Metal News for November 6, 2007
Last updated on October 6, 2025 at 2:37 AM ET
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Hot Topics
- Enthroned To Release New Album In December
- Potato Premiere New Single & Music Video "YUGE PP"
- Kreator To Release New Album In January
- Spite Premiere New Single & Music Video
- Carcosa (AngelMaker) Premiere New Single & Video
- Stellar Circuits Premiere New Single & Music Video
- Agnostic Front Premiere New Single & Lyric Video
- Omnium Gatherum Drops "Walking Ghost Phase" Video
- Tailgunner Signs With Napalm Records
- Messa Shares New Music Video "Reveal"
40 news articles posted on this day.
Twisted Sister Announce More Christmas Shows
TWISTED SISTER have lined up the following upcoming Christmas shows:
December 13 - Hollywood, CA @ House of Blues
December 20 - New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
December 21 - New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
Cliteater Reveal 'Scream Bloody Clit' Cover Art
You can check out CLITEATER’s cover art for their forthcoming new album, Scream Bloody Clit, online here. The album is expected to be released late 2007 / beginning of 2008 through Morbid Records.
Splatterhouse Post New Song Online
Portland’s SPLATTERHOUSE have posted the song “In The Swamps You Rot,” off their split with BIRDFLESH, online over at their official MySpace page for your listening pleasure.
Watch Unexpect Perform On FOX's 'Fearless Music'
Montreal's rambunctious and unique classical/black metal ensemble UNEXPECT has posted its live performance from last weekend's episode of Fox TV's "Fearless Music". Footage of the band playing the song "Desert Urbania" from their debut album "In A Flesh Aquarium" can be viewed here.
Currently in its fifth season, "Fearless Music" features established, as well as up-and-coming bands, as they perform live in a recording studio, a format very similar to the BBC's "The Old Grey Whistle Test" show from the 1970s, "Austin City Limits", "Sessions at West 54th St.", etc. except without a studio audience.
UNEXPECT is currently playing a few shows across the East Coast, and will head out on the road this January with TRAIL OF TEARS for a full North American tour. More...
She Said Destroy Announce New Album Title
Guitarist Anders "Ugmod" Bakke of the Norwegian extreme metallers SHE SAID DESTROY has issued the following update:
"We more or less finished writing our next album this summer and since then we've been rehearsing the songs. That's the reason for lack of updates and the rather sparse amount of gigs we've had over the summer. We've gone underground to focus. This is a strive for perfection, people, and its looking good so far. Drummerboy Torris is putting his magic touch on drum arrangements these days and we're stoked at what he's coming up with. The plan is to record in the beginning of the New Year, again with our favourite studio magician Marius Strand. As for the release of this thing, we're not sure just when or how that'll happen, seeing as we're free agents at the moment. We have settled on an album title already, though: 'This City Speaks in Tongues'."
SHE SAID DESTROY's debut album, "Time like Vines", was released in Europe in April 2006 via Nocturnal Art Productions.
Pharaoh Hard At Work On Third Album
PHARAOH, the American heavy metal band featuring vocalist Tim Aymar (CONTROL DENIED), has entered the studio to begin recording its third album, "Be Gone", to be released shortly before the group's first European appearance (and first show ever!!!) at Germany's Keep It True festival on April 5 2008 at the Tauberfrankenhalle in Lauda-Königshofen.
Commented Aymar: We're going to be finishing my tracks next week, and we'll be going back to the first couple tracks we did and adding a few artistic touches. These have been the most productive PHARAOH sessions to date, and the results are also the best ever. I've had a much easier time with these tunes, and even found it strange at times that there were not any major obstacles or technical problems. Oddly enough, no beers were involved in the vocal recordings. Coffee, lots of water, Matt's special throat tea, and black licorice were my choice of weapons. After a couple sessions, we did have a few beers though." More...
Arch Enemy Guitarist Talks About Australian Tour
Swedish/German extreme metallers ARCH ENEMY have just completed the Australian leg of The Black Crusade Tour with MACHINE HEAD and TRIVIUM.
Commented ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott: "Our third visit to Australia was killer! We had a good time as usual here and I enjoyed the shows, which were all pretty huge and fun to play. MACHINE HEAD, TRIVIUM and ARCH ENEMY proved to be a great package. Great shows, great weather and great people! I'd also like to thank all the good people at CMI who supplied the Randall amps and hooked up the in-stores I did, always fun to talk string gauges and tubes with guitar kids — and I’m not being ironic here!"
ARCH ENEMY will next be playing two headlining shows in Greece and Spain, followed by the much-anticippated European leg of The Black Crusade Tour with MACHINE HEAD, DRAGONFORCE, TRIVIUM and SHADOWS FALL.
ARCH ENEMY's video for the song "Revolution Begins" can be viewed below. The clip was shot in early September just days before ARCH ENEMY flew to North America to begin the Black Tyranny tour (with MACHINE HEAD, THROWDOWN and SANCTITY). To promote their new album, "Rise of the Tyrant", the band shot two videos in Gothenburg, Sweden with director Patric Ullaeus (IN FLAMES, LACUNA COIL), and while filming "Revolution Begins", drummer Daniel Erlandsson's hair went up in smoke.
"The video is set in a huge gravel pit with plenty of pyros going off whilst we were playing," said singer Angela Gossow in a statement. "[During the shoot, the direction of] the wind changed and Daniel's hair was no more — well, at least some of it. It kinda caught fire and literally melted down in a split second. Pretty, pretty scary!"
The next day, ARCH ENEMY had other heat problems shooting the second video for the song "I Will Live Again". "We shot [it] in Patric's studio with me being tied back to the wall, fighting against the chains," Gossow said. "I tore them right out of the wall and flew into the burning hot set lights in front of me. The result [was] a couple of third-degree burns on my forearms. Ouch! I will remember that one for quite awhile.' More...
The Funeral Pyre Reveal Album Working Title
Southern California's THE FUNERAL PYRE has issued an in-depth update on the band's plans for 2008. An excerpt follows:
"We'll be playing very select amounts of shows until the new year," writes the band's frontman John. "But in January, we will be doing nine shows with BOOK OF BLACK EARTH from Seattle. So you can keep checking back for the dates on that. After that, we'll be recording the new record. So please do not ask us to play any shows for a while. We need a break. Just keep checking back for the dates in January.
"The title I have been kicking around for this third record is 'Wounds'," he continues. "I'm not sure how you people will react to this, but, it's not really bothering me. I feel that this title sums up the lyrical content to a T...Which is what I am excited about. We are finishing songs, playing them live and fine tuning what will be the third installment in THE FUNERAL PYRE career of metal. It's been a long time already, to think that we're already on our third record!? Nobody would have ever guessed we'd be here. I mean, we're not popular or anything, but hey, I like to think that we've accomplished a lot! If you have heard any of the new songs live, I'd really enjoy if you could give us some feedback about what you thought of them. These songs will be different than 'The Nature Of Betrayal' but yet the same...It's a big cycle we go through, you hear the same music, but it sounds different. How does that work? I'm not quite sure, but you will find out in 2008."
The band is continuing to support its Prosthetic Records debut, "The Nature of Betrayal", which saw a February 2007 re-release through a distribution deal with Creator Destructor Records. THE FUNERAL PYRE recently returned from tour with the Bay Area punk/metal band APIARY after a two-week tour of the West Coast.
Vader Members Comment On Decapitated Drummer
Polish death metallers VADER have issued the following statement regarding the passing of DECAPITATED drummer Witold "Vitek" Kieltyka, who died at the age of 23 in a Russian hospital from injuries sustained in a recent road collision:
"Known from such bands as DECAPITATED, DIES IRAE, PANZER X... 23-year old, extremely talented drummer, our brother in metal and dear friend passed away... This is another huge loss for the metal scene and the saddest news we have heard this year... we are all in shock...
"VADER members would like to express their deepest condolences to his family and frends. Vitek — R.I.P."
DECAPITATED singer Covan (real name: Adrian Kowanek) was also hurt in the accident, which involved the band's tour bus and a truck carrying wood in Gomel, on the Russia/Belarus border. The frontman reportedly also sustained a head injury in the collision, which is believed to have been the fault of the band's driver (although this has not yet been officially confirmed). Covan has since been moved to a hospital in Kraków, Poland. Doctors describe his condition as stable and he is showing signs of improvement every day.
Into Eternity Guitarist Talks Upcoming Tour
Extreme progressive metallers INTO ETERNITY will join SYMPHONY X and EPICA for a month-long North American trek next spring. The tour, which kicks off on April 4, will mark the start of the worldwide touring cycle for the much anticipated new INTO ETERNITY album.
Tim Roth (guitars, vocals) states: "The whole band is blown away to be touring with SYMPHONY X! What a way to kick off the new album cycle. I look forward to seeing EPICA as well. This is going to be a heavy tour with lots of high singing and shredding, and an amazing package for the fans to see!
"When we were writing 'Buried In Oblivion' in 2002/2003, we listened to a lot of SYMPHONY X. They were an influence on our band for sure. We met Russell [Allen, SYMPHONY X vocalist] at a gig on the DREAM THEATER tour this summer. Then he came to one of our shows on the EDGUY tour, where we hung with him and got wasted on our RV! Thanks to Russell and the guys for going to bat for us and getting us on this package. Hopefully Micheal Romeo will show me a few licks at some point in the tour!"
INTO ETERNITY are currently hard at work on material for their new recording, which guitarist/vocalist Tim Roth says will be the group’s first conceptual album. "The Scattering of Ashes" campaign saw the band embark on five North American tours with highlights including an appearance on Gigantour performing alongside MEGADETH and LAMB OF GOD, but it was this past summer's tour alongside DREAM THEATER that really saw the band reach out to a new audience.
Sebastian Bach To Do New Jersey Signing Session
Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach will take part in an in-store signing session on Tuesday, November 20 at 8:00 p.m. at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, New Jersey.
For more information, visit www.vvinyl.com.
Sebastian Bach's version of AEROSMITH's "Back in the Saddle", one of three tracks on Bach's forthcoming CD "Angel Down" that features GUNS N' ROSES' Axl Rose on vocals, has leaked and was played a few times last month on an Active Rock station in Texas. According to the station's rep, the phones went off the hook when the song was played and it became the station's #1 most requested track!
The cover art for "Angel Down" is an original painting by Bach's late father, the celebrated Canadian artist David Bierk who died in 2002. The painting, entitled "David Watching", was painted in 1990, so an emotional choice for Bach. Bierk also created the cover artwork for SKID ROW's 1991 album "Slave To The Grind", which Rolling Stone voted one of the top 5 album covers of the year. His paintings have been exhibited in art galleries all over North America.
Bach will release "Angel Down" on November 20. The album was produced by Roy Z (BRUCE DICKINSON, HALFORD, JUDAS PRIEST), and recorded at Sound City Studios and Under City Studios in Los Angeles, CA. Joining Bach in the studio were guitarists "Metal" Mike Chlasciak and Johnny Chromatic, Bobby Jarzombek on drums, and Steve DiGiorgio on bass. GUNS N' ROSES' Axl Rose makes a special guest appearance contributing vocals on three of the album's songs — "(Love is a) Bitchslap", a cover of AEROSMITH's "Back In the Saddle" and "Stuck Inside".
"Angel Down" track listing:
01. Angel Down
02. You Don't Understand
03. Back In The Saddle (feat. Axl Rose)
04. (Love Is) A Bitchslap (feat. Axl Rose)
05. Stuck Inside (feat. Axl Rose)
06. American Metalhead
07. Negative Light
08. Live & Die
09. By Your Side
10. Our Love Is A Lie
11. Take You Down With Me
12. Stabbin' Daggers
13. You Bring Me Down
14. Falling Into You
Iron Maiden To Release Rock In Rio '85 On DVD
In a conversation with EMI Records, IRON MAIDEN bass legend Steve Harris talks about Brazil and reveals that Rock In Rio '85 will be included on the Live After Death DVD reissue.
"Brazil is one of our favourite places to play," says Harris. "The Brazilians are passionate fans since the first time we played there in 1985, during the World Slavery Tour. Until today, that's our biggest show ever in terms of audience and since then we have just had the biggest support possible from our fans everytime we came to Brazil. Often we are asked what are the higher points of our career and the shows in Rock in Rio (1985 and 2001) always come to my mind. Not necessary to say that we are very glad to back and see our friends again - some, who knows, that we've met for the first time in 1985! We included the Rock In Rio 1985 show in the Live After Death DVD that we are producing to realease next year. So, some people can even try to spot themselves there! I always loved the shows from Powerslave and I think they are some of the best of our history. Will be a pleasure to bring it back to Brazil. We will have a lot of fun there!"
Evile Guitarist Talks About Amp Deal
EVILE are proud to announce their new partnership with Randall Amps. Randall currently endorses bands/musicians such as ANTHRAX (Scott Ian), METALLICA (Kirk Hammett), Andy Sneap, ARCH ENEMY, OVERKILL, George Lynch and many more.
Ol Drake had the following to say about the partnership with Randall:
"The second I plugged into the Randall V2 and tweaked the settings a bit, I was in love. You can literally get any sound you want out of it. Crunchy low ends to screaming high ends to....anything! The built-in graphic EQ is a god send too. I stress that every metal guitarist try out some Randall gear. They'll kick your fucking arse!"
Death Angel Mixing New Album
DEATH ANGEL guitarist Rob Cavestany has issued the following update:
"As I come out of the haze and begin to become unglazed from spawning our most recent effort in this life of music… Killing Season is almost here!
We finished recording last week and after a manic b’day weekend which took me to Vegas to see RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE / MUSE then back to LA to catch QOTSA then back to Oakland for Halloween. I was able to get my bearings and throw down an update so here it is!
I am pleased to announce we have decided that Nick (Raskulinecz, our producer) will mix the album. The reference 'rough' mixes we have been listening to are blowing our minds and we don’t think anyone could do a better job taking the mix to the next level and beyond! Wait till you hear this disc, my friends, you will hear us like you never have before! This shit is SLAMMIN!!!!!!!
Mixing starts later today (it’s 3am right now, children) so I better hit the sack so I can get a couple hours of shuteye and get them ears fresh to hear me some final mixes… hell yeah!
Rob Halford and Members of Fight, Halford Signings
Singer/Songwriter Rob Halford, vocalist of Judas Priest, will make a special appearance to sign autographs and meet fans at J&R Music and Computer World in New York on Friday, November 16 at 5:30PM. Halford will be joined by Halford guitarist Metal Mike Chlasciak to celebrate the release of "Halford Metal God Essentials Volume 1" featuring two new Halford tracks and a bonus DVD. Halford will also bring Fight bassist Jay Jay and guitarist Brian Tilse to sign the band’s new release "K5 – The War Of Words Demos," a companion audio release to Fight’s new DVD release.
Gorgasm Part Ways With Shiven Records
Chicago’s GORGASM have parted ways with Shiven Records and are currently searching for a new label to release their forthcoming new album, tentatively set for a Spring 2008 release.
Quinta Essentia Offer Post Tour Update
Alabama’s QUINTA ESSENTIA have posted the following update:
“Thanks to all of the fans, promoters, zines, hellraisers, and so fourth that helped to make the tour happen or contributed in some way. QUINTA ESSENTIA sends thanks to all who helped us out with places to crash and were kind enough to welcome us into their homes, rehearsal spaces, garages, and wherever we ended up. As a whole the tour was a great experience. Evan March from Deathgasm really came through for us and booked a ton of shows on just enough notice to get it done. His help is much appreciated. When BENEDICTION had to cancel the US tour we had all of the gears in motion to go out so therefore that is what we did. We intend to make regular posts about touring certain cities as there were many different things happening night after night. Of course priorities first and the new album ‘Archetypal Transformation’ will be coming soon on Deathgasm Records. It is intended to be finished by the end of the year. So if some time goes by without a post, you will know of course that we are hard at work on our metal as some of the MySpace junkies should be.”
You can also check out a new song from the band entitled “The Universal Longing” online over at their official MySpace page.
Genghis Tron Reveal New Album Details
GENGHIS TRON have posted the following update:
“After well over a year of very hard work, we’re incredibly happy and relieved to announce that we’ve finally finished our second album, Board Up the House. It will be released via Relapse Records during the latter half of February. Here’s the tracklist:"
01. Board Up The House
02. Endless Teeth
03. Things Don’t Look Good
04. Recursion
05. I Won’t Come Back Alive
06. City On A Hill
07. The Whips Blow Back
08. Colony Collapse
09. The Feast
10. Ergot
11. Relief More...
Engorged Reveal New Album Title
Portland’s ENGORGED are currently at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean working on their next album, “The House of Cthulhu,” to be released in 2008. The band has also lined up the following upcoming shows:
November 27 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theatre w/ Suicidal Tendencies, Municipal Waste
May 23-25 - Baltimore, MD @ Sonar (Maryland Deathfest VI)
Hour of Penance Reveal New Album Details
Italian brutal death metallers HOUR OF PENANCE will release their forthcoming new album, The Vile Conception, on February 23rd via Unique Leader Records. You can check out the art work (by Pär Olofsson) here, and the track listing is as follows:
01. Misconception
02. Liturgy of Deceivers
03. Hideously Conceived
04. Drowned In The Abyss of Ignorance
05. Abscence of Truth
06. Slavery In A Deaf Decay
07. The Holy Betrayal
08. From Hate To Suffering
09. Conjuration Sworn
10. Hierarchy of the Fools
Decapitated Vocalist Moved To Polish Hospital
Decapitated posted an update on vocalist Covan's condition via their myspace blog:
Covan is currently at a hospital in Kraków, Poland. Doctors describe his condition as stable and he is showing signs of improvement everyday. At this time, visiting is prohibited except to family members due to his fragile state. In the coming days, the decision on his follow-up treatment will be made.
H.I.M. LA Shows To Be Filmed For DVD
HIM's November 14-15 concerts at the Orpheium Theatre in Los Angeles will be filmed for an upcoming DVD, tentatively due next year. November 14 is sold out, but you can still claim your place in HIM history on November 15 at the Orpheum Theatre while tickets last. Get your tickets while you still can from Ticketmaster.
As previously reported, HIM will be the featured guests on the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline", hosted by Bob Coburn, airing Monday, November 12 at 11:30 p.m. EST/8:30 p.m. PST. Fans can talk live with HIM by calling 800-344-ROCK (7625). To find a station near you or to listen to the show live via the Internet, go to www.rocklineradio.com.
HIM's new album, "Venus Doom", sold 38,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 12 on The Billboard 200 chart.
Ville Valo recently told the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that the band wanted to make a more minimalist album this time out. Enough time has elapsed from the early '90s when Valo himself was absorbing influences from bands such as CATHEDRAL, PARADISE LOST, ANATHEMA, TYPE O NEGATIVE, MONSTER MAGNET, MY DYING BRIDE and others like them.
"There is no way we could have pulled off that sort of thing at the time when TYPE O NEGATIVE came out with 'Bloody Kisses' [released in 1993]. And you know, by the way, that there's plenty of people today who know nothing about that band, or about the Swedish band CANDLEMASS or PARADISE LOST, even. If we had come out with this sort of material at the same time as them, it would just have come across like a rip-off."
Bulletboys Recruit White Lion Drummer For Tour
'80s hard rock icons BULLETBOYS have recruited drummer Troy Patrick Farrell (WHITE LION, HOOKERS N BLOW) for their 20th anniversary U.S. tour, which is scheduled to kick off on November 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They will be performing all the smash hits that made them staples on MTV and radio, including "Smooth Up" and "For The Love Of Money", as well as plenty of surprises.
BULLETBOYS earlier in the year released its first-ever live album, entitled "Behind the Orange Curtain", via Crash Music Classics (the new imprint of Crash Music, Inc.). The CD was recorded live at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, California by Ryan Haffer.
Crash Music Classics was launched to give a home to former legendary rock and metal artists of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Fans Angry About Led Zeppelin Rescheduling Reunion
Fans from around the world have e-mailed NME.COM to complain about Led Zeppelin's rescheduling of their forthcoming reunion gig at London's O2 Arena, following Jimmy Page's finger injury.
Many fans who live outside the UK have been plunged into travel chaos, after booking expensive travel arrangements to coincide with the original Led Zeppelin concert date, November 26.
The show is now due to take place on December 10.
Many of those who wrote in expressed their concern for the guitarist, but explained because of the one-off nature of the gig they had spent a lot of money on travel.
One fan, Stephen Brennan, who lives in Boston, USA, e-mailed to say he was "extremely disappointed" with the band.
"I am sorry about Jimmy's finger," he wrote. "However, his injury is going to cost me more than the tickets. I haven't found out how much the penalty is to change flight and hotel reservations. This doesn't take into account schedules that have been changed so that we could go to England for the show.
"With a show that is a one-off performance, these guys should be in a freaking padded room until three minutes before the show!"
Jen Ryan, meanwhile, a fan from New York, was even angrier, as she won't be able to afford to pay for new travel costs.
"People have planned their travels from all over the globe, myself included, to come to this once in a lifetime show!" she wrote. "This reflects poorly on the charity and Led Zeppelin's commitment to it.
"It would be more admirable for them to cancel altogether, as most people who have tickets will not be able to make a rescheduled trip - me being one of them! Shame on Led Zeppelin!"
Dark Tranquillity To Play China In 2008
Melodic death metal masters Dark Tranquillity posted the following update on their website:
That's right, folks! We're now confirmed to appear at MG Live Hall in Beijing on Jan 11, 2008. Needless to say, we're very much looking forward to our first ever live performance in China.
More info is available here (if you can read/translate Chinese).
The shows in Hellas this weekend went great, and the Greek audience was (as usual) nothing short of fantastic. Also, huge thanks to Mr. Johan Edlund of Tiamat for lending his vocal chords to "Misery's crown" in Thessaloniki. It was the first time that we've had a guest musician onstage, and it was truly a memorable event.
Asrai Post "Sour Ground" Song Online
Season of Mist will release the third album from Dutch goth metallers ASRAI, entitled "Pearls in Dirt", in Europe on November 12 (November 20 in the U.S.). A single, "Sour Ground", preceded the full-length effort on November 5. The title track will also be available on the limited edition of "Pearls in Dirt". The deluxe packaging will include a velvet o-ring and silver hot foil print.
Download the "Sour Ground" track at this location.
Commented the band: "While touring after the release of 'Touch in the Dark', ideas came up for new material. 'Sour Ground' was one of the first new songs we wrote and during jamming new songs saw a new daylight. Except 'Pearls in Dirt', a song we never finished but inspired us for three new songs. For several reasons we couldn't avoid this title. So it had to become the title of the new album, and is symbolic to the period we were in!" More...
Updated Die Young Tour Schedule
Die Young (TX) will tour the Eastern US and Puerto Rico beginning at the end of this month. The trek will be the group's last string of US dates for some time. Here are the tour dates:
11/28 Madison, AL @ Insanity Skatepark
11/29 Johnson City, TN @ The Hideaway
11/30 W. Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern w/ Stretch Arm Strong
12/1 Spartanburg, SC @ Ground Zero w/ Stretch Arm Strong
12/2 Sterling, VA @ Sterling Community Center w/ Bracewar
12/3 Baltimore, MD @ Charm City Art Space
12/4 New Jersey @ TBA
12/5 Brooklyn, NY @ TBA
12/7 San Sebastian, Puerto Rico @ Blue Moon
12/8 Catano, Puerto Rico @ SOS Burger
12/11 Doylestown, PA @ Siren Records
12/12 Harrisonburg, VA @ Crayola House
12/13 Chattanooga, TN @ TBA
12/14 Birmingham, AL @ Cave 9
Sebastian Bach Talks New Guns N Roses Songs
Metal Edge magazine recently conducted an interview with former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach. An excerpt from the chat follows:
Metal Edge: Do you ever get [Axl Rose] on the phone and say, "Will you just put your fuckin record out already?"
Bach: I said that to him once, and it was one of the only times he bristled at me. He goes, "Oh, everybody, Sebastian's got a great fucking idea. Hey! I should put out a record! Thanks, man what would I do without you dude... that's awesome." I was like, "OK, I get it. Ill never say that again." See, the thing that nobody gets, that I get, is that he has like four albums done. I've heard it. So get ready! All you people who don't think he's gonna put out a record are sadly mistaken. He just takes his time. It's his album. Axl does what he wants to do, that's the way it is. And just 'cause you havent heard it doesn't mean it's not done."
Metal Edge: Well, I've heard the six tracks that were leaked, and they're amazing.
Bach: But those aren't the final versions. He laughed about those. Those aren't the record. Those are some other version of whatever. One of my favorite songs — I asked Axl if I could mention the song titles and he said "Fine" — and one of my favorite songs is this song called "The General", which is so… it's by far the heaviest metal tune I think ive ever heard Axl do, this slow, grinding riff with these high, peircing vocals, screaming vocals. I was like, "When is this coming out?" And he said "2012" I was like, "Dude, you're killin' me!" He goes, "Well, this comes out on the third record. It relates to this song, it's a trilogy, this goes with this lyrically." He's got it all figured out, he's just different than other people. He does things on his own time, in his own way, but you know...the world's not prepared for what I've heard from this guy. It's got the grandness and the epic-ness of "November Rain" but with the snarl, the attitude of "Appetite". Because the album that I've heard, a lot of the drumming is by Brain, who plays so heavy and mean. It's a really...grand is the word for it, but its still got that attitude. There's some great music comin' your way.
Led Zeppelin Guitarist Making Quick Recovery
Virgin Media reports that LED ZEPPELIN guitarist Jimmy Page has reassured fans he is making a speedy recovery after fracturing his finger.
The recent accident caused the postponement of the band's eagerly awaited first concert in two decades.
Jimmy, 63, who was honoured with a Living Legend Award at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour awards in London on Monday night (November 5), told BBC Radio 5 Live he was walking in the dark when he tripped over a stone slab.
"I didn't just come down on my hand, I came down on other parts of my body as well. But of course it was the hand that had a bit of an injury to it," he said.
"It's got a fracture in the little finger of the left hand, which is a nuisance because it's really needed. It's just going to take a little while for it to heal, that's all.
"It's not permanent damage. I've broken fingers before, a lot worse than this."
AEROSMITH frontman Steven Tyler paid tribute to the guitarist, who also received video messages from LED ZEPPELIN's Robert Plant and guitar legend Les Paul.
Ex-Guns N Roses Guitarist To Release Acoustic CD
Ex-GUNS N' ROSES guitarist IZZY STRADLIN is planning on releasing a new acoustic album later this month via the iTunes Music Store. The album is called Fire, The Acoustic Album and it was recorded in California during the summer. The album features all acoustic, two guitars with one playing slide. Rick Richards and Taz Bentley play on some of the album along with JT (bass and percussion). He also mixed it in Dallas at Nomad Studios. Two of the songs, called 'Box' and 'Seems To Me', were co-written by Timo Kaltia (who also co-wrote GN'R's 'Right Next Door To Hell').
Megadeth Guitarist Talks Australian Gigantour
MEGADETH guitarist Glen Drover has issued the following update:
"Oz Gigantour, here we come!! Just a quick hello to you and to let you know how excited I am to get back to the land of Oz and Gigantour!!! We have such a killer line-up this year and I have not seen any of these bands in a live situation yet, so of course I am looking forward to that as well as seeing all of you attending these shows. Get ready, because we are going to musically destroy."
Dates on Australia's Gigantour featuring Megadeth, STATIC-X, DEVILDRIVER and LACUNA COIL are as follows:
November
10 - Perth, Australia - Metro City
12 - Adelaide, Australia - Thebarton Theatre
13 - Melbourne, Australia - Festival Hall
15 - Sydney, Australia - Luna Park Big Top
16 - Sydney, Australia - Luna Park Big Top
18 - Brisbane, Australia - Riverstage
A Life Once Lost Confirm More Dates
Ferret Music, home of bashers A Life Once Lost, issued the following tour update:
"A Life Once Lost just doesn't stop! In addition to all the dates that we announced a few short days ago, we are about to announce even more. In between the Suicide Silence tour (which they are currently are on, check the tour dates section) and the rescheduled tour with The Dillinger Escape Plan, the guys are going to do a run of headlining dates leading up to the two shows they will be playing with Amon Amarth just before the Dillinger tour."
The shows will stretch from Arizona all the way to Tennessee. All the dates will feature Nights Like These supporting.
11/23-Phoenix, AZ @ Cell Block
11/24-Albuquerque, NM @ The Compound
11/25-Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep
11/26-Salina, KS @ The Blue Goat
11/27-St. Louis, MO @ 2 Cents Plain
11/28-Nashville, TN @ The Muse
Video Interview With Phil Anselmo From 2003 Online
San Antonio's long-standing metal institution and STUF-TV cable show "Robb's MetalWorks" has just released the second installment of its special "Archival Series." This installment is a three-part edition dedicated to an interview with vocalist Philip Anselmo (PANTERA, DOWN, SUPERJOINT RITUAL). The interview, which was conducted on August 22, 2003 in San Antonio, never aired in its entirety on "Robb's MetalWorks" due to its 30-minute length, but is now being re-released predominantly uncut. See Phil discuss the beginning of SUPERJOINT RITUAL, his feelling on his PANTERA bandmates, his hopes for his legacy, the 9/11 bombing, and his return to the "underground" on YouTube (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). More...
CGBGs Will Become Men's Clothing Botique
According to Chris M. Walsh from Billboard.biz, the space of New York City's former seminal music club CBGB will be reopened as a men's clothing boutique from John Varvatos.
"This store is going to be totally unique, different from our other boutiques," Varvatos said. "We're going to make it a great way to look back at this remarkable history but also forward to what's happening in music today."
A stage permanently integrated into the store design, along with an in-store performance series are among the unique plans intended to honor the space's history.
CBGB closed in October 2006 after 33 years. The Bowery club served as the launching pad for the RAMONES, TELEVISION, BLONDIE, TALKING HEADS, THE PATTI SMITH GROUP and dozens of others that would become synonymous with punk rock and its many offshoots. The club's founder Hilly Kristal died in August at 75, following a battle with lung cancer.
Former Iron Maiden Light Tech Tells Eddie's Story
Get Ready to Roll recently caught up with former Iron Maiden lighting engineer Dave Beazley.
Dave, you were there right back in the early days of Iron Maiden. What part did you play in their early years?
I promoted Steve Harris’s first gig back in about 1974/75. There was a Battle Of The Bands competition in our local church hall, and his band was called Gypsy’s Kiss (so called cos Gypsy's Kiss is cockney rhyming slang for ‘piss’). That was the first time I met Steve. The next time we met up, he was with his girlfriend Lorraine, who was a friend of my first wife Kim. I’d left home at 15 and was living in a vicarage, and Lorraine asked me if her new boyfriend ‘Bomber’ Harris could come round and rehearse with his new band at the vicarage. This new band was Iron Maiden! As time went on I got more involved with them, and when they started getting gigs I offered to set up a lighting rig for them, as I was doing an interior design course and lighting was something I was very interested in.
What creative juices led to the concept of Eddie, and how much input did you have into the way he developed? And have you come to look on Eddie as one of your family?
Eddie The ‘Ed was a joke that was going around at the time, i.e. - a couple had a child, but when the child was born it was only a head - no arms, legs or anything else. The couple were devastated but the doctor said ‘Don’t give up hope. When the head’s grown to its full size, which will be when the boy is about 14 years old, we’ll fix him up with a body‘. So the couple put Eddie on the mantle-piece and looked after him for the next fourteen years. On his fourteenth birthday they said to him ‘Eddie, we have a very special present for you’, and Eddie replied… ‘Not another fuckin hat!’. So yes, the idea for Eddie grew out of that joke! In the song ‘Iron Maiden’, the lyric goes ‘See the blood begin to flow‘ etc. So, on the backdrop that we used for the pub gigs, with the help of a friend from art college I rigged up a mask that was made from a mould of my own face which coughed up blood in time to those lyrics. The Eddie that was used as the band became more famous was designed from artwork by Derek Riggs, but the original idea started with that joke, and that first mask. As to whether I see him as family, yes, in a way I suppose I do!
Tell us about your design for the Piece Of Mind set etc.
By the time Iron Maiden were promoting the Piece Of Mind album, the tours were running into months rather than weeks. We’d previously hired all the lighting equipment, but with a 10-12 month tour coming up it was obvious that it would be easier to design and build a set that we could take with us on the road. Not only would this be cheaper in the long run than hiring, but it also meant that everywhere we went, the fans could see the same show. In the late 80s the USA venues were generally able to offer more scope for a lighting system than UK and European venues could offer, and we felt that everyone should be able to see the same quality of show - so I designed a ground-support system with a moving lighting rig which could be taken into every venue we’d be playing at.
Read the full article at Get Ready To Roll.
Within Temptation Win World Music Award
The Dutch melodic metallers posted the following update on their website concerning a recent accolade:
The story keeps getting better and better! Yesterday, we received a World Music Award! These awards are based on record sales outside your own country and we won it again, after the 3 TMF Awards and the MTV Europe Music Award. Thanks everyone!
Nuclear Blast Conquers German Charts
Nuclear Blast posted the following update on their European page:
For the first time in twenty years, the history of the label, NUCLEAR BLAST has four releases in the German Top 100 at the same time – two of them even in the Top 10!
Here´s the ranking of Week 44:
SUBWAY TO SALLY – Bastard # 7 (1st week)
NIGHTWISH – Dark Passion Play # 9 (4th week in the Top 10! Peak #1)
SOILWORK – Sworn To A Great Divide # 37 (1st week)
HAMMERFALL – Steel Meets Steel # 89 (2nd week, Peak # 53)
In addition, "Amaranth" (NIGHTWISH) is still in the german single charts! This time (Week 8) on # 45!
Bobby Jarzombek Issues Update
Bobby Jarzombek (HALFORD, SEBASTIAN BACH, FATES WARNING) has issued the following update:
"Just a quick update before I head out on the road for a bit. We had our final Fates Warning rehearsal in LA over the weekend and are getting read to jet over to Europe for a couple of weeks. The line-up is the same that did the Evolution Fest earlier this summer in Italy, Ray Alder, Jim Matheos, Frank Aresti, Joey Vera and myself. I've been learning a whole bunch of extra material going back to the No Exit album so get ready for a varied set of Alder-era Fates!
On another note, a while back I was introduced to guitarist George Lynch and he asked me if I was interested in playing on some new stuff he was working on. I liked what I heard, so a couple of weeks ago I spent two days at Henson Studios in Hollywood, formerly A&M Studios (once owned by screen icon Charlie Chaplin who built it in 1917), one of the best places to record around town. Not quite sure who else will be on the album or when/where this thing will see the light of day so keep checking GeorgeLynch.com for the latest on that front.
I also taped the last two episodes, including the series grand finale, of MTV's Celebrity Rap Superstar with Sebastian Bach; if you don't blink you can see me with Baz performing 'Slam' by ONYX. Don't forget to mark your calendars - the worldwide release of Angel Down via EMI is set for November 20th!"
The tracklisting for Angel Down is as follows: 'Angel Down', 'You Don't Understand', 'Back In The Saddle' (feat. Axl Rose), '(Love Is) A Bitchslap' (feat. Axl Rose), 'Stuck Inside' (feat. Axl Rose), 'American Metalhead', 'Negative Light', 'Live & Die', 'By Your Side', 'Our Love Is A Lie', 'Take You Down With Me', 'Stabbin' Daggers', 'You Bring Me Down' and 'Falling Into You'.
Confirmed Fates Warning dates are now as follows:
November
10 - Zoetermeer, Netherlands *
11 - Frankfurt, Germany *
12 - Hamburg, Germany *
14 - Ludwigsburg, Germany *
15 - Cologne, Germany *
16 - Weert, Netherlands *
17 - Helendoorn, Netherlands *
19 - Athens, Greece - Gagarin 205 21 - London, England - Underworld **
22 - Madrid, Spain - Copernico
23 - Barcelona, Spain - KGB
* with PAGAN'S MIND
** with TO-MERA
Troubles Continue For Acrassicauda
With slam-dancing and head-banging frowned upon, life was never easy for the only heavy metal band in Baghdad.
In the days of Saddam Hussein, Acrassicauda were forced to write a thrash song about the Iraqi dictator and include it in their set. After the US invasion, a bomb blew apart their rehearsal space. And as the country imploded in a maelstrom of sectarian violence and religious militants starting sending members of the group death threats, the band had to flee abroad.
For just over a year, the four metal-heads have been on the run, escaping first to Damascus, then moving on to Istanbul. However, with just days left on their Turkish visas, they find themselves confronting the terrifying prospect of having to return home. "Where would we go back to? It's too dangerous. We are receiving daily messages: this person got killed, that person got kidnapped. It's happening every day," the drummer, Marwan Reyad, said in a telephone interview from Turkey. "I keep remembering what my father, who's half-paralysed, said to me before I left – 'I do not want to bury you, a father should go to the grave before his son, so just go, leave and concentrate on staying alive.'"
Iraq today, according to the band, is like the cover of the Iron Maiden album, Death On The Road. The sleeve shows wild-eyed horses careering along through a bloody-red landscape, pulling the skull-laden carriage of a cloaked and scythe-wielding Grim Reaper behind them. The irony that the apocalyptic visions of one of the Western bands that dominated the heavy metal scene in his youth, should now conjure so accurately the Iraq of his adulthood is not lost on Reyad. Neither is the fact that the chorus of one of the album's tracks parrots his father's advice: "Run to the hills, run for your lives. Run to the hills, run for your lives."
Reyad and the other band members – Firas Al-Lateef, Tony Aziz and Faisal Talal – are holed up in an apartment, the wood-burning stove and the grandmotherly floral wallpaper something of an anomaly with their on-stage image. They are living off donations from the global metal-head community, and trying to plan their next move. With tensions rising in Turkey over Kurdish rebels near the Iraq border, it is not the ideal time to be an Iraqi in Istanbul, never mind the fact that their visas are about to expire.
Musically, times are tough too. Acrassicauda's sum total of musical equipment at the moment is an acoustic guitar they managed to smuggle out of Baghdad. "We're all fighting over this poor one guitar," Reyad chuckled. "As for drumming, I try to practise with whatever I can lay my hands on, metal pipes whatever, and in the meantime, I try to keep my mind busy writing lyrics."
For the 23-year-old – the band's youngest member and its chief songwriter – the screeching guitars, crashing drums and ranting vocals that characterise heavy metal make it the perfect medium to say what he wants to say. "Heavy metal is the only style that really expresses what we have gone through and what we're going through, the anger, the misery, the frustration," he explained. "Nobody was expecting that in Iraq heavy metal could exist. But we started it and we're not going to stop."
He shares some of the lyrics he has recently written for a track called "Message from Baghdad". But, on paper at least, they seem melancholic, and you struggle to imagine them after the thrash treatment. "As I grew bonded to my fate/Rewinding wounded memories that I gained/So weak, I can hardly breathe/Sick of their lies, tired of deceit/Is it the gods' will or just a lie? People live, and others die," goes one of the verses. Perhaps this new tone is a product of the weariness Reyad says he feels in exile.
"I have been writing a lot just now. The two main subjects in my mind now are war and the leftovers of war, the ruins and wounds it leaves and how it has created this lost generation," Reyad says. "It's so dark and gloomy though. I grew 20 years older in the past two years. I look and try to find a point of hope but it's so hard, with things so dark, to find a light."
It's a far cry from the group's Saddam-era nationalistic offering "Youth of Iraq" which railed: "Following our leader Saddam Hussein/We'll make them fall/We'll drive them insane." Reyad is quick to distance himself from that work, saying he was still a teenager. The track was duly composed when authorities suggested that if the band wanted permission for a gig, they might like to include a song about the president in their playlist. Now, he says, he eschews religion and politics in the band's repertoire.
Acrassicauda, whose name has Latin roots and roughly translates as "Black Scorpion", got together in 2001 but their love of heavy metal dates back to when they were younger. As the rest of the country grappled with the Iran-Iraq war in the Eighties and then the Gulf War of the early Nineties, they would scrabble around on the streets of Baghdad, trying to track down the latest bootleg records from heavy-metal giants such as Metallica, Slipknot and Slayer. "We would buy whatever rock we could lay our hands on and devour it," Reyad recalls. "Others were into pop music, but it was all about love and slushy stuff and we didn't have time for all that stuff. I had to help my family as the economy was so bad and heavy metal spoke to me more directly."
In the two years between the band forming and the fall of Saddam, Acrassicauda managed three gigs, including one at the concert hall usually reserved for the Iraqi National Orchestra. Instead of Baghdad's suave and sophisticated elite flocking for a evening of musical entertainment, more than 500 metal nuts slam-danced the night away.
Read the full article at The Belfast Telegraph.
Iron Maiden Announce Somewhere In Time World Tour
IRON MAIDEN announced only two U.S. shows at the Los Angeles Forum on Tuesday February 19th and at the Izod Center, New Jersey on March 14th as part of the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 2008.
The band will fly in especially for this one show from Tokyo two days before and depart for Mexico the day after on a specially commissioned and customized Boeing 757, flown by Astraeus Airline Captain and MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson. The 757, decked out in MAIDEN and Eddie artwork, will carry the band, road crew and other personnel of around 70 people plus over 12 tons of equipment.
This first leg of the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour opens in Mumbai, India on February 1st, and continues through Australia and Japan before arriving in LA.
The entourage then fly to Mexico and into Latin America for the band’s first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Columbia, and on to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rica and New York, before finishing in Toronto, Canada, on March 16th. Over the 45 day period it is anticipated that MAIDEN will play to well over 400,000 fans in 21 cities in 10 countries, flying close to 50,000 miles in the specially refitted plane (full schedule below).
Comments Bruce Dickinson, “I have been flying commercial passenger jets for Astraeus Airlines for a few years now and we are commissioning an Astraeus Boeing 757. It will go in for overhaul, painting and conversion in November which will then give us time to ensure we have all the necessary safety documentation, especially with regard to fire safety. It also means it could possibly be flying commercial air routes decked out in MAIDEN colours for a couple of months before we start!
“Looking at the list of places we would like to play we have always had problems joining up the dots. With sea containers in various places it slows down the whole touring process, which is fine if you want a holiday but not if you want to play.
It’s great to see places but we don’t want to sit around for a week waiting for gear to get from, say Australia to South America, so this way we can get to more fans in more places en route in the same time period.”
To tie in with forthcoming 2008 releases on DVD of the classic Live After Death concert video (full details coming soon) this tour will revisit the band’s history by focusing almost entirely on the 80’s in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which will be based around the legendary Egyptian production of the 1984-85 Powerslave Tour. This will arguably be the most elaborate and spectacular show the band have ever presented, and will include some key elements of their Somewhere in Time tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie.
Steve Harris comments: “The last time we played California was the Verizon last October and it was a fantastic gig, sold out well in advance so the fans were well up for it. It was as good a crowd reaction as we have ever had in LA. It was also our last show on that US Tour and really ended up a night to remember. It will certainly be the first time we have played LA by flying in, doing the show and flying straight out again – we usually like to hang around there for a few days!! We will have to make up for it next time!! “l always loved the Powerslave show which I think was arguably our most spectacular ever, so bringing it back to LA – where we originally filmed the show at Long Beach Arena for our Live After Death video - has got to be special and we are very much looking forward to it”.
The IRON MAIDEN fan club have arranged an exclusive first access pre-sale for members to buy Tickets to the show on Tuesday November 6th, before tickets go on sale to the public on 10th November.
To allow fans to be right up close to the band, the fan club will also be running a special draw whereby 60 winners and friend at each show will be given first access to the venue enabling them to be first to the stage barrier. Full details can be found on www.ironmaiden.com.
General public on-sale is Saturday, November 10 at 10 A.M
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 08:
February
Fri 1st Mumbai, India Bandra Kurla Complex
Mon 4th Perth, Australia Burswood Dome
Wed 6th Melbourne, Australia Rod Laver Arena
Thu 7th Melbourne, Australia Rod Laver Arena
Sat 9th Sydney, Australia Acer Arena
Sun 10th Sydney, Australia Acer Arena
Tue 12th Brisbane, Australia Entertainment Centre
Fri 15th Yokohama, Japan Pacifico Yokohama
Sat 16th Tokyo, Japan Messe
Tue 19th Los Angeles, USA The Forum
Thu 21st Guadalajara, Mexico Auditoria Telmex
Fri 22nd Monterrey, Mexico Monterrey Arena
Sun 24th Mexico City, Mexico Sports Palace
Tue 26th San Jose, Costa Rica Saprisa Stadium
Thu 28th Bogota, Columbia Simon Bolivar Park
March
Sun 2nd Sao Paulo, Brazil Skol Arena Anhembi
Wed 5th Porto Allegre, Brazil Gigantinho
Fri 7th Buenos Aires, Argentina Ferrofcarril Oeste Stadium
Sun 9th Santiago, Chile Pista Atletica
Wed 12th Puerto Rico San Juan Coliseo
Fri 14th New Jersey, USA Izod Center (formerly Continental Airlines Arena)
Sun 16th Toronto, Canada Air Canada Centre
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