."
HALESTORM will hit the road hard to support "The Strange Case Of…", beginning with a major U.S. trek alongside GODSMACK and fellow Atlantic recording group STAIND. The dates get underway April 13 at Augusta, Georgia's John Paul Jones Arena and then continue through mid-May.
Formed by frontwoman Lzzy Hale and her brother, drummer Arejay Hale, HALESTORM has been hailed far and wide as an incendiary new force in modern hard rock. "Halestorm" made a top 5 debut on SoundScan's "Hard Music" chart upon its 2009 release, simultaneously bursting into the top 40 on the comprehensive The Billboard 200. The album subsequently sold more than 300,000 copies, and half a million cumulative tracks. Produced by Howard Benson (DAUGHTRY, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, FLYLEAF), the album earned extensive acclaim for its infectious hard rock anthems, sexy hooks, and rough-and-tumble grooves.
"The Strange Case Of…" marks HALESTORM's first release since last year's "ReAniMate: The CoVeRs eP", which saw the band putting their unique stamp on a diverse collection of classic songs, including tracks by GUNS N' ROSES, THE BEATLES, HEART, TEMPLE OF THE DOG, SKID ROW, and LADY GAGA. HALESTORM also unleashed their first-ever live CD/DVD, "Live In Philly 2010", featuring such favorites from the band's self-titled debut as "It's Not You", "Familiar Taste of Poison" and the rock radio smash "I Get Off".
True road warriors, HALESTORM made its bones as a major league hard rock outfit via countless North American gigs alongside such artists as SHINEDOWN, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and DISTURBED. Last year saw the band traveling the country on the blockbuster "Avalanche Tour 2011", joining such hard rock luminaries as STONE SOUR, THEORY OF A DEADMAN, ART OF DYING, and fellow Atlantic recording group SKILLET.
"The Strange Case Of…" track listing:
01. Love Bites (So Do I)
02. Mz. Hyde
03. I Miss The Misery
04. Freak Like Me
05. Beautiful With You
06. In Your Room
07. Break In
08. Rock Show
09. Daughters Of Darkness
10. You Call Me A Bitch Like It's A Bad Thing
11. American Boys
12. Here's To Us
Check out the "The Strange Case Of…" cover artwork below.
Produced by Howard Benson (who previously collaborated with the Pennsylvania-based hard rock band on their self-titled 2009 debut), "The Strange Case Of…" was recently named among Revolver's "Most Anticipated Albums of the Year." "Led by one of our favorite rocker babes, singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale, (HALESTORM) promise a more personal album for their follow-up," the magazine noted. "But don't expect them to get all sappy on us. There should still be more than enough of the band's now signature raucous attitude and righteous riffs for any headbanger to get off."
HALESTORM will hit the road hard to support "The Strange Case Of…", beginning with a major U.S. trek alongside GODSMACK and fellow Atlantic recording group STAIND. The dates get underway April 13 at Augusta, Georgia's John Paul Jones Arena and then continue through mid-May.
Formed by frontwoman Lzzy Hale and her brother, drummer Arejay Hale, HALESTORM has been hailed far and wide as an incendiary new force in modern hard rock. "Halestorm" made a top 5 debut on SoundScan's "Hard Music" chart upon its 2009 release, simultaneously bursting into the top 40 on the comprehensive The Billboard 200. The album subsequently sold more than 300,000 copies, and half a million cumulative tracks. Produced by Howard Benson (DAUGHTRY, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, FLYLEAF), the album earned extensive acclaim for its infectious hard rock anthems, sexy hooks, and rough-and-tumble grooves.
"The Strange Case Of…" marks HALESTORM's first release since last year's "ReAniMate: The CoVeRs eP", which saw the band putting their unique stamp on a diverse collection of classic songs, including tracks by GUNS N' ROSES, THE BEATLES, HEART, TEMPLE OF THE DOG, SKID ROW, and LADY GAGA. HALESTORM also unleashed their first-ever live CD/DVD, "Live In Philly 2010", featuring such favorites from the band's self-titled debut as "It's Not You", "Familiar Taste of Poison" and the rock radio smash "I Get Off".
True road warriors, HALESTORM made its bones as a major league hard rock outfit via countless North American gigs alongside such artists as SHINEDOWN, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and DISTURBED. Last year saw the band traveling the country on the blockbuster "Avalanche Tour 2011", joining such hard rock luminaries as STONE SOUR, THEORY OF A DEADMAN, ART OF DYING, and fellow Atlantic recording group SKILLET.
"The Strange Case Of…" track listing:
01. Love Bites (So Do I)
02. Mz. Hyde
03. I Miss The Misery
04. Freak Like Me
05. Beautiful With You
06. In Your Room
07. Break In
08. Rock Show
09. Daughters Of Darkness
10. You Call Me A Bitch Like It's A Bad Thing
11. American Boys
12. Here's To Us
Check out the "The Strange Case Of…" cover artwork below.
Inner Wound Recordings has announce the signing of the Brazilian female-fronted metallers SHADOWSIDE. The band's third album, "Inner Monster Out", will be released on May 11 in Europe and May 22 in North America. The CD was produced, mixed and mastered at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden by Fredrik Nordström, who has previously worked with AT THE GATES, IN FLAMES, DARK TRANQUILLITY, ARCH ENEMY, SOILWORK and BRING ME THE HORIZON, among others. It features guest vocals from Björn "Speed" Strid (SOILWORK), Mikael Stanne (DARK TRANQUILLITY), and Niklas Isfeldt (DREAM EVIL).
Commented SHADOWSIDE vocalist Dani Nolden: "We are very excited about the worldwide release of 'Inner Monster Out' and extremely proud to work with Inner Wound Recordings! As if by fate, even the label name and our album title fit. A hardworking, artist-friendly company, and it's safe to say it's the best place SHADOWSIDE has ever been! We can't wait to have you all listening to the album, it's the heaviest and surely the best one we've done so far. Play it loud!"
"Inner Monster Out" track listing:
01. Gag Order
02. Angel with Horns
03. Habitchual
04. In the Name of Love
05. Inner Monster Out (feat. Björn "Speed" Strid, Mikael Stanne, Niklas Isfeldt)
06. I'm Your Mind
07. My Disrupted Reality
08. A Smile Upon Death
09. Whatever Our Fortune
10. A.D.D.
11. Waste Of Life
12. Ace Of Spades (bonus track)
The "Angel With Horns" video can be seen below. The clip was filmed in Campinas, Brazil with director Thiago Pinheiro of Studio Kaiowas.
"The song is about someone trying to escape their own boring reality by putting their hopes in one disturbing and mysterious person that's pure evil, though innocent as an angel at the same time," said Dani Nolden.
"I believe it's safe to say this is our best material to date," Nolden stated about the 11 new tracks on "Inner Monster Out". "It's very heavy and angry, but also very musical. We worked a lot on the melodies to make them catchy, yet elaborate, just to the right extent."
She added, "Working with Fredrik was fantastic and everything went smoothly. He is a perfectionist, and really helped push ourselves to our best. We were pretty much living in the studio for a month, so the whole band was completely focused on the album and on nothing else.
"I can't wait to have this album out and play these songs live. That's what they were written for!"
Nolden previously stated about SHADOWSIDE's new CD, "'Inner Monster Out' is about letting your hidden persona show through, and about everything we always classify as not normal in human beings. The lyrics deal with everyone's fears, reactions, perversions, personality disorders and although it can be seen as a dark album, it also makes it clear that we all have a little bit of crazy and disturbed in a certain way. It's a musically intense album, with lots of angry guitars, bringing together the best of 'Dare To Dream' and 'Theatre Of Shadows', but with new and better things that we didn't try before. I'm especially proud and happy about the result we achieved on this album... we wrote and recorded songs that we like to hear and play and it's by far our best material so far."
Commented SHADOWSIDE vocalist Dani Nolden: "We are very excited about the worldwide release of 'Inner Monster Out' and extremely proud to work with Inner Wound Recordings! As if by fate, even the label name and our album title fit. A hardworking, artist-friendly company, and it's safe to say it's the best place SHADOWSIDE has ever been! We can't wait to have you all listening to the album, it's the heaviest and surely the best one we've done so far. Play it loud!"
"Inner Monster Out" track listing:
01. Gag Order
02. Angel with Horns
03. Habitchual
04. In the Name of Love
05. Inner Monster Out (feat. Björn "Speed" Strid, Mikael Stanne, Niklas Isfeldt)
06. I'm Your Mind
07. My Disrupted Reality
08. A Smile Upon Death
09. Whatever Our Fortune
10. A.D.D.
11. Waste Of Life
12. Ace Of Spades (bonus track)
The "Angel With Horns" video can be seen below. The clip was filmed in Campinas, Brazil with director Thiago Pinheiro of Studio Kaiowas.
"The song is about someone trying to escape their own boring reality by putting their hopes in one disturbing and mysterious person that's pure evil, though innocent as an angel at the same time," said Dani Nolden.
"I believe it's safe to say this is our best material to date," Nolden stated about the 11 new tracks on "Inner Monster Out". "It's very heavy and angry, but also very musical. We worked a lot on the melodies to make them catchy, yet elaborate, just to the right extent."
She added, "Working with Fredrik was fantastic and everything went smoothly. He is a perfectionist, and really helped push ourselves to our best. We were pretty much living in the studio for a month, so the whole band was completely focused on the album and on nothing else.
"I can't wait to have this album out and play these songs live. That's what they were written for!"
Nolden previously stated about SHADOWSIDE's new CD, "'Inner Monster Out' is about letting your hidden persona show through, and about everything we always classify as not normal in human beings. The lyrics deal with everyone's fears, reactions, perversions, personality disorders and although it can be seen as a dark album, it also makes it clear that we all have a little bit of crazy and disturbed in a certain way. It's a musically intense album, with lots of angry guitars, bringing together the best of 'Dare To Dream' and 'Theatre Of Shadows', but with new and better things that we didn't try before. I'm especially proud and happy about the result we achieved on this album... we wrote and recorded songs that we like to hear and play and it's by far our best material so far."
German/Swedish hard rockers JADED HEART have finished recording their eleventh studio album, "Common Destiny", for a May 25 release via Fastball Music/Soulfood.
A picture from the video shoot can be seen below.
JADED HEART's last three CDs — "Helluva Time" (2005), "Sinister Mind" (2007) and "Perfect Insanity" (2010) — were made available through Frontiers Records.
A picture from the video shoot can be seen below.
JADED HEART's last three CDs — "Helluva Time" (2005), "Sinister Mind" (2007) and "Perfect Insanity" (2010) — were made available through Frontiers Records.
After raising eyebrows and blowing minds with their brutally inventive 2011 tour de force "Celestial Completion", Atlanta, Georgia metallurgists BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE are prolonging the magic with the release of a digital-only remix EP, "Celestial Progression", out April 17 on Solid State Records.
Crafted by Nashville electronica collective Born of Water and Chicago producer Giant Robot (who also contributed sitar to "Celestial Completion"), the six-song EP finds BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE once again defying expectations and stretching the boundaries of metal music with a challenging and rewarding set of remixes that range from adrenaline-pumping to industrial to atmospheric.
"I've been a fan of good remixes of heavy music for a long time," says BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE guitarist Seth Hecox. "The great thing is that I told these guys to make the songs their own thing, and that's exactly what they did. Each remix sounds like its own song and each remix is very exciting to listen to, bringing out a different emotion."
"I've fallen in love with these six tracks and I know everyone who buys this album will too," Hecox adds. "Any fan of 'Celestial Completion' is going to be blown away and adore what these remixes bring out of their originals."
With their fourth full-length album, 2011's "Celestial Completion", BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE took wildly ferocious metal and pushed it to its breaking point. There are horns. There is Middle Eastern sitar. There is a choir of sopranos. There are haunting piano dirges. Safe, paint-by-numbers metal it was not. Highwire Daze called the album "nothing short of a masterpiece, while Metal Hammer praised the band's "massive songs, massive ideas and a massive array of instruments," while calling BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE "the cleverest band ever to use death metal as a reference point and add a brass section."
Crafted by Nashville electronica collective Born of Water and Chicago producer Giant Robot (who also contributed sitar to "Celestial Completion"), the six-song EP finds BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE once again defying expectations and stretching the boundaries of metal music with a challenging and rewarding set of remixes that range from adrenaline-pumping to industrial to atmospheric.
"I've been a fan of good remixes of heavy music for a long time," says BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE guitarist Seth Hecox. "The great thing is that I told these guys to make the songs their own thing, and that's exactly what they did. Each remix sounds like its own song and each remix is very exciting to listen to, bringing out a different emotion."
"I've fallen in love with these six tracks and I know everyone who buys this album will too," Hecox adds. "Any fan of 'Celestial Completion' is going to be blown away and adore what these remixes bring out of their originals."
With their fourth full-length album, 2011's "Celestial Completion", BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE took wildly ferocious metal and pushed it to its breaking point. There are horns. There is Middle Eastern sitar. There is a choir of sopranos. There are haunting piano dirges. Safe, paint-by-numbers metal it was not. Highwire Daze called the album "nothing short of a masterpiece, while Metal Hammer praised the band's "massive songs, massive ideas and a massive array of instruments," while calling BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE "the cleverest band ever to use death metal as a reference point and add a brass section."
"Where Angels Fear", the long-awaited fifth album from the Finnish female-fronted heavy rock outfit LULLACRY, will be released in North America on April 10 through End Of The Light Records distributed by DisManic via eOne Distribution.
Commented LULLACRY guitarist Sami Leppikangas: "Hell yeah, we've been waiting (for) this moment so long! Now it's here, the brand new album after six years, it's a long time! I'm so excited about it! We've had great moments touring in North America with NIGHTWISH and also the one-week-trip to Milwaukee Metalfest was awesome! I hope you North American fans haven't forgotten us, because we haven't forgotten you!"
Released on March 7 in Finland through LULLACRY's own label, OUTO Recordings, the CD — which marks the band's first effort since 2005's "Vol. 4" — was produced by Mikko Herranen (ex-vocalist for MISERY, INC.), who also sings a duet with LULLACRY vocalist Tanja Lainio in the track "Feel My Revenge". The album was mastered by Svante Forsbäck at Chartmakers in Helsinki.
"Where Angels Fear" track listing:
01. Antidote To You
02. Still An Angel
03. Thousand Suns
04. Feel My Revenge
05. Bad Blood
06. All Behind
07. Gone Are The Days
08. I Am
09. Broken (Into Pieces)
10. Where Angels Fear
11. Stay
12. Love & War
Commented Leppikangas: "Yes, it sure has taken a lot of time and many things have happened.
"Last year has probably been the best we've had in LULLACRY, at least when it comes to vibes. And you can hear that in the album. For the first time we made songs without thinking that now we have to do a goth ballad or a rock song. We just did things more spontaneusly and it led to an album that is a lot more dark, ambitious and multi-dimensional than its predecessors. We also paid a lot more attention to lyrics, and the production was organic, which made the sounds more dynamic on 'Where Angels Fear'.
"It will be awesome to go and play these new tunes to people; we've really waited this for long."
LULLACRY is:
Tanja Lainio - Vocals
Sami Leppikangas - Guitar
Sauli Kivilahti - Guitar
Heavy Hiltunen - Bass
Jukka Outinen – Drums
Commented LULLACRY guitarist Sami Leppikangas: "Hell yeah, we've been waiting (for) this moment so long! Now it's here, the brand new album after six years, it's a long time! I'm so excited about it! We've had great moments touring in North America with NIGHTWISH and also the one-week-trip to Milwaukee Metalfest was awesome! I hope you North American fans haven't forgotten us, because we haven't forgotten you!"
Released on March 7 in Finland through LULLACRY's own label, OUTO Recordings, the CD — which marks the band's first effort since 2005's "Vol. 4" — was produced by Mikko Herranen (ex-vocalist for MISERY, INC.), who also sings a duet with LULLACRY vocalist Tanja Lainio in the track "Feel My Revenge". The album was mastered by Svante Forsbäck at Chartmakers in Helsinki.
"Where Angels Fear" track listing:
01. Antidote To You
02. Still An Angel
03. Thousand Suns
04. Feel My Revenge
05. Bad Blood
06. All Behind
07. Gone Are The Days
08. I Am
09. Broken (Into Pieces)
10. Where Angels Fear
11. Stay
12. Love & War
Commented Leppikangas: "Yes, it sure has taken a lot of time and many things have happened.
"Last year has probably been the best we've had in LULLACRY, at least when it comes to vibes. And you can hear that in the album. For the first time we made songs without thinking that now we have to do a goth ballad or a rock song. We just did things more spontaneusly and it led to an album that is a lot more dark, ambitious and multi-dimensional than its predecessors. We also paid a lot more attention to lyrics, and the production was organic, which made the sounds more dynamic on 'Where Angels Fear'.
"It will be awesome to go and play these new tunes to people; we've really waited this for long."
LULLACRY is:
Tanja Lainio - Vocals
Sami Leppikangas - Guitar
Sauli Kivilahti - Guitar
Heavy Hiltunen - Bass
Jukka Outinen – Drums
According to UnionLeader.com, Eric Paone, the 41-year-old guitarist for the CANDY STRIPER DEATH ORGY, lost three of his six guitars, including his Kerry King Flying V signature series electric guitar and nearly $3,000 in other equipment, in a a raging house fire Friday night in Newton, New Hampshire.
The fire broke out shortly after 5 p.m. and quickly went to four alarms, bringing more than 50 firefighters from 10 towns to the house where Paone lives with his girlfriend and his mother.
"I've got so much money tied up in shirts and memorabilia," Paone told UnionLeader.com, adding that he had "tons of rare" items related to the California thrash metal veterans SLAYER.
Read more from UnionLeader.com.
CANDY STRIPER DEATH ORGY earned a reputation several years ago for serving as local openers for every thrash and death metal band that came to the Boston, Masachusetts and greater New England area.
If you wish to help Eric in this time of need, you can send "gift cards and whatever else" to:
Eric Paone
P.O. Box 379
Newton, NH 03858
The fire broke out shortly after 5 p.m. and quickly went to four alarms, bringing more than 50 firefighters from 10 towns to the house where Paone lives with his girlfriend and his mother.
"I've got so much money tied up in shirts and memorabilia," Paone told UnionLeader.com, adding that he had "tons of rare" items related to the California thrash metal veterans SLAYER.
Read more from UnionLeader.com.
CANDY STRIPER DEATH ORGY earned a reputation several years ago for serving as local openers for every thrash and death metal band that came to the Boston, Masachusetts and greater New England area.
If you wish to help Eric in this time of need, you can send "gift cards and whatever else" to:
Eric Paone
P.O. Box 379
Newton, NH 03858
According to Dave Wedge of BostonHerald.com, the House Of Blues venue in Boston, Massachusetts has been cited by cops for a license violation because of a mosh pit that broke out during a February 21 show by the a "celtic punk" band FLOGGING MOLLY. Police claim 60 concertgoers engaged in an "aggressive mosh pit dance," during which people were running and "colliding into each other," including some who were "knocked to the ground." No injuries were reported. A hearing was subsequently held at City Hall, and the House Of Blues must now post an illuminated sign indicating that moshing is not permitted.
"The city of Boston needs to stay out of it," Guy Kozowyk, vocalist for the Massachusetts grindcore band THE RED CHORD, tells BostonHerald.com. "I understand cracking down on fighting, but (moshing) is a form of expression. It's ridiculous they're cracking down on this now. There are plenty of other problems."
"This new anti-moshing policy proves once again that the city of Boston hates heavy music," says Trevor Phipps, vocalist for Boston's UNEARTH. "It's disheartening and maddening to know your hometown doesn't support or understand your music scene."
"The city of Boston needs to stay out of it," Guy Kozowyk, vocalist for the Massachusetts grindcore band THE RED CHORD, tells BostonHerald.com. "I understand cracking down on fighting, but (moshing) is a form of expression. It's ridiculous they're cracking down on this now. There are plenty of other problems."
"This new anti-moshing policy proves once again that the city of Boston hates heavy music," says Trevor Phipps, vocalist for Boston's UNEARTH. "It's disheartening and maddening to know your hometown doesn't support or understand your music scene."
"Uncontrolled", a compilation of all three demo taptes from the acclaimed Raleigh, North Carolina-based progressive doom metal band CONFESSOR, will be relased on May 8 via Divebomb Records.
CONFESSOR made a name for itself by writing unapologetically heavy riffs, with a unique flare for timing changes. The band had created quite a stir by playing all over the Southeast and landing two tours in Europe, including the now legendary "Gods of Grind" tour with CARCASS and ENTOMBED. With the release of their debut album, "Condemned", the band felt as though their chance was at hand to show the world what they knew, that CONFESSOR was unlike anything else out at the time. Unfortunately, label merging and politics forced CONFESSOR off of the U.S. leg of that famous tour in favor of the latest "new band." CONFESSOR's struggles with their label led to lineup changes that seriously altered the band's trajectory and eventually they disbanded after only a single album was released. Luckily, over the years CONFESSOR's controversial-yet-pioneering sound became accepted and adored by many in the metal community and in 2004 the band reunited for some festival appearances. They have reunited once again for a special appearance at the Maryland Deathfest in 2012.
"Uncontrolled" is the first time all three CONFESSOR demo tapes have been released officially. These are the demos that helped the band get signed to Earache Records back in 1990 and led to the eventual release of "Condemned".
For the diehards, Divebomb has unearthed raw archival live footage as part of both an enhanced CD and bonus DVD. Jeff Wagner, author of "Mean Deviation: Four Decades Of Progressive Metal", has also contributed a brand new essay to the liners.
The demos themselves were converted from original reels and/or DAT by The Kitchen Mastering in 2004. Jamie King remastered the entire set in 2012 at his Basement Studios.
"Uncontrolled" track listing:
01. Collapse Into Despair
02. Alone
03. Condemned
04. Uncontrolled
05. Prepare Yourself
06. Suffer
07. The Secret
08. Deception
09. Eve Of Salvation
10. Uncontrolled ("Vile Vibes" version)
11. The Secret ("Metal Massacre X" version)
"Die-Hard" Bonus Tracks
12. Words Of Praise (Live at Fame City)
13. Addictive Bind (Live In Raleigh)
"The Secret" is now available for streaming using the SoundCloud player below.
CONFESSOR released its latest full-length album, "Unraveled", in 2005 via Season of Mist. The CD was produced by Dick Hodgin (ex-CORROSION OF CONFORMITY producer) and is "a wonderful representation of the classic CONFESSOR twisted guitar riffing and complex drumming, meshed with some more straightforward parts and a toned down and very melodic vocal approach," according to Jeffreys.
CONFESSOR split up in the early '90s after releasing one full-length album (1991's "Condemned") and EP (1992's "Confessor"), with the with the rhythm section going on to form FLY MACHINE. CONFESSOR reformed in 2002 following the death of guitarist Ivan Colon, who passed away due to cardiac complications.
CONFESSOR made a name for itself by writing unapologetically heavy riffs, with a unique flare for timing changes. The band had created quite a stir by playing all over the Southeast and landing two tours in Europe, including the now legendary "Gods of Grind" tour with CARCASS and ENTOMBED. With the release of their debut album, "Condemned", the band felt as though their chance was at hand to show the world what they knew, that CONFESSOR was unlike anything else out at the time. Unfortunately, label merging and politics forced CONFESSOR off of the U.S. leg of that famous tour in favor of the latest "new band." CONFESSOR's struggles with their label led to lineup changes that seriously altered the band's trajectory and eventually they disbanded after only a single album was released. Luckily, over the years CONFESSOR's controversial-yet-pioneering sound became accepted and adored by many in the metal community and in 2004 the band reunited for some festival appearances. They have reunited once again for a special appearance at the Maryland Deathfest in 2012.
"Uncontrolled" is the first time all three CONFESSOR demo tapes have been released officially. These are the demos that helped the band get signed to Earache Records back in 1990 and led to the eventual release of "Condemned".
For the diehards, Divebomb has unearthed raw archival live footage as part of both an enhanced CD and bonus DVD. Jeff Wagner, author of "Mean Deviation: Four Decades Of Progressive Metal", has also contributed a brand new essay to the liners.
The demos themselves were converted from original reels and/or DAT by The Kitchen Mastering in 2004. Jamie King remastered the entire set in 2012 at his Basement Studios.
"Uncontrolled" track listing:
01. Collapse Into Despair
02. Alone
03. Condemned
04. Uncontrolled
05. Prepare Yourself
06. Suffer
07. The Secret
08. Deception
09. Eve Of Salvation
10. Uncontrolled ("Vile Vibes" version)
11. The Secret ("Metal Massacre X" version)
"Die-Hard" Bonus Tracks
12. Words Of Praise (Live at Fame City)
13. Addictive Bind (Live In Raleigh)
"The Secret" is now available for streaming using the SoundCloud player below.
CONFESSOR released its latest full-length album, "Unraveled", in 2005 via Season of Mist. The CD was produced by Dick Hodgin (ex-CORROSION OF CONFORMITY producer) and is "a wonderful representation of the classic CONFESSOR twisted guitar riffing and complex drumming, meshed with some more straightforward parts and a toned down and very melodic vocal approach," according to Jeffreys.
CONFESSOR split up in the early '90s after releasing one full-length album (1991's "Condemned") and EP (1992's "Confessor"), with the with the rhythm section going on to form FLY MACHINE. CONFESSOR reformed in 2002 following the death of guitarist Ivan Colon, who passed away due to cardiac complications.
Danish death metallers DEUS OTIOSUS have parted ways with drummer Søren Bentsen and have replaced him with Jesper Olsen. The band states: "Like Peter Engkjær [guitar] and Jesper Holst [bass], Jesper Olsen also has a past in HIDEOUS INVASION, so we're keeping things within the family."
DEUS OTIOSUS's debut album, "Murderer", was released last year via FDA Rekotz. The band is currently working on material for the follow-up release, which it hopes to begin recording during 2012.
Adds the group: "Jesper has already been playing with the band for some time. He's doing a great job and we're continuing the work with the songs for our second album with him."
DEUS OTIOSUS is:
Anders Bo Rasmussen - Vocals
Henrik Engkjær - Guitars
Peter Engkjær - Guitars
Jesper Holst - Bass
Jesper Olsen - Drums
For more information, visit www.deus-otiosus.com.
DEUS OTIOSUS's debut album, "Murderer", was released last year via FDA Rekotz. The band is currently working on material for the follow-up release, which it hopes to begin recording during 2012.
Adds the group: "Jesper has already been playing with the band for some time. He's doing a great job and we're continuing the work with the songs for our second album with him."
DEUS OTIOSUS is:
Anders Bo Rasmussen - Vocals
Henrik Engkjær - Guitars
Peter Engkjær - Guitars
Jesper Holst - Bass
Jesper Olsen - Drums
For more information, visit www.deus-otiosus.com.
Masters of Sumerian black/thrash metal MELECHESH will release a digital EP called "Mystics Of The Pillar II" on April 27 in Europe and May 1 in the U.S. via Nuclear Blast Records.
The EP will contain the following tracks:
01. Mystics Of The Pillar (Alternate Ending)
02. Sacred Geometry (Instrumental)
03. The Epigenesis (Instrumental)
Commented MELECHESH mainman Ashmedi: "We recorded two different ending version of 'Mystics Of The Pillar' — this one changes tempo and picks up steam. Why? Because we felt like it; a song with two different endings is not too common in this day and age. Last minute we chose one to be included on the album, thus the second version was not mixed and mastered 'till a much later date. We also decided to release a couple of instrumental versions to our songs, namely 'The Epigenesis' title track, which is a 12-13 minute epic, and 'Sacred Geometry'. Both are multi-faceted and work perfect just as instrumental works. We actually have an instrumental version of the entire album mixed and mastered so enjoy these couple of tracks."
"The Epigenesis" was recorded in the recently built Babajim Studios in Istanbul, Turkey and was mixed by Reuben de Lautour and mastered by Pieter Snapper.
The "The Epigenesis" cover art was created by the U.K.-based renowned occult artist John Coulthart, who had already collaborated with MELECHESH in the past.
The EP will contain the following tracks:
01. Mystics Of The Pillar (Alternate Ending)
02. Sacred Geometry (Instrumental)
03. The Epigenesis (Instrumental)
Commented MELECHESH mainman Ashmedi: "We recorded two different ending version of 'Mystics Of The Pillar' — this one changes tempo and picks up steam. Why? Because we felt like it; a song with two different endings is not too common in this day and age. Last minute we chose one to be included on the album, thus the second version was not mixed and mastered 'till a much later date. We also decided to release a couple of instrumental versions to our songs, namely 'The Epigenesis' title track, which is a 12-13 minute epic, and 'Sacred Geometry'. Both are multi-faceted and work perfect just as instrumental works. We actually have an instrumental version of the entire album mixed and mastered so enjoy these couple of tracks."
"The Epigenesis" was recorded in the recently built Babajim Studios in Istanbul, Turkey and was mixed by Reuben de Lautour and mastered by Pieter Snapper.
The "The Epigenesis" cover art was created by the U.K.-based renowned occult artist John Coulthart, who had already collaborated with MELECHESH in the past.
Norway's blackened death metallers VOMIT have released their cult album, "Still Rotting", in Misantrof Antirecords's historical music archives to celebrate the anti-label's fifth anniversary. "Still Rotting" consists of rehearsals and demo recordings from the late '80s that had previously only been released in limited editions on CD and Vinyl.
VOMIT is considered to be one of the very first proper death metal bands in Norway and once shared members with MAYHEM. VOMIT has has been cited as an major influence by Fenriz of DARKTHRONE. VOMIT also did a semi-official bootleg rehearsal split-tape with MAYHEM that was released by Euronymous and sold via Helvete. It included a rehearsal from November 1986 while another more recent bootleg split includes "Rot in Hell" instead.
The earliest incarnation of the band formed in 1983. The name VOMIT was first used in 1985 and marked the beginning of their extreme metal sound. VOMIT later morphed into the punk band BØRRE OG BLØDERNE and continued to release material under that name. The two bands also existed in parallel until VOMIT split up around 1988-89. Parts of the band later reformed as KVIKKSØLVGUTTENE. It was an attempt to recreate the trio version of VOMIT. Kittil Kittelsen switched from bass to guitar and Necrobutcher of MAYHEM took over the bass duties.
As every release by Misantrof Antirecords, "Still Rotting" can be downloaded for free from the band's Misantrof page in it's complete and original form 100% legally. The release can be freely copied and shared by the general public for non-commercial purposes and is protected by The Creative Commons — Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license. The download includes digital audio, cover artwork, press release and more info.
For more information, visit vomit.misantrof.net.
VOMIT is considered to be one of the very first proper death metal bands in Norway and once shared members with MAYHEM. VOMIT has has been cited as an major influence by Fenriz of DARKTHRONE. VOMIT also did a semi-official bootleg rehearsal split-tape with MAYHEM that was released by Euronymous and sold via Helvete. It included a rehearsal from November 1986 while another more recent bootleg split includes "Rot in Hell" instead.
The earliest incarnation of the band formed in 1983. The name VOMIT was first used in 1985 and marked the beginning of their extreme metal sound. VOMIT later morphed into the punk band BØRRE OG BLØDERNE and continued to release material under that name. The two bands also existed in parallel until VOMIT split up around 1988-89. Parts of the band later reformed as KVIKKSØLVGUTTENE. It was an attempt to recreate the trio version of VOMIT. Kittil Kittelsen switched from bass to guitar and Necrobutcher of MAYHEM took over the bass duties.
As every release by Misantrof Antirecords, "Still Rotting" can be downloaded for free from the band's Misantrof page in it's complete and original form 100% legally. The release can be freely copied and shared by the general public for non-commercial purposes and is protected by The Creative Commons — Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license. The download includes digital audio, cover artwork, press release and more info.
For more information, visit vomit.misantrof.net.
Norwegian black metallers 1349 have recruited JOB FOR A COWBOY's Jon "The Charn" Rice to sit behind the kit for their upcoming North American tour as the support act for MARDUK. The trek, which kicks off June 2 in Baltimore, marks 1349's first activity on this continent since 2010, when they supported CANNIBAL CORPSE and TRIPTYKON on separate treks. That same year saw the release of the critically acclaimed "Demonoir", which Decibel magazine called "a riff-packed, forward-looking blast of rockin'-yet-technical grimness."
Commented 1349 frontman Ravn: "After touring North America at least once a year, this tradition was broken in 2011, so it is with honor we accepted the invitation from MARDUK to tour with them. We look forward to once again cross this continent and spread our Aural Hellfire."
The tour will include one 1349 headline performance at The Glass House in Pomona, California on June 18. After wrapping up the tour in San Diego two nights later, the group will travel to Chile, where they will perform at Santiago's Club 334 on June 23.
1349 with MARDUK, WITHERED, WEAPON:
Jun. 02 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar
Jun. 03 - Brooklyn, NY - Williamsburg Music Hall
Jun. 04 - Montreal, QC - Les Foufounes Electriques
Jun. 05 - Toronto, ON - Wreck Room
Jun. 06 - Ottawa, ON - Maverick's
Jun. 07 - Columbus, OH - Alrosa Villa
Jun. 08 - Chicago, IL - Reggie's
Jun. 09 - St Paul, MN - Station 4
Jun. 10 - Winnipeg, MB - Park Theatre
Jun. 11 - Regina, SK - The Exchange
Jun. 12 - Calgary, AB - Distillery
Jun. 14 - Vancouver, BC - Venue
Jun. 15 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
Jun. 16 - Portland, OR - Bossanova
Jun. 17 - San Francisco, CA - DNA Lounge
Jun. 18 - Pomona, CA - Glass House *
Jun. 19 - Hollywood, CA - House Of Blues
Jun. 20 - San Diego, CA - Ruby Room
Jun. 23 - Santiago, Chile - Club 334 *
* 1349 only
1349 released its first-ever live DVD, "Hellvetia Fire - The Official 1349 Bootleg", last October via Candlelight Records. The disc was filmed at Bikini Test La chaux De Fonds in Switzerland in 2005 and features a special guest appearance by Tom G. Warrior (HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST, TRYPTIKON).
The critically acclaimed album "Demonoir" by 1349 was reissued as a limited box set as part of the Indie Recordings Norwegian Collector's Edition Series. It contains seven bonus tracks, including an unreleased track that did not appear on the expanded edition or the limited edition, 12-page booklet, poster, guitar pick, a patch and autographed photo card. The box is handnumbered and limited to 1000 copies worldwide.
"Demonoir", the fifth full-length album from 1349, was recorded at Studio Nyhagen, deep in the woods in Norway with Tom G. Warrior (HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST), who showed the greatest respect for the task and played a key role as motivator and catalyst. His technical role of the recording was that of a co-producer, but far more important was his presence and understanding of what a challenging project "Demonoir" was.
Commented 1349 frontman Ravn: "After touring North America at least once a year, this tradition was broken in 2011, so it is with honor we accepted the invitation from MARDUK to tour with them. We look forward to once again cross this continent and spread our Aural Hellfire."
The tour will include one 1349 headline performance at The Glass House in Pomona, California on June 18. After wrapping up the tour in San Diego two nights later, the group will travel to Chile, where they will perform at Santiago's Club 334 on June 23.
1349 with MARDUK, WITHERED, WEAPON:
Jun. 02 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar
Jun. 03 - Brooklyn, NY - Williamsburg Music Hall
Jun. 04 - Montreal, QC - Les Foufounes Electriques
Jun. 05 - Toronto, ON - Wreck Room
Jun. 06 - Ottawa, ON - Maverick's
Jun. 07 - Columbus, OH - Alrosa Villa
Jun. 08 - Chicago, IL - Reggie's
Jun. 09 - St Paul, MN - Station 4
Jun. 10 - Winnipeg, MB - Park Theatre
Jun. 11 - Regina, SK - The Exchange
Jun. 12 - Calgary, AB - Distillery
Jun. 14 - Vancouver, BC - Venue
Jun. 15 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
Jun. 16 - Portland, OR - Bossanova
Jun. 17 - San Francisco, CA - DNA Lounge
Jun. 18 - Pomona, CA - Glass House *
Jun. 19 - Hollywood, CA - House Of Blues
Jun. 20 - San Diego, CA - Ruby Room
Jun. 23 - Santiago, Chile - Club 334 *
* 1349 only
1349 released its first-ever live DVD, "Hellvetia Fire - The Official 1349 Bootleg", last October via Candlelight Records. The disc was filmed at Bikini Test La chaux De Fonds in Switzerland in 2005 and features a special guest appearance by Tom G. Warrior (HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST, TRYPTIKON).
The critically acclaimed album "Demonoir" by 1349 was reissued as a limited box set as part of the Indie Recordings Norwegian Collector's Edition Series. It contains seven bonus tracks, including an unreleased track that did not appear on the expanded edition or the limited edition, 12-page booklet, poster, guitar pick, a patch and autographed photo card. The box is handnumbered and limited to 1000 copies worldwide.
"Demonoir", the fifth full-length album from 1349, was recorded at Studio Nyhagen, deep in the woods in Norway with Tom G. Warrior (HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST), who showed the greatest respect for the task and played a key role as motivator and catalyst. His technical role of the recording was that of a co-producer, but far more important was his presence and understanding of what a challenging project "Demonoir" was.
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