Last week Ozzy Osbourne stopped by the Rolling Stone offices to discuss his new album "Scream", his forthcoming world tour, the death of Ronnie James Dio and the possibility of a BLACK SABBATH reunion (see video below). "I love those guys — Bill [Ward, drums], Tony [Iommi, guitar] and Geezer [Butler, bass]," he told Rolling Stone about a possible return to SABBATH. "I never say never anymore because you never know what's going to come around."
"I'm willing," Osbourne added. "But there are three other guys as well. It goes backwards and forwards. One day this, one day that. I'm up for it. But we'll see. If it's meant to happen, it'll happen."
Osbourne did admit that the prospect of the reunion is a little daunting. "The pressure of doing a new BLACK SABBATH album is enormous, and for it to be as good as what we did back then," he said. "It's been 30 years since we actually sat down and tried to write together, and we've all changed so much. I know I have."
Osbourne told VH1 Radio Networks' Dave Basner last week that the chances of another reunion of the original BLACK SABBATH seem more remote with each passing day. Ozzy explained, "To be honest, I don't think we all can physically do it. I'm up for it, I keep fit every day. I can't speak for the others. I mean, I've spoken to Tony Iommi, I speak to Bill from time to time. I haven't spoken to Geezer for a while, but if it's meant to happen, it'll happen."
Butler recently released a statement via his official web site in which he made it clear that "there will be definitely NO reunion of all four original members of BLACK SABBATH, whether to record an album or to tour."
Although Ozzy and Iommi had some legal issues in recent years over the use of the BLACK SABBATH name, that was all settled in 2010. Ozzy told The Pulse Of Radio at the time that he was still open to the idea of a reunion. "Well, I never say never," he said. "I mean, I've got a few ideas, but we'll see what happens, you know. We did try and do another album, but we've all changed so much and it's — if you don't do an album that blows the doors off the last one that we did together, then it's gonna be looked upon as a joke, you know."
The original SABBATH lineup has not toured together since the summer of 2005, and last convened for their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in early 2006.
The group did try to record a new album 11 years ago, their first since 1978, but abandoned the attempt after just a couple of songs.
Iommi and Butler toured and recorded from 2007 to 2010 with latter-day SABBATH singer Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice under the name HEAVEN & HELL, until Dio's death last May from stomach cancer.
Though Ozzy Osbourne was a reality-television fixture for three years — and, oh yeah, a pioneer of heavy-metal music for some four decades — there is more to be said about rock 'n' roll's Prince of Darkness in "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne," a documentary making its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. The movie, directed by Mike Fleiss and Mike Piscitelli, chronicles Mr. Osbourne's life — 62 years, if you can believe it, and counting — from his upbringing in Birmingham, England, through his years with Black Sabbath and as a solo performer, through his grieving for the accidental death of his guitarist Randy Rhoads, to the aftermath of his reality show, while a cloud of alcohol and drug abuse hangs over him. In addition to interviews with Mr. Osbourne and his band mates past and present, the film offers candid testimonials from his wife, Sharon, and children Jack and Kelly, as well as his little-seen daughter Aimee (who declined to be part
of the reality series) and children Louis and Jessica (from a previous marriage).
Getty Images/Tribeca Film Festival Ozzy and Jack Osbourne
Jack Osbourne, in particular, should know what he got himself into: "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" was his idea, and he is one of its producers. In these excerpts from a recent phone conversation, he talks about what happened when the cameras were turned on his father this time.
Q.
Your family and your father were fairly ubiquitous while "The Osbournes" was on television. Why make a documentary about him now?
A.
I wanted to come back and, essentially, set the record straight. Since the reality show, Dad had got sober, and he's become a totally different person. I just saw it as an opportunity to show people who he really was. Not so much to make a movie about Ozzy, but more a movie about John.
Q.
The documentary shows how your father didn't really get clean until after the reality show, but didn't "The Osbournes" present him as if he were already sober?
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A.
Initially, yes. In the first [season], we did try and keep it under wraps, that my dad was [messed] up a lot of the time. It just got too difficult to shoot around, because it was becoming more and more prevalent. He was doing it all the time. The episode where my mom and dad got remarried, he was wasted. It was easy at first, and towards the end we gave up trying to hide it.
Q.
Even though there's a lot about your family that's already known and on the table, was it strange asking your parents to open up for this film?
A.
The strange thing is, no matter what, when you become some kind of public figure, you have your go-to answers for all scenarios and instances. It was a lot easier with my mom than my dad, because my dad had been, for the most part, been giving the same answers for the last 40 years about things. We tried to get him to go beyond that. Mike [Piscitelli] was attached to my dad the most, and that's where he really excelled, being able to get dad to open up and talk about things that had always been very taboo.
Q.
What was hard to get him to talk about?
A.
His true relationship with his family and his kids. He holds that very sacred, so it was hard to get him to be completely open about it. And it did take a long time.
Q.
Was it difficult to persuade Ozzy's children by his first wife to be part of the film?
A.
They're my half-brother and -sister, so I grew up with them, with distance. But they were always around. There was a time where Dad and Jessica didn't talk for a couple of years, and that since has changed. We're not super-close by any means, but I do have some kind of brother-sister relationship with them.
Q.
At one point we hear Ozzy and Sharon tell their sides of a fight in which Ozzy very nearly killed her. Are you ever able to fully disconnect from the fact that those are your parents up on the screen telling this story?
A.
It's weird, because I felt I was coming at it from a producer's point of view. When we were working on the project, I stopped calling my parents Mom and Dad. They were Sharon and Ozzy at that point. I almost felt like a spy for a little bit. I'd grown up knowing that story, and they never tried to hide it from us when were kids. That's not what I found hard. The Randy Rhoads stuff really chokes me up, just from the footage of Randy -– it's one of the only interviews in existence where Randy is on camera. He's such an amazingly humble musician. His talents were just completely out of this world, and he got taken from us too quickly. It's gut-wrenching.
Q.
The portion of the film that deals with Randy Rhoads's death is told largely through archival footage. Were you unable to get your dad to talk about that?
A.
I had some really good stuff with him. A couple times I took the camera and I would shoot it, me and him. And it was the one time that for some reasons our cameras completely flubbed up. It was amazing, the conversation we had was really powerful and deep, and we could never replicate it. That's when we found that footage from shortly after the accident. It must have been a year after the accident, and you can still see it's very fresh in my dad's eyes.
Q.
Your sisters give fairly stark accounts of their own experiences. Did you feel guilty for making them relive those moments?
A.
I wouldn't say guilty is the word. I don't enjoy putting people in uncomfortable positions, especially my parents and sisters. I didn't do those interviews because I thought it would have been too personal at that point. We give up an awful lot in this, but I didn't want to give up everything. Some things should be held sacred. After the fact they were pretty drained from it all. At that point, I was like, I'm sorry, but it has to be done. And they knew that, and they knew my vision for this and what I was trying to accomplish. I think they respected that. That's what made them so willing to take part.
Q.
I think what shocked me most of all was the footage in which Ozzy disavows "Never Say Die." That's my favorite Black Sabbath album.
A.
That's the only thing he asked me to take out of the film. I'm like, "You get away with it because you did that interview in 1982." He doesn't hate "Never Say Die." It was just back then, it was a year or two after he got fired out of Sabbath, so he's probably still pretty raw. I think it's probably better than "Just Say Ozzy." I mean, let's be real.
Q.
What has it been like showing this film to audiences with your father in attendance?
A.
It was kind of surreal. I was overcome with emotion at the screening, because I've been working on something for three and a half years, and finally playing it to a bunch of people — being there with my family and watching my dad's reaction the whole time during the film. It was something I'll probably remember forever.
Q.
What did he think of the movie?
A.
Apparently, he said to my mom on the car ride home: "I'm not that bad, am I?"
AEROSMITH frontman Steven Tyler is featured on the cover of the May 9 issue of People magazine. In the accompanying article, Tyler states that he doesn't need drugs to get high these days — all he needs is to go to work as a judge on "American Idol".
"If you think going out in front of high-def cameras and millions of people I'm not high on adrenaline, you're crazy," he is quoted as saying. "I'm stoned when that curtain drops. I just don't snort the curtain dropping. I don't snort J. Lo [fellow 'American Idol' judge Jennifer Lopez] either, though I do breathe her in."
Tyler, who has been sober for a year and a half, says he is "grateful" that he's survived several health problems, as well as his hard-partying ways.
"Left up to my own devices," says the singer, "I probably would have been dead several times over."
For much more on Tyler, including his life as a dad and his plans for the future, pick up this week's issue of People, on newsstands Friday.
Tyler revealed in a new interview with Rolling Stone that he wasn't the only long-sober member of the band who fell off the wagon in recent times. The singer said that he and guitarist Joe Perry got high together in 2008 while attempting to record a new album. Tyler revealed, "It was just like 30 years before. I whipped out mine, he whipped out his and we got high together again. I say to Joe, 'Wow, man, how you been, it's been, what, 17 years since we got high together? Joe, you've been fucking running away from me ever since.' "
The drugs, however, derailed the sessions for the album, with Tyler saying, "Joe was high and he couldn't play. I couldn't sing, really, because I was snorting everything, and it fucks up your throat. It was the wrong time."
Perry did not respond to an Associated Press request for a comment.
Tyler's alleged fall from sobriety led to an injury onstage, a canceled tour, and tensions within AEROSMITH in late 2009. The band patched up their differences early last year and toured, after Tyler spent 90 days in rehab.
He then shocked his bandmates by accepting a job as a judge on the current season of "American Idol", throwing a wrench in recording plans.
The singer said he was motivated to take the "American Idol" gig after his bandmates threatened to throw him out of AEROSMITH. He admitted, "Did I take this job to show the band? Fuck, yeah. Not to show them, but that I can't be held hostage anymore. I will be my own hostage. The band can't throw me out."
Tyler will release his autobiography, "Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?", next month, along with the first solo single of his career, "(It) Feels So Good".
Alternative Matter recently conducted an interview with GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow.
Alternative Matter: You recently said some very really interesting things about the current decline of the music industry and how bands and musicians should react to it. What should people do according to you?
Thal: Haha, I could talk all day about this. The thing is that I'm not talking about the METALLICAs and U2s of this world, but about guys who are trying to get their first bands together and getting their music out there. It's about delivering the music to people in the best possible way and have a future in doing that. It's geared towards those kind of people. Where to begin? It's really simple. Fifteen years ago when I started putting out albums, you still had all the big gatekeepers, like labels and distro. There was a lot of money being allocated to promote albums and making people aware of their existence. This was before the time the Internet got big. The only way to do it was through hellishly expensive ads in magazines and you didn't get the worldwide coverage you get nowadays because of Internet. If you wanted to get some visibility in a record store, you had to pay 500 dollars each month on one location to have it in the listening booth. That
really adds up and could wipe you out. The distro would be waiting on getting paid from the stores and it would hold up paying the label, and after all the expenses for recording and promo, you wouldn't see a dime as an artist. That happened to me several times. A label wouldn't do a lot of promotion and they wouldn't help set up a tour, and would say I owed them twenty grand. I was busting my balls making albums and not making a dime in return. I wasn't in it for the money, but you still need to pay your bills. You're putting all of your time in but it's not putting food on the table. How are you supposed to live?
Alternative Matter: I can imagine it must be incredibly disheartening when you pour your soul into creating the best music you can and you get nothing in return..
Thal: Yes, it becomes a form of indentured servitude, because you're under contract. You're forced to make music for years but not make any money. That's how it used to be. Then the Internet opened everything up, thanks to the old Napster. I had two computers set up, one for normal stuff and one for being connected to Napster 24/7 where people could download all these extra songs of mine and live versions on mp3. That was back in the late Nineties. That was the best. It was the start of things opening to the whole world. Sites like CDbaby and Amazon made it possible to sell your music online without going to a label. Then came PayPal, which made it easy for people to buy it all. Now young bands don't have to sell their soul anymore. That's another thing that would happen. Once you surrender your music to the label, they own all of it. When they'd decide to stop printing your album, there'd be nothing you can do about it. When you'd give your music to a
label, you'd lose your ownership of it. The label owns the songs "throughout the Universe in perpetuity." That means, if you try to sell your music on the moon, they can sue you. Now, you can make your music, keep your music and your rights and sell your music to the whole world from your own laptop. It's very easy now and that's the thing I want young bands to understand. Don't buy into the old myth. Now you can do everything yourself.
Alternative Matter: How do you balance your own activities with being a guitarist in GUNS N' ROSES?
Thal: It's like having a testicular problem. You've got two balls and one of them of is humongous and you have to figure how to walk with that. It's basically having one big ball and a bunch of other smaller balls, so walking becomes very difficult. It's a challenge sometimes with how to budget time and be in multiple places at once without an army of clones. It's not easy. When GUNS needs me, I'm there, and when my time is free, I run like the wind, haha. Right now I'm using Skype for giving guitar lessons, because I miss the hell out of teaching. I'm also getting back into producing other bands, I'm doing some guest spots here and there and I'm busy with releasing my own music. Next week I'll by flying out to Israel to play with death metal band SALEM and play on a bunch of their songs. That's going to be fun.
Alternative Matter: With GUNS N' ROSES you performed on the biggest festivals and venues often in front of thousands of people and it also gives you somewhat of a celebrity status. How do you cope with that and what's keeping you grounded?
Thal: Probably because I don't think I have celebrity status at all and most of the people don't think I do either, haha, so that helps. Honestly, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm set in my ways and I know who I am so shit doesn't go to my head. I've been beaten down enough by life to know what's important and what isn't. I have a pretty healthy perspective of what's going on. I enjoy what I'm doing on stage and giving people a good time. After the show, I walk off the stage I shake hands and say "another day at the office," haha. Then I wipe my sweat off and go to the meet-and-greet room and hang out with everyone and sign some stuff, take some pictures, eat some spicy foot and burn a hole in my stomach, hang some more and go to bed at some point. It's no big deal. I'm still doing the dishes, taking out the trash and cleaning the cat box. When I go to work it's just a lot of people watching. It's all about giving people a good time and that's why I got into
performing in the first place.
DEF LEPPARD's new live album (with bonus DVD), "Mirrorball", will be released through Bludgeon Riffola/Mailboat Records on the following dates:
Germany, Switzerland, Austria - June 3
Rest Of Europe - June 6
North America - June 7
"Mirrorball" will be available exclusively at Walmart and Sam's Club locations in the United States and Canada. The album will include a 50-minute DVD that contains live performances and intimate backstage footage of the band captured on the road. A special limited vinyl edition will also be made available. "Mirrorball" will also be available online, marking the first time the band's music will officially be made available for digital purchase. DEF LEPPARD will also be releasing their new community based website in May, which is being developed to be the ultimate DEF LEPPARD fan experience and go-to destination for all things on the band.
"Mirrorball" features a mix of live DEF LEPPARD classics (recorded throughout The Sparkle Lounge Tour), three brand new studio songs and the aforementioned bonus DVD. "Mirrorball" is DEF LEPPARD's first ever live album and features rock classics such as "Animal", "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Photograph", "Nine Lives" and "Rock Of Ages". The album also brings together three brand new studio tracks — "Undefeated", "Kings Of The World" and "It's All About Believin'" — taking their place with ease within this classic setlist.
"When we decided to do (the live album), it just got said — I don't know by who — 'Why don't we chuck a couple of new songs on the end?' " frontman Joe Elliott told Billboard.com. "And that two became three, and in fairness it could've been four if we'd just had a little bit more time. But we wanted to tour this summer, so any fourth or fifth song we had brewing, we'll save them for the next record."
Elliott composed "Undefeated", which he described to Billboard.com as "a very QUEEN-type vocal thing. It even features piano and stuff." Guitarist Phil Collen's "It's All About Believin'" is "a pop-rock song," while bassist Rick Savage's "Kings Of The World" is "a big, epic, rock anthem that will sound great in arenas and stadiums all over the world — kind of 'We Will Rock You' with guitars, if you like."
"They're all very different to each other," Elliott added. "They don't sound specifically like any previous DEF LEPPARD songs, but they sound like DEF LEPPARD songs. They have to have our identity on them, otherwise they might as well be Tom Waits or R.E.M. We have a signature sound that we're not scared of anymore."
"Mirrorball" track listing is as follows:
Disc 1
01. Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
02. Rocket
03. Animal
04. C'Mon C'Mon
05. Make Love Like A Man
06. Too Late For Love
07. Foolin'
08. Nine Lives
09. Love Bites
10. Rock On
Disc 2 (DVD)
01. Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
02. Armageddon It
03. Pour Some Sugar On Me
04. Hysteria
05. Nine Lives (music video)
06. C'Mon C'Mon (music video)
Disc 3
01. Two Steps Behind
02. Bringin' On The Heartbreak
03. Switch 625
04. Hysteria
05. Armageddon It
06. Photograph
07. Pour Some Sugar On Me
08. Rock Of Ages
09. Let's Get Rocked
10. Action
11. Bad Actress
12. Undefeated
13. Kings Of The World
14. It's All About Believin'
Also set for release this summer is LEPPARD's first coffee table book titled "Def Leppard - The Definitive Visual History", with exclusive photos by legendary rock photographer Ross Halfin. The book is released on June 1.
A photo of the upcoming expanded, commemorative 25th-anniversary reissue edition of MEGADETH's "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" album being advertised on the world's largest digital display system located in New York's Times Square via the 126-foot-wide, 47-foot-tall Reuters sign can be seen below.
The 7,400-square-foot digital billboard, which soars 23 stories into the sky above Times Square, reaches more than 1.5 million people per day.
PR Newswire in 2007 entered into an agreement with TimesSquare2, a division of Reuters, to make its customers' photos and images viewable on the Reuters sign. The billboard features a regular stream of PR Newswire customer photos throughout each day. The photos are accompanied by a news-release headline, and are displayed in fifteen-second increments.
MEGADETH's vital, platinum-certified album, "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?", has been digitally remastered for the first time and expanded for a commemorative 25th-anniversary release in multiple configurations on July 12 by Capitol/EMI. All of the versions, including a 2CD lift-top box, digital album, and a deluxe 5Disc+3LP box set, include a previously unreleased 1987 concert from the band's first world tour and new liner notes written by MEGADETH's Dave Mustaine and METALLICA's Lars Ulrich. The deluxe box set also includes previously unreleased and rare mixes of the album's tracks and hi-res audio for the remastered album and concert, as well as an expanded 20-page book, plus 8"x10" photos and reproductions of vintage MEGADETH memorabilia. The cover of the box uses a new, unique process of lenticular 3D which reinterprets the original cover, creating the illusion of MEGADETH's Vic Rattlehead character jumping out of the art.
Released in 1986, "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" was MEGADETH's second album and the band's first Capitol/EMI release. The acclaimed album thrust MEGADETH into the international spotlight, and it remains a powerful thrash metal staple.
In his liner notes for the new edition, Dave Mustaine reflects on writing the album's title track: "I had written other lyrics by now, but there was something different about 'Peace Sells' because it told my story about my faith; my beliefs; my distrust of government; my work ethic; my integrity. This was MY song."
"If there's a new way, I'll be the first in line"
"Amen!," continues Mustaine. "I was so tired of not shaving, not bathing, not eating, not having a home, a companion, NOTHING. Yeah, I'll be the first in line, but it had better work this time. Well, it was working, thank God, just fast enough for what I needed, but not nearly as fast as I would hope."
"Whether you heard this record for the first time in 1986, or you hear this record for the first time today or tomorrow, 'Peace Sells' is a great heavy metal album," writes Lars Ulrich in his liner notes for the new edition. "Nothing more, nothing less. It has stood the test of time. And will continue to do so."
Dave Mustaine pioneered the hugely successful MEGADETH after his departure from METALLICA. Beginning with the band's 1985 debut album, "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!", and evolving through a shifting series of lineups, MEGADETH has crafted a dynamic, intelligent style that combines the aggressiveness of thrash metal, the improvisational nature of jazz, and cynical, articulate, politically-charged lyrics into an innovative mix that has built a rabid worldwide following.
For nearly three decades, MEGADETH has taken heavy metal into the future — musically, lyrically, and culturally. The band has enjoyed great success on Billboard's album and single charts, including three Top 10 titles on the Top 200 Albums chart and four Top 10 Modern Rock singles, "Almost Honest", "Trust", "Breadline", and "Crush 'Em".
With defiance and grace, through unusual quality and intelligence, MEGADETH has raised a generation on a diet of truth serum and bitter pills. Instead of being kicked to the curb for their insolence, they've been rewarded with nine Grammy Award nominations, six gold, five platinum, and one double platinum albums, and three gold-certified DVD releases, in addition to last year's double platinum concert DVD, "The Big 4: Live From Sofia, Bulgaria".
MEGADETH is currently on tour in Europe. On April 23, MEGADETH will again join forces with METALLICA, SLAYER, and ANTHRAX for The Big Four Festival in Indio, California, and The Big Four have confirmed several European shows for July. MEGADETH will also play more than 20 North American dates in July and August on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival with DISTURBED, GODSMACK, MACHINE HEAD, IN FLAMES and TRIVIUM.
"Peace Sells… But Who's Buying?" track listings:
2CD / Digital (Booklet with liner notes by Dave Mustaine and Lars Ulrich):
Disc 1 (original album, remastered)
01. Wake Up Dead
02. The Conjuring
03. Peace Sells
04. Devil's Island
05. Good Mourning / Black Friday
06. Bad Omen
07. I Ain't Superstitious
08. My Last Words
Disc 2 (previously unreleased 1987 concert)
01. Wake Up Dead
02. The Conjuring
03. Bad Omen
04. Rattlehead
05. Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good
06. Looking Down The Cross
07. My Last Words
08. Peace Sells
09. These Boots Were Made For Walkin'
10. Devil's Island
11. Mechanix
12. Last Rites / Loved To Deth
13. Good Mourning / Black Friday
Deluxe 5Disc+3LP Box Set
* Two 8x10 photos / two 8 ½ x 11 reproduced vintage concert flyers / one reproduced vintage ticket stub / 20-page book with liner notes by Dave Mustaine and Lars Ulrich
Disc 1 (original album, remastered - tracklist above)
Disc 2 (Dave Mustaine mixes & masters for 2004 album reissue - tracklist above)
Disc 3 (Randy Burns mixes, remastered)
01. Wake Up Dead [previously released as bonus track on '04 reissue]
02. The Conjuring [previously released as bonus track on '04 reissue]
03. Peace Sells [previously released as bonus track on '04 reissue]
04. Devil's Island [previously unreleased]
05. Good Mourning / Black Friday [previously released as bonus track on '04 reissue]
06. Bad Omen [previously unreleased]
07. I Ain't Superstitious [previously unreleased]
08. My Last Words [previously unreleased]
Disc 4 (previously unreleased 1987 concert – track listing above)
Disc 5 (hi-res audio: original album + previously unreleased 1987 concert - tracklists above)
LP 1 (original album, remastered – track listing above)
LPs 2 & 3 (previously unreleased 1987 concert – track listing above)
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/soulflypremiere/megadethpeacetimes.jpg
What: Chris Cornell
When: Friday, 8 p.m.
Where: Royal Theatre
Tickets: Sold out
When acclaimed singer Chris Cornell walks on stage this week, his fans can expect to hear a little bit of everything, from Soundgarden songs to Pink Floyd covers.
What they won't hear, to be sure, is an artist unsure of where he wants to go. "I don't want to sound like a crazy person that can't figure out what they want to do," Cornell, 46, said recently from a New York hotel room. "But I always want it to be open.
"It's fun to try to figure out different songs that I can interpret acoustically and see if they'll work or not. Some of them do and some of them don't. But it's fun to experiment with that and be surprised by the songs that seem to work that I wouldn't expect."
Cornell, the adored Soundgarden frontman, is nearing the end of his solo acoustic Songbook tour, the first solo outing of its kind in the performer's remarkable 25-year career. The tour winds down May 6 in San Diego, but not before stopping in Victoria for a sold-out date on Friday at the Royal Theatre.
Cornell scheduled a tour of his own while Soundgarden, which reunited in 2010 following a long hiatus, continued working on its forthcoming new album, the first batch of new material from the group since 1996's Grammy-nominated Down on the Upside.
The process of stripping Soundgarden songs down to their acoustic essence for his solo tour, while writing and recording new material with his Seattle bandmates, has been beneficial for him from a songwriting standpoint, Cornell said.
"From the very beginning of Soundgarden, we all had a similar attitude, without ever discussing it. Any time we wrote a song, it was as though we were approaching songwriting from a new angle every single time. If something sounded a little like we were repeating it, or we were repeating a sensibility that had already been covered on a song, we would always steer away from it."
If anything, Cornell said, playing acoustically has made the divide between his two careers even more defined.
"With Soundgarden making a new record, it feels like the right time to do it, and keep those worlds in their own authentic worlds. If I'm writing a song that Soundgarden can play, it goes to Soundgarden — always. That's the way it is. I'm super-excited to play music with those guys, and I always have been."
Tempers were high prior to the Soundgarden split, which for nearly a decade made the chances of a reunion unlikely even for the staunchest fan. Making the possibility even less likely, Cornell was off with Audioslave, a super-group which paired him with three members of Rage Against the Machine. The group experienced substantial success during its five-year run, netting two Grammy nominations and record sales well over five million copies.
The formation of Audioslave, in 2001, came at a difficult time for Cornell, but it also played a key role in his personal healing. Following a stint in rehab, which was caused by the dissolution of his marriage to Susan Silver, who formerly managed Soundgarden, Cornell gave up drugs and alcohol and experienced — for the first time in years — immense critical and commercial adulation as one of the best singers in rock.
And yet, no matter how popular Audioslave became, the shadow of Soundgarden loomed large. The group was the first Seattle band to break to a national audience during the grunge explosion, and remains (alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains) one of the most important acts in the Pacific Northwest's rich musical heritage from that era.
To this day, Soundgarden's legacy remains a huge point of pride for Cornell. Not only did they touch on a number of genres over the course of their career, they did it with a style that was uniquely their own. "A band that can do Jesus Christ Pose and Black Hole Sun and have it seem to make perfect sense, which it always did, I wanted that to be the norm," he said.
Despite the rush of adrenalin he gets from playing with Soundgarden — who have announced only four tour dates thus far, one being July 2 in Toronto — the Seattle native hasn't grown tired of carrying the mantle all by himself, without the aid of his bandmates, on his solo acoustic tour.
Being on stage alone each night, with the barest of instrumentation for support, definitely has its own rewards, Cornell said.
"In the environment of an acoustic show, there becomes a kind of living room quality to the atmosphere. It feels like a safety net. As much as playing by yourself on an acoustic instrument can make you feel vulnerable, the audience is so supportive that at some point I can do a song I don't really know and the audience doesn't care. They are excited to see that process happen."
Excited, indeed. The opportunity of seeing a certified rock legend in an intimate theatre setting proved too much to resist for audiences: Each of the 28 dates on Cornell's tour sold out immediately, with reviews thus far describing Cornell as nothing short of brilliant.
Cornell, who has two young children with his second wife, Vicky Karayiannis, and is now based in Los Angeles, has enjoyed playing smaller venues on his current tour, and knows that when Soundgarden ramps back in later this year it will do so in much larger rooms.
He'll miss the intimacy, but hopes that the rush of reducing his songs to their bare essence remains. Cornell said he is still awestruck by the reinvention of one of Soundgarden's most famous songs, Rusty Cage, which was covered in 1996 by Johnny Cash for his Grammy-winning album, Unchained.
The unique yet relatively simple approach of Cash producer Rick Rubin, who is responsible for uniting Cornell with his Audioslave bandmates, is something Cornell continues to hold in high regard.
"That was interesting how he got Johnny to re-interpret songs that I thought would be impossible. I was pretty sure Rusty Cage would be impossible. I was asked to do an arrangement for [Cash], and pretty much called up Rick and said, 'That's not going to work. You're out of your mind.' But once I heard his version I felt stupid. It was so simple. I was way over-thinking it."
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Soundgarden+frontman+close+personal/4686368/story.html#ixzz1KtP861QN
SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo, who works as an artist manager at McGhee Entertainment, the company which represents DOWN, posted the following message on his Twitter account shortly after 10:00 p.m. EST earlier tonight (Thursday, April 28):
"Holy shit! [DOWN guitarist] Pepper Keenan just hit [DOWN frontman Philip] Anselmo in the head with his guitar by accident [during the band's performance at the Best Buy Theater in New York City] and busted Philip's head open! Blood all over the place! But they keep going!! Fucking awesome!"
The incident apparently took place during the song "Lifer", which Anselmo dedicated to his late PANTERA bandmate "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.
***UPDATE***: All photos below by Bryan Bardes of Bards Eye Photography (reproduced with permission)
Video footage of DOWN soundchecking at Best Buy Theater in New York City earlier today can be viewed below.
DOWN is the acclaimed New Orleans band featuring CORROSION OF CONFORMITY guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan, drummer Jimmy Bower (EYEHATEGOD, SUPERJOINT RITUAL guitarist), bassist Rex Brown (ex-PANTERA), guitarist Kirk Windstein (CROWBAR), and vocalist Philip Anselmo (SUPERJOINT RITUAL, ex-PANTERA).
Rex Brown was unable to join DOWN for the band's recent shows and was temporarily replaced by CROWBAR bassist Patrick Bruders.
DOWN's three-disc (2 CD/1 DVD) release, "Diary Of A Mad Band", came out last October. It features a two-CD full concert recorded in London. The 130-minute DVD features footage documenting the 2006 return of DOWN from the practice room through the band's first European tour, and a bonus behind-the-scenes featurette entitled "Tyrades and Shananigans".
In October 2008, DOWN released a "deluxe edition" of its critically acclaimed third album, "Over the Under". The deluxe package, which was made available as a Best Buy exclusive, included a DVD with over 30 minutes of previously unreleased live performances and behind-the-scenes footage. The album was released on Down Records in conjunction with Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group (ILG).
****All photos below by Bryan Bardes of Bards Eye Photography (reproduced with permission)****
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The latest installment of the CANDLEMASS biography "Candlemass Chronicles" has just been released. In this the fourth issue, focus is set on the "King Of The Grey Islands" album (Nuclear Blast Records, 2007). This era was a turning point and a rebirth for CANDLEMASS, that is still going in this incarnation today. Among many other things, the magazine goes into great detail about the behind-the-scenes events that eventually lead to the installment of current lead singer Robert Lowe. The people interviewed in this issue are Lowe, lead guitar player Lars Johansson, rhythm guitar player Mats "Mappe" Björkman, drummer Janne Lindh, mixer Peter Tägtgren, mastering engineer Sören von Malmborg and album cover artist Tomas Arfert.
The issue can be ordered through PayPal to candlemasschronicles@yahoo.com. Price is 6 U.S. dollars. Postage is 2 dollars (within the U.S.) or 5 dollars (rest of the world).
Established in 2008, the purpose of the Candlemass Chronicles is to create an in-depth biography of the legendary Swedish doom metal band CANDLEMASS in the form of magazines. Each issue focuses on one album from the CANDLEMASS catalog and goes into great detail about the recording process and that particular period of the band's history. Albums that have so far been covered in previous issues of Candlemass Chronicles are "From The 13th Sun", "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" and "Chapter VI".
For more information, visit www.myspace.com/candlemasschronicles.
SACRED REICH drummer Greg Hall will fill in for CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's Igor Cavalera at tonight's (Thursday, April 28) CC concert at the House Of Blues in Hollywood, California. Igor is unable to make the show due to the fact that he's "stuck in London" because of delays caused by the royal wedding. Greg joked, "I've had a whole 24 hours to prepare. As Phil [Rind, SACRED REICH bassist/vocalist] always says, 'It will be fine.'"
If Igor has not made it to the U.S. in time for tomorrow's (Friday, April 29) CAVALERA CONSPIRACY concert at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, California, Hall will sit behind the kit for that show as well.
"Blunt Force Trauma", the sophomore album from CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, sold around 5,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 11 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's debut CD, "Inflikted", opened with 9,000 units to enter the chart at No. 72.
"Blunt Force Trauma" was once again tracked with ex-MACHINE HEAD/SOULFLY guitarist Logan Mader, who co-produced the LP with Max. Logan also mixed the follow-up to the band's debut album, "Inflikted", which has sold less than 50,000 copies in the United States since its March 2008 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The brothers Cavalera co-founded SEPULTURA, the Brazilian metal band that redefined and established the genre outside of the U.S. and Europe. After Max exited the band, there was a rift between himself and his brother, one that was eventually repaired through the redemptive power of music. Some time had passed and Max and Igor were unable to resist the musical pull in their magnetic fields and their musical collaboration was renewed. The duo are back for round two with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY.
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's lineup is filled out by guitarist Marc Rizzo, who plays with Max in SOULFLY, and bassist Johnny Chow.
Filmmaker Tom MacLeod is attempting to accompany and document Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based metallers 3 INCHES OF BLOOD on their upcoming tour with CANCER BATS, but he needs your help. Tom has set out to raise $6,000 to fund the project and is asking for any donations possible.
"During the month of May I will be accompanying 3 INCHES OF BLOOD on their Canadian tour with CANCER BATS," MacLeod writes on IndieGoGo, which is said to be the world's largest global funding platform.
"This film gives our audience the opportunity to see the tour through the eyes of the band.
"All funds raised will go to purchasing the necessary gear for production and editing as well as some travel costs.
"We hope you can lend your support to make this film happen."
3 INCHES OF BLOOD's "12:34" video, which was directed by Tom MacLeod, can be viewed below. The song comes off 3 INCHES OF BLOOD's latest album, "Here Waits Thy Doom", which was reissued on June 29, 2010 as a Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem edition with four exclusive new tracks along with a bonus DVD featuring the video for "Battles and Brotherhood", 3 INCHES OF BLOOD's performance on Fuel TV and more.
"Here Waits Thy Doom" sold around 2,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 8 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
3 INCHES OF BLOOD recently completed a North American tour with ELUVEITIE, HOLY GRAIL and SYSTEM DIVIDE.
Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times recently conducted an interview with GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
On pursuing a solo career alongside his main gig as the singer and leader of GODSMACK:
Erna: "I just know that we [GODSMACK] do what we do, and we'll continue to do what we do. I don't really see GODSMACK going anywhere, unless something weird happens and internally the band self-destructs. We've gotten over a lot and come a long way since we were younger and kids — doing drugs, drinking, fighting, not getting along. We've way come over that hill and gotten to the other side and found that love again. I don't see GODSMACK going anywhere, and I don't see anything that I do is going to hurt it. Even if branding my own name and doing movie scores really takes off and becomes five times more popular than GODSMACK, it's only going to strengthen GODSMACK, and I think people will continue to follow where I go and what I do."
On last year's GODSMACK album "The Oracle", which was the band's third straight studio album to debut at No. 1:
Erna: "I feel like we've identified what our sound is — GODSMACK is a big, hard rock band. We're not really metal, and we're not really rock 'n' roll — we're in that in-between that's lighter than metal but harder than rock. It is what it is, man, and it's important to continue to try and stay in our niche. We've learned we don't want to branch out too far. Sometimes, we've experimented with that, and it seems like when we have, the audience humors us a bit. 'Serenity', 'Shine Down', 'One Rainy Day' — people seem to say, 'Those are good songs, but when are you going to play the hard stuff?' That's what they want, and that's what we'll deliver. That's what we did on 'The Oracle' — we said (forget) the ballads; let's go put out a badass hard rock record."
On "Avalon", Erna's solo album that was released last fall:
Erna: "The bottom line is that I'm known for being in a hard rock band as a hard rock singer, and that band that took off and gave me a career. But I've been a musician my whole life, since I was 3, playing multiple instruments. A lot of times I'll be sitting in a dressing room with an acoustic guitar or at home playing piano with my daughter, and a lot of times I'll create beautiful cool different kinds of pieces that I just know wouldn't be right for GODSMACK, even acoustically. So I've tucked them away and waited for the opportunity when we took a decent enough break to record them and put them out there for myself. I just love to write and compose music, and GODSMACK happened to be what put me out there. I'm not trying to kill GODSMACK, because I love the guys and the band, but there's another side to me that I love, and I love to challenge myself. I think there's a moment in every artist's career where, if you're passionate about continuing to grow,
you need to think about branching out."
Beginning today, Chicago-based hard rock band DISTURBED will make available for sale a previously unreleased song, entitled "3". at its official web site, Disturbed1.com. All proceeds from the sale of the track, which is available for $0.99, will go to benefit the Damien Echols Defense Fund, which pays for legal fees, forensic testing, and investigative fees for the three men known as the West Memphis Three who were unjustly convicted of murder in Arkansas in 1994. The Free The WM3 Support Fund is group of private individuals who strongly believe that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley are serving prison terms for murders they did not commit.
For more information, visit www.wm3.org.
In other DISTURBED news, the band's current album "Asylum" certified gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) for shipments in excess of 500,000 copies in the United States. This summer the band will hit the road headlining the fourth annual Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. The tour, which also features GODSMACK and MEGADETH on the main stage, will make a 26-date trek across the country beginning on July 9 in San Bernardino, California.
DISTURBED recently filmed a video for the song "Warrior" with director Chris Marrs Piliero (THE BLACK KEYS, D.R.U.G.S.). The track, which was described by DISTURBED singer David Draiman as "a fight song for fighters," comes off the band's latest album, "Asylum", which sold 179,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 chart.
The band's previous three albums — 2008's platinum "Indestructible" (first-week sales: 253,000), 2005's double-platinum "Ten Thousand Fists" (first-week sales: 238,000) and 2002's platinum "Believe" (first-week sales: 284,000) — also debuted at No. 1.
Reunited hardcore legends EARTH CRISIS have set "Neutralize The Threat" as the title of their seventh album, due on July 12 via Century Media Records. The CD was produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris (SHADOWS FALL, HATEBREED).
Commented the band: "We are very happy with how 'Neutralize The Threat' came out. Musically, it resembles the song structures on 'To The Death', but with a 'Gomorah's Season Ends' vibe thrown in. Every song is lyrically inspired by real-life vigilante actions that have taken place around the globe. The topics range from The Black Panther party to Bernard Goetz and we think it's an original lyrical concept for the band, while also retaining some subject matter we are known for dealing with in the past. Zeuss is the man and definitely delivered the best sounding record we have ever had! We can't wait for you guys to hear it!"
"Neutralize The Threat" track listing:
01. Raise
02. Neutralize The Threat
03. Total War
04. 100-Kiloton Blast
05. Counterstrike
06. By Conscience Compelled
07. Black Talons Tear
08. Askari
09. The Eradicators
10. Raze
EARTH CRISIS' chugging riffs and barked declarations served as the mouthpiece of America's militant vegan, straight-edge movement throughout the '90s, detailing the ideas of animal and human liberation, drug-free living and personal empowerment through hardcore music. The group has continued along this path of breaking new ground, constantly working and reaching more people spreading their message to the masses.
After a lengthy hiatus, the band reformed in 2008 to the delight of the hardcore genre. They soon produced the vicious offering "To The Death" that undoubtedly proved that they have never been stronger from both songwriting and musicianship perspectives.
"To The Death" was released on May 5, 2009 via Century Media Records (April 20 in Europe). The self-produced CD was recorded at Castle Recording Studios in Utica, New York and was mixed by Tue Madsen (HEAVEN SHALL BURN, DARK TRANQUILLITY, MOONSPELL, THE HAUNTED). Artwork for the effort was handled by Paul Romano (MASTODON, GODFLESH).
Cleveland, Ohio metallers CHIMAIRA have scheduled the following dates:
May 25 - Flint, MI - The Machine Shop
May 26 - Sandusky, OH - The Underground
May 27 - Louisville, OH - The Carriage House
May 28 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's Down Under
May 29 - Geneva, OH - The Cove
May 30 - Mentor, OH - Live Wire
CHIMAIRA has unveiled its new lineup following the recent departures of drummer Andols Herrick and keyboardist/programmer Chris Spicuzza.
CHIMAIRA 2011 is:
Mark Hunter - Vocals
Rob Arnold - Guitar
Matt DeVries - Guitar
Emil Werstler (DAATH) - Bass
Sean Zatorsky (DAATH) - Keyboards/Samples
Austin D'Amond (BLEED THE SKY, THE ELITE) – Drums
Although D'Amond will sit behind the kit for all of CHIMAIRA's upcoming shows, the drum tracks on the band's recently completed new album were laid down by the CD's producer, Ben Schigel, who has previously worked with DROWNING POOL and WALLS OF JERICHO, among others. Tentatively due in August in North America, South America and Japan via eOne Music, the effort was mixed by Chris "Zeuss" Harris (HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL, MURDERDOLLS, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD) .
CHIMAIRA took part in a live video chat on the band's Ustream channel on April 14. Footage from the chat can be seen below.
Drummer Andols Herrick announced his departure from CHIMAIRA earlier this month, citing "some of the same concerns that" keyboardist/programmer] Chris Spicuzza "mentioned in his statement [announcing his split from the group], namely the current state of the music industry and concerns about my future." Andols added, "A major transition in life is much more manageable at 31 than it is in your late 30s or early 40s, so as a guy with literally zero experience in anything else, better now than later. Plus, it would be hard to go back without feeling constantly uneasy about the situation."
Spicuzza explained his exit from CHIMAIRA by saying that the "situation in CHIMAIRA had ultimately become a negative environment that I had to get out of. Secondly, the music industry is completely fucked and honestly, I became concerned for my future. The amount of work and stress I took on got the best of me. I guess if you're not happy or having fun, what's the point?"
Bassist Jim LaMarca left CHIMAIRA last year in order to focus on family life.
"With Shivering Hearts We Wait", the long-awaited new album from Stockholm, Sweden's BLINDSIDE, will receive an "underground release" on May 6, with a "worldwide release" to follow on June 7 via INO Records. The CD was produced by Howard Benson, Mike Plotnikoff and BLINDSIDE and was recorded at Bay 7 studios in Valley Village, California and Stockholm, Sweden.
"With Shivering Hearts We Wait" track listing:
01. There Must Be Something In The Water
02. My Heart Escapes
03. Monster On The Radio
04. It's All I Have
05. Bloodstained Hollywood Ending
06. Our Love Saves Us
07. Bring Out Your Dead
08. Withering
09. Cold
10. There Must Be Something In The Wind
In a recent webisode, the BLINDSIDE members addressed the reasons for the six-year gap between "With Shivering Hearts We Wait" and the band's previous full-length CD, 2005's "The Great Depression ".
"There comes a time, I think, in everyone's life… If you're in a band, after a certain time, you can almost get caught in it — like, this is the only thing we know," said vocalist Christian Lindskog. "And you kind of almost forget why you're doing it. So then we didn't wanna be addicted to the band. Everything about me, as a person, my identity, is BLINDSIDE, and I think we wanted to step away from that a little bit, to sort of find another identity, in a way. And then maybe come back to the band with more of something to give. Because otherwise you kind of run empty and you just keep going."
Added guitarist Simon Grenehed: "What happened was that when we started writing after 'The Great Depression', we came to a halt because of the record company. Because you kind of lose momentum — you're ready to go into the studio, and to be honest, we didn't have the songs. But still, we were ready to go, and when that came to a halt, we knew that we had to start over, and I think we didn't want to start over fast, like, 'OK, let's get on to the next thing.' As far as the band goes, we wanted to really try to reinvent ourselves and also just take the time… Because the momentum ran out; it was already two years since the last album. So after 2007, we just started writing songs, and we just had the feeling that, 'No rush. Let's really figure out what we wanna do.' That's why when we came to L.A., recording the first time, we decided to write more songs instead of going into the studio straight away, which pushed, basically, the record forward a year or
a year and a half, but it was worth it. It was intentional to work until it was done, and that came with everything that we did. The mixing of the album… It took six or seven months, because we had a picture in our head at that time that this is what we want."
BLINDSIDE's "The Black Rose" EP was released in 2007. It featured five new songs and three live recordings of tracks from the band's previous album, "The Great Depression".
"The Great Depression" was produced by Lasse "Lars" Marten and was released in August 2005 via DRT Entertainment.
BLINDSIDE is:
Christian Lindskog: Vocals
Simon Grenehed: Guitar
Tomas Näslund: Bass
Marcus Dahlström: Drums
Drummer Matt Nicholls of the British metalcore act BRING ME THE HORIZON broke his arm playing soccer and will be unable to join his bandmates on the remainder of their U.K. tour.
Commented singer Oli Sykes: "So Matt's broken his hand! Fuck! But do not fear! All shows are going ahead with Dan [Searle] of ARCHITECTS taking the role of drumming. Matt, as are we, are all gutted that he can't be a part of these huge shows, but we're just happy we don't have to cancel! We will see you at the shows!"
BRING ME THE HORIZON's next performance is scheduled for tonight in Birmingham with PARKWAY DRIVE, ARCHITECTS and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA.
BRING ME THE HORIZON's third album, "There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret", sold 20,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 17 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD also entered the official chart in the U.K. at position No. 13.
Michigan's unstoppable sons of molten melodic death metal THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER will release their new album, "Ritual", in Europe on June 17 and in North America on June 21 via Metal Blade Records. The effort will also be available as a box set, limited to 2,000 units including special, exclusive digibook, witch board, magic wand, sage, incense sticks and coffin nails. The CD was once again be produced by Mark Lewis (TRIVIUM, BURY YOUR DEAD, DEICIDE), who also worked on 2009's "Deflorate"
Frontman Trevor Strnad considers "Ritual" "the most focused BLACK DAHLIA MURDER strike of all time."
"The whole thread of the songs is more tied together than ever before," explains Strnad. "Part of it was kind of like, 'What can we do that's the most BLACK DAHLIA MURDER thing? What's going to be the most quintessential BLACK DAHLIA MURDER thing we can do?' That's kind of what we set our foothold in. And 'Ritual', it just lends itself to that — it's mysticism and magic and all of that. Everyone has an association with some kind of ritual, so we just thought it was the next logical step."
Recalling the writing process that led to "Ritual"'s eventual 12 songs, Strnad says that "every song that got brought forth was exciting and more three-dimensional, more twists and turns, more surprises. There's more ups and downs and taking people on a journey this time."
Co-founder Brian Eschbach, meanwhile, credits the presence of fellow guitarist Ryan Knight, who joined the band for "Deflorate", with helping to move things forward on this particular venture.
"It's been more collaborative than it's been in years," Eschbach notes. "The last two albums ('Deflorate' and 2007's 'Nocturnal') I wrote most of the music, and this one it's almost a 50-50 effort between me and (Knight). He lifted what we were doing on the last album so much from what we've done before, his different techniques and stylings that he knows how to wield. It's really exciting for us to have that be part of the band now." Strnad adds that Knight "is an educated musician, and he's brought that kind of aspect into the band, too. We came to him having higher expectations, and he's exceeded all of those."
THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER has crammed quite a bit into its 10 years together — five albums, three EPs and a DVD (2009's "Majesty") — and the group members themselves seem a bit surprised by what they've wrought. "Yeah, initially we thought we were going to get together on Sundays and try to put a song together every week," Eschbach recalls. "We never dreamed of being able to live off the band." But Strnad says it didn't take long to sense that they could.
"We had the vision that we wanted to take the band to more people, that we wanted to have something bigger than just playing at the crappy ass local bar," he explains. "Being a metal band, I think, is being an underdog. To play music you know is not digestible on purpose, to preach to a certain kind of depraved person...It's a lofty goal to have anyone want to hear what we have to say. We've been really, really lucky, but at the same time we're always looking to the future and trying to do what we do better and better.
"And I would say this time, with 'Ritual', we really nailed it even harder than we have before."
"Ritual" track listing:
01. A Shrine To Madness
02. Moonlight Equilibrium
03. On Stirring Seas Of Salted Blood
04. Conspiring With The Damned
05. The Window
06. Carbonized In Cruciform
07. Den Of The Picquerist
08. Malenchanments Of The Necrosphere
09. The Grave Robber's Work
10. The Raven
11. Great Burning Nullifier
12. Blood In The Ink
"Deflorate" sold around 12,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 43 on The Billboard 200 chart. Released on September 15, 2009 via Metal Blade, the CD was produced by THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, Mark Lewis and Jason Suecof (BENEATH THE MASSACRE, JOB FOR A COWBOY), with mixing duties handled by Suecof. According to a press release, "Deflorate" is "a multifaceted death trip: beautiful, evil, and morbidly addicting. THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER's fourth thrashing epic sees no punch pulled, no gravestone unturned, no soul uncorrupted."
Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH will return to the live stage in October — marking the band's first public appearances since guitarist/vocalist Adam "Nergal" Darski was diagnosed with leukemia last August.
Commented Nergal: "I just came back from the first BEHEMOTH's gathering since my imprisonment. We were brainstorming about the future of the band. We wanna make sure our upcoming shows will be our best yet. Live performance must be raised to the next level. Set list will be refreshed pretty much. Some of the songs we have never played live...huh, lotsa work but we are more than ready to bite the bullet! Wait and see and be surprised! More info will follow soon..."
BEHEMOTH tour dates:
Oct. 08 - Poznan, POL - Eskulap
Oct. 09 - Gdansk, POL - Parlament
Oct. 14 - Krakow, POL - Studio
Oct. 15 - Katowice, POL - Mega Club
Oct. 16 - Wroclaw, POL - Eter
Oct. 21 - Warszawa, POL - Stodola
In a recent interview with Metal Sucks, Nergal stated about BEHEMOTH's upcoming touring activities, "The October shows are just to get warmed up. Then we might do some shows in Australia and Asia — that's the plan. Then the priority for early 2012 is a European tour, then shortly after that, a U.S. tour. This is our top priority for the next year and we're going to fucking do it!"
He added, "Just wait and see us on the stage. You'll see. I'm not going to reveal anything about it, but we … It's not gonna just be BEHEMOTH. It's not like time stood still for us, like we were frozen in time and are just going to appear with the same entourage and in the same outfits. No. We're going to come back, we want to remind people of our existence obviously, but we want to make a fucking impact, an impression. We want to show them that, hey, we are still fucking evolving. We're not just hoping that you'll come to see us because I was sick. Fuck that. I'll be better soon and we're going to deliver!"
Speaking to Revolver magazine last month, Nergal said, "We just decided to play some so-called comeback shows in Poland just to warm up and see how we feel, just to be onstage again together. And I really hope that it's going to turn out great and that it's going to cause other tours and stuff. We have plans until the summer of next year. We already have some cool offers. We're talking to our agents. There's some really, really cool ideas. I don't want to reveal anything yet, but once we're done with October shows, and we feel good about it, and there's chemistry onstage, we definitely want to continue the 'Evangelion' touring cycle. There's still some markets we didn't even touch. We've done over 100 shows so far to 'Evangelion'. We're going to do another 100 at least, and then we can focus on the next record.
"To be honest, we can't wait to hit the stage again. I'm so fucking anxious. I'm so excited, so psyched about it. I have dreams about coming back onstage. I dream about BEHEMOTH shows. It's insane, I know, but I can't tell you how much it's a relief to the band and how much it means to us."
Nergal underwent a bone marrow transplant procedure in December.
Italian death metallers HIDEUOS DIVINITY have inked a multi-album deal with Unique Leader Records. The band's debut album, "Obeisance Rising", will be released in June. The CD was recorded at the renowned 16th Cellar Studios by mastermind Stefano "Saul" Morabito, the man who has turned the knobs on Italy's most acclaimed extreme productions. The lyrical concept is based on John Carpenter's immortal masterstroke "They Live".
Formed in late 2006 as the project of HOUR OF PENANCE founding member Enrico Schettino, HIDEOUS DIVINITY immediately gained the attention of the extreme metal underground thanks to the 2007 "Sinful Star Necrolatry" two-track demo, an intriguing mixture of European and American metal extremities. After a long hiatus, the band finally found a stable lineup, just in time to play two festivals in Scandinavia last year alongside Sweden's INSISION.
Commented HIDEOUS DIVINITY: "Now it's official, and we can say it: we're extremely happy to be part of the world's most renowned death metal roster. Being chosen by Unique Leader after only two short promos is also a huge reason for pride. We are working very hard to bring you the most crushing and epic death metal assault human ears can experience. Fans of NILE, IMMOLATION and relentless death metal worldwide, HIDEOUS DIVINITY is on its way!"
For more information, visit www.myspace.com/hideousdivinity.
Stockholm, Sweden-based melodic death metallers DEGRADEAD will release their third album, "A World Destroyer", in North America on June 28 via Metalville Records. The CD was recorded at Peter Tägtgren's (HYPOCRISY, PAIN) Abyss studios in Pärlby, outside Ludvika, Sweden, with producer Jonas Kjellgren (SCAR SYMMETRY, CENTINEX, WORLD BELOW).
Two songs from the forthcoming CD — "Human Nature" and "Taste Of Destiny" — are available for streaming in the YouTube clips below.
DEGRADEAD's sophomore album, "Out Of Body Experience", entered the national chart in the band's home country at position No. 48. The CD was released on February 27, 2009 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and March 2, 2009 in the rest of Europe via Dockyard 1 Records. The follow-up to 2008's "Till Death Do Us Apart" was recorded primarily at Abyss studio in Sweden with Kjellgren. Mixing and mastering took place at Dugout Productions (IN FLAMES, MESHUGGAH, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD) in Uppsala, Sweden.
DEGRADEAD is:
Mikael Sehlin - Vocals
Anders Nyström - Guitar
David Szücs - Guitar
Michel Bärzén - Bass Guitar
Kenneth Helgesson – Drums
Swedish black metallers WATAIN will take part in what is shaping up to be a new Australian travelling festival dubbed Soundwave Revolution, with an expected launch date of September 24, 2011.
The festival billing is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):
ATTACK ATTACK!
BLACK VEIL BRIDES
CRO-MAGS
DESTROY REBUILD UNTIL GOD SHOWS (D.R.U.G.S)
DEVIN TOWNSEND
EVERY TIME I DIE
FACE TO FACE
FOUR YEAR STRONG
FRAMING HANLEY
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND
HELLOGOODBYE
HELLYEAH
IN THIS MOMENT
KVELERTAK
MADINA LAKE
MAKE DO AND MEND
RELIANT K
SET YOUR GOALS
SKINDRED
STEEL PANTHER
STORY OF THE YEAR
SUM 41
TERRIBLE THINGS
THE ACACIA STRAIN
THE DAMNED THINGS
THE DANGEROUS SUMMER
THE SWELLERS
THE USED
THIS PROVIDENCE
THRICE
THURSDAY
UNEARTH
WATAIN
WE ARE THE OCEAN
WHITE CHAPEL
YELLOWCARD
YOUNG GUNS
ZEBRAHEAD
The official festival announcement was set to be made on April 28, but due to issues with the tour's Perth stop, it has been pushed back to an unknown date.
More details will be revealed via the festival's official web site.
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